During his early morning routine, Officer Itsuka makes time to grab a cup of coffee shortly after beginning his shift at the Tomobiki Police Department.
Despite what had happened earlier with the aliens showing up in his town a little more than a week ago, he finally feels confident in saying that things are starting to return back to as normal as they can be. Every day that passes by makes him a little more happy. Not sad like it used to.
He was about to take another sip of his drink when he heard something from the road that caught his attention. Something abnormal.
For the last five minutes, he'd been walking beside the streets like he always does during this time of the day. Cars honk on occasion, and sometimes he walks past somebody playing music too loud.
What he heard this time is different. From where he's standing, he could swear it's the sound of a motorcycle.
More than just a motorcycle; its rider. Whoever they may be, it sounds like they have no respect for the rule of law when it comes to the streets. Speed limits exist for a reason.
The simple truth is, no matter what laws are written on the books, further action must be taken to make sure they are enforced. Somebody innocent could get hurt if whoever this reckless rider is allowed to continue speeding.
Then, for a very brief moment, he saw the offender.
Wearing all black riding an equally black super luxurious sports bike. The kind that Itsuka would never have been able to afford in a lifetime. At least on a policeman's salary.
He looks around and sees that it isn't just him. Everybody else around him looks as puzzled as he is. With the matching expression also must come along with matching thoughts.
Who is this mysterious rider? Where do they need to be that justifies them going this fast?
He thinks for a second before sipping his coffee.
"Tomobiki High School is that way. Oh god. I hope nobody gets hurt."
Today is just another day for Ataru Moroboshi.
At the promise of having Lum only accompanying him during lunch period, they made an agreement to leave him alone to focus on his studies.
Studying however, will have to wait until a matter has to be settled during homeroom.
Today is the day where the class has to decide on who they'll elect class president.
Personally, he could care less about who's on top. As long as they don't cause any more problems for him. He has enough of those.
"Hey man." His split personality speaks to him for the first time today. "You should go ahead and run."
"I'm not running any more! I just sat down!" He jokes to himself.
"You know damn well what I mean! If you become president, you'll get to see all the girls look back at you every day! Girls love a man who takes charge!"
"What kind of propaganda have I been tricked into reading?" Ataru sighs. "Look, I'll tell you what. I'll run for president, but the first chance I get, I'm backing off. Let somebody else win."
"Ataru Moroboshi."
Ataru looks up from the book he was reading only to be frightened by what he saw.
A man, who appears to be his age and dressed in all black is looking back at him. His helmet conceals most of his face. He could see his eyes looking straight at him through his visor.
"Yes… that's me." He manages to talk back. "And who might you be?"
Before the stranger could answer, he heard Ataru's name getting called out by someone else. Shinobu had just entered the room.
"Ataru! A new coffee shop had just opened downtown. I was wondering if you… were…"
She looks at the stranger and he looks back at her.
After a brief silence, he slightly bowed to her.
"I'm very sorry for any discomfort I've brought you, miss. It's the helmet, isn't it? I'll go ahead and take it off."
The stranger went on to reveal his face. It only took a second, but it was all the time Ataru needed to recognize the man.
He points at him. "Huh!? You're… You're Shutaro Mendou!"
Shutaro Mendou is known to the people of Japan as a heir to one of the wealthiest families that live south of Tokyo. While not as rich as other well known rich people such as Shigenobu Nagamori and Hiroshi Mikitani (Their sources of wealth coming from the Nidec Corporation and Rakuten Group Inc., respectively); the Mendou Corporation is well known for exploring and producing crude oil, natural gas, and liquefied natural gas reserves worldwide.
In Ataru's eyes: A dying industry.
Mendou smirks at him. "So… you DO know who I am. Well that's just wonderful… because I sure as HELL know you!
They keep saying you 'saved' this planet. As if they actually knew what they were talking about. You say that many people have a lot to gain by cooperating with Oniboshi. I say the rest of us have so much more to LOSE! The corporation isn't doing as well as it had been before you spoke to the world. Not just us either."
"Is that all you have to say?" Ataru stood up. "Well first, I'm truly sorry you can no longer afford to have dinner with Elon Musk! That must be devastating for you! Almost as devastating as choosing not to spend your time at an elite private academy! Seriously, why are you even here!?"
"Guys! Enough!"
The two guts look over to the student standing at the podium. Megane, a well respected student at Tomobiki.
"As much as I would like to continue watching class conflict, normal school activities shouldn't be ignored!
As you all already know, class committee is supposed to be elected TODAY!
Now is there anybody willing to stand up to-"
Mendou raises his hand up. "The title of class committee president will be mine, thank you very much!"
After hearing all the girls in the classroom start cheering him on, Ataru began to take a stand.
"Alright then, Mr. Broke-but-not-really, if elected, what can this class expect from you?"
Mendou smirks. "I was hoping you'd say that…
As president, I'll impose a strict crackdown on tardiness!"
His tone changes to that of a more serious one. "This is what it all comes down to! The very backbone of all that is evil in the life of a student!
If the law will allow me, I'd use what's left of my family fortune to construct a torture chamber in one part of he school exclusively for use by this class!
Not just latecomers either! All those who play hooky will have the Mendou Clan Private Police Force to answer to!"
After taking a moment to clear his throat, he takes out a small comb from his pocket.
"Of course… The harshest punishment allowed by the school will have to be something I need to utilize instead.
Female students will face no punishments of any kind, by the way. We should always treat ladies with the greatest respect."
Ataru sighs. "Oh come on. It's obvious what this guy's doing. He wants to rule this class like a dictator without making it sound like he wants to be a dictator. With the state the world was in before the aliens arrived, he knew he had to be careful if he wants to be elected."
He then notices that a number of his fellow male classmates began staring at him while all the female ones, including Shinobu, began cheering for Mendou.
He sighs again. "It's my turn. Isn't it?"
"Oh god. What the hell am I going to say!?"
His perverted side tries comforting him. "Just talk about how bad rich people are! They'll eat it right up!"
Now standing in front of everyone, Ataru takes a third deep breath.
"Okay Ataru, you've given a world moving speech before. Surely you can do a classroom one."
He began speaking. No speech prepared. Just speaking from the top of his mind.
"Everyone, I'm not going to waste anyone's time… We all would want nothing more than to be rich."
Paying close attention to Ataru, Mendou thinks to himself. "Of course! It's always about money with these people!"
Ataru continues. "There are three types of people in this world: Those at the top. Those at the bottom. And those that are falling.
After facing everything the pandemic had to throw at us, those at the top are still prospering while the rest of us have to pay more for less.
The future we face today will be much different than the future our parents had back in the late eighties or early nineties.
I don't know how bad it's going to be. I also don't know to what extent Oniboshi would be helping the planet, so I don't have any answers either.
But what I DO know is that there's a great many people out there working to keep us from getting rich! So when you cast your vote today, don't do it with the mindset that you're going to be rich one day. You're not."
There was no applause that followed. Out of pity, Ataru's perverted side took control of his right hand and pats himself on the shoulder.
"That was good, man. I don't think I would've come up with anything like that if I tried."
He then sees Mendou begin to stand up.
"If I may say anything in response to that… statement." He says in a soft tone. "The rich have helped people before. Lifted them out of poverty. Made lives better. I may not be as rich as I was at the start of the year, but I don't see myself stopping what my family has been doing for almost a century!" He sat back down. "That's all I have to say about that."
The class went on to cast their votes. The end result: 23 votes for Ataru and another 23 for Mendou.
While Ataru breathed a sigh of relief, Mendou found himself beyond devastated.
"Alright Moroboshi! I now see what has to happen now! There's only one way to settle this thing between us! Mere words won't be enough as things stand right now!"
He points to the windows on the wall.
"The winner of this election will be the one who's the first to exit Tomobiki Town from here! A true race. One v one."
Ataru gasps. "That's… That's not fair! You have that advanced sports bike! What, do you think I have one of those lying around!?"
Mendou scratches his chin. "Hmm… You make a good point. It's not really fair, is it? Very well then, I guess I could ship in two bicycles and we could race with those."
It was then that an idea popped up in Ataru's head. One that's so crazy, it just might work.
"Hold on, Mendou. You may just be racing with that bike of yours after all." He takes out his cell phone. "I know EXACTLY who to call in this situation."
Less than ten minutes later, both guys stand near the school gates. Mendou is on his bike with his helmet on.
Ataru, on the other hand, is given a brief lecture on the vehicle he's on.
The phone only had to ring twice for Lum to pick it up. It turns out Ataru's idea consisted of using an Oniboshi vehicle to combat against Mendou's sports bike.
Not wanting to back down from a challenge, Mendou accepted the terms. He's no longer a trillionaire and he has Oniboshi to partially thank for that.
When Lum introduced the Oniboshi Airbike to Ataru, she took a moment to explain how it had been previously used against a clan she calls 'The Gods of Luck.' (The perverted side took a quick note when she mentioned 'Benten.')
"You should have no problem controlling this thing, Darling." Lum smiles at him.
"Recent advancements have made it possible to control this airbike with ease. While I don't fully understand all the science behind it, it should be able to link to who you are on the inside."
"It looks great… Thank you, Lum." Ataru gives her a smile. "I know I can be a little hard to live with at times, yet you still stay with me."
Lum gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's no problem at all, Darling. I'm happy to help."
"Can we start this race already!?" Mendou shouts out at them. "I want to be the first one to beat one of those things in a race!"
Lum kisses Ataru again. "The Oniboshi Airbike has not disappointed us before and I know for a fact it won't disappoint you. Now go win this thing, Darling!"
Ataru slightly pulled the handles he was holding which caused the airbike to reverse a little. "Okay, I think I can handle this."
His perverted side speaks to him. "This feels… weird. Like, I feel… attached to this thing. Almost like it was made for me."
He then sees Mendou pull out a small pocket knife. It was enough to astonish him a little, as those weren't allowed on pretty much any school ground.
When you're rich, the rules seemingly don't apply to you. It just isn't fair.
Mendou yells out. "We begin the race the moment this knife hits the ground!"
Without any warning, he threw it high in the air. Ataru wasn't unfamiliar with what he's feeling right now, as it's similar to how he was before when facing Lum in that game of tag.
The second the knife hit the ground, Mendou revved up his engine and left Ataru in the dust. He couldn't ask Lum for assistance as he found himself coughing.
"Darling!" Lum shouted out. "You have to HOLD the button on the right handle! Don't just press it!"
"I knew I was forgetting something!" Ataru did what he was told and went off to chase after Mendou.
"I sense good fortune in your future." "You really think so?"
Officer Itsuka is currently having a casual conversation with Cherry. They're not too far away from the nearby street.
Cherry continues. "You're going to meet somebody very special soon… But before that's going to happen, you'll have to endure through some… discomforting times."
Itsuka raises an eyebrow. "Discomforting times? What do you mean by-"
Itsuka didn't get the chance to finish his sentence. As Mendou sped past the two with Ataru quickly catching up now that he has full control of the Airbike.
On instinct, Itsuka and Cherry covered their ears as those vehicles were anything but quiet.
"Yeah, discomforting like that." Said Cherry.
"You said I was going to meet that special someone SOON, right?" Itsuka questioned before picking at his ear.
Mendou gave it his all in the bike race, but unfortunately for him, Ataru's quick learning of the Oniboshi Airbike made him the winner today. As he was two seconds ahead of him by the time they exited the town,
After taking off his helmet, he went on to pull out his second hidden pocket knife.
"I lost… because I let you use that alien vehicle… I lost…"
Ataru gasps when he sees him holding the knife closer to his neck.
"You've taken so much from me, Moroboshi. I came to your school to get back at you in any way I can, but I couldn't even beat you in a class election. I don't see a point in going on anymore… So I'm ending it all now!"
"Wait! Wait! Hold on!" Ataru shouted as he took off his helmet. "Now hear me out! How about you be… The Vice President! You don't have to take your own life! I'm sure I could get Lum to help you out with some stuff!"
Mendou smiles at Ataru before putting his knife down.
"Ah, maybe… the love people still have for me despite everything… will be the reason I'll carry on."
Mendou then thinks to himself. "Princess Lum of Oniboshi… how about I'll get YOUR attention? Yeah, that's it. What's a little less money when I could have an alien princess for a wife! Hahahahahahahaha!"