For the next few days, all is peaceful enough. In his free time, J reads in the local library, mostly stuff about philosophy and theories. Sometimes at night, J goes on moonlit walks, but he always comes back by morning.
One day…
A man in a suit enters Rokuhoudou, making everyone else a bit on edge. It was a slow day, and most of the customers were in their own worlds.
"Hello!" the man smiles cheerfully, then turns his sights onto J, "Can we talk?"
J narrows his eyes, forcing a smile as he nods.
In the kitchen, the others were eavesdropping and whispering to each other.
Sitting down across from the man, he introduces himself, "I'm Eisuke Tsunozaki."
J was about to say something but is quickly stopped by Tsunozaki, "I already know about you, Mr Live-in-part-timer, Jinguuji Kouma-kun."
J glares coldly at him, frowning while keeping silent.
"Let's see~ You're 18 years old, a former Student Council President that had dropped out of school, and left Koyomi City some time ago~. May I continue?" He smiles.
"No. What do you want?" J bluntly asks, still glaring at the man, looking like a disgruntled cat.
Tsunozaki kept that grin on his face, putting his hands up in fake surrender, "Now now. No need to be so hostile~. I just wanted to see if you would cause problems to this place. It's quite…special, you see."
J raises an eyebrow, then nods, "Well…you don't have to worry about that. I won't cause problems for them."
"Good good… Then, why did you run away from home?" Tsunozaki tries to fish.
"J's a runway?" Tsubaki whispers in shock.
J grins back, "I believe it's none of your business~. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now, Tsunozaki-san."
J goes back to work, and Tsunozaki sighs.
"Such a stubborn kid…" Tsunozaki mutters as he pays for his meal and leaves.
Meanwhile, the others didn't know what to think about this.
"A runaway…" Tokitaka sighs, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"
"I'm sure he has his reasons," Sui tries to calm them down.
Tsubaki and Gure nod in agreement, "Yeah. He'll tell us when he's ready. But for now, let's wait for him."
That night…
Wearing his street clothes, J was on one of his walks when he sees someone familiar. He looked like Sui-san but wearing a suit and a serious expression.
'Must be the twin I kept hearing about… Yakyou Tougoku-san.'
They passed each other by, only for J to be approached by several men in black suits. One of them asked, "Are you the part-timer in Rokuhoudou?"
Raising an eyebrow, J asks, "If I am?"
The man grinned, "We'd like to talk to you in private."
J glares as the man put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him along as the other men followed. Of course, Yakyou-san quietly followed out of concern.
They end up in an empty alleyway, the street lights illuminating part of it.
"We would like you to send a message to your boss," the man says as he hands J a piece of paper.
"Pay XX yen or something bad will happen?" J reads out loud, his demeanour completely calm on the outside, but on the inside…
'Loan sharks, huh…' he ponders, then has an idea. 'I'm already in a bad mood today…and stressed…so, it'll be fine if I take it out on them, right?'
J asks, "And if I don't deliver the message to him?"
One of the men puts a knife at J's throat.
"Trust me…you really don't want to do that," he smiles.
J's calm demeanour unsettles them, especially the way he didn't bat an eye at being held at knifepoint.
"Tell me, are there security cameras here?" he asks.
"Huh? Well, of course not! This place is a blind spot, otherwise, we wouldn't even be talking about this kind of thing here!" One of the men laughs.
J grins, happy that he's found some targets for stress relief as he grasped the hand with the knife, squeezing until the knife fell to the ground, the man crying out in agony.
"Then…don't blame me for what's about to happen."
He punched the man hard in the gut, causing him to fall over in pain. The other men surrounded J and attacked. Reaching into his core, J was covered with a faint blue aura, his speed increasing as he easily dodged all the attacks while counterattacking.
Punches, kicks, and knives were all useless. In just a few minutes, almost all of the men were down, unconscious…all except their leader.
That man brandished a knife in a defensive position while J casually picked up one of the dropped knives, examining it.
Nodding to himself, J threw the knife at the man. Having almost no time to react, the knife cut the man's cheek as it passed through the air before hitting the wall behind him.
Terrified, the man dropped his knife in fear, trembling as he got down on his knees, begging, "OK OK! You win!"
"Leave Rokuhoudou alone, would you? And I never want to see you guys again," J smiles as he threatens them, but his eyes are full of cold fury.
"OK! Just don't kill me!" the man agrees before running away.
Sighing, J shakes his head before walking out of the alley. He stops for a moment when he's beside Yakyou-san, who witnessed the whole thing.
"It's best if you kept this a secret, Yakyou-san…though I doubt anyone would believe you anyway," J says as he pulls his cap down.
"I understand," Yakyou-san nods, not wanting to provoke the kid.
J smiles, "Good night," as he walks away.
Yakyou-san sighs, notifying the police anonymously before going home.
The next morning was as usual like nothing ever happened…except J did go to an airsoft shop and bought himself a good folding knife with a blade under 2.4 inches (6cm). "It's for self-defense purposes. You never know what might happen in this world, after all," is what he says to the manager.
Of course, he hides the knife in his pocket, keeping it with him at all times, and has never had to use it…yet.