What is this crap...?

Kiyoshi looked down at the trio sitting in front of him. The ones to the right and the left looked like they were related, but the one in the middle looked as if she was not even alive. The blank stare she gave him made his entire body start to react out of pure instincts drilled into him.

Not being one to back down, he stood his ground and reminded himself of the two people standing behind him and slightly to the sides.

The first was Kazuaki, who could be more rough than him at times. And the other was...

"Oh! I can see Araike over there! Heeeeeey, Ariakeeeee!"

"Stop that already. Can't you see that you're annoying Kiyoshi?"

"Oh, crap! Sorry, Kiyo-san. I forgot we were here for something."

It isn't like Kazuaki is much better... But Ryūji really does need to calm down some.

The trio in front of him only looked at the interaction casually or with a calculating expression.

Kiyoshi clicked his tongue and lifted his head.

These three are the ones Murakami wanted me to meet. Murakami himself is over to the side there. But...

But...

"What the fuck are the rest of you doing here!?"

He quickly turned to glare at everyone who was surrounding them by sitting at adjacent tables.

One of them, a crossdressing idiot, spoke up with a raised hand.

"We're here to enjoy the show!"

In a single motion, even he didn't think he could do, Kiyoshi grabbed the nearest chair and threw it at the crossdressing idiot.

.

Hokari was the first to react to the flying chair. Being the closest to Jinsei at the moment, he lifted his body and reached out his arms.

From under his arms, he could see Jinsei laughing at nothing particular.

Maybe have just a bit of a sense of danger?

Then again, this was the person who had turned into an S when surrounded by a group of delinquents. Asking for anything more than that might end up sending him down the ranking and losing his position in school.

Accepting that this was just how it was, Hokari did his best to protect Jinsei by making sure the flying chair would not hurt him. Once his hands felt the legs of the chair reach him, he started to curl his fingers around the legs of the chair and pull backwards.

When he did so, he felt something off.

"Oh..."

The force with which the chair had been thrown was greater than he thought and curved slightly.

What kind of throw was that? Who would think to add a curve to their throw?

Taiyōko was a classmate of his, but the two had never really spoken to each other. The most they had interacted with was a few glances at each other. So to say this much power came from that small frame was shocking, to say the least.

Hokari tried to move with the curve of the chair but found himself spiraling out with it instead.

"...Eh?"

Without meaning to, his grip loosened, and his body rotated.

Not wanting anyone to get hurt, he tightened his hold on the chair. Due to having loosened his grip before, the legs of the chair were moving upward. Because of that, he ended up grabbing the ends of the legs and bending his back further than he had expected.

He finally came to a stop when two pairs of arms moved to force him to stop.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Some new bit?"

Hokari let out a breath while Mizukmi grabbed the chair from his hands and set it down.

"A stronger throw than I expected, it was."

"Looked like you were havin' a hard time there."

Mizukami helped to right him while Kageura glared in the direction the chair had come from. Hokari followed that line of sight to see if he had really misjudged the strength of their classmate.

There had always been talk of their classmate, but they could hardly say much. No one asked about his grades, no one bothered to see where he went when being absent, and no one thought there was any real weight to his movements.

But now he could see the truth.

Behind the small physique was strength that qualified him to be called a soldier's son.

"Kiyo-san, calm down! Just for a second!"

"I'm fine... I'm fine..."

"Are you really?"

"I'm throwing another chair!"

"Kiyo-san! Calm down! Senpai, help me here!"

"Don't wanna."

The duo of delinquents and Saeki seemed to have their own fun going on.

Even if he's rough, it looks like he has some people on his side.

That was good.

Now that he had gotten to see and feel this unnoticeable strength, a sense of wonder started to fill up in his chest.

.

The first thing Kiyoshi did after calming himself down was sit down.

Making sure he wouldn't get hit by something unexpected, he twisted his hips, moved, and lowered his body, starting with his left side. It lowered the part of his body to the others around them, but it also gave him a place to focus on should anything happen.

"I'll choose to ignore the idiots who decided this was a show."

"Are you fine with that?" asked Hatohara.

Kiyoshi shook his head and crossed his arms.

"I'm not. But give them anything more than this, and I'll have to deal with this shit."

"Wow. He really doesn't hold back with his language."

"And what's it to you? I'm a plain-speaking person who believes in plain-speaking."

"That's actually a pretty rare trait, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't know. I only pay attention to the idiot I see in the mirror."

"Wow. You really are painfully honest."

"You got a problem with that?"

The boy on the other side shook his head and smiled.

Kiyoshi narrowed his eyes but said nothing in retaliation.

Taking a small breath, he focused on each person's position and their posture.

I'm sure that there are more people who wanted to see what's going on, so I should just be grateful that it's only these idiots.

Some of them were his classmates, but he knew he could deal with them. The ones that worried him were the others who decided to show themselves simply because they could.

That included the crossdressing idiot.

Out of all the people in the area he knew, Hatohara knew not to try anything stupid. From the looks of things, that guy who looks like her is smart enough to do the same. There was no doubt that he was her twin brother, so Kiyoshi categorized them as such in his mind.

"I don't care about the other idiots around us, but I guess I should at least introduce myself to you two." He glared at the motionless girl for a moment before sighing. "You've probably heard, but I'm Kiyoshi. Also, as you've probably heard, I don't give a shit about my last name. But feel free to call me whatever you want."

There was a silence in the room after he spoke.

Not wanting to see the looks he was getting, he closed his eyes and pictured a snowy landscape in his mind.

The clear white in his mind helped to calm him down even more.

A moment of this allowed him to open his eyes to look at the trio in front of him.

"I'm Hatohara Minoru, Mi-chan's brother. And this is-..."

"Shitokei Fuji. Nice to meet you."

Kiyoshi's body shuddered at the expressionless introduction.

Every part of me is screaming to get away from this girl, but...

A part of him pitied her.

The way she is calculating things out and how she is trying not to make any sudden movements—they're enough for me to know she's got something going on to act like this. Even if my body is trying to copy her, I don't have a problem stopping it. That just shows how still she's trying to be.

Everyone else was making wasteful movements as they talked to each other. Looking at them would force his body to try and copy all of them at once. Having this motionless girl in front of him made things easier for his mind and body.

"In any case," he found himself saying. "Since there are two Hatoharas here, I'm going to call you two by name. That fine with you?"

"I have no issue," said Mirai. Her brother nodded in agreement.

It was good that these two were cooperative.

"Now then-..."

"What do you lot want with Kiyoshi? He doesn't have time to deal with pointless shit."

Kiyoshi wanted to sigh, but he knew Kazuaki had good intentions.

Even so, he made sure to throw his arm back to swat him in the stomach.

Kazuaki went down with one hit.

"Don't be rude. But I also want to know what you three want. Especially since Murkami used his IOU on this."

.

Murakami smiled to try and ease the Hatohara twins and their cousin. The twin's expressions told me what they were thinking, so he waved them off with a hand and moved to sit next to Hokari.

Out of everyone here, Hokari and Kageura were the ones he would be relying on to prevent any accidental damage to the area. The small café they had decided to meet at had an overhead ledge that could be reached if someone like Hokari or the Hatohara brother were to jump high enough. When Hokari caught the chair, he could see that it almost touched the top of the overhead ledge. If things had gone worse, then they could have caused damage.

That left it up to people like Hokari and Kageura to prevent anything like that from happening.

That was why...

"There is nothing to worry about, you guys. I had done him a small favor before, so this is just him returning the favor."

"Keh. Don't say it like that, moron. I wouldn't have done this if the favor was something small."

"Right, sorry about that."

Murakami had to hold back a laugh when Kiyoshi clicked his tongue and looked away. Only Saeki was able to see his expression, but it must have been a good one from the way the underclassman smiled.

He really isn't a bad guy, he thought.

There had been too many times that showed just what kind of person Kiyoshi actually was.

The fact that Kage, Hokari, and Mizukami are here is proof enough of that.

Those three had no fear of Kiyoshi either. All of them understood his personality and only came because they knew he would do nothing to them if they did so.

There was just one problem.

Ōji came along, huh? Or was he asked to come along?

Murakami knew that simply asking for Kiyoshi to come here would only be that. Coming to meet with the twins and their cousin. Nothing had been said about preventing fights or being nice to anyone. Using that as a basis, he could figure out that Ōji and Saeki were here as stoppers to prevent Kiyoshi from doing anything stupid.

That brought a different question to mind.

Why bring Ōji?

When it came to their age group, it was clear who was the most troublesome to deal with. Near the top of that list was Ōji himself.

I guess it could be worse. Even if Arafune and Senzai aren't here, I'm sure we can stop things if they get out of hand. Besides, that side had more than enough firepower.

The combination of the Hatohara brother and Shitokei was not one that Murakami ever thought he wanted to go against.

Murakami nodded twice to himself and saw that Mizukami was thinking something similar.

"C'mon, someone give me an answer. I'll hear you out, at least."

.

Is this a yakuza meeting or somethin'? thought Mizukami.

Having heard about the meeting, he decided to tag along to see what kind of entertainment he could get from it all.

Not originating from Mikado City, he had managed to meet Kiyoshi in the past. Their interactions had been strange and rough, but nothing he would say was bad.

Even now, I would say we're on pretty good terms. Enough that I don't have to worry 'bout getting a chair thrown at me.

Then again, that came naturally from just hanging out with the idiot.

"To be completely blunt, I would like to know about you. As a follow-up, will you be willing to join Border? That will be all from me."

Mizuakmi blinked upon hearing their senpai be the first person to answer. In truth, he had expected the Hatohara brother to be the one who wanted to meet with Kiyoshi. Finding out that it was their senpai caught his attention.

"Isn't there something else you wanted to say?" the Hatohara brother asked.

Their senpai looked at him and nodded. She turned back to Kiyoshi and spoke again.

"I would like to know why you are as strange as you are."

"!"

Ah. That did it.

.

Kageura and Hokari were the fastest to stop Kiyoshi from leaping over the table. Moving at the same pace, Minoru pushed himself up and held out an arm to protect Fuji and Mirai. After them, Saeki moved to stand in front of Kiyoshi, and Kazuaki took a step back with a glare. Murakami and Mizukami moved at the same pace to make sure nothing was destroyed. Jinsei took a leap and landed on the table. Mirai had moved back in her seat to not get involved.

Then there was the girl who had caused it all.

"I offended you."

"Well, no shit!? What the fuck do you mean by that, you dumb bitch!?"

"I meant no ill will by that."

"Then watch the way you say shit!"

Fuji looked directly at Kiyoshi in the eye, not once blinking or flinching back. Even the light growling from him had done nothing to stir her.

On the other side of the table, Kageura and Hokari tried to hold Kiyoshi in place. The more they tried to get a hold of him, the more he seemed to slip through their hands. Even when going for a headlock, he would slide out of their hold.

The only thing stopping his movement forward was Saeki sliding from side to side. Each movement he made synched up with Kiyoshi's to keep him in place.

"I thought you were supposed to help me, Senpai!?"

"Kiyoshi said he brought us for that, but I never agreed to that. Besides, this dumb girl is talking shit about him."

"I'm on my own!? Urg... Kiyo-san, please calm down! You said no fighting, right? Right? You said to stop you, right?"

After another set of motions, Kiyoshi moved back from between Kageura and Hokari.

He took a breath, turned to the side, and raised his fist.

"—!"

A solid sound rang out as Kiyoshi's fist came into contact with the nearby pillar.

"Ah! Kiyo-san!?"

"Hold on, you! Don't go trying to destroy property like that!"

Saeki and Murakami moved to pull Kiyoshi back from where he had punched the pillar.

The nearby workers were looking at them but moved when they saw Fuji looking at them. With a few hand movements, she asked them to bring some water.

"Keh... There. I'm fine, so back the hell up."

"But Kiyo-san, your hand..."

"Hah? This ain't shit compared to other times."

Jinsei made a twirling leap off the table and landed between Murakami and Saeki.

Kiyoshi eyed him warily but otherwise did nothing to him.

"It's true! He used me as a bat the other day, and he was waaaaaaay more beat up than just a hand! He should still be able to use a side dish tonight with it!"

"You aren't helping!" most of them shouted.


They're so loud over there...

Kimura gave a sigh while sitting in the corner of the area. A book was in her hand, and a cup was placed in front of her. The outside air was nice to feel while reading, but the silence had disappeared as soon as a troublesome group appeared.

And to make matters worse...

Most of them go to the same school as me!

If they saw her in the corner, they would drag her into their mess. That was just how they were.

But do they have to be so noisy?

Kimura was put in an odd position where she wanted them to be quiet, but she herself could not say anything to them directly. If it had been the more normal people in that group, then it would have been fine. The fact that they had been some of the worst ones only made it that much more difficult for her.

So instead of trying to get them to calm down or start reading again, she began to listen to their conversation.

She wasn't the type to eavesdrop on a whim, but the main topic of their conversation was somehow interesting to her.

After all...

They want someone like him to join Border. Even when knowing about who his family is.

That in itself was something to note for her.

So she listened.

"Hah... Next time, don't go phrasing your words like that. Got it?"

"I apologize that I offended you."

"Stop thinking, then say that. When you can do that, I'll believe you."

That was a fair request, if she was being honest. Having someone apologize with that sort of expression and without moving felt like it was only an obligation.

Even so, the delinquent boy shook his head to try and move on.

"Anyway," he said. "I don't know who the fuck you even are, so I'm not going to tell you shit about me. But I can answer the other thing."

He moved to cross his arms, but stopped and let them fall back to his side. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders.

Kimura noticed the way he shifted his feet while still facing the ones across from him.

"I'm not going to be joining Border. But I'm not going to be on those fuckers' side either."

Everyone stopped. Kimura also felt her movements stop at those words.

She took a glance at the spot where everyone was and saw that they were all looking at the delinquent boy with the same question in mind.

The only one who faced him with a neutral expression was the stoic girl.

"You thought that I'd join Border just because I'm against my family, didn't you?"

"That was the most logical reason. Yes."

"Well, tough shit. Any problems they have with Border are on them. It works the other way around, too. I'm not about to do anything for either side when I'm not involved with that mess."

He had decided to take a neutral stance.

...No, that isn't it.

It was not something as simple as that.

Kimura held her breath as she thought about what his words actually meant.

He isn't on any side but his own.

That's dangerous.

If he refused to join either side, then it meant he could also end up against both sides. Along with that, he could not rely on either side when it mattered. The only thing that would matter was his own mood and his own situation.

When it came to these sorts of people, it always became an issue of knowing if they could be trusted to be left on their own.

Kimura felt like she should inform someone of this person since it involved an important matter.

This normally wouldn't matter. He could be on his own, and nobody would mind.

But there was something to all of this.

We're talking about Border and the family that opposes them. If he was on Border's side, then it would mean he would be reliable. If he was on his family's side, then he could easily be viewed as the opposition. As someone who is on neither side, neither side will be able to determine just what he will do if they start acting up.

There was no doubt that Border could handle anything this boy did, but if he ever decided to go against them, it could lead to more problems since he would be considered a civilian.

So then why was the stoic girl looking ready to counter him?


Kiyoshi made a quick shift in his stance upon noticing the change in atmosphere.

It was subtle, but it seemed like everyone else noticed it as well. The casual feeling around them had turned into a frozen environment the moment those words left his mouth. No one dared to move, but they all appeared to be ready to go into action.

And it's all because of this crazy bitch!

The girl across the table from him had not moved or changed her facial expression at all. She remained the same as at the start of their meeting. And yet...

"—"

The intense atmosphere began with her. The starting point was that girl, and the end of it was far beyond the fence behind him.

Without looking away from her, Kiyoshi took note of his surroundings.

Kazuaki looks ready to stop anything from reaching Ryūji, who looks like he can't move much. Good. I don't have to worry about those two.

Kageura and Hokari are behind me and in front of me, but not directly in those places. I can move backwards if I need to or rush forward if the chance comes up.

Murakami and Mizukami are more to the side. They wouldn't be able to stop me even if they moved right now, so there's no need to worry about them. The same goes for the Hatohara twins. If anything, they are helping by remaining by that crazy bitch's sides.

Then there are those two...

For the entire time he had been dealing with these people, he had noticed someone eyeing them from the corner. There had been no time to check to see who it was, but they had shown no signs of getting involved. It had only been after he spoke up about his stance that they had given any sort of reaction.

Then there was the idiot.

While everyone became tense with the cold atmosphere, the idiot seemed to start dancing for no reason. It seemed as if the situation had not registered in his mind, letting him move freely and without any sort of care.

But I don't have time to think about that. Right now I-

"!?"

Before his thoughts could finish...

"—!"

He moved.

.

Kiyoshi made a sudden shift backward, his feet sliding across the ground and pushing off with his toes.

The reason for this?

"..."

In a single movement, Fuji had gotten up from her seat by pushing her chair back, placed her foot on the chair, and then launched her body upwards. The arc formed from doing this let her go over the table without touching it and let the chair she kicked off slide until it hit the table behind it. It did not fall down due to the collision, but the sound from it caused everyone else to begin moving.

Kazuaki, Kageura, and Hokari moved forward to stop Fuji from finishing her arc jump.

Murakami and Minoru pushed forward to support the three by reaching for her legs.

"Fu-! Wait!"

Without looking at any of them, Fuji lifted her foot and placed it on Minoru and Kageura's outstretched arms. Minoru and Kageura felt a weight push down on their arms and could do nothing as their bodies were forced towards the ground by the downward push.

Fuji followed this up by twisting her ankle around and pointed her toes towards the ground as Hokari's hand reached her foot. She had slipped out before he could grab her. This placed Hokari in a forward-moving motion that caused him to crash into Minoru and Kageura.

As a result of reaching her last, Murakami and Kazuaki had no time to react to the sudden dog pile and ended up on top of it all.

"What the hell?" could be heard from the dog pile.

Ignoring them all, Kiyoshi continued his backward movement and began shifting his body to the right.

Fuji saw this and started to turn her body.

But when she did...

"Fuck off!"

Instead of moving to escape, Kiyoshi continued to move to the right until he made a half-rotation. His right side was now facing the landing Fuji.

Kiyoshi lifted his leg along with his movement while applying more spin to his movement. A sudden vibration reached him, and his teeth hitting each other could be heard.

"..."

"!"

A violent wind tore through the air as Kiyoshi's leg came into contact with something.

"Sc-"

A new sensation came from his leg.

Pain.

"Shit!"

Still only on one leg, he shifted backward and turned his eyes downward.

There, crouching with her arm raised, was Fuji.

She had anticipated his sudden downward kick and held out her arm to block. The impact did not seem to have left any sort of mark on her pale skin.

"The hell you made of!?" was all Kiyoshi could get out before Fuji pushed herself towards him again.

He followed her movement by purposefully offsetting his balance. With his balance gone, he began to fall towards the ground in a way even he didn't expect.

Fuji corrected her position and threw her left hand upwards. The arm that pushed it out came with a force that should not have been possible for someone her size. A noise came from that same arm, but no one seemed to notice it over the movement itself.

Kiyoshi saw the jab moving towards where his face would be.

He closed his eyes.

.

Mirai saw the end result from where she had.

There had been no room for her to move the entire time. Even if she wanted to do something, she knew she could not keep up physically with anyone currently there. All of them were beyond what she was capable of as a sniper.

But she was still able to keep up with everything that had happened.

And now that all of it was done, she could only wince at what she saw.

Her cousin's body was blocking her view of the boy, but she could make out what her cousin had done.

She self-destructed...

More specifically, she had decided to injure herself so that someone else would not be hurt.

Now that I think about it, there was a noise just now, wasn't there? Was that from her arm? If it was, that makes two things that happened with her arm here. The first was the noise from her arm. And the second was...

Her cousin used her other hand to divert her arm away. The bruise that was starting to form on her pale skin said it all.

Mirai started to get up upon seeing that.

Only Fuji-nee can stop herself with force. At the same time, her own body can't take that force when it's put against itself or when she doesn't restrain herself. But for her to not restrain herself here means that he was someone she was really trying to reach.

Another anomaly was caused because of this boy.

"Hey, Fu-"

"Oooowwwwww!"

Mirai blinked and moved to the side to get a look at the front of her cousin.

What she saw surprised her.

"Wetman!?"