Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Sorry about the delay. I usually write my stories during the weekend but I had a crushing headache on Saturday and I was not at home on Sunday.
PS. I started writing this on Monday but my health isn't doing me any favours in writing.
Anyhow, read the author's note at the end. Thank you.
Chapter 3: The Legend of Hikigaya Hachiman 1.
A week had passed since the test results had been announced and while I was never directly implicated, there had been a small uproar about the ranks. I didn't pay much attention to it though and since the test itself had zero impact on our academic future, the troubles died down rather quickly.
Right now, I was stuck in a situation that was far worse than any accusation of cheating could ever hope to be, PE.
Now, I know what you might be thinking. I had superhuman well, everything so PE should be a breeze for me right? Well, my troubles stem from the fact that I'm too good.
You see, Class 1-F just like every other class had joint PE sessions once every fortnight to "Promote healthy sporting rivalry among students". The events in this included but was not limited to Basketball, Baseball, Football etc.. with one sport selected at random each time to compete. The previous sessions were cancelled on account of us being new to the school so today was our first joint PE.
We were paired up with 1-C which was Yui's class and the event for the day was Football or Soccer as the Americans called it.
One thing I realised after I returned to Earth is the fact that despite having near perfect control over my physical attributes, I often miscalculate the amount of force required to do things. I had nearly broken Zaimokuza's spine when we were partnered up for PE the previous weak as I had pulled him a little too hard.
Now this is where the problem snowballed. A soccer ball is not an inherently dangerous object, but a soccer ball moving at the speed of sound is. So I had to control the amount of force I put into each move or risk killing some poor kid instead which was challenging to say the least.
"Oi Hikigaya, pass here, I'm open!" The class president Saijou-kun was yelling at me. The current scoreline was 0-0 since it only had been 5 minutes since the game started. I was playing as a midfielder. I tried to be a goalkeeper or a defender as those positions didn't require excessive shooting but the class was just not having it.
"Tobe! Cover Saijou." The kid in front of me yelled. He was the Hayama Hayato that I heard so much about and I must say that the rumours weren't too exaggerated. Hayama-kun was extremely good looking by Earth standards and I could see at first glance that he was quite physically fit. But something seemed off about him.
"It's coming your way Saijou!" I replied as I dribbled past Hayama who was trying to take the ball from me. I then passed the ball to the class president who was running forward among cheers from our class's girls while being tailed by a tall orange haired kid.
At least that was the plan until I hit the ball.
It took me approximately a tenth of a second to hit the ball and it took the ball just three seconds to go past the running kids and find itself in the back of the net. I put a little too much power into that pass as the goalkeeper couldn't even register what happened.
"Hikigaya scores. Score 1-0 for 1-F." After a few seconds, the PE teacher who was standing as the referee announced. The audience had yet to react but it didn't take too long for someone to start shouting and the rest to join in. The girls of our class were particularly vocal under the leadership of Miura.
However, to my immense relief, there hadn't been any other accidents afterwards during the entire match. I had completed my hattrick but both of my other goals were simple tap-ins as compared to the first one. The overall scoreline ended with a 6-2 victory for us with Saijou scoring a brace and an unlikely header from some other kid.
"That was a good game." As soon as I exited the ground, I was greeted by Hayama. Now that I took a closer look at him, I could see why he was so popular among girls. He had looks that spoke of foreign ancestry with his natural blonde hair and blue eyes. While I was desensitised to good looking people in general, having seen a plethora of those in Murim, I didn't see any reason why a normal highschool girl would be.
"I heard a lot about you and I must say that I am not disappointed." He offered a hand which I shook as a sign of respect. " The name's Hayama Hayato." He introduced.
"Thanks. I'm pretty sure everyone knows who you are and I can see that you already know me. Nice to meet you Hayama-san." I said before I walked away from the kid to find Zaimokuza who had my water bottle.
"Oi Hikigaya. What did Hayato tell you?" I was however, interrupted by our class Vice President.
Miura Yumiko was a cute girl. She had shoulder length Blonde hair which was obviously dyed and a strong personality. You could even say that she was the undisputed number 1 in our class as far as the hierarchy goes. She was the center of attention of the entire class and her mannerisms suggested that she was used to being so. However, she didn't interest me in the least so I often found myself turning down invitations from her for various socialising events.
It was widely known throughout the entire school that Miura had a crush on Hayama. Although they were in separate classes, she was often seen hanging around him after classes.
"Nothing much Miura-san. Hayama was just introducing himself. Is there any problem? " I asked her.
" Nothing, I was just curious. " She replied. " By the way, would you like to join us for karaoke this time Hikigaya?" She asked.
" My apologies but I will have to pass. I have prior engagements for today." I replied as I bid farewell to the girl. I finally found Zaimokuza nearby under the shade of the nearby Sakura trees. He was not alone.
" Good job Hachiman, you showed them who's boss." Kawasaki was sitting with her back resting on the tree trunk.
" Thanks Saki. " By now we were already on first name basis but Zaimokuza was still addressed as Zaimokuza as his real name didn't roll of the tongue nicely like his surname did.
"Here are your supplies comrade." The fat boy handed over my water bottle which I drank from a little before splashing the rest over my head to cool down a little. It was a hot day after all. For some reason, I heard a few gasps around me which came from some of the girls that were passing by.
"Hikki!" We were sitting under the tree waiting for PE to end when a familiar sound interrupted us.
"Hello Yui." I greeted the bubbly girl who from the look of it, had just finished her exercises.
"You were so cool Hikki!" Yui exclaimed. "That kick was awesome. The boys in the soccer club were asking about you." She said.
"Oh? Well, tell them that I'm not interested in joining if that is what they mean." I replied.
"Oh!" She looked a little dejected but it was no big deal. Since Soubu was a Premier institution, every sports related club had to face off against other institutions on a regular basis. This demanded a lot of effort from the part of the members, effort which I was too lazy to give. I could always spend the time it took to play matches on other things.
" Glad to see that you are still ignoring us as always Yuigahama-san. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought that you disliked us." Saki said.
"Oh Kawasaki-san! I'm really sorry, I didn't see you there." Yui replied.
Even now, Saki and Yui were still struggling to get along well with each other.
" If you have any problems with your eyesight, you should go see a doctor. My family knows a good ophthalmologist. Should I refer him to you? " Saki replied.
This continued for a while before the bell rang indicating the end of the period. By the way, Zaimokuza was intelligent enough to not get caught in the crossfire. The remaining classes went by rather quickly until the day was over. Since today is Friday, that meant that classes were done for the week.
"Sorry to keep you waiting my friend." It was Saturday and I was standing in front of the railway station when I was greeted by the person I was waiting for.
There was a Comicon going on in the neighbouring town and Zaimokuza had asked me if I wanted to go with him in the weekend. Since I had no plans, I decided to go with him.
"Finally! By the way, where did you even get that lab coat?" Zaimokuza was dressed flashily to say the least. He was wearing a Black T-shirt and White jeans but the white lab coat stuck out like a sore thumb.
"I found my partner while searching the depths of hell (local department store) for garments that suit myself." He replied.
"Whatever. Let's get going." I said as I walked towards the station, followed by the fatty.
I expected Comicon to be quite large but I underestimated how large it was. There were easily tens of thousands of people around with doujin stalls, cosplay areas and live stages wherever I looked. I lost sight of Zaimokuza early on and my senses were starting to get overwhelmed by the crowd so I tried to find somewhere to cool off, only to run into someone.
"Are you alright?" I asked the girl who had crashed onto me. She was a beautiful girl with medium length brown hair and was wearing a pink dress.
"I'm really sorry." She apologized while continuosly bowing her head.
"It's no problem really." I answered.
"Are you alright Nogizaka-san?" I heard someone asking from behind me so I turned around to see a black haired boy running towards us. From the looks of things, he should know the girl in front of me.
"Ah Yuuto-san!" The girl sounded relieved.
Both of them apologized once more before walking away.
Zaimokuza POV.
Zaimokuza Yoshiteru had always been alone since he could remember. He was not like most of the kids in his classes as in he struggled to socialise. Coupled with his naturally big body, he had often been the subject of minor and major bullying.
This was how he became an otaku. For a kid who had no other means to pass time, a world that was only limited by your own imagination was the perfect hiding spot. He ran away from his abysmal Social life by devoting himself to watching anime and reading manga.
At times he too had craved friends just like everyone else and in his pursuit of bonds, he had gotten hurt. In the fifth year of elementary school, he had thought that he had finally found something genuine for himself in the firm of two boys who were willing to be his friends but that hope came crashing down when he learned that it was nothing more than a practical joke to them.
He had taken the incident hard and little Yoshiteru closed down his heart afterwards. It was at this point in time that he learned about the Legend of the Three Kingdoms in which the main character shared his name. So he adopted a persona of a chuuni to hide his crippling depression until he grew into it. His persona was a well crafted mask that not even the most perceptive of people could see through.
Like a clown in the circus, he played his part well in junior high. While he was ridiculed and was exempted from every social interaction of the class, he didn't get bullied anymore. That was a win in his book.
Going into Highschool, he had little to no expectations from his peers. The same dynamics that worked in junior high would play it's part in Senior high and the outliers will be excluded. At least this was what he thought at first but then he ran into the enigma known as Hikigaya Hachiman.
When Hachiman had first talked to him, he didn't think much about it. It was the first day of school and everyone was new to each other so they tried to probe into others to see who they could befriend. He had replied with his made up persona to try and give Hachiman a hint that he was not one of them but the man took no notice.
To his utter surprise, it turned out that Hachiman was an otaku, just like him albeit a little subdued and with far better social skills. Their interactions increased afterwards and for the first time in his life, Zaimokuza Yoshiteru could claim that he had made a friend. He had tried his best to keep up the walls around his heart to avoid the pain in case this was a joke but the man was too charismatic for a complete newbie like him to turn down. It was decision that he would never regret in his life.
What made their friendship really special was the fact that at no point was Hachiman ashamed to be seen with him. He had tried once or twice to avoid him to spare him from the rumours but it never really worked out. Hachiman had always found him and they were seen together on multiple occasions. Given his standing in the class hierarchy, Hachiman's disrespect towards the order by befriending the outcast resulted in rumours that ranged from him being a Yakuza to various scandals pairing him with some female teachers.
At one point he had feared that his new friend would back down and leave him alone but that worry was put to rest when he learned that Hachiman genuinely didn't care what others thought of him, a trait that Yoshiteru wished he had. Hachiman could walk through the hallways of school and see everyone around him whispering something and be completely unperturbed by it. His lack of care had caught on eventually and the rumours died down after some probes from the part of the school itself.
Along the way, they had gained a new friend in the form of Kawasaki Saki, a delinquent looking girl who had a heart of gold once he had gotten to know her. Kawasaki was one of the outcasts of the class despite her being arguably the most beautiful girl in their class as she had one hell of a temper. But in the face of Hachiman's near invincible charm, she was subdued like a kitten although she would never agree.
Their little clique was often a topic of discussion among class as Hachiman was one of the most popular figures in school rivalling the likes of the mighty Hayama Hayato and Yukinoshita Yukino even if he was unaware of it. Many people wanted to befriend him but couldn't risk being with the outcasts so they left him alone for the most part.
When he invited Hachiman for the Comicon, he didn't think much of it. It was a normal outing with a friend. However, they were separated the moment they landed in the crowd which was not too big a problem as they had their phones to contact each other.
"Well, if it isn't Mo-kun!" Everything went south when he heard the one voice that he didn't want to hear again in his life.
Furukawa Sakura was what one would call a childhood friend to Zaimokuza Yoshiteru. Their parents had always been close and when he was younger, she was pretty much his only playmate. Like every dumb childhood pairs, they had promised to marry each other when they grew up. A normal kid would have forgotten this when they were separated due to her parents changing jobs but for a socially awkward kid like him, this was highly important. So imagine his surprise when he learned in Junior high that she was already dating a popular guy in her school. That was one heartbreak that he wished he could have avoided.
He tried walking away from the girl but she came with a few of her friends and they soon had him cornered. He was starting to feel anxious with no way out.
"Why did you avoid me Mo-kun? Aren't we childhood sweethearts?!" Her words were sweet but her tone was diabolical.
"Who is this Sakura-chan?" He heard one of the girls asking.
" Well Fuuka-chan, this here is Zaimokuza Yoshiteru-kun. We are childhood friends who promised to marry each other when we were kids." She giggled.
" Really? Eww! " Someone said.
" I know right? He even thought he had a chance. Anyway, Mo-kun, I thought I would check out this place crawling with degenerates like you and I'm not surprised. All of these guys lose their brains as long as a cute girl talks to them. " She said.
Zaimokuza was genuinely starting to hyperventilate. The encounter had brought back memories that he wanted to forget. He desperately wanted to get away.
"There you are fatty." Luckily, salvation came to him in the form of his friend. Hachiman walked towards them with his hands in his pocket, looking nonchalant until he was staring down the girls.
"You know them?" He asked.
"I don't." Zaimokuza replied. The Sakura in front of him was completely unknown to him.
"Well let's go then. I heard there's a concert happening and the VA for Ruka-chan is going to sing. We wouldn't want to miss that would we?" He said lightly. A lot of pressure had been lifted of his shoulders now and Yoshiteru could finally breathe. He was about to leave with his friend when they were interrupted.
"Hey, isn't it rude to ignore someone in front of you?" Sakura said while looking offended.
"I'm sorry but my friend here has said that he doesn't know you guys. Since we are all strangers, why should we care about you?" Hachiman asked.
"Friends? You are friends with a disgusting piece of shit like him?!" Sakura started but was soon quieted down. He was confused as to what happened so he looked at her for the furst time since their meeting only to see a completely terrified girl. He followed her gaze to a sight that would forever be etched into his heart.
In the month and a half that Zaimokuza had known Hachiman, he had almost never seen his friend angry. He always had a poker face on or was smiling. But that poker face right now was gone, replaced with an eerie look that spoke untold horrors upon the one that it was focused on. Even a grown man would have been scared by the look in his eyes much less a bunch of teenage girls.
"Don't think for a moment I don't know what's going on here. If I were to hear as much as a single word slandering my friend from your mouths again, you'll regret it for the rest of your entire life. Now scram before I get angry." Hachiman was emitting an invisible pressure that shut the girls down. They ran away like a group of pigs about to be slaughtered.
"You know what fatty? If you ever want any help, don't feel shy to ask. I'm going to be around for a long long time." They were walking towards the stage when Hachiman said this.
Hachiman POV.
The day at Comicon went pretty smoothly after we had sorted out the problem with Zaimokuza's acquaintances. I didn't know what happened between them and he didn't tell me but I was sure he would tell me in his own time.
It was Monday evening and I was shopping for a cake for Komachi. The shop was located in the outskirts of the town and it was famous for it's high quality cakes so I had to take a detour. Saki and Zaimokuza had already left and I was about to enter the alley where the shop was located when I saw something unsightly.
Three burly men were surrounding what appeared to be a highschool girl judging from the sailor uniform. Now compared to some of the older cities like Kyoto or Tokyo, Chiba was rather peaceful but that didn't mean there weren't bad people around. To the best of my knowledge, there were three separate Yakuza gangs in operation around the City. All three of them were engaged in illegal activities like smuggling and usually stayed off the public radar. It was hard to come across even the tiniest bit of information but I managed.
Now I was not that keen on involving myself in messy businesses but not helping someone in trouble would have left a bad taste in my mouth. So I walked towards the four.
"Hey girl, wanna spend some time with us?" I heard one if the men ask. He was a buff dude, well over 6 feet in height and judging by the tatoo on the side of his bald head, he was a Yakuza.
"Please let me go. I'm not that kind of a girl." The girl who was still out of my sight begged.
"That's what everyone says until they learn about how fun it is." One of the other guys added.
" Oi, let the girl go. " I walked near them. They had yet to notice my presence so the sudden noise jolted them. They whipped their heads back and locked sights with me.
" Oh?! What do we have here?! Wanna play the hero kid? " The men came close to me until they were looking down on me. This allowed me to finally see the girl in question, and I was rather surprised to find an acquaintance.
"Miura-san? What are you doing in these parts?" I asked the class vice rep.
"Hikigaya-kun?" Miura looked like she was about to cry. I guess behind her head bitch attitude, she was just a regular girl.
"You can leave now Miura-san. I'll take care of this." I reassured her but she didn't move.
"You have a lot of nerve to ignore us kid." One if the me took hold of my collar and lifted me up.
"It's really fine Miura-san. Just go out of the alley and I'll be with you in a minute." I said again but got no response. She was still frozen.
" Well whatever. " I said to myself before I twisted the dude's arm until we all heard a crack. I was an advocate of peace but that was towards ordinary people. These hooligans deserved no such mercy.
Ahhhhhhh* The broken arms were enough for him to drop me back to the ground as he screeched like a banshee. Since the noise was a bit too much, I gave him a nice little chop to the throat that knocked him out leaving me with two foes left.
"What are you?!" The remaining two looked mortified as the downed dude was the biggest among them. Miura for her part looked equally surprised and shocked.
Anyways, it was time to teach these guys a lesson in Murim fights. Clashes between martial artists tend to either end in seconds or last for days on end. This was because martial artists were quick on capitalising on any weakness shown by the opponents and the only reason a fight lasted long was because both parties were equally matched.
The other rule was to keep things simple and not try too many flashy things. I closed down the retreating figures while moving below the speed of sound to avoid any sonic booms. Then I gave a punch to both of their ribs , breaking three or four of them. They guys were pushed back and crashed onto a nearby wall before falling on top of some garbage bags. All of this was done in ten seconds.
"You think this is over?! I know your face. The Shadow wolves will hunt you down." One of the men said before he fainted.
" Let's go Miura-san. " I took her hand into mine and pulled her along with me, leaving the alley behind us. The plan for cake was scrapped but that was okay.
"Ne Hikigaya-san?"
"What is it Miura?"
"Will you be alright? Those guys won't hurt you right?" She asked with worry.
"Don't worry. I can deal with it." I replied calmly. By the way, we were still holding hands for some reason as she had refused to let go even when I wanted to take it back.
"So is it true that you are a Yakuza member?" She asked.
"Huh?! Where did you get that idea?" I was perplexed.
"Nothing. Just asking." She quickly replied.
"Whatever. I'll drop you off at your house."
"Thank you."
The walk to Miura's house was quite long as she lived relatively far away. It took us an hour until we reached there after which it was time to say goodbye.
" Thank you once more Hikigaya. I don't know what I would have done without you. " Miura had regained most of her composure by now.
" Don't mind it. I'll be thankful if you can keep quiet about what happened today. " I replied. " Although you might want to stay away from such places from today onwards. " I added. I had already planted a psychological suggestion onto Miura which would prevent her from ever mentioning today's incident to anyone else but there was no harm in trusting her.
" Sure. And once again Thank you. " With this, left the area and went back home.
Meanwhile back in the alley.
"Good grief. Why do I have to clean up all the mess?!" A figure popped out from the shadow of a nearby building. He looked exactly like Hachiman and was wearing the exact same clothes.
However, this was not the real Hachiman. It was merely a clone made from a technique.
The Iron Dragon Clan in Murim was a clan notorious for their focus on cultivating the body. However, there was a limit on his much training the body could improve. Most Body Practitioners were capped off at an extremely low level compared to Qi practitioners so they had to create new techniques to compete with others.
The Body Splitting Technique was one such technique created by the Iron Dragons. It involved creating a clone which could hold as much as 95 percent of the original's qi. Hachiman had gained access to this technique when the Iron Dragons gave it away as gifts while they were pledging their allegiance to him. For a normal martial artist, this technique was nearly useless as the clone would never be stronger than the original and so will never help in a fight the original can't win on his own. But for someone like him who had near infinite qi, this limitation didn't apply.
Hachiman had always hidden a clone in his shadow who was ordered to deal with the Yakuza. So the clone read the memory of the fallen gangsters to identify what they had done throughout their lives and what he saw appalled him.
Murder, Rape, Bribery, Drugs, these guys had done it all. So the clone silenced them forever before buring their bodies completely using the flames of hell. He then changed into the firm of the biggest if the gangsters before he ran towards his next destination. He had to make sure that no one would ever come looking for him.
The Yakuza clan house which was his target was quite huge to say the least. It spanned acres across the outskirts of Chiba and unlike it's ancient appearance, was equipped with ultra modern equipments.
The Shadow Wolves were one of the three Yakuza clans of Chiba. They were the biggest of the three but was kept in check by the other two. The clone didn't do much in the way of stealth. He directly offed anyone who came into his sight before instantaneously combusting their bodies into ashes which was blown away by the wind. Of course he checked to see whether the victim was an actual bad person and he spared those who hadn't done any crime by knocking them out.
By the time the clone reached the head house, he had already murdered over two or three hundred men. He was extra careful in allowing the cameras to capture his appearance so as to give a target to anyone wishing to pursue him after the bloodbath was over. He was standing outside of the room of the Head who by the sound coming from the room, was busy with some rigorous activities.
Now the clone could have been kind enough to let the man finish but he didn't feel like it. So he kicked the door open nicely and came face to face with a pig looking man who was on top of a crying girl, humping away like a dog in heat. The sudden intrusion scared the man who covered himself quickly.
"Who the fuck are you? How the fuck did you get in? Sakamoto! What the fuck are you doing?! " The pigman screamed.
Since the clone was not in the mood for any bullshit, he caught the pig by the neck and lifted him up and tossed him away from the girl who looked genuinely broken. Deciding to deal with the girl later, he then practised some of the torture techniques he learned in Murim on the pig before finally killing him. His body was to be left behind as a message so it wasn't burned.
He then proceeded to cover the girl with a quilt and lifted her up before escaping. She had already lost consciousness and was whimpering like a beaten dog. The only thing he could do for her was to revert her body to the day before she was caught and erase all her memories of those two days. There would always be a psychological shadow in her mind but she wouldn't be able to remember anything. He dropped the nameless girl in a nearby hospital before dissolving himself into the shadows and joining his master.
Unbeknownst to the clone, this day would go on to mark the beginning of a new urban legend but that was a story for another day.
Hello.
There isn't much for me to say except thank you for all of your support. This is undeniably my biggest hit in this site and I hope it will stay that way.
I did say once that this fic would be a slice of life and fir the most part I intend to remain true to that words. However, I feel like writing a pure slice of life with no action would be a waste given the premise of the story. The events of this chapter will either be the first of it's kind or the last of it's kind depending on whether y'all liked it. If not, I'll drop the action and will never try it again.
Now for the polling, the third round was a bit more heated up with new readers joining us. The current standings are.
1. Harem: 61 votes.
2. Ruonxi: 45 votes.
3. Miura: 20 votes.
4. Kawasaki: 18 votes.
5. Hiratsuka: 12 votes.
6. Haruno: 8 votes.
7. Yuimama: 6 votes.
7. Ebina: 6 votes.
8. Yuigahama: 5 votes.
9. Yukimama: 4 votes.
10. Yukino: 3 votes.
10. Shiromeguri: 3 votes
10. No ship: 3 votes.
11. Isshiki: 1 vote.
As you can see, the harem is winning and by a large margin at that. Voting remains open for one more chapter.
Hopefully.