Legend Of The Strongest Delinquent

by streetlife34

The City of Koryuu is full of Thugs and Delinquents to many to even count them all, whether they act by themselves or with gangs. But among them there's one certain Delinquent who isn't apart of any gang and always fights alone, yet is hated or feared by other thugs. He is Shirou Tsukiharu and he has one goal to be the Strongest and use his fists to beat down anyone along the way

13. To Furinji Island

Hey everyone, and welcome to this chapter. This chapter won't have much when it comes to fighting because it'll be a training-orientated chapter, a last bit of character-building and plot progression before we get back into the Ragnarok stuff.

It took a while to write it all down because there was a lot of dialogue that needed to be added, but I'm overall satisfied with how it turned out, and I'm pretty sure I added everything that needed to be said.

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is owned by Funimation and Syun Matsuena. Please support the official release.

---

"Shirou" Regular speech.

"Shirou" Thoughts.

SEIKUKEN Attack names.

(Shirou) Words said previously.

[Shirou] Words said in unison.

---

To Furinji Island

---

—…

It was a quiet and tranquil night. Dawn would soon arrive, and the sun would begin to rise over the horizon. But alas, some people didn't feel like waiting.

While Kenichi was sleeping blissfully in his room, Akisame stepped inside and stood over his futon. He looked down at his sleeping Disciple before shouting.

"WAKE UUPPPPPPPPPP!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, immediately forcing Kenichi awake.

"Uuuyyyyaaaaaaaaaaa!" Kenichi screamed horribly after being woken up like that.

---

Kenichi's scream was so loud that it echoed throughout the entire Dojo. In the main house, Miu was resting in her before being woken by Kenichi's scream.

"Uh?" Miu opened her eyes and sat up. "Don't tell me it's time to get up already?" She then stretched out her arms and let out a yawn before she started to think. "It's been a few weeks since Kenichi moved in with us."

It was true. Around three weeks had passed since the first day Kenichi became a resident of Ryozanpaku. During that time, they started to fall into a daily routine, and being woken up by the sound of Kenichi's yelling was one of them.

---

Back in Kenichi's room, he became frantic after being woken up like that and stood up immediately.

"What?! What is it?!" He asked, looking back and forth with panic. "Is it a fire?! Is it an earthquake?!"

"Nope, it's morning." Akisame informed him while holding up a small clock.

"Morning?" Kenichi looked closely at the clock and gasped when he saw the time. "It's only four o'clock. The sun's not even up."

"It's like they say: The early bird catches the worm." Akisame lightly quoted. "So, you ready to get out there and carpe some Diem?" Kenichi broke out in a cold sweat as Akisame got in his face. "Well?!"

Knowing that there was no possible way out of this situation, Kenichi could only cry silently to himself.

---

After changing into his training gi and stepping outside, a rope was tied around Kenichi's waist while Akisame tied the other end to a tire he sat on. Once again, they were going to do some long-distance running with Kenichi carrying Akisame on the tire.

Miu also went outside to see them off for the day.

"How about we start with three easy laps around the city before breakfast?" Akisame suggested.

"It feels like I'm getting up earlier every morning." Kenichi cursed as he struggled to pull the tire as they began. "And doing more laps each time?! Grr…!"

"Well, see you guys later then!" Miu waved goodbye. She smiled as she watched them go. He seems to be adjusting pretty well to life here. I think he's even starting to have fun."

As usual, Miu was utterly wrong, as Kenichi was definitely not adjusting, nor was he having anything that resembled fun, especially given the fact that Akisame still had no problem with whipping him if he started to slow down.

As they ran by the riverbank, dawn broke, and the sun was finally starting to rise. Kenichi kept crying out in pain as Akisame was whipping him repeatedly.

"You lunatic!" Kenichi yelled through the pain. "Somebody save meeee~!"

---

Later on, it was the middle of the day, and at that point, Shirou had arrived. Now both he and Kenichi were trying with Sakaki. The Karate Master removed his shirt and entered a defensive stance as Kenichi stepped forward first.

"All right, it's my turn today." Sakaki said excitedly as he faced Kenichi. I'm not gonna lay a hand on you. Just take your best shot."

"Right!" Kenichi prepared himself.

Miu watched as well and entered her thoughts again. "His sparring practice is going well."

Despite thinking that, once Kenichi was ready and threw a punch, what he got in return was a punishing kick that blew him away.

"You're too slow!" Sakaki yelled at him.

As he hit the ground, Shirou shook his head. "I knew it."

Flat on his back, Kenichi breathed out. "You didn't say anything about feet."

"What'd you expect?" Sakaki responded with concern. "You're small with a short reach. This'll train you to get inside your opponent's reach so you can dodge his kicks."

As Kenichi struggled to get up, Shirou looked at Sakaki like he was an idiot. "You know, some people find that it's more effective to give instructions before the demonstration?"

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Sakaki shrugged his shoulder.

Shirou stepped forward. "Whatever. Just step back, Kenichi. It's my turn."

"Sure…" Kenichi breathed out as he sat up. "Take your time."

"Okay, punk." Sakaki entered the same stance as before. "Like Kenichi, try to get into my reach."

Shirou exhaled as he lowered his arm. Then, with a dash of speed, he charged straight ahead. Sakaki responded by using the same kick that had knocked away Kenichi. Shirou jumped by jumping lightly in the air and landing his hands on Sakaki's extended leg to hold himself up. Then he twisted his body around to aim his own kick at Sakaki's head.

Sakaki looked really annoyed at that point and bent his knee to shake Shirou off his leg before throwing a punch at him before his kick could reach him. Unable to dodge, Shirou crossed his arms over his chest to block the punch and was blown back in the air before landing back on the ground on his feet.

"Wow, he didn't land a hit, but he still managed to get inside and block a counterattack." Kenichi muttered with amazement.

Sakaki just scowled at Shirou with irritation. "Damn it, I'm the one training you right now! Why'd you use some of Kensei's offensive moves?!"

"That's why he was upset?!" Kenichi exclaimed, dumbfounded.

"What does it matter?" Shirou waved it off. "You said get inside, so I did."

"Use Karate to do it next time!" Sakaki snapped, pointing his finger at him. "And if you can't, then just let yourself get clobbered in the face."

"That is beyond unreasonable!" Kenichi got angry on Shirou's behalf.

Shirou just sighed at him. "Good grief, you'd think he was hungover or something?"

Miu then came over to them while banging a bucket with a ladle to get their attention. "Okay boys, it's time for breakfast!"

---

They went inside to eat. After they were done with breakfast though, Kenichi and Miu followed another one of their routines—That was going shopping together.

Once again, Kenichi was carrying everything, though this time the shopping bags were small, so it wasn't so bad.

Or at least it shouldn't have been, but naturally, the Masters wanted to make everything he did into training. So now, whenever he went shopping, two large lead balls were chained to his ankles, weighing him down the whole time.

"Shopping sure has gotten a lot easier since you came to stay with us." Miu noted before smiling at him. "I really appreciate all your help."

Kenichi smiled back at her. "Ah it's nothing, nothing at all, anything I can do to help you out, you just ask." He then grimaced when he looked back at what was weighing him down. "But you know, I'd probably be a lot more helpful to you if they didn't make me drag these stupid legs irons around every time we left the Dojo."

"Well, it's like the Masters told you: think of those as chains of love." Miu then looked forward with nostalgia. "Remember when you used to get winded just from carrying the groceries?"

"Yeah, I must have seemed pretty helpless for a while, but I guess all this training is finally starting to pay off." Kenichi noted before muttering quietly to him. "If I can just keep up this pace, then I should be strong enough to protect Miu soon and maybe even surpass Shirou."

Miu only barely heard him. "What was that you just said?"

"Uh?!" Kenichi stopped before laughing her question off. "Hahaha! Oh, it was nothing important, nothing at all!"

At that moment, Kenichi heard something from behind them and turned around to see. That was when they both Kensei. He seemingly appeared from out of nowhere and was kneeling in front of Kenichi's leg in order to tie a third ball of lead around his ankle.

"Before you surpass anyone or protect anyone else, you're going to need to build up your leg strength." Kensei advised him while tying the chain around his ankle.

"Hey! Where did you…?" Kenichi questioned before he cringed at the sight of the third weight. "Oh, man! I don't need another one!"

---

Later in the afternoon, Kenichi entered Akisame's room in order to speak to him about a particular request. He sat down in front of the Judo Master before he spoke.

"Master, there's something I need to ask you, and it's a matter of life and death." Kenichi told him with the utmost seriousness before continuing. "Would you please give me a day off?"

"A break?" Akisame asked curiously. "Why?"

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I've been training like crazy for three weeks straight without a single day off!" Kenichi shouted with tears streaming down his face. "I need a break! Just for one day! Say yes! Please! Please! Please!" He continuously pleaded.

"Sure, why not?" Akisame accepted his request.

Kenichi became dejected and turned away. "I thought you'd say that, but I had to try at least. Oh well, thanks anyway—" He turned to walk away before finally processing Akisame's actual answer. "You're serious?!"

"Of course, I am." Akisame assured him. "You're right, you have been training hard, and you deserve a break. In fact, come to think of it, we all do, let's all go to the beach tomorrow." He suggested.

Kenichi paused for a moment and did a double-take at Akisame as though he was glowing with light. Kenichi then cried tears of joy and gratitude.

"Master, you're the best!" He ran up to him and placed his hands on top of his own. "Really?! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You've brightened up my day in more ways than one!" He told him hysterically before running out the door. "All right! The beach! Woohoo!"

Akisame just watched him go, but what Kenichi didn't notice at the time was that there was a dark shadow around his eyes.

---

Kenichi was on cloud nine as he was running to Miu's room to tell her the news. "It's been three weeks since I moved into the Dojo. My skills have definitely progressed, but my relationship with Miu hasn't, but a day at the beach with her is gonna change all that!"

After arriving at her room, he opened the door and walked in to see that Miu was there. He was pleased but surprised to see that Shirou was also there.

"Huh, Shirou?" Kenichi blinked. "Why are you in Miu's room?"

"I just came to ask her a question." Shirou told him.

"He wanted to know where Sakaki gets all of his alcohol money." Miu followed up. "As far as I know, he frequently goes to bet on horse races downtown."

"Huh, interesting?" Kenichi noted before shaking his head and remembering the real reason he was there. "Anyways, get this!"

Kenichi then went on to explain the conversation with Akisame and the fact that they were all having a break in the form of a beach trip.

[The beach?] They both asked in unison.

"Yeah, we're leaving tomorrow morning!" Kenichi explained with excitement before focusing on Miu. "Pack your swimsuit~!"

"Oh, I'll have to buy a new one?" Miu realized. "I've outgrown the one I bought last year."

After hearing that, Kenichi's face lit up as he imagined Miu in a one-size-too-small bikini. That caused his emotions to fear and blood to shoot out of his nose as he began to faint.

"Oh God, thank you for these two very bountiful, bouncy bosomy blessings!" Kenichi cheered inwardly before hitting the floor with a perverted gaze glued to his face.

"Aaahhhh?! Kenichi?!" Miu cried out with concern. "What happened?! You're bleeding?!"

Shirou just cringed at him. "I swear, I think he's getting worse."

---

After that little episode, Kenichi went back to his room and started packing everything he thought he needed for the beach while laughing vulgarly. The last thing he was packing was another How-To book.

Kenichi looked over the book with anticipation. "Up until now, I thought this was a waste of money, but at long last, I can finally put this book to use."

"I doubt it."

Kenichi reacted when he heard a sudden voice and turned to his right to see Kensei standing right next to him.

"What the?" Kenichi was taken aback. "How did you?"

"You and her?" This time, Sakaki appeared on his left side. "No way, I wouldn't get my expectations up if I were you. It'll hurt less when she turns you down."

Kenichi glared at him with frustration. "Thanks for the vote of confidence!"

Next, Apachai came in from the window. "When she turns you down, don't hurt yourself. Life is worth living."

Kenichi fell back. "We're all of you spying on me?!" He questioned them.

Finally, Shigure appeared behind him and her mouse—Touchmaru patted him on the shoulder for sympathy.

Kenichi gasped before tearing up. "You're in on this too?!"

Being the only one with common sense, Shirou entered through the door and joined the conversation. "Guys, she can't turn him down if he doesn't tell her anything. And we know he won't."

"Yes, that is a good point." Kensei noticed the logic.

"Are you kidding me?! Well, you're wrong, got it?!" Kenichi denied all of their statements before standing up and yelling. "Just wait! You'll see! YOU'LL ALL SEEEEEEEE!"

CHOP!

Shirou chopped him on the head to shut him up.

"You don't have to yell; we're RIGHT here." He then sighed and leaned in front of him before whispering in his ear. "Look, I'll skip the past where I tell you that book is trash and warn you instead. Do you really think it's a good idea to go to the beach considering that "problem" of yours?"

Kenichi froze up when he was reminded of that but shook it off and tried to stay optimistic. "Don't worry. I'll just stay by the shallow ends near the shore. It'll be fine."

Shirou felt that might work under normal circumstances. But he couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't going to be an ordinary trip to the beach. Especially considering nothing Ryozanpaku does is ever normal.

---

The next day arrived. It was a bright and sunny day, and a large red sailboat was sailing across the sea. The people aboard the ship were the residents of Ryozanpaku. For them, going to the beach meant sailing to an island with a beach on it—An island away from the mainland that they frequently visited during vacations.

It was just Miu and the Masters, though. On the front deck were also, Honoka, Haruto, and Hideki. After being told about the trip, they were invited to join them, and of course, they accepted.

Right now, only Kenichi, Miu, and Sakaki weren't on the upper deck. Everyone was enjoying the sail while the Elder was steering the boat.

Hideki was lying down and resting his back against the mainmast to enjoy the breeze. "Hmm, it's been too long since I've ridden a boat."

Haruto was also enjoying himself as he looked up at the clouds. "Traveling really is the best. I'm glad I didn't miss this trip."

"Hahaha!" Hayato laughed good-naturedly. "Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it. After all, vacations are nothing if not fun."

A flock of Seagulls was flying around nearby, and Honoka ran up to the edge to get a closer look. "Wooow! I've never seen seagulls before! There's so many of them!"

"Apa!" Apachai marveled at them as well.

Shigure brought out a sickle and chain and prepared to swing it at the birds. "…Wanna find out… How they taste?"

"What?!" Honoka yelped when she heard that and quickly tried to stop her. "No! Stop!"

Apachai did the same and held her back. "Seagulls are for watching, not eating!"

"Okay then…" Shigure lowered her weapon with acceptance. "…Whatever."

Honoka breathed a sigh of relief while Haruto came over to look as well. "Hmm, now that you mentioned, I am kind of curious to know what they taste like."

"Huh?" Honoka became surprised again. "Don't say that! Who knows what she'll do!"

"I just said I'm curious, aren't you?" Haruto reasoned.

Shirou stepped forward to join them. "Actually, now that someone has brought it up, I'm interested to know myself."

"What's wrong with you guys?" Honoka snapped at them. "Not every bird is one you can eat."

They both shrugged as Shirou. "Meh, we'll find out some other time."

With that settled, Honoka looked over to Hayato. "You guys sure had me fooled. You live in a dinghy Dojo like a bunch of hobos, but you're actually rolling in dough. If you weren't, you couldn't have bought this fancy boat."

"Fancy? This old thing? You must be joking!" Hayato laughed some more.

"Bought?" Shirou repeated, knowing she misunderstood.

Haruto decided to bear the bad news. "Honoka, they didn't use money to get this boat."

"Huh?" Honoka blinked with confusion. "Well, then, where else could it have come from?"

"I'm afraid they're right. We didn't buy this vessel. We built it." Akisame corrected her.

"You built it?!" Honoka asked, now sounding worried.

At that moment, Apachai was painting the floor, and Kensei pointed to a spot on the floorboards. "Look, you missed a spot."

"Oops, Apachai is bad painter!" Apachai proceeded to paint the spot.

"Wait a minute! You mean you guys actually built this tube yourselves?!" Honoka asked again, and they all nodded to confirm it.

"Sorry, kid, but these guys don't have the finances to buy a dingy, much less a full-sized boat." Shirou informed her bluntly. "They only built it because they were broke."

Honoka's eyes lit up with a fearful realization as she started shaking. "They did…? I'm too young to die…."

"Hahahaha, don't worry, little one, you're safe." Hayato reassured her. "I've been to the Island many times on Sekitoba 2."

"Did he say 2?" Honoka zoned in on that detail before asking nervously. "Umm, so tell me, if this is 2, what happened to Sekitoba 1?"

Instead of answering, Akisame lowered his binoculars. "We don't appear to be picking up any speed. I'll go see what's wrong with the engine." He decided as he walked away. "Shirou, you come to."

"Whatever." Shirou shrugged as he followed him.

After not getting an answer to her question, Honoka became more nervous and turned to Apachai. "Apachai, what happened to the first boat?"

She saw that Apachai couldn't answer her because he was forcibly covering his mouth. Now she was really afraid. So, Haruto spoke to her. "Honoka, it should be obvious by this point that the first boat sank."

"Is that true?!" Honoka asked with dismay.

"…It is." Shigure answered before anyone could stop her.

"Hey, don't tell her that. You'll scare her." Kensei scolded them.

"I'm pretty sure hiding it from her was scaring her more." Hideki pointed out. "Besides, it's not that surprising. Half of every boat that sails either sink or gets stolen."

"Is that true?" Honoka fearfully asked Haruto.

"Well…" Haruto averted eye contact. "I wouldn't exactly say half."

---

Meanwhile, on the ship's lower deck, Shirou and Akisame passed by the kitchen on the way to the engine and saw Miu there while she was making rice balls.

"Miu, can you take over as navigator for just a bit?" Akisame requested.

"Oh, sure thing." Miu happily complained and took the binoculars as she headed up.

With that out of the way, the two of them entered the engine room to find out what the problem was as if they didn't already know.

"What's wrong, engine? We need a lot more horsepower?" Akisame said while scratching his hair. "At the rate you're going, we'll never make it to the Island."

As it turned out, the engine was Kenichi. To make the ship move, they had an engine that was powered by a cycling machine. Using both the arm hand-bike and leg-bike at the same time, Kenichi was powering the engine to move the boat. However, he looked like an exhausted mess that was seconds away from collapsing.

"Our little engine that couldn't has reached its limit." Sakaki informed him, having been here the whole time to monitor Kenichi. "The thing keeping him from totally sputtering out is the thought of seeing Miu in a bikini."

"Let it be a two-piece! Please, let it be a two-piece!" Kenichi fanatically shouted through his exhaustion. "I gotta see some boobies!"

Shirou groaned and lowered his head. "I wanna feel bad for the guy, but he's so damn pathetic."

Akisame stepped forward. "Well then, do you think we should switch this clunker out for a model with a look more power?"

"Hmm, might be for the best." Sakaki agreed with that idea.

Akisame turned to Shirou. "Okay, Shirou, you're up."

"Fine, but only because I still prefer to train on vacations." He told them before thinking. "That, and I'm pretty sure they'd take it too far if I let them do it."

With that, Sakaki lifted Kenichi up and away from the bike as Shirou sat on it. He gripped his hands on the hand bars and placed his legs on the pedals. After that, he started cycling his arms and legs as fast as he could go. The ship responded and started picking up speed. It didn't go too fast, but it was certainly faster than when Kenichi was cycling and fast enough to satisfy Akisame and Sakaki.

"Yeah, this is much better." Sakaki noted with satisfaction.

"I'm glad the upgrade engine is working properly." Akisame continued with that joke.

"Grr…" Shirou kept cycling, but it was still heavy on his limbs to move the whole ship. Still, he never slowed down for a second.

---

Back on the upper deck, they started to pick up speed, and everyone noticed that they were going faster than a moment ago.

"Apapapa!" Apachai cheered.

"I think we're going faster?" Honoka noticed, feeling some wind resistance.

"I guess Akisame must have solved our engine problem, huh?" Hayato noted with enjoyment.

Miu smiled while navigating. "At the rate we're going, we'll reach the Island in just half an hour, Grandpa."

"It's Captain Grandpa today!" Hayato gleefully reminded her while steering. "We're almost there, my favorite vacation spot. I discovered it myself. Fuurinji Island!"

As the ship got closer to the Island, Haruto walked over to the mainmast where his Father was. "While the engine is environmentally friendly, is it necessary to even have a human-powered engine on a small sailboat like this? I mean, the sails and the wind should be able to do the job fine, right?"

"It really all depends." Hideki pointed out nonchalantly. "If you want to go faster than the winds can take you, you can use the engine. Besides, if one of the Masters had been cycling instead of Shirou or Kenichi, we probably would have reached land in a couple of minutes."

Haruto didn't seem to see the merit in that. "But just rushing to get there defeats the enjoyment of sailing in the first place."

By that point, Kenichi was crawling out from the lower deck and sprayed out on the floor of the upper deck while gasping for air and covered in sweat.

"Gah…" Kenichi groaned before using the last of his strength to ask. "…Hey, has Miu changed into her bikini…?"

While hardly anyone else even noticed him, Haruto just sighed at him. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

---

After sailing for a while longer, the boat finally reached land, and they dropped anchor. Shirou, Akisame, and Sakaki came up from the lower deck as well, and Kenichi finally regained enough strength to move around and breathe properly. Once they all got off the ship, all first-timers took in the sight of Fuurinji Island.

The Island was a wide circular shape and was covered with greenery everywhere. There were wide and thick forest lands all over the Island. Around the center were several large Rocky Mountains, some of the edges of the Island had steep rocky cliffs, and beneath those cliffs were clear white sandy beaches.

They docked the ship by the shore and started walking along an upper path through the forest. After clearing through a bit of trees, the whole group arrived at a well-built, two-floored, wooden cabin that seemed big enough to house a number of people.

Both Kenichi and Honoka were impressed as Honoka had a sparkle again. "I knew it. You guys are super-rich. You'd have to be to buy a vacation home like that one."

Haruto tapped her on the head. "I thought we've been other this? They obviously didn't buy that either."

"He's right." Miu confirmed his statement. "We actually built this house ourselves, too."

Once again, Kenichi and Honoka were surprised. Then, they were confused when they saw Apachai walk by while carrying a large tree log.

"Apapapa!" Apachai placed the log on the ground and brought out a saw as he started sawing the log. "Saw the tree, build the house~ Saw the house, build the saw~ Saw, saw, saw~!"

His song was stopped when Sakaki and Akisame approached him.

"Hold up, big guy." Sakaki started.

"We already built the house, remember?" Akisame reminded him.

"Apa?!" Apachai just blinked.

The Shirahama siblings stared at them with astonishment.

"You mean they built this thing too?!" Kenichi thought with disbelief.

"Why are you so surprised?" Shirou could pretty much guess what he was thinking based on the look on his face. "It's a log cabin. Plenty of people out there build these things."

"Yeah, but that's usually done by professionals and a group, not just half a dozen broke Martial Artists!" Kenichi pointed out.

"Do we even know if it's safely structured?" Honoka asked worriedly.

"Well, if the boat didn't sink, the house won't fall." Hideki reasoned optimistically.

"Besides, my legs feel like lead after all that cycling." Shirou complained, walking towards the door. "At this point, all I care about is lying down for a while."

"I suppose he has the right idea." Hayato stepped forward and opened the front door of the house. "Let's all settle in and rest off from our long journey before kicking off our vacation."

With that, everyone made their way inside.

---

After an hour had passed since they arrived on the Island, almost everyone made their way to the beach. Kenichi changed into blue swim trunks, Honoka wore a simple one-piece swimsuit, Kensei wore an old-fashioned, striped swimsuit that covered his whole body, Apachai wore what he usually wore but without a shirt, Shirou wore an opened, white buttoned-up shirt and black board-shorts, and Haruto wore black swim trunks and a red vest.

Hayato, Akisame, and Sakaki weren't there, while Hideki and Shigure were dressed normally. Kenichi was waiting in anticipation for Miu to arrive when he heard her voice.

"Hey!" Miu called out as she approached. "Sorry to make you wait!"

Not hesitating for a moment, Kenichi turned to gaze upon the sight of Miu in her swimsuit. Naturally, he was not disappointed as Miu arrived wearing an orange, tight-fitting bikini that hugged her skin perfectly and showed off her curves.

Both Kenichi and Kensei felt their faces heat up immediately as blood streamed from their noses when they saw her. With a smile of pure bliss, Kenichi muttered. "I'm so happy. All my suffering finally paid off."

Kensei was just rapidly taking pictures of her with his camera. "Yes, yes, this is what a trip to the beach is all about!"

Miu didn't seem to acknowledge their reactions, though Honoka just became irritated when she saw Miu and how "bewitched" Kenichi was by her and stormed off. Apachai went with her, and they played together. As for Shirou and Haruto's reactions, however—

"Meh…" Haruto barely reacted at all.

"Anyways…" Shirou didn't give her a second glance.

[That's all!?] Kenichi and Kensei shouted while flabbergasted.

After that, the two Brothers found themselves being confronted by the Chinese Master and weak-willed Disciple as they got in their faces.

"What kind of unresponsive reaction was that?!" Kenichi acted like they had done something wrong. "Is that all you have to say after seeing Miu in her awesome swimsuit?!"

"I've been wondering this for a while now, but what kind of tastes do you even have?!" Kensei questioned them with the same tone. "Regardless of what you think of someone, how can you not be enamored by someone as beautiful as Miu—In a bikini, no less?! She could put models to shame!"

Shirou and Haruto just backed away a bit before looking at each other for a moment, then back at the other two.

"It's not that I don't find Miu attractive. It's just not enough to get a reaction out of me anymore." Haruto explained, acting like it was no big deal. "After what we were used to, regular stuff just isn't that exciting."

"What you're used to?" Kensei repeated with confusion.

"Regular?" Kenichi was also confused.

"It's the same for me, honestly." Shirou was in agreement with his Brother. "It's exciting to you guys because you hardly ever get to see it. But for us, a single girl in a bikini is a step down by comparison."

"What are you guys talking about?" Kenichi questioned, not understanding at all. "What are you even comparing this to?"

"Let me explain." Hideki stepped forward to join the conversation. "The truth is, it was a part of their training a few years ago."

"And what type of training was that?" Kensei asked curiously.

"As you know, for a large portion of our young lives, we were traveling around the globe for the purpose of training." Shirou informed any who was unaware. "What you don't know is that during that time, a few years ago, we stopped off in France and spent the whole summer there."

"Really, you got to go to France?" Miu sounded both amazed and envious. "That sounds like so much fun."

"But what kind of training did you do in France?" Kenichi asked, still curious.

"It was actually a very special kind of training." Hideki answered him while feeling a wave of nostalgia. "I remember those days fondly. The training was mainly me and my sons spending those summer days at San Tropez beach."

"A beach?" Kenichi blinked, not getting it. "How does going to the beach count as training?" He questioned, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I mean, if it did, I'd train there all the time."

"Kenichi…" Haruto felt awkward about having to explain it. "San Tropez isn't an ordinary beach. They have different standards than Japan."

"They do?" Kenichi still didn't see the problem. "In what way?"

Shirou decided just to be blunt. "San Tropez is a beach where a reasonably high number of the women there go topless."

.

.

.

.

.

Kenichi, Miu, and Kensei all paused. It was evident that none of them were aware of this fact at all. A small wave crashed onto the shore to break the silence as they stayed frozen for a little bit longer.

Kenichi was the first one to respond, and while stiff as a robot, he spoke. "W-what did you just say…?"

"It's true, though it's not exactly a rule or requirement. There's nothing against it either." Haruto explained to follow up. "So in the summertime, it's pretty common to see a lot of women on the beach who are bare-chested."

[Gah!] Kenichi and Kensei fell over at the same time.

Right now, they were having nosebleeds again, and this time they were losing twice as much blood as when they saw Miu in her swimsuit. Miu blushed profusely as she just pictured it.

"Are you serious?!" Miu snapped at Hideki with a flustered expression. "You took two preteen boys to a place surrounded by semi-dressed women?!"

"I mean, yeah?" Hideki shrugged, not denying it. "All part of the plan."

"What plan?!" Miu still sounded flabbergasted. "What possibly good could you have for doing that?!"

"Because that…" Hideki answered by pointing.

Miu looked in the direction he was pointing at and saw what he was referring to. Still lying on the sand, Kenichi and Kensei had wide grins, red cheeks, and rivers of blood trickling down their noses as they blissfully sank into their imagination.

"Boobs~ French boobs~!" Kenichi murmured softly.

"Every day, beautiful bouncy bosoms, a dream within a dream~" Kensei had steam rising from his ears.

"Master, I want to go someday~" Kenichi proclaimed wishfully.

"I'll make sure I see it before I die." Kensei vowed with honesty.

As if they just proved a point, Hideki continued. "Regardless of how strong or dedicated a fighter is, there will always exist the possible weakness of uncontrollable emotions. Especially for the Japanese—The horniest race in the world."

"We're not the… Horniest race…" Miu hesitated to argue with him.

[Yes, we are.] Shirou and Haruto shit down her argument.

"I wanted my sons to avoid becoming slaves to their hormones, so I figured the best thing to do was to fix that at an early age." Hideki explained. "Guys who are obsessed with the female body are often those who know nothing about it, causing uncontrollable libido, but by being more aware and eventually becoming used to it, your libido becomes more controlled."

"Is that true?" Miu was less flustered but unsure.

Shirou shrugged. "I mean, sure, during the first few days, it was hard to calm down and stop trying just to keep staring at the ground, but after a while, I stopped worrying so much. By the time we left, I think I just stopped caring entirely."

"It's like when you see a rainbow." Haruto used a metaphor. "Seeing it just once is uncommon, and when you actually do, you feel you can't look away, but if you saw a rainbow every day, back-to-back, anybody would feel like the novelty has worn off."

"Which is what I was hoping for." Hideki finished with satisfaction. "Now, I'll never have to worry about those two becoming useless perverts who are constantly distracted by women."

"I guess that's a good thing." Miu had to accept the merit of the outcome.

Shigure then approached Shirou and asked. "…Is that why you… Hardly reacted… At all to Miu… Back at the… Hot spring?"

Miu yelped when she was reminded of that while Kenichi and Kensei immediately got up, and their ears perked up at that last bit of information. Shirou just nonchalantly answered. "Well, yeah, I told you those weren't the first ones I've seen."

"Wait! Rewind a bit!" Kenichi rocketed over to Shirou and grabbed him by the shoulders with an almost crazed look on his face. "What does she mean "back at the hot spring" huh? Don't tell me you did what I'm hoping you didn't?! When?!"

"On the first day, you moved in." Shirou was frank as he answered him. "Shigure invited me. Miu happened to be there as well."

Kenichi looked as though he was hit with a blow to the head as he let go of him, and he stepped back while moving like he was dizzy as he turned to Miu. "…M-Miu… Is that true…?"

He was probably hoping to hear her deny it, but to his regret, she didn't really say anything. All she did was shyly look away while blushing, which was all the explanation he needed."

"Augh!" Kenichi collapsed on his hands and knees and looked as though the world was ending as he whispered. "…The ultimate dream that escaped me that night went to him? Is there no God? Does the world not love me…?"

"Wow, that's more than his usual overdramatic reaction." Haruto noted.

Kensei merely patted Shirou on the shoulder with reluctant acceptance. "As a Master, I've never been so proud and angry at my Disciple before today. You've made me very confused."

"Yeah, I do that." Shirou responded with little concern.

"Now, do you get why I wanted to kill the pervert inside of them before it came out?" Hideki once again acted like they proved his point.

"Okay, I get it." Miu could fully see his point. "I still don't like it, though."

Shigure just looked back and forth at them before wondering. "Did I… Say something wrong?"

At that point, Akisame and Sakaki finally arrived and approached them on the shore. They were both dressed in their usual clothes, only without their shoes.

"Hello, everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting." Akisame greeted them as they arrived. When they stepped, they noticed Kenichi was still curled up into a ball of melancholy. "Hmm, is something wrong, Kenichi?"

"…My life sucks…" Kenichi didn't register their appearance and kept muttering to himself. "…What's the point in doing anything…?"

"What the hell's he talking about?" Sakaki asked with uncertainty.

"Well, whatever it is, I know just the remedy." Akisame announced as he lifted Kenichi over his shoulder and started walking away. "You won't even be able to think about being depressed when I'm done with you."

As if he had just woken up and only now noticed he was being taken away somewhere, Kenichi looked around. "Wait, what's going on?"

---

A few minutes later, Miu and Honoka were in the water and playing around while Kensei was still snapping pictures of her with his camera. After moving Kenichi somewhere, Akisame, along with everyone else, was with him at a spot where they could see the others playing.

Miu waved at Kenichi from afar. "Hey! Kenichi! Come join us. Hurry up!"

Honoka did so, too while holding up a beach ball. "Yeah! Get a move on! What's taking you so long?!"

Despite their words, Kenichi just looked uncomfortable with Akisame and Sakaki right behind him.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Akisame encouraged him. "They're calling for you. You better get going."

"You wanted a face full of boobies, right?" Sakaki reminded him. "Well, there they are."

Kenichi sweated a bit. "Yeah, that's true. I do want to join her, but… It's just that…." Kenichi looked downward before shouting. "Why do I have to do it from on top of this cliff?! It's suicide?!"

It was true. Right now, they were all standing at the edge of one of the rocky cliffs that were nearby. It was as tall as a three-story building and at a walking distance from the beach.

Honoka saw him up there and looked at Miu. "Hey, blondie, what the heck is he doing up there?"

"Uhh?" Miu was unsure as to how she should answer that.

Back on the cliff, Sakaki began to explain their reasoning for bringing him here. "Listen up, Kenichi. There's one thing that every Martial Artist must have. It's a little thing called courage. It's the most important thing in a fight. If you're too scared of what might happen, you've already lost. If you wanna win, you have to have courage, and a lack of it is your biggest weakness right now."

Akisame nodded in agreement with Sakaki's evaluation. "It's affecting your progress. If you don't conquer this now, you'll never move to the next level."

After he informed him of that, Kenichi gulped. His previous melancholy attitude was completely gone and replaced with a serious demeanor.

"That's why we've planned out some highly intensive courage-building activities while we're on the Island." Akisame continued.

"What?! I have to train here?!" Kenichi obviously didn't like that idea. "I've got courage. I beat up mop-hair, didn't I? Besides, you told me I could have the day off!"

"You can if you pass the test." Akisame promised him. "Have you ever heard of Pentecost Island? It's in the South Pacific. Young men there test their courage by jumping from high towers with a vine tied to their feet. It's a tribal coming-of-age ceremony and the origin of modern-day bungee jumping."

"Huh, is all that true?" Shirou asked Hideki.

Hideki nodded. "I've never been there, but I do know where bungee jumping came from, and I bungee jumped myself a while back."

"Hmm, wouldn't mind trying it myself one day." Shirou thought it over.

Akisame continued his lecture. "Here's the test. If you can jump from here, we'll excuse you from any of the training we have planned."

"No way! I'm not here for a coming-of-age ceremony!" Kenichi refused his arrangement. "Those other guys had a vine, at least."

"If we're going by that logic, didn't those other guys have to jump toward the hard ground?" Haruto pointed out. "In that case, since you have the ocean, your thing is a lot safer, even if you factor in the vine."

"Well, that's…." Kenichi scrambled, trying to think of a counterargument.

Shirou leaned down and told his Brother. "Normally, that's true, but that's not the main reason why he doesn't want to jump."

Before Haruto could ask what he meant, Kenichi pointed to the edge and spoke again. "It could be dangerous because there could be lots of sharp rocks down there!"

He stopped when he noticed Shigure had walked past him. She then removed her pink kimono and revealed her swimwear. Rather than a swimsuit, all she wore around her top were bandages that were tied tightly around her chest, and below, she wore a white loincloth that was short, tight, and barely covered her front, which was saying something considering the backside covered even less.

Kenichi had a wide grin again and became flushed at the sight of her. He had yet another nosebleed as he fell over while Kensei demonstrated his superior speed by dashing from the beach to the cliff in record time just to snap photos of Shigure on his camera.

"I don't get how he hasn't gotten anemic yet from losing all that blood in one day?" Haruto wondered about Kenichi's repeated nosebleeds.

"Really? 'Cause what I'm wondering about is how has Kensei not run out of film yet?" Shirou wondered about the Kung Fu Master's camera.

Shigure then picked up a three-pointed spear and stood at the edge of the cliff before she jumped over it, causing Kenichi to scream in fear. "Waaaaaaahhhhhh!?"

Honoka and Miu saw her jump as well, and both of them became worried, but for a different reason.

"She's nuts! That's dangerous!" Honoka expressed concern.

"Especially dressed like that!" Miu added, not as worried, though.

Kenichi ran to the edge to see her hit the ocean beneath. "Why did you throw your life away?! SHIGURE?!"

Despite his screams, not one person on that cliff seemed concerned in the least. That said, Honoka was really starting to worry when Shigure hadn't resurfaced from the water for a bit.

"Shigure!" Honoka ran over to where she landed, and Miu followed her.

After staying down there for a while, Shigure finally resurfaced. She came up from the ocean's surface, and she was shown to be perfectly fine. On her spear was a large fish she had caught while down there.

Shigure looked up at the cliff and spoke. "…No rocks here…! Jump!"

Kenichi's eyes became dots after seeing that as he muttered. "…She jumped right in… Without even thinking.

Shirou went up to his and asked. "You just forgot that every adult here is superhuman, didn't you?"

"Well, it…" Kenichi hesitated, somewhat ashamed of his overreaction. "…It may have slipped my mind."

Sakaki also went up to him with a disappointed expression. "Great, that sucked all the fun out of it."

Akisame then pointed at him. "Now you have no excuse not to jump."

Kenichi cringed as comical waterfalls of tears streamed down his cheeks. Haruto looked up at Hideki and asked. "Just so I'm sure, if I jump off that cliff, I'm a man, right?"

"That is how this works." Hideki confirmed it.

Without another word, Haruto ran past everyone else, jumped over Kenichi and the edge, and fell down towards the sea.

"Wait!" Kenichi became worried again. "Haruto?! What is wrong with you peopleeeeee?!"

Meanwhile, Miu and Honoka ran over to Shigure and quickly reached her.

"Oh, my God! Shigure!" Honoka got her attention. "That was a close call!"

"She's right. The next time you do that, please wear a proper swimsuit!" Miu scolded her.

Honoka slapped the air. "That's not what I meant!"

Shigure stood up and looked at Miu. "But at… The beach, I… always wear… This."

After saying that, Kensei ran back down to take more pictures.

It was at that point that another splash was kicked up after something else—Or rather, someone else—Landed into the ocean. He then shot up from the surface right away, with a deep breath, before smiling with satisfaction.

"I did it." Haruto proclaimed with joy.

"Haruto, too?!" Honoka asked, looking thrown off. "Do all of you guys have a death wish or something?!"

Haruto ignored her and looked up at the cliff victoriously as he raised his fist toward them and announced. "Today! I am a man!"

Shirou followed up and shouted at the edge of the cliff. "Today! You are a man!"

Hideki smirked with pride. "It's a proud day for a Father to see his son become a man."

"He didn't hesitate for a moment. That's impressive." Akisame acknowledged before looking back at Kenichi. "Go on, Kenichi. Now it's your turn to prove your courage."

"He's right. You don't wanna get outmanned by a kid, do you?" Sakaki questioned him.

Kenichi just stayed in place before staring at the ground in defeat. "If I… If I tell you, guys, something, will you promise me that you won't tell Miu about it?"

Akisame and Sakaki just looked confused while Hideki asked. "Why Miu specifically?"

Shirou didn't say anything because he already knew what the problem was, as Kenichi begrudgingly confessed. "The truth is… I don't know how to swim."

None of them said anything for a moment. After that, Akisame rubbed his mustache and smiled. "So? That's no excuse."

"It just makes things more exciting." Sakaki added, also smiling.

"Huh?" Kenichi was surprised by their reactions. If anything, they seemed pleased to know that he couldn't swim.

"Enough talk. Jump off the cliff." Akisame ordered him.

"Right now." Sakaki followed up. Both were completely serious. "Either that or you start training."

"Uh, that's…." Kenichi was hesitant as he didn't like either option. "That's like asking me to choose how to dieeee~" He cried.

"Ugh, don't start crying…." Shirou groaned, feeling irked.

Hideki rubbed the back of his head. "I don't mean to be indelicate, but this is kind of sad."

"Now, now." Hayato placated the situation as he arrived at the cliff with them. His swimsuit was just a single red loincloth. "With that kind of pressure, even a fearless person would hesitate."

"You are not seriously wearing that." Shirou commented.

"Do you have any better ideas, Old man?" Sakaki questioned him. "How would you get him to jump."

"I'd approach him quietly and get as close as I could." Hayato explained while doing just that. He then tapped him on the shoulder.

"And then what would you do?" Akisame asked.

One of Hayato's eyes sparkled as he lifted up Kenichi and held him in a full nelson. "Grab him quickly and do this!"

He then leaped off the edge of the cliff while holding Kenichi as they both plummeted toward the ocean.

"YAAAAAAAAGGHHHH!" Kenichi screamed like he was about to die.

"IF YOU WANT TO LEARN HOW TO SWIM! THE BEST WAY IS TO JUMP IN HEADFIRST!" Hayato yelled through Kenichi's screaming.

Hayato laughed loudly while Kenichi shrieked at the top of his lungs. "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Those on the cliff watched them drop as Akisame and Sakaki were clearly not impressed.

"While inventive, that defeats the purpose." Akisame said with disapproval. "Kenichi really needs to work up the courage himself."

Soon enough, they landed in the ocean with the biggest splash of the day.

"These guys are sociopathic." Hideki shook his head. "I agree that Kenichi could use more courage, but trying to force it out of him won't work at all."

"Well, that's about all they know. Either way, we should head back down." Shirou decided before staring at the edge and shrugging. "Eh, what the heck?"

With that, Shirou dashed towards the edge and jumped off the cliff himself. He dropped down fast before creating a splash of his own before landing. It seems he just wanted to give it a try.

---

A little while later, they all returned to the beach. Right now, Miu, Honoka, Haruto, Apachai, and Shigure were playing with a beach ball, and Kensei was still taking pictures. Akisame, Sakaki, Hayato, and Hideki were sitting together around a small campfire they started after gathering sticks and bringing them to the shore.

Kenichi was shocked into unconsciousness after what happened on the cliff and was now lying on the sand beneath the shade of a large rock. As he started to wake up, he heard some of them talking.

"We were trying to make him face his fear. All you did was add to it." Sakaki reprimanded the Elder.

"Hmm… I apologize. I may have gone overboard." Hayato humbly admitted. "You're right. He must jump from that cliff on his own."

Kenichi paled when he heard that specific part. Akisame continued the conversation. "We'll make him jump off again once he wakes up."

"If he can't, it's nothing but back-breaking training for two days." Sakaki decided.

"Yes, I agree." Hayato added.

"You guys are hopelessly sadistic." Hideki shook his head at them.

Kenichi felt his unease increase the longer the conversation went on. "Uh oh! Not good!"

He just imagined what kind of horrors they would subject him to in the name of training and couldn't stop himself from feeling panicked. At the same time, he would have done anything to avoid having to jump from the cliff.

"No matter what I do, I'll definitely die." Kenichi despaired at his situation. "As the saying goes: When you only have two options, pick the. Well, I'm picking the third. I'm getting the hell off this Island!"

Kenichi then got up and ran away from the beach and towards the woods. No one noticed him leaving. However, Shirou, who had gone into the woods to gather more sticks for the fire, was hiding back to the shore and saw Kenichi running away.

"Hmm, he woke sooner than I thought." Shirou noted before he kept walking.

---

A little while after Kenichi ran off, the others finally noticed that he was gone. Right now, they were gathered around Kensei, who was explaining the situation to them.

"He what?!" Miu exclaimed with surprise.

"He ran away? Are you sure?" Akisame asked.

Kensei nervously played with his fingers. "Well, it certainly seems so. It happened when I went to check on him to see if he had regained consciousness."

Back when Kenichi was trying to sneak away, just before he reached the woods, Kensei spotted him.

(Kenichi!) Kensei shouted, which made him halt. (Where do you think you're going?)

Kenichi hung his head with dismay at being caught immediately. Then, an idea hit him as he turned and pointed towards the beach.

(Look! I think Miu's top just came undone!) Kenichi informed him.

(What?!) Kensei's eyes lit up, and he instantly turned around to see. (Where?! Where?! Show me! I've got to get a picture of this!)

While he was frantically looking around to see what Kenichi was talking about, Kenichi himself ran off to make his escape successfully.

"And that's… How he escaped from me…." Kensei reluctantly admitted his blunder. "I'm so embarrassed."

[I'd be too if I were you.] Sakaki and Akisame said together with disappointment.

"Oh, brother." Miu muttered with annoyance. "This Island's small… Then again, it's big enough to get lost in, and it can be dangerous, too. If you didn't know where you were going, you could stumble off a cliff."

"What was he thinking?" Akisame sighed. "Well, we don't have any choice. We'll have to split up into search parties and HUNT KENICHI DOWN LIKE A DOG!" He yelled that last part.

"Enough is enough!" Shirou stepped up, stopping him. "How far do you need to go before you realize you've gone too far?!"

"What are you talking about? We're just trying to bring him back so he doesn't get lost?" Akisame pointed out. "Nothing wrong with that?"

"And what will you do after you bring him back? Will you just keep threatening him to jump off a cliff, knowing he'll drown in the water?" Shirou accused him. "Or how about forcing him to go through with tortuous training while everyone else is relaxing? Which one?"

They stopped for a moment before Sakaki answered. "Well, we're just to help build Kenichi's courage."

"That sounds like a nice thing to do, but you don't seem to realize that you can't force someone to be brave." Shirou reprimanded them. "Kenichi may be a total bitch, but that doesn't mean you can just make him do high-risk stunts and expect that to fix him overnight. Are you even thinking this through?"

"Well, what do you want us to do?" Akisame asked curiously.

"Excuse me? What do I want? The question you should be asking is what does he want?" Shirou told them, losing his patience. "Contrary to what you might think, you are not the center of his universe. He has other priorities. Granted, they might be stupid-ass priorities, but that doesn't make it okay for you guys to just walk in and act like you can make every decision for him. If he wants to go, then sit your ass down and let him."

"But what if he gets lost?" Miu reminded him, still worried.

"He won't because I'll go and find him. At least that way, he won't try to run when he sees me." Shirou said decidedly. "But even if I find him, I won't bring him back. He'll only come back when he decides to."

After saying all that, Shirou turned to walk towards the woods, and Haruto followed him. "I'll go too."

As they entered the woods and disappeared into the trees, the other Masters looked at each other before letting out a sigh that showed they weren't upset but pondering what had happened.

"Well, look at that. We were schooled by our Disciple again." Akisame commented.

"Maybe we're just no good at dealing with Kenichi. It always feels like we're doing something wrong with him." Sakaki noticed.

"Well, when it comes to Disciples, some of us have been out of practice for a long time." Hayato reminded them.

"So, what do we do now?" Kensei wondered. "Should we really not look for him?"

"Just leave him alone for now." Hideki advised them. "Kenichi's too stressed out right now to respond to you all. The best thing to do is to let him take his time and calm down. And being with a friend his own age that he trusts should be what's best for him right now, he'll respond to Shirou."

"You're right. At times like these, the issues of a Disciple are best solved with another Disciple." Hayato decided.

"And besides, we're on an Island." Akisame pointed out. "No matter where he runs, it's not like he can leave. He'll have to come back at some point. We'll figure things out then.

---

Meanwhile, deep in the forests of the Island, Kenichi had changed into his training gi and was running for his life on a rocky slope going downward.

"This isn't what it looks like! I am not running away!" Kenichi yelled at no one before tripping and falling to the ground. "It's a strategic withdrawal! I don't wanna die, so I'm leaving! That's it!"

"And that's what we usually call running away."

Kenichi imagined hearing the disembodied voice of Akisame responding to his words and started to freak out. "Ah! Who said that?! Who said that? Where are you?!"

Unbeknownst to him, Shirou and Haruto had caught and could now see and hear him. However, they weren't exactly sure what they were looking at.

"Hey, Brother, what's he doing?" Haruto asked.

"I'm watching the same thing as you, buddy. I don't know?" Shirou replied indifferently.

Kenichi shouted back at the imaginary voice. "You're wrong! I'm not running away! There's a difference between running and a strategic withdrawal! A difference!"

"You're making excuses to no one?" Kenichi stopped when he heard Shirou's voice and turned to see him and Haruto approach him. "What are you trying to prove? And to whom?"

"Wha? How did you guys find me?" Kenichi asked them, still on the ground.

"What do you mean how?" Shirou acted like that wasn't even a question. "You were screaming at the top of your lungs in an empty forest. We found you in five minutes."

Kenichi just hung his head back down in defeat.

---

Back at the beach, Apachai and Honoka were still playing in the sand, building sandcastles. Then, after a while, Apachai noticed that it was noticeably quieter than before and looked around.

"Hey, wait, that's weird. Where did everybody go?" Apachai wondered.

"That's funny. I could have sworn they were all here a minute ago?" Honoka looked around as well.

Apachai then stood up. "Apachai knows what this is. Sometimes, they go back to the house for a while. Apachai is going to check to make sure that everyone is there. You stay put; Apachai will be back soon."

"'Kay!" Honoka responded as she watched him go.

Now, the young girl was left alone on the beach unsupervised.

---

Back in the woods, after having found Kenichi, the three of them found a river with a small stream. Kenichi kneeled down and drank some of the river water. After refreshing himself, he pondered his situation.

"Hey, wait, now that I think about it, I'm on an Island. The only way to get home is by boat, and there's only one here." Kenichi relaxed, becoming worried. "They've probably got it under armed guard by now. The only reason I came here was to be with Miu!" Kenichi imagined the scenario in his head. "My dream of spending a romantic evening on the beach with her has turned into a nightmare!" He whined.

"I honestly can't remember the last time you haven't gone five minutes without mentioning Miu." Shirou told him indifferently. "That's basically your whole identity now."

Kenichi looked away from him with a pout. "I'm not talking to you."

"Why not?" Shirou asked, though he had a pretty good idea.

"I'm still angry that you got to share a bath with Miu!" Kenichi pointed his finger at him.

"We're still talking about that?" Haruto asked. "Didn't he get invited, and she showed up later? So technically, she shared it with him."

"That's not the point!" Kenichi snapped. "I moved into the Dojo to pull off my lovey-dovey plan with Miu, and the bath was the highlight!" He whined loudly. "Why did you get to enjoy instead!"

"Are you serious right now?" Shirou looked like he was just about done with this. "Because your stupid plan was doomed to fail before it began."

"That's not true!" Kenichi denied his claim. "I worked it all out, so it should have!"

"Except you forgot one fact: when has Miu shown any signs that she likes you?" Shirou questioned him. "When has she ever given you the time of day?"

That brutal reminder of his minuscule presence in Miu's eyes and the complete one-sided attraction between the two of them made Kenichi fall as if he were hit by a blow. "…Why not just kill me? That'd be less painful."

"I want to stick up for him, but he just makes it so hard to be on his side." Haruto said to himself while looking at Kenichi.

"Besides, even if you were alone with her for this trip, and even if she had a mild interest, things still wouldn't have gone anywhere." Shirou continued, voicing his doubts. "Nothing would have happened because you wouldn't be willing to make a move. You're too much of a coward."

"I am not a coward!" Kenichi defensively argued.

"How are you not?" Shirou denied his argument. "Whenever the going gets tough, you always want to fold, you only ever want the easy way out if it's possible, and if not, all you do is run and hide, just like you're doing right now."

"I am…" Kenichi started before he stopped and looked away with frustration. "…Okay, my plan was to lay low and not worry about cliff jumping or training." He reluctantly admitted. "But what's wrong with that? This was supposed to be my day off."

"This is Ryozanpaku. The only day off you'll ever get is the day you die." Shirou frankly informed.

Kenichi sighed while lowering his head. "The messed up part is you're probably right."

"And how exactly do you plan on lasting two days in hiding up here?" Shirou questioned him. "You don't know the first thing about survival skills."

"Oh, come on, it's a tropical Island paradise." Kenichi pointed out, unconcerned. "Surviving two days up here shouldn't be too hard."

"The very fact that you believe that just makes it more apparent that you have no chance of making it out here." Haruto informed him.

At that point, they all stopped when they heard something. It was coming in the direction of the river, and the three of them looked to see. What they saw was Shigure, still in her swimwear and standing on a rock above the surface of the water. She was as silent as air, and the sound they heard was the sound of her bringing out a weapon.

"It's Shigure?" Kenichi whispered.

"What's she doing out here?" Haruto whispered, wondering about it.

"Why does she have a bow and arrow?" Shirou wondered, focusing on her weapon.

Shigure kept her eyes closed and was in a state of deep concentration. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and jumped in the air while aiming her bow at the river. At the same time that she fired the arrow, two small fish jumped out of the surface, and while in the air, Shigure's single arrow pierced through both fish before nailing them into a nearby log.

Shigure went over to the log to retrieve her fish when this time, she heard a sound. She turned around and saw Shirou and Haruto walking towards her while Shirou was dragging Kenichi by the collar of his gi as he was trying to run away.

"Let me go!" Kenichi frantically tried to break free to no avail. "If she sees me, I'm dead!"

"Too late, she sees you." Haruto told him, making him shriek.

"Why are… You all here…?" Shigure asked as she walked up to them.

"We were about to ask the same thing." Shirou told her. "But, from the looks of things, you decided to do some fishing."

Shigure nodded to confirm his guess before turning to Kenichi. "Why does he… Want to run away… From me?"

Kenichi shrank down before answering. "Well, to make a long story short—If I don't, I'm going to die on this Island."

After getting him to settle down and after catching some more fish, Shigure started a fire to cook the fish, and the four of them sat around it while they talked.

"And then they said, if I didn't do it, I'd have to train for two straight days! All because I wouldn't jump off that cliff! Isn't it horrible!" Kenichi complained while eating some of the fish.

"Yeah, jumping off the cliff must be completely unreasonable." Shirou sarcastically agreed. "Even if you ignore the fact that every other person here has already done it without a problem."

"Want me to play you a song on the world's smallest violin?" Haruto asked with indifference.

"You guys don't get it! Unlike all of you, I can't swim! Kenichi complained some more. "I'd jump right in if I knew how to swim, but I never learned how to."

"Forgive me for not holding my breath to that." Shirou was skeptical about his claim. "That sounds like just another one of your excuses."

"True. I feel like you're the kind of guy who still wouldn't jump even if you could swim." Haruto didn't believe him.

"How small is your opinion of me!?" Kenichi snapped at both of them.

[You don't want to know.] The Tsukiharu Brothers replied in sync.

"It's easy…." Shigure spoke out, getting their attention. "I could even… Teach you how to… Swim." She offered. "If you want… Do you?"

"Eh?" Kenichi blinked with surprise at her offer.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Haruto thought about it. "If you can't swim, then just learn how to. It's not that hard a problem to fix."

"Yeah, it's something anyone can learn and a lot easier than Martial Arts." Shirou noted, taking a bite of fish.

"Yeah, that's true…." Kenichi realized that this was the best option and thus accepted Shigure's offer.

---

Before they began, Kenichi changed back into his swimsuit, and now, he and Shigure were standing in the river that only reached up to their knees while Shirou and Haruto stayed on the rocks and watched.

Before they began, Kenichi started to get cold feet. "Uh, I appreciate this and all, but your method of teaching me involves me possibly getting hurt or even killed. Count me out."

"Would you stop it already?!" Shirou told him, fed up. "It's just swimming lessons. What could possibly be dangerous about that?"

Kenichi knew he was right and waved his hand. "Sorry, force of habit."

"This river has… A flow…" Shigure informed him while staring at the river. "Do you… Feel it?"

"Huh?" Kenichi looked down and felt the flow of the river beneath his legs. "Yeah, I do."

"Then… Listen closely…" Shigure instructed him. "If you're scared of water… And you try to… Fight against the flow… There's a good… Chance that you'll drown." Then she looked at him. "However… If you relax… And go with the flow… You have nothing to… Worry about."

Kenichi's face hardened when he tried to process her advice. But after that, she grabbed him by the arm and walked further upstream.

"Come on…" Shigure dragged Kenichi along with her.

While they were going, Shirou and Haruto followed them. Haruto looked up at Shirou and asked.

"Brother, her advice, that was a principal of Sei, wasn't it?" Haruto asked him.

"No doubt." Shirou confirmed his suspicion. "Martial Arts that fall under the Sei category or all about keeping a clear mind and going with the flow. I pretty much figured Shigure fit into that type. Now I know for sure."

"So, she plans on using principles of Martial Arts to teach him how to swim?" Haruto wondered.

"Why not?" Shirou didn't see any issue. "Plenty of people incorporated Martial Arts to be skilled in other fields. And considering he doesn't have to fight anyone afterward, he should have it down pretty fast."

After that, they stopped walking when they noticed Kenichi and Shigure had stopped moving. Now, they were further up steam, and the water went up to their waists.

Shigure then got into a swimming position and pulled Kenichi down with her. He was nervous so she spoke to him. "Remember what… I said. Relax and… Go with the flow."

Kenichi still looked nervous but decided to give it a try. He lowered his head into the water and closed his eyes. As Shigure let go of his arm, Kenichi slowly opened his eyes and realized—To his wonder—He was floating. He saw Shigure swim away, and not only could he float, but he could also move his body underwater and swim after her.

"Whoa, I'm moving!" Kenichi thought with amazement at being able to swim. "This is amazing! Just by moving my arms and legs, I can keep up with the fish! Oh man, I'm swimming!"

After that, they both swam back up to the surface for some air. After taking a deep breath, Kenichi looked around, still taking in the fact that he just swam around.

"I don't believe it. I was actually swimming?" Kenichi said to himself, shell-shocked.

"That's good…." Shigure told him. "You wanna… Learn how to… Swim and breathe?"

Kenichi nodded, accepting her offer again, but this time with much more enthusiasm.

Kenichi got back into position as Shigure started to instruct him. She demonstrated by showing him the correct form.

"Whenever you're… Swimming and need to take… A breath… Turn your head to… The side like this… To breathe…" Shigure instructed him.

"Hey, I've heard of this method. It's called free-style swimming." Kenichi named it. "Isn't it?"

"Yes…" Shigure got up. "Some people… Call it that."

Kenichi sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "It was mentioned in a book I read called "How To Swim In 3 Days". Didn't work out, though."

"Did it ever occur to you to just go to the community center and take swimming lessons?" Shirou asked like he was talking to an idiot.

"That would have made infinitely more sense than assuming you could learn how to swim by reading a book." Haruto added.

Kenichi just didn't respond to them because when he looked back on it in hindsight, even he thought buying that book was a stupid idea.

Moving on, Shigure was now out of the water while Kenichi was floating in the middle of the stream. Kenichi tried to do what she instructed but failed the first time.

"Let's try it… Again…" Shigure suggested. "Assume the… Position."

By her call, Kenichi leaned down and lowered his face into the water. He tried to hold his breath down there, but after a few seconds, he failed again and came up before coughing.

"Never… Inhale underwater…" Shigure advised him. "…Exhale instead… Just breathe out… Not in."

"But, if I do that, won't I run out of air eventually?" Kenichi voiced his concern.

"Why do you think… I taught you… Those breathing exercises… Earlier?" Shigure reminded him.

Kenichi was still unsure, but regardless, he took a deep breath and lowered his face underwater again. This time, before running out of air, he turned his face to the side, bringing his mouth and nose above water to take another breath before turning it but underneath.

"She's right. This is pretty easy!" Kenichi marveled at pulling it off right away.

He then started swimming forward while keeping his face below the surface without any issues. Shigure nodded with satisfaction. "That's it… You've got it… Now."

"Huh, he did it." Haruto noted, almost impressed. "He pretty much learned how to swim in a day."

"Yeah, and with how easy it was, kind of makes you wonder what the hell he was whining about all this time?" Shirou pointed out, not amused.

"All right, I can finally swim!" Kenichi joyfully looked up.

Kenichi stopped when he looked up at Shigure and noticed something.

"Not too hard once… You get the… Hang of it, huh?" Shigure told him, acknowledging his success. "That's the… Same way I was… Taught how to… Swim when I was… Young."

Kenichi assumed she looked different for a moment, but after taking a closer look, he noticed she looked like her normal, stoic self. "Did Shigure actually just smile there for a second? Maybe, I don't know?"

"Hey, what's wrong?" Shirou asked him, noticing his pause.

Kenichi got out of the water and went over to Shirou before telling him. "I think… I just saw Shigure smile just now."

Shirou raised a brow. "So, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it's just…." Kenichi paused again before saying. "That was the first one I've ever seen on her face."

"That's the first time you've seen her smile?" Shirou found that odd. "I've seen her smile several times."

"What? When?" Now Kenichi was surprised.

"It was always during training, whenever I successfully pulled off a move that she wanted to teach me." Shirou explained.

"That makes sense." Haruto joined in. "It sounds like Shigure finds joy in teaching others and watching them succeed."

"In that case, it makes sense that Kenichi has never seen it because this is pretty much the first thing she's ever taught him." Shirou took notice of this. "He always runs away or avoids her training when we're at the Dojo."

Kenichi lowered his head in dismay. "I can't help it; weapons are scary."

Shigure then approached Kenichi and spoke. "Looks like… You've learned the… Basics of swimming… Any questions?"

Kenichi shook his head. "Nope."

"Excellent… Then you have… Nothing to fear… Anymore, right?" Shigure said decidedly.

"Huh?" Kenichi was confused as to what she was implying.

---

"Yaaaaahhhhhh?!" Kenichi was fearfully screaming his head off.

They all found themselves back at the top of the cliff, and Shigure was dragging Kenichi to the edge with the expectation of him jumping.

"W-W-Wait a minute! I can't do this yet!" Kenichi cried out, trying to break free. "It's too soon! Don't you think I need some more lessons first?!"

"You said you… Would do this if… You knew how to… Swim, remember?" Shigure reminded him of his claim.

"I mean, I'd do it after weeks of extensive swimming training, not nowwww~!" He whined defensively.

"And, just like we thought, you weren't going to do it." Shirou disparaged him.

"Why did you say you would? Why do you lie?" Haruto asked him emotionlessly.

"I wasn't lying?!" Kenichi defended himself. "I just didn't mean it like that exactly!"

"You clearly did." Shirou denied his claim. "You just never actually assumed you'd learn how to swim, especially not while still on the Island."

While they were up on the cliff, the rest of the Masters returned to the beach, and as they did, some of them noticed the four of them near the edge.

"Whoa, whadda ya know, our little lost Disciple has finally been found." Sakaki noted.

"Looks like we made the right decision not to go searching for him then." Kensei commented. "He and the other two have been with Shigure this whole time."

"Hey, look where he is. Maybe he's going to give it another try?" Akisame guessed.

"For his sake, I certainly hope so." Hayato nodded.

While they were talking, Miu, Apachai, and Hideki went back to the beach.

While Shigure kept pushing him, Kenichi kept struggling to stop her. "No, stop! There's absolutely nothing that can make me jump off this cliff!"

"That's the first honest claim you've given all day." Shirou pointed out, narrowing his eyes at him. "Seriously, if you just always planned to puss out from the beginning, why'd you bother learning how to swim?"

"Well, just think about it…." Kenichi tried to come up with another excuse. "I read that you shouldn't go swimming after you eat or you'll get cramps. I ate some of the fish earlier, so I guess I can't go swimming now, can I?"

Shirou just looked more annoyed at him. "Always got a way out, don't you?"

"After you ate, you immediately started swimming while Shigure was teaching you, yet I don't remember you getting a single cramp." Haruto deflated his excuse with half-lidded eyes.

"Uh… I…" Kenichi stuttering."

"Just stop." Shirou cut him off. "No more excuses. It was obvious from the start that this would happen. Cowards don't change overnight."

"I am not a coward!" Kenichi argued.

"Why is that the only thing you get defensive about?" Shirou asked rhetorically. "I learned you were a coward the minute I saw you swim today."

"What?" Kenichi didn't get what he meant, so Shirou elaborated.

"You made such a big deal about not being able to swim, but you could have learned how to any time you wanted. You just never did because you wanted to keep using it as an excuse." Shirou accused him. "You handle this cliff the way you do everything in life, by fishing for whatever excuse you can to not even try."

Kenichi stopped as his eyes widened by suddenly being told that harsh truth. Before Kenichi could say anything in his defense, Shirou was far from finished.

"It's not enough for you to want to just give up without trying. You always want to do it in a way where it isn't your fault. Whether it's because—There might be rocks or you can't swim. Whenever one reason goes, you quickly find another." Shirou informed him coldly. "Desperately searching for any way to prove that you were legit in not trying. You wanted to say that it couldn't be helped, to be told that it couldn't be helped. Trying to run away from fault while pretending you're a victim is the essence of cowardice."

.

.

.

No one said anything. Shigure and Haruto remained quiet, knowing that there was nothing to say at a time like this. They just wanted to know what Kenichi would say. Kenichi himself just looked at the ground, unable to look at Shirou. This time, he had no excuse.

"…I…" Kenichi started.

"Hey! Big Brother!" A voice called out.

All of them were taken out of the quiet atmosphere when they heard the voice of Honoka, and Kenichi looked over the edge to see her in the ocean. Right now, Honoka was on a small, floating, blowup raft that was drifting around open water.

"This is the coolest thing ever!" Honoka waved at him from afar.

"You shouldn't be out there all alone!" Kenichi loudly called out to her with concern. "Oh geez, come back in now!"

Apachai was also concerned when he saw how far away she was from the shore. "Hey! Apachai told you to stay here!"

"Oh no, how'd she get so far out there?" Miu wondered with a worried expression.

"She's not too far out yet." Hideki noted calmly. "She'll be fine if we bring her back right away."

"Big Brother!" Honoka called out to him again. "Jump into the water and come play!"

Then suddenly, four large shadows of fish closed in and started swimming around the raft Honoka was on. They each had a large fin sticking out above the surface, which Kenichi took notice of.

"Whoa, check it out! Dolphins!" Kenichi said with relief. "And it looks like a whole pod of them too."

"Dolphins?" Shirou blinked before looking for himself. "What are you—"

As he had a sudden look of horror, Shigure spoke with urgency. "Look closer…! Those aren't Dolphins…!"

Just as she said that the water around her erupted in a big splash as the shadows revealed themselves to be sharks, and one of them opened its large rows of sharp teeth at her while she screamed with fear.

Everyone on the beach looked on in absolute horror as Akisame shouted. "They're Sharks!"

"Oh no!" Hayato exclaimed.

"HONOKA!" Kenichi roared.

For Kenichi, every thought in his mind and all sense of rationality vanished in an instant, and all he saw was red. Acting only on instinct, Kenichi jumped off the cliff to dive into the ocean. But he wasn't the only one.

Shirou and Haruto instinctively moved in and jumped at the same time as him, and all three of them plummeted before landing in the ocean. After they did, they all swam as fast as they could and quickly reached the part of the sea where the Sharks were circling around Honoka's raft.

Kenichi moved in first and grabbed onto one of the Sharks' upper fins to try to stop it. As the Shark fully surfaced near Honoka, she screamed fearfully while Kenichi yelled and raised his arm.

"Aaaahhhh!" Kenichi repeatedly brought his elbow, slamming it into the Shark's nose. "Leave! Her! Alone!"

Shigure provided support from a distance by firing arrows from her bow at the same Shark that Kenichi was attacking. With the combination of both their efforts, the Shark fell before using the last bit of its strength to throw Kenichi off of it and into the air.

Kenichi landed back into the ocean beside Honoka's raft. But despite stopping one Shark, three more remained, and they all rose up at the same time, preparing to devour.

Honoka screamed again while Kenichi braced himself to try to attack again. But neither of them had to worry as three dashing forms came in and launched themselves at the Sharks faster than the fish could attack.

The third person, along with Shirou and Haruto, was Hideki. The Tsukiharu patriarch moved so fast that it was as though he was running on water. The three of them jumped in the air, and each one targeted a different Shark.

[Haaaaaaaaaa!] The three Tsukiharus let out a battle cry before bringing down their attacks.

Not wasting time on finesse, all three of them slammed down a hard fist onto the nose of each of their respective Sharks. Each of their punches carried enough strength and weight to fully knock out the Sharks as all three went down before coming back up, floating harmlessly and unconsciously in the water.

Hideki landed on top of one of the fallen Sharks while Shirou and Haruto remained floating in the ocean.

Hideki let out a sigh of relief. "That was way too close."

Kenichi just stared at them with amazement. "I don't believe it. They all knocked out a Shark with one blow."

"Kenichi." Hideki got his attention. "Let's head back to the shore. I don't want to risk any more Sharks showing up if we stay here."

Kenichi collected his thoughts and nodded. "Uh, right."

---

After all that was settled, they swam the raft back to the beach, and Apachai and Miu excitedly ran to Kenichi and Honoka, relieved that they were okay, while Sakaki, Kensei, and Akisame were just silently satisfied that Kenichi jumped off the cliff. At the same time, Shirou, Haruto, and Hideki were together and having their own conversation.

After getting back to the shore, Kenichi let out a breath, happy that it was over, while Honoka just quietly sat there, still in shock after that whole ordeal.

"Oh man, I was so scared…." Kenichi breathed out.

Hayato stood before him and spoke. "But your courage outweighed your fear. You've impressed me today, Kenichi." Hayato praised him. "For some time now, you've also reminded me of someone."

"Really, who's that?" Kenichi asked curiously.

"Me, believe it or not." Hayato told him with a winning smile. "But back when I was around your age, of course."

"You…?" Kenichi was surprised when he heard that, and for a moment, he became happy, but his gaze shifted and saw Shirou, and he stopped.

(It's not enough for you to want to just give up without trying. You always want to do it in a way where it isn't your fault. Whether it's because—There might be rocks or you can't swim. Whenever one reason goes, you quickly find another." Shirou informed him coldly. "Desperately searching for any way to prove that you were legit in not trying. You wanted to say that it couldn't be helped, to be told that it couldn't be helped. Trying to run away from fault while pretending you're a victim is the essence of cowardice.)

Those words rang in his mind again, and Kenichi's smile vanished as he suddenly felt undeserving of praise. "Elder… You're wrong. I'm not courageous."

Before Hayato could ask, Kenichi got up and started walking. Meanwhile, Shirou, Haruto, and Hideki were discussing the event that had just taken place.

"I think the main takeaway from all this is that we should never have left a little girl alone on the beach like that." Hideki said in conclusion. "None of the adults—Myself included—Were thinking straight today."

"Well, everything ended okay, so let's not dwell on it. Besides, this experience motivated Kenichi to jump finally. That was a silver lining." Haruto brought up.

Shirou pondered on it before voicing his thoughts. "I think I finally noticed a pattern. It happened because someone was in danger. Kenichi is only able to be courageous when someone important to him is in danger, forcing him to act."

"Then, that means he can be brave when he needs to be; that's good." Haruto noted.

Shirou frowned. "No, it's bad."

"I'm afraid he's right. That type of thing is never a good sign." Hideki said in agreement. "If the only time you can capitalize on your true capabilities is during a crisis, you have no stability. You have to be able to do the same in a regular situation, or else it's meaningless."

"We're gonna be fighting the top members of Ragnarok pretty soon, and it's not like every time we fight, someone's gonna endanger Honoka or something." Shirou pointed out. "It's fine to be courageous for others, but if you can't be courageous for yourself, too, the coward inside will always remain."

Both of them knew that he was right, and despite the fact that Kenichi jumped off the cliff, it wasn't as though he had overcome his fear, nor would he be any different tomorrow from how he is today.

But it was a start.

"Shirou." Kenichi said.

Shirou saw Kenichi approaching him with a somber look on his face as he addressed him. Hideki and Haruto decided to leave, given the fact that Kenichi only wanted to speak to Shirou. Once they were alone, Shirou stayed quiet and waited to hear what he had to say.

"Before all that stuff you said back on the cliff." Kenichi started before he looked downcast. "I knew that you weren't wrong… I was just too ashamed to admit it. I've just always been sensitive to how others saw me that at some point, I cared more about hiding my problems instead of actually trying to fix them."

"I've noticed." Shirou let him continue.

"It's always been a flaw of mine, but…." Kenichi then looked up with a more determined expression. "That doesn't mean I can't change that. Even if I'm a coward now, I swear that someday, I will become both strong and courageous, so much so that you'll have no choice but to admit that."

Shirou didn't change his expression to show any significant reaction, but on the inside, he was pleased. The fact that Kenichi felt this way meant that at least one positive thing came from this experience.

"Yeah, well, let's just hope that someday isn't when you're a saggy old man like the Elder." Shirou commented.

"It's not gonna take that long!" Kenichi insisted. "And also, I'm not upset about the fact that you shared a bath with Miu anymore. I know it didn't mean anything, but…." He then pointed at him. "I still won't give up on my dream! Someday, I'll bathe with her!"

Shirou facepalmed. "That's a someday I don't care to wait for."

—…

---

And that's the chapter.

First of all, I covered the whole Fuurinji Island trip in this chapter because it was necessary for the story. Chapters like this are what the story does to dive deeper into the characters and learn more about their inner traits.

Secondly, Kenichi needed to gain more courage, something he's been told repeatedly, and while he may not have gotten entirely, he can step up when it's essential, which is something. And knowing his situation, as well as coming to terms with his weakness instead of just pretending it isn't there, that's a bit of character growth from all this.

When it comes to Shirou, he doesn't sugarcoat things. He always tells Kenichi what his problems are because only by being aware of them can he desire to fix them. And while it might come off as harsh, he believes that it's better to be brutally honest than to coddle them and give them excuses, not even to try to get better. He won't force them, but he won't enable them either.

And, if I'm being honest, something Shirou's annoyance towards Kenichi is a reflection of my own feelings toward the character. I mean, once I actually go back and rewatch the series, I see just how whiny and nerve-wracking he actually is. It was way worse than I remembered. But he won't stay that way forever.

Anyway, thanks for reading; hope you enjoyed. If you want more, leave a review. If you liked the story, click the follow/favorite. If you want an earlier release, feel free to become a patron, and as always, have an awesome day.