"Are you dense?! Do you truly believe that fox girls are better than catgirls and bunny girls!?"

"I am. And I am tired of pretending they aren't," Aogami declared. "Their soft silky smooth ears, their long bushy, fluffy tail, and their excitable personalities... these are the things that make fox girls better!"

"You're being delusional if you think that's what makes them good; cuz news flash that makes 89% of all beast girls appealing, their tails, ears and personalities all packaged into a cute girl's body! You can't write off every single beast girl like that, it's unethical!"

"Oh so you're the self-appointed connoisseur of beast girls now, huh!? Well tell me then, why are catgirls better than fox girls? If you can answer that question I might let you off the hook!"

"Guys this is getting old now," Kamijou piped in. "Can't we just call it a day and-"

"SHUT IT YOU DAMN NORMIE! NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR OPINIONS!" Aogami and Tsuchimikado both yelled at Kamijou.

A tickmark appeared in Kamijou's head as he rushed towards the two, striking first by sucker punching Aogami in the jaw and throwing a jab at Tsuchimikado's face, which he avoided by ducking his head to the side and punching him in the stomach, causing Kamijou to bounce back.

Kamijou swung an overhand haymaker towards Tsuchimikado, which he ducked under, grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder.

However instead of flinging him to the desk as he intended Kamijou had pivoted and twisted his body, which allowed him to land on his feet, and flung him towards the lockers behind the classroom, winding Tsuchimikado.

Kamijou was about to go over Tsuchimikado, until he felt Aogami behind him placing him in an armlock. The two boys collapsed on the ground and grappled with each other. Tsuchimikado, on his end had managed to get up and join the fight.

Kicks, punches and bites were exchanged between the three teens, and there were no chances of them slowing down.

Until the Iron Wall Girl got in the room and saw the chaos.

A kick in Aogami's groin.

A fist to Tsuchimikado's jaw.

And a devastating headbutt to Kamijou's head.

"...You boneheads can't even spare a single second of quiet for your classmates? How despicable." The busty forehead amazon Seiri Fukiyose sighed.

Swift justice has been enacted. Peace is restored in the classroom. All is well in the world.

"So I noticed you got stronger, Kami-yan. What's up with that?" Tsuchimikado asked

"Hmm? Oh, I've been working out a bit lately." Kamijou was eating his hotdog and steak bento as the sunglasses wearing classmate asked Kamijou.

"That so? Must've been why I broke my knuckles after I hit you in the gut. Ow, what kind of program have you been doing?" Tsuchimikado said waving his hand. Kamijou only chuckled.

'If you only knew.'

"Seriously dude, that was a very hard punch. Not as strong as Fukiyose's but you're getting there," Aogami said. "I can still feel the hit after a few hours. Ouch." Aogami rubbed his jaw in comfort.

'Did I hit him too hard that time?' Kamijou thought. 'Maybe I should lower down the output of my hits when fighting against thugs in the streets again. I might end up punching someone's jaw off.' He shuddered as he thought about it. "Sorry about that."

"No it's cool, though next time you ain't hitting me with a sucker punch ever again you asshole," Aogami said.

Tsuchimikado chuckled, while Kamijou only sighed, though he still smirked at his friend's antics.

However the amusement was brief before Kamijou's mood sunk faster than his hopes and dreams.

"Ugh, can't deal with the homework Komoe-sensei's been giving me. I mean seriously, what is up with these quadratic equations? It's so damn hard having to think up of solutions, formulas and whatever crap Oyafune-sensei is giving us." He grabbed his head on frustration. "At this point I'll never be able to get through high school year and remain stuck in first grade," Kamijou vented. "Oh, damn rotten luck!"

"But hey, look on the bright side... at least you got Miss Komoe tutoring you."

Kamijou, without looking, grabbed Aogami's hair and slammed him on the table.

Aogami laid sprawled on the floor unconscious.

Some of the students stepped over Aogami's lifeless body as they passed by the Delta Force.

"You're overreacting right now, Kami," Tsuchimikado said. "I mean, you've managed to find a way to maintain a "regular" school attendance. Everyone was making a fuss about it the first time they heard it."

"Is something like that really a big deal around here?" Kamijou was honestly baffled at how much everyone was giving attention to his near-perfect attendance record.

"Well, considerin' you're... well you, people tend to be curious. Fukiyose and Komoe-sensei were pleasantly surprised when you had appeared in the first semester of morning's class last Monday, if memory serves me well."

Kamijou remembered their reactions as Tsuchimikado mentioned it. 'Komoe I could see, but man I never thought Fukiyose would make such a face.' He smirked.

"So I don't think you'd be tanking your classes anytime soon Kami. Keep it up and you'll step up the next grade in no time.""...Why are you looking at me like that?"

"...Who are you, and what have you done to Tsuchimikado?"

"Aw, just like that... man you wound me." Tsuchimikado said that but he was smirking.

"Just be glad I didn't get to punch you after last time," Kamijou said

"I thought you liked Ultimax Ramen. You saved a lot of money for one cup only for your dorm to get robbed, so I thought I'd buy you some."

"...You could've just left it in my desk."

Kamijou suppressed the urge to groan as he saw a mischievous glint in Tsuchimikado's glasses. Kamijou rubbed his eyes with both hands.

Aogami woke up a couple minutes later, to see an empty table without both members of the Delta Trio.

'Those motherfuckers left me again.' Aogami thought with tears in his eyes.

Sorry big bro, I got classes for today. I won't probably be making some hot pot for tonight.

"What? But I'll never be able to taste your delicious food Maika, you wound me!" The elder brother texted to his beloved sister, with tears in his face.

Well, it can't be helped really. Maybe tomorrow night I'll get there and cook some.

"Promise?"

Seriously you big baby.

"I love you so much Maika, remember that ok?"

Yeah yeah fine, I love you too. See you later.

A couple of students that passed by looked in confusion and slight revulsion as Motoharu Tsuchimikado squirmed in delight.

"As expected, little sisters are the best! Maika my beloved you are the love of my life! Oh how I wish time would speed so I shall be your partner forever! Ohhhh-" his rather questionably passionate tirade was interrupted by a loud BEEP in his pocket.

He had hoped that it was Maika who texted him. But as he picked up the phone a strange symbol appeared on his screen.

"...What does he want this time?"

At that statement a change went over the boy's aura and demeanor.

"Hmm, 10, 20 guys in total, can it deal with that many?" Kamijou said to himself as he saw the group of delinquents.

It looked like the large group were surrounding something. He didn't know the specific details as to what they were doing, and frankly he didn't care.

The sounds of flesh meeting flesh rang out in the court.

He swung to a nearby wall, where he could see the fight take place.

His estimation was incorrect; they were more than 20 guys in the group. They had formed a ring around two boys.

And one of those boys was having his head caved in.

He was scrawny, and didn't look like he could fight off his opponent, who was bigger, bulkier, and angrier than the other.

Despite this he saw the kid try to throw in a couple of haymakers, most of them missing their intended target.

The big guy did not let up his brutal beatdown of the small boy.

A hook to the head,

a kick to the gut,

and lastly an uppercut which sent the smaller boy a few meters off the ground.

The crowd cheered as they called for blood.

The big guy, panting but still with enough energy to fight, walked closer to the boy, with raised arms over his head.

Without a word Kamijou thrust his arms forward and fired two globs of web toward the big guy.

Hino felt a warm sensation spread throughout his body.

He didn't think he could feel his nose, his eyes, his mouth.

Hell he didn't even know whether he lost some teeth to this brutal assault.

But it didn't matter.

At the end, as long as he could cave this asshole's face in.

He threw a right haymaker, which the thug dodged. He only fired a left cross to his cheek.

Blood spilled once more from his mouth.

But he kept his futile struggle.

He swung once more. A fist to the gut.

Once more. Another to his temple.

Another. And one to the back of his head.

Another. Solar plexus

Another. Jaw.

Another. Broken arm.

Another. Jaw again.

And another.

This time the thug finished off with an uppercut so powerful Hino felt his body defy gravity for a few moments, before he landed on his back and arms.

He heard the crowd cheer viciously.

"Just so you know, you brought this on yourself." The thug said as he raised his fists over him, no doubt going to send him off to the Sandman. Or the underworld, if he was lucky.

'Well, it was fun while it lasted,' he thought to himself. 'What else did I expect? I ain't as strong as them. My speed's all that was going for me, and even then it ain't enough.'

Just as the man was about to offer the coup de grace two globs hit both the arms over him and his eyes, restraining and blinding him.

Hino was shocked by the turn of events. Where had that white stuff come from?

Then, out of nowhere a red dressed in red jumped in and kicked the big thug in the face.

The big thug pushed back. Grabbed his bloody nose. Looked up in anger to see the red man rush at him.

The big thug wound his arm back and fired a haymaker towards the red man's face.

Haymakers were rather simple in execution. Not much technique in doing them, just swing your arm around like you don't care who you hit.

The advantages to them, as said before they're easy to perform. Almost instinctual to do. And very powerful.

Disadvantages, predictable moves, easy to see trajectory. Also a waste of energy. Also leaves you open for counterattacks.

But unless you're watching clearly or a martial artist, a simple haymaker can mean the difference between life and death in a street fight.

The thug poured all his strength and energy into his punch, and swung it towards the red man in fast speeds.

But the red man was undeterred.

He ducked under the haymaker. And as it harmlessly passed over his head he pulled his arm back for an uppercut. Fired it up the thug's jaw and knocked him up a few meters on the air. A few moments up in the air, until he hit the ground.

The crowd froze in shock. Hino, for the most part looked on in awe.

This red-dressed kid, who didn't look particularly tough, just knocked this big gorilla out cold.

A silence stewed over the crowd.

Then chaos. As the entire 20-or-so crowd rushed towards the red man.

Hino felt a white line of weblike stuff stick to him, before he was thrown out of the chaos. Hino landed on his arm. Hino cursed as he felt like he had broken an arm.

But he turned around to see the crowd pile on where the red man was.

Kamijou might have better durability, but he doubted he could hold on against 10 or more kicks.

He didn't know how much he could do against more than 5.

After all 3-1 was his limit when fighting in the streets.

He easily dealt with the 3 thugs that were attacking that Daichi guy 2 nights ago. Then those 5 assholes yesterday. Then another 5 last night.

They were harassing two college girls who happened to walk in the wrong alleyway.

Things went almost the exact same way as afternoon.

But this was too much. How would he deal with this much?

A particularly nasty kick to his temple shook him out of his thoughts; his rage flared at that moment, but he couldn't do much under the weight of more than 10 assholes dogpiling him.

'That's it!' He thought. 'I've had enough!'

Preparing his back, gathering his strength, he hunched over in a carry position, with his arms blocking most of the blows coming to his head. The rest of the blows went to his body. Ribs, stomach, back. If it weren't for the extra toughness from the bite he would've died a few minutes ago.

And he slowly got up. Raising his hands he swung with all his might.

Outside the pile a dozen thugs were sent flying back.

Hino shook in awe.

Then 8 other thugs on top of the pile flew on the opposite direction.

And then 9.

Then 10.

13.

15.

By the time the crowd had shortened less than 20 thugs surrounded the red man. No longer dogpiling, just looking on in shock.

He was a mess. Clothes, completely tattered. If he was bleeding then the red of his clothes hid it well.

His breathing looked to be shallow.

But he endured. He had worse.

This was nothing.

3 of the 20 delinquents rushed towards him, brandishing their bare hands.

3-1 again. Just as usual.

Perhaps they were testing the waters. After all no one can be that strong enough to push them all back, could they?

The red man punched the first man, also at the same time dodged under a haymaker before firing a line towards the third thug. With all his might he swung the thug at the two, sending them stumbling on the ground.

6 of them went over to pile on the man again.

"Don't you guys ever learn?" He quipped silently.

The red man jumped, did a somersault in the air as he fired 3 globs of web at the approaching enemies' feet. Restrained from where they're standing the red man landed on his feet and leaped towards the thug in front. Knocked him out with a right hook.

Looked to his left to see one try to remove the webbing on his foot.

And he was about to go towards the trapped thug when his instincts flared up. Sidestepped a tackle, and intercepted a haymaker to his head with a kick to their gut. He fired a line of webbing towards the thug and threw them towards the rest of the group.

Kamijou was panting rather heavily as he continued the battle.

For some reason his wrists have been aching a lot since a few hours ago.

His senses flaring up, he fired a line at a trash can located far away, and swung the can overhead to clear the area and get some breathing room.

The trash can hit a nearby thug, who stumbled on the ground clutching their head. Kamijou resisted the urge to stop and check on the man considering the situation he was on.

Flaring up once again his instinct led him to sidestep as a right cross flew right by him from behind. He clenched his right fist and threw his elbow behind the man, feeling the hit connect.

Turning around to see the thug clutching his stomach he kicked the boy's head. It connected to his temple, incapacitating him.

He looked out to see how many of the thugs were. The numbers had thinned out as they were only 10 left. He could hear some of the thugs calling and cursing them out for leaving.

This was big news for the misfortunate Kamijou.

The thugs that were left looked on. Unsteady. Worried. Nervous.

These were backstreet thugs, who had every reason to be feared by those without power.

Most Level 0s to 2s stay clear of the alleys because of them.

That's was how they led their lives, through the influence of their actions.

They couldn't do much against higher-levels, unfortunately; as a result all delinquents had a rule, to keep a low profile, and to mind their own business.

They were reports of the #1 and #3 going around and "cleaning up", however they hadn't gone around, acting in vigilantism.

This brought a relief to them, 'cause if they did the repercussions would be disastrous for them.

The #7 they could handle, after all he was the Weakest of them.

Heh, the fools.

But this red man...

He didn't seem to look like a high-level esper, nor is he someone who looked as if he could efficiently fight off more than 20 foes.

There was this guy, who despite the odds knowingly or unknowingly interfered with their daily entertainment and fought them.

And he got in, and kicked the shit out of them.

Even a professional soldier or master swordsman would struggle and eventually lose against more than 20 opponents, especially when they're swarming them from all angles.

But the red man pulled through. And now there were less than 9 of them.

The others had already ran away from the fight.

The red man stood there. Taking shallow breaths.

"Don't... mess... with... me..."

The rest had decided to cut their losses.

"Don't think this is over Hino! We'll get you next time! Same with you Redman!" One of the thugs yelled out.

After that they were gone.

A second passed. Then another.

Then the red man collapsed on his knees.

Hino had been watching the battle from the sidelines ever since it had started. And now it seemed that the red man who had saved him will die.

Hino dragged his body over to the red man. He opened his mouth to ask them.

Even with the pain in his jaw he tried to get a few words out of his lips.

But his worries were extinguished as the red man only rose his hand, as if to pacify the boy's worries.

After a minute Kamijou slowly got up, steady movements. Slowly but surely he got up.

After standing up on his own power he went over to the wounded thug.

"Are you okay? Can you walk?" He asked.

Hino looked up to the red man.

'Damn, he looks shorter than I thought,' he thought. 'Can't believe he could do all that.'

"Yeah I'm good. But I think something's broken."

"O-Okay, just stay still. I'll call Judgement and an ambulance." The red man said, taking out his phone.

A few minutes later sirens roared into their ears.

The red man looked out the distance.

Hino was taken care of; the red man was surprisingly decent at basic first aid.

'Learned it over time,' he said when asked.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" He asked.

The red man turned to the wounded thug

"Don't worry about me, worry for yourself first. If I were you, I'd stay clear in brawling for your life out back in the alleys. Take it from someone with experience."

Hino nodded.

"Right. Thank you for the save. I'll make sure to watch out next time."

The red man nodded.

And a moment he left a certain pigtailed teleporter appeared out of nowhere.

"So, what do you think?" A "voice" said in the dim chamber."Come on, don't give me that face. You of all people should be aware what this would mean in the long term."

"...You know, with all the things I've seen both in the Darkness and the other side of the supernatural I never thought I'd see one in action.

But what is this really all about?" Another voice, this time younger than the previous "one" said.

The two voices had watched the battle regarding the red man since its beginning.

"This isn't just a random Totem, this is something far beyond the range of error." As the "voice"- if one can call it that- said it various holograms appeared in front of the second occupant of the chamber.

Their shades reflected the footage that was shown to them.

"Wait a minute, this was just a week ago. During that field trip to... SynCorp..."

Motoharu Tsuchimikado trailed off.

"Catching up now are we? Yes this was a week ago, long before this 'Red Man' came in and started causing some trouble." He said.

The grin the owner of the voice, Aleister, gave a slight bit eerie smile.

Even with his experience in both sides Tsuchimikado can't help but shiver.

This "man" was not someone you could fight. Even with the machinery surrounding them.

If there was a hint of nervousness within Tsuchimikado he made sure not to let it show.

Because he knew what will happen if you showed the enemy a hint of vulnerability.

But Aleister paid no heed to this.

"Apparently there was an... "incident" involving the Imagine Breaker, was there?" Aleister said.

Tsuchimikado stifled the urge to chuckle.

He remembered, it was hard not to.

"And then after the trip they weren't in class for more than 2 weeks," Aleister said. "Headaches, severe fever, body pain."

Tsuchimikado remembered. After all he was Kamijou's next door neighbor.

He could still hear the screams at night.

Even for a hardened veteran like the shades-wearing spy there was a certain threshold of stress where one can't hold themselves any longer.

Imagine his relief when the boy had recovered from his fever.

Life has seemed to go back to normal.

However, what Aleister showed to Tsuchimikado may have to make the spy reconsider what was "normal" in the eyes of the spiky haired high school boy.

In the picture a small dot was located at the nape of Kamijou's neck.

"Zoom in," Aleister said. And the image zoomed in to where this dot was.

"Again," and it did.

"Again." And it zoomed in again.

"Enhance clarity."

The pixels censoring the dot had cleared, and the image got clearer.

"Wait a minute, is that...?" Tsuchimikado said.

"It pretty much is. Everything confirms it." Aleister said, and a small opening in the hole had brought out a small glass box.

Tsuchimikado stared in silent shock.

Every now and then, Aleister would do something that would make even a hardened magician like Tsuchimikado shiver in vague terror.

This was one of those times.

There was a small common house spider within the glass.

The exact same one as in the image.

And a nearby hologram showed Kamijou's first fight all those days ago, right after he got his powers.

"Touma Kamijou has become a Spider Totem."

Not much to say here, except to leave a comment down below.

Vote and share this story. Constructive criticism is appreciated, if you see any grammatical errors or plot holes in the story please don't hesitate to tell me.

Sincerely,

Komigakuo.