[CHAPTER 14]
a smile that shows one's genuine feelings.
It's time for another year. Everything still looks the same although it feels different. Well, it's been 20 days since the new year started.
One of the students noticed it was snowing outside, so they invited the class to go outside to play. Everyone was too excited that their uniforms started to be covered with snow.
"Oh! Let's have a snowball fight!!" Nendou said, preparing a snowball. As expected, Hairo got interested.
'No matter what the challenge, if Nendou is my opponent, I'll definitely win!!' While thinking of defeating Nendou, the snowball he just formed melted into water.
"HAIRO!! IT'S MELTING!! IT'S MELTING!!"
Hairo made another and throws it to Nendou, but it ended up like the first one.
"HAIRO!! IT'S MELTING!! IT'S MELTING!!"
While standing in the middle, Airin stared at the snowball she made, not even sure what to do with it. She was just watching the others play. On the other hand, Kaidou threw a ball behind her intentionally. When she took a glance, he was acting dumb as if he didn't do anything.
"Oi," She called him as she prepared a large one (the size of a human head) and throw it at him. It hits his face, making him stumble.
"That's unfair! Just make a small one!" He whines.
When he recovered and was about to have revenge, Airin mischievously grinned and then looks at Kusuo, who was busy melting the area where Hairo was. She made another ball, hit his nape, and simply walks away.
When Kusuo felt the chilly sensation on his nape, he looked in the direction of where is it from. Just as he turned his head, Kaidou accidentally hit Kusuo's face with the snowball, making him annoyed.
Kaidou pointed at Airin's back, defending himself, "W-wha! It's not me! It's her! That was just accidental-"
Kusuo didn't say a word and buries him in a pile of snow. The next thing she knew, he was coming straight for her and threw a ball in her head. And of course, she did the same. In the end, both of them are a mess, full of snow in their green uniforms.
Airin laughed it off as she throw another one last time at him before going inside the school building to close the door quickly before Kusuo even got in. As she steps forward, a cold sensation embraced her back. When she looked at him, he walked past her, casually shaking off the snow in his uniform.
"Y-you! It's fucking cold!" Airin shouted at him as she dried the snow that was put inside her uniform. She was thinking about a lot of revenge she can do to him when she heard a chuckle.
Her eyes widened at the sound he made.
'I just heard Kusuo chuckle...'
Meanwhile, in the schoolyard...
"H-heyy?! Someone, please get me out here!?" Kaidou struggled to get up as a large pile of snow is above him. He's the only one outside as everyone's going back to their classroom.
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It's a normal morning for Airin and she decided to join Kuboyasu for a walk to go to school today. They were too busy to talk to each other so Aren ended up accidentally bumping into one another.
"Hey, that hurt you, bastard!" The bald guy said, acting like he was severely injured.
"Oh, sorry." Aren apologized, but they didn't let him go.
Meanwhile, Kaidou saw Airin and Kuboyasu a few steps away. He was about to call them when he heard a shout.
"You can't just leave after you just bump him and apologize!?" The other with a pompadour haircut said, pointing at his friend.
"I think my arm's broken! It would cost around 1 million yen to fix this!"
Kuboyasu was just standing still, while Airin was starting to get mad.
'What's with these stupid guys?'
"Didn't he apologize already? Let us go." Airin said with an annoyed face.
"What? You think we can just let you guys through because you're a woman?" The two delinquents laughed, while the bald guy playfully patted her head.
"Come on, just hand over the million yen otherwise you two will have to pay your hospital bill!"
"Ah, so you think you're scary enough just because you're a man?" Airin said with a disgusted expression. The pompadour got offended by her words.
"Y-you bitch!" He was about to hit her when she caught his fist with her left hand, grabbed his hair with the other hand, and slammed his head to the wall hard enough to make him question his own life decisions.
"Y-you--!" The pompadour was to attack her when Kuboyasu saved her. He choked the pompadour one with one hand and lift him. Baldie got scared and clung to his partner.
"I'm so sorry! Please stop, he'll die!"
Kuboyasu kept silent for a second and threw the two to the side and casually walked away. Before Airin followed him, she took a glance at them and said, "Don't ever show up in our faces, understand?"
On the other side, the light blue-haired boy got shocked by the incident he witnessed earlier. He repeatedly rubs his eyes and looks at the two people walking away.
"W-what just happened?!..."
Meanwhile, the witness saw the witness who witnessed the scene was the other psychic.
'Oh, dear.'
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While waiting for the class to start, Kaidou was drowned in his thoughts.
'Did I really see that earlier? To think that Kuboyasu was hiding such fighting ability... But he looks completely ordinary on the outside. First off when he transferred, he wrote and said some odd words like wuz here! and 'sup, homies!... And then I ran into him at a cultural festival, he said that he spilled some ketchup, but it smells odd to be ketchup. Not to mention I can also see that '!?' thing that appears on his head... This can't be... maybe he's the Dark Reunion's ally and here to haunt me?!'
'Probably.' Airin said while going back to her seat after she went to the bathroom.
'Stop thinking about dark reunion first... I actually really think Kuboyasu's a delinquent--'
"Something on your mind, pipsqueak?" A deep voice from behind made Kaidou scared. It was Nendou.
"Y-you jerk! Don't suddenly talk to me like that!"
"Haha! Did something happen? You can just tell me," Nendou said but even a bug wouldn't be convinced enough to tell their problems to him. But since Kaidou's stupid, he said it anyway.
"Well, the thing is... It's about Kuboyasu. I think--"
"Eh? What about me?" Aren suddenly appeared.
"A-AHH KUBOYASU!!"
"Oh, transfer student!"
"What're you guys talking about?" Kuboyasu was clueless about their conversation.
"No... It's not really... It's nothing... Nothing at all..." He mumbles to himself.
"What's wrong? You've been acting strange." He was about to touch Kaidou's shoulder when he got alarmed and hid behind Nendou's back. He was too scared to talk to Kuboyasu due to his imagination that he'll beat the shit out of him.
"What's the matter with you? Are you stupid?" - Nendou, cluelessly looking at him.
"I d-don't want to hear that from you! I-I just got a little d-dizzy from standing up too fast!!"
"Man, you're acting weird." He went to Kuboyasu, "Right? Don't you think he's weird?"
"Y-yeah..."
"G-GET OFF HIM, IDIOT!! T-THAT'S RUDE!!" -Kaidou
"What's rude? You're not making sense--- ACHOO!!" Nendou made a loud sneeze and the snot was shot right into Kuboyasu's face. Gross.
"E-eek! A-are you okay?!" Kaidou picked up his handkerchief for Nendou to sneeze.
"Sorry 'bout that" Nendou casually wiped Kuboyasu's face with the exact area where he sneezed the snot.
Kaidou calmly wiped the snot out of his face, but he was internally having a rage right now, "It's fine. The next subject's physical education, right? We should go now."
'What the heck I just witnessed?' Oh hey, look Airin's alive. That's the only thing she said before leaving the room to change.
Throughout the P.E. Class, Kaidou noticed how Kuboyasu looks different from the neck down, the way he looks at the baseball bat, squatted like a delinquent, and his response to a cliche abandoned puppy that came out of nowhere.
'WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT CLICHE THING?!'
That's where he had the conclusion that Kuboyasu is a delinquent as he decided to avoid him at any cost.
After class, Kaidou and Saiki are alone walking through the streets. Unfortunately, a group of delinquents cornered them, and.. you get it. They're here for the money.
"Come on, man! We just need some cash~ Hurry up and take your wallet..." The delinquents start to bug them.
'Tch! This isn't good... What should I do?'
"T-this is bad! These guys are from that notorious delinquent high school..."
'Even Saiki's scared... I don't blame him, though! Shall I use it? No... That power is too dangerous...'
"Hey, don't ignore us!" They started to beat up Kaidou until they were tired, but Kaidou's standing with a few scratches.
"S-SHUN!!"
"WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU?! ARE YOU IMMORTAL OR SOMETHING?!" He spits the blood and wipes his mouth.
"Heyy! What's up with you, guys!?" A tall figure appeared from behind.
"H-HYAKKIMARU-SENPAI!!"
"Looks fun! Let me on it." He grabs a long dull object that was from one of the delinquents.
"Wait, Hyakkimaru-senpai! If you hit him with that, he'll die!!"
They thought he was going to hit Kaidou, but he change direction and he was going to hit Saiki. Before the weapon landed on Saiki's head, Hyakkimaru's hands were ripped off.
"SENPAI!!"
"You fools just signaled your death warrants... Sorry, but it's too late now. This is your fault. Allow me to show you my souvenir from the underworld, the power of Black Beat..."
"HEY, ARE YOU LISTENING!? QUIT IGNORING ME!!!" The delinquent grabbed his collar.
"Fwahaha... It's too late now, you imbeciles... Crack. Pow. Weak... Humans are simply too fragile, kukuku..."
"I SAID MONEY!! HURRY UP AND TAKE OUT YOUR WALLET!! WHAT'RE YOU MUTTERING ABOUT!? ANSWER ME!!"
Yes. It was all Kaidou's delusion.
"W-wait, it was all a daydream?"
"What are you talking about, idiot!? Give us your money, otherwise, you'll be paying for your hospital bills..." He suddenly took out a dull weapon.
As the delinquents threaten them, Kaidou just gave his wallet since he can't really do anything to defeat them. Saiki was about to do the same when Kaidou told him to run away. Since Kaidou is weak in terms of physical strength, he was captured by the group. He had no regrets, as he look at Saiki running away. Deep inside, Saiki doesn't want to leave Kaidou sacrificing himself so he stopped in his tracks and looks back at him. That's a dramatic narration there, huh? But this is not how this chapter ends.
"Yo, what are you guys up to--"
"A-AH! KUBOYASU!" A shout from afar called their attention, as Kaidou was captivated and Saiki just stood there. Saiki was actually about to do something when he heard Kuboyasu and Maehara nearby.
Kaidou had thought of something, 'It's them! I can get help from them--' "KUBOYASU, MAEHARA, RUN!"
"W-What?!" That is what only Airin said, having confusion.
"Take Saiki and Kuboyasu with you and run! I'll distract them!"
Kuboyasu didn't listen as he clenched his fist and punched the punk who was about to approach them.
"The truth is, I used to be a delinquent, I'm sorry for hiding it until now." He started a speech as he defeats the other delinquents. "I used to be pretty wild at my old school, but I realized that way of life was no good, so I transferred schools and tried to become an upright citizen. But the life of a normal person is tougher than that of a delinquent. When people try to fight you, you need to restrain yourself. And in times like these..."
Airin was having the urge to play a dramatic piano background music but since his speech is short, she didn't bother.
"WHEN SOMEONE'S HURTING YOUR FRIENDS!!" He pulled one last blow on the person who captured Kaidou.
Kaidou was in tears of joy as he thanked Kuboyasu as he owes him his own life. While Airin silently picked up the wallet as she toss them to Kaidou.
"Thanks!" Kaidou said.
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"Are you okay? They didn't really hit you or something?" She asked, looking for wounds.
"Hmm, I'm fine. Thanks to you guys.."
As she confirmed there isn't, Kuboyasu asked Kaidou.
"How did you know I was a delinquent?"
"Oh, of course. Did you think you could fool my demonic eye?".
"I was obvious back then, huh.. that's why Maehara acted like that when I told her.." Kuboyasu recalls the time after they encountered the two delinquents earlier morning.
"You're stupid" she hissed in disappointment, "I already know, I was observing you. Changing sure is hard, hm?"
"I thought she was a part of a gang before so I told her earlier, but she wasn't, so I was embarrassed when I found out she was just good at martial arts."
"I'm being honest here," Airin said in defense, "I mean, you didn't do your acting well."
"Eh, who cares about that? The thing we should worry about now is the present and future, isn't it?" Kaidou offered a handshake.
Kuboyasu smiled and accepted. He's glad he's having another friend. But it would be more touching if Kaidou isn't wincing in pain.
'You're too weak..' Airin and Saiki thought at the exact time.
"Hm, what? We synced again..."
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