"Damn it... that brat... that traitor... I'll blow their brains out in a minute."
Still cursing under his breath, Atsuomi stormed out of the building and headed quickly for the school gate.
He was going to retrieve his gun, and while he was at it, he'd try to force his bodyguards in with him. Even if it caused a bigger scene, so what? He'd just pay off whoever needed paying afterward. No matter what, he was going to make that student who stole his authority—and the traitor—die horribly.
It was a fine plan.
It was also doomed from the start.
Because waiting for him under the shade of the trees outside were none other than Ayanokoji and Ryuen.
Atsuomi stopped short. A trace of anger flashed through his already sinister eyes.
"Kiyotaka! Did that traitor Tsukishiro send you here?!"
At this point, Atsuomi was never going to believe his son, Ayanokoji, had just happened to wander past by accident.
He'd much rather believe that Tsukishiro had sold him out and tipped Kiyotaka off to wait here for him. After all, the only person he had told about his plan to arrive at Advanced Nurturing High School at four o'clock was Tsukishiro.
Even the bodyguards still waiting outside the gate didn't know his itinerary for today, yet Kiyotaka somehow did? There was no way he'd believe that happened without Tsukishiro leaking it.
Kiyotaka, expression flat as ever, looked at the man who was his father in both name and blood. His voice was strange, carrying a low, unreadable heaviness.
"So... you have days like this too?"
"Ha! Hahahaha!" That complicated tone seemed to hit some raw nerve in Atsuomi, and in his rage, he burst out laughing. "What's that supposed to mean? Don't tell me you actually think bringing along one helper means you've got me cornered, Kiyotaka."
"I sure as hell don't remember raising you to be this naive."
At that point, Ryuen spoke up. Unlike his usual arrogant expression, he looked unusually serious.
"Old man. Do you know a woman named Runa Ryuen?"
That was his mother's name.
The reason he'd come here to wait for Atsuomi today was because, before the cultural festival had even started, Yukio had already told him that one of today's guests posed a very serious problem.
When Ryuuen pressed further, Yukio had explained part of the White Room situation to him, along with Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's existence.
He had also shared one of his own suspicions:
For example, Ryuuen and Kiyotaka happened to share the exact same birthday—October 20.
Of course, two students in the same school having the same birthday was unusual, but not enough by itself to prove anything.
But both Kiyotaka and Ryuuen were strikingly similar in another way—not in their facial features, but in their genetic disposition.
Kiyotaka was unable to truly experience or understand ordinary human emotions, able only to view the world through pure reason and learn human emotional responses from the outside.
Ryuuen likewise possessed a defect in his emotional system. Compared to a normal person's complete emotional range, he was clearly missing one crucial piece: fear.
As everyone knew, fear was one of humanity's natural defensive emotions, a warning feedback system that kicked in when facing danger.
Sure, fear came with plenty of negative side effects, but it was also exactly because of fear that humans had avoided one danger after another from ancient times to the present.
Without fear, it might sound cool, but in reality it made a person dangerously likely to self-destruct.
If you felt fear, you wouldn't casually go swimming in a reservoir in summer, or roll around in the snow in winter wearing only a thin layer, or drive without paying attention.
Both Kiyotaka and Ryuuen clearly possessed some kind of built-in emotional deficiency. The difference was that Kiyotaka's was much more severe, while Ryuuen's was milder.
After hearing Yukio's suspicions, Ryuuen had been itching for the cultural festival to arrive so he could finally confront Atsuomi directly.
Back on his birthday, Ryuuen had told Yukio that he considered his father long dead already and had no intention of going out of his way to find him.
But if the bastard was delivered right to his doorstep, that was a different story.
And when Yukio, while accompanying Ichika through the cultural festival this morning, ran into Kiyotaka, he had told him this too.
If Kiyotaka wanted to find his real home, then asking Atsuomi was the surest path. Hell, it was entirely possible Ryuuen's home was Kiyotaka's home too.
That was why the two boys, both carrying their own emotional deficiencies, had met during the lunch break earlier today. Even Yukio didn't know what exactly had been discussed between them.
All he knew was that after taking care of Yagami and dealing with Tsukishiro, he had arranged for the two of them to stay here after four and wait.
When Atsuomi had gone into the administration building, neither of them had shown themselves.
Because they both knew Yukio would handle things inside and send Atsuomi back out looking like a complete wreck—ready for their judgment.
Now, faced with Ryuuen's question, Atsuomi frowned in annoyance.
"What Runa Ryuen? What does that have to do wi—... Runa? Kid, you mean Runa?"
Ryuuen froze for a second.
Then, like Iori Yagami from King of Fighters, he shoved his left hand into his pocket, covered his entire face with his right, threw his upper body backward, drove his knees forward, and burst into wild laughter.
"Hahahahaha!"
"So you do know her? Ha! You know her, huh?! Hahahaha?! I figured you were dead in some filthy ditch somewhere, you bastard! Never thought I'd run into a piece of shit like you here at Advanced Nurturing High School!"
As soon as that last furious "piece of shit" left his mouth, Ryuuen slammed one foot into the ground and charged forward. His fist clenched so tight it nearly cut into his own palm as he drove it straight at Atsuomi's face.
This was the administrative area of the campus. All the cultural festival booths had been set up well away from here. Neither the students busy with the festival nor the visitors coming in would be passing through. That was exactly why Ryuuen and Kiyotaka had chosen this place to corner Atsuomi.
"Get lost!"
Atsuomi answered with a roar just as fierce.
And despite his soft, heavy build, he moved with frightening agility. He dodged Ryuuen's punch in time, then lashed out with a vicious kick straight into Ryuuen's stomach.
"Guh—!"
Ryuuen staggered back several steps, a fierce wave of pain exploding around his abdomen. The sensation was so sour it was like chugging a whole cup of Ishizaki and Albert's special protein-lemon acid disaster.
Seeing that opening, Atsuomi immediately tried to press the attack and finish Ryuuen off.
From his perspective, Ryuuen's fighting skill was barely above street-thug level. The kid had never received any formal combat training.
But just as Atsuomi moved in, Kiyotaka silently slipped behind him, hiding even the sound of his footsteps. A fast, precise elbow strike shot straight for Atsuomi's lower spine.
"That move? I'm the one who taught it to you."
Apparently Atsuomi could see with his ass or had eyes in the back of his head, because he didn't even turn around before barking that out. Instead, he threw himself forward—lunging at Ryuuen while simultaneously avoiding Kiyotaka's sneak attack. At the same time, both his feet snapped backward in a vicious kick toward Kiyotaka.
Kiyotaka barely avoided it with a sharp lean back.
Ryuuen, on the other hand, got wrecked.
That fat bastard came flying down like a mountain and nearly crushed his ribs beneath the impact.
But Ryuuen was a monster in his own right. Even after taking that hit, he only coughed up a bit of spit. No fear, no hesitation—his grin only widened in excitement.
"Old bastard... you're dead."
Then, tilting his head, he bit down.
His teeth clamped shut with full force, cheeks bulging from the effort, as he sank his jaws straight into the side of Atsuomi's neck.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.