Is Kakeru going to be finished?
The atmosphere where he's at is actually quite lively.
All the voice recorders in Houtarou's hands have been found, and the other party has also handed over their phone. In other words, is he really looking for a fight?
However, Kakeru also gave the other party a chance to show off.
That's the hand grip strengthener that Houtarou brought.
"70. 70.5. No, it's still increasing. 99, 100kg…"
Everyone looked at the grip strength measurement in astonishment.
Normally, someone like Ken from Class C, who's a physical cheater, has a grip strength of 80kg.
And someone like Rokusuke who's a monster. Since they had confronted each other before, Daichi and Albert were directly knocked down by him, so his group thought that guy's grip strength might also reach 100kg.
And now, you, Houtarou, also have 100kg? Aren't you supposed to be the school's pretty boy, a pampered weakling who's being kept by someone?
"Seems like you have some skill." Kakeru said.
He somewhat understood what Houtarou was doing by bringing a grip strengthener. If recording fails, then intimidation, which would allow him to retreat safely.
That's indeed Houtarou, able to think things through to this extent.
But!
"But! I really can't stand you!" Kakeru said.
So he decided to beat up Houtarou anyway?
"And then... Ishizaki!" Kakeru directed Daichi, "Don't just stand there like an idiot! Go get him!"
An evil smile appeared on his face.
"Having strength doesn't mean you're good at fighting! Ishizaki, aren't you stronger than me? But you're not as good at fighting as I am!"
Although Houtarou just said he came for a fight and wanted to beat him into submission, what happened? This cunning man had left voice recorders, probably planning to continue deceiving Kakeru.
After removing Houtarou's defensive weapons, Kakeru believed he had no more tricks left. Now it was time for him to face the consequences of his mockery.
The world doesn't revolve around him.
"Umm…" Receiving such an order, Daichi hesitated for a moment.
Then.
"Don't blame me, Oreki. This is Ryūen's order." The fighting expert Daichi swung his fist.
"I don't care." Houtarou replied calmly, "It might be cruel to Ryūen later, so I need to clear the field now."
Everything was unfolding according to his predictions. If he hadn't put on this act, Kakeru and his group wouldn't have felt comfortable making their move.
When Houtarou discovered Kakeru was targeting Kei, he realized that if they could target her, they could also target people close to him.
This bully is truly a troublesome person.
When Houtarou discovered Shiho and others targeting Kei, his approach was to bring in Suzune, beat them up, and take photos hidden from public view — destroying their psychological baseline.
With Kakeru, he needed to make it clear that targeting people around him was off-limits.
So what's his plan? Exactly what he's doing now.
Give Kakeru hope, then make him despair. Then make him feel fear.
Houtarou isn't someone who enjoys trouble, so he needs to ensure Kakeru "knows" that he "can't" continue these behaviors.
The strategy is simple: give him hope, then crush him — and destroy his psychological baseline.
The grip strengthener he brought was also for this purpose, but Kakeru might have no solution because this isn't just for showing grip strength.
Houtarou stared at Daichi.
This guy was just casually swinging his fist — like beating a defenseless baby.
This kind of swing is probably something that a middle schooler, no, maybe even an elementary school student could avoid — such monotonous movements.
However, in reality, even if his speed increased a hundredfold, it would still appear slow in Houtarou's eyes.
Watching him, Houtarou directly caught Daichi's widely thrown right fist with his right hand.
"Huh...?" Daichi was stunned for a moment.
"Ishizaki, if you're going to make a move, you'd better do it seriously. Because Ryūen is watching you, isn't he?" Houtarou said, "This is just a warning to you."
"Hehe—" But obviously, Daichi seemed to think Houtarou was just saying this casually, so he hadn't grasped the situation yet.
"Today, the person I want to beat up is Ryūen, so can't you just fall down quickly?"
However, Houtarou didn't give him time. He directly used his 100kg grip strength to tightly hold onto Daichi's right fist that he had caught.
"Oh? Ah, oh, huh...!" Daichi seemed to find it strange at first, but his expression gradually stiffened, and he even started to show a crying face.
Not only that, but his knees also instinctively began to tremble — a manifestation of excruciating pain.
"Ishizaki?" Mio, who was observing from the side, noticed the current situation.
"Ah... wait... pain... damn... pain... stop!" Daichi seemed unable to support his body, directly bending his knees and kneeling on the cold cement floor of the rooftop, speaking in a trembling voice.
But he couldn't speak coherently. He hurriedly tried to use his left hand, which wasn't being controlled, to pry open Houtarou's palm, but it seemed to have no effect at all.
"Wait—" Daichi seemed to want to beg for mercy.
It's hard to believe he was a fighting expert in the past. To be hurt so badly just by someone's grip.
Is this what 100kg of grip strength is like?!
"—"
At this moment, it wasn't just Mio who noticed that Daichi's situation wasn't good, but someone else made the first move — it was the still wet Albert.
This young man, with a height of 2 meters, was very strong. His huge figure directly approached Houtarou.
"Sorry!" Albert said.
As he got closer, he noticed Daichi's painful expression more clearly. Without hesitation, Albert swung his pole-like thick arm toward the back of Houtarou's head.
He wasn't just a muscle-bound idiot. His attack could not only bring the adversary down if it hit, but even if it missed, it could give Daichi relief and allow him to break free from Houtarou's grasp.
But Albert's thoughts were too optimistic.
When he swung his fist, his body suddenly froze. Then he fell backward because, in that instant, Houtarou grabbed Daichi and threw him in Albert's direction, directly knocking him down — completely breaking his self-important move.
"Damn—"
Daichi's body weighed about 75kg, but now he was easily grabbed and thrown, and even Albert was knocked to the ground.
"..."
Kakeru felt that he had underestimated the opponent.
"Mio, it's your turn!" He said.
Although Mio is a girl, her family runs a martial arts dojo. She's been training since she was young, though as she grew older, she realized that girls' bodies typically lack advantage in raw strength. So she relied on technique instead.
Despite this limitation, she remained confident. After all, she had years of martial arts experience. She could tell at a glance that Houtarou had no formal martial arts training.
At this moment…
"Oreki!"
Daichi and Albert, who had just been thrown, had already gotten up. Without waiting for Kakeru's command, they rushed toward Houtarou again.
However, what happened next was terrifying. Even though Houtarou wasn't looking at them at all, in one swift evasive movement, he raised his left hand in a knife-hand position and caught Albert's throat.
"Ahh—" Completely caught off guard, Albert let out an inarticulate cry.
"Albert!"
Initially, Albert had tried to save Daichi, but now the situation was completely reversed.
Daichi finally endured the pain and charged at Houtarou from behind.
Since Houtarou wasn't paying attention to him earlier, Daichi's voice gave away his location. Houtarou smoothly kicked at the guy's left foot just as it found stable footing.
At this moment, Albert's body was already half bent down. Houtarou immediately went around to his back, kicked his face, then grabbed the again-kneeling Daichi's head and made him collide with the dazed Albert.
"Hey—"
"Ah—"
But this sudden impact lasted only a moment before both of them quieted down.
Albert tilted his head back, seeming dazed.
Meanwhile, Daichi sat slumped on the ground, surprisingly crying while covering his face. It wasn't clear if this was from pain or because he found the scene too embarrassing.
For a moment, the atmosphere on the rooftop became quiet. But from time to time, Daichi's suppressed sobbing could be heard.
Perhaps in his fighting career, this was the first time he'd experienced the frustration of losing so badly that it reduced him to tears.
Both Kakeru and Mio imprinted this unbelievable scene into their minds.
"It seems you've exceeded our expectations." Kakeru updated his evaluation of Houtarou, "Is your attitude so forceful because you're confident in your abilities? That's truly unexpected. I never anticipated that the voice recorders were just a diversion. You might... no, you really are strong… So the school's heartthrob, Oreki, turns out to be a fighting prodigy!"
"But after dealing with two people consecutively, he seems tired, doesn't he?" Mio said.
She had clearly wanted to attack herself.
But Daichi and Albert's offensive moves blocked her way, and while she was still somewhat dazed, the two were already crying with their arms around each other's shoulders.
However, even though Houtarou had a grip strength of 100kg, hadn't he been going all out just now?
After all, lifting Daichi to throw him at Albert and avoiding Albert's attacks both required a lot of energy.
Look — Houtarou was already breathing slightly heavily. He appeared somewhat fatigued.
So Mio made her judgment and charged directly toward him. She was very skilled at kicking, and her legs had undergone rigorous training, making both their contours and skin tone beautifully vibrant.
But her speed was still not fast enough.
"This is actually my first time hitting a girl,"
Houtarou said as he avoided her.
"Ibuki." Then he called her name.
"What?" Mio felt her position was precarious — she had missed kicking him and instead allowed him to get behind her.
"I've always thought you were rather naive." Houtarou said.
"Huh?" Mio was stunned for a moment.
But then she found her body suddenly airborne, as Houtarou lifted her up and slammed her down, though he used his foot to cushion and reduce some of the impact force when she landed.
Still, Mio felt pain throughout her body.
And at this moment, she heard Houtarou's voice.
"Because whenever I put on a little act, you believe everything. When facing Ishizaki, I wasn't even exerting myself... So, sleep now."
Huh? Isn't he lying again? So his strength hadn't been depleted at all!
Hearing these words, Mio immediately lost consciousness.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
"Holy shit!" Noticing this, Kakeru immediately looked over.
At the same time, he also discovered that Houtarou had picked up the grip strengthener he had initially put down and was now holding it in his left hand.
"You're next, Ryūen. Or rather, the field has been cleared."
"..." Kakeru paused, "Heh heh... So, the goal was just to beat me up?"
"Not at all." Houtarou shook his head, "I came to reason with you."
"Reason with me?" Kakeru almost laughed out loud.
After all, of the three people he had brought, Mio was unconscious, Albert was dazed, and Daichi was crying.
Is this what he calls reasoning?!
"Because you're a rather troublesome person, Ryūen." Houtarou said, "You're that type of person, aren't you?"
"What type?" Kakeru seemed somewhat interested.
"Someone with a sufficiently strong inner core." Houtarou said, "Perhaps your physical qualities aren't as good as others, but you're vindictive and ruthless. Because you only care about winning, you'll attack an enemy whether they're taking a dump or using the bathroom, making them endlessly frustrated until they completely give up and ultimately surrender."
"Eh?"
When Houtarou said this, Albert, who had been in a daze, suddenly looked over.
After confirming his expression, Houtarou knew he had guessed correctly.
"Heh heh—" Kakeru also noticed this point.
Houtarou was indeed right. With his fighting ability, Kakeru indeed couldn't beat Albert, so he had just harassed him to the point where he was about to vomit, and then subdued him.
"So what are you trying to say? Not only are you smart, but you're also top-tier in violence. I really did fail to recognize Mount Tai." Kakeru said.
And he, as if expressing sincere respect, clapped his hands and walked up to Houtarou.
But the moment his voice fell, he had already rushed to Houtarou's front. He began to kick fiercely at his opponent's right side.
This was his fighting method. His speed and power weren't actually very strong, but he could make everyone who fought him fear him.
Because he would seize any opportunity and strike!
"Is that all?" Houtarou simply looked over calmly.
"When did you—!" Kakeru was startled.
As Houtarou was about to be kicked in the right side, he stepped back half a step. When Kakeru's leg missed, Houtarou's right hand shot out and gripped Kakeru's neck.
Bang!
Kakeru's body slammed to the ground. He was pinned down by someone exerting 100kg of force.
"Ugh—"
For a moment, he couldn't breathe.
⍟⍟⍟
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