At the edge of sight, heaven and earth blended into one, swallowed by darkness.
Outside the gate of Ruyi Dorm, the headlights had already been switched off so as not to disturb the neighbors.
Under the dim glow of a streetlamp, a small group stood talking.
"Before sunrise, I want this tree to be covered in cherry blossoms again."
Kyousuke turned his head toward the sakura tree that rose higher than the courtyard wall.
"Yes, sir!"
Kisaki answered without hesitation.
But as his brain belatedly kicked in, he realized just how absurd the order he'd just agreed to was.
No enemies were storming their base.
No furious father-in-law had shown up at their door.
No—what the boss wanted was to make a withered cherry tree bloom again?
That was like something straight out of a fairy tale.
The van parked behind them was full of the organization's toughest fighters, its seats hiding an arsenal of weapons.
Against a hundred men, they could guarantee the boss's safety without breaking a sweat.
But overturning the laws of nature? That was way outside their job description.
Still, Kisaki's number-one rule as a subordinate was never doubt the boss.
Not just because loyalty was basic survival—but because after countless times of being proven wrong, he'd learned the hard way that the boss's strength always defied reason.
So after only a moment of hesitation, his brain went into overdrive, trying to grasp the deeper meaning behind Kyousuke's words.
"Uh… do you mean using fake flowers?" he asked cautiously.
"No," Kyousuke rejected the idea without a second's pause. "If we use fake flowers, how can we call it a miracle?"
He placed a firm hand on Kisaki's shoulder, locked eyes with him, and said slowly:
"Bring me every cherry blossom in Tokyo."
His tone was calm, but it carried an undeniable force.
Something stirred in Kisaki Tetta's chest. He snapped to attention, legs together, and bellowed:
"Yes! I swear on my unshakable resolve to bring back every cherry blossom in Tokyo!"
"Good. Go. Quickly," Kyousuke replied, a rare smile breaking his serious expression.
"I'm going to complete this magic before dawn."
"Yes, sir!" Kisaki saluted again, then spun on his heel and climbed into the black van.
"Come on, let's go in and eat something."
As the van drove off, Kyousuke waved over Hirata Toshitaka from the sedan.
Hirata killed the engine and stepped out, carrying a massive bundle.
It was a load of specialty goods Kisaki had bought back from Gunma, originally meant to be given to the company's men tomorrow.
But knowing the boss would inevitably get hungry in the middle of the night no matter what, Hirata had brought it all with him.
Inside the courtyard, Kyousuke sat cross-legged in front of a sign reading Truly Worthy of Me, biting into cold onsen manju.
Beside him, Momotarou did the same—though it had been hoping for a walk earlier, it seemed perfectly content now.
Two seats behind them, Hirata sat neatly, his manners much more refined, eyes brimming with admiration as he watched Kyousuke eat.
'As expected of the boss,' he thought. Even eating is as fierce as a beast.
These manju were so dry, yet Kyousuke could eat them one after another without even getting thirsty.
Amazing.
"Hirata, got anything to drink?" Kyousuke asked.
"Yes! Strawberry soda!"
As expected of the boss—even a soda with the most bubbles on the market, he could down in one go without batting an eye.
Amazing.
Watching the broad back in front of him, Hirata felt genuinely glad he'd been woken up in the middle of the night.
If they could go out and brawl together later, that would be perfect.
But Kyousuke's eyes were fixed on the bare cherry tree, and his mood soured.
"The blossoms are gone."
"The more beautiful the sakura is in your memory, the lonelier it feels once it's gone."
If anyone else had said that, it would've sounded like pretentious whining.
If it were one of his men, Kyousuke would have laughed, told them to cut the act, and ordered them to do a hundred more training drills.
But this had been said by the person he loved most—a girl named after the cherry blossom itself.
When Sakura said the blossoms were gone, it pierced him like a needle, filling him with a sense of foreboding.
He frowned.
His gaze might still be fixed on the Truly Worthy of Me sign, but his mind was far from here.
First, he had to show Sakura that spring wasn't leaving, and that the cherry blossoms would bloom again.
If he didn't let go, no one—no one—was leaving.
They'd live to a hundred together. Not a day less.
He bit into another manju, his thoughts solidifying into resolve.
Meanwhile, in the van, Kisaki Tetta was drowning in confusion.
Sure, he'd made a bold promise—but where the hell was he supposed to find cherry blossoms at this time of year?
Even Kyousuke's own late-blooming weeping sakura had withered.
Most trees in Tokyo were Yoshino cherries, which had long since shed their petals.
Even yaezakura would be gone by now.
So, sticking to the proud Rampaging Angel tradition, he handed the impossible problem down to his own subordinates—just as the boss had done to him.
Under the weak glow of the van's interior light, a group of black-suited bruisers exchanged baffled looks.
Maybe it was a trick of the shadows, but in those black-and-white eyes, there seemed to be a flicker of childlike innocence.
"Chief… you're not still half-asleep, are you? Where are we supposed to find cherry blossoms now?" said Black Suit No. 1, worried.
'Guess even a genius like the chief turns to mush without enough sleep.'
Kisaki clenched his fist.
"Yeah," said Black Suit No. 2. "If there were blossoms now, they'd be a famous tourist spot. You'd be better off asking Google."
Kisaki ground his teeth.
"Chief, where should I drive? We've been circling for ages—if we keep this up, the locals will call the cops. If there's nothing to do, why don't we just grab a drink instead?" said the driver.
Veins popped on Kisaki's forehead. Damn it, they were all making sense.
"So… what did the boss summon us for, anyway?" asked Black Suit No. 3.
"The boss's order," Kisaki said gravely, "is to gather all the cherry blossoms in Tokyo."
"Damn, that's brilliant! As expected of the boss—my imagination could never reach that level!" No. 1 exclaimed.
"Exactly! Opportunities hide where no one else is looking. If we can find blossoms still blooming now, we could fence them off and charge admission! That's the boss's business genius for you!" No. 2 added.
"Then let's drive all over Tokyo tonight! And since it's nighttime, if there are cherry blossoms, we'll spot them the moment our headlights hit!
As expected of the boss—even the timing is perfect!" shouted the driver, slamming the gas and hurtling off toward… well, somewhere.
Kisaki's brow relaxed.
Once again, his men were right. As expected of the boss!
Still, he gave up trying to question this bunch of muscleheads.
They were fighters—expecting brainpower from them was his own foolishness.
Pulling out his phone, he opened the Rampaging Angels group chat.
Although it was already three-thirty in the morning, the group chat was buzzing.
The number of online members was almost identical to the total number in the group.
Kisaki hadn't even notified that many people, but those who'd been woken up had promptly woken up others in turn.
————————————————————————
"Are we going on an expedition to Gunma tonight?"
"Idiot. Why would such a small place need this many people?"
"Then is it to occupy the National Diet Building?"
"Idiot. That place only has security guards at night. If you're going to occupy it, do it in the day when it's actually worth something!"
"Are we robbing the Mitsubishi Bank?"
"So these are the only kinds of dumb ideas you lot can come up with? Boss Hojou isn't that boring!"
"You bastard! We suggest something, you shoot it down. Then you guess what's going on!"
"Yeah, if you can't, tonight's entertainment is going to be you!"
————————————————————————
The constant back-and-forth finally sparked outrage.
The man who suggested using him as "tonight's entertainment" was none other than Danma Ryuji.
Seeing that message, Eikichi Onizuka nearly jumped out of his skin.
He slammed his door shut, locked it, shoved his desk in front for extra barricade, and only then sat down to type.
"I think… it must be something big!" he wrote, word by word.
"No kidding, you moron! You trying to mess with me? Open the door—I'm gonna drag you behind my bike all the way back to Tokyo!"
As Onizuka's roommate, Ryuji was pounding on his door while typing back, and faintly, the sound of a girl's laughter could be heard.
That was his girlfriend.
Unlike the still-pure Onizuka—who got giddy like a volcano eruption just from holding hands—Ryuji had already entered the cohabitation stage.
"Don't rush me, I'm not done. I don't have concrete proof, but I suspect Japan is about to sink!" Onizuka typed quickly.
"You're still talking crap. Open up and let me fix your head. My baseball bat's been awarded 'Best Repair Tool' three years running."
"Even if it's not Japan sinking, it's gotta be a zombie apocalypse! We have to get to the boss fast, or else we won't be able to—"
Onizuka's message cut off abruptly.
Moments later, Ryuji's account uploaded a photo of Onizuka with a black eye.
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"Nice work, Ryuji-senpai. Please make sure you bring Onizuka back to Tokyo—I'll treat you to a soapland visit."
"You'll all regret this! Something huge is definitely happening!"
————————————————————————
Even half-blind, Onizuka continued to passionately analyze potential disasters, eventually proposing that another world.
One filled entirely with long-legged, slim-waisted, big-busted women—might suddenly merge with Earth.
This theory gained instant approval from most of the group, not only because of its sheer genius, but also because Onizuka had already posted actual photos of the women who "might" appear.
Only the lolicons and flat-chest enthusiasts continued to look down on him, even going so far as to place bounties asking Kanagawa members to drag Onizuka back for "punishment."
————————————————————————
"Are you all idiots?!"
————————————————————————
A new message cut through the chatter—it was Zaimokuza Yoshiteru.
————————————————————————
"Exactly! Big breasts or flat chests, why can't you broaden your horizons a little?" added Hikigaya Hachiman right after.
"If everyone who likes tall, busty women runs off to chase the women of the other world, won't all the flat-chested lolis left on Earth be ours for the taking?"
The self-styled "Swordmaster General" Zaimokuza spoke with such conviction that the chat went silent for a moment.
————————————————————————
"Ahhh—"
"As expected of Tokyo's Third Swordmaster. You make perfect sense!"
"I'm sorry for always thinking you were an idiot. You're a man of true wisdom, Zaimokuza!"
————————————————————————
Hachiman was convinced.
Why had he only focused on people's kinks? If a female-only world really merged with Earth, the rules of society would change completely.
Women would no longer be a scarce resource; men's eyes wouldn't have to be glued to them. Social norms would shift and then…
"In that case, let's make the boss the ruler of Earth and bring back polygamy!" Ryuji posted with a drooling emoji.
From behind his barricade, Onizuka heard Ryuji's scream outside.
Heh. Idiot. Living together just because you're dating is the dumbest choice—unless you're Boss Hojou, of course.
"Stop dreaming. The most important thing is to train your body. Without that, you can't guarantee future happiness!" Onizuka typed.
————————————————————————
"Right, right. My family's got a secret herbal recipe, supposedly…"
"My family raises deer. I'll send two truckloads of antlers to the boss tomorrow."
"Polygamy!"
"Polygamy!"
————————————————————————
…
Kisaki closed his eyes in pain as he read the chat.
Four hundred people… and not a single complete brain among them? This was supposed to be the wisdom of the masses?
Why could none of them realize that, if that time ever came, the first thing to do would be to capture the other world's most beautiful woman and present her to the boss?
Thankfully, Kisaki had long given up hope in their intelligence.
After all, the very reason he'd chosen to become a delinquent in the first place was because these people were brainless and easy to control—perfect tools.
He enabled "mute all," then typed:
————————————————————————
"Order: Search Tokyo for cherry blossoms and bring them to the boss."
————————————————————————
Then he lifted the mute.
Nobody spoke—whether out of awe at the word order or shock at the bizarre command, it was hard to tell.
————————————————————————
"I don't get it, but if it's the boss's will, then let's do it!"
————————————————————————
Onizuka's message appeared, and a moment later he was gone.
Everyone knew he was now riding his bike full speed from Kanagawa to Tokyo.
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"Cherry blossoms? They've all withered by now, haven't they?"
"Idiot, you needed to say that? Get out here—I'm at your door. We'll go to Chidorigafuchi. There's gotta be some left!"
————————————————————————
Some planned to explore the Imperial Palace moat at night—hopefully without being mistaken for terrorists, though they could always pretend to be night joggers.
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"I remember someone in my class said there's a sakura tree at school that blooms for ages. I'll go check now."
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And so, another prepared to break into school in the dead of night.
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