"I am not doing this because of her. I am doing this for her."
This explanation caused even more confusion for Manabu.
What do you mean 'for' her?
Is his sister behind all this?
It's been two years since he had seen his sister. People change over time. It was a possibility, at least.
Or could it be something else…
No, forget it. Manabu would ask her directly when he later meets her.
He stopped thinking about it. He had a bigger problem at hand. He'd ask Horikita about her relationship with Akira—once the first-year exam was over, that is.
Now the important question was whether he should accept the challenge or not.
There was no doubt about the fact that Akira had caused considerable chaos in just a few minutes. He had extorted close to 2 million points from the third-year students and disturbed the entire atmosphere of the club fair.
Who knows what other disaster he would bring upon them?
But accepting the challenge meant playing right into his hand. Giving him what he wanted. Accepting defeat.
Both were options that Manabu wanted to avoid, and now he'd have to pick the lesser evil. Such choices were often the hardest to make, and given the time pressure placed upon him, he was very troubled.
"What is going on?"
"I don't know, I can't hear them, but it looks like that guy's in trouble."
"Humph, what was he thinking, fighting on stage in front of the school? Now he'll get suspended."
"They couldn't win against him in a fair fight, so now they're resorting to such tricks!"
The murmurs of the crowd intensified with each passing moment. Some enjoyed seeing Akira in a peril, others supported him with their words.
"Alright then, Let's fight."
Manabu had picked his poison. He had seen Akira spar against the other three seniors and there was no doubt that he had been professionally trained.
But Manabu had also received professional training. He was ranked fifth dan in Karate and fourth dan in Aikido.
His abilities are no joke.
Moreover, Akira might underestimate him since he didn't look all that intimidating.
"Well then, let's get straight into it." Akira wasted no time.
They both took their positions on stage.
"Woah! He challenged the Student Council President!"
"This is awesome! To think I thought about skipping the club fest!"
"Go Kazama-kun!"
The crowd showed an even more vigorous response than before. They were having the time of their lives.
"Niisan…"
Horikita's concerned voice was lost amongst the crowd. No one except Ayanokoji heard it.
She was confident in her brother's abilities, but as a sister, she couldn't help but be concerned for him.
Ayanokoji on the other hand, had different thoughts occupying his head right now. He had watched Akira's previous fights. Unlike everyone else in the crowd, he could very well see that those three guys hadn't just tripped.
Akira had made them fall over with minimal effort.
He was wondering on would win in a fight between him and Akira…
"The rules are the same as they were in the previous two rounds. Attacks directed at the eyes, groin, and solar plexus are forbidden. The loser will pay the winner the amount of points matching what's in Akira's account."
"There will only be a single round, and the person who falls to the ground first will lose."
"Do you two understand?"
They both nodded in confirmation.
"Now—3, 2, 1—begin!"
The countdown ended.
Before the crowd could even process it, Manabu launched forward like a bullet.
He opened with a straight punch aimed directly for Akira's face.
The speed was blinding.
Akira was sure that no one in his original world could launch such an attack.
He tilted his head, Manabu's fist whooshing past his ear by centimeters. The wind from the strike ruffled his hair.
Manabu wasn't done.
A low kick followed, a sharp snap at Akira's calf.
Akira stepped back, avoiding it with great agility.
Another punch.
Then another.
A barrage of strikes came fast and heavy—jabs, crosses, elbows, a knee.
Manabu's footwork was flawless, his rhythm tight, controlled. Every move screamed years of training.
But Akira?
He was barely moving.
His hands never rose into a guard. He swayed, pivoted, leaned away—dodging with an almost lazy fluidity. When the blows came too close, he blocked with the flat of his palm or a slight wrist turn, letting the force slip past him like water.
It was simply absurd.
"He's not even fighting back!"
"He's just dodging…"
"Is he… smiling?"
He was.
Every guy had, at least once, dreamt of about being in a school fighting scene in their lives.
Now that his dream had come true, it felt really… cool.
"Running out of steam already?" he asked lightly.
Manabu snorted in response and surged forward again. He twisted, using his full body for momentum, swinging a brutal backfist toward Akira's temple.
Akira ducked effortlessly—so smoothly it almost looked choreographed.
Manabu unleashed a flurry of attacks, tighter and more aggressive. Hooks, hammer fists, feints into grabs.
Still, Akira kept dodging.
"This is insane…"
People in the crowd were stunned by what they were seeing.
Is this what it feels like to have Ultra instinct?
After a few minutes, Manabu's breath hitched.
His strikes started to slow down. It wasn't a lack of stamina, he had mentally accepted his defeat.
He was trying his best, yet couldn't land a single hit. This was a blow to his pride.
Manabu was about to give up.
He wasn't someone who couldn't accept defeat—Akira was simply way better than him at hand-to-hand combat.
He couldn't win.
But just when he was about to surrender—
Akira stepped in.
One hand smacked away Manabu's punch mid-air.
His other hand curled into a fist.
With perfect timing and ruthless accuracy—
CRACK!
Akira planted his fist straight into Manabu's face with a clean jab. Manabu's glasses cracked, and his nose bled.
It felt great.
Manabu lay sprawled on the floor, eyes fluttering, breath shallow. Still conscious—barely.
This was after Akira had held back most of his strength. He was sure he could've hit him hard enough to crack his skull.
That would've caused instant death.
Akira straightened, rolled his wrist once, then dusted off his shoulder as if the whole thing had been nothing more than a warm-up.
After a momentary silence, the crowd erupted with cheers.
"That was amazing!"
"Did you see how he dodged all those attacks? It's as if he's a ninja!"
"Now I see how he defeated those three seniors."
A few of them had recorded the fight on their phones and were sending it to their friends who chose not to attend the club fair.
Akira was about to become famous throughout the school now.
Tachibana helped Manabu get up. He had nearsightedness, so he couldn't see properly without his glasses.
"Are you satisfied now, Kazama-kun?"
Unlike his usual calm and composed voice, he sounded irritated this time around.
Well, anyone would be pissed if they got punched in the face to the point of being knocked out.
Much less in front of the whole school… Manabu was definitely going to get mocked by his peers over what happened today.
"I hope that punch has knocked some sense into you, Horikita-senpai."
"Are you going to tell me now what this is all about?"
"Didn't I tell you already? I did this all for her."
Yes, but that doesn't explain anything…
Manabu wanted to press further, but it didn't seem like Akira would tell him anything. Plus, he was in a terrible mood right now as well.
"It'll be 1,940,312 private points."
Akira added insult to injury by asking for the private points.
Tachibana passed him a look that seemed to say, 'Can't you see the situation he's in?' but Akira ignored her.
"Tachibana, can you handle this transaction for me?" Manabu passed his phone to her, then she transferred the said amount to Akira.
"I don't know why you did this to me, Kazama-kun, but I'll make sure to pay you back with interest when I get the chance."
"I look forward to it."
With that parting threat, Manabu left the stage with his fellow student council members.
"Your second day of school, and you've already made an enemy out of the student who has the most authority in this school." Chabashira remarked with a smirk on her face.
"I like to have powerful enemies. Makes me feel important."
"So you humiliated him to make yourself feel important?" Chabashira was also there, eavesdropping on the conversation between Manabu and Akira.
She wanted to learn all there was to know about Akira. He was her hope for taking Class D to Class A.
"No… I had personal reasons for that." Akira's voice once again was drenched in deep sorrow. Chabashira didn't say anything but just silently observed him for a moment.
This personal feeling of Akira might be the thing she could use to control him.
"So what're you going to use those newly acquired private points for?"
In the current ongoing special exam between first-year students, it costed about 2 million private points to get the teacher to divulge information about the S-system in advance. And Akira had well over that amount.
To Chabashira, this was very important. Class D could become Class A in just the first month with this information.
"I don't know… I haven't given it much thought."
Akira's task was to raise the main heroines' infatuation. Chabashira-sensei was one of the main heroines.
But simply taking his class to Class A would be the most crude way to increase infatuation points with her.
He'd need a well-thought-out plan to maximize his point gains. No—he'd need a well-thought-out plan for every heroine.
The plan needs to include the effect his special abilities, their psychological conditions and the Event timelines.
Sigh.
Despite earning around 4 million private points, he was anything but happy.
He had a long school life ahead of him.