The delinquents exchanged uneasy glances.
First, they looked at Yamato Aihara—the burly man could only clutch his chest, groaning in pain, unable to lift himself off the street.
Then, they sized up Akihiko.
Akihiko held the wooden sword upside down, turning to lightly trace an invisible line on the ground behind him with its tip.
"Here," he said to Ryouka. "Stay behind this line. They won't take a single step past it."
Ryouka pressed her hands nervously against her chest. The number of delinquents had doubled since last time, and she wanted to suggest fighting alongside him. But Akihiko turned away without giving her a chance, swinging the wooden sword through the air with a sharp, decisive motion.
"Come on, I'll wipe the floor with you!"
"Gulp—"
The blond leader swallowed hard.
Though he was also a member of the school's karate club, Yamato Aihara's skills far surpassed his own.
Yet this kid had just crippled Yamato with a single strike—if he were to face him, the outcome would be even more disastrous...
And this guy... was downright eerie. He looked frail, so how had he unleashed such terrifying power in an instant?
The blond's legs trembled slightly, but he clenched his teeth and raised his hand with a forceful wave.
"Brothers! No matter how strong he is, he can't take us all at once! Surround him! There's no way he can take down every single one of us!"
"Raaah!"
His underlings roared in unison.
No matter the situation, when people outnumber their opponent, they tend to get reckless—losing all sense of judgment.
Three men make a tiger.
And here, there were over ten of them!
The sheer sight of them charging toward Akihiko in a chaotic swarm was undeniably intimidating.
At least, that was how it looked to Ryouka.
Her eyes first caught Akihiko's slender back before the delinquent mob surged past him.
Judging by size alone, it seemed like those thugs would crush him in an instant.
But then—
The wooden sword rose.
A single strike.
The nearest delinquent, wearing a cap, took the blow full across his cheek. His lips split with a sickening splat, spraying blood—bright red, mixed with a few white fragments... teeth!
Meanwhile, a fat delinquent tried to ambush Akihiko while his attention was on the cap-wearing thug. But before his baseball bat could even descend—
"Break!"
Akihiko's sword retracted, the tip jabbing straight into the fat delinquent's double chin. Like a chunk of spoiled meat tossed aside, the delinquent was launched two meters into the air before crashing onto the asphalt road with a thunderous impact.
Swift as lightning, before the fat delinquent even hit the ground, Akihiko sheathed his sword at his waist, assuming an iai stance. His gaze sharpened—
In the next instant, the wooden blade flashed out, slashing across the waists of three delinquents in rapid succession. The dull thuds sounded like bones cracking, their faces twisting in agony.
"Two fists can't match four hands"?
Only if those fists aren't fast enough—aren't strong enough.
As the captain of the kendo club, Sakura Miyajima saw it instantly—this junior's skill was on an entirely different plane from these street thugs.
He was a once-in-a-decade swordsmanship prodigy! At just... sixteen? Seventeen? At this age, he already bore the shadow of a master. His swordplay—how breathtaking!
Sakura Miyajima, a true connoisseur of the blade, had a keener eye than most. Her obsession with swordsmanship made her all the more discerning—and all the more fanatical.
Her cherry lips trembled with excitement.
Strong... so, so strong... incredible... this swordsmanship, this power...
Her burning gaze locked onto Akihiko.
This man—she would have him!
In just a few exchanges, the delinquent gang lay defeated beneath Akihiko's wooden sword.
And Akihiko?
He hadn't taken a single step back.
Not a single one of them... had breached his sword's domain!
Akihiko swept a disdainful glance over the fallen delinquents—all except one.
The blond leader.
He didn't collapse to the ground wailing in agony. Instead... sensing the unfavorable situation, he had already begun retreating to make his escape.
Now he was about twenty or thirty metres away from Akihiko.
Though his flight was undignified, as long as he lived, there would be another chance. That damn brat would suffer at his hands one day!
The blond gritted his teeth. After this defeat, he was already planning his next move—to endure humiliation and bide his time.
But before he could formulate a proper plan, a bloodcurdling scream—
"WAAAH—!"
—caught his attention.
It was Yamato Aihara.
Unable to resist looking back, he saw Akihiko walking over and slashing his wooden sword down onto Yamato's shoulder. The strike was powerful enough to shatter the collarbone, and indeed, Yamato's face twisted with venomous hatred.
"One," Akihiko said, then cheerfully tapped Yamato's other shoulder with the wooden sword, grinning. "As everyone knows, humans have two shoulders... Get up, or I'll break the second one!"
He suddenly barked the command, startling the pain-wracked Yamato into scrambling to his feet. But the moment he straightened up—
Whack!
Another strike sent him crashing back down with a scream.
"I only said I'd hit you if you didn't stand up. I never said I wouldn't hit you if you did," Akihiko remarked coolly. Then, with a vertical slash, he struck the spot two inches below Yamato's groin. "This time, it's your shoulder. Next time I catch you harassing Ryouka, it'll be somewhere else."
"..." Yamato didn't make a sound, only trembling slightly.
"Stand up," Akihiko ordered again.
Yamato hesitated, whimpering in pain.
"Your shoulders and ribs are broken, not your legs! Crawl if you have to, or I'll make sure your body ends up at the bottom of Tokyo Bay," Akihiko said.
At that, Yamato desperately tried to rise, but with both arms useless, he couldn't support himself and fell back onto his rear. Then, just as Akihiko had said, he crawled a few steps before finally struggling to his feet and fleeing for his life.
The moment Yamato ran, Akihiko's gaze shifted—
The blond shuddered. But he still had the advantage of distance. He was about to bolt when—
"Hundred-Step Flying Sword!!"
A wooden sword shot straight toward him.
Before he could even lift his leg, the weapon struck his back with a thud, sending him flying several meters before he crashed to the ground. The pain was excruciating, but sheer survival instinct forced him back up. Staggering, he kept running.
"Remember this too," came a quiet, icy warning. The blond nearly collapsed from terror but barely managed to stay upright. He didn't dare look back.
Akihiko stepped over the fallen delinquents and returned to Ryouka.
Ryouka clutched her chest, her heart pounding so loudly it was audible even through her hands.
When their eyes met, her face flushed uncontrollably.
"An... Kobayashi-kun..." she began, voice trembling.
But Akihiko simply flipped the wooden sword horizontally and presented it to Sakura Miyajima with both hands.
"Thank you for lending me your sword, Miyajima-senpai," he said.