Kairin gripped Yohan's arm in a desperate panic, whispering a final, terrified warning about the boy staring them down—Yino 'Yin-half' Wheeler, the brutal Enforcer of the First Crew. But Yohan didn't flinch; instead, a dark, hungry grin spread across his face as he locked eyes with his new target. Sensing the challenge, Yino slowly flicked his cigarette aside and stood up, his cold, grave-like gaze turning the entire classroom into a tomb of suffocating silence.
Noticing Kairin's growing agitation, Yohan glanced at her with a sly, knowing smirk. In a calm, steady voice, he said, "Don't worry. My target is the boss, plain and simple."
The words had barely left his lips when a burning, half-spent cigarette streaked through the air like a bullet, slamming right against his cheek.
Yohan knew there was no better way to trigger this guy than what he just did. But what Yino did in return... that crossed a line. It was far more than just a provocation.
"Talking about the Boss right in front of the Boss's sister, huh?"
Yino began to close the distance, his eyes locked on them. As he walked, he reached his left arm across his chest, locking it with his right as he pulled it tight to stretch his shoulder—the casual movement of a fighter loosening up for a slaughter.
Kairin's eyes widened in sheer terror, her breath hitching in her throat. From across the space, Yino's voice cut through the silence like a cold blade, "Don't you worry. I'll handle this guy myself."
Without a word, Yohan dropped his shoulder bag onto the nearest high bench. Then, with a slow, measured stride, he began walking straight toward Yino.
As Yohan closed the distance with steady, rhythmic steps, a few cold words escaped his lips, "I get it... being in a gang makes you arrogant by default. And I guess seeing a new face just makes you itch for trouble, doesn't it?"
No one in the classroom expected a newcomer to have the guts to talk back to Yino like that. Every student stared at him, their faces a mix of shock and disbelief. Even Yino, surprised by Yohan's sheer audacity, let out a slow, eerily calm smile.
Locking eyes with Yino's unsettling smile, Yohan spoke with a chilling edge, "Nice smile you've got there. If you're willing to fight just to protect the Boss's sister, then I'm more than ready to take my revenge for that cigarette you threw at me."
Across the classroom voices whispered, mockingly:
"That kid is dead meat today."
"Yino is going to snap him in half."
"I'm gonna be the one to finish him. How dare he lay eyes on Kairin!"
"If the Boss finds out, he'll take his life for sure."
The air in the room thickened as Yino swung a heavy right cross, but Yohan didn't retreat. Instead, he slipped inside the punch, his movements fluid and calculated. Before Yino could adjust his weight, Yohan's hand shot out, gripping Yino's collar and sleeve with a vice-like hold. Using Yino's own momentum against him, Yohan pivoted his hips, ducking low in a textbook ' Ippon Seon Nage '.
With a sudden, powerful surge, Yino was hoisted into the air. The Enforcer had no time to react before he was slammed back-first onto a sturdy oak desk. The wood groaned under the impact, and the sound of the crash echoed like a gunshot through the silent classroom.
Yino lay there, breathless and stunned, the wind knocked completely out of him. Yohan didn't follow up with a strike. He simply stood over him, looking down with a gaze that wasn't filled with anger, but something far more unsettling. He leaned in slightly, his voice a cold, haunting whisper that reached only Yino.
"You know, Yino... I almost envy you. To have someone like Kairin to protect, a Boss to serve, and a place where you actually think you belong." Yohan's eyes darkened, a hollow smirk playing on his lips. "It must be nice to live in such a small, crowded world. Too bad I'm here to burn it all down."
The classroom fell into a shocked, suffocating silence; it felt as if everyone's eyes were about to leap out of their sockets in pure disbelief. Yohan, completely unfazed, slid both hands into his pockets and turned toward the door. There stood Kairin, frozen, her face a mask of utter astonishment at the sight of the fallen Enforcer. Yohan simply locked eyes with her, he said, "See? I'm still standing. Not a single scratch on me."
Kairin's face drained of color as a new wave of terror washed over her. She tried to scream, her voice trembling and choked, "Yohan, behind you...!"
Before Kairin could finish her warning, a voice cut through the air from behind him—sharp, heavy, and dripping with malice.
"Hey, Newbie."
Yohan couldn't believe his ears. But one thing became dangerously clear to him right then: "Taking a throw that violent and still standing... that's not something any ordinary human can do."
He spun around to face Yino, only to find him standing firm on both feet. Not a stagger, not a wince—it was as if the devastating impact had never even happened.
He brushed off his uniform as if he hadn't felt a thing, his expression chillingly neutral. "I don't know what you were whispering to her," he said, his voice dropping an octave. "But if you think this ends here, you're dead wrong."
Yohan noticed the grins spreading across the faces of the boys in the room. Despite the suffocating tension of the moment, he saw Yino standing there, eerily calm—a chilling stillness that felt like the eye of a storm.
Once again, they stood toe-to-toe—two predators locked in a lethal stalemate in the center of the room.
Yohan locked eyes with him, his gaze hardening into steel. "I was starting to wonder," he said coldly. "How a gang enforcer from a place as big as New York could go down so easily. But I see now... you actually have the grit to back up that title."
"You talk as if you're somehow on a level above me," Yino hissed.
Before the words could even settle, a thunderous punch exploded into Yohan's midsection, the force of the blow sinking deep into his gut.
Overriding his own mental command, Yohan's hands instinctively flew to his midsection, clutching the spot where the blow had landed. His body had betrayed his will, buckling under the raw, agonizing force of Yino's strike.
Seizing the opening, Yino grabbed Yohan by the back of his neck, locking him into a vicious clinch. Without a moment's hesitation, he drove his knee into Yohan's gut twice in rapid succession—each strike hitting like a battering ram, hard and relentless.
Yino's knees slammed into Yohan's ribcage with the crushing force of a high-speed truck. The impact was so devastating that Yohan's body folded forward, the air forced out of his lungs in a painful gasp as he doubled over.
Seeing Yohan doubled over, Yino didn't waste a heartbeat—he launched a lethal knee strike aimed straight for Yohan's face. In those fleeting milliseconds, a cold realization washed over Yohan: any slight hesitation, even the smallest mistake, would cost him his life.
In a blur of motion, Yohan caught Yino's rising knee between the palms of his hands, absorbing the massive impact with surgical precision. Before Yino could even retract his leg or regain his balance, Yohan twisted his body with violent force. Using Yino's elevated leg as a lever, he executed a devastating Kuchiki Taoshi (Single Leg Takedown).
He didn't just trip him; he drove Yino backward, slamming him onto the floor with enough force to make the tiles crack beneath them.
Yohan stumbled back a few steps, his body heavy, until he hit a bench for support. His left hand remained clamped firmly over his stomach, his chest heaving as he gasped for air—every breath a sharp reminder of the truck-like impact. But through his blurred vision, he saw the impossible: Yino was already pushing himself up from the floor, rising once more like a shadow that refused to vanish.