The school courtyard erupted into chaos.
Concrete cracked beneath charging footsteps as forty-seven members of the Largin Gang poured in from every direction—bats and knives raised, rage and confidence written across their faces.
Somewhere higher up, on the highschools rooftop, Yui stood frozen, watching. Why? Because she couldn't just leave her love. Yet at the same she couldn't do anything but only watch as shiedo stood alone at the center.
At the far end, leaning casually against a bike, the leader watched. Arms crossed while he smiled.
"Break him," he said calmly.
The members rushed.
The first bat screamed toward Shiedo's head.
He stepped in.
His left hand met the wrist mid-swing, turning it outward just enough to ruin the arc. His right forearm slammed into the elbow joint. The crack echoed sharp and wet.
The bat dropped. Before the man could scream, Shiedo twisted the wrist down and forward—kote gaeshi—driving the attacker face-first into the concrete. He was out cold.
But shiedo didn't pause as a knife lunged toward his ribs.
He pivoted to right, letting the blade glide past his side. His fingers climbed the attacker's forearm, locking the elbow as his hips turned. The man left the ground, flipped, and hit hard—his shoulder dislocating with a sickining pop.
Two men down. A slight smile faintly appeared on shido's face before he immediately controlled himself as he felt someone coming from behind him.
A bat came from behind.
Shiedo dropped low, rotated, and seized the attacker's sleeve and collar. Using the man's own momentum, he executed irimi nage, sending the body flying into another charging thug.
Both crashed into one another with bone-jarring force.
Four.
The gang pressed in harder then before.
Bats rained down.
Shiedo moved like water forced through stone.
He redirected strikes instead of blocking them. A bat meant for his head slammed into another man's knee.
A knife thrust buried itself into concrete as its owner was dragged forward and slammed face-first into the ground.
Wrists snapped.
Elbows folded the wrong way.
A man tried to tackle him but shiedo stepped aside, turned the mans shoulder, and dropped him with a brutal shiho nage, the arm locking and spiraling until the man screamed and collapsed.
Screams filled the courtyard.
The leader's smile faded.
"Don't rush him idiots!" he barked. "Surround him!"
Ten men tried.
But shiedo broke the circle before they could close in.
He grabbed the closest mens wrist, turning him around, using the man as a shield. And a bat struck the mans ribs hard.
Another thug hesitated—and that hesitation cost him. Shiedo immediately stepped through, seized his neck and arm, and dropped him with a sharp, controlled throw that knocked the wind from his lungs.
Slowly but surely the gang members bodies piled up.
Bones broke. Blood had long ago stained the concrete red.
Twenty down.
Thirty.
The courtyard stank of sweat and panic.
The leader's eyes narrowed. "They're losing," he muttered.
He lifted two fingers.
Across the courtyard, three men stiffened.
The same three thugs. Seeing the signal that their leader gave they didn't hesitate.
They slipped away through the side doors, melting into the school corridors.
Up on the rooftop, Yui gasped as she saw them. And they saw her.
But shiedo didn't.
He was still moving.
Another bat came down—shiedo caught the arm, twisted, and drove the attacker to his knees before smashing his face into the ground.
He pivoted immediately, avoiding a knife slash by inches, seized the wrist, and snapped it down with a vicious lock that forced the blade to clatter away.
Suddenly a man charged in blindly.
"Heh!" Smiled shiedo as he met him head-on. Not the slightest afraid.
Why should he feel afraid? In this very moment in this life or death situation shiedo didn't feel the slightest fear instead he felt... excited!
One step in. One turn. And one throw that took man flying then he landed hard not getting back up.
Forty men down.
The remaining men slowed.
Fear crepping in.
They were breathing hard now. Shaking in fear surrounded by their own broken comrades. Only ten remained standing, forming a loose circle—bats raised, but their hands trembled.
Shiedo's smile disappeared a he straightened himself. His uniform was torn all over. But his breathing was steady.
He rolled his shoulders once.
Finally the leader pushed himself off his bike, his expression darkening.
"…Enough."
The ten men swallowed.
None of them moved.
Shiedo lifted his now cold and excited gaze, he stood unyielding. With an obviously cocky smile on his face.
And somewhere inside the school, footsteps echoed closer to the rooftop.
The fight wasn't over just yet. The school courtyard had gone eerily quiet.
Broken bodies littered the ground—some groaning, others twitching. Bats were layed all over.
Pocket knives were scattered like discarded toys. Ten men remained standing at the edges, too afraid to move, yet too angry to run.
And then—
The leader stepped forward.
He was huge.
Not just tall—towering. Well over six-foot-five, his shadow swallowed shiedo's frame entirely as he moved into the light.
His shoulders were so broad they stretched his jacket tight, veins crawling like cords along his bare forearms. Muscles layered over muscles, dense and brutal, the kind built from real fights, not gym mirrors.
His neck was thick enough to look like it could stop a blade. His hands—those hands—were massive, scarred, knuckles swollen and misshapen like stone mallets.
The leader cracked his neck once. The sound echoed all over.
Around them, the remaining Largin members swallowed hard. Some took involuntary steps back. Even injured, even exhausted, they knew.
This wasn't just a gang leader.
This man was the reason Largin Territory existed.
The boss rolled his shoulders and looked down at shiedo, eyes cold and unreadable.
"So," he rumbled, voice deep and rough like gravel dragged across steel. "You're the kid."
Shiedo stood straight despite the difference in size with that cocky smile still on his face.
Blood ran down his cheek from a shallow cut, his uniform torn, breathing steady but heavy. His hands were open. Relaxed and low in an Aikido stance.
"I told them not to touch the girl," the boss continued, tilting his head slightly. "They didn't listen. That's on them."
He paused.
"But this?" He gestured lazily at the wreckage around them. "This is on you."
Shiedo's smile instantly disappeared but he still didn't answer.
The leader smiled faintly.
"I respect guts," he said. "But guts don't stop fists. And your cockiness is really getting to my nerves."
He stepped in.
The ground felt heavier with every step he took.
The moment he moved, the air shifted—pressure rolling off him like a wave. Shiedo adjusted instinctively that previous cocky smile returned in full force, his feet sliding half a step back, center lowering.
Then the leader lunged.
No warning. No feint. Just straight directness.
A massive hand shot out, aiming to crush Shiedo's collarbone.
Shiedo reacted instantly.
He turned—not away, but into the attack—his left arm catching the leader's wrist, redirecting the force downward while his right hand pressed against the elbow joint.
He pivoted, using the leader's forward momentum, attempting a classic Aikido off-balancer move.
It should have worked.
The leader didn't move. Not even an inch.
His feet stayed planted like iron pylons.
Shiedo's eyes widened—just slightly but the smile didn't falter instead it somehow grow larger.
'His too heavy. And too strong' shiedo thought to himself.
The leader laughed and yanked his arm back, dragging Shiedo forward with raw power before slamming a knee toward his ribs.
Shiedo barely twisted aside to the right. The knee grazed him, the impact like being clipped by a speeding car. Pain exploded through his right side, air blasting from his lungs as he was thrown backward, skidding across the concrete.
He rolled, barely stopping himself before hitting a wall.
The leader cracked his knuckles.
"Aikido, huh?" he said mockingly. "Pretty good damn moves."
Shiedo pushed himself up slowly, ignoring the pain screaming through his body. He didn't rush. Didn't panic. Just continued smiling.
He suddenly breathed in then out.
The leader charged again, faster this time—shockingly fast for someone his size. A straight punch came roaring toward Shiedo's face.
Shiedo stepped offline to the left.
He caught the arm at the wrist and forearm, turning sharply, dropping his weight and rotating his hips—in a textbook ikkyo, execution. The leader's balance shifted, just for a moment.
That moment was enough for shiedo.
Shiedo moved.
He slid in close, shoulder against chest, guiding the arm downward while stepping behind the boss's leg, attempting to fold him over.
The leader stumbled.
Gasps erupted from the onlookers.
But then—
The leader slammed his free hand down onto Shiedo's right shoulder like a hammer.
Pain exploded at shiedo's right shoulder.
Shiedo was forced to release and leap back as the concrete cracked beneath his feet.
"You're good," the leader admitted, rolling his shoulder. "Better than good."
He grinned wider now.
"That expression shouldn't belong to any kid, only those who love battle and violence should have an expression like that. Boy are you sure you ain't part of any gang or organization?"
Silence was all he got from shiedo who since he mentioned the boy's weird expression had instantly stopped his expression, and returned to normal.
This time the leader didn't ask again instead he attacked again—this time with combinations. Heavy hooks. Elbows. Grabs meant to break bones.
Each strike carried enough force to end the fight instantly if it landed clean.
Shiedo didn't try to overpower him.
Instead he thought to guide him.
He redirected punches. Slipped inside arcs. And tried to use the leader's own weight against him.
When grabbed, he twisted joints. When struck, he moved with the impact, minimizing damage.
Aikido wasn't about winning fast.
It was about surviving pressure.
The leader slammed Shiedo into a wall.
Shiedo rolled, came back up, and immediately caught the leader's wrist, spinning under the arm—in a kaiten-nage—using leverage and momentum to throw the massive man forward.
The leader hit the ground on one knee.
The courtyard exploded with noise.
The remaining gang members stared in disbelief.
For the first time, the Leader's smile faded.
His eyes sharpened.
"You're truly annoying," he growled.
He rose slowly, cracking his neck again—then shot forward.
He moved faster than before.
A blur is what shiedo saw.
A monstrous right hook came tearing toward Shiedo's head, muscles coiling, veins bulging, speed and strength merging into a single, devastating blow.
It was perfect.
Too fast.
Too close.
Too strong.
It was practically impossible to dodge. Impossible to block.
The spectators screamed.
And in that instant—
Shiedo's previously excited expression returned in full force and he did something no one expected.
Shiedo moved first.
The moment the leader's arm came forward, Shiedo vanished from where he stood—launching into a front flip that carried him clean over the man's reach. Instead of landing on his feet, he planted both hands on top of the leader's arm, using it as a pivot.
Then—
An axe-kick from downwards crashed with the leader's chin, the impact echoing like a gunshot.
The leader was hurled backward, teeth clenched so hard blood burst from the corners of his mouth as he skidded across the ground.
For a heartbeat, the world froze.
The leader forced himself up—only to collapse onto one knee, breathing heavy, his body trembling from the blow.
Shiedo didn't hesitate.
He closed the distance in two steps, grabbed the man by the collar, and yanked him upright. His fist pulled back, muscles coiling, perfectly aligned to end it with a single punch straight to the face.
'This is it!' He smiled triumphantly.
Just as I was about to knock the lights out of him—
A scream cut through the air.
Sharp. Panicked.
And painfully familiar.
My fist froze mid-swing.
I knew exactly who that scream belonged to.
"SHIEDO!"
I spun around and saw the three alley thugs holding Yui at knife point.
"Choose hero," one of them hissed. " The life of this bitch… or your own?"
Without hesitation—
"I choose her of course," I said lowering my guard completely. Excepting my fate.
Before the words even finished leaving my mouth, blades stabbed into me.
One. Two. Five. Seven. I lost count.
The world blurred. My knees buckled and i dropped to one knee, coughing up blood.
Everything froze in that moment.
I saw Yui's face—pure shock carved into it—as tears streamed down her cheeks. Then her voice broke free, a scream torn from the very bottom of her soul.
"SHIEDO—O—O—O!!"
The entire school stood petrified. My classmates. The teachers. No one moved. No one breathed.
Even as blood filled my mouth and my body screamed in pain, I forced my eyes open and looked at the Largin Gang's leader.
"L–Leader of the Largin Gang…" I coughed violently, blood splattering onto the ground.
"N–Now that I'm dying… like you wanted… gasp w–what now?"
The leader stared down at me for a moment, then spoke calmly.
"You. What's your name, maniac… no—warrior?"
I grinned through the blood and pain, forcing the words out.
"I'm—breath out!—Shiedo… Natski."
The man nodded, acknowledging the name.
"Then hear me," he said, raising his voice so everyone could hear. "I, Ken Komuro—leader of the Largin Gang—promise here and now, in front of all witnesses, that since Shiedo Natski is dying by my will, no one from the Largin Gang will ever harm or involve themselves with Shiedo Natski, nor the girl named Yui, nor either of their families."
He leaned closer, staring into my fading eyes.
"Is this what you wanted, Shiedo Natski?"
My vision blurred. Darkness crept in from the edges. I was already standing at death's door.
I nodded weakly.
A relieved smile spread across my face despite the pain.
"Y–Yeah… thanks."
Ken Komuro straightened, turned away, then cast me one final glance.
"Men, we're leaving. Those who can still move, grab the closest man to you. Let's buzz. This warrior… is already a dead man."
Within the spam of two minutes, the school courtyard was empty.
Then chaos immediately erupted.
Voices. Screams. Someone shouting for an ambulance.
Time stretched. What felt like years passed—but in truth, it was only ten minutes before sirens pierced the air.
I felt myself being lifted, laid onto a stretcher.
Yui's voice reached me.
I turned my head weakly. She was gripping my hand with everything she had, crying so hard her entire body trembled.
"Shiedo… please don't leave me… please…"
I smiled, even though it hurt more than anything I'd ever felt.
"Yui… babe…" I swallowed blood.
"Listen to me."
"Even though am quite territorial, i still want you to live your life… okay? Leave this country. Be happy. Get married. Have kids. Don't look back."
"NO!" she screamed. "I love you! I love you, Shiedo! You can't leave me!!"
Her tears fell onto my face, warm and endless.
My vision faded completely.
"…I love you too… Yui," I whispered.
"Yui… listen." I forced the words out one last time. "Leave this country if you can. Be happy. Get married. Have kids. Don't ever look back."
"I promise…" she sobbed. "I'll find you… no matter what. Just wait for me, my love."
That was the last thing I heard.
The world faded into pitch-black.
And with that—
Shiedo Natski… died.
For the very first time...