Today's release count [2/4]
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The next day, right outside West High's main gate.
A bunch of shady delinquents had gathered for no obvious reason.
Their leader wore a gray hoodie, his face covered in fresh bruises like he'd gotten his ass kicked recently.
"Finally out," the hooded guy said, walking straight toward Shimada Hideo while his crew quickly surrounded him.
Shinichi and Ivan happened to walk out of school and caught the whole scene.
"Mitsuo? What the hell does he want with Shimada?" Shinichi looked surprised.
"You know him?" Ivan asked.
Shinichi nodded. "He's one of Kana Kimishima's stalkers. He came after me once because of some misunderstanding. No idea why he's targeting Shimada now. They shouldn't even know each other."
"Is it really that hard to figure out?" Ivan paused, then laid it out. "Yesterday you snatched Kana away from him. To understand how her sensing ability works, he probably went after her again this morning. Mitsuo must've seen it and got pissed."
He pointed at the bruises on Mitsuo's face. "Look at that. He clearly got wrecked by Shimada and now he's salty, so he dragged a whole gang of thugs here for revenge."
"What, you planning to play hero again?" Ivan asked, noticing Shinichi already looking restless.
Shinichi nodded seriously. "Migi just told me Shimada's giving off massive killing intent toward these guys. If I don't stop him, this is gonna turn into a one-sided slaughter."
"Then let's get these idiots out of here."
Ivan pushed through the crowd of nosy students, walked up behind one of the thugs (a yellow-haired punk with his right arm in a cast and bandages), and tapped him on the shoulder.
"You guys really this dedicated? Coming out to fight with a broken arm? Want me to give you a little trophy for effort?"
"Who the fuck are you? Mind your own damn—" The yellow-haired guy turned around, saw Ivan's face, and froze like he'd seen a ghost. The rest of the sentence got stuck in his throat.
Mitsuo frowned beside him. Whoever this guy was, he'd scared his buddy shitless. Must be someone from the streets too?
"I don't care who you are. Today my problem is with him," Mitsuo said, glaring at Shimada Hideo.
"Boss, that's the Ivan Greevs I told you about. The guy who took on twenty people by himself."
The guy they called Boss Yano was a big, tall middle-aged man with a beard and a brown high-collared work jacket. He looked like the kind of bastard you didn't want to fuck with.
"It's you." Yano clearly knew about Ivan from the stories going around. He knew exactly how vicious the guy could be. One fight and the kid had snapped a bunch of arms. No way someone like that was easy to deal with.
"Let's go, Mitsuo," Yano said, shaking his head. He waved for his crew to follow and they all left.
Mitsuo wasn't happy about it. He stepped right up to Ivan, face twisted with rage. "Why the hell are you protecting him? I have to settle this score."
Ivan just smiled, leaned in close, and whispered something in his ear.
Mitsuo's face went from angry to shocked, then straight to panic. He turned and bolted without another word.
"What did you say to him?" Shinichi asked, curious as hell.
Ivan watched Shimada Hideo walk away in silence and grinned. "I told him Shimada's a monster. If he wants revenge, he should secretly follow the guy, catch him on camera killing or eating someone, then hand the evidence to the cops. Not only does he get payback, he also walks away with a fat reward."
"Pretty devious," Migi said, popping out at the worst possible moment.
"Thanks for the compliment," Ivan replied, accepting the praise like it was nothing.
Over the next few days, Shimada Hideo, who had been keeping a low profile, noticed he was being followed. He had no choice but to hold back his urge to kill.
But going so long without feeding was starting to mess with his head. On top of that, nasty rumors about him were suddenly spreading all over school.
Because of those rumors, people were watching him constantly.
The pressure was driving him insane.
Migi could feel waves of killing intent rolling off Shimada multiple times a day.
"Shimada is like a volcano about to blow. If this keeps up, the entire school is in danger," Shinichi said, staring toward the direction of Class 2-3 with heavy worry in his eyes.
Ivan, sitting behind him, heard that and replied calmly, "He's reaching his limit. Either today or tomorrow, he's definitely going out to hunt."
"So you want me to tail him? Then kill him the second he tries to murder someone?" Shinichi turned around and looked at Ivan.
Ivan shook his head. "You can sense him, and he can sense you just as easily. Following him like that is pointless."
"Don't worry. Mitsuo and his crew are already on him. Stalking people is what those debt-collecting thugs do best."
Suddenly Migi poked out from Shinichi's collar.
"Bad news. He just left school with clear killing intent."
"What?!" Shinichi shot up from his seat without thinking. Luckily it was still break time, so nobody really noticed.
"Relax. He's being watched. He might not act right away."
Too bad Ivan was wrong this time.
Half an hour later, while class was still going on, Ivan's phone started vibrating like crazy in his pocket.
The second he answered, Mitsuo's panicked voice exploded through the speaker, loud enough for the teacher to hear.
"I-Ivan! He killed someone! He fucking killed her!"
A few days ago Ivan had given Mitsuo his number and told him to call immediately if anything went down.
"Did you call the cops?" Ivan asked. He could hear how badly Mitsuo was losing it.
"Yeah, already did. A ton of police are chasing him now, but… it looks like he's heading straight toward your school."
"Got it. I understand."
Ivan hung up the phone and tapped Shinichi on the shoulder from behind. "My bad this time. Didn't think the guy had such a short fuse. He just killed a random passerby a few minutes ago. Cops are chasing him right now."
"And from the route he's taking, it looks like he's heading straight for our school. I could see the psycho wanted to fight us, but held back. Now that he's already being hunted, he probably wants to kill us before he runs. It's 'us' who made others follow him after all."
Right as he finished speaking, the school alarm started blaring.
"Attention all students! Attention all students! A dangerous individual has broken into the school. Everyone please evacuate immediately!"
"What the hell is going on? Is it like last time again?"
"No way, why are we always this unlucky?"
The classroom exploded into chaos. Panic spread across every face.
A bunch of students rushed to the windows, craning their necks to look toward the school gate.
"It's… it's Hideo-san," Tachikawa Yuko whispered, even from far away she recognized the intruder immediately. It was Shimada Hideo.
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[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69