CHAPTER 3 — The Smiling Monster
The Hakuho Academy canteen during lunchtime was nothing short of a battlefield.
It was a suffocating, chaotic space filled with the overlapping voices of hundreds of students,
the clatter of metal trays, the stifling afternoon heat,
and the heavy smell of fried food.
For a tenth-grader like Renjiro Hoshino,
navigating this space usually meant keeping his head down.
Weighing close to one hundred kilograms,
his sheer size made him a walking target.
Every day was an exercise in survival,
a desperate attempt to avoid the sharp elbows,
the cruel trips,
and the sharper insults of the school's social elite.
But today, everything was different.
Today, he was not hiding in the shadows near the trash bins.
He was sitting at a corner table directly under the bright fluorescent lights,
opposite the most beautiful girl in the academy.
Meiko Fujiwara delicately peeled the wrapper off her ice cream.
She picked up a small plastic spoon and looked at Renjiro with a warm,
innocent smile that reached her bright red eyes.
"Why didn't I meet a kind boy like you sooner, Renjiro-kun?"
Meiko asked, her voice flowing like sweet honey.
Renjiro's face flushed a deep,
burning crimson.
His thick, trembling hands gripped his water bottle tightly,
desperate to hide how violently.
he was shaking.
Is this really happening?
he thought, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Has someone finally looked past my weight?
Does she actually see me?
But Renjiro did not know that beneath the table, out of his line of sight,
Meiko had her thumb pressed against her phone screen.
She had just hit send on a message that would seal his fate:
"He's here.
Corner table.
Make it public."
Simultaneously, a storm was brewing just two tables away.
At that table sat four boys—Ryo, Reo, Shoji, and Kenta.
They were average bullies, bottom-feeders who survived the school's brutal hierarchy by mocking those weaker than them.
And right now, all four of them were staring directly at Renjiro and Meiko.
Ryo Takeda aggressively stabbed his chopsticks into his bowl of rice.
His eyes were burning with pure jealousy and disgust.
"How the hell did that fat, sweating pig get a gorgeous girlfriend like her?"
Ryo muttered, his voice dripping with venom.
"Look at him.
He can barely breathe from just walking to the counter!
And Meiko is sitting right across from him, smiling like he's a prince?"
Beside him, Reo Hayashi scowled, rubbing his temples in deep frustration.
"They are making absolute fools out of guys like us.
We hit the gym, we style our hair, we play sports,
and this walking garbage bag gets the most premium girl in the school?
The whole system is completely corrupt.
Yesterday he was eating alone near the toilets, and today he has her?"
Sitting across from them, Kenta Ishida looked entirely unfazed.
He was casually stuffing his face with spicy curry, a dark, knowing smirk plastered across his greasy face.
Kenta spoke quietly, chewing his food with a sickening lack of concern.
"It is all just drama."
Ryo immediately leaned forward, his eyes wide.
"What are you talking about?
Explain it to me.
How is this drama?
She is sitting right in front of him eating ice cream.
She held his sweaty hand in front of the entire class!"
Kenta swallowed his food slowly, deliberately dragging out the suspense.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and let out a cold, breathless laugh.
"You idiots really have no idea what is actually happening here, do you?
Do you honestly think a girl like Meiko—a girl who has rich,
handsome seniors begging for her attention—would even look twice at that mountain of fat?"
Shoji Murakami, the hothead of the group, instantly lost his patience.
He reached across the table, violently grabbing Kenta by the collar and yanking him forward.
A glass of water tipped over, spilling onto the table.
"What the hell are you babbling about?!"
Shoji growled, his voice rising.
"Speak clearly before I smash your face in right here!"
Kenta did not flinch.
He simply pushed Shoji's hands away and lowered his voice to a terrifying whisper, leaning in close so only the three of them could hear.
"Listen carefully,"
Kenta said, his eyes darting toward Meiko for a fraction of a second.
"Meiko is playing him.
You three morons do not even realize that she is already engaged to someone else..."
Kenta paused, letting the heavy tension hang in the air.
"...Akuro Yoshibe."
The name dropped like a live grenade.
"What?!"
Shoji yelled out loud, completely losing control of his volume.
"What did you just say?!"
Kenta's face went dead white.
Pure panic erupted in his chest.
He lunged forward, slamming his hand over Shoji's mouth and aggressively pulling him down toward the table.
"Keep your damn voice down!"
Kenta hissed, sweat suddenly breaking out on his forehead.
You Mother fucker
"Do you really want everyone to hear you?!
Do you want that monster to put a target on our backs?
If Akuro even catches a rumor that we are whispering his and
Meiko's names from our filthy mouths, he will bury us alive!"
Ryo Takeda's hands began to shake.
"Is that true?
I cannot believe it.
But... if it is true... and Akuro comes here...
he is going to kill that fat guy.
No, he won't just kill him.
He will literally tear him apart in the middle of the canteen!"
Shoji, now trembling, let out a nervous, cruel laugh.
"Then he is definitely going to die by Akuro's hands.
He won't even have the time or the stamina to run away.
And nobody in this entire school will step in to save him."
The thought of Renjiro being brutally destroyed began to amuse them.
They started to laugh, a dark, muffled sound behind their hands.
But Kenta did not laugh.
A profound, hollow fear settled over his features.
His eyes lost their focus for a moment.
"You guys are laughing," Kenta said, his voice devoid of any humor.
"Because you think Akuro is just a normal delinquent who beats people up when he is angry.
You have no idea what Akuro actually is."
Shoji and Ryo stopped laughing.
The gravity in Kenta's tone sent a chill down their spines.
"What do you mean, Kenta?"
Reo asked quietly.
Kenta glanced at Renjiro and Meiko one more time before leaning back into his friends.
"A few months ago... right here in this canteen.
I was the only one who saw the entire scene from start to finish.
I couldn't sleep for three days after I witnessed it."
[The Story of the Smiling Monster]
"It was lunchtime,"
Kenta began, his voice barely a whisper.
"There was this second-year student.
Just a normal, cheerful guy.
He had just gotten his food from the counter and was walking back to his table with his tray.
Meiko was sitting alone at a table that day.
That second-year guy didn't know who she was, but when he saw her...
He was completely mesmerized.
He was staring at her so hard that he entirely stopped paying attention to where he was walking.
He had no idea who was walking right toward him.
It was Akuro. Walking with two of his gang members.
BAM.
The second-year student walked right into Akuro's chest.
The tray flew out of his hands.
Rice, curry, and juice splashed all over Akuro's expensive uniform shirt and designer shoes.
The entire canteen went dead silent.
The background noise just vanished.
Everyone stopped breathing.
I thought I was about to watch a murder.
That second-year guy turned pale.
He was sweating bullets, his hands shaking violently.
He immediately bowed so low his head almost touched the floor.
He started stuttering,
'I-I'm so sorry! It was my fault!
I wasn't looking
where I was going!
Please forgive me!'
Everyone expected Akuro to scream.
We expected him to grab the kid by the throat and smash him through a table.
But... Akuro didn't do any of that."
Kenta swallowed hard, his hands trembling slightly as he remembered.
"Akuro... started laughing.
It wasn't a psychotic, creepy laugh.
It was a warm, friendly, forgiving laugh.
He placed his hand gently on the terrified kid's shoulder and spoke in the kindest, sweetest voice you could imagine.
'Hey, don't worry about it man! It happens. We all make mistakes, right? I'm completely fine.'
When Akuro laughed, his gang members started laughing too.
The heavy tension in the air completely evaporated.
The terrified kid looked up, a massive wave of relief washing over his face.
He actually smiled back and started laughing with them.
'T-Thank you so much,'
the kid said.
He thought his life had just been spared.
He thought Akuro was actually a nice, understanding guy."
Kenta clenched his fists on the table, his knuckles turning white.
"But that is Akuro's true nature.
When he destroys someone, he doesn't do it out of anger.
He does it with a smile.
Angry people give you warnings.
Akuro doesn't give warnings.
He just rips you apart.
While the kid was laughing, totally relaxed, with his guard completely dropped...
Akuro was still wearing that sweet smile...
and suddenly... without a single blink, without a shift in his breathing...
SWISH... CRACK!
Akuro threw a flawless, devastating Kudo martial arts hook punch straight into the kid's jaw.
I heard the sound from across the room.
It sounded like a thick wooden branch snapping in half.
Two of the kid's teeth literally flew through the air, trailing blood, and bounced across the tiles right in front of me.
The kid dropped to the floor like a sack of dead weight.
He was completely concussed, blood pouring from his mouth. But Akuro didn't stop.
Akuro was still laughing!
He casually started kicking the kid in the ribs, over and over.
And while he was delivering these bone-breaking kicks,
he was still talking in that sweet, friendly voice.
'Man, you are really fragile, aren't you?
Haha,' Akuro giggled, driving his leather shoe into the kid's stomach.
Then, Akuro grabbed the kid by the hair and dragged his bleeding body across the floor until he slammed him against the wall.
The kid was sobbing,
his limbs twitching,
unable to even formulate words because his jaw was dislocated.
Right then, one of Akuro's gang members walked over from the counter and handed Akuro an ice-cold bottle of soda.
Akuro left the half-dead kid slumped against the wall.
He opened the soda,
took a sip, and smiled.
'Man, it is really hot today, isn't it?
Thanks for the cold drink.'
He took a massive mouthful of the freezing soda...
leaned down right in front of the kid's face...
and spat the entire mouthful of liquid directly onto the kid's bloody,
crying face.
The kid just laid there on the floor, weeping in pure humiliation.
And all the surrounding students—
none of whom had the guts to step in—
pulled out their phones and started taking pictures of him.
They made him a complete joke.
It was the most pathetic,
degrading thing I have ever seen."
Kenta paused.
He took a deep breath and looked Ryo dead in the eyes.
"And do you know what the most terrifying part of that whole thing was?
While that kid was lying there, covered in his own blood and spit-out soda... he looked over at Meiko.
He was crying, looking at her because she was the reason he got distracted.
He thought maybe she would feel pity for him.
But Meiko just looked down at that broken, sobbing boy... and she smiled.
It was the most evil, sadistic smirk
I have ever seen.
The exact same smile a demon makes when it drags a soul to hell."
[End of the Story]
When Kenta finished speaking,
absolute silence fell over their table.
Ryo Takeda's face had lost all its color.
Shoji was sweating profusely.
Reo's throat was completely dry.
They finally understood.
Akuro and Meiko were not just school bullies.
They were apex predators.
They were psychopaths who played with human lives for entertainment.
And they realized that the massive, one-hundred-kilogram boy sitting two tables away wasn't just going to be embarrassed today.
He was going to be physically and psychologically slaughtered.
---
Meanwhile, just a few feet away...
Renjiro Hoshino's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The survival instincts ingrained in him by his grandfather—
the awareness of his surroundings, the ability to feel a shift in the atmosphere—
began blaring like warning sirens in his mind.
Even through the deafening noise of the crowded canteen,
he felt a sharp,
heavy wave of negative energy radiating from the table of the four boys.
He had watched them argue from the corner of his eye.
He saw Shoji grab Kenta. He saw them laugh.
But now... now there was a suffocating silence among them.
They looked terrified, pale, and their eyes were locked dead onto Renjiro.
What is going on over there?
Renjiro thought, his chest tightening.
His heavy breathing picked up pace.
Why are they looking at me like that?
Are they planning something?
The deep, ingrained fear from years of bullying urged him to stand up.
His instincts screamed at him to run away,
to leave the canteen immediately before the invisible trap snapped shut.
Renjiro slowly shifted his heavy gaze back toward Meiko,
about to tell her he needed to leave.
And in that fraction of a second, he saw it.
He saw the monster behind the mask.
Meiko was not looking at him.
Her eyes were fixed on the four boys at Kenta's table.
Her beautiful, innocent face had contorted into an expression of pure, unadulterated malice.
Her eyes were narrowed into deadly, razor-sharp slits.
Her teeth were slightly bared.
She was glaring at the boys with a look that radiated a silent, terrifying threat:
'If you react, if you ruin my plan, Akuro and I will make your lives a living hell.'
It was the exact same sadistic, evil smirk Kenta had just described in his story.
Renjiro saw it clearly.
For one agonizing second,
his breath hitched in his throat.
The illusion cracked.
But then... Meiko sensed his gaze.
Like a master actress flipping a switch,
the demonic glare vanished into thin air.
By the time Renjiro fully registered what he was seeing,
the monster was gone.
Meiko turned her head back to Renjiro.
She took a delicate bite of her ice cream,
completely relaxed,
and flashed him that same warm,
heart-melting,
beautiful smile.
"Renjiro-kun..."
Meiko whispered softly, tilting her head.
"You really have kind eyes.
Do you know that?"
Renjiro froze.
His brain scrambled to process the terrifying image he had seen just two seconds ago.
His gut feeling was violently screaming at him to run.
It was a lie. It was a trap.
But... he was a boy who had spent his entire life being treated like walking garbage.
He had been rejected, spat on, and ignored.
To a boy dying of thirst in the desert, even poison looks like water.
When he looked into Meiko's soft,
beautiful eyes,
his desperate need for affection overpowered his survival instincts.
He willingly crushed his own intuition.
He rationalized the red flags.
No... she isn't like that, Renjiro lied to himself.
She was probably just glaring at those guys because they were staring at us.
She is defending me. She actually cares about me.
Meiko finished the last bite of her ice cream.
She rested her elbows on the table, cupping her face in her soft hands,
and gave Renjiro a deep,
deeply romantic look,
as if he were the only boy in the entire universe.
Renjiro's eyes locked onto her perfectly sculpted face.
The heavy dread in his stomach melted away,
replaced by a foolish, overwhelming warmth.
His heart raced with a toxic, blind hope.
He lowered his head slightly, blushing a deep, pathetic red, completely captivated by the illusion.
He couldn't hear the noise of the canteen anymore.
He couldn't feel the terrified stares of the bullies.
And because he was so completely blinded by the bait,
he had no idea that at the entrance of the canteen,
the true nightmare had just arrived.
The monster who never got angry.
The monster who always smiled.
Akuro Yoshibe, wearing a bright,
cheerful grin on his face,
was slowly walking down the aisle,
approaching Renjiro's back.