CHAPTER 13: THE AZURE SECRET
The massive canteen of Hakuho Academy was currently enveloped in a deathly, suffocating silence, as if someone had violently ripped all the air and breath straight out of the room.
Akuro Yoshibe and his Black Blazers had already been tossed out of the cafeteria like pieces of garbage.
However, the gruesome trails of blood they left behind, the shattered steel tables, and the scattered glass were screaming testaments to the naked dance of death that had taken place here over the past hour.
In a dark, desolate corner of the canteen, right next to the cold wall where Akuro had brutally slammed Kenchon, Renjiro Hoshino was still trapped amidst the ruins of that destruction.
He had firmly grasped Raizen Kurotsuki's extended, sturdy hand with his own heavy, trembling hands.
Pulling his massive frame up using the wall for support, and rising above his perceived wretched status for the first time in years, he spoke with a newfound, burning hope through his brutally swollen face and blood-stained lips:
"My name is... Renjiro Hoshino."
But this burning hope could not outweigh the reality of his horrifying wounds.
The very second Renjiro stood on his feet with Raizen's support and let go of the wall to take his first step...
THUD !
Whatever microscopic amount of strength was left in his legs vanished completely.
The aftermath of Akuro's brutal Kudo strike, which had grotesquely swollen his jaw, combined with the sheer exhaustion of his 100-kilo frame, finally made his body give out.
He began to collapse heavily forward.
"Aaargh..."
A painful, agonized groan escaped his swollen jaw.
But right before his blood-soaked face could smash against the cold ceramic tiles of the floor, Raizen reacted instantly.
He stepped forward, tightly grabbed Renjiro's massive arms, and stopped him from falling face-first.
Leaning down toward the floor, tears of sheer fear and absolute shame began to drip from Renjiro's eyes, mixing with his blood.
He tightly closed his severely swollen eyes and spoke in a sorrowful, crying voice:
"I... I can't even take a single step.
I just can't get up...
there isn't an ounce of strength left in my legs."
Renjiro's tears began rolling freely down his cheeks.
"How am I supposed to go home now?
If Mom and Dad see me in this battered and swollen state...
what will they think?
They'll think their son truly is a burden,
a pathetic loser who gets beaten like a stray dog at school every single day.
How can I possibly show them this blood-soaked face..."
Without wasting a single microsecond, looking directly into Renjiro's weeping eyes, Raizen replied extremely casually and without an ounce of pity:
"Alright.
I'll drop you home."
Renjiro's tear-filled eyes widened in pure, unadulterated shock.
He looked at Raizen's scraped face and violently torn hoodie.
"But... you're in a terrible condition yourself!"
Renjiro yelled, his voice laced with deep physical pain and disbelief.
"You are injured too!
You took so many heavy kicks...
and even if you were perfectly fine,
how would you ever lift my 100-kg weight?
I am as heavy as an elephant,
lifting me is completely beyond your limits."
Not even a microsecond of doubt appeared on Raizen's face.
His icy, freezing eyes remained locked dead onto Renjiro.
"Don't worry about that,"
Raizen said, stepping forward.
His voice carried such a terrifying, absolute certainty that even death itself would step back upon hearing it.
"I will handle everything.
I'm not that hurt...
and my body can still function perfectly."
Renjiro was still trying to refuse.
"But... but you—"
Before Renjiro could even finish his sentence, Raizen leaned forward right in front of him.
He perfectly gripped Renjiro's falling, massive arms.
Raizen silenced his mind, took a deep, focused breath, tightened his core, and...
SWOOSH!
Renjiro's mind went completely blank.
His ears rang with a numb static.
In one single, explosive yet flawlessly smooth motion, Raizen hoisted the gigantic, 100-kilo boy off the floor and loaded him right onto his back!
The few remaining students standing far away in the canteen were watching them intently.
When they witnessed this impossible sight, their eyes bulged so wide in shock they almost popped out of their skulls.
Kenta Ishida, who was leaning against a broken table in sheer terror, stood with his mouth hanging wide open.
His knees started knocking together once again.
Pulling at his own hair, he screamed in a deeply shocked, trembling voice:
"Impossible...
impossible...
IMPOSSIBLE!
How on earth?!
How did he just lift that fat guy?!
That is absolutely impossible!"
Kenta's analytical mind was screaming in terror and disbelief.
*Science states that after such brutal physical activity,
human muscles completely freeze up with lactic acid...
But this boy?!
He fought a horrifying battle against Akuro,
And despite such extreme exhaustion,
He easily lifted a 100-kilo burden onto his back?!
And there isn't even the slightest vibration or tremor in his legs?!
He's not human!*
The reaction from the entire student crowd was highly mixed.
Every single one of them was in a state of deep shock.
Nobody could comprehend exactly how much monstrous power was hidden inside this white-haired boy.
Right behind that terrified crowd of students, the absolute highest authority of Hakuho Academy—The Student Council—was moving toward the canteen gates to take their leave.
The Senior Leader, Souma Kanzaki, before whom the entire school bowed down, slightly slowed his steps as he walked, but he did not stop.
His cold, blueberry eyes locked onto the dead center of the canteen, where Raizen was slowly walking forward, effortlessly carrying the 100-kilo Renjiro.
Souma observed him very carefully.
No visible reaction appeared on Souma's emotionless face, but his sharp, combat-hardened mind instantly grasped the true depth of the situation.
*There is something special about him,*
Souma thought to himself as he kept walking.
He slightly tightened his tape-wrapped hands.
*Such stamina and such core strength cannot belong to an ordinary fighter.
To so easily carry a man heavier than yourself after a death match...
that is quite something.
This boy has absolute control over his muscle structure and kinetic chain.*
For the first time in two years, a strange, unique mixture of respect and anticipation flashed in Souma's cold eyes.
*I hope we meet again, Raizen Kurotsuki,*
Souma said silently to himself.
With that thought, he continued walking out of the canteen without looking back.
As soon as they stepped out of the canteen and into the corridor, the usual tension-filled banter began among the Student Council members while they walked.
They were all maintaining their slow, dominant, alpha-like walking pace.
The Student Council Treasurer, Kyousuke Shidou, started complaining like a lunatic, throwing a fake kick in the air as he walked.
His bi-color (red and green) wild hair blew in the wind, and a sad, disappointed, Joker-like smile sat on his lips.
"Oh man! I didn't have any fun at all today, man!"
Kyousuke complained loudly while walking.
"I was thinking I'd break a few of Akuro's teeth with my own shoes.
But Souma Senpai took all the fun for himself!
Match over in just one punch?
Come on Senpai, you should have left a little entertainment for us too!"
"Because watching kings fall is my favorite hobby. Especially when they scream as they fall."
The Discipline Committee Head, Genji Ichimonji, completely lost his patience.
He slightly turned his massive, mountain-like body as he walked and glared at Kyousuke angrily from under his dark black buzz-cut.
"Shut your nonsense now, Joker,"
Genji's deep, rock-shattering voice echoed.
There was a deadly fury in his eyes.
"What Senior Souma did was the absolute right thing for the school."
Kyousuke casually placed both hands behind his head with a psycho smile while walking and said,
"Oh man, why do you take everything so seriously?
Chill out a bit, bro. You're always heating up your head for nothing.
One day your brain is just going to explode like that!"
A thick vein bulged on Genji's forehead.
His fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, and he leaned a step toward Kyousuke while walking.
"Now Joker, do you want to die by my hands right here?
I will silence your voice forever."
"Alright, alright, stop fighting."
Vice President Tetsu Saedomi stepped between the two with his hands in his pockets, flashing that cheerful, dark pink smile as he walked.
His coral hair was perfectly set in the wind.
"You guys are always at each other's throats like wild dogs.
Try getting along sometimes.
We are all pillars of the same Council."
Genji turned his head away, looking forward in anger.
"Senior, are you telling me
I should get along with this Joker?
That is simply impossible.
I'm better off staying far away from lunatics like him."
Tetsu chuckled lightly.
Then he adjusted his glasses while walking and turned his calculating gaze to the Girl Leader walking continuously right beside him, Satsuki Kiryuin.
Satsuki's absolute elegance was perfectly composed.
There was the distinct pride and arrogance of a queen in her walking style.
"By the way, Satsuki,"
Tetsu asked casually, but with a very deep and analytical tone as they walked.
"I've been noticing...
what exactly did you whisper to that Meiko girl that made her face go so pale while she was laughing?
She was trembling as if she had just seen her own death."
A highly dangerous, cunning, and venomous glint appeared in Satsuki's light purple (mauve) eyes.
A sweet but lethal smile adorned her lips, but her flawless walking speed didn't falter in the slightest.
"I won't tell you that,"
Satsuki replied, keeping her gaze forward and maintaining an icy elegance in her voice.
"That is my secret.
And I will only reveal it when the time is right.
Until then,
you'll just have to wait, Tetsu."
Tetsu laughed.
"Alright, as you wish.
Keep playing your mind games.
I was just asking out of curiosity."
Satsuki slightly turned her head and gave Tetsu an extremely sweet but highly dangerous smile.
Souma Kanzaki was walking ahead of them all.
He showed zero reaction to his members' arguments and banter.
His entire focus was fixed on the incoming storm and maintaining his absolute fear within the school walls.
Just then, the scene shifts.
Sitting completely alone at that dark VIP table in the canteen, Meiko Fujiwara's condition resembled that of a dead, rotting animal.
The biggest manipulator and the 'Queen Bee' of the school was now brutally trapped in a venomous web of her own making.
Both her fair hands were trembling violently.
She was clutching her beautiful head in her hands, and cold sweat dripped from her forehead, landing heavily onto her expensive skirt.
*How...
how did that witch Satsuki find out about this secret?!*
Meiko screamed in her mind, completely consumed by fear and panic.
Her own cunningness and power were now choking her very breath.
*Oh damn it!
Damn it!
DAMN IT!*
Meiko gritted her teeth in pure terror.
She was panting heavily.
*If Satsuki somehow reveals this to Akuro or those two monsters of his (Daizen and Toma)...
my fate will be a thousand times worse than Kenchon's!
Akuro will absolutely not leave me alive.*
Meiko's chest was heaving up and down rapidly in sheer terror.
Horrifying scenes of her own brutal death were playing out on a loop in her mind.
*If Akuro finds out that I was deceiving him by faking being his girlfriend...
and that I've been leaking all of his and The Black Blazers' confidential information to my other boyfriend...
Hajime Arakawa...
the leader of this school's biggest outside rival gang,
'AZURE REAPERS'...
AAAH!*
Meiko pulled aggressively at her own hair in a panic.
*This secret cannot get out!
Not at any cost!
Hajime Arakawa is a psycho outside gangster, and Akuro is the literal devil of Hakuho Academy.
I wanted to manipulate the leaders of both these gangs and make them dance to my tunes!
But now...
The Student Council holds my biggest weapon!*
Wiping away her tears in a mix of fury, frustration, and deep shame, Meiko made a terrifying but desperate decision.
*Now, to save my own life and to keep this AZURE REAPERS secret hidden from Akuro...
I will have to become Satsuki Kiryuin's slave!
I will have to lick that witch's shoes! Why?!
Why does just thinking about this make me so incredibly furious!
AAAH!*
The most cunning girl in the school was now caught like a helpless, insignificant insect in the iron grip of the Student Council.
The canteen was now completely empty.
On the floor, there was only scattered blood, severely broken tables, and Kenta Ishida standing frozen near those tables.
Raizen had also left the area, carrying Renjiro with him.
Just then, the door to the washroom (toilet) creaked open slightly.
A cold, violently trembling hand reached out from behind and touched Kenta's shoulder.
Kenta's breath hitched painfully in his throat.
Terrified, he jerked his head around to look behind him.
Standing there was Shoji Murakami.
His face had gone pale white with fear, and he was panting heavily.
"K-Kenta..."
Shoji whispered in terror, staring at the scattered blood pooling on the canteen floor.
"Is... is the fight over?
Has... has that devil Akuro left?"
Kenta's lingering trauma suddenly morphed into a ferocious, blinding rage.
He violently grabbed Shoji by the collar and screamed in a suppressed, cracked voice,
"You bastard!
Leaving me here completely alone amidst the death...
what the hell were you doing in the toilet for so long?!
Were you shitting yourself out of fear in there?!"
Shoji lowered his head in deep shame and fear.
Just then, Kenta's eyes suddenly darted to Shoji's grey uniform pants.
The front section of Shoji's pants had become slightly wet from sheer terror.
"B-Bro...
I wasn't shitting...
when those Student Council guys arrived..."
Shoji stuttered, crying,
making a pathetic,
futile attempt to hide the small wet stain on his pants with his shaking hands.
"Their President Souma...
just looking into his eyes made my breath stop,
bro...
I couldn't control myself out of fear...
a little bit just came out...
if I had stayed standing there,
I would have died..."
Kenta let go of his collar in deep irritation and pure disgust.
His terror-filled eyes slowly returned to the empty floor of the canteen, exactly where monsters had fought each other just moments ago.
For the very first time, Kenta realized just what massive cowards he and his friends truly were in this school.
What true power and a real devil ultimately looked like was now firmly imprinted in Kenta's soul.
In the dead darkness of that empty canteen, only their cowardice stood beside them.
And right here, the darkest secret behind the upcoming bloody gang war between Hakuho Academy's gang (Black Blazers) and the highly dangerous outside gang (AZURE REAPERS) was on the absolute verge of being exposed.
(CHAPTER 13 ENDS)