Around four o'clock on a Monday afternoon in May, the school's sports equipment room would normally be busy with people coming and going.
Sometimes it was the soccer club. Sometimes the track team. Sometimes basketball. Students from all kinds of sports clubs might show up.
Boys and girls carrying a crate full of basketballs together; a female manager checking soccer balls with a male member beside her; track team members fooling around with a starting pistol.
All of that would be normal.
But today, none of those scenes appeared.
Today, the sports equipment room was the stage where Watanabe Tetsu was getting beaten up.
"Actually, I'm pretty good at fighting," the handsome boy lying on the floor said.
"Oh? How good?"
The elegant girl looking down at him showed a mocking smile.
Tetsu glanced at the "female robot" standing beside her in a suit.
"I can beat her without any problem."
That line was funny enough that the equipment room fell silent for a moment.
Sunlight streamed in through the narrow window, and dust floated in the beams of light.
Yuki Miki covered the back of her hand over her mouth and burst into laughter.
She let out a deep sigh, forcing herself to stop laughing.
"Fine then. I'll let you fight her."
"It's a deal."
"You're very confident, aren't you?"
Yuki Miki stepped back a few paces, and one of her subordinates brought over a stool.
She sat down, crossed her long legs, and said,
"Shizuru, don't hold back."
"Yes, ma'am."
Shizuru placed the medicine back into a small box, slipped it into her suit pocket, and looked at Watanabe Tetsu still lying on the floor.
Tetsu pushed himself up with one hand on his knee, the other pressing his still-throbbing stomach, and stood.
"Miss Yuki, am I also allowed not to hold back?" he asked.
"Do as you like."
Tetsu looked at Shizuru. This "female robot" hadn't shown a single emotion since earlier.
From the moment she appeared, she hadn't even acknowledged him as a person.
"I know you look down on me. But honestly, it's not just you—I look down on the old me too."
Tetsu took off his suit-style school jacket and tossed it onto the vaulting box nearby.
He had been training lately, and his stamina had improved a little… but his "power level" was still at 3, not 4.
If the Saiyan Raditz arrived on Earth and the first person he met was Watanabe Tetsu, Tetsu felt he would owe all of humanity an apology—for dragging down the average power level by two whole points.
"But let me warn you all first."
He loosened his tie, unbuttoned his collar, revealing thin collarbones.
"You can look down on the old Watanabe Tetsu—but you're not allowed to underestimate the current me. The 'Tokyo Hunk,' standing above all."
'Redeem: Master-Level Kickboxing.'
[Consumes 100,000 points]
[Player acquired: "Kickboxing (Master Level)"]
"Are you trying to make me laugh to death?"
Yuki Miki yawned.
"Alright, start. I'm sleepy."
Shizuru stepped forward, her posture perfectly straight—so straight it looked like she had a washboard strapped to her back.
The dust in the beam of light shifted and scattered like seawater as she moved.
Tetsu focused completely.
The fight began with a straight punch from Shizuru—so fast it was unreasonable.
Before today, Tetsu would've been flattened instantly.
But now, he only tilted his head slightly and avoided it with ease, countering with an uppercut.
Shizuru didn't dodge or flinch. She caught his fist with her other hand and looked ready to twist his arm like wringing a towel.
Tetsu twisted his torso and whipped a kick toward her lower body, dust scattering with the motion.
Shizuru's expression shifted slightly. She lifted her leg to block the nasty attack, and the two quickly stepped away from each other.
She had underestimated him.
She never imagined he could put up any resistance.
Had she taken him seriously, that kick wouldn't have forced her back.
No—if she'd been serious from the start, she wouldn't have used such a simple straight punch.
"What's going on?" Shizuru frowned.
"What do you mean 'what's going on'?"
Tetsu's foot throbbed with pain.
Her physical strength was far beyond his.
If they clashed body-to-body, she would drop him in seconds.
He had to think.
"You shouldn't have been able to dodge my punch. You shouldn't have this level of skill."
"Since we met, you've thrown exactly five punches. As Yuki's man, I refuse to be beaten by the same move five times."
From the corner of his eye, Tetsu noticed a bucket of powdered chalk used to mark the field lines.
'Yuki's man'—that line made everyone except Yuki Miki raise their eyebrows.
"No one has that kind of talent. The first time I saw you, you were clearly a useless nobody. What happened to you?"
Shizuru was more interested in this than actually killing him.
"How rude!"
Tetsu dashed forward and grabbed a huge handful of chalk powder, flinging it at her.
Shizuru's expression changed as she quickly shielded her eyes with her arm and moved sharply away without hesitation.
Her choice was correct.
Because immediately after, basketballs, soccer balls, shot puts, ping-pong paddles, metal buckets—various objects shot between them in rainbow-like arcs.
Shizuru found it troublesome, but she wasn't hurt.
Yuki Miki frowned slightly at the messy air.
"One more handful of chalk and I'll kill you myself."
Tetsu didn't shout about unfairness.
The situation was against him.
He could only treat their dirty tricks as them "handicapping" him on purpose.
He threw aside the chalk and hid behind a pile of equipment, assuming a stance that clearly said:
If she doesn't rush me, I'm not moving.
Shizuru walked forward slowly.
To her, Tetsu was nothing but a weakling—a piglet trapped in its pen.
All she needed to do was walk up and kick once.
Five seconds later, the two stood face-to-face.
Yuki Miki had told her not to hold back, but Shizuru still wondered whether she should literally kick Watanabe Tetsu to death.
At that moment, Tetsu suddenly smiled.
It was a magical smile—pleasant and captivating.
People couldn't help but fall in love with the boy's lips, his nose, his eyes… and eventually, the entire boy himself.
It was irrational, unbelievable—as if the person you love suddenly showed you irresistible affection.
[Smile: Charming & Gentle]
No woman could resist that smile. And if one could, he could always add a little more charm.
If she still resisted, then forget he ever said that.
Fortunately, Shizuru wasn't immune.
The two-point charm boost stunned her instantly.
That was all Tetsu needed.
He swung a fist straight at her temple.
At this moment, Raditz's scouter would have shot up from "3" to "6."
That spike should've scared her, right?
To startle a Saiyan—Tetsu felt proud!
Unfortunately, Shizuru didn't have a scouter.
She wasn't shocked at all.
As a professional killer and bodyguard, she regained awareness at the last possible moment.
She couldn't dodge the punch with its astonishing "power level of 6," but she did manage to tilt her head.
Instead of hitting her temple, Tetsu's strike only split her gum and left her cheek slightly swollen.
Her anger flared.
Without thinking, she launched a full-power kick straight toward Tetsu's waist.