Chapter 65: Ryōzanpaku
"Even though I'm worried about my test scores, right now I'm way more worried about you, Your Majesty."
"Huh?"
Takumi instinctively scooted back until his back was practically glued to Yuu. Haruto's eyes were wide as he stared.
"What's with that disgusted, icy glare?!"
"Nothing. It's just… that line you just said made my skin crawl. Please don't casually say stuff that'll make people who don't know better get the wrong idea."
Haruto froze for a second, then exploded.
"What the hell?! I've liked Empress for years—you know that! Caring about you is just because you're her brother, you damn shut-in! Is your brain wired to only go straight to the gutter?!"
"Shut up, you lolicon pervert. Don't act like your creepy tastes are normal!"
Takumi roared right back. They glared daggers at each other until Yuu couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.
"You two really are close, huh."
"No we're not!"
They shouted in perfect unison. Yuu just laughed harder, covering her mouth.
"Anyway, spit it out. What's with the dramatics?"
"Come here for a sec."
Haruto clearly didn't want Yuu overhearing. Takumi sighed, stood up, and followed him to the corner. Haruto's expression turned serious.
"Did you piss off Ennan Tatsumi?"
"Ennan Tatsumi? Rings a faint bell… Wait, isn't he that chuunibyou kid who's been stuck in middle-school delusions since second year of junior high all the way to senior year? The one who thinks he's some legendary gangster boss?"
No matter the school, there were always those delinquent-wannabe chuuni types. They hated studying, dressed like rejects from a bad yakuza flick—pierced ears, ripped pants, preaching "loyalty" and "honor," picking fights left and right, unpredictable tempers, weird fashion sense. If Goda Taiga was just your average schoolyard bully king, Ennan Tatsumi was straight-up running a campus gang.
"That's the one, bro. How the hell did you manage to piss off both of our school's top tyrants?! Taiga's got size, a suddenly-rich dad, and a mom with connections in the system—that's how he rules. But Ennan? Zero background. Son of a migrant worker. He built his rep from junior high by beating the crap out of people. He's gathered a whole crew of delinquents, and word is he's got real ties to actual street gangs outside school. I know you've been secretly training—hell, you wiped the floor with that fatass twice—but Ennan's strong as hell himself, and he's got numbers. Two fists can't beat four hands. Just take a few days off, lay low."
Ennan had been in and out of juvenile detention more times than anyone could count. The school should've expelled him ages ago, but three years back when they tried, rumor was he and his gang camped outside the principal's apartment complex for days. The poor balding middle-aged man lost even more hair from stress and quietly withdrew the expulsion notice. Now Ennan was a third-year; just one more year and he'd graduate (or more likely just vanish). From the principal down to the security guards, everyone avoided him like the plague.
"Why should I hide? I didn't even do anything to him. Wait… I get it. That letter at lunch was his threat, right? What'd it say?"
At noon some random guy had handed Takumi an envelope. Haruto thought it was a love letter and got all excited, but Takumi hadn't even opened it—just passed it straight to him. Now it made sense. Definitely not a confession.
"Yeah. Here, read it."
Haruto handed over the paper. Takumi unfolded it.
"'Heard you've been getting real close with Chairwoman Ryūko lately. Don't know who the hell you think you are, but beating Big Wild Boar (Goda Taiga) shows you've got some moves. Straight talk: anyone who wants to go after Chairwoman has to go through me first. I'm a simple guy. Beat me fair and square, and you're clear. Come yourself or bring whatever 'hotshot' friends you've got. I'll be waiting in the indoor basketball gym. Of course, if you don't show… I've got other ways. No hard feelings. —Ennan Tatsumi'"
Takumi groaned.
"Seriously? This is all because of the Golden Sparkling Ojou-sama? Isn't this guy supposed to be on a different wavelength from that spiky-haired boxer wannabe? What the hell—duel challenge? Am I in the real world or did I accidentally wander into some hot-blooded fighting manga set? Wrong genre, man."
He ripped the letter to shreds and tossed it in the trash. Haruto looked worried.
"So… what're you gonna do? Just skip school for a few days. Seriously."
"Skip my ass. I'm probably failing half my subjects already. If I take leave now, Extinction Tyrant will personally behead me with the Heavenly Sword. I've got no clue what this chuuni gangster's playing at. Whatever—bell's ringing. I'm grabbing a drink."
Takumi strode off without a care. Haruto chased a few steps, then stopped.
"Damn it… he's actually lost it. Calling other people chuuni when he's the one acting like he's All Might after beating one fat guy. No way—this needs to go to a teacher."
"What happened?"
"Don't bug me. I'm stressed."
Haruto snapped irritably, then froze. He turned—and there she was. The Golden Sparkling Ojou-sama standing right behind him. Her golden hair and flawless features seemed to light up the dim corner like a spotlight. Haruto felt his breath catch. He'd never understood how Takumi could talk to her so casually. Normal people felt like peasants facing royalty around her. Just stammering a sentence took courage; most couldn't even speak.
"S-sorry… Princess— I mean, Class Rep."
"It's fine. I saw you arguing with Takumi earlier. Did something happen?"
"Yeah… Takumi's been targeted by Ennan Tatsumi. I told him to be careful, maybe take a few days off, but… he won't listen."
"Ennan Tatsumi? I see. Thank you."
Ryūko turned and left the classroom. Haruto let out a huge breath. Girls with overwhelming presence like her—or even Takumi's sister—always made normal conversation impossible for him.
"Um… Haruto-kun?"
"Y-yes?!"
Haruto snapped to attention, then relaxed when he saw it was just Yuu.
"Oh, Aoi-san… you startled me. What's up?"
"I… I'm not sure if I should ask, but what were you arguing about with Takumi?"
"Uh, well…"
Haruto hesitated. Yuu's expression turned dead serious.
"Please tell me."
For some reason, Haruto felt a chill—like facing a lioness ready to pounce.
"…Fine. Look, Takumi's been targeted by Ennan Tatsumi. I told him to hide out for a few days, but he won't listen. Aoi-san, you're his seatmate—please talk some sense into him."
"I understand. Thank you, Haruto-kun."
Yuu bowed slightly and left the classroom too. Haruto exhaled.
"Man… Aoi's got some serious aura too. But seriously, is there really nothing going on between His Majesty and those girls? Why's everyone so worried about him?"
Takumi stood alone by the vending machines, softly singing.
"'That was the season when cherry blossoms bloomed. Everything about being a freshman sparkled. Carrying feelings too complicated to understand, anticipation and anxiety arriving hand in hand—it wasn't sad, yet for some reason I wanted to cry. HELLO, the feeling of first love. Now that your wings have opened, soar freely…'"
It was a song he'd practiced endlessly two years ago, performing it in falsetto at the middle-school New Year's party with all his heart. The opening theme from 'Lost Traveler?'. All that effort, only to be called a pervert by some classmates. "A guy sounding that much like a girl? Creepy." Even his closest friend from two years sitting together had, in front of everyone, thrown his harmonica off the third-floor balcony—shattering it as a dramatic "robe-tearing, bond-breaking" gesture to declare they were no longer the same kind of people.
As he sang, tears quietly slipped down his cheeks.
That incident had finally snapped him out of his own chuunibyou phase and pushed him to study hard enough to get into high school.
"Still not mature enough, huh… getting moved by my own song. Ha."
Takumi finished his Mirinda, crushed the can, and lobbed it perfectly into the distant trash bin.
"Bullseye. Feeling great. Screw whatever ghost of a chuuni Ennan Tatsumi is—still throwing tantrums in third year? Time to knock some sense into you. Demonic Inscription, activate training ground."
"As you wish. You will now enter a key location from 'History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi': the legendary dojo Ryōzanpaku. You will become a provisional disciple and train for one hundred days. Time in the real world will not pass. Train without worry."
In the next instant, Takumi stood before a dilapidated old gatehouse.
The legendary dojo from the hot-blooded manga 'History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi'—Ryōzanpaku!
Staring up at the massive gate towering twice his height, he took a deep breath and pushed.
It didn't budge.
Even with his black-belt third-dan strength, it felt like pushing a mountain. Gritting his teeth, he burned magical power and cranked it to seventh-dan power. Only then did the gate groan and crack open just a sliver.
At that moment, an enormous shadow silently appeared right behind him.
"Hm? Young man, what business do you have at Ryōzanpaku?"
Takumi nearly jumped out of his skin. Someone had gotten this close while he was burning magic?! He whipped around—and his entire field of vision was filled by an old man whose muscles looked forged from steel. Even the sky seemed blocked out. An overwhelming pressure crashed down like the heavens themselves were bearing onto his shoulders.
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