‘This is bad…’ Ageha thought as she saw An-chan being grappled and Aoi on the ground.

They had just been hanging out in their secret base and this had to happened when there were only six of them. Their other friends were not here yet.

‘If only… No. Now is not the time to think about that, I have beat this stupid guy up first’ she thought as she eyed the guy in from of her. 

‘Tsk. He knows about my Secret Ball Buster Special. So he is trying not to get close.’ As the guy in front of her watched her feet.

She glanced again at her friends who were in trouble and thought ‘I have to help them!’

 Then and there Ageha, putting one foot in front of the other, bolted into a sprint as she charged fist raised.

"Haaaaah!"

Once they entered close quarters they threw their punches. The guy’s fist goes wide and misses, Ageha doesn’t miss this chance and steps forward and with her right hand, punches  him in the face.

*Bam 

But the guy was still standing, to Ageha’s shock. The guy sensing the opportunity, grasps her hand and goes to punch her.

“Haha! I have you now girl!” 

‘Huek! No…’ She says as she closes her eyes expecting a fist to collide with her face.

…

‘Huh?’

“Hey, you shouldn’t lay a hand on a pretty girl’s face.” 

As Ageha slowly opened her eyes she what she saw was a boy with jet black hair, pale white skin and dark blue hair wearing glasses says as he holds the guy’s fist with his left hand while holding a kendo sword with the other. 

‘Isn’t he?’

“Are you okay? Miss?” The boy says warmly as he looked at her with worry,

*Doki doki

 She could only nod as she stands there dumbfounded.

“Who-who are you?!” the lackey exclaims

“Oh? Just your friendly neighborhood kendo man” he says with calm cold tone as he pushes him away

Seeing that she was okay, the boy smiled and took off his glasses, and went into a stance.

He puts his left foot right slightly behind his right one and raised his left heel by a bit, as he stands there with a disciplined straight posture. As he grasps the handle with both hands and points it towards the bully. He deeply breaths in and out and mutters quietly the words “Itadakimasu” as he bolts forward, sword at his side. The lackey tries to put some distance between them clearly weary of his kendo sword, but the black haired boy is too fast, he gets under him and hits him in the stomach with back of the handle.

“Huek!” Thud* the lackey falls to the ground unconscious.

Everyone is dumbfounded at the appearance of the black haired boy as he stands over one of the lackeys. 

“You… Bastard! Get him!” the leader of the bullies calls out as he lets go of an exhausted An-chan and rushes towards the boy as the one on top of Aoi also follows closely behind. They surround the boy, but he just stays calm, and enters a new stance.

He puts his left foot forward with the sword held pointing upright with the hilt in front of his right shoulder. After a tense unknown amount of time the first move was made.

The lackey behind the boy charges forward thinking that he had the element of surprise.

 ‘Wait. He is gonna…’ Ageha thought as she looks at the surrounded boy and she shouts “behind yo-“ 

The boy reacts but doesn’t move until the guy was close enough. He pivots on the spot as he brings down his sword and raise it in a wheel motion. 

Twack* 

The tip of the kendo sword hits the chin of the lackey and knock him out. 

“You piece of crap! You are gonna pay!” the leader says as he charges together with his mates.

The boy sensing danger of encirclement, he sprinted towards  one of the lackeys, dodges his fist and knees him in the gut. Then spin to swing his sword horizontally into the head of another lackey.

‘Sugoi…’ Ageha stood there in amazement

 Seeing that the their chump charge hadn’t work the bully leader stops and then growls “Youuu…” then there was a stand off, as they stared at each other “I am gonna-"

…

Then out of nowhere a kick hits him in the eggs of tomorrow. 

Crack* “Ohhhhh… low blow bro...”

The bully falls down to the ground, to reveal An-chan and Aoi standing behind him.

“You forgot about me… Dumbass” An-chan says with bruises on his face.

_______________________________________

‘Just your friendly neighborhood kendoman? Bwahaha! Why did I expect a better line from you?’ an angel laughs in my mind as I stand over on of the lackeys.

‘Eh?  It was at the heat of the moment, alright… and I didn’t think it was too bad.’ I roll my eyes

‘Hahaha! Oh? Careful here comes the boys’ she says as she stops laughing

I look to see a downed An-chan and Aoi get left behind as four guys surround me.

‘Uh? Angelica, might be bad. Little help?’ I say as I stand surrounded. Normal Kendo being a duelist sport does not equip you with group battles. So I am at a disadvantage, at I probably wont escape unscathed unless… 

‘You don’t need it right? This should be easy to a senior’s kendo champion in your previous life, right? This guys are no match for you. But uh? Just don’t get grappled’ she says with a smug tone

‘Haaa… as always huh, that was with a 17 year old body. How about this, okay? I will cook your favorite meal later’

‘Do you even know what my favorite meal is?’ 

‘Tell me and I can make it.’

‘Hmmm… Also pat me on the head later, then it’s a deal.’

‘Sure.’

‘Good. I am expecting a feast later’ She says satisfied as I see and angel fly up to the sky.

 I change my stance from the balanced offense/defence stance for duels Chūdan-no-kamae to the Hassō-no-kamae or all eight directions stance as I raise my shinai and wait. 

‘Lackey numero uno at your 6’oclock, in range… now.’

After hearing her words I spin as I swing in a circle down then up at the chin of lackey number one, knocking him out.

And yes, when I get into a pinch Angelica becomes kind of like my third eye warning me and even giving me instructions. This has immensely helped in competitions when defending and finding weak spots. Yes it is kind of cheating, so I only use it occasionally when the opponent has a one ippon lead or in dangerous situations, such as this. And also, I don’t recall the rules saying ‘Rule:XX the use of angels are prohibited during matches.

“You piece of crap! You are gonna pay!” Big boy shouts as he charges together with his mates.

‘Kyousuke, charge lackey numero dos on to your left, he had the wind knocked out of him earlier. Should be an easy target’ she says as I charge forward and dodge his sluggish swing, get under him and knee him in the gut.

‘Behind you, lackey numero tres is a bit shorter so swing accordingly’ 

I nod and spin as I swing the jissengata shinai into the side of the lackey’s face.

Twack* 

It hit him pretty hard that I began to worry.

‘Wait? He isn’t dead right?’

‘Nah just unconscious, probably…’ 

'Really?' I chuckle in the back of my mind

After dropping the two of his mates in an instant. The shocked big boy stops and growls at me. And I change back to Chūdan-no-kamae and steel myself to fight him, someone took a punch from An-chan and recovered.

‘So, any weaknesses?’ I ask

‘Just wait...’

I stood there confused but followed and kept up my concentration. On closer inspection his haircut is something I cant describe, and the tattoo of a dragon on his shoulder is messy. He looked like a cliché bad guy its almost funny.

“I am gonna-“

Crack*

…

“Low blow… bro” big boy says.

Shocked I look down to see a foot suddenly hit him in the groin. He falls to the ground sobbing to reveal…

“You forgot about me… Dumbass” An-chan says with Aoi as they look at the sobbing mess of bigboy.

_________________________________________

“We won’t forget this! Just you wait!” big boy says as he limps away with his gang.

I let out a deep breath and release all the tension I had. Kendo is a sport which requires you to concentrate for the whole 10 minute match. As such cheering or showing victory poses will earn you a deduction because you broke concentration. I stood there then stowed away the shinai into the bag, and put on my glasses, while in the corner of my eye…

“Hey. Thank you for the helping us out. You really saved us... My name is Minase Aoi. What’s yours?” A handsome boy with blue eyes smiles warmly as says then reaches his hand out. 

‘Huh? So this is why he had all those girl fawn over him’ I thought to myself

“Don’t mention it, Minase-kun. Its Shirou Kazuya. You can just call me Kazuya” As I shook his hand

‘Kyah! Falling inlove yet? Is this the tale of a budding bromance’ an angel says with a smug face. 

I ignore her remark.

“Oh sure, Call me Aoi as well, where did you learn to fight like that?” 

“Thank you, I am ac-“

“Hey! You were pretty cool out there. I’m Igarasashi Tatsuya. Call me An-chan” he says holding an ice pack on thw bruises on his face, as he walks towards us to then hold out his offhand.

“Nice to meet you An-chan. Shirou Kazuya, call me Kazuya” i also shake his hand

“Sure Kazuya-san, thank you again you saved our butts back there. Wait, is this the first time I've seen you here?” he says as he looked at me as quizically

“Ah yes… I am only here for the summer. I am actually from Tokyo”

“Oh is that so?” An-chan continues

“Yeah… But aren’t you gonna take care of those two?” I raise an eyebrow then point to the knocked out mob, and Ma bou.

“Oh, Hotaru and Ageha are already taking care of Ma bou and Taguchi. But do you mind helping us Kazuya-san?” An-chan asks

‘Taguchi was he a character?’

‘He is actually’ as Angelica flashes a clip from the game. He was one of the members of the baseball club that Aoi meets at the start of the game.

“We should also introduce you to the others. They will want to express their gratitude, unless you have somewhere to be right now?” Aoi-kun adds.

“Uh, No no, I have time.” I accept and we head towards the girls. 

…

‘Well that was easy. You are now in, mission accomplished right?’

‘Not yet, I need to make my existence memorable as to get promoted off mob status and isn’t this going too smoothly?’

‘Well you did save them, plus it’s easy to open up to someone who you have fought side by side with. And aren’t you already not just a mo-‘

“Hey Ageha! Hotaru! This is Kazuya. He was the one who beat the outsiders”

“Oh… hello. Thank you… I-I am Hota-ru” Hotaru stutters

“Ahh! Thank you for saving me Kendo man!” She does a deep bow

‘…’

…

‘BWAHAHAHAHA!’ a certain angel clutches her tummy as she rolls around in midair.

“No, no its fine.” I smile warmly

Aoi and An-chan looked at me quizically and I hastily explained the situation then they laugh and teased me about it.

“By the way what are your names?” I asked them will be a bit weird without introduction, then suddenly me knowing everything about them.

Hey Aoi did you know in six years from now you will break your knee and ruin your future in competing in Cycling Competitions? 

Yeah no.

“Huh?! I-I am Ageha and this is Hotaru my sister. And ah sorry! I bumped into you at the store!” Hotaru waved at me as Ageha was flustered as she bowed for a second time.

“No, no its okay its, because you bumped into me, that I managed to find this place.”

“Really? So you were following me?” As she and looked at me suspiciously. 

I look at her to hastily find an excuse. 

“Uhmmm… yes, I wanted to know your name, so I...” I say as I rub the back of my head and feint embarrassment.

“Is that so…” she looks down blushing, and then out of nowhere she jabs me on the rib, and runs off.

“Huekkk!”

‘My my. Look at Casanova right here, making a young girl fall in love’ she laughs

‘Don’t jump to conclusions.’ I retort.

“Ageha? Can you please get a bottle of water for me?” An chan asks

“Hai!” she says as she runs off.

“She is quite lively isn’t she?”

Before Ageha returned we chatted, I ‘found out’ what I already know about them. An-chan’s family owns a local factory. Aoi lives at a real estate firm at Kasami Shopping Street. And Hotaru and Ageha’s father own the “Himegi Sports Needs” shop. Though it was really interesting to see them before the events of the game. 

“Here!” Ageha says with two bottles of RoboWater.

An-chan gives one to Aoi and they nod to each other and smile mischievously.

“What are yo…” 

The pour the water into the faces of Ma bou and Taguchi.

“Ahmmm, five more minutes”

“Ahhh… Hime-chan…” 

Seeing that it was ineffective, they squeeze the bottles harder and water spews out.

“Ahkkk! Im up! Im up” Mabou and Taguchi sits up

“Huh? What happened?”

They explain what happened and how I saved them. 

“Woah! Cool, man! Masatsugu Tasaki’s the name! And this is Taguchi. Arigato for helping!”

“Yeah I’m Taguchi… Thank you!” Mob-kun says.

I respond saying that it was no problem.

“Hey Kazuya-kun? Do you want to see inside?”

“Yeah! lets us show you our awesome base!” Ageha excitedly says

I nod and we go towards the warehouse entrance, but as we were walking Hotaru pulls in the sleeve of my jacket

...

“Oh? What is it Himegi-chan?” I asked

“Tha-thank you…” she stutters as she says while looking down.

‘Kawaii…’ I thought

“You are welcome” I say  as I smile warmly and before I knew it my hand was rubbing her head. She looks like she doesn’t mind but as I look back I see Aoi and the group grin at me. And An-chan gives me a thumbs up.

“Wait! Its not-“ as I put my hands up like a deer caught on headlights. And look at the blushing Hotaru.

‘Yup, this is bad’

Ageha pouts, whilst Aoi, Ma bou and Taguchi gives me a knowing look while rubbing their chins

“Ho… Kazuya-san not bad. As expected of the friendly neighborhood kendo man” An-chan smiles he teases me. Earning a laugh from everyone.

‘Hmmm… not just one but both sisters huh? Geez, Kyousuke. I am getting jealous here’ she says sarcastically

‘Its not like that. Maybe in ten years time... But still. No. My heart only yearns for Amane.’

‘Hmmm... Then what is with your thoughts saying how cute she is.’ She grins whilst standing on top of Hotaru’s head.

I smile wryly and sigh as the gang laughs as we entered their secret base…