“RRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG”

The school bell rang, wrenching my ears as always but slowly getting used to it since this time it didn’t hurt that much, and everybody began heading to their lockers to head back home. I had nothing else to do, as today our Kendo teacher was absent due to illness or something. It was pretty absurd though, as he was our Kendo teacher, who’s physically fit. I guess even robust people can catch illness, huh.
Whatever, I think I’ll be meeting him after summer break, since tomorrow’s the last day before the vacation begins.

I packed up my bag, making sure that I had the katana with me and got up to head home, but a voice stopped me-

“Hisashi!”

I turned my head from where the voice was coming, and saw Aya standing almost beside me. To be frank, only she’s the one addressing me by my first name, so I can pretty much recognise when she calls me.

“Let's go home together!”

“Yea sure!”

Those three girls were not able to do anything to her today because I was with her and didn't give them a single chance. I stayed close to her as I knew they would definitely do something to her if she was left alone.

While walking down the street, there were few students going along with us, but after some time, the road became completely deserted. Now I know that only me and Aya are the ones whose homes are this way.

“Hisashi. Didn’t you have Kendo today?”

Aya asked me, breaking the silence that I was enjoying. But I don’t mind it though.

“Nah, our teacher was absent today.”

“Oh, is it? Okay…”

Aya again turned her gaze and stared down the road we were advancing. She was so cute that my gaze got stuck on her charming face for quite a long time until she noticed me and snapped me back to reality. 

“H-Hisashi….Why are you….looking at me like that….”

Her face showed signs of extreme reddening. It made me blush extremely also, as what I said was pretty embarrassing. What should I reply to her?

“Oh! I-I’m really sorry for that….Your face…is too cute…”

Yea, I can be so direct sometimes. I apologise for that, but her face really was too cute for me to handle. Now her face, which was already red with embarrassment, gleamed further red, and it looked as if a couple of hundred buckets of flaming red paint was splashed on her face.

It was only for a moment that both of our faces were as red as cherries, she immediately turned back to normal, as if realizing something, and said-

“Hisashi, I forgot to tell you one thing. Today, during lunch time before you arrived, Akio mentioned something about a plan….And I am not feeling good about it. I just wanted to let you know this so that you can be cautious...”

Plan, huh. What would they plan on doing? The way she said it, might mean that their plan has something to do with me. Well, whatever, I will take it head on, since those guys ain’t no match for me.

“No need to worry, Aya. Let them do what they wanna. They’re nothing for me.”

I replied along with a dominance smile, and Aya had a slight smile on her face too.

But almost immediately, as we were walking down the deserted road four people who were idling in the alleyway out of our sight came and stood in front of us with evil grins. It was Akio and his gang. Ugh, speak of the devil, they never learn, huh. Such a bunch of shameless jerks. 

But wait, there was another member! He was a tall man with a wrinkled face and had the same cringey delinquent hairstyle of...red colour? Brown colour? It was somewhere in the middle. Brownish-red colour would be appropriate, I guess. His facial expression looked really frightening though, but that ain’t gonna scare me.

But Aya, she stood there frightened as if she saw a monster in real life. Her eyes were transfixed with horror, like she was unable to look away even if she wished to, and the muscles around her eyes began to twitch.

“It’s finally time! The last few moments of your time alive before you are wiped from the face of the Earth. Bah-ha!”

“Oi Akio, is this the f**k face you were talking about earlier who smacked you three?”

That scary looking guy asked this Akio guy, and he immediately replied-

“Yes! This is the one!”

But who was that scary looking guy though? He truly was extremely tall. And judging from his body shape, it seemed like he wasn’t just any show off  bully, but really had the strength in him. Those buffy arms and broad chest, he might really be a formidable opponent.

Unknowingly, as I was thinking, a slight grin appeared on my face. It had been so long since I had such a tough looking opponent, and I would be enjoying this match very much, IF it occurs, as I would still like to prefer non-violence over violence.
Wait, he has a wooden katana?!? The katana was held by one of their guys and not this Daichi guy himself. But now I really wanted to fight him! This would be a perfect chance for me to test out my swordsmanship skills!

But I didn’t know anything about this guy. It was my first time meeting him. Aya seemed to be stuck in trauma or something, with her gaze intact on that guy’s face, so she probably might know him.

“Hey Aya, now who is this new guy?”

I whispered to Aya, and she who was stuck with a horrified look, snapped back to her senses and whispered back to me still stuttering.

“T-t-this guy...is the strongest bully in our neighbourhood. There has been a rumor that he even fought with the police and brutally injured them alone, and he was nick-named as a vicious lone wolf. His name is Daichi.”

She still had a terrifying look on her face though. But whatever. About this Daichi guy, he even fought the cops?! Just what kind of crimes had he committed for the cops to show up? And on top of that, he injured them ALONE?!??! Man, who the hell is he?? I knew he had power, but who thought that he had power enough to bring down cops too, who are especially well trained for combat.

I stood there without uttering a single word, staring at those guys. I had a slightly troubled expression. Yea, I actually was a little disturbed. This Daichi guy’s power level was way beyond my expectations, and if I had to fight him, it would be a tough match. But that won’t make me chicken out. I guess I would try to go for a non-violent way  first, but if he goes too far, then I have absolutely no other choice.

“Is this what you were planning?”

I asked this Akio guy, and he replied pretty audaciously-

“Bah-ha! So you knew! Yes, this was my plan! Now you’re done for!”

 *       *       * (Shifting of POV)

(What happened just after Akio and his guys got defeated by Hisashi):

Tch, f**king nitwits. They just tryna boss me around, huh. But that brat really was strong though. How could his rat**s beat me? The king of Kaisei High??

“It’s really embarrassing man, to be defeated by such a small fry…”

“What the f**k you mean? He was no small fry. Didn’t you see how he beat the sh*t outta Akio?”

Oh for f**k’s sake, these two. Buzzing all over my ears like noisy little bees.

“You two, shut the f**k up and let me think.”

They immediately sank into silence. That’s what I’m talking about! But f**k man, I really need to deal with this Kurogane a**hole. After a few minutes of deep and insightful thinking, I came up with a plan. A good one in fact. I grinned broadly with an evil look since this plan was going to be awesome, bah-ha!
Unconsciously, my eyes indicated bloodlust, the desire for going as far as killing him for making me embarrassed in front of the whole class and for knocking me today.

“I know someone. It's a friend of mine who is the strongest guy in our neighbourhood. He's gonna get that ba***rd's behavior fixed. Bah-ha!”

These guys of mine jumped in excitement.

“Hell yeah!! Now he'll know what happens when his poor a** messes with strong punks like us. Hahaha”

I took out my phone and dialed the number of the guy I was talking about.

“... Heyy bro what's up man! Yo, I need help with some work....”

After talking on the phone for a few minutes, I put his phone inside his pocket. Everything's set. Tomorrow's gonna be the day. Can't wait to see his a*s get ripped. Bah-ha!

*       *       *  (Shifting of POV)

“Oi, Akio, don’t tell me you lost to this brat. Have you gotten so weak that you had to sh*t your pants fighting with this small fry?”

This Daichi guy’s words flinched Akio and he lowered his head. And look at his audacity to refer to me as a small fry.

“Anyways, he dared to touch one of my precious friends. I won’t show him any mercy. So, why the f**k did you smack the sh*t outta Akio?”

Daichi asked us in a fearsome tone, and at that time, Akio and the two others stood there laughing at us.

“Now your sorry a** is gonna get whipped. Bah-ha!”

“...”

Aya and I both stood there in silence.

“Oi, what the f**k is wrong with you, why aren't you answering??”

This Daichi guy's lips were getting tightened and curled inwards, and his eyelids were rising. One could feel the anger that thrummed through his veins very well.

At that moment, my shirt was grabbed by someone. I peeked to look who did, and saw that it was Aya. She got startled by his words and grabbed me by my arm and snuggled up to me in fright, and what a cute frightened face she was making. At that time, as I again reverted my eyes and laid it on this Daichi guy, an evil smile had already appeared on his face.

“Ooh, so you two are love birds huh?”

“O-of course not!! We are not d-dating!”

Aya began to redden and yelled out in embarrassment. Now what can I do about it? This was a very big misunderstanding...but….I didn’t hate it though. Ahem, anyways, I too spoke out while my face also reddened a little because I can’t just stay silent here.

“What do you want? What business do you have with us?”

“Business you mean? Hmm, let's see... I want your head chopped off in my hands so that I can sell 'em and gain some profit! Kekeke.”

Wow. I’m speechless. I was thinking that we can sort out things non-violently, but oh how wrong I was. There was no other way to end it, but to fight and knock him out for good. Aya was truly terrified that she flinched upon hearing this Daichi guy’s words, whereas I started to get infuriated at his speeches, so much that a petrifying scowl appeared on my face and I clenched my fists hard.

This Daichi guy turned his eyes from me to Aya, and he slowly stepped towards us with bloodlusted eyes. I immediately perceived that he was up to no good, and so I made my move, breaking away from Aya’s embrace that was catching my arm.

“Let me take your head off for yo-”

Just like the previous time, I gave a perfect leg blow right on Daichi's face. The high kick was so powerful that he got pushed back and fell on the ground. Huh, was I overestimating this guy? Seemed like it.

It was what I thought, but unfortunately, I was wrong. Unlike what happened with that Akio guy and his gang, Daichi got up fairly quickly and wiped off the blood from his face. He had a little shocked and angered expression. Judging from the animes I have watched till now, I had to say something threatening in order to look good, lol I am not sure though.

“You dare try to mess with us, and I will sue you out of existence.”

I said with a frightening face and my eyes appearing to glow with savage fire. This should be good enough, right? Or was I being too cool? I saw Aya's face which was turning red, blushing most likely, so it was a success I guess. Ehh whatever, it doesn’t matter now, because I see that this Daichi guy was almost fine after receiving my kick. 

So he is this tough, huh.

So I guess it was about time I used higher level techniques that I learnt all my life. 

“Oi Akio, tell your buddy to give me my katana. This f**ker has to get some beating or else he won't understand why I'm called a ‘Lone Wolf’.”

Akio nodded and gave him the wooden katana which was held by one of his gang members. Ha-ha! Now this is getting interesting. Sword fight is inevitable now that he has taken the initiative. That won’t be a problem for me though, since I’m confident in my skills.

“So you want a sword fight huh? Let's check your strength if it's worthy enough to suit your trash talking gutter mouth.”

I confidently accepted and took out my katana too. They didn’t show any reactions though, upon seeing my katana. Probably they had already caught sight of it.

“A-are you gonna fight him, Hisashi?”

The soft, frightened voice of Aya asked.

“Yea. I have no other choice, but to fight him, or else he would be disturbing us again in the future.”

This is also true, apart from me wanting to sword fight him in order to test out my skills.

“But will you be all right?”

Ayo, did she just doubt my skills? Well, I don’t think she had experienced my swordsmanship skills, apart from bare-hand fighting which I had two times till now with that Akio guy. She shouldn’t be worrying about such a thing though. I gave out a slight smile and nodded at her while replying-

“Yea, I'll be okay. Just wait and watch while I teach this guy a lesson.”

After replying to her, I stepped a few steps towards this Daichi guy and stood there in my stance holding my katana in front of me, a posture that indicated ‘I am ready’.

He had an evil smirk on his face with bloodlusted eyes towards me. Those eyes told me everything. He had a desire to go all out fighting me in order to defeat me. His degree of desire was as much as killing me if needed, but would definitely defeat me. An opponent willing to go full power, huh? Interesting!

“You ba***rd are done for. Now you’ll realize the gap of power between us! Kekeke.”

Pfft, I don’t think so, my guy.

I was somehow holding back my laughter. He didn’t know but I surely could already see that gap between us. Me getting defeated? Never in a million years.

“Haaaaa!!!”

He came rushing towards me with his wooden katana. I just stood there with an emotionless expression, because of getting my hopes up. He was just dashing towards me straight, leaving enough room for me to strike back. He clearly was inexperienced. Whatever, he was probably having fun inside his mind thinking that he would defeat me, so let's not crush it. Upon reaching me, he gave the first strike and I pulled up my sword and blocked it, when I simply could have dodged it and countered the attack.

*Thump*

Wow, he used a considerable amount of strength on that strike, as a fairly loud sound emanated as our katanas collided with each other.

*Thump* *thump* *screech* 

We were repeating the same actions, he was striking at me while I kept on defending. But I could sense the power that was emanating from his katana increasing every time our katanas collided. He was slowly putting on more and more strength. Everyone could feel the striking and scraping of our wooden swords that were emanating sounds in a sort of pattern, turning it into musical beats.
On his final strike, he used far greater power that, after it struck me, pushed me a few steps back which opened up a gap at my vital point near the stomach. He grinned broadly after the opening had caught his eyes.

“This is what you get when you try to mess with me!!”

Yare yare. He thought he could use that opening to strike my body, but he shouldn’t forget that I have much more experience in sword fighting than him. He was about to strike my stomach through the gap with all his might when-

*Thump*

I blocked the attack. How you might ask? The answer was - the hilt. I had blocked his mighty strike with the hilt of my katana, using the slight gap between my hands as they clasped the grip.

“Ehh??”

This Daichi guy was utterly shocked. He had to be, since I told already that I had much more experience in sword fighting than him. It was pretty obvious from when he first dashed towards me. Almost everything of mine was superior to him, motion perception, reaction speed and defensive style.

“H-h-how did you...Impossible...!”

Ha-ha, I said already, almost everything of mine was superior to him. As he muttered faintly in complete disbelief and shock, his legs began to tremble slightly with fright.
Anyways, he can’t carry on the fight, it seems like. I had so many high hopes from him, and they all got crushed within a few minutes of fighting. Why not end this fight with a bang.

“You sure have the strategy and strength, so I won't take you lightly. Allow me to use my swordsmanship technique, the JeonBu Kamihame swordplay!”

That thing about him having strategy and strength was just a bluff. He had absolutely nothing of those. I said it just in case I get accused of going hard on him knowing that he isn’t pro at it, in the future.

As I exclaimed, this Daichi guy flinched with a terror look on his face, as if he heard something that would scare him to his death.

Not only him, but even this Akio guy and the others, who seemed to have been enjoying the fight, got shocked after seeing Daichi. Ha-ha, I kind of had the hunch about the reason. Since this Daichi guy was able to bring down cops on his own, he was really strong and hence, was never scared of anyone or anything.
In simple terms, it was probably that they had never seen him this frightened before. The thought might be running in their minds that I was a person who could match the levels of this Daichi guy. But I not only matched, but even overpowered him. Lol.

“Y-y-you….are a swordsman?!”

Well, duh. Or else how could I be swinging this katana? No, why would I be carrying this katana to the school in the first place? To show off? Or to swing it like a maniac trying to scare others?

I’m not that kind of a jerk like you, you know.

But there was no point in me lashing out at him. I just wanted to finish this fight quickly, but with a bang. So I changed my stance, and stood in another posture which belonged solely to my sword style, and exclaimed-

“JeonBu Kamihame sword style 15th stance! <Flash Cutter>”

As the name <flash cutter> suggested, I disappeared from his sight. Or more like, I was running at insane speed which made his eyes impossible to perceive. He got confused and began looking everywhere with the same frightened look, and was starting to get terrified now. Using my katana, I struck his left arm. Then another strike on his right arm, left leg, right leg, and, finally, his back. I used a considerable amount of power, making those blows extremely powerful, yet I was still nowhere to be seen according to the sight of other people who were present at the moment.

That Daichi guy was barely standing. Even after these attacks of mine, he was still managing to stand straight. Well, this stance of JeonBu Kamihame was one of the weakest though.

After a few seconds, he finally gave up the urge to keep standing and fell on the floor towards his front. I guess I won, so I appeared in front of him and stood there with the same posture I took before performing the JeonBu Kamihame sword art technique.

I guess those were just rumors.

Certainly. The rumors mentioned that this Daichi guy was able to take down the cops all alone, and here he is, lying on the ground after being defeated by an underclassman, which is me.

I eased myself and looked back at Aya. She was shocked yet a smile was still intact on her blushing face. A smiling shock? Anyways, I returned her a beaming smile and gave a thumbs up. Her smile broadened with excitement portrayed all over her face. I advanced towards her with my beaming smile still intact on my face, and she just stood there mumbling praises at me-

“Wow...Hisashi….You’re so strong…and cool.”

That was enough to flatter me ha-ha. With her glimmering eyes gazing at me, I couldn’t help but slowly begin to turn red at her words, not due to anger, but due to slight embarrassment. Meanwhile Daichi was still on the floor and Akio rushed towards him to help him get up. Akio's gang members also went to help him.

“Just w-who the f**k is he?!?”

This Akio guy murmured, but who was he talking about? Me? I am a student of Kaisei High and a friend of Aya. Lol what else am I supposed to say then? Anyways, they still had the guts to leave an insolent reply, just like the last time-

“You f**king nitwits! We'll deal with you later!”

Yare yare, they still haven’t learned their lesson yet, huh. But whatever, those guys had already fled, with the three of them shoulder to shoulder with Daichi, limping along with him as they faltered down the road. I thought I could’ve taught them more, but their current condition suited them well.

Anyways, Aya was still blushing, but why was she? Wait….Oh. Nevermind me. I also slowly began to redden as I realized. No need to say that I guess. (Because I defeated the strongest guy in this neighbourhood with ease, causing her to develop attraction towards me).

“So, Aya. Let's keep going then…”

She flinched as I called her, and then immediately replied-

“Huh? Oh...Yeah. Let's go.”

And so, we began to head home, again. Lol, this was slowly becoming an every day thing now, encountering jerks like this Akio and Daichi guy, teaching them a lesson then heading back home.