The black-haired girl looked at her subordinates. Slowly, a haughty smile appeared on her face. She raised her hand and clenched a fist. Ryunosuke and everyone else around did the same and started shouting:

"Boss! Boss! Boss! Mishima!"

They were so loud that I almost went deaf. Then, the girl lowered her hand, coughed, and started speaking:

"This year… The current King of the Street will be retiring. The war is coming… And we will be victorious!" she shouted the last word.

And that was it. The end of the speech. Once again, people started shouting. Ryunosuke was clapping. I clapped too, albeit without much enthusiasm.

I wasn't the only one who was left cold by the speech. The 'right hand' of the boss, the girl named Ringo, was looking very bored.

The boss, Mishima, stared at her with the corner of her eyes and then started speaking again:

"But first… We will deal with the traitor! Get him here!"

I took a breath. After several seconds, several guys showed up. They were carrying a chain. Once I saw what was tied to it, I placed my hand on Yuki's to keep her from screaming.

Siro was tied on the other end of the net. He was covered with bruises.

Yuki started trembling. I ground my teeth and prepared to close her mouth. The girl, however, managed to endure and didn't let her voice out. However, she went very pale started biting her lips.

The guys put Siro on his legs. He was looking at the ground with a dejected expression on his face. Then, they started to tie him to the steel cross.

"Get him there!"

"Time to punish the traitor!"

"This will show you, bastard!"

"Welcome to the kingdom of PAIN!"

Everyone around was having fun, it seems.

I was tightly holding my sword.

To be honest, I didn't really wish to save that guy. Sadly, it would be troublesome to lose a rival right now. What's more, his sister, Yuki, was looking too pitiful. She was clenching my hand with all her might…

"For his betrayal, Shirogane Toshihiro is sentenced to be executed," shouted Mishima.

"Is there anyone against it?" she looked at the people around.

"No!"

"No one is against!"

"Time to punish that bastard!"

…

"Yeah, I'm against."

…

And suddenly, everyone went silent.

I sighed, stood up and walked forward. I felt many gazes fall on me.

Even Shirogane, who had been looking very dejected right now, raised his head and gazed at me. His eyes became wide with surprise.

I walked forward, staying in the distance of five steps away from Mishima, and repeated:

"I'm against it."

And then there was silence. I wonder how Ryunosuke was looking at me?

After some time, the surprise in Mishima's eyes vanished, as it was replaced by animosity.

"Why?" asked the girl in a severe voice.

I smiled and said calmly:

"Because he's my friend."

…

…

'What a glorious appearance! You deserve 5P~!

Current P: 11'

…

…

…

Have I ever told you that I don't like being under attention? I think I did.

So there's no need to explain how annoying was the current situation.

Everyone was looking at me.

Just everyone.

The boss of the gang, Mishima, did. Her 'right hand', the short girl name Ringo did as well…

Siro was looking with his eyes wide.

Everyone did.

They were looking for a very long time.

At last, Mishima said:

"His… Friend? What's your name?"

"Kyle Reed."

"A gaijin?!" shouted someone from the side.

I lightly smiled.

I wonder why they didn't recognize me as a foreigner just by looking at my face.

Maybe because I had black hair, and in anime, foreigners are always blond?

Either way, there was quite a commotion after I named myself.

"So the traitor was a friend with a Gaijin. Ha, who could have thought," said Mishima with a smile slowly appearing on her face.

Toshihiro wiggled on his cross.

Mishima said in a louder voice:

"No gaijin is allowed to step on our land. Have you come to save your 'friend'? Well, you will pay for that!" the girl clenched her fist.

"We will have a double execution today! Get him, now!" she made a severe smile.

The people around started shouting:

"Get him!"

"I will f*cking kill you, bastard!"

"Come here…"

Everyone stood up and started surrounding me. These people had weapons, and they were looking at me like hungry wolves do. No one was thinking that I would be able to put up any resistance against such crowd.

I clenched the hilt of my sword…

And at last, I heard a scream coming from the right. A guy started running at me. He had a metal stick in his hand.

The time slowed down. The wooden doll appeared before my eyes. Before I understand what I was doing, my hands were already making a move.

The wooden sword connected with the knee of that guy. I heard a loud sound, as if something broke. However, there wasn't even a scratch on the wooden sword…

The guy fell. His face connected with the ground.

Several seconds passed by.

He was laying still.

Everyone went silent.