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Akaryuu School was the local rival of its neighbor school; Sacred Forest Academy. Like their current geographical location, they were once the most prestigious school locally until a foreign competitor suddenly appeared out of nowhere and positioned themselves on the mountainside and soon turned into what it is today.
"Big sis!" a boy barged into the middle school department's Kendo dojo. It was as if he was running non stop and was totally out of breath. This startled the members of the dojo as they all turned to one person. A person who initially ignored the call but frowned after gaining all of the weird gazes.
"How many times have I told you guys to stop calling me that?" she approached the boy and resisted the urge to smack his head.
"S-sorry Akabane-san. W-we need your help!" he knelt on the ground and did a complete dogeza with his forehead flat on the ground.
This surprised all those who were present including Akabane Nanami who still had no idea what was going on.
"I'll at least hear you out" She walked out of the Kendo Hall with the boy in tow. The atmosphere returned back to normal as no one decided to speak out because although some of them knew what kind of person Akabane Nanami used to be, she had tried hard to change and had proven to be a responsible person now.
"Speak" Nanami crossed her arms and glared at the boy. She didn't want to be involved with them much but they followed her all the way to this school. They knew that she had changed her priorities but that didn't stop her from treating them kindly and even helped them slowly change their ways.
"T-the guys are under attack and are currently being beat up by a person from Saint Forest Academy. I r-ran to get help because he was beating up everyone and it didn't look like we could have handled him" he told her about how the others have been beaten to a bloody pulp.
"Sacred Forest Academy…" Nanami's eyes narrowed. She of course felt the same rivalry against the school because of a certain student who had gone unchallenged as soon as she moved up to the middle school level along with her.
"Big sis you gotta help us!" he begged. "I know that you've already avoided causing trouble like you did in the past but I don't know who else can help" he was going to kneel in front of her again but she stopped him.
"Take me there" she went along with him and hurried to the scene.
She thought that she would at least be able to stop them from causing trouble. It didn't seem like they fought against too many people anyway so she came along to mediate against the two parties. The guys were her old companions and even though she went out of her way and changed herself, these rough bunch tried to avoid causing her too much trouble and sometimes even acted that they didn't know each other so that she could save some face.
"This…" she saw the fallen and unconscious people scattered on the street and was startled.
""B-big sis!!"" they immediately stopped as soon as they noticed her and glared at the boy who was standing behind her. Nanami was someone who was supposed to have left their world so she had no business being here. She was now the ace of the Kendo club and a public figure in their school.
"Looks like the big fish has arrived" Kazuya's voice came from behind the thugs surrounding Nanami after he felt the pressure emanating from Nanami. He thought the one pulling the strings from behind finally showed themselves so he elected to at least stay until he confirmed her identity.
"MOVE!" Nanami's voice made them scatter to the side as she picked up a bat and placed it on her shoulder.
""Huh?"" Kazuya and Nanami both froze as soon as they saw each other.
*CLANG CLANG* the metallic bat fell from her hands as she saw the last person she expected to see.
"Aren't you the pretty girl?" Kazuya looked puzzled because he didn't expect this girl to show up here. Even more so, being respected by these bunch of thugs.
"Kouzuki Kazuya…" her body trembled. Her mind was filled with different kinds of thoughts. "(D-did he just see me glare at him!? What do I do… All the work I've done might have all gone to waste)"
"You dare hit on our big sis!?" As if invigorated once more, the thugs glared at Kazuya who in their eyes was trying to flirt with Nanami.
""Shut your mouth"" Both of them said in unison and directed hostility to the guy who interrupted. The thug immediately stepped back nervously as he didn't expect Nanami to scold him as well.
"I don't think you're the type of person to send these guys to attack me so what are you doing here…" he thought for a moment and tried to remember her name. "Akabane Nanami-san?"
"(He remembers me!)" Nanami tried hard to keep her composure but she blushed a bit after hearing her name despite not noticing that he had forgotten it. "I w-was asked to h-help because someone said that someone from your school was a-attacking"
The thugs were flabbergasted. The big sis they knew was acting so… girly. The big sis that would beat all of them up finally looked like the girl she was trying to portray and it actually seemed genuine! They all turned to Kazuya and felt defeated. They heard rumors that Nanami's change was because of a guy and laughed at the thought until they saw it with their own eyes today.
"I see…" Kazuya frowned. "So it turns out those who blocked my path and ignored all my warnings actually had the gall to seek help while trying to paint me as a villain" Kazuya glared at the boy who returned with Nanami as well. He didn't waste time and took advantage of the unhindered path to appear in front of the boy and lifted him up with one hand.
"!!" Nanami snapped out of her daze and turned to her side to find Kazuya who made it there almost instantly. She might have been in a different mental state but she had doubts that it would have made much of a difference even if she were alert.
"Should I play the part of the villain your're trying to make me into and rip that venomous tongue of yours?" Kazuya didn't wait for an answer and punched the face of the boy hard. Teeth fell from his mouth as he got knocked a few meters back from the impact.
Kazuya used the wooden sword in his hand and blocked the blood splattering towards Nanami with a strike.
"K-kazuy…" she stopped and corrected herself. "Kouzuki-san" she called out to him after appreciating what he had done despite feeling a little conflicted upon seeing the person who brought her here being punished harshly for what he did.
"You can call me Kazuya if you want" He turned to Nanami. "Give me your number" he wiped his fist with a handkerchief and discarded it as soon as his hand was clean.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Its…" Nanami didn't hesitate and gave it to him.
"I'm really in a hurry so ask these guys why they tried to block me" Kazuya saved her number and put his cell phone back inside his pocket. "I'll call and explain everything to you after I've settled my business. I'll ask whatever these guys told you so please make sure that these guys deliver the message to the person pulling the strings"
"L-leave it to me" Nanami gave him a determined look which concerned him a little.
"Don't do anything more than that" he appreciated her concern and gave her head a pat that almost made her knees give away. "I'll take care of the one responsible for this since this is not the first time they tried to mess with me. Okay?"
"O-okay…" Nanami really did remind him of the loyal and protective beastkin so he had no problems with instinctively counting on this girl. He wasn't really able to explain it but he only felt that way.
"Thank you" Kazuya retracted his hand and ran took another look at the petrified delinquents before sprinting away at full speed.
He had fought hard against a large number of people yet he was still able to run like that. They felt a little relieved that they were stopped by Nanami or they really might have ended up like the others who have been laying on the floor. From the looks of things, most of them would end up hospitalized for a long time.
"Big sis…" they tried to call out to Nanami who was still looking at the direction Kazuya had disappeared to. The moment she snapped out of her daze, the delinquents felt it as the atmosphere became difficult to breathe around.
"Anyone who dares lie to me will end up worse than the guy Kazuya-kun hit" she picked up the bat she dropped and used it to crush one of the fallen teeth on the ground.
Nanami was pissed and they knew it. Not only did they attack the boy she had her eye on, they even made her look bad in front of him after she was led here because of a lie. She felt insulted that someone actually tried to paint someone else the villain in the attempt to make her act.
This was the first time she truly felt ashamed to have considered herself one of them. It was true that she and them tried to distance themselves from each other but she never expected them to change so much to have taken such shady jobs for easy money.
"Do you guys understand what kind of ends these kinds of jobs have to offer?" She had been in the same position as them before and she admitted that it was quite the generous and tempting offer. "I already told you guys to come to my family's shop if you ever need to do work for cash" she looked at them sternly.
"Deliver the message Kazuya-kun asked you to deliver but add something else to the message" They all felt the same presence they all used to feel whenever Nanami got into a fight. "I'll be going after them as well"
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Kazuya made it to the one of the main roads after getting away from the bunch who blocked his path. He took a cab and got dropped off in the vicinity of Kazuno Tech's headquarters. He still wasn't able to get through Mei's cell phone because she had been too busy making calls in her office to confirm the identities and claims of the people trying to barge into their office.
It looked like the operation against their company was serious this time as there were thugs facing off with the security at the entrances and there were also thugs stationed around the blocks to prevent as many witnesses as possible.
Jirou and Komori had yet to arrive because they were affected by the traffic caused by these blocks. Kazuya only realized this after he decided to try and sneak in from one of the back entrances where he observed the number of people trying to make people take alternative routes.
Kazuya sent messages to Jirou only to find out that it would still take some time before he arrived on foot. Komori wasn't better off either since it looked like the people against them took measures against the two old men as well.
At the entrance, the person showing off the permit to search the premises and take whatever they deem needed to be examined faced off with Matsuri. Things were getting tense as Matsuri together with the security personnel refused to give them way.
"So everyone here is willing to be charged with obstructing an official from performing their duties huh" the woman tried to intimidate the security personnel standing firmly behind Matsuri. They may have more people but it was no secret that the security personnel were trained by the combined efforts of Shiroyuki Jirou and Kuronuma Komori. They didn't have absolute confidence in an all out confrontation with them so they tried to talk their way in.
"If not for the interference a certain someone put around the vicinity preventing any calls or signals from going out of the area then we would have already confirmed the authenticity of your so-called official document" Matsuri retorted.
"The circumstances of your shitty company's equipment are none of my concern" she grinned. "Who knows? You people must be stalling while any illegal items are being disposed of"
"Is that so?" Matsuri rolled her eyes. "That's quite funny since a certain fruity corporation has been eying our shitty technology for a while just so they can try and boost their inferiority against other companies who actually build more useful devices"
Both of them were on a standoff as if waiting for something. Matsuri had been awaiting the efforts of the teams inside to get in contact with the outside after all connections have suddenly been disconnected. Thankfully, they were able to report to Jirou before everything got cut off so once he got there, it would be a load off their shoulders.
A dark van suddenly came screeching as it stopped in front of Kazuno Tech's building. This made the woman standing in front of Matsuri excited as she grinned at the proud woman in front of her. The doors slid open and some men came out and dragged a girl wearing a school uniform out.
"Let me go! Who the hell are you people!?" Matsuri immediately shuddered after seeing the girl that just stepped out of the van.
"Mom!" Sawada Mahiru tried to run towards Matsuri but was held back by the men who brought her here.
"Mahiru!" She looked worriedly at her daughter before turning to give a piercing glare to the arrogant woman who couldn't be an official.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she laughed. "You could have avoided all of this trouble and reported it as a robbery afterwards you know"
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