I was always weak.

I couldn’t stop mom from leaving our family after dad lost his job. Dad tried his best, but not having mom around made me lose a lot of confidence in myself.

It was because I was so weak I couldn’t keep my family together.

I was so weak.

Because of that I ended up a target of bullies for practically my entire life.

In middle school, they became even more vicious.

I found myself getting beaten and stomped on a daily basis. I endured a year of this; I just needed to endure two more.

So, getting tripped and having a group of guys kick me to the point of puking was nothing to be surprised about.

I should have waited before they went away or took another route to school even if it took longer and risked being late.

The only reason I was in such a situation was because I am weak and pathetic.

But then, he came.

Sakae Sakata, a boy from my class who got ran over by a car just a month ago, came to my rescue.

He still had a brace on his right arm, but that did not stop him from knocking the living daylights out of one of the guys with a drop kick to the face.

What followed next was beyond belief.

With his injuries and outnumbered, he should have been at a severe disadvantage.

Reality begged to differ.

He moved like a trained assassin trying his best not to kill his opponents.

There were five boys against him, but after he knocked out their leader, only four remained.

They were taller than him, heck even I was taller than him!

Yet, Sakae elbowed one to the face before kneeing the other one to the jaw.

He made quick work of the other two.

When he was done with them, they were sprawling on the ground, holding on to their tummies.

So that’s what true strength was, I thought back then.

Sakae: “Are you all right?”

He held his hand out to me.

That was the day I met Sakae Sakata.

* * *

It turns out Sakae or Sasa as I came to call him, came from a rather strange family.

His family, the Sakata clan, is a league of assassins that have been active for several centuries if not longer. It seems like government hires his clan members in order to carry out hits on specific targets. And Sakata clan was one of the best.

That would explain why he fights so well.

He said to keep it a secret but also admitted that it was not really a secret, it just embarrassed him to no end.

Apparently there are more clans like his, but Sakata clan was one of the most notorious ones.

Sakae: “I wish I was born into a normal family like you, where you are not taught how to wield combat knives at five years old”

That sounded genuinely cool.

Why would he want to be like me, a weak and frail nobody?

I couldn’t help but envy him for things he had.

But he did befriend me and because of him, bullies would stay away from me.

As long as he was my friend, I was safe.

And as the strange fortune would have it, dad managed to find a good place to work for, I was so happy for him.

* * *

High school.

Delinquents are still everywhere.

But now there are many girls being delinquents.

They called themselves the ‘Blue Rose Union’ of the Sacred Flower Academy. Each member wore a blue rose on their uniform. In theory, they are a group that was meant to discipline people and keep rules in check by allowing girls to carry weapons on them.

What could possibly go wrong with giving a bunch of chicks weapons they can use at any time?

Many girls started to bully boys with wooden swords. They wore masks on their faces to conceal their identities and would attack any boy that was unlucky enough to cross their path.

Sasa got attacked by them on a nearly daily basis.

Fortunately, the academy does permit self-defense.

The end result is always the same: attackers lying on the ground, holding on to their stomachs or beaten up with dislocated limbs.

Apparently, Sakae does not care if his opponents are male or female.

As long as someone is attacking him, he will respond with a merciless counter-attack.

Strangely enough, he never starts fights but always ends them.

No matter the opponent, Sakae does not hold back.

Strangely though, Sakae has no trouble when he thinks of girls as his opponents, but when they are talking to him casually, he reacts with absolute horror.

This guy has one bad case of gynophobia.

Heck, he even used me as a shield for girls that want to talk to him.

What is his problem?

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I don’t understand him.

He does not interact with girls at all; in fact, he avoids any contact with them, almost as if it is a life or death matter.

His face, every time he sees a girl, is like my face when I see a horror movie, expecting the killer to jump out at me.

Sasa did tell me that he is terrified of girls and that they are demons that will torture you for eternity.

What in the world happened to make a tough guy like him scared of girls that much?

Even if that was the case, his abrasive behavior should have made girls want to stay away from him.

So, why the heck does a guy like him has a girl like Ayumi Sakurai pining for him?

It’s not fair.

She is one of the hottest girls in the entire school and Sakae just ignores her for hours on end.

Since she is not attacking him, he cannot use his martial arts on her, so she keeps following him even while he is complaining. Ayumi Sakurai sure is persistent. If I were in her place, I would have given up by now. At some point, it turns into a weird, one sided conversation.

That is not all, just the other day, a girl named Moeka Nemu confessed to him, only for Sasa to reject her before she could finish the sentence “Please go out with….”

“No way. Go away” Sakae automatically said.

In terms of looks Moeka was not bad either, not as hot as Ayumi, but still, if it was me, I would have accepted her confession on the spot.

And this is not even the first confession he received, as far as I know, this was the fifth one this month, maybe more than that happened without me around.

It’s not fair!

He is like a magnet to girls.

The only guy who attracts more girls than Sasa is probably Yuki.

Yuki Mura, with his gorgeous face, it was no wonder girls would swarm on him, like bees to honey.

It turns out he and Sasa are childhood friends and they reunited in the second year of middle school.

Even with all the bullies around the campus, those two were practically untouchable.

Compared to them, I couldn’t help but feel far, far inferior.

Sakae is from a clan of assassins, but what the heck is up with Yuki Mura?

Sasa and Yuki regularly compete on all sorts of things and they usually drag me with them as the referee.

The competitions range from doing most push-ups, running to school, climbing trees, vertical one armed push-ups, sushi eating contest, holding breath in a pool, balancing raw eggs on top of the nose, one legged jumps, etc.

Each challenge was somehow more ridiculous than the last.

But that was not the strangest part.

The strangest part was that Yuki was always victorious.

Even when it was a competition of hand to hand combat, Yuki always managed to defeat Sakae.

Sasa can wipe the floor with nearly everyone in our school and Yuki is stronger than him.

So, Sasa is a monster, and Yuki is even bigger monster. Just my luck.

I am happy those two are my friends, well Sasa is, as for Yuki, I am not so sure.

He is Sasa’s friend, so by proximity, he is my friend as well, right?

I am glad those two monsters are on my side.

If those two ever turned into delinquents, I would need to start looking for a coffin for myself.

Luckily, Yuki was rather kind and gentle guy, the complete opposite of rash and aggressive Sasa.

How the heck are those two friends?

They are like oil and water!

One soothes you while the other fries you to death!

* * *

Today, Ayumi brought Sakae a homemade lunch.

Sakae: “Is it poisoned?”

He rejected it on the spot.

Kai: ‘Damn that Sakae!’

Sakae: “Look, I don’t like girls”

Kai: ‘I am pretty sure he did not mean it in BL way, at least I hope not. He never displayed any romantic attraction to guys, as far as I know, at least’

Ayumi smiled: “That’s ok. I just want to spend more time with you, Sakae-kun”

Ayumi: ‘He spends so much time with Yuki, I wanna do that too….how enviable…..but it is natural since they are both boys….it couldn’t be helped…’

After a little while.

Ayumi: “See you later, Sakae-kun!”

As soon as Ayumi left, Sakae asked Yuki.

Sakae: “Do you know how to dispose of a body? Just in case”

Kai: ‘Sometimes I am genuinely terrified of Sasa’

Yuki: “Sakae-kun, even I know, this train of thought is just plain wrong”

Sakae: “No good? Fine”

Kai: ‘Just wow’

* * *

After school ended, Kai proceeded to walk alone towards his house, only to be ambushed by delinquents

“Not so tough without the Black Knight around, are you?”

‘Black Knight’ happened to be the nickname Sakae ended up gaining in this school. Just like ‘White Prince’ for Yuki, the moniker was quite fitting.

One of the delinquents pinned Kai to a tree, holding him by the collar.

“This is gonna be bad”

He raised his fist, prepared to strike Kai.

Kai closed his eyes, expecting pain, but the pain never came.

“I don’t think so”

It was a very familiar voice.

Opening his eyes, Kai saw the delinquent’s fist held in place by a silver haired butler.

It was Yuki.

With a simple movement, Yuki flipped the guy over, roughly landing him on his back.

Kai: ‘I can’t see his movements’

He was faster than Sakae, much faster.

The only thing Kai’s eyes managed to catch was a silver blur before all the opponents lay on the ground defeated.

Yuki: “Kai, let’s go”

Yuki offered his hand to help Kai stand up.

Kai: “Yeah, thank you, Yuki, you are a lifesaver”

Yuki: “Don’t mention it”

* * *

As they walked together, somehow the conversation ended up being about Sakae.

According to Yuki, Sakae started to have a severe case of gynophobia only after the car accident, but Yuki was not certain why. Back then Sakae lived with his parents and clan.

Yuki: “After they discharged him from the hospital, he holed up in his room, refusing to go back to school, saying that girls are there”

Yuki: “So I went to their place, demolished Sakae-kun’s bedroom’s front door with a drop kick, tied him up and took him out of the house”

Kai: “What did you say?”

Yuki: “Oh don’t worry, I asked his parents to send me the bill, besides they seemed happy with me taking him away”

Kai: ‘That’s kidnapping!’

Kai: ‘You know… Yuki is pretty damn scary as well!’

Yuki: “He came a little too close to becoming a shut in. I don’t want that for him. Even if he is scared of girls, he deserves to have a happy high school life. He is rough around the edges, but he is a nice guy, deep down”

Kai: ‘His methods are questionable, but Yuki really does care about Sakae, huh’

Kai: “What is your relationship with him anyways?”

Yuki: “It’s simple, really. I love him”

Kai: “Eh?”

Yuki: “Oh, here he is”

Sakae was walking by under some stairs.

Suddenly, a girl tripped from the stairs and ended up falling.

Luckily, she ended up falling on Sakae, who inadvertedly cushioned her fall.

Yuki: “Sakae! Are you ok?!”

Sakae: “Oooh, ouch….Yuki, please get this thing off me”

Kai: ‘Literal girl magnet’

Kai: ‘This idiot is the perfect harem protagonist material. Girls are literally falling from the sky for him. He is blessed with one hell of a fortune’

Yuki, with his ‘White Prince’ smile on his face, helped the girl stand up.

As for Sakae, he was silently muttering ‘Go away’

After apologizing, the girls in question went away.

Kai: ‘Yet he is not enjoying that fortune, not one bit. In fact, he seems to be suffering because of it. What is wrong with him?’

Kai: ‘Why him? Why not me? This is just not fair. It’s not fair at all!’

Yuki: “Don’t move, Sakae-kun!”

Sakae: “I am fine, Yuki”

Yuki: “Like heck you are, stay still, I will carry you to your place”

Sakae: “Wait, what? Yuki, wait!”

Sakae ended up covering his face up from the sheer embarrassment.

Kai could not blame him for that.

Yuki was carrying Sakae like a princess.

Yuki: “Kai, I will take Sakae to his place, see you tomorrow!”

Kai: “Sure thing!”

Kai: ‘Oh wow. At least I did not end up like that’

Kai: ‘No wonder many people in school think those two are a BL couple’

* * *

Kai: ‘I can’t believe I forgot my notebook in the classroom’

The school day was already over; the sun was already starting to come down.

Kai just hoped that the school was not closed by the time he reached it.

As he ran by the shortcut through the woody area, he heard a strange voice behind him.

“Hey you! Yeah, you, human there!”

Kai turned around, but there was none behind him except for a white cat on a tree.

Cat: “Do you know where is my young master? He is late coming home”

Kai: ‘That cat is talking to me. I must be losing it…’

Cat: “Huh, useless, never mind”

The cat jumped away and out of sight.

Kai: ‘I think I should see a doctor after this’

Kai: ‘Come to think of it, Sakae did not get out with me today, saying he was going to study a bit more….and so did Yuki’

Apparently several school girls ended up seeing Yuki carrying Sakae in an embarrassing fashion the other day.

The rumors of those two being a BL couple ended up spreading far and wide.

Kai: ‘Yuki did say that he loves Sakae’

Perhaps the rumor might be half true.

Kai: ‘Nah, he must have meant a platonic type of love, like loving a best friend. That is likely not the case….There is no way…’

As soon as Kai slightly opened the doors of the classroom, he saw two people there.

Sakae was sleeping on the floor, using his backpack as a pillow.

Yuki was there too.

Right before Kai could say anything, he witnessed something peculiar.

Yuki, not noticing Kai, sat on his knees, leaned towards Sakae, and put his lips upon Sakae’s mouth. Being asleep, Sakae did not even notice.

Kai: ‘?’

A kiss between two boys.

Perhaps the BL rumors were true after all.

Kai immediately closed the door.

Kai: ‘Eeeehhhh?!’

First the talking cat, now this….

Kai: “I see. Time for brain bleach”

Perhaps he needed to see his doctor after all. Very soon.