3.6

Hanazawa: The friend the swordswoman and the beast

Not everyone was near the classrooms when the siege started. Every strangler found were taken to and dump inside the gymnasium. They were surround by a wall of chairs, set neatly earlier for an event. Inside were three thugs with gun seven more armed with nailed bats and blades of all kind.

In here was Maromi, who was near the toilet when this all happened. Worried sick for her mother and friends, she found a familiar face “Mizuhara-san!”

Her new friend from Shōnan was holding onto a bokken which the thugs didn’t care. What could a girl with a wooden sword possibly do. Maromi, on the other hand, was wondering where that came from.

“Handsome gave it to me” Ryuko said “He said something dangerous could happen”

To think that guy was spot on, Maromi wondered if that was something exclusive to genius. Yuuko was acting uncomfortable after all, were their intuitions on another level.

Everyone was sitting, no objection there, if they kept following orders then everything would be fine. After getting what they wanted, the thugs would left. That or maybe they would be taken down by the police. Talk about that, no one could tell that law enforcement had arrived or not.

“Shhh, everything will be alright” A mother comforted her kid.

Seeing that made Maromi’s worried, she didn’t know where her mother was. Hope that no one was hurt yet. It would be all over soon, she hoped.

That couldn’t be further away than the truth.

The thugs were getting uncomfortable, it took them a while to found out why. One of them had seemingly disappeared. Did that guy went to take a piss or something, but then he would say something. To make matter worse, that guy was one of those with gun. Soon, the hostages started to notice that as well and the tension worsened. Still nothing major happened yet, that guy would return, they all thought.

He didn’t.

To make matter worse, another one of them had disappeared, also holding a gun. All without a sound, those two seemingly got spirited away. Now there was only one with pistol left. That thug distanced himself from the crowd, if his gun was to be grabbed they could easily be overpowered. But would he disappear like rest.

The other thugs with bat soon surrounded him, one of them raised their radio.

“Something strange is happening here. Shit, we need backup, now!”

There was an affirmative on the other line. Hearing that calm them down slightly. But what was going on, they already lost two. Did they patrol too close to the wall of chairs? Someone needed to check that, but no one dared to.

Was it police commandos? Impossible, they shouldn’t be alerted of this situation yet.

Their leader, a big and intimidating man, realised another problem. The hostages now knew they were in a bind. Greatly outnumbered, they would have a problem if not being careful. He needed to take charge of the situation.

“Whoever out there, show yourself now, you bastard!” Grabbing a girl among the crowd “Or I will start by breaking her arm”

Or not, the leader turned around to find himself at the end of a wooden sword. With a thrust, the hulking man was sent tumbling, crashing onto the ground. Clutching his throat, wheezing like a malfunction hose.

The thugs all turned around to face the assailant, Ryuko Mizuhara. A fool charged, confident in his nailed bat. A strike on the wrist and his weapon was dropped straight on the floor. Another right on the head, the hothead thug tumbled onto the ground, having fallen unconscious instantly.

Those moves were performed with such speed and surgical precision that no one could tell what was going on. The one with the gun pointed at the girl “Stand down!” He ordered.

“Or what? Are you going to shoot me” Ryuko said with confidence.

It seemed to work as the one with gun seemed to hesitate. The girl’s heart was pumping, facing against a gun was the scariest she had ever been. The other thugs circled the girl but they were cut off by the hostages. It was a strange sight, they had many, all decked and a gunner and yet all these thugs wouldn’t dare attack a girl.

Together, they could overpower her easy. But getting hit by that wooden sword would hurt and no one was willing to make that sacrifice.

The stalemate was eventually broken when Ryuko was tackled from behind. It was the thugs’ leader, hidden among the hostages from the beginning. A man with a dragon earing.

“So this work” He said as the girl was knocked down, the sword kicked away.

Could Ryuko had reacted to this? Definitely, but she was too overwhelmed by the situation, her nerve too rattled. The leader stepped on her shoulder, pinning the girl down.

“Come on, was that all?” He said mockingly.

“P…please, stop” There it was, the sound of pleading. A retired mma fighter, the thug derived joy from hearing his victims’ begging for their lives. But this time, it didn’t come from the girl, no, it as her teacher “For your own sake, I beg you to stop”

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Huh, what was that guy blabbering about. He seemed sincere, that was confusing. The thug looked down at the girl, she didn’t seem to be a threat now. Were the mocking him. Just that mere thought boiled his blood, the thug stepped down on Ryuko shoulder, dislocating it.

“Oh no” The teacher said in disbelief, the sentiment shared by the other student from Shōnan.

On the ground, Ryuko clutched her shoulder, fearing what would come next. The thug was even more confused. Sensing an opening, Maromi ran to Ryuko, trying to help her sit up.

From behind the rows of chairs came a boy. A student with blond hair, combing his hair with one hand. It was Handsome, but there was something off. His fists stained with blood. The thugs all looked his way. Was this the guy who had been taking out their friends one by one.

“You shouldn’t touch Ryuko” The teacher said, shaking in fear “You made him mad!”

There was an exploding sound as Handsome kicked the ground, the wooden panel busted under his step. It propelled the boy forward with frightening speed. A punch and one of the thug was sent flying, two of his teeth broken off with ease. Handsome grabbed another one and walked toward the thug with gun, using his friend as human shield.

Both of them didn’t last long. One hit for each then came the sound of cracking bone, the two writhed on the floor, coughing out blood.

Everyone watched on in fear. This wasn’t a person, a boy. No, what in front of them was a beast, a predator.

Those with guns all taken out, Handsome leapt at the rest with primal strength. They all swung their nail bats and hit absolutely nothing. The beast weaved in between the group and destroyed them with his inhuman power and speed.

The fundamental of fighting a group was not letting yourself get surrounded then taking the weakest and made your way up. This beast had no care of such a thing. Everyone here was just harmless bunnies, their bones to be broken under his fists. The sound of snapping and screaming filled the place as the hostages watched on in fear. This level of brutality was unreal, only seen in the most hardcore of movies.

“Stop! Stop right now” The leader said, backing off barking pathetically. “Reinforcement is coming, my brother is coming, they will kill you!”

With a sneer, Handsome pulled something out of his pocket. It was an ear with the blood already hardened, on it a dragon earing. There was no hope.

“Ahhhh” With a scream the leader ran up and punched the beast.

He recoiled back in fear, what was that? The thug felt like punching a brick wall, what kind of muscles were that. Handsome grabbed his arm and snapped it in half with ease.

The thug screamed out but it was cut short by a savage punch. He could fall down, however, as the beast was still holding onto his mangled arm. Then came another blow, one after another. All of the them slow and deliberate, aimed to inflict as much pain and destruction as humanly possible.

“Stop it!” Only Ryuko stood up to the beast.

Handsome complied, dropping the thug onto the ground on the edge of life and death. It was a blood curdling scene, to see a human be mangled to such a degree, reduced to a quivering mess, groaning in pain.

“Yo…” Handsome raised his hand only to be struck in the head by the bokken “Ouch, that hurt! What’s for!”

“Why did you take them out! If we left it be, no one would get hurt” Needless to say, Ryuko was furious for endangering everyone in the school.

“The girl is right, you are risking all of our life here” One of the parents joined in, seeing a girl standing up to the beast had calmed his nerve. Maybe he was just imagining it. There was no way such brutality could happen in this city. Those thugs were just pathetically weak. The parent was met with a cold gaze.

“Huh, I don’t remember talking to you” His tone changed instantly, which earned a swift hit from Ryuko “Don’t be rude to seniors!”

“Oh right, I have my reason alright! I found some of them, mixing something in the water tanks” Handsome dropped a bomb “They definitely didn’t intend to let everyone out unscathed. These thugs are just hired hands, they don’t know anything”

“Don’t you watch too many movies there boy” Another parent commented which Handsome chose to ignore completely.

The hostages then proceeded to tie the thugs up with the rope with jackets of all kinds. Seeing their conditions were frightening. The leader was left lying down, he was in no condition to do anything now. Their mouths were also stuffed, now the big question, what to do now. If a patrol found this, they would all be toasted.

“I will go handle the rest, just barricade the door up, wait for the police” Handsome said.

There was no objection, they had all seen what he could do. The boy couldn’t care less about any of these people, even his fellow students from Shōnan. With the exception of Ryuko of course, talk about that girl.

“I will go with you” She said.

“No, it’s too dangerous. They have guns you know”

“Didn’t you say I am the only one to have beaten you? Besides, if meeting with guns, I will just hide away” Ryuko was determined, she snapped her dislocated shoulder, only letting out a grunt. Knowing there was no way to convince her, Handsome reluctantly agreed.

There was someone else that wanted to go as well, it was Maromi “I will also go. I need to find my mom. She has a bad heart, I need to be there with her”

Ryuko tried to convince her not to but this girl was surprisingly determined, even when facing the beast. Being held hostage and having her arm threatened to be broken was scary, but her worry for mother triumphed all. Handsome didn’t object, he couldn’t care less. Although the boy did raise his eyebrows as he remembered this fluff ball was the one who hung around that Yuuko.

Handsome combed his hair and the three departed for the main school building. The hallways were strangely deserted, there were nowhere as many guards as expected. Understandable, digging enough people to hold an entire school hostage was impossible. That was why guns were shown and the struggle through the speaker. It was to instil fear so no one would dare be a hero.

“We could take over the announcement room then tell everyone to rise up” Handsome smile “That would be amusing”

“No, people will get hurt!” Ryuko shot that idea down immediately.

Maromi had her concern, for this guy to find such a thing amusing. Their journey also went by smoothly, Handsome took out every patrol stealthily, none knew what hit them. ‘What is this guy’ Maromi thought to herself. It was uncomfortable but she needed his help to reach mother and Yuuko. Besides, Ryuko seemed to trust him.

As they approached the classroom, however, the three were surprised by gunshot!

From that room, a group of thugs emerged, surrounding a man with scars all over his face. Along with them was… Yuuko, she was taken hostage.

___

Back in Eden, the train was still moving along according to the schedule. In an empty carriage, Jim and Haruka were being trained by Eikichi per their request. Mara and Hotaru were sitting watching. The old lady wanted to join but she was feeling under the weather today. Meanwhile, Hotaru just sat there in silence didn’t know what to say. The woman said she was a police back in her world so Haruka dragged her here for ‘advice’.

“Wait, why are we doing yoga!” Jim said.

“Isn’t that what you guys wanted” Eikichi replied.

“Of course not!” Both Jim and Haruka retorted at the same time. They wanted to know how to fight but it seemed like the bald man wasn’t taking that seriously. Their yoga session was soon interrupted by someone who was certainly in a rush.

It was Hiro Hanazawa.

“Please, I need help” He said with such agency “How do you deal with enemies with guns”

Jim looked around, they didn’t seem to be under attack. It took the teenager an embarrassing amount of time to realise it wasn’t happening in Eden.

“Why don’t tell us exactly what’s going on then” Eikichi said.

That Hiro did to every single detail, the situation was hopeless. Yet, there were three experts here willing to help. And with the one of the summoned greatest power yet, maybe there was a ray of hope.