There was a drawn length of silence across the grass. A few cackles from the punks worked to punctuate the atmosphere. Haruo froze with the appearance of his junior high teacher.
Yuki stomped a foot forward, mostly missed by the crowd. “Bastard! You really don’t have a shred of honor do you?” His voice echoed through the narrow street. He had been mostly ignored once the fighting started with Haruo, but Yuki just became the center of attention. His body was shaking with him having difficulty keeping himself in control.
The shouting in vain from Yuki tilted Katsu's gaze over to him, becoming amused. “Now who’s acting the cliché? Honestly, did you think this was a street fight or something like that?” Katsu cracked his knuckles a little as he ground his fist into his palm looking excited. “This is measuring out punishment and I make sure everyone deserving always receives more than their fair share of punishment. I’m quite generous in that manner.” He smirked viciously as his eyes made his intentions very clear.
‘He still sounds like more of a cliché than me,’ Yuki stubbornly protested to himself. ‘I need a plan and fast! They’ve got the upper hand and are going to make a push with the advantage…’ He searched around him for any ideas that might come to him to get him out of the situation. Unfortunately, the hostage prevented anything from being possible.
Yuki tightened his fists, starting to rub the skin raw in his palm. He chastised himself for being unable to do anything. ‘If I hadn't listened to Haruo and acted I could have prevented this from happening…’
A signal to the previously hesitant mob belonging to Takaoka had told them to move out. The other boys that had paused in their assault on Haruo soon resumed with Haruo no longer blocking in order to comply with the demand. It became almost savage with the boys venting their frustrations. Dull echoes of flesh being struck and hard strikes hitting bone increased the tempo. Blood sprays were its metronome.
Looming shadows crawled up towards Yuki in the advancing boys that had picked him as their target. Being on the receiving end of a fist was certainly no stranger to him, but Saki was usually around to stop before it became too violent. Yuki knew that he wasn’t going to have such luck. He was going to have to deal with it alone, somehow. ‘Can I use my power on normal humans? I don’t think I have any choice anymore…’
Chapter 79 – A Magician’s Trick
Yuki’s mind frantically tried to cover everything that he had available to him. His mind was cluttered with more ideas than he could sort through. He never had to figure out his Laws on the spot before. Everything that happened with Demosthenes had been on instinct. But he knew it wouldn’t save the teacher. ‘Come on, Yuki! Think of something! They’re almost on top of you!’ His eyes glanced over breaking his fragile concentration. All of the teenagers eagerly approached him with no haste in their step knowing that Yuki wouldn't be going anywhere.
Any fear that they had before of Yuki had disappeared. It was simply six street punks marching gleefully to a beating. Takaoka led the group looking like he wanted some payback. He ground his hands together as he came to a stop only a few steps away from Yuki. “Remember what the boss said…kid! Ya do anythin’ other pretend tah be a punching bag an’ the old man ends up in a worlds of pain.” Takaoka looked over to two of his boys. “Take his arms, I like clean shots.”
Laughter spread through their ranks at Takaoka’s little joke. “Yea, boss!” They took up opposite sides of Yuki. They pulled his arms out straight from his body leaving plenty of room for taking shots at his torso.
Resisting was something that Yuki knew he couldn't afford despite how much he despised such tactics. There was no pride to be found in such hollow victories. Yuki tempted a rough smirk as he prepared his body. “Not man enough to take me alone?” He knew this was not going to be like the bullies that picked on him before. If he could buy some time for his thoughts it might give him a plan. It was certainly a gamble and he knew it.
Takaoka responded to his taunting with a sharp punch to his stomach. “I like seein’ spirit in my enemy. Makes it more enjoyable to take it away.” He threw several more punches into his gut that made Yuki buckle a little.
Yuki coughed roughly, catching his meager lunch being rudely stirred up. He managed to pull himself back together and straighten his legs back out to meet with the kid, who was about the same age as him. “I see you’re taking lessons on how to be a villain from Katsu.”
The mocking tone from Yuki renewed the grin on Takaoka’s face. He moved a little closer to Yuki taking hold of his shoulders for support as he rammed his knee into Yuki’s stomach. The impact quickly made him slump down against Takaoka. After Takaoka returned his leg back to the ground he grabbed Yuki by his hair. He ripped his head back up by the hair to force Yuki to make his gaze. “Resist a lil’ for me. I’ve ne’er liked him when I was in school. Seein’ him rollin’ in pain would make me so happy.”
Yuki pulled at his head finding his leg’s strength to meet Takaoka’s stare back. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to suffer from depression then. I don’t grant wishes to my enemies.”
“Either way I still get tah beat that defiance out of ya!” laughed Takaoka as he resumed his assault.
Between blows Yuki continued to smirk back. “You’re going to have to work on that terrible punk accent if you want to be a real villain.”
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“Still got plenty of talk in ya huh?” A silent turn of Takaoka’s head gave a signal to the other three boys that had been waiting in the wings for their chance to get back at Yuki. The three punks walked around behind Yuki and filled in around him. Each of them took up a different part of his body to take their frustration and revenge out upon. Takaoka grinned to himself before resuming his work once more.
The situation was of little difference for Haruo aside from having less talking. The years of taking abuse and not fighting back gave him more resistance than Yuki. However even Haruo had his limits. He was eventually thrown back into a property wall of a house. A potted plant tried to fall over into the house’s grounds, but had become attached to the greenery.
Noise from the plant would have been on deaf ears regardless. There had been enough yelling and chaos from them that if any of the neighbors were going to act upon it they would have already. No, they were all too scared to do anything.
Katsu took great pleasure in seeing his plan come together. The sound of Haruo and Yuki being pummeled sweetened his heart even more. It was a lesson that he took particular joy in teaching. In the case of Haruo, this was one class that he had long hoped to have. He would steal from him that small light that he naively thought he had found. “I’m not hearing enough bone breaking from the kid’s friend, Taka!”
It was music to Takaoka’s ears to be told to go harder on Yuki. “I understand, boss! Sorry to disappoint ya!” He grabbed Yuki’s chin pulling him towards him after Yuki had a second of pause before taking several feet to his back. “Hear that, kid? Time tah show ya true pain!”
Yuki coughed and laughed a little while being cut-off by the three boys behind him. “Good, I was starting to get bored with the kiddy punches.”
“Still got that smart mouth on ya!”
“I can’t help it that you haven’t hit puberty yet.”
A vein popped in anger on Takaoka’s forehead hearing the insult coming from Yuki. His smirk grew wide as he wound up his arm to put his full weight behind it. “I’m going tah enjoy this!”
“I guess it makes sense that you’re the leader. As a kid you need others to do your job.” Yuki laughed again only to feel several stronger strikes digging into his back. It was enough to knock the wind out of him and make his shoulders feel like they would pop from their sockets. He tried to keep the pain to himself to maintain his bravado.
Yuki watched in amusement as Takaoka grew even angrier listening to his taunts. It was nearly entertaining for Yuki seeing how easily he was getting under his skin. He knew it was only going to take a little more seeing how boiling Takaoka was already. Yuki turned his head towards his shackles and tried to look back a little. “So which one of you changes his pants when he shits himself?”
“That’s it! Get back guys!” Takaoka was almost a face full of steaming blood and veins listening to Yuki. He took a step back to take in his tightening muscles in anticipation. The three teens quickly moved out of sight leaving only the two holding Yuki to remain. Once he could no longer hold back his rage, Takaoka released it all in a scream as he charged at Yuki. In a surprising show of martial prowess, Takaoka spun around his leg and leapt sending his entire weight into the kick.
The foot and a little of the leg had slammed painfully into Yuki’s chest. Both boys were unable to hold on Yuki from the force that was driven into him. Their grips scrambled to keep hold, but only managed to scratch at Yuki while they lost. Yuki was sent flying backwards into the air a little before rudely being dropped into the grass falling out of sight apart. ‘Felt that one for sure…’
Mr. Asanuma struggled against his three captors when he saw Yuki being sent flying from an incomplete flying drop kick. “Yoneda! Can you hear me?”
Haruo barely heard Mr. Asanuma’s voice amidst the attacks and yelling from the boys. He knew that he couldn't respond to him. Silence had to remain if he was to stay safe. ‘It’s better this way.’
“Fight back, Yoneda! I don’t care what they do to me!”
Katsu reached out with his hand taking hold of Mr. Asanuma’s neck. His fingers firmly wrapped partly around his throat. “Showing some spine, Mr. Asanuma? But believe me when I say that I will cause you great pain if the kid does anything.”
The teacher managed a brief moment of fortitude to hold together. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t let children be hurt because of something that’s my fault.”
“Got a noble streak in you, huh?”
“It’s nothing to do with being noble! It’s the right thing to do! If I have to be hurt so that Yoneda isn't, that's fine with me.”
“So you’re self sacrificing huh?” He stepped away from the small group as ideas began to swirl around. There were certain factors that he had to weigh against each other. He knew what he wanted so it was just a matter of doing whatever it took to get the results.
Haruo tried to work himself around the teenagers that were assaulting him. He could do little, but he had to make his voice heard. ‘I can’t allow him to do this. It must only be me.’ In the brief lull between attacks he managed to get an opening. “Just stay still. I’ll handle this. This is my problem, not yours Mr. Asanuma.” Even in the urgency Haruo had difficulty providing any emotion or volume to his voice. It barely was able to reach them.
“Two selfless acts, looks like you’re in a stalemate. Guess it’s up to me to break it.” Katsu turned towards the teacher and began to walk over to the three boys holding him still. He signaled the teens to give him a little room as he approached. There was well placed fear in the teacher’s eyes as Katsu grabbed him by his shirt collar.
“Katsu leave him alone. He’s not involved. I’m the only one you need to do anything to.”
Katsu held on to the collar, but turned to look over at Haruo. He grinned a little with a knowing look in his eyes. “So naïve still. The moment I grabbed him it stopped only being your problem. You should know that by now.”
“You said—“
“Yes I did, but it wasn’t a promise. I can change my mind at any moment I want.” He pulled back his free arm taking time to decide where he was going to make the first punch land. “And I’m changing my mind now!” Katsu let his fist fly the moment he finished. The grin was still painted heavily on his mouth taking great pleasure from what was going to happen next.
A creaking of bone echoed around them as the fist plowed into the face. In the next moment it sent them to the ground laid out trailing a bit of blood from a split lip. Katsu looked very pleased as he pulled back, but that all changed when saw that Mr. Asanuma was unharmed.
His expression instantly twisted in confusion searching for the person that he had taken out. Buried deep in the grass was one of the gang members that had been holding the teacher. “What just happened?” Katsu glared back at the pale looking man. “What did you just do?” Anger from having taken one of his own out charged his arm once more to strike the teacher.
“I did this!” mocked a familiar voice unseen like they were going about a demonstration.
One of the two remaining boys collided with Katsu fist once more, laying the kid out quickly. Katsu frantically looked about becoming paranoid. “What’s going on?!”
“Just some restless spirits!”
A loud thud of a shoe hitting the remaining boy bounced from nowhere. The teen fell away leaving Mr. Asanuma freed. Katsu tried to make a grab for the teacher before he escaped, but felt an invisible hand take hold of his wrist. “It’s you, the skinny kid! Isn’t it?!” He ripped his wrist free and stepped back trying to collect himself.
In front of Katsu appeared Yuki grinning to himself. “See this is why you’re the villain, you figure things out quickly. Now that the old man’s free we can get down to good old fashion street fighting!” Yuki shifted into an attacking stance staring down Katsu with anticipation.