1
There was a manga I saw during the date I went on with Makima last week. It was called 4-Panel Hero, and I drew a lot of inspiration from one technique in it. Inspiration to crack that bastard with the sword for a head wide open.
So right now, I want to fight him immediately. Fight him, split his skull in half, and crush his balls.
But if I want to fight him, Denji and Power need to improve enough to catch the teacher’s eye so we can get approval from above.
And what’s their skill level right now? Absolutely pathetic. Bad enough that they’d need to get beaten for at least a few more weeks.
So what should I do? My udon-noodle brain, which is only barely thinner than kalguksu, came up with exactly two options.
One was to persuade the teacher. The other was for me to train the two of them and cut the time down.
As for the first one... well, long story short, once I crossed that option off, the only thing left was the second.
"Power, how long have we been running?"
"I don’t know. Feels like about five hours."
"Damn... still a long way to go."
So now I’m exercising with those two.
"Looks like you still have energy left for small talk."
I said that to the two of them, who were panting behind me while chatting.
Denji and Power both freaked out, shut their mouths, and started running in silence.
But what could I do? I’d already made my point. I quickly picked up the pace.
Denji and Power had no choice but to grit their teeth and force themselves to keep up with me.
Power looked like she had plenty to say, but she also knew that opening her mouth would only make things harder, so she clenched her teeth. Denji was the same.
Thanks to that, Power got much better at handling and distributing blood, and Denji started building muscle in his arms and abdomen. Naturally, their combat ability improved along with their physical stats.
After running for a while, I spotted an open lot ahead. It was the same lot where I used to come every day and get beaten by the teacher when I first arrived here.
I went down into the lot and took drinks, snacks, and five wooden swords out of the bag I was carrying.
The two of them, who had barely managed to catch up to me, grabbed two wooden swords each and hurriedly started stuffing their faces with the food I’d taken out on the bench.
By the time the food had gone into their stomachs and only wrappers were left on the ground, I picked up my wooden sword and headed toward the center of the lot.
Then the two of them swallowed the food in their mouths with a drink, gripped a wooden sword in each hand, and took their positions in front of me.
"Tch! Of course that crazy bastard won’t even give us time to digest it today!"
That was the insult.
"Big brother! What’s for dinner tonight?"
And that was the question.
I simply said it was stir-fried meat, then charged at them.
I went for Power first. Her wooden sword was short, cut down into a dagger-like shape, so her reach was short, and compared to Denji, her movement was less erratic. She was the perfect first target.
I held my sword firmly with both hands so I wouldn’t lose it, then spun around in a wide arc and aimed for her side.
Clack!
But my sword struck a dull wooden blade instead of her flank.
"Denji!"
"I know!"
Power shouted while enduring my strength, and Denji threw himself into a tumbling leap, swinging his sword at me.
He didn’t dodge and instead took my blade head-on, creating an opening for Denji to attack from... It was a simple idea, but a smart one. If I blocked Denji here, Power would hit me from behind, and if I kept focusing on Power, Denji would land a hit.
But this wasn’t a match. This wasn’t a ring.
Which meant there was no rule saying you could only use a sword in swordsmanship.
I twisted my body quickly, kicked Power in the abdomen, and then rotated my body in midair to deflect Denji’s attack.
Power didn’t fall thanks to the left foot she’d quickly dragged back, but the kick had landed squarely in her stomach, so she doubled over, coughing out a harsh breath and trembling.
Denji had thrown his whole body into it, so after his attack was deflected he should have rolled hard across the ground. But using his advantage as a fiend, he extended his arm in a grotesque way and planted it on the ground, turning what should have been three rolls into just one.
Then he quickly got back up.
But by then I was already right in front of him, and I smashed him under the chin from below, sending him stumbling backward.
I wanted to hammer him with a follow-up combo and knock Denji out for good, so I reversed my grip on the sword and clenched my fist tightly.
Then I spun once and drove a straight punch forward.
Bang!
"Denji, snap out of it!"
But the punch was blocked by Power’s dagger as she rushed in.
"I wasn’t... ever... unconscious!!!"
Denji took advantage of the moment I was pushed back by the pain shooting up my fist and swung the sword in his right hand.
Clack!
I blocked it.
Power went for my lower body.
Thud!
She ended up getting kicked by my right foot. But she still managed to slam into my left calf. Given the angle, it wasn’t exactly a decisive hit.
"Hraaaah!!"
Denji attacked me with the wooden sword, alternating right hand and left hand strikes. Sometimes he even mixed it up with tricks like two right-hand swings in a row, then three left-hand swings.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Of course I blocked them all, but it was a terrifying barrage.
Thwack! Thwack! Bang!
Because Power kept creating openings wherever she could.
Smack!
"Ghk?!"
And because one or two of those attacks still managed to land cleanly.
So far, the clean hits they’d landed on me were two to the calf, one to the neck, and two to the back. Five total.
The total number of attacks that had actually come my way was a little over twenty.
Good. At this rate... I should be able to leave a sword slash on the teacher’s cheek.
I suddenly ducked low, then rolled to the right. After that, I grabbed Denji from behind and smashed him in the neck, dropping him.
Then I turned on Power, who was charging in, and drove my chin up hard to subdue her.
"That’s it for today. And from now on, you’re not sparring with me anymore."
Denji and Power stayed on guard, still gripping their swords. Probably because of the teacher’s advice not to trust a beast’s words.
I looked at the two of them, who had learned well, and smiled a little before taking out a cigarette and saying again that I was serious.
After repeating the same thing about four times, Denji and Power finally collapsed and started resting.
"Oh, big brother. Does that one have a sequel?"
While I was smoking one cigarette after another, Denji suddenly asked me that.
For the record, I’ve been making Denji read books. And he’s been reading them well.
How did I get him interested in reading?
I’ll answer that with a conversation I had with Aki the other day.
"How the hell did you get him to enjoy books?"
Aki asked while lighting a cigarette beside me.
"That’s smut fantasy."
I said, taking out another cigarette beside him.
"Huh?"
"Adult fantasy. Basically one sex scene every four or five chapters."
"....."
Aki said nothing.
Understandable.
Still, after he heard that Denji was also being made to read things like Garden of Eden and Gone with the Wind in between, his expression did loosen up a little.
2
"Good. From now on, training will be once every four days."
At Kishibe’s words, the two of them went on guard.
Kishibe, too, repeated himself about six times in the same way Gongja had, until he finally earned their trust.
Then he took a sip of alcohol and said,
"Use what you learned tomorrow."
"So this is the real thing at last!"
"Hehe~ So we’re finally going to go beat up the bastard who cut off big brother’s arm?"
"...If you fail, you’ll be disposed of."
"Teacher! If we fail, will Gongja die too?"
"Gongja won’t die. He’s human. He’ll probably end up fighting you instead."
"Oh... um... but I still won’t kill the teacher! If I end up fighting big brother Gongja... then I guess I’ll have to die!"
"...... What are you talking about?"
"Well, because the teacher made me stronger so I could fight even stronger devils! If I kill strong devils, then my rendezvous with Makima... Ah, come to think of it, maybe that can wait a little. Anyway. Big brother taught me a lot, so there’s no need to say more."
"...."
@
"I hate those two now. I’m already planning to drink more, and if my toys get broken on top of that, I’m definitely going to end up drowning in booze."
"Hmm... I think I understand what you mean. But what did you want to talk about?"
"That Special Division attack... Public Safety isn’t stupid. You knew about it and didn’t catch them, didn’t you?"
"I was going to catch the one who attacked us... the one who cut off Gongja’s arm."
Makima’s last words were quiet. Even so, Kishibe heard them clearly. Makima could vaguely tell that he had.
But Kishibe pretended not to hear it, and Makima, not letting the chance slip by, continued what she’d been saying. She said she’d been had.
Kishibe said to her,
"No matter what kind of trash you do, or how much you play with the dogs I raised, I’ll let it slide as long as you’re on the human side. ...As long as you’re on that side."
Makima answered,
"...I only want to save as many humans as possible from devils. ........... Especially one person."
Hearing that, Kishibe pointed a finger at Makima and said,
"A dog I recently took in told me that mixing truth with lies makes a lie."
"..."
"Got it, liar?"
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