章 33: Enough! Run
編集者: Atlas Studios
After that, the Kiryuu siblings went to school at the usual time.
However, this time, Kazuma sent his sister all the way to the Koshikawa Girls' Junior High School before leaving.
He planned to send Chiyoko to and from school until the threat of the yakuza was resolved.
Although it was a little troublesome, it was better than Chiyoko being kidnapped.
On Fujii Mikako's side, her mother had said that she would be fetching her to and from school from today onwards.
Most of the Japanese women in this era were housewives. Apart from doing housework, they usually participated in activities organized by neighborhood associations. They were not too busy.
Hence, in this era, television stations had lots of noon shows about housewives who were idle at home cheating on their husbands.
However, it was rare for a housewife to drive in this era.
Just when Kazuma was feeling curious about what kind of person Fujii's mother was, he saw a few delinquents walking over proudly from afar.
It did not look like they were here for Kazuma. They seemed to be arguing about something and did not even look at him.
Kazuma did not want to accidentally bump into them and enter the "what are you looking at" cycle, so he decided to give way.
The delinquents walked past Kazuma and talked loudly about the girls in class.
Kazuma glanced at the school badges on their uniforms. Well, he did not recognize it. After all, Kazuma had only been here for less than a month and he had no time to memorize the school badges of the various high schools.
Just as Kazuma was about to leave, one of the delinquents suddenly stopped and turned to look at him.
Kazuma noticed that his gaze was fixed on the bamboo sword on his back.
Immediately after, Kazuma remembered that his name was on the bag of his bamboo sword. This was to prevent him from taking the wrong bag and sword after practice.
The delinquent's mouth widened into an O shape.
Kazuma stood still and calmly looked at the delinquent. If he were to slip away at this time, the other party would think that he was afraid.
These delinquents were probably of an even lower rank than the little brothers in the yakuza. Perhaps they had heard something from some "big brothers," and Kazuma was also interested in finding out what they knew.
At this moment, the one who had noticed Kazuma's name on his sword bag grabbed his companions and pointed at Kazuma.
Hence, the delinquents all turned to look at him.
Kazuma quietly untied the bamboo bag from his back, pulled the loose rope at the end of the bag, and prepared to pull the sword out.
Unexpectedly, this action frightened the delinquents. They looked at one another, then turned around and took to their heels. They were almost as fast as Lightning Bolt.
Kazuma was left alone.
Huh?
"Wait a minute! I have something to ask you!" Kazuma shouted at the fleeing delinquents, but no one bothered to answer him.
'F*ck.' Kazuma was speechless. He made a mistake. He had read too many novels, which made him think that the delinquents would attempt to attack him. That's why he had subconsciously prepared for battle…
But then again, Kazuma could tell at a glance that those delinquents had no martial arts skills. They could not even street fight. They were probably the kind of bullies who targeted honest people at school, so it was normal for them to be a little cowardly.
Kazuma did not expect them to be such cowards. They ran away before he could even take out his bamboo sword.
'It seems that defeating Nishikiyama Heita has given me quite a reputation.'
However, in this era where there was no Internet or mobile phones, it's surprising how quickly those delinquents had received the news.
Moreover, they'd even appeared in the vicinity of Koshikawa Girls' Junior High School…
Kazuma felt that this matter was not so simple. Perhaps someone had really leaked some information to them.
Defeating Nishikiyama alone would not end the whole incident.
Kazuma recalled what Nishikiyama had said before. He remembered that Nishikiyama had mentioned that a man called Tsuda Masaaki might take over the Nishikiyama Family in acquiring the dojo.
Then Tsuda Masaaki must be the chief of the Tsuda Family.
Could it be that these delinquents were being ordered by the Tsuda Family to collect intelligence?
After a series of deductions, Kazuma felt that this conclusion was the most reliable.
However, it seemed like his defeat of Nishikiyama had also created some deterrence for the Tsuda Family. At the very least, those small fries were afraid of him now.
As expected, pure physical strength was quite effective in deterring the yakuza. Unfortunately, it probably could not be used to force Sumitomo Construction into a fair deal.
After all, Investigator Shiratori had said that the police would not care about the doings of the yakuza as long as there were no killings involved.
However, if Kazuma injured staff from Sumitomo Construction, Kazuma would probably be jailed.
In a country like Japan, which seemed modern on the surface but was still a feudal society deep down, it was better to not challenge the law.
Be it being a lawyer, an entrepreneur, or a policeman or policewoman, if one could reach the top, they would be the cream of the society, equivalent to ministers in ancient times.
At the end of the day, the yakuza leaders were simply advisors serving under those ministers, taking care of the dirty work for them.
After he made up his mind, Kazuma hurried to his school.
It was getting late, and Kazuma would probably be punished by Goro-sensei to run laps again.
***
Daimon Goro stood at the school gate as usual. When he saw Kazuma, he shouted from afar, "Kiryuu!!"
Kazuma replied swiftly, "Run laps. Got it."
"No, you don't have to run today." Daimon shook his head. "How are you feeling?"
It was only then that Kazuma remembered that he had taken a sick leave the day before.
"Not bad. Look, I'm in good shape now. Why don't I go for a run?"
Daimon looked at Kazuma from head to toe. "Hmm, you look very energetic. Go and run. After all, you are late for your morning training again."
At this moment, Kazuma regretted being naughty.
Just as he was about to go to the club to change his clothes, he suddenly thought of Fujii Mikako. He turned around and asked, "Where is Mika… Fujii-san?"
Daimon glanced at Kazuma with a strange look, then said, "She encountered some scary things yesterday. From today onwards, she will not be participating in the morning training. Her mother said that she will personally send her daughter to and from school."
Upon hearing this, Kazuma heaved a sigh of relief. That's good. That's probably for the best. It would not give the yakuza any chance to kidnap Fujii!
Daimon had obviously misunderstood Kazuma's relieved expression. He patted Kazuma's shoulder and said, "The experience of first love while in school is indeed beautiful, but first love is like cherry blossoms, pretty but short-lived. Don't hold on to it for too long. Having those memories is good enough."
Kazuma glanced at Daimon's muscular arms that could throw a water buffalo over his shoulder and said, "Sensei, it's okay if it's someone else who said it to me, but you saying that is giving me goosebumps."
"Enough! Run!"
"Yes, sir!"
***
The morning passed like any other day.
But Kazuma confirmed one thing: the delinquents he'd met this morning must have known about him from a special source.
After all, it was 1980. Without the Internet and mobile phones, it was extremely difficult to disseminate information.
Apart from Fujii Mikako, no one in the entire school knew that Kiryuu Kazuma had crushed Nishikiyama Heita, the chief of the Nishikiyama Family.
In fact, most teachers and students did not even know who Nishikiyama Heita was.
It was a pity that the Northern Katsushika High School was an academically-rigorous school. The overall deviation value was relatively high, so delinquents could not get in. Otherwise, Kazuma would definitely find a few delinquents in the school to check out the situation.
While he was deep in thought, someone knocked gently on his desk.
-- 贈り物
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