Stealing Spree

When I started exercising and training myself, fighting wasn’t my priority. It’s just a means to protect myself and the girls I targeted. But doing that every day and with increasing intensity, somehow got me the prerequisite to challenging even those who always relied on it.

I still remember my first fight. It was after I got spotted with one of the girls I was trying to steal. The one who saw us was someone who had a crush on her but decided not to pursue her because her boyfriend was his friend.

Yeah. He’s like Tadano. Giving up because it was his friend and when they saw the girl with another guy, they would act up as though they had every right to do so.

Back then, that guy was even a member of either Karate or Taekwondo Club. I couldn’t remember clearly but considering he kept on jumping and kicking, it’s probably Taekwondo.

Anyway, when he called me out to the back of the gymnasium, I already knew what was going to happen. The girl back then tried to stop me from going and said she was going to talk to him for me. Either she’s concerned about me or she was convinced that there’s no way I was going to win.

But as someone who was only driven by my desire back then, I refused to listen to her. Not just that, I also told her to not come with me. I probably even told her to go to her boyfriend to pass the time while I was out there dealing with that guy.

In the end, none of her fears came true and I returned to her as though nothing really happened.

I pretty much won that one-sidedly. But given that it was my first fight, I got moments where I froze or reacted slowly. Fighting wasn’t easy, especially when you’re well aware of the pain you would receive if you got hit instead.

That’s why the next few times I got into an unavoidable fight, I always aimed to overwhelm them even before they could put their mind to it.

And that’s how the name Ghost became known. In time, the number of people who know me as a great fighter was reduced to a few who were already afraid to cross me. I remained a Classmate A in school but secretly, long-time thugs or delinquents feared me.

While some still dared to challenge me with numbers, I always made sure that they would think twice or thrice again before repeating the same mistakes.

In this school, however, I never really showed anything more than that inevitable move to silence the bald captain of the Baseball Club. Other than that, I only appeared fearless before Ichihara Jun and even this Uchiyama.

“Do you think we will still fear you if you wear that armband? We’re not in school anymore.”

After staring me down for a few seconds as though he was waiting for me to cower in fear from their intimidating display, Uchiyama pointed at the pinned armband on my sleeve.

It didn’t mean anything outside of the school and obviously, I only wore it to get this kind of reaction from them.

Ah, there was also a little hope that someone would defer to its authority. But I guess that’s not going to happen. There was no Disciplinary Committee or Officer before me. These guys remained lawless and their only problem before I appeared was the Guidance Counselors or the teachers.

“I know. But what can I do? I stepped in here to enact the ‘Discipline’ as the Disciplinary Officer.” I shrugged my shoulders and pushed the two sandwiching me away.

I only used a little force, just enough to move them. However, they probably thought that I used most of my strength from that. They’re sneering at me as they move back to rejoin their ranks, after all. Furthermore, they even whispered to those close to them and snickered.

My designation of them as idiots was well-deserved.

Uchiyama didn’t comment on that and just remained focused on me as well as on my response. His lips curved up and said, “Big words. You’re going to discipline all of us, is that it?”

“Yes. Why? You don’t believe me?” I said before shrugging once more. There’s no point in playing the sheep and acting powerless here. Even if not everyone was informed about me, Uchiyama was surely tipped off by Enomoto about my lack of fear even after knowing what they planned.

“What the? This junior is too funny. Confident, are you?”

“Oi, Uchiyama, do you really think we’re needed here? Just you and your boys are enough.”

Instead of Uchiyama, two guys standing to his left and right laughed at what I said. Considering their posture and attire – let’s not touch on their ugly mugs – they seemed to be some kind of leader, much like Uchiyama. One of them had blonde hair but a tanned body, he’s like what people called gyaru-oh, the male counterpart of the gyaru. He had piercings on both ears but upon closer look, they’re magnets. It’s against school regulations for males to have piercings or he wouldn’t be accepted to enroll here. While the other was your typical hulky body which was a mix of fats and muscles. Like a gorilla, for a closer comparison. But I guess his face was also closer to it.

So, it’s a group led by a dog, a gorilla, and a guy who’s trying hard to look cool.

Anyway, not counting the three of them, I could see at least fifteen students, all of which were staring down at me. Furthermore, they’re all senior years. Fukuda and his bunch weren’t in this group.

He’s probably uninformed. That guy never even bothered to gloat at me earlier, after all.

“Don’t be fooled by his appearance. Are you absent that day? He’s that guy who knocked baldy down by choking him.” Uchiyama said, informing the ignorant two of my lauded feat in this school.

“That baldy from the Baseball Club? He’s a total pushover. Not worth getting fussed over if he’s defeated by a junior.” The blonde guy laughed as he dismissed that Baseball Club Captain as though he was insignificant.

But then again, I could agree with him. He fainted easily back then.

“I see. So, he’s banking on that for his confidence? What a load of crap. Hey kid, wanna flaunt your position to us? Prove it with your fist. You… go on and test him.”

Surprisingly, it’s the gorilla who’s supposed to be a musclehead who’s thinking with a bit of reason. But disappointingly, he easily leaned back to his musclehead ways. He pointed at one of his followers and sent him out to stand before me.

Because they’re probably of the same standing within their world, Uchiyama didn’t object to that. Instead, along with the blonde guy, they only stared at me in interest, waiting for what kind of show I would give them.

… Really, this isn’t an ambush but a show of power from them. But I guess if I’m not the one in this situation, this will look scary.

I only gave the guy they sent out a passing glance and addressed the gorilla-senpai.

“Senpai, do you wish to use violence instead of talking to me like a man? You know, I can be flexible with my work and not bother whatever world you created for yourselves.”

“Talk? Only pussies do that. Are you a pussy?”

“Ah. I guess there’s nothing but muscle in your head. Well then…”

As soon as I finished speaking, I made my move.

The guy in front of me wasn’t anything special but at least, he looked like he already had experience in a fight. He got into a stance to face me even before I moved.

Or… no. He got mad at me for ignoring him. He’s about to attack me but because of my sudden movement, I beat him to the punch.

“You should’ve taken the chance when I was speaking.” Along with those words, my fist connected to his stomach.

With a dull sound as though I hit a bag from the Boxing Gym, the guy whose name I don’t know was blown away a few steps from me.

Even though he remained standing, as the pain coursed through his brain, his knees instantly gave up on him, bringing him to the ground.

“I can also talk with my fist, senpai. Does this count?” Lifting my clenched fist, I addressed the gorilla who had his mouth wide open from what he witnessed.

No. Not only him, Uchiyama and the rest of their gang were silenced.