Delinquent King

Yumehara was an institution that took pride in its ability to keep students in line with its exceptional curriculum and great extracurricular activities, but even with the excellency of those areas, at the end of the day, Yumehara was still a school like all others. And some free spirits are simply too hard to contain.

Those wild students are known as delinquents. They are youngsters that strayed from the path of education and instead chose to indulge in a subculture of wild hairstyles, chaos, and street fights.

Eventually, thanks to the increase of their numbers, rivalries between groups began to rise, and three large delinquent gangs came into existence.

The Hydras, a group that consisted of almost exclusively boys from some of the more impoverished sections of the city.

The Mermaids, a group mostly made up of girls from the wealthier sections of the city.

And lastly, the Tengus, a group that mainly consisted of Yumehara students.

Each group had its turf, and they would defend it from the other gangs’ attacks. For the most part, those three keep each other in check while the schools and board of education sought to find a solution for this issue.

However, to the school’s delight, the problem kind of solved itself.

As time went by, the entire culture surrounding delinquency morphed into something a lot smaller and easier to keep in check.

With their influence waning, the three gangs tried their absolute best to keep their relevance but eventually, they became nothing more than a legend, a myth passed down by word of mouth from student to student.

And alongside the tales of the three youth gangs that once terrorized the streets, there was also another legend of note.

That of the delinquent king.

A boy that defeated all remaining members of the three gangs back when he was but a middle-schooler.

He unified all three of the groups and made the dinky old arcade in the west sector of Sakuhama their base.

Legends say his name is-

***

“Oh, so we’re getting Onimaru-kun to join us?” Kayoko comments nonchalantly while resting a finger on her cheek.

“Onimaru… Kun?” The brunet blinks slowly, then stares at his club mate incredulously. “You know him?”

“Well, yes dear.” Still not seeing anything wrong with her comment, she adds. “He goes to the fashion club at least once a week to have his uniform fixed.” The silver-haired teen then smiles with pride. “In fact, I was the one that designed his custom uniform!”

That… kind of checked out. Kayoko gave off the aura of someone that wouldn’t be bothered by someone’s status when it came down to fashion.

She was weirdly approachable for a pretty girl with a blunt tongue.

“You learn something new each day, I guess.” Umiko crosses her arms and shakes her head. “Now that you mention it, his getup does kinda look like your handiwork.” Saying that her fashion sense is bold was an understatement.

“Are we really going to ignore the fact that Umiko-san wants the Delinquent King to join the club?” The boy asks and the other two stare him down like he just spoke complete nonsense. “I get that he’s probably very strong, but why do you think he would join your club?”

A fair question, the legendary teen that defeated three whole gangs by himself didn’t exactly seem like the type to join an official school club-

-or as official as the dueling club currently was.

“Well, normally he wouldn’t, buuuuut-“ The bluenette gives Hiroto a cheeky little smile. “-If someone were to defeat him in combat, then he would join our club!”

“So we just need to defeat him?” The brunet asked and the club manager nodded. “That’s easier said than done.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Resting her hands at the back of her head, the blue-haired teen smirks. “I know you can do it, Kanzaki-kun!”

“M-Me!?”

“Duh! Who else?”

Umiko and Kayoko traded knowing glances as the boy tried and failed to find the right words to protest.

While the battle with the fashionista ended prematurely, this challenge needed the opponent to be fully defeated, or in other words-

-It would be a complete bout until one of them lost and that would force Hiroto to actually go on the offensive.

And yes, both girls had thought of that plan before he came in today. It was a bit mean to force the boy to do something he was obviously not comfortable doing, but Umiko had a feeling that this was the only way for her to truly see his battle prowess.

She knew he was good at defense, but to fully understand his fighting capabilities, she needed to see his offense at least a little more.

“I-Izumi-san is a member of the club now, can’t she be the one to fight him?” Hiroto questions in a low voice.

“I’ll step in if he manages to defeat you.” The silver-haired girl clarifies, staring intently at the boy, just waiting for his reaction.

He opened his mouth to protest, but one look at the two girls was enough for him to understand that they wouldn’t back down so easily.

“… urgh.” He groans. “Fine.” Closing his eyes, the boy already starts to mentally prepare himself for what’s to come.

The female duo takes this opportunity to give each other a thumbs up.

Now they just needed to go meet this legendary delinquent!

***

Hiroto found himself once again wondering the fog filled streets of Sakuhama.

Even with his two club mates by his side, the boy couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the eerie atmosphere that a foggy day brought to the city.

Still, they had an objective and Umiko was determined to see it through today, the brunet wished he could share her enthusiasm, but oh well, no point in complaining now.

The trio moved slowly through the mist filled streets until they came face to face with their destination.

Large, lit up neon letters spell the name of ‘Kyōken Arcade’ with the logo of a rabid looking dog holding a joystick in its mouth. The rest of the building however, looked almost abandoned with restaurant tables that didn’t seem to fit scattered about, trash all over the floor, visible dust was everywhere they looked, and there are even cracks on the walls.

Upon entering the decrepit looking building, the trio is met with many, many eyes belonging to the delinquents that hung out around the place. The darkness helped to conceal their bodies.

All those stares practically spelled for the group to leave their turf, but Umiko didn’t seem to care.

The blue-haired teen guided her club mates to the back of the arcade, where a lone figure was sitting in front of an old machine.

Loud beeps and boops from the machine echoed around, although one could easily detect the clicking sound of the arcade’s joystick and buttons being pressed in rapid succession.

Playing at that machine was none other than their target. A boy with very spiky black hair.

“Yo! Onimaru!” The bluenette greets with her hands resting on her hips. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

There’s a small but tense pause, before the sound of a menu being brought up fills the room.

Without any words, the infamous delinquent king stands up and turns around, now being face to face with the members of the dueling club.

He is a very slender teenager, even taller than Kayoko and probably standing just a couple inches shorter than Takahashi. His skin is very pale in comparison to everyone else, and his deep purple, square-shaped eyes gave off a very aggressive vibe.

For his outfit, the black-haired boy wore a high-collared white duster coat that was fully open on the front, letting his very well-defined chest out in the open, he also had partially visible bandages just above his crotch, with their lower half being covered by his long white pants. Instead of wearing any shoes, he instead wore wooden sandals.

Now that he was staring them down, Hiroto was able to observe the only thing in his getup that could link the other boy to Yumehara. That being the school logo on the buttons in his coat.

“If it isn’t the famous Umiko-san!” Onimaru says in a surprisingly polite tone. “What business brings you to my humble abode?”

Not letting her smirk falter, Umiko replies. “Don’t act like you don’t know why I’m here.”

“…” He sighs. “To get your behind handed back to you, once again?”

So she did try and fight him on her own!

That was incredibly stupid, but Hiroto could appreciate that at least she was willing to put herself in danger for the sake of her goals. That was quite admirable.

“Nuh-uh!” Swinging her finger from side to side, the blue-haired girl retorts. “This time-“ She points towards the taller boy.

“-we are here to kick your butt!”