Chapter 34:

The Beast's Awakening

Master Of Rejections But Beginner At Love


"R-Ryota..."

Daisuke looked baffled at the unconscious body of his cousin.

"You..."

He bit his lips.

"You truly are pathetic."

He mocked his own cousin after his defeat.

"Man, it sure was shocking to witness how pathetic your performance was."

"Aren't you angry at me?" Kazuma asked despite not really caring about the answer.

"Angry? Nah, not really. It was to be expected that he would lose. But it was quite surprising how fast he lost."

Daisuke cracked his fingers.

"Don't worry. I'll assure you that you won't be able to get rid of us as fast as him."

This time, everyone except Kyouko took up their fighting stance.

"I guess, I'll watch for now." she said bored.

"Hey, Kyouko, didn't you hear Shinya? Everyone of us are to fight him!" Daisuke rebuked.

"But it's just one person. I see no need to participate just because he defeated Ryota."

"Let her be, Daisuke." Hirata said.

"O-oh, fine then."

Kazuma took a glance at each one of them.

"Three versus one? I don't complain but I would have enjoyed it more if it was just between us, Hirata and Shinya." Kazuma stated.

"Ah, I forgot!" Shinya said as he raised his finger.

"let me introduce you to them. These three new faces are Yame Kyouko, Toujou Daisuke and Toujou Ryota. And for your information, they were all part of the scheme to get rid of your parents." Shinya explained.

"Ah, I see! So he's the one you were always talking about Shin-chan!" Kyouko remarked as she lazed around at the nearby bench.

"I see..."

Kazuma got grimmer.

"!"

Bam.

Not wasting time anymore, Kazuma jumped at Daisuke and tried to kick his face.

However, his kick was caught bare-handed by Daisuke.

"Not bad." Daisuke commented with a sly grin.

"Tch."

The grip on Kazuma's foot tightened.

"Hirata!" Daisuke shouted as he threw Kazuma in his direction.

Pow.

Thud.

"Ugh!"

Hirata landed a heavy punch on Kazuma's back.

"How the tables have turned, huh?" Hirata commented, watching Kazuma in pain on the ground.

"Hehe, all these years passed and you still throw those girly punches... Nothing has changed, you bastard." Kazuma mocked him while he slowly got up again.

"What did you say?!"

With a bulging vein, Hirata formed a fist.

Pow.

"Aargh!"

"Don't fall for provocations, Hirata. Especially not those from him."

Shinya kicked Kazuma in the sides just before Hirata punched him.

"You know that he was about to lure you into his psychological trap, right?" Shinya elaborated to Hirata.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Keep your head up."

"Daisuke! Let's do this together!"

Just like Shinya ordered, Daisuke came to him.

"I think you overestimated him too much, Shinya." Daisuke said.

"Maybe you're right..." Shinya replied.

He heaved a sigh of disappointment as he looked at the current state of Kazuma who was cowering on the ground.

"Was he really able to fend off Fujiwara's 20 people?" Hirata asked.

Kazuma got up again.

"Shinya... Hirata..."

"Hm?"

"What?"

"Tell me... what happened to you?" Kazuma asked with his breathing being unstable.

"What do you mean?" Hirata was confused.

"A few months after we established our group... you two started to behave suspiciously... Shiho told me that you would often come home with new injuries, Shinya."

"Ha..."

"Hahaha! I see! That's what you meant!" Shinya laughed hysterically.

"Well, isn't that obvious? We trained of course!"

Shinya's face got closer to Kazuma.

"Compared to you, we two were just some weaklings. So we trained to become as strong as you." Shinya said with a playful grin.

"And soon, we saw our results. Many delinquents and the older ones bowed in front of us out of fear..." Hirata added as he looked at his trembling hand.

"It was a truly ecstatic feeling!" he said with an excited expression while he formed a fist.

"So you two got drunk by power..." Kazuma concluded.

"So what? It feels incredible, after all! We can do anything we want and nobody can do something against it! The assault at your parents was the perfect demonstration!" Shinya responded.

Kazuma grabbed him by his collar.

"What did you say?!"

Daisuke and Hirata were about to meddle in but got stopped after Shinya gestured with hands to stay calm.

"You see, after you announced that you would leave us, we were naturally sad. But only for a short moment." Shinya's vile grin widened.

"It was the perfect opportunity to test our influence and power. I mean, did you really think that you could really leave our group without any backlash? Come on, you were our leader. Leaving everything to us out of nowhere was quite irresponsible, don't you think?" he added.

"..."

Kazuma was silent.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Is it because everything I said was true?"

"It's rather amusing how flawed your way of thinking is." Kazuma said.

"Huh?"

Pow.

Kazuma punched Shinya in the face as he let go of his collar.

"Ptui." Shinya spat on the ground.

"Now you've done it!"

Hirata rushed at him with a fist.

Woosh.

Bam.

Kazuma barely dodged the punch and countered by hitting him in the stomach with his knee.

"Uff!"

After receiving a blow, Hirata jumped back, allowing Daisuke to attack. He aimed at Kazuma's sides with a kick.

Pow.

Kazuma had to launch a kick with the same force to parry it.

"Tch."

Daisuke lowered his leg and was about to hit him in the face.

"!"

To Daisuke's surprise, Kazuma was able to get a hold of his stretched out arm before it connected with his face.

Pow.

Using this opening, he punched Daisuke in the face.

"Heh, seems like he got serious." Daisuke stated while rubbing his nose.

With a disappointment look, Kazuma heaved a sigh.

"You punished me for leaving the gang? Furthermore, the death of my parents was to test your influence and power within the gang network in Tokyo? I can't understand it. Shouldn't you be happy that I left? Only due to my absence you were able to succeed as the leader. Isn't that contradicting?" Kazuma asked.

"..."

Shinya's excitement faded and he turned serious for the moment.

In contrast to him, Kazuma's smirk got wider.

"Why can't you just tell me that you were jealous of my parents for winning me over? I suppose you wanted me to stay the most and therefore you killed them in hope that I would return to you."

"Nonsense." Shinya rejected his speculation sternly.

"Oh, really?"

As the two were conversing, Daisuke looked for an opening to attack while Hirata gritted his teeth and averted his gaze from them.

"I said it's nonsense!"

Enraged, Shinya ran to him fully resolved to attack.

"Hirata, now!" Daisuke signaled Hirata.

"Y-yeah!"

Thus, the three were about to attack simultaneously. They ran side by side with Shinya on the left followed by Daisuke and then Hirata.

However, Kazuma fixed his vision already on a target.

"Shinya!" Kazuma shouted even more enraged than Shinya.

When Shinya was about to get hit by him, the other two let down their guard due to them being surprised by Kazuma's kamikaze attack.

"Just kidding." Kazuma muttered.

"Huh?" Shinya was confused.

Bam.

"Bluaargh!"

Daisuke's throat was hit.

"D-Daisuke!" Hirata's gaze focused on him.

"Where are you looking, Hirata?" Kazuma taunted him.

"!"

Pow. Pow.

Thud.

First a heavy punch in the stomach and then a hit on his back, as he bowed his upper body, with his combined fists.

Hirata got slammed on the soil with his whole body.

"Wha-"

"Taste this!"

Shinya's words got interrupted by Daisuke whose eyes were filled with killing intent.

He took up a fighting stance typical for a boxer.

Seeing that, Kazuma began to make small hops on the spot with his fists raised up.

"Haaa!" Daisuke yelled energetically.

"Tch."

Bam.

"Ugh!"

Despite jumping back, Kazuma was still hit in the chest. If he would not react quickly, it may have been the end for him.

He wanted to hold his chest reflexively but he had to secure the opening of his enemy.

"Hm?"

Daisuke tried to retract his punching arm, however, Kazuma grabbed it firmly.

His eyes were fierce and his grin malicious. Kazuma had no intention to let go.

Pow. Pow. Crack. Pow.

While he held his arm, Kazuma started a barrage of punches aimed at his face. Not being able defend himself properly, Daisuke had to receive most of them. In the process, some cracking sounds were heard.

Noticing that he had not enough force to pull his arm back anymore, Kazuma finally let go.

Thud.

With his face being bloody and full of bruises, Daisuke fell on the ground. Thus, the count of unconscious people rose up to two.

"W-what the..."

Hirata, who tried to get up, could not accept reality after he saw how brutally Daisuke was beaten up.

"..."

Even Shinya was shocked and took a few steps back without realizing.

"Haha... What a beast..." Shinya laughed nervously.

"Hey Hirata, stand up already! This is the moment we've been waiting for!" he said.

"Y-yes!"

The both of them stood side by side.

Shinya's nervousness changed into excitement in contrast to Hirata who began to sweat nervously.

Akin to Shinya, Kazuma flashed a grin of excitement on his face which was stained with a few drops of blood from Daisuke.

"Let's begin round two!" Kazuma announced.