XVIII: Street Fighter!

The air was heavy with the tension of an inevitable brawl. Eva and I stood across from the two thugs who had been harassing Mizuki. They looked quite amused at our presence, but there was nothing humorous about what Eva and I were feeling.

“Shinsuke,” Eva started with a smug grin. “You take one, I’ll get the other.”

I knew Eva was more than capable of handling them both on her own, but this was undoubtedly a gift from her to me. She knew exactly what I wanted to do to the scumbags, and she was allowing me the chance to act on it.

“Got it,” I accepted, graciously.

One of the men chuckled and crossed his arms. “So, ‘big sis’ and the ugliest pretty boy I’ve ever seen wanna try and take us on? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. You two are gonna regret stickin’ your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Oh yeah? I very much doubt that,” Eva challenged. “Tell ya what, though. I’ll let you take the first shot at me. In fact, I won’t even use magic to deal with you.”

“How sweet of you,” one of the men snickered. “But all I need is one punch, sweetheart!”

Without a second thought, the thug made a beeline for Evangeline who remained stationary in the face of his advance.

“Night night!” he declared, throwing his fist at Eva’s face.

Like a bullfighter, Eva gracefully sidestepped the man’s reckless strike. And in what was a motion too fast for my eyes to follow, she flipped him effortlessly.

“Guh!” the man cried out, his large form hitting the ground hard.

Eva hopped around the man in a circle and taunted him. “What’s wrong? I thought you only needed one punch~”

“Oh, you’re dead now!” the man shouted. He leapt back to his feet and charged his pink-haired opponent again.

“Some people never learn,” Eva sighed. Once more, she dodged his attempted strike with no effort. This time, however, she took him to the ground with a double leg takedown.

“Hey! Who the hell is this wench?!” the second thug yelled before darting at Eva who was wrestling with the man on the ground.

Before he could get close to her, I blindsided him by burying my fist in his cheek. He plummeted to the ground in a heap and roared.

“Don’t go forgetting about me,” I quipped.

A bit of blood dripped from the corner of the man’s mouth, and he wiped it off on the back of his hand. It seemed he initially believed the liquid to be saliva, because when he spotted the red staining his rough skin, he shot back up and shouted, “I’m gonna kill you for that, you son of a bitch!”

As anyone could have predicted, he began barreling at me, ready to smash me to paste. I cursed my luck that in the heat of the moment, I couldn’t recall any of the techniques Eva taught me. Whatever I would do next wouldn’t be nearly as elegant as Eva, but it would have to do.

Gotta think fast!

It felt as though time slowed to a crawl while I scanned my surroundings at a rapid pace. My crosshairs locked in on a garbage can lid that sat slightly ajar atop a typical, silver cylinder. A sequence of events played out in my mind, and as time seemed to resume at a normal speed, I knew exactly what to do.

I grabbed hold of the lid and dug in my heels. As my enemy drew close, he balled up his fist and began to hunch his body. He was taller than me, so he bent slightly to nail me with his punch. But at just the right distance, I tossed the lid at his face, forcing him to stop in his tracks and catch it.

“Nice try!” he gloated.

That wasn’t the plan, moron.

As he stood before me, still bent slightly and holding the lid in front of his face, I spun on my heel and delivered my best attempt at a roundhouse kick, sending the metal lid right back into his face and knocking him to the ground.

After collecting his wits, the man grunted and tossed the lid aside. His nose had joined his mouth in bloody condition thanks to my attack. “That’s it! Get over here you little punk, I’m gonna crush your bones!”

Ever the hardhead, the man rushed me again. But unlike before, I didn’t need to think over the next move. I positioned myself in front of the row of metal trash cans and waited until the man was within spitting distance. The second he closed in, I dropped to my stomach and tangled my legs in his, tripping him and sending him careening into the bins face first.

“Guh!” he cried out, grabbing his face with one hand and searching for balance with the other.

I spotted a long piece of wood that had been knocked over when the man’s body collided with the bins. This time, before he could attempt to regain his footing, I grabbed the plank of wood and bashed it over his thick skull. The board broke in half and the man was instantly knocked out.

I dusted my palms off and said, “That was for Mizuki, scumbag.”

“Now that’s what I like to see!” I heard Eva cheering across from me.

When I looked up, I found her resting comfortably atop her unconscious foe’s back, holding her face in her hand, and balancing her elbow on the back of his neck.

“Wait, how long have you been lying there like that?” I asked.

“Since about five seconds after you punched that idiot in the face the first time. My guy didn’t last too long after I rolled him into a triangle choke.”

“So, you could have helped me at any time and you just…didn’t?”

Eva laughed and swatted my words away with her hand. “And miss all the entertainment? Shinsuke, look at that guy. You didn’t need my help at all.”

“Point taken.”

Eva hopped to her feet and the two of us approached a bewildered Mizuki.

“Are you okay, Mimi?!” the pink-haired girl asked, taking hold of my best friend’s hand.

“Y-yes. You two didn’t have to do that, I could’ve—”

“Of course we did!” Eva interrupted. “We weren’t about to let you deal with those creeps by yourself! No one messes with my little sis and gets away with it!”

Eva pulled Mizuki into a tight hug, and the flustered, wavy-haired girl peered at me with a helpless expression.

I smiled at her and said, “she’s right, Mizuki. The second those thugs decided to harass you, this is how it was always going to end.”

“Thank you… both of you,” Mizuki relented.

Eva released the anxious girl from her grasp and turned to me. “As for you, Shinsuke. That was some mighty fine street fighting if I do say so myself. In fact, I think I might have just figured out your hidden strength.”

“Hidden strength?” I asked.

“Yeah, but enough about that for now. You worked hard today and I’m beyond proud of you! A lot happened and I think we’re all a bit tired. Let’s call it a day and we can resume training tomorrow.”

I nodded. “No arguments here. You ready to go home, Mizuki?”

“Please,” she replied hastily.

“Oh, and one more thing, Shinsuke,” Eva started. “Make sure to keep practicing that Morning Dew spell in your spare time, okay?”

“Whatever you say, sensei.”

Even though I didn’t understand the sudden request, I complied, and she seemed pleased with that response. After that, Mizuki and I parted ways with Evangeline.

On the way home, I replayed the footage of Emil LeClair in my head. I had just experienced a real fight and emerged victorious, but beating some street punk was worlds away from beating a gifted prince.

Eva had said she might have discovered a “hidden strength” in me, and for the rest of the day, I pondered what she could have meant by that, and if it would be enough to defeat the prince of Gliyrhiel.