Chapter 17: The fight
“Hey…” I begin. Kai doesn't so much as flinch, and he remains silent. Eventually, he speaks up.
“I don’t plan on sitting here and talking to you. I just have one thing I need to make very clear,” he says.
I’m pretty sure I already know what he's going to say, but I’ll just shut up and listen. He already looks angry enough.
“What is it?”
“Promise me you’ll leave Touka alone.”
Bullseye.
“Why? Does it bother you that we're dating? Do you like her or something?”
I'm not budging an inch against this guy. If I do, it'll make the whole situation a lot worse.
He bites his lips and replies, “I already told you—I’ve seen what you’re capable of. I saw what you did last year.”
“Oh, right. That.”
“Back then, all I could do was sit back and watch. My fear got the best of me, and I was totally frozen in place. I couldn't do anything. I could only watch you hurt them,” he says, his voice tinged with regret. “I couldn't help them, even though I wanted to. I didn’t even know their names. Their faces, wracked with pain and suffering, still haunt my dreams. It reminds me of how powerless and cowardly I was on that day. It's the same, even now—I’m still afraid of you.”
He clenches his fist, but I realize that, if I look hard enough, I can see him trembling slightly. He's trying his best to hide it, though. So he is scared of me, after all.
“But still! Even if I’m scared, even if I’m totally powerless against you, I just can’t let you be any longer! I don’t want you to steal Touka’s innocent smile away! I don’t want to feel like a piece of shit anymore!”
Man, this guy is definitely hard-headed and quick to jump to conclusions. Looks like he totally blocks people out when he's convinced himself of something, and as a result, he ends up totally misunderstanding the situation, just like now.
But considering he saw what I did a year ago, I'm not surprised that he's so strongly against me. From his point of view, I was the “bad guy,” and the “good guys” had tried to stop me. In reality, the situation wasn’t anything close to that.
That’s probably his view of the situation. Well, I also remember that day. I remember being forced into that situation, and I remember telling myself I wouldn't give a crap about what others thought of me because of it.
…In the end, he just wants to stroke his own ego. He thinks he has the moral superiority here because he needs to right what was wronged.
“Just curious about one thing, actually,” I say as Kai takes a step forward, “Why'd you come here alone, again?”
I was expecting that he'd bring company. When I got to the rooftop, I tried to look for other people, but I didn’t really see anyone else. He’s alone. If I'm so dangerous, why wouldn't he bring other people to help him out? I don’t get it.
“I already know that it doesn't matter how many people I bring to help out—you'd wipe them flat anyway. I’d just be making others suffer for no reason. I’m alone because I don’t give a damn about myself. If you keep turning a deaf ear to my pleas to leave Touka alone, then I’ll risk everything—even my own life—to try and stop you.”
Wow, he seems pretty determined in his own convictions. Willing to risk his own life if this turns into a brawl, huh? Can’t he and his self-righteous ass follow the path of justice somewhere else and leave me alone? I wish I could tell him that, but it'd just add fuel to the fire.
“I get you.”
“So you get it, huh? In that case, promise me that you’ll leave her alone!”
I can tell he’s under a lot of stress right now, judging from the way he's shouting.
“I'll pass. I’m her boyfriend, so, yeah, no.”
His emotions vanish the instant I say that.
“I could tell from the very beginning that she doesn’t like you, you know.”
He's sharp to have been able to pick up on the insincerity of our relationship.
“You’re just taking advantage of her. I bet you just coerced her to say what you wanted to hear and forced her to date you. She's suffering, and she can't escape.”
I wish I could tell him just how wrong he is on that front, but it’s not like he’s going to listen to me or believe anything I’m going to say at this point... so whatever.
He’s seething right now. I hear someone else coming up the stairs toward the rooftop. Kai hears them too, and he's facing the door, so he can see the person coming up. He gets flustered and angrily cries out, “No way… How dare you!”
He looks pretty desperate now that someone else is coming. Tough luck, dude.
The footsteps stop in front of the door, and the door slowly opens with a creaking sound…
“Ahhh, there you are, Senpai! I’ve been looking all over for you, and…! Wait, what?”
It’s Touka. She sees me, but instantly notices Kai as well. Understandably, she looks worried.
Time stops for the three of us, and no one utters a word for a moment. Kai's the first one to break the silence.
“...So, you got Touka involved in this too, huh? You COWAAARD!” He screams, pouring out all of the anger and resentment he had kept pent up inside him. It's like he unleashed hell itself.
Touka startles at his response.
So now he thinks that I brought her here as a hostage or something? Man, I knew this wasn’t going to end peacefully.
Looks like there's no other choice now but to fight; I give up trying to reason with him.
I curl my fists, ready to fight.
“What the hell's going on?” Touka asks, frightened.
“Negotiations have failed.”
“Negotiations? This isn’t the time for your jokes, Senpai. You couldn't negotiate to save your life, not with how hopelessly introverted you are.”
...That hurt. I don’t really have the time to focus on her, though—Kai's my main concern here.
“So this is your answer, huh?! You’re never going to let her go!”
Kai, the douchey wolf in sheep's clothing, has finally revealed his true colors.
“Huh? Seriously, dude; what’s the hell's wrong with you?” Touka asks. Despite her response, she's still frightened, and she approaches me slowly while throwing disconcerted glances at Kai.
“I don’t get it. What’s up with this guy?” she whispers to me.
I don’t think I have the time to explain the whole situation to her right now. Instead, I need to tell Kai something.
“Seeing that I’m ‘hopelessly introverted,’ I don’t know how to deal with these kinds of situations. What I do know is explaining the situation to you would be like talking to a brick wall. It doesn’t matter, since all you'll do is twist my words like always. You'll never get that you're the one who's in the wrong.”
Kai looks at me suspiciously.
“That’s why I don’t really care about what you think about me. I’m sorry, but no matter what you say, I don’t plan on leaving Touka.”
I know my way of handling things isn't the best—I never really expected people to understand me, so I just gave up on trying and kept them at an arm's length… but I'm rambling, I guess. I won't worry about people who try to frame me a certain way, since now I know there are people who'll try to understand me. Ike, Makiri-sensei, Tanaka-sensei, Suzuki, Asakura, and Touka have shown me that.
They've shown me the truth—that there really are people out there who have their eye out for me, who care about me. Even if there are some people who're scared of me, who make me out to be the 'bad guy,’ I know that there are others who support me, and I want to cherish them.
Kai's eyes pop open at my response.
“...Huh?” Touka says, confused at the situation. Well, that's obvious—she doesn't really know what's going on.
I can’t help but smile. I want to protect my relationship with Touka, who’s always watched out for me and cared about me. I face Kai once more.
“Touka is my girlfriend.”
Our relationship may be fake, but it’s still a relationship that I personally cherish. No matter what others tell me, I don’t really plan on letting go of it.
“You… you piece of shit!” Kai cries out in anger.
I thought Touka would get scared again from his intense screaming, but she looks embarrassed instead.
“Wh-What the hell are you even saying?!” she says. Her cheeks are bright pink, and she's averting her eyes. She's talking to me, not Kai… I guess he's not really a concern right now.
…Please stop looking so flustered, Touka. You’re going to make me blush, too.
“Get away from him, Touka. Don't worry, I'll come save you now.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry, dude… but, like, I'm actually going out with him. Y'know, for real.” she replies, her gaze as cold as ice.
He’s looking way too confident now. I wonder if he has something up his sleeve?
“You’re a nice person, Touka, but I’ve already made up my mind.”
He whips out a pocket knife and cries, “Tomoki Yuuji, I’m for real here! Prepare yourself!”
His knife looks like it's about 10 centimetres long. It seems likely that it's the only weapon he has on hand.
“Hey! What the hell are you thinking?! That’s dangerous!”
“I'll help you! I'll free you—right here, right now. I won’t kill him, obviously, but no promises on not injuring him.”
His intentions are clearly malicious now. He grabs his knife, ready to lunge at me. His hands are trembling… This is probably the first time he's ever held a knife against someone before. Still, he seems pretty damned determined to hurt me with it.
“Run away, Senpai. He’s just crazy at this point!” Touka cries out, scared. She tries to grab my hand and pull me away from the roof.
“Take your hands off of heeer!” Kai roars.
Uh, Kai… I should note that she was the one who took my hand, not the other way around. Now's not the time for jokes, I guess.
He makes the first move and rushes at me. Looks like there’s no going back now.
“This is going to be dangerous, so back off.”
I remove Touka’s hands and get her to back away from me so she doesn’t get hurt.
“Senpai?!” she shouts.
I’m glad that she’s worried about me.
I face Kai now. He's steadily closing in on me. He quickly gets into melee range and starts swinging the knife at me. He's ready to hurt me—if I don’t do anything to deflect the attacks, he's definitely going to end up stabbing me eventually. I want to spare Touka from that kind of scene, if possible.
So I figure the best defense is offense. I swing my hand at the one holding the knife. I manage to hit him, and he recoils, cries out, and drops the knife in pain.
In this opening, I try to give him another chance.
“I respect you, Kai.”
He looks at me, puzzled.
“Even though your anger's unjustified, and you tried to make a move on Touka, you still have guts. You still came here alone and managed to overcome your fear so you could fight me face-to-face. No one else has ever tried to do that before. I think it’s quite amazing.”
“What the hell… are you on about?”
“Don't tell me you're already finished just because I made you drop your shitty knife.”
This isn’t over. I don’t know why he looks so surprised about this.
“Show me what you’ve got, Kai Rekka!”
“Ugh! AAAH!”
He cries out in anger and lunges his fist toward me. He’s not holding anything back; if I take that punch, I’ll be badly hurt. But he’s taking his sweet time to attack, so it’ll be easy for me to dodge.
However…
Thump!
I’ve decided to take his punch head-on, and my head is ringing thanks to it. It was a hard blow—his strongest hit, filled with his sense of morality and courage.
I try to withstand the pain, and, after a groan, I prepare my fists. It's my turn to attack.
My blood’s boiling. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a one-on-one fight. I’m pumped up and ready to go.
“Not bad, dude. That hurt. I won’t hold back now.”
I grab his arm and pull him toward me. He topples, losing his balance, and I take the opportunity to strike him.
“Use your fists from the very start! Don't rely on some wimpy weapons!” I scream as I hit him.
He looks confused, unable to react to so many things happening at once. I smash my fist into his face, and he flies back and hits the ground. He’s not moving, and it doesn’t look like he’ll stand up anytime soon.
…There are bubbles frothing around his mouth. Looks like he's passed out.
☆
I stare down at Kai, who's lying unconscious on the ground.
I don’t think I’ve injured any vital parts... just his face. Still, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to be waking up anytime soon. I guess I’ll leave him be for now.
I finally let my guard down. As I do, the pain from Kai’s punch slams into me at full force like a truck.
“Ouch…”
That was some impressive handiwork. It freakin’ hurts.
“A-Are you okay, Senpai?!” Touka shouts as she runs over to me.
“I’m fine. It's no biggie.”
“It is a biggie, Senpai! Your nose is bleeding!”
She retrieves a handkerchief from her pocket and tries to wipe the blood off of my nose, but I don’t let her. I take it and clean up my face instead, then I push it slightly into my nostril to stop fresh blood from flowing out.
“I’m fine. Thanks.”
“Don’t 'thanks' me! What the hell?” she exclaims while looking down. She seems genuinely worried about me. “There's nothing you’d like to tell me, Senpai?” she asks.
Should there be something? Nothing comes to mind right now… Oh right, that.
“You were right about being wifey material. I mean, you even have a handkerchief ready and everything.”
She looks saddened by my response.
“Are you for real right now?” she asks.
“Nah, just kidding.”
Was she expecting me to say something else, though? If that’s the case, I have no clue what she’s talking about.
“The reason he went totally batshit just now was because of me, wasn’t it? If I hadn’t agreed to do this whole fake relationship thing with you, this never would've happened.”
“Nah, not really. He already thought I was some kinda threat and a dangerous person, so this would’ve happened sooner or later.”
“You’re just such a nice person, Senpai. You could’ve tried to talk some reason into him before it escalated to this, right? There must've been something you could have done.”
I shake my head.
“Hell no. There wasn’t any chance to talk it out. I have this bad habit where I give up on talking things out and let my fists do the talking instead. In the end, it just makes my situation worse—people have proof I'm the violent criminal they pegged me as. Weren't you also scared, seeing me fight?"
“I was.”
I can barely hear what she’s saying. I wouldn't blame her if she called off our deal right now, considering what she just saw.
“Why didn’t you just run away when you saw that knife? Why'd you decide to take his punch head-on instead of easily dodging it? I know you could've! I didn’t want to see you get hurt, Senpai. What if he knocked you down, Senpai? There'd be no way to recover things if that happened. I was really, really scared!!” she cries out.
I thought it was only a small outburst, but she continues, “And what d'you mean, 'you let your fists do the talking'?! You only got this strong so you could defend yourself from people who found you scary and attacked you, didn't you, Senpai?! I know there's no way you caused those fights on your own! Why d'you even bother trying so hard to sympathize with these people in the first place?! You don't need to try so hard, okay?! These assholes are the ones to blame—if they actually had the decency to give you a chance, they wouldn't get themselves in these kinda messes! Why d'you blame yourself all the time? I hate it! It's seriously depressing!”
Tears begin to well up in the corners of her eyes.
“You stayed with me even after you found out the real reason behind our relationship! You encouraged me to try again, and I even decided to give it my all because of you! You’re such a sweet, considerate guy, why would this…!”
Oh, so it's my fault after all. I finally realize what she means, and she’s right. How could I not see that before?
“Enough, Touka.”
I pat her head and ruffle her hair around.
“Thanks.”
She goes silent, and, after a moment, she grabs my hand and removes it from her head. I'm ready to withdraw my hand, but she doesn’t let go.
“You always use your hands to protect yourself and others. Your hands are warm and tender. Remember—you’re the good guy, not them,” she says, her cheeks flushed red. She's clearly embarrassed about the sappy bit she just gave me, but she's trying her hardest to encourage me.
“Okay.”
Once she hears my answer, she smiles… but it lasts only for a second. She glares down disdainfully at Kai.
“This goddamn idiot’s just going to go postal again eventually. You realize that, right? We should just strip him and take some nudes to use for blackmail material. Y'know, just in case he wants to do something nasty to you again.”
Damn, Touka, that’s pretty scary coming from you.
“No need. Next time, I’ll try to be more patient and talk it out.”
“Talk it out? Okay, but I call dibs.”
“Huh?”
She walks over to Kai. What's she planning? He can't be very interesting to look at, being out cold and all.
“Augh!”
She kicks him in the stomach. Damn, what's up with her? I never thought she’d go that far.
“Wh-What…? Ugh… my face hurts…”
Kai wakes up covering his face with his hands, but Touka quickly manages to grab him and hoist him up by his collar.
“You never bothered to listen to me! You went ahead and decided on your own that Senpai was some kinda criminal, and it was all up to you to play the hero and fight him. How'd that turn out, by the way? You were no match for him, even with a knife! He took your punch 'cause he felt bad for you, and you got your ass wiped flat with a single punch. Damn, dude, some hero you were! You're just the freakin' coolest, huh?” she says, her voice absolutely dripping with venom.
Kai seems genuinely scared of her now, but she continues, “You just judge people by their looks. That's why you ended up creating this situation. Yeah, YOU. You're the one who made this mess, by the way, not Senpai. Yuuji-senpai is a nice guy, so he might forgive you and all. But me... I will never forgive you for this.”
She takes a deep breath and shouts, “Don’t you ever… EVER lay your hands on my boyfriend again!”
Kai nods wordlessly, and she lets go of his collar and tosses him to the ground. She runs up to me and whispers, “That was for real, Senpai.”
She’s not even looking at me as she speaks. Damn, she must be embarrassed about what she just said.
“Okay, got it.”
She throws a couple of playful punches and exclaims, "What d'you mean, 'got it'? Huh? You dummy!" she's probably trying to hide her embarrassment, but her little punches are tickling me more than anything. C'mon, Touka.
I look at Kai, but he's staring blankly up at the sky. He looks pretty dumbfounded. Well, after what Touka just said, I should probably leave him alone. We should probably just go.
“Okay, let’s go home.”
“Yeah,” Touka replies.
We leave the rooftop, but as we go down the stairs, I remember something.
“Oh, right—there's something I wanted to tell you, Touka.”
“Huh?!” Touka exclaims. She stops dead in her tracks and looks at me worriedly.
It’s not really that big of a deal, but I'm still getting all nervous thinking about it. Oh well, whatever—I'll just blurt it out all at once.
“Thanks for making that bento. It was delicious.”
Her mouth gapes open in surprise, and her face quickly turns a bright red. She grabs the hem of my shirt and says, “N-Now you wanna thank me?!”
“Well, I just remembered that I never told you how good it was. Better late than never, right?”
“Hmph! You idiot! Idiiiooot!” she answers, puffing her cheeks. She quickly changes her tune, though—she soon smiles, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes, and says, “You’re just so funny, Senpai.”
We look into each other's eyes, and her cheeks turn even redder. Man, she looks just like a tomato.
“I’ll make you another one one day,” she says.
“Sure. I'm looking forward to it.”
“Let’s eat together next time, though.”
“Sounds good.”
She smiles at me, and my spirit's lifted just like that.
