ตอน 7: 7 - The Spice

"He's weak! Strike him all at once!" one of the students shouted, swinging a fist at Yuuto.

'It's slow,' Yuuto thought, dodging the punch, the attacker's knuckles grazing his cheek.

'Damn it... My body's not responding the way I want it to. Veiny Turd was slow, so it wasn't a problem earlier...!!'

Yuuto barely had time to recover before another student lunged, kicking him hard in the ribs. He doubled over in pain, coughing up blood as he delivered a Phoenix Eye fist to the senior's jawline, cutting off his breath and causing him to fall over.

'That's one! Now I have to—' Yuuto's thoughts were interrupted as he tried to shift his focus to another student, but was met with a knee to the face from a third attacker approaching from his blind side. The world spun as Yuuto stumbled back, barely managing to block a third punch aimed at his jaw.

'Damn it... This body! I beat those three in the bathroom because of the tight space... But even I don't have eyes in the back of my head! Damn it, focus! I could take on 20 grown men in my world... Hiroki, you son of a whore, trained this body every day, my ass!' Yuuto struggled.

'See? I knew it, Hiroki. He doesn't even need to interfere. You being this weak is just a fact. You chose this when you decided to go against nature the way you did. Now, because you didn't apologize, he's going to destroy you and take everyone you love away. Whatever you said earlier was just a bluff,' Nao thought, satisfied.

"Holy shit, he's getting destroyed... HEY, FREAK! THIS IS WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY BROTHER!" Rise shouted, standing beside Nao and her male friend.

"Y-YEAH! YOU'RE JUST A WOMAN-BEATER SHOW-OFF! YOU'RE GETTING WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR WHAT YOU DID TO NAO-CHAN!" he shouted.

"Hey, you two... this is hard for me to watch... stop it," Nao murmured.

"Ah, right, 'kay Naocchi," Rise said.

"Our Nao-chan is so kind..." the guy added.

'That snaky girl. She knows exactly what's up and enjoys every minute of it. I see you, girly. Not that I hate what I'm seeing either, so it's all good,' Rise thought as she smirked knowingly at Nao.

Yuuto's vision blurred as his battered body struggled. A punch to the stomach made him gasp for breath, and another blow to the head left him swaying on his feet.

'This is bad... I... might... lose...'

"NOT SO TOUGH NOW, ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE BITCH?!" a senior shouted, swinging another fist at Yuuto's cheek.

'My fighting style... doesn't match this pipsqueak's physique...'

'Fighting style... judo. Right. This kid knows judo!' Yuuto thought, his eyes rekindling with determination as another fist approached.

'But judo is just the weak version of...' Yuuto thought as he let the punch hit his face.

"Got you again, bitch!" the senior screamed.

"I don't want to watch this anymore..." Nao said as she turned away, beginning to walk away slowly.

'This is boring to watch... the outcome is obvious,' she thought.

"What the...?" The senior exclaimed as he realized Yuuto was clinging to his arm with his entire body.

'...JJJ! (Japanese Jiu-Jitsu), the perfect style for people of smaller physique!'

"This fucker! He got me!" The senior shouted as Yuuto latched onto his arm with his whole body.

'KIMURA!' (Shoulder Lock)

Yuuto gripped the student's wrist, using his entire body weight to snap and dislocate it.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the student screamed, losing control of his arm as a sickening snap echoed.

Nao turned back at the sound of the scream.

"What the hell?!" she exclaimed, echoed by Rise's astonishment.

The student rolled to the ground, with Yuuto rolling alongside him, finally letting go of his arm as two others stood over him.

'That's two!' Yuuto thought as he looked up with his good eye to see a stomp heading his way.

"DIE, YOU BASTARD!" the senior screeched, bringing his foot down. Yuuto let his swollen forehead take the brunt of the brutal stomp.

"GOT HIM!" the student yelled triumphantly.

'Ashi Kansetsu!' (Leg Joint Lock) Yuuto thought, wrapping his entire body around the student's leg and tripping him to the ground, hyperextending his knee.

"GRAAAAH! GET THAT FUCKER OFF ME!" he screamed.

Another student ran up and began kicking Yuuto's side, but Yuuto pressed harder on the student's kneecap, letting the bones creak and snap as the student writhed in agony.

"AAAAAAAH, MY LEG! HELP ME!" he screamed. Yuuto spat blood as the kicks to his kidneys grew more forceful, but he only pressed harder.

"Holy shit... He's... He's not going to actually win, right?" Rise said, watching in disbelief.

The transfer student still walked slowly and confidently toward the scene.

Nao was speechless, watching Yuuto continue to fight. 'No way... I know Hiroki... He just isn't this kind of guy. I stopped seeing him as a man after being with that guy. What is this?! No way this is actually Hiroki... It's a lie!' she thought, seeing Yuuto bleed profusely, yet the fire in his eyes remained undiminished. 'Why are you fighting this hard??! There's no logic explanation to why you're going this far...!!'

"I'm gonna be sick," the male friend said, wincing at the crackling of bones.

"SHIT... FUCK... LET HIM GO, YOU FREAK!" the other student yelled as he kicked Yuuto's side.

But then...

Snap

His leg bent unnaturally in the other direction.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" The student's blood-curdling scream pierced the air.

Nao's eyes widened in horror as she placed her hands over her mouth.

Rise gasped, her face pale as she stared in shock.

The male friend stepped aside and vomited.

The other student kept kicking Yuuto.

Yuuto felt his side growing numb from the pain as blood dripped from his mouth.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" The student screamed, continuing to kick. Yuuto slowly crumpled to the ground as the other senior was incapacitated.

Yuuto, feeling his consciousness slipping away, glanced to the side, spotting a sizable rock.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed the rock and hurled it at the kicker's groin.

"Oooh..." The student crumbled to the ground.

Yuuto seized the opportunity, grabbing him by the neck and choking him out.

Wheezing and gasping for air, the student tried to fight back, but Yuuto was relentless. He held on until the student's face turned blue and finally passed out in Yuuto's grasp.

Yuuto coughed up more blood, holding the choke for a few more seconds to be sure before letting go.

'SHIME-WAZA...' (Chokehold)

He felt his consciousness slipping, his vision blurring as he lay on his back on the dirt ground.

But just then, he saw a large, dark fist that blocked out the setting sun as it descended towards the dirt.

Surging with adrenaline, Yuuto rolled out of the way, the fist missing him by a hair's breadth.

He rose to a standing position, facing the final hurdle: the transfer student.

'...And I'm... the sucker puncher...?' he thought, breathing heavily as he clutched his abdomen, blood trickling from his mouth.

"N-no way... H-he actually took them all down... That Hiroki..." Rise murmured, her legs trembling.

"But..." Nao added as she gazed at Yuuto.

"...He'll definitely lose the way he is now... He can barely stand. He can't beat him like this. It's really over this time..." Nao's voice quivered as she watched Yuuto.

'Luckily, Hiroki's body was acclimated to grappling due to his Judo practice... Which gave me an edge in my own JJJ. It's nowhere near an acceptable level, but it did allow me to utilize it enough... But man... I'm roughed up bad,' Yuuto thought.

Despite his battered body, his semi-conscious state, and the blood trickling out of him, hinting at internal bleeding, Yuuto kept standing, his fiery gaze fixed calmly on the towering, sneering transfer student.

'You can't win... You can throw all the rocks you want, Hiroki. With a body like this, you can't win,' Nao thought, trying to convince herself.

'So why... Why are you still standing...?! Just fall over already! What in God's name is so important that it makes you go against nature like this...!!?' She thought, clenching her teeth in frustration and a tinge of worry.

'At this rate, you'll seriously..!!'

"Ready to die, runt?" the transfer student said, bumping his fists together and licking his lips.

"Didn't know you could talk... Give me a second," Yuuto replied, his voice raspy, deep breaths between each word, stumbling clumsily toward the bag he had dropped earlier.

"There's still something I have to do." He added quietly.

The transfer student, confident in his own strength but wary of what Yuuto might do, let Yuuto walk to his bag. He watched carefully, studying Yuuto's movements.

"I gotta baseball your ass," Yuuto murmured, his voice raspy, blood dripping from his mouth with each word as he unzipped his bag.

TO BE CONTINUED....