Chapter 6: First Week of November: Yori’s So Popular

Yoriko Sakaki was known as the younger of the Beautiful Sakaki Sisters.

It was hard to say which of the two was more beautiful, but the younger sister, Yoriko, was definitely the more popular with men. She held that position, in effect, by default, since the elder sister was not popular at all.

That wasn’t to say that there weren’t quite a few men who had showed an interest in the older sister’s beauty, but that interest lasted only until they learned about her personality. Now that Mutsuko’s eccentricities were known to the world at large, men left her alone completely.

All that aside, though, Yoriko really was popular, and she was often propositioned by older men.

Younger men mostly stayed away; only a few in her current year (second year in middle school) ever approached her, and a few more in third year, but they were a small percentage of the total.

The vast majority of the men who approached her were high schoolers. She had been approached by college students, too, but it was hard to tell how serious those were.

As the fact that she was often approached by boys in high school might suggest, Yoriko’s beauty was quite well known around the city. She never ran with high school social groups, yet they would still come to ask her out just based on having caught a glimpse of her, or having seen a picture of her.

In other words, they either didn’t care about her personality, or they just imagined a personality for her based on what they saw.

Yoriko saw this as something to be expected. She was aware that she was beautiful, and it wasn’t all natural beauty. She worked hard every day to enhance that beauty, and even earnestly studied fashion to bring it out even further. If she wasn’t beautiful enough to charm men by the dozens, there was no way she could get the man she wanted.

But even knowing this was inevitable, Yoriko still found it a dreadful nuisance. She saw the process of turning down all these men as nothing but work. No matter who it was, there was never any need to think it over.

She didn’t bother evaluating their looks, feeling out their personalities, considering their compatibility, or testing the strength of their feelings. She just dealt with each in a completely mechanical manner. None of them even stood a chance.

So when she dumped the most recent hopeful, she was really just dealing with things the way she always did.

It happened at a modern-style cafe near the station. Two female middle school students, dressed in sailor-style uniforms, sat at a table by the window.

The long-haired girl sitting by the window was Yoriko Sakaki. The short-haired girl sitting by the aisle was Karen Hanagasumi. They were both in their second year of middle school. They were in the same class, and they were best friends.

“That boy you turned down recently. I hear he started dating Otori from Class Two, and got dumped after three days,” said Karen.

Yoriko wasn’t really listening to her best friend. She was gazing absentmindedly out the window, thinking about how she’d like to get home soon to see her big brother, Yuichi. Still, even that frivolous behavior would just make her look like a melancholy beauty to anyone around her.

Karen was quite attractive herself, but she paled before Yoriko. Naturally, anyone who would get jealous about every little thing like that would never be able to stand Yoriko’s presence, so Karen was more the type to see their friendship as something to boast about.

“They say Otori is rich, but she keeps dating guys and dumping them,” commented Karen. “It’s kinda fishy, huh? You wouldn’t think a rich girl could get away with that, would you?”

At last, Karen’s words permeated Yoriko’s distant thoughts. Her friend was talking about a third-year boy that she had blown off, but there was something slightly off in what she had said.

The girl in question had actually dumped one man after a day, and another after two days.

“I hear that she’ll give a chance to any man as long as he’s good-looking,” said Yoriko. “Then she’ll always dump him, saying something like, ‘Sorry, it’s just not working.’”

“Huh? You knew?” Her friend looked surprised. “You know a lot about Otori, by the way...”

“She’s the one who tells me...”

Akane Otori had transferred to their school recently, and in the blink of an eye, she had seized leadership of Class Two. Yoriko knew these things because Otori herself had told her personally; the girl had apparently decided to forge a rivalry with her for some reason.

I don’t care if men like me or not, personally... Yoriko thought. But apparently that was what Otori was concerned about. She didn’t like the fact that the men always went after Yoriko first. And the fact that she came all the way to tell her about such things suggested an extremely brazen attitude.

“Like a leadership conference?” Karen asked. “That’s the queen for you!”

“Please stop calling me that,” Yoriko said wearily.

The hierarchy that her class in elementary school had only been vaguely aware of had become quite clear by the time they were in middle school. No one specifically said it out loud, but there was a tacit understanding about who was on what level, and what level you fit in yourself.

Yoriko hadn’t intended it at all, but at some point, she had ended up venerated as the head of the class. Everyone seemed to acknowledge that, and Yoriko had decided she wouldn’t argue, as long as it kept the class at peace.

“So, why come to me for romantic advice, anyway?” Yoriko added. “I really don’t think I can be any help.”

Apparently a friend of Karen’s wanted to ask Yoriko for some advice. That’s why they were going to meet up at the cafe on the way home.

Yoriko had blown off any number of guys, but that was always when the men came after her. She didn’t know much about romance, and she wasn’t especially good at managing it. If this person wanted to know how to get a guy she liked to notice her, well, that was something Yoriko wanted to learn herself.

“I’m sorry, they were just so insistent on it...”

Karen seemed so apologetic, Yoriko couldn’t really fault her. Besides, it was a favor for a friend, so she’d decided she might as well play along. Once this friend told her the situation, it was entirely possible that she might be able to offer some advice. And if she didn’t know what to do, she could just say that.

“Well, that’s fine.” Yoriko checked her wristwatch. It was just the time they’d scheduled.

“Karen, sorry I’m late!”

Yoriko looked up to see two men in blazer uniforms standing beside the table they were sitting at.

In confusion, she looked over to Karen, but the girl was just smiling brightly, waving to the two men. Before Yoriko could sort out her confusion, the two men sat down across from them.

“Karen? What’s going on?” Yoriko found her gaze turning into a glare. This hadn’t been what she was told.

“Huh? He needs romantic advice, like I told you,” said Karen. “Oh, the one on the right is Takuma. He’s my boyfriend. The one on the left is Subaru, the guy who wants advice.”

Yoriko didn’t recognize the uniform, but he seemed to be a high school student. Takuma was attractive enough, but seemed like a rather frivolous sort. Subaru’s uniform was rumpled, and he had a slovenly air about him. He was blessed with an attractive face, but his dyed brown hair lent him a rather wild air.

“As a middle school student, I doubt I am capable of giving romantic advice to someone in high school. May I go now?” Yoriko said quickly, realizing she had fallen into a trap. She wanted to believe that Karen hadn’t done this maliciously. It was likely the high school boy in front of her who had come up with the plan, then manipulated Karen to get what he wanted.

“Wait a minute,” the high school boy protested. “The thing I want advice about, only you can help me with.”

Subaru’s attitude was completely inappropriate for someone he had just met. Yoriko made up her mind: this was an enemy.

“I want you to date me,” the guy added.

Yoriko had to deal with these from time to time. Punks like this thought that if they could come on strong, that would be enough. They thought they could get anything they wanted as long as they took the initiative.

Yoriko stood up. “I’m sorry; I will not date you. I will not change my mind on the matter later, either.”

Yoriko made herself clear in the way she always did. She sometimes changed how she said it based on what the person was like, but she had to leave no room for argument when she turned someone down someone.

“Karen, move. I’m leaving.”

Karen quickly stood up.

Yoriko knew she was perhaps being a bit too harsh, but she really was angry, and she couldn’t hide that. She picked up her bag and tried to leave the table.

But as she passed by, Subaru grabbed her right hand. “Wait!”

Yoriko felt a shot of annoyance. Why did he have to prolong their embarrassment? Why couldn’t he just let her go?

Yoriko turned back and lightly twisted her wrist. That alone was enough to free her hand, but she wasn’t satisfied with just that. She then grabbed his own wrist and pulled him downwards. Surprised by her power, perhaps, Subaru pitched forward into the aisle.

Then Yoriko thrust her knee right in Subaru’s face. Subaru tumbled into the aisle, bleeding spectacularly from his nose.

Yoriko walked leisurely through the ensuing commotion.

She knew she had gone too far. There would have been many more peaceful ways to settle things.

And sure enough, the incident that was about to unfold would be caused entirely by Yoriko’s short temper.

✽✽✽✽✽

“And that’s what happened!” Yoriko exclaimed. “Isn’t Karen awful?”

“Huh? Wait a minute. What happened to that Subaru guy?” Yuichi asked.

Yoriko was trying to paint herself as the victim in the story, but Yuichi had his doubts. This Subaru guy had clearly acted like a jerk, but she hadn’t had to go that hard on him.

“Who cares! It’s his own fault for just grabbing my arm like that!” Yoriko snapped.

Mutsuko, Yoriko, and Yuichi were seated around the dinner table at the Sakaki home. Their mother was nearby, too.

Their mother’s name was Tamako Sakaki. The label above her head read “Mom.” For now, as far as Yuichi could tell, his family’s labels didn’t mean anything but what they said. His father’s label was “Dad,” as well.

They were having yakiniku for dinner that night, so there was a large pile of meat on a plate.

“Oh dear, that sounds terrible.” Their mother listened to the story with a shocking lack of concern, considering the scene being described, as she tirelessly stacked meat onto the hot plate.

“But Yori, you can’t inflict violence on people in broad daylight! You need to do it like Yu does, secretly, where no one can ever see!” Mutsuko announced as she gobbled down a strip of meat.

“Don’t say ‘like I do’!” Yuichi protested. “Still, Sis is right. The person you beat up has their pride, too, you know? Some guys might never be able to show their face in public after getting beaten up by a middle schooler in front of so many people.”

Yuichi wasn’t really worried about that, though. If you lost your head over something a middle schooler did, you’d usually just end up looking worse. He was pretty sure this Subaru guy wasn’t that stupid.

“But what’s up with middle schoolers these days?” he added. “This Karen friend of yours really has a boyfriend in high school?”

“Seems like it,” Yoriko said as she ate her meat. “I only just heard about him today. But there are quite a few girls like her.”

“Wow... middle schoolers these days are really something,” Yuichi said.

Middle schoolers are still kids, Yuichi added silently as he dipped his meat in sauce.

The children of the Sakaki family ate a lot. Despite that, they never seemed to put on weight, probably because they all had active hobbies. Yoriko didn’t get extreme combat training like Yuichi did, but she still received some martial arts lessons.

“But were things awkward for that Karen girl afterwards?” he added. Her boyfriend’s friend had gotten laid out, after all. Yuichi would be at a loss after something like that.

“Well, the boyfriend didn’t really seem like the loyal type,” said Yoriko. “They’ll probably break up in no time anyway. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

As a romance traditionalist, Yuichi found himself rather shocked by this behavior. “You date people and break up with them just like that?”

“But, Big Brother! What if he doesn’t really back off? What if comes after me again?” Yoriko asked suddenly, as if she’d just come up with a brilliant idea.

“I guess he could.”

“Yeah! And I’m scared! Could you walk me to school for a while?”

“Huh? Why should I?”

“What if he comes after me for revenge?!”

“Well... you beat him once before. Couldn’t you do it again?” Yuichi couldn’t see why anything more would be necessary. As far as he’d heard, the boy Subaru was quarrelsome, but not much else. Yoriko was probably strong enough to take care of him, especially if she had her L-wrench for protection.

“What if he brings a group? I can’t fight a group!” Yoriko protested.

“A group? Would they really send a group against one middle school girl?” Yuichi asked skeptically.

Even so, when she put it that way, he did worry. Yuichi hadn’t seen the guy, so he didn’t know how persistent he might be.

“Yu, you have my permission to skip club! Just stick with Yori for a while!” Mutsuko broke in, reflecting Yoriko’s insistence.

Yuichi still felt like Yoriko had brought this on herself, but he couldn’t help but be soft when it came to his little sister. He’d be walking Yoriko home from school for a while.

When Yuichi walked up to the gate of her middle school, he found Yoriko standing there, looking dissatisfied.

He thought maybe something had happened at school, but her sour expression hadn’t appeared until Yuichi showed up. That meant he was the one she was mad at.

Standing next to Yoriko was a short girl with short hair — her friend Karen, most likely. He’d been worried things might have gotten awkward between them, but apparently they hadn’t. The girl’s label was “Middle School Student,” so she seemed innocent enough.

“Yori, you asked me to come,” he said. “What’s with the sulking?”

“Yes! That’s right! I thought this might happen!” Yoriko burst out, glaring.

The focus of Yoriko’s glare was Aiko, who was standing beside Yuichi. He’d told her about what happened to Yoriko at school, and she’d ended up coming along.

“Ah... um, I thought having more people around might be a better deterrent against the weirdos,” Aiko said, wincing at Yoriko’s glare.

“I don’t need more people! I just need my brother! You’ll just trip us up! I know you, Noro, and you’ll just get taken hostage!” Yoriko shouted.

“Um, I won’t get taken hostage...” Aiko said, flustered.

Karen interrupted. “Greetings. Thank you for taking care of Yoriko. I’m Karen Hanagasumi.” She gave them a low bow. She seemed good-natured and polite; certainly more responsible than Yoriko’s description had made her sound.

“Oh, thank you,” Yuichi said. “And I hear you’ve taken care of her for us, as well.”

“Not at all,” said Karen. “She’s the one who takes care of me. Ah, and is this your girlfriend?”

“Karen! Don’t make eyes at him while my back is turned!” Yoriko had been digging into Aiko, but now it was Karen who’d earned her ire.

“What’s the big deal?” Karen asked. “I broke up with Takuma.”

Really, what’s with middle schoolers these days... Yuichi had also worried that Yoriko’s little rampage might cause strain on that relationship, but Karen seemed truly indifferent to it.

“Um, do you want to walk with us too, Karen?” Yuichi asked.

“Yes! We always walk home together.”

And so the four of them walked together.

Despite asking him to escort her home, it was really only a ten-minute walk from the middle school to their home. It was very likely nothing would happen. Yuichi thought they were probably just worrying too much.

“I get it!” Karen said suddenly. “So this is your big brother. I thought you were exaggerating, but he’s pretty hot. He looks a lot like you, too.”

“Karen... do you know what happens to people when I fight them seriously?” Yoriko asked darkly.

“They end up with a bloody nose like Subaru?”

Most of the walk home was through residential neighborhoods. The roads were narrow, making it difficult for even two cars to pass each other. During some times of day, the roads could be flooded with people. But Yuichi couldn’t let his guard down just because it was a residential district.

“Sakaki, I don’t think anything’s going to happen,” Aiko spoke up. “Did you just want to dote on Yoriko a little?”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Yuichi said. “But it looks like he was more persistent than I expected.”

Yuichi had sensed someone following them for a while. He was keeping his focus squared on that presence, and it was clear their group was the target.

I doubt he just wants to have a talk, either... Yuichi was detecting a clear aura of malice that was definitely targeted towards Yoriko.

“Yori. I’m turning left there,” he whispered.

Yuichi got out front and turned down a road. Yoriko and the others followed naturally.

After a while, they arrived on a vacant lot that was for sale.

“Sakaki, what’s going on?” Aiko asked in confusion. Even if there was nobody there, she seemed to feel guilty about the thought of stepping onto someone else’s property without permission. Yoriko’s expression was indifferent, suggesting she had intuited what was going on, while Karen didn’t seem to find anything strange about it.

“Let’s wait for a minute,” Yuichi said. “If he’s just sniffing us out, he might ignore us for today.”

And if he’s even more dangerous, he might already know where our house is, and our usual route to school...

In that case, their stalker might have already realized they had strayed from their path. How would he react, then?

Just as Yuichi was wondering, their pursuer appeared before them.

He wasn’t alone. Another two men came from the direction opposite the one they had arrived from.

The main person tailing them was probably Subaru, the man whom Yoriko had humiliated. He was wearing a blazer uniform, as were the two men with him. The uniforms suggested they were from a local prep school, but all three had “Delinquent” written over their heads. Their uniforms looked fairly rumpled, but not enough that you would assume they were thugs at a glance.

There’s something odd about this... Yuichi thought.

If they had had the foresight to tail them and prepare force of numbers, why would they wear uniforms that would make it easy to uncover their identities? Then again, maybe they really hadn’t thought it through.

“You’re Yuichi Sakaki, right?” one of the men said. “Lucky you, having all these girls around, huh?”

“Huh? Why me? And how do you even know me?” Yuichi asked. He hadn’t expected the subject to turn to himself so abruptly. But if they were delinquents, there was a chance they knew him. He just wasn’t sure which route they knew him by.

“Huh? You think pretty highly of yourself, huh?” the man demanded. “We don’t care about you. We found out about you when we were researching Yoriko.”

It was hard to deal with sudden belligerence like this.

Subaru stood at the head of the group, with the other two behind him. By contrast, the girls with Yuichi moved to hide behind him. But of course, all three couldn’t hide at once, which resulted in a rather strange image.

“Look, I’m sorry my sister went overboard on you,” said Yuichi. “She should apologize for that. But I’m pretty sure she’s not gonna go out with you at this point. Besides, she’s in middle school. She’s still a kid. Why are high school students threatening her? It’s bizarre.” Yuichi had been solving a lot of problems with violence lately, but he’d still rather talk things out where possible.

“Huh? Why should I apologize?!” Yori exclaimed.

“Quiet down for a few minutes, Yori,” Yuichi reprimanded.

“Do you not understand the situation you’re in?” Subaru asked smugly.

“What situation?” Yuichi genuinely didn’t understand what the man meant. His only opinion about the situation was that they looked pretty foolish.

“We have three guys on our side who know how to fight,” said Subaru. “You’re all alone.”

He didn’t seem to be counting the girls. Maybe he had forgotten what Yoriko had done to him, or he was pretending like it had never happened.

He seemed like he’d be a hard person to deal with; the kind of guy who’d gotten his way for a long time based on being “pretty tough.” The degree to which he underestimated Yuichi suggested he was unlikely to listen to reason.

“Um, listen. Let’s say, hypothetically, that you three beat me up,” Yuichi said. “What would you do then? Kidnap the three girls? This isn’t manga, you know. Doing that in real life causes huge problems. Even if you’re protected by juvenile laws, the world takes a harsh view of that kind of thing nowadays. There’s not going to be a lot of leniency for your crime. You’re in a prep school, right? Don’t you realize it would ruin your lives?”

Yuichi was hoping that reasoning would convince them. But instead, they seemed to interpret it as mockery.

Subaru was furious. He stepped out with his left leg and threw a straight punch at Yuichi’s face with his right fist. This must be what he’d been talking about when he’d said he knew how to fight — that he wasn’t just a newbie flailing around with his arms. But to Yuichi, the motion looked slow as molasses.

Famous martial artists often had anecdotes about times when they’d managed to talk their way around fighting completely. Yuichi’s attempt at talking had angered his opponent and gotten him to lash out, which suggested that he still needed more training. The fact that Yuichi was capable of reflecting on that idea in full was a sign of how slow Subaru’s attack was.

Yuichi batted the hand away, without even bothering to dodge, then struck Subaru’s chin with his extended finger. Though he’d attacked second, his blow landed first, and Subaru dropped like a sack of potatoes.

“Um, look, that was a reflex, okay?” Yuichi said, flustered. “I was honestly trying to talk things out.”

“Sakaki, who are you trying to make excuses to?” Aiko asked. Her voice pulled Yuichi back to earth.

Subaru’s two cronies ran off, leaving their leader a heap on the ground. Yuichi dragged him to a corner of the abandoned lot and left him there.

“Okay!” Yuichi said.

“What’s ‘okay’? After all your big talk about ‘teaching Yori that cyclical violence solves nothing’...” Aiko said, sounding honestly disappointed.

“Your brother really is something...” Karen said, impressed, as if she’d only just realized what had happened.

“That’s my magnificent elder brother! Magni-brother!” Yoriko said, complimenting Yuichi with a term he’d never heard her use before.

But Yuichi suspected that his actions would end up making things even worse than before. He had finished Subaru off too easily. Subaru wouldn’t feel like he had lost. If Yuichi had really wanted to settle things, he should have beaten him badly enough that he would never think of opposing him again.

But while it was easy to bring force against armed yakuza, Yuichi was hesitant to go that far against a mere high school student.

So instead, he’d just have to deal with things as they happened.

✽✽✽✽✽

The man was known as “King.”

It was a nickname that could be used for mockery, but in his case, it was a sign of respect. Since there was no ridiculing intent in it, King himself accepted it.

Subaru never thought he’d get to speak to King face to face.

King was a legend.

No one knew his age for sure, but Subaru had heard he was a young man. There were even rumors that he was still in high school. Yet despite his youth, he commanded over a thousand men, and had even gone toe-to-toe with the yakuza. He had his hand in many shady activities, and by investing his accumulated savings, he had built quite a fortune.

That same legend stood in front of Subaru right now. They were in a room in a new, modern building: an office building with all the latest facilities. King was sitting cross-legged on an expensive-looking desk.

As the rumors said, King looked like a young man. He seemed to be about Subaru’s age, and was a bit on the short side, but the aura of violence that hung around him mitigated any difference in their heights.

King was surrounded by men standing at attention. They were all dressed differently: some were in suits, while others were dressed in sleeveless shirts despite the season. The pockets of the suits looked strangely swollen, and any visibly exposed skin was covered in tattoos.

Subaru found himself bowing instinctively. The man in front of him seemed to be a natural-born leader. It was clear just looking at him that he was someone special.

How had things turned out like this?

Even after everything, Subaru hadn’t been able to give up on Yoriko Sakaki. But he knew that if he tried to go after the Sakaki siblings without a plan, he’d probably end up the same way as before.

He needed a plan, so he’d decided to talk to one of the older boys he used to hang out with in middle school. Rather than going to high school, this one had joined the criminal underworld.

If given the choice, Subaru would have preferred to sever ties with this man. Subaru’s delinquent appearance was merely fashion; it was a handy way to give him mystique at his prep school, but it didn’t mean he really wanted to get involved with the criminal underworld.

Nevertheless, Subaru had decided to ask this guy for help. He’d told him all about what had happened, and even shown him a picture of Yoriko.

That picture had made the rounds until apparently, at last, it had reached King. Then, for some reason, King had called Subaru to see him.

Silence hung over the room.

Subaru’s body remained locked in its bow as he wondered what he should do. Surely, in a situation like this, it would be inappropriate for him to speak first. His friend had made sure he understood that if he made King unhappy, he’d be dead (literally) on the spot. He had a feeling that was true. He absolutely could not afford to say the wrong thing.

“Subaru Wakei, was it?” King asked. The young man’s voice was higher pitched and reedier than he had imagined. “Well, stand up straight. You’re making it hard to talk to you.”

“Y-Yes, sir!” Subaru snapped back upright.

“The reason I called you here... well, I wanted to go through the proper channels,” said King.

“The... proper channels?” Subaru echoed, not understanding.

“Yoriko Sakaki. I like her. I really like her. I want her, and I’ll have her, but since you’re the one who brought her to my attention, I figured I owed you a thank you.”

Subaru had had a vague idea that this might be the case when he had been called. This absolutely wasn’t what he wanted, but it was out of his hands now. King would do everything in his power to get what he wanted, and there was nothing Subaru could do to stand in his way.

“Of course, words are a pretty poor way of expressing gratitude. Let’s see... how about if you get her fifth? You’ll still get some decent enjoyment out of her then.” King nodded to himself, as if feeling he had offered him a very generous deal.

Subaru couldn’t possibly object, and to be honest, he mainly felt relieved that King wasn’t going to do anything to him. At the same time, a dark, vulgar feeling like joy began to rear its head inside him. A terribly selfish, self-serving thought ran through his mind.

You brought this on yourself, Yoriko Sakaki...

✽✽✽✽✽

A white van screeched to a halt, blocking Yuichi’s way.

Yuichi didn’t want to have to punch out every single attacker who came after him, so instead he raced up to the van in an instant and kicked the sliding door in the back.

The door caved inwards, which was enough to keep it from opening. That was the only way in or out of the back seat, which meant the four or five guys there were trapped inside. They could still try to come out the window, but they’d be slowed down enough that Yuichi could just punch them as they came.

He suspected the driver would stay in the car, in the interest of a quick getaway, so he also hit the passenger side door. That left only the driver’s side door capable of opening.

Yuichi waited a few moments, and then the van squealed off, just as he had expected it would.

Yoriko’s path to school went through a quiet residential district. Knowing now that their enemies were getting organized, he’d asked Karen and Aiko to take other routes, which left brother and sister alone together.

“Big Brother... I’m sorry,” Yoriko said. “I, um... not that I think they’ll ever beat you, but I handled the initial confrontation wrong. I regret what I did.”

Usually when they were all alone together, Yoriko always seemed to be enjoying herself for some reason, but here, she apologized to him with a genuinely repentant air.

“Well, I handled things badly, too.” Yuichi patted her head softly. “Don’t worry about it, okay?”

The people who were after Yoriko had been acting in this organized manner for a while now. Yuichi didn’t know why this was happening, but he had more or less identified the group he was dealing with. That was the reason he had let the van go. He’d affixed it with a transmitter just in case, but they were likely from the same organization.

It was a nasty gang of delinquents. They were made up primarily of young people, and apparently criminals who were willing to kill had joined their ranks, too.

“I wasn’t expecting them to organize to this degree.” Yuichi couldn’t understand why they would go this far for a single middle school girl.

“But what should we do?” his sister pleaded.

“You don’t have to worry, Yori. I can just beat them all if I have to, and Sis is taking moves, too.”

“Okay! I won’t worry!” Seeming genuinely not worried at all, Yoriko latched on to Yuichi, returning to her usual attitude.

Even so... what’s going on here? Yuichi wondered.

The people he was dealing with didn’t seem to think twice about resorting to criminal activity. He had managed to work things out so far, but he hadn’t really settled anything. They might still send more.

If they realized they couldn’t do anything to Yuichi, they might start going after the people in his life.

Yuichi was starting to think he’d better take measures of his own, and quickly.

✽✽✽✽✽

King hadn’t expected a single girl in middle school to be giving him this much trouble. He’d thought that he could just send a few men after her, shove her into the back of a car, and that would be that.

At first, he had thought his subordinates’ reports were a joke, but he also knew that they were aware of what would happen if they joked around with him. His subordinates had reported that all their attack squads had been defeated. They had all been repelled by the big brother, Yuichi, who was always at Yoriko’s side.

The men he’d sent had had no martial arts experience, of course, but they were accustomed to fighting. They’d have no hesitation to employ violence, and they were sufficiently expert in that. It was unthinkable that they could lose to a single high school student.

Still, it was the truth, and questioning it wouldn’t get him anywhere. So King called on more powerful subordinates.

On the way to school, on the way back, at home...

Even if they were strong, they were just kids. They had to let their guard down at some point. And yet, each time, the attacks were repelled. It made no sense.

Every attack they had mounted on their way to school had failed.

The squad he had sent to attack the Sakaki household had been completely wiped out en route to their destination.

Success was looking unlikely. He’d had the failed subordinates executed, but even when their successors knew they were fighting for their lives, it didn’t change the results.

Like the yakuza, for them, reputation was everything. They couldn’t let anyone underestimate them. People knew they’d happily break the law or kill if they had to. That knowledge inspired fear, and that fear was a tool that they could use. The Sakaki siblings weren’t afraid, though; to the contrary, they apparently weren’t bothered in the slightest.

It was as if they had kicked mud in King’s face.

Things had now escalated to the point that there could be no turning back.

King’s inability to kidnap one young girl would be seen by the denizens of the underworld as a crack in his iron foundation. He had to get Yoriko Sakaki, no matter what it took. For King, it was now a matter of life or death.

There could be no more half-measures.

It would be the height of idiocy to just keep sending men after them. But because King underestimated the Sakaki siblings, he acted like an idiot.

He had to use everything he had. Small teams weren’t getting the job done. It wasn’t enough to reassure himself that things would work out.

He had to send out the entire army.

✽✽✽✽✽

Seishin City had a large, centralized exercise park that had been designated an evacuation site in case of natural disaster.

When Yuichi and Monika had been attacked by the truck, Yuichi had sent Aiko there to safety. In other words, if one had to consider the most wide open space in Seishin, this park was the first thing that would come to mind.

The largest open space in the park was the running track. It served a dual purpose, with a 400 meter track ringed around two soccer fields. In other words, it was huge.

Despite the late hour, the track was currently lit up and lined with people. There must have been a thousand of them, all of them King’s personal henchmen.

It was said that King could mobilize a thousand men with one word, and it seemed the rumors were true. They were all dressed in different outfits, and held a variety of weapons in hand: from wooden swords, metal pipes, bats with nails in them, and other easily improvised weapons to katanas, crossbows, and pistols.

They had all assembled in this park at the same time, with weapons in hand. Unbelievably, their goal was a raid on a residential home owned by the Sakaki family.

Yuichi sat in the spectator seats, watching them. Beside him sat his big sister Mutsuko, and his little sister Yoriko.

It was hard to know what might happen against an enemy force of this size, so he had told Yoriko not to come along, but she had grumbled about it until he’d finally brought her.

The lights in the stands were out, so as long as they remained where they were, they probably wouldn’t be seen. He could likely ensure the safety of his sisters.

“I’m impressed they all came out here at this time of day,” Yuichi commented.

It was so late at night that it was almost time for sunrise. It was Saturday, so maybe it didn’t matter, but if it had been a weekday, it surely would have been impossible.

“Raids have always been a break-of-dawn thing!” Mutsuko declared. “But if he’s gonna stop with the little raids and go for the big gathering, you think he’s not much of a strategist?”

“Strategist or not, he’s really gone too far...” Yuichi wasn’t sure what the man thought of him, but a force of this size could easily take over a city. “And how’d they get those spotlights on?” Yuichi wondered, even though it didn’t matter.

“Good question,” said Mutsuko. “Maybe they took over the control room? There’d probably be security there in the middle of the night, but they probably just took them out?”

“But why gather a thousand armed men? A civil war? Terrorism?”

Not even the yakuza would muster this many people in one place for a war — nor could they, most likely. Perhaps it was because they were fools not thinking of the consequences that they could do something so drastic.

“But we’re in luck!” Mutsuko declared. “There are so many of them all united in purpose! You don’t usually see enemies raring to go that often!”

“And you’re sure they’ll swarm our house if we just let them go?” The thought of it made Yuichi feel exhausted.

“It really does give you chills... I never thought it would lead to something like this...” Yoriko said in a low voice. She’d never imagined her momentary loss of temper would result in trouble this serious.

“I don’t think anyone could have ever imagined this...” Yuichi muttered.

Mutsuko had deduced in advance that they would gather here like this. He wasn’t sure how she’d done it, but maybe she had sources of some kind.

“Obviously, when a group like this starts marching through the streets, it’s gonna start a little chaos!” Mutsuko declared.

“Just a little? Hey... I don’t suppose we could sic some yokai or monster on them?” Yuichi was starting to think he’d rather resort to drastic measures than deal with all of this himself.

“That would be interesting, but people might also die... Not that I would mind, personally,” Mutsuko said.

Yuichi sighed and scratched his head. “Yeah, I guess...” They might be criminals — and really bad ones, if they would attack someone’s innocent family members — but that didn’t mean they deserved to die. “But I really don’t think they need to send this many people...”

Yuichi didn’t know how well-respected this boss of theirs was, but he couldn’t imagine it would be easy to bring this many people together. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t be able to control them in the end, and they’d probably run wild.

“I bet he doesn’t care what happens in the end,” Yuichi said. “He wants to make it clear what he’s capable of.”

“That’s true,” said Yoriko. “If a crowd this huge came by, you’d know right away, which would make it easier for me to escape.”

“It’s crazy... well, if this is all of them, then I know what you’re going to say, but... any orders?” Yuichi asked.

“Beat down every single one of them!” Mutsuko announced.

“Roger. But after I beat a certain number, won’t they start to run?” That had been Yuichi’s experience; no matter how big a force he was facing, if he defeated about half, their ranks would collapse, and they’d split up and flee.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Mutsuko. “That King guy’s got real leadership qualities. It’s almost in the realm of brainwashing. So they’ll come after you to the last man, all ready to die for their cause. Good luck!”

“Big Brother, do your best for me!” Yoriko cried.

It was hard to tell in the darkness around them, but he was pretty sure the eyes of both girls were sparkling.

“Easy for you guys to say...” Yuichi picked up the staff lying at his feet and stood up. It was a spear made from the wood of the white wax tree, 3.2 meters long in total, and about five centimeters in diameter around the grip. Of course, since he wasn’t trying to kill anyone, it didn’t have a spear tip.

“I’ve gotta say, taking out a thousand people barehanded would be a lot more appealing...” Mutsuko said lamentatively.

“Why should I have to do that?” Yuichi didn’t have any reason to fight to start with. If they reported it to the police, they could get them all rounded up on charges of assembling with dangerous weapons.

The only reason they hadn’t was because of Mutsuko’s philosophy: She had a rule about letting things develop on their own until it became necessary to do otherwise. She probably thought this would be useful for Yuichi’s training. As usual, she was utterly reckless.

“Well, okay. I’ll let you have a weapon this time!” Mutsuko said.

“This time, huh?” Yuichi was hoping he wouldn’t have to face a thousand enemies a second time. But he set aside thoughts of the future and leaped from the seats with the spear in hand.

He then slung it over his shoulder and started heading for the middle of the field.

Part of King’s army must have been handling lookout duties, because a few of them noticed him immediately. But the knowledge of his arrival didn’t immediately carry to all of thousand of them.

“Good evening! I’m Yuichi Sakaki!” Yuichi screamed with a slight air of desperation.

Now the thousand men noticed him, and turned their eyes to him en masse.

For this fight, Mutsuko had given him two conditions. One was to give them his name. He had thought it might end up sounding stupid if he did it in the traditional warrior way she’d intended, so he’d tried just introducing himself like he normally would, but that had just ended up making it sound more stupid.

“I heard you were gonna come to my house, so I came to you instead!” Yuichi shouted. “Bring it, okay?!”

The second condition had been not to be the one to initiate the fight. The ideal strategy would have been to try to shave down their numbers as much as possible before they realized what was going on; even better would have been to search out King and pick him off first. That, however, would not be permitted.

They didn’t move immediately. It seemed they weren’t going to rise to simple provocations. King’s hold over them must be a strong one.

They all had intercoms on their heads. Maybe King was giving them orders through those — indeed, such a system would be necessary in order to unite and control a thousand men at once.

How serious is he about this? Yuichi wondered. Is he trying to start a war? If he was giving his orders through such high-tech means, that meant King would know the minute Yuichi arrived.

After a minute, a murmur raced through the thousand men. It lasted only for a second before calm fell on them again.

Kill Yuichi Sakaki... Was that the order that they had been given?

With an angry roar, the thousand men moved into action as one. They charged at him like berserkers, each hoping to be the first in line.

Yuichi remained calm, picking off each man as he got within range of his spear. Aiming for the solar plexus of each charging man, he struck out again and again, disabling one after another.

The spear’s range was incredible; the men with pipes and nail-bats were no competition, while those with crossbows and handguns were easy to dodge, since he already knew where they were.

Those who realized they couldn’t make progress from the front tried to moved around behind Yuichi, or attack him from the side. Without turning to look, Yuichi swung his spear behind him, and smacked away the enemies he felt were there. When Yuichi was focused on combat, he had no blind spots; as long as the enemies were in the range of his spear, he could easily tell where they were.

The fact that they had Yuichi surrounded actually worked to his benefit. It made it harder for them to use their projectile weapons, and even made friendly fire a likelihood.

Yuichi whipped his spear around and around, striking and thrusting at whoever got in range.

Even though he was surrounded, only about five or six of them could actually attack at once. That fundamental principle wouldn’t change even with a thousand men around him. He just had to be able to deal with them efficiently as they came.

Yuichi had established a defense line with about a four-meter radius. No one who entered that zone could ever make it out unharmed. Past that, it was just an issue of stamina, which also wasn’t a problem for Yuichi. Fighting a thousand men was well within the scope of what his sister had trained him for.

There were screams and shouts. Bones were broken, flesh rent, and blood sprayed as man after man fell.

“Bloodbath” was the only way to describe what had just occurred. But from Yuichi’s point of view, it had all been boring, dispassionate work.

Yuichi now walked, illuminated by the early morning sun. He approached the last man standing, King himself. There was no question of who he was, since the label above his head read “King.”

King turned his gun to Yuichi and fired it without hesitation.

Yuichi dodged the three rapid shots without slowing down, then whacked the gun away the moment it was in the spear’s range. “It’s easy to rely on violence because it’s simple and efficient, but its simplicity means it can be surpassed through greater violence. We’re civilized people, aren’t we? We have more intelligent ways of doing things. Can’t we find some sort of compromise?”

“That’s rich, coming from you, Yuichi Sakaki,” King said, rubbing his hand. He didn’t seem to be carrying any other firearms.

“Yeah, I’m aware I’m in no position to talk,” Yuichi agreed. “I had to make it clear that using any more violence against my little sister wouldn’t do you any good.”

Yuichi was covered in a light sheen of sweat. Against opponents as minor as these, he could still go a while longer.

“So you’ve realized that you can’t possibly get revenge at this point, right?” he asked. “Anything you try will just lead to greater tragedy.”

King laughed. “Greater tragedy? I don’t even want to think about that... I’ll keep away. You’ve made it clear that anything I try is pointless. Painfully clear.”

King was gazing at his fallen subordinates. After losing all of his pawns, he would know there was no point of honor or pride that would make continuing these attacks have any meaning.

“I’m getting pretty sick of it all myself,” said Yuichi. “I’m glad to hear you’re ready to back off.”

“But this right here is a different matter,” King told him. “You know I can’t just walk away from this, right?”

King took a step forward. He widened his stance, put up his arms, and leaned forward. He probably knew he couldn’t win now, yet still he had his pride.

Yuichi tossed his spear away.

“What’s the matter? Why not just whack me over the head with that thing?” King demanded.

“The spear’s on its last legs,” said Yuichi. “I guess I still need more training...”

The spear’s white wax wood composition made it extremely flexible and pliant, but even it couldn’t hold up against a thousand men. It was cracked, warped, and on the verge of breaking. Pacing out your weapon’s endurance was a necessary technique when fighting a large number of opponents. It seemed he still had a lot to learn.

“Incredible,” King muttered. “You plan to get even stronger?”

“Yeah. Just beating up a thousand baddies won’t be enough to satisfy my sister. She says it’s not good for a person to decide their limits for themselves.”

“Just a thousand?” King let out a sigh. He could probably tell that Yuichi was serious.

Then King emptied his lungs, took in a deep breath, and held it. Reeling his fist back, he flew towards Yuichi.

Yuichi moved to match him. He made it into his personal space before King could lash out, grabbed his arm, and threw him.

King hit the ground on his back and lay still, the wind knocked out of him.

Yuichi was the last man standing on the exercise course. He had completely dominated the field.

Mutsuko and Yoriko picked that moment to run up to him, probably after determining that it was safe.

“Hmm, it may be traditional, but white wax wood is a bit lacking in endurance! I guess we really oughta go with carbon fiber, huh?” Mutsuko said with a frown as she looked at the splintered spear. She didn’t offer up a word of praise to Yuichi, as if she had taken it for granted that he would win.

“Ah... my big brother took on a thousand men, and beat them all, for me!” Yoriko’s eyes were dewy with emotion.

It was indeed technically true that he had done it for her, but something about the line seemed a bit off. It was as if she hadn’t been worried about Yuichi at all, either.

“It’s all over now, right?” he asked, then suddenly remembered something. “Hey, that’s right. What happened to the guy who started all this?”

That meant Subaru, the boy who had started all this by going after Yoriko. Of course, Yuichi hadn’t been able to check the face of every man he’d beaten that morning, but he couldn’t remember seeing him among them.

Maybe he was too minor to matter after things had reached this scale, yet Yuichi couldn’t fully dismiss his concern.

✽✽✽✽✽

Subaru quietly watched Yuichi fight. He had been in the spectator seats opposite the ones Mutsuko and Yoriko were sitting in, with neither noticing the other’s presence.

The trend of the fight had been clear the minute it had begun.

Yuichi Sakaki was a monster.

The ones who had sworn loyalty to King, in their fervor, might not have realized it, but from the sidelines, the outcome had been plain to see from the start. It was hard to believe Yuichi Sakaki was in high school like him. That he was even human like him.

Not a single attack on him had landed. They’d attacked from the side, or behind, but it had all been the same. It was as if he could see everything before it happened.

No matter how many men you threw against him, you couldn’t possibly win.

Subaru left the field behind.

If he couldn’t beat Yuichi Sakaki in a fight, that just meant he shouldn’t fight. There were plenty of other ways to get at him.

Subaru didn’t care about Yoriko Sakaki any longer; he just had to find some way to expel the darkness that coiled around inside him.

As the sun rose, Subaru headed for the Sakaki home.

This would be very simple. Yuichi wouldn’t be there right now. He was carried a plastic bottle full of gasoline in one hand and a lighter in the other.

If he couldn’t beat him in a fight, he’d could still make him miserable, Subaru thought. It didn’t matter if arson was a serious crime.

Subaru was the one responsible for driving King’s gang to the verge of destruction, so it was possible that one of King’s gang might want to eliminate him. Even if the gang was destroyed, King was a beloved leader, and the remnants of the gang might come after Subaru for revenge.

In other words, Subaru was at the end of his rope. He was dead no matter what. One more crime wouldn’t make a difference.

After a while, Subaru arrived at the Sakaki home. He passed through the gate into the yard. Even though it was early in the morning, there was a woman at work there, gaily watering the plants.

She was the mother of the Sakaki siblings, a young-looking, beautiful woman who resembled Yoriko in some aspects.

Subaru had gone mad by this point. He would usually never think of anything like what he was thinking now. The bestial, swirling dark desire inside of him awakened, and he surrendered his body to it.

If he was finished either way, there was nothing he couldn’t do.

Subaru took a step forward to attack the Sakaki siblings’ mother.

✽✽✽✽✽

Tamako Sakaki was known as a beautiful woman with a laid-back personality and an always-gentle air about her.

She was warm and gregarious, so everyone loved her, and she got along well with the neighbors. If anyone in town asked her for a favor, she accepted it without question, no matter how imposing, which meant people relied on her often.

She was deeply knowledgeable in both interior and exterior design, and even made house decorating a hobby of hers. This extended to the Sakaki home itself, about which she was quite fastidious, to the point that she had imported many things from overseas.

Handicrafts was another of her hobbies, and she excelled in this field, as well. The interior of their house was casually littered with handmade ornaments.

She was also obsessed with gardening, meaning that her house received praise by the neighbors for its exterior as well as interior. When Christmas arrived, she even set up light displays.

But what Tamako prized even more than any of that was her three children. Tamako loved her children deeply, and if forced to choose, she would always put her children over her hobbies.

She seemed to be the kind of person who didn’t have a care in the world. But in truth, she did have worries.

One was that her children didn’t seem to care much about the house. Her eldest son and daughter often played rough, even inside, and frequently broke things when they did. When that happened, she always admonished them, but not too strongly. She didn’t want her children to stagnate, either; she wanted them to grow up comfortable with who they were. That was Tamako’s parenting philosophy.

She had a nagging suspicion that they were growing up a bit oddly as a result, but that was better than them growing up always concerned about what others thought about them.

Yuichi was especially inconsiderate when it came to the lawn. Once he had even completely trampled down the whole lawn doing some kind of martial arts training, killing all the grass and prevented new growth. But rather than being angry, she had been sad. Even Yuichi must have felt sorry about that, and afterwards, they had more or less kept their horseplay out of the yard.

It was early in the morning. Tamako was the only one home. All three of her children had gone off somewhere, it seemed, but they were all responsible young people, so she wasn’t tremendously concerned about them.

Her husband was spending the night at work, due to the release of a new system, or something like that. Her husband worked in IT, so he was often busy with such things.

It wasn’t unusual for her to find herself all alone, so for now, she was simply watering her lawn, as she usually did.

She heard a rustle behind her.

Another feline visitor? Those had left her in quite a bind, because the local cats had been messing up the garden lately, but she also felt bad just driving them off.

She just had to make sure to scold them thoroughly. Even a cat would be reasonable if you talked to it properly. Tamako turned around, ready to do just that, only to find nothing there at all.

✽✽✽✽✽

Mutsuko said their home alarm system had been tripped, so the three of them raced back to the house.

They passed through the gate into the yard, and saw their mother Tamako leisurely tending to the garden.

“Sis, I don’t see anything...” Yuichi began.

Mutsuko silently pointed to the side of the gate.

A humanoid creature made of logs was standing there.

It was a wooden man, a life-sized puppet that Mutsuko had created after watching an old kung-fu movie.

It looked a bit silly, but it was unbelievably strong, and it had even pounded Ibaraki when he had tried peeping on the girls at the bath during their summer training camp.

Their mother Tamako had been very strict about not wanting it in the garden, but Mutsuko had still put it up the day before, saying that it would scare cats away.

Mutsuko then pointed to the ground below the wooden man.

It was standing on something that had sunken into the soft earth of the flower bed. Yuichi squinted and saw that it was Subaru, the man who had tried to come on to Yoriko. He must have tried to attack the house while no one was home, and this was the result.

“Why’s it got him pinned down like that?” Yuichi asked.

“It’s in capture mode,” said Mutsuko. “It’s holding him down so he can’t escape.”

Yuichi decided not to ask what other modes it had. They couldn’t be anything good.

“Did Mom not even notice?” he whispered after a pause.

“Looks like it, yeah...”

“What sort of programming does it even run on? Isn’t it a little dangerous?” he whispered.

“It’s got a bleeding-edge facial recognition system installed, so don’t worry,” Mutsuko said quietly. “It won’t attack the family.”

“What if it wasn’t someone suspicious, but just a regular visitor?”

“Oops.”

“Don’t ‘oops’ that!”

“I-It’ll be fine,” Mutsuko whispered. “It can make fuzzy judgments about malice through things like heart rate and body heat...”

“Look, no more wooden men, okay?” Yuichi hissed back.

The two of them kept on whispering to each other. Tamako didn’t seem to realize that the wooden man had moved at all, so they wanted to make sure she kept on not noticing it.

Yuichi ran up to Tamako to try to distract her. “We’re back, Mom. Um, I heard a strange noise. Did anything strange happen?”

“Oh, welcome home.” Tamako tilted her head in an almost girlish manner. “‘Anything strange’?”

“Did anyone, you know... come by?” he asked.

“Actually, I thought I might have had a feline visitor, but I looked and there was no one there. I must have just imagined it.”

“A cat, huh? Yeah. It probably was a cat. If you say so, Mom.”

While Yuichi was drawing Tamako’s attention, Mutsuko returned the wooden man to its usual spot. But if they dug up the person buried beneath, it would probably be noticed.

“Oh? Mutsi, Yori, you’re both with him? I don’t know where you’ve been, but I wish you would call if you were going to be out late.”

“Ah, um, sorry,” Mutsuko said. “I’ll call in the future.”

“And I really don’t think that wooden doll looks good in the garden,” said their mother. “I know Mutsi meant well, but I wish you would take it down.”

She wasn’t angry, but Yuichi found it impossible to argue when she looked at her like that. Mutsuko was the same way, and so walked up to stand beside him with an apologetic expression.

Just as they were feeling at a loss as to what to do next, Yoriko approached. “Mom, I’m hungry. Is breakfast finished yet?”

“Oh! I haven’t even started on breakfast yet! Really, it’s because you didn’t tell me you were coming home! I’ll make it right away.”

Yoriko’s question seemed to have turned Tamako’s attention completely to the subject of breakfast.

“I’ll help, Mom. Let’s get going.” Yoriko took Tamako’s hand and pulled her along. Tamako giggled in delight and let herself be pulled. She must have thought Yoriko was very hungry.

Tamako and Yoriko entered the house. Mutsuko followed right after, calculatingly.

“Uh... so what, do I have to clean up everything by myself?” Yuichi let out a sigh.

He pulled the buried Subaru out of the flower bed. Thanks to the softness of the ground there, he didn’t seem to be particularly hurt, but all he could do was stare out into space. It must have been a tremendous shock to the system.

Yuichi pulled Subaru to his feet and dusted him off, then guided him off of the lawn. Subaru followed obediently.

“Um... leave Yori alone from now on, okay?” Yuichi said. “What you went through is ‘easy mode.’ If you try to come after us again, it’ll get worse.”

Subaru nodded obediently, but Yuichi felt uneasy. He was clearly just reacting instinctively. The boy’s mind appeared blank.

Still, the horrible treatment he had suffered would probably linger somewhere in his memory. Hoping that would be the case, at least, Yuichi sent Subaru on his way.

“So.... am I supposed to straighten up the garden all by myself?” Yuichi asked, gazing in bemusement at the human-shaped hole in the flower bed.