Book 1: Chapter 7

Another chapter for today, and it’s a whole chapter 7.

Please enjoy~

Chapter 7 – One Step of Courage

During the class, I was vaguely looking out the window. The words of Ryo and the others this morning made me think about various things.

…I have to be more confident, huh?

I was writing the contents on the blackboard instinctively in my notebook without paying attention to the teacher’s words.

…I should not, and I’m in the class right now, so I have to listen to the teacher seriously, but… I can’t concentrate.

Looking at the outside, another class was doing the P.E class right now at the sports ground. And when I looked closely, I could also see Kaori there. I was looking at such a class scene, and our eyes happened to meet; she waved her small hand at me. I also shook my hand to her reflexively, but then I remember that I was in the middle of the classes, I immediately tried to get my consciousness back on the blackboard.

“── Hey!? What the heck are you all doing!?”

Suddenly the sports ground became noisy. The commotion reaches our classroom, and not only me but also, but the other students also notice it.

“What’s wrong?”

“What happened?”

When everyone looked out the window, there were men with flashy looks running around the sports ground on their bikes. There were dozens of them. Moreover, every motorcycle was basically a two-seater, and they also held nailed baseball bats and other dangerous objects in their hands.

The students who were studying on the sports ground panicked, and the teacher was frantically soothing them, but before they knew it, those flashy men already surrounded them.

“What are you all doing?”

“You’re annoying, shut up!”

One of the men swung the bat mercilessly to the P.E teacher who approached to warn them. Since he’s a P.E teacher, he somehow managed to avoid the attack. Then, several teachers came out of the staff room.

“You guys, continue the study by yourself.”

My class teacher also went out of the classroom in a hurry after telling us to self-study. However, since everyone was worried, they couldn’t study and rushed to the window to look at the outside.

“What? What’s going on?”

“Hmm? That demon’s emblem, I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere…”

“I-isn’t that the “Red Ogre’s emblem!?”

“Red Ogre!?”

I was startled by those words. Why is that? Because that’s a group belongs to Araki, who had bullied me in my previous school. No way… Why are they here!?

When I saw the teachers desperately trying to persuade the delinquents on the sports ground, there were people I knew among them.

“Wh-… Youta… Sora…?”

I found Youta and Sora standing while smiling behind the delinquents. Moreover, when I look carefully, there are also other people who had bullied me with Araki at first on the list.

I was overcome in surprise and couldn’t understand why were they here, and then Kaori talked resolutely to the delinquents on the surroundings, even though she had been encircled.

“What do you want from our school? Sorry, but my father is not in school right now…”

“What do we want? Of course, to make a mess, it had been decided, you know?”

Kaori’s question wasn’t answered by one of the delinquents but by Youta.

“You’re…”

“Oh, you remembered me. I thought the elite-sama had forgotten about me. But if you do remember, I don’t need to explain it, right?”

“…What would you do with this? The police will be here soon. Why are you doing this…?”

“But you can’t do anything until they come, can you? We have more people here than the teachers there. Most of all, we have many hostages here, yes, it’s you guys!”

Kaori was surprised at Youta’s words. As Youta says, there are only a dozen or so teachers, and it’s not very good, they wouldn’t be able to deal with all the members of the “Red Ogre”. Rather, Youta smiled unpleasantly in front of the teachers, Kaori, and the others, who were not able to move.

A particular muscular man among the delinquents called out to Youta.

“Oi, Youta, are you sure you want to do this? It will be troublesome if the cops come. If your purpose is the woman there, you can just take her, right?”

“Ah yeah, but… If he’s really here, I’ve also had some business with my shitty big brother, but that’s fine. Well then, let’s just take that person back.”

“Yeahhh. Let’s do it flashy when we get back!”

A man with a glint in his eye began to close the distance to catch Kaori.

The teachers tried to stop him, but the other delinquents restrained them. Besides, they were unable to barge because the delinquents are showing movement to harm other students.

“Wait, this is horrible!!”

“B-but, what should we do?”

Ryo and the other students feel that it’s a terrible situation, but they also can’t move frightened by the delinquents.

I… honestly scared, too.

The memories when I had been bullied had flashed back, and my body is still trembling now. However, while I’m shaking, the delinquents are getting closer to Kaori.

I… I…

“Hmm? Hey, Yuuya… Are you okay?”

“You look pale, you know?”

“Want to go to the infirmary?”

Looking at me trembling, Ryo and the others showed me how they were worried from the bottom of their heart. That kind of treatment made me ashamed of myself. They were concerned, I just trembling and couldn’t move…

This is, well, isn’t this no different from before I leveled up?

I then remembered Ryo’s words in the morning… I don’t have confidence in myself, no matter what I do now. No, I don’t want to have one.

I was scared and was unable to move, even though Kaori is about to be taken in front of me. What would grandpa say when he saw me like this? When I first met Kaori, I just made a scared voice. I wasn’t able to help her in a cool way at that time, and I only unilaterally was beaten.

But… I should have been more proud of myself now. My body has become stronger, but my heart is getting weaker… I have to apologize to grandpa, to the different world, too… and above all, to my old self. I can’t immediately have confidence, but… Still, when I have one someday, I want to be more proud of myself…!

Then, what should I do now!? That will be ──

“Eh!? Yuuya!?”

“Hey, wait a minute, wha-! Whoa!?”

My body was moving when I thought about that. I put my foot on the window frame and jumped down…

“Uoooooh!? What are you doing!?”

“Yuuya-kun!? It’s on the fourth floor, you knooowwww!?”

Ryo and Kaede screamed, leaning their body out of the window, looking at my action jumped down in front of their eyes. However, I landed on the ground unscathed after a jump-off from the fourth floor.

“Are you alright?! Yuuya!”

“I’m fine!”

“Oh, that’s good then ── that’s not what I mean! Hey, what are you doing!?”

“I’m going to step in for a moment!”

“They’re not like a convenience store!!”

I thought it was terrible for Ryo and the others up there, but I rushed to Kaori and the others anyways.

“── Youta, Sora…!”

“Yu-Yuuya-san!?”

“… Shitty big brother.”

“What is it, isn’t he saved us the trouble to look for him.”

The teachers, Kaori, and Youta and the others were surprised that I came. Then, Araki smiled and asked Youta.

“Hey, Youta. This guy, can I do it?”

“Yeah, just do it moderately and then take him together with that girl.”

“Hehehe… It’s been a while, you son of a bitch. I’m going to mess up your annoying face right now and put it back to what it was.”

Araki said that and surrounded me with the other people who used to bully me. Each hand is holding a metal bat and a wooden sword.

…I used to be trembling or just being unilaterally done. But I’ve grown and leveled-up in the different world. I’m no longer afraid of Araki and the others. I just want to help Kaori and the other students and teachers now…!

“Well, then… First, I’ll beat you with this one-strike…!”

Despite using a metal bat, Araki just swung it with all his might without any hesitation. The teachers and students around me who saw it screamed. However, a completely different feeling came to my mind.

…H-huh? Isn’t it too slow?

Immediately after making a big decision, I suddenly amazed before the attack. Now that I think about it, I heard the male model who was harassed Miwa-san at the time when I did the photoshoot was a former boxer, but he wasn’t strong at all. In the end, it was nothing compared to the monsters in the different world.

Despite being in a more critical situation than when with the male model, Araki’s attack didn’t seem to be a threat compared to the monsters in the different world. Uhm… At any rate, it appears to be safe to receive this attack, but it might not be so from the perspective of the people who don’t know the reason… well anyway, it’s bad to take it directly.

“Yotto.”

“Aah?”

I shifted my body upfront to avoid it, Araki opened his eyes for a moment, he didn’t think that I could avoid it, and immediately wrinkled his brow like he was displeased.

“You… What are you doing, bastard!”

“Oh, I just don’t want to get hit…”

“Huh? Don’t get cocky… You just avoided it by chance. I’ll get rid of your impertinent attitude right now…!”

As a matter of fact, Araki swings his metal bat again, but none of it is hitting me. It doesn’t have the amazing power of Goblin General, let alone the techniques that have accumulated over many years. An attack that just simply swings just like that wouldn’t hit me.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit! Stop avoid it!”

“A-Araki? We’ll go, too!”

The other delinquents who were puzzled by Araki’s looks also attacked me all at once, but even as the number increased, none of them could hit me. These delinquents other than Araki doesn’t have particularly unique martial arts nor do they have a superhuman stats.

On the contrary…

“Oryaaa!”

“Agahh!?”

“A-Araki! What are you doing!?”

“Huh!? That guy approached me. It was his fault!!”

He was hitting his ally instead of hitting me. I deliberately moved to a position where they could beat each other, but this went unexpectedly well. This technique seems to be usable in the different world, too.

I used to be frightened by Araki and the others, but the fear has wholly disappeared while avoiding their attacks. If the fear is gone, the rest is just to do the same as when fighting in the different world. All I have to do is to use my surroundings and move according to my advantage. This time, the target to be used is the other delinquents.

Seeing Araki, who has run out of stamina due to striking at the empty air and friendly fire, the muscular man who was approaching Kaori before, had become irritated and shouted.

“What are you bastard doing? That’s enough. Hey! You go.”

“Usu.”

It was a man who was like a wrestler coming over and pushing Araki and the others aside. He has dreadlock hair and a lot of piercings, and he has an unmatched big body compared to the other delinquents.

“Hahaha, that guy was so brutal that he was expelled from the sumo wrestling industry. Hey, defeat that man quickly.”

“That’s why you were out of luck, brother. Oraa, go to sleep!”

The giant sumo-wrestler man gave me a sharp slap. But…

“Oops.”

“Huh?”

I grabbed his wrist, stopped the slap.

“Th-This is!”

I stopped the giant whole might slap, but he began to slap with his other hand. On the other hand, I let go of his wrist and reciprocate by slapping his hand, too.

“Haahhh!”

“Guaahh!”

I only slapped it lightly, but because of the overwhelming difference in stats, my opponent had received a backlash more than I expected.

“S-son of a bitch…”

The giant distanced himself once after the backlash for being slapped and tried to strike me with his body while showing an angry face. If I’m just an ordinary person, I would have been blown away. On the contrary, it might have become a terrible experience since he will get a mount position. However, I currently caught his body strike right from the front, and hold him without moving even for one step.

“Gu-Gugigigi!?”

The giant tried to push me while scraping the ground. And then, the muscular man who instructed him showed an irritation when he saw me still moving.

“Hey! What are you doing!? Don’t play around and kill him!”

“U-usu! …Guuuuu!? Wh-why it’s not moving!?”

He seems to have put more power into it, but my looks haven’t changed at all.

…Amazing. As a result of fighting directly with the Devil Bear and Goblin General, it seems that I won’t be losing by being overmatched against an ordinary person. I was thinking that while watching the giant, who is desperately trying to push me away. However, I can’t keep this position forever, so I put my hand on the giant’s body and tried to lift him slightly.

“Hoo~”

“Uuaaaaahh!?”

I lifted him very easily. I reflexively lift him with one hand since it was too light, but the weight didn’t change at all. And since it was too light, I spontaneously threw him like a ball.

“Guoooohhhh!?”

I played and tossed the giant with just one hand; he just could scream at this absolutely impossible situation.

“What’s going on with my physical strength…?”

“H-help meeeeee!”

“Ah.”

“Gyaaaaaaaahh!?”

As a result of the giant’s struggling to escape from my palm, I lost control of him, and the giant flew to the distance with a great force. He fell to the ground from a considerable height, then fainted with blank eyes.

Everyone is at a loss for words looking at the scene. No, wait, I’m surprised as well.

I thought I was certainly getting stronger, but it was unthinkable for me to have this insane strength on the earth, too… It would be too hard to understand throwing a person just like a baseball ball. But, even though I gained this strength up to this point, it was still dangerous since I could still be overwhelmed in the different world; I have to be stronger.

While I clutched and opened my palm to ascertain the feeling, the muscular man who had returned to his sanity shouted, getting impatient.

“Hey, you! Get rid of that guy first, before taking care of the teachers!”

“Y-yes!” the delinquents shouted in unison.

“Oh…”

The other delinquents who’re keeping the teachers in check gathered and started targeting me.

…I was ultimately out of hands, right? And even the giant, too… More than that, it would be troublesome to be involved with the police. No, it may be too late. Well then, I’ll make them attack each other.

“Guee!?”

“Hey, move, you’re in my way!”

“You’re the one who’s in my way ── guhaahh!?”

While carefully positioning, I keep avoiding the delinquents’ attacks within a hair’s breadth, and gradually reduce their number. However, since their number has decreased, the frequency of them hitting each other would also be reduced, so I’ll have to move directly soon.

“That’s enough, you guys, step back! I’ll do it myself.”

At last, the muscular man who might be the leader came to me. He probably couldn’t endure it anymore.

“You bastard… How dare you make fun of us “Red Ogre”, huh!? I’ll kill you regardless of your relationship with Youta…”

The muscular man standing in front of me, he had blonde hair and was full of piercings like the giant. He has a flame tattoo or something like that on his right arm, and a red demon emblem embroidered on the back of his black jacket. He said such a dangerous thing while cracking his knuckle, and then throw his fist aimed at my face.

“Oraaa!”

“Haaaa!”

I responded to it by deflecting the man’s fist with my palm.

“Tch… You son of a bitch…!”

Yep, as one would expect from a leader of a delinquent group, he was hitting me continuously at a speed that was unmatched by the other delinquent until now. I can tell that each blow will cause considerable damage to the ordinary person.

But, I deflected them all with my palm.

“Shit… Do you do some martial arts!?”

I didn’t really learn martial arts, I just read various martial arts books that I found at the second-hand bookstores, and put it into practice when I fought in the different world, but even if I say that, he won’t believe me, not that I want to tell him anyway.

“Stop it and die already…!”

The leader who has been hitting consecutively until now suddenly launch a sharp kick aiming at my temple. I was thinking about something while avoiding it.

…The monsters in the different worlds fight instinctively, but when it comes to human opponents, they are different. The instinctive attack is unpredictable, but the man’s attack just now is mixed with feints, It’s related to human strategy. From a close look, I could imagine from the movement of the man in front of me was probably doing some kind of martial arts. Although I have real fighting experience against monsters, I only have a little experience in interpersonal fighting, so it gives me a bit of experience against this muscular man.

In some of the martial arts books I bought at the second-hand bookstore, The writer said he could steal another style technique just by looking when fighting against them, and I already remembered the movements of this muscular man regardless of whether I can use them or not.

“T-this guy!”

Perhaps he felt something from my gaze as that was observing him, the man attacked me even harder, hitting and kicking me using another technique. But I avoided it all unscathed, and I burned his movement to my eyes.

“You bastaarrrdddd!”

The man took the soil of the ground when realizing that it wasn’t possible to win by the straightforward attack, and threw it to my face. Thus, my sight is deprived, showed him a chance for just a moment.

“Go to heeelll!”

The muscular man didn’t miss the moment; he launches his best attack that he can do aimed at my face. However, my body reacted to the attack, and while I am in a position to receive his blow, I threw him as if I was carrying a backpack.

“Agaahhh!?”

The man was thrown to the ground vehemently. I won’t give him the time to rest, and just like the time with the male model, I locked his arm to his back and held it like that so he couldn’t move.

“Kuh!? Let me go!”

The man’s arm is completely locked, and with his movements sealed, he desperately tries to escape from my restraint, but my body doesn’t move at all. Then, the police came, and the delinquents were detained one after another with the help of the other teachers.

“B-bastard! Let me go!”

“Shit!”

The delinquents continued to curse while being detained by the police. The muscular man I was holding was also handed over to the police and was about to be taken away.

“N-no way… That “Red Ogre” is…”

Seeing the delinquents detained in front of them, Youta and Sora looked pale. I was relieved that most of the delinquents were arrested in this way.

“Shit, shit, shit… Youtaaaaaa! This is because of you…!”

Youta was shrieking in fear, the muscular man who might be the leader of “Red Ogre” escaped from the police restraint by force, and run toward Youta as it is. Then, he gripped Youta’s collar, who wasn’t able to move as if his vigor leaving his hips.

“If you hadn’t planned this, we wouldn’t have had this kind of thing…! You are absolutely unforgivable…!”

“No, stop it…!”

“H-hey! Let Youta go!”

“Shut up! You’re also guilty!”

“Hyiii!”

Sora insists asked the man to release Youta, but the muscular man’s vigor completely withered her. And, the man turns his bloodshot eyes to Youta.

“That’s enough. I’ll strangle him to death here and kill you, a shitty woman in the same way!”

“Oh, ah, ah! No, no, noooo! A-anyone, anyone! H-h-help…!”

The muscular man put his hand on Youta’s neck, who’s crying and shouting with his face messed up. The police tried to stop it, but while the other bad guys were detained, they would start to rampage again, they lack manpower.

And the moment the muscular man tried to strangle Youta, I noticed that my body was moving.

“Let him go.”

“Ah?”

“B… Big brother…?”

I hold the man’s arm and pull it off of Youta’s neck.

“Guuh!? W-what is this power!?”

The leader desperately resisted, but he couldn’t match my power and released his hands from Youta as is. I pulled the man off of Youta, and he released his arm obediently.

“Gahakk! Oeekkk!”

“…Are you okay?”

I rubbed Youta’s back, who had been choked off violently and asked him. Then, Youta muttered at me, stunned.

“W-why… Why, I was…”

“I don’t know why… Well, you’re my little brother, after all.”

He seemed to be very shocked by hearing my words.

“Bastaaarrdddd! Don’t get in my waaayyyy!”

Without minding the interaction between Youta and me, the muscular man charged straight to kill Youta.

But ──

“… As I thought, I can’t let you do that to my family.”

“Wh-!? Gahaahh!?”

I closed the distance with the man in an instant and kicked his unprotected belly as it was. Even though I’m still holding back, the power of the kick from my leveled-up body was tremendous; the impact penetrated to the back of the muscular man, I chased after him who was floating in the air and gave him a roundhouse kick in the air. Then, the man blew away for a few meters, and when he fell to the ground, his eyes turned white and he blacked out.

Everyone has a loss for words looking at it. After a series of flows, the place went quiet.

And then ──

“Uoooooooohh!”

Cheers rose from the school building.

“That was awesome!”

“What was that movement!? Isn’t it so cool!?

“Or rather, he wasn’t hit even once by those delinquents attacks!”.

“No, wait, I thought my motor nerves were already amazing when I was in a physical education class, but I can’t say that anymore…”

“I’ve never seen someone getting blown off like that!”

The students who had been watching the turmoil from the window were talking about my action. And then, Kaori was running toward me while I was watching at the surroundings.

“Yuuya- san! Are you all right!?”

“Ah, yep. I’m okay. What about Kaori, are you okay?”

“Eh? Oh, y-yes! I’m fine as well!”

I briefly looked at Kaori’s whole body, but it seemed that she was not injured. It’s good then… I was able to help her before something happened to her. I was relieved from the bottom of my heart, and then Kaori collapsed on the spot, probably because her thread of tension has broken.

“Are you okay!?”

“Eeeh, I’m sorry… I felt relieved, and then, it’s like my power left me all at once.”

“Big brother…”

While doing such an exchange, Youta and Sora came to me with a sad face. Kaori, who was looking at them, tried to stand again to protect me, but I told her to step back.

“Yuuya-san?”

“It’s okay.”

I smiled to reassure her and faced Youta and Sora.

“Big brother… Why did you do that, even though I… I’ve been bullying you…”

“… Sure, I’ve had a lot of trouble. Seeing you two who are much better than me, I felt like my heart would break many times. And yet… Yeah, if my family is in trouble, I have to help them… That’s what I thought.”

From someone else’s perspective, I’m probably a soft-hearted and naive person. If I think about what I’ve been through, it can’t be helped usually. I couldn’t forgive Youta and Sora, either. I can never forgive them for making a fool of grandpa, and given the many things, I’ve received so far… Various dark feelings come to mind.

However, it’s still…No matter how sweet it is from the surrounding people say, this is me. I can’t abandon my family.

After hearing my words, Youta opened his eyes and started to shed tears.

“I… I…! I’m sorry… I am so sorry…!”

Sora was also crying next to Youta, and then, they’re also taken by the police. While seeing them off, Kaori asked, worrying about me.

“…Was it okay?”

“Eh?”

“Yuuya-san must have had a hard time because of those two… So…”

“…Yeah. There’s been a lot of things, and I didn’t forgive them either.”

Kaori fell silent.

“But… It’s okay. Because this is me.”

“Oh… So that’s it.”

Kaori, who felt something in my words, was surprised for a moment and immediately smiled. And the smile on her face turned into a slightly mischievous smile.

“Come to think of it… I was helped again.”

“Eh? Ah… Was I able to help properly this time?”

“It’s not just this time. Even before, Yuuya-san helped me properly. Yuuya-san is my hero!”

Despite blushing hearing of Kaori’s words, I was delighted that I really moved to help… I thought that from the bottom of my heart.

＊＊＊

The commotion quickly settled. All of the delinquents were detained by the police and taken to the police station. The commotion seems to have originated from Youta and Sora, who knew that they were not able to enter “Ousei Gakuen”.

Each of the members of the “Red Ogre”, including Araki, originally had a problem with their conduct, so they had been sent to the reform school after being expelled from their original school, but Kaori more or less helped Youta and Sora, so they weren’t expelled. But still, it will resonate greatly in their report and the grades.

It was quite a big fuss, but thanks to the board chairman, there was no particular trouble in the media.

Speaking of the chairman, when the delinquents came to the school, he wasn’t in the school because of his work, and when the case was resolved, he came back immediately. When he discovered that Kaori was in danger again this time, he showered me with his gratitude as much as he did before. He showered his gratitude again and again, but I was already delighted that I could attend this “Ousei Gakuen”… Well, I had no choice but to receive it.

Anyway, in the end, the injured people had been handled… And, the next day, I was a little afraid to go to school. Regardless of the circumstances of what had been occurred, I easily kicked people and send him flying like that. Therefore, when I think about the gaze of fear, even just a little from those kind people… It’s horrifying.

I arrived in the classroom while thinking that. I timidly opened the class’ door while feeling depressed ──

“Oh, Yuuya! I was anxious about yesterday, you know?”

“Yuuya-kun! You didn’t get any injury, right? Are you really okay?”

“I-I was really scared just looking at it…”

“Eh? Eh?”

I had no choice but to be perplexed in front of Ryo and the others who had suddenly come to me. The other classmates also called out to me with a smile.

“Yuuya-kun, you were so amazing yesterday!”

“I can’t believe you could win against that many delinquents, let alone unscathed… It’s really amazing!”

“I mean, that big guy, you lifted him with just one hand!? How did you do that?”

“In the first place, you jumped off from the fourth floor, didn’t you? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yuuya-kun! By all means, why don’t you come to the aikido club!?”

“No, no, no, It’s better for you to join the judo club!”

“Didn’t you guys see that kick!? So, it has to be my taekwondo club!”

Everyone treated me gently and brightly. I thought everyone might be afraid, but they all are kinder and warmer than I expected. There was nothing like before I leveled-up in the different world. I thought that only the different world would make me feel at ease… That’s not entirely right. I was able to level up and meet kind people like this.

“Thank you, everyone!”

Leveled-up has really changed my life.