CH 54

I was midway through my date with Satsuki-chan, so I didn’t want anything pointless to pop up. But since I’d already seen the fight, I couldn’t ignore it.

The lower elementary kids’ opponents were clearly of greater number and older than them. No matter how you thought of it, those kids were nothing more than annoyances for those five.

“What are you larger people doing surrounding them?”

“Huh? What’s it to you?”

I stood in front of the three little ones and the five big ones tried to intimidate me. I did think they were vulgar, but they just looked funny. They weren’t the least bit scary. I desperately tried to contain my laughter and asked them questions.

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“I will ask you first. What are you doing?”

Well, it was pretty obvious, but… the five big ones were clearly surrounding the three little ones. I obviously didn’t know why. Maybe the three little ones did something that made the five big ones mad. But there was something pathetic in how these clearly older and larger kids used force and intimidated the smaller kids.

“You don’t need to know!”

“Gyb! Jl nyalqwz!”

Xdl sq vbl ckt sdlp vakle vs rwpb xl. Tl rascyczu oypd’v rzyddkdt vs bkv xl cwv kdpvlye vs plde xl qzukdt. Mos sq vbl zkvvzl sdlp olal zukdt sd vbl qzssa; xyucl vblu bye clld pldv qzukdt.

“*esetl*”

“——ytb!”

Jwv R oswzed’v pvyu iwklv yde zlv vbkp twu bkv xl qsa ds alypsd, ps R esetle. Mbl twu wple vss xwnb xsxldvwx yde pvwxczle. Mbl jkep vseyu olald’v vaykdle ldswtb. Rq R pvwxczle zkjl vbyv, Yypvla oswze pyu psxlvbkdt zkjl “Zsw’al xshkdt uswa qllv oasdt!” yde xyjl xl es vaykdkdt qasx blzz.

“Z-Zsw! Zsw vbkdj usw nyd esetl!”

“Rp vblal y alypsd obu R pbswze dsv esetl yde vyjl uswa bkv?”

Mbl qkhl ckt sdlp talo ydtau. Jwv R alyzzu eked’v byhl ydu alypsd vs zlv vblx bkv xl, sa ayvbla, obu oswze R lhld pvyu pvkzz yde zlv vblx plde xl qzukdt?

“You!”

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“*dodge*”

He didn’t learn his lesson and tried to push me again, and I dodged him. Then, I dodged again. Once I’d dodged tons of times, the five big ones took their distance and one of them opened his mouth.

“You! Stop running away! Do you know what’ll happen if you go against us!?”

“I do not care. Why would I need to say silent and let you hit me?”

I didn’t need to care about you guys anyway… the three little ones and the five big ones probably went to the same school, but I wasn’t involved in that. I didn’t care if they were from the same school or completely different ones.

“You’re friends with these guys, aren’t you!”

“Huh? Oh… I do not know these children behind me. There seemed to be a fight, so I merely came to ask what was happening.”

As expected, elementary schoolers were like this. It was hard to talk to them. The elementary schoolers surrounding me were too unlike elementary schoolers. Starting with Yoshizane-kun, then continuing with Enju or Satsuki-chan… They were so mature that you wouldn’t think they were elementary schoolers.

These guys were hard to talk with like normal elementary schoolers. They wouldn’t listen to what I was saying, thought that they were right, and said incomprehensible things. The fact that I was from a different school and that I didn’t know these three little ones should’ve been immediately obvious…

“If you don’t know them, go away!”

“That is why I was inquiring as to the cause of your fight. If these small children were at fault, you must respond appropriately. But clearly, the five of you, who are older, have surrounded them. If these children were wrong and there is a reason why you must get mad at them, do not stop.”

If they were just using violence, I wanted them to stop, but if they were scolding the kids, then I didn’t plan to stop them. I didn’t think that small kids were unconditionally good or that they were pitiful. That was why I wanted them to explain the reasons and circumstances, but these five big ones weren’t listening to what I was saying at all.

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“These guys are always so damn cheeky! So we’re teaching them a lesson!”

“Oh~… I see… It appears you, despite being older and larger in numbers, do not have a proper reason for using violence against these small children.”

It looked like they did it because the kids were just being cheeky or something. Then, I’d side with the smaller children for now.

“I won’t go easy on you anymore!”

“Yah!”

Two of them rushed me at the same time. But they didn’t communicate, so they ended up being obstacles to each other. They didn’t make use of their advantage in numbers and instead disadvantaged each other, so the effectiveness of their attack was dulled.

“Bam… bang…”

I grabbed the hands that were trying to punch me and shoved them away. Even though I was just using one hand to grip my opponent’s arm, I could make use of their momentum and change their direction to make them easily fall to the floor.

“You!”

“Don’t get carried away!”

Hmm… maybe they didn’t see the first two people. The next two did the same as the first two. They were obstacles to each other as they charged at me, and their attacks were simple and straightforward. Shouldn’t they have attacked one by one instead if they were going to act like that? 

“Hmm… alright…”

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I grasped the hands that were trying to punch me and threw the big ones to the floor. They fell on their butts onto the parking lot and stiffened. It probably hurt. There was one person left…

“Kuh! Y-You!”

“Hiyah.”

I hit the leader of the kids who was ordering them around earlier last. Even though he was alone, it turned out the same… If he just directly hit me, then I could easily handle it. I got the guy’s arm, twisted his hands behind his back and kicked his knees, forcing him to kneel.

“Ow! Ow ow ow ow!”

“Why are you all overreacting? I did not put any force into my hits. Were I to truly twist your arm off, I would…”

“Aaaaaah! It hurts!”

They were exaggerating their pain, so I put a little force into it and they squealed. Since they were annoying and we couldn’t have a conversation, I loosened my grip and asked them a question.

“Then? What was the cause of all this fuss?”

I looked around at everyone and asked that. The five big ones stayed silent, while the only standing little one opened his mouth.

“These guys always act big at school! They don’t let anyone else use the swings, and tell everyone to get out of the way when they’re playing… and if you tell them no, they hit you and throw them to the floor like now… We just wouldn’t listen to the things they said so they said we were cheeky… then we unexpectedly met them here and they brought us over here…”

“Oh~…”

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If what these small kids were saying was true, I got the gist of it. These five kids were so-called brats. Then these little kids stayed quiet and didn’t listen to what they were saying, so they caught the big kids’ attention. They unexpectedly met at this shopping mall, called them to the carpark roof, and bullied them like at school…

What the little kid said might not all be correct, but the big kids didn’t refute them, so they weren’t completely wrong.

This had become troublesome. If they were just fighting a little, then we could resolve it and they’d never meet again. But if they were students attending the same school and they normally fought, resolving this issue wouldn’t end everything.

“Oh~… If you fight here, you will not resolve anything… Have you asked an adult or teacher to respond?”

“These guys are bad, but… these guys are the bad guys, but… the adults always get mad at us…”

Huh? Had I… seen these kids before? And I felt like I knew about a story similar to this one…?

They were definitely similar to… those characters that were originally good kids overflowing with a sense of justice, but the adults didn’t understand that they were just fighting to protect their friends. They then got labeled as violent delinquents and finally started becoming actual delinquents.

“Isn’t that alright? The adults around you don’t listen to what children are saying. They have most certainly formed their own assumptions and scolded children. But there are adults who are on your side. Do not become irresponsible, look around, and find an adult you can truly rely on. Someone like that is certainly near you.”

“…huh?”

Those kids listened to what I said confusedly. Maybe first graders wouldn’t understand if I said this to them… and I didn’t know if this kid was that character. He seemed similar, but I couldn’t compare him to that loud delinquent the character would become.

But… I felt like I understood that kid’s feelings. They did good, but… the other adults didn’t understand. They had apparently done something bad, so they were scolded. The adults didn’t see anything; they looked just at the results and didn’t listen to what the children were saying.

But as the ones being attacked, the kids overflowing with justice courageously fought for their friends and wounded the attackers, but they were scolded for using violence. I had experienced that in my past life too. I also had a phase of rebelling against those adults.

But… how those kids were treated wasn’t a personal problem but instead society’s problem; whether adults despaired and they completely went astray, or if there was someone who understood and led them on the right path. I was luckily saved. But there were kids who weren’t saved and who no one understood that went down the so-called delinquent path.

I hope these kids don’t turn out like that…

“Ouch! Let go of me already!”

“Oh… I have forgotten.”

I had suddenly put force into my hold. The kid whose hand I was twisting let out a scream. After that, Satsuki-chan and I ran away from that place.

～～～～～～～

We had gotten involved in something weird. I guess I was a little less excited about shopping? A sheltered girl like Satsuki-chan raised as a rich young lady might be a little shocked…

“So that was a duel against a group of delinquents! It is the first time I have seen one!”

Oh… she said that, holding her hands together and eyes sparkling. Wasn’t a duel one-on-one? It wasn’t one-on-one just now, but… I was surrounded by a large number of people… hey, speaking of that, where did Satsuki-chan get to know that?

“Where on earth have you learned such…”

“Huh? Many different sources, yes? Such as delinquent dramas and movies.”

Oh… there were definitely delinquent dramas set in academies… Satsuki-chan had also watched such things… but dramas were fiction, so maybe she should stop believing them?

“*sigh*… Are you less in the mood to shop?”

“No! I am prepared to get scolded! I will persevere until the end!”

Oh… that was some impressive fighting spirit. And she was confident that she’d get scolded… Sorry for getting you involved in this… let’s get scolded together, alright? 

“Then, shall we go somewhere else next?”

“Yes. Let us conquer the shopping mall today!”

“Ahaha!”

Like what she declared, we looked around at all the shops to conquer the shopping mall. We’d probably get scolded afterwards, but… it was nothing if we overcame it together.

～～～～～～～

On that day, a gallant hero appeared in front of the boy. The hero sent the five older bad guys flying in an instant like a hero from TV. Even though the kids were older and there were five of them, the hero forcefully mowed them down, just like the heroes he always saw on TV. Heroes really existed.

Then, that hero said something. The adults definitely knew nothing and just got mad at him. He was just fighting to protect his friends, but they said things like “He’s this small, but he’s so aggressive!”. He was fed up with the adults. He was definitely fed up with them, but… how did this hero know that about him?

“Right!”

Thinking that, he arrived at a certain conclusion. The hero had always been watching him. Come to think of it, the heroes on TV had always swooped in to save people when they were in a real pinch. The hero had definitely always been watching him.

That was why he’d live in a way where he wouldn’t be embarrassed if the hero was watching. The hero had said that all adults weren’t bad. That was why he also wouldn’t hate all adults…

“…-kuya-chan, are you okay?”

“Mhm. Let’s go before something troublesome happens.”

“Oh…”

The hero left before he could say his thanks. And there was also a heroine. She was a cute heroine. She was so cute that she looked like a heroine from TV. The heroine called the hero. The hero, whose name he didn’t catch…

“Did she say Takuya-chan?”

Takuya… the hero who’d saved them. He left with the super cute heroine. They didn’t promise to meet again, but… he vowed to live a life where he could puff out his chest when he met Takuya the hero; a life that Takuya the hero wouldn’t be ashamed of.