A Man Who Has Seen the Sea Would Not Marvel at a River

Kenichi then spoke to Shinnosuke.

"This is Master Kōetsuji Akisame, my judo teacher. You've met him before."

Kōetsuji Akisame looked Shinnosuke up and down, then pinched the mustache by his lips as he spoke to him.

"You've gotten much stronger since I last saw you. Incredible. Kenichi has been improving quickly, but I didn't expect him to still be so far behind you."

"Could it be that you have a master-level teacher?"

Shinnosuke sighed inwardly. With a system that wanted him dead at every turn and assigned him missions every few days, he didn't dare stop for a moment. How could he not improve quickly? Though the mission rewards were great.

Shinnosuke laughed it off and made up an excuse to get past the question.

Kōetsuji Akisame felt a pang of regret. This might be what a genius was like. What a pity a genius like this wasn't his disciple. With his training, Shinnosuke could surely become the strongest in history!

Still, everyone had their own ambitions, so there was nothing he could say. Then he looked up at Kenichi, and the feeling of comparing his own child to someone else's arose unbidden. It seemed he still wasn't strict enough with Kenichi. He needed to step up his training too!

Seeing the look in Kōetsuji Akisame's eyes, Kenichi felt a chill in his heart, and cold sweat broke out all over his face...

The two walked out of Ryozanpaku's dojo and waved goodbye to Kenichi and the others.

Inoue Ryushi was full of wonder. There were actually people in the world who were outrageously strong, and there were also those things that were so fair and big... hehehe.

Shinnosuke looked at Inoue Ryushi's lecherous expression, but Sakaki Shio's words were still echoing in his mind. He clenched his fist and muttered to himself.

"Not just unleashing it recklessly... concentrate it at one point..."

After parting with Inoue Ryushi, Shinnosuke didn't go straight home. Instead, he went to a corner of the park.

He found a thick tree and gently placed his hand on its trunk, Sakaki Shio's words replaying over and over in his mind.

Suddenly, inspiration struck, and he swung his fist at the trunk. Instead of unleashing the strength of his entire body, he concentrated it in his fist. His arm muscles rippled as he punched the trunk.

"Crack!"

Shinnosuke stared at his sprained wrist without speaking for a long while. He remained silent for a full minute, then clutched his wrist and headed toward the hospital...

"Fuck concentrating it at one point..."

Early the next morning, Inoue Ryushi waited outside Shinnosuke's house as usual.

When he saw Shinnosuke come out, he followed him, only to notice the thick plaster cast around his hand.

Inoue Ryushi frowned and pointed at the cast on his hand.

"How'd you do that? Weren't you fine yesterday?"

The corner of Shinnosuke's mouth twitched, and he picked up his pace...

That morning's exercise was different from usual. Shinnosuke ran like his life depended on it, and Inoue Ryushi chased him just as desperately... By the end, Inoue Ryushi was so exhausted that he lay twitching on the ground. It took him a long while to regain enough strength to lift his head, and he glared at Shinnosuke as he spoke.

"You... you fucking... being... chased by wolves or something?... Hah, hah... you nearly... ran me to death..."

Shinnosuke was also panting heavily from exhaustion. He glanced at him but said nothing.

After Inoue Ryushi had finished mooching his usual breakfast, the two headed to school together. Once again, they ran into Kinoshita Hideyoshi at the corner, and the three walked side by side.

For some reason, the trip to Ryozanpaku had filled Inoue Ryushi with confidence. He practically wanted to walk with his tail in the air, and he was no longer awkward when talking to Kinoshita Hideyoshi.

In his words, a man who had seen the vast, surging sea would not marvel at a little river...

Kōsaka Shigure had yet to realize how much she had changed an inexperienced young man!

Then Kinoshita Hideyoshi noticed the cast on Shinnosuke's hand, which surprised him greatly. In his experience, Shinnosuke seemed almost incapable of dying. No matter how serious his injuries were, he would recover in a couple of days, but this time he actually had a cast!

The look in Kinoshita Hideyoshi's eyes made the corner of Shinnosuke's eye twitch. He was clearly looking at him like a terminally ill patient. Shinnosuke had to spend a long time explaining before he finally understood.

Inoue Ryushi's eyes filled with tears. You bastard, you never even explained it to me... This damned age of judging people by their looks...

When they entered Green Vine, a group of first-years greeted him. Shinnosuke had strongly opposed this sort of thing at first, but in the end, the minority couldn't change the majority, and he gradually got used to it...

"Good morning, Big Brother Shinnosuke!!!"

"What happened to your hand?... It looks like you were badly hurt..."

Shinnosuke looked at the group, veins bulging across his forehead.

"I'm not Superman. Of course I'm going to get hurt sometimes! And how many times have I told you not to call me big brother?!!!"

Shinnosuke sent them away, went back to his classroom to check in, then ran up to the rooftop and lay down on the sofa.

There were still half a month left on the mission to conquer Aofuji High. He had already completed most of it, but he had no idea what to do about the rest.

Shinnosuke scratched his head in frustration.

"Do I have to challenge the upperclassmen one by one? What a pain... Forget it. I'll ask Inoue."

Just then, the rooftop door opened, and Inoue Ryushi and his group came up.

Shinnosuke sat up at once and called to Inoue Ryushi.

"Hey, Ryu, come here a sec!"

"Huh? What for?"

Shinnosuke threw an arm around his neck and asked quietly.

"Do you know if there are any other... um... pretty strong delinquents at school?"

Inoue Ryushi was taken aback and looked at him with mild surprise. Then he immediately understood, lowered his head in thought for a moment, and spoke.

"Among the stronger delinquents at school, there's me, and then there are Sugihara and Seki. But one of them lost to you, and the other thinks highly of you, so the second-years won't stand in your way..."

"That leaves the third-years. Their situation is both simple and complicated... You might have to face the entire third year..."

"Get to the point."

The corner of Inoue Ryushi's mouth twitched. He'd gone to so much trouble to build up the tension...

He put away his playful expression and spoke seriously to Shinnosuke.

"One person rules over the entire third year. He's Aofuji High's student council president, Shinomiya Kai... and the biggest obstacle to your conquest of Green Vine!"