Sorry to Bother You, We'll Be Leaving

"Shinomiya Kai... is this guy strong?"

Inoue Ryushi flicked the ash off his cigarette and spoke with a grave expression.

"Nobody knows how strong he is. Anyone who's fought him lost consciousness in an instant! But he's a little obsessive. He believes there's a balance at school!"

"He rules the third-years, while the second-years have me, Sugihara, and Seki. That's how he wanted it, too. But your appearance has disrupted what he considers a balance, so he might come after you... I've never seen him fight. Anyway, there's something strange about him..."

Shinnosuke lay on the sofa, gazing at the sky with countless thoughts running through his mind. Inoue Ryushi saw his expression and knew anything more he said would be a waste of breath, so he took the others behind him aside and started playing cards.

Just then, Go and Horii Naruya came up to the rooftop, their faces bruised and swollen. Inoue Ryushi frowned and hurried over to ask what had happened.

"What happened to you two?"

The two pressed their lips together and said nothing. Inoue Ryushi grew angrier as he looked at them.

"Say something! What's the matter, lost your tongues?"

Kutsui Naruya paused for a moment, then spoke.

"Here's what happened. We were buying drinks from a vending machine when a few punks suddenly surrounded us and tried to shake us down..."

Inoue Ryushi frowned. With their abilities, a few punks shouldn't have been a problem for them...

"Then we took care of them pretty quickly. One of them ran off, shouting threats at us before he left. We ignored him and kept hanging around..."

"Before long, the guy who ran away found us again with a few yakuza... and it ended up the way you see us now... We got beaten to a pulp..."

The two had been Inoue Ryushi's juniors in middle school, and he had always looked after them. Now that he had heard what had happened to them, he was already burning with rage!

Inoue Ryushi stared into their eyes and spoke to them word by word.

"What did they look like...?"

"Maybe we should just forget it, Brother Inoue... Those guys are yakuza..."

At those words, Inoue Ryushi's eyes were practically spitting fire. He grabbed both of them by their collars and yanked them hard.

"The A-Go and Seiya I know aren't cowards like you!!"

The two turned pale at Inoue Ryushi's words. They lowered their heads and remained silent for a long time...

"I understand, Brother Inoue! I don't know too many details either. All we remember is that their leader was a really arrogant man wearing a red plaid shirt, with a cross-shaped scar on his face! But if I see them again, I'll definitely recognize them!"

Inoue Ryushi let go of them, turned, and led his little group quickly off the rooftop. Go and Horii Sei exchanged a glance, then ran after Inoue Ryushi and the others, following behind them...

Shinnosuke, lying on the battered sofa, glanced toward the rooftop entrance, then rolled over and continued lying there... After a long while, he suddenly sat up, sighed, and muttered.

"Why am I like his dad? I've gotta clean up after everything he does..."

Inoue Ryushi and his group split up and searched everywhere, but found nothing. They gathered in the park and stared at one another.

Inoue Ryushi's face was dark as he punched a tree!

"Damn it... Where could those guys have run off to?!"

Just then, Taro came running over from a distance, out of breath. He pointed in a direction and shouted to them.

"We... we've got a lead!!"

"I... I just... asked the clerk at the convenience store over there. He said he saw someone dressed like a yakuza!"

Inoue Ryushi's eyes lit up, and he led everyone running toward the convenience store. Following the lead the clerk gave them, they searched along the way and finally found him!

Horii Naruya pointed at someone up ahead and shouted through gritted teeth.

"That's him! He's one of the punks who tried to shake us down!"

Several of them rushed forward and stopped the punk in his tracks! He looked completely bewildered, then saw Go and Horii Naruya's faces and immediately realized what was happening. He turned and tried to run.

Inoue Ryushi grabbed him by the hair and dragged him into an alley.

After a friendly exchange, the man readily sold out his accomplices and even told them where their hideout was!

Inoue Ryushi then knocked him out with a punch and, out of habit, pulled out his wallet. He took the cash inside and stuffed it into his own wallet, his movements smooth and practiced.

"All this guy has on him is ill-gotten money. I'll hold on to it for now..."

"..."

The group arrived at an abandoned warehouse. This was the hideout the punk had mentioned, and the hot-blooded young men charged straight in!

Inoue Ryushi kicked open a sheet-metal door and led the group inside, only to find more than a dozen burly men covered in tattoos, each holding bags of white powder and staring at them in confusion. Their leader was none other than the man with the cross-shaped scar whom Go and Horii had described!

Looking at the menacing group before him, Inoue Ryushi felt a drop of cold sweat trickle down his forehead. He then reached back and closed the sheet-metal door.

"Sorry to bother you. We'll be leaving!"