Horikita Manabu's pupils contracted, and he reacted at once.
He pivoted with the motion, turning the force of his kick into centrifugal force. The instant his foot touched the ground, his other leg was already off the ground. He twisted like a spinning top and launched a roundhouse kick.
The kick's force compounded the momentum of the first, making it even more vicious. Even an adult man would probably be knocked unconscious on the spot if it hit him in the temple.
Amasawa Yuto turned sideways, sliding his right foot half a step forward as his left heel naturally rotated inward. He leaned his whole body to let the kick pass.
At the same time, Horikita Manabu's two powerful kicks left an opening on the inside. Amasawa Yuto used it to close the distance between them.
A phone hit the ground, its screen casting a dim glow, but neither of them paid it any attention.
A flicker of tightly suppressed astonishment passed through Horikita Manabu's eyes.
He had landed two kicks in succession—the first a high roundhouse, the second a spinning roundhouse. Their power, angles, and fluid transitions were enough to leave most opponents unconscious before the second kick even landed.
Yet Amasawa Yuto had dodged both, and he had done so with remarkable ease.
A kick's greatest weapon was its range. Once an opponent got in close, the legs became a liability.
Horikita Manabu had just drawn his right leg back from the end of the roundhouse's arc. His heel had yet to fully touch the ground, and his balance was still shifting.
Amasawa Yuto's right hand moved.
It slipped in from below, palm facing upward, fingers together like a blade, and cut straight along the inside of Horikita Manabu's right arm.
Horikita Manabu's pupils contracted. He recognized the opening move—
"Aikido: Kote Gaeshi."
He couldn't hold back anymore.
Horikita Manabu reacted almost instinctively. His right elbow dropped sharply, and his arm rolled outward like a tightly wrung towel, wrenching itself free of Kote Gaeshi's lock.
"Oh." Amasawa Yuto's expression didn't change. His left hand had already slipped silently onto Horikita Manabu's right wrist.
But in the previous instant, Horikita Manabu's wrist had just forced its way free with a violent outward twist. His muscles were briefly slack after contracting.
That was the instant Amasawa Yuto was waiting for.
He grabbed Horikita Manabu's right wrist, twisted it, and pressed down on the heel of his palm.
A wave of numbness shot through Horikita Manabu's forearm, traveling from his wrist along the median nerve to his elbow.
It wasn't pain—pain would have been easier to deal with—but a dull, aching weakness from the joint giving way. His fingers opened of their own accord, and his grip strength dropped to zero.
Aikido's Yonkyo pinned the wrist joint while stimulating a bundle of nerves. Rather than forcing an opponent to submit through pain, it broke down the function of their arm at its source.
Horikita Manabu's jaw tightened. His left fist shot up from below in a One Inch Punch. The punch had almost no distance to travel and barely any room to gather force, but Horikita Manabu drove the strength of his shoulder into it with a sudden twist of his waist.
But Amasawa Yuto struck the side of his knee with a whip-like kick, throwing him slightly off balance.
Power came from the ground. If he couldn't keep his footing, he couldn't deliver a threatening attack.
Just as expected, the One Inch Punch lost most of its power when Horikita Manabu's balance faltered. Amasawa Yuto caught it in midair with his free hand.
Horikita Manabu's arms were locked in a crossed position. Amasawa Yuto's face was close to his—close enough for him to see his own reflection in those eyes.
"You win." Horikita Manabu was the first to relax.
Amasawa Yuto let go as well and stepped back, but he didn't go to pick up the phone.
Horikita Manabu flexed his numb wrist, his expression unchanged, as though nothing had happened between them. "You're skilled. Have you trained in martial arts since you were a child?"
"I've studied a little piano and calligraphy."
"Don't joke around. Those were obviously Aikido techniques. I know Aikido too, so I can tell."
"Funny how coincidence can be so frightening."
"I hate your eyes. There's no emotion in them, as if you don't care about anything."
"Unfortunately, eyes like these come standard for people from where I'm from."
Their gazes met. Horikita Manabu sighed. "You win. I didn't expect this year's first-years to have a monster like you."
"In that case, Student Council President Horikita, I think we can discuss terms."
Horikita Manabu didn't argue. "You have an accomplice nearby, don't you? I let my guard down. I only just realized your plan was well thought out."
"That's right. Morishita, you can come out now."
Morishita Ran crawled out from a nearby thicket, stood up, and brushed the leaves from her clothes. She kept muttering under her breath:
"Damn you, Amasawa Yuto! You made a beautiful girl crawl around on her knees in a bush. You look like such an honest guy, but I never expected you to be into taking sneaky videos and outdoor play..."
"Could you not put it in a way that's so easy to misunderstand, Morishita?"
Amasawa Yuto's goal had been to provoke Horikita Manabu into attacking. He had acted weak from the start, and even made a threat that was obviously unconvincing, all to let him lower his guard and think he was just an ordinary student who wasn't all that impressive.
But Horikita Manabu was level-headed. If Amasawa Yuto hadn't finally provoked him by bringing up his brother, he probably wouldn't have fallen for such a simple trick.
He claimed he didn't care about his younger sister, yet he clearly cared a great deal.
If he'd confirmed that Horikita Manabu wouldn't attack, Amasawa Yuto had planned to strike first while he was taking the phone to check it. Morishita was on his side, after all, so they could easily edit the video to make it look like Horikita Manabu had attacked first.
"I admit I lost to you this time." Horikita Manabu acknowledged it without reservation. "It seems I'm still immature as a brother. I let my emotions get the better of me. There's just one thing I want to know—"
He continued, "When you said you had a younger sister too, and that was why you got angry, were you telling the truth? Or did you make it up to provoke me?"
"If it was the latter, I'd be a pretty frightening person, manipulating other people's feelings so completely. But I really do have a younger sister. Her name is Amasawa Ichika, and we're very close."
"I see." Horikita Manabu looked somewhat relieved. "It must be lonely, going three years without seeing your family."
"It is. I wish she could enroll here too."
"What do you want from me? Private points?"
"That's certainly tempting. There's someone I want to help transfer classes, so I'm saving up points."
"Are you trying to earn twenty million points yourself? No one at this school has ever managed it before."
"Do you think I can't?"
"Much as I hate to admit it, you could probably do it."
Horikita Manabu had already been through two years of Special Exams. If he was so certain, then at least under the school's rules, it must be possible for students to gather twenty million points.
"If you could provide me with two million points, I'd be very grateful." Amasawa Yuto named the amount without hesitation.
Before you continue