Amasawa Yuto vs. Horikita Manabu

Horikita Manabu's pupils contracted as he reacted instantly.

He rotated his body with the momentum, converting the force of his initial kick into centrifugal force. The moment his foot touched the ground, his other leg lifted, and he twisted his entire body like a spinning top to deliver a roundhouse kick.

The power of this strike, compounded by the momentum of the first, became even more ferocious. Even for an adult male, a direct hit to the temple would likely result in immediate unconsciousness.

Amasawa Yuto sidestepped, sliding his right foot half a step forward while his left heel naturally pivoted inward. He tilted his body to the side, letting the kick pass by.

At the same time, Horikita Manabu's two consecutive, heavy-hitting kicks had exposed the gap in his inner circle, allowing Amasawa Yuto to close the distance between them.

The sound of a phone hitting the ground echoed, its screen casting a dim light, but neither of them paid it any mind.

A flash of highly restrained shock flickered in the depths of Horikita Manabu's eyes.

His two consecutive kicks—the first a high sweep, the second a roundhouse—were flawless in power, angle, and fluidity. They were enough to render the vast majority of opponents unconscious before the second foot even touched the ground.

Yet, Amasawa Yuto had not only evaded both, but he had done so with complete composure.

The greatest weapon of a kick is distance. Once an opponent breaches that range, the legs become a liability.

Horikita Manabu's right leg had just retracted from the arc of the roundhouse kick, his heel not yet fully planted, his center of gravity still in the midst of adjustment.

Amasawa Yuto's right hand moved.

His hand cut in from below, palm facing upward, fingers pressed together like a blade, slicing straight along the inside of Horikita Manabu's right arm.

Horikita Manabu's pupils shrank. He recognized this opening move—

"Aikido: Kote Gaeshi."

He could no longer hold back.

Horikita Manabu's reaction was almost instinctual. His right elbow plunged downward, and his entire arm rolled outward like a wrung-out wet towel, forcibly breaking free from the lock of the kote gaeshi.

"Oh." Amasawa Yuto's expression remained unchanged as his left hand silently pressed against Horikita Manabu's right wrist.

But Horikita Manabu's right wrist had just completed a violent outward rotation a second ago, leaving the muscles in a brief period of relaxation following the contraction.

Amasawa Yuto seized exactly this moment.

He grabbed the wrist and twisted, pressing down on the heel of the palm.

A wave of numbness instantly surged through Horikita Manabu's forearm, traveling from the carpal bones along the median nerve all the way to his elbow.

It wasn't pain—pain was easy to handle—but rather the aching weakness of a joint losing its strength. His fingers involuntarily splayed open, his grip force dropping to zero in that instant.

Aikido's "Yonkyo" suppresses the wrist joint while stimulating the nerve bundle. It does not force submission through pain, but fundamentally dismantles the functionality of the opponent's arm.

Horikita Manabu's jaw muscles tightened. His left fist shot out from below in a one inch punch. The distance was extremely short, with almost no room to build power, but Horikita Manabu utilized a sudden twist of his waist to channel the strength of his shoulder blade into the strike.

But Amasawa Yuto delivered a whip kick to the side of his knee, instantly throwing him slightly off balance.

Force originates from the ground; once one loses their footing, it is impossible to land a threatening attack.

As expected, the power of the one inch punch dissipated for the most part due to this loss of balance, and it was caught mid-air by Amasawa Yuto's other free hand.

Horikita Manabu's arms were locked in a cross, and Amasawa Yuto's face was very close to his—close enough that he could see his own reflection in those eyes.

"You win." In the end, it was Horikita Manabu who relaxed his strength first.

Amasawa Yuto also let go of his hands and stepped back, but he didn't go to pick up the phone.

Horikita Manabu flexed his sore, numb wrists, his expression unchanging, as if nothing had just happened between them. "Good skills. Have you been practicing martial arts since you were a child?"

"I've studied a bit of piano and calligraphy."

"Stop joking. What you just used was clearly an aikido technique. I know aikido myself, so I can naturally tell."

"Coincidence is truly a frightening thing."

"I hate your eyes. They lack any emotion, as if you are indifferent to everything."

"Unfortunately, for those who come from where I do, these eyes are standard equipment."

Their gazes crossed, and Horikita Manabu sighed. "You won. I didn't expect such a monster to appear among this year's first-years."

"Since that's the case, then Student Council President Horikita, I think we can discuss terms."

Horikita Manabu did not refute this. "You must have an accomplice nearby. It was my oversight; I just realized it now. Your layout was quite good."

"That's right. Morishita, you can come out now."

Morishita Ran crawled out from the nearby bushes, stood up, and brushed the leaves off her body, muttering incessantly:

"Damn you, Amasawa Yuto. To actually make a beautiful girl crawl in the bushes... I didn't think Amasawa Yuto looked like an honest guy, but it turns out you're into this kind of voyeurism and outdoor play..."

"Could you please stop using such misleading phrasing, Morishita?"

Amasawa Yuto's goal had been to bait Horikita Manabu into making a move. From the initial show of weakness to making a threat that clearly lacked persuasiveness, it was all to make him lower his guard and believe he was just an ordinary student who amounted to nothing.

However, Horikita Manabu was very calm. If he hadn't provoked him by bringing up his role as a brother at the end, he likely wouldn't have fallen for such a simple trap.

Claiming he didn't care about his sister—wasn't he actually quite concerned?

If he had confirmed that Horikita Manabu wouldn't make a move, Amasawa Yuto was prepared to launch a sneak attack the moment he took the phone to inspect it. Regardless, with Morishita on his side, the video could easily be edited to make it look like he had struck first.

"I admit it. I lost to you this time," Horikita Manabu admitted frankly. "It seems I am still quite immature as a brother, to have lost control of my emotions for a moment. I only want to know one thing—"

He continued, "Was what you said about having a sister yourself, and therefore being a bit angry, true? Or was it just something you fabricated to provoke me?"

"If it's the latter, then I truly am a terrifying person, manipulating the emotions of others to such an extent. But I do have a younger sister, her name is Amasawa Ichika, and we have a very good relationship."

"I see." Horikita Manabu looked somewhat relieved. "Not being able to see family for three years must be quite lonely."

"It is indeed. I wish she could have enrolled here as well."

"What is it you want from me? Private points?"

"I am certainly tempted, as there is someone I want to help transfer classes, so I am currently saving up points."

"You want to gather twenty million on your own? No one in this school has ever succeeded in doing that before."

"Do you think I can't do it?"

"As much as I hate to admit it, if it's you, you could indeed pull it off."

Horikita Manabu had already experienced two years of special exams. Since he was so certain, it proved that, at the very least, the school's rules allowed for a student to gather 20 million points.

"If you could help me provide two million points, I would be very grateful." Amasawa Yuto stated the amount without hesitation.