Is your name Longyuan Xiang?

Starting tomorrow, I will be a happy person, feeding horses, chopping wood, and traveling the world... (No, I won't).

"You're here quite early."

The next morning, following the communication via mobile phone yesterday, Makoto arrived at a secluded grove.

It looked like the perfect place for all sorts of shady business.

Seeing Ryuen Kakeru not far ahead, he offered a greeting.

He then scanned his surroundings, approaching from the front with an unchanging expression.

"I thought there might be surveillance cameras or something similar. Are there none?"

"Are you implying that the few of us would be taken down by you alone? Kid, don't get too cocky."

Ryuen Kakeru made no effort to hide his intentions, but he was deeply surprised by Makoto's keen perception.

However, the odds were 4 to 1; the advantage was his!

Well-versed in the ways of a thug, Ryuen Kakeru had a blind confidence in numbers. Furthermore, the people he brought weren't weaklings, but genuine fighters. He felt that everything was foolproof at this moment, and that the opponent daring to show up for the appointment was simply walking into a trap.

In short, it was like a mouse playing a game with a cat—tired of living.

To this, Makoto could only think: An old lady crawling into a quilt—you've really cracked me up.

Have you ever seen a black... or rather, someone using cheats? Hey! You're about to see one today!

"Can't we just talk about this first?"

Makoto still wanted to try for a peaceful resolution.

Ryuen Kakeru also felt that wouldn't be right; shouldn't there always be some trash-talk time before a fight? So, he curled his lip in disdain, signaling that Makoto could speak.

Ibuki Mio also cast an apologetic look toward Makoto.

It was she who had called Makoto out, and she felt she bore the vast majority of the responsibility for this.

"Do you think this school would want to see someone like you rise to Class A?"

Time was tight and the task was heavy, so Makoto went straight to the point.

"Is that all you wanted to say? And here I was, actually holding some expectations."

Ryuen Kakeru raised his right hand to signal the start. Ishizaki Daichi was the first to rush forward, unable to wait any longer; he wanted to put on a good show in front of Boss Ryuen!

Having been called out to fight so early in the morning, he himself was harboring quite a bit of resentment.

Don't blame me for being ruthless, Ishizaki Daichi thought, but the very next instant, he lost consciousness and fell into a state of extremely peaceful slumber.

"Seeing how sleepy he looked, I decided to help him get some extra rest."

Makoto looked completely innocent. Although his words admitted that he was the one who had just struck, he believed he had done so out of kindness.

He really was a good person! He couldn't bear to see someone forced to work while struggling with a drowsy body.

"All together now!"

Ryuen Kakeru's pupils shrank suddenly, a bad premonition rising in his heart.

Could it be... that they really couldn't beat him?

"He's clearly just a pretty boy, mark my words!"

Ibuki Mio, looking like she couldn't take it anymore, lunged forward; she couldn't accept this result.

She had imagined countless ways to apologize afterward, but she had never envisioned the current scene.

Taking down a grown man with just a single blow—was the opponent even human?

"Actually, I don't want to lay a hand on a girl, but I assume Ibuki wouldn't want others to look at you that way either, right?"

Ibuki Mio, a woman who had been strong-willed her entire life.

When she was a child, she had the upper hand in fights because boys developed slower than girls. However, as time passed, even boys who hadn't trained much became opponents she couldn't easily take down.

But she remained a brave warrior, never changing from the way she was as a child.

Slightly turning her body to avoid the high kick in front of her, Makoto took the opportunity to counterattack.

But it wasn't the intense pain Ibuki Mio had expected, but rather an embrace filled with a masculine scent.

"You... what are you doing?"

Ibuki Mio was stunned. Why would he hug her?

Could it be...

"Listen up," Makoto said with a serious face, "you have a hostage in my hands now. I advise you not to act rashly."

Upon hearing this, Ibuki Mio was so angry her face turned bright red. She struggled violently, trying to break free from Makoto's embrace, but the result was, naturally—

Not a single budge.

"That's her own problem. Being captured alive is a sign of her own lack of ability."

Ryuen Kakeru sneered, closing in from the left and right alongside Yamada Albert.

Caught in a pincer attack, you still have Ibuki Mio in your arms—a girl who is ostensibly a hostage but in reality a hindrance.

What do you intend to do?

Ryuen Kakeru didn't forget to think even while launching his assault.

"What a pain."

Naturally, Makoto couldn't truly use Ibuki Mio as a human shield to block this wave of attacks.

If he were to do that, he would be violating the conscience he had formed during his nine years of compulsory education in his past life.

He shoved the girl in his arms away with force, aiming her directly toward the fallen Ishizaki Daichi.

With Ishizaki Daichi acting as a cushion, Ibuki Mio didn't suffer any injuries.

She looked at Makoto not far away with a complicated expression; instead of rushing back in to help form a three-on-one, she stood to the side and watched them.

The air, carrying the scent of trees, rushed toward him as Yamada Albert attempted to win through sheer brute force, unleashing a simple, straightforward punch.

With no intention of taking it head-on, Makoto bent his legs to dodge the punch while simultaneously executing a sweep, causing Yamada Albert to lose his center of gravity and teeter toward the ground.

Ryuen Kakeru seized what he considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; at this moment, Makoto's old momentum was spent while his new strength had yet to arise, and the opponent's line of sight could not track his movements.

He launched a jumping kick, hoping to pin Makoto to the ground, but he didn't expect the other party to use the strength of his arms to dodge this sure-fire strike as if he had eyes in the back of his head.

Following that, Makoto utilized the momentum of his body's movement to lift his leg and deliver a fierce strike to the side of Ryuen's knee.

Having regained his footing, Makoto ignored Ryuen Kakeru, who had just lost his balance, and turned his gaze toward Yamada Albert, who was trying to crawl back up to continue the fight.

Without a moment's hesitation, he delivered a front kick, simple and direct, slamming into the other man's lower abdomen.

He should just stay on the ground for a while longer.

"How about it? Do you still want to continue?"

With the crisis averted, Makoto looked at the swaying Ryuen Kakeru before him without a hint of a smile on his face.

Violence is the least desirable method.

"Hahahahaha!"

Who would have thought that Ryuen Kakeru would start laughing at this moment? He laughed until he was out of breath, pointing at Makoto as he slowly spoke.

"What else is there to say? Aren't you quite adept at using violence yourself?"

"This is self-defense; it's a completely different concept from initiating violence."

Makoto argued his case.

"But you don't look like what you claim to be. Only someone who has grown through fighting would have the intuition and skills you just displayed."

"There are many places where one can actively use force that aren't the street fights you're talking about."

For example, martial arts gyms and dojos.

"Besides, have you ever heard of me initiating violence in this school? Even if it's just a baseless rumor?"

Makoto followed up with a question.

The worst reputation he had was merely that of a "scumbag," which had absolutely nothing to do with violence.

Ryuen Kakeru fell silent.

Even though he dominated Class C through violence, his reputation in the outside world was abysmal.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe him as notorious.

Because he couldn't control what the students said in private.

"Think about it carefully. Those Class C students following you—what kind of growth will they have over these three years if things continue like this?"

Makoto walked away.