Let's Fight!

"Akatsuki-kun, sit here."

I turned my head to see a girl staring at me with bright, spirited eyes. She looked very familiar, with neat, ear-length hair and petite, soft features. With her black hair and black eyes, she looked like a member of the Uchiha clan.

A savior!

I instantly let out a sigh of relief, sat down beside her, and whispered my thanks.

"It's nothing, it's nothing! Hmph, I've long found him an eyesore, you taught him a good lesson!" Seeing my acceptance, the girl seemed very happy. She waved her small fist and made a face at Kusama Shigeo behind us in a show of defiance, looking quite adorable.

I was amused by her, and after taking out my books and arranging my stationery, I suddenly noticed she was watching me.

She started by tilting her head to peek, then rested her chin on her hands to stare straight at me, and finally, she sprawled across the desk to watch me brazenly, the sparkling emotion in her eyes undisguised.

I felt a bit uncomfortable. "Why are you looking at me?"

Her eyes were bright and twinkling, and with a giggle, she spoke in a very, very soft voice: "Number One, I've found you."

My heart skipped a beat, and I turned to look at her. "What?"

"It's me... back during the underground special training... the two of us..." Her cheeks turned bright red, and she suddenly stopped talking.

Memories were stirred up, and the small face before me overlapped with that tear-stained one. I remembered—it was her!

"That night, it was you?" I widened my eyes.

Back when I was in underground training, one night, a little dumpling had climbed onto my bed, hugged my arm, and sobbed, keeping me awake all night! The next day, she had vanished without a trace, and my arm was bruised, swollen, and numb, severely affecting my training. That was why I remembered the incident so vividly!

Oh, good! I've finally caught you!

The girl in front of me nodded, looking rather shy.

"It really was you." I was both annoyed and amused; I really wanted to give her little head a good knock and settle the score properly.

By now, the classroom had quieted down again, and Nagai returned to the podium to resume the lecture. Seeing her still gazing at me eagerly, I could only make small talk. "Did the rest of your training go smoothly?"

"Very smoothly! After you left, I went from Number Four to Number One, and now I'm the big sister of the group!" Her eyes sparkled, a look of expectation for praise on her face.

"That's amazing." I smiled and patted her head to smooth her hair.

"Right, I haven't introduced myself yet..." She seemed to enjoy the gesture, pulled over a notebook, wrote something down earnestly, and slid it over for me to see.

"My name is Uchiha Aoi."

The 'Aoi' of sunflower, the 'Star' of stars.

Sunflowers were my favorite flower in my past life, and stars represented hope and the morning light.

I instinctively felt a fondness for her.

"Akatsuki, where did you go afterward? I waited for a long time, but you never came back..." She muttered, pouting her little lips, her chin resting on the desk, her eyes blinking with grievance like a cute puppy. "That fire was so big, you weren't hurt, were you?"

"No, no... I'm really sorry, I scared you all."

Thinking of the mess I had caused, I felt a bit awkward. The image of the fire in the underground training ground played in my mind, and my heart gave a small jump.

"Without you, I almost couldn't keep going..."

"What?" I hadn't caught her mumbling.

Realizing she had said the wrong thing, Uchiha Aoi's face turned red at lightning speed, all the way to her ears. She shook her head frantically, insisting it was nothing.

Confused by her complex series of actions and not knowing what to say, I was relieved when Nagai's voice grew louder, breaking the awkwardness.

As a student, it was impolite to chat during class, so I leaned toward her ear and whispered, "Let's talk about it after class."

My warm breath brushed against her ear, making her heart soften. Uchiha Aoi nodded stiffly, picked up her pen stiffly, and began to write stiffly—in short, she remained stiff for the entire lesson.

I opened a new book and began to read. A glance was enough to see that the content was familiar, already etched into my brain. Losing interest, I rummaged through the pile of books for something new, eventually finding a textbook on cultural studies, covering arithmetic and geometry, somewhat like the junior high math problems from my past life.

It had been a long time since I'd seen such books, so I became interested, opened a draft paper, and started calculating. I calculated until the end of class, having already flipped through a third of the book.

"Akatsuki-kun, let's go have lunch!"

As soon as class ended, Aoi grabbed my hand and pulled me from my seat, looking delighted.

"There's taiyaki today!"

"Alright." I smiled and held her hand back.

How could I refuse such a wonderful thing as eating?

The moment her hand was held, Uchiha Aoi felt a wave of sweet dizziness wash over her. She glanced secretly at our joined hands and turned red beyond measure. Instantly, she transformed from a puppy into a shy little puppy, keeping her head down in silence and letting me lead her along.

"Hey, look at that monster!" A familiar, arrogant voice came from behind. I didn't stop or pay any mind. Aoi, however, reacted and was about to turn back to argue, but I pulled her along.

"Don't mind him." I squeezed her hand and picked up the pace.

"Look, the monster is holding the ugly girl, hahahahaha~" A chorus of mockery erupted behind us. I frowned, stopped, and looked at Aoi.

She was trembling with anger, her thin shoulders hunched, her hair fluttering like a bristling hedgehog.

In truth, Aoi wasn't ugly; she was actually quite cute, just a bit round-cheeked. But the malice of children is often groundless, and their words are all the more vicious, piercing straight to the heart.

Kusama Shigeo walked over, surrounded by a crowd, and stood proudly before us. He raised his voice: "Uchiha Aoi, Uchiha Akatsuki, an ugly girl with a monster—truly fitting for the same clan!" He reached out to grab Aoi's hair, but I caught his wrist and squeezed it firmly.

Amidst his scream of pain, I said to Aoi, "Go wait for me downstairs, I'll handle this for you."

Aoi's pupils constricted, her face full of worry. She didn't know what to do, but she wouldn't let go of my hand.

"You go first, I'll find you soon." The crowd was already in an uproar; I shoved Kuixing aside and dodged an elbow strike from the first kid. Kusama Shigeo grabbed my arm in a fit of rage, let out a thunderous shout, and with a sudden burst of strength, swung me right off my feet!

I used his momentum to carve a graceful arc through the air, tensed my lower abdomen, and delivered a fierce kick that sent him skidding all the way to the base of the wall before he finally stopped.

I landed lightly, stretched the muscles in my back, formed a seal with one hand, and said coldly, "Who's next?"

Since the provocation had already begun, this fight had to happen. A great man once said, "One punch to avoid a hundred." The same principle applies in every world.

The children looked at one another, then one by one, their faces twisted into snarls as they charged forward with grim determination! A battle erupted right there in the third-floor hallway!

I ducked to avoid a sweeping kick, flipped backward, and darted left and right through the crowd. My eyes were slightly narrowed, pupils flickering as I observed, my hands and feet never stopping. One moment I was leaping onto a windowsill, the next I was stepping off the wall, relying entirely on taijutsu to take them down one by one.

My moves had no flair; they were purely designed to knock them down so I could go eat fresh, hot taiyaki with Kuixing—nothing more, nothing less.

The mere thought of taiyaki made my movements even faster. I was practically dancing through the crowd, drawing gasps of shock from the onlookers.

See that? The new generation of the Battlefield Rose has arrived, hahahahaha!!

Under such an onslaught, the children, who had absolutely no combat experience, fell one after another.

It wasn't as if I hadn't taken any hits, but this level of group brawl was child's play compared to the special training I had endured before; even taking a blow or two didn't matter.

Accompanied by screams and a continuous series of vibrations and loud bangs, people from many classrooms poked their heads out, curious, and began to walk over to watch. I had laid out a whole swath of kids, hitting only their pressure points. The ribs, the stomach, the side of the neck... I didn't cause permanent injury, but I made it impossible for them to stand back up. A clearing gradually formed around me; the gruesome sight soon terrified those nearby, who dared not move, staring at me in horror and trembling.

I moved forward, blood sliding down my face. The remaining stragglers completely lost their nerve and vanished in an instant, revealing Kusama Shigeo at the very back, his face pale with panic and despair.

I didn't waste words, flashed over in an instant, and greeted his face with a punch. Two streaks of blood sprayed from Kusama Shigeo's nose as his eyes rolled back and he collapsed with a crash.

After finishing him off, I braced my hands on my knees to catch my breath, spat out a mouthful of blood, grabbed Kusama Shigeo by the collar, dragged him into the restroom, and dumped him on the floor. Finally, I turned back to close the door, shutting out all prying eyes.

Hmph! You wanted to bully me? Try again in your next life!