Justice Kick

Uchida's final message pushed the heavy atmosphere to its limit.

Almost everyone could imagine Uchida being trampled beneath Ishikawa's feet, struggling to rise again and again, only to be stomped back to the ground each time.

Yet he had still tried his best to reach for that phone. He had wanted to tell his bully:

"I forgive you."

He had clearly forgiven Ishikawa. He had even naively believed that a bully like him might still turn over a new leaf.

But Ishikawa had still murdered Uchida in an exceptionally cruel manner.

At the thought of it, everyone present seemed to be suffering alongside Uchida, who had struggled and died in despair, unable to breathe from the pain.

"To lay hands on such a kind child..."

"This Ishikawa is simply a demon!"

His evil deeds stirred public outrage, and hateful cries rose from the crowd:

"He deserves the death penalty!"

"That's right! We absolutely can't let trash like this return to society!"

"Die, murderer!"

"Scumbag!"

"Hey, hey... How does he still have the nerve to be alive?"

"Breathing the same air as him makes me sick!"

"..."

Curses rose and fell one after another.

It was as though invisible flames were blazing through the air.

And Ishikawa, who had stood stiffly and silently after mentally collapsing, finally reacted.

Hearing those utterly vicious insults, he finally realized, belatedly, that his own life was about to be completely ruined as well.

This ruin did not refer to prison time, but to being isolated and bullied by all of society.

Yes, although bullying was universally recognized as evil, Japanese society had a peculiar tendency to collectively bully bullies.

Especially murderers like Ishikawa, whose methods were vicious, who had provoked public outrage, and whose crimes had caused terrible social repercussions...

Once the media exposed him and whipped up enough attention, indignant members of the public would immediately flock to his home to throw stones, spray graffiti, send threatening letters, and stuff animal carcasses inside.

The parents, wife, and children of a murderer would be looked down upon, isolated, and even violently abused for a very long time.

After all, as a murderer's family, even if some complete stranger acting as a "champion of justice" inexplicably beat them up, they could only endure it obediently, treating it as atonement for their relative's sins.

"No... No, I can't..."

Ishikawa did not care much about what his family might suffer because of him.

What he feared was that, after provoking public outrage and becoming infamous, he would receive "special treatment" both in prison and in society.

Going from bully to bullied in an instant, Ishikawa could not accept such a terrifying reality.

"Ishikawa, come with us."

At that moment, the officers surrounded him with handcuffs in hand.

The case had already been thoroughly solved, and Ishikawa had confessed in public. It was about time to take him back for questioning.

But Ishikawa completely broke down at that moment.

"No, I don't want to go in!"

"I don't want to go to prison!"

The stone-faced officers paid no attention at all to Ishikawa's madness.

The Japanese police had already been reduced to handling arrests and cleanup. How could they possibly go easy on him at this stage?

"Don't come over!"

"Don't come over here!!"

Ishikawa's expression became utterly crazed.

It was as though the last string in his mind had completely snapped.

At that moment, like a vicious dog driven into a dead end, he turned around and began to make a desperate escape.

"Oh?"

Seeing Ishikawa suddenly turn and flee, Lin Xinyi's eyes lit up.

He happened to be standing directly in Ishikawa's frantic path, becoming the first obstacle in his escape route.

So, without hesitation...

Lin Xinyi stepped aside and cleared the way.

He had been hoping Ishikawa would run. The harder he ran, the better.

After all, there was another police blockade behind him, and beyond it stood a huge crowd of onlookers.

If Ishikawa ran through there like a madman...

He would either be forcibly stopped by the officers and earn himself a few extra charges for resisting arrest and assaulting police.

Or he would be blocked by the crowd, then beaten until he could no longer take care of himself by the enraged public.

From Lin Xinyi's perspective, he was hoping for the latter, and the worse it got, the better.

So, just like that...

Lin Xinyi stepped aside, and Ishikawa swiftly darted past him, fleeing forward with bloodshot eyes.

Lin Xinyi turned around with the motion.

And as soon as he turned, he saw...

"Miyano!"

Lin Xinyi's expression changed.

Miss Miyano, the one he was supposed to protect, had somehow ended up standing behind him.

He had cleared the path for Ishikawa, which meant the obstacle directly in Ishikawa's way was Miyano Shiho.

"Miyano, move!"

Lin Xinyi called out a warning instinctively.

But Miyano Shiho seemed frozen in place, still standing in front of Ishikawa, who had already lost control of himself.

Unable to do anything else, Lin Xinyi could only give up on luring Ishikawa into getting himself killed and move to stop him himself.

"Get back here!"

Lin Xinyi leaped forward, moving far faster than Ishikawa.

With almost no suspense, Lin Xinyi seized Ishikawa by the collar from behind with one hand.

He yanked the collar back with his left hand while driving his right palm into Ishikawa's lower back, knocking his center of gravity off balance and sending him uncontrollably backward.

But Lin Xinyi did not simply let Ishikawa fall to the ground.

He stepped forward past him and reached out with one hand, catching Ishikawa by the neck as he fell backward.

His muscles tightened, his wrist flicked, and a deft force traveled from his palm into Ishikawa's neck.

Ishikawa's neck twisted, and his entire head smashed uncontrollably into the wall beside him.

Bang!

His brain made intimate contact with the wall, and blood slowly seeped from the torn skin.

The entire sequence flowed like water, smooth and concise, with a pure aesthetic of violence.

But Lin Xinyi had actually held back on purpose.

On one hand, he hoped Ishikawa would get back up and do something even more suicidal. On the other, he did not want to hit too hard and bring trouble upon himself.

Otherwise, if he had used his full strength just then, even if this guy survived, he would spend the rest of his life as a vegetable.

But now, because Lin Xinyi had deliberately held back, Ishikawa had suffered only minor injuries.

He clutched his injured head and shakily rose to his feet, his face filled with madness and viciousness.

"D-Damn it!"

"I'm leaving! Don't any of you stop me!"

As he spoke, Ishikawa actually pulled a Switchblade from his pocket.

He pressed the mechanism, flicking out the blade, and assumed the appearance of a madman ready to take someone down with him.

"This..."

Instead of feeling relieved by his opponent's increasingly self-destructive behavior, Lin Xinyi felt a faint sense of concern.

Damn, this little bastard...

Suddenly shouting, running away, and now waving a knife around...

Was he deliberately pretending to be crazy so he could angle for an insanity defense?

Lin Xinyi could not quite tell.

Meanwhile, Ishikawa continued waving the blade wildly. It was impossible to tell whether he was truly insane or only faking it.

"Enough!"

Just as the officers nervously prepared to respond, a seemingly delicate figure suddenly rushed forward.

It was Mouri Ran.

She had endured enough for far too long.

At that moment, the anger she had suppressed for so long finally erupted completely.

Fearlessly, she charged straight at Ishikawa's blade, moving as fast as a flash of lightning.

The blade was completely useless against that "phantom."

Mouri Ran launched a flying kick, her slender leg whipping up a fierce gust through the air.

Before anyone could even see how her skirt had danced in that wind and fallen back down, Ishikawa took a kick squarely in the chest and crashed into the wall behind him like a cannonball.

"Hiss..."

Everyone sucked in a breath and looked closely.

Half of Ishikawa's body had been embedded in the wall, leaving half of the wall caved in with him.

His relationship with that wall had become even more intimate: he was in it, and it was in him.

That kick had probably taken half his life.

"This..."

Inspector Megure wore an awkward expression, completely unsure what to say.

But Mouri Ran fearlessly turned around, her expression calm as she said:

"He used a knife just now, and he was mentally unstable."

"If I hadn't acted in Self-Defense in time, he might have killed me."

"Uh..."

Inspector Megure's expression remained subtle.

A madman holding a knife was certainly dangerous... but he did not seem to have reached the point where she needed to "defend" herself.

"I'm still a minor."

"If it comes down to it, my mother will help me fight the lawsuit."

Mouri Ran stated this with clear logic.

Clearly, she had mentally prepared herself before acting this time—she had been determined to beat him up even if it landed her in court.

"Cough, cough..."

Inspector Megure coughed twice and said with a stern face:

"Uh, yes."

"Ran was nearly endangered by that armed criminal just now, so it was perfectly normal for her to act in self-defense."

"Everyone saw that, right?"

"We saw it, we saw it!"

"That criminal actually pulled a knife on such a delicate girl. It was far too dangerous!"

The crowd and officers nodded together, joining hands to build solidarity between police and civilians.

The atmosphere was harmonious everywhere. Aside from Ishikawa still being embedded in the wall, the scene was filled with laughter and cheer.