Chapter 4 (1/2)

K R:B by Azano Kouhei

4 (extract, pages 104-111)

†

It had been a while since Yata last felt such anger and hatred.

The pain of being betrayed by those he trusted. The sensation of his back being left wide open even though it was supposed to be protected. The filthy real nature of people he believed to be his comrades.

“P-Please spare me! It was Yamata who started it all! We just went along with his plans! I-It’s not like we had any choice, y'know?! We’d’ve been shunned if we didn’t agree!”

One of the new members was bullying the town’s hoodlum by showing off a tiny flame, and Yata, unable to stomach it, applied his fist to the guy’s mug once, and now the guy was groveling before him, crying miserably. Even though Yata felt sick of that pathetic reaction and of himself for making the guy into such a disgraceful mess, the angry seething in the pit of his stomach just wouldn’t quell.

He couldn’t believe that this human trash was able to pa.s.s Suoh’s installation. He absolutely couldn’t stand the fact that a guy like that belonged with Homura. The anger that the sc.u.mbag in front of him really was a member of his beloved team was making him dizzy.

The backstreet was flooded with the scalding heat of the sun. The hot asphalt beneath his feet scorched the soles of his sandals. Sweat clung to his skin unpleasantly on the whole length of his body and was impossible to get rid of no matter how many times he wiped it off. His emotions, unchecked, were heating up.

The emotions that Yata didn’t usually feel. An irritating upsurge.

However…

“That’s enough.” As if a waft of icy air from the North Pole, his partner’s voice cooled Yata’s fever instantly. Fus.h.i.+mi, who squeezed himself into the small shadow cast by the wall, continued listlessly, “He’s not the only one anyway. I told ya, didn’t I? There’s lots of guys like him.”

Listening to Fus.h.i.+mi’s words with his back still turned to him, Yata kept glaring at the Homura newbie. Fists clenched as hard he could, he made his emotions, still dangerously close to overflowing, subside slowly.

This douchbag said he was a stooge of the member named Yamata Daichi. He was older than Yata and Fus.h.i.+mi. It seemed only natural that he would be, but actually, he was only a little taller than them, while being rail thin. It was also clear that he wasn’t used to fighting, and just one punch made him lose all his fighting spirit - no, even worse: any will to oppose and resist he might have had disappeared without a trace. Of course, he was probably aware of Yata’s fame as the Homura vanguard, but the main reason was simpler: he was subjected to “pain” and now cowered in fear at the prospect of more.

Despite being insensitive to others’ pain and having no problem hurting them, he was oversensitive to his own and immediately became servile without so much as considering fighting back. The exact type Yata hated the most.

But what he couldn’t forgive even more was that the guy brandished Homura’s and Suoh Mikoto’s name, using them for his own petty greed.

According to Fus.h.i.+mi, this guy, together with Yamata and his clique, made a “pa.s.s” at the foreign mafia that Homura crushed the other day. Moreover, what they offered was to help the mafia in their drug business. In other words, they demanded their share in the mafia’s profit in exchange for peddling their drugs on the territory of s.h.i.+zume town.

For a strait-laced tough guy like Yata, that alone was already an unforgivable sin, making him itch to fix such guys’ rotten character by giving them a good thras.h.i.+ng, no further questions asked.

But what infuriated Yata the most was that when negotiating with the mafia the f.u.c.kers apparently lied, declaring, “This is the demand of Homura and Suoh Mikoto.”

When Yata heard that from Fus.h.i.+mi, he couldn’t stay put and rushed to the streets. Going from one Homura member to another, he questioned them about Yamata and his group’s whereabouts, until finally he found the first guy who knew something - that is, this guy.

“Doncha dare swindle Mikoto-san, you sc.u.m…” he growled with magma swas.h.i.+ng in his glare, and the guy plopped down on his behind, shuddering violently and shrinking away from Yata.

To Yata, Homura and Suoh were special. Homura was his team, the clan he belonged to and his precious home; Suoh to him was more than simply the leader and king, he was the object of Yata’s awe and adoration.

For better or for worse, Yata was pure, but awkward and rough around the edges, which sometimes resulted in him getting on the bad side of people around him. He was just a brat who hanged out with Fus.h.i.+mi and regarded the world with hostility. He was aware of that.

But Homura and Suoh gave even someone like him comrades to trust and irreplaceable honor to take pride in. Compared to that, becoming a supernatural power weilder was nothing more than a side benefit to him. Yata loved Homura and his comrades and was willing to put his life on the line for Suoh without any hesitation. He wished to contribute to Homura more than anyone and be of use to Suoh. That was what became Yata’s pride and joy.

If someone looked down on, dirtied or tried to harm the two things he held so precious to him, there was no way he could let it slide.

To say nothing of when Homura and Suoh were made fools of by the fellow Homura clansmen, like this time. Their misuse of the power Suoh granted them and Homura’s name was the same as making fun of all the other members. It was inexcusable.

“…f.u.c.k!”