Chapter 28: Do You Like Tailing? 5

Whether Sakurai and Mizushiro were actually on a date or not — in the end, no solid evidence emerged to prove it wasn’t.

Sakurai had bought something else besides the hairpin, but it was impossible to tell whether it was a present for his little sister.

Akaishi and Hachiya continued tailing them, but there were no further suspicious actions after that.

“It definitely was a date today……”

Hachiya’s porcelain-white skin grew even paler as she visibly sank into depression.

Even Akaishi, who had been convinced it wasn’t a date, gradually began to feel uneasy, wondering if his prediction had been wrong.

He had been almost certain it was about choosing a birthday present for the little sister, but Hachiya’s anxiety spread to him as well.

Hachiya peeked out from the alleyway, spying on Sakurai and Mizushiro.

Akaishi left the surveillance of Sakurai to her and stayed behind her in a standby position. The alley was dark and cluttered with obstacles and trash — a far cry from the typical romantic-comedy tailing one would expect.

“Hey, kid.”

While Akaishi was idly imagining the birth of the world’s strongest fighter, a voice called out to him.

Startled by the sudden voice, Akaishi froze, then slowly turned toward the source.

There stood five men. Their appearance was clearly thuggish, radiating an aura that screamed “stay away.” They were what people commonly called delinquents.

“What a coincidence running into you in a back alley like this, kid. What’re you doing in a place like this?”

Perhaps because the alley was dim, the delinquents hadn’t noticed Hachiya. She was hiding behind garbage and a large outdoor AC unit behind Akaishi. Akaishi had deliberately positioned her there in anticipation of something like this.

Completely absorbed in watching Sakurai and with the garbage bags acting as a sound barrier, Hachiya remained unaware of Akaishi’s situation.

“Hey kid, we’re a bit short on cash right now. How about you hand over your wallet? If you do, we won’t hurt you. You know what happens if you don’t, right?”

One of the delinquents pulled out a blade from his waist.

“We’re pretty well-known around here. C’mon, hand over the cash.”

The man holding an iron pipe approached Akaishi with a threatening voice.

Akaishi stood his ground resolutely against the delinquents.

“Don’t fuck with me. I’m with a girl right now.”

“Hah!?”

The delinquents finally noticed Hachiya hiding.

“This her!?”

“Kyaa! W-what!?”

One man grabbed Hachiya’s arm and slammed her slender body against the wall.

“Ah……!”

Hachiya let out a pained, choking cry.

Apparently aroused by the sight, the man brought his fingers close to her face and pinched her cheek with one hand.

“Nn…………”

“Now that I look, she’s got a pretty good face. Hey kid, I’ll settle for this one.”

“S-stop…… let go!”

The man grabbed Hachiya’s wrist and tried to drag her away.

—However,

“…………Hey.”

“Huh?”

Akaishi grabbed the man’s arm.

“Don’t put your hands on a girl, you bastard!”

“Guboh!”

Akaishi swung his arm and punched the man square in the face with full force.

The man released Hachiya from the shock and she ran toward Akaishi.

“Y-you…… don’t fuck with us!”

The punched man charged at Akaishi, but Akaishi tripped his leg, sending him face-first into the ground.

“Surround him!”

The man with the knife gave the order, and in an instant Akaishi was surrounded by four men.

“Oraaah!”

The knife-wielding man rushed at Akaishi.

Akaishi held up his backpack, and the knife sank deep into it.

“Wha……!”

Taking advantage of the man’s momentary shock, Akaishi shoved him backward along with the backpack. The man staggered, tripped over the fallen delinquent, and slammed his head into the ground, knocking him out.

“Don’t fuck with us!”

“Don’t underestimate us!”

The men swung an iron pipe at Akaishi. He dodged it by a hair’s breadth.

“Tch! Slippery little shit!”

The man swung the pipe with all his strength, but his aim was off.

While continuously dodging the iron pipe, Akaishi had also calculated the positions of the other men. As he ducked under the pipe, it flew straight into the man diagonally opposite him.

“Gah……”

“Shit!”

The psychological shock of hitting his own ally momentarily stunned the man. Akaishi didn’t miss the opening.

He kicked the man’s hand, sending the iron pipe flying. Then he tripped the now-unarmed and mentally shaken man.

“Your footing’s wide open.”

“Aaah!”

The man crashed onto his back with full force, his face twisted in pain.

“Hey……………”

After taking down three of the five men, Akaishi turned toward the voice.

“Help me…… Akaishi……”

The man with the knife and the one who had been hit in the face with the iron pipe were holding Hachiya hostage.

“You bastards…………”

“You’ve really done it now, brat.”

“Hey, don’t move.”

The man next to Hachiya pulled out a knife and slowly approached Akaishi.

“Kh…………”

“Now then, it’s time for the dissection show!”

With a sticky grin, the man raised the knife. It came swinging down in a trajectory aimed straight at Akaishi’s skull.

“Akaishi——————!”

Just as Hachiya’s scream echoed through the alley,

Thud.

A sharp sound like something slicing through the wind struck Hachiya’s eardrums.

“Gyaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!”

When Hachiya turned around, the nose of the man who had been holding the knife to her throat was bent at a grotesque angle.

She was momentarily stunned, but quickly became worried about Akaishi.

“Akaishi……!”

“…………”

Akaishi was unharmed.

“Aaaaaah, it hurts, it hurts Mom……”

At Akaishi’s feet, a man was rolling on the ground clutching his hand.

“Eh………… what just happened…………”

As Hachiya stood there in a daze, Akaishi ran over to her.

“Explanations later, run!”

“Eh……!”

Akaishi grabbed Hachiya’s hand and started sprinting.

“Wait…… what the hell just happened!?”

Hachiya pressed him for an explanation of the sudden reversal.

“When that guy swung the knife down, I kicked a fairly large stone at my feet. It hit the guy behind you.”

“So that sound was you……”

Hachiya finally connected the sound she heard by her ear with the man whose nose had been broken.

“Then the guy rolling on the ground……”

“I twisted three of his finger joints right as the knife was coming down. Oh, but only after I saw the guy behind you collapse, okay?”

“A………… Akaishi…………”

“Well… I didn’t get out completely unscathed, though?”

Akaishi showed her the backpack with a hole in it and smiled awkwardly.

Hachiya had witnessed Akaishi’s hidden abilities with her own eyes.

When Hachiya was in danger, Akaishi had displayed power he didn’t even know he possessed. He was strong enough in fights to take on five delinquents without sustaining any serious injuries.

“Thank you……”

Tears welled up in Hachiya’s eyes as she looked at Akaishi.

Her gaze was filled with affection.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, and at that moment, Hachiya realized it.

Ah………… I like Akaishi. I really, really like him.

She felt an unbelievable amount of love toward Akaishi, who had saved her from danger.

She reflected on her own mistake and felt embarrassed, realizing that the boy she truly liked had been Akaishi all along.

Looking at her hand, which was still being held by him, Hachiya felt like she would melt from embarrassment.

“Akaishi…………”

“What?”

“…Never mind, it’s nothing.”

While fully aware that her love for Akaishi had grown stronger, Hachiya ran through the night streets.

—Such a thing did not happen. It could not have happened.

An illusion, a delusion, an imagination, a fantasy, a fleeting dramatic scene. An impossible future.

It was nothing more than a deception.

A powerless guy suddenly getting attacked by five delinquents and saving the heroine unscathed.

The heroine then developing strong feelings of affection for the man who saved her from danger.

There was no way something like that could happen.

Just because he was thinking of the heroine didn’t mean he could suddenly display power far beyond his own abilities, nor could he defeat five delinquents bare-handed.

Such a convenient, rom-com-like development never occurred.

Chapter 28_ Do You Like Tailing