I sent the photos to Yaduru, switched my phone to video mode, and started recording the thugs I had no desire to keep in my storage, along with the injured Teruo-san lying at their feet.

Teruo-san looked up at me as well.

His long, curly white hair was a mess.

His trademark red cap had fallen off and been crushed flat underfoot.

It looked like the inside of his mouth had been cut too, because blood was running from his lips.

Even now, as painful groans escaped him, there was somehow still a smile on his face.

Then he weakly raised two fingers in a peace sign.

Why?

Was that some kind of automatic response from being photographed so often by high school girls who loved unusual creatures?

Or was he trying to cheer me on?

Well…

Maybe.

Or perhaps he was trying to say that he was fine and asking me to show these guys at least a little mercy.

That wouldn’t be surprising.

Teruo-san was just that kindhearted.

Yeah…

That had to be it.

Kindness for these irredeemable punks.

But holding up two fingers like that was the V for victory.

That was the Marines’ victory sign after they won at Iwo Jima, Teruo-san.

Peace born from bloodshed.

And the Japanese forces were wiped out.

“What the h*ll’re ya doin’, brat?!”

The taller thug stepped forward with an angry shrug of his shoulders.

He wore a black shirt embroidered with a magnificent silver dragon.

“You wanna go?! Huh?! You little piece of sh*t!”

The other one, who spoke with a slight Kansai accent, glared at me from behind him.

He was heavily built, wearing a flashy Hawaiian shirt, a gold necklace, and what looked like a Rolex on his wrist.

He looked exactly like the type.

Still…

Listening to their lines…

“They’re way too cliché…”

“Huh?!”

Neither of them came at me yet.

They were sizing me up first.

Don’t worry.

You can relax.

I’m incredibly weak.

Which meant there was only one thing a weakling like me could do.

Borrow the authority of the law.

“I’ve got video evidence of assault.”

“I think I’ll go call the police now.”

“The hll’d you say, you little sht?! You think you’re funny?!”

The second thug’s narrow, sleepy-looking eyes flew open.

They were still narrow.

And still terrifying.

“Don’t screw with us, you little bastard!”

The first thug slowly stepped toward me.

I matched him with a slow step backward.

Good.

Good.

I’d successfully drawn their aggro.

Still…

There was one thing I’d been thinking this whole time.

“Your vocabulary is so poor it’s honestly hilarious.”

“What’d you say?!”

Now!

Time to run with everything I’ve got!!

I spun on my heel and bolted.

“Hey! Get back here, you brat!”

It was the oldest line in the book.

But nobody ever stopped just because someone shouted, “Stop!”

The whole situation was so ridiculously cliché it felt like something straight out of a comic.

Reality really wasn’t all that different, I thought with a wry smile.

That said…

If they caught me, it was game over.

I had to become a gust of wind racing through Kabukicho—

No.

I absolutely had to.