Academy SP 〜An Ex-Mercenary Reincarnated as a Mob in a Gal Game. I Ditched My Bodyguard Job to Enjoy High School Life, but When the Ultra-Rich Heroines Were About to Get Killed, I Stepped In… and Somehow Built a Harem Powerful Enough to Control Japan〜 - Chapter 38, 39 & 40

Chapter 38

Side: Ririko

Of course—Hirota intended to do the same thing to Takahashi-kun that he’d done to Isoyama-kun.

There was no doubt about it.

But having it thrown back at him so casually—
And worse, hearing it said out loud by Takahashi-kun himself—
That was something he had clearly never expected.

At that moment, shaken by surprise, the pressure in his joint lock loosened for just an instant.

“What… what are you talking about…?”

“Hey, hey. You’re the so-called strongest guy in real street fights, right? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of tapping out like this is some kind of match. That soft, pampered mindset? That’s for dojo princesses.”

“You bastard—!”

Hirota had absolute confidence in himself, forged through real street fights.
To him, fighters who only trained in dojos were weaklings.
He looked down on them, mocked them, and clearly enjoyed doing so.

That was exactly why—
Takahashi-kun’s words must have sounded to Hirota like he was being called a coward.

The very next moment, Hirota’s face turned bright red, like an instant-boil kettle.
It even looked like steam was about to pour out.

“I’ll snap your arm clean in half!! I’ll make it crack real nice!!”

—This was bad. This was reckless, Takahashi-kun.
What could you even do in that state?

At this rate… your arm really was going to be broken…!

“BON!!”

That sound again.

The same signal he used when he broke Isoyama-kun’s arm…

“…!!”

Unable to bear the sight, I turned my eyes away.

Takahashi-kun…!

“GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!?”

A scream tore through the air.

My eyes burned, tears spilling out before I could stop them…

But—

Something was wrong.

That scream…

That wasn’t Takahashi-kun.

This was… Hirota’s voice?

—No way.

I hated seeing someone get hurt like this, but I forced myself to look.

And what I saw—

Was far worse than anything I’d imagined.

“GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! Y-You bastardtttt!! You bastaaaard!! My leg… my leggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!!”

The man who should’ve been winning… was now rolling around on the ground in agony.

His left leg was a mess.

This wasn’t some shallow wound.

Blood was spraying out violently, like water from a ruptured pipe, soaking his uniform pants a deep, horrifying red.

—What…?

How did things flip like this in a single moment…?

What did Takahashi-kun even do…?

I looked at him—

And my blood ran cold.

His mouth was completely stained red.

Not just a split lip. 

Not just blood from the nose.

It was smeared thickly, unmistakably.

And then—

Something was still in his mouth…

Something—

It took a second for my brain to catch up.

Because of the armbar…

Hirota’s calf would’ve been right next to Takahashi-kun’s face.

So—

Takahashi-kun lifted his head and bit straight into Hirota’s exposed calf.

He bit it off.

That was why there was so much blood.

So much…

“Peh!”

Takahashi-kun spat the chunk of flesh onto the floor.

It landed with a wet slap, leaving behind a dark red smear.

He wiped his mouth with his sleeve—

And without losing that smile, he let out a low, satisfied breath.

“Kukuku…”

That was when I saw it.

For the first time—

Hirota’s face twisted into pure, undeniable fear.

“H-Hii…!”

Honestly… yeah.

Even though he was saving me—

At that moment, Takahashi-kun didn’t look human anymore.

He looked like a monster that had just tasted fresh blood.

“What’s wrong? This is street fighting too, right? Your leg’s already soaked in blood, so why’s your face gone completely pale? Kukuku…”

“Guh…! D-Don’t screw with me… T-This… this kind of thing…!”

“What, gonna call it dirty? Figures. You’re still thinking way too small.”

“W-What did you just say…!?”

Takahashi-kun stood up slowly.

“From the moment you started bragging about your street fight record, I was already fed up. You don’t understand the true nature of fighting at all.”

“T-The… true nature of fighting…?”

Then, looking down at Hirota, he continued.

“Knocking someone out. Hurting them. Crushing their spirit. That’s enough for most people. But without realizing it, you set your own comfy rules and called that ‘street fighting.’ With resolve that shallow, you think you’ve really fought? —You’re half-baked, that’s what you are.”

“Wha—!”

“I’ll teach you. The essence of fighting is way simpler than that.”

And then—

Only his final words stuck in my ears…

“Kill the enemy, and you win.”

Cold. So cold it sent a shiver straight down my spine.

“No matter how much street fighting experience you’ve got, you’ve probably never crossed that line. Killing someone. —And honestly, you’re better off that way.”

The sharp pops of his cracking neck echoed loudly.

“Seriously… I even let you put me in a judo hold. Gave you the perfect chance to snap my arm. And you still let go the second your calf got bitten. If you’re ever serious about fighting, don’t release a hold until the arm’s twisted clean off, idiot.”

One terrifying sentence after another spilled out of his mouth—

Like he was calmly lecturing someone.

“Damn it…! Shit!! SHIIIIIITTTTTT!!”

Hirota staggered upright, screaming like a cornered animal.

But it was obvious.

Fear was stamped all over his face.

No amount of bravado could hide it.

Like bent steel that never quite straightens again—

There was no fight left in him.

It was over.

The difference—

Between Hirota and Takahashi-kun—

Had already been decided.

“Hirota. Sorry, but… your free student trial is over.”

◆◆◆

Thank you so much for reading all the way to here!

Believe it or not, thanks to all of you, this story managed to hit 2nd place for the week in modern drama—and get this, it even reached 1st place for the day (!?).
On top of that, it somehow ranked 6th overall for the day too!?

(Seriously, this was something I threw together in about ten days without even making a proper plot… is that really okay? lol)

Since it’s come this far, I fully intended to write it through to the very end, so please keep supporting me!

(This was my official declaration: this story will not be abandoned!)

And—can you believe it—there are actually supporters for a story like this!?
I’m so happy it’s honestly making me shake… (´;ω;｀)

As a small thank-you, starting today I’ll be doing a “5-chapter early release” service exclusively for supporters!

From now on, supporter-only chapters will be updated about five chapters ahead of the regular release, going up daily around 6:00 PM.
If you haven’t followed me yet, doing so will let you get notifications through the activity notes, so you won’t miss updates—please consider it if you’d like!

Also, I’m currently hard at work on some short stories too, and I’ll let you know as soon as they’re finished!

(To be honest, there are so many “first-time” experiences here that I’m just trying to express my gratitude somehow… is this okay? If you’ve got any requests, I’m open to anything—feel free to say so!)

Once again, thank you so much to everyone who’s been reading!
Please continue to enjoy “Academy SP”!

P.S. Thank you as always for pointing out typos and mistakes!
I’m seriously not using AI at all, so I’m sure more will pop up in the future too… but I’d really appreciate it if you keep letting me know when you find them!

Please continue to enjoy these rough-but-somehow-charming (?) words written by a very human author!!

(Yes, I know—I should proofread better.)

Chapter 39

Side: Yuuji

“W-What… student… trial…!?”

Hirota tore his dress shirt apart and pressed it desperately against the calf I’d bitten into.

I watched him do it and answered casually.

“Yeah. Believe it or not, I was actually feeling a little guilty. I mean—no matter how tough you think you are, beating the crap out of fifteen-year-old kids is still kinda pathetic for an adult, right?”

“What… what the hell are you even saying…!?”

He cinched the torn shirt tight around his leg like a makeshift bandage and forced himself back into a fighting stance.

Well, it’s not like that alone would take him out of the fight.

Sure, I bit a chunk out of him, but most of it was skin and fat.

I’d only shaved off part of the surface muscle.

I’d had my calf pierced clean through by a bullet before.

I’d had my eardrums blown out by an airstrike right in front of me.

I’d taken burns across my back—and still crawled through the dirt, trading gunfire with enemies who dropped in after me.

So honestly?

Watching him freak out over that wound was just annoying.

“T-Takahashi…! Just what… are you…!?”

Oops.
Guess I talked a little too much.

It’d be a pain if he figured out I was a reincarnated former mercenary.

Yeah—let’s just go with the setting of a slightly unhinged high school guy.

“Either way, Hirota—now that the student trial is over, your next schedule is already coming up fast.”

I shifted into my own stance and faced him head-on.

“—It’s punishment time.”

I couldn’t stop the grin creeping onto my face.

It’d been a while since I got to do close combat that felt this close to the real thing, and honestly—I was enjoying it.

“You bastard…!”

He took my smile the wrong way—no, the right way.

A vein bulged at his temple. His face flushed red, like it was about to boil over.

Then—

“UOOOOOOO!!”

He charged straight at me with a roar.

I watched him come and thought, Ah. So that’s the plan.

A full-body tackle.

Pretty one-note, honestly. His tactics weren’t very creative.

Well, to be fair, he was about 180 cm tall, and judging by his build, probably weighed somewhere between 80 and 90 kilos.

Meanwhile, I—background character Yuuji Takahashi—was 175 cm.

Using raw size to bulldoze someone can work in close combat.

“Heh…”

I snorted softly and lowered my stance.

Man, he really underestimated me.

That kind of brute-force move? I could deal with it a dozen different ways.

Guess I’d teach him that lesson myself—right, Hirota-kun?

“Oraa!”

As he came at me with his arms spread wide like a charging bear,

I dropped my center of gravity even lower than his—

And slammed into him head-on.

“W-What!?”

The surprise leaked straight out of his mouth.

My tackle went in before he could fully use his weight advantage—

I caught both his legs cleanly and flipped him over.

“T-That move… a double-leg tackle!? Don’t tell me… you can wrestle too!?”

“Yeah, more or less. Alright—let’s roll.”

After taking his back, I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind and cranked us sideways in one smooth motion.

“C’mon—one! Two! Three! Four! Five!”

“Wha—!? Whoa!? Waaah!?”

The two of us—high school guys and all—rolled across the ground like idiots.

If this were a wrestling match, it’d already be over.

But hey—this wasn’t a match. This was real.

I just wanted him to understand one thing.

How massive the gap between us really was.

“D-Damn it!”

After that, Hirota forcefully shoved himself free.

“Y-You bastard…! Rolling around like that—are you screwing with me!?”

“Eh? What’s wrong with that? It’s kinda fun, isn’t it?”

“Shut up!! I’ll drop you with a shoulder throw and snap your neck!!”

Declaring that, Hirota reached out with his right hand to grab my collar.

I see.

I’d trained in judo myself, and honestly—his movement was pretty solid.

In a proper judo match, I probably wouldn’t win.

But—

In a street fight?

That didn’t matter at all.

“Alrighty then.”

Cracking a casual joke, I slipped past his arm and pinned it under my armpit.

“Wha—!?”

His eyes widened as I spoke.

“I’m pretty good at Greco-Roman style too, you know?”

With that, I locked his arm up tight, wrapped his waist, and hurled him backward.

“B-Back arch throw!?”

His body floated helplessly in the air for a moment—

And I slammed him into the ground without holding back.

“Gahh!?”

Yeah… that definitely hurt.

This wasn’t a wrestling mat—this was hard concrete.

Breathing alone must’ve been a struggle.

“U-UOOOO!!”

And yet—amazingly, Hirota got back up.

Man, I had to give it to him—his guts were something else.

Well, considering how creepily obsessed he was with Ririko, I guess that kind of stubbornness tracked.

“You bastard…! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you for sure!!”

Looks like my little rolling warm-up really got under his skin.

He went for a big move—a spinning back kick.

“If you throw out an attack that wide open… You’re begging to get countered.” 

Heh.

Guess it was time for that again.

I ducked under the kick.

Normally a simple dodge would’ve been enough, but this time I crouched so deep my right hand touched the ground.

There was a reason for that.

Using that momentum and spring—

I kicked his left heel right out from under him.

“T-That move—!?”

He seemed to realize what I was aiming for—but it was already too late.

His jaw was wide open.

My heel shot up from below.

“GRAAAAHHH!!?”

CRACK!!

I heard the sound of teeth breaking.

Blood spilled from his mouth as he was blown backward through the air.

Then, staring at me with wide, shocked eyes…

“T-That just now… C-Capoeira… the half-moon compass kick…!?”

Maybe his brain was rattled from the impact—

He desperately tried to stand, but his body just wouldn’t listen.

Honestly…

I don’t know if he’s just that proud of street fighting or what, but—

This guy really knows his martial arts.

Chapter 40

“Y-You can even use Capoeira!? That Brazilian martial art!?”

Hirota staggered as he forced himself back to his feet.

“Yep. Here—watch this. And this.”

I flowed into Capoeira footwork.

Then, from a sideways stance, I spread my legs wide and spun a full 360 degrees—

Like a helicopter blade slicing the air—the flashy move known as helicóptero.

“So? Pretty smooth, right? Back when Brazil was under Portuguese rule, slaves developed this as disguised combat training. Made it look like dancing so they wouldn’t get punished. Kinda insane, huh?”

“Tch…! Don’t screw with me…! Take this!”

He threw out a straight punch.

But the swing was huge.

In martial arts, mental focus is everything—and right now, he was completely shot.

Well then.

Guess I’d show him a tiny fragment of four thousand years of wisdom.

“Achaa!”

Shouting something suitably dramatic, I leaned my body aside and caught his right fist.

“W-What!?”

In one smooth motion, I slid my left arm up and set it against his neck, instantly putting him in a helpless position.

“T-This is… Tai Chi… Single Whip!?”

“Oh? You really do know your stuff.”

Then you should also know what comes next.

Flowing naturally, I swept his legs out from behind—

And sent him straight down to the ground.

“Whoa!?”

Of course, Hirota’s back slammed into the hard ground once again.

But I wasn’t done.

“Hoooo…!”

I drew in a sharp, focused breath—

“ATAAAAA!!”

Relaxing my arm completely, letting it whip like a rope, I swung—

A palm strike that cracked through the air like a lash—

And smashed it straight into his face.

“GYAAAAAAAH!!”

He rolled on the ground, screaming and clutching his face.

Well, yeah.

I’d scraped his skin pretty good with that one.

In its own way, it was a brutal hit.

“D-Damn it…! That just now… don’t tell me it was… Tongbei Quan!?”

Blood dripped down as he looked up at me, his eyes completely red.

“Correct. Four thousand years of Chinese history—right there. Achaa!”

I said it proudly, but compared to those thousands of years, what I’d learned was barely scratching the surface.

Still, it was more than enough to smack some overconfident kid back into reality.

And yeah—the “Achaa!” shout was totally improvised.

“What the hell are you…!? Chinese martial arts—kung fu too!? Just where did you learn all these fighting styles from around the world… and at that level…!? D-Damn it!!”

Hirota lashed out with a mid-level kick.

“SEIYAA!!”

WHOOSH!

The sound of air being sliced apart rang out as his hard shin came flying toward me.

Alright.

This was getting fun.

This time—

I’d take him head-on.

“Oraa!!”

I fired back with a mid-level kick of my own, refusing to back down.

Our shins collided midair—like blades crashing against each other.

CRACK!!

The sound echoed through the dusty factory, like a massive tree being split apart.

“GRAAAH!?”

This time, it was him who screamed, clutching his shin.

“Y-You idiot…!? That shin’s like solid steel…!? D-Don’t tell me…!”

I wasn’t about to miss that opening.

The instant he lifted his face, I launched myself forward—

I dipped forward for a split second, then released all that stored force like a bowstring snapping loose—

A flying knee strike.

Using one of the hardest parts of the human body—my knee—I drove it straight into his stomach with enough force to bend him backward.

“Guh—!?”

As his body folded into a perfect U shape, I didn’t stop there.

“Oraaa!!”

I smashed my elbow straight down onto the top of his head.

“GAH—!?”

Hirota collapsed on the spot.

But… I had to admit it. He was tough.

His body held up well enough that he was still conscious.

“Ghk… kuh…!”

Still, the forehead I’d hit split wide open, blood pouring down nonstop.

“M-Muay Thai…!? The so-called strongest striking martial art… even that too…!”

Fear crept back into his eyes.

Looks like he finally realized it.

That not only in street fighting—

But even in martial arts—

He wasn’t anywhere close to my level.

“MCMAP… Capoeira… Chinese martial arts… Muay Thai…!? Did you seriously pack martial arts from all over the world into that body…!? Where did you even get that kind of power!?”

“Where… huh.”

Yeah.

That wasn’t something I really wanted to explain right here.

After all, every single one of those was something I’d learned in my previous life.

Well then—

I’d give a little bonus explanation just for you readers.

That said, let me clear one thing up first.

Just because someone’s a mercenary doesn’t mean they magically learn martial arts by stepping onto a battlefield. That’s not how it works.

All of this?

I learned it as a hobby.

I spent five years in the French Foreign Legion, then another ten years as a freelance mercenary in the Middle East.

But it’s not like I was fighting nonstop for all fifteen of those years.

When a ceasefire happened, that period basically became vacation time.

And once an operation ended, the unit would disband.

Even the French Foreign Legion gave out forty-five days of paid leave a year.

Surprisingly, there was a lot of free time.

Now, what did most guys do with that precious time off?

Drinking, women, gambling—burning through money and time like idiots.

But me?

I went and took martial arts lessons.

In America, I trained MCMAP.
In Brazil, Capoeira.
In China, of course, Chinese martial arts.
Muay Thai? Learned that in Thailand.

I was dead serious about it.

I wanted to master martial arts from all over the world and become the strongest man alive—even barehanded.

That habit started back when I was in the French Foreign Legion,

And it never changed during my mercenary days in the Middle East either.

Man, thinking back on it now—

I’d jump to the nearest country from wherever I was stationed, train my body and skills nonstop, and the moment my leave ended, I’d head straight back to the battlefield without a second’s rest.

Those were the days!

Nahahahahahahahahahaha!!

—Seriously though… what the hell was I even aiming for in my previous life…?

No girlfriend.
Spending even my days off training martial arts and working out.

That’s way past “battle junkie”—that’s a full-on combat race or something.

Only after dying did I finally realize just how insane my life had been.

And now…

Even though I was literally in the middle of fighting Hirota, I suddenly felt empty inside.

I mean, come on—

This was my second life, and it was still nothing but fighting.

I hadn’t enjoyed my youth at all!