I Just Wanted a Peaceful Life After Transferring, but I Fell into a Rom-Com Trap and a Hidden Battlefield No One Knows About

Chapter 02: Collision in the Train

“Hah? You didn’t bring it? You got a death wish, you bastard!?”

I was standing in front of Nakano and the others, reading a manga on my phone… when suddenly, a loud shout echoed from the area near the doors connecting the train cars.

Instinctively, I looked up and turned toward the voice—there, a boy was sprawled on the floor after being punched by another guy.

Oi, oi, what the hell is this? Some yankee bullying a weaker guy?

“If you don’t have it, how do you plan to pay us back, huh? Oh, I know! We just started learning karate recently. You can be our punching bag!”

With those words, several guys started closing in on the kid lying on the floor.

Seriously? Bullying someone in a place as public as a train? Just how full of themselves are delinquents these days?

“Hey, I don’t know what happened, but if you all gang up on one guy like this, you’re seriously gonna kill him!”

I stepped in and planted myself firmly between the yankees and their victim.

The team may have disbanded, but the whole reason I formed it in the first place was to protect the weak. There was no way I could just ignore this.

But the moment I stepped in, one of them shoved me back and, with an obnoxiously arrogant smirk, sneered at me.

“Hah? What the hell did you just say? Stay outta this, dumbass. You wanna get beaten too?”

His voice was rough, and his attitude pissed me off to no end.

For a second, I clenched my fist, seriously considering punching him in the face—but hold on, this is a train! Violence is a no-go!

If I wanna keep my no-fighting policy intact, I need to handle this calmly.

Maybe I can scare them off with just words? Yeah, that should work… right? Right!? Please let it work.

Alright, here goes nothing!

“Oi, what the hell are you acting all high and mighty for? I don’t know what’s going on here, but if you lay another hand on him, you won’t get off easy!”

“Hah?”

“Just get lost before I get serious and knock you out! I’m the strongest fighter there is!”

Yeah, that should do it! If I keep my words strong, I should be able to intimidate them and get out of this without a fight. I just need to act like I own the place.

—Or so I thought, but… it didn’t seem to be working?

“Bwahahaha!”

“Oi, oi, is this guy crazy or what? Hahahaha!”

“One punch from us and he’d be done for!”

Instead of intimidating them, my words became the joke of the train car. Their laughter echoed around me.

…Do I really look that weak? What I said about being the strongest wasn’t a bluff, you know?

Sure, I might look like a regular high schooler. Maybe, to them, I seem like just another random dude.

But don’t underestimate me just because of that! I’m dead serious—I’m actually strong!

“Alright then, guess I’ll have to be a little gentle…!!”

Just as I was about to charge at them—

Splash.

“Huh!?”

I stepped right into a puddle of water.

Losing my balance in an instant, I toppled over like a falling ragdoll and slammed into the floor.

What the hell!? Why is there water all over the train floor!?

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the worst part was—

BAM!

The back of my head crashed into the floor, sending a sharp pain shooting through me.

“AAAAAAAGHH! IT HURTS! IT REALLY HURTS!!”

A searing pain spread like an electric shock through my entire body. I lost all control, clutching my head and writhing in agony.

I tried to hold back my tears, but they spilled from the corners of my eyes anyway.

“You little shit!”

While I was still immobilized by pain, one of the yankees suddenly kicked me full force, sending me flying several meters across the floor.

Then, the rest of them swarmed in, pummeling me with punches and kicks. They didn’t even give me a chance to fight back.

This is the worst! Today is seriously the unluckiest day ever!

Why the hell am I going through this!? This is so humiliating I just wanna sink into the ground and disappear… This is beyond terrible!

“STOP IT!”

Just as I was getting beaten senseless, a sharp, commanding female voice rang out.

“Stop it?”

My head was spinning, but I struggled to turn toward the voice.

Wait… is that… Satohama Ayana!?

“Teaming up against one person? That’s just cowardly!”

“Hah? Who the hell do you think you are? Don’t go butting in where you don’t belong, dumbass. Wanna get your face smashed in too?”

“D-Dumbass!? You just called ME a dumbass!? Oh, that’s it—you’re dead meat!”

Ayana turned bright red with rage after being called an idiot.

She looked like she was about to charge in and start swinging.

“A-Ayana-chan! Calm down, please calm down!”

Nakano hurriedly tried to stop her, but Ayana wasn’t listening.

“Don’t get in my way, Ouka-san! I’m not letting these scumbags do whatever they want!”

She easily brushed Nakano aside and—wait, what!? She just took a karate stance! And it looked legit.

Does she actually know karate!?

No, no, no, hold on! Even if she does, there’s no way a girl can take on this many delinquents by herself. She’s definitely at a disadvantage.

Ugh… should I step in? I mean, I’ve already taken a beating, so it’s whatever, but… she did try to help me, so I guess I owe her one.

If I don’t do anything, it’ll feel like I’m leaving a debt unpaid.

No way! I hate owing people more than anything!

It’s like borrowing money and facing that awkward moment when you can’t pay it back. If you suddenly had to return the cash and had nothing on hand, what would you do?

…Damn, yeah, it’s probably something like that.

“Aniki, ain’t that Satohama Ayana from our school?”

“Satohama Ayana? Never heard of her. If some idiot like that thinks she can look down on us, we gotta teach her a lesson!”

Wait, wait a second! That guy just said something important, didn’t he? “Our school”? No way… they go to the same school as me?

Looking closely, their uniforms are exactly the same as mine.

No, wait, this isn’t the time to be thinking about that!

I’ve got to help her… No, wait, before that, I should go up to Satohama and tell her “Don’t do anything unnecessary,” then beat the crap out of those guys.

Yeah, that sounds better! That fall earlier was just an accident, but no way in hell am I gonna stay quiet after getting beaten up!

“Tch…!”

“Aniki, this guy’s tough…!”

“You better remember this! We won’t forgive you!”

Huh? What the hell just happened?

As I was thinking, I suddenly heard cries of pain.

I turned to look—those guys were clutching their bodies, wincing in agony, before scrambling away to another train car.

The boy who had been knocked down earlier also got off the train.

Huh? No way… did Satohama do that?

She’s… this strong?! What the hell happened while I was zoning out?!

“Hmph! Come at me if you think you’ve got the strength! Pero~”

Wait, why does she look so damn cute?!

As a teenage guy, I almost wavered for a second there.

But! That was only for a split second!

There’s no way this is turning into some rom-com! Just because she saved me doesn’t mean I’m gonna fall for her!

Pressing against the throbbing pain in the back of my head, I screamed internally—Damn it, this hurts so much…!

“Misaki-kun, are you okay?”

Nakano walked over with a worried look, offering me a hand to help me up.

Come on, does a guy who just got beaten to a pulp look okay to you?

Honestly, instead of helping me, I’d rather you just let me get up on my own, sit quietly in a corner, and slap my body a few times. If you did that, even if it really hurt, I feel like I’d recover in no time…

It’s weird. Kind of like when a little kid trips and just brushes the dust off like it’s nothing—until an adult suddenly asks, “Are you okay?” Then, out of nowhere, the pain doubles, and they start crying.

Even when we think there’s no profit to be gained, the moment we realize that something good is waiting for us, humans instinctively want to make that “profit” seem bigger the moment it’s right before our eyes…

“I’m fine. Thanks.”

Brushing off the dust with Nakano’s help, I muttered a quick thanks and started to leave the train car.

But then—

“Hello! I’m Satohama Ayana! I’m friends with Ouka-san and Momiji-san~!”

Satohama grinned at me with the same cute smile as before.

Crap, stop that! If you smile at me like that, I might actually—No! Absolutely not!

But still… was she really the one who just displayed that insane strength?

No matter how I look at her, she’s just a regular, cute girl. Who the hell would believe she’s some kind of badass fighter?

“I’m Misaki Nagisa. Thanks for helping me back there.”

“Ehehe, don’t worry about it~! More importantly, are you hurt? Want me to take a look?”

As she said that, Satohama rolled up her sleeve and stepped toward me.

H-Hey, what the hell is she planning? No way, I refuse to believe this! This is a rom-com trap!