Chapter 43: Do B-Movies Need Sharks?

I showed Char the phone screen displaying the summons message from Dojima.

“As expected of Char. Hacking Dojima’s brain to control him, this saves me the trouble of luring him out.”

When I joked, Char sighed.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I need a certain level of hardware specs to hack. Dojima’s CPU and memory are too weak, so it’s impossible. I could control Ryuji anytime though?”

“…That’s an honor.”

Indeed, with Fushimi’s current body mixed with virgin thoughts, I’d probably be easily manipulated. I must never let Char realize this. While thinking about such things, I shouldered my school bag.

“Are you coming too, Char?”

“Are the popcorn and cola properly prepared?”

“Unfortunately, what we’ll be able to see on the rooftop from now on is a short B-movie film. There’s no such thoughtful preparation.”

While exchanging light banter, Char’s phone received a message.

“Oh my, what a shame. I’ve been summoned by Ami-san.”

With a smile that showed not even a trace of disappointment, Char proudly showed off her phone screen. She had received an after-school invitation from Ami in a text that had more heart marks and kiss marks than actual letters.

“I have Dojima and Char has Ami… huh. The world sure is unfair.”

“You should be proud. At least this place is a world you saved.”

“So you were quite beloved in the advanced class too?”

“Yes, cultural differences are difficult. In Japan, I was taught that ‘when a French girl transfers in, if you’re the same gender, you’ll both be happy if you hug each other’.”

As if such a pinpoint custom existed in the first place. Well, the students in the advanced class had incomparably better civility than here in the general class, so they probably wouldn’t do anything too unreasonable.

“Didn’t any boys hit on you?”

“Hmm, the boys in that class were completely different from ours. Most wore glasses and just looked at me from a distance. They were talking about how I looked just like some anime character or something.”

I could somewhat imagine it. Here were the carnivores, there were the herbivores, and it was reassuring that the cages were properly separated. If the girls surrounded Char in a group, the boys probably couldn’t break in.

“So there was no opportunity to talk about me dating Ryuji.”

“That’s just a pretense, you know? Make sure to explain it to Ami too, okay?”

“I-I know that. You don’t have to be so desperate about it…”

Char puffed out her cheeks while looking somewhat displeased. Unlike in our class, there were probably students in the advanced class with good heads and personalities. There seemed to be just the right people to practice romance with. This was Char’s first step toward beginning a ‘normal life’ unconnected to conflict.

“Well then, shall we meet again later?”

“Yeah, be careful either way. Even though this is Japan, there are still strange people lurking around.”

I went up the school stairs while Char went down. We each headed toward the person waiting for us.

◇◇◇

“Heh heh heh, you came, Fushimi.”

“Hey! Let go!”

When I reached the rooftop, Yamashiro was also there, her arms being held down by Dojima’s lackeys.

“…Why is Yamashiro here?”

“This girl came over to us saying things like ‘don’t lay a hand on Fushimi anymore’~”

“She was being noisy, so we caught her like this.”

I see, so that was Yamashiro’s way of making amends. I called it a B-movie, but it was better since there was a captured heroine.

Dojima raised his voice triumphantly.

“You’re finished now! Because I called in the strongest delinquent, Samejima-senpai, here!”

So a shark would appear… It really was a B-movie after all.

Chapter 44: Fighting Invincibly Against Delinquents

“So? Can this Samejima guy fly? Does he have three heads? Or is he coming riding a hurricane?”

“Heh heh heh, Samejima-san is called the ‘Combat Cyborg’ because he’s so strong at fighting! You’ll be minced meat in an instant!”

“So he’s the cyborg type…”

That type of shark had probably already appeared somewhere. I sighed with a bored expression.

“Anyway, let Yamashiro go. I’m already here, so there’s no point in holding her captive anymore.”

“Hehe, not happening. This girl’s been butting in and annoying us for a while now.”

“Yeah, yeah. She’s got a cute face but her guard is tight~”

“Fushimi, you’ve got a grudge against this girl too, so it’s fine, right? Whatever happens to her.”

“Kyaa!”

Dojima’s lackeys roughly tore open the chest of Yamashiro’s shirt. Tch, these perverted monkeys.

“Ah, Yamashiro has made me taste quite a bit of bitterness. Do whatever you want with her.”

When I said that, Yamashiro hung her head with a dark expression.

“But you should probably tie your shoelaces, right?”

“Huh?”

Falling for the simple trick, the lackeys looked down at their feet. In that opening, I sprinted and delivered a jab each to the faces of the lackeys holding Yamashiro.

“Ugh!?”

“Guhah!?”

“Wh-what…!?”

With a thudding sound, all three fell down simultaneously. Whether it was a flashback to this morning’s terror, or they still didn’t understand what had been done to them, the fallen lackeys of Dojima crawled away from me in a panicked state.

“Geez, what hopeless damn brats. Hey, can you stand?”

I was supporting the freed Yamashiro with one arm. Yamashiro looked at me with a surprised expression.

“Wh-why did you save me…? Because of me, Fushimi…”

“I’ve decided to help whether it’s a bullied turtle or a crane caught in a trap. For now, put this on.”

After helping Yamashiro stand, I took off my jacket and put it over her shoulders. This should hide her chest area.

I sighed at the flustered Dojima.

“Did you think you’d get me to let you have the first move again? Sorry, but fights aren’t turn-based battles. If the mecha-shark (Samejima) isn’t coming, I’ll just knock everyone down as is.”

“D-damn it! Samejima-senpai, come quickly! Actually, why isn’t that person here yet!?”

When I cracked my knuckles, Dojima and his lackeys trembled.

“The 2 million you stole from me (Fushimi Jinta)… and with various other things totaling 3,000,604 yen. You’re going to pay it back properly.”

“That’s too much interest.”

“Where did the 604 yen come from?”

“I don’t even know who’s the good guy anymore…”

At that moment, something disc-shaped flew at me from the side. I jumped lightly backward and swung my foot up, dealing with it by striking it down with my heel.

(Tch, it’s heavy…)

What had flown at me was a manhole cover. It fell to the ground with a loud clanging sound.

“Looks like I made it just in time.”

Looking in the direction the manhole cover had come from, there was a well-built man. The bulge of his muscles was visible even under his shirt, and he wore shark-shaped earrings. This had to be Samejima. Dojima and the others shed tears as if seeing their savior.

“Samejima-senpai! You’re late!”

“I got a little lost on the way.”

“What kind of wrong turn leads to manhole covers flying around…”

“You didn’t just get lost to the rooftop, you ended up underground…”

Samejima, who seemed to be extremely directionally challenged, looked at me and snorted.

“What’s this? I was told you took down Dojima and his gang all at once, so I was wondering what kind of tough guy would show up, but you’re just some scrawny brat you could find anywhere. You guys got beaten by this?”

Saying that, Samejima approached while cracking his neck.