“Heh, Fushimi! You’re finished too!”

“Samejima-senpai once wiped out a local gang all by himself!”

“After that, he dragged his injured body around for 2 hours and made it to the hospital on his own!”

“To a hospital that was only a 10-minute walk away!”

Wouldn’t this guy be better off taking a taxi if he had somewhere he wanted to go to?

Without me saying anything, Yamashiro moved away from me to a safe distance. She probably sensed that a fight was about to begin and wanted to avoid getting caught up in it. She clutched my school jacket tightly to her chest, watching with a worried expression.

“Steel pipes and manholes, you’ve been taking out important water infrastructure left and right. You bastards, I’m not letting you drink water anymore.”

I threw a left hook at Samejima’s jaw to get revenge for the thrown manhole cover. Strike first to win.

However, Samejima leaned his upper body backward and easily dodged it.

“Whoa, getting hit here would be bad. I’d get all wobbly like I’m carsick.”

“You can’t handle vehicles either…?”

He probably had a fair amount of fighting experience. Samejima’s stance was unique, but it was a style that properly protected vital points while being able to counterattack.

“Here!”

Samejima threw a punch with his right arm as if returning the favor, which I dodged by a hair’s breadth. It wasn’t a punch with proper boxing fundamentals. It was completely an amateur’s brawling punch. I immediately countered with my left arm, striking Samejima’s solar plexus.

“!? Cough!”

Samejima coughed lightly.

(Tch, Fushimi Jinta’s body lacks power.)

His trained abdominal muscles blocked the attack, preventing a knockdown. And there was another problem.

(I can tell from the wind pressure that Samejima’s power is dangerous. If I guard, my arms will get taken along with it.)

It seemed I had no choice but to dodge all of Samejima’s attacks. Probably, if even one hit connected, I’d be incapacitated.

“Cough. I see. You’re not bad, pretty decent actually.”

Samejima seemed somewhat shaken by my unexpected counterattack.

“You’re well-trained yourself, but you still can’t beat me.”

“Hmph, the same trick won’t work twice! I’ve learned it now.”

Saying that, Samejima dodged and attacked in the same way again. I also countered to his solar plexus with my left hand just like before. However, this time Samejima properly guarded with his left hand, so naturally, I punched Samejima’s face with my remaining right arm.

“Buheh!? Damn! What was that this time?”

“Sorry, but I have two arms. I can hit two places with my counter.”

“…That’s strange? I should have two arms too, so why can’t I guard both places?”

Samejima became lost in thought trying to solve this simple calculation. Just go home already.

“Sorry, but I’m not idle enough to wait around. I’m going to beat you and get my money back from Dojima.”

This time I went on the offensive. Since Samejima was skillfully protecting his vital points, I had no choice but to hit places where I could land effective blows. After taking several of my punches, Samejima laughed.

“Hmph, your weakness is that your punches are light! Are you eating meat properly?”

“Then just keep defending forever.”

Samejima was stupid, but he probably understood that he couldn’t win by just defending. He was waiting for a chance to counter me while looking for an opening.

(Samejima, this guy is a lot like the old me. I used to think I could win fights just by training my body.)

And I was the one who got beaten up repeatedly in SWORD back then. As the saying goes, “softness overcomes hardness”. There were countless opponents against whom I was completely helpless. Sorry, but I had about 30 years more fighting experience than him. I’d also been beaten up more than him.

“Uoooorah!”

I continued punching Samejima like a sandbag. His body was hard, so this was indeed tough work. Just from punching, fatigue was rapidly accumulating in Fushimi’s body. However, it shouldn’t be a series of attacks that Samejima could easily endure either.

“Hah… hah…”

Samejima still wouldn’t fall. Despite being exhausted, I continued attacking while breathing heavily.

A moment of carelessness occurred as I completely lowered both of my arms. Samejima didn’t miss that opening.

“Uraah!”

Samejima’s sharp right straight approached my exhausted form.

Good, Samejima had taken my bait.

One of the fundamentals of combat was to tighten your guard when you had the advantage. The one who let his guard down first was Samejima. Secondly, make the opponent think “I’ve won!” and at that moment, silently thrust a knife into the opponent’s neck. That was mercenary tactics.

Leg strength. Since learning bipedal locomotion, the leg strength that constantly supported body weight was generally equivalent to three times the arm strength. This was the deadly weapon I could wield with Fushimi Jinta’s current body.

“CRACK!!”

My full-power right high kick, delivered while spinning my body half a turn to dodge Samejima’s attack, landed a clean hit on his left temple.