Not a detective

Page 51

"I?"

Asakawa Riku's face showed the expression of someone who had just escaped from an alien and then encountered a Predator.

Could this guy also be here because of the campus ghost stories? She also wants to see what the "super-strong man" looks like.

I never imagined that a safe house wouldn't be a safe house after all.

"I'm currently engaged in club activities. If there's nothing else—"

He raised his voice, trying to scare away the troublemaker in front of him.

"Um! Please accept this!" To everyone's surprise, the girl in trousers hurriedly stuffed something into Asakawa Riku's hand and ran away in a flash.

"Oh well... What a pity, I thought I was finally going to get a new member."

Chizuko sighed, but her eyes didn't look away. Instead, she stretched her neck and leaned behind Asakawa Riku, staring curiously at the thing.

What was handed to me was an envelope.

The pink envelope...it looks so familiar.

"A love letter?"

Asakawa Riku frowned.

...

It's not a love letter.

However, it's something even worse than a love letter.

Come to the school courtyard after school tomorrow.

I'll beat you to a pulp.

The letter contained these two lines.

The provocative language—is this a threatening letter?

It's more like a challenge.

This reminded Asakawa Riku of the letter that read, "I will kill you in seven days." Although it wasn't as malicious, the time requirement was much more urgent.

"I didn't expect a kid like that to challenge you. Looks like you're famous enough, like a champion defending their title? Defeating you will bring you prestige?"

After reading the letter, Chizuko quickly lost interest, waved her hand, and returned to her seat: "Good luck, change this title to 'Our School's King of Boxing, Mike Tyson'."

She was definitely not worried. Putting aside how that introverted and timid girl dared to challenge the "super-strong man," Asakawa Riku's fighting strength had never disappointed.

"If I could, I would gladly relinquish this title..."

Asakawa Riku answered casually, but he stood still, his brows furrowed.

Something's not right.

Holding the letter in his hand, he recalled the scene of the girl hurriedly handing it to him.

"...He must have been bullied."

"Oh?" Chizuko, who had just picked up the book halfway, put it down. "Him?"

This personal pronoun seems incorrect.

“It’s ‘him’.” Asakawa Riku nodded. “I can confirm it.”

He has an extremely accurate eye for people; he can discern a person's true gender by observing their skeletal structure and gait, regardless of their appearance.

This is a technique developed to identify whether there are disguised enemies around. Even by listening to the other person's voice and observing the movement of their Adam's apple, one can find clues.

—Not a "girl", but a "boy who looks like a girl".

"Wearing trousers instead of a skirt is one piece of evidence. Although many girls in our school wear trousers, it's just a few who are trying to stand out. Given his personality just now, he wouldn't deliberately try to be so different. The bow tie on his shirt collar isn't a boy's tie, but a girl's. It's probably something the bullying group forced him to wear."

Asakawa Riku held the letter in his hand, and he gradually unraveled the mystery:

"He handed in the challenge letter and ran away. That cowardly personality of his definitely doesn't belong to someone who would challenge me. I suppose the bullying group forced him to hand over that letter. It just so happens that I've become notorious at school lately, and the bullying group wanted to test me out, or simply wanted to toy with me, or perhaps they wanted to use me as a tool to punish that boy..."

Chizuko interrupted his reasoning; she already understood and only wanted to ask one last question:

"Asakawa-san, what are you going to do?"

Aoandon's Autumn: Chapter Four - Ten Million Times

Riku Asakawa immediately realized that Chizuko-senpai was angry.

When she's angry, her tone and expression remain unchanged; she stays calm and smiling.

But there seemed to be something being plotted in those eyes, which was some kind of ineffable omen.

...Chizuko-senpai was also a victim of bullying.

Although the bullying wasn't from a real group, but from the entire school, and it wasn't direct bullying, but rather an atmosphere of fear and indifference.

But they are essentially the same thing.

Therefore, Chizuko-senpai must be really angry about this. The huge ghost behind her is probably howling and baring its fangs.

Asakawa Riku calmly said, "This is my own business, and I will handle it myself."

"Helping members solve their life problems is also part of the president's job~"

Chizuko was still smiling.

Asakawa Riku knew that if she got involved in this incident, it would inevitably lead to bloodshed. Compared to Yukie, Chizuko harbored an even greater monster within her.

That was a more dangerous, more terrifying monster... because she wasn't being controlled by evil emotions, but was thinking this way with complete clarity.

Asakawa Riku is dedicated to protecting a peaceful campus life and doesn't want to create chaos.

Moreover... Chizuko has finally escaped the stigma, and if she uses the power of a yokai again... we can't let her fall into that trap again.

He said firmly:

"No need, your support from behind is enough for me, senior."

"Oh? For example?"

"Give me an extra meal tomorrow at noon or something."

"Why don't you just have Yukie make it for you... Wait, you mean—"

"Yes, I will accept the challenge."

Asakawa Riku waved the challenge letter in his hand: "I've already been challenged, so not going means losing, right? I never admit defeat."

...

I looked up, and there it was again—the campus at dusk.

This is already the second day... which is the time specified in the [Challenge Letter].

After school, Asakawa Riku went nowhere, not even to the mystery club, but went straight to the courtyard to wait.

He was harassed by enthusiastic hot girls for a while, but his eyes kept searching for his target.

He waited for about an hour, because the challenge letter didn't specify a time, so he came here as soon as school was over.

The wait was so long that he even wondered if "this agreement itself was a joke," and began to consider leaving.

Just then, the person arrived.

Most of the students had already left after school, and those who were going to participate in club activities wouldn't linger in the courtyard, which conveniently created a natural arena.

The boy who came out of the school building, with his trembling legs and timid expression, finally made me understand why I had waited so long.

It turned out to be the other person's fear.

Asakawa Riku stood up from the bench. He didn't say anything and just waited silently for the boy to come over.

Looking at it today, I can be 100% certain that it is a boy. Although he is small in stature and his bangs cover half of his face, making it easy to mistake him, this is beyond doubt.

"...Um, I'm here." The slightly hoarse voice also fit the feeling of puberty, and there was still some childishness.

Being forced to challenge a character from one of the school's ghost stories must have been terrifying.

Asakawa Riku didn't turn his head, but glanced out of the corner of his eye at the rooftop of the school building—

There were a few delinquents with brightly colored hair hiding behind the railing, thinking they were well concealed, but Asakawa Riku had already spotted them.

He even extended his phone, which was hanging on the selfie stick, with the camera pointed here, probably to record a video later and upload it online.

When Asakawa Riku spotted the flash, he thought it was a sniper rifle and almost went berserk and jumped on it. But after calming down, he realized that this wasn't one of those schools across the ocean.

—What should we do with these culprits?

If it were middle school, Asakawa Riku would definitely have taken down the bullying group and rescued that poor boy.

This is what most people would think. Chizuko-senpai also made this suggestion at the time, except that she said she would cut off all of those people's little fingers as an apology.

...Is it the underworld?

The current Riku Asakawa would not do that anymore.

"So you're the one who wants to challenge me?" He turned his head and looked at the timid boy.

"Huh...! Yes, yes, no, but I really do..."

The boy was startled and stammered in protest. He was indeed afraid to fight someone so tall, but he was even more afraid to defy the bullying group of older students.

"Alright, I don't have any other hobbies, except for a little confidence in fighting. I will go all out once I'm on the battlefield, that's my principle."

Asakawa Riku took his hands out of his pockets, slowly clenched them into fists, and his aura gradually changed: "I will take this seriously."

"……What!"

The boy was terrified. He had never expected to feel such pressure. The gentle person in front of him had suddenly changed his expression.

He was just like an Asura, his sharp eyes like daggers, cutting into his bones again and again!

Unconsciously, I stepped back and almost stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Stand firm, and I'll punch you with all my might."

Asakawa Riku said without any pity, he struck a pose as if it were the most natural thing in the world, with veins bulging on his forearm muscles.

It was as if time had stopped...

"No...no...I can't fight, I'll die..."

The boy waved his hands in front of his chest, backing away repeatedly, and in his resistance, he blurted out what was subconsciously on his mind.

When I went to the mystery club yesterday, I saw Asakawa Riku. I thought to myself that he wasn't as scary as the rumors said, and he seemed quite gentle...maybe he could save me.

That's what I was thinking, but I never expected it to turn out like this! He's actually going all out against me? How am I supposed to resist...!

He was indeed one of those people, they all took pleasure in bullying the weak!

"Hands behind your head, feet firmly planted. Don't move around randomly. People who haven't practiced fall-preparation techniques are more likely to injure themselves when they fall."

Without the slightest pause, Asakawa Riku walked over, speaking in incomprehensible languages, his movements incredibly fast—

A straight punch—like a bullet being fired—slammed into the boy's chest, sending him flying with a scream.

It crashed heavily onto the lawn in the courtyard, rolling several times before coming to a stop.

Asakawa Riku wasn't lying; this might not have been a "full-force" punch, but it was definitely a "serious" one.

"...How are you? Can you still stand up?" The voice slowly approached, as if checking whether the opponent in the boxing ring had been knocked out.

"Uh--"

The boy subconsciously followed the other person's instructions the moment he was launched, but after a moment he only felt the surrounding scenery rushing forward, realizing that he was actually moving backward.

When I came to my senses, I belatedly felt pain in my body, as if all the bones in my body had been broken, and I could only scream in agony on the ground.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Tears of grievance mingled with the mud, feeling like they were stuck between my teeth.

"Don't act so pitiful. Although I was serious, this punch wasn't meant to hurt you. You'll see once you move."

With a helpless tone, Asakawa Riku actually reached out and pulled him out of the lawn and green belt.

"...What's going on?" The boy was immediately surprised and incredulous. What he said seemed to be true. Although it hurt terribly, his body was surprisingly uninjured.

Although it was covered in dirt, surprisingly, it was still able to move around.