“Damn that bastard Aomine.
Because of him, I had to do extra training and now I’m almost late for my part-time job.”
On a street in Tokyo, Aizen was sprinting toward his workplace.
Not long ago, because he’d been called to the principal’s office for a lecture, he’d arrived at the basketball club much later than usual and missed the designated time.
Although it was understandable, Shirogane Kozo had decided to make things a little harder for him and assigned him extra training.
By the time he walked out of Teiko, the sun was already setting.
He had no time to hit the streetball court—he had to hurry to his job.
Walking.
Running.
Thinking.
As he took a shortcut, he suddenly noticed a group of people up ahead—nine in total.
Eight of them looked like they were together, surrounding one person and blocking his way.
“Bullying?” Aizen thought as he ran.
That was practically a Japanese specialty—it happened in every prefecture.
He didn’t want to get involved.
He wasn’t a superhero, and minding his own business was usually the smarter move.
‘Red hair—pretty rare.’ Aizen glanced and shook his head, then thought of himself.
‘Not that it’s that special—everyone in the basketball club has different hair colors.
Especially Midorima—green enough to drip oil.
Born wearing a green hat, if you know what I mean.
That’s talent in its own right.’ (T/N: Green on the head means being cuckolded.)
He ran straight past the nine people.
They saw him but didn’t try to stop him, letting him pass.
But then Aizen heard a voice that sounded oddly familiar.
“Move aside!
I don’t have time to fight with you right now!” The surrounded person shouted, his voice carrying a hint of pleading.
‘That voice—why does it sound familiar?’
Aizen stopped in his tracks and turned back for a closer look.
The guy being surrounded was none other than Sakuragi Hanamichi, whom he’d met once before.
‘What’s this guy up to?’
“You think this is a game?
You can’t just decide not to fight!
Four of us got beat up by you earlier!”
The leader wouldn’t move aside.
Instead, he stepped forward to block Sakuragi’s path, leaving him no room to escape.
So it turned out that four of these eight had fought Sakuragi earlier and gotten solo’d by the combat monster.
Now those four had brought four more, making eight total, to get their revenge. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Normally, Sakuragi wouldn’t be afraid even against eight people.
But right now, he didn’t have time to fight.
“Move aside, you bastards!
I don’t have time for this!”
His expression showed an unusual panic, as if something truly important was waiting for him.
The others didn’t care.
Eight people—sixteen fists—all came swinging at Sakuragi.
Sakuragi didn’t want to fight—he just wanted to leave.
But there were too many of them; there was no way out.
Seeing this, his panic only grew.
Thinking of his father collapsed at home, tears were about to stream down his face.
Almost simultaneously, BANG!
A backpack came flying out of nowhere and hit the leader square in the head.
Distracted by this sudden attack, everyone stopped and looked over.
Then they heard:
“Eight people picking on one?
Why not make it nine?” Aizen cracked his neck, his fists popping with each clench.
“It’s you—that scumbag!” Sakuragi recognized Aizen.
There was no way he couldn’t—Aizen’s blue hair and golden eyes were just too striking.
Hating good-looking guys as he did, Sakuragi couldn’t possibly forget him.
“What scumbag?
That’s how you address the guy trying to save your ass?”
“Get lost, kid.
This has nothing to do with you.
Disappear if you don’t want to die.” The leader frowned.
Their target was only Sakuragi.
“Tch, you think I want to be here?” Aizen stepped forward slowly.
“I don’t know what’s going on between you, but can’t you see this guy’s about to cry?”
Only then did the eight notice the faint glimmer of tears in Sakuragi’s eyes.
But—
“What’s that got to do with us?
Last warning—get lost.”
“Tch, bunch of lowlifes.
Out here, you’ve got to have some code of honor.” He turned to Sakuragi.
“Hey, redhead—”
But Sakuragi had already seized the opportunity to squeeze through the crowd and was sprinting toward the hospital.
“Damn it—that ungrateful bastard!”
With Sakuragi gone, these thugs turned their attention to the one who’d stuck his neck out.
BANG~
Under the twilight sky, Aizen fought eight Japanese delinquents.
It wasn’t quite as majestic as Ip Man taking on ten, but one-versus-eight was still a feat that would make his country proud.
No one knew how long had passed.
Aizen was sitting on the back of one of the thugs, looking completely battered.
His face was covered in bruises, swollen all over.
When he spat, he could taste blood.
His white school uniform was covered in size-40-plus shoe prints—not a single clean spot on his entire body.
“I’m definitely going to be late now.
The boss lady’s going to dock my pay for sure.”
Cursing under his breath, Aizen looked at his sorry state, stomped on the gang leader again, and casually swiped all the cash from his wallet.
“Think of this as compensation for my medical bills.” Aizen pocketed the money without a hint of guilt, ignoring the guy who’d just woken up only to pass out again.
Then he thought of Sakuragi, who’d rushed off in a panic.
“I wonder if that redhead made it in time.”
Shaking his head, he picked up his backpack and hurried to his job.
…
More than an hour later, Sakuragi came back to this spot, panting heavily.
Looking at the empty street, he had no way of knowing what had happened to Aizen after he left.
…
The next day.
At the Teiko basketball club.
When Aizen showed up on time, he was ruthlessly mocked by his teammates.
“Where’d you go yesterday?
Fight in Iraq or something?”
“Iraq’s too far—this guy doesn’t have money for a plane ticket.
He definitely got caught peeping in the bathhouse and got the crap beaten out of him.”
Everyone seized the opportunity to mercilessly tease Aizen, whose face was swollen like a pig’s head.
“Shut up!
You guys want a sparring session or something?”
As Teiko’s undisputed number one combat monster, Aizen’s intimidation wasn’t a joke.
The moment they saw him get angry, everyone scattered like birds and beasts.
Just then, a commotion came from the basketball club entrance.
Momoi ran over, her chest bouncing like waves with each step.
“Aizen!
Someone’s here to see you!”