The world did not return to normal.
The air in Classroom 2-B remained frozen, thick with the unreality of what had just occurred. Mr. Ito stood paralyzed, his chalk-dusted hand still hovering in the air. The notes on the Meiji Restoration felt like a relic from another lifetime, a distant memory from five minutes ago when the world still made sense.
Kenji Tanaka, the epicenter of the cataclysm, was the only person in the room who seemed unaffected. He sat poised at his desk, pencil in hand, his gaze fixed on the blackboard with an air of patient expectation. To him, the incident was concluded. A problem had arisen, a solution had been applied according to his grandfather's teachings, and now it was time to return to the designated task: learning.
He was a hurricane of violence that believed itself to be a gentle breeze.
The rest of the class was a storm-tossed sea. Their inner monologues were a cacophony of fear, disbelief, and a terrifying, burgeoning excitement.
"Did… did anyone else see that?" a boy in the front row thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. "Kenta's punch… it's like Tanaka-kun wasn't even there. He just… stepped inside it. Who moves like that?"
A girl near the back, known for her gossip, was already replaying the events with a storyteller's eye. "One touch broke Takeda's wrist. One jab folded Kenta. One elbow put Sho to sleep. Three moves. Three seconds. No, less. Oh my god, this is bigger than when the Kendo captain beat up three guys from a rival school. This… this is a legend being born."
Then there was the student who had posted the video. His name was Satoshi, a skinny kid who had survived Seiryu by being invisible. His hands were shaking so hard he could barely hold his phone. He watched the upload progress bar fill, his adrenaline singing. He wasn't just a witness; he was now the herald. The one who would deliver the gospel of the monster in 2-B. He felt a thrill of power that was intoxicating.
Yui Amano finally looked down at her own hands. They were trembling. She glanced at the pencil Kenji had retrieved for her, sitting pristine on her desk. That simple wooden object was the catalyst. It was the butterfly whose wings had summoned a typhoon. She looked at Kenji's calm, unassuming profile and felt a dizzying mix of terror and… gratitude. For the first time since she'd entered this school, the oppressive fear that had been her constant companion was gone, replaced by a much larger, more concentrated fear that was, bizarrely, on her side.
The groans from the floor finally broke the spell.
Kenta was stirring, curled in the fetal position, each gasp for air a painful, ragged affair. Takeda was still cradling his shattered wrist, his sobs having subsided into wet, pathetic whimpers. Sho remained motionless.
Mr. Ito finally jolted into action, his professional obligations overriding his terror. "R-right! The infirmary! I… I need to get them to the infirmary!" he squeaked, fumbling for the door. "Class is… class is dismissed! Study on your own!" He practically fled the room, leaving a classroom full of shell-shocked teenagers with a monster and his victims.
The moment the teacher was gone, a new sound filled the room: the frantic buzzing and clicking of dozens of phones. News was spreading.
Satoshi's post on the "Seiryu Underground" forum had gone live. The reaction was instantaneous.
[Seiryu Underground Forum]
Thread Title: Class 2-B. Takeda is finished. A Demon has taken the throne.
Posted by: Ghost_Satoshi
Attachment: [video_2B_incident.mp4]
Commenter1 (Judo_Joe): What is this clickbait bullshit? Takeda? Finished? The guy's built like a gorilla. I call fake.
Commenter2 (Blade_Girl): Downloading now. If this is a joke, Satoshi, I'm finding you.
Commenter3 (Third_Year_King): Takeda is an idiot, but he's a strong idiot. This'll be good for a laugh.
(Three minutes pass. The video has been viewed 50 times.)
Commenter1 (Judo_Joe): Holy… shit.
Commenter2 (Blade_Girl): ...
Commenter4 (Soccer_Ace): I'm in 2-C, next door. We heard the scream. We thought someone fell down the stairs. What the FUCK did I just watch? The break… you can HEAR it.
Commenter1 (Judo_Joe): Forget the break. Look at the second guy, Kenta. The transfer didn't even look at him. That was a perfect counter to an overhand right. That's not a street fight move. That's technique. Pure, clean, terrifying technique. I'm rewatching it in slow-mo. His footwork is insane.
Commenter5 (Anonymous_Watcher): The third guy, Sho. The elbow. That's a killing blow. He aimed for the temple. If his aim was a few inches higher or lower, it would have just been a knockout. But right on the temple… that's deliberate. This guy knows exactly how much force to use and where to apply it to get a specific result. He's not brawling. He's executing.
Commenter2 (Blade_Girl): He picked up the pencil. He put it on her desk. Then he sat down and asked about a history lesson. Is this guy insane? Who IS HE?!
Commenter3 (Third_Year_King): I take back what I said. This isn't funny. This is a problem. A new variable has entered the system. And he looks like… nothing. He looks like a goddamn nerd.
Back in the classroom, the atmosphere shifted again. The fear was still there, but now it was tinged with a dark, electric curiosity. Students started packing their bags, but they moved slowly, their eyes darting between the door and Kenji, who was now looking out the window, seemingly lost in thought.
"Grandfather would be disappointed," Kenji mused, watching a bird land on a tree branch. "I caused a disruption to the learning environment. Rule #18: Blend in. Observe. Do not become the center of the storm. I have failed this rule." He felt a pang of guilt. He had let his instincts, honed by a lifetime of reacting to threats, override his mission to be a normal student.
As students began to file out, giving the wreckage a wide berth, a few lingered. They weren't Takeda's friends. They were delinquents from other classes, the hyenas and jackals who had heard the commotion and smelled blood in the water. They peered in, their eyes wide, taking in the scene: the three crumpled bodies on the floor and the quiet, unassuming boy sitting calmly amidst the chaos.
One of them, a lanky boy with bleached blond hair named Jin, was known for being an information broker. He looked at Takeda's broken form, then at the godlike calm of the new kid. He didn't see a fight. He saw a power vacuum. He saw a shift in the entire school's hierarchy.
"Hey," Jin said, his voice quiet, directed at one of the 2-B students scurrying out. "What's his name?"
"T-Tanaka Kenji," the student stammered before rushing away.
Jin committed the name to memory. Tanaka Kenji. The name itself was plain, boring. It was the perfect camouflage.
Meanwhile, Yui Amano finally found her courage. She packed her bag, her hands still shaking slightly. As she stood, she hesitated. She had to walk past him to leave.
She took a deep breath and started forward. As she drew level with his desk, she paused.
Kenji turned his head, his eyes once again placid and curious. "Amano-san. Are you alright? Your face is pale."
His voice was so normal, so genuinely concerned, it was utterly surreal.
Yui stared at him, at the boy who had unleashed hell to defend her honor over a dropped pencil, and was now asking about her complexion. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. What could she say? 'Thank you for shattering a man's bones for me'? 'Are you a government experiment?'
She settled for the only thing her stunned brain could produce.
"Be… be careful, Tanaka-san," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Takeda… he's nothing. The real monsters in this school will hear about this. They'll come for you."
A flicker of interest appeared in Kenji's eyes.
"Monsters?" he repeated, the word tasting strange on his tongue. He had fought bears. He had faced down wild boars. He had survived lightning storms and blizzards in nothing but thin clothes. He knew what monsters were. He found it hard to believe they attended a high school.
"Yes," Yui said, her voice filled with urgency. "The Boxing Club Captain, the Judo Master… the School King, 'The Executioner' Yamata. They won't let this go unanswered. You've upset the balance."
She then bowed quickly and scurried away, leaving Kenji to ponder her words.
"The balance… the ecosystem," he thought, connecting it back to his grandfather's teachings. "So, I have inadvertently challenged the alphas of this territory. How troublesome."
He didn't feel fear. He felt a familiar sensation, one he often felt right before a grueling training session with his grandfather. It was a quiet, cold anticipation. A readiness.
He was the new predator in the forest. And he was beginning to realize, with a touch of academic curiosity, that the other predators were about to come and test his fangs.