Chapter Eighty-One: Fujiwara Mio

“What?” Aoki Tsukasa frowned as he stood in the hallway, looking at the worried expressions of Maeda Tora and Matsuzaka Daibu.

“Boss, during the lunch break today, I saw them too, going around questioning people about where you were,” said a bald-headed boy with delicate features, sighing. Aoki glanced at him, recalling his name was Fujiwara Miao, one of the guys who had pledged his loyalty to him alongside Matsuzaka Daibu.

“But why?” Aoki was completely baffled, unable to understand the reason behind all this.

Had he been too much in the spotlight lately, provoking their displeasure?

These guys were really going too far. Already irritable from lack of rest, his lunch had been knocked over so he was still hungry, and now these people were looking for trouble. The pent-up frustration flashed coldly in Aoki’s eyes.

Have I been cursed lately? Why is my luck so awful? Suddenly, Aoki remembered that girl from the other day when he was gaming—a name like something-angel-black-cat—who, after being beaten, threatened to curse him that night. Could it actually have worked?

“How many of them are there?” Aoki took a deep breath.

Maeda Tora’s expression was grave. “I spoke to some upperclassmen I know and found out that this time, both the second and third-year delinquents have joined forces. No one from our first-year dares get involved, and aside from Ishihara Ryota from third-year, everyone’s in. We’ve really stirred up a hornet’s nest this time.”

“That doesn’t make sense. We usually keep a low profile, and it’s not as if they’re all that close. Why would they suddenly join forces to pick on us?” Matsuzaka Daibu looked worried. “From what I saw, they have at least thirty or forty people.”

“How many do we have?” Aoki sighed.

“Twelve, at most…” Matsuzaka admitted, rubbing his shaved head with embarrassment. “Counting me and Maeda, it’s just twelve. Boss, your standards are just too strict—not everyone has the guts to shave their head like us.”

Shouldn’t the strict standard be that Five Commandments thing?! Aoki shot him a speechless look. He’d never said anyone had to shave their head to follow him—it was all their own idea, but now he was taking the blame!

“If we got into a head-on fight, what are our chances?” Aoki, always one to face the inevitable, tried to stay positive, furrowing his brow as he considered their options.

“Probably…” Maeda hesitated. “Probably none. With that many, I might be able to take five or six, and Daibu could maybe handle one if we’re lucky. After all, we’re only first-years, and they’re third-years.”

“So if Boss could take on more than twenty, we’d win, right?” Matsuzaka’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “That’s nothing! Last time Boss fought Ishihara Ryota, didn’t he take out twenty guys on his own?”

Aoki quickly waved his hands. “Ahem, I think we should seriously consider our strategy.”

“True, especially since this time Ueno Yo is on their side,” Maeda said seriously. “I heard that back in his second year, Ueno Yo led seven or eight guys and took down all the third-year delinquents. His fighting power might not be any less than yours, Boss. Strictly speaking, Ishihara Ryota isn’t as strong as Ueno Yo.”

“I also heard that since he became a third-year, he’s rarely gotten involved in these things. Who knows why he’s suddenly coming after you this time?” Fujiwara Miao interjected. Like Matsuzaka, he’d originally hung around with Maeda before declaring loyalty to Aoki.

Yet, while everyone else was steeped in a sense of impending doom, Fujiwara seemed to have a different opinion.

He looked at Aoki earnestly. “Boss, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. If we handle it right, we might even turn misfortune to our advantage.”

“Oh?” Aoki glanced at him, signaling him to continue.

Fujiwara cleared his throat. “If you can defeat the combined second and third-year alliance, it’ll prove you’re the strongest in Muyang High. After that, you can naturally claim the school’s top spot—how is that not a good thing?”

“I know that, but the problem is, we can’t win right now!” Matsuzaka shot him a glare, urging him to get to the point.

Fujiwara smiled. “Don’t rush, Daibu. First, we need to understand that these people only formed a group today, right?”

Maeda frowned slightly. “That’s true—I haven’t heard anything about them moving together before… I could check with my phone.”

Fujiwara looked confident. “I already did. They only came together this morning.”

“So,” Fujiwara said seriously, “there must have been some trigger that made them unite so suddenly. The delinquents in our school aren’t as numerous or as strong as those in Kaikyu or Suzuran, but they’re complicated enough.”

“For example, Ueno Yo, known as ‘the Butcher,’ is publicly recognized as the strongest in Muyang High, but since he stopped fighting much in his third year, Koda Kofu from the second year has never accepted it and doesn’t get along with Ueno.”

“With those two at odds, why would they suddenly stand together as allies?” Fujiwara clapped his hands and snorted. “There has to be some catalyst.”

“What we need to do is find out what that trigger is and break their alliance. Once it collapses, whether they’re from the second or third year, we just pick them off one by one. Then we can win this battle fair and square!”

Fujiwara’s excitement was palpable. “After that, we’ll follow you, Boss, to the top of Muyang High!”

“You’re something else, kid!” Maeda laughed and threw an arm around Fujiwara’s neck. At just over 170 centimeters, Fujiwara was squeezed like a chick in Maeda’s arms, only managing a wry smile without resisting.

Matsuzaka’s eyes sparkled as well. “Yeah! If we can really break up their alliance like Miao says, what’s there to be afraid of? As long as the numbers aren’t too lopsided, and with Boss leading us, how could we lose?”

Aoki nodded, thinking it made sense. With his current strength, one-on-one, he truly had little to fear. If the enemy swarmed him, empty-handed as he was, he wasn’t sure how far he could go, but he knew he wouldn’t be as weak as before.

Furthermore… when he heard the words “top of the school,” a spark burst into flame inside Aoki’s heart.

“All right. Then I’ll leave it to you to find out what exactly happened to make these guys suddenly come after me,” Aoki said solemnly. “Then we’ll make a plan to face this challenge.”

Maeda patted his chest. “No problem! Give me half an hour and I’ll have it all figured out!”