With a ring of the bell, class was over, prompting the students to leave the class for lunch. As usual, it was Ishikawa, Tadashi, and himself walking together.
Heading to the courtyard outside, between the school buildings, the three sat under the shade with each of them taking out their lunches.
Ishikawa: as always, the fiery-headed girl loved spicy seaweed-wrapped squid with a hefty serving of rise.
Tadashi: the organized member of the school committee had a proper lunch box packed with rice, a healthy serving of vegetables, and seasoned beef.
And last but not least, the silver-haired young man himself: a simple tuna-filled onigiri he picked up from the convenience store this morning.
"...You should really start packing your own lunches, Touma," Tadashi said, using his chopsticks to guide a piece of beef past his own lips.
He took a bite from his rice ball, "Who has time for that?"
"People who wake up at a reasonable hour in the morning, that's who–which you should consider following yourself," Tadashi adjusted his glasses.
Ishikawa laughed, "If you're hungry, you can have some of my squid!"
"No thanks," he kindly rejected her offer, not wanting to partake in the hellish culinary that the girl enjoyed.
Ishikawa was somebody he had come to know when first arriving at Nishimari High; she was an energetic, at times eccentric, girl who made friends with everybody, yet stuck by him the most for some reason.
She's as bubbly and jovial as can be. I'm glad to have a friend like her–and, she can handle herself pretty well in a fight, he thought.
On the other hand, Tadashi came to be his friend through himself being reprimanded for so-called "rule breakage", though it was another case of a delinquent looking to make a name for himself by challenging him.
Most of the time, Tadashi keeps Ishikawa from less-than-wise actions, but he ends up doing it himself. He may not look it, but beneath that uniform of uptightness, Tadashi is a savant at combat, he thought.
While they were chatting away and eating their lunchtime meals, something was amiss; students around the courtyard began whispering, and those around the front gates were coming through as if moving away in fear of something.
"What's going on?" Ishikawa asked quietly.
"...I don't know," Tadashi responded.
He remained quiet, looking ahead as he saw an all-black car with tinted windows parked in front of the school gates.
As the door opened, a man dressed in a black suit, with a red, diamond-patterned tie stepped out, adjusting it as a skull-shaped tattoo was etched onto the back of his calloused hand.
From the distance the enigmatic, sharply-dressed man was at, the two beside him had yet to notice him.
"—"
"What is it, Daigo?" Ishikawa looked at him.
He answered quietly, "Somebody is coming."
I have a bad feeling about this guy, he thought.
"Somebody?" Tadashi adjusted his glasses before looking forward as well.
Now the man in the black suit was clear as day, walking down the tree-neighbored pathway to the courtyard.
"I see…Who is he?" Tadashi asked.
None of the students dared get within proximity of the stranger, leaving just the three to be the only one in the courtyard as the school watched from the hall windows.
"Who are you?" Tadashi asked, standing up.
The man came to a stop roughly ten meters ahead of them, keeping his hands within the pockets of his unwrinkled, black dress pants.
He had striking, slicked-back hair of a crimson shade with fiery, orange eyes.
The man looked hardly older than his early twenties, yet was dressed in sharp lavishness.
"Yusei Ito," the well-dressed man gave his name.
Though that name came to an utter shock to his two friends, he didn't recognize it himself.
"Who is he?" He looked up at Tadashi, still seated.
Ishikawa was the one who responded, "Y-you don't know?!"
"No?"
He was perplexed by their exasperated reactions to the man's name.
"Is he some sort of celebrity?" He asked.
Yusei laughed a bit, "Something like that. I'm an 'Overseer'."
"Overseer"? I feel like I've heard that before, he thought.
As the man lifted his spotless, black shoe to take a step, he was stopped as the student committee member yelled out.
"Not another step! You're not permitted to be on school property!" Tadashi yelled out.
Yusei smirked, having yet to let the sole of his shoe meet the dirt below, "Is that so?"
"Y-yes! It is! Please return with a proper admission pass!" Tadashi told him.
However, the Overseer slowly raised his orange eyes with a malicious smile, sending chills throughout the body of Tadashi.
Vanish.
From before the eyes of the glasses-wearing committee member and those who watched, the stranger vanished.
"Tadashi! Look out!"
He was the only one who seemed to react to it—the inhuman speed just displayed by the Overseer.
"Sorry, but I'm short on time here."
The crimson-haired Overseer was now directly behind Tadashi, slamming his elbow back with brutal swiftness before the young man could even turn around—sending him flying forward.
"Tadashi!" He called out.
As he stood up, Ishikawa herself was already on the move, launching a spinning kick aimed right for the side of the red-haired man's head.
"--Huh?" Ishikawa looked on in surprise.
Defending against the kick, the man blocked Ishikawa's foot with his elbow in an unorthodox method of blocking.
"Nice–you've got some pep in ya'!" Yusei smiled before spinning around and driving his elbow into the girl's stomach.
The swift blow packed a punch, causing Ishikawa to fly back before crashing against the gray wall of the school building.
"Ishikawa!" He called out, now being the only one left, "--What the hell is your deal?!"
"Huh? She attacked me first, all I did was defend myself," Yusei explained before rubbing his chin, "Well, I did attack that four-eyes first, didn't I? Ha-ha! Nevermind, just come at me, will ya'?"
As Yusei issued his challenge, he spread his feet wider than his shoulders, lowering himself but keeping himself upright with his arms raised and ready.
Despite wearing the all-black, perfectly fitting suit, the man seemed comfortable fighting in it nonetheless.
That stance…is he? He thought.
"You're a practitioner of "Silat", aren't you?" He asked, raising his hands.
Yusei's eyes widened a bit before he smiled, "You've got a keen eye."
"After I beat you, you better start talking," he said, keeping his golden eyes on the mysterious man.
Yusei smirked, "Sure thing–if you can beat me."