"How can you be so confident that you want to fight in close combat against me?"
Asahi asked, somewhat surprised by Accelerator's arrogance. While Accelerator was formidable in close combat, as most people would be dead if they are touched by him, there was no guarantee he could handle Asahi, who hadn't revealed his abilities yet.
He gave up his greatest advantage, which is his Esper ability, because of arrogance. As expected, such lacking fighting method can only be seen in Academy City.
Not only Shizuri and the others, as even Accelerator himself always relied heavily on brute force to overwhelm his opponents.
This made Asahi couldn't help but think of Otsutsuki Kaguya. Kaguya was known for wielding ultimate strength, she's like using hot weapon when her enemy are using cold weapon, but even so, she ended up being defeated by the opponents, leaving people utterly speechless.
At this moment, Accelerator had reached Asahi, and Asahi didn't hold back. He removed the invisible barrier in front of him.
Since Accelerator wanted to play, Asahi was willing to have a good time with him.
If he remembered correctly, Accelerator had once been beaten into a pulp by Kihara Amata in the original work. However, that was a different Accelerator, the one that had been weakened both physically and mentally. Otherwise, with his ability, he wouldn't have sustained serious injuries from Kihara Amata's attack.
Of course, it's also because Kihara Counter can be said to be Accelerator's weakness. The principle of Kihara Counter is very simple.
Accelerator's defense was based on reflection, where any attack directed at him would be mirrored back to the attacker. Even Mikoto's Railgun was rendered ineffective, as it was promptly reflected.
And Kihara Counter relied on exploiting this reflection principle. By striking the barrier at the moment of the attack, the ability managed to reverse the motion, causing the force that should have been reflected to be turned back against Accelerator. This was how Kihara Counter worked, taking advantage of Accelerator's compromised mental state at the time.
By using this technique, Kihara Amata could surpass Accelerator's computational abilities.
But now, the one using it is Asahi, so even if Accelerator had used his reflection ability in advance, he couldn't counter Asahi's attack.
So at this moment, Asahi made a move, but he didn't use too much strength, otherwise, he might kill Accelerator with one punch.
He just used the strength of an ordinary person and threw a punch directly at Accelerator.
"Hahaha, just how dumb are you to try using your fist…"
Bang!
Accelerator, who was originally planning to mock Asahi, soon felt a sharp pain in his left cheek.
His small stature was immediately thrown over by the punch.
"I mean, come on! Even though you're an Esper, your physical strength is worse than that of a healthy child. At least train your body a bit. If your physical fitness isn't up to par, do you really think you can rely on calculations for everything?"
Asahi said speechlessly. Forget about those of his age, even those a few years younger had better physical fitness than him.
"How is it possible? Could it be that my reflection wasn't activated before? Yes, that's it! Otherwise, how could this low-life hit me!"
Accelerator, feeling provoked, believed that Asahi had exploited a loophole, and made him momentarily forgot to activate his reflection.
In an attempt to comfort himself, Accelerator created excuses, which made Asahi rolled his eyes. He couldn't believe that even as an Esper, Accelerator didn't know if he had activated his reflection, proving that he had a fragile inner self.
"Boss actually managed to hit him?"
Seeing the supposedly perfect reflection not working, Shizuri Shizuri felt a great shock to her beliefs. She knew Accelerator's ability, as even her full-power attack would have no effect on him.
"Brat, you think you didn't activate your reflection, right? Well then, let's try again!"
As Asahi said that, Accelerator turned into a punching bag, being knocked down again by Asahi's fist, which made him question his entire existence. After that, naturally, there was no need to say it, he received the usual brutal beatings.
"Impossible, how is this even possible? I've definitely activated my reflection; how did you, a lowlife, manage to do this!"
Accelerator was on the brink of breaking down, as he's completely unable to figure out what went wrong.
"Haven't you realized yet? Did you not notice that you got injured by your own reflection?"
Asahi said as he looked at Accelerator as if he's looking at mentally retarded person, leaving both Accelerator and Shizuri bewildered.
"This… Why did you reveal the secret just like that?"
The members of Item were green-faced, thinking that this was a scene straight out of an anime. They didn't expect that Asahi would reveal the reason for hitting the opponent, after all, there's no need to give explanation in real fight.
"I see. You exploited a gap in my reflection, bastard. You actually said it out loud. How much do you look down on me? As long as I adjust the reflection calculation, what do you have to fight against me!"
Accelerator said with bloodshot eyes, as he felt that he was being humiliated. His opponent had revealed the reason, and even though he could now counter it, it was still an insult for him.
After all, Asahi is not a companion, but an enemy. Being explained to by an enemy about their attack method was a great shame for Accelerator.
But he didn't care about it now. He believed he could spare this lowlife's life, but he had to return the favor for all those punches he had taken.
Without saying much, Accelerator immediately changed his calculation method and charged forward once more. He was in control of the reflection, and the specific changes he made weren't apparent unless someone could read minds.
However, just as Accelerator felt like he was about to win, a familiar pain struck his abdomen.
Bang!
After a dull sound, Accelerator fell to the ground, holding his stomach in disbelief, with a shaken expression on his face.
"What's going on?"
Seeing that Accelerator, who had seemed to have the upper hand, got hit again, the others were genuinely perplexed.
"Your calculation method is quite simple to figure out. As long as we adjust our power based on your modifications, it's not a significant challenge. Why were you so confident you'd win?"
Asahi's voice rang out again, followed by a sudden silence. Finally, someone audibly gasped.
"Can you not gasp every time something happens? It's global warming now, and you guys constantly gasping for air are contributing to it!"
Asahi's somewhat playful remark loosened the atmosphere, but it also earned him eye-rolls from the Item's members. After all, making jokes at a time like this was quite unusual.