[ HARU'S POINT OF VIEW ]
Before I could wrap my head around what was happening, we were already standing outside, just behind the building. This place—used mostly as a garbage dump—rarely had people lingering around, aside from a few delinquents. But now, students had gathered around me and the man I was about to face.
The crowd parted as Serizawa made his entrance, his eyes burning with rage.
It's just a hunch, but I think this guy hates me. I thought to myself as I watched him approach. Then, I noticed something in his hand—he was offering me an object. I glanced down.
A knife.
The metal surface gleamed under the sun, nearly blinding me before I looked back up at him. He was grinning devilishly.
"Take it, bitch."
It wasn't hard to understand what he was implying—he wanted a fight to the death.
Hesitantly, I took the knife. He stepped back, creating some distance between us, then drew out his own blade.
"You already know what this means, right?"
"I do."
He laughed. "You seem pretty calm, considering you're about to die." His anger came from his ego. Maybe he felt like I had stolen the spotlight from him after what happened during the attack two weeks ago—not that he had much of a reputation to begin with. In other words, he was jealous. I could have just thrown the fight, groveling for his forgiveness to stroke his ego and get him to leave me alone. But it was clear that only my death would satisfy him. I can't afford to lose. "Or maybe you fried your brain in fear? That's alright," he sneered. The crowd erupted in cheers. Maybe they were just as crazy as him. But I caught sight of a few people at the back watching in silence—mostly my classmates. I knew they had already called someone to stop this, but I couldn't rely on that. Serizawa was fast. He could kill me before anyone arrived. "After all," he continued, "I'm going to show everyone how weak and pathetic you are. You may have saved Ueda Nozomi's life by luck, but that doesn't change the fact that you ain't worth shit."
His grin twisted into a scowl the moment I tossed the knife to the ground. I met his glare before speaking.
"I don't need that to beat you."
His fists clenched. "Oh, really?" He shifted into a charging stance, ready to lunge. "Don't blame me if you die then."
Dust exploded beneath his feet. In mere milliseconds, he was right in front of me, his knife aimed straight for my face. There wasn't a world where I could match his speed—so I had to rely on something else.
The tip of his blade met my barrier. As expected, he wasn't even strong enough to penetrate it. But before I could decide on my next move, he was already gone. In the blink of an eye, he had reappeared several meters away, adjusting his grip on the knife. Recoil, I realized. His own attack had thrown him off balance.
The noise from the crowd made it harder to focus, but since I was much slower than him, my only option was to predict his attacks. I could only summon a shield large enough to cover one side of my body—a bigger barrier would be too weak to hold up against his strikes.
"What's wrong?" I asked, not moving an inch from my spot. "We should finish this quickly. Someone already called a teacher."
He let out a sharp laugh. "Yeah, don't worry. I'll kill you just in time."
In a flash, he lunged again. And just like before, my barrier stopped his knife with ease. He backed off, then tried attacking from my right, but again, his blade hit nothing but an immovable force.
He can only dash in a straight line and has to stop for a moment to change direction. That pattern was all I needed. I could see where he'd attack next before he even moved.
He came at me in a flurry of dashes, attacking from every possible angle—but each time, he failed. His movements grew sloppier with every strike. When he finally stopped, he was panting, drenched in sweat.
"You're not even thinking about your moves." I spoke as the dust settled around us. "You're embarrassing yourself."
"I don't wanna hear that from someone just waiting for a savior to arrive," he spat back. "Your plan is to keep blocking until a teacher comes, right?"
"Pretty much."
He grinned like a devil before responding. "Well, too bad. I already handled that." He laughed maniacally.
Did he find a way to stall the adults so they wouldn't be able to stop us?
"No one's coming to save you, boy. Make sure you don't make a mistake, or you're dead!"
He dashed to my right, feinting an attack before suddenly shifting behind me to strike from the back. Too bad—I had already summoned a barrier there. The sharp clang of his knife against the invincible wall reached my ears before he repositioned to my left, then back in front of me.
"Aren't you gonna attack? You can't win like that." He chuckled.
"I'm a defensive support unit."
Once again, he dashed in a random direction, searching for an opening. This time, he stopped on my left. I watched him carefully as he lunged toward me—but something felt off.
His second dash was much slower than the last. In fact, the dash he used just before this one was the fastest I had ever seen from him. But now? He was moving at a noticeably reduced speed.
Was he getting tired?
Even if that were the case, there was no way his speed would drop this much while he still had that arrogant look on his face.
Something was wrong.
Every instinct screamed at me that there was more to this pathetic attack than it seemed. But before I could figure it out, my body reacted on its own—I raised my barrier in his path.
A sharp, stinging pain shot through my right shoulder.
Blood soaked my uniform.
"I got you, bitch." His voice dripped with satisfaction as he grinned from the other side of my barrier.
What a clever move. Before dashing to my left, he had thrown the knife straight at me. Then, he used his own speed as a decoy, making it seem like he was attacking from the side—when in reality, the knife was the real threat.
I understood the trick. It was simple. But I hadn't expected him to move faster than the knife he threw.
I quickly clutched my bleeding shoulder. Before I could even process my next move, he was already gone—along with the knife I had tossed earlier.
The crowd erupted with excitement at the sudden shift in momentum. He dashed from side to side, blurring in and out of sight, trying to throw me off.
I knew he wasn't dumb enough to use the same trick twice.
That means he's setting up something else.
I couldn't afford to let him succeed. If his next attack landed, I was dead.
He charged in from the right—I blocked.
He grew even faster, appearing from different angles, forcing me to react.
One mistake. That's all it would take.
But even a disadvantage could be turned into an advantage.
I just had to play my cards right.
Compared to that beast, Serizawa was nothing.
After blocking his attacks countless times, I finally summoned a large barrier—just weak enough for him to break through. His relentless bursts of speed had given me the chance to analyze his rhythm. At his top speed, the gaps between his attacks were consistent, making him predictable.
Just as planned, he crashed straight through my barrier. He was so used to being blocked that he never expected it to give way. It was like expecting one more step on a staircase, only to realize you'd already reached the bottom. He stumbled, thrown off balance—but there was still the knife to worry about. Since I hadn't moved an inch throughout the fight, he definitely wasn't expecting me to now.
I ducked, seized his knife-wielding arm, and used his own momentum to slam him into the ground while disarming him.
He hit the dirt with a sharp wince. Wasting no time, I summoned barriers to pin down his arms and legs, locking him in place.
I stood over him, watching him struggle, but it was pointless. Once I placed a barrier, no one—absolutely no one—could move it unless they had the strength to break it. And Serizawa wasn't nearly strong enough. My plan had worked. I'd baited him into waiting for me to slip up, but in the end, it was him who fell right into my trap.
He squirmed, his expression twisting in shame, desperately trying to break free. The crowd erupted, their voices rising to a fever pitch.
"Just give up, Serizawa," I said.
"Shut the fuck up!" he spat, still thrashing pathetically against the barriers.
Suddenly, the noise around us died down. I turned my head and spotted two familiar figures pushing through the crowd. The moment they arrived, several delinquents bolted, leaving only a few spectators to see how this would end.
"It hasn't even been a month, and you've already made a scene again," Yamada said, his cold gaze locking onto me before shifting to Serizawa, still pinned to the ground.
Behind him, Narumi wore a tense, exhausted expression. That's when I remembered—her club wasn't just for student activities. They also handled disciplinary matters.
I guess I'm in trouble now.
"I'm sorry." I immediately replied.
Narumi's eyes widened after seeing my injured shoulder. Speaking of which, I could use some medical attention at the moment. "You're wounded!" she exclaimed before rushing to my side. "Let me see." her gentle hands touched my shoulder as she inspected the injury. She then carefully removed the knife stuck between my muscles. Thank goodness we used smaller knives. "I'll heal you quickly." she declared before hovering her hands above the bleeding wound.
"Thanks." was my only response. I had seen her use her ability in public before, but I had never had the opportunity to experience it first hand. The pain was overshadowed by curiosity as I intently watched her heal me.
It was like magic, literally. Even the blood on the ground separated itself from the dust as it gathered in the air. The stains on my shirt got erased as well as all the blood I had lost rushed back inside the wound before it closed. I had been healed as if nothing happened.
"There. You should be fine now." she muttered, softly touching where the wound used to be.
Amazed, I was about to thank her when Yamada passed me by. I watched him crouch down to close the gap with Serizawa who looked at him with the most scornful eyes. "You can remove your barriers now." Yamada said, probably referring to me.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes." Though half hesitant, I decided to trust them. The small rings of matter that restrained his wrists and legs onto the ground disappeared into nothingness. "You're out of your fucking mind." Yamada commented as he stared down Serizawa. He then stood up and looked around the crowd. "Everyone, get out of here. The show is ove-"
The instant he removed his eyes from Serizawa, he had already vanished from his spot. For me, it didn't need to take long before I could realize in which direction he went. Of course he dashed in my direction, but I couldn't prepare for what he wanted to accomplish. Instead of charging towards me, he targeted the person beside me- Narumi Shiho. I didn't have enough time to think. I quickly summoned a barrier between her and Serizawa, successfully stopping his tracks.
"You fucker.." Yamada muttered with rage before bashing Serizawa's head into the ground.
Struggling with all his strength, Serizawa lifted his head and looked at me with a devilish grin on his face. "Fooled you twice, bitch."
"Takahashi-san!" Narumi yelled at me, wearing a worried expression.
I barely felt it, but he did fool me twice. Never thought he would dare attempt to do that trick again. I looked down at my stomach where the knife dug itself into before everything went black.... again.
[ End of chapter ]