“Takeshi Kimura.”
The third-ranked student, Takeshi, introduced himself. He then faced Akuto, turning up his nose at him.
“Now that you understand, will you shut up and let yourself get tossed around for me?”
“Why should I?”
“You still don’t get it? I’m tellin’ you to quit this whole disciplinary committee president crap. Well, that and it’d be kinda fun if you just kept your head bowed in front of me.”
“So in the end you just want a fight, is that it?” Akuto was starting to get really irritated.
“It don’t gotta be a fight, right?” At Takeshi’s instructions, three of his henchmen dragged someone out from one of the beds, further inside the barracks.
The person’s limbs were tied up, and he looked like a dirty, worn-out dish rag. Akuto’s heart sank as he saw him.
It was Hiroshi. The area around his eyes had swollen up like a pair of baseballs. He had bruises on his arms from their attacks. Akuto knew he’d be covered in wounds under his clothes as well.
“B-Boss...” Hiroshi hadn’t lost consciousness. He spoke in an agonized voiced and looked up at Akuto. “Don’t worry about me... These guys...”
Takeshi and his henchmen started to laugh at his words.
“This guy sounds likes some kinda comic book hero, don’t he?” Takeshi waved to his henchmen and they dragged Hiroshi back. “Basically, if you stop resisting, we stop harming this guy. That’s the deal. I really wanted it to be that girl that’s always followin’ you, but we couldn’t find her. But if you put up a fight and run away, you know what we’ll do to her, right? Don’t forget, you’re at this school for a loooong time. You don’t wanna spend your days in fear, do ya?” Takeshi spoke as if he thought himself to be a clever adult.
“Actually, I still have a question,” Akuto said, calmly.
“Huh?”
“You said ‘like some kinda comic book hero,’ but... There’s always been something I’ve never understood about that.”
Akuto looked towards Takeshi and his cronies.
“Whether it’s comics or novels, or anything else, really... There are people who identify with the protagonist, or the antagonist. But they return to reality sooner or later, and give up on becoming a comic book villain, or a hero. Personally I can respect someone who’s given that up, and found their own way of life. But what I don’t get, are the guys who try to copy the sleazy, lowlifes of those stories.”
“What the hell are you ramblin’ on about?” As if Akuto had become a nuisance to him, Takeshi motioned to his henchmen with his chin. The henchmen approached Akuto with faint smiles on their faces.
“I thought times like these were when you’re supposed to lose control of yourself, but... it seems that’s not the case,” Akuto said. He waved his hand out in front of his waist, looking as if he was sweeping a broom at the feet of the people around him.
Suddenly, the henchmen approaching Akuto started collapsing and crouching down. They looked as if they had no idea what was going on, but then they started feeling pain in their knees and began to groan, as they were unable to stand up.
“All I did was manipulate the mana in the atmosphere and break their knees. Since I’m just manipulating mana, it’s a test of strength, right? At least try to fight back.” Akuto sounded bored as he spoke, and reached his hand out towards one of the henchmen standing by. He then made a turning motion, and the student’s arm twisted.
“I’m moving whatever mana is close to your body, get it? It’s easier to draw power from, so I guess you’re no match for me, huh? If you don’t at least try to beat me, I’ll just break it.”
An unnatural sound of joints being pulled out was heard, and the student was finally let go.
“Hey, you don’t seem to get the position you’re in.” Panicked, Takeshi had his henchmen drag out Hiroshi.
“I know. I’m being backed into a corner. Not by you injuring me, but by injuring those close to me. There’s only one thing left to do once you understand that.”
Akuto smashed the bones of another student standing close to him.
“Y-You don’t know anything!” Takeshi yelled.
“I’m doing this because I know. I’m being calculating. I’m making sure whatever cronies of yours are still conscious can’t move, and then I’ll make them watch what’s going to happen next. I’ll have them watch their boss getting mercilessly tormented.”
Akuto held out his hand. Instantaneously, Takeshi got up, put some distance between himself and Akuto, and reached into his pocket to pull out a chain. It seemed to be used for fighting. It filled up with mana and began glowing.
Akuto used mana to try and break Takeshi’s legs, but Takeshi put even more distance between them and resisted with his own power. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, but he was putting up with Akuto’s pressure for now.
“Either way, I’ll make sure you’re last.”
Recognizing Takeshi as a formidable opponent, Akuto remotely manipulated mana to shut the door to the barracks, and looked towards the other henchmen. Their faces grew pale with fear.
“This is nothing personal. I just want to cut off your ability to fight back, so that’s why I’m doing this. Please don’t hold it against me. Actually, it’s fine. I’ll make sure to rid you of any feelings of resentment.”
A few minutes after declaring this, the only ones left standing were Takeshi and Akuto. Most of Takeshi’s cronies had collapsed along the walls. They had tried to get away to no avail.
Eventually, Takeshi was also driven up against the wall. He had tried to dodge Akuto’s oppressive mana manipulation, but was eventually backed up against the corner of the barracks and couldn’t retreat any further. Takeshi realized he had nowhere left to go, and with all of his might, he swung his chain at Akuto.
Akuto didn’t try to dodge the chain at all. It struck him in the face and coiled itself around his head.
“Did I get him?” Takeshi broke into a smile, but it quickly faded away. The chain was floating in the air, one centimeter away from Akuto’s face.
“You protected yourself...?”
“Don’t tell me you’re surprised?” Akuto grabbed the chain, removed it from his face, and tossed it behind his back. “Don’t even think about asking for mercy.”
Akuto concentrated his mana on one of Takeshi’s little toes, and twisted it backwards. There was a small sound, and the toe broke. Takeshi crouched down, crying out in pain. Then, Akuto raised Takeshi’s body up into the air in front of him. Looking as if he had been crucified, Takeshi floated in the air.
Akuto wanted to make sure that his immobilized cronies had a good view on their boss’s suffering as he rotated Takeshi’s ankle all the way around.
Takeshi’s screams lingered as they echoed all the way through the cavernous barracks.
“Stop!”
Akuto heard a voice call out to him from behind. Akuto reflexively gave his reply.
“You think I can stop now? It’s no fun unless I make him cry.”
After saying this, Akuto realized that the voice calling out to him was a girl’s voice.
—Crap!
Akuto turned around. The door to the barracks that he had closed was bent open. And standing in the doorway was Junko.
“You monster! So you’ve finally shown your true colors, huh?! I wondered what you were up to by calling me here!”
—Crap, crap, crap. Now what am I gonna do...
“You’ve got it all wrong! You see, they threatened me...”
Upon saying this, Akuto realized how blatantly unpersuasive his words were, and sweat began running down his forehead. Anyone would look at this situation and consider Akuto a villain, giving the third-ranked fighter of the school a beating as he’d forced him into a crucifixion pose, surrounded by close to twenty other delinquents who were sitting there, bleeding, their limbs broken.
“Liar! I can tell just from looking who is threatening whom!” Like a detective stepping ont
o the scene of a massacre, Junko steeled herself.
“I’m telling you, you’ve got it wrong! I was just protecting myself, and—”
“Don’t waste your breath! I finally get what you’re playing at! You became the disciplinary committee president so you could bring all of the school’s thugs under your control. Then, you’ll start taking over the school, and use your influence over students who’ll go on to positions within the government, isn’t that right?!” Junko pointed at Akuto accusingly.
“I-I’ve never even thought about anything like that. I swear!” Akuto had genuinely never considered anything close to what Junko was saying, so he started babbling as he tried to respond.
“You bastard! Why am I the only one you’re always trying to charm? I see, it must be because I’m the only one among the school’s upper ranked students who hates illegal activities, right? If you made me an ally, you’d be able to con honest and serious students as well, right?!” Junko seemed to be intensely convinced of these false impressions.
—At this rate, nothing will get settled...
Akuto remembered Fujiko’s advice. He put his hand in his pocket, and took out the medical dispersion device he had received from her. In it was the medicine she said would allow their hearts to communicate with one another.
—First, I’ll start with myself...
Akuto put the device up against his arm and pulled the trigger. But nothing happened.
—Huh?
Akuto opened up the clip and checked inside. The tablets were gone.
—What?
He hadn’t used the device at all, and it’s not like the tablets could have evaporated. There weren’t any holes in the device either. Akuto panicked, but without the tablets all he could do was give up on the medicine plan.
“Uh, um...”
At a loss, Akuto put Takeshi down. Takeshi hit the ground with an abrupt yelp. Akuto moved towards Junko, who readied her wooden sword with an expression as if she was being approached by a savage beast.
“D-Don’t come any closer! If you come near me, I will put my life on the line to defeat you! I might lose, but I’ll still kick the crap out of you! I’ll show you mankind’s pride, you damn Demon King!”
“H-Hold on just a minute... You don’t have to get so serious...”
As he advanced forward, Akuto held out his hands to signal he had no intention to fight, but Junko moved back at the same pace.
“Stay back! I realize I don’t have the power to stop you, but if it comes down to it, I’ll gather up volunteers within the school, and formally subjugate you!”
“Subjugate?”
“You don’t know about the subjugation system?! Figures you wouldn’t! Okay, fine! I’ll show you! Justice will prevail!”
Despite her brave words, Junko was clearly quite scared. Her hands trembled as she took a round ball out from her inside pocket. Akuto immediately recognized it as a smoke bomb used by a combat group of Suhara followers known as the “ninja.”
“Hey, wait—” Akuto moved in to try and stop Junko, but she just became even more distressed.
“Eeeek! I-I told you not to come any closer!”
Simultaneously trying to move backwards and throw the smoke bomb, Junko tripped on the arm of one of the unconscious henchmen, and fell backwards.
Then, the smoke bomb rolled out of Junko’s hand.
“Oh... No...”
Junko had lost her composure, but the smoke bomb plopped down onto the floor, and after a few seconds it exploded with a loud bang.
“Eeeek!”
Upon Junko’s shriek, white smoke started spreading around the area.
“Whoa!” Akuto instinctively tried to get away from the smoke bomb. All he could make out was white, as an irritating odor invaded his nose.
As they were underground, the air flow was rather poor. By the time most of the smoke had started clearing up, Junko was already gone.
“I really screwed this up...” Akuto scratched his head.
Around him were Takeshi, his henchmen, and Hiroshi lying on the ground. Almost all of it Akuto’s doing.
—Even so...
Despite all this, what Akuto found most curious was the fact he hadn’t lost control of himself even once during the fight with Takeshi. He had intended on acting properly, and at the time, he had felt like there were no other choices.
—I really screwed up... I guess to anyone on the outside, I acted... like a Demon King, didn’t I? But then, that means it’s my fault, isn’t it...? Oh man, I screwed up bad...
Lamenting to himself, Akuto returned to the entrance of the labyrinth and woke Korone up. Since Korone didn’t register any memories while she was turned off, she spoke to Akuto without a clue in the world.
“Well then, shall we go take a look at the historical sites inside the labyrinth?”
Akuto had to confess to Korone that he had shut her off and gone to the old barracks, so she could go heal everyone’s wounds. But now he had to explain the whole situation, and he had no idea how he’d be able to justify his actions to her.
○
“Basically, you went off and got into all kinds of trouble while I was shut down,” Korone said to Akuto.
“Sorry,” Akuto bowed his head in apology.
They were inside Akuto’s room. Korone was on the bed, and Akuto on the floor, kneeling with his head down. He had explained most of what had happened up until then.
“I have no record of it, so even if you apologize I can’t pass judgement over you for your actions. However, generally speaking, I believe that you should take responsibility for your problem with Junko Hattori,” Korone stated dispassionately.
“I feel like I’m trying to take responsibility for it...”
“Obediently allowing her to subjugate you is the way to do so.”
At the Academy, there was something called the “subjugation system.” Naturally it was Akuto’s first time hearing about it and most of the other students didn’t know about it either, but it seemed that it was a valid school regulation that had existed since the great war.
People who have committed particularly heinous deeds against the Academy have their crimes made public to the whole school and must accept duels from several people all at once. It was most likely a school regulation used to chase out and punish spies and traitors.
“Well, it might seem like being given opportunities to fight others is a manly way of settling things, but...”
“It’s certainly a custom from a more uncivilized time, isn’t it?” Korone agreed.
But since Akuto was eligible for the “subjugation system,” he was going to have to accept the challenges that Junko and the other students gathered by her would offer him — it would be more like an all-out assault than actual duels.
“My crimes... Well I suppose there are quite a bit, aren’t there?”
The injuries Takeshi and the others suffered in the barracks had been recorded by Korone, and even if that weren’t the case, Junko had reported everything to the teachers.
“That’s fine, but... If I win, then what happens? There really isn’t anything I can do, is there?” Akuto asked Korone with a serious look on his face.
“That’s why I’m telling you to obediently let yourself be subjugated,” Korone said with an equally serious look.
“So that’s all I can do, huh... I talked to Miss Mitsuko as well, but she didn’t have a solution, either...”
Akuto had immediately made sure to consult with Miss Mitsuko after he understood the situation he was in. Her answer was simple. She had replied with these words, her eyes sparkling as she spoke:
“Are you going to die? Do you think you’ll die? How terrible! Oh, I’m getting all excited! I’ll be there front row and center! After you die, I’ll be right there with my necromancy, so don’t let me down, okay?”
Akuto was unclear about her from the start, but ultimately the only thing that differentiated her intentions from black magic was the fact that she had pe
rmission.
Akuto didn’t think he could be any more confused and unsure about what to do from here on out.
“Ultimately, doesn’t this mean that anyone who’s strong enough can end up becoming the Demon King? Sheesh... What’s left for me besides spending the rest of my days cursing my fate?”
But there was someone else who had been doomed to their fate.
Junko.
She was sitting seiza style, legs tucked under with her back straight, on the tatami bamboo floor of her room. She was wearing a white robe and holding a writing brush in her hand, and she was concentrating all her mind on the paper in front of her.
“Father, Mother, Grandmother... Forgive me for how undutiful I’ve been. I am doing this for justice, and for the nation. I hope you rejoice at the fact that I’ll be able to defeat the person who I had the misfortune of meeting, who has sealed my fate... No, not just that, but I’ll be able to defeat the future Demon King, while he is still weak.”
She was writing a will, a farewell note in the event of her death. She quietly spoke the first draft out loud to herself. However, as she became overcome with emotion sitting here all alone, her words began to turn into grumbling and complaining.
“Here I was... Thinking he was a decent guy... Turns out he was actually evil... That’s right, even though I liked him so much at first... Even though it was the first time I had met a man like him... He’s almost certainly the Demon King. He definitely has the personality for it. Anyway, why does he get to me so much? Even though I’m a strong fighter, I’m clumsy, I’m weak-willed, I’m always bluffing. I usually hate the fact that I’m a good fighter to begin with, and even though I try to be responsible, I still let Takeshi Kimura and his cronies do whatever they like. I didn’t have the courage to become the disciplinary committee president... Why is he able to do it all so easily? And he’s strong... It kind of sounds like I’m worried about him when I put it like that, doesn’t it? How ridiculous. Ugh! I might die tomorrow... I have to write my final letter. Let’s see...”
Junko reached out towards the ink stone with her brush. But it was out of reach.
“What? C’mon...”
She stretched as far as she could, her head tilting up to look at the ceiling as the reached. Without her eyes looking away, she suddenly felt the ink stone touch the tips of her fingers
Demon King Daimaou: Volume 1 Page 13