He had so many capable thugs under him, men who'd expanded his power base and earned him a lot of money, and in just a few seconds they were all knocked down?
There were more than a dozen of them, and they were all armed.
And Hikari was alone, so young, with empty hands, how could he have taken them all down so fast? Even a superhuman couldn't do that, right?
Facing Kareki Ichiro's question, Hikari didn't answer.
He just smiled lightly and stepped forward toward him, the same smile he'd shown when the man had bumped into him leaving the café.
"D-don't… don't come closer!", Watching this strange youth walk toward him step by step, even the well-known gangster Kareki Ichiro felt a flicker of fear.
But just as Hikari kept approaching, when the distance between them was less than five meters, the panic on Kareki Ichiro's face vanished in an instant. A cruel look creased his butchered face; his right hand darted into his coat, and a silver-glinting handgun was drawn out.
The dark muzzle pointed directly at Hikari's head.
Seeing a hint of surprise on the young man's face, Kareki Ichiro inwardly congratulated himself on the excellent acting he'd honed over years on the streets.
"Heh! Heh! You think you're tough? What good is being tough now, kid, times have changed!", Kareki Ichiro sneered and slowly pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A shot cracked through the air; a skull instantly exploded, brain and blood spattered the ground along with a rapidly spinning iron rod.
Hikari withdrew the iron rod he'd just thrown and shook his head, "Times really have changed, Old Man."
Looking at Kareki Ichiro's headless corpse, transformed into a Dullahan-like figure, still clutching the pistol in his hand, Hikari calmly pulled the iron rod embedded in the wall free.
With his current physical condition, bullets didn't really scare him; a handgun round was hardly a threat.
But gunfire in a busy district would be troublesome.
So he'd solved Kareki Ichiro first.
After patting the corpse a bit and reasonably taking some valuables off Kareki Ichiro m, things that looked like bank cards and so on, Hikari stacked him and his men together.
He used a corpse-incineration technique and set them all ablaze.
Even before Katsuragi Shouko and the others left this morning, his radar had warned him that Kareki Ichiro intended to target them.
So right after class, Hikari had found Sayaka and gone with her to the meeting.
Kareki Ichiro and his so-called gangster crew could indeed have posed a huge threat to Shouko and her daughters and made them suffer terribly.
But for Hikari, it was done.
After cleaning up the mess in the alley, Hikari strolled out.
At the mouth of the alley a pretty girl was leaning against the wall, her face full of shock, almost dumbfounded.
She seemed to have seen the scene of Hikari dealing with Kareki Ichiro and his underlings.
Hikari looked at the suddenly appearing girl with a calm expression.
"Yuki-chan, did you just see it?", Hikari asked Katsuragi Shouko's youngest daughter, Katsuragi Yuki, with a smile.
"Um… I… I saw some of it. I actually wanted to come out to use the restroom," Katsuragi Yuki's lips trembled as she answered.
Then she immediately added, "But… but I absolutely won't tell anyone!"
"Hikari-kun! Please believe me! I like you! I definitely won't tell!"
Hearing Yuki's reply, Hikari smiled.
That smile made Yuki a little scared.
But Hikari actually believed her, because he could tell the teenage girl wasn't lying.
Besides, Yuki had personally killed Kareki Tsunetaka before, so there was no need for her to expose anything.
After all, what Hikari had done was actually helping the three of them.
While Yuki watched him nervously, Hikari said lightly, "I believe you. Go home."
He turned to leave, but suddenly felt the hem of his clothes tugged.
He looked back and saw Katsuragi Yuki trembling as she asked him, "No matter what, I'll always keep any secret for Hikari-kun. But I'm still a little scared. So… could you kiss me?"
Seeing the girl's trembling lashes, flushed cheeks, and burning gaze, Hikari understood what she meant.
He bent his head and kissed those two moist, thin lips.
The girl, holding back the joy she'd longed for, first took Hikari's hand and placed it on her chest.
Then she wrapped both arms tightly around his waist and fully surrendered to the longed-for intimate exchange.
———
Several dozen minutes later.
Hikari led Katsuragi Yuki, her face still a little flushed, back into the café.
"Eh, Hikari-kun, you're back," Seeing him return, Katsuragi Sayaka greeted him at once.
"Phew… Hikari-kun was gone so long I thought something had happened. Luckily Kareki Ichiro didn't show up," Katsuragi Shouko said, patting her chest.
Hikari explained, "When I went out to the restroom I ran into Kareki Ichiro. I talked to him a bit and cleared things up. The engagement can be canceled directly, there's nothing else to worry about."
Katsuragi Yuki, her lips still a little swollen, nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, when Hikari-kun and I went to the restroom we just happened to meet Kareki Ichiro. Hikari-kun said a few words to him, and he said he didn't need to meet you anymore, Mom, and then he left."
Hearing the two, Shouko and Sayaka both breathed a sigh of relief.
They didn't really want to see Kareki Ichiro again.
Since it was settled without meeting him, they relaxed.
With things handled, the three women left the café and returned to the apartment with Hikari.
On the way back, each of them wore a different expression; their hearts felt strange and complicated.
Second daughter Katsuragi Yuki kept her head down, cheeks slightly red, occasionally touching her lips as if feeling the leftover warmth.
Eldest daughter Katsuragi Sayaka kept stealing glances at Hikari, thinking about how she could repay all the help he'd given recently.
Shouko had been looking at Hikari too, and then saw Sayaka's expression.
Seeing Sayaka's way of looking at him, Shouko realized her eldest had grown quite fond of Hikari.
And she, actually… had once been very satisfied with that son-in-law idea.
Now, of course, she preferred to change that son-in-law identity into another kind of family member.
But as a mother, Shouko couldn't be selfish.
Seeing her eldest daughter secretly admiring Hikari, Shouko suppressed her own fluttering heart and decided to push them together.
Hikari as a son-in-law would be pretty good.
Thinking of that, Shouko recalled the time she'd been poisoned, broken into Hikari's home, and he'd treated her gently and thoroughly. All those scenes made her blush and her heart race.
Her feelings were complicated and even a little unwilling, but looking at Hikari's young face, this not-so-young auntie decided she couldn't make the same mistake again.
She'd match Hikari and Sayaka, their ages fit perfectly.
———
After escorting Shouko and her daughters back to the Asou Apartments, the three invited Hikari in to show their gratitude and poured him a cup of tea.
As she poured, Shouko asked Hikari, "Hikari-kun, would you like to come eat with us later? You've done so much for the three of us, we want to repay you a little within our means."
"Okay," Seeing Shouko's sincere look, Hikari nodded.
They chatted a bit more, and perhaps to give her eldest daughter Sayaka a chance, Shouko dragged Yuki upstairs to tidy up, leaving Sayaka and Hikari alone.
Once left alone in the living room, Sayaka couldn't help herself and made a move.
She sat next to Hikari and pretended to refill his tea, but the moment she set the cup down she leaned over and kissed his lips.
A few minutes later their lips parted.
"Hikari-kun, I… I like you! I want to be your… your woman, to repay you for everything you've done for our family…", The beautiful girl spoke with a stammer and blushing face; her eyes were full of shy affection.
Hikari saw that although Sayaka seemed shy and clumsy in speech, there was a firm resolve beneath it. Clearly she'd planned this for a while.
But looking at Sayaka's face, which resembled Shouko's, Hikari hinted, "I'm already involved with another woman, and she's… quite close with you, Sayaka. You might not be able to accept that woman."
Sayaka immediately shook her head, "I know, I've already thought it through. I can accept it." [T/N: 😑]
Already decided? And able to accept it?
Hearing that, Hikari looked at her in surprise.
But Sayaka's next words made him realize she'd misunderstood.
"I know Hikari-kun has another woman. After all, the first time we met at the pool we saw you with Akane-chan. But it's okay, before I said anything, I'd already decided."
"As long as Hikari-kun wants, Akane-chan doesn't mind… or even if she does, I still want to be with Hikari-kun…"
Hearing Sayaka, Hikari fell silent for a moment.
He could tell she'd thought it through and didn't mind him having another woman.
But she'd misunderstood, the woman Hikari had referred to wasn't Akane.
Still, he couldn't exactly tell Sayaka that directly, it would be mortifying for Shouko.
Seeing Hikari fall silent, Sayaka took his silence for agreement.
Determined, she reached out and hugged Hikari's neck, preparing to kiss him again.
At that moment, footsteps came from the stairs.
"Sis, Mom needs you, come upstairs," Katsuragi Yuki's voice called out, interrupting Sayaka's move.
Startled, Sayaka quickly pulled her hand from Hikari's neck.
"Okay! I'm coming up now!", she said, lowering her head to hide her flushed face, and hurried upstairs.
After Sayaka left, the outwardly calm Katsuragi Yuki came over to Hikari.
"Hikari-kun, kissing you feels so good. I want more kisses…", Yuki grabbed his arm and looked up, openly demanding another kiss.
Hikari shook his head, "Your sister and your mom are still upstairs. Kissing here is too likely to get discovered."
Yuki shook her head too, pouting playfully, "Hikari-kun kissed Sayaka just now, her mouth's still red. I saw it all."
Hikari wasn't embarrassed; he even nodded, admitting, "Yeah, I did kiss your sister just now. She said she likes me and wants to be with me, to be my woman. So, Yuki, do you still want to kiss?"
"Of course!", Yuki didn't hesitate and kissed him again.
The warm softness and sweetness intoxicated her. Perhaps she tasted a little of her sister.
A few minutes later, panting, Yuki loosened her arms around Hikari's neck and smiled, "Hikari-kun, you and Sayaka aren't together yet, right?"
"And actually, I wouldn't mind serving Hikari-kun together with Sayaka~"
Seeing Yuki say that with a smile, Hikari laughed, "Looks like Yuki's tolerance is high."
Yuki beamed proudly and hugged his arm, "Of course, I've liked you since the first moment I saw you. Before, I just didn't want to fight with my sister over you."
"Still like that?", Hikari smiled.
"I just couldn't help it," Yuki laughed.
Then she put her mouth to his ear and whispered, "Actually, I also know how Mom feels about Hikari-kun~"
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