After a nice cold shower to cool off his muscles, getting on his school uniform, and packing his gloves in a duffle bag along his now sweaty clothes, Haruto walked out. The girls in their green-skirted uniforms instantly swarmed around him, some with hearty eyes. With his uniform, Haruto looked like a more professional person, despite it being the typical black jacket, black dress pants, school shoes, and white button-up shirt, but with his hands still bandaged. He had no tie and kept his jacket open to breathe better, which was what he wanted right now when he found himself smiling awkwardly at the girls around him.
However, there was one perk that kept him grinning: he was surrounded by cute girls who wanted his attention.
"Namikaze-senpai, you did great today, once again." One of them basically sang.
Haruto managed a chuckle at the enthusiasm but replied truthfully, and kept moving forward, "Thanks, but I still haven't done as much as I would have wanted to."
"No need to kick yourself down, Senpai. You always do great." Another replied.
"Yeah, you're always fun to see punching bags and others." The first girl said.
Haruto smiled a bit more, "I think that's the only thing I'm good at, you know, fighting. It feels nice that there's a crowd to cheer for me, though." He ended that line with a warm smile that caused more than one blush.
"We'll always cheer for you, Senpai. You must be the greatest boxer ever!" another girl barely squealed.
He grinned, his ego did feel massive, but something in the back of his head seemed to want to humble him, almost like a memory of something he experienced, like a loss from a past life, "Nah, I don't think I'm the best. If I know something is that there are a lot of strong guys out there who can be floored by stronger guys. That's why I need to wait one more year before going pro… well, that and my age."
"Speaking of that, when's your birthday, Senpai?" another girl asked.
Haruto stopped, a thoughtful look on his face, and put a hand to his chin, "October tenth, maybe."
"Maybe? Why would it… Oh…" the girl looked down, "Sorry…"
He waved her off with a calm smile, "Hey, no need for that. I don't even think about it or let it bother me." He grinned at her reassuringly. The girls smiled and followed him to the gate where he asked to be able to walk back to his home on his own. As he did, some more thoughts came to his mind, "Why's my birthday such a weird day?" he shook his head and chuckled, "Why am I even thinking so much about it? Maybe the coach is right and I need to find myself a girl, heh… Perhaps a cute yet sexy, tough, one of a kind girl with a nice figure…" he grinned to himself, engrossed in his heavenly thoughts of his perfect girl…
At that moment, his phone started to ring. After seeing the ID, and mostly getting out of his dream world with unique girls roaming around him, he furrowed his brows and picked up the call, hearing a certain little boy on the other side, "M-Mister! I need help! Those guys, the banchou… They—"
Haruto narrowed his eyes, "Hey, calm down and tell me what's going on, one step at a time."
The boy took a small pause, " Some guy's beating them up saying they bumped into his car! They didn't do anything bad, and there are a lot of bad guys! They bought the cat some food and when they got out this big guy came out and blamed them for passing by his car saying they scratched it or something. "
Haruto's knuckles turned white, "Where are you?"
After getting the necessary directions, the blond took off, finally racing with everything he had. Not even a minute later he had dashed past a few streets and found a small pet shop, with a large pimped out purple Ford and the banchou he met earlier sitting on their asses with bruises, blood, and a towering tank of a man in a purple leather coat, purple dress pants, and white snake skin shoes. This guy had no hair, but had his jacket opened to show several tattoos, meaning he was a yakuza. By his side more men with real katanas, spiked brass knuckles, or their bare hands stood by the man, who cracked his knuckles and punched the pompadour banchou again, in the face, splashing blood on the street.
"Hey, leave him alone!" the masked banchou said, only to get a boot to his face from another yakuza.
The tank of a man, that seemed to be the leader, spat on the ground. He had a very unfriendly face in a permanent scowl, and looked like a heavyweight fighter, "You little punks will have to start working hard to pay up for the damages to my beautiful car. Not only that, but you dared disrespect me there telling me to not do what I please… That costs a finger in my clan."
Another yakuza spoke up, "What do we do with the kid?" he asked as he stood behind the boy and the cat the child still carried.
And just as the big boss was about to answer, a sound reached his ears, that of glass shattering. "Oh sorry," Haruto said, removing his bandaged fist from the heavily dented door, "Was that yours?" he asked, but his tone was anything but stern. He was mad at the man and stared at him with cold, stoic eyes.
The large yakuza growled, "You're as good as dead, punk! Get him!" he shouted at the other gangsters who readied their weapons while Haruto readied his fists.
"Sorry, but those five are coming with me." He said and ducked under a swing from a sword, and connected his left fist with the yakuza's face. The result was instantaneous, the gangster's head rocketed to the side, his body was shoved backwards with enough force that gales of wind could be seen for an instant, and his mouth seemingly exploded when spit, teeth and blood burst out of his lips. Another one came with his spiked brass knuckles throwing swift jabs, but Haruto easily side-stepped his charge and using only his left hand once again connected three powerful jabs and a hook to the man's ribcage. The yakuza staggered backwards, his mouth open with a lot of spit coming out… and then he coughed up something, blood. The gangster fell to the ground with a broken rib and a heavily bruised abdomen.
The big boss growled, reached into his car, and pulled out a two-handed broadsword he carried singlehandedly, "You're dead, you little son of a bitch!" He raised the large weapon over his head and swung it down. Haruto weaved to his right and let the blade pass by his body and touch the ground. The large man was about to raise the blade, which had sunk into the hard concrete, and try to attack Haruto again, only to see the blond charge at him with an incredible speed.
"Body!" Haruto cried when his left hook forced the man to lean down, his mouth gasping for breath that had been knocked out of his stomach, "Liver!" This time Haruto's left fist went for a more precise spot on the yakuza's body, and the small audience heard how not only one but two ribs cracked from the powerful punch, and they didn't want to imagine whatever happened to the man's liver. The large man started to fall down, but the blond boxer would have none of that. Bending his knees to be near the man's waist level, the blond gripped tightly his right fist for the first time in this fight, and jumped up.
The little boy gasped, "That's a…"
And Haruto completed the kid's sentence, "Gazelle Punch!" he cried when his knuckles landed squarely on the man's chin, cracking his jaw, breaking his teeth, and, despite the yakuza having his mouth shut with the heavy fist on his chin, sending out the man's teeth. The large yakuza was sent flying back, landing heavily on his car which ended with a heavy imprint of the mobster's body. The other gangsters looked at this with shock, turned, and started to run off.
The banchou trio, despite bleeding, gaped at the boxer's prowess, "That was so cool…" the bald banchou said through his cold mask.
"Big bro!" the little kid cried in relief as he raced towards the boxer.
Haruto whistled in relief, "Whew… That was ugly…" he then turned to the banchou, who tensed at his eyes, until, "Are you three okay?"
The pompadour banchou nodded, "Y-Yes…"
Haruto sighed in relief this time, "Good, but I should still call a hospital or something. You guys are bleeding real bad."
The spectacled banchou blinked behind his shades, "You… You're going to help us after what we did to the kid?"
Haruto kneeled before the trio… and bonked them in the head, "Of course I am, you idiots! What kind of monster would I be if I left you to bleed here and die?!" he asked angrily, "Honestly, you should be a bit more thankful and give some gratitude!"
"S-Sorry, sir! Thank you, sir! We're actually fine, sir! Just bruised and with small cuts, sir!" the three replied as one with their hands rubbing the lumps on their heads.
Haruto stood up with his arms crossed proudly and nodded happily with himself, "Good. Now, can you three stand?" they nodded, getting up, and Haruto smiled, "Good! So you can carry the stuff the cat needs!" he said, motioning to the bags the trio had been carrying, and chuckled with a sweet smile, but a dark tone to his merry voice, "I did say you would repay the kid and the cat for the problems you caused them, didn't I?"
The banchou group sweat-dropped, This guy's a demon…
Soon the four boys and the cat walked to the youngest kid's home, after that, the banchou left the bags at the entrance to the home which, curiously enough, happened to be near a temple. The boxer stared at the wooden structure and a large tree that seemed far more ancient than the temple or anything around it.
The boy walked out of his home with a large smile, "Hey, big bro! My mom said I can keep the cat and even name it! Thanks for your help!"
"Oh, that's good!" Haruto said, and looked as a middle-aged woman with short hair walked out and smiled at her son. He smiled and waved at her, which she replied with her own wave before getting back in to make dinner, "So, how're you naming the fur ball?" the blond asked and eyed the cat that strolled around the house.
The kid smiled, "His name is gonna be Buyo… Oh, and I'm Sota, Higurashi Sota!"
Haruto smirked, "Name's Namikaze Haruto." He then patted the kid's head, "And next time you have a problem, you call me, ok?"
The kid nodded with a smile. Not knowing that the next time he would need the boxer's help a lot would happen…
The blond then skipped down the steps and passed by a girl with long black hair and his school's uniform. She stared at him in surprise, and he couldn't help but flash her a rather goofy grin. The poor girl was both taken back by the expression on his face that said "doofus" and the handsome features he had… so she missed one step and stumbled face first on the last one, making the blond sweat-drop.
"Hey… Are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah, I think so…" she grumbled, and blushed when the boxer helped her up and even picked up her bike without a problem. She was taken by surprise with the way he carried her bicycle despite being around her height.
"You wouldn't mind some help, would you?" he asked, stretching his hand for her to grab in order to pull her up.
She accepted the hand with a smile, "Thanks… Umm…"
"Haruto, Namikaze Haruto."
"I'm Kagome, Higurashi Kagome. A pleasure to meet you."