2 Chapter 02 - Morning Pinch

After breakfast, Yōta goes to the bathroom together with Yamato to check on their appearances for the last time, and when they check on the time, it's already 08:15 AM.

Tadakatsu and Yukie already left for school first.

It's always funny to think a delinquent like Tadakatsu would never late for school. What a diligent delinquent he is.

When they head out of the dorm, Miyako was already outside, waiting for them. Mostly for Yōta of course.

"I just got here too."

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought you were waiting long for me! Wait—! Don't make it sound like a date!" Yōta self-retorted himself when he realized his mistake.

Yamato snorts in amusement. This comedy routine between these two are never get old.

"Come on, Gakuto! Hurry up! Your friends are about to leave!" Reiko's loud voice could be heard coming from the Shimazu house, which is next to the dorm.

"Shut up! Don't embarrass me, mom!" Another loud voice retorted before the door to the Shimazu house opened and revealed a figure of tall muscly man with a dark brown eyes and short brown hair that is stroked back.

This is Shimazu Gakuto, the muscle of the Kazama Family from the males side as he is both tall and muscular compared to the other guys.

"Yo, guy who is not living up to his name." Yamato greeted Gakuto in sarcastic manner as the smirk appeared on his face.

"Are you picking a fight!?" Gakuto glared him in response.

Yamato simply waving the glare off, "I'm joking. You're really awesome today like always."

Gakuto's glare quickly melt down and he couldn't stopped himself to flex his muscles before smiling in very confident manner, "Hey, hey, don't flatter me by saying the truth like that."

Flattery is always a good skill to have, indeed.

"It's always nice to see you haven't change at all, Gakuto-san." Yōta chimed in from the side.

"Of course I am. No matter what era I am in, I'm always awesome. Don't you think so, Miyako?"

"Not really." Miyako shakes her head, "And which part that looks awesome exactly?"

Gakuto snorts and wearing a smug expression over his face before carefully slicked back his hair, "Isn't it my hair so perfect that it's going to attract many girls?"

Miyako squinted her eyes before she curiously tilts her head, "It doesn't look any different though?"

"Man..." Gakuto sighed and stares flatly at the girl, "Well, you're not part of the popular opinion, after all."

Yamato raised his eyebrows, "You sound pretty confident, STR 95."

"The secret's in this book, INT 95." Gakuto smirked at Yamato and bring out a cheap-looking magazine from his school bag. "It says in this book 'MoteMote' that women will fall for me if I follow what it says, starting how I set my hair."

"No, no, no." Yōta waved his hand frantically in response, "No matter how you see it, you're being deceived right now, Gakuto-san."

"Oh, shut up, DEX 95." Gakuto grumbled, "In this magazine, they said they figured out how to pick up chicks in Tibet, and it has made someone popular that he always has to keep a deozen condoms in his room!"

"Are you seriously believing that shit? It's a common technique a company would use to make the reader to believe what they're saying in return making them buy everything they sell." Yōta deadpanned at Gakuto while crossing his arms, "It's the same technique that daily horoscope often use to make people buy their magazines."

"That's true." Yamato nodded his head.

"Yeah, that's stupid..." Miyako rolled her eyes.

"I'm speaking from experience, Gakuto-san." Yōta continued, "There's a time when I believe at what hair commercials on TV said. But..." He trails off for a moment before a vein popped out on his forehead, "No matter what I do, I just can't get my hair to look as cool as those guys in hair commercials have theirs! It's a fraud! They're scamming me!!!"

How the hell do those people get their hair like that, seriously? The least they could do is, you know, sell a manual with some wax or something.

Yamato and Miyako patted Yōta on the back, clearly sympathizing with his predicament.

"You still look handsome even without waxing your hair, Yōta." Miyako comforted the man while smiling sweetly at him. No matter how average her Yōta looks like, she still loves him the same.

You can even say, his average looks is a part of his charm point. And glasses too. You can't forget about the glasses after all.

"Whoa there, calm down, man. I got it." Gakuto couldn't helped but to sweatdropped at his friend's sudden outburst.

Yōta took a calm breath before he fixes his glasses, "What I'm trying to say, you shouldn't do needless things like that and just believe in your body. There's still women out there who would like to have a boyfriend with a big muscles like you."

Gakuto smiles and smacks Yōta's back appreciatively, "Man, thank you for saying that. I guess you're right, I'll sell my physical charm and not let this magazine lead me astray." Saying that, Gakuto starts squeezing the walnut in his hand while looking around, "Huh? Capt isn't here."

"You only noticed that!?" Yōta smacks Gakuto's chest with the back of his hand.

"You're so slow to point that out." Miyako deadpanned at Gakuto.

Gakuto raised one of his eyebrows, "He's wandering about again, huh?"

"Yes, he is." Yamato replied while taking out of his cellphone and starts replying the messages his acquaintances sent.

The four of them walk by Tama River with Gakuto and Yamato leading the group, while Yōta and Miyako walks side by side behind them.

The warm spring air really feels good.

"With how warm the weather right now, it makes me want to take a nap by the riverside." Yōta commented while inhaling the warm air.

"With me?" Miyako chimed in as she cutely tilts her head at him.

Yōta looks thoughtful for a second before answering, "I guess that wouldn't be so bad too."

Miyako's eyes brightened with so much excitement as she grabs Yōta's hand, "Let's go then."

When she's trying to drags Yōta with her to the riverbank, Yōta tugs the hand that connects them and brings the excited girl back to his side.

"No. Not today, we need to go to school remember?"

Miyako pursed her lips in response, "I was so close."

Gakuto laughed while points a finger at Miyako much to the girl's annoyance, "Haha, you're dumped."

"Shut up. Go eat a rotten banana, you gorilla."

"Can you please treat me like a human being!?" Gakuto shouted and accidentally breaks the walnut in his hand.

"You should thank me for even treating you as a primate." Miyako glared Gakuto before humphing at him.

In response, Gakuto stops in his track for a second before he approaches Yamato, "Hey, Yamato. You should know since you're smart. What's a primate?"

In the background, you could clearely heard Yōta shouted "Are you serious right now!?" in shock.

Meanwhile Yamato on the other side could only deadpanned at the musclehead in front of him right now, "How did you manage to get into the school, Gakuto...?"

"He must have bought his way in because they have land." Miyako commented from the side, still annoyed at Gakuto. Despite her appearance, this girl hold a grudge very well.

Gakuto exaggeratedly throws his hands off in the air, "You know that I studied my ass off!"

Gakuto's family has land in this area and is providing part of it for the school dorm. That's why his house is next to the dorm.

"Hey." A low and soft voice greeted the group, and when they look behind, they could see a young man with blue eyes and dark blue hair that covers his right eye walking to them while reading Weekly Shonen Jump, which just came out today.

"Good morning, Morooka Takuya from Class 2-F, whose hobbies are internet and manga." Miyako greeted the man in a quite descriptive way.

"Greets him normally, will you!?" Yōta smacks Miyako's head with a paper fan that appeared out of nowhere.

"Teehee~"

"You guys are so energetic like usual." Takuya chuckles when he saw the usual routine of Yõta and Miyako. Like any members of the Kazama Family, he's already pretty much getting used to it.

Just like Miyako said earlier, this man name is Morooka Takuya, just like Yōta, Takuya is the Kazama Family's resident geek and straight man who is classic Otaku as both of them love both anime and manga.

"I mean, it's because he's so unnoticeable that I might forget about him unless I confirm his existence." Miyako said while twirling her short hair.

"Don't say terrible things first thing in the morning!"

"Yeah, that's just mean!"

"It's your fault, Yōta." Yamato pointed out while fiddling with his cellphone.

"How is it my fault!?"

"She's in the bad mood because you dumped her." This time it was Gakuto who answered him.

"I DIDN'T DUMP HER!"

"... Oh, no wonder..." Takuya wore a deadpanned expression over his face while staring at Yōta, clearly saying that it's really his fault.

"Oh, come on!" Yōta throws both his hands up in defeat.

The group then starts laughing at him. To the Kazama Family, it's always fun to tease Yōta since he always giving them the reactions they wanted.

"Huh? Is Capt gone again?" Takuya asked when he noticed someone missing in the usual group.

Yamato nods his head in response, "He's gone. Don't worry about him."

"Oh, okay." Takuya nods his head back in acknowledgement before focusing on the manga in his hands.

"Moro, you're grinning too much. It's creepy." Miyako commented from the side.

"I couldn't helped it. This week's To Love-Ru was nice and erotic." He answered without looking at Miyako, still focusing on the panel while grinning widely.

"Oh, really? Let me see." Yōta suddenly came back to life, and jump in on the conversation before squeezing himself to Takuya's side while looking at the manga in his hands.

"How many panty shots were there?" Gakuto also joined from Takuya's other side.

"Look at this shower scene. I'm sure they're going to draw their nipples in the comic book." Takuya said as he pointed the panel on the manga.

"Holy Mother Maria!" Yōta shouted in excitement when he saw the panel of nude Mikan together with Lala and Yami. "Gonna buy the comic book ASAP when it releases later!" He continued as he excitedly running in place.

As a fan of Mikan and Lala, there's no way he would miss this. He needs to see their nipples.

"Oh right. You are a rabid fan of Mikan and Lala." Takuya said while looking at excited bespectacled swordsman beside him.

"Muu. I'm losing against 2D characters." Miyako mutters under her breath when she saw how excited Yōta looks like when he saw the image of nude Mikan and Lala.

"Well, don't mind." Yamato said and pats the girl's shoulder in comforting manner

Gakuto creased his forehead, "I still don't understand why are you like Mikan, man. I mean she's a kid. Are you that type of person? The one who love loli and shit?"

"Is that true, Yōta!?" Miyako couldn't helped herself to shout that in shock, she zoomed in and grabs Yōta's shoulders, shaking him frantically.

"Huh!? Of course not!" Yōta shouted back in panic, "I love Mikan for her whole personality rather than her looks!"

"Oh? Really?" Yamato asked with curious expression.

Yōta nods his head as he's tidying his disheveled uniform after Miyako stops shaking him, "Yeah. I mean, she's good at cooking, good with children, can do all the chores, she's being cute is a bonus. She's pretty much a perfect wife material in my eyes. And Lala would definitely a good and fun friend to have if she's really exist, if Capt is here, I bet he'll agree with me." He then fixes his glasses, "If I'm really into loli, I would be a fan of Yami, Nana, and Mea too. But no. I love Mikan and Lala simply for who they are."

Miyako looked thoughtful for a moment before she nods her head, "That's good, I guess."

"I see. So you're more a personality man rather than a looks man, huh? I can respect that." Gakuto hummed in acknowledgement.

"By the way, what about you guys? Which girls you like?"

"I like Haruna."

"I'm more into Mikado-sensei and Momo, I guess."

"Yui for me."

Takuya, Gakuto, and Yamato respectively answered.

It's easy to guess why Takuya likes Haruna, it's simply because the girl was perfect girlfriend material for a virgin. She's kind, shy, very friendly and sociable, very understanding, and beautiful too.

But she's too perfect for Yōta's taste.

And Gakuto is more simple since he loves older girl like Mikado-sensei, and the reason for him liking Momo is because the girl was lewd and love to do something lewd too.

Meanwhile, for Yamato to choose Yui kinda surprised Yōta.

Yōta raised his eyebrows in wonder, "I can understand Moro-san and Gakuto-san's choice, but you, Yamato-san? Yui, really?"

Yamato simply shrugs his shoulders in response, "Well, a girl with a lot of pride like her is easy to break in, once you've broken their self-respect, they're weaker than most people on the inside. It's gonna be easy to train her on since the ones with a hard shell fall even harder."

"Whoa, whoa. Calm yourself down! Your S is leaking out there, Strategist-dono."

"Whoops. I got little excited there."

The five of them talk like this as they walk by the river. Then, Yamato sees a crowd up ahead while Yōta and Moro continues to leering on the ecchi's part of the manga.

"Why is there a crowd up ahead?"

That question got everyone's attention from the group as they look in direction the crowd's looking at.

"Oh, boy."

Nobody knows who says that, but everyone had the same thought when they saw a group of thugs, 12-13 of them, is surrounding a girl. And the thugs are also holding all kind of weapons with them.

The students of Kawakami Academy in the crowd are just simply watching and not even trying to help. Rather, they're watching the show in anticipation.

"What a big pinch in the morning." Miyako commented flatly at the scene.

Takuya nodded in agreement, "This won't be pretty unless it's stopped fast."

When they heard what Takuya said, both Yōta and Yamato suddenly looks at each other with very critical eyes, they both seemingly having a silent conversation through their eyes.

'I don't want any part of this. You go.'

'I just feel the same! You go.'

'No, you go!'

'No, you!'

With every signs that they gave through their silent conversation, it makes their eyes twitched in annoyance. And before they know it, both of them already starts pushing their forehead against each others.

"JUST SHUT UP AND GO THERE! YOU'RE A MAN, RIGHT!?"

"HOW ABOUT YOU LOOK AT THE MIRROR THEN!?"

"Oi, oi, stop it, both of you. This is not the time for you guys to fight!" Takuya shouted in panic as he starts dragging Yamato back while Gakuto's dragging Yōta back.

"Geez, just man up and go there." Gakuto added his cents before smacks Yōta's back, making the swordsman stumbles a bit.

"Oh! Is that Yōta's voice I hear?" A girl who's currently surrounded by the thugs suddenly turned her attention towards the loud commotion in the crowd, upon spotting Yōta in the crowd, she waves her hand happily at him "Nice timing, Yōta! Come over here!"

"Look, she's calling over you right now." Yamato said in very smug way with big smirk plastered over his face right now.

When he sees that smirk, Yōta really wants to smack that smirk off from Yamato's face. But he's holding off well.

Yōta then grumbles under his breath, he tightens his leather glove before walking towards the girl that's currently waving at him.

The Kawakami students in the crowd stared Yōta wide-eyed before they step aside and let the swordsman smoothly walks into the scene, while everyone's attention turned to him, the man in question never leave his sight from the girl with his right hand comfortably rested on top of his bokutō.

When Yōta stands in front of the girl with a beautiful waist-length black-brown hair, red eyes and a 'megapolis-style' bust, she comes near him and pat his head before swiftly moving to his behind and rested her chin on the swordsman's shoulder.

"Deal with these guys for me, will you?"

This girl's name is Kawakami Momoyo, the 'Older Sister' of the Kazama Family and the heir of the Kawakami Temple. She's one of the strongest people in the world with the epithet of Goddes of War.

She's also part of the Four Divas just like Mayuzumi Yukie.

Yōta glances Momoyo for a second before sighs tiredly, "Really?"

Momoyo nods her head happily in response, showing a big grin on her beautiful face, "I could handle them easily, but since you're already here, I want you to beat these guys for me."

Yōta closed his eyes before sighs for one final time, "Fine. I will deal with them, Momo-senpai."

"Haha, I know I can count on you!" She smacks his back playfully, he would be face-planted on the ground by now if not for him successfully balancing his posture.

This woman seriously don't know how to hold back.

With that, Momoyo jumps high above towards the crowd and lands in perfect balance beside Yamato before headlocking him.

"Oi, Yamato. Why you don't save your big sister, huh?"

Yamato taps Momoyo's arm frantically as his face slwoly turns green, "There's no need for me to step in, don't you think!? And how long is the contract good for!?"

"It still upsets me. And just for your information, you'll be my younger brother forever." Momoyo replied while starts nogging Yamato and the strategist could only grunts in pain in response.

"Will this be alright, Momo-senpai?" Takuya asked from her behind while looking at Yōta.

"Hah! Of course it'll be alright. There's no need to worry about Yōta." Momoyo simply waves Takuya's question off after she releases Yamato from her hold.

"Yōta will be alright." Miyako hummed, "His opponents are not that strong, they're simply thugs that's trying to act tough after all." She added before she looks back to Yōta.

"You guys really should choose better who you pick fight against." Yōta started as he draws his bokutō from his side with his left hand. He tilts his head curiously at the thugs, "You know who that woman is, right?"

One of the thugs snorts in response. "We know! She's Kawakami Momoyo. We've been hearing her stories even in Chiba!"

"You came all the way here from another prefecture?" Yōta raised one of his eyebrows.

Rumors about Kawakami Momoyo are sure spreading fast.

"Hell yeah! We come to see her." Another thugs answered while chewing a gum.

"Rumors are usually exaggerated."

"Like how she single-handedly crushed Nanahama's group, 'Kyuubi no Inu'. Or how she slam dunked an annoying brat. It all sounds like bullshit!"

"Haha! Yeah, just look at her! She's afraid of us and hides behind the crowd!"

"How naïve..." Yōta couldn't stop himself from shaking his head in exasperated manner when he heard the thugs' words.

Kawakami Momoyo scared of these bums? Yeah, hell no. Even if the sky burns down and hell freezes over, there's no way Kawakami Momoyo would be afraid of some thugs like these guys.

The only one thing that could scare the Goddess of War is a ghost.

"Huh!? What the hell are you saying, glasses!?"

"I'm just saying that you guys are so naïve." Yōta replied while tightens the grip on his bokutō. "You guys are trying to challenge one of the strongest with that kind of mindset? There's no way in ninth hell that you all can defeat her like that! I'll straighten out that rotten spirit of yours!"

Without wasting any time, Yōta dashes forward toward the nearest guy and swings his bokutō diagonally in breakneck speed.

"GAH!?" The guy's arm is bending in a way it shouldn't been when the wooden sword connected, and then his eyes suddenly rolls backward when Yōta spins in smooth motion, circling around the thug before he smacks the back of thug's head.

"B-Bitch! You hurt Funabashi-kun!"

"Everyone get him!"

Yōta holds the wooden sword low before he takes a strong step forward and in a burst of speed, all the thugs are all blown up high and beaten up in an instant.

He exhales a breath while sliding the bokutō back to his side and pushes his glasses with his ring finger, looking down on every thugs below him, "You guys are 100 years early to challenge the Goddess of War."

The crowd cheers as if they've all been waiting for this moment. While it may quite a letdown that Momoyo wasn't the one who's fighting the thugs.

But having a strong swordsman like Yōta's performing his refined swordsmanship in front of the crowd like this, always getting them excited.

Most of the spectators are also students from the same school as him, so they already knew how strong Yōta is.

"Damn, the way he moves is really awesome!"

"His swordsmanship is really beautiful like always. That quick step is just unbelievable!"

"I love his glasses!"

"As expected from the consecutive Kendo Champions! He's hella strong!"

"Yo! Young Emperor! Nice work!"

The students are cheering in excitement.

"As usual, I couldn't even follow his movements." Takuya commented from the excited crowd.

"He slashed each one of them thrice, one thrust on chest, and one uprising slash on the jaw, before he finished them with the spin slash to the back of their head." Miyako smiled at Yōta's cool figure. The way he moves was really awesome and so beautiful, his unique steps is something that many can't achieved.

Even Momoyo couldn't do it the same like Yõta.

"Haha, it's actually five slashes. You need more training, Miyako." Momoyo chimed in from the side, "He thrusts each guys three times on collarbone, chest, and torso simultaneously before he finished them with last two hit on the jaw and the back of their head. By the way, the guy with the round face who had the nastiest smile got thrusted four times on the crotch."

"OUCH." All the men in group instinctively flinched and covered their family jewels when they heard that.

That's gotta be hurt like hell.

"When it comes to speed, he's really the fastest of us all. Only Momo-senpai could match him." Gakuto chimed in from the side.

"Nah, that's not quite right." Momoyo shakes her head and crosses her arms below her chest, "Yōta's Shukuchi is more refined and trained, so when in terms of PURE speed, then I'm quite low below him. Yōta uses refined technique to help him move in god-like speed so he can smoothly flowing around the obstacles and everything with pure speed, me on the other side, I'm simply using my physical power to force myself to move in god-like speed, it's raw and untrained." She continues before pursing her lips in dissatisfaction, "I've tried to copy his technique in past years, but no, I don't have good affinity towards it, so I'm pretty much abandoning the thought of using it in battle."

The first time she used Shukuchi the way Yōta used his, she couldn't get it right and always miss a step. That's when she knows the technique simply doesn't suit her.

Her gramps told her Shukuchi is a technique that's more suited for sword practitioner. Swordsmen/Swordswomen are more proficient with this technique because the muscles in their bodies are built different than other martial arts practitioner.

Which is why it's hard for non-sword user to use Shukuchi. While there are maybe a person who non-sword user could use them, but it's because their muscles are built the same as swordsmen/swordswomen are.

But then again, Momoyo doesn't really need some refined technique like Shukuchi to help her move faster.

She can simply TELEPORT if she wants to, after all. Nothing is impossible for Kawakami Momoyo.

"Despite always saying he is just a mediocre swordsman, he's basically a low-key one of the strongest swordsman in Japan right now." Yamato frowns and shakes his head at how contradictory his friend's usual statement was.

Mediocre swordsman, his ass.