12 Did You Just Provoke Me? Seriously!?

After a series of teasing exchanges, the group moved towards the school and encountered the half-naked Nikolai.

"Oh! It's the transfer student! Hey there! Were you taking a nap near the river? Pleasant, isn't it! I sometimes do that as well!" The energetic Captain ran towards him and handed him a banana. "Here, take it, morning present from me!"

Nikolai looked at the banana and sighed, "You are full of energy again, I see." He took it and peeled it as he had yet to eat breakfast.

It was small things like these that made Nikolai sure about Captain's real personality. He definitely wasn't just pretending to be kind but was, in fact, a really good person.

He glanced towards the group, and they greeted him one by one.

"Yo, do you have a place to sleep? I know that you are new to this country, so if you ever need anything, just call, and if it isn't anything crazy and hard to obtain, I will get it for you." Yamato greeted him with a confident smile. He had plenty of contacts around Japan, who could get him things for cheaper, or even for free.

Nikolai felt touched by the kindness shown to him. Other than a few exceptions, he met only nice people so far. This kind of threw him out of his loop, as back in his world, he didn't have many acquaintances nor friends, and people only came to him if they wanted to beg for money or a fight.

No one ever gave him things for free without expecting something back for it in return.

It was a refreshing feeling. But, even if that was the truth, he would never beg for something from anyone. If they wished to give him things, sure, but begging for something and asking for someone's help? Never.

He would rather get what he wants by his own power, by his own hands. He could have easily asked Tesshin to give him a place to stay at his old dojo, with a working shower and basic necessities. It would be easy, but he didn't.

He was stubborn to the core. He knew it wasn't smart move at all, after all, being smart wasn't his thing. He also knew that he would have a much easier life in this new world, but that's how the streets raised him. There was no way a person would change overnight, without something really impactful happening.

"I have a house not far away from here, so I am good," Nikolai replied.

"That's good, anyway, wanna come with us to the school? We are on our way there." Yamato pointed towards the bridge.

"Okay. I don't really mind." Nikolai picked up his shirt and walked shirtless towards the bridge with the whole group. His shirt was still wet, so he didn't feel like putting it on.

He went to the back of the group, where the last part of the group was hanging around.

Miyako just slightly nodded towards him as a small form of greeting, without showing much expression. She wasn't friendly towards outsiders and only showed her true colors to this very group of friends.

Gakuto on the other hand, completely ignored him.

He always said it, but he hated good-looking guys, and when he looked at his upper body, he felt angry again.

'My muscles are bigger...they are, but...Why does it feel like his muscles look more consistent than mine!? As if they were more powerful!? And why is he flaunting his chest and not putting his shirt on!? Does a handsome guy need to be strong, tall, and have a nice body as well!? Just how good are his genes to get it all in one!? A special package!? I don't like him at all!' He shouted with jealousy in his mind.

Of course, Gakuto said that, but he didn't really hate him. He was just that kind of guy. After Momoyo explained that he helped Wanko during their fight, he understood and knew he had the wrong idea all along.

Although that didn't mean he was cured of his problems, as jealousy was still there. The guy who had everything and a guy like him, who only had one of those things, which were good looking muscles, would never be able to get along.

"Hey, Ivanovich-san, was it? Do you read manga or watch anime? If so, then tell me your favorite genre! Back at our place, we have tons of stuff so you could borrow anything you wanted to, really. Mostly fighting stuff, but also a lot of eros." Moro chimed in, trying to break the ice between them. He knew that being a foreigner, from a post-war country, in enemy territory wasn't the greatest thing one could experience, so he wanted to make him feel welcomed at least a little bit.

"What's a manga?" Nikolai cluelessly replied.

The group looked at him weirdly.

"Ehm... Mangas are basically comics. They have different genres ranging from romance to martial arts, and so on. They are usually either colored or black and white!" Moro got into his otaku mode and couldn't stop talking. It didn't matter who the person was, if he could talk about anime or manga with someone, and they were willing to listen, he was very quick to start liking the person.

"Ah, comics. Yes." Nikolai knew what comics were but had no idea about mangas. He assumed it's just a name they gave it in Japan.

Moro was glad that Nikolai knew what it was, "Are there any comics you liked? If that's the case, which genre?"

Nikolai thought for a moment before replying, "The only comic I used to buy was Berserk. It was pretty popular back in our country. I even bought thirty volumes, but new volumes stopped coming out for some reason. The person who translated it into Russian language kind of disappeared."

Moro, Gakuto, and Yamato instantly reacted to the word, and all of them had gloomy expressions.

"...Berserk...that's a bit..." Moro frowned. The manga in question was beautiful. The art was great. The story was amazing...but some of the parts in it were beyond gory and disgusting. He could only handle going through a few volumes before he stopped.

"Damn...you are messed up, man..." Gakuto spoke for the first time since coming here. "How can you read that shit? It's disturbing as hell. Thirty volumes? Jesus." He and Yamato were scarred for life. Moro recommended this manga to them, saying it was a fighting manga with a small hint of kingdom building, ecchi, and gore. He baited them really hard.

At first, they were hooked up, but after they read through a few of the volumes, they wanted to strangle him to death.

Hearing the cursed word, Yamato felt like he got a stroke.

"Is...that so...Well, everyone has their own preferences, so I guess we can't judge..."

The atmosphere quickly took a bad turn, and no one spoke, until Kazuko's silent greeting was heard.

"...Hi..."

Kazuko was quieter than usual. Anyone could tell that something was up. She was looking into the ground while occasionally stealing a glance towards his chest.

While Kazuko sometimes practiced in the same dojo as Momoyo, there was never any guy who was training without his shirt off, and that was because Momoyo always made sure that when Kazuko was around, the other men in the room would be fully clothed.

She didn't want her little sister's eyes to be sullied this soon. This was probably the first time she saw a guy who was not someone from the Kazama family.

Of course, she saw the upper body of the boys from the group before.

All of them were together since childhood, but it never made her feel a funny tingle in her chest like it did now.

She had no experience whatsoever when it came to love, and she was basically as pure as Captain, but less clueless.

She guessed that this was the feeling that she liked him as an opposite gender, but she didn't think it was love, at least not yet, just attraction.

She had to admit he was good looking, coupled with his half-naked, mature body, made her feel more embarrassed than it should have. He also helped her breakthrough and had basically the same circumstances as her, growing up alone until the Kawakami Temple adopted her. She herself didn't know what to think, but she was interested in him, that's for sure.

Yamato noticed her clouded expression and grinned, "Ah, Wanko, you are so quiet all of a sudden. Do you see something you like?" Hearing his question, Kazuko jolted, and everyone looked at her. Seeing her faintly red cheeks. It was quite obvious, and it didn't take long for them to understand.

"N-No...I don't..."

It was getting awkward with so many eyes on her, so Momoyo stepped in and saved her, "Big guy, ignore those idiots. Wanna spar? I am dying to fight." Momoyo ran her eyes over his chiseled chest, not because of lust, but because of curiosity. She saw plenty of torsos of disciples training under Kawakami Temple, so something like this wasn't embarrassing to her at all.

She was just making sure his muscles were proportionate and tried to calculate how many hits from her it would take to wear him down.

Yamato rolled his eyes and looked at her, "Nee-san, you know you aren't allowed to spar with someone who is in a lower grade than you, right? These rules apply outside of school as well. You are in the realm of disasters... As long as you are a student of Kawakami University, these rules apply. Do you want your powers to be sealed again by the principal for the next month?" He really didn't feel like dealing with her bored self, and he knew it would be even worse if her powers were sealed. He had to stop her at any cost.

"Tch, since Yamato is no fun...We can't play now. Be it that way then, one day, I will definitely have an official spar with you, but I would need to ask for permission from that stinking old man first..." She told Nikolai and dismissed the thought.

Having her powers sealed was terrible, and she didn't want to ever experience it again.

'Stupid sealing mantras. I should have learned them as well.' Momoyo thought.

"Haah...This is stupid...Let's just go to school then..." She sighed and the group resumed their journey towards the bridge again.

However, a single sentence left her speechless, and actually kind of got on her nerves as well.

"What, you chicken?" Nikolai grinned, shocking the group.

At first, nothing happened. There was just...

Silence.

...

..

.

Then Panic.

Gakuto and Moro immediately backed off far, far away.

"T-This crazy bastard! I really hate him! Hate him! I knew he was a son of a bitch the moment I saw him!" He shouted while running as fast as he could. When Momoyo got angry, there was no saving you, everyone knew that!

"Just run! don't look back Gakuto!" Moro was much slower than him, but his running ability was still pretty impressive.

Miyako grabbed the still embarrassed Wanko by her collar and also ran away to find a safe spot.

Captain stood there, confused at what was happening, and Yamato knew that Nikolai said something he shouldn't have.

Momoyo stood in one place, gazing into the blue sky. Watching the fluffy clouds pass by. She felt a slight tingle in her chest, and let out a small series of laughs, as if she was laughing from being tickled, "...Hahaha...Hahahaha..."

The aura in the vicinity turned dark, scaring every nearby animal away. To Yamato and Captain, this aura was enough to bring them on their knees and slightly suffocate them. She let her Ki flow freely all around her body.

"...You are so dead..."

"N-Nee-san, No! You can't!" Yamato shouted but it was too late to stop her.

"Kawakami Style, Dynasty Warriors Punch!"

Only a nanosecond later, her fist crashed into Nikolai's face, the massive power behind the punch created a shockwave, which eradicate the pavement and the grass field around her, turning the area into a waste land. The shockwave also managed to send both Yamato and Captain flying dozens of meters before they stopped.

The dust cleared out, and Nikolai's figure could be seen, blocking her fist with both of his hands, forming an X.

"Heh, so you are still alive, I was sure I blew your head off with that one." Momoyo snickered as she noticed his trembling hands.

"Of course I am. You are really, something else. I expected a lot...but this is much, much better than I ever imagined, Kawakami Momoyo." Nikolai stated, again a grin forming on his face.