The Tiger of Shimano (Part I)

Rina Makima hummed cheerfully to herself as she sashayed across the empty corridor of the old abandoned textile building. The sky outside was already shrouded in darkness and the room was now illuminated by a single fluorescent bulb.

She is the top of the top delinquent in town, with her power, influence, and countless connections. Wearing an eyepatch on her left eye that covered a nasty vertical scar that ran from her left cheek to the bottom of her eyelid, she's recognisable to all around; so many people call themselves delinquents nowadays anyway.

Makima is a sadist, and she gets her pleasure from inflicting pain and suffering on others, even though that would probably surprise anyone who just sees her in the streets of the city.

"A little punishment for these shitheads is appropriate I guess, don't cha think?" She sighed and looked at the three guys with an uneasy look, chuckling to herself while keeping the grip on the blade's handle in her leather glove firmly.

"...Fuck... "

For a moment, they all got stunned and scared at the sight. A girl with an eye patch shows up, who is now standing in the shadows, heading to the boss' room with a deadly smirk on her face. But on a second glance, they frowned and saw their very own fears staring straight into their souls!

Makima eventually reached the door of the office and with a loud slam, the door swung open as the body of the blond thug went flying over the table of the office, revealing the gang's boss with two of his subordinates and their lackeys sitting in the office.

All of them flinched in fear as soon as she made her appearance.

"Yo." Makima danced over to the closest seat, before flashing them a deathly grin, "So, what do we have here?"

Everybody in the room immediately sat straighter, trying to make their slouching seem more dignified as their fear washed over them. All three of their expressions changed, showing nervousness and helplessness at her presence as they felt the strong aura coming out of her, especially from their eyes. She closes her eyes and then opens them slowly, which emits a deathly red glow to reveal one of the Crimson red eyes.

"Damn ... it's her." The boss whimpered, lowering his head in reverence.

"B-Boss!" the blond guy stammered once again, breaking the ice, tensed, fearfully yelling before passing out from the pain.

The other fat thug, holding the baseball bat on his shoulder chuckled. The boss noticed it and took a few steps forward. As he came closer, they could recognise the fear on the face of the thug hiding behind the two!

"For a mere lowlife gang. You certainly have a problem causing trouble in my hometown, eh." Her eyebrows lift, and her posture is guarded as she sizes up the three men who had barged into the very territory she claimed her own.

"Was that right, Dain-kun~," She said, asking the bat-wielding fat thug behind his two lackeys.

Dain puffed himself up and sneered down at her,

"S-Shut up!"

As soon as Dain let out a response, The girl pounced with all the weight behind her, flying into the air and launching him towards the window with a punch. He smashed through the glass panelling beside the desk, falling two stories into a pile of trash which broke most of the fall.

"Not if it concerns you, punks," she growled, licking some of the blood awaited for her and quickly pulled back with a smirk. "Nobody comes to my town without my permission, not even the infamous Kuchi Gang. Or else they pay dearly for their deeds," she snaps seeing as he goes back to shaking instead of answering her.

"Speak up. If you wanna play the fool, at least know how to fake it properly. You're being a terrible actor, you know?" she says looking him dead in his coldest gaze while glaring daggers towards each man inside this dingy little hole where nobody cared anymore anyway.

"Screw you!" One of the gang members yelled in anger.

Makima smirks joyfully, "At least one of you has some balls." She glanced at her fingernails

"Huh, shame you're too stupid to realise they ain't worth anything in this type of fight." Makima smiled back.

The guy snarled, throwing the first punch, but before it connected he hit a wall of pure concrete that halted him in place. He looked up slowly, confused until he noticed a woman who had snuck up right beside him out of nowhere!

His arms were held together by strong hands forcing them behind his back. His panic became even greater when he realized that nothing he did affected this unseen force behind him. With a growl, he tried to pull himself free but instead only succeeded in toppling them both over as his legs gave out beneath him. When he finally got back up onto shaky legs again, he found himself staring right into a Crimson eye, which narrowed dangerously.

"You shouldn't have done that," Makima whispers menacingly.

Soon chaos would break loose as all of the gang members attempted to surround Makima, but her hands shot out and grabbed two lackeys by their heads, pulling their skulls together and knocking them out with one single hit.

She ducked the next incoming attack, throwing one inhumanly fast punch straight into the other delinquent's stomach while hooking around their leg with her foot and tripping them backwards. Next, a quick front flip kicked another right in the chest sending him flying away like a rag doll onto the desk.

A loud crack echoed throughout the room as his back was destroyed by such a heavy impact force.

"BOSS!" A voice shouted, only to find himself lying on the ground unconscious from Makima's flying kick into his gut, followed by a knee to the chin and an elbow in between his eyes.

Without mercy, Makima tore down each delinquent within the room until there was nothing left for her to take care of anymore. After finishing her work, Makima pulled a crumpled newspaper out of her pocket, rolled it up, and held it firmly with both hands.

"Got a call from one of my sources. She told me you were raising hell and that I should clean up your mess for you. Word got around about how you were causing trouble here and it reached the ears of some pretty nasty people. You're lucky, if it were anyone else but me who came after you, then you wouldn't be able to walk today." Makima sighed, looking down at a knocked-out boss.

"Now tell your boys to stay out of my territory or else I'll have them crawling back instead." She threatened the man on the ground. "And do yourself a favour, and get a hobby. Next time I won't hesitate to break you."

Everyone saw what had just happened, only standing in pure fear. This wasn't a warning or a battle of power but rather an elimination, sent by Makima herself, followed by a serious threat of brutal punishment. They all then dash off away from the crazy woman who holds unnatural strengths and brutality.

"Unbelievable..." Makima sighed loudly before dropping the crumpled newspaper in front of the boss, "Such a shame you had nothing to give me." she scoffed.

Makima could sense the disappointment in her eyes, such things were too common lately. Everyone goes down too easily nowadays, it's beginning to lose its appeal, she thought.

"That was anti-climatic."

This gang was just a bunch of idiots playing tough guys, and their boss couldn't even put up a good fight. Too bad, Makima had to remind them once again of the territory line. Her head hurts, dealing with people like these isn't her thing, but she couldn't help it if they ended up being an annoyance to everyone else around her.

"Hopefully I'll find a tougher prey one day."

However, Makima's face quickly started to frown, which was weird because normally, beating up people makes her happy and always gives her a great sense of accomplishment, but something was wrong. She didn't feel happy with this one, she felt empty, almost bored with it. The fighting was supposed to be a nice distraction for her, but the fact that these two were so easy to handle doesn't make her feel good about herself. A low growl came from her throat as her skin began to shimmer slightly, taking on a more animalistic tone.

"Guess I was wrong," Makima admitted through gritted teeth.

She shouldn't have expected anything from them after all, so why was she feeling this way? Before any anger could flare up, her phone rang, a phone call from someone quite familiar.

"Hel-" Makima was saying before the receiver interrupted her.

"MAKIMA-SAN!, WHERE ARE YOU?!" An angry but worried voice screamed through the phone, which elicited an annoyed expression from the person she was talking to.

It was Shizuka Kawai, the student council president of Shimano Girls Academy, the big-tits goody-to-shoes that's been a frequent pain in Makima's ass. Well, figuratively speaking, because those attributes went straight over the average student.

"Easy there, Shizuka-san. You'll blow my ear off." Makima retorted, her voice remaining calm and smooth, though her next reply made her smile a bit.

"Wh-! Y-you-!!" Shizuka stuttered loudly and it was audible that she struggled to hold back her anger, "T-This is serious! You've been gone all day from school, and don't you dare blame it on me!"

'Well, this is surprising', she thought to herself, thinking that Shizuka Kawai was the last person she would have expected to care about her being away from school. After all, Makima was a notorious troublemaker at the school, known to always beat up anyone who got in her way or did something to deserve it. No one would believe she had never beaten up a single student, however, she only fought against actual delinquents who lived up to the title, Thus she barely injured students from Shimano Girls' Academy. Makima was used to getting into trouble at school, so having Shizuka concerned about her well-being was amusing.

After a few minutes, she continues, "I wanted to ask where you were, but I see that you're quite enjoying yourself with punching dorks senseless, don't you?! We're a school you know! Not a damn boxing ring. AH! But now you call it 'sparing', I should keep my eye open every time I'm near ya."

'Ahh yes, the tsundere trope' Makima mocks silently with an eye roll and a snort.

"Such cute honesty, Shizuka-san. I'm deeply touched that you're worried about me," Makima quipped in a playful tone, making her frustration even worse. It wasn't exactly difficult since Shizuka can be stubborn as a mule sometimes.

"Look, whatever you're doing right now, finish it and stop wasting your time." Shizuka snarled and slammed the receiver, abruptly ending the phone call. She needed to cool off now.

Makima pulled the receiver away, rolling her eyes with the second half of the call. The ever-lovely Shizuka is a tsundere to boot. A snorting noise escaped her lips before Makima put away the mobile.

'I should probably stay put for the night,' She said to herself, realising what just happened as she pinched the bridge of her nose before leaving the messy room.

'Hmm... If only there was anyone who could give me a good fight."

*Achooh!*

Hajime felt an odd feeling run down his spine, making goosebumps across his skin. His inner body trembled as his thoughts started to change and his mood to sour at the weird sensation within. What in the world was going on in his head...? He then shook his head before refocusing on his math work while ignoring the unpleasant feeling swirling inside.