(Arata's POV )
After settling into our new house, we had a short period of peace, no elimination of evil spirits, no confrontation with other gangs and no strange plots by Sun's father to separate us, our days were just training and school.
Regarding our food, Sun and Chisaki nominated themselves to take care of that, but the rest of us didn't want to leave all the work to them, so it was decided that the rest of us would take turns being their helpers.
I spoke with Sagiri about my new passive ability and asked her if she had experienced anything similar, unfortunately, her response was that she hadn't gained a new skill, but she did say that she felt a little stronger, so that was something.
Regarding my training, I was making steady progress, but the side effects I was experiencing were not slowing down in frequency, luckily there was an easy fix that could combat that: coffee.
Every day I was drinking between five and eight cans of ice coffee, some days that was super effective and other days it barely made a difference, so Sagiri and Ranna still kept an eye on me in case of emergency.
Today at school during recess, the girls and I, like every day, were going to meet on the rooftop, But before going there I stopped at a vending machine for another can of ice coffee, but after I bought that someone grabbed the can from the machine before I did.
I turned around to see who had done that and I saw the spiky-haired boy who had been my victim when my powers were not under control, Takeru, but he was not alone, Linuma, another classmate and somewhat like the boss of the spiky-haired boy, was with him and he didn't look happy.
Arata: *sigh* Now what do you want?
Takeru: It's time you understood who's in charge here and showed some respect.
Linuma: I don't care about that, I just can't stand people like you.
Arata: People like me?
The Linuma boy came with an intense attitude, but I didn't understand what his problem was, and I tried to remain calm, but what he said next made me start to match his intensity.
Linuma: Cowardly weaklings who have others defending them, those girls are just as pathetic for protecting you.
Takeru: Yea-rgga.
I couldn't accept that he spoke ill of the girls who were so important to me, I pushed the lackey boy without worrying about containing my power and he hit the wall hard.
Arata: Hey, you can say whatever you want about me, but I won't let you talk badly about my friends.
Linuma: oh And what will you do about it?
Arata: Are you asking me to make you eat those words?
???: Stop, stop! Linuma, I warned you not to start anything.
The tension between us was high, and it seemed like a fight was about to break out at any moment, but a girl who was always seen around Linuma and Takeru appeared, wanting to stop that.
Linuma: Stay out of this, Tsubaki.
Behind Tsubaki were Sun and the others; they too were here to stop what was happening, but it was too late for that, neither of us planned to back down.
Gozaburo: Hey, what are you doing here? This is no place for childish fights.
When Sun's father appeared, a bit of relief appeared on Tsubaki's face, thinking that he would de-escalate the situation as a normal teacher would, but she couldn't have been more wrong.
Gazoburo: Do this like men, when school is over and no one can interrupt.
Sun: Dad!!
Linuma:That sounds good to me. You'd better not try to escape.
Arata: I'll be there.
Linuma gave me one last threatening look and then threw the can of coffee I had bought back at me.
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Chisaki: Arata, I don't understand why you have to do this?
We met at the school's track field after all the students had left for my fight with Linuma, Chisaki quickly showed her opposition to the fight, and on Linuma's side, the girl Tsubaki seemed to be having a similar argument with him, but the two of us were already decided.
Arata: I'm sorry, but he said something I can't let slide, Ranna, I have to do this alone, please don't interfere.
Ranna seemed ready to jump on Linuma so I asked her not to interfere; she responded with a grunt and a reluctant nod, but I knew she would keep her promise.
We advanced to the front, but before the fight would begin, Linuma looked to the side of the track field, where there were some extra spectators, Those were Sun's father and two members of his Yakuza family, the shark that tried to devour me earlier, and a man with an afro hairstyle and tanned skin.
Linuma: You brought teachers to stop the fight.
Arata: They're not going to stop the fight, they're probably waiting for you to beat me up pretty badly.
There was no sign that marked the beginning of the fight, but when we stopped talking, we both knew there was no going back, Linuma ran towards me and started throwing punches, I started on the defensive, raising my guard and taking those punches.
I didn't plan to use my powers because that would be unfair, but I also didn't plan to lose.