Ch. 81: Experimental Mini-Interlude: Mikami of Highschool (End)

There are about a dozen delinquents in front of the main gate, one of whom was lying in rags at my feet.
I look around at them all and give them another warning.

“I’ll say it again. Stop fighting. Nothing comes from violence.”

Then our delinquent leader raises her hand with a “Umm…”
The leader is a little girl in a bunkara costume.
She may look like just another costumed schoolgirl, but she is a third-year, older than me, and she’s stronger in a fight than most of the guys. By the way, she wears high clogs when she rides her bike.

The leader opened her mouth with an indescribable expression on her face.

“Mikami, you say nothing comes from violence, but the enemy leader is under your feet…”
“It’s your imagination.”
“No, it’s not my imagination!”

“Then, peace comes at a cost.”
“What do you mean “then”? Then what? Aren’t you awful!?”
“I can be cruel. You know what I always say?”

As I spoke, I approached her and placed an iron claw on her small face.

“What? What’s with the hands? …Eh, what? Ou-Ouuuccchhhh!? You’re angry!? What are you angry about, Mikami?
“I’m angry. I’m super angry. I have always said this, right? That it is okay if you’re somewhere else, but don’t fight at school.”

I did my best to clasp her face.
She’s stronger than most men, and I trust her regardless of whether she’s a man or a woman, so I’m not going to show her any mercy in a situation like this.

I don’t care where the delinquents fight, and if she is in trouble, I’ll be there.
But not inside the school. That’s big guilty from me. The reason being is…

 

“I don’t want the school to be unsafe when Yuika comes back—!”

 

“Ehhhh!? For your childhood friend!?”
“What else could it be?”
“What else is there!? There’s a lot of things! I understand what you’re saying, but we’re delinquents, and we can’t stop fighting just for your childhood friend…”

“Then, I’ll throw.”

“Heh!?”
“I’ll throw the leader.”
“W-Wait wait!? I just lent you my beloved bike yesterday!?”

“I returned that favor with a beef bowl. I’m sorry, but I still have a problem to solve and I don’t have time.”
“You’re throwing me under the bus. Isn’t it too bad for me?”

“Don’t worry, it’s okay, peace comes at a cost.”
“Nothing’s okay!”
“Let’s go? —Go!”
“What, so sudden…!? N-Noooooo!”

I full swing the little girl.
The leader made a surprisingly cute noise and drew a parabola, just hitting the window on the second floor of the school building. The voice of the board game-loving soccer team echoed.

“Uwa!? The leader just flew there!? Mikami flew out the window and now he is making the leader fly!? What is this!?”

They were all confused.
But I couldn’t hear the captain’s voice. She must have already left for the locker room. I have to hurry too.

When I looked at the rest of the group, the delinquents had their mouths wide open.

“N-No way, you just threw her…”
“Mikami-kun, you are relentless. When your childhood friend is involved, you are as relentless as ever…!”
“No, his childhood friend is not involved, right? Isn’t she only involved very indirectly!?”
“Don’t say that! If you talk back, you will be thrown too…!”

I pointed to the collapsed leader of the other school, then to the window on the second floor.

“For now, both leaders have been retired by accident. Can we disperse for today? And by the way, if you don’t like it, there will be more sad accidents to come.”

The delinquents looked at each other and all raised their hands in unison.

““We disperse.””
“Great, peace is the best!”

I nodded and immediately ran off. I left the relieved-looking delinquents there and headed for the club building where the locker rooms were.

As I ran, my phone rang with an incoming call. It was Arko-san from the science club.

“Mikami-chan, fish, fish, fish! We’ve caught a fish! The sensor is on and the monitor shows it. The voyeur has entered the locker room.”

“Okay, that’s what I thought! Make sure you record it. I’m on my way!”
“Oh, so you two are going your separate ways. If that’s the case, we’re in a bit of trouble. The female captain came into the locker room. I could see there is some trouble about to happen inside the locker room from the camera.”
“What!?”

The next moment I shouted, my eyes widened in astonishment.
The road leading from the main gate to the club building has a sloping side path. A cart had just slid down from the top of that slope.

Apparently, the old janitor had let go of it. I was familiar with the old man’s screw-up.

When I looked up, I saw him at the top of the hill shouting, “Sh*t!”
There was a pile of heavy cardboard boxes on a cart.
On the way, there was a first-year female student!

“Eh, no way! Kyaaa!”
“I’ve been a janitor for 40 years, and this is the worst mistake I’ve ever made! Help me, Mikami-kun!
“You’re making that mistake at least once a week! Damn it, one after another…!”

I kicked the ground with all my strength. A cloud of dust rolled up, and I instantly closed the distance between us.
I pulled the girl’s arm to protect her and kicked the cart at the same time.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!”

By the way, it was only one kick. The rest of my energy was just a bonus.
The cart made a cracking sound and changed its trajectory. It slid down the hill and overturned in the middle of nowhere.

The old man said, “You saved me. Mikami-kun, thank you for everything,” then he ran toward the cart. I let go of her arm and turned my attention to the girl.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“N-No…Thank you very much. Thanks to you…Ah. You’re…Mikami-senpai from the second years!”

“Hmm? Do you know me from somewhere?”
“No, this is the first time we’ve spoken properly. But I’ve always been interested in your work…”

The younger student with full makeup and brown hair looked flustered, adjusted her hair, and stared at me with moist eyes.

“I felt like I was destined to be with you after you helped me like this! I’d like to have a relationship with you, can I go out with you!?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t go out with you because I’m in love with another woman. I refuse.”
“I was rejected in one second!”

The junior fell to her knees in disappointment.

“I can’t believe this is happening to me, the first place hidden b*tch queen, getting rejected so fast. I’m not sure what to do. I can’t…win against real love. How regrettable. I’m not sure what to do. But I knew that. Mikami-senpai is famous for his constant machine gun mumbling…”

And the junior saw me off, and I started running again.
I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything, but the captain is in danger right now. I couldn’t afford to take my time.

I told the old janitor, “Be really careful, okay? I don’t want to see you do the same thing next week!” I left it at that and continued running towards the club building.

…But what did the junior mean when she said, “I’m famous for my constant machine gun mumbling”?

“Not being aware of it is the best part. Thanks to this, the girls who are close to Mikami-chan have their flags shattered into pieces. The current junior girl is still hanging in there.”

The phone was still ongoing.
Arko-san sighed something. I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

“You basically told me that I’m some kind of insensitive protagonist…I don’t think so?”
“It’s true that Mikami-chan is not insensitive. But maybe you should reflect on your words and actions a little more. If you do, you could be laying in your futon for three days and three nights, and probably be happier. …It seems that this is not the time to be talking about this. There is movement in the locker room!
[TLN: If he reflects on his actions, he could have *** for 3 days and 3 nights by now.]

“What’s going on!?”
“The voyeur is trying to attack the captain! This is an emergency!”
“But luckily, I made it in time. —I’m here.”

“Eh, you’re here…I’m looking at your location, Mikami-chan, but you’re still on the field? The locker rooms for the basketball team are in the club building…”
“Yeah. That’s why I’m going to plunge in here!”

“What do you mean plunge!? Eh, W-Whaattt!?”
“I’ll smash the window! Check the monitor! At what angle will the glass shards not hit the Captain? Arko-san, please!”

“Sometimes I think I can count on you, but then you go off on another tangent…! If I wasn’t a genius, I wouldn’t be able to handle this! Pseudo-Laplace operation, Calculation—3, 2, 1, proof complete! There are two windows on the left and right, right? Jump in with a 43-degree kick to the very left window!”
“Got it! It’s great that I have a reliable senpai!”

In front of me, I saw a window with curtains behind it, and I jumped off the ground as hard as I could.
I kicked the windowpane like how a hero would do it in an entrance.

 

 

The captain of the girl’s basketball team was in a tight spot.

I had gone into the locker room alone because she really wanted to talk to the culprit one-on-one.

But it backfired.
The culprit got impatient and jumped on me right now.

“…!”

There was no time to scream.
Instead, there was a sound. It was the sound of breaking window glass.

Suddenly, the curtain behind the culprit rose, the window shattered, and Mikami Souta flew in.

“That’s enough, voyeur—!”
“Haa…!?”
“Mikami-kun!?”

All the shards of glass fell inside the curtain as if they had been measured, and his well-trained arms were raised.
Then a heavy, sharp blow from the fist was unleashed.

The culprit was hit head-on and was blown to the wall without making another sound.
On the other hand, he landed gallantly — Mikami-kun looked at me.

“Senpai, are you fine!?”
“Y-Yeah…I fine.”
“Great, I’m glad to hear that…”

Then a heartfelt, relieved, defenseless smile appeared.
Mikami-kun probably didn’t even realize that he was smiling. It was such a natural smile.

I couldn’t help but be touched. Even though I was in love with someone else, I was really touched.

A younger boy who can be relied on, that’s really bad for the heart. He’s so cute and good-looking that I feel like I’m going to lose control.

But there seemed to be no opportunity for me to take advantage.
Mikami-kun wiped away his cold sweat, confirmed that the culprit had fainted, and patted his shoulder.

“There is no problem with the culprit as well… Haa, I can go to Yuika’s room without worry now. I’ll have to bring a poultice for her soon. I mean, I can’t wait. I can’t wait until after school.”

He gave off a flowing narrative, yes.
It seemed that his heart was full of his childhood friend. There doesn’t seem to be any room for any other girls. I can’t help but sigh.

…Haa, I envy his childhood friend which Mikami-kun is so much in love with.