Chapter 19 - Kenro and The Detective
Day 220 - 372 students remaining.
The 35 days passed by. Shuji spent the entire time learning the Defendu fighting style from Jun. Around 5pm in the eastern side of the city, the rebellion began. Within the next hour, the rebels took over the prison and bolstered their numbers. For the first time since the wall was constructed, people began to see hope. Almost all of the citizens of the eastern side of the city saw their chance to escape Kenro’s oppression. People in the streets began to fight against the downers. Back at the junkyard, Jun stands with Shuji. Jun begins to speak.
“You know I still think that this is foolish, right? You could just remain here for the rest of the year, until this game of death is over.”
Shuji smiles.
“This is something that I need to do. Nobody else stands a chance against Kenro.”
Jun hesitantly looks at Shuji.
“Then, at the very least, remember everything I’ve taught you and win.”
Shuji nods his head as he prepares to say goodbye to Jun.
“I couldn’t have done this without you. Words can’t describe how thankful I am.”
Jun chuckles before raising his arm to say goodbye.
“I dare say, I’ve grown rather attached to you, Shuji. I’ll be seeing you. Time is of the essence.”
Shui agrees and begins to head off into the eastern side of the city, which is now filled with the chaos of fighting. As Shuji leaves the junkyard, Jun recalls an old photo that he saw of his grandfather in the war. He sees Shuji in a similar pose and smiles. Jun then rests against his shack silently as he hears the commotion coming from the city. He speaks his grandfather’s words.
“There was no art in the war, just chaos.”
Shuji heads into the fray of fighting. People are bloodied and fighting al around the city. Shuji then begins to think of his plan.
‘I can’t waste my energy fighting the downers. I need to fight Kenro and Kenro alone. I just need to cut the head of off the serpent.’
Shuji begins to sneak through the city and tries to avoid the fighting. Shuji eventually comes close to Kenro’s base but it’s heavily guarded. Shuji begins to think to himself.
‘How can I get in there? If the downers win the fight against the rebels and I can’t reach Kenro, then all hope is lost.’
As Shuji stands there, the shadow of somebody appears behind him and he hears the worst. However, a soothing voice is heard instead.
“Guess who.”
Shuji instantly recognises the voice and turns around to see Ichika standing behind him.
“Ichika!”
Ichika smiles and begins talking. They both know that there is no time for pleasantries.
“Follow me.”
Shuji follows Ichika into the building next to Kenro’s base. As they begin to head up the stairs, Shuji enquires about Ichika.
“I see you’re as happy as ever.”
Ichika giggles as they continue to head up the stairs. Once they have reached the roof, Ichika signals to Shuji.
“Look over there.”
Ichika points to a bunch of mattresses on the roof of Kenro’s base.
“You know what I’m about to say, right.”
Shuji looks over the edge at the gap between the buildings. Shuji is confused about how Ichika managed to accomplish such a task.
“How did you manage to put those on the roof without any downers noticing?”
Ichika smiles.
“A friend of yours helped us sneak those onto the roof.”
Inside of Kenro’s base, Kanna is hoping that Shuji is successful.
“I hope you got my gift, Shuji.”
Shuji instantly thinks of Kanna as he realises that he has to save her. Shuji takes a deep breath before beginning to sprint towards the edge of the building. He conquers his fear and risks his life, thinking of his friends. Shuji jumps and successfully lands on the mattresses. Ichika looks over, unsure if Shuji is injured. Shuji gives the thumbs up to Ichika as she smiles and walks away.
“Now, to find Kenro.”
Shuji enters the building and begins to head down the ground floor. However, as he heads down the building, he notices something unusual. All of the floors are empty. There isn’t a single downer in sight. Shuji begins to think about this.
‘No downers? I suppose they’re all occupied with the commotion outside.’
As Shuji reaches the ground floor, he notices that only Kanna and Kenro stand there.
Kanna notices Shuji and Kenro notices soon after.
“Shuji.”
Shuji faces Kenro, filled with fear. Kenro begins to speak.
“I knew it would be you. You’re the only one stupid enough to think he can take me on.”
Shuji ignores Kenro and turns his attention to Kanna.
“Kanna. Get out of here. This is between me and Kenro.”
Kanna hesitates as Kenro gets closer to Kanna and begins to speak.
“She’s one of us now. She’ll never go back to being a pathetic waste like you.”
Kanna chuckles as Kenro looks at her in confusion.
“You really think that, don’t you.”
Kenro begins to question her.
“What do you mean?”
Kanna looks at Kenro, fearlessly.
“I would never join your pathetic gang. I tricked you so that you couldn’t use me as some bargaining chip. I used you, Kenro. I would never turn on my friends.”
Kenro begins to get angry as he clenches his fist.
“You bitch!”
Kenro swings at Kanna with full force, sending her flying and knocking her against the cage. This action enrages Shuji who begins to scream at Kenro.
“Let’s go, Kenro! You and me, one on one!”
Kenro turns to Shuji and smiles.
“Get in the cage.”
Kenro proceeds to walk towards the cage used for fighting which still sits in the centre of his factory. Kenro then opens the cage door and head inside. Shuji follows him in. Shuji looks around as he realises that there is no escape from the fighting cage. Kenro walks over to the cage door and locks it. He then throws the key outside of the cage. Kenro menacingly stares at Shuji.
“This is a fight to the death.”
Shuji begins to sweat as he looks at the dried blood all over the cage. He notices the clear size difference between himself and Kenro. Shuji tries to calm himself.
‘Just remember what you’ve learnt. You can do this.’
Shuji and Kenro begin to approach each other. Shuji is the first to swing a punch. However, Kenro grabs Shuji’s fist before the punch can land. Kenro looks at Shuji with a sinister expression and begins gripping Shuji’s hand together. He then pulls Shuji towards him and punches him with his other hand, sending Shuji flying into the cage. Shuji begins to think to himself.
‘Shit. His physical strength is more than I can handle. I have to use Defendu.’
Kenro then begins to speak.
“You’re weak, Shuji. I’m going to beat you to a pulp and when I’m finished, I’m going to hurt everybody you care about.”
Shuji begins to get up. But before he could fully get up, Kenro picks him up and throws him against the other side of the cage. The impact causes Shuji immense harm as he tries to get up again. As Shuji gets up, Kenro continues to speak.
“The only one worthy of surviving this death game is me.”
Shuji stands, now blooded and holding his now injured arm. He breathes heavily as Kenro continues to taunt him.
“Do you want to know a secret? When the game first started, I heard about the boogieman. I could have stopped him… but do you want to know what I did instead?”
Shuji begins to prepare himself for Kenro’s next attack as Kenro continues his speech.
“I had my crew leave food stashes around the city for him to find. The boogieman would have died without me.”
Kenro begins to run towards Shuji as he finishes his speech.
“I let him live so he could kill brats like you!”
Kenro runs over to Shuji and picks Shuji up by the throat with his right hand and puts Shuji in a one-armed strangle hold. Shuji remembered his training with Jun. Shuji raised his right arm and struck it against Kenro’s right hand wrist. Whilst doing this, he lifted his knee up and began to try and spin, using the momentum to force his knee into Kenro’s groin.
“Aghhhh.”
Kenro drops Shuji who proceeds to strike him a few times before jumping backwards. Kenro is annoyed as he wipes the blood from his lip.
“Fuck. You fight dirty.”
Kenro begins to close the distance and starts striking at Shuji. Shuji dodges Kenro’s punches and visualises his next move. Shuji then strikes Kenro on the left side of his neck with the inside oh his forearm. Shuji then passes the arm around Kenro’s head and catches it with his other arm, forcing Kenro to bend towards the floor. Shuji then pulled his right wrist downwards to force Kenro downwards even more. Shuji then sharply turns until Kenro’s feet are clear of the ground. Within a second, Shuji releases his hold and strikes Kenro in the back as he loses his balance and falls. The blow came with such force, it was enough to shatter a part of Kenro’s spine.
Kenro falls to the ground. Kenro can barely retain consciousness through the pain. Kenro tries to move his arm forward to crawl. Shuji steps on Kenro’s back to stop him.
“It’s over, Kenro.”
Kenro tries to resist passing out from all of the pain.
“You…”
Kenro suddenly falls unconscious. Shuji stands in disbelief over the victory he has just achieved. He turns his attention to Kanna, who watches on.
“You did it.”
Kanna hurries over to get the key for the cage. After getting it, she unlocks the door and helps Shuji out of the cage. Shuji opens the door to the factory. The rebels have now reached the outside of the factory.
“Shuji.”
Shuji holds the door open. The rebels see the view behind him. A defeated Kenro laying on the ground. Within seconds, the rebels come to the realisation that they have won. After a brief second of silence, cheers began.
People in the west side of the city, could hear the celebrations originating from the east side of the city. Kenro and the downers were dragged to the city prison and arrested. The rebels will now watch over the prison and control the eastern side of the city. Hayashi House was shut down and Misa Hayashi was also sent to the prison. Food was now distributed fairly and nobody has to fear the downers anymore.
