Chapter 3: Unsafe Protection【P3】
Renji
“Excuse me. Are you the people who caught that bag thief at the plaza earlier?” she says in a playful tone.
“The one and only!” I strike my best pose, pointing a finger skyward. “A crime was in progress, and the dream team handled it swiftly.”
“Wow... how brave.” Her eyes glint.
“Oh, it was nothing, just a casual day in the life of—”
“Do you want to know what happens to brave people on this campus—” Her smile stays frozen, but the warmth vanishes from her voice. “—who don’t mind their own business?”
My breath catches.
“Hm. I thought it over. Nope, I’m good.” I mutter, scrambling backward.
She does not give me the chance.
Whipping her hands out from her back, she flings a weighted rope straight at my feet. The cord coils tight around my ankles. A yank pulls the world out from under me.
Thud.
“Ow! What did you do that for!” I clutch my stinging kneecap.
Before I can scramble up, she hurls the loose end to her side.
A figure on skates catches it in stride—I strain to make out their face, but they snap a painted animal mask into place a second too fast.
Thwack!
The line goes taut. The wind knocks out of me as my body jerks forward.
“HEY!” Jiro’s hands tear out of his pockets as he lunges into a frantic pursuit.
Rough pavement scrapes my stomach as I slide down the path like a sack of potatoes. A polite giggle fades behind me.
Ssszzzrrr!
That mechanical whine strikes my ears. Relief sparks over me—but sizzles out a beat later…
From a side alley, a second skater rolls out wearing a matching animal mask. They glide toward me on those motorized skates, reaching down to grab the rope.
No rescue squad. The noise belongs to them.
A brutal jerk snaps through my spine as the speed doubles. The ground dissolves into a blur, churning up a storm of dirt that stings my eyes.
“Renji!” Jiro calls from behind.
He throws himself forward, but the gap between us widens into a canyon.
“Help! Heeelp me!” I flail my free arm, spitting out sand.
“Try to make yourself heavy! Drop your center of mass!” His voice fades fast against the wind rushing past my ears.
“Gravity has abandoned me, Jiro!” I shriek back, fingernails scraping uselessly against the stone pavement.
The world turns into a nightmare of impact as the speed sways. Friction burns through my clothes as heat—Click.—flares across my chest. Churning gravel crashes into my face as I lose all sense of direction. Click.
W-what?
More sand blasts into my eyes as I am whipped into a sharp bend.
Ahead, a patch of low greenery sits in a small intersection. The skaters pivot hard, aiming straight around a young tree planted on the center island. The rope catches the trunk.
Tchrrrk!
The tension explodes.
My momentum skids to a halt across the dirt patch. The two skaters keep moving, vanishing down a branching street without looking back.
Slammed into a heap, I cough violently as dust settles over my face. Fast footsteps approach.
“Renji! Renji, are you okay!?” Jiro pants, dropping to his knees. He grabs my shoulders, his face pale.
I lean on his arms to push myself up. A stray leaf falls from my hair as I look down at the shreds of my shirt.
“I think I just got a complimentary campus tour,” I wheeze. “Ground level.”
“Who were those people?” He whips his head around, scanning the empty alleyways.
“Don’t know. Tour guides?” I grin.
The smile freezes.
Figures emerge from the shadows, stepping silently onto the intersection.
Three. Five. Nine. Sixteen of them—all wearing the same animal masks. They slowly close the distance, forming a wall around the junction.
“More trouble?” Jiro sighs.
I raise a dusty hand, waving it weakly. “Oh. Thank you, but I think I’ve seen quite enough of the campus for one day.”
“Renji,” he whispers. “I don’t think these guys are part of the welcoming committee.”
Jiro steps forward with slow, flashy steps, opening his arms wide toward the largest person in the group.
“Guys, please don’t be so pushy.” His voice is flat, yet somehow playful. “We need some time before we decide on this timeshare. Yes. I’m talking to you, fatty.”
The boy in front of him does not say a word. He gets bulldozes back by the boy’s weight as he flinches back.
“Jiro!” I reach out a hand—a sudden impact rams into the side of my head. A blindside kick to my thigh sends me crashing to the dirt.
I look up, but the only sight is a shoe tracking straight for my eyes.
Thud.
“Agh!” I clutch my stinging eye socket.
Jiro stumbles back, his feet lightly colliding with my shoulder. “Hey, that’s not fair!” he retorts. “One on one. Do the right thing!”
I reach for his ankle. “Jiro, we should—”
A stomp drives into my spine, pinning me flat to the ground.
I resist the pressure and blindly swing back toward the source of the pain, but a shoe kicks onto my swinging arm, numbing it against the ground.
“Renji, stay down!” Jiro’s voice strains from somewhere nearby.
I look up through squinting eyes.
He stands with his elbows wide, fighting the shoving as he tries to kick someone back. He looks down at me through the mess. “Curl into—”
A high side kick drives directly into his ribs.
“Stop, STOP,” I yell as the sun vanishes behind the shadows of the closing figures.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
The world dissolves into chaos. Strikes come from every direction—hard and blunt, battering my legs, stomach, and neck.
I tuck my chin and pull my knees up, losing all track of up and down as the churned-up dirt enters my eyes.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
W-where is…
Through the storm, a hand clutches my lower arm, tugging me.
I peak through my crossed arms—a shoe stomps down on the wrist. The grip on my arm only tightens.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud—
Ssszzzrrr!
A cluster of mechanical whines tears through the grunts of the beating.
Zzzt-shhh!
A chorus of wheels screeches as engines hiss to a stop.
The masked figures freeze mid-strike, their heads jolt toward the entrances of the junction.
A furious roar explodes across the air. “HEY! CUT—”
Anza
“—that out, please?” I point through the glass display at the frosted log pastry.
The clerk hovers a knife over the piped edges. He nods and slices off the section.
“I always get terrible stomach aches from that much buttercream,” I mumble, rubbing my temples. “Better leave it out this time.”
A wave of sweet cinnamon hits me as I turn around. “Hey, Asuka, do you want anything else or—”
Asuka’s cheeks puff out like a hamster’s. She somehow stuffed an entire cream horn into her mouth.
“Huh?” she garbles, crumbs cascading down her chin.
A tiny snort escapes the cashier.
I wipe a flake of crust off her nose with a giggle. “You’re hopeless.”
She flashes a thumbs-up, choking down the bite with a satisfied hum.
“Is that everything then?” he asks.
“Yep, that’s everything!” I pull out my student ID card, brandishing it.
I look from the card to the blank counter, my hand hovering in mid-air. “Um... how exactly do I pay?”
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Discover what happens next in: Chapter 4: Voluntarily Forced【P1】
Written by Limited_Infinity. Extras, official publishing platforms and updates are publicly available only on the Patreon page “_Limited_Infinity_”
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