After a while the traffic light turned red and Naritu screamed, "Nightmare."
He heard a voice behind him. "Naritu."
He turned around, and Matsuda said, "So it really was you?"
Ranzuki asked again, "What? What did he say?"
Matsuda asked her to wait, and then asked, "Is that Tada? What happened?"
Naritu frowned. "A lot happened. There's no time to tell it."
Matsuda took out his phone and said, "He's seriously injured. We need to call an ambulance."
Kiritani stopped a car and said, "No. It'll be faster this way." He told them to get in.
Naritu looked at him in surprise and said, "Yes."
They got into the taxi and left, and the rest of the guys were left standing on the street.
After a while, at the central city hospital, they were all sitting on a bench near the doctor's office.
Naritu lowered his head and thought, this guy — are there really this many people like him around, or am I the one who keeps getting into fights lately? At this rate I'll be completely sucked into this life. If that's how it is, then I should—
He stood up abruptly and said, "I'll leave everything to you from now on."
Ranzuki cried out, "What? You're going home? You can't leave like this. Futano."
Naritu turned around and asked, "Why me?"
"No, that won't do," Ranzuki replied. "You have to make sure your friend is okay."
Naritu frowned and asked again, "My friend?"
Kiritani chuckled, and Naritu said, "No. He isn't."
At that moment Tada came out of the room and sighed loudly.
Everyone turned around and shouted, "Tada! Are you okay?"
He smiled and thanked them for helping him out, especially Naritu.
Naritu turned around in fear and looked at Ranzuki. He grabbed Tada's hand.
"What?" Tada asked.
Naritu dragged him aside and told the other guys to follow him. He gathered them all in and whispered, asking them not to set him up. "I'm Futano now. There's no need to call me by my real name."
The guys were forced to acknowledge him as Futano.
Ranzuki asked, "Futano? Is he okay?"
Naritu smiled, turned around and apologised. He said yes. He had just needed to talk to them.
Matsuda asked, "But who beat Tada into that state, anyway?"
He closed his eyes and answered, "It was Onodera."
"Ken Onodera?" Matsuda asked again. "Onodera?" He took out his diary. "Mr. Onodera, huh? I remember." He was the right-hand man who was always at Mr. Inui's side.
He opened the entry, and it said: Second year, class one. Ken Onodera. Last year's Freshman War champion. He rarely appears in public, but there are rumours that he hangs out with Inui and the upperclassmen. He is big and muscular. Won his last fight by a landslide and usually defeats his opponents with one punch.
Matsuda said he was secretive, and he did not seem like the type to openly get into fights, so there was very little information available.
Tada walked up to him and asked, "Did you write all of this yourself? This is awesome."
Matsuda let out a loud yelp, and Tada said he loved hearing about bad guys like that — what they did, who they beat up, everything.
"Me too," Matsuda replied. "I love legends and stories about them. I've got a ton of similar manga as well. We're like kindred spirits."
Matsuda yelped again. "Yeah. We're on the same wavelength."
Naritu frowned and thought, I want to go home.
Tada asked, "But why was Kaede targeted? Is there a reason someone would kidnap her? It doesn't seem like she's connected to those guys, as far as I can tell."
Ranzuki lowered her head and replied, "I don't know. I have no idea."
Tada said, "That guy just appeared out of nowhere. Something must have happened. Onodera can't be behind this. But he still let you go in the end. What was he even trying to achieve?"
Kiritani asked, "By the way, why did you team up with Futano? Did you just want to help him?"
Tada chuckled and told him not to talk nonsense. He had had a small skirmish with those guys recently, before.
Naritu asked, "Did you get this wound back then? Is that right?"
"Yes, that's right," Tada answered. "Inui and his guys attacked me."
Matsuda screamed. "Seriously?"
Tada asked them not to misunderstand. One-on-one it wouldn't have been a problem, but he made one mistake and let his guard down.
Naritu asked why they had attacked him in the first place.
"I rejected their offer to join their group," Tada replied. "I think it was the Dragon Alliance."
Kiritani dropped his lollipop. "Dragon Alliance. He just said it." He grabbed Tada by the shirt and yelled, "You just said Dragon Alliance."
Tada asked, puzzled, "What's got into you all of a sudden? Did something happen?"
Kiritani asked to be excused, but he needed to ask something. "So Inui is connected with them."
"Probably," Tada said. He had only heard rumours — especially that Inui was recruiting people who became famous in the Freshman War. "I'm not really interested in joining their gang, though. I just want to test my strength, that's all. Futano, you're also taking part in the Freshman War, so it isn't only my problem." Then he added, "Kiritani. If you're looking for Inui, you just need to find the guy in the purple jacket. He always wears the same one. It's his calling card."
Kiritani turned away and said, "I see. Thank you."
"Yeah," Tada replied. "The Freshman War. Yes."
After a while Kiritani was sitting at a computer. He turned on a video, and voices and laughter came out of it. He zoomed in and saw Inui.
"Purple jacket," Kiritani said. "So it's Inui."
After a while Matsuda opened his diary and said, "The next fight was supposed to be with Tada, but it looks like he's withdrawn because of his injuries." He closed the diary.
Naritu was thoughtfully writing something in his notebook and thinking, great. I managed to avoid a fight. But maybe I should withdraw too.
A guy came into the room and asked, "Is Naritu here?"
Yui Ikada, from Shaon High School, first year, class eight, smirked and looked at him.
Matsuda cried out in surprise, "It's Ikada!"
Naritu looked at him and said, "I'm—"
Matsuda said, "It's the guy who used to be super popular in boxing."