The midday sun at Izu beach was scorching hot. The crashing waves blended with the booming music from the bars and the chaotic laughter, creating a suffocating, messy wall of sound.
To bring something fresh to his channel's content, and to temporarily escape the previous incident, he had fully committed to an unorthodox gym vlog series. This led to significant muscle growth, though the trade-off was constantly feeling like he had been run over by a truck.
Hence, his disguised cheat day fell on today, and the location coincidentally happened to be this beach. Naturally, a cheat day made for good content, so he did not hesitate to bring his camera along to capture some footage.
He had been dragged here by Kibe and Kuribayashi since early morning. The men's relaxing getaway was passing by rather tediously until they turned the corner toward the parasol rental area.
"Ah, Kinoshita? Kibe?"
A clear voice rang out through the crowd.
The absolute loner's footsteps suddenly froze. He slowly turned his head. Standing not far away, Ichinose Chizuru and two of her close college friends were struggling with their beach bags. A completely accidental encounter, entirely unarranged.
The exact moment her light brown eyes met his pitch black ones, time seemed to suffocate.
The memory of waking up on that pale pink bedsheet, the way they had clung tightly to each other, instantly crashed into both of their minds like a slow motion film.
Although his face remained stone cold and emotionless, his ears immediately burned, the heat spreading rapidly down to his neck. He continued to speak as bluntly and rudely as usual, but woven through those seemingly perfect moments of concealment, his face occasionally betrayed his fluster. His unusually frequent throat clearing made Kibe and Kuri feel that something was very off.
On the opposite side, Chizuru's condition was even harder to put into words. The polite smile on her lips instantly contorted. A blazing red hue erupted across her cheeks. She frantically turned her face away, pretending to bend down and adjust her bag strap, her evasive gaze glued to the scorching sand.
Even a blind person could feel the thick, stifling, and awkward silence that suddenly enveloped the two people who always claimed to be the most rational.
Kibe and Kuribayashi, standing nearby, instantly stopped their conversation. The two young men exchanged a highly suspicious look. They were not idiots. This pink, awkward, and highly ambiguous atmosphere was entirely too obvious.
"Hey." Kibe nudged Kuribayashi's ribs, whispering. "Do you see what is wrong with those two today? That awkward posture, not daring to look each other in the eye. I swear they look exactly like a couple who just got caught doing something shady."
"Kazuya's ears are bright red." Kuribayashi nodded, pushing up his glasses. "Something shady definitely happened between them."
Hearing his two best friends whispering, the humiliation made him want to kick them both into the sea. He took a deep breath, tried to calm down, and replied indifferently.
"It is unfathomably hot. Put away those thoughts and find a place to set up the parasol, quickly."
With that, he strode straight ahead, rushing as if he were fleeing. Chizuru also pursed her lips, hastily dragging her two friends in another direction, not daring to look up at his back a second time.
...
After settling into their spot under the parasol, Kibe and Kuribayashi quickly stripped off their t shirts and noisily rushed into the water.
He stayed behind, leisurely taking off his square framed sunglasses. His hands slowly moved up to unbutton his short sleeved shirt and pull it off his body.
The frail, lazy body was no more. A sturdy frame and broad shoulders. A squared, firm chest and sharply defined six pack abs gripped the deep V cut lines plunging toward the edge of his white swimming trunks with dark polka dots. It was an incredibly neat choice, yet it flaunted the entirety of a masculine beauty sculpted by sweat and iron discipline. The pale skin had been replaced by a healthy, rugged tan.
Just then, the crunch of bare feet stepping on the sand approached.
Ichinose Chizuru stepped out under the brilliant sunlight. Today, she let her long, silky hair flow freely in the sea breeze. Enveloping her perfect curves was a pale pink two piece bikini. The fresh color and tailored design hugged her full bust, accentuating her tiny waist and flawless white skin. Free of any fake shyness, she walked naturally, radiating an aura that overwhelmed every girl around her. Dozens of men on the beach instantly turned their heads, their eyes greedy like a pack of hungry wolves. Scattered whistles rang out.
Initially, he looked at Chizuru casually, as if seeing a normal person wearing a bikini to the beach. But that gaze evaporated the moment he spotted three perverted bastards approaching her with less than honorable intentions.
He did not want to meddle in other people's business, but seeing her pleading look go unanswered as they groped and flirted with her in an incredibly vulgar manner, he truly could not hold back anymore.
Yes, in Kazuya's eyes, Chizuru always had something deceitful and untrustworthy about her. But after everything that had happened, he had perhaps unconsciously granted her the belief that she actually was not that bad. Not to mention, he could never stand still whenever someone needed help, especially right now.
Of course, he was no idiot. Charging out like a fool now would guarantee a beating if he did not prepare. Everything had to be fenced in advance for him to feel secure.
He picked up his camera, turned on the recording mode, and zoomed straight into Chizuru's spot for ten seconds. That was long enough to capture every single moment. Then, he walked out holding the camera, recording while making his threat.
"Back off, you fuckers." He growled, his eyes darkening, his hand keeping the camera aimed firmly at their faces. "The video is already in high definition. Get out of here before I hand this trash over to beach management."
The three thugs paused for a second. But upon realizing he was alone, the leader with heavily tattooed arms instantly smirked and spat on the sand.
"Who the fuck are you? This bitch's boyfriend?" The tattooed guy jerked his chin, swatting at the hand holding the camera. "You think holding a cheap camera to threaten us is going to scare us? Delete that video right now and get lost so we can do our business. Otherwise, I will feed you your teeth right here."
"I will repeat this one last time. Get lost." He reiterated without blinking.
"Motherfucker, you want to play hero!"
Without another word, the tattooed guy swung his arm. A sudden, brutal punch landed squarely on his face.
Smack!
The direct hit to the corner of his mouth sent him staggering half a step back. A sharp, piercing pain shot from his teeth straight to his brain. Chizuru screamed in terror and tried to rush forward but was shoved aside by the other two men.
He steadied himself and wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand. His mouth was filled with the metallic, fishy stench of blood. He pushed his tongue against his gums, clearly feeling the absence of a piece of his front tooth.
He bowed his head and spat a mouthful of bright red blood mixed with half a dazzling white tooth onto the golden sand.
He stared intently at the broken tooth on the ground. In that moment, all restraint, all his calm facade, and his habit of solving problems with words instantly evaporated. For so long, he had used coldness to suppress the fury of someone who had been cornered by life, someone who had lost his hands, lost his career, and lost his faith in humanity. And now, even his attempt to protect a girl in the most civilized way had been trampled by this scum.
"How fucking annoying..." He muttered.
As he looked up, his gaze had completely changed. It was the look of a wild beast backed into a corner, someone ready to drag everyone down to hell with him.
He did not drop the camera. On the contrary, he tightened his grip on the hard plastic handle, flexing all the power from his shoulders and back muscles that he had trained all this time, and swung his right arm. He smashed the heavy camera with full force right into the face of the tattooed guy who had just punched him.
Crack!
A dry snapping sound echoed. The strike was so forceful that the camera cracked open, and the tattooed guy's nose caved entirely, blood spurting everywhere. The man howled in agony, clutching his face as he collapsed onto the sand.
"Kill this motherfucker!" The two lackeys flew into a rage and charged in after seeing their boss taken down.
A wild, bloody brawl broke out right in the middle of the beach. There was no flashy martial arts, only the brutality of instinctive punches and kicks. He took a knee straight to the center of his face. His nose made a sickening crunch, and blood gushed out. Another guy grabbed a piece of driftwood from the sand and swung it viciously at his left arm when he raised it to block. A tearing pain shot through his forearm bone, signaling a severe fracture.
But he did not go down. What allowed him to take on three opponents at once was his ability to play dirty instead of just charging forward like an idiot. He endured the pain, grabbed a handful of sand with his left hand, threw it in the face of the approaching guy, and then shoved the handycam he was holding straight into the guy's mouth, then followed up with a ruthless kick to the other guy's balls. He fought until all three pieces of trash lay flattened on the sand, groaning and crawling.
The brawl ended when beach management and the police swarmed in, dragging everyone into the back of a paddy wagon.
Before "Kazuya" was put into the police car, Kibe noticed something unusual in his eyes.
There was no anger, no fear, not even a hint of surprise. They were lifeless, dull like the eyes of a dead fish, and filled with something that sent shivers down one's spine...
...
The local area police station reeked of sweat, iodine antiseptic, and blood.
He sat on a plastic chair, one side of his nose stuffed with cotton, his left arm temporarily splinted with a wooden board. His white swimming trunks were stained with sand and blood. The three thugs sat in the opposite corner, their faces swollen, screaming incessantly for injury compensation.
But the situation quickly turned around when Kibe and Kuribayashi rushed into the station alongside a sharply dressed lawyer in a suit. He had been hired urgently using their collective pocket money.
Even though the camera casing was cracked after that godly strike, the memory card inside remained intact. The clear video footage of the three men groping and hurling vulgar remarks at Chizuru, followed by the leader throwing the punch that broke his tooth first, was played directly on the police officer's computer monitor by the lawyer.
"My client gave a verbal warning but was attacked first." The lawyer stated clearly. "The act of striking back falls entirely within the framework of legitimate self defense to protect himself and prevent sexual harassment against his companion. Any injuries sustained by that group were brought upon themselves."
With ironclad, undeniable evidence, the police immediately shifted their investigation. The three thugs went from victims to suspects of harassment and intentional assault.
He was released on bail that very afternoon without having to pay a single dime in compensation.
The moment he stepped out the police station door, the late afternoon sun cast its rays upon his bruised face. He exhaled, rolling his tongue over the gap in his teeth, clicking his tongue and grumbling about the impending massive bill for porcelain crowns.
"Kazuya!"
A choked voice called out. Chizuru had been waiting outside the gate for who knows how long. She ran over quickly, her eyes red, her gaze sweeping over his white bandaged nose and the arm hanging in a sling around his neck. She clasped her hands tightly together, awkwardly not knowing where to put them.
"Are you okay? Does it hurt much?" She bit her lip, her voice trembling.
"Aside from losing a beautiful smile, a broken nose, temporarily losing an arm, and losing a camera worth over 90,000 yen, yeah, I'm fine," he said with annoyance at having suffered such a huge loss.
Hearing that, Chizuru couldn't help but feel extremely guilty...
"I'm truly sorry for dragging you into this terrible mess..."
He looked at the girl in front of him, so guilty she was on the verge of crying. The maddening rage from the afternoon had vanished without a trace. He sighed, raising his right hand to ruffle his already messy hair.
"Don't mind about that, for real. Next time you go to the beach, stick with your friends and do not wander off alone like that. Or at least scream for help, someone will eventually come to rescue you. Enduring it like that guarantees things will not end well for you later, Ichinose."
Having said that, he glanced at her, then remarked casually.
"Honestly, being too pretty is also a hassle for you, right?"
The space suddenly fell silent.
Chizuru widened her eyes, staring at him. Those words had zero edge to them. On the contrary, it bluntly praised her beauty and implicitly affirmed that getting into a fight for her was entirely understandable.
Her cheeks instantly exploded in a fiery red. Flustered, she awkwardly brought both hands up to cover her face, twisting her body away, not daring to look at him for another second.
Seeing her reaction, his brain finally finished processing the sentence he had just spoken.
He froze.
His face maintained its calm, stone cold expression like a statue, but deep down, tens of thousands of curses were screaming and smashing things to pieces.
"What the fuck?! What the hell did I just say? Too pretty? Was I just unintentionally flirting with her? You lost a tooth, you did not lose half your brain!"
He wanted to slap himself a few more times to knock out the rest of his teeth. The toughness and coldness he had tried to maintain for so long were suddenly blown to smithereens by a single slip of the tongue.
He swallowed hard and turned his face in another direction, pretending nothing had happened. But his ears had long since flushed bright red, betraying his absolute idiocy and ultimate fluster beneath the summer sunset.