CHAPTER 21: THE AZURE SECRET (part 1)
The massive canteen of Hakuho Academy was currently enveloped in a deathly, suffocating silence, as if someone had violently ripped all the air and breath straight out of the room.
Akuro Yoshibe and his Black Blazers had already been tossed out of the cafeteria like pieces of garbage.
However, the gruesome trails of blood they left behind, the shattered steel tables, and the scattered glass were screaming testaments to the naked dance of death that had taken place here over the past hour.
In a dark, desolate corner of the canteen, right next to the cold wall where Akuro had brutally slammed Kenchon, Renjiro Hoshino was still trapped amidst the ruins of that destruction.
He had firmly grasped Raizen Kurotsuki's extended, sturdy hand with his own heavy, trembling hands.
Pulling his massive frame up using the wall for support, and rising above his perceived wretched status for the first time in years, he spoke with a newfound, burning hope through his brutally swollen face and blood-stained lips:
"My name is... Renjiro Hoshino."
But this burning hope could not outweigh the reality of his horrifying wounds.
The very second Renjiro stood on his feet with Raizen's support and let go of the wall to take his first step...
THUD !
Whatever microscopic amount of strength was left in his legs vanished completely.
The aftermath of Akuro's brutal Kudo strike, which had grotesquely swollen his jaw, combined with the sheer exhaustion of his 100-kilo frame, finally made his body give out.
He began to collapse heavily forward.
"Aaargh..."
A painful, agonized groan escaped his swollen jaw.
But right before his blood-soaked face could smash against the cold ceramic tiles of the floor, Raizen reacted instantly.
He stepped forward, tightly grabbed Renjiro's massive arms, and stopped him from falling face-first.
Leaning down toward the floor, tears of sheer fear and absolute shame began to drip from Renjiro's eyes, mixing with his blood.
He tightly closed his severely swollen eyes and spoke in a sorrowful, crying voice:
"I... I can't even take a single step.
I just can't get up...
there isn't an ounce of strength left in my legs."
Renjiro's tears began rolling freely down his cheeks.
"How am I supposed to go home now?
If Mom and Dad see me in this battered and swollen state...
what will they think?
They'll think their son truly is a burden,
a pathetic loser who gets beaten like a stray dog at school every single day.
How can I possibly show them this blood-soaked face..."
Without wasting a single microsecond, looking directly into Renjiro's weeping eyes, Raizen replied extremely casually and without an ounce of pity:
"Alright.
I'll drop you home."
Renjiro's tear-filled eyes widened in pure, unadulterated shock.
He looked at Raizen's scraped face and violently torn hoodie.
"But... you're in a terrible condition yourself!"
Renjiro yelled, his voice laced with deep physical pain and disbelief.
"You are injured too!
You took so many heavy kicks...
and even if you were perfectly fine,
how would you ever lift my 100-kg weight?
I am as heavy as an elephant,
lifting me is completely beyond your limits."
Not even a microsecond of doubt appeared on Raizen's face.
His icy, freezing eyes remained locked dead onto Renjiro.
"Don't worry about that,"
Raizen said, stepping forward.
His voice carried such a terrifying, absolute certainty that even death itself would step back upon hearing it.
"I will handle everything.
I'm not that hurt...
and my body can still function perfectly."
Renjiro was still trying to refuse.
"But... but you—"
Before Renjiro could even finish his sentence, Raizen leaned forward right in front of him.
He perfectly gripped Renjiro's falling, massive arms.
Raizen silenced his mind, took a deep, focused breath, tightened his core, and...
SWOOSH!
Renjiro's mind went completely blank.
His ears rang with a numb static.
In one single, explosive yet flawlessly smooth motion, Raizen hoisted the gigantic, 100-kilo boy off the floor and loaded him right onto his back!
The few remaining students standing far away in the canteen were watching them intently.
When they witnessed this impossible sight, their eyes bulged so wide in shock they almost popped out of their skulls.
Kenta Ishida, who was leaning against a broken table in sheer terror, stood with his mouth hanging wide open.
His knees started knocking together once again.
Pulling at his own hair, he screamed in a deeply shocked, trembling voice:
"Impossible...
impossible...
IMPOSSIBLE!
How on earth?!
How did he just lift that fat guy?!
That is absolutely impossible!"
Kenta's analytical mind was screaming in terror and disbelief.
*Science states that after such brutal physical activity,
human muscles completely freeze up with lactic acid...
But this boy?!
He fought a horrifying battle against Akuro,
And despite such extreme exhaustion,
He easily lifted a 100-kilo burden onto his back?!
And there isn't even the slightest vibration or tremor in his legs?!
He's not human!*
The reaction from the entire student crowd was highly mixed.
Every single one of them was in a state of deep shock.
Nobody could comprehend exactly how much monstrous power was hidden inside this white-haired boy.
Right behind that terrified crowd of students, the absolute highest authority of Hakuho Academy—The Student Council—was moving toward the canteen gates to take their leave.
The Senior Leader, Souma Kanzaki, before whom the entire school bowed down, slightly slowed his steps as he walked, but he did not stop.
His cold, blueberry eyes locked onto the dead center of the canteen, where Raizen was slowly walking forward, effortlessly carrying the 100-kilo Renjiro.
Souma observed him very carefully.
No visible reaction appeared on Souma's emotionless face, but his sharp, combat-hardened mind instantly grasped the true depth of the situation.
*There is something special about him,*
Souma thought to himself as he kept walking.
He slightly tightened his tape-wrapped hands.
*Such stamina and such core strength cannot belong to an ordinary fighter.
To so easily carry a man heavier than yourself after a death match...
that is quite something.
This boy has absolute control over his muscle structure and kinetic chain.*
For the first time in two years, a strange, unique mixture of respect and anticipation flashed in Souma's cold eyes.
*I hope we meet again, Raizen Kurotsuki,*
Souma said silently to himself.
With that thought, he continued walking out of the canteen without looking back.
To be continue to the chapter