CHAPTER 35: THE UNSTOPPABLE SENSAI (part 1)
It was around half-past eight in the morning. The streets around Hoshigawa High were usually quite peaceful at this hour.
A cool breeze was blowing, leaves were gently rustling in the trees, and the distant chirping of birds made the pleasant weather feel even more serene.
But this silence was not meant to last long.
Suddenly, this tranquility was shattered by the incredibly loud, ear-piercing *KRRRRRR-KHAT-KHAT-KRRRRRR* sound of a bicycle chain.
It sounded as if an old scrap metal factory was sprinting down the road.
This was none other than Hoshigawa High's 28-year-old Physical Education teacher, Mr. Takeshi Sakuraba.
He was pedaling his heavy commuter bicycle down the middle of the road at a terrifying speed.
Visually, Takeshi Sir looked like an action movie hero.
His body was 6 feet (183 cm) tall and 88 kg, possessing a perfectly athletic, lean-muscular build (only 14% body fat).
He was wearing his signature dark blue school tracksuit with white stripes on the sleeves and pants, and sturdy white sports sneakers on his feet.
A silver whistle hung over his broad chest, swinging wildly in the air due to the bicycle's high speed.
However, his massive and muscular physique on that small, normal bicycle looked so absurd and comical that anyone watching would struggle to hold back their laughter.
His muscular legs were pumping up and down rapidly like engine pistons, and he was pedaling the cycle as if the Grim Reaper himself were chasing him.
" Damn it !
Damn it !
Damn it ! "
Takeshi muttered loudly to himself in a panic.
His large brown eyes were completely wide with tension and fear right now, and thick anime-style tears were streaming down his face like a waterfall, flying backward in the wind.
"Darn it!
I am late again !
I don't know why the morning time passes by so quickly, man?!"
In reality, Takeshi had woken up perfectly on time.
But the biggest reason for his current condition was his hairstyle.
His thick black hair was set in a classic, high, and thick 'Pompadour' style.
He had spent a full two hours in the morning giving this retro and stylish pompadour the perfect shape, because he believed that a true man's identity is his discipline—and the discipline of his hair.
"If I reach school late today, the reputation I've built in front of the students will be dragged through the mud!"
Takeshi thought, crying as he pierced through the wind.
"But an even worse thing will be... my lovely, beautiful Miss Ryouko won't even look at me with anger !
If I am late today, my love story will face 'The End' before it even begins!
No... Takeshi, you cannot give up! You have to reach on time, you can't give up this easily!"
Even though his bicycle's speed was rivaling 100 kilometers per hour, Takeshi had only one hand on the handle and the other hand planted firmly on his head.
He was protecting his perfectly set Pompadour from the strong wind.
It was fine if the cycle slipped, it was fine if the tracksuit got dirty, but the hair shouldn't move even a single millimeter from its place.
The pedestrians on the road panicked seeing this sudden blue tracksuit-wearing tornado approaching.
He was swerving the cycle left and right like a madman.
Ahead, a Salaryman (office worker) wearing a black suit, holding a briefcase in one hand, was crossing the road in a hurry.
He had earphones plugged in and had no idea about this terrifying disaster approaching from behind.
Takeshi had absolutely no time to hit the brakes.
He pulled the handle of his cycle towards himself with all his might.
His heavy cycle launched into the air and jumped right over the oblivious Salaryman.
A shadow passed over the Salaryman's head, and the gust of wind caused his coffee to spill slightly.
He looked up in sheer terror.
Takeshi, flying in the air with one hand still on his hair, yelled.
The Salaryman's jaw dropped.
"Hey, you lunatic !
Just let me get my hands on you once, you bastard, then I'll beat that cycling out of you, you scoundrel !"
"Hey you idiot, go take care of yourself first! Acting like you can teach me how to cycle.
The person who can teach Takeshi hasn't been born yet!"
Takeshi shouted back in the air without turning around, planting his white sneakers back onto the pedals as he landed safely on the ground and sped off.
A little further down the road, an old man, Mr. Yasuo Saionji, was slowly crossing the road with the help of his walking stick.
He was going to open his shop.
Due to the rain last night, a large, muddy puddle had formed on the road.
Mr. Yasuo stopped right next to that puddle to normalize his breathing first.
Seeing Mr. Yasuo directly in his path and near the puddle, Takeshi's eyes widened in fear.
The cycle's speed was so high that if he took a sudden turn, his heavy athletic body would scrape violently against the ground.
He screamed with all his might,
"Mr. Saionji !
Step aside !
Move away from the puddle,
I won't be able to turn the cycle!"
But the old man's hearing had weakened with age.
Mr. Yasuo stayed right there, placed a hand over his ear, and began to carefully observe the rapidly approaching blue blur.
"Huh?
Who is shouting this early in the morning?"
"MOOOVE OUT OF THE WAAAY ! "
Takeshi screamed at the top of his lungs, sweat glistening on his forehead.
He thought to himself,
*'Looks like this old man is going to die by my hands today !'*
Takeshi yelled loudly,
"Get out of the way, old man, don't you value your life, huh ?!"
But it was too late by now. Sprinting at a terrifying speed, both tires of the cycle plunged straight into the center of the muddy puddle.
SPLASH !
It felt as if a water bomb had exploded.
A massive splash of dirty water and mud erupted from the puddle, completely drenching poor Mr. Yasuo from head to toe.
The old man froze like a statue for a second.
His crisp white shirt and pants had now turned completely dark brown.
Mud was dripping down his glasses.
The very next second, his face turned tomato-red with anger.
His fury was piercing the sky.
Waving his walking stick violently in the air at the rapidly disappearing teacher,
Mr. Yasuo, furious, opened his box of curses:
"You wretched menace,
I pray to God you get into an accident!
May you crash into a garbage bin!
May you go bald, you scoundrel!
You ruined all my clothes, you good-for-nothing!"
"Is this my fault?!
When I was screaming from a distance,
You couldn't hear it, old man!"
Takeshi's voice echoed from afar.
Up ahead, the large iron gates of Hoshigawa High began to come into view.
The security guard was checking his watch.
It was exactly 9:15 AM.
Taking a deep breath, he started pulling the heavy iron gates shut.
The gap was barely a foot or two wide.
"Hey, hey! Stop!
The gate is closing, sir!"
the guard yelled, seeing the speeding cycle approaching like a storm.
"Hit the brakes, sir!
Or else you'll crash!"
"Move! I'm not stopping now!
There's no time to hit the brakes!"
Takeshi roared.
Instead of stopping, he executed a move that was nothing short of an action movie stunt.
He lightly pressed the front brake and slid the cycle on the ground at a 45-degree angle.
Sparks began flying as the metal pedals scraped against the concrete.
With absolutely perfect athletic reflexes, he slid smoothly right under that tiny gap of the closing gate, without a single scratch.
"Safe!"
Takeshi exhaled a long breath with pride as he came inside and re-balanced his heavy frame.
He adjusted the collar of his tracksuit and smiled.
"That's the spirit,
Takeshi! Now I just have to park it."
He had made it inside the campus, but the long path ahead had a slight slope that led straight towards the main sports ground and the gym.
Takeshi squeezed both brake levers to come to a comfortable halt.
SNAP! TWANG!
A sharp noise rang out. Both worn-out brake cables had completely snapped in half due to the extreme pressure of the sliding stunt outside.
The levers were now completely free, dangling in his hands.
A deathly silence suddenly descended upon Takeshi's 'confident' face. He squeezed the levers again and again.
Click-click
Nothing happened.
Because of the slope, the cycle's speed was getting faster with every passing second.
In a panic, Takeshi tried to stop the cycle by reverse pedaling.
But Mr. Yasuo's curse proved true.
There was a loud KRRR-CLANG sound, and the cycle's chain slipped off the sprocket, got horribly tangled in the wheel, and broke.
"Hey, what just happened?!
My Chain... my chain broke, aaaaa?!"
Takeshi's eyes bulged. His jaw dropped wide open out of fear.
The brakes had failed, and now the chain had broken too.
The cycle had now become an out-of-control, living metal missile hurtling straight toward the main ground and the gym building.
To be continue...