Saikyou Series

Chapter 3

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Jinrui Saikyou no Netsuai - Chapter 3

JinruiSaikyou no Jun"ai – Nisioisin
p. 15-24

Urbanizationadvanced throughout j.a.pan, and visualization—or rather,surveillance—advanced alongside it; so, you might think it would beharder to find deserted places to battle without people noticing, butoddly enough, even cities have their crevices. As skysc.r.a.persproliferate, so do shadows…? Maybe not shadows, but ratherdarkness… In any case, nomatter how the times change, places for people like me and Kouta tolive continue to exist. For which I’m grateful. And so do theconditions for lively youngsters like this Matsuri Shimegiwa boy tobe born. The scope of thatterritory might actually be getting wider—all in balance, Isuppose. Well, in spite of my careful a.n.a.lysis of modern times, theplace where Shimegiwa took me wasn’t a dark, narrow alley or a subwaytunnel; it was the sunlit roof of some official inst.i.tution ormunic.i.p.al office building. It was a sloped roof, not a flat one. Theplace he chose as our battlefield wasdeserted, and it wasout of the public view, but it was pretty big. I kinda like that.

“I’ma bit surprised. You’re not like I heard… uh, you’re not like Iexpected.”

SaidShimegiwa, turning around after we’d arrived. The fierce stare ofthose sanpaku eyeshadn’t changed.

“Humanity’sstrongest contractor, Jun Aikawa; I thought you might kick me as soonas I turned my back… I didn’t think you’d just let me guide youhere without taking any action at all.”

SorryI couldn’t live up to your expectations—I mean, is that what peoplethink of me? Is this like a game of intergenerational telephone,where I end up sounding incomprehensibly violent to the newgeneration? Maybe this is an after-effect from when I was cut offfrom work worldwide. I’m sure Kouta would laugh out loud and say,“Incomprehensibly violent. Doesn’t that describe you perfectly, mydear friend?” But there’s no way I could just let that a.s.sessmentstand, so I continued: I’m kinda disappointed myself. When you saidyou wanted to change locations, I thought you might take me to adead-end alley where a swarm of your friends were waiting. I got allexcited.

“……”

Ishe mad? That’s not what I really thought (though I wassurprised he took me to a public office building), I just said it asa light provocation; this guy’s got a hot temper. Is that becausehe’s young? Well, his hairstyle doeslook pretty angry, after all. I was so distracted by his puffed-uphair that I hadn’t really noticed until now, but he’s wearing somepretty flashy clothes, too. He made fun of my redness, but he’ssilver all over. It was all arranged with good fashion sense, but itlooked like a difficult outfit to pull off.

“…What?”

Oh,nothing. So, shall we begin? Whoever falls down first loses. I haveanother job to get to, so let’s settle this quickly. You have ahandicap? Like fighting with one hand, or fighting with just mytongue.

“Idon’t need one. Don’t worry about your next job… You’ll have tocancel it anyway.”

Nicelysaid.

“Imean, don’t you want to ask why I’ve challenged you?”

DoI have to ask? That stuff’s a pain in the a.s.s, so I thought I’d skipit… And it doesn’t matter.

“Isee. So that’s the famous Jun Aikawa from the rumors… No matter whochallenges you, you never refuse. How very gallant.”

It’snot that cool a reason. I just don’t feel like scrutinizingeverything about a reckless idiot like you—hey, now. Bring it on.Or do you want me to come at you?

“Toshow respect for your legend, I yield the first move to you.”

Oh,okay. You’ll dampen my spirits if you treat me like an old lady,though. I’ll lose motivation. Well then, time to snip a young sprout.Here comes the countdown—three, two, one, Zerozaki!

“Oof…!”

Iunleashed a no-motion high kick with my hands in my pockets, tryingto make his head part ways with his torso, but he defended with bothhands—setting aside the high kick, maybe keeping my hands in mypockets was a bit too insulting? Even so, a ordinary opponent wouldhave gotten his head plucked off along with both arms, but let alonethat, this guy managed to grab my ankle. Wow, nice going.

“Hah.You’re no big deal after all!”

Itdidn’t entirely seem like a bluff. Still holding onto my foot,Shimegiwa returned my kick. Kicking me with such unstable posturedidn’t pose much of a threat, but as if to return the favor, it was ahigh kick. I was taller, but he was flexible enough to aim for mytemple with his toes. Since his stance was somewhat impractical, Icould either avoid it, or catch it the same way he did, but I wantedto try taking it directly. I should be able to estimate his powerlevel from that. As such, I didn’t move an inch, and Shimegiwa’s kickconnected cleanly with my head. I was surprised. Well, I mean, it’dbe exceptionally stupid for me to be surprised by the fact I gotkicked, but still, I was amazed. What I mean is, his kick was muchmore powerful than I expected. It spun me around, with the beautifulleg he was holding as the axis. I made a whole rotation, and was ableto land cleanly.

“Purposefullytaking a hit; you can only look down on someone so much, humanity’sstrongest. If you fell down from that kick, it’d be my win, youknow?”

Sorry,sorry, I underestimated you. That’d be fine by me, of course—inthat case, you’d be humanity’s strongest from tomorrow on. But if youwant to decide based on that kick, you’d be looking down on metoo much. Ready, now? I slammed the foot he was holding directlydownward.

“…!Oo…uh…”

Iput enough force into it to rip Shimegiwa’s arm out of its socket,but as I might have expected, he responded by letting go of my foot.Unlike me, it seemed he knew when it’d be dangerous to take a hit.

“I’mhappy to see you’re going all out now, humanity’s strongest!”

Hereally did look happy. Does he have battle mania? If so, then weought to congratulate each other; or maybe, pity each other…however, the middle of a fight is no place for a hug. So, I said tohim: I still haven’t decided whether or not to go all out—but I amdeadly serious.

“Aaah…I see, I see.”

Itwas more of a threat than a provocation, but Shimegiwa smiled evenwider—this really brings me back. The world used to be teeming withguys like him. I’ve been squaring off with a lot of aliens lately, soI want to cherish these times when I can fight humans.

“SoI can challenge you with the intent to kill too, then?”

Sure,but are you okay with that? It’s not like you’ve been ordered to killme, right? After I pointed that out, it was Shimegiwa’s turn to looksurprised. What’s surprising about that? Maybe the fact that JunAikawa’s signature move is mind-reading isn’t as well-known as Ithought, these days. Someone askedyou to pick a fight with me; I could tell that much from looking atyour face when you kicked me.

“Hmph…Is that so. After all that stuff you said, are you really interestedin my goal, humanity’s strongest?”

Isaid it didn’t matter,didn’t I? It’s not like you’ll be able to reach it anyway. That wasjust something I could tell by looking at your face—and besides, mymind-reading isn’t telepathy; I don’t know any details beyond that.

“…Well,it’s true that someone won’t be able to reach their goal—"cause I’mgonna kill you right now!”

Shimegiwawound up a punch. This time, the blow used all the power he couldmuster from a straight line that ran through his torso, making use ofhis entire body. It wasn’t clear whether he was aiming to kill, buthe was definitely going all out—the opposite of me. I see; if Itook that hit, it might be over for me… but I lacked the finesse toavoid it. As such, I decided to intercept his fist—that is, Ismashed my fist into his. Although I fired mine after his, my punchis speedy, and I easily made it in time. So, how about the force? Ismy fist gonna break, or is Shimegiwa’s fist gonna break?

“Guhh…Ah! A-are you f.u.c.king crazy!?”

Theresult was, neither of our fists broke, but we both sent each otherflying; Shimegiwa cursed me out, but didn’t flinch, and came rushingat me intensely.That’s not just a compliment or a turn of phrase, it was reallyintense; at least, in terms of speed. He didn’t seem to be verydextrous, and looked to have trouble balancing his power and speed. Ieasily handled the fast rush—I didn’t politely meet his blow with ablow of my own again; I knocked him off his feet with a single hook.…Oh, by the way, I have trouble balancing power and speed too. Soeither way, I give everything I have.

“Die!”

Nevertheless,Shimegiwa didn’t retreat, and with a cry, he moved to kick me in theankle. I didn’t know what the “Die!” thing was about (I hadn’tbeen told that in a while, so I had a hard time figuring it out), butaiming for my ankle was a good strategy—since the rule was whoeverfell down first loses, all he had to do was play the sickle-weaseland knock me over.(1) In that sense, his low kick really looked likea sickle. Should I field this one too? Should I intercept his kickwith a kick? I could also plant my feet down and endure it, but Ifelt like I’d been on the receiving side for a while, and that’s notlike me. I felt like I was playing the role of sparring partner forthis energetic youngster—this isn’t some post-retirement job orleisure pastime. My thinking changed, and before the arch ofShimegiwa’s foot hit my ankle, I landed a direct thrust on his chest.Naturally, since Shimegiwa was standing on one foot like a flamingo,and we were on a slanted roof without decent footholds to begin with,he was blown backward—his sickle hit empty air. I thought he mightfall on his back, but he’s got some grit; he put both hands on theground as if preparing to do a backflip, and jumped back like aspring. I couldn’t say it was as deft as a gymnast, but he managed toland on his feet.

“You’reinsane…”

SaidShimegiwa, crouching and holding his chest. Technically speaking, interms of sumo wrestling, you could say he lost the moment he put hishands on the ground; well, it’s just a rule I came up with off thetop of my head, so I’ll let this pa.s.s. I’m easy-going.

“Iattacked first, but why did yours land before mine? You waited to seemy move but you still got the jump on me… it’s not fair.”

Notfair? What are you, a child? Well, you do look like a child as far asage goes. Watch, think, move, catch; if you can do that, fightinggets really easy—although, you might be right to call it unfair.It’s like I’m living in a different timeline from everyone else.Alright, alright, I won’t do that anymore.

“Nah,do it as much as you want… I can use unfair techniques, inhumanskills that stink of foul play too.”

Oh?What, you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve? I thought I was throughevaluating him based on our earlier exchange… But if that’s thecase, why’d you hold back? I won’t blame you or anything, no matterwhat kind of techniques you use. If you say stuff like that, it makesthe fact that I’m the strongest sound unfair in the first place.

“Okay,I hear you. Don’t you regret those words, humanity’s strongest.”

Regret,huh. I’d love to try that at least once. If you’re going to let me,then I welcome it—well, I was being nonchalant (bad habit of mine),but even though Shimegiwa’s, Matsuri Shimegiwa’s next move didn’tmake me regret anything, it definitely sufficed to dumbfound me.

“Iam Matsuri Shimegiwa—also known as Campfires.”

Hereintroduced himself, rolling up his sleeves; the next moment, hisright arm—Shimegiwa’s right arm—transformed into flames.Transformed into flames. I’m sure that sounds like some kind ofmetaphor, but I described exactly what it was; there’s no metaphor,Shimegiwa’s right arm literally turned into flames—transfiredinto flames. I drew the highly sensible conclusion that his body hadcaught fire, that he’d messed up trying to activate some kind offire-related device and burned up his own arm. But I was wrong—heused the flames of his right arm to once again wind up a punch. Witha burning fist. I observe, then take action, and I’m still on time,but even I—no, that’s exactlywhy I was at a loss. It was dubious whether or not I even had time tothink. I can’t look past a bizarre and enigmatic development likethis; however, it was clear I wouldn’t come up with an answer to thisphenomenon by fretting about it. So, all I can do is test things out.Experiment—experiment by comparison. Just like I’d done at thestart, I decided to intercept his fist. Answer a punch with a punch.If it was a bluff, and he was using using some kind of trick orillusion, then this kind of direct response ought to be best.However—

“Idiot!You think you can hit fire with flesh?”

Itwas just as Shimegiwa so scornfully said: my fist slipped rightthrough his. As if punching the air—no, not just the air. My armwas covered in an outrageous amount of heat, an outrageously hotwind; it was just like I’d thrust my hand into a fire. There was notrick or illusion; it was an actual flame. What’s with this guy? I’vefought a variety of people up ‘til now, and I’ve battled playerswith a variety of abilities. Among them there were considerableeccentrics, and people who used techniques I could hardly believe.People who use fire, flame-wielders, they aren’t all that uncommon.I’ve met fifty thousand people whose fighting style involved becomingone with flames—but I’d never met someone who turned their own bodyinto flames. What theh.e.l.l are you, Matsuri Shimegiwa!

“I’llblacken you to a crisp, red woman!”

Ashe called out to me like I were a demon, Shimegiwa’s rather demonicfist—his fist of flame—landed a direct hit on my chest. No,strictly speaking, it would be hard to call it a “direct hit”;it’s not like the flames that my fist slipped through actually hitmy chest. Again, it pa.s.sed through—but there was no avoiding thehigh temperature and hot wind. My clothes burned; this red jacketthat could be recognized five kilometers away really did blacken andturn to ash. I liked this jacket, you know…I thought, as I flew into the air. Within the waves of hot wind, Iwas about to succ.u.mb to confusion… but I changed tacks right away.His ability… well, I’d be hard-pressed to call it a technique,but in any case, no matter what the truth about his ability is, we’rein the middle of a bout right now, and at this rate I’m going to falldown on the rooftop—in other words, I’m going to lose. And I don’twant that. I see; for the new generation, Shimegiwa’s shown me he’son a scale that exceeded my imagination. However, if I were to loseright here, it’d be a disgrace to the t.i.tle “humanity’s strongest”.I rotated my body midair, planning to land right then and there ifpossible, but that didn’t work out—I might’ve been able to land ifI’d wanted to, but unlike Shimegiwa, I wasn’t okay with making anyold landing; it needs to be cool.If I can’t stick an Ultra C landing,(2) I’d rather fall downostentatiously—though, I’d prefer to be the one doing the knockingdown. Rotating my body, with only a few centimeters remaining betweenme and the rooftop, I drove my scorched fist downward. There was nogrand plan; I simply punched it—and that was enough.

“Huh?… Huuhhhhhh!?”

Shimegiwa,who must have been all but certain of victory, understandably let outa cry. It might have been a scream. Or maybe, although he certainlyis young, he’s the type who panics when something unexpected happens.But it’d be harsh to criticize him for that; most adults wouldprobably shriek like that too if the place they were standing onsuddenly collapsed.

“Thewhole roof…!?”

Yes,with a full-strength punch, I destroyed the roof of the public officebuilding; I destroyed the battlefield itself. The rule was whoeverfell down first loses… so all I had to do was destroy the placewhere I would have fallen.

“That’sallowed!?”

Ofcourse it is. I let it pa.s.s when you put your hand on the rooftopearlier, after all. And didn’t you know? When I was about your age,this is what people would say about me: any building Jun Aikawa setsfoot in collapses, without exception.

Footnotes:

(2) In the 1968 Summer Olympics, gymnastic feats werea.s.signed difficulty levels from A to C, with C being the highestdifficulty. The j.a.panese team came up with the term “Ultra C” tomean something along the lines of performing above and beyond themaximum, and since then it has been used generally to refer to anamazing or momentous feat.

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