After half an hour of walking, they finally made their way back to the residential district.
Ryoji shook off his lingering worries and he decided not to waste energy dwelling on problems with no answer.
If there's no way to resolve them right now, then it's better to stop the pointless thinking. One way or another, a road will always appear before the mountain. As long as he focused on strengthening himself, that was enough.
That was Ryoji's way of living.
"Elder Brother, look over there!"
As they passed through a narrow alley, Souji was still fiddling fondly with the black card in her hands when a few familiar silhouettes caught her eye. She tugged urgently at Ryoji's sleeve.
Ryoji followed her gaze, and his expression darkened. It was those same gangsters from yesterday.
Once again, they were loitering outside the Ba Family's gate, pestering Mother Tomoe with shameless grins and insistent words.
Mother Tomoe looked utterly confused, repeatedly waving her hands in refusal.
"Haiya… don't tell me I was too soft yesterday?"
Annoyance bubbling up, Ryoji strode forward, rolling up his sleeves as he went.
"Oi, you bastards, still daring to show your faces here? What, do I not even exist in your eyes anymore?"
"Eek?!"
"It's him, the God!"
"Please, whatever you do, don't smile at me!"
The three men froze as if they'd seen a mouse confronted by a cat. One by one, they slapped their hands over their eyes, as though vowing never to look at him directly.
What the hell? Why in the world would I smile at you idiots?!
Duang!
Duang!
Duang!
Ryoji delivered a clean punch to each of them and all three rolled their eyes and collapsed in unison.
Ah… he didn't smile at me…
Thank the heavens!
Two of them fainted with blissful smiles plastered across their faces, while the last wore only deep regret.
"Ah, um…"
Mother Tomoe was taken aback.
This was her first time seeing Ryoji actually hit someone.
As a virtuous wife and mother who'd always loathed unsavory thugs, witnessing Ryoji act like one of them should have disgusted her. Instead, her heart gave an unexpected thump.
So manly…
Her pulse quickened wildly. If I entrust my daughter to a man like this, I can finally be at ease!
But she had completely misunderstood!
"Wait!"
Before she could say anything, a petite figure suddenly darted out from behind her.
The girl's movements were swift and precise, with her agility surpassing most trained men. With an icy expression on her face, she lunged forward and drove a textbook-perfect straight punch toward Ryoji.
Her strength was far beyond an ordinary male's.
Smack!
Ryoji caught the punch effortlessly.
The girl's eyes widened when she realized she couldn't pull free. Without hesitation, she twisted her body, snapping up her knee in a vicious strike aimed at his stomach.
Smack!
Ryoji's other hand shot out, grabbing her thigh mid-attack.
…Hmm. Not bad to the touch.
Pinned with one arm and one leg restrained, the girl's composure finally cracked, her frosty mask beginning to falter.
"Wait, you've got it wrong, Ryoji!" Mother Tomoe hurriedly interjected. "They came here to apologize."
"…What?"
Ryoji blinked.
"It's true! This young lady even bought me lots of gifts. She was just helping me carry them inside when you arrived. Aiya, I already told her it wasn't necessary…"
Mother Tomoe earnestly vouched for them.
Ah, crap.
…Did I just beat up the wrong people?
"Let me go."
The girl's cold voice rose from within his grasp.
The voice was cold, yet the tone carried an undercurrent of irritation.
"Oh."
Ryoji gave a nonchalant reply as he finally released the girl's wrist and thigh.
"Artoria?" Only then did he take the time to properly look at the girl standing before him.
Her face was identical to the celebrated beauty of the Kendo Club's president, and bore faint resemblances to Souji and Nero as well. The difference lay in her expression, there was almost none. A cold, distant look that made her seem unapproachable.
Her outfit contrasted sharply with that icy face: a black sleeveless shirt with a jacket thrown over it, ultra-short shorts, and tall boots. The whole ensemble screamed about the delinquent girl.
And, most telling of all, no ahoge sprouted from her head.
"...I am Alter."
The girl stepped back two paces, flexing her wrist as if shaking off the lingering sensation of his grip.
Her gaze flickered briefly, as though surprised Ryoji recognized the name, before she added a clarification.
"Ria is my elder sister."
Ah… so that's how it is. Very on-brand for the setting.
If he remembered correctly, she was also a student at TYPE-MOON Academy, like her elder sister Saber, both second-years, though Ryoji had never actually spoken to her before.
"My little brother seems to have been in your care."
Her eyes shifted to the three thugs sprawled unconscious on the ground.
The way she looked at them resembled how one might glance at kitchen trash. That they'd dared to harass a proper young woman was, of course, their own disgrace, but at the end of the day… they were still her little brothers.
She had intended to at least save some face for them.
Too bad she couldn't win.
Despite her strength surpassing that of most grown men, once he grabbed her limbs it felt as though she'd been clamped in a steel vice.
"Eh… I'm sure they're magnanimous people. They definitely won't hold any grudges against me."
Ryoji's laugh sounded… somewhat guilty.
"You don't hate me, do you?"
He crouched down and addressed the three prone figures with earnest sincerity.
"See? Not a single complaint. They must not hate me at all. If you don't believe me, just ask them!"
"..."
The ahoge-less Alter fell into speechless silence.
Her fists tightened, but recalling how hopelessly she'd been outmatched, she abandoned the thought of doing anything reckless.
"Then how are you planning to settle the debts from before?"
"Huh?"
Ryoji blinked in confusion.
Have we even met before? What debts?
"Among my little brothers, more than thirty percent had their sexual orientation changed after crossing paths with you."
The ahoge-less Alter delivered the crude line with icy bluntness.
"...And what does that have to do with me?"
"Don't you know the legend of the 'God's Smile'?"
"The what now?"
Ryoji stared at her as though she was pulling his leg.
"Big Brother, Big Brother."
Souji had, at some point, slipped up behind him and tugged at his sleeve, whispering into his ear.
"That's one of TYPE-MOON Academy's Seven Inconceivable Legends. They say that if you ever run into God, and he happens to smile at you… there's a high chance your orientation will flip!"
What kind of blasphemous deity is that?!
…Wait. While TYPE-MOON Academy certainly housed a few Divine Spirit Servants, the only one openly referred to as a "god" was, Me.
Ah, crap.
For once, Ryoji was struck speechless.
Why is this one of TYPE-MOON Academy's Seven Inconceivable Legends? Shouldn't this sort of thing be an urban myth?
But the more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
There was only one explanation.
This rumor must have originated within TYPE-MOON Academy itself. That's why it was categorized as one of the Academy's mysteries.
Which then raised the real question, He had been at the Academy for over three years now.
Just how many people's orientations had he accidentally twisted?!
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395