Alistair quickly lost interest in the opening assembly. He was bored with this kind of thing, which was virtually identical to his schooling in his previous life. Initially, he was only interested in the people here.
"Let's go, Mina. This is boring. Let's find some fun somewhere else."
Alistair gave a slight, firm squeeze to Mina Morita's soft side-boob to snap her out of her daze, then stood up and walked toward the exit.
Thanks to the school's notorious mixed reputation, coupled with Mina Morita's provocative attire, onlookers simply assumed Alistair was a delinquent himself, so no one questioned or stopped them.
"Mina, do you know where there's a wall we can climb over to get out? Or should we ask your brother?"
Alistair figured since her brother was a senior thug, he must know the way out. It couldn't have been her first time looking for him, right?
"I know where! There's a rock garden behind the school, and there's a wall near there that you can climb over. My brother and his friends always sneak out that way."
Mina Morita answered quickly, clearly familiar with the route.
"Then lead the way. After we get out, we'll hit the movie theater first."
"Yes!"
Mina Morita happily walked ahead. She was thrilled to be useful to Alistair.
Although this area was technically a "city," it was really more like the suburban-rural fringe of his previous country—a place with a small county seat but also significant rural areas. So, while it wasn't a tiny place, it wasn't short on idle hands.
Coupled with the fact that organized crime was legal in this country, many uneducated people from the countryside and city alike went around pretending to be gangsters to intimidate and threaten others. And given the local culture of minding one's own business, most people just gritted their teeth, put up with it, and wrote it off as a loss.
Alistair and Mina were in a slightly outer-lying area of the city, not the downtown or the prosperous districts. Naturally, security wasn't strict, which led to the scene unfolding before them.
One, two, three, four, five men were closing in on Alistair and Mina.
It was broad daylight, and the area near the cinema was usually deserted, so many thugs gathered in secluded spots nearby. The cinema happened to have some dark alleyways, creating the perfect storm. The police were around, but they usually ignored anything that wasn't outright murder.
Mina Morita was beautiful, well-endowed, and wearing an incredibly short skirt that was practically underwear-level exposure, which naturally attracted these thugs. In his previous world, she'd wear a long coat, but underneath, it would be as if she were naked. This outfit made the thugs think she was definitely a girl doing compensated dating, who wouldn't mind being fucked and would probably demand money afterward—money they wouldn't pay.
Alistair looked with annoyance at the five sleazy thugs surrounding them, sighing inwardly. This place is supposed to be a city. Is this the level of public safety?
Mina Morita fearfully hugged Alistair's arm tightly, burying his forearm deep between her soft mounds until his upper arm was practically swallowed, which made the thugs stare intently.
Earlier, when Alistair dealt with the five seniors, it was mainly because they weren't strong. They were just delinquent students; how powerful could they be? Most importantly, none of them were true "blond muscle men," the kind of tough guys often featured as antagonists.
The men in front of them, however, looked genuinely trashy, like an old-school gang.
Red shorts, floral vests, earrings, leather jackets, and that visual-kei (emo/goth) hairstyle...
One even had a nose ring, which made Alistair feel sick. It wasn't that he discriminated; he just found them disgusting.
And, of course, the indispensable switchblade.
Are emo/goth styles the trend for thugs these days?
"Hey kid, your girlfriend's a looker. Do you mind if I take her into the alley for a little chat?" The Nose Ring guy stood directly in front of Alistair, smiling vulgarly and menacingly flicking his switchblade twice in front of Alistair's eyes.
Alistair examined the Nose Ring guy. He didn't even have a tattoo. He was likely just an unemployed vagrant—a real thug, not part of organized crime.
In this country, real Yakuza typically had tattoos, strictly regulated. Untattooed people were not Yakuza, or at best, were at the very bottom. The more extensive the tattoos, the higher the person's status in the gang. For example, those with most of their body tattooed were either the boss, the vice-boss, or highly distinguished enforcers.
Alistair immediately lost interest. He glanced at the direction the thug was pointing: a small alley.
With five of them here, it was obvious what their intentions were: drag Mina, the pretty girl, into the alley for some primal, grunting, pumping activity based on biological urges.
"How about I join you?" Alistair's lips curled into a nasty smile.
"Oh wow, so the little guy likes that kind of fun, huh? Well then... Poof!"
Alistair struck the Nose Ring guy's abdomen with a single punch. The immense force instantly crumpled the thug, who fell to the ground like a shrimp. His switchblade clattered onto the pavement.
Alistair's sudden attack and powerful strength stunned the other four men.
Alistair grabbed the hand of the next thug, the Leather Jacket, who also held a switchblade, and squeezed hard.
CRACK!
The sound of shattering bone echoed. Leather Jacket stared in disbelief, and Alistair, remembering that a broken bone causes temporary numbness, punched him squarely in the nose. The blow woke Leather Jacket up and elicited a scream of agony.
The loud noise annoyed Alistair. He grabbed the thug's arm, twisted it, and shoved the thug's own fist into his mouth, limiting his screams to muffled whimpers.
Alistair then swiftly took down the rest of the thugs, one by one, and started dragging them over to stack them into a human "Tower."
Leather Jacket was now only capable of shaking. Alistair grabbed his collar and dragged him like a corpse before tossing him onto the pile.
Leather Jacket landed on the other four, causing a collective wail of pain. The one at the very bottom could only manage weak groans.
Leather Jacket's fist was still jammed in his mouth. He tried to pull it out but couldn't, only managing suffocated cries. The thugs at the bottom were equally bewildered. They had seen people resist forcefully before, but never like this—a guy who looked completely harmless suddenly acting with such brutal efficiency.
"What bad luck. I really don't want to waste my time on you idiots." Alistair walked to the Nose Ring guy, who was at the bottom of the pile and could only whimper. Alistair stepped on his face, grinding his shoe with force.
"You guys better listen up! I'm the freshman from Sakura Public Academy—Jiro Morita!"
With every word, Alistair twisted his foot on the Nose Ring guy's face, making the thug groan louder in agony.
"I need to save my strength to fuck this woman, so I don't have time for you! If I didn't have other priorities, I'd show you what true power looks like and how to fuck this woman until she's utterly submissive! If you have guts, come find me at the school gate tomorrow! You fools!"
With that, Alistair—in front of the beaten men—grabbed Mina's head and kissed her directly.
"You bastards! Envious? Go call your friends! I'll be waiting for you at school tomorrow! You spineless cowards!"
Alistair broke the kiss, spat onto one of the thugs' faces, and then gave the "Tower of Thugs" a powerful kick, scattering them. He then walked away with Mina, who had a look of pure excitement and arousal on her face.
Mina Morita looked at Alistair, her face flushed crimson.
Just now, Alistair's simple actions had protected her!
Not only did he protect her, but in front of those men whom she considered "adults," Alistair was handsome and formidable!
And then, Alistair had kissed her.
This gave Mina, who already considered herself Alistair's substitute girlfriend, an immense sense of accomplishment.
Mina came from a small, rural-town school and was now attending Sakura Public Academy, a city school.
For girls from the countryside, especially girls like Mina Morita whose parents had been working abroad since she was little and who only had a jerk brother and her grandparents nearby, having such a formidable boyfriend was something worth showing off.
He was handsome, he could fight, he was good to her, and now Mina Morita was desperately eager to go to Alistair's house or a hotel and become his woman tonight.
As Alistair walked away from the cinema, he thought about the recent event. After all that, neither of them was in the mood to watch a movie.
This area was strictly speaking the border between rural and urban, but officially it was the edge of the city, so it had some urban facilities.
But it was, after all, a fringe area, so the public safety was lacking. The kind of incident that just happened would be dealt with in a more prosperous area, but here, as long as no one died, the police basically looked the other way.
Minor offenses were usually ignored, so no one would bother Alistair about this. From that perspective, Alistair rather liked this place. It had a touch of urban prosperity, but the darkness ruled, allowing Alistair to indulge in his fun without consequences.