CHAPTER 108: THE VETERAN'S KISS
The young patrolman held his clipboard with trembling hands, his face a mask of utter despair.
He shuffled over to Ichika Iori, nearly crying. "Iori-senpai! Listen to their answers! How am I supposed to write an official statement based on that?!"
"Also, Senpai, that swimsuit looks amazing on you—wait, NO!"
The officer pointed a shaking finger at Ren Shiroki and Doppo Orochi. "I mean, I'm glad the bad guys are down, but they practically dismantled them! If I put 'We used them correctly' in the report, every hot-headed teenager in Tokyo is going to start trying to rip people's ribs out as a public service!"
Ichika didn't even look at him. She was staring at her phone, which was protected by a waterproof plastic pouch around her arm.
Truthfully, she had just survived a week of "Calamity-Class" stress. To thank Valkyrie for hosting the tournament that allowed her to vent her frustrations, Hina Hongo—the "Former" terrorist—had done something truly insane.
She had taken a small sample of the cult's missing chemical weapons and "donated" it to the police by mailing it directly to the station as a gift for Ichika.
Because Ichika had "recovered" a portion of the Army of God's arsenal, she had become the department's golden child. Even the Superintendent General was singing her praises. Compared to receiving a box of nerve gas in the mail, two dead psychopaths at a water park was just another Saturday.
"Whatever. Just make something up," Ichika waved him off, her rogue-cop aura in full effect. "You guys lie to the media every day. You're pros at this."
Suddenly, her phone lit up.
"Oi. This is the 'Patrolman who just wanted a quiet weekend but ended up at a Karate training camp' speaking. Who is this?"
"Excellent work, Detective Iori!"
The voice on the other end was booming with excitement. It was the head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police—Haru Takeya.
"First the chemical weapons, now you've neutralized a spree killer and a high-profile fugitive in the same hour? You are a paragon of the force! I knew you had it in you!"
"Wait... what?"
Ichika blinked, stunned. The General continued to heap praise on her. "Keep up this momentum! Clean up the rest of those 'Underworld' types! I'm counting on you!"
Ichika: "..."
Ichika: "...Hah?"
The Shower Area.
The faucets were roaring, cold water washing the grit and gore from the two warriors.
Ren Shiroki and Doppo Orochi stood on opposite sides of the stalls, casually chatting as if they were discussing the weather rather than the corpses they'd just created.
"I have to say, Ren-kun... you're quite a handful," Doppo grumbled, though his tone was purely playful. "Beating Suedo wasn't enough? You had to go and take down my son, the Head of the school? The Shinshinkai is never going to live this down!"
"Even in the Urasakai—the deep underworld—it's a bit rude to dismantle an entire lineage in one weekend, don't you think?"
Ren rinsed his knuckles, looking at the older man. "Don't play dumb, Oji-san. You're the one who pulled the strings to get Katsumi into the Kengan matches, aren't you?"
"Heh! Caught me!"
Doppo laughed, the sound echoing off the tiles. "You really belong to the 'Other Side,' kid. The scars, the resolve in your strike, the way you look at a struggle... those aren't things an athlete can learn in a gym."
"Your friends are quite a collection, too."
Doppo's eye drifted toward the pool deck, scanning the group: Yuzuha, Nozomi, Marco, and finally landing on Fusui Kure.
"The Kung Fu girl, the 'Special Eyes,' the 'Rough Diamond' Marco... and a daughter of the Kure Clan."
Doppo looked back at his youth. "I traded blows with a Kure master once, back when I was your age. Good times."
Ren splashed water on his face. "The legendary Doppo Orochi... you've really seen it all, haven't you?"
Doppo raised an eyebrow. "Of course! I'm an OB of the pits, after all!"
Ren: "..."
Ren: "...What's an OB?"
Doppo pouted. "Is that slang dead already? OB—Old Boy. It means I'm an Alumnus! A veteran! I've graduated from the school of 'Getting Punched in the Face'!"
Ren sighed. Useless knowledge acquired.
Ren finished washing up and prepared to regroup with the others, but Doppo suddenly blocked his path.
The Grandmaster tilted his head, a mischievous, hungry glint in his single eye. "Ren-kun... opportunity of a lifetime. Why are you being so shy? Won't you throw a punch at this old fossil just for fun?"
"Nice! Simply perfect!"
Ren had been waiting for the invitation. He pivoted his hips and launched a heavy right straight.
But the strike stopped. Ren's knuckles hovered exactly two inches from Doppo's nose.
Ren frowned. He hadn't pulled the punch. He knew his reach perfectly. He hadn't missed.
The answer was more terrifying: Doppo had moved his head by a microscopic amount at the exact micro-second of the strike. He had accurately read the terminal limit of Ren's arm.
Doppo smirked. "Oh? Why did you stop? Did you run out of gas?"
Ren didn't answer with words. His pupils began to vibrate. His blood vessels flared.
[ENGINE] — OVERDRIVE!
WHOOSH!
Ren launched a second punch, the transition so fluid and fast it looked like his arm had turned into liquid. It was a completely different level of speed.
"!?!"
Doppo took a half-step back, tilting his torso with an exaggerated lean. This time, the punch whistled past his face, the wind pressure causing a drop of blood to leak from his nose.
"Hoo! That was close!"
Doppo touched the graze on his nose. "I was trying to look cool, but you almost got me there! Not bad, Ren-kun. You've got a hell of a master teaching you, and that fist of yours... it has the 'Flavor' of the future."
Doppo suddenly straightened up. He reached out and touched his lips to the knuckles of Ren's extended fist.
A warrior's "Kiss" of respect.
"The new generation is full of monsters. This old veteran is going to have to work hard just to stay relevant!"
Nozomi and Ichika walked over to the showers just as the exchange ended. They saw Ren shaking his hand out and Doppo happily putting on a silk bathrobe. Both men had fresh nosebleeds.
"Did they just scrap?" Nozomi whispered.
Ichika sighed. "Probably. Anyway, good news. The department classified your 'intervention' as an act of extreme civic duty. You'll probably get a certificate—not that it's worth anything."
"But the brass is off your back."
Ichika checked her notes. "Also... that spree killer and the cultist? They weren't partners. It was a one-in-a-billion coincidence. Even a movie script wouldn't be that lazy."
Hearing this, Doppo Orochi burst into laughter.
"I knew it!"
He clapped Ren on the back. "The 'Feeling' of coincidence was why I ended my pilgrimage and came back from the mountains early."
"But those two losers couldn't possibly be the reason I felt the itch."
Doppo's expression turned solemn, a dark weight settling over the shower area.
"Ren-kun... you feel it too, don't you?"
"The air in Tokyo is changing. A much more violent 'Struggle' is about to begin."
Doppo grinned, looking like a demon in a bathrobe.
"But until the war starts, I'm technically homeless. If I go back to the HQ, my students will never stop bothering me. Ren-kun... care to host a veteran at that 'Hub' of yours for a few days?"
"Don't worry! I'll pay in 'Wisdom'! And I'll give you a signed photo of the Shinshinkai Founder! It's SUPER rare!"
☆☆☆
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