“Youbastardssssssss―!! What are youdoing in front of thestore, youdamn kids aaaaaaaaah!!”

Anunfamiliar, high-pitched voice assaulted fromthe side. Not merely me, butthe guy who wasclutching my chestwas taken abackby it aswell, and momentarilyfroze.

What…Not shared on lightnovelreader.me

WhenI stretchedmy neck outfrom the man’s shadowand checked, it turnedout that Aoyamawas the one yellingwith a threatening attitude at the entrance of thestore.

“Youknowthe consequences if you don’t get your handsoff of him atonce, don’t you, yougreenhorn!?”

I mean, itwasAoyama…?

Ashe glaredup at thebikers with the ferocityof abeast, histone, no, notsimply thequality of hisvoice, but evenhe sounded incredibly masculine, threatening, orspirited. EvenI had toadmit thatAoyama was giving megoosebumps.

Whowasthisperson?

Notonly was I astoundedbythe transformation of Aoyama, butso were all theother delinquents.

Theleader of the groupsuddenly jumpedout at Aoyama, his facial muscles twitching, andhe, likewise, exclaimed in a tremendousvoice.

“What! Baldy! Yougot a problemwith me huh!!”

It wasa scream imbued with ferocity. Even so, Aoyamayelled back, unperturbed, whichwas remarkable.

“Didn’t youhear me when I told youto let go of my staff, youmoron?!!”

“Are youpicking a fightwith me!!”

“Youwant me to call the policevia Secom! Aah!?”

WhenI saw him agitating withthe delinquents, thinkingthat this was absolutely abloodbath, itmade me wishI could covermy eyes, but apparently that was thedeciding factor.

“Doyouwant me to press the Secom!!”

Atthe mentionof, “Secom,” the delinquents were soperturbed that rustlestarted to spread.

“Oi… Isn’t thisbad?”

“If hecalls thecops…”

Thecronies began to clamorand the leaderof the groupclicked his tonguesharply and flungme to theground before leaving.

“Let’sgo.”Translator: MadHatter

Withthat low, distinctlyenraged remark, all theguys sprang into movement, straddled their bikes, androde off one after the other. For awhile, soundsof engines rumbled overthe road, but graduallysilence descended, followedby the returnof the ever-present peace in front of theconvenience store, despite the scattered cansof alcohol andcigarette butts.

“Cleanup the trash! Youscum ofsociety! Nexttime you tryanything, I’ll turnyou in tothe police, everylast oneof you!”

Aoyamaspat loudlyat them as theysped away, butnone of them ever cameback.

O-Orrather…enhcweg

Whatshould Ido? Myshaking wouldn’tcease. Myhipswent limp.

Totop it alloff, my heart throbbed somuch thatit hurt.

Aoyamawas… tooterrifying.

Garbagecans that bikershad leftbehind were layingon the groundas warm winds sweptin.

“Hakamada…! Areyouokay?! Didyou gethurt?!”

Aoyama, whohad beenraging likea wildbull earlier, regainedhis usual expression and carefully helpedme up withboth hands whileI was still on mybuttocks.

“Oh… no, I-I amfine.”

“Youmust havebeen shocked. I shouldhave told you because sometimes those guysget things complicated.”

“Hah… Hie.”gewniojswqr32

“Ohmy, can youstand?”3dd

Myfeet were unsteady, and evenmy voice hadturned unintelligible, leavingme in a statewhere I could hardlysay I was fine.

Furthermore, itwas not onlythe hordes of delinquentsthat were giving me the fright, but Aoyama himself aswell.magic

Althoughhis tone of voice and mannerisms had returned to normal, I hadnever imagined that Aoyama wouldbe so boldas to stand upto the delinquents andeven drive them away. The impactwas so overwhelming that evennow my facial muscles twitched.

Tothink that hehad thisaspect of him… Thisperson… he was notordinary.

Theconsternation apparently manifesteditself in my face, andwhen Aoyamapeeked into my face, forsome reason heheld his cheeks withhis hands andflushed.

“Oh my. Did I perhapsscare you…?”

R-Right… Indeedso. But whywere you blushing? Not shared on aggregator website

“Imean, If Iam not here, youwould have beenin a risky position, youknow.” ew

Thatwasdefinite. Translator: MadHatter

“T-Thank… youvery much.”

Afterall, I would havebeen beaten upif it weren’t for him. Igavea bow.

“Evenso, that was amazing…”wqef

“Huh?”gernbdr33

“Iwas genuinely flabbergasted thatyou reacted that way toward thedelinquents, Aoyama.”

“Oh, heh, heh. Icouldn’t help but let off some momentum frommy days inthe Self-defense Forces.”

“Heh… Self-Defense Forces…”

…Not shared on aggregator websites

Self-DefenseForces…

S-Self… Self-DefenseForces―!?

“Self-DefenseForces, you meanthat Self-Defense Forces?!”

“That’sright.”ewg

“Aoyama, youentered theSelf-Defense Forces!?”

Youwere joking, right, oi…

Hmm, no, wait… if thatwas true, then this muscular body ofAoyama would make sense…

“Hownostalgic, it’s been ten years, though… Iwas called thedevil squad leader, andback then Iused to treat my underlings harshly…”

“Woah～…”

Forreal?greb4

“I was sorelentless that theycalled methe ‘blue demon’… andterrified them.”

Bluedemon. few35

Apparently, he wasbeing earnest, and Aoyama reminisced about theold days. Really, thenight shift here had such strong characters that it stifled me, orrather…

“Well, ratherthan saying it’s unexpected… but if it weren’tfor you, I would havebeen really wounded, thankyou very much.”

“No problem. It’s the veteran’s roleto protect thenewcomer.”

“…Aoyama.”Not shared on lightnovelreader.me

“Besides, Hakamada, youkind of lookalike.”

“Yes?”gew32q

“Thatpair of slanty eyes… withthat person… I was captivated bythat person whenI was in the Self-Defense Forces… After meeting them, my heartturned all maiden…”

“…”ewg42

“Itwas a lovebeyond forgiveness…”

Ihad no ideawhy but fora second, I felt atingle down my spine, andfor some reason, I thoughtI detecteda dubious aura that I wasn’t supposed toperceive…

Yeah, Ishould forget about it. Itwould be wiseto forget it.

Evenif it was onlyfor a few moments and Iwas almost movedby the words this person said, I shallabsolutely forget it.

For myown sake.

“Cometo think of it, why did theytry to lay their hands on you? Did somethinghappen?”

“That’s…”t433

I explained toAoyama whathad occurred andthe bombshell remark I haddeclared on the delinquents.

“Ohmy, yousaid that? Youare quite a challenger, Hakamada.”

“Undernormal circumstances, I wouldnever have said sucha thing! I justdidn’t likeit…”

“Youdidn’tlikeit?”

Imuttered, glaring at the dimlylit road, “Those guysran over… the cat and killed it, yetthey were laughing about it.”

Such athing was not something a normal human beingwould do.

Even if for anyreason, the life you killed over, you shouldfeel at least a little bad, that waswhat I thought…

Right, thatwas what I reallywanted to tell them. Translator: MadHatter

Howmany timeshad I witnessed thiscat, whichhad been mutilated andwas run over, while I casta sidelong glanceat it and turnedback the way I hadcome? Withits entrails protrudingout of its mouth, thecat was still stuck inthe middleof a road. The scene wastoo gruesome, andthe bikers’ despicable remarkseventually pushed meover the brink, or rather, Icouldn’t stand to watch…qwr

Ihad decidedto bury thecat in the surrounding bushes beforeI started mynext part-time work. If Iwas going towatch it rot away in silence anyway, I mightas well bury it.buyqw

ThoughI wasn’t certainif that would make the… cat happy. Althougha proper burial inthe ground andeven incense wouldn’t be necessary, I shouldclasp my hands togetherand pray forthe soul of thecat. wqf

Ireasoned itwould be preferable to beforced to feel horribleeach time I passedby andnot havinggrieved byanyone.