Chapter 272: Boar Crossing, Please Be Careful

As the distance to the turnaround point steadily shortened, the sun gradually climbed above the treetops, spilling its warm light over the forest, driving off the morning chill.

The light passed through layers upon layers of branches and leaves, casting dappled, swaying patterns of light and shadow across the forest path. The air was filled with the mingled scent of soil, rotting leaves, and sunlight.

“Well, that’s how I feel, but those few probably don’t see it that way.” Hashimoto Masayoshi stretched his limbs and reached back to tie his ponytail. He looked at the few people catching up behind him. “They’re already exhausted, and getting baked by the sun will only make it worse. Besides,”

He paused, sighed, and turned to look at the steep slope ahead that seemed about to topple over on them, its bare roots tangled and scattered with broken stones.

“This last stretch is going to be rough…”

An eighteen-kilometer route. At a normal walking pace of roughly four kilometers per hour, a round trip would take about four and a half hours. If they stopped to rest along the way, it would take even longer.

The large group had set out at eight in the morning. Lunch was at noon.

In other words, this was a test the school had specifically arranged for each group. If the weaker students weren’t given some help, they were destined to miss lunch these days. With exhaustion piling up like that, the disadvantage would snowball for the final day’s relay exam.

“So,” Hashimoto looked at Ryuen Kakeru and teased, “not going to slow down a bit more? Group leader, Kouenji’s already run off, and our class’s Fuyuji took the chance to slip away too. Lose a few more and you won’t have much to show for it at the turnaround point.”

Not long ago, that free man Kouenji Rokusuke had vanished from the group in the blink of an eye. Fuyuji Mikage made the excuse of going after him, and still hadn’t returned.

“Heh… what, sticking up for them, Saint Hashimoto?” Ryuen, walking at the very front, sneered. “Trash can rot in the garbage dump. I’ve never had the habit of stopping to wait for others.”

Not far behind, Yamauchi Haruki was clutching his rear for dear life, wailing, tears and snot smeared all over his face, stumbling along. The one herding him from behind had now switched to Komiya Kyogo.

“You’ve caught up already, please stop hitting me. Hirata Yosuke is my close friend, I’m warning you…”

Komiya irritably swung the branch and gave Yamauchi a kick in the rear for good measure. “Don’t mention that guy in front of me again! One day I, Komiya Kyogo, am going to settle that score!”

Meanwhile, having slowed their pace, the brothers-in-misfortune at the back were doing much better, even chatting and laughing with the others.

“Ryuen doing this, isn’t he afraid Yamauchi will report it to the school when we get back?” Satonaka Satoru asked curiously.

“Probably not,” Watanabe Norihito tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Because no one will back Yamauchi up. Ryuen probably figured that out, which is why he dares to do whatever he wants to him.”

Dealing with this kind of bully-the-weak, fear-the-strong type, Ryuen had a knack. It happened to fall right into the area he’d spent years cultivating as a chuunibyou delinquent.

One could only say, it takes a villain to grind down a villain.

“Really…” Yukimura Teruhiko let out a weary sigh. “At the very least, I won’t back Yamauchi up.” He silently clenched his fist. “If not for him, Class D wouldn’t have fallen to this point.”

“If even Yukimura-kun, his own classmate, won’t testify,” Hamaguchi Tetsuya pushed up his glasses and analyzed calmly, “then as long as no obvious marks like scars are left on Yamauchi-kun, he can bluff his way through, right? Ryuen, who fights often, should know how to do that.”

Clack!

Hashimoto stopped abruptly in the middle of the group.

“Huh? What’s wrong, Hashimoto-kun?”

“…”

Hashimoto said nothing. He made a gesture for silence and slowly turned his head toward Yamauchi’s position.

At this moment, a cold wind swept through the forest, stirring up a few dead leaves that spiraled down. The surrounding leaves rustled densely. Sunlight passed through the gaps in the branches, casting patches of light on the grass. The wind howled through the silent woods. In the distance, faint birdsong drifted.

Then the wind stopped, and the distant leaves stopped swaying too. But strangely, from the thicket not far from Yamauchi, a continuous rustling sound still came.

At this point, Ryuen at the very front also sensed something was off. He alertly twisted his head.

The main group in the middle, chatting idly, the brothers-in-misfortune at the back, the orderly-in-chaos Ryuen group, all stopped their footsteps at the same time and looked in unison toward Yamauchi.

“You can hit me again… I can’t walk anymore, I need to rest…”

“Cut the crap. You can still talk, so—”

“Wait, Komiya, don’t move!” Ryuen’s voice suddenly exploded out!

The stepping foot froze midair. A drop of sweat slid slowly down his forehead. Komiya shrank back in an instant, his whole body stiffening on the spot.

Crash!

Yamauchi fell to the ground. Both hands braced on the ground one after the other. He looked toward the thicket, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

The bushes beside the path shook violently. A huge, round, dark brown rear end suddenly jutted out, like a giant pinecone wrapped in mud and moss, giving off a thick, earthy stench and a wild, musky odor. Then, as if sensing something, its heavy body turned. A boar’s head like a small bulldozer jerked up, fully exposed before everyone’s eyes!

Its massive body was now completely revealed. Muscles bulged beneath the coarse fur like iron blocks, brimming with explosive power. A pair of tusks curved upward from its lower jaw like scimitars. One of them was already broken off, but it did nothing to diminish the beast’s overwhelming sense of pressure!

The Battle-Scarred Boar King made its grand entrance!

In an instant, the entire forest path fell into dead silence.

A scalding white vapor gushed from its nostrils and the corners of its mouth, condensing into white mist in the cold air. Its nostrils were wide and moist, like two black holes, flaring violently with each heavy breath. The Boar King’s murky amber eyes slowly swept over everyone.

In that moment, no one dared to make a reckless move. Ryuen’s group and the Battle-Scarred Boar King faced off invisibly across the forest path.

A few seconds later, Hashimoto drew a deep breath and spoke softly.

“Everyone, don’t blindly run. At times like this, with so many people, it won’t dare attack easily. But absolutely don’t provoke it either.”

“Then what do we do?” Shibata So kept adjusting his breathing.

“Slowly, slowly, back away bit by bit, out of its attack range…”

“But Hashimoto,” Yukimura, who was only still standing thanks to Satonaka and Watanabe holding him up, asked miserably, “what if… it’s already been provoked? It doesn’t look very happy.”

The moment the words landed, the Battle-Scarred Boar King lowered its body, assuming an attacking stance. Its front legs pressed deep down, its black hooves sinking into the soil. Its hind legs were drawn taut like a strong bow, and it began violently pawing the ground. Its ferocious head was almost pressed to the earth, staring dead at the crowd, letting out a continuous snorting sound.

Clack!

Yamauchi, closest to the boar, tilted his head and passed out cold.

In an instant, the boar’s hind hooves kicked off. Dust flew everywhere behind it, leaving four fist-sized pits in the soil. Like a freight truck fully loaded with cargo, it charged straight toward the densest part of the crowd.

“Scatter! And Komiya, run now, don’t stop!”

Ryuen bellowed. In an instant, he tore off his jacket, wrapped it around his arm, scooped up a handful of sand from the ground, grabbed a wooden stick from the ground, and charged straight at the boar.

“But Ryuen-aniki, I can’t seem to move…” Komiya’s voice carried a hint of breakdown.

“Heh…” Ryuen, mid-sprint, suddenly let out a light laugh. The corner of his mouth twisted into a wild arc. “Then there’s no helping it. We’ll just have to kill it here. I’ve never eaten wild boar before!”

In the blink of an eye, Ryuen dodged the boar’s charge with a sidestep. With a savage grin, he flung the sand from his hand straight at its eyes.

“A mere boar. Who do you think I am? I’m—Ryuen Kakeru!!”

The crowd, having quickly scattered, instantly grew excited. In that moment, they felt as if they’d returned to that distant afternoon on the uninhabited island when Ryuen heroically battled the goat.

“Go, Ryuen!”

“I was wrong, Ryuen-aniki. I’ll never troll you on the forum again!”

“Ryuen-aniki, I’m a ten-year fan. We finally get to see you strut your stuff again?!”

Man and boar collided in the middle of the path.

Everyone’s sense of time seemed to stretch. The boar’s and Ryuen’s movements became slow and clear.

The Boar King’s massive nostrils puffed white vapor. It shook its huge head twice, flinging away all the sand. In Ryuen’s astonished gaze, the boar casually raised its hoof. Ryuen crossed the wooden stick in front of himself in a defensive posture.

Then, everyone’s gazes slowly drifted upward with great relish.

Biu~~~

The stick snapped. Under the azure sky, a human figure traced a perfect, beautiful arc through the air.

Everyone tilted their heads up, following the figure, and finally froze.

Crash!

Ryuen landed in the bushes behind them.

The match was decided in one second. The peerless general, Ryuen Kakeru, defeated!

“Cough cough,” Ryuen struggled up from the bushes. “Fuck you, you bunch of disloyal bastards. Get up here and fight with me!”

Everyone: “…”

No, no, no, Ryuen-aniki. Nobody’s as reckless as you!

“The question is, what do we do now?”

Hashimoto warily watched the boar lower its body again, while keeping an eye on the situation around them from the corner of his vision.

Although Ryuen had blocked with his arm and had his jacket for protection, his arm was probably broken. His fighting strength had dropped drastically. He couldn’t serve as the main fighter again.

Yamada Albert had enough strength but wasn’t agile enough. He’d let the boar find an opening. Shibata So, conversely, was agile enough but lacked strength.

As for the rest…

At the edge of the forest, Komiya had regained movement and was quietly dragging Yamauchi off into the distance. The brothers-in-misfortune and Hamaguchi… getting them to stay calm and follow instructions was already good enough.

But the next second, an astonished expression appeared on Hashimoto’s face.

The Boar King, which had just been so ferocious, suddenly froze. The steel-needle-like bristles on the back of its neck instantly stood on end, then abruptly flattened. Its snout twitched rapidly a few times. Its murky amber eyes contracted sharply, fixing dead on some direction deep in the forest, as if it had caught the scent of some natural predator.

Then, under everyone’s shocked and uncertain gazes, this beast, without any warning, turned around. Its hind hooves kicked off the ground, splashing up a chunk of mud, and it bolted headlong toward the depths of the forest to the side without looking back.

“Wait, it… seems to have run away? This boar’s temper is way too weird.”

“Stop staring. Before it changes its mind, run!”

“Damn it. Next time I’ll definitely kill it.”

“Don’t push yourself, Ryuen…”

Shibata and Albert quickly moved in on either side to lift Ryuen. Komiya fumbled to grab Yamauchi’s hands and dragged him along the ground like a sack. The others, waking as if from a dream, took off at a dead sprint after Hashimoto.

As the two groups filed away in a noisy mass, the forest path once again returned to its usual silence. Dozens of seconds later, from the previously quiet bushes came a rustling sound once more. A figure emerged from deep in the thicket.

“You ran so fast. Pretty alert, huh, low-class spirit…”

Five minutes later.

On top of a large boulder, the members of Ryuen’s group lay sprawled in every direction, gasping for breath, unable to muster another ounce of strength.

Hamaguchi Tetsuya pushed up his glasses, trembling. “Huff… huff… did we lose it?”

“Probably… lost it.” Shibata braced both hands on his knees.

“How could a wild boar come out in a place like this? What is the school even doing?” Komiya slammed a fist on the rock.

“It’d be stranger if there were no boars. Anyway, just be careful from now on.” Hashimoto stood up and gazed into the distance.

“But,” Satonaka muttered suspiciously, “the direction that boar ran off in seems to be…”

The silent group followed his gaze and collectively let out a:

“Holy shit!” xN

…

At the same time, several hundred meters behind Ryuen’s group, deep in a dense thicket.

“Miki…” A slightly low, awkward voice sounded beside Mikitani, who was crouching. “Are you done yet?”

“No!” Second-year Class B’s Mikitani crouched behind the bushes, one hand clamped desperately over his churning stomach, his face flushed red, veins bulging faintly at his temples. He replied through gritted teeth in a low voice.

“Um… we’re close friends, right? This matter, you’ll help me keep it a secret, won’t you?”

The soil beneath his feet had been unconsciously scraped into a small pit.

“O-of course,” Mikitani reached out to wipe the fine sweat on his forehead and stammered, “I-in exchange, you’ll help me keep this secret too, right?”

“Without a doubt. What we used to wipe, I will bury in my heart forever.” The other second-year student said with deep feeling.

Just as the two crouched by the grass, pouring out their hearts to each other, trying to use words to ease the suffocating awkwardness and discomfort—

“Roar—!”

A low growl full of wildness suddenly exploded from the dense forest behind them, followed by a series of crackling sounds from far to near. Even the ground seemed to tremble slightly!

“N-no way?”

Mikitani’s Adam’s apple rolled violently. His previously flushed face drained of all color in an instant, turning ashen.

The next second!

Crash!

A boar’s head burst through the bushes behind them to the side.

“Roar—!”

“Holy shit, it really is a boar?!”

“No time to talk, run!”

Without a shred of hesitation, the two made a choice dictated purely by bodily instinct and took off running!

Then, they quickly ran into a world-class problem that smelled strongly of trouble—

These pants. Do they pull them up?! Or not?!

Beside the forest path, under the dense shade of a large tree, the other members of the second-year group were resting idly. Some yawned. Some complained that the wait was too long.

“Why aren’t Mikitani and the others done yet? Did they fall into a pit…”

“Boar! There’s a boar!”

Before the words could land, a clamor came from the forest, followed by the clear sound of something rapidly cutting through branches.

The group looked over in astonishment, their expressions instantly turning into quite the sight.

“Uh… Mikitani, in broad daylight, are you… playing the bird-waving tactic?”

“Don’t look! None of you are allowed to look!” Mikitani, running for dear life, let out a tragic, cracking howl.

The “close friend” running ahead didn’t even turn his head, wailing with a sob in his voice. “Fuck, you still care about that?! Behind us! There’s a boar behind us! Run!” His two legs churned so fast they practically left afterimages.

As if to confirm his words, a frenzied boar squeal and even more violent crashing of bushes followed close behind!

“Holy shit!”

In an instant, the entire second-year group was like a powder keg that had been ignited, exploding on the spot! All their leisure and complaints vanished into thin air. Everyone scrambled up from the ground, screaming like a flock of startled sparrows, scattering in every direction for dear life!

Mid-sprint, Mikitani’s stomach, from the violent jolting and extreme terror, churned once more. His face went from white to green, and finally…

“Aaaaah!”

In that moment, a shrill cry of utter grief and despair pierced the clouds, echoing through the forest for a long, long time!