CHAPTER 14: THE BLACK COLA
The sun was just setting behind the towering, black walls of Hakuho Academy.
The color of the sky began to shift from a blood-orange to a deep purple.
The daylight was slowly dissolving into the slight twilight of a death-like evening.
The cold and tranquil breeze outside had absolutely no idea of the naked dance of death that had taken place inside the school over the past hour.
The terrifying structure of Hakuho Academy looked like a giant graveyard where humanity's worth had been ground into the dirt today.
On these desolate streets, piercing through the twilight, Raizen Kurotsuki was walking at a speed and rhythm that was impossible for an ordinary human.
There were deep bloodstains scattered across his torn red hoodie.
The 100-kilo Renjiro Hoshino was loaded onto his broad, stone-like back.
Science and biology dictate that a normal human's spine would brutally shatter trying to walk even two steps under such terrifying weight.
But surprisingly, Raizen's shoes weren't even dragging against the ground.
Every single step of his was so calm, measured, and balanced, it was as if he wasn't carrying a massive 100-kilo elephant on his back, but merely a light gust of wind.
Renjiro's brutally swollen eyes were half-open. His massive 100-kilo chest heaved rapidly up and down in the biting cold wind.
Following Akuro's horrifying Kudo strike, the bones of his jaw were grinding against each other.
A cold drop of blood dripped from his broken lips onto Raizen's shoulder.
But this physical pain was nothing compared to his psychological trauma.
Hanging on Raizen's back, the death-like scenes of today played out in Renjiro's mind on a constant loop.
Meiko Fujiwara's sweet, fake smile; Kenta's betrayal where he labeled Renjiro a stalker; and finally, Akuro's demonic laugh.
All these memories were tearing at Renjiro's soul like a sharp knife.
Suddenly, Renjiro's cracked, sorrowful voice echoed on that silent, cold street.
"Why..."
Renjiro's voice emerged through his swollen jaw in a deeply agonizing manner.
A heavy lump of sorrow was stuck in his throat.
"Why didn't I become strong like them...?
Why do I always get beaten up by everyone...?
I never even thought of hurting anyone..."
Raizen didn't stop walking.
There was no emotion on his face.
He just kept moving forward, piercing the cold wind.
Renjiro could no longer hold back his tears.
Those hot tears began rolling down his blood-stained, swollen cheeks.
Weeping, he tightly gripped Raizen's hoodie from behind with his heavy hands.
"I thought...
that after all these years of loneliness,
I had finally found a friend..."
Renjiro's voice broke into violent sobbing.
"I blindly trusted Meiko's sweet words...
How could I ever think that an incredibly beautiful girl would ever be friends with an ugly, hideous, fat guy like me...?
How did my mind become so utterly blind?!"
Renjiro's massive 100-kilo body began to tremble violently on Raizen's back.
"I am a joke...
I am nothing but a living joke to this entire school!
When people look at me, all they feel is amusement or disgust!"
He was so exhausted by his fatness and his cowardice that he wanted to ask for death.
Putting all his soul into his cracked voice, he screamed right near Raizen's ear:
"CAN I BECOME LIKE YOU?!"
Renjiro's sorrowful scream echoed down the desolate street.
"Can I become as strong as those monsters?!
Will I ever be able to escape this fatness and weakness?!"
Raizen's footsteps didn't falter for even a microsecond.
Staring straight at the road ahead, he replied in his icy, emotionless voice:
"What kind of childish nonsense are you talking about."
There wasn't an ounce of pity in Raizen's voice.
His tone carried a cold reality that delivered truth, not comfort.
"You have no need to become like me.
You need to become like yourself.
Nobody has ever become strong by copying another human being."
Hearing these words, Renjiro's heart burst with anger and frustration.
"Are you mocking me?!"
Renjiro almost screamed.
"Why would I want to become like myself?!
Have you ever looked at this disgusting face of mine in the mirror?
You have never lived with this terrifying fat and hanging flab!
You don't understand an ounce of my pain because...
you are handsome and cool!
What do you know about the agony of dying a suffocating death every single day by enduring everyone's hatred, insults, and mockery?!"
Raizen gave no answer to this long, painful scream.
His silence was his greatest answer.
A short distance ahead, at the corner of a deserted alleyway, the neon lights of a 24-hour Convenience Store blinked in the twilight.
Right outside the store's wall sat an old wooden bench with peeling paint.
Without a word, Raizen turned towards the bench.
He leaned forward slightly and smoothly unloaded Renjiro's massive 100-kilo frame onto the wooden bench.
"Aargh..."
The moment he sat on the hard surface, a terrifying pain shot through Renjiro's swollen jaw and ribs.
He gritted his teeth in brutal agony.
Raizen stood straight in front of him.
He put his hand in his pocket and asked in a completely calm voice:
"Do you like drinking Cola?"
Renjiro lifted his weeping, swollen eyes.
"Y-Yes... But... I don't have any money..."
Raizen didn't react to this.
He quietly turned around and walked through the convenience store's sliding doors.
The moment Raizen went inside the store, Renjiro was left completely alone on that cold bench.
The evening's chill wind was blowing faster now.
He dropped his blood-soaked, heavy head into his trembling hands.
Sitting on the bench, shivering in the cold wind, he stared at the ground.
The very last drop of innocence had been wrung out of his mind today.
(What a massive idiot I am...) Renjiro's voice held no tears, but rather a terrifying disgust for himself. (A rotting piece of trash like me... how did I even think that anyone would hold my hand in a pit of death like Hakuho Academy? I never had anyone in this entire world!)
"You actually thought we were friends, you fat pig? You're nothing but a walking punching bag!"
Kenta's cruel laughter violently echoed in his ringing ears.
(Kenta and those cheap punks...
they were always just petty bullies meant to remind me of my place.)
Renjiro gripped his own hair.
"You are so kind and sweet, Renjiro-kun..."
Meiko's angelic voice played in his mind, immediately twisting into a disgusted, venomous giggle.
"Did you really think a disgusting creep like you could ever sit with me?"
(Her sweet smile and sweet words...)
Renjiro's jaw clenched in pure agony.
(That wasn't 'friendship' or 'love'...
it was just a trick to use me as bait and throw me into Akuro's death trap.)
Renjiro gripped the edge of the bench with his fat hands so tightly that his nails dug into the wood.
*(I was alone from the start, and I am alone today...
But this white-haired boy...
Raizen Kurotsuki.
He came here just to take revenge for his only friend, 'Akira'. For that friend, he bet his life against a devil like Akuro.
He knows what loyalty is...
But... I am just a complete stranger to him!
He and I have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
To him, I am just a fat, worthless piece of trash lying on the road.
So why did he shed his blood to save my life?
What on earth does he want from me?!)*
Just then...
Ting-Tong!
The store's automatic doors opened and Raizen stepped out. Raizen held two cold, black and red Cola cans with drops of condensation freezing on them.
Raizen extended one can and quietly placed it in front of Renjiro.
He held the other can and stood right next to the bench, leaning against the wall.
Renjiro grabbed the cold can with his trembling, heavy hands.
He popped the tab open.
Tsssh!
He brought the can to his swollen, blood-stained lips and took a long, desperate sip.
The freezing, carbonated sweetness provided an instant, strange relief to his panicked mind and burning throat.
Lowering the can, he stared at the ground.
His cracked voice no longer held any childishness, but a death-like, hollow, and broken reality.
"What do you want from me...?"
Renjiro asked in a petrified voice, staring at the ground without looking at Raizen.
"I have no one in this school, in this entire world.
Everyone who saw me used me like a punching bag and threw me in the trash.
You came to this school to take revenge for your friend Akira, didn't you?
I am a complete stranger to you...
so why did you save my life?
What exactly did you see in a dead pig like me...?"
Staring at the twilight sky, Raizen asked casually, without directly answering his painful question:
"How does the Cola taste?"
Renjiro's cracked voice was now laced with clear irritation. "Hey... is that even a question? The Cola will obviously taste good. It's sweet."
Raizen's icy eyes remained fixed on the sky, but his voice held a philosophical depth. "What color is the Cola?"
Renjiro felt Raizen was mocking him even in this condition. "Black. It's black in color. The whole world knows that."
Then Raizen slowly shifted his gaze from the sky and locked it directly onto Renjiro's swollen, tear-filled eyes.
The wind suddenly stopped.
There was an intensity on Raizen's face that froze Renjiro's soul.
"Things that look black and dark... are not always bitter,"
Raizen's voice echoed in that silence like a heavy reverberation.
"And things that are sweet, innocent,
and look very good on the outside...
can be as bitter and lethal as poison on the inside."
Renjiro's breath hitched in his throat.
Meiko Fujiwara's incredibly beautiful,
angelic face and Akuro's "sweet, gentle smile"...
both these things became crystal clear in Raizen's words like a mirror.
Meiko was sweet on the outside, but inside she was a death-dealing demon.
And this Cola, which was dark and black in color, was sweet on the inside and currently the most soothing thing for his wounds.
Appearances were deceiving.
"You were sitting on the bench just now wondering why I said you shouldn't become like me,
but rather 'like yourself',
right?"
Raizen stepped forward.
Hypnotized, Renjiro nodded his head.
"Because every person in this world has their own distinct 'specialty',"
Raizen explained like an experienced fighter.
"And no one can borrow that specialty from someone else.
Even if you wanted to, you couldn't copy my fast and technical fighting style because our body structures are entirely different.
If you try to become like me,
you'll be ground into the dirt before the fight even begins."
Raizen tightly gripped his Cola can and pointed at Renjiro's massive frame.
"You also have your own distinct specialty.
This 100-kilo weight of yours, this heavy skeletal frame...
it's not your curse, it is your greatest weapon in this physical world.
In physical combat, mass and weight are the greatest strength.
Your frame is like a tank.
If you stand your ground like a mountain, the impact of fast strikers like Akuro will become zero against your mass.
If you keep looking at others' speed and cursing yourself,
you will never see your true strength."
Renjiro's heartbeat had become terrifyingly fast.
His blood began to race through his veins like fire.
For the first time in his 16-year life, he saw his heavy body not as a burden, but as a "Strength".
Just then, Raizen leaned forward slightly, looking straight into Renjiro's soul, and uttered a line that shook Renjiro's entire world forever:
"If you have absolute control over the ground beneath your feet...
then no one in this world can shake or topple you."
DUB-DUB!
Renjiro's heart forgot to beat for a second.
His swollen eyes widened in sheer shock. His breath froze in his lungs.
This line...
this was the exact same line his grandfather...
Kenji Hoshino used to teach him in his childhood!
"If you have absolute control over the ground beneath your feet,
Renjiro...
then no matter how terrifying the storm is,
no one will be able to move you an inch,
"his grandfather's calm, masculine voice echoed in his mind like an explosion after years.
How on earth did Raizen know this line?!
Renjiro stared at Raizen with his torn, tear-filled eyes.
Raizen's icy eyes were now glowing with a strange, supernatural azure blue light in the darkness of the fading evening.
The neon blue light of the Convenience Store fell on his face in such a way that he didn't look like an ordinary human, but a deity of peace and power.
A very sharp, cold gust of wind blew, and Raizen's white hair fluttered against his glowing, angelic face.
At that moment, Renjiro felt a profoundly pure and 'Angelic Vibe' radiating from Raizen.
It felt as if Raizen had brought his grandfather's final message to remind him of his true worth.
Renjiro,
Who had been crying out of death,
Shame,
And fear for the past hour...
The tears in his eyes stopped right there.
A new determination was taking birth in his eyes.
His sobbing completely ceased.
His fat, heavy, and massive hands instinctively squeezed the Black Cola can so hard that the thick metal crushed slightly under his grip.
Crack
Looking at that angelic white-haired boy, the fear inside Renjiro and his cowardice turned to dust forever.
Today, the weak punching bag of Hakuho Academy had died.
And right there, in front of that Convenience Store, a new Mountain took its first step and terrifying breath.
(CHAPTER 14 ENDS)