82: Then I Have to Tell You an Old Story

Hakuto listened to the question Yotsuba raised. Considering his future plans, he decided it was time to share an old story.

As soon as Yotsuba spoke, the other four also turned their eyes toward Hakuto. Clearly, when it came to gossip, everyone shared the same curiosity.

"Nino, go get our coffee and egg tarts from our seats."

"Huh? Why me?"

"Do you want to hear the story or not?"

Hearing this, Nino rolled her eyes but reluctantly walked back to their previous seats and brought the coffee and egg tarts over.

When it came to gossip, Nino had no resistance.

"Go ahead, everyone, eat while we talk. We can order more if it's not enough."

"Thank you, Shiratori-sensei," Itsuki said as she picked up an egg tart and took a bite.

"Itsuki… even you…"

"What? I've always supported Shiratori-sensei tutoring me."

Seeing this, Hakuto couldn't help but cheer for himself internally—out of the five, he had already won over two.

But before that, he wanted to stir things up a bit more.

Hakuto picked up his own cup of coffee, took a small sip, and slowly spoke.

"I'm sure everyone here has heard of Oda Nobunaga, right?"

The group nodded. Though their grades weren't great, they at least had some basic knowledge about famous historical figures.

Among them, however, Miku had a noticeably stronger reaction. She hid it well, but Hakuto still caught it.

"Good, since you all know. The story I want to tell today was once known in my old school as 'the modern-day Oda Nobunaga.'"

"Question! If it was at our school, how come I've never heard of it?"

"Because it happened at my middle school, so it's normal that you don't know."

"Question! Is this related to you beating up those delinquents?"

"Directly related. In fact, if that incident hadn't happened, I wouldn't be who I am today."

At this moment, Hakuto really looked like a teacher, patiently answering their questions.

Once no one spoke further, Hakuto began his story.

"You all know Takanashi Rikka, right?"

The group nodded. Though they hadn't met her in person, they had heard about her from Nino.

"Then you should also know that she has chuunibyou..."

"Because of that, she suffered a lot of bullying back then. In the end, she paid me to take care of the people bullying her."

"That was when I started questioning whether I should do something meaningful."

"And so, what you all saw happened—not even a month after starting high school, I had already beaten up all the delinquents at school."

Hearing this, the group nodded. They hadn't expected Hakuto to have such a backstory.

But at that moment, Miku suddenly asked,

"And what does this have to do with Oda Nobunaga?"

Connection? None at all. He had just said it to grab her attention.

Though that was what he thought, Hakuto's expression remained completely composed.

"Because back in middle school, this incident was considered the catalyst for my rise."

"Later, it evolved into comparisons with Oda Nobunaga's rise, and eventually, people started calling me the modern Oda Nobunaga."

Hakuto spoke utter nonsense with a completely straight face, not even stuttering.

Seeing Miku nod, Hakuto knew he had successfully won over a third.

"Alright, it's getting late. I should get going."

"Shiratori-sensei, when will you tutor us?"

"Let's exchange contact information first. I'll let you know in advance..."

"Ohh!! Contact info!"

Hakuto had a lot of clients and often had to work overtime. Just dealing with Tomori Nao alone took up enough of his time.

And so, Hakuto added their contact information, watched the five leave, and then sat back down to finish his coffee.

"As expected, reminiscing about the past stirs up emotions as you get older."

With that, Hakuto's thoughts drifted back…

…

Three years ago, Hakuto had just entered middle school. At the time, he wasn't particularly close to Eriri—at most, they were just ordinary friends.

So back then, he had plenty of free time, even to the point of boredom.

After all, with his talents, he didn't need to spend much time on studying.

That day, just like usual, Hakuto was napping on his desk during lunch break.

Even in middle school, he had already started growing out his hair. Though the school had rules about it, his grades were too good for anyone to care.

And because he wasn't seen as a simp, his popularity with girls was ridiculous. He received so many love letters daily that he could probably start a stationery store.

Bullying was rampant in Japan's schools due to the strict senior-junior hierarchy, leading to upperclassmen often picking on younger students.

But Hakuto was clearly an exception. More than once, older delinquents had tried to corner him because of his looks, only to end up lying on the ground themselves.

That afternoon, as Hakuto was peacefully sleeping, a lackey suddenly called him out.

"Hey! You over there, our boss wants you to come to the rooftop."

"Does he have money?"

"What? Our boss is calling you, and you're asking for money?"

"No money? Then tell him to come find me himself."

Hakuto didn't want to waste time on these idiots. Sleeping was a much better use of his time.

The lackey hesitated for a moment before painfully pulling out 5000 yen from his pocket and placing it in front of Hakuto.

"Happy now?"

Feeling the pull of money, Hakuto immediately sat up and pocketed the cash.

"For you to fork out 5000 yen, your so-called boss must really have your respect."

Hakuto casually patted the lackey's shoulder. In his eyes, anyone who paid him was a client.

And now, all he had to do was walk up to the rooftop to earn 5000 yen. What a generous guy.

"Another 5000 yen, and when I fight your boss, I'll go easy on him. How about it? Want to think about it?"

The lackey smacked Hakuto's hand off his shoulder.

"Hurry up!"

"Yes, yes..."

"By the way, are you part of the group fighting me? If you are, I'll let you off for the sake of this 5000 yen."

"Why do you talk so much?"

"Sorry, force of habit."

Seeing that his "client" was getting annoyed, Hakuto obediently shut his mouth and followed him to the rooftop.

On the way, he made an excuse to use the restroom and grabbed a water pipe, tucking it into his waistband.

"Wow, what a scene."

On the rooftop, a group of delinquents with dyed hair surrounded him. The moment he stepped up, two of them blocked his retreat.

Hakuto counted—there were at least five of them. Who knew if more were hiding in the shadows?

The lackey from earlier now stood beside a blond guy with a tattooed arm. That must be the boss.

"Hakuto, I didn't expect you to actually come."

"So you're the boss? Honestly, I wasn't planning to, but your guy gave me too much money."

"By the way, do you always show off that tattoo? Or just when you're fighting?"

"What's it supposed to be? It looks like a rose, but to me, it just looks like a clump of weeds…"

Hakuto kept running his mouth, completely unfazed. After all, he'd been through this many times before.

Finally, the blond delinquent lost his patience. With a wave of his hand, he ordered his men to charge.

"Get him!"

"Five-on-one, huh? That breaks my record."

Seeing five people rush him from all directions, Hakuto calmly pulled out the water pipe from his waistband.

"Hey, no fair! I have a plastic pipe, and you're coming at me with a baseball bat?"

He had noticed that one of them, coming from the right, actually had a decent weapon.

The others? Just bricks or pipes like his.

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