To be honest, Nanase was not entirely sure whether the Atsuomi in front of her was truly the man she wanted revenge on.
She had only received a call from the upperclassman she trusted most, Yukio.
He had told her that if she adjusted her breathing and waited here, she could calmly wait for Atsuomi to show up, and when he did, she would be able to avenge herself with her own hands.
Hadn't she been training under Yukio all this time for exactly this day?
The day Atsuomi would walk right into the trap himself, disarmed, without his gun, without his bodyguards, entering Advanced Nurturing High alone.
Nanase absolutely did not want to miss a chance this perfect.
And yet reality was a little different from what she had imagined.
In her mind, Ayanokoji Atsuomi should have been the type of man who looked like a true tyrant. Grim, sinister, practically demonic, the kind of monster who drank blood without blinking.
But the middle-aged man in front of her looked a little too pathetic.
He was covered in dirt, had a handkerchief tied around his neck, with blood still seeping through it. That alone would have been one thing. But the real issue was the mud and sand stuck all around his eyes. The more she looked, the more miserable he seemed.
He just did not match the image of the terrifying arch-villain she had built up in her head.
Atsuomi, meanwhile, was just as stunned.
He had never expected to hear the name Matsuo here, of all places, inside Advanced Nurturing High.
Matsuo had been his butler for many years, someone he had once trusted deeply. Yet that man had dared help Kiyotaka escape. Of course Atsuomi could never forgive that. Driving him and his family into ruin had simply been standard procedure.
And now someone had come looking for revenge on behalf of that traitor?
Then again, come to think of it, Kiyotaka had attacked him earlier too. Matsuo had a hand in that as well.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. His face darkened.
"I remember every last traitor! They got exactly what they deserved!"
With a sharp roar, he charged straight at Nanase.
She was just a lone girl, after all. If she had been isolated, then her physical ability obviously could not match his. What was there to hesitate for? This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to break through the net closing around him.
Besides, Atsuomi's physical condition was already poor.
He had already fought both Kiyotaka and Ryuen. His stamina had been drained, and he had lost blood as well. He was nowhere near his peak anymore.
After that, he had spent even more energy sneaking and hiding all over campus. If he dragged this out any longer, he would be completely spent.
At that point, he was better off going all-in right now.
Nanase did not underestimate him for a second.
The moment she saw him truly coming at her, the techniques Yukio had drilled into her every single morning began surfacing in her mind one by one.
It was almost like a conditioned reflex.
The instant her opponent closed in, she sank her body without fear, lowering her center of gravity and dropping several inches at just the right moment, neatly evading the punch Atsuomi threw at her.
Good. She dodged it.
Nanase immediately sprang up with the momentum.
Her lowered body and compressed center of gravity snapped back into place, releasing more force than usual. Foot, knee, waist, shoulder, fist—everything aligned in one clean line.
From low to high, her uppercut smashed precisely into Atsuomi's chin.
The hit snapped his body backward and sent him stumbling several steps. It felt like his lower jaw was about to be ripped apart on the spot. There was even a faint cracking pain from the bone itself.
The blow rattled his brain too. A wave of dizziness exploded through his head, and his vision blurred into the kind of rainbow static you saw on an old broken television. He could not make anything out clearly.
Danger.
That feeling surged up from deep inside him, making Atsuomi stagger back another two steps on instinct, barely avoiding Nanase's follow-up attack.
Once Nanase started fighting, her mental state became one of absolute focus.
No distractions.
Her entire mind was fixed on her opponent.
When Atsuomi managed to evade her next strike, she rushed in again.
A swift, merciless roundhouse kick slammed straight into his kidney area. The side kick made his entire waist go numb. He could barely stay standing now, and both legs were starting to shake.
Damn it. Damn it!
Atsuomi screamed inwardly.
If he had not been injured—if his stamina had still been intact—he would have beaten this girl to death with his bare hands.
But reality was cruel.
After just that one exchange, Atsuomi realized clearly that, in his current state, he was no match for this girl.
His body was in far too bad a condition.
Otherwise, there was no way she would have dodged that first punch so easily.
And more importantly, although this girl clearly had skill, her physical specs were still lacking.
He could tell there were a lot of attacks he should have been able to react to, avoid, or block.
But now, even when he did react, his body simply could not keep up.
His stamina was running out.
He was so exhausted he could barely stay upright.
Just as Atsuomi was bitterly thinking about how terrifying he would have been at full strength, his spine suddenly took a heavy hit.
At some point Nanase had moved around behind him and started striking at his back, hammering away around his spine with ruthless precision.
Atsuomi could no longer hold his posture.
This is bad!
He forced himself to suck in a breath and finally managed to throw two heavy punches that pushed Nanase back a step.
"You hit hard! Going straight for the vitals too, damn you!"
Nanase remained completely unmoved.
Her entire mind stayed locked on the single goal of defeating Atsuomi. She had no interest in arguing or reacting to anything he said.
She avoided another one of his punches, then slipped in a perfect knifehand strike against his throat, making him suffer a sudden choking spasm so severe it nearly cut off his breath altogether.
Atsuomi still refused to give up.
"Stop! You want revenge, right?! What are you to Matsuo?! If you stop now, I'll go to Matsuo's grave and apologize! You're still young—you don't want a human life on your hands, do you?! You've still got a bright future ahead of you, don't you?!"
Nanase, however, acted as though she had not heard a word.
Against Atsuomi's attacks, she either retreated, or redirected his force, and when she countered, she went straight for his weak points every single time.
The longer the fight went on, the colder Atsuomi's heart became.
This girl was even more troublesome than Ryuen.
He could not talk his way through her. His words did absolutely nothing.
He had reached his limit. His attacks grew more and more sloppy.
And finally, Nanase found the perfect opening.
First, an elbow strike to his ear.
Then she leaped and drove her knee up into his eye socket and the bridge of his nose.
That last knee strike finally sent Atsuomi crashing down. He hit the ground like a dead dog and did not get back up, lying there unconscious.
Only then did Nanase finally come down from that razor-focused combat state.
She looked at Atsuomi's collapsed body, then slowly took two steps back and instinctively lifted her head toward the sky.
"Miss Matsuo... rest in peace."
"I got my revenge. From here on out, I'll be happier."
After softly saying those few words, Nanase lowered her gaze to Atsuomi again, her emotions tangled beyond easy description.
At the moment her revenge had succeeded, it felt as if her heart had finally found immense satisfaction.
But the very next second, with the hatred now gone, an even greater emptiness opened up inside her.
It was as though her life had suddenly lost its purpose.
"Feeling lost? Like there's no goal left in your life now?"
At some point Yukio had arrived. Only after everything was settled did he step out from the little grove nearby and come stand shoulder to shoulder with her, without even sparing Atsuomi a glance.
"Senpai..."
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.