Legend Of The Strongest Delinquent 25

Hey everyone, and welcome to this chapter. This chapter will cover both dialogue and fighting. It won't be very long, but the main characters won't be fighting anyone strong this time, so it can't be helped. Hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi is owned by Funimation and Syun Matsuena. Please support the official release.

"Shirou" Regular speech.

"Shirou" Thoughts.

SEIKUKEN Attack names.

(Shirou) Words said previously.

[Shirou] Words said in unison.

Battle Royale At The Restaurant

—…

Somewhere in Koryuu city, there was an old abandoned warehouse near the harbor; this building was very important as it served as the base of operations for the leading members of Ragnarok. Right now, the Eight Deadly Fists were in the middle of a meeting to discuss the current events of their gang. All but Kisara and Hermit were present during this gathering of the Eight Fists.

The First Fist, Odin, started the discussion while sitting in his chair. "So this Shinzaki Alliance—It's becoming quite a nuisance to Kisara's team. Where did they come from?"

The Fourth Fist, Thor, answered while doing sumo warmups. "Don't know, but know Hermit's missing too."

While the others were contemplating, the Third Fist, Freya, made a suggestion. "If they're causing that much trouble, perhaps it's time we brought them to the Great Sage Fist's attention."

Odin seemed inclined to agree, but Loki stepped forth to interject.

"Nah, how about you just leave this one to me?" Loki suggested with a devious expression. "I'll make sure those Shinzaki kiddies stay in the shallow end where they belong."

Ō

The following day, Shirou, Miu, and Kenichi all arrived at the school and were by the lockers as they started a conversation.

"Tanimoto's still absent; he hasn't shown up at school since your fight." Miu said with concern.

"Hermit's the kind of guy who doesn't let things go." Shirou replied unconcerned. "He'll be back to settle the score sooner than you think."

"You say that like it's not a bad thing." Kenichi said while opening his locker. "He's probably off training somewhere, so next time, he'll be even more dangerous."

Kenichi paused when he saw something in his locker—An envelope with a heart-shaped stamp. Kenichi opened it and read the note inside, but while he was standing there quietly, Miu came up behind him to see what he was staring at.

"What's that you got there, Kenichi?" Kenichi flinched when Miu asked that.

They both froze as he was horror-stricken by the fact that she saw the contents of the letter, and she was stupified when she read it and saw that it was a love letter addressed to him. However, they both looked when they heard the sound of footsteps running by and saw the appearance of a female student running out of the front entrance. She was facing the other way, so they couldn't see her face but saw that she had long, flowing brown hair.

Seeing her runoff and the fact that he apparently had a secret admirer caused Kenichi to blush with a small smile. "This letter must be from her."

"Strange, the timing of when he saw the letter and when she ran by was surprisingly convenient." Shirou said to himself. "Almost like she knew when he'd find the letter. More the hell was that?"

On the other hand, Miu's reaction to the letter was to smile as though she was in a trance.

"I never knew you were so popular." Miu spoke almost hypnotically. "I won't bother you anymore. You can get back to your love letter."

"No, wait, Miu." Kenichi tried to reach out to her, but she wouldn't even look at him.

"No, no. I think it's great. You just keep drooling. I'll see you later!" She quickly ran away.

"Hey, it's not like that, Miu!" Kenichi tried to call out to her, but she had already run across the courtyard and jumped over the school wall. Now that she was gone, Kenichi thought about what had just happened. "Hold on, was she jealous?" He asked himself before he shook his head. "There's no way."

"I will never understand that girl's deal." Shirou commented before he opened his own locker. "Wha?" To his surprise, there was an envelope inside his locker as well, and it looked oddly similar to the one Kenichi had. "We both got a letter at the same time; there's no way?"

Suddenly, before he could focus on this issue, Nijima appeared and placed his hand on Kenichi's shoulder, which caused him to shriek. "Ha!"

"Hello, my puppet." Niijima deviously greeted him.

"Don't sneak up on me like that! Geez, Nijima!" Kenichi snapped at him.

"I'm so sorry. Did I scare you, little girl?" Nijima sarcastically replied.

Nijima wasn't alone, though, as the rest of the members of the Shinzaki Alliance were right behind him, including the one carrying their flag.

"Hey, what are those guys doing here?!" Kenichi nervously pointed at them.

[Captain, sir! We're here at your request, sir!] All four of them replied in unison.

"I am not your captain, and I would appreciate it if you'd stop following me around!" Kenichi angrily retorted.

"Actually, I gathered everyone here today." Nijima clarified. Before he could elaborate, the others showed up. "Ah, here comes the rest of our group now."

Takeda and Ukita arrived in the hallway as well. Takeda was wearing his training clothes, while Ukita was wearing his Judo gi.

"What's up, you guys? Why the urgent message? Is everything okay?" Takeda asked while wrapping his fists.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to be supervising the First Years on their workout, so can we make this quick?" Ukita requested.

Shirou stepped forward to meet them. "Actually, there's something I need to talk to you guys about. Kenichi too."

"Huh, me?" Kenichi wasn't expecting that.

While he was talking, Nijima started his loud proclamations. "Introducing Assault Captain Kenichi Shirahama!" He pointed at Kenichi. "The newly Ambidextrous Boxer, Takeda Ikki The Puncher!" He pointed at Takeda. "And the Champion of Justice, the Judo Wizard, Ukita… Mmm." Nijima couldn't remember his last name.

"Kozo." Shirou reminded him in annoyance.

"Right, whatever." Nijima tried to brush it aside as he continued. "And, who could forget our unbeatable leader and the tyrant who rules the streets, the Battle King Shirou Tsukiharu!" He pointed at Shirou. "I give you your four unstoppable generals! Add to the roaster our resident genius, the fearless and fearsome Haruo Nijima!" He shouted while doing the Vulcan hand sign. "And a few other lowly soldiers, and you have before you the full in your face, official Shinzaki Alliance!"

While he was doing his own thing, the rest of the guys mostly ignored him and focused more on what Shirou had to say. "I'm glad Nijima called you because it saves me the trouble of looking for you."

"All right, so what's up?" Takeda asked curiously.

"Tonight, I need all three of you to meet me at my place." Shirou told them.

They were surprised by the summons but also by how serious he looked.

"You want us to meet? But why? Is something going on?" Kenichi asked, now concerned.

"I'll explain later." Shirou promised. "Just make sure you show."

"Sure thing, we'll be there." Ukita answered with a nod.

None of them knew what was going on, but they knew the kind of guy Shirou was and his nature. If he told them something was important, then they knew it was serious, and if he told them to meet him later, then they all knew it was a good idea to show up.

Ō

Later that night, Kenichi was at the dojo training with the Masters. Right now, he was doing a handstand while using his hands to walk from one large urn to the next while at the same time balancing Kensei, who was standing on the soles of Kenichi's feet. While training, Kenichi explained the situation to them.

"Really, a love letter?" Kensei sounded intrigued. "Well, how about it? Going to meet her like she asked you to?"

"Well, it's not that easy." Kenichi struggled to say while moving. "I don't wanna ruin things with Miu, you know what I mean?"

"I wasn't aware you had anything special with Miu to ruin." Kensei pointed out. "No point in getting your heart set on a hot rod when you haven't given any other roadsters a test drive."

Sakaki was also there, doing his stance training while he entered the conversation. "I don't see why you're so worried about Miu. It's not like she's ever giving you the time of day, am I right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I just…" Kenichi joined him in stance training as he tried to find the right words. "I always thought of her as a goal I was working towards, but now she's a really good friend, and I won't do anything to mess that up." He confessed, but unbeknownst to Kenichi, Miu was also in the training hall and on the rafters near the ceiling, listening to their conversation while dusting the wood. "I know she's the one for me even if she doesn't."

"Oh, that's so sweet." Miu whispered to herself with a slight blush.

Sakaki smiled and patted Kenichi's head. "Alright then, kid, you know what you have to do about this secret admirer. Meet her, and you find a way to let her down easy."

"OK." Kenichi reluctantly agreed. "I just wish I didn't have to hurt someone who was brave enough to go out on a limb and tell me she has feelings for me."

~Love plays games with us all~

~We are all toys she scattered on her floor~

"Or in her rafters, eh Miu?" Akisame asked.

Miu froze like a deer caught in the headlights as she turned and realized Akisame was up there in the rafters as well. He was playing his guitar and singing a badly worded love song while poking fun at the fact that she was eavesdropping.

"Ahahaha! Just dusting things off, you can't overlook the ceiling, you know? Dusty, dusty, dusty!" Miu hastily scurried away while exclaiming bad excuses.

~Soldiers, wind up soldier~

"Ah, this is out of tune." Akisame sadly realized as he stopped playing.

Ō

Once that was over, Kenichi realized it was time for him to follow up on his promise to meet up at Shirou's place with the others.

After leaving Ryozanpaku, Kenichi arrived at the familiar home of the Tsukiharu family and knocked on the door. When the door opened, Shirou was standing on the other side and let Kenichi in.

"Good, you're here." Shirou greeted him.

"Yeah, I had to do some last-minute training at the dojo." Kenichi explained as he entered the house.

The two of them made their way to the dining room, and Kenichi saw that Takeda and Ukita were already there, sitting at the table.

"Hey, Kenichi." Takeda greeted him. "You're the last one here."

"You know, this is a pretty cool place." Ukita admitted while looking around. "Nicer than my house anyway."

Kenichi sat at the table as well, and once everyone was seated, Shirou began their meeting. "I wanna thank you all for coming out here tonight. We've got a serious situation going on that requires our immediate attention."

Kenichi gulped, considering Shirou was talking like a mob boss in a mobster movie. "What's the situation?"

Shirou reached into his pocket and took out an envelope before placing it on the table. "This is the situation."

[Huh?] All three of them were surprised before Ukita spoke. "Huh, you got a letter, too?"

"Wait too? Kenichi was confused by that last part.

"Yeah, actually, me and Ukita got a love letter this morning inside our lockers." Takeda informed him.

"But so did I." Kenichi confessed, surprising them.

"All four of us got a love letter on the same day at the same time." Ukita summarized in confusion.

"That can't be a coincidence." Kenichi realized.

"No, it's too weird." Takeda reasoned.

"Exactly the problem and look what it says inside." Shirou continued as he opened the envelope.

Dear Shirou,
I've been watching you for a long time
I like you; I want to meet you tomorrow at 10 PM
So I've enclosed a map.

Love
Shiya

The envelope had a second letter in it that contained a hand-drawn map with directions to the meeting place.

"That's the exact same thing my letter said." Kenichi realized. "They just put Shirou's name instead of mine."

"At first, I thought it was just me and Kenichi, and that's why I was suspicious, but now I see that you guys are part of this as well." Shirou narrowed his eyes. "Someone's playing a trick on us."

"Hold on, maybe they're just four different girls who wanted to ask us out but are shy, so they decided to ask us out together using letters." Ukita offered a different explanation.

None of them seemed convinced as Takeda tapped his shoulder. "Come on, big guy, that's beyond wishful thinking."

"It could happen!" Ukita insisted.

"If need convincing, I know a way." Shirou told him.

"That's my cue."

Haruto walked in and approached the table. He picked up the letter and looked it over.

"Who's the kid?" Ukita asked, confused by his sudden arrival.

"That's Haruto." Kenichi introduced him. "He's Shirou's brother."

"Seriously, that's your kid brother?" Takeda was surprised to hear he had a brother.

"Not just that, he's the smartest guy I know." Shirou told them with confidence. "If anyone can settle this, it's him."

"Okay, I have a pretty good idea of what's going on." Haruto put the letter down. "But to be sure, do any of you have your letters?"

"Yeah, I've got mine." Kenichi took out his letter from his pocket.

"We've got ours too." Takeda said as he and Ukita brought out their own letters.

"Wait, you guys were just carrying those things with you?" Shirou questioned them.

"Uhh?" Kenichi scratched his cheek nervously while they avoided eye contact. "Well, you know."

"I, uh, didn't want to lose it." Ukita reasoned.

"Whatever, let me see them." Haruto inquired.

All four letters were placed on the table, and Haruto inspected them carefully. He got in close and looked closely at the handwriting.

"What's he doing?" Kenichi asked.

"He's comparing the handwriting on the letters." Shirou explained.

"Ah, just like what they do on those true crime shows." Ukita pointed out, a little excited. "I've never seen it for real, though."

Haruto moved back. "I've confirmed it. All these letters were written by the same person." He informed them before elaborating. "But not only that, the penmanship and lining of some of these words reveal details about the writer themself. I can safely say that whoever wrote these is a man."

[A man?!] Kenichi and Ukita gasped.

"You got all that from the handwriting?" Takeda asked, surprised.

"People have certain tells." Haruto pointed at some of the words on the note. "The depth of the writing is hard, and the letters are on the larger side. Usually, a girl's handwriting has small letters because their hands are naturally smaller, but whoever wrote this likely has big hands. Also, they added features like hearts or smiley faces. It's trying to put so much emphasis on the girly aspect that just feels forced." He explained in detail. "I'm positive. These letters were written by a guy pretending they're a girl."

"Whoa, you're like a real-life detective." Takeda marveled at the way Haruto deduced all that. "Seriously, it's like we're in a cop show."

"Damn it!" Ukita slammed the table, more angry than Takeda about it. "I thought I had a hot date with a chick when it was just some guy pulling a prank on us! I'm gonna kill whoever's behind this sick joke!"

"Take it easy, big guy, we're all upset." Takeda tried to placate him.

"But who would do this?" Kenichi wondered, staring at the letters again. "I mean, why go to the trouble of leaving these, and why all four of us? As far as pranks go, I don't really get it."

"I didn't either until shortly after school. The truth is, Nijima told me something interesting." Shirou admitted before telling them. "Turns out Loki wants to meet with him tomorrow."

"Loki?" Takeda was taken aback.

"The Fourth Fist of Ragnarok?" Ukita was too.

"What's he want?" Kenichi asked in dismay.

"He said he wanted to invite Nijima to have a talk with him." Shirou told them. "But, knowing Ragnarok…"

"It's gotta be a trap." Takeda knew what he was thinking. "No way Loki would just talk with an enemy."

"Not just that, take a look at the map." Shirou showed them the map attached to the letter. "The spot where we're supposed to meet on the date is a restaurant called the Matsue Lark. Coincidently, that's the same place where Loki wants to meet up."

"The same place?" Kenichi put the pieces together. "That means…"

"Loki set this up." Takeda punched his fist into his palm.

"He wants us all in one place to lure us into a trap." Ukita clenched his fist. "And he used these fake love letters to do it. That snake."

"That's right. Looks like Loki wants to take a swing at us." Shirou was in agreement. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but if he wants a fight, he's gonna get one. I say we go to that restaurant to teach him why he shouldn't play games with us."

"Yeah, count me in." Ukita was on board. "No one makes a joke of my love life and gets away with it."

"I'm in, too." Takeda joined the bandwagon. "Besides, I've got to see itch. I've been wanting to try out my new left hand on one of my old Ragnarok buddies. They never got to see what I'm really capable of."

"Hey, hold on." Kenichi raised his hand nervously. "Why should we go at all? I mean, if we know it's a trap, wouldn't it be a better idea not to just walk right into it? Maybe we can just ignore it?"

"That wouldn't be in our best interest." Shirou argued. "Think about it: now that Loki's after us, we're going to be targeted. That means that even if we ignore this one, he'll just come up with another trick, and we may not even see through that one like this one so it'll be even riskier." Shirou pointed out. "Dealing with him right now is our best bet."

"He's right. When it comes to dirty tricks, no one's as crafty as Loki." Takeda informed him. "A guy like him won't just let something go, he'll keep pulling crap like this until we stop him for good."

"Yeah, but isn't it better if we don't go looking for trouble." Kenichi pitifully suggested.

"I don't think you get it. Trouble has already found you." Haruto reminded him. "You might hope that if you keep your head down, you can avoid this, but the fact is that your enemies will keep looking to start something, and they don't care if you accept or not. If you want to be safe, you have no choice but to fight."

"Not just fight, but win." Shirou finished his sentence. "And that's just what we're going to do!"

[Yeah!] Ukita, Takeda, and Haruto echoed his enthusiasm, and they all raised their fists in the air.

Kenichi lowered his head in depression. "Why does it always come to this?"

Ō

The next day, it was a peaceful and lively morning at the Matsue Lark. It was a popular restaurant that wasn't that far from the dojo or Shirou's house, and it was a frequent hangout spot for teenagers, especially high schoolers. Proof of that is the fact that all the current patrons of the restaurant were high school students; even the waitress was a high schooler.

The only person out of place was Loki, who was sitting by himself at one of the tables in the middle of the restaurant, focusing on a wire puzzle while apparently waiting for Nijima to arrive.

He wasn't the only one, though. One of the booths had five people sitting together trying to remain inconspicuous. They were Shirou, Kenichi, Takeda, Ukita, and Haruto. Other than Haruto, they were wearing hoodies so they wouldn't be recognized and waiting for Loki to make his move.

"You know, this place isn't bad." Takeda admitted as he looked over the menu. "I can see why people hang out here."

"That's great, but it reminded me again: Why are we just sitting here?" Kenichi asked nervously. "I mean, Loki's right there."

"Think, would you?" Shirou reprimanded him. "We're waiting for Nijima to arrive. When he does, Loki will spring his trap, and then we'll respond and spring ours on him."

"But why are we wearing these hoodies?" Ukita asked as well.

"That one's obvious big guy." Takeda answered this one. "Ragnarok knows what we look like, so if they see us, they'll know what's up."

"Well, why doesn't Haruto have to wear a hoodie?" Kenichi asked.

"I've never faced Loki or anyone from Ragnarok, which means they won't know my face, so I don't need a disguise." Haruto reminded him.

"Come on, that one should have been perfectly obvious." Shirou told him as the waitress placed their drinks on the table.

"Oh great." Haruto looked disappointed.

"What's wrong?" Takeda asked.

"My drink." Haruto pointed at his glass filled with a yellow fizzy drink. "I ordered a Tango Cherry, but instead, she gave me a Tango Orange."

"We then tell her that." Shirou advised him.

"Yeah, you're right." Haruto raised his hand and called over the waitress. "Miss, excuse me, I hate to interrupt, but I actually ordered a Tango Cherry, and for some reason, you chose to f*ck me in the face by giving me what looks like a glass of piss and vinegar." The casual way he said it shocked both the waitress and his friends at the table. "So, get me what I ordered before I kill you in front of all these people… Now?"

The waitress hastily picked up the glass and ran off.

"Don't you think that was a bit much?" Kenichi asked, a little freaked out.

"Not really; I'd say that was pretty tame." Shirou argued, being the only one not surprised by Haruto's response.

"Man, that kid is nuts." Ukita whispered.

"Well, he is Shirou's brother, remember?" Takeda whispered back, still smiling.

Meanwhile, Nijima had finally arrived and walked through the front door, but he didn't come alone as the other five members of the Shinzaki Alliance were there with him.

"Well, this is the place." Nijima grinned as he entered the restaurant. "Haha! And Loki's in for a surprise; thinks I'll be stupid enough to meet him one-on-one, does he? Let's try six-to-one."

"Hey, look." Haruto pointed out. "Nijima's here."

"Okay, let's get ready." Shirou told them as they braced themselves.

Soon enough, Nijima spotted the table Loki was sitting at and smirked devilishly.

"Ah, there he is, sitting there like a sitting duck." Nijima and the rest approached the table, and he stood in front of Loki before addressing him. "Well, now, what have we here? What's the matter, Loki afraid to look your arch nemesis in the eyeball. If you thought I'd come here alone, you are sorely mistaken. Sorry, I should have warned you I'm known for my evil genius now, so why don't you admit your defeat?"

Loki merely sniggered, not at all concerned by Nijima's provocations, and continued working on his wire puzzle.

"Please, you are obviously outnumbered." Nijima proudly held his arms out. "How could you hope to win against these brave soldiers? You'd need an army at your side, and you're all alone; not that an army could beat us, you'd probably need two."

"Oh, two armies, is that right?" Loki responded, sounding amused. "Well, that is unfortunate, isn't it? I only brought the one."

Before anyone could ask what he meant, Loki's words spoke for themselves when the patrons of the restaurant started getting up from their seats one by one.

"Afraid you're not the only evil genius in the room this time, buddy." Loki arrogantly informed him.

Before long, everyone at the restaurant was surrounding Nijima and the others, and there were now twenty Ragnarok goons staring them down. Some of them brought out weapons like a crowbar, brass knuckles, wooden Swords, and a short staff, and even the waitress brought out nunchucks.

"Wait a minute?" Haruto noticed the waitress was a member of Ragnarok. "She was part of the gang; that means she got my drink wrong on purpose, damn it!"

"Who cares? Let's go." Shirou urged as they all got up as well.

"All right, let's see the great Shinzaki Alliance in action, huh." Loki provoked them, believing he had already won.

"If that's what you want, see for yourself."

"What?" Loki turned and saw five individuals approach him. "Who are you guys?"

They removed their hoodies and revealed themselves, to Loki's surprise and to Nijima's relief.

"They're here!" Nijima celebrated while the rest of the Shinzaki Alliance cheered.

"It's the Commander and the generals as well." The one with glasses cheered.

Shirou smirked at Loki and his goons. "Oh, hello girls, we having a tea party?"

"You, what the hell are you doing here?" Loki sneered at him.

"You invited us, remember?" Shirou reminded him. "Or did you lose your nerve?"

"Well, the gang's all here then." Loki glared at them. "You also brought Takeda and Ukita, huh? I didn't think those traitors had the nerve to pick a fight with Ragnarok."

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't know chickens could speak Japanese." Shirou provoked him further.

"Easy, quit making him mad." Kenichi tried to advise him.

"I don't think it'll change much at this point." Takeda informed him. "They're all raring to go, and honestly, so am I."

In reality, though, Loki was still a little distracted and kept focusing on his wire puzzle.

"This stupid damn wire puzzle." Loki complained as he kept fidgeting with it. "Why won't it… Just come apart already!"

SNAP!

With one final push, Loki snapped the pieces of the wire puzzle apart and broke it.

.

.

.

.

There was a deafening silence as everyone stared at Loki. No one needed to say it, but somehow, at that moment, they all knew breaking the wire puzzle had set him off.

Loki faced them with a smile laced with anger. "Congratulations, morons, you've all managed to piss off the Fourth Fist of Ragnarok. Good job; hope you're ready for me."

"Can it, four eyes! I've been avoiding badly dressed hoodlums much scarier than you for longer than you might think possible. Now, let me introduce you to my generals!" Nijima proclaimed loudly before he scurried back with laughter. "Hahahahaha!"

Ukita just looked annoyed at him. "Hey guys, anyone care if I killed that one first?"

Shirou focused on the enemies in front of them. "Enough waiting… Let's go!"

With that signal, everyone rushed in. They started off trying to rush in on Shirou, but Kenichi blocked their path. Using the skills he learned from Akisame and Sakaki, Kenichi kept his center of gravity balanced and knocked away one enemy when they moved in close before striking the next one, all while remaining in the same spot.

Haruto took a different approach and closed in on the enemy himself. His first move was a punch at one guy's head, which knocked him away before he pivoted and hit another one with a low kick on his ankle to knock him down. One of them tried to hit Haruto with his wooden Sword, but Haruto dodged before he kicked the guy's wrist and disarmed him. He followed by taking the wooden Sword for himself and hit the guy with a forward thrust that knocked him to the floor.

Takeda whistled, clearly impressed. "Well, look at them. Not too bad."

Ukita laughed while throwing one of his opponents. "If I wasn't convinced before, now I'm sure of it. That's definitely Shirou's brother. I guess being crazy good at fighting runs in the family!"

Two guys tried to jump Shirou, but Shirou hit one of them with a punch so strong it knocked him back into the other one, and they were both blown away.

"Even if you bring an army, goons are still goons." Shirou commented with boredom. "Maybe you should have brought two armies."

"While guys are having fun, I'll see if Loki lives up to the hype." Takeda decided.

He moved in to try to reach Loki, but along the way, more of his goons blocked his path, and Takeda let loose a flurry of punches at the enemies in front of them.

"Leave this one to me."

Loki turned again and saw that Shirou was right behind him. "How'd you sneak up behind me?"

"Oh, come on, are you really one of the Eight Deadly Fists?" Shirou asked sarcastically. "If it had been Valkyrie or Hermit, they would have easily seen me coming."

"Ha, well, you'll find my brand of fighting is different from theirs." Loki told him confidently before he brought out a stun rod. "You'll find out the hard way."

"Be careful. He's known for his feints." Takeda warned him while fighting.

"Don't worry." Kenichi spoke while fighting. "Cheap tricks won't work on Shirou."

Shirou stayed relaxed and held up the gym bag he had been carrying since they got here. "I guess now is a good time."

"What's that?" Haruto asked while dodging.

"Something Shigure gave me for my weapons training Shirou explained while he opened the bag and reached inside. "Every day, she would place a rando weapon inside, and if I'm facing an armed opponent, I have to open the bag and face him with whatever weapon is inside."

"Seriously!?" Kenichi responded incredulously at the ludicrous explanation. "Why would she think that's a good idea?! Better yet, you chose NOW of all times to bring that out?!"

"What better time? It wouldn't be real training if it weren't during a real fight." Shirou reasoned as he grabbed the weapon and pulled it out of the bag. "Today's luck weapon is—Wooden tonfas!"

"You think you can afford not to take this seriously?" Loki warned him.

"Oh, taking this very seriously." Shirou informed him while swinging his tonfas. "I just doubt you'll be much of a challenge."

"Is that so?" Loki reached into his pocket. "All right, but you might be surprised at what you find, tough guy."

Loki charged forward and swung his baton at Shirou, which he blocked with one of his tonfas. Loki followed up by taking a Taser out of his pocket and trying to shock Shirou with it, but Shirou was faster and used his other tonfa to hit Loki's extended elbow.

BAM!

"Gahhhhh!" Loki cried out in pain and dropped the taser as his arm went numb. "You bastard."

"Nice." Shirou muttered as he kept swinging his tonfas. "I could get used to these."

Shirou followed up by using his other tonfa to hit Loki in the middle of his face. Breaking his nose and knocking him to the floor.

BAM!

"Damn it…" Loki gripped his bleeding nose in pain.

"I get it now." Shirou spoke as he approached him. "The numbers of the fists don't reflect individual fighting ability but the order on when you joined the fists, so despite being number four, you're still weaker than lower ranked fists." He summarized with a smirk. "So there's no point in dragging this out. I'm ending this now!"

Shirou rushed in and unleashed a barrage of strikes on Loki's face, torso, and limbs; his opponent had no opportunity to mount a defense of counterattack as Shirou was too fast and his attacks were too heavy. Shirou finished it with one final strike with both tonfas that hit Loki so hard that it sent him flying and knocked him to the floor with a thud, it was over.

"He did it!" Kenichi celebrated.

"Yeah, awesome job." Haruto praised him.

[All right! Way to go, Commander!] The Shinzaki Alliance members cheered.

"Shinzaki!" Nijima celebrated.

The members of Ragnarok were shocked and stunned by what they just saw.

"I can't believe it." One of them said.

"Loki lost?" Another one said.

"And that concludes our lesson! You have seen the Shinzaki Alliance's might! Never again question our power!" Nijima bragged at the disgruntled Ragnarok members as though it was his own victory before pointing at Shirou. "Our great Commander Tsukiharu commands all forms of Martial Arts! He is the almighty Battle King, and you will never forget it!"

"He's painting it on a bit thick there." Kenichi cringed at Nijima's granstanding.

"Yeah, but I don't think my brother's complaining." Haruto shrugged.

"Okay, we didn't know about Tsukiharu, we're sorry." One of the Ragnarok grunts spoke fearfully as he trembled and had nervous sweats. "But we'll pass the word along, we swear!"

With that, the Ragnarok members helped up anyone who couldn't stand before they all ran away in terror.

"Well, that ended quickly enough." Shirou noted casually.

"Yeah, but now they'll spread the word, and your reputation will get even worse." Kenichi unhappily informed him.

"Why are you talking like it doesn't affect you? You were fighting too. That means they'll spread the word about you as well." Shirou reminded him.

"Huh?!" Kenichi grimaced at that realization before he tried calling out to them in vain. "Wait a minute, I have nothing to do with the Shinzaku Alliance! Don't spread the word!"

"Hey, make sure you mention us too!" Ukita called out as well.

"I don't think they heard you, big guy." Takeda told him nonchalantly.

[Shinzaki! Shinzaki!] The Shinzaki members chanted in victory.

"You really are amazing, Commander." The one with glasses named Mizunuma told Shirou. "You beat the Fourth Fist of Ragnarok and made it look easy."

"Yeah, but that's what confuses me?" Shirou admitted as he looked at Loki lying on the floor. "Is he really a Fist of Ragnarok?"

"That does it!" Nijima got everyone's attention by stepping on Loki's face. "What we've done here today, gentlemen, just proved that the Eight Fists of Ragnarok are mere stepping stones on our way to greatness! Now, let's see the shamed face of our defeated foe!"

Nijima reached down and removed Loki's goggles to reveal his face, but Takeda gasped in surprise when he saw it. "What?"

"Is there something the matter, General Takeda?" Nijima asked curiously.

"That's not Loki." As a former member of Ragnarok, Takeda knew what the face of Fourth Fist really looked like and it wasn't the one beneath Nijima's heel.

"So you mean we got the wrong guy?" Kenichi asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, the real Loki's face isn't nearly that funny looking." Ukita confirmed as he also knew the real Loki's face.

"That explains it." Shirou wasn't surprised. "No way one of the Eight Deadly Fists would go down that easily. It was just a fake."

"You idiots. You think they would send the real Loki out after you?" The fake Loki mocked them bitterly. "You guys are nothing. He wouldn't waste the energy on you, and if he did, none of you guys would even stand a chance. This is Ragnarok you're dealing with now, not some little high school karate club. I'm only one of his shadows; just wait till you experience—"

"Okay, that's enough." He was cut off when Nijima started stomping on his face to end his monologue. "Just as I dance on the face of his lackeys so too shall I dance on the true face of Loki soon enough."

Shirou stepped in and stuck his foot over Nijima's to stop him from stomping any further. "I don't like it when people interrupt others while talking, nor do I like kicking a man while he's down."

"Heh, you're no fun." Nijima stepped back and thought about the situation. "I'll just have to do a little more research next time; this isn't over yet."

"I guess Loki lived up to his name." Shirou looked at the unconscious fake Loki. "He sent a fake that was so much like the real one that no one could tell until after we beat him. Not to mention, if there are more of them, and we don't know how the real Loki fights, we can never be sure if we'll ever be facing the real Loki."

"Hey, isn't this just like that one cartoon villain?" Haruto brought up. " You know, that Marvel villain with the robot replicas."

"Doctor Doom?" Shirou knew who he meant.

"Yeah, Doctor Doom." Haruto began to elaborate. "Doctor Doom was both powerful and smart but also had robot replicas of himself that were programmed to act as his body doubles. They were so lifelike that it was impossible to know the difference, even during a fight, and when the heroes thought they beat him, it always turned out to be a Doom-bot every time. Doom-bots were strong enough that they could be mistaken for the real thing, and you only know it's a Doom-bot after defeating it."

"Yeah, just like what we're dealing with now." Shirou agreed with the comparison. "I got annoyed just watching it, and now we have our own Doctor Doom."

"Well, unlike Doctor Doom, these aren't robots, so there's a limit to how many times Loki can pull off this dumb trick." Ukita pointed out.

"Yeah, but I don't want to find out how many; this is only the first time, and I'm already sick of it." Takeda admitted.

"Hey, wait a minute, we forgot about the letters." Ukita suddenly remembered. "The whole reason we were here was to make Loki pay for tricking us with those fake love letters."

"Yeah, I guess in all the excitement, we forgot to call him out on it." Takeda concurred.

"Actually, since you brought it up, I'm starting to think we were wrong about that." Haruto chimed in. "It's likely Loki didn't send those letters."

[Huh?] Kenichi, Takeda, and Ukita all looked confused as Kenichi asked. "What are you talking about?"

"No, he's right." Shirou agreed with his conclusion. "We thought Loki was responsible because we assumed he was leading us into a trap, but when he saw us here, he was surprised as though he was only expecting Nijima. If the four of us being here was never part of his plan, there's no way he'd lure us here with fake love letters."

"Yeah, you're right, that wouldn't make any sense." Takeda saw their logic.

"But I don't get it, if Loki didn't send those letters, then who did?" Kenichi wrecked his brain.

"Yoo-hoo!"

All of them froze when they heard a familiar voice in an unfamiliar tone coming from right behind them. As they turned around, they saw the figure of the girl from school who left Kenichi the letter, or so it appeared, but as she turned around and revealed her face, "she" turned out to be Nijima in a long-haired brown wing and a female student uniform.

"Oh my, you all showed up; I just knew you would. I've been waiting. So sorry about the map; it was a tinsy bit hard to understand." Nijima revealed his deception with a wide grin while he kept talking in a mockingly feminine manner.

All three of them looked shell-shocked at the horrifying image in front of them. Takeda looked disgusted, Kenichi looked like he was going to faint, and Ukita was so horrified that to lens on his sunglasses cracked.

Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, that figures."

Nijima continued his mockery by placing his hands on his checks and swaying his hips like a nervous maiden. "I just don't know what I would have done if you boys hadn't shown up, but you were all right in the nick of time, my heroes~."

"I'll kill you! You bastard!" Kenichi roared with rage.

"My first get back here!" Takeda growled with hatred.

"You wanna sound like a girl?! I'll make you sound like a girl!" Ukita bellowed with killing intent.

"Hahahaha!" Nijima laughed madly as he dropped the wig and ran out the door.

"Grab him!" Ukita shouted as they chased after him.

"Yeah!" Takeda added as they ran out the door.

"Nijimaaaaaa!" Kenichi screamed as they chased him down the street.

The other members of the Shinzaki Alliance looked out the door and shouted together. [Captain! Run faster!]

"Hahahahahaha!" Nijima continued to laugh as the others couldn't keep up with him.

"How is he so fast?!" Kenichi shouted in frustration as Nijima got further away.

"I thought my springtime of youth had finally begun!" Ukita cried out in frustration.

"Don't be a pansy, Ukita!" Takeda reprimanded him as they kept running.

As Nijima kept running away he looked very happy at the way things turned out. "The benefit of running away all the time is that you have loads of practice for when it counts! You'll thank me someday, boys, I promise!"

Shirou and Haruto stayed in the restaurant and just watched the madcap antics unfold.

"You know, on some level, we really should have seen this coming." Haruto pointed out.

"Not really. One of the downsides to hanging out with Nijima is that there's no low he won't sink to." Shirou argued with a groan.

Ō

Later, somewhere else in town, the real Loki was sitting inside an old warehouse. He was sitting behind a desk with a computer in front of him while working on a wire puzzle, but unlike the fake Loki, he easily solved it.

Soon enough, another one of Loki's lackeys walked in. She was a young woman with short, unkempt brown hair and a fairly endowed figure. She was seen in a yellow A-shirt and suspenders had a type of goggles on with night vision seekers on it and had a P90-like automatic airgun with her. She also seemed to have some type of markings on her body that were green and seemed to be camo make-up.

"I got the video surveillance with the other building, like you said. I also got the audio feed from the box I planted in the restaurant. Did you want background music with these?" She asked as she handed Loki a disk.

"It's not a music video #20 you don't have to get all creative." Loki told her as he took the disk. "Oh yeah, can you get me some more wire puzzles? Something harder this time."

"Yes, sir." #20 saluted before she left.

Loki inserted the disk into the computer. As the screen turned on, it played a recording of the entire battle at the restaurant, including close-ups of everyone while they were fighting.

"Hello, so you're the Shinzaki Alliance. It's nice to meet you." Loki grinned as he watched the screen. "Thank you for taking the time to show me your weakness."

—…

And that's the chapter.

First of all, I decided to make some changes in how things played out because, unlike Kenichi and the others, Shirou wouldn't just naturally believe he'd get a love letter out of the blue, especially at the same time as another guy, so, of course, he'd investigate and that led to all of them arriving at the restaurant.

Also, I added the lucky weapon bag because I want to make it a point that weapons training is something that will be taken seriously, considering how much Kenichi avoided it in the canon.

Shirou's style is all about variety and versatility, so the best form of training is having him use different weapons and become capable of wielding any of them to teach him the art of being able to make the most of any weapon available instead of being limited to only fighting with a certain kind. That's why the lucky weapon bag is something he'll use anytime he faces an armed opponent for the foreseeable future.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. If you want more, leave a review. If you liked the story, click the follow/favorite, and as always, have an awesome day.