Hey everyone and welcome to this chapter. This chapter won't have as much action as the last one, it'll be more about character growth and slow plot progression. Though it'll still move the story forward. 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.

Steady Growth

It was another day at Koryuu High. But unlike any ordinary day, the students were tenser and more afraid than usual. The reason for that being the fact that a trio of Ragnarok thugs was walking down the hallway, standing death glares to any student that they saw and they had expressions on their faces that just screamed the fact that they were looking for trouble.

"Shirahama! Tsukiharu! Tell us where they are!" One of the thugs shouted as they walked.

Because Kisara said that she would send members of her group after them, many of the other groups within Ragnarok became interested and decided to try haunting them down as well, these three were among those groups.

As for Kenichi himself, he was in a nearby classroom, and currently trembling at the sight of them with a cold sweat.

"Oh, those goons are looking for me…" Kenichi said, his voice was high like every other time he was afraid. "Man, how did I get myself into this mess?"

As he snuck outside the School Building, the thugs walked passed a nearby open window and Kenichi could still hear them.

"I'll get him good, I'm gonna beat the bastard Tsukiharu down and break that stupid face of his!" One of them bragged as the other two laughed.

One of the other two added. "And then we'll go for that little piece of crap, Shirahama."

Kenichi whispered to himself. "I-I'm not really running away, I'm not a coward after all." He attempted to convince himself. "I'm just avoiding getting into a pointless conflict, with a well-timed strategic withdrawal."

But before he could scurry off—

"HEY!"

"AAaahhhh!" Kenichi shrieked when he suddenly heard that yell.

But then he realized that it came from inside the building, not only that but he recognized the voice. With that in mind, he looked through the window and saw who it was.

Standing in the hallway, blocking the path of the three Ragnarok goons was Shirou, who looked ready for a brawl.

The grunts looked pleased as one of them said. "Tsukiharu, right? We've been looking for ya?"

"Yeah, I know. Practically the whole school knows with how loud you were being." Shirou informed them, with half-lidded eyes.

"Well, word in the street is Kisara is after you." One of them said, before raising his fist. "And we wanna see why."

Shirou kept his hands in his pockets and casually walked up to them. "Well take a good look, 'cause I'm only showing you once."

Kenichi then watched from the window as Shirou proceeded to quickly beat those thus senselessly without any reserve and he cringed at the sight of it.

"Why does it always end like this?" He thought to himself.

Later that day, the two of them were walking together outside the School Building. While walking, Kenichi kept his head down and groaned.

"Why did you have to do that?" Kenichi asked him, tiredly.

"What, you mean win?" Shirou asked sarcastically. "Gee, I don't know, mostly because I didn't want to get beaten to the ground."

"That's not what I meant!" Kenichi snapped at him. "We could have just avoided them and left, why'd you have to start a fight like that?"

"I have a rep you know?" Shirou answered him. "How am I supposed to make sure everyone knows not to mess with me if I can't even beat third-strings like them?"

Kenichi scratched his head. "That doesn't me you have to fight everyone."

"Man, what is with you?" Shirou asked, bothered. "What happened to all that confidence you had when you crashed Kisara's hideout?"

"This and that are completely different!" Kenichi snapped again. "Just because I'm willing to fight doesn't mean I want to fight everyone that wants a piece of me!"

"Well, I do! Hahaha!" Shirou disagreed with him, laughing.

Before long, they reached a large greenhouse on the campus and Kenichi opened the door. "Well anyway, I see you have I done with the club for today."

Shirou shrugged. "Whatever."

With that, Kenichi nodded, walked through the door, and closed it. Once inside the greenhouse, he begins watering the plants alongside follow Gardening Club member, Yuka Izumi.

Izumi is a young teenage girl of average height with long black hair she has in two braids in the back with some fringe in the front. She also wears glasses and has bright-brown eyes, she also wears the School Uniform but unlike Miu's uniform, her skirt, collar, and the cuffs around her sleeves are black.

As Kenichi kept watering the flowers, Izumi just quietly stared at him with interest. Kenichi noticed this and looked up at her.

"Is something wrong, Izumi?" Kenichi asked.

Izumi quickly shook her head. "I was just wondering why someone like you would join the Gardening Club?" She asked nervously. "It's just that, it's not exactly a popular choice around her."

Kenichi kept watering the plants as he answered. "Well, since I was a kid I've always been interested in flowers and stuff." He admitted before frowning. "But people used to pick on me and give me a hard time. They'd say "Flowers are for girls" and they'd call me lame." Then he smiled. "But I figured to heck with them, I'm gonna keep on doing what I wanna do and I don't really care what people say."

Izumi smiled at him. "You surprise me, not many people can look at it that way."

Kenichi chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it's easy enough to say really. But honestly, that didn't stop people r#from getting on my case. If I didn't have Shirou with me I wouldn't have been able to deal with it all."

"Is that true?" Izumi asked curiously. "I hear rumors about him all the time, I always pictured your friends as being really intimidating."

"Intimidating?" Kenichi asked slightly amused. "What kind of rumors did you hear?"

"They say he's the Strongest, meanest kid in the whole school." Izumi told him. "Everyone says he the most ruthless fighter in town that loves beating people up."

"Right…" A drop of sweat fell from the back of his head. "Well, I admit he can be a little rough sometimes, but he's really a decent guy." He informed her. "He's always had my back and he never lets rumors bother him."

Izumi let out a small laugh. "Well, he's lucky to have a friend who knows him so well."

"Really?" Kenichi asked with a smile. "Usually it feels more like I'm the lucky one." He then turned back to the plants. "And beating people up for fun? Even if he beats up Delinquents, there's no way Shirou does stuff like that?"

BASH!

"Gah!"

Outside the entrance to the School Building, Shirou had just finished beating down another pair of Ragnarok members who tried their luck against him. They were now laying on the ground as Shirou took a deep breath and smirked.

"There's nothing I love more than seeing my enemies bleed." He said to himself.

He then felt a dark and disgusting presence approaching as he turned around and saw the source.

"There's my best friend in the world!" Niijima approached him. "I've been looking, you aren't easy to find!"

"I disagree, just look for the sound of screaming chumps and I'll be there." Shirou lazily argued. "Besides that, have you been spreading more rumors around the school?"

"Maybe I have and maybe I haven't, but what difference does it make to you?" Niijima casually brushed off.

"These guys started coming after me and Kenichi way too soon." Shirou pointed out. "No one but you could have spread the word that fast, so admit it."

Niijima shrugged. "I just wanted everyone to know the good word, not only did you pick a fight with the whole Ragnarok gang but Kenichi did as well. That was too juicy not to spread around." He then got closer to him. "Besides I have some new information that I'm sure you'd love to hear about."

Shirou looked interested. "Is it legit?"

Niijima took out a piece of paper and smiled evilly. "Isn't it always?"

Shirou nodded. "Fine, let me see it."

Niijima handed the piece of paper to Shirou and once he looked it over, his eyes widened in shock but mostly confusion. The paper was a printed handout sheet of a long schedule, it was also titled "Kenichi Shirahama Activity Schedule" with a list of all of the places Kenichi usually goes to as well as the times of the day when he goes to those places.

"What the Hell is this?" Shirou asked him.

Niijima shook his head. "This time I have no idea. All I now is some weird old guy in a hat was passing these around to everyone at school who would take them, including those Ragnarok thugs."

"Wait, did this old guy have a green shirt and long mustache?" Shirou asked.

Niijima nodded. "Yeah, you saw him too?"

"Kensei?" Shirou thought, completely lost. "So the Master of Ryozanpaku are behind this? What for?" He then put the sheet of paper in his bag. "Well, guess I'll just have to ask them after school."

"Hey, Shirou!"

Shirou and Niijima looked to see Miu walking up to them with a wave.

"Miu?" Shirou spoke as she stopped in front of him.

"Well, if it isn't Miu." Niijima immediately approached her. "What brings you here?"

"Hello there, Niijima, how have you been." Miu happily greeted him before turning to Shirou. "I was wondering if you and Kenichi want to walk home together after school?"

"Considering we're all going to the dojo after school, I'd think it'd be obvious the answer is yes." Shirou pointed out.

Miu clapped her hands together. "That's great, I'll go tell Kenichi."

After saying that she ran off, Niijima then proceeded to put his arm on Shirou's shoulder. "Hey man, be honest with me, are you attempt to get in good with her?"

"If you're looking for more "juicy details", you're looking in the wrong place." Shirou flat out told him. "Right now I'm more concerned about Ragnarok then anything else."

Niijima then stepped back. "Heh, I figured you'd say that. The only thing you ever have on your mind is fighting. But do me a favor and stay friends with her, she might be useful to me in the future." He then turned and walked away himself. "I'll fill you in if any more intel comes up."

"That guy." Shirou said to himself as he watched him leave. "He's useful but he makes me sick sometimes."

After school, the three of them made their way to Ryozanpaku and began their training once again. While Kenichiwas training with Apachai, Shirou was training with Kensei. The training was pretty standard, Kensei told Shirou to try to land a hit on him. Sadly considering the opponent was Kensei, that was a near-impossible task.

"Ha!" Shirou threw another punch.

Kensei easily dodged it by standing just an inch out of his reach.

"You'll have to keep trying, after all, that kind of hit will never land." Kensei told him, clearly having fun. "If this were a real fight I could have countered you twelve different times on that last hit alone."

"I get it, you're stupidly fast." Shirou replied irritated.

"Oh don't be upset, you just have to try to land a single blow, that shouldn't be too hard." Kensei continued as he moved side-to-side.

Shirou then loosened both of his fists and snapped his punches forward, swiftly brought them back, and punched again. Stressing speed rather than power right now, Shirou was able to fire a much large number of punches with much greater speed. Despite that, Kensei was still dodging each blow with ease.

Then with great finesse, Shirou pivoted his feet to turn around and kick out at the space right behind him. At the same time, Kensei appeared at that same spot and looked as though he was going to get hit by that kick. However, he still managed to dodge without trouble.

"You figured it out, excellent work." Kensei praised. "But I have to admit I made it a little obvious for you."

"Yeah, the classic "Vanishing from sight and appearing behind your opponent" trick." Shirou noted. "And yet, I still missed."

"True, you accurately guessed by my next move and timed your counterattack perfectly, however you still failed to hit me. That's because even if you predict your opponent's moves and time your counter perfectly if your opponent is still faster than you, they can avoid it." Kensei explained the process to him. "But, I can't really blame you since you're facing me."

"I've faced guys who have good footwork before, but honestly you're the first guy I've seen who stressed speed before style this much." Shirou admitted.

"Heh, you should go to China one of these days, there's a fair number of slick fighters like me." Kensei said humorously before placing his hands behind his back again. "Now, once more from the top.

POW!

"Gugh!"

Before they could continue, both of them heard the familiar cry of pain a few feet away. At that point, they along with the other denizens of Ryozanpaku ran over to see what had happened and immediately arrive at the sight over Kenichi flat on his back on the ground with an apologetic Apachai standing over him.

"What happened this time?" Akisame asked as though this was a regular thing.

"Apa, we training, but Kenichi no like dodging for some reason." Apachai explained. "Apachai is make easy and threw slow punch."

"Apachai, any punch that you think is slow is probably blindingly fast for Kenichi." Kensei told him.

Miu came over with a bucket of water and spilled it over his head. Thus waking him up. "Ah, am I still alive?"

"So sorry about that, Kenichi." Apachai told him with a smile. "Next time, Apachai promises to give you break."

"He broke me pretty good this time~" Kenichi inwardly whined.

"Stop screwing around and get up kid." Sakaki instructed him.

"If you lay on the ground all day, there won't be any time left for us to train you." Kensei reminded him.

As Kenichi was on the ground, he though. "I don't get it, these guys are Masters, I get why they want to train Shirou but why are they so eager to train me?" He wondered. "Could it be?!" He became hopeful and asked. "Does this mean you think I could be a great Martial Artist like all of you?"

[No.] Sakaki, Kensei, and Akisame all said in unison.

Apachai just stood silent and Shigure simply looked away.

"Aaaahhh! I can't believe you answered that in sync!" Kenichi cried out as he untied the belt of his gi, placed it over a nearby tree branch, and stood in a position to hang himself while Miu held him back. "I get it! I'm awful! I'm a loser!"

CHOP!

Shirou chopped him on the head to make him stop. "You're also a drama-queen."

"What does that matter!? I'm gonna get killed by those thugs anyway so I might as well end it right NOOWWW!" Kenichi continued to whine.

CHOP!

Shirou chopped him again which knocked his head down. "If you don't shut up, I'll kill you right now." He told him annoyed by his whining.

"You know, no one beats you at beating yourself kid." Sakaki commented before drinking more alcohol. "So you got self-defeat down to an art, you're gonna have to fight and now you're scared about it, so what?" He then gave the training post a hard punch. "Best thing you can do at a time like that is, punch a pole." He punched again. "Punch it hard, punch those fears square in the face. Then when you get some confidence back you punch again. You punch that pole until you can't anymore." He then stopped. "'Cause with stuff hits the fan, your training is the one thing you can count on."

"And if, it's not enough?" Kenichi quietly asked.

"Then you lose, but what of it?" Sakaki asked rhetorically. "Martial Arts isn't just about getting strong, it's about learning to face your fears. You do that and the rest is easy."

"Heh, nice speech, did you just come up with that or have you be practicing?" Shirou jokingly asked.

"Ha, just try and come up with a better speech than me, punk." Sakaki joked back.

Kenichi got back up. "Y-Yeah but what if—"

Sakaki cut him off. "Enough with the questions. Let's get back to doing something useful. Now look, sometimes it doesn't matter how mentally prepared you are, when the real fight comes you still might find that your punches aren't packing the power you need."

Kenichi nodded. "Right."

Sakaki picked up his bottle of alcohol again. "If you end up in that situation, don't feel pressured to form a fist. Instead of clenching up, hold your hand out like this." He showed him an unclenched fist and threw his bottle up in the air. "Nice and easy." When the bottle came back down, Sakaki punched it with his fist and it shattered into pieces. "Keep it loose like a whip and aim for the teeth."

Kenichi still looked unsure. "If I did, couldn't I end up breaking the other guy's jaw?"

Shirou shook his head. "Nah, if you wanna break a jaw then aim for the chin."

"And either way, if it does break that's how you know you're doing it right, Hahaha!" Sakaki laughed and patted Keichi on the back.

After finishing their discussion, Kenichi now stood in front of the training post and kept punching the pole he was instructed to. However, it was clear by the look on his face that he was clearly lacking any kind of motivation or drive.

Shirou approached him and decided to ask the obvious.

"Alright, what's wrong?" He questioned Kenichi. "I can tell by the look on your face that your heart isn't into it."

Kenichi stopped punching. "Well, I do want to become stronger but I don't want to fight anyone, I hate violence."

Shirou looked at him with half-lidded eyes. "What you say contradicts everything you've done until now. If you hate violence, why did you sign up for a Karate club? Why did you join this dojo? Why did you agree to fight Ragnarok?" He listed.

"I get it doesn't seem to make sense, but still." Kenichi looked down. "All I really wanted was to learn self-defense, just to improve my self-esteem." He admitted. "I still want to help you against Ragnarok but it's like not I'll suddenly like fighting and want to beat everyone around me."

"I just don't get what you're so afraid of?" Shirou admitted. "You act like you've already lost a fight that hasn't even started, even though you're more than strong enough to beat those losers from this morning."

"Really? You think so?" Kenichi asked, very excited. "After so much verbal abuse from the Masters, I thought I'd never hear any praise today."

As he got closer, Shirou pushed him back a bit. "Too close. Anyway, I'm not praising you, I'm just telling you the truth. Considering all the training we've been doing, guys like them shouldn't be a problem anymore. If your legs would stop shaking and you'd stop being so pessimistic you'd see that."

"Well yeah, but." Kenichi turned back to the training pole. "I'd be nice if I could have at least some time where I didn't always have to worry about Delinquents being after me. I don't know if I'll be able to deal with this the same way that you do."

Shirou was about to say something else, but then he noticed Kensei, Sakaki, and Akisame by the sliding door in the dojo and chatting amongst themselves with suspicious-looking grins on their faces. Shirou frowned at that.

Shirou turned to head for the dojo. "We'll talk more later."

"Ah, okay?" Kenichi responded before he went back to punching.

(A few seconds ago)

While Shirou and Kenichi were talking, Kensei, Sakaki, and Akisame were chatting amongst themselves in the dojo by the porch.

"At this rate, it seems our young Disciple is going to have some difficulty finishing what he started." Kensei noticed.

"Indeed." Akisame agreed.

"The kid needs to suck it up and find some courage." Sakaki pointed out.

"Well, maybe we can help?" Akisame wondered.

As Kenichi finished talking with Shirou and Shirou walked away, Miu went up to Kenichi and handed him a towel to wipe off his sweat. He looked happy just to see her.

When the Masters saw that, their eyes lit up.

"That's it." Akisame hatched a plan.

"Oh yeah." Sakaki had the same idea.

"I think this is going to be fun." Kensei added, looking forward to it.

"Hey."

A sudden voice made them tense up for a second before they looked and saw Shirou standing before them.

He looked at them aloof. "What the Hell do you guys think you're doing?"

"Hey, it's rude the sneak up on people you know?" Kensei complained.

"Yeah well, it's also rude to stare at someone from a distance and talk behind their back you know?" Shirou shot back at them. "Now what are you planning?"

"Uh, what makes you think we're planning anything?" Sakaki asked, but he wasn't very convincing considering he was scratching his cheek and looking away.

"Call it a hunch but if guys like you were grinning together like that it'd be weird if you weren't up to something." Shirou bluntly told them. "So what's going on?"

"You shouldn't be so suspicious." Akisame advised him. "We're not up to anything bad, we're just thinking of a way to help Kenichi gain more confidence."

"That's right, all we want is to help Kenichi." Kensei agreed.

"So you're just trying to help Kenichi?" Shirou asked, not convinced as he pulled out the sheet of paper Niijima gave him. "And is this also your idea of helping?"

"Where'd you get that?" Kensei asked surprised.

"I got it from asked from someone who told me an old man in a hat was passing it around." Shirou told him like he was an idiot.

"I'm not old." Kensei mumbled.

"What kind of hair-brained scheme are piloting?" Shirou questioned them again.

"Very well, you deserve to know the truth, it was actually my idea." Akisame confessed. "Think of it as a way kick start Kenichi's motivation."

"We're simply trying to take a more drastic approach in strengthening his mentality." Kensei added. "It's like the Lioness throwing her cub off a cliff to make him stronger, it may be cruel but it does work."

"Yeah, except you can't train people like their animals and while Kenichi might be a cub he's definitely no lion." Shirou argued with them. "Right now it just feels like you're needlessly putting more pressure on him."

"It might look like that now, but think back to this morning." Sakaki pointed out. "Even if he says he'll fight, he still has it in his mind that he can just run away if he doesn't technically have to fight. If he keeps that up, it'll eventually become a bad habit and we're making sure that doesn't happen."

Shirou thought about it. "You may have a point, but trying to force him into fights all day every day is hardly a good way to build up mental fortitude, in fact, it has a better chance of doing the opposite."

"That's the conclusion we've come to as well." Akisame told him. "That's why we've decided to try the carrot instead of the stick."

"And that means what exactly?" Shirou asked, not figuring out their idea.

"Just watch, it'll make sense in a second." Sakaki assured him.

"And also, don't tell Kenichi about this." Kensei requested of him. "He can't be aware of our inferences otherwise this will all go to waste. So make sure not to say a word."

Shirou contemplated whether he should just tell Kenichi or not. But after giving it some thought, he figured since they actually have a plan and he can't say for certain that he "won't" work since they haven't tried it yet, they at least deserve the benefit of the doubt. And so he agreed to keep it a secret.

As Kenichi kept punching the pole and Miu stood beside him, Akisame, Sakaki, and Kensei walked up to them.

"Kenichi!" He addressed him.

"Oh, right!" Kenichi nodded before punching faster. "Keep. Punching. The. Pole."

"Why don't you and Miu go on a little date together this Sunday?" Akisame suggested.

Kenichi stopped and looked surprised. "What?"

Miu just looked confused. "…What?" She asked as if she heard something stupid.

"What part of "go on a date" don't you understand?" Sakaki asked.

"A-A real date?" Kenichi nervously asked. "You mean like just the two of us?"

Akisame nodded. "Of course."

"You bet we'll go!" Kenichi cheered throwing his hands up in the air. "Alright! Hahahaha!" He then started jumping around like an excited rabbit on caffeine. "This is greeeaat!"

Watching from a distance, Shirou facepalmed at seeing Kenichi's reaction. "This is hard to watch."

Unfortunately, in his excitement, Kenichi went behind Miu and in usual Miu fashion, she grabbed him and Judo flipped him over her shoulder, slamming him into the ground.

"Gah!" Kenichi groaned, flat on his back. "But. We. Don't. Have to."

"Sorry, it's a reflex!" Miu explained, regretful at her action. "You shouldn't sneak up behind me."

Kenichi painfully gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, got it." He then got up. "So, we're still going on the date, right?" He asked feeling hopeful. "I'm up for it if you are."

Miu simply smiled but looked both uncomfortable and unsure. Shirou could clearly see that and thought. "If this were a Slice of Life Anime, this would be the part where the main character gets rejected."

Before Miu could answer though, Akisame stepped forward with two envelopes. "And what'd you know, I happen to have two free tickets to the movies."

Miu still looked unsure. "That's very nice, but…"

"Go on! Take em!" Sakaki urged her.

"You kids deserve a little fun." Kensei added.

"Sure—" Miu sounded like she wanted to say more.

But before she could, Kenichi cut her off. "Alright!" He cheered again. "She said yes! We're going to the movies!"

"Not so fast kid, you've still got punching to do." Sakaki reminded him.

"Right!" Kenichi started punching with more enthusiasm.

Shirou cringed after watching all that. "Can't he get a clue?" He asked no one. "They basically railroaded her into going and it's obvious she's not 100% on all this." He then walked away. "How can anyone be that desperate over some girl?"

He then stopped when he was in front of Apachai who seemed to be watching a trial of ants go by.

"Hey, Apachai!" Shirou got his attention. "Let's do some training."

"APA!" Apachai cheered, happy at that idea.

Later that day, as the sun went down and day turned to night, Shirou had returned home and was currently sitting at the dining room table in his house enjoying a meal with his younger brother, Haruto. While they were eating, Shirou explained the day's events to him.

"And now they Kenichi and Miu to go on a date." Shirou finished.

Haruto raised a brow. "But, how exactly is that going to teach him courage?"

"I can never understand what those nutjobs are thinking." Shirou replied.

"Brother, aren't you going to tell Kenichi?" Haruto asked.

"About the schedule or how Miu's only going on the date because she thinks she has to?" Shirou guessed which he meant.

"Both." Haruto answered.

"I'll until the date ends before the first, as for the second." Shirou sighed before he continued. "I get the feeling that even if I did tell him that, he'd consider the fact that the date is happening at all a victory."

Haruto thought about it. "…That does sound like him."

"Aside from all that, I just wish he'd stop being so damn negative all the time." Shirou complained. "Kenichi was brimming with confidence even when he was staring down Kisara and yet he still can't stop himself from running and hiding from ordinary Delinquents, it makes no sense."

"Hmm, actually it makes sense if you think about it." Haruto argued, he then got up and picked up a bunch of utensils, placed them on the table, and picked up a spoon. "Imagine if you will, this is Kenichi."

"Kenichi's a spoon?" Shirou asked confused.

"Just pretend it's a stick." Haruto requested with a sigh. "This is a long explanation."

"Alright, go on." Shirou responded.

"A person's entire personality is something they build up over the course of their life, and after sixteen years, Kenichi has already created his personality, regardless of what it is, it's unrealistic to believe it could change completely over the course of a day." Haruto explained before placing the spoon down. "Creating a new personality is like a bird making a nest, it has to be done one stick at a time. The time Kenichi confronted Ragnarok to help you was him placing down the first stick."

"True, I guess it would be weird for him to suddenly be brave after one fight." Shirou admitted, gracing the metaphor.

"That's right, he was able to gain the first stick because he was very emotional at the time and was able to fight through his fears. However, after the emotional moment was over and he had time to calm down and look back on it, he unconsciously went back to normal, in this case being someone who's afraid of Delinquents and hates violence." Haruto continued his explanation. "Though he might be willing to fight again if his emotions are high like before. But to truly solidify his mentality he needs another important moment, that'll be the second stick." He picked up a fork and placed it beside the spoon. "Until then, he's just the Kenichi who's willing to fight if his friend needs him but would prefer to run away."

"But what could possibly make him as emotional as before?" Shirou wondering, thinking it over. "That was a real, anything goes situation, it's not like it happens every day."

"I know it's hard to figure out, but considering you're trying to fix his mentality, it only makes sense that it wouldn't be easy." Haruto pointed out.

"I guess you have a point." Shirou noted.

Haruto started arranging the rest of the utensils. "This is a process that'll take a long time to get done. There might be times where certain events try to get in the way o his growth, and times where his personality temporarily regresses. But give him enough time and enough opportunities to grow and eventually, he'll mature into someone stronger and more confident than his current self." As he finished talking, the utensils were now formed like a bird's nest.

Shirou thought about that theory. "It's possible that the Master came to a similar conclusion, that might be why they're trying to force him to fight as much as possible. But then, what reason could they have for having him go on a date with Miu?" He wondered.

"By the way." Haruto interrupted his thoughts. "Where exactly are they going on their date?"

"Akisame had tickets prepared and told them to go see a movie." Shirou told him. "It's happening on Sunday."

"And what are you going to be doing then?" Haruto asked.

Shirou leaned back on his chair. "Apparently I have that day off."

Haruto sat up higher. "In that case, let's go somewhere fun on Sunday." He suggested. "How about we go to the Amusement Park on that day."

Shirou considered that idea, then he shrugged. "Why not, it'd be a crime not to enjoy a day off. I'll make it my cheat day too."

Haruto became excited. "Alright, this is gonna be great."

"I'll worry about Ragnarok later." Shirou thought before getting up from his seat.

A few days went by and before long it was Sunday morning. Over the course of the week, Kenichi became much more enthusiastic and carefree whether it was school or training, and when the day came for his date, he left to go to the movies with Miu with a comically big smile on his face.

Meanwhile, Shirou and Haruto also left to go enjoy their day off. Right now they had just walked out of their front door and both of them were wearing their usual attire. As they made their way to the train station, board the train, and sat down, Shirou thought about some things the whole time, Haruto noticed that and asked.

"Hey, Brother, what are you thinking about that's making you so silent?" Haruto asked him.

"I'm just curious if the Masters are going so far to get Kenichi to fight, what are the odds they'll leak the details of the date?" Shirou brought up. "After all, it sounds like the kinda thing they would do."

"There shouldn't be anything to worry about, after all, Miu's with him." Haruto pointed out.

"That in of itself is also a problem, how's he going to learn how to grow a pair if Miu does all the fighting?" Shirou argued.

"In that case, there's also the chance that if other thugs do show up and he sees them, he might just ditch the movie and hide somewhere else." Haruto also guessed.

"If that happens then—"

RING! RING!

Shirou was interrupted by the sound of a ring and he reached into his pocket to take out the source; His cellphone. "Ah, a phone call." He answered it. "Hello?"

{Hey there old buddy of mine!} He familiar and disgusting voice spoke on the other line.

Shirou just looked fed up. "What do you want?"

{It's not what I want, it's what I know. Do you know where Kenichi is right now?} Niijima asked humorously.

"Yeah, he's on a date with Miu." Shirou answered.

{Heh, you're no fun, I was hoping to surprise you.} Niijima said with disappointment.

"I am surprised. How do you know about this?"

{Because I saw them, of course. I was on the train heading in the same location and saw them enter. But the moment Kenichi saw me he just waited for the next stop, grabbed Miu and ran off as fast as he could, talk about a cold shoulder am I right?}

"Considering it was you, I don't have a hard time picturing it."

{Ah whatever, anyways I was calling to let you know where they're planning to go.}

"And why do you want to tell me that?"

{Haha! Because if I fight breaks out then things might get interesting, and you two are in the same place and on the off chance that you run into trouble which leads into a fight, Kenichi won't have the chance to run away this time!}

"You know, you're a real piece of crap sometimes."

{Hey, I am what I am.}

"Just tell me where they're going."

{He got off the train one stop earlier than I did which means he's still probably on his way right now. So I'm going to wait for him outside the theater.}

Shirou paused when he heard that. "…I see."

{Well, I see you in a little while.}

BEEP!

After that last line, Niijima hung up and ended the call. After that, Shirou put his phone away.

"Hey, who was that?" Haruto asked.

"Well, apparently we were both wrong." Shirou started, before elaborating. "He neither ran away from thugs at the movies nor did Miu beat them for him. He ran into Niijima on the train and decided to stop somewhere else."

"What?" Haruto asked surprised before thinking about it. "Well, I can't blame him for wanting to avoid Niijima."

At that point, the train stopped and the train doors opened. "Well, if the only thing waiting for him there is Niijima, then he should be fine. Let's go."

The train had arrived at their stop and so Shirou and Haruto got up from their seats and got off the train.

Not long after leaving the train station. Both the Tsukiharu Brothers were walking down the street, passing by a few people when suddenly they noticed something strange. Sitting, crouched down with his back against a wall was a man dressed in a clown suit with a very sad look on his face.

"Huh, a sad clown?" Shirou noticed. "You don't see that every day."

As they approached him, Haruto asked. "Hey, clown, why so sad?"

The clown looked up and noticed them before he spoke. "Oh, you probably weren't around to see it." He sounded depressed. "I was just doing my act, performing on the street like usual when all of a sudden, some stranger showed up and upstaged me."

"A stranger?" Shirou repeated.

"Yeah, some random teenage girl." The clown explained before he became upset. "I was just juggling when she just waltzed right in and juggled with one hand whilst using the other hand to down a full-on hand-stand. How am I supposed to compete with that?!" He cried out.

"A teenage girl?" Haruto wondered before he thought of something and looked over to his Brother. "You don't think?"

"There's only one girl I can think of who could do that." Shirou came to the same conclusion.

After that, they left the clown and kept on walking. After walking for a little bit longer, they arrived near a gaming-arcade but surprisingly enough there was a crowd forming around the entrance as if something strange had happened inside.

Feeling curious, the two Brother went up to the crowd and Shirou tapped the shoulder of one of the people there to get his attention.

"Hey, mind explaining what happened here?" Shirou questioned him. "Why's everyone gathering around a door?"

"Something crazy happened inside." The guy started to explain. "Some girl came in and went up to the arcade game where you punch a target to test your score. But the girl kept punching the machine like crazy and in just a few seconds the machine just broke." He told them with surprise. "After that, the guy she was with grabbed her and ran off, it happened just a few minutes ago."

After hearing that, both Shirou and Haruto looked at each other and both knew that they arrived at the same conclusion.

"This time, there's no doubt about it." Shirou noted.

Haruto nodded. "Yep, there's only one girl who would do something like that."

They both looked and talked as if they were describing an idiot.

"Let's just go." Shirou decided.

"Right." Haruto agreed.

With that, they immediately took their leave.

It wasn't long until they reached the Amusement Park without running into any other strange distraction along the way. They went on rides, enjoyed snacks at some of the booths, and all in all, enjoyed themselves. After a while, they were walking around, trying to figure out what to do next.

"That had to be the second biggest rollercoaster I've ever ridden, but it was good enough." Shirou shrugged.

Haruto chuckled. "Anyone ever tell you that you're too critical?"

"I don't think my standards are unreasonable." Shirou argued. "And if anyone says otherwise, I'll deny it."

"Anyways, what should we go on next?" Haruto wondered, looking around.

"Shirou?!"

A voice called out to him that made both of the Tsukiharu Brothers look. They quickly saw the owner of said voice sitting on a nearby bench and waving to them, it was Miu.

Miu was dressed more casually than usual. Right now she was wearing a bright pink sleeveless dress along with a white sleeveless jacket, she also had on black leggings and red dress shoes.

"What the… Miu?" Shirou addressed her surprised.

"Huh, so that's what she looks like without glasses or braids." Haruto took a good look at her. "It's like she's a completely different person."

Miu approached him. "What are you doing here?"

"What a… What do you mean what am I doing here? Why aren't you at the movies?" Shirou asked, but he could already guess.

"Kenichi said he was hungry so went to a takeout place." Miu explained. "After that, we went to a few other places before finally coming here."

"How far away was he planning on going?" Shirou mumbled under his breath.

"Huh?"

Speaking of Kenichi, they hear his voice next and see him standing close by holding two cups of a drink. Kenichi was wearing a light blue open short-sleeved jacket on top of a yellow shirt, he also wore dark grey pants and black and blue shoes.

Kenichi walked up to the group. "Wait, what are you guys doing here?"

"I think you're the one who needs to answer that question." Shirou told him.

Miu looked towards Haruto as if she just noticed him. "By the way, who's this with you?"

"Oh yeah, you've never officially met. This is my Younger Brother, Haruto." Shirou introduced him.

Haruto smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"You have a little Brother? That's so cute." Miu admitted with a happy expression. "He looks like a smaller version of you."

"Who are you calling small?" Haruto grumbled annoyed like he was just insulted.

"I'm Miu Furinji." Miu introduced herself. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah, but I've seen you once before." Haruto informed her. "I saw you in the park one night with Kenichi while he kept jumping at you like he was trying to harass you."

Miu remembered that night with amusement. "Yeah, we were training back then."

"Wait, you saw us then?" Kenichi asked, not knowing that. Then Haruto's words just sunk in. "Hold on! Is that what it looked like a was doing?!" He asked, clearly upset.

"Forget stupid stuff like that." Shirou interrupted him. "Why are you guys at this Amusement Park?"

Kenichi leaned in so only Shirou could hear. "Well, I saw Niijima in front of the movie theater and knew he was going to ruin my date if we ran into him, soI decided to take Miu somewhere else."

Shirou stepped back. "I get that, but how did that lead to you guys coming here?"

"Well, Miu's never been to a lot of places in town because she's always taking care of things at the dojo." Kenichi explained before smiling. "So I wanted her to have a really fun time today by taking her to a lot of fun places."

"We know, we saw the clown and wrecked arcade game on the way here." Haruto informed him.

Miu smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I just got a bit carried away." Miu then clapped her hands and thought of something. "Oh, why don't you two hang out with us?"

"Huh?" Kenichi gasped, clearly not expecting that.

Haruto seemed okay with it. "Sure, why not?"

Shirou shrugged. "Fine by me."

"Hold on, wait!" Kenichi attempted to object. "Miu, this is a date remember? Shouldn't it just be the two of us?"

"Yeah but, you said we were gonna have more fun than ever day? And won't it be more fun if all our friends were here?" Miu asked, not seeing the problem.

"Gah!" Kenichi cried out. "She doesn't care about the date at all nor is she even a little interested in me!" He whined.

"I thought that was obvious?" Haruto noted.

"To everyone but him." Shirou clarified.

Kenichi snared at him. "Would it kill you to NOT take a crack at me every chance you get?"

"Then stop making an ass of yourself." Shirou replied.

"So anyway, is there any ride in particular that you want to go on?" Haruto asked Miu.

"Well…" Miu looked around as she trailed off.

However, it was clear to see that her eyes were drawn to one ride in particular. That being a nearby Merry-go-round. She then looked down before she looked up and said.

"Ah, oh I'm sorry, I kinda spaced out for a second."

"Ah, let me guess, you've never been to an Amusement Park either, have you?" Kenichi guessed.

"You haven't?" Shirou asked.

"No, I haven't." Miu admitted. "Granpa never had a chance to take me, we were too busy training every day." She then sounded upset. "Sometimes I feel like I missed out, I would've loved to try a ride like that just once."

"You feel like you missed out, huh?" Shirou repeated with some interest. "I can't exactly say I agree, but I think I can relate."

That got both Kenichi and Miu's attention and she asked. "What do you mean?"

Shirou leaned back against a tree and sighed. "I guess I never really told you guys, have I? Truth is, I also traveled around ever since I was a kid, back during the time I was being trained by my Dad."

Kenichi became surprised and asked. "Wait, you mean back when your family moved away when we were kids, it's because you guys left to go travel all over Japan?"

"Not exactly." Haruto told him, before correcting him. "The thing is, we didn't travel around Japan, we went to places outside of Japan as well."

Now both Kenichi and Miu's eyes widened, but the Kenichi remembered something.

(Still though, Apachai wasn't just strong and fast, his skill and Technique were flawless." Shirou pondered on it. "Even in Thailand I never met anyone that good.)

(Yeah…" Kenichi agreed, before zoning in on the main thing he said. "Wait, you've been to Thailand?!)

(My family stayed there for a short period, but that's a story for another time." Shirou told him.)

(Kenichi was still curious but accepted his response.)

"That's right, you said you've been to Thailand before." Kenichi recalled.

"Not just Thailand, we also went to Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, heck we even spent some time in Mexico and England." Shirou listed down. "Never got to go to China though, pity I really wanted to see it."

"That's crazy, you actually went to all of those places?" Kenichi asked, sounding impressed. "Why?"

"I told my Dad I wanted to learn how to fight and when he heard how serious I was, he said "let's go on a trip" after that, with every new place we went to, there were people there that he knew who assisted him in training me or teaching me different styles." Shirou explained, remembering those days. "MMA is all about fighting with any style you know and the Old Man wanted to teach me all the styles and disciplines he thought I needed to know."

"So you were trained by your Dad just like how Grandpa trained me?" Miu asked, not knowing this.

"Not exactly, my Dad's way of training someone was different than those of Ryozanpaku." Shirou confessed. "He prefers to start small and then work his way up in terms of training. Plus in each place we went to, there were always a lot of things for me to learn so even though we moved around a lot, we always stayed in one place long enough to at least get used to it."

"And every second of every day wasn't spent training, there were days where we just enjoyed the sights or went to places for fun." Haruto added. "That's why this isn't our first time at an Amusement Park. But honestly, they're all pretty much the same no matter where you go."

"Huh, I had no idea you grew up like that." Miu spoke before she thought to herself. "This explains so much though, I knew he wasn't trained by ordinary methods, but to think that this was the case. Who knows what kind of Martial Artists he's met over the years and what they could've taught him."

Kenichi then asked. "Wait a second, Haruto. You were there too, did you also go through the same training as Shirou?"

"Not at first." Haruto admitted. "In the beginning, I just watched him training, but after two years of traveling, I decided I wanted to join in. I don't know as much as my Brother, but…" He paused then looked a little confident. "I'm pretty sure I could hold my own in a fight."

"Back to what I was saying before." Shirou reentered the conversation. "While I can somewhat understand how you feel, I can't say I agree."

"You mean about how I said I felt like I missed out?" Miu asked.

Shirou nodded. "While it's true we may not have been able to enjoy some of the simpler things in life like everything else, the way I see it we got something out of it that I say is pretty great in it of itself. And being able to fight." He reasoned.

"You mean Martial Arts?" Miu asked for confirmation.

"I can't speak for the rest of you, but I've never regretted being taught how to fight or becoming a fighter. After all, remember that day we first met?" Shirou brought up.

Miu became confused. "You mean on the way to school?"

Shirou shook his head. "No, I mean what happened after school against those thugs."

Miu's eyes widened as she remembered. "Oh yeah, but when we fought those guys who were harassing the old man."

"Exactly, remember how those guys just did whatever they wanted and how everyone saw it happening but just kept walking and pretended to ignore it?" Shirou reminisced. "If we never became as strong as we are now, we might have done the same. It's frustrating but if you don't know how to fight you can't do anything but be a spectator. That's why I'm glad I spent most of my life training, now any time I see something like that happen I can actually step up and do something about it. Don't you think so too?" He asked Miu.

Hearing his words made Miu think about some things, then she smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I glad that I can use the Martial Arts that Grandpa taught me to protect others like back then."

Kenichi who silently listened to all this also started to think. "Now that I think back on it, I also did nothing back then." He remembered, upset. "I was too weak to do anything back then, but now I'm a lot stronger and I'll definitely be able to do something if something like that ever happens again."

Haruto then spoke out. "Well, the way I see it, saying you missed out isn't entirely accurate." He pointed out. "I mean, it's not like you never got to have an ordinary life. You go to High School and are part of a club, plus you're at the Amusement Park right now and you got to do a lot of other stuff today too."

"Yeah but, there was a lot I wasn't able to do as a kid." Miu pointed out.

"Miu, you're only sixteen and a 1st Year High School student." Haruto reminded her. "As far as society is concerned you're still a kid. Even if there were things you couldn't do back then, you do whatever you want now, after all, we've got all the time in the world to have fun." He said lightheartedly.

After hearing all that, Miu felt her spirits were lifted and she cheered up. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Kenichi then got up and grabbed her arm. "You bet he's right, let's do it."

"Huh?" Miu looked at him confused.

"Come on, let's go take a spin on the merry-go-round." Kenichi elaborated. "You wanna try it right? Well here's your chance. No time like the present."

"But, well the thing is, I just ah…" Miu nervously fumbled with her words.

Without waiting, Kenichi ran towards the ride while holding her arm. Already deciding for her that she was going to ride it. "When you feel like you really want to do something you should just take a leap and go for it." He told her as they ran.

Shirou and Haruto followed him and they heard Kenichi's advice.

Haruto commented. "Hey, that was actually some pretty good advice."

Shirou shrugged. "Even a broken clock can be right twice a day."

After reaching the merry-go-round, Kenichi and Miu step onto it while Shirou and Haruto stand next to the ride and watch them. Miu sits on one of the horses, smiling while still seeming flustered.

"Don't be scared, there's really nothing to worry about." Kenichi reassured her on a nearby horse.

"Yeah, okay." Miu responded, more at ease.

The merry-go-round soon started moving and Kenichi and Miu were going around on their horses. As they were going around, Kenichi looked to Miu.

"These kid's rides can be pretty boring, I hope she's not disappointed." Kenichi thought.

Contrary to his thoughts though, Miu looked relaxed and looked over to the side to see a small child who was standing next to the ride watch her ride the merry-go-round. She the child, Miu waved to her and the child smiled and waved back.

Seeing that Haruto thought of something.

"Miu!" Haruto called out to get her attention.

When she looked at him, both Haruto and Shirou waved to Miu as well, this made her even happier as she thought. "Wow, so this is what it feels like to finally be the one waving from this side of the ride."

Seeing her smile also made Kenichi happy. "It's great, she looks like she's having fun."

Shirou also smiled a little, but he tried not to show it. "I guess this is okay every once in a while."

After they got off the merry-go-round, Miu had decided she wanted to go back to the theater and watch the movie she and Kenichi were supposed to go to for their date. The Tsukiharu Brothers decided to go with them and now the group of four were walking down the sidewalk towards the movie theater.

"Are you positive you still want to see that movie?" Kenichi asked her, distraught.

"Yeah, besides aren't you the one who told me if I really wanted to do something I should just do it?" Miu happily reminded him.

Kenichi groaned and lowered his head. "Yeah."

Shirou closed in on him and asked loud enough only for him to hear. "Why are so against going to the movies?"

"Because I know that Niijima is there." Kenichi answered, equally as quiet. "And now we're probably going to have to dodge him again."

"Why dodge him at all?" Shirou asked, not seeing the problem. "What possible issue is there in running into him right now?"

"He might ruin my date." Kenichi replied like it was obvious before he groaned again. "If you can even call this a date anymore."

"Yeah, but could he possibly do besides talk to you?" Shirou reasoned. "If that's the case, you can just let him say what he wants to tell you and then go, it's just that simple/"

"You don't get it." Kenichi stubbornly argued. "Just being near that freak of nature will make something bad happen, I just know it."

Shirou stopped trying when he realized Kenichi's discomfort was based solely on paranoia. It wasn't long until they arrived in front of the movie theater where to Kenichi's surprise and relief, Niijima was nowhere to be seen.

"Would you look at that, I guess he must have given up on me." Kenichi inwardly guessed, relieved.

However, just then they all heard an angry voice coming from a nearby alleyway.

"Where is Shirahama? Don't make me ask you again or I swear you'll regret it!"

The four of them went to look and surprisingly enough, they saw Niijima on the ground while three Delinquents were standing around him, one of them was standing on his head while threatening him.

"I already told you guys that I don't know where he is." Niijima breathed out while his head was forced into the ground.

"You stubborn little weasel." One of them snared as he kicked him.

"You better start singing like a bird." Another one warned him.

"Please don't hurt me, I swear to you I don't know where he is." Niijima pleaded with them. "I don't even know the guy."

"Don't lie to me!" One of them warned him. "We've all seen you hang out with him and Tsukiharu, if anyone has seen him it'd be you."

"Niijima?" Miu noticed surprised.

Shirou clenched his fists. "Those Basterds."

"Guess Ragnarok never takes a day off." Haruto noted, looking over at Shirou. "What's the plan?"

Shirou shook his head. "Don't need one for this, we'll finish it quickly. And there's one for each of us." He looked back at them. "Miu, Kenichi, pick either of them and go."

Miu nodded but Kenichi just turned away. "What are you talking about? We're gonna miss the movie."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Haruto questioned him.

"Yeah, aren't you going to help him?" Miu added, surprised at him.

"Why should I?" Kenichi asked, not seeing any reason to. "He brought this on himself."

As if something inside of him snapped, Shirou immediately closed the distance between himself and Kenichi, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and glared at him.

"Stop screwing around Kenichi, are you honestly saying you're just going to pretend you didn't see that?!" Shirou angrily questioned him.

"What does it matter, it's just Niijima?" Kenichi tried to defend his actions. "Besides, it doesn't have anything to do with me."

"Is that your new excuse?" Shirou coldly asked him.

Kenichi became confused. "What?"

"Every time trouble happens you always have an excuse ready to justify why you do nothing. Before I could forgive you because you were a weakling, but now you have the ability and the chance to do something, and yet you're still making excuses to not to." Shirou accused him. Which shocked and silenced Kenichi. If you still plan on doing nothing even now, then what the Hell did you bother learning Martial Arts for?" He questioned him before he let go.

After letting go of Kenichi, Shirou walked towards the alleyway to stop what was happening. While Kenichi watched him go, he glanced towards Miu and noticed the disapproving gaze she was also giving him. He then thought back.

(Well, I definitely will not become like that!" Kenichi said, with new determination. "If I become strong, I will use it to protect the weak! I will become a Hero, then I will take care of those punks!)

(Now that I think back on it, I also did nothing back then." He remembered, upset. "I was too weak to do anything back then, but now I'm a lot stronger and I'll definitely be able to do something if something like that ever happens again.)

Remembering the claims he made and the fact that his current actions are a complete contradiction to them, Kenichi became frustrated with himself and clenched his teeth as he muttered. "What am I doing?"

As Shirou arrived in front of the alleyway he spoke. "Hold—"

"HOLD IT!" Kenichi interrupted him by running in front of him and shouting louder. "Let him go!"

Niijima and the Delinquents looked up to see Kenichi and Shirou standing in front of them. When Niijima saw them he gasped with relief.

"You came to save me!" Niijima became more confident. "I told you guys they were my friends! Now teach them a lesson they'll never forget!"

"That's the exact opposite of what you said!" Shirou annoyingly pointed out, before looking to Kenichi. "Speaking of opposite, what are you doing?"

Kenichi didn't face him but simply said. "I just remembered why I became a Martial Artist."

Shirou didn't change his expression and looked back at the thugs. "About time."

"So you two are the punks that picked a fight with Kisara huh?" One of the thugs questioned.

"I'm not just some punk, third-string." Shirou shot back.

Kenichi looked a little nervous. "This guy looks tough."

The same thug stepped forward. "I'm gonna enjoy making you two bleed!"

"Kenichi, this one's yours." Shirou told him.

"What?" Kenichi said surprised.

"Just do what you were taught." Shirou advised him.

"He's right, calm down." Kenichi thought as he raised his fists. "There's no getting out of this, I've just gotta trust my training."

('Cause with stuff hits the fan, your training is the one thing you can count on.)

(If you wanna break a jaw then aim for the chin.)

The thug charged at him. "Here I came!"

Kenichi stood his ground, clenched his fist and punched his opponent in the chin as hard as he could. The punch was so strong, it rocked him, made his pause for a moment and finally, he hit the ground with a thud, unconscious.

When Kenichi saw what his punch just did, he himself was surprised.

"I-I did it?" He asked no one.

"It's like I told you before." Shirou told him, not surprised by what just happened. "You're more than strong enough to beat losers like that."

Kenichi looked back at his fist, then felt a sense of pride in himself.

"Okay, now it's my tur to.….?" Shirou paused.

The reason being that when he looked back at the remaining two Delinquents, they were both on the ground, defeated and Miu stood over them showing that she was responsible, she then smiled at Kenichi.

"I'm so proud of you." She praised him.

"Thanks, I was pretty amazing huh?" Kenichi replied, flattered.

"Miu!" Shirou angrily yelled at her.

"What?" Miu asked, surprised by his yell.

"You were supposed to save one for me!" Shirou reminded her, in a reprimanding way.

As if she just realized she did something wrong, her expression became apologetic. "I'm my gosh, I'm really sorry. I just got carried away."

"The second stick." Haruto thought as he looked at Kenichi. "He probably still doesn't notice but his mentality matured again, now he's become the Kenichi that fights to protect others regardless of who they are." He summarized before looking at Miu and Shirou. "And more than that, I think the trigger that motivates his growth is them, it's like he's able to overcome his fears when he wants to be like Brother or Miu or when he wants to avoid being seen in a negative light by them. It's almost like how a kid would think but it works for Kenichi."

"Hey, what are you staring at?" Shirou asked his Brother.

Haruto just smiled. "I'll tell you later."

"Hahahaha! Niijima got up and laughed at the fallen Delinquents. "You idiots! I told you guys they were my best friends but you wouldn't listen to me!" He gloated as he pointed at Shirou. "This guy is a master of all kinds of Martial Arts!" Then he pointed at Kenichi. "And this guy trains with him every day! Karate, Kick-Boxing, weird Chinese stuff you've never even heard of! That's right and they're busting their butts day in and day and day out so you'd better watch your backs 'cause if they get any stronger they'll take you all down!"

"…Niijima, you know they're unconscious right?" Shirou pointed out.

"How does he knew what kind of training I do?" Kenichi wondered. "Is he stalking me or something?"

"Hahaha! These guys aren't scared of Ragnarok!" Niijima continued, not caring if they could hear him or not. "Bring it on! Whatever you want!"

Miu then stepped forward. "Isn't it suspicious that these thugs somehow knew you'd be here today?" She noticed.

"Not just that, it was Kenichi specifically." Haruto added, also finding it strange. "Normally they target the both of you, but they came here as if they only expected the find, Kenichi."

"Well, now that you mention it…" Kenichi saw their point.

Shirou sighed. "The only answer if someone told them about this date. And I'm pretty sure I know who, but first I think you should see something." He then turned to Niijima. "Do you still have the schedule?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Niijima took out a piece of paper and showed it to Kenichi and Miu. "Here, see for yourself."

"What?" Kenichi gasped as he and Miu stood shocked and what they were seeing.

After seeing the schedule, Kenichi and Miu rushed back to the dojo, Shirou decided to go with them while Niijima and Haruto did not. Once they arrived at the dojo, Kenichi confronted Sakaki, Kensei, and Akisame and slammed the schedule on the floor in front of them.

"Kenichi Shirahama Activity Schedule!" Kenichi yelled at them. "It's not bad enough that every bully in school is after me, you guys had to tell them where I am!"

Shirou was leaning against the wall and spoke. "Seriously? This was your big plan?"

"Yes well, it was all Akisame's idea." Kensei told them.

Akisame took a sip of tea before he answered. "It was what I like to call the carrot and stick approach."

"Come again?" Kenichi didn't understand.

"He means the date was a setup." Shirou explained it to him. "Niijima being there was an accident, their original idea was for you guys to go to the movies while they tell the thugs where you are, then they target Miu while would give you the incentive to fight them."

After hearing all that, Kenichi gasped. "Are you people insane? You used Miu as bait so those thugs would attack me and I'd have to fight them?"

"Well, you already ran away from those punks once. We had to find a way to snap you out of your little funk." Sakaki reasoned.

"Perhaps cruel but think of it as tough love." Kensei told him.

"Well, I don't need love like that okay!" Kenichi snapped at him.

"Hey, whether you like it or not, those bullies are coming for you." Sasaki reminded him. "It doesn't matter what you do, you'll have to fight them sooner or later."

"That's right, remember the enemy will never stop attacking you." Akisame added.

"I get that, but you don't have to help them do it." Kenichi whined with comical tears.

Miu sat down next to him and smiled. "Remember, a man doesn't choose his path in life, only whether to walk it."

"Huh, are you forgetting they used you as a carrot?" Kenichi reminded her.

Miu raised her hand. "That's okay, I can forgive them… For now."

Kenichi turned to Shirou. "What about you? If you knew they were placing those sheets around, why didn't you tell me?"

Shirou pointed to the Masters. "I wanted to hear what they had to say first, after that I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt when they said they had a plan."

"And, what did you think?" Akisame asked.

"I think you all need to get your heads examined." Shirou bluntly told them.

"Well now, that wasn't very nice." Akisame noted.

"When you said you had a plan I was actually interested to see what you would come up with, but no matter how you look at it, this was just plain stupid." Shirou continued, not holding back. "It's like a teacher telling a student they have a day off only to give them a stack of homework to do on that day, no doubt it'll stress them out even more."

"Well, being a teacher is harder than you think you know?" Kensei defended.

"What's all this commotion about?" Hayato asked as he came in the dojo.

"Oh, hi Hayato." Akisame greeted him.

"Kenichi, since Grandpa has lots of life experience, he should be able to find a solution." Miu suggested an idea.

"Ah, right." Kenichi nodded.

Shirou shrugged. "Well we're licked anyway, so what's there to lose."

As Kenichi explained the situation to The Elder, he patiently sat there and heard the whole story, while he was talking, Shigure and Apachai soon entered the dojo as well and once Kenichi as done, everyone awaited to hear Hayato's response.

He stroked his beard and spoke. "I see, this is quite a mess. How about I give you a good plan."

"A plan you say?" Kenichi asked with interest.

Hayato grinned and told him. "It's called the "Fight and fight until I'm the last one standing" Plan!"

"Gyyyyaaaaa!" Kenichi shrieked in dismay.

"Although, there's also the "Run and run forever until you finally get caught" Plan!" Hayato offered him.

"Quit joking around ya geezer!" Shirou snapped at him. "That's a stupid idea."

"Yeah, exactly." Kenichi agreed with him.

"If there are only two choices, of course, anyone would go with the "Fight" plan." Shirou reasoned.

Hayato chuckled a bit. "Haha! Yes, I suppose you have a point."

"That's not the issue here!" Kenichi snapped at them.

"Hehehe! Once you start a fight you can't stop it halfway!" Sakaki added with a laugh.

"Got it?" Kensei chimed in.

"But if the opponent it more knowledgeable, we have no choice but to train in a quick and timely manner or face defeat." Akisame pointed out.

"The enemy will… Probably use weapons." Shigure added her own thoughts.

Sakaki smirked and made a fist. "That takes me back! The first time I fought, around 50 people surrounded my house."

"Mine was 80 people." Kensei informed him.

"But the next time, it was twice the amount!" Sakaki added like it was a competition.

"I had twice the amount plus guns." Kensei shot back.

"Hmph, that's nothing." Shirou brushed off, unimpressed. "Just wait, one of these days I'll take on more guys than either of you."

"Hmm, is that so?" Kensei asked with interest. "Well, if you do end up pulling that off I'll treat you to some sake."

"Get real, by that time I'll still be too young to drink." Shirou replied with confidence.

"Ha! In that case, since you're so confident, how about we wager some money on it?" Sakaki offered, starting to enjoy this.

"Now that I can do, you're on." Shirou agreed to his wager.

"Why are they so into this?" Kenichi wondered as he saw them go back and forth.

"Kenichi." Hayato spoke which got everyone's attention. "Now this may surprise you but when I was a boy, the older boys at the dojo picked on me."

"You got picked on?" Kenichi asked, not believing it. "I never would have thought that."

"Of course, I made sure to pay them back 100 fold for what they did." Hayato continued.

Shirou nodded. "What goes around comes around."

"Yes, in fact I have a story I'd like for you all to hear." Hayato told them before he began. "Once there was a young Martial Artist, in his burning youth he recklessly took on 500 opponents all at once. That's right, once you start a fight, even if you never want to fight again, others will challenge you. Day after day, he had no choice but to spend his life going around destroying other dojos. When he finally came to his sense, that person…" He then grinned and pointed to himself. "Was an old man."

After hearing that, Kenichi fainted, Kensei and Sakaki laughed, Apachai looked confused, Shigure stayed silent, and Akisame scratched his chin.

"That was pretty deep." Akisame admitted.

"Ahahaha! That story was hilarious!" Kensei said while laughing,

"Fine, should I tell another one?" Hayato offered.

"That story doesn't help me at all!" Kenichi shouted at him. "Are you telling me to fight forever!?"

"Then again, in these stories, most people die in the middle of it." Hayato jokingly remembered.

"Grandpa quit it!" Miu scolded him.

Shirou just stood there silently and thought. "I wonder if I could fight 600 opponents at once?"

And that's the chapter. A bit of stuff went on this time, for one thing, the moments between Shirou and Haruto. As Haruto explained, it's going to take more than one moment of passion and emotion to make Kenichi a brave person right away, that would just be unrealistic. The story will follow two important journeys; Shirou sharpening his fangs until he reaches his full potential and Kenichi slowly creating his nest, stick by stick until he can become the person he also wished he could be.

Next, Shirou explaining what kind of training his Dad gave him. I always planned for it to be that, traveling to different parts of the world to learn different fighting styles, I figured if you want to learn a little of everything, what better way than to go the best places to train and learn them.

Finally the fight at the end, instead of how it went in the canon where Kenichi was going to just walk away but changed his mind because Miu just "Stared" at him. I decided to have some get called out on what he was doing and let him know he doesn't have an excuse to runaway anymore and whether or not he was serious about being a "Hero". Plus it was a chance for himself to finally realize for himself that he has become stronger.

Anyways thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, if you want more then be sure to leave a review, if you liked the story click the follow/favorite, and as always have an awesome day.