Whitewash High: Rising Sun Ch. 16

"No, just a strange card with an address on it."

"Sounds like Musashi to me. Don't ruin the surprise by going there or looking it up. It puts him in a mood when the surprise gets ruined. Let him enjoy playing host," Ryuji advised.

"I'll get going then, Ryuji, and check in by phone tomorrow sometime when you need me next."

"Rest up. Don't go hooking up with your new girlfriend," Ryuji joked.

Nik didn't reply to the joke, simply walking off out of the office.

"Speaking of someone else who gets their moods. I've never seen someone PMS so much from getting laid," Ryuji shook his head, going back to his paperwork.

X

Nik sat outside the convenience store in his usual jogging getup. He had his headphones in, breathing in slow, heavy breaths from the intense jog. Sipping from the newly bought water, he picked a spot on the sidewalk and stared at it. The rest of the world melted away, oblivious to his surroundings from the deep focus.

He never saw the punks walking up to the store, not that he would care even if not in a trance. Taking another sip, he sat far enough from the door to not cause any problems for customers going in and out of the shop.

The gang went into the store and a few minutes later came out, laughing loudly and cracking open their liquor. Unlike the last gang he ran into, this one did not recruit a lone female to give them a little color and flair.

The nightly ritual helped clear Nik's mind, give him focus, and contemplate the future. Lessons with Barbaydas were improving. He only suffered bruises on half his body instead of the full thing. No longer the low man on the totem pole, he could beat a good majority of the students in the dojo during serious sparring lessons.

It helped to have an unnatural drive to continuously improve. Revenge, vengeance, rage, all of the above would do that to a person.

"Hey, gaijin, go fuck off back to your own country," one of the punks shouted out.

The beer in his hand had already been guzzled down, and the smell of a dozen more wafted from his body. They were drunk as skunks, and Nik could smell it even as far away as he sat. Ignoring the taunt, he kept sipping from the plastic bottle.

"Hey, fuckface, I'm talking to you. Get back to your own country, white trash. You're not welcome here," the man continued shouting.

Crunching up the empty beer can, he tossed it at Nik's head. Ricocheting off his skull, Nik cared little about humiliation. What pride did he have left? Tortured, abused, his heart ripped from his chest, the can attack only provoked a singular action now.

Standing up, Nik slowly turned his body towards the group, pulling back his hood. The group pointed, snickered, laughed, not intimidated in the least. In perfect Japanese, Nik opened his mouth to address the gang.

"Want to fight? Want to beat my face in? I'm right here. You called me a fuckface. Are you a coward to toss a piece of garbage? Here, I'll give you a free shot."

Nik's voice remained calm but had an edge to it. The group did not know how to react to him. They did not expect the foreigner to talk back in Japanese nor confront them. Continuing to laugh and point, their voices simmered down once Nik went face to face with the man who threw the can.

"Come on, first punch is free. Next one I break your knee."

"You're crazy, foreigner. Five versus one and you think you can break my knee?"

Nik fronted off with the man, getting closer into his face. He had a quarter of a foot over all of them, and easily out muscled them all. They were slender, bendy looking, and if anything from Barbaydas stuck in Nik's head it was never underestimate an opponent no matter how mismatched they appeared to be.

Taking the bait, the leader pushed Nik to give him enough space to throw a full arcing hook. Blocked it with a forearm, Nik countered with a kick to the man's knee. Full on, dead center, everyone could hear the bone snap like a twig.

He did not wait or care what the other four had planned, going on the offensive. Throwing punches and kicks, he pummeled on the next guy. Quickly, it became obvious that these punks were all bark and no bite. The second man fell to the ground without getting a single punch in, bleeding from a broken nose and some broken ribs.

Two of the three remaining scattered off into the night, leaving their buddies behind. Nik made a quick head fake towards the third and he too ran off, afraid, leaving a small, yellow puddle near where he stood.

"Next time you want to tell someone you do not know to go fuck off, make sure you know who it is you're talking to."

No remorse escaped Nik's lips while he knelt next to the leader. The man kept crying in pain, holding onto a broken kneecap, all because he chose to pick a fight at the wrong time with the one foreigner in the city that wanted any excuse to fight.

The cameras caught the entire display. Not bothering to run away because he pulled down the hood, Nik went back to his original spot to sip on more water as the cops were no doubt on their way to make an arrest.

Ten minutes later, a squad car pulled up, with a man and woman stepping out in a typical patrolman's uniform. It took them by surprise to see a foreigner sitting there, cool and calm, with two others rolling around in agonizing pain.

"What happened?" the male cop asked of the two broken gang members.

"They picked a fight with me and couldn't back up their actions," Nik interrupted.

"You speak Japanese?" the female cop asked.

"Fluently. Ask them, I'm sure they'll be happy to confess to starting the fight. Or the cameras will."

Nik pointed up above them to the security camera. The female cop smirked, impressed at the damage the man did, all while trying to secure self-defence.

"So, is what he said true?" the female cop asked.

"No, of course not. He attacked us first. We did nothing but mind our own business while this foreigner started insulting us. Fuck Japan this, fuck Japan that, he is just a racist."

"What do you think, Stacy?" the male cop asked.

"I'll bring the foreigner in for some questioning and you can handle these guys with the ambulance."

"I'm not getting stuck with the ambulance this time. I got ambulance duty last time."

"Yeah, but code FI. You got four of them in a row."

The male cop raised an eyebrow, looked over at the foreign suspect, then rolled his eyes.

"Fine, code FI."

"Get in," Stacy ordered, pointing to the back of the squad car.

She opened the door for him. Nik quietly sat in the backseat, hearing the door slam shut. He looked out the window, noticing the female cop saunter inside the convenience store. Minutes passed by before she walked out, a big smile on her face. Nik tried to make out what the two officers discussed but it didn't last long.

"Ready for a quick ride?" the female cop stated after opening the door to the front seat and hopping inside. "Care to confess?"

"Nothing to confess. I didn't start it. Watch the camera."

"I did. One surgical kick to the kneecap and pop, down the guy goes like a heap of potatoes. Can't say I know how it feels to break a man's kneecap."

"If you saw the video then why am I being detained?" Nik asked. "I'm not pressing charges."

"Neither is the store clerk. Refused to, but that would ruin my fun. Just answer a few questions and do your civic duty, or are you late for another knee breaking?" the officer laughed at her own joke.

"I'll cooperate fully, Officer," Nik replied.

He noticed he didn't wear any handcuffs. If they planned on arresting him then it'd be proper procedure. He pushed the limit of stupidity getting into the fight. No doubt Musashi, and especially Ryuji, would give him an earful for getting busted fighting. Rest and relax, give the magical cock a break, but something inside him snapped when the punks started the fight. Instead of walking off, he threw down and now ended up in the back of a squad car.

"Don't worry, I'll have you back in time for more knee-cappings. Honestly, you helped the public. I recognized those punks and someone finally put them in their place. Smart man to do it on camera and let them throw the first punch. The convenience store clerk saw the whole thing too, so you're in the clear."

"Couldn't take my statement there at the scene?" Nik asked.

"I want to make it official, procedure and all that paperwork."

The female officer drove only for a few minutes to a small, partially lit koban. The two story building housed local police officers that handled local petty crimes, or public service roles like lost and found or directions. Empty from the front, the officer parked the car in the back.

"Time for me to take your statement," she stated, cheerfully.