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The sun was beginning to set over the beach, but the boy worked tirelessly, still picking up the shells he deemed fit. Tomorrow, he would carry them to the hospital, like he tried to do at least twice a week, despite his notorious training in the meantime.
When the shells were finally becoming close to impossible to see, Tsukasa finally decided it was time to head back; it would be a waste of energy to search further. As he trudged along the sand slowly turning into a concrete path under his feet, he saw a group of people shouting not too far from him. Upon a quick judgement, he decided to pay it no further attention; it was better to save his strength for training and actual fights which would get him money for Mirai, his sister.
However, the path unavoidably drew him closer to what he could now tell was an argument about to turn physical. A group of perhaps four teenagers was cornering a smaller group of slightly younger kids who seemed much less prepared.
‘Give that back!’ one of the younger boys shouted to what looked like the leader of the offending group.
The older kids laughed, and the sound of breaking glass echoed loudly down the long empty roads. Upon hearing this, Tsukasa couldn’t help but stop in his tracks – this wasn’t good. Glass could be a dangerous weapon in the hands of reckless kids.
‘Come on, Taiju, it isn’t worth it,’ A girl held the shouting boy back, clearly the smarter one. It would be no good to get into a fight in that situation, the smaller group was clearly at a loss.
‘We can use my dad’s card to replace all this,’ another boy said, wearing a large white lab coat which made him look almost ghastly in the dark. ‘Yuzuriha is right, this isn’t worth getting beaten up over.’
The brown haired boy, Taiju, seemed unconvinced. Tsukasa suspected the situation was bound to escalate. It was a waste of time to stand by and watch, but he wouldn’t want to deal with any regret if he just left the kids here to get beaten up.
Making sure the seashells were stowed away safely in his bag, he walked up to the two groups.
‘Do you have a problem?’ he asked the group of older kids. In reality, he was probably the same age as them but his naturally larger build and relentless training gave him a significant advantage.
The ‘leader’ cowered, taking a few steps back. ‘No, we were just about to head home!’ he said, motioning to the rest of his friends, who quickly nodded.
As they turned and hurried away, Tsukasa turned to the three remaining kids. They were all holding a bunch of flasks and objects which he judged to be some sort of science equipment, much rather what you’d expect a college student to have. There were a few more things lying on the ground, but they were all too broken to be of any use again.
‘Thank you!’ the boy, Taiju, cried. ‘You’re a real life saver, they broke all of Senku’s stuff,’ he motioned to the mess Tsukasa had already noticed, ‘Those things cost a fortune, don’t they?’ he asked the boy in the lab coat.
‘They do,’ he replied, ‘But it’s fine, I can fix most of it, and I have money to replace the rest. Thanks for the help though.’
He scanned Tsukasa with a calculating gaze, as if getting all the information he needed from a single look.
‘Won’t you even ask for his name?’ the girl, Yuzuriha whispered, appalled at his rudeness.
‘I know who you are,’ the boy said, crossing his arms despite a bag of science things he was holding, ‘I’ve seen some of your fights on TV. Tsukasa Shishio, right?’
Tsukasa stared at him dumbfounded; he had won a few big fights, but merely a few were streamed, and his name hasn’t yet won any big titles. He nodded.
‘See? I was ten billion percent sure its him,’ He boasted, ‘Thanks for the help, Tsukasa,’ he said again, this time slightly more sincere. The other two also began thanking him.
‘It’s nothing.’ Tsukasa replied – he hadn’t done much, just walked up to the group. He turned to head back, now way later than he had planned.
‘Wait!’ Taiju shouted, ‘There must be some way we can repay you!’
Tsukasa was about to scoff, he didn’t want anything from those kids. After another thought, however, he remembered the lab coat kid, Senku, mentioning money as though he had plenty to spare. Some extra cash for helping them could be undeniably useful. Pushing his pride aside, he decided to put Mirai’s health first once again as he brushed his hand against the bag of seashells, something which had become a habit of his.
‘Repay me, in what way?’ he asked, pausing.
‘Would you want to hang out with us sometime?’ Taiju smiled, ‘Senku always does the coolest things for us, and Yuzuriha could make you the best jewellery from the shells we collected on the beach today. We could all be friends!’
Sighing, Tsukasa was about to decline; he had no use for these sorts of things. However, the boy seemed genuinely excited and it had been nice to meet someone who recognised him for limited public appearances, no matter how bizarre the group seemed with their weird science things. He realised that, for the last few months, he had begun to feel increasingly lonely. Maybe having someone to spend his limited time with could help boost his mood, and thus his morale in his upcoming fights.
‘Sure,’ he finally said, ‘I wouldn’t mind that.’