Restarting My Life After Failing to Protect Girls in My Class – The Day I Was Called the "Demon God of Dragon Slaying" - Episode 16

“Seriously, I’m so sorry! Miyuki! Aoi! You guys are lifesavers!”

A shirtless man entered with his hands pressed together in apology.

In a corner of the massive club, there was a group of people who stood out from the loud and flashy crowd. As soon as Noma and Aoki arrived, a shirtless man pushed through the crowd and appeared in front of them.

The group wore matching gray haoris over their casual clothes. “Shumisen” was quite an old-fashioned name, and these people were probably members of the Shumisen gang—one of the two major delinquent fighting groups.

There were about twenty of them.

At the back of the underground club, near a small empty pool—eight meters long, five meters wide, and one meter deep—they gathered around leather sofas, glaring at the rowdy dancers.

So… the guys who picked a fight with us earlier must be from the other major gang, Golgotha, right?

That’s what I thought as I quickly grasped the situation.

It seemed like Shumisen had invaded Golgotha’s base.

And judging by their demeanor, Golgotha appeared relaxed—drinking, smoking, and dancing—while Shumisen looked tense.

Either way, a clash between the two major delinquent factions seemed inevitable. There was no way this would end without a fight.

And now, Noma, Aoki, and I were caught up in it.

“Inura, what the hell is going on? This place is insane,” Aoki said, frustration and anger in her voice.

Even the usually cheerful and carefree Noma spoke up.

“You said we’d just watch the Shumisen and Golgotha leaders talk things out. That it’d be bad if we stayed since the mood would turn ugly. You even kept shouting about making it clear that we were uninvolved, so we wore our school uniforms for this!”

She spoke rapidly, blaming the shirtless man—Inura.

“I know, I know, my bad. Look, just sit down first. Have some juice and relax, okay?”

Inura gestured toward the leather sofa, inviting them to sit. He had a lean, muscular build and a handsome face, the kind that would suit a lead role in a romantic movie.

He seemed about 175 cm tall and weighed around 65 kg. His slightly messy hair hung over his sharp features, giving him a princely look.

Despite being part of a gang, he was dressed like a fighter before a match—shirtless, wearing short fight shorts, and barefoot.

“You’re explaining everything.”

“Yeah, there are things you can and can’t do, even between friends.”

Reluctantly, Aoki and Noma sat on the five-seater leather sofa.

So, I—without an invitation—silently took the seat next to them. My 112 kg frame sank deep into the worn-out leather.

Inura, who hadn’t noticed me until now, blinked and asked, “Who are you?”

I replied calmly, “Their classmate.”

Noma quickly added, “I asked him to come because I was a little scared. We ran into him on our way here.”

The Shumisen members murmured among themselves. They probably hadn’t expected a complete outsider to be here. The only one unfazed was the blond-haired wolf-cut guy who led us in.

Inura leaned forward, staring at me.

“You’re huge. Not just your height—your whole body.”

“I guess so.”

“Born that way?”

“Who knows.”

I brushed off his questions. My size didn’t matter right now.

Inura turned back to face Aoki and Noma. Placing both hands on his knees, he bowed deeply.

“I’m sorry! I tricked you!”

“……”

“……”

The two girls stayed silent. The situation spoke for itself.

“I needed you two here for my fight tonight. If I don’t avenge our sixth-generation leader, Kanata Dojima, Shumisen will fall apart. Because he lost, only these guys here showed up to support me.”

Inura clapped his right fist into his left palm. His face burned with determination, like a hero from a shonen manga.

“Kanata was the strongest leader Shumisen ever had. With him around, Golgotha kept quiet, and we kept winning.”

A delinquent, but fiercely loyal to his friends.

A delinquent, but full of passion.

“We were so close to ending this war with Golgotha… but they brought in a brutal outsider. Kanata fought him one-on-one in July and ended up in the hospital. That changed everything.”

He wasn’t pure evil. But lying to bring two girls into such a dangerous place? That was beyond ridiculous.

“Believe me! Shumisen stands for justice! We were formed eight years ago to protect people from Golgotha’s violence. You know that, right?”

His passionate plea only left Noma and Aoki more confused.

Aoki’s voice trembled slightly as she asked, “I’ve never met this Kanata guy, but… why do you need Miyuki and me for your fight?”

His answer was too cheerful.

“Since we already lost once, Golgotha demanded something in return for a rematch. They said if we put up two gorgeous girls as prizes, they’d fight. Turns out, Miyuki and Aoi are famous! The moment I mentioned your names, they agreed!”

I didn’t even let him finish before sighing and looking up at the ceiling.

What an idiot. An absolute idiot. The biggest idiot of the century.

Noma and Aoi once said Inura “wasn’t a bad guy” and “seemed nice,” but they were dead wrong.

He was just a bright, oblivious fool.

Maybe harmless in normal times, but someone who causes disasters when it matters most.

“Don’t worry! I won’t lose! I won’t let them lay a finger on you!”

He hadn’t even considered the possibility of losing. His only concern was protecting Shumisen.

“I’m prepared! Do you really think I, Daiki Inuura, Shumisen’s sixth-generation vice leader, the ‘Brawling Demon,’ will lose?”

His lack of foresight was staggering. As someone who spent fifteen years as a working adult, I despised people like him.

Then suddenly—

“—So, you sold us out,” Aoki muttered, her voice ice-cold.

But Inuura, oblivious to the girls’ despair, laughed and waved a hand.

“It’s not selling! It’s just a prize for the fight! If I win, nothing happens!”

Aoki stood up abruptly.

“Miyuki, Kizuki, let’s go.”

She took Noma’s hand and turned to leave.

—But then.

The Shumisen members immediately blocked her way. If the leader was a fool, his followers were no better.

Inuura, still sitting, looked up at Aoki with an innocent smile.

“We’re friends, right? We’ve always had fun together. Please, stay.”

Pathetic. I couldn’t stand listening anymore.

I thought about helping out Aoki, but—

Suddenly, the music in the club stopped.

“Ga, bobo!”
“Hey!! You guys, stop dancing around like fools!! It’s finally time for the main event!!”

After the sound of someone grabbing a microphone, the speakers on the ceiling blasted a deep, menacing voice, making the whole club erupt in cheers.

“―――――――――――――――――Yeahhhhh――――――――”

It was so loud that I couldn’t even hear what Noma said to Inura.

Everyone in the club—except for the three of us and the Shumisen members—raised their fists high in the air, both men and women alike.

The speakers roared again.

“Tonight, bl00d will flow!! Those weaklings from Shumisen, their last stronghold is stepping into the fight!! I’m sure some of you have already been beaten up by him before!! The Sixth-Generation Shumisen Vice Leader!! Daiki Inura!!”

Right after that, the crowd erupted into boos.

Dozens of men let out deep “Boo! Boo!” sounds from their stomachs, shaking the entire club with the vibrations. Some sharp whistles mixed in with the noise.

“It’s time.”

Inura stood up from the leather sofa and stepped forward.

He moved lightly and jumped down alone into the empty pool. He stretched his legs deeply two or three times.

“Die!! Die, Inura!!”
“You’re done for today!!”
“Just accept your death already!!”

This small pool—eight meters long, five meters wide, and one meter deep—was now the ring.

I looked around.

The people who had been dancing near the DJ booth, the men and women drinking on the leather sofas, had all gathered around the poolside. They were hurling insults at Inura.

“And now!! Listen up and be shocked!! The Shumisen weaklings brought an offering because they desperately wanted to fight our Golgotha boss!!”

The speakers blared again, raising the tension even higher.

“You’ve probably heard the rumors!! There are two insanely hot gals at Nishifuchu First High School!! Every guy in their school dreams about them at night!!”

Then, unbelievably, two of the Shumisen members grabbed Noma and Aoki by the wrists and dragged them, struggling, toward the poolside.

“This is my first time seeing them in person, but even from the DJ booth, they look like top-class beauties!!”

It was like they were being presented as prizes.

“Nishifuchu First High School!! Class 2-5!! Miyuki Noma!! And Aoi Aoki!!”

The loudest cheers of the night erupted.

It didn’t sound like human voices anymore—it was the roar of wild beasts.

As I sat alone on the leather sofa, now empty without Inura, Noma, and Aoki, I thought to myself:

…So, in my first life, Noma and Aoki were raped and murdered by those Golgotha guys…?

I crossed my arms, thinking.

If they had only been gang-raped and left alive, I could understand. But why did they cut off their heads while they were still alive and dump them in their school’s staff restroom?

……………………

Maybe one of them had a twisted fetish.

But killing two such beautiful girls after just two or three days of rape seemed like a huge waste. There were so many other ways to use them.

……………………

If the Golgotha leaders all had extreme fetishes, I could see it happening.

Still, getting turned on by cutting off the heads of crying, screaming girls and dumping them at school seemed like a pretty advanced level of perversion.

“You’ve really gone out of your way just to get yourself killed, Inura!!”

A new voice came through the microphone.

I turned my attention back to the pool.

“I am the leader of Golgotha!! Raiga Saiki!!”

Under the bright spotlights in the pool, standing opposite Inura, was another man—shirtless, barefoot, and ready to fight.

A realistic dragon tattoo covered his left chest and abdomen, and he had a decent amount of muscle.

He was about 180 cm tall, but he looked like he weighed around 95 kg.

He was probably on anabolic steroids. His shoulders and neck muscles were unusually developed, and because of the side effects, he had small, feminine br3asts growing on his chest.

“Saiki!!”

Inura, without a microphone, shouted loud enough to be heard over the crowd.

“Shumisen hasn’t lost yet!! You didn’t take down our leader yourself!! You had to bring in some outsider to do it!! A coward like you has no right to act tough!!”

Saiki, the Golgotha boss, laughed loudly into the microphone.

“What can a team without Kanata Dojima even do anymore?! The only one who mattered was Dojima!! Without him, Shumisen is already dead!! Hahahaahahahahaha!!”

I didn’t take my eyes off them.

Not Inura or Saiki, shouting at each other in the pool.

Instead, I kept glancing through the gaps in the crowd at the backs of Noma and Aoki, standing at the poolside.

I couldn’t see their faces from here.

But both of them had their shoulders hunched and their legs trembling slightly.

They looked terrified.

“…They must have been so scared…”

I wasn’t talking about the Noma and Aoki in front of me now.

I was thinking about the Noma and Aoki from my first life—the two high school girls who were raped, murdered, and left to die, with no one to save them.