THE BOYS: The Wrong Main Character

"You know your enemies can have cursed techniques, right?" Mark said.

Yuji barely had time to look up before Mark’s eyes started glowing blue.

Two blue beams blasted from his eyes without warning.

"Shit!"

Yuji threw himself sideways. The beams tore through the ground where he’d been standing, blasting chunks of earth into the air. One punched a clean hole through a tree trunk; the other carved through several trees behind it.

Yuji hit the ground hard and rolled away. "Hey! That’s cheating!"

Mark didn’t answer. He just looked at Yuji and fired again.

Yuji jumped. The beams passed beneath him and tore up the ground where his feet had been a moment earlier.

He’s actually trying to kill me.

The realization hit as he landed. There was no lesson in Mark’s expression anymore, no hesitation. He wasn’t testing him. Every attack was aimed at a spot that would kill on contact.

Yuji ran between the trees, trying to break line of sight.

Mark tracked him anyway. Another pair of beams tore through the forest. Yuji ducked behind a tree, but the beams punched straight through it — the trunk exploded apart, forcing him to dive away as splinters raked past his face.

"Fuck!"

He hit the ground and scrambled back up. Mark was already there, driving a fist toward his face.

Yuji barely twisted away. The punch missed his head and smashed into the tree behind him, blowing apart a section of the trunk.

He stumbled back, staring at Mark. "Why are you doing this?!"

Mark’s expression didn’t shift. "I told you." He stepped forward again. "I’m here to kill you."

Another beam flashed from his eyes, forcing Yuji to throw himself aside as it tore through the ground.

Mark looked at him, almost puzzled. "Do you have some hearing problems?."

Yuji gritted his teeth, looking around desperately. His eyes landed on a fallen trunk, knocked down earlier in the fight. He grabbed it with both hands and hauled it up.

This might work.

He swung the massive trunk with everything he had.

Mark’s eyes widened slightly — he hadn’t seen that coming — and the trunk slammed into him with a heavy THUD. Dust kicked up around them.

Yuji froze. Did I do it?

He slowly lowered the broken end of the trunk, staring through the settling dust.

Mark was still standing there.

Yuji’s eyes went wide.

Not a scratch. Not a cut. Not a bruise. Nothing.

The trunk itself had cracked badly from the impact.

I hit him with that... and it didn’t even hurt him?

Mark looked down at the shattered wood, then back at Yuji, expression barely changed. "That was your idea?"

Yuji’s grip tightened around the remaining piece.

Mark took another step. "Come on, Yuji." His eyes began glowing blue again.

Before he could fire, a fist came down on top of his head.

THUD!

"That’s enough," Satomi said, standing behind him. "We’ve already got what we wanted. Stop traumatizing the kid." She hit him again for good measure.

Mark rubbed the back of his head, looking at her. "Ow. You could’ve just said it."

"I did. You ignored me."

Yuji stood several meters away, still gripping the broken trunk, looking completely lost. "Umm... teachers?"

They both looked at him.

Yuji glanced between them, then at the wrecked forest around him. "So... what the hell was that?"

The whole atmosphere had shifted. Moments ago, Mark had been shooting beams at him and going for his neck. Now Satomi was casually smacking him on the head like nothing had happened.

Mark sighed. "Well, about the money thing..."

Yuji’s expression tightened. "Yeah?"

"The point was to bring out your cursed energy."

"That’s why you were trying to kill me?!"

"Pretty much."

Yuji looked around — the broken trees, the craters gouged into the ground, the trunk he’d just swung at Mark’s chest. "Pretty much?!"

Mark shrugged. "You weren’t going to bring out much cursed energy if I just asked you nicely."

Yuji looked completely dumbfounded. "So all that — the attacks, the beams, everything—"

"Was part of it."

His face went blank.

Mark gestured around them. "Look at you. Your output went up, you started reinforcing your body properly, and you learned how to actually use it under pressure."

Yuji looked down at his hands — the cursed energy still faintly clinging to his skin — then back at Mark. "You could’ve told me!"

"And you would’ve believed me?"

Yuji opened his mouth. Stopped. "...Probably not."

"Exactly."

Yuji looked toward Satomi. "Did you know about this?"

She smiled awkwardly. "Mostly."

"Mostly?!"

Mark gave a small shrug. "And just so we’re clear, the whole thing was fake. If I’d actually wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t have known what hit you."

Yuji stared at him. "That’s supposed to make me feel better?"

"No." Mark started walking back toward the school. "Just letting you know."

Yuji stood there a few more seconds, still trying to process the fact that he’d just spent several minutes genuinely fighting for his life.

Satomi patted his shoulder. "Come on. Let’s get you back before you start questioning your life choices."

Yuji looked at her. "I already am."