BSS – Vol 3 Chapter 3 Part 1 – The Older Brother Is Defeated by Malice Despite His Good Intentions

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Keep an open mind when reading this chapter, and make sure to read the TL Notes just this once.

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The night after I woke up to find Kujouin-san in front of me, I was out for my usual run.

“Kyaaaaaaaaa!” (?)

A girl’s scream tore through the silence of the night road.

(What was that!?)

I immediately started running towards the direction the scream had come from.

There, in the park, a large man with a hood was grabbing the arm of a small girl.

“No! Let go of me!” (?)

The girl desperately hit the man, trying with all her might to escape.

But she was just a small girl, around elementary school age.

Even if she hit with all her might, her strength was negligible.

“Just come quietly—” (Man)

“Let her go!” (Kento)

“Gweh!?” (Man)

I tackled the man with full force, and his body was sent flying.

In the process, the girl’s arm was freed, but because he had been holding onto her, her balance was thrown off, and she almost fell.

I quickly reached out and gently caught her in my arms.

“Are you okay?” (Kento)

“Ah…” (?)

Her face turned toward me, illuminated by the moonlight.

She had a young face that matched her short stature, and it was so cute that anyone who saw her would be captivated.

Her pink twin-tailed hair suited her baby-faced appearance well. It was likely this very cuteness that had caused the man to target her.

“A princess carry…” (?)

As she stared into my eyes, she muttered something under her breath.

But her voice was so quiet that I couldn’t catch it.

“Sorry, what was that?” (Kento)

“Ah… N-Nothing…!” (?)

When I asked, she frantically shook her head and started flailing.

“C-Calm down, it’s dangerous if you flail like that…!” (Kento)

I warned her as I gently lowered her back down to the ground.

“Just in case… do you know that guy?” (Kento)

“Nope, never seen him before! I was just walking and he suddenly attacked me and dragged me into the park…!” (?)

I see… so it wasn’t a quarrel between people who knew each other.

Understanding the situation, I stepped in front of the girl to shield her from the man.

“You bastard, what the hell do you think you’re doing!?” (Man)

“Those are my words! You’re the lowest for attacking a girl!” (Kento)

I watched the man’s every move with utmost caution.

He was about the same height as me, but he had a solid build and gave off the vibe of someone used to fighting.

As for me, of course, the last time I got into a fistfight was back when I was a kid.

The odds were definitely not in my favor.

For a brief moment, the word violence flashed through my mind—but surely no one would blame me for trying to protect a girl.

“Can you run?” (Kento)

I asked her in a low voice, making sure the man couldn’t hear.

“I-I can’t… My legs are shaking, I can’t put any strength into them…” (?)

The best option would’ve been to take her and run, but it looked like the fear from being attacked had left her unable to move.

She was barely able to stay standing.

In that case, I really had no choice but to restrain the man somehow…

“Please stay back. Embarrassing as it is, I’m not confident in fights, so I can’t protect you and fight at the same time.” (Kento)

“O-Okay…!” (?)

She nodded, and with unsteady steps, slowly moved away from me.

From the looks of it, she might be able to run once she recovers a bit more.

If that’s the case, all I needed to do was buy some time.

“Shouldn’t you be paying attention to something else…!” (Man)

The man drew back his fist and charged at me with full force.

I focused all my attention on his movements and tilted my head slightly.

“What…?!” (Man)

The man looked surprised when I dodged his punch, staring at my face.

I had thought he was used to fighting, but his movements were wide and wasteful.

I had naturally good dynamic vision, and my time playing baseball had sharpened it even further—apparently, my eyes could track all of his motions perfectly.

In that case—

“What’s wrong? That was a pretty slow punch.” (Kento)

“The hell?! You mocking me, bastard?!” (Man)

The moment I provoked him, the man came at me with another punch.

He threw a flurry of attacks, but I dodged them all with the bare minimum movement.

It was both to conserve energy and to make him believe he couldn’t take me down.

“Damn it, why can’t I land a single hit?!” (Man)

No matter how many times he tried to punch me, nothing connected, and the man roared in frustration.

The more I dodged, the more the man seemed to let his anger get the best of him.

His movements gradually became more predictable, and his swings grew wider and more exaggerated.

Naturally, that made it even easier for me to avoid them, and now I was confident I could dodge them all.

Had the girl still not managed to escape?

Now that I had a bit of leeway, I glanced over at her.

She was holding a smartphone and seemed to be doing something with it.

Was she trying to call the police…?

“What are you doing? Hurry up and r—” (Kento)

“I’ve had enough! I’ll kill you!” (Man)

Run before you call for help.

Just as I was about to tell her that, the man pulled something out from his clothes.

The object in his hand gave off a brief glint, and from his actions and words, I instantly knew what it was.

“A knife…!?” (Kento)

Damn it…!

Unlike fists, a knife could be fatal depending on where it struck.

On top of that, with the tournament coming up, I couldn’t afford to get injured.

I quickly picked up a tree branch that had fallen nearby.

“Fuu…” (Kento)

Stay calm… If I panicked, I wouldn’t be able to dodge properly…

I took a deep breath to steady myself.

Then, holding the branch like a weapon, I prepared for the man’s next move.

“Uwoooooooooh!” (Man)

“Hmph…!” (Kento)

As the man lunged forward, thrusting the knife at me, I struck his hand with the branch, using the same technique as a kendo kote block.

“Argh!” (Man)

The man cried out as pain shot through his hand, causing him to drop the knife to the ground.

I immediately kicked it away, then grabbed his body and swept his legs out from under him.

The large man was lifted off his feet, and without letting the momentum drop, I slammed him hard onto the ground.

“Khah…!” (Man)

He landed on his back, and the impact knocked the air out of him for a moment.

But soon enough, he began breathing again, coughing and gasping.

I quickly grabbed his arm and pinned his body to the ground.

“Stop it already. The police will be here any minute now.” (Kento)

Since I hadn’t stopped the girl, she must have already called them.

As long as I kept the man pinned like this, everything should be resolved.

Still… I was really glad our school had martial arts in the curriculum.

To be honest, I used to wonder why we had to take martial arts classes on top of regular P.E.—why we had to do kendo or judo… But now, here I was, actually putting it to use.

I had to thank the school.

As that thought crossed my mind, I saw the girl running over with quick, light steps.

Maybe now that the man was restrained, she could move again.

I gave her a reassuring smile and opened my mouth to speak.

“It’s okay no—” (Kento)

“Stop! Let him go!!”

“…Huh?” (Kento)

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what she had just said.

Let him go…?

Why…?

And more importantly—why was she crying…?

“What are you talking about…?” (Kento)

“Just let go! Let go of my boyfriend!!” (?)

“Boyfriend!?” (Kento)

No, wait a minute!

What was she saying!?

She said she didn’t know this guy… didn’t she!?

The sudden turn of events was so absurd that my brain couldn’t keep up.

I had no idea what was going on or how things ended up like this.

And to make matters worse—

“Are you alright!?” (Police)

“We got a report about a man attacking someone—what’s going on!?” (Police)

—the police arrived at the worst possible moment.

“It’s him! He suddenly attacked my boyfriend out of nowhere…!” (?)

While I stood there in confusion, the girl pointed at me and pleaded her case to the police.

As a result, the officers turned their sharp, hostile gazes toward me.

Then, from both sides, they grabbed my arms, pulling me off the man I had restrained.

“Please wait, I only stepped in because she was being attacked!” (Kento)

“Don’t lie! Then why is this girl saying you are the attacker!?” (Police)

How should I know?! I’m the one who wants to ask that!

“You there, are you injured?” (Police)

One of the officers turned to the man.

“No, I’m fine. He just pinned me down, that’s all…” (Man)

“I see. That’s a relief…” (Police)

The officer visibly relaxed upon hearing the man hadn’t been hurt.

But as I watched that exchange, something felt… off.

I didn’t know why these two had set me up, but the most likely reason was money.

If that were the case, then exaggerating any injuries would’ve been in their best interest.

At the very least, his hand should’ve been hurt from when I struck it with the stick.

Could it be that they didn’t want the knife incident to be investigated?

If he mentioned the injury on his hand, I’d probably bring up the knife.

Normally, carrying a blade around isn’t something most people do.

If the police found out he had one—and that he tried to use it on me—they might start suspecting him instead.

More than anything, I thought this might be my chance to prove that I was the one who had been set up.

That’s why I looked toward where I had kicked it—

“…Huh?” (Kento)

—but lying there wasn’t a knife. It was a shard of glass.

It seemed I had mistaken the shard of glass for a knife.

“Let’s bring this guy to the station for now…” (Police)

“W-Wait! Please examine that shard of glass! That guy’s fingerprints should be on it!” (Kento)

It wasn’t a knife, but it was still proof that the man had tried to attack me with glass.

Since the girl had called me the bad guy, I wasn’t sure how much it would help, but it was better than just being taken away without any resistance.

However—

“What nonsense are you spouting…!” (Police)

The police didn’t believe me.

They completely treated me like a suspect, and clearly had no intention of listening.

Even after I repeatedly tried to explain, they wouldn’t hear me out, and I was eventually taken away to the police station.

Strangely enough, though—both the man and the girl apparently told the police that it wasn’t worth turning into a case since no one had been hurt, and they didn’t file any reports.

Because of that, I was released as soon as my parents came to pick me up.

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“Can we talk, Onii-chan…?” (Sophia)

As I holed up in my room after coming back from the police station, Sophia called out to me from the hallway.

She had come to the station with Dad and the others, and even in the car on the way home, she had been visibly worried. So she was probably still concerned now.

“What’s up?” (Kento)

I stepped out into the hallway, trying to smile so as not to worry Sophia.

However, perhaps I didn’t smile properly, because Sophia’s eyes trembled when she saw my face.

“Can we talk in my room…?” (Sophia)

“Sorry, I haven’t taken a bath yet…” (Kento)

I had at least changed my clothes after getting home, but the sweat from running and the fight with that man was still clinging to my body.

Given the situation, I couldn’t bring myself to walk into Sophia’s room like that.

“Ah, actually, I kind of prefer it that way…” (Sophia)

But Sophia suddenly blushed and looked at me with dazed, droopy eyes.

“Uh… what?” (Kento)

“N-Nothing…! I don’t mind, so come on…” (Sophia)

Flustered, Sophia quickly turned her back to me and headed back to her room.

That was… pretty forceful.

But in this moment, that forcefulness was exactly what I needed.

“Alright, got it.” (Kento)

I followed after Sophia and stepped into her room.

“Here, sit down?” (Sophia)

“Uh, the bed’s a bit much…” (Kento)

“Just do it…” (Sophia)

“…Okay.” (Kento)

Being told so firmly made it feel like I had no choice, so I obediently sat down on the bed.

Then, Sophia immediately sat down next to me.

“Well, I don’t think you need to worry about it. Since it didn’t become a problem, Mom and I believe you didn’t do anything wrong.” (Sophia)

Sophia looked at me kindly, probably thinking I was feeling down about having to deal with the police.

I was actually feeling down, but more than that, I was bothered by this strange, unsettling feeling.

No matter how I thought about it, it just didn’t make sense.

There was no doubt they had set me up, yet instead of demanding money, they were urging the police to release me.

Even if they were just troublemakers, it still made no sense.

“Onii-chan…?” (Sophia)

Lost in thought, Sophia called out to me in a worried voice.

I probably hadn’t responded to her because I was so deep in thought.

“Sorry, I just can’t wrap my head around what happened…” (Kento)

“It’s pointless to think about it. People like that often do foolish things. I’ve been troubled by things like that before, too. Since it ended without incident, I think you shouldn’t worry about it.” (Sophia)

Because of her striking appearance, Sophia had probably been subjected to all kinds of harassment before.

Her coldness toward others came from that past, and the incident with those gals before had been an attempt to trap Sophia.

Sure, it felt similar to that time…

“Maybe this isn’t over yet…” (Kento)

“What do you mean…? Is there something you’re worried about…?” (Sophia)

“No… It’s just a bad feeling I can’t shake. I’ll call the supervisor later, just in case.” (Kento)

I hoped I was overthinking it.

But what if I wasn’t?

If this really ended here, then what they did would have been pointless.

Still, thinking it would just end like this felt like being way too optimistic…

“Onii-chan…” (Sophia)

“It’s fine. If it’s just me overthinking, then that’s okay.” (Kento)

I smiled and told Sophia that, but—unfortunately, I wasn’t just overthinking.

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Two days later, in the morning—

“Oi, Kento…! Have you seen this video!?” (Shouta)

Shouta ran up to me with a pale face as soon as I arrived at school for morning practice.

A bad feeling ran through me as Sophia and I leaned over to look at Shouta’s phone.

On the screen was a video showing me holding the man down, and the girl crying while begging me to let him go.

The video ended there; it didn’t show the police arriving.

“What the hell is this…?” (Kento)

“It’s been uploaded on an SNS site! The caption says, ‘My boyfriend was attacked by a star baseball player!’” (Shouta)

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What the actual fck is all this sudden drama… Right after finishing TGS vol 3, I was met with whatever this chapter was. I absolutely hate drama coming out of nowhere just to screw with the mc at the last second. It especially pissed me off as there was an innocent illustration of the MC and the girl he “saved”. I couldn’t bring myself to translate the rest of this chapter after seeing this shit of a development. This girl doesn’t even deserve me putting the illustration of her for this chapter.

So what I want to ask is if there’s still anyone wanting to read this, cause if not, I’m dropping it. It’s a shame, cause I wanted to see the sweet romance between MC and Sophia play out, but it has to be blocked under this stupid drama. I’m aware that there is also an illustration of Sophia hugging this girl, meaning there were probably circumstances at play, but I’m not interested in finding out. I just wanted a nice romance story, not whatever this is.

Anyways, if you want me to drop this, what do you want me to translate next? I got recommendation for “Takane No Hana” but considering the possibility of DMCA maybe something else.

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