1 In Which, A Transfer Student Named Houtarou Kenma

"This is our new transfer student who will be studying with us for the rest of the year. Please introduce yourself."

A teacher introduced a young boy with long black hair reaching his neck, he has dazzling grey eyes and a cute jawline. He is quite a lady killer if I say so myself.

"Hello, my name is Houtarou Kenma. You can call me Kenma, and I'm from Honma city." The young boy introduced himself.

"Does anybody have a question for Kenma?"

A student raises a hand.

"Isn't Honma city the city of villages?"

Kenma tilts his head.

"Yeah, why?" Kenma said.

"No. Nothing. Just reassuring."

"Ok, that's all. Kenma, you can sit at the front, where it's empty. I hope you can get well with your friends." The teacher said as he left the class.

Well, that was the beginning of my chaotic life in high school.

For those of you who are too blind to read the top linear, my name is Houtarou Kenma, I'm 15 years old, and I'm just a village boy from Honma city.

Intrusive thought: What is your hobby, Kenma?

My hobby? You see, my hobby is quite complicated. Umm... How do I say this? My hobby is fighting. Yup, fighting, unique, ay? Before you think of some weird shit in your brain. Let me explain.

When I was 5, a local doctor diagnosed me with an extraordinary brain. This brain allows its user to completely and flawlessly mimic every movement he sees. The doctor calls it,

'Videographic memory.'

Even though that sounds like something good, the doctor also says that it can affect my brain in the future. He said that I have an increased percentage of getting Alzheimer's. My parents were, of course, sad. Alzheimer's can be treated but with an immense cost. Furthermore, it wasn't even a guaranteed heal.

There's nothing they can do except bear fate.

I was five years old and knew nothing about the talent and curse I possessed. That is until a gang attacked the village when I was 6.

All I know about the gang is that they constantly extort money from small villages, and Honma city has many of those. They must've thought that our village was small and weak, so they targeted us.

They attacked the villagers, including my father and mom. My father almost lost his working arm trying to defend mom. I remembered that was the first time I felt fear. It was scary. The worst thing about it was that I was too weak to do anything.

The villagers tried to attack back but lost every single time. My home village has now become the gang's territory, and I can't do anything about it.

Every day one or two gang members would come and extort money from us, and every day one or two villagers tried to refute, and every day I would come outside and watch them fight.

When I watch them fight, something clicks in my brain, like a switch. It makes my vision magnified and more detailed. Every time one of them threw a punch, my eyes would record it in slow motion. Every tiny bit of detail is rendered in my vision; their stance, the way they punch, the way they kick, the way they defend, their veins, where their eye is currently seeing, and the muscles that extend.

Every night I would practice imagining a gang member fighting me, and I would dodge every hit. I would also practice the exact movement they did. Every night I repeated it 100 times.

Then, when I was 7, it grew to 200 times.

When I was 8, it grew to 300 times, and so on.

Around ten years old, every time I punched the air, it made a whip-like sound, and every time I kicked, I became more and more flexible and agile.

A day later, I defeated a gang member. This action immediately alerted their leader. The next day the leader came, and I also beat him using his own technique.

Haha... I remembered that time when I challenged him. At first, I was losing because both my physique and experience were lacking. I took many hits, but after taking so many hits I also gained knowledge about how he attacks.

After 5 minutes of getting beaten up, I rose once more. The gang leader commended my endurance in staying on my feet the whole time.

The next time he punches me. I dodged.

Thinking that I was just lucky, he attacked again. I dodged.

Then he said that he acknowledged my talent. So, he said that he will use his ultimate technique, which he calls, 'The Ultimate Lightning Dragon Punching Kicking Style."

Such a cool name!

Intrusive thought: Such a silly name!

I do admit that the technique was fast. He pummeled me for the first minute. That is until I completely memorized his attack patterns.

Intrusive thought 2: What happens next?

Well... You could say I completely and utterly destroyed him. HAHAHAHA! No man shall exist on equal ground at me.

I remember his shocked face when he got defeated till' this day. Hehe... Those were good times.

After I defeated their leader, the rest of the gang fled the scene, never to be seen again.

But the most historical moment came the next day after I defeated the gang leader. Our chief village came to my parent's house to reward me for my deeds. I got 25000 Yen (around 180 USD).

From then on, I got the most unhealthy addiction to money.

I go to many villages attacked by city gangs and beat the gangs to the brink of death. Then is when I got my reputation as Honma's Devil. I got a lot of money from that.

I made a living from fighting. Until... I saved the last village. The gangs are all gone, and the city is saved. I have no reasons to fight again.

I was an immature 15 years old, but I accumulated around 1.000.000 Yen in my house. (approximately 7.400 USD)

I didn't know what to do with it. So I almost spent it all until my parents stopped me. They said I needed to save my money and go to the city to acquire higher education.

I believed them back then, yet one day when I got back from playing with my peers. My parents are gone, taking all my money away with them.

I cried. I cried till' day and night, not wanting to talk to anybody. I was always cheerful and playful. When I fight, my face is full of grins but after this incident happens, not even a smile is visible on my face. I was betrayed...

Those times when I concealed myself from the public, I realized something; 'That's why my parents let me fight, even though they know their own son suffered permanent damage from each battle. That's why my parents always stopped me when I wanted to spend my money.' I thought.

The village chief saw my self-confinement and decided to do something. He contacted all the villages I had saved and asked for help.

After the village chief told the others about my situation, the villages I saved volunteered to help. They used all their leftover wealth to apply me to a decent school in the city.

And now here I am, 15 years old. I still have the body tattoo I got on my back and a pair of cross earings.

I fixed myself up, going from a gangster-like style to a typical healthy high schooler.

I think I look attractive. Well, at least many females called me one and wanted my number until I told them that I didn't even have the money to buy a phone. Haha. They ignored me... They also said that I'm too loud for them. Well, I wouldn't know anything about that. Hehehehehe...

That's just a mere summary of my life.