Because I wasn't present when the delivery person came, I had to go to the closest package service center. I received my two boxes and went back home. After taking the items out, I tested the mask for a bit before putting everything inside a bag, along with a change of clothes and gloves. Then, I went back to school. All of this hadn't taken too long. I still had a few minutes to eat a quick lunch before classes resumed for the afternoon.
As soon as the last period ended, I ran out to position myself at a place next to the school entrance. I was neither too far nor too close from it and started monitoring the students who were exiting the school grounds to go back home. Around ten minutes later, the trio of boys I saw yesterday passed by the school gate. I followed them at a comfortable distance. As long as I was less than 18 meters away from them, I would never lose their tracks, even if they turned a few corners or went inside a building.
After walking while chatting about repulsive stuff, two of them went one in one direction, leaving the other one to go his separate way. I chose to follow the one who was now alone. As someone who must have been living in this town for a long time, he was advancing without any hesitation, using all sorts of small paths and dark alleys to reach his destination faster. This would be his last mistake. Didn't his mother tell him to be careful when walking alone at night? His acts having created extreme enmity would compensate for the fact that it was still very much light outside.
When he entered a small dark alley void of any human presence, I opened my bag, put the gloves and mask on, and rushed him. He heard me coming and turned back with a surprised expression but it was already too late. I sent a straight punch to his stomach, forcing him to bend forward with a shout of pain. His head was now at the perfect level for a knee strike, which hit him right in the face in the most painful way.
And down he was. If there was one thing I was confident in, that was street fighting. My face always attracted the worst people to me. It was no wonder I became a delinquent right after entering middle school. I spent the four years after that constantly fighting with other delinquents. When I think about it, it was always for stupid and ridiculous reasons. However, at the time, I was also as dumb as the fist I was throwing around and those reasons felt important to me. The only element that distinguished me from the rest was that I was pretty good at fighting. A bit too much, unfortunately, which led to the incident that forced my exile to this town.
The guy wasn't unconscious, though, only paralyzed by the pain and the sudden unexpected assault. I had long learned not to take any risks in these kinds of situations. I continued to hit him until he was a trembling mess and any desire to potentially retaliate left him completely. Unfortunately, I had to interrogate him and couldn't finish this. At least for now.
"Hey. Do you know why this is happening to you?"
My altered voice worked wonders and I sounded like the main villain of a famous movie series. He didn't answer but his mind did the work for him.
("Fuck! It hurts! It hurts! Who the fuck is that crazy madman!?")
His thoughts were good enough for me but he didn't and shouldn't know that. I put my foot on his arms and applied my weight to it.
"Argggh!"
"You'll quickly understand that when I ask questions, you answer. Kapish?"
"Urrrgh! Stop! I understand! I understand so stop it!"
I kept my foot on top of his arm but relieved the pressure.
"Your answer to my question?"
He raised his bruised and bleeding face slightly in my direction.
"I, I got no idea! Shit! Why are you doing this to me?!"
"Then let me enlighten you. There's a saying that if you kill someone, you must be ready to be killed too. In your case, you did all those things to girls so it's only normal this is happening to you, right? Or what, did you think you could rape and pimp girls without any retribution?"
("Fuck! Who the hell is he? Is he a member of Giusta?")
I kept the name in mind and continued with my interrogation.
"I saw what you were doing and there are a few things I found strange. Fortunately, you're here to help me make things clearer, right?"
("Damn it. I'll be in trouble if I say too much too. Damn you fucker, I'll keep my mouth closed no matter what you do.")
"First of all, who are you to be doing stuff like this unpunished?"
"I, I'm just a high school student. We're just playing around, it's nothing big!"
("I'm a prospective member of Cattivo, fucker. Wait until I report this and they catch you. You'll regret playing hero till the end of your life.")
Yet another name to remember.
"You think I'll believe you? Well, whatever. Next question. What are you using to threaten those girls?"
"They're just doing this to earn some side money and we help them with that! I swear!"
'You swearing is worth less than the blood you're going to piss for a very long time after I'm done with you.'
("We have their families as hostages. We tell them they and their families will have an "accident" if they don't obey us. They know what the gang is capable of so it works all the time.")
'These guys are even worse than I thought. I guess Cattivo is the name of their gang.'
What his thoughts revealed annoyed me enough that I couldn't help sending a few more kicks to the downed guy. And I didn't care in the least if he thought that was completely random. He earned all the pain I would give him, and more.