After a while, they both silently drank coffee and ate dessert, and the conversation naturally came to a close.

"Thanks for the treat. I'll be going then."

"Yes. I'm glad we could talk. If you have any worries, please come and talk to me. I'll listen to you properly, Mitsugi-kun.

And, as I said before, don't resort to violence or assault like what happened at school! I don't want to see you again in the interrogation room at the station."

And also... Sumire started to add about her niece, Akemi.

"I want you to promise that you will never again cause a situation that puts Akemi in such danger. As a condition for confirming that you were not involved in that riot, please promise me."

"...Well, I don't have anything to do with her anymore. I won't harm her. And I'll make sure she doesn't get caught in anything."

"One last thing, I think Akemi can be your friend. She seems to know your circumstances to some extent, and I don't think she'll reject you. If she reaches out to you, please don't refuse her."

After exchanging these words outside the cafe, they parted ways. Shoot confirmed that Sumire Hanamiya was harmless to him. He sighed wearily, wishing the world was filled with people like her.

"Sorry, but I won't stop the violence. As long as the scum of the earth keep trying to harm me."

After talking with Sumire, Shoot bought just enough food for dinner at the supermarket and decided to walk home to digest his meal. As he approached the convenience store on the way to the nearest station, he encountered a strange group.

A skinhead with a mean face, a man with a delinquent look and clothing, a giant with dreadlocks... they were all rough-looking men glaring around. Because of them, fewer people than usual were stopping by the convenience store.

(...I feel like I've seen guys like this before...)

As Shoot tried to ignore them and walk away, a man with long red hair spotted him and exclaimed.

"Hey, that guy... he looks exactly like the guy in the picture, or rather, he is him, isn't he?"

The red-haired man pointed at Shoot and called out to his companions, who compared Shoot to the image on their cell phones. Then, as if convinced of something, they all approached Shoot. In no time, Shoot was surrounded by the rough-looking men.

"Can I help you? I want to get home and relax."

"We've got a few questions for you, kid. This guy in the picture on my phone... it's you, right?"

The man asked the latter part of the sentence with a threatening tone, to which Shoot replied, "So what if it is?" The men's faces hardened in unison.

"So you were the bastard who crushed our underlings. We finally found you."

A man with messy hair and a noticeable goatee gave Shoot a sadistic smile. The others around him wore similar smiles. They seemed to be looking forward to beating Shoot to a pulp.

"...Oh, yeah, yeah. So another bunch of idiots, the trash of society, have come for revenge because their buddies got beaten up. How boring. I just cleaned up some human garbage that had no value in existing. Can't you understand that what you're doing is just a pointless tantrum?"

When Shoot said this in a condescending and mocking tone, the rough-looking men—members of a fairly large semi-organized gang in the area—became even more irritated. Their ages ranged from early twenties to nearly thirty. They were an adult semi-organized gang, even worse than a group of student delinquents.

"This brat... just because you won a fight or two against some high school punks, don't get cocky with us...! We need to teach you that we're different from those delinquent brats..."

A man with a two-block haircut that looked impatient cracked his knuckles and closed the distance to Shoot. He intended to be the first to strike.

Passersby who sensed a conflict between Shoot and the gang moved away from the path where they were standing. No one dared to approach them.

Meanwhile, a male part-timer who was watching the confrontation from inside the convenience store groaned with a pale face, as if to say, "This is so annoying." He lamented, "Why does a fight have to break out during my shift...?"

Shoot, on the other hand, observed each member of the gang and asked with amusement,

"You certainly look more capable than the delinquents I've encountered so far. Say, you guys... have you ever killed anyone?"

The gang fell silent at Shoot's question. Some looked shaken. They were completely exposed.

"I can kind of tell. Because I've done it once myself (in another world). I'm surprised you haven't been caught."

"This guy...!" "What's with this brat...?"

The gang began to find Shoot creepy. However, confident in their numbers, they regained their composure and adopted a tough stance.

"Enjoy your cockiness while it lasts. We'll make you and your family suffer, and we'll trash your house! Don't underestimate us. We've gotten away from the cops many times. It's useless to cry to them for help!"

One of the gang members laughed, and the others joined in with vulgar laughter.

"Huh? Why are you talking as if it's a given that I'll be crushed by you guys? And you're even talking about trashing my house..."

Shoot ignored the remark about hurting his family—his father and mother—but his face twitched at the mention of trashing his home.

"...You're the scum of society, human garbage, and you're talking to me like that? You're idiots and trash."

Shoot's hostile tone, filled with irritated insults, only further enraged the gang instead of intimidating them. Since he wasn't using the "Intimidation" skill, Shoot appeared to them as nothing more than a cocky brat.

"You say we're the scum of society? Well, we won't deny it. We're a semi-organized gang, after all. But this time, we're not such scum that we can stay silent after our buddies get beaten up!"

"Oh, so you're that kind of guys? Semi-organized gang members who love their friends. It's pathetic to hear that from weaklings who can't even fight properly unless they're in a group."

"We don't want to hear that from a shitty, lonely brat like you who doesn't even have one friend! I bet you're living a gloomy school life every day, you gloomy loner! Why don't you try calling someone on your phone? Not that anyone would come to your rescue!"

The gang members taunted and insulted Shoot, bursting into mocking laughter.

"...I've decided. I'm going to break every single one of you until you can't walk outside like this again."

Immediately after saying this quietly, Shoot activated "Spatial Transfer" and moved himself and the entire gang to a different dimension. The "Spatial Transfer" skill, strengthened by repeated use, had evolved to the point where he could warp multiple targets, both people and objects, within 10 meters of his current position.

The gang members, suddenly transported to an unknown space, were bewildered and could only panic. Shoot approached them silently and expressionlessly. Although his face was impassive, he was seething with anger and disgust towards them.

"Detective Hanamiya, I'm sorry. I'm breaking my promise right away."

What he was about to do was mere violence. But that violence shouldn't cause much harm to others.

Rather, if the semi-organized gang, the scum of society, were rendered incapable of recovery, the public order of this area would improve, so wouldn't it be a non-issue?

What he was about to do was undoubtedly justice, and justice was on his side... that's how Shoot justified himself.