Twisted Wonderland | Mickey's Print

23. The Wolf's Choice

"TAKE THIS!" Jack growled as he aimed at Deuce, who avoided him at the last second.

"BACK AT YOU!!" Deuce yelled as he lunged at him with a punch that caught him square in the stomach.

Ace ended joining into the fight and tried to land punches as hard as Deuce's, but got tired out much faster than him.

As for Yuu, he had taken shelter behind the nearby bench and took Grim with him, who would have also joined the fight if it wasn't for...

"Hey, let go of me! I also wanna show I'm serious, yanno!"

"Hell no! No way!! You stay here with me!" Yuu had exclaimed after grabbing him in his arms and carrying him away. "It's enough that the three of them are hurting each other!"

Jack didn't object to that decision, Yuu guessed that the reason was it was obvious that neither he nor Grim could last more than a minute in an affront to blows against a "building in a jacket" like him...

Both held their breath as they watched the Heartslabyul and Savanaclaw students beat each other until exhaustion began to show on their faces.

"You know where to aim those punches." Jack admitted between breaths and with his gaze fixed on Deuce.

"Same here... Huff. You're not bad at it..." Deuce answered between clenched teeth as he endured the pain.

Unable to continue the fight, Ace sat bolt upright on the bench that Yuu and Grim had taken cover behind.

"I felt that last punch hit me right in the heart..." Grim commented with a frown.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it? "Ace asked exhausted between gasps. "I don't even care about being selected anymore, this is too tiring..."

"You look awful..." Yuu commented nervously as he saw the marks of blows that had formed on him and the two remaining fighters.

Catching his breath and stretching out his arms, Jack finally decided to stop the fight.

"Okay... Now that I have a clear conscience, I'll tell you everything I know," he told them.

"And how exactly did you clear your conscience?" Ace asked him as he stood up and Deuce put his jacket back on.

"I'm crossing a line, since I'm practically betraying my own dorm," Jack said apprehensively before frowning furiously. "But I can't take it anymore!!" He roared. "The true essence of a fight is winning by effort no matter how hard it gets! I gave my all to know how far I'll get in the tournament, but these cowardly tricks make me sick! There's no merit in winning that way!" He clenched his fists tightly. "I wanted to use my own strength to obtain victory!"

"Ah, this guy is annoying," Ace commented quickly, stunned by Jack's outrage.

"Ace!" Yuu chided him before leaving Grim on the bench and looking at Jack. "I see, this is something personal for you that's beyond doing justice."

"I understand you!" Deuce exclaimed with passionate pride. "I really understand those feelings!!"

Grim looked at him in disbelief. "We have our own annoying guy," he mumbled to repeat Ace's comment.

"Grim!" Yuu rebuked again.

"What? Am I wrong?"

Ignoring them, Jack sighed before crossing his arms and start revealing the information. "Ruggie's Unique Magic is... one that makes other people to move like him," he began. "To cause the accidents, he made people move in ways that would only look like they weren't being careful."

"I see, that's how he made Grim copy him the cafeteria to take his sandwich without being discovered," Ace said.

"Dammit! Thinking about that pisses me off!" Grim exclaimed. "Food grudges aren't to be underestimated, yanno!"