Start in DxD as Motohama: Leveling Up in Another World-Chapter 37: A level (II) beatdown.

Everyone was left speechless, staring at the scene.

Shinji looked at his hands, lost in thought. Even he hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

The burly man, snapping back to his senses, shouted impatiently.

"Hey, you lot! Take care of that guy first before dealing with the teachers!"

"Y-Yes!"

The delinquents yelled in unison.

"Oh..."

Some of the other thugs who'd been keeping the teachers in check grouped up and started coming at him.

Shinji glanced over at Kiba, who seemed to have things under control as he took on seven of those guys. He figured Kiba was holding back, considering he was a demon. Then his focus shifted back to the delinquents. This time, his strategy was to make them take each other out.

"Guee!?"

"Hey, move, you're in my way!"

"You're the one in my way—guhaahh!?"

Positioning himself carefully, he kept dodging their attacks by a hair, gradually thinning their numbers. But as their group shrank, the chances of them hitting each other dropped too, so he'd have to switch to direct moves soon.

"Enough, you idiots, fall back! Handle the blond kid. I'll take this one myself."

Finally, the burly man—likely the leader—stepped up to face Shinji. He probably couldn't stand watching his crew get played like fools any longer.

"You bastard... How dare you mock us, the 'Red Ogre'!? I'll kill you, no matter what you are to Youta, and that blond punk too..."

The man standing before him had blond hair and was decked out in piercings like the giant from before. A flame tattoo ran down his right arm, and a red demon emblem was stitched onto the back of his black jacket. He cracked his knuckles ominously as he said something dangerous, then threw a punch straight at Shinji's face.

"Oraaa!"

"Haaaa!"

Shinji deflected the man's fist with his palm.

"Tch... You little...!"

As expected from a gang leader, he kept swinging at a speed the other delinquents couldn't touch. No doubt each hit would seriously mess up a regular person.

But Shinji parried every single one with his palm.

"Damn it... You some kind of martial artist!?"

Shinji wasn't sure if his self-taught skills counted as that, but he wasn't about to answer either.

"Just stop and die already...!"

The leader, who'd been hammering away nonstop, suddenly threw a hard kick aimed at Shinji's temple. Shinji dodged it while a thought crossed his mind.

Monsters in the other world fought on instinct, but human opponents were different. Instinctive attacks were unpredictable, sure, but this guy's moves were laced with feints. It was human strategy at play.

Up close, he could tell from the man's movements that he was probably trained in some martial art. Shinji had real experience fighting monsters, but only a little against people, so this guy gave him a slight challenge compared to his earlier scraps.

In some old martial arts books he'd picked up from a secondhand bookstore, the author claimed you could steal someone's technique just by watching them fight. Shinji was already memorizing this guy's moves, whether he could use them himself or not.

"This kid—!"

Maybe the man sensed something in Shinji's gaze as he studied him, because he attacked even harder, throwing punches and kicks with a new technique. But Shinji dodged it all unscathed, burning the moves into his memory.

"Bastardoooooo!"

Realizing he couldn't win with straight-up attacks, the man grabbed a bat off the ground and hurled it at Shinji's face. It blocked his view, giving the guy an opening for a split second.

"Go to hell!"

The burly man seized the moment, launching his best shot at Shinji's face. But Shinji's body reacted, and even though he could've taken the hit, he flipped the guy over like he was tossing a backpack.

"Agaahhh!?"

The man crashed hard into the ground. Shinji didn't give him a breather—just like with the model guy before, he pinned the man's arm behind his back and held him there, locked tight.

"Kuh!? Let me go!"

The man's arm was completely trapped, his movements sealed, and he thrashed desperately to break free, but Shinji didn't budge an inch. Then the police rolled in, and with help from the teachers and Kiba, the delinquents were taken down one by one.

"B-bastard! Let me go!"

"Damn it!"

The thugs kept cursing as the cops hauled them off. The burly man Shinji had pinned was handed over too, about to be carted away.

"N-No way... the 'Red Ogre' got..."

Seeing the delinquents rounded up right in front of them, Youta and Sora went pale. Shinji watched indifferently as most of them were cuffed. He wanted to make them regret ever being born, but he held back—they were just regular humans, after all.

"Damn, damn, damn... Youtaaaaaa! This is all your fault...!"

Youta whimpered in terror as the burly man—probably the 'Red Ogre' leader—broke free from the police grip by sheer force and charged at him. He grabbed Youta by the throat, who couldn't move, his legs giving out.

"If you hadn't planned this, we wouldn't be in this mess...! You're absolutely unforgivable...!"

"No, stop...!"

"H-Hey! Let him go!"

"Shut up! You're just as guilty!"

"Hyiii!"

Sora pleaded for the man to let Youta go, but his fury crushed her resolve. He turned his bloodshot eyes on Youta.

"That's enough. I'll strangle you to death right here and kill you too, you worthless chick, the same way!"

"Oh, ah, ah! No, no, noooo! Somebody, anybody! H-Help...!"

The man's hands clamped around Youta's neck as he sobbed and screamed, his face a mess. The police tried to intervene, but with the other delinquents still being wrangled, they were stretched thin.

And right as the man went to choke Youta out, Shinji moved.

"Let him go."

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"Huh?"

"H... big brother...?"

He grabbed the man's arm and yanked it off Youta's neck.

"Guuh!? Wh-What's this strength!?"

The leader struggled hard, but he couldn't match Shinji's power and let go of Youta completely.

"Gahakk! Oeekkk!"

"...You okay?"

Shinji asked, looking down at Youta on the ground.

"W-Why... why, after I..."

He stammered, dazed.

"Well, you're my little brother, after all. Grandpa always said family comes first."

Youta looked stunned by his words.

"Bastardoooooo! Stay out of my waaaaaay!"

Ignoring the exchange between Shinji and Youta, the man charged straight at Youta again, intent on killing him.

But—

"...Like I thought, I can't let you do that to my family."

"Q-!? Gahaahh!?"

Closing the distance in an instant, Shinji drove a kick into the man's exposed gut. Even holding back, the power of his leveled-up body was insane—the impact shot through to the man's back, lifting him off the ground. Shinji followed up with a spinning kick midair, sending him flying a few meters. When he hit the dirt, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out.

(Even Blue Lock wouldn't dare go this hard.)

Everyone stared, speechless. After the whirlwind of chaos, the place fell silent.

And then...

"Uoooooooohh!"

Cheers erupted from the school building.

"That was insane!"

"What was that move!? So freaking cool!"

"He didn't even get hit once by those delinquents!"

"No, wait, I thought my reflexes were hot stuff in P.E., but I can't even talk now..."

"I've never seen someone get launched like that!"

The students who'd watched the mess from the windows buzzed about Shinji's moves. Then Kaori ran up to him as he scanned the area.

"Shinji-san! Are you okay!?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm good. What about you, Kaori? You alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! I'm fine too!"

He gave her a quick once-over, and she didn't seem hurt, but out of nowhere, Kaori collapsed on the spot.

"Are you okay!?"

"Eeh, sorry... I just felt so relieved, and now it's like all my strength left me at once."

"Big brother..."

As they talked, Youta and Sora shuffled over, their faces glum. Kaori, watching them, tried to stand again to shield Shinji, but he motioned for her to stay back.

"Shinji-san?"

"It's fine."

He flashed a reassuring smile and faced Youta and Sora.

"Big brother... Why'd you do that, even after I... bullied you..."

"...Yeah, you've caused me a lot of grief. Seeing you two, so much better than me, it felt like my heart was breaking over and over. But still... yeah, if my family's in trouble, I've got to help. That's what Grandpa taught me."

To an outsider, Shinji probably sounded like some naive goody-two-shoes. Thinking about everything that'd happened, most people wouldn't blame him for holding a grudge. He couldn't forgive Youta and Sora either—not after they mocked his grandpa, and with all the crap he'd taken from them... dark feelings swirled in his head.

But this was the family he'd been dealt in this world. His grandpa was someone who loved his family no matter how they treated him, and Shinji had learned to do the same. Plus, after that talk with Himari, he had a hunch their hatred tied back to his weird condition.

Hearing him, Youta's eyes widened, and he broke down crying.

"I... I...! I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...!"

Sora sobbed alongside Youta, and then the police took them away too. As he watched them go, Kaori asked, concern in her voice.

"...Was that okay?"

"Huh?"

"You must've had a rough time because of those two, Shinji-san... so..."

"...Yeah. There's been a lot, and I haven't forgiven them either."

Kaori went quiet.

"But it's fine. Because this is who I am."

"Oh... so that's how it is."

Kaori, struck by his words, blinked in surprise before breaking into a smile—a slightly mischievous one.

"Now that I think about it... you saved me again."

"Huh? Oh... Did I actually help this time?"

"It's not just this time. Even before, you helped me properly. Shinji-san, you're my hero!"

Ignoring Kaori's borderline flirty tone—if you could call it that—Shinji smiled back as he took in the aftermath.

The chaos settled fast. All the delinquents got nabbed by the police and hauled off to the station.

Every 'Red Ogre' member, including Araki, had a history of bad behavior, so they'd been sent to juvie after getting expelled from their old schools. Kaori had vouched for Youta and Sora to some extent, so they avoided expulsion. Still, it'd leave a big mark on their records and grades.

It was a huge mess, but thanks to Tsukasa and Sona, the media didn't blow it up.

Speaking of Tsukasa and Sona, they weren't at school when the delinquents showed up, but they rushed back once it was over. When Tsukasa found out Kaori had been in danger again, he showered Shinji with gratitude, just like before.

He thanked him over and over, but Shinji was just happy to get back to his new class. Still, he accepted it.

In the end, the injured were patched up... And the next day, Shinji was a little nervous about heading to school. No matter the situation, he'd casually kicked someone and sent them flying. Normal people don't do that. He hoped Tsukasa and Sona had smoothed things over—he didn't want to be known as some human-shaped monster.

When he got to the classroom, he slid the door open.

"Oh, Shinji! I was freaking out about yesterday, you know?"

"Shinji-kun! You didn't get hurt, right? You're really okay?"

"I-I was seriously scared just watching..."

"..."

A weight lifted off Shinji's shoulders as he realized they were treating him normally.

"Shinji-kun, you were so awesome yesterday!"

"I can't believe you took on that many delinquents—and came out without a scratch... That's insane!"

"I mean, that huge guy—you lifted him with one hand!? How'd you do that?"

"For real, you jumped from the fourth floor, didn't you? You sure you're okay?"

"Shinji-kun! Hey, why not join the aikido club!?"

"No, no, no, judo club's the way to go!"

"Didn't you see that kick!? It's gotta be my taekwondo club!"

Shinji grinned at their lively chatter. Looked like he might actually get to enjoy his school life with some normalcy after all.