Two days ago —
PK leaned back, folding his arms. "Alright, so we take all of them to one location… but what next? What do you have planned, Krish?"
Krishanu's face didn't crack. "That time, Jaanvi called me weak. So this time, she'll come and witness who is weak really. This is EGO and MY PRIDE"
Krrish scowled. "Alright, but what do we do about Ravi and his thugs? They'll gang up on you."
"I'll use brute force," Krishanu said simply. "At that alley, they can't surround me. The space is narrow. If they come, it'll be two at a time. Ravi will go first — his ego won't let him hang back. Once he's down, the others will follow in pairs. Predictable."
He spoke like someone reciting steps to a formula — no hesitation, no doubt.
---
Back to the present —
The alley was dark and small, walls with tattered old posters and the soft hum of streetlights. The smell was iron and rain.
Jaanvi spoke first to break the silence.
"Why are you here, Krishanu?"
He didn't reply.
Ravi glanced at her and then at him, confusion giving way to amusement. "Wait, you brought her here? With your two little companions? To get beaten up in front of her?
Jaanvi's voice turned sharp, angry and uncertain. "Do you actually want to get beaten again? And this time involve your friends?"
Krishanu hesitated then, calm but icy. "No. I'll be doing the fighting. They've come to watch. If you beat me, they'll accept their defeat as well."
Jaanvi glared. "You're crazy. Ravi—just finish it and get out. Let his friends take him home."
Ravi chuckled. "Carry him? Nah. They'll all be on the ground anyway."
He stepped forward, lowering his guard — exactly as Krishanu had predicted.
And then it happened.
A left jab — fast and sharp.
A right hook — heavier, cracking against Ravi's left cheek.
And a spinning back elbow again at left cheek — brutal, precise.
Three consecutive strikes.
Five seconds.
Ravi collapsed, unconscious before his body hit the pavement.
---
For a moment, the world froze.
No one moved.
No one even breathed.
Even PK and Krrish stood with mouths agape, shocked at what they'd just witnessed.
Krishanu didn't hesitate. He repositioned his feet, eyes on the next one in motion. Before the boy had time to respond, Krishanu's fist connected with his jaw, followed by a second blow to the ribs third smashed his knee onto the head. The second down, grunting.
A minute wasn't even up — and two out of five were out.
PK came out of his surprise, pumping his fist. "Yeah! That's the way, Krishanu!"
The cry shattered the others' uncertainty.
Burning with fury and terror, the last two charged together — claws of a cornered pack.
Just as Krishanu had indicated: two at a time.
The first materialized wild, targeting his shoulder. Krishanu spun low, grabbed the boy's arm, and spun, planting him against the wall. The second swung wildly — Krishanu ducked under it, stepped in, and punched with a rib-crunching forearm, followed by a push that sent him crashing.
The dark alley rang with the grunts, fists, and metallic clatter of a tin can rolling over stone.
Under five minutes, it was over.
Four bodies lay scattered — two unconscious, two clutching their bruises, Ravi still motionless.
Krishanu stood at the center, breathing evenly, knuckles raw, eyes calm.
He turned toward Jaanvi.
There was no smile, no satisfaction. Just silence — and a strange emptiness that said everything he didn't.
Jaanvi's eyes shimmered with something she couldn't name. Shame? Fear? Regret? She looked away without a word.
PK breathed long and slow. "That was." he began, then halted, the rest gone on in shock.
Krrish didn't say anything. Neither did I.
We'd yearned for justice. But seeing it done — this quick, this neat, this absolute — it was something else.
There was winning, but it wasn't the kind you shouted about. It was colder. Weightier.
As Krishanu stood under the dim light, amid silence and defeated foes, I knew something had changed irrevocably.
And what was there instead — serene, unflinching, and far away — was someone other than the boy I'd known.
---
To be continued…
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