Chapter 12

## LUKE

**English:** June 1, 2023

## Chapter Chronology

**"LUKE"** (ルーク, *Rūku*) is the 12th chapter of You Chiba's manga series, *Kindergarten WARS*.

## Summary

Luke Smith, a former cop who ended up in prison for killing his boss, is now serving time in Kindergarten Noir according to Doug's information. Luke had also done a background check on them and referred to them as the "Frail and Feeble Newbs," which bothered Doug. As a result, Doug passed the responsibility of fighting Luke to Rita, who had conflicting thoughts. While Rita found Luke attractive, she also wanted to demonstrate her strength by fighting him, hoping it would bring them closer and lead to some unintentional physical contact. With that in mind, she drew her gun, but Luke was quick enough to strike her hand before she could aim it at him. Rita, however, cleverly used thermometers as her weapon and struck Luke, causing the glass windows in the infirmary to shatter. She assured Gordon, who was panicking over the altercation, that she didn't intend to kill Luke, although Gordon didn't want any fighting to take place in the infirmary.

Luke, evading Rita's attacks, acknowledged her impressive physical abilities but found her moves to be basic. He aimed to pin her down after successfully dodging her assault with a weighing scale. However, Rita anticipated his move and managed to free herself from Luke's grasp just as she was almost pinned down. Spotting their guns within reach, both of them hurriedly grabbed their weapons and pointed them at each other, now in a classic floor pin position, with Rita beneath Luke. Doug, who had been observing the fight, witnessed Luke's strength on par with Rita's and also noticed the spark between them in their current position. He then pushed Luke with his right foot, boasting about how the Dandelion class also had an ace up their sleeve. Rita, still wanting to remain pinned down by Luke a little longer, enjoyed that moment.

Just as Luke was about to ask Doug something, Gordon intervened and stopped them from fighting. He approached Luke, who had entered the infirmary, and asked why he had shot at them. Luke responded that he had to do it. Explaining the situation from the perspective of a shoujo manga enthusiast, Luke stated that the most exciting part of romance is the pre-dating stage. He elaborated on how Hana hadn't realized her feelings for Doug yet, and in his opinion, their relationship was still in the first volume, which is the best part of reading shoujo manga. Luke even mentioned a shoujo manga he was currently reading called Boys Over Rice, which taught him that people shine brightest when their love remains unfulfilled. Gordon was stunned to realize that they had been shot for such reasons.

Luke then proceeded to analyze the Dandelion class's love chart, which ideally should show both Rita and Hana falling in love with Doug. While analyzing the supposed love chart, Luke glanced at Rita, who was being shielded by Doug. Doug told Luke not to stare at his kohai and called him a freaky shoujo manga-loving cop. Luke took offense to Doug insulting shoujo manga, as he didn't tolerate any hate towards the genre. He wrestled Doug, who was still in a sorry state with numerous injuries from the recent incident involving Leo, Rita's twin brother. Luke expressed his dislike for Doug, calling him all talk and no action, and accused him of hurting women's hearts, dubbing him the nemesis of true love. He asked Doug how many crying women he had left behind in the past. Doug was about to respond that he didn't remember, but when Rita reacted to Luke's questions, he deliberately denied everything, claiming to have changed. Luke sensed that something was off with Doug and asked him if he liked Rita, to which Doug blushed and denied the claim, stating he wouldn't fall for someone like Rita. Meanwhile, Luke found it amusing that the Dandelion class's love chart was in an unconnected cycle, with Rita liking anyone, Doug liking her, and Hana liking Doug. In the midst of their wrestling match, Luke possibly forgot that he still had Doug tightly pinned down.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

**Rita**
**Doug**
**Hana Bradley**
**Luke Smith**
**Gordon Z. Sky**