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Chapter Text

(Some time ago, before Tomiyama becomes leader of Shishitoren)

Ezura Kura’s POV:

The sound of thuds, grunts and punches echo throughout the theatre room as I spar on stage with Togame Jo, a member of Shishitoren. Ever since I ran away from… well… home, Togame and Tomiyama were the only friends I have had, and I’m deeply grateful for them. They happily agreed to teach me a few things about fighting, since… my brother…

“One day Kura… You’re still a little bud. Too delicate. It takes a real thorn to be as strong as us. Oh well! Guess there’s no harm in starting early. But remember, you asked for it, so don’t back down once we start.” He points a finger at me accusingly, looking somewhat bored.

“I never asked you to teach me-”

“I see it in your eyes.” He cuts me off. “You’re too emotional. Man, you would be real boring to teach. Guess I can have a little fun while I’m at it. Hm?” He drawls, walking up to me and tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear.

I shiver, stepping away from him, stammering “It’s fine- I don’t want you to-“

His eyes go hard and dull, and he grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. His nails dig into my skin, and I wince a little.

“You have no choice. I decided I’m training you. And that’s that. Don’t bore me, lil’ sis. You’re lucky I’m even wasting time on you.”

Fine. I may be a little scared. But that’s why I’m learning from other first just to make it less of a hassle for me to out up with my brother’s brutal style of training.

Tomiyama Chouji sits in the front row of seats, bubbling and clapping his hands for each punch I manage to land on Jo.

“Faster.” Jo says, and he darts around me in a blink of an eye, throwing his fist at me from behind. I twist my body, dodging the punch, grabbing his fist before he could pull it back, and thrusting my knee twice into his ribs, before trying to uppercut him in the jaw, but he manages to hop away, spinning around and roundhouse kicking me in the head, but I bring up my arm to the side of my head, stopping the blow from landing. I flinch at the force he kicked with, and I ground my feet, trying to push his feet away, but he was firm, and he gives me a smirk as we both stand there, seeing who would overpower the other. I grunt and manage to push his feet away, and we both circle each other.

Chouji whoops and cheers. “That was amazing Kura!”

I keep my eyes on Jo, since this boy had the tendency to strike immediately when I pull my attention away for just a millisecond. I raise an eyebrow at him. “Are you trying to knock me out or something?“

He shrugs, hopping on the spot. “You didn’t want me to go easy on you.”

“But you are going easy on her.” Chouji points out.

“Yeah, Jo.” I say. “I can handle it. I’m not a little girl-“

Jo grins, before kicking his weird wooden shoes off straight at my face.

I yelp before narrowly dodging them, but Jo lunges forward, grabbing me by the waist and throwing me down onto the floor, and he’s on top of me, pummelling down blows, but I soften the blows by crossing my arms over me.

Ouch, asshole.

I then grab the ball of his fist as he tries to punch me again, and I tuck in my knees above me, and I push my feet up, pushing him off me before I go into a crouch and charge at him from below, punching him in the face. He stumbles back, but drops down, sweeping my feet, and I fall back. I land on my back, my head hitting the floor hard, and one second later, Jo’s fist is a centimetre away from my face.

I look past his fist, meeting his eyes. The bastard was grinning. “And you are knocked out.”

I groan, swatting his fist away from my face. He holds out a hand to me, smiling, and I take it, and he pulls me up.

Chouji claps, jumping onto stage. “You’re getting better Kura! Soon you’ll be able to fight me!”

I laugh, waving my hand in dismissal. “I doubt it Chouji, you’re really strong. I’m barely scraping it with Jo.”

Jo pats my shoulder. “You’re getting there, don’t worry.” Before walking past me to get his shoes and then goes off stage. “We should get something to eat.”

Chouji bounces up and down. “YEAH! LET’S GET GRUB!”

I wince, rubbing my ear. “Ow…”

“Oh! Sorry! Come on!” Chouji grabs my hand and we both run after Jo.

“So, what’s your plans Kura? I’m sure you’re not keen on staying at home.” Jo asks as the three of us sit on the roof of the cafe building. We brought some sushi and meat skewers, and we view the rest of Shishitoren’s side of the town whilst eating. I was about to bite into my meat skewer when Jo asks me that question, and I pause, carefully lowering my skewer.

“I’m leaving. It’s not home anymore. It’s not safe, and it’s been obvious that my brother doesn’t care for me for like a decade. I feel like I’m an outsider, and I probably am.”

Jo and Chouji stop what they were doing, listening intently to my words. Jo’s smile fades away, and there was a murderous glint in his eye that made me wish I hadn’t said anything at all. “Does he hurt you? Is that why you wanted us to teach you how to fight?”

Chouji stands up triumphantly. “Let’s go beat him up!”

“Guys, guys! Calm down!” I hold up my hands. “The only reason why I wanted to learn how to fight is because everyone I know can fight, and how can I help them if I’m just playing a damsel in distress?”

I mean, Jo isn’t entirely wrong either.

Jo repeats his question, with more force. “Does he hurt you, Kura?”

Even Chouji freezes at the tone of Jo’s voice.

I look away, nibbling on my bottom lip. “Sometimes.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at Jo nor Chouji. They both went silent.

“That’s it! I’m going to beat em up and-” Chouji huffs.

“Don’t.” Jo interjects. “Kura isn’t running away yet. It’ll only make things for her worse.”

“Chouji, you wouldn’t be able to beat him. He’s one of the strongest fighters I know.” I whisper.

Chouji harrumphs, sitting down next to me, arms crossed and slouching. “Who IS your brother? You never mention him! And now I want to fight him even moooore!”

Jo just stares at me, and I slightly cower under his steely gaze. “I don’t want to talk about him.”

We all sit there in silence for a few seconds more.

“Join Shishitoren.”

What?

I snap my head over to look at Jo to check if he actually being serious. He had an air of determination about him, and he truly did look concerned for me.

Chouji gasps, his face lighting up. “That’s a great idea! When you finish middle school, you should come to Shishitoren!” He jumps up, and was now standing, punching at the air. “And we can fight gangs together and rule this place together!”

“You’re not the leader yet Chouji.”

“Yet. But it’s not wrong to dream, Jo.” I remind him, nudging him with my feet. He rolls his eyes, but a smile comes to his lips regardless.

Chouji continues rambling on. “And we can go out for grub everyday… oh! We can even have sleepovers!”

“Speaking of sleepovers, you staying over today?” Jo prods me in the arm, and I shrug.

“Might as well do. I have nothing better to do back at home.”

“Yeah! And it’s weekend, so you don’t have to worry about middle school. And then once you have finished middle school, you should join Shishitoren!”

As much as a part of me longed for that idea, a small voice somewhere in the troubled depths of my mind told me it’s not going to feel like home. Something’s going to happen, and it’ll become as bad as back where I live.

“I’ll think about it”

The next day, I was back on stage, sparring with Jo again. He wasn’t holding back as much anymore, and I managed to land more punches on him, but he ultimately won again. Chouji helped me perfect my kicks and my blocks, and before I know it, we were roaming about the streets at sunset. We occasionally bump into other members of Shishitoren, and we’d have fleeting conversations and laughter before parting ways again. Some the boys from Shishitoren were quite familiar with me, the ones from Chouji’s and Jo’s circle.

“Aw… I’m sad that you have to go home tomorrow.” Chouji pouts.

I was too, but I didn’t want to see him sad about it either. So I force myself to laugh. “Don’t worry! I’ll be back before you know it!” I endearingly ruffle Chouji’s hair. I was already taller than him, and he used to whine about that a lot too.

Jo walks by us, and I could tell that his mind was elsewhere. His eyes seemed, distant.

I open my mouth to say something, but I was cut off by a boy around the same age as Jo and Chouji whistling at me and staring at me in a hungry way, waggling their eyebrows at me.

Did he just catcall me? I shudder, instinctively grabbing Jo’s hand.

But in a flash, Jo wrenches his hand away from my grip, zooming over to the boy and smashing his fist right into their face. The guy stumbles back, groaning, but Jo grabs a fistful of their shirt and aggressively tugs them back towards him, before uppercutting the dude on the jaw, sending the boy flying back.

I hold my breath, as if one wrong move from me was going to agitate him, although I know he wouldn’t want to hurt me like that. But he looked really pissed.

Like reaaaaallllyyy pissed.

The murderous gleam in his eye said it all.

The boy lands on the floor with a hard thud, and he weakly groans, and Jo stalks up to him, standing above the boy, before stomping on his face. He keeps his foot on the boys face, pressing down hard. “Do that ever again to her, punk, and I’ll make worms’ meat out of you. You better start liking hospital food, cause that’s where you’re gonna end up if you cross the line again.” Jo spat, before kicking the boy’s face and walking back up to me and Chouji.

“Alright, I’m done here.” Jo sighs, giving Chouji and I a smile before continuing to walk again.

Chouji’s eyes light up, and he prances around Jo, goggling at him. “That was so cool! Aw maaann! Now I wish I did that! I could have tested out my kicks! Besides! That was so rude of him!”

“Well, as rude as it was, all of that wasn’t entirely necessary, Jo.” I gently tug on his Shishitoren coat. “But, thanks regardless.”

“Anytime.” Jo mumbles.

Chouji taps his chin. “You seem used to it, Kura.”

“Well, I get it a lot back where I live.”

“Well, it does make sense.”

“Oh?” I tilt my head to the side. “Why is that?”

Chouji gives me a bright smile. “Cause you’re really pretty!” He turns to Jo. “Isn’t she, Jo?”

Jo’s eyes flicker to me for a split second before averting his gaze back to Chouji. “Yeah.”

Eh?!

I stiffen up, scrunching up my shoulders, heat rising up from my neck to my ears, blood rushing to my cheeks.

I abruptly spin away from them. “Y-you can’t just say that out of the blue!”

I hear Jo chuckle. “So how else should we say it?”

The playful tone of his voice gave me goosebumps, and I tense up.

“H-how about not at all?!”

“That defeats the purpose.”

“Like I care!”

At night, when Jo and Chouji were fast asleep, I sneak out onto the rooftop probably for the last time before I had to go back to my house. The night was cool, and the cool breeze tickled my cheeks, reaching out a warm hand and ruffling my hair in the process.

“Can’t sleep, huh?” I hear a familiar deep voice softly murmur.

I look over my shoulder to see Jo standing behind me, his hands in his pockets. I was sure he was sleeping when I snuck out, but maybe I was wrong. Well, him standing right behind me already was validation that I was wrong.

Leaning back on my elbows, I crane my neck backwards, looking at him upside down. “Nope. You?”

“Not really.” He sits down next to me.

We sit in a comfortable silence for a while, and from the corner of my eye, I occasionally catch him glancing at me sideways, but I pay no mind. A minute later, he sighs and opens up an arm towards me. “Come here.”

I beam at him as I scoot right next to him, leaning into his side as he wraps an arm around me, resting his head on top of mine.

“Jo, are you alright?” I ask. He wasn’t exactly the physically affectionate type.

“I’m just a bit worried for you, that’s all. You know you can just stay with me, here, right?”

“Obviously!” I snort. “But… my brother would come after me… so… I’ll wait till I’m 16, but after that, you better start getting used to sleeping on the sofa cause I’m taking your bed.” I jest.

He laughs before patting me on the head.

“I’ll be waiting for you, Kura.”

The rest of the weekend passed by in a blur, and I begrudgingly return back to my house. Standing outside the rundown house, I take a deep breath, before entering inside.

My brother was already waiting for me, laying on the couch. He bares his canines at me. “Ready for learning?”

You’ve got this Kura. Just remember what Jo and Chouji taught you.

Oh, how I was so wrong.

Weekend comes again, and my body throbs with pain all over from those brutal training sessions with my brother, but I still go to see Chouji and Jo.

They wait for me on the steps of some random porch underneath the ecstatic sun, and instead of their eyes lighting up when they see me, their eyes become clouded with worry, even anger.

And as always, Chouji gasps and Jo talks first, except this time, both of them weren’t happy at all.

“What the hell happened Kura?” Jo rushes up to me, taking my night bag off of me, and I wince and the sudden movement of my arm.

“Kura! Why do you have cuts all over your arms?!” Chouji yells, and Jo hisses at him.

“Not so loud! We’re in public, let’s go to my place.”

Chouji nods with eager, frowning, and I nod, guilty from seeing how much they are fretting over me.

The streets start getting more crowded as the sky got darker, and as we walk through the streets, I started getting a bit nervous. I wore a t-shirt because the cuts were still stinging, and they were practically all over my arms. More people started appearing as night arrived, and I started getting eyes on me. Jo and Chouji would glance over at me every now and then, looking at my marks, but they don’t say anything, which felt even worse.

Damn, I even had cuts on my hands. I don’t even want to imagine what them two must be thinking, especially if Chouji was silent.

We get to Jo’s little apartment, and I gently collapse on the sofa, avoiding sudden movements that would cause my arms to brush against anything.

Jo’s apartment was quite cosy: He had one big grey three-seater couch, with matching grey beanbags on the floor (Probably from Chouji’s request.) There was a plush black carpet, and the window gave us the view of the rooftops. His living room was an open one, and he had a small little kitchen in the corner, with cute white little cupboards. He used to have a Tv, but Chouji accidentally broke it while him and I were playing tennis indoors while it was a rainy day.

Chouji plops down onto one of the beanbags, while Jo goes over to his refrigerator, returning with three drinks. He hands over bottled ramune to me, with a smile that I knew fully well was forced. I mutter a thanks as I slowly take it off of him, slightly wincing at my arms aching. He nods and hands another one over to Chouji, who was unusually quiet, and takes the bottle with a nod in thanks. Jo then gently sits cross legged on the couch next to me, sighing and unsealing his drink. Chouji was already chugging down his bottle, while I was struggling to open mine since my arms were shaking and strained. Jo sees this, and leans over, closing his hand over mine and the bottle, pressing his thumb on top of mine, and the marble pops and sinks down the bottle, the drink fizzing.

“Thanks.” I say, and he nods and withdraws his hand.

“How was the journey?” He asks before occupying himself with his drink.

Chouji had already finished his drink, and burps loudly. “Oops! But anyways, that’s the wrong question! The real question is how did you get those cuts?!” He points at them.

I look away, casting my gaze onto the floor. “Training. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But-“ Chouji starts to talk back, but Jo cuts him off.

“If she doesn’t want to, don’t make her Chouji.”

I sit up straighter. “Well, why don’t we go out?”

Jo and Chouji exchange glances, and they both look at me wearily.

“Are you sure?” Jo asks, and I nod enthusiastically.

“Yeah! I hate being holed up in one place.” I groan, sliding off the sofa onto the carpet, taking a sip of the Ramune, the sweetness mildly coating my tongue, bubbles popping against the roof of my mouth.

“But what about the marks on your arms?” Chouji leans forward to get a closer look at the marks on my arms.

“What about it?” I snap, and he flinches. Jo just stares at me, his eyes unreadable.

I take a deep breath, and exhale. “Sorry Chouji, I didn’t mean to snap.”

Chouji perks up “It’s ok! It’s understandable! It’s dark outside anyways, so noone will see it!”

Jo gets up, and takes one last chug of his drink, and so do I. Afterwards, he gathers all of our bottles and throws them in the recycling. He walks off into his bedroom, and Chouji gets up and sits down right next to me, his face close to my arms, taking a veerry close look at my arms.

“Wow, that’s going to leave scars!” He gasps excitedly, pumping his fist. “That’s awesome!”

Leave it to Chouji to hype me up. One thing I loved about him. He always made me feel good about myself. Jo too, even if he was more reserved about it.

Jo comes outside with a baggy jumper, and holds it up for me to see. “Want to change into this? It’s cold outside”

“Do you have anything lighter? Like a loose fitting coat or something?” I ask. He pauses in thought, and he goes back into his room, before coming back out with a red trench coat. Turns out it  belonged to his mother, which was quite sweet since I didn’t know that he could be sentimental with stuff like that. The way he handed over the coat to me with a gentle look in his eyes and with a smile to match gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling, something I haven’t felt in a while.

And it it feels so good to feel that after this … pretty traumatic week.

I pull the red trench coat over me, and I shove my hands into the pockets, to hide the marks on the back of my hands.

Just for today.

Jo pauses when he sees me, and snorts.

“Wow, you look a lot like her.”

“Is that a good thing?” I tilt my hear to the side. Jo never usually speaks about his parents. In fact, it took him a good few months to open up and loosen up with me. I don’t know much about his father, but I have heard snippets about his mother. But he never described how she looked like.

“Yeah.” Was all he responded with.

We walk through the usual streets, and as we walked by a small tunnel under this bridge, I stop, looking through the tunnel. It seemed to lead to another area of town, except it looked a lot more peaceful.

Jo, who was walking ahead with Chouji, stops and turns around to see that I had stopped walking. He walks back over to me, tilting his head as if questioning me, his green eyes glittering in the moonlight.

“Jo, what’s over there?” I question, pointing towards the other end of the tunnel.

“That’s Bofurin’s area. Our gangs are enemies for some reason so we don’t mix. We’re not allowed in each other’s turf.” Jo tells me, before hooking his pinky finger with mine and gently tugging me along to walk with him and catch up with Chouji, who had been bouncing up and down impatiently, whining at us for ‘standing around being all boring’.

So that’s Bofurin’s turf. Where…

We walk by the massive shut down theatre where we usually had our sparring sessions.

Maybe I should show them how much better I’ve gotten.

Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I walk in front of the two boys, and turn on my heel to face them, causing them to stop walking.

“Hey! Jo! Can we spar? Just one time, please?”

Jo shakes his head. “You’re already hurt.”, but Chouji was on board with me.

“But Jo! She wants to! Besides, let her show off her new skills! Those cuts have to mean something, right?”

Togame Jo’s POV:

I reluctantly agree to sparring with Kura. I wasn’t going to stop her from becoming stronger. I guess she needs this to deal with whatever happened back where she lives.

We enter the dark hall, and I pull on this lever, causing the lights to buzz and flicker dramatically to life. Kura already has taken off her coat and laid it carefully to hang off of one of the front row seats. Chouji starts jumping on all the seats as he makes his way to Kura, whining “Kuraaaaaa… when will you spar with meeee!”

“Chouji, you’d be ruthless against me!” Kura whines in jest back to him.

A few months ago, we had found Kura trying to defend herself against a group of drunkards, and once we had sorted them out, she had asked us to teach her how to fight. I only saw her as a girl who just wanted help from us, no more, no less.

But as time passed, she became a friend. Someone I knew I could depend on, even if she wasn’t the best at physically fighting. She had brains, that was for sure. And when it came down to it, she could be very smart with her words.

I quietly walk onto stage, and Chouji starts whooping and laughing in excitement. I bring my eyes up to meet hers, but my gaze goes to her arms instead.

I clench my fist, my nails digging into my skin.

Her once flawless skin was now branded with multiple slashes that seemed like a dagger had been dragged across her skin in all directions. It wasn’t necessarily ugly, but to imagine the torturous pain that came with that was too much for me to bear. The cuts wrapped around Kura’s arms, going all the way up, even hiding beneath the sleeves of her T-shirt.

Whoever the fuck Kura’s brother is, he’s a fucking dickhead.

Kura stares at me, confused, before following my gaze and looking down at her arms. She smiles reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m alright. Just worry about fighting me.”  There was a certain lilt in her voice, something sly.

I scoff, rolling my eyes. “Was that meant to be a threat?”

“No, but it’s open for interpretation.” She waggles her eyebrow, and Chouji lets out an  oooohohoohhooo!

Good. She’s got a lot of confidence now. Must mean something.

And after seeing the way she moves and carries herself, she definitely is.

How much could one person improve in a week? This one’s a monster.

And despite myself, I find myself enjoying this intense spar.

A spar she ultimately won in the end.

Chapter Text

Ezura Kura fact file (based on present day):

Birthday: April 1st

Height: 5”5’

Weight: “Why~ aren’t you a nosy one!”

Blood Type: O

Likes: Teasing people and getting on their nerves.

Hates: Her brother.

Fashion: She adores trench coats, and is rather attached to a red one that she claims was gifted to her by someone dear to her. She wears golden hoop earrings but also likes dream-catcher earrings too! She isn’t fussy with clothes, but her casual wear is high-waist trousers and a blouse top. She prefers to cover up her arms and legs, unless she’s around people she’s comfortable with or at home.

Likes wearing heels that are easy to take off and slide back on.

She doesn’t use skincare, despite her skin being radiant and flawless.

Loves Rain-scented perfume.

Prefers using cash over card, but has a card regardless. Has money from inheritance and from her godparents.

Has an iphone.

Likes texting and blows up chats and annoys people on there.

She hates shopping. But wouldn’t mind it if she was shopping with friends.

Is a big food junkie, even though it looks like she doesn’t have an appetite.

Top Secret!: Apparently Ezura is a fake surname…

Chapter Text

(Present day, on the day of the first day of Bofurin)

Ezura Kura’s POV:

The sun shimmers gracefully as I walk beneath it, passing various colourful shops on the street, searching for a particular café.

It’s been a month since I ran away from home, and it’s been way longer since I had last seen Togame and Tomiyama.

With good reason.

Tomiyama became the leader.

They’ve changed.

Shishitoren changed.

It wasn’t a place full of people who would die for eachother, it was filled with a place people would kill eachother. A power-greedy group. Abusive.

I didn’t want to be in something like that. I didn’t want to have a found family like that.

I had moved into a apartment that was similar in looks to Togame’s apartment. Small but cosy. Oh, but mine has two bedrooms, but one of the windows are broken from me kicking it down in rage. I’m yet to fix it, but I couldn’t bring myself to. It served as a reminder that no matter how far I tried to run from my brother, we still share blood. And with that, comes certain traits. Rage. Lustful admiration. Either getting bored really easily or going overboard really quickly.

I hated it. I hated it so so much.

But I need to be reminded of it in order for me to try and purge myself of those traits. And what better reminder is there than a cracked window that is one poke away from shattering?

Anyways, I have a main goal in mind: Find Umemiya Hajime. From what I have seen and heard about him, he’d be happy to give me some advice on what to do next in this area.

Why him? Maybe I just want to assess him a little.

I finally find the café that I had written down on a piece of paper, and taking a deep breath, I walk in, the bell above the door tinkling as I did so.

Tachibana Kotoha’s POV:

“So, Kotoha! I’ve been gathering information about everyone in this book! During today I got so much intel!” Nirei excitedly babbles as he flicks through the pages of his little notebook as I brew some coffee for him.

“Oh! Today was the first day wasn’t it? How did Sakura handle it?” I look over my shoulder to see Nirei suddenly shudder.

“He picked a fight with Sugishita. Well, Sugishita struck first.”

I pause, before cackling loudly, barely hearing the jingle of the doorbell. “He did WHAT?! Ah… I should have known. I bet it was over him saying that he was gonna take over Umemiya’s spot wasn’t it?”

Well, considering Sakura’s behaviour, it makes sense that he’d try to defend himself-

“You know Umemiya-san?” A unfamiliar voice asks.

Both Nirei and I turn our heads towards the door to see an unfamiliar girl, wearing a red tied up trench coat with black heels. Her black luscious locks were curly, and they coil up by her elbows, her golden looped earrings twinkling in the sunlight.

Woah. She’s pretty…

“Hi! Welcome to Café Pothos! You were asking?” I ask in an enthusiastic voice.

She offers a quick smile before walking up to the counter, her heels satisfyingly clicking against the floor. She takes a seat, resting her gloved hands on the table.

That’s odd. It’s pretty warm outside.

“Do you know Umemiya-san? Also, do you have Bottled Ramune?”

Strange request.

“Do you have business with Umemiya? But yeah, I do know him.” I reply as I hand over her order.

She thanks me and takes it, placing down cash on the counter. “Will that be enough money for it?”

Exactly the right amount.

I tilt my head to the side. I don’t remember seeing this girl, yet the way she acts…

“Have we met before?” I tilt my head to the side, and the girl stiffens.

“I don’t think so.” She gives me a wistful smile. “If we had met before, our conversation now would have been very different.”

There was a flicker of sadness that had left her eyes just as fast as it came. She stands up and nods at Nirei, eyeing his uniform. “A delinquent from Bofurin, huh? Guess I’ll be seeing more of you around, then!” The girl chuckles happily, and Nirei nods, smiling.

“What’s your name?” He asks.

I stop what I’m doing to hear her name.

“Ezura Kura. I just moved here a couple of weeks back.”

“Oh~ an outsider? That’s interesting!” Nirei hums as he jots some notes in his book.

Immediately, the Ezura lets out a quick gasp, kicking the book out of Nirei’s hands, the book flies in the air.

“Hey!” I shout, leaning over the counter.

The book lands right in Ezura’s hands, and she tightens her grip on the book. She comically raises an eyebrow, a playful tone replacing her once serious voice. “What were you writing in here about me?”

Nirei flinches, and holds out his hands while stammering. “N-nothing strange! I-I promise! Just r-random- uh- facts about people.”

“He can’t fight but he does have a hell of a good memory. He memorises everyone in this town and has information stored just incase he needs to assess a situation.” I say for him. The poor boy looked like he was about to burst.

The room was silent for a few seconds before Ezura laughs. “Your face! Don’t sweat it dude, I was just playing with you.” She hands over his book again.

I cross my arms, straightening up. “That was one good kick.”

“Yeah!” Nirei adds. “Do you fight?”

Ezura smacks her lips. “Unfortunately I do!”

Why was that unfortunate?

She looks over at me, looking down at my badge. “Kotoha- I can call you that, right?” She continues upon my nod. “Could you arrange me a table with Umemiya at 5pm today?”

“What? As in a date?” I wiggle my brows, teasing her.

“Pfft! As if! He isn’t my type.” She waves her hand in dismissal. “I just need some advice, that’s all.”

“Consider it done! Also… if you don’t mind me asking… who is your type?”

Ezura scoffs. “Now now~ we just met!” She drawls, taking her bottle and walking towards the door. “Maybe that’s something I’d confess with a close friend.” Her eyes sparkle suggestively, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Yup. She’s sticking around for a while.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

Wow. Kotoha is a girl of her word. Respectable. I mentally note as I walk into the café to see a tall, white-haired boy with luminous eyes beam at me.

“Kotoha-chan! Is this the girl?” He sits up straight.

Kotoha looks over at me, and waves at me, and I wave back.

She goes silent, her eyes widening.

Hm? What- Oh shit!

I forgot to put my gloves on. They were in my pockets though, but it was no point in putting them on now.

I hastily shove my hands in my pocket. “Training. Got them from training.” I nod before sitting down opposite Umemiya.

He leans onto the table, inspecting me closely. “Those cuts look too intentional for training, Ezura. Or shall I say…”

“…”

How did he know?

I grab him by his shirt, tugging him in close. “Don’t call me that. I don’t want to be associated with that monster.” My voice trembles, and I blink, shaking my head. “Oh my god.” I gently let go of Umemiya’s shirt. “I’m so sorry-“

“No problem! I’d be annoyed if he was my brother too!” He laughs.

“Um… aren’t you… you know…” I mumble, and Umemiya slams his hand down on the table.

“You’re absolutely right!” He declares.

Eh? I was going to ask him if he had a grudge against me… did he already know what I was going to-

“We need food!” He announces, holding up two fingers. “Kotoha-Chan-“

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Kotoha yells over Umemiya’s voice, but he pays no notice.

“- can we have two omurices PLEASEEEE!”

“Do I look like your slave?!” She growls, crossing her arms and tensing up.

Umemiya actually looked confused at why Kotoha was angry. “But… this IS your café. Isn’t it your jo-“

“Fine! I’ll make it! Only because of Ezura!” She throws her hands up in the air in exasperation, walking over to the stove.

Umemiya leans in close to me, whispering “she always says that, but she has a soft spot for me, you see-“

“I CAN HEAR YOU MORON, AND I DON’T HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR YOU!”

“Wow.” I snort. “You’re like a little kid.”

“Why thanks! Better that than some oldie’s mentality, right?” He smiles, baring his teeth.

How is he so cheerful?

“How did you know who I was?” I ask him.

“Hmm… you look a lot like him.”

“Wow. That’s insulting.” I deadpan.

“Wait! Wait! I didn’t mean that you were ugly! But your brother isn’t-“

“Don’t even go there, Umemiya-san.”

“So, let me guess…” he points his chopsticks at me. “You came here to ask to join Bofurin.”

Where did he get that idea from?

“What? I was just going to ask about how I could keep away from my brother. You should know how he’s like. He practically hunts down peoples and has some freaky connections with people. And I came here for a fresh start, not a tainted one.”  I huff, looking away.

“Oh? Really? Well then, you should join Bofurin!”

I pause, looking at the boy, dumbfounded. That was the worst option going for me. Most people I know hate Bofurin. If they find out that I attend Bofurin, there’s going to be some issues. And I don’t need more scars.

But why does a part of me want to accept the offer? Why does my heart beat faster for that option?

“Why?” I quip. “I am practically your enemy, and I’ll never be accepted as one of you guys. Besides, it’s an all boys school.”

Umemiya taps his chopsticks together, resting his chin on his hand, shrugging “You’re a good kid. Why not? So what if you’re a girl? You seem like a good fighter. Your brother is our enemy, not you.”

“You barely know me. How can you be so sure?” I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes.

He carefully lays his chopsticks on the table, and looks at me with a more serious gaze, his voice going deep. “How do you know I’m being serious about Bofurin and not trying to lure you into a trap?”

I open my mouth to respond, but the words die in my throat. How do I know?

I know because I have seen him from time to time. I have seen glimpses of him from the shadows. I have seen the way he truly is around others, and I had a strong hunch that he’s truly a good guy. No facade. Just an extremely childish side and a seriously mature side when it came down to it. His mature side gives off the same atmosphere as Togame’s but Togame’s is probably still stronger and suffocating to those who stand on the wrong side. When it comes to fighting, I have seen him in action before… I know he’s insanely good…

He must have seen it in my eyes, because he nods and leans back in his chair. “And there’s your answer. So- OH!” Umemiya sits upright in his chair, bubbling with excitement, his voice back to normal.

“What?” I was quick to respond, looking around to see what was the hype about.

Umemiya claps his hand and whoops as Kotoha carries over two plates of Omurice for us. She gently places mine in front of me, and places Umemiya’s plate in front of him but with more force.

He kind of reminds me of the old Tomiyama… in a way…

“Thank you Kotoha!” Umemiya and I say in unison, before praying and eating.

The smell of the Omurice was delicious, but the taste was on a whole other level.

I stiffen up at the burst of flavours that hit my tongue, and Umemiya laughs wholeheartedly at me. “It’s amazing right?”

“It’s more than that!” I goggle, turning to Kotoha. “Kotoha! This is indescribably delicious!”

“Wow, she even took out the big words Kotoha-chan! I told you that your Omurice is the best!” Umemiya points at Kotoha in glee.

“Well, I don’t believe it coming from you, you say that about everyone’s dish.” Kotoha mutters at Umemiya’s response, but softens towards me. “Thanks Ezura! Glad you like it!”

“Hey! Sit down with us!” I gesture over to the chair on my left, patting the back of the chair, and Umemiya grunts in agreement.

Kotoha shrugs. “Alright.” Before making her way over, her cropped brown hair swaying by her shoulders. She sits down, and grabs a fork and attacks Umemiya’s Omurice. Umemiya pays no notice and continues happily munching on a mouthful.

Had this been Tomiyama, he would have been whining and sulking for a good while afterwards.

Wait. Why do I keep thinking about them? Snap out of it Kura, they’ve changed. I scold myself with a pang in my heart.

But if they see me with Bofurin…

Ah, fuck it.

“So, Umemiya-san. Do you have a place for one more student at Furin High?”

Both Kotoha and Umemiya’s eyes light up.

“Yes! I do!” Umemiya says, his voice muffled because of the food in his mouth.

Kotoha plays with a strand of her hair. “Well, you’re one day late, since the school year started yesterday, but it’s not like anyone is going to care about it.” She then looks at Umemiya. “But she’s going to need a uniform, right?”

Umemiya clasps his hands together. “Don’t worry! I’ve got it allll sorted out! Meet me at the school rooftop about 30 minutes before the school day starts, got it Ezura?”

I chuckle, bowing to him. “Thank you, Umemiya-san.”

“No.” He says, his eyes twinkling. “Thank you .”

After leaving the café, I decide to take a walk around town to familiarise myself with the people and the streets. It was like Shishitoren’s area, except it’s less crowded and more peaceful.

There you go again, thinking about Shishitoren. They’ve changed. It isn’t home, Kura.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by someone grabbing my arm. Off of instinct, I spin around, aiming my foot straight at their face-

“Oh shit!” I curse, managing to stop my foot an inch away from Nirei’s face. The boy flinches backwards, bowing and trembling.

“O-oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you like that! I saw you wandering around and thought that maybe you were lost- I-I should have said your name or someth-“

“Don’t sweat it, Nirei.” I chuckle, lowering my foot, properly facing him. “I should be the one apologising to you. Is there something you need?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.

“No, I was wandering whether you would like me to show you around town. I grew up here, and you’re from outside, so you won’t know these streets as well as I do…” He trails off, eyeing me carefully, as if I was going to lash out at him.

I give him a smile. “That sounds nice! But maybe tomorrow? I think we’d be well acquainted by then. See you tomorrow, Nirei.” I wave at him, and he waves back, returning my smile.

Wow, a boy like him at Bofurin? How peculiar.

I walk past some shops, occasionally stopping and going into some shops and making light conversations with the shop owners.

I check the time on my phone: 7.20

Probably time to head home.

So I start to retrace my steps, figuring out my way back to my place. I walk for perhaps ten minutes when a gang of perhaps middle aged men surround me, with cigarettes hanging from their mouths and shady sunglasses. Some were wearing knuckle busters, while others just wore an excessive amount of rings.

I pull on my gloves, sighing. “Is there a problem, boys?”

The man with a huge chain around his neck rolls the cigarette around in his mouth with his tongue. “Not really, depending on what problem we’re talking about.”

I calmly look around, trying to spot some exit or some gap between the men, but there wasn’t. They start closing in on me, and I hear one of them say. “That’s a pretty face, won’t mind if I do.”

Creeps.

I plant my feet firmly on the ground, clenching my fists, and I throw my fist straight into the nose of the big man in front of me. The impact was shown by the way his nose crunched beneath my fist, and he stumbles down on to the floor, landing on his back, his eyes all watery.

“Bitch!” He spat.

“Huh?” I say, cracking my neck. “And I wasn’t even trying hard to punch you. Seems like you all are just boring.” I chide, and then, the men surrounding me yell and they all try to throw hands on me.

But then a blur of black and white zooms by me, planting his feet into the face of the man closest to me, propelling the man all the way back, and the man goes crashing into a bunch of trash cans, the lids flying and clattering everywhere. All the men pause, some even gasping.

“A Furin high boy, huh?” One of them growls.

I look at the Furin high boy whose back was towards me.

Oh, he looks cool.

Half of his hair was black, and the other half was white. He straightens up, straightening his Bofurin Jacket. “Why are you punks ganging up on one girl, huh? It’s pathetic and it’s really pissing me off! If you’re going to attack her, at least go one on one, not one against a whole crowd, damn it!” He yells.

My brows shoot up to my forehead.

Oh? Interesting.

Chapter Text

The men started to gang up on the boy, but the boy handled it very well. He punched his way through them, occasionally delivering kicks and sending them flying. More men came from nowhere, and as they approach, the boy steps backwards, closer to me, before settling into a fighting stance.

“Oi.” He says gruffly. “Stand back.”

I comply. I could help him, but it was more interesting to just stand back and watch.

He was knocking them out like stepping on ants.

But a few seconds later, someone grabs my arms and pins them behind my back, pointing a knife at my throat, their body pressed against my back.

My breath hitches for just a second, but I realise that he wasn’t really going to cut me.

Bringing a knife to a fist fight? Asshole. I scoff to myself.

The Othello kid boots a dude in the face before turning around to finally face me, his eyes widening.

Ooo, his eyes are cool too! They’re different colours…

“Hey brat!” The man holding me yells out to the Othello kid, inching the knife closer to my neck. “Make one more move and I’ll slit her pretty throat.”

Typical. And he isn’t even holding the knife properly.

I stomp down hard on his foot with my high heel, causing him to hiss and loosen his hold on me due to the pain, and I manage to wriggle my hands free, grabbing his right hand, twisting it so he dropped the knife on the floor, then using my other hand, I grab his head. I lock my foot with his and knock his foot off balance, tightening my grip on his head and slamming his head down onto the concrete ground, his whole body going down with him. He lays there, still.

Oh. He’s already knocked out.

I hear a few gasps, and the sounds of footsteps and punches stopped altogether

I straighten up again, flicking my hair over my shoulder, smirking at the baffled Othello kid and the gang of even more baffled men behind him. I ignore the men and address the boy. “Don’t worry about me, I can defend myself.” I say, kicking up the knife on the ground, catching it and walking up the Othello kid, giving him a grateful smile. I then stop, my smile fading away, replaced with a murderous glare that was directed at the men. I throw the knife into the bin next to me, and I flick my hair over my shoulder.

“Hey, Othello.”

It takes the boy a second to process that I was talking to him.

“What type of nickname is that?!” He snaps, and I look at him dubiously.

“It makes perfect sense! Like the Othello board!”

He narrows his eyes at me, and I just shake my head.

”Forget it. You’re just stupid.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?! He yells at me, and I rub my ear.

“Jesus, can we not do this right now? We have a few fish to fry, don’t we?” I say, casting a sly look at the men who were tightening their fists or grips on their pipes.

He blinks at me, before scoffing and settling into a fighting stance. “Don’t bother. I can take them on myself.”

It didn’t take us long to beat up the rest. The Othello kid definitely put more effort in beating them up, knocking out two to three men at a time with punches and kicks, whereas I had just stayed out of his way, dodging the men who came at me and breaking a few noses here and there, but I restricted myself to punches. No need for bone-breaking damage. Besides, these people were boring- no point in wasting my energy and toying around with them.

Soon enough, the gang had all scurried away like ants, spitting out blood and cursing as they went.

There was a man who snuck up from behind Sakura, raising a bat above his head, and I run up to the man, jumping and delivering a roundhouse kick straight to his head. He goes flying into the wall, slamming against and and sliding down onto the floor, unconscious.

They’re so weak around here!

Then it was peaceful and silent again. I turn around to look at the boy, who was already staring at me.

“You can fight?!” Was the first thing he blurts out.

“Well, yeah?”

He stares at me, then blinks twice.

“Then why were you just standing there when they cornered you?” He points accusingly at me.

I place a hand on my hip as I shake my head, snorting lightly. “I was going to fight them, but you stepped in and assumed that I can’t fight, so I played along. You clearly didn’t see a knocked out guy on the floor that was caused by me before you stepped in like the big hero you are-“

“Oi, I didn’t assume anything!” He hisses. “You could have saved some of my time by knocking out some more guys instead of making me do all the work.” He huffs.

“Hm? But I did help in the end. You just insisted that you do all the fighting. So I let you. Besides, you were the one who said he could handle it himself.”

He rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and muttering something beneath his breath, inaudible to my ears.

I step closer, smirking “why~ don’t tell me that this big boy is upset that he had to fight a little bit more than me~?” I drawl, and his face goes red, and he jumps back, holding up his fists and settling into a fighting stance.

“WHAT?! YOU WANNA FIGHT?! OF COURSE I CAN DUMBASS! I CAN BEAT UP ANY GUY YOU THROW MY WAY! IN FACT, ITS MY GOAL TO BECOME THE TOP DOG AT BOFURIN!”

Wow. He’s ambitious. But judging from the way he fights, he could pull it off. But it’s going to be difficult if he’s a loner.

I place a hand on my hip, cocking my head to the side, going serious. “Sure, I can see that you can knock out anyone I throw at you. But I know as sure as hell that you won’t win against me.” Before reverting to my usual upbeat self, waving my hand in dismissal. “Oh, never mind! It’s not like we will be fighting each other anytime soon anyways, so you’re safe!” I giggle, and this seems to set the boy off.

“HUH?! THAT’S IT. LET’S GO. RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!” He clenches his fists, and I yawn.

“Relax buddy, I don’t wanna fight. Besides…” I walk up to him, placing my hand on his shoulder, he stiffens at the touch, glancing between my hand and me, his eyes widening.

“Thank you for sorting out those guys. That was nice of you. You’re an insane fighter.” I say solemnly, giving him a smile.

His face flushes red, and he shakes my hand off of his shoulder, averting his gaze away from me and frantically looking around. “I-I wasn’t doing it for you! Those guys just really pissed me off! So I punched em up! Don’t get the wrong idea now!”

I cross my arms, rolling my eyes as I say sarcastically. “Calm down now, I won’t.”

He gives a brief nod and starts stalking off in the opposite direction.

Wait-

“What’s your name?” I ask after him. He stops, and looks over his shoulder, pouting and looking off to the side, as if he was debating whether to tell me or not.

But he huffs and tell me regardless, his voice deep and gruff.

“Sakura Haruka.”

I nod at him, turning around in the opposite direction, waving at him. “See you tomorrow then, Sakura!”

Sakura Haruka’s POV:

Who the hell was she? I wonder, as I walk away from her.

Talking all big talk about beating me in a fight. She didn’t even move a single muscle half of the time I was fighting the gang off her.

But that move she did, slamming the man onto the ground, and the roundhouse kick- those were some powerful moves. That was all it took her to knock the man out for good. That’s all it took for her to immobilise him.

And the way she went about just breaking noses with one punch…

Who the hell is she?

And I stop, turning around and looking back down the road, where she was a minute ago. She was gone.

And I didn’t even know her name.

I blink slowly, processing what she last said.

“See you tomorrow? What does she mean?” I mumble to myself, turning back around and heading over to Kotoha’s café.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

The next day arrives quickly, and as instructed by Umemiya, I stand at the rooftop of the school. It looked like it was used as a little garden with multiple compost trays and plants and pots. There was a few benches scattered around too.

It’s quite pretty up here.

There was also a beautiful view of the town below in the close distance. All the buildings looked like little miniature woodwork, and the trees sway against the calm breeze.

“Oh, hey!” A cheery voice calls out from behind me, and I look over my shoulder to see Umemiya-san with a girl with long hair, dyed red at the tips.

Turns out the girl was actually a boy.

Their face lights up when they see me, and they rush up to me, grabbing me by my shoulders. “So you’re Ezura Kura? Bofurin’s first girl, hm? So cute!”

Huh? Her- well his- voice is so deep! But who cares. It’s nice he can freely express himself.

“Uh- thank you?” I respond, and the boy squeals.

“And she’s polite too! So, where are you from, Ezura-chan?” He asks me as he grabs my hand and drags me over to the bench were Umemiya was sitting down on, laying plates and sandwiches for the three of us.

I sit down, tugging on the fabric of my full sleeved shirt. I felt a bit vulnerable without my usual red trench coat. That was like my second skin. “I was born here, and moved out of town when I was 5. I came back after some complications.”

The boy hums curiously, and then gasps. “Oh! I forgot to introduce myself!” He takes my hand and shakes it. “Tsubakino Tasuku! Though you can just call me Tsubaki-chan, dear!”

I nod with a smile, and then Umemiya laughs before pushing plates of sandwiches towards us. “Eat up guys! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!”

Tsubaki’s eyes shimmer as he looks at Umemiya, and laughs. “Oh Ume! You’re too kind!” He quickly swipes off a sandwich from the place and takes a big bite, toying with a strand of his hair. He gulps and then goggles at Umemiya. “These taste so good Ume!”

Umemiya beams “Why thank you! Made them myself!”

Tsubaki leans onto the table, resting his head on his hand. “You should open up a restaurant! You’re a great cook!”

I blink at Tsubaki while Umemiya starts on rambling on about why he would love to but he probably wouldn’t. The way he looks at Umemiya was as if he was the full moon in a dark night.

Oh… Tsubaki’s got a crush. I muse, eating my sandwich.

“Oh! It’s nearly time for the kids to start arriving and the rest of our group Tsubaki-chan.” Umemiya looks at the time on his phone. “Did you bring it?”

Tsubaki then nods eagerly. “Yes! I managed to get it tailored for her before the shop closed!” He then looks at me, clapping. “I can’t wait to see you try it on dear!”

I tilt my head to the side. “Try on what, exactly?”

Nirei Akihiko’s POV:

“This is bad, extremely bad!” I gulp as Suo chuckles next to me.

“Ah, they’re at it again!”

Sakura and Sugishita started fighting again. Sakura had called Umemiya a ‘childish old man’ and Sugishita had gotten really peeved off about it, and now they were throwing and dodging punches.

“Someone’s going to have to stop them!” I start chewing on my nails nervously. We all had to leave soon to continue painting the walls of the bakery, and we’d probably get into trouble if the two of them didn’t stop fighting. Even worse if Hiragi comes in to fetch us.

“They’ll stop eventually.” Suo reassures me, but I know he was enjoying the sight too much to step in and intervene. The rest of the class was watching Sakura and Sugishita as if they were watching movie.

Then someone stops the fight.

This somewhat familiar person dashes into our classroom at a frightening speed, stepping in between the boys.

Wait. Is that EZURA?!

Ezura grabs Sakura’s wrist as he was about to throw a punch on Sugishita, and moves his wrist down, holding it as she kicks Sugishita’s fist out of the way, then she twists her body around,!bringing her foot right up and inch away from the base where his neck and spine met. Sugishita tenses up, standing very still as if he could feel the tip of Ezura’s shoe graze the hairs on the back of his neck.

The whole class went silent.

Suo’s smile widens, and his eyes light up in wonder, similar to how he reacted when Sakura managed to land a hit on Sakura yesterday.

Sakura’s shoulders scrunch up, his eyebrows shooting up to his forehead. “You again?!”

Still with her foot up in the air and her hand gripping Sakura’s wrist, she turns her head to look at him, winking as her gold loop earrings tinkle against her smaller piercings. “Fancy seeing you again, Sakura!”

Ezura’s eyes shift back on Sugishita. “That’s a pressure point, you see?” She says, lightly tapping the back of his neck with the tip of her heels. “One precise hit there, and it’s sweet dreams for you! Aren’t you meant to be getting along with the each other here? Save the fight for the punks who deserve it, not your own teammates.” She warns, lowering her foot back on the ground, shoving her gloved hands back in her pockets as she looks around at the rest of the class. Sugishita grunts and stalks out of class, slamming the door behind him.

She wore the Furin high jacket, except it was tailored as a trench coat, and she had tied it together rather than buttoning it up. It looked similar to the red trench coat she wore when I last saw her.

All the boys start to murmur things like a girl at Bofurin? And woah, she’s cute.  And Wow!  she stopped Sugishita and Sakura!

Hiragi steps into the classroom. Everyone shifts their heads to look at him, and Hiragi takes a pill or two before speaking.

“I see that you have already met the new addition to your class! Have you introduced yourself?” He looks over at Ezura.

She shakes her head, before waving at the class, smiling. “Ezura Kura. Pleasure to meet you all!”

“Great! I better see your asses down in front of the school in three minutes. No slacking!” Hiragi barks at the class before leaving.

Ezura was then flocked by a bunch of boys who start to ask her various things.

“Woah! That was sick!”

“You’ve got some serious guts, I tell ya!”

“Fits right in!”

“Where are you from?”

“You’re super cute!”

Suo and I watch from afar, and Sakura grumbles as he walks up to us. “Who is she?”

I pump my chest, taking out my top secret notebook. “Ezura Kura! She’s from out of town just like you are, Sakura-san! Although I haven’t found out much about her yet…”

Suo chuckles cheerfully. “You’ll find out all in good time, Nirei-kun! After all, this is only our second day of school. Well- for her, the first.”

Sakura huffs. “I had Sugishita right where I wanted him. Why did she have to barge in like that?”

Suo pats Sakura on the shoulder as he walks past. “Well! If it wasn’t for her, Hiragi-san would be busy scolding all of us now. Now hurry up before we get scolded by him for being late!”

Ezura Kura’s POV:

The class went out to the front of the school, where some other classes were. The rest all split into groups that apparently they were in yesterday. I look around, wondering where I should be.

“Ezura! You’re with me!” Hiragi calls me over. So I walk over, noticing that Sakura, Sugishita and Nirei were in that group as well, along with a boy with brown hair and long earrings.

Nirei waves at me, and I smile and wave back. “Hey, Nirei-kun.”

“Hi! It’s cool that you’re coming to Bofurin!”

The brunette boy next to him tilts his head to the side, his earrings tilting with him, smiling with his hands behind his back. “Yes, the first girl to attend Bofurin, an all boys school.”

“Why are you here?” A gruff voice that I recognised well comes from behind me, and I look behind to see Sakura.

True. Why am I here?

“Don’t know. Think I let Umemiya-san brainwash me into thinking I’m good enough to attend Bofurin.” I say as my excuse.

The brunette boy adds “well, that’s a good enough reason if the head was persuading you, isn’t it?”

“I guess. I don’t know.” I respond, before we all set off to the shop.

This… is oddly calming I think as I move the paintbrush up and down, smearing white all over the washed away wall. Sakura was struggling a few feet away from me, whilst Nirei was doing a spectacular job. The brunette boy happily did his work, not making a sound.

Nirei and I converse as we paint side by side.

“So what made you join, Nirei-kun?” I ask him.

He scratches his head as he looks away. “Well, it’s not really a reason to be all loud about.”

“Any reason is alright to be loud about if it drives you to really do something, right?” I ask him, and he nods slowly, silent.

He was quiet for a few more minutes before confiding. “I used to get bullied a lot. Like… a lot.”

My stomach drops, and I find it a bit hard to breathe.

I can’t imagine how hard it would be to carry on with my daily life if I had bullies breathing down my neck. Nirei is strong. He doesn’t realise it yet.

“And one time while I was getting beat up, a Bofurin guy came to my rescue. I wanted to join Bofurin ever since so I could be like him.”

I pause what I’m doing, looking over at him, before murmuring. “That’s an amazing reason, Nirei-kun. You’re a good guy.”

Nirei beams at my words, his eyes shining, and I couldn’t help but laugh. The brunette with the long earring was looking over his shoulder at us while we were talking, looking curious.

Once we had finished painting, we were all given baked goods by the owner of the bakery as thanks, and our group was back on patrol around the town. Nirei was explaining something to a disgruntled Sakura, while I was walking behind them, munching on some food that we were given as thanks. Sakura then started to bicker with Sugishita, and Hiragi, who was walking between them, looked so fed up with them already.

Hiragi is like those nursery teachers who have to hold the hands of the two kids that are always getting into fights. He’s practically playing babysitters but with delinquents. I couldn’t help but giggle.

“They’re both two hotheads, aren’t they? It’s really no surprise they clash so much!” An airy voice speaks to me. I look to my side to the brunette, smiling towards the bickering chaos in front of us.

“Yeah.” I agree. “But they have so much in common. It’s quite hilarious, actually.”

The boy nods, humming in agreement. He then averts his gaze from the boys to me. “That was an impressive kick you did earlier. It was so quick, I wouldn’t have been able to see it coming. Even more impressive that Sugushita and Sakura had bit down their tongues after that!”

“Thanks. I don’t think I know your name…?” I hint.

“Suo Hayato. I’m sorry for not introducing myself sooner!” He laughs.

He was quite the calm, laidback person. Going along with the flow. He didn’t seem fazed by anything. Even if he was, there was a sense of wonder behind him.

Here I go again. Psychoanalysing people again.

“So, what’s the deal between Sakura-kun and Sugishita-kun?”

“Ah… they fought on the first day of school. Sakura-kun managed to land a hit on him, and that cause quite an uproar.”

“What? Striking Sugishita-kun? It’s not that hard…” I mumble to myself.

“But no one dared to hit him. He had that dangerous presence about him.” Suo adds.

I look over at Sakura, who was eating and thinking to himself as Nirei was writing things in his notebook next to him.

I skip up to Sakura, and I sling my arm over his shoulder. He nearly drops his food, and he tenses up, his brows raised as he glances sideways at me. “What?” He grunts.

“Nothing! Just heard you got into a bit of a scrap with Sugishita-kun over there! Was it because of your loud ass saying that you wanted to become the strongest of Bofurin? Meaning that you would have to take out Umemiya-san?”

At the mention of that, Sugishita scowls menacingly from Hiragi’s side. I look down to see that he was even clenching his fist.

“Oh~ did I strike a nerve?” I drawl to Sugishita, and he snaps his head away from me, grumbling.

“He was looking for a fight. I gave him one.” Sakura says, and I shrug.

“Fair enough. I’d do the same.”

Hiragi scrunches his nose at me. “You aren’t helping, Ezura.”

“I know.” I reply to him. “But at least I’m being honest! Aren’t I, Sakura-kun~?” I croon, and I drag him a little bit closer, and that’s all it took for his face to turn red.

“Wha-Get off of me!” He stammers as he wriggles me off, side stepping away, fists clenched.

“But Sakura-kun, you didn’t answer the question.” I quip, smirking.

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!”

“But you are younger than me.”

“SO?!”

“Both of you shut up!” Hiragi hisses. “We’re meant to be stopping trouble not causing it!”

Sakura’s so easy to rile up. Great for me!

“If that’s what one of the great kings of Bofurin decree, then I shall humbly oblige.”

I bend into a bow in jest, and Hiragi just rolls his eyes at me.

“Sakura-kun!” I loudly whisper. “Quick! Do a tap dance to make him laugh!”

“Why me?” He replies in a normal voice.

My smile grows sly. “Why? You’re the dumb jester!”

He narrows his eyes. “Jester?”

“It’s someone who specifically works for the king, to make the king laugh over something stupid and entertain them.” Suo chimes from behind.

At this, Sakura whips around to me, furious. “WHY YOU-!” He makes a move to grab me, but Nirei steps in between us.

“Sakura-san! Don’t! You’ll get in trouble.”

“At least it’ll entertain the rest of us!” I murmur to myself, loudly on purpose.

This causes Sakura to go red again, and he tried to lunge at me, but Nirei traps him in a hug.

“Sakura-san!”

Sugishita’s lips twitch up at the commotion. I look over at him and the smile fades, but he gives me a nod.

At least he likes me. Can’t say the same for Othello-kun.

“I’d listen to Nirei-kun if I were you, Othello-kun.”

Suo’s head tilts, and he raises an eyebrow. “Othello-kun?”

“Yeah!” I flash a smile. “It’s my nickname for him.”

Suo laughs “I haven’t heard of that one! But I don’t see the connection.”

I look over to Nirei, but he shakes his head as well, and Sugishita just shrugs.

“Wow. You all are so uncultured!” I wave a hand in dismissal.”

Sakura rolls his eyes, but listens, and calms down. Hiragi buries his face in his hand, mumbling. “What did I do to Umemiya to deserve this?”

All of a sudden, we all stop when we hear thuds and klinks coming from a tunnel that stood in a shadowy area. We all go silent, walking up to the tunnel.

My eyes widen when I recognise the tunnel.

I remember standing on the other side of that tunnel, peering in on the other side.

This was the tunnel I saw during one of my last visits to the restaurant district. Memories comes flushing back to me, and I remember the way Togame led me away from the tunnel, his pinky finger intertwined with mine. I remember spending my evenings laughing and hanging out with the Shishitoren boys.

All those times faded into faint images in my head. Some of them were still amazingly vivid, however.

Sakura crosses his arms as he looks up at the Shishitoren symbol. “That dog is uuuuugly!”

Nirei yelps “SAKURA-SAN! You can’t say that! We don’t know if any of their guys are anywhere close!”

What is he getting all paranoid about? They’re all cowards. They rely on eachother’s downfall to rise through the ranks.

It didn’t always used to be like that…

Nirei finishes explaining the turf rules to Sakura  with “The team that controls that turf is…the devotees of power… Shishitoren, the Head of the Lion!”

He makes it sound all grand. It really isn’t. I grimace.

“Huh? The devotees of power?” Sakura repeats, staring at the massive painted symbol above the tunnel, before grinning. “That’s got a good ring to it.”

I open my mouth to say how he’d probably fit right in at Shishitoren with all his big talk about wanting to become top dog and beat everyone to get to the top, when we hear hurried footsteps and someone yelling “STOP RIGHT THERE!” From inside the tunnel.

We all whip around to see a boy running towards us, bruised and panicked.

Hiragi narrows his eyes, but they widen with recognition, distress etched clearly across his face. “That’s San Middle School’s Uniform!”

“What?! That’s on our turf!” Nirei wobbles.

Hiragi runs up right to the entrance of the tunnel, but he doesn’t go in.

“What the hell are you doing over there?!” He yells at the boy. “Hurry and get back here!”

I start to make a run for it towards the boy, but Nirei grabs my arm.

“Don’t do it, Ezura! You’ll be in trouble.”

“But-“ I stammer, but I was cut off by Nirei.

“AHHHH! BEHIND HIM!” Nirei screeches, nodding to behind the boy. There were three other boys in orange baseball jackets.

Nirei points it out. “IT’S SHISHITOREN!”

Hiragi shifts, as if he was ready to reach out for the boy, but the boy trips and falls.

“Shit!” Hiragi curses under his breath.

But Sakura and Sugishita jump over the line, and kicks the front Shishitoren boy squarely in the face, in perfect sync.

For two brats who are always at each other’s throats, they’d make a good team.

“Hey asshole, get out of the way.” Sakura grunts as he lightly lands.

Idiot. I smirk. Love it.

Nirei clearly didn’t think the same. Instead, he screams, hanging onto Suo’s arm for dear life. “AAAAAAA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

Suo lightly chuckles as Nirei continues in a shaky voice. “W-we took the first swing… in another teams turf.”

“Pfft! Bull-shit!” I say in a singsong voice, walking up to the middle schooler, helping him up.

“Yeah, what are you on about? If he’s one of us, then they’re the ones struck first.” Sakura and Sugishita say in unison.

I help the boy back to Hiragi, before walking up to Sakura, patting him on the shoulder and peering over his shoulder to see if I recognised the Shishitoren boys.

Arima? Kanuma? It’s them!

“What’re you doing man?” Arima says, shifting the knocked out boy’s face with his foot.

And the one on the floor… Saruwatari? He used to be so nice…

“Ahh shit. Welp, he’s completely knocked out.”

Arima giggles, nibbling on his nails. I remember him doing that even back when I used to hang out with them. “He went down with just one kick. Pathetic.”

He did not used to talk like that. Neither of them did.

I gently push past Sakura. “Arima? Kanuma? We don’t want trouble. Let’s just end this here and we’ll take our middle schooler and you take Saruwatari and get him patched up.”

The two boys I addressed went wide eyed at seeing me.

“Holy shit! It’s Ezura!” Arima laughs in disbelief. “Damn! It’s been a while!”

I sigh, hearing numerous grunts of surprise coming from behind me. They were definitely going to interrogate me afterwards.

Kanuma nods, before noticing my jacket. “And that’s a new look.”

“Yeah. Boss is going to be pisssedd when he sees you wearing a Furin jacket.” Arima adds.

I cross my arms, scoffing. “Wow! Congrats boys. I nearly gave a fuck. Can we go now?”

I hear Sakura lightly snort behind me, and I spin on my heel, walking past him and Sugishita, back towards a furious Hiragi, a smiling Suo and a beyond terrified Nirei. “Lets go back.” I declare.

But then I hear a familiar clicking sound against the concrete. I chastise myself for still remembering the source of that sound, and I chastise myself for picturing the exact way that the owner of those shoes would be walking towards us.

No. Not him. Not now.

“Ugh. Fuck me.” I quietly groan, tightening my Bofurin trench coat around me, turning back around to see Arima and Karuma frozen in place, all tensed up.

So even they fear him…

“What was that sound?” An annoyingly familiar voice calls out, and my heart drops at the sound. There was no gentleness about it. Sure, it sounded chilled and laidback, but their was a threatening undertone to it that screamed authority.

But it was somehow still the same, but emotionless. “Well? What’s all this now? I was wondering what was happening there when I saw one of our guys zooming by…”

Hiragi walks up past me, infront of Sakura and Sugishita. “Out of all the people to show, it just had to be him…”

“Yep. Just had to be Jo.” I whisper beneath my breath.

“… Shishitoren’s second in command, Togame Jo.”

Chapter Text

Ezura Kura’s POV:

Togame looked the same, except his har was a bit longer, and he was wearing coloured shaded sunglasses. He walks slowly towards us, his weird shoes clicking against the concrete as he swirls a bottle of ramune around with his hand, the marble clinking against the glass. Arima and Kanuma bow, eerily still as Togame approaches them.

“Oh, wuh? Furin? Over on this side?” He asks, lowering his shades, looking at us. He hasn’t seen me yet, since I was standing behind the rest. A part of me didn’t want to see him, but another part of me actually missed him.

But he’s different now.

“Hmmm?” Togame stops in front of Saruwatari, surprised. “What the-Saruwatari?!” What happened to you?!”

Hiragi walks across the width of the tunnel, towards Togame. “That punk a yours’ chasin one of our own around.”

“Hmmmm?” Togame looks up. “Ohhh… why if it isn’t Hiragi! Yoooo!” He waves at Hiragi with his bottle.

I sigh, walking up to Sakura. I could feel Suo’s eyes on me as I walked past him as Sakura mutters under his breath. “Ugh, he’s so slow! Get with it already!”

I gently nudge Sakura, whispering to him. “Trust me, when he starts fighting, you’ll wish he was slow.”

Togame points at Surawatari on the ground, grinning menacingly at Hiragi. “So this was… your work of art?”

The way he said it sets everyone on edge. My eyebrows shoot up at the tone of his voice.

Sakura, like the idiot he was, grins. “Heh heh. He’s a cut above the rest.”

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Seriously?!” I frown at him. “That’s your first thought? Must you go looking for a fight everywhere you go?!”

“Hah?!” Sakura leans in towards me, sizing me up.

Togame’s voice goes soft. “Kura?”

Sakura’s eyes widen, and his ears go a bit red.

Huh, what’s Sakura’s problem?

But I realise that Togame was looking directly at me, and so was everyone else. My stomach drops.

“Like I told you last time, it’s Ezura for you.” I say, conveying no emotion, hoping he got the message.

His eyes widen and a flash of hurt strikes across his eyes, but it quickly disappears. He walks towards me, looking annoyed. He stops right in front of me, and I look away. But from the corner of my eye, I see him lower his shades again, his eyes wide. “Why are you wearing their uniform?”

I snap my head to look at him. “Why do you think?” I chat back.

“What happened to joining Shishitoren? You’d fit in here more than with those Bofurin punks.”

I clench my fists, staring at him. “We both know what happened. Don’t act like you’re all innocent now. Besides, I made my choice, and I’m sticking with it. And so far, those ‘punks’ are pretty damn cool, so I think I’ll fit right in!”

Hiragi’s lips quirk.

Suo’s smiles, tilting his chin upwards.

Nirei stops whimpering.

Sakura raises an eyebrow.

Scowling, Togame opens his mouth to say something, but Saruwatari stirs awake at that moment.

Thank god for that.

“Ouchh…” He winces as he pushes himself slight up, but he starts yelling at us Furin high people. “You little shits! This ain’t no goddamn game! We’ve got rules here!”

No… I hold my breath. Shut up dude… save yourself. I can’t even help you this time…

“Don’t go struttin into our turf… like you own the goddamn-“

In a blink of an eye, Togame is right next to Saruwatari, and whips his bottle on Saruwatari’s head, smashing the bottle in the process.

“…place…” Saruwatari falls back from the impact, but Togame grabs his head whiles raising his fist up in the air.

“Our turf?” He sneers. Didn’t you get your face beat in?”

He punches him in the face.

“That makes you weak!”

He punches him harder.

“You know already, don’t you?”

He punches him harder.

“If your weak, then-“

I couldn’t stop myself. I find myself rushing over and grabbing his arm right when he was about to land another punch.

All the boys looked as equally as terrified as I was while watching Togame repeatedly smash Saruwatari’s face in.

“He gets the message. Leave him alone.” I say hurriedly, but Togame just glares daggers at me.

“You aren’t one of us, so get lost, Ezura.” He spat bitterly.

“Well you shouldn’t-“

He lets go of Saruwatari, and throws his fist at me instead, but I manage to block it with my other arm. He rapidly follows it up with a kick. I manage to jump away in time, my heels groaning against the concrete as I land and slide back slightly.

“You had the opportunity to have a say, yet you squandered it by picking the wrong team. So, get lost.” He grits through his teeth, and my breath hitches.

It was because of you and Chouji that I left in the first place. Why are you making this seem as if it was my fault?!

He grabs a fistful of Saruwatari’s hair again and was about to resume, when Hiragi yells “Stop!”

Togame lowers Saruwatari’s head, letting him hang by the fistful of hair. “What?”

“Isn’t he one of your guys?”

Nope. Not anymore. I sulk.

Togame tilts his head to the side, actually confused. “Huuuuh? Who’re you talkin’ about? Surely, not this guy?” He bends down, reaching for a fistful of Saruwatari’s Shishitoren jacket. “He lost. Losing is weak.” With one tug, he pulls the jacket off of Saruwatari, letting go of Saruwatari who drops to the floor, bruised and nearly unconscious. “And the weak…” He flaps the jacket in the air with one smooth motion. “Don’t have a place in Shishitoren.”

My eyes widen, and I’m thrown back into the past:

It was a cloudy, miserably grey day. I didn’t mind it at all. I preferred being here than being stuck back in the house with my brother. Chouji had become the leader a week ago, and it was my first time seeing him after that. Jo had become second-in-command; I expected no less of him. I smile as I meet them at the usual spot. Surely it was going to be fun!

But something felt off.

Chouji’s eyes had lost some of its usual shine, and Jo’s smiles were empty.

I didn’t pay much notice. I chose not to.

The way they interacted felt less enthusiastic as well, but I write it off as stress from keeping everyone from Shishitoren in check.

But Jo refused to spar with me, saying that it would be a waste of time. I was confused, but I agreed. Besides, I was a bit tired from all the training with my brother, and my legs were burning with pain as well. So I told myself that I should be grateful for the change in routine.

But then as we walked around, I couldn’t help but realise that something was off with Shishitoren in general. They were louder, ignorant and cocky, and were disrespectful.

I ignore it, shaking off the indescribable feeling of uncomfort as I follow Jo and Chouji.

But the last straw was when Saruwatari lost a fight against a middle school boy who was apparently ‘on the wrong turf’. The boy had easily bested him, and ran off. Instead of helping Saruwatari up from the ground, the other mates from Shishitoren just kicked him and was laughing at him.

I gasp, looking over to Jo. “You have to stop that Jo. Saruwatari is getting beaten black and blue.”

Chouji nods, but something felt eerie about it, despite his voice being the usual cheerful tone. “Definitely! I’ll sort him out!”

Sort him out? What?

Jo stops Chouji. “I’ll do it.”

Jo walks over, and the boys stop jeering at Saruwatari, and turn and bow to Jo, their faces forcibly neutral.

They were… scared?

Jo walks up to Saruwatari and extends his hand out to him. Saruwatari hesitates, and trembles before taking his hand. Jo helps him up, but as soon as Saruwatari was stable on his feet, Jo throws his fist right into Saruwatari’s face. Saruwatari falls, and Jo is on top of him, beating his face in.

“He’s going to kill him!” I look over to Chouji. “You have to stop him Chouji!”

“No can do!” Chouji yawns and stretches. “Saruwatari lost. He doesn’t deserve to be a part of Shishitoren. So now he’s not our problem anymore so we can do whatever we want with hi-“

He was cut off by me slapping him across the face.

“What is wrong with you?!” I cry out, before rushing over to Jo, grabbing his hand. “Stop it Jo! He’s one of your-“

All of a sudden, my face snaps to the side as Jo strikes the back of his hand across my face. The act leaves a stinging pain in one side of my face, and I gasp in hurt, letting go of Jo and stumbling back, cupping my face in my hand in shock. Jo looks over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes, staring at the ground. “Those who are weak have no place in Shishitoren, Kura.”

I sigh, dropping my hand to my side, clenching my fist. I know that wasn’t directed at me, but at the same time, it was. “So, does that mean I have no place in Shishitoren, Jo?” I look over at Chouji. “Chouji?”

Chouji had no reaction when Togame slapped me, but for this, he straightens up. “Don’t be silly! That’s not what he-“

“That’s exactly what he meant.” I snap back at him. “And I’m sure you started that idea as well.”

I look back at Jo, whose eyes were now narrowed, clouded with regret and conflict.

“All you both are doing is corrupting Shishitoren. Go ahead. I don’t want to be here when that happens.” I take a deep breath, my lip quivering. “After all, the weak has no place here, right?”

“Kura-“ Togame sighs.

“It’s Ezura for both of you.” I sneer, before spinning around and walking away, waving a hand in dismissal. “Until we meet again, Tomiyama and Togame.”

That was the last time I have seen anyone from Shishitoren up until today. I snap out of my daze at Sakura’s voice. “Lame.”

I look over at him to see him rubbing his ear. “All this ‘Devotees of Power’ crap, makes me sick. Beating up weaklings…”

I don’t catch the rest of what he says as I slip into my state of analytical thinking.

For all the barking he does, he’s actually a pretty sweet guy.

Not in a sheep in wolf’s clothing way, but…

“What a letdown.” Sakura finishes saying, and Togame walks right up to his face. Sakura doesn’t even flinch.

“A letdown, are we?” Togame hisses, narrowing his eyes behind his glasses.

Kanuma and Arima start jittering about something along the lines of killing Sakura, as a suggestion, but Togame shrugs it off. “Aaah, don’t worry about that guys.” He turns back to Sakura, lifting his shades up above his head, taking in Sakura’s appearance. “I’m more concerned about your hair. It looks like an Othello board…”

I let out a pfft! in disguise as a sneeze.

As much as I was glad someone finally got the reference to my nickname, it somewhat infuriated me that it just had to be Togame who thought the same thing.

“You wanna talk about my hair now?! Shut it scraggles!” Sakura bites back.

“And dude,” Togame ignore Sakura’s words and continues talking. “You speak waaaaay too fast. I can’t keep up.”

“Hah?! You’re just slow!”

“Aaaah, see? What did you just say? I can’t hear a thing you’re tryna say… and it’s starting to piss me off.” Togame steps away. “All right! I’ve decided! I’m gonna pummel you into a bloody pulp, on a proper stage at another time… since your face… isn’t one I’m gonna forget. I’ll see you again, Othello-kun.”

Togame walks over to me, clutching Saruwatari’s old jacket in his hand tighter. Sakura mumbles “Othello-kun my ass.” Under his breath.

Togame stops at a distance away from me, and holds out the jacket to me. “I still don’t think you belong in Bofurin. So I’m offering you a spot as joint-second-in-command alongside me. Chouji would be all in for it. So? What do you say? It’ll be just like old times.” He smirks, but there was something off about his voice. Like he was really pissed at me for not being with Shishitoren instead.

Suo looks on with interest, as Nirei flinches, whispering something frantically.

Sakura was ready to yell something, but Hiragi grabs the collar of his jacket, holding him in place.

Sugishita growls.

Kanuma and Arima start whispering excitedly.

I for one, couldn’t process a thing Togame just said. I… didn’t think I heard him properly.

Did he seriously just throw a high ranked position in my face just to get me to join?

Does he seriously not remember what happened the last time we saw eachother?

Does he really think I forgave him and Tomiyama for that?

Then he clearly never understood how it felt like for me when the two people that meant everything to me; the two people who picked up the shattered shards of myself and made me whole again; the two people who made me really happy for the first time in a long time; who gave me a voice; how it was like to be put down by them and be utterly humiliated by them.

Moron. Absolute fucking moron.

I stare him down silently for a few second, my breathing becoming ragged. I take my gloved hands out of my pockets, clenching them. I speak slowly, slow enough to keep my breathing in check before I lash out and cause further complications. “For someone who was just complaining about people talking too fast, you talk total bullshit. And that’s starting to piss me off.” I slap his hand out of the way, and I step right up to his face. “I’m never joining Shishitoren. Get that in your head, and die in a ditch for all I care.”

Togame looks outraged for a second or two, before reverting to his usual cool demeanour. He turns around and walks away from all of us. “Then don’t come cryin’ when things don’t go your way, weakling.”

Nirei starts fussing and panicking over Sakura while Suo tries calming Nirei down and Hiragi starts popping a few pills. All their voices turn into mere background noise for me, as I was too busy watching Togame walk away from me. Along with Kanuma and Arima.

I really can’t believe he turned out like that.

Togame seems super particular about turf rules, and I know for a fact that he’s going to report back to Tomiyama. So there’s definitely going to be some retaliation…

“Ezura-san!” Nirei grabs and clings on to my arm. “How do you know Togame?!”

I stare at him, and I look around.

They all were staring at me.

“Nirei-kun… get off of me.” I say in a tone that told him I wasn’t going to repeat myself.

He flinches, and backs away from me.

I take a deep breath, before walking towards the rest. “If you guys don’t mind, I’ll explain everything you guys want to know on the way back.”

“Good idea.” Hiragi nods. “We need to report everything to Umemiya anyways.

The middle schooler introduced himself as Sasaki, and we all head back to the school.

Suo Hayato’s POV:

“So Ezura-chan… you seem to know them personally. I did hear you refer to their second in command by his first name when he was approaching us.” I ask while we walk back. I must admit, I have been very curious about Ezura from the start, and now my interest has been further piqued. She was born here but moved away, only to come back here. That in itself is quite a story.

Ezura stiffens up, and she looks at me, confused. “What, call Togame ‘Jo’? Huh… I don’t remember doing that…”

Sakura scoffs from beside her. “Answer the question goddamit.”

“Relax Othello-kun, all in good time.” Ezura responds, but there was not teasing lilt to her voice. But there was a tired edge to it.

“Oi! Stop calling me that!” Sakura snaps back at her.

“Well you didn’t care when he said it.”

“Yes I did!”

Othello-kun, huh? You and Togame seem to have similar thought processes… so you guys are very close.

“I know what you are thinking, Suo-san. I used to be very close with him and Shishitoren’s leader, Tomiyama.” Ezura turns to look at me. I silently gasp, a bit startled by the fact she had practically read my thoughts. She’s good at analysing people…

“They… used to mean a lot to me… I guess.” Ezura trails off, wilting like a flower while talking. “I used to hang out with them like… a lot… but that was before Tomiyama became leader. After he became leader… there was an incident, and I avoided them ever since.”

Hiragi looks over his shoulder to see Ezura. “Were you planning to go to Shishitoren?”

“Before Tomiyama became leader? Yes. But after I saw how corrupt it became once he became leader, I decided not to.”

“Smart choice Ezura-chan!” I say casually, in attempt to lighten her mood.

“Believe me, I know.” She rolls her eyes, hiding her face in the collar of her school coat.

Hiragi stops, and turns around fully. “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you not go? Did something happen.”

Ezura pauses for a few moments, her eyes losing their usual shine, flickering out like a firefly, before responding, her voice clipped. “Yes. I don’t want to talk about it. Sorry.” And she hurries past him, hugging herself as she heads towards the school.

Sakura walks alongside me, frowning. “What’s her problem?”

Nirei taps his chin. “I feel bad for her. She seems really upset by whatever happened.”

“What do you mean, Nirei-kun?” I ask. Ezura seemed annoyed rather than upset.

But then again…

“She seems more disappointed in them than angry. Like she expected them to be less, ruthless?” Nirei suggests.

“Well, she was their friend before they went corrupt, so she must have seen how they were before that. Maybe they were nice people, and she wishes that things could go back to the old ways.” I look ahead at Ezura. She was all tense. “But it isn’t our business, so we shouldn’t pester her about it.”

“What are you talking about?? It is our business. They’re pickin a fight with us, and she’s one of us. We should know.” Sakura huffs.

“Not the personal things, Sakura-San.” Nirei sighs, while I just chuckle. It was obvious but not obvious at the same time, about how Sakura was concerned for Ezura, but didn’t know how to show it. Or he didn’t want to show it.

These two outsiders are very peculiar indeed.

“Wow Sakura-kun~ You seem like you care about her quite a bit!” I drawl.

“HUH?! N-NO I DON’T!” Sakura stammers, his face slightly flushed.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

We make it to the school, and we climb the stairs to the rooftop. Hiragi takes a few pills nervously before opening the door.

Why is he nervous to see Umemiya? That dude is a jokester.

And then I found out why.

Talking with Umemiya was like a bus driving around and around and around a roundabout.

It would have probably gone on for another hour is Sasaki hadn’t interrupted and explained what happened.

“Sasaki… thanks man!” Umemiya smiles at him.

Sasaki looks up from his bow, confused.

Umemiya continues. “I know what you did triggered a fight with them, but that’s only a result of your conviction to protect the town and its people, right?” He laughs. “There’s nothing to apologise for!” Umemiya clenches his fist and near it to his own chest. “Just leave the rest to your good old big brothers here! Oh!” Umemiya flashes a proud grin at me. “And sister!”

My breath hitches before I feel my lips melt into a smile. It felt… nice? Nice to know that someone was also relying on me? Nice because someone trusted me?

It’s so hard to describe.

Umemiya asks Sasaki how Sakura and Sugushita dealt with the Shishitoren dudes, and ends up cackling proudly, unable to form proper sentences as he explained how that was a reasonable thing to do.

Hiragi tries to apologise, with a gurgling stomach, and Umemiya reassures him that it wasn’t even his fault, and that Umemiya was the one to ask Hiragi to watch over the two boys.

“But it was all Sakura-san’s fault for pushing the guy’s buttons.” Nirei adds involuntarily.

Sakura abruptly cuts in. “SH-SHUT UP ABOUT THAT ALREADY! KEEP YOUR DAMN COMMENTS TO YOURSELF!”

I lean over to Suo, who was sitting next to me. “Is he always like this?” I whisper.

“Pretty much!” He chuckles quietly.

How is he so calm about everything? He wasn’t even bothered when we clashed with Shishitoren.

“Is something wrong?” He whispers back to me, his eyes kind, but with something unreadable behind them. And it infuriated me that I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Back where I used to live, I practically had to constantly read people. It’s how I coped- reading their facial expressions and actions and from that decide if they’re safe to approach or not. But now I’m here, I have relaxed a lot, but still, it’s just a habit that’s been carved into my brain.

“No. All good.” I whisper back. Besides, it may have been a teensy lie, but I have mostly recovered from the clash.

“Such a liar.” He quips playfully, watching me closely as if he expected me to snap back at him. And I did. Not entirely.

“A boy who thinks he’s always right. Annoying.”

“A girl with a sharp tongue. Interesting.” He shoots back.

Not wanting to entertain him any further, I glare at him, and he chuckles before turning his attention away from me. So, I guess I entertained him anyways.

Someone who seems to be quite observant. That isn’t good for me.

Sakura was busy trying to defend himself against something Umemiya said. “…Devotees or power and crap, but they’d still beat up people weaker than them! It’s so lame! I just call it as I see…”

The rest of us go deadly silent, watching him with piqued interest. At this, he hesitates. “…it.”

He looks around, but none of us respond for a second until Suo pipes up, smiling “you said it, not me.”

Umemiya rises from where he was seated. “Right… I see…” he walks over to Sakura and starts affectionately ruffling Sakura’s hair, going on about how happy he was to have Sakura as a reliable little brother, and was thanking him for protecting the town. Sakura gets all flustered, his face turning red as he swats Umemiya’s hand off of his hair. “Who’re you callin’ little brother?!”

Umemiya simply giggles. “I see everyone in this town as my family.”

Nirei looks over at me. “I think Ezura-san used to see Shishitoren like that too-“

My heart skips a beat.

And the most painful thing was, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Shut up Nirei-kun, I don’t.” I hiss, and Umemiya turns to me.

“Oh yeah! You used to be friends with some of them right? Especially Togame and Tomiyama.”

My eyes widen as I snap my head towards him. “How did you…” I trail off, and he shrugs, giving me a knowing look.

“How do you know I’m not luring you into a trap?”

I pause, recognising those words from our first conversation at the Pothos Café. And I remembered what I thought when he asked me that question:

I know because I have seen him from time to time. I have seen glimpses of him from the shadows.

I stand up abruptly, pointing at him. “YOU’VE KEPT TABS ON ME FOR EXACTLY HOW LONG?!”

Umemiya taps his chin in thought. “I always have kept tabs on you.”

“What?! Creep!”

Sugishita growls at me. “It’s Umemiya-san for you.”

“Yeah yeah, my ass!” I snap back, and he growls back at me even louder, but remains seated.

He’s either all bark and no bite, or he already knows how much damage I can deal someone when I’m actually ready to fight.

“Well, it’s not like you didn’t keep tabs on me either, Ezura-chan. After all, you knew exactly where to find me and who to ask. I know you’re a lot smarter than you let on! But that’s what I really like about you!” Umemiya says, smiling at me adoringly. “But can I ask something?”

“Sure.” I narrow my eyes.

“What was Togame’s reaction to seeing you in Bofurin’s uniform? Weren’t you set on going there before?”

I sigh, averting my gaze. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me as I sink back down onto the bench. “It felt heavier than I thought it would be.”

He nods understandingly, before lightly patting my head, talking in a softer tone. “Don’t worry. We’re all here for you as much as we all look out for the people in town. We all look out for each other! So, I’ll be damned if you ever felt unwanted here, but if you do, don’t hesitate to come find me, alright?”

I hum, nodding, taking a deep breath.

Am I really that wanted here?

Hiragi’s phone rings, and he answers the call.

“Kaji, what’s up?”

I couldn’t hear much, but the voice on the other end of the phone sounded urgent.

“Kaji?! Hey Kaji!” Hiragi starts to panic. “What’s wrong?!”

“Is something happening?” Umemiya asks, a bit concerned, although I already had a cursed inkling of what probably is happening.

Don’t tell me that Togame has already-

“GREEEEETINGGGSS!” A loud, childish voice echoes all over the school. It sounded like someone was projecting their voice on a megaphone.

Whilst the others rushed over to the side of the rooftop, peering from over the ledge, I was rooted to the spot.

I recognised that voice all too well.

The voice was the same, but was different simultaneously.

Umemiya takes one look at my face. “It’s Tomiyama, isn’t it?”

Upon hearing Tomiyama pestering Umemiya to fight him, I nod, and his demeanour switches into one that demanded authority, all serious and threatening, as he grabs his coat and walks towards the door to the staircases.

Sakura runs after Umemiya, shouting something after him, but I don’t process all of that.

I look down at my clenched fists.

I wanted to break something. Punch something. Feel something break beneath my fists.

But I take a deep breath, and bite my tongue, hoping it would keep in intact for the time being.

I just follow the others to the entrance, deadly quiet. Suo glances my way every now and then, but I try to ignore it. Ignore him trying to read me.

Sakura wanted to join Umemiya, but Umemiya demanded that he stayed with us.

“Sakura-kun. Tomiyama isn’t who you think he is. He doesn’t care for anyone weaker than him.” I whisper as the rest of us catch up to Sakura.

He just scoffs. “What? You think I can’t take him in a fight?”

I think about it. I think back to when I saw Tomiyama fight. And then when I saw Sakura fight.

“Maybe… but he would have the upper hand, and is more likely to win.”

Right now, Tomiyama was holding a beaten and bruised Bofurin boy by a fistful of hair. I watch Tomiyama, and the way he tried to antagonise Umemiya into fighting him.

The childishness is the same. But he looks… empty. Lonely… even.

He then tried to do a roundhouse kick right at Umemiya’s head, but Umemiya managed to grab his leg before it hit him.

Why did that kick seem slower than it usually is… or have I just gotten faster? I narrow my eyes.

I was ignoring the chatter around me, until a familiar voice pulls me out, despite coming from the veeeeery very entrance of the school.

“Hey hey hey… what kind of crazy, illogical bullshit are you feeding our general here…?” The voice was accompanied by the clopping sound of wood against concrete, and some other footsteps.

I seethe with annoyance. Of course I have to see both of them separately and then together in a span of three hours. Lucky me.

Tomiyama turns around to the source of the voice. “Huh? Why’re you all here?”

Togame responds as a massive hoard of Shishitoren’s members flank him as they approach us. “You’re our general, boss… don’t go raiding the enemies on your own…” He takes his place beside Tomiyama, smiling at him. “…don’t take all the fun for yourself.”

While he was still talking to Tomiyama, without a second thought, Hiragi, Suo, Nirei, Sakura, Sugishita and I all approach them, flanking Umemiya, on our guard. I stare down Togame, but he entirely ignores me, looking at Sakura. “Why, if it isn’t Othello-kun. Short time no see.”

“Yo, Scraggles.” Sakura replies.

Umemiya looks at us over his shoulder. “Hey. I told you guys to stay-“

“SHADDUP!” Sakura cuts him off. “If you’re going one on one, then I won’t interrupt. But I don’t like it when one guy is surrounded by a whole damn group!”

He said something similar when I was surrounded by that small gang when we first met.

“Couldn’t have said it better.” I nudge him gently, and he blinks at me. Umemiya sighs, but his lips slightly twitch in a very subtle smile.

“Wait wait wait.” Tomiyama waves his hands, pointing right at me. “Kura?!”

I look at him, to see that he wasn’t entirely happy with seeing me.

“What did I tell you the last time-“

“Yeah yeah, ok. Ezura, what are you doing with them? You’re meant to be on our side!”

Togame rolls his eyes, looking off to the side. “I already told you, Boss.”

“Right~ you did!” Tomiyama says, skipping up to me, his grin sharp like knives. “Well, no matter! I guess that jacket would hide those scars your brother gave you better than our jack-“

A thread snaps inside of me as my body heats up at the mention of that.

In a blink of an eye, I take off the glove of my right hand, curling my hand into a fist and bringing it up straight to Tomiyama’s face, colliding my bony knuckles into his nose, his nose slightly giving way. A THWACK! echoes as loud as his voice did with a megaphone into the distance, and the crowd of Shishitoren boys gasp as Tomiyama slightly stumbles backwards, but stays standing. The boys start to pipe up, shouting and cursing at me, but Togame turns around, holding up his hand and giving them a stern glance, which shut them all up. Whereas the classmates who stood beside me just grunt surprisingly, except Nirei, who trembles. “Why did you do that?!”

“Because,” I sighs, shaking my hand. “That was a fucking low blow. Even for him.”

Nirei’s eyes fall on my scarred hand, and he pauses, nudging Suo, who’s eyes were already on my hand. I shove my hand in my pocket, keeping my eyes on Tomiyama.

Tomiyama cups his nose, before pulling his hand away to see his blood smeared across his fingers. He looks up at me, and he first looked shocked, before laughing, his eyes wide with wonder. “Wow!” He smiles, with blood trickling slowly down from his nose, dripping on his upper lip. “You’re actually really strong now! Such a shame you aren’t with us!” He pouts, before sighing. “Anyways! Back to the main point. He stomps his foot repeatedly, waving his finger at Togame and the Shishitoren boys. “I’m about to fight Ume-chan, so all of you need to back off!”

Togame looks up, and points at our building. “Hm… but I think it’ll be a bit difficult for that, don’t you think? Take a look around.”

At that, We all look around towards the school building.

Holy shit.

Practically all the Furin boys were watching like perched predators from their class windows and at the front of the school. They were all tensed, and looked like they were ready to throw hands.

“Woah!” Nirei shrinks behind Suo. “Th-this is getting out of hand!“

Umemiya huffs before yelling at the building. “DON’T MOVE A MUSCLE, ALL OF YOU.” Before turning back to Tomiyama. “Tomiyama, I’ll take ya on. Now order your men to step back.”

Tomiyama nods happily. “Okaaaayy! I just wanna fight you, Ume-chan!”

“What the hell? Their general sure is a softie! Or… is he just scared?” Arima says.

Sugishita gives a murderous stare to Arima, threatening him menancingly. “You. I’ll crush your skull.”

Arima shrugs it off. “C’mon. Don’t get pissy cause I’m right.”

Kanuma points at him. “Hey! Wasn’t that one of the kids? They’re so plainn, but I could tell right away! Heh heh, I’m good!”

Suo snorts. “You’ve got one craggy-looking face, but you talk like a little boy! Aren’t you a cute one!”

Kanuma pauses, before muttering “That annoying prick…”

Togame chuckles “C’mon guys! calm down. Chouji, it might be better to pick another day if you want to face off against him.”

“Why?!” Tomiyama looked aghast.

Why does he remind me of…

“Look up, it’s about to get dark. Plus, we never planned on coming today anyways.” He looks over at Sakura, giving him a sly grin. “If you end up fighting in the dark, then you won’t get a clear view of his swollen, beat up face.” His grin gets wider, posing as a challenge to Sakura. “Right, Othello-kun?”

Sakura tilts his head up, looking down on Togame. “How do you plan on looking at your own face here in the middle of a field?”

Togame lets out a little heh, while I facepalm. These two are perfect for each other.

I then groan. “Sakura-kun, learn to keep your mouth shut from time to time. You’ll live a longer life that way.” I thrust a finger towards him with a hand on my hip.

“Shut up! You’re the one running their mouth right now.” Sakura rolls his eyes.

“Seriously? Is that the best comeback you can come up with?” I reply.

Nirei looks over at both of us. “Can you both keep it down?!”

Tomiyama looks around. “Oh… does everyone know eachother? Well, in that case, Ume-chan…” he jumps in the middle. “Why don’t we all go at it?”

Umemiya looks disgusted by the idea, raising an eyebrow. “Hah?”

“Oh, I don’t mean we should blow this up into a total brawl, but we can all face off one on one! It’ll be like a tournament! It’ll be fun!”

Togame hums with approval. “Like a Kendo team competition? I like the sound of that.”

He then starts to discuss the matches. “All right, so the matches will be… Umemiya…and Chouji… Me… and Othello-kun.”

“It’s Sakura.” Sakura reminds him.

Arima smirks at Sugishita. “Let me at that long mop over there.”

Kanuma giggles. “And I’ll take the eyepatch.”

Suo smiles. “Awww, the cute one chose me!”

Someone from the crowd grumbles. “Let me through.” And at once, the crowd parted, and a boy that seemed strangely familiar stalks up to us, pointing at me. His hair was silver-white, and he had multiple piercings on his ears, and a lip piercing. He stops next to Togame, and thats when I realised who he was.

He’s the one that Togame beat up over catcalling me during that one time. He ended up at Shishitoren? They really accept anyone who can fight well, huh?

“I’m fighting the hottie.” He winks at me.

I scoff in disgust, tilting my head to the side, speaking in a low voice. “Who the hell are you to pick a fight with me, asshole?”

“Kobayashi’s actually one of our strongest men here.” Tomiyama states proudly.

I roll my eyes, crossing my arms “ Men don’t catcall girls shamelessly out on the streets only to get their faces smashed in. That’s what boys do.” I say, eyeing the piercings boy carefully, to see if I had successfully jabbed at some old wounds. And it seemed to do the trick, because the piercings boy scowls at me, tensing up. “Maybe I’ll smash your face in on stage to show you how much of a man I am.”

“Men also shouldn’t go picking petty fights with girls, but if you insist!” I shrug, smiling. “But if you’re a man, you better not bore me.”

“Bitch.” He snarls, and Togame grip him by the back of his neck with his two fingers and thumb, pressing him slightly in a pressure point, but not too much to activate it. He stares at Kobayashi, a few silent words being told from the glare, and that’s all it took for Kobayashi to swallow his tongue.

Umemiya ignores it all, and looks at Tomiyama. “Hey! If we’re facing off, then you don’t need to involve the others. You and I can fight.”

“Whaaaat? But it’s a lot more fun if everyone joins in!” Tomiyama argues, smiling in excitement.

Sakura nods, grinning. “We… would prefer a chance to beat ‘em up too.”

Togame grins while Tomiyama claps. “Seeeeeeee?”

Hiragi huffs. “For cripe’s sake. The first years this time around are such a handful…”

A boy from the Shishitoren crowd raises his hand. His hair was blond with brown tips. “May we join, too?” He points at Hiragi, determination etched into his face. “I want to fight Hiragi-san.”

At this, Hiragi’s eyes widen with recognition. “Sako…”

His hands fall by his sides before curled into balls. “Sorry, Umemiya.” He narrows his eyes. “I’m takin’ part.”

Umemiya sighs, fed up with us but proud at the same time.

“Okay!” Tomiyama announces. “Then it’s decided! In the name of our teams… let’s all have the time of our lives and duke it out!”

Us opponents all grin, our blood pumping, more than ready for a showdown. Ready to be seen. To show who’s the superior one.

To see who comes out on top.

Chapter Text

Hey guys! Like I said, updates will be slower now since of pesky exams.

but because of that, I decided to hear you guys out!

are there any tropes or prompts you guys wanna see? With any of the characters in particular?

if you guys do, please let me know!

i cant promise I’ll get them all in, but I’ll work hard to!

on that note, how do you guys feel about the characters so far?

thank you guys for liking this fic, ur support drives me sm LOL

until we meet again!

Chapter Text

Ezura Kura’s POV:

We were told to meet up at Café Pothos in the evening, but I didn’t really want to. After seeing Togame and Tomiyama, I just want to be alone and mull over my thoughts in a nice warm bath. Just drown out all the memories from my past that resurfaced, good and bad. But mostly, I wanted to take off my jacket and breathe. I had no problem showing my scars, but when I did, everyone’s reaction was always the same, and the eyes on me became suffocating, like I was trapped in a small box, with no light, not holes, no air.

Back to Togame and Tomiyama: it wasn’t like I was particularly upset with seeing them.

No. I really missed them. I missed the times we had. I know their true nature, how once some sense is knocked into them, they’d be willing to throw themselves in a volcano if it meant they could take back those horrible things they did.

I wanted to forgive them. But they need to fix up first. They need to want my forgiveness. And maybe then, just maybe-

“Stop!” I hear a female voice echo from an alley to my right, panicked and desperate. I immediately dash down the alley, all thoughts about Togame and Tomiyama shoved into the darkest depths of my mind.

“Focus on wh at’s in front of you, Kura.”

Wise words by a boy driven by his fists.

I actually miss him…

I see figures that come into focus the closer I get: Five thugs who have backed a young woman into a corner, trying to chat her up and get their hands on her as she frantically waves her bag at them, as if that would make them back off. I take in my surroundings: no different entrances into the alleyway, just five men. I trace my thoughts back to when I turned down this alleyway: there wasn’t anyone suspicious lurking around the entrance, so these fools are amateurs.

My brother taught me to take in my surroundings like that before I get into a fight. As much as I hate to admit it, I really did learn a lot of things from him.

I slow down into a walk, and I clear my throat, loud enough for the thugs to turn around and see me. I casually walk past them as they jeer at me, muttering some scandalous things as I walked by. But I paid no attention. I focused on the young lady in front of me.

She doesn’t have any cuts or bruises on her… good. Her hair isn’t tussled or anything either. And her clothes look alright.

The lady slightly slumps her shoulders, lowering her bag as I walk up to her, her wispy bangs and long hair floating gracefully along with the slight wind.

“What’s your name?” I ask.

“Kiryu Akari. But Akari is just fine.”

“What did they do?” I ask her gently, getting straight to the point.

“They cornered me and were trying to grab me and was asking for money…” she responds, her eyes catching something behind me, and she tenses up. “Look out!”

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and a deep, raspy voice, presumably one of the thugs, speaks slyly to me. “Hey, no need trouble, don’t you think, little girl?”

Before glancing over my shoulder, I grab his hand off my shoulder, and I crush it, feeling his bones snap under my iron-like grip.

“Yes, I agree.” I say, seeing the thug trying to pull away from me, howling with pain as he arched backwards. I twist my body around to face him, firmly planting my left feet on the ground for stability, and then swinging my right foot up in the air and straight across his head, and his head gets dragged along with my foot down to the floor, the floor cracking beneath him as his head hits the floor with a massive SLAM!

The body went limp beneath my feet, and I scoff. “Wow. He passed out quickly.” I glare dagger at the remaining thugs, who have stepped backwards, stiff. “Who’s next?!” I bark out, and just like that, they dart off in the opposite direction.

Kiryu Akari’s POV:

It all happened so quick.

One moment, the man had his hand on the girl’s shoulder, and before my brain could process anything, I hear a BOOM and the man was on the ground, beneath the Bofurin girl’s foot, the ground beneath him cracked up like a mini drought. I bring up my hand to my mouth, stifling a gasp.

It was so quick! I replay the scene in my head, slowing it down so I can figure out what happened. It took me while to get the whole picture.

She lifts her leg up like a graceful ballerina, but quickly kicks the man’s head from the side, and the man… well he got kicked and he was brought down with her foot… fell unconscious and is on the ground now.

The height difference was what was shocking. And the man was quite bulky… How did she pull it off!

Such strength…

The girl turns to me after the men run away, and her frown melts into a smile. “Are you sure you’re alright? You looked quite frightened.”

“Ah! No, I’m alright, but thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it!” I bow to her, and she steps back.

“Please, no need to thank me!” She laughs, and I rise, smiling so much that my cheeks hurt.

She’s so sweet!

She spots the shopping bags behind me, and huffs. “Wow, you’re like a walking target with all those bags! Here, let me help you carry some of them!” She walks past me and picks up two of my shopping bags each, and ends up carrying four.

“No, there is no need, I can carry them!” I try to protest, but she ignores me, and walks away, leaving me to gather the one bag remaining and run after her.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

“You never told me your name?” Akari prompts as she walks beside me, smiling happily to herself.

“Oh. Ezura Kura.”

“Such a pretty name!” She gushes.

If only ‘Ezura’ was my actual name…

“You go to Bofurin? What year?” She asks.

“I’m a first year, but I only started today.”

Right. I forgot this was my first day. It was quite eventful.

She hums curiously, looking ahead of us, her head up high, with a grace that I didn’t even know existed. “Wow! A girl at Bofurin! That’s a first! But… I think they’re lucky to have you.”

I clench my fist, despite carrying bags. How can you say that so casually? They don’t know me. You don’t know me. Once people find out who I truly am, how will they react?

“Thank you.” I manage to say, despite the whirlwind of thoughts in my head.

Akari talks about the town and the people, happily waving to the townspeople as we walked by. She had figured out pretty quickly that I was an outsider, but if she was suspicious of me, she didn’t show it. No, she treated me as if we see each other everyday in bypassing.

I follow her through the town, all the way back to her house.

It was massive.

And I mean, massiveeee.

It even had big walls to keep people out.

It felt like I was standing in front of a castle.

I was about to leave the bags with her, but she insisted that I come inside so she could send me off with something.

“Oh, there is no need for such thing.” I try to assure her, but she doesn’t sway.

“Yes there is. I’m ever so thankful that you helped me out back in the alley, and I want to repay you! Please let me do so!” She even bows down.

Repay me?

“You don’t need to pay me. You can keep your money.” I respond.

“What?” Akari blinks at me before laughing. “Oh! No! I didn’t mean money! Maybe I should have clarified it. After all, you’re still quite new around here! But please, come in for some tea, and I’ll explain.”

I sigh, and take a quick look at the time on my phone. I still had quite some time before having to meet up with the boys at the café. I wasn’t going to, but since I’m still out and about I might as well go.

“Ok, thank you.” I smile gratefully, and she giggles and claps her hands.

“Great! Come in!”

She guides me through the house, and settles me down in the kitchen as she manoeuvres around to gather the some herbs. She talks as she works.

“You may have noticed during your first day, but usually when students from Bofurin help us common folks out with anything, we always insist on giving something in return. It’s our way of saying thank you since the rest of you are always getting into fights or doing all the heavy lifting for us.”

I think back to when we had finished painting earlier. The bakery man gave us fresh baked goods. It made sense.

“Oh. That explains a lot, thank you.”

“Why, no need to thank me!”

I smile as she pushes a cup of tea towards me, and I gently cup the tea cup in my hands, quietly thanking her.

So warm…

I secretly crave for a warm embrace. Secretly crave just being able to forget about everything and surrender myself to the warmth. But I guess that’ll have to wait.

After all, I’ve got a match tomorrow.

Kiryu Mitsuki’s POV:

I lose in a hard round of Super Mario, and I grumble, frustrated with myself.

I have tried this five times by now…

I opt to take a quick snack break to calm myself down. After all, stress gives people grey hairs, and I don’t want grey hairs.

I walk outside my room, and I head towards the main house. I notice that there was an unfamiliar pair of shoes at the entrance- black heels.

Hm? Does Akari have friends over?

I walk into kitchen, to hear Akari being very bubbly to an unfamiliar-yet familiar girl. Noticing that she wore the Bofurin jacket, I recognise the girl.

Ezura Kura. She’s the new girl.

I could tell she didn’t really recognise me as she turns her head to meet my gaze, but she still smiles and waves at me regardless.

“Micchan!” Akari runs over and hugs me, before gesturing to Ezura. “This girl defended me against a group of thieves! She took out their strongest one with just a kick! And then she helped me carry my shopping bags back here.”

I lightly gasp, worried that Akari had been targeted. Akari was very gentle by nature, so her being put in an uncomfortable situation distresses me just by thinking about it. But thankfully Ezura helped her out. I guess I owe her one.

“Is that so?” I muse at Ezura as I walk over to the table, grabbing a biscuit from a platter set out on the table presumably by my sister, and sitting down opposite to Ezura. “Thank you, Ezura-san! I appreciate it!”

The girl looked a bit taken aback by my open gratitude, and she straightens up a bit, looking at her teacup. “No need to thank me. The pleasure was mine.”

Akari sits down next to me, and asks Ezura and me a question. “Are you two in the same class? You both are first years!”

“Yes we are, although we haven’t spoken until now.” I answer, and Ezura looks up, her emerald green eyes scanning my face, skimming over my features.

“That’s true.” She mumbles.

Akari raises a brow as she takes a sip of her tea. “Oh? Is that so? How is that?”

“Ah… you see… Ezura-san and some other kids in my class had a clash with Shishitoren, so they were a bit preoccupied with that.” I glance over at Ezura, smiling. “She even punched their general straight in the face.”

Ezura flinches, tensing up. “Y-you saw that?” She stutters, and I nod, resting my head on my hand.

“Mhm~ everyone at school saw it. Even if we didn’t see it, we sure as hell heard it! Is their general still functioning after that?”

Ezura opens her mouth but closes it repeatedly like a fish struggling for air. She sighs and shrugs. “Tomiyama’s strong. That punch would be as soft as a feather to him.”

It didn’t sound like that when I saw it first hand. I remember seeing her body tense up as Tomiyama gets in her face at tell her something, something about her brother and scars. I remember seeing Ezura tense up. I didn’t see the punch coming. No-one did, to be honest. There were a few gasps and guffaws coming from some of the boys in our class. It was like one moment her gloved hands were trembling by her sides, and the next, we just see her glove dangling from one gloved hand while the ungloved hand was in the air, and the Shishitoren leader was stumbling back a little bit.

But we all heard the sound it made.

And we all heard how outraged the Shishitoren members were.

An outsider who bested Sugashita without breaking a sweat, and took out a massive crowd of goons at once by himself.

Another outsider who throws her fists at her enemies without frustration, and apparently has killer kicks.

Outsiders sure are interesting.

Akari goggles. “You underestimate your own strength. You’re super strong Ezura-chan!”

“See?” I drawl. “Even my sister, who isn’t a brawler, could tell.”

Ezura chuckles, gently running her finger around the delicate rim of the teacup. “Spend a day with all the people who taught me how to fight. I’m a fly compared to them.”

There was a glint of something wistful in her eyes, but it vanishes with a blink.

She looks at the time on the clock on the wall. “Oh. I should probably get going now.” She gets up from the table, and bows. “Thank you for having me.”

“No! Thank you for helping me!” Akari chortles, and I rise from my seat.

“Let me walk you home. It’s getting dark outside.” I offer.

“That’s a great idea Micchan!” Akari agrees.

Ezura shakes her head. “That really isn’t necessary. I’m just going to the Café Pothos for a group up before the tournament tomorrow.”

Akari hums in thought from where she sat on the table. “But it’s quite far away!”

Pocketing my phone, I huff, waving at my sister. “I’ll be back after walking Ezura-san to the café.”

Ezura lets out a huh?! whilst Akari smiles endearingly me, with a proud shimmer in her eyes. “Enjoy! Oh, and Ezura-chan! Please come back soon!”

Ezura smiles and waves back. “I’ll sure consider it some time!”

Ezura Kura’s POV:

“It’s Kiryu Mitsuki, right?”

“Mhm.”

“You didn’t have to do this, you know.” I mumble quietly as the two of us walked through the streets beneath the darkening sky. The pink-haired boy shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Sure, I didn’t have to. I wanted to. There’s a difference, you know~”

“Why?” I raise a brow. “I know how to fight. Besides,” I cast my gaze to my feet, feeling my lips quirk slightly. “I kind of want to let out loose some of my frustration.”

Kiryu eyes me curiously, humming. “I know you can fight. But, you just seem like someone shady people would target.”

I cock my head back, snorting lightly at that comment. Back where I used to live, sure. But ever since coming here, I haven’t gotten that sort of treatment.

Kiryu toys with a strand of his hair as he continues talking. “I just felt like I needed to do this. Consider it my way of saying thanks. My sister means a lot to me, you see, so I’m very grateful that you helped her out when I wasn’t there to protect her.”

His voice was soothing and serene, like the gentle ripples of water that encircles one when their in the water. It was a voice that felt like a lullaby, something I could drift peacefully off to sleep to.

“Alright.” Is all I reply to that. I couldn’t argue with someone who seems like a caring brother who really does look out for their siblings. It makes me question my stupid brother. Maybe he did care for me, in his own twisted way. But he never explained himself. He never showed himself to me.

“So… a frustration outlet, huh?” Kiryu tilts his head towards the sky. “I could help with that.”

I look at him incredulously. “Really?”

“Mhm! Although we should probably save it for after your tournament.” He looks over at me. “Want to meet me back at the school after the tournament? I know a place that’s good for letting loose.”

I narrow my eyes, wondering whether he was actually being serious or not. “Are you sure…?”

He chuckles, nodding, his ear piercings shimmering in the warm glow of the streetlights. “I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise!”

“Alright.” My smile grows into something playful, and I gently bump his shoulder with mine. “It’s a date.”

Kiryu returns my smile, before pausing. “Oh, you should probably wear shoes suitable for hiking or something that you don’t mind getting dirty.”

Where could this boy be possibly be taking me?

“Should I be worried?”

“Not at all.”

“In that case, I think I have a few of those, so no problem.” I nod, before prodding his shoulder threateningly with a pointed finger. “But don’t you dare try anything funny, or those shoes will be thrown straight at your head.”

Kiryu lets out a loud tinkling laugh at it. “I wouldn’t dream of such thing! Why~ aren’t we aggressive?”

“Trust me, it could be a lot worse.” I cross my arms, rolling my eyes as I step away, back to the distance we were walking at before.

“Sounds about right.” He says, before taking out his phone.

He taps away at his phone for a bit before placing it back in his pocket, and the rest of the way to the café was filled with light conversation and little snappy remarks every now and then. Kiryu is the type of person that I could see myself going to if I needed someone to talk to. He listens intently, and replies with honesty, from what I can see so far.

After a while, we stop outside Café Pothos. “Oh, here’s your destination.” He holds out a hand towards the café. Enjoy! Oh, and good luck at the tournament. I’ll be waiting to hear aaallllll about it afterwards.”

“Well, I’ll think I’ll be eager to tell you all about it either way!” I pat him on the shoulder. “Thank you for walking me, even though you didn’t have to. Get home safely- oh wait!” I gasp, jumping back, rummaging through my pockets as a slightly concerned Kiryu watches me. I pull out my phone, opening it and handing it towards him. “Put in your number, that way, I can let you know when the tournament finishes and I’m heading back. I don’t want to keep you waiting without knowing whether I’ll actually show up or not.”

Kiryu smiles, and cheerfully accepts my phone, putting in his details and returning my phone to me. “There. All done.”

“Then you can text me once you get home! Thanks again, Kiryu-kun!” I wave before walking towards the door, and as I place my hand on the doorknob, I hear him gently murmur as he walks away, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

“No, thank you, Ezura-san.”

Chapter Text

Kura’s POV:

I didn’t really spend much time with him. Well, maybe more than I thought I did.

He taught me things that an older brother should teach their younger siblings.

He doesn’t talk much. He simply didn’t feel the need to. But his looks and gesture spoke loud enough.

Now, we were both in an empty parking lot, and he pushes a helmet onto my head, and tugs at the straps and nods at me.

“Oh, ok!” I nod as I click the straps together, tightening it so the helmet sat firmly on my head. He watches me with a steely gaze, one that was soft when it was targeted at me. Once I finished, he awkwardly punches the helmet on my head to check that it wasn’t loose. He gives a satisfied grunt and turns to his motorcycle, taking the motorcycle off of its stand and balancing it. With one hand on the motorcycle, he pats the seat, gesturing for me to hop on. I do so, and he briefly goes over everything that each component of motorcycle does, and then sits behind me.

“You’re quite heavy.” I whisper, hoping that he didn’t take offence.

Then I hear the smallest snort. “Good practice.”

I smile at his response, steadying the bike and starting to drive.

He doesn’t utter many words, only when I needed to relax myself.

Eventually he lets me drive out of the car park and on the road, and we both fall into a comfortable silence as I drive to the beach 20 minutes away.

And when we finally get there and I hop off, I turn around to see the smallest smile on his face. Or maybe I was imagining it.

I had to leave. I didn’t want to stay here any longer.

Well, I didn’t have to.

I already brought a place in Bofurin’s territory, and I have the keys and everything. So I pack my bags, and I walk out the door, not sparing even a glance in the direction of my brother’s bedroom.

I get out, the night air having a frosty chill to it, freezing up my lungs.

Ah, I forgot my scarf, but I didn’t want to go back inside.

Then someone clears their throat behind me.

My heart leaps in my chest as I whip around to see his wide eyes. He knew what I was doing. He didn’t look hurt, but he was a bit tense. He walks towards me, and I feel a chill down my spine. Was he going to knock me out and take me back in?

He steps up to me and hesitates, before slowly hugging me. The act was careful, and he treated me like I was fragile glass. And I knew that this boy was never careful. Yet I was always an exception.

He pulls away, and I raise an eyebrow. “What was that for?”

He grabs my hand, placing something cool in my palm. I look down to see keys.

To his motorcycle.

“What? Why?!” I look up to him, and he shrugs, looking towards his motorcycle that stood two feet away.

“Happy birthday.”

“But… it’s yours.” I stammer, shocked. Partially because I forgot my birthday was coming up very soon, but also because he was giving me one of his most prized possessions as a gift.

He shoots an annoyed glance at me and huffs. “Yes. Have it. It’s yours. People won’t steal it because it’s mine.”

I take a deep breath, slowly exhaling through my nose, and he stands there, watching me with his signature gaze.

I then grab him and hug him, and at first, he was very stiff, nearly slipping into a fighting stance, but he pauses and relaxes, patting my head. I smile, knowing that he never really liked hugs but he really was trying for me.

The motorcycle revs and comes to life, and I adjust myself on it so I was comfortable, and I look over at him, and he nods at me. “Bye.”

“Can you please not tell my brother where I’ll be? Is that ok?” I ask him, unsure of his answer.

He nods at me.

“Thank you. For everything. Really.” I smile gracefully.

He ruffles my hair, jutting his chin in the direction I should be going.

As he steps back, his last word to me was

“Go.”

Chapter Text

Third POV:

Umemiya’s voice was so loud that one might have thought he swallowed a megaphone. “MMMMMMM! SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!” He waves his fork around in the air, beaming at Kotoha. “KOTOHA’S OMLETTE RICE IS NUMBER ONE IN ALL OF JAPAN!” He gushes while Sugishita nods along at Umemiya’s words.

Kotoha, however, was very tired. “JUST SHUT UP AND EAT!” She yells over Umemiya’s voice.

Umemiya giggles gleefully, but then he notices Hiragi wasn’t eating, his thoughts elsewhere. “Huh? Hiragi, you’re not eating?”

Hiragi was a little bit startled at being addressed. “Uh…no, I…” He then sighs, picking up his spoon. “I was just thinkin’ about what Shishitoren was like in the past.”

Sakura, who was listening intently to their conversation (was trying not to act like it but failed) asks “Those guys…were different before?”

Before Hiragi could respond, a different voice answers.

“Of course they were different. You think I would have hung out with people like them if they were this bad?”

Everyone’s head turns to the door to see Ezura standing there, her eyebrow raised and her lips in a subtle pout.

“Ah, that’s right.” Suo says. “If anyone was to know Shishitoren, it would be Ezura-chan.”

Ezura rolls her eyes, ignoring Suo’s statement, and walks up to Umemiya. “Sorry I’m late. Got caught up with helping out someone.”

Umemiya’s face lightens up even more. “Really?! Good job! You first years are amazingly reliable!” He turns to Kotoha. KOTOHA-“

“What now? I’m already making her Omurice.” Kotoha snaps, and Umemiya goggles at her.

“So thoughtful!”

“Oh shush.”

Suo Hayato’s POV:

Nirei waves at Ezura. “Hey! We saved a seat for you!” He then gestures to the seat next to me.

Ezura eyes the seat next to me, and slightly hesitates before walking over and sitting down. She clears her throat and looks over at Hiragi. “May I?”

Hiragi nods, and then all eyes were on her as she rests her head on her gloved hand, staring off into space. “Shishitoren was a team that simply wanted to seek strength. Sure, they all can be a lot of hot-heads, but, they were never a team that would chase a junior high kid around. They… used to be very nice actually, most of them were good-hearted. Yeah, they were loud and boisterous at times, but that’s just all teenagers for you. I’m sure Hiragi-san and Umemiya-san remember the brawl they had with Shishitoren.”

“Yeah.” Hiragi raises his head up towards the ceiling as if he was reminiscing. “That fight felt really good.”

Ezura gently scoffs at this. “Yeah, the boys over there didn’t stop talking about it for days. But anyways, after Tomiyama became the head, things just…changed. What happened today isn’t anything new. Trust me, they could be a lot worse. You saw earlier today how they turn on their own…” Ezura trails off, her fingers trailing down her cheek, her eyes somewhat pained.

Did they turn on her? Is that why she came here instead? Why does she look like she is holding back something? I wonder

And as if she heard me, Ezura looks at me, tilting her head, studying me, her eyes flitting over the features of my face. She then narrows her eyes. “Well, I do have a lot of opinions on this topic. However, last time I made them known, things didn’t end well for me.”

I try my best to veil my surprise, tried to revert back to my usual self. How does she do that? It’s getting a bit infuriating. I dig my nails into my palms.

No one really saw my slip up, but Ezura did. She gives a little satisfyed smirk but her gaze moves past me to Kotoha who laid her Omurice in front of Ezura.

“Thanks Kotoha! It smells heavenly!”

Umemiya involuntarily adds. “I know right?!”

But Ezura wasn’t paying attention. She continues to talk. “Before things went all topsy-turvy, Tomiyama and Togame really cared more about their team than anyone else. They were real symbols of devotion to strength.”

Hiragi’s brow furrows. “So how did things change so much?”

I eye Ezura carefully, and I didn’t notice the way she stiffens slightly, frozen in place. But she quickly recovers so the change was unnoticeable. Her voice was stern as she cuts into her omurice with more aggression than necessary. “I don’t want to talk about it. But it’s Tomiyama.”

I attempt to poke some fun out of her. “Careful Ezura-chan, you’re hurting the omurice~”

“I’ll hurt you real soon if you don’t shut up and stop staring at me every two seconds!” She hisses, gracefully shoving a forkful of omurice in her mouth. Nirei flinches as Sakura just blinks at her.

Feisty much?

Umemiya raises a glass of water to his lips, taking a sip and swirling the water around in the glass as he spoke. “Well, it’s alright. We don’t need to know the details. You’ll get it when you talk to them tomorrow.”

Ezura chuckles. “I don’t think there’s much to talk about with my opponent in particular.”

“Because you’ll be doing most of the talking, right?” I ask her.

Sakura shifts around to face Umemiya. “Talk to them? We’re gonna duke it out, aren’t we?”

“Wow Othello-kun~ always looking for a fight aren’t you?” Ezura smacks her lips as she rests her cutlery on her plate.

“Weren’t you the one picking a fight with me earlier? Isn’t that being a hypocrite?” I quip. Maybe it was more of a snark remark than I intended it to be.

Ezura glares at me, returning my snark, except it was amplified. “No. I was going to hurt you. There’s a difference.”

Nirei, who had been watching our exchange rather than Sakura’s and Umemiya’s, started nervously stuttering. “But… but w-where’s the-the difference?!”

Ezura smirks at him. “You’ll see tomorrow. Well- depending on how boring my opponent is.”

She told her opponent that he better not be boring. I wonder what she means by that.

Ezura might be the most interesting person I have met.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

We all finished up and decided to head home for the night. As we were all leaving, Nirei asked me where I lived, so I rattled off an address, and Suo approaches me.

“I happen to live near you, Ezura-chan! Mind if we walk together?”

Yes.

“No. Not at all.” I breathe, and I wave goodbye to everyone before walking in the direction of home, with Suo walking close by.

A few minutes passed in silence, before Suo hums. “You could have said you did mind me walking with you, you know.”

So he already knew I didn’t want to walk with him.

I clench my fists and I step in front of him. He stops and looks at me calmly, which makes me want to gouge his stupidly pretty eyes out.

“Alright. You’ve been on my case ever since the clash with Shishitoren. If you have something to say, just say it to my face instead of antagonising me!” I growl.

Suo looks unaffected by my sudden outburst, his demeanour calm, with his hands clasped together behind his back and his posture immaculate as always. He tilts his head to the side, his earrings swaying with him. The bastard even smiles. “Antagonising you? That’s what you thought I was doing?” He then laughs, the sound graceful and genuine. “That’s funny, that thought never crossed my mind!”

I bite the inside of my cheek as I step closer to him, narrowing my eyes. “Then what are you trying to achieve by constantly monitoring me?”

That’s when I see it.

Something shifts inside Suo. In his eyes. They don’t go dull- they still had their usual shine. But it was sharp. Sharp and unnerving. Detached. Like he was trying to put distance between the two of us and build up a wall while wanting to rip through it and destroy me at the same time.

He leans in towards me with a somewhat forced smile, his voice slightly deeper and on edge, as if he was challenging me. “I could ask you the same thing.”

I step away, confused and wary of how close we were. “What are you talking about? I don’t monitor you.”

“Yes you do.” He replies as he starts walking again, and I catch up with him, walking by his side.

“I don’t.” I say with more force, and as he opens his mouth to respond I quickly cut him off. “And don’t say I do because I only bite back when you bite first so beat it.”

Suo responds calmly without even sparing a glance in my direction. “Ah, I wasn’t talking about that.”

I groan, rolling my eyes. “I still have no idea what you’re talking about.” I pause at look at him. “And no, I’m not lying or being ignorant.”

Suo halts, looking at me, staring me dead in the eye. “There.”

“Huh?” I step back, a bit overwhelmed by his crushing gaze.

“You just did it.”

He needs to start making sense.

“Suo-san, I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Silence.

More silence.

He stands there, staring me down, as if he was trying to see past something I couldn’t see.

“Maybe you’re right.” He murmurs, before sighing and looking off into the distance.

I cautiously walk beside him, mentally conflicted about whether I should pry for for truth of let it be. My eyes skim over his face and his shoulders. His posture was a bit too immaculate right now.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I blurt out. “You look really…” I trail off as Suo looks at me, his brow raised. “…tense?”

He doesn’t say anything. He just studies me, and looks over my shoulder. “Isn’t this your road, Ezura-chan?”

I step back at least three paces and I look over my shoulder. “Yeah?”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow! Good night Ezura-chan!” He says cheerfully and back to his normal self, but there was something off with his voice.

I nod, my throat dry. “Right back at ya.”

But as I turned around to go back home, I swear that the pair of eyes that stalked my every move for the next ten seconds belonged to him.

The next day was just normal lessons. Or that’s what we were told at least. In the morning, when I was talking with some of the boys in class, another boy burt through the doors, yelling “Dudes! Someone’s got some rad motorbike parked on school grounds!”

I sit up straighter. “Oh. Am I not allowed to park it here?”

All the boys looked at me going “HUUH?!”

Mitsuki looks amused and amazed. “You own a motorcycle?”

“Yeah. It was a gift.” I look down at my gloved hands, smiling.

He got me these gloves too.

“From who, if you don’t mind me asking?” Mitsuki asks.

“Oh. It’s complicated.”

One of the boys nudge me playfully, waggling their eyebrows. “Is it from an admirer, by any chance?”

“Aha. Definitely.” I say in a monotone voice.

“Then why were you smiling like an idiot?” Takanashi teases.

I narrow my eyes at him. “I suggest you get rid of that idea before I consider running you over with my motorcycle.”

That got him to shut up.

“Do you have a helmet?” Another boy asks. “I didn’t see it on your bike.”

“A helmet?” I mumble.

Mitsuki narrows his eyes at me. “Do you know what a helmet is?”

“Of course I do! I just haven’t heard or seen that in a while.”

Anzai turns around from his seat to stare at me. “When was the last time you’ve worn one?”

I blink, thinking back.

Probably when…

“When I was learning how to ride a motorcycle? So in middle school.”

“So… you haven’t worn one since?” Mitsuki asks, a hint of concern in his voice.

“No. Why should I? It’s not like-“

All boys surrounding me cause an uproar, the ones sitting next to me punching me on the arms or slapping me on the back.

Anzai gets up and grabs me, putting me in a head lock. “YOU IDIOT! THAT’S HELLA DANGEROUS!”

“What?!” I gasp, half-stunned and half-shocked. And confused. “Why do you guys care so much!” I say as I try to wriggle out of the headlock without hurting Anzai. He’s honestly lucky that I like him, otherwise he’d be the one in a headlock.

I see Nirei looking very worried for me while Suo pays no mind as he continues talking to Nirei, which I didn’t really care about. But what I do care about is that this was the first time that I have ever seen Sakura smirk in my direction.

He was enjoying the scene.

That little shit.

The boys around me were all busy chastising me.

“What if you crash?”

“Yeah! Then you’ll end up in hospital with a cracked head!”

“Do you even own a helmet?!”

“I’ve even seen Sugishita wear a helmet!”

“Honestly what goes through your head?!”

“Safety first, dumbass!”

Laughter bubbles out of me before I could stop myself.

All the boys pause, staring at me, faces frozen. Even Anzai lets go of me. “Was the headlock too tight? What’s up with you?”

I stay there, unable to calm down. It was such a light and happy feeling. It felt like I was back in middle school and with the boys in Shishitoren while they were being idiots and clowning around.

When I manage to calm down, I still couldn’t stop myself from smiling. “Maybe I’ll consider wearing one.”

“What?! No maybes. Actually get one!” Kurita booms.

“My my… it’s quite offensive that you sound so surprised about us caring, Ezura-san~” Mitsuki drawls, sounding a bit let down as he taps away on his phone.

Anzai raises an eyebrow, narrowing his eyes at me. “Yeah. He’s right. Why DO you sound so surprised.”

“Let’s just say it’s been a rough time for me for a while.” I chuckle, shrugging off Suo’s piercing glare from the corner of the room.

I wasn’t surprised when Tomiyama completely ignores my presence when we meet them back in the tunnel at noon. The boys who were involved in the tournament stood behind him, smirking at us.

“UME-CHAAAAAAANNN!” Tomiyama cheers. “WELCOME! TO OUR TURF!” He holds out his hand, gesturing all around him.

“Yo.” Umemiya shoves his hands in his pockets. “Thanks for havin’ us.”

Togame looks at me, and his smile fades. I look away, unable to hold his gaze, silently cursing him under my breath.

Sakura hears me, and whispers. “He’s my fight. So don’t go pickin a fight with him.”

I don’t snap back with a quick-witted comment. I do something different. “Sakura-kun.” I look up at him to see his eyes widen. Probably because I actually called him by his proper name. “Punch him at least ten times for me.”

Sakura grimaces, looking away. “I was already planning on doing that. B-BUT NOT FOR YOU!” He quickly adds, his face flushed.

I cross my arms, smiling at him. “Mhm. Sure thing.”

“S-SHUT UP!”

“Keep it down you two!” Hiragi hisses, and we both shut up. Temporarily.

As we start to walk through the tunnel with the Shishitoren boys, Kobayashi looks over to me with a sneer. “Ezura… How’s your face after Togame back-handed it?”

My blood runs cold at the mention of it, and I look over at Togame, who was walking in front of us, and he lowers his head, his hands lowered.

I didn’t need to look at my classmates to know they’re surprised.

I clench my fists, looking at him with a sly grin. “Never been better. How’s your face after Togame mauled it to a pulp over one of your finest moments?”

Togame turns around and shoots me a sharp glare as Kobayashi scowls hideously.

Arima and Kanuma giggle.

“Careful.” I chuckle. “Your face may end up that way permanently after I’m through with you.” I drawl.

“Careful.” He hisses spitefully. I might add a few more scars to your collection-“

With no time wasted, Togame pummels a fist right into the side of Kobayashi’s face. Kobayashi stumbles back against the wall of the tunnel, bringing a hand up to his face and his nose starts to bleed. Tomiyama just whines about us being so slow and then skips off.

All of us halt, stunned into silence.

He knows about them? I think. But I shrug it off. He probably saw me like that for the first time in passing.

The Furin boys went still, their faces frozen, however Umemiya wasn’t as shocked as the rest of them. The Shishitoren boys seemed used to this, and Arima was muttering about how Kobayashi never learns from his mistakes.

I didn’t know what disturbed me more: the fact that Togame acted purely off of instinct, or the fact that one punch sent this boy off with half a bruised face and a nosebleed.

Togame stares down Kobayashi. “Save it for the stage. And even then, brawl with your fists. Not your mouth.” He spat, before reverting back to his default self with his easy relaxed posture and his lazy yet menacing smile, turning back to the Furin boys. “Sooo sorry about that.” He says, his eyes sliding to Sakura and his smile growing sharp. A threat. Showing off his fist power, an attempt to intimidate. Sakura holds eye contact valiantly, and Togame turns around, smirking. “Let’s go.”

I instinctively rub my hands up and down my arms, before shoving my gloved hands into the pockets of my Bofurin jacket.

“No you’re not sorry Togame.” I mutter under my breath.”

Hiragi whispers to me. “You ok?”

I look over to him. “Yes? Why wouldn’t I be?”

Hiragi furrows his brow but doesn’t respond.

Suo looks over at me, his eyes trailing down to my hands, his gaze thoughtful.

Then when he brought his eyes up to mine, they practically screamed liar in the gentlest way possible.

I look away.

Sakura frowns at Kobayashi, muttering to himself. “He’s one crappy dude.”

“Yeah.” I roll my eyes. “Tell me about it.”

I stop and let out an ooo,  shuddering. “I just experienced a whiplash from that punch though.”

“Hah? He wasn’t even punching you, idiot.” Sakura says.

“Yeah, but I’ve been behind one of those before. I’ve felt how those hurt like a gunshot wound.”

I especially remember how hard it was to move around after that. Togame had punched me in the torso while it was a friendly spar in which I had told him not to go easy on me. I remember how my torso ached as I tried to throw some kicks his way.

Funny enough, that was the spar that I won.

Sakura stands up a little straighter as Suo and Nirei look in my direction as well. Even Sugishita lets out a grumble.

“You’ve fought Togame before?” Sakura asks.

“Well, yeah.” I say as if it was the easiest thing to figure out from what I had said earlier. “He taught me how to fight. Tomiyama too-“

“WHAT?! WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!” He yells at me. He opens his mouth to yell something else but I manage to kick him in the shin, hissing “shut up before Hiragi-san does it for you, dumbass.”

Nirei starts scrubbling excitedly in his little notebook while Suo chuckles. “I was suspecting something like that. I thought you two seemed closer than normal.”

Oh?

“What the hell was that supposed to mean, huh?” I grunt, but Suo maintains his smiley persona.

“Just as I had said it, Ezura-chan. You two seem to have a lot more history than both of you let on.”

Liar. You have more to say. Say it. I silently urge him in my head, but obviously he doesn’t.

“Uh, yeah. Anyone would have been able to figure that out by Togame demonstrating his minimum destruction power on Kobayashi’s face. So?”

“It seems fitting that they taught you how to fight.”

They weren’t the only ones. I grimace.

Suo catches this.

“So, out of interest Ezura-chan-“

“Keep it to yourself Suo-san. I don’t want to hear it.”

Nirei stops writing, looking between me and Suo, looking concerned. But he doesn’t prod at the matter.

Sakura was still interested in me fighting Togame. “Did you win against him?”

“Once.” I murmur. “Although I’d like to spar with him again sometime. But not while he’s like this.”

“H-how did you manage that?!” Nireir squeaks.

I give him a proud grin. “I’ve got a trump card, lets say. Although nowadays I only use it if I’m too lazy to fight or just want to end it once and for all. Or if I have places to be.”

Suo sighs happily. “I’m excited to see it, Ezura-ch-“

“Alright from now on just call me Ezura. All of you. I can not take it anymore.”

We get out into the broad daylight, and we get a view of the streets.

“Wow.” Sakura looks around. “It’s all pubs here.”

“There are a lot of pubs in the Shishitoren’s turf.” Nirei adds, hiding behind Suo. “They even have the biggest bar district in the area. Apparently… it gets really lively at night.”

My eyes light up, and I laugh. “Yes! It really does! It’s actually quite a nice atmosphere, depending on where you wander. Or… it used to be at least.”

Suo looks at me. “You seem to have some fond memories.”

I drop my voice to a whisper. “Maybe because this place used to be my happy place.”

Suo falls silent, but Sakura clearly had a lot to say.

“How? You’re insane.”

“Better to be insane than normal. It’s boring being normal.” I say.

I look over at Nirei who was still quivering behind Suo. “It’s ok Nirei-kun. You don’t have to be scared. No one here is going to ambush us. Not while their leaders are literally escorting us.”

That does calm him down a bit, bless him.

Sakura then pipes up. “Huh, by the way, why are you even here? You’re not gonna fight.”

“Huh?!” Nirei yelps. “Wh-why? I was there when you fly-kicked the guy! I’m involved!”

“He’s got a point, don’t you think?” I murmur to Sugishita next to me. And he narrows his eyes and looks away, grunting “mmph.”

I’ll take that as a yes.

“Besides, I’m still a part of Bofurin. Even when I’m not protecting someone like the rest of you, I wanna become strong enough to protect myself!” He brings up his hands and clenches them. “So I wanna learn a thing or two!”

Suo and I smile and chuckle, while Sakura’s eyes widen as he rapidly looks to the front again. “Hmph! Do whatever you want!”

“Sakura-kun,” Suo addresses him. “You get red so easily.”

“SHA-SHADDUP!” Sakura yells, which lands us first years with receiving a loud “SHUT UP YOU LITTLE SHITS!!!” From Hiragi.

“Jesus.” I mutter, tying up my hair. “He’s been grumpy ever since seeing his old friend again.”

Nirei makes a sound in surprise. “Old Friend?”

Right. This is their first time seeing Sako.

“Oh. See the Shishitoren boy with blonde roots and brown tips?”

Suo hums. “The one who is up against Hiragi-san?”

“Yeah. He and Hiragi-san used to be friends. Something about going to the same middle school? I don’t know the proper details. Sako-san was super reserved in that matter. I don’t blame him.” I sigh, finally dropping my hands away from my hair. I had managed to put it up in a high ponytail, and even then, tendrils of hair manages to slip free and sway around my face.

“So it seems like they have a grudge.” Suo concludes.

“Well, we’ll find out when they fight, right?” I say.

My heart leaps in dreadful excitement as I see the huge building that was Shishitoren’s headquarters. The place where Togame and Tomiyama taught me how to fight. The place that bore some of my happy memories, actually.

Now I’m thinking back, I wonder if the graffiti I did was still up on the walls somewhere.

Probably. Probably not.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Sakura asks in a judgmental way. I don’t blame him though. We are literally venturing into a den full of lions and here I am looking like a child about to enter a toy shop.

“This used to be my home away from home, Othello-kun. Who wouldn’t be?”

He tuts, rolling his eyes, but he doesn’t look particularly angry. His eyes just slide to the side in thought, but he doesn’t say anything.

As we enter the ring, the sound of the uproar was deafening. The Shishitoren boys were jeering, whooping, booing and yelling all at once.

“C’MON, SHOW ME YOUR LOSER FACES!”

“IT’S UMEMIYA.”

“THE GUY NEXT TO HIM’S HIRAGI?”

“OI! THAT GIRL IS EZURA?!”

I roll my eyes as we had to walk through the crowd of Shishitoren boys to actually get to the front seats. Most of them recognised me, and sneered at me, the words such as “traitor” and “whore” being thrown about.

How stupid are they to think that words like that offend me?

“Oh, I get it now.” Suo muses as Sakura and Sugishita look around. Sakura looked a bit overwhelmed with seeing so much people in one place. Suo continues. “This is a cage of beasts.”

“Won’t lie to you, half of these people are just pussycats.” I grumble.

“EZURA!” Nirei trembles, grabbing me and shaking me to shut up.

I turn around to look at him walking behind the rest of us, and I quickly glance and the boys around us looming over him intimidatingly. “Hey, walk in front of me.” I say, pushing him in front of me. At least then I can control what’s going on in front of me instead of having to consider all sides.

Ah. My brother taught me that. I think with a frown.

Nirei looks down at the ground, his bottom lip wobbling as he clenches his fists. The poor boy was frightened out of his mind.

“Nirei-kun. I’m not letting anything happen to you.” I whisper, my voice barely audible above the rowdy atmosphere.

Sakura doesn’t look at Nirei, but his voice travels to him regardless. “Didn’t ya come here to learn how to fight? Keep your eyes forward.”

That got Nirei to look up and nod, his brow furrowed in concentration.

I look at Sakura in wonder.

He always tried to act nonchalant about everything but fails miserably. He just wants to be at the top, and he’ll beat everyone to get there. But he truly does care about other people. Does he see it as a weakness? I wonder what background he came from, because this boy can not handle any affection at all, no matter whether it’s targeted at him or not. But he’s a great guy.

And I couldn’t stop myself. I ruffle his hair, giggling “you’re such a sweet friend-“

“SHADDUP AND GET OFF ME!” He scrambles to get away from me. I stick out my tongue at him, but something from the top-right corner of my eye snatches my attention completely.

I gasp, laughing in disbelief. “No way! It’s still up there!”

Arima turns around. “Duh. Of course we do. That’s the best graffiti we got.”

I cross my arms, frowning at him. “Aren’t you meant to be seething at me because I’m not one of you guys?”

He holds up his hands in mock surrender, chuckling. “Not me. Just the top two are mad at ya. Especially Togame, but I’m sure you knew that. Especially after that argument you guys had last time you saw eachother.”

I stiffen. “You know about that?”

He shrugs as he walks off. “No. I eavesdropped into his conversation with Tomiyama.”

I forgot about the argument I had with Togame. That was really the last time I saw him up until now.

Because after he slapped me that day, he found me as I was leaving.

It was raining. Pouring. The dark clouds swirled like murky diswater in the sky, as the heavens released all its sorrow and despair down onto the Earth, who haa been calmly waiting for its embrace.

My feet was soaked in my shoes as I tightened my grip on my rucksack as I walk through the empty streets. Every thing was closed because of the weather. Funny how the rain brings me so much comfort.

I hear multiple splashes coming from behind me, and I whip around to see J- Togame, dripping wet, running after me.

He stops two feet away from me.

That two feet felt like worlds apart.

Galaxies even.

I turn around to walk away-

That’s all I chose to remember. But now Arima mentions it, that argument ended with shots fired, words fired. Words that couldn’t be taken back. Spiteful remarks.

Regret.

Except neither of us are willing to remember it.

I see it in Togame’s eyes too. He chooses not to remember it.

Anyways, back in this present moment, Tomiyama jumps on stage, addressing the mass gathering. “So guys!” His voice effortlessly carries across the whole Theatre. “We’re about to start our super-duper fun one-on-one duke it out tournament!”

The crowds cheers even louder than I thought was humanely possible.

Umemiya huffs, smiling. “Sheeesh! They’re really hyping this up like it’s some sorta festival.”

Well, Tomiyama never does things halfway.

Umemiya turns around to us. “You guys ready? Things have gotten really out of hand…”

He calls this out of hand? Shishitoren’s actually acting sort of welcoming. At least they’re hyping it up like a festival instead of some sparring to the death shit. They’re capable of that too. I say to myself as Umemiya reassures us that there’s no pressure for us to actually win and we should just have fun with it.

I nearly choke on my own spit when Sakura goes “Oh screw off.” To Umemiya. “It doesn’t matter if anything is riding on them or not. I have absolutely no plans on losing.”

Good. You’re going to need it.

Sugashita grunts in agreement.

Suo nods happily. “Right!”

I can’t help by chuckling at how eager they were about their fights.

Hiragi smiles as he says “Ya heard them” to Umemiya, and Umemiya laughs about how we’re getting more reliable by the minute.

Unfortunately for me, I did have something riding on my fight. I had someone to put in place. And even if I somehow lost, it would be utter humiliation for me, and somehow a disgrace to Tomiyama and Togame. I couldn’t do that to myself or them. But honestly, I wasn’t nervous.

I cause know I’m winning.

I’m just as pumped up like the rest of the Shishitoren boys about this thrilling event, which makes myself wander off into the past as my graffiti catches my eye again.

I still remember the day I did that. It was my biggest project yet. Requested by the boys themselves. Every important member of Shishitoren made a graffiti of something that resonates with them, and despite me not being a member even back then, they just shrugged and said “Doesn’t mean you’re not already part of the family” and encouraged me to leave my mark on the wall. They even brought fresh new supplies for me to use.

Maybe after my fight I can go sneak up there somehow and get a closer look. But that’ll just get me into trouble.

Tomiyama jumps up and down, waving at Umemiya, yelling impatiently and eagerly above the rukus. “COME ON UME-CHAN! LET’S DO IT! HURRY HURRY!!”

“Wait. What kind of tournament opens with the Generals’ fight?” Togame says.

And annoyingly, I agree.

Arima holds up his hand in the air. “Can I go first?” He juts his chin at Sugishita. “That long mop over there’s been givin’ me dirty looks non-stop. It’s gettin on my nerves.”

“Woooow! Sugishita-kun, your presence is being passionately requested!” Suo chuckles.

Ugh. Why is he always smiling? It’s creepy.

Sugishita glances at Umemiya for permission to fight first, and Umemiya nods encouragingly “Sure, why not!”

“Wait- really?! You guys want me to do my own graffiti on here?!”

“Sure, why not! I’ve seen some of your paintings. They’re amazing.”

“But that’s different to graffiti.”

“You’ll figure it out. You’re talented like that.”

I bite my bottom lip.

As Sugishita walks away to go on stage, Sakura calls after him. “Hey. We still need to settle our match too. But I don’t ever wanna fight someone who’d lose to lame-asses like the guys here.” Upon no reaction from Sugishita other than a expression of disgust, Sakura grows impatient. “Hey! You listenin’ or what?! I’m tellin’ you to win this thing! Ok?!”

I burst out laughing as Sugishita walks away.

Sakura watches me as if I had lost my mind when I lean onto him to keep myself from falling to the ground with laughter. “W-what’s wrong-with you?!” He sputters, bewildered.

“You’re-You’re so sh-shit but a…amazing at the same time!” I barely manage to breathe out.

“Shut up!” He snaps, flinching away from me, face red, making me laugh even more.

Umemiya looks over at me, silent but smiling, with a proud twinkle in his eye.

Chapter Text

Ezura Kura’s POV:

We all take our seats: Hiragi and Umemiya sitting together and Nirei, Suo Sakura and I sitting together, with an aisle separating us from our upperclassmen. The seats next to me were all empty, and I felt like someone was just going to get up and-

“Kuraaa! It really is you! I thought they were just rumours but wow!” Someone behind me laughs.

Why do I recognise that voice so well?

And then before my brain could process a thing, this body just jumps onto the chair next to me, plopping down. “Mind if I sit here?”

I roll my eyes. “Well I mean you’re already sitting down…” I trail off when I actually take in their appearance.

Kind of long wavy hair… wide happy eyes and a lively smile…

I blink. “Inugami?”

“Glad you remember me!” He giggles.

I narrow my eyes, but whilst smiling, unable to contain myself. “Eh? You’re not… you know… thinking I’m some traitorous wretch?”

He pouts at me. “Why would I? I never got the point in that. There’s nothing wrong with you not wanting to come here. You weren’t even an official member and it wasn’t even like you betrayed us. I gotta say, that uniform suits you better than these jackets would have-“

I couldn’t stop myself.

I lean over my seat and hug him tight, laughing. He lets out an excited “oh!” And hugs me back, laughing.

“Good to see you again! It’s such a relief that someone thinks that!” I say as I pull away, and Inugami frowns.

“Not everyone here went bad! There’s some decent ones… but we have to be careful around here…” he looks around nervously.

I look over at the other boys next to me, to see Sakura’s lightly pink face as he explicitly tries to avoid looking in my direction, staring straightforward. Suo looks at me with a newfound curiosity, and Nirei looks downright baffled at me.

I wince as I turn back to Inugami, who’s watching Arima go on stage, where Sugishita was waiting.

“Who do you think would win?” He asks me, tilting his head sideways towards me.

I do the same. “I think Sugishita would.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Also- are you sure you want to sit here? People might think something bad about you.” I look over at him with worry.

He just chuckles. “Don’t worry, I can deal with them later! After all, they’re sitting with their friends, why can’t I?” He whines like a toddler.

I look away comically, jesting “if you keep on saying stuff like that you’re gonna make me blush.”

“Ooo, maybe I should stop then.” He responds with equal mockery.

“Oi, go outside if both of you are just gonna sit there and yap.” Sakura snaps, and for that, I kick him in the shin. Hard.

“ow-CUT IT OUT!” He yells.

“Make me, Othello.”

Sugishita was silent and loud in one. Silent, but in a way that his presence is the loudest thing in the room. His loyalty to Umemiya unwavering, enforcing respect through his fists when anyone dares to mock Umemiya. And his physical strength was raw, and rough. He may be a bit awkward at times, but when it came to a fight, he was purely primitive. He demanded dominance and authority.

I experienced all of that in his fight with Arima.

Arima had tried to distract Sugashita by yelling “Woah, Umemiya! How’d that happen?”

Arima’s major slip up was not adding “-san”, which pissed off Sugishita to a great extent, and Sugishita grabs Arima’s face and slams him down onto the stage.

Sugishita stands up straight again, wiping off blood from his mouth with his thumb. “It’s Umemiya-san, you moron.”

Arima was motionless on the floor, and upon that, I look over at Inugami with a smirk. “Told ya so~”

A deafening hush falls over the theatre, and mutters fill the place instead.

Nirei trembles. “In… in just one punch.”

Inugami lightly swears under his breath. “He went down so quick…”

I look at him. “Didn’t you suspect it already? He was always the one for big talk but could never carry himself as well in a fight.”

Inugami shrugs. “Well, maybe that was since the last time you saw him. But he actually did get stronger.”

“Hmph. Clearly not strong enough.” I mutter under my breath.

Inugami looks at me with kind and knowing eyes. “Apparently you also have grown stronger since the last time we actually saw you.”

I sigh, rolling my eyes. “Said who?”

Inugami brings his legs up and sits crosslegged, shifting his entire body to face me. “One of our guys was just passing by when they saw you take on a a whole crowd of people two months ago.”

Hm? Two months ago? I must have still been living with my brother that time…

Oh… I think he’s talking about the time I went looking for a place to move into. Yeah, I did get cornered by a big group.

“Th-they did?” I was unable to mask my surprise.

Inugami nods enthusiastically. “Yeah! Apparently you took out their leader with just one kick! And you took down the rest with no problem! It caused a lot of chatter amongst Shishitoren, and they were trying to compare your strength to the boys here. Then Tomiyama overheard us and demanded us to tell him about your fight. And he was super pumped up about it and said that you sounded like you became stronger than Kobayashi and perhaps as strong as himself and Togame. The boy who saw you fight agreed that you could probably give Kobayashi a good run for his money, and then naturally the rest thought the same, so then-“

“That’s why he challenged me. That… explains a lot.” I say slowly, processing all that information.

I’m really glad I’m still on friendly terms with Inugami. I wonder if I still am with Sako.

“Um… is Sako mad at me as well?”

Inugami blinks at me. “No?! He was actually quite annoyed when Kobayashi challenged you. I was the one that told him you’d probably be fine if you fight like how that passerby boy described you.”

“Wow. No pressure right?” I say sarcastically before laughing.

Tomiyama got two Shishitoren boys to get Arima off the stage, and they said that he was too heavy, and simply just dumped him off the stage right on the floor infront of the stage. They cuss out Arima and one of them even kicks Arima’s face despite the boy literally being unconscious.

Jesus, they need to learn some respect.

As the boys walked past our seats, Sakura speaks to them without looking at them.

“Hey.”

The boys stop, turning their faces to look at Sakura. Sakura continues talking. “Your little chitter chatter is annoyin’ the shit outta me.”

He really can’t keep his mouth shut can he?

“This is to all of you… don’t go braggin’ about being the devotees of power again.” Now Sakura meets their gazes. “Just watchin’ you weaklings is making me feel embarrassed… ya bunch of second rate thugs.”

You know what, he’s not wrong, hilariously. I muse as Inugami’s eyes go wide at Sakura’s remark even though I knew very well that Sakura wasn’t directly aiming at Inugami in particular, but the rest of the Shishitoren boys. I think Sakura is more lenient with Inugami since he’s on friendly terms with me, but I know he would never say it out loud.

The one of the boys leans down towards Sakura in a way that was meant to intimidate. “What didja say?”

I scoff at the boy, biting the inside of my cheek to stop the string of horrific words that were about to come out from my mouth, crossing my arms. “Are you deaf or dumb? You heard him loud and clear.”

Suo participates. “Sakura-kun, Ezura, nothing you say is going to get through, not with these boys.” He looks in our direction and smiles, his tassel earrings swaying gracefully as he did so. “They won’t understand a thing, until you beat it into them.” Suo’s voice very subtly goes a bit sharp at the end of his sentence.

Wow. He really knows how to get on people’s nerves. I conclude as the other one of the two boys storms over to Suo and grabs him by the Bofurin jacket. “HAH? THEN WHY DON’T YOU TRY IT, PUNK?!”

I don’t know why that ticked me off so much, even though Suo was smiling through it, but it does to a great extent.

I abruptly rise out of my seat, facing the boy with my hands shoved into my pockets to hide my clenched fists.

“I’ll try it out with my foot to your face if you don’t let go of him.” I say slowly, through gritted teeth, with something in my voice sounded like it was longing pierce through him. “You’re not the one facing him, so stand down, before I make you.”

The boy stiffens up as Suo’s jacket slips through his fingers. He swears silently and backs off. I turn around to look at the other boy, who freezes up under my glare. “You too.” I snap, and he scurries off without protest.

I huff and fall back to my seat, ignoring the multiple pairs of eyes on me.

Especially Tomiyama’s and Togame’s.

And Umemiya’s and my classmates.

Sakura stares at me, as if he was trying to process what I did, while Nirei was looking like he was going to sink through the chairs and Suo just watches me without saying anything.

Inugami lets out a slow shaky breath. “Woah. Remind me to NEVER get on your bad side.”

That makes me break out into a fit of giggles, playfully punching him in the arm gently.

“OKAY! LET’S GO! NEXT, NEXT!! WHO’S UP NEXT?!” Tomiyama flaps around in his seat.

Sakura grins. “Great. I’ll go and-“

“Don’t be dumb.” Suo kindly interjects. “Based on the order, I’m next.”

“Who’re you callin’ dumb?!” Sakura shouts.

Suo offers a few words to Sakura, talking about how he initially thought Sakura’s goal to be at the top was stupid but ends up realising that Sakura has a strong core and thinks that he’s cool and whatnot, and how in order not to “lose to [him]”, he’s going to give it his all.

Suo looks at me, but doesn’t say anything, even though it felt like he thought something similar towards me.

He walks towards the stage, without saying a word to me.

Suo’s moves were poised, graceful, like a dancer. His strikes were gentle-looking but so harsh at the same time. He didn’t punch, he just diverted his opponent’s attacks and made it backfire on them. Despite looking so smoothly executed, there was a certain aggression behind it which sends tremors down one’s spine. He fights like a predator toying with his prey, giving them false hope that they could do as much as land a punch on him, before ruthlessly and effortlessly stamping out any glimmer of hope. He waits for them to strike first. Even in casual situations, he usually waits for people to strike first, or coaxes people into it. He was unpredictable, calm on the outside, but something more dark and sinister surging inside of him, doing his best not to let it seep through even while fighting. And from what Nirei was describing about Suo earlier as he got up on stage, it seems like Suo preferred to stay as an enigma, unpredictable to everyone.

Is that why he was annoyed at me last night? Is it because I could figure him out if I really tried? But… I still didn’t do anything for him to think that way… at least I didn’t think so…

Earlier on as him and Kanuma got on stage, Kanuma and him exchanged a few words while Nirei and Umemiya was talking about what they knew of Suo so far. Both mentioned how there wasn’t much known about Suo, but apparently he was kind, above everything else.

“Who do you think will win?” Inugami whispers.

“I’m sorry, isn’t it obvious already?” I reply, and he tries not to snort at it.

Kanuma was angrily muttering at Suo, but while Suo’s response sounded calm and composed, sounding like it was just to rile Kanuma up, I saw it again in his eyes and smile.

It was the same when he spoke to me yesterday. Especially as he says “You must’ve had it so hard, little boy.”

“Then what are you trying to achieve by constantly monitoring me?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Which begs the question: Does that face really belong to someone who’s supposed to be kind ?

Suo might just be the most interesting person I have met.

And his entire fight with Kanuma was equally as interesting to watch. He was belittling Kanuma with his words as well as his moves. The Shishitoren crowd starts yelling at Kanuma to take the fight seriously, when the unsettling fact was that Kanuma was seriously trying.

And I could see the cracks in where this surging storm starts to slip through.

I want to fight Suo. It seems terrifyingly fun.

Umemiya laughs. “He’s not just kind is he?”

Sakura scoffs. “There isn’t even a fragment of kindness in this. All he’s got is a rotten, garbage personality.” He narrows his eyes.

Hm… so they can see it too. Maybe Suo’s composure is slipping in this fight. Maybe… this is personal to him.

“If it were me up there, I’d rather be killed than let that go on.” Sakura mutters, not taking his eyes off of the fight. “Though, if it were me, he wouldn’t be able to toss me around like a ragdoll.”

“Othello-kun, but in a fight with Suo, he’s the one dictating, as you can see. He’s already anticipated all your moves. You’ll have to beat him at his own game.” I point out, looking at Suo.

Suo’s eyes meet mine. Something flickers in them, but it’s quickly gone.

We all overhear Hiragi talking with Umemiya. “Well, I’m sure he has his own thoughts after watchin’ the Shishitoren punks. But I’ll admit I’m surprised to see him get so emotional.”

Wrong. He’s not emotional enough.

Umemiya adds to the conversation. “I mean, this is probably one of those cases, right? Where someone close by… is drawing out that side of him.”

“Hey.” Sakura grabs Nirei’s attention.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think I gotta do to make him fight me seriously?”

My mouth acts before my mind could catch up.

“I don’t think. I know.”

Sakura looks over at me, surprised and impatient. “So? What do I have to do.”

I look at Sakura, frowning. “You don’t want want to know. Besides, I don’t think you’ve got the capacity to exactly make him switch.”

Not now, at least.

The fight went on until Togame put a stop to it. “Sorry eye-patch-kun. Can you step down?”

Kanuma, who was down, trembles. “Wh-why?”

“Don’t embarrass us any further. Or… I guess, it’s not an embarrassment anymore… since you’re off the team now.”

Suo steps down off of the stage and walks back to us. As he walks back to his seat Umemiya gets up and walks up behind him, proud. “Wow, Suo! You’re really strong!”

“Not at all.” Suo says, but seemed pleased with the compliment regardless.

Nirei bounces out of his seat, his eyes twinkling and his notebook out at the ready. “Suo-san! Was that Kung-fu?! Or something like Aikido?!”

Suo goes “Hmm…” in thought. “I’m not sure. My master is also self-taught, you see. It’s apparently a jumble of mixed martial arts.”

“Back on topic…” Hiragi interrupts. “I didn’t think you’d get so emotional. That was surprising.”

Suo’s shoulders bunch up as he chuckles somewhat nervously. “Oh, how embarrassing… I don’t normally.” He relaxes, a casual smile on his face. “But Sakura-kun got to me, so…”

Sakura scrunches up his nose. “Don’t go blaming me. But when we fight, I want you to go all out.”

Geez Sakura… he’s only blaming you because he knows you’ll react to it. It’s a way of diverting attention.

Nirei narrows his eyes, looking deflated. “There you go again… that’s all you ever say Sakura-kun.”

“Awww, but you seem like such a pain. I don’t want to spar with you, Sakura-kun.”

That gets Sakura all rattled and he yells at Suo while Nirei has to hold Sakura back from Suo. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY THAT, HUH?! I’LL SHOW YOU PAIN!”

“For heaven’s sake, Sakura, calm down. First of all, Suo was only blaming you so that the elders dropped the topic of him getting all emotional through aggravating you, since he knew you’d blow up and make enough of a rukus to do so, just like you are now. So sit down and stop embarrassing yourself.” I enlighten him.

That gets him silent, and he calms down, muttering “‘such a pain’ my ass.”

Suo stares as me, looking thoroughly shocked. Thank God noone was paying attention since Sako was pointing at Hiragi, and Hiragi was getting up. Suo’s smile was there, but for the first time, his eyes nowhere near matched his smile.

That’s when I realise exactly what I have been doing that annoys Suo.

He stares as me for a few seconds before chuckling. “Guess you caught me there, Ezura.” Before sitting down.

His eyes betray him so much.

So much that I was certain that he was furious at me.

Chapter Text

Sako silently and calmly gets up on stage, and I look over to Inugami who’s eyes were slightly furrowed.

“How has Sako-san been doing? Still bitter with Hiragi?” I ask gently, and Inugami pouts.

“Well, do you think he would have challenged Hiragi-san if he wasn’t angry at him?”

“Well, personally,” I start in an as-a-matter-of-fact tone “even if Togame wasn’t being such a prick, then I would challenge him any day.”

“Well you two have your own thing going on. So does Sako-san and Hiragi-san.” Inugami exhales.

Sakura was grumbling and flustered next to me, since as Hiragi left to go on stage he told Sakura that normally he would have gone up against Togame but he was leaving that fight in Sakura’s hands.

He gets so flustered at the slightest hint of affection or worth. How hard must he have had it back where he used to live?

Sakura’s eyes briefly meet mine, jutting his chin at Sako. “What’s with slanty eyes over there?! That jerk cut in line.”

“Actually, he’s not one of the jerks.” I muse.

I saw Sako a little while ago, actually. Like a day after I moved away.

I walk by the tunnel, frowning at the Shishitoren symbol. I was hit with the realisation that I couldn’t go into their territory anymore, and I was about to walk away when on the other end, I see a familiar figure and face. Blonde hair with brown tips, earrings, slanted eyes- Sako. I stood there, staring at him; he was alone, petting a cat. He seemed oddly at peace, smiling at the cat. The cat sees me and runs up to me, slowly blinking at me and rubbing and stretching against my legs, so I tighten my red trench coat around me as I crouch down and pet it. When I look up, Sako was already walking over to me, his smile gone. He stops by the edge of the tunnel, not stepping over to Furin’s side. I stand up, mentally bracing myself for the worst. “Hi! Remember me?”

The worst never came.

He just studies me for a brief moment and nods. “It’s been a while, Ezura.” He pauses, before slowly asking “How you’ve been?”

“Uh…” I was momentarily stunned by how polite he was. “No… I… I’ve been good… uh what about you?”

He raises an eyebrow, offering a small smile. “Are you nervous to see me?”

“What?! No! I-I was just surprised that’s all.” I laugh it off, and he rolls his eyes, still smiling.

“I’ve been good, thanks.” He answers my question.

I fiddle with the sleeves of my coat. “How is everyone else over there?”

“Could be better. We’ve gotten even worse lately. You moved here?”

“Yep.” I sigh. “Moving can be a hassle.”

Sako hesitates. “Are you ok?”

“Better than before. I’m happier here.” I say with a smile. “It’s so much more peaceful, and life moves slowly around here, just how I like it.”

He sighs, somewhat in relief. “Glad to hear it.”

I nod, and then we both stand there, awkward.

I shift around. “So…-“

“Are you going to attend Furin high school?” Sako asks me suddenly.

“It’s an all-boys school.” I say in a flat tone. “And I don’t have a reason to. Why would I?”

Sako shrugs. “You seem wild enough to disguise yourself and fight with them.”

“No can do.” I smack my lips. “I’m labelled as a ‘weakling’ , remember?”

Something like confusion swarms across Sako’s eyes, but his face remains neutral. “Are you sure?” He asks me, his tone slightly incredulous.

“That’s what you boys say at least.”

“I don’t.”

“But you’re actually polite. And you’re the reserved type and avoid everyone.”

“I don’t avoid you.”

“In the beginning you did.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes You did.”

“I didn’t.”

“You Did.”

Sako scoffs “I’m not doing this again.” And steps back slightly and I chuckle.

“I don’t think they’d like me. Especially Umemiya. If he knows who my brother is, he’ll hate me.”

“You can’t judge someone because of their family. And I doubt he would.”

“Loads of people do.” I say in no louder than a whisper.

“I doubt I would.” He mutters under his breath and looks away, kind of embarrassed.

“Well, I’ll see you around, right?” I ask him, hopeful.

“Shishitoren isn’t the same, it’s worse than before. I doubt it.” Sako says, and I detect a hint of guilt in his voice.

“Oh.” My smile fades, but I shrug it off under Sako’s watchful eye. “Well I guess it’s for the best. You should probably go before anyone sees you with me. Oh, and also…” I say as Sako turns to leave. “Can you not tell anyone from Shishitoren that you saw me or I’m living in Furin’s territory, please?”

Sako looks over his shoulder as he walks away. “I wasn’t going to.”

I thank him, and I start to walk away, but his voice stops me.

“It’s… nice to see you again… happy.”

I don’t turn around to look at him, but I nod regardless, continuing to walk away with a smile on my face.

I lean over to Inugami. “Wanna bet who wins?”

Inugami scrunches his nose at me. “Honestly, I want both of them to win.”

“Can’t have everything~”

“Fine. Sako-san. He’s amazing.”

“Ah, but so is Hiragi-san-“

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!” Sakura yells at us.

Tch, and here he is being the loudest out of us all.

And for that, I lift up my leg that was away from Sakura, and swing it over the armrest between the two of us, aiming at his nose. He dodges it- just barely- and my foot hits his seat instead.

It leaves a tear and a dent in his seat. The small springs have slightly sprung out of place, some of them bent and broke. Sakura stares at it with wide eyes, before looking at me, his facial expressions telling me that he was trying to comprehend what I did.

“I hope the springs dig into your skin.” I stick my tongue out at him, before turning back to Inugami. “I think both of them have a fair chance, but Hiragi has an upper hand-”

“Has anyone told you that you are genuinely terrifying to be around sometimes?” Inugami asks, before rolling his eyes and whining. “Why does Hiragi-san have an upper hand?”

“Because, Sako has more of a grudge towards Hiragi-san. If Sako throws his fists at Hiragi-san in anger, then he’s already lost.”

“So, does that apply to you too?”

As I was about to ask him what he meant, the fight starts.

Sakura Haruka’s POV:

I almost didn’t see her foot coming.

I dodge it just barely.

I stare at the tear in my seat.

She did that with just one flipping kick?

Was it because of her shoes, or is that how hard she wanted to kick me?

In the face.

She’s ruthless.

I’d understand if we were fighting, but why is she already out to get me?

I look at her half-satisfied face, probably from watching me look at the damage she did.

That would’ve broken my nose.

“I hope the springs dig into your skin.” She sticks her tongue at me, before turning around to that random boy who invited himself to sit with us.

When he first sat down with us, I thought he was looking for a fight. And I was ready to, but then Ezura…

h-hugged him…

So I ignored them two.

Or tried to.

They’re annoyingly loud.

Right before the fight began, I looked over at Ezura really quickly, then reached out for my nose.

That kick could knock someone out. As in a concussion. And give them a nosebleed. And a broken nose.

She mentioned earlier that Togame and Tomiyama were some of the people that taught her how to fight.

Is that how Togame fights ?

No. Tomiyama did something similar to Umemiya yesterday, but there was just something unusual about Ezura’s…

It’s… I don’t know.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

Sako was usually reserved. Quiet- he only answers with a yes or no. Silently monitoring people. He never made much effort to fight other people, but he made the most effort to become one of the best fighters in Shishitoren. People could never get a read on him, even when fighting they find it hard to read his moves sometimes. Or that’s what they say at least. I never really fought him or seen him fight- only a few glimpses.

Sako took charge.

And he was fast.

He threw punches one after the other, but Hiragi was just as fast with blocking them.

Sako jumps and drags his foot through the air, towards Hiragi’s face with a brutal force.

Hiragi manages to block it with his arm, planting his foot firmly down on the ground for stability, but I could tell it hurt. Mentally and physically.

Sako lands back on the ground with ease, hopping away and standing far away. “‘I’m sorry, but I’ll be winning this one.’?” Sako repeats Hiragi’s words that were said before they started to fight. Sako then scoffs. “Even now, you’re still looking down on me. I’m disgusted.”

Sako was emotionally driven. Driven by anger and hurt. He sounded… betrayed?

I wonder if I can get him to talk about it.

Sako slips into his fighting stance. “The Sako you knew before is gone. And I’ll beat that fact into your body.” He narrows his eyes.

Hiragi clenched his fists. I couldn’t read him all that well, but it seemed like he felt bad for Sako.

Hiragi is too kind.

Sako had been throwing all sorts of attacks at Hiragi, down to attacks from above and delayed kicks. Hiragi also has been fighting back, but Sako manages to nonchalantly dodge them and counteract. Sako somehow gets even faster and throws a fist upwards at Hiragi’s jaw, which Hiragi narrowly misses, but Sako manoeuvres rapidly around him and serves a kick to his face, sending Hiragi barreling into wall on the side of the stage.

Damn! He really went for it! Perfect kick though… What on earth did you do to get Sako this mad, Hiragi-san?

I clasp a hand over my mouth, trying to hide my smile. After all, I didn’t need to give Sakura a reason to attack me.

Hiragi lays there, and Sako stares him down, before speaking up. “Forget about getting better. You got even weaker. You only ended up this way because you chose to surround yourself with losers like that.” Sako pauses, turning is his to look over to me. He purses his lips in a no offence to you manner, and I grin, mouthing ‘go on’, waving for him to continue.

The look on Sakura’s face was worth millions.

Sako looks back at Hiragi and continues. “Naive pushovers that only care about getting along and having fun are-“

“Hey.” Sakura interrupts.

Sako turns to him. “Hm?”

“Piss off, I’m not talkin’ to you.”

My fingers twitch, and I dig my nails into my armrest.

Wow. Ok, pretty rude. But I guess it’s alright for this situation. I’ll let it slide.

Sakura stands up all of a sudden and points at Hiragi. “HEY, SHARK TEETH! YA HEAR ME?! YOU LISTENIN’?!”

SHARK TEETH?! PFFT-

The theatre was filled with the sound of me laughing hysterically and Sakura losing his shit with our upperclassman.

“PEOPLE ARE LOOKIN DOWN ON US THANKS TO YOUR SORRY EXCUSE OF A FIGHT!!” Sakura starts to stomp towards Hiragi but Nirei holds him back by the jacket. “Hold your horses, Sakura-san!”

Sakura wasn’t listening or paying attention to either Nirei’s warning or my laugh. I slam my hand against the my armrest a few times in attempt to calm down, but Sakura was still going on.

“HAVIN A WEAK STOMACH IS ENOUGH!! YA DON’T HAFTA BE A WEAK FIGHTER TOO!!”

Now Suo laughs, and a fed up Nirei looks at Suo. “First Ezura, now you too Suo-san?!”

“Sorry, sorry. Sakura-kun, it looks like you’re starting to learn to care about your friends now, huh?” Suo says happily, and that got Sakura to stop his antics and got Inugami to help me finally calm down.

Sakura blushes and freezes up. “WH-WHAT?! I’M JUST PISSED THAT THEY’RE LOOKIN DOWN ON US LIKE WE’RE IDIOTS!”

“Yeah, sure. That’s all, right?” Suo shrugs. “If you say so.”

Umemiya looks over at us. “Calm down over there, Sakura.” And looks at Sako. “Your name’s Sako, right? Hiragi’s one of the Four Kings of Bofurin. He’s also the leader of the group named after the heavenly king, Tamonten.” Umemiya smiles knowingly. “Do you know Tamonten’s other name?”

Sako frowns, tilting his head to the side. “Huh?”

Before Umemiya could continue, a hand pats Sako’s shoulder, and everyone pauses, even Sako.

Hmm… just as I had thought. After all, as one of the Four Kings, he should have much more stamina and strength. He’s just playing it down for Sako. Sappy dude.

Hiragi chuckles as he places his other hand on his hip. “Man… it’s been ages since I’ve taken such a good kick to the face.”

Yeah. Seems like it.

Hiragi then curls his hand into a ball and heaves as he throws his fist at Sako. Sako manages to jump out the way, and Hiragi’s fist meets the floor instead, a loud BOOM echoing all over the Theatre. “But damn, I looked pretty lame there, huh? You’re crazy strong. It’s like you’re a totally different person now.”

Hiragi straightens up, taking out his box of pills and popping a pill out. “Thanks to you, I got yelled at by a first year… mortified and embarrassed… no amount of pills is gonna fix me up now.”

He takes pills like they’re fruits.

Hiragi pops the pill into his mouth, smiling. “But… my life got a lot more fun.”

The fight from then inwards got so intense that it got me at the edge of my seat, full of wonder and excitement.

Even Sakura smiles. “Damn…He’s strong.”

“Well, he’s one of the four kings of Bofurin for a reason.” Suo points out. “He’s famously strong in our town, you know.”

“WHA?! I-if he’s that strong, he should have gone all out right from the get go…” Sakura mutters.

“That’s boring.” I comment. “Nothing feels better than seeing your opponent thinking that they have the upper hand and then crushing that thought…” I freeze, at a loss for words.

No-no, why do I sound like-

Suo snaps me out of my thoughts. “Sadistic, are we?”

I tense up.

“I know you are.” I snap back. And Suo’s smile widens, but his eyes narrow.

Now both Hiragi and Sako were taking hits, and the fight get progressively heated up. Hiragi still has the upper hand, however.

Sako progressively cracks, in a way that he was letting his emotions get the best of him.

He looks like he’s about to spiral. That’s not good.

Inugami shifts uncomfortably next to me, and I side eye him. “You see it too?”

“Everyone does.”

That’s true. The whole theatre had gone quiet, unlike their rowdy ways earlier. It was like everyone was holding their breath, trying to make sense of what was going on. It drags on for a while, until runs at Hiragi, trying to punch him. “There’s no way I’d lose, to someone who willingly bows down to someone else!”

Hiragi catches the punch, and speaks in a gentle voice. “Sako, I’m sorry for not becoming who you wanted me to be.”

And from Sako’s reaction, Hiragi seemed to have guessed wrong.

‘Someone who willingly bows down to someone else’, huh?

So Sako acknowledges that Hiragi is strong. And if they were friends… Sako must have looked up to Hiragi. So-

Hiragi punches Sako for the final time right in the stomach, and Sako falls onto the floor, infront of him. As Sako slips out of his consciousness, he tries to grab Hiragi, tugging at the fabric of Hiragi’s trousers, before falling to the floor.

Whispers broke out across the Theatre again. Whispers of disbelief.

I look over at Inugami whose eyes were wide in horror. “Oh no… Sako-san’s gonna get kicked out…”

“But he put up a good fight. And he’s one of the strongest-“

“They don’t care. Sako lost. That’s that.”

I press my lips into a thin line, stunned.

They’re that unforgiving?

Hiragi carries Sako offstage, and Togame walks over and grabs Sako’s jacket in attempt to take it off but Hiragi grabs his hand just as he was about to do so, and whatever words were exchanged between them wasn’t audible to me.

Inugami was nervous wreck next to me, shaking and mumbling in disbelief. Bless him, he really does care about Sako.

I grab Inugami by both shouldersand turn him to face me. “Inugami-no-look at me. Don’t worry. I’ll fight Togame and Tomiyama myself if it meant Sako could stay at Shishitoren.” I comfort him, my words sincere.

For that, he gives the smallest smile and mumbles. “You think?”

“Yeah. Sako is kind to me,” and then I add with a comical tone “and also it gives me a good reason to throw hands on those two mega shits.”

That gets a snort out of Inugami, and I grin proudly at managing to calm his nerves at least a little.

“Oi, hottie! Are ya gonna get up and fight me or what?!” Kobayashi yells across the Theatre as he struts down.

“Ugh, he already sounds boring.” I whisper to Inugami before yelling back to Kobayashi with equal smugness. “I thought you’d never ask!”

Inugami chuckles as my sudden duality while I get up from my seat. He then tugs on my jacket. “By the way, people made bets. My money is riding on you, Ezura! So does Sako-san’s!”

I pause.

Even after all this he still chose to support me?

I blink at him. His eyes were shining with confidence. “Wait- really?”

“Well, yes… that’s what I said didn’t I?”

This feeling… whatever it was…

He was still a friend who has faith in me.

It didn’t matter that I wasn’t in Shishitoren. It didn’t matter that I should be his enemy, or rival.

“You better beat him.” Sakura mumbles. “All your big talk about beating me better be put into use against him.”

“Aww, nice to know you want me to win~”

“Screw you.”

“Good luck, Ezura!” Suo wishes.

Nirei stutters. “Be… be c-careful…”

“Don’t worry, Nirei-kun. I’m not going to be the one potentially walking away with broken bones.”

Nirei yelps, and Suo chuckles. “Never say never!”

As I walk towards the stairs leading to the stage, Kobayashi does the same, and the Theatre is filled with an uproar of people cheering on Kobayashi.

“Get her good Kobayashi!”

“Make that Traitor pay!”

“She doesn’t stand a chance against him!”

“Knock her up real good!”

Brats.

Umemiya smiles at me as I walk past. “I’m excited to see you fight, Ezura-cha-“

“Ezura is fine.” I wince.

Hiragi nods at me. “Make him regret what he said earlier in the tunnels.”

Oh, I actually forgot about that.

I nod at him, and walk up on stage.

I pause, taking my phone out of my pocket. “Inugami! Think fast!” I yell as I throw my phone at him. He flinches but catches it, huffing “You should have given it to me earlier!”

Umemiya laughs, smiling brightly at me, and unnerved by it, I look away.

Third POV:

Togame pays close attention to Kobayashi  as Tomiyama cheers Kobayashi on.

Togame never liked the boy walking up on the stage right this moment- he was too arrogant and pompous for his own good, and he could never forgive how he treats Ezura like dirt.

But Togame couldn’t be hypocritical, and that was one of the reasons why he didn’t dare make eye contact with Ezura.

The Furin boys were interested in what Ezura could do. They didn’t know much about her, even Nirei doubts the information he has of Ezura in his book was entirely true.

Umemiya has seen glimpses of her fighting, and was already brimming with curiosity. After all, he didn’t invite her into Bofurin for nothing! But he was now certain that Ezura doesn’t remember, but he had met the girl a long time ago…

Sakura was just impatient to get on with his fight, but he also wanted to see what exactly about Ezura could beat him in a fight. After all, she could be an annoying hurdle to jump over in order to get to the top.

Suo was curious in a way that he wanted to observe her emotions while she fights. He wanted to see the words that Ezura left unspoken. He wanted to read her. After all, that’s all that Ezura has been doing ever since they met. Without a fail, when Suo was trained to be unpredictable. It was infuriating.

Little did anyone know how much they underestimated the girl.

Nirei Akihiko’s POV:

Ezura waits around, checking her heels and as Kobayashi stomps onto stage, she calmly walks towards him, busy securing her gloves on her hands.

Kobayashi charges at her, jumping and ready to punch down on her.

No! Look up Ezura-

Without even sparing a glance at the boy, Ezura ducks and spins out of the way, sticking her leg out as she did so, making Kobayashi trip and nearly face plant.

Kobayashi swears as he stumbles and regains his balance, and that’s when Ezura looks up, pretty confused, looking around on stage before turning behind, letting out an “oh!”, seemingly surprised.

The crowd murmurs with surprise and disgust.

Ezura mocks a gasp. “Was that all it took to wipe you off your feet? My my~ you’ve got two left feet!”

Kobayashi’s ears turn red as he bellows. “Shut up, ya haggard bitch!” And he dashes towards her, throwing punches and kicks at an unsettling speed.

H-he’s even faster than Sako-san!

What surprised me even more was that Ezura dodges his attacks with immaculate ease all while having her hands in her pockets, her grin widening the more she dodges them.

She looks like she’s enjoying this… a bit too much.

It was no doubt that Ezura was savouring it.

Kobayashi’s patience seems to wear out- it was evident on his face, you see. And as his patience wore thin, the more Ezura eyed him as if he was her prey.

She was a lion toying with a mouse.

“Is this all you’ve got?” She coos as she glides around Kobayashi’s attacks like a swan on water. “Maybe I should give you a crash course on punches, since yours are gonna do jackshit!”

Kobayashi growls as he steps up frighteningly close to Ezura, their faces inches apart as he throws a punch straight for her face, but she easily leans out of the way, letting the punch go right past her. But as Kobayashi withdraws his hand, she grabs his arm, pulling him right up to her. Ezura’s eyes glint with pure glee as she curls her fingers into a fist and delivers an uppercut to Kobayashi’s jaw, sending him flying back into the side of the stage, where Hiragi had been a few moments ago.

Eek! That was even faster than him!

Sakura mutters next to me, kind of in awe. “She’s strong.”

Just strong?

“You see,” Ezura sighs and shakes her head as Kobayashi gets up. “You’re just aimlessly throwing fists at me. You’re only meant to curl your fist right before you’re about to make contact-“

During the short time that Ezura was explaining, Kobayashi had already recovered and was already right up in front of her. He makes a show of swinging his arm at her, Ezura sidesteps out of the way, but Kobayashi swings his foot in the direction that Ezura had sidestepped in.

With no sweat, Ezura grabs his leg, pushing herself up in the air, attempting to kick Kobayashi in the face, but Kobayashi brings up his arm to block the blow at the last second, but Ezura’s hit must have been hard, because the force still knocks Kobayashi to the side, and Kobayashi plants his foot on the stage, trying to stabilise himself but he still skids along to the near front of the stage.

Ezura gently lands on the floor, her heels making a satisfying click as they made contact with the wooden planks. Her grin widens, and she muses. “Hm… you aren’t as boring as I thought you would be.”

The Shishitoren crowd yells at Kobayashi to get a grip, and take the fight seriously.

Suo laughs from next to me. “I think Kobayashi is taking this seriously. Ezura is just reading his moves too well.”

Sakura pipes up from my other side. “She dodges attacks differently to you.”

Hiragi huffs from next to Umemiya. “She isn’t even taking it seriously, I can tell. But she’s actually doing well for being so casual about it. Her dodges are spot on. Her attacks are surprisingly powerful as well.”

Umemiya has a big smile on his face. “I wouldn’t expect much less from her!”

Kobayashi then lunges towards Ezura, grabbing her around her midsection, lifting her up and slamming her down, her back flat against the wood. He then starts pummelling down punches on her, but she blocks them.

She was laughing. Ezura was laughing.

“Wow! I feel bad now!” She guffaws, before tucking in her knees and kicking Kobayashi right in the jaw, and he stumbles back, straightening up for just a second. Within that time, Ezura had twisted her body around, so her palms and chest was against the floor, and using her hands she pushes herself up, shoving her heel right into Kobayashi’s cheek.

That’s similar to what Sakura used against Sugishita!

She then pushes herself up into a handstand with one hand, jumping back upright.

She puts her hands back in her pockets. “Here I was trying to give you a chance to actually land a hit on me. Maybe you’re just weak in general-“

“SHUT UP! You’re the one with scars!” Kobayashi spat as he starts to circle her, and Ezura does the same.

I remembered seeing Ezura’s hand covers with nasty slice marks. It was an unsettling sight. It made sense why she always wore gloves. But she never spoke about it. And even when Kobayashi brings it up now, she doesn’t give him an emotional reaction other than a smile. “Exactly. If you had the number of scars I have, you would have rotted in your bedroom by now, refusing to come out and die of sheer embarrassmen-”

Kobayashi growls as he lunges again towards Ezura, but she ducks down, and arches her back, and Kobayashi trips up over her, nearly crashing to the floor if Ezura hadn’t grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him upright.

She hops away from him as he attempts a roundhouse kick, but then goes up to him, grabbing him by a fistful of his hair with just one (gloved) hand, bringing his face down for a personal conversation with her knee, resulting in Kobayashi’s nose dripping with blood.

Hiragi pulls a face of disgust. “Did his nose just crack? Must hurt.”

“Ouch! That looks painful!” Ezura coos. “Do you need a plaster-oof!” Ezura gets grabbed by her shirt and thrown off the stage, into the aisle. The screeching of her heels echo all over the hall as everyone starts cheering, and Kobayashi flies at her, foot first. Ezura laughs “Nice!” Before blocking his foot with both of her hands, and then starts to deflect all of his punches with pinpoint accuracy and even more speed.

Sakura stands up on his chair to get a better view, and so does everyone else. Excitement was practically bouncing off of the walls, and so was everyone’s overlapping voices.

Woah… Kobayashi is really mad!

I start nibbling on my nails. How is Ezura just avoiding him most of the time? His attacks are so quick!

“Isn’t this getting a bit too much?” Hiragi asks Umemiya, who shrugs.

“Ezura seems to be having fun. You know… she reminds me of…” Umemiya then raises his eyebrows and nods, and Hiragi seems to understand, because his lips press into a thin line, and he frowns at Ezura. “Now ya mention it…”

Umemiya then laughs, stretching. “Ah! Nevermind! She’s a Furin girl through and through!”

Ezura dodges all of Kobayashi’s attacks, to his frustration, but he manages to push her further and further back. Ezura then runs and him, sliding down between his legs, and once she was under and through him, she twists her body, her stomach flat on the ground, and as she skids, she grabs Kobayashi’s feet and drags them with her, toppling the boy over and he falls onto the floor. She then pushes herself up and she jumps over him, landing near his head and brings her heel down at his head, but Kobayashi rolls away at the last second, getting up, chest rising and falling. A raging flame flickered in his eyes as he yells and jumps onto the chair next to him, then quickly jumping from chair to chair. Ezura watches him as she walks towards the stage. “Oh don’t stop fighting me now! You were doing oh so well!”

“JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY!” Kobayashi bellows as he then pounces on Ezura, grabbing the side of her head and pushing it towards the edge of a chair seat.

Her head! He’s going to smash-

Somehow, Ezura manages to grab the hand on her face and tear it away from her, pinning the hand to the seat and jutting her elbow straight into Kobayashi’s nose, then grabs the back of his head and slams his face into the seat.

“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t she?” Ezura drawls, taking a step back to take in the sight of Kobayashi’s eyes slightly watering and his nose properly battered and bleeding, his nose in a purplish-blue hue. His bottom lip was also split.

She rolls her shoulder, cracking her neck. “Ah, much better.”

Kobayashi sways a bit. Just a bit.

But that’s all Ezura needs to jump on him, grabbing Kobayashi by the shoulder and cartwheeling over him, and then swapping hands around, and grabbing Kobayashi’s face. She then swings her body down with force, pushing his head down with her, slamming the back of his head down on the ground.

“Is that all the fight you had in you? Pity. Guess you’re just like the rest of them.” Ezura stares down at Kobayashi’s twitching body, sighing before pulling out a plaster from her pocket and sticking it on Kobayashi’s nose before walking to her seat.

Everyone goes quiet, which felt so wrong. There felt like there had to be more to the fight. More to see.

Ezura wasn’t even trying.

I didn’t know if that fact comforted me more than it scared me.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

All went silent.

All eyes were on me.

Every inch of my body screamed for more violence. Screamed for bones to be shattered. My fingers ache to feel something solid to be snapped.

I gulp, shoving down those thoughts.

The last thing I need is to be like him.

I walk back to my seat, slowly sinking in to the cushions, sighing. “Such a shame. I thought he would last longer. I hadn’t even warmed up yet.”

“What bullshit are you spouting?! That’s not warming up!” Sakura snaps.

Umemiya claps, cheering “Wow Ezura! Amazing! Man, I would hate fighting you!”

I know. Dread pools in my stomach, and I drown out everyone’s voices. I know.

I wanted to run out of here.

I don’t know where to, but just anywhere other than here.

Because why did I feel like a stranger in my own skin?

Why aren’t people seeing me as the ugly being I am?

Why can’t people just see how twisted I am?

Because you can’t show them. A bitter voice echoes in my head. Because they will turn their backs on you, and leave you.

You will never be at home.

And that very thought threatens to shatter me.

Chapter Text

“You’re just like me, little shit. Why are you resisting it?”

Why is he so wrong yet so right?

I should have ended that fight with Kobayashi there and then. Should have just taken him out and spared him all that pain.

But I wanted him to feel the pain.

I wanted him to suffer.

And I hate myself for this lust for violence I have.

Kobayashi was just left there on the floor as everyone threw things at his weak, stirring body, cursing at him. By instinct, my eyes sweep over the commotion, settling on Togame.

Was he… smiling?

No. I don’t think so.

But I swear I saw his lips twitch.

He cooly walks up to Kobayashi’s body, ordering the two boys closest to him to do something, but I couldn’t catch it.

But Inugami does, and he lightly swears under his breath.

I tap him on the shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

He stares at me, eyes wide “Togame just ordered them to beat Kobayashi up till he was black and blue, and leave him somewhere for people to find him and send off to hospital. Then make sure he doesn’t step foot in our territory.”

That instantly took me back to when he was threatening Kobayashi back when I was friends with him.

“…I’ll make worms’ meat out of you. You better start liking hospital food, cause that’s where you’re gonna end up if you cross the line again.”

I shiver, remembering how different things were back then, yet some things remain the same.

Like how he’s still somewhat protective.

It was time for Sakura to go up on stage, but as he was getting up, I grab his wrist. He spins around, scowling at me. “What?”

I didn’t care, I just stand up, so I could whisper to him. “Togame either straightens up a bit or crouches down a bit before striking- that’s his tell. Oh, and forget the promise, just be careful and win. He’s got some brute force. And speed.” I let go of Sakura, who was momentarily stunned before he huffs through his nose, begrudgingly nodding before getting on stage. “Good luck.” I whisper, but I doubt he heard it.

As I sit down, Inugami smiles. “I’m taking in bets! Who’d ya think is gonna win?”

I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t want to say it out loud.”

There was a teasing lilt to his voice as he says “but you have your bet? It’s Togame, isn’t it?”

“Shut up.” I snap back, then pause. “I… well I don’t remember how he fights that much…”

Inugami raises a brow at me. “Says the one who literally told her classmate Togame’s tells.”

“Everyone who’s had the fortune of fighting me has their tells stored in my memory. I may forget the way they fight, but at least I can tell when they’ll attack me.”

Suo looks over at me, his eyes piercing through me, not saying a word.

Every single time he looks at me I want to fight him.

Despite him being the person I know the best in his insanely large theatre hall, I could never describe Togame well. He was a silent yet destructive force. You would think he would be overlooked, yet his presence stands out, it’s menacing. He’s confident in his purposeful attacks, yet somehow, he’s different. He’s frighteningly quick like usual, and surprisingly Sakura catches up, but something was off.

If you didn’t know Sakura, you’d think he was all bark. But no- he bites . I’m mildy impressed at how he’s kept up to pace with Togame.

Togame’s off. He’s off his game.

I narrow my eyes, clenching my fists.

So why is he acting all big talk right now?!

Sakura seems to be enjoying the thrill of fighting Togame, I used to too.

Apon Togame nearly stomping Sakura’s face off, Inugami winces. “You fought this guy? And won?”

If I got up there and fought him now, I’d win again- he’s. Off. His. Game.

Why did that annoy me so much?

All I do is nod in response. I didn’t peel my eyes away from the fight.

I couldn’t .

Eventually, Togame slams Sakura head-first onto the stage, and everyone errupts into cheers and whistles as my classmates gasp.

Inugami now prods me. “Earth to Kura! How the hell did you manage to win against Togame?!”

“I fought.”

“Yea- no shit! But-“

I glare at him, and Inugami shuts up.

“Sorry.” I mutter as I look back up on stage. “I’m just pissed that he isn’t fighting properly.”

Inugami raises a brow. “Who? Sakura?”

“No. The other one.”

Sakura was dazed for a few moments but manages to catch the latter off guard, fighting back.

Throughout the fight, Sakura and Togame were taunting and yelling at eachother, but that’s not what I was paying attention to. The more and more the fight progressed, the more irritated I grew.

All of a sudden I wished Kobayashi was still conscious so I could beat the living shit out of-

I blink.

Taking a shaky deep breath, I shift in my seat .

From the corner of my eye, I see Nirei glance at me, his brow gently furrowed.

Sakura and Togame seem to be having a heartfelt conversation. I think grudgingly.

I wanted to be the one up there on stage.

I would win.

But most of all, that’s why I shouldn’t be up there.

Sakura was the perfect opponent, and for some reason, that relieves me as well as aggravating me.

Suo Hayato’s POV:

This fight is quite tense. I note, before glancing at Ezura.

She’s tense too.

Sakura has been fighting back even more aggressively now- something switched in him- but Togame managed to beat him down again, and in a split second, Sakura was pinned by Togame’s foot on his head, face planted into the stage.

Nirei stutter next to me. “S-Sakura-san…he…”

Bless him. He has a strong yet gentle soul.

“Wait. He’s not out yet.”

And shortly after, Sakura lifts his head up, despite Togame holding it down with his foot, surprisingly speaking. “Like I said, ya ain’t doin’ what yer preachin’. It’d fit better if you change your goddamn name to ‘our little bully club’!”

Togame glowers down at Sakura, gritting “stop talking back to me” through his clenched teeth, raising his foot off of Sakura’s head, but raising it too high for anyone’s comfort.

That’s when I see Ezura dangerously still.

I wonder who she is cheering on.

After all, she didn’t seem like she was enjoying the fight one single bit. In fact, after her fight, it was like something died in her- no- was growing- like a pesky weed.

Sakura yells. “I’d never lose to assholes who’d beat up a guy who’s already down… and I’d never lose to assholes who’d scare a junior high kid and chase him ‘round the damn block!!”

Togame stomps his foot down.

The whole theatre falls silent.

Togame’s foot lands just beside Sakura’s head, and Togame stills, looking down on Sakura, confused. “What the hell…?”

Ah. So he didn’t know.

What Togame says next confirms my suspicion. “I’ve never heard about this.”

He looks back at the two boys from the tunnel, who were sitting on the floor, at the side of the stage.

I don’t catch what Togame says next, because Inugami tells Ezura something loud enough for me to hear. “Oh boy. He’s really gonna give it to them.”

Ezura finally peels her eyes away from the stage to face her friend. “He doesn’t condone that sort of behaviour?”

“Not really. Tomiyama wouldn’t care less, but Togame gets pissed. Something about it being a waste of time with weaklings. I don’t know.”

Togame excuses himself as he goes down the steps of the stage, stalking up to the Arima and Kanuma, interrogating them. Kanuma and Arima seemd like they were peeing themselves, stuttering and visibly sweating and trembling under Togame’s crushing gaze. Togame raises his fist, beating the two unconscious, until Tomiyama interrupts.

“UGH, KAME-CHANNN! FORGET ABOUT THOSE TWO!! FINISH YOUR FIGHT!!!”

The treatment these two give their comrades here is brutal.

I really wonder how different they must have been back then, if Ezura was friends with them.

I glance at Ezura.

Or have they always been this way?

The fight resumes, except everyone was still recovering from the prior events, but the fight looked intense as usual.

“He’s really wavering now.” Ezura grumbles.

“Who?! You keep saying that whereas I feel like one hit from either of them would send me into la la land.”

“Togame, who else?”

I relax the muscles on my face, realizing that I had been frowning while listening to them.

Why does she care so much?

And why am I slightly annoyed by it?

Kiryu Mitsuki’s POV:

Ezura: I’m out early. I’ll tell you the rest when I see you.

I blink in surprise. After all, Ezura was the last person I would have thought of storming out of a place.

Well, she didn’t specify whether she stormed out of the place or not…

Either way, I’m eager to see her.

I sit alone in an empty classroom, the sunlight peeking weakly through the windows compared to earlier when this room was filled with shouts, chatter and laughter. I preferred it way, though. I could play my games on my phone peacefully with the volume blasted to the max: premium experience right there- no- with headphones.

You: I’ll be waiting 😉

I play on my phone for perhaps twenty minutes before I get another notification:

Ezura: I’m outside by my motorcycle.

I respond with a thumbs up gif before jumping off of the table I was sitting cross-legged on and walking out of the classroom, shutting the door behind me.

I hop down the stairs, before making my way out of the building, and I get another notification:

Ezura: To your left.

I look to my left to see Ezura staring right at me, leaning against her motorcycle, resting one elbow on the handle of the motorcycle while her other elbow was rested on the seat, her phone in hand.

She’s cool.

I let out a lighthearted whistle. “I like what I see~”

Ezura straightens up with a smirk. “I think you’ll need to specify.”

“Nah.” I wink. “I’ll leave it up to interpretation.”

Ezura chuckles at this, but that’s when it hits me- she’s tired. Not physically- mentally.

Good thing that I’m taking her out.

Ezura gets on her motorcycle, and looks at me expectantly. “Well come on then. What are you waiting for?”

What?

“With no helmet?” I ask warily.

Ezura rolls her eyes, glaring at me with some eerie glint in her eye. “You really want to ask me that now, of all times?”

I smack my lips, not wanting to find out exactly how hard her kicks are using my face. “Ok! All good! Shall I sit behind you?”

Ezura sighs, smiling. “Yeah. Sorry about that- I’m just… really annoyed at what happened.”

I don’t press for answers now, but maybe she’ll open up to me later.

“Well, you can tell me all about it later, does that sound good.”

Ezura flashes a genuine smile at me, tilting her head to the side, and think must have been the first time I have seen her look this gentle.

I have been watching her from afar, of course. After all, I first saw her some time ago, when she was fighting a group of people all by herself. Her movements was similar to a dancer, lost in some song of her own making, the way she swerved between each person, fighting them- not like they did much to fight back.

I’ve been curious of her ever since. And when I saw her, sitting in my kitchen of all places, I couldn’t just admire her from afar.

And when talking to her, she seems… sad. Despite how amazing she is, and I can’t just leave her like that.

So I’ve made it my personal mission to show her exactly how amazing she is.

Even if she does kick me for it at some point.

But it’ll be worth it.

Chapter Text

It was raining. Pouring. The dark clouds swirled like murky diswater in the sky, as the heavens released all its sorrow and despair down onto the Earth, who had been calmly waiting for its embrace.

My feet was soaked in my shoes as I tightened my grip on my rucksack as I walk through the empty streets. Every thing was closed because of the weather. Funny how the rain brings me so much comfort.

I hear multiple splashes coming from behind me, and I whip around to see J- Togame, dripping wet, running after me.

He stops two feet away from me.

That two feet felt like worlds apart.

Galaxies even.

I turn around to walk away, but I feel foreign fingers close around my wrist. Fingers that once used to calm me.

But now they sting like acid- like how my scars used to.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” I yell, wrenching my hand out of his grasp, before performing a roundhouse kick to his face, one which he managed to block just in time, but still, the force causes him to slam into the wall to my left.

He leans against the wall for a few seconds, keeping his gaze on the floor, and I see a bruise forming on the cheek where I kicked him.

A burst of pride swells within me, but it’s quickly replaced with something more aggressive- dangerous, even.

“Oops. My bad.” I spat. “Was that kick too weak for you?” I taunt.

Something similar to grief flashes across his face, but it’s quickly gone not long after. “I’m sorry, Ku-“

“Don’t.” I cut him off. “Don’t think you can fix it with a sorry.” I heave in a breath- one that prickled and sliced my throat like needles. “You knew what you were doing, Togame. You knew what you said. I have no place here. You made it clear.”

Togame finally looks at me; a jaw in his muscle ticks. “I wasn’t talking about you. You know that.”

He sounded urgent. Somewhat desperate.

That wasn’t enough. He wasn’t sorry.

Something, some sort of a twinkle that used to reside in his eye was long gone.

“At this point, I’m not sure anymore. But forget about me. Think about everyone else. This isn’t what Devotees to Power looks like. This isn’t what Tomiyama wanted before he became lead-“

“Boss has changed.” Togame says sharply. He looked stiff as he says it, standing with his chin up high.

I dare stepping towards him, starting to reach out to him, but I stop myself. “That doesn’t mean you have to change- wait… Tomiyama wanted that?”

Togame steps up to me, growling. “Why do you think I would do that, if he didn’t want me to?”

I scoff in disbelief. Togame had always been the one to keep Tomiyama grounded.  Always talked sense into Tomiyama or reeled him in before he went wild. I’m missing something. Something that has happened behind the scenes. Something that happened when I wasn’t there.

Because the Tomiyama I know, the bubbly, kind, and caring and childish Tomiyama I know wouldn’t have ever wanted to hurt his friends.

At least that was the Tomiyama I knew.

I step back, not wanting to be under the heavy weight of his gaze, which couldn’t even be compared to the vicious downpour of rain.

“You wouldn’t do what Tomiyama asked if it was wrong to do.” I whisper.

I was losing this fight.

A fight I couldn’t lose.

Not even for my sake.

“Then you don’t know me.” He snaps back. “As second in command, I have to listen to him-“

“As his second in command,” I stand my ground. “You should be advising him and telling him its the wrong thing to do. Togame- he’s struggling, and all you’re doing is fanning the flames!”

He stomps towards me, and I could see him losing his patience. “You don’t know anything! So how can you be the one to judge?! You don’t know what we have to put up with daily now that we are in power-“

“BUT YOU WANTED THIS!” I scream.

“I NEVER DID! HE DID!” Togame screams over my voice.

We both are stunned to silence, panting, letting the rain poke and prick us like thorns, trying to dent us- decay us.

Togame runs a hand through his hair. “Look, I have to do this, or Tomiyama will go right into the deep end, do you understand?”

“No, no I don’t.”

Now anger clouded Togame’s eyes, and I felt like the walls on either side on me on this street began to close in. “Of course you wouldn’t. I knew you wouldn’t understand. For you, everything has to be sunshines and rainbows right?”

I take a step back.

“That’s not true. At least I can accept-“

“For you,” Togame points a sharp finger at me. “It’s all about you. You, and your stupid trauma that you can’t seem to get over. We all have it! Things can’t always go your way, or how you want it to be. Get used to that, and then you’ll accept Shishitoren as it is now. After all, we only accept the strongest.”

I couldn’t stop myself.

Something inside me snaps.

I strike him across the face with the back of my hand, and his head stays snapped to the side.

I inhale before enunciating “It’s never been about my trauma, I try to forget about it, actually. And there is no strength without weakness- you out of all people should know that. This is a dangerous path you’re not just walking down with Tomiyama- you’re taking all of Shishitoren with you. Are you even listening to yourself?!” My voice breaks, and I gasp shakily.

I leave out the part that he made it his business to know about my trauma- how hard I had it where I live. And the part where he used to be the peacemaker.

It was too much to say. To much to face.

To face the change I had dreaded.

Togame laughs bitterly. “You know what? I should have left you to fend for yourself back then when I first found you. Because right now, you’re only in the way. You’re dragging us down.”

He didn’t mean it.

I know he didn’t.

Which begs the question: why is he doing this?

He doesn’t stop there: “Weaklings like you really don’t deserve a place here. After all, you can’t even understand our new purpose. Once you do, come back and face us. It’s disappointing that I have to classify you amongst those lot. Embarrassing even. Even with all the help you got from us, you couldn’t make us proud.”

I receive those words like a cold slap to the face.

This place was no longer home.

Just a empty, lifeless shell of what it used to be.

And as he walks away from me, I force im as much air as I can from my lungs.

“FINE! DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!” I choke back my tears, but tears roll down my cheeks anyways- or was it the rain?

I manage to sob out the last of my words to him. “Do. Whatever you want. I’m not coming back. And I’m definitely not watching this place go to shit. Thanks for shattering the little hope I had left. Enjoy wasting your life away. I’m done here. With you- with Tomiyama- everything.” I squeeze my eyes shut- very tightly, spinning around and running off, in no particular direction whatsoever.

I just needed to get out of here.

And thank the gods that the rain was loud enough for me to stop after a while and cry till my eyes bled dry.

Tears for a life I could of have.

Tears for the people my friends could have been.

Chapter Text

[earlier, back at the tournament]

Suo’s POV:

I couldn’t decide what was more tense: The fight in front of me, or Ezura a seat away from me. Even her friend was glancing over at her, worry written all over his face. At some point, he had locked eyes with me, and frowned.

Not in a hateful manner- in an understanding one.

I didn’t look at Ezura until the final moments when things got serious again.

Togame had taken out his hair and told Sakura that he’ll get serious about the fight, to which Nirei goes “Wait so everything BEFORE that wasn’t serious? He’s scary!”

Ezura bristles in her seat, but doesn’t make a peep.

I hated how I couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

She turns her head to look at me, her cold green eyes blazing. “Look at me one more time, and I swear to God I’ll snap your arm.”

“Not my neck?” I smile at her. “So generous of you!”

Her eyes flash darkly dull, and for some godforsaken reason, the air had been knocked out of my lungs. Shivers flow through my body, my bones rattling to the core. I felt like I had to get away from her, yet I was rooted to the spot, being able to feel how heavy my clothes felt on my skin, how prickly the hairs on the back of my neck stood. Everything felt unnatural.

I bite down the urge to touch my neck.

All because she stared with such intensity to destroy, but she also stared with no intensity at all.

That doesn’t make any sense.

“Don’t make me change my mind, brat.” She says darkly, uttering brat with such disgust that made me wonder if she actually hated me that much.

What is going on with her?

I catch myself staring right at her, lost in her eyes, and I blink twice, looking at the fight in front of me instead, but I could still feel her stare and could see her from the corner of my eye.

Her friend taps her on the shoulder, and she turns away from me, and I let out a sigh, quickly glancing at Nirei, hoping that he didn’t see her stare.

I should thank Ezura’s friend later.

Because whatever he did or said next, I no longer felt such vicious eminence rolling off of her, crashing into me like waves from the sea crashing into a cliff on a stormy night. She was now muttering something to him.

She must be just tense from the fight in front of her. I don’t know her history with Togame, but I’ve eavesdropped into enough conversations around me to know that the last time they met didn’t end well.

Back on stage, the two boys were actually having fun. They both had smiles on their faces as they fought, but everyone else watching the fight either had their faces fixed in confusion, immersion, or horror, and then whatever Ezura was doing. I categorise myself in the immersion section.

After a short while, Togame and Sakura stand a few feet apart, panting, smiling.

Togame roars  “COME! LETS DO THIS!” to which Sakura complies, and they both run at each other, landing blows on each other’s face with their feet, and they both fly backwards, back in their original spots, crashing onto the stage.

Nirei flinches abruptly next to me, his lip quivering as he nervously warbles at the fight.

Ezura tuts quietly but impatiently. “Oh fuck this. Finish the fight already.”

Neither fighter hears her, but they get up, laughing.

At least they had a thorough conversation.

I then wonder if that’s what Ezura needs. After all, her fight ended pretty quick.

Too quick, shrouding the audience in an awkward silence.

“You’ve kept up with me for long enough, so…” Togame grins, “why don’t we finish this?”

Sakura grins right back. “You bet.”

Don’t mess up now, Sakura. You’ve done really well. Better than any of us, actually.

They stomp on the ground at the same time, charging at each other for the final time.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

I see what he was going to do.

No, I don’t see it. I know what he was going to do.

I hated it.

Every fibre in my body told me to get up and scream. Get up and punch the bastard myself.

Because he clearly wasn’t in any rush to punch Sakura.

Not that I was necessarily upset that it was Sakura winning.

It’s just a matter of how.

Then it happens: Sakura’s fist collides with Togame’s face with such force that Togame is pushed back onto the floor, chuckling.

He was happy?!

Although, I’m glad Sakura looks betrayed, stuttering. He must have noticed that Togame purposefully lost.

Purposefully.

My blood boils at the thought, and my bones rattle at the threat of potentially being melted.

Sakura Haruka’s POV:

W-WHY IS HE SMILING AFTER HE LOST?

No, the real question is why didn’t he even try hitting me back?

He let me win…

“Ah, I can no longer stand…” Scrag- Togame muses, flopping his hand on the floor, smiling. “I give up.”

What’s so funny about that?

I was pissed for two reasons:

1. It looked like he made it easy for me to win. I don’t need any stupid pity. I never got it but didn’t need it back where I came from, and I certainly didn’t need or want it now.

2. If he wasn’t pitying me, then he just gave up.

You can’t just give up in a fight! That’s hella lame!

I told him that.

“DON’T GIVE ME THAT CRAP! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN? GIVING UP?? AT THE VERY END?! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-“

“OKKAAAAYY!” A childish voice cuts me off, and the top dog of Shishitoren, Tomiyama, jumps on stage, skipping towards us. He even waves at me as he approaches. “Thank you, both! Great Job!”

How is he so happy? His second in command lost to a first year.

I quickly look at Ezura, raising an eyebrow at her.

She looks angry, with her lips pressed into a thin line, and her fists clenched hard on her armrests.

But that was while she was looking at Togame.

Her gaze shifts to me, and she nods at me, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

And then it was gone when she looked at Tomiyama, who I realised was tryna talk to me.

“..Strong! You gotta fight me next time, okay?!”

What the fuck…?

Then he starts yelling right into my ear, so loud that I immediately fell into a fighting stance, thinking that he was gonna throw fists. “ALL RIGHT!!! UME CHAAANNNN, LET’S DO IT!! IT’S FINALLY OUR TURN!!!”

Boy, shut UP.

I’m not done fighting yet. No way Togame’s leavin’ me hanging like this.

“Hey, wait! I’m not done with him yet!” I argue to the oblivious idiot, who was still busy cheering for Umemiya to come on stage.

Togame was trying to tell Tomiyama to stop, even getting up as he did so, apologising and talking, but I wasn’t paying attention, more disgusted by how Tomiyama was acting.

And when Togame laid a hand on Tomiyama, Tomiyama kicked him all the way to the back of the stage.  “Shut upppp.” He says, sounding bored. “You already lost. Now stay quiet.”

Why would he do that?!

Togame didn’t do anything!

If anything, he was covering up for your ass!

Ungrateful BASTARD-

Anger that had been clawing at me for a while towards them had finally become so strong that I couldn’t contain it anymore.

I’ll teach him to be quiet-

I grab a fistful of Tomiyama’s shirt, raising my fist as high as it can go. After all, this kid was in good need of a harsh beatin.

But someone hooks their arm around my raised arm, and I hear Umemiya’s voice behind me.  “Sakura…” I hear his smile. “I’m switching in!”

My breath hitches.

Why?! Why isn’t he letting me-

He points out how I did a good job and I must have had a heartfelt conversation with Togame and all that shmuck, he lets Togame go back to his seat without any worry.

I look at Togame. You’re gonna allow this?!

Togame chuckles as he walks past us, telling Umemiya “Don’t die on us now” and he walks off stage.

“Tch!” I jerk my hand off away from Umemiya, warning him “if you lose… I’ll beat your ass” and I walk down the stage. Togame had waited for me at the bottom, and we walk together. I get to my seat an-

“Five. Times. Togame.” Ezua spat, with her tightly shut, her fists still tightly clenched as I saw them earlier.

If the hall wasn’t already silent earlier, it was deadly silent now.

Togame sighs with a tired smile as Ezura gets up, still facing the stage.

“Five times you could have ended the fight with you winning.” The look she gave Togame could have pierced through steel, her voice low and clipped- demanding. She sounded pretty calm- too calm, like if anyone moves she’d detatch their head from their body. “So why didn’t you?”

I was confused. She wanted me to punch him an extra 10 times. She wanted me to win. She told me his tells despite probably knowing it wasn’t going to help. Not in the beginning at least, but it did help later on.

But why was she annoyed?

She raises her voice.

“Togame Jo, Second-in-command at Shishitoren, but the first person everyone fears the most. Flashy title.” Ezura spins on her heel stepping towards Togame, stopping right in front of him, her face expressionless. “Yet he chooses to lose in a fight against a bloody first year who also is an outsider. I bet you must be really proud of yourself by now.” She drawls sarcastically.

“I realised something Ezura.” Togame says gently. “I should have realised earlier-“

“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU?!” She screams in his face, so loudly that everyone in the hall flinches. “Why did it take Sakura, out of all people to make you realise? You walked around for so long with a pumped chest and your chin up high, beating up other members and stripping them of their coats. And look at you now, yet to take off your own. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?!”

This wasn’t just her gloating about him losing, this was humiliation. Especially in front of al these people.

I dare two steps towards her, grabbing her arm.

She stiffens up in a milisecond, ripping her arm off of my grip, spinning and jumping back as if my touch was like acid.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!!” She roars, cradling her arm as she sets her eyes onto me, something like rage and hate and distaste flashing across her eyes.

I got that a lot back in my home town. People always shrinking away from me, looking at me like I was cursed. I was starting to think it was different at Furin . I think, stepping back from her.

Maybe I was wrong.

Ezura Kura’s POV:

I fucked up.

My eyes widen as Sakura steps back.

I fucked up really bad.

I didn’t mean to act like that.

Not to him.

But when he grabbed my arm, it…

It took me back to that day.

Sakura stares right at me, and I dreaded to see what he was thinking behind those beautifully stained windows of his, so I look away.

One thing at a time, I’m so sorry Sakura.

I turn back to Togame, anger boiling and bubbling up inside of me, my vision spotting with red, so much that the only thing I could see was Togame’s stupid eyes.

I become painfully aware of how my body was starting to shake.

I need to leave. Now.

I try to take a breath that didn’t sound to shaky, holding my chin up high.

“You used to preach that weaklings didn’t deserve a place here. At least I could say before that you have never lost a fight with my head high, but its disappointing I now have to classify you amongst the lot that have. Embarrassing, even.”

I don’t spare anyone a glance as I shove past him and storm out of the hall, leaving a trail of whispers and gasps, to which I blur out.

Only focusing on not hurting anyone or anything in my way.

I find myself with Kiryu, and we drive following his directions. We stop back at his house, where he goes in for a little bit but then he comes out with a black duffel bag.

I eye the bag warily. “I hope you aren’t planning to murder me.”

He makes an amused hum, rolling his eyes. “You would be the last person I’d try to murder.”

“Hard to believe.” I raise a brow.

He gets on my motorcycle, sitting behind me. “You sound like you believe me.”

My lips quirk, but not much. “Maybe.”

“Alright! Let’s get going shall we? My sister will get worried if we stay out too late, and she’d definitely kill me if I get you home late.”

That makes me laugh. There was something so normal about having a sister, it makes my heart ache.

My life has been nothing but normal so far, and I just crave the normal teenage life.

Not like I’ll get it much in Makochi, but it’s definitely a far cry from how my life was like before.

“You’re sister is amazing, Kiryu.”

He sighs. “I know. I hope she knows it one day.”

After 10 minutes of driving, he tells me to stop on the side of a road where there was surrounding forest.

“Here?!” I ask, unsure.

“Yes.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t trust this.”

“Yes.”

Joker.

He hops off of my motorcycle, and looks at me expectantly. “You should be changing your heels now. I would hate for those to break while we are walking.”

“Well, if they haven’t broken by now, they should be fine but my feet will be screaming so I’ll change them into trainers.” I say as I take out my trainers and change my heels.

I’m grateful he hasn’t prodded about the events at the tournament, and I know that he knows I’m not ok. I saw it in his face when he was scanning mine back at the school.

If he asked me what happened back then…

I find it best not to think about it.

Kiryu’s presence was oddly calming, which made the pain in my chest subside through the journey here.

If he was anything right now, he was a nice person- a nice friend.

We then start walking through the forest, the daylight weakly peaking through the leaves, casting small spotlights on the earthy floor.

“You must be popular with the ladies.” I huff as I nearly trip over a tree root, but Kiryu grabs my hand, pulling me back upright.

“What makes you say that?” He smirks, dropping my hand as soon as he sees me stable on my two feet.

“I don’t know. You’re just giving off those vibes.”

“Well, you’re the first person I’ve taken to this place, if that’s what you were trying to ask.”

Ah.

“So! Tell me who won!” Kiryu exclaims cheerfully.

I grimace. “Sugishita, Suo, Hiragi, and Sakura. Don’t know whats going on with Umemiya, I left before his fight. Togame is having a change of heart.” I add gruffly, but then I soften my tone. “They all fought so well, Kiryu. You would have enjoyed it. Although it was very rowdy and hectic.”

“Ah~ I don’t like rowdy places. I don’t do well in those environments.”

“What are you talking about? I always see you with earphones in your ears and it looks like you blast em out.”

It was true. Only if there was some kind of commotion happening during class is the only time I have seen Kiryu take out his earphones. And Nirei said the same thing as well.

“Isn’t that the purpose of earphones? Besides, loud clattered chatter makes my head pound. Oh! Didn’t you win your fight?” He raises a brow.

He must think I’m upset because he thought I lost?

“What do you think?” I ask, not giving him a reply.

He smiles knowingly at me, his eyes shining. “A question with a question, huh? Sneaky.”

“It’s clever.” I smile back.

“I think you did. You don’t seem like someone to retreat with their tail between their legs. Or you wouldn’t leave without putting up a good fight.”

Is that what he thinks of me?

Well he wasn’t wrong.

“Why, aren’t you perceptive? Yes, I did win my fight. Didn’t last as long as I would have liked, though.”

“Well! You’re going to be in a lot more fights now you’re at Bofurin, mind you- oh, we’re here!”

He points out happily to a small clearing, where there was logs arranged around a fireplace. On the surrounding trees, there was targets, big and small, in various positions, close up and far away.

I let out a whistle. “I didn’t take you as the forest-lover type”

“I’ve always loved nature.” He then stops and looks at me, thoroughly amused. “What type did you take me for?”

That catches me off guard.

Because I don’t really know what to make of him just yet.

“The phone addict.”

“Ouch.”

“But someone I trust, I guess.” I say quietly as I look around. There was even a swing on a particular tall tree, with branches that spread out over meters. “Pretty tree.”

Kiryu hums in agreement, dropping the duffel bag on the floor, taking out matchsticks and some paper. “Pretty nice to climb too. I usually spend most my time up in that tree when I come here.”

Usually.

Does that mean he comes here regularly?

“When was the last time you came here?”

“Last week.”

“So, how exactly am I letting loose- SHIT!” My heart jumps as I jump away from Kiryu, who had an axe in his hand, and he stands up, laughing, holding the axe by the blade and holding out the axe to me.

I sigh, slowly take hold of the axe, and Kiryu nods at the closest target, walking away to stand on a tree stump that was 4 feet opposite of the target.

“Stand here and throw the axe to the target.” He instructs

Axe throwing, huh? Nice.

“Axe throwing? That’s your way of letting loose?”

“Yes.”

Strange, but interesting.

I jump onto the tree stump, nearly falling forwards as the top half of my feet were sticking out of the edge, and I wave my arms around to regain my balance.

I should probably stop wearing heels for a while. It feels like I have two left feet without them.

I shuffle back a bit, and Kiryu had managed to start a fire on the fireplace. He steps back with a satisfied smile, and then he looks at me. “Go on then. All you have to do is throw it at the target.”

“All you have to do is throw it at the target.” I mimic in a high voice before I scoff, slightly irritated by how he makes it sound so easy when the axe felt so unnatural in my hand- unnatural like whatever the hell was happening with Togame and Tomiyama and-

I throw the axe with slightly shaky hands, my eye twitching as I watch it land way below the target, hitting the root covered in earth.

I sigh, hopping off the tree stump.

“You’re wayyyy off.” Kiryu states.

“No shit Sherlock!“ I grunt as I yank the axe off the root, stalking back to my tree stump.

“You’re not focused.” Kiryu observes.

That gets me riled up. “I am focusing.”

I try again.

Same result.

Kiryu watches me with a small smile as I try and try again, and the axe slowly makes it’s way up the tree the more I tried.

The more I failed to even land the axe just on the target board, my mask of being patient and calm and “everything’s fine” starts to crumble. My breathing becoming quicker, my arm beginning to throb- only building up this sick feeling I have in my chest.

And then, when I finally land the axe on the board, it wasn’t hard enough.

And the axe falls to the floor.

I scream in frustration, stomping on the tree root. “WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?!”

Kiryu sighs, getting up from his seat. “You’re raging, so you’re angry.”

“GEE REALLY?! I HAD NO GODDAMN IDEA IDIOT!” I boom back, my voice echoing throughout the crowd of trees.

He walks over to the axe that I’ve partially forgotten about, and he hands it over to me, stepping away. “What are you so angry about?” He says light-heartedly, so casually that it makes me want to slap him. “It’s just throwing something-“

“EVERYONE! I’M ANGRY AT EVERYONE!” I scream, using all the energy I had into one hard swing of the axe as I throw it towards the target-

It lands on bullseye, the blade so deep into the board that it slightly cracks.

But Kiryu doesn’t bat an eye at it. He keeps his cool gaze on me. “Want to talk about it?” He murmurs as I slowly sink down, sitting crossed leg on the tree stump with my face in my hand.

“I suppose I’m not angry with everyone…”

“I figured as much.”

“…But I don’t want to be angry at Togame and Tomiyama. They changed so much, in so little time, becoming strangers to me. They were practically all I had back then, and I had lost it all when they changed and Shishitoren changed.” I laugh bitterly, my stomach and my chest screaming at the fact I was laughing because frankly, I wanted to cry. Sob. Scream. Tear my lungs out. Rip my throat out. “And I’ve tried. God, I really did try to help. But they only saw me as a nuisance. But, as soon as Sakura- a stranger, and outsider with his stupid attitude and stupid bravado comes waltzing in and causing a stir and beating Togame, Togame changes.”

Kiryu sits down on a log, facing me with a kind voice. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“NO!” I shoot up, standing up. “I understand Togame better than Tomiyama- better than anyone else. But why didn’t I get the Togame that changed? Why does Sakura- a nobody who didn’t even know Togame til fucking yesterday, get the Togame that changes?! I wanted that Togame.” I pause, taking a shaky breath to avoid my voice from cracking. “And the worst bit is, if Togame changed now, then he was always capable of change, but I wasn’t worth changing for. I’m a nobody to him.” I heave in deep breaths, done with ranting.

And for some reason, my hands have stopped shaking.

Kiryu hums in thought. “You guys seem to remind me of me and Akari.”

I turn around, staring at him with narrowed eyes.

Not the response I was expecting.

“I love my sister, she means the world to me. She’s been kind in ways I don’t ever think I could be to others. But, if I was struggling in the way Togame must have, then I wouldn’t want to talk through it with her.”

“Why not?” I barely manage to whisper. “She cares for you and knows you better than anyone else.”

Kiryu closes his eyes. “Exactly. I wouldn’t want to put her through the sadness and all the worry that I know for a fact she would have if she first handedly witnessed my change. Not with all of her fond memories of us. I think it would shatter me more than it would shatter her, you know.” He looks at me with a gentleness that I haven’t seen in ages- from anyone. It almost pulls me in to an ocean of calm and pure bliss. “You have an expressive face, you know. She does too. I think I kinda know how shattered Togame would be by just seeing your face crumple if you were listening to all the dark thoughts running through my mind, and how I was practically a slave to them, and my emotions. And… I don’t really know all that much about you, but my sister has put up with a lot, and the last thing I would want to do is add more to her plate. And I’d know for a fact she’d drop everything on her plate to come help me out, and that sort of thing is something I want to do for her, not for it to be the other way around.” Kiryu gets up, face to face with me now, watching me carefully as I go through my thoughts.

In summary: I had never thought of it that way. Togame had always listened to me when I needed an ear. He was never that much of a yapper- besides, Tomiyama yapped for the both of us. When I was at my dark points, he was always there to show me the light, and for some reason, he was always happier than I was after he pulls me out of my dark train of thoughts. Whenever he was slightly down, he always declined my offers to listen to him. I never understood why, but now I do.

He’s definitely the type to be too proud to suck it up and come to me for help.

But just because I was going through rough times, doesn’t mean it’s going to get worse by hearing yours, Togame. After all, it reminds me that it’s a normal part of life, no matter how extraordinary.

But maybe now that Kiryu has shown me a whole new perspective, I don’t hate Togame as much for it now.

But, Sakura…

“So, you’d rather find solace in a stranger?” I ask.

“You talking about Togame changing after Sakura? Well, you two are quiet similar. Both of you seem very stubborn and headstrong. Maybe that’s what Togame needed for a wake-up call. It is easier talking to strangers, though. They know nothing about you, so there’s no emotion in play for them, and they’d be indifferent to whatever situation you’re in. If anything, it would have been better that it was Sakura. He must remind Togame of you.”

“Ha. I doubt it.” I giggle, and I sigh. “Thank you Kiryu. You’re a nice person.”

Kiryu’s face light up at my words, and his smile becomes wider. “No problem!”

“Also, you should open up to your sister more, if you ever have to. Even if she has a lot on her plate. Because not only will she be happy that you’re finally opening up to her, but because it’s almost relieving that it’s not only her that has her bad days, you get what I mean? It’s the sense of normalcy for us that calms us.”

Kiryu regards me for a moment, before walking past me. “You’re not bad with your words either, Ezura. I’ll keep it in mind though~”

I chuckle, knowing that my words did touch him.

I saw it in the way his posture shifted slightly too much to be considered casual, and of course by the way his eyes shone.

I’m glad he’s here.

“Kiryu, I meant it. Thank you.”

“I know, you’re welcome.” He chuckles, picking up the axe and holding it to me. “Last time was a fluke.”

“Yeah yeah I’ll just get it again-“ I say, jumping onto the tree stump and throwing the axe-

It lands on the target board, but just on the very edge.

I wince. “I swear I had it.”

“Well, you’re more focused now, though. Which is good! Here, I’ll show you some tips.”

Chapter Text

Sakura Haruka’s POV:

My alarm rings in a shrill tone, and I nearly smash my phone trying to turn it off. I sit upright, staring at my bare room, yesterday’s events still fresh in my mind.

Shortly after Ezura left, Umemiya and Tomiyama fought.

But there was no clear ending or to who won.

Umemiya won in the sense that Tomiyama realised how much he screwed up, and then the tournament ended, and then I found myself with Suo, Nirei, Hiragi and Umemiya sitting with Togame and Tomiyama.

It felt like a group therapy session targeted at Togame and Tomiyama.

Before we left to go back home, Tomiyama stopped Umemiya to ask him about Ezura.

“Do you think I can still make it up to her? I really want to say sorry. I put her through a lot too… she even left me a note in my pocket…” he titters nervously.

And for what she had written in that note, he didn’t say. But it must have been bad, because at the mention of the note, Togame had frowned, looking away.

Umemiya beams. “Of course you can! It’s never to late to make amends with someone! Here, let’s exchange numbers and I’ll text you the details later!”

So basically, Umemiya is planning something which none of us really knows about.

I don’t know what to think about that.

I get up, sluggishly getting ready and making my way out of the house, a bit distracted why whatever the hell happened yesterday.

I beat Togame.

Well, not really. The bastard purposely lost. Which really pissed me off. Who makes such a big deal out of wanting to give me a good pounding and then goes and gives up at the end??

But at least he realised how screwed up everything at Shishitoren was.

And he actually turns out to be a nice guy.

I wonder if that’s the person Ezura was used to.

Eh, none of my-

My thoughts and my physical self skid to a halt when I spot a familiar face.

W-what the fuck?!

I shut my door- well, probably shouldn’t have bothered since it doesn’t have a lock, and it’s not like I actually have anything for anyone to steal.

I go downstairs, stopping at the bottom, staring straight at the familiar face.

“W-hat are you doing here?!” I yell at Ezura, who had been leaning against a lamppost and glaring at a group of teenage boys that weren’t from our school. She turns her head at the sound of my voice, and her face lights up, and she straightens up, smiling.

She doesn’t like me. Why is she smiling? Is she one of those fake people?

I have had my experience with a bunch of people like that as well.

Some people just pretended to be nice to me, asking prying questions about my life, only to backstab me and spread nasty rumours about me.

And I didn’t even do anything wrong apart from being nice to then.

I won’t hesitate to fight Ezura if she tries that shit.

“Finally! I was starting to think that I had come to the wrong place! Morning!” She walks up to me, lightly punching me on the arm.

Is she screwing with me?

“Eh.” I scoff, walking off without looking. “Piss off. I don’t have time for your bullshit.”

I don’t hear anything for a few seconds, but then I hear quick footsteps, getting louder, and then Little Miss High Heels grabs me by the collar of my jacket, pulling me back to her. I nearly trip up over my own feet because of that.

“Shit! OI-“

“Shut up! People are still sleeping!” She hisses, before dropping her hand. “I woke up two hours early just to come find you and walk with you, and this is the treatment I get?”

I swear my brain stops working for a few seconds, and I stare at her in shock.

She did… she…

Why did she do all of that… just to see… me?

“How do you know where I live?!” I point at her, stepping back. “WERE YOU STALKING-“

“Heavens, no!” She hisses at me. “I just asked around.” She pauses. “Not exactly. It’s hard to explain. I… have my ways.”

I step away from her, looking anywhere but her. “Why did you even bother? You don’t even like-“

“Who said I didn’t like you?” She crosses her arms, cocking her head to the side. “Did you seriously assume that just because of my outburst yesterday?”

What was I supposed to say to that?

“Uhhh… no!”

“Maybe if you let me speak instead of stomping off like an annoying toddler, then you would know that I spent the past hour and a half looking for you, to apologise.” She sighs, awkwardly gesturing to the road ahead, looking almost strangled. “Shall we?”

Apologise??

What an I even doing with her?

Yesterday, she stared at me like I was trash. A monster.

Just like everyone else did back in my hometown. Even when I was trying to be nice.

But, she was looking to apologise. No one ever apologised for treating me like that.

Not like I was looking for an apology.

But since she did all her crazy shit to come find me, I’ll at least walk her to school.

We start walking.

So what does she want from me?

Ezura looks over at me, frowning and scrunching her nose, before rolling her eyes and scoffing. “I don’t want anything from you, I just came to explain myself.”

I nearly falter in my footsteps.

It’s like she read my damn mind.

Creep.

Ezura wrings her hands together, looking down as she walked. “About yesterday…”

Ezura Kura’s POV:

Shit, how do I word this?

“About yesterday… I screwed up, ok? I know that.” I spare a glance at Sakura, just to see his reaction.

Nothing.

It’s as if my tongue had been twisted thousand times over, and my brain had gone blank.

I wasn’t used to apologising.

Not like this, at least.

Sakura deserves the truth.

But the problem is, I can’t give him the entire truth.

He’d hate me.

“I didn’t mean to yell at you, and I didn’t mean to look at you like that- I mean, the anger wasn’t directed at you.”

From his reaction yesterday, it seemed like he thought I saw him as something…

“I was so caught up in my own head, I didn’t really care for other people’s emotions in that moment. I just wanted to be heard.”

For a moment, I thought that the boy wasn’t even listening, so when I turn to look at him, I find him already looking at me, and when our eyes met, he broke away without missing a beat, suddenly stiff.

I nibble on my bottom lip. “But, you’re the last person I would want to look at like that, so, I’m sorry.”

What am I even saying?! I scream at myself, so frustrated that while I was looking for where he lived, I had been practically rehearsing my apology out loud to an extent that people were giving me weird looks and hurrying up as they walk past me, and now that I’m actually trying to explain myself to Sakura, I can’t think of anything to say.

“Ok.” I huff in exasperation. “That came out weirdly. Ok… I don’t know you. That’s a fact. We’re still strangers, but I know someone who’s been treated like an outcast when I see them. Hell, I daresay I came some a somewhat similar background. I have spent my days living in the shadow, constantly. People always looked down on me, as if I was some inhumane thing. Like I was trash. Geez, I’ve been called it enough times too.” From the corner of my eye, I see Sakura’s eyes widen as he sneaks a glance at me, and my heart drops.

He got that too, didn’t he?

“And I observed and heard about your interactions so far, and I thought ‘he’s not so different from me’ and I decided that I wanted to really get to know you, because it’s what you deserve. I really want to be your friend, I do. I’m really sorry we got off on the wrong foot. I don’t wish anything bad upon you, Sakura.”

That still doesn’t explain why I reacted the way I did when he grabbed my arm- FUCK WHY IS THIS SO HARD?

I tug on the sleeve of my jacket, staring down at my gloves. “Oh, I didn’t mean to jump away and yell when you grabbed my arm, I’m just really sensitive about my arms, and I was in a state where I was literally wanting to…“

Crush someo-

“…knock… someone out.” I grimace. “It also kind of took me down memory lane as well, and I really don’t like my past. Shishitoren and this one other person was the only good thing that came out of it. So, I’m sorry-“

“Geez, how many times are you gonna say sorry?” Sakura snaps. “It’s fine, forget it.”

“Are you, though?” I frown, more sad then agitated. “You can’t kid me, so be honest.”

Sakura makes a small strangled sound, before craning his neck to avoid my gaze, his ears turning red and for that, no doubt his face.

“I mean… it was uncalled for, I was just tryna get you to calm down… b-but I don’t know you a-and I’m not you either so how am I supposed to tell you how to react-Or calm down?” He finally looks forward. “It’s fine if you didn’t mean to bark like that. It’s not a big of a deal. I’m used to it-“

“That’s the point!” I groan, stepping in front of him, stopping him in his tracks. “You shouldn’t be used to it. It’s not a normal thing to be used to. That’s why I feel so guilty about giving you that reaction. You came here for a new start. So did I. So I know that the last thing you need is to be thrown back into the past.”

“Oi, Ezura.” Sakura tuts, but I can see that his eyes finally soften. Just slightly. “It’s fine. I didn’t even care about it. But um… uh… thanks anyways,” he starts scratching his head, a flush to his cheeks for the nth time “for apologising an’ all that.”

I raise a brow, and for that, he stomps past me. “Just forget it already! I said we’re good!”

Relief floods through me, despite how aggressive he sounds.

At least he’s acting normally around me.

Earlier, he had been awkward. Sure, the boy is always awkward, but this morning he was more cautiously awkward than his usual self, more on his guard. And I felt so bad because it was probably me that got him like that.

I smile, skipping to catch up with him, thinking how nice it felt to be wearing trainers after a long time. My feet felt nice and padded, like I was walking on cushions.

I felt shorter too, but I don’t really care about height.

“Really Sakura? I don’t remember you saying that we’re good~”

“SHUT UP!”

Ah, there he is.

I giggle at it, and I loop my arm with his, and he stammers, stiffening up again. “W…what are you-“

“Lead the way, Captain!” I say dutifully, pointing at the road ahead, with my head high and chest pumped.

“H-huh?!” He looks absolutely bewildered.

“I don’t know the way to school from here.” I shrug. “So you’re guiding me through the sea!”

He gives me a weird look, already looking fed up with my antics. But his face was red.

Wow. He really isn’t used to interacting with people.

“Wha… What sea? We aren’t-“

“SHHHH!” I bring a finger to my lips, and he purses his, scrunching his nose as I whisper. “We’re playing pretend.”

He raises a brow at me. “Playing pretend?”

“How stupid are you? Do you not know-“

“o-OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT IT IS!” He barks, thankfully looking away from me and not yelling straight in my ear.

I lean closer but around him, trying to see his face, and he tears his arm that I was clinging onto away from me. “What are you doing?!”

“Tryna see if you were lying.”

“Why would I lie?”

“You tell me, Othello-kun~”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!”

I burst out laughing, and Sakura flinches away from me, his fists partially clenched.

“One day, I’d sure like to duke it out with you, Sakura.” I chuckle.

He goes silent, as if he was considering it, before throwing a slanted grin, telling me that he’s accepting the challenge.

“But let’s talk about that another day and get to school already,” I start walking, gesturing at him for him to catch up, “cause if we get there late I’m definitely blaming it on you-“

I stop, realising that our way has been blocked.

Seriously? These lot?

I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling.

Just like I wanted them to.

Sakura Haruka’s POV:

Weren’t these boys the ones Ezura was glarin’ at earlier? I wonder, as I step next to Ezura, already ready to fight if we had to.

“My my~” Ezura whispers. “Aren’t you a trouble magnet, Othello.”

“HaAh?” I look pointedly at her. “You were the one sizing em up earlier so whaddya givin me crap for?”

“Ah. They were passing money around, presumably stolen. I couldn’t help but give them a little threatening stare which might have included eye contact and-“ she points her thumb at her neck, smirking as she drags her thumb in the air across her neck, making the slitting throat gesture.

So, basically she had walked us right into this trap.

“Besides, I wanted them beaten up and bruised for threatening people with their fists just for some quick money. All for what? They’re too young to be needing that much money.”

The way she speaks about them got me thinking she’s seen them multiple times before. Why is she only acting up now?

The boys approach us, with no weapons.

Probably some cocky shits, thinking they can gang up on two kids from Bofurin with just their fists.

The tall and bulky big shit looks at me with a hungry glint in his eye. “You should have warned your little friend over here to keep her eyes to herself.” He looks over at Ezura, his eyes scanning across her face but then up and down her, slowly, as if he was savouring the sight of her.

My fists tighten.

Asshole.

I scoff, disgusted. “Why would I? I’d have done the same thing as her, except I’d have beaten you all up by now.”

From the corner of my eye, Ezura grins like a Cheshire cat, probably musing at my words.

Another boy pipes up. “Why don’t you all run along and not make a fuss about what you’ve seen, and we’ll forget this ever happened.”

“Turn out all the stolen money in all your pockets.” Ezura’s eyes skimming across all the boys. “And maybe I will.”

“Too late for that. You only have one choice, and both of you are outnumbered.”

Definitely cocky shits.

The boys starts to form a circle around us.

“Sakura, shall we play a game? The one who knocks out the most guys in under a minute wins. Deal?” Ezura prompts.

Now she’s talkin’ my language.

I grin at her, straightening my Furin coat and rolling up my sleeves. “Now that’s a game I’m good at.”

She matches my grin, holding her hand out as if telling me to go on. “Want to throw the first hit?”

“With damn pleasure!” I grunt, making a beeline for the tall bulky one that had been staring creepily at Ezura earlier, jumping punching his face right in, and chaos breaks out.

I didn’t mind it one bit. Actually, I enjoyed it.

But, it was better cause Ezura was here, fighting as ferociously as I was.

And even though it ended in a tie, we shake it off with more bickering, before taking the money out of all of the boys’ pockets and deciding to turn it in at the high school.

“Nice moves, Othello.” Ezura nudges me as we started to walk to school again.

“Right back at’cha. Anyways, why didn’t you beat em all up when you saw them takin money from people?”

Ezura tucks a loose coily strand of hair behind her ear as she sighs. “Because I only saw two of them at a time, but figured that they were all one big group splitting the spoils for god knows what. And I wanted to get them all together and then pounce. Although it was just luck that they happened to be next to your house, so don’t worry about me having some other agenda behind coming to apologise. I wanted to do it back at Shishitoren, but I couldn’t function properly, and I wanted to take one step at a time. Therefore I’m here now. But honestly? I’m glad I got to beat them up with you.” She smiles genuinely, and I look away, feeling my face heat up again. I don’t think anyone smiles at me as much as her, and maybe Suo, but he’s always smiling.

Maybe I was wrong about Ezura.

She wasn’t so bad after all.