Snippet #2642985

Was that Yoh? Chester had just been passing by that particular area, searching for the butterfly that had eluded his eyes when he spotted the fight from the edges of his peripheral vision. He stopped for a second, observing it more closely. It was the twins, there was no question about it. Just after the scene they made this morning too, did they get themselves involved in another serious one? It wasn't as if it mattered to him. Chester tried to reason with himself as he turned away from the commotion, fixing his eyes on anything other than the group of people. He didn't know them anyway, and they could settle it on their own, right? Averting his eyes might be the coward's way out, but the coward is the one that survives in the end.

Or maybe not. Just as Chester turned to leave, movement caught his eye. He turned to see a struggle going on some ways away at the back between two second years and... "Ryuu?"

Well, this can't be helped. It's just going to weigh on his conscience until who knows when. Chester sighed quietly as his eyes scanned them, looking for any blind spots he could vanish into. Moving up discreetly behind the two upperclassmen, who were struggling with keeping the first year still, he paused for a second before pushing them as hard as he possibly could. It wasn't the most ideal scenario, but Chester found it hard to think of what to do other than assassinating them.

The two second years and Ryuu stumbled forward, hold on the first year loosening momentarily. Ryuu regained his balance first, wrenching an arm free from its vice as the one who'd been trying to grab Ryuu's legs straightened up and he turned. "What the hell?" he looked around angrily to beat the culprit down. "Oi, what-"

Wasting no time, Ryuu slammed his elbow viciously into the gut of his captor. The guy, who had been distracted by Chester, received the blow with a grunt of pain that dragged the other upperclassman's attention back to them but refused to relinquish his hold, raising his other arm up to loop around Ryuu's neck instead. Ryuu gritted his teeth and jabbed back with his elbow again as hard as he could while wrenching his arm out of the guy's grip, then raised his leg to slam it back down against his captor's knee with an audible thud. For good measure, Ryuu raised it again to bring his heel down onto a devastating stomp on his captor's foot, and the upperclassman let go of him with a hastily stifled yell of pain, alternating between clutching at his injured hand and foot like he couldn't decide which one hurt more.

"Shit!" The other club member raised a fist speedily, but Ryuu ducked low to scythe at the club members legs. The older teen fell, and Ryuu took the opportunity to kick him in the gut. He doubled up with a groan, instinctively wrapping his arms around his stomach.

"Thanks for treating me so nicely, senpai." Ryuu said sarcastically, scowling angrily down at him. "Allow me to return the favour." He kicked at the fallen teens side one last time before walking towards Chester, refusing to look back at his two former captors.

"Thanks," he said, frowning slightly from the aches in his body as he rotated his arms with a crack. Dammit, he knew following Ieharu was a bad idea! He backed up towards Chester, away from the club members, Much to their credit, they had already gotten back on their feet, although they were groaning like zombies after brains. In this particular case, Ryuu had no doubt as to which brain they wanted. Not for the first time, he wished his bag was there. "So... anything else up your sleeve?" he whispered to Chester out of the side of his mouth, raising his arms in a sparring position.

"I-I can take one of them if you'd finish the other." Chester whispered back a little urgently, his voice high with panic. Ryuu nodded, eyes narrowing sharply as he focused on the one who had beaten him up earlier, but before they could do anything somebody fell out of a tree. Everyone stopped in their actions for a split second, all eyes fixating on the strange man. There was an awkward silence, then the man asked where to find the nurse's office. Chester simply stared at him, unable to process what had happened in a matter of seconds. There was an intruder in school, and he just fell from a tree and hurt his ankle. It was all rather hard to take in, but the rest seemed to be alright with it, Ishiki pointing him toward the nurse's office.

Ryuu summed it up somewhat appropriately. [color=#000080]"What the fuck?" [/color]He said, nonplussed, hands still raised in front of him like a fighting character in a video game. Good thing it wasn't a teacher though, since his scholarship would've been in danger, but why did he fall out of a tree?! He scowled as Ishiki lied to the weird man about the nurses office, relief in the air showing up so much that it would take a rocket to destroy it. He obviously wanted the man out of the way so that he could continue what he was doing before, like beating the twins down to steal their underwear. Seriously, underwear, what the hell? What did that shallow bitch want to do anyway, wear them on her head? The girl in question aided the lie, and Ryuu was just about to call out bullshit when Ieharu called out the guy's name.

A brief look of surprise crossed over Ryuu's features before turning into a puzzled frown. What the hell was going on here?! By then, the four had forgotten about scuffling with each other in favour of watching the scene between the twins and Godot like they were watching tv, although Ryuu still kept his sparring pose. Was the man insane? And it was quite obvious that the twins were in trouble, why the hell was he not helping already?

It's because people didn't really give a damn so long as it doesn't involve them, his mind said, and Ryuu chose to ignore that in favour of a confused scowl instead. Now wasn't the time.

That was when Godot turned terrifying. Chester bit back a scream as the stranger shot Yoh right in the head, ready to bolt and call the nearst adult and a hospital. That man was obviously out of his mind, what had he gotten himself into again? Beside him, Ryuu's eyes went so wide it was like they encompassed his face and his whole face turned white, but he made to move forwards like he planned on attack the gunman himself in an effort to give the others - especially Haku, who was the closest one to the guntoting man - time to escape, eyes glaring frantically around the scene for a weapon. Chester grabbed Ryuu's arm immediately, pulling him back and shaking his head frantically at him. Haku was terrified and Chester knew that there was a need to get him to safety, but this was the point of time where casualties should be kept at a minimum. Ryuu interfering wouldn't do any good to their situation apart from drawing more attention to themselves.

The jerk to his arm snapped Ryuu out of it, leaving the rage bubbling under his skin in a way that kept away and mixed with terror. He shook with it, body trembling so hard with adrenaline that it was like Ryuu was shivering from the cold, but anyone could see that he was burning with the fire of emotion. He jerked his arm away from Chester sharply, but didn't move forwards. Now that he was thinking instead of acting on blind instinct and emotions, he knew he needed a plan. God, he never expected a gunman to turn up at school! What could he do to keep them all from being killed?!

Or well, Ieharu and the others dying. Ryuu definitely didn't want to die, but the others took priority. People would miss them if they died, after all, even if they were complete bastards.

Some of the things Ieharu - oh god, Ieharu had just seen his brother die before his eyes they had just seen a person die because of some sickass bastard who appeared out of nowhere - said made no sense though. It was completely nonsense as far as Chester was concerned. "I think we should run?" He suggested quietly to Ryuu. The attention of the upperclassmen was not on them any longer, which made this the perfect opportunity to escape. Most of the attention of the supposed psycho was on Haku too, perhaps they'd even be able to get the police there on time.

"We can't just -" Ryuu was interrupted by ... Yoh standing up like a drunk man instead of lying on the ground like the dead person he should be. Holy flipping shit! Ryuu's jaw dropped as his eyes grew wider, pupils looking like small pinpricks on his face. He turned even whiter as he stared at Yoh like the others. "wh-he-bu-" Ryuu gave up finding words, voice shaking before he shook his head, visibly getting a grip on himself. "- he got shot! In the head! What the hell! Is this for real?!"

Beside him, Chester pinched himself hard to see if he was in a dream. "No way... Maybe we're in a... movie?" Chester suggested weakly, trying to find some sense in this scenario. Still, the bullet fired was most definitely not a blank. Yoh moved toward the four upperclassmen and Chester could do nothing but stare as he stated everything out with astonishing clarity.

"If this is a movie, I sure as hell hope it isn't a zombie flick." Just like Chester, Ryuu pinched himself. Ow. Nope, this was reality alright. Which meant that Yoh had somehow survived what was a very clear gunshot to the head and was now chewing out the other club members, who looked just as freaked out as he felt. Oh dear lord, Yoh wasn't a zombie was he?! They didn't have anything to chop a head off, they couldn't fight a zombie! Ryuu's weapon was in his bag, and he didn't even know where that was. "Seriously, wha- hey!" Terrified confusion shoved to the side by (not so) righteous anger and worry, Ryuu moved to dart forwards as Yoh started fighting one of the club members, but Godot said something and he wavered, torn between wanting to find out just what the hell was going on and stopping the fight before Yoh died from brain damage or something.

Fuck it. Ryuu silently came to a pause beside Chester a few feet away from Godot and Ieharu, listening to them intently. The club members could do with a little beating up themselves. And if Ieyoshi was on the loosing end, well, it would count as revenge for that kid he beat up that morning. Who was he to disregard such an act?

The explanation in it's own sounded rather ludicrous. Psychological factors of determination aside, there was no way it can be that easily brought out with the power of a bullet. It seemed as though that strange man was just trying to make up an excuse for killing a child. Yet, there was no denying that Yoh was acting oddly just now. Chester felt a pang of worry as Yoh picked a fight with the club member, but he detisted in action until he got further clarification on his doubts. Which isn't going to come soon, with that strange explanation about bullets and determination the man just gave.

Ryuu kept an eye on the fight between Yoh and Ken-Senpai, wondering whether he should intervene or not. Eh, Yoh just made Ken-Senpai passed out. No need to do anything then. And it didn't seem like the crazy tree-falling ankle-breaking wacko planned to shoot anyone else, which meant they were all safe. Yeah, right. Ryuu wasn't going to trust that guy an inch. Then Yoh passed out and Ryuu tensed, raising his hands up in a sparring position again as the upperclassmen looked to them like a pack of wolves who had just realised that the threat was gone, leaving behind nothing but yummy, delicious meat to devour.

Ryuu did not plan on getting eaten without a fight. "Heads up," He warned Chester, eyes focusing at the upperclassmen in front of him. They'd been heading Ieharu's way, but after what seemed to be a second of consideration they loked at one towards Chester and Ryuu's direction. Not liking the look in their eyes, Ryuu resisted the urge to back away and stood his ground instead, scowling as he settled himself sturdily into a sparring pose.

Ryuu took a deep breath, face turning cool and even. Let the breath out slowly, cleared his mind to focus on the battle to come and shutting out the sounds of Ieharu freaking out a distance away behind them. "Looks like we're going to get mobbed."

"Run now?" Chester questioned again, his eyes flitting from one opponent to the other. Backing away a few steps, Chester considered his choices carefully. He should've taken the chance while they were distracted, now he was at risk of being hurt again. They upperclassmen were not idiots, after all. He could already see the signs of their attention shifting to the two weakest in their surroundings like they had planned on doing it all along. Ishiki yelled and looked frustrated, but they ignored him, heading towards the first year duo with the determination of a bully who had spotted someone they knew for sure couldn't fight back.

"If we had superspeed, then sure." The route out was blocked by the upperclassmen. The only way out was through fighting, even if the odds were against them. Ryuu raised his fists as they got closer, but then -

BANG!

Ryuu flinched at the gunshot and whirled around at the sound, ready to duck to the floor the moment he saw the gun pointed at his direction. Beside him, Chester tensed up as though ready to make a run for his life at the slightest opportunity and both of them were just in time to see Ieharu falling to the ground in a scene identical to Ieyoshi being shot, Godot still pointing his gun towards Ieharu. It was pretty obvious what had just happened.

Ryuu's voice shook, and not just from terrifed anger. "What the fu-"

"REBORN!!!"

Ieharu literally exploded, most of his clothes burning away to ashes, his then-dead body springing to life in nothing but his underwear. His eyes were wide and full of determination, his pupils dilated, his irises practically glowing as he grinded his teeth in seething rage. Both Ryuu and Chester gaped at the sight of the massive orange flame located right in the middle of his forehead, the blaze shifting and pulsing to some unknown rhythm.

Chester's eyes widened yet again at the flame burning in his forehead. What was that? That had to be burning him, right? Besides, he just got shot in the head. Haku had to be damaged somehow, if not in the zombie state his brother was in. Beside him, Ryuu was gaping in shock at Ieharu like he couldn't believe what he was seeing, although it quickly morphed into a look of horror as he saw the flames and look on Ieharu's face, and it was obvious he'd came to the same conclusion Chester had came to too.