Ryuu Morimoto's Story

"Listen here, young Ieharu."

At the mentioning of his name, Ieharu's ears perked up, but he didn't turn to look at the source. He was too busy playing his video game, torso hunched to the side, shoulders scrunched in concentration, the clicks and clacks of his controller nearly as deafening as the sound of gunfire emanating from the massive flat screen before him. This wasn't the first time he had to multitask while an adult was talking.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this–in fact I shouldn't be, but I believe honorable men like myself should show some good charity toward the families of their targets."

Ieharu's eyes narrowed slightly, but his concentration on his game didn't falter for a second. Though he was only halfway paying attention, he did recognize the voice. Male. Upbeat. Sanguine, but with a hint of danger. It was Godot, though his twin brother Ieyoshi always called the man "their new nanny".

"You might not believe me–I get it, it's a little sudden–but I am an assassin sent by an anonymous payer of mine to knock off an heir of the Vongola family."

From where he stood in the room, Godot took a few steps closer. Ieharu didn't notice, nor did he respond. On the TV, a rival's body exploded in a plume of blood and body parts. Presumably the boy's doing, because he snickered softly.

"Namely, that would be you, Ieharu Sawada." Outside, thunder boomed, ravaging the skies. It was several moments before Ieharu reacted, but then it was as if he'd been physically slapped. The clicking and clacking from the controller ceased immediately as he slowly turned his head, looking over his shoulder at the man who had just threatened his life in no uncertain terms. He was standing pretty close, too. Eyes wide, Ieharu moved his lips as if to form words, but nothing came out.

"Indeed," Godot continued, shrugging as if it were none of his business, his attitude cavalier. "Your Daddy-o's quite an important guy, and there are certain people who are quite concerned as to who takes his nice leather-padded throne."

Ieharu dropped the controller. The sound of an explosion erupted from the TV soon after, the flat screen flashing wildly before going black. There were only two words on the screen now: Game Over.

It was then that Ieharu found his voice, high pitched and wracked with incredulity. "Wait... what?!"

"I don't think you'd be all too interested in the details, seeing as you're going to die anyway." Godot took another step closer. He was within arm's reach of the boy now. "But just think of this as my diagnosis for you."

While gaming, Ieharu had been seated on the edge of a particularly comfortable reclining chair. Having closed the distance between them, Godot leaned on the chair's back, causing it to shift and Ieharu to slide backwards. Slowly. They were practically face to face now.

"I've decided that it's going to happen tomorrow." He said, matter-of-factly. "I can't delay it any further, please understand that I really wish I could."

Ieharu simply stared in horror, the weight of Godot's words imprinting themselves onto his psyche. Could it be true? Is he serious? He sounded pretty serious. Looked dead serious, in fact. But his father would never put an assassin so close, right? ... but what if he didn't, or he made a mistake? What if it was all part of the plan? What if he was going to die?!

"I've grown to like you, young Ieharu, so this is about all I can do for you."

"But—!"

"You've got one day to live, or at least until the next time I see you. I'm giving you the opportunity to clear up whatever remaining regrets you might have. It really hurts my conscience to think about good men dying with regrets..."

As Godot spoke, Ieharu brought his hands to the sides of his face, a sound like that of a dying animal escaping his lips. One day?! It wasn't fair! He had a math test tomorrow that he'd already studied for. He had so many people to meet... so many friends to make... all of it for nothing. His hands traversed his head, moving from the sides of his face to his forehead. Tears came to his eyes at his next thought.

I'm still a virgin!

"Regardless, that doesn't stop me from doing what I'm paid to, I just like to get an extra minute of sleep later on. So, I suggest spending the night to give it some thought, just make sure you sleep good, alright?" Ieharu didn't respond, his hands still plastered to his forehead. "... Oh, and make sure you don't tell anybody like your brother or something. You don't want to get your family involved, else I'll be forced to... Well, I'm sure your a smart kid–in fact, I know you are." Again, Ieharu didn't even respond. Didn't move. Didn't dare to. Never in his life was he so intimidated by the presence of another.

After a momentary silence, Godot turned, releasing the chair and nearly causing Ieharu to fly off it as it snapped forward. "Guess I'll be seeing you tomorrow." Almost as an afterthought, he added: "Oh, and good luck on the quadratics test."

**

"Yoh, I'm not kidding. I'm serious." Ieharu threw his hands up, a gesture meant to implore. "Didn't you hear me?! He's going to murder us all!"

The boy was sitting atop his bed, covers wrapped around himself like a burrito. Only his face and hands were exposed. He looked like an Eskimo, wrapped in his layers. Standing across from him was literally his mirror image save for their hair color. It was his twin brother, the self-proclaimed "older brother" Ieyoshi, casually slipping on a T-shirt while laughing his head off. When it came to someone as eternally relaxed and laid back as Ieyoshi, "laughing your head off" meant a few soft, curt chuckles. If you weren't actively listening for it, you might even miss it.

"Pfft. Murder you, maybe." Ieyoshi's voice was gruff, his tone sober, his face stoic. It was as if someone had turned his "energy" dial way down and then broke it off. "He did say only one of us would be offed, right?" He turned from sizing himself up in the mirror to look at his brother, who hadn't yet responded. "Right, Haku?"

Ieharu sighed, his big brunette bushel of hair poking out from under the covers. "Right," he mumbled, dejected. He cast his eyes downward before speaking again, this time in a hushed whisper. "You'd save me, right?"

The response was immediate.

SLAP!

Almost instantly, Ieharu brought both hands to his left cheek, where Ieyoshi has unceremoniously slapped him, a look of surprise and anger fresh upon his face. "Yoh! What the fuck?!"

Ieyoshi took a stance, leaning to the side, hand gripping lightly the base of his skull, a somewhat exasperated expression overcoming his otherwise neutral countenance. Ieharu recognized it as his brother's lecturing pose. He'd seen it a million times before. "Look," his brother began, pointing at Ieharu's face. "He's obviously not going to kill you. Think about it." Ieyoshi brought his hands together, marking off his points by counting his fingers. "A, that no-good Tsuna might be stupid, but do you think he's stupid enough to bring a killer into the house? To sleep in our beds? Eat our food?"

"Hey!" Ieharu interrupted, his voice shrill. "Dad's not no-good!" He said, referring to their father, Tsunayoshi.

Ieyoshi shrugged, continuing, his voice as low and monotonous as a boring college professor's. "Whatever. B, the guy's been here for, like, two weeks already. If he wanted to kill you, why not get it over with quickly? Why play buddy buddy with us for nearly a month? C, we don't have time for this. Get up. We have that math test, remember?"

Though he nodded at a couple of his brother's well-articulated points, when Ieyoshi told him to get up, he responded by pulling the covers over his head and rolling back into bed. "I think I'm gonna be sick..." He mumbled, peeking out from under the sheets after a moment.

Ieyoshi sighed, grabbing his backpack by the strap and swinging it onto his shoulder in one smooth fluid motion. He then sauntered out of the room as if the universe owed him a favor. Sauntering seemed to be his natural form of locomotion. From his mannerisms and personality to the way he picked up his bag and walked out of a room, in Ieharu's eyes, his brother was the pinnacle of cool.

After hearing the customary slam of the downstairs door, there were several moments of blissful uninterrupted peace, with Ieharu nearly falling back asleep. Before he could drift fully into unconsciousness, however, he heard someone at the window. He could tell without looking that it was Ieyoshi. Reluctantly, Ieharu rolled out of bed, the frigid air biting into his exposed skin. Slowly but surely he made his way to the window. After a moment, he opened it.

"Ieharu." Ieyoshi was standing on the grass outside of their home, looking up at their shared bedroom window. Their bedroom was on the second floor.

"What? I said I'm not going."

"Yeah, I know. I just remembered something."

Ieharu raised an eyebrow. Ieyoshi had that look on his face again. The one he always got several dozen turns before he won at Monopoly.

Ieyoshi's lips morphed into a slight grin. In response, Ieharu gulped involuntarily. That grin was never a good sign.

"I know something you think I don't know. And it'll make you come to class, too."

Ieharu ducked down so that only his eyes shown over the windowsill, as if his brother were going to start hurling rocks. "Wh... what are you talking about?!"

There was a moment of silence before Ieyoshi responded, but when he did, his brother's eyes grew wide with fright. "I know who Ieharu likes."

Ieharu shot up, his upper body practically leaning out the window at this point. "W-What are you talking about?! I don't l-like anyone!"
"Yes you do."
"No I don't!"
"Then you should have nothing to worry about when I confess to them on your behalf... unless you can catch me, of course."

And with that, Ieyoshi turned and began walking away with that slow measured pace of his.

"Wait! Yoh! Don't! Stop!" Ieharu pleaded, but if his brother heard his protests, he didn't act like it. His fears of being assassinated evaporated instantaneously, replaced instead by the terror of complete social doom at the hands of his brother. Ieharu brought his hands to his face. Unlike his brother, he didn't think of himself as very cool, or smart, or anything. He didn't have many friends. No one respected him, but at least they left him alone. If Ieyoshi was serious about telling, and he's always serious...

Well, he'd never be able to show his face at that school again.

Like a hurricane, Ieharu threw on whatever clothes were lying around. He and his brother shared a room, and they were the same in size and height, so they shared apparel too. In roughly eight minutes time, Ieharu had gone from half naked to mostly ready for school. Brushing his teeth would have only slowed him down anyway. As he rushed towards the door, open book bag swinging off his shoulder, it began to dawn on him that, even if he were to run his very hardest, his brother had an insurmountable lead. Immediately, he began to regret not stopping his brother while he had the chance. Still, maybe there was hop—

Upon bursting through his front door, Ieharu tripped over his own feet and face-planted on the stairs outside. Slowly but surely, he raised himself up off the ground, propping himself up with one arm and holding his injured face with the other. He was trying his very hardest to resist the urge to cry, but it was yet another fight he just wasn't winning. That same bitter thought that always hobbled him reared its ugly head once more: the loser Ieharu has failed.

Little did he know, a shadow slowly crept up behind his unprotected back.

"Buongiorno, young Ieharu," his terrifying home tutor greeted him as casually as ever, his hands buried in the pockets of his jacket, "I didn't think you'd be so eager to go to school today, especially on such a terrible day like this." Godot looked up toward the sky, of which was blanketed in thick clouds. The air was moist from the remains of the previous night's downpour, and water glistened on the soaked grass and wet concrete. For his part, Ieharu yelped audibly at the sound of his name being called. Godot's pleasant demeanor would have eased the boy, had their last conversation not ended so terribly. Instead, his stomach did a backflip and his chest turned to ice. Gradually, he turned his head, once again looking over his shoulder. The feeling of deja vu was practically nauseating. The man always seemed to approach from his blind spot.

"M-mi-uh-G-g-g-godot... h-hi..." He managed to stutter his tutor's name, eyes wide with fear as he suddenly remembered: he was going to die today.

"Oh, by the way, about our little agreement last night... I got word from my client that there's been a change of plans." Again, there was that peaceful smile, as if all was right in the world. "It's sort of exciting, I suppose."

Iehari inhaled sharply. Deep in the recesses of his gut sparked the faintest glimmer of hope. "A change?" The pitch of his voice inflected as he spoke, making his question come out as more of a plea.

Godot nodded. "Yes," he replied, "a pretty big change. You see, I'm not going to kill you later." At that very statement, in one swift motion, Godot brought his hand out of his pocket, a black pistol in hand. All so suddenly, Ieharu found himself staring down the barrel of Godot's Beretta. That flicker of hope in his gut disappeared just as swiftly. Too scared to move, too scared to even think, Ieharu did what came natural.

He screwed his eyes shut.

There was a delay, however. Godot hesitated, although he smirked when he did so. "Seeing as you've accepted your fate already," he said, "I guess that must mean you don't have any more regrets. There's no special person in your life? No unfinished business with somebody close, not even your family? Nothing, eh?"

After several moments of silence devoid of a bullet to the face, Ieharu gathered that the question hadn't been rhetorical. Still, he didn't dare open his eyes. Maybe this way, he still had the chance to wake up from this nightmare.

From under his breath, the boy mumbled something.

"Speak up, boy," Godot demanded, "You're only getting one chance to say it, so spit it out!"

Somewhat startled at the command, Ieharu repeated himself, this time with a bit more volume. His kept his eyes closed. "W-why do you care about what I regret, M-mr. Godot?" Ieharu could almost swear he heard Godot chuckle.

"You'll understand if you die." With that cryptic statement, Godot rotated his wrist sideways and squeezed the pistol's trigger.

And that was it. A loud pop!. A flash of pain. Pressure around his forehead. And then nothing. Ieharu Sawada, son of Tsunayoshi Sawada and Kyoko Sawada, brother to Ieyoshi, friend to few, and most of all, still a virgin, died at that moment.

However, while dying, Ieharu regretted. He regretted parting with the world. He regretted what a waste his life had been. He regretted spending the time studying for a math test he'd never take. But there was one thing he regretted more than anything else. One thing that, even as the bullet pierced his skull and robbed him of life, he wished he had accomplished with all his heart.

I should have stopped Ieharu from confessing for me... from saying something stupid... I could have stopped him...

His body was cold before it even hit the ground.

... with a dying will.

On the other side of the street, several passersby screamed in horror. One was even so bold as to yell, finger pointing in violent accusation: "That thug just shot that kid!"

Ieharu's body slumped on the ground, blood pooling under his head. One second, he was certainly dead. But then in the next...

"REBORN!!!"

Ieharu literally exploded, most of his clothes burning away to ashes, his then-dead body springing to life like round two in any good video game's boss battle. Though he was still scrawny and mostly naked, he sported a look that'd never crossed his face before. His eyes were wide and full of determination, his pupils dilated, his irises practically glowing. He was grinding his teeth in seething rage. Most noticeable was the massive orange flame located smack dab in the middle of his forehead, the blaze shifting and pulsing to some unknown rhythm.

His sudden re-emergence from death and accompanying roar of rebirth startled everyone in the area, excluding Godot. One of them—an old woman—fainted where she stood.

"I'M GOING TO STOP IEYOSHI FROM SAYING SOMETHING STUPID!" He shouted at the air. "WITH MY DYING WILL!"

And with that, Ieharu sped off, his feet carrying him as fast as an Olympic athlete as he raced with all his might towards Ieyoshi and Namimori High.

Godot watched as the half-naked boy sped off like hell on wheels, and so did the rest of the neighborhood. People looked at Godot, flabbergasted at what they had just witnessed. Godot smiled at them affably.

"Things are going to be a lot more interesting around here from now on."

"Whee!"

The few people walking on the street turned at the sound to see a fifteen year old boy wearing an unzipped blue hoodie skating casually past on a sleek blue skateboard, a wide grin on his face. A girl in pigtails texting on her phone didn't notice that he was headed her way, but a twist to the left and Enn was past her in an instant, leaving nothing behind but a shocked look on the girl's face and a few locks of her hair blowing in the wind.

Enn grinned and skated a little faster, enjoying the wind against his face and ruffling his white hair. Shou would have asked him to bring a helmet (they both knew he didn't really need one but Shou worried anyway), but he wasn't here since he'd gone to school earlier so Shou wouldn't mind so long as Enn stashed it somewhere safe and not tell him about it! And there wasn't any need to tell him about it, at least until the time they had to go home which would be too late since Enn hadn't brought a helmet with him. Sure, Shou would sigh a bit over it and warn him to bring one with him, but Enn could deal with that!

He really could deal with it. He'd dealt with it before, but that wasn't what Enn was worried about.

How would Shou react if I fail a math test? Enn bite his lip and moved to the right, dodging a trashcan. He hadn't exactly studied (it was so boring - well, maybe not angles but it was still boring, how was he suppose to remember all this stuff?!) and he knew that his studies weren't good. He didn't really cared if he failed since he didn't really care for it, but then Shou did and Enn really wasn't sure if he could pass the math test the teacher would set for them to-

Something was coming.

Enn spun around warily, coming to a stop as he looked around for whoever - it had to be a person, it sounded like running feet - was making the noise. The few shoppers around him did the same, their faces curious at who could be running so furiously.

One of the shoppers, an elderly man squinting into the horizon Enn had passed by a few minutes ago, was the first to spot it. His face turned to shock and surprise as the sound came nearer, and so did the rest of them as they saw what was a nearly naked young teenager with an orange flame right in the middle of his forehead as he charged furiously towards them like an express bullet train at full speed. Then the looks of surprised incredulity changed to panic when they realised that the boy was charging towards them with absolutely no intention of stopping and the shoppers scattered, leaving the path clear for the crazy maniac to pass through.

All except Enn, who remained smack dab on the middle of the street as he stared at the boxer-clad maniac charging towards him. His hands hung loose, and his eyes widened in surprise at what he was seeing. "Haku?!"

The figure grew larger and larger, and Enn quickly dodged to the side as Haku charged past, the backlash blowing his white hair back. For a moment, Enn continued to stare blankly, then a grin large enough to split his face formed and he was off, using his skateboard to catch up with Haku.

"Hahaha!" Enn had no idea what was going on, but it had to be fun, right?! Or else he wouldn't be moving so quickly. Leaning low, Enn sped up until he was a blur, leaning forwards to catch up to Haku. Spotting Chester on a bike, he gave the guy a quick wave and grin before moving forwards, easily keeping up with his friend as he dodged and jumped over obstacles. "Hey Haku," He called wildly, the wind whipping his hair back from his head and snatching away his words, "Haku this is fun why're we going so fast I'm kind of having trouble keeping up though where're we heading?"

Haku didn't respond and leapt on top of a car. Boo! Enn pouted and narrowed his eyes, forcing his speed to increase in order to keep up. On his right index finger, a ring with a small yellow stone sparked with a small flame, and Enn continued to chatter with a bright smile as they kept a healthy distance apart and headed towards what Enn knew was the school.

"-and that's why I think you're rushing, did I get it right Haku did I - oh, guys!" Spying two figures up ahead, Enn waved at them cheerily. "Hey!" Forgetting about the one-sided conversation he was holding with Haku, who was more than a mile to his right jumping on cars, Enn slowed down as Haku forged ahead of him. Completely ignoring the dumbfounded looks on Yoh and Damien's faces, he grinned and chattered excitedly "Guys did you know Haku can move faster than a car now this is awesome - whoa?!"

Haku jumped towards Yoh, and Enn stared in surprised interest as they tumbled their way through the entrance. For all the time Enn knew them, Haku had never tried to attack Yoh before. But then Haku had never gone out in just boxers before or had a flaming forehead either, so maybe it was a game? It might be an experiment, but Haku wouldn't be out if it was. Pushing off on his skateboard, Enn followed Damien towards the courtyard to see the twins scuffle on the ground, placing his hands casually in his pockets. He was about to ask them whether he could join in when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"Oh, Ryuu-chan!" Enn turned and smiled brightly at the shorter man, who gave him a brief glance before going back to staring incredulously at the Sawada brothers like he couldn't believe his eyes. "I've no clue, but it was awesome! Haku was jumping on car roofs like a supervillian and everything shouting Reborn or something! I was too far away so I couldn't hear, haha. And then they started fighting." Enn's grin turned bloodthirsty. "Think I could join in?"

The words came out almost on automatic. "Don't call me- wait, nows not the time for that!" The grip on his shoulder tightened, and Enn pouted as he allowed himself to be dragged towards Damien, stepping on the ground and kicking his skateboard up into his arms as Ryuu tapped Damien once on the arm for acknowledgement.

"What happened?!" Ryuu asked the Sawada's lackey urgently, keeping his voice low. He readjusted the dark green bag on his shoulders, preparing to dump it on the ground in case he had to help. A little way behind him, Enn was cheering the both of them on with a manic glint in his eyes and looking like he wanted popcorn. "Did Haku lose it?! Why're the two fighting and more importantly, should we stop them?!"

Ring ring ring!!!!

The sound of the alarm filled the small bedroom, successfully waking up Luka from his peaceful slumber. He cracked open a single eye and immediately regretted when he was greeted by a ray of sunshine that was peeping in from between the cracks of the window curtains. He slammed in his hand down onto his alarm clock to shut off its loud ringing before turning over onto his side and pulling the covers up to shelter himself from the sunlight. His room fell back into silence, aside from the quiet ticking of the clock. Luka felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness until he felt something soft pressing against his face--more like stepping on it.

"Kumo..." he groaned out, trying to swat away at his furry roommate. A black and white cat meowed at him, almost as if telling him to wake up before patting his face again with his paws.

"Stop it," Luka muttered. But the assault didn't stop, which really wasn't too surprising. For some reason, his cat enjoyed accompanying him to school. The feline will stick around the area until school ended and walked with back home or to work, depending on the day. "Alright, alright. I'm up," he sighed in defeat. Satisfied with his answer, Kumo gave him another small meow before hopping off the bed. Luka sat up and stretched before running his hand through his messy bed hair. He took one look at the clock, squinted his eyes at it, then finally got up to head into the bathroom to begin the day.

He washed up quickly and fixed his hair up a bit before entering his room again so he can change into his school uniform. He never understood why such thing was necessary. He slipped on the dress-shirt and buttoned it up except the last two at the top. Luka completely disregarded the tie because it was too much of a hassle to put on. He grabbed the black blazer then his bag, dragging them lazily to the living room and tossing them onto the couch so they can sit there while he fixed himself a quick breakfast. He looked into the fridge and stared at the contents inside for a moment before pulling out a strawberry milk carton for himself and a regular milk carton for his cat. Pouring the white creamy liquid into the cat bowl, he scratched behind Kumo's ears with a small grin as the feline lapped it up happily.

Luka took a sip of his drink while popping a slice of bread into the toaster; he had decided he'll have a simple breakfast of toast with jam. He kept note of the time as he ate and eventually dragged himself towards the door. Why did school have to exist...?

Kumo waited patiently while Luka put on his shoes and was the first to head out when the door opened. Luka chuckled softly, finding it funny how the cat was more enthusiastic about going to school than he was. Then again, Kumo wasn't the one who sat in a classroom for hours, listening to the teacher go on and on about things he really didn't care about.

Yawning into one hand and stuffing the other into the pocket of his pants, Luka headed down the road towards school. It seemed like a fairly normal morning--or at least until he saw the way his cat stopped in his tracks, body tensing as his pointy ears perked. Luka raised his brows, "What's wrong buddy?"

And then he heard it. A loud yelling from the distance that seemed to be getting closer and closer by the second. It was then he saw someone coming around from the corner and zooming past him. "What the--" The guy was gone before his brain can fully process what had just happened but the back of the guy's head seemed strangely familiar. He blinked, trying to figure out if he had just hallucinated. However, the yelling that grew faint was still audible, which told him he was most likely not imagining this. It looked like the was heading towards school so the only way to find out what exactly was happening, he would have to head over and see.

By the time he got to school, there was already a crowd of people gathered around. Kumo was settled on his shoulder, round green eyes blinking curiously. Luka hadn't been there to see the whole thing play out but it was easy to guess what happened when he saw two guys rolling around on the ground together. He sighed, thinking it was some stupid school fight at first, since that tend to happen once in a while. But as he got closer he noticed that the two males were the Sawada twins. Luka stopped in his tracks and looked over, noticing the bright orange flames on Ieharu's head. What the hell was going on..?

"Morning exercises complete!"

With a satisfied huff, Fujiki Makoto sheathed her sword and wiped the sweat from her brow. It was routine for Makoto to begin every morning by going through the sword stances she was taught without fail. Though she had been training for years now, there was still always room for improvement as she had yet to develop her own style of fighting. This morning's practice grounds was a small park located just across the street of the hotel Mako was staying at for the time being. As she had only arrived in Japan a few days prior, she hadn't had the time to find a more permanent place of residency in the town of Namimori. Mako turned her gaze to the sky and shivered. The sun was just rising and her body reminded her that mornings here at this time were a bit cooler than in Italy. "I'd better get inside and get ready."

Today was Mako's first day of school. Literally.... Never in her life had she attended a second of school in her life and Mako was both extremely nervous and excited to see what it was like. Was it like the mafia school Squalo had attended? Mako wondered how many, if any, mafiosi attended the school. What did they teach there? Were the teachers going to be as mean as Squalo? The endless thoughts swirled around in Mako's head as she returned to her hotel room. Setting her sword against the near wall, she shook her head as if to shake away the numerous questions she did not know the answer to. All of this was only second to the real reason she was here. Her first and foremost worry was to find the elusive Hitman Tutor Godot. It had been already three days since she arrived and yet she had zero leads to where he could be. And even if somehow she found him, would he even agree to teach her? Mako had decided that in order to gain recognition by someone that strong then one must defeat them and made it up in her mind that she would challenge him to show him her resolve to become a mafioso. Surely then he would take her as his student. But to do that she would have to track him down first. Mako glanced at the digital clock on the microwave in the small kitchen. It was almost time to leave.

It took some time for Mako to prepare herself for the day. The school uniform was troublesome to put on and more than once she had tried sticking her head into a sleeve more than once. But after a few desperate attempts, Mako had successfully dressed herself. Almost..... There was one piece of clothing that made no sense to her. The long red ribbon that came with the uniform was a complete mystery to the girl. Was it to tie her hair? Was it a belt of some sort? Or maybe even a wrist accessory? Whatever it was Mako decided that it would be best if she just left it out. The girl stepped in front of the tall mirror on the wall nearby. Good enough for now. Mako shifted uncomfortably in the new clothes. She had never worn a skirt before. Her attire mostly consisted of loose clothing for free movement as she trained and never was it required of her to wear a skirt. Though she thought she didn't look to bad. The uniform consisted of a simple short sleeved white button up shirt, a black miniskirt, a dark navy blue sweater vest and the mysterious red ribbon. It seemed like Mako had everything right but something seemed.... off.....

"Ahh...." Mako quickly ran to the bed where her familiar black trench coat lay and slipped it on. "Much better."

Mako had found the coat tucked away in the corner of her closet at the Varia base and when she asked around to whose it was no one had a clue so Mako claimed it for herself and always wore it wherever she went. She believed that a proper mafioso should have their own signature look. Mako quickly glance at the clock once again. It was time to go. Grabbing her new school bag and her sword which she quickly slung over her shoulder in its cloth carrying cover, Mako grabbed the leftover burnt toast that she had left over from her breakfast that morning and flew out the door. Having very little knowledge of making her own meals, Mako had attempted to use what she knew to make breakfast which ended up in badly burnt bread and under cooked eggs. It wasn't bad for a start.

The hotel Mako was staying at was very close to the school grounds and by trial and error, she finally arrived at the gates after taking a few detours as a result of a few wrong turns. Though when she arrived she found that there was a very large crowd that had gathered in front of the school. There was quite a commotion and as Mako approached she wedged herself through the crowd to get a better look at what the fuss was about. To her surprise, two boys who looked similar enough to be twins, were on the ground rolling around obviously in a brawl over something. Instinctively, Mako's had reached up and gripped the hilt of her sword through the cloth cover. Now this was something she could get used to. If this was the norm at school she was going to have a good time. Though as she observed closer she quickly noticed the orange flames on one of the boy's head. 'Sky flames? Isn't that boy in Dying Will mode?' Mako's excitement grew ten fold. If there were powerful opponents like this at this school then she would be able to grow stronger in no time! Mako quickly glanced around at the other students around her. Maybe after the boys were finished with their fight she would challenge the winner. Yes, that was what she was going to do....

When Ieharu came to his senses, several thoughts occurred to him nearly simultaneously. For one, he was virtually surrounded by a gaggle of students from his school. Some looked on with shock, others were shouting and screaming like fans at a sporting event, and others still were laughing uncontrollably. That tied directly into some other thoughts: he was at school. He was naked, save for his boxers—surely a gift of mercy from a higher power. He was also on top of Ieyoshi, his own traitorous fist raised into the air, though he didn't quite remember how it got there—

Suddenly, it all came flooding back to him. Godot! He'd shot him! Tried to kill him! And then he... he...

Elsewhere in the crowd, Enn stopped cheering. A disappointed look crossed his face, and he turned dejectedly towards Ryuu and Damien. "Aww, Haku's flame's gone out... that sucks!" The flame on Ieharu's head was disappearing now, and while it was going Ieharu looked less and less like he was going to murder his brother, which was boring. Though maybe Ieyoshi would kill Ieharu instead, and the fight would continue! Enn brightened up at the thought, his head turning back towards the fight. "Think Yoh'd kill Haku now?"

Damien was still awestruck by the events transpiring before his eyes. For the past couple of minutes his hands were locked tightly together while he remained standing, frozen in time, only able to watch. He didn't quite hear Enn's question. Ryuu, on the other hand, turned his head so fast it could have caused whiplash. "WHAT?!"

Ieharu's eyes widened as the last five minutes of his life replayed in his head in the span of a few seconds. Slowly, his gaze drooped until his eyes met his brother's, or at least would have met his brother's had Ieyoshi had his eyes open. Instead, the twin had his eyes closed, his upper lip twitching a bit, as if he were fighting to hold something back. Ieharu recognized that look all too well, gulping loudly. He didn't have much time to make this right.

"Uh, Y-Yoh... haha," his nervous chuckle only exaggerated his forced, toothy smile. When his brother didn't react, Ieharu continued, stuttering uncontrollably, abject terror having entered his expression. "Uh, n-now I know this is go-go..." He licked his lips, sweat beating atop his head. "... going to be hard to believe, but Godo—"

Ieyoshi exhaled loudly. To Ieharu, a dragon may as well have exhaled smoke from its nostrils, preparing itself for the coming barbeque. Just then, Ieyoshi opened his eyes. Very slowly. Very purposefully. His glowing amber-orange irises bored relentlessly into his brother's. Ieharu flinched involuntarily, his fist for some reason still in the air where he'd left it. Both boys eyes shifted to it at the same time. For his part, Ieyoshi still emanated a boring type of serenity. His expression was cold, even colder than usual. A typical person might mistake that for a calm mind. Ieharu knew much better, and he didn't have much longer to fix this before things got really bad. Perhaps he could continue to talk his way out of this?

"Uh—"

"Wow," called the jittery girl, Tomoe Tachibana, interrupting Ieharu in this most pivotal moment. "It's a fight!" The short second-year girl skipped toward the two, an unmistakable pink-colored BluScreen band in hand. "Mind looking over here, boys?" Slowly, Ieharu's gaze drifted over his shoulder and off a meter or so to the side. There always seemed to be some bad news to be had when he found himself looking over his shoulder. Not far behind him was something that he recognized as far more terrifying than just any ordinary highschool girl with a phone. It was them, that infamous group of second-years that everybody had come to know. Many thought of them with mixed feelings, but as far as Ieharu was concerned, they were the group to be feared most in life, bar none. Some knew them as the "Dolls," but many knew them as Queen Rosa and her most loyal subjects.

"Why, this looks like a disruption to the peace of the school," the lieutenant, Akako Hayashi, spoke aloud, "Isn't it, Rosa?" She had the look of a hyena, with a sneer that shook one in their shoes. The Queen, Rosa, appeared to hesitate for a second, frowning. Many eyes were on her, including Ieharu's, and her Dolls waited to see what she would say. Rosa swallowed, and then smirked. She chuckled, but this chuckle broke into a wretched laugh, one that seemed to drain any who heard it of all hope.

Rosa caught herself, putting her hand over her mouth and clearing her throat. Rosa took another step forward so she was in full attention, avoiding a puddle on the ground. "Oi, Rosa," an intimidating punk girl, Erin Saito, asked in a low voice "What are you gonna do?" Rosa merely opened up her handbag and took a long, flat device out. Then, she declared her intentions with one word:

"Paparazzi!"

All at once, several members of the crowd, loyal to Rosa or not, took out whatever mobile device they had and began taking pictures of the boys, mainly the half-nude Ieharu, from just about every angle. Rosa's girl, Tomoe, called out, "Say cheese!"

At first, Ieharu was confused. What, exactly, were they taking pictures of? That's when he looked down at himself. Right. He was naked, save his boxers. Okay.

It took a moment to click.

They were taking pictures of him!

The word "okay" just kept repeating in his head as he sit there, frozen, his fist still in the air, unable to decide what to do next. The thought of having his picture taken while he was in nothing but his boxers was too terrible a thought to contend with. He could almost feel the infinite flashes of the various cameras against his bare skin. After only a few seconds, he screwed his eyes shut. It was his default defensive maneuver, after all, when he was unsure how to move forward in a situation.

"Ieharu." When Ieyoshi spoke, his voice was much more grave than usual, emphasis on grave. Ieharu flinched again, forcing him to open one eye. For a moment, he'd almost forgotten about his brother, whom he was practically sitting on top of. The two shared an relatively comfortable silence then. "Comfortable" compared to the camera snaps and the laughing that surrounded them, anyhow. Though this entire situation confused him, the one thing he could count on to be familiar and predictable was his twin brother. Unfortunately, Ieharu had a feeling that what would come next would be anything but comfortable for him.

When Ieyoshi spoke, his next words came out very suddenly. It was undoubtedly a command, and it was absolute. "Get off of me."

Before he even finished his sentence, Ieyoshi brought his leg out from under Ieharu's lower body, cocked it at the knee, and smashed his heel into the boy's chest. From an outside perspective, it was a very clean maneuver. Succinct, orderly, with a professional delivery honed by several years of experience with back alley scrapping.

For Ieharu, of course, it was little more than pain incarnate, his momentary comfort shattered into a million pieces. Unable to control his trajectory, he practically flew backward, his skinny body colliding full force with the person standing not a meter away. With Rosa. The Rosa. The collision took the girl's legs out from under her, forcing her to fall backwards. She yelped in surprise. Unfortunately for them both, there was a shallow yet particularly large puddle of water waiting to catch her earthly plunge.

The result wasn't pretty. Rosa—Queen Rosa—flailed for a moment before falling straight into the puddle.

Ieharu avoided any water damage, landing on solid ground barely a few inches before the pool of dirty rainwater. Honestly? He saw stars. Fuzzy spherical blobs of light dotted his vision as the poor boy struggled to his feet, haggard coughs bursting violently from his throat, his small diaphragm struggling to catch a breath.

Yes, this is about what he expected. Ieyoshi never went anything but hard when it came to scuffles.

From where he lay, Ieyoshi blinked a couple of times, his instant of anger evaporating. As he did so, he also noticed that the sound of camera flashes, that incessant click click click, had ceased as well. A particularly annoying thought struck him at that moment, but he pushed it aside, to be dealt with later. For now, someone had their hand in his face, and he was too busy trying to calm himself to really pay attention to what they'd said, but after a moment it came back to him.

"Are you alright?"

Ieyoshi had never heard this voice before. Looking over, he realized he didn't recognize the face either. The person standing above him couldn't have been older than him. He looked petite, short, with tufts of uncharacteristically vivid blue hair poking out under a particularly large hood. It was obvious he was trying to hide his hair beneath the fabric, a choice Ieyoshi didn't particularly understand. Now, Ieyoshi had a good memory. At least, that's what he told himself. He may not remember people's names, but he could certainly recognize any face he'd seen before. This person didn't look like one of the second or third years, and he was fairly sure he'd at least seen all the first years once at the very least. So who was this kid?

Ieyoshi shook his head, dismissing the train of thought. Whatever. It didn't matter now anyway. He accepted the boy's outstretched hand, offering his thanks in the form of a nod. He could have gotten to his feet of his own accord, but this manner of kindness would not be forgotten.

At around the same time, the other twin, Ieharu, got to his feet, both hands holding his chest, where he'd been kicked. His soft amber-orange eyes darted up to meet Ieyoshi's for but a moment before darting to either side, eyeing the crowd of people. Ieyoshi knew better than anyone that his brother didn't do well in crowds. Without wasting another moment, Ieyoshi cleared the distance between them. After a second, the twins stood side-by-side. Unfortunately for them, the others had begun to snap pictures again. Some were even capturing video, holding their phones above their heads and laughing.

"I'm sorry, Yoh," Ieharu muttered, his eyes downcast. "I'm so sorry."

Ieyoshi didn't respond. Instead, he simply started unbuttoning his jacket. In an instant, the article of clothing found its way on top of Ieharu's head. "Put that on," Ieyoshi commanded, his hands moving now to his own belt buckle.

"Yoh, wait, what are you doing?!" Ieharu protested, but again Ieyoshi didn't respond. In a second, he'd slipped out of his shoes and pants, the latter of which also ended up on Ieharu's head.

"You take the shoes, I keep the socks," he began, "you take the pants, I keep the underwear. You take the jacket, I keep the shirt. Sound fair?"

Ieharu stared for a moment, completely nonplussed, as his brother somehow made standing in your underwear in front of a crowd of people look like a fashion shoot. How did he look so damn confident, even now? Even in this situation? The moment of shock didn't last long, however. Graciously accepting the gifts of clothing, Ieharu slipped on the articles and mashed his somewhat dirty feet into his brother's shoes.

Now it was Ieyoshi who was partially naked. His boxers were black with yellow letters that read "I'M BATMAN, BITCH" across the back. One of the so-called "paparazzi" of students saw this and decided to snap a picture with his phone. Unfortunately, he didn't realize he was well within arm's reach of Ieyoshi when he did.

Ah, that's right. The annoying thought from earlier. It was time to deal with it.

When Ieharu saw that grin part his brother's face, the one he called the "supervillain smirk," he looked over at the other boy, the one with the camera, a silent prayer running through his mind.

The boy seemed to notice it too, because he gave Ieyoshi a somewhat innocent look, his eyes growing wide, the Sawada twin seemingly towering over him. Suddenly, Ieyoshi sprung into action, grabbing the boy by the collar with one hand, pulling him close. As if executing a dance, Ieyoshi's other hand, fingers balled into a fist, were waiting right there to meet the boy's face. Again and again Ieyoshi punched him. His fist came back with blood after the first hit. After the third, it was clear that Ieyoshi had broken the boy's nose, his every fist fall met with a small misty plume of crimson. With the fifth, there were cries from the crowd for him to stop. And so he did. Not because they told him to, of course, but he'd planned to strike the boy five times. Not four. Not six. Five would do. Five would send a message.

The boy had gone limp in his hands, so Ieyoshi dropped him, his body crumpling to the ground. He then bent down and picked up the boy's phone. The beaten kid had dropped it after the second punch.

Ieyoshi eyed it for a moment. It was a fairly new model of the BluScreen. A very nice phone. Very expensive, especially on a high schooler's budget. Excellent. This would make for a perfect example.

Seeing the look on Ieyoshi's face, Ryuu's eyes widened. He dashed forwards, weaving through the crowd towards the Sawada twin and, more importantly, the student he'd just had in his death grip. "Oh Shit—"

A grin came on Damien's face after witnessing Ieyoshi's usual and heavily choreographed flare for the dramatic. It was truly tempting to wreak havoc on these students for laughing at the twins and taking pictures; however, if he started fighting, then he wouldn't be able to manage as much restraint as Ieyoshi just had. Breaking the bones of his entire class probably wouldn't look good on his student record, either.

A small gust of wind touched Damien's face, his hair swaying ominously in the breeze. He slowly shifted his gaze, realizing that the individual next to him, Ryuu, had started heading towards where Ieyoshi stood. Nope. That wasn't allowed. "You see, Yoh is pretty busy here," he said as he bent over in a track athlete's running stance. He visualized a track, a referee pointing a gun in the air counting down. "He doesn't need any interruptions." Three, two, one. Like an olympic sprinter, he surged forward and within a fraction of a second he expertly maneuvered through a space between Ryuu and another student that had just opened up. He shifted his weight to rotate his entire body, extending his right hand forward with his palm facing Ryuu. He felt the weight of the opposing boy's chest as Ryuu's momentum came to a grinding halt. He followed up by digging his feet into the ground, forcing Ryuu backwards. "Back off," he commanded.

"Fuck you, no," Ryuu snarled, eyes narrowing in a glare at the teen blocking him. His glare shifted towards Ieyoshi an instant later, and he attempted to shove Damien to the side, but it was too late. Ieyoshi chucked the phone across the school's perimeter fence with all of his might, said fence being located a dozen or so meters behind the crowd. He hurled it with such force that it smashed into the window of a parked car on the other side of the street. The small device exploded into pieces of metal, electronics, and graphene. In response, the car's alarm started blaring in the relative distance. It was like background music to Ieyoshi. Its chaotic qualities paralleled his mood quite well.

Ryuu cursed. One did not simply smash a phone like that, dammit! His glare shifted to Damien, angry at the teen for blocking him.

Ieyoshi turned his head to the left, the small bones in his neck shifting with it, emitting several soft crack!s in quick succession as the crowd looked on, some clearly in abject terror. Ieyoshi couldn't see a single phone pointed in his or Ieharu's direction any longer.

Good. He widened his grin into a sneer, none of its warmth or depth doing anything to defrost the chill emanating from his eyes and he stared at individual members of the crowd. When one of them dared to meet his eyes, he snapped, just as he'd rehearsed in the mirror. Ah yes, it was finally time for the coup de grace.

He shook his entire upper body with the force of his next word, spittle flying from his mouth, his expression ravenous. "FUCK—" It had the intended effect. The people closest to him literally jumped backwards, as if he were a ghoul. He didn't miss a beat, continuing his thought. "—you lookin' at?"

That's when people stopped looking at him. Good. Only a short blonde haired student continued to glare, eyes shifting from Damien to Ieyoshi and back, but the Sawada twin paid him little attention.

He looked down at the kid he'd accosted, his voice icy. "I better not see any fucking pictures, or I'll fucking break you." His words were simple. They weren't outlining a threat. They were explaining an inescapable reality. Without further ado, Ieyoshi turned on his heel, the move as elegant as a leaf twirling in the breeze, and began walking towards the main school building. Honestly, he didn't care if they kept taking pictures. He didn't care if they talked. He didn't care that he was in his favorite batman undies. These were all meaningless trivialities to him. But Ieharu cared. And if they were to make his brother feel inadequate or ashamed or embarrassed, they might as well be assaulting him, too. That's how it worked with twins, after all. They were bound by something thicker than friendship, or family, or even blood. Ieyoshi thought of his brother as an extension of himself, and a part of his core being. Attacks on the Sawada twins would simply not be tolerated. Not without swift and, if he had anything to do with it, very violent retaliation.

As he strolled, as leisurely as one would through a park, Ieyoshi lost interest in whatever schoolyard foolishness was transacting behind his back. People had gotten the message, certainly.

They'd think twice before acting foolish around his family.

With the tail ends of his black batman boxers picking up with the wind, he made his way to up the steps towards the large double doors that constituted the school's main entryway.

For his part, Damien took Ieyoshi walking away as his cue to leave as well. Ryuu's attempt to push past him was admirable, but it just wasn't gonna happen so long as Damien drew breath. He merely leaned into Ryuu's strength, overriding it with his own and forcing the other boy backwards, inch by inch. Damien couldn't help the smirk that creased his lower countenance. In this contest of toughness, it was clear who the victor was. "Step back." He ordered once again, his tone unyielding. He gave Ryuu a light shove. It was light by Damien's standards, but the other boy ended up shuffling backwards a few steps and colliding with another one of the students in the crowd. He hadn't meant to be so rough, but oh well. Losing interest, Damien turned ran up to join his friend, turning to face the opposite direction as he did, his eyes trained at the crowd. He was walking backwards up the stairs at this point, his balance excellent.

Ryuu growled under his breath and started to run towards them, but it was to no avail.

"That's all folks," Damien announced, reaching in a pouch alongside his jeans. He grabbed two circular gray balls the size of marbles from it, brought his arm up, and slammed the balls to the ground. A plume of smoke immediately sprung up and spread over the area, the coughs of the students ringing out through the air like the end of a rap album. Ryuu screeched to a halt, not wanting to enter the smokescreen.

Ieharu watched the two make their gaudy exit, half-way relieved, half-way horrified, and infinitely thankful to his brother for the gift of clothing. Without thinking, the now-clothed boy rushed over to the student that had the misfortune of crossing his brother's wrathful gaze. He better than anyone knew how bad things could get when his brother decided to play rough.

To be frank, there was blood everywhere, and Ieharu wasn't quite sure how to proceed. He began to panic, gnawing on his lower lip, wondering if the poor guy would die.

"Haku!" Aobane called, waving to his friend as he pushed through the crowd. Ieharu looked up at the sound of a familiar voice calling his name. When he saw who it was, he couldn't help but smile. With such a familiar face to help, things would be okay now. Aobane slowed his pace as he approached his friend, whom was now mostly clothed in his brother's uniform. Though Aobane couldn't see much from where he had stood behind the crowd that had accumulated around the scene, once he managed to place himself beside Ieharu, he narrowed his eyes slightly in the direction of the crowd that parted quickly to allow the other Sawada through. Clearly none of the other students wanted to be near him, and by the looks of Yoh's bloodied fist and the poor sap who lay on the ground with crimson liquid still flowing from his nose, they had good reason to.

Aobane continued to watch him with a frown for a few moments, but then turned his attention back to Ieharu and placed his hands on each of the boy's shoulders. "Are you okay? What was that all about? Or... well... I think more importantly right now..." Aobane began, his brows furrowed, with the concern in his voice rather clear. "We should get Chitose to the nurse. I mean, like right now."

He let out a small, nervous laugh as he removed one hand from Haku's shoulder and pointed in the direction of the so-called Queen whom Ieharu had crashed into only a short while ago. Ieharu got the message, nodding once in agreement. Aobane turned then, leaning down beside the injured Namimori student and lifting him into a sitting position, pulling one of the boy's arms over his shoulder. "Better get him to the nurse! Let's go, Haku!" he said with a small smile, though there was a slight but unmistakable tone of urgency in his voice as he looked up at his friend.

Ieharu followed Aobane's example, taking the injured boy's other arm over his shoulder and attempting to lift, but when he did so, pain exploded from his chest, nearly causing him to stumble and drop the already-injured student.

"Ow," Ieharu hissed, wincing. Aobane gave his friend a wide-eyed, worried expression. Had he gotten hurt when him and his brother were fighting? He hadn't been standing in the right spot to get a full view of brawl, but it wouldn't come as a shock to Aobane if Ieyoshi had gone a little too hard on his brother. "Sorry." Ieharu couldn't help but grin goofily, feeling somewhat dumb. "I think I might not be so okay."

Ryuu coughed away the last of the smoke, a dark scowl on his face. The rational part of his brain was wondering where the hell Damien got smoke bombs from, but the larger more angry part of his brain was threatening to take over to run after the disappearing duo in order to beat the shit out of them. The theatrics reminded him of memories from long ago, and when Sawada's lackey blocked Ryuu the feeling of helplessness and rage felt terribly similar to back then. He gritted his teeth at the feeling, angry with himself for not stopping it, although how could he, when it happened so fast? He hadn't felt that way for a long time.

Not that it mattered now. Ryuu closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, forcing rage and other disturbing thoughts away and locking them in the back of his mind, allowing rational thought to resume its reign. Running after them wouldn't help a damn thing, and he wasn't going to be able to win in a two on one battle, either. He also had no idea where they were anyway, and, like it or not, Ryuu knew that Ieyoshi had the right to retaliate. Breaking a phone and a car was going a bit far, though. Still, there were too many things to consider, like the fact that he'd been protecting his twin brother.

Ryuu forced his attention elsewhere, thinking about the injured student. Right now, he should just do whatever he could, like bring the student to the nurse's office and check if the kid's phone was salvageable.

Tension fading from his body, Ryuu let out what sounded like a sigh and moved towards the two students—Aobane and the younger Sawada twin, the who was pretty much the cause of the whole fucking mess—pausing on the way to collect his bag and hitch it over his shoulder. He was trying his very hardest to ignore the sour taste the whole ordeal left in his mouth as he approached.

Bring the student to the nurse's office, then check up on the phone before class starts. Right. He could do that.

"I can help," he offered gruffly, coming to a stop beside the three boys.

"Ryuu!" Aobane exclaimed a little louder than necessary, relieved to have his classmate come to the rescue. Ryuu gently took the injured boy's arm—Chitose, wasn't that his name?—from Ieharu and pulled it over his shoulders instead.

Ieharu was thankful for this, though the other student, Aobane called him "Ryuu," seemed to radiate an aura of anger that was a bit scary. All the while, he forgot about the person he'd accidentally rammed into. He'd forgot all about Queen Rosa...

Tapping the end of his thumb on the transparent enter button of the keyboard of his BluScreen which he had set on it's larger screen mode. He'd been standing for a short time by the elevators, waiting there as his spiky haired friend had asked him to, so he could catch Ieyoshi and Damien if they happened to not have already made their way to the front gates of the school. Personally he would've preferred it if Ieyoshi and Damien had left already. He wasn't very fond of the older twin already, but after watching him beat some poor kid to a pulp that morning he was even less in the mood to be in the same space as him.

A light flashed on the BluScreen in front of Aobane and he grinned slightly as he read the message from one of his many online friends. They were having a debate over whether or not a pair of characters from an anime would make a good pair or not. Aobane didn't think so, but his friend was putting out quite a reasonable argument as to why they would be, not that any of his words would change Aobane's mind. Those two characters were just not right for each other no matter how you looked at it. He was pretty focused on their debate, not really paying attention to the fact that Ieharu seemed to be taking a little more time in the restroom than usual, and quickly began typing up a counter argument.

Behind Aobane, the elevator dinged to a stop. The doors opened, revealing a group of kids who streamed out like a pack of fish in the sea, chattering to each other as they passed Aobane. He lifted his eyes from his BluScreen and smiled as a few of the students wished him a good evening. Aobane nodded in acknowledgement before he turned his attention back to his screen and continued typing until one of them bumped into Aobane. He swayed slightly from the weak impact, taking him a second to realize that another body had met his before he blinked a couple times, pulling his mind away from the conversation on the screen in front of him, and turned his head to see who had collided with him. His expression brightened when he recognized Ryuu, the fellow 1st year who had helped them with the injured Chitose that morning.

"Oh," Ryuu said, looking up at Aobane with the customary faint frown on his face. Today hadn't been a good day for him - Incident Underwear (which was what Ryuu had decided to call it) had been on his mind for most of the day, and club had ended earlier than usual. Practice had gotten it off his mind, but now that it was over Incident Underwear was back into the front of his mind like dried gum stuck to a chair, especially now that the classmate that had helped him bring Chitose to the nurse's office was in front of him. "Sorry."

"Ryuu!" Aobane exclaimed cheerfully, though his smile lessened slightly as he stared at his classmate. So he hadn't imagined it this morning, after all. After all the commotion in the courtyard, it was no surprise to be able to feel the tension in the air around all those students who had witness Ieyoshi and Ieharu fighting, but when Ryuu had stepped in to help carry the injured student to the nurse Aobane couldn't help but get a touchy vibe from the blond student in particular. He wrote it off as just the mixture of negative emotions from the gathering of students, but now that Ryuu was standing next to him alone, it was obvious that something was bothering him.

Aobane closed his BluScreen and wrapped the device around his wrist as he shook his head. "I'm kinda in the way of the elevator, so you're forgiven this time. Still recovering from the show this morning?" That may have been a little straightforward. "I mean I'm still surprised Yoh chose to wear those boxers!" he said, his words followed by a brief chuckle.

"Yoh?" Ryuu's eyebrows wrinkled for a moment, then his face cleared in recognition. "Oh, Ieyoshi," he muttered to himself. "A-Ah, yeah. Those boxers were pretty shocking, yeah," he said to Aobane. "Bet the girls loved it though," he added wryly, remembering how some of the girls had squealed as he pulled his pants off for his brother to wear. Though what happened after...

No point remembering that now. He'd deal with it later. Pushing the thought away from his mind (unsuccessfully, like the past hundred times he tried), Ryuu casted his brains around for another subject. He didn't really feel like going home yet. Changing the subject, Ryuu hooked his thumbs into his pockets and asked, "What's so interesting about your BluScreen that you forget to move out of the way of the elevator?"

It seemed like fireworks had exploded in Aobane's chestnut eyes as they widened excitedly in response Ryuu's question. The look of utter enthusiasm lasted just a few seconds before Aobane closed his eyes and raised a fist to his chin. He let out a couple short laughs and then opened his eyes slowly, his actions being rather dramatic. "I thought you'd never ask. Ever heard of [BLANK]? If so, then you should know that there's been an online debate, or some call it a battle, since the anime aired last year about who Hime-chan's soul mate really is."

"Oh, Markus and Ojito right?" Ryuu was currently watching it. What? Anime was pretty cool, no matter what his relatives might say. The story was about a princess trying to take back her land against the evil Kihou, the magistrate who was reigning on her place, with the help of her love interests Markus and Ojito. The princess wasn't a pushover when it came to battle, and the artstyle and character designs were visually stunning. "I think she'll end up with Ojito." he mused thoughtfully. "I mean, she's got good chemistry with him, and they've known each other for a long time now."

"So you're on OjiHime's side, huh? I can understand that, but there's another character that is supposed to have her own story in the second season coming out this year. Markus's second in command, Aneko! She hasn't had a lot of screen time but it's pretty obvious she's taken an interest in Ojito. She's related to Markus so giving her a major role in the second season would be pointless if it didn't lead anywhere with her only available love interest, Ojito." He ended his sentence with a confident grin, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he eagerly awaited Ryu's response. He'd once been on the side of Ojito and Hime too, but halfway through the anime he transitioned into the MarHime shipping zone. Not just because he liked Markus's serious, yet charming personality, but also because it was clearly obvious that that was the ship that would reach canon level by the end of the anime.

"Oh, please," Ryuu's back straightened and he raised his hands to readjust the fedora resting on his head. Somehow, the action made him look like he was gearing up for a fight. He smiled faintly, mustering his argument. "Aneko is there because she's the captain of the much-needed reinforcements, and although she showed signs of having a crush on Ojito in the trailers there wasn't much sign of him showing the same interest back, merely interest as a battle partner. Also, although Hime works better with Markus in battle and Ojito seems to be a playboy, he treats Hime specially and in episode seventeen, the duo were shown blushing like newly weds when they were hanging out in the sakura park. Newly weds." He crossed his arms and leaned back, sure of victory. "How could Hime and Ojito not be getting together?"

Aobane uncrossed his arms and placed his hands on his hips, shifting his weight to his right leg. "Trailers only show you what you want to see. It would spoil the surprise if they made their sure-to-be relationship obvious. Anyway, Akeno has way too much potential as a character to just be some side commander that gets brushed off at the end. Markus's character would also end up being a waste if Ojito and Hime end up together unless they introduce some random new character that Markus falls for which would once again lead to Akeno being brushed off and it wouldn't fit with the plot that the first season has created."

"Good points," Ryuu admitted semi-grudgingly, "but I still believe Hime is going to end up with Ojito. Also, you're forgetting Rinne, Markus's ex-girlfriend and the bad guy's female general who's still got a crush on Markus. Part of the reason Markus joined Hime in the first place was to show that she was in the wrong to believe in Kihou, who's an asshole."

Clicking his tongue a few times, Aobane crossed his arms in front of himself again and shook his head. "Using Rinne as a backup? Sure, her and Markus might've had something but she's one of those characters that will likely realize they're wrong and then sacrifices herself shortly afterwards."

"There are hints that Markus still has lingering feelings for her, so it's still a possibility that they could end up together." He said stubbornly, faint smile turning into a small grin. Then a thought crossed his mind and he frowned, puzzled. "Hey, not that I mind the shipping-talk, but why're you waiting outside the elevator this late? I thought you didn't have club?"

"Rinne's there to be the obstacle Hime-chan has to cross over to get closer to Markus. Anyway she's, oh--" Aobane looked a little confused for a second. He'd gotten so caught up in their debate that he pretty much completely forgot that he was waiting for Ieharu while he went to the bathroom. How long had it been since his friend first left him there to keep watch for Ieyoshi and Damien? He suddenly started feeling concerned, but didn't want to look too worried in front of Ryuu after they had been having such an interesting conversation.

"Excellent question!" Aobane gave Ryuu a mischievous grin and raised one of his index fingers in the air as if he was about to start conducting an orchestra. "I happen to be waiting for the infamous Mr. Raging Underpants himself! Also known as Haku."

Aobane lowered his pointing hand and shifted his weight onto his left leg, tilting his head slightly as he continued. "Actually he's been in the restroom for over fifteen minutes already. He must've had something bad for lunch."

Huh, who knew that Aobane was so great to talk to? Ryuu uncrossed his arms, tension down. Even Incident Underwear didn't seem that bad now, even though the memory of his helplessness came back when Aobane brought Ieharu's name up. Guess that meant that all he really needed was someone to talk to. Aobane seemed a bit worried for a moment, but that was replaced with cheer so quickly that Ryuu wasn't sure whether he'd imagine it.

"Must've been the mashed they were serving for lunch in the canteen," Ryuu agreed, wincing at the memory. Normally it was pretty good, but the mashed potato tasted like rotten bananas that had been pureed in mouldy potatoes. Ryuu had taken one bite and promptly spat it back out and refused to touch it. "That thing tastes mean. Whatever you do, don't eat it."

Aobane promptly shook his head. I never eat already-made meals." he said, then brought a thumb up to point at himself as he smiled proudly. "I'm the only chef I need! Plus, girls love a guy who can cook! Haku wouldn't want to eat school lunch anymore if he had one of my bentos!"

Aobane turned himself towards the hallway just beyond the elevators, placing one hand on his hip and scratching the hair on the back of his head with the other. "Not that I care much, but Yoh and Damien are going to take off if Haku takes any longer. Maybe he fell in?"

Further up the hallway was Ieharu, who'd found himself stalled, separated from his friends by a wall of sorts. Four burly intimidating dudes—no, six, counting the two that were leaning against the wall around the corner to the left. He'd been stopped at a small T-shaped intersection in the hall, a dozen or so meters before the hallway opened into the elevator niche on the right.

"Uh..." The guys, who Ieharu could only assume were seniors, all looked up at him at the same time, where before they were busy tapping away on their phones. They locked onto him like six laser-guided missiles, the intensity of their glares making Ieharu's voice stick in his throat. Along with his breath.

Something about this didn't feel quite right. In fact, it felt downright bad. Out of habit, Ieharu stepped to his right, and Ieyoshi stepped up in front of him— ... for a moment, that's how it went in Ieharu's mind. It took him entire seconds to remember that he was alone here. His brother, his inseparable twin, didn't have his back this time.

That's when the color drained from the boy's face, and the upperclassmen staring him down saw it happen, too.

A form of glee entered their expressions, like wolves spotting a limp buck.

The two that were closest to him pocketed their phones and took a step forward. And then another. And then another. Their shadows, long and ominous, crept upon Ieharu's comparatively small and frail body, eventually engulfing it entirely.

For his part, Ieharu summoned the courage to take a step back, but he could only manage that one step. He clasped his hands together and brought them to his chest so that they rested under his chin, as if in prayer. He was panicking, that much was obvious. Too many thoughts were occurring at the same time.

"Hey," one of the upperclassmen said. He was the closest one. His hands were in his pockets, his posture relaxed, as if he were taking a stroll through the park. It was his eyes that gave him away. "You're that Ieharu kid, right? That one from this morning?"

By now, the others had started advancing, flowing as water around him, yet Ieharu remained frozen in place, like a statue.

"No way, that's totally him," one of the others said, ribbing the first guy with his elbow.

"Yeah. Just imagine him in his wittle undies and it's impossible not to see it!" Ieharu flinched. This voice came from behind him, but he didn't dare turn his head, let alone move. He soon realized that he wasn't breathing, and so slowly, quietly exhaled. "You're him though, right? You're Ieharu Sawada." The guy who'd moved behind him asked offhandedly. His voice had a jovial quality to it. He sounded like a nice guy, and despite his better judgment, Ieharu clung to that sliver of hope, that chance for deliverance.

"Y-Yeah," he muttered.

"Speak up!" One of the others said, shouting, spittle flying from his mouth. That made Ieharu nearly jump out of his skin.

"Yeah!" he enunciated, speaking a little louder this time; "with your chest if you want respect!" like Ieyoshi always said.

"Good," the first one spoke this time, pulling out his phone as he did. After some awkward moments of silence while he tapped his fingers along its little screen, he leveled Ieharu with another look. "Hey. Wanna come with us?"

"Uhh... I'm kinda... m-meeting with... supposed to... um..." Ieharu trailed off.

"Whaaaat?!" he replied with mock confusion, leaning in, grinning. "I can't hear you, kid. Stop mumbling." At the same time, the guy who was standing behind him placed his hands on Ieharu's shoulders.

Unable to control himself, Ieharu screwed his eyes shut. It was his default go-to reaction when he was out of options. At this point, he was shaking pretty badly, which elicited chuckles from the group.

"You guys hear that? I think he said yes. You heard that?" After receiving several nods from his compatriots, the upperclassman's benign grin mutated into a sneer. "Good. Let's not keep the queen bitch waiting."

Aobane felt his shoulders tense, an involuntary action, and goosebumps formed under the sleeves of his uniform. He knew what ill intent felt like. He suspected something was itching at Ryuu's mind since that morning, but the somewhat disappointed and mostly upset sensations coming from Aobane's blond classmate was in a separate category from this one.

Without saying a word to Ryuu, Aobane stepped out of the niche where the elevator was located and turned the corner to stand in the hallway. It didn't even take him a second to find out why he had suddenly felt uncomfortable, and also what had been taking Ieharu so long when he usually would've tried to be quick since Aobane had been waiting for him.

He swiftly identified the six upperclassmen that had Ieharu surrounded. Aobane had said hi to each of them at least once, but preferred to keep his distance from the seniors of the Martial Arts Club after witnessing them discreetly harassing a couple other students from time to time, and now it looked like they had their sights set on Ieharu for some reason or other.

Aobane hesitated for a couple moments, trying to think of some way he could step in and safely drag his friend away without having to be too forceful. He wasn't sure what was going on exactly, so Aobane couldn't feel angry about them corning Ieharu just yet, but it wasn't like he'd stand a chance against a bunch of much larger upperclassmen anyway. He swallowed dryly and tried to put on his most convincing smile. Maybe he could try to laugh off the situation and walk off with Ieharu before it got too serious. However, before he could take a step forward, Ryuu brushed past him in a hurry.

"Oi." Ryuu's voice rang out loud and clear, almost like a shout. He sprinted up to them, jaw set, determined to stop what was obviously going on. "What's going on here—"

Ryuu's face turned confused as he caught sight of who it was. "... Senpai?" He hadn't expected to see the seniors that had missed practice hanging out in the hallways looking like they were ganging up on someone, and he definitely hadn't expected that person to be Ieharu, of all people. Aside from looking like a black-haired carbon copy of his brother, the kid looked scared, almost terrified. Ryuu looked at the upperclassmen suspiciously, hoping that he was wrong. "What are you doing?"

Ieharu opened his eyes and looked upon the fedora-wearing guy with naked terror, failing to remember that he'd seen him help an injured student earlier in the day. Without warning, the pain in his chest returned with a vengeance, causing him to wince. Yet another strong guy had joined their ranks, bringing the number of wolves to seven. And they probably didn't want to take him somewhere nice, either. What were they planning to do with him? Did they do something to Aobane? Could he maybe call Ieyoshi while they were talking amongst themselves? No. Being bullied wasn't something new for Ieharu, and he knew the rules. One didn't dare reach for one's phone or make any sudden movements, lest one anger one's assailants. And their anger would certainly lead to a bad outcome.

The upperclassmen turned to Ryuu, offering him a series of warm and disarming smiles. The darkness in their eyes receded, replaced with a genuine glow of compassion. Like a mob of wolves masquerading as sheep. They could have actually passed as a group of samaritans, too, save for one fatal oversight. The upperclassman who'd placed his hands on Ieharu's shoulders only tightened his grip, forcing another wince out of the boy.

"Ah, new guy! Um... Morimoto!" The upperclassman who had been sneering in Ieharu's direction up until a moment ago spoke with an affable tone, sounding relieved at remembering the name. He widened his smile, erasing any trace of menace from his expression as he walked towards Ryuu, slinging an arm around the kid. "Why, we were just asking this guy to hang out with us. What's up? Practice ended yet?"

"... Yes. We ended early today." Ryuu answered his seniors politely, although annoyance was sharp in his tone. He subtly shouldered the arm slung around him away. He didn't really like people touching him without his permission. He took a step forward as the guy stepped away, hands up in the air like he was training for the best getting arrested award. He glanced at the scene, his eyes lingering on the hands laid on Ieharu, seeing how they were clutching his shoulders, the wince he gave. His eyes narrowed. He turned to the guy who had done a one-armed hug on him instead, the curiosity and annoyance on his face overshadowing any suspicion he felt. "Ishiki-senpai, where were you guys? Minneguchi was asking everybody where you were, it was annoying. What're you doing with Ieyoshi's brother?"

At the mention of his name, Ieharu's ears perked up, the light of hope nipping at the shadowy malaise of inevitability that had settled over him like a heavy sweater. The guy had said his name with such concern... Oh! Suddenly, he remembered. Ryuu. Aobane had said his name earlier, in the morning. It was Ryuu! The guy that helped Chitose get to Nurse. Aobane knew him, so he had to be a good guy!

"Oh, here and there," the guy now known as Ishiki-senpai said airily, waving a hand around in a gesture that meant does it really matter? He gave a short laugh. "Minneguchi, huh? Yeah, I did promise him that I'd show him how to do that thing with the bokuto... he must be pissed." Mirth danced in his eyes. "I'll make it up to him later. As for what I'm doing with this kid..."

He looked back at Ieharu, and Ryuu and Aobane didn't miss the way his eyes narrowed menacingly, or how his grin gained an edge like a wolf baring his fangs. "We're just... showing him the ropes, you know? He's got potential to be in our group, especially with the incident that morning." Then his eyes light up with an idea, and he grinned again. Ieharu's hope wavered. "Hey, Morimoto," he said slowly, like he was savouring his words. "You're in the same class, right?"

Ryuu nodded, and Ishiki's grin grew wider. Ieharu's gut sank low as the upperclassman said cheerily, "why don't you help us convince him? You know him, he knows you, so on and so forth, what do you think? C'mon," he cajoled, "give it a go."

Aobane had taken only a few steps closer as Ryuu confronted the upperclassman, wanting to keep a safe distance so not to draw attention to himself. Wtih Ryuu's intervention, though, he felt less of a need to jump in. There would be no one to fetch help if Aobane also placed himself in the middle of the group with Ieharu. Even with Ryuu being a member of the same Martial Arts Club, he was still just a 1st year. The three of them up against six 3rd years would be a suicide match. Luckily, it seemed like Aobane was being mostly ignored by the upperclassmen since he wasn't much of a threat to a bunch of senior martial arts students, anyway. He took a couple steps back, moving his eyes from Ieharu to glance at Ryuu for a few second before he turned and hurried in the opposite direction.

"Stall them as much as you can, Ryuu!" Aobane thought to himself as he quickened his pace from a jog to a run. The stairs were further down the hall, but it would be faster than waiting for the elevator. There was only one thing he needed to focus on right now, and that was finding Ieyoshi and Damien and alerting them of Ieharu's situation. Aobane would be back for sure, though, whether Damien and Ieyoshi were still waiting by the gate or not.

Almost as if he'd heard Aobane's thoughts, Ryuu looked towards Ieharu, who had turned white as a sheet. Then he looked at his senpai. "Um, no," he said, striding forwards. He grabbed Ieharu's arm. "I don't think he wants to be here, and coercing someone to join the club isn't something I like to do unless he wants to." He brushed his senpai's hands off Ieharu and gently pulled at his arm, steering him towards the elevators. "Plus, his friend is looking for him. Sorry, Senpai." he said behind his shoulder, only sounding slightly apologetic.

The depth of Ishiki's grin didn't falter for even a moment, but the feigned warmth visibly drained from his eyes, leaving behind a steely frost that practically radiated malicious intent. He didn't step so much as slide over, like a ghost or a wraith, blocking Ryuu's path. Suddenly, the other upperclassmen were there as well, encircling them, as if activated by Ishiki's actions. The two first-years were completely surrounded, but that didn't seem to phase Ryuu, who refused to relent. This placed him on a collision course with Ishiki, looking as if he fully intended to push past him. Ieharu recognize this almost immediately, looking up at Ryuu's back as he was lead forth by the arm.

It felt strange, like a sort of deja vu. This wasn't the first time he'd been in a tumultuous situation. It wasn't the first time he'd succumbed to panic, unable to react, yet his brother had always been there to bail him out. To offer his hand, his warmth, the guarantee of his protection. This time, though, it wasn't Ieyoshi, even though it felt just like him. The air of confidence. The sense of purpose, of inevitability, of implacability. Tears burned at the corners of his eyes, threatening to breach the dam and stream down his cheeks, but he held them back, instead cursing himself for being so pathetic. Once again, it was Ieharu the failure, the loser Ieharu who was too scared to defend himself. Ryuu was going to fight for him, just like Ieyoshi would have, and he knew how that was going to end.

"Senpai." Ryuu's tone was cordial, but brook no argument and sounded like he was holding back a growl. He looked up, meeting Ishiki's eyes in a heated glare that threatened to melt the ice and promised a kick to the balls if he didn't move out of the way. For someone who was the shortest amongst all the people present, he painted a remarkably menacing picture, although nobody but Ieharu noticed the way his hand tightened on his wrist, like he was worried about what was to come. "Please move."

Ryuu didn't want to admit it, but he was worried. He knew he wouldn't be able to beat them, especially Ishiki-senpai. There was a reason Minneguchi wanted him to teach her. Plus he was unarmed, though maybe he could use his schoolbag. To top it off, he had someone else with him. He couldn't really drag other people into fights, especially not when it was six-on-one. Two-on-one sure, maybe even four-on-one if he were armed, sure, but not six. This wasn't an action movie. There were too many, and they didn't seem to be going anywhere.

There had to be something he could do. Ryuu didn't like the idea of Ieharu getting hurt because of him.

Oh, right. There was that. Hopefully it'd result in him being the only casualty. Ryuu scowled, his free hand tensing as he took a step forward. The plan was: he'd step forward, push Ishiki-senpai to the side, and give Ieharu the chance to escape before the upperclassmen pounced. At the back of his mind, Ryuu idly wondered if he'd get expelled from the club afterwards, but that could be dealt with later. He faced the upperclassmen and took in a deep breath, clearing his mind.

For now, he had people to fight.

A transient sort of zen-like calmness settled over Ieharu body, though his mind raced. He was still scared, that was for sure, but it suddenly took a back seat to something greater. With one curt motion, he twisted his arm out of Ryuu's grasp and took a step backward, to the surprise of everyone involved, himself included. Though his legs were shaking, he still dared to channel his brother. Ieyoshi would say: if you're gonna go down, best to go down alone, right? No use getting more people hurt just because you fucked up. Right. That was the logical thing to do... right?

Ryuu looked back at him, and Ieharu caught his eye. "What are you d-doing, Ryuu?" He asked, looking off to the side and wiping an eye with the back of his hand. "I..." He offered Ryuu his best smile without making further eye contact. "I want to go with them, so just go follow Aobane, okay?"

"W-What?" Startled, Ryuu took a step back, thrown by Ieharu's words. He stared at Ieharu in disbelief, then his mind connected the dots on what Ieharu was trying to do and his eyes narrowed. He'd be impressed if he wasn't so busy cursing Ieharu for being such an idiotic, self-sacrificial turd who had zero sense of self preservation. What the hell was he doing?! Who knew what Ishiki-senpai and the others had in store for the guy? Probably a beating, if Ryuu went by past experience, but did Ieharu really knew what he was getting into?!

"You—" His voice strucked dumb with sheer incredulity, Ryuu stared at Ieharu, his hands curling into fists, almost shaking from the mixture of rage and worry coursing through him. "Are you fucking serious?!"

Ieharu shoved his hands into his pockets, mostly to hide the fact that they, too, had begun to shake. He looked over Ryuu's shoulder and up at the upperclassman that stood before him. Ishiki. "Well?" He muttered, adding as much steel to his shaking voice as he could muster. "Let's go."

Ishiki grinned, and as if on cue the other club members closed in around Ieharu like a well-trained wolf pack and started to lead him away. "There, you see?" Ishiki said truimphantly, back to being non-menacing. Unpreturbed by the glare Ryuu was sending him, he turned to follow the others. "Well, see you tomorr—"

"Wait." Ryuu strode towards the upperclassmen in a way that was almost aggressive, maintaining his icy glare. "I'm coming too," he said grumpily, tone holding a note of finality as he came to a stop beside Ieharu. The boy threw Ryuu a look that was equal parts confusion and dismay, and Ryuu cursed himself for sticking around Ieharu when it was obviously going to end in tears and the apocalypse. Why couldn't he just not feel guilty whenever he thought about ditching the whole situation? God, he was such an idiot! Ignoring Ieharu, Ryuu looked at the others evenly, his jaw set. "Is that alright, Senpai?"

"Hmm," Ishiki tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully, then smiled. "Why not?" One of the other members looked like they were about to protest, but Ishiki waved him off. "He's a part of the club, he's got to learn how things are run here sooner or later." He smiled at Ryuu, a nasty, not-entirely-friendly gleam in his eye. "Why not now?"

And so they went, Ryuu walking close to Haku as they were herded away.

On the floor below, Aobane kicked up dust as the bottom of his shoes met the dirt outside of the school's entrance. He'd already been scolded by a teacher once that day for wearing his indoor shoes outside, but now wasn't the time to be worrying about that. The courtyard was nearly empty and he was able to catch sight of Ieyoshi and Damien standing near the street on the other side of the gate, and they weren't by themselves either. "Heeyyy!!" Aobane shouted as he ran towards them, wanting to get their attention in case they were just about to give up waiting and start walking home before he could reach them. He cleared the distance fairly quickly, though, and skidded clumsily to a stop a few feet from their position.

Now that he was up close he recognized the other bodies that he'd seen standing with Damien and Ieyoshi. They were the brothers Enn and Shou. He would've greeted them cheerfully, but there was a more important matter at hand right now. Aobane let out a couple short breaths, trying to get his heartreat to slow as best he could, before taking a deep breath and saying rather loudly, "Haku's in trouble! Follow me!"

Before wasting a single second, Aobane spun on his heel and began sprinting back the way he came.

---

Collab between Xunmanius, Alle9009 and Karkastic Red for Haku, Ryuu and Aobane.

---

Ieyoshi's grimace flattened into a straight line. His eyes widened very slightly. His shoulders settled, countenance becoming stiff. It was almost doll-like in its rigidness. The only thing that betray his underlying thoughts was the intensity of his glare as it bore into Ishiki's skull.

Now, at his age, Ieyoshi was still too young, too inexperienced, to be called a pessimist. Still, he wasn't one to glaze over what he considered the facts. For one, fighting and beating Ishiki alone, without his goons to back him up, would have already been a massive challenge. It was just a fact that he wasn't going to be able to beat Ishiki, the four upperclassmen in front of Ishiki... Ieyoshi's eyes wandered over to his right. ... and the two upperclassmen who held the blonde kid. He returned his eyes forward, dismissing those two. In the event of a fight, they'd be too busy restraining the other guy, so it was highly unlikely that they'd join in any sort of skirmish initially.

Convenient.

Ieyoshi noticed it first. There was movement from behind Ishiki. He didn't have to shift his eyes to notice who it was. Ieharu, gathering himself, moving his feet under his body so that he rested in a squatting pose, back against the wall. The two twins met eyes then. Ieyoshi tilted his head slightly to the left, and some sort of meaning, a silent message, seemed to pass between them. After a second or two, Ieharu wiped his face with the back of his sleeve, accidentally smearing red across his cheeks, and shook his head slightly, offering his brother his toothiest grin.

Ieyoshi closed his eyes for a instant, sighing softly. "Tch," he uttered under his breath, looking away from his twin. "Liar."

He resumed glaring at Ishiki, who simply shrugged at the lull in action. "Well?"

Between moments, Ieyoshi had developed something resembling a plan. Better, because it seemed that Ishiki wanted him to make the first move. "Let me guess," Ieyoshi began, taking a step to his right. "This is the part where I ask you nicely to let my brother go." He took another step to his right. The four upperclassmen in front of Ishiki followed Ieyoshi with their eyes. Predictably, Ishiki too a step to his left, subconsciously mirroring the elder twin. Good. The closer he could get to Ieharu and the further Ishiki was from them both, the easier this would be. Better to keep talking, then. "And then you say no." He took another step to his right, forcing the four upperclassmen to turn their heads to keep him in their sights. Like good dogs, they wouldn't attack until Ishiki told them too. Once again, Ishiki took another step to his left. They were virtually circling each other now. "And then I beat you all up."

Ieyoshi hoped his voice didn't shake with that last line. Bluffing wasn't his strong suit. Still, with one more step, it'd be a straight shot to reach Ieharu's position. Just one more step.

However, Ishiki didn't move this time. Instead, he laughed. It was obviously forced, because none of the warmth or girth reached his eyes. They were will cold and beady, despite his face. One second, two, five, he kept laughing. The other upperclassmen looked at each other, somewhat confused. As if to prompt them, Ishiki snapped his fingers twice in quick succession. Suddenly, they began laughing too. First the two in the middle, then all four, then the other two that were holding the other kid, who looked at them like they had all turned nuts. All of them force-laughing in tandem with their boss. And then, as spontaneously as it had started, Ishiki stopped, becoming silent. Most of the others followed suit except the one closest to Ieyoshi, who kept laughing. He was promptly elbowed in the side by his compatriots.

Ishiki cleared his throat in an attempt to cover up the lack of coordination amongst his lackeys. His girlfriend was cheering him on from the side, after all. He had to look badass in front of her, despite this poor showing from his subordinates. "Stupid child!" He proclaimed, pointing at Ieyoshi. "And foolish! To dare to bare your fangs at us! My club is composed of this school's most elite fighters." He slowly raised his other hand as he spoke. His tone had become overbearingly arrogant, his stance undeniably dramatic. Akako gave him another cheer of approval, grinning while she recorded the whole thing on her BluScreen. "We're the elite! You'll never get past a single one of us." Ishiki snapped his fingers. Once. Pause. Then again. Ieyoshi recognized it as the signal to attack and raised his fists, taking a fighting stance. He wasn't close enough to his brother, and things had started too soon. This wasn't going to work out after all.

...

Several seconds after Ishiki's grandiose hand gestures, when nothing happened, Ieyoshi raised an eyebrow. The four upperclassmen seemed confused again.

Ishiki brought his palm to his forehead, resulting in a loud smack. "Attack, you idiots," he said, nearly whining. "The two snaps means to attack. We went over this."

That's when one of the upperclassmen, the one closest to Ieyoshi, mobilized. He puffed out his chest, assuming his full height, and took a step forward, fist balled, meaning to attack the elder twin... and promptly proceeded to trip over his own feet and fall on his face.

So much for the elite.

Everyone looked down at him, on the floor, mouths slightly agape. Ishiki face-palmed once more. His girlfriend tsked in annoyance. "Moron," she muttered, and the blonde kid let out a laugh that was hastily smothered by his captors. Despite his lack of belief in superstition, Ieyoshi wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth. Taking advantage of this distraction, he darted forward and to the right, easily leaping over the downed upperclassman. He came sliding to a halt in front of Ieharu, who'd come to his feet immediately, already prepared to move. So far, this had gone better than he had hoped. Phase one of his plan was complete. He already reached his brother without too much trouble. Now for phase two. Unfortunately, this particular spot was very well chosen by the Martial Arts Appreciation club. This part of the lot was not only mostly abandoned, but was walled off from the rest of the school proper by the auxiliary building, which was probably why the they liked to hang out here. No teachers or staff or nosy students to get in the way of their fun.

This meant that, in order to escape, Ieyoshi's only option was to leave the same way he came. Hop back over the downed upperclassman, outmaneuver Ishiki and his thugs, run along the side of the auxiliary building, and exit back into the main parking lot where Damien and the others were waiting. Ieyoshi grabbed his brother by the hand, sparing a precious moment to glance in the direction of the other kid whom had been restrained. The elder twin dismissed him in the same instant. While the guy's predicament was unfortunate, Ieyoshi was simply too pragmatic to play the hero. Further, there was no time to lose and their window of escape was closing fast.

When he tried to move forward, however, Ieharu resisted him.

"But Ryuu!" The younger twin whispered. The boy in question glared as though he couldn't believe them for halting and jerked his head sharply, wincing slightly at the movement. His expression practically screamed get out of here already, dumb asses! But it was too late. Ieyoshi could only watch, eyes wide, as his precious window of opportunity closed right in front of his face. Ishiki wasn't stupid, and moved immediately to block their path. His thugs followed suit, closing off the only means of escape left open by the downed upperclassman.

"For fucks sake, Ieharu," Ieyoshi sighed, letting go of his brother's hand. They were screwed, backs only a meter or two from the wall. Another wall to their right. The wall of the auxiliary building to their left. Ishiki and his thugs to the front, and they were slowly closing in. Help could not be expected from the only person present who would be on their side, since no matter how much Ryuu struggled and curse there wasn't much a small boy like him could do against two burly upperclassmen who were at least twenty centimeters taller than him, had him by the arms and were nearly lifting him off his feet.

At this point, any normal person would have panicked. Or at least been unsettled. It was the end, after all. However, looking at Ieyoshi, none of that was evident. One moment, he seemed driven, motivated to action as he went for his brother, but now he seemed almost bored. He took a step backwards so that he stood dead center in front of Ieharu, his back to the younger twin. Taking advantage of this interim period before what he knew for certain would be an ensuing violence, he took stock of his surroundings one more time, if only to confirm just how screwed they really were. To be honest, if he was being completely forthright with himself, none of this came as a surprise. This was the obvious result of running into a situation half-cocked and trying to improvise with off-the-cuff tactics in lieu of a well-formed strategy. It simply wasn't his style.

"Remember boys," the girl was holding her BluScreen right in front of her, with the twins in full focus, "Rosa says she needs a trophy to collect from these boys! It has been decided the only true proof that they've been disposed of is that underwear that they flaunted so flagrantly this morning. You know, the whities and the 'Batman Bitch' one! Get me that Batman underwear!" She paused a bit before adding a more innocent sounding "Pleee~ase?"

After several moments of inaction, perhaps due to the upperclassmen's bewilderment at what'd just been asked of them, Ishiki clapped his hands. "Well, you heard her!" He said, making a shooing motion. "Get 'em!" Ishiki slurred the final syllables, so that it came out as ssskit 'em!

Almost cavalierly, Ieyoshi raised his hands, fists open, his left crossed over his right. He spread his legs about shoulder width apart, lowering himself into a quasi-boxing stance. Whatever happened, he wouldn't make this easy for them. He'd make sure it took all four to... did she say take their underwear? Ieharu squealed in the background.

As the upperclassmen began closing the distance, a single thought permeated the serene silence that had settled over his conscious mind: I'll die before you lay hands on my brother again.

A loud voice bellowed, "HEY!" The boys became startled, and everyone but Ieyoshi paused to look around. The eerily familiar voice had apparently come from behind them, but nobody was there, or at least that's what was apparent. However, the sound of leaves rustling and branches creaking made it immediately obvious as to where the voice had come from: the big, dense maple tree. Suddenly, a big black figure dropped from it like like a ninja from television and landed perfectly. A person remained crouched on the ground, sitting on one knee with the other in front of him. His head was down beside his knee, obscuring his face, but unmistakably he was wearing a bright blue beanie. There was a silence, as the man—it was by no doubt, an adult man—did not give speak, neither did anybody else, waiting for him to speak. Ishiki attempted to break the silence. "Who–"

"Tell me," the man interrupted, his voice deep and intimidating. He paused and then spoke again. "Why don't you boys tell me..." he paused again. Ishiki gulped. There was no doubt in his mind that this man was going to ask exactly what was happening in this situation, and with a bunch of seniors surrounding two freshmen, one of which seemingly bruised, while another was being restrained, Ishiki couldn't possibly have thought up a reasonable excuse, not that one would have worked anyway. The man finished his sentence; "... tell me where I can find the Nurse's office." Everybody looked at the man incredulously. He grunted. "Y'see," he explained, looking up at the group of students with narrow eyes and an ironic grin, "I realize now that falling onto my ankle from ten feet up the tree isn't such a great idea."

Silence filled the area as everyone stared at him with expressions ranging from disbelief to flabbergasted, the air thick with tension and nervousness of the man who'd suddenly appeared. Then what he said sunk in and a sense of relief permeated the air around the upperclassmen as they registered that it was just some crazy dude instead of a teacher, and Ishiki straightened up with a winning smile, dark aura receding so fast that it was like he had never been spouting theatrics for the past hour or so in the first place. "Uh, yeah, the Nurse's office is over there," he said calmly, pointing with relief to the left. "Turn second right, go down the steps and walk straight until you see the nurses office. Right, dear?" He nudged his girlfriend, who was still standing there looking gobsmacked, BluScreen still held loosely in her hand as if she had forgotten that she had been using it to film.

"Y-Yeah," Akako recollected herself and smiled charmingly at the man. She looked the picture of beauty, belying her true nature. "You're right, Ishiki."

"Godot!" Ieharu exclaimed in pure jubilation, buds of hope blossoming in his eyes like miniature orange supernova. If he remembered being shot in the face just a few short hours earlier, it didn't show. Ieyoshi eyed the man but otherwise remained silent.

The hooded home-tutor pushed himself up, grunting as he did so. "Thank you kindly," he said, before casually limping away, his hands in his pockets.

Ieharu stared in unabated disbelief. "G-godot! Wait! No! Where are you going?!"

Godot paused mid-stride, however. "Come to think of it," he said, turning, "there seems to be a bit of an issue here. I couldn't help but notice while I was hanging in that tree there." He nodded toward it. "In fact, as far as I can tell, this looks like some kind of harassment, huh? Intimidation, bullying, all that ugly stuff. Yeah, I suppose you could say I'm good at reading a situation, although to be honest, it's pretty obvious that's exactly what's going on." Ishiki was about to deny it, but Godot interrupted him with a chuckle. "Relax kid, I understand, no need to convince me. Well, then allow me to rectify the situation. Yoh! Haku!" Godot pointed his finger in their direction. "You two quit picking on these young gentlemen right now!"

Ieyoshi dropped his hands and Ieharu nearly fell down on his backside at Godot's words. Both boys were rendered nonplussed, but it was Ieharu that regained his composure first. "Uh," he started, stepping out from behind his brother. "I... um. Well, Godot... we aren't— it's not..." He scrunched his face in an attempt to articulate his thoughts. Finally, he found the words. "It's not like that at all!"

"Is that so?" Godot stared off into the clouds. "Alright, so from what I'm understanding, you guys," he faced Ishiki, "are from the Martial Arts Appreciation Club, meaning you specialize in self-defense. That's why I was confused, because it appears you're not really defending yourselves at all. Quite the opposite, in fact. That dame however," Godot looked over in Akako's direction, "doesn't exactly fit into this crowd, huh? Not that girls can't 'appreciate' self-defense, I guess. Tell me, girl, are you recording all this?" Akako stuttered as her arms sunk slightly. Godot suddenly hollered, "TURN IT OFF!" Akako squeaked as she folded her BluScreen and turned it off.

"Punk!" Ishiki was hollering now, "Don't yell at my girlfriend like that, you bastard! Who the hell do you think you are?" Ishiki turned his head toward Haku and back at Godot, "You just break into school grounds and sit in a tree like some creepy stalker, and now you're lecturing us? The Elite?"

"Hey," Godot said in a low, intimidating voice, "Stuff it." Ishiki scowled at him and balled his fists. Godot took a step forward, grunting a bit as he did so. "I just thought it was a stupid idea," he explained, "to create incriminating evidence against yourself when doing 'business'. I guess that lady of yours is your middle-man between you and your employer, then?" Godot chuckled. "How cute. We've got ourselves a little intricate criminal syndicate in this school. Still, this drama that you're trying to pull is way too unnecessary. If I were you guys, I would have taken these two kids out in different locations. Don't even declare your intentions or none of that. And look," he gestured to Ryuu, "you got somebody unrelated mixed up in this."

"Godot," Ieyoshi said, frost underlining his tone. He gave the man his full attention for the first time since he'd dropped into the scene. Their new nanny was currently standing off to the side, to the right of Ishiki but a ways away from Ryuu and the two upperclassmen that surrounded him. "You're in my way." His words had a sort of uppity finality to them, as if they were entirely self-evident and he were being forced to state the obvious. His brother's declaration came much to Ieharu's horror, of course. He gave Godot a wide-eyed apologetic look, hoping to excuse his brother and welcome the older man's assistance. The difference between the expressions on their otherwise identical faces was like night and day.

"What was that?" Godot turned his head as he spoke sardonically, "I didn't catch it. I guess you didn't hear me when I said stuff it. That applies to everybody you know. When I say something, I expect people to listen to me talk. I might just teach you something." As Godot brushed himself off, Ieyoshi hunched his shoulders, a retort hot on his lips, but Ieharu pulled on his arm. Godot continued to rant. "Do you all have any idea how long I was in that tree, with the dead leaves that keep getting into your clothes? That wasn't as bad as my last three hiding spots, though. The garbage cans are particularly bad during lunch. Anyhow, I've been waiting all day to give a lecture that I was supposed to give earlier, out in this yucky weather, with nothing but the birds to talk to. So I'd like to get my point across, if you don't mind."

Ieyoshi shook off his brother's grasp almost violently, taking a step forward. "Listen, Ishiki," he said, addressing the upperclassman. "Fuck this guy. He's not a teacher here. You wanna throw down?" He resumed his fighting stance. "Come at me then." Ishiki looked at Ieyoshi like he'd sprouted another head. Ieyoshi took the moment of silence as a question with an answer he was all too eager to provide. "Or all of you can come at me," he said, seemingly exasperated. Judging from his expression alone, one wouldn't venture to guess that the elder twin were agitated, or impatient, or even angry. He looked calm. It was his words, not his tone or visage, that betray him. "I don't give a fuck. Let's just get this over with."

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot rang out through the empty lot, startling just about everybody. Both Akako and Ieharu screamed, though who screamed louder is anyone's guess. Ieyoshi stumbled rearwards past Ieharu, his back colliding with the wall. Godot was standing there with a smoking gun in his hand.

"My bad," Godot said, "but I told him to stuff it." All of the boys—or at least the sane ones—were all about to bolt, but Godot called out to them. "Hey-hey-hey! Relax! You think I'm going to shoot anybody else?" Godot brought his gun to the side of his face and pointed it upward. "You see, this is self-defense. This is the martial arts that I appreciate, the good-ol' Beretta. Godot put the weapon back in his jacket pocket, which is where it was hidden."

Ieharu stared at his brother, his hands pressed flat against the sides of his head, eyes wide with terror, mouth agape. "N-no! Not again!" he cried, tears coming to his eyes. "He didn't mean all those things he said!" He turned towards Godot, hands still on his head. "You didn't have to do that!"

"Ah, yes, young Ieharu," Godot smirked affably at the remaining sibling, "I trust you made it to school on time. Tell me, did you stop Ieyoshi from, what was it again? Saying something stupid? Alright, I imagine you're a little confused as to why I shot you earlier—and why I shot your brother just now—but I think it would be best if you just watched for a moment."

Watch? Watch what? His brother die?! Hands still cradling his head, Ieharu, in shock much like the others, turned to look at his brother's remains. Ieyoshi's body was leaning against the side of the wall, his head bowed, eyes closed. There was a thin string of blood originating from the spot on his head where he'd been shot, but there was no wound. Weird. Ieharu dropped his hands, his expression becoming quizzical—curious, even. He'd seen it. Everyone heard it. Godot just shot him. Where was the wound?

And that's when Ieharu felt it. A sort of pressure that pushed against the front of his body, the part that was facing his twin brother. It was like a giant hand was trying to crush him, compress him into nothing, like the winds of a tornado, or a hurricane. Yet he wasn't moved physically. His hair wasn't tossed back and forth, his clothes weren't pressed against him, dirt and rocks didn't fly up everywhere, so it wasn't a blast of air. It was something else. The sensation lasted but for a moment, transitioning from push to pull, like he were being sucked towards his brother, and then from pull to nothing. The sensations ceased entirely, leaving Ieharu with a feeling of vertigo.

"What the hell—" one of the upperclassmen started, but stopped short of completing his thought. At the same time, Ieharu took a hesitant step backwards, away from his brother's body.

Slowly, surely, Ieyoshi opened his eyes, stopping at about the half-way point. Suddenly, he leaned forth, lurching forward like the undead. He glided across the ground as he moved, walking silently past Ieharu, who simply started at him. He moved past Ryuu and the two upperclassmen that held him. He completely ignored Godot, wobbling on his feet a few times before coming to a decidedly unstable stop before the rightmost of Ishiki's four henchmen. They all looked at him like he was a demon fresh from the summoning circle.

"It makes sense now," he whispered. If one weren't paying attention, his voice could have been mistaken for a wisp of wind. His face was certainly that of a zombie. There was no life there. No warmth or spark. You might as well have been staring at a pile of bricks. No wonder, then, that the upperclassman before him fumbled for words. Ieyoshi didn't seem to mind, his gaze hazy and unfocused. "You guys, I mean. All of this. It makes sense, now. Perfect sense. I don't know why I didn't see it before. You all and Rosa and this morning and the underwear and the water. Perfect sense." Ieyoshi peered up at the muscle bound third year that stood before him, his eyes focusing somewhat. The elder twin looked like he was high on drugs. "Are we gonna fight now?"

"Dude," the upperclassman started, "you just got shot. Are you crazy?"

"I remember you. Your face, I mean. Not your name, that was never important. You're just a mook in a red shirt. It's your face. I've seen you around. Not just at school, I mean. Outside. I remember now." With every syllable, his tempo increased. It got to the point where he was speaking so fast that whole sentences were running together. "The Mitsuwa Marketplace. The food court. You serve the evening shift, right? It makes sense then, why someone like Ishiki was able to prey on you. To bring you into the fold. You're more than just an idiot. You're weak. Mentally, I mean." The upperclassman furrowed his brows in anger, but Ieyoshi didn't seem to mind. "You have no academic talents. You're not good at sports. You can't sing or dance. You can't do anything useful and you'll never be a main character, not even in your own life story. You're afraid that you'll be working that dead end nine-to-five job serving fries for the rest of your life, right? That's why you enjoy beating up defenseless first years, right?" The guy opened his mouth to respond, but Ieyoshi kept going. "So that you'll feel better? Let me assure you though, garbage like you will always remain garbage." The third year clenched his fists. He was clearly angry now, which was exactly what Ieyoshi wanted. "There is no hope for your kind. So instead of playing the fool so convincingly, why don't you take the initiative for once in your pathetic life and come at me?" He paused his monotonous diatribe for an instant, letting that last barb sink in. It certainly did. "Right now."

The upperclassman needed no further convincing. You could see the veins popping under his shirt. Without warning, he raised his fist and punched Ieyoshi dead in the mouth. The resulting pop! reverberated through the de facto audience as viscerally as the gunshot had earlier. Ieyoshi didn't bother bringing up his hands to defend himself or even deflect the blow. He just took it, his head snapping to the side with the force of it, blood and spittle flying into the air. The upperclassman followed it with another punch, this time to Ieyoshi's chest. Ieyoshi was forced to take a step backward with this one, but didn't otherwise move to defend himself. Again and again, the upperclassman would attack him, and Ieyoshi would just take it with a stoic expression and those dead dull eyes.

"Yoh!" Ieharu shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"Fulfilling his dying will, of course," Godot answered. Ieharu hadn't noticed until then that Godot had somehow ended up beside him. He was leaning against the wall, watching Ieyoshi in combat. "I shot him with the dying will bullet after all, the same kind as the one I shot you with this morning. Anybody with a dying will, when shot with this bullet, will revive with both the drive and the strength to accomplish that will. Can't you remember what happened this morning when I shot you with the bullet?"

"You shot me!" Ieharu said aloud, though it sounded as if he were trying to convince himself. He explored his face with his hands, looking for a wound of some kind. "You shot me in the face!" The rest of Godot's words seemed to click at that moment. "Dying will?" He remembered those two words coming up several times before when his father spoke to uncle Ryohei and the others from time to time, but they never really meant anything to him. They still didn't. "You mean he's dying?!"

"The pieces just don't add up in your head right," Godot teased, "do they, young Ieharu? If that was so, you wouldn't be in this situation, would you? You'd be quite dead, in fact. No, he's not dying, but his body thinks he is. That's the genius of it. There is no stronger will to do anything than that of a goal you wish to accomplish before you die. So, Yoh's mind is currently dead set on beating these guys, just like yours was on stopping Yoh this morning. There's a nice bargain that comes with being single minded, of course. The bullet allows your body to remove all its physical limiters, allowing to achieve an inner strength not usually available to us normally, as human beings. You managed to somehow run to school on time, after all. And your brother, well, you can see for yourself."

Eventually, Ieyoshi was pushed back against the wall, and the upperclassman prepared to deliver a final blow. He brought his fist skyward and, with a shout, smashed it into the boy's stomach. Ieyoshi didn't react at all. He might as well have been a punching bag. However, before the third year could withdraw his fist, the Sawada twin gripped the guy's arm, his hold fairly loose. For several long seconds, neither moved, and then, suddenly, the third-year fell to his knees. It wasn't immediately clear why. Ieyoshi was still gripping his arm, but he had not retaliated once. Didn't even throw a single punch. What was going on here?

When Ieyoshi released the guy's arm from his grip, the third year toppled backwards onto the ground, tongue drooping slightly from his mouth, his eyes as dim and empty as Ieyoshi's.

Stepping over him like one would over a puddle in the street, Ieyoshi advanced, slowly but surely, until he stood before the next of Ishiki's three henchmen. "Are we gonna fight now?" He asked with that same monotonous drawl.

The three remaining third years glared at each other, fighting silently over who's turn it was to take on this weirdo. From their split-second deliberation, they came to the apt conclusion that it would be best if they all attacked simultaneously.

(Un)fortunately for them, Ieyoshi seemed to lose his balance like a drunkard, if he ever had any balance at all. He fell forward onto his face, like a log, and remained there, unmoving. It didn't look like he was breathing. He just looked dead.

"Of course," Godot finished, "it only lasts for five minutes."

Ishiki coughed twice, perhaps to cover up his own nervousness and confusion. "Okay," he said. "Uh, good job, guys." There was no steel behind his voice this time. "Now, uh, take down the other one." He made a shooing motion in Ieharu's general direction. "And someone pick up Ken off the floor, too. He's making us look bad."

"I should probably mention," Godot added, "if the person who is shot doesn't have any regrets, the bullet will work." Godot looked upward. "Well, come to think of it, I guess the bullet would work, just a bit more permanently." he looked toward Ieyoshi lying on the ground. "Hey, Haku, your brother," Godot mentioned with a frown, "I think you should check on him. Also, you know, don't let these guys kill you, and while you're at it, that kid over there looks like he could use a little help."

Ieharu, who was offhandedly pondering if it was part of his so-called "dying will" to remove all of his clothes this morning, was snapped back into reality by Godot's mentioning of his brother. He was not a very good multitasker. His first reaction to seeing his brother's limp body face down in the dirt was to run toward him, but the three remaining third years had already started advancing on his position, cutting that plan short. Panicking, Ieharu turned back to Godot, who was still leaning against the wall. "Help! I think he's dead! Oh my god! He looks dead!" He said, pleading, his hands shaking. "I don't know what to do!"

"Well, I suppose you gotta look at things objectively," Godot had a look of confidence as he explained, "You want to save your brother, but you also want to protect your friends, I imagine. Also, you know, you don't want, well, your underwear taken. Now what is it that you gotta do to do all that stuff? I'll give you a hint, you need to stop these guys... I guess that was the answer. Well, knowing that, what is it that you really want to do?"

"Uh..." Ieharu eyed the upperclassmen warily, taking an uncertain step back towards Godot where, for some reason, he felt safe. "I..." He knew what he was going to say next was going to sound lame. The sheer thought of it reddened his cheeks. "I want to protect everyone!" He shouted through his own consternation.

Godot once again pulled his gun out of his pocket and took aim at Ieharu's forehead.

"Then do it with your dying will!" Godot squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

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.

This monster post is PART 1 of the team effort made by the following: KumoriKitsune, Lloyd999, Alle9009, Moahi, Pandora's Melancholy, Xunnamius. Wow!

---

"Then do it with your dying will!" Godot squeezed the trigger, and Ieharu screwed his eyes shut in anticipation.

BANG!

That familiar flash of pain. The pressure. The silence. It was all familiar to the young Ieharu. In his final moments of lucidity, he felt like his was floating, rising, higher and higher until—

"REBORN!!!"

The word tore through his throat, reverberating throughout the empty lot as forcefully as any gunshot. His body never hit the floor. It seemed to explode right then and there, his clothes burning away, eyes opening wide, irises glazed over as if he were in a trance. He caught himself with one hand, arresting his downward momentum.

"I'M GOING TO PROTECT EVERYONE!" He shouted at the air, springing back to his feet whilst he did so. "WITH MY DYING WILL!"

"Good luck," Godot told him, before leaning back against the wall.

"WHO NEEDS PROTECTING?!" Ryuu roared back at the naked boy as if what he'd said was an insult, snapping him out of his zombie-horror shock.

Some distance away, Ishiki muttered offhandedly, eyebrows raised, "This kid loves to get naked." The words were directed in Akako's direction, however she hadn't quite recovered from the shock of the whole situation yet and didn't make a cohesive response.

The upperclassmen, Ishiki's three henchmen—five now, counting the two whose attention had shifted from Ryuu following Ieharu's outburst—look at each other, their expressions full of worry.

Suddenly, those expressions morphed.

"Haha!" One of the upperclassmen laughed, pointing at the younger twin. "Is he naked? Again!" The other four bust out laughing as well, one of them holding his side in an attempt to contain his mirth. "We're so scared!" The upperclassman continued, howling in laughter.

"Why not do us a favor, kid," one of the others began, tears of merriment in his eyes. "Just throw us the underwear and run along." That suggestion spawned a new round of giggling and snickering from the other upperclassmen. "You can run all the way back hom—"

With the sheer speed in which Ieharu moved, it seemed even the universe itself needed a moment to catch up. There was no time to prepare, no time to react. One instant, Ieharu was standing several meters behind his brother's body. In the next, he'd buried his fist in the belly of the upperclassman who'd been speaking down to him, the one standing in the middle of the three. Spittle flew from the guy's mouth, his abdomen becoming convex as his body reacted to the physics of the blow. The eyes of the various bystanders had barely begun to shift towards Ieharu's new position when reality finally took over. The upperclassman reeled, his feet losing contact with the ground as he flew backwards, nearly colliding with Akako, his limp body meeting full force with the unforgiving asphalt several meters away.

He was finished.

Ieharu didn't afford the others much time to respond. Almost immediately after disabling the first of Ishiki's thugs, he delivered a calamitous backfist to the upperclassman on the right, smashing his solar plexus. The poor guy on the left only had enough time to bring his hands up before Ieharu spun on his heel, using the momentum of the move to deliver a mean hammer fist to his lower thigh. There was an audible pop! as the guy's knee was dislocated. Both men crumpled in on themselves like wobbly Jenga towers, their pain and surprise so great that their voices caught in their throats. Their crippling defeat took place over the course of a few seconds, but for those watching, it may as well have lasted for whole minutes.

Fists balled, eyes glazed over, Ieharu snapped his head to the side, towards the only two upperclassmen left standing. His face was an unequivocal and pure manifestation of his wrath, his propensity for violence in the name of his friends made corporeal. He lowered his chin, peering out at the two from under his brow, like a bull preparing to charge.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Ieharu roared with all his might. He looked positively insane.

The two third-years flinched at that, both raising their hands, their faces beaded with sweat. They began stepping backwards, their entire bodies shaking. "Woah there, man," one of them said, his voice nearly faltering. "You got it. You win. We don't want any of that."

"I didn't sign up for this shit!" The other one spat, hands still in the air. "I'm done!"

Without further ado, the two third-years took off running, cutting a wide swath around Godot and the others in an attempt to escape. They almost made it, too.

But then Ishiki was there, blocking their path. With one swift right hook, he sent both men to the ground. Ieharu turned to look at them, and then up at Ishiki, the flame atop his forehead waltzing as his neck swayed to and fro like a snake thusly charmed.

Ishiki sighed, cracking his knuckles in turn with his free hand. "Hard to find loyal friends, I guess."

"I'M GONNA PROTECT EVERYONE FROM YOU!" Ieharu blurted out, his fists balled so tightly that his wrists shook. "ISHIKI!"

"Protect everyone, he says," Ryuu grumbled aggrievedly under his breath as he looked keenly around at the abandoned lot. Nevermind that they'd been mobbed if Ieharu hadn't interrupted, Ryuu still felt that they could've dealt with it somehow. Behind him, Chester was dragging Ieyoshi away form the battle ground to where they were in an effort to get him uninvolved. The boy was still unconscious, and likely to remain so. Ieharu's words struck Ryuu at his deeply independent core, which—nope, his bag wasn't there. Ugh, and it'd contained his staff too. He groaned and glared at the lot like its entire existence offended him, a frustrated growl emitting from under his breath as he found nothing he could use. Why was it so empty?! Where on earth did his bag even go anywa—

Ah ha! Ryuu made his way to a particularly tall patch of grass, pulling out a wooden bat. It had seen better days and it was a bit too short for his taste, but it was solid and when the blonde swung it like he was hitting a home run it made a satisfying swishing sound. Ryuu gave a faintly satisfied grin that lasted only a few seconds before darkening into a scowl. "Think I can't stand up for myself does he, that pompous little..."

Ishiki glanced at Akako, and then at the so-called Godot, seeing if either were about to make a move he should be aware of. Akako appeared irate, although she was only just recovering her ability to speak. "I-SHI-KI!" Her voice definitely seemed irritated, but it sounded as if she were still restraining her temper. "You better get him already! He was just a bug earlier!" Ishiki nodded in affirmation. Akako's nasty tongue was beginning to present itself.

The one with the gun seemed content to sit back and didn't look like he was going to be shooting any more of those what he could only assume were high-tech steroid "bullets" at anyone. Maybe. Maybe not. It didn't really matter. Despite Akako's words, something had begun twisting in Ishiki's gut after witnessing the boy so effortlessly disable his compatriots. It was a feeling, of course. One that certainly wasn't unfamiliar, but completely unexpected in here of all places. Of all the members in his Martial Arts Appreciation Club, none were able to hold their own against him for more than a minute, but this kid...

Maybe he'd severely underestimated him.

For the first time, Ishiki genuinely grinned. Was it happiness he felt now? Fear, of being defeated? Excitement, to perhaps have met one who could offer him a little fun? "Ieharu Sawada, eh?" Ishiki stepped forward, rolling the sleeves of his uniform up past his elbows. When he was done, he raised his arms in an exaggerated shrug. "Come on, then. I'm right here, kid. You gonna protect 'em or what?"

Like a raging bull before a Matador, Ieharu surged forward, fist balled, screaming. He closed the distance between himself and Ishiki in an instant, throwing a punch with all his might and smashing the much taller third-year in the chest.

Or so he thought.

At the last moment, Ishiki pivoted to the side, deftly avoiding the blow. Simultaneously, he bent his knees, legs spread into a mid-low stance, his face coming to about eye-level with Ieharu, whose fist was still extended out in front of him. With all the grace of a svelte Broadway dancer, Ishiki flowed with the force of his initial pivot, grasping Ieharu's wrist with one hand as he slid his shoulder under the boy's arm. With his fist having failed to collide with Ishiki's body, Ieharu was still being carried forward by his initial momentum, and the upperclassman took full advantage of this. Pulling Ieharu's arm downward like a lever, Ishiki flipped him over his shoulder, using the boy's own velocity against him.

Ieharu went flying, windmilling through the air.

"Come on, Sawada," Ishiki purred as he reconfigured his footing. "I compete internationally. Did you think I got to be leader of this club because of my good looks?" He flexed like a bodybuilder, bringing his arms up at either side of his head, his uniform barely containing the sheer girth of his muscles. His girlfriend cheered him on, which made him grin. "Although you're certainly strong. Really strong, actually. And fast. I'll give you that." Ieharu had not only skipped across the ground a few times, but slid painfully on his back to a halt. He rebounded to his feet a moment later, though without clothes to protecting him, it was his skin that took the brunt of the damage. The broken asphalt had scratched his back and his sides, leaving noticeable lacerations. It was obvious from his expression that he didn't care, however. Ishiki assumed a boxer's stance, his fists open slightly, elbows down, arms up. "I see now how someone like you could have angered that cow Rosa." He began shifting his weight back and forth in his stance, ready to pivot again at a moment's notice. His was smiling now, unable to hide his merriment. "But just 'cause you can throw a punch doesn't mean you can hit me."

Without words, Ieharu accepted the challenge, rushing in, fists blazing. He swung once for what would have been an otherwise bone-shattering jab, but Ishiki easily predicted the move and responded by delivering his knuckles flush into the side of the twin's face. Immediately, Ieharu's mouth was bloodied, but if he noticed he sure as hell didn't show it. Again he swung, this time laterally. Unfortunately for him, Ishiki had used the previous maneuver to strategically position himself so that he was both between Ieharu's hands and a few centimeters away from his face. With such a short distance to work with, Ieharu wasn't able to muster as much force behind the attack as he could have otherwise.

Which was the plan.

With his forearm, Ishiki blocked the attack. And then, like Leonidas, he kicked Ieharu dead in his chest, sending him flying backwards a second time. The move looked positively vicious, and even in his current state it took Ieharu several seconds to get back to his feet.

"All strength and no skill, with those tiny little arms of yours." Ishiki shrugged again, huffing slightly. He hadn't even broken a sweat. "You're obviously overexerting yourself using them steroids or whatever that pedo over there did to you." He hooked a thumb in Godot's direction. "I wonder how long can you keep it up. Did he say five minutes?" Godot nodded in polite confirmation, smiling. "Though your brother over there didn't even last half that. Heh. You better hurry then, hero."

Ieharu growled in frustration yet failed to sufficiently alter his tactics. He launched himself at Ishiki once more, brandishing his fists. Like last time, he swung with all his might, the sheer force of it causing the sleeves of his uniform to crackle and snap as they resisted the air. Ishiki dodged it. Ieharu didn't give him a chance to counter and pressed forward with another equally devastating punch. And then another. And another. All in quick succession. With each punch, you could tell he was throwing his entire being into the maneuver, from the way he leaned in with his closed stance to the manner in which he cocked his arms back. He was also screaming his little heart out. Yet he still failed to make contact with Ishiki's body until the very end.

When Ishiki delivered a brutal knee to his chin.

Ieharu's neck snapped backwards with the force of the savage maneuver, his attempt at an assault utterly annihilated by his senior schoolmate. For his part, Ishiki pattered rearward, his feet gliding across the ground like those of a practiced fighter.

"Wow, you've, uh, got heart, Sawada," Ishiki began. He was being sincere. "No one's ever withstood my special move before, yet there you are, still standing." In response, Ieharu shook his head like a dog shaking the water out of its fur. "Steroids can only do so much for you, you feel? You have no upper body strength. Your fists aren't fast enough. Aren't strong enough to reach me." Ieharu spit a glob of red onto the ground and resumed growling at the upperclassman. "But if you come at me like that again..." Ishiki altered his stance, spreading his legs and leaning low, angling his body so that only his side was exposed to the raging Ieharu. His fists turned to palms, his fingers straight and parallel, his arms out in front of him. It was reminiscent of an action hero from one of those old kung fu movies. His joyful smile had long since departed from his face. "I'mma break you."

Ieharu responded with a single word—bellowed it, of course. "PROTECT!!!"

Again, he launched himself at Ishiki. This time, however, the third-year didn't move. Didn't sway. Only stared. The air about him changed from one of jubilance to something else. Something more dangerous. When Ieharu came within arm's reach, cocking his fist back for the umpteenth time, Ishiki shifted slightly, preparing to smite this poor boy. Ieharu threw an odd punch, striking downwards, towards the ground, missing Ishiki entirely and leaving himself open for desolation. "Ha!" Ishiki barked in triumph, bringing his palm forward to collide with where he knew Ieharu's chest would be.

Or should have been.

Ishiki realized it too late. Ieharu hadn't thrown a punch, and so he wasn't carried forward by the physics of it like he had expected. Instead, Ieharu had angled his upper body downwards, one arm on the ground as he transitioned into a one-handed front flip, his feet arcing through the air. Ishiki wasn't fast enough to recover, having extended himself a tad too far with that attempted attack, and Ieharu brought the full force and weight of his heel down upon the back of Ishiki's neck. Though the Sawada twin's maneuver was poorly executed and elementary in its composition, the raw force behind it was enough to break Ishiki's stance. He was nearly bowed, his hands coming up instinctively to catch himself, but the attack wasn't enough to make him touch the ground. He was a medalled athlete, an internationally recognized fighter! No way some steroid-brained novice and his tomato punches would be enough to—

Ieharu, revelling in the effectiveness of his lower body against this opponent, followed that initial kick with another, this time twisting in the air to gather sufficient angular momentum before driving the instep of his foot into the side of Ishiki's neck. Ieharu attacked with such force that the very air before him parted with a whistle.

THWACK!

Ishiki was forced to the ground, his hands slapping the rough asphalt, his face and neck bowed by the absolute physical power behind the attack. In this mode, Ieharu's punches may have been powerful, but his kicks were a whole order of magnitude more devastating.

Perhaps it was the pure shock of being forced to his knees for the first time in ages, or perhaps it was an anger so abysmal and all-consuming that it paralyzed him, but even after Ieharu stumbled backwards, Ishiki remained bowed, his hands flush with the pavement beneath them. He didn't move, his eyes wide, mouth held slightly agape.

Ieharu regained his footing, leaping backwards. "PROTECT!!!" He shouted once more, pumping his fists. And then, like before, he surged forward, this time cocking his leg back to deliver a kick that would have most likely broken Ishiki's neck. Unfortunately, Ieharu tripped, falling on his face. For those that were paying attention, the flame atop his head had gone out just moments before.

Ishiki turned his head to glare at the downed twin, a wonderful thought occurring to him. "Oh," he said, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "Oh ho ho!" He pointed at Ieharu with one hand while rubbing his neck with the other. It was obvious by the way he moved that he had sustained some sort of injury. "Your time is up, hero. You lose." The joints in his neck popped as he angled his head. First left, then right. "Fuck Rosa. Fuck favors. Fuck it all." Ishiki frowned deeply, looking at his hands which had been dirtied by their time on the ground. His voice lost a few octaves with his next line. "I'm going to kill you for what you just did."

"As if, you megalomaniacal drama queen." Ryuu stepped in front of Ieharu with the bat held tight in his hands as he faced Ishiki, spreading his feet apart in a steady stance. He scowled angrily at Ishiki, waves of anger rolling off him like a heatwave. Dammit, following Ieharu really was the worst decision he'd ever made. He'd gotten beaten up, he'd seen people shot at and die and revive, and now he was getting into a fight with his national level club captain who was probably going to expel him after this. Which meant his scholarship was doomed, since one of the conditions was being in a club. Well, it wasn't like Ishiki would want people to know that he'd been beating up people, so it might not happen. Probably. He scowled, keeping his eyes on Ishiki. "I don't owe you anymore after this, got it?" he muttered behind him to Ieharu, frustration in his tone.

Why was he doing this again? Oh yeah, because he owed Ieharu and because Ishiki wanted him not to. And more importantly, because he was pissed off as all hell. Trying not to think about how screwed he probably was, Ryuu raised the bat, brandishing it at Ishiki. "You're the one who's going to die," he said surely, hiding the uncertainty he felt.

"Wow, really?" Ishiki let out a chuckle like Ryuu had just told a joke, his eyes creasing up with humor. "That was the best you could come up with? Man, and I thought no one could be worse then Jin when it comes to name calling." A cocky look came over his face, and it was obvious that he believed that Ryuu couldn't beat him. His eyes narrowed condescendingly down on the blonde. "Obviously I thought wrong." He slid into the same stance as before while Ryuu's eyes narrowed, the only sign that the words had gotten to him. "Well, even if you're going against me," and the look on his face said that he couldn't believe how dumb Ryuu was being "you're still my kouhai. I'll give you a chance to drop out so I can go back to killing that kid." It was obvious he meant Ieharu. "What do you say?"

Ryuu didn't say anything, merely raised the bat over his shoulder like he was going for a swing, setting his shoulders sturdily like he was made out of fluid rock. The answer was obvious.

Ishiki nodded like he'd expected it. "Alright then," he said, and darted forwards. He ducked low under the bat's swing and aimed a punch at Ryuu's face, which moved out of the way as he spun with the swing. The first year aimed a kick at Ishiki, who dodged out of the way, and they continued to exchange blows as Ieharu crawled over to his brother's side, his face contorting in pain as the weight of his injuries made itself known. He watched the battle worriedly. It was obvious that even though Ryuu was holding his ground, it wasn't enough. While he was more agile and had extra reach, Ishiki was able to get in under his guard and had more power to his blows. Ryuu was outclassed, and the smile on Ishiki's face and the relaxed, almost playful way he moved against Ryuu's harsh swings and the determined way Ryuu gritted his teeth said that they knew it too. It was only a matter of time before the fight was over.

Soon enough Ishiki had Ryuu cornered. He knocked the bat out of Ryuu's grip with a lazy swipe and smiled down at him, wiping blood away from the split lip on his mouth. "You're good, I admit that. But not good enough." Ryuu glared defiantly at him as Ishiki raised a bruised fist for the knockout, certain of his victory. "Any last words?"

"This ends here," muttered the words of an approaching figure. Ishiki started to turn his head towards the voice, but a sudden force sent Ishiki's body off balance. Izaya scored a clean hit across Ishiki's face. Izaya's body rolled across the ground briefly. He recovered shortly after, coming to his feet. He positioned himself directly inbetween Ishiki and Ryuu. Iz was a part of the back up they called in; however, this wasn't the kind of help they had in mind. The other members stood in shock realizing that Iz really had just attacked their captain of all people. The man who never loses or even gets hurt. He's doomed they thought. Ryuu's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected help, but wasted no time in rolling to his feet as he snatched up the bat. Raising it warily, he glanced at the other newcomers before his head turned to see who had interrupted the beatdown.

Izaya was breathing hard as if he'd ran a marathon, but stood tall with a confident demeanor. His eyes fixated on Ishiki like a hawk staring at it's target. Please stay down. Izaya was terrified at what he'd just done being that the captain was no ordinary fighter, but he couldn't stand idle while someone was getting hurt. A hero would never back down regardless of the situation. This was the right action no matter how this works out. Ishiki regained his composure almost immediately. The look in his eyes were more demonic and his rage was completely evident. Izaya's blood boiled to the point where he felt he could burst. This is the man who's leading the martial arts club. This is the one he's been looking up towards. He seemed hero like being strong, cool and speaking on positive ideals, but he's really scum like this? Before he knew it, he was yelling at him. "Attacking your own club member Ishiki?! Ganging up on students!" he continued, "I thought you taught us about self defense! Protecting the weak and helping others! What are you doing?!"

"More like what are you doing?" Ishiki frowned at Izaya, rubbing his cheek absentmindedly. The captain looked surprised, and very frustrated. "I sent you here for backup! Not to punch my face in the moment I was just about to land a finishing blow!" His frown turned into a glare. Normally he would try being nice to get Izaya back on his side, but today had been a very long day. What had promised to be an easy job was turning into a freakishly difficult one, with weird shootings and crazy kids on steroids and his own club members not being up to snuff, and what with yet another club member going against him and robbing him of the satisfaction of showing his underclassman that he was nothing, Ishiki was at the end of his tether. "And obviously I was showing this stupid new club member of ours his place! He went against me!" He looked scornfully at Izaya. "And what, you thought I actually meant that bullshit?! Are you a retard?! It was just so the teachers wouldn't get rid of the club. Those who are weak deserve to be nothing but dust under the feet of the strong!"

"Finishing blow?! Bullshitting?! This is ridiculous!" He said while prepping himself in a defensive stance. He placed his left foot bent forward while his right slightly further back. His hands stood out slightly extended to deflect any incoming attack. Although he'd gotten a nice sucker punch in, Izaya knew that Ishiki was more skilled, stronger, and tougher than he was in every way. He could literally feel the killing intent from Ishiki and the pressure to defend the guys behind him building up. His body started trembling on his own, but he couldn't back down. A hero never back downs. He would never back down. Ryuu, the underwear kid and the others need an avenue to escape at least. What are the options? What can he do? What is the next best choice? Fear slowly surged through his mind as he thought of fighting a losing battle against Ishiki, but he began to quell his negative thoughts with only one word in mind, 'hero'. The others safety is more important than his own right now. He can get through this. This will all work out. Stand up, be confident, and do what you can. At the top of his lungs he once again yelled, "Your club is nothing but a sham! I refuse to stand for this villainy!"

"Yeah, you and what army?!" Theatrically, Ishiki snapped his fingers, and on cue the remaining club members surrounded Izaya and the other first years. Like a villain in a Shakespearean stage, Ishiki laughed, low and chilling. "These might be my second choice, but they're a thousand times better then you." Recollecting himself from his sudden fit, Ishiki smoothed a hand through his hair and snapped his fingers twice. The milling club members cracked their knuckles ominously, smirks on their faces as they moved closer towards Izaya and the others like wolves about to be released into a pasture.

"You're not even worth my time." Ishiki said scornfully, looking at them like they were insects under his shoe. "What, you don't like the way I run the club?" He said sarcastically, seeing the glares Ryuu and Iz were shooting his way. "Then join another club. In fact," Ishiki said slowly, smiling meanly as he savoured the words, "You don't need to turn up for the next session. The two of you are expelled from the club, starting today. I have no need for members who refuse to follow what I say."

A smirk came on Izaya's face. "Fine then! Forget your club! I'll make my own!" He dropped his stances and begun with his own theatrics as if he's giving a motivation speech. He held his hand at his chest while the other soared through the air, "A club that'll stand on real principles! One that will help the weak and protect the people!" He then removed his hand from his chest and slowly extended it own towards Ishiki. With a closed fist facing Ishiki, his index finger gradually moved out and pointed directly at him and Izaya said, "One that will stop people like you, everytime and anytime."

"I'll join that club, but only if I get to be vice-president." Ryuu said, trying not to sound too eager. The hope which had sunken deep down into his shoes suddenly found lift at Izaya's words. The ticket to his salvation! A chance to salvage his permanent living areas! Hiding his rising hope at salvaging his situation, he glared at the enemy. "Better than staying with these bunch of dogs anyway."

"Of course, you helped inspire this idea! Be my sidekick, Ryuu!" he says while imagining his hero club full of students with masks, temporarily forgetting the situation they were in.

"Sidekick?!" Temporarily aggrieved, Ryuu shot a scowl at Izaya that looked more insulted then anything else. "I'm no sidekick." Brandishing the bat in two hands like a club, Ryuu turned around to stand back to back with Izaya, scowling furiously at the other club members. There was no despair in his face, only determination and a cold sort of fury. "If anything we're partners, got it?!"

Ryuu looked a mess, with a rapidly blackening eye and a split lip and bruises everywhere, but his eyes were focused and he still moved with fluid grace as he steadied himself like a batter up at the plate. Everything hurt, and this vision kept getting blurry whenever he didn't concentrate, but fuck that! After everything that had happened, he wasn't going to let them win. Ignoring Izaya, Ryuu glared at the others, moving in front of Ieharu and the others like a bear ready to protect her cubs. Ieharu was still crying over his brother, who didn't even look like he was breathing. The two of them were in no shape to fight, let alone move. Ryuu's grip on his bat tightened at the sight, and he looked away towards the club members scornfully. Screw these guys, he wasn't going to let them win after all this. "Better than this lot of dogs anyway."

The upperclassmen scowled at the insult, and Ryuu channeled the urge to yell at Ieharu, who'd started crying after getting a good look at his brother's body, as well as the fear over the loss of his scholarship into rage, glaring at this former club compatriots. They replied with cocky smirks. After all, the battered boy hardly looked like he could put up a fight. Then for the first time a small smile, dark and vindictive, came over his face, teeth tinged red with blood as anger rolled off him in waves, and suddenly they weren't so sure. "What about you, Chester?"

There was a flash of movement behind Ishiki as Chester punched the back of his head as hard as he possibly could, focusing his entire weight on his fist. "Sorry..." He said apologetically as he seemed to vanish once more when Ishiki whirled around, his presence disappearing just outside of Ishiki's vision. Everyone but Ryuu jolted backwards, some yelling in shock as the blue haired boy, who had been forgotten until now, reappeared into their vision like a ghost apparating out of thin air. Joining a club was something he had yet to do, and the one Izaya called a 'hero club' seemed very ludicrous. Still, it was worth a try. "At this stage, I don't think I have much of a choice, do I?" Chester sighed softly as he backed away a few steps, stopping at Izaya's side.

Izaya smiled as he realized he'd already gotten his first two members. The trembling in his body stopped and the feigned confidence he portrayed towards Ishiki slowly began to become courage. This could be done. He was fired up. He shifted his gaze to the boy next to Ryuu once again in his underwear and asked, "What about you, Ie... Ie...haku?" He thought back to the fiasco this kid caused earlier, "Will you join us? Be the protector or the protected? I've seen what you can do." This kid could be a great asset, but without him, they could still charge in. They have a chance to take down Ishiki and his goons. Standing there, with Ryuu holding a bat determinedly at his left and Chester lounging cooly at his right, they were the picture of inspiration.

Ieharu looked up at Izaya and the others, tears in his eyes. Even after he managed to roll his elder brother onto his back, Ieyoshi still wasn't moving. He didn't even look like he was breathing. And Godot wouldn't help him for some reason! Worse, he could barely feel his body. He remembered everything he did while under the influence of Godot's... "dying will" or whatever he said, but he simply couldn't believe it. It was like a dream. A dream that really... really hurt. He could swear some of his teeth were loose, and the sour metallic taste of his own blood still filled his mouth. His arm hurt every time he moved it. To be honest, it was probably broken. Plus, he was naked again! Naked and surrounded by a bunch of people. Again. And Ieyoshi wouldn't wake up, no matter how many times he called his name.

Ieharu looked away from Izaya. "I'll protect my brother," he muttered through his own sniffling, looking sideways at Godot as he continued. "Someone has to." Though there wasn't much he'd be able to do anyway. With all the damage he'd taken from that monster Ishiki, it took everything that he had just to remain conscious.

"Thanks man, you're a natural born hero already. I'm Izaya, future hero!" He waved, then remembered that they still were in a dangerous situation. Good thing Ishiki and his members were pretty patient. The support received by these three gave Izaya a surge of overwhelming hope. Maybe he wasn't crazy for standing up to Ishiki alone. This is working out he muttered to himself. With his regained confidence he said boldly as he darted headfirst towards Ishiki, "This is the first task of the Hero Club! To take down the rest of the martial arts goon! Come on guys!"

"Hero Club?!" Ryuu said incredulously. The bat swung in a blur as the club members scattered out of the way, and he swished the bat above and behind him just in time to hit the face of the club member who had tried to sneak up on him from behind. There was a crunch of bone, and the teen stumbled backwards, his hand going up to cup a broken nose. Why heroes?! Heroes only existed in books, unlike villains. Any hero in real life were just fakes who were out for rewards and fame and self gratification. There was always an ulterior motive somewhere, it was just how people were. It was an awful name for the club he needed to join, but... "Agh, whatever. Let's get this over and done with already!" he muttered, jabbing his elbow into another club member's gut.

Chester's form flashed as a club member tried to land a blow on him, instead appearing behind him once again and landing a blow on his back. When the member regained his balance and spun around, Chester was no longer there, once again at his back without fail. He might not be good combat wise, but at stealth attacks there was hardly any that can best him, his eyes scanning the opponents for gaps in their peripheral vision and slipping through. "Wait a second, before I get myself into this club any deeper... Are all the activities beating people up? When? I can't stay back for that long."

"Probably not, since we're the 'heroes club'," Ryuu said dryly, connotations practically visible around the words. He dodged to the side as one of the goons smashed to where his head was and brought the bat up to deflect another hit, wincing at the sudden movement. Despite the fact that his body ached painfully, Ryuu forced himself to move as quickly as possible, hitting everybody who wasn't a first year in sight with precise, sharp blows. Screw it, he was hurting too much to hold back. At this stage he was just fed up with the whole thing. "That is a terrible name, why not we just make it the 'Odd Jobs Club'? It's a lot better then stupid heroes anyway."

"The Odd Jobs Club doesn't sound quite as appealing, but that's beside the point. Can we argue about this later?" Chester suggested as he ducked a flying punch inches away from his head, before disappearing again.

Izaya punched another martial arts goon who was luckily less skilled than he was. He received a few punches from him, but Izaya's previous painful escapades such as falling form a tree was much more painful. "We'll work out the meeting times, maybe even have hero masks! The possibilities are endless!" He says while hitting another goon.

"No way we're going to have hero masks. Too much attention." Chester sighed quietly. His luck wasn't the best today, it appears that he had involved himself once again in something quite troublesome. Beside him, Ryuu nodded vehemently in agreement. "Hero masks look dumb anyway," he added as he shoved the upperclassmen away. Even though they were putting up a good job fighting, they had to struggle to keep the upper hand, and they were slowly getting forced back into a small circle as the club members surrounded them, herding them towards each other.

A few shadowy figures started to form in the distance. "Is back up here? I know we called for another set," one of the goons said out loud.

Ishiki sighed, bringing his hand to his forehead and massaging his brow. None of this was going as planned. All of these little first years kept crawling out of the woodwork like cockroaches, and they wouldn't go away. It just kept getting worse. He glanced down briefly at his hands once more before taking another look around, assessing the situation. That steroid punk and his homicidal pedo friend had disabled his best members, and this backup B-team was getting handled. And Aka—

Ishiki swept the area with his eyes. Where was Akako? Did she leave him? When did she leave? Was it after that brat forced him to touch the ground? That's just like her, to bail at an inopportune moment. It was a wonder he even tolerated her crap. It must've been her, then, that called for the other members to come assist them as backup then, because he sure as hell didn't. That's when he noticed it. A familiar sort of pressure emanating from his right side. Slowly, he turned his head to glower at this new threat, holding back the urge to wince. It had to be slowly, because his neck, let alone his entire body, was still in a pretty serious amount of pain.

Step by step, Damien continued walking straight towards Ishiki still a slight distance away. His aura gave off an inhuman vibe while his eyes stood fixed upon the leader. In his right hand, he held the collar of one of Ishiki's martial arts members knocked out cold and dragged him across the ground with no concern of his injuries. A little way behind him, Enn was dragging another unconscious member carelessly by the foot with one hand, the older teen's face jerking whenever it hit a bump on the ground. The happy smile and cheerful bounce in his step contrasted Daimen's downturned scowl and jerky movements sharply, but his bloodthirsty aura and the battle-happy look in his eyes were on par with Damien's pitchblack vibe. Behind them, an uninjured but upset Shou carrying their bags kept up the rear guard with a worried look on his face, eyes widening with shock that rapidly turned to worry as he took in the scene before him.

"Take this!" A martial arts member ran towards Damien to hit him from his side.

Without changing his pace or gaze, Damien merely hit him once to the face sending him flying back and continued his path directly towards Ishiki. Two more men came charging in their direction. Damien stopped in his tracks for a brief second and said, "Enn, can you handle this for me? I need to have a word with the soon to be departed."

"Boo, I wanted to fight the tough one!" Enn pouted at Damien, the action more at home on a child then a fifteen year old male. The rest of them were so weak! Not fun at all. The look on Damien's face brooked no argument though, so Enn turned to face the remaining members sulkily, dropping the unconscious guy he'd been dragging onto the floor. "Only because you were the one asking, ok? And you owe me a fight tomorrow!"

Damien responded with a smirk at Enn, "Just don't get worn out today from these guys, and we'll see."

This monster post is PART 2 of the team effort made by the following: KumoriKitsune, Lloyd999, Alle9009, Moahi, Pandora's Melancholy, Xunnamius. Wow!

---

"Hahaha, good joke Damien!" Enn laughed brightly as he turned to face the other members, who looked like they weren't sure what to make of him. Looking at them, Enn felt himself brightening. More people to fight, and maybe they wouldn't be as weak as the one's him and Damien taken down earlier! The menacing aura around Enn grew larger as he raised his arms fluidly, and Shou closed his eyes in what looked like a prayer as a smile worthy of being in a slasher movie grew across Enn's face. The upperclassmen gulped nervously as one, sweat trickling down their backs.

Enn darted forwards so fast that he was almost a blur, eyes wide with maniacal glee. "Let's play~!"

Damien ignored the terrified screams, childish cackling and the sounds of flesh hitting flesh as he walked to the boss. Finally, he stood right in front of Ishiki looking him right into the eyes. He dropped the man he dragged previously.

Ishiki sighed, bringing his hand to his neck once more. Where were all of these people even coming from? They needed a new secret location after this. Suddenly, he realized his patience was at its end. Akako was gone, his best guys were on the floor, he was hurt, and stupid children kept jumping in. And who was this tough guy twerp who dared to stand up to him? "Hey kid," he muttered, rubbing his neck. Perhaps he was a bit more injured than he wanted to admit. "I've seen you around with that steroid brain over there," he said, thrusting his chin in Ieyoshi's direction. "Maybe you should go check on him, huh? My guys kicked his ass pretty goo—"

Damien grabbed him by the throat without giving him a second to finish his statement. "Next time, death," was all he muttered to him. He sent a highly precise kick at Ishiki's achilles heel. He won't be able to walk straight for at least a couple of weeks, but having crutches over losing your life seems like a fair deal. "Out of my sight," he said throwing him back. As soon as he hit the ground, Ishiki wasn't even a being in Damien sight. He became a ghost and so insignificant to not even be acknowledged. The twins were the focus of his gaze. Ieyoshi was knocked out but Ieharu was still conscious. Never again will they be let out of his sight. He went up to Ieharu, taking his own coat off and draping it around the twin's shoulders.

"Damien," Ieharu wheezed, trying his best to muster up a grin at the sight of so close a friend. He managed it for only a second. "Where ya been?" At this point, he was barely speaking at more than a whisper. Suddenly, he lost consciousness, falling backwards. Little spots of red began to seep through Damien's coat, from where Ieharu's unprotected back slid across the pavement earlier. His right arm was also beginning to turn a nasty shade of purple near the shoulder joint.

He quickly caught Ieharu with a soft grip. He was extremely light. He looked at Ieharu with a bit of grief on his face. He really did try hard. He didn't expect Ieharu to put up much of a fight, but the information he'd received from the martial arts members him and Enn took out together, he made a good amount of noise. "I'm sorry Haku. Next time, I'll be there regardless of roadblocks." Next time, he'd just have to go against Ieyoshi's wishes. He's been trained for moments like these and his first opportunity where he's needed, he'd failed. Never again. He picked up Ieharu and shifted his limp form away from Ieyoshi's.

"Hey you guys over there," he called, obviously referring to Izaya, Chester, and the mad hatter himself, Ryuu. "I just want to say thanks for helping out the twins." He went over Ieyoshi's side and bent down slightly without putting Ieharu in an uncomfortable position. He stood looking at his closest friend on the ground. Instead of shaming him, he gave him a chance to revive himself. He said in his casual manner, "Hey Batman, Gotham needs you. Get up, a Hokage can't protect this village alone."

"No problem sir, it's a heroes duty to protect others!" he said replying to Damien's gratitude. "We did it, we did it," Izaya chanted. "Hero club, Hero club!" He continued with his own theme song. He surprisingly had enough energy to continue and did his own seemingly cool hero poses. He was cut off with a yelp of pain as Ryuu punched him harshly in the shoulder, expression deadpan.

"What 'we'? We still needed help," he said tiredly, leaning on the bat the way an old man would use a cane. Scowling like he had no clue how to respond to the gratitude Damien was showing, he gave a grudging nod of thanks towards Damien. "And I still think Odd Jobs club is better then the Hero Club. Whoever heard of a club being called the Hero Club anyway?"

"Pssst, Ryuu," Izaya whispered quite loudly to him. "We'll be fine. We're the Heroooooo club," he said with an exaggerated title. "We shall recover, and fight another day!"

"Odd Jobs Club," Ryuu shot back, glowering childishly at Izaya. There wasn't much heat behind his glare, however. "And what fight another day, we'd have lost if they hadn't turned up - are you even listening to me?!"

"We?" Chester questioned wearily as he came to a stop. Enn and Damien seemed to finish it within a matter of minutes, why didn't he think of calling them earlier? It would have saved them so much time and trouble. At least someone was happy about this whole scenario however, and Chester was considerate enough not to rain on his parade.

"Yes! We! The Hero Club, hero club," he continued singing with Ryuu's rebuttal. New determination shown in Ryuu's eyes. and the duo started to chant "hero club" and "odd jobs club" like children saying "is too!" and "is not!" over something they believed to be truth until Chester tried to break into their argument with little to no success.

"Guys, guys! Can't we settle this by flipping a coin or something? This isn't particularly important, is it?"

Without warning, Ieyoshi inhaled sharply. In the next moment, he sat up, using his arm to balance himself. It didn't take him long to assess the situation. Damien was here, which meant Ieharu was safe. That's all that mattered. "Ugh," he groaned like the walking dead, running his hand through his hair. "Hero hero hero," he chimed in, doing his best Izaya impression. "So loud. Can't you just let me rest in peace?" He eyed Damien when he spoke his next line. "And did somebody call for Batman?"

Damien smiled and said, "Welcome back Bruce. All has been handled."

That's when it all came back to him, in a sudden wave of memory. "ISHIKI!" He hissed, the faintest whiff of panic underlining his voice, but it dissipated after noticing that Ishiki was nowhere in his immediate vicinity. "Guess you guys kicked his butt, huh." Something else had caught Ieyoshi's eye, however. Something annoying. Something unsatisfactory. Something that, if he weren't feeling so hung over, he'd have handled with much fire and brimstone.

"Oh, you're still here, nanny?" From his tone, it was obviously meant to be taken as an insult. "Gonna shoot me again?!"

Clap, clap, clap. A man—the one Ieyoshi had referred to as "nanny"—applauded.

"Congratulations, boys," the mysterious man said, "Today has been very productive. Haku," he smirked at Ieharu, "Looks like we were able to successfully bring out your resolve and use it for a useful purpose. We also got to see your brother's dying will, but it appears..." Godot approached Ieharu and Ieyoshi. He looked down at the twins. "... that his dying will is rather special. I'll tell you two about that later you later. Still, it appears we've accomplished a lot more than I intended for today's lesson." Godot looked around at the various students who were still around, those that had joined in the conflict against Ishiki. "Why, it appears you two have managed to start something. You've united your friends against a common enemy, good on you. You two are regular revolutionaries! What's your secret, hmm?"

"Fuck. You." Ieyoshi said flat out. "Really. Fuck you."

"Ah, nevermind that," Godot continued, "Let's head home now, I'm hungry..." Godot paused to think, looking toward his side. "Although, I suppose it would be best if we had your injuries healed and made sure your brother was alright." Godot scratched the back of his neck. "But... if you're up for it, I guess us three could go out for some ice cream, if that'll make you feel better. It'll be my treat." Godot didn't want to mention that this entire incident was practically his fault, from the first bullet he shot, and there was also the fact that he never stepped in to protect them.

Damien looked at the seemingly misplaced man, "Hey, who the hell is this guy? And don't be so casual with the twins." He didn't even notice him until he begun his spiel on the twins.

"He's our new nanny" Ieyoshi said, spitting out the words like they were venomous. "That no-good Tsuna brought him in like a week ago and ever since all this weird shit has been going on."

Izaya asked, "Ice cream does sound good, are you inviting all of us? No one who invites kids for ice cream could be that bad."

"No. No they might be very bad." Chester looked at Izaya with an air of disbelief.

As if on cue, Ryuu gave Izaya a (gentle) dope slap on the shoulder. "Have your parents never taught you not to listen to strangers? And are we just going to overlook the fact that he just SHOT someone?"

"Hmm, but strangers could be potential people that need help...and ice cream is so good," he said partly ignoring the shot part.

"Or they could be people looking to kidnap someone or worse, you dolt. And," Ryuu shrugged with one shoulder as he responded to Chester, "They're still alive. I say that counts as something. If we do go though, I want a strawberry vanilla chocolate combo." Ryuu muttered, mind drifting at the thought of ice cream, Mmmm, free icecream... maybe if it wasn't by Beretta McTrigger-happy though.

Godot shot a glare at Izaya. "You'll get ice cream from me when you beat me within an inch of my life, and then some!" Then, Godot's expression changed back to it's original friendly state as he chuckled. It was hard to tell if he was joking or not. Then he sighed in defeat. "I suppose I have no choice, heroes."

"Hmmm, I think that goes around my Hero code, might not be able to do that," he replied while putting himself in a thinking pose. "I'll have to think about how to do that. Hero club, organize."

"We're not heroes, and the club is Odd Jobs Club, not the hero club you idjit," Ryuu said defeatedly, but he stayed quiet and paid attention to Godot anyway. Finally, explanations! The only way this could've been weirder was if he'd waken up perfectly happy to his parent's cooking breakfast in his own house, and he wanted to know what the hell had been going on.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself formally," Godot put his hands in his pockets and stood awfully proudly, "I suppose I hadn't yet done that to my own little students yet." He chuckled. "I am the Hitman Tutor Godot and I am under the employment of the Sawadas. All that really means is that I'm these two little munchkins' home tutor, who carries a pretend gun around." Godot then brought his gun out of his pocket and pointed it at a wall. "As you can see, it's very well made." Godot then began to fire off several shots at the wall. They made a 'pop, pop, pop' sound, but they didn't sound anything like the shots Godot fired off earlier. Orange paint splattered onto the wall where it hit, the impacts creating 'smack' sounds that echoed off the walls. "It's an, uh... educational device."

Right, a TOY gun that nearly knocked Ieyoshi out and made him return like a zombie. Chester was beginning to wonder if he should start feeling insulted by the lack lustre explanation given. Besides, the thing that burned in Ieharu's head was definitely a flame. His eyes were keen, and there was a definite difference between paint and a flickering flame. Shou didn't look convinced either, and Ryuu raised an eyebrow skeptically, making it evident that they weren't quite believing Godot either.

"Nonetheless," Godot continued, "I guess you could call me a sort of special home tutor. I'm not the kind that just helps you shrimps with homework that'll never teach you anything. No, I teach essentials. A lot of good pythagorean theorem will do for you when you're fighting for other's lives." Godot glanced to the side. "I'm kind of expensive though."

"Home tutor," Damien said with a smile. "Oh, you're the guy!" He finally pieced it together, "I didn't know the details from my father, but he briefly mentioned someone like you coming soon." He fixed himself up to no longer hold an aggressive demeanor even though he was still carrying Ieharu. "Forgive my rudeness, I didn't know who you were. I'm Damien, Hayato's son, in case you didn't know." This was one of the few times Damien would actually be a bit respectful to authority, only when it is mafia related.

"Don't act all polite to him, Dam." Ieyoshi muttered, refusing to look Godot in the eye. "Just look at him. He doesn't deserve it." The elder twin grabbed his sibling's limp hand, stringing his fingers through his brother's and squeezing tight. After a moment, it seemed that Ieharu began to breathe a little easier.

Ah things were going just great. Damien knew him too apparently, and the stranger seemed to have something to do with his Father? Regardless, Chester was pretty eager to leave. "Well, if no one needs me now.. I'd be off thank you very much." He said, raising his hand slightly as if asking a question. Before he even got a reply however, Chester was off in a flash, nearly vanishing from view like he did in the fight, hiding in the blind spots of their vision as he made his exit. There was no point in staying when they seemed to solve their own problems, and he had his butterfly waiting for him at home.

Beside them, Enn piped up despite Shou's best efforts to keep him quiet. "That sounds awesome~!" He bounded cheerfully over to Godot, eyes shining with awe. It was pretty obvious that he didn't really care that his friends were injured - just one assessing glance at them like they were covered in water instead of blood and injuries and that was it. "Teach me too! I want to fight strong people too! Please?!" He moved around Godot like a puppy wagging its tail, directing his most pleading puppy eyes at Godot. "Please please please-"

"Enn!" Shou grabbed his brother and pulled him away from Godot, placing a hand over his mouth, "Sorry about him," he said apologetically, trying not to shake as Enn gradually stilled under his hold, still pulling off his most doggy eyes at Godot. Normal people didn't know about the Dying Will Flame, which meant that what had happened wasn't normal and was probably related to the mafia and that wasn't good; he'd had came to Japan to get away from anything related to the mafia, why was it turning up here of all places? Shou felt like crying as he felt his hope for a normal life shatter into dust, but gathered himself together enough to form a wavering smile. "Um, please don't pay any attention to what he said just now. We, uh, we can't afford it anyway."

"Just take 'em," Ieyoshi grumbled under his breath.

"Ah, that's alright," Godot replied, "just be careful. I might teach you boys something on accident. Wouldn't that be terrible?" Godot stared at something on the ground, apparently thinking about something. "Hey, heroes," he said to the group, "maybe you guys could perhaps demonstrate some good intentions by taking a look at the bad guy over there?" Godot nodded toward Ishiki, who was still on the ground and practically forgotten about.

"We're not heroes," Ryuu muttered automatically, but he went to check on Ishiki anyway, wincing as his body ached from the movement. Ugh, resting sounded like a really good idea now. Maybe he should skip school tomorrow... nah, his aunt'd murder him if he stayed in the house any longer than he did already. He made his way to Ishiki, limping a little. The guy was dangerous, he wasn't planning on letting someone else check on Ishiki just to get taken hostage or whatever. Keeping a healthy distance away, he looked over at the teen, whom had assumed a cross-legged position on the ground. "Nothing really wrong with him," he called out, bat still at the ready. Ishiki let out a low growl, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

A girl's voice called out, "Get away from him!" Ishiki's girlfriend, Akako, was approaching quickly. For some reason, she was absent for a majority of Ishiki's fight. Akako didn't seem so threatening without anybody beside her, but expression seemed like that of pure fury. Akako quickly came to crouch by her boyfriend's side. "Ishiki, look at you," she said to him, almost soothingly, "You're hurt. They beat you bad. How awful. How terrible." Then, strangely, the tone of Akako's voice began to change, as she steadily spoke louder. "How awful! How terrible!" Then, Akako bent down to whisper one word to him; "Useless."

"You hear me?" Akako stood up and began to shout, "You're useless! You and your stupid martial arts! International, my foot! Can't even beat two first years? You couldn't even punch that wimp Ieharu down! You know what's going to happen to you now? Rosa's not going to associate herself with weaklings, but you? You disgrace me! You can't do a single thing I say right! Your terrible, awful! People just call you cool because they think you're all that, but you know what? Nobody likes you! Yeah, that's right. First chance they got, all these kids came here to beat your stupid face in! Kinda says something, don't you think? And, you know what? I don't even like martial arts! Do you think I enjoyed a single moment whenever I was in that same rancid-smelling room with you disgusting, sweaty guys? Hah! I never even liked you. You're always thinking about yourself, and you'd act like such a moron whenever you talked about yourself and your stupid club. Give me a little attention, you dumbass. Think you're so tough? Remember those guys that came for backup? Guess who told them to come here? Me! Why? Because you're an idiot who can't even look beyond himself even if their life depended on it. God, you don't even deserve to live, you..." Akako stalled a bit to find a word, "You bletch." Akako crossed her arms and didn't look at him anymore.

"And you call him self centered," Ryuu said, eyebrows raised high as he looked at her. Geez, he'd always thought of her as a bitch, but not this much of one. He almost felt sorry for Ishiki now. The guy looked shocked at Akako's outburst, like he'd never expected her to feel that way. "Talk about black pot and kettles. You're more self centered than he is, the way you use him. In fact, the two of you fit perfectly together considering how alike you dingbats are." He knew he was running his mouth, but Ryuu didn't like the way Akako behaved, like she was entitled to the world and nothing was her fault. He rested the bat lightly against his shoulder. "Although skank might be a better word for you instead," he muttered thoughtfully, not realizing that he was speaking loud enough for Akako to hear him.

"Bite me," was all that she responded with. She didn't need to waste her breath on unrelated parties. She wasn't told to pick on him, after all. Only Ishiki needed to be cut off, Rosa told Akako.

Ieyoshi squinted at the trio, all their shouting and barking and banter doing nothing for his splitting migraine. He wasn't allowed to drink, but this had to be what a hangover felt like. Ugh. He got to his feet, still grasping his brother's hand. He held out his other hand, making a "gimmie" motion to Damien, his intent obvious. When Damien let Ieharu down, Ieyoshi picked him up piggy-back style, wrapping his arms under the boy's legs and allowing his brother's body to lean against his back.

"Well, uh, we're outta here or whatever." He made sure to throw Godot his meanest glare before turning his back to the man. "Fucking toy gun my ass." He uttered, again under his breath. "We're gonna go, 'cause if we get there after my mom does and she sees Haku, well... it won't turn out well for anyone." Without further ado, Ieyoshi began walking towards the lot's exit.

"R-Right, we should probably get you guys to the hospital." Shou looked worriedly at them, as if he was only now registering the boys battered states. Ryuu shrugged like he didn't care about it and walked over to reach for the bags Shou was holding, grabbing his own with a small sigh of relief. The group turned to walk away from the scene of carnage behind them, forming an odd picture - Damien and Ieyoshi leading the way with Ieyoshi carrying the still mostly naked Ieharu, Izaya and Ryuu together at the left a little bit behind them looking completely battered and arguing about the name for their club again and searching for a coin, Enn and Shou a little to the right as Enn smiled like he'd just had a nice workout and Shou with a worried crease in his forehead like he was expecting the teachers to pop up at any moment. Behind all of them was the mysterious figure Godot. Almost every aspect about him seemed to be an indication that this was not a man to be trusted, yet in truth, he wasn't really looking to be trusted. He smirked as he watched the boys, talk and debate among themselves, like any group of boys would after a group effort. It was almost like they'd forgotten that there were people still beaten up behind them.

Shou did look back, anxious about the unconscious students, but his head snapped back forwards at the sight of a purple-haired man standing next to Akako, smiling and relaxed like he had been there the whole while. A shudder ran down his spine as he gently pushed Enn and the others forwards, and soon enough the group were at the gate, going their separate ways like it had just been any other normal school day.

The loud chatter of the cafeteria filled the room. The cafe was spacious and contained more than enough space for every student in the school as if they planned for another incoming class. Although it seemed like a normal day, there was a bit of 'tension' floating around in the air. It was Thursday, but not your average one. More specifically it was Godbread Thursday, the day where boys become men.

"Only a few more minutes to go," Lilith said watching the oven. She was still waiting to produce the gift from heaven and bring it to life on earth. The Godbread. Perfectly seasoned, buttered, and prepared with love. The ultimate bread that for today, was only one eighth of the regular price. Typically, only fully grown adults with a well-paying job could afford such a delicacy or a few students that came from rich families, but this special was made with the students in mind; however, there was a large catch with this. Only five were being made. In the spirit of competition, each Godbread will be placed separated and equal distance from the opposite side of the coffee shop. Whoever brings it to Lilith's cashier stand in the small coffee shop section located in the cafe, gets the sale. Once the Godbread container was handed to Lilith, then it is considered safe and no longer eligible for anyone to take. This was the honor rule in placed for all those who battle for it. This was a monthly affair and allows students to release any stress they have built up through school along with the chance to be blessed by the Godbread.

Today marked the second Godbread Thursday of the school year which tends to be the more popular one. By now, the nicknames of those who have participated have been given and more people would have garnered strategies in preparation for war. The first war was interesting to say the least. There five winners were the Hokage, the angry Mad Hatter, the Ghost, the Doll Queen, and the Still Reaper. This time, the fight will be more rigorous since more students have prepared their own strategies in preparation. You could see among the students that some have matching shirts to represent their factions, others have sat in certain positions closer to the Godbread locations where they would be placed. "This'll be a good show," Lilith said to herself. This was one of the few things that gave Lilith a slight rush other than stealing valuables. "I guess I'll check what's on TV then," she said as she motioned towards the remote. There was a slightly large television used to create ambiance with background music while the store ran. *Click* She flipped to the first channel, hah the news.

"This is AMAZING," the reporter obnoxiously yelled. "Tempest! From Blast of Tempest is rumored to be coming to Namimori to perform, SOON!" Her excitement was very apparent accompanied by the fans standing behind her trying to get their five seconds of fame. "I love you Tempest!" one of the teenagers shouted from behind the reporter. "Oh yeah! We love you Tempest," another fan shouted. "But that's not all folks!" the reporter could barely contain her excitement, "But Kunyo! Kunyo the model! He'll be accompanying her! Both of these idols together!"

"Her music is alright, but Kunyo is pretty attractive. Not my type though," Lilith muttered while changing to the next channel. Another news jingle came on again, "Oh great, more news."

A male reporter with a larger build stood there with a serious demeanor. "This is scary news folks. Last week, we went from covering the mysterious gamer N1E5—pronounced Nies— and his many achievements, but this week we have a notorious hacker attack...in NAMIMORI." "This man sounds like the conspiracy theorist that are on television....oh wait," she stopped midway realizing this in fact is the news. "But alas, we have hope! We have another hacker on our side!”

"Conspiracy, conspiracy, next," she clicked the remote again.

"Here we are live with the famous Wushu Master, Alois!" The reporter shifted the mic while the camera focused on Alois. "Hello Alois, I've heard you're coming to Namimori soon, why is that?" She continued to ask him probing questions on and on.

"Eh, that's cool I guess." *DING DING DING* The oven continuously beeped. It's time. Lilith pressed the power button on the remote to shut off the annoying news reporters. As she walked towards the oven, she could notice the shift in atmosphere in the cafeteria. The voices slowly began to fade as she went to open the oven. She grabbed her Namimori cafe specialized mittens with Bertha's image holding a coffee mug, then opened the oven. The irresistible aroma overwhelmed the cafe and overtook Lilith for a moment. The smell started to spread even further into the cafeteria causing an eerie silence to fill the area. "The God bread," one student muttered quietly, "Praise the gods. "The Pastry Goddess has finished the ritual," another student said while beginning to kneeling down in respect. Lilith somehow earned the title of Pastry Goddess as the legends of God Bread Thursdays began. The nicknames and different factions of students were always interesting to say the least.

Lilith pulled out the long strip of Godbread out of the oven and already prepped five durable sturdy containers out on a table. She carefully divided them up, spread butter, a bit more seasons, and finally completed the legendary God Bread by placing them in the containers. "It's time," she said while holding each container stacked on top of each other like a professional waitress. She walked slowly towards the first pedestal on the opposite side of the cafeteria. The pedestal was white and in the form of ancient Greek god. The five gods that had a pedestal design were Zeus, Hera, Athena, Ares, and Apollo and it is said that whichever bread you receive will cause you to earn a different blessing from the respective god. Each pedestal god held their hand out as if they were holding something up which conveniently could be filled with a God Bread. All five god pedestals that lie equal distance from each other while they all stand on the opposite side of the cafe. As Lilith placed the final God Bread, she began walking back like a model in all her beauty. She lived up to her title as the Pastry Goddess because as she slowly walked, her hair flew which helped show her natural allure. By this point, the entire cafeteria population was silent and watching Lilith head back to the cafe. The war doesn't start until she says those magic words. Students sat there with their fist clenched and ready.

The sound of running footsteps began near the Zeus Godbread statue. Someone tried to get a false start ahead of everything. "Sorry love," Lilith said as she quickly turned around. She reached for a small yen coin from her pocket, held it with two fingers with her left hand, and prepared her right hand to flick it. She closed one eye, then released the flick. The yen flew at a terrifying speed directly toward the student. BAM! It hit the child bulls eye on the back of the head. He fell down temporarily knocked out from the impact. Some students shook their heads, knowing that you should never try to get an early start. The Pastry Goddess is beautiful but merciless. Without saying any further words, Lilith turned around and continued walking towards the cafe. She finally reached the cashier with her back facing the wall opposite of the students and the Godbread. The tension in the air was more evident since it was about to be that time. She quickly turned around with the 'coffee lady girl' persona and smile and said, "Welcome to Namimori Cafe! We are Now Open!"

"To the Godbread!" "Ahhhh!" I'll get it!" A multitude of students had begun yelling while chasing their respective god pedestal. This was the beginning of the second bread wars.

Ryuu scowled around the room, ignoring the din as he reached a hand up to his hat - a fedora that had a wide band near the brim that was the colour of the school sweater he was wearing over his uniform - to jam it securely down on his head like a helmet. He looked around suspiciously at the room, taking note of everyone's position.

He, Chester and Izaya were nowhere near the outside tables - those belonged to the popularities and bullies, the rest of the normal people were at the tables inside, discussing strategies or just fidgeting in place as they waited for the Godbread battle to begin. Why there was a battle with bread as the prize Ryuu didn't know (it wasn't even free, the last time he'd taken it he'd had to pay for it at the counter), but damn lunch period if he wasn't going to get that bread, even though he was still bruised and hurt from the fight yesterday. It had been scarily delicious, almost like those first class bread you could get in Tokyo that costed more than he knew-not-what, a car maybe, but definitely a lot more than a highschool student could afford.

No way was he missing out on this. Especially when his new club members where joining in on the fun too.

How did it even begin in the first place anyway? Some student from the beginning going "bread mine, no touch" with another going "hurhurhur, me no care" and swiping it from student 1, starting a food fight that ended up like the world's first MMA match, only with more amateur violence, praising of the gods (ALL HAIL THE BREADMAKER!!) and bread as the winning prize they had to pay for? Talk about weird. All the schools he'd been to never had sanctified food wars taking place ever.

(The how and why of it was a lot more simpler than what Ryuu was thinking. It actually involved a mix up where everyone was only able to eat bread for a week straight when all the shops but the breadshop closed, two students fighting over a piece of bread with the ferocity of starving wolves who had just spotted a small baby bunny with crippled legs and knowing that only one gets to eat it, a serious of incredibly bizarre coincidences involving a container of hot bacon soup, a group of back packs and a bully trying to get someone to do his homework for him, and a baguette. And also a wallet. The result had been a fight on the scale of Ragnarok with the noise of a tank at close range and only broke up when the bell rang for classes to begin. No deaths were had, but many of the students afterwards had to go to the infirmary.

And thus, the Breadwars began. Never let it be said that students had no clue how to hold a food fight.)

The sounds of bookies and tactics and just noise in general around him went down as the BreadMaker appeared, and Ryuu faced Izaya and Chester. It was about to start. Time for one last debrief. Ryuu tried not to grin from the anticipation.

"Alright, its about to start," He said quietly, stretching his arms in preparation. He straightened forwards from his slouch to half out of his chair, ready to move the moment the signal was given. "We all know what we're gonna do during the battle period - Captain, I am not bailing you out if you get hurt, and I won't hold back if we're facing each other Chester - but..." Ryuu's voice grew smaller and more hesitant, like he was half-hoping for them not to hear, and he kept his gaze locked on the Breadmaker. "good luck."

The plan was simple, really. Ryuu and Chester were going after the bread, while Iz (who was just plain weird, seriously) went around to help people or do who knows what. Why he wanted to shift them around instead of join in Ryuu had no clue (it wasn't like they wouldn't be capable of moving themselves up after waking up and it wasn't like they weren't prepared for it), but eh. It was what he wanted to do. Ryuu saw no point in going against it, so long as it didn't involve Ryuu ditching his original objective.

As for Ryuu's plan, it was simple - go after the Herabread, stay out of Chester's way, and hopefully manage it without aggravating anything. Oh, and fighting. Lots and lots of fighting, yay. Izaya could do what he wanted on his own, Ryuu had no plans for helping out -

The woman at the counter started to talk, and Ryuu readied himself just like everybody else, body tense, eyebrows furrowing downwards. Wait for it....

"Welcome to Namimori Cafe! We are Now Open!"

At the word 'go', most of the students involved in the breadwar started to charge, the noise level exploding from the decibel of the screams. Some leaped on the tables to use them as a stepping stone to the godbreads, while others crowded through the narrow openings between the tables and chairs to try and push their way through to the bread in a classic example of a zerg rush. Yet more slipped through the cracks between the people, only to get stopped by the people crowded around the statue, and everyone was throwing and exchanging punches or kicks or scuffles. Some of them had already broken from the main group clustered around the statues to scuffle with each other, snarls on their faces as they tried to take each other out.

It was pure pandemonium. Not for nothing was the title called breadwars. The scene resembled just that - a war being fought by soldiers who banded together, determined to snatch the bread, looters who aimed to steal it, lone warriors who prefered to attempt for the bread alone and knights clashing their swords against each other, all in an effort to grab the bread. And at the center of it all stood the five godbreads, the statues being seiged by so many people that it bore a twisted resemblance to that of the rush hour in early mornings, people crowding near the entrance and trying to elbow others away so that they could board the train first.

The Breadwars - the war of the epynomous godbreads. The war that over a hundred would join, but only five could win. And it had just begun.

Close to the edge, people were shoved out of the way as Ryuu pushed his way through, slipping through the space between people when he could and elbowing them away when he couldn't. Those who reached out to try and stop the rapidly advancing blonde, meaty hands reaching out to grab him with a nasty grin - and found themselves emptyhanded when he avoided their grabs and knocked them down with a couple of well-placed punches or elbows or kicks before going on his way, determination shining in his eyes, movements still fluid despite the injuries he had. Dumbfounded and out of breath, they gapped at his back in an attempt to figure out what just happened, forgetting about the battle for a moment. Impossible! He was new meat, new to both the school and the breadwars and injured to boot. They were the ones who were suppose to defeat him like it was a light workout to them, not the other way round. How could a diminuitive first year defeat them, veterans of the breadwars?!

Those who knew enough to associated Ryuu to the Mad Hatter, either through face or hat, barely raised an eyebrow. They had been there, after all. They knew what he was capable of.

As for Ryuu himself, he didn't really care what people thought so long as he got the bread. He knew that he'd made a pact with Chester (who had disappeared from sight) to help each other get the bread, and he was determined to do the best he could, keeping an eye out for people and an ear out for announcers. Duck dodge ugh, thank goodness I'm short enough that people won't see me go through them - wait forget that train of thought. Where's the bread? Who has it?

Chester muttered to himself, though he pulled the hood of his jacket more firmly abouve his head to hide his brightly colored hair to avoid being spotted. He stood with the crowd, though he was as still as a stone in the stream of people, blending in as yet another annoyed student as he waited for his chance to strike.

"Ah, seems like Mariboshi has the Herabread!" A student dressed in grey was sprinting down the sides like a linebacker doing his last play, face crossed with determination as he pushed people out of the way - only to trip on someone's outstretched leg. The watchers winced in sympathy as he landed on the ground with an earth shaking thud. "Ooo, that's gotta hurt folks! The Ice Witch knocked him down with one of her deadly legs, famous for their high kicks to the face! Poor Mariboshi won't last long - but wait! He's not running. He's staying to fight!" The announcer rose out of his seat, eyes wide with excitement as he tracked their movements. "Good block there, Mariboshi! But the Ice Witch is just warming up - wait, the bread isn't in their hands! Where is it?! Who has the bread?!"

Before anyone else could strike, Chester's arm shot out with a blur and snagged the bread without a pause, mentally thanking the announcers for doing their job. Of course, now he was going to be on the receiving end, and would have to evade the many outstretched arms of the crowd. Instead of shying away however, Chester stuffed the bread under his jacket and dived right in. The god bread was going to get a little flattened, but it was a small price to pay for its ownership.

"I don't believe it!" The announcer roared, standing up from his seat. The two fighters yelled and charged at Chester, but he ducked swiftly out of the way and and dived into the crowd. "GHOST HAS GOTTEN THE BREAD! Appearing out of the crowds, the Ghost, has snatched the bread! While Moriboshi and Ice Witch were distracted, he apparated out of the crowds like his namesake and disappeared back into the crowds as quick as he came! Finding him in the crowd is going to be no easy task! For a newcomer who only got his name last month, he's doing surprisingly well!"

"Hey, get outta the way!"

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

"What the-" "EEK!" "Gross!" "What the hell, dude? Wait, who?" "Did she really just-?" "Hey, you-" Thwap!

"Pwa~aah! Ain't nuthin." A short haired girl spat toward the boy who laid at her feet before grinning wickedly with a canned soda in her hand. She quickly began to chug the drink until her cheeks were full and the can was empty. That was when she locked eyes with Chester as people avoided standing in the direction she was facing. If she covered that bread in spew, nobody would dare touch it. It was gross, but that didn't bother Erin as the bread would belong to her anyway. Rosa declared it so, after all.

"It seems someone is up to the challenge! Erin has loaded another round of cream soda into her mouth! I'd pity the poor guy who got spat on just now, but he really should have gotten out of the way of the Spitter. Cautious about the soda she's just spewed and wary that more might come their way, the participants part ways around her! She's making for Ghost - but wait!"

Elbowing the last person standing in his way aside, Ryuu burst into the small bubble of space Erin had created at a run and sprinted to tackle her from behind, fedora jammed firmly down his head like a helmet as he charged quietly at her back. Erin, however, seemed to expect him coming—her basketball experience possibly attributing to her spacial awareness—and made a wild swing backwards. Flinging his torso backwards, Ryuu ducked under her arm and skidded on his knees on the floor like a limbo dancer on wheels, bringing himself to a stop in a crouch near the edge of the circle. Leaping to his feet, Ryuu quickly brought his fists up in front of him, lowering his center of gravity as he glared a challenge at Erin. They looked silently at each other, eyes refusing to break their gazes from each other as the commentator continued to yell from the side, the air surrounding them crackling with tension.

"It's the Mad Hatter! He's intercepted Spitter!" the announcer crowed enthusiastically. "It seems that he's covering for the Ghost's escape, and isn't willing to take no for an answer! Will she be able to defeat the Mad Hatter, or will the Mad Hatter triumph?! Or-" he slammed his hand on the table dramatically " - will she ignore his challenge and go after the Ghost, who has disappeared into the crowd like a clownfish hiding in a bed of coral?! What will the Spitter do now?!"

Erin seemed to have a moment of hesitation as she breathed heavily through her nose and sloshed the liquid in her mouth from cheek to cheek. Her ultimate goal was the bread, yet truly, Erin didn't really care about the bread, besides the fact that Rosa was relying on her to get it, even if it meant getting a stupid nickname like 'the Spitter'. The 'Mad Hatter' here had managed to gain one of the breads last time, so he definitely was a threat that Rosa had warned about. Also, from what Erin was aware, this was one of the boys that Akako believed was there to beat the crap out of the MAA club leader. Naturally, he was going to be a target for Rosa, so it would be sensible to take him down here, to get rid of his prestige and raise her own, all for Rosa's sake of course. Even if the real reason Erin was compelled to fight this guy was simply out of selfish desire, Rosa would still forgive her, right?

Eventually, Erin concluded that Rosa always had a plan that they could fall back to if need be and that simply fighting this guy would still be beneficial in the long run. With that reasoning, Erin could finally start thinking for herself and have some fun for this brief moment, as long as this guy didn't hold back because she was a girl. Erin cracked her knuckles and hunched over in a fighting stance not too dissimilar to a basketball one. In one swift motion, she went for a powerful upward jab.

She needn't have worried. Ryuu dodged to the left as he deflected the blow, rushing forwards with a punch of his own as the announcer began doing his job - yelling about what was happening like a maniac, mostly. "And it seems like the Mad Hatter and the Spitter has begun!" The announcer leaned out of his seat, craning his head this way and that to try and get a grip on what was going on. "The Spitter goes for first blood, but Mad Hatter dodges and gets in a blow of his own! They're going at it like rabid beasts! Care to explain more, Neri?"

"Naturally." Neri turned towards the two fighters, eyes narrowed as he tracked their movements. "Interesting! Spitter seems to have adopted an offensive style, sending blows towards Mad Hatter fast and wild," He said, voice ringing out clear above the sound of the crowd. "Although she is showering furious blows towards Mad Hatter - his style seems to be cautious and focused on deflecting blows while landing the occasional hit on her, a good tactic to use in this situation." Despite the blows raining on him, Ryuu kept calm, evenly deflecting and blocking any blows that Erin sent his way. The audience roared as his arm lashed out like a coiled spring to her right, Neri's voice resounding above all the clamor as he continued to narate. "Strong punch, and fast too. A formidable opponent indeed. What shall Spitter do?"

Erin dodged to the left, a smug look in her eyes that widened with surprise when Ryuu followed up the feint with a whip-like kick to her face from the left, body twisting gracefully as his foot made his way towards the side of Erin's head. His leg landed against Erin's arm with a thwack as she raised it up lightning quick to shield her face, and she swayed to the side from the blow. Scowling, Ryuu tried to tug his leg back but couldn't - Erin had reached up with her other hand to grab at his leg, holding him in place.

"Good block and grab, Erin." He sounded somewhat impressed by the fight. "Mad Hatter, however, is putting up a fight just as good, as seen by the impossibly fast roundhouse kick to the face with his other leg, using her iron grip on his leg as an anchor to carry out the blow. But oh - The Spitter let go of him and he fell to the ground! Mad Hatter gets back to his feet. But they're not out yet - they're back to exchanging blows!"

However, Neri had not forgotten what was at stake here. Breaking his gaze away from the brawl taking place, Neri scanned the crowd for a hint of blue hair, someone holding a container. "Although the fight seems to be on even/odd terms, It seems Mad Hatter has accomplished his goal." Neri said drolly, voice blasting out over the microphone he was using. Hidden by the people, Chester shot Ryuu a grateful look for the diversion. The announcers' attention was mostly fixated on the fight, giving Chester the opportunity to blend in as another member of the curious crowd, making his way slowly but steadily toward the counter. It was going to be their victory if this situation continued, they could split the bread among themselves later. "Ghost has disappeared from sight, and it is doubtful that Spitter would ever hope to find this particular needle in this constantly moving hay stack." It seemed that the two of them had realized it too. Ryuu's face broke out into a satisfied grin, proud of his success.

"So," Neri said curiously, almost bored, leaning forwards against the table. He steepled his fingers, eyes locked on Erin's figure. "Mad Hatter has completed his goal, while Spitter has failed hers. What will they do next?"

Erin appeared to be protecting her face, her pressing against her mouth tightly while. Her cheeks were still full with that sticky drink. What could she possibly have been saving that for? Erin then wipped the corner of her lip with her thumb and confidently smirked. All the attention was on her, and Erin didn't mind it at all. After all, they weren't commenting on her fashion sense or her social status, they were ignoring those entirely. Those things didn't matter to Erin anymore, only her toughness and her ability to fulfill Rosa's will. Although the bread was now far from her grasp, little did the little fly know that he was being led into a trap. As long as Erin grabbed everybody's attention with a show that everybody was looking for, nobody would pay attention to the acts that could only be committed in the shadows by the true masterminds. That's how Rosa would have put it, at least.

That's it, Neri. Pay attention to me like I was some spoiled princess of death!