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Shou Arasaka

"I got a new hairstyle... it doesn't look bad, does it?"

0 · 480 views · located in Namimori High

a character in “Katekyo Hitman REBORN!: Undying Will”, as played by Alle9009

Description

Shou Arasaka
The Scarred Gadgeteer




Image





Full name: Shou Arasaka
Nickname(s)/Aliases: Glass Delinquent, Scar-face.
Age: Male
Gender: 18 years old
Sexuality: Bisexual
Flame Type: Lightning with secondary Mist.
Occupation: Student, part time mechanic.

Physical Description: He has a somewhat average and athletic build, reaching 174cm and weighing 61kg. His hair is a light brown and clipped to the right with a clover pin and another sliver pin, and his eyes are a light brown the colour of his hair. His face has a large reddish scar that runs down his left eye and ends at his cheek, and his smile is warm, although prone to frowning with worry. His body is toned from running and exercise, although he is not athletic, and covered in scars from his death match experiences. He has a comforting aura, which disappears when he's focused on something.
He prefers to wear comfortable clothes such as shirts and jeans, and always keeps a light green sweater with him as a precaution against the cold. He has a preference for green.

Personality: Shou is someone who's easily frightened, but has a good heart. He's very nice and friendly to everyone, and although he prefers to keep to himself he always has time set aside for people. He smiles at them and listens to them and does his best to provide reasonable input, and is always willing to help. He's warm and reasonable and very realistic, although prone to over worrying and anxiety. He's normally even tempered, but he can get very passionate about machines and technology and its pretty hard for him to get mad. One way to make him angry is to threaten what's important to him, as he has a very large protective instinct. He's very big-brotherly, and when that instinct is switched on his reliability increases tons. He's the kind of guy who becomes more stronger because of others, since he knows that there are people relying on him. As he's also the type of person who worries for others more than himself and someone who instantly tries to help people out if they have trouble, Shou is ultimately a little too selfless and caring for his own good, which might cause him to get hurt in his efforts to protect others.

He's also very observant from years of living with his brother and battle, often noticing and realising little details that can be hard to spot at first glance. He's extremely knowledgeable about people, and he's quite good at understanding and empathising with them without it turning to pity. He always has a listening ear, and is great at being comforting. He's very open and accepting, but although this causes people to think he's naive and gullible he isn't. Shou isn't gullible, and he believes that even though life might suck sometimes having something good happen to you can be quite nice, which is why he always tries to do something nice for people. He's also very considerate and reasonable, often looking to see both sides of the situation and thinking about it before choosing what he considers the best course of action. He's also surprisingly resilient, which shows when he gets pushed around too much. He's the type that'll bend but not break, and that applies to his personality too, in that although he's easily scared he's able to shake it off quickly.

However, although he worries he tries not to be too overbearing, keeping it to himself. He's very sensible, often thinking about what needs to be done and doing it while making sure that he isn't over his limits. He also pretty self depreciative, although he doesn't really say it out loud. He's easy to panic, but is quick to calm down and is even quicker when his friends are involved. If the people he cares about are involved, he'll do his best to help them. He's really moral, which is good when it comes to an insane little brother, and does his best to be reliable and trustworthy. He's pretty conflicted about the mafia, since he loves creating things and they're used to hurt, but he tries to keep a lid on it. He tends to shoulder his burdens by himself, since he doesn't really expect anyone to take care of him. He's been by himself for a long time doing nothing but taking care of himself and people, so you could say that he's a bit too used to being the mature one.

Basically someone with low self esteem who worries too much and is very easily scared and flustered, but has a good heart and is very protective, along with being incredibly resilient and a passion for anything related to technology. Might have PTSD.

Likes; Dislikes;
Machines and technology His scar
Cooking white cells
Video games The destruction of good machines

Fears: Killing, his little brother turning completely insane, going back to the facility, ghosts.

Skills/Abilities: Killing intent - Shou can sense the killing intent of another person. He's able to sense those
Machines - He's good at tinkering with machines and technology, and he's a part time mechanic. He's also good at creating things, and likes to take things apart and put them back together just to see how it works. He's also picked up hacking recently, although he's not too good at it.
Traps - he's good at setting traps and trickwires and the like.
Housework - without him, the Arasaka's place would be a pit. Shou is good with cleaning up messes, but his true speciality lies in bandaging people up.
People - he's good with people. Shou is good at dealing with people, talking to them and making them feel cared for. He's good at comforting them too, and he does his best to provide a listening ear.

Techniques: Shou can, surprisingly enough, fight, although he prefers not to. He's not too good, but he's definitely competent. He tends to fight defensively, with trap-like techniques.
Weapons/Tools: D-Grade lightning ring
D-grade Mist ring
A couple of yoyo's - The string is made out of tough but flexible wires that are extremely durable, and they can stretch up to several meters. The yoyo itself is extremely hard and can be used as a bludgeoning weapon.
Box Weapons: ???

Family: Arasaka Mai - mother, status unknown.
Arasaka Enn - little brother, alive.

Personal History: Shou was raised in the slums of Italy with his brother and mom, who was a prostitute. She didn't earn enough, so Shou took a job at the local mechanic garage to make ends meet. One day, Enn disappeared, and although Shou looked around he couldn't find his little brother. Shou worried over it and even asked the police, but his brother didn't appear. His mom was of no help (it's kinda debatable whether she knows he exists), so 10 year old Shou set off to look for him. He travelled all over the place, and made a living working on cars. As his strategy was to stick to one place and examine the surrounding area until he knew for sure Enn wasn't there, Shou spent the time in each area working and absorbing information. He worked as cook, a tech assistant, but his most enjoyable job was at a parts shop, where he was required to take things apart and allowed to play with the parts. The shop owner was kind enough to teach him, and Shou quickly gained skill at it. He still left, of course, but he enjoyed it there.

After 4 years of looking, Shou's efforts finally paid off in the worst way possible. Hearing about a secret underground gladiator ring which was hosting a albino eleven year old, Shou grew suspicious and tried to get in. He caught sight of Enn, and Shou was pretty shocked at what he found. He followed them back to the facility, but got caught. He then spent the next year being tested for flames, locked away in the heart of the facility so that Enn had no clue he was there. It was pretty much torture. By the time he got out, Shou had lightning flames and a secondary sun flames and he was pretty sure that he was going to die. He was trained on his secondary flame, and sent into death matches. He got really, really traumatised by it, and a few months later he's still traumatised at the thought of killing, although he can do it. He just doesn't have the stomach for it.

Of course, Shou learnt that Enn was the ace of deathmatches. He didn't know what to feel about that, and he was kinda scared of Enn for a while, but ultimately he decided to get a grip on himself. He cares for his little brother, and still cares, so even if Enn seems like a completely different person he'll still try to take care of him.

Shou was hanging out in the messhall one day, when Enn bounded over and hugged him. Enn pretty much tried to get him out of there because it was his bro, but failed since he didn't have enough power. Two months later and Enn was helping Shou and the others plan an escape. They launched it, but they would've failed if it weren't for the fact that they attracted enough attention from another Famiglia, who made it there quick enough to save everyone. Unfortunately, the scientists escaped, but the kids were safe.

Shou and Enn, who were 12 and 15 at the time, escaped to Japan, Nanimori. Shou did his best to earn money by taking part time jobs, but when that started to fail Enn went to become a hitman for hire, doing jobs in secret. They needed the money, and Enn really liked doing the job. Shou found out a few weeks later, and after an argument they came to a compromise - Shou would continue with his part time job and choose what kind of jobs Enn did and they'd use the money Enn earned for expenses like school and living while saving the rest. Life continued on, and Shou did his best to lead a normal life until a guy with a beanie appeared...


Image

So begins...

Shou Arasaka's Story

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Izaya Ryujin Character Portrait: Nami Gokudera Character Portrait: Roni Hideaki Character Portrait: Fia Leone Character Portrait: Enon Nakada Character Portrait: Chester Sterling
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"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."

The setting changes from The Sawada Household to Japan

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Izaya Ryujin Character Portrait: Roni Hideaki Character Portrait: Enon Nakada Character Portrait: Chester Sterling Character Portrait: Cambrey Bovino Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada
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A fully clothed Ieyoshi sighed. It seemed to have become his default go-to reaction to events that weren't interesting enough to capture his attention. And precious few things were ever truly interesting to him nowadays. Perhaps this is what puberty feels like? Ieyoshi sighed again. How boring.

Currently, the elder-by-eight-seconds Sawada twin was making his way across the school's courtyard and towards the massive metalwork fence that marked its perimeter. He was accompanied by Damien, of course. Over the course of this, the first month of school, it'd become a sort of habit of the twins to meet up with Damien and Aobane at the outer gate after school and walk most of the way to their homes as a group. This day, Ieyoshi met up with Damien somewhat earlier, at the steps outside the main hall. Interestingly enough, Ieyoshi was not accompanied by his other half, which struck Damien as odd. The two were typically inseparable. If the morning taught him anything, it was that them being separated was an omen, if anything.

"Haku's not with you again? Don't tell me he's taking another run ahead of you," he asked while putting emphasis on another run. "He already got kids calling me the Hokage because of the smoke bombs."

Ieyoshi sighed again, this time in response to Damien's question. As they were walking, they'd passed by the area that several hours earlier had been the scene of their morning commotion. People had started calling him "batman" because of it, not that he cared—or, at least, that's what he told himself. "Yeah. And apparently I'm Batman." He felt like there was more he could say, but meh. The next order of business for him was making it home and questioning Godot about this nonsense Ieharu was spouting with guns and bullets and assassinations and all that. Knowing his younger twin, he was probably talking to a teacher about a book or a poem or something. Why he cared what they thought was beyond Ieyoshi's ability to fathom. "But if he comes running at me this time, I'll put him down."

Of course, he was joking. Maybe.

Damien did a fangirl pose jokingly. "Oh, my hero! Not the hero Namimori deserves, but the one we need!" He pretended to faint flinging his body towards the ground. Right before landing on his back, he caught himself with one hand with ease.

Despite himself, Ieyoshi laughed. His version of laughing was a curt smile followed by exhaling loudly. "Isn't your village missing you, bitch?" Ieyoshi's voice lightened considerably with his words. Joking around with Damien was always a welcome break in the grinding monotony that he called his daily existence.

Damien quickly popped up back to his feet. "Haha, you mean village full of bitches? Of course they are." He stood as if he were a Hokage with his hand on his invisible large hat. His other hand stood at his side. "Ladies," he paused for a brief moment, "I have returned." Ieyoshi made a face, rolling his eyes in dramatic dismissal. He always gave a slight performance with Ieyoshi and Ieharu for fun. They were close. "Anyways, I wonder what they're calling Haku?"

By now, they'd reached the ashen gunmetal gates that marked the entrance to and exit from the courtyard proper. Instead of going through the gates, Ieyoshi stopped, electing instead to turn and lean against the steel beam that made up part of the left gate's hinge, arms folded. His brother—typically accompanied by that Kuroiobashi kid—should have caught up to them by now, but he had yet to appear. "Pfft. Maybe they'll call him perv. Or idiot. Or crouching idiot, hidden perv fool."

"Haha, if only they knew how he really was. Poor Haku," Damien laughed.

"How about poor us," Ieyoshi responded, chuckling.

When five minutes turned to twenty, all the chattering first and second -years began evacuating the courtyard at a leisurely pace and heading home—long after the too-cool-to-hang third-years had swaggered their way through the front gates, of course. Still, there was no sign of Ieharu. Ieyoshi had long since closed his eyes, as if snoozing, though he was doing anything but. He was merely listening, taking in the sounds of the environment. Though his senses weren't nearly as sharp as Damien's, he could quite easily pick out some familiar voices amongst all the chitchat. Especially Ieharu's voice, which was like a lighter fluffier version of his own.

After several moments of hearing everything but his brother's voice, he sighed, opening his eyes.

He did hear someone interesting. Scanning over the various disparate cliques and courtyard gaggles that so poetically described high school life, his eyes landed upon a-a... a girl? Hmm. Ieyoshi frowned slightly, squinting. For some reason, the girl looked familiar. Like, really familiar. And though he forgot names fairly easily, he'd never forget a face he'd seen before. The girl was tall but sported a small figure, complete with intense blue eyes. Her smooth thin black hair somehow reminded him of one of his father's guardians. Lambo. That was his name. So, where had he seen her before?

He looked down at his folded arms, chewing through his own memories. Things like this really irked him. He'd seen her somewhere before, but where, damn it? After a few moments of pondering, Ieyoshi gave up, filing the question away somewhere in the back of his mind.

He looked up again, his eyes scanning the crowd for something else—anything else!—that would pique his interests and stave off the twin specters of boredom and annoyance.

He spotted Jett. Jett Hideaki. He was milling about along with his sister, though Ieyoshi didn't quite remember her name. He knew Jett, however. Though he personally abhorred watching sports, everyone knew the school's premier basketball champion and most valuable player, even the first-years. Ieyoshi wasn't quite sure how he felt about the Hideaki siblings. Jett especially. He was an imposing person, perhaps intimidating to some, but...

Ieyoshi began to chew on his lower lip.

Whenever he and Jett came within close proximity of each other, something inside of him... it was like he felt a sort of kinship with the guy. Like the two of them shared a relation on some sort of base fundamental level. It was strange, it was unexplainable, it was whatever.

He also spotted Izaya, who was running around the courtyard for reasons only Izaya was aware of. Like Jett, everyone in the school knew Izaya's name, but for less glorious reasons. Ieyoshi shook his head shortly after catching sight of the green-haired kid. Oh well. In any good action movie, the stupid ones always died first.

While following Izaya with his eyes, Ieyoshi crossed eyes with—

Again, Ieyoshi squinted. There were many unfamiliar faces in the crowd, but this one was quite... let's say odd. Red eyes, for a start. Blood red. Glasses. Hair slicked back, as if by hand. Average height. He looked like the type of person that turned out to be the crazy serial killer at the end of a horror flick, but for some reason Ieyoshi felt nothing when he looked him. Absolutely nothing. Not impressed. Not intimidated. Not scared. Not happy. Not even bored. He just felt nothing, a sense of no presence, as if he were staring at a whitewashed brick wall instead of a human being.

Certainly, the guy wasn't in his class. Ieyoshi would have remembered such a face. He didn't seem tall enough or cool enough to be a third-year, though, so he was probably part of the junior class. Interesting. Odd, but interesting.

He stared for a while longer before feigning a loss of interest, lest someone notice him glaring.

Full of unsated curiosity, Ieyoshi pondered asking Damien who the red-eyed guy was, or at least if he had an opinion about him. That's when something slipped by his left peripheral. Now typically, Ieyoshi would have paid it no mind, for such things always pass by one's peripheral vision without incident. This time, however, his body tensed up, the joints in his arms locking for a brief moment. It was a small panic reaction, a flinch, as if someone had tried to jump-scare him. This was a result of Ieyoshi's extremely acute intuition, which lent itself to a very hyper sense of awareness. It was a wholly passive perception and quasi- sixth sense, and one of the precious few areas that he had his friend Damien beat hands down—and that guy goes through Varia-style training regularly.

With a reaction spanning milliseconds, he snapped his head to the left, and saw what triggered his sense of danger.

Uncharacteristically vivid blue hair, like out of a cartoon, tufts of which stuck out from under his hood. A now-familiar face. A boy... at least, Ieyoshi was fairly sure he was a boy. The same one from this morning.

Ieyoshi followed the boy with his eyes as he passed through the gate and out the other side, walking between several others as he went. As far as he could tell, the blue-haired kid hadn't taken notice of him. On the other hand, no one else seemed to take notice of the kid, not even Damien. It was as if he were a ghost, or a rock, and people just seemed to move around him, passively acknowledging his existence. It was fascinating to observe, but eventually the kid moved out of view, and Ieyoshi didn't want to give off the impression that he was interested.

Ieyoshi sighed softly. There was something about that kid. Something about the red-eyed guy. Something about many of these so-called students. Something he couldn't quite put a finger on. One thing was for sure, though: he needed to hone his intuition. He got feelings all the time about places and people, but rarely did he know enough about what his instincts were telling him that he could act on them in an effective and efficient manner.

He did have one feeling he recognized: his intuition told him he'd be dealing with the blue-haired kid—dealing with all of these strange people—a lot more directly over the coming months. It was just his luck, after all. If he wasn't being tackled by crazy familial relations in the morning, it was gonna be something else.


**



Ieharu placed his hands under the one of the bathroom sinks' faucets. A stream of perfectly-warmed water met his hands instantaneously. His father always talked about how, "back in the day," water faucets always had "hot" and "cold" handles on them and you have to mix and match them manually to get it just right. Nowadays, they have faucets that have infrared thermometers attached to them. They set the water to the perfect temperature automatically, based on skin temperature. Honestly, Ieharu couldn't fathom having to twist little knobs to make water come out. It was dumb. If he wanted cold, he'd just say "colder" and the faucet would obey him. If he wanted warmer water, he'd just say "warmer". Why did it take people so long to think up such a basic idea?

The boy giggled at the thought. Living in the past must've really sucked.

The faucet automatically added the correct amount of soap to the water, so he didn't have to do anything but move his hands around a little before they were sufficiently clean.

Tucked under his arm was a book titled A Wrinkle in Time, by a long-dead American author named Madeleine L'Engle. Currently, it was Ieharu's favorite book, though the designation of "favorite" was doled out on a weekly basis to the works of prose that found their way into his hands, if that. He was truly a voracious reader.

The book itself, of course, wasn't any normal paper book. It was technically a paperback, sure. It wasn't one of those old-fashioned e-readers or anything—it was better. The book's "paper" pages were each a type of foldable hardware, and the pages themselves could switch text and content at the will of the reader. One moment, he could be reading A Wrinkle in Time, the next he could be perusing a newspaper or pretending to read his class's Social Studies book.

Gokudera—Damien's dad—always complained when Ieharu took it out. "You kids are spoiled rotten," he'd always say. "You don't need these all these newfangled toys! Isn't a smart phone and infinity internet enough for you brats?"

Haha, old people are funny.

Ieharu let his hands rest under the luxurious warmth of the running water for a while longer before removing them from the stream and moving towards the door. He waved his wet hands over a small silver plate on the wall, which unleashed a burst of air as his they passed, shearing the excess moisture from his skin like an air blade. The bathroom door opened for him shortly after, though Ieharu paid the automated marvel no mind. Such things were rudimentary at this point.

The school day had come to an end a while back, yet he'd gotten distracted talking to his teacher. They continued the class discussion about the nature of main characters in prose, with Ieharu relating what they'd discussed to A Wrinkle in Time.

Oh well, Ieyoshi would forgive him if he were just a little late.

Next order of business: go meet with Aobane and head down to meet Ieyoshi and Damien. He'd asked Aobane to wait by the elevators while he went to the bathroom, so he was probably still there. Hopefully. Ieharu's cheeks burned red with the thought of him having taken too long in the bathroom. Agh!

Turning on his heel, the boy began walking down the hall. The elevators where in a small niche on the right side at the end of the hall.

He made it about two-thirds of the way there before he was stopped.


**



"What is this guy doing?" Ieyoshi lamented, not bothering to hide his exasperation at his brother's absence. The courtyard was virtually empty at this point. Even some of the staff were beginning to head home. Creepy teacher Zenith-sensei had even passed him by, offering a creepy wave and generally being a creep. Ieyoshi wasn't quite sure why he didn't much care for the man, or why he seemed like such a creep, but...

Whatever. He'd give it five more minutes, max, and then Ieharu would be walking home without him. On second thought, maybe he should leave now. It'd do his brother some good to be independent for once. The elder twin looked over to Damien. "Wanna just go?"

Damien looked in the direction that Ieharu would walk in. Alone. He started to get a bit worried. "Eh, but shouldn't we wait a bit longer. I mean especially after today when he—"

"DAMIEEEEEENNNNN!" Enn charged forwards and leapt towards him with his arms outstretched, smiling widely. He completely ignored Ieyoshi. Behind him somewhere in the distance, a brown-haired third year with a jagged scar across his face watched in surprise, barely hiding anxiety as he walked towards the gate, green sweater slung over his shoulder. "Damien there you are I couldn't—"

Damien instinctively ducked on his knees and dodged Enn's charge. He knew in that instance, what this meant. Enn flew over him and rolled to a crouch a few feet away, continuing without pause. "—find you—" got up instantly and leant in low, sprinting towards Damien's back and lashing out with a punch. "—anywhere!" A grin fell on Damien's face as the punch flew in his direction. It was Enn's turn to be the attacker while he was the defender. He placed his right palm out and blocked the punch instantly.

"Mmm, close but not there yet," Damien replied. At this point his body was faced towards Enn and his eyes were fixed on his every move.

"Don't worry," Enn grinned happily, a wild look in his eyes. Ah, fighting Damien was fun! So much fun that Enn didn't want to think about even trying to kill him. He hadn't had this much fun ever after he left Italy and couldn't take part in hits as much as he liked anymore, since Shou didn't like it. Shou was right, high school was great! He grabbed hold of the wrist of the hand holding his own hand and pulled as he whirled and bent, hurling Damien over his shoulder. "I'm just getting started!" The game of attack and defense went on. Enn attacked furiously, sending flying kicks, punches, a flurry of blows were all thrown at Damien. To each, he merely blocked, ducked, and jumped back, and it was clear to those who knew them well that they were just playing around, albeit semi-seriously.

Ieyoshi merely looked on at the two, mouth slightly agape, a disturbed look fresh upon his face, as if someone had told him one plus one equaled fish with a zealous fervor. He wasn't really familiar with this kid who so cavalierly attacked Damien, though he knew his face, and knew his reputation. He was a fellow first-year, and one of the more annoying ones, too.

Great.

After a few moments of observation, he sighed and looked away, bored once more. Maybe he'd just go home anyway.

"Enn, why'd you run that fast—" the brown-haired third year came to a halt as he stared at the scene, panting a little. A group of emotions rapidly cycled over Shou's face before settling on a strange sort of resignation (and relief that his brother wasn't seriously trying to kill someone) and a mixture of worry and anxiety. "Oh no stop..." he straightened and turned to Ieyoshi, eyebrows creased in worry over the situation. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry I'm so so sorry," he apologised frantically, bowing a little in apology. "Enn was waiting for me to finish with club and then he ran off before I could stop him I'm sorry!"

Ieyoshi eyed the guy before him. Shou, was it? He wasn't in Ieyoshi's class, but he'd seen seen the guy around—primarily around Enn. Most likely a third-year, though he didn't have the air of one. If memory served, Shou and Enn were brothers.

Great.

Shou didn't seem as bombastic and frenetic as his brother, so that was a plus. "It's whatever," he said, shrugging in acknowledgement of Shou's apology. "Hey, you haven't happened to have seen my brother around, have you? He looks just like me, except his hair is dyed black for some reason." He shot a glance over at Damien and Enn. "And I'm about to leave him to walk home alone, too," he added, grumbling under his breath.

"O-Oh," Shou said, straightening up from his bow into a sort of relaxed posture, hooking a thumb around his bag-straps. He thought back throughout the day, trying to think about whether he saw—um, Iehaku? That was his name—going about his day, Eventually, he shook his head. "I don't think I saw him," he said regretfully, shaking his head. "Sorry."

Ieyoshi was about to sigh for the thousandth time this day, when his intuition pricked him. Looking away from Shou, a figure in the distance was approaching them, moving most expeditiously in their direction. Ieyoshi raised his eyebrows in expectation, frowning slightly at the realization that it certainly wasn't his twin brother.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Ryuu Morimoto Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada Character Portrait: Enn Arasaka Character Portrait: Ieharu Sawada Character Portrait: Aobane Kuroiobashi Character Portrait: Damien Gokudera
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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.


Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada Character Portrait: Enn Arasaka Character Portrait: Ieharu Sawada Character Portrait: Aobane Kuroiobashi Character Portrait: Damien Gokudera Character Portrait: Shou Arasaka
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"Heeyyy!!"

Ieyoshi narrowed his eyes, recognizing his twin brother's friend. The kid skidded to a stop a few feet from where he stood, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did. Giving him a quick once-over with his eyes, Ieyoshi noted his haggard look, his rough expression, his gasps for breath. Obviously, he'd been running as fast as he could. Interesting.

Perhaps Ieharu was running with the track club again? That would explain why he was late. Ieyoshi sighed. He didn't understand sports, especially running track. Why would anyone waste the ti—

"Haku's in trouble!" Aobane declared, speaking between gasps. Follow me!" Without further ado, he turned and began running back from whence he came. Ieyoshi stared for a moment, mouth slightly agape, his expression incredulous, but again, that lasted for but a moment. Within an instant, his look of befuddlement was replaced by something else entirely. It was the type of look a seasoned veteran of war would don after hearing that he'd been deploy for a fourth tour of duty. It was a look not of fear, or anger, or even excitement. It was a look of expectation. A cool steely countenance that did nothing to hide the boy's willingness to commit abject violence in the name of his family. In the name of his brother.

Aobane had made it only a meter or two before Ieyoshi began running in his wake, surging forward like a mighty hurricane. With only a few footfalls, he caught up, running side by side with the panicked Aobane. As they ran, there were no words spoken. Nothing needed to be said. In this moment, side by side, Aobane had Ieyoshi's complete and unadulterated trust. It wasn't something that he gave out lightly, or easily.

The two burst in through the main school building's front doors, nearly giving a janitor a heart attack as they did. Cutting to the right, they ran down a hallway, lined on both sides by the skeletal remains of vacant lockers and doorways to empty void-like classrooms. Through a door. Up some stairs. Out into a new hallway. Past a niche that housed several elevators. It was eerily silent here, save for the footfalls of Aobane and company. It was as if they were running down an alley in a ghost town. For a moment, Aobane slowed, a confused look on his face. It was as if he expected something to be here, but it wasn't. Suddenly, his eyes snapped forward, and Ieyoshi could almost see the lightbulb go off above his head. Moving swiftly, Aobane took a curt turn down an adjoining hallway, and then another. Through yet another door. All the way down the stairs. Out through a featureless silver and gray gate that opened up into a small abandoned lot outside. Looking around, Ieyoshi recognized this as the hidden spot that some third years would talk about when they wanted to smoke or drink without the faculty bothering them. The fact that Aobane knew of its location shouldn't have been a surprise.

After several meters, the protected little inlet opened up into a vast parking lot. Save for a few cars here and there, it was largely abandoned since most of the teachers and staff had retired for the day.

And that's when Ieyoshi saw them, leaning against the side of the auxiliary building on the other end of the lot. Two guys dressed in the typical Namimori High school uniform, though it seemed like they had purposely ruffled their hair and donned generally disheveled appearances. Second years, by the look of them, trying to seem tough. Ieyoshi rolled his eyes. Hard.

When they got to within a few meters of the second years, the two upperclassmen turned nonchalantly, hands thrust into their pockets. When they saw Ieyoshi, they grinned. One of them deigned to hold out his hand, palm facing the incomers. The intent behind the gesture was clear.

Stop.

Ieyoshi came to an immediate halt, using his leading foot to catch himself. At this point, he was perhaps a meter away from the two second years.

"Hey, you're that underwear kid, right?" Said the one on the left, looking at Ieyoshi. "The brown-haired one, I mean."

"Where's my brother?" Ieyoshi muttered, the downright ominous tone in his voice carrying over the small gusts of wind that gently whipped his hair to and fro. His face was impassive, but his confrontational stance betray his underlying thoughts.

"Who?" Said the one on the right. Ieyoshi leveled him with a frosty glare but otherwise said nothing. After a few awkward moments, the upperclassman changed his answer. "Calm down, you kid." He coughed up phlegm and spit it out, the glob of spittle landing mere inches from Ieyoshi's feet. "Your bro wanted to hang with us." The guy looked over to his compatriot, grinning. The other one mirrored his expression. "So we were nice enough to let him."

Fists clenched, Ieyoshi took a step forward.

Immediately, the second year on the left raised his hands in surrender. "Chill bro, chill. We'll take you to him."

"Yeah," the one on the right agreed. At that, Ieyoshi relented, the tension draining out of his shoulders. However, the upperclassman hadn't finished speaking. "But if you wanna come onto club turf, you gotta come alone." He motioned at the others with his chin. "They can't come." With the way he said it, it was clearly and unequivocally a threat of sorts, though to what end Ieyoshi was not sure. Frankly, he wasn't sure why any of this was going on, or what the end game was here, but fine. He'd play their game for now.

The mere thought of the idea of Ieharu being around these two thugs made Damien's blood boil. "Oh, you want him to come alone?" He said, extending his left arm for a slight stretch. Two men might die tonight. Maybe more. "First of all," he paused as he held his index finger up, "I need you to tell me where Haku is. Second," he mentioned this with two fingers up, "I'm coming along." Now he bawled his fist and placed it into his palm, his very stance a threat. "Third, I dare you to try and stop me. Please try." The look on his face completely shifted to that of a apex predator about to smite its prey. Playtime was over.

Seeing Damien's face change, Enn's grin grew bloodthirsty as well. Their match had been interrupted, so maybe these people were going to make up for that? He grinned and looked towards them, his stance shifting into something looser, ready to move. "If you're going after them, let me join in~!" he said cheerfully, raising his hands up. Despite his face remaining light and jovial, a menacing aura settled around him. Shou spluttered a few steps behind him in response.

Ieyoshi tilted his head slightly, his eyes darting to the left, catching Enn in his peripheral vision. And then to the right, catching Damien just as he finished his response. He didn't need his intuition to know that these two were mere moments away from taking decisive action.

He sighed bitterly, closing his eyes. And what would a fight here mean for Haku?

With one outstretched arm, Ieyoshi placed his palm firmly against Damien's chest, preventing him from advancing. This was not a question of strength. The Sawada twin knew from experience that his mere hand was not enough to stop his childhood friend, yet either out of respect or friendship or maybe both, Damien did not force his way past him. At the same time, Shou frantically grabbed Enn's arm almost gingerly, like he was expecting his little brother to whirl around and attack him. He relaxed when Enn didn't move towards him, merely turning around to glance at him with a puzzled look in his eyes before facing the two goons in front of them with the same blood thirsty grin. Although the black aura surrounding Enn dissipated somewhat, the snarl that had adorned Damien's face did not abate.

For an instant, Ieyoshi's brow was cloaked in shadow, his head tilted downward in consideration. It didn't take him long to reach a conclusion.

"Damien," he started, his words little more than a susurration. He balled his outstretched hand into a fist and lightly tapped his friend's chest. It was a friendly gesture. Slowly, he tilted his head upwards, locking eyes with the two upperclassmen. All the while, a heinous grin was slowly worming its way onto his face. This must've been what his brother refered to as the supervillain smirk. "This one is mine." He dropped his arm and began walking forward. "Don't interfere."

Beside him, Shou pulled Enn back, leaving Ieyoshi and Damien to stand at the forefront. He breathed a sigh of relief when Enn complied. "Let them handle it," he whispered. He'd heard what Ieyoshi had said, and was more than happy for the both of them to stay in the shadows. "Please," he pleaded quietly, the sound barely making it past his lips. Enn didn't say anything, merely looking at the upperclassmen with an assessing look in his eye, like a gamer looking at his opponents stats.

The message was clear: if they proved to be weak, then Enn would ignore them, losing interest in them the way a child would do to old toys. If they were strong, then, he'd be like a child with new toys—completely ready to play rough even if it wrecked the toy, at least until he grew bored of it. Still, he stayed, and for Shou, that was good enough.

Ieyoshi walked right through the two upperclassmen, and they let him. Once he advanced a meter or so, one of them turned to follow the first year. The other stayed, leaning against the side of the auxiliary building, staring at the gaggle whom Ieyoshi had left behind, presumably to ensure that they did not follow. Despite Enn's menace and Damien's threats, the guy didn't seem phased. In fact, he pulled a cig from his pocket and lit up, blowing smoke from his nostrils a moment later.

He didn't take his eyes off the others for a second.

Further ahead, Ieyoshi followed the sidewalk that marked the perimeter of the auxiliary building, turning right and moving out of sight of Damien and the others. Even on this side of the building, the lot was still empty. Though he'd been coming to the school routinely for nearly a month, Ieyoshi had never been around this side of the school before, and so took in his surroundings with measured haste. Weeds grew in the grass alongside the auxiliary building, which was unusual. Most of the school's property was kept pristine at all times by the janitorial staff. This meant that this side of the school rarely saw much attention.

The perfect place for a trap, then.

The upperclassman that'd tailed him let out a bark of laughter as they walked. "I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually agree to come alone, kid."

So that confirmed it, then. They did have ill intentions.

"Well, you asked," Ieyoshi responded, his tone as measured as his pace.

"Yeah, but still. Kinda dumb, don'tcha think bro? You know what comes when you round that corner, right?"

Suddenly, Ieyoshi stopped walking, choosing instead to turn to the second year, who'd himself come to a stop right behind him. The twin had a somewhat confused look on his face. "But we didn't even—"

Suddenly and without warning, Ieyoshi smashed his heel into the guy's groin. The upperclassman responded with a yelp, crumpling to the ground in pain.

Ieyoshi waited for him to grab onto his groin—the customary male response to being kicked in that particularly sensitive spot. When he did, Ieyoshi took the opportunity to stomp on him a few more times, making sure to smash his heel into the guy's knuckles. With each kick, the second year let out an agonized yelp. When he tried to roll away, Ieyoshi stepped on his chest, preventing him from escaping. At this point, the twin let out a bark of laughter, a cartoonish imitation of the upperclassman's earlier laugh.

"I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to actually fall for that, kid." Ieyoshi said, mimicking the guy's voice. He gave him one more stomp for good measure. "And I'm not a kid, kid. Don't call me kid. Got it, kid? Or I'll make it so that you never have kids." From the tone in his voice, Ieyoshi was obviously not kidding around. The upperclassman nodded furiously in response, tears streaming down his face.

Ieyoshi closed his eyes, his expression morphing into that of one who was sleepy. "Whatever," he muttered, taking his foot off the guy's chest. Pivoting on his heel, he resuming his slow walk. If they wanted to trap him and fight him for whatever reason, then whatever, but Ieharu wasn't a fighter. He wasn't the type to start fights, either. Why would they pick on him? Was it because he looked weak or something? Ieyoshi picked up the pace. He was nearing the end of the auxiliary building. Perhaps it was because of that kid he punched in the morning. Perhaps that kid was someone important. Maybe he shouldn't have punched him. Ieyoshi recognized the two second years not by name or face, but by the way they wore their school uniforms. It was emblematic of the infamous Martial Arts Appreciation club. Maybe these club guys wanted revenge.

And so they used Ieharu to get to him, instead of approaching him on their own.

"Tch." Ieyoshi shook his head is utter disdain. Uncle Ryohei would call these types the "extreme losers".

As he prepared to round the corner and face this unknown threat, Ieyoshi realized that he hadn't really developed his plan of action any further than "beat up everyone and save Haku". He frowned. This wasn't like him. Not at all. Where were the tactics? The strategy? He hesitated in his step, looking around, taking stock of the tactical value of his surroundings for the first time. No weapons. Nothing that he could use to his advantage. Nothing to hide behind. Nowhere to retreat to that wasn't a wide open area where he wouldn't be surrounded. Plus he left an enemy—that second year he kicked in the balls—still potentially viable and in his wake. If this were a horror movie, that'd be the guy that pops up in the final scene and, to the complete dismay of the audience, cuts off his escape and stabs him in the side, sealing his fate.

Great. A total trap. Though it's not like he didn't see this coming, right?

Ieyoshi sighed for the umpteenth time.

Whenever his brother was involved, he always found himself rushing recklessly. It was annoying to be forced to acknowledge that he was so easily capable of acting illogically, but whatever. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. Whatever indeed.

Ieyoshi rounded the corner, his gait confident, his visage menacing. It wasn't up to his usual standards, but it was the best he could do on such short notice.

The first thing he noted was the rundown ramshackle nature of this setting. An overturned trash bin. A pile of dusty tires. Weeds run amuck. The random discarded can or obligatory used condom every couple of meters.

The second thing he noticed were the four burly hulking seniors—third years—all sporting the Martial Arts club look. And they noticed him, too. All four of them turned in union, aligning their bodies to his like pit bulls or police dogs. All they needed was for their master to yell "Sic 'em!" Ieyoshi took a step backward, his foot sliding across the loose gravelly pavement.

He took care to note that the chunks of rock felt like sand under his feet.

These muscle bound upperclassmen made those two second years from before look like emaciated children. His first instinct was to run, to retreat to a spot where he could find some sort of tactical advantage, some way to split them up, fight them one at a time. This wasn't an action movie, and though he held himself and his skills in high regard, he wasn't an idiot. Even professional MMA fighters would have a hard time taking on four people at once in real life, and he wasn't even a professional. Not yet, at least.

Instead of retreating, however, Ieyoshi took a bold step forward. Though he was nervous, his hands didn't shake. Though he watched carefully for any sort of hostile movement from these four thugs in his peripheral vision, his arrogant visage did not crack. What kept him rooted in place, what kept him from running, was the same thing that caught his eye, that prevented him from averting his attention.

Several meters ahead of him, behind the four thugs and off to the left, was a first year. Ieyoshi wasn't sure of his name—he wasn't really good with names—but he remembered the face. Pale skin, bright blonde hair clipped behind his right ear by four red pins, annoyingly large blue eyes. He'd definitely seen this guy around before. Fairly recently, in fact. The guy was being restrained by two upperclassmen, and, by the looks of him, they'd roughed him up a bit.

Welp, that brought his number of enemies up to six. If the odds weren't in his favor before, they were approaching suicidal now.

Still, the blonde-haired first year was not the object of Ieyoshi's attention, for behind the wall of thugs and off to the right were two others: a particularly tall man and a girl.

The girl appeared out of place among the guys, dwarfing the tall man whom of which she stood next to. Probably the most striking detail about her was her long, sand-colored hair, which had somewhat large "drills" on it's sides. It appeared to be dyed that way as her hair was brown at the roots. Her BluScreen was activated on her wrist, making it easily visible. She stood quite close to the man, apparently affectionately. "Ishiki~!" She called playfully, seemingly rather giddy, "That's the other boy, no doubt. He's got that mean look in his eye. So terribly frightening." The girl's tone wasn't serious at all, bordering on sarcastic.

Ieyoshi's ears perked up. Ishiki. One of the few names around school that he had committed to memory. So this was him. Ishiki Kurorugi, captain of the Martial Arts Appreciation Club, Bokken combat artist, and the so-called "strongest third year".

Still, what Ieyoshi was staring at was not Ishiki per say. The guy had one hand balled into a fist, raised threateningly. He was using his other hand to press against Ieharu's chest, keeping the younger twin pinned to the side of the wall. That's what he was staring at.

Ieharu's face didn't look so good. One eye was blackened considerably. One cheek was somewhat swollen. There were traces of red around his nose and lips, and there was some dried up blood on the front of his school uniform.

They'd laid hands on his brother.

"HEY!" Ieyoshi roared. Now, a shout from him is akin to a normal person raising their voice somewhat. For Ieyoshi, such a thing was completely out of character. Still, it had the intended effect. Ishiki froze for a moment before finally turning his head to look at the newcomer.

Then he smiled. It looked disgusting on his face.

"Hey, what's up, kid?" He said, releasing Ieharu. The boy slid to the ground, unresponsive. "Good timing. You two look just alike, you know? Seriously, you're identical, besides the hair. It's pretty weird, actually." He curved his neck to the side, eliciting a series of cracks and pops as air escaped from between his joints. "Anyways. Now we can get this party started."

"Ishiki, do your best, okay?" The girl next to him said teasingly, giving him a smooching gesture before backing off. "You know, this is for Rosa's sake, and you know when Rosa's happy, I'm happy too." This girl's cheery attitude was close to nauseating in terms of how sweet she was trying to be. But then, her expression changed to one that was much more sinister and much more true to her character. She looked directly at Ieyoshi. "Indeed, disrupting school order and dishonoring our wonderful Ms. Rosa..." She leered at Ieharu, who sat on the ground behind her, bringing a finger to her lip. "... comes with rather heavy penalties."

The setting changes from Japan to Namimori High

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Izaya Ryujin Character Portrait: Chester Sterling Character Portrait: Ryuu Morimoto Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada Character Portrait: Enn Arasaka Character Portrait: Godot
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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."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Izaya Ryujin Character Portrait: Chester Sterling Character Portrait: Ryuu Morimoto Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada Character Portrait: Enn Arasaka Character Portrait: Godot
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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.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: [NPC] Bartender Character Portrait: Izaya Ryujin Character Portrait: Roni Hideaki Character Portrait: Chester Sterling Character Portrait: Lilith Dusk Character Portrait: Ryuu Morimoto
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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.

The setting changes from Namimori High to Japan

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada Character Portrait: Enn Arasaka Character Portrait: Damien Gokudera Character Portrait: Shou Arasaka
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Slam!

"AGGGHHHH!" A muscular third year slammed against the table with a thud and dropped to the floor, groaning in pain as he clutched his side. Enn looked around gleefully at the rest of the equally muscular gang, a hand gripping another groaning boy by the collar of his shirt. He smiled at them, wide and happy like a child who had just gotten candy from Willy Wonka's.

Combined with the dark aura radiating out from him like smoke from a bonfire, chilling every person it touched to the bone like a serial killer was about to come up from behind with an axe, it felt like the smile from a devil.

The remaining Soccer Hounds shivered and made no move, cold sweat trickling down their faces as they stared at the albino boy, who gave the groaner one last punch that knocked him out. Despite the fact that there was only one of him and five of them, they had seen first hand how he had taken down one of their members, muscles rippling smoothly in his body as he took his opponents down fast and skilfully like he had done this many times before.

They met each others eyes, a silent message passed to each other. This boy wasn't someone they could take on one by one. They'd have to rush him and hope that numbers would help them do their jobs.

Enn smiled at them. "Come on!" He yelled cheerfully, dropping the unconscious student he was holding. His eyes sparkled with glee, and he straightened up, pose casual and waiting and ready to move at any second. "This is boooorrring, hurry u-"

Before Enn had finished, the five charged forwards and surrounded him, lashing out impossibly quick with their legs. They had to defeat him, for the High Queen's sake!

CRACK Thud smack BASH "Nnnngggghhh..."

"I DON"T BELIEVE IT!" Another announcer roared, slamming his hand on the table. Some looked his way while others focused on other battles, voices cheering and booing loudly in the air. "THE SOCCER HOUNDS ARE OUT OF THE RUNNING! Famous for their teamwork and deadly kicks, the Soccer Hounds have won the Godbread twice every year! They were taken out by a first year with white hair! WHO IS THAT KID?!"

Enn casually stepped off the battered soccer player and smiled sunnily at the announcer as if he had just been given free icecream. He moved away from the pile of groaning soccer players, flitting around the battle like a butterfly of chaos as he defeated everyone who came his way with a quick punch or kick. They wouldn't be able to beat him, they were too weak! Some were entertaining, but they fell too easily. They'd have died in the facility, hahaha! Where was Damien?! He still owed him a fight, haha!

A glimpse of gold caught the corner of his eye, and Enn whirled around with a large grin. There he was! Enn smiled happily, but his smile grew dimmer when he noticed Ieyoshi fighting Damien. Awww, they couldn't play anymore! Boorring. Looking away, Enn went back to bouncing around the battlefield until he came across a blonde girl who seemed familiar.

Where had he seen her before?

Enn frowned thoughtfully, then smiled as recognition hit. Ah right! It was that girl from yesterday! The one who had scolded the one Damien had fought, hahaha! Maybe she'd be a good fighter! Ducking around two girls doing their best to kick each other out, Enn spun and landed directly in front of the girl from yesterday, leaning in so close that his face was inches from hers.

"Hi!" He said sunnily, ignoring the atmosphere around her. "Want to play?!"

_______________________________________________________________

Leaning against the wall beside the announcers with a sigh, Shou crossed his legs neatly as he opened up the bento box he had brought from home, revealing a neatly packed lunch of rice, chicken and potato salad. Balancing the box on top of his knee, Shou paused and looked up at the battle.

Shou hadn't wanted to get involved in the breadwars, even though his brother took part the moment he figured out what was happening. He didn't want to take part in it at all! Normally he avoided the cafeteria whenever the Breadwars took place, but this was the first time Enn was taking part and Shou was worried. He knew he shouldn't be since Enn was a good fighter, but he was still worried about the people Enn might be facing. He had to see for himself that they wouldn't be hurt too badly.

He'd worried for nothing, as usual. Enn was happy, bouncing around here and there. Shou sighed and snapped open his chopsticks. Picking up the box. Japan had some really weird customs, eating rice with chopsticks. It had been three years, but Shou still had trouble with manoeuvring the chopsticks what he wanted them to pick up sometimes. Chopsticks in one hand and bento in the other, Shou looked down and dug in, filling his belly with food as he did his best to ignore all the screaming going on.

The setting changes from Japan to Namimori High

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Chester Sterling Character Portrait: Rosa Kuromaku Character Portrait: Ieyoshi Sawada Character Portrait: Enn Arasaka Character Portrait: Ieharu Sawada Character Portrait: Neri Mantovani
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Things exploded into action immediately, with everyone jumping recklessly into a fray centered over the little boxes at the back of the room. Even Damien raced off, carving a path through some poor students and disappearing into the commotion. Ieyoshi simply stared, bewildered by his own past actions.

Why had he changed his mind so suddenly? He still didn't feel like being here, but...

Ieyoshi brought his thumb to his lips, kneading them as he engaged in a deeper level of introspection. What he'd just agreed to wasn't really logical. It didn't line up with his current goal of going back home. So why had he agreed to participate? What had derailed his train of thought? Was it Damien's prodding? Nah. He was fairly confident he wasn't susceptible to peer pressure, and he made sure to keep an eye out for that. Was it his brother?

Ieyoshi glanced sideways at Ieharu, whom simultaneously glanced at him. They met eyes for a moment, but Ieyoshi looked away before anything meaningful could be exchanged. Ieharu had a way of seeing through his twin brother like no one else, and that's not the type of exposure he desired right now.

Or maybe... hmm... maybe it was Yume?

Thinking of Yume-senpai always made Ieyoshi feel strange. She brought back into the forefront of his consciousness the precarious position is was in, the constant balancing act he was forced to play, and the delicate mask he was required to maintain. Not that he particularly minded, it was just—

A firm grip on his forearm pulled Ieyoshi back to reality. Snapping his head to the right, he noticed that Ieharu had snatched his forearm out of the air and was gripping it rather ferociously.

Ieyoshi raised an eyebrow, genuinely confused. "What?" He almost hissed, his tone indicating slight annoyance.

"Get out of your head, Yoh," Ieharu chided, looking his brother in the eye. "I know I f-ed up yesterday," he began, slowly casting his eyes downward as he did, "and I know you're mad at me for yesterday and I'm sorry, but don't just stand there." Ieharu flashed his brother one of his toothy grins. "Didn't you say you were gonna go get one? You're missing the fun!"

Ieyoshi twisted his way out of his brother's grip. Something seemed to shift in his demeanor, his aura, after coming into physical contact with Ieharu. His shoulders slumped slightly, his stance becoming less tense. With a sigh, Ieyoshi closed his eyes briefly. Yeah, his brother could see right through him sometimes. Kept him grounded. "I'm not mad, dummy." That was the truth. He wasn't mad at Ieharu. How could he be? None of it was his fault. "Anyone that messes with us gets their ass kicked. Period. Even upperclassmen. Even Godot." They hadn't seen much of Godot since yesterday's events. Ieyoshi still wanted to have some, er, words with that gun-slinging douche bag.

Ieyoshi swept his eyes over the scene before him a second time. The twins must've been standing there for a while, because the scene was already different. One or more of the so-called Godbreads had already been taken.

Interesting.

Ieyoshi wasn't particularly tall, so he couldn't see to the core of what amounted to the giant mosh pit, but relying on his intuition (and pointers from the familiar voices shouting out announcements), he was able to pinpoint several different people of interest.

The first thing he noticed was Erin. Initially, he'd mistaken her for an older male classmate, with the way she was throwing people around and—was she spitting at people?

"Eeww," Ieyoshi muttered under his breath.

Rosa's goons were to be avoided. He'd already had his fill of them yesterday.

Next he noticed Shou, leaning against the wall off to the side. Ieyoshi half-way wanted to join him, but... if Shou was here, that meant his brother was too. Enn. The bounce-off-the-walls one that would talk your ear off. Ieyoshi sighed again. Great.

Suddenly, Ieyoshi activated, moving forward at an expedient yet measured pace. Ieharu lagged behind for but a second before catching up to walk beside his twin.

"So you're gonna do it? You're fight for the bread?" Ieharu asked, voice filled to the brim with an otherworldly exuberance. His brother was excited for reasons Ieyoshi could only imagine.

Ieyoshi shrugged. "I guess."

As they walked forward, the crowd parted before them like the red sea. Those that were fighting in the immediate vicinity paused to gawk as they passed.

"Mad Hatter, however, is putting up a fight just as good," Came a familiar voice. It seemed to be projected over a loud speaker system of some kind. "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!"

"What is a 'Mad Hatter'?" Ieyoshi asked, curious.

"Damien tells me that's Ryuu!" Ieharu responded, grinning. "And Damien's the Hokage!"

Ieyoshi grunted in response, which amounted to an effective eye roll. "And if I get this bread, do you have the money to pay for it?"

Ieharu halted immediately, as if his feet had turned to stone. "What? Yoh! No! That's not fair!"

Ieyoshi turned to face his brother. Those that had paused their own battle to eye the twins tensed. Were they about to fight one-another?! "If I do the work, you pay for it." Ieyoshi pointed at his brother as he spoke.

Ieharu pointed a thumb at his chest. "I'll pay half."

"You pay all of it," Ieyoshi corrected, "and you can get..." He chewed a number over in his mouth for a moment. "20% of the bread."

"50. Half!"

"25. 40% of it goes to Yume."

"Then 30! Don't be unfair!"

Ieyoshi eyed his brother for a moment before cracking a short-lived smile. "Fine. We'll split it. But you're paying for it." Ieyoshi looked up towards the ceiling, scratching the side of his head. "I, uh, actually didn't bring my wallet anyway."

Ieharu shook his head, feigning a hurt expression. "So this was your plan all along?!"

"No," Ieyoshi responded, stepping closer to his brother and grabbing the boy's arm. "This was." Like a ringside announcer at a boxing match, Ieyoshi raised his brother's arm into the air and proudly declared in an eerily calm voice to all those watching: "This is my brother, Ieharu Sawada. He's the guy you saw kicking ass yesterday morning before school. You losers better not mess with him or he'll take all the Godbread, so watch out."

Mortified is not a strong enough word to describe the look on Ieharu's face. His eyes grew wide as he noticed everyone hone in on him like hungry wolves. "Wait, what?"

"You're gonna be the bait," Ieyoshi muttered offhandedly, as if his intentions were as clear as day.

"B-b-but—!"

Ieyoshi dropped his brother's hand and began walking away. "I'll catch you later."

"Wait!"

But it was too late. Ieyoshi had already melted away into the crowd, and though Ieharu tried to follow, his path was cut off by those around him. One tall and particularly portly fellow stepped out from the crowd to confront the younger twin.

"They call me B.O." The guy declared both to Ieharu and to all those around him.

"Yeah, cause you smell like shit!" Someone in the crowd laughed. Another student, a lanky blond girl, took that as an opportunity to attack, and lunged at another nearby student. Suddenly, the all-out brawl resumed in earnest, with Ieharu in the middle of it. He immediately raised his hands as if surrounded by police, the universal sign of surrender.

That's when B.O. stepped forward, literally bowling over several fighters like a bowling ball would a set of pins. Most of them slid across the floor to collide with others. Many held their noses, eyes scrunched. It seemed that there was something more terrible than his size: his odor!

B.O. turned his attention towards Ieharu, leveling him with an icy stare.

Ieharu scrunched his nose a bit, taking an unsteady step backwards, his hands still up. "Uh... um... I'm not, uh, playing this game. You see, I'm just a, er, well, I don't want any bread or anything so—"

As Ieharu stumbled backwards, B.O. pressed forward, matching the Sawada twin step for step. "You're that kid from yesterday, right? The one queen Rosa marked for death."

"Marked for what?!" Ieharu squeezed between two brawling first-years, hoping to escape his pursuer, but B.O. plowed through them, too. Was this guy unstoppable? And what was he even talking about? "I told you I'm not playing!"

"Then fight me, ya lil' bitch!"

Okay, this guy wasn't getting it. With a panicked squeal, Ieharu turned on his heels and began running through the crowd, though in which direction he wasn't quite sure. He just wanted to find the cashiers, the exit, and the relative safety they would give him. Several others noticed him and assumed he was making a play for one of the Godbreads. Though he was surprisingly agile and quick on his feet, it didn't take long for him to collect a gaggle of pursuers, and they were closing in fast. He knew B.O. was among them, thanks to the burning sensation that attacked his nose and eyes.

Dammit, Ieyoshi! Dammit dammit dammit!

Elsewhere, Ieyoshi walked with purpose, dodging and weaving through what amounted to different battlefields. Some people were slapping each other. Others were rolling around, laughing. Others still were in "serious-business" mode, engaging in epic combat with one another.

This whole thing seemed so chaotic and unorganized. It was surprising that a school would even allow something like this to occur... but then, this was Namimori High. Not only had crazier things happened, but they'd already happened within the last 24 hours.

Following his intuition alone, Ieyoshi slithered his way through the vortex of fists and kicks and shouts until his target came within view: one of the Godbread statues. It was the Hera statue, which held the "Herabread," or, rather, it used to. Someone had already nabbed that Godbread. Oh well.

Maybe it'd be fun to chase after the person who had the Herabread? For a moment, he seriously considered it, but then Ieyoshi slumped his shoulders, losing interest. Again, he wasn't quite sure why he was even participating in this thing. Plus, he wasn't really in the mood to work for his food. He'd already brought a lunch from home, after all. Ieyoshi sighed. "Whatever," he muttered, turning away from the Hera statue and resolving himself to leave the area. He'd fulfilled his piece of the social contract, right? This was enough interaction for today. Maybe he'd just ditch and go home early.

As he began walking away, Ieyoshi felt something—someone—lay their hand on his head. For a moment, just a split second, it felt like... well, like his father. Like Tsunayoshi.

Ieyoshi whipped his head to the side, eyes wide, his expression unusually animate, but when he swiveled on his heel in search of the source, there was no one there. No one was close enough to have done that.

Did he just imagine it? Blehk. Physical contact itself was already annoying enough, but he absolutely hated when people touched his hair!

Though the person that had laid their palm on his head was nowhere to be found, Ieyoshi noticed a familiar face in the distance over by one of the other Godbread statues. Without turning as he did, he would have missed it. Missed him.

It was Damien. He was single-handedly holding off what looked to be an entire army of zombie-like bodies reaching for the Godbread he protected.

Ieyoshi smirked, clenching and unclenching his fists a few times, as if testing them. That's right, Damien was in this game too. And when was the last time they'd gotten to spar one another? Ieyoshi couldn't stop his smirk from growing wider and wider until it overtook the entire bottom portion of his face. Those within the elder Sawada twin's vicinity noted the shift in atmosphere instantaneously and began putting distance between themselves and the enigmatic first-year.

News of what Ieyoshi had done to that one kid yesterday morning had spread like wildfire, and few in the vicinity wanted a piece of that action. This was supposed to be a game, after all, not a serious fight...

With re-purposed resolve, Ieyoshi stuffed his hands into his pockets and began walking towards Damien. Maybe this thing would turn out to be fun. But if anyone touched his head again, he'd kill them.

He wasn't sure if he was being serious or not.