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A bright sunny morning, a fine start to the week. It could not be any better, unless it was the spring and the Sakura trees were in bloom. Even still, nothing made it better than today. The excitement and eagerness in the air was so palatable that it actually was infectious, though not necessarily in a good way.
It is said that one’s happy can spread to another. However, the opposite was just as likely. One’s happy could cause sadness in another. In the case involved here, it was more jealousy or just annoyance. Someone should not be that happy, especially a mature adult going on twenty-five. It was more as if he was a love struck teenager that just heard back from the girl he confessed to agree on their first date.
Worse, he was married already. He should not have been so happy. No one understood it. He did try to hide it, but a grin so wide you swear his head would fall off made it a little too obvious his nature. Though possibly more strange was that no one had really seen him like that better.
“I guess he’s normal like the rest of us,” one commented.
“Well normal-ish. I don’t think the way he’s acting is that normal either.”
“We’re going to hear no end to his boasting now.”
“He’s not really the boastful type though.”
“Look at that face, if that’s not boastful pride what is it?”
“Nepotism, ugly reality,” someone just joining inserted.
“No, I heard she passed completely without any aid from him.”
“Damn, so she’s a prodigy like him then?”
“No wondered they’re married.”
Not oblivious to the stares or comments as her husband, she leaned in a little towards him. “Dear, I think you’re excitement is showing a little too much.”
He wrapped his arm around her shoulder still unable to contain him. “Nonsense! I’m glad to finally be able to be with you again! Why shouldn’t I be happy!” It had been two years since they were apart. Well apart as much as one could be living together, but him working and her going full time to the university. A long time coming for him, he looked forward to this today for so long.
It made her pleased to see him so happy for her, even though it did embarrass her all the attention they received. The man was dead serious about so many things, yet for her he completely flipped personalities. She considered on several occasions getting him tested for multiple personalities. But joking aside, she was happy to be with him as well. “Even so, this is a professional environment.”
“Since when where you the stuffy one caught up on manners and protocol?” He laughed a little with other thoughts on his mind. “I’m the serious one, you’re the outgoing one! That’s why I fell in love with you!”
He was only making things worse. “Dear…this is Toyama Labs, one of the most well respected and pioneering medical research companies in Japan.”
“And now you’re here too!”
She sighed, he was not listening to her. It was actually surprising that he was not paying attention. Even at his worse in doting on her, he would still listen if he went too far. ‘I never would have planned on this happening to him. I would have thought he’d be more reserved around others. This is going to be a long first day…’
Fortunately for her, they arrived at the security checkpoint, the second already. They took their secrets very seriously and monitored all activity of their employees throughout the building. Another point that surprised her for his behavior.
Lifting her newly acquired security badge for the guard, he scanned her into the system. “Tomiko Hayashi, you’re clear,” the guard replied waving her through the gate. The man held up her husband scanning him in despite remarking that they had known him for two years. “Clear, sir.”
After they both passed safely through the gate, Tomiko started to turn to the right. However, Isamu stopped her. “We’re down this way, dear.”
“I’ve been assigned to the Sakamoto Team.”
“What?!” he exclaimed with his face completely melting.
Chapter 300 – Rewind 3
Laughing, Tomiko finished recounting the morning details around an outer door table in front of a local restaurant. Among friends, she stopped being the professional one. “The look on his face was priceless. If I wasn’t inside, I’d probably have started laughing out loud.”
Kiku giggled while trying not to cough on her tea. “No wonder Isamu looks so miserable right now.”
She patted Isamu on the thigh trying to cheer him up. It was a little heartbreaking to see him look so sad after being so excitement. The one-eighty he did would have given someone whiplash at his speed. “I didn’t have the heart to tell you, you looked so happy today. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.”
He poked his finger at his sandwich as though he was a child. Despite his intelligence and normally straight-laced attitude, he had a surprisingly immature side to him. “I know I requested you for my team. Did Human Resources not get my request?”
“Did you really think they’d allow a married couple on the same team, Isamu,” Hachiro reminded, “For being so smart I thought you would have realized that simple fact.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?!”
He sighed a little disappointed that Isamu did not understand. The two women laughed more between themselves.
Switching topics, as she teased her husband enough, Tomiko zeroed in on Kiku and Hachiro. They sat together opposite of them at the table. The normal set up for them during their lunch get-togethers. “So you two doing anything for your anniversary?”
Immediately blushing with embarrassment, Kiku might have known Tomiko throughout their time at the university, but it did not make her any less immune to her more intimate remarks. The question left her almost completely shutdown.
Tomiko grinned like a cat watching Kiku. “You’re acting like a school girl still, Kiku. You two have been together for nearly as long as we’ve been married.” She slid her eyes over to Hachiro checking him out for a reaction. “You must be planning something special, six years.”
It was hardly the first time she pressed them. Hachiro had gotten used to it more than Kiku, but he still found her nosiness to be a little annoying at times. “I’m grateful to you for what you’ve done, but what we do is our business.”
Pouting a little in disappointment, though more just giving him a hard time, she smiled again quickly. “Aw, come on! We’re all friends here! The two of us are finally through with university and you’re looking for work. You only live once!”
“Private matters are private matters,” he replied stubbornly.
“You’re so old fashion!” She clung onto Isamu more intimately than most would have viewed as acceptable by more strict individuals. “Society’s more open these days to being open and free about your relationship, you don’t need to hide it away in your apartment.”
Her comment and act managed to make Hachiro blush a little now. “And you could do with a little more restraint.”
Tomiko giggled pleased with her success. “You’re my friends. More than anything I want you two to be happy.” Another patient was admitted for whiplash. She flipped to serious so fast it might have made the two fall out of their chairs.
“I know,” Kiku said, almost instantly recovered. A warm smile came across her face seeing the sincerity from Tomiko. She had a lot that she owed to her. It made her wonder if she would ever be able to repay her friend for everything she had done. “Thank you.”
Everything seemed to be back on track. The mood returned to a happy one without the teasing. Their meal could continue or so they thought.
Suddenly, someone passing by the restaurant collapsed right at their table. The seemingly unconscious body spread out on the concrete quickly threw everyone outside into a panic. People screamed and panicked not knowing what to do. Others ran into the building looking for help.
Kiku and Hachiro both looked over at their friends. It was barely even a two seconds after it all happened that they ran out to the collapsed man trying to see what was wrong with him. Hachiro stood up with concern, but aware he could do nothing. “Can you do something?”
Isamu checked the man’s vitals turning him over with the assistance of Tomiko. “I might have a medical degree, but my expertise isn’t in the practicing area. Though I know enough to provide some help.”
“He’s still breathing, though a little shallow,” Tomiko reported.
“He’s sweating a lot and seems like he’s burning up.” Then suddenly a deep groan came from the man’s stomach making all four of them sweat a little. “…he’s starved…” With Tomiko’s help, they got him up to their table.
Hachiro met with the restaurant owner as they rushed out. “He doesn’t seem to be in any danger…other than starving…” He quickly had to explain to them that the stranger was fine and no ambulance was needed. It took a few minutes of convincing which ended when the foreigner came back to reality with drool down his lips as the sight of food.
“Thank you!” he repeated several times in rough Japanese, as though it was the only thing he knew. He had a thick accent that did not sound American for the few words of English they picked up from him, as side comments to the food.
It took him several minutes of stuffing himself before he responded to anything external. He then looked over at Kiku seemingly recognizing something familiar in her. “Oh you’re a foreigner too!” he responded in English to her. He quickly grabbed up her hands as though he had found his savior. “I don’t know any Japanese!”
Kiku hesitated a little, he targeted unknowingly on a sensitive subject. “…um…”
Jumping in to Kiku’s aid, Tomiko separated the overly friendly man from Kiku. “Kiku is Japanese.”
The stranger did not seem to understand why Tomiko said it, though it was in English. “But she looks American.”
“That doesn’t matter, are you feeling better?”
“Oh yes! Thank you very much! You’re very kind for the meal.”
Isamu had been rubbing his face the whole time trying to figure out the accent. He knew his English well enough from his college classes, but it was nothing like what he heard before. “Are you American?”
“Oh no! I’m British, I’m just a tourist! I’m surprised how good your English is, I haven’t found anyone that understands me!”
“That’s explains it. How long has it been since you ate last?”
He had to rub his chin a little in thought. “Two days?” The reply received quite the surprise from the table. “I couldn’t get any meals and I was lost. Then the heat…I didn’t know summers in Japan were so bad, it’s nothing like England.”
“It’s not always this bad, you just caught us at a bad time of the year.”
The man looked around at the table realizing that he was out of place and did not really belong. “I’m sorry for intruding on your meal. Thank you for the meal, how much was this?” Isamu and Tomiko declined him. “But I insist!” He dropped a couple thousand yen bills down on the table. Before any more protest, he bolted as his way of ensuring he paid.
They all looked around at each other not completely sure what happened. Peace at least returned to the restaurant. Things no longer even seemed to notice that something occurred only a few minutes before.
“Strange man,” Tomiko commented.
“Yeah…”
Staring down the street for a moment, Isamu spoke, “It’s odd that he couldn’t find food anywhere, even without knowing Japanese.”
Hachiro nodded in agreement. “I was thinking the same thing.”
The British man disappeared into the crowd and broke through into the alley. He looked around the alley seeing that it was empty. A moment passed in silence as a beep sounded off confirming something for him. Then a ripple suddenly came out from his feet altering his appearance. “…hmm, so those were the Hayashi’s… They might be ones I can trust…”
To be continued…
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As he walked, he tried to think up what he would say. He needed to say something. The years it had been since the last time he saw her made for difficult for him to know what to say. It was not as though a simple ‘Hey’ was going to work. She left them because she had become fed up with everything. Their grandfather was too rigid and old fashion and their father too capricious. Seiji knew how she must have felt. It was not as though he did not have the same thoughts.
Even having the same thoughts, he was not sure why he never acted on them. He hated dealing with their old man every day. All of the rules and structure were not things for him. The man was too dead set on things going only his way. It made Seiji wonder how their grandmother ever could come to love such a man. He was impossible to deal with. Yet maybe, he was not so stubborn anymore. Maybe the new reality changed him as it did the others just in a different way. Seiji did not know. Though he wondered, he did not really care about it too much. He had his own problems.
The most immediate one stood in front of him. ‘This is the place…what do I say?’ It was the biggest question he had in front of himself, before even talking. He did not even know what he should open with. He had lost track of the years. ‘Will I still remember her? Will she remember me?’ The question built into worry, something that should not have even been a concern for him.
Seiji had an unusual feeling nestled in his stomach. Everything he was used to doing just was impulsive. He acted. He did not think about the situation or consequences. It did not matter to him. It was better to act and regret the act rather than not act and regret doing nothing. He lived in the moment as a true man should.
At least that was what he believed.
However, a true man would not just stand in hesitation before the stairs. He should already be walking forward, but his legs were shaking. ‘Why…am I afraid?’ It was a feeling that he could not put clearly into words. It seemed too simple and yet it was all he had. He did not know why, but he felt a little afraid or some reason. Mixed in with it were worries and doubts, but he was afraid.
There was an odd certainty about it. None of it made any sense, but he was positive. He just could not explain it even to himself. The fact that he could not understand it himself only multiple the feeling, as if feeding on his doubts.
“Damnit, man!” Seiji rammed his fist into his cheek with enough force that it made the wood of the apartment groan. “Get it to together!” Lowering his hand down, a red mark remained where he knocked some sense into him.
All of the questions just fell out of his mind. It was empty. The way he preferred it. Seiji marched up the stairs to the destination. Though he cleared out the blockage in his mind, it seemed to start returning. And it was growing even stronger the closer he got. ‘Damnit, hold it together.’
Any sort of encouragement had little effect on his tidal wave of emotions. Nearly every part of his body seemed to shaking as if someone was throttling a tree for an apple to fall. It made one of his steps miss and knocked him on his face. ‘Why am I falling apart like this?! This isn’t me! You’re better than this Seiji! You decided that you were going to do it so stop it!’ Another whack from his reliable fist pushed him forward again.
The spell would not last for long, but it got him the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the moment that he came to a stop in front of the door the feeling crashed into him like a ten-meter tall tsunami. It wanted to drag him away. His feet almost seemed willing to accept it. Only his stubborn determination to see it through held him in place, a few more punches kept him still. He was going to be black and blue before he even spoke to her.
It seemed to take everything in him just to get his hand to the door to knock. Measuring his strength carefully, he did not want to smash it down with his strength. Initially, almost non-existent, the second try was better if not a little too strong.
He waited.
And waited.
Nothing.
Another knock. Nothing once more. Knock a third time and same.
‘Is she at work maybe? It is the afternoon now.’ He tried again, finally having the strength. He could not stop anymore. He committed to it. ‘I can’t have wasted all of this effort on nothing…’ Further attempts failed too. However, he just did not want to walk away. “Umm…” Seiji hesitated, trying figure out his words, “It’s me, Seiji…mom…”
He waited. A distant noise from inside the apartment leaked to his ears. ‘Is that her? She heard me?’ The waiting to see her became almost unbearable for him. He just kept hearing her moving closer. However, the feeling came back the strongest he had felt and worse it seemed to be multiplying with each second that passed.
It paralyzed him on the spot. Everything came into question. ‘Should I be here? She left us. Did she even want to see me? Is she just going to yell at me?’ Seiji could not think straight. All he felt now was fear. It was no longer anything so peaceful or calming like a wash or a wave, even a tsunami. It was an oppressive depth trapped at the bottom of an ocean.
All he could think about was one thing anymore.
Run.
It did not make any sense, but in the next moment he had disappeared from the threshold. His legs took over command. He could not stop running. His heart pounded harder than he had ever known. It was worse than running until his muscles fell apart. He really thought it was going to jump out of his chest. It hurt.
The door opened to the apartment revealing middle-aged woman with completely disheveled light brown hair and an oversized pale blue shirt with sweat pants. Her eyes looked almost completely blood shot with heavy lines.
She looked around the hall seeing nothing. A thought seemed to pass through her. She ground her teeth. “…tch…” The door closed quickly with a harsh slam.
Chapter 301 – Regretted Outcome
“What are you—“ He suddenly picked her up far above the heights all the swarm around them. Junichi threw her over the crowd as she tried to turn around to grab after them. Her eyes filled with stunned shock to see the determined looks on her men. She knew what they planned. It was the same thing that she planned. “You can’t!”
“Commander Hiroshi!” yelled Jiro, “Get the boss out of here! We’ll be the bait!”
“Jiro! Stop it! Junichi! Shigeru! Yasuo! Guys!”
“Let us do this, boss. For you, who saved our lives. It’s time we paid back our debt!”
“NO! You can’t!”
Tatsuya helped a reluctant, but finally accepting Hiroshi drag Miyako away. Once they were inside the escape tunnel, another quake ripped through the whole base. Explosions erupted everywhere raining down stone and debris upon everyone. The further they went into the tunnel the more the ground rocked until a single massive blast ripped through the gigantic hole burning everything.
Quickly earth fell down behind him from the collapse. Everything was closed off. There was no longer a base. No longer a chance to save anyone. They could only move forward. In the wake of the explosions and quakes, silence accompanied everyone. No one had anything to say. Nothing to encourage in the face of more losses.
Hiroshi held the rear position watching everyone ahead of him. His eyes especially focused on Miyako. ‘Those men were more than just friends or gang members for her…they were family…’ Killing friends and familiar faces was something he grew accustomed to doing. Most of them had, but Miyako never had to face it.
He thought back to their first meeting. They had been on patrol in the neighborhood after their successful counterattack. Everyone was feeling more confident. Even he had a bit of a grin on his face feeling good that they could take the city back and end the nightmare. ‘…maybe I can go back to being a student now…’
However, thinking about such hopeful dreams had to wait. Tatsuya dropped in to his side, having taken point. “Trouble, Hiroshi.” All of his team came to a halt waiting on orders. Their familiar paranoia pulled in their ranks tightly to protect Hiroshi and monitor all angles.
Hiroshi scanned in the direction that Tatsuya came from. ‘Smoke? A fight…or worse…’ He tilted his head over to Tatsuya. “What happening?”
“Looks like the Takako Faction found some non-aligned.”
A chill went up his spine. It only meant one of two things. They had seen it far too often. Hiroshi hated how good he had become at digging graves. “An extermination squad?” Tatsuya nodded in agreement. Everyone looked back at Hiroshi with a conflict expression baked into their face. The same one he hid from them. ‘I know how they feel. But there’s no choice.’ He stiffened his back and focused on the team. “We’re going to rescue them! I won’t allow innocents to die in my city!”
The conflicted looks disappeared immediately as they filled with Hiroshi’s resolve. They all were ready. Hiroshi nodded pleased to their acceptance. He was hardly anyone to give commands as if they were a military, even though that was how they all saw it. “Tatsuya split off with half the team and flank around to the west. We’ll get them in a pincer attack. Be swift and don’t hesitate.”
“I know, Hiroshi. I won’t this time.” Tatsuya ran off with his group, already knowing to follow. They had all worked together long enough to understand the orders without specifics.
Hiroshi arrived first at the scene, which only made it worse for him. He had to wait on the positioning knowing that people were being injured or killed while they held. It was not easy for any of them, but surprise and swift action was important.
Once he saw the signal from Tatsuya’s group, they charged in together. Distracted with their killing orders, Takako’s squad did not see them coming before it was too late. Their first volley killed most of them without even needing to close. It was the best way. Once alerted, they had to close to mop up the rest.
The charge quickly swept through the remaining numbers. It was all over in only a minute. The way he preferred. Unfortunately, one still survived with a grave wound. The chaos left the girl missed by everyone. Hiroshi noticed though. He saw the murder in her eyes. It was the only emotion she had. ‘Okano…Class 2-B…damn…’ Pulling out a dagger from a belt hidden against his back, he quickly stabbed the blade through her heart. He watched the life slowly drain away from her eyes. ‘…this is why I prefer killing them all at a distance…’
Keeping himself together, Hiroshi wiped away the blood and sheathed it back before turning to meet those that they saved. He saw Tatsuya already giving aid to those injured. However, there was one that kept standing refusing them all. She looked worse than all of them, soaked in her own blood. ‘She’s been holding them back almost entirely alone, protecting all of these people…who is she?’
Hiroshi approached her, but slowed his pace when she noticed them. He could see how tense she looked. She was still caught up in the fight, her mind completely locked up. “Hiroshi Kuroda, we are friends.” Nothing seemed to register with her. He tried to approach and she reflexively launched into an attack.
His power activated quickly to bring her to a stop. It was the safest of the options he had to deal with her. The rest were not very well suited to anything but fighting. “The fight’s over. Everyone’s safe.”
“…fight…safe…protect…”
“Yes, you protected everyone. They’re still alive, hurt, but alive.”
“…safe?”
“That’s right.”
“…protect…” The woman collapsed almost immediately. He could see the look of relief on her face before she hit the dirt. It was a wonder she managed to stay standing for so long. Blood quickly started to pool around her.
‘…they’re like family to her, no one more important…and now…’ Hiroshi respected the fierce loyalty that they shared with each other. It made them strong and capable. He could trust them with anything knowing that they could succeed. ‘…how will she handle this…’
The deep buried remains of the Resistance base had become a crater. The entire underground filled in as the ground fell in. More than a hundred meters of earth buried the entire thing. A whole block was taken out just to deal with Takako’s men.
Smoke rose up from the settling blast site. Nothing moved.
Light suddenly pierced through large chunks of earth. Waves of stone and earth moved starting to hover. Pushing up more and more debris rose into the air eventually revealing a purple barrier. Once enough rubble was removed the barrier came down.
Inside, Yumi, Saki and Fumiko stared at their surroundings unfazed. Those alive still grouped around Yumi awaiting her orders. “Mission complete, return to the school. The Resistance is shattered, we can now move forward with our next plans.”
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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Turmoil spun Miyako’s thoughts around like a whirlpool. Reality phased out for her. All she could think about were Jiro, Junichi, Shigeru and Yasuo. Their sacrifice so that she would have to live on. It was difficult to accept. Rejecting reality, she returned to a better time, a time she felt more comfortable in.
Years before Japan went to hell, Miyako’s life was a simpler one. A comparatively simpler life, though most would likely disagree with it being anything but simple. Yet, against the backdrop of a merciless warzone of friends killing friends for no reason, it was simple. It was still a bloody affair and a warzone, but nothing so cold or pointless.
Miyako, age seventeen, had considered skipping classes, but elected to stay. Old habits certainly died hard, as the saying went. It was hard some days keeping it together. Especially the looks from the rest of the class. They mixed between confusion and fear, not knowing when she would jump up to surprise them all that she was just faking the whole thing. But it was not fake. It was the truth. As much as none of them believed her.
It did not stop her from pushing the path that she took. She even got it from those that she thought she trusted. But the truth showed her who she should trust and who not. It became very clear quickly.
Walking away from her high school, she saw a group rough appearing boys all with overly confident looks with a chip on their shoulder. They were the type that she really could not stand. They were simply looking for anyway to make a name for them. Between her decision and the fact that she was a woman, they thought she was an easy target. They just assumed it.
The other students stayed away from the group making an effort to cross completely to the other side of the street just to avoid them. However, Miyako was not one to be intimidated. And her old life was a difficult one to escape. ‘We’ll see how resolved they are for this…’ As she passed around them, she gave them a deathly glare that would chill even the most experienced street brawler.
For a second, it seemed like they might have decided to back out of their foolish and childish plan. But one did not get the message from Miyako. He stepped forward still planning to care out their goal. One of his friends grabbed him by the arm trying to stop him. “Hey man, maybe we shouldn’t do this.”
Ripping his arm free, he looked back incredulously at his supposed friend. “We’re doing this! You know the score. Everyone’s talking about it.”
“Yeah, but she’s the Eighty Deaths, leader of the Blood Lotus Gang!”
“Former leader,” he corrected, “And former gang. Neither exist anymore, she’s just a lone high school girl.”
Their voices were hardly quite, but Miyako just ignored them. Yet her menacing presence just from her back never quit. It had the rest of the group trying to talk the headstrong fool out of his insanity. “But none of the gangs mess with her. They’re a reason for why they all stir clear of her, even now!”
“Are ya all a bunch of spine-less bastards? She’s forfeited her territory, it’s anyone’s for the taking!”
“But no one wants it! They’re still afraid of pissing her off!”
“Come on let’s just go. No one will think any less of you, man.”
“To hell with all of ya! I don’t need anyone of ya to take her down! Her head is mine and then I’ll be the new legend in this city!” The moment he said that, Miyako came to a stop. His friends took several steps back already wanting to run away, but only sticking around due to misplaced loyalty. Miyako merely tilted her head over her shoulder to glare back at the idiot. One look of just her right eye locked straight on him was enough to make him piss himself. “…on second thought…maybe you’re right…guys…”
Peace returned to the streets.
It was not the way she wanted to start her afternoon. School tired her out, still not completely used to a full day. Thoughts of homework and career planning spun around in her head making her almost wish for something to ram her fist into, even just to break the stress. Not an easy course, she knew, but she was determined to hold it.
Not that her past would ever leave her alone. “Boss! Boss!” shouted a familiar, yet tiring voice for Miyako. She looked ahead of her to see Takayuki with several others. He waved her down completely ignoring any sort of social courtesies.
Once she closed the distance to meet up with them, she reprimanded them for their behavior. An unrulely lot, but she cared about them, even after the disbanding. “How many times do I have to tell you, don’t call me boss anymore. I’m just Miyako. I’m not Eighty Deaths or any of that stuff anymore.”
It was something that never seemed to learn. Old habits again. “You’ll always be our boss, boss!”
“Morons, I quit that life. You don’t need to follow me anymore.”
“None of that matters to us!”
“That’s right!”
“We’ll follow you regardless if you’re running the gang or not!”
She was sighing so much, she wondered if she already lost ten years off her life. “You guys…”
“Boss…”
They had very determined expressions. Naturally, it was not the first time they followed her after she made her decision. It might have only been a week since, but they kept at it. She had grown tired of trying to convince them out of their stubbornness. ‘I’ve lost so many hours of my day trying to lose them. I should just accept that I can’t rid myself of my old life so easily.’ Miyako stared at them. Determined as they were to follow here, it could only last for so long. ‘They’ll get bored and realize that I’m not going back. This is my new life… It’s what I’ve decided…’
Chapter 302 – New Leaf, Old Leaf
Makin the decision seemed hard at the time, but it was actually the easiest part. Once she left the life she had known for so long, she found that she had time for so many other things. Things that were important to her new life path. Ones that her boys did not seem to grasp fully. She looked back at them with a slightly tilted expression to match the befuddled looks they were giving her. “What?”
“What are you doing here, boss?”
She looked back up at the sign. It should not have been very hard for them to figure out. “That should be obvious. I need some books from the library.”
The boys exchanged strange looks back and forth to each other. Despite following their boss for the last week, anything they did was actually fruitless. It was mostly running around after her. So they really never knew what she was planning. “A library? Have you ever been to a library before, boss?” Further uncertainty went around the group.
“It’s just a library,” she said with unfounded confidence, “What’s there to be worried about. It’s just an oversized bookstore.” Despite her certainty, they still showed doubt. She was not about to stop by them.
She started to the front door. The ribbon on her school uniform bounced with her heavy stride and reminded her of a different matter. Tilting her head back, she checked out all of them. Any reservations that they had did not matter. They planned to follow her. “Clean up your appearance a little, guys. I know most of you don’t attend school, but you look like a bunch of street punks.”
They looked back at her a little surprised to be hearing her say that to them. A few glanced around at each other trying to gauge their appearance. It all seemed appropriate for them. It was a little flashy and made them stand out. They enjoyed the wild look and it made them easy to spot by other gangs that wanted to pick a fight.
“But we are street punks, boss.”
“Oh…right, I guess you are. Well then I guess try to look less like you’re spoiling for a fight. I don’t want any trouble in the library.”
“Yes, boss!” They all became unnaturally stiff as though soldiers under inspection by their commanding officer.
Another sigh. “You look even worse now.” She waved her hand at them, as she walked into the building. “Just don’t look at anyone and try to not draw attention.”
“Boss!”
Unfortunately, it was an impossibility. She did her best to look like she did not belong to them, but they followed her around like baby chicks. It was hard for people not to assume they were with her. Though she still got a lot of strange looks. A bunch of a rough looking boys stalking a normal looking high school girl probably had them thinking that they should call the police to save her. ‘If they’re going to be doing this, I’m going to need to fix them up. This is more trouble than I need right now…’
Digging through the aisles, she searched each one quickly before moving on. The boys just watched her in silence. None of them really to know what she needed for obvious reasons, as they never asked her. And she had a determined expression like she wanted to do it alone. So they just followed.
After five minutes of repeating the same twenty aisles, one of them spoke up. “Boss? What are you searching for?”
“Huh?” she paused on the current aisle frantically searching it a little longer than she had before. Though she did hear the question, she kept looking at the aisle intently. ‘Has to be here…where the hell is it?!’
“Boss?”
“What?!” snapped Miyako, glaring back at the group. It made them all step back a little, a familiar expression started to appear in her eyes. Old habits really do die hard.
“Um…what are you needing?”
“Huh? Books, of course!” Not really the answer they were wanting. The obvious reply actually made them sweat a little, as they were seeing an unusual side of their boss. “…study…guides…”
“Boss?”
“I said study guides!” Her voice rang through the wing of the library they placed themselves into for the search. It drew up the attention of everyone, turning her face red quickly. Anger covered up embarrassment until she deflected it back at them. “Look at what you did!” She barely controlled her voice.
In a surprising bit of common sense by her boys, they led her away from the bookshelves out to a corner of the library. Isolated from all of the tables where people gathered, they would not disturb anyone.
“Study guides, boss?”
“Yes, exams are coming up soon, not to mention I don’t exactly have the best attendance record right now.” Miyako’s face turned a little redder. They continued to see sides of their boss they never knew even existed. She was not the person that they knew. “This is the only way I’m going to pass at this point.”
“But can’t you buy those at a bookstore?”
“Yeah, I know I’ve seen some of those bookworm types saying they go there for them!”
Crossing her arms up, she turned a little away from them and leaned back against the window frame. “I know that already. But it’s not like I have spending cash just lying around. They aren’t cheap you know!”
“Boss…” They had all sort of forgotten her situation. It was not something they dug in too deeply. They just knew the minimum that she was willing to talk about. They were all still teenagers, but she was the only one of them without the same sort of support they had.
“The library’s free, right? So I should be able to study here. I see plenty of those nerdy types in the school library all the time.”
“Couldn’t you have gone to the school library? They probably have the guides or books you need to study available for you.”
Miyako turned around completely to stare out the window. It was nothing so simple unfortunately. “That’s not an option.” She balled up her hand, pressing it against the pane. She never imagined how much she would end up regretting her past actions.
“Boss?”
“I sort of got banned from the school library.”
“What did you do?”
“Some punks from East thought they step on our turf and I showed them the error of their ways.” Pride came out in her voice, despite also having sadness mixed into it.
“Well we’ll help you find what you need, boss! Right, boys!” They all started to get excited, finally able to do something for their boss, even if it was something so boringly mundane as searching for a book.
“Forget the books.” Miyako suddenly pushed off from the window and marched down the hall. Purpose suddenly painted over her face. The new Miyako disappeared.
None of them knew what happened to change her mind. They knew the look she had. “Boss?” Rushing to catch up, they walked around her flanks trying to figure out what was on her mind.
“There’s something I need to do.”
It had no more of an answer for them than the last thing she said. Anymore seemed to be impossible to get out of her. Her mind locked on to the target she found.
Outside the window Miyako stared at, there were five street punks. Four of them were ganging up on one out in the middle of the street with no care for the scene that they started. The four boys all had familiar looks.
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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“Forget the books.” Miyako suddenly pushed off from the window and marched down the hall. Purpose suddenly painted over her face. The new Miyako disappeared.
None of them knew what happened to change her mind. They knew the look she had. “Boss?” Rushing to catch up, they walked around her flanks trying to figure out what was on her mind.
“There’s something I need to do.”
It had no more of an answer for them than the last thing she said. Anymore seemed to be impossible to get out of her. Her mind locked on to the target she found.
Outside the window Miyako stared at, there were five street punks. Four of them were ganging up on one out in the middle of the street with no care for the scene that they started. The four boys all had familiar looks.
“Hey boss!” called Takayuki, leading the group on her left. They made it out of the library and around it before she even looked at them. Even then, none of them knew exactly what to make of it. “What’s wrong?” It was an all too familiar expression, but with no reason. ‘She’s left it all behind, so why is she looking like she’s going into a fight?’
Around the library, Miyako came to a stop facing five boys roughly looking to be about the same age range as them, so high school age. They were all gathered up on the street making it impossible for anyone to pass. Bystanders on the opposite side of the street mostly just ignored the scene, but glanced out of the corner of their eye, as was usual for those curious yet wanting to stay uninvolved. Unfortunately, being a fairly busy street it was hard for anyone on their side of the street to pass without becoming entangled in the conflict. Some just turned around looking for a different way, while others ended up frozen not sure how to deal with the violence likely to come.
Takayuki immediately realized what had dragged her out of the library. He walked up to Miyako, standing a little in front of her. ‘Is she planning on fighting them? But why? She doesn’t want to be involved in these things anymore. She even just frightened those overstuffed punks back at her school, when she normally would have just painted the pavement in their blood in the past.’ Making the choice for her, he tried to approach, but was stopped by Miyako. “Boss?”
“I thought I told you to stop calling me that, Takayuki!” She walked up to the group. Four against one, hardly fair odds to say the least. However, it was not the odds she cared about. She easily did twice that many at times. “What do you think you’re doing picking on someone that can’t even fight back?” she bellowed in a deep voice, that unnerved the normal bystanders expecting something different from a school girl.
One of them tilted their head back, surprised that anyone had the balls to interrupt them. “Eh?”
“Hey Junichi, focus man! Ignore the chick.”
“Yeah…” He crunched his knuckles to be winding up for another beating. “Lessons are important.” The boy nearly spread out over the sidewalk already had a bloodied and bruised appearance from all of their beatings. Junichi did not seem to be interested stopping.
They just ignored her. That part bothered Miyako a little, but was not the real reason. She stepped up stretching out her hand for Junichi, the large size of the boy did not even make her hesitate. Size never mattered at the end of the day. She could drop any one of them. Unfortunately, Takayuki stepped in between the two of them. “What the hell, Takayuki! What are you doing?”
He knew that look just like everyone else did. It was the one that you did not step in front of if you did not want to be visited upon by unearthly pain. The sight that made any of them turn blue with fear. It made their enemies flee when her name did not do the job alone. It was the reason they were so feared and well known among the gangs. And he stood in front of it.
Yet even though he knew all of that, he managed to hold himself together. ‘I’ve seen her like this too many times to know this is a bad idea. But I’m not afraid. Why? I don’t understand it, but I know what I have to do. We all want her back, but this just seems wrong… I’m a fool…’ Takayuki grabbed a hold of Miyako’s wrist that planned to start a fight on behalf of some stranger they knew nothing about for reasons they knew nothing about. “Boss.”
“Takayuki, do you know what you’re doing?”
The severity just jumped another level in her expression. It made him grind his teeth. He felt like he was trying to stop a bullet train with just stock of bamboo. ‘I shouldn’t be stopping her. I know this, but I can’t…’ Facing down that look should have made him run in fear. Takayuki held his ground though, despite it all. “I should ask you the same thing, boss. Do you know what you’re doing? What this will mean?”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m saying, this isn’t your place to be in anymore! You’re out of this life now! You can’t just step back in whenever you feel like you want. You’ve made your decision on the course you want!”
“Takayuki…out of the way when you don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“No. I do know! The boss I know isn’t so weak willed as to given in when she’s made her decision!”
Miyako snapped out of her rage upon hearing his berating. ‘…damn…he’s right…I made a choice to leave all of this. If I do this I’ll just be dragging everything I’ve done through the mud. But I can’t just ignore this…’
He could see that he finally got through to her. This was not her fight. Takayuki pushed her back, which surprised her as much as the rest of the gang. They had not really known him to be so bold. “Let us handle this, boss! I know what you’re thinking!”
“Us?” sounded off several of the group, a little confused by Takayuki’s declaration. They were not really sure what he was planning. It was nothing that involved them. They had no business getting involved, especially not associated with any gang anymore.
Annoyed by the interruptions and unwelcome presence of strangers, Junichi turned around again. “Shut the he—“ He did not get a chance to finish before started to eat a fist. The weight of the punch stunned him, along with not expecting someone to go against him. But it did not bring him down, as Takayuki might have hoped.
Regardless of whether it was successful or not, Takayuki made his point and stand clear. The rest of his group could hardly stand back and do nothing. They moved quickly to support Takayuki, who was already starting to receive the vengeful gazes of the other three. “There’s the difference between making your point and just torturing someone! If you’re just looking for some blood, then we’ll be more than happy to take out a donation from your hides!”
While Junichi recovered himself and wiped away the blood from his lip, the other three stepped in taking up sides around him. “So we’ve got some would be heroes,” remarked one of them.
“Let’s show them, Jiro!”
“Yeah, Yasuo. No one messes with Black Gate!”
“You got the one of the right Shigeru!”
“…guys…”
Chapter 303 – Hot Blooded Meetings
Finished, both parties called it after thirty minutes. Takayuki’s group came out the worse from the exchange, even though they did succeed to driving them off. They made it more trouble than they wanted to deal with.
Bruised and bloodied, Takayuki and the rest leaned up against the wall in an alley keeping the way clear. They had dragged most of it out from the broad daylight. Though noise came out from all of their fighting along with yelling and pain, life in the sun could resume to some degree.
Miyako helped them all up and walked them through the back alley to get them out of the area. If they stayed too long the police would probably show up. It sort of surprised her that no one called before, but they were probably too afraid of what sort of retribution would happen if they did. They just pretended it did not happen. Miyako kept her fights out of the public, unlike that foursome, gang fights were supposed to be only be with gangs. Getting it to spill out into the light should never happen, not that others follows her personal code.
A few blocks away, they all stopped in a park. It gave them a place to rest. She knelt down to look at Takayuki, who looked the worse for taking on the brute named Junichi. ‘While he knows his way around a fight, he was never one to just take it straight head-on. Dumbass…’ Miyako ripped off her tie to try to tend to some of the blood. “What were you thinking? That I’m just some helpless girl now that needs other people to fight for her.”
Coughing a little, his body felt so much pain. It had been a while since he had been in such a rough fight. Miyako handled so much of their fighting that they never had to worry about a drag out fight. “You know why, boss. It was the same reason that you had.”
“Bastard…” she cursed, frustrated with herself. ‘I couldn’t do anything. They fought for me when that should have been me. No one would have been hurt other than those that should have been.’
Takayuki could see the stress building up in her eyes. She cared about all of them still even as much as she tried to throw them all off. “We’ve all made our choices, boss. This is your choice and you must follow it, no compromises. That isn’t who you are.”
Grind her teeth together, she had trouble controlling the anger coursing through her muscles. “Damn you, you know me too well.”
Grinning a little, he knew it was how it needed to be. “You’ve chosen to stand in the light now boss. We will stay in the shade where we belong. You can’t step back, we’ll carry no what you’ve have for all this time.”
“This isn’t something you need to do, Takayuki.”
“Perhaps, but we want to. You’ve looked after all of us, boss. We can return the favor now.”
Miyako rammed her fist into the grass frustrated with her own inability. ‘I wanted out of it all, because I realized that I needed something more than just blood and breaking bones. They call it a normal life, what you’re supposed to do. I just needed out from it all. All of the blood…but if it is going to be like this…’
“Don’t give up, boss.”
Lifting her head, she looked over at Takayuki, who seemed to pick up on her doubt. She was not known for showing her emotions, other than anger, naturally. She hated weakness, but it was all she felt in such a situation. It surrounded her like an ocean. “Takayuki…”
“You can be better than us. Most of us never finished high school. We’re too dumb or just didn’t care. We made a choice, even if we didn’t think of it as one. Do what we can’t, because you’re better than us. Boss.”
It was difficult to counter what he said. She had made the choice to leave it all behind and now thought about breaking that promise she made to herself. ‘Only a week and I’m already having second thoughts. When did I get to be like this?’ Miyako clinched her fists up knowing the course she had set. It was the only thing she could do. “Since when did you start talking back to me, Takayuki? Who do you think you are?”
Laughing, Takayuki was pleased to see her looking more resolved. “I was your right hand.”
“Yeah…”
The next day after school, Miyako exited with the expectation to find Takayuki and the rest of the crew with him waiting on her. They were nowhere to be seen. She looked around feeling a little lonely, surprisingly, without them stalking her. It was what she wanted. ‘I’m glad…the way Takayuki was talking back to me. They can stand on their own now. They don’t need me. I can focus on my path…’ A melancholic smile came across her face as she walked to the library.
However, she only made it halfway there before some strangers looking for a fight blocked her path. Unlike the cocky boys that did not know better, these had hardened looks in their faces. They knew the life better than those wannabes. She did not miss a step despite their gazes at her. ‘They have nothing to do with me. I’m out…’
Out or not, they did not seem to know. They grabbed her by the shoulder and squeezed tightly pressing muscle to bone as she came in range. “You the leader of those weaklings?” the older teen asked, trying to confirm something.
She did not even flinch when they invaded her space and tried to strong-arm her. ‘If I just give them the standard death stare, that should make them back off. I don’t need a fight.’ Miyako put everything she had in it, knowing how battle hardened they looked. Just her usual stare was not going to be enough. It did not always work for her in a fight, but it usually did enough to unnerve those that did not piss themselves on the spot.
Her patented death stare seemed to have no affect on them. In fact, it actually seemed to make things worse as they knew that she was willing for a fight. “Yeah, that’s the look. She’s no normal school girl.” He worked to try to crush her collar bone from his oversized hand. “As the leader of those weaklings, you’ve got to pay for the responsibility of them.”
Miyako flashed a little confusion in, not getting at the point that they were trying to make. However, her mind quickly reached the natural conclusion. “Your members from the Black Gate. Come for pay for your boys, is that it?”
“You catch on fast, girlie. We’ve already taken out our full payment your men earned for their boldness yesterday. Now you—“
‘Full payment…’ The death stare in Miyako suddenly flipped. Cold emptiness replaced it. The bruiser trying to play at intimidation flipped on his back in an instant before he finished his sentence. Miyako stared them all down. “Now you’ve earned my wraith!”
She finished all five of them off so fast that there was hardly even a scene. Anyone passing by just thought that she laid down self-defense on a group of boys trying to assault her. It only took her another few seconds to get the weak one in the group to spill where they attacked Takayuki’s group.
‘Damnit!’ she cursed, as she ran through the blocks to try to reach them. It was already too late to stop it, but they did not look like the sort to just to leave them a little beaten. She did not know how far they would go and feared for it too.
Miyako slid around the corner of the final turn and came their former base, an abandoned construction site. She slowly walked in looking everyone for any signs of her men. ‘They’re here somewhere…just don’t be…’
Eventually, she found blood dried and soaked into the earth. Following it, the signs only got worse. More blood and trash thrown about everywhere. The whole place had been ripped apart. And then she found them. Most of them looked passed out, she hoped, they did not seem to be moving or making a sound. Blood covered them along with knife wounds. “…damnit!” Rage boiled up in her chest at the sight.
One of the boys coughed, signaling that they were still awake. Miyako rushed over to them trying to check on them. He looked up into her eyes. “…sorry…boss…”
“It’s fine! Don’t talk. I’ll call—“
“Takayuki, he fought them for all of us…but he…”
“That’s enough!” Miyako tried to keep them from talking, but they seemed to have only managed enough to report to her before falling over. She hung her head thinking about all of them. Her body felt on fire.
Standing up, she looked around to find everyone, but she still did not see Takayuki. He was not anywhere outside. Miyako found the only completed room, which they used for their command room. Blood was all over the door and over the floor. She looked in to find two that she did not recognize just left behind.
And then she found Takayuki. Mounted to the wall with stray pipes through his arm and chest. She had trouble looking at him. “…Takayuki…those bastards…they did this…” Miyako could not content her anger anymore. “I will make them all PAY for this!”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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And then she found Takayuki. Mounted to the wall with stray pipes through his arm and chest. She had trouble looking at him. “…Takayuki…those bastards…they did this…” Miyako could not contain her anger anymore. “I will make them all PAY for this!”
Is what she said, however, she thankfully had a little more intelligence about her. Prioritizing their health over immediate revenge, she called for an ambulance. She might have been completely enraged with what she saw, but they still were more important to her.
Waiting though was the worst feeling for her. She paced around the hospital hall for a while. Even though she was dressed as a normal high school student, the look she gave them all left everyone off balance. They knew to keep their distance from her.
Miyako took a break from the endless wandering knowing it was about as useful as screaming her vengeful words into the empty hall. ‘Damn it…I know most of them can’t be at risk, but Takayuki…as he was when I found him…’ She looked up towards the end of the hall to the ICU. Takayuki had been in there long past the time some of the others finally woke up. ‘…if he dies…if he dies…’ It was difficult to finish the thought, just left to repeat for her.
The entire time she waited, she saw no doctors or even nurse exit. She did not plan to miss if any of them exited. No one else would tell her anything on Takayuki’s condition. They were either too scared to speak or really did not seem to know anything. His life hung in their hands.
Afternoon had long passed into night. She had forgotten about time. She never knew when it was when she finally saw someone come out of those seemingly stuck doors. The unfortunate woman did not know what happened.
Upon her in an instant, Miyako cornered her before she could even make it half way down the hall. Whatever her destination, it had changed. “Tell me everything.”
“Huh?” the woman asked, looking like she wanted to crush her body into the wall to escape Miyako dark gaze.
Slamming her hand up against the wall, Miyako had little patience for false ignorance. “Don’t give me that! I want answers!”
Scaring the woman till she nearly pissed herself was hardly a smart approach. All it managed to do was shut her down further. She could not utter a word completely entrapped by fear.
Miyako rammed her fist into the wall only centimeters away from the woman. “If you don’t start talking things will start becoming more unpleasant than they are now!” The intensity in her eyes increased trying to force speech from a mute.
As if a real mute, such things were impossible. Miyako got nothing out of her. The woman was just too terrified to respond. She likely had never seen anyone with such a look of wonton violence and even if she had, nothing stacked up. It was a natural human response.
Creaking hinges from the door alerted Miyako, finding two more exiting, a man and a woman. The second before she acted, they were discussing something between the two of them with a grave tone. None of it registered to her.
“What the hell is happening here?” the woman asked just moments before Miyako pinned both of them up against the wall.
A bit of clarity in Miyako realized that the woman had more of a spine than the man or the other woman. So she targeted her for questions. “I’ll be asking the questions! I want to know everything right now! How is he doing?”
Put off a bit by Miyako, but clearly not paralyzed, she managed to keep her wits about her. “Just like a child to threaten. You’re not family, we’ve got nothing to tell you even if you did bring him in.” The woman actually seemed to be doing it to spite Miyako more than anything from the look in her eyes.
Unfortunately, that did not work for Miyako. Swiping her leg out from under the man and dropping him painfully to the tiled ground, she pinned him under her shoe. “You dare to provoke me?” Miyako took both hands to the woman’s top. “You want to see how childish I can be?”
The woman surprisingly remained calm during the whole situation, despite completely disadvantaged. “You think empty threats are going to change anything?”
“I make neither threats nor empty ones,” roared Miyako, tightening her hold on the woman.
Most would have considered it poor timing, but giving the situation it was actually perfect timing. Otherwise, Miyako would have delivered on her promise, she did not make threats. Another person stepped out, a middle-aged man completely confused by the situation of a teenage girl man handling the hospital staff. “What’s going on here?”
“They just keep comin’” Part of her speech started to slip as she lost more control of herself.
The man on the ground managed to pull himself out of his fear to answer. “She’s the girl that found all of those wounded. She’s demanding we tell her the condition of the teen in the ICU.”
“I can see that,” he remarked from understanding the scene better. Coughing partly out of need, he found himself the one playing peacemaking to prevent the need to treat anyone else. “While she might not be family…judging from her actions she seems to know them. It’s not my business why a girl like you knows a bunch on the wrong side of a gang war, but I can say the boy is still alive.”
“He is?” She lowered the woman and let up her grip, finally getting answers. “And he’ll stay alive?”
“It’s out of any of our hands now. We’ve done all we can, it’ll be up to him if he lives through the night.”
“What do you mean?” Miyako turned to face the man directly, as he seemed to have all the answers.
Getting full view of her intense fury made the man choke back a little before he responded. “He has a punctured lung and stomach and severe blood loss. Had you found him any later and he would have died. He seems to have a strong will to live despite his injures. If he makes it the night, then it’s likely he’ll recover.
“Takayuki’s strong! He’ll live, that’s a promise!”
“The next few hours will be the most important.”
“Can I see him?”
“No, we’re still heavily monitoring him for any signs.” Poor timing reared its ugly head. A ringing came through the hall. All of them looked back at the doors questioning what might be happened. “Damn…” He turned around and ran through the doors followed up quickly by the rest of the staff.
The ringing seemed to drain Miyako. She just stared completely lost at what was happening. She did not feel it when more staff ran past her, alerted to the alarm. ‘…Takayuki…’
Chapter 304 – Repayment
Miyako did not know when she returned home. It was all just a blur. She never saw the doctors or nurses again. She was not sure what she saw anymore. Everything just seemed numb. She did not care about school in the morning or even breakfast. She took a short whole loaf with her and just walked out.
Absentmindedly, she carried through the streets with no direction. Her feet took her somewhere, but she was not aware of it. Nor was she aware of the stares she got. It was not her blank expression. Rather the fact that she still wore yesterday’s uniform soaked with blood. She had the look of unearthing herself out of a war zone. Most just kept a wide clearance of her path.
Bad luck continued, but delivered to someone else this time. By happenstance, Miyako blindly ran into four familiar faces. She did not know it at that moment, but would soon enough.
“The hell?” barked Jiro. While in a fight two days, they all looked in good shape.
Junichi stepped up as the wall to get into the face of the one that made the mistake of entering their path. “Watch where yer goin!”
“Hey, Junichi wait,” interrupted Shigeru. He poked out around the wide Junichi. “Isn’t this the girl that tried to start something with you and had to get her men to fight for her?”
“Huh? Oh yeah! It is her!” Junichi leaned in trying to get a reaction out of her, but she did nothing. He did not pick up on her condition finding it to be insulting. “She starts a fight with us and then sends others to do her work. She’s got guts, especially after we dealt with her little weaklings.”
Yasuo stayed back not too interested in the girl. It was more Junichi that had a beef with her and they already dealt with her men, the ones that actually did something. She was just small fry, especially a girl. “Hey, wasn’t she supposed to be dealt with yesterday? Did the boys miss her?”
It took Jiro a moment, but he recalled what he had overheard. “I heard Masuzoe’s group were taken out.”
“Before they got to her? What gang made that mistake?”
“I don’t know, just what I heard. But since it seems she never received what she was owed for trying to stop us, we’ve got the chance now. Luck is on our side, I wanted to wipe that smug look off her face the moment I saw her.”
“Bad luck, girlie,” echoed Junichi, in agreement. He grabbed her by the collar of her uniform’s jacket. Dragged off the street, no one seemed to notice or wanted to notice.
Once out of sight, they threw her up against the wall of a nearby building. It was an empty alley only used for pick-ups, but no one was around. So it was a perfect place to teach her who had the right and who was in the wrong.
Yasuo leaned up against the building watching the alley. He had the least amount of interest in beating up a defenseless girl. “Orders are orders and she crossed us, but there’s nothing fun in teaching a defenseless girl.”
“They’re the boss’ orders,” Jiro reminded Yasuo, “You follow his orders or you receive punishment. It’s the way things work.”
“Which is why I’m watching the alley while you take care of the order. I know what happens to those that are punished.”
Eager to start the teaching, Junichi cracked his knuckles. “Then I get the first lesson.” Without any warning, he wound up a punch and smashed Miyako’s face into the building’s brick. Blood quickly started to paint the wall.
“Just remember, lessons are only remembered when still alive.”
“I know, Jiro! I won’t kill her!”
“I only say that because you hit like a train and this is just a girl. She’s not going to take the same sort of beating as her boys did.”
“I know, I know! But I’m still making her remember not to stop me from a lesson!”
“Fine, teacher.” Jiro picked Miyako back up after the second punch from Junichi left her face down in the trash. He picked off the soaked bag stuck to her face to give Junichi a clean shot.
Blood dripped from cuts along her cheek, lips and nose. Yet Miyako’s eyes still seemed completely out of it. She felt none of the punches. She did not know what was happening to her. The whole world completely disappeared to her. All she could hear was the repeat of the night before.
None of the staff came out of the hall from what she remembered. They just kept running in. A lot of them. She had lost count. They could have been cramming them all in until there was not even air for room for all she knew. They just seemed to have an endless supply.
The ringing never stopped.
She could not stop it.
It was deafening still.
Deafening.
A loud ring suddenly completely overshadowed the noise. It was completely different from the one that blasted her mind for more than half a day. It was familiar. She knew it. It drowned out the other sound. Suddenly, she realized what she was doing. She was wasting her time.
Her eyes opened for real and saw the punch coming in with enough time to dodge it. Junichi’s fist painfully cracked up against the brick. Miyako blinked trying to figure out what was going on. But the ringing came back, the ring of her cell phone. “A call?” She completely ignored the current situation.
Digging out her phone from her skirt pocket, she did not know the number, yet its name came up as the hospital. “Takayuki!” She immediately answered the phone without another thought. “Yes?”
“Is this Miyako Ibuka? The girl that brought in those boys yesterday.”
“Yes. What is it?” An uncomfortable feeling started to surge up in her body. It was fear. The fear that she knew what the call was about. Her mind immediately went the worst possible outcome rather than the hopeful one. It was hard not to think that way.
“It’s about boy named Takayuki Kano. I’m sorry to inform you that he has passed away.”
“…I see…” Miyako’s hand dropped to her side. The voice on the phone tried to reach her, but failed. Miyako stopped listening. ‘Dead…dead…dead…DEAD!’
“Done with your phone call?” Jiro interjected, stepping in for a recovering Junichi.
Miyako, unfortunately for them, was still awake rather than falling back into the void. She saw all of them. “You…YOU!” her voice roared as her body came alive completely ignoring whatever injuries she sustained from Junichi. She seemed completely healthy the way she moved. “You won’t be enough! But it is a good place to start! You’ll regret this war!”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
Don't know how to roleplay, but want to learn? Visit Here!
2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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Miyako, unfortunately for them, was still awake rather than falling back into the void. She saw all of them. “You…YOU!” her voice roared as her body came alive completely ignoring whatever injuries she sustained from Junichi. She seemed completely healthy the way she moved. “You won’t be enough! But it is a good place to start! You’ll regret this war!”
Jiro managed to dodge the first punch thrown since she telegraphed it long in advance, due to her yelling. However, he had no idea how fast Miyako truly was when the second punch came in a split second later. He was prone on his back before he even realized what happened.
Shigeru and Yasuo jumped in quickly to defend Jiro. But Miyako did not even break. Grabbed up each in a separate hand, she dragged them up to the nearby wall and rubbed their faces against the brick before letting them go.
Tilting her head over her shoulder, she locked on the last one, Junichi. He was still recovering from his broken hand. Miyako did not even bother to wipe away the blood that dripped over her face. It merely added to her overall menacing presence. Junichi did not even recognize the girl. “Who the hell are you?!”
Shadows came down over her eyes leaving only a little white from them to shine through. “…just a normal high school girl…”
Chapter 305 – Identity
Walking out of the alley, Miyako merely looked pissed more than anything now. “Damn, they’re loyal not given up their base location. I’ll give them that much credit.” She began to look around for signs of any others that might have been a lookout.
Nothing.
However, she noticed the fearful looks that she was getting from just people passing by. She caught a glimpse of her face in the reflection of a store window to understand what had people so afraid. “I’m not going to get anywhere looking like this.”
Finishing washing her face, there was nothing she could do about the rest of her clothes. Between the old blood from the boys and her blood from when she was zoned out, it did not look pretty. She took off her jacket, which helped to make it not look so bad, plus it gave her better mobility for the coming trouble.
Miyako stepped back out of the park restroom to pick a direction for her search. “I should have gotten more out of that weakling yesterday. Now I’m going to have to find more of them and pump them for information.” She decided on her random direction and started to move.
The Black Gate gang was not a name that she was familiar with, which meant one of two things. They were positioned outside of the area where she fought or they were too small to have any real presence. ‘I didn’t exactly have an interest in all of the different gangs in the city. Sort of regretting not trying to keep up with all of the politics now. Though that’s probably why we had so many enemies. None of it really mattered to me.’
Her gang, the Blood Lotus had been a little haphazardly put together when she just started defeating a bunch of local bosses. They tried to hit on her and she took offense to their harassment and dealt out the necessary punishment. Since much of the gang world revolved around strength, people gathered up around her in no time. She had little interest at all in the underworld or the things they got involved in. ‘It all seemed more like a bunch of kids pretending to be Yakuza rather than real gangsters. Some were certainly the real thing, but everyone that came to challenge me were just posers. Pretenders.’
It was all a joke. It was probably the reason her neighborhood had so many “gangs”. They all just wanted to be tough and pretend to be cool, but none of them really had any sense of honor or even purpose. ‘They were closer to just a bunch of tough guys hanging out. It’s not like I even wanted this sort of life style anyway. I just fell into it by mistake, which is why I was able to make the decision to walk away when I did. It was a part of me during my middle school and high school years, but it had to come to an end. Just like them, I was pretending and I was done pretending.’
Her search that day ended with no leads. She did not know where to find them. They might have been stepping outside of their territory since she found nothing. She did not know what it was. The only thing she could do was return to the hospital to visit the boys.
Most were able to be discharged after being fixed up. Only two had to stay behind because their injuries needed rest. They all gathered up around Miyako bent down at the waist in deep apologetic bow. “Boss! We’re sorry!”
“Damnit, you guys.” She caught the looks from other patients and the hospital staff. The scene looked like she was some daughter of a Yakuza boss with their men apologizing for their failure. They might start tried to commit ritualistic suicide in the next moment, was other’s fears. “Stop it! This is no more your fault than it is mine.”
“Takayuki wanted to keep you out of it. But because we were so weak…”
“Ugh, enough of the blubbering.” The sight of them helped to improve her mood a little. Entering the hospital reminded her of Takayuki and her failure. ‘This is on me now. I can’t get them anymore involved.’ Miyako looked out to all of them. It was a strange lot teenagers that put all of their trust and hopes on her, even if they did not say it or want it. “You all keep off the streets and stay out of trouble for a while.”
“Boss?”
“I’ll handle this matter. I’m the one that they want.”
“You can’t, Boss!” They started to stop her knowing what she had planned. They all wanted to revenge, but not for her to do it for them. “This is our problem! Like Takayuki said!”
“No, I got this started because I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I finish what I start and you guys won’t stop me!”
“But…Boss!”
“Enough! I’ve decided how things are going to be!” She pulled her arms free from their holds and separated from the group. It was her path to walk now. “Don’t follow me!” she warned, looking back at them. None of them were in any shape for the hell she was about to walk into. She did not need to be taking them in with her.
It was a little troublesome, but she did manage to free herself of their stubbornness to hold onto her. A new day arrived and another missed school day. She too quickly lost all of the ground that tried to build up. A week and it was all gone. They could talk all they wanted, but she had things to settle.
Things to settle sounded all good and she had the attitude, but it did not change facts. She had no leads on where to find Black Gate. All she could do rely on others for information. The hole she fell back into had more than its share of trouble she crossed. She was a well known name in her neighborhood, but it ended about there.
Miyako found herself at one of the few places that still respected her name, even after her declaration. The halls of the Willows, a strange gang that just existed. No others really did anything against them. It is just something that seemed to have been that way since before she formed the Blood Lotus. She never got an explanation for it, just that it was what was expected. They did not bother others and no one bothered them. She always felt like there was some sleeping dragon sort of feeling coming off them and everyone was afraid of them, but never found any proof. Even rumors were completely empty on why it was. Everyone just accepted the situation as is.
Which made them the best group for Miyako to turn, but she was not sure how they would welcome her. Once they knew what she planned on doing, they might just turn her away. She never knew how to read their boss. He was a difficult person to deal with.
The two guards at the boss’ door stared at her. They received the signaled to open the door, but waited. One of them moved over to her. “Remember any violence is forbidden.”
“I’ll be peaceful, so long as he is.” Her history with the boss was fairly well known with his guards. They let her in, but still clearly had some reluctance with it.
Inside, she looked around the room on guard. ‘He’s here somewhere. I know he’s got something planned. He always does.’ Just as the doors closed, two arrows shot out at her. The first she caught and the other she batted away. She looked down to see they were as expected, fakes with just suction cups on the end and an annoyingly cheerful welcoming confetti ball tied begging to be opened. Just then, she felt something lightly hit her head.
A white powder fell down around her head as she looked around in confusion. It did not hurt, but she knew something happened. In her searching, it fell off and she could see that it was just a chalk eraser rarely seen in schools anymore.
Clapping came from a shadowy corner of the room. “The classics are always the best, especially when I get to see that reaction on your face, Miyako.” A young man in his early twenties stepped out from behind a bookshelf, which seemed a little odd in a gang hideout, but this man was not an ordinary gang boss.
“Hideo Nakasato…” Miyako crushed the toy arrow in her hand. His jokes and toy traps were far too annoying to deal with at times. Especially with her mood right now. “You never change…”
“So angry,” he grinned, walking over to his desk. He wore a suit and looked more the part of a company CEO rather than a gang member. Out of all of the gangs she met, he seemed the most like what the Yakuza would be like. However, even she admittedly did not know what the Yakuza were truly like. She never met any of them. They never had any interest in a bunch of small fry gangs playing at gangsters. They were all just punks and kids in the eyes of the professionals.
Hideo leaned back in his chair and threw up his hands as a sign of ending the hostilities. “You never were too good about loosening up and I see that hasn’t changed after you went back to just being a girl.”
‘So annoying…’ She had trouble with his type. He easily read into her, while she could not do anything about his nature. It was like dealing with a monkey, random and always looking play. Miyako always had to stay on guard against him.
With a look like he held all of the cards, he stared at her with a wide smile. “So what do I own the pleasure of your company, Miss Miyako Ikuba?”
“I want information.”
“Information. For what would you come all the way to our little home and seek information?” The annoyingly knowledgeable grin continued to taunt her. “I’m afraid I don’t have the answer sheets for the entrance exams.”
Grinding her teeth, she knew that he knew why she came. It only made it more frustrating that he was forcing her to be more direct than she wanted. He knew the situation and played it to the fullest. “Bastard, you know why I’m here.”
Laughing, he leaned back in his chair until it nearly knocked against the wall. “Such vulgarity from a high school girl. Should you really be talking like that?”
Miyako marched up to his desk and slammed her hands on the hard oak surface. The broken toy arrow slid towards him. “Stop with the games, Hideo. Just tell me what I want to know.”
He seemed to get a little more serious. Pulling forward, Hideo looked stare into Miyako’s eyes. “You’re just a girl. A few games should be enough entertainment for you. This is a dark seedy place where you don’t belong.”
“I’m not a girl!” Her hand pounded against the wood making it groan a little.
Peaking his brow a bit, Hideo brought his hands up over his mouth in an overlapping style. “Unless you’ve made an overseas visit recently, I’m pretty sure you are.”
Her patience had a limit. It had already been long reached before she even entered the room. She only kept herself in control out of respect. But he had stopped respecting her. Miyako grabbed him by his collar, tie and all. “Enough with the games!”
“Violence is forbidden you know.”
“Then get serious and show me the respect I deserve!”
“Respect?” His grin never went away the whole time. It actually got a little wider at the mention of that word. Hideo unwound her fingers from his collar and leaned back into the chair. “That’s a funny word. You come in here asking for information and respect when you’re just a no name girl off the street. What respect do I owe you?”
She ground her teeth more as she retreated her position. It was worse than she thought. The point that he was making made things even harder. He was refusing her on an annoying point. Miyako stayed silent unable to say anything to him.
Hideo fixed his shirt after getting roughed up. “Or are you someone else? Who are you?”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
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2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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“Respect?” His grin never went away the whole time. It actually got a little wider at the mention of that word. Hideo unwound her fingers from his collar and leaned back into the chair. “That’s a funny word. You come in here asking for information and respect when you’re just a no name girl off the street. What respect do I owe you?”
She ground her teeth more as she retreated her position. It was worse than she thought. The point that he was making made things even harder. He was refusing her on an annoying point. Miyako stayed silent unable to say anything to him.
Hideo fixed his shirt after getting roughed up. “Or are you someone else? Who are you?”
Miyako did not have an easy answer for him, even though she knew what he wanted to hear. ‘He’s holding up the information on a technicality…’ Weight from her body pressed down on her hands. It felt too heavy. “What does it matter? You know my past.”
“And there are few that don’t know the name of Eighty Death around here. But is the name so cheap that you can use it whenever things get tough?”
Hideo tried to belittle her name. She pounded her fists against his desk. “Never! Don’t you dare speak ill of me.”
“So you’re Eighty Death now,” question Hideo, peaking up his eyebrow. Any amount of violence that she threatened against him made no impact on his mood. His face became more serious, dropping the playful smirk. It was no longer about jokes or teasing.
“There a problem with that?”
“And before you’re the high school girl? And after that you’re what?”
Slamming her fists down again, she was getting tired him harping on the same point. ‘I’ll become Eighty Death again if it means protecting them…’ She leaned forward only a few centimeters away. “Who I am is my business, not yours.”
“If you want my help it is.” Hideo could tell how far he was getting with Miyako. She was easily provoked and quick to violence. None of that had changed in dropping her position. It was not as though that was a surprise. But she still missed the point. “You think you can just step in and out whenever you please. This world doesn’t work like that. You’re either all in or all out. You left and abandoned everything. That’s what happens when one leaves, you give up claim to everything. You can’t just pick it back up whenever you please like it’s an old shirt.”
“My life is mine to do with as I please! None of you have any right to determine how I act!” Miyako pulled away, annoyed with looking at his face. She walked over to the shelves, needing something that was not his smug face to look at. “It was people like you that dragged me into this world to begin with. I merely found a way to survive. So what right do you have to say how I live it? I never bent to any of your pressure in the past what makes you think I will now?”
“You view this lifestyle as boys playing pretend, as though we’re just playing house. You belittle our way of life. This world is not the sort of fake world you are lead to believe. You’ve been allowed to stay blissfully ignorant.”
Miyako tilted her head back over to Hideo. “Ignorant?!” She took partial offense to his choice of words, but was more surprised by how keenly aware of her opinion of their world he actually was. It was never something she voiced to anyone. “Who the hell do you think you are, Hideo?”
“The Gatekeeper.”
Chapter 306 – The Dark Side of the Shadow
“What?!” That was one word she had heard mentioned in hushed whispers during her time. ‘The Gatekeeper? I always heard the boys talk like it was some myth or legend. I completely dismissed it as just them playing around. The Gatekeeper, someone that protects the more simple and innocent gangs from the true dark underbelly of the real world. It can’t be true.’ She had trouble holding back her surprise now.
Hideo turned around in his chair. He slowly stood up working his way to Miyako. “Even someone like you, that’s completely ignored the politics and inner workings of the world knows that name.” Coming to stop in front of her, he managed to look a meter taller than her somehow. “It is how we designed it. There are two sides to everything. Light and dark, even when you thought you were standing in the dark that was merely the light you deluded yourself into thinking was the dark. You have no idea what the real darkness is in this world.”
“Trying to scare me now?” Bravado was about all that Miyako had left in her. She had never seen Hideo act like this in any of their past meetings. He looked genuinely ready to crush her without a second thought. She felt like a bug under his heel.
The initial intent seemed to have been reached. Hideo let up a little on his intensity. It was rare for him to use such a presence when not dealing with someone from that side. “I’m trying to get you to understand the position you’re in.”
“Position?”
“Yes, position. You’ve left, while you’re on the other side such things are simple. It’s your gang, you do with it as you please. Like you said, you make your own destiny. However, you want to step back in, that is something you can’t do.”
“The hell?” Her face twisted a little not understanding him anymore than before when he was trying to make the point. “You try to scare me with a boogeyman in the shadows. I haven’t listened to any of your rules in the past, what makes you think I care what you think now?”
“Because one can’t just jump in and out. You can’t have both. You must pick one. Especially, when the information you seek lies in the dark.”
‘The dark…’ She knew what he was implying. It only made her hesitate for a moment. The fear that he instilled in her had already evaporated. She was tired of being talked down to and dictated to. Miyako grabbed Hideo’s tie and pulled on him. “You think I give one single damn about your worlds or sides? Rules, be damned to hell! Eighty Death or the high school girl. You want an answer on who I am? I’m myself! And I make my own destiny without any of your hands telling me what I can or can’t do! I can’t be Eighty Death anymore or the high school girl. Fine! I am Miyako Ibuka! I protect those that matter to me! So screw your rules and your pompous light and dark. I don’t care about any of it! Because someone crossed Miyako Ibuka and they won’t be allowed to step away without pay back!”
Laughter, that was what she heard. It actually surprised her to hear him laughing. She released his tie not sure what was wrong. Had he gone nuts or just planning some other game? Miyako did not know anymore. “What’s so funny?”
Hideo fell back against this shelves needing support. It was the least expected answer for him. “You. So you plan to become something different from your past and present? This should be very interesting.”
She still did not know what he was getting at. It made her want to step away a little. The crazy should not really be bothered. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’ll give you the information you want.”
‘Not what I was expecting…’ she remarked, as her only comment. She had arrived at the location that Hideo gave her. This was where the Black Gate gang headquarters was positioned. However, it was nothing that she thought. She knew the area roughly, though never ever actually visited.
It was the middle of the business district. She thought there was perhaps some ruined building that they were built out of or a construction site, as they had done. It just looked like an ordinary business, if that ordinary business ran out of a skyscraper and had employees in suits walking in and out. ‘Are they a real business? Hideo said that things weren’t going to be what I was thinking that they were…’
‘You can find the Black Gate in the business district as the address I just gave you. Just remember though, the real world is nothing like what you think it is. All those playing house ideas you have, get them out of your head now. What you face now is going to be nothing like what you’ve dealt with before. So show me strength of your resolve to be Miyako Ibuka.’
Flexing her hands a little to get the tension out of her body, which built up from the uncertainty of what she faced, Miyako pushed his voice out of her mind. ‘Shut up, bastard. I’ll show you I create my own path!’
Walking inside to the lobby, she only drew a few odd looks. She had changed her uniform, even though she still looked like a high school student. Miyako made sure to leave her jacket behind, so they could not identify her school. This was a fight for her alone, no one else needed to be dragged into it.
Using the password with the receptionist, they led her to a private elevator off to the side. It was surprisingly easy to get inside. ‘Is this all the security that they have?’ It gave her false confidence as she entered the elevator. The ride took her up to the designated floor. ‘Hidden almost in plain sight…is this how his world works? It’s a little unsettling knowing that they were, but I never would have figured his out. I never would have thought to check in a place like this, not to mention I couldn’t have fought my way through a public area. I would have been arrested before setting foot in here…’
The elevator chimed in reaching its destination. As the doors slid open, three guards in suits turned to look at who had arrived. The sight of a girl had them all looking between each other a little confused.
“You order a girl?”
“Of course not! I wouldn’t bring her here anyway!”
“Is she one of the heads’ daughter or something?”
“She doesn’t look like any of them.”
While they argued about what it meant for Miyako to be in the elevator, she stepped forward within range of them. Her face quickly turned serious and they were too slow to react when they realized what was up. All three laid on the floor of the elevator unable to move.
She looked down both sides of the hallway trying to figure out where to go. ‘He didn’t give me anymore directions than this. But I suppose he wouldn’t know.’ Unfortunately, her delaying caused two more guards to come running out, likely already alerted to her presence. She charged for them only to be caught off guard by an oppressively loud bang that rang in her ears. It paralyzed her. ‘A gun?!’
The first only seemed to be a warning shot fired at her. Miyako paused finding that she was staring down the barrel of two pistols from the guards. ‘Is this the dark side of things? This isn’t a fair fight at all!’
“You’ve made a big mistake walking into here attacking us,” one said. “We have ways for dealing with intruders like yourself.”
Caught up in the front, she did not see the two more guards that snuck up behind her and grabbed her. Her arms could not even move in the locked position the large man pinned her with great ease. They had her down on the floor already tied up before she knew what was happening. She could do nothing to them. ‘They’re skilled and experienced, nothing like all those pretenders…damnit…’
Brought before the boss, he was a tough and battle hardened man in his middle ages. The man had a severe expression that gave up no sign of emotion or mercy. It felt like a single glance could actually kill. He had mastered the death stare that she merely adopted. “Who is this girl?”
“Someone we caught breaking in and attacking our men, boss.”
“Is that so?” He lowered his sight down to Miyako, forced to knelt before the man. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
Not even bravado was going to be enough against him. She could feel her body shaking as she had never know. The only time she felt afraid was in the presence of her mother when she was younger. This completely eclipsed that memory threefold. “Y-Yes.”
He narrowed his eyes further. “So you knowingly stepped into our territory and attacked my men.”
“Yes.”
“What a foolish girl. Who is this girl?”
No one had an answer for the boss. He continued to stare at her as though he was actually trying to kill her with sight alone. In the silence, he only seemed to get more intense. “You attacked me,” she responded, almost as though she had to reply. It did not make any sense to her. But the silence seemed to force it out of her.
“What?” The boss turned up his gaze to the men and his lieutenants. “What is this?”
“We don’t know her, boss. She’s lying. Maybe she’s one of the boys’ girls.”
“The hell I am!” she roared, finally finding her footing. Miyako was not going to be ignored or forgotten. She found her leg strength and forced herself to her feet. The men tried to get her to bend, but she refused them.
One of the men came by and whacked her across the face with the butt of his pistol. Miyako fell to the floor bleeding from her cheek and lip. They pinned her back down forcing her to eat the tile.
“Enough, I want to hear what she has to say.” It seemed that he found something intriguing in her. He waved off the enforced guards.
Miyako stood back up, released from her confinement. “Your men attacked my friends and killed one of them. Then they came to finish the job with me.”
He had trouble believing what she said. “Your eyes don’t seem to be lying, but you’re not telling the whole truth. Why would they attack any of you?”
“Because we tried to stop your men from senselessly beating up someone that could not even defend themselves.”
“So you interfered in our business.”
“I tried to protect someone!”
“I understand now.”
He might have seemed harsh, but Miyako felt there was something honest about him. Even in the dark there had to be someone that was still in the light. ‘Now I just need to find out who were the ones that attacked the boys.’
“Lock her up!” he ordered, motioning to the men to take her away.
“What?!” she shouted incredulously. “I thought you understood!”
“I do. You interfered in Black Gate affairs. Punishment to those that interfere is only to be expected. Do a background check on the girl. Find out everything about her. I’ll arrange for a suitable punishment.”
To be continued…
Curious? There's no limits but your own imagination.
Don't know how to roleplay, but want to learn? Visit Here!
2007 and 2009 Best Writer of TFF and 2009 Most Creative Co-Winner
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