All done!" Ushio said, discarding the used bandages.

Takehiro Murozono, one of the many members of the Miyazawa crime syndicate, laughed heartily. "Perfect as always!" he remarked with a grin, "Just like old Yukine!"

Ushio Okazaki blushed, looking down. "I-I wouldn't say perfect—"

Takehiro was already halfway out the window. "Say hi to Touyomo for me!" he said, diving out the window.

The girl sighed as she cleaned up the desk. The Miyazawas had grown since her papa's time, and it was a full blown yakuza—she likes to think of them as vigilantes though, because they only target other yakuzas who were inhuman and have a strict honor code set in place by Kazuto himself.

That didn't mean that they didn't get into fights often…

When Yukine Miyazawa ended up graduating, the second library became deserted until Ushio's father had shown it to her.

"A friend of mine practically lived in here," he explained, smiling sadly. "She was part of a gang, and she'd always patch up their wounds and feed people coffee."

"That's…interesting," Ushio said as she looked through the room. There were old tapes and books everywhere—and a coffee machine sat unused on the desk.

"I want to do that too."

Her father stared at her. "W-what!?"

"I want to help the Miyazawas," she explained, "the way your friend did."

He looked like he wanted to protest, but then sighed. "You have your mother's caring heart," he said quietly, "but I don't want you to get hurt…"

"I'll learn to defend myself!" She said, looking up at her father determinedly. "I just want to help…"

"Well…" her father gave a defeated sigh. "Fine…it's been a long while since I've seen Yukine-kun anyway…"

"Thank you papa!" she said excitedly as she kissed his cheek, "I'll be careful, I promise!"

"It's not a done deal yet," he muttered, "you don't even know if she'll accept…"

Much to her father's dismay, she did.

The sound of a bell ringing knocked Ushio out of her thoughts. "Right," she said, "I need to go…"

Right as she said that, the door burst open, and Touyomo Sunohara came in, dark and brooding as ever. "Hi," he said, "the bell rang."

Ushio couldn't help but giggle at her friend's stoic nature—it was the polar opposite of his dad Uncle Youhei, but his mother was a little withdrawn.

"Yes it did," Ushio replied, gathering up her stuff. "Another four came in today."

Touyomo's eyebrow twitched. "Four?" he asked incredulously, "They're overworking you."

"I'm fine," she replied, "four isn't that many, and you know it."

The boy huffed in annoyance. "So what?" he muttered, "I just don't want you to overwork yourself."

"Yes Papa Touyomo."

His eyebrow twitched again. "Don't call me that."

Ushio laughed again as they made their way to their class. They happened to be in the same one, and that relieved her greatly—she was impossibly shy and didn't really know how to talk to people who didn't look like they were about to kill her (as weird as it sounds). She felt the most comfortable around intimidating, murderous-looking people, and people who were actually normal kind of scared her.

She knew that's not how it's supposed to work, but if it isn't broken then why fix it?

"Touyomo-kun!" an oversweet voice called from across the classroom, making Ushio flinch.

Kyoya Fujibayashi sashayed over to the two of them, though she largely ignored Ushio. "Hi," she said, flipping her hair and batting her eyelashes at Touyomo.

Touyomo sighed. "Fujibayashi-san," he said formally.

Kyoya huffed. "It's Kyoya-kun!" she insisted, "We're familiar with each other, right?"

"I never said that."

Ushio giggled, which made Kyoya turn a wrath-filled gaze onto her. "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing," she said flippantly, setting her things down on her desk and sitting. "You should get to your seat—the teacher's coming."

Kyoya looked like she was about to insult her, but then said teacher walked into the classroom.

"Kiritsu!" he called out, causing all of the students to stand.

"Rei," he said, and all of the students bowed.

"Chakuseki." He finished, and all of the students took their seats.

The class was rather uneventful, and Ushio noticed that she was working really hard to keep her eyes open. When it finally ended, Touyomo had to nudge her awake.

"I knew you were being overworked," he muttered as Ushio yawned, "It's a good thing it's the end of the day."

Ushio nodded, smiling guiltily. "I guess I need to learn how to increase my stamina so I don't fall asleep, huh?"

Touyomo let out a sigh. "What you need is rest," he replied, "and a decent vacation."

"What's this about a vacation?" Kyoya asked, appearing from seemingly nowhere. "I hope you're inviting me!"

"I'm not," Touyomo replied bluntly.

"Touyomo," Ushio chided, "don't be so rude!"

Touyomo merely rolled his eyes.

"I-I should get going," Ushio said, standing hastily and grabbing her things as Kyoya continued to stab her with her gaze.

"I'll walk you home," Touyomo stated casually.

Ushio blushed. "I-It's fine, really!" she replied, "I-I can't inconvenience you like that…"

"With all of these gangs acting stupid?" he challenged, "There's no way that I'm letting you walk home alone."

The girl bit her lip. He was right—the crime rate had spiked drastically since the passing of Touyomo's mother, a very well-known and capable policewoman and fighter. It was the reason for Touyomo's broodiness, but he had opened up considerably to Ushio because she had gone through something similar—though her mother died through childbirth, she was still gone, and that's what brought them together as best friends.

Kyoya's eyebrow twitched. "I should get going as well," she said, "I actually have a life that doesn't revolve around that stupid library."

"H-have a good day!" Ushio said cheerfully as she physically restrained Touyomo from attacking Kyoya.

She merely huffed and left, leaving a fuming Touyomo behind.

"You shouldn't put up with her bullshit," he muttered, "now unhand me—your grip is like a fucking viper's."

"Are you going to chase after her?" Ushio asked.

"No."

"Are you going to stop cursing?"

"…no."

Ushio let go, and Touyomo stumbled forwards a bit. "You're too strong for your size," he mumbled, holding his arms. "I swear you look like a noodle but are as strong as steel."

She replied with a smile. "I'm a steel noodle!"

Touyomo put a hand over his mouth, but the laughter escaped anyway. "Okay," he said, trying and failing to control himself. "Let's just go with that…"

It made Ushio's heart swell whenever she gets Touyomo to laugh. He does it so rarely that she's learned to cherish it—especially when she was laughing with (or at) her. It's almost like it's something only for her, and it made her feel special.

"Alright noodle of steel," Touyomo said after his fit of laughter passed, "let's head home."

Ushio nodded happily and they both left.