He's trying not get into fights as much, you know. He's trying to change, he promised senpai that he'd try, and he's tired of looking like the brainless thug.
But there's some issues that people bring up that deserve a punch in the face. Calling him a queer, for example. To be honest it doesn't bug him that much, not anymore, not after what he saw in the TV world months ago. But calling him a queer because he's dating Naoto… that pushes a button inside of him that makes his fist on move its own, crashing into the idiot's face.
Unfortunately, he didn't count on the idiot having friends. Big friends. Friends who keep calling him a queer for dating that Shirogane freak, that girl-boy thing, like she's some scientific experiment that comes from a secret lab—no pun intended. And they're vulgar at that, "Do you fuck her up the ass," and, "Does she even have tits," and it just makes him angry as all hell, makes him punch another one. The one he punches must be the leader, because the rest of the guys with him are on Kanji in seconds, surrounding him and beating the crap out of him. He can take a beating, sure, and he likes to think that he can handle himself, but there's too many and he's fighting blindly because they keep bringing up Naoto. They're laughing now, kicking and punching him, calling him a pansy because he can only date a girl who poses as a boy, "That still makes you gay," they say, "You're still a queer."
Behind them they can hear someone shouting, "Hey! Stop it!" The boys stop and they immediately start laughing again because Naoto is standing there, a million times smaller than all of them. She's got her hand on her hip, as usual, standing like a guy with that hat on her head. Great, Kanji thinks, she's playing right into their description of her.
"Look who it is. It's Shirogane."
"Did you call your wittle girl-boy thing for help?"
The leader walks over to Naoto, the rest of his friends holding Kanji back as he starts screaming at him, "Leave her alone! Don't you dare touch her!" He's trying to be heroic, goddamnit, but its hard to do with a busted nose and bruised lip. He wants to save her, wants to protect her from their harsh words and he's scared that they'll treat her like a boy and beat her up, too.
The leader doesn't listen and stands right in front of Naoto, smirking, "Hey baby, trying to be a big boy today?" Kanji gets horrible images now, of this guy shoving Naoto against a wall, ripping at her bindings to see if she really does "have tits," as he so eloquently put it. He can just see him touching her, Naoto struggling against him as he laughs, taking advantage of her.
"Let go of him," she says, "Or you will regret it."
"Oooooh, you hear that boys? I better run away, I'm soooo scared-AH!"
Platform shoes have many uses, the leader realizes. They not only make Naoto taller, but they are also very useful in kicking assholes in-between their legs. They make a sickening sound when they hit their target and in seconds the poor guy is grabbing himself, dropping to his knees and whimpering, "G-get her!" He tries to scream but it comes out like a pathetic squeak, tears stinging his eyes. Damn, it feels like she crushed it!
The rest of the boys immediately let Kanji go and rush after her, but they skid to a halt when she whips her gun out, "W-what the-she's got a gun!"
"Dude, this bitch is crazy!"
"Back away from him," she says, and they can hear her clicking the safety off. They don't think twice and immediately take off, leaving the leader behind.
Naoto walks over to the boy—whose still trying to soothe the pain in his pants—and she aims the gun at the back of his head. He freezes, starts squeaking more, begging, "P-please don't shoot me, please!"
At this point Kanji stands up and walks over, smacking the leader across the back of his head, "Get out of here before I sick my girl-boy thing on you." The guy takes the hint, gets up and stumbles away, crying and mumbling about how he doesn't want to die.
"You actually carryin' around your gun?"
Naoto looks up at Kanji and smiles, "It only shoots blanks," she says, "But it got the point across."
"Ah," he goes quiet, trying to find the right words but all he can come up with is, "Um… thanks."
"Why were you fighting those boys?" She pulls a napkin from her pocket and starts to clean the blood coming from Kanji's nose, standing on her toes so that she can reach it—barely.
"They…" he sighs. He knows that she doesn't like it when he fights, "They… were talkin' 'bout ya. Said awful things, said… I was a queer for datin' ya, cuz of the whole…"
"Oh," she says, "I see." She looks away from him and speaks again, "I… regret that my issues cause people to say these things to you."
"Hey…" the last thing he wants is for her to feel bad for being herself, "I shouldn't let it get to me," he smiles down at her, "I need to control my temper. Some people are dicks," then he smirks, "That's why I have you to break them with your shoes."
She laughs, blushes a little, "I did not mean to react like that."
"No no, don't feel bad about it, he deserved it. But man… you kick really hard," which he should've known since she's able to shoot a shadow three times and kick it hard enough to make it disappear. Impressed the hell out of him when he saw it for the first time, impressed him even more when her persona zipped around and cut down the rest of the remaining shadows in one strike.
"Well," she says as she walks away with him, "That's what comes with underestimating me."