Arriving at the Kazama manor in such a fashion reminded Heisuke of the cheesy yakuza movies he used to watch when he was younger. He knew that his upperclassman was wealthy enough to put Heisuke's measly allowance to shame, but there weren't many people that lived in such an outdated household that just screamed "old money" anymore. There didn't seem to be much western influence from what Heisuke could see in the darkness; almost like the home had been frozen in time since the early 1900's.

It was quite impressive to witness this glimpse in Kazama's life as they snuck around the back of his house with the help of the trees' shadows concealing them. It wasn't really the situation that he enjoyed, rather it was realizing that even someone like Kazama wasn't entirely the perfect, straight-A student council president his image chalked him up to be at school. Almost as if this kind of sneaking wasn't some new experience to him, from the way he led them so confidently through the dark.

Heisuke followed directly behind Kazama at his orders to do so, the four of them all quietly walking on the wooden engawa that bordered the home. Kazama had explained they were doing it to avoid being seen or heard in the main rooms so as not to be caught by any servants, or worse—his parents.

The two students behind him remained with Kazama even after they dropped them off at his house which gave Heisuke the assumption that they were either staying the night there or they weren't leaving until everything was sorted out. He wasn't sure how much time would be needed for the latter, although he hoped they could discuss the details some time tomorrow so he could get some sleep.

After what seemed to be an insufferable amount of minutes watching Kazama's back as his only source of direction, Heisuke finally heard him stop in front as he opened one of the outer sliding doors leading near a back room to the house. The panels were thin enough that Heisuke could see the lights were on in the room and he silently walked inside after Kazama, letting his eyes adjust to the change. His family had enough sense to update the house with electrical lighting at least.

Without a proper entrance hall for Heisuke to dump his shoes, he simply slipped them off and moved them into the corner of the room to prevent the old tatami mats from getting dirtied. Like hell he'd accidentally end up dragging dirt into Kazama's house and deal with the consequences. The bastard would probably have him hand clean it from top to bottom if that ever happened, no doubt about it.

"This side of the house is pretty vacant," Shiranui mentioned, "so odds are that no one is going to see you for now."

Heisuke hadn't doubted his words; he had seen just how large the house really was. The boy eyed Kazama and Amagiri discussing something near the entrance of the room, their backs turned to the two of them as they talked. Kazama seemed irritated, from the way he had folded his arms close to his chest, and the other looked to be negotiating with him somehow. He knew it was about him but he would think they'd have enough tact to let him in on the conversation, too. It wasn't his idea to freeload at Kazama's place anyways.

However, in those few moments he could examine the room while they decided his fate. The room itself wasn't incredibly large and lacked furniture almost entirely, the only décor being a fake houseplant and a sealed closet door. It was obvious that this was either one of the (assumingly) many unused guest rooms or the Kazama family really lacked in interior design taste. The second guess wasn't that strange to believe.

Granted, no, Heisuke didn't know Kazama's family. In fact, he was sure almost no one had ever seen his family during school events or even parent conferences from what he attended. Not that it was any of his business, but his private life seemed awfully separated from his school work compared to any other teenager.

"Whoa."

Heisuke heard Shiranui let out an impressed whistle before feeling his hand slowly touch his cheek, a sharp ache flaring up under the skin near his jaw on contact. "Ack—" He smacked the hand away on reflex, pawing at the place he touched and trying to sooth the throbbing burn. It wasn't until his upperclassman had applied pressure did Heisuke notice how much his face fucking hurt.

"Sorry man, I didn't see the shiner you got earlier. You got your ass handed to you, what the hell happened?"

Kazama's head whipped around immediately after the question, meeting eyes with Heisuke before he was scanning his face. Kazama also hadn't noticed his injuries until then, it seemed, because he was breaking off his words like Heisuke's wounds were suddenly of more interest.

Judging from the pain alone he had a suspicious feeling that there was one hell of a bruise on his face from where he had been struck earlier that night but he was never given the chance to estimate the damage when he was running from the cops. It was probably the reason why running into Kazama had his head whirling so bad, too.

By the time Kazama had actually gotten within reach of him, Heisuke had defensively covered his cheek with his hand so as to stop him from irritating the spot even more. It wouldn't be out of character for him to purposely poke at his bruises just to see him grimace in pain before mocking how stupid he was to get himself this injured in the first place.

Heisuke watched as the other had prepared to say something, the sneer on his face evident as he observed the marks, but instead of the insult he was expecting Kazama had opted for an unusual and averse silence.

"What?" He didn't appreciate the look he was given, Heisuke furrowing his brows and scowling in turn to match Kazama's expression. If this was some kind of pity silence, he'd take an insult any day.

Stewing in his thoughts a moment longer, Kazama finally spoke. "You thought to arrive home in this kind of state?" Imagining that Heisuke would show up to school the next morning with such horrendous dark blotches would send Chizuru and his teachers into a panic, and a dead giveaway to tonight's run-in with the law.

"You think I know what I look like right now? The hell, man." Heisuke pointed to the pain on his cheek for emphasis. He really hoped it didn't look as bad as it felt, otherwise—

"You can forget about class tomorrow."

"Oh, no way—"

"Excuse me," Amagiri stepped in-between the two of them like a human wall, towering over them both as he took over the conversation, "I believe Kazama's suggestion is the better choice at the moment. You would draw too much attention if you were to attend school with such injuries present." His voice was gentle but left no room for the argument Heisuke wanted. Amagiri had followed through with Kazama's demand to get them home safely under the radar, yet their underclassman did not yet understand the severity of the situation by his desire to return to school the following morning.

What they were proposing made sense, if Heisuke really did look as bad as he felt. Of course he didn't want to scare anyone or have the school call his parents out of concern either. Besides, he had a feeling the police would be paying a visit on campus to get any information they could on the teenagers that got away. He knew Kazama and Amagiri weren't purposely trying to deny him for fun, they just didn't want him to cause even more problems in a situation they were dragged into.

"Okay," Heisuke relented, "I won't go tomorrow, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

The three older students looked at one another as if deciding on a plan until the final word was placed on Kazama. It was odd, but Heisuke was starting to understand how they functioned as a group. Kazama went on to explain that having him stay in his home for the remainder of the night and the following day would be best, as no one would suspect Heisuke hiding there during school hours. Afterwards they could discuss what to do with him once the swelling on his face went down.

"We could have him call his parents and tell him he's staying over at a friend's?" Shiranui leaned against the wall and put his hands on his hips, opting to stay out of it for the most part. Apparently Shiranui didn't want any more involvement in the situation than he already had apart from being their getaway car.

"Do your parents even know you snuck out tonight?" Kazama asked him, but his voice wasn't accusing.

Heisuke hesitated in answering. ".. Not really. My parents work overseas and they aren't home most of the time. If I gave them a call out of the blue it'd probably seem suspicious unless the school decides to call them first over an absence."

"The school isn't going to do that over a single day."

"Probably." Heisuke didn't want to think of what Chizuru's reaction would be after he won't show up to walk with her tomorrow morning. He had to text her at least, to let her know. He didn't have many friends outside of his kendo club, would she really buy into the same excuse? He didn't like the idea of lying to her, either. "What about Chizuru?" He made an agreement not to let her in on his late-night scuffle under the circumstance that it would upset her—yet to keep her in the dark about his well-being felt equally wrong.

"Yukimura may discover his absence immediately since they're close." Amagiri had a point.

Kazama was already thinking over the consequences of Heisuke's silence just as Shiranui sighed and pushed himself from the wall he was leaning against. "I'm sure you guys can figure this shit out later." He motioned to the time displayed on his phone before he slipped it back into his pocket. "I don't know about you, but I'm heading home. We've got school in six hours and I'm not planning to lose any more sleep over this." Without even waiting for anyone to argue against him he went on ahead and took his leave through the back door leading into the estate's yard.

No one else tried to force him from leaving, he noticed, both Amagiri and Kazama remaining unfazed by his decision. Maybe they were both used to his attitude, and the way he acted looked as though he preferred to mind his own business and deal with his own problems rather than someone else's. Granted, he had no real reason to stay and help, and it was really only up to him and Kazama to decide what they were going to do now that they had gotten this far.

"We can discuss his situation in the morning, I agree. There is not anything we can do so late in the night now that we're forcing him to hide here." Amagiri made his way towards the same exit. "Tomorrow I will reassure Yukimura of your safety but I will not disclose the situation."

Watching him leave, Heisuke thought about having such an intimidating guy like Amagiri approach Chizuru out of the blue at school and it didn't seem like the best idea, considering they hardly interacted at all; but imagining Kazama being alone with Chizuru instead left a sour taste in his mouth. He wondered what she was going to think of his sudden disappearance, and if he was going to be forced to skip school for longer considering his injuries. Like hell he was going to be forced here for even longer than he wanted.

They had been standing there in the dim guest room for some time and Kazama could feel the minutes tick away from his sleep the longer he stayed. "There's a spare futon in the closet so you can use this room for tonight. Most everyone is already asleep at this hour and the staff doesn't bother prepping guest rooms, you're hidden for now. Come morning I'll be back here so try to wake up at an acceptable time."

Heisuke wasn't sure what the point of him returning to the room would do since he was supposedly forced under house arrest. It wasn't like he was going to run away when his only safe space at the moment was Kazama's vacant room. "Anything else?"

"Stop tensing unless you want me to get your eye."

Heisuke had found himself sitting in seiza on the matted floor in front of Kazama as the latter tended to his wounds with a first aid kit he had taken from a nearby bathroom. He wasn't going to complain that the stuff Kazama was using to treat his wounds was too cold for his liking, but he couldn't help the chill it left as it worked into his skin. "Why are you using this crap anyways? Just give me some peroxide for the cuts and leave the bruises alone." He could simply use ice if this was going to be such a pain.

Kazama stared down at him quietly as he held his chin carefully in one hand, eying the swelling marks on his face and applying aloe vera to a bump near his left eye. "Because this is more effective in stopping the inflammation." He pressed his thumb into the wound he was treating to emphasis his point.

The other hissed in pain and winced, unable to reflexively pull away due to the grip he was in. Instead he tried his best to ignore the cold gel being slathered over his wounds and focused on the silence between the two of them. He noted it strange that Kazama was actually doing something relatively humane in helping with his injuries, albeit a little roughly. Then again, there wasn't a mirror Heisuke could use in the room to do it himself to save them the trouble. Seriously, all he needed was a bag of ice to put over the spots that hurt, he never heard of using aloe vera to treat bruises before.

Kazama had been intensely focused on what was left, using the rest of the gel on his fingers to touch up any places he had missed in the meantime. Luckily there weren't any lacerations he could see so the discoloration would heal quickly enough compared to a cut.

Something about his injuries bothered him. "I haven't known the police to handle minors this roughly before." He released Heisuke's chin and reached for a packet of tissues in the first aid box to wipe the gel off from his hand.

"Hm? No, I didn't get these from them." He did manage to slip away from them the moment they arrived anyway. "The police were actually trying to break up the fight."

Kazama's brow raised at that. "A fight?" A sound of disbelief passed his lips. "I didn't think you stupid enough—"

"Fuck off," Heisuke hadn't said the insult with any real bite, "I didn't start it, okay?"

"Then what exactly were you doing?"

The question made him hesitate. "… I just… overheard some kids in my year bullying a classmate in the hall yesterday and I didn't want to cause any trouble at school with everyone around." Heisuke could feel Kazama's gaze on him, waiting for him to continue. "The kid's really quiet, you know? He doesn't talk a lot and he keeps to himself, so I think he was just an easy target for something like that." Heisuke had tried to get along with all of his classmates at the beginning of the year, taking note of everyone's names and keeping his ears open for them because that's just the kind of guy he is.

He still wasn't close to anyone besides Saito, Okita, and Chizuru, but he wanted everyone to know he could be the one to listen or help if someone needed it.

"Anyways, I overheard them talking about blackmailing him into going with them behind the building in my neighborhood. They were going to jump him there since that place is kinda infamous for being hidden from the main street and I couldn't let it happen."

"… So you followed them there?"

Thinking about it now with the words out in the open made Heisuke feel dumb for doing it. There was only one of him and four of them, jumping into some fight completely outnumbered was reckless to say the least, but he never doubted his choice in doing so. They beat the hell out of him in the dark after his classmate managed to get away, and Heisuke had only used self-defense to lessen the blows before the cops had showed up to throw all of them into some juvenile center, probably. "I only did it to defend him."

Kazama gave an irritated sigh and rose from his seated position on the floor. "To think you wanted to show up to school tomorrow after something like that."

Heisuke rolled his eyes in return. "It was dark, they probably didn't even see what I looked like." He reached for the kit and packed everything away, standing up and passing the kit back to Kazama. "Call me a dumbass all you want but I know what I did was better than doing nothing." He didn't need him to pour more salt in the wound after what he went through.

Kazama had already been aware that Yukimura's friend was occasionally a reckless hothead, only from what he had witnessed firsthand from his own reaction to Kazama's relentless taunting. He was also aware that his underclassman had an unusual habit of sticking his nose into other people's business, especially when it involved someone's well-being. He was like an annoying, overprotective dog that barked at things three times his size just to prove himself.

"You are an idiot." Kazama didn't need to look at Heisuke to know that his response was expected. People that were bullied were those that couldn't stand up for themselves, and it should be them alone standing against the harassment instead of relying on the help of others. No one in their right frame of mind would go out to fight a group of students over a person they barely knew, yet there was something unusually admirable in Heisuke's actions that had Kazama drawing a blank.