Disclaimer: I do not own Tumbling or Kamen Rider Kiva, nor am I profiting from it any way. This fiction was written solely for my own pleasure.

Warning: This fiction contains shonen-ai. This means romance between guys. If this makes you uncomfortable in any way, then don't read this. I am in no way responsible for those who do not heed this warning.

Summary: Tumbling Post-series. AU w/ crossover with Kamen Rider Kiva. Premise: "What if Takenaka Yuta was Kiva?"

Azuma Wataru wondered why it took him so long to realize that while he considered Takenaka Yuta like a brother, he hardly ever knew anything about the kind captain's life outside of tumbling. But he's about to discover a whole other side of Yuta's life, a side fraught with Fangire politics, obsessive violin playing, and unimaginable danger.

Pairings: Wataru x Yuta, eventual Mizusawa x Kiyama, onesided Yuta x Tsurumi, Hino x Mari, Nago x Megumi

Fangire Spring

Chapter 4- Yuta Turns a Lot of Heads, Ryosuke Talks about His Fears, and Nippori Throws Away a Dangerous Toy

By fieryrondo

"Yuta-senpai's the yankee?" Tsuchiya blurted out.

"What?" Yuta's eyes widened comically and he self-consciously patted his hair. "Ah, this. Sorry about that. I didn't know that looking like this would confuse everyone."

"It's—it's just that you look so different," Kaneko said, struggling to find the right words. "Did you mean to dye your hair that color?"

Yuta shook his head. "No, I didn't dye my hair. I just took the dye off. This is actually my natural hair color."

"Oh." A pause. Then, "Ehh?"

"I've been thinking since last night," Yuta explained once everyone had gotten over their shock. "And I realized how bad it made me feel to keep my job as a musician a secret from everyone." He chuckled embarrassedly. "I thought you guys would think it was kind of lame, you know, for me to be playing violin."

"That's never crossed our minds, Yuta," Mizusawa insisted, shooting a sidelong look at Wataru, who clammed up from his fierce stare.

"It's the farthest thing from 'lame,'" Kaneko agreed. "Sure we were surprised, but it's really cool that you're so good at it."

"Now I really want to go see for myself," Nippori added.

"Arigato," Yuta said. "It really means a lot. You guys are like a family to me. I really want to try to be honest with everyone."

Ryosuke sidled up to Yuta and touched one of the locks.

"Heh? Who'd ever thought that you really look like this?" He clapped Yuta heartily on the back. "You almost look like one of us. Ne, Wataru, what do you think?"

Wataru just gaped at Yuta, speechless.

"Ah," he gulped, getting the words out with considerable effort. "It's kind of weird, but it looks good on you, Yuta. You—you look cool."

"Eh? Did Wataru just stutter?" Kaneko asked with a mischievous grin. "I think Wataru's the most surprised!"

"Why did you dye your hair in the first place, Yuta-senpai?" Hino asked.

"A number of reasons, really," Yuta said. "Mostly because Hiroto and Minami-san didn't want me looking like a yankee. They didn't want me to mix with what they called the 'wrong sort.'"

"Hiroto and Minami-san? Are they your—?"

Yuta nodded, a look of cold indifference creeping into his usually gentle face. "It feels weird to call them Tou-san and Kaa-san, since we're not close or anything."

"Are they okay with your hair like this?" Kiyama asked, with a touch of doubt.

Yuta laughed. "Of course not. But this is just temporary. I'll dye it right back before they return from their business trip."

"Yuta-senpai! Whoever knew that you could be so sneaky?" Tsuchiya exclaimed before he realized that an adult was in the vicinity. He turned to Kashiwagi. "Kashiwagi-sensei, you'll keep this a secret from Yuta's parents, right?"

Kashiwagi smiled reassuringly at the team. "I promise not to tell, but Yuta-kun, you know it's not good to leave things the way they are with your parents—"

"I know," Yuta interrupted before clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. "I think we've talked long enough. Let's practice, everyone, and then we can break for lunch in two hours."

"Look over there, isn't that the yankee that was talking to Shouko-sensei earlier this morning?"

"Oh my gosh, isn't that Takenaka-san? Did he dye his hair? He looks like a totally different person!"

"Takenaka-kun was cute before but now I can't figure out whether he's still cute or cool."

"I say he looks cool and cute! I can't believe we thought he was some yankee before."

"I heard that he also plays violin! Isn't that just sweet?"

"Really? Then I definitely need to get his phone number after practice!"

Ezaki Shouko was proud of the Karasumori rhythmic gymnastics program. It had not been an easy task but within the eight years she taught at Kara High, she brought a mediocre girls' rhythmic gymnastics team to one of Nationals-caliber. It was also due to the relentless efforts of one Takenaka Yuta that a men's rhythmic gymnastics team even emerged at all.

That did not mean the boy was exempt from her annoyance at his unintentional manner of disrupting practice. Nationals were only two weeks away. The last thing she needed was for her girls to get distracted.

"Gomen-nasai, Shouko-sensei." Kashiwagi bowed, smiling apologetically. "Yuta-kun doesn't mean to cause trouble. He says it's temporary, anyway, since his parents don't approve of his natural hair color."

Shouko-sensei sniffed. "I can see why," she said as she watched Yuta lead the team through their warm-up stretches. "May I ask what prompted this sudden change?"

Kashiwagi rubbed his head sheepishly, a gesture that Shouko-sensei found both infuriating and endearing. "Ah, I don't quite have all of the facts but it has something to do with Yuta realizing that he wants to open up to the team more. He feels comfortable enough to show a part of himself that he's never revealed before."

Shouko-sensei folded her arms together. "You're talking about the concert last night." She exhaled slowly before watching the boys. Today, they were working on perfecting their triple back-handspring, an advanced move that they managed to pull off at the Kanto Regionals but one that was still relatively new to them. Takenaka Yuta, Mizusawa Taku, and Hino Tetsuya were leading the others through the technique. The ones who struggled the most were Nippori, Kiyama, and Kaneko. Shouko-sensei tried not to wince as Nippori's knees crashed onto the mat at the end of his back-handspring.

He's not turning with enough speed to finish the last one cleanly. He should really tuck in his knees more during the flips, Shouko-sensei thought.

"Isn't Yuta-kun amazing?" Kashiwagi was saying. "I never knew he could play, let alone that he's a professional."

"I'm worried about his physical condition," Shouko-sensei interjected, noting the slight bags under the captain's eyes. "Gymnastics takes an enormous amount of energy alone. I can't imagine the physical and mental strain of balancing his music career and schoolwork on top of training. You should really tell him to quit the violin. It would be better for him, if he's really serious about tumbling."

"He says that he can't," Kashiwagi said. "I suggested it to him but he was very against it. He rarely is that serious so I backed off."

"You spoil the boys too much, Kashiwagi-sensei," Shouko-sensei exasperatedly said. "Because of your indulgence, even my girls are getting distracted."

"I apologize for all the trouble that Yuta-kun is causing for your team, Shouko-chan," Kashiwagi said, bowing once more before returning to his team. It took Shouko-sensei exactly ten seconds to snap out of her daze.

"Shouko-chan?" she squeaked, self-consciously running a hand through her hair.

Cursing the existence of men, Shouko-sensei clapped her hands and ordered her girls to start their routine.

"Tango! It has to be tango!"

"Hip-hop! It was the most popular at regionals, wasn't it?"

"Ano, maybe we could do jazz?"

"Boring—it has to be tango."

"What about enka?"

"You can be so funny, Kiyama."

"I was being serious."

"Really? My bad. I still think we should go with hip-hop."

"I've got it!" Wataru jabbed his chopsticks in the air. "Let's go with pop!"

"We can't have songs with lyrics in them," Yuta reminded him. He regarded the list he had created from everyone's shouted suggestions. "So Nippori-kun wants tango, Ryosuke and Hino-kun want hip-hop—"

"Hino-kun likes hip-hop?" Kaneko said with a note of surprise.

"—Mizusawa and Kaneko want something with jazz, Kiyama and Satoshi-kun want something with enka and traditional instruments like the shamisen, Wataru wants pop but we'd have to take out the lyrics—" Yuta tossed down his pen.

"So basically, we can't agree at all on this."

"Well, why not just pick all of them?" Wataru asked. "Like what we did last time."

"I was thinking of that," Yuta admitted, picking up the list. "But it would be really nice if we could take them and make them fit so that they don't just sound like a mix of random songs—"

"Yuta-senpai, what if you wrote a piece?" Tsuchiya suggested, struck by inspiration. "Do you compose music as well? I've always wondered how Yuta-senpai was so good at arranging our choreography."

Yuta flushed a little at the compliment.

"I do a bit of composition, but I've never done a big project like this—"

"That's a good idea, Tsuchiya!" Wataru enthused. He pointed at Yuta, who looked a little taken aback by his sudden outburst. "Yosh! Yuta, we're giving you the job of making our music!"

"It's 'composing,' not 'making,' Azuma-senpai," Hino corrected.

"They mean the same thing!"

Hino swallowed his last croquette and stood up.

"Gochisosama," he said. "Thank you for the food, Yuta-senpai. I'm going to go sit with Mari-chan."

Wataru made a little moan of despair as he watched Hino flounce off to greet Mari.

"Buck up, Wataru," Ryosuke said.

Wataru gave him a dirty look. "I don't need to hear that from someone who gave him dating tips."

Ryosuke suddenly became very interested in the onigiri Yuta had brought. Fortunately for him, an oblivious Yuta was happy to oblige to explain the process.

Despite his total lack of interest in onigiri-making, Wataru was somehow drawn to Yuta's conversation. Now that he had gotten over the shock of Yuta's hair change, he could look at it more calmly now. It really did resemble a young lion's mane. Yuta's true hair was a deep orange-brown, a warm color that reminded Wataru of the shade of falling autumn leaves. It suited Yuta more, Wataru thought, than his hair before. While his eyes traced the features of Yuta's face, Wataru came to a disturbing realization as his gaze settled on Yuta's eyes.

"Ne, Yuta, did you have trouble sleeping last night? 'Cause you look like you're going to drop dead."

Yuta turned towards him, eyes widening.

"Wataru…"

"I'm serious."

Yuta broke into a small smile before yawning.

"Just a bit of trouble," he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "The…neighbors on the floor above me were playing their music really loudly so I couldn't fall asleep."

"Is that it?" Wataru said, looking relieved. "Next time they do that, you should just go and tell them to shut up."

Yuta laughed.

"That would be rather rude of me. Besides, it all worked out. Whenever I can't sleep, I stay up and try to do something productive." Yuta gestured at the bentos he had provided for everyone.

Wataru's jaw dropped.

"You made all of these? But it must have taken you all night!" Suddenly, Wataru reached over and grabbed Yuta's hand. "Oy, promise me that you won't do something like this again."

Yuta started from Wataru's strong grip but did not pull away.

"Is my cooking really that bad?"

Wataru let go of Yuta, stunned speechless. Frantically, he tried to work out Yuta's words.

"No! That's—that's not what I meant!" More chopstick waving. Wataru groaned, wondering why he was getting all flustered. "I meant that you shouldn't push yourself so much. But the food you made—it's good. It's delicious, like my mom's."

Yuta's face lit up and Wataru could feel his heart jump a little.

"Really? I'm glad to hear that. I wish Minami-san cooked."

"She doesn't cook? How did you feed yourself?" Wataru asked, bewildered. He couldn't imagine living a life where his mother didn't feed him delicious things like omurice and katsu-don.

"I used to have a nanny," Yuta said vaguely. "She'd take me shopping and places. I learned how to cook a little from her. When she left, I learned enough so that I could cook for myself."

Wataru honestly didn't know what to say to that. He wondered why the Takenakas would bother adopting Yuta if all they were going to do was leave him with someone else to take care of. It didn't sit well with Wataru at all. The loneliness of Yuta's upbringing really drove home at that point and the words spilled from Wataru's mouth before he noticed them.

"If your neighbors are being noisy dumbasses, you can always come over to my place. I have a spare futon in my room and I promise it's pretty quiet as long as dumb Shigeo isn't there late. I mean, you don't have to come over only when it's noisy but whenever you feel like having a mom cook for you—I mean, not my mom is replacing yours but she's always happy to have you over and you like her omurice, right? No—what I really mean is that you can come over whenever you want, not just when it's too loud or you're hungry—"

"Wataru," Yuta said and Wataru's babbling ceased. Wataru stared, scarcely daring to breathe as Yuta's solemn lips slowly parted into a bright smile. "Arigato."

Wataru nodded furiously as he grabbed an onigiri and stuffed it in his mouth, wondering why for that moment where he met Yuta's gaze, he couldn't seem to breathe properly.

"Ryosuke?"

Nippori Keiji considered himself the luckiest guy in the world to have Wataru and Ryosuke as his friends. His relationship with Wataru was distinctly different from Ryosuke's though. Ryosuke was really Wataru's best friend, while Nippori was more of Wataru's otouto. It was the reason why he called Wataru "Aniki"—not just because he was younger than the brazen red-head but because he really admired him. There was no one who exemplified "cool" like Azuma Wataru—he always spoke his mind, always looked out for his nakama, and never backed down from a fight.

Nippori's faith in Wataru, unlike Ryosuke's, didn't diminish when Wataru decided to get involved in rhythmic gymnastics. It didn't occur to him that doing rhythmic gymnastics would make Wataru any less cool. In fact, it did quite the opposite—it inflamed Nippori's desire to see his Aniki take the sissy world of rhythmic gymnastics and make it the coolest sport there was out there.

Maybe Wataru didn't notice it himself—Nippori allowed that if there was one thing his dear Aniki lacked, it was not realizing the obvious—but tumbling really made him shine. That wasn't to say that Wataru was a terrible fighter—his Aniki was still the best, despite being retired from street fighting—but he'd never seem to really enjoy it. Wataru always had this distant look in his eyes, even after a good brawl, a look that spoke of dissatisfaction. Nippori got the impression that until tumbling, Wataru had been searching for that "something."

"Have you ever totally lost yourself in something? I…don't think I've ever have."

It was the first time Nippori had seen his Aniki look so troubled before. Wataru's doubt that he'd never found something meaningful to do with his life, that he'd find only emptiness in street-fighting, it was like discovering a new Wataru. Nippori had resisted the notion—there was no one who knew Aniki better than him—but as he watched Wataru struggle with the painful stretches, the long hours of practicing handstands, the late nights of limping back home, Nippori realized how much more alive the "tumbling" Wataru seemed to become.

"Tumbling" Wataru wasn't a new Aniki entirely, to Nippori's relief. He had been so afraid that Wataru would cut all his ties with the gang and replace them with his new bonds with the geeky tumbling team. Ryosuke certainly thought so and at first kept trying to yank Wataru back to their world, though Wataru resisted every attempt. Nippori watched Ryosuke's eyes filled with hurt at his friend's rejection. Though Ryosuke was popular among the girls and an overall very carefree guy, Nippori knew that Ryosuke had become dependent on Wataru. Wataru was just that kind of guy—the guy that drew everyone in. It was his own damn fault that all of his nakama wanted to lean on him, to rely on him. Even Hino, who'd been cold with them, had been drawn in by Wataru's kindness.

"I've finally found it…something that I can go crazy for." Nippori was so glad when Ryosuke found what he was looking for.

Tumbling really was that awesome of a sport. But it couldn't solve everything.

"Ryosuke? You okay?" Nippori asked worriedly. Ryosuke had "that" look again. Nippori didn't envy the target of that look. In the old days, it meant Ryosuke would give his victim a new definition of pain.

"No…" Ryosuke said through clenched teeth. "What's so special about Yuta anyway?"

Nippori wasn't sure how to go about answering that.

"Um, what do you mean?"

Ryosuke lifted a finger in the air and waved it about before letting it point towards where Yuta and Wataru were sitting. Though his voice stayed calm and collected, Nippori could hear some frustration leak from it.

"What does Wataru see in Yuta? I mean, even before Yuta did that thing with his hair and the violin stuff." Ryosuke's brow creased. "I just don't see it."

"Do you remember that day, when Wataru accidentally broke one of the tumbling sticks?" Nippori asked.

Ryosuke scowled. It was the first (and unfortunately not the last) time they had seen the captain fly into an uncontrollable rage. Even Wataru had been shaken by Yuta's ferocity.

"Please. Please stop looking down on rhythmic gymnastics. Please don't treat our gymnastics equipment like toys. Do you understand how important this equipment is to us? We didn't take care of it for it to break like this!"

"Ah," Ryosuke grunted. "He got really angry that time, didn't he? Because we made fun of his dream."

"That equipment you're treating like toys…this mat that you're standing on in your shoes…everything has our dreams wrapped up in it! Don't make fun of it! Don't laugh at it! Do you have any right to do that?"

"We thought he was really stupid, wasn't he, Ryosuke? For daring to hit Aniki."

"We've done the stretching and balance practice you make fun of every day without fail. We put up with being told rhythmic gymnastics is something only girls do. No matter how much we're told we're lame, or made fun of, we've been able to endure everything for the sake of the rhythmic gymnastics we love."

"Ah, he was. Wataru held back and even let him land a hit."

"I think Aniki at that time, recognized Yuta-senpai's strength," Nippori said. "It's not the same strength that we have—"

"I know," Ryosuke interrupted. He expelled out a breath, his fingers twitching in agitation. Wataru broke into raucous laughter at something Yuta said.

"I'm jealous, Nippori." And Ryosuke hung his head in shame. His knuckles tightened as he clasped his hands together and squeezed them. "And I know I shouldn't be, but I am. Wataru will always be my nakama, but I can't make him laugh the way Yuta does. Also, I don't like it when Wataru spends so much time with one person."

"They're only talking," Nippori observed. "But you never seemed upset when he liked Mari-chan."

"That's because he acted like an idiot around her," Ryosuke said matter-of-factly, squashing his water bottle. "A moron could tell that it wasn't going to go anywhere. Plus, I already knew she liked Hino, so it's not like she was a real threat."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking…do you like Aniki?"

A look of utter revulsion crossed Ryosuke's face.

"God, no!" he spat out. "Wataru is my friend, like a brother. What made you even think of that?"

"My bad, I misunderstood. But Wataru really is paying a lot of attention to Yuta-senpai, isn't he?"

"He is and the damned idiot doesn't even know his own feelings," Ryosuke reluctantly chuckled. As he continued to watch, the frustration faded from his face, replaced by a more solemnly pensive one. "I've never been so glad that he's so slow at these things, but still. Something might happen. Nippori, things might change around here."

"Ah," Nippori replied. "I'm afraid of losing Aniki, too. Though if it's Yuta-senpai, then I wouldn't mind so much."

Ryosuke sighed. "So it's 'senpai' now? Who knew you could be so polite?"

"U-urusai!" Nippori stammered. "I mean, he's my senior, after all…"

"Does that mean you'll call me 'senpai', too?" Ryosuke joked, snatching a wiener from his portion of the bento.

"You're no senpai, Ryosuke!" Nippori said with indignation, wildly attempting to retrieve the stolen wiener. He knew he must have looked rather silly, trying to take the food morsel back but it was worth it to see Ryosuke's smile again.

Aniki, no matter what happens, Ryosuke and I'll be here for you.

"They surprisingly look good together, don't they?"

Mizusawa Taku jerked his head up, his lips twitching into a small "o" of surprise at Kiyama's comment. Kiyama leaned over to tower over the sitting Mizusawa.

"Eh?" Mizusawa cleared his throat, forcing himself to breathe slowly to steady his quickening heart. He pretended to become very interested in the rice he was eating. "Who are you talking about? Hino-kun and Satonaka-san?"

"I'm talking about Wataru and Yuta," Kiyama said, his voice flat.

"Ah, I see," Mizusawa said, feigning mild bewilderment, as if he had not been watching Wataru and Yuta's avid exchange for the last twenty minutes with a wistful smile. "I'm not sure what you mean by that, Kiyama-kun—"

"You, of all people, should understand the situation."

Mizusawa stilled, his head slightly bowed, and he became alarmed when he reached over to touch his face that his cheeks were damp with tears.

Oh no, I can't. Whatever I do, I can't show myself like this in front of him, in front of everyone—

Mizusawa wiped his cheeks and turned to smile brilliantly at Kiyama, his heart breaking from the lie he forced through his upturned lips.

Someone disgusting, someone perverse like me, Kiyama-kun doesn't need someone like me to mess up his life.

"What are you saying, Kiyama-kun? That was in the past. I've changed." Distractedly, Mizusawa reached for the wasabi.

"Did you really change?"

Mizusawa pretended not to have heard.

"What are you saying, Hino-kun?"

"I deeply apologize for how things turned out last night."

Satonaka Mari's laughter was like little tinkling bells. She turned to smile as she reached out to clasp Hino's hands in hers.

"You say the oddest things, Hino-kun. I really enjoyed our date last night; there was nothing to complain about. The movie was fun and the parfait was really delicious. We should go back to that café sometimes."

"We shouldn't!" Hino said in panic.

"Eh? Why not?"

"Ah, um." Hino fished for a convincing excuse. "I mean, we can't. There are so many other wonderful places that I want to take you to, Mari-chan."

"You're so sweet, Hino-kun." Mari said. "Such a thoughtful guy."

As Hino modestly denied her claims, his mind was furiously working out why Mari did not seem to remember the Fangire attack at all. He supposed it had something to do with the sedative she was given. Hino wouldn't be surprised if the sedative somehow blurred the victim's memories to erase eyewitness evidence in the rare chance the Fangire's prey escaped.

Just what are these Fangire? Those Fangire hunters, Nago and Megumi, made it sound like there are more of them out there. What if there are more of them in the city, pretending to be normal people? Maybe we should cancel the date on Saturday—I don't want Mari-chan to get hurt. I can't protect her.

"Unlike you, I have no time to waste."

Hino suppressed a growl. That Nago! The nerve of that man to speak to him so condescendingly, as if he were some layabout with no sense of responsibility!

Still, that Nago seems strong. He has the power to beat the Fangire. He has the power to protect humans.

I need that power to protect Mari-chan. And everyone around me.

"Hino-kun? Do you want to try some more of the tamagoyaki?" Mari offered him another piece.

Hino smiled, having already made up his mind. He opened his mouth wide to accept the delicious omelet.

"Hey, Tsuchiya-kun, could I ask you something?"

Tsuchiya Satoshi, team manager, amiably nodded, scooting up to sit next to Kaneko.

"Have you ever dated someone before?"

Of the many questions Tsuchiya anticipated being asked—most of them tumbling-related—that was definitely not one of the top ones of his list.

"Eh?"

The bespectacled third-year waved a half-eaten onigiri in the air before transferring it into his mouth.

"Sorry for springing that question on you so suddenly. I was just curious."

"It's not a problem, Kaneko-senpai," Tsuchiya said, recovering from his astonishment. "And um, to answer your question, senpai, yes, I have dated someone before."

Kaneko seemed to wilt a little at Tsuchiya's reply.

"Even a kid like you, has more experience than your senpai…"

Tsuchiya sensed that Kaneko was feeling depressed about the fact that he had gone out with a girl (granted, it had been just a friendly outing, a follow-up from a gokon, and they had parted shortly afterwards when they decided they would rather be just friends).

"Do you like someone, Kaneko-senpai?"

"That's the problem!" Kaneko said, his voice trembling with fervor. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm already in my third-year and never has a girl asked me out. Not even once for a joke! Is it the glasses? Maybe, it's the glasses, after all. I knew I should have gotten contacts—"

"Ano, I don't think it's the glasses, Kaneko-senpai—"

"—or maybe it's because I'm short? I know I overheard Ryosuke saying that girls like to date tall guys, since they're cooler and are easier to dance with—"

"Kaneko-senpai, I think you look fine," Tsuchiya firmly said.

Kaneko paused in his rant. "Then why aren't girls interested in me?"

"Is it so important to have lots of girls interested in you, Kaneko-senpai?" Tsuchiya asked. "I once knew a guy like that in middle school. He was very popular with the girls, but in the end, it gave him a lot of trouble."

"Really?" Kaneko looked mystified at the notion of having an "excess of interested girls" problem.

Tsuchiya nodded. "Yes, because it turns out that he was interested in someone else but the girls made it difficult for him to approach the person he liked, so he ended up being alone."

"That is sad," Kaneko affirmed, his fervor transmuting into solemnity. "It never occurred to me."

"Besides, Kaneko-senpai, you're such a nice person, I don't see why a girl wouldn't want to date you," Tsuchiya soothed. "You just haven't found the right girl yet."

"Maybe," Kaneko allowed. "So whatever happened with that girl you dated?"

"Oh, Mika-chan?" Tsuchiya said. "Ah well, we're just friends now…"

"No, no, that's wrong, you have to rotate your hips more. That's how you get 'em."

"Like this?" Yuta exaggerated the movement and almost fell over.

"More like that, but not so much that you lose your balance." Wataru squared his shoulders. "Okay, go ahead, throw a punch at me."

Yuta looked at him rather uncertainly. Wataru chortled at the expression.

"Don't worry about me. I'll catch it before it lands," he said, opening his palms. "Saa...show me that fist of yours."

Yuta did and Wataru paused to correct it.

"Make sure it's tight, keep those fingers curled, remember, you're trying to punch me, not slap me like some girl—oy, quit laughing!" Though Wataru was laughing too. "And don't tuck your thumb in—the last thing you want is for the punch to break your thumb…Yuta, go for it."

Yuta swung. Wataru caught it.

"Too slow," he said, letting go of Yuta's wrist. "Try again."

Yuta tried again, this time a little quicker than before. Wataru caught it again before manipulating Yuta's arm so that he was sent sprawling in the direction he came in. Yuta, not expecting the sudden reversal in direction, windmilled his arms before he came to a stop. Startled, he turned inquiringly towards Wataru.

"Was that—?"

Wataru nodded. It was the same move that the mysterious guy asking for directions from last night had pulled on him. Noting Yuta's sweaty face, Wataru pointed towards the pile of schoolbags. "Wanna stop?"

Yuta nodded, heading over the bags to search for a bottle of water.

Nippori noticed Yuta's search.

"Yuta-senpai, there's an extra bottle in my bag—by your left foot."

"Arigato, Nippori-kun." Yuta unclasped the bag and reached inside.

"Itai!" Blinding pain shot up Yuta's arm as an irritated Kivat bit his hand from the depths of the hand. Yuta instantly yanked his hand out of Nippori's bag, cradling it in his uninjured hand. For a few seconds, Yuta could only watch in morbid fascination as a spidery network of stained glass markings extended from the bite and up towards his elbow.

"Yuta!" Wataru was by his side in an instant, the others close behind. "What happened?"

Yuta pulled his injured hand behind his back, the stained glass pattern fading from his skin. Hino blinked for a moment as he saw the marks vanish.

What was that?

"Um, I'm not really sure…" Yuta stammered, trying to keep his hand behind his back. Despite his protests, Wataru easily reached behind Yuta and pulled the hand he was hiding into plain view.

"You're bleeding!"

Mizusawa gasped.

"That's bad! Quick, someone get first aid."

Tsuchiya raced off to find some bandages.

"What should we do? It looks like it's bleeding quite a bit…what happened, Yuta?" Kaneko asked.

Ryosuke and Kiyama were crowded around Nippori's bag.

"Ne, Nippori, you didn't bring anything weird to school today, did you?" Ryosuke asked. "Like a knife?"

Nippori could only shake his head furiously.

"Of—of course not! I wouldn't—"

Wataru, who was helping Yuta clean off the excess blood, spoke.

"I believe you, Nippori. And besides, it looks more like something bit him."

Kiyama yanked out what looked like a shiny gold and black toy.

"A bat?" He said, dropping the toy. Kivat landed on the ground with a thunk.

"One of your brothers, Nippori?" Wataru asked.

Kaneko picked Kivat up, scrutinizing the black wings, the large red eyes, and the sharp pair of fangs. He rapped on the bat's head a few times before tossing it to Nippori.

"You shouldn't give your brothers something so dangerous to play with. I know it's just plastic but the fangs on there look sharp. What if your brothers got hurt playing with that, like Yuta?"

"You should throw that one away," Wataru suggested. "Don't worry. I'll buy you a new toy to replace that one."

Nippori's eyes filled with tears, as he was overcome by his Aniki's generosity.

"Aniki!" he bawled, tackling Wataru.

"The bandages are here!" Tsuchiya cried out, bringing an armful of bandages. Mizusawa grabbed a roll and reached over towards Yuta.

"You needn't go through all of the trouble," Yuta said, smiling. "I can put it on myself." Mizusawa held his gaze for a moment before nodding and handing Yuta the roll.

Yuta watched Wataru and Nippori leave to throw the toy away in the school dumpster. For some reason, Yuta felt uneasiness crawl into his belly and his instinct told him that the bat toy was more than just a toy. What he didn't say to everyone was that when he was reaching into Nippori's bag, his hands felt movement inside the bag and the sound of rustling wings before the bite.

The bite was the strangest of all. Kaneko's logical explanation of the bat's fangs being sharp enough to cut human skin was certainly plausible…Yuta wondered at the strange pattern that had formed on his skin earlier.

"I hope it wasn't poisonous or anything," Yuta sighed as he unraveled the roll and brought his injured hand to wrap—

-only to be met with an expanse of unblemished skin.

Next Time: Kivat's Garbage Truck Adventure, the Arms Monsters Hatch a Plan, and Nago's New Apprentice