Chapter 6: The Unlucky 7
It had been a few weeks since Toshiro and Chloe met the others the first time. Chloe warmed up to the rest of the gang soon, but Toshiro, as expected, did not fully trust them yet.
It was now midway through September, and the weather was getting chilly. Toshiro and the rest of the gang were sitting in the school café having lunch. Well, most of the gang. No-one had seen Tamotsu since the second period, and Genma had already gone looking for him. The girls were worried for him.
"He never just leaves without saying anything" Ayumi said, knowing Tamotsu for years. Toshiro looked around and noticed that few seniors were laughing at the corner of the cafeteria. Otherwise it wouldn't have drawn his attention, but he noticed that one of them was that guy who had attacked him on the first day….Kase, right? Anyway, that guy was laughing the most, and he soon looked at Toshiro and mouthed to him: ' You're next'. The captain realized they had done something to Tamotsu, and got up quickly. Not wanting to make a scene, he walked out of the cafeteria. The rest of the gang followed him and as soon as they got outside of the café and he was sure the seniors no longer saw them, he turned on his heels to face the others.
"Did Tamotsu say anything about where he was going?" he asked them.
"Well, he did say he was going to the bathroom…" Mitsuhiko said, and as soon as he finished, Toshiro turned again and rushed to the closest bathroom, almost knocking Genma over when he came from behind the corner. When they got to the bathroom, Genma and Mitsuhiko had already catched up with what was going on and started opening the doors to the stall doors, and soon enough Toshiro and Genma heard Mitsuhiko say: "Does anyone have a knife?" The other two looked at each other and then walked to Mitsuhiko and saw what was inside the stall.
Tamotsu. Fixed to the bowl with duct tape very tightly. Even his mouth was covered. Mitsuhiko pulled the piece of tape off Tamotsus mouth. The tape left a nasty red mark on his mouth.
"Just wait a sec buddy. I'll go get a teacher to help us…" Mitsuhiko started, and got interrupted by Toshiro.
"Not necessary." he stated and pulled a pocket knife from under his belt where he had been hiding it. He always carried it with him, must be because he was so used to carrying a zanpakuto around and felt anxious without it. He leaned over and started cutting off the tapes. They got Tamotsu out after 10 minutes.
"God damnit!" Tamotsu cursed while rubbing his sore wrists. All of his skin that was visible was filled with red marks because of the tape.
"This has to stop!" Mio exclaimed. "This was like, what, 5th time this week?" Toshiro looked at her, face filled with confusion. Mio noticed this and continued: "I mean the 5th time this week something like this has happened to any of us."
"How long has this been going on?" he asked. He hadn't noticed anything being wrong until now. The others looked at him, baffled.
"Dude, seriously? You haven't even noticed? You're the one who's been targeted the most. You've been dodging UFO's the whole week!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed.
"I have?" Toshiro asked. He was very much confused. He didn't remember anything like that. Well, now that he thought about it, he DID remember dodging some things flying at him. Guess he hadn't noticed because dodging was a reflex to him. He came back from his thoughts and looked at the others.
"You didn't answer my question: how long has this been going on?" he repeated, looking at the rest of the gang. Ayumi was the first to speak up.
"It's been 'round two weeks. Ever since that Kase guy came back to school…" she started but stopped mid-sentence, when everyone looked at her and then Toshiro. It didn't take a genius to figure out what's going on. Kase wanted revenge on the captain. They went outside and sat down on a few benches. There was a silent moment, which was broken by Mio.
"This isn't fair. The rich and/or popular kids can do anything they want and no-one even tries to stop them." she sighed.
"Well, I guess we are the losers' here." usually silent Genma said and sighed too.
"Yup, we're the Unlucky 7" Chloe finished and hung her head. Toshiro, who had been thinking, sat up straight on his spot and spoke up.
"Who said we're the losers' here?" he said, irritated. He couldn't believe what the others were saying.
"Um, common sense?" Ayumi said, raising an eyebrow. Toshiro rolled his eyes.
"Okay, let me rephrase that: who said we HAVE TO BE losers'? I mean the 'popular kids' are either assholes, cheerleaders, drinkers or smokers god damnit! Are you saying that since we're none of those, we're losers?" he almost yelled.
"Basically, yeah. But you missed the band members and jocks, they're popular t…. Toshiro, you alright buddy?" Tamotsu asked when he noticed that the white-haired boy was just staring blankly into space.
"Didn't you guys say that this school doesn't have a music club?" Toshiro said, still staring.
"Umm… yeah?" Mitsuhiko said. The whole gang just looked at Toshiro, confused.
"And you also said that you all play something, right?" the captain continued, still staring.
"Yeah, but could you please move your head? You're creeping me out." Chloe said.
"Isn't the soccer team looking for new players? We all play don't we?" he said, gesturing to himself and the rest of the boys. The boys nodded and looked at him.
"You have my unshared attention buddy" Tamotsu said looking at the white-haired boy.
"I think we should go to the coach and see if we can get to the team. And as for the music club, isn't the minimum number of members seven? We could ask Mori-sensei if she could be our instructor, she is the music teacher, right?" Toshiro said, looking at the others. The others were looking at him and each other. They liked the idea, it was written all over their faces. Suddenly, Ayumi jumped up from her seat.
"He's right! There's no reason for us to be the losers! We SHOULD do this. I don't know about you guys but I'm in" she said and looked at the others who looked just as excited as she was. They all got up.
"We're in" the twins said in unison.
"Me too" Genma said, and smiled.
"Make it three" Chloe said, jumping up from the bench.
"You don't have to ask me twice" Tamotsu said, grinning like the cheshire cat.
"I knew you'd see this my way" Toshiro said, letting a smile curve in his lips. Tamotsu looked at the rest of the gang.
"Okay, so who's coming with me and Tosh to look for Mori-sensei?" he grinned and started to walk back inside, the others following him.
'I can't believe I talked them into this…' Toshiro thought and followed his friends.
Toshiro: Well that took you a while to write. You having an authors block or som…. Hey, where's Angel?
Chloe: She has her testweek going on so she went home to study. Said something about having to read five books for next week.
Toshiro: …. wow, I thought she was a freshman in high school?
Chloe: She IS. So, dear readers, Angel will not be updating for a while. If she can keep her hands off the computer that is.
Toshiro: Which basically means she's going to update as soon as she gets a new idea. As for the disclaimer, she still doesn't own Bleach.
Chloe: 'Till the next time!
Toshiro: Wait just a sec! Angel left a note: "For Toshirofan: Let's just say the boys checked Toshiro's real haircolor...in the boys bathroom ;)"
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Toshiro: ANGEL! *blush*