Chapter 7

"What do you mean, 'you're quitting kendo'?"

It was the Thursday before graduation, and the boys' kendo team members cornered Ryuichi just outside his classroom with the proposal that they should have one last team hangout before the seniors graduate. One of the second-years lamented that their team wouldn't be the same without the seniors, but one of the senior members offered him the comforting thought that their captain would lead them to victory in the coming year. It was then that Ryuichi had to break the news of his resignation.

"You can't just quit on us!"

"We're the defending champs! We can't just—"

"—who'll be the new cap—"

"—just have to—"

The worried and frustrated expressions on his teammates' faces made Ryuichi's stomach sink. He wanted to say something to them to reassure them that they would be fine, but one of the second-year guys asked him that dreaded question he had hoped wouldn't surface:

"So, why are you quitting?"

The guys fell silent, and all closed in around Ryuichi. He clenched his jaw to keep from showing them how nervous they made him, drawing strength from Mitsuru as she passed by to get to the Student Council Room. She looked to him and gave a single nod, to which he returned with a renewed look of determination.

"For family reasons," he told them all. "My sister is due to have her baby soon, so I have to be there to help her out as much as possible. Raising a baby takes a lot of work, so she'll need as many people helping her out as possible."

"A baby?"

"Baby?"

"She's got a kid?"

They repeated the word like a muddling chant. Ryuichi could still see the betrayal on their faces, but at half the rage now with the mention of his sister's baby.

"What about the father?" one of them asked.

Ryuichi swallowed hard. "We're all lending a hand," he answered.

"If you're all helping out, then how come you still have to quit kendo?" a first-year member asked accusingly.

"Because out of all of us, my schedule is the most flexible," he told them all. "Everyone else has to work all day, and since school lets out hours before they get home, I need to be there to help as soon as possible. I won't be able to attend kendo three times a week."

"You don't know that yet!"

"At least try!"

"Work out a new schedule—"

"—What if you—"

They all urged him not to quit. Guilt kept prodding him like cold daggers to his gut, with everything his teammates said just instantly sounded to him like they were all right and he was wrong. The pressure threatened to crush him, dizzied him, until finally he couldn't bear it anymore.

"Okay," he said quietly. "I'll stick with kendo, but if they do need me, I will have to appoint someone else to be the new captain."

The team cheered and patted him on the back roughly, as if trying to see who could leave a perfect imprint of their hands bruised into his skin. Talks of their sendoff celebration for the seniors resumed, everyone agreeing to go to Mandragora for karaoke on Saturday. Ryuichi had to threaten to intensify their workouts if they so much as suggested that he pay for their party in its entirety. It was enough to shut them all up enough where they didn't ask for more details about his future niece or nephew.

"Don't you guys have graduation practice right now?" he hissed at the senior members. That was all it took to send them fleeing for the auditorium.

Graduation went as expected the next day, with everything perfectly organized and not a single hiccup throughout the ceremony. Mitsuru had to nudge Ryuichi awake after the first five minutes of homeroom teachers calling out each individual senior students' names, and then she had to nudge him again when the long series of speeches began afterward. He stayed awake through Mitsuru's speech, but once she was seated next to him again, he began to slip away into another nap. Another nudge and a silent look of reproach from her kept him awake after that.

After the ceremony, yearbooks were handed out, and all the underclassmen went to greet their beloved senpai to say their farewells and wishes of good luck in college. Ryuichi happened to be nearby when the seniors of the girls' fencing team found Mitsuru, asking her to sign their yearbooks. It was the seniors who ended up crying as they thanked Mitsuru for leading them to victory the past two years and for all the encouragement she gave them.

Ryuichi hoped to get something similar from the seniors on his team, only for them to repeatedly urge him not to quit kendo while the other members did the same. Ryuichi almost wrote "Don't quit kendo!" in one of their yearbooks with all of them shouting at him. They made sure to remind him about their karaoke plans the next day, too, and a brief transcription of their reminders ended up in another senior's yearbook.

In the school days to follow, the underclassmen still had classes to attend. The energy in the school was different, more empty, and much quieter. There were less bicycles in the racks outside, and the little shop in the foyer didn't run out of all the good food like usual. As nice as it was for everyone, it was clear that the students missed their senpai dearly.

With graduation and exams out of the way, Ryuichi finally got a chance to concern himself with a few of his other responsibilities. He was less than a week away from when he would have to help his sister move back in with their parents, and he still knew almost nothing about babies. After school on Monday, Mitsuru allowed him to skip the Student Council meeting, as there wasn't much going on at the moment. He headed to the Iwatodai strip mall to stop by the second-hand bookstore, Bookworms, hoping to find information on how to properly care for a baby.

Bookworms was a small store filled with shelves, though most of the merchandise was stacked neatly on top of low shelves, countertops, and on the floor. There was just enough room for Ryuichi to sidle past the stacks, with the occasional dainty step or calculated hop to get around to another aisle.
"Welcome!" came a dry but cheerful greeting.

Ryuichi spun around. Behind the front counter, two pale faces shone in the dark, grinning at him. He backed away, nearly knocking a few stacks of books over.

One of the faces chuckled. "Oh, he's a jumpy one!"

It was the elderly couple, Bunkichi and his wife, Mitsuko, who let out dry chuckles from behind the counter. Ryuichi straightened one of the stacks with a few pats on its sides, still tingling from surprise.

"Um, hi," he greeted shakily, grinning. "Sorry. I didn't see you two there."

"That's all right," Mitsuko said in her light, creaky voice. "I hope my husband didn't startle you too much."

"'Startle'?" The elderly man stroked his chin. "He just about jumped out of his skin!"

He let out a hacking laugh. All Ryuichi could do was smile, give a light chuckle, and then disappear between the shelves.

None of the books were organized in any way. It looked more like people donated their old books, and whatever Bunkichi and Mitsuko got, they put wherever there was room. There were children's picture books mixed with romance novels with beefy guys baring their chests on the covers, art books piled with self-help books, books with old covers faded and worn out, manga with bent pages, books on caring for plants, and even more books that didn't attract Ryuichi whatsoever. It was when he finally found a book on pregnancy that Bunkichi started to laugh again.

"Don't tell me you're going to be a father!" guffawed Bunkichi when Ryuichi examined a book on pregnancy.

"Don't be silly, dear," Bunkichi's wife, Mitsuko, chuckled. "He's practically a child himself."

Ryuichi grinned uneasily at the couple as he flipped through the book. "Actually, it's my sister who's having the baby," he said to them both, and their faces lit up with delight. "I thought I might read up on it so I can help her out."

"What a wonderful brother you are!" Mitsuko sidled out from behind the counter and past some stacks of books. "Would you like some books on childcare? I think we have some over here..."

He watched her shamble among the shelves. When she accidentally bumped a stack of books, Ryuichi lunged forward to catch it before it toppled over.

"Wow! You're a quick one, aren't you?" an impressed Bunkichi exclaimed.

By the end of his visit, Ryuichi wound up with three books on pregnancy and childcare, along with a plastic bag bloated with plenty of melon bread that the elderly bookstore owners insisted he take with him ("For the baby!"). Ryuichi thanked them again, taking care to nimbly step around the books without touching a single stack.

Outside at the strip mall, he drew in the smell of greasy burgers, salty ramen, and sweet and savory beef bowls, wondering which one he should get for dinner. He headed up one of the spiral staircases to Beef Bowl, figuring he would get a large bowl to eat at home.

"I hope these'll be enough," Ryuichi said about his books on his way up the spiral stairs. It was when he saw the group of guys on the second floor that he flinched with alarm. His old bully, Hideaki Saki, and his four friends all grinned when they saw Ryuichi. They all wore the blue blazers of some other high school, almost unrecognizable from the Gekkoukan black blazers they used to wear. His heart pounded in his throat as he tried backing away, but one of the bulkier thugs blocked the stairs he had just come from.

"It's been awhile!" Sakai's haughty smirk was still the same since Ryuichi last faced him less than two years ago. "How've you been, buddy? My, how you've grown! Isn't that right, guys?"

The others murmured their low, gruff chuckles. One of them muttered something so low under his breath that only one of the guys let out a dry laugh.

"You know, I never got around to thanking you for getting us kicked out of Gekkou," Sakai said. He had his hands in his pockets as he extended himself as tall as possible to just get an extra inch over Ryuichi.

"You're welcome," Ryuichi said in an equally light voice with a big grin of his own. "Now, if you would excuse me—"

"Whoa, hold on a sec!" At Sakai's voice, one of the bigger guys grabbed Ryuichi and thrust him away from the stairs. The others surrounded him again, keeping the railing pressed against his back. "What's your hurry? We're all among friends here, right? You're being kinda rude, don't you think? Don't you wanna stay and chat with us? It's been almost two years since we last saw each other, after all!"

His friends grunted their agreements. "Yeah," Sakai sighed, "and after I just said that we haven't had a chance to thank you properly. What's the deal, anyway? We finally see each other after such a long time. Have you been hiding from us? That's not very nice, Chibi-zaki."

He pretended to be surprised at his own mistake. "I guess we can't call you that anymore, can we?" he asked, looking Ryuichi up and down. "Or maybe we can ask Madam Prez about whether or not you've really grown. Hell, why don't we show her just how big you've gotten? I'm sure she'd wanna know."

Ryuichi's face burned. He watched as some of the guys lunged for him, stomping, making grabbing motions at him, snickering as they most likely recalled the same memory as him. He pressed himself against the railing.

"We can go see her later, after we've thanked you," Sakai continued, still smiling. "After all, it's thanks to you that we all now attend a shitty-ass school now. Gekkou had way better teachers."

Ryuichi narrowed his eyes at Sakai. "Those teachers were no good."

"They were good to us."

Ryuichi thought about how he would escape, trying hard to not shift his eyes around too much to indicate his plan.

"So, how should I show you my gratitude?" Sakai asked, his devilish smirk still plastered on his face. "What is the equivalent of having your father investigated for bribery and fucking up my chances at getting accepted into the best universities?"

"Times five," his gorilla-ish friend grunted. The others agreed.

His only chance was to run. All five of them were trained in some sort of martial arts, and two of them were built like brick walls. His own training would be no match for them. While they all prattled off all the things that "he" had done to them, Ryuichi formulated a plan in his head.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that one," Sakai said, nodding. They kept on talking, listing more things that he was sure had not been his fault.

Now! Ryuichi shoved the gorilla-like guy into the others before leaping over the second-floor railing. He dropped down to the ground and bolted, not daring to look back.

"The fuck?"

"Get him!"

Ryuichi raced to the street and jerked his body to the right. He vaulted over a car's hood, slid across the top and kept going. Melon bread rolled onto the pavement after him. Feet pounded behind him, spurring him to go faster. He was about to cross the street when a truck came shooting across from the right, almost clipping him.

"Sh-Shit," he breathed. His heart hammered in his chest as he bolted across after.

"There he is!"

"Don't think you can run!"

At a traffic light, Ryuichi repeatedly pounded the crosswalk button. Cars sped back and forth, offering no chance to let him escape. He abandoned the street corner and turned right again, plowing right into a man in a suit.

"Hey!"

Ryuichi fell hard on top of the man. "Sorry!" he blurted out as he ran off again.

He cut through a back alley. He scaled a chain link fence and dropped over the other side, thinking of the safest way back to the dorm without being seen. When he came out the other side of the alley, he turned towards the train station when he ran into one of Sakai's brick wall-like friends. The guy grabbed Ryuichi by the lapels—BAM! BAM!— slamming him into the wall. Gasping, Ryuichi thrust his knee up into the guy's groin. He doubled over, and—BANG!—Ryuichi's knee smashed into his face. He shoved him out of the way and ran again when he came across Sakai and the gorilla-like goon. His feet skidded on the sidewalk as he whipped his body back towards the other way and saw the weasel friend running up to him.

"Nice try, Okazaki!" Sakai sneered. "But just because you're taller now doesn't mean you can take us on!"

Ryuichi clenched his jaw and rammed his shoulder into the weasel friend. The guy let out a yelp when he hit the ground as Ryuichi ran past. As he rounded the corner, he saw the brick wall guy from earlier stagger towards him.

"Dammit! Why can't they just leave me alone?"

Ignoring the stitch in his side, he sped up. He went down another alley again, then around another corner. He dodged cars, avoided a bike rider, leaped over a white dog being walked by his elderly master—

Thud. He slammed into Sakai's gorilla friend when he turned another corner. The Gorilla grabbed his shoulders and threw him down onto the street. He pinned Ryuichi there with his knee and began hammering his face in with his fists. Ryuichi reached for the knife in his pocket and stabbed his calf. When Gorilla yelped, Ryuichi shoved him off, but was caught by the other brick guy and put into a headlock. Ryuichi stabbed him in the leg, too, broke free, then grabbed his ankle from behind and yanked it upwards. The brick guy fell and smashed his face into the pavement with such a force that Ryuichi felt the ground shake.

Weasel was next. The guy had legs like whips, cracking the air with such speed that Ryuichi felt his hair get ruffled from the wind generated by his kicks. Ryuichi grabbed his leg and swept his foot against the Weasel's other one, dropping him to the concrete. One punch to the face and Weasel was out. He spun around to escape when he got a jaw-full of Sakai's fist. More fists collided against Ryuichi's face, chest, and gut until he slashed the air with his knife.

"You wuss! Fight like a—!"

Bam! He smashed his own fist into Sakai's face. When he staggered, Ryuichi pummeled him. He grabbed his arm, twisted, flipped Sakai onto his back. The Brick's twin caught Ryuichi around the middle. He pinned his arms down, squeezing with python strength, crushing him. When he lifted Ryuichi off his feet, Ryuichi began flailing his feet about, trying to throw his heels high enough to kick the guy in the balls. One solid kick to the groin and Ryuichi dropped to the ground, where Sakai greeted him with his own kick between Ryuichi's legs.

Pain exploded from his groin and rose up to his stomach. For a moment, Ryuichi's vision blacked out as he fell to one knee. Sakai kneed him in the face, knocking him down, and repeatedly kicked him in the stomach. Ryuichi caught his foot and pulled him off his feet. When Sakai fell, he punched him in the face so hard that the vengeful teen went limp. Shaking with pain, Ryuichi gathered up his knife and his bags, then hobbled back towards the dorm while constantly glancing back over his shoulder.

He arrived at the rear doors of the dorm. When he entered the lounge, he could hear the TV on, along with the familiar sound of Akihiko slurping up his beef-flavored instant noodles. Ryuichi had no choice but to cross the entire length of the lounge to get to his room. Akihiko spotted him when he closed the storage room door.

"What happened?" he asked, his eyebrows raising at Ryuichi's battered state.

Ryuichi limped his way to the refrigerator to fill a plastic bag with ice. "I learned that I can take on five guys on my own," he rasped. He tasted blood when he talked.

"Sakai, huh? I'll get the first aid kit."

Ryuichi limped to his room, grateful that he lived on the first floor. Akihiko had gone ahead of him to retrieve the first aid kit from Ryuichi's closet while he went to lie down on his bed.

"So, what happened this time?" Akihiko asked.

"Can we talk later?" Ryuichi murmured.

"Mitsuru will want to know what happened."

"Don't tell her anything."

"I don't need to. You better just get it over with now."

Ryuichi placed the ice pack over his groin. "Maybe later," he said, wincing.

"You might need to go to the hospital to get looked at."

"It's probably just a concussion. I don't feel any broken bones."

"Quit being an idiot!" Akihiko barked at him.

"You wouldn't go get your wrist checked when you sprained it last fall!" Ryuichi shouted back. "How is this different?"

"Because my wrist isn't your head! Look at yourself!"

Ryuichi let out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I'll go," he said, getting to his feet. "But I'll go by myself. You can tell Mitsuru what happened after I'm gone."

"I'm not telling her anything!" Akihiko's face paled. "You tell her yourself when you get back."

Ryuichi made a point to leave before Mitsuru noticed the commotion. He took his motorcycle to the hospital, where the doctor shook his head when he recognized his patient.

"Back again so soon?" he said as he looked him over.

"I don't do it because I like it," Ryuichi muttered.

It was just as he expected: a concussion, minor scrapes and cuts, plenty of bruises, but miraculously, nothing broken and nothing too serious. When he returned home covered in a few bandages and clutching some ice packs, his stomach dropped when he saw Mitsuru waiting for him in the lounge.

"Akihiko told me everything," she said, closing her book. "I can't believe that after all this time, they would come back and terrorize you again."

"I tried to run," Ryuichi said immediately when she got up from her chair. "They split up and caught me, so I had to defend myself."

"Then you should have come straight here to the dorm," she said icily.

"And let them know where I live? That could endanger you and the others."

"They don't know we live here. I'm sure you could have outrun them and made it back here before they could see you."

Anger flared up in Ryuichi's chest. "I didn't fight them because I wanted to," he protested, getting frustrated with her.

He started for his room, furious and in pain. All he wanted to do was get to bed without further questions.

"I'm not done talking to you, Ryuichi."

Frustrated, he obediently turned to face her without looking at her. He felt like a child getting scolded by his mother for something he did not do.

"You're not the type to pick fights with others, so I know that you tried your best to run," Mitsuru said, surprising him. "Did you use any of your equipment?"

"The knife," he muttered, shuddering as he remembered the sensation of puncturing flesh. "I hated using it, though."

She paused, deep in thought. "I will put in a request for you to be given a taser, so at least you have something to fend them off. It's only a small solution that won't solve the real problem, but at least you might have a better chance of escape."

There was concern and sorrow in her eyes, and he sensed genuine care from her. "You should go rest now. If you need anything, just call me."

Relieved to finally get back to his room, he flopped onto his bed and fell asleep mere seconds later. When he awoke the next morning, his body ached worse than the previous night. He took a hot shower that soothed some of his aches, debating if he should even bother attending school that day. When he got out of the shower, he saw a black and yellow taser on his desk with a little note from Kikuno.

"Please be more careful from now on," the note read.

Ryuichi picked up the taser and practiced aiming it, already knowing that he wouldn't be fast enough to draw it on his assailants. At best, he could subdue one guy, and that's if he hit his mark. He would still have the others to worry about, and he was certain that the results would be similar to his most recent encounter.

Unless, Mitsuru's intent for the taser was to merely to scare them off.

"It's not going to help anything," he sighed, but still tucked the weapon down into the bottom of his school bag. It was a risk he was taking, bringing it along with him to school, so he knew he would have to be wary about his teachers finding out about his new little piece of protection.

He knew that Mitsuru was only looking out for him, and as much as he appreciated it, he hated letting her see him so weak. At breakfast, he could feel her eyeing his bruised face as if she was touching the dark splotches with her fingertips. He didn't say much all morning, and at school when their classmates asked what happened to him, he lied and said he was hit by a car.

Ryuichi's injuries got him a lot of attention that morning, especially from Shiori, who had come running into his classroom when word first got around that he was in a car accident or had been mugged, depending on what rumor came up first. She had been insistent that he go home to recover, but he just smiled, thanked her, and reassured that he was okay. The greatest comfort came from the guys on the kendo team, who offered to beat up whoever rearranged his face.

The only solace he found was when the bell rang, forcing everyone to head to their seats and leave him alone. Mitsuru took one last glance at him with concern in her eyes before turning back around in time for the teacher to begin roll call.