Hey Guys! Here's another chapter! Hope you like it! Ignore any grammar errors I missed please!
MAI'S POV
Taisuke didn't come to school today. I wonder if he's okay. I pop a gum stick in my mouth and chew. I try not to think about anything except getting to work on time. I walk towards the office and decide to take a short cut through an alley way.
"Hey you." A male voice says. I turn around. There's a guy holding a pipe, and about three other guys and one girl. It was a great idea to take a short cut; this will be some type of relief for me.
"What?" I ask.
"You're Taisukes girl right? Last night they beat us by a notch, those lucky bastards. We want a rematch right now with you." He says grinning. I smile at him.
"Oh really? Don't hesitate; come at me with all you've got." I smirk. This is my relief, letting out some left over stream from last night.
"You think you're so tough you little bitch." The girl says cracking her knuckles. She walks towards me. I put my book bag on the floor against a building wall and I stretch. Damn she's walking so slowly. I decide to make the first move. I run towards her and kick her on her face before she could even blink. She's out cold before her body could even land on the ground.
Two guys approach me at the same time. One swings at my gut, but I easily dodge it and upper cut him on his jaw. The other guy throws a kick at me but I catch his foot just on time. While holding his leg up, I kick him right in his private part. He gasps in pain and falls holding it. I blow a small bubble with my bubble gum. There are two guys left.
"You slut!" The guy with the pipe screams at me. Both charge at me at the same time. The guy swings the pipe while the other guy throws a kick at the same time. I do the split and duck my head. They hit each other instead of hitting me. I get up, blowing more air into my gum bubble, and then the bubble pops. I put the gum back in the mouth and chew. I walk over the groaning guys and the knocked out girl, and retrieve my book bag.
"Thanks for the warm up guys! Now I'm full of energy to file papers!" I say. I stretch my arms above my head and sigh deeply when I think about work. I need to stick to being emotionless around Naru! I already promised myself last night.
I get to the office exactly on time. I put my book bag near my desk and start filing the things on my desk.
"Mai, tea." I hear Naru's voice. I go into the kitchen and make tea. When I'm done, I knock on Lin's door first. I go in when he says to. He thanks me for the tea and I leave his office. I stop in front of Naru's office. Why are you hesitating Mai?! You're done with emotions remember? I knock on his door.
"Enter." I go into his office and place his tea on his desk. I throw him a fake smile and turn on my heel.
"Mai. May we talk?" He says. The bells rings, signaling someone came in.
"Sorry, I don't have time. That must be the client that called yesterday." I say and walk out of his office.
"Hello my name is Chisuzu Goto, I called yesterday." A female voice says. Standing before me is a middle aged lady with black wavy long hair that reaches the middle of her back. Her eyes are a chocolate brown color and she's tall and slim like a model.
"Ah, yes. We did speak on the phone yesterday. I'm sorry for rushing you on the phone like that. My name is Mai Taniyama. It's nice to meet you Miss Goto. Please wait until my boss is ready to attend your case. Would you like some tea?"
"Oh it's fine, you have must've been busy! And yes please, tea would be nice." She says.
"Please take a seat if you'd like." I say before knocking on Lin's door to aware him that a client is here. I go into the kitchen to make another round of tea. When I come out of the kitchen with the tea tray, Naru is greeting Miss Goto and Lin opens his laptop ready to type. I hand Miss Goto a cup of tea, and she thanks me.
"Please describe what happened at your house Miss Goto." Naru says.
She tells him everything she told me over the phone, doors and windows opening and closing, her son getting attacked by a flying knife, her daughter getting pushed down the stairs, blah blah blah. Everything else goes by in a flash. Naru goes into his thinking pose, where he captures his chin in his hand, within a few moments of thinking, Naru accepts her case and said we'll be there tomorrow morning, she thanks him and leaves. I call the gang and tell them to meet us at the office in the morning. Then I finish the work Naru assigned me today.
Tick tock tick tock tick tock
I look at the clock; I have three hours to kill before I could go home. I try not to think about anything or anyone. I take out my homework, and complete it, surprising myself again. I did my homework again? What's with me? It's been a year since I've stopped doing my homework. Now all of a sudden I'm doing it? I shake my head and look at the time. Two hours left, I sigh.
Tick tock tick tock tick tock
I can't take it anymore! I can't stay in this damn boring ass office any longer! I need some serious relief... I pack my things and knock on Naru's door. I hear a come in and I enter.
"Naru I finished up all my work and I really have to go now. So can I leave early?" I ask him, not one trace of emotion is in my face.
"The reason you have to go?" Naru asks.
"It's personal." I say now glaring at him. He's so nosy!
"How do I know if you just want to leave early?" Jackpot! I sigh. Many thoughts rush through my head. Lie to him is the thought that sticks out the most.
"It's a girl thing..." I say. He raises his eye brow telling me to continue. I think of the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me so my face could flush. I fiddle with my hands with fake nervousness.
"Well... You see... I um... I just got my monthly and I left my supplies for it at home... That's why I had to hurry and finish my work." The more I explained the more his eyes slightly widened. He clears his throat.
"You may leave, but pack clothes for a week and be here at the office at 7 AM. Don't be late." He says.
I nod and exit his office. I could feel his eyes on my back but ignore it. When I close his door, a grin spreads across my face. Talk about easy. I grab my book bag and exit SPR. I go through alley ways hoping to bump into anyone who's stupid enough to pick a fight with me. I sigh, why are all the alley ways cleared? Its only 7PM! Just when I'm about to give up, I hear a sound behind me.
"You think you're tough enough to take me on, brat?" I hear a voice say and a few laughs. I walk towards the sounds. Two guys are holding a pretty beaten up kid while another guy punched the poor kid across his face. The guys are high school guys maybe even my age or older. The kid's around 13 or 14 years old, I look at his uniform, he's a third year middle school.
"Hey you dipshits, pick on someone your own age." I yell at them.
"Keep it walking and we won't hurt you too little girl." The guy smirks. Did he just call me little girl and absolutely disregard my presence? The guy hits the middle school kid in his stomach again. I walk towards them. The kid smiles, then spits blood on the guys' face. I smile, you got to admit, the kids got guts. The guy turns red from anger.
"You little shit!" The guy screams in his face.
"You don't have to scream. I can hear you clearly." The kid smirks. The guy is about to punch the kid again, but I put my book bag in between the two of them, blocking his hit. Everyone looks at me surprised I interfered. Then I burst out laughing, remembering the kid's comment and laughing at their surprised faces.
"You've done it now, little girl." The guy says and directs his attention towards me. He swings his fist at me and I catch it.
"Bad move." I glare at him. I grasp his arm and slam him on the ground. I waste no time and round house kick the guy on the left of the kid. The kid elbows the guy on the right of him and Flips him over his shoulder. Really? I was looking forward to hitting him. I frown at the kid.
"What?" He says noticing my frown. Then I duck and a fist suddenly swings where my head once was. I pull the guy and push him towards the kid, who just finished round house kicking the guy that recovered from the kid's elbow attack.
"Kid!" I say catching his attention. He automatically punches the guy across his face, knocking him out.
"Not bad." I say, and Swing my leg to kick the other guy behind him.
"But you missed one." I smirk and he frowns. I pick up my book bag and ruffle the kid's hair. He's an inch taller than me, so I have to tippy toe. It sucks to be short.
"Good work kid." I say and turn to leave. That felt pretty good, like I finally let loose some steam.
"Wait!" The kid says. I turn around.
"Let me repay you somehow! For saving my ass." He says awkwardly.
"No need." I say, and then suddenly my stomach growls loudly like a ferocious beast. I blush, embarrassed.
"How about I treat you to dinner? Anything you want." He says hopefully. What's this kid getting at? Is he trying to pick me up or something? I'm about to reject him when my stomach growls again. Free food sounds like heaven right now. I sigh.
"Fine. Let's go." I say. If he tried anything, I could always beat his ass.
"So what's your name?" The kid asks as I swallow the amazing tasting ramen.
"Mai and yours?"
"Ren." He says. I slurp the rest of my ramen and lean back on the chair satisfied.
"Mai, how did you learn to fight like that?" Ren asks.
"My friend." I say dryly.
"Well... Do you think I could become... Like your apprentice or something?"
"Sorry kiddo, it's not happening." I say.
"Come on! I'll do anything! I'm tired of being beaten up and bullied all the time!"
"Then learn how to defend yourself." I say.
"How? With no teacher to teach me?!"
"Buy a few punch bags and boxing gloves. Then punch and kick the bag till you get stronger. Easy as pie."
"But-"
"That's how it starts kid. Training is the most important thing." I look at my phone. It's time to hit the sac.
"Go home before your parents get worried." I say then get up to leave.
"Oh thanks for the food." I smile at him and a faint blush appears on his face.
"Y-yeah.." He stutters, causing me to let out a small laugh.
"See you around... Ren." I say exiting the ramen shop.
When I get home I pack for a week then set my alarm clock for the morning. I take my clothes off and don't bother putting any PJ's on. I just throw myself across my bed and knock out.
When I wake up, I look at my phone. No texts or calls from Taisuke. Now I'm starting to get worried. He always calls me, maybe he's tired from the fight, or forgot to call? I text him.
'Hey, How are you? Heard you won the fight. What you been up to lately?'
After I text him. I get ready for work and grab my already packed bag for work. I look at my phone. No reply yet. I sigh and call him. No answer. I leave my house and walk towards the office. I walk a couple of blocks down, then turn the corner, that's when I spot him. A familiar head with brown wavy hair.
"TAI!" I scream his nickname. He turns around and I wave at him happily. I'm glad he's okay. I run up to him.
"Why haven't you answered any of my texts or calls? I was worried!" I say. He scratches the back on his head awkwardly.
"Sorry, I've just been a little busy." He says, not meeting my eyes.
"What's wrong?" I ask noticing his acting a bit strange. I know this guy like the back of my hand.
"Nothing.." He says. I cross my arms over my chest and give him a doubting look. He finally looks at me and sighs, running his hand through his hair.
"I saw you, yesterday around six or seven."
"What are you talking about?" I say. What exactly did he see?
"Don't give me that bullshit. I saw you with some kid. You were both beating up a couple of the guys in the back of an alley." He says angrily. Shit, he saw.
"I wasn't doing anything bad, I was just helping the kid. He was in trouble. I couldn't just stand there and watch!" I say, desperately trying to prove my innocence. I really didn't do anything wrong.
"You promised You wouldn't fight! That was the condition!" He screams. People are now stopping to stare at us.
"Helping a kid from being beaten to death sounded like a pretty damn good reason to fight."
"You weren't saving him Mai! You just looked for a reason to fight and when you saw a fight with a kid you don't even know outnumbered, you decided hey let's beat them all up together."
"Wait a minute! The condition wasn't even about fighting! It was not to be in the gang! And I'm not in the gang! So technically I didn't break the promise!"
"Mai, you know that the reason you were taken out of the gang was to stay out of trouble. But there you go always looking for a way to find trouble somehow."
"Trouble looks for me and you know it. Well I have to get to work with Naru, who I almost had sex with." His jaw drops and I pace away without looking back.
Embarrassment was all over my face. My phone rang constantly with messages from Naru and Taisuke. Because of that delay with Taisuke, I'm now late for work. When I finally reach the office, I'm out of breath from running.
"You're late." Naru states cold.
"Stating the obvious once again." I say, rolling my eyes. Lin takes my bag from me and puts it in the trunk, I thank him. Monk gets out of his car.
"MAI!" He screams happily. He pulls me into a bear hug. I can't breathe and I really don't feel like waiting till Ayako hits him with her purse. Just a second before I'm about to knee him in his gut, he let's go and goes into a weird Jackie Chan Karate stance. I raise an eyebrow at him and burst out laughing, I hear a couple of familiar laughter's follow, expect of course Naru and Lin. I look around to see the rest of the gang trying to control their laughter. Monk is laughing non stop, Ayako is laughing covering her mouth, John is chuckling, and Yasu is holding his stomach, his laugh is the loudest. Even Masako has a faint smile on her face. Naru clears his throat and automatically, everyone quiets down, but smiles are still visible on their faces.
"We're already late and you all playing around just wastes more time." He scolds.
"Way to kill the mood." I mumble. Naru glares at me.
"Care to share what you mumbled?" He says coldly.
"Well since you were nice enough to ask, sure. I said you're a mood killer. We obviously had a good mood going on and you ruined it." I say coldly.
"Maybe if you would have been here on time, I wouldn't 'kill the mood' but I see stupidity only goes so far." He says. I ball up my fists and we glare at each other, the atmosphere threatening.
"Let's all just calm down and relax now." Yasu laughs nervously. I try to control my anger and my eyes dart to Masako.
"You're riding with Naru." I say. Then I turn my back on her and enter the back seat of Monk's car, slamming the door shut. The others slowly get in and Monk follows the van where Naru, Lin, and Masako are in.
We get to the client's house in 30 Minutes. Once I get out of the van, I shiver. I can feel a presence, but it's faint. I ring the door bell, not waiting for anyone. Then door opens and shock fills me. A boy that's probably only about an inch taller than me is standing in the doorway. He has messy light brown hair and light brown eyes.
"Ren?"
