Chapter 19

YAMASHITA

Yamashita still felt slightly uneasy about Taiki's request. Make them stronger? He thought. Train them? How the hell do I do that? He frowned, knowing that he had little choice, considering he had already agreed to do it, and he wanted that school rebuilt, which meant he had to train them. He sighed.

He looked over at Makoto, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, pondering something.

"Makoto?" No answer. "Makoto." Still nothing. Yamashita decided to give him a light push. "Makoto!"

"Gah! What? Huh? What's happening?" He fell over out of panic before quickly standing up, ready to attack.

"Uh... Nothing. Nothing's happening," Makoto's face turned bright red.

"What? Then why'd you say there was!"

"I... Didn't," Yamashita shook his head. "Sit back down, you goof."

"Well, that's a new insult if I've ever heard one." Makoto said as he sat back down.

"Not an insult, more... An observation."

"Sure..." Makoto stared at Yamashita with a blank expression. "Anyway, if nothing's going on, the hell did you push me for?!"

"Well..." Yamashita started. "I was trying to get your attention, if that's too much to ask."

"You could've just said my name, y'know!" Makoto frowned.

"I did. You didn't listen."

"...Whatever," Makoto threw his hands up in the air. "What did you want to get my attention for, then?"

"Well," Yamashita started. "I wanted to know what you were so deep in thought about that you didn't even recognise your own name."

"Oh..." Well it's about that thing me and Ryouji discussed.

"Where in the World is Kumi San Diego?" Yamashita laughed to himself. Makoto frowned.

"...If you made that joke to every single person you've ever met, how many do you think would get it? Because I am not one of them."

"It's funny to me," Yamashita shrugged. "Anyway, we're getting off track."

"Right." Makoto nodded. "The plan to find Kumiko. I think... I think we might be ready to put it into action, but..."

"But?"

"We're just not strong enough." Makoto clenched his fists. "We can't win against them. Not again. Last time was just dumb luck."

"...I can help with that," Yamashita smirked. "In fact, it seems your team already thought the same thing."

"Huh?" Makoto looked up, surprised.

"Yup. Taiki came up to me the other day asking me to train you guys. In return, he was gonna help me rebuild the school once everything's over."

"I see... Well, not much we can do other than get to it." Makoto stood up. "I'll go round up the others. We're gonna make this happen."

"Right," Yamashita nodded, standing up and stretching. "It'll be nice to have myself a good workout at the same time."

We back, boi!

Anyhow, I know I neglected to mention when exactly I'd be back,sorry about that, but whatever, here I am. Kinda short build-up chapter, I know, but I gotta ease myself back into it. Next chapter'll be pretty action-heavy, so... Here's hoping I don't screw it up! Lots of dialogue in this one, huh...

Oh, and, by the way? The joke was "Where In the World Is Carmen San Diego?"