True Strength

When I got home, I went straight to where Shun was working in the back.

"We're having special practice after school for the sports tournament," I said.

He looked at me surprised. "You want to go?"

I nodded. "Our class is going to try to win."

"That's so different than what you were saying a couple days ago," he said.

This was true. "I know...things changed..."

"So you're asking if you can take time off your shift."

"Just for the next week?" I glanced hesitantly at Shun, afraid that he was going to be irritated. I remembered how much trouble I had gotten in for ditching my shifts or being late when I first started working at the cafe. I knew he made an exception for the school festival but it wasn't like I was in charge this time.

"As long as you come home right after and work until closing," Shun agreed, surprising me. "We have Massan and Kojima right now, plus Chiba so we should be fine. Plus things are always slower on the weekdays anyway. You don't have practice on the weekend, right?"

I shook my head. If there was, I wasn't going.

"Thanks," I said, relieved.

"You better win that thing then," he said, placing a hand on my head and ruffling my hair.

"Ahhh stop!" I whined, trying to duck away from his sudden attack. I looked up and thought I saw a flash of sadness on his face as we made eye contact, but it was gone in a moment.

"Get to work," he said, swatting me on the back with his clipboard. I did as he asked, but I couldn't get that look out of my mind, not for a long time. But it would be a while before I even knew what it was all about.

"So, do you play soccer?" I asked Sawada as we headed out to the field after school the next day.

"I did, back in junior high," he answered. "You?"

I cracked a grin. "Sort of. I'm lethal."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Let's just say I ran into a super popular girl when going for the ball and I knocked her down and everyone thought I did it on purpose, so we got into a huge fight."

"Well don't start a fight this time, because we'll lose the championship," Sawada pointed out.

He smirked when I stopped in my tracks to glare at him.

"I won't!"

Our practice really didn't amount to much. We just tried to kick the ball back and forth and into the goals. Those of us with little to no soccer experience had trouble controlling the ball and it felt like we spent more time retrieving it than playing actual soccer...or blaming each other for the bad pass. The other members of our team weren't very enthusiastic anyway, so we cut the practice short.

"Hey, isn't that Tetsu and Minoru?" I asked, pulling Sawada aside as we walked past the gym. The two stood out like sore thumbs with their interesting designs on their shirts. That and well, Minoru was hard to miss plus their intense presence.

We watched as Tetsu began to teach Minami, Uchi, Noda, and Kuma how to elbow your opponent during basketball while pretending to guard. Minoru watched admirably from the sidelines until Yankumi showed up and told them to stop.

"What are they doing here?" I asked wonderingly.

"Tetsu-san probably wanted to show Yankumi he can coach just as well as Shinohara," Sawada speculated as we watched Tetsu stare at Yankumi, the hearts in his eyes almost visible. We both smirked before heading back to the classroom. The drama that surrounded Yankumi was entertaining.

When we had gathered up all our stuff and were about to leave, we saw Kuma and Minami talking to Abe of all people in the hallway above the stairs that led to our class.

"I heard Yuuki's on your team? With us as your opponent, there's no use in trying to win, much less trying to bring Yuuki back," he scoffed. His classmate that was with him laughed. I narrowed my eyes. Sawada grabbed my arm before I could do anything.

"Say that again?!" Kuma demanded. Minami held him back from lunging at Abe.

"Well do your best, just for the hell of it," Abe laughed and left.

Kuma and Minami let out an angry breath before turning and spotting us. "Shin, Kana…"

"You know, not to quote Yankumi or anything, but you should settle this once and for all," Sawada said, before walking on. I stared after him, then up at Minami and Kuma, who looked perplexed. I had no idea what this was about but I gave them a firm nod, hoping it would be encouraging and walked after Sawada.

"What was that-"

Sawada suddenly pulled me against the wall next to him and shushed me. What? He tilted his head towards where Kuma and Minami stood. I realized we were just out of their line of sight.

I peered up to see Yankumi walk up and ask Minami and Kuma what they were doing.

"Hey Yankumi, are you going to Yuuki's again?" Kuma asked her.

"Yeah, why? Do you want to come too?" I couldn't really see her face but she sounded cheerful.

"If we went, that guy would never come to school again," Minami said slowly. What… "Last year, we, along with Abe from 3-C, picked on Yuuki together."

"We didn't have a reason…it just happened to be him. It could have been anyone else. But we're the reason he stopped coming to school," Kuma said quietly.

I looked at Sawada, finally understanding what he meant. I could see why Yuuki wasn't coming back. If I were him, I would be scared to as well. When I looked up at Minami and Kuma, they were bracing themselves, expecting Yankumi to unleash her fury on them.

"Thanks for telling me. I understand now," I heard her say softly. "You guys learned your lesson, right?"

They looked stunned at her reaction, but began to protest when she began to ruffle their hair.

Sawada nudged me so we could leave. I saw a small smile on his lips but bit my lip to keep from saying anything about it since I knew it would be gone the moment I brought it up.

Yankumi was so fair, I thought. She's so good to us. I found myself wondering why.

For some reason, the class gradually became more pumped up and ready to take the challenge. Every team practiced really hard every day, and though improvement was slow, it was there.

As for us on the soccer team, we finally were able to kick the ball to each other and not completely miss or over-calculate our strength. Sawada began to actually speak up more and he and the others who had soccer experience began to coach us.

According to Uchi, the basketball team could now dribble in a circle and pass to each other quickly and accurately too.

The only thing left was for Yuuki to come back. We knew that Yankumi was visiting his house every day in an attempt to get him to come, but it had been unsuccessful. She had even managed to bring Kuma and Minami once but Yuuki had shut the door the moment he saw their faces. It sucked that the bullying scarred him that badly...but was he going to run forever? I thought of Shun and how he had made me face everything I had been rebelling against and how that had saved me...I wondered if Yankumi could be that person for Yuuki.

Two days before the tournament, I rushed home after practice to find the front of the house empty. I poured myself a glass of water before dropping off my stuff in my room. I decided to take a quick shower before going to the cafe for my shift, since practice was quite hard today and I had actually worked up quite a sweat. So I grabbed a change of clothes and a towel and began to head to the bathroom.

There was a sudden loud noise from the storeroom at the end of the hall, startling me. I approached the door slowly, finding it cracked open just a bit. I peeked inside and froze.

Sho had pushed Shun up against shelves grabbing him by the collar with both hands, looking furious.

"Why aren't you telling me what's going on?" he said fiercely. "I know things are bad but no one's telling me anything! Don't I deserve to know?"

I couldn't tell what the expression on Shun's face was as he gripped Sho's hands by the wrist. He didn't seem angry, like I thought he would be. He looked more...resigned…I didn't know why that scared me more.

"Am I still being punished?" Sho asked, his voice suddenly becoming weak when he realized Shun wasn't saying anything. "Are you still punishing me for going to Kana's school? Isn't that why you sent me and Kana away for the entire summer?"

I felt a chill run down my spine. What was Sho saying? Shun was punishing him? For...coming to my school? ...the host club...

"That's not it…" Shun said, voice strained.

"But you were so angry with me...I risked people at Kana's school finding out about us…"

Shun raised a hand towards Sho's face and Sho flinched. Shun's expression was heartbreaking.

"I...I regret getting so upset and taking it out on you. I shouldn't have...I shouldn't have hurt you."

My breath caught in my throat. What was Shun talking about? My mind raced until the image of Sho's face came to mind, the mysterious bruise and cut on his face the night of the school festival, the bandage on Shun's hand the next morning. I bit the back of my hand hard enough to draw blood to keep my gasp from coming out and being heard. That...that was Shun's doing?

"Do you not trust me?" Sho's voice came out a whisper.

Shun grabbed Sho's shoulder with one hand and his face with the other, holding their faces close and forcing Sho to look at him.

"I trust you! It's why I sent Kana away with you. I need you...I need you both to stay away...stay away until we settle this."

"Why? I get keeping Kana away, but I'm a part of this group too!" Sho protested.

Shun fell silent and I was scared to breathe until he spoke. "I can't get in the way of your goals, not yours, not Kana's, not Hiro's...not anyone else's...please. You don't have to like it, but I won't let you anywhere near this." His voice had started out wavering but by the end, it was cold and firm.

With that, Shun let go of Sho and walked away back towards the cafe. Sho slumped to his knees, striking the ground angrily.

I turned and fled back to the bathroom. I locked the door and turned on the shower before sinking to the floor, shaking. A hundred thoughts raced through my head, unable to comprehend what had just happened. What the hell was going on with the group right now? What were Sho and I being kept away from? And was it my fault that Sho had gotten hurt, that Shun wasn't including him...or me? I had more questions than answers, but I couldn't get both of their hurt expressions out of my head.

I hardly remembered the rest of the evening. The only thing that got me off the bathroom floor was the clock signifying that my shift was beginning in fifteen minutes. I must have been a zombie during my shift because Shun angrily sent me to the back to make drinks instead of serving customers. I weakly apologized, but he seemed to think it was because of soccer practice since he said it was good I was putting in that much effort into it but he was honestly glad it'd be over soon if I was going to be so useless.

I flinched at his words, but couldn't say anything in response. His expression softened a little when he saw my reaction.

"Look, take the next two days off."

"No, Shun, I can handle it. I'm sorry…"

He shook his head. "Finish your shift tonight, but you need to rest the night before and you're going to be celebrating your win on the day of, right?"

I bit my tongue to keep from asking if it was just another way to keep me away. But I couldn't bear to see Shun's face if I asked, and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the consequences, not now.

His expression became stern. "But you'll be working the days after without a break for a while."

I nodded. "...thanks Shun…"

He pushed me gently towards the fridge to get started on the next order before leaving the kitchen. I let out the huge breath I was holding before opening the fridge and forcing myself to focus.

I didn't see Sho that night. I considered sleeping in his room but I felt the guilt gnawing at me from what I had heard so I couldn't bring myself to. Sho had gotten hurt...all because he wanted to help me...and he hadn't said a single word about it to me. Not a fucking word. I was too worked up to even cry.

After a restless sleep, I woke up early and left the house early. I took a long look at the house before turning to head to school. The scariest thought came over me - where was my home if not here?

Luckily, everyone was pumped about the sports tournament practice so I wasn't the only one to be there early. Some of 3-D were even there, the biggest surprise considering our attitude on Day 1.

I tried to play my quietness all morning off as just being nervous about tomorrow, to which the class was really encouraging. But to be honest, I was wavering between being furious at myself for not seeing more of everything at the house happening and also just feeling incredibly lost as to what to do about it.

"It'll be fine," Uchi said lightly after lunch, and I knew he was trying to cheer me up. But I couldn't see how anything in my situation would be fine and my expression must have shown that.

"Sorry," I mumbled when I saw him stare at me, clearly concerned. "I...I'm going to go rest at Kawashima's."

"Want me to come with?"

I shook my head. I was afraid I couldn't control these feelings, and I didn't want him to see.

"Too much testosterone around you after all?" Kawashima said the moment she saw me.

I grimaced and she nodded understandingly. "You can stay for an hour, but that's it, okay?"

I gratefully slid into the covers of one of the beds and closed my eyes. Somehow, despite everything, I fell asleep.

I awoke to Kawashima gently patting my shoulder to wake me up.

"I'm going to watch the basketball team practice, and I can't leave you here."

"Shinohara?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She let out a little laugh before hitting my shoulder. "That's Shinohara-san to you. And yes, of course. I'm surprised you knew."

How could I miss the way she, Yankumi and Fujiyama fawned over the detective…

"Anyway, there's someone here to pick you up," she said, gesturing toward the door. I got up and opened the door to find Sawada leaning against the wall on the other side.

"Yo," he said. "Practice is about to start. The others have already headed to the field."

I turned to see Kawashima nudging me out the nurse's office, pompoms in hand, no doubt to cheer on Shinohara as he coached 3-C.

"Thank you," I said to her and she smiled.

"Don't push yourself too hard," she said before heading towards the gym. "Sawada, you keep an eye on her, okay?"

"Yeah," he responded before heading towards 3-D. I followed after him, not knowing what to say.

"You're acting strange," he said without looking at me. "Usually you wouldn't stand to have someone be told to keep an eye on you."

I stayed quiet even as we entered the empty classroom.

"Well, as long as you don't pass out on the field during our practice," he said.

I made a noise in protest despite myself.

He shot me a smirk and I glared at him being pleased with himself having gotten a reaction out of me.

The door to the classroom suddenly opened and to our surprise, Tetsu came into our classroom hesitantly.

"Oh," he said, looking relieved that it was us. "Did you guys see Ojou? Our practice is about to begin."

"She's probably at Yuuki's," Sawada answered. "…though there's probably no point in going."

Oh right...today was her final chance to try to convince him to come tomorrow.

"Ojou can't leave him alone," Tetsu said suddenly.

"Why?" Sawada asked him.

Tetsu looked at us and seemed to make a decision. "What I'm about to tell you now, can you keep it a secret within yourselves?" he asked us.

Sawada and I glanced at each other before nodding. "Yes."

"When Ojou was seven, her parents died, and Boss took her in. For a while, she would come home every day beat up everywhere. The other kids somehow found out that she was the granddaughter of our Boss. He taught her it was more important to be able to stand up on her own feet rather than accept help immediately from people around her. From then on, she resolved to be strong. She and Boss practiced every day. He would throw her to the ground over and over again and she would have to get back up and push back. She learned that both her heart and body haveta be strong. Ojou learned her strength at that young age. That's why she can't leave that Yuuki alone."

Tetsu watched us, while we absorbed this information. She had been so young, yet she had become so strong…she was so different from me...

"I seem to have said too much," Tetsu said softly, and he left the room.

I stood in silence, unable to move, still in awe and turmoil. I suddenly felt a towel placed over my head, blocking my vision.

I felt the teardrop hit my hand before I realized it came from me. I pressed the towel against my eyes, willing myself not to cry, not here, not in front of Sawada, even though he couldn't see me.

"I'll be waiting outside," he said before I heard him leave the classroom.

I took deep breaths, trying to compose myself. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about home. It was time for us to do our best so that if Yankumi's efforts paid off and Yuuki really came, then we could have a chance to win. I couldn't believe I was letting my emotions creep in and affect me at a time like this.

I quickly changed in the restroom and jogged out to the field. Sawada didn't say a word and I was grateful.

"What the hell, we might actually have a chance at winning!" Horibe shouted at the end of our rigorous practice. And he was right. We had improved so much that it seemed like we had a fighting chance.

He went around praising everyone's strengths. "Kana's kicks are so strong too!" he added.

I shot Sawada a look. "See, I am strong," I added for good measure.

"Guess you can give me my towel back," he remarked.

His voice wasn't unkind but rather matter-of-fact, but my voice caught in my throat and I felt my face flush as I remembered what had happened right before practice.

Luckily the basketball team had just finished their practice and ran out of the gym to meet us, exclaiming how much they had mastered. I took the opportunity to go change first, leaving the guys behind. I slashed cold water on my face, knowing that I was losing all control if I ended up crying at school of all places. I had to be stronger.

By the time all of us had packed up and were ready to leave, the sun was setting. It was still the end of summer, but the time it stayed light out was gradually getting shorter. I suddenly thought about home and I knew I didn't want to go back, not yet, not to a house where I suddenly felt a stranger.

"Wanna eat?" I said and the guys stopped in their tracks.

"But the time…" Noda said.

"I told them it's our last practice day so I'll be late coming home."

The guys glanced at each other and I rolled my eyes. "If you guys don't want to eat with me, it's fine. I'm sure I can find some other 3-D guys to eat with."

"No, let's go!" Uchi said, grabbing my schoolbag and taking it from me. "What do you want to eat?"

"I wanna eat hamburgers," Kuma said immediately.

"Hamburgers plural, Kuma?" Noda teased and we all laughed.

"Let's eat burgers," I agreed and we ended up at the burger shop on the way to the station. There was another one closer to the school, but Shirokin students had been banned from going there since a year ago so we could never go to that one. But it was fine. I liked this one better anyways.

I couldn't stop laughing as the guys told us more stories about Tetsu and Yankumi's basketball coaching and their chaotic practice. Just the thought of Yakuza playing basketball...

It was completely dark out when we finally finished eating and I felt a little more ready to head home.

"We'll walk you to the station," Uchi insisted.

"Halfway," I argued. But they insisted on coming with me anyway.

But as we walked past the big shrine on the way, I saw something that made me stop.

"Yankumi?" Sawada said quietly next to me.

It really was Yankumi. She was wrestling a guy in the dirt area in front of the main hall of the shrine. She threw him down and he skidded across the sand.

"What are you doing?!" she demanded. "Can't you get up on your own?! Don't wait around for someone to offer you a hand! If you do that, you'll always be weak!"

"Yuuki," Minami whispered in disbelief as we stepped closer. So this was Yuuki...and this was Yankumi trying to make him stronger.

"This world doesn't favor people who can't stand on their own two feet!"

At these words, Yuuki charged at her. She threw him down again.

"Is that all you got?!"

He growled through his clenched teeth and went for her again, only to be thrown down.

"Stop holding back and hit me with everything you got!" she shouted at him. He threw himself against her and they struggled for a longer time before Yankumi pushed him down once more.

Tetsu's words from the afternoon echoed in my mind. Yankumi also got thrown down again and again yet every time, she stood back up. I was gripping the strap on my schoolbag to keep from shaking. It was as if that were me, being thrown down by Shun every time I complained that life was unfair, every time I talked back about how I didn't deserve to be treated this way.

"Everyone wants to run away when something bad happens. But if you run away, it's over! To stand and fight back on your own strength when things are bad is what it means to live. Don't you have anything to say!" Yankumi shouted at him.

I took a step back at the force of her words. Sawada suddenly reached back and grabbed the strap on my schoolbag without looking at me. I found myself unable to move despite wanting to bolt.

Yuuki threw himself at her again and I could see that he was mustering all of his strength. I was stunned as Yuuki knocked both of them to the ground.

"See, you can do it," Yankumi said after they caught their breaths. "Don't forget that you can pick yourself back up and live to the fullest."

Yuuki pulled himself up slowly without saying a word and began to walk away.

"Come to the sports tournament tomorrow! We're counting on you," she called after him. He didn't look back.

She then turned and saw us when the guys stepped forward towards her. Sawada let go of my bag and joined the others.

"Yankumi…" Kuma and Minami said quietly.

"You guys saw that, huh?" she said. She smiled. "Don't give me such glum looks. It's all up to him now."

She was giving us the softest look, so different from the strength with which she threw Yuuki down earlier. The moment our eyes met, I turned to look away, afraid she would see how much I was shaken.

"Come on, you guys, go home," she said. "Rest for tomorrow."

I turned and ran without a word.

Shun had saved me. But why did I feel so lost now?

Author's Note: I hope you're all safe and healthy during this time. Thank you for reading. Would appreciate any feedback!