Groups of reserve course students huddle among each other. Classes have ended minutes ago, and now they're on their way to grab some cleaning supplies, but then something like this happened to them. For their safety, they've kept to themselves, avoiding eye contact with the uninvited student, and overall staying as far from her as possible.
They whisper to themselves, "What are a bunch of Ultimates doing in a place like this?" The group's starting to believe that they simply can't catch a break.
Natsumi passes by them, as if their presence didn't even register in her mind. She doesn't need to waste her time with lowlifes like them; those pitiful kids were only students of Hope's Peak because of their money, and even then, it's not going to help them stay here for long. If it weren't for an important business she had with someone, the thought of even stepping foot on this miserable place would've never crossed her mind like so.
Peko stays by her side as they got through the building's stairs. The bodyguard hasn't said a word since her charge furiously demanded she comes with her to the reserve course department a while back.
The yakuza heiress subconsciously grits her teeth. Her fists clench at her side. The aggressive display she put out causes a few more bystanders to scuttle away from her at a reasonable distance. Several of them look like they're about to turn blue all over in fear; if the angry and downright hostile girl wasn't enough, then the stone-cold, almost emotionless bodyguard with her would've done them in.
The door is ungraciously slammed open.
Students inside loudly gasp in shock, and as soon as they laid their eyes on her, plenty of them start to run and scatter around to the corner as far as they can. With their saucer-like wide eyes and dropped jaws that might've reached the floor, it's almost like seeing a bunch of goldfish flop around on land so pathetically.
But Natsumi doesn't pay any attention to them. Her attention is fully focused on someone else. There is one student inside who didn't run away from her; that same student remains frozen in front of the chalkboard.
Of course, he wouldn't run from her. They both knew each other as a family would, or in this case, should've.
A growl leaves her throat as she trudges her steps. She gets closer to that student until only centimeters of space are left between them. The student breaks out of their brief shock. He almost backs himself away from her, but she wouldn't let him.
"What in the actual fuck do you think you're doing here, you useless asshole of a brother!?" She screams, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.
Fuyuhiko chokes out a gasp as he's hoisted up; his hands remain hanging limply by his sides. His eyes dart around the area; he goes slack when he sees Peko eyeing him from nearby. Her expression remains unreadable, but those eyes…
He refocuses himself, looking towards his sister as he replies with a weak, strained smile, "Long time no see, Natsumi. It's great to see you doing so well. Looks like Hope's Peak's treating you and Peko pretty good."
It took every last willpower for her to not toss her brother off to the side after hearing him say something like that so casually. As if he hadn't gone up and left—
"We're going to talk. Outside." She growls. "Now." She releases one hand from him, but the other holds tighter to the back of his shirt, as if she's fully intending to haul Fuyuhiko out of this classroom herself. She ignores her brother's protests, not caring if he was assigned to this class' cleaning duties today.
Both siblings, and Peko to serve as their escort, are about to leave the scene. They would've gone out of this room without much trouble; that is, if someone hadn't barged into what's clearly a private matter.
"Who said you can come here, Kuzuryu?"
"Huh?" Annoyed, Natsumi turns to the girl who asked something as rude as that. "Do I know you?" She dismissively asks with a somewhat tired tone. Aside from her brother, who only enrolled recently, she didn't bother to notice any differences between each reserve course student. They're all a bunch of generic and forgettable people anyway. It's not like they're meant to stand out in the first place.
The girl who called her out earlier foolishly steps forward. Despite her lower status, she stands as tall as she could be at her level. "I guess it makes sense you wouldn't remember so easily. You must've tormented so many people during your stay here."
Her eyes narrow as she scrutinizes the idiot. If her glare could kill, that idiot would've been shredded to bloody pieces by now.
Now that the yakuza heiress has a closer look at that student, several memories start to flood back in her. "Oh, yeah. I remember now. Sato, right?"
And now, the idiot has a name attached to that plain face. A couple of students begin to whisper among themselves some more. They could hardly believe the new turn of events.
Natsumi continues, "You were that kid who loved to play pretend as Koizumi's knight in shining armor from way back then, weren't you? It looks like you haven't grown out of that phase even until now." A wicked look of amusement makes its way to her. She then adds, "I wonder, why are you trying to play hero for someone you don't even know this time? Now that you and Koizumi aren't in the same classes anymore, you've got fill that void in, don't you?"
"Kuzuryu…" Sato gulps, before her gaze steeled and she adds, "H…He's my classmate too. I don't care if you're his sister. I'm not going to stand back and let you harass him in front of everyone."
Those words stirs her bodyguard into a more prepared stance. Peko didn't reach for her weapon just yet, but she stands close to her in case if that girl tries anything.
"Harassment?" She can't help but bark a laugh at that. "Are you seriously calling a private chat with my brother, 'harassment'? I think you butting in something that isn't your business in the first place should be considered as the real harassment here."
The rest of the reserve course students remain far apart from the two. Many refuse to get themselves involved, and a few are already starting to sigh and shake their heads in disapproval about what's going on, but some of them are starting to look at Sato with unbelieving awe in their eyes. Not a single one of them would ever think of speaking up against an Ultimate student, and yet, here their classmate was, doing exactly that.
"I can't believe that." Sato's body remains tense, which is natural in a situation like this. "If anything, I refuse to believe that. You've done the same thing to Mahiru for as long as I remember. You two may be classmates now, but—"
"Mind letting that go now? I mean, come on, I haven't even seen you since middle school." Her free hand palms over her forehead. "Why even bother to bring that crap up?"
"I won't get over it. I can't just forget it all, not after everything you've done back then."
She tiredly sighs; she can't believe the kind of mess she's gotten herself into. However, Natsumi refuses to back down from the fight this girl started. "You just said that Koizumi and I are classmates now. In that case, why the hell would I go back to the way things were before? Shit like that gets tiring after a while."
Sato goes still. Her chest heaves in and out so unevenly.
Natsumi turned away, thinking that she'd won this battle. She isn't even able to set a few inches out of where she stood when the other girl dares to step even closer to her.
"Are you seriously saying that you stopped treating Mahiru so horribly not because you realized it was wrong, but because you got tired of it?!" Sato bursts out as she declares that.
She lets out a "Tch." when she sees that the other girl closes in at least less than half a meter close to her. "And here I thought you couldn't get any dumber than you were back then. You haven't changed that much at all." A malicious grin spreads across her lips. "Well, since you really want me to teach you the same lesson again, then go ahead and be my guest."
Sato doesn't flinch at the threat, and if anything, it only serves to make her even more determined than she ever did before. Her eyes glare back at the yakuza's. "If there's anyone who hasn't changed a bit, then it'd be you."
Neither made their next move, and yet, both of them anticipated what the other might do afterward. Sato's body stance is wracked with high tension, while Natsumi retained her confident composure, helped by the fact that Peko stood still right beside her.
It's sort of unfair, since it's clear that this is lopsided in the favor of someone's case. The rest of the reserve course students are aware of that; they anxiously wonder how their classmate is going to make out of this, and if there'd be any repercussions against them afterward.
It doesn't get any more heated than that. Neither of the two was able to execute their next move when another voice barged into their conflict.
"Um," One of the reserve course students step out from the side. She ignores the hushed gasps from everyone else and proceeds to stand in-between them, asking, "Please don't start a fight here."
All three of them turn their attention to the newcomer. Peko's face remains neutral; she doesn't say anything against her.
Natsumi groans. She's starting to have enough of all of this. She's starting to wonder if that idiot's hero complex was starting to rub off on the rest of the class. It won't be surprising if that was the case. "If you know what's good for you, then you won't get yourself involved. You better not go and piss me off."
Sato's face softens when she refers to her classmate. She voices out both her concern and disapproval in a much gentler tone, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you get hurt because of us. This is between me and her."
The other reserve course student hasn't said a word in reply, but other than that, stays right where she is.
"I'll say this again." Sato returns her attention to her former tormentor. "Let my classmate go right now, and kindly leave our class after that. We were in the middle of cleaning everything up, and you've cost us so much time because of your so-called 'family matter'." Any signs of fear left her as she raises a finger towards her, practically shouting, "You may be an Ultimate student now, but you're still the same, rotten coward who picked on my innocent and defenseless friend years ago!"
The room goes quiet after that. The only constant noises that remained are the ongoing hushed remarks from the bystanders.
Peko wordlessly reaches for the blade at her back. She brandishes the weapon in a threatening manner, causing more mutters to form among the reserve course students.
Natsumi raises a hand to stop her bodyguard. Peko tenses, as if she's hesitating for a split second, before she forces her body to calm down and go back to a relaxed posture. She sheathes her sword, but keeps her eyes locked on both of the reserve course girls.
A low chuckle leaves the heiress. "You know, I was already in a pissy mood when I got here, but I was nice enough to let you go even with all of that. But now, you just had to cross a line you shouldn't have." Her hand curls into a fist.
The other girl's eyes begin to widen. "Kuzuryu, you—"
"I'll do everyone a favor and put scum like you back right where you belong!"
Sato's eyes shut tight in reflex; she stands her ground while she tensely awaited the harsh blow that'd land on her cheek.
The blow never landed on its intended target. Before either of the two knew it, the newcomer gets directly in-between them.
A loud crack fills up the room.
Sato opens her eyes; she places a hand over her mouth as she gasps.
The blonde tries to say something, but nothing came out as she watches the other reserve course student stagger back. But even with that in mind, there's no changing one simple fact. Her fist is caught in that girl's hand. She flashes an unfriendly smirk. "So, you've decided to go ahead and think you're some kind of hero too?"
"I said," Her face remains unreadable as she stares back into the yakuza's eyes. "Please don't start a fight here." That hand should be broken, and yet, she kept a tight grip on the Ultimate's own.
They stay that way for a few more seconds, but it felt like it's longer than that. Everyone else anticipated what could happen next.
Natsumi's face contorts to that of a heavily disgruntled look. She forcefully pulls her hand off of the reserve course student's; judging by the crack earlier, it didn't take her much effort to pry herself free.
She turns away from them, walking out before she stops for a moment. "Let's go, Peko." She coldly orders her bodyguard. Her arms cross, glaring at the two students one last time. "I'm not going to waste any more time than I already did in this hellhole."
"Understood, young mistress." Peko replies with a brief nod, following closely behind her.
Just as both Ultimates left, Natsumi glances at a certain student from aside. She promises him in an eerily calm tone, "I'll be talking to you later, 'big brother'."
All sorts of talks that came from those students after pour in as soon as the class's door was slammed close.
The next day came. Their teacher drones over the day's lessons as he usually does.
Chiaki glances over her hand once again; the bandages she hastily wrapped her hand around looks kind of crude. It didn't ache as much as it did yesterday, but that didn't mean she should move it too much. In a way, it's a good thing that she didn't use her right hand to block that punch; it'd make things a bit tougher if that happened instead.
Her hand may not have been seriously broken like it might've had, but it's still quite concerning. It'd take a while before it heals up completely. It'd be better if she could get treatment from a hospital, but, she can't just go around and ask for money, especially not from her parents.
About them, yeah, her parents wouldn't be happy if they heard about this incident. Their teacher didn't say anything, but judging by the stern glare he shot towards her when she came in class, he gave off the impression he'd contact them about it.
Oh well.
In hindsight, what she did yesterday was the most reckless and dumbest thing she has ever done in her life, and that's saying a lot. Why did she think that she could somehow get herself involved in between a yakuza's family issue, a tense history between a schoolmate and a classmate, and then think that she'd somehow make it out alive in a single piece?
She's lucky she only got away with bandages wrapped all over her left hand. There's a high chance that someone like Kuzuryu could've done so much worse instead.
Chiaki faintly remembers a chill ran down on her when the Ultimate effortlessly freed her hand back then. She never got herself involved or defused those kinds of situations before. If things went bad, she would've never stood a chance against Pekoyama.
'But, Sato got out of there without getting hurt.' She thinks, remembering the scared, but resigned look her classmate made before that. 'That's what matters the most, right?'
As the lessons went on and on, her eyelids begin to droop; she kept herself from falling asleep, but that didn't stop her from leaning her face onto her hand. She no longer cared about the fact she started tuning their teacher's dull voice out moments ago.
It feels like it took a bit longer before the first half of the day was done. As soon as the bell rang and their teacher permitted them, everyone else took the chance to get out. Once they were gone, she gets her bag, preparing to leave for the usual lunchtime meet up.
She hasn't reached close to the door when someone called out to her.
"Hey."
She stops; she heard that voice before from a day ago. Turning around to address him, she asks, "Do you need something?"
Kuzuryu shrugs his shoulders. "When you put it that way," He dismissively shakes his head and said, "No, I don't need anything from you."
"Why did you call for me, then?" Turning tail and running is starting to sound like a good idea; she kept herself from doing it out of impulse.
"No reason. I just wanted to tell you one thing." He leans back on his seat. "You've got some guts back there. No one else would've ever tried to stand up to my little sister like that; especially not when Peko's with her too." He snickers. "Color me impressed."
She has no idea whether her new classmate was commending her or insulting her. Then again, when she thought about the kind of lifestyle the Kuzuryus have, it's most likely a mix of both.
"I never thought that I would've done something like that either." She admits, eyes focused on the floor.
"Huh." He turns his head to the side, as if he's looking at something at a certain angle.
She tries to follow where his eyes were staring at; her eyes soon go over to her bandaged left hand. Realization hits her as she insists, "It's nothing. It's not as bad as it looks."
He stands up from his seat and begins to walk towards her. "Bullshit," He mutters under his breath. He's close enough, and soon, the boy grabs her good hand and places something on it. "Here. Take it."
Chiaki looks down on her palm and nearly throws it out in surprise. "I—…" She can't believe the amount she was seeing; even her parents will never throw these numbers at her allowance. "This is way too much." She tries to place the pack of cash back into his palms while shaking her head. "I can't accept this."
Kuzuryu shakes his head. "Nope. You're taking it whether you like it or not." He gently, but also somewhat forcefully shoves the money back to her palm. "It's the least I can do, after the shitshow my sister pulled."
Resigning herself to his insistence, she hesitantly takes it with her. "Oh, uh, thanks, Kuzuryu." Her head bows low.
He grunts in slight annoyance. "Don't call me that. It's going to sound confusing when you do." He waves a hand off. "Just Fuyuhiko is fine, or whatever."
"Well, thank you then, Fuyuhiko."
"Don't mention it. It's nothing."
Chiaki turns to leave. The door closes softly as she left. One thing remains in her mind; despite the first impressions, maybe he isn't as bad as his sister was. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk to him again some other time. Maybe, it'd be nice to have a friendly acquaintance of some sort in this class.
Hajime notices that he arrived a bit earlier than usual at their meeting spot. Normally, he'd show up around a few minutes after Chiaki comes in there (understandable, since this was the reserve course building); right now, at least six minutes have passed and he hasn't seen any signs of her yet. A bit concerning, still, he keeps himself there. There's a chance she got held up with something.
After around several seconds has passed, he sees a familiar face pass by towards his direction. He lets out a smile, waving at her.
However, as soon as she got closer to his vicinity, his smile might've gotten strained out of reflex. Even from there, he can see the bandages that wrapped all over his friend's hand. A part of him wanted to rush over and ask her all sorts of questions; he keeps himself rooted on the bench. 'Calm yourself down.' He reminds himself, 'Remember, fussing all over that isn't going to help either of you; it'll only make her avoid that topic even more. Wait until she talks to you about it or for a more appropriate time to bring that up.'
"Hey. Sorry about this, I got held up in the last subject." She sheepishly says, before taking a seat right beside him, at his left side. She places her bag aside. "I didn't make you wait too long, didn't I?"
"It was only a few seconds, so it's fine." He replies. While he checks over her for less than a split second, he doesn't linger on it for too long. She'd notice if he stares, and the last thing he wants is to push her away before he can try to help.
He watches her take her favorite console out of her bag, along with the cartridge of a game he didn't recognize, and a link cable.
"You know, I've only played this once before. I haven't touched since then it until now." She admits as the game boots up.
"Well, I remember you telling me you've replayed most of the games you had more than a dozen times, so I guess that sounds a little unusual coming from you." He then adds to lighten their conversation up, "Don't tell this is one of those 'so bad it's kind of entertaining' kinds, isn't it?"
He hears her laugh a bit before shaking her head.
"It's nothing like that at all, really. I promise you, this one's actually pretty good. It's just that, there are hidden features and a bonus storyline that's unlocked when you've got two or more players connected." She leans back on the bench with a sigh. "I couldn't find anyone else to play the game with me, so I never got to experience it. I didn't look up on any playthroughs about it, and I sort of forgot about it for a while."
Hajime hums in acknowledgment. "I see. Well then, now that you've said that, I'm getting excited about this."
"Me too."
They soon get started with the game. It looks fairly simple at first based on the characters' designs and gameplay. Aside from the gimmick she mentioned earlier, it's more or less a standard RPG with beat 'em up elements. It turns out this game isn't a co-op like he thought it'd be.
From what's seeing so far, their characters are on opposing sides. He sneaks a little peek at how Chiaki is doing with hers; the area they're exploring in looks the same, aside from a few minor differences like their characters and so.
As their session went on, Hajime's mind isn't as fully invested in the game. It's not that it was bad; it's just that, he can't stop thinking about that. He feels his eyes wander towards her hand a few times, and he immediately forces them back to the screen. She's by his left side, and so, he can't take a closer look without being too obvious.
While doing that, he also ends up noticing that Chiaki didn't seem to be that into it either. She does look like she's enjoying herself, don't get him wrong, but the movements from her hands aren't as coordinated as they usually were.
He has a feeling about the reason why. He's sure it wouldn't be good to overexert the bad hand, and yet,
'She's isn't trying to bring that topic up. Actually, it looks like she's trying not to draw any attention to her hand at all.'
Their characters end up encountering each other during the first stage. They watch their characters exchange their sets of dialogue, the typical rival talk in these kinds of games, and then, the unique battle music reserved for these PVP scenarios plays.
Sounds of button mashing joins in with the game's music and sound effects. For some reason, their characters are evenly matched. As soon as one of them gets a hit in, the other hits back until their HP is around the same amount.
Because it's still at the beginning of the game, the fight didn't last too long.
He stares back at the screen. He couldn't believe it.
This was the first time he beat her. In any other situation, he'd be surprised, and then be so happy for himself. He couldn't beat her any of the games they played together, and the only time he won was when they played on co-op against AI enemies. It should've felt exhilarating to taste victory for the first time.
Right now, he couldn't feel any of that. It feels wrong.
He puts his console down. "Chiaki," He begins, trying not to fumble over his words while thinking of a way to tactfully voice his concern out. "I noticed it earlier, but, your hand…"
She brings the limb he mentioned in front of her, unintentionally giving him a better view of it. "Oh, this? It's nothing. I was a bit careless with some stuff yesterday." She downplays it. "You don't have to worry about me, though, really. It doesn't hurt that much right now."
His eyes go over to that part, and then back to her face, studying her for any change of expression. On the surface, she had her usual relaxed face. Other than that, he notices things that clued in her hesitance in telling him more.
He bites the inside of his cheek; he isn't sure if he should be asking this in the first place, and yet, he still did. "Is it alright if I ask you what happened to your hand?"
"I already told you, I was just careless. Everyone in my class was on cleaning duty yesterday. I helped a classmate out with something, and next thing I knew, this happened." She explains and proceeds to insist, "But I'm okay now. All I have to do is go for check-ups every day and not to stress my hand too much."
Realizing he encroached into dangerous territory, he drops it down. "Okay, I understand. I just can't help but a worry a bit when I saw that, you know. I thought that maybe someone was picking on you or worse."
Her body noticeably tenses for a while. She soon gets herself back to her usual self as she remarks, "Still, I never thought that you'd beat me today. You're getting good at this, Hajime."
"Nah, I only got lucky. I'm pretty sure after this, you're gonna hand my ass over to me like you usually do." He replies with a slight laugh.
"Come on, I can't be that good. Speaking of, I think this game is off to a good start. Don't you think so too?"
"Yeah. It sure is. I can already tell it's going to be one hell of a ride."
While he keeps their conversation going on, Hajime went back on the details Chiaki told him regarding her injury. He could tell that she told him the truth, but at the same time, it felt like there were a couple of things she deliberately hid from him.
Thinking about that made everything a bit more alarming than how she described it.
Still, whatever happened to her yesterday, he won't try to forcefully pry it out of her. He'll give her the space she needs.
Since they started attending their respective classes, it's always been the three of them; up there, on top of the reserve course building. Because of Sato's strict class schedule, lunch was the only time they could hang out like this.
It's been fun and carefree. At least, it was until now.
"She did what?!"
To any outsiders, it would've been weird to hear someone like Hiyoko scream with genuine concern in her voice.
Sato flinches at the outburst. She isn't able to say anymore, not when the other two began to smother her with worry.
Mahiru, as soon as she heard her longtime event recount what happened a day ago, instinctively leans closer to her. Her fingers run over and press over her friend's arms, asking her, "You didn't get hurt too bad, did you? I'm so sorry to hear that. I should've been there."
She forces a smile on her face, telling her, "I'm fine. I didn't get hurt at all," But then, her face drops as she recalled the event. "But, I don't think I can say the same for my classmate."
"Your classmate?"
"Who cares about that?!" The petite girl's face contorts so much from intense rage. "That bitch already crossed the line before, but this time, she went too far. I swear, I'll—"
"Hiyoko," Mahiru places a hand over the nurse's shoulder. "Please, calm yourself down right now!"
She mustn't have heard her dear friend. It's not hard to see why; the nurse is too occupied with her angry rants concerning a certain classmate. That and she happens to let out colorful threats that involved too much information on how surgical tools worked.
The artist tries again, without any success in placating the angry nurse.
Sato insists, "You don't have to worry about me, really. I wasn't the victim there; it's the classmate who took the blow for me." She remembers seeing her in the morning, and felt her heart stop when she caught sight of white cloth wrapped around her classmate's hand.
"That doesn't change the fact she could've hurt you." Mahiru counters. She rubs her free hand all over the smaller girl's back, to get her to relax even a bit at least.
"That Kuzuryu. I swear, I should've at least done something to her a long time ago! If only she wasn't my classmate and if she didn't have that stupid bodyguard with her all the time." Hiyoko finishes her rants off with a tired, but still rather furious, grumble.
"You don't have to do any of that. I can take care of myself." Sato turns to the smaller girl with an unusually serious look on her face. "Please, Mahiru already went through this before. I don't want you to get involved with this too."
"And why shouldn't I?" Hiyoko questions. Her voice sounds far fiercer than how she'd use it on her patients.
She glances solemnly at her old friend as she brings her arm into their view. There's an appalled look on Mahiru's face as if she fully knew what that part entails.
Hiyoko doesn't understand what meant, but she keeps quiet. Her eyes glue on what the reserve course student was about to do.
Wordlessly, she pulls one of her sleeves down until it folded below her elbow.
One lets out a choked gasp that bordered on near sobbing. The other doesn't let out a single noise, remaining stunned in silence.
A long, somewhat thick scar ran along the arm's exposed skin. "She could do this to either of you someday." Sato warns with a shaky breath, "I don't know what I'd do with myself if that day ever comes."
"Sato…" Hiyoko's voice is low. "I never thought that something like that happened to you."
"That's why, I'm asking—" Her voice breaks a bit before continuing with, "No, I'm begging you two, please, just, leave it all to me. She can do whatever she wants to me. I don't care about that, as long as no one else gets caught in it."
Sato wants to say one more thing to them but kept it to herself. There's no need to make them even worried than they already are.
'Especially if the ones who'll be hurt in the end are you and Mahiru.'
A/N: Here we are at the start of the Twilight Syndrome Arc. I'm definitely excited on what this road with a lot of turns will lead to, and how it'll affect future events. Side note, I know that Natsumi can be a sympathetic character, but I'll be damned if I gloss over her nastier aspects.