Preface: Hey, guys! As it turns out, I'm back to write for the crazy world of River City Girls. I just couldn't resist, but that's hardly my fault. I've got a feeling that anyone who's played will surely agree!

Much to my delight, a RCG sequel was just confirmed this summer, and one that would bring back Misako and Kyoko. I was immediately looking forward to seeing the girls again, but the news that the guys were returning was what really piqued my interest. They were my favorites to play as, and unlike most people, I actually thought it was a neat plot twist that they weren't even in any trouble whatsoever during the girls' rampage.

But the one thing that was kind of disappointing was the fact that they didn't get the same opportunities to exchange dialogue like the girls did. That was obviously because they weren't encountered until the ending, but in what little the game does reveal about them, they actually have quite the amount of potential as far as personality goes. There's also the fact that the trailers for the game state that Kunio and Riki have made a habit of cleaning up the streets even before RCG takes place.

I decided to do something with all of these bits of lore. What you're about to read is a story set right before the events of River City Girls, detailing Kunio and Riki's decision to spend the day at the spa. It's going to be set in the RCG-verse specifically, so none of the other Kunio-kun games or their depictions of the characters will be explicitly taken as canon to this story. I'm primarily going by what was established in River City Girls. However, I figure it'd be cool to allude to some of the other games as well, so that's what I'm gonna do. Keep your eyes peeled.

With everything said, enjoy!

River City Girls: What We Deserve

Kunio kicked his front door closed behind him, balancing a gigantic trash bag in each arm while he carried his book bag across one shoulder. Not only did it turn out to be a test of strength, but it wound up being a test of his gag reflex as well. He was glad that he hadn't eaten this morning with the way this week's garbage smelled.

Fortunately, the garbage truck would be here any minute to pick it up. Then it was off to school.

Kunio set the bags down to check his phone's clock. He reached for the lid of the can. . .

"Boo!" Godai exclaimed, popping out from inside.

Kunio gave a yelp, falling over.

"Whoa, whoa, w-whoa. . !" Godai stammered, his eyes going wide as he teetered.

The trash can noisily fell onto its side. Godai shook his head with a blubbering noise, not paying any mind to the raccoon that skittered right on top of his head.

"Top of the mornin' to ya, Kunio!" Godai merrily greeted. "Fancy meeting you here, huh?"

"What do you mean?" Kunio balked with a frown. "You were inside my garbage!"

"Along with a lot of soda cans, too!" Godai tittered, innocently grabbing one. "Not one for recycling, I take it?"

Kunio angrily grabbed him by his shirt. "What's this about, Godai?"

Godai flashed a big, cheesy smile. "Oh, just wanted to know if you'd seen the Sabu statues they're putting up."

Kunio blinked. Sabu statues?

"What are you on about?"

"Those cute little statues of Sabu!" Godai exclaimed. "I've already seen five! River City's really committed!"

"Sabu is anything but cute," Kunio hissed. "His whole Yakuza business got him thrown in jail!"

"I know, right?!" Godai scoffed with a grin. "For a known crime boss, our town must really like him! Or it really wanna stay on his good side. But who knows!"

Kunio scowled. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Aw c'mon! I ain't nothin' if I ain't a pal!" Godai grinned. "I just knew I had to keep my old buddy, Kunio in the loop about the guy he took down!"

"You are not my buddy." Kunio spat. "Where are these statues?"

Godai gave a wide gesture. "All over! The closest one's at the park!"

Kunio felt his blood boiling. Nothing that had to do with Sabu was good, but the worst part was not knowing whether Godai was being serious or not.

"Whatever," Kunio roughly released Godai. "Just get outta here."

Godai gave a wave of his long, calloused fingers. "You got it, buddy!"

Godai scampered away, disappearing over a neighbor's fence.

"And stay outta my trash!" Kunio shouted after him.

Kunio stared off into the distance. What was Godai talking about? Why would there be statues of Sabu around? What could that have meant? Had Sabu escaped from prison?

His blood boiled at the thought. Sabu had come onto the scene just last year, and tried to turn River City into a hive of corruption just beneath the noses of its citizens using his ties to the Yakuza. Kunio had only noticed when he was a sophomore, but he couldn't have stood by while this sort of thing went on.

Fortunately, his friend Riki had seen this too, and for all of his delinquency and rebelliousness, had a desire to put a stop to Sabu all the same. Looking back, Kunio wasn't sure if he could've taken on the entire Sanwakai family on his own. He was never a pushover, but with how much more skilled he'd grown to become, the entire Sanwakai family probably would have been too much for him to defeat alone. Luckily, Kunio didn't have to.

Together, the two of them brawled their way through the Sanwakai until they'd come face to face with Sabu himself. Even by the end of their hard journey, he and Riki had beaten him down. They'd kicked him out of the window of his own high-rise penthouse for the coup de grace, deciding that broken and bloody wouldn't do for someone so depraved.

That, and they didn't feel like getting burned alive. The fires that Sabu had going in his entire top penthouse floor for whatever reason had spread to the point of completely blocking their way to the elevator, so there was no going back down the way they came. Sabu had actually thought they wouldn't throw themselves out of the roof with him. He was wrong.

The three of them had been lucky enough to crash through the roof of a police station. The cops had Sabu handcuffed on the spot and taken away. River City had been free, and Kunio couldn't have been any happier. He'd begun looking forward to returning to the days where the city's biggest crime problems—and by extension, his problems—would be back to thwarting petty robberies and heists.

But if Sabu was back on the streets, he wasn't living those days. River City was in danger.

The park was completely empty by the time Kunio got there. It had just opened for the day, but he knew that he had about a half hour before adults began trickling in with their children. Sabu's defeat had resulted in he and Riki rising to fame, and with that came admirers. But Kunio didn't have the time to be admired right now. The only thing that he had time for was looking for this statue that Godai had supposedly seen.

I swear, if this is some idiotic joke of his. . .

He wandered further ahead, seeing absolutely nothing out of place. A bird flew by, landing on one of the park's fountains. Kunio noticed that it looked somewhat taller than usual.

Huh. Guess the park's got a new fount. . .ain. . .

Kunio's heart skipped a beat.

He dashed over to the fountain, and there it was. A small statue of Sabu's head.

It had the audacity to sit right on the top, like a decoration. This was a defacement, if anything. God, he could just hear him, bragging about how he'd mount himself two annoying kids on his wall for daring to interfere in his business. How River City would become known for something that it had never been before—a possession of his, where everyone knew their place, and everything revolved around him.

"You're dead meat!" Kunio roared.

His fist flew straight through the statue, sending chips of solid granite flying.

Kunio panted, trying to catch his breath as he stared ahead at what the statue used to be. His entire body shook with fury. If Sabu had weaseled his way out of jail, he was going to rot the city from the inside out.

But not if he had a say in it.

"Ready or not, here I coooome!"

Kunio's head spun towards the distant voice. It had been a parent playing with their child, heading off into the trees to find them.

Kunio wasn't taking any chances. He ran for the exit, pulling his hood over his head. Kunio and Riki's victory over Sabu and their continued acts of vigilantism around town made them heroes of River City. All the time, they were stopped on the street by complete strangers just to receive sentiments of gratitude or outright admiration from them. But that couldn't happen today. Not during a time like this.

Gotta get outta here. . . Kunio thought.

Kunio pulled out his cracked phone and called Riki as he ran.

"Dude, meet me over at the basketball court A-S-A-P!"

Kunio tossed the gate open and hurried inside the vacant court. The entire area altogether was completely empty, which he found to be eerie. In a strange way, that was a good thing. With no noise whatsoever, his ears had no excuse to miss anything. . .any suspicious-looking cars. . .any tattooed gangsters. . .

He felt blood pump in his ears as his eyes darted this way and that, not trusting anything. Eventually, his eyes landed on a basketball that had been left out in the far corner of the court.

Since childhood, Kunio loved sports. Basketball, hockey, soccer. . .it didn't matter. If it was a sport, Kunio would give it a go. Then he would fall in love with it, practice it, and become absolutely fearsome at it. And as he got older, he'd wanted to make it a part of his school life, where he could bond with people. Eventually after joining River City High's dodgeball team, he'd been nominated by his teammates as captain. Since then, he'd won his school one trophy after the next. The students all liked to make jokes, claiming that their winning streak wouldn't be in any danger even if the rest of the team had quit and left Kunio to do all the work.

No. Not now. Thing probably doesn't have air in it anyways. . .

Kunio didn't see much of a choice. Waiting for Riki was going to be torture. Maybe doing something would let him keep his sanity.

He grabbed the ball and walked to point guard. He took a shaky breath, bending his knees and taking the shot, only for the ball to bounce off of the rim.

Kunio grumbled, retrieving the ball. He returned to point guard, angrily giving a second try. His shot had been further off than his first, hitting the backboard and coming back to smack him in the face.

"Dammit!" Kunio grimaced, swiping the ball up from the ground. "Stupid ball!"

Kunio's grip on the ball tightened by the second. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Oh, who even cares?!" Kunio yelled. "I can't make this dumb shot anyways! It's always something, isn't it? I just have to have some kind of pain in my—"

"Hey."

Kunio screamed, whirling around to see Riki standing there.

"Jeez!" Kunio exclaimed, running a hand through his hair. "You scared me, man!"

"I noticed," Riki hummed. "How come?"

Kunio furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"You're all jumpy."

"I guess," Kunio sighed, tossing the ball aside. "It's gotta do with what I called you for."

Riki raised a brow. "So what's up?"

Kunio narrowed his eyes. He scooped up the broken statue head and sharply held it up for Riki to see.

"I found this!" Kunio seethed.

Riki dully eyed it. "You found a chunk of granite?"

"It didn't always look like this," Kunio shook his head. "I broke it."

"And you broke what, exactly. . ?"

"A bust of Sabu." Kunio answered gravely.

Riki's mouth gave a subtle twist. "Thought he got a life sentence."

"Me too!" Kunio's hands became fists. "He's out of prison, I just know it!"

"Seen any Yakuza around?" Riki questioned.

"Actually, no. . ." Kunio admitted.

"Any rumors? River City really got buzzing when he first showed up."

Kunio averted his eyes. "Not really. . ."

Riki eyeballed him. "Is Sabu even out of jail?"

"I told you, Riki, I know he is!" Kunio exclaimed, his eyes beginning to flicker both ways.

"How?" Riki raised that same eyebrow. "Because you found a random statue of him?"

Kunio rapidly shook his head, grabbing his friend's shoulders. "It's not random, dude. Godai says that the city's built a ton of them!"

"You're worked up over nothing," Riki coolly responded. "If you haven't actually seen or heard of any organized crime, then River City probably wants to suck up in case he actually is seen."

"Godai actually told me something like that, too. . ." Kunio muttered, glancing down.

Riki frowned. "This'll be the only time I ever vouch for that creep."

"But just think about it, Riki!" Kunio blurted, his eyes going wide. "What's stopping his goons from all storming the prison and breaking him out?"

"You do know that prisons have guards, right?" Riki questioned. "If the Sanwakai family gets any ideas, they'll wind up rooming with their Oyabun."

Kunio silently frowned, averting his eyes.

"Don't you think you're taking this a bit too seriously?" Riki asked.

"What? No!" Kunio balked. "I just care about our city!"

"So do I."

"But how can you be so. . .calm?" Kunio prodded. "I mean, you're always calm, but. . .you manage to keep it up even now!"

"I don't sweat it 'cause I know that if Sabu did make it out of jail, we'd just beat him again." Riki replied, giving a small shrug.

Kunio blinked. Riki had a point, but. . .

"Just try and settle down." Riki coaxed.

"I don't know if I can," Kunio sorely admitted. "Not after finding that dumb statue."

"You need to. Kunio," Riki frowned. "You fight crime on a regular basis, you captain the dodgeball team at your school, which opens up at the crack of dawn—"

"My school starts at eight-thirty, dude."

"And now, Sabu's got you all strung out," Riki continued. "When was the last time you took some time to let yourself recover from all of it?"

Kunio faltered. "I, uh. . .I can't really remember."

"So what gives?" Riki demanded. "How come you don't take care of yourself?"

"Because I can't," Kunio argued. "River City's more important than I am. I gotta be ready in case anything else threatens it."

"You can't look out for anyone if you don't do the same for yourself," Riki sternly replied. "And more than that, you're no less important than anyone else in this city. You stick your neck out all the time for River City. Don't you think you deserve a break?"

"I. . .it's just. . ." Kunio trailed off.

"You're a smart guy, Kunio," Riki said. "What'd be so bad about a breather from cleaning up human trash?"

"I guess it'd be partly because I'd never really thought about it," Kunio ran a hand down his face. "Hell, I don't even know what I'd do to decompress."

"That's why you've got me." Riki slowly smirked, placing a hand on Kunio's shoulder.

"What's that mean?" Kunio asked. "What are you proposing?"

"You need a spa day."

Kunio blinked. "I mean, sounds. . .nice. You really think so?"

"I know so. It's practically calling for us."

"Us?" Kunio asked. "You're going, too?"

"Sure am," Riki pulled out his comb. "You know that drug deal we busted the other night?"

"Yeah?"

"A bullet grazed my 'do, and it hasn't looked presentable since," Riki scowled upwards, trying to fix his hair. "Gonna need something to take my mind off of it 'till I can figure out how to get it back to normal."

Absolutely nothing about Riki's hairstyle looked out of shape. And Kunio definitely would have known with how often they saw each other.

"So where did you have in mind?" Kunio stuffed his hands into his pockets. "One of the ones Uptown?"

"I was actually thinking we'd give the one here in Crosstown a try." Riki said.

Kunio rubbed the back of his head. "You actually think I can get myself to relax?"

Riki placed a hand on his shoulder. "You just gotta forget about everything going on in your life. It'll be as easy as that."

"You're really insistent on this, aren't you?" Kunio smiled, curiously lifting an eyebrow.

"It'll do you a world of good, Kunio," Riki's lip turned up at the end of his mouth. "Trust me. Even guys like us are still human. We need time to keep our heads back on straight."

"And getting a few strands of hair knocked out of place necessitates that?"

Riki scoffed. "When you look this good? Damn right it does."

Kunio could only smile at his friend.

"Thanks, Riki."

Riki extended a fist.

"Anytime."

Kunio ignited his own fist, and bumped Riki's.

"What would you ever do without me?" Riki asked with a smirk.

Kunio scoffed, the edge of his lip turning up. "I'd manage."

"More like you'd lose your mind."

Kunio grinned. "Oh, screw you, dude."

"You'd constantly be in the fetal position. . ."

"You know I can just ignore you, right?"

"They'd put you in a straightjacket. . ."

"Lalalala!" Kunio shouted, covering his ears. "Can't hear you!"

"Crazy Kunio!" Riki called over to him with a smile. "Driven to madness without his best friend, Riki!"

Kunio spun around and marched back to Riki with a playful smirk. "You want a knuckle sandwich? You know I can give you plenty."

"Please," Riki taunted. "Only on your best days. Besides, we've gotta get going."

They turned to leave, only to see a small group of teens of African-Asian heritage staring right at them.

"Our bad, guys," Kunio apologized quickly. "We were just leaving, court's all yours."

"Never mind that!" One shouted. "You're Kunio!"

The group rushed inside, practically trampling one another just to be noticed. Kunio had gotten used to it.

"Fans, I take it?" Kunio assumed with a friendly smile.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" The one who'd spoken up puffed with excitement, holding out his ball. "C-can I get an autograph?"

Kunio smiled, reaching into his back pocket for a marker. He signed the ball in Japanese script.

"Kunio-kun"

"There you go." Kunio handed the ball back to him.

"Aw man!" He gasped. "You actually signed it! I got Kunio's signature!"

"Jayden, that ball's a national treasure now, man!" One of them said. "Better not let me get my hands on it!"

Kunio laughed. "Damn, you guys sure know how to raise a dude's spirits!"

"You deserve it, man!" Jayden beamed. "You're a hero! A hero that's got some game on the court!"

"Ah, you heard about that, did you?" Kunio grinned. "You wanna see something cool?"

"Are you kidding?!" Jayden practically squealed, handing Kunio the ball back. "Everyone stand back! We gotta let him work his magic!"

Jayden, his group of friends, and Riki all moved courtside as Kunio strolled over to point guard. He held the ball in front of him in one and, and then turned away from the hoop.

In a single motion, Kunio flung the ball high over his shoulder, straight into the hoop. Jayden and his friends ran over, whooping excitedly.

"I thought Jayden was kidding when he said you were magic!"

"You didn't even look at it!"

"How'd you hit all net like that?"

"Kunio!" Jayden smiled, slipping his way to the front. "That was awesome! You gotta tell me your secret!"

Kunio grinned. "Practice. Just like with all my sports."

"Man. . ." Jayden murmured wistfully. "I wish I was that good. . ."

"Just watch!" Kunio placed an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "You'll get there! Just gotta keep at it!"

"Kunio!" Riki called, leaning against the gate.

Kunio gave a little laugh. "Guess I gotta go."

"O-oh!" Jayden stammered. "Sorry! Didn't mean to keep you. . ."

"I gotta smoke you anyways!" One of the others jibed, wrapping his arm around Jayden.

"Oh yeah, Daisuke?" Jayden gave a tiny, timid grin. "L-let's see you try!"

"That's the spirit!" Kunio gave a thumbs up, walking over to Riki. "Kick some ass, Jayden!"

Jayden smiled. "Y-yeah! You bet, Kunio!"

Kunio lingered at the exit for a moment to watch them take their positions at the court, before springing into action. Kunio took one last look at Jayden sprinting around the court before he started toward Riki's convertible.

"So how about that?" Kunio asked with a knowing smile. "Getting to meet someone who admires me always makes me feel really good. Am I all better now?"

Riki devilishly smirked. "Nope."

"Oh come on!" Kunio smiled incredulously, climbing into the passenger's seat. "I wasn't thinking about stupid Sabu at all when I showed off that basketball trick."

"The key word being—basketball," Riki got into the driver's seat. "You had to have been thinking about sports when you made that shot for that kid.

Kunio scoffed at his friend. "There really is no pleasing you, is there?"

"Not when I'm taking care of my best friend," Riki's lip curled at the end. "Now buckle up. Or don't. Either way, spa day, here we come."

Kunio couldn't hold back a smile. He fastened his seat belt as Riki started the engine.

"Fine, fine."

"Is that it?" Kunio asked, eyeing a building with a feudal aesthetic.

"Yep. This is the place." Riki said, slowing the car to turn into the lot.

"Didn't know you were taking us someplace old-school." Kunio said.

"Figured it couldn't hurt." Riki shrugged, pulling into a space.

Kunio smiled. "It definitely doesn't."

The two of them pushed the spa's doors open, walking into something much different from what the outside suggested. The floors were marble tiled, and there were large, white couches lining the walls with small coffee tables sitting in front of them. The walls were painted a gentle cream color, giving the place a calm glow.

Huh. So much for being old fashioned. Kunio mused.

They approached the front desk. The manager had been typing away, pausing briefly to greet them with a pleasantly warm smile.

"Hello! Welcome to Crosstown's finest. . ."

Her greeting died in her throat after a moment. She leaned her head forward and squinted at them.

"Are your names. . .Kunio and Riki?"

Kunio gave a little laugh. "That's us, ma'am."

The woman clutched her heart, a look of surprise crossing her middle aged features.

"Goodness!" She sputtered. "I. . .I wasn't expecting to get such prestigious guests!"

Kunio grinned. "We get that a lot, ma'am."

The manager smiled at them. "Well, what brings you two brave boys to our little day spa?"

Kunio cheekily inclined his head toward Riki. "He insisted on coming here. Said we could both use the R & R."

"Well, I'd say Riki's got your best interest in mind!" She smiled. "We're open all the way until 9 PM. What'll we start you two off with?"

Kunio stroked his chin. What did he even need?

"We'll take a massage." Riki answered.

Kunio eyed his friend and shrugged.

"Yeah. Massage sounds good."

"Excellent!" The manager smiled. "And don't you two worry about the expenses! Your whole day is on the house! Least we can do for all you do for River City!"

Kunio pulled out his wallet with an unsure look. "Ma'am, it's fine, really. I can pay for—"

Riki plucked his wallet straight from his hands. He made a grab for it, only for Riki to be quicker.

"Thanks." Riki shortly replied.

"Of course!" The manager chuckled. "The changing rooms are just down the hall. You'll be meeting your masseuses shortly. They're such wonderful girls!"

Uh oh. . . Kunio thought.

"Well, uh," Kunio smiled awkwardly. "Thanks again, Miss!"

The manager smiled. "No, thank you, Kunio! You two enjoy yourselves, you hear?"

"Will do!" Kunio said, hoping that he sounded convincing enough.

The two of them began towards the changing rooms, receiving humbled greetings from the cleaning staff as they passed.

"Why'd you stop me from paying?" Kunio lightly reprimanded with a nudge. "And gimme my wallet, you jerk!"

"She offered you a free day here," Riki said, handing his wallet back. "What, you'd really rather burn the money instead?"

"I guess not. . ." Kunio conceded, pushing open the door.

Even the changing room managed to carry a welcoming feeling. Soft piano music flitted through, the cubbyholes were made of smooth, mahogany wood, and candles burned, giving the whole space a way homier feeling that it honestly had any right to have.

"Man, this is a pretty nice place," Kunio said as he stripped down. "And we didn't even have to drive all the way Uptown for it."

Riki lightly grabbed Kunio's shoulder. "Just try to actually enjoy it, okay?"

"With towels like these?" Kunio smiled, wrapping one around his waist. "I just might have to."

"Good." Riki nodded, fastening his own towel.

They walked out, and immediately found four girls staring wide-eyed at them. Two of them were Japanese, one was Caucasian, and one was African-American.

"Kunio?! Riki?!"

Hearing the girls' simultaneous gasp made Kunio brace himself for the inevitable.

"Yep. That'd be us. . ." Kunio said, offering an extremely uncomfortable smile.

"Sup?"

It was as if Riki's simple greeting triggered an explosion. One that sounded just like four girls shrieking with glee at such a volume that Kunio actually had to cover his ears.

"Nice to meet you, girls too," Kunio winced, leaning over slightly to look. "What do your name tags sa—"

The first girl cut him off by taking a took a step further. "I'm Mizuki!"

The next one stepped in front of her. "I'm Amanda!"

The third shoved Hailey aside. "I'm Hatsuka!"

The final girl elbowed Hatsuka out of the way. "And I'm Tiana!"

Kunio laughed somewhat awkwardly. "Nice. . .to meet you ladies."

They devolved into a chorus of giggles and tiny squeals.

"So, uh," Kunio smiled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Everything ready for us?"

"Wait, wait!" Amanda cried.

Riki raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Well, we wanna make sure you two strong, beautiful boys are nice and comfy!" Amanda twirled her hair. "Do either of you need anything? Fluffier towels, maybe. . ?"

"Something to drink?" Mizuki offered.

"A girlfriend?" Hatsuka cooed, coiling her hands around Kunio's bicep.

Tiana found his other arm. "Two girlfriends?"

Kunio held his hands up defensively. "Heh, appreciate the offer, but I'm taken."

"What he said." Riki hummed, partly to Mizuki and Amanda who had attached themselves to him as the other two had done to Kunio.

Hatsuka crossed her arms. "Lucky bitch."

"Hatsuka!" Tiana chided. "You can't say that to him! Even if it is true!"

Kunio chuckled, walking over to the massage table. "Appreciated."

Kunio honestly didn't see the point in getting that upset. Sure, he loved Hasebe—but she was a bit of a bitch.

Who was he kidding? Hasebe was a huge bitch.

Hasabe would've demeaned these four girls even after they'd realized that he was taken. Hell, she would've treated them like trash on the side of the road even if the two of them weren't romantically involved. That was how Hasebe treated everyone.

Kunio wasn't stupid—he'd always known this about her. For the most part, she didn't taunt him like she did so many other kids at their school. And then finally greeted him on her way to class, he was suspicious. He'd always been well-liked at River City High even before becoming the most popular student there, and that was why Hasebe seemed so interested.

Being the dignified young man that he was, Kunio decided that he wasn't going to take the bait, and be a pawn in whatever scheme she'd been hoping to hatch. Only to get the shock of his high school life a few months later.

He'd been walking home from a movie one summer evening, when he got the feeling that he was being followed. He'd found a group of jerks from Riki's school who had claimed that beating up one of River City's renowned heroes in time for Noize's concert that week would've had her falling head over heels for them. Kunio hadn't been impressed—especially not by their fighting ability. Those morons couldn't have fought their way out of a paper bag. He'd knocked all but one on the ground, and then it happened.

Hasebe had come rushing onto the scene, taking him down with a ferocious kick to the head. Not only would he have never guessed that a queen bee type like her could fight, but she'd actually done something so he didn't have to. Kunio had questions, of course. She admitted that she'd been watching him, and that she'd found his qualities attractive in a way that she didn't really comprehend, but in a way that she didn't mind either. Kunio tried to spot some clue that she'd been toying with him, but. . .he couldn't. Hasebe of all people seemed absolutely sincere. And for that, Kunio gave her a chance.

But that didn't mean she'd magically become a good person. Maybe around him she'd grown a concoince, but everyone else was forced to put up with the ugliest person they ever could have. Insults, pranks and reputation-shattering rumors, she did it all. Kunio knew of it, and hated it.

There had obviously been the fact that his girlfriend was a huge bully, but even more than that, Kunio couldn't stand not being able to go over and talk to whomever she'd been especially mean to. Apologize on her behalf, give him or her some words of encouragement—anything. But he knew that he just couldn't. It was no secret that they were practically River City High's power couple. He had the common sense to know that any attempt to smooth things over with anyone so unfortunate would have been more insulting than kind, and the last thing Kunio wanted was to patronize her bullying victims further. If he really wanted to help, Kunio had no choice but to leave all of those kids to their own devices. It killed him.

Kunio could have cared less about his own status among the students. He felt his happiest when he was able to help someone. If he couldn't do that, what kind of hero was he?

Hasebe's latest victim was someone that she'd actually managed to bully out of River City High a few days ago. She'd laughed it off, told him he'd come around to appreciate it. Not only had Kunio been appalled by what Hasebe had done, he didn't know if he could do this anymore with her.

The problem was, he hadn't told her this yet. Hasebe may not have treated the other kids at their school with a shred of decency, but aside from Mami, her fellow queen bee, he was the only exception. Kunio felt a strange sense of guilt whenever he considered breaking things off with Hasebe. Wouldn't it be judgemental of him? She hadn't done anything to him. Not only did she love him, the relationship between the two of them was just fine. What excuse did he have to end it? Wouldn't that make him a bad boyfriend?

"So I'm gonna start off with a back massage," Hatsuka brightly cooed, rubbing the last of the oil into her hands. "Those strong, sexy back muscles. . ."

"I-I don't know if I can do it!" Mizuki stammered. "My hands are shaking too much!"

"C'mon, get it together!" Amanda snapped. "We have to or we'll be so fired!"

"Yeah!" Tiana agreed, her voice quivering. "B-besides, we've done this a hundred times before!"

Kunio caught giving him a look. His friend's eyes were furrowed, but in a way that made him look like he cared. He'd seen that look on Riki's face before, and knew that it was only ever used on him.

Kunio gave Riki a sincere look, and gave a nod of his head.

He didn't know. He didn't know what he was going to do, but he was going to take Riki's advice.

He shut his eyes. Sabu, Hasebe, all of his athletic responsibilities. . .he was going to forget about it all for one day and relax.

The thought brought a smile to his face.

Author's Notes: So how was that? Pretty good? I sure hope so. I've been interested in a deeper look at these versions of the boys ever since I'd unlocked them. They don't seem to have much in the way of character in this continuity, but I wound up having an easier time than I thought with handling them. Their animations, moves, and bits of dialogue they do get in RCG really helped me out.

One little thing that I wanted to mention was how I depicted Kunio in this story. I was a little unsure, considering that he's a delinquent in alot of his appearances throughout the series. However, River City Girls seems to have abandoned that aspect of his character given that there's no mention of it. It could just be a byproduct of his limited screentime, but he's described as a nice person by both Misako and Yamada. I decided on leaving it out of his personality for this story since Riki clearly has the delinquent personality covered in River City Girls. And whether it was intended or not, it does help them to be a more dynamic pair.

And one other thing that I thought I'd address the way the extras were described by race. Obviously, our ethnic differences mean nothing, as we're all the same when it comes down to it. But the version of River City specifically seen in River City Girls is a blend of Japanese and American culture that is reflected all throughout the game. As a writer, I felt that I had to describe the setting the game is set in, which in this case, means show what the population looks like, since it's so different from any of ours. That's all!

There's still no word on wether or not Kunio and Riki will return as playable for the sequel. I've got my fingers crossed that they'll not only come back, but that they'll actually get to go through the narrative with the girls, assuming the "secret" ending is the one they pick up after. The character interactions between the four of them would be amazing if the first RCG game is any indication. I'm sure I'm not the only one excited for what they've got up their sleeves!

I hope you guys enjoyed reading this, because I really enjoyed writing it. And this isn't my first River City Girls thing that I've written, either. If you wanna see my take on what happened the day after Kyoko and Misako's goose chase, check out my "River City Girls: The Aftermath" story. There's not that much fanfiction out there for this series, so be sure not to let it slip by!

I'm personally psyched to say that this story now has a direct follow up! It's called "River City Girls: By Your Side" and its on my profile right now! It takes place both after this story and the events of River City Girls. It's features Kunio, Riki, and their new girlfriends—Misako and Kyoko. Go check it out if you wanna know what happens next!

I welcome your reviews! Bye!