"What're you doing, Haru."
Sakamoto stares at her as she stands still just outside the school gate. She looks around curiously.
"Someone is supposed to be chauffeuring me home but... He isn't here."
"That sounds a bit like rich people, shit."
She glares at him silently chastising him for his language.
"Look at me all you want but it don't change the fact that you're without a ride."
"I can call my own ride."
"Sure, but what about walking? Or is it too far away for all that."
Her home is actually a good few miles away from the school. On foot, it could take until sundown. However, she doesn't want to go home. Her life has hit a new low when she finds speaking with Sakamoto over her own father. She would much prefer her father's company, but then she would be without a will of her own again, a subservient girl serving her father. This isn't the case with Sakamoto, someone that brings her unease, yet allows her to be herself. Day by day she begins to envy his outspoken nature.
"Accompany me."
He growls at her with a finger in her face.
"What did I say about talking down to me... Don't order me around like I'm your dog."
She pushes the hand aside with her own glare. She shakes slightly knowing he won't hesitate to assault her, but she won't be pushed around, not anymore.
"It was your suggestion. I know you can protect me should anything happen near us."
Sakamoto grows quiet. His mind a blank for a moment until he sneers and nods. He gestures for her to lead.
"I don't do bodyguard duty for free you know."
"You want me to pay you?"
"Nah. I just want something to eat. You ever had beef bowls?"
It certainly is out of the way for her, but she had never gone out on her own, let alone with someone close to her age. She never ate at such a simple establishment either. The crowds would bother her, but it seems to her that everyone knew each other, that this small restaurant. There's a conversation about work and it's constant troubles, the joys and nightmares of a family life, people talking about their lives...
Except for Sakamoto. It isn't like he's quiet, in fact this is the most she's heard him speak in such a friendly tone, knowing these men and women by name as if they were friends for years. He looks at her before pinching her nose gently.
"Oi, quit looking at me like a fish out of water!"
She scrunches her face and shakes her head to have him let go.
"Don't do that! I... I just didn't think you were so friendly after all."
"I'm not their friends."
"Huh...?"
He thumbs behind him at the group he had just made laugh with a crude joke.
"We're strangers here all looking to relax. It's the atmosphere of the place. I'm not about to go ruin it for everyone and they won't ruin it for me."
"Like an understanding... But you're all so casual with each other?"
"Course we are! It's the Beef Bowl shop! Not a buffet at the Royale. You enjoying yourself though? You're quieter than a mouse!"
She looks down at her empty bowl... She's had three so far. She's quite stuffed and yet her stomach tells her she could go for more.
"I was enjoying the meal. I can see why you'd come here. It's so different from my usual palate."
"The food isn't my concern, girl. You were dead silent and doing nothing but eating. You weren't even eating normally either. All prim and proper-"
She tilts her before waving politely for another bowl.
"Is etiquette foreign to you?"
"No. If anything I'm all too familiar with how someone taught to be a thing instead of a person looks like. I bet you have to impress everyone wherever you go?"
"Don't assume things about me. It's rude."
"So I'm right?"
She doesn't answer and flinches from his devious expression as she unintentionally confirms his suspicions. She expected him to insult or tease her for this. Instead...
"You don't have to hide in that shell of nobility here, Haru. Just be you."
"... I don't know how."
She looks at her fresh steaming bowl with a solemn face. She has been told her entire life how to be, who to be, and never until recently had she desired individuality. Why would she? She was for a time, safe, secure and perhaps content, until that man came into his life. It isn't that Sugimura himself was big impact on her life. It was the implication.
She isn't a daughter to her father. She's an item to be used, a bargaining chip, a thing.
She wants to believe otherwise. She wants to refuse this, however as she looks back on her life, after her mother's death he had changed for the worst. Sakamoto then pats her back with a strangely reassuring tone.
"It's easier said then done but it all starts with this! Going out and finding people to mingle with, shit you should do it at school, try it with Niijima."
"Niijima-san? The Student President? Why her?"
"Cause she's as socially awkward as you."
Haru pouting makes him laugh.
"Hehehe! ~ For real though it's cause she has a good heart. You two may have a bit in common."
Her face softens. She doesn't really have any friends. It really hits her now more than ever that this boy...
Takes her bowl and starts eating it.
"S-Sakamoto-kun! Stop that! Why would you eat mine?!"
"Cause you weren't! Quit pulling on me!"
For some reason this brings her levity. What was annoyance turns to laughter. They are about to leave the establishment, but a man with a scar on his face starts shouting.
"Huh!? You want me to pay that much for shoveling shit down my throat?!"
"S-Sir..."
The employee meekly lowers his head.
"You ordered are special nearly a dozen times... Y-You have to pay."
"Shut the fuck up!? Shit food now shit service!? I don't gotta take this!"
Haru notices that there was barely anyone else working the entire place.
"How awful... He doesn't deserve that after working so hard. S-Sakamoto-kun?"
Sakamoto walks up to the unruly customer and grabs him by his ear. He pulls him away by it to the outside.
"Ow-!? Ow! Ow ow, what the fuck!?"
"Shut up. You're ruining the atmosphere."
He glances behind him seeing other burly men follow them outside. Sakamoto releases him and the man slaps his hand away growling as his friends surround the boy.
"You're a dead man, kid! You know that? Follow us somewhere quiet."
"Not until you pay what you owe."
One of the underlings speak up.
"Why would we?! It's just a shitty meat place with beer!"
"Shit or not, you pay when you eat, that's how it works."
Another one approaches him laughing.
"Check this kid out! C'mon then. Teach us a lesson- Aghck!"
Sakamoto twists the thug's nose tilting the entire head before shoving him back.
"I'm out with a friend so I'll pay for it this time. Just get the fuck out of my sight before you ruin things for everyone."
The group all glare at him but the scar-faced man scoffs.
"You're an idiot... We'll be back for you. C'mon guys."
They leave with the customers inside watching on edge waiting for a fight to break out. While many are relieved, others joke about Sakamoto's luck, while few actually admire his stance. He goes to the employee and takes his own wallet out to pay.
"Wait."
Haru stops him to pay for it herself. Sakamoto smiles at her.
"You're just made of cash, aren't you."
"I am not. I am glad you didn't get into a fight... Why did you do that? We could've walked away."
"Those guys were pissing me off, plus I thought, why not help the guy out."
She blinks at him. A simple answer, for sure, but she began to see an underlying kindness underneath the violence.
"It's getting late. We should go."
"Yeah, whatever."
They walk close to each other idly talking about school, advice on specific fruits and vegetables to care for, eventually she stops walking with a curious gaze.
"Sakamoto. You said you'd tell me about your situation... Why are you living on the streets?"
He walks ahead a few steps before hanging his head with a sigh.
"It's as simple as it gets. I just am. Always have been."
He looks back at her smiling.
"Sorry if you were expecting anything else. I can't talk too much about my life, yet."
"You said you would tell me. Are you going back on your word? I waited all day yesterday for you to say something..."
She approaches him and slowly reaches for his shoulder.
"You're... Not the best boy I could be around... But you've shown me there's more to you than meets the eye. You can trust me, Ryuji."
Bingo. He's done it. He's finally gotten here to care. Even if a minute amount.
"I'm not a good guy...
He pats her head before he hears chuckling. He looks around to see himself surrounded by the same group as before. In fact there were even more men then last time. Not enough to worry him though. The scarred man snarls.
"That's the fucker there, guys! Whoever gets to most kicks in can have his girl!"
Lecherous eyes move to Haru, her skin crawls from the implication alone. One of the men point at her.
"Hey... That's Okumura's kid! We could get all kinds of cash if we take her!"
"Forget that! My sister nearly died working at Big Bang Burger! Fucking warehouse managers didn't care though and fired her!"
"Two shitty brats right here before us... What a day!"
Sakamoto only sneers. He hasn't actually hit anything worth beating on in a minute. He'll still have to wait but these weaklings will do. He will show them what strength is.
The first wave tries to attack him all at once. Just like with the murderer, his left hand blurs, in Haru's own perspective it became like a whip. A flash of a motion that brutally battered anyone in front of him. The group all stumble back with a few falling to the ground with whines.
"W-What the hell was that!?"
"I didn't even see-! Was that him?!"
The scarred man stands back with the others watching with confusion. Sakamoto begins to walk forward, his back to Haru so she can't see his face, the stretched grin of the Devil.
"You want to fight...? Well fight..."
The scarred man gestures for hid men to advance.
"He's a shitty high school brat! This ain't no anime! Kick his ass already!"
The first group gather their bearings and try to attack again. Sakamoto's eyes lower in disappointment. These men aren't like him. Fighting them won't be fun if prolonged. So he ends it fast as he can.
He grabs a kick and kicks the standing leg to have his first victim fall, a tight grip with a simple spin turns said victim into a weapon, a large object that slams into all of the surrounding group. Sakamoto releases him with full momentum towards the scarred man. Both fall over each other with the remaining thugs all shocked at the sight. Sakamoto cackles cruelly as he beckons them.
"You want to touch her? You're dead men if you even think about it! Get the fuck out of our way or I'll rip your nuts off!"
The others run at him ignoring his threat, but he can tell it worked, he can see the fear wading off their filthy bodies. Smell the stench of anxiety in their nervous sweat. He punches them back, sending them away with a blow each, putting only as much force as he needs to.
Haru covers her mouth in her own shock. She knew he was a violent person, at the least aggressive, but this is unearthly. Inhuman. When he shoved his fist in their stomachs, it would bulge out from their backs, and their faces near rearranged from hooks to their jaws. This isn't a fight. It's a culling.
Sakamoto stops throwing punches soon after all but one man remains. The scarred man stands to his feet only to be stricken with terror...
"Don't come after us again."
Sakamoto's face returns to a normal stoic stare before he returns to Haru's side. He doesn't look at her because it occurs to him that he blew it. His addiction, his vice, his only form of joy has gotten in the way of things. He knows he could have gone easier on those roaches. Now, whatever Haru had though of him has fallen away.
This isn't the case.
She reluctantly hugs his arm. His bare arm. The sleeve had torn during the fight and revealed his own scars on his body. Haru comes to her own conclusion.
"You've been fighting for a long time... Haven't you."
He doesn't answer for a moment. She herself detest violence. However, when she saw him fighting, something woke up inside then. A sense of satisfaction. Perhaps because it was self-defense, or because the men had quite literally asked for it, whatever the reason one thing was certain.
"Ryuji. Thank you for keeping me safe."
"Anytime."