I See Red
Chapter 7: Red Sky


It probably started during lunchbreak. Kagura was guffawing at the Madao's despair one moment. The next, she was looking at her phone, an unmistakable anxious glow in her eyes. She didn't linger on this for too long-it was just enough that Okita noticed the difference. She pushed up her swirly glasses and immediately moved on to bother Shinpachi.

Okita glanced at Takasugi. If he had something to do with the message that Kagura received, it wasn't apparent. He was at his seat at the back, his feet up on the table, quietly reading an English print of The Little Prince. (Did Yamazaki just misread what he was reading? That badminton idiot.)

"All right, my dear pupils. One more today, and one last exam tomorrow. Let's get to it," slurred Ginpachi-sensei as the bell rang.

At that time, China looked as she normally did, but she was unable to hide the twitch in her fists.

As soon as exams were over, Kagura, in an impressive feat of stealth and discretion, disappeared under the watchful eye of the Shinsengumi. Soyo told Okita that no, she didn't tell her where she was going either and hasn't sent a message yet, and was there any reason to worry? Okita answered in the negative, but rushed the hell out of the school just the same.

Okita cursed China for being the secretive brat that she was. What the hell happened to her for her act this way? What kind of trouble was she getting into again? And what was this annoying protective instinct that suddenly activated in him, anyway? Okita told himself that it was so his school life could go back to normal because Ginpachi-sensei punished him blablabla but he knew that it wasn't entirely true, and he inwardly cursed himself for whatever the reason truly was.

Responding immediately to his SOS, Shimaru messaged everyone that no, China-san wazn't at Dragon'z Vein. Okita stopped in his tracks, racked his brain for the next likely place that she would be, and ran.

He looked at all the alleys and yards and enclosed spaces he could think of near Gintama High, but they were all empty. He closed his eyes and thought again, and ran to the dumbest place he could think of, which was the dump near the middle school.

"Bingo."

True enough, there she was, in all of her red-haired, stubborn glory. Nothing physical was going on yet. And to Okita's surprise, it was only her and that fake orange-haired girl there speaking to each other.

He ducked out of sight. He sent the location to the Shinsengumi groupchat. He would be ready to jump in when needed. For the meantime, he needed to listen.

"… I'm super sick of seeing your face and hearing your name all over campus," the girl was saying. She had a steel pipe in her hands, and even though she held it awkwardly, she had enough ill intent in her eyes to use it. "You think you're so popular, you Chinese freak, but you're wrong. You have no idea—no idea how much the other kids want to see you deported!"

Kagura was making a show of looking bored. She picked her nose and yawned. "Uh-huh. And so?"

The more bored she was, the angrier the other girl got. "I—I'll show you what happens to those who cross Urara-chan!" The girl charged at her, but her movements were too predictable. Kagura merely stepped back, and the girl called Urara swung the pipe in the air, lost her balance, and almost fell.

"… are we done? I need to go home and take a dump, yup," Kagura said.

Before Urara could finish grinding her teeth and try again, a strong voice came from the shadows. "Urara-chan. You disappoint me."

A taller female with long, blonde hair tied in two pigtails came out from the shadows. She wore the same Gintama High sailor uniform. Okita didn't know who she was. She had a haughty and dangerous look in her eyes, and this alone was enough to make Urara flinch.

"M—Matako-san," stammered the girl on the ground. "I could handle—" she squealed as the blonde girl took the pipe from her hands.

"I gave you enough time, little girl. You had one job, and that was to make the Yakuza Princess to leave school." She spat on the ground, making the girl cry out. "If you were serious about it, I wouldn't have to do this to her. So whatever happens today is all your fault. Remember that."

"What do you mean?" asked Urara.

Matako's answer was a violent swing of the steel pipe. The whooshing sound echoed all around the dump. The girl whimpered.

"Hmph. Are we gonna get serious today? You guys suck at timing, yup," said Kagura, stretching her neck to the side as if warming up. "I don't understand why you guys are fussing over me, but I'm telling you, I'm not Yakuza. I'm not even Japanese, nuh-uh." She spat.

In slow motion, Okita watched as the spit flew in the air and landed in the middle of Matako's face.

For a tense second, there was silence. And then, Matako yelled and charged at Kagura, brandishing the steel pipe angrily in one strong arm.

Once weapons are used, the chance of people needing hospitalization increases. Okita's body tensed, ready to jump to defend her, but something suddenly held him back. He felt a pair of arms clamp his from the shoulder joint.

'What the—"

"I'm afraid this is none of your business, Okita-san," an unfamiliar voice spoke calmly in his ear.

He wrestled himself free of his grasp, but not without difficulty. He delivered a kick backwards, and the other guy's grip loosened. He found himself face-to-face with an older guy with a receding hairline, big, dark eyes, and a vacant expression.

In his peripheral vision, Okita saw that China was putting up a decent fight. She jumped and dodged and rolled away from Matako's heavy blows, which progressively came down more quickly than the last. To his relief, China didn't seem to throw any punches or kicks. As long as she gets out of here with her hands clean, we're good.

"Let the ladies have their fight. We can have our own—" began the guy, but he was cut off when a fist suddenly appeared in the air dangerously close to his head. "… oh?... Zura-dono. This is a surprise."

"It's not Zura. It's Katsura." True enough, the long-haired wig was standing behind him. He brought his fist back. "It's Takechi-san, isn't it? If it's related to Takasugi, I prefer you spoke to me rather than that Shinsengumi dog."

The guy named Takechi clicked his tongue and faced Katsura. "It's really none of your concern. Like I said, it's a fight between the ladies. If we don't respect their personal space, it's sexism, isn't it?"

Katsura's fist went out again, and the lolicon dodged this. "Sou-kun. I'll handle this. Take care of Leader," he called out as a fist fight began between the two of them.

"Not so fast!"

Out of nowhere, about ten or more delinquents, who were watching the fight from within the shadows of the dump, stepped out and surrounded Katsura and Okita. They did not wear uniforms, did not all have a complete set of teeth, and looked like they didn't smell nice. They were equipped with various pipes, wooden knives, and bats, some of them glimmering with nails.

"… not good," muttered Okita. Katsura flinched.

Takechi blinked vacantly. "Now now, Okita-san, Zura-dono. I am a peaceful student just like you two. I do not wish to resort to violence. I advise the two of you to just watch our strong women fight. Let's all be feminists and let things unfold." A gleam of excitement shone in his dark eyes, and the perversion in them made Okita sick.

His fist collided with Takechi's jaw before he could stop himself.

Noticing the commotion over at their side, Kagura stopped mid-fight, causing Matako to freeze in her steps stupidly too. "Oi! Sadist! Zura! What's going on over there? You better get out of here!"

"Like hell we will, China! What the fuck are you doing, causing trouble for all of us?!"

"You aren't supposed to be here in the first place, you idiot! Get out of here NOW!" Kagura yelled. Her face which was red from all the jumping and dodging grew even redder with rage. "And Mayora! Gorilla! You better leave too, or I'm kicking your asses next!"

Okita heard a familiar voice curse from behind. "I don't know why we even bother helping you out, you brat!" Hiding themselves within the group of delinquents, Hijikata, Kondou, Saitou, and Yamazaki made themselves known. They were carrying wooden swords (probably borrowed from the Kendo club) except for Yamazaki (badminton racket).

The delinquents yelled comically in surprise, jumping away from the disguised disciplinary committee. "It can't be—the Shinsengumi's here?! I didn't sign up for this!" and various other comments of a similar fashion erupted from the crowd.

"Anyway, now that we're exposed, we might as well strike. Right. You filthy delinquents! Come at us!" Kondou yelled heroically, and in an instant, the rowdy bunch of teenagers charged at them.

There was a pretty good reason why the Shinsengumi, a small-time student committee from a small-time high school in Kyoto, was infamous among delinquents—almost all of them were former delinquents, and all of them were crazy skilled at streetfighting. Kondou came down with all the strength of a gorilla, able to take on two guys with bats at the same time with just his bare hands. Hijikata fought like he was possessed by an actual demon, and the delinquents he was facing practically ran off, whimpering in fear. Saitou was the famed Wolf with an Afro (a Wolf-fro), moving quickly and powerfully, leaving a number of bruised bodies on the ground. Yamazaki wasn't particularly strong, but he was so ordinary that his enemies frequently forgot which side he was on, and this confusion gives him time to beat them up.

And Okita was the deadliest of them all. He didn't earn the nickname Sadist and his reputation for being the strongest man in the Shinsengumi for nothing. He had so much skill that Kendo club bored him. Rumours as early as his middle school years circulated that he enjoyed fighting for the sake of hurting others and getting high off the scent of blood. It wasn't entirely true (at least the scent of blood part, which was frankly gross), but he intended to demonstrate it all in that dump.

The assailants seemed to increase in number, but he fought his way through the mess of them as if they were ants. On his way to Kagura, a couple of thugs blocked his path. He didn't flinch; a single roundhouse kick took care of one of them instantly, and it took him a few seconds of struggle to deal with the one carrying a nail bat.

"Hey, Yakuza. Your fight is with me!" Matako angrily swung her pipe. Kagura dodged out of the way again and spat in her face.

Matako shrieked once more. "You—we've wasted enough time! Bansai-san!"

Out of nowhere, a shadow wearing dark glasses and a giant headset loomed behind Kagura. Before she could dodge, her arms were clamped, and she was lifted up by her arms.

"Okay. Hold her still." Within the blink of an eye, Matako's foot impacted against Kagura's abdomen with a thud that resonated within the whole dump. Kagura's strained cry and coughs came after, as her torso contracted in pain.

Okita watched this in horror. He kicked the thug away, barely even acknowledging the nail bat that flew out of his hands. Matako was positioning another kick to her gut again. He had to run—had to get her away from there—had to protect her—

Another loud thud echoed in the dump, followed by a loud gasp.

"S—SOUGO!" came the horrified yell of Kondou.

He had jumped in the way on time, but the kick landed on his solar plexus. He felt his diaphragm stunned into silence, and he fought to keep air in his lungs. He collapsed on the ground in a fit of coughing and fought not to lose consciousness.

Seeing this scene unfold in front of their eyes, the delinquents, the Shinsengumi, and Katsura stopped dead in their tracks. A few moments of shocked silence followed, as they watched the guy called Bansai drop Kagura onto the ground next to Okita.

Matako first had a look of shock on her face as well, but she immediately hid it. In an instant, it was as if nothing happened. She faced the boys fighting on the other side of the dump and put her hands on her hips. "We're done, you retards. Time to go."

"Y—you damn thugs! Do you think we're letting you off this easy? You are all going to be expelled, starting with you!" Hijikata growled, storming his way towards her, the shinai appearing menacing in his grasp.

Matako clicked her tongue. "I don't think so. Takechi-sempai," she called.

The self-proclaimed feminist sighed briefly. "I suppose I must do this." He jumped swiftly to where Matako was before the Mayora was able to get to her.

"What are you—"

Without so much as a grimace, Takechi allowed the steel pipe to fall over his outstretched arm, resulting in a horrible shattering sound.

Matako sniffed and threw the pipe on the ground. She turned to Urara, whose existence was forgotten until that moment. "Urara-chan~ look at what happened to Takechi-sempai! I think he broke his arm! Isn't it horrible? How could the Shinsengumi do such a thing…? Weren't they supposed to protect the students of Gintama High? What are they doing, attacking them instead?"

"H-huh?"

The members of the Shinsengumi flinched. "Oi, what are you playing at?"

"… and to get involved in a dirty streetfight with other delinquents… even going so far as to work with that other yankee, Katsura—doesn't he have all those suspensions for ruining bathrooms with his fireworks?" continued Matako, faking a worried pose. "Isn't it terrible, Urara-chan? And it's all because Kagura-chan told them to do it! Because she didn't quite like it when you beat her up a week ago, didn't she? This is some next-level revenge, isn't it? Even though Urara-chan ought to be suspended too for bullying her, you didn't deserve any of this, didn't you, Urara-chan?"

Upon the mention of suspension, Urara's eyes widened, and she looked at Matako's deadly gaze in horror.

"So… you do understand, don't you, Urara-chan?" Matako finished, smiling sweetly.

"… I… I understand," she whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes.

Sighing deeply, the blonde girl turned once more to the Shinsengumi, who still had their weapons up. "There you have it. I have witnesses to your crime, Shinsengumi. I wonder what would happen to the school if they found out that the disciplinary committee was run by a bunch of thugs. Of course, we could make it so that Takechi-sempai broke his arm while biking home. It's up to you." Without further ado, she started walking away. Takechi, Bansai, and the significantly weakened Urara went after her without so much as another glance to the rest of them.

The delinquents knew that the show was over and had the good sense to scamper away with the little dignity they had left before the Shinsengumi remembered that they had to beat them up further. However, the committee rushed to their collapsed suspended member and the shell-shocked transfer student seated next to him.

The kick was stronger than it looked, Okita thought with some twisted admiration. Not many kicks would send him to the ground and make him stare at the reddening sky.

"Sougo, are you all right? Say something." He felt Kondou's gruff hands lift his shoulders from behind, and he saw the commander's worried gaze.

"I'm fine. I'll be able to stand up in a minute."

He struggled briefly to turn his head to the side. He didn't know how much it hurt for her, but he was sure that the heaviness and sorrow plainly displayed on her face was not from the physical pain. Katsura and Yamazaki simultaneously attempted to comfort her, going as far as wrapping her up using their uniform tops.

The sight of it hurt his chest. On top of it, a dull pain remained in his torso. Thankfully he was able to breathe again normally. He'd taken many other hits in his lifetime, and as strong as the kick was, it wasn't something he couldn't handle. But…

"It's the first time I've seen you purposefully take a hit for someone else, Sougo." Hijikata muttered to him. His gaze was still dark and dangerous—he was almost shaking in anger as to what transpired in the dump. "I promise you guys, the Shinsengumi won't let this go. I won't rest until those bastards are expelled, along with their crazy-eyed—"

"No."

In surprise, everyone looked at Kagura. She was silent and fragile and looked like she would break in a minute, but her voice was heavy and strong.

"Oi, China. You saw how serious this is. This has actual legal implications. You can't just back away from—" began Okita. She cut her off by standing up suddenly.

She stumbled a bit as she did. She had her head bowed down. Her vermilion hair cast a shadow over her face which made it unreadable. "You heard that crazy bitch. If any of you guys say anything, the Shinsengumi and even Zura will get in trouble. Might even get expelled. And all the trouble that Gin-chan went through for everyone in 3Z will be for nothing. If you keep your mouths shut, all I have to do is leave, then everything will be normal—"

"You can't leave! I won't allow you!"

"Sadist, you… you saw how crazy they are! They'll never stop bugging me-never stop hurting you guys until I give in... It'll only get worse from this point on! Besides, who are you to tell me what to do?!" Her voice cracked a little.

"Me? I'm the only one who's allowed to beat you up. Nobody else! Dammit China-girl, you're mine!"

Everyone except her looked at him in surprise. He knew the moment the thought stumbled out of his stupid mouth that it sounded like a confession, albeit a twisted one. But at that point he didn't care. He meant every angry, possessive, sadistic word that he said. He felt that strange version of him take over, and the stoic front he held for so long folded and watched helplessly.

Yet, Kagura didn't answer him. Didn't flinch, didn't curse at him for saying such a stupid thing. Didn't even look at him. The voice that followed wasn't as strong as before, but it was steady and sure. "I don't belong with anyone. And I've had enough of people getting hurt because of me."

Silently, head held high and facing the direction of the sunset, the strange, wild girl walked out of the dump, leaving a confused set of boys and a severely wounded one to face the dark red sky alone.


AN:
I... I actually like Matako... I hate her costume but I love her personality...
Is high school actually like this? (It's been so long orz) I hope it isn't for any of you, especially the bullying part. If it is, don't be like China and ask for help, no matter how difficult or painful it sounds. Thank you for reading and giving feedback! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.