Long time no seek peeps! Got the first installment of the new Arc!
*Cue confetti cannons*
Don't really have any messages for you guys so I'll jump to the reviews!
zsxcfvbhnmk123: Glad you liked the ED special, I'm planning on making mini-arcs for EVERY ED so get ready for that!
Also:
I do not own anything except for Issac!
"Tell me why I'm here again, Earbleed?"
"Cuz, we need someone to hold the video camera at a low level, dude!"
"The fuck?! You calling me short!"
"You said it, not her."
Within Hopes Peak's Combat Lab, in the dojo section, Fuyuhiko, Ibuki, Kazuichi, Ryota, Nagito, and Chiaki stood at the sidelines, a video camera in Fuyuhiko's hands, and watched in anticipation a sparring match between a swordswoman and a bounty hunter. On one side of the dojo, Peko sat on her knees, seemingly meditating, wearing her dojo outfit. On the other side, Isaac stood in front of the weapon rack, surveying the various training weapons, wearing a matching dojo uniform as Peko, his hair tied in a ponytail, but kept his gloves on.
"I still can't believe Peko challenged Isaac for a fight! I didn't peg her for the type to initiate things like this." Kazuichi exclaims. "My money is on Isaac!"
"Are you seriously betting on them?" Ryota sweatdrops. The animator has his tablet out and starting to sketch the two fighters.
"I put money on Peko," Chiaki states calmly, eyes glued to her fighting game. Nagito simply smiles and says nothing, sitting next to her, but his eyes are trained to the bounty hunter.
"You too Chiaki?"
"Imma go for Peko-chick too! Girl power!" Ibuki hollers, before cupping her mouth. "Kick his ass!"
Fuyuhiko rolls his eyes at his classmates before Chiaki looks up and asks him, "Who do you wanna bet, Fuyuhiko?" At the question, Fuyuhiko simply scowls and retorts, "Why the hell are you asking me? Why not ask the lucky bastard sitting next to you?" Nagito looks away from the two fighters preparing to face Fuyuhiko with a smile, "I think the one who has the greatest hope will be victorious!" he replies happily.
Chiaki jerks her thumb at the Ultimate Luck and answers, "That's why."
The young mobster scoffs and returns to videotaping the fight.
Isaac finally chooses a weapon, a wooden staff, and begins to approach Peko. He stops a good distance away from her.
"I still wanna know why you challenged me, Peko-san. It's really out of character of you." Isaac asks, twirling the staff with his gloved hand.
Peko opened her eyes and stands up, bamboo sword in hand, as she resumes a stance, "Your conflict with Nekomaru and Akane spiked my interest, Isaac-san."
"One, you try getting your nose broken and filled with anger-adrenaline, two, the classroom was already half-destroyed at that point, and three, I told you to just call me Isaac."
"Call me Peko then."
"Fair enough" Isaac readies his weapon but hesitates for a moment. He looks up to the swordswoman and looks down at his own gloved hands. With a swift movement, Isaac throws the staff into the air, and while it spins in the air, he put the finger of both hands in his mouth and bites the gloved tips, and jerks his hands away, trapping the gloves in his teeth. The staff begins to fall back down and with his scarred hand, Isaac catches it and twirls it around his bare hand before slamming the tip into the ground.
Peko only narrows her eyes at his display and gets into a stance, her sword above her head, parallel to the ground. Isaac uses his other hand to snatch the gloves from his teeth and throws them aside. A brief pause is in the air as they both wait for the other to make a move.
"Woah, the air just got, like, 357% more intense..." Ibuki says to no one. Everyone else on the sidelines stops whatever they were doing and stays as quiet as possible.
"Ahh...ahh..." Nagito begins to say as some dust irritates his nose.
"Dude, don't-" Kazuichi loudly whispers but it was too late.
"ACHOO!"
At the loud sneeze, both fighters sprint forward.
Peko deals the first strike, a simple downward stroke, but Isaac holds up the staff to block it, the sound ricocheting in the dojo. Isaac tries to twist the sword down to and a strike, but Peko side-steps to avoid it, leaving a glaring hole in Isaac's defenses.
Peko sees the opportunity and twists her body to deliver a strong side strike in Isaac's weak point but is only met with nothing but air. Isaac used the staff and pole-vaulted himself to avoid the attack. When he lands back on the floor, he uses the momentum of his descent to deliver a powerful horizontal strike, but Peko sees his attack coming and performs a flawless backflip, the tips of her pigtails get barely grazed by the staff.
Peko lands gracefully and rushes at Isaac, jabbing her sword at his head. Isaac turns to his opponent and barely has enough time to tilt his head to avoid the hit. Peko pulled back and jabbed again at Isaac's head when the sword misses and barely reached his ear. Isaac moved his head again, but the sword grazes his cheek, scratching him. A sting of pain briefly dances on Isaac's face before he swipes the staff across, forcing some distance between him and the swordswoman.
Isaac, slightly panting, touches his cheek, not breaking eye contact with an equally panting Peko, and brings his fingertips to his tongue. When the small taste of blood reaches his tongue, Isaac plants his feet into the matted floors and holds a stance.
"H-holy crap..." Ryota mutters, his hand barely holding on to the digital pen.
"Looks like Peko got the first hit," Chiaki says, her game beside her, momentarily forgotten.
"Remind me again to NEVER piss them off," Kazuichi said, slightly trembling.
"I don't think you can forget that if you wanted to," Ibuki replies looking more jittery.
Both Nagito and Fuyuhiko are silent, but similar thoughts run through their head.
'They aren't even being 100% serious yet, are they?'
'Peko knows she can't let her guard down. Just what is that bastard planning?'
"First strike, Peko-san? Congrats." Isaac says as he slowly circles Peko, occasionally hitting the tip of the staff on the ground. Peko keeps her eyes trained on the bounty hunter. Isaac twirls the staff over his arm and allows the momentum to let it twirl around his neck and into his other hand until he strikes another stance, "Looks like I have to get more serious." Isaac comments as he rushes forward.
Peko gets into a defensive stance as Isaac swipes down with his staff. She takes a step back to avoid the hit watching the staff hit the ground, but when she looks up, Isaac is nowhere in sight. The staff is now standing on its own with Isaac on top. He pole-vaults himself over Peko's head and lifts the staff to hit her from behind, but before he could make an impact, the blow is blocked by a bamboo sword. Peko, realizing the situation, blocked the strike without even turning her head.
Peko, after blocking, turns to meet Isaac as he lands on the ground.
"Funny, I was going to say the same thing."
Isaac blinks at her comment before his eyes harden. Once again he rushes at the swordswoman with a newfound speed and attempts to for her on the defensive. Peko's eyes widen as she puts all of her effort defending as Isaac relentlessly attacks. Isaac puts all of his efforts into jabbing, swinging, striking Peko with enough force to stop Peko from advancing. After a few moments, Peko could see a pattern to Isaac's attacks and an opening she could exploit. When Isaac moves for a right jab, Peko uses the tip of the sword to redirect the hit and prepares to strike Isaac in the chest before he could recov-
"Oof!" All of the air escapes Peko's chest as the opposite side of the staff impacts her midsection. Isaac used the momentum of Peko's block to counterattack when she went on the offensive.
"Oooo! That's gonna hurt in the morning!" Kazuichi says, rubbing his own stomach.
"Yeah, if I got hit with that, I would throw up every breakfast I ever ate!" Ibuki comment.
"Damn!" Fuyuhiko mutters as he watches Peko on her knees, coughing to catch her breath.
Isaac watches Peko as she recovers and gets back on her feet, her ruby eyes filled with rage. Peko begins to tighten the grip on her sword to the point where her knuckles began turning white. Isaac, sensing Peko's intensity, prepares an attack as well.
For a moment, it looks like both of them disappeared.
Peko moves as swiftly as she can to land a finishing blow and Isaac matches up to her, but before the next hit could be made, a cheery, but loud voice rings out, "Attention!"
Both Isaac and Peko freeze, a burst of air whipping from the stopped momentum, Peko's sword less than an inch away from Isaac's left temple and Isaac's staff only a few centimeters from Peko's right temple.
At the doorway of the dojo, Ms. Yukizome stood firmly with a disappointed look on her face. She makes her way to the weapon wielders, who are still frozen in their standstill, and grabs the weapons away from them with a surprising amount of strength.
"Lunch period started 10 minutes ago. I do recall telling you two that missing lunch is a big no-no. Now, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Ms. Yukizome scolded the two. Isaac and Peko share a look before hanging their heads down.
"Forgive us"
"Sorry"
Ms. Yukizome's frown dissolves into a smile before patting both students on the shoulders, "Now then, how about we head over to eat lunch? Little Mahiru won't be joining us though, she's eating her lunch with a friend of hers." At that information, Isaac's eyes widen ash he exclaims, "Crap!" and rushes back into the dojo, swiping his gloves on the floor and shutting the door to the weapon closet. After a few seconds, the door swings open and Isaac is back into wearing his uniform as he rushes to the exit but is stopped by Ms. Yukizome who grabs his ponytail, stopping him in his tracks.
"Now where do you think you're going?"
Isaac looks back at his teacher with wide eyes before rapidly replying, "I promised to meet up with Koizumi today for lunch to meet her friend and I forgot!"
"Oh, carry on." The redhead teacher lets go of his hair as he rushes out of the dojo and makes his way to the Reserve Course. Back at the dojo, Ms. Yukizome looks back at the little crowd and Peko and says, "Well, never did I thought that would happen. Okay everyone let's go eat some lunch!"
Reserve Course Building
In class 1-A of the Reserve Course, Hajime Hinata quietly ate at his desk, while the rest of his classmates chatted around him. He took a bit of his sandwich and gazes outside at the Main Course building as the words of the school advisor haunt him:
There is no shame in normalcy
'Either way, I gotta decide' he thinks as he weighs his choices.
"Hey."
'If I make the wrong choice then I'll nev-'
"Hey dumbass!"
That voice yanks Hajime out of his thoughts as he looks up and sees the new blond girl in his class, Natsumi Kuzuryu.
"Hm?"
"That's so weird. The way you stare at the Main Course building." She states bluntly.
"Why do you care what I do?" Hajime asks sitting up in his seat.
Natsumi leans to sit on the desk next to him with a smirk. "Betcha you don't have any friends here. Guess we're alike in that regard."
"Honestly, your people skills could use some work," Hajime states thinking about how she introduced herself to the class earlier.
"And I meant every word of it," she says confidently before resting her hand on her chest, " I'm the Super Highschool Little Sister and this place is Loser-ville"
At the claim of her talent, confusion fills Hajime as he thinks, 'Little Sister? How the heck is that a talent?'
Natsumi continues, "You've totally heard of us. The chivalrous organization with over 3000 members, the Kuzuryu-Gumi.*"
Hajime's eyes widen, "Wait, you mean, like," his voice lowers as he asks, "the Yakuza?"
"Uh-huh," Natsumi confirms with a smile on her face, "My dad is the one who is calling all the shots, but someday it's gonna fall to my big brother, the Super Highschool Level Gangster himself."
"That's a talent?" Hajime asks, confounded.
"And since Big Bro is such a talented guy," Natsumi continues, "that means I gotta be the Super Highschool Level Little Sister. Go on. You can tell me how right I am."
"But you're here in the Reserve Course like us. You would be with the others if you elite."
"Hey! Just because they haven't let me in, doesn't mean they're gonna!" Natsumi defends herself, "Some of us haven't given up on the future yet."
"What the hell?" Hajime's anger begins to rise, but leaves as quickly as it came, "I'm not giving up."
Natsumi takes a side glance at the chatting students in the room, "Useless meatheads, every one of them! I'm getting into that Main Course and I don't care who I have to step on!" Her smile takes a more sinister look as she asks, "What if one of those guys dropped out of the program, then there'll be an open slot, huh? There's a certain freckled-face bitch that comes to mind right away."
SLAM
A hand slams on top of Hajime's desk, grabbing his attention and Natsumi's. The hand belongs to a girl with dark-green wavy hair and purple eyes, another student in class 1-A that Hajime only knows her name is Sato.
Sato glares at the young yakuza with a withering look, "Natsumi. I'm onto you. Whatever crap you're planning, just leave it alone."
Natsumi gives the girl a fake smile, "Oh hey Sato, long time no see. Small world, huh? You weren't, eavesdropping on me were ya?"
"Save the smile for someone who buys it!" Sato exclaims, "You're up to something, I can see it in you're eyes!"
"Wow, paranoid much, Sato?"
Hajime watches the interaction between the two girls before asking, "You two...know each other?"
"More or less." Natsumi answers, "She was in the photography club at my last school, that's all."
"I don't care who your family is!" Sato seems to not be done with her rant, "If you hurt her I am gonna make you pay!"
Down the hall of the Reserve Course Building, Mahiru was walking alone to meet up with Sato.
"Hey, Koizumi!"
Mahiru stops to see who called her and sees Isaac jogging down the hall to catch up to her. When he does he gives a quick bow of apology and states, "Sorry, my spar session with Peko went on longer than I thought."
Mahiru narrows her eyes slightly and continues her walk, "Geez, you need to be more responsible with your time. I was gonna go without you, for your information. You're lucky Sato didn't come first, now come on." Isaac sighs as he follows Mahiru as they approach Sato's class, which has a small crowd surrounding it.
"Don't you get in my face and threaten me like I'm some basic-bitch!" An argument could be heard coming from inside of the classroom. Isaac stops for a moment as he registers the voice he just heard.
'Wait, it that...'
"Leave Mahiru alone and we won't have a problem!" At the sound of her name, Mahiru stops and makes a beeline into the classroom where the verbal fight gets louder. When she rushes into the classroom, she apologizes as she makes her way into the room.
"What're you gonna do? Sick one of your yakuza flunkies on me?!" A red-haired girl Hajime recognized as Mahiru Koizumi, the Super Highschool Level Photographer, came up and rushed to Sato's side, "Please Sato, don't do this."
"Mahiru..."
Her arrival seemed to anger Natsumi even more, but her anger soon shifted into arrogance.
"Well, well. We were just talking about you." Natsumi states, "I can't imagine why an elite from the Main Course would come down here."
"I told Sato that we-" Mahiru didn't get to finish her sentence before Natsumi spoke up, "Wait, let me guess, you wanted to go slumming it so you could mock these talentless meat sacks" Natsumi spoke loud enough so that the entire class's attention was on them and not before long, they started muttering about them, exactly what Natsumi wanted.
Hajime looked back and forth between their fight and said, "Hey, come on! Enough already!", but his voice was not heard by any of them.
Natsumi is thrilled by the situation and begins to laugh out loud, only angering Sato more and making Mahiru more nervous.
"Hahaha! Geez! I'm just pulling your leg!"
Sato scowls at the laughing girl, "Well you better be! Your brother is in the same class as Mahiru!"
Natsumi gets up from her sitting spot to get up in Sato's face, and says with a cold look, "That ain't gonna save you. Snitches get stitches. Or they end up with toe-tags if you catch my drift." Natsumi ends with a scowl, causing Sato and Mahiru to flinch back.
Mahiru, partly standing behind Sato, speaks up, "You haven't changed at all."
"Oh get off your high horse you simpering dishrag!" Natsumi snaps, "You're the same goody-goody little twit you were back in photography club!" her words causing Mahiru to shrink back behind Sato more.
"You wanna get into the Main Course so bad, you don't care who you hurt!" Sato yells angrily, "How stupid are you? The Main Course didn't offer you a spot because you're not special, get that through your head already! Stop acting like such a bitch! You're no better than anyone else."
Natsumi's anger reaches a boiling point as she yells "What did you call me you little-", cocking her fist for a punch.
Until a gloved hand grabs her wrist from behind.
"I think that's enough."
Hajime's eyes widen as he sees Isaac standing behind Natsumi, seemingly out of nowhere, holding her wrist in place. Mahiru's face relaxes a bit and Sato looks more confused. Natsumi struggles against her captor yelling, "Hey! Who the hell do you think you ar-" but stops when her eyes reach Isaac.
Isaac looks back at his classmate and jerks his head at the classroom exit. Mahiru looks at the exit and nods before grabbing Sato's wrist, "Come on." and pulling her along and out of the classroom. When their footsteps fade away, Isaac lets go of Natsumi's wrist, and the moment he does-
SMACK!
Natsumi, using her other hand slaps Isaac in the face.
"Hey! What was that for!" Hajime yells, getting up from his seat.
"Bastard!" Natsumi spats before leaving the classroom in the opposite direction, making sure to slam the door.
Hajime rushed over to the bounty hunter, who's sporting a light redness on his left cheek.
Isaac looks at Hajime.
Blinks once.
Twice.
"Oh, since when did you get here Hajime?"
"What? I was here the whole time!" Hajime exclaims before his voice reaches a neutral tone, "Do you have any idea what happened there?"
Isaac looks back where Natsumi left and turns back to Hajime, "No, not the whole story, but since you're here," he reaches into his coat and pulls out a boxed lunch. "We still have 30 minutes left of lunch, so why not take this conversation elsewhere." Isaac gestures to the dozen students whispering around them.
Hajime nods, packing away his lunch to move.
Down the hall, Mahiru is still holding on to Sato's hand dragging her farther and farther away from the classroom.
"You shouldn't have been talking to her like that." Mahiru scolds, not looking back.
"I know, but it felt really good to take her down a peg! Her aside, everyone else from the photography club is rooting for you."
Mahiru's pace slows down to a stop, "You say that. The pictures I take are just whatever."
"Doesn't matter," Sato replies with a smile, "I believe in you with all my heart. Someday, the world is gonna see the beauty you bring into it."
"S-so uh, I hope you like what I whipped up for our lunches today. Hamburger steak for 2!" Mahiru changes the subject, her face dusted pink.
"Heh, I love it!"
"You haven't even tried it silly!"
Sato smiles until her face grows one of concern. "Wait Mahiru, who was that guy in the class? The one that grabbed Natsumi?"
"Oh, you mean Isaac? He's one of my classmates. He's...a good guy."
"Wow, the Mahiru I know would never compliment a guy like that. Is he your boyfriend or something?" Sato jokes, but her eyes told a different story.
"Ugh! Come on, let's go eat!"
*Gumi = Group or Organization
AN: Welp, gonna try and get the other chapter done around next week, but I make no promises!
Actually, I really wanna get it done so I'll try my best.
Also, I'm also gonna start one of my new stories here so be on the lookout for that!
Reviews are my life essence!