The Ripple Effect | Volume I

Chapter 6: Fight for Your Image

(Ogesana Food Court)

The group stared at the seemingly bewildered girl in silence. They really didn't have much to say, let alone have much on their minds. Hiromi practically drained everyone's minds and wrung it empty of any capable thought.

She continued to point at Drawsah, "I've been wronged. I've been humiliated… and stripped of my dignity! You… You should be ashamed of yourself and punished for your wrongdoings! Not just you, but your whole family will suffer for your actions!"

Drawsah looked alerted and narrowed his eyes, "What…?"

Hiromi stood up on top of the small table and whipped her phone out, "This is all I need to ruin your lives!"

She inadvertently caught the attention of most of the building.

"I'll post this photo around the whole school! Nobody'll be able to take it down but me!" Hiromi loudly cackled.

She did exactly what I had predicted. But now that she has the attention of a lot of people, I'll have to be discrete about my next move.

Drawsah glanced at the empty cup that Kitsutsuki had just finished drinking a few minutes before and came up with an idea.

That should work.

His brow furrows as he quickly grabbed the light empty cup and threw it straight at her hand. It hits the phone and knocks it out of her hands, causing it to slide across the floor.

"Wha—" Hiromi watched as her phone slid across the floor, and then panned back to Drawsah who threw the cup at her hand. She frowned and Drawsah frowned back.

The other two girls, Kitsutsuki and Cheri, looked back at them and realized that something was about to go down. Drawsah stood from his seat and ran towards her phone.

"You…!" Hiromi venomously spat. "Everyone! There's a picture on my phone that'll change the way you look at the Briefs forever! He's right there! Get him!" She pointed at Drawsah and announced to everyone else in the room at the top of her lungs.

"Tsk…" Drawsah slightly glanced behind him at Hiromi, who spitefully glared at him back. He picks up the phone and slides it in his pocket, darting for the exit but before he got a good distance to the door, a large group, maybe a dozen students block his path.

Drawsah grumbled under his breath. Not good… He turns around for a moment the other way but realizes that people and kids of various different ages were running towards the center of the food court where he stood. At this point, they even passed where Hiromi and the other two had stood.

He audibly sighed.

I feel bad about this, but I don't think I have any other choice. I can't risk using a lot of energy… I'm sure you can handle it.

Drawsah looked at Kitsutsuki who confusingly looked at him back. She then looked surprised to see him toss the phone up and straight towards them. Kitsutsuki caught the phone with ease and absentmindedness.

"Uhhh…" Cheri's worried face paled.

They stood in place and watched as Drawsah ran out the front doors leading towards the school. Kitsutsuki then glanced in the other direction and saw the mob that was previously chasing Drawsah darting towards them.

Damn you Brief…!

Kitsutsuki stands up and grabs Cheri's wrist, "C'mon!"

She pulled her up and dragged her along with her while running as fast as she could. No one was joining the chase in front of her, so she didn't have to cut too many corners. The two of them darted towards the back exit which opened up to the other side of the building, opposite of which Drawsah previously ran from.

The both of them ducked under taller patrons and slid across some empty tables to cut the distance between themselves and the door. Luckily enough, they managed to get to the doors and ran out without much issue.

But the swarm of around two dozen kids of all ages chased them a bus's length away.

On the other side of the Ogesana Food Court, Drawsah continues to run down the parallel street. He darts his head left and right to make sure any followers weren't behind him before he made a hard left and cut into one of the alleyways that connected with the other street. Sorry for throwing you guys into this. I didn't have any other options.

The alley way was dark and tight. You couldn't fit three standing people in the tight space. Drawsah tried through the alley way as soon as possible, but he was brought to an abrupt stop because—

"Hand over everything if you wanna live!" a dogman in scruffy clothing with a black bandanna and beanie on top of his head barked. He pointed a knife in Drawsah's face.

The dogman cackled, "Don't make us hurt ya'!"

Three more men in various different sizes surrounded Drawsah. Each of them wore similarly tattered and ragged clothes with the same bandannas covering their faces.

Drawsah scowled deeply, "Move outta the way! I'm in a rush—!"

A larger man pushed Drawsah to the ground from behind. He wasn't expecting it at all and almost fell flat on his face but was quick enough to brace himself.

"We ain't playin' games, kid! Drop everything!" the larger man snapped.

…

Silently and quickly, Drawsah laid on his stomach with his hands planted on the ground beside his face. He noticed a knife had been held close to his neck and his eyes widened.

Drawsah swiftly palmed the man's wrist, and a loud crack could be heard from the impact. He cried out in pain as he squatted down and held his broken wrist. The knife he held fell down to the ground.

The other crooks watched in bewilderment, barely even seeing what happened before Drawsah bounced up from his laying position to a height above the men and came back down, landing violently on top of the man's head which was sent back into the ground. Then landed on top of his grounded head again.

They witnessed his actions in cold silence. Shivers went down their spine.

Drawsah quickly appeared behind the giant man and came down with a violent elbow to the back of his skull, dropping him like a bag of rocks. He watched him fall and slowly flicked his head up to the other two crooks that stood in fear.

"Run, man! Let's get outta here!" the regular crook yelped.

They turned tail and ran down the alleyway in an attempt to get away from the demon brat. They've never seen anybody, or anything move that fast and take down people bigger than themselves that quickly before.

To their fearful surprise, Drawsah seemingly teleported in front of them with a deadly scowl looking right back at them. He jumps up spinning, and roundhouse kicks the dogman in the face, making his head turn around the complete other way.

The dogman stiffened and dropped to the ground without a bounce, completely unresponsive and seemingly lifeless. Drawsah then looked at the last standing man.

…

The man stood there while his knees buckled. He couldn't move. No matter how badly he wanted to. His whole body felt as if it was crumbling. Drawsah took one step forward and the man flinched heavily, bracing his head for impact.

His head fell forward with his eyes rolling towards the back of his head.

Panning down reveals that Drawsah had his arm lodged into the man's midsection. He dislodged his arm and the crook keeled over in front of Drawsah's feet. The man fell to the ground face first, completely out of consciousness.

Drawsah examined him and put his hands in his pockets. The man was still breathing.

Jerks…

He slowly raised his foot and stomped on the man's head, looking behind himself in the process. Drawsah had left no witnesses. There were no cameras in the alleyway either. His reputation was safe.

That mess wasted way more time than needed…

Drawsah jumped up. High. He reached all the way up the ladder that ended at a suspended platform. This building seemed to be one of the few that didn't get renovated in its entirety. To fit the status quo of the rounded Capsule Corporation style.

He ran across the roof and hopped over to the next building without missing a step. He looked as if he caught olympic flight with every step. After crossing over to the next building, he looked over to his left and found that people were still chasing after Kitsutsuki and Cheri. They were both coming up to a busy road and didn't have any other route to go.

"Ahh, screw it." Drawsah uttered to himself.

He jumped up and took quick flight. An air vortex spun around him as he flew over four different buildings before coming to a gliding stop. He crept his head over the angle of sight, where he could see that the mob was close behind.

He took off the black jacket that made up the gakuran outfit he wore and unbuttoned the top two buttons of the messy white dress shirt underneath. He threw it behind him on top of the building's roof and jumped down in another tight alley way. A homeless man was left as an only witness, jumping in shock at Drawsah's sudden landing.

Drawsah looked back at him for a moment before sighing in relief, he darted off towards the end of the alley way. He didn't seem to care that he witnessed his ability.

Who's gonna listen to a crazy homeless man? No one.

After the short sprint, Drawsah slid to a stop and peeked out from the alley way. His eyes narrowed and surveyed his surroundings for a short period of time.

Kitsutsuki and Cheri still came down the semi-busy sidewalk in a hurried sprint, which sort of became a brief jog instead. They were running out of gas quickly. Especially the lesser athletic of the two, Cheri.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted that Brief kid! I told you he was just another snob looking out for himself!" Kitsutsuki shouted. She glanced behind to measure the distance between the hoard of kids. The gap shortened with each step.

"They're…gaining on us…!" Cheri squeaked between breaths.

"I know…" Kitsutsuki responded. She looked in front and noticed that they were coming to a running dead-end. "Tsk…!" Shoot…!

The road they were running towards was an expressway. It was a large, six-lane roadway with no sidewalks available to run on. The street that Drawsah ran alongside curved around in a wide ninety-degree angle which was supposed to eventually come along the backside of the school, which measured to be two blocks long.

If the two were to venture down an alleyway, they'd come up to a dead-end and Kitsutsuki knew this very well. They'd have to get lucky and hope that the crosswalk signal would turn green and allow just the two of them to cross the first half of the street. But she doubted they'd be able to manage that.

"Just toss the phone away already!" Cheri quickly yelled. "That's what they want, isn't it?!"

Kitsutsuki had a moment of realization. They both slowly came to a walk as Kitsutsuki's eyes widened. "Gah! Why didn't I think of that?!" Kitsutsuki rubbed her head stressfully.

They stood in front of the alleyway in Drawsah's clear line of sight. He heard Cheri's quick-witted suggestion and sighed. Sorry…again…

He slowly stuck both hands out and grabbed both of their shoulders.

"Wha—…?"

Drawsah pulls them both behind him into the alleyway.

"What's goin—?! Y—…You?!" Kitsutsuki spat in surprise.

"You didn't abandon us! I bet you had a plan all along, didn't you?" Cheri cheerfully exclaimed but Drawsah didn't match the mood.

He slowly stepped back in a sneaking manner, "Talk later. Hide…!" Drawsah shuffled further back and hid behind a dumpster that was embedded in the building's wall. The other two followed his lead and got behind him, putting them in a more secure position.

…

A group of about a dozen kids turn the corner, all huffing and puffing. The kids up front looked stumped as the two people they were just about to catch all of a sudden disappeared.

Hiromi was still with the group and walked fully into the darker alleyway. Where the hell did they go…? She looked further down the alleyway and noticed that there was a dead-end on the other side. "They're in this alleyway somewhere. Look in every spot! We're bound to find them eventually!" she turned around and ordered the gaggle of kids around their age.

They did exactly as she asked. They instinctively spilt up in two-man groups and looked in any spots along the dark alleyway. Some groups went to scour about near the end of the alleyway while others started from the top and worked their way back.

Drawsah felt great about his spot.

The reason being because the dumpster they hid behind was so unbearably foul, anyone who thought of checking behind the dumpster would reel back away from the space. His face turned up from the putrid stench though and hoped that his friends would be able to keep it up for a while until he figured out a way to get out of there.

Kitsutsuki watched them search from another angle. She pulled the collar of her shirt over her nose to block the stench, the smell was that bad.

Push the dumpster over once the search party is further down the alleyway. But Hiromi isn't moving… Drawsah looked above himself.

The ladder. Only one person could get up there in time. Once we're up there, the only way we'd be able to come back down would be the same way we came up. We're cornered. Drawsah looked at the other kids who went down the alleyway.

We could fight our way out. But Cheri isn't a fighter. She'd get taken down and used as a hostage. That's a worse position than what we've got now.

"Hey…" … "Hey…!" … "Brief brat…!"

Wait until every corner is searched. But that would help them go about their process of elimination. They'll find us here eventual—

Drawsah in the middle of thought gets smacked across the head from behind, snapping him out of his mind scape. He spun his head around and looked as if he was about to spaz on Kitsutsuki before he noticed her urgent expression.

"Cheri's gonna blow if we don't get outta here…!" Kitsutsuki whisper-shouted.

He looked at Cheri who's face looked sickly. Cheri was wavering as she covered her mouth with two hands, trying her best not to spill her guts. Drawsah should've picked a better spot. Maybe choosing a dumpster twice in a row wasn't the best idea.

Glancing between the two and his escape options, Drawsah realized that his choices were very…very thin. "Give it here…" he whispered to Kitsutsuki, who stuck his hand out to Hiromi's phone which she still had in her hand.

"You gonna break it?" she asked. Kitsutsuki handed the phone to him without an issue.

"No," he responded lightly.

Drawsah jumped out into the middle of the alleyway, startling everyone in the area. "Stop what you're doing, or I'll break the phone!" he announced. He held the phone up high over his head so everyone could see it. The kids of dozen begrudgingly followed his orders.

"How did you get over here?!" Hiromi barked.

Drawsah kept face, "That's none of your concern. If you all leave, the phone'll be—"

BLEHHH!

…

One of the kids near the dumpster cries out in disgust. There was vomit all over her shoes and it wasn't her's. This seemed to attract everyone's attention, including Drawsah's who's face went from seriousness to disgust.

Kitsutsuki and Cheri slowly came from behind the dumpster, Kitsutsuki carrying the half-awake Cheri on her back. She stood by Drawsah's side, making all of them surrounded by the frozen mob.

Hiromi sneered at Drawsah who was smirking right back at her. "What's your game? Stalling?"

"I'm just making it easier for everyone. Tell them the truth and let everyone go about their day," he casually responded. The phone came down to his side.

She pointed at the phone in his hand, "The truth is in your hand, Drawsah! If you want the truth to be told so badly, give me back my phone!"

"Show us the photo already!"

"Quit actin' gun-ho! We've got ya' cornered!"

"C'mon~ let us see it!"

Drawsah heard the heckling but didn't falter in his stance. He brought the phone up and dangled it up with two fingers, shutting up the comments.

Kitsutsuki glanced at him in silence. Well…at least he's really good at bluffing. But how long can you keep this up for…? Her eyes narrowed for a moment in thought. They were at a standstill. But unless something happened, they'd be standing there all day. Could he be waiting for lunchtime to run out?

That could at least be five more minutes…

Hiromi looked beside Drawsah at his two companions. The girl was carrying her friend on her back which meant she wasn't capable of moving. She smirks, killing Drawsah's smooth-sailing attitude.

"Hold them down until he gives us the phone!" Hiromi ordered the kids who were surrounding them. She pointed at Kitsutsuki and Cheri.

"Huh…?!" Kitsutsuki looked distressed.

Drawsah looked alerted and darted his eyes in every direction as the kids surrounding them focused on Kitsutsuki and Cheri. He pockets the phone and steps between most of the kids.

Damn it! I thought we'd last a little longer.

Destroying the phone was not an option. He needed to delete the photo's trace on the internet and on its storage because if he didn't, anyone could gain access through the backup once the drive was destroyed.

Two people grab Cheri first and another two grab Kitsutsuki, each by the arm. "RAH—! Let me go! Don't touch me!" Kitsutsuki barked at the aggressors. She tried her best to free herself by using raw strength alone, but those efforts proved fruitless.

"Ow~! That hurts…!" Cheri yelped. They had her restricted by both arms just like how they had Kitsutsuki. Now Drawsah's left with a dilemma.

One of the older girls stepped up to Cheri. Her shoes and socks were stained in vomit. Drawsah's attention was split between Kitsutsuki who kept struggling, and Cheri who stood whimpering. The girl stood in front of Cheri with her backhand raised.

"This is for my shoes…You dirty piglet brat!" she spat at Cheri.

"Ch—Cheri!" Kitsutsuki pulled towards her helpless friend but the two boys holding her arms back kept her from moving. "Damnit, get off me!" She watched as the girl's hand came down, targeting Cheri who braced herself, "Cheri~i!"

WHAP—!

Kitsutsuki looked on in astonishment. She wasn't angry.

"Ow~…" the girl held her hand and reeled back in pain.

"D—…Drawsah…?" Cheri slowly opened her eyes and found Drawsah standing in front of her with his arms out. Drawsah took the hit instead. A small mark on his cheek formed and he glared back at the girl with gritted teeth.

…

Before she was able to take a step back, Drawsah whipped his hand around and smacked her square in the cheek, making her stumble to the other side of the already narrow alleyway crying.

"Hey!" one of the guys who held Kitsutsuki by the arm darted to the sobbing girl's side. "You didn't have to hit her so—" Drawsah stood over the two older kids and looked down on them with a face that spoke of venomous disgust.

The other boy ran towards Drawsah and reeled a fist back in an attempt to catch Drawsah off guard with an overhand punch, but he barely ducked his head forwards. The boy's momentum carried him over Drawsah's shoulder and before he could regain his balance, Drawsah sharply elbow's him in the liver. He dropped to the ground wallowing in pain.

The kids left there to witness gasped, including Hiromi who stood near the exit of the alleyway motionless. Drawsah dropped the phone to the ground and crushes it under his foot, making the faces of the kids lose color.

M—My phone…! Hiromi weakly reached out but reeled her arm back out of fear of provoking Drawsah any further.

"I am the son of the most reverenced family in the world," Drawsah spoke in a low voice. "Every single one of you are dense if you think you'd be able to hold a candle to my likeness. Every single one of you are cowardly if you think you'd be able to gain notoriety for tampering with the Brief family. And every single one of you will forget about this altercation all together."

He turned around to everyone else slowly with a stoic face, "Now leave." Drawsah said it bluntly. But that was enough for the two kids cowering in front of him to clumsily stand up to their feet and run towards the exits, they ran past Hiromi who still stood there in silence.

"Tch…" Drawsah turned to the other kids who were too scared to move. "Get OUT!" he barked at the other kids, making them stumble out of the alleyway running back towards the food court. After a short moment, everyone had left except Hiromi who stood there with an absent mind. But eventually, she would find the power to take a few steps back.

"Nakamura," Drawsah coldly uttered. His voice alone was startling enough to freeze Hiromi in her step. She struggled to respond.

"Y—Yes…? Mr. Drawsah…?" she replied with a shaky voice.

Drawsah looked at her with cold eyes, his face stayed in the stoic expression. "I suggest you let this event slip your mind. If I hear about it from anybody else, that's your head," Drawsah delivered the sentiment coldly. It even made the other two girls terrified to even be in his presence. But in the moment, Drawsah didn't care.

Hiromi seemed to tear up a little bit, "Y—Yes sir…!" She ran away quickly, leaving the trio to their own devices. Drawsah squatted down and breathed out slowly. After a moment, he stood back up and put both hands in his pockets, walking out of the alleyway without saying much at all. He took out one hand to wave at them but didn't turn around.

Kitsutsuki and Cheri stared at his back as he left and turned the corner, both refusing to speak until he was a ways away out of earshot.

End of Chapter Six.

A/N:

Sorry for the late update, I definitely pushed the date. I didn't even lack any time to update, I was lowkey focused on this story's future story boarding and forgot to write another chapter for the bi-weekly update schedule lol.

No worries though, it was a pretty good week, and the weekend was just as fun. For all my NFL enjoyers, you know exactly what I'm talking about!

The next time I update should be somewhere around midweek. I don't have much schoolwork to do at all as we're nearing that "finals arc" in the year, and I already know this week's gonna go by fast.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that you'll be back with me for the next update! Have a great week!