Chapter 10

"We're friends just because we are and don't question it any further than that."

The two girls stared down at each other for a few fleeting moments. Minako opened up her mouth.

"I don't get it." she replied. "That doesn't answer my question from earlier."

Eri looked as if her frustration was slowly swallowing whole. She seized Minako by the collar and rattled her violently.

"I don't get it! I don't get you! You have such dead-serious eyes all the time, it's so annoying. It makes me pissed off! Just what happened to you that was so bad? You know enough about me, but what about you? I know absolutely nothing about you?! No last name, what the fuck is with that? Do you have some dark past that you don't want me to know about? If that's the case then just say it! You don't have to be acting so damn mysterious all the time like you're special!"

She continued idly dazing with that blank look. Her lips slowly began moving too slowly murmur.

"There's nothing special about me."

Eri's fist loosened and let Minako drop to the floor. She landed on her knees and picked herself up, the surprised looking Eri watching every move she made.

"You talk too much." Minako commented. "If you just wanted to know me, you could've just said so."

"You asshole..." Eri cursed under a fuming breath.

So, just as she had requested, Minako took Eri to her apartment. It looked normal enough. There were no parents around though. They sat down at a small table, drinking tea that was prepared, and Minako began telling her background.

She thought she had two parents but that was not exactly the case. Her mother had an affair about one year into her marriage. After she had given birth, she tried covering up the facts as best she could, and even managed talking her husband into moving away. It worked for about four years, but, when the man she had committed adultery with found her, he demanded that she marry him because Minako was his legitimate child. The affair was uncovered and a divorce was issued.

However, her mother didn't love that man anymore and was even ready to give up Minako to him if he wanted her so badly. She lived with her single mother for a few years until they settled on a compromise, which was basically having joint custody on her. But as Minako matured, she decided she wanted to live by herself in Ikebukuro. They allowed this.

It was never revealed to her who was her real father and she didn't want to know. The mix-up left her with three different titles to choose from; Minako Kagome, Minako Tanaka, and Minako Yoshida. She decided to not have one, until she met Eri Nagatani that is. There was no hate; she didn't curse her mother or saying something along the lines "she screwed up my entire life!"

Eri sat and blinked. Her anger from earlier subsided and confusion replaced it. She raised a brow.

"And, that doesn't matter to you?"

"No. There are lots of cases these days like mine. People cheat on people all the time. It's nothing out of the ordinary."

"Okay and anything else you haven't told me?"

Minako sipped on her tea.

"There is one thing; I've actually met you before. I saw you fight a bit while you were in junior high."

"Eh?! But you didn't go to the same junior high. Are you a stalker or something?!" Eri exclaimed. Minako shook her head.

"No. It was actually when I was on my way home after school. You beat up some delinquent classmates of mine."

A nervous sweat trickled down the side of Eri's face.

"W-what school did you go to?"

"Sakutera Private Junior High." she replied. Eri covered her mouth, stifling a hitched noise.

"S-sorry, Maso-chan... I-I have to go now." she choked out, rushing out the door. "No hard feelings, 'kay." she added before leaving.

The giddy brunette youth skipped down the sidewalk and hurried to her house. Eri couldn't control her bursts of laughter. She was a Sakutera student? Sakutera was an all-girls academy that was rivals with their junior high school. It was a delinquent school that constantly mugged the female students and beat up the male ones. When Minako told her story, she remembered something. In middle school Eri was in a big gang that was formed to protect the students of their school. They attacked one girl from Sakutera, mugging her and then stabbing her once in the arm. Eri chuckled as she remembered why she hated Minako on the spot. She was the unresponsive girl that she and her gangsters attacked.

She had a feeling that Minako knew she was responsible for that attack years ago. As Eri contemplated she thought of an answer to satisfy Minako's question about why they were friends. Their friendship was soley built on the violence against each other.