Chapter 12

As lunch continued, Eri sprinted down the halls, looking for Minako. She was fuming with anger and swore that once she found her she'd beat some sense into her. She stopped in one classroom, looked around and saw only a few people there and not her little sister. Then a voice called out.

"If you're looking for Minako she's not here."

She turned around and noticed it was her classmate Kyohei.

"Where is she?" she demanded to know.

"I don't know; she just walked off after Shishizaki-senpai and his friends harassed her."

She furrowed her brows and gritted her teeth.

"What?" she uttered, rage slowly building up.

"They stole her wallet too, but she didn't seem to have a reaction." he added. Her hand curled into a tight fist until they turned white.

"That bastard! I'll kill him when I find him!" She cursed before storming off. Kyohei did nothing to stop her and instead smiled.

"Good luck dealing with her."

Shishizaki was a nice student but had about equal strength as Shizuo and also had Izaya's speed. Which is why, whenever he was near either of them, he dreaded it. He always managed to get roped into their fights, usually because of Izaya, who used him to distract Shizuo as he ran away. Again it happened but this time he willingly interfered. He got tired of it and it was the exact reason why he mugged Minako. He assumed that she had some connection with Izaya because he had seen them talking in the library.

He was mostly focusing his fight towards Izaya and Shizuo was telling him to stay out of the way. Shishizaki used his delinquent acquaintances as cannon fodder to distract Shizuo with. They went armed (obviously) with whatever they could get their hands on; pipes, bats, small pocket knives; anything to protect themselves from that indestructible being. However, their handicaps worked to no avail.

Shishizaki snatched Izaya by the shirt front before he could get away.

"Oh what's wrong senpai? Did I do something wrong?" Izaya teased. He gritted his teeth.

"You're lucky I'm getting to you first instead of Shizuo." he answered back. Before he could throw his punch, he felt something hit the back of his head; a girl's shoe.

"Shishizaki!" He heard someone scream. Eri stomped through the battlefield with only one shoe towards his direction.

"Shishizaki, I'm gonna kill you!" she screamed. He tried to ignore her but she grabbed him by the collar and threw him on the ground with surprising force.

"What the hell's your problem?!" he shouted.

"What did you do to Minako?!" Eri shouted back. He chuckled.

"Ah, you mean the girl with the black curly hair?" he asked. She grew impatient and tried kicking him while he was still on the ground. He tumbled, evading the kick and whistled, calling his gang. The ones that weren't knocked out by Shizuo came to his aid.

"Take care of her, my game's with Izaya and Shizuo not this runt."

"Hey, get back here you fucking coward!" she ordered. Before she could move she was trapped in a circle of four of his henchmen.

"Hey guys, recognize her?"

"Oh yeah, the lively little freshman; the one who beat up a couple of our guys."

"You should learn some respect for your senpai little girl."

They rushed in at her all at once and she simply moved out of the way, letting them collide into each other.

"Only four guys? C'mon isn't there anymore?" she laughed. They picked themselves up, grunting with angered expressions. They picked up the weapons and went at her. She blocked an offender's pipe with her forearm and kicked him square in the gut, pushing him back to bump into another one. A flurry of quick and concise punches flew about; she dodged the ones aimed at her and threw her own, each landing a hit. Blood spotted her knuckles, not hers. A few of them were struggling to stay conscience. As she beamed a chaotic smile, cackling to the sky, she felt a sharp point dig into her tender shoulder flesh. She elbowed the culprit and seized him by his blazer, ignoring her slight bleeding. Her teeth were gritted and she sent a death glare at him. The young man shivered and then froze up.

"You're a bigger coward than Shishizaki!" She said. Then in a flash, she smashed her head into his, head-butting him into unconsciousness.

"You fight with fists, not with knives! Anybody can win a one-on-one with a knife, especially if the other is unarmed! That doesn't make you a delinquent; any guy that thinks like that doesn't deserve the title of delinquent; in fact a bastard like that doesn't even deserve to exists!"

Upon hearing her words Shishizaki's gang fled in fear. Eri decided not to go after him; there were bigger fish to fry. She spotted Shishizaki kneeling on the ground, resting before going again to capture Izaya, who was contently staying out, watching Shizuo continue to fight with the scraps of the senpai's gang. Shishizaki then went in to punch Izaya, but something else intercepted the path of the punch; Eri's back. He froze and Izaya was a bit surprise that she managed to run so quickly. She stumbled from the sheer strength of the hit. She regained footing and chuckled darkly.

"Cool, you're almost as strong as Shizuo, that's what I've heard. Heh, I'm glad those rumors are true!"

She tackled him and forced him to the ground. Shishizaki struggled to pry off the girl, but found that he could not. She hung on so tightly until her nails dug into the skin of his forearm. When she saw her chance she punched him as he lied there. She head-butted him but he managed to stay awake. He went in and tried to punch her, but she quickly stood up to evade it. She started to laugh again and it got on his nerves. He went in and sucker punched her, but she only wobbled a bit and smiled with blood dripping from her mouth. Again she grabbed him and kneed him in the stomach. He crouched, holding his abdomen. She kneed him again, this time in the face and then pivoted on her left foot for a roundhouse kick. He squirmed on the floor. She chuckled and under her breath she whispered.

"Ugh, jumping fish are so pitiful; might as well put it out of its misery."

She picked him off the floor and forced her knuckles down to his jaw with force, knocking both him and a tooth out. She staggered back. He was still alive, just slightly injured. She panted. Fatigue rested upon her shoulders when she heard slow clapping. She turned around and saw the gakuran cladded boy smirking at her. She smirked back and then walked away.