Red Roses: The next chapter is up. *sigh* I assumed some 'unexpected' visitor is gonna pop up and steal my limelight.
Unyu: This is fun isn't it, Usami-chan?
Usami: ...yes, Unyu-senpai.
Red Roses: *sigh* so, is one of you is gonna do the disclaimer?
Unyu: Usami-chan, would you like to do it?
Usami: ...Red Roses doesn't own Sket Dance. She only owns Shinako and the male population should just disappear.
Red Roses: Don't say something so reckless!
WARNING: This has mild VIOLENCE, CRUDE LANGUAGE and MAY BE TRIGGERING, please be cautious.
"So those punks are from Tachi High, huh?" Bossun said.
Captain came by and asked the Sket-Dan to help her classmate who was harassed the other day. The Captain was really worried so she immediately rushed to the Sket-Dan clubroom in search for help.
The brown-haired athlete actually came by the clubroom earlier but nobody was there (due to Tsubaki and Shinako's fight earlier) so, she waited for them inside. Normally, Captain so far has only requested search-parties and candy-related missions.
But this was definitely was not the case.
Captain nodded affirmatively. "My friend told me she recognized the uniforms as Tachi High School. There are about four or five guys cornering her," Captain continued with concern in her tone. "If it weren't for someone to come by, I don't know what might had happened."
"Don't worry, Captain. We're going to get to the bottom of this." Himeko comforted Captain gently.
"But, are you sure about this? I heard that some of them are armed and not hesitant on hurting someone." Captain fears for her friends' safety.
"Apparently, there has been several reports in school about the same predicament. This needs to be stopped soon." Switch expresses his concern though not actually expressing it through his face.
"Ok then. Let's go." Bossun stood up confidently as Captain and Himeko looked on in admiration. Then, the red hat wearing leader forgot something very, very important.
"...Um, where are we supposed to go again?"
"..."
"YOU IDIOT!"
"Bossun-kun..."
"Thank you, come again." The cashier said sweetly before Shinako walked out of the convenience store with a ice-cream bar in her hand and her schoolbag in the other. Shinako had a HUGE sweet tooth, especially when it comes to cold, sweet treats.
"Yum, nothing like ending the day with a Super Sweet Strawberry bar."
The black-haired girl walked aimlessly while happily licking her sweet ice-cream, not quite paying attention to her surroundings. Now, she really should when walking back home alone. Because, when you don't...
"Eh?" Shinako finally looked around after finishing her sweet treat. "Where am I?"
This would probably happen.
Shinako found her herself in a seemingly empty neighborhood near a park.
"Oh, dear. This could be troublesome." Shinako sighed, as she turned around to retrace her steps.
"Please, let me go."
Shinako heard a desperate cry coming from the park. She felt worried so she quietly walked closer to the pleading voice and when she got there, the female samurai was not happy with what she saw, not one bit. She hid behind a wall close by to eavesdrop.
Three guys were chuckling sinisterly while a girl was struggling to escape the hold one of the guys had on her. Shinako immediately recognized the girl's uniform as it was similar to her own.
"She's from Kaimei Academy. What are those hooligans doing to her!?" She thought as she watched those gangsters laughed at the helpless girl's attempts to free herself in disgust.
"Oh, don't be like that. Come play with us for a while~." The man, presumably the leader, smirked slyly as his friends kept on snickering beside him. They were trying to forcibly push her into their car as the girl desperately tried to free herself.
She can't take this any longer.
Suddenly, a wooden ice-cream stick went flying across the part and hit directly at the man's head, catching his attention.
"Ow! Hey, who did that!?" The man shouted angrily, tightening his grip on the girl. His eyes focused on the figure coming out from behind the wall and saw the culprit; a tall girl with a bokuto, glaring at him with vicious eyes.
"Release her, you lewd man." She ordered, standing defiantly at the large man. A vein pop up to the side of the man's temple. He didn't like to be bossed around, especially by some random girl. He turned sharply to his followers and yelled at them.
"What are ya fucking waiting for, idiots? Get 'er!"
His two large lackeys came at her simultaneously with the intention of restraining her but luck was not on their side that day as Shinako quickly stopping them in their tracks with a punch in the face for both of them and quickly drew her sword at the last standing man in the park.
"I said release her, you lewd man." She repeated herself coldly but the brute instead smirk wickedly at her which surprised the young samurai. Shouldn't he be worried, given the current situation?
"Silly little girl. Ya think you could be a hero?"
A pair of arms unexpectedly bound Shinako's hands together and quickly disarmed her, kicking her bokuto far from her reach. She turned to see two more men behind her while the other two she beaten up were slowly getting back onto their feet.
"Shoot! There were more!?" Shinako panicked, doing her best to free herself from the man's clutches only for the lackey to hold on tigher.
The boss handed the first hostage to one of his followers then walked closer to take a better look the girl that was causing him trouble earlier.
"On a closer look, you're pretty cute." He chuckled darkly as he grabbed Shinako's chin. The black-haired samurai shook away his hand and glared daggers at him.
"Get away from me!" She hissed venomously at him.
"Haha, ya sure are a feisty little one!" He laughed as he pulled a pocket knife out from his pocket and dangerously placed the sharp tip near Shinako's face, teasing her skin with its sharp blade.
"Ya better play nice with us, little lamb. I wouldn't have t' ruin yer pretty little face." He laughed wickedly as Shinako felt a bead of sweat down her temple. She knew from that wicked glint in his eyes that he wasn't kidding around. He was truly a sick bastard truly unhesitate in harming the innocent.
Shinako looked to the very girl she tried to save and her heart broke. She was shivering in her shoes and tears running down her face like waterfalls as she mumble desperate prayers for anyone to rescue her. Shinako doesn't blame her, she must have got her hopes up when the female samurai came to rescue her but it faltered and now both of them were captured.
"What do I do?" Shinako furiously tried to think of a plan as the men started talking about bringing them to somewhere more private.
As Shinako started to lose hope herself, some sort of small pellet came flying and hit the back of the boss's head. Quickly angered, the rugged man turned around, away from Shinako's face looking for the attacker. He saw two young high school boys; a black-haired man with red hat and goggles holding a slingshot and another man beside him carrying a laptop.
"Bossun-san...Switch-san? What are they doing..."
Shinako then heard a groan coming from behind her and she turned to see a blonde-haired figure effortlessly knocking down goons twice her size with a blue field hockey stick.
"Himeko-san!" Shinako shouted in shock and relief.
"Heh, sorry for coming so late." Himeko smiled at the junior, a lolipop sticking out from her lips.
Shinako also saw more people to her rescue as Tsubaki came running in an impressive speed, successfully punching the man out who was holding the crying girl beside her and the goon fell to the ground with a loud thud. The young shivering girl fainted in the midst of all this action, prompting the president to catch her in his arms.
"Shit, we're getting outta here!" the boss said, running away from the scene and rushing into his waiting car, followed by his posse, ignoring their fallen comrades.
The large lackey holding Shinako started to panic and roughly pushed the female samurai aside, making a run for it. Shinako lost her balance and crashed into the paved road, bumping her head. The fallen girl tried to get up but she felt too dizzy and weak from the painful knock on her head.
The Tachi High punks got into the car and hastily started the car, not caring about the young disoriented girl on the road in front of them.
"You punks!" Tsubaki tried to chase after the thugs before they run off but it was too late and their car already started to drive off.
"SHINAKO!"
Some yelled out to her but Shinako knew she wouldn't be able to run fast enough to evade the car with her dizzy mind so, she shut her eyes closed and awaited her painful death.
Shinako felt a force push her but it wasn't hard or painful like she would have imagined. It was actually...warm. Like she was being carried by something or someone and she felt safe in their arms.
When Shinako nervously opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a blurry image of a figure with snow white hair, dark charcoal orbs looking into her own chocolate orbs. Her vision got better and gasped as the figure turned out to be the general affairs manager of the Student Council. He was gently carrying her in his strong arms while staring at her with that same stoic expression but somewhere within his serious gaze, she thought she saw a glint of concern.
"Katou..."
Her fair face soon heat up from embarrassment and panic as she realized their position. Shinako's maiden mind is on overdrive on being way too close to a male stranger, wrapped in his well-toned arms.
"Too close!"
"How's your head?" Tsubaki asked, concernedly.
"I'm fine." Shinako quietly answered, keeping her head down in shame and embarrassment.
The other girl finally woke up and thanked the heroes graciously before running back home. The Sket-Dan offered to walk her home in case she runs into more trouble and she agreed, leaving Tsubaki, Katou and Shinako alone at the park.
"Are you sure? My father's a doctor, he can help you-" Tsubaki was cut off by the frustrated girl.
"I'm fine!" Shinako insisted and the park fell into awkward silence for a while. Katou threw her bokuto at the young samurai which Shinako effortlessly caught.
"Here."
"...Thanks."
Katou gave her a curt nod and went to stand obediently behind Tsubaki, looking stoic as usual. Shinako then looked back to the stoic delinquent-styled man then to the shorter Student Council President before going back to the stoic ninja.
"Why did you save me?" She asked the albino ninja softly to which Katou looked quizzically at her.
"What?" Katou looked at her in confusion.
"You barely know me and I'm quite certain you and I aren't on good terms," She said it like was the understatement of the millennium. "Why did you risk yourself to save me? I don't understand."
"I won't let anyone harm a student from the academy, I don't care who it is."
"Wow, that was actually quite noble...even for you." She smirked a little when she saw that irritated look on Katou's face.
"Shut up, you."
Shinako took notice of Tsubaki and how he was holding his arm quite strangely. She looked closer and there was a red stain on his sleeve, which looked like it was ripped...or cut.
"Ahh! Tsubaki-san, you are hurt!"
"I-It's nothing." Tsubaki denied, shifting away from the ebony-haired samurai's gaze.
"Nothing!? You're bleeding! I have a first-aid kit in my bag." Shinako quickly worked on getting out her emergency kit from her bag and grabbed Tsubaki's hand firmly. She immediately rolled up his sleeve and carefully tended to his wound.
"You two are completely reckless, you should have know better," Shinako scolded them like a mother annoyed with her sons' reckless antics. "Honestly, how can you just jump into dangerous situations like this?"
"Though, I wasn't any better..."
"It's our duty." Tsubaki answered her unhesitatingly, as Shinako looked up to in surprise of his confidence.
"Your duty?" Shinako repeated the president's words as if confused of his words.
"Yes, our duty is to protect our students from any harm, regardless of the dangers."
Shinako's brown eyes widened. She could tell from his fierce gaze that he was in no way joking around with his words. "B-But you barely even know me! Also, I was planning to leave the next day."
Tsubaki surprised her when he grabbed Shinako's shoulders firmly and looked straight into her eyes.
"That doesn't matter, You're still part of our school! And it doesn't matter if you don't go to our school anymore, because even if you don't, the Student Council will never let any harm come to you!" Tsubaki declared, raising his voice trying to get the message clear into her head.
"Tsubaki-san..."
The next day, everyone was more carefree now. As it turns out, Switch was recording everything that happened in the park and gave it to the police. The harassed girl agreed to press charges on the men. The thugs were taken for questioning and the students now has little to fear when walking home.
Tsubaki was walking to school with Katou when they saw a figure running towards them. It turns out to be Shinako when she stopped in front of them with a bright smile and a pink tinge of blush on her pale face.
"Good morning!~" Shinako greeted sweetly, specifically towards Tsubaki's direction.
"Good morning, Kikuchi-san," Tsubaki greeted back while Katou made a noise of acknowledgement. "So, you decided to stay in Kaimei Academy."
Shinako nodded happily. "Yes, after what you'd said to me yesterday, I'd realized something."
"Huh? Realized something?" Tsubaki wondered quizzically.
"I'd realized that you had the traits of a passionate leader and I have decided." Shinako suddenly grabbed both of Tsubaki's larger hands and looked at him with sparkling eyes.
"K-Kikuchi-san, people are starting to stare." Tsubaki stuttered nervously as Shinako held his hands with care.
"From now on, I will serve you like a faithful knight. Finally, I have found my one and only master," Shinako announced with pure devotion and admiration in her bright chocolate eyes. "I will lend you my heart, my strength and my soul to you. I will faithfully follow you to my death, I swear on my samurai code of honor."
"EEHHH!?"
On the sidelines, the Sket-Dan were watching the rather comical scene from afar.
"It seems that Tsubaki has a knack for picking up faithful companions." Switch said, finding slight amusement in this.
"Yeah, he's pretty lucky." Himeko casually commented as she watched the said faithful companions arguing with a cheeky grin.
"If you cause more inconvenience for president, I'll kill you, you troublesome samurai." Katou growled at the female samurai as she returned his nasty glare with her own.
"Why don't you put your skills to good use and disappear, you delinquent ninja."
Himeko let out an exasperated sigh. "I thought after what happened yesterday, those two would get along."
"The rivalry between ninja and samurai runs deep in those two. They are born rivals." Switch replied with a robotic voice.
"At least her school jumping days are over. But I wonder why she was doing it in the first place?" The blonde wondered aloud then looked over her shoulder.
"What's wrong, Bossun?" Himeko asked the strangely quiet leader. Bossun was walking silently behind them, not uttering a single word.
"It'd nothing." He muttered a soft reply.
"Maybe you're jealous that your brother has gotten more popular than you." Himeko teased her club leader, snickering.
"Or maybe you're jealous that you can't spend more time with your dearest brother anymore!" Switch joined in the teasing.
"Oh, that must be it!~"
"THAT'S NOT IT, YOU JERKS!"
Back with the very topic of the Sket-Dan's conversation, Shinako presented Tsubaki with a lunchbox neatly wrapped in a blue handkerchief.
"Here, Tsubaki-sama. I've prepared a bento for you." Shinako smiled at her senior, gently pushing her bento to his open hands.
"Ah, you didn't have to, Kikuchi-san."
"Nonsense, it is the least I could do for my master~"
The other students overheard some of their conversation and started jumping to conclusions.
"Why did she call him master?"
"Did you see that, that girl just made Tsubaki a bento!"
"Wahh, is that cute girl Tsubaki's girlfriend?"
"How did Tsubaki hook up with her!?"
Embarrassed, Tsubaki hastened his pace to school. "I must get to class."
Shinako and Katou both quickly caught up to him and offered their help.
"Please allow me to escort you to your classroom, Tsubaki-sama."
"I will escort him, leave woman."
"Why don't you drop dead?" She hissed venomously at him. Tsubaki stopped in his tracks and looked sternly at Shinako.
"Kikuchi, you can't say something so rude!" He chastised his junior.
"I apologize, Tsubaki-sama," She bowed politely to the black-haired president then turned to her 'rival' as you can say. "Katou-san..."
"..."
"Kindly drop dead."
"YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT!"
From that day onwards, this has formed into another part of Tsubaki's crazy daily school routine.
Unyu: Eh? Usami-chan, have you seen Red Roses-chan?
Usami:...She's currently in the corner sulking.
Unyu: Awww, cheer up Red Roses-chan. You're still the author of the story~
Red Roses: Why is the author constantly being interrupted by the characters of the story? That isn't right!
Unyu: There are still people who support you, so don't feel bad~
Red Roses: You're right! My readers support me so I mustn't give up! I will continue my story for my readers as they are my reason to keep this story alive!
Thank you all for reading my story!
Unyu: That's the spirit!
Usami:...Go, Red Roses-san.
By the way, a bokuto is the wooden katana Shinako carries around.
