Authors Notes: This was completed later than expected. I had three different versions of this chapter going through my head and was having trouble deciding on which to use. In the end, I chose the third one. Blackfang64, this chapter addresses the request you left in chapter 6. Spikesagitta I have half of your request in.

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Ch. 8

It was an average day at Fuuka Academy. I sat with my back against a tree while watching various people busying about their day. They were always of some interest to me. It was fun to guess what thoughts were running through their heads as they scuttled about their daily lives.

In front of me a second year girl ran down the back fire escape. She was probably trying to avoid a teacher. Her knee scraped against a wall; it must have hurt. A strict first year science teacher trailed behind her. If her darkened fingertips were any indication, she was likely smoking in the bathroom. A little further off to my left were some guys harassing a first year student in a darkened corner. I never understood the concept of robbing students, most of them carried little cash. Maybe the guys got off on having power over others.

I cast a die in my mind about whether or not the science teacher would give up on chasing the smoker, and end up helping out the first year. My pondering ceased when a girl from another school approached me. She wore a uniform that looked vaguely familiar, but couldn't quite place. I glanced at her with annoyance. No one was supposed to bother me in this spot.

"Senpai?" she spoke. She twiddled her fingers nervously and stared at the ground to avoid eye contact.

"Who the hell are you?" I placed my arm on the ground into an aggressive pose. It usually worked to get rid of people.

"Asahara Makino," she answered. "I just wanted to thank you." She blushed as if she was confessing her love or something. Fuck she was weird.

I wondered why anyone would thank me. Not to mention her strange posture reminded me of Fujino's former fans. "For what?" I demanded.

She finally looked at me, but with tearful disappointment. What in the world did I do now? Maybe she expected me to recognize her, but I was pretty sure we've never met.

"You saved me last month," she said, "from that man who tried to-" She frowned and looked down in shame, "rape me."

Vague memories of that night came back to me. There was a girl, and I did remember finding a nice ten thousand yen bill in that man's wallet. I studied the girl in front of me some more.

"So, what the hell are you doing here? Are you stalking me?" I raised my eyebrow.

She blushed. "I'm here for the entrance exam." Right, I recalled that it took place around this time of year.

I nodded, and placed a book over my face as I leaned back against a tree.

"Umm," she spoke.

"What?" I was a little peeved at her presence. Wasn't her business done?

She suddenly bowed. "Teach me to be like you!"

I turned my head a little away from her. "No."

"Why not?" she begged.

I sat up and scowled at her. "I'm not a teacher, and I don't want to babysit your ass all the time."

Tears flowed down her face. She pouted like an indignant child. Angrily, she turned away and ran off. Good riddance to that. Predator hunting was not a path she should take. Girls like her were better off gossiping about boys and trends.

Preferably, I would have forgotten about her. Unfortunately, four hours later, she was in one of my favorite alleyways having her face kicked in by three Yankee girls from her own school. By some bad luck on my part, she saw me passing by, and called out for help.

"Fuck," I swore under my breath, and walked over to the action.

The delinquents paused in their attack. "Bugger off," one yelled at me, "or you'll get hurt."

Damn brats didn't know how to treat an elder. I casually approached them and smiled in a threatening manner. "Let her go, and everything will be fine."

A couple of them could sense the danger behind my grin, but their leader was a little dense, and certainly not the type to back down. She glanced over my body, sizing me up for competition. Her right arm casually swung a wooden sword onto the back of her neck.

"You wanna go?" she threatened.

I chuckled at her. "A middle class girl, who wants to be a gangster, challenging me?" I could see her face become angry from my words. "I've been on these streets since you were in grade school." I grabbed my knife from beneath my school uniform.

Her eyes widened for a moment in surprise, then narrowed in concentration. I guess she wanted to fight after all. She lunged at me with her sword, and her friends quickly followed her attack.

I dodged her initial attack. My elbow connected to the face of one friend and my foot with another. Both of them were on the ground whimpering in pain. Losers were the typical school gangsters, all talk no fight.

Leader girl was still there, a little afraid perhaps, but unwilling to show weakness. She bit her lip, as if trying to think of a way out of this without ending up at the wrong end of my knife. I was more than willing to let her run.

She swung at me again.

Miss!

I maneuvered to open an escape out of the alley for her. Picking on a weak girl wasn't really my style. By now she had grown frustrated at her inability to hit me. I sighed at the twentieth swing; it didn't appear like she was going to back down.

Finally, I just punched her in the solar plexus. It was far easier to knock her out than to wait for her to tire. Her friends immediately freaked out at the fact that I easily defeated their leader, and ran off, taking her unconscious body with them.

"What the hell happened?" I demanded from Asahara.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I just wanted to beat up with bad people like you did."

"Idiot," I yelled. "That was dangerous! You could-" The words died in my mouth. I had planned to say that she could've gotten herself killed, but the same applied to me. It was what Mai had insisted all along. I fell back against the wall and slumped down.

"Senpai, what's wrong?" she hovered over me, concerned.

I looked up at her. "Look, don't ever try to do anything like that. What I do, it's bad." My hand went over my mouth and wiped away invisible sweat. "I'm going to stop doing it. No, I need to stop doing it." I stated more for myself than for her. "Promise me you won't do it either." I stared straight into her eyes, mentally ordering her to follow my instructions.

"But Senpai," she whined.

"Look, I'll teach you how to protect yourself. Just don't go out looking for trouble." She nodded her head in glee. I suppose she just wanted to learn some cool moves or something.

"Thank you Senpai!" She flung her arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. This was one really crazy chick. What did I get myself into?

--

I went home extraordinarily tired. Teaching was hard. I had to hand it to Midori for going through this hell. Asahara went home feeling accomplished today. I, however, still had some unfinished business.

A nice smell hit me as I walked into the room. It was Mai's day off, and it appeared that she was experimenting on some new recipes. Thankfully, Mikoto was on a play date with her brother.

I sat on the floor next to the knee-high table where we shared our meals. "Mai," I called.

"Hmm?" she responded while continuing to cook.

"You were right about me." I nervously fidgeted on the floor.

"About?" She casually questioned. Her face leaned over the pot to sniff her new dish.

"About how I'm addicted," I confessed. There, the truth was out.

Mai set her ladle down, and turned off the stove. The pot stopped boiling, but the food still smelled great. She walked over to the table and sat down across from me. "Why are you telling me this now?" I could tell she was angry, probably because I refused to admit it before.

"I need to stop Mai." I bit my lip, hoping she would trust me.

She raised her eyebrow in disbelief. "Why?"

"A girl, I saved her." Saving someone was technically a good thing. "She wants to be like me. Today, some Yankees were beating her, because she was trying to imitate me. Then it occurred to me, what I'm doing isn't a good thing. But I can't stop. Please tell me how to stop." I begged.

She sighed, got up and returned with two manila folders. "I was debating on whether or not to give you these, but it looks like you're ready now."

"What-"

"Natsuki gave these to me. She said they're from Fuji Keitaro."

I grabbed the folders immediately. My fingers clamped down on them and crushed the flat paper. Inside were pictures, addresses and even hospital records. "What is this?"

"In order for you to stop, we have to deal with what got you to start in the first place. These are the files on the other two guys who – hurt your mother." Mai placed her hand over mine in a gesture of comfort.

I was no longer paying attention to her anymore. These were the guys. Maybe I could have some revenge after all. I skimmed through the folders. The men were both construction workers. One was here on a work visa. The other was a native born.

"Fuck, this one is dead!" I glowered at the paper, though paper has never changed its words to please me. Mai quickly scooted to my side of the table to look at the police report.

The foreigner died in a construction accident. A large tension cable snapped and took off his head. Karma's a bitch, at least now I knew the world wasn't totally fucked up. His death still didn't comfort me in the least. The other one, Osagawa Yuuichiro, was now unemployed thanks to the slow economy. He lives at home right here next to Fuuka. Good, it saved me a long train ride.

"What are you going to do?" Mai asked.

"I don't know." I kept staring at the living man's address. Osagawa was living with his wife and daughter in one of the poorer areas of the city.

"Are you going to kill him?" She asked.

"Would you stop me?" I responded, though I had yet to decide his fate.

Mai furrowed her eyebrows in thought. What, she really didn't want to stop me? Wasn't she supposed to be the goody two-shoes?

"Let me go with you then." She looked straight into my eyes.

"That's not an answer." I wondered what was bothering her.

"I don't want you to," she said, "but you'll do what you decide." She inhaled deeply and continued, "Just be prepared for the consequences."

Did I need her there for emotional support? Should I take her with me? She would probably turn me in if I did kill him, but did I really want to do that?

I nodded. She would come with me. Maybe she would help, or maybe she wouldn't. We decided to see him the next day.

--

He was a real piece of work. The man was sitting in a hostess bar getting piss drunk while rambling on and on about his terrible life. Fucker didn't know how badly he ruined mine. He complained about his unappreciative wife and wasteful daughter, while expecting the women around him to nod their heads in agreement. He wasn't very stingy about their tips either, so much for being unemployed.

Mai and I sat in the back corner. We told the manager that we wanted to know how the hard working person got by. He was a little reluctant, but accepted us, because he believed that the modern youth didn't appreciate the average working man.

Around one in the morning, the bar closed and Osagawa stumbled his way home. It was pathetic, he managed to walk into three poles and collapse on a pile of trash. I had no doubt he would smell like rotten fish before he reached his apartment.

It was a small place in a rundown building. How could that man be so selfish? He threw away money at a hostess bar when his family lived in such a shithole? I wanted to take him out right in front of his door, but Mai held me back. She shook her head at my attempt and pleaded for me to watch a little longer. Maybe she was hoping that I would see something redeeming about him.

As soon as the door closed behind him, a loud crashing sound came out of the apartment followed by a man yelling. "Ungrateful bitch," Osagawa screamed, "What right do you have to nag about how I use the money I earn."

I peeked through the window. His wife was sobbing on the floor, and holding her face. Her left eye was black and blue, but it was too early for bruises to form. He must have hit her before. I could see his twelve-year-old daughter cowering in the corner. She sat there in a fetal position with her hands over her ears.

"We have to stop this." I couldn't stand watching men beat women. I wondered how he'd feel at the receiving end of a fist. I know I would certainly enjoy feeling his soft flesh give way to breaking bones beneath my knuckles.

Mai agreed. The two of us ran to the front door and rammed it down. Osagawa turned at us in surprise. "Who the hell are you?" he slurred.

"Your reaper," I yelled before attacking.

--

Notes: Hah! Cliffhanger! Take that readers! C'mon, let me see your reviews of anger. Actually, reviews of awe, appreciation, expectation etc… would be preferred.

Again, if anyone has specific requests, I can probably work it into the story. I mean, I worked in one and a half in already.

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