CrowsXGokusen FF – 2,401 words (about)

Everything happens for a reason

Part 4: Big Things In Small Packages

Kumiko was amazed at the sudden onset of attack. Within moments, it seemed like everyone around her was completely immersed in the fight. Remembering her promise to her grandfather, she slowly backed out of the midst of the chaos and tried to observe the battle without getting involved. She should have known it would be impossible.

As the fight intensified, an extremely tall boy walked by the gate, glancing into the schoolyard. The boy, third year Hayashida Megumi, watched his mobilized classmates with a bored expression. In general, he found their antics pointless and uninteresting. Kirishima was throwing punches left and right, furiously knocking out anyone brave enough to come within arm's reach of his flailing fists. Beside him, his usual cronies, Honjou and Sugihara, were taking on just as many opponents. Megumi vaguely registered that the fight seemed to be between classes 2A and 2B. It looked as though Fukagi had already been defeated; he was lying motionless nearby.

About to move on, he noticed one student who appeared to be trying to avoid the conflict. A short, scrawny looking kid with chin-length hair that he had never seen before was standing awkwardly just outside the mob of brawling teenagers. It was his expression that puzzled Megumi the most: it wasn't fear or anxiety as he would have expected. Instead, the boy looked as though he was desperate to join in the fighting, but at the same time refused to for some reason the third year couldn't fathom.

Still standing near the gate, the he watched as one of the 2A fighters broke loose from the pack and started making his way towards the lone boy. Megumi shook his head, thoroughly sick of the whole ritualized ordeal. He had seen it many times before, and he even felt a momentary swell of pity for the unknown boy who was about to be beaten to a pulp by his much larger attacker. It's always the big ones picking on the small ones, he thought, disgusted. Looking away, he continued to walk past the school, only to be paused yet again, moments later, by a thunderous smashing sound.

Using his extreme height to peer easily over the wall surrounding the schoolyard, he glanced around looking for the source of the noise. The bulk of the brawling students had clearly not noticed a thing, but Hayashida's eyes soon locked on the scrawny student he had been watching before. He was no longer facing an attacker. Instead, he was glaring up at the sky and shaking his fists as though angry at Kami-sama. Lying almost five meters away from him, among the broken remains of what had been a bench, was the 2A student who had approached him so aggressively less than twenty seconds ago.

"Damn it!" the boy shouted, jamming his hands roughly into his pockets. He suddenly lashed out at a nearby metal garbage can; kicking it with such force that the side of it crunched inward before it went flying across the pavement. Megumi watched in silence as the boy walked into the school with a frustrated expression. In front of the building, Hiromi and the others were still fighting madly, completely oblivious to what the third year had just witnessed.

What the hell just happened? he wondered, shocked in spite of himself. There's no way that kid did that with a single hit! But after thinking about it for several minutes, he could come up with no other plausible conclusion. Shaking his head as if to rid himself of his sudden interest, Megumi continued his walk. Either way, it's got nothing to do with me, he decided. Strong or not, he'd be no match. And without giving it another thought, he was past the school and out of sight.

Meanwhile, the brawl between classes 2A and 2B was drawing to a close. The bulk of Hiromi's fighters had remained standing and were working on finishing off their remaining opponents. The leading trio were themselves seated on a low wall nearby, whose original purpose had probably been to hem in a small garden, but which now served as a graphitized makeshift bench for the students. The three boys observed their victory with bored expressions, clearly unimpressed by the relative weakness of their attackers.

Nevertheless, all three sported a variety of scratches and bruises; Pon's left eye was beginning to swell shut, giving him a slightly grotesque appearance, while Mako's upper lip bled sluggishly, staining his teeth red. It was Hiromi alone who looked the least injured.

"One class down," Pon croaked harshly, his breath coming out in short gasps. Hiromi nodded absently, instead focused on his men's activities. He was very carefully searching with his eyes among both the active fighters and the unconscious bodies for one particular person. "I told you that new guy would be no help," Pon continued scornfully, ignorant to Hiromi's musings.

"What do you mean?" the leader asked quickly, looking over at his friends.

"Before things got too intense," Pon relayed with a self-satisfied smirk, "I saw him backing out of the way. He wasn't planning on fighting with us." The boy pointed to an empty area of the yard, indicating where he had last seen Yamaguchi. Mako was looking around intently.

"He's not out here," he observed quietly. Hiromi only dimly registered what his friends had said. At the moment, he was too distracted by the sight of a large 2A student who was lying prone in a pile of smashed wood and disfigured metal. He was far from the rest of the fighters, much closer in fact to the spot where Pon had last seen Yamaguchi. Following his gaze with their own, his friends soon also spotted the lone soldier.

"Whoa," breathed Pon, amazed in spite of himself. "Whoever did in that guy must have some serious strength! The whole bench is smashed to pieces!" Hiromi glanced around and noticed a large metal trash can that lay crumpled across the yard. He distinctly remembered seeing it upright and undamaged earlier that morning.

"Hey," he asked, turning back to his friends. "You don't think maybe Yamaguchi did that? I mean, if you saw him over there earlier, then he would have been the only one around to have beaten that guy. Look at where everyone else is… It's the only thing that makes sense." Pon furrowed his brow, deep in thought. He may not think much of the new student, but he also wasn't about to ignore something so obvious.

"I guess it's possible," he admitted, looking wary. "But where is he now?" Hiromi looked back towards the school, lost in thought. Mako stood up suddenly, surprising the both of them.

"Let's find him and ask what happened," he suggested simply, taking a step towards the building. The other two boys quickly jumped up and followed him inside. I feel like we need to get to the bottom of this, Hiromi thought seriously. He wasn't concerned just now about what the rest of his guys were doing; they knew where to find him once they were done. Right now, talking to Yamaguchi is more important. Besides, we won that fight with no contest. He smirked to himself. He was one step closer to his goal.

Inside the classroom, Kumiko was lying with her head on her desk, methodically beating her fists against its top in frustration. Why? Why? Why? she asked herself with each hit. Why is it so hard to stay out of a fight for just seven days? She felt like kicking something again. Kumiko was in fact most angry with herself for her lack of self-control and less worried about what her grandfather would say when he found out. She took it as a sign of weakness that she couldn't keep herself from fighting for even a week.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice it at first when the door slid open, revealing three familiar figures framed in the doorway. Hearing someone cough, she turned her head slowly to see Hiromi, Pon, and Mako staring down at her. Unwilling to start a conversation with them in her current state, she rested her head back on the desk and resumed her pounding. Kirishima sighed and sat down at the desk in front of her.

"Ne, Yamaguchi?" he began. Pon and Mako came up to stand beside her desk. She ignored them. "We need to ask you… Were you the one who took out that guy lying on the bench outside?" He waited, but she didn't say anything. She was too emotional right now, and felt that anything she said would cause problems. Pon was getting restless and irritated by her silence.

"OI! Answer us!" he shouted at her. When she still refused to acknowledge them, he lost it and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder. Kumiko jumped up so fast, he was almost knocked backwards in shock. Instead, she swung her arm around to grip his shoulder as well and with one simple movement, flung him bodily from her. Pon went crashing into some of the nearby desks as he spun wildly out of control, before landing in an undignified heap on the floor. Hiromi raised his eyebrow, knowing full well that the new student hadn't hurt Pon. Mako, however, was less calm.

With a roar, he launched himself at Kumiko who nimbly stepped out of the way, and with a graceful turn, landed a well-placed kick on the larger boy's back, sending him flying along his intended path. He gasped as he hit the chalkboard, winded by the force of his impact. Still, Hiromi did nothing. He understood that his classmate's current mood was a dangerous one, and he already felt as though his question had been answered. However, thanks to their actions, Kumiko was no longer able to contain herself.

"YEAH, ALRIGHT?" she yelled at him. "It was me, are you happy now? Cause I'm not! I wasn't supposed to fight this week! Don't you get that?" Of course he doesn't get that, baka! she told herself angrily. Why would he understand something you never even explained to him? But Hiromi didn't look upset by her outburst, merely curious.

"So, you don't like fighting… but you're good at it?" he asked, trying his hardest to understand. She laughed at him.

"No, you idiot!" Mentally, she understood that she was being rude but she was too annoyed to stop by this point. "I don't mind fighting at all! I love it! But I am the kind of person who likes to keep their promises, and your stupid little war ruined that for me!" She kicked out at a chair in frustration. Hiromi nodded, masking his irritation at her scorn of their "stupid little war". He'll learn soon enough that it isn't something he can avoid, he thought smugly, getting off of the desk.

"Sorry that you had to break your promise, but it was self defense," he reasoned. "Your family can't get mad at you when you didn't start it." She shrugged, not about to admit that he might be right. She was still upset with herself for caving in and throwing punches when she could have easily sidestepped the lot of them. Hearing groans, Kumiko glanced around and sighed as she saw Pon and Mako getting to their feet. She was starting to feel guilty.

"Go…gomen," she mumbled, averting her eyes. Pon, always the first to get over things, shrugged as if it was no big deal and shot her a smile.

"That's some superior strength you've got there, Yamaguchi," he informed her, whistling. "I take back everything I said before about you being weak and scrawny. You've got to help us out now. With you, we'll take the top for sure!" Hiromi gave an exasperated sigh and looked over at his friend. Pon really does have a one track mind, he thought, amused.

Mako stood silently in the corner of the room, leaning against the chalkboard Kumiko had kicked him into. He didn't say anything, but seemed to be satisfied about something. Hiromi had been friends with the boy long enough to reasonably guess at what he was thinking. From the way he stood and eyed the new student, he could tell Mako agreed with Pon and that his previous reservations about Yamaguchi had nearly all disappeared.

"So," Hiromi began, "are we all cool now? I'd like for you to get along with us Yamaguchi. I agree with Pon when I say we could use you…" She glanced around at the three of them. The fact that they had put up with her rotten attitude so far and were willing to forgive her for tossing them around meant a lot. I could probably be good friends with these guys, she thought. They seem to be pretty straight forward, and I like that.

"I'd like to get along with you guys too," she answered carefully, "but I stick by what I said before." They looked at her, confused. "I said I wouldn't fight for just anybody." She took a deep breath. "Can we be friends? If we were, I would be happy to fight alongside you." Hiromi stopped himself from grinning and forced a stoic look onto his face; Pon was more enthusiastic.

"Yeah! You can totally hang out with us! Right guys?" He didn't bother to wait for an answer as he threw his arm around Kumiko's shoulder and began dragging her from the room. "Just wait, we'll be comrades before you know it!" Hiromi started to follow them out of the classroom, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at Mako quizzically.

"I think he's a good guy," the tall boy confessed, "but I still feel like something's off. Let's be friends, but still keep an eye on him, ne?" Hiromi nodded, feeling as though Mako was right. Let's make him feel at home here, the decided. When he's comfortable with us, maybe then we'll be able to find out… whatever it is. He frowned. He didn't like being kept in the dark, but even more he didn't like the elusive feeling that he was missing something important. Yamaguchi isn't like the rest of us, he realized, in more ways than one.