Author's Note: Hello folks and Happy belated New Year! Here's another chapter. I would like to apologise that it took about a month to update the fanfic, but 2 things contributed to this. 1) I lacked the motivation to even try. Reasons for this is because I would usually watch random videos on Youtube, wanting to see what's on it, so yeah. And 2) I was thinking on how to make the story. Making a original story is harder than it looks, so there would be times when I make one chapter and usually stop because I'm thinking on what to type up. So basically I had barely any motivation and writer's block to do this. So expect there to be about a month long wait until one chapter is up.
Now then, I'm sure all of you are noticing that Medaka was acting a little OOC around my OC Diane. Well, I'll tell you the reason for this.
Medaka has absolutely no rival!
Sure, Kumagawa is fine, but he only works for one story arc. Diane, on the other hand, work's perfectly! As I've stated, I wanted someone to be able to fight and argue with Medaka in a way as her true equal throughout this fanfic. But after reading this review, I found out, that turning them into something like Natsu and Gray isn't enough. I merely turned them into simple slapstick geniuses, in my opinion. I mean, my OC, Diane, is a character with a Lelouch-like personality for god's sake! I should've shown their rivaly in a way that clashes with their ideologies. If you are a fan of Code Geass, you should know how Lelouch's personality completely differ's from Medaka's, if you're also a fan of Medaka Box. And, considering what year they're in, I'm planning on doing the change now. I'm thinking of something on the lines of a Naruto and Sasuke-like rivalry. So, I'll be planning on transitioning that after a certain scene. If you've read the Medaka Box Manga, you should already know what that is.
As for my OC Jake, yes, he does exemplify nearly every stereotype a Shonen main character has. However, I forgot to mention that he has some that most of these guys doesn't. Unlike those guys, Jake isn't afraid to kill if necessary, having someone like Diane, who is like a female Lelouch as I've stated before, with him. Another common trait of most Shonen characters, is that they're dumb in a way. Jake, however, isn't that dumb. Carter is the only OC who has this trait. Jake is smart enough to last in a long Chess match with someone like Lelouch. In short, I'm making Jake into an Anti-Hero Shonen main character. Don't get the wrong idea, I'm still planning on keeping some of his original personalities, because I think that the whole dense with girls, yet popular thing is funny. As an added bonus, Jake doesn't take kindly to anyone who hurts his friends, a stereotype that I added. I also added that it also extends to even his enemies.
As for skill, I should've added something there as well. Most of Jake and Diane's skill are all self-taught. So they're skill is like that in their own right. Beside's, the Hollow I got them to face wasn't an Adjuchas, just a weak High-class Hollow that the trio ganged up on. Also, any of you know that a self-taught warrior isn't that strong, so I should've added that fact. Plus, at the moment, they're at the strength of a Mid-level 3rd Seat Soul Reaper in comparison. Although, Diane, more or less, has the skills of a High-level 3rd Seat, just putting it out there.
Reason why I'm saying most of this is because, I'm sure of you are thinking of my OC Jake as a Mary Sue. Well, allow me to clarify.
He's NOT, I repeat NOT, A Mary Sue!
I don't care how skilled he seems, all that skill is basically on the basis of being self taught, and self taught skills vary different from taught skills.
Also, due to how both the Medaka Box and Bleach flashbacks wasn't all that specific on when it happened, I'm going with my gut instinct of when it happened. So if you think that one event should've ended either earlier or later, fine by me, this is just my opinion on how it happened.
Now that that rambling is over, let's get the show on the road.
Disclaimer:
Medaka Box belongs to Nisio Isin
Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto
Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo
It's been a few weeks since the start of the school, and he already found some friends in his class, which involved 3 certain making themselves known in their classroom. The first was, oddly, Shikamaru. Jake believed he befriended him because he's more quiet and calm, a good change compared to the constant bickering between Diane and Medaka, and Carter's idiocy, mainly the former.
'I just hope that those 2 would learn to at least grow up dammit! I'm getting sick and tired of it all!'
Another fact is that Jake learned is that Shikamaru is smarter than he shows himself to be.
His second friend he made was Choji, who Shikamaru befriended. When he met him, he was surprised that he was more talkative, compared to his reserved self during class. Shikamaru told him because Choji lack self-confidence in himself. This lack of self-confidence made him socially awkward only in big crowds of more than 15. In small groups of 5-10, he's rather okay. He also learned not to touch his food, ever, because he nearly chomped his hand off when he tried to sneak a chip.
The third friend he made was Kiba. He met the dude when he was taking on a gang, all by himself. Jake wondered why, when he saw that one of them was holding a little puppy, remembering that he loves dogs. So, he practically jumped in there and saved the dog, allowing Kiba to kick their asses, knowing that his pet dog is safe. He asked Jake why he helped him, to which Jake replied:
"Can't I help a fellow classmate?"
Kiba looked at him funny from that comment, but thanked him anyway for saving his dog, who was named Akamaru. After a while, Kiba grew to like the younger Ryujin twin, but hasn't openly admit that he's his friend, yet he would join in on conversations with him and his friends from time to time.
At the moment, he's walked down the hall to his Homeroom. As he did noticed a particular student. He has long, blonde, messy hair in a ponytail with yellow eyes. His school uniform is open to reveal his toned chest and wore stomach wrappings.
Jake was about to walk on his way, ignoring said student, when a nearby student pulled him away.
"What the hell was that for?" Jake said, ticked off at the sudden pull.
"Don't go near him!" He told him. "He's evil!"
"What're you talking about?" Jake merely looked at him, with no interest about what he's talking about.
"That's Akune Kouki, a 2nd year! Everyone who's been here knows that he would destroy anything indiscriminately! Rules, property, people, you name it, he destroy's it! He's known as, the Destroyer!"
"Really?" Jake turned to the teen, identified as Akune as he walked away.
"That guy is notorious for being beyond not only the teacher's reach, but the police's as well!"
"Jeez, how the fuck did he end up like that?" Jake wondered.
"But, rumor has it," The student started as Jake turned to him. "that he only does that, because the Student Council President tells him to!"
Meanwhile: Student Council Room
Akune reached the Student Council room and entered it. He came up to the Student Council President's desk, where the President himself is sitting there, messing with a complicated wire puzzle. At the moment, it seems as if he's trying to untangle it, yet somehow failing. Since he was busy, he leaned against the nearby bookshelf, waiting for him to talk.
[Nee, Kouki-chan.]
Akune looked at the president when he called his name.
[There's a cute new student named Kurokami Medaka.] [Do you know her?]
He said nothing and merely watch him play around with the puzzle as he continued.
[Tomboys like that don't really belong...] There was a slight pause. [in a peaceful school like ours.]
"I don't know her at all." He replied to his previous question. "But if the Student Council President says so, then it must be true." Akune stated. "Kumagawa-san."
Class 1-1
Inside the class, Iruka was currently lecturing the students.
"The Sengoku Period, otherwise known as the Warring States Period in English, was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue and near constant military conflict that..."
Before he could finish, Akune barged right into the room, interrupting the lesson.
"Uh, is there any reason as to why you're interrupting class, Akune-san?" Iruka asked.
He merely ignored him, walked up toward Medaka, and without warning, and pounded her hard in the head, shocking everyone in the room.
"Wh-what the hell?!" Carter cried in shock.
"Kurokami-san!" Sakura cried out in worry.
As it happened, Akune merely walked out of the room during the confusion, which most people noticed, satisfied with a job well done. Iruka wanted to stop him, but he knew that even he can't stop him. Plus, Medaka's well-being is first priority.
"Someone take her to the Nurse's office! And while you're at it, call the ambulance!" Iruka told them.
"On it!" Jake was the one who chose to take Medaka to the Infirmary while Sakura took out her phone and called for an ambulance.
The Next Day
Akune stood on the rooftop, looking down at the students as they walked toward school, then noticed something odd.
"Eh?" Down there, with 3 other students, is Medaka, wearing wraps on her forehead and a patch on her left cheek. 'She came back to school? I never failed to destroy someone.' He merely tightened his gaze at her. 'But there's no need to dwell on my 1st failure. I merely need to destroy her again!'
When she was alone later that day, he assaulted her with an iron rod 3 times and kicked her to the ground.
'You are certainly brave enough to warrent Kumagawa-san's attention. But that's the end of it.' He walks away again, feeling confident that he certainly completed his mission.
But he didn't know that Medaka is one of those stubborn types.
8 School Days later.
For the next week, not including the weekend since she was safe during that time, she would take Akune's beating and return the next day for the next 5 school days. In fact, by the 6th school day, she nearly looked like a mummy with all the bandages wrapped around her body and arms, though that didn't seem to stop her. However, because of it, she received fame of being a diamond that Akune the Destroyer couldn't even destroy, much less crack. But to Diane, she merely calls her a masochist who just loves to get beat up, which earned Medaka's glare.
In contrast, Akune's fame lessened because of it, causing students to no longer fear a destroyer who couldn't even destroy a single girl. Today, no one even so much as flinch when they hear Akune's name. Sadly for him, it caused him to no longer desire to destroy, seeing that, if he couldn't even destroy one girl, he couldn't destroy anything else. Which would be the perfect opportunity for anyone to attack him.
And someone did.
When news of Akune's fame declining, Jake took this opportunity to gather anyone who had either hated Akune or held a grudge against him, but was too frightened to fight him.
During the time Medaka became known, Jake, Diane, and Carter made a name for themselves. For Jake, he became quite popular with the girls, even going as far as forming a fan-club for him. At this point, Jake learned what a fangirl is, and is starting to hate it. He's also establishing that he's one of the top 10 toughest students. He was once in third place, but now is coming second to Ichigo, who's now the number 1 toughest and was the 2nd toughest when Akune's fame was still around.
For Diane, she's being known as the most intelligent student in the entire school, rivaling Medaka in that remark, along with being called the Chess Master, for both her love of Chess, and she treats anything like a chess game. She's also considered the school's Strongest and Badass Female, after that one incident when she single-handedly took on the school's most vicious gangs and beaten them to a crap, with her own 2 hands, with not even a single scratch, all because the groped them.
As for Carter, he's been established as the school pervert, after he tried to peek into the girl's changing room and tried to steal one of their panties. Since then, every women who've heard of him either avoided him, or pounded him whenever he acted perverted.
Back to the present, Jake has brought his little Anti-Akune army to where Akune is, leaning against the wall behind the school, brooding. His reason for choosing to take him down is to make him pay for beating up Medaka. He couldn't even give 2 shits about what the other guy's reasons are. Meanwhile, Diane was leaning against a nearby tree, wanting to see what is to become of this.
'Let's see how this is going to turn out?'
"Sa, Akune-teme. Anything you want to say about the beatings you gave to my childhood friend? Apologise now, and I may think about letting it go." Jake threatened, though his tone may not seem like he would keep that promise.
Akune merely looked at them, then looked at the ground. "Iie, I have nothing to say." He felt that he'd lived well, and should take the beating, not caring about his own life at the moment.
Jake cracked his knuckles from his response. "Alright, here I go!"
"Knock it off, baka!" Suddenly, out of nowhere, Medaka came from out of nowhere and kicked him in the face. "Kurokami Roling Savate!"
Diane's eye twitched when she saw Medaka kick her brother in the face. 'I knew that she would eventually arrive, but did she have to end it with kicking my brother... in the goddamn face?!'
Jake fell on the ground due to the force of the kick as Medaka landed right in front of the group.
"Just what are you people even doing here?" She asked, surprising Akune as she berates them. "I won't let you bully the weak, no matter the reasons!" When she said that, she looked down at Jake, who's currently rubbing his sore face after setting his nose back in place. "As for you, Jake, fix your hair. Why is it so spiky?" He merely groaned as he tried to get himself straightened. She then turned toward Akune himself. "Akune Kouki..."
'Oh god, here we go...' Diane moaned, knowing full well what she's planning on doing.
"I'm sure that one time, you were a gentle soul, who'd show mercy to the weak. However, after living in a childhood of constant fear, you turned to the path of destruction!" She put her free arm on her bosom. "Well fear not. I shall be right here to restrain your destructive impulses, until you regain your humanity!" Dashing!
'And there it is. That god awfully annoying 'you were once good' crap.' Diane complained mentally. 'Judging from what I heard from him and looked up on him, I believe that his reasons to destroy were for no apparent reason, or even had any to make wrong choices. Nothing even convinced him on this path. He just did it just as a way to live, destroying whatever he was ordered to.'
Between the 2, Diane's estimation about Akune's past was more right than Medaka's
He pushed himself off the wall, but stumbled a bit before holding to his side. "Sorry, Kurokami... I have nothing." Akune said, giving the same answer he gave Jake. But, he soon fell on his knees. "So..." He suddenly started to cry. "So please, become my something!"
"Eh?!" Jake immediately straightened up in shock after he heard that proclamation.
Diane, on the other hand, expected this as well. 'Also no surprise. Whenever she was to be completely wrong about how they became like this, they would have a change of heart.' She looked at the sky soon after. 'However, I feel that this certain event, will trigger something bigger that is to happen.'
Student Council Room
[So, Kouki-chan had failed, huh?] He managed to remove the wire puzzle off, yet he left it completely broken into dozens of pieces. [Kurokami Medaka sure is becoming quite a bother. Don't you agree... Vice President?] He turned to his left, where a girl slightly younger than him sat on his desk with the female Hakobune uniform on. She also has long brown hair that's tied with a yellow bow at the end.
"I agree, she is such a bother. But are you planning on doing something about it?" She asked.
The President merely nod his head. [I sure am, Anshin'in-san.]
Couple Days Later
After the event, Akune was kicked off of the Student Council. When that happened, Diane felt that something is about to happen, and it involves the Student Council President himself. She wanted to warn Medaka, but due to her hatred of her and her pride, she didn't. However, Jake doesn't have that problem. So when he knew that Diane felt something involving the Student Council President is about to happen, he ran to Medaka to warn her.
"Medaka-chan!" He found her talking to one of her friends she made here. She turned around to find Jake.
"Oh, Jake! What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the worry in his face.
"Medaka-chan, something is about to go down, and it's going to involve the Student Council President Kumagawa!" Jake told her.
"How did you know that?" Medaka asked, getting the feeling she already knows where it came from.
"Well, actually Nee-san knew, but she didn't want to tell you. So I chose to tell you in her place." He explained.
"Oh really? With the Student Council President?"
Jake looked over Medaka to see her friend in front of her. She has very long, dark-brown hair tied with 2 yellow ribbons, one over the crown of her head and another at the end of her hair. She's wearing the standard female Hakobune Middle School uniform, except she's wearing thigh-high black stockings and 2 pink wristbands. She also has blue eyes and a face of a young, cheeky girl. Her name's Ajimu Najimi, and from what he can remember, she's a 3rd year.
"Oh, Ajimu-senpai! I forgot that you're part of the Student Council." Jake stated, remembering that she's one of the friends Medaka made during the 1st week of school. "Since you're part of it, do you think that you can look out for anything suspicious in there, or even try and stop it if you do?"
If it were Diane trying to warn Medaka, she wouldn't even try to look for help from anyone in the Student Council, no matter how much they knew him/her. Reason why is that she believe that they could be in on it with the president too, or could accidentally leak the info to the Student Council President, so it's too risky. Jake, on the other hand, is willing to take risks, unless it was able to get him results. In fact, he believe that an inside man who knew one of his friends will be at least of some help.
Najimi smiled at him "If it's for a friend of my favorite Kouhai, then I will."
"Arigatou! That helps alot!"
"What make's you think that Kumagawa Misogi-Kaichou is up to something?" Medaka asks Jake.
"Nee-san told me that she talked to Akune-senpai, and that he said that Kumagawa-san was the one who sent him to destroy you! So she figured that he's planning on something else to get the job done." Jake explained.
"Isn't she acting a little, paranoid?"
"Well, from past experiences, we should remember that she's always been correct whenever she's paranoid." Jake pointed out.
"Well, don't worry, I'll keep a good eye on him. Nothing that he does will leave my watch." Najimi reassured him.
"Once again, arigatou, Ajimu-senpai!" He thanked again, making Najimi smile at him.
"No problem." Once he felt that everything is alright, he ran to find his friends to hang out. Once he's out of earshot and out of sight, Najimi leaned close to Medaka and whispered in her ear. 'Word of warning, the Student Council President himself is very vicious. I'll try to finish up in less than 10 minutes before he finds out. If I'm not back by then, come to the Student Council Room and help me.' She instructed.
"Huh?" Medaka asked, confused.
"Just say that you'll do it." She leaned back and put her hands on her shoulders.
The blue-haired genius nodded her head in response. "A-alright, I will."
"Thanks, friend."
10 Minutes Later
Medaka waited at the front doors of the school, waiting for Najimi to be back. She remembered that her friend said that she'll be back in less than 10 minutes. But the allotted time has passed, and she isn't here.
'What's taking her so long?'
She thought about waiting a few more minutes to let her come, just in case she had just finished by now, but she still hasn't come. As she stood there, she remembered what Najimi told her.
"I'll try to finish up in less than 10 minutes before he finds out. If I'm not back by then, come to the Student Council Room and help me."
The Kurokami genius looked down the hall that is the quickest way to the Student Council Room, remembering that she promised her that she'll come to help her if she isn't back by 10 minutes.
'Maybe I should check up on her. After all, I did promise her.' Medaka thought as she proceeded to the room. 'I just hope that Kumagawa Misogi-Kaichou isn't really planning something.'
She managed to find the room and open it, but what she saw, she'll remember for as long as she can remember.
Inside the room, it was rather dark, but she can see the Student Council President clearly, wearing the male Hakobune uniform, with black hair that any normal boy would have. Blood is currently dripping from his hands.
But what she really focused, is the body in front of him, who just so happens to be her friend, Najimi, her entire face gone as blood poured out of it.
[Ah, Kurokami Medaka-chan.] He turned around to face her, his eyes hidden thanks to the shadow formed from his hair. [I see that you've made it.] He raised his hands, showing all the blood on his hands. [Are you here to get a friend of yours? I'm sorry to say that she was in an incident.] His grin widened to seem all innocent, despite the whole evidence is pointing at him. [And I know what you're thinking, but this wasn't my fault.]
As he talked, Medaka lowered her eyes, hiding her eyes from him as she clench her fists. She never thought that there would be any danger, and that she'll leave peacefully with her friend. And, if what Jake heard from Diane and told both her and Najimi, she could rehabilitate him to be more peaceful. However, when she saw what he did to her friend, it angered her. And the fact that he was feigning innocent, despite the fact all the facts were right in front of her face, only infuriated her more. Plus, he was acting all nonchalant about his actions. Najimi was her best friend, and he just tore her face off, severely injuring her.
She wanted to help change him, but right now, that's not what she's thinking.
"You know, from what I saw and heard, I can tell one thing. At a young age, you were a kind boy, who believed that everyone had a purpose, and everyone died with a purpose. However, an incident before we met made you to believe that life has no purpose, which led to who you are now. Because of that, I wanted to help you, but no anymore."
Her hair started to float as a tinge of fluorescent red started to form on her hair.
"If you think that life isn't worth living, then allow me to help, by ending it right here..."
Her entire hair started to become more red as her anger rose to dangerous levels.
"KUMOGAWA!" She raised her head to stare at the ceiling as her entire hair became fluorescent red. She glared right at him, showing her eyes have now became as red as Jake's right eye and Diane's own 2 eyes, and charged right at her in a burst of speed.
Crossroads(Hakobune MS Path)
Jake, Carter, and Diane proceeded to their home, having finished what they needed to do. However, Diane is still thinking about the Student Council.
"What's up?" Carter asked, having noticed this for a while.
"I'm still thinking about the Student Council." Diane thought. "I'm getting the feeling that Kumagawa won't just stop after Akune had failed."
"Oh, you mean that?" Jake asked. "Maybe you should stop worrying about that."
That one sentence made Diane stopped. Throughout their time together, Jake and Carter has learned that whenever she's paranoid about a subject, it means that it'll inevitably happen, mostly. He learned that when he thought that she was being too paranoid one time, but her paranoia proved to be true. Since then, he would ask her if she's right about it, then believe that she's right. But for him to tell her to not worry about it, she knew that he probably did something. It probably be good or bad, but it wouldn't hurt to find out.
"Jake, what did you mean by that?" She asked her brother, making both him and Carter to stop and turn around. Jake saw that she's giving a stare that a older sibling would give a younger sibling if they did something bad, which made him nervous.
"Ah, hehehe. Do you remember that you said to not tell Medaka about it?" Jake asked her.
"Yeah?"
"I... uh... sorta did." He replied with a nervous smile while rubbing the back of his head.
"WHAT?!"
Both Jake and Carter jumped back at her sudden outburst.
"B-but I have a good reason!" Her brother tried to explain. "Y-you see, she was p-p-practically involved in the incident. S-so I thought that... I should... warn her?"
"The reason why I didn't warn her is because she'll try to get involved!" Diane argued.
"Well, fortunately, she thought that you were a little paranoid, and didn't believe you." Diane calmed down a bit. She knows that, out of the 4 of them, Medaka still thinks that her paranoia is just paranoia, not fact. "But..." She looked at him again. "... a member of the Student Council, Ajimu Najimi-senpai, was there. She kinda heard what I told Medaka-chan, so I asked her to... watch the... President..."
"YOU WHAT?!" The 2 boys jumped back from her outburst again. "Didn't I say that something involving the 'Student Council?" Jake nodded a bit. "I meant the ENTIRE Student Council! It means that every member could be involved! Even if one of them happens to be a friend or sibling of that bitch!" Another reason she didn't want to talk about it openly is that she believes that the Student Council could be listening in amongst the crowd, or be with Medaka. Unfortunately for her, Jake inadvertantly did the latter by accident.
"Well, what could be the problem?" Carter decided to ask.
She cross her arms under her bust. "Well, since it's the latter, either Ajimu-san could tell everything you told her to the Student Council President. Or, if she happens to be on our side, he could find out about it and get her back for it. And I assume that Kurokami is heading there to see if anything went wrong."
"How'd you know that?" Carter asked again as Jake became more worried.
"Seeing that she isn't here must mean that she's waiting for Ajimu-san, considering that she said that she'll be waiting at the school for her friend. And since you 2 are with me, then by process of elimination, Ajimu Najimi could be that friend." She proceeded to close her eyes. "And from what you said, Kurokami is heading there to help her out right now." A gust of wind blew past the 2. She opened her eyes to see Jake is no longer there.
She opened her eyes, not bothering to look back. 'Although, the worst thing to happen, won't be coming from Kumagawa, actually. It'll actually be from Kurokami.'
At the thought of what the President could do to Medaka, he dashed right toward school the only way he knew, using Shunpo, a technique both he and his sister learned at 8 years old, with his older sister being more proficient at the technique. He knows that, with this technique, he'll be able to reach the school in no time. He just hopes that he'll reach her soon enough.
'Please don't let me be late! Please don't let me be late!' He chanted in his mind as he Shunpo'd to the school. He eventually reached the school. 'Good, now to find her.' His plea immediately became answered when an explosion occurred from the 2nd floor as glass and rubble flew out. "Son of a bitch!" Out from the 2nd floor, he saw 2 people flying out into the courtyard. He looked closer to see one of the people he recognized, but didn't want to be, flying out alongside another. "M-Medaka-chan?" Coming out of the 2nd floor is Medaka, with her hair now flowing freely and her stockings torn, and Kumagawa, now severely beaten and thrashed.
"THIS IS FOR NAJIMI!" Medaka punched Kumagawa square in the face, sending him crashing into the ground, unaware that Jake had just arrived. She landed right on top of him and proceeded to pound on him, over and over again, bruising his face severely.
As it occured, Jake can only gapped at what's going on. 'Th-that's Medaka-chan? What the hell? How did this happen?' What's more, he's amazed by the strength she's using on him. 'Was she always this strong? She could blast a Hollow through a building with that strength! I'm surprised that the guy is still alive!'
After a while, Kumagawa tried to speak. [N...] Medaka stopped when he tried to speak, having lost count of how many times she pummeled him, which was probably 20 times considering his face is nearly unrecognizable. [No... more. I... can't... take anymore. P-please stop.]
She lowered her fist when he said that. "I'm glad that you had some humility." Kumagawa smiled in relief when she said that. "However..." She raised her fist again, ready to crush his skull in. "... like my rival would say, to get rid of a problem, you have to make sure he doesn't do it again!" She was about to strike the killing blow.
"MEDAKA, STOOOOOP!" Her fist only reached about several centimeters away from his face, all thanks to the fact that Jake was able to grab her arm to make her stop as he hugged her from behind. "Medaka! He's had enough! The guy is nearly beaten to death, so you don't have to resort to killing him! That's just not you! Don't do something you'll regret!"
After both feeling and hearing her childhood friend stop her, she lowered her fist, causing him to let go of it, as her hair returned to their original blue. Once she calmed down, he backed away from them, but she immediately ran up to him and hugged him, feeling depressed, with her head on his chest.
'I... failed.'
"Huh?" Jake didn't catch that, since it was rather silent and muffled.
"I failed. I failed to save Najimi, and I failed to do anything for Kumagawa!" He felt something wet fall down his shirt, which he can tell is probably tears, so he figured out that she's crying. "I'm beginning to see why Diane choosed not to tell me of what's going on. She's right... how can I make everyone happy when I couldn't even help 2 people!"
From how Medaka didn't use Diane's surname as well, she's really torn from this, so he hugged her back in response. "Shhh, it's all right, Medaka. Everything will be alright." As he comforted her, he glared at Kumagawa, the bastard who caused this to her. 'Kumagawa... it's your fault that she's crying! You bastard!' He cooled down a bit before his face turned into an expression of determination. 'No matter, all I should know is that this is the first time I've ever seen her cry. I vowed that I won't let Nee-san cry on 'that' day, so I'll do the same here. From this day forth, I'll protect Medaka with all I got, so that she'll never cry again!'
A few days later
After the incident, Kumagawa transferred out of school and was never heard from again. What's more, Najimi also seemed to have transferred out. They figured that she wanted to recover, considering that such a cosmetic injury like that would take months, probably years to heal, it's a smart decision.
However, Medaka entered a state of depression since that day. As of late, she's barely motivated anymore, she no longer tries to help people anymore, hell, she doesn't even try to get into an argument, competition, or even a fight with Diane. In fact, she even considered committing suicide, but fortunately Jake managed to stop her from doing it, yet her depression still lingered along with thoughts of suicide.
Another school day ended, and Jake was packing up his supplies to head home, but before he could get up, he looked at Medaka to see that she's staring at her desk, which she's been doing for the last few days. There also bags under her eyes, showing that she's been getting little to no sleep.
"Man, she's still depressed?" He looked up to see Shikamaru looking at her next to him, since he's located to his lower left.
"Yeah." Jake replied, feeling sad for her.
"Man, when the hell is she going to get over her slump?" Kiba added, from his spot at the center end of the room.
"Dunno. We tried to get her out of it, but she doesn't seem to listen." Carter replied.
As everyone talked about her condition, Diane simply sat there, listening to the conversation. During the last few days, the eldest Ryujin has been trying to get her out of her funk for at least one contest, but to no avail. She's getting rather pissed about Medaka's current slump, thinking that what she's going over is nothing but, in her words, 'an impractical reason'. However, as she thought about it, she realised, that most of her fights up to now, were rather impractical and childish at best. What's more, she is beginning to remember when her brother entered the same enraged state when she herself was in danger, so she had to give her some sympathy, but not alot. However, she's not going to stand for her depression any longer, wanting her to get over it and grow up, as she's slowly is doing right now.
'Time to do something I wanted to do for a while.'
She stood up from her seat, getting everyone's attention, and walked up toward Medaka. Once in front of her, she shouted at her.
"Kurokami Medaka!"
She looked at Diane, only for her to punch her square in the face, sending her flying to the other side of the room, making everyone shocked at her action.
Medaka stood up, glaring at Diane, showing emotion for the first time since the incident. "OW! What the hell was that for?!" She shouted.
Diane said nothing but pointed her finger at her. "You and me! Courtyard! Now!" Medaka became a little surprised and was about to ask, yet her rival interrupted her as she lowered her arm. "I wanted to see the difference between our fighting abilities. We've only did competitions that tested our intellectual abilities. But..." She clench her fist in front of her. "I've always wanted to see who's the literal strongest rival! That is... if you're scared?"
Medaka twitched from her words, but she put on a stoic expression, the same one she used when they first met. "If that's what you want, then I'm happy to oblige!"
Courtyard
The news of Diane's and Medaka's fight spread throughout the school like wildfire, considering that the 'Diamond in the Rough' Medaka Kurokami and the 'Strategic Badass' Diane Ryujin are going to start a true all-out fight instead of a little rumble over a simple subject. Everyone, ranging from years 1-3, all gathered in the courtyard to witness what people expected to be an epic fight between the 2 fierce rivals. In fact, nearly the entire student body gathered at the courtyard, in a huge circle of course, to watch the 2 fight.
Currently, Diane is at one corner, with Jake and Carter behind her, cracking her neck a bit. As for Medaka, she's standing on the other side away from her, looking like she nearly did when they first met.
"Nee-san, is this really necessary?" Jake asked, worried for both of them.
"Of course." Diane replied. "I wanted to test my rival's strength. I would've done this earlier, but I couldn't find a circumstance that worked." There was another reason for doing this, but she choose to hide it, for the time being. "So, Kurokami..." Diane smacks her right fist into her left hand and crack her neck a bit. "Are you ready?"
Her rival merely put up her hands in a type of boxer stance, but with her left more out front. "I'm ready for you."
Diane merely smirked as she got into a left lead stance, with her left arm parallel to the ground and her right arm up close to her chest. "Now, since I challenged you, I think that you should go first."
Medaka took Diane up on her offer and charged right at her. Once she's close enough, she launched a right hook straight at Diane's face, which she caught with ease with her left. With a flick of her wrist, she pushed her opponent back, but that didn't stopped Medaka as she tried a spin kick, which Diane also blocked by raising her right arm up, blocking the kick.
"C'mon, is that it?" Diane taunted. She then grabbed her leg with both hands and threw her to her right, causing Medaka to roll on the ground a few times before getting back on her feet.
She charged at her again with another spinning kick, only Diane ducked, causing Medaka to overshot her kick and fly past her. With a quick turn, she skidded on the ground and charged at her for the 3rd time. On a dime, Diane turned around and blocked another one of Medaka's punch. Medaka tried a barrage of punches, hoping that one would at least hit Diane, but she was able to block each and every last one. After about 20 punches, Medaka threw the 21st punch, which Diane caught with her right hand. She gripped her arm with both hands and threw her over her shoulder, sending Medaka rolling right toward where she originally started.
Medaka managed to stand right up and look at Diane, noticing that she wasn't able to budge her rival by even a single centimeter.
"What's the matter? Is there a reason you're holding back on me?" Diane asked, making everyone surprised.
When Diane said that, Medaka's eyes widen a bit from shock. "Wha? I'm not..."
"Don't try to deny it." She replied. "My turn." This time, Diane charged right at her, making Medaka attempt to block. She saw her rival attempting to throw a punch right at her face, so she raised her hand to grab it, except her punch turned out to be a feint as Diane threw an open palm strike to her gut, pushing her about 10 centimeters back. "Sloppy." Diane stood up straight. "You would've been able to see through that feint and block that hit, yet you didn't."
Medaka clutch her gut as she looked at her. "I-I'm just a little off."
"Is it because of Kumagawa?" Medaka's eyes widened upon hearing that name. "That's right, I heard about what happened between you 2 from Jake. I heard how you beat up Kumagawa because he tore Ajimu-san's face off and that Jake stopped you before you went too far. Which leads to how you're acting right now." When Diane practically explained 'that event', Medaka began to tremble as she clench her fists. "From what I can gather, you're in a state of depression due to the fact that it was your first ever failure since meeting us. You felt that because you couldn't change Kumagawa and even failed to save your friend, you felt that you can no longer do what my brother said you were meant to do, am I correct?" Diane explained while crossing her arms under her bust.
Everyone looked at Medaka to reply, who's currently trembling. Diane cocked an eyebrow when she saw her hair gaining some fluorescent highlights. 'What's this?'
After a while, Medaka arched back as her entire hair became fluorescent red as her twin pigtails unraveled, and Diane's eyes widen as she felt a sudden burst of Reiatsu coming off from her for some reason. 'What the, Reiatsu? How is this possible? Does that form offers a burst of power?'
Her eyes immediately hardened as she saw Medaka glare at her with her crimson eyes and charge right at her with a right hook, which Diane choose to evade, feeling that it'll be painful if she'd tried to block. The newly enraged Medaka continued to swing punch after punch at Diane, trying to hit her, as she effortlessly evaded left and right, dodging every one of Medaka's attacks.
As it happened, everyone looks in shock and a bit of fear at Medaka's new form and rage, while Jake was getting worried. 'Great, Medaka is in that form again. What the hell was Nee-san thinking?'
"I see, so this is the form that you defeated Kumagawa in." Diane decided to hypothesis some of the abilities of the new form. "Considering that it activated out of sheer rage, it must drastically increase your strength for devastating power, but that kind of power in your current strength would be fatal, so your healing rate must've also been drastically increased so you can continue to dish it out. However, since it's fueled by pure rage, you'll won't be thinking straight, so you won't be attacking properly."
"I'LL SHOW YOU!" Medaka then threw a punch so fast that Diane didn't have time to evade as it landed right between her bust, sending her flying toward her brother and Carter. She managed to plant her feet on the ground to grind to a hault.
"Are you alright, Nee-san?" Jake asked, worried.
"I'm alright." She clutch her chest as she stood up right. 'Thank goodness for Reiatsu. With it, I was able to lessen the damage. And, even though her Reiatsu is currently high, it doesn't seem to be higher than my own.' Diane charged right at Medaka as her opponent did the same. Once the 2 got close enough, Medaka threw the first punch when Diane evaded and punched Medaka square in the face. She attemptted to punch her again, but Diane dodge again. She elbowed Medaka in the chest, followed by a backhand to the face and another punch to the gut, which Medaka took head on. She grabbed her arm and attempted to slam her rival to the ground, but Diane managed to plant her feet right on the ground, and with all of her strength, do a 360 clockwise spin, dragging Medaka with her. Once she got enough momentum, she spun counterclockwise and kicked her in the face again, sending her to the ground. Medaka flipped right up to her feet and struck at her again, this time with a kick. Diane responded with a kick herself, causing both kicks to collide. However, Diane winced at the force behind her rival's kick.
'Even with the Reiatsu cushioning the blow, it still hurts like hell.'
She spun around to kick again, which Medaka evaded by stepping back. Medaka threw 2 punches. Diane dodged both of them and side stepped to her left. The enraged rival threw another punch, which Diane dodged again as she came up behind her, wrapped her arms around Medaka's waist, and performs a German Suplex, slamming Medaka on her shoulders on the ground, hard. That attack made everyone wince. However, Diane knew that wouldn't be enough to keep her rival down as she performed a Kangaroo Kick. She predicted this attack and side stepped the attack.
As Medaka flew right passed her, Diane lifted her right arm, encasing her fist with dark-blue Reiryoku, and slammed her fist right down in her gut, smashing her into the ground, creating a small crater and a small dust cloud. All of which occured in just 2 seconds.
Everyone looked with anticipation, waiting to see if Medaka managed to survive the attack, considering how strong the attack was, and was completely unaware that Diane used Reiryoku to enhance the attack, no shock considering no one, besides Jake, Diane and Carter, could see it.
The dust cloud begins to settle as they spotted Diane, with her own fist smoking, standing in front of a crater. All the students walked up closer to see the damage. Once close enough, they could see inside the crater to see Medaka, a circle tear 2 times the diameter of a fist on her blouse, her stockings completely torn up to the ankles, her skirt in tatters, and her hair and eyes back to their normal color.
Diane merely grinned. "Hm, looks like I'm the strongest in terms of strength." She walked up to Medaka and noticed that her eye's are now more duller than before.
"I'm weak." Diane heard Medaka spoke softly. "I'm weak. I couldn't defeat you. I can't do anything. I couldn't even save 2 people."
"Medaka-san." Akune said with sympathy, who was among the spectators.
Diane merely sighed and offered Medaka a hand, which she took as she lifted her up. "Kurokami." Medaka looked at Diane, when the latter slapped the former hard.
"Get over it." Diane told her. "You were probably furious because I told everyone here about your recent failure, am I correct?" Medaka said nothing. "That silence tells me that I'm right." She saw her nod. "Like I said, get over it." Medaka was about to say something back, but Diane raise her hand to silence her.
"So what if you failed, it's a part of life. Nobody is perfect in this world. Not even you are. You think that you can make everyone happy, correct? The truth is, that's impossible." Diane told her.
"I could!" Medaka tried to argue.
"Then tell me, can you solve all of the world's problems in one night?" Diane asked rhetorically, which made Medaka silent. "That's how impossible it is. You can't satisfy every single person, no matter how hard you work for. To do that all by yourself is physically impossible. You are not Superman." She cross her arm under her bust. "However, you can satisfy a small group." Medaka looked at Diane in confusion as she continued. "'Every journey begins, with just a single step'. That old saying applies to you too. If you start off small, then you can gradually work to fulfill your goal. So what if you failed to save 2 people? How's that compared to 128 million people in Japan? You can't let a failure as small as this one get to you! What's done is done, it's all in the past. You can't let the past drag you down like this. If you do, then you cannot advance, and grow strong! If you wish to amend for your mistake, then work hard to make sure that mistake never happens again! You can't do somehting like that if you sulk over this for the rest of your life!" She wave her arm out to her side. "You're acting like a complete child! Grow up, and let go of this mistake you made!"
Medaka merely stared at Diane. Throughout their time together, she never knew Diane would even be willing to try and help her out. In fact, she would've just let her continue to sulk. The fact that she's lecturing her like this, it's a complete shock.
"Wh-why are you doing this?"
"I'm growing up." She simply said. "I've realised that, up till now, all of our 'interactions' were rather childish."
'And chaotic.' Both Jake and Carter thought with deadpan faces.
"So I decided to forego any and all of that, after I saw that you were acting like a complete idiot, sulking over your first mistake. Everyone makes them. Don't try and think of yourself as a perfect Saint that can make no mistake, because you're not one. You're a human being, and we always make mistakes. But, how we can be truly remarkable, is that we can accept them and move on. And so can you." She points her finger at her. "I cannot call you my rival, unless you learn to accept from your mistakes and move on. If you wish to live up to the purpose that my brother gave you, then accept that even you can make mistakes and learn to improve from them so you'll never do it again! So, Kurokami Medaka, can I call you my rival?"
She looked at Diane, thinking about everything she said. It was her first mistake, so she had no idea how to handle it. She never made a mistake her entire life, so she was trying to figure out what to do, but what Diane told her, sounded better. Sure, she failed to help 2 people, but if she kept on sulking, she wouldn't be able to help other people that need it. And, although she doesn't want to admit it out loud, Diane's right. She isn't Superman, or a Saint. She can't help everyone who needs help, but she can help any of those she can. She won't let what happened with Kumagawa get to her anymore. So, she'll do what Diane is doing right now, grow up.
"So, what's your answer?"
Medaka only smiled as she tied her hair into a ponytail behind her head. "If you're planning on growing up, it should be natural that I grow up as well."
Diane smirked at her reply. "But just to be clear, I still think of you as my rival."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." Medaka replied. She then walked to the school gate. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go to a hospital."
"Wait, what?" Jake asked.
"Well, I'm badly bruised from that fight. Not to mention I think my gut may be ruptured from that attack and I think that some of my bones may be broken."
"Same here. I think we went a little overboard in our fight." Diane added as she followed Medaka.
'That was completely overboard.' Everyone thought as the 2 rivals walk off.
However, Jake smiled when he saw his sister and friend become more mature. 'I'm glad that Medaka is feeling alright now. Plus, I don't have to worry about the 2 constantly argue and fight each other.'
"Quit following me!" Medaka yelled at Diane.
"I'm not! It's just that the exit is the same way you're going!" Diane yelled back.
'Hopefully.'
2 Days Later
The day after the huge fight, Diane and Medaka returned, being told that their injuries aren't that bad and that it'll recover in a few days. What's more, the constant fights and bickering drastically lessened, although they do bicker here and there from time to time, and they do compete against each other, it's just that it happens after a small while.
However, Jake became irked when Akune pledged his loyalty to her that very same day. Since that day, the 2 became rivals in the way Diane and Medaka were before the start of Middle School, only less severe. Basically, the 2 would get in each other's faces and tend to get in a fight or 2.
Right now, Jake is taking a walk around the school, having finished his lunch early, just to clear his mind, and to be on the lookout for any fangirls. To him, it seems that everyday, the number of fangirls seem to increase.
'Seriously, why the hell are they all attracted to me?'
As he did, he came up to a corner that turnes right. Around the corner, he spotted Sakura and Ino in a conversation. But judging from the atmosphere around them, it's not all that friendly.
"What do you mean by that?" Ino exclaimed.
"Like I said, I'm sick of being in your shadow." Sakura told her.
'Something tells me this is going to go downhill.' Jake thought as he watched from behind the corner.
"S-Sakura, I-I never think that! You're my friend!"
"Yeah, about that... I want to stop being friends with you."
Ino immediately froze when she heard those 8 words. "What?"
"Look, I like Jake-kun longer than you did. We can't love the same person. I..." Sakura paused for a moment. "I think that, this way, we can see who he likes more."
'Alright, I can see where this is going.' Jake, not wanting to see this turn into something ugly, came out from around the corner and made himself known. "Yo."
"J-Jake-kun!" Both Ino and Sakura cried in surprise. "H-how long have you been listening?" Sakura asked.
"Well, right up to the part where Sakura said something about 'being in someone's shadow'," Jake made air quotes around what he heard Sakura said. "All the way where you were talking about seeing who this guy like's more." He answered. "And I can probably tell, that it's me."
"It's true." Sakura replied, rubbing her right arm. "It's just that, ever since me and Ino met when we were in Kindergarten, I've been feeling that I've been living in her shadow. I wanted to prove that I'm her equal, and that's when we met you." She lowered her left arm as she looks away. "When I found out that she fell in love with you after the first day of school, I wanted this to be a chance that I can be her equal, by seeing who you love more."
"I can't believe you're doing this!" Ino exclaimed. "Doesn't that seem a bit to much?!"
"Well, I loved him more than you did!" Sakura turned and shouted at Ino. "You can't just meet him and say that you love him!"
"Alright, that's enough!" The 2 girls turned to Jake, who turned to speak to Sakura. "Look, I don't really care who you love, but breaking up a friendship because of love just isn't right!" He puts his hands on her shoulders, making the said girl blush. "You can still be her friend while showing that you're her equal. If there's something you want to say, just say it. There are other ways to show your qualities besides destroying your friendship. In fact, I can name several ways you can resolve this while keeping your friendship. So, just try to stay friends with her, alright?"
Sakura felt some heat rise to her face with the fact that her crush is making physical contact with her. Also, she is beginning to think that, maybe she did rush the whole thing. In fact, with the thought of wanting to be shown as Ino's equal and the fact that her crush is the same person she's crushing on, she just jumped the gun.
He removed his hands from her . "Well, see ya later, Sakura," He then turned to Ino. "Ino." He proceeded to walk past Sakura and down the hall, feeling as if he saved a friendship from falling apart.
Back with the two, Ino blushed after Jake left. 'He remembers my name!'
"I-Ino."
The blonde stopped blushing and looked back at Sakura, who's currently rubbing the back of her head.
"Listen, what I said back there, I was acting out of impulse. I mean, I did know Jake-kun longer, and I wasn't wrong that I did feel that I was in your shadow." Ino lowers her head when Sakura repeated those words. "But..." She looked back to Sakura. "What Jake-kun told me, made me rethink about my decision." She lowers her arm and looks out the windows. "I guess I rush into things without thinking, so..." She looks back at Ino with a smile. "Can we... still be friends?"
Ino looked at the pink-haired girl for a while before smiling back. "Sure, we're still friends." She went and hugged Sakura, who returned the gesture.
"But I'm still going to fight you for Jake-kun's affection." Sakura added with a grin.
"You're on!" Ino replied, also with a grin. "I'm not planning on losing to you."
Meanwhile, back at the corner, Hibari heard everything and is currently grinding her teeth.
At the moment, she's absolutely furious! These 2 bitches didn't seem to get the message, that Jake is her's! The best that any girl who likes him can do is admire him from afar, no exceptions, yet that can be a pain considering Jake has a habit of wandering around the campus, which means she wouldn't be there to keep the damn fan girls away from him. But these girls, especially the pink haired, big foreheaded girl, have the nerve to talk to her Jake-kun! After all, she saw him first, it's only natural that she get's him to herself, considering that Hibari first met Jake during her 3rd year, Sakura met him during his 5th year which is a 2 year difference, and Ino met him this year. Sure, Medaka is his childhood friend, but she doesn't seem interest in him beyond being 'just friends'. But that's beside the point.
'I'm not planning on handing him over to those 2! No way! If they want to fight over him, then they're going to have to go through me!'
A Few Weeks Later
It's near the middle of May in Japan, and the school life seems to be going by in a flash. During the last few weeks, Sakura and Ino remained friends, much to Jake's relief, but are still rivals over Jake's affection, to his chargain. What's more, Hibari also declared the 2 her rivals for his affection, also to his chargain. In addition, Jake and Akune's rivalry became completely obvious last week, when it was Jake and Diane's birthday a few weeks ago and the 2 started a fight, which started over an argument on who's the toughest. On a side note, their rivalry made both Diane and Medaka realise even more how ridiculous their old rivalry was.
In addition, the Midterm Exams are closely approaching, and every student is either anxious or nervous with the coming exams. The only people who aren't nervous are Shikamaru, Medaka, and Diane. But there are also those who freak out when they found out.
"I'm freaking out!"
One of them happens to be Carter.
"The Midterms are coming! I don't know if I can do it!"
"Would you cut it out!" Jake shouted at him. "I'm trying to study!"
Right now, the group is studying for the exams at their house in the library study room, with Medaka there with them.
"Well, so was I!" Carter exclaimed.
"But you stopped 3 minutes into it, then you began to freak out."
"Well, can you blame me! It's our first Midterms Exam in Middle School! I don't know what I'll do well in it!"
"Calm down, Carter." Medaka told him as she studied. The aformentioned red head turned to her as she continued. "I believe you'll do great in the exams."
"Why's that?" He asked.
She turned to Carter. "Because, I think that you'll be able to get a good score."
"R-really?" His eyes began to sparkle. They all know that her words would always give a sense of hope in anyone she talks to.
"Yeah, unless you study as hard as we do." Diane added. What they also know is that her words are usually because she believes that anyone and everyone is just as good as either herself or Diane.
Her words made Carter slump. "Aw, but I don't wanna study! It hurts my head!"
"Unless you want to be held back, then study!" She told him, her eyes not leaving her notes.
"Fine." Reluctantly, Carter sat back down in his seat and tried to study, only to fall asleep on the table after 5 minutes, something they know would've happen.
"Nee-san, remind me again why we're friends with him?" Jake asked after seeing his head fall on the table and enter deep slumber. "I know that he can be useful, but why do we keep him around?"
"At this point, I chose to forget why he's with us." Diane replied, feeling a slight headache.
A Couple Weeks Later
On the week of the Midterm Exams, everyone went to work on it. For an entire week, everyone focused on their exams either to pass it or get it over with. Most students, like Jake, had laser focus throughout the test. They all hope that all their studying up till now will pay off. Others, like Diane and Medaka, simply breeze through the exam like it's nothing. Some, like Carter, strained their brain desperately trying to pass. By the end of the week, everyone was exhausted, glad that the upcoming weekend was there to give them a break.
A few days after the exams, the results were posted and every student ran there to see if they made it to the Top 100 or was able to pass. Among one of them, currently, was Jake.
"Let's see, how did I do..." He looked at the lists to see where he was put among the entire student body. Upon reaching the Top 10 scores, he found that his name was at the #9 spot.
"Yes! I made it into the Top 10!"
"Wow, really?" Shikamaru, who's standing right next to him, said amazed. "You're smarter than you look."
Jake put his hands behind his head. "Well, with a sister like Nee-san, some of her intelligence gets rubbed off."
"YES!" Everyone turned to Carter, who's right in front of Jake's upper right, cheered with his hands in the air. "I finally made it! I'm on the Top 100!"
They looked through the list to see Carter's name is indeed there, but he's at the 100 spot.
"But, he's dead last." Kiba pointed out.
"Eh, let him have his moment." Jake told him. "Carter getting on the list is like the greatest achievement during his entire academic life." He decided to look for Medaka and Diane's names on the list, but upon reaching back to the Top 10, he found Shikamaru's name at 4th place. "I didn't know that you were smart, Shikamaru."
"I am." The resident lazy boy replied. "Everyone in my family is known to be very intelligent."
"But, you don't look and act all, I don't know, smart." Carter stated.
Shikamaru let out a sigh. "Everyone expects me to be smart, but that would mean making alot more effort and more work." He put his hand behind his head. "It's such a drag."
'Now we know why he doesn't seem smart. He's too lazy to show it.' Both Jake, Carter, and probably everyone who's around them thought.
"Alright, where are we on this list?"
Everyone turned their attention to Diane and Medaka, who somehow made it up to the list without anyone noticing. They all followed their eyes until they reached the 1st position. There, both Diane and Medaka's names reside.
"What the?! 1st place?!" Both Diane and Medaka shouted in shock.
"And that's a problem, why?" Kiba asked, not surprised that their scores made it to the 1st position along with everyon else.
"If you know them for as long as I have, you'll know the reason why." Jake told Kiba as they watch the 2 rivals wonder how they both got 1st place.
"Th-that's impossible! We can't both be in 1st place!" Diane tried to deny. "They've must've counted it wrong!"
"D-did I somehow forget to completely fill in one of the circles?" Medaka thougth out loud, also trying to deny the result.
"It would make more sense if Kurokami was in 2nd place."
"Yeah, it would make mo- wait, what do you mean by 2nd place?" The Kurokami prodigy turned to Diane, smacking her with the back of her hand Manzai style.
The Ryujin Genius looked back at her rival. "I was stating the facts. I mean, you are slightly inferior to me in intelligence."
"Aren't you referring to yourself?"
'Oy vey.' Both Jake and Carter thought. Despite the 2 girls growing up from being 2 angry girls arguing at each other and beating each other up constantly to 2 mature preteens who would take their rivalry seriously instead of as a reason to hate each other, they still tend to argue from time to time.
When their argument turned into a debate on who should've been 1st, students began to pile out, knowing that it'll go on forever. As for the 2 males among this unique nakama, they chose to stay there to drag them out if things escalate too far.
About 4 Weeks Later.
Nearly several weeks of school came and went, until summer vacation begans. On the first day of summer vacation, the trio chose to kick back and relax. The next few days, however, weren't that fun due to the heat. Just like with today.
It's been only a few days into summer, and the temperature is already at 30° celcius, and right now the trio are lounging around, trying to cool off with the air conditioner they took out of the attic.
"Ugh, it's so hoooot." Carter whined.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Jake replied sarcastically.
"It is!"
"That's because your lying on the back pourch." Diane pointed out. The house also came with sliding glass doors on the right side of the living room next to the couch in front of the doors leading to the 2 guest rooms. Currently, Jake and Diane are laying on the sofa while Carter, somehow, is laying on the back porch.
"Oh, right." He stood up, left the back porch, and flopped right on the recliner sofa.
"By the way, when is Hitomi-san coming?" Jake decided to ask.
"About that, I got a call from her. She said that she's currently looking for a job." Diane stated, remembering that she quit her job as a doctor after the whole incident with Kumagawa. As of late, she's been looking for a job, mainly because she had to not only look after her son, but she's been trying to look for a job to support the 2 of them. Apparently, there's not that many jobs for a child-looking 40 year old who's previous job involved helping abnormal kids live normal lives.
"Did she say who's coming over in her place." When he asked that, Diane let out a groan. That groan immediately signalled Jake as to who's coming. "It's her, isn't it?"
What soon came next was the sound of the front door slamming wide open. "Yo kids! I'm here to watch over you 2 for today and tomorrow! You should be happy!"
"Does that answer your question?"
The trio looked to the center hall to see a woman emerge. Said woman has light-brown, pupil-less eyes. Her hair is violet tied into a short, spiky, fanned-ponytail. She's wearing a black short sleeved t-shirt with denim short shorts on. She also has a blue duffel bag slinged over her shoulder. This person happens to be Anko Mitarashi.
Whenever Hitomi wouldn't have the time to babysit them, Anko would always be the one to take her place, which became more and more frequent. Anko isn't much of a bad babysitter, since she's able to keep them alive, it's when she isn't babysitting is the problem. Whenever she come's over, she would either ruffle their hair alot, give the 3 noogies, or the combination of the 2 like the former on Carter and Diane and the latter on Jake. Unlike Hitomi, who would volunteer to cook for them, Anko never does and basically eats more than they would. What's more, whenever they get free time, she would make them do something because, in her words, 'If you're doing nothing, then you have to do something. Besides, if you're doing something, time will fly by'. Plus, if she brings the duffle bag, then it means that there'll be some excruciating exercise.
"Hey kiddos, how's summer treating you?" Anko asked them with a grin.
"What does it look like?" Carter asked rhetorically.
"It sucks huh?" Their babysitter figured out with her free hand on her chin. "But don't worry," She started as she moved to the coffee table and set her duffle bag on it. "I have several activities for you 3 to get your minds off of this heat." Anko finished as she riffled through it, causing the trio to groan even more. "But first, a little gift." The first thing she took out was a brochure.
"What's that?" Diane took the brochure from her to get a closer look at it along with Jake and Carter. Said brochure seem to advertise a recently added water park.
"It's a brochure for Tokyo's newest waterpark that opened on the last week of June called Tsunami Island. Apparently, some rich guy from here took a vacation in America and saw several water parks there. He got inspired and decided to make one here. That water park is the very first." Anko explained.
"And you're telling us this, why?"
"Because, we're going there tomorrow!" When Diane lowered the brochure, Anko pulled out 3 tickets and waved it in front of their faces.
"Really?! We're going there?" Carter cried excited as the trio took the tickets.
"Yep, so what better way to beat the summer heat, then at the water park?"
"H-how did you get these?" Jake asked.
Anko cross her arms over her chest with her eyes shut as she grinned. "Well, let's just say that a week before it opened, this girl," She jab her thumb at herself. "entered a contest where the first 100 entrants would win tickets for me and 3 others. I figured that you guys would want a little R&R since vacation just started." She opened her eyes as she put her hands on her hips. "So, you guys in?"
The trio looked at their tickets Anko gave them. From what they saw on the news, the temperature would be higher tomorrow by a few degrees. And what Anko gave them was a chance to beat the heat. After all, this is one of the few times shes shown that she is a good babysitter.
The trio looked back at Anko and gave their reply. "We're in."
"Great! Now that that's out of the way, time we get down to business." Their babysitter dug back into her back and pulled out a set of weights. "Let's start training!"
Jake, Carter, and Diane groaned upon seeing those weights and hearing that word.
The Next Day
On a Saturday morning, Anko brought the trio to Tsunami Island, the newest water park in Tokyo. The water park has everything that the typical American water park would have, only the lazy river encompasses about half the water park, the water slides are tubes shaped like dragons, and there's a large pool that stimulates waves. So it's an American water park with a Japanese theme.
"Man, it's bigger and better than on the brochure!" Anko pointed out after seeing the water park for herself. Anko is wearing a black bikini with thin string straps with a tan jacket over it.
"It's amazing!" Carter exclaimed. He's wearing red swim trunks with yellow flame marks. Next to him is Jake, wearing plain black swim trunks with white trims.
"It sure would be." Diane, currently wearing a one piece blue swim wear, was happy, then became irritated. "But why did she have to be here?" She pointed behind her, where Medaka is currently standing, wearing a purple bikini that's showing off her growing assets.
Upon arriving at the water park, they encountered Medaka and her family. Some of their other friends couldn't make it, something that Diane even hoped when she saw the family of blue hair and ahoges. And to rub some salt in the wounds, the father allowed Medaka to hang out with the trio for as long as she likes.
"I told you guys already. Otou-san entered the contest and won tickets for me, Obaa-san and Onii-chan. The fact that you guys are also here is a surprise, Anko-san." Medaka replied, answering toward Anko instead.
Diane's eye twitch when she ignored her, but she managed to stay calm.
"Yeah, you said it." The trio's babysitter added. She then clap her hands together. "Alright kids, head on to the pool while your babysitter looks for our spots." The now quartet all nodded and ran into the pool while Anko looked around for the best spots in the park.
Later That Day
After nearly a whole day at the water park, and one instance where Carter 'accidentally' peeked into women changing from their bikini's, the trio all went home after saying goodbye to Medaka. On the way home, the trio fell asleep. So once they reached home, Anko decided to tuck them into bed. Although she'd rather wake them up and have them do something, she figured that they should rest after having an entire day of play, showing that she has some gentle moments when babysitting.
Once she put the 3 into bed, she left the house, but not before her smartphone rang when she reached her car. She took it out and saw a familiar number on it.
"About damn time he called!" Anko pressed the call button and brought up to her ear. "Hello cutie."
{Hello gorgeous, it's been a while before I heard your voice.} A voice answered from the other line. {How are things back in ol' Japan? Anything good happen?}
"Nothing much." Anko replied. "The Prime Minister resigned from his position about a month ago. Our probe returned to Earth. What else... oh yeah! I brought the kids to that new water park that opened a few days ago."
{That much happened? Man I missed alot!}
"You got that right!"
Silence fell for a while before the guy over the phone spoke again. {So, how are the twins?}
When he asked that, Anko became serious. "They still don't remember."
{I see.} Silence fell between the 2 once again.
"When are you coming back?" She asked.
{Considering I just finished cleaning up the mess in Haiti and what's left in the world, probably until next March. When I get back, I'll try to get their memories to return.}
"So, guess me and Hitomi are still in babysitting duty."
{You don't like it?}
"It's not that!" Anko corrected. "I like the 2 kids and their friend. I'm just worried, what if they did regain their memories. Won't they do something drastic?"
{They're smart kids, they know better than to do that. Don't worry.}
"If you say so." Anko replied, before changing her personality to a more cheerful one on a dime. "Well, see you later. I love you!"
{I love you too!} Her caller hung up from the other line, to which she pocketed her phone, and got in her car.
Meanwhile
The man pocketed his phone into his overcoat pocket before turning arond. "Now then, where were we?" He turned to face a horde of strange monsters surrounding him. His grin grew wide as he drew a peculiar sword from behind him. "Now I remember, I was about to slaughter all of you!" He charged toward the horde as they did the same, with the man swinging his sword to deal the first blood.
A Month Later
For the rest of summer, the trio either stayed home to watch TV, play a game they have or make up, or train a little with slaying any Hollow that pops up, which was rather light much to the trio's delight. Throughout summer, either Hitomi or Anko would come over to babysit them and/or take them out somewhere.
Soon enough, the Bon Festival begins in Tokyo, and everyone is ready to participate. Everyone in town is dressed in a traditional yukata for the festival, especially the trio, most of them.
Jake, wanting to be part of it, wore the mens kimono that's black with red stripes and a red obi. Carter, on the other hand, wore a red t-shirt with khaki shorts.
Currently, the duo is waiting for Anko and Diane to finish dressing up for the festival at the living room.
"Are they done yet?" Carter complained, pacing back and forth.
"Will you just wait?" Jake asked him, sitting on the couch. "It takes a while for the girls to put on their kimono's."
"Why does it have to be longer?" Carter complained yet again as he slump on the couch chair.
"They're more complicated to put on than mine." Jake answered. "So of course they would be."
"Okay boys, we're done!"
The 2 look at the hallway entrance to see Diane and Anko emerge in their kimono's.
Diane's kimono is blue with sakura patterns on the robe, her obi is dark blue, and her hair is now being held by chopsticks with a faux flower for decoration. Anko, on the other hand, is wearing a purple plain kimono with a light purple obi.
"So, how do we look?" Anko asked, wanting to see their opinions.
"You both look good." Jake plainly said.
"That's all?" Anko asked him. "You won't get a girl with compliments like that."
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" Jake started to blush from that comment. "I've been 13 years old for only 3 months!"
"Ah, I'm pulling your leg. Don't be like that." Anko waved her hand a bit. 'If he blushed when I just talked about dating at that age, I can't imagine how he'll be whenever he's around women who likes him.' She turned her attention to Carter. "And what about you, Carter?" Upon laying eyes on Carter, his face is already plastered with a perverted grin.
'I can already imagine what he's thinking about?' The other 3 thought when they saw Carter like that, already knowing that he's thinking about what other girls would look like in kimono's.
Jake, deciding to break him out of his trance, snapped his fingers in front of his face. It immediately got Carter out of it. "Wh-wha?"
"Nee-san and Anko wants to know of your opinion of how they look." Jake reminded him.
"Heh, well I-" Carter started, before Jake interrupted him. "But judging from how you were staring at them before, I can imagine what you thought of them. And it involves perverted thoughts."
"Aw man!"
"Alright kids!" Anko cried to get the trio's attention. "Enough chatting around, let's hit the festival!" She shouted with her fist raised.
"Yeah!" Carter did the same as Jake and Diane grinned, also wanting to have fun.
At the Shrine
The gang reached the shrine where the festival is being held at. They all look at the festival in awe. Various people in Japan are wearing yukata's, concession stands are all over the place featuring games/food. No matter how many times the trio comes to these things, they're always excited for this.
"You know, every time I come here, I swear these festivals get bigger and bigger every year." Anko stated her own opinion as they walked around, looking at the stands.
"I get the same thing, Anko." Jake stated, then looked at Carter, who's ogling every women in a kimono. "Carter, stop drooling."
"I can't help it! So many kimono's!" He exclaimed.
"But what's more, Kurokami isn't here." Diane stated with a smile.
"Oh, hey guys!" A familiar voice called out.
'I spoke too soon.' Diane's face soon became ticked off as they turned toward a direction to see Medaka wearing a pink, floral kimono. "Why is it that everywhere we go, you always happen to be there?" Diane complained.
Throughout their summer, whenever they're to go somewhere, Medaka and some other member of her family seems to be there. That fact annoyed her to no end, which makes her think on how she's always there whenever they appear. What's more, during the time, Medaka's been learning on how to appear behind someone in the same pose as them without them noticing.
"Can't I go out and enjoy summer?" Medaka asked. "Beside's, it's mere coincidence that we always happen to meet in the same place."
"I know that, it's a rhetorical question." Diane then cross her arms under her bust. "But I am wondering why you're practicing on appearing behind someone in the same pose as them silently?"
"I want to appear interesting. No one has ever attempt to say hi to them that way?" Medaka plainly answered with a straight face, causing Diane's eye to twitch.
'That's her reason?'
"So, where's your family?" Anko decided to ask.
'Why did you ask her?'
"They're elsewhere. I'm just walking around, checking the stands." Medaka replied.
'I don't give a fuck.'
"Well, Medaka." Jake started.
'Jake, please don't.' Diane hoped he won't, but knew what he's going to ask.
"You want to come with us?" He asked.
'He did. But dear god, please don't let her say-'
"Of course, I would love to." Medaka replied.
'Goddammit!' Throughout that conversation, Diane was having a myriad of reactions based on what she thought on the inside. But on the outside, she kept a stoic expression. It still stayed when she said, "You don't have anything better to do?"
"I just want to be with you guys... you, on the other hand, just so happen to be here."
The 2 stared at each other for a while before speaking to one another.
"Bitch." Medaka insulted.
"Slut." Diane insulted back.
"Okay, why don't we go off and enjoy the festival, alright?" Jake asked, hoping that he can get them to stop arguing with each other.
The 2 glared at each other before looking away with a huff. "Fine!"
"Alright, let's get this festival started!" Anko cried as she's already walking ahead, having already started when the girls started to talk to each other.
For the entire day, the group enjoyed themselves at the festival. Throughout the time, they even encountered some of their friends from school, and unfortunately for Jake, he also encountered his fangirls, which resulted in him being chased by them from time to time. Near the end of the day, they joined in the Bon Odori, and had fun while doing it.
After the festival, they retired home, where the trio immediately retired to their rooms, not even bothering to change while Anko decided to crash at their place. She smiled after she saw them fall asleep. After seeing them fall asleep, she changed into her pyjamas and sat on the couch.
"I'm glad that they're still living a happy life even after what happened to them." She said to herself as she began to lay down on the couch. "They deserve it." Once she's comfortable enough, she went to sleep.
Few Weeks Later
The last weeks of summer eventually came by until it's the last day of school. During the entire time, the trio tried to enjoy the summer to it's fullest. They also managed to finish their summer project, which they hold off until the last week of school since Carter never bothered to finish his side of the project when the twins did, so they had to help him complete it. Luckily they did it before the last day of summer.
Soon, that last day came, and the trio was ready for summer, although Carter is less so. But right now, they're doing something else before the summer ends. And that is taking care of the last Hollow of the summer.
"Get back here, dammit!"
Currently, the trio is at one of the Tokyo parks, trying to hunt their target down. The Hollow in question is a 8-meter long centipede-like Hollow with crab arms at the front, a spear tip at the other end, and the Hollow's mask is a mixture of a snake and a cougar. When they first encountered the Hollow, it showed to have intelligence as it taunted them and ran into the woods. After a few minutes of chasing it, Diane figured out that the Hollow's tactics involved simply running and evading its opponents. So, on the fly, she came up with a plan to draw it out into the opening and slay the Hollow.
Part of the plan is being executed right now. Jake, currently, is to chase the Hollow out into the opening where Diane is positioned. But to prevent the Hollow to catch on to their plans, Jake had to make his chase seem convincing by attacking whenever possible, even using Shunpo to attempt to cut him off.
"Try and catch me if you can, boy!" The Hollow taunted as it swerve through the trees with Jake hot on his trail.
"Hold still so I can cut you!" Jake cried convincingly as he tries to slice at him whenever he managed to get close. Yet, every time he did, the Hollow would evade by switching directions, which was the plan.
Meanwhile, up on the trees, Carter is performing his part of his plan.
"Gotcha right in my sights." Carter pointed his rifle, which he added some sniper rifle parts to it for this fight, at the Hollow once Jake managed to chase it toward his location. His part in the plan is both to assist Jake in driving the Hollow to Diane's location and to damage it enough for Diane to be able to kill it. And he has to do it without getting caught. "Eat hot bullets, Hollow!" He fired a sniper shot straight into it's body, making it shriek in pain. He fired 8 more rounds, all of which were able to hit it right at the middle.
After the 8th bullet, the Hollow began to search frantically for the shooter.
"Where the hell are those bullets coming from?!" The Hollow cried as it looked around, looking for said assailant.
To prevent it from spotting him, he is to use his flame abilities as a boost to jump him from tree to tree. As he did, he kept firing at him, making the Hollow more enraged. Eventually, he was able to spot him among the trees.
"Found you!"
"Don't you even think about forgetting about me!" The Hollow managed to dash right out of the way for Jake to land where it was as he swings his Zanpakuto to the ground, creating a slight gash on the ground. After pulling it out, he gave chase to the Hollow as it chase Carter.
"Get down here!" The Hollow shouted at him.
"Catch me if you can!" Carter taunted as he lowered himself softly thanks to his flame powers and ran forward, with the Hollow hot on his trail.
What the Hollow doesn't even know is that him being spotted was also part of the plan. In actuality, Jake was meant to chase the Hollow right to where Carter was. Once in position, Carter is to shoot at him to anger it to the point it would only think of chasing him down, since from past experiences, Hollows are easy to anger. Once it's angry enough, Carter would 'accidentally' get the Hollow to spot him, so it would chase him. When it did, Carter would lead it straight toward where Diane is.
At the other end of the forest, Diane waited with her hand hovering over the handle of the Zanpakuto, waiting for Carter to arrive.
With her spiritual sense, she sensed Carter running past her. "He's here!"
Diane grinned upon hearing that. "Perfect." She gripped the handle and brought her left leg backward a few inches, waiting for the Hollow to emerge.
"Move it!" She saw the Hollow jump right at her, to which she ducked. When the Hollow flew past her, she drew her Zanpakuto and, in fast and precision strikes, she sliced at the him from underneath and kept at it until she reached the other end. Upon finishing, she stood up and slowly sheathe her Zanpakuto for dramatic reasons. Once the Hollow landed, she completely sheathed her Zanpakuto, to which multiple lacerations and cuts appeared all over it's body besides its upper body and mask, and all of its legs were cut off to prevent it from running away.
"GGGGGAAAAHHHH!" The Hollow shouted in extreme pain as it landed in a heep.
With the Hollow immobile, Diane walked up to the mask portion as Jake emerged from the woods and found the Hollow nearly in pieces.
"Ha ha! Your plan worked, Nee-san!" Jake exclaimed with a grin as he sheathed his Zanpakuto.
"Were you not surprised?" She asked matter-of-factly. Once in front of the mask portion, she pointed her Zanpakuto at him. "Any last words?"
"D-damn you, Ryujin Clan!" The Hollow cursed.
'Again, that Hollow mentioned our family name. What's so special about them?' Jake thought, curious about what is special about their family.
"Why do you know our family name? What's so special about them?" Diane asked what Jake was thinking. They both hopped that the Hollow would be more willing to hand them information than the last Hollow that mentioned their family. Fortunately for them, the said Hollow was more willing.
"That damn clan, they're known to be powerful exorcists, as well as being the most powerful clan in existence!" It explained. "If it weren't for those bastards, we would've been able to enter the World of the Living more! I'd love to thank whoever it is that made the clan fall from power." The Hollow tried to look up at Diane. "So screw all of you!"
"I think I heard enough." And with one fluid motion, she cleave right through the Hollow's mask, effectively exorcising it. She sheath her Zanpakuto as Jake approach his sister. "Let's go home."
The trio walked home, but what the Hollow told them made Jake think. 'Our family are born as exorcists? And on top of that, we're the most powerful people alive? Just what's so special about them? Just how are we connected to this? This is all so confusing.' He thought as they walked home, unaware of how important both he and his sister are to this clan.
Author's Note: And done! I'm finally done with this chapter. I'm also done with most of the Medaka Box flashbacks. Now, I can focus on some of the Bleach flashbacks I wanted to do.
The next chapter will be through the 2nd semester and winter break, all the way to New Years. I know that the next chapter would be out of season, since New Years had already pass, but it's a fanfiction, it doesn't have to be in line with our timeline. As for next chapter, I hope to at least have it posted up more quicker than this one.
Until then, I'll see you all on the next chapter of Will of the Dragon God: Beginning Saga!