"Sora!" I roar, and booming reverberations of my best friend's name bounce around the stadium.
The three people, whoever they are, quickly turn around to look at me. Sora picks up her head from where she is crouched and does the same. "What the fuck…?" I hear a noticeably male voice call out in return.
If someone has laid a single finger on her… I vow internally. With a fiery burst of adrenaline now surging through my veins, I rush across the field towards the inner wall, leap off of a nearby bench and grip onto the railing above me. I hear gasps from these strangers as I begin to pull myself up over the seven foot wall. The metal railing is ice cold against my grip, but I swing my body to the side and soon have my right leg wrapping around it. I complete the maneuver and am soon standing on the first level of bleachers, about five meters to my right is a set of thin aluminium stairs that leads up towards Sora and these strangers.
I look up and now that I have a closer view, realize that these are likely to be three male students; especially given the fact that two of them are wearing university gear. They quickly form a semi-circle around Sora who is sitting on a wooden bench with tears in her eyes. She looks dazed and shook. Instinctively, I jump several benches and charge up the stairs towards them with a fist raised. Three against two aren't great odds, and I'm not sure what kind of shape Sora is in to defend herself. I see them raise their fists as well and I rush at the taller guy directly in front of Sora.
"We won't let you harm her!" One of them suddenly yells out with a shaky voice.
"...huh….?" is my only thought as my charge turns into something of a stumble; my foot catching the edge of a step. I still slam the taller student to the ground but practically fall on top of him. Before I can react further, the other two are on me; yanking and grabbing at my body.
"Taichi! Guys knock it off, stop hurting him!" My best friend orders in a distressed but firm tone.
I heard a pained voice coming from below my knees "Hurting him...what about me?" The tall boy groans.
One guy still has me in something of a headlock as we all look to Sora. "Isn't he the reason why you were crying? You said you didn't want some guy to find you." He asks, confused.
That statement alone acts as a massive punch in the gut. So she was avoiding me. I cannot help but to grimace and Sora seems to notice my reaction with a slight frown. I can't blame her either, after what I subjected her to at the clubhouse.
Sora jumps up off the bench just as guilt washes over me once again. Standing up tall she wipes her eyes and shakes her head at the boys. "This is Yagami Taichi, he's a student here, not to mention my best friend in the world."
For some reason my stomach practically does a flip as she makes this declaration to these students.
"Her tone went from upset to stern so quickly." One of the students remarks almost dumbfoundedly.
"That's Sora for you" I think to myself. In any even half-serious situation, Sora can quickly transition to that protective and motherly side of her that I have grown to recognize so well over the years.
"So he isn't the friend you were hiding from?" The guy behind me asks, still not quite ready to release his grip on me.
"Well he is...it's uh complicated…" She says, stuttering now as she nervously rubs her blushing cheek.
An audible sigh rises from the now pile of guys.
"Please let him go" She follows up urgently "Taichi would never ever hurt me. In fact" She continues after a brief pause. "I'm pretty sure he thought you guys meant me harm."
"Oh…" The guy holding my neck says as the image surely dawns on him. He lets go of me suddenly and I fall forward on my face.
I'm rubbing my pulsing neck and chin when I hear a familiar voice beneath me "Hi Taichi, nice to meet you...can you get off me please?"
I scramble to my feet in short order using the bench for support. Still aching from the impact but I shake it off and offer a hand to the student on the floor. "Sorry about that." I say in a low voice honestly feeling a bit bad about the situation.
"It's whatever" He says as he somewhat begrudgingly takes my hand with a perturbed look on his face. As soon as I pull him to his feet, his friends shove me aside to check on him; almost knocking me off balance again. I sigh to myself but understand their coldness directed towards me, I think I freaked them out a bit; probably came across as a bit of a jerk too. That being said I still don't really understand what is going on, just that these guys do not seem to mean Sora any harm.
I look at Sora as she sits back down onto the bench and realize she must have already been looking at me. Our eyes meet briefly but after a few seconds I watch her eyes dart down and to her right. Then she scans the field as if she had been looking around the whole time. She must be upset with me for following her here. Why couldn't I just leave her be, why am I so stupid? I can hear the male students talking behind me, but their words turn to gibberish in my ears. She said so herself, she doesn't want me around. Why couldn't I just take the damn hint. I feel like I'm losing control, it really hurts to hear her admit that she was avoiding me.
As though she could sense my thoughts or perhaps simply read my expression, Sora calls out to me then with sorrowful emotion. "Taichi…" Her voice lingers and drops off as if she wants to say more but can't.
"If you want me to leave you alone Sora I get it, I'll go..." My voice breaks slightly at the end of the statement. I'm not usually an exceptionally emotional person, but right now I feel almost overwhelmed. Perhaps it is the mix of alcohol still in my system or possibly it is the fact that I was reminiscing about Agumon and the other Digimon earlier. At this point it does not matter, better to say my piece and be out of her hair. "I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about tonight...and I wish I had been paying better attention...and I'm sorry that…"
I hear the boys turn around to face me and can practically feel them staring a hole through the back of my head. It is awkward to do this with an audience, but it is unavoidable at this point.
Before I can finish my apology though, Sora quickly cuts in to stop me in my tracks. "I... I don't want you to go anywhere Taichi. I'd like you to stay. I wasn't running from you...well kind of but not because I was upset with you." I can hear her choking back sobs and it almost causes me to tear up myself.
I muster the bravery to look Sora in the eyes again and I see that she is patting the bench next to her, inviting me to sit down. I hesitate for a brief moment, but then slowly make my way over to the bench she is on and sit down a few centimeters apart from her. Admittedly somewhat relieved that she did not send me away. Looking up, I can see that the students are gazing at the both of us, probably feeling a bit awkward in this situation. I gather the feeling is mutual between the five of us. We sit there in relative silence for a moment, with only the sound of the wind whipping against the stadium.
I feel my phone buzzing but opt to ignore it, I'm far too preoccupied with the situation at hand.
I look at Sora and see that she is still collecting herself. So I decide it best to break the silence and talk to the guys standing before me. "So what exactly happened? How did you guys end up out here with Sora?"
They seem to jump at the opportunity to interrupt the quiet air between us. At first they all speak at once and I can't understand a word they are saying. They look at one another frustratedly and this is followed by some bickering between them. Then suddenly the one on the right, who I only now realize is wearing a jacket for the University's baseball team, steps in front of his friends in a clear declaration that he will handle the recap.
"Well I'm Sato Takuya. This here is Mori Itsuki." He says pointing to the slightly stockier boy with glasses. "And you already ran into Ando Minato" He finishes the introduction pointing almost nervously to the tall boy whom I was kneeling on top of a brief moment ago.
"Yeah sorry about that again…" He rolls his eyes at me but I continue. "My name is Yagami Taichi. Sora and I have been friends since we were very little. We were coming from the same party tonight. When I saw her surrounded by a bunch of strangers by the field in the middle of the night, well I was worried that…" Trailing off not really wanting to finish the thought nevermind the sentence.
Their expressions before me all soften. "Yeah I guess I could see how that might have come across as a bit concerning..." Says Minato. "Just think before you go charging at strangers next time huh?"
I see him double over as Takuya elbows him in the ribs. Minato sneers at his friend then turns back to me "Aright alright... I got it, it was a mistake. No big deal." He says bitterly, rubbing his side.
"Anyways" Takuya continues. "We were out celebrating halloween of course. We went out to this lesser known bar down in Ebisu, Dragon's Den, they had some great drink deals. Managed to avoid the crowds too. Would highly recommend it" He scratches his chin and seems to forget what he wanted to say for a moment. "Oh yeah, so I was invited to a party at the baseball clubhouse and we left the bar later than planned to see if we could make it in time for the end of the party. I decided to try to cut across the back streets to get to the clubhouse faster, but on our way we saw this girl sprinting across the street and towards the sports fields. We couldn't tell if she was afraid, upset, drunk, or what; but we knew something was probably wrong. The guys and I didn't feel comfortable just ignoring that. Plus while Tokyo University is fairly safe, you never really know what someone might do. So we followed her here. Freaked her out a bit too when we did, so I suppose you made us even." He laughs a bit awkwardly. I can't help but to crack a small grin myself, but realizing the situation still is not that humorous in large, I swiftly purge it from my face.
"So you guys were just looking out for a girl that you thought was in trouble?" I ask him stoically.
"Bingo. We followed her into the stadium and approached her here on the bleachers. She was understandably apprehensive of us at first, but I said we just wanted to know that she was alright. We introduced ourselves and she gave us her name; well her first name anyway. She did not want to talk with us initially. I thought maybe someone was after her, I mean why else is a girl running through an empty field at night. Eventually she told us bits and pieces. That she was at a party with friends, that something happened at the party and she had to leave. She said someone was probably looking for her, but that she did not want him to find her. Well not long after that you showed up here shouting like a madman. I think it's safe to say that we all thought you were the guy chasing her down and so here we are." He finishes with a slight shrug as though he does not know what to do with the situation at present.
I rub the back of my head feeling a bit embarrassed. "I see..." Which are the only words I can muster for a moment.
"So mind telling us your side of the story now?" Itsuki breaks in suddenly. The three boys are looking at me a bit eagerly as though I'm about to share some juicy gossip.
"Yeah that is fair enough." I say while wondering how I should explain the incident. I suppose that a simplified version would probably be best. I look at Sora who musters a small smile as if telling me that I've got this. I give her a nod but can't help to notice that she still looks pretty shaken up. I sigh internally still feeling quite gloomy about everything, but recognizing that the guys deserve a response, I shift focus and turn back to them.
"Like you guys we were out enjoying the holiday with some friends. Sora and I went to a party at the Soccer clubhouse with a bunch of our classmates. We had…"
"You play for the club?" Takuya butts in eagerly.
I nod "I'm not in the division, but yeah I play at some of the club organized matches. Sora too when she can, we both played when we were young."
Takuya seems impressed. "Nice yeah I…" He starts but is quickly interrupted by Itsuki.
"He was telling a story, Takuya-kun. Let's not be out here in the cold all night." Itsuki groans grumpily but with a valid point.
"Sorry about that, athlete to athlete ya know?" He says bashfully.
I nod again. "So long story short I guess we were having a good night, but then I unintentionally put Sora into a bad spot due to my own block-headedness and really embarrassed her in front of our friends… it was an accident… but it would not have happened if it weren't for me. After she left I went to find her so I could apologize. And to tell her that everyone at the party was worried about her." I say the last part more for Sora to hear.
I decide to finish the story there, not thinking it would benefit Sora to go into details if I do not have to. I find myself a little bit worried that they will ask to hear what exactly I did, but my explanation is followed by another brief moment of silence. The boys look curiously between Sora and I.
"Sora-san, are you comfortable if we leave you with Taichi here? Or would you rather we walk you home? We wouldn't mind walking you of course, if that's what you want." Takuya asks seemingly testing Sora's level of comfort with me at the moment, which I figure is not a bad call.
We all turn to look at Sora, who does not say anything at first, she merely gazes at me with a concerned expression. "Sora I understand if you would like them to walk you home, honestly." I say in an attempt to put her at ease.
"Taichi…" She begins, then stops. "Would you mind walking me home instead?" Again she looks like she wants to say more, yet again she falls silent, looking at me dejectedly as though she is expecting her request to be rejected for some reason.
"Of course I'll walk you home, Sora. I would love to in fact." I say, giving her a small smile. She returns it with one of her own.
"We'll take our leave then. Probably a bit too late for that party, but we might as well swing by and see if anyone is still there." Takuya says. He gestures to his friends to start walking.
"Sorry if I made you guys miss out on the holiday by worrying about me." Sora says without looking up at them. "Thanks for making sure I was ok though…"
"Oh nonsense. We were running super late anyway." Minato steps in this time. "Plus we already spent hours at the bar. We celebrated and then some. Right guys?"
"Yeah." The two other boys exclaim in unison.
"Besides, no party is worth ignoring someone in need. We are just glad you are alright." He finishes and they begin to walk off down the bleachers and towards the stairs.
"Hey guys…" I say softly, causing them to turn around and face me. I stand up off the bench and give them a small bow. "Thank you for looking after Sora. Honestly I really appreciate it. I was very worried about her." I blurt out and wonder if it is almost too earnest an admission.
They look stunned by this but Takuya then walks up and extends his hand. I reach out and shake it firmly.
"Perhaps we will see you guys around campus" He says cheerfully.
I nod and soon enough, Sora and I watch from our bench as they walk across the bleachers, down the stairs, and out of the stadium. Leaving the two of us in near silence again.
End of Part III