The Ripple Effect | Volume I

Chapter 2: Social Conflicts


(Nansei Junior High School – Main Hallway)

"Ms. Bulma! How big is your wardrobe?", a young girl asks with her hands clasped together as if she's pleading for an honest answer.

Bulma laughs snobbishly, "It's too big to measure!" A much older boy sticks his head out from amongst the thick crowd.

"Ms. Bulma is it true that you have fifty cars?!", he asked with a winded looking face.

"Absolutely!", she responded. "We've got wa~ay more than fifty cars though. But cars bore me. I could really care less about the number we have."

The large crowd continues to clammer and speak over one another, trying to get answers from Bulma as if they worked for the media.

Drawsah, Kitsutsuki, and Cheri look on confused until Kitsutsuki turns her nose up in disgust. Just great…another new rich snob to worry about. "She practically took over the whole school…", Drawsah commentated monotone.

Cheri's outlook grows more curious as the minute passes, "Who is she anyways?"

Kitsutsuki's eyes narrow and glance at Drawsah, expecting him to answer. She didn't forget about his oddball reaction at the sight of her not two minutes ago. But for some reason, he's pretending to act like he doesn't know the girl in some way or another. Rich people should know other rich people off the back of their hand, right?

"You probably know. All the snobs are connected somehow, am I right?" She nudges Drawsah in the shoulder but gets no reaction as his expression looks as stoic as ever. Kinda similar to Bulma, the girl leans down into his ear, "Right?!"

All this does is make Drawsah take his hand out his pocket and put a hand between his face and her's, making him feel weary in the process. She couldn't care less about anybody's personal space…

Before Drawsah could answer though, the bustling crowd got closer and closer until the loud chatter drowned out any and every thought the boy may have had.

They look up and see Bulma practically looking down on them with her head titled high. " That's a pretty small group you've got there, Drawsah. I expected you'd do at least a little bit better than that."

Bulma looks at the two girls and sighs, shaking her head and crossing her arms as if she was a disappointed parent. "This just reeks of lame energy!"

That comment seemed to tick Kitsutsuki off for a second until she noticed who the blue-haired girl standing before them was. Th-…That's…! Cheri seemed to catch on pretty quickly as well and had a look of awe on her face.

All Drawsah managed to do was roll his eyes.

It seems that Bulma Brief is a pretty recognizable figure at the school. Which would make a lot of sense, seeing that in this world she would be related to one of the most notable and richest families in the world. They run a monopoly of which nearly every person on the planet uses their products in various different forms.

What are you doing…? I don't wanna be affiliated with you. "I have no clue what you're talking about.", Drawsah voiced whilst scratching his head. Bulma hums at that response, probably thinking about a couple of ways to break that stoic mask of his.

She walks closer to him and leans right before his ear so only he could hear what she had to say, whispering, "Have you told anyone who you are? Cause it doesn't look like it." She cups her hand over her mouth for extra insurance.

He whispers back, "Nobody needs to know about me. I know I already told you that I didn't want to draw attention to myself. But you on the other hand…-"

"Ohhhh-! I see. You just want to make your life dull and boring!", she took a step back after annunciating herself as loud as possible. Drawsah frowns as his eyes slightly narrow.

He stares at Bulma as if she spat on his shoes. "Welp, I can't do anything about that. I'll be on my way! Tootles!" She exclaimed. Bulma walked between the group, making the crowd part around them in chase of her footsteps.

The two girls immediately look at Drawsah, intent on finding the answers they're looking for. She's going to ruin what I'm trying to do here… He sighs wearily for the third time. "Wasn't that Bulma Brief…? Y'know…The daughter of the Brief family…?!", Kitsutsuki asked.

"Yeah." His natural stoicism came back.

"How do you know the daughter of the richest family in the world?!", Cheri added, expecting his answer immediately.

Drawsah sighed and crossed his arms. He then titled his head in thought. Keeping up multiple lies could be a problem. He does a double take on the two of them who look at him in anticipation. And after a short awkward pause, he goes back to thinking. They don't seem like the gossiping type.

Who wouldn't want to be affiliated with the most prestigious family in the world? It's crazy to think that there's somebody who exists that wouldn't want to have a connection like that.

Kitsutsuki sighs and shrugs, "All snobs are connected somehow. Of course, the kid knows her. How else are they supposed to stay rich?" She faces Drawsah in an attempt to interrogate him, "You probably buy your clothes and capsules straight from them, don't you?"

"Nope." … He said blankly.

"Then what is it, smartass?!" Drawsah's mute and stoic nature seems to be annoying Kitsutsuki by the minute. If he didn't answer soon, she'd probably hit him.

"Bulma is my sister," he commented offhandedly.

A moment of silence ensues. "Wha~at?" Kitsutsuki and Cheri said in unison. Their mouths hung agape.

Taking a glance at his watch, Drawsah turns around and walks between them, starting towards his next class. Before he walks too far ahead, he sticks up a bent arm and slightly waves, "Talk to you guys later."

The two girls stared at his back, still in shock at this new revelation. "He's the…" Cheri started but Kitsutsuki finished her thought, "… Son of the Brief family…"


(Nansei Junior High School – School Gym – 50 Minutes)

Second period started and went on for about forty minutes. We find Drawsah in the middle of the gymnasium with dozens of other kids playing a game with him or watching on the sidelines.

Drawsah, like every other kid in the room, wore a basic white t-shirt with red lettering on the front reading 'Nansei Junior High'. They also wore red basketball shorts with two white stripes down the seams. The populous was split into two different groups on two sides of the room. Drawsah stands relatively in the middle of his side, holding a dodgeball.

There's about four people including Drawsah on his side of the court with about six people left standing on the other side. A dodgeball comes careening at Drawsah's body, but he casually hops over it.

That same dodgeball catches a kid behind off guard as it bounces off his chest and renders him out of the game. TWEET!

"Knock him out!" One of the kids on the other side target Drawsah as he stands in the middle, waiting with a dodgeball in hand. Three kids on the other side of the court throw three balls all targeting Drawsah but he steps aside for one, ducks under the other, and lets the last one bounce off his chest.

The other two kids either dropped the ball in an attempt to catch it or accidentally get hit after failing to move out the way of one of the dodgeballs' paths.

The kids watch in awe as Drawsah catches the dodgeball easily, letting it fall down into his free arm, rendering the targeting kid out of the play. TWEET! "Out!"

Drawsah looks around and immediately notices the attention he's getting from the kids watching. "Two more to go," Drawsah mumbled to himself. He wasn't doing a good job blending in with everyone else as he seemed to be the only one who wasn't drenched in sweat. His blank stoic face didn't help his case either.

I'll lose the match, so I don't stand out…I've already done enough. He lets both dodgeballs in his arms fall to the ground and lowers his stance, confusing everyone else watching. "Yeah! Game it, short kid!"

One of the kids wind up and sends the ball flying at Drawsah. Drawsah stands there with his arms wide out and it looks like he's moving to catch it until…

…The ball smacked him right in the face and fell straight to the ground. Silencing the entire room until the coach blew his whistle. TWE~ET! "Final out! Team one wins!", signaling to the right side of the gym.

The right side of the gym erupts in cheer and triumph while Drawsah's side sit around sulking. They also give Drawsah dirty looks as if they knew what he was up to with that last play, "You just had to sell the game for us, didn't you?"

Drawsah glances at them blankly, it looks like the dodgeball hitting him in the face at that velocity didn't even scratch him. Another kid points at him, "You're never ending up on my team again." They walk back to the locker room doors at the end of the room.

Drawsah silently watches as they go back. Looks like it was the right move. They'll never think much of him after this right? At least not in the same way people were thinking of Bulma, that's for sure.

The coach jogged over to where Drawsah was standing and cleared his throat, "Hey you, wait up!" Drawsah stops walking and looks over his shoulder. Seeing that it was the coach, he turned around to give him his full attention. "You're very athletic for a kid your age!", the coach clarified.

"Thanks," Drawsah replied offhandedly, thinking that was all the coach wanted to say. I should've done a better sell job than that. Gotta work on that next time… He should his head, disappointed with himself.

"You ever thought about joining the Athletics class? You could turn your gifts into a career if you tried hard enough and really worked for it," the man proposed. The coach had hoped that Drawsah would join immediately, considering that the boy knew he had much more talent than everyone else.

Drawsah shakes his head though, "No thanks. That requires work ethic I don't think I have." He removed the stoicism out of his face and tone for that comment so that he didn't translate any signs of arrogance in what he said. He looked more sheepish instead.

"What a waste," the coach sighed. "Don't hesitate to let me know if you have a change of heart kid. Now get outta here, the bell's rung!" Drawsah shrugs and turns around, losing the sheepish face and returning back to his comfortable blankness.


(Secondary Hallway – About 7 Minutes Later)

Drawsah walks down the hallway back in his regular attire. He walks in silence until the quick pitter-patter of someone's shoes is heard gaining on him from behind. "Hey man! What's up?" The sudden speech jolts the little kid and makes him turn around.

His eyes look a little disappointed at the sight, so he quickly turns back forward to continue walking. "Oh…it's you," Drawsah uttered blankly.

It was the same blonde-headed boy from his last class, who now looks a little bit saddened by Drawsah's rejecting tone. "Aw c'mon man…You still mad about English? I said I was sorry." He now walked besides Drawsah at the same pace.

"I'm not troubled about that anymore," Drawsah stated stoically.

"Oh…!" The blonde boy clumsily responded. He struggled to find words to say. The kid didn't exactly look upset, but he looked far from happy too. Everything about him was so robotic. He couldn't tell whether he was a real human or not.

"…Then…" the boy started, "What's got you down?"

Drawsah glances up at him slightly confused, "What do you mean?"

The blonde hair boy looks down on Drawsah as if he was some sort of oddball. But to be fair he sort of was, "You're asking me…?"

"Yes…?", Drawsah's eyebrow raised. What did the kid not get? Maybe he really is a robot. That blank face he always has, the way he speaks is so robotic. Even the clothes he wore stuck out like a sore thumb. Especially when you compare them to what everyone else wore.

The boy tried to figure out where to direct this conversation since simple questions wasn't getting him anywhere. "Uhmm…" understandably he struggled with his words, "…You seem..." He looked at Drawsah again and saw that he was staring daggers into his soul. What is the matter with this guy…? "Uhhh…robotic."

Drawsah kept face and tilted his head repeating, "…Robotic?"

The blonde boy rubs his head sheepishly, trying his best to gather his thoughts. "You talk like…" he started, "You're at some fancy school or something…I don't really know how to put it into words," he finished, holding his chin in thought.

The short stack patiently waits for the kid to find his words but loses face as it degrades from a confused look to a much wearier look instead. Out of nowhere, the kid violently shakes his head and smacks his cheeks, "Look, you just gotta lighten up a little bit man!" He exclaims with a smile on his face.

Uhhhhh… A mixed look of stoicism, confusion, and mild surprise is written all over Drawsah's face. "Stop talking all tense. Keep talking like that and nobody'll ever talk to you. So, loosen up and get comfortable!"

Loosen up and get comfortable, huh? Am I trying too hard? After a short moment of thought, Drawsah sighs, "Yeah, Yeah. Alright."

"There ya' go!" He pats Drawsah on the pack, startling him a bit, "I'm sure you speak like this all the time at home, am I right?"

"-I'll lighten up…" he abruptly responded. He took a deep breath to shake off the pain from the boy's slap on his back. That probably left a handprint.

"That's the spirit," the boy said, and then wrapped his arm around Drawsah's neck. His smile wasn't as infectious as the shorter girl's, but it still effected Drawsah's mood in a positive way, nonetheless.

"What's your name by the way?" Drawsah asked curiously.

"It's Taiyo Iwasaki! Your future class president!" the blonde boy exclaimed, pointing at himself in triumph. Drawsah lightly smiles at this.

"I'm Drawsah Brief."

"Brief?!" Taiyo shouted in surprise. He was loud enough to get strange looks from other passersby. Drawsah looks alarmed and immediately pulls Taiyo down to level. "Shhh~!" and puts a finger to his mouth for emphasis. "You're too loud…!"

He looked around to see if anyone was still staring but found no eyes looking their way. Drawsah sighed in relief and glanced at the taller boy, "Don't make a big fuss about it, alright? I'm trying to keep this thing a secret." As soon as I let my guard down, I slipped up…

They continued to walk down the hallway and turned the corner. "Huh," Taiyo commented. "Then why'd you tell-"

THUMP. His speech is suddenly cut off and both boys stumble backwards.

In front of them stand three large figures. In front of those figures stood two older and taller girls. Once the scene became clear, they realized it was three giant boys who looked much older than they should've been for a kid in their last year of junior high school.

The brute in the middle holds an empty and dripping cup of what we can assume was fruit punch. And in front of them, stands a girl who's drenched in that same fruit punch. The whole group turned around to look at the culprits with deadly looks on their faces.

Drawsah notices their looks and curses his unlucky ability to avoid conflict, "Sorry about that. I didn't see you."

The biggest brute shoves Drawsah to the ground, catching the little kid off guard. Taiyo's left there standing, seemingly frozen. "Watch where you're goin', dickhead! Look at what yew made me did!" The bumbling idiot pointed at the young lady who looked red-faced.

Not good…! I just got away from these guys. Just my luck…! Taiyo looked at Drawsah nervously, feeling guilty that he's got him into another situation.

"I sincerely apologize. I'll pay for your friend's shirt to make amends." The brutes exchanged glances and tried their best not to laugh. They laughed and pointed at the grounded Drawsah who looked up at them stoically.

"Get a load of this idiot!" They watch as he stands and dusts himself off. "You're not getting' outta this without a good ole' fashioned ass beatin'," said the tallest one who put his hand on Drawsah's head. "Right, y'all?"

"Beat him to a pulp!" The girl said with a giant red stain on her shirt.

The people witnessing the altercation unintentionally form a circle around the entire group, making any intention of running away impossible. Some people were hoping that a fight would happen, seeing as they weren't able to watch any with school being out of session.

Drawsah watched as Taiyo slowly backed into the front of the circle that he just now noticed had formed around them. He looked confused for a moment until he realized he drew attention to himself again, making him look depressed if anything.

WHIFF! Drawsah looked back at the leading brute and sees a fist flying at his face. He immediately leaned to the side and let it miss. He glanced at the bully's face and saw that he looked surprised. He definitely wanted that to hurt.

"Hey," Drawsah said nonchalantly. "I said I was gonna pay for your friend's shirt so there's no need to fight me." He leaned away from a punch that came from the other brute who was a little skinnier than the leading one.

"There's something you ain't getting," the second brute said.

"You can't just buy your way outta this one, pipsqueak. There's something called a hierarchy! You're what we call 'the ants', and we're 'the giants'!" The third brute, who was a little shorter and a lot fatter than the other two, told Drawsah.

"The 'ants' like you are always gon' get hunted! That's just how it goes! Now stay still," the lead brute exclaimed. "I'll make it quick!" He reeled back a fist.

So, they're trying to beat me so they can prove a point? I don't feel like getting hit right now… Drawsah's natural stoicism arrives back on his face but looks focused as well. He weaved the first punch and ducked under the second.

Drawsah stepped back a little bit to reset. He doesn't want to hit them either because if he did, everyone around him would've witnessed that.

"Tch. Jump him!" The big guy understood that he was never gonna catch the little brat at this rate, so he told his lackeys to help keep him still.

The shorter and much faster boy ducked under an elbow aimed at his head and leaned back to avoid a punch from the other side. That punch lands in the fat one's stomach. GUH-! Drawsah looks to his left with mild surprise and jumps away from the clutches of the lead grunt.

"S-Sorry bout' that man…" the skinner brute said. The fat one still held his stomach, unable to say anything back.

The taller brute tries to swipe at Drawsah with the intent to knock him to the ground, but Drawsah casually steps to the side and lets the brute's momentum bring himself to the ground instead.

"Gah! You oafs!" The girl drenched in fruit punch yelled. "You're supposed to hit the runt, not yourselves! Hurry up and clobber him already!"

Drawsah glances at her wearily. Shut up already… He then looks at each one of them and casually sticks his hands in the air, "I give up. You guys win."

Taiyo stood in awe at the front of the circle, witnessing Drawsah move for himself. Everyone who stood next to him felt that same awe. But most of them were more disappointed that he didn't try and fight back.

It's like watching a mouse run away from three hungry lions. It wasn't entertaining because they couldn't catch the mouse. It wasn't entertaining because the mouse didn't fight back. The mouse had no chance.

That kid's a bigger weirdo than I thought…! Taiyo was still fixated on Drawsah's almost perfect reaction speed. The way his body moved was too fluid. You'd never expect somebody Drawsah's size to be able to move like that. Taiyo immediately started thinking about what sport Drawsah could play.


(With Kitsutsuki and Cheri)

Around the corner, we find the two girls walking down the hallway together. Which was definitely emptier than it should be about this time. Cheri seemed to be the only one to notice. Or at least was the only one that cared.

"Where'd everybody go?" Cheri asked. "Usually, the hallways are packed by now."

"Who cares? More space for us. More food for us. I see it as a win-win," Kitsutsuki nonchalantly shrugged.

Cheri deadpanned at her friend, "Oka~ay…?"

They turned the corner and immediately found where everyone was. The entire hallway was blocked and Kitsutsuki started to turn around, "We'll take the other way around."

"Wait a second!" Cheri said with a little urgency in her voice. She jogged towards the back of the circle, annoying Kitsutsuki who groaned at the sight.

Since when did you get interested in fights? Kitsutsuki crossed her arms and begrudgingly walked after her, completely uninterested in whatever gimmick Cheri was entertaining.


End of Chapter Two.

AN:

So, I think I've got a good idea of how frequently I'll be updating. I've got a busy schedule for the remainder of the week, so I don't expect to be able to update again until Friday.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I'm still experimenting with the paragraph format, and I think I like this style better. It breaks the dialogue up by paragraph so it's easier to follow.

I hope to see you guys back for the next chapter!