The Ripple Effect | Volume I

Chapter 3: The Powerful Pacifist


(Crowded Secondary Hallway)

"Give it up," Drawsah landed perfectly on his feet behind the three huffing and wheezing brutes. He sighed at the sight, "If you keep this up, we'll be here all day."

"You're…RE~ALLY…getting on mah'-…nerves," the taller brute spoke in heavy breaths. He then looks at his other companions who were just as gassed as he was, "What are ya' stoppin' for? Get him…!"

They were too tired to even respond. Seeing this made the circle thin out a little as people started to lose interest in whatever was happening in the center.

Drawsah continued to weave around, duck under, and parry every single one of their strikes with a light touch of the palm. He never worked up a sweat and never showed any fatigue in his stature as if he never moved a muscle.

The bullies came to a rest as they were completely out of energy. The two lackeys could barely even sit up and had to lay flat on their backs to catch their breath. The taller guy looked up at Drawsah angrily, but no words came from his mouth.

Kitsutsuki, who stood tall enough to see over a few heads, was able to make what was going on in the center and Cheri watched as her eyes widened slightly at the sight.

"What?" Cheri asked with urgency. "What's happening?"

"That Brief snob beat them all. He doesn't even have a scratch on him," she replied with small traces of awe in her voice.

"Wh—…It's Drawsah? Really?!" Cheri seemed to have worry in her voice. Her kind soul didn't like the idea that somebody like him could get hurt.

Kitsutsuki's face droops a little bit in disappointment. It was written all over her face, "But he just tuckered em' out." She shrugged her shoulders and let out a sigh, "He couldn't beat those brutes up even if he tried. I'm the only one capable of doing that." She pointed at herself in triumph and pride.

Her shorter friend rolled her eyes and refused to entertain Kitsutsuki's attitude, "Wow…so~o inspiring." Cheri then started to look relieved, "At least Drawsah's okay."

Kitsutsuki looks at her as if she spoke something nonsensical, "You actually care about the snob?!" Cheri looks at her quizzically as her friend chuckled, "Pfft. You're as soft and gullible as ever."

"H-Hey! I care about all nice people y'know!" Cheri managed to squeak out. Her face started to feel hot, and she began to pout. She didn't like it when Kitsutsuki made fun of her, but it was comforting at the same time. It was usually always just them two together and no one else. If it wasn't for the two of them, they'd be lonely.

Of course, you do…

In the middle of the circle, Drawsah stares at the bullies who still struggle to catch their breath and stand all the way up. But he walks up to them with his wallet and runs his index finger over multiple bills.

The two-minute bell rings and that sped up the circle's dissipating speed. Everyone started to turn around and head where they needed to go with bored and or disappointed looks on their faces. It was their fault if they were late to their class.

Drawsah stands in front of the three bullies and places a thin wad of cash in front of them, "I think all of that should cover everything. For the trouble I've caused and for your friend's shirt. Have a good day." He walks away and bids them farewell with a fake smile on his face and as soon as he reaches a clearing in the hallway, he loses that smile immediately.

Both girls who stood with them and cheered for Drawsah's downfall walk to where he placed the money and pick it up to count it for themselves. "Yeah, right. Like that brat would have the—money…" Both of their faces look at the cash amount in shock. Four thousand zeni…?!

The girl with the stained shirt turned around towards Drawsah's back, "Thanks for the cash, cutie! Mwah~!" She blew the boy a kiss he was thankfully out of earshot for.

Kitsutsuki and Cheri look on with blank expressions. They've seen the ending unravel right before them and they're almost left without words. Kitsutsuki on the other hand looked annoyed for the most part, "He just paid those idiots off for what…?"

"I guess…money does solve all your problems," Cheri uttered offhandedly.


(Third Period – About Thirty Minutes Later)

Drawsah, Kitsutsuki, Cheri, and Bulma share the same third period. This class was about the same size as the first class and was orientated nearly the same way. None of them sat near each other but Kitsutsuki and Cheri.

Kitsutsuki stared daggers into Drawsah, who sat two desks to the left of where she sat. She kept her mind fixated on what the snobbish boy did to those upperclassmen who were way taller and stronger than himself. Even she would struggle in his shoes so why didn't he?

That kid's a nerd on the outside and an athletic monster on the inside. I've never seen somebody treat and upperclassman like that and get away with it. She had the eyes of an analyst. Regardless of his money or name, this kid isn't normal. He's just good at everything…

An envious stare grows on Kitsutsuki's face.

He knows everything… Has everything… It makes me hate him. That. Much. More.

Drawsah glances to his right after facing the board for what seemed like eons and finds Kitsutsuki's sharp eyes staring daggers back into his. Drawsah looks at her perplexed as he watches her defer her gaze back towards the front of the board, slightly embarrassed that she was caught staring.

"Weird," he mumbled under his breath before he glanced back at the front of the board where a history lesson was taking place.

Cheri sat on Kitsutsuki's right and chuckled at her expense.

"What…?" Kitsutsuki hissed. Her cheeks seemed to burn a little bit.

"Do you…like him?" she asked flirtatiously.

Kitsutsuki eyes widened and looked sick in the face, "Wha—?! H-Hell no!" Almost loud enough to be heard by the people around them. You wish…There's nothing attractive about that snob and there never will be," she uttered in a dark tone.

Under that stoic mask, Drawsah already felt done with the day and was really wanting to get outta here and go home. Bulma started to get on his nerves and so did everyone else in the building. It was as if everyone inside was stupid, but his father had already told him that this would be the case. So, he'll force himself to go all the way through with this and learn something about the people of the world in the process.

Maybe it'll help him build his tolerance levels up if anything. He'd much rather build something or watch football instead.

We weren't even three classes in and Drawsah's already managed to find himself in a fight. Bulma sat all the way up at the front of the classroom in the front row. Uncharacteristically, she seems quiet and reserved. Her fan group isn't anywhere in sight either. We can assume that she shoos them away when class is in session. Especially in a class that Drawsah and herself were competing in.

I thought he said he didn't wanna draw any attention to himself. Either he forgot about that, or he miserably failed. It was only a matter of time anyways. It's not like you can hide a family name forever. Bulma pieced together Drawsah's very simple plan of withholding his last name as the people he spoke with treated him as a regular person and not like someone who's apart of the richest family in the world.

What he's doing is childish. By the end of the day, I'm sure everybody's gonna know exactly who he is… And I won't be doing anything but watching from the sidelines.

Bulma put her head down and tried to go to sleep. She'd rather sleep through the class and get in trouble than force herself to stay up and listen to the teacher talk about island expeditions from over a thousand years ago.


(Twenty Minutes Later)

The bell rings, signaling the end of third period and the start of another passing period. Drawsah sits up in his desk and stretches, picking up his books from under the desk and stores them between his body and arm. He starts towards the door but pauses because of a holdup. He looks at the door and notices Bulma's entourage crowded around the closed door, blocking any attempt to exit the room.

You're kidding…How the hell did they get there so fast…?!

The boy irritatingly looked at his sister who seemed unbothered and took her time to get her things together.

"What?" his sister asked in an annoyed tone. She walked towards him and turned towards the door, barely even giving him a glance. "Watch and learn."

She stopped right in front of the closed door and cleared her throat, "BACK UP!" Bulma yelled at the top of her lungs. The entire classroom heard her easily. Even some fan girls who didn't notice their idol before now stood by her side and watched in awe at her presence.

Her crowding entourage backed up to the other side of the skinny hallway and she's able to open the door and walk out, with Drawsah following close behind she turns to him, "See? If you owned up to yourself and told these people who you were, you'd be able to do something about this. But for some unknown reason, you keep acting like a punk."

Bulma turns back around and leaves her brother in his own thoughts. Walking outside with her two admirers following her steps, she turns down the hallway and walks away from the room, making her entourage group follow her.

Drawsah watches their backs as they leave, his eyes fell wearily at the sight, sighing and shaking his head in disapproval. And they call me a snob…

Now standing on the other side of the hallway, Drawsah looks to his left and sees Kitsutsuki leaning on the other side right next to the door staring him down in an intimidating fashion.

"Uhm…Can I help you?" he asked slowly. This Kitsutsuki girl was seriously weirding him out. She seemed to have a problem with him, and he didn't know what. He couldn't remember doing anything wrong except bump into her earlier today, and now she looked even angrier than before. Maybe he'd ask her?

"That's just Tori being Tori. Don't worry about it," Cheri commented, walking up behind him. Kitsutsuki rolled her eyes at that. Now this other girl Cheri, was a different story. She kept startling Drawsah by walking up behind him and he did his best not to show it. I have no clue how Bulma does it…these people find a way to throw me in for a loop every time they try to do something.

"Hey, we've got about eight minutes. Wanna go on a tour around the school? I'd like to call myself a pretty good tour guide," Cheri proposed with a beaming smile. How could Drawsah say no? I mean he had nothing else better to do but walk to the next class.

"Eight minutes, huh? Sure, why not?" Drawsah casually respond with a slight smile.

"Yippie!" Cheri exclaimed and threw a fist up in the air in triumph. She then looked at her brooding friend, "Wanna come? We'll probably take the whole period."

Kitsutsuki's gaze flips back to Drawsah who awkwardly stood there in silence. He was ready to leave. With or without the girl who kept patronizing him. Maybe this is what it'll take to find some sort of weakness in this flawless Brief kid.

"Fine, I'll go," she replied in an undertone.

"Great!" Cheri said cheerfully.

Great…

"I need to make sure this Brief kid doesn't try anything funny," the girl expressed as she stood up from the wall.

"Uh—…" Drawsah looked confused and concerned at the same time. "What's your problem with me…?"

He pointed to his chest questioningly. He thought he'd be able to ask in a way that didn't seem too confrontational, but this Kitsutsuki girl wasn't having it at all.

Kitsutsuki closed the large space between them and barely leaned down into his personal space, face to face. "I have a lot of problems with you," she hissed to the boy coldly.

Cheri stepped directly in front of them and pressed her hands into their chests. "Hey, hey! There'll be NO fighting right now!" Drawsah was so befuddled, he looked like he would've needed an entire rundown of what just happened. Why was she so angry with him? Why was she so aggressive? Is she dangerous to be around? And why does she think he's that much dangerous instead?

She should look at herself in the mirror and ask that question.

"Pfft. Please. I don't wanna fight this runt. That's just a waste of time," Kitsutsuki dismissed.

Drawsah sighed and glanced at Cheri, "Let's just get on with it…" He had put his free hand into his pocket and let Cheri lead the way.


(Five Minutes Later)

"Tori…!" Kitsutsuki slowly looked at her friend with a bored face. Cheri spoke in a loud whisper, "What do you think you're doing? Why are you treating Drawsah like that?" She appeared to be upset.

"What? I'm not doing anything," she stated blankly. Drawsah was walking about five steps in front of them and looked around at his surroundings, as stoic as ever.

"You know exactly what you're doing," Cheri scolded in a whisper. "Stop giving him a hard time for bumping into you, he didn't mean it!"

Kitsutsuki rolled her eyes though and scoffed, "You don't have me figured out as much as you think. I've never been that petty."

"Then what is it…?!" her shorter friend whisper-shouted back.

Kitsutsuki nonchalantly shrugged, "I don't know but that kid looks lost." She pointed at Drawsah who came to a short stop.

Cheri walked up to Drawsah's side and started to point out rooms and other things to him. Kitsutsuki still walked behind them from a distance.

"Alrighty then, sorry about that!" Cheri beamed at Drawsah with a bright smile.

He lightly returned the smile, "No worries."

The girl pointed down a hallway they were walking by, which was littered with a few kids here and there. "Over there is the Art Hallway," she stated.

"Right," Drawsah said, who looked down the direction of her pointing finger.

"And then the next hallway down is where the music hallway is," Cheri pointed down another hallway which was a little bit wider than the Art Hallway. "We have our own band and choir." She fanned her hand over her nose, "The choir sounds alright but the band—we shouldn't even call it a band…"

"Ahh…I see," Drawsah said with an incredulous smile.

This is dumb. This idiot knows is own damn way around. Kitsutsuki watched them walk together but focused more on Drawsah. She glanced him over, up, and down, and analyzed him over and over again. And it's even weirder knowing I can't find a thing wrong with this brat. She seemed to sigh in disappointment, crossing her arms and hanging her head.

"Hey, Tori!" Kitsutsuki looked up, opening an eye. "You think we missed a spot?" Cheri had asked her friend. Drawsah paused and watched their conversation.

Kitsutsuki only shrugged and maintained her ill-tempered face, "I dunno. I wasn't paying attention."

A lightbulb seemed to turn on in Cheri's head as she brought her fist into her palm, "Oh! I almost forgot!" She turned to Drawsah who looked back at her, "We should show you the roof!" Now glancing back at her friend, "Isn't that your favorite spot, Tori?"

The taller girl didn't respond. As a matter of fact, she frowned so hard that her forehead wrinkled. "Not anymore," Kitsutsuki uttered in a grueling tone.

Cheri looked confused but Drawsah seemed to be the only one who understood what she meant by that. He thought he should tell Cheri that she didn't need to worry about it but would rather keep his mouth shut instead. He didn't want to chance anything. At least not with this Kitsutsuki girl having a bad attitude.

"Forget it. Lead the way," she fanned at Cheri and walked closer to where they stood.

Drawsah awkwardly laughed at the situation with an incredulous look on his face, but Kitsutsuki stared daggers into his soul which immediately shut him up. I'll just…keep my distance.

As they were walking, Kitsutsuki sighed to herself, that irritable expression she had before turned pensive instead. Cheri…You idiot…! That's my secret spot! Nobody goes up there but me~e!


End of Chapter Three.

AN:

Some pretty heavy weights had been lifted off my shoulders this week so I think I'll be able to update again pretty soon!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Still have a lot more work to do in the upcoming days but the light is shining through a lot better than it did this week.

I also hope that everyone had a wonderful week and wish that you guys are back again when the next chapter drops! (I know this one was pretty short; the next one should be longer)