The Ripple Effect | Volume I

Chapter 5: A Change of Circumstances


(Nansei Junior High – Secondary Hallway)

The skinny hallway was packed with students that walked and talked about, moving at different speeds to their destination. Some students were in their lockers and rummaged through their things for the lunch period. Others had moved on without making a stop.

Somewhere in the middle of the hallway though, Hiromi Nakamura walked with a cheerful pep in her step. She stopped by her locker and opened it up, placing the books she had in her hand onto one of the shelves. Hiromi hummed happily and took her small purse with her and glanced for a moment at her phone.

Around the corner, Drawsah stood silently and discretely. He examined Hiromi's every move and action. He also glanced at a door that led outside towards the back of the school. Once the hallway started to clear for the most part and everyone in his area had dispersed, he slowly walked towards Hiromi's back.

Mouth. Arms. Three steps to the door. Drawsah's casual walk stooped down to a smooth sneaking motion once his footsteps came into hearing range. Hiromi turned the other way closed her locker, her phone was out of her hand, and she began walking down the hallway until her mouth was covered and her arms were immediately restricted.

"Wha—?" Hiromi's speech was cut short and was swiftly replaced by her muffled screams. She tried shaking the capturer's hand from her face, but it was futile. Her legs raised up off the ground and she saw herself fly backwards, being unable to look behind her to see who her capturer was. What's going on?!

Drawsah took three spaced out hopping steps from where he started, all the way to the door, spending a lot of energy to do so. He tried to shush the screaming and squirming girl, but it was obviously futile.

Hiromi witnessed as her kidnapper seemingly flew out the door and hopped on top of one of the open dumpsters. She squirmed and yelled even more. No…! No!

She's tossed into the open dumpster stomach first, completely getting covered in trash, rotten food, and gunk. Hiromi turned around and looked up at her kidnapper, who she finally noticed was Drawsah. "What the—?!" She coughed violently.

Tears started to form under her eyes but were too light to fall. The stench emitting off the dumpster was so bad it mercilessly violated her sense of smell. She swatted the stench from her nose and removed the rotten gunk that had gotten all over her clothes and hair. "T—The hell?!"

The boy she leered at with daggers crouched on top of the other lid which was all the way closed. "Sorry, but I don't think we started off on the right foot. Do you wanna think about it some more?" Drawsah asked. His face looked a little sincere.

"I don't wanna play your stupid game, let me out right now!" Hiromi squealed.

Drawsah's sincere expression fell into stoicism, "How did you get that photo?" He had placed his hand on the near edge of the open dumpster lid. "I'm aware that Bulma never posted that one on her account."

Hiromi flipped him off and threw it straight in the air, "I'm not telling you squat! You really expect me to talk after assaulting me? Yeah, screw that!" She watched Drawsah scoff and shake his head, almost chuckling.

"Well, if that's how you feel right now, then maybe you'll have a change of heart later on.", Drawsah said in a calm voice. He stood all the way up and placed his hand on the side of the cover and slowly brought it down to close it. "Bye~…"

What the…?! Hiromi immediately alarmed, "W—Wait! Don't close it!"

Drawsah remained unimpressed.

"A—Alright…! I'll t—tell you…" Hiromi appeared to be defeated as her head hung low. Drawsah stopped bringing down the large lid and brought it all the way back up to level.

He let go of the lid and spun his hand around, motioning her to continue.

"One of the 'Ms. Bulma' fan pages leaked it before Ms. Bulma took the account down herself. I'm the only one who managed to save it before she did that. Now let me go!" Hiromi left that solemn tone behind and immediately went back to whining.

After understanding how she acquired that photo, Drawsah let out a big sigh, "For starters, stop calling her 'Ms. Bulma'." He then hopped down into the dumpster himself startling Hiromi. "Secondly…Gimme your phone", Drawsah slowly said as he extended his hand.

Hiromi looked flustered and reeled her purse back, "W—What?! Why would I—"

"—Either that or you can stay in here for the rest of the day," he responded sternly. A moment of silence transpired.

I can't let him take my phone! Who knows what he'll do with it… I—…I left it in my locker! I didn't take it with me!" Hiromi quickly exclaimed.

Drawsah sighed.

He turned around and hopped back up on the closed half of the dumpster and crouched, looking back at her awestruck face as he jumped up over his own body height with ease.

"Well, we can't risk you going back inside looking like that, can we?" he stated nonchalantly before he turned his body around completely.

A beat of sweat falls down Hiromi's anxious face, "Wh—…What are you going on about…?"

"See ya after lunch," Drawsah lightly commented with a faint fake-looking smile. He grabbed the metal lid over the dumpster and lightly pushed the thing over, letting gravity bring the lid down itself.

"N—No—o!" The lid of the dumpster completely closes, and it drowns out Hiromi's screams and pleads to open the lid.

Drawsah gazes at the lid for a moment in thought and then stands up, putting his hands in his pockets. "Relax. I'll be back after lunch," he hops off the tall dumpster and ignores the faint banging that's coming from inside the dumpster. He then walks back into the school building from the same door they came out of.

Hiromi fumbled through her purse for her phone while pinching her nose to keep the putrid odor from entering. She turned on the flashlight on her phone and tried to brainstorm ideas for escape. If she jumped and tried to push the lid up, it would barely budge, so she needed a lot more leverage. She started piling up garbage towards the front of the dumpster, no longer caring about how dirty she'd get from doing it.


(Ōgesana Food Court – About Ten Minutes Later)

Across the street left of the school stood a smaller, yet modern styled building with a large and wide glass wall at the front entrance and another one on the other side. The other two walls were curved and had no windows on those except for the windows that let natural light into the building through the side and the roof. The building looked pretty expensive as on both windowed sides, bold black lettering labeled the building as the Ōgesana Food Court.

Inside the building, many tables and seats were placed in the middle in stand-alone and booth fashion, as you would find in a normal restaurant only expanded many times over. Against the curved walls stood many restaurants that had extensively long lines due to the lunch rush. The place also had a lot of sunlight coming through the top of the building.

At the entrance facing the school stood Kitsutsuki and Cheri who appeared to be waiting there for someone. Kitsutsuki tapped her foot impatiently.

"Where's Drawsah?" Cheri had asked.

"Beats me," Kitsutsuki shrugged carelessly. "Let's just get our food. We're not his parents."

Cheri faced her friend and wagged her finger, "Y'know Tori, you don't have to be mean to him. I thought you were worried about him just a moment ago. Wasn't it you that suggested we go to the nurse's office to see if he was there?"

"I was only worried about myself. If he ended up croaking, they'd put the blame on me," she replied swiftly. Kitsutsuki then took a moment to glance at her surroundings, "They definitely improved the place since last year."

Cheri had noticed too, "Yeah, it looks so pretty now!" She then took notice of a fountain in the center of the entire building.

Kitsutsuki started walking towards one of the restaurant stands, "I'm gonna get something to eat now."

"How will Drawsah know where to find us?" Cheri asked.

Right before she took Drawsah around the school, she asked if they could exchange contact information. She knew she'd be able to let him know where they were, she just had another plan in mind.

"Not our problem. He can handle himself," Kitsutsuki quickly dismissed.

"Tori~…" Cheri looked to her left after hearing footsteps approaching her. She looked elated at the sight, "There you are!"

Drawsah gave her a slight smile, "Sorry I'm late. I got lost."

Kitsutsuki loudly groaned and turned around to face them, "So, you finally decided to show, huh? You don't seem like the type to get lost." She crossed her arms and scrutinized in an instigative tone.

He smilingly sighed and avoided eye contact, "I apologize for those imperfections. Can you find it in your heart to—"

"—You're a poser and you don't do a good job hiding it. You'd think somebody of your 'high and mighty' status would be a better poser," she pointed at him accusingly.

Drawsah loses face and frowns, "Stop antagonizing me…"

"How about we just get our lunch?!" Cheri exclaimed and grabbed both of their arms violently. They glance at her face and see the irritated fake smile she's put on, "I'm pretty hungry! Aren't you?!"

Their stomachs growled in unison. "…Yes…"


(Nansei's Trash Area – Several Minutes Later)

The area looked just as Drawsah left it, only difference being that the dumpster lid bounces up for a moment and comes back down. Periodically, the bouncing gets higher and higher until the lid flies back far enough for it to lay against the wall.

Hiromi slowly climbed over the dumpster wall, huffing and puffing, and surveyed the area before she let herself down slowly, carefully to prevent injury. She removes the gunk from her body, face, and hair. She looked disgusted and infuriated – Hiromi reeked of rotten odors and had dumpster juice stained in her clothes.

Screw that Drawsah Brief kid! Once I get clean, I'm exposing the hell out of him and his stupid stuck-up family…!

The girl sneakily walked back into the school building which was a lot sparser than it usually would be. It was lunchtime and most kids usually went across the street to the joint food court that Nansei Junior High had a partnership with. Those who didn't want to leave the school building could eat their lunch in the cafeteria.

She creeped along every wall and peeked around every corner, praying that she doesn't get discovered by any unsuspecting person. Hiromi even went into dark and empty classrooms to hide from people that walked down the hallway.

"You smell that…?" one boy asked. The other responded, "Yeah, where's the janitor when you need em'?"

Hiromi frowned at the reaction and waited until they turned the corner for several seconds before sliding out of the classroom. For a short moment, she ran as fast as she could down the athletics' hallway and into the girls' locker room. Luckily, there wasn't anyone in the locker room for now.

She took a shower and threw her dirty clothes into the trash. They were unsalvageable and were definitely going to make the girls' locker room smelly but at least nobody could tie those clothes to her. Hiromi then went to her gym locker to put on some gym clothes. Once Hiromi was cleaned up and fitted in clean sneakers, she walked towards the trash can and dumped the contents of her purse on the floor.

Hiromi frowned, holding her purse with two pinched fingers over the trashcan and pinched her nose. Rest in peace…You will be missed! She dropped the purse in the trashcan and scooped up her belongings in her cupped hands, it wasn't much, and put her phone in the shorts' pocket.

Once she made it to her locker, she deposited her belongings on the bottom shelf where her backpack sat. Hanging off the rack on the back of her locker was a black lightweight bomber jacket. She took it off the rack and put it on. Hiromi also one by one put the contents of her purse into her backpack which she would have to use as her purse for the rest of the day.

She closed her locker and looked down at her phone screen, reading the time, "I still have thirty minutes left…"


(Food Court – About Fifteen Minutes Later)

"Wouldn't it make more sense for the school to have their own food court? Cause wouldn't people just go back home once lunch period came around?" Drawsah pointed out.

They were seated around the center of the food court at a café table with four chairs around it. Drawsah sits opposite of Kitsutsuki and Cheri sat between them.

"Sure, but what difference does it make?" Cheri asked.

Drawsah took a bite out of the dumpling on the plate in front of him. He looked at her curiously.

"If kids wanted to skip school and leave, nothing's stopping them from going to the bathroom and leaving that way. Also, the punishment for missing school in the middle of the day is pretty big," Cheri expressed before she bit into a small hamburger.

Drawsah slowly nodded, "I guess you have a point, Suzuki."

"You can call me Cheri!" she stated and smiled brightly.

"Alright," Drawsah continued to eat.

Kitsutsuki's irritated face faded a little bit, "This is the best thing to ever happen to this school. Especially since they can't just 'make their own food court'. Instead of questioning it, just enjoy not having to be cooped up in that boring school the whole time." She took a sip from her paper coated cup.

"I see," Drawsah said. "So, in short, lunch is just a one-hour free period."

"I guess you can call it that," Cheri affirmed with a smile.

Drawsah's seat faced the front entrance of the food court which meant he could see every person that came in and went involuntarily. He watched the same girl he threw into the dumpster back at school walk in with different clothes and an infuriated face.

He started choking on his food and beat on his chest to force it down.

"Are you okay?" Cheri asked urgently.

"Idiot. Slow down when you eat," Kitsutsuki said as she casually chewed on her food.

The food would eventually go all the way down as he caught his breath. But as soon as he did, he sank down under the table, confusing his peers. How did she get out…?!

Kitsutsuki looked at him slightly puzzlingly, "What are you doing…—?"

Drawsah shushed her from under the table. He stared at Hiromi's moving legs intensely. I can't let her know I'm here. I'll have to think about getting that phone from her somehow—

"Stop being an idiot and—?!" Kitsutsuki was pulled down by her legs before she could finish her sentence. She was a lot louder than she was before. Cheri covered her face in embarrassment.

She didn't want to deal with this again.

Drawsah put a finger to her mouth in a shushing manner, "Be quiet!" He spoke in a whisper-shouting manner.

Kitsutsuki looked as if she was going to explode. She almost hit her head on the back of the seat and Drawsah was acting out for seemingly no reason. All promises to stay as reserved as possible around the kid went out the window.

"I made a mistake and now somebody's out for my head…" Drawsah whispered.

"Oh, you've made a mistake alright…" Kitsutsuki coldly noted.

He looked over in her direction for the first time and saw her raging bright-eyed face, wound up was a fist behind her. Before Drawsah reacts in time, Kitsutsuki full-knuckled punches Drawsah in the face, making him fall backwards from the impact.

Kitsutsuki mounts him and wails on him, throwing fists at his head as hard as possible and each one hit its mark. Drawsah grunted with each impact and held his arms up to block the incoming blows.

"Get off!" Drawsah barked.

Cheri lowered her head onto the table and tried to hide her face from people nearby who were looking at that scuffle.

Footsteps approached the table and Cheri slowly looked up with a pouty face until she recognized that the girl looked under the table with an irritated frown.

"There you are…!" Drawsah looked up above the table to see Hiromi staring right back at him, flames burning in her eyes.

Kitsutsuki stopped attacking Drawsah for a moment and followed Drawsah's sunken gaze, then looks at the girl perplexed, "The hell do you want…?"

"Drawsah Brief," she uttered in a cold tone. Drawsah winced and grimaced at the sound of his name being called out boldly. "Let's stop playing hide-and-seek with other girls and finish lunch, alright?"

His brow slightly furrowed as his lips curled into a faint frown.

After a minute or two, the four of them sat down at the table. Everyone but Hiromi looked uncomfortable, seeing that the mood turned bitter as this girl had, in a sense, took control of their lunch period.

Hiromi sat in the empty seat across from Cheri.

"So, who are you? Also how do you know this dill-weed?" Kitsutsuki asked, offhandedly pointing at Drawsah with her thumb.

Drawsah glared at Kitsutsuki. He didn't look happy at all. To be fair, he wasn't necessarily undeserving of this. He wasn't completely innocent himself.

"I'm kinda wondering the same thing," Cheri added. She laid her head on her hands as her elbows were positioned on the table.

Drawsah then looked at Hiromi tensely, he tried his best not to move a muscle.

As soon as that phone comes out, I'm breaking it. That's better than nothing. If that doesn't work, I'll take the phone myself and run out. There's nothing wrong with being faster than everyone else if it's within normal limits. Once I get that, I'll delete the photo off the phone's hard drive and remove any traces of it on the internet.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head down in thought.

I'll have to be precise in everything I do though. And those plans would only work in a moment that she doesn't take her phone out and walks away from the conversation. But I doubt that will happen.

If she shouts out my name, it's either assault or defeat. Racking up an assault charge would ruin our reputation further, including the company my father worked so hard to create. I can't afford that… I think I've…lost.

Hiromi took a deep breath, "I met Mr. Brief in fourth period. He told me all about how he was related to and adored his older sister, Ms. Bulma! So much so, that he was afraid to embarrass her!" She could be capable of an exemplary theatre performance if this was recorded. But it wasn't. And everyone at the table looked at her blankly.

"What…?" the three of them said in unison.

"He's learned of his embarrassing photo that would not only tarnish his public reputation, but ruin what little respect his family has for him! He had even blamed me! Me! For knowing about it! Would you like to know what he has done to me in retaliation?!" Hiromi continued the overdramatic act.

They sat there in deadpanned silence.

Hiromi pointed at him a loathing expression, "He kidnapped me and threw me into those wretched dumpsters!"

Drawsah's mouth hung agape.


End of Chapter Five.

A/N:

I felt like I wrote this chapter up pretty quickly, so at least the typing process is speeding up. I've got a couple of school projects that need to get done this week so I might not be updating until Friday or Saturday but I'm willing to bet Friday.

Also, I'm a huge NFL fan so my focus will be on the NFL Draft coming up! And then afterwards, it's straight writing!

Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter and I hope I can see you again for the next one! Take care!