Inui was scared.

He had been scared of many things before, had been scared many times but nothing ever made him act the way he did now.

Fear was crippling, fear made you freeze; fear took the control of your mind, fear made you breed even more fear-

To be brave was to be without fear. To be brave was to never stop. Bravery came from strength.

Those who knew how to swim would never fear water, those who had water would never fear fire, those who were strong had no reason to be crippled with the fear of pain.

Taiju was strong; he made Inui bow down to him. He overpowered him and demanded his loyalty. Taiju had no reason to fear, neither hurt not loss would come for him.

But he was the one who had screamed in nothing but pain, two times in a single fight today. He had lost an ear and got stabbed on the leg in a single fight. He had lost his first and only fight against that girl.

Hanagaki Shiro.

The girl who had left the fight, bloody and smiling. She seemed so satisfied as if waiting for the fight to get done for so long-

Inui didn't know how long he was frozen but it must've been a few minutes at least for the girl to get so far by foot.

He ran and ran; when he saw the back of the person he was trying to reach he was already out of breath. He reached his hand and pulled-

Which, ended up with the girl falling on top of him. It was really all his fault and it was totally embarrassing.

"You want to die?!" the girl hissed. Her hands were on the two sides of his head as his were sprawled on the ground.

He could not answer the question as he was out of breath and the weight on top of him was not helping him breath at all.

"Please-" he wheezed out as he held onto the girl's torn jacket, a pathetic effort to prevent her from leaving.

"Let go."

"Wait- Please-" he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, "Please- become- become Black Dragons' new leader."

When he opened his eyes he faced with a girl looking at him like he was mad.

Not the best start, huh?

"We're done for. You're the only one who can keep the Dragons safe. Please- Please take over the gang!" he put his head on the ground and begged for help. He begged the last hope of the gang he loved so dearly.

"Why would I even-" the girl sighed, "Don't answer that. I don't want to hear."

"Hanagaki-san," he was even being genuinely polite, "I'm ready to promise you anything; after all the trouble caused you, I am willing to even get beaten up. Go on, I will not even raise a finger. Take your anger out of me but please, if you leave just like that, it means Black Dragons is dead. Hanagaki-san, I only wanted to bring its shine back, I wanted to follow the first generations' footsteps. I know I fucked up but- but… you are the only hope I have. Only one who can save it. Please, Take over black Dragons and be 10th generation's leader."

The girl looked thoughtful.

"I thought when a gang is split next one in the line rises."

"The tenth generation was not officially established, we had not enough gang members, that's why I reached you in the first place. Taiju was to be the captain of newly restored gang. It's impossible now. If we really nominate him as the new captain then other gangs will laugh at us, label us as a 'weak' gang. We won't last a week."

"Tell me…" the woman kneeled before him and put her hand on his shoulder. He looked at her dark eyes and readied himself for the blow.

"Just how far are you willing to go for this gang?"

Shiro had seen thin man- boy- whatever it didn't matter- she had seen his past his future- his futures even. At some he was… brash and uncaring, a cold man who had been fooling himself for the sake of his dreams. In others he was okay. He was in peace, accepted, even happy though he was lonely in a way very few people understood.

What would happen to him if she left him alone?

"I would die or kill or- anything. I would do anything."

She wouldn't have believed anyone who said such a thing. He could've been exaggerating for her to believe him, just to make her accept.

But, fucking shit-

She knew he wasn't.

Because she had seen him getting out of the road for that one gang.

What would he become if she did not take that offer right now?

Shiro bit her lip.

He wasn't a bad man- boy! He really wasn't she knew.

Don't get her wrong, he wasn't a good man, he wasn't a lawful boy! God- he wasn't a saint she knew, fuck-

This was the exact reason she was struggling now.

Maybe she should sleep on it. Yes sleep sounded awesome right now.

She didn't wanted this boy to go down a road he would regret, he had already done that once, despite his age.

He is a boy!

Shiro had always been an impulsive girl. She was full of momentary decisions.

And she liked Inui a decent amount as a character.

"No, you will fucking not." She snapped at last, "Give me your number and meet me at this place next Sunday, bring your boss and whatever executive you want to bring along."

God she hated those puppy dog eyes he gave her.

"Hello there big guy." Shiro greeted the boy she had stabbed previously, "Glad to see you didn't die."

Taiju answered with a grunt. His ego was probably still wounded by her, but as someone who recognized strength he had to acknowledge her.

"Hello there boss lady." The black haired male waved.

"Hanagaki-san." Inupi bowed respectfully as he elbowed his friend, "I brought the… possible executives as you requested."

Dear god-

He would not start to call her lady or something right?

Right?

Koko must've seen the horror on her face since he sniggered or something funny had happened while she was thinking.

Shiro thought the first option was more likely.

"Okay, if you didn't know while fighting me, my name is Hanagaki Shiro. Either drop the –san or call me Shiro and no one ever uses –chan with me." Koko looked into her eyes daringly, "Don't." she said more sternly.

Koko smiled.

Koko was a little shit.

"So boss," he said, "What is the plan?"

Shiro snapped her eyes upwards, "You," she called out to the tallest boy, "you must know your men, what do we have in hand?"

"Idiots who need to be trained like dogs."

"And how much do you know about training dogs?"

The man's eyes lit with cruelty.

"More than enough."

Oh, well…

"Did you know that, in a country, where cattle farming is the primary income, farmers cut the ears of the guard dogs in a special way so they don't get ripped when fighting against wolfs?" Shiro spoke casually, "I'll take your other ear the second you step out of line." She narrowed her eyes, "Am I understood?"

"…Yes."

"Okay. Good to know we came to an understanding." The girl nodded to herself, "Blondie you help him as the vice-captain."

The boy widened his eyes.

"Yes."

He gave a determined nod. Dear god-

He was cute.

"What about me boss?" the black haired boy pointed at himself.

"…I don't even know who you are." The girl (lied) admitted, "Just do whatever you do normally."

"I slack off normally."

Shiro clapped her hands, "Okay, If that's all-"

"Whoa! You will just let me slack off?"

"Like I said, do whatever you do normally. I'll meet you guys when you've got our men in control."

"You won't do anything?" the built boy asked.

"Those guys watched our fight yeah?" the girl asked with a smirk.

"And?"

"And that means if you can control them I can rule them." Her smirk become a sharp smile, "There will be uproar for the first few days. They will not want to go under you. You will take them and bring them to their knees. Once they are obedient we will prepare a meeting where I will make my appearance as the 10th generation captain; that, by boys, will be the real start of our show." She having so much fun, "The men will fall into a crisis there can even be a civil war if we're lucky! Some will want Taiju to lead and some will be okay with me, for totally different reason of course."

"What part of this is lucky?" asked the black haired boy.

Shiro grinned widely.

"So glad you asked! The lucky part of it, my boy, is that it will be an extremely easy uproar to settle down. All we need to do is arrange a rematch. A chance for Taiju to take back the upper hand, not that I will give it but they will thing Taiju actually can fight against me. Silly guys. I just know where to hit to make Taiju fall, now. He has absolutely nothing on me so, it will end by me taking down Taiju once again and then no one will have the heart to take away my place."

The boys stared at her.

Shiro only regretted that she did not finish her speak with an evil laugh.

Shiro wasn't sure if she liked her brother or not.

Takemichi was… okay as a person. He was respectful enough and considerate.

But he acted like Shiro would break any moment now and she hated it.

Yes she remembered the pain; yes she remembered cutting her own wrists-

But that was not her.

Like reading a novel from the first person POV and getting frustrated when the MC did something you would never do; Shiro sometimes hated previous owner of this body.

She hated her because she was weak, because she gave up, because she did things she would never do.

She hated that everyone saw her as the Shiro who cut herself and not as the Shiro who took a gang leader down.

(Not that her brother knew she did such a thing, she was secretive enough.)

His friends were nice kids as well. Some dumb teenagers but they meant well –most of the time- and that was enough for her to accept them into her house.

The fucking problem; she was sure at least two of them had crushes on her.

She didn't want to outright reject the boys. They were going to be regulars inside her house, obviously, so she did the most sensible thing:

"Call me big sister, you brats."

Yes, those were the eyes of double friendzone.

Would laughing at their demise make her cruel?

Shiro's plan worked.

Why did Shiro's plan work? Like, Seishu was glad it did but he didn't actually believe it would work this well.

Taiju regained the loyalty of the members. Shiro broke it again. A civil war occurred. Shiro and Taiju fought (again and this time Shiba siblings were present). Shiro won (more easily). Shiro gained the loyalty of most of the members.

Those who were disloyal were crushed under Shiro's boot.

Literally.

She kicked the fallen man's face for the last time.

"Noshi." She called for a bulky member of their gang, "Take this bastard and throw him out of our turf. Take away his gang uniform as well."

"Yes, captain."

Shiro turned to the dozens of eyes watching her, "Anyone who decides to riot by going against my rules will face the same end! Am I clear?!"

"Yes, captain!"

"Good fucking riddance." Grumbled Taiju, "It wasn't the first time he stole from the students."

Shiro was a mastermind. Once she made sure everyone knew of her rules, she set up fighting rings, started to take tributes from the little establishments inside their turf (both in ways that weren't (exactly) illegal) and listened the problems of their members and found solutions.

She helped one of them who needed money find a job. Another asked her to get his abusive father down (kill him); she got him in arrested (he would not see the day of light again).

She gave relationship advices to too many of their members.

And whenever a small gang got too close to their turf…

She was strong enough to send them off.

Shiro was a good leader.

Inupi thought her as the last choice.

Perhaps she was the best choice.