Chapter 06: Sumire - I See Red
AN: I put a moodboard on wattpad's version, portraying Sumire's jewelry and the nails Emma did. Although, they were much shorter.
Peaceful did not last for long.
I've long learned that gossip has the power to either break or make a person.
Ryusei was right, Mitsuya kissing me had become such a hot topic around the school, especially in my class, that it was all I heard about. Now that my mind was clearer and I could function like myself. I could hear the badly covered whispers even during class, my eyebrow seemed to be in a constant state of twitching and several veins were close to popping on my face.
And, of course, the topic of me whoring myself out to the guys in Toman was brought up, again. My eyes flared, angrily, when the guys in my class started talking shit about my best friends, especially Mitsuya. One of them, the ringleader, was especially loud about it, giving me a look and a suggestive grin.
He'd brought it up right after the teacher had dismissed us, causing me to stop texting Draken, who notified me of his and Mikey's plans to pick up Michi from his school. He'd offered to take me along, but I refused. I mentioned Mitsuya's plans to pick me up after school, making use of Draken's responses to distract myself from the gossip. It didn't work.
Hearing the words coming out of the guy's mouth had caused me to look at him, eyes narrowed into a deadly glare.
"Come again?" My voice was cold, warning him to take the words back while he still could. His cronies, standing behind him, took a couple of steps back. Their faces paled when they saw my death glare, and someone swallowed a lump in their throat. I pocketed my phone, sending Draken a final message, saying I might join them instead.
I was uncertain of my ability to face Mitsuya with a straight face, feeling a sense of foreboding creeping into my bones. This gossip wasn't going to change my feelings about the kiss or Mitsuya himself.
"You heard me," he smirked at me, not seeing the way his friends tried to stop him.
I fluttered my eyes at him, pulling up my best fake smile, "Is that so?" I kept my voice dangerously calm, venom leaked into my words like a quiet night shadow creeping in the corners of the darkness. I didn't know the guy's name, nor was I interested to learn it.
"Oi, don't!"
"Stupid, she's part of Tokyo M-!"
Whatever his friend was about to say was cut off with him yelping as I suddenly grabbed him by his tie, and started to drag him out of the class. The desks were pushed away with a loud screech, and chairs fell to the ground with a loud thud. I ignored his attempts to get free, his hands attempted to twist my fingers off of his tie, of his collar, or was trying to aim them at me. One of his friends ran after us, trying to stop me only to end up being kicked out of the second floor's window, two other guys got knocked out against the walls.
Someone screamed at the sight of blood and at the fight had broken out.
I'd barely noticed the way the girls paled or froze in shock, when they heard the idiot's question or when I sent one of our classmates out of the window. Luckily for him, he'd landed in one of the bushes, softening his fall. The idiot's friends tried to stop me, only to end up drop-kicked on the ground with the dumbass still in my grip.
One or two managed to land a hit on me, mostly since I was still holding their friend, but others weren't so lucky. Before I knew it, I'd managed to drag the little shit to behind the closest gym - I threw him on the ground and proceeded to punch him in the face. One punch after another. Repeating the process over, and over, again. Not giving him a chance to protect himself, pinning him on the ground to prevent him from using his hands.
He was cursing and begging, I kept asking him to repeat what the little shit said to me.
Whoever dared to try and stop me, got beaten up.
Before I realised it, most of the delinquents in our year had come out here, trying to stop me from beating the living shit out of him. The word had gotten out faster than I expected, at some point, I dropped the bastard and took my anger out on those who'd come to break up the fight. Or hoped to bring me down, bearing a grudge against me. Fists were thrown at me, which I dodged and I grabbed them. Their eyes widened, before letting out simultaneous pained shouts as I used their own fists to punch them.
"Ane-san!" Chifuyu's voice suddenly shouted, making me glance at him as I saw him running towards me. "You bastards!" He jumped on one of the third year's, who had picked up a pipe and planned on swinging it on my head.
I blinked, watching the Vice-Captain of the First Division taking down several guys, before I shrugged and returned my attention to the idiot, who'd started it. The fight was in full swing, with twenty-something against, now, the two of us.
"Are you alright, Ane-san?" Chifuyu shouted over the guys, who had him surrounded, cracking his knuckles.
"Ya should worry about yourself," I snapped, dodging a punch aimed at my head, spinning around and sending the guy crashing against another behind him. "No need for you to butt in, Chifuyu!"
"Huh? That ain't gonna happen, Commander's orders!" He barked back, drop-kicking two guys, trying to reach me. I groaned, knowing exactly what he meant. Mikey's orders were to keep me company while Moebius was dealt with. All we knew was that they were starting to get a bit too big, and they didn't choose their methods to fight.
Nor did they care if I was a girl.
"Then keep those guys busy, while I take care of this little shit!" I growled, cracking my knuckles, and eyeing the crowd around us.
"The fuck did he do anyways to piss you off, Ane-san?"
A few more punches and kicks were sent by both parties, and my cheek stung from a lucky punch. I dropped on my hands and spun my legs to bring the guy down.
"You don't wanna know!" I hollered back, using my forehead to knock another down. The adrenaline ran in my veins, making my blood boil. It had been a while since I actually fought like this, I realised with a devious grin. I barely noticed when Ryusei joined the fight, blocking a kick sent my way, making me turn to them with a blink.
"You guys pissed off our Princess," Ryusei's voice was calm, but the way he gripped the guy's feet showed he was anything but that. "How are you gonna make up for it?"
"W-we didn't start it!" The guy protested, shaking his head, frantically. "We're just here to stop it!"
"That's not what it looks like."
"Sh-she's the one who started it!"
Both Ryusei's and Chifuyu's eyes widened, turning to me in disbelief. I shoved a guy on the ground, dusting off the dirt from my hands, and shrugged. Ryusei dropped the guy's foot, making him stumble back and fall on his butt.
"I told you - you don't wanna know," I said, approaching the one, who'd started it all. He was attempting to crawl away; his eyes were swollen and his nose was bleeding, probably broken, with his mouth bleeding. "This son of a bitch here," I added, feeling my friend's eyes on my back. "Implied that I'm a prostitute and asked me how much I was worth."
"…Huh?"
"The fuck?!"
I snatched the fucker up by his collar, staring down at him. "You know, I've tolerated the gossip because it was harmless. I've tolerated the shit you've said about me. But if there's one thing I won't accept - wanna know what it is?"
He nodded, frantically. I could hear Ryusei asking Chifuyu if they should kill them for talking shit about me. Someone claimed that they didn't know what went down before the fight broke out. Some guys got up and dragged themselves away, no longer wanting to be involved with the situation. Someone told the idiot to go and fuck himself.
"It's talking shit about MY FRIENDS, MY FAMILY WHO DON'T DESERVE YOUR TRASHING THEIR REPUTATIONS WITH YOUR FUCKING STUPIDITY. You can harm me, but going after my friends? Going after Toman? That's where I draw the fucking line, you mother fucker bastard!" I shouted, watching as my spit flew on his face, before head-butting him unconscious.
My head spun at the impact, I forced the feeling down, knowing the fight wasn't entirely over, yet.
"The same goes for the rest of you little shits," I turned to the spectators, who'd gathered to watch. "You can talk whatever crap you want about me, but keep my friends out of your fucking mouths. Or you'll find yourself here in this dumbass' place." I ran a hand through my honey-blond hair, not caring if it got smeared with the blood on my hands.
Chifuyu walked over to me, glaring at anyone who even moved wrong, while Ryusei was eyeing me up and down, searching for any hidden injuries. When he found none, he nodded, looking pleased at the outcome.
"We should get out of here before teachers come," Chifuyu said, giving me a handkerchief to clean myself up from all the blood and dirt.
The brawl had lasted well past the bell, and by now it was just us and the idiots on the ground, who'd remained at the scene. Everyone else had gone to their next class, or to the infirmary to get their injuries checked out. I hadn't seen Baji in the crowd, making me somewhat relieved. I didn't want to drag him into a fight if he could avoid it, I knew he wanted to pass the exams this year and not get held back, again. He didn't want to make his mom cry.
"Yeah, or we can just ditch the rest of the school," Ryusei shrugged, making me shrug.
"I'm gonna go see what Mikey and Draken are up to before I drop by at Mitsuya's school," I said, picking out my phone and sending a text to both Draken and Mitsuya, updating them of the changes of plans.
"I'm coming with you, Ane-san," Chifuyu instantly offered, making Ryusei shrug. There were a few groans from the guys on the ground, letting us know they were waking up. I glanced at the two, and only now noticed Ryusei carrying what looked like my bag.
"Where'd you get that, Ryusei?" I pointed at it, happily accepting it when he handed it back. I had been worried about dropping by my class to pick up my stuff. "Keisuke-kun brought it when he heard of the fight, and said you'd need it."
I smiled, "Tell Baji thanks for me," he nodded, crossing his arms behind his head. I swung my bag over my shoulder, silently making a promise to buy Baji his favourite food for this.
"Let's get out of here," Ryusei said, casually turning around and accidentally stepping on someone's stomach, heading straight toward the rooftop. I didn't bother to stop him or call him back. My phone vibrated with Draken demanding to know what the hell happened, and Mitsuya asking if everything was right.
"Chifuyu, change of plans," I said, looking at the Vice-Captain, who blinked at me. "I'm going over to Mitsuya's instead of Draken and Mikey."
I wasn't ready to deal with an over-protective Draken, or possibly facing Michi. Not when the adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, not when Michi and I had yet to talk about everything related to Toman and his situation with Kiyomasa…
"I'll keep you company, Ane-san," Chifuyu grinned at me.
"Do what you want," I shrugged.
.…卍…
We didn't go straight to Mitsuya's school.
I knew that Mitsuya would freak out if I were to show up, looking like this: bruised and covered with blood. Chifuyu wasn't looking better, even if his injuries were less visible. With him, it was mostly simple, easy bruises that would heal within a day or two. But in my case, I had to take out my pocket mirror to check the consequences of the fight.
My cheek was swollen, my stomach had some bruises here and there, and my hands were bloody and bruised. It would, at least, take a couple of days for me to fully heal, I thought with a click of my tongue. I was more bruised than I thought I would be. There was a bit of blood smeared on my honey-blond hair, which I washed off. However, my skirt and white blouse were another matter.
"Chifuyu, can you grab that anti-septic from my bag," I said, washing my knuckles with a grimace. The water stung my hand, and I had to blink to push back sudden tears threatening to fall from pain. This was the downside of fighting, the aftermath of having to clean up. Then again, it was better that I did it now instead of Mitsuya.
Mitsuya had a way of making me feel bad with just a look or a single word. An ability he'd gained from helping his mother to raise his two younger sisters. He was pretty much both a father and a mother figure to the girls, considering how little time she had for them. The fact he'd kissed me earlier today wasn't going to help me either when I'd eventually face him. In fact, I dreaded having to explain why I'd gotten into a fight in the first place. I just hoped that Baji hadn't already notified the others about it. Fat chance there.
He nodded and walked over to where my bag lay and started to search for it. "And some cream and band-aids would be lovely as well."
"Found it," Chifuyu called, after a few minutes of searching for the items, handing me anti-septic first. He'd also found band-aids and cream, frowning when he saw the state of my hands. "Need help, Ane-san?"
I sighed, "Chifuyu~, when will you drop this Ane-san shit? And yes, just spray it on the bruises, both hands." I held my hands out to him, gesturing for him to go ahead. He seemed to hesitate a bit before he uncapped the bottle.
"You're like an older sister to me," Chifuyu said as he carefully sprayed anti-septic on my wounds, apologising when I hissed. "Feels wrong to call you anything else."
I stared at him while waving my hands to let the spray cool off on my skin. "Damn, that shit hurts. How about calling me Mire-nee instead of Ane-san? It's what Michi and his friends call me," I suggested.
Michi's friends took to calling me Mire-nee about a year ago when I spent the summer living at Michi's house. I'd camped in Michi's room, discovering just how lazy my cousin could be if he was left alone. My parents, and Masaru, had gone to visit our grandparents who lived up in Hokkaido. I had no plans to go that far, not wanting to be separated from my friends for two long months. Later, I heard how Masaru had actually enjoyed the trip.
Out of five of them, both Akkun and Takuya had taken to me the most. Takuya treated me like an actual family member, even though, he too had refused to tell me anything about Kiyomasa forcing them to be his slaves.
"…Maybe." Chifuyu's cheeks were slightly pink, I watched as he put the anti-septic back and uncapped the cream bottle. He drew a little bit of cream on both my hands, its cool texture was a welcome change to the stingy alcohol.
"Mire-nee's not as bad as Ane-san," I said, gesturing for the band-aids.
He shrugged, placing the items back into my bag and handed my bag to me. I took it with a head shake, "You're annoyingly stubborn, Chifuyu."
Chifuyu grinned, "Baji-san's said the same thing."
"That's not a compliment!"
"Felt like it."
I smacked the back of Chifuyu's head, "Just for this, you're staying at school." I took a course to the front gates, trying to come up with explanations as to why I got into a fight.
"What?!" He exclaimed. "I'll be the one to get in trouble!"
"Not this time, I need some alone time to cool off."
"Ane-san!"
"Pipe it down, Chifuyu~!" I didn't look back as I waved at him, tightening the hold on my bag. "See ya~ ."