I'm unstoppable today.
"Unstoppable" ~ Sia
Baji called a First Division meeting at their usual spot in the park, and Chifuyu Matsuno, hell-bent on joining Toman, stood at the back of the crowd. Much to his dismay. He'd wanted to stand right next to Baji, but without official membership, his options were, apparently, nonexistent. So, there he was, stuck in the back, trying not to look like a puppy left out in the rain.
Baji sat on the edge of the water fountain, his expression darker than usual. Chuu's recent injury had him in a bad mood.
"Hey, where's Todawa-san?" a deep voice asked, tinged with concern.
Todawa… That's Hikari's family name. Chifuyu couldn't help but wonder. I didn't know she had a brother in Toman, he thought. But there was no time to ponder or dwell on it.
"At home with a cold," Baji explained. His answer was followed by a sympathetic few murmurs of 'damn, that sucks' and 'yeah, must be something going around,' and a 'summer colds are the worst, man.'
Yagyo Douji's attack on Chuu was the main topic of the meeting, not Hikari's cold, although Baji was concerned about both. He hated that one of his guys was hurt—it pissed him off. But there was a sense of relief that it wasn't Hikari. Being stuck at home with a rotten cold, miserable as she was, maybe it was a blessing in disguise. It kept her safe.
Soon enough, though, Baji had everyone's attention focused on the matter at hand: Chuu's injury. The Yagyo Douji gang had jumped him while he was alone, catching him off guard, and hitting him with a lead pipe—real brave shit. Now Chuu was in the hospital with a broken jaw and would be out for a month. Toman's pride was on the line, and as Baji talked, the wave of anger was palpable. Fists clenched, jaws tightened. There was zero question about it: Yagyo Douji was going to pay.
Chifuyu decided right then and there that he would be the one to dish out the punishment, all by himself. Surely that would impress Baji and earn him a spot in Toman.
It was all he could think about as he rode home on the back of Baji's bike. He would thrash Yagyo Douji single-handedly, proving his worthiness. He'd be one step closer to his rightful spot at Baji's side, as his vice captain.
Unfortunately, it didn't go according to his grand plan. That jerk Ryusei, Baji's current vice captain, beat him to it. Then, that jackass toyed with him, impersonating the leader of Yagyo Douji. But the absolute worst thing about it was looking like a fool in front of Baji.
Several days later, Chifuyu stood on the school roof sulking. Baji told him not to come talk to him at school with that regent pompadour hairstyle that screams "I'm a delinquent." So, he slicked his hair back and donned fake glasses, matching Baji's nerdy disguise—which had the exact opposite of his intended effect.
Ryusei, in a gesture of 'friendship,' offered to help him with a new style sure to meet Baji's approval. He fell for it, playing right into Ryusei's teasing grasp and ending up with the most ridiculous coif in the entire history of Japan. Mercifully, Baji ruffled it up into something less humiliating… and told him to wear it like that for the rest of his life, which he solemnly resolved to do.
"Well, doesn't that look better?" a lazy voice drawled from behind him.
Chifuyu turned and narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, no thanks to you."
Ryusei stretched and yawned, his legs dangling over the edge of his favorite napping spot. "It's all thanks to me. If I hadn't—"
Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the unmistakable sound of hell breaking loose in the schoolyard: shouting, the crunch of boots on gravel. This could mean only one thing—trouble.
Hikari sat in music theory class, taking a test on the circle of fifths. Her fingers pressed against her palm, playing phantom chords as the notes appeared in her mind's eye, revealing the answers to each question.
She bolted upright and her pencil nearly flew from her hand when the chaos erupted. Several figures in gang uniforms hurried past the small window in the door. Her breath hitched and she realized the direction they were headed—towards Keisuke's class.
Shit! They're after Keisuke! And he can't fight at school!
Without a second thought, or her teacher's permission, she flew out of her seat like she got fired out of a cannon. The metal legs of her chair scraped across the tile floor, drawing everyone's attention from the ruckus in the hallway to her dashing up the aisle and throwing the door open.
She ran towards Keisuke's open classroom door, seeing Chifuyu sprinting from the opposite end of the hallway. Keisuke emerged from the classroom, clutching his limp left arm, followed by the three unknown gang members.
"Hey, assholes!" she growled, her fists clenched. No sooner than their heads snapped in her direction, she launched herself at the one closest to Keisuke and landed a flying kick to his chest, sending him flying backwards.
Chifuyu's jaw dropped. What the hell?
One of the invaders lunged at her, trying to land a punch. But, Hikari—a whirlwind in a school uniform—ducked under his swing and delivered a sharp elbow to his ribs, sending him stumbling backward into his buddy. With one final kick, she sent them both to the floor before adjusting her uniform skirt with a flick of her wrist.
She turned to a wide-eyed and slack-jawed Chifuyu, smirking at his dumbfounded expression. "Close your mouth, you look like a dead fish."
Chifuyu's jaw snapped shut, but his brain was still struggling to catch up. Hikari could fight? Like that? He always saw her as Baji's friend, the quirky girl who played guitar and wore oversized band t-shirts. But this…?
"Damn, I owe you one," Baji said through gritted teeth. Sweat beaded on his brow as he held his broken arm protectively.
"Thank me later. Let's get the hell out of here," she answered, wincing in sympathy at his injured arm.
"Hey, over here!" Ryusei called from the stairwell. "We can hold out on the roof."
Without another word, they made a break for the stairs, Baji clutching his arm as they hurried toward the roof. Chifuyu brought up the rear, still reeling from seeing Hikari mop the floor with three guys in less than ten seconds.
Once on the roof, they slammed the door behind them, holding it shut as the invaders banged and shoved against it.
"Do any of you know who these twat-waffles are?" Hikari asked, pushing her body weight against the metal door.
"They're Killer Bee..." Baji answered as the door started to give under the attackers' weight. And in a heartbeat, the Bees burst through, spilling onto the roof in a swarm.
"Think you can protect your captain?" the leader sneered, eyes narrowing as he took in Baji's limp arm. "He can't fight with that busted arm. You're all dead meat."
Hikari stepped in front of Baji instinctively, planting herself between him and the oncoming attackers. He'd always been the one to protect her, but today, it's her turn to repay him.
Baji's jaw clenched as Hikari stood in front of him. His left arm throbbed, useless at his side, and it pissed him off that he couldn't protect her the way he always had. He hated feeling powerless, hated that today, of all days, he had to rely on others to defend him.
"It's over. You put up a good fight, but bowing down would be a lot smarter right now." The leader's voice was smug as he tried claiming victory. "Especially since we confirmed Baji Keisuke can't fight on school grounds."
Baji stiffened, and Hikari's eyes narrowed. But it was Ryusei who reacted first.
"Where the hell did you hear that?" Ryusei demanded, eyes narrowing.
"A little birdie told us," the leader replied smugly. "A little birdie named Yotsuya Kaidan."
In a blink, Ryusei had the leader by the collar, dangling him over the roof's edge.
"You think you can scare us?" Ryusei's voice was low and dangerous.
"Ryusei!" Hikari yelped, lunging forward. "What the hell are you doing?"
Chifuyu moved fast, grabbing Ryusei's arm. "Are you insane? If he falls, he could die!"
For a second, Ryusei didn't seem to hear them, his grip tightening on the leader's collar as he hung precariously over the edge. A flash of something dark and unhinged crossed his face, something that said he wasn't entirely bluffing. Finally, after a tense moment, he relented, tossing the leader back onto the roof. The guy scrambled to his feet, coughing and visibly rattled.
"Get the hell out of here," Baji snapped, glaring at the remaining Bees.
They didn't need to be told twice. After seeing their leader dangled over the edge, the invaders scattered, disappearing down the stairs as quickly as they had come.
Chifuyu exhaled, his heart still hammering in his chest. As the adrenaline faded, he turned to Hikari, everything he'd just witnessed still buzzing in his mind.
"Hikari…" he started, hesitant. "Did you learn to fight like that from your brother? Or from Baji-san?"
Hikari blinked, eyebrows raised. "My brother?"
"Yeah, Todawa-san," Chifuyu clarified, gesturing vaguely to the earlier meeting. "They asked about him at the division meeting."
Hikari stared at him for a second, then her lips curved into a smile as she laughed. "I don't have a brother. I'm an only child."
Chifuyu's face went blank. "What?"
Ryusei clapped a hand on Chifuyu's shoulder, chuckling. "She's Todawa-san, you idiot. A founding member. Don't you know anything about the gang you're trying so hard to join?"
Chifuyu blinked in shock, the realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. Hikari wasn't just Baji's friend and neighbor—she wasn't just in Toman, she'd been there since the very beginning.
He could only shake his head, incredulous, as Hikari grinned. "Close your mouth, Chifuyu. You're starting to look like a dead fish again."
As they descended from the roof, Chifuyu couldn't shake the image of Hikari's grin or the weight of Ryusei's hand on his shoulder. Toman was more than he'd ever imagined—more fierce, more loyal, and more complex. And he wanted to be a part of it more than ever.