Chapter Text
Unfortunately, you can’t just hang out in the kitchen since you’re supposed to stand in for Nakamura, the only other waiter at Show Pub Ougi. So, it’s you who are tasked with bringing all the food and drinks to the table where Tsubakino are sitting with your friends. Sakura shifts awkwardly in his seat every time you come over to their table. He thinks it’s weird, having you serve him and the others like this.
Tsubakino also feels weird – or well, maybe more guilty than weird. Firstly, because it’s his fault that this whole mix-up with shifts happened in the first place. And secondly, because he feels bad for eating and having fun with your friends while you have to work.
Of course, he could invite you to sit at the table with them, but since you’re doing your best to avoid Suo and Nirei, that’s probably not the best–
“Why don’t you join us?” Suo asks after you’ve brought in the last dishes from the kitchen.
Oh well, Tsubakino thinks, here we go.
You stumble backwards, trying to find an excuse to refuse. “Oh well, I’m the only waiter on shift right now, so I don’t think I’ll have time, but thanks for the offer!” You chuckle, rubbing the back of your neck as you continue to back away, just waiting for the moment where you can bolt without coming off as too rude.
But Suo just looks pointedly around the sparsely occupied bar – it’s only a Thursday night, after all, and not very busy.
You hurry to continue. “Uh, well, I also didn’t wanna intrude, so–”
“Of course you’re not intruding!” Nirei butts in. “Any friend of Sakura-san is a friend of ours.”
Like a deer caught in the headlights, your gaze flickers from Nirei’s open expression to Suo’s uncanny smile to Sakura and Tsubakino, who both try to look as if they haven’t got a care in the world. Tsubakino succeeds pretty well, whereas Sakura…well, Sakura’s always been an open book.
Just before it gets too awkward, you finally relent. “Uhm, okay…thanks, I guess.”
As you start dragging an empty chair over to the table, Tsubakino has to suppress the urge to bury his face in his hands. He loves you, he really does, but you (and Sakura) totally need to work on your acting skills if you want your identity to stay a secret. Tsubakino hurries to pile the others’ plates with food while he talks about everything and anything to keep attention away from you. And so far, it seems to work.
He thanks your friends for helping out with Ito before they proceed to talk about Tsubakino’s performance. Nirei immediately whips out his notebook and begins scribbling down notes, while Suo smiles and laughs and exchanges pleasantries with Tsubakino. However, what neither you, nor Tsubakino notice, is that while Suo seems to be wholly engaged in conversation with Tsubakino and Nirei, he also can’t help but watch you from the corner of his eye.
There’s something about you – something that makes him want to study you to see if he can get just a glimpse of what you’re hiding. Because you’re definitely hiding something.
Sakura doesn’t notice Suo’s sudden interest in you either. No, he’s too busy not looking at you because he’s afraid that he’ll accidentally reveal your identity if he does.
(It’s got nothing to do with the fact that you’re wearing that dress and those ribbons in your hair. It’s not because he’s afraid that he’ll go tomato-red in the face if he looks too long at you. It’s not at all because you just look too damn cute–)
He shakes his head, trying to think of other things. Gross things. Like that time one of the kids from elementary school tried to dare him to eat a worm…
“So, how did you start dancing?” Nirei asks, quickly snapping Sakura back to the present. He watches as Nirei lean in over the table, looking as if he’s interrogating a witness to a murder scene instead of asking Tsubakino about his road to becoming a pole dancer.
“I just talked directly to the manager,” Tsubakino reminisces fondly.
“W-wow, you’re so assertive!” Nirei gushes, impressed.
“Yeah, I guess you can say that,” Tsubakino laughs. “I want to do whatever I want, and I decided I’d do anything to make it happen!” He winks at you when nobody is looking, and you send him a sheepish smile. “So, what about you guys? I heard from Otowa-kun that you stopped some drunkards’ fight?”
“Well, it was mostly her and Sakura-san handling it,” Suo shrugs, again smiling that smile at you that doesn’t quite reach his eye.
“I don’t think they were drunk, though,” you mumble.
“Well, she’s also one of the guardians of this street, so of course she handled it!” Tsubakino brags, momentarily forgetting his try-to-keep-attention-away-from-you strategy.
Because why wouldn’t he want brag about you any chance he gets when he’s so, so proud of how far you’ve come? It’s hard to shut up about you when he just wants to shout it from the rooftops of Furin High until everyone in Makochi knows how amazing you are.
“Guardian?” Nirei asks.
Tsubakino nods. “Yup. This is a street of alcohol and arts. Fights break out all the time here. Roppo-Ichiza’s job is to stop them. Men who work on this street and share the same sentiment began to gather, and now, here we are! And now, our very first girl has joined the gang too!”
“It’s just like Furin!” Nirei breathes, stars in his eye as he looks at you. “That’s so cool!” And then, he flips to a new page in his notebook, writes your name at the top (not Ryo, but your real name) and starts to interrogate you.
Finally, Sakura glances up from his food, looking at you with wide eyes.
He didn’t know you’d also joined another gang.
While the others talk, you yet again feel a sense of deep appreciation for your friends (who right now don’t even know that they are your friends). None of them so much as batted an eye upon hearing that you, a girl, is in a gang – except for Nirei, but that was purely out of awe and admiration and with no ill intent whatsoever. They also didn’t question the fact that you’re apparently in the same tier as Sakura when it comes to strength and fighting skills.
The more you learn about their views on what girls are supposed to do and not do – or rather, that they don’t seem to care about stuff like that at all – the more you regret that you weren’t just honest from the beginning.
But then again, how could you have known?
These people are so different from where you come from. They don’t scrunch up their noses or sneer at you or send you nasty looks whenever you do something that defy their expectations of what a girl should or shouldn’t do.
No, here you’ve been welcomed with open arms, whether it be as you or as Ryo.
Here, you can finally be yourself.
Here, you can enjoy a meal together with friends who don’t judge you, but like you just for who you are.
Here, you can enjoy the peace and quiet of–
“Tsubaki-chan!”
And there goes your peace and quiet.
The door to the pub is slammed open, and in the doorway stands a young man in a suit, wide-eyed and looking like he’s teetering on the edge of panic. “Tsubaki-chan,” he repeats through rapid gasps of breath, “some people we’ve never seen before are causing a huge scene!”
Tsubakino gets to his feet so fast that his chair tips over as the young man – who you assume is in Roppo-Ichiza – continues, “There’s a huge mob of them pushing through the streets!”
The image that flashes before your mind is of another day, another mob crashing through Keisei Street, with you being the only one to stop them. You haven’t seen any of the members of Yaken since the second-in-command drove you home that night, but you still vividly remember how it’d felt to stand alone in front of an entire gang, knowing that only you stood between them and the place and people you hold dear.
Not that Yaken had really wanted to hurt anyone in the first place, but still.
The Roppo-Ichiza member makes his way over to your table to talk with Tsubakino in a hushed voice. “We think,” he says, glancing to where you’re still sitting at the table, “that it’s the same guys as earlier and that they’re after the girl.”
“What?!”
“Keep it down!” the member hisses at Tsubakino. “We’re still not sure, but I don’t know who else they could be talking about, since Shizuka-kun isn’t here.”
Cursing, Tsubakino spins on the spot to face you and your friends. “You!” he points at you, “I don’t know what you’re hiding from me and who’s after you, but you stay here this time.”
You open your mouth to protest, but Tsubakino cuts you off as he raises his voice, addressing his two Vice Captains who’d been joining in on your meal at a nearby table. “Sakaki and Sakaki, we’re going!”
“No!” Otowa suddenly shouts, having just emerged from behind the bar counter. “You guys should stay here. This is our problem, and we shouldn’t drag Furin into this.”
You shift uncomfortably on your feet. So far, only you, Tsubakino, and Sakura know that Bofurin is already very much involved since you are in Bofurin.
“But Nakamura-kun isn’t even here!” Tsubakino argues. “You’ll need all the people you can get!”
“But who’ll stay here to protect–”
“I can take care of myself!” you exclaim, knowing exactly where Otowa is going with this.
Tsubakino looks at you for a long while, head tilted and mouth pursed. On one hand, he knows that you can handle yourself better than anyone. For a first year, your skill is rivalled by few and topped by even fewer.
On the other hand, a part of him also can’t help but wish he could keep you completely out of this. Who knows how dangerous these guys are? Besides, there’s something about this whole ordeal that feels off to Tsubakino. He can’t help but think that it’s somehow tied to the break-in of your apartment, and someone who holds so much power that they can get multiple different groups to target you is definitely not someone to be taken lightly.
His eyes meet yours. Your jaw is set and your fists are clenched as your gaze flickers from him, to Otowa, and back again. You straighten your spine, probably bracing yourself for arguing with them further.
Tsubakino’s shoulders slump a little as he realises it’s hopeless to make you stay back. You’ll probably find a way to sneak out anyways, and no way they’re able to spare enough fighters to be able to hold you back should you first decide to make a run for it.
He’s just about to open his mouth to reluctantly agree to let you go when Sakura beats him to the punch. His chair scrapes loudly against the floor in the silent bar as he gets to his feet.
“You kids too! Stay right here,” Otowa says, making Sakura’s eye twitch in annoyance.
“Who’re you calling a kid, eh?” Sakura says, fuming. “And besides, we’re already involved. All of us. I don’t care what you think, I’m going.” He then turns to look at you. “You coming, or what?”
Oh well, Tsubakino thinks as he watches you, Sakura, Suo, and Nirei lead the way out the bar, the rest of Roppo-Ichiza following close behind. With a small, sigh, he beckons for the twins to follow and soon, all of you are on your way towards the brawl taking place in the middle of Keisei Street.
Luckily, no one from Roppo-Ichiza tries to prevent Bofurin from intervening after that.
It’s not hard to pinpoint exactly where you have to go, because the shouting and sound of glass being smashed and signs breaking is so loud that it can be heard from several blocks away.
You’ve just turned a corner when Sakura almost runs head-first into another boy who turns out to be none other than Nakamura.
“Huh? What’s a bunch of kids doing here?!” he exclaims, eyeing Sakura, Suo, and Nirei with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. “And Tsubakino!” His gaze shifts to Tsubakino and his Vice Captains, brows furrowed in disapproval.
“They’re all from Furin. They’re here to help,” you explain. “And before you say anything – it sounds like a really big group we’re up against this time, so we’ll need all the help we can get. And besides, and I trust these guys!” You nod towards Sakura, Suo, and Nirei.
Sakura blushes profusely. Suo politely dips his head in acknowledgement. Nirei, however, frowns as he wonders how you can so easily place your trust in two people you’ve only just met – but then again, if you’re friends with Sakura, then Sakura might have told you about them.
Except, that doesn’t sound like Sakura at all. Sakura, who never tells anyone anything about himself, except for random details here and there mentioned in passing (and the more details Nirei gets, the more he starts to suspect that Sakura must’ve gone through something really, really horrible).
“Alright,” Nakamura finally says, his frown giving way for a grin. “Normally, I wouldn’t let Bofurin interfere with Roppo-Ichiza affairs. But I guess I’ll make an exception this time.”
“Honestly, Nakamura-kun,” Tsubakino tuts, flipping back his hair as he runs, his heels clacking against the pavement below, “I’ve told you before that we don’t mind helping out.”
Nakamura opens his mouth to retort, but before he can say anything, you cut in again. “Hey, Nakamura-san, I thought you were on a date with Shizuka-chan?”
Nakamura turns his attention to you. “Yeah, but I heard about the fight and decided to cut our evening short! I made sure she’s safe before I ran here.” Then, he turns towards Sakura, his earlier reservations completely gone, “And by the way, thank you for coming here to help! You guys really are good kids!”
Sakura’s eyes widen slightly before he avoids his gaze, pouting. “I said we’re already involved. I ain’t doing this for you.”
He thinks of you as he says this. He doesn’t know what you could’ve possibly gotten yourself roped into this time, but he also doesn’t really care.
No, all he cares about is to get to the bottom of this so that you don’t have to watch your freakin’ back everywhere you go.
Of course, not because he worries about you, but just because he knows what a pain in the ass that can be.
Yeah, that’s why.
“You’re Sakura-kun, right?” Nakamura says, snapping Sakura out of his thoughts. When Sakura doesn’t deny it, Nakamura smiles and reaches out to ruffle his hair.
“Hey!”
“I knew it. You’ve got the heart of a real man! Just what I’d expect from a Furin boy!”
Annoyed, Sakura swats Nakamura’s hand away.
“Y-y-you’re the chairman, r-right?” Nirei suddenly asks.
Nakamura looks at him in surprise before sending him a wide grin, “You really know ya stuff, eh? You’re right! I’m Nakamura Kanji, it’s a pleasure to have you!”
“T-t-thanks,” Nirei stutters. “Uhm, but I was just thinking, I heard that Roppo-Ichiza doesn’t have many members. If you’re often up against a crowd, why don’t you want to accept Tsubakino-san’s help?”
“We could, but I don’t wanna ask the commander from another team to clean up our messes for us,” Nakamura explains, “and besides…Roppo-Ichiza’s a lot stronger than you think.”
Just then, you arrive at the scene.
A huge crowd of people are fighting, blocking the entire street. As you get closer, you can see that a dozen young men, all immaculately clad in suits, are the ones holding back the entire mob even though they’re outnumbered at least four-to-one.
“It’s true that we’ve got fewer people than a team like Furin,” Nakamura comments as he sees the Furin boys all pause to marvel at the sight before them, “but we make up for it with the best of the best!”
Sakura can’t help but smile to himself. The few members of Roppo-Ichiza are good fighters alright.
And of course you’re also part of Roppo-Ichiza, ‘cause damn if you aren’t one of the best fighters he’s ever met.
“Sorry for being late!” Nakamura shouts.
“Kanji-kun!” Miyoshi pants, his gaze fixed on the newcomers, “you brought a bunch of kids?”
And immediately, Sakura’s seething again.
What’s this with this kid BS?
It’s not like they’re that much younger than some of the Roppo-Ichiza members – and you are the same age as him!
“I thought you were gonna get some backup…but all you’ve got are more bodies?” a member of the opposing gang snickers.
“Who are these people?” Nirei whispers.
“They’re creepy…” Suo says (and that’s coming from him), his smile gone and eye scanning over the mob.
“Now, hurry up and hand over that little maid of yours,” a guy with hair falling into his face says, “or else, we’ll flip this whole street upside-down!”
The members of Roppo-Ichiza have drawn back for the time being, panting and eyeing the mob in front of them with grim expressions. They’ve been at it for some time now – their suits are dishevelled, and they would be lying if they said they weren’t beginning to tire from having to hold back so many people at once.
CRASH!!!
The Furin boys gape at Nakamura who’d just charged head-first towards the man who’d spoken, kicking him to the ground. At the same time, you’ve set off towards some of the other gang members, taking two out in the time it takes Sakura to blink.
You jump high into the air – not quite as high as Sakura’s able to, but pretty high indeed – twirling as you land two well-placed kicks on your opponents.
“Oh, don’t worry about them,” Miyoshi says calmly, mistaking Sakura’s expression for disbelief. “They do that all the time.”
“And make me age ten years every time,” Tsubakino complains to himself before he hurries after you.
Sakura also doesn’t hesitate any longer before he heads straight for the brawl continuing in front of him. He finds himself fuelled by a familiar urge to act, to do something, to throw himself into the fight and experience the high of going all out against these scumbags who thinks they can just come here and demand that they hand over you, like you’re some kind of object.
As he gets closer to the centre of the fight, he sees Nakamura take down everyone who’s brave enough to challenge him, grinning while he does so. “As long as I’m here,” he states, “I ain’t gonna let you assholes ruin this street!”
Again, Sakura can’t help but smile to himself.
So that’s him, huh? The chairman of Roppo-Ichiza.
It’s clear to Sakura that this guy is a tier above the rest. And the way he holds himself, the way he speaks…yeah, that just reminds him too damn much of Bofurin’s own leader.
Still, even the best of the best can use someone to guard their back. You’re already surrounded by Tsubakino and the twins, so Sakura’s certain that you’ll be fine without him. Instead, he heads for Nakamura, just as he spots one of the opposing gang members going for his back.
Sakura doesn’t hesitate to spring into action, pushing Nakamura out of the way. “Hehe,” Nakamura chuckles as soon as he spots Sakura, “saved my ass, ya did!”
“Yeah, right,” Sakura scoffs, placing himself back-to-back with Nakamura. “You could’ve sent that guy flyin’ easy – but don’t go thinkin’ I’m lettin’ ya show off all by yourself!”
And with that, they throw themselves into the fight again.
The guy Sakura pushed out of the way is coming for him again, shrieking as he charges, “I’ll get you this time!”
Sakura merely punches him in the gut, so forcefully that it sends the guy flying several feet backwards, taking down a couple of other gang members with him as he’s literally thrown into them.
Tch. That idiot didn’t even know how to block, Sakura thinks right before he’s pulled out of his thoughts by Nakamura shouting his name. “Hey, lemme borrow your back a sec!” And then, he uses Sakura’s shoulders as a springboard to jump high into the air, just before he lands with his feet smack in the face of another gang member.
Bristling, Sakura bares his teeth at Nakamura who turns to face him with a smug smile.
“Mind your own bussiness!” Sakura yells as he sprints for his next opponent, annoyance boiling in his chest and fuelling his next punch.
Meanwhile, the rest of Roppo-Ichiza and Suo have joined the fighting as well. Rather early into the fight, Suo finds himself standing back-to-back with Miyoshi.
“You’re good,” Miyoshi comments, eyeing Suo appreciatively.
“Oh, no,” Suo deflects, laughing, “There’s still a lot I can improve on.”
“You’re good with your words too!” And despite his initial reservations – reservations he knows that all of Roppo-Ichiza felt when they realised that members of Bofurin would be joining them in a fight on their turf – Miyoshi finds himself liking this guy.
While his friends are fighting, Nirei has stepped back from the brawl, per Suo’s request, and is now hiding behind some kind of sale sign.
It sucks that he can’t help, but he won’t be of much use against such a crowd, even with the things Suo has taught him so far. Instead, he confines himself to observing, trying to suck in as much second-hand experience as he can while he wonders if he’ll ever get to be as strong as his friends.
It doesn’t take long for Roppo-Ichiza, and the members of Bofurin to clear the street, which is now filled with heaps and heaps of unconscious gang members. The Roppo-Ichiza members use the much-needed break to brush off dust from their suits.
A much-needed break indeed, because just then, it turns out that they aren’t quite done here yet.
“Heeey,” a high-pitched voice sing-songs, making Roppo-Ichiza and Furin boys alike snap their gazes towards the newcomers.
Newcomers, who look like a group of scrawny young boys, their clothes tattered, shoes frayed, and the glint in their eyes ranging from menacing to desperate. They’re approaching slowly, but surely, stepping over the fallen gang like they’re mere rubble instead of people.
“There was quite a crowd of guys earlier, but they got stopped at the damn entrance?” the boy who’s clearly leading the group says. He’s got eyes too large for his face and hair pulled back into a bun. He spreads out his arms. “Let’s just bring that chick back so we can get our money. Then, we can finally grill some meat…like we dreamed of!”
Exhausted, Roppo-Ichiza brushes the sweat off their brows, bracing themselves for another fight.
“You can’t be serious…”
“Just how many of them are there?!”
“So, you’re the Roppo-Ichiza we’ve heard so much about,” the leader muses, letting out a mirthless laugh. He fixes his gaze on Nakamura in his black suit and tie. “Wearing suits makes you stronger, huh?” He looks back over his shoulder at the crowd behind him. “Maybe, we’ll get stronger too if we wear suits.”
A chorus of laughter erupts from the crowd.
“Then, let’s steal some like we do with everything else!” someone shouts.
“You assholes,” Nakamura grits out. “You brought a whole damn crowd here just ‘cause we beat up some of yer guys earlier?”
“Earlier?” the leader questions, tilting his head to the side. “Nah, those guys aren’t with us.”
“They’re not?”
The leader shakes his head, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s ‘cause those guys screwed up – and the guys before them – that we’ve got the job now. We’re Gravel. Just a bunch of dudes from the Sunaba District. Nice ta meetcha!”
“S-sunaba District’s Gravel?!” Nirei stutters behind Sakura who guesses he should stop being so surprised every time Nirei acts like a wandering encyclopaedia.
“S-sunaba is famous for being a seedy place,” Nirei continues.
“So, kinda like the old Furin, huh?”
“No.”
Sakura again looks back at Nirei, frowning.
“It’s not just seedy because of the violence and fights,” Nirei explains, “the economy there is terrible which led to a lot of burglary and other crimes. People there don’t go to school or work. I heard that mercs and subcontractors from other teams banded together to make a living, and that team’s Gravel!”
“We were told we’d get big money from this job,” Gravel’s leader shrugs. “What’s more, ‘cause those other idiots screwed up, the reward went up! We can all get some delicious grilled meat with that money. So, hey…”
Gravel’s leader holds out his hand, palm facing towards the sky. His piercing eyes find you in the crowd.
“…can you guys hand over Ryo?”