Chapter Text
CHAPTER ONE
The person was limp, and the only thing that was preventing them from falling to the concrete was the tight grip Kaede had on their shirt. In one hand, Kaede held the person’s shirt, and in her other hand, she had a tight grip on the baton she’d used to beat them up.
She panted a little, trying to catch her breath. This attack had been premeditated, but the execution had been a little rushed. It wasn’t a complete catastrophe, but she’d needed a bit more violence than she’d anticipated to put them down completely.
As she got her breath back, she listened closely to the person she was holding. Light breaths indicated that they were, as planned, unconscious. Unconscious and injured a bit more than she’d intended, but still unconscious and - unfortunately - alive. It was time to drag them to the alley and leave them there.
As she dragged them to the alley, she looked at the small trail of blood that the person left behind.
Red smearing on grey in feathery little smears. The faintest whiff of iron on cement. Not completely insignificant, but enough to be mildly noticeable. And obvious trail, leading right to someone.
This entire experience wasn’t as overpowering as she thought it would have been.
Not like Kaede could properly judge something like that.
Her teeth were grit, her head felt like it was filled with cotton and she vaguely felt as if she was in some sort of surreal dream. Not completely debilitating, but manageable. It was probably balanced out by the adrenaline rush that had taken her over just a short while ago.
She exhaled a little harshly, before thinking over the entire situation.
She didn’t regret showing this person that she was a force to be reckoned with. The problem was that… some part of her wasn’t comfortable with this.
It was so… needlessly involved. Instead of being able to twist their own thoughts against them, making them do the job by themselves while she stayed some distance away and watched them end their pathetic lives, she had to personally come and show this person that they had been unfortunate enough to provoke.
And so, here she was.
Lugging an unconscious body into an alley with no remorse, grimacing under the mask she wore. She wasn’t unfit, but moving this person around took a little effort. A bit more than she currently had. She’d be a bit sore when this was done, but it wasn’t as if it wouldn’t be worth it.
She and Tsumugi would be alone once again.
This particular person had made the unfortunate choice of bothering Tsumugi. Not just trying to talk with her when she clearly had no interest in them, but continuing to badger her even after she’d made it crystal clear that she wanted nothing to do with them.
When Tsumugi had told her about this, she had been livid.
She’d gone straight to the person and had made sure to tell them exactly what she thought about them, and what they would be risking if they continued.
They’d laughed in her face.
And look who was laughing now.
Kaede smirked underneath the medical mask she was wearing, right as she finished dragging the idiot into the alley. She was wearing a large, slightly oversized hoodie and baggy pants. What she’d done was make herself as unrecognizable as possible, then knocked him out with an aluminum baton.
After that, she’d roughed him up a little, smacking him around as best as she could. She would have punched him as well, but she didn’t feel like risking the extra cleanup. Both their and her own skin could get to open in the process, and she didn’t want to have to explain that to anyone.
So all she’d done was smack them around with the baton enough to make sure they would be adequately bruised and had smacked them around a bit without it. And that led to the blood smeared on the concrete.
It wasn’t much, but it was noticeable.
It would probably have been cleaned off in a few hours. Things were constantly covered up, and violence was no exception. Dragging the unconscious person’s body into the alley was almost a service, really.
She gingerly propped the person’s upper body against the alley wall. In response to her efforts, their head lolled forward, almost as if they were going to fall over. Luckily, they didn’t. And with that, Kaede patted them on the head before going out of the alley.
The streets were deserted. One would say that it was deliberate, with just how desolate the sidewalks and streets seemed to be. This wasn’t too far from the nicer part of town, so it was a bit understandable why. The few people who might be out on this Saturday morning would probably have seen someone getting tailed by someone in baggy, dark-colored clothing would probably want nothing to do with a situation like that.
Understandable, really.
She stuffed one hand into her pocket and kept a good grip on the baton. It was too large to fit into her pocket, but she could easily hide it on her person. For now, she felt like carrying it for a bit longer. Besides, it wasn’t like she’d be walking around with this on the streets.
She’d be going through some alleyways instead. Sure, she ran a considerably low chance of running into someone or actually start another conflict, but she wasn’t about to push her limited luck.
She could get back home easily without getting spotted, and from there, she could go back to her home, clean up and get on with her day.
She had a date with Tsumugi later, so it was a good thing that she’d gotten the unpleasant work done early. The mere thought of Tsumugi made her smile.
Her girlfriend would be safe and happy from now on, especially since that fool was taken care of. She’d make sure that Tsumugi was as safe and happy and loved as she could possibly be!
And woe betides the fool who tried to get in their way because Kaede wasn’t sure that she’d be as merciful as this the next time.
She could feel her mood start to lift as she thought over how the date would go once again.