Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Baji didn’t know what he should think about this supposed school guide who hadn’t even bothered to show up for classes his first week there. How should he take their absence, a mere coincidence or a form of rebellion towards school authority and him?

He'd heard from other students that they hadn’t volunteered for the position of his guide and had instead been offered up as a sacrifice. The perfect offering on a silver platter by their homeroom teacher and the principal because they couldn’t protest.

Would they have protested?

The few who took pity on him and spared him a few words had said they wouldn't have protested even if they hadn't wanted the job. Maybe it was for extra credit, one said, while the other suspected they were still paying a punishment and couldn't refuse a favor being asked of them.

Baji thought it was the latter. It made far more sense in how the staff made decisions for them when they were absent, if it was the result of an ongoing punishment.

However, if the principal and homeroom teacher hadn't been all smiles and honeyed words when they told him about this Kunigami, he wouldn't have second guessed that thought. But they had spoken highly of them, to such a degree he knew no one under punishment would be spoken of in that way.

He guessed if they had been presented with the decision on that first day, they would have either volunteered on the spot, be pressured into it–bowing their head submissively in a matter of seconds–or question it so lightly that they would have been the guide anyway.

Another student, a girl, had heard him mumbling his thoughts aloud and had assured him that Kunigami wouldn't have volunteered. They wouldn't outright decline either, but they weren’t the type to turn someone in need away.

They always had something to do at school, before and after school hours, and would arrive super early and leave much later than anyone else, including the teachers. Maybe the staff had chosen them because they spent so much time on school grounds and Baji would be able to get a hold of them whenever he needed help.

If that were the case, why hadn't they shown up at all for over a week?

No one had an answer, and so he waited.

And waited.

And waited a bit more.

And just as he had given up on this supposedly always-there appointed helpful guide, they were there.

She was there. In front of him.

Her hair was waist long with a flashy two-toned color that reminded Baji of purin. It covered most of her face, contrasting with the simple round rose gold glasses whose shine hid her eyes.

Then slowly. Very slowly—slower than he thought possible—Kunigami lifted her face and looked up at him with the lightest amber eyes he'd ever seen.

She saw him, and he couldn’t help but notice her. Study her.

Kunigami was a small slip of a girl with a too big school uniform, small hands and even tinier wrists, who didn't even reach his shoulder.

Her face was small, heart shaped, soft looking, and a pale white color Baji had only ever seen on the faces of his foes. The paleness of having seen death stand before them, beckoning them to take one step closer.

Their eyes met.

There was a sharp intake of breath.

Baji winced at the sound, unsure if it had really come from her or if he had imagined it, but it didn’t matter. He hadn’t wanted to hear that kind of sound when meeting someone at this school. He didn’t want to hear recognition, didn’t want to see it in anyone’s eyes, and that’s why he recoiled at the sight of her looking up at him.

Her eyes were large and sad and glazed over in what he could only guess were unshed tears, but he didn't understand why there would be any tears at all.

Why did she look at him as if he were a ghost from the past, with such sadness and loss? Did she know who he was, what he had done?

Her small hand, which had come up to touch her face, trembled as it grazed over her bottom lip, her right cheek, sliding beneath her glasses to rub at the edge of her eye. Feeling. Checking. Finding nothing.

It dropped to the handle of her bag, clutching it so tightly her knuckles turned white and her palm a bright red. The trembling stopped.

Was she scared of him?

If she was, she masked it perfectly within a span of a second. Her glazed eyes darkened from a soft honey color to a deep amber with the sharpest glare he'd ever seen on a girl. It was like she could cut right to his very core with sheer determination alone.

"I'm sorry for leaving you on your own the past week." She bowed to him, holding it for a few seconds before returning to her original position of glaring up at him. Or at least he thought it was a glare. Something in him kept offering a silent explanation that it wasn’t really a glare. "I can't promise it won't happen again, but I'll try my best for it not to happen as frequently."

Baji didn't know how to respond or if he should even respond. He'd initially thought she had been talking to the principal standing beside him, but she had lifted her eyes to his. She had spoken to him, ignoring whatever the principal had said to hear his response.

"I hope my absence didn't make your first week troublesome."

He wanted to answer her, he really did, but all he could think about were of his ridiculously thick glasses, his stupidly styled hair, and how this style of clothing made him look in front of her—like a fucking nerd!

His thoughts bounced between wanting to look how he normally did outside of school, to show her he wasn't a true nerd, and keeping his identity hidden because it was absolutely necessary.

And then there was the gut feeling. A feeling that screamed she shouldn't see what he looked like outside of school. Shouldn't see him with his hair down, glasses off, and sporting his Toman uniform.

For now, at least.

“He will be shadowing you from the start of classes till the end." It was the first time since she had entered the office that Baji heard what the principal was saying. "Show him the school grounds; where extracurricular classes take place, where the library is, the lunchroom, and where he can enjoy his lunch.”

He'd spoken over Kunigami with a small smug smile plastered on his face, ignoring her question on why Baji hadn't already been shown those places during her absence. His eyes roamed over Kunigami with a strange glint that caused Baji to straighten his stance and edge closer to her.

“Make sure to help him with anything he finds difficult, Chiwa—”

He spoke a little too familiar to her, or at least that's how Baji heard it, and he wasn’t truly looking at her. He could tell by the way her eyes narrowed on the man when he’d try to call her by name, how they brought him back from whatever it was he was seeing and break out in a cold sweat before looking away.

Kunigami answered after a very heavy silence. “Understood.”

“Good. Good.” Another slimy smile from the man, and Baji wanted to see blood spouting from every orifice on his face for reasons he didn’t understand. “Then I’ll leave him to you, Kunigami-chan.”

The way he said her name singed Baji to the very core of his bones, and on instinct, he took a step forward to block Kunigami from the man's line of sight.

"I won't leave her side."

The threat was clear enough that Baji felt Kunigami take a step back towards the door, and felt the hard gaze of her eyes on the back of his head. But the principal was an idiot and hadn't understood him at all.

Or maybe he chose to be stupid deliberately, for his own safety. All he did was give an awkward laugh and make a 'shoo-ing' motion with his hand to dismiss them both from his office.

Baji turned, locking eyes with Kunigami for a second before she looked away and walked out the office door without a word. Not once did she look back to see if he followed behind her, but he noticed how she softly swept up her hair and tucked it behind her left ear at the sound of his footsteps.

Chapter Text

"Is he the reason you were gone?"

Baji followed close behind Kunigami, his eyes locked on the strange color that was her hair and questioning why it seemed the school staff didn't have a problem with it.

She wore it in loose twin tails, the top part braided loosely into the bottom of her scalp, with long bangs falling over her face. Her roots were a dark brown with a rosy tint that blended into a soft yellow gold which was the more prominent color.

A delinquent's hair color.

"We don't run into each other that often. When we do, I'm usually accompanied by someone." She responded, her voice giving no emotion away. "You were the exception today. An excuse to get me into the office, no doubt."

Which meant the principal had meant to see her as soon as she returned to school, why he had allowed her through the gates although she had arrived three periods late, and why he'd talked nonsense about Baji needing to know what he'd already figured out on his own the prior week.

"I'm sure you already know how to get around so I won't bore you with a tour of the place," she told him without even throwing a glance his way. "If you need help with anything, you're welcome to ask me anytime."

"And when you're late…when you're not here?"

"Today was just a hiccup," she said, meaning the tardiness, because she'd already explained she would eventually miss days in the future. "I'll be here at the break of dawn from now on, but I'll make sure to try and foresee what you might need in the future and leave you some notes. For when I go missing."

For when she went missing…

Well, that sounded ominous.

Kunigami didn't say much after that and led him down the halls in silence, stopping several times to acknowledge some students that called out to her, wanting to welcome her back to school, but it didn't look like she knew them. Any of them.

If anything, she was even more confused on who they were than Baji was, because, unlike her, he recognized them as the gossipy bunch who spoke to him about his guide the past week.

They went into great detail about how perceptive she was about what event was about to occur, be it an official school event or a student squabble, and went as far as to say she had the nose of a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out trouble.

She was always nearby, watching, waiting, and jumping into action before the teachers got a chance to detect the problem.

It was to keep all students from trouble, and not just the ones on the receiving end of the bullying, but the bullies themselves. Because they would just have more time to cook up trouble at home if they were suspended.

At least, that's how she had once explained it when they had asked. It did no one any good if they were suspended for a couple of days, the bullies would only come back twice as bad, and the bullied didn’t deserve a punishment.

They rarely targeted the same student twice, and only once did a trio of idiots try to hunt Kunigami down and rough her up a bit as a warning, claiming her bark was worse than her bite. It wasn’t. Oh, boy, how it wasn’t, because she had no bark at all and they had mistaken her ‘bite’ for her ‘bark.’

The trio had gotten one clean shot at her, picking Kunigami up from the floor and slamming her against the wall. Only for her to retaliate by digging her knee so deep into one of the boys’ stomach he had to be sent to the hospital.

But Kunigami hadn’t done that, is what everyone told the school staff. How could such a small and quiet student do such a thing?

Someone else was to blame.

Someone else took the fall.

Those stories were the reason Baji wasn’t surprised when only once did recognition fill Kunigami’s eyes during their walk. Why it didn’t shock him when Kunigami made a beeline to the three boys cornering another at the end of the hall.

He had almost crashed into Kunigami as she cut right across his path without a single glance at how far from her he was.

Baji didn't follow. Something about the look in her eyes glued him to the spot. It was like watching a hunting dog do its job, absolute concentration on the back of the three boys who looked over their shoulders a little too late.

"Again," her voice was still a soft lull but Baji could hear the anger laced within it, and apparently so did the boys who jumped back and away from Kunigami. "I thought I told you not to make my days any longer. Get to class."

Baji would’ve taken on the challenge and ignored her command with a devil's grin on his face. Why would he listen to her? She was a tiny thing of a girl, much smaller than any of them. But they not only listened, they coward in front of her. Eyes darting everywhere but her as they mumbled incoherently.

Kunigami stood her ground, standing as tall as she could without once lowering her gaze from them, only looking at the bullied kid once the boys had walked away from the scene muttering 'this bitch's back' under their breath.

"Go," she said to the bullied boy, who quickly scurried away.

"You don't miss enough classes to go unnoticed," Baji commented once Kunigami had made her way back to his side. "Everyone knows who you are."

"They need juicy gossip to get through the school year," she answered, finally rounding the corner of the hall that led to their classroom. "And I miss just enough classes for them to make up whatever they want. As long as there's nothing too out there, I don't care what they say."

As far as he could tell, they didn’t need to make up any stories about her. All they were doing was trying to fill in the blanks that led her to be the way she was when she did make an appearance at school; a fearless, no nonsense type of student that had a close friend to take the fall for her when need be without her asking.

She didn’t look like the type to lie about her actions, even if they got her in trouble, nor did she look like the type to ask someone to take the fall for her. That part of the story could’ve probably been done against her will, made up entirely, or maybe it had been a misunderstanding.

That being said, it didn’t take long for Baji to figure out what type of person she truly was, and, within a week or so, her somewhat legendary status had almost completely vanished in his eyes.

Truth was, Kunigami was a strangely simpler person than Baji had originally thought she’d be. Given the rumors that circulated the school. Way simpler than she looked, simpler than what the adults perceived her as, because they only had so much to go by, and way simpler than what the other students made her out to be in their stories.

Baji sometimes wondered if they made these things up just so they had an excuse to talk to him. It wasn’t like they told him all those rumors so he would keep away from her, or to get him to be buddy-buddy with her either.

Maybe they were trying to make up for the stories flying around school of him–which were also probably started by them–about what he had done to be held back a year, but it didn’t make sense why they would pick Kunigami for that.

He’d learned that her name was Kumiko one late evening when they both had stayed after hours. The sun had been setting behind her, turning the sky an orange color. The fading sun rays were coming in through the window, falling on her hair and causing it to shine both gold and russet.

He couldn’t for the life of him remember what he’d asked for her to respond with, “Kumiko.” He couldn’t remember what they spoke of after either or if they had spoken to each other at all.

Kumiko.

Kunigami, Kumiko.

Boy how he’d struggled to write her name, because of course he’d tried to write it down. What if he needed to write it down in the future, like in a life or death situation, and he didn’t know how? What if he forgot it completely or messed it up, maybe accidentally calling her Kumigami, Kuniko?

He also didn’t know how to spell that.

What if he needed to type her name into his cellphone for when he saved her contact? Not that he had her contact…not that he thought he would ever actually get her contact. He didn’t even know if she had a cellphone when she barely had enough money for onigiri filling—why else would anyone eat plain onigiri?

She must have noticed him writing, noticed the many pencil scratches and erased patches on the page of the notebook he’d slammed shut the moment her eyes landed on it, and had offered a small note to him.

Her surname, Kunigami, contained the kanji for country and god, while her given name, Kumiko, contained the kanji for forever, beauty, and child. She had explained it to him while writing it down in a pristinely cut, rectangular shaped paper with both a phone number and email.

“It’s for emergencies,” she explained, making sure no one around them saw the cellphone she secretly waved at him. Because no one but him should know about this—and two other contacts, of course. “Emergencies. Don’t send stupid messages. I already get enough of those.”

And that’s when he knew that whatever the other students thought of her, whatever image they had cooked up because of her absences and tendency to stand up to bullies, had been softly exaggerated.

They held a lick of truth, like the confrontation and her missing for days, but the rest could have easily snowballed into a school myth or legend.

A Myth, if she was never seen in school again because she had become a ghost or something equally as stupid, and a Legend, for when she appeared walking down the halls without a care in the world as if she hadn’t almost totaled a third year boy’s intestines.

Kunigami was your average, soft spoken, keeps-to-herself, nerdy school girl at best. Someone who liked to read thick books, enjoyed self-study, and whose notes were always simple, legible, color coded, and over the top neat.

Because others would always want to borrow her notes, she'd explained, so they needed to be easy to read and easy to follow.

She even made extra small notes in the margins when she noticed Baji having trouble understanding the concepts studied any particular day and would later share those notes with him.

There were no extraordinary qualities he could outwardly see, with the sole exceptions being her hair and very sharp eyes that narrowed into a more terrifying glare when she concentrated on something. But both were very easily explained, one caused by an accident involving dye getting mixed up with shampoo, and the other was hereditary. She couldn’t do anything about it.

He knew she was in the school’s track team, that was the reason why she was at school before class and why she stayed after hours, for practice, so she had stamina and endurance—and very sturdy legs that could send someone to the hospital, so that was one story proven partially correct—but still not good enough to be part of the team’s regulars.

Then the whispers started up again, because school life had been slowly dying and the students needed a bit of fun, needed a small amount of drama at the expense of another student regardless if what they were spreading were truths or lies.

“I think they’re secretly dating.”

He didn’t understand why they were so invested in this gossip; who was secretly dating, and why did it matter to them?

“Why else would he take the blame for her?”

Take the blame…

Were they talking about Kunigami?

This was when Baji had accidentally come by the information of who had taken the fall for Kunigami, and a probable reason as to why. Okay, maybe he hadn’t come by it accidentally, because everything he now knew of that person came from the same rumor mill; the untrustworthy pack of idiots with mixed information that crowded around the desk two seats behind him, two rows to his right.

“Think about it, like really think about it—the hair is the same! It’s a connection, like the red thread, because Kunigami is a good girl and she, like, can’t be seen all lovey-dovey with a delinquent.”

She can’t?

Why can’t she be seen with them?

Was that because she wasn’t allowed to?

Because she didn’t want to be seen with a delinquent?

Some other reason he was too stupid to think up?

“That’s stupid! I’ve seen them leave campus together,” the taller of the girls argued back. “If she didn’t want to be seen with him then she would’ve had him wait somewhere off campus.” Baji thought she sounded very reasonable, until she continued. “No, I think it’s contract lovers! He needs to pass as someone who’s leaving behind a violent life, calming down for his cute and nerdy girlfriend. Her, well, she needs a bodyguard against unwanted attention.”

“Contract lovers? Bodyguard?” A boy scoffed, Baji mentally doing the same. “She sent a third year to the hospital, she doesn’t need a bodyguard.” Baji agreed, Kunigami could probably implode anyone’s stomach with a kick if they tried anything. “Besides, I heard Kunigami doesn’t like delinquents. Always glares at anyonere remotely resembling one—heard she memorized the hangouts of nearby delinquents so she wouldn’t have to cross paths with any of them.”

All of them?

Did she know about Toman?

Did she know where and when they met?

Had she seen him?

“That’s just as stupid as the contract lovers and bodyguards!” Baji didn’t think so, but most of the group nodded their heads in agreement. “First of all, we can’t rule out childhood friends—”

“That’s, like, just one step away from lovers! I know the bestest, truest school news and you all have to admit your lies!”

“That doesn’t mean they’re lovers or that they’re going to become lovers.” The one sound mind of the bunch growled, furious that she had been interrupted. Baji inwardly nodded in agreement, leaning closer to the group. “It was that one guy from class one, wasn’t it? What if he didn’t even take the fall and was blamed because he was there? Ever thought of that? I mean, he’s always blamed for everything.”

“But, come on, like, their hair is the exact same shade of blonde!” She would not let go of the thought, and the few who agreed with her just gave her more reason to continue fighting her point. “Both arrived at this school with the same dye job. Like, they probably dyed their own hair.Together!”

Kunigami had said her hair had been an accident. An accident with a shampoo bottle that had to be in her house. Was it possible that the like-girl had guessed right? Had Kunigami dyed his hair and mixed up the dye with her shampoo afterwards?

Had he been in her home?

“That falls into childhood friend things, dummy!”

“We can always, you know, ask her?”

“Nah,” the one invested guy, other than Baji, said to them. “She’ll deny it or straight up ignore you when you ask. I’ve tried.”

Gasps. Shocked faces. Indecipherable mumbles.

“Dammit, what did you ask her! What if you gave our investigation away!”

This hardly counted as an investigation, but if that’s how they curved their guilt, that was on them. As it was, Baji couldn’t judge them at all from the moment he decided to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Not that they were being subtle about it. Kunigami could’ve just as easily heard them from the classroom entrance, if she hadn’t disappeared earlier in the day with the culprit being discussed. Although, they hadn’t left together.

He wished he’d seen a bit more of who had come to speak with her, but Kunigami had jumped from her seat in a second, rounding on the group of boys before they could get through the classroom door and blocking his view of them.

Blonde, almost the same shade as Kunigami’s hair, is what Baji noticed as the two had exchanged a few words at the door. Three of them had left first, leaving the blonde to argue with Kunigami before he, too, turned and walked away. Kunigami left the room about a minute or so later, heading down the same direction.

“Well, she didn’t deny it, but she didn’t confirm it either,” the boy explained as the girls whirled around him. “She didn’t say anything at all and stared me down until the teacher arrived. It was unnerving and I don’t want to risk my life like that ever again. Ever.”

Kunigami was hardly a threat, and Baji guessed she had no idea what the guy had been asking her or how she should respond.

If he’d asked Kunigami if she was close to that person from class one, if they were really friends, then she wouldn’t have answered. At least, that’s what Baji thought, because Kunigami had a habit of overthinking questions and keeping quiet while she did so.

She wasn’t necessarily friendly with anyone, he’d seen as much, yet most of the students would call her a ‘friend.’ Kunigami could never place their face to a name though, and he’d yet to hear from her who, if any of them, was really a friend to her.

What about him?

What did she think of him?

If asked about him, what would she answer?

They had spent most of their school days together, their lunch hour, their free periods, and had even stayed after hours to do whatever they couldn’t do at home. He had her contact saved on his cellphone and she had his saved on hers, surely no one else in the school could say the same.

So, was he a friend to her or just a classmate?

Chapter Text

It was an accident.

Another small, and not at all his fault, accident.

A coincidence?

Baji hadn’t meant to spy on Kunigami. He hadn’t meant to catch a glimpse of what the gossip groupies had been arguing about moments ago. Even if he had already known she had probably left the classroom in search of him. Even if he had left the classroom in search of her, to verify if—to ask her an important question. A very important question.

He had expected her to be alone, as she usually was during school hours. Expected her to be on her way back to the classroom with a highly focused glare in her eyes, because she was always thinking of something that made her eyes narrow.

But Kunigami wasn’t alone.

He’d found her in an empty hallway, standing toe-to-toe with another first year student. A taller, obviously male student that Baji could now see had the exact same shade of blonde as Kunigami. The same blonde from before, the one that came to the classroom. He was leaning towards her, his hand clasped on hers as she shoved her index finger into his chest.

Baji didn’t know if he should walk up to her as he normally would or stay hidden, which was what those who knew Kunigami would actually do in a situation like this. But he was different from them, from the rest of her classmates, because he was closer to her. Wasn’t he?

But what if he was wrong and Kunigami didn’t think him close enough to introduce him as a friend? What if she got annoyed at him for breaking up whatever conversation she was having with someone he could only assume was an actual close friend?

Should he really risk whatever he had with her just for curiosity's sake?

Then the boy spoke, sounding confused, irritated, and defensive, but not of his actions. Defensive of her.

Baji made the decision to stay hidden at that exact moment, pressing his back against the wall and tilting his head to the side to hear them better, although he could no longer see them. He still needed to ask his very important question but he was in no hurry, it could wait until this conversation was over.

“I needed to check what the guy was about and why the hell your name kept showing up with his all the damn time. Like hell I’d let you near some potential delinquent, Hachi.”

Hachi?

“He’s not the one with bleach blonde hair in a ridiculous style.” There was a hiss of pain followed by a soft slap. A hand being smacked away? “And a pierced ear. You don’t need to worry about him being a bad influence.”

“You’re one to talk, purin hair,” the boy scoffed. “I was just following the rumors, checking how true they were, but the dude’s so lame.” A pause in the conversation. The soft sound of shifting clothes when someone moved. “Nerds of a feather, huh? I see the rumor of you being buddy-buddy with him is true.”

“I’m his designated guide,” Kunigami answered swiftly, with no traceable emotion in her voice. Nothing out of the ordinary for her. “He isn’t some delinquent like the rumors make him out to be. He’s…nice and hardworking.”

He was as the rumors said, but not exactly as they made him out to be. Much like Kunigami’s rumors, stories involving him grew into strange fictional tales, ones that Kunigami easily brushed off as nonsense. Baji was glad for that, for the most part.

“That’s a nice excuse,” another scoff, and yet another sound of something getting slapped. “Weren’t you dying for the first week he was here, what use are you now that he knows his way around the school?”

Baji peered over the corner of the hallway, seeing the two blondes standing even closer together than they were before. The boy’s body craned forward toward Kunigami, folding into her to hear her better. To see her better. Their foreheads were almost touching, or maybe he couldn’t see them touch from this angle.

The boy’s hand rose, reaching out to touch her. He slowly lifted a braid over her shoulder, his fingers almost gracing Kunigami’s pale cheek.

She slapped it away.

“I wasn’t dying.” Baji’s lips curved into a smile at the sight of Kunigami’s fierce glare. “It was a small cold.”

“Small cold my ass, you didn’t get out of bed at all. And look at you,” he poked at her sides, pinching them between his hands when Kunigami tried to push him away. “You’re skin and bones. Pale as a ghost, too. You should be worrying more about yourself than some new nerd you can nerd-out with.”

“What does that even mean,” she kicked him in the shins. He let go in an instant, cursing under his breath as Kunigami stepped back. “I’m helping him study,” she told him sternly. “And I’m making sure no one, not even you, interrupts those studies.”

“Whatever,” he shrugged, rubbing his shin one last time before reaching behind him for a small bag perched on the window sill. “Here,” he dropped the bag into Kunigami’s arms. She hugged it tightly to her chest, digging through it as he spoke. “Make sure to eat properly, will ya. You can always message me to get you something if you don’t want to leave your nerd’s side.”

“Stop calling him that.”

“Not until he stops being a nerd,” he called over his shoulder, grinning widely at Kunigami before walking away. “Later, Hachi.”

Baji stayed glued to his hiding spot, silently watching Kunigami.

Her eyes trailed after the boy until he disappeared around the corner at the end of the hall opposite of them. She moved only to look inside the bag, digging through it again as she turned and walked in the direction of Baji.

She didn’t see him. Passing in front of him without a care in the world, her mouth closing hungrily on the food she had just received which was the sole focus of her attention. A small, pink tongue peeked out to lick her lips, cleaning whatever had smudged on them with her initial bite.

Before he thought better of it, without thinking about it at all actually, Baji stepped forward and blocked her path. Kunigami instantly crashed into his chest, stumbling back as he reached out to steady her. His fingers curled around her upper arms, covering them completely as he pulled her toward him, and he understood why the blonde had said she was nothing but skin and bones.

She was far too thin. Smaller than she looked, and she already looked small to begin with. The loose uniform added a bit of padding and hid exactly how small her body actually was.

“Sorry, I—Baji-san?” He snapped his eyes away from her arms and to her face. To her pale and slightly sunken cheeks. To her too sharp eyes that cut through him as they looked away at his hands. His fingers twitched but didn’t let go. “What’s wrong? Did you need me for something?”

“You…”

He’d noticed when he’d first seen her. The too large uniform and small body, but he’d thought it was just a girl thing. Weren’t they usually small and soft and always looking over how much they ate? How much weight they had lost or how much they had gained? Then again, he’d seen her eat her fill of plain onigiri during lunch without a care in the world.

“Baji-san?”

He snapped out of his thoughts, speaking quickly before he chicken out.

“I wanted to thank you. For the help you’ve given me. I thought…I thought I should buy you lunch or dinner or a drink. To get you something but didn’t know what you liked.” She usually drank water with her onigiri and he never saw her buy soft drinks, but surely it wasn’t because she disliked everything in the machines. “We still have time, I mean, if it’s okay with you. I can buy you a drink.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” her voice was soft. Almost a whisper. “But if that’s what you want—”

“It is,” he said in a rush, looking away from where he held her arms and up to her eyes. They weren’t as sharp anymore, the permanent glare softening to match the tone in her voice.

She hadn’t pulled away from his touch, hadn’t made any movement at all to shake him off, but he couldn’t keep touching her. Not when this school ran rampant with rumors on both of them. She already had far too many of them to deal with, far more than he did.

He dropped his hands to his side, turning away from her. His face felt hot. Way too hot. He could feel her eyes trying to peek at his face and his ears began to burn as he said, “We should go back. Before lunch is over.”

She was still looking at him.

His entire face followed his ears’ example, burning unbelievably hot. He was bright red, he was sure of it, as red as an overly ripe tomato, and Kunigami had no doubt noticed.

“I like melon soda,” Kunigami said, falling into step beside him. He took shorter steps. Slower ones. He could feel the back of her hand brush against his. Was it an accident? But he could still feel her soft skin brushing against his own. “In case we run out of time. And if you still intend on thanking me with a drink.”

Melon soda...

“What about food,” he asked, genuinely curious if she liked anything other than plain onigiri. “Do you like Yakisoba?”

She thought for a long moment before answering, “I’m not a picky eater, I wouldn’t be against having some.”

“Then, if you ever want to try one,” a small secret smile pulled at his lips. “We can split it.”

Chapter Text

Kunigami had been acting strangely around him lately and Baji didn’t know what to make of it.

The strangeness began the day he’d caught her having a secret meeting with that blonde boy from a different class, the one rumored to be her boyfriend of whatever, and their classmates had quickly noticed the difference in her too.

They noticed how the two always arrived together to the classroom each morning, but didn’t bother to consider that they might have met up at the entrance by mere chance. They noticed how they shared their lunches with one another, how they shared one single drink that one time, but didn’t catch that Kunigami’s bento had always been rather empty and that Baji wasn’t the type of person to let a girl starve.

Although, they weren’t wrong about the drink and he’d never forget it.

Her eyes had been glaring daggers at his hand during lunch, following the can whenever he moved it. Up and down. Side to side. In a complete circle between them. Followed it up to his lips when he took a drink. How could he not offer her a sip after all that?

Kunigami had reached for the can before he had even uttered a word, leaning forward when he had tilted it towards her. She had taken a long and slow sip of his drink, letting out a soft sigh of satisfaction at the taste. He’d smiled at the sight.

Baji learned that day that she liked the taste of guava, or at least the taste of the new guava drink the school had added to the vending machines, and that her eyes shone a light golden honey color when there was something she liked in front of her.

Neither had thought anything strange about her actions, about how Baji had taken a small sip of the drink before handing it over for her to finish it. He simply wanted to try the drink and Kunigami had gotten the same idea when she’d seen the drink in his hand. And she obviously liked it more than he ever could, because he could never glow like the sun with one single sip like Kunigami had.

But then Baji heard the soft gasp behind him and the sudden whispered declaration of ‘Oh my God, an indirect kiss!’. He’d melted on the spot with Kunigami none the wiser.

They noticed, at the same time as he, how close she stuck to him. Not only did they enter the classroom together in the morning, they also left it together for the smallest of reasons or for no reason at all.

She walked side by side with him, their hands almost touching, but never truly doing so. She would appear behind him at times, peering over his shoulder if he was sitting down, or peeking out from behind him when he was standing.

Her eyes would darken and narrow in scrutiny when others spoke to him even if they were of the same class. Those who were from a different class or a different year entirely, well, those students never manage to utter a word to him.

Kunigami had said nothing to them yet they cowared away from her and apologized to him repeatedly. Apologized for what? That he didn't know, but it seemed to appease Kunigami and so he never thought to ask about it.

He didn't know what had caused the change in her. Didn't know why she never left his side, or tried to never do so. There were only a few incidents when she couldn't follow, restroom breaks being the most common.

But there were other times where she was needed by a student or by a teacher and he couldn't come along. She would always look at him before leaving and he could never understand her eyes then. Wide and watchful, their color more noticeable than any other time she would look at him.

Would he be full of himself if he thought she missed him during those times they were apart? That those soft gazes, the one time her permanent glare wasn’t so prominent, she threw his way were looks of longing to be with him?

Probably.

It was more likely that she was saying ‘behave’ than whatever nonsense his fried brain was convincing him to think.

Today Kunigami had been called by a group of older girls at the end of class, students he had never seen before, and the only time Kunigami had told him she would be heading out before him. Without him.

It was then that Baji understood why Kunigami had stuck to him like glue for the past week. Why she was overly cautious of who spoke to him or crossed his path during the school day. He understood all to well the moment that blond had walked into the classroom and sat in front of him without a word.

She had been wary of this person meeting him, hadn't she?

“I see your watchdog finally took a break from her duties.” Baji didn't hear any hostility in his voice. No anger. No caution. Maybe curiosity. “Where’d Hachiko run off to without her bone?”

There was a long pause between them with only the scratch of pencil to paper filling the room. Baji kept his eyes down on the letter he had been writing before his own curiosity won and he asked, “Hachiko?”

“Yeah, you know, that tiny person that looks like she lost a fight with a bleach bottle.” The blond cracked a smile when he noticed Baji’s lips twitching at that description. “Kumiko, I mean. Kunigami.”

He calls her by her given name…

“Some people needed her for something,” Baji answered without looking up. “She left with a group of students a while ago.”

Nothing much was said after that. Nothing of importance, except maybe his name: Matsuno Chifuyu from class one. He didn't bother stating his relationship with Kunigami or explaining why he called her Hachi or Hachiko and Baji forgot to bring it up.

Turns out that this Chifuyu from class one was a good guy, but Baji had already guessed that. He was friends with Kunigami after all, wasn't he, and she wouldn't hang around someone that wasn't a good person.

Baji was the exception, and that was only because she didn't truly know who he was.

“Eh? Did you decide to take a dip in the school fountains, what gives, Hachi?”

Kunigami had returned to the classroom expecting it to be empty, appearing shortly after Chifuyu had finished helping him with his letter. After Baji had threatened to kill Chifuyu and so she didn’t hear any of those nasty words he'd said to her friend.

“Why are you here?”

Chifuyu spoke to Kunigami with such ease in comparison to the rest of the male student body, and she responded in kind, but with sharp, accusatory words that flew over the boy’s head.

He didn’t even flinch away from her sharp words or even sharper eyes.

“Switch to the swimming team without a swimsuit?”

They had both noticed when she’d entered the classroom but Chifuyu was quicker at asking what happened. If Baji could even call it that.

Kunigami was completely soaked from head to toe, her wet hair falling flat around her face, sticking to her bright pink cheeks and crawling down her pale neck. Her too big school uniform clung to her body like a second skin, outlining just how small and thin she actually was.

It looked like she could keel over any second.

“Don’t you have gym clothes you can change into,” Chifuyu asked, eyeing the bundle of tattered cloth in her hands. Someone had gotten to them also, probably before she got soaked. “You can have mine.” He offered without missing a beat. “They’re clean. I don’t use them much.”

“You didn’t answer me,” she responded, taking a step forward. Her eyes darted back to Baji, holding his gaze until he looked away because the eye contact was way too much for him right now. “Why’d you come looking for him? Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“He was just here when I came,” Chifuyu answered causally, ignoring her questioning gaze. At least he wasn’t the only one to look away, Baji thought. “Go change before you get sick again. You'll disappear this time around. Keep the sweats if you need them.”

Kunigami stood there for a few minutes, trembling like a freezing chihuahua as water trailed down her uniform, forming a small puddle beneath her feet. Once she judged for herself that Chifuyu hadn’t come to the class in search of a fight, she quickly left the room.

It was only minutes later that Baji realized something. Something that was probably nothing at all, but it felt like it should matter to him. That it was important.

Kunigami hadn’t asked Chifuyu where she could find his clothes. He hadn’t offered her a location either, he’d just told her to get changed quickly, told her to keep them for as long as she needed. Not in those exact words but that was the gist.

They both shared the same hair color. They spoke to each other in an overly familiar way, or as familiar as Kunigami would speak. Chifuyu had offered her clothes as if it was the most natural thing, normal for them, and Kunigami hadn’t thought twice about accepting the offer. She had only hesitated because she didn’t want to leave him alone without knowing Chifuyu’s intentions.

This was the person the gossip group had been talking about, he'd known that, and yet he'd stopped thinking about them like that. From the second Kunigami decided to shadow him at every moment, he'd forgotten about the rumors. Forgotten how close these two had seemed in that hidden conversation.

Someone from class one with blond hair who was closer to Kunigami than anyone else, that was indeed Chifuyu. The person who’d taken the blame for what she had done, getting suspended in the process. Again, Chifuyu. Baji could see it. Chifuyu would have taken the fall for her. Against her will, but he’d do it.

What the rumors didn’t know was that he called her by a cute nickname and clarified who he was speaking of by using her given name. That he brought food to school and stuffed it in her shoe locker some mornings, because who else would do something like that. That she wore his clothes and knew where to find them without having to ask or being told where to find them.

Baji’s curiosity was gnawing at his insides.

He leaned forward in his seat, preparing to ask the one question the majority of his classmates were curious about yet couldn’t bring themselves to ask either of the people involved.

“Kunigami—”

He saw her then, her small body drowning within the borrowed sweats, the too big pants twisting around her legs and slipping beneath her feet. She dove head first into the classroom, glasses flying across the room as her face smacked hard on the floor.

She didn't move.

“You trying to kill yourself with a concussion if pneumonia won’t do, Hachiko?” Chifuyu was up and out of his seat, his hands reaching beneath Kunigami’s arms to lift her into the air before Baji could process what had happened.

“You’ve been too curious of Baji-san for me to idle in the changing room while you're alone with him.”

Baji heard her words as if she’d spoken them under water. He couldn’t really hear or understand her. Not while he watched Chifuyu place her glasses on her nose, helped her cuff the bottom of the pants and tighten them around her ankles, then moving to the sleeves of the jacket, pushing them up to her elbows before folding them tightly around her arm.

“What do you want with him?”

Chifuyu narrowed his eyes at her, “Nerds of a feather, but at least you’re true to the stereotype.”

Kunigami stared him down. Really stared him down. Baji didn’t see her blink for the entire minute she looked up at Chiyufu, who stubbornly returned her glare only to fail in holding it after a few seconds into the impromptu staring contest. He quickly covered her eyes with the palm of his hand.

“You’re too good at that,” he’d said through a chuckle. “As much a pro as any strict mother.” She slapped his hand away. “Damn good at choosing violence too. Is that why someone tried to drown you?” He motioned to the soaked gym clothes, pulling the shirt up by the giant rip on the front. “They went a bit overboard.”

“New members. The team needed vacancies,” Kunigami answered, as if that alone would explain two sets of ruined clothes. She sidestepped Chifuyu, heading towards Baji who hadn’t been able to decide if he should get up and go to her or ignore the scene unfolding before him.

She still looked really pale, the huge clothes making her look even more gaunt up close, and her loose hair, usually in tight braids, fell freely down her shoulders. She’d managed to dry them a bit somehow, probably combining it with her fingers.

“Did he say anything to you,” she asked Baji, poking over her shoulder at Chifuyu. “Something fight provoking?”

“I don’t go around looking for a fight,” Chifuyu called out behind her. “What do you take me for?”

“Trouble.” She was serious when she said it, her eyes narrowing on him when he came to stand beside her.

“I was helping him with something.”

”Helping? With what?”

Chifuyu looked over at Baji then back over and Kunigami as Baji stuffed his letter into the school bag. While he tried to place the paper in a way it wouldn’t wrinkle, his fingers brushed against something small. A hair tie he’d lost days ago. The light lilac one he had bought in a pinch before a fight, and the one the gang had mercilessly mocked him on for hours.

His eyes trailed over Kunigami’s hair, the reddish brown color less visible now that it was down. Without thinking about it, Baji pulled out the hair tie and silently offered it to Kunigami in hopes it would distract her from asking any more questions. Her eyes seemed to soften, taking the hair tie in her hand and quickly working it into her hair to pull it into a loose side ponytail that fell down her shoulder.

Kunigami had helped him so much from the moment they met and he was grateful, but this was something he didn’t need her to see. Something he didn’t want her to ever find out.

“Guy issues.” Kunigami’s head snapped to the side, glaring at Chifuyu, those soft amber eyes darkening into something threatening. Chifuyu simply shrugged, giving her a wide grin as he bumped her shoulder. “What? Girls have girl things and guys have guy things. You don’t have to know everything about your nerd, Hachi.”

He flicked Kunigami’s forehead and Baji was sure he had a death wish.

Kunigami, however, took it calmer than her eyes suggested and pushed his hand away before shoving her way past him, picking up her wet clothes that she’d placed in a small bag, and headed out the classroom door. She stopped only when Chifuyu called out to her.

“Don’t you need me to walk you home tonight?”

She slammed the door shut.

Chapter Text

“She’s pissed. Like really pissed.” Chifuyu didn’t look the least bit worried that Kunigami was, indeed, absolutely pissed. Not in the slightest. “But she’s been mad for a while so—not my fault.”

Yet he didn’t stop looking at the door Kunigami had slammed, his earlier at-ease posture no longer there as he neared the door and took a peek out of the classroom to see if Kunigami was still in the hall.

“Do you walk her home often?” Baji hadn’t thought about asking Chifuyu that, but the question had been out of his mouth before he had a second chance to think it over. In the quiet room, it felt like he had screamed it.

Chifuyu didn’t seem to think the same and answered him coolly, “Just recently. She won’t tell me what’s up but demanded I either wait, come back for her after practice, or go find her wherever she is. Didn’t want to walk alone at night.”

Baji didn’t remember seeing Chifuyu waiting outside the school for Kunigami, but he also didn’t know when practices were held for the track team. Or maybe Kunigami had always just walked him to the school gate and turned back around, and if that were the case, he wouldn’t know because he never had the guts to look back at her once he crossed the gates.

“If she got kicked out of the team, I guess I won’t have to walk her back,” Chifuyu was saying, walking towards the window. He was probably checking if Kunigami had left the school. “She didn’t have to get all pissy about it though.”

Baji lifted his school bag from the desk, hefting it over his shoulder as he went to stand beside Chifuyu at the window. They both nearly headbutted each other as they dropped to the floor in unison when Kunigami’s face turned abruptly to them from the school gates.

He could feel the burning rage in her eyes even if it wasn’t directed at him but at the person beside him. Baji swore he could feel her eyes melting the wall between them trying to get to Chifuyu.

“Well, I’m fucked” Chifuyu said, peeking over the window sill from the floor, “Why the hell are you hiding?”

“…instinct,” he answered, Chifuyu nodded as if he understood that it hadn’t been a voluntary choice on his part. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen her furious.”

“That's ‘cause she likes hounding me for every little thing I do or don’t do,” Chifuyu answered, almost in a bragging tone, as if he alone had Kunigami’s sole attention. As if he were the only one able to withstand her ire. “And that’s her being mildly upset, not furious. You just need to stuff her mouth with food and she won’t bite.”

“She isn’t a dog.”

“Of course she is, she’s Hachiko.” The explanation made no sense to Baji but Chifuyu said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and from past encounters, he guessed that Kunigami didn’t mind being called that. At least not by Chifuyu.

Again. That gnawing at his insides was happening again at Chifuyu’s words, at watching him stand and look out the window towards the direction of Kunigami. Because of course he would know what direction she would take home, he’d walked her there more times than anyone in this school could possibly know about.

“What is she to you,” Baji asked, standing to his full height beside Chifuyu, his eyes trailing his gaze to see if he could still catch what path Kunigami had taken. But he couldn’t, he hadn’t been fast enough to see her go.

“We’re childhood friends,” Chifuyu answered instantly. “But she’ll never admit it.”

He turned to him, his eyes so serious that Baji thought he would warn him to stay away from Kunigami, to not even think of getting closer to her more than he already was, that if he hurt her in any way he’d kick his ass or something similar, but he didn’t.

“Don’t believe the rumors going around the school. We’ve only ever been friends, and I think she hates that I look like a delinquent. If we hadn’t met as kids, I’m sure she wouldn’t even spare me a second.”

Baji turned away, looking out the window as he let Chifuyu’s words sink in.

“You don’t have to worry though,” Chifuyu grinned at him. “I think she’s into nerdy looking guys like you.”

Baji’s face turned a deep shade of red before he snapped, “That’s not why I’m asking!”

”Huh, you sure? You two look pretty close to me.” Chifuyu shrugged his shoulders, “Well, whatever. If you were asking because of that one incident that people can’t figure out if it was her or me—you know, that intestine-busting incident—that was Hachi.”

They stood in silence for a moment. Chifuyu because he wanted to see every reaction that passed through Baji’s face, to see if he would believe him or not, and if that new knowledge would have him staying away from Kunigami. Baji, on the other hand, had already known Kunigami was the culprit.

“Did you take the fall,” was all he asked, because he was still curious about the details.

Chifuyu sighed dramatically, “No. I heard what was going down and went to help, but I got there too late. The teacher didn’t believe Kunigami when she confessed and the guys didn’t want the school to know a small girl had messed them up so bad. I was the scapegoat because I was there.”

That checked out.

He had one more question to ask. Just one. And he didn’t think Chifuyu would think much of it and would be the only one in this school to actually know the truth, or the closest thing to the truth.

“Does she really not like delinquents,” he asked quietly, making sure to not look at Chifuyu. “I heard that she goes through a lot of trouble to stay away from them and their hangouts. That she glares at anyone who even looks like one.”

And Chifuyu had just said she had something against how he looked.

”Well I don’t particularly like delinquents either so she might’ve picked that up from me,” Chifuyu confessed. “She does know most of the gangs by name, what locations they’re in, an estimate on how many members, but only knows the name or aliases of a few leaders. I think it’s by mere coincidence rather than her actually hunting down the information that she knows all of this.”

That made Baji feel a little bit better, but not by much. And not at all when Chifuyu continued.

“There’s a rumor about some Toman leader being in the school and, because she does make it her business to figure out about new gangs that pop up as a hobby, I asked her.”

Baji felt his mouth go dry, the palms of his hand becoming sweaty as he waited for Chifuyu to continue. Had Kunigami known all this time? Had she approached him, befriended him, and then tailed him because she wanted to make sure of who he was?

Had she been waiting for him to slip up?

“She didn’t have a clue,” Chifuyu shrugged. “I thought it was because she had been out when the rumor started, but she recognized the name. As far as she knew, they weren’t worth her time.”

”Not worth her time?” Baji asked, a bit surprised at how Toman had so easily been brushed off by her. She wasn’t interested? Not even a little bit? Not in the possibility of one of their captains sitting beside her in class, sharing their lunch with one another, at having an indirect kiss?

Did she not suspect him at all?

“‘It’s not my problem if they're not causing trouble here’, is what she said. Which I think means she knows where they hang out, maybe even when, and what they do. But that’s just my guess, poindexter, don’t quote me on it. Not like she’ll say a damn thing if you ask her.”

“They fought, didn’t they,” a quick whisper from one student to the other, the growing shock evident in the rising pitch of their voice. “Did it have something to do with Matsuno?”

“Far as I know,” someone whispered back, “the three of them were seen in the same classroom late one day. Kunigami-san left wearing one of their gym uniforms, but no one knows who it belonged to.”

“It belonged to Matsuno,” an excited whisper answered. “That's who I'm placing my bets on.”

“Of course it was Matsuno’s! We saw them whispering secretively to each other one morning. Almost cheek to cheek.”

“Yeah! All huddled up in the corner of that one hallway no one goes to. Was she trying to two-time him?”

“Two-timing who?” Someone demanded, slamming a fist on the table while the others tried to shush them. “They aren't even dating, how can she be two-timing!”

“Matsuno needed the competition. If he hasn't made a move, then someone needed to light a fire under him. Baji-san is the only one that can do that.”

The gossip group was getting larger by the day. New students getting curious on the current story, turning their ears towards the group to better hear the juicy gossip of the week, and joining them with their own theories of why Kunigami was avoiding Baji. If she really was avoiding him at all.

“I've seen her spend more time with Baji-san than Matsuno,” someone said, explaining why they would bet on him. “They're just trying to keep it on the down low, you know, so no one starts asking questions.”

“Everyone is already asking questions! I think some of the professors are getting involved.”

Baji stiffened. That was news to him.

“That’s because that dumbass asked her who she thought made a cuter couple—Abe, you idiot!”

“Hey, don’t get mad at me for having a better idea than you. Who else can see all three of them at all hours, huh? Not us. Besides, it’s their job to keep an eye on their students.”

“Abe,” a defeated sigh, “You’re a grade A dumbass.”

They weren’t entirely wrong about what was happening between the three of them, but it wasn’t as dramatic as they all made it out to be. Baji wished the Toman rumor was still going around the school, that everyone would be looking for that supposed leader, but this new rumor had the student body in a choke hold.

Kunigami had stopped following him around. She hadn’t looked for him at the school entrance in the mornings, she had also not been in the classroom during their lunch breaks, and she hadn’t so much as turned to look at him throughout the days. Her nose was always stuck inside a book, a notebook, and other class paperwork that was brought to her.

It was as if she had never met him. As if he were a stranger. As if he weren’t there at all.

He would have been fine if it had been just one day of this, if it had happened the day after the incident with Chifuyu, but it had continued throughout the week. She had even stopped waiting to walk with him to the school entrance when classes ended, and it wasn’t like she was going off with Chifuyu. Baji had seen him still at school or on the streets way after she had gone.

Was she really angry at him like the rumors said? No, that couldn’t be true. He’d done absolutely nothing that day but speak with Chifuyu, and dropped to the floor when she’d turned her attention to the window. But that was not something to be angry about, was it?

“She’s on the roof.” He almost jumped at the voice, his hand almost dropping the bread and drink he carried to clutch at his chest. “You’re looking for Hachi, aren’t you? She always heads to high ground.”

Baji hadn’t noticed that he had crossed paths with Chifuyu, hadn't noticed the droop of his shoulders, the worried look that must be on his face, and the lack of Kunigami at his side as he walked down the school hallways.

Maybe that’s why Chifuyu knew he was looking for her.

“Rumor has it that she’s not speaking to you,” Chifuyu said, his explanations brief and lacking. He shrugged his shoulders and continued. “She’s a total space cadet sometimes and forgets how many days have passed when she's focused on something. She doesn’t pay attention to what she does or those around her or thinks we already know what’s going on because we can’t possibly be that stupid.”

That last bit sounded like he was quoting Kunigami word for word.

“My point is: she’s not mad at you, she’s just being damn stupid about something she isn’t sharing.” He pointed up to the roof, “She’s out there.”

With a quick ‘thank you’ uttered to Chifuyu, Baji headed towards the stairs that would lead to the roof of the school, taking two steps at a time in hope that he would reach her before lunch was over.

He grabbed the handle to the door, pressing down and pushing the door open but it wouldn’t budge. He jiggled the handle several times, making sure it worked before trying to open the door again. He pushed against it with more force thinking it must be stuck in place, still the door didn't move.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, he backed up enough to gain momentum and rammed his body against the door, slamming his shoulder into it, and throwing the door open with his full body weight. He heard it crash against the wall, or what he thought was the wall, but since when did walls kick doors back twice as hard?

Baji barely managed to avoid the door, throwing himself on the ground as it slammed shut behind him. Kunigami was leaning back against the wall, one leg raised in the air having just kicked the door he had thrown into her right back at him.

“That’s no way to open a door,” was all she said to him as she placed her foot back down on the ground, her amber eyes as sharp as every other day. Maybe a bit sharper.

“That’s no way to close it,” he replied, mourning the bread he’d bought Kunigami, which was now completely squashed under his chest.

He stood, dusting himself off before trying to fluff up the bread back to its original state. It was still good, right? As long as it was still in the packaging, unopened, it was gift-able…right?

“I’m sorry, I thought you were Matsuno trying to—nevermind. It was an accident.”

“You blocked the door because of Chifuyu,” he asked, carefully making his way to her. He took the longer, weird looking way to get near her, by making half a circle to approach her from the side, so she didn’t have the chance to kick him. Not that she would, but why take the chance. “He’s been here with you these past days then?”

He’d heard as much from the other students, but they only ever said they saw them near a corner, in some hallway, and Baji now realized it had been the hallway he had seen them talking in before. It was their go-to spot to see each other, but Chifuyu, if rumors were to be believed, had appeared at her locker one morning.

Only one morning.

“He’s being a momma bird and trying to feed—did he send you up here?” Her eyes glared at the flat bread in his hand, at the guava drink he had managed to find in a can, which was now dented. Those sharp eyes turned to his face, “Did he? What did he tell you?”

”H-he didn’t send me! I thought,” he started, looking away from her as those eyes bore into him. There was probably a hole where his face once was, but it didn’t matter, he shoved the flattened bread and dented drink into her hands. “It’s a peace offering!”

The sharpness in her eyes eased, then slowly turned into that golden honey color as she looked at what he had brought her. Assured by his words that Chifuyu had nothing to do with this, she hugged the gift to her chest.

“I don’t want you to be mad at me,” he explained in a small voice. “I think they’re still good even if they’re squished, but I can get you something else if you don’t want them. Maybe…after school?”

A heavy silence fell between them.

“A peace offering?” She finally asked, her confusion seeping into every word as she stared at what he had brought her. “Why would I be mad at you?”

There was another long pause, Kunigami was waiting for him to answer her, while Baji slowly died on the inside, his embarrassment visible in the bright blush that colored his cheeks and the tips of his ears as she looked up at him.

“You’re not?”

”I’m not,” she said, her hands pulling at the bread’s plastic, opening it just enough to pull the top of the bread out with her teeth, taking a small bite.

Baji watched her eat in silence, unsure of what to say, what to do, or if he should be asking what he had been wanting to ask from the day she had stopped shadowing him. The day she had stopped speaking to him completely.

“Chifuyu said you’re childhood friends.” He had to start somewhere and he guessed that letting her know what they spoke about was the safer route. “And that you confessed about what you did to those older boys but the teacher didn’t believe you and blamed it on him because he was there.”

Kunigami gave a big sigh, opening the guava drink that he was glad didn’t blow up in her face, and said, “He would’ve taken the blame.” Her voice was soft, thoughtful, the tone remaining the same as she continued, “He says he wouldn’t, but he would. It’s not like he tried to fight them about it or throw me under the bus like he should have done.”

She took a long sip of the drink before taking another bite out of the bread, chewing and swallowing slowly before speaking, “I don’t remember becoming childhood friends, but if he said it, then it must be true. It does feel like I’ve known him forever, and it’s hard to remember a time he wasn't somewhere nearby.”

Well, Kunigami hadn’t denied it or admitted that they were, something Chifuyu had already said would happen, but she accepted the title anyway. Accepted it simply because Chifuyu had said they were and she had no reason to question it.

Baji wanted to see how far he could push his luck. How much was Kunigami willing to offer up at this moment without questioning his motives in asking, and so he asked: “Why do you dislike delinquents?”

He thought she wouldn't answer or that she would question him about it. She'd never made it obvious, then again, most of the student body was circulating that rumor.

“Because they're overly loud,” she responded, finishing up the last bit of bread. “Obnoxiously so. And pushy. They can never take no or get lost for an answer. Most of them loiter around waiting for trouble or initiate it.” She paused, and then added, “They're no good thugs with too much time on their hands that solve an issue in the most predictable way a delinquent can.”

“Past experience,” he asked, because it sounded like she had come across someone. A group of someones.

Kunigami didn't answer right away as she was finishing the last drop of her drink. Once she crunched up the can, she responded, “Where there's one, there's bound to be another. Just like any parasite. And they don't care who gets caught in the crossfire.”

“. . .were you hurt?”

“No,” she pushed him towards the door, ushering him inside the building. “I got thrown over a railing at the top of a hill so I wouldn't get in the way.”

She had been hurt.

Chapter Text

Baji quickly realized that Kunigami wasn't someone who openly spoke about her life to anyone. Not to a classmate or a close acquaintance or even a childhood friend apparently, because, and Baji had asked him directly, Chifuyu didn't know what went on in Kunigami’s life outside of school. At least, not in detail.

He wasn't her babysitter, Chifuyu told Baji when he'd ask about her—on why she was always at school so early in the morning—and he wasn't going to follow her around just for the hell of it either, he clarified.

If he thought she was in trouble and hiding it, maybe he'd tail her and see where she was going then, but that was only if he couldn't bully it out of her first. But if she was the one causing said trouble, he didn't want to be in her line of sight. He wasn't planning on dying young after all.

Alright, fair enough.

Baji wasn't entirely sure how Chifuyu would go about bullying it out of her since Kunigami was as stubborn as a mule, probably kicked as hard as one, and he hadn't bothered to ask.

A feeling of dread had crawled into his chest at the thought of Kunigami finding out that he'd known Chifuyu would pull such cheap tricks. He'd no doubt get roped into whatever punishment Chifuyu would get for provoking her, if her reaction to his name alone on the rooftop was anything to go by.

No, Chifuyu knew nothing of when Kunigami encountered those thugs. Either because Kunigami hadn’t gotten hurt as badly as Baji had originally thought, which he doubted, or because she was really good at hiding when she was hurt. Whatever the reason, the incident went unnoticed by those around her.

Baji leaned towards the second option. Although he didn't have anything to back it up with, it just fit the image of her being a private person that disliked people nosing into her business. Kunigami was smart enough to find a way to hide anything that would call attention to her; whether that was her delinquent-colored hair, always tied back in a prim and proper way, or her friendship with Chifuyu, left as a simple rumor from bored middle schoolers.

If there was a way for her to hide injuries or downplay their seriousness, she would find it.

Maybe Kunigami saw him as an unassuming nerd that didn't have the balls to stir up any trouble that made her confide in him why she had kept the encounter from Chifuyu. Why else would she trust a nobody like him over a close childhood friend?

”Because it’s Matsuno,” Kunigami said as a way of explanation. When Baji blinked stupidly at her, not touching the food between them, she gave a deep sigh and continued. “He’s hot-headed and would have hunted those bastards,” she made air quotes to signify this is what Chifuyu would call them, “down and repaid them in kind.”

She was eating a full and healthy lunch today, for once, courtesy of the bento box Chifuyu had stuffed in her locker that morning. Kunigami had charged him like a raging bull when she saw him poking through her things, stopping from fully tackling him to the ground only because she remembered Baji had walked in behind her.

The two, now that he got a better look at their interactions, did behave like childhood friends. He would go as far as to say they reseblemed a pair of siblings, but the only duo siblings he had to compare them to was Mikey and Emma, and they weren’t as physical as these two.

It would never cross Mikey’s mind to place Emma in a headlock for any reason. Chifuyu would do it simply because he could and wanted to show Baji how red in the face Kunigami would get when pissed off. Even her ears turned a bright tomato red if he held her long enough.

While Mikey and Emma argued like any siblings would, giving each other the cold shoulder at times, Chifuyu and Kunigami argued like pro-boxers during a championship match interview, ready to throw down if either one of them so much as blinked. Which one of them would inevitably do moments later.

In that particular encounter, it had prompted Chifuyu to wrap his arms around Kunigami's torso from behind, pulling her up into the air by her arms and throat–because that’s how you disciplined the short, by putting them in air jail–and Kunigami, doing the only thing she could, dug her teeth deep into the side of his forearm which had been placed a little too close to her mouth.

Baji guessed this might be part of the reason Chifuyu gave her a dog’s name as a pet name. Whenever she couldn’t move, or there was a clear and open invitation, Kunigami resorted to landing a bite anywhere she could; hand, chest, neck, ear, or even part of the face, like Chifuyu’s cheek when he tried to steal a bite of a snack Baji had bought her.

Nothing was off limits.

“He'd go after them if he saw me wince in pain or with a barely-there limp,” Kunigami brought him back from the memory. She was placing vegetables in his bento box and taking one of his octopus sausages, the long sleeves covering her hands miraculously coming back clean. “And beat up whatever other thugs got in his way, because he's an idiot.”

“He wouldn’t want you going through that again,” he offered. Chifuyu would take the extra step to assure Kunigami’s safety in the future, he was sure of that. But Kunigami probably saw it as him being an unnecessary busybody looking for trouble.

“I doubt we’d meet again. It’s not a place I frequent often,” she placed the food in her mouth, the slight shine in her eyes and the soft, almost inaudible hum the only signs that gave away that she liked the food.

Maybe it was because it was ‘stolen’ food that made her like it so much, adding an extra kick of flavor that had Kunigami making cute little sounds when eating out of his bento. She didn’t have a clue that she was doing it either, that it was those soft sounds that had him choking on his drink because he was smiling like a dumbass, and he wasn’t going to tell her.

He’d never tell her.

“It’s not a small world either. The probability of me running into them and being treated the same way is close no none—You’re not going to snitch, are you?” She quickly added, watching his hand closely as he placed his last sausage in her bento. He could practically see an invisible tail wagging behind her as she quickly picked it up.

A ghost of a smile pulled at his lips.

“Would it matter?”

“I told you he’s an idiot,” she looked towards the door as if Chifuyu would be there snooping. “He could go looking for them if you say anything and would find the wrong guys.”

That seemed like the more probable outcome if he did go looking for them, and Chifuyu would still take it as a win even if he found the wrong thugs.

Kunigami added in a quieter, somber voice, “And I don’t think he would win if he did find them. It’s better to stay away from people like that, those that aren’t small time thugs, before they dig their claws into you and refuse to let go.”

Baji was silent for a second, taking everything she had said in before asking, “Where were you that day?”

She tilted her head in thought, pulling the chopsticks from her mouth slowly as she responded, “Somewhere in Roppongi.”

“What is your deal, Matsuno?”

Kunigami was standing between Baji and Chifuyu, the front of Baji's desk digging into her as she pressed back against it. He had been so busy double checking his writing that he hadn't noticed when Chifuyu barged into the classroom.

But she had noticed. Noticed in an instant that this visit was different from the others. Not only because Chifuyu came when other students were present, but because he was acting differently. She responded quickly and accordingly, blocking the path to his target without a second thought.

It was the first time anyone had seen them together so openly at school, the very first time they had seen the two butting heads in disagreement about anything, and the bets on who would win in a fight were already being made in semi-silence.

The prominent whispers were that Kunigami would win the fight because there was no way Chifuyu would ever lay his hands on her. Absolutely no way. Baji agreed to an extent, because he'd already seen Chifuyu place her in a chokehold, but he’d never seen him actually fight her.

Maybe he should've known something like this would happen. Maybe he should've scared some sense into Chifuyu when he found out who he really was, but Baji hadn't been thinking about Kunigami at that moment.

His main thought was of repaying Chifuyu by helping him out with that poor excuse of a gang and making sure there wasn't a repeat of the incident by declaring who he was and what gang he belonged to. Quick. Simple. Easy.

But afterwards…

Afterwards he had called Chifuyu a friend and invited him home for peyoung yakisoba, argued about him joining Toman, but not once did he tell Chifuyu to keep his identity a secret between the two of them. He didn't think it was necessary.

That may have been a mistake, not telling Chifuyu to keep his mouth shut about what he knew. To not even hint of who he was and what he did in front of Kunigami. But Chifuyu knew that she didn't like delinquents, so wouldn't it be common sense to keep it a secret!

Not only was he a member of a gang, but a division captain. Wouldn't that put him at the top of Kunigami’s dislike list, probably closer to hate than dislike?

He should've been firmer on rejecting Chifuyu. Should've made sure he knew there was no way in hell he'd ever let him into Toman. He would’ve dropped the topic then and there, no damage done.

Instead, he was stuck playing dumb to his antics in front of Kunigami. Stuck praying to whichever god would listen to keep Chifuyu's mouth shut, but what else could he do in this situation.

“Can’t a friend visit a friend at school,” Chifuyu asked, trying to force his way past Kunigami, but she didn't budge from her spot. “Aren't you taking your guard dog duties a little too far?”

Kunigami's glare was heated, the amber color darkening into a deep gold he'd never seen before. But Chifuyu had, because he didn't flinch like the other students.

Chifuyu took a step towards her, his hand reaching out to Kunigami, and Baji almost jumped from his seat thinking he would shove her away. He didn't.

Instead, he pressed up against her, chest to chest, his right arm thrown over her left shoulder in an overly familiar way, his hand digging into her waist as he pulled her to him. His other arm rested on her right shoulder, holding his phone open for Baji to see the screen.

He was hugging her.

Chifuyu was hugging Kunigami.

“I beat Momose from Minami Middle who's said to be the strongest in this area,” he spoke over a very obviously fuming Kunigami, whose hands had come up to grab Chifuyu by the blazer, completing the hug. “Of course, this is just the beginning.”

“The beginning of what,” her voice was soft and sweet, as if she were in true awe of what was to come.

But her eyes.

Her burning amber eyes spoke of violence.

Chifuyu dropped his arms, pushing away from Kunigami, pulling at her hands as he backed away slowly. Very slowly. So slowly that the unflexing of Kunigami’s fingers holding onto the edge of the blazer seemed to take full minutes to unfurl.

His eyes never left Kunigami’s. Not even when the teacher arrived and kicked him out of the classroom.

Hell, Baji would bet he was still keeping his eyes locked in the direction of the classroom even when he was out of the room. Glued to the location he believed she was standing although he may be hallways away.

Chifuyu had been right when he'd said Baji had not seen Kunigami furious, but he guessed he'd been close to witnessing it today. Very close.

Kunigami had the nose of a purebred bloodhound.

It was common knowledge in school that she could ‘sniff’ out anything problematic if she wanted to, he remembered the rumor mill telling him so, and Baji was seeing it in action now.

Kunigami was able to track Chifuyu down in minutes no matter where he was, block his path to their classroom from any angle, after she had correctly predicted when, where, and how he would try to get to Baji.

That particular ability was extremely entertaining to watch for everyone at school merely because she resembled a hunting dog at attention seconds before she lunged at a sneaking Chifuyu.

It was Chifuyu’s unbothered reaction at getting caught, as if it was only a matter of when, not if, she would find him, that brought Baji to another realization.

Out of anyone, student and faculty, Chifuyu would be the only one to know how Kunigami tracked down any sort of trouble before it even began. He would know how she was able to sense these soon-to–be-trouble in minutes and act even faster.

Whatever method she used, Chifuyu would surely know. He had to. At least that's what Baji had thought at first, but now, because Chifuyu kept getting caught no matter what he did or where he went, he was beginning to doubt.

If Chifuyu did know how Kunigami did it, he should be able to avoid getting caught, shouldn't he?

Unless Kunigami's abilities had gotten better, sharper, or quicker than what Chifuyu was used to. Maybe that's why, while not surprised she knew where and when he would strike, Chifuyu still thought he could outdo her. He just needed to act faster than she reacted.

If he knew how she did it or had even the slightest guess, he could predict how long it took her to react and adjust his ‘attacks’ to evade her. That was probably what he had been trying to do after their initial clash.

Baji was curious about this. Curious enough that he didn't think twice about meeting up with Chifuyu early–so very damn early–in the morning before school when he'd asked to meet only a few streets away from their apartment complex.

He hadn't cared what Chifuyu wanted to talk about or if he was going to pester him endlessly about joining the gang again, all he wanted was to ask Chifuyu about Kunigami and her uncanny ability to track him down.

Was it only Chifuyu she could hunt down with such precision or could she do it with other people too? Was she able to do it because they had grown up together, did their relationship make it easier for her to track Chifuyu? Could she track him down if she wanted?

This would be the only chance he and Chifuyu got to speak alone and for him to ask about Kunigami freely, because there was no way she would let them meet alone at school. At least under these conditions, during the early hours of the day and in a place nowhere near school grounds, Kunigami couldn’t possibly track them down.

But he was wrong. So very wrong.

When he rounded the corner of a building, lifting his eyes from the knot he’d been undoing on his uniform tie, the sight of a very lively and bright-eyed Kunigami arguing with a clearly exhausted and bleary-eyed Chifuyu greeted him.

Kunigami was jumping from one side of Chifuyu to the other, blocking any escape route he looked for, her twin braids bouncing over her shoulders and chest like a set of floppy ears. Chifuyu refused to look at her, snapping his head away once she managed to lock eyes with him.

Baji choked on a curse as his body stopped working correctly, his feet tripping over each other as he forced them to stop walking, and his hands going up to his loose hair to hold it back instead of moving forward to block his fall.

He managed to pitch to his side at the last minute, falling to the floor behind the building he had rounded just moments ago. Sharp pain shot through the side of his body, and as he bit back a curse, his hands went up to his hair. He roughly pulled it back into his ridiculous, nerdy ponytail before putting on his stupid-ass glasses.

Whatever scrapes or cuts his torso had gotten on his fall be damned, there was no way in hell Kunigami could see him unprepared for classes.

The sound of his frantic heartbeat and Kunigami’s jumping footsteps echoed in sync around him. His ears were buzzing. His face was burning. His chest hurt. He couldn't breathe.

What was Kunigami doing here?

Did she learn about their meeting and track down Chifuyu, and why the hell was Chifuyu not running away like usual? Baji peeked over the side of the building but stayed low to the floor. They were still locked in conversation, neither of them had noticed his dive to the ground.

They hadn’t noticed him at all.

Not yet.

“It’s too damn early for you to have so much energy, Hachi,” Chifuyu grumbled, letting out a loud yawn as he stretched his arms over his head.

Kunigami jumped forward, her hand coming up to take hold of Chifuyu’s face, almost clasping his chin in her palm, but Chifuyu quickly slapped it away. He didn’t glare at her, he wouldn’t dare, and it was pointless anyway, Kunigami would take it as a challenge. Instead, his hands came down on her shoulders, his fingers digging into her uniform as he held her down.

He shook her back and forth softly, but given the size difference between the two, Kunigami looked like a ragdoll being throttled, “Stop moving. You're giving me motion sickness.”

“Not my problem, you decide to wake up this early and follow me around,” Kunigami replied, trying her best to pull away from Chifuyu with no luck. He had already fully wrapped himself around her, dropping his entire weight for her to carry. Kunigami’s arms went around him instinctively. “You're crushing me!”

“I didn’t know you went jogging during the mornings, what middle schooler does that?” He was being fully supported by her at this point, Kunigami doing her best not to crumble to the floor judging by her trembling legs. “Put your back into it, Hachi,” Chifuyu mumbled sleepily, snuggling into her shoulder and neck, his eyes closed. “Don't let me fall.”

“Is this why you asked me to go to school with you, to use me as a personal footstool,” she asked, pressing up against Chifuyu until she got him to step back against a wall. With that help, she was able to keep both of them upright, but he still didn’t let go. Neither did she.

Once again, and far more times than he’d hoped to ever see, Baji watched as the two hugged each other, even if technically it wasn’t a hug. Chifuyu was just deadweight and Kunigami couldn’t let him drop to the floor without being dragged to the floor herself.

Unlike before, Kunigami wasn't angry, just annoyed that Chifuyu was holding her hostage in the middle of the street where anyone could walk by and see this scene. Baji knew the rumor mill would have a field day if they ever saw this playing out in front of them.

“Are you calling me a foot,” came Chifuyu’s tired voice.

“I'm calling you a nuisance,” Kunigami responded, pushing his head up by the forehead with the palm of her hand, she glares up into his half open eyes. “What're you planning, to ask me politely to let you harass Baji-san?”

“I'm not harassing him,” Chifuyu scoffed, finally peeling himself off of Kunigami to stand on his own beside her. He still looked half asleep as he rubbed at his eyes. “And it's not like I need your permission to speak to him.”

Kunigami didn't respond, nor did she look away from the yawning Chifuyu who was clueless of her stare. The look of annoyance had vanished from her face, replaced by another emotion Baji hadn't seen on her before. He couldn’t place what it was. Especially not from where he was, crouched and with the rays of the rising sun shining into his eyes.

“You're so stubborn,” the wind carried Kunigami's voice toward Baji and he heard the soft lilt of confusion in it. She didn't understand why Chifuyu was so set on getting him to listen to what he had to say, because to her, it was semi-delinquency nonsense.

Delinquency coming from Chifuyu—she didn’t see Baji as trouble let alone someone capable of delinquency—she argued his actions were near delinquency, even though Chifuyu didn't see it that way. It was helping out the little guy, he explained, even if that method was violent, it wasn't delinquency.

She had responded that with his constant fights and his little group of followers, a pack of three brash teens with thuggish-like attitudes, was basically one step away from gang activities.

Baji had watched this conversation go down one morning and it had shone a bit more light on their relationship than any student rumor ever could. Kunigami thought Chifuyu an almost delinquent, one step away from becoming one actually, but they were still friends.

Kunigami didn’t stop speaking to him or ignore his existence, she instead ignored his actions completely unless directly provoked to the point of bringing them up in an argument. She knew what Chifuyu was up to when he went off on his own, yet she never got in his way or tried to persuade him to stop.

Was this the special treatment childhood friends received?

“Good morning to you too, pot,” Chifuyu quipped back, poking Kunigami on the forehead. “Even if you’re a tad bit shinier, you’re still black. ”

Baji didn’t understand what he meant by that, but it couldn’t be anything positive if Kunigami’s eyes narrowed in a warning. Chifuyu might have meant it as a half joke, but Kunigami hadn’t taken it as one.

She took a few quick steps forward, baking Chifuyu up against the wall in an instant once again. Even if Chifuyu was much taller than Kunigami, she looked way more intimidating looking up at him than he did looking down at her as she spoke in a slow and dangerous tone.

“If you have something to say to me, just say it. There’s no point dancing around it.”

“I don’t have anything to say…” Chifuyu responded, now fully awake due to her change in attitude. His eyes roamed her face, looking for something that clearly wasn’t there before looking directly into her eyes.

He’d remembered something, Baji guessed, because it didn’t take long for him to ask,“You didn’t return home last night, did you?”

Baji didn’t know how Chifuyu would know that since he’d been following him around the prior nights, and although he always lost him early on, he doubted Chifuyu had time to track both of them down. He would've had to choose between who to follow after classes, Kunigami or him, and he’d obviously chosen Baji.

“Did you,” he asked again, his tone more demanding as Kunigami didn’t answer. “Where did you go—where did you stay? Did you meet someone, is that why you’ve been sneaking around?” He took a step towards her, sniffing at her head, “You smell like guy soap.”

“It’s cheap soap,” Kunigami corrected, shoving her palm into his nose and pushing him away. “You should have replaced the bottle of shampoo you ruined if you didn’t want me smelling like cheap soap. I’m not wasting what little money I have on flowery scented shampoo.”

“You think I’m stupid enough to buy that excuse?” When Kunigami didn’t back down or answer, Chifuyu groaned. “Fine, whatever, it’s cheap soap, if that’s what you’re going with. But don’t think I didn’t notice you sneaking back home at weird hours—hey, don’t just walk away!”

“You can go to school on your own,” Kunigami had turned away from Chifuyu, walking down the road without looking back. “I’m not going to stand here and be interrogated by a hypocrite.”

”Hachi,” he called out worriedly, looking from Kunigami to the road behind him. He did so several times, searching around every corner before finally mumbling a curse under his breath and running after Kunigami.

“Hachiko, wait up!”

Chapter Text

Baji learned that it wasn't a daily routine that had led Chifuyu to wake up early and accompany Kunigami to school that morning.

It wouldn't be weird or out of place for the two to be together during those early hours. They were childhood friends after all, and Chifuyu had said he’d walked her home from school on several occasions. So, why wouldn't he also walk her to school?

“It’s simple”, Chifuyu had explained later, “Hachiko wakes up at ungodly hours and roams the street like some vengeful yokai. I’m not dealing with that.”

Translation: he wasn't a morning person and Kunigami was.

Chifuyu had wanted to say more about this yokai explanation, Baji had noticed it in the way his eyes roamed around and how he clenched his teeth, but something kept his mouth tightly shut. As if he said anymore, he would give away something he shouldn't.

In actuality, Chifuyu had noticed how much attention Baji had directed towards his friend, and since Baji didn't want to give him the time of day, Chifuyu realized he'd probably stick around if Kunigami was there. Where ever she was, Baji was sure to be close by and vice versa.

It was the perfect plan; he would bait Baji to come to him, to stay just a bit longer than he usually did, and with the perfect lure only Chifuyu could provide.

So he'd woken up early, earlier than Kunigami even, and demanded they walk to school together. When she'd refused, which Chifuyu had guessed she would, he'd followed her anyway knowing damn well she wouldn't ditch him.

Except she had tried to in the end, but that was a different story altogether that he would need to look into before sharing his findings with Baji. Because, what if he was wrong in his assumptions and Kunigami found out he was snooping, what then?

Chifuyu had completely forgotten that Kunigami didn't know Baji was involved in a gang and that she had never seen him without his Poindexter glasses or his hair down. He also hadn't thought that Baji would show up like that since he was headed to school, so, in his humble opinion, he technically hadn't been in the wrong.

His fault was not thinking things through, or thinking ahead, and possibly not thinking at all…

He apologized.

And apologized again when he’d left Baji with no other choice but to try and beat some sense into him, because he’d also forgotten to think about Kunigami that evening. Their business had nothing to do with her, absolutely nothing, but she would see him the next day and she would wonder.

Both boys had gone rigid when Kunigami spotted them together, momentarily ignoring Baji as she reached up to softly run her hand down Chifuyu’s cheek and mutter a simple, “these are fresh,” before Chifuyu launched into an explanation of what happened.

Complete lies. All of it.

Chifuyu caught off guard? Not possible. Jumped by multiple people, perhaps, but he would've bragged to her instantly about how he'd taken them all out or at least some of them and not waited for her to see him like this. No, she didn't believe his explanation.

Baji had been sweating with anxiety when he'd witnessed her interrogation of Chifuyu firsthand. Not once did she look away from his eyes, and neither did Chifuyu look away, knowing that small movement alone would give him away.

It was only a matter of time for her to sniff out the truth, Baji fretted, even if neither of them spoke or thought about what had happened, but Kunigami had dropped the issue that same day. Maybe she had read something in Chifuyu’s eyes, or caught something the second she had glimpsed passed him at Baji.

Perhaps she thought this fight had been more serious than the others, for a different reason that Chifuyu couldn't say in case someone overheard them. Whatever the reason, it had stopped her from asking him anymore questions. She had even become a bit more tolerant of Chifuyu being around Baji, although she still kept a close eye on both of them.

It helped a lot that Chifuyu had stopped spouting crazy things out of the blue every time he saw Baji, which Baji was sure Kunigami had interpreted Chifuyu’s previous gloating to be. It also helped that Chifuyu always made sure all three of them were together, because even though he was still annoying at fuck, Baji couldn’t say no to his invitations when Kunigami always agreed to accompany him.

If anything, Baji would say she had gotten more attached to Chifuyu than she had been before the beating. Her eyes would check his wounds every time he appeared, her hands would always reach for him to make sure he had put ointment on, and always stuck a cute puppy band-aid when one of the cuts would open.

The same anxiety from before would pulse through his veins then, and he would ignore it. Ignore that stabbing feeling like he ignored the way Kunigami would now leave the campus earlier than they did, almost as soon as the bell rang.

Ignored how she slowly stopped helping other students after classes, how she no longer volunteered to clean the classroom once school was out, and even refused to participate in after school activities when invited. She had probably gotten tired of always having to stay extra hours and she needed a break.

But he couldn’t ignore when she’d refused Chifuyu’s invitation to go home together, Baji included. They would stop at some convenience store and he would buy her whatever she wanted, something Chifuyu had told Baji Kunigami would never refuse. She loved being spoiled with free drink, sweets, and food in general, but she had refused.

“I can’t today, but you go ahead,” Kunigami had said over her shoulder, “I have somewhere to be.” And she had left without another word, walking away without once looking back at them to see if they would follow her.

She either knew they wouldn’t or knew she could easily lose them.

“Somewhere to—what the hell?” Chifuyu grumbled, cursing under his breath as he kicked a rock out of the road. “Where does she need to be at this hour that we can’t go? Doesn’t she know a girl can’t be walking around at night alone. It’s dangerous!”

“Didn’t you say it wasn’t any of your business what she did,” Baji asked, although he agreed with Chifuyu.

Isn't that what he'd explained last time, that Kunigami had always asked Chifuyu to walk her home before because she hadn’t wanted to be alone so late in the day? Yet here she was ditching them for whatever reason during the same hours he’d walk her home.

“It’s not unless she’s doing something stupid,” Chifuyu shot back. “And my gut’s telling me that she is. Why doesn’t she take me along if it’s nothing weird?”

“Is she obligated to invite you everywhere she goes? It’s not like you tell her everything you do or take her everywhere you go.” Especially if that meant taking her to a Toman meeting, or possibly a fight.

“That’s different. I’m not a tiny school girl.” He thought for a second before adding, “or have a *fight me* face that gets me in trouble. Besides, Hachi is a goody-goody that goes home early, takes a bath, finishes all her homework while eating some instant spicy ramen for dinner, and goes to bed before all the street lights are on.”

That was oddly specific.

The type of specifics you got when you’d seen the person do those things on the daily.

“I gotta go,” Chifuyu told him, jogging towards the direction Kunigami had disappeared in, Baji following close behind. There was no way in hell he would let Chifuyu go in search of Kunigami alone.“I hafta know what Hachi is up to and if she’s gotten into any trouble. You don’t have to come, you know.”

“I’m going,” he left no room for argument.

“What if she figures out your—”

“It's not like we’re going to a fight.” At least he hoped they didn’t have to fight, because that would mean Kunigami had truly gotten into some serious trouble. “We’re only going to see where she’s going, right?”

Chifuyu shrugged, “If we can find her.”

They didn’t find Kunigami.

Although they hadn’t followed her instantly, going after her about five minutes after she had left, Chifuyu said he was sure what path she had taken and Baji had believed him. But really, after going around in what he thought were circles, he figured out Chifuyu didn’t have a damn clue on where she could’ve gone.

Before Baji could beat the shit out of him again, Chifuyu had pulled out his cell phone with a nervous laugh.

“Maybe I should just call her…”

Baji didn’t know how long they had been looking for or how much land they had covered, but the sun had set hours ago and they were now somewhere near their apartment complex. Maybe Chifuyu thought Kunigami had turned around and returned home, they were close to where he’d seen them together that one morning after all.

“She’s not picking up,” Chifuyu said, redialing her number and placing the phone back to his ear. “It keeps going to voice mail. She never turns it off and always picks up by the second ring, maybe the third ring, but that’s pushing it. Dammit, Hachiko.”

Chifuyu was becoming physically distressed now, hanging up the call and redial faster and faster each time that he didn’t give Baji the chance to suggest he should call her. Maybe she would pick up his call. Maybe.

“Come on, Kumiko, pick up, pick up,” he heard Chifuyu whisper, followed by something way too low for him to make out.

Baji had already ripped out his hair band from his hair and put up his glasses in his school bag, annoyed that he’d had to keep them on far longer than he was used to. Pinching the bring of his nose to try and kill the headache he felt coming on, he turned away from the cursing Chifuyu.

Maybe it was better to ask Kunigami directly what was going on than following her like some stalkers. She would probably tell them what she was up to, or hint at it and it would be nothing strange. Then again, even having a part-time job would be weird for her.

He let out a deep sigh, dropping his hand to his side as he lifted his eyes to the road, and he froze. Chifuyu’s cursing was blocked out as Baji focused on the small figure walking slowly towards them, her eyes cast down and one hand up to hold on to the wall beside her.

Even from this distance, Baji could see Kunigami was missing her glasses and that she was using the wall to guide her steps. He could also see the blue and black color forming beneath her left eye. Her cut and bleeding, swollen bottom lip. The deep bruise on her nose with a small white strip covering it, something used to stop a nosebleed.

Her gaze rose from the floor, locking with him for a split second, and he saw the black coloring on her face was not only beneath her eye but curving around her face to her ear. As if someone had punched her.

Baji felt his blood boil.

“Chifuyu,” he called, sprinting towards Kunigami. He felt more than heard Chifuyu running behind him, emitting the same rage as he felt at seeing Kunigami hurt and helpless.

Chapter Text

“Hachi!”

Although it was Baji who had arrived first, it was Chifuyu’s hand Kunigami took hold of.

Her eyes had looked up at Baji for a split second, pupils dilating more than they already were as she tried to see who he was, to see if she knew him, if she should trust him. Judging that she couldn't, her hand reached out to Chifuyu, her fingers wrapping tightly around his wrist and pulling him to her side.

“What the hell happened!”

Letting go of the wall, Kunigami’s hand took hold of Chifuyu’s elbow, using him for support as she continued walking down the path. She didn’t ignore Baji precisely, her eyes would glare back at him every once in a while as they walked, but she hadn’t said a word about him or to him.

“Aren’t you going to answer,” Chifuyu demanded, looking down at Kunigami who had now wrapped her entire arm around Chifuyu’s, pressing her school bag between them. She would press closer to him when the lights dimmed and she’d stumbled in her steps, her eyes always darting back to glare at Baji as if he had been the one to trip her.

Baji would hold her gaze until she looked away during those occasions. He hadn't done anything wrong, he had simply reached out to her every time she would stumble, and that alone didn't warrant her hostile glares.

If they were glares at all.

Chifuyu slowly led them to a nearby convenience store, sitting Kunigami down on an empty table beside the building as he motioned for Baji to come closer.

He didn’t think that was a good idea, not by the way Kunigami’s burning gold eyes had snapped up at Chifuyu's voice, narrowing into a fierce glare that had Baji thinking she was going to bite if he so much as spoke to her.

“She can’t see shit without her glasses,” Chifuyu finally explained as Baji cautiously took a seat next to Kunigami. “And her glare gets even worse because of it—it’s your favorite nerd, Hachi. Stop trying to set him on fire.”

Almost instantly, Kunigami’s eyes softened into that light honey he was so used to, but not by much. Her pupils were still dilated, eyes still narrowed towards Baji, but it didn’t seem like she could make him out. At least not in specifics.

She couldn't make out that his hair was down or that his glasses were gone, that his shirt was untucked and with three buttons undone because they had been running around and it was hot.

She couldn’t see him.

She wasn't even trying to make out his image as they sat silently side by side. Her face was down, her loose bangs covering her wounds, her arms tightly clutching the bag to her chest as if someone would try to take it away.

Baji wanted to reach out again. To tuck the hair covering her face behind her ear and get a better look of the damage. He was sure it hurt. It had to, yet Kunigami didn't look bothered at all.

With a quick ‘take care of her, Baji-san,’ Chifuyu had left the two of them alone, rushing into the store for anything that would lower the swelling. This predicament shouldn't feel weird to Baji, he spent most of his school hours alone with her after all, but here–here–he was utterly alone with Kunigami.

At night.

ALONE!

Only the sound of crickets chirping around them, the moths flying into the buzzing light post, and Baji’s fingers tapping against the table filled the heavy silence between them. He didn't know what to ask or if he should ask her anything. Maybe it was better to wait for Chifuyu and let him do all the talking in case he shoved his foot in his mouth.

But would she tell Chifuyu anything? She hadn't told him about those other thugs, or where she had been going earlier in the day, so would she really speak up now?

“Kunigami-san,” she sat up straighter at Baji’s voice, recognition filling her face as he called to her. Maybe she hadn't believed Chifuyu that it was him, not completely. Maybe she saw or sensed something different about him that made her doubt.

Whatever it was, it didn't matter, because as soon as she knew it was him, her face lit up and her eyes soften to the sweetest honey glow.

“Are you alright,” he asked warily, noticing how her posture relaxed, how her hands no longer gripped her school bag for dear life, and how her eyes no longer looked like a glare. Not to him. “Does anything hurt?”

It was one of the stupidest questions he could have asked because clearly she wasn’t alright at all and clearly she was hurt.

The bruise on her face was becoming more visible now, darkening as time passed, and although her lip was no longer bleeding, it was still a bright red color of fresh blood. Her broken glasses must be in the school bag she clung to for dear life.

“It’s fine,” she answered, her voice normal. There was no fear or worry or anything to indicate she wasn’t fine or that something bad had happened. Hell, it didn’t even sound like she was in any pain as she reiterated, “I'm fine.”

As if sensing his unease, his disbelief, she quickly added, “It was an accident, Baji-san. We both weren’t looking where we were going and this happened.”

“Crashing into someone doesn’t cause these injuries,” Baji responded, raising his hand to touch her cheek, but he thought better of it. What if his touch made her uncomfortable? What if she flinched away?

But….

He reached for her again, touching the back of his hand carefully to her cheek. Caressing his knuckles against the swell as he pushed away her bangs.

“Looks like someone mistook you for a punching bag,” he said softly, watching as she closed her eyes at his touch, not flinching away but leaning toward him.

Maybe it was because she wanted him to believe she was okay that she allowed him to study the damage, to touch the length of it that ran from the bottom of her cheek, beneath her eye, and to the side of her eyebrow.

“I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Kunigami clarified, eyes still closed. Still very trusting of his touch.

Baji slowly turned his hand, opening his palm fully and cradling her cheek. Kunigami didn't move away as he trailed his thumb over the bruise. Her lashes were dark and so long, touching the top of the bruise and the side of Baji's thumb.

“They were doing something stupid and not paying attention to those around them,” she explained further. “I got hit because of it.”

He pressed down a bit. Just a tiny bit. But Kunigami still didn't flinch or cry out in pain. She simply let him explore to his heart's contents, or until he was assured she was alright.

Baji felt a growl building inside his chest, his hand trembling as he fought back his anger when his thumb trailed down to her lips, but his voice still came out in a deep, displeased rumble, “You call this fine?"

Fresh red blood stained the pad of his thumb.

If Kunigami had not been temporarily blind, she would have seen the rage burning in his eyes. Seen how his teeth dug into his bottom lip to keep his words in check and in the process produced a mirror image of her own wound.

“I'm fine–”

“Fine my ass!” Chifuyu popped out behind her, his hand cupping her chin and pushing her head back so he was looking into her open eyes from above.

“You have no ass.”

Kunigami had been a second away from looking straight at Baji’s face with only centimeters away, and there was no doubt that she'd be able to make him out from that distance.

The worried eyes Chifuyu directed at Baji as he pressed an ice-pop over Kinigami’s eye, forcing her to close both once again, confirmed his suspicions.

“You have a busted lip, a black eye, and probably had a bloody nose,” Chifuyu looked down at Kunigami once again. He had wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her further back so he could poke at a very light bruise on the tip of her nose. “Anything else that we can’t see?”

“Broken glasses,” Baji offered, getting a glare from Kunigami from beneath the ice-pop. A real one, probably. Her eyes were too covered to tell.

“What happened? No lies,” Chifuyu demanded, loosening his grip on her shoulders as Baji backed away to a distance Kunigami would have trouble seeing.

“I’m not lyin—” her sentence was cut short when Chifuyu smeared some ointment on her busted lip with the pad of his thumb. After trying to pull away and failing, she snapped at him with her teeth as a warning and continued, “It really was an accident. And it wasn’t even a punch to the face, it was an entire forearm.”

“And these,” Baji asked, taking hold of her hand and lifting it to where both he and Chifuyu could see.

Kunigami didn't pull away from him, instead she watched how her hand fit in his. How his hand engulfed hers completely, how his finger slid between hers and stretched out her hand to show the damage there.

Her knuckles were scraped raw, covered in dried blood that could easily be hers or someone else's. Much like her face, there were bruises already forming on her pale skin.

“How the hell did you get these,” Chifuyu demanded, more in awe than anything else. He was worried sure, Baji could tell as much from his face, but he could also tell that Chifuyu was already piecing together what could've happened.

“Did you punch someone,” he asked instead, taking advantage of Baji holding her hand still to smear the stinging ointment on her knuckles.

“Twice. In the throat,” she responded, her lips twitching at Chifuyu's treatment, but she didn't pull away. “It looked easy enough.”

“Easy enough? You don't even know how to punch, dummy,” Chifuyu grumbled under his breath, not believing she actually tried to punch someone. “Did you knock them out at least?” He asked, placing a butterfly bandaid on her lip as Baji began to wrap her hand in bandages.

She gave a defeated sigh, “No. The guy who gave me this,” she tried to point at her face but Baji didn't let go of her hand, the back of his hand touching her cheek instead,“did.”

“There were two!” They both asked, actually managing to have her flinch away at their loud shout, but their hands stopped her. Chifuyu was still holding her chin and Baji was still holding her hand.

“He was arguing with three wannabe thugs,” Kunigami explained, trying to push away Chifuyu's hand but he didn't budge. “I tried to ignore it but the tiny one pulled back for a punch or something and I got hit.”

As Kunigami spoke, Chifuyu produced a patch and placed it on her face to obscure most of the bruise, and to keep her from getting a clear view of Baji. He wrapped the ice-pop around her head, pressing it against the bruise again. Kunigami didn't protest.

She continued her story as Chifuyu prepped some instant ramen he'd brought out from the store. Baji hadn't noticed the cups steaming in front of them until Kunigami reached for the spicy, lime shrimp flavor ramen.

“When he tried to apologize for hitting me, those thugs charged at him from behind. I punched one in the throat, and this happened, but he didn't stop, so I did it again. Tiny noticed and knocked him out with a kick.”

Kunigami hadn't pulled her hand away from Baji, instead she used her right hand to accept the ramen, open it with the same hand while Baji held it down, and dig in as if she were starved.

“But some girls screamed, some police passing by heard, and we bolted from there.” She slurped her ramen, and probably felt Chifuyu's judging look because she continued. “He grabbed me and took off. I had no say until he noticed my broken glasses.”

Another slurp of her ramen, the spice turning her lips a bright red. Baji hadn't even touched his, too preoccupied with her story and making sure to have water at hand for her to drink. Didn't the cut on her lip burn?

“I told him if he was sorry, he should at least walk me part way home. So, he did,” she placed the chopsticks on top of her ramen before reaching to remove the ice-pop. It was only then that she pulled her hand away from Baji's. “And then you two found me. I'm fine. Just a bit blind, but that's nothing new.”

“You're blinder now,” Chifuyu stated, pushing a ramen cup towards Baji as Kunigami placed the ice-pop on Chifuyu's hand. “Does it feel a little bit better now? It looks like the swelling’s down.”

“I can't feel part of my face,” she answered, reaching for her ramen cup with both hands as Baji dug into his. “Only my lip burns.”

“Because of the spicy ramen, dumbass.”

“You bought it!”

“It's the only instant ramen you eat!” Chifuyu shot back, holding Kunigami's one eye glare, which was actually pretty terrifying. “I don't know if you're glaring at me or just looking.”

It almost looked like she was going to stick her tongue out at him, but she instead continued to finish up her ramen cup and push the empty container towards Chifuyu.

She quickly got to work on the melting ice-pop which she said shouldn't go to waste because of something stupid. Chifuyu rolled his eyes at this.

“Do you need us to walk you home,” Baji asked as Kunigami pulled at his empty ramen cup to hand to Chifuyu.

“We're taking you home,” Chifuyu stated once he threw the trash in the bin. “Baji-san was just asking out of courtesy.”

Baji wasn't going to say it outright, but Chifuyu was right. He had intended to walk her home whether she agreed or not, and he knew Chifuyu would be on his side. She wasn't in any condition to be walking on her own, she'd clearly demonstrated that the moment she had used the wall as support.

“I don't need you to hold my hand–”

“Clearly you do,” Chifuyu argued back. “Even if it's just a few blocks away. And what if you stumble on the stairs, what then?”

“They have a railing to hold on to.”

“What if you miss your floor and get into the wrong apartment? There's some real weirdos in the building, you know.”

“And I'm starting to think you might be one of them.”

“What?!”

Maybe, just maybe, Baji should have been paying more attention to the back and forth they were having, but he had been a bit too preoccupied to notice the signs.

Kunigami had begun to stand, reaching out her hand to him to steady herself as she argued with Chifuyu, and he had gladly taken hold of her. He'd made sure to tuck her hand against his arm. She blinked curiously around her, still unsure of where she should go, and her hand would tighten around his upper arm, her body leaning into his for support.

He was following Chifuyu who led the way, but his eyes had always been on Kunigami. She kept her eyes forward, trailing after Chifuyu as he exaggerated his motions in order for her to see him. Her bruised eye was still covered but it didn't look as bad as it had.

It was only when they began to climb the stairs that he noticed; this was his apartment complex. The building both he and Chifuyu lived in, that's where they had entered. Was Chifuyu taking Kunigami to his own place?

“Fourth floor,” Chifuyu called out to Baji over his shoulder, his expression a bit sheepish, and as the information sunk in, Baji heard his clarification. “Hachi lives on the fourth floor.”

Fourth–one floor beneath him.

Well…fuck.

Chapter Text

“Do you think he doesn’t know how to count,” Kunigami asked, as sharped tongue as ever when it came to Chifuyu. “Why are you repeating yourself?”

”Because,” Chifuyu snapped back, facing forward as they entered the building. “Baji-san might get the wrong idea that I’m taking you to my place and we don’t need that—watch your step.”

That wasn’t it. Baji knew this was Chifuyu’s way of letting him know, even if very, very late, that Kunigami shared the same living space as they did. That there was a possibility of her running into them when going or returning from gang activities. That there was a chance she had already seen him out of his dorky school get-up but had not recognized him.

And maybe, maybe, it was also to divulge that Kunigami visited his place regularly if not on a daily basis. Or at least used to, when he had been home and not running after Baji trying to join Toman, and then actually being around Toman. Kunigami’s response didn’t hint at it, they asserted it.

“And what if you were, what's wrong with that,” she demanded, her hand tightening around Baji’s arm, her fingers digging into his blazer hard enough that he could feel her nails. “Or did you already swap me for Baji-san?”

Baji pretended not to hear that tinge of anger in Kunigami’s voice, because even if he did acknowledge it, he didn’t know what she could be angry about. If she was angry at Chifuyu for whatever reason, it wasn’t any of his business, and he doubted she was angry at him…right?

He instead focused on taking slow, small steps as they went up the stairs, finally pulling his arm away from her hands after a couple of minutes and taking hold of her school bag she’d had a death grip on from the store. He swung it over his shoulder before wrapping that same arm around her, bringing Kunigami closer. She didn’t seem to mind the new position and even pressed into the side of his body as they walked.

This way was better. Baji didn’t have to worry as much that she might fall back at any second. She could lean freely into him and wobbled less as she kept her eyes on the ground or glaring up at Chifuyu’s back. She could no longer dig her fingernails into him when Chifuyu defended why she didn’t see him as much even though they lived in the same building, yet, somehow, he always had time for Baji no matter the time of day or night.

“Wasn’t it you who ditched us to go who knows where only to get beat up?” Chifuyu snapped back, stopping midstep and turning back to continue his scolding. “You’re the one that's always ditched me—” At the sight of them, he stopped talking.

His back had been to them so he hadn’t seen Baji switch his hold on Kunigami. He hadn’t seen that they had been walking all snuggled up behind him, with Kunigami’s hands now holding on to Baji’s chest and back for dear life as they walked. Baji had no doubt that it looked like they were hugging each other.

“It’s easier and much faster,” Baji said, looking away from Chifuyu as his cheeks began to burn. And then quickly turned to face the wall when Kunigami looked up at him. “This way there’s no chance of her falling or tripping.”

“Right,” Chifuyu gave him a shit-eating grin before turning away. “So Hachi won’t fall. Whatever you say.”

“At least he helps, you just cheer me on from afar and hope for the best.”

“You’ll learn nothing if I baby you when you mess up. Besides, I’ll always catch you when you fall and pick you up when you’re down, so you’ve nothing to worry about, Hachi.”

Chifuyu was right, there were some real weirdos in the building.

It was something Baji had never noticed before, probably because he rarely visited other floors or started conversations with his neighbors. He hardly ever spent much time in the building as it was, too busy with Toman to ever notice anything, or anyone, strange, but from today onward, he'd definitely notice them. At the very least, he would notice this one.

Chifuyu had shoved Kunigami back into Baji the moment they had stepped out onto the fourth floor and she had tried to step towards her apartment. She couldn’t have seen why, and Baji had kept his eyes on her the entire time the moment she’d crashed into his chest.

He hadn’t noticed anything out of place at first. Not until he looked up and saw Chifuyu take a step forward to block them from view. More specifically, to block Kunigami from view.

“The hell do you think you’re doing,” Chifuyu demanded, glaring at the man that had been standing in front of what Baji assumed was Kunigami's apartment, his hand twisting the door knob repeatedly. His movements stopped the moment his eyes landed on the openly angry blond. “Your floor is down one more flight of stairs, in case you forgot.”

“You don’t say. I could’ve sworn I was on the correct floor,” came the soft-spoken words that, oddly enough, caused Kunigami to stiffen beside Baji in a second. The man slowly dropped his hand from the door and gave a sigh, “My mistake.”

“Mistake? One time is a mistake. Two times is a pattern,” Chifuyu hissed. “Three times. Three times is something else entirely.”

“You don’t say,” was his response, an apologetic smile pulling at his mouth. “But it really is a mistake. Too many late nights at campus, the lack of sleep, mixed with group outings, you know—you’re kids, you wouldn’t know. Sorry for assuming. But all floors and doors do look alike.”

“If your key doesn’t open the door on the first try,” Baji said from behind Chifuyu, because he’d seen him do so before learning that it was not his apartment. He’d seen the man jiggling the doorknob without even having inserted the keys in the first place. “Then it isn’t your apartment. Why try to force yourself in?”

The man’s eyes moved away from Chifuyu, looking over his shoulder at the now furious Baji. Unlike when he saw Chifuyu, there was no recognition in the man’s eyes when he saw Baji. He couldn’t place him as another of the building’s occupants like he could Chifuyu, but was that because he’d seen Chifuyu around the building, or was it because Chifuyu had caught him in the same predicament over and over again?

Had he really tried to enter Kunigami’s apartment three times? Had he tried more times and Chifuyu had only seen him try those three? He would have to ask Kunigami…did he even have the right to ask her about this though?

“You’re new,” came the man’s voice. An odd voice, no longer soft but sharp and probing, but he still wore that irritating smile. “She likes the scary looking types, I see. That’s a shame.”

If he was the weirdo Chiyufu had been referring to earlier, he didn’t really look the part of a weirdo. At least not the typical weirdo anyone could spot from three streets away.

The man didn't look slimy or dirty or dangerous or like some creep general. He looked just some tired but well kept, college age dude in casual clothing with nicely combed hair and scholarly glasses. The type of guy that fits between nerdy and cool that offers private lessons. The type all girls would call handsome and gush all over at first sight.

Yet, there was something off about him. Something that had both Baji and Chifuyu bristling and baring their teeth at him, and Kunigami about a second away from jumping off the railing to escape, or at the very least that’s how Baji saw it.

Kunigami felt so tense beside him. Her eyes flickered from Chifuyu, to him, to the stairs they had exited, then back again to Chifuyu who was the closest to the man. Although they could never focus on anything to actually see, she was still trying to take everything in.

She was so concentrated on surveying any possible exit, that she forgot how close Baji was to her and jumped at his touch when he’d reached for her. Her eyes flickered up at him as he softly pushed her behind him. He pressed a finger to his lips and hoped that she recognized the blurred motion even if she couldn’t see it.

Keep quiet, that’s what he’d motioned for her to do, and stay hidden from view. Kunigami seemed to have understood without him having to say anything or without having full use of her sight. She pressed herself against his back, keeping as quiet as she could to not draw attention to herself.

Baji had no fucking clue what he should do in moments like these; glaring at a man who kept a calm, cool smile plastered on his face even after being caught doing something suspicious. Standing at attention, ready to attack at any moment, with a delinquent-hating girl hiding behind him from a danger neither could see but both felt it seeping into their bodies.

He could feel the adrenaline running through his veins as it did before a fight, but there was no fight here. No rival gang. No enemy.

Unlike when he was with Toman, there wasn’t some obvious danger he could rush into and pummel into oblivion—the fucking guy was still sheepishly apologizing for his mistake—and even if there was, could he do it in front of Kunigami who had no clue who he truly was? What he was capable of.

His thoughts were running wild, he didn’t want to stand here and do nothing, but he also couldn’t punch the guy’s face in when he’d done nothing to warrant it no matter how much he wanted to. And Baji was pretty sure he did deserve it simply for existing and appearing in front of Kunigami.

He was seconds away from rushing forward, taking the bastard by the collar, and hanging him from the railing when he felt a heartbeat against his back. A heartbeat beating in rhythm with his own heart. His heart stuttered and almost stopped when Kunigami lifted her arms to hug him, resting her head on the middle of his back.

She was calming herself and calming him down in the process.

When he peeked at her over his shoulder, Kunigami didn’t look scared or nervous. She looked overly stimulated, with too much energy with nowhere to go or do that she couldn’t stay still for long. But as she rested her head against him and listened to his heart, as she whispered a soft, “Breathe,” Kunigami seemed to calm down with one deep breath, and so did Baji.

“Leave,” it wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order, and they all knew it. Chifuyu had moved to the side when Baji had spoken, and the man had paled just the slightest amount at the tone of his voice. Kunigami had stood as still as a statue, probably waiting to hear his next words, or probably having noticed the change in him as the others had.

“If it was a mistake, then you’ve already apologized enough and don’t need to be here,” he continued, glaring at the man who couldn’t hold his gaze. “So, leave before this becomes a bigger issue.”

“Is that a threat?”

Baji gave him a vicious grin. “We’re kids, remember,” he threw his own words back at him. “How threatening can kids possibly be?”

After what seemed like forever, the man gave one deep sigh and responded with a simple. “I don’t want any trouble. It was a simple mistake that can happen to anyone.” When he lifted his gaze up at Baji and saw the anger once again growing in his eyes, he looked away, moving towards the stairs in silence.

As he passed by, Baji moved along with Kunigami, pressing a hand to her side and pushing her in a way that she would always be behind him as he moved and thus out of sight as the guy exited the floor. Yet, he somehow managed to catch sight of her, just one quick look, and with a sickly sweet smile, he left then with a soft, “Goodnight, Kumiko-chan.”

Baji wanted to kill him. He didn’t know why, but something deep within told him that the man needed to go. Disappear. Stop existing. Because an invisible, growing danger would be hard to evade and even harder to fight against.

“Do you know that guy, Hachi,” Chifuyu quickly demanded as Kunigami unpeeled herself from Baji. His glare, much like Baji’s, trailed after the guy as he’d left and as if something clicked, he turned to Kunigami, “Is that why you had me walking you home?”

Kunigami didn't respond, instead she carefully reached for her school bag, slowly pulling it from Baji as it slid from his arm. Completely ignoring Chifuyu’s glare, she looked through the bag and brought out a small, gold brown chihuahua keychain with two keys hanging from it.

“Aren't you gonna answer,” Chifuyu asked, turning his back to her and pulling out his own set of keys and jamming one into the door before she could offer hers. He took one quick look at the stairs before turning around and pulling on Kunigami’s arm, shoving her inside and motioned for Baji to get in.

He closed the door quietly and turned to Kunigami again. “Well, did he show up more than you told me,” Chifuyu demanded. “More times than I’ve caught him sniffing around here like some rat.”

“What were you going to do if you knew he showed up multiple times after that last time you butted heads with him,” Kunigami asked, expertly moving around the small home even without her glasses.

She’d made it into the living room with both Baji and Chifuyu following close behind and placed her school bag on the couch. Thinking better on it, she pulled it back up again and hugged it to her chest as she moved farther into the apartment.

“So, what, you're now on a first name basis,” Chifuyu called after her, following close behind as if he’d done so hundreds of times. As if he knew exactly where everything was and was allowed entrance everywhere.

“I don't know who told him my name,” Kunigami answered, going into a room and out of sight from where Baji stood.

He didn’t dare walk farther in like Chifuyu without being asked to do so, and so he stayed between the entrance and living room. The perfect place to keep an eye on both of them without having to crane his neck.

Chifuyu followed after her but didn’t walk into the room she’d entered. He had instead walked past it and to another door at the end of the hallway, motioning for Baji to take this time to nerd himself up before Kunigami got a good look at him and then entered the room.

Baji listened and began to pull his hair back tightly, ignoring the small voice in his head that nagged him about Chifuyu owning an extra pair of keys to Kunigami’s home. That nagged him about how Chifuyu walked into her home like he owned the place.

He had been placing his glasses on his face when he heard the sound of rushing water coming from the room Chifuyu had entered. And he ignored that too.

They were friends. Childhood friends. Childhood friends that didn’t necessarily speak kindly to one another or treated each other all that kindly at times. If they had spent days at each other’s homes, he was sure they’d be ordering each other around depending on whose home they were in.

There was no doubt in his mind that they would treat their visits like a territory dispute, testing how much they could get away with in the other's home. But it had been years at this point, so maybe they took more liberties now.

Like Chifuyu starting a bath?

Why?

He didn’t have the experience to understand what the hell was going on. The closest friend he had of the opposite sex was Emma, but he’d met Mickey before he’d ever met her so she was basically a plus one. It wasn't the same as your sole childhood friend being a girl.

When he visited the Sano household, it was to see Mickey not Emma, and it wasn’t like he could do with her what Chifuyu did with Kunigami. She was the little sister of the Tokyo Majin’s leader, there would be hell to pay.

“What the hell is she doing?” Baji jumped at Chifuyu’s voice, lifting his gaze to see the blond looking over at what he guessed was Kunigami’s bedroom. “Isn’t she out yet? Hachi!”

No answer.

“Hachi,” he called out again. “The bath water is ready. Clean up those wounds so I can dress them properly before you lose an eye!”

Yeah, these two were weird.

There was no way in hell their relationship was a normal one. No way. Then again, he had nothing to compare this relationship to other than his own with Emma, because what other girl was in his life? It was only Emma and now…and now Kunigami.

“Did you hear me!”

“Stop shouting,” came Kunigami’s voice as she quickly exited her room and entered the bathroom. She continued speaking behind the closed door. “You’re going to get me in trouble with the neighbors.”

Why did it sound like this wasn't the first time Chifuyu started a bath for her?

“That’ll buy us some time,” Chifuyu brought him back from his thoughts. Once he made sure Kunigami wasn’t going to pop her head out from the bathroom, Chifuyu motioned for Baji to follow him into the living room.

“Buy us time for what exactly?”

“For me to clarify some things so you’ll stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you want to break me in two and throw me out from two different windows.”

“I’m not—”

“You are,” he affirmed, taking a seat on the floor. Baji did the same, taking a seat across from Chifuyu as the blond reached for a small bag hidden beside the couch and placed it on the coffee table between them.

Chifuyu's explanations came rapidly, shooting out of his mouth one after another that Baji could hardly keep up with what he was saying let alone understand what he was talking about.

“Sleepovers were common when we were younger, depending on our mothers’ needs. She was a paranoid little brat—still is—that reasoned we needed to know the layout of our homes completely. Just in case.

She never explained what that ‘in case' was so don't ask because I still don't know.

Hachi didn’t give me the keys, her mother did. For emergencies. And because sometimes she forgets her own and she doesn't want to bother her precious and studious little daughter that can do no wrong.

Which isn’t entirely true, she's as much of a black kettle as we are, she just doesn't look it. Well, maybe a little less now that we're in middle school, but still, she’s a black mini pot at most. That’s why the number one rule here is to get cleaned up and patched up as quickly as possible. Before any mothers find out.

Lastly, Hachi basically lives here on her own, independent from any adults. So, when it’s needed, her place is home base, a makeshift clinic, a serve-yourself kitchen, or just a hideout. Got it?”

He did not. He did not get any of it. This didn't clarify anything at all. Worst of all, he didn't even know where to start with his questions.

While Chifuyu began to pull items out of the bag he had grabbed, which he saw now was a first-aid kit, Baji tried to rearrange his thoughts. He needed to focus on the most important thing Chifuyu had just said. The one thing he had not thought about. Not even when he'd entered the empty apartment and Kunigami hadn’t said the customary ‘I’m home.’

“Her mother,” he started, but didn't know what to ask or how. Where was she?

“Her mother,” Chifuyu paused, probably thinking how to word it, “works strange hours and can’t be here all that often. She wants to though. Be here, I mean. She knows it’s dangerous for a girl to be on her own and worries. She worries a lot. So she gave me the keys for emergencies, even if she lied to Hachi about it being for her own sake. It makes her feel at ease and I don't mind keeping an eye out for our Hachiko.”

Was that the reason the apartment was so empty, because only one person trully lived here? If Chifuyu had made himself at home enough to call it a hideout, that meant Kunigami’s mother rarely visited, if at all.

There wasn’t much in the apartment, at least not in the living room which only contained a secondhand loveseat with old, mismatched pillows, a small, scratched and marked up coffee table, and an even smaller, barely visible altar on the floor on one corner of the room.

The place looked like someone had just moved in, bringing only what they considered the most important and necessary things at the time, and leaving everything else behind. The unimportant. The unneeded.

Baji had never been inside a girl's home before, he still wasn’t counting Emma, and never one that had the run of the place at such a young age. But that really didn’t matter, he had been expecting something different. Something that screamed Kunigami, a place filled with things that would make him smile because of course she would have something like that lying around.

He had expected books of every genre, but more specifically of school materials, and study sheets for each class scattered on the table. Maybe some half eaten snacks, small, worn out pencils and erasers, and a whole bunch of highlighters. A television placed in the living room in front of the table with all those things, with something nerdish playing on it. For when she needed a break of whatever she was studying.

He had expected more pairs of shoes at the entryway, like her parent’s shoes, cute fluffy sandals she didn’t want anyone to find out about, several pairs of worn out running shoes, because she had been on the track team, and her school shoes. He didn’t think it would just be three pairs of shoes; hers, his, and Chifuyu’s.

The place was too bare to actually be called home.

There were no certificates, no medals or trophies like he thought someone as smart as Kunigami would have and her parents would love to show off at every corner. There were no framed photographs on the walls or decorative plants on the floor or window sill.

It felt empty.

“How often is she not alone,” he asked, not wanting to pry into her life but wary of someone her age living on her own. “How is she able to get what she needs?”

Chifuyu hummed for a second, getting the first aid supplies ready on the table. “Chiwa-san usually comes and drops off rent money,” he finally said. “And whatever is left after tuition is for groceries. Whatever is left after that I guess is pocket money. Hachi doesn’t splurge on anything though.”

Her mother worked irregular hours for not that much pay, and Kunigami was able to manage all the finances for the apartment without going under somehow. How was she not overwhelmed by all of this? Adding to this her school work, always getting top grades while taking care of a home and herself couldn’t be easy.

Before he had the chance to ask anything else, mainly on why Chifuyu called Kunigami a black kettle like them—because asking about her living situation felt too invasive—the sound of a door creaking open caused Chifuyu to stiffen.

“One more thing,” Chifuyu rushed to add before Kunigami got to them. Before Baji saw her. “Hachi is big on hand-me-downs. My mother did it without asking me first. I can't take them back because I’m damn sure she’ll fight me if I try.”

He was rambling and Baji didn't understand why. Not until Kunigami entered the room and took a seat next to a very panicked Chifuyu who refused to look at Baji.

“You made yourself at home, I see,” were her first words to Baji, which he had a hard time hearing. He was distracted. Very, very distracted.

Kunigami had a new set of glasses, the same shape and color as the ones she had refused to say were broken, and her hair was down. It looked even more like purin when slightly wet and unbound, falling over her face to cover the few bruises there, and down passed her shoulders.

Her face was flushed a deep pink due to the hot bath water, as were the tips of her fingers and the palms of her hands, which he saw when she began to touch the items Chifuyu had laid out and he’d quickly slapped her away.

“You’re gonna poke an eye out if I let you do it. Just sit there and don’t bite.” Kunigami scoffed at Chifuyu’s words but listened, settling herself next to him as he pulled back the long sleeves of her shirt.

No, not her shirt. It was too large to be her shirt, engulfing her completely and making her look twice as small. Too big that the elastic on the neck and wrists weren’t able to hold on to her at all, which helped Chifyu when he began to find the smallest of scrapes on her arms.

The soft cream color of the shirt made her flushed skin glow, her eyes shine brighter gold, and instantly Baji understood why Chifuyu was so frantic about saying she liked hand-me-dows.

Her clothes were not only far too big for her, but too worn. Overly worn. The soft, faded cream color of the shirt mixed with the loose, once dark black pants now turning grey, that stayed on due to the tight elastic on the waist and ankles, weren’t her clothes at all. They hadn’t been bought with her in mind.

They were Chifuyu’s clothes.

Just how close were these two?! Not only did she borrow his gym clothes at school, now she wore his daily clothes as if they were her own. But, no, that wasn’t it. Although the clothes were far too big for Kunigami, they looked far too small for Chifuyu.

That's what he meant by hand-me-downs. He'd outgrown them.

“Would you like some tea,” Kunigami asked politely, blinking her lashes up at him as Chifuyu fumbled with her hair. He was trying to get a better look at the bruises that were now a darker color. “Water? A snack? I think I have sweets somewhere in the kitchen.”

Maybe he was going crazy, but her voice sounded far sweeter outside of school. Softer. Her entire image looked softer with that too big shirt, baggy pants, loose hair, cute puppy bandaids on her nose and arms, and her own home as the background.

“Do you really,” Chifuyu asked, taking her glasses off and pushing her hair back as he began to place antiseptic cream on her cheek, the side of her face, and part of her forehead. “You never ask if I want anything.”

“You haven't replaced what you ate last time,” Kunigami snapped back, closing her eyes as Chifuyu inspected her bruised one. “You're banned from the pantry until you do.”

Chifuyu grumbled something about favoritism as Kunigami opened one eye to look at Baji before she spoke.

“I have instant green tea,” she told him, and he felt something being squeezed inside his chest. It’s not like she was actually looking at him. She couldn’t even see him right now! “I don't have enough cups for all three of us, but you can use mine. I'll use his.”

“What am I gonna use,” Chifuyu pressed another bandaid on her face.

“I don't remember offering you any tea.”

“You can bring a cup and leave it here for next time,” Chifuyu told Baji, as if this were his place. Kunigami had begun to fight him when he poked around her bruised eye. “Hachi won't mind.”

“Next time,” he asked, watching closely for Kunigami’s reaction. Was she against it? Did Chifuyu’s invitation count as hers also? “There's gonna be a next time?”

“Of course there is,” Chifuyu dropped his hand from Kunigami’s eyes, slamming a fist on the table and making it wobble. “We need to have a stake out for that creepy bastard! If not today, another day!”

“Baji-san doesn’t have time to waste here. He needs to study for future exams,” Kunigami told him, her eyes trailing Chifuyu's hand as he took hers. They were scrapped but not enough to produce the amount of blood they he’d originally seen on them.

It hadn't been her blood on them.

“He has to get home,” she clarified as Chifuyu slapped another puppy bandaid, this time on her knuckles.

“Hachi,” Chifuyu gave a dramatic sigh. “He literally lives above you. Like right above. He's got plenty of time to waste on you, right, Baji-san?”

Baji felt his face burn. Did Chifuyu really expect him to answer that truthfully?

“So you are new,” Kunigami turned her attention to him again, and again he felt that tight squeeze in his chest. “I didn't know there was a new neighbor.”

Relief washed over him at the same time he saw it fill Chifuyu's eyes. She hadn't seen him. Not the real him. Or this fake.

“I'm not all that new,” was all he could manage, turning away from her probing eyes. “But I do live on the fifth floor, and it looks like exactly above your place.”

“Why haven't I even seen you before?”

“Because you're a hermit,” Chifuyu was finishing up her bandaging. “Or you were. Where the hell have you been going off to that you got into this mess? And almost got into another mess right after.” He clicked his tongue in annoyment, “You’re like a beacon for trouble.

“Places,” was all Kunigami offered as Chifuyu dropped her hand. She quickly placed her glasses back in before continuing, “Doing things.”

“What places,” he demanded, voicing what Baji was thinking but didn’t dare ask. “What things!”

“Important places doing important things,” she snapped back, pulling her arms away from Chifuyu and covering them up with her overly long sleeves. “Why do you care anyway? You’ve also been disappearing more than usual and you don’t see me tracking you down.”

Could she, Baji thought. If she really wanted to know where Chifuyu was going and who he was with, could she find out? How long would it take her to track him down to Toman meetings if she could?

“I can take care of mysel—”

“So can I!” Her voice was louder than Baji had ever heard before, with an underlying emotion he couldn’t place. Judging by the shy look in her eyes as she pushed her glasses up, Kunigami couldn’t place it either.

“Go home, Chifuyu.” A very soft dismissal. For both of them. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Baji-san.”

Chapter Text

Recollections of Kumiko Kunigami;
an unforeseeable meeting with Toman’s leader,
Manjiro Sano.

—

Kunigami took a deep breath and walked past the two older boys who had gotten her into this ridiculously problematic situation without sparing them a second glance.

She could feel her heart pulsing in her throat as she quickly assessed her current predicament; something had gone wrong on their end and they could no longer take the risk of meeting with her. They couldn't even look at her let alone approach her, and she was now stuck hauling their errand around in her school bag until further notice.

Well, this was great. Just great.

She had told them. Again and again, she had told them. Someone was roaming these parts of the city, someone who didn't belong here, and their method of operation was silent and underhanded. Although she couldn’t prove it with physical evidence, they surely had heard the rumors spoken in whispers here and there that confirmed her suspicions.

They wouldn't notice. Not until it was too late.

Damn them. Damn both of them back to whatever corner of hell they sprouted out from.

Taking another deep breath to calm her nerves, Kunigami circled around, moving to the farthest side of the street that would hide her presence but would allow her to keep an eye out for those brothers. Maybe they would give her a signal of where to go if they saw her still there, but when she raised her eyes to the spot they had been standing minutes before, they were gone.

Kunigami knew she couldn’t loiter around the place for long, a school girl walking around in circles would call too much attention and put several places on alert. Because of this, she continued down the road she had come from instead of searching for those hooligans.

She was regretting having slapped the older one's hand away when he'd tried to call himself through her phone, trying to record his number in her contacts, but only a little. He looked like the annoying type that would call non-stop for no real reason other than to waste her time. He didn't need her number.

If this errand was truly as important as they told her it was, she had till tomorrow at the earliest, and the day after at the latest.

Whoever it was they were working with, they had to know by now about the new batch of rats plaguing the city. The squealing type that was reproducing fast and getting into everything. They had to know that was the reason behind those brothers using a student as their mule.

Maybe these new greedy eyes watching the city grated them a small amount of extra time. It meant whoever was working these streets had to be careful in what they did and how they did it. Taking more precautions to hide themselves and their actions thoroughly, because no one knew who these prying eyes belonged to.

Then again, how important could this errand be if the brothers hadn't looked the least bit worried about her walking away with their belongings and had even ditched her without a word on how to contact them.

They had looked curious, peeved, and then furious at something behind her, but not worried. Judging by how dark their eyes had turned in a split second, Kunigami hadn’t dared to turn around and see what had truly caught their attention. It felt like one wrong move could set them off and she didn’t want to be caught in the middle. Again.

The older brother had flicked his violet eyes toward her just long enough for her to notice his gaze, he blinked slowly, and then looked away; the only signal she got to keep walking before they disappeared.

Now she was peeved and furious and confused and her school bag was dragging her down as if she were carrying stones that grew with each step she took away from their agreed location. By the time she entered a more populated area, she wanted to ditch her school bag in some dark hidden area the brothers could find without her needing to be there.

She couldn’t bring herself to do it and instead walked aimlessly through the streets. Her mind drifted to thoughts on how good were her odds of not only losing her bag but losing the brothers and their shady dealing all together—they weren’t good, not at all—instead of paying attention to where she was going and what was happening around her.

She should have heard the shouting and cursing before she turned the corner of the street. She should have noticed the restlessness of the people around her as they quickly passed her or took longer routes, avoiding whatever the commotion was at the center. She really should have noticed the small blond standing in front of three thugs clearly itching for a fight. A fight he was all too willing to give.

But she had noticed them a little too late. When she was a little too close.

She felt the crack of her glasses before hearing it, felt the sharp ends press into her skin before they began to fall off her face. A thick sticky liquid trailed down slowly after them, a few drops dripping atop the scattered glass on the ground.

Her nose hurt but didn’t feel broken, just wet. Half of her face felt like it had been set on fire. Her ears were ringing so bad that she couldn't make out the words being shouted although the one shouting was right beside her. She couldn’t focus. Couldn’t see. Everything was a blur of yellow, black, red, and grey.

Kunigami felt a hand wrap tightly around her wrist, yanking her to her feet before quickly dropping down to her waist and pulling her against someone’s chest. Cloth was pressed hard against her face to soak up the blood oozing out of her nose and lips, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose to stop the bleeding.

“Dammit.” A boy? Her vision was too blurry, one eye swelling and completely unusable at the moment, but she was sure that whoever was holding her was a boy. “I'm sorry, I didn't see you behind me!”

Kunigami blinked her non-burning eye at him but didn't answer. She couldn't. The sleeve—because she had now taken a hold of his arm—soaking up her blood was pressed not only against her nose but against her burning lips. It hurt just having it against her mouth, if she spoke, the pain would surely be worse.

“Are you okay,” he asked, leaning into her face. Leaning in so close that her vision was able to focus on black, worried eyes looking into hers. “Can you hear me? Ah hell, did I give you a concussion?”

“I'm fine,” she managed, spitting out some of the blood that had made it inside her mouth. It smudged against his palm but he didn't move away, still pinching her nose to stop the bleeding. “You can let go of my nose now. I don't think I'm bleeding.”

“Not risking it,” was his reply, refusing to let go even when Kunigami tried to pull away. He tightened his hold on her waist, “Your eyes are unfocused and pupils too dilated. You're gonna fall on your ass if you keep moving.”

“I'm fine,” she repeated firmly, anger seeping into her voice. He'd heard it, loosening the grip on her waist but not the pinch on her nose. As if that touch alone would hold her in place if her legs gave out.

She began to pull away again, slowly so as not to end up like he’d said she would, and looked up at him as something began to nag her. A feeling deep in her gut that screamed trouble even if she couldn’t see it. Look up. Look up. Look up!

A blur behind the boy. Much larger than both of them. Coming fast. Aiming at his head?

Kunigami reacted without thinking, pressing against the boy as left arm shot up over his shoulder, striking hard against skin. Bone. She heard a sharp gasp. A choking gurgle. But the blur was still standing. Still moving. Reaching for them again.

Shouts from all over caused the ringing in her ears to return, the sound making her head ache every time she moved. But the pain didn’t stop Kunigami from shoving the boy to the side, shooting out her leg and luckily striking an ankle hard enough to hear the same sound her glass gave when broken.

The blur fell forward, allowing her to strike the same spot from before but with her right fist. Still the blur did not fall. It growled some nasty words at her, but it did not fall or stopped moving towards her.

Her head hurt. Her knuckles hurt more. But her pride hurt far worse than both. She had seen Chifuyu take down people twice his size with one right hook. Just one! She’d seen it dozens of times. Why couldn't she?

“You bitch,” she heard the deep rasp of a voice struggling to breathe, and saw the blur launch at her.

Another crack.

A thud.

Screams.

His friends were yelling very creative curses Kunigami had never heard directed at her before. Then came high pitched shrieks of women calling for help, people demanding the police to step in, and for the first time, Kunigami felt the itch of anxiety crawling throughout her body.

Her bag. The errand. She couldn't be caught right now. Even if she wasn't searched, even if they let her off with a warning and didn't call her mother, she couldn't risk getting caught. She couldn't leave any sort of trail behind.

“And that's our cue to get the hell outta here”

Before she could register what he had said or what he was doing, the boy had taken hold of her hand, pulling her away from the shouts and screams at an incredible speed even with her weighing him down.

He was laughing.

He was laughing like this was the funniest thing in the world, an everyday occurrence, with only the bloodied girl in his hands being a new addition. An addition he didn’t seem to mind hauling behind him at all. His childish laugh was worrisome but strangely infectious, forcing a small smile on Kunigami's lips the more she heard it.

It was ridiculous. This entire situation was ridiculous.

She couldn't see who he was or where he was taking her, but it didn't matter. Not at the moment. What mattered was that he’d led her away from the pressing danger, the coming danger, and trust that he wouldn't lead her down the wrong path or a dead end.