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You sighed as you closed your laptop. Once again, a series where the female lead is oversexualised and absolutely useless. No woman in her right mind would fight in heels. No woman in her right mind would fight in a tight leather top with a half undone zipper. A disappointed sigh left your lips as you got up and stretched your back. You were actually interested in the plot of this series! But it is what it is. It always ended this way.
But it wasn’t just pop culture that ruined femininity for you. Everything around you limited your freedom, and it drove you crazy. “Don’t wear too much make-up to school!”, “Why is your shoulder out?” Oh but the obnoxious short skirt, that made disgusting men stare at you on the bus, was fine? Obligatory even?
So as any sane person would do, you did the exact opposite of what everyone envisioned for you. Long black skirt that covered everything (and is surprisingly good at hiding stuff), shirt showing some of your stomach, bold alternative make-up and piercings. You even considered bleaching your eyebrows. But the especially cool thing about your rebellion was how many people followed your lead. First your friends, then some outcasts, and soon you found yourself as the leader of a girl gang
You never meant for this to happen, but looking back it was unavoidable. Sure there were other groups in your school but they were filled with self-obsessed, aggressive, sexist gangster-wannabes who wouldn’t let girls join, because they thought themselves superior. So rebellious girls needed a way to manage their frustrations with the system, and they were more than happy to follow your lead.
However, unlike the mentioned gangs your objective and way of rebellion wasn’t petty crimes and open violence. No, you operated quietly behind the scenes. One or two members in the newspaper club, publishing shaming articles about unfair teachers or incels, members of the student body pushing decisions in your favor, small thiefings from unethical greedy corporations, anonymous tips appearing in the teachers’ office about bullies, and your favorite: graffiti. Throw-ups, pieces and stickers started to wildly appear in your city spreading the same agenda.
Building out a social network with hundreds of like-minded individuals to fight for a better system. That was how you operated. Your agenda: equality for all. Anti-sexism, anti-homophobia, anti-transphobia, anti-racism, eat the rich, save the planet, and whatever else the girls insisted on adding.
The system improved day-by-day and new members joined every week, each with a better idea. The girls trusted each other like family and the founding principle, respect, was always kept. But there was just one thing that bothered you.
An exclusively female gang isn’t that different from an exclusively male gang. The constant bringing up of how guys and men have wronged the members only manifested more hate in the girls’ hearts and would eventually result in radical feminism. Which would never lead to equality.
So for the past while you were looking for guys you could introduce into your system. And while you did find some, you had ambivalent feelings about them. Some were already in gangs but seemed uncomfortable with the obvious sexism in those organisations, some agreed with one of your principles but not the other, and some just looked like complete idiots and you had no way of figuring out their moral compass. Like two of your classmates: Okuyasu and Josuke. You really didn’t know what to think about those two. They wore rebellious outfits, looked intimidating, but were really unserious. You were pretty sure they only wore this style because they thought it looked cool and there was no actual thought and determination behind it. All bark, no bite. It pissed you off a lot.
Josuke wasn’t stupid, he knew you were the one pulling the strings in the school. He saw the quick hushed conversations with the student body members or the notes you passed to the girls you allegedly didn’t know. He respected the hell out of your influence and, although he wouldn’t confess it even to himself, it kinda turned him on. Not in the wrong way, but that calculating glance…
For you, it was just a normal Tuesday afternoon, or at least it was supposed to be, but your shitty PE teacher dresscoded your best friend. Her parents were incredibly strict, if they ever found out she was in the gang… you didn’t even want to think about it. Thankfully you had some dirt on the teacher but if all else failed you could count on one of your friends to talk her out of it. Seriously, the girl was like a lawyer.
You were deep in thought, trying to come up with different scenarios, when you turned a corner, only to be met with an unreal situation. Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi and an unknown man were surrounded by muscular, colorful, barely dressed… beings? The ground seemed to refuse your feet movement, your mind emptyer than it had ever been, eyes stuck to the scenario while trying to figure out what was going on. Your body was completely frozen, unable to do anything about the target-missed bag approaching your face with a dangerous speed.
“Duck!” Koichi yelled.
Yeah, no shit Sherlock. But you were slightly out of time at this point. Not to mention your muscles frozen in place. Needless to say, you went to sleep for a few seconds.
…
“It’s okay. She only had a mild concussion but I took care of it.”
“Guys… you saw it too right? She was looking right at them.” Okuyasu muttered with an unfamiliar concern in his voice.
Your eyes snapped open and so did every sense in your body at the same time. Panic flooded your mind as you realised you had no recollection on how or why you were laying on the ground, with the guys surrounding you. You swiftly sat up, only to immediately regret it, because it caused you to full on headbutt Josuke who was kneeling next to you.
“Shit! Sorry!”
“It’s okay, I’m fine. Gimme a sec.” Josuke unsuspectingly manifested his stand to heal your aching forehead, only to be met with your hand grabbing his, nails digging into his skin.
“What the FUCK IS THAT?!”
Thanks to the adrenaline coursing through your veins, you jumped to your feet and found yourself a good 3 metres from the pink being towering over the boy.
“Josuke!” you hissed the words while maintaining eye contact with Crazy Diamond. “Get away from there. It’s behind you.”
“No no, it’s okay! See, he’s gone. There’s no reason to be afraid. Take some deep breaths for me, okay?” he approached you like a frightened animal, slowly pulling you into his arms while murmuring calming nothings until you weren’t actively shaking. Sure, he felt guilty for scaring you but he couldn’t deny, the feeling of your chest rising with deeper breaths against his, and your fingers gripping the back of his shirt in an attempt to ground yourself, felt unbelievably satisfying.
“This might sound like a strange question but have you, by any chance, been shot with an arrow lately?”
“What?”
Those eyes! The way those calculating eyes staring up at him from so close, made his stomach flip and he couldn’t help but slightly tighten his hold around you.
“I don’t think she needed the arrow, Josuke.” the short boy interrupted.
“ Guess you’re right…”
You kept listening to the boy’s conversation but you couldn’t understand anything. They completely ignored your question and confused expression.
“Stop! What the fuck is going on?!” you pushed yourself out of Josuke’s embrace (to his biggest dismay) and stumbled back, gaze showing distrust. They were leaving you out of the conversation, keeping you in the dark. It was pissing you off. “What’s with the arrow? What were the colorful beings? Why are all of you looking at me like I’m some sort of interesting experiment?”
The knowing look, the guys gave each other made you want to scream. They were treating you like some toddler throwing a tantrum. They once again tried to hush you but you were done with this.
“How about you just take a deep breath, and-..”
“How about you just shut up?! I don’t even care anymore what you lunatics are doing, just stay far away from me!” you stormed off without waiting for an answer. To try to stop your hands from trembling you shoved them in your pocket but you couldn’t hide your shallow breaths. You refused to acknowledge it, but your body craved Josuke’s calming embrace.
“Welp. I don’t think that helped your case.” Okuyasu wrapped his arm around his best friend’s shoulder.
“Thank you Okuyasu, you’re great at comforting.” the grumpiness was evident in Josuke’s tone. “I never thought she’d be a stand user.”
“Honestly it doesn’t surprise me that much.” Koichi joined in.”If it’s bravery or determination you need, she’s your person. But it is weird that it’s only awakening now.”
“I guess you’re right. I’ll need to talk to her. If she accidentally manifests her own stand without knowing what it is, she’ll panic.”
True to his promise, in the next few days Josuke tried to talk to you but you still weren’t cooperative. He tried to approach you in person but you avoided him like the plaque. He tried leaving you notes but you ripped them up. He was starting to run out of ideas. Until a glimmer of hope appeared in the shape of your best friend.
Josuke looked up from his desk as a girl from the other class approached him.
“Hi! I’m Hazel. What’s the deal between you and…” she gestured with her eyes toward you. “She always looks so nervous around you and I saw that you’ve been trying to talk to her but with no success. Are you guys like ex-lovers or something?”
“No, nothing like that.” he sighed ”It’s a long story. I accidentally got her involved in some trouble and now I’m trying to make up for it but she refuses to talk to me. But why ask me? Aren’t you her friend?”
“I tried to ask her but she completely shut down. You must have done something seriously unacceptable.” she shook her head.
“No, I… I mean I don’t think I did. But I really need to talk to her! Could you help me out?”
“I guess if it helps her get closure…”
“We’re still not ex-lovers.”
“Fine, I’ll help you. I have a pretty good idea…” the grin on the girl's face did not fill Josuke with too much hope.
The next day as you unsuspectingly opened your locker, a letter fell out. You were ready to rip it up, expecting it to be an other pestering note from Josuke but the handwriting didn’t match.
“Boss,
I’m so sorry, I got myself into trouble with an other gang. They said that if they can talk to you they’ll forgive me. I’m sorry I know this isn’t how we should operate, I promise I’ll tell you everything later but could you do me a favour and talk to them after classes behind the school?
Love, Ana”
You stared at the note in your hands. Ana had been absent the last few days and she barely responded to any messages. You really hoped whoever had a problem with her didn’t hurt her.
The whole class could hear the quick tapping of your shoes as you anxiously stared at the clock. Two more minutes left. You had already analysed every possible scenario. The teacher couldn’t even finish his sentence the minute you heard the bell you were on your feet rushing behind the school only to be met with a familiar but unwelcomed face.
“No, please don’t leave! I need to talk to you. I promise it won’t take long and I’ll leave you alone after.” Josuke begged as you turned your heel to leave. But your quick steps were stopped by an other unexpected person.
“Please, just hear him out! He’s been following you around as a desperate puppy for a week now. Just give him 15 minutes or something.” your best friend wrapped her arms around you, encouraging you to turn back to the boy.
“Hazel?! You were in on this too?! Oh the betrayal! But wait, does this mean that Ana isn’t in danger?”
“Oh no, she’s got the flu, she’s sleeping at home. Pleasee! I’ll buy you ice cream after!” you sighed as you looked at her pleading expression. Of course you couldn’t say no to that.
“Fine. But I’ll get two scoops and whipped cream.”
The grin on her face was adorable as she hugged you. She sure loved making your life more interesting for her own entertainment. But you could never get mad at her. A soft smile creeped itself onto your lips as you watched her wink at Josuke and skip away.
With a sigh you plopped down to the bench next to the boy.
“What did you talk about so desperately that you even involved her?”
“Well first of all I wanted to apologise for last week. We didn’t mean to get you mixed up in that fight. I’m sorry you got hurt.”
He didn’t dare to look at you, his eyes were focused on something in the distance. He looked kinda cute like this. What?! Where did that come from?!
“But what I really wanted to talk to you about, are the colorful beings you said you could see. Was this the first time you could see something like that?”
“I’m not crazy, okay?! I was probably just stressed or sleep deprived. I’m not seeing things.” you immediately jumped to defend yourself.
“I’m not saying you’re crazy. But you are special. Those things are called stands. They’re the manifestation of one’s soul and determination.”
“Okay, I might not be deranged but you sure are.” you didn’t know whether to laugh or run away. These 15 minutes were going to be way longer than you initially thought.
Josuke could hear the disdain in your remark. He knew there was only one way to convince you to listen to him, so with a deep breath he manifested his stand. Your eyes widened as you once again found yourself eye to eye with the being. The urge to fight or flight resurfaced, but the sensation of the user’s warm hand on yours brought you back to reality. You instinctively grabbed it to anchor yourself.
“This is my stand, Crazy Diamond. He has the power to fix broken objects or injured people.” he explained. “He’s the reason I could heal your concussion.”
The stand returned your curious gaze. You seemed to be completely fascinated by it.
“What is he made up of exactly? Energy? Is he solid or gas-like? May I touch him?”
Josuke couldn’t stop the chuckle escaping his lips. He explained that he had no idea about the physical build-up of his stand but gave you permission to touch him. Looking back, you had no idea why you chose to test the stand’s consistency by running your hands down his chest but at the moment you had more pressing matters to think about. Right about until you heard Josuke’s sharp intake of air and saw a cute fluster appear on his cheeks.
“Sorry I forgot to tell you I can feel everything happening to my stand.” he admitted.
“Shit I’m so sorry!!”
After a minute of flustered back-and-forth apologies and five more minutes of being bombarded with questions, the stand user finally convinced himself to talk about the matter he was the most concerned about.
“Y’know, there’s one more thing about stand users I forgot to mention. Stands can only be seen by other stand users. The fact that you can see Diamond means…”
He didn’t need to finish his sentence, from the glint of his eyes you already knew. But you still had a hard time believing it. You? Having a soul-warrior with some mysterious ability? You couldn’t lie, it sounded a bit unrealistic and even creepy.
In the end you spent a full hour just talking with the boy talking about stands and your concerns about your own. He patiently listened and answered your questions and made you promise that if you noticed something unfamiliar you’d talk to him about it. He was surprisingly good company. You felt pretty guilty for ignoring him the past week. As he walked you home you blurted out an apology.
“I’m sorry about the past week…” you stared at your shoes while walking. “You just wanted to help me and I acted like a total asshole.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it!” he smiled. “In the end I did get to talk to you. As for my efforts, you can repay me with a coffee.” he followed up with a wink.
Laughing, you elbowed his shoulder. “Trying to act smooth huh?” But the smile on your face and slight blush on your cheeks betrayed your true feelings.
After a few weeks your stand finally showed herself. Well not her stand form but her ability. You were walking through the hallway as you heard your friend wishing you were there to help with a homework she couldn’t understand. Immediately after school you met up with Josuke and with his help you figured out what was going on. Thanks to your stand ability (which you later named Hooligang), you could open up a telepathic channel towards anyone, or even between two people. It matched your ability, to bring people together, amusingly well.
In the end you really took out Josuke to get a coffee and… well the two of you just kept hanging out. You befriended his Okuyasu and Koichi as well and you got on really well with them. So much so that after a few months you asked them if they’d join your organisation.
Riot Grrrl (groupchat)
Boss <3
My beloved girls! I’ve been thinking a lot and I think an exclusively girl gang could lead to similar results as an exclusively male gang
Therefore (if it’s okay with you) I’d like to consider including our schoolmates Josuke, Okuyasu and Koichi
Any thoughts?
Ana mana
I think everyone will agree with me when I say that we completely trust you
If you think this is for the best then sure!
JoJosuke replying to “I’ve been thinking…”
yeah this and boyfriend privileges <3
Ana mana
WHAT?!?!?!?
Boss <3
DUDEEEE
Hazeee
ESJFDKLHFJEAM
You’re welcome everyone C:<
Safe to say after this you had to have a nice and long conversation with the girls. But to your surprise, they were all incredibly supportive towards both your new… situation and your plan to widen the organisation. Some even responded with their own member suggestions which you took into careful consideration.
In a few months this had turned out to be the correct decision. Not only did you acquire a dozen new members but you’d also reached a never-expected level of influence. Plus introducing members to the other gender’s experiences, improved empathy drastically.
As for your relationship with Josuke, it was starting to bloom. Slowly (very slowly) but surely. In truth you were hesitant about getting into a relationship, as you already had enough on your plate but… he made it too easy to fall for him. Your little coffee dates (which became a weekly habit) allowed you to feel more free than you had ever been for the past few years. And your goal had always been freedom, hadn’t it?