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Chapter Text

Kiryu Mitsuki has created a Group Chat

Kiryu Mitsuki has added 5+ people to the Group Chat

Kiryu Mitsuki has renamed the Group Chat to "The Hellish Furin Halls"

Kiryu Mitsuki has changed their name to "Candy Man"

Candy Man has changed 5+ Names

Candy Man: Welcome to our new group chat, feel free to wreak havoc on each other whenever you like!

Othello has left the group chat

Candy Man added Othello to the group chat

Candy Man has locked the group chat

Candy Man: I'll unlock it when Sakura-chan decides to stop attempting to leave

Othello: I hate you.

Steroid Muncher: Kiryu!! Steroids are not my virtue, I would never munch on them!!

Problem Starter: well, i appreciate the honor kiryu

Candy Man: no problem, anzai

Othello: KIRYU LET ME LEAVE THIS DAMN GROUP CHAT

Candy Man: no

Willy Wonka but Tea: first of all, odd name you've given me here, kiryu

Willy Wonka but Tea: second of all, sakuraaaa we're just trying to include you

Othello: well i don't want to be included

Problem Starter: well it may be just a lil bit too late for that one chief

Willow Smith: hm.

Othello: sugishita if you even dare start some shit i will rip your canine teeth out of their sockets

Steroid Muncher: WOAH THERE

Urban Dictionary: that's awfully graphic now isn't it sakura...

Willy Wonka but Tea: well sakura seems pissed off today, did someone wake you up from your cat nap??

Othello: I DON'T TAKE CAT NAPS YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARD

Problem Starter: yep, the sounds from this chat most definitely woke him up from his cat nap

Steroid Muncher: well naps in warmth really are his aesthetic!!

Othello: tsugeura and anzai, sleep with both eyes open and all your doors locked

Candy Man: such a slow typer sakura-chan :)

Urban Dictionary: please don't provoke him too much kiryu-san T^T

Othello: you had all better be hiding once we get to school tomorrow because i am coming for ALL OF YOU.

Willy Wonka but Tea: even me, sakura-kun?

Othello: ESPECIALLY YOU EYE PATCHED BITCH

Candy Man: ooooooooo suoooooooo

Problem Starter: im ngl,,,, GET BACK SUO GET BACK

Willy Wonka but Tea: its alright, i'll just have to fight back so he wont get me (:

Urban Dictionary: there's no way im actually about to watch this happen...

Willow Smith: hm..

Othello: i am going to shove my FOOT up your ASS suo

Problem Starter: that sounds a tiny bit kinky, sakura

Othello: kill yourself. like literally kill yourself.

3+ people reacted with laughing emojis

Othello: so if a cat starts patting its paw against your window and once you let it in, it begings to cyrl around your atm, what do ypu do?

Problem Starter: well for one, its 1 am, and two, SPEAK PROPER LANGAUGE SAKURA

Willy Wonka but Tea: "so if a cat starts patting its paw against your window and once you let it in, it begins to curl around your arm, what do you do?"

Problem Starter: our official sakura translator everyone

Urban Dictionary: can we see pictures of the cat, please?

Problem Starter: okay so while we wait for sakura to figure out how to work his phone so he CAN take pictures of said cat, who wants to know how to make weed ice cream?

Willow Smith: what the fuck.

Steroid Muncher: yk its crazy when sugishita has to break his vow of silence to call you crazy

Candy Man: where does one acquire a weed ice cream recipe

Othello: @Problem Starter i hope ur big toes and pinky toes fall off in your sleep

Problem Starter: WOAH THERE CAPTAIN CALM URSELF T^T

Othello: no.

Othello has sent 4 photos

Urban Dictionary: AWWWWWWWWW THEY'RE ADORABLE

Willy Wonka but Tea: yes, the tiny thing is quite cute

Steroid Muncher: sakura, do yk what breed of cat it is?

Othello: egyptian mau i think, the cat in itself is colored with black n white

Problem Starter: matches you pretty well, dontcha think?

Othello: dontcha think you've spoken for too long today

Candy Man: sakura-chan is on fire today wtf

Urban Dictionary: its cs he wasn't feeling well today, so he stayed home, and was sleeping, but then tsugeura called him by accident

Problem Starter: and then it woke him up?

Urban Dictionary: and then it woke him up T_T

Urban Dictionary: me and suo had to bargain tsugeura's life with food

Candy Man: ah yes, sakura-chan's never ending love for food.

Willy Wonka but Tea: i think we got too distracted from the cat that happens to be in sakura's room

Othello: it doesnt seem to be tryna hurt me, i think it was actually just cold, it is cute tho...

Steroid Muncher: KEEP IT KEEP IT KEEP IT KEEP IT KEEP IT KEEP IT KEEP IT

Urban Dictionary: keeping it DOES seem like a good idea !!

Othello: i dont have the MONEY to take care of it tho, im only given a monthly allowance by the gov

Problem Starter: wait- huh?? gov??? as in GOVERNMENT????????

Willy Wonka but Tea: sakura-kun?? elaboration is needed.

Othello: ugh okay

Othello: so basically, since i live alone and wtv, the government gives me money monthly so i can yk survive

Othello: its not a lot, it actually isnt enough rlly, but i mainly use it to pay mortgage and yh

Willow Smith: hm.

Candy Man: hm indeed cs WHAT

Othello: it rlly isnt that big of a deal, i just cant pay to take care of the cat

Urban Dictionary: wait so you dont have parents that pay for ur apartment and stuff?

Othello: no actual loving parent would send their kid to live where i do, only if they rlly and truly aint have the money to pay for someplace nicer

Problem Starter: oh.

Steroid Muncher: oh indeed

Urban Dictionary: well you can always come and live w me sakura !! my parents live somewhere else and pay for the apartment that i live in so

Othello: im fine, i'll manage

Candy Man: well this is an interesting development

Willy Wonka but Tea: well, sakura you did say you pay mortgage instead of rent, correct?

Othello: Replying to @Willy Wonka but Tea: yh, i bought the apartment

Willy Wonka but Tea: important information.. thank you sakura

Othello: idk how tf thats supposed to help anyone but uh yes yw

Urban Dictionary: pls dont tell me you started to flush when typing 'yw'

Problem Starter: oh he most definitely did start to flush when typing 'yw'

Othello: omfg SHUT UPPPP

Willy Wonka but Tea: aww, sakura-kun likes me? im honored !!

Othello: im either gonna kms or just dig myself a hole and rot in it

Today at 2:47 AM

Problem Starter: @Willy Wonka but Tea can you make weed tea?

Othello: i will punch you so hard your braincells would expel all over the floor and disappear before my eyes, anzai SHUT UP

Problem Starter: well damn okay what'd i do

Read by @Othello at 2:49 AM.

Chapter Text

Today at 7:46 AM

Problem Starter: never again will i play tag with tsugeura again

Urban Dictionary: its not even 8 o clock in the morning why are you playing tag

Problem Starter: bc why not? also i had mad candy last night so now i have the zoomies

Candy Man: ah yes, zoomies and drugs, ofc ofc

Steroid Muncher: im this close to renaming you the Perky Man

Willow Smith: im never checking this gc in the morning again.

Urban Dictionary: YOU'RE CAPABLE OF SPEAKING MORE THAN JUST HUMS AND GRUNTS??

Problem Starter: WHAT NIREI SAID??? WHAT THE FUCK??????????

Willow Smith: Replying to @Problem Starter -> i will break your face in

Problem Starter: oh but when nirei says it, its okay? alr i see how it is

Urban Dictionary: maybe bc i have more braincells then you.. just maybe tho

Problem Starter: NOW NIREI IS BULLYING ME????????

Othello: you deserve to be bullied.

Problem Starter: there is no LOVE in this HOUSEHOLD

Candy Man: lets get back to when you and tsugeura were playing tag

Problem Starter: Replying to Candy Man -> oh suo was included too

Urban Dictionary: AHHSUDHWUOFHA i tried holding it in im sorry for being rude anzai !!

Othello: NO NIRE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO LAUGH IN HIS FACE

Willy Wonka but Tea: the ancient chinese spirit seems to agree with sakura-kun

Urban Dictionary: im sorry but i couldn't T^T

Problem Starter: SEE I KNEW NIREI WASN'T GONNA BULLY ME

Othello: trust and believe i can and will do it for him

Problem Starter: i hate it here so bad

Problem Starter: Replying to Candy Man -> oh me, tsugeura, and suo got to school early so we (and by we i mean i) decided to play tag cs we weren't all that tired

Candy Man: suo too? interesting

Steroid Muncher: he wasnt going to but then anzai started instigating like shit

Othello: typicla.

Problem Starter: if you gonna insult me atleast spell the insult correctly

Othello: stfu i hsve a cay currebtly crudhing mu atm

Urban Dictionary: 'stfu i have a cat crushing my arm'

Steroid Muncher: nirei saves the day once more, its his aesthetic atp

Urban Dictionary: i try my best o7

Urban Dictionary: wait sakura you kept the cat??

Othello: i rlly shouldn't cs then i may not be able to pay my mortgage but i decided to keep it anyways

Othello: now i just need to name it..

Steroid Muncher: name it power muscle!!

Othello: i am NOT naming the cat that wtf

Willy Wonka but Tea: im sure you'll find a suitable name sakura-kun

Othello: taking suggestions from anyone except tsugeura

Candy Man: you wanna know what you should name it?

Othello: taking suggestions from anyone except tsugeura and kiryu

Candy Man: WOW MEAN

Steroid Muncher: oh yes i almost forgot

Steroid Muncher has changed Candy Man's name to Markiplier

Steroid Muncher: it fits better than candy man tbh

Markiplier: oh shit

Markiplier: wait u right

Steroid Muncher: just tryna match ur aesthetic

Othello: its too early for all of this and i wanna go back to bed

Urban Dictionary: dw sakura after the grade captain/vice captain meeting today you have plenty of time to bask and sleep in the sun

Othello: I DONT BASK AND SLEEP IN THE SUN YOU DIPSHIT

Urban Dictionary: sureeeeeeee

Othello: I HATE IT HERE

Willy Wonka but Tea: awe but sakura, if you truly hate it here, you wouldn't be able to take sun naps on the roof later

Othello: ISTG ALL OF YOU NEED TO GO FUCK OFF AND DIE SOMEWHERE

5 people reacted with laughing stickers

Read by Willow Smith at 8:05 AM

Urban Dictionary: am i the only one who notices that kusumi-san has kaji's headphones?

Problem Starter: WHAT.

Markiplier: as in kaji let someone else other than hiragi-san touch his things??

Willow Smith: hm.

Steroid Muncher: oh????

Urban Dictionary: i did NOT mean to say this here.

Othello: well its too damn late for that now isnt it

Urban Dictionary: im sorry sakura T^T

Othello: im not mad at you i just dont want this spreading around 1-1 and to 1-2

Willy Wonka but Tea: a valid concern, as always

Problem Starter: fuck that, i need DETAILS

Problem Starter: ik kusumi-san is one of kaji-san's vice captains but STILL

Problem Starter: NOBODY touches kaji-san's headphones unless ur hiragi-san

Urban Dictionary: forget i said anything!! enomoto-san isn't saying anything so its fine!!!

Willow Smith: @Problem Starter stop stressing out evb around you, we all dont need grey hairs

Problem Starter: well for one, awwww sugishitaa you care abt me??

Problem Starter: and two, is this just one big nirei protection squad or smth?? T^T

Othello: nirei will eviscerate you with words alone, he dont need protection

Willy Wonka but Tea: sakura-kun pay attention to what umemiya-san is saying please

Othello: even if i do i trust that nirei most likely has all the information umemiya is talkin abt so i can ask him for the details later

Urban Dictionary: as glad as i am that you trust me a lot and you trust me as an information resource, umemiya's words matter over mine so please pay attention !!

Othello: fine. i still prefer you tho.

Markiplier: he blushed when typing that, didn't he?

Urban Dictionary: oh he so did (:

Othello: tsugeura, count ur fucking days

Othello: okay so can someone please tell takanashi that he looks like an idiot?

Markiplier: SAKURA HARUKA

Othello: dont full name me rn

Othello: he looks stupid wtf is he doing

Urban Dictionary: he's literally playing tag with Mizuhachi and Izayaki-kun, what is the issue here

Othello: okay, you all have been talkin abt this for way too long and you all need to tell me wtf that is and how its supposed to work

Problem Starter: wym wtf it is and how its supposed to work?

Othello: sigh

Othello: like whatever it is that they're doing, you guys keep calling it tag? i've seen it before but idk what it is and how it works

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

The silence that came over the courtyard was so palpable that you could drop a pin and they'd hear it drop among the concrete. Most had flinched back, mostly because of the sudden noise. However, Class 1-1's own captain, Sakura Haruka, had flinched back because of the sudden face that had invaded his personal space.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TAG IS?"

At this point, Mizuhachi, Izayaki, and Takahashi had frozen extra as well, the minute the game they had just been playing had been mentioned.

"CALM DOWN, YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL AT ME!" Sakura goes, immediately on the defensive as Anzai had gotten all up in his face. Seeing his mistake, Anzai had backed up a considerable amount, which had finally made Sakura relax a tiny bit.

"I was just confused at what they were doing." Sakura muttered, now flushing because all eyes were now on him. "I've heard of tag but I don't know what it is and how it works, I was just curious..." He mumbles, hands in his pockets and head turned away from all of Class 1-1, deep in embarrassment.

"Wait.." Nirei speaks, dropping his notebook and his pen on one of the many tables strewn around the courtyard. "How come you don't know what tag is? It's like a staple of a childhood game! Everyone knows what tag is-"

"Yeah, well when you look the way I do, it's not like kids are gonna wanna play with you, they all just wanted to hurt me anyways, going to places like that just wasn't worth the effort." He spits out, feeling bad for ruining the mood but also wanting to get the stares off his back. That had ended up backfiring on him, as the stares got more and more intense as every second passed by.

About 3 minutes of silence had overcame them, Sakura's deep-rooted self-image issues and the scary revelation weighing down on their abilities to speak.

Until Anzai stretched his hand out in front of the two toned boy, careful of his space this time around. His head whipped up like a shot, eyes widened as big as possible for him. Anzai had a sad, yet determined look on his face.

Without knowing what Anzai's next choice of action would be, Sakura gingerly took his hand, wary of where everyone was. Nervous of what Anzai was going to say.

Anzai dropped Sakura's hand, cupped both of his around his own mouth, and began to shout.

"ALRIGHT! ALL OF YOU GATHER UP, WE'RE GONNA PLAY TAG WITH SAKURA!! DON'T GO EASY ON HIM YOU KNOW HE WON'T LIKE IT!!"

Today at 10:56 PM

The Powerpuff Girls GC

Blossom: @Buttercup did you have fun today, sakura-kun?

Bubbles: yeah!! ik today was a hectic one, but we wanna make sure you enjoyed it

Buttercup: .

Buttercup: i did

Buttercup: ..thank you guys

Bubbles: its our pleasure sakura !!

Blossom: yes, as nirei said, it is our pleasure

Suo and Nirei couldn't see it, in fact, Sakura was glad they couldn't. He'd be so embarrassed if they had.

But behind a dark-mode phone screen, Sakura Haruka cried tears of happiness, for the first time in many years.

Chapter Text

Problem Starter: WHO'S READY FOR DRESS DOWN DAY?????????????????

Steroid Muncher: me!!! cant wait to see everyone in outside clothes, i'll finally get to see your virtues shine through in your style

Problem Starter: Tsuge, you're literally gonna show up in a tank top, sweats, socks, and sandals. you'll wear a jacket if we're lucky

Steroid Muncher: its my virtue so at the end of the day idgaf!!!!

Urban Dictionary: passive aggressive tsuge this early?

Markiplier: its mainly cs anzai-chan likes to instigateee

Problem Starter: I DIDNT EVEN INSTIGATE THIS TIME

Othello: so i wake up and anzai bullying hours are open?

Markiplier: indeed sakura-chan

Problem Starter: NO THEY AR ENOT

Problem Starter: CLOSE THE HOURS

Steroid Muncher: nah i think we should keep em open...

Steroid Muncher: smth's telling me its the virtue of this gc...

Problem Starter: THE VIRTUE OF THIS GROUPCHAT IS TO TEASE SAKURA AND DO SILLINESS, NOT TO BULLY MEEEE

Willy Wonka but Tea: but what if

Willy Wonka but Tea: just what if

Willy Wonka but Tea: bullying you IS the silliness

Problem Starter: I HATE YOU ALL

Othello: now yk how i feel

Steroid Muncher: captain's in a good mood?

Urban Dictionary: nobody woke him up from his sleep so yes (:

Othello: nirei im going to slap ur face so hard it'll land in shishitoren's base

Urban Dictionary: yes sakura of course you will

Steroid Muncher:well if suo is endorsing the bullying then

Problem Starter: at least sugishita wont bully me

Willow Smith: now who done said that?

Steroid Muncher: OH SHIT ITS A CRYPTID

Markiplier: ig we all on the anzai bullying train

Problem Starter: EVEN NIREI?????

Urban Dictionary: dont drag me in this im here for a good time and hopefully a long one

Problem Starter: crying inside the club rn, i'm being ganged up on T^T

Markiplier: @Urban Dictionary @Urban Dictionary @Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary: yesssss??

Markiplier: where and how did you acquire all those bracelets

Markiplier: teach me the method

Urban Dictionary: LMAOOO there is no method

Urban Dictionary: i made the majority of these, the rest were either ones i thrifted or were gifted to me

Othello: those ARE an awful lot tho..

Urban Dictionary: i think like 1/5th of them might be old friendship bracelets from when i was like 4

Willy Wonka but Tea: that red one on your left wrist looks professionally made

Urban Dictionary: THAT one was a gift for christmas i think, red and white accents for santa and whatnot

Steroid Muncher: and somehow all the bracelets match with the outfit...

Urban Dictionary: its cs i specifically selected these, there's more back in my house

Problem Starter: i see like 7 diff macrame bracelets nirei wtf when did you find time to make those ;-;

Urban Dictionary: i got bullied throughout school, i had plenty of free time lol

Willow Smith: i don't think this is an lol moment

Steroid Muncher: agreeing with sugishita over here nirei wtf now we gotta find them

Urban Dictionary: dude we PROTECT the TOWN as WINDBREAKER, you are NOT abt to go and beat up kids in the town that we're in charge of 💀

Urban Dictionary: besidesss it was years ago, i've got you guys now so there's no need to go crazy

Othello: Replying to @Urban Dictionary -> they might not be able to but i can..

Urban Dictionary: sakura you hate every type of disguise, they'd recognize you from the jacket alone 💀💀

Othello: they aint beating me in a fight tho

Urban Dictionary: SAKURA

Othello: fine 🙄

Steroid Muncher: i wasn't expecting sakura's fit tho, i like it, it fits u

Othello: tsubaki said that if i show up in a hoodie and jeans, it cant be bland or she'd never get me food again

Othello: granted she was lying abt that but i still wanted food so

Bubbles: @Buttercup

Blossom: you thought she was telling the truth, didn't you?

Buttercup: fuck all the way off

Buttercup: ..yes i did

Buttercup: so i panicked and picked out a hoodie and shoes cs i alr had jeans, she apologized tho

Buttercup: i still felt bad that i couldn't get the joke cs there really was no reason to apologize

Buttercup: i was just being stupid

Blossom: you're not being stupid, sakura-kun

Bubbles: yeah!! we all want you to have a proper appetite and diet, and you're used to not eating. its a normal reaction

Blossom: we do need the names of the people who denied you food though

Bubbles: suo, no murder. i don't have the resources currently to bail you out on the rare instance that you get caught

Buttercup: i chose insane motherfuckers to be my vice captains

Buttercup: ..thanks

Blossom: not a problem, sakura

Bubbles: yeah!! what suo said!!

Urban Dictionary: SO I'VE COME TO A DECISION

Problem Starter: this is either gonna be good or absolutely outrageous

Othello: diss nirei again and imma cut off your toes

Urban Dictionary: thank you sakura but im just gonna shave off his eyelashes myself

Problem Starter: YOU'LL EHAT????

Urban Dictionary: AND MY DECISION IS TO MAKE EVERYONE A BRACELET

Urban Dictionary: IDC IF WE'RE 15-16 YEARS OLD EVERYONE'S GETTING FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS

Steroid Muncher: well shit i cant say no to that

Markiplier: free bracelets are free bracelets

Problem Starter: wouldn't they break during a fight tho?

Urban Dictionary: everyone's gonna get 2. one's gonna be beaded with stretchy string and the other is gonna be macrame just cs

Willy Wonka but Tea: so everyone's getting one?

Urban Dictionary: i wanna make them for all the upperclassmen at some point but yea! im gonna start with evb in this gc and work my way around

Urban Dictionary: now with that being said, @Willow Smith

Problem Starter: OH????

Willow Smith: ..

Urban Dictionary: im gonna be making bracelets for evb in the class! do you want two of them?

Willow Smith: ..no not really

Urban Dictionary: oh! sorry then

Urban Dictionary: SAKURA STOP TYPING RIGHT NOW YOU CANT FIGHT HIM WE HAVE TO GO AND MEET THE GRADE CAPTAINS SOON

Urban Dictionary: thank you!! anyways, how come you don't want one?

Willow Smith: im not really into jewelry and stuff like that

Urban Dictionary: oh alr then, sorry for asking

Willow Smith: its fine you didn't do anything

Markiplier: does anyone know why nirei sped up the stairs like crazy

Steroid Muncher: no not really

Problem Starter: better to talk about, sakura ur gonna make me cry

Othello: wait what huh

Othello: what did i do

Willy Wonka but Tea: i believe it was because of your face once nirei had handed you your bracelets

Problem Starter: YOU LOOKED LIKE A LITTLE KID WHO JUST GOT THEIR FAVORITE TOY

Problem Starter: THAT NEARLY MADE ME CRY

Problem Starter: HAVE YOU EVER GOTTEN A FRIENDSHIP BRACELET BEFORE??

Othello: .

Othello: no, i dont get gifts period

Problem Starter: @Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary: HUH???????

Urban Dictionary: well im glad i was the first!! you deserve it sakura

Markiplier: suo-chan and sakura-chan seem to have matching bracelets, only kind of

Urban Dictionary: YEA!! one of the charms link to the two of them while the other charm links us three

Urban Dictionary: also suo and sakura i need you two for smth

Willy Wonka but Tea: other gc?

Urban Dictionary: if u dont mind, sakura too pls

Othello: 'm comin, i just gotta fix my hoodie string

Problem Starter: WAIT FYM OTHER GC???

Read by Willy Wonka but Tea, Urban Dictionary, & Othello at 1:15 PM

POWERPUFF GIRLS

1:17 PM

Bubbles: okay so i may or may not have made smth for sugishita anyways

Buttercup: NIREI.

Bubbles: I KNOW OKAY BUT I DIDNT WANT TO JUST NOT MAKE HIM SMTH THAT'D BE BAD

Blossom: wait what did you make him exactly?

Bubbles: a hairtie...

Buttercup: you are SO lucky you're my friend nirei istg

Bubbles: IK IM SORRY PLS DONT BE MAD AT ME T^T

Buttercup: im not mad im just

Buttercup: idk what the word for it is

Blossom: exasperated?

Buttercup: yes thank you suo, the only one i can rely on around here

Blossom: my pleasure

Bubbles: Replying to @Buttercup -> wowwwww okay i see how it is ;-;

Blossom: wait, so then what do you need us for?

Bubbles: to wait at the top of the stairwell in silent support once i run away after giving him the hairtie

Buttercup: oh you are so lucky we friends...

Nirei stands nervously on the inside of the stairwell with his captain and his partner vice captain, holding the newly made hairtie with his thumb and pointer fingers. Sakura is playing with his hoodie strings, with an exasperated look on his face, just as how Suo said it.

"How is Suo the only one I can truly rely on 'round here?" Sakura says, twisting his hoodie strings into a bowtie shape and then undoing them afterwards. The aforementioned eyepatch boy smiles brightly, a glint of mischievousness reaching the top of his brow to the tail-end of his eyelashes. He leans more into Sakura's space, to which Sakura blushes, and places his hood slightly on his head.

Never all the way over unless it's freezing cold. It's something all of the Class 1-1 boys notice. As indignant and negative as Sakura is about his own appearance, he refuses to actually hide himself behind anything. No hats, no sunglasses, he even physically and loudly repulsed when Kakuichi made a joke about hair dye. It's peculiar, but at least he doesn't hide his appearance all the way. For that, Furin is grateful.

"So now I'm not reliable? How will you ever keep track of people's names now?" Nirei jokes. Sakura flushes deeper, mumbling louder about how 'he doesn't need him to do that', amongst other things.

It's all in good fun, of course.

They were having a good time, bantering back and forth, having their fun, even beginning to play footsies with each other. (By each other, they mean Sakura and Nirei. Suo was watching and laughing, a genuine one this time, instead of his daily chuckle).

Until a voice spoke.

"Whoever the hell is in that staircase, come on out! You're loud as hell, so just state your business and go away!" A certain rough voice exclaimed, hands deep in dirt, helping out with Umemiya's plants.

"Oh yeah! Suo, Sakura, you guys stay just outside the stairwell door, I won't be long! Promise!" He states nervously, fiddling with the sides of his Furin button. He finally opens the door, and makes direct eye contact with one Sugishita Kyotaro. He nervously smiles, to which Sugishita scoffs slightly and breaks the eye contact.

Nirei slumps. Tough crowd, he thinks, as he makes his approach closer. Sugishita shifts onto the seat he placed next to the plant beds in case he needed a break, allowing Nirei to come further with that as a signal.

Nirei crosses the expanse of the roof, suddenly becoming a lot more larger than previously thought. Finally, he comes in front of the long haired boy. He silently cocks an eyebrow in question, and Nirei becomes increasingly more nervous, but he got this far, and he couldn't back out now.

"I-I made this for you!" He says, bowing and thrusting his hands out.

He may have lied to Suo and Sakura a tiny bit. He had made several hairties, simply because he had the extra material, but also because he wanted to.

The look on Sugishita's face made it all worth it.

"I know you said you d-didn't want bracelets because you didn't like jewelry, so I made you hair ties instead!" Nirei doesn't expect it, has learned to never expect anything, but what he doesn't expect is Sugishita to gently take the hairties out of his hands, their fingers brushing together, heat giving off in waves. Nirei flushes and pushes his head down, careful to not make any eye contact.

Sugishita turns the hairties in his fingers, silently admiring the work done with them. They were made with skill, and even care. He himself flushed, although it was barely noticeable unless you were nitpicky.

"..Thank you, Nirei. I'll be sure to use them." He says roughly, finally looking up.

When he looks up, he sees a proud smile, accompanied with a 'you're welcome! see you once we start patrol assignments!" and runs off towards Suo and Sakura, who were waiting for him by the stairwell.

When Sugishita closes his eyes, all he can see behind his eyelids is warm skin and freckles.

Very pretty freckles.

Unknowingly to both Class 1-1 boys, there were three people other than them on the roof.

"So.. he doesn't know we're here.. right?" Hiragi says, popping a Gas-kun 10 and drinking some water afterwards. Tsubaki ties her hair back into a high bun and dusts off a few pieces of dirt off of her skirt.

"Oh no, they're in their own little world, they have no idea!" Tsubaki jabs, giggling slightly in her stead. Umemiya simply just playfully smiles at the first year, shaking his head slightly.

"They'll get it together, it'll just take a while." Umemiya says, now turning his focus back to the tomatoes.

Little did he know, it would take a lot more than just a while.

Chapter Text

Problem Starter: Replying to @Urban Dictionary -> SO CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW NIREI WAS GONNA SHAVE OFF MY EYELASHES NOW??

Othello: and why should we do that

Markiplier: now to be fair anzai...

Problem Starter: FYM TO BE FAIR???? MY BEAUTIFUL LUSCIOUS EYELASHES??

Steroid Muncher: anzai you lose an eyelash everyday

Problem Starter: OKAY SASSY MUCH

Willy Wonka but Tea: i say that we shave off more than his eyelashes

Othello: seconded

Urban Dictionary: there's not much to shave off besides his eyebrows and his hair though

Willy Wonka but Tea: just pluck his toe hairs

Othello: or pluck his hangnails...

Problem Starter: EXCUSE ME????????

Willow Smith: yea no anzai pack it up

Markiplier: yk its crazy when sugishita has to tell you you're cooked 😭

Steroid Muncher: kiryu bro they're literally plotting on him right in front of his eyesssss 😭

Urban Dictionary: its not like he can do anything about it, even if me or suo cant make it to his house, sakura is veryyyy flexible

Problem Starter: YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE I LIVE??

Willy Wonka but Tea: yes we do, remember after the KEEL incident when we had to take that one girl to come and see you?

Problem Starter: .

Problem Starter: fuck.

Steroid Muncher: OH MY GOD YOU'RE FUCKEDDDDDDDDDD 😭😭

Problem Starter: YEAH I CAN SEE THAT DUMBASS

Urban Dictionary: sleep with both eyes open and your doors closed :)

Problem Starter: kms

Othello: finally

Problem Starter: BITCH

Othello sent 3 photos

Othello: finally taking them to the vet

Urban Dictionary: AWWWWWWWWW I LOVE THEM WHAT

Steroid Muncher: im convinced this mf sakura is a disney princess

Markiplier: LMFAO HUH 😭

Othello: okay see now im gonna rock your shit the next time i make eye contact with you

Urban Dictionary: i would've went but i had to do shopping for my mom ;-;

Othello: i'll bring them over one day ig

Urban Dictionary: SAKURA HARUKA MY SAVIOR

Othello: SHUT UP, IM NOT DOING IT FOR YOU I KNOW THE CAT WOULD LIKE IT THATS ALL

Willy Wonka but Tea: now now sakura-kun its too early for all of this

Othello: mm.

Markiplier: oh yes, suo hayato, our ever loving sakura tamer

Willy Wonka but Tea: tis my pleasure

Othello: ugh

Steroid Muncher: wait so ur with suo rn??

Othello: yea, i was holding the cat and i saw suo in front of kotoha's so he ended up joining me

Othello: we're on the way to the vet rn

Urban Dictionary: married couple behavior

Willow Smith: i didnt think you had it in you to call them out...

Problem Starter: NAHHHHHHHH

Steroid Muncher: I MEANNNNNNNNN

DMs with KiryuMitsuki & SuoHayato

Kiryu Mitsuki: is he wrong though, suo?

Suo Hayato: shut. up.

Suo Hayato: im being patient dont ruin this for me

Kiryu Mitsuki: LMFAOOOOOOOO if you say so

Othello: all of you are getting dropped kicked

Willy Wonka but Tea: aww but what if i like that?

Othello: DIE DIE DIE I HATE YOU

Problem Starter: you fucking masochist 😭

Urban Dictionary: watch ya eyelashes

Problem Starter: BRO LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEEEEEE

Steroid Muncher: suo being a freak was NOT on my bingo card

Willow Smith: you fuckwads weren't on my bingo card but look how the turns tabeled

Willow Smith: wait fuck

Steroid Muncher: THE TURNS TABELED?????????

Othello: YOU ILLITERATE FUCK 😭😭

Markiplier: IS THIS WHY YOU DONT SPEAK IN HERE?

Problem Starter: LAWDDDDDDDDDDD HAVE MERCYYYYYYYYY

Willy Wonka but Tea: oh my

Willow Smith: all of you can go fuck off and die

Urban Dictionary: wowwwwwwwww okay then

Willow Smith: ..except you

Problem Starter: GANG WHAT????????

Steroid Muncher: the favoritism in this chat is RAMPANT

Urban Dictionary: did we all conveniently forget about the cat???

Othello: we just got called in to see them, they finished with vaccines

Willy Wonka but Tea: just to let you all know, the cat ran to sakura when he came in

Steroid Muncher: yeaaaaaaa you cant let go of that cat now

Markiplier: like deadass you own that cat now 😭

Problem Starter: wait what are you naming the cat

Othello: suo gave in a suggestion alr, the cat's name is keigai

Problem Starter: i feel like we're misgendering the cat just a tiny bit

Othello: he's a boy

Markiplier: thank u anzai for asking cs i didnt feel like it but i was also curious

Othello: lazy ass

Steroid Muncher: soooo can we see?

Willy Wonka but Tea has sent 1 Photo

Willy Wonka but Tea: keigai has been cleaned, vaccinated, got his check up, now we have to get him stuff

Othello: to which idk how im gonna get the money to pay for but i'll figure it out

Willy Wonka but Tea: who said you're paying?

Problem Starter: SUGAR DADDY SUO????

Markiplier has muted Problem Starter for 8 minutes

Willy Wonka but Tea: anyways, im happy to pay for you

Othello: you KNOW i don't do favors

Willy Wonka but Tea: it isnt a favor sakura, im doing this because i want to

Willy Wonka but Tea: i genuinely want to pay for it

Willy Wonka but Tea: you can ask me for anything and i'll do it or get it for you, is that not what the vice captain is here for?

Othello: .

Othello: fine, but don't be surprised that i pick out the more expensive ones..

Willy Wonka but Tea: i'll get you anything you want

DMs between KiryuMitsuki & TsugeuraTaiga

Kiryu Mitsuki: if they dont get their bullshit together im gonna end it all

Tsugeura Taiga: sakura has trauma a mile wide and the size of makochi, it'll be a WHILE and you know it

Kiryu Mitsuki: istg im abt to jump in, this is getting to a point

Tsugeura Taiga: thats not a good idea and you KNOW it mitsuki 😭

Kiryu Mitsuki: shush and let me dream of them getting their shit together taiga

Tsugeura Taiga: well if you say soooo

Problem Starter: oh my GOD this chat is actually gay

Othello: actually shut up before i make good on my promise and shave your eyebrows in your sleep

Problem Starter: OKAY DAMN??

Urban Dictionary: in case anyone needs this information, sakura is indeed blushing cs him and suo just came to get me so we can go get things for keigai

Urban Dictionary: its pretty cute acTUAAAJERDAUDSGFIBUJSSHHWBD

Steroid Muncher: NIREI???? 😭😭

Othello: no need to worry abt him rn

Markiplier: did we just witness a murder in broad daylight

Steroid Muncher: caught in a bad romance, no lady gaga

Chapter Text

Markiplier: @Othello @Willy Wonka but Tea @Urban Dictionary

Markiplier: where did yall go? patrol's only halfway over

Urban Dictionary: ??

Urban Dictionary: oh! we went to the red light district to go and see roppo ichiza

Steroid Muncher: they really done ditched us for some karaoke

Willy Wonka but Tea: well they have good food in sakura kun's opinion and he's hungry so

Othello: how about i shave your eyelashes off instead

Problem Starter: pls stop talking about it,,,,,,,,,, i still cant go to sleep at night

Willow Smith: this mf got sleep paralysis demons now

Problem Starter: YES BECAUSE THE FUCKING DEMON TRIO OVER HERE LOVE TO SAY THE MOST DIABOLICAL SHIT

Urban Dictionary: to be fair... you were instigating like crazy

Markiplier: didn't they also say they were gonna pluck your toe hairs or smth like that

Problem Starter: SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UPPPPPPPP

Urban Dictionary has sent 2 photos

Urban Dictionary: sakura is eating happily and the karaoke bar looks pretty today

Steroid Muncher: they got omurice over there?

Othello: stfu

Urban Dictionary: lmfao noooo, sakura said i could pick for him since he wanted a surprise and he likes it a lot

Markiplier: well now im curious what you ordered for him cs i've never seen him so happy unless he has omurice

Willy Wonka but Tea: onigiri with mentaiko and bonito flakes

Problem Starter: INUMAKI MENTIONED??? WE ONLY SPEAK IN ONIGIRI INGREDIENTS

Urban Dictionary: unironically, i think if we sit him down to watch jjk, either yuji or inumaki would indeed be his fave character

Markiplier: Replying to @Problem Starter -> caviar

Problem Starter: okay well fuck you too then

Steroid Muncher: seems like sakura likes spicy food a lot

Othello: appt sprsnt

Markiplier: in japanese pls sakura T^T

Urban Dictionary: he said appetite suppresant

Urban Dictionary: which wtf sakura i thought u liked spicy food

Willow Smith: how is everything about you funny yet so depressing

Problem Starter: what sugishita said cs sakura what

Othello: i genuinely like spicy food tho...

Urban Dictionary: on a lighter note; we got sakura a cookies n cream milkshake and he started kicking his feet

Steroid Muncher: YOU'VE NEVER HAD A MILKSHAKE??? @Othello

Willy Wonka but Tea: no, he hasnt, im glad we got to see him try it for the first time

Markiplier: well now im mad me and tsugeura didn't ditch patrol with u guys cs i wanted to see

Willy Wonka but Tea: say no more

Willy Wonka but Tea: nirei??

Urban Dictionary has sent a video

Othello: nirei im gonna end u

Urban Dictionary: im the receipt collector you cant do that to meeeee

Steroid Muncher: you're so violent yet so adorable T^T

Markiplier: help no cs i love that for him he looks so genuinely happy with his lil milkshake

Problem Starter: and on that note !!

Problem Starter has changed Othello's name to Cookies n Cream

Cookies n Cream: im gonna kill u anzai

Problem Starter: how many times are u gonna kill me before u get tired of it

Cookies n Cream: until you actually stop coming back to life

Problem Starter: i ALWAYS come back

Willow Smith: you are NOT springtrap OR william afton

Urban Dictionary: flashbacks.... many war flashbacks...

Urban Dictionary: @everyone

Urban Dictionary: I HEAR YOUR HEART BEAT TO THE BEAT OF THE DRUMS

Problem Starter: OH WHAT A SHAME THAT YOU CAME HERE WITH SOMEONEEEEEEEEE

Markiplier: SO WHILE YOU'RE HERE IN MY ARMS

Steroid Muncher: LETS MAKE THE MOST OF THE NIGHT

Urban Dictionary: @Cookies n Cream

Cookies n Cream: .

Cookies n Cream: like we're gonna die young...

Willy Wonka but Tea: so you DO know the song!!

Cookies n Cream: shut that ass up pirate bastard

Urban Dictionary: BOTH of you RUINED the MOMENT

Cookies n Cream: im SORRY but its NOT my fault he's a little shit with a shitty personality

Willy Wonka but Tea: but you LIKE this little shit with a shitty personality

Cookies n Cream: eh, DO i tho??

Willy Wonka but Tea: would you have agreed to me being your vice captain if you didn't?

Cookies n Cream: ..touche bitch

Steroid Muncher: i know this is a horrible time to interrupt but when we were singing die young my dog started barking along

Markiplier: YOU HAVE A DOG????????

Urban Dictionary: :0

Steroid Muncher: yep!! a great dane named kaede, she's adorable

Steroid Muncher: anyways she began to bark to the beat of the song and also began to dance

Urban Dictionary: HELP SHE SOUNDS SO CUTE but i also know that great danes are huge

Steroid Muncher: yep but contrary to popular belief she's a very good girl, the most she'll do is headbutt people but even then she does in in a friendly way

Willy Wonka but Tea: maybe keigai could gain a friend?

Cookies n Cream: he's an outdoor cat so probably, i'll bring him over someday maybe

Steroid Muncher: im sure kaede would love him lol

The Kings and their Man

10:40 PM

Alec Benjamin: okay so who took my fullmetal alchemist hoodie

Shadow the Hedgehog: were you not wearing it the entire day??

Alec Benjamin: well yes i was but i left it at school before i went patrolling with my first years and NOW i cant find it

DTK: wait why the hell am i named dtk

DTK: what does that even mEAN

Dancing Queen: your eyes resemble those of death the kid's from soul eater

Dancing Queen: but i didn't feel like typing death the kid out so now its dtk

DTK: YOU JUST TYPED IT OUT THO???

Dancing Queen: semantics

Plant Daddy: you alr know tsubaki just does what she wants, let it happen dude lmao

DTK: yea but thats bc you ALWAYS LET HER DO WHAT SHE WANTS

Shadow the Hedgehog: just let it happen dude, they'll figure it out eventually

Alec Benjamin: your first years still cant figure it out, you cant expect these two to T^T

Shadow the Hedgehog: my first years are NOT as bad as them lets be real

Alec Benjamin: THEY'RE NOT????? HIRAGI ILY BUT LETS BE HONEST

Alec Benjamin: sakura has trauma a mile wide and simply LOOKING at him and suo is painful

Alec Benjamin: nirei and sugishita wont get their shit together bc they both are chronic feeling supressors

Alec Benjamin: nobody knows wtf is up with kiryu and tsugeura and honestly i think thats best reserved for those two

Alec Benjamin: and we dont even know if anzai is in a poly or NOT because he cant get over the knot of feelings that was KEEL, nagato, and his friend tsuchiya

Shadow the Hedgehog: all true. im not denying a single thing. but hear me out rq

Shadow the Hedgehog: they've had 3 years to get it together. they just got here.

DTK: momo-san, he lowkey has a point

Alec Benjamin: okay i'll give him that but that doesnt erase the fact that your first years are a hot mess

Shadow the Hedgehog: im well aware and im 99.9% sure they came like that JUST to test my patience

Plant Daddy: Replying to @Alec Benjamin - WAIT NIREI AND SUGISHITA ARENT DATING?????

Dancing Queen: ume, you are YEARS behind and its SAD

Problem Starter: so is anyone gonna mention kiryu working at a piercing shop that he's totally not supposed to be at

Cookies n Cream: we all know kiryu aint a big fan of the blue collar bandits anyway, let him rock its funny

Urban Dictionary: but if he gets caught i dont have a story on hand to tell the cops if they decide to give a damn

Steroid Muncher: we're BOFURIN. the townspeople prolly trust our word more than the police. and on top of that, the townspeople are the LAST people who're gonna snitch on us

Markiplier: he's got a point, also, the person who owns it is my mom's gf so i get free passage

Willy Wonka but Tea: and if anything, you can always ask Mizunoto-san for pointers, he was an ex-detective so he knows how to string stuff together like that

Willow Smith: i like how we all just collectively decided to cover this up

Cookies n Cream: two questions

Cookies n Cream: @Markiplier do you live in the house above the shop?

Markiplier: the spacious one on top? yea

Cookies n Cream: okay so follow up question

Cookies n Cream: petition to use kiryu's totally legal piercing shop as a secret meet up spot

Steroid Muncher: totally legal piercing shop has me dying what ☠️

Willy Wonka but Tea: signed

Steroid Muncher: signed

Markiplier: tbh? signed, smart sakura-chan

Urban Dictionary: signed

Willow Smith: .

Willow Smith: signed ig

Steroid Muncher: seems like secret keeping and loyalty truly is this chat's virtue

Willow Smith: no bc secret base is crazy work

Markiplier: on brand for us im ngl, we did run out on KEEL without permission as well so

DMS between Nirei_Akihiko and Sugishita_Kyotaro

Sugishita_Kyotaro: why so quick?

Nirei_Akihiko: hm? wym??

Sugishita_Kyotaro: why were you so quick to panic that you didn't have a cover up in case someone who found out wasn't supposed to?

Nirei_Akihiko: .

Nirei_Akihiko: oh!

Nirei_Akihiko: i have experience in hiding things from people who i don't want to know

Nirei_Akihiko: no need to worry! i'll probably use suo-kun's advice and go ask Mizunoto-sama about it

Sugishita_Kyotaro: if you say so

We are now exiting Act I -> Pilot

Are you ready to begin Act II?

>Yes            No

Act II Now Starting...

Chapter Text

It had been any other day. The day seemed almost boring. At least, as boring as it could have been, attending an unconventional school like Bofurin.

It had been a normal day. Suo teasing Sakura till he was nothing more than a puddle of red cheeks, Sugishita fast asleep in the corner near the desk, Anzai cracking jokes and sharing obnoxious yet entertaining stories with a group of kids, Tsugeura doing pull ups on the windowsill, and of course, Kiryu on his phone, playing mobile games.

What was Nirei doing? Well, normally he was participating in banter with Suo and Sakura or listening and adding on to Anzai's bizarre stories while also trying to help him figure out the mess of feelings that came from his polyamorous-not-relationship with Nagato and Tsuchiya. However, today, he was doing none of that.

He was focusing on the tough and tight rubber hair tie that was being twisted and turned in between his fingertips. The more he twisted it over and over, the more pain he felt on his fingers, however, he couldn't help it. He just kept going, twisting and shifting until the bottom half of his finger was red and the top half was turning yellow, not too different from the shade of yellow associated with jaundice.

He watched his fingers turn almost unnoticeably blue, to which he immediately unwinds the hair tie into a resting circular position on his hand.

He knows its not healthy, and it's most definitely not advisable, but he can't help it. It's the only way to make him feel something, as he'd been numb since he'd gotten home from patrol only two days before. He was bone tired and mentally exhausted, but that didn't stop him from cutting off the circulation in his fingers.

He can't feel anything anymore. He can't even feel the rubber hair tie compress the skin on his finger. He's completely numb, and feels his head go foggy with the telltale signs of disassociation. His breath begins to quicken, as he recalls the first time, where he truly felt how something as simple as a hair tie can change the circumstances of your life forever.

It had been an average day. His father and his sister had picked him up from his first day at school, which wasn't all that bad considering most kids at school were always going to hate him. It's just how things went in his life. He'll always be hated, but his older sister will always be loved.

He didn't mind the difference in between his sister and him, no, not at all. In fact, his life was lonely peaceful and nobody bothered him. Meanwhile, his sister always had some kind of school drama going on, or someone to talk trash about, always had someone to talk to, to meet, and to please. He preferred the quiet, so he could write in his notebooks and draw on his white shoes and on his room walls, not being a nuisance towards the outside world. Yup, Nirei the Nuisance. It sounds fine, and the alliteration should give extra points.

That name made him feel small, like an ant. It made him feel nothing but cold anger, because of course, while he's already down, a bitch named Fate has to come in and make his life infinitely worse.

It was a normal day, he was in the living room, scribbling and scratching his pencil at his notebook to take notes on Spiderman, and how the superhero was a great influence and someone who he could look up to. His sister had been chatting with his dad and once in a while mentioning his name, but it was never condescending. It was light hearted, friendly teasing, which made Nirei feel like he wasn't a nuisance.

Made him feel like he wasn't stepping on anyone's toes, made him feel as like he's not useless, a let down, or simply deadweight for the people around him.

Made him feel like he's not a disease.

Regardless, it had been a regular day.

Until she came bursting through the door.

There was screaming and violent knocking. He remembers hearing his father yelling and screaming for him and Aiko to run, to hide, to go anywhere that wasn't where they were. However, they were frozen in fear, and were glued to the floor as they both had watched the deeply traumatizing event unfold right in front of their eyes.

He can still vividly remember the drip drip drip of the blood on the ground and the wailing of the police sirens when him and Aiko were found. His father had been trying to push her out, to hold her off until the police arrived, but nothing could help. She was a force of nature, and back when everything was normal, it was a good thing. But now? It's leading them headfirst to their demise.

She had tossed him into the ground hard, and the same knife she had with her when she left, she used it to stab him right in the stomach, then in the chest. His last dying words were.. well the easiest thing he can say about it is that his last dying wish didn't really come true.

TAKE AKIHIKO AND RUN FAR AWAY FROM HERE, GET AWAY FROM HER!!

He didn't even have time to process the command, before he sees his sister climb at their shared bedroom window and jump out, with only a single look back and no remorse for the pain he was about to endure. He tried running after her, to run away with her, but he wasn't fast enough, or strong enough to get the window open. Never enough, always useless.

She had came into the room, with a large hair tie that could double as a headband, one of his sister's, he realized way too late. He remembers it was black, and had white snowflakes patterned on it. Although this time, the snowflakes were stained with blotches of red and smelled metallic as she stalked towards him. She wrangled him to them grand, and no matter how much he struggled, he was still a child, no match for the strength of a full blown adult woman. She flipped him on his back, and forcefully strung the hair tie over his neck, and before he knew it, she began to twist.

Twist, and twist, and twist, until he couldn't breathe. He was choking on his own spit and tears, vision swimming, neck and windpipe being crushed by the force of her hand and the twisting of the hair tie. At a point, he stopped trying to breathe. He couldn't. Her hand was crushing him, and not even two minutes later. his body stopped its fight or flight reaction and laid on the blood, tear, and saliva stained floorboards.

The last thing he heard from that fateful night were gunshots, her body dropping to the floor, a door being busted down, and a police woman, palming at his chest, begging him to stay alive.

"SAKURA!"

The dual toned boy's head snapped to Tsugeura, who had just came back from running a small errand for Anzai. He looked panicked and scared. Truthfully, he had only raced back because he had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He had always had a strong sense for things like that.

Just this once, he hoped his intuition was wrong. Because if it was wrong, then why would Nirei be curled up under one of the desks, hyperventilating and shaking violently?

"WHAT, TSUGEURA?!"

"LOOK AT NIREI! NO- HE'S NOT OVER WITH ANZAI ANYMORE! LOOK UNDER THE DESK!!"

The mood in the room immediately turned sour, almost terrified, and even Sugishita looked up, darting around the room, until Sugishita's eyes landed on where Nirei's small figure was, and darted towards his position, eyes worried and hands trembling.

And that was the last thing that happened before the entire room erupted into absolute chaos.

The Kings and Their Man

10:35 AM

Alec Benjamin: okay so can someone care to explain why Takahashi from 1-1 is yelling and somewhat crying for help??

DTK: wait, WHAT??

Dancing Queen: what happened now? i hope its not another prank like they pulled a couple weeks ago

Dancing Queen: granted it was funny, it made hiragi shit bricks, but thats not the point

Alec Benjamin: hold that thought because now he's talking about an ambulance

Alec Benjamin: @Shadow the Hedgehog HIRAGI GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW

Shadow the Hedgehog: yeah??

Alec Benjamin: YOUR FIRST YEAR, THE BLONDE ONE? YEAH APPARENTLY HE'S BADLY HURT AND YOUR OTHER FIRST YEARS CALLED 119, GET DOWN THERE RIGHT THE FUCK NOW

Shadow the Hedgehog: IM RUNNING DOWN THERE RIGHT NOW

Plant Daddy: Replying to @Alec Benjamin -> WAIT WHAT THE FUCK???? WHAT'S HAPPENING? IM GRABBING MY JACKET RIGHT NOW

The Hellish Furin Halls

10:45 AM

Steroid Muncher: IS THE AMBULANCE HERE YET??

Markiplier: NOT YET, IT'LL BE HERE IN 3 MINUTES

Problem Starter: WE HAVE TRAINING FOR THIS STUFF???? WE LITERALLY GOT TRAINED IN DEALING WITH PANIC ATTACKS BUT I WASNT IN THE ROOM WHEN IT HAPPENED

Willow Smith: THERE WAS BLOOD UNDER THE DESK AND HIS FINGERS WERE PURPLE AND BLUE YOU DUMBASS

Problem Starter: WAIT ACTUALLY??

Willy Wonka but Tea: the ambulance is outside the school

Cookies n Cream: lead em up into the classroom. Tsugeura and Sugishita, stay with Nirei and if they take him to the hospital, go with the responders

Steroid Muncher: and if they tell us no?

Cookies n Cream: you two alr know what to do.

Willow Smith: got it.

Cookies n Cream: @Markiplier @Willy Wonka but Tea the both of you are coming with me to report to Hiragi. We'll start planning on how to move forward from here.

Markiplier: me and suo are coming back in from outside, meet you in 1-1 and we walk up together?

Cookies n Cream: yea, and try to make it here quick. i can here hiragi's steps from here and trust me, its not a happy one

BOFURIN OFFICIAL

11:00 AM

Suo Hayato (1-1 Vice Captain): attention, we have an announcement

Sakura Haruka (1-1 Grade Captain): Nirei Akihiko has been hospitalized due to an incident occuring around 10:25 am this morning. We don't have any specific details right now.

Takanashi Tsukasa (1-2 Grade Captain): Wait hold on, is that why the ambulance was parked in front of the school earlier?

Yamamoto Hitomi (1-4 Grade Captain): most likely. Is there anything we can do in assistance?

Kiryu Mitsuki (1-1 Member): keep everyone calm and try not to instate mass panic. We're dealing with enough of that over here in 1-1.

Tsugeura Taiga (1-1 Member): Also! Alert your division kings of the incident, although they all probably know already. Better safe then sorry.

Shiratori Kiyoko (1-3 Grade Captain): Should we increase patrols around the area? I know you all are probably stretched thin currently.

Tanaka Shouta (1-2 Vice Captain): We can extend patrol routes to the borders as well.

Suo Hayato (1-1 Vice Captain): Sakura?

Sakura Haruka (1-1 Grade Captain): Yeah, increase patrols around the area. We'll deal with what we can from here.

Sakura Haruka (1-1 Grade Captain): But make sure that report gets to the Kings. Can't have miscommunication and mistakes get mixed up in this. It's delicate, not like when we ran out on KEEL.

Sakura Haruka (1-1 Grade Captain): Grade Captains, do I got your word?

Takanashi Tsukasa (1-2 Grade Captain): you have my word.

Shiratori Kiyoko (1-3 Grade Captain): you have my word.

Yamamoto Hitomi (1-4 Grade Captain): you have my word.

Sakura Haruka (1-1 Grade Captain): good. get on those patrol routes, this is gonna be a long day.

Sakura Haruka (1-1 Grade Captain): suo, kiryu? with me.

Kiryu Mitsuki (1-1 Member): copy that

Suo Hayato (1-1 Vice Captain): on my way

Chapter Text

"Tsugeura, Sugishita. Both of you, go with Nirei in the ambulance. Be on your best behavior and keep your guard up. The rest of the first-year classes are boosting patrols, and as will we." Suo says sternly, watching Sakura in the corner of his eye, seeing the dual colored captain pacing back and forth, slinging his jacket over on him and cracking his knuckles in repeated motions.

The sight was gorgeous to Suo. But he feels bad for thinking it, because whatever feelings he may have towards his captain are not the priority. Nirei is the priority.

Suo takes an inner deep breath and refocuses, leading Tsugeura and Sugishita to the front even if he didn't need to, just as an extra measure.

If Sakura were to come back and tease him about having a protective streak over call later, he can just claim it was a high stress situation, that's all.

The walk to the front felt short and also felt like an eternity. It was quiet, nobody daring to break the silence, the air feeling heavier with every step towards the front.

By the time they made it to the front, they were getting ready to leave the school premises. Sugishita suddenly darted ahead, rushing to the medical professionals who were closing the doors to the ambulance, Tsugeura hot on his heels. Suo watches them go, and makes sure they intercept their leave. His red eye darkens at all the possibilities that could come out of this stressful period, as he looks up into the upper windows to find the grade captains and Sakura already meeting up in 1-1.

With a disparaging glance to Tsugeura and Sugishita, he turns around back into Furin, trusting their powerhouses to handle it.

The ambulance door was automatic, one of those that stopped once it detected movement. Sugishita was fully ready to rip both of the doors off their hinges, but Tsugeura holds him back with a firm grip on his shoulder, reminding him that they don't exactly want to have Umemiya pay for the door afterwards.

Upon seeing the door not closing, mostly because Tsugeura's thigh was in movement detection range, the EMTs come out of the front of the vehicle, looking quite angry and the other looking fed-up, particularly at their Furin Jackets. Sugishita simply cocks an eyebrow as if to say 'what the fuck do you want?', and while Tsugeura's face isn't quite as easily readable, if you knew him personally, you'd know that his expression reads nothing but promised trouble if they said anything out of line.

"You boys do realize that it's your friend in hospitality, correct? We need to be able to get him to the hospital if you want him to be okay." The first EMT said. It was a guy with curly brown hair and green eyes.

"We don't give a fuck. Let us in the ambulance so we can ride along." Sugishita spits, already climbing into the vehicle. The second EMT, who had the fed-up look on his face earlier, moves to grab Sugishita, but Tsugeura quickly intervenes, moving the EMT away before he caught a fist to the jaw.

"What my friend here means, is that Bofurin has a responsibility of protecting the town and everyone in it. Our friend in your ambulance, obviously is a part of the town. We were assigned to come with, so can you please? We need-" Tsugeura was sharply cut off by the other EMT opposite of the one speaking earlier, expression contorting into one of disgust and disbelief.

"Furin High is a school of mindless gang members who fight and brawl in the streets for no other reason than to breed violence. Believe me, I've lived here. Tanaka, c'mon. We gotta get this guy to the hospital."

There was a pause in which Tsugeura and Sugishita were silent. While his statement wasn't wrong, it wasn't correct either. That's what Bofurin used to be, before Umemiya came and changed the school to be protectors and not the very thing the people needed protection from. Cold rage bristled through their bodies, and while Umemiya wasn't here, it felt like direct disrespect to him and everything they stood for as members of Furin.

They shut the door.

What did Sugishita and Tsugeura do? Well, the only plausible thing they could do in such a situation!

They jump on the back of the ambulance as it's in motion and follow Nirei anyways.

As Tsugeura and Sugishita ride on the back of the ambulance, people in the shadows come out, with black hoods and 3 headed dragons on the back of them.

The leader of them is wearing a trench coat, boots, and their hair is tied up into a ponytail.

They smirk and snap twice, and just like that, a swarm of about 60 members come out on motorcycles and drive closer on the low.

"Let's see how Bofurin handles this... Oh, this'll be the most fun I've had in a very long time."

Bofurin Official

12:30 PM

Tsugeura Taiga (1-1 Member): Question..?

Yamamoto Hitomi (Class 1-4 Grade Captain): Yes, Tsugeura?

Tsugeura Taiga (1-1 Member): Do any of you know what black hoodies with three headed dragon designs on the back mean?

Shiratori Kiyoko (Class 1-3 Grade Captain): and you're asking this because??

Sugishita Kyotaro (1-1 Member): because the bastards are trailing us while we're on the ambulance with nirei

Sakura Haruka (Class 1-1 Grade Captain), and 15 others are typing...

"So, are we fighting or what?!" Tsugeura exclaims, scowling at the sheer amount of them that are slowly creeping up towards them, counting at the very least fifteen of them within his sight. He can feel nothing but straight bloodlust coming off of Sugishita, not as much as they felt when they were fighting KEEL and Suo started going ballistic, but it could come pretty damn close. His hand is clenched so tight, it looks like he might break the handle off of the door to where Nirei was laying.

The look of the gang member's smiles conveyed the promise of no kindness, as they knew they had them backed into a corner. Tsugeura and Sugishita looked at each other, looked at the double doors in which Nirei lay inside, and remembered the voice of the EMT who opened his mouth to start badmouthing Furin. If they fought them, they'd prove his point. But they couldn't let shit like this slide, plus Nirei was inside.

Nirei Akihiko is inside.

So with a final look of grim determination and silent fury, they leap to the first gang member they see, unknowingly that they aren't the only one's dealing with this issue.

Just as Sugishita sends that text, Sakura is drawn from his phone as the sound of a snap! wrang through the air. His head whipped to see Kiyoko had accidentally broken a chair. She looked up at her fellow grade captains and vice captains, and violently gestured outside.

As Sakura took a slow glance, his gaze hardened into annoyance and anger, as he looks outside.

The exact same people that Tsugeura and Sugishita were talking about, that were trailing them? Yeah, they're on Bofurin grounds.

With barbed baseball bats, knives, metal pipes, and a smiling person who's expression conveys nothing but malicious intent.

Sakura makes eye contact with Suo, and everyone in the room looks at each other and nods.

They all swing on their Furin Jackets, and go downstairs.

They have business to conduct. 

Chapter Text

Sakura Haruka (Class 1-1 Captain): Make sure all of your phone are off silent and are able to recieve alerts. This is delicate.

Takanashi Tsukasa (Class 1-2 Captain): Roger that

Shiratori Kiyoko (Class 1-3 Captain): on it

Yamamoto Hitomi (Class 1-4 Captain): copy that, report any suspicious activity?

Sakura Haruka (Class 1-1 Captain): yep

"Listen up, every single one of you!" Kiyoko shouts, slamming her fist into her palm, not to dissimilar from their very own mismatched monochrome other captain. At her words, everyone in Class 1-3 sharply turns around, faces stony, waiting for explicit orders.

"Alright jackasses, this is obviously a delicate and crazy situation, so all of you gotta get your heads out the clouds and focus. Us, as Class 1-3, will be patrolling the western sector of Makochi, towards the overpass that divides us and Shishitoren. We will be spread out and divided amongst me, Isabel, and Arashi. Do not stray or break off from your assigned group, and for the love of every shade of pink, do not slack off. You'll be seeing the bottom of m boot before I'll ever allow that to happen. You got it? Good." On that note, she spins on her heel, and marches from where they were gathered outside.

Was she being mean and a bit rude? Yes, and she can acknowledge that with her whole heart. However, this whole thing is leaving her vulnerable, and she's in Class 1-3, not even in Class 1-1. She's certain they're 100% worse off than she is, especially Suo-san and Sakura-san, seeing as the two of them spend the most time with Nirei.

The walk towards the beginning of the western sector isn't short, but isn't particularly long either, given that Bofurin is a little ways away from being in the heart of Makochi. However, the walk is very much tense, electricity crackling and snapping in the air with every step they take. It's always good to have a healthy bit of paranoia, but she can't help but feel that something is about to go drastically wrong.

She had taken off her makeup and undid the elaborate style she normally does early in the morning, simply because it's a fighting liability. A lot of her classmates did the same thing, as long hair was a trend in her class the most compared to the other three. Instead of looking ahead, she took a stance to stare daggers at her boots, which are scuffed and have stars decorating the ends of her laces. By doing this, she forgets to watch her step and where she's going, because she bumps into something, which snaps her out of her trance, just to look up and up and up-

Oh. It's not a something. It's a someone. It's Hitomi.

Hitomi is stupidly tall for a girl, rivaling 1-1's own anti-social Sugishita Kyotaro, and has eyes that look like they're judging you all the time. Her vice captains are just as scary, both of them standing at about 5'10 to 6'0. Their presence is intimidating, which is exactly why Kiyoko hated, and she means despised Class 1-4 at the beginning of the school year. There's only like five girls in Bofurin, and that's only if you include herself, Hitomi, Isabel, and Tsubaki-san. They have to stick together after all! Boys are nasty!

But one day, they were on solo rounds with one of their great kings, AKA Momose-san. They had fought a gang together, and Hitomi had begun to watch her back while Momose-san had gone on to fight their leader. From that day forward, Kiyoko had put everything aside and now they're friends.

How they met aside, what was she doing here? They made an agreement. Kiyoko's in the west, Tsukasa's in the north, Sakura's in the south, and Hitomi's in the east. They're in opposite directions; Kiyoko shouldn't be seeing her at all.

Not that she doesn't want to. Hitomi's quite literally the personification of eye candy, but now's not the time to give her probable bisexuality some food for thought.

"Get lost or something, Hitomi? Y'know we kinda live here." Kiyoko jabs, to which Hitomi clicks her tongue, her long skirt swaying with every step. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and walks over to Kiyoko.

This isn't fair. How does Hitomi walk cool? She must teach her. What's that saying that American teens say about Miles Morales again?

"Quiet, Kiyoko. Citizens are doing construction on the usual route towards the east, so my class has to go the roundabout way. I texted Calico Cat about it, eventually we came to the agreement to do a lil' wrap around." Hitomi explains, gesturing towards her phone and the people behind her. Kiyoko giggles at the nickname Hitomi has officially assigned to Sakura. She refuses to call him anything else and it drives him crazy. It's so fun to watch.

"Well then, I guess you can come with us." Kiyoko teases, and Hitomi simply rolls her eyes before gesturing for her own class to merge with Kiyoko's and from there, they move.

The walk became easier after that. Still full of tension, but easier, and less easy to disassociate. Right before they get to the fork in the road that splits them apart, they hear a woman screaming the name of their school, and the peaceful facade of slow going easiness shatters like a punched mirror.

"FURIN?! FURIN! THANK GOD!" The woman screams, and on further investigation, they find out it's a university student who's back in town for visiting. However, that's not exactly the point. The woman sprints towards us, and one of the people in her group makes a side comment about 'good form.' The lady must be a track and field runner in that case.

"I'm Miyano Chomei, I didn't believe it at first when my parents told me that Furin protects the town now, but I saw you guys and I knew they weren't lying! But now I'm not so sure..." Chomei exclaims, then mutters very lowly at the tail end of her sentence. Kiyoko and Hitomi look at each other with equally cocked eyebrows of confusion and distrust.

"You were screaming for us earlier, so what do you need exactly?" Kiyoko says, scuffing some stray dirt on the ground. The lady- Miyano-san, she has to remember -takes out her phone and types a few things in before proceeding to ask them another question.

"Do you know if you have members currently out of town right now?" Miyano asks worriedly. Kiyoko raises her eyebrows at that, and Hitomi follows up with a confirmation that yes, they do have members out of town right now. Tsugeura and Sugeshita are with Nirei in the ambulance, why would that-

"There's a live news report of a gang fight happening in between traffic, and two of your members are in the center of it." Miyano-san drops. Kiyoko and Hitomi stare stunned at her. After offering no response, Miyano begins to show them the live news report.

We are now live on Channel 157, bringing to you the most accurate JPN News. We have just gotten a report of a gang war happening directly on the turnpike of Sanshedo and Ame Parkway. There seem to be two opposite forces, one gang in a black hoodie with green accents, and only two people who differ, with black flak jackets with teal and yellow accents. Further details will be released as we get them, Police in the area are attempting to judge how serious this situation seems to be. The opposing gang is...

Hitomi demands for the link to the news report. So does Kiyoko. Hitomi sends it in the Captains and Vice Captains group chat and just hopes that Calico Cat and Suo will be able to do anything about this.

They both hope that they're fine.

-^-^-^-

On the contrary, Suo and Sakura are decidedly not fine, because the very minute they saw it, Sakura proceeded to go catatonic for seven minutes and had a double entendre of a panic attack and disassociation. The whole class tried to bring him back, but alas, all the extra attention seemed to make it worse.

"Suo, take him." Anzai says with finality, to which Suo's neck snaps up nearly ramrod straight to discern the thought process behind Anzai's words. "If there's anyone here who Sakura will respond best to, it's you. Take him to a private spot and the rest of us will take it up from here."

"How am I supposed to-"

"Jesus dude, we give Sakura shit for not relying on us or allowing us to share his burdens, but it seems like we've been needing to give you the Grand Speech instead." Anzai dryly chuckles but pushes on regardless. "Rely on us. We're all in this together. Maybe the rest of us aren't as powerful as you or Sakura, but we have power. We'll deal with this, you help your captain, cool?"

There's a deep part of him that acknowledges that Anzai said 'your captain' and not 'our captain', but Suo decides that this isn't the time to focus on such frivolous things. He turns back towards Sakura, who looks like he's coming down on his own, but he knows the extra attention will drive a deeper well of disconnectedness and thats the very last thing they need right now. As such, Suo picks Sakura up, and to his delight, he's a lot heavier than the first time he's ever picked him up.

(A very small, vindictive part of him wants to revel in the feeling of getting to carry Sakura like this. Carry him bridal style, just to show that he's all his. It's not right, so he tries his best not to acknowledge it. Suo's patient, and if anything, he has endless patience for this dual toned boy.)

He feels Sakura grip the collar of his changshan, as he sets him down on the ground a ways away from where the rest of Class 1-1 is standing, and looking out on guard. At this point, Sakura has come back to the land of the living, but is staring at his phone screen, the lowered volume of the newscast playing over and over like a mantra. Suo softly but firmly removes the phone from his hand and shuts it off, and proceeds to get closer to properly look at him.

They're eye to eye, nose to nose, and mouth to mouth. Topaz and moonlight blue to deep maroon red.

"Sakura-kun. Talk to me." Suo says, insistence lacing every word. Sakura jolts a bit, tugging at his hoodie sleeve. Wearing his Furin jacket over his hoodies seems to be a habit he's picked up from Kaji and Momose-san, it seems.

"They're so far away. Tsugeura and Sugeshita, I mean. They're out of town already. I can't reach them, I can't help them. I'm useless just fucking standing here while they're fighting a two on probably what? Sixty fucking gang members? I should've never told them to go, we should've planned this better, How the hell am I supposed to be the fucking captain when every decision I ever make goes so wrong I can barely do anything to fucking fix it-"

"Haruka."

The utter of his first name stops his panicked ramble in its tracks. If there's one thing he didn't expect to hear today, it was Suo saying his actual name.

He also doesn't want to think about how it makes him feel. They have better priorities right now.

"Not every decision you make goes off the rails. How were you supposed to predict that a whole other gang was going to come and overtake them? Nobody has foresight, Haruka." Suo gets on his knees, still a little taller that Sakura, even when they're both on the floor. "And you're not useless. Nobody here is. This was so sudden it threw a wrench into everyone's initial expectations and now we're trying to adapt."

Suo's hands migrate to both sides of Sakura, and no matter how much he would rather use his hands to cradle his face, he knows it's not appropriate.

He can wait for as long as he needs to. Patience is a virtue.

"None of this is your fault, it's nobody's fault. We'll find a way, we always do.

There are several beats of silence. Eventually, Sakura uses his hands to stand back up. Suo takes this as his sign to leave, so he's already up and halfway out of their secluded spot, before Sakura grabs him by the cuff of his sleeve. Suo stops.

"Thank you..."

"Hayato."

Suo takes a very sharp inhale, and a very slow exhale. He turns around, and decides just this once, he won't fake it. He decides to give him a genuinely small smile, and he only gives those to his brothers.

"You're very welcome, Haruka."

Upon walking out together, Suo hears his phone ringing, to which he picks it up only to hear Kiyoko screaming in the background.

"Requesting backup! The same guys attacking Tsugeura and Sugeshita? They're here now! Once again, requesting back up!"

And that very same minute, Suo has come to the conclusion that the entirety of the first year class is a walking, talking, breathing case of Murphy's Law. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Chapter Text

It's very cold in ambulances. He realizes he never really felt it that night, but then again, he did get strangled, so he's not surprised.

He's barely conscious, eyes hazy, seeing nothing but bright white with a mix of red and yellows. He feels fine, but the void where the feeling of his fingers should be is a very telling sign that he is decidedly not fine. He also feels stinging near and on his neck, and the feeling of tightness is in his neck as well. Probably the aftermath of a pretty bad panic attack setting in. He tries to move his wrist and hand, but to no avail, they lay still at his sides. There's yelling and screaming outside, is it road rage? Bad drivers? He's got no idea, and it's not like he'll be able to find out. He's drained of all energy completely, and attempting to lift his neck feels like a chore.

Maybe he should sleep for a while, his vision is swimming anyways...

-^-

They're doing pretty well for a 2 versus 50, but Tsugeura is beginning to think it might not be enough.

For every 10 they take out, the next ones that arrive seem to increase in strength. The leader, or what him and Sugishita think is the leader, is still at the top, jumping at the mini bridges and passageways over the turnpike with a wild smile on his face, simply standing by as his fellow gang members ransack a busy road with their motorcycles and have the absolute audacity to follow them for who knows what reason.

The jackets aren't familiar, for all the small-time gangs they take down during their patrols, they remember each one in case that smalltime turns into KEEL numbers. These guys have never been seen in Makochi before, so what the hell do they have against them? Sure, not everyone shares the ideology that Umemiya-san came with as a vision for Bofurin, but that does not warrant unprecedented and unwanted attacks in the middle of a busy street, especially when they're currently assigned on guard duty by none other than their very own grade captain.

"Alright you fucking jackass, care to tell us why the hell you're targeting us right now?! Because I guarantee us as Bofurin don't owe you jack shit!" Sugishita exclaims, with about eight guys going down as he's screaming. Tsugeshita echoes Sugishita's question, trying his best to keep an eye on the ambulance while also fighting on a turnpike.

He really wants to go home.

"Oh?? You wanna know the why??" The speculated leader coos from the top. His mouth morphs into an even wider, wilder smile, teeth glinting in the sunlight. He finally jumps down, and when he jumps down, he lands directly on top of the ambulance where Nirei lays. Sugishita growls and sprints up with Tsugeshita in tow. Once they make it back, the supposed leader begins to speak, eyes blown wide open, so open you can see the red veins pulsing with power and arrogance.

"Well, you're right! We don't owe Bofurin jack shit! We were actually hired to do this! That lady really wanted your freckled friend... taken care of, and with the price she was offering, we couldn't really refuse!" He spouts. That in itself was a bad idea, because before the leader could even blink, Sugishita is already jumping up, getting ready to throw hands on top of the ambulance. Tsugeura deadpans, muttering about how hired gang wars shouldn't be Bofurin's virtue at ALL before quickly catching up in order to block the door.

Now, you may be wondering. The medics have been in the ambulance the whole time, right? So, if the medics have been in there the entire time, have they not born witness to the absolute pandemonium that was happening outside?

Well, they did. And they are currently calling the police and giving a little too much description detail as it pertains to our Furin boys.

"Anyways, we're too close to the hospital now, and even if we were to follow you two and your little ward, hurting innocents isn't exactly on our payroll. Farewell Furin, you'll be seeing us very soon!" And with that, they disappeared nearly as quickly and as nerve rackingly as they came. Sugishita growls once again, throwing the concept of the Japanese lexicon out of the window. Tsugeura sighs in exhaustion, adjusting the white headband he always wears. He also flops on top of the ambulance in starfish position, wondering just when this became his life.

"Jesus, how did we even get to this point?" Tsugeura heaves, and Sugishita just huffs, sitting down directly next to him.

"We're the ones that chose to attend a delinquent school... and technically we're not even proper delinquents, we're well-meaning ones." The long-haired teen grumbles, and they fall into comfortable but tense silence, as the ambulance continues to drive forward.

They feel the jolt of the ambulance being put into park which shakes them out of their stupor, and it is also the jolt that alerts them to move before the medical professionals catch them, because as they recall, they really aren't supposed to be here. They climb down the opposite way as the medics get out of the car, and they take Nirei out of the vehicle and onto a stretcher.

Remember, the reason why they even called for an emergency was because Nirei had cut off blood flow in his fingers and that isn't a good sign in anybody. They have enough traumatized motherfuckers in Furin already, and as a result, panic attacks are just something they all know how to handle, in their own little ways. Their task was to watch over Nirei, because even if they are normal 15- to 16-year-old boys, they are also technically gang members and it's better to be safe than to be sorry. Once they get down from the vehicle, they both pat around their pockets, to which Sugishita takes out his phone, but Tsugeura...

"Oh shit my phone's gone!" Tsugeura whisper-yells, and for someone like him, the whisper-yelling is still very loud, but he has the spirit. Sugishita groans, knowing that his phone is more likely than not a lost cause at this point. He huffs angrily, and turns it on so he can call the group chat.

Or, in more specifics, to call Sakura. He begrudgingly clicks the call, and the first thing he hears is bated breaths and quick footsteps, which leads him to deduct that things over at Makochi aren't exactly going so good either. Tsugeura grabs the phone.

"Sakura! We're at the hospital, what's going on over there?!"

"Yamamoto and Shiratori are requesting back up because the guys that were attacking you on the turnpike are here as well." Suo says in replacement of their captain.

"How the hell didya know we got attacked? And where's Sakura?" Sugishita asks, finally speaking more in Japanese than he does with grunts and huffs.

"Currently sprinting on the roofs of buildings because he believes it's faster. He is moving pretty fast though..." He trails off to look upwards, to which Sakura is indeed leagues ahead of them and will most likely jump off one of those buildings up ahead just to get the drop on the gang ahead. His Their captain is dramatic like that. "And we knew because there was a news report on it. A local reported it to Shiratori and Yamamoto and they had it sent to us."

"Are the police headed right for us or not?"

"Dunno. And we have no way to find out, remember that what we do at Bofurin isn't exactly legal..." The orange-headed and the long-haired teen both cuss at that.

Because it's true. The work they do at Bofurin isn't legal by any means, and allowing them to do what they do is probably a form of child neglect somewhere, considering that they don't exactly get taught anything that would be related to education or academics. However, Bofurin didn't just form on a whim because a couple of high school kids wanted to play hero or savior. Law enforcement stopped caring about Makochi, even after the gang activity stopped, they never returned. With nothing else, it's not that far of a stretch for a school like Bofurin to form, as unconventional as it is. Police attention is something they don't want, even if they know the townspeople won't snitch on them.

"Fuck, okay, one thing at a time. How close are you to Yamamoto and Shiratori?" Sugishita questions, and before Suo can even responds, there's a roar about "you monochrome colored bastards!" followed with what sounds like a round house kick to someone's head.

"Well, as you can probably tell, we've just made it to them, and someone did indeed get hit with a Sakura kick." Suo smiles, and looks at the chaos unfolding in front of them. "Ah, I gotta go now you two, but be careful and try not to encounter any police or law enforcement. Call if there's an emergency." With affirmation from the two, Suo hangs up, and looks up to see-

Oh. Sakura has someone else's blood splotched over his face and shirt. And he's smiling. How beautiful.

With that in mind, Suo rushes into the fold and takes some of the load off of Shiratori's back. A well placed hand there and a fainted kick there, and most of that portion was down- oh look, there's more of them. Can't a guy watch their captain fight in amazement in peace? Before he can get back into it, a certain bi-colored kid is thrown into his view. He catches him, and he has to spin around just a little in order to regain balance but he catches him nevertheless. There's a tiny poke at his torso which signals a thanks, to which Suo huffs out a laugh. Their captain sure is silly.

"Sa - ku - ra~! Are you sure you aren't a shapeshifter?" Suo teases, and as if on cue, his face turns into that pretty shade of red and pink as it always does. He sputters, hands about to flail and grab the eyepatch wearer. Sakura also rolls his eyes very heavily, and so, Suo presses on. "First a cat, then an acrobat, and now you're just flying across a fighting field like a bird? It's quite impressive!"

"Suo. I am going to shove my foot so hard up your ass, those bastard teeth of yours will come out too." He spits, face turning redder with each punctuated "shapeshifter" comment he makes. "Can't even breathe without you making a comment on something..."

"Alright alright I'll stop for now," Which earns him a very heavy-handed glare, which is adorable. "Alrighty then Sakura, what are we doing here?" Sakura's attention is then focused back onto the fight, where all three teams are fighting diligently, and the other grade captains have indeed taken down the heavy hitters.

"Single out the leader and take out everyone else. It makes it better for asking questions, 'cuz I don't know what the fuck they want from Furin, but whatever they want can't have anything to do with Nirei." Oh! Suo recognizes this voice. The "I don't give a fuck" mixed in with the "Captain Mode" voice. He's so cute.

"Sakura Haruka. Are you trying to fight the leader one-on-one like we did with Shishitoren?~"

"You literally toyed with your opponent that day and psychologically crushed him, don't even try it, Suo Hayato." Suo comes to the deduction that Sakura needs to start saying his first name more. It rolls off his tongue so easy, it's intoxicating.

"Touche, you beat Togame's ass and you talk about moi? Your lovely dedicated vice-captain?"

"Togame gave up that fight to me and you know it. At least I gave my opponent the faith of a one-on-one, you on the other hand decided that emotionally breaking him was a good idea."

"I showed off for you."

Sakura blushes even harder. "However true that may be, it doesn't change the fact that you have a crappy personality, as cool as you fighting was."

"The Sakura Haruka admits I'm cool? I might faint."

"I take it back. You're so lame they had to come up with a new word to describe it."

"Awww don't be like that Sakura, I showed off and everything and this is how you treat me?"

"Fight me and take me seriously and maybe I won't treat you like this!"

"Didn't I tell you that you'd be annoying to fight? Thanks, but no thanks."

"I despise you, Suo Hayato."

"At this point, I think you might like saying my first name." Hook. Line.

"You can have a pretty first name and still be a jackass. You prove that point tremendously and so lamely at the same fucking time. It's the 8th wonder of the world." Sinker.

"You think my name is pretty?"

Sakura turns as red as a freshly bloomed rose and dives for a punch, to which Suo dodges. It repeats, the song and dance. Truth is, if him and Sakura were to fight hand to hand in a serious fight, he doesn't know who'd truly come out alive. But if he gets to see Sakura all bloodied and red, raging smile and eyes as fiery as an erupted volcano, then maybe losing his other eye to the bi-colored boy was worth it. God, imagine it. Red, Suo's favorite color, and Sakura completely covered in it-

"Hey lovebirds! We heard the whole 'single out the leader' thing from earlier, and uh, we did it." Hitomi calls out, and the pair looks down to see that yes, they did catch the leader, however, the leader is all bloody and beaten, probably a cause of initial reluctance to cooperate with words instead of fists. Oh well, they were a well-meaning delinquent school. Sakura gets up, getting ready to literally yank whatever information they may or may not have. Before he can do that, Suo decides to do one last jab, if but a risky one.

"If my name is pretty, wouldn't that make yours beautiful? Sakura Haruka, sounds kinda nice to me." He whispers, and that might be the last straw, because he literally watches with his own eye as Sakura completely malfunctions in trying to process. Suo laughs, and shakes his head at his captain's antics. Sakura glares at him even harder than he did earlier, pretty golden topaz and moonlight blue eyes glinting the high sun above them.

"I will get back to you and your... everything later, Haya- Suo." Awe man, okay. He'll try again next time. That's the closest he's ever gotten though. He schools his expression though, because the leader of the other gang has just gained consciousness, and that means it's back to business.

Sakura crouches down, heterochromic eyes boring into bright red ones. He lifts the head of the leader, who looks like a girl, and forces her eyes to look straight into his. Suo walks up behind him, and as such, Hitomi, Kiyoko, and their vice captains walk up behind Sakura too.

"Your little friends got a lot of nerve going for ours, especially since one of ours is... out of commission for a while." Hitomi states, sneakers resting besides Sakura's leg.

"Now, hurting someone that belongs to Bofurin isn't really a good idea. Seriously, ask Shishitoren." Kiyoko states, cracking her knuckles behind her.

"And the person who got hurt at that incident wasn't even a member. So, as you can probably see, reluctance isn't a virtue you have." Suo smiles, but it holds none of the teasing it normally does. Just indifference with a hint of malice.

"This person just so happens to be a personal attack, and those cannot be taken lightly." Sakura states, and to punctuate his statement, he tightens his grip on the leader's jaw, effectively trapping her more than she already was, surrounded by a sea of black, teal. and yellow. Afterwards, the members of Class 1-1, Class 1-3, and Class 1-4 sans Sakura, Hitomi, Kiyoko, and Suo begin to recite.

"ANYONE PAST THIS POINT, WHO CAUSES PAIN, WHO BRINGS DESTRUCTION, WHO HOLDS EVIL IN THEIR HEART, WILL BE PURGED BY BOFURIN WITHOUT EXCEPTION!"

Sakura's eyes bore in harder.

"Now talk."

Chapter Text

Sakura honestly should've thought that this day would come sooner rather than later.

When he brought Keigai to the vet, Suo had come with him to get through the whole process. He also accompanied him to go get supplies and toys afterwards, to which Nirei joined them after a bit. He will never admit it, but the day was really fun and was probably going to be one of the most memorable three-day weekends he'll ever have in his life.

However, upon waking up and realizing that Keigai was not in his cat bed in the corner, Sakura had come to the conclusion that Keigai was not going to cooperate today as he normally does.

His first order of business was to search the house for his feline companion. After looking in the bathroom, and the area near his litterbox, he walks out to the main room to see that Keigai has taken a liking to Haruka’s walls instead of the scratching post that he bought specifically for him in the first place.

With a deep sigh, Sakura picks up Keigai and places him back on the bed — Sakura’s own bed, not Keigai’s — and hopes that Keigai will sit still long enough so that Sakura can get everything he needs to do in the morning done.

Needless to say, the tranquility lasts for exactly eight minutes.

Keigai proceeded to start jumping up and down the bathroom appliances, tried to hop in the shower as Sakura was in there and when that didn’t work, he proceeded to yowl and make noise in the kitchen and in Sakura’s cupboards. Now, he knows there isn’t exactly much in there but that’s not an excuse to be causing such a racket! He doesn’t know how loud something has to be in order to get a noise complaint but he doesn’t want to find out.

Once Sakura is finally ready to leave, new sneakers (courtesy of Tsubaki, she won a bet) and his new hoodie (courtesy of Nirei, and he can’t just refuse Nirei, that’s kind of illegal) with his Furin jacket over it, Keigai decides to do something he’s never done before.

He decides to perch himself on Sakura’s shoulder, and every time Sakura manages to pull him off, he somehow climbs right back on. Now don’t get him wrong, Sakura could probably chuck the cat across the street, but that’s a cat. His cat! He shouldn’t have to use the strength he saves for fights on his own pet, that’s just wrong.

He huffs after what is probably the 25th attempt at getting Keigai off his shoulder, and just opens the door and semi-slams the door closed even though he knows he doesn’t have a lock, and trots off to Furin.

He hopes he won’t get in trouble with Hiragi for bringing Keigai to school with him.

———

Apparently, he received the opposite.

Upon entering 1-1, it took the entire class less than 10 seconds to register that Keigai was even here in the first place, much less the shoulder the cat was perched on. Suo, of course, thought it was best to tease Sakura first before even saying “good morning!”, and basically called Sakura one of those cringe cartoon villains that turn slowly in their chairs while petting their cats or feline partners. Sakura puts down Keigai gently, moves fast enough so the feline can’t jump back on his shoulder, and promptly tries to punch Suo. Suo dodges, which makes Sakura even more angrier, and they begin to playfight in the corner of the classroom like normal.

”Well, at least Keigai’s cute!” Anzai says, as the other 1-1 members watch the feline jump from desk to desk like it’s his own personalized obstacle course.

”Yeah, and he looks like Sakura, I wanna say it’s a coincidence but I think Keigai’s appearance was one of the deciding factors in his decision to keep him.” Nirei states excitedly.

“He kinda reminds me of when Sakura did that crazy parkour and started jumping off of roofs to catch Risa. They’re made for eachother.” Tsugeura jibes, as Keigai makes a pretty impressive climb up towards the chalkboard, while Tsugeura also signals some members to head over in case the egyptian mau falls.

”Oh, you guys didn’t know?” Suo says amusingly, sliding up to the three. “Sakura’s basically the Japanese version of Simone Bi-“ and in that moment, Suo receives a swift axe kick to the back of his neck, with a fuming, blushing face behind him.

Kiryu giggles as he hears the bell ring for morning patrol. Average day at Furin High.

1-1 is called out for morning patrols, and as usual, Sakura leads the pack in the front, with Suo and Nirei flanking him, with Kiryu and Tsugeura standing as bodyguards near the rest of the pack.

They’re making their way through the town, paying attention to the citizens and the mini jobs they'd have to do while patrolling. Painting the graffiti (even though Sakura personally things that it's art and they shouldn't ruin anyone's work), fixing windows and doors, planting, putting up posters, cleaning the streets, it's pretty much all in a day's work for them.

They carry varying amounts of food in their hands, Sakura weighing a careful eye on Suo so he can actually fucking eat for once, even if it means having to take out of his own rent money to buy him tea at one of the shops. Keigai sits quiet and polite on his shoulder, a stark difference to the attitude the pet had earlier in the day. While Class 1-1 is walking the street, there's a whizz of someone running past them, but they don't register it right away. Not even a couple of minutes later, Keigai has changed shoulder positions, and is now sitting on the shoulder with Suo beside it, and not Nirei. The feline nudges his head at Suo's arm, and the eyepatched teen looks at the black-and-white pet, and looks to where Keigai's looking, only to see Grandma Sato running towards them.

"Please, Furin, Help!" The old woman tries to catch her breath. Anzai and Mizuhachi run forward to help her get steady again. Out of the corner of Nirei's eye, the blonde can see both Sakura and Keigai straighten up at the same time. He wishes this was the appropriate time to get a video and send it to the official groupchat, but alas, they have work to do, especially if Granny Sato is running to them instead of waiting for them to pass by her part of the district. They wait for her to gather her thoughts before she speaks.

"A man came and took the pastries that I had from the front of my home! I wasn't going to make a big fuss over it, but then Risa ran off after him and now I don't know where she is!" She cried out. The first years looked among themselves, knowing they'd get no more patrol done and they need to help her out. They get information about the guy and a proper general description of him, and they were off.

It took them no less than 15 minutes to find the guy who took off with Grandma Sato's pastries. Turns out it was just a really tall middle schooler who isn't exactly well off. He lives alone with his younger sister and apparently only stole them because he doesn't have the money to pay for the pastries but they're his little sister's favorite. Luckily for him, Grandma Sato was very understanding and told him to come by when he likes and to bring his little sister with him.

"Now that's resolved, where to find that kami forsaken cat..." Kiryu mutters. Nirei silently agrees, comparing Risa's nature to like that of Tora The Cat from Naruto.

"Uh, guys? Is that not Risa up there? And there's aLSO A KID DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE EDGE! SOMEONE GET THAT KID OFF THE LEDGE!" Tsugeura began, to which Takanashi interrupted yelling. Everyone peers upwards to see that yes, there is indeed a kid too close to the edge and Risa is also up there. Before they send someone to somehow get or find a ladder up there, two figures zip past the Furin members, one distinctly cat shaped and the other distinctly human shaped.

Yep. It's Keigai and Sakura Haruka. And what do they do?

Scale up the building and pretty much run at the speed of sound.

Keigai sprints ahead and starts a literal catfight with Risa. Sakura does a literal triple back handspring in real time over some faulty pipes and grabs the kid by the scruff of his shirt and yanks him back onto the roof of one of the buildings further down the street. Suo glides over and smiles with that same amusing smile that drives Sakura absolutely crazy.

"See, what'd I say? Simone Biles!" Suo jibes. Nirei facepalms, wondering exactly what the fuck he was going to do when it comes Suo and Sakura's antics. Sakura turns around sharply, a string of curses on the tip of his tongue.

"Yknow, Keigai did also jump up after Risa. And now look! I think Risa lost the cat fight." Sakura's head snaps to see that, yes, Risa did in fact lose the catfight to Keigai, who was currently sitting on top of her, tail lazing in the air.

"Well, I guess pets do emulate their owners."

"More like kids emulate their parents."

"Does that make Suo the dad and Sakura the mo-"

"ALL OF YOU SHUT UP UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET DROPKICKED. IF YOU DO, BE MY GUEST AND I'LL COME AND DO THAT SHIT RIGHT NOW."

------

Turns out, the kid wasn't trying to delete his life subscription, but he was trying to find the safest way to get down because the trap door was locked, and the kid strayed a little too close to the edge. On that note, Sakura hits another back handspring off the roof and lands gracefully, Risa yowling all the way down while Sakura and Keigai kept as calm as possible. As soon as Sakura lands, Keigai goes back to perching on his bi-colored owner's shoulder, while Risa gets handed over to Grandma Sato. Sakura raises a finger to Keigai's chin and scratches.

"See ya, kid. Next time, call an adult before you try something like that again." Nirei says with relief. The kid gives his thanks and says goodbye.

Owner Sakura is happy!

The fight was the first fight he's ever been in, but he's sure that Owner Sakura is happy. Even Green Tea seems to be proud of him! Muscle Man looks really strong too, he wonders if Owner Sakura will let him fight Muscle Man. Is there a way to ask him? It's not like he can speak human, and he's always been a good partner, so Owner Sakura has never had to give him commands and as such, he's never had to commit human speech to memory. Maybe he should start...

Ah, and that blasted cottontail! The fact that she really thought she would get away from him, in front of Owner Sakura and his clowder at that! That fight was very pleasant to win, even if he did have to use his claws and work for it. The yowl that stupid cottontail let out might grace his dreams for the rest of his days.

It is time to re-perch though. Owner Sakura and the rest of his clowder are leaving now that they've saved that kitten from falling off of that tall human-built thing. Owner Sakura's shoulder is very sturdy but quite thin, has someone not been feeding his owner well? That was simply outrageous! That cannot happen.

Wait, is it Owner Sakura or Owner Haruka? Humans must always complicate everything, this thing where they have two names is so confusing. They both sound like first names! Every human name is like that! Ugh, can't they just stick to one name? It's so unnecessarily complicated. Maybe he should start saying Owner Haruka more? He hears Green Tea say it often, would it be better if he used that? On that note, Owner Sak- Haruka and Green Tea do seem very close, should he start referring to Green Tea as another owner too? Owner Haruka is kind of like a Mama, so does that make Green Tea Dad?

He flicks his head back to the blasted cottontail, who's veering at him with promises of regret. Hah! Cottontail's gonna have to try harder to even think she could get revenge on him. Owner Haruka is strong and is gonna be at the top, meaning Keigai has to be at the top too! She can sure try, he's up for a rematch anyday.

Owner Haruka's clowder seems fun to be around though... maybe if he puts up more of a fuss, he'll get to come every day!

Chapter Text

Nirei has no idea how it got to this point.

First, he passes out. He's aware that it was of his own doing that he did, but it's not like that isn't an inconvenience. Then, he's ushered to the ambulance, assuming that he woke up in the hospital. Next, his fingers are still a blue-ish purple. And on top of all of that, his two classmates are currently standing as guard dogs at his door at the askance of his own uncle. On top of that, the only reason why his uncle isn't here to come and get him is because his boss won't let him out of work to get him.

He laughs. He only laughs because if he doesn't, he'll cry. How does this even happen? And the two aforementioned bodyguards at his door had dropped their phones on the highway. Thank Kami for insurance. Also, fighting against a biker gang that was apparently after him is too much! He isn't that important!! That's so much work!!

Well, he isn't really complaining about his friends being here. He loves them, and he finds it better that he's in the company of people he knows and people he can trust. However, he hates the hospital and all he wants is to go home. Back to Makochi, back to the townsfolk, back to Furin, back to stopping Sakura from solving every problem with his fists, back to bullying Anzai, back to watching Tsugeura and Sakura have push-up contests in the courtyard, and back to waking Sugishita from his naps and watching his face contort into one of serenity every time. It's actually very mesmerizing to see how one of their toughest and gruffest fighters can just sit back and watch their faces just relax so-

Damn, he really does admire Sugishita a lot, huh? He should probably do something about that.

Now, you're probably wondering, just how the hell did he get into this position in the first place? Well, it all started after he let in his two classmates through the window...

"What do you mean there was a biker gang on the highway?! Why were they after me of all people?! What is happening right now?!" The freckled boy exclaims. The two taller boys sweat drop under his rapidly increasing volume.

"Well, Sakura kinda sent us to go with you! And uh, disobeying captain orders in such a situation didn't seem like the smart thing to do in the heat of the moment, so we just moved without thinking!" Tsugeura explains nervously.

Man, Nirei can be scarier than Sakura and Suo when he really wants to be.

"And what? Did you think the EMT's from the city of all fucking places were gonna let two random kids they don't fucking know ride in the ambulance with someone who got the bloodflow to their fingers cut off! Like seriously! What were you guys thinking!" He hisses, and both taller boys shrunk back in embarrassment. Yeah, it wasn't their brightest moment, but in the moment, it was the priority!

"Harrasing an EMT?! When they're literally in connection with the police at all times?! Seriously, guys? C'mon!" Nirei lowers his voice, snapping at them once again. It's a valid concern for them, especially considering that the work that they do at Furin isn't exactly something that the cops would appreciate. They are, for all intents and purposes, breaking the law. Nirei begins to tear into them more, until all three of them hear a rapt knocking on the hospital room door. Nirei's head snaps towards the taller boys as he ushers them both below the bed and drapes the bed cover slightly to the side to cover them well.

"Nirei... Akihiko? I'm Doctor Kudo, how are you feeling?" She smiles, and Nirei forces his face to relax so he doesn't look suspicious. He straightens his position on the bed, and softly itches at his fingers, feeling slightly surprised that he can't really feel them still.

"I'm feeling kind of sluggish, but I'll be okay, thank you for asking, Miss." The Doctor smiled at him and proceeded to get down to business.

"Well, Nirei. Our EMTs reported that the injury sustained seemed to be self inflicted. Do you think you could explain exactly what happened? I'm not forcing you."

Telling the doctor how he's here because he got a little too deep into a panic attack and nearly got kidnapped by green snake gang members? Yeah, no thanks.

"I-I would rather not, but yes, it was a self-inflicted injury." He stammers out, and his gaze drops to his hands, one slightly red and the other still painted in blotches of blue and purple. He watches Doctor Miyo's hand fall in front of him but not anywhere that's actually touching him, in a way to respect him and his space.

"We all have things we don't want to talk about. Whether it was a panic attack-" Shit, well, she already figured it out "A flash back, a simple flare of the moment, or something that could've triggered another thing. It's fine to not tell, and it's completely fine to be stressed in such a situation like this. I am, after all, a stranger to you."

Well, at least he knows his doctor for today isn't going to be an asshole. He would've been scared if she was, the two people below him have a very strong sense of justice, even if the long haired one refuses to voice it out loud for any reason. Having to explain why there's two unknown guys in his room would not be fun in the very least...

"Well, you most likely already know what went wrong. In doing what you did, you cut off the bloodflow to your fingers. Now normally, in situations like these, we would prescribe blood thinners. However, thick blood isn't necessarily the issue at hand. Instead, I'm going to prescribe you Nifedipine, also known as Procardia in other places. It's a calcium channel blocker, and what it does is that it relaxes and opens blood vessels in the hands and in the feet. You will be prescribed forty milligrams of Procardia, meant to be taken twice a day and twice a day only. Do you understand?" Nirei nods, and so, Doctor Kudo proceeds.

"On an additional note. Your legal guardian on your papers is listed as Nirei Ichiro. We have a landline phone connected in the hallway that will allow you to call him. As soon as you feel ready, you may go. That is all. Thank you for your time."

The doctor leaves with haste, and Nirei figures that he might as well get it over with, so he gets up and ignores the wave of dizziness that greets him the minute he gets up from the bed. It takes him about five minutes to find the phone, and once he finally finds it, he quickly dials his uncle's number. The line connects, and he puts the phone towards his ear.

"Hello, Uncle Ichi? I kno-"

"AKIHIKO! KAMI ABOVE, ARE YOU OKAY?! The hospital called me when they admitted you and I panicked! I'm so sorry, I can't come and get you because my boss is being an asshole, but listen to me, kid. Anything you want or need; you tell me or your Auntie Himari, you got it? Anything!!"

"Yes, yes, I get it, if I need anything I should call you or Auntie Hima! I get it Uncle Ichi!" 

"Good! Now, I know I let you attend that one school that had a pretty bad reputation~ D'ya want out yet? I can easily rearrange you for a different school right now if you'd li-"

"Absolutely not! I love Furin! And I already told you! It isn't just a gang, we protect the town. It isn't as bad as all the rumors say it is! And speaking of Furin, that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about..."

And that is how he got two bodyguards standing at his doorway at his uncle's request. His uncle won't be able to come and get him until he gets off of work, which is about now, but driving from his place of work to the hospital is going to take more than an hour and some change. So, what does he do to pass the time?

He plays video games with Tsugeura and Sugishita. Yknow, like teenagers do.

From this experience, he has learned two things. One, if he's ever going to play Super Smash Bros Ultimate, he needs to make sure that Sugishita never gets his hands on Sonic. Second, Tsugeura's Super Smash Bros main is Kirby. Fucking Kirby. Why couldn't it be Mega Man? It fits him so much better!

Fighting in the Gaur Plain sucks, though. He keeps getting knocked off and he actually raged in a game for once, which hasn't really happened since his second year of junior high. Furthermore, Sugishita is a competitive bastard that refuses to lose to him or Tsugeura when it comes to SSBU, so it means that Nirei actually has to work his ass off at playing games for once to actually beat him.

(Spoiler: he doesn't. Sugishita beats their asses each and every time. However, the tiny smirk at the end of each game, which is a wild difference from his stoic or mad demeanor makes Nirei think that losing in such an embarrassing way is totally worth it.)

They're getting ready to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, until he hears a shouting down the hallway. Specifically, the shout of his given name.

Well, looks like his uncle is here. From the sounds of it, he brought his kids with him too.

"WELL TALK, THEN! NO WAY YOU WERE JUST OVER ON OUR TURF, ACTING SO FUCKING TOUGH, AND NOW YOU DON'T HAVE A VOICE BOX?!" Sakura yells, and everyone else around them knows exactly how the hell this is going to go.

They won't give them any information unless they beat the information out of them. Not too bad, though. This is the only source of information they have.

Suo stands at Sakura's left, Kiryu at his right, with Hitomi and Kiyoko looming over them from behind. The assorted classes of 1-1, 1-3. and 1-4 surround them in a protective circle. They looked almost military in this formation. They have to be careful with what they do, however. If they do too much by accident, they'll shut up the leader permanently, and that's the very last thing they want.

"H-Huh... s-so th-thi-this is Bofurin... i-interesting..." She chokes out, nearly choking on her own blood from the beatdown she had received earlier. Kiyoko had to admit; she wasn't a bad fighter. To be honest, the whole thing was good fighter, bad opponent. On top of that, some members of 1-2 had been sent over, since they had stretched out that class as far as it could to the rest of the town before calling the second and third years.

Safe to say, they weren't happy that the first years just ran out on them, especially without telling them what happened and what was currently happening. However, now a piece of their minds can rest knowing that the second and third years were scattered across town. Now, they can effectively deal with the problem at hand. Using any tool at their disposal to get whatever they need under whatever circumstances.

"You're in no position to say such things, especially since you have the lower hand." Suo remarks offhandedly, as if the girl didn't matter anymore than she actually did. Her teeth audibly grinded together, and the sound was music to Suo's ears.

"I d-don't care if you're B-Bofurin or not. I'm n-not telling y-you shit!" Which was indeed the wrong answer, because the minute she said that she was greeted with a roundhouse kick to the face by none other than Furin's resident bi-colored powerhouse. She went flying across the street and was slammed into the wall of one of the buildings up ahead. Kiyoko got up after her and dragged her back while speaking.

"That, darling, was the wrong fucking answer." Kiyoko says, and before she could successfully drag her back, there was a crack of wind through the air, and her head whipped around to see a steel-toed boot flying directly for her face. Before Kiyoko could react, a hand reached out and grabbed the boot from the ankle area and launched the person back towards the others.

The person had an androgynous look, with a wolf cut and topaz eyes. They rushed over to the girl they were interrogating, hands wrapped around her figure gently and protectively.

"This wasn't because of her! This was because of me! You're more than welcome to hit me as much as you like but leave her alone!" He snarls, arms wrapping around her tighter as each word is spoken.

"Whether who did what isn't what we care about." Kiryu begins, grabbing both people by the scruff of their shirts and pulling them close, forcing them to meet pools of jade green. "It's the why that we care about, and a little bit of the who. Why did you do that scare earlier and then dip when we come outside? Why come for our people on the freeway of all places? Who the hell sent you? And if you did this of your own volition, then just what in the fuck do you have against Bofurin-"

"Or, what do you have against Nirei?" Suo finishes. There's a loud silence, so quiet you could hear a cat's whisker fall on the street. The pause is pregnant, but after a while, it's the girl who chooses to speak despite practically choking on her own blood earlier.

"W-We don't have anything against the f-freckled kid... we were p-paid to go after him-"

"-And I was the one who chose to take the job! We were being paid a fuck ton of cash even if the person who brought it to us is shady!" The androgynous one cuts off the girl. Silence graces the atmosphere once again, as Sakura and Suo mutter amongst themselves, trying to find a response to the revelation.

"So then who the hell paid you to go after a 15 year old kid?" Sakura spits.

"Hey, we're 15 too..." The girl mutters.

"We don't exactly know who the hell it was. It was a woman, though. She was offering us nearly 70000000 in Yen if we did the job. I don't know about you guys, but if someone offered you something like that, I'd take the job any day."

Kiyoko looks at Hitomi, to find that Hitomi is also looking at her. Sakura and Suo look amongst the combined classes and to each other, trying to figure out what the hell to do now that they know what they know. Before they can come to a consensus, the androgynous one opens his mouth one more time.

"She did say that even if we failed to get your freckled kid, she'd still cut us about thirty percent of the deal. She said that in about a week from now, she'd do something about it, which is why she decided to cut us part of the check regardless."

Bofurin looks at each other.

"Well, shit. What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"

Chapter Text

He was the only junior high kid that was allowed to come to Furin early.

Among high school freshmen and juniors, he was the youngest of them all. Weaving and bobbing around a second year Umemiya with second years Hiragi, Tsubaki, Momose, and Saku. Watching Kaji fumble around his newly found position as head captain for Class 1-1 and how he situated himself. How he became the best captain he could damn well be, even if the volume of his hearing is way too much for the tiger coded boy's own auditory capabilities.

He was still wobbly. Tall, lanky, and untrusting of the people around him. He only trusted Umemiya a slight bit more, and that in itself was something that Tsubaki-san claimed to be thankful for. She called him cute and said that he would indeed warm up to them soon enough. Sugishita, at the time, fourteen for only a miniscule of time, still frustrated with puberty and his voice cracks and awkward behaviors, heavily doubted her words.

He was not cute. He was more scary, more intimidating. People don't want to voluntarily want to be around him, and he never wants to be around people voluntarily either. His height, his eyes, his appearance, and even the slouch he has in his posture all seem to be giant glaring signs that scream "Run away! Don't be around this guy!" He immediately assumed that eventually, the then second years would distance from him, and they wouldn't bother to pull their punches with him, actively leaving him out and isolating him in a social box.

The opposite happened.

Kaji and Enomoto were like him, in a sense. Enomoto was him when we felt like actively expressing himself and his emotions, and Kaji was him when he was lounging or sleeping around. Kusumi was pleasant and quiet as well, but always teasing with his gazes that Sugishita knows are there, even if he can't actively see them. The previous first years - now second years - never isolated him as he expected. Instead, he was treated like a sibling or a little cousin, constantly teased. However, it wasn't the bad teasing that weighed over his shoulders and further worsened his slouch, but the good, kind hearted teasing, the kind you'd get from an older cousin when you did something hilariously stupid at a family function.

He liked it. It was a change of pace, hard to get used to, but appreciated nevertheless.

Eventually, Kaji and his group graduated, which means a new Class 1-1 is on its way. It also means that from the first day onward, Sugishita is finally a real member of Bofurin, but if you ask a few certain second years, they'll tell you he's been one for a year already.

He was late for the bell. It wasn't all the way his fault though. He was helping out to finish up with the bed of bell peppers. He even got shooed off the roof by Tsubaki, who came to "talk" to Umemiya-san. When will they figure it out, only Kami knows at this point...

At a point, he slowed down from a slightly speedy jog to a simple stroll through the graffiti-styled hallways and pillars. He eventually gets to and stops at the door labeled Class 1-1 with a mini dragon and cat spraypainted on the class label outside. As he's about to enter, he pauses as he's midway through opening the door.

"-Why would someone out of town come to a place like this? It's no disrespect to ya Two-Tone, but Makochi's kinda in the middle of buttfuck nowhere." Someone mentions. In what world would that be a question to ask? Yes, Makochi is in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, but that's not something you just say out of the blue with no prompting. And what the hell is a Two-Tone?

"-To take the top spot and your school."

There's silence.

There's black.

There's red and a thrown table.

"He's often called 'Umemiya's Attack Dog' because of how close they are, so I'm pretty sure he didn't take to kindly to the threat to his dear leader's position." The eye-patched freak said. Who even was he anyways? The eye-patch detail does sound familiar, was he a fighter in one of the schools near Sugishita's junior high? Something to ask Hiragi later...

"So, he's the big guy's number one dickrider, what does that have to do with me? He can't stay leader forever, my goal is to take his spot and I'm gonna get it no matter what!"

Such disrespect to Umemiya-san can't go unchecked.

He swings first. The guy, who he's realizing might be the "Two Tone" the other guy was talking about earlier, is a slippery bastard. He can't even get a grasp on him, one moment he's in his left peripheral and the next he's above him.

The guy is shorter than himself and leaner, and even if he fucking hates his guts currently, he can acknowledge that he's a great fighter. A little too great. He's about eighty percent sure he just watched him to a triple back handspring off the wall just now. That type of flexibility in one tiny teenager cannot be fucking normal. This can't be a real person.

Wait! He got him on the ground, now hit him with a gut check and stomp him out-

Oh, that's not happening. He just got chin-checked by a foot that is way stronger than he thought it would. Flexible fucking asshole.

"You're good, I'll give you that. But I'm better. Come at me." He wants to wipe that grimy little smug fucking smirk off of his stupid face, until Umemiya turns on the announcement speakers and makes a botched speech about enjoying youth and what not. It's on brand for Umemiya-san, and he's about to get back to the fight he was just in, until the eye-patch freak encourages him to make up.

Fine, he'd do it. But only because Umemiya told them to try and get along, and as long as he doesn't have to be buddy buddy with this guy, he'll be fine. Now, time to shake hands like this eye-patch freak is suggesting-

Why is his grip so fucking strong?! What is he, a gorilla?!

If there's one thing he can appreciate about this Sakura guy, it's that he's not a complete asshole. He's just a dick.

Regardless, the Sakura guy can't be as big of a sleazebag as these Shishitoren guys. Like, chasing a middle schooler?? The kid looks like he's twelve! Better yet, the kid is technically in the right for chasing them, why are you mugging people in Bofurin territory and not expecting at least one townsperson say something? Is it that hard to comprehend?

And look at that. Shishitoren's second in command and Two Tone are getting into an argument. Seriously, can he not just sit still and listen instead of blowing up in everyone's faces all the damn time? All he does is yell and scream at people, it's so annoying...

Well, he can agree with one thing. Second in command over there does indeed speak at the speed of molasses. However, it's a welcome reprieve of Sakura's constant chit-chat.

It seems the two guys over there who Sakura hangs out the most with are watching too. Eyepatch-prick has that same infuriating smile at his face, silently chuckling at the scene before him. The shorter, blonde one, is pinching his nose bridge in exasperation, and Sugishita watches as the freckles on his face contort with his facial expressions. It's kind of cute. His curls are cute too.

Well, now they're in war, he guesses.

He still thinks the blonde kid is cute, and he also has no idea about what exactly that says about him, but he supposes he'll deal with it later. Now, time to focus on the guy in front of him, because for some reason, Shishitoren's first in command was foaming at the mouth for a tournament style fighting ring thing or whatever.

The guy went down in one hit. How pathetic.

Blondie (or Dandelion? Hm. Decisions) didn't volunteer to fight. Which is fine, Sugishita can tell that he isn't really much of a fighter. Which also begs the question as to why he's in Bofurin in the first place. However, he's like a little information box, so he supposes he can let it slide.

He wonders just how much he has in there. He also wonders if he's in the notebook.

And just like that, he finds out that Eyepatch-prick is just as much of a bastard that both he (and to his distaste) and Sakura thought he was. He has, by definition, a shitty personality and the shit-eating smirk to seal off the rest of the package. At the very least, he can't deny, eyepatch is a good fighter. His style isn't really Sugishita's kind of thing though, he's not really into toying with his food before he finally eats it.

Then Hiragi-san goes. Sugishita has no idea what type of homosexually-bitter charged kind of fight that was, but he has resolved that it's not any of his business and it's not a fatal piece of knowledge if Umemiya-san wasn't demanding to know what was going on.

But still. Whatever the Kenma Kozume dude was angry about, there cannot be any heterosexual reasoning behind it.

And then Sakura gets to go. Sugishita comes to the realization that Sakura is way more flexible than he lets on.

He moved like a cat on the stage. He's graceful, but there's intent and force behind each kick, punch, drop, and roll. There's a lingering flash of predictions in his head, and most of those predictions are correct, allowing him to dodge whatever Slow-mo throws at him. It's almost as if he has Spidey-sense like that one American comic book superhero.

Then he gets his head slammed into the ground. They really should've called for a referee.

Then he gets back up, and he looks like he's cracked the fuck out. Blondie starts talking about CTE, and Sugishita is inclined to agree with him, because he looks like he just popped a Percocet 30. All of a sudden, Slow-mo starts smiling like a madman too, and they get to throwing hands for real.

Until Slow-mo gives up. He apologizes to Tomiyama for ruining Shishitoren. He promises Sakura that he'd stop being so lame.

Tomiyama gets on stage, loudly exclaiming it's time for him and Umemiya-san to fight. Slow-mo tries to stop it. Slow-mo gets clocked upside the head with one of the nastiest kicks Sugishita's ever seen. Shishitoren is really, truly, and utterly sick. He can hear Eyepatch-prick and Dandelion's distaste for the situation as well from where he's standing.

Sakura demands to fight Tomiyama in Slow-mo's name for the bullshit that Tomiyama just did. Umemiya-san steps in and forces Sakura off the stage.

As such, the match begins.

Great, both gangs are now the best of buddies now! It's time to go the fuck home.

It's a dress down day, meaning that they get to wear home clothes to school. However, because they're not wearing uniform, they have to wear some type of indicator that shows that they're Bofurin to the townsfolk just in case.

He has a hair clip that has Bofurin's symbol on it. Sakura's wearing a bracelet that has Bofurin's symbol. Suo (although he still calls him Eyepatch-prick in his head from time to time) has switched out his normal earrings to Bofurin ones. Kiryu also has earrings. Tsugeura's switched out his headband. Dandelion has a pin on his shirt. It's quite a calm day.

The group chat starts blowing up. He hates to admit it, but the group chat is actually starting to mean something to him. He makes sure to check it all the time and even has started texting in it some days. He never thought he'd let it get this bad though. He wanted to keep up the whole "I hate all of you fuckers" thing up for just a little bit longer.

Dande- Nirei just tagged him. What would someone like Nirei need from someone like hi-

Oh. He's making jewelry. Yeah, no. Hard pass. Last time he wore jewelry, he was jumped, and they used the jewelry on him against him. No way is he going to go through that again. Sorry Nirei.

Eventually, he compels himself to stop feeling bad about rejecting him like he did. Until Nirei comes up the stairs.

He can hear him, and if there's any people with him, it's probably Sakura and Suo. They're awfully loud though, it's making him mad. He yells at them to come out, just so he can get it over with. He's probably come up to bother him about the jewelry thing from the group chat, and honestly, he doesn't want to hear it and is prepared to give him the cold shoulder, until1-

Hair ties. Nirei made him hair ties.

He normally only uses clips if it's really that serious. He does hair treatment and makes sure to take care of it all the time, so he doesn't really use hair ties at all.

But Nirei's eyes. Pools of honey chocolate, oh so hopeful, are boring into his colder blue ones and he doesn't know if he can look away. He's not sure that he wants to. He gingerly takes the hair ties from the blonde boy, and oh so sweetly, he feels his heated skin on his fingertips and he swears the world becomes just a bit brighter and a lot less depressing. He smiles at him, and he feels nothing but warmth and security. He zeroes in on his freckles, akin to tiny little flowers dancing in the wind when he smiles at him, plus the freckles on his neck that are visible from the shirt he's wearing, and he's not breathing anymore, just staring and staring-

Huh. He feels his face heat up.

He guesses he must really have a thing for freckles.

Chapter Text

They really need to stop getting into situations like these.

He had been walking back down from assisting with the garden on the roof, and upon entering Class 1-1, he sees nothing but chaos going on. He tries to ask about what's happening, but since everyone is panicking, he gets no answers. As soon as he moves deeper into the classroom, he sees what exactly is wrong.

Nirei's on the floor. Instead of his cute freckles being scrunched up in an exasperating smile while watching Sakura and Suo argue for the one-thousandth time that day, they're scrunched up in pain as he's struggling to breathe, and his fingers are purple and blue.

What in the actual fuck.

The events pass by in a blur. The ambulance is called. They try to calm down Nirei from his panic attack because it's disrupting his ability to breathe, but it's no use. Sugishita would've been quite reluctant to call the ambulance for a number of reasons. With the medics, comes the cops. They're basically in a package. The cops may have stopped trying to end the crime in Makochi and in the surrounding areas, but that does not discredit the fact that the work that they do at Bofurin is perfectly and splendidly illegal. Depending on what cops come, their parents could get hit with neglect charges for letting their kids join what is basically a group of vigilantes, regardless of if they do get taught in the daytime.

However, he overheard Sakura and Suo discussing the same exact thing, weighing the pros and cons before calling. Huh. Maybe Sakura does have braincells under all that fight and punch code. Anyways, it's clear, they value the wellbeing of their friend over the opinion of some blue collared nobodies.

However, they can't just let Nirei go by himself. Overkill in the eyes of an outsider, completely normal to the eyes of Bofurin and many other gangs. Just because Bofurin dominates the area, doesn't mean there are people who agree with Umemiya-san's view for what Bofurin should be. Tsubaki-san had told him the story about Endo and Takiishi when he used to come here during junior high, and those two were a prime example. The sight of their uniforms is enough to steer gangs away, but it's also enough to attract danger and attention if the wrong eyes find their way to the sigil on their buttons.

The slippery two-tones bastard then picks Sugishita and Tsugeura to go with him. Risky, considering that Tsugeura, Suo, Kiryu, Sakura and he are basically the class Big Five, but he can understand the notion of it. Two strong protector type fighters. Kiryu is indispensable because of his own fighting style and Suo is vice-captain. 

He carefully pushes the thought that Sakura might know about his rather... confusing thoughts about his blonde vice-captain away from his mind. That is way too mortifying for his heart and mind to handle.

They're stopped from coming along.

Apparently, one of the EMTs used to live in Makochi. He claims that Bofurin is just a bunch of boys running on base instincts, fighting each other and causing issues within the town and hurting everybody in it.

Unfortunately, he and Tsugeura are not able to deny this statement.

This was how Bofurin started. A bunch of mindless boys, running around. Causing fights, stabbing each other, starting shootouts, breaking and entering, you name it. The townsfolk were terrified of them, and when they tried to fight back, they got beat into the dirt just as fast. That's what Bofurin used to be, a symbol of fear. That was until Umemiya showed up and made it his personal mission to change everything, to turn Bofurin on its axis and inside out. He made the change. The school no longer was a symbol of fear, but a symbol of pride and protection. A warning, to all those who wanted to cause harm.

THOSE WHO INTENT TO CAUSE HARM, CAUSE TROUBLE, AND/OR MAKE INJURY TO THE TOWN AND IT'S CITIZENS, WILL BE PURGED BY BOFURIN WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

So, to hear the blatant disrespect to their leader, who worked so hard, who fought tooth and nail, who poured his blood, sweat, and tears into turning Bofurin to what it is today? Such disrespect to their leader cannot be taken lightly.

So they jump on the back of the ambulance anyways.

In hindsight, that in itself was a very stupid decision. They'd have to use all their grip strength (which was a lot, but still) to keep on the ambulance so they wouldn't get ran over. However, they have grade captain instructions. And while normally Sugishita doesn't care for that bastard's opinion, the fire in his eyes basically sealed the deal and willed him to keep his mouth glued shut.

It's not like he doesn't want to help protect Nirei. In fact, he'd rather be inside the ambulance right now then gripping onto the handlebars for dear life. But submitting to the white-black haired boy still left a slight sour taste in his mouth. Even if he does respect him at least a bit...

Both him and Tsugeura focused on Nirei's potential safety, as Tsugeura also tried to even out his breaths as they start moving faster on the highway. They're doing as fine as they can be.

Until a literal biker gang appears on the highway. They're trailing them. Nirei's inside. Sugishita hasn't been good at anything in life besides punching things and scaring people, but if there's one thing that he refuses to fail at, this is it. He was given a job, a very important one. To protect a member of Bofurin. To protect a part of the time.

To protect Nirei Akihiko. Their sarcastic, light-hearted, cute freckled-face vice-captain who isn't afraid to smooth talk and bullshit his words into shaking the cops off their tails.

Nirei Akihiko is Sugishita Kyotaro's direct opposite. Nirei brings sunshine and optimism. Nirei is refreshing. Sugishita brings uneasiness and gloomy days. Sugishita is a burden.

These bastards want to put out Nirei's sunshine. Sugishita won't let them.

They end up on top of the ambulance after the bike chase on the highway. Nirei is safe, everything's fine. The leader of that gang was very annoying. He says he's not willing to hurt innocents, meanwhile his target himself is innocent. He hates cocky bastards like that.

They make it to the hospital, and they almost fall off of the top of the vehicle, but they made do. Tsugeura remembers to call their grade captain, but on further exploration, he finds that he doesn't have it. Well, if he dropped it on the highway, he's never seeing that phone again. Reluctantly, Sugishita pulls out his phone and rings Sakura.

...Just to find out that the biker gang that had faught them on the bridge is in Makochi. That Shiratori and Yamamoto had requested back up for them because their numbers were overwhelming. Did this day really have to suck that much? It feels like it's a nonstop one thing after the other. Next thing they know, Suo is hanging up the phone on them, stating that Sakura got the drop on them. Tsugeura knows what that means. It means the fight has just started.

They end up sneaking to Nirei's room through his window, which takes a considerable amount of effort. They can't all be flexible, that's Sakura and Kiryu's job! They waited for Nirei to wake up, and moved in cycles in between, which made them feel better. They were both quite exhausted, but at least they had made it to the hospital in one piece.

And then Nirei yells at them for their stupidity. While Sugishita knows that hopping on the back of an ambulance is never a bright idea. there was no other option. They had to go with. They had to make sure that the blonde was going to be okay. They just have to make sure that the news reporters didn't see their faces on the report that Suo had told them about a while ago. That would be quite troublesome, and Sugishita's sure that Hiragi would actually pop a gasket and there's not enough Gas-Kun 10's in the world that'll soothe it.

----

Apparently, Nirei actually has the chillest uncle and aunt ever. They literally got assigned to be his son's bodyguards until his uncle got off work. Besides, Sugishita has a very unknown, desperate need to impress his guardians. So, he does and tries his absolute best and hardest to be the best hospital bouncer anyone has ever seen.

Once Nirei's uncle came (with much fanfare. Surprisingly, Nirei's uncle and aunt seem quite younger than Sugishita originally thought. However, his uncle did get on his knees and thank them for 'protecting his precious nephew,' so he supposes their ages aren't a point of concern.)

Luckily for them, they got to play Super Smash Bros Ultimate until it was time for them to be checked out of the hospital. They were invited to stay over, and Sugishita guesses that it was decided that they'd stay over a week when Nirei first explained the situation to his aforementioned uncle. The kids were very interested in their presence, but rightfully wary and confused. Eventually though, they did warm up to them and even started climbing up their legs and arms. The illusion that everything was fine was welcoming, but as soon as Sugishita's head hit the pillow in Nirei's uncle's spacious apartment, he felt a sense of dread from his hair follicles to the tips of his toes.

Something's coming. Something's coming to disturb the fragile illusion of peace that's been crafted inch by inch, and he himself can only hope to be enough to stop or assist.

To protect that beautiful, sunshine smile that makes every breath feel worth it? He'll do just about anything.