Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Umemiya never liked hospitals.

Since he was a child, due to the great love his parents gave him, he never liked to see their worried faces when he got sick.

When he lost them, the pitiful looks of the nurses and doctors watching his hair change color only worsened his rejection of them.

As he grew older, he learned to treat his own wounds. When Kotoha came into his life, the work was delegated to his younger sister.

Getting used to that rhythm, he never imagined setting foot in a hospital again.

Until today.

With his heart racing, his numb feet trotted toward the reception again, sweat pouring down his forehead.

But he didn't record any of it.

In his mind, Kotoha's broken, hyperventilating voice repeated "come quickly" over and over again, next to the uneven hair of the one who had been etched in his heart since he arrived in the city.

His younger brother.

“Excuse me,” he hadn't even noticed how much he trembled until he spoke, hearing his own voice shiver, “Where is Sakura Haruka's room?”

Everyone in Makochi knew the face of the person who restored tranquility to their lives. Seeing his pale and terrified state, the receptionist's heart tightened.

“Down the hallway to the right, emergency room.”

Before Umemiya took a step after muttering a "Thank you" in the air, the receptionist's voice sounded again.

“They're doing everything they can. Please have faith.”

Feeling his eyes sting, Umemiya nodded and ran again.

No nurse or guard could bring themselves to stop him from running when they saw the desperation on his face as he rushed to the emergency area. Everyone had seen the patient’s condition, and despite the lack of professionalism, they, too, hoped for a miracle.

Panting, Umemiya arrived at the desolate hallway. The heavy and gloomy environment made the hairs all over his body stand on end, but his fears were thrown away when he noticed Kotoha's shrunken figure in the seats.

“Kotoha—!”

He froze.

Raising her head, Kotoha stared at him with cloudy eyes, pale as a ghost. Her apron had a huge red stain covering practically her entire torso, staining the edge of her sleeves and knees.

Her face also had traces of dried blood on the cheek, translucent lines crossing them.

Umemiya could imagine his sister rubbing her face on Sakura's wound, crying her eyes out for him to wake up.

Kotoha took a few seconds to perceive his presence, watching him with her swollen eyes filling with tears.

“... Umemiya...”

Without saying a word, he opened his arms. Her sister's frail body slammed into his chest, and Kotoha's weak arms tangled around his waist in an iron grip.

Sobbing loudly, his little sister broke down.

“I didn't know what to do...! I didn't know what...! It was all full of blood, Ume! No matter how hard I squeezed, blood kept coming out! Sakura didn’t...!”

At the mention of his name, Kotoha cried louder, babbling incomprehensible explanations.

Gritting his teeth, Umemiya pressed his sister's face against his own heart, hoping the racing heartbeat could lighten the psychological shadow within her mind a little.

After all, when she called him in a panic an hour ago, all she was screaming was:

“It doesn't beat...! Sakura's heart doesn't beat, Umemiya!!”

Umemiya wanted to cry.

Trying to contain it, his adrenaline reached its breaking point, transforming him into a beast driven by pure senses and instincts. As he heard footsteps approaching, his face contorted into a menacing expression.

Walking down the hallway, a girl with dried blood-stained clothes froze in place, reflexively backing away. Her back hit the bodies of two hunched old persons, who held her worriedly.

“Aki—!”

“Sorry!!”

The girl, Aki, quickly knelt down until her hunched back was the only thing that could be seen. The blow of her forehead crashing to the floor was so loud it resounded in the deserted corridor, making their necks freeze.

The grandparents’ couple opened their eyes in horror, letting out a muffled scream.

“Aki!”

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!!” for every word, the girl slammed her head screaming. “Forgive me!! Please forgive me!!”

“Aki, stop!”

Tossing the newly purchased coffee glass to one side, the old woman knelt beside the young girl, trying to stop the painful blows she inflicted on herself with trembling hands.

The old man also watched in horror as the girl injured herself, not knowing what to do with his hands. In one of them, he carried another steaming coffee that shook like the rest of his body.

Once he came out of the stupor, Umemiya controlled his expression and hurriedly helped the old woman control it. Kotoha watched everything with wobbly eyes, hiccupping in shock.

“Hey, hey! Take it easy! Don't hurt yourself anymore!”

“Forgive me! Please forgive me! It was my fault! It was all my fault!!”

“Aki-chan! Don't say that! You're not the one to blame!”

With throbbing pain in his voice, the old man knelt with tears in his eyes, trying to hug the hysterical girl's waist.

At his words, the young woman's sobs became louder and erratic, suffering a clear panic attack due to post-traumatic stress.

Knowing she was in a fickle state, Umemiya held her face, which was already bleeding at the level of the swollen forehead, and held back her movements so she couldn’t hurt herself further.

“Don't worry” he spoke softly, inhaling and exhaling in seconds counted for her to imitate. “You're safe. No one blames you. Everything will be fine.”

Like a kind of mantra, he repeated the same words until the girl's bulging eyes focused on his face, crying loudly but without hurting herself again.

Umemiya left her. His attention shifted to the lights that indicated that an operation was still being carried out, and he hugged his sister again, who hiccupped a while longer in his arms.

In the end, as the minutes passed, the sobs of both girls along with their relatives trying to calm them down were the only thing that was heard throughout the hallway.

The scene was depressing, but there wasn't much else to do. Once the girl calmed down enough, the old man walked somewhat nervously to the two of them and offered her the warm coffee.

“Take it, little kid” he spoke in a soft voice. “It may not be the best thing at the moment, but it will help bring some color back to your face.”

“... Thank you,” Kotoha murmured, still receiving it in her brother's arms.

The man pursed his lips and stared at the floor for a few seconds.

“... I know you may not want to hear it, but really, thank you so much for helping my granddaughter.”

After speaking, he bowed deeply. His face wrinkled as if the action hurt, but he did not get up.

Kotoha opened her eyes in surprise, squeezing the glass in her hands.

“... It wasn't me who really helped her.”

The man clenched his hands until his knuckles turned white.

“... I know.”

He straightened up. “Even so, I would like to thank you for bringing her here to have her wounds checked... even in your situation.”

His sunken eyes watched the light on that indicated that the operation was still underway tiredly, tensing his jaw.

“My life is already spent, and an old man's word is not worth much” he muttered, gratitude dripping from his voice. “But even if I dedicate the rest of it to that honorable boy, it wouldn't be enough.”

Walking toward his apparent wife and granddaughter, he put one arm around them both, looking at them with a serious face.

“Please don't worry about the hospital costs and your brother's recovery. We’ll take care of everything.”

The old woman pursed her lips after hearing her husband and nodded, looking at them briefly before leaning towards them. The girl among them slurped through her nose, squeezing her grandmother's hand.

Umemiya had the ephemeral idea of saying that they were not related, but that thought died the next second.

The fact that they were here, with their hearts hanging in their hands, showed how much they loved him as a family.

Bowing back, he thanked:

“We’ll be in your care.”

Umemiya didn’t refuse as he would’ve commonly done.

Straightening up, his eyes fell on the face reddened by the crying of the young girl between the two old persons, without any apparent emotion.

Her apologies were sincere.

She truly believed she had something to do with what happened to Sakura. He wasn’t usually like this, but if it were true, he wouldn’t let them walk away unscathed.

All culprits, whether their guilt was minor or severe, would have to answer to Sakura.

He would personally take care of it.

As if understanding his gaze, the affected girl whispered something to her grandparents and advanced towards Umemiya with her jaw clenched, despite the complaints of both old men.

Raising her face to look directly at him, the girl spoke:

“This was really my fault.”

She sounded certain.

The elderly couple gasped and made a gesture of refutation, but they stayed silent when their granddaughter raised her hand for them to stop.

Umemiya narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Why?”

I’ll believe her for the moment.

Aki let out a big sigh, bringing her hands to her chest. The tips of her fingers had lost all color, and the trembling of her limbs was evident.

Even so, her voice did not show any flaws when she continued to explain.

“I'm 14 years old, and since its founding, I've always admired the Fuurin you created, Umemiya-senpai” she confessed, looking at him with a sorrowful smile. “However, as you can see, I am a woman. I could never be a part of it, and... I made bad decisions.”

She bit her lip. “I started training to know how to fight, determined to be part of Fuurin in one way or another, when I met a guy in a fight against some brats who were scratching my grandmother's store.”

At the mention of that guy, her eyes grew cold.

“He was 5 years older than me, and he said his name was Kazuya,” she smiled wryly. “Now I know that his name is probably fake and everything he told me too.”

“... Did that Kazuya knew Sakura?”

“Yes and no.”

Remembering Sakura, the little girl sniffed her nose hard, avoiding the urge to cry.

“He didn't know him personally, but is it possible to be from Makochi and not know him with all that he has helped the city?” she pursed her lips. “…He was an outsider, but he accomplished so much. I was envious of him. I thought that if I’d been born a man, I could achieve more than him.”

She paused for a moment.

Her body trembled harder.

“... I was a fool. I didn't know how to control my mouth, and I told him everything: from my dreams to who I resented; all. He was always supportive and inspired me, so I delusionally believed that I’d be safe and could trust Kazuya.

Umemiya was silent, his expression indecipherable.

Aki continued her story.

“We talked for about three months at a playground near my house. That's where we exchanged words for the first time, so it became our meeting point. In one of our talks, he told me that... He had a group.”

Kotoha, who heard everything behind his brother's back, frowned.

“He told me that they were similar to Fuurin and that they didn’t distinguish between men and women. Their motto was also to defend the people, but not only from Makochi; Its purpose was to protect the weak.”

The girl's jaw tightened.

“... His method of doing so was to fight strong people to find out their true intentions, and he asked me if I wanted to be part of them. I... I accepted.”

Silence. The only sound among them was the constant beeping of the light, indicating an ongoing operation vibrating.

Receiving no answer from Umemiya, the girl sought her eyes with some doubt.

She regretted it instantly.

Those blue eyes were as dark as the depths of the sea, staring at her as if they could swallow her whole in an instant, leaving no trace behind.

It was a silent fury that chilled her to the bone, making her bite her tongue in shock.

She wanted to protest, but the fear of speaking again was stronger.

Umemiya tilted his head slightly.

“Was Sakura your first job?”

Aki gasped like a fish out of water, feeling her teeth chatter in panic.

However, thinking of the boy who was between life and death because of her, she decided to bite the bullet with it and nodded.

The atmosphere became heavier.

Her voice was somewhat choked. “I pretended to be a girl who was being beaten by her partner, and I talked to Sakura for a week. On Kazuya's advice, I convinced him to lean on me today around... near...”

She couldn't say it.

Unfortunately, Umemiya didn't seem to feel sorry for her.

“Near the Kotoha coffee?”

“...” In the end, she just nodded.

At her answer, the eyes of both elders widened as if they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Kotoha was also shocked, but the fury in her expression was stronger.

“... I don't know how, but they seemed to know you very well... and they said that the greatest test of whether he was a good or bad person was how he treated... Kotoha-senpai.”

Her cheeks soaked again, but now she didn't get carried away by her emotions.

“I-I told him that today I would break up with my boyfriend and I was scared. Sakura... Sakura didn't even hesitate and went with me. I-I thought it would all end there, but Kazuya...! Kazuya suddenly had him cornered among almost 20 people...”

Aki slapped her legs, which weakened at the memory, forcing her story to continue.

“I told him that was enough... but he pushed me away and said that... he said he was simply getting rid of the new great threat to the Fuurin's power...” she sobbed. “I told him that Sakura was not a danger, and he tried to hit me when...!”

“Sakura saved you.”

It was Kotoha's voice, devoid of any warmth, that answered.

The girl nodded, closing her eyes, and shedding thick tears like an open key.

“He made me run and we escaped. W-we ran away from the cafeteria because he didn't want to involve you, but they caught up with us... And Sakura took care of almost everyone... I tried to help when... w-when Kazuya...”

Opening them, her eyes were completely red, thick veins marking all over her sclera.

“That fucking son of a bitch betrayed me! He deceived me!! He cornered me to force Sakura and then…!”

She couldn’t go on, exploding in loud shrieks like a wounded animal.

Her grandparents rushed to restrain her, crying their eyes out with her.

The scene became heartbreaking, and the people in the nearby hallways who heard their howls felt compassion for them.

However, that was not the case with Umemiya.

In two strides, he was in front of the broken family of three. His eyes looked three shades darker, staring at them without any empathy from above.

His voice came out as icy as ice.

“Then what, Aki.”

Aki froze.

She could sense she was in danger, and trembled.

“Tell me what Kazuya did next. Now.”

“...!”

She wasn’t able to.

Aki couldn't find her voice under the murderous pressure that the leader of the school she most admired exerted on her.

“You admire a monster, y’ know that, don't ya’?” Kazuya had once told her as they spoke, smiling at her with a kind of emotion she now knew was irony. “The very first person we would like to test, but we know that we are nothing to him no matter how hard we try.”

She laughed and scoffed at his exaggeration then. Now, she didn't believe in anything that bastard had told her at the time they met.

But Kazuya was right.

If you weren't on the same side as Hajime Umemiya, you’d only be prey to a monster.

And she made the mistake of damaging one of the things that monster adored the most.

Trembling under his gaze, Aki lost all the blood on her face, not daring to even blink.

She was afraid.

In her entire life, she had never been so terrified as she was now.

Her breathing fluttered as Umemiya opened his mouth again, but the sound of the door opening stole everyone's attention.

There, the doctor in the mask had a tired posture, his gown full of dried and fresh blood. His eyes, accompanied by large dark circles, observed the scene with a somewhat complicated air.

“... Sakura Haruka's relatives?”

“Here.”

Kotoha hurriedly replied, taking her brother's hand to walk toward the doctor in two steps. Her chest was already rising and falling erratically, tears filling her eyes.

“We're his siblings,“ Umemiya added, just as nervous.

Hearing their parentage, the doctor's face grew slightly worse, painfully tugging at the thread on which their hearts hung.

Not noticing that his voice was trembling, Umemiya asked:

“Is Sakura okay...?”

“We stabilized him.”

Everyone in the hallway let out a collective sigh.

“His wound was quite serious. The sharp object pierced his liver and almost destroyed it. In addition, when he arrived, he came with a critical hemorrhagic shock. We had to operate hastily while preparing a good number of blood infusions, and for a moment, we really thought that he wouldn't make it.”

Kotoha let out a gasp. Or maybe it was him.

Umemiya wasn't sure.

“Right now, we're medicating him to lower his fever, but...”

The doctor was silent.

“... But what, doctor?” his sister brought her trembling hands to the man's blood-stained chest. “What will happen to Sakura?!”

Pursing his lips, the doctor was sincere.

“It's not 100% sure that he'll make it through the night.”

Make it through the night.

It was a way of saying that Sakura might be dead by tomorrow.

Dead.

Umemiya lowered his gaze, hiding his expression from everyone. But within his eyes, a thirst for revenge, unlike anything he had ever felt before, began to stir.

Kotoha let out a gasp that seemed to drain the air from her lungs, stumbling in place. Aki's sobs grew louder, and a fresh wave of apologies was shouted desperately.

“We had to operate and reconstruct his liver. It can indeed regenerate on its own, but in that time, it will be susceptible to any infection or setback. He will likely have to rest completely for months if it evolves well, too.”

He looked down. “And that is the optimistic case.”

“... How likely is it to happen... making it through the night?”

“50%.”

Half.

Sakura's life was practically hanging by a thread.

“We want to see him.”

Umemiya was foaming.

For some reason, the shoulders of all those who heard him reflexively shrugged. In a split second, their brains sent red flags to all of their systems.

Somewhat doubtful, the doctor clicked his tongue and left room for both brothers to enter.

“If there's anything you want to say, you'd better do it now,” he reminded them cruelly. “As a doctor, he had to be sincere.”

“Thank you.”

Taking his sister's shoulders to help her walk, Umemiya followed the doctor through the corridors of the hospital. The journey was silent and heavy until they reached gate 414.

The doctor paused in front of it for a second as if hesitating, but with a sigh, he opened it and let them see inside.

“You can stay all night, but I recommend you go to rest.”

He avoided their gazes. “If you'll excuse me.”

Neither Umemiya nor Kotoha answered, seeming to ignore the body of the man who walked past them and walked away.

In the center of the room, Sakura rested with his eyes peacefully closed. His forehead was drenched in sweat, and a faint blush barely visible colored his abnormally pale face.

Over his nose and mouth, an artificial respiration machine was placed. Tubes were inside his nostrils, and a needle was attached to his limp arm as it transferred blood.

The beep, beep, beep of the screen next to his body was the only thing that indicated that the person in front of their eyes wasn’t dead.

Staggering, Kotoha stumbled forward until she fell into the chair next to the bed. Her eyes were wide open, and they seemed to lose all reason within them.

Her hands, which were still stained with dried blood, carefully stroked Sakura's hand on the bed. His skin was burning, but at the same time, it felt deathly cold.

“... Ha—”

It was a gasp. Or maybe it was an attempt to say something.

Maybe it was a laugh, or maybe it was a poorly worded plea.

Whatever it was, it ended up being nothing.

Because there was nothing they could do but pray for Sakura to open his eyes again.

As if the information had finally been processed by her brain, Kotoha's face warped into a painful expression and she screamed, crying like a child.

Her forehead fell on the back of Sakura's hand, clinging like a castaway to the last drop of water. Thick tears rolled down her cheeks until they soaked the white sheet of the bed, being silenced by her squeals and gasps.

“Sakura! Sakura...!!”

“You can't leave us... Don't leave us...”

“Wake up, Sakura, wake up...!”

“It´s me, your sister. I'm Kotoha. Don't leave your sister, Sakura...”

“Don't leave us, little brother...”

There was no response.

Sakura's body was still limp on the bed.

“What are we going to do...?” Kotoha cried, rubbing her face on his motionless hand between her fingers, as if she wanted to soak up the last trace of heat she had left from Sakura. “What are we going to do, Ume...? We are going to lose our brother... our little brother...”

A few months ago, they had both joked about it.

It was no secret that Umemiya considered all the people in the city as his family, nor that he had the habit of calling himself the older brother of all the children younger than himself.

However, it was also known that the boys from the orphanage, and especially Tachibana Kotoha, were his brothers and sisters.

It didn't feel wrong to call them family, nor did it feel weird for them to call him big brother. At times, Umemiya would fantasize and swear that all of his siblings had something that resembled himself.

And in one of those ravings, he thought the same thing about Sakura.

“Sakura could easily be mistaken for my younger brother” he commented in the cafeteria, watching his sister dry the dishes.

Kotoha didn't even turn around.

“Do you think so?”

“Of course, I do!” he pointed to his own white hair and blue eyes. “Just by the hair you can already tell that he got half of me. And you can also say that it brought out a grayer shade of my eyes in one of them!”

It felt good to say it.

Yes, it sounded real.

“I see.”

Kotoha turned around, pointing to his own caramel eyes.

“Then I can say that his other eye was a lighter shade than mine.”

They looked at each other. The yellow connected with the blue, as gold and gray connected in Sakura's eyes.

Then, they both laughed.

“I guess Sakura is our younger brother, then.”

“We finally found our little brother!”

And now, those eyes he inherited from both of them were closed in a hospital bed.

Those eyes might not open again.

The younger brother they had found...

They could lose him that night.

Umemiya had never before felt that not even death could put an end to the pain in his heart as he did at that moment.

In the dead of night, Kotoha's screams were the only sound breaking the silence of the room.

With vacant eyes, Umemiya turned away and leaned against the wall opposite the door—ensuring his sister wouldn’t be able to see him.

In complete silence, he took the phone out of his pocket and dialed the only person who could give him back a little sanity.

It rang for a couple of seconds.

“Umemiya? Why are you calling me at this hour? Did something happen...?”

“Hiiragi.”

Hiirägi stopped.

“... Umemiya...?”

“I think I'll go crazy, Hiiragi.”

“...!”

There was a rumble on the other end of the line as if his friend had rushed out.

“Where are you?”

“In the hospital.”

“Did something happen to Kotoha...?!”

“No.”

Hiiragi cursed on the other end of the line, but Umemiya wouldn't let him finish.

“Sakura could die tonight.”

Silence.

A heavy silence.

“... What...?”

Hiiragi's voice was so faint that he seemed to have lost all the air in his lungs in one fell swoop.

“They stabbed him,” he said in a monotone voice. “He was saving a girl and her liver was ruptured. He lost so much blood that it's hard to know if he won't have a treatment refusal in the middle of the night and contract bacteria. There is a 50% chance that he will be alive in the morning.”

“... Shit...”

Hiiragi sounded devastated.

“Shit... Shit... shit...!”

“I could lose my little brother, Hiiragi.”

There was another silence.

Then, Hiiragi's hurried voice trembled.

“Umemiya, calm down...!”

“It was a trap.”

Umemiya looked at the roof of the hospital.

“They knew that Sakura would take my place once I graduated and they wanted to get rid of him.”

Before his eyes, everything turned red.

“Those sons of bitches dared to try to take my brother away from me.”

“... Umemiya...!”

“I’ll kill them, Hiiragi” he confessed, without a trace of doubt. “I’m really capable.”

There was a small silence.

“We will take revenge, Umemiya.”

“What they've done to Sakura won't stay that way. We'll make them pay, and he'll be alive in the morning.”

That was what he wanted to hear.

Without noticing, the edge of his eyes was soaked with tears.

“... Yes...”

“I'm going there.”

Hiiragi hang up.

Letting his tears fall bitterly to the floor, Umemiya recalled that the last time he allowed himself to cry was when he finally let himself miss his parents.

At such a memory, his eyes moved to Sakura's body on the bed, listening to the beep, beep, beep of his heartbeat that synchronized with his tears as they fell.

He will be alive in the morning.

Yes, he still had his brother.

He hadn’t lost him. Sakura was still alive.

Without even blinking, Umemiya stared at his little brother's face and swore in his heart.

This will not remain like this, Sakura.

Your older brother will be in charge of eradicating any danger to you.

I swear.

Chapter Text

The sweat on Nirei's back hadn't dried yet.

He was on his way home after training with Suo for a long time. The sun was already setting in the west when they set out on the roads, promising each other another meeting the next day.

The end of the year was getting closer and closer, as was the anniversary of his training. He was just over a couple of months away, surviving the third semester of his freshman.

The graduations of the third graders were just around the corner. He knew that the chance of Sakura being the next leader was high, so his training increased.

After all, Nirei didn't want to be a hindrance to his best friend.

Nirei also wanted to help Sakura.

“... But he's still elusive with us,” he muttered quietly, a little annoyed.

That day, they weren’t on patrol, but Sakura left without them.

Despite being asked if he needed anything, their captain simply waved them off and left, leaving their unspoken questions hanging in the air.

For a week now, Sakura’d been acting strangely. He seemed fixated on the corridors, obsessively scanning them, always lingering in the same spot.

Suo assumed he willingly involved himself in someone else’s troubles, but whatever it was, it was too personal for him to share.

Nirei understood that, but it didn’t mean he liked it. As always, his best friend insisted on figuring everything out on his own.

Letting out a sigh, he rolled his tense shoulders and turned the corner toward home.

There, he noticed his mother's body at the entrance.

With a smile, he shouted:

“Mom—!”

But his voice died in his throat.

His mother’s face, worn by time and stress, was twisted in horror, dried tears streaking her cheeks.

She paced frantically across the garden, phone pressed to her ear, tugging and twisting her short hair into a wild mess. Her head resembled a half-built bird’s nest.

A chill ran down his spine as Nirei reached into his pocket, pulling out his silenced phone with trembling hands.

As expected, his mother’s name flashed on the screen before the call abruptly ended. The notification of 35 missed calls made his stomach churn.

The realization that he ignored and terrified his mother filled him with guilt—but the deep, gnawing unease creeping into his mind sent ice through his veins.

Something happened.

Walking towards her with heavy steps, his face took on an anxious expression, squeezing the device in his hands until his knuckles paled.

“Mom...”

“Baby!”

His mother rushed to him and embraced him tightly, letting out a sob of relief and happiness as she held him close. She kissed his entire face with fervent affection, her trembling hands gently caressing every part of him.

“You're fine, love. You're safe...”

She took him by the cheeks. “Why didn't you answer the phone?! You almost gave your poor mother a heart attack—!”

“Mom.”

Nirei knew he had to apologize, but his jaw shivered from the discomfort spreading throughout his body.

He had a very bad feeling.

“Mom, what happened...?”

His mother froze.

Having her so close, he could see how her mother's pupils shrank and vibrated within their sockets. Her face, which regained a little color, paled again just as quickly.

Smiling forcefully, his mother kissed and pressed their foreheads together, playing with the tousled hair on the back of his neck.

“Why don't we talk about it inside, baby? Imma prepare your favorite meal, and we can chat calmly...”

“Mom.”

He didn’t know when his entire body had started trembling like a leaf in the wind, but as he took his mother’s hands in his own, it felt as if his shaking fingers were leaving ghostly echoes behind.

“Please tell me what happened.”

Even his voice fluttered.

The ecstasy that his mother felt when she saw him arrive was transformed again into an anxious posture, watching him with eyes full of tears without being able to utter a word.

In the absence of his response, terrifying images of a thousand different disastrous situations filled every space of his brain, squeezing his chest painfully.

All those ideas led him to Sakura.

Staggering, Nirei pulled away from his mother and pulled out his phone again, staring at the screen with red eyes.

“I-I'm going to call Sakura-san...”

“Baby.”

His mother stopped him.

“Baby, please, let's go inside...”

“No!”

For the first time in his life, Nirei slapped his mother’s hand away, recoiling like a wounded animal.

Raising the phone to his chest, he shook his head frantically, his racing heartbeat pounding so loudly it dulled his senses.

“I won't! I'll call Sakura-san!”

“Son!”

His mother didn’t give up. With measured strength, she grabbed both of his arms and pulled him to her chest, encircling him in an iron grip.

“I'll tell you, I swear! But please, don't cry anymore... Don't continue to hurt your poor mother's heart...”

Nirei didn't even notice when he started crying.

Struggling to control his fast-paced breathing, he parted slightly to look at his mother's face.

His mother's cheeks were soaked in fresh tears, and her eyes reflected the deep pain of seeing him in that state. With a trembling hand, she carefully wiped the edge of his eye, only to notice the red circle staining the back of her skin.

That must’ve been him.

With his chest aching, Nirei shed another round of tears and hiccupped.

“Forgive me...”

“It’s okay. Mom understands, sweetheart. Don't cry anymore...”

Rubbing the rest of his face in his mother's warm touch, he bit his lips until he felt the metallic taste of blood so as not to cry.

“Tell me what happened...”

Seeing herself again faced with that question, her mother closed her eyes in pain.

“... An hour ago, there was an accident in the center of the city.”

Nirei's heart skipped a beat.

“A group of many boys attacked a young girl along with a student from the Fuurin. The girl is fine, but the boy...”

“The boy what?”

His teeth chattered and his eyes burned from blinking, but he didn't take his attention away from his mother's face who didn’t speak anymore.

“Mom!”

“He was stabbed.”

“...!”

He wanted to throw up.

“There was a lot of blood, and the girl in the cafeteria you go to seemed to know him as she tried to stop his bleeding with everything she could. I-I... Your mother thought it was you and got scared and...”

Nirei didn't listen to her.

His footsteps became tangled as he stepped back in shock, falling ass-first to the ground. His mind didn't process the pain of the impact, nor did the scream of his mother kneeling next to him and supporting his back.

In his mind, the only thing that existed was Sakura.

A Sakura smiling slightly at him when he saw his advances, a blushing Sakura shouting at him to let go but not taking any action to push him away, a Sakura defending him even though he already knew that he could do it alone just because he couldn't help but worry about him.

… Baby.

A wounded but triumphant Sakura, a Sakura who actively helped people even though what came out of his mouth was completely different...

A stabbed Sakura, blood pouring out of his mouth as it soaked his neck and collarbones. A Sakura falling to his knees on the frozen ground, mimicking the temperature of the floor for every second he bled to death.

Baby!

A Sakura trying to be kept alive by Kotoha, a Sakura in which his eyes, which always shone like the sun setting in summer in one of them and the sunset of winter appearing in the other, losing all traces of life. Inert, empty.

A dead Sakura.

A Sakura that would never be in his life again.

Sakura.

“¡Nirei Akihiko!”

His mother screamed in a heartbreaking voice, holding him tightly to look her in the eye.

It took a while for his brain to stop seeing his best friend's uneven eyes losing their brightness and see his mother's red eyes looking at him with supplication, crying thick tears one after another.

“Mom...”

“Baby...!”

Before his mother could breathe a sigh of relief at seeing him come to his senses, his hands moved to her shoulders, squeezing them desperately.

“Who was he?! Where is he?!”

Even though he was asking, his heart seemed to already have the answer.

His mother was surprised by his reaction, answering with inertia:

“I-I don't know, they just told me he was a well-known freshman... That's why I thought it was you— Wait, son!!”

Nirei didn't listen to her any longer, running at full speed to the only place his hopes pointed out.

The Makochi Hospital.

Makochi was big enough to have its own hospital on the outskirts, although it wasn't the most famous.

Fights occurred daily, and minor injuries were the daily bread. If they weren’t cured at home, those affected at most went to outpatient clinics to treat one or another blow that required stitches.

Thanks to Umemiya, the serious wounds were no longer visible in the village. Apart from the elderly with heart problems, almost no one actually went to the hospital.

But it happened again.

And that person was surely Sakura.

Nirei's legs protested halfway through, but he didn't stop. He ran until his vision blurred and breathing felt like needles were piercing his lungs. Even so, he did not stop.

Because moving helped him.

Because the pain in his body was more bearable than the pain in his heart.

He didn't slow down until he heard his mother's voice screaming his name fade away in the middle of the night. He didn’t allow himself to break until his own tears prevented him from seeing the way.

Then, he let out a stifled sob.

Please, please, don't let it be Sakura...

Prayed.

He prayed, prayed, and prayed.

But no matter how much he did it, something inside his stinging chest told him that it was him. That he had to arrive soon because it might be his last chance to see him.

Out of breath, he cried:

“Sakura-san…”

Nirei didn’t want to ask his mother if the injured person had arrived alive at the hospital. He didn’t dare.

He wasn't ready to receive an answer he didn't want to hear.

Ring, ring, ring.

His phone vibrated in his pocket.

After ignoring his mother's missed calls, he had inertially disabled the silencer and ignored her again. He knew she would try to stop him.

However, the voice in his head—the same one that tormented him with images of Sakura wounded—whispered to him that he should take that call.

He pulled out the phone with trembling hands.

Through his tears, with a lot of effort, he read the name on the screen.

"Hayato Suo".

Putting the cell phone to his ear, his emotions exploded again.

“Suo-san...!”

“Nire-kun.”

His friend's voice, which always had a cheerful and calm tone, was now trembling.

Despite not being in front of each other, he knew that they must be feeling the same pain.

“You're fine, Nire-kun...”

The relief was latent, but his lack of words felt like the calm before the storm.

They were both fine. Neither of them was the injured boy in the center of the city.

The options continued to narrow, and neither of them liked that fact.

Sniffing through his nose, he asked in a trembling voice:

“You've been... You called...”

His name occupied his entire mind, but his mouth couldn't pronounce it.

“... Yes.”

Nirei held his breath.

“But... but he doesn’t answer.”

“... Ngh—”

As much as he tried to restrain it by biting his lips, he couldn't stop the heartbreaking sobbing that broke him from within.

Between groans, he fell to the cold ground as a sack of potatoes. His legs lost all their strength, and all he could do was hold the phone to his ear.

“What shall we do, Suo-san?!” he shrieked, desperately searching for some hope. “What...?!”

He hit his chest, trying to stop the pain in his heart with that.

“What will we do if it's Sakura-san...?”

Suo didn’t answer.

“What–what shall we do if it's him and…”

“Nirei.”

There was no honorific.

It's not like he cares at the time, either.

“Don't say it.”

It was then that he noticed that Suo's voice sounded muffled.

“Don't say it, Nirei, please don't say it...”

“... Suo-san...”

Whimpering, he tried to control his rapid breathing, feeling his jaw tense with the effort.

“I’m sorry, Suo-san...”

“It’s okay.”

He seemed to be on the verge of tears. He could tell he was fighting against himself not to cry and to stay calm, no matter how difficult it was turning out.

“Okay... W-we... We will go to the hospital now and Sakura-kun will be fine.”

He didn't sound convinced, but Nirei held on to his words with all his might.

“We'll go and he won't be there. Then we will go to his house and laugh at our absurd ideas...”

Struggling to stand up, Nirei gritted his teeth.

“But...”

He couldn't help it.

“But if we arrive and Sakura is there, what...?"

“We'll stay.

Suo cut him off.

“We'll stay with him until he wakes up and give him the worst scolding of his life. Then we’ll tie him to his bed and force him to rest. We also won't let him go out alone ever again until he tells us every step he takes.”

It was an idea that, if he heard it, Sakura would definitely hate and scream until he lost his voice.

With renewed hope, Nirei forced a smile and vowed to be the person to tell Sakura when..

Shaking his head, he focused on what was important. Tears were still rolling down his cheeks, but at least his mind had momentarily cleared.

“You’ll go to the hospital?”

The change was sudden, but both knew they couldn't waste any more time.

“Yes. I'll see you nearby.”

“Okay.”

He hit his knees twice and ran again.

Pushing forward, Nirei moved farther and farther from Makochi’s center. Slowly, his thoughts shifted to the possibility that it really was Sakura who had been injured—and with that realization, a part of his heart darkened.

To whoever dared to hurt his best friend...

Nirei wouldn’t let him escape.

When they arrived at the hospital, they immediately encountered Hiiragi.

His superior's eyes were red and swollen. His face, which usually bore a serious expression, was now flooded with weariness and sorrow.

Seeing them, his lips couldn't control a small grimace, subconsciously showing his sharp teeth.

As if he knew that another hard battle was coming.

“How did you know that...?”

“Where is he?”

Nirei cut him off, taking two big steps closer to his body. On any other day, the blond would never be able to silence anyone.

But it was not the time to be respectful.

“Is it Sakura-san?”

Hiiragi pursed his lips.

“... It's him.”

Suo and Nirei's faces paled.

Suo walked up to them and took his friend by the shoulders, holding him against his body. Nirei seemed to lose all strength in his muscles, staring blankly at the ground with empty eyes.

Swallowing dryly, Suo asked in a tremulous voice:

“What happened?”

Hiiragi looked away, crossing his arms in a clear defensive position.

It seemed that he wasn’t very informed about the subject either.

“According to Umemiya, Sakura was... stabbed by a gang that had grudges against Fuurin.”

Both boys' eyes widened in horror.

Nirei clenched his hands until his knuckles turned white, tensing his jaw.

“And what did Sakura-san have to do with all this?”

Hiiragi ignored his tone of voice, understanding.

“Umemiya didn't say much to me. According to him, Sakura was set up to get rid of him without anyone else noticing. As for why...”

He looked down.

“Probably because Umemiya planned to propose him to be the new leader at the graduation.”

Both fell silent.

Hiiragi knew it was shocking news. The three of them were still in first grade, and their perception of the school was much fresher than that of the upperclassmen—especially for an outsider like Sakura.

However, it was also undeniable that Sakura had accumulated more merits than anyone else. Despite being from another city, he cherished and protected Makochi with tooth and claw, more fiercely than anyone.

Seeing it from that point of view, the decision was to be expected.

But those bastards saw it first of all.

“It was a raid to eliminate the next big threat,” Suo completed his thoughts with a tone devoid of warmth.

Hiiragi nodded grimly, feeling his limbs sting from hitting someone to a pulp.

“They knew that they couldn't mess with Umemiya, so they attacked the one who still did not have the protection that he had.”

The bodies of both boys tensed at his words. Hiiragi knew it must’ve affected them, but the guilt and resentment they felt must be similar to what he felt at the moment.

After all, they were the elders who had to take care of their newcomers. They must have noticed that Sakura was in the most dangerous situation because of their expectations of him.

They had an obligation to protect Sakura if Umemiya had already thought that he would be the next leader, and they did not.

“... How is he?”

Nirei spoke again after a few seconds, looking anywhere but his face.

Hiiragi pursed his lips again.

“They stabilized him, but…”

Faced with the expectations and hopes of Sakura's best friends, he didn't know how to say it.

His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, but the explanation got stuck in the back of his throat like a chain, draining his patience.

With no response from him, the brains of both boys created thousands of scenarios per second, causing cold sweat to accumulate at the beginning of their foreheads.

In a panic, Nirei broke free from Suo's grip and ran like a madman down Hiiragi's side, heading straight for the emergency area. His friend followed him closely without wasting a second, just as terrified as he was.

Hiiragi cursed quietly at his carelessness and followed them instantly, grabbing one of each other's arms tightly enough for them to stop.

They both turned with a fierce expression, ready to strike him and free themselves from his grip, as Hiiragi hurriedly released the weight from his chest.

“There is a 50% chance that he will not make it through the night.”

The two boys froze.

“The wound... The knife pierced his liver and caused hemorrhagic shock. A-according to Kotoha, the blood loss was such that, when the ambulance came for him...”

Hiiragi closed his eyes that stung again at the memory of his best friend's sister crying inconsolably as she tried to explain.

“His heart was no longer beating.”

Nirei fell to his knees, too dumbfounded to even cry. For the first time since he’d met him, Suo's face showed the clear emotion of despair, frowning deeply as if his heart had been broken.

“Arriving here, they stabilized him as best they could. They had to operate and rebuild a large part of his liver, but the loss of blood keeps him at risk of life. The fever hasn’t gone down, and they cannot ensure that he will not suffer rejection of treatment.“

He paused. “Sakura's condition... We can only pray that he is okay.”

That was the harsh truth.

They couldn't do anything.

Bringing his hands to his face, Nirei buried his face as he let out small gasps and groans intermingled, shaking his shoulders in resentment. Suo simply stood, staring at the ground with a million feelings swirling inside his visible eye.

Hiiragi watched them with a heavy heart, feeling helpless. In fact, he had felt that way since he arrived at the hospital and saw the complexion of his best friend and sister, looking like a living dead.

Umemiya and Kotoha, as well as Nirei and Suo, had met Sakura less than a year ago, but right now, he couldn't be sure that a part of them wouldn't die if the rambunctious first-year captain didn't open his eyes.

Damn, he himself felt that a part of his existence would wither if he didn't see or rage for Sakura again. And that pain couldn't be relieved with even a ton of stomach pills.

The few people and hospital officials who witnessed the scene held back tears as best they could. They didn't know all the faces of the students, but seeing the state of the trio of boys in the Fuurin uniform slowly withering at the cold entrance of the hospital was hard to see.

The boy who was torn apart on the ground took two deep breaths, lunging at the legs of the tallest of the three.

His scleras were riddled with thick red lines, and his pupils were as dilated as those of a madman. Added to his abnormally pale skin and dry lips, he seemed to have completely fallen into madness.

“Who was it?”

Taken by surprise, Hiiragi's heart jumped.

“Nire—”

“Who was it?!”

“Honestly,” Suo's voice was as icy as a lump of ice, “I'd like to know that, too.

Hiiragi felt his back soaking in a cold sweat.

They weren’t the reactions that had terrified him the most after the attack on Sakura, but seeing the same thirst for revenge in the eyes of his underclassmen and best friend made him fear his inability to control them if they really lost all their minds.

That didn't mean that he wasn't furious about the first-year captain's situation as well and wanted to break the neck of the person in charge with his bare hands, but there was a long way to go from word to deed – the people in front of him would actually do it.

His mouth suddenly dry, Hiiragi hesitated to tell the truth.

In the end, he felt that lying would make things worse.

“We still don't know exactly. We know that his name is Kazuya and he tricked a high school girl into falling into his trap. As for the name of his group and whereabouts... there's nothing.”

“How is it possible that there is nothing?!” Nirei screamed again, standing madly in the direction of the exit. Hiiragi stopped him, holding him in his arms. “Let me go!”

“Calm down first!”

His superior looked him straight in the eye. “Are you really going to leave now?! We don’t know if we’ll be able to see Sakura tomorrow, and you want to leave?! Are you going to miss the chance to see him one last time?!”

His questions seemed to squeeze the hearts of both, clearing their minds. Nirei and Suo blinked a couple of times before exchanging a glance between the two, nodding with wrinkled expressions.

“... I'm sorry, Hiiragi-san.”

“Don't apologize,” Hiiragi blurted him out carefully. “None of us... This is not easy for anyone.”

Nirei walked closer to his friend, letting him put an arm around his shoulders for silent support for each other.

Suo looked in his direction.

“What will be done about this issue?”

Hiiragi knew what he meant.

Suffering a sudden chill down his spine, he did his best to forget the state in which Umemiya greeted him when he arrived.

“At the moment the priority is to see how Sakura evolves. Tomorrow... Depending on what happens, the actions we take could vary. In any case, it will be announced first thing in the morning.”

Hiiragi paused again. “And if you go there... Try not to press Umemiya's bad buttons. He...”

He shook his head.

The bastard who harmed Sakura didn't know which monster he had awakened.

“Don't worry, Hiiragi-san. I'm sure we can empathize with how he's feeling right now,” Suo smiled coldly. “We'll see you there.”

He nodded. “He's in the emergency room. I'll catch up with them after completing the paperwork.”

Both first-graders left with hurried steps.

Being dropped off at the entrance of the hospital, Hiiragi finally allowed himself to put his performance aside.

His broad back shrank, emitting a fragile and defeated air. His face seemed to suck more than it already was, and he looked genuinely haggard.

A hunched-back granny approached shyly, patting his shoulder twice. Hiiragi was frightened for a second, but the empathy in that woman's wrinkled eyes caused an itchy nose in his.

“You're working hard, boy” in a tremulous voice, the old woman gave him a small smile. “The whole city is praying for the young man who is hospitalized. Tomorrow, everything will be fine.”

“... Thank you. Really” he bowed breathlessly.

The old woman refused, offering him her hand.

“Why don't you rest for a moment and pray with us?”

Hiiragi straightened up with tears in his eyes, nodding weakly.

“Okay.”

Following her, Hiiragi allowed himself to have the only thought of a good Samaritan amid all the commotion: he silently prayed that this bastard Kazuya would be well prepared.

In his mind, the image of Umemiya in front of Sakura's room was still fresh. His skin still stood on end at the memory.

Ummemiya's blue eyes were as dark as the bottom of the ocean, swirling ominous intentions impossible to hide. His face, usually cheerful and outgoing, was devoid of all emotion and serious as a statue.

Seeing him like this was more terrifying than seeing him angry.

A couple of years ago, Kotoha was also in danger when they were trying to unify the Fuurin. A group of idiots had the stupid idea of threatening her to lure Umemiya and defeat him.

The result?

A tumult of people sprawled on the ground with unrecognizable faces.

Back then, Hiiragi felt the back of his neck go numb at the sight of Umemiya blinded by rage, beating fifteen people on his own, even when they were already passed out. His knuckles were bleeding, but he was still slamming their limp heads against the pavement.

However, the scariest thing would always be his expression.

Umemiya was laughing.

The sensation of turning into pulp those who had dared to harm the one he adored most gave him the greatest satisfaction of his entire life. Umemiya, staining himself with their blood, was experiencing ecstasy.

If he and Tsubaki hadn't joined forces to stop him, he probably would’ve left someone with serious consequences. From that day on, they vowed never to allow Kotoha to be in danger again.

But this was worse.

If the Umemiya of two years ago was a beast, the one of today was a bloodthirsty monster.

You're fucked, you fucking bastard, Hiiragi thought.

That Kazuya would wish he’d never been born once Umemiya found him.

Meanwhile, in front of the emergency corridor, Suo and Nirei had to stop for a few seconds.

Knowing that Sakura was inside was enough to shake their sanity, but seeing the state he was in, surrounded by machines to keep him alive...

It was difficult.

It was very hard to resist the urge to search for the fucker who injured him all over the city and drag him across the ground until his skin tearing on the pavement matched the blood Sakura lost.

It was so hard.

Letting out a trembling sigh, Nirei pursed his lips and held back a new round of tears, nodding to Suo to encourage him—or perhaps, to encourage himself.

Suo glanced at him sideways, smiling forcefully.

“Let’s go.”

They both walked to the door. There, they knocked twice and the guard on the other side opened slightly, looking at them through the slight opening.

His eyes scanned their faces without any particular emotion until he lowered his attention to their clothes. Recognizing their uniforms, his eyebrows rose in surprise and then furrowed in pity.

“Are you coming to see our little Sakura?”

Both boys nodded, unable to answer for the lumps in their throats.

The man let out a sigh, opening the door wide.

With a wave of his hand, he invited them in.

“Please give him greetings on my behalf when he wakes up. Little Sakura saved my daughter once, so I'm eternally grateful” he confessed, giving them a sorrowful smile. “I can't imagine how you must feel, but I want you to know that both my family and I are praying for his recovery.”

“... Thank you very much” Nirei managed to let go in a choked voice, bowing with a trembling posture.

“Don't be thankful. I speak for all of Makochi when I tell you that we are waiting for Sakura’s recovery and come back to visit us again.”

Struggling not to burst into tears right there, they both advanced through the corridors that had been indicated to them.

As they approached, the pressure in their chests hindered their steps. The mere thought of seeing what state Sakura was in was enough to bend their legs.

As the number of rooms approached 414, a muffled sob, like a desperate hiccup, seeped in from inside.

Their teeth chattered.

“You arrived.”

Umemiya appeared from across the hall.

Both had assured Hiiragi not to worry about how they would react to seeing their school leader, but the expression they found on him made their blood run cold.

His dark eyes harbored a torment so deep that it was difficult to bear.

However, beyond the instinctive fear that his presence provoked, something in their hearts trembled with resentment.

If Umemiya was like this... What state was Sakura in to have angered him like that?

Nirei gritted his teeth so tightly that they hurt. His eyes burned, fixed on the ground, consumed with rage. The words didn’t come out.

It was Suo who spoke for the two of them.

“How is he?”

Umemiya, leaning against the wall by the door, his arms folded, nodded toward the entrance.

“You'd better see it for yourself.”

At another time, he would have walked in with them, offering support with an optimistic smile. But now...

His gloomy face, avoiding their gaze, made him look like a silent volcano about to explode.

“...”

They found nothing to say.

In front of the door, their deafening heartbeats echoed in their ears. The blue of the material blended with the shadows that hung over them, clouding their vision.

Nausea rose to their throats. They didn’t know if it was because of fear or because of the knot that threatened to suffocate them.

“... Suo-san...”

Nirei's faint whisper trembled in the air. His eyelashes vibrated because he didn't dare to blink.

He didn't seem able to look, but he wasn't willing to close his eyes to what might be the last time he saw his best friend either.

“I know...”

Suo's voice cracked into a muffled sound.

But they had to.

For Sakura.

Taking a deep breath, they both pushed open the door.

The first thing they saw was Kotoha, hunched over the bed, sobbing with her cheek resting on Sakura's hand. Her eyes, swollen like two red balls, could barely open.

When she tried to look at them, she only managed to squint them a little. A new wave of tears welled up from them, despite how irritated they already were.

“Guys...”

Unfortunately, neither of them could answer her.

Their attention was fixed on the figure lying on the bed.

The memories of that afternoon overlapped with the scene in front of them.

They saw themselves saying goodbye to their friend, his clear and unmistakable face stretching his lips in feigned annoyance, and his cheeks slightly flushed after hearing a simple: "See you tomorrow, Sakura."

He promised them that they’d meet the next day.

And now, that same face lay fast asleep, with beads of sweat pooling on his forehead.

His skin, devoid of all color, was as pale as paper. Machines struggled to keep him alive, whispering in a mechanical compass as the mask over his nose and mouth helped him breathe.

In their minds, a cruel thought crept in without permission.

If the braces were removed, it would look exactly the same inside a casket.

They fought every day since they entered the Fuurin, but never, in their entire lives, had anything hit them so hard.

Their lungs shrank inside their torsos, and for a split second, their brains were clouded by shortness of breath.

Still, none of that mattered.

Before his eyes, there was only Sakura.

They didn't even notice when they approached the bed, staggering with awkward steps. Their fingers, twitching and white, clung to the backrest as if that contact were the only thing keeping them standing. Their knees had lost all their strength.

Kotoha let out another sob at the sight of them, but neither of them could find words of comfort.

Hot tears rolled down their cheeks as moans poured out of their lips broken by his own teeth as they tried, in vain, to stop them. A stark contrast to their best friend's cold body.

In the middle of the night, between the hum of the machines and the echo of their anguish, all they had were the pieces of their broken hearts keeping each other company.

Outside the room, the hollow in Umemiya's chest seemed to increase in size with each of the sobs he heard.

The darkness within his eyes was getting deeper and deeper, and a bunch of images flashed through his mind like a cyclone.

He didn’t go in.

After a few minutes, Hiiragi peeked out of the hallway.

His eyes were more irritated and red than when he left, though his complexion looked slightly better than before. He seemed to have let go of everything.

When they were close, he could see out of the corner of his eye how his best friend's body twitched at the sight of him.

Umemiya had no idea what he looked like, but he did know that he had never felt so much hatred towards another person.

“... Umemiya...”

“Tell the group that tomorrow, everyone must be at school by the first hour.”

Cutting it off, he put his hands in his pockets and walked past it.

He knew that his current state only made his friends uncomfortable, and no one was in the right frame of mind to endure his presence.

Hiiragi froze in place. Without needing to see him, he knew that cold sweat was soaking his lower back.

And despite knowing all that, he couldn’t contain the resentment in his voice as he said:

“Tomorrow we will go to war.”

He was determined.

I’ll find that bastard at any cost.

The next day, the tempers inside Makochi were so tense that they could be cut with a knife.

Each student's face was paler than normal, while their bodies were stiff waiting for orders.

The day before, Squadron Leader Tamon advised that everyone was required to be present at the first hour in the morning on direct orders from Umemiya.

In the story of their creation, the last time Umemiya had asked for it was when they faced Noroshi.

“Have they declared war on us again?”

“I don't know. As far as I know, the fights have continued to be against small groups.”

“... Is it a gang from another city?”

In the halls of the school, a hundred of the same speculations filled the silence.

The third-year students were racking their brains trying to remember a name worth mentioning to organize a general announcement, but nothing came to mind.

The second-graders talked to each other about possible people, putting together their ancient and fresh knowledge, but they couldn't come up with a convincing answer either.

“Maybe it's something from the first grade” a guy from the third year guessed, whispering to his classmates.

In the middle of the first-grade hallway, two thirds-graders and three second-graders were exchanging ideas while waiting for the announcement.

One of them opened his eyes as if a vial had lit up on his head.

“Ah, you're right! Isn't Umemiya-san's supposed successor in class 1-1?”

“Sakura? Mhm, now that you mention it, you're right.”

The second graders looked at each other with some mockery.

“But who would be so foolish as to mess with him? Didn't he defeat Yamato Endo himself?”

“They probably saw him as an easier target now that our graduation is approaching” the third-grader added, shrugging his shoulders.

However, the only third-year boy who hadn't spoken quickly patted them on the shoulder to get their attention.

When they looked at him, he made a gesture of "silence" with his hands.

“Don't talk about it here. Don't see the environment?”

“Environment?”

Curious, they all observed the faces of the people around them.

If the general feeling was already a little anxious, the first-year hallway was the closest thing to the exit of a morgue.

They were all standing in different places with their heads down, carrying a tense expression that highlighted the cold sweat falling down their sideburns. Most had their hands in their pockets, but the few visible had white knuckles from gripping them tightly.

Whispering like elementary school children during such a negative environment, the necks of the five shrank in some embarrassment, looking at each other full of doubts.

“Did something happen?”

“It seems so. Yesterday my mom said that there was a serious accident in the center of the city...”

“They stabbed a boy, isn't it? Was it a first year?”

Everyone looked around again and bent their bodies to continue talking in whispers.

“Everything indicates that he was...”

“Shit, they directly harmed to kill one of ours. Isn't this a declaration of war?”

“It is, it is. But why would they attack a first-grader first? Who could be such a big threat among the new...?”

Their voices slowly died away, remembering what they were talking about.

The five of them widened their eyes at the same time, looking towards the door of class 1-1.

As expected, the atmosphere there was much more somber.

The second-graders swallowed dry with the hairs on the back of their necks standing on end, hiding their heads like chicks chopping rice. They felt quite embarrassed to be babbling about such a delicate issue near the victims themselves.

Looking up to comment on the idea of leaving, their bodies twitched as they noticed the suddenly blood-drained faces of their superiors.

They seemed to have seen a ghost.

“W-what happened to you?”

“Shit.”

The third graders ignored them, talking to each other with horrified eyes.

“Isn't this like that time?”

“Yes, I mean, no. Shit, I don't know.”

They swallowed dryly.

“.... Isn't it a big deal anyway?”

The second graders didn't understand anything.

Drawing nearer to them, they tried to hide their presence even more, and asked in a low voice:

“What are you talking about?”

One of the third-graders looked at them with some discomfort.

“Right, you weren't there. Well... how should I say it...?”

“Do you know Kotoha from the Photos coffee shop?” his companion finished, looking around as if to make sure they were not heard.

The second graders nodded.

“We've gone. Isn't she related to Umemiya-san?”

“Ha. To say that it is related is an understatement, brat.”

Their superiors reached their mouths, lowering their voices even more than they had already done.

“She's Umemiya's younger sister.”

The second-graders opened their eyes in surprise.

The other third grader nodded effusively. “All of us in our year know that she is the most untouchable person in Makochi. Be careful too.”

Understanding, the trio of friends looked at each other with some doubt and pursed their lips, asking again:

“And what does the first-grader one have to do with all this...?”

Their elders paled another five tones.

“We're not sure, but if that's what we think...” they grimaced. “There was once a group that tried to attack her sister, and it’s said that Umemiya went mad. He took care of the whole gang on his own and they had to forcibly separate him so as not to send them to the hospital.”

The second graders opened their mouths, dumbfounded.

One of the third graders trembled as if remembering his worst nightmare.

“We can't say that it is the same case, but if so, the situation is much more...”

They were silent, cold sweat pooling along their backs.

If true, it was understandable that tempers were tense.

After all, they would not even go to a simple war for peace; this time, they would go to a massacre led by Umemiya himself.

Meanwhile, the situation within the 1-1 class was no better.

All the students were seated in their own seats, their sullen expressions accompanied by noticeable dark circles under their eyes. Tsugeura wasn't doing his morning exercises, and Kiryu wasn't looking at his phone. Not even Sugishita was sleeping.

Without exception, the entire class stared at the speaker in the center of the room, with an almost unhealthy obsession.

Despite their haggard faces and dark circles marking the mark of a sleepless night, their eyelids remained open, motionless, riveted high up.

There was no trace of exhaustion in the fire burning within their sockets.

In the front row, three seats were unoccupied. The tables were closer together than the rest, and the individual table in the middle had various drawings and signatures made by the whole class.

That was the desk of their captain, Sakura Haruka.

Even though their brains were constantly oscillating towards him, none of the boys made a sound.

None of them were prepared to do it either.

In the eerie silence, the sound of the door sliding signaled the arrival of more people.

Giving them a quick glance, they noticed the presence of two boys with faces worse than their own, entering in complete silence and taking their seats at each side of the scribbled table.

Their eyes were parched and inflamed, while their lips stood in a fine line that highlighted the cracking skin on them.

You could tell with the naked eye that they cried all night without ingesting a single drop of water.

And despite that, no one could blame them or say anything to them.

The entire class, without exception, began to tremble in their seats as they realized that the empty seat would probably not be filled that day. The eyes that stared at the speaker sickly filled with burning tears, but none of them let go.

Mimicking his actions, the two newcomers also stared at the speaker with gazes devoid of warmth.

“As you may’ve guessed, the person attacked yesterday was Sakura-kun.”

The one who spoke was Suo in a cold voice.

No one answered.

He continued: “His liver was shattered and he suffered a relapse in the middle of the night. Fortunately, they acted quickly and controlled his condition, but he had to be induced into a coma for an unknown time.”

As he gave that information, Suo's voice cracked for a second.

The trembling in the bodies of the rest of his companions became worse, and although there was a moan or two of a stifled sob, no one interrupted him.

“Sakura-kun is alive, but he can't defend himself for now.”

An icy smile spread across his cracked lips.

“I guess you know what that means, don't you?”

Silence.

They heard no sound, but neither Suo nor Nirei needed to look around to know that all the hatred their teammates exuded had been bathed in determination for a common goal.

Revenge.

With the same rage, the two fixed their attention on the speaker.

At the same time that the clock struck 8:30 in the morning, characteristic of the start of classes, the speakers throughout the school emitted an intermittent sound.

All the students present observed them.

Any other day, the announcement would have begun with a thunderous shout from their leader followed by a scolding from one of the four kings. If this weren’t the case, the cheerful voice of those who followed would begin with their typical spelling of vowels without rhyme or reason.

However, this time was different.

“Fuurin.”

Ummiya's voice spoke directly to them in a tone as cold as ice.

For the first time in their lives, they were all grateful that they didn't have that man in front of them.

The icy sound of his voice alone was enough to give goosebumps all over their bodies.

“I'm sorry for the lack of etiquette with which I communicate today, as well as the sudden request that you be here early in the day, but…”

He paused slightly.

He was not physically present, but the pressure of his silence took their breaths away.

“I'm furious.”

The whole school felt their throats suddenly go dry.

“Yesterday, an unknown group, led by a guy who calls himself Kazuya, seriously attacked a first-year captain.”

At the mention of the wounded man, everyone could perceive that the silent anger in the voice of their leader increased.

“The attack was such that right now, that person is fighting for his life, and it’s not yet known if he will succeed.”

The knuckles of Class 1-1 and many others turned white.

“I'm not one to talk about personal things here, but I feel that the situation deserves it. That person is Sakura Haruka from class 1-1, my next successor, and...”

There was a pause that didn’t even let them be surprised by such news because the blood in their veins froze with fear.

“My younger brother.”

Younger brother.

The person in the hospital was not only their next leader but the younger brother of their current leader.

Hajime Umemiya's younger brother.

Sakura Haruka.

The third-graders felt their legs tremble at the thought of witnessing the Umemiya of their memories again with much more force, and those in the lower grades likewise feared for all that a furious Umemiya might do.

“You can take it as a personal request or influenced by my own feelings, so I won't really force you to follow this next order.”

Those who had lowered their gaze from the sudden fear of simply watching the speaker raised their heads again with trembling hands.

“But, if you listen to me and help me in this search, I just want to make something clear to you.”

Everyone listened attentively.

“I want the whole city to be searched and find even the slightest information about those bastards. I don't care if it's enemy territory or if they come to claim me later: I'll take care of all the consequences. The only thing I ask is that you not be injured, under any chance. And...”

Umemiya let out a strange, airy laugh that shook everyone who heard it to the bone.

"When you find that Kazuya, don't even think about touching him. That son of a bitch is mine.”

There were no typical unison responses after the entire order was explained. On the other hand, no one in the entire school dared to breathe very hard.

Umemiya was really furious.

“That's all.”

The transmission was cut off, and the speakers returned to their eerie silence.

The first steps to be heard were those of the class of their next ringleader walking through the corridors towards the exit. During the journey, no one dared to say anything to them, avoiding their gazes with sweat accumulating on the edge of their foreheads.

The next class was the second class under the same squad, led by a Kaji who smashed the paddle he was carrying in his mouth by slamming it against the floor. His eyes seemed to be those of a beast ready to pounce and rip off its victim's neck in a single bite.

In this way, one by one, more classes were added to them until the school was completely empty. The professors watched everything from their office, but none of them complained or made gestures to stop them.

They were all equally furious against the one who had harmed one of their students.

That morning, all the students of the Fuurin walked the streets of Makochi like mad dogs. The citizens were far from looking scared; with their convictions on the surface, they even promised to seek information also to avenge their "Little Sakura".

With just 1 month to go before the third-year graduations, all of Makochi came together to find the people who dared to hurt the one they loved the most.

On that day, the monster of the Fuurin began its hunt.

Chapter Text

To Shishitoren, the sun seemed to rise again.

After their fight against Fuurin, tempers took a turn. Those who cared only about exercising power over the weak were quickly eradicated.

It was a difficult process, but Togame and Choji worked together to reform the Shishitoren to its best. With the help of the other three stronger, they eventually reached the point they wanted.

The workers' insecurity towards them also decreased. They didn’t defend the city as their confines, but Choji insisted on improving their relations, as they would "give more weight to his fists."

In the end, while they spent most of their time in their den or looking for fights with strong gangs, they also divided some of their time kicking out drunks and troublemakers.

Togame couldn’t deny that they had benefited from it. Thanks to their good deeds, they always had plenty of Ramune stocked up.

To celebrate each victory or the arrival of a new member, they had developed a tradition—takeout and fresh Ramune. A rookie had joined today, so spirits were still high.

He had never imagined the path would be so steep, but Togame was grateful. He had built the Shishitoren he had always dreamed of, side by side with Choji.

Watching him jump from here to there, defend all his comrades (because that gave more weight to his fists), and creating bonds with each gang member filled his heart.

As expected, Choji was the sun.

For this reason, Togame should practically be with his head in the clouds, enjoying every day as the best time of his life.

But he didn't.

“Kame-chan! Come on!”

"What's wrong, Choji?"

Leaving a new box of sodas taken from the theater on the floor, Togame noticed their leader jumping in his direction with excited eyes.

His right cheek was slightly swollen near his chin, but his friend seemed to wear it with utter pride. In one of his hands, he carried a scarf with a drawing of a deformed dolphin.

"It seems that he beat another gang on his own.”

Sako, wiping the sweat from his brow in annoyance, spoke beside him.

"Lately there have been a lot of gangs trying to mess with us," Inugami said next to the blond.

Sako rolled his eyes. "Well, of course, all the third graders are going to graduate. They must think that we are in a moment of weakness.”

“Still, Choji took care of them alone.”

Everyone turned to see Wanijima, joining the conversation with his arms folded.

He shrugged. "He never changed.”

Togame just laughed.

"That's how Choji is.”

“Kame-chan! Kame-chan! Look!”

Proudly, the leader of his team showed them the scarf he was carrying in his hands.

"There were about 40 guys, but none of them were strong, so it was pretty boring. But!" A wide, self-satisfied grin spread across his lips. "The leader of the group said my punches were really heavy. I'm finally getting closer to being like Ume-chan!"

Puffing out his chest, Choji resembled a small rodent standing on its hind legs, trying to assert dominance over the rest of the animals. He looked undeniably cute, but none of them dared to tease him.

After all, his punches did hurt.

"Alright, Choji, I'm happy for you," Togame smiled back slightly, being followed by the rest.

Sako wasn't someone of many words, giving him a slight shake of his head, while Inugami blurted out how great he was. Wanijima congratulated him without much talk, as he was accustomed to since they met.

However, Choji's joy slowly dissipated.

Staring at his best friend, he cocked his head curiously.

"Kame-chan, you’re still sad?"

At the comment, everyone turned to look at him. Togame couldn't help but jump in place, the drink in his hands about to fall off.

Letting out an awkward laugh, he handed the drink to his captain.

"What do you say, Choji? Here, you must be tired. Refresh yourself."

"No, now that Choji mentions it, you've been acting strange."

Wanijima pushed away from the wall he had been leaning on and crouched down to meet his gaze, his sharp, reptilian eyes scanning him intently.

"What happened to you?"

"Togame-san is sad?" Inugami asked a little late, raising his ears like a dog.

Sako tapped him on the head to make him shut up, but he didn't move from his place, looking at him with concealed concern.

Choji mimicked their positions so they could see each other's faces, uncorking the drink and taking a sip. Throughout the process, he didn't take his attention away from him.

Togame pursed his lips, refusing to speak.

Wanijima let the seconds pass without forcing him, as he knew his teammates very well. After two minutes of uncomfortable looks, he looked in the direction of his captain at the same time as Choji opened his mouth.

"It's because of Sakura-chan, isn't it?"

“Sakura-chan?”

Wanijima looked confused. Sako and Inugami opened their eyes in surprise, their minds with different thoughts.

"You don't know him," Choji replied. “He is one of the new guys in Fuurin. He beat Kame-chan in a single fight and then strengthened our friendship when he asked us for help defending his city.”

As he explained, he moved his hands to emphasize his story. At all times, he showed a big smile, as if he remembered those moments with great affection.

Wanijima raised his eyebrows.

"He beat Jo and then asked us for help? And we went to help them?”

"Yes. Kame-chan personally took it upon himself to go to him," his leader confirmed.

Togame avoided the suggestive look he gave him. “He must be someone really admirable.”

"He is!"

Choji jumped up and down full of energy, punching and kicking the air with shining eyes.

"We haven't talked much after that, but Sakura-chan accomplished a lot afterward! Even Ume-chan has told me that he will give up his position at graduation!”

In the face of such a bombshell, everyone listening except Wanijima looked at him in amazement.

"Will Sakura be the new leader of the Fuurin?"

Togame couldn't believe it, though a part of him expected it. After all, Sakura was stronger than anyone beyond fighting.

Choji nodded excitedly, jumping up and down like a small child.

"When he takes the position, I'll ask him for a fight! The new leader of Fuurin has to be able to overcome the weight of my fists!”

"I suppose that's good. Our relations can remain friendly with him in charge.”

Sako remarked with false disinterest, being betrayed by the slight blush on his cheekbones. He seemed to be remembering someone else who would also be pleased with the first-in-command boy.

Inugami nodded like a puppy looking at a bone.

"Besides, that means that if we ever ask them for help, they'll definitely give it to us!"

"Hey, why would we need help?" Sako cut him off. “We’re Shishitoren. Our core is based on being strong.”

Inugami turned to see his superior with his imaginary tail behind him wagging.

"Sako-san! YOU really loves us—! Agh!

With a strong blush, Sako punched him again.

"It’s not bad to have allies," Wanijima remarked, quietly acknowledging Sakura’s new leadership as a good thing.

Then, he turned to Togame.

"So, what happened to that Sakura who has you looking so down?"

"Oh, right!” Choji squatted down again. “Kame-chan, tell us what's wrong with you!”

“...”

Togame didn't know what to say.

Truth be told: he was a little depressed because of the boy with uneven hair on the other side of their territory.

It was a rather absurd reason, to be honest. Sakura was someone who barely knew how to use a cell phone, so their conversations were based on casual comments that the first-year boy would respond to after a long time.

However, he had never left a "good morning" or a "good night" unanswered.

Until a week ago.

Since last week, Sakura seemed to disappear from the networks. The last connection shown was near night.

The first three days, he didn't take it to heart. But, seeing his little activity and lack of response, Togame started to ask him every day if something happened.

Unfortunately, those messages were also ignored.

Togame thought of walking through the streets of Makochi to find out if something had happened to his friend, but the increase in groups looking for them to fight and the arrival of new members prevented him from doing so.

They weren't the closest people, so a week with no response shouldn't affect him as much as it did. Fuurin would soon go through the change of command, so he must be busy.

Besides, if Choji was telling the truth, Sakura would be the busiest in the entire city. Not many would readily accept his new position and creating merit was a priority

So why did his chest clench slightly in his absence?

Why did his brain insist he should look for him as if he needed to know something?

Letting out a sigh, he decided to share his concern.

"It's... something absurd.”

"Kame-chan! If it affects you, it's not absurd!”

Somehow, Choji's maturity allowed him to say the right words.

A small smile took over his lips, looking at his best friend with gratitude.

"Then what is it?"

Wanijima was a little more insistent.

"Actually..." Togame avoided his gaze. “It's been a week since Sakura has responded or seen any of the messages I sent.”

The rest watched him for a few seconds.

Sako raised an eyebrow.

"Anything else?"

"Nothing else. He just hasn't answered me.”

That was all.

… To say it like that made it look quite absurd.

The blond frowned as if he were seeing an idiot.

"Maybe he's busy. If he’s going to be the new leader, his days should be filled with things to do.”

Despite his somewhat ironic tone, the answer he gave him was quite considerate on his part.

Togame nodded. "I've thought the same thing.”

"But," Inugami chimed in again, "isn't it a little weird to not even answer that he's been busy and just ignore it?"

Sako couldn't answer that question. In fact, he was right.

“... Maybe he's bad with technology”.

"In fact, he is," Togame confirmed.

Then, he looked back at his reflection in the ice water that kept the drinks cool inside the box.

"It's just that I can't help but worry.”

"I understand.”

Wanijima spoke while nodding his head, getting everyone's attention.

"Inugami is right in what he says, and from what I've been told about him, he’d at least tell you that he won't be able to talk to you like he used to. Also, the fact that he doesn't even see the messages is, as such, weird.”

He pointed a finger at him.

"You have a bad feeling.”

Togame pursed his lips, not denying or accepting it.

Sako also took a somewhat worried stance, accepting that the lack of any activity on the other's part was also quite unsettling. Inugami looked at them without fully understanding, but his smile also dimmed.

Choji, who was watching everything silently, suddenly stood up and patted his own legs. Everyone looked in his direction because of the unexpected action.

With his back to the sun, the big smile he gave them was as blinding as the star high in the sky. His eyes looked confident, and it seemed that he could solve any problem the next second.

"It's decided. We're going to visit Sakura-chan right now!”

The rest were surprised, but none refused.

Togame was the most affected— not in a bad way. Just like in the past, a big embarrassed smile spread across his face, momentarily feeling like a fool.

His friend always found a way to help him and clear his mind.

No matter the time or place, Choji would always be the sun that illuminated his path whenever darkness surrounded him.

"No problem for me," Wanijima said as he stopped as well. "I might as well take the chance to meet Fuurin's new leader."

"Yes, yes! You'll like Sakura-chan!”

"I want to go, too!"

Inugami raised his hand like a preschooler, watching Sako with pleading eyes.

The blond wrinkled his face with flushed cheeks, avoiding his gaze.

“... I guess I can take a walk.”

"Yei!”

"Are we going to visit Fuurin?"

Arima's voice made its way.

Turning to him, the partially shaved-headed guy raised his drink in greeting, a hint of apology in the gesture. Behind him, Minoru followed, his expression anything but friendly.

"We're sorry. We listened a little while we were there.”

"It doesn't matter! The more, the better!”

Choji was so excited that he jumped back and forth.

"I'm going to eat freshly baked Cactus bread!"

"That was your real goal, wasn't it?"

"Of course not! I'm also worried about Sakura-chan!”

"Tsk.”

Minoru clicked his tongue.

His eyes looked anywhere but at his companions, biting his nails with his face blacker than a pot.

"That bastard is going to be there. Tsk.”

"We can ignore him, Minoru. We're going to see Othello mainly," Arima tried to calm him down.

His friend's face became worse.

"And who do you think that bastard is always hanging out with, uh? Obviously with him!”

Arima only laughed. Minoru was right.

Sako looked at them like they were idiots and Inugami slipped over to them to ask who that "bastard" was. Wanijima looked at them without saying a word.

Faced with such a vivid scene, Togame, who remained silent, looked at the person who managed to change the mood with just a few words.

Choji looked back at him with his hands clasped at his chest, a vain attempt to control the excitement of going to Makochi. As they connected glances, their smiles widened, as they did every time they watched each other.

Sure enough, sunny days were the best.

Standing up, he prepared to start his course. The party was already coming to an end and, as long as they left one of the strongest in charge, there wouldn’t be a problem.

With renewed spirits, he spoke to everyone.

"Come on—”

However, he was interrupted.

“Tomiyama-san.”

Approaching with a slightly worried face, a freshman spoke to Choji.

Their captain turned curiously, blinking innocently.

"What's wrong?"

“... We have visitors.”

Everyone frowned except for Choji.

"Mhm? Who is it?”

The last time anyone came, it was Sakura asking for help.

With some hope, Togame took two steps forward to ask, but the boy looked a little scared to speak, so he pointed towards the entrance of the bridge with a trembling finger.

"It's... someone from the Fuurin.”

"Fuurin?" Choji lit up. “We were just talking about them! Let him enter!”

Togame should also be happy, but the pressure in his chest increased.

"Wait, Choji...”

It was too late.

The boy, hurrying away as if he had a pack of dogs chasing him, quickly returned with a student of the Fuurin.

However, he wasn’t who Togame expected to see.

They couldn't help but jump in their places when they saw the blond with freckles on his face approaching. Everyone knew who was except Wanijima, but they couldn't help but raise their defenses in his presence.

Nirei won over in front of them with a face devoid of any emotion. His brown eyes were as cold as ice, and a menacing aura lurked inside.

Comparing him to the fearful, anxiety-filled boy in their memories, he seemed like a completely different person.

Was it possible to change so much in a few months?

Only if something important turned your life around completely.

Togame's brow furrowed imperceptibly.

"E-excuse me.”

The first-year boy ran after bringing him in, clearly intimidated by the first-year vice-captain in the Fuurin.

Nirei bowed, showing his respect.

At least he didn't come for a fight, although his whole body exuded the opposite.

"Good afternoon. Thank you very much for having me, Tomiyama-san.”

“... Of course!”

Choji lingered a little, just as disoriented as the rest, but ended up answering as he usually did.

However, he placed himself by inertia in front of his group, without bothering to invite him inside.

"What brings you here, Nirei-chan?"

"I'm sorry for my sudden visit," he paused for a moment. “And I also regret my current attitude. I know I'm making you uncomfortable.”

Again, the bodies of those who listened to him tensed.

Wanijima took a few steps forward to be in the same line as Choji and Togame, his expression somewhat suspicious.

“Wani-chan—”

Choji fell silent when his friend raised his hand to stop him.

He turned to Nirei.

"What do you want?"

It was very obvious that he wanted something from them.

Nirei looked up at him, seeming to recognize his identity. There was no overreaction as in the past.

"We need your help for a search.”

The Shishitoren members frowned.

"Search?"

Togame said it with a bitter mouth, feeling that his bad feeling increased by the second.

Nirei nodded. "Umemiya-san sent me after agreeing with my idea.”

"Ume-chan?"

That caught Choji's attention, moving on from Wanijima.

"Who is Ume-chan looking for?"

"The bastard who almost killed Sakura-san.”

Silence.

There was no advance or preparation; Nirei only said that shocking information with hatred distilling from his tongue as if he hadn’t a second to waste in absurd detours.

Togame listened to him without really hearing him, feeling that the ground beneath his feet seemed to spin.

The idea of the person who got his life back on track, accepting and facing his mistakes; the closest thing to the moon illuminating him when the sun disappeared was so difficult that he suffocated.

"Jo.”

He didn't know at what moment Wanijima won over his side and held him by the shoulder, nor the expression he was making to be watched by his companions with such concern.

In his mind, there was only Sakura.

"If you’ll allow me to explain the reason for my request, we would be very grateful. I say this without fear of representing all of Fuurin.”

Nirei bowed again, showing his respect.

Since he was in front of all of them, they couldn't fully see Choji's face.

However, they could imagine what kind of expression he had when they heard his icy voice answer the blond:

"Nirei-chan, let's talk at the theater.”

After leaving things in the hands of Oushiwari, the last of the 5 strongest in Shishitoren, they headed to the theater. Inugami decided to stay and help, knowing that he didn't have much to contribute or ties to build on.

The rest moved to the stage they had slowly begun to renovate. The boards were no longer broken or peeled off, while the tiger on the screen had been repainted.

Taking a seat in the first seat, Nirei was surrounded by a group of people with worried expressions. Among them, Togame was the most affected.

Nirei could understand him.

Sadly, he didn't have time to show empathy.

It had already been a week since they began the insatiable search for that group of bastards, but they hadn't made any progress even though the entire city was helping.

… And it was also a week since Sakura hadn’t woken up.

Clenching his fists on his legs, Nirei held back the hatred within his heart as he’d been doing for the past few days.

Like frost turning into a huge snowball: all his resentment was about to explode like an avalanche crashing into the bottom of a mountain.

"Then..."

His ominous thoughts were cut through by Tomiyama's cold voice.

"What happened?"

Straightening his back, Nirei explained everything he knew in great detail.

After not finding even the shadow of Kazuya and his group, Nirei and Suo met with Umemiya to see the next plan of action.

The mood inside the school was gloomy. Those closest to Sakura, such as his class, some second graders, and the kings of each fraction, gradually lost their sanity as the tortuous days went by.

Umemiya was worse than any of them.

Just when they thought things might finally improve after their friend survived the first night, their hopes were shattered.

The doctors explained Sakura would be isolated.

"Sakura has survived the most critical part. However, he is still exposed to too many risks due to the medication," the doctor explained with a serious face. “Any small infection could be lethal.”

After almost losing him, the only thing they could do was see him through a glass.

During the first night, the only thing that helped them not to go crazy was to place their hands on Sakura's covered chest and feel it throbbing under their palms.

Now, they couldn't even have that.

With the pain digging through his skin, Nirei told them about Sakura's entire process of arriving at the hospital, as well as his current state of health.

As he explained, Togame's face paled until he looked sick. The reactions of the rest weren’t much better, frowning as if they swallowed a fly.

"Is there any chance that he will wake up later?"

Choji asked in an unusually crude tone.

As much as he wanted to change his answer, he wasn’t able to lie to himself.

"We can't know yet," he denied, feeling his eyes sting.

He really missed his best friend.

"Judging by your request sent directly by Umemiya," Wanijima spoke with a stern face, "there is a possibility that this Kazuya and his group are roaming our area.”

Togame, who was in complete silence beside him, tensed his body so tightly that the veins were marked on the backs of his hands and the curvature of his neck. His eyes were riddled with red lines.

Nirei recovered a little of his posture when he heard his deduction, remembering the important point.

"Not exactly.”

With surprising agility, he took a notebook from the inside pocket of his uniform, opening it so that the rest of the people could see it.

In it, there was a map of all Makochi perfectly summarized with the delimitation areas and their respective gangs.

On the bridge connecting Shishitoren to Fuurin, a large red circle had several dots drawn around it.

With a pencil, he pointed to each one.

"If I'm not mistaken, you've had to deal with numerous gangs lately that have gone within your boundaries intending to overthrow you, haven't you?"

Everyone nodded. In the theater's cellar, there was a pile of scarves with strange drawings that they gathered these last few days.

"Is it them?"

Choji asked in a cold voice.

Nirei denied. "Not entirely.”

Before they could ask another question, he turned the page of his notebook and showed them the data he had obsessively gathered throughout the week.

In it, there were a bunch of names with detailed descriptions of each gang along with the number of members and weaknesses in each. At the end, without exception, a small line was underlined.

"Cult of protection".

"I have a theory that they’re a smokescreen that "protects" the main gang.”

Nirei's eyes, as he shared his opinion, were a snowy desert, freezing their backs with a few simple words.

Wanijima's expression soured as he grasped the main point of his insinuation, bringing a hand to his mouth thoughtfully.

Choji watched each point in the notebook as if seeking to inject it into his brain, maintaining an unflappable face.

"I don't understand.”

The first-year vice captain foresaw his comment.

"They're basically testing us while they're waiting for the opportunity," he explained. “They know that, even if we have a numerical advantage, we far exceed their strength values. A direct battle against any of us would be practically suicide.”

He went back to the previous page and pointed to the dots around the circle, which exemplified the gangs they defeated in the past week.

"That's why they send people to test our weak points. In every gang, there’ll always be someone who is weaker or will have a moment where they’ll be unprotected...”

His gaze sharpened. "That's what they're aiming for.”

Choji was still a little lost, having distinct difficulty grasping what Nirei was fully hinting at.

However, Togame and Sako's eyes widened in stupefaction, a loosely restrained rage slowly building up inside them.

Sako forced an aggressive smile, unable to believe his ears.

"Hey, you're not saying...”

"It's just as you imagine it," Nirei interrupted him, looking at him without any empathy. “As soon as that oversight comes to light, they’ll attack it to weaken the group's mentality from within.”

His lips curled contemptuously.

"Just like they did with Sakura-san.”

Their backs grew cold.

"The best way to defeat strong people is to target their weak spots. A beast without control is far easier to handle than one that can think."

“...!”

Kicking a pile of boxes, Sako gritted his teeth like an enraged dog.

"Those damned sons of—!"

"You're saying...”

Choji's voice attracted everyone's attention.

His groupmates reflexively straightened their backs, a cold sweat pooling at the beginning of their foreheads.

Their captain was angry.

"Are you saying that those bastards will also try to seriously attack ours to destabilize us?"

Nirei wasn’t affected in the least, and if he did, he didn’t show it.

"That's what we think.”

His fingers turned the pages until he reached the last one, where, besides being written "Cult of Protection" so hard that he could tear the page, there was nothing else.

"According to the girl who worked with this Kazuya to deceive Sakura-san, the group was formed to "protect the weak" by measuring the strongest and avoiding dangers. Their modus operandi is based on measuring the sense of humanity of those more powerful than them in absurd situations.”

He closed the notebook. "And that's a respectful way of saying it.”

"Basically, they're a bunch of weaklings who focus their strength on numbers, not caring about any sacrifices to make those who are stronger in a disaster like theirs," Wanijima completed, looking at him with contained anger.

He raised one of his eyebrows.

"Isn't that so?"

"You could call it that."

Nirei lowered his eyes.

"To me, they're just a bunch of shit.”

As if he had broken the last remaining thread of sanity in Togame with his comment, the second-in-command of the Shishitoren jumped up and slammed the floor of the reconstructed theater.

His punch formed a large hole next to a loud rumble. The wood cracked like paper and the splinters flew through the air.

Wanijima and Sako widened their eyes in surprise at his outburst, while Choji stood as still as a statue with his eyes fixed on the ground.

None of them stopped him, nor tried to.

"Those sons of bitches...”

Togame's teeth were so clenched that his voice was choked.

"Those damn sons of bitches!"

It was no secret that Togame Jo was the most territorial member of Shishitoren.

And yet, a group of mediocre nobodies had dared to toy with them—as if they were nothing more than schoolchildren—probing for weaknesses, picking them apart from the inside.

They had seriously hurt one of his friends.

The person to whom he owed everything he had today.

The one he admired—the one he knew he could never surpass.

Sakura.

With a guttural growl, Togame let out a furious scream and lashed out, punching and kicking everything in sight. The theater was already a mess, but by the time he was done, it was in far worse condition than before.

His knuckles split open, blood seeping through the cracks, and cuts tore through his clothes, carving into his legs.

But none of it mattered.

His eyes saw only fire, red, rage.

All he wanted was to have those bastards in front of him and shoot them until they begged for mercy, only to keep beating them.

He hated them with all his heart.

His rampage continued until all that was left to kick was a pile of empty boxes stacked in the corner of the theater. His chest heaved with each breath, the air searing his lungs.

His limbs felt numb from the exertion, but even in that exhaustion, it didn’t feel like it was enough.

Then, two drops fell to the floor beneath his feet.

For a moment, he thought it was blood dripping from his torn knuckles.

But as more distinct drops fell, he realized it wasn’t blood—it was his own tears, soaking his cheeks and blurring his vision.

He didn't know when he started crying, but he couldn't stop anymore.

Leaning against the shattered stage, Togame curled his back and bit his lips to hold back a sob, thinking of Sakura.

All the worry hit him like a wave, accompanied by guilt for doing nothing. His chest tightened every day because of the bad feeling that his absence caused him, but he did nothing.

Togame Jo transformed into a better version of himself thanks to Sakura Haruka, and he didn't do anything.

Nothing.

“Kame-chan.”

When it was dark, Choji's icy voice was like the sun's rays piercing the ice of a frozen lake.

Blinking, Togame turned his head slightly to see his best friend's back.

Choji didn't look back at him, but he could feel that he saw into the depths of his soul.

"You’re no longer sad, Kame-chan?"

In fact, he was.

But there was something much stronger that he felt now.

"No, Choji.”

Standing up straight, his reddened eyes stared at Nirei, who watched him with a faint empathy hanging from his gaze.

"I'm furious.”

His captain let out a small chuckle at his answer.

"What a coincidence, Kame-chan!”

Scratching his head, Choji finally showed his face to the rest of his companions.

His eyes, which shone like two stars, were now as dark as a tangle of scribbled lines. The features of his face hardened to look wild, like those of a tiger baring its fangs.

"I am too.”

They couldn't help but be intimidated by the strong pressure emanating from Choji's body, but none of them shrank for fear of it.

The bubbling anger within their chests only boiled more vigorously, as if the volcano within their hearts was ready to erupt.

"Then it's decided.”

Taking the baton as the only person who wasn't so furious to lose his mind, Wanijima walked until he was in front of Nirei.

Under his watchful eye, Nirei stood up and shook his outstretched hand.

Wanijima narrowed his reptilian eyes.

"We'll help."

"Thank you very much.”

Fuurin's representative did not forget his manners, bowing respectfully to everyone.

Then, he took out a folded piece of paper from the other inside pocket of his uniform and handed it to him.

In it, the face of a boy with short hair and lazy eyes was smiling mockingly. The strokes of the drawing were made with anger, feeling on the other side of the page.

Sako was the one who asked the question when he approached to see what they’d been given.

"Who is it?"

"The leader of the cult and our greatest prey.”

Nirei looked at the drawn face as if it were garbage.

"Kazuya."

Endo checked his phone again.

Like the rest of the days, It didn't have any notifications.

Well, there was. Numerous contacts of women asking him about his day and if he wanted to go out for a while, while others were not even registered.

Endo slid the screen as if they were worthless garbage.

At the top of his messaging app, two names were pinned to be the first thing he saw when he opened it: one had the default gray photo when creating an account, and the other was a campfire that he had placed himself.

The campfire person checked in his last message informing him that he’d go for a walk, as he had done with all the others he sent him since they were added.

And the other hadn't even arrived.

Endo scratched his head and pouted his lips. He opened the conversation with annoyance, noticing that the icon of his messages remained unchanged, indicating that they hadn’t reached the other person.

Then, he closed and opened it again.

There was no change.

Again.

Neither.

Again.

Again, again, and again—

— Everything remained the same.

He couldn't help the snap that escaped between his lips.

Adjusting the jacket that was dangling from his elbows, he stepped on the back of a fainting guy at his feet. Around him, at least ten bodies were lying in strange positions.

Tsk, they don't even serve to relieve my stress.

Frowning, he kicked the one who appeared to be the leader with measured force, cursing inside his mind.

Putting away his phone, he walked into Makochi.

The boundaries between each gang outside the city were quite clear. The largest groups after Fuurin were the Shishitoren and Roppo Ichiza, who maintained friendly relations with them.

It was almost an open secret, but everyone said Fuurin was now in control of almost every area thanks to his alliances.

Normal or small-group gang members wouldn't be so idiotic to look for trouble, so they were venting elsewhere like headless flies.

And those "other sides" coincidentally were the places he visited with Takiishi.

After his loss to Fuurin, Takiishi focused on getting "new talent." H wasn't complaining; Takiishi looked just as beautiful fighting as he did obsessed with finding strong people.

His great desire ended up burning everything in his path. It was a bit of a disadvantage when it came to finding any, of course, but it wasn't Takiishi's fault that they were so weak and couldn't stand his pressure.

In their search for talent, they wandered through many places without entering Makochi. Endo felt in the clouds accompanying him because it was the closest thing to having daily appointments, although, unfortunately, his illusion was interrupted almost a month ago.

He had no interest in finding out why, but almost every group that kept a low profile seemed to be emboldened by something unknown.

Obviously, they were not even a stone in his shoes.

In less than five minutes they had those guys eating dirt and whining for mercy. Takiishi looked ethereal every time he knocked out an idiot, which was another plus.

What really bothered him was that they took away his time.

For a week, Sakura hasn’t responded or received any of his messages.

Like Takiishi, his answers could take hours, but at least Sakura answered.

What had him most fixed with the first-year captain was his ability to return his attention.

It's not like Takiishi ignored him like in the past, as there were huge strides in calling him by his name and engaging in short conversations, but Sakura was the first person to show him how good it felt to be looked at back.

His existence was like a lifeline within his reality. Knowing that, no matter the distance, someone would turn to observe him too if he sought it, filled his chest with unparalleled joy.

But now, that person wasn’t there.

A week ago, Sakura disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him.

The first day he didn't hear back from him, he thought about going to visit him. He was sure that bastard Umemiya could hang him for it, but Endo investigated where his new obsession lived.

He didn’t consider his actions dishonest; despite knowing it, he never went to bother him, no matter how much he wanted to.

Unfortunately, those groups that seemed to have their sense of reality altered went straight to pick a fight. Watching Takiishi burn everything in his path ended up distracting him for the rest of the days.

And that was repeated daily until today.

Endo was too sharp not to notice that someone was trying to keep him at a distance, and he loathed the idea of giving anyone the satisfaction of thinking they had him under their control.

So, with a heavy heart, he told Takiishi that he’d go out alone to take care of some things. He swore to himself that, as soon as he found the person who dared to play with his time, he would make them pay for this agonizing separation.

That's how he ended up in Makochi.

He guessed that another group would "coincidentally" appear in his path and look for a fight. He barely set foot in the city when those 15 pieces of trash blocked his way.

They all seemed to know him and trembled like leaves, but none of them backed down. Shouting as if that gave them more strength, they attacked him at the same time.

The conclusion was those 15 stupid people lying on the ground with deformed faces. He was in enough of a bad mood when he was cornered to measure the impact of his fists.

But this is annoying, he thought, scanning everything around him for the ringleader. Someone definitely doesn't want me here.

"Ha...”

Endo smiled.

If someone was so desperate to keep him away, then more he would fight tooth and nail to get in.

The more he angered that bastard, the better for him.

Thus, he went to the center of Makochi.

In his memory, the city had never been so quiet. Each corner had an ornament hanging on the cables or trees delimiting the space of each gang, and the excesses were the daily bread.

The neighbors hid in their houses and went about their routines with an unnatural tranquility. Those who couldn't adjust to the lack of security in the area chose to take their things and move elsewhere.

It was the arrival of Umemiya that changed everything.

Now, the homes regained their lives. Each one was painted in vibrant colors that highlighted the vegetation in its courtyards or arranged on the street, bringing peace to those who wandered around.

There were still dangerous places in areas with low crowds and an abundance of dark alleys, but the guys from Fuurin were always in charge of making rounds to prevent it.

As such, the change in Makochi should evoke a stomach-churning sense of joy, the kind that feels more like nausea than anything else.

Not a heavy environment like the one he found.

From the outskirts to the city center, Endo was unable to see the people living in parsimony. Their eyes, without exception, fell on his body as if they were wary of the presence of a stranger, never lowering their gaze.

He didn't consider himself the most sociable person, and he knew his face would bring at least some degree of discomfort in the older people in the area.

But none showed fear.

What's more, they seemed so furious that, if he came with bad intentions, they could jump on his neck without thinking about it.

“...”

Endo had a bad feeling.

If he added the animosity of the citizens to the strangers together with the fact that a bastard in the shadows didn’t want him near Makochi...

His gaze fell on his pants pocket by reflex.

“... No way.”

The answer he came to was so surprising that he couldn't help but let his thoughts out loud.

For the first time in his life, he felt his chest tighten.

He ran.

He didn’t care about the venomous looks or the screams of Fuurin's students he met in his career; in his mind, there was only one goal: reach the center of Makochi.

Breathing heavily, he didn't stop until he reached the outskirts of a coffee shop. On the poster hanging overhead, the name "Photos" could be read.

He didn’t strike or measure the force in his hand, opening the door with a bang.

As expected, a head of white hair was sitting on the counter. In front of him, a girl with short hair and a green apron was silently drying some glasses.

On the table near the shore was the kind of shit-eating smile who was always next to Sakura, but he didn't see the trembling blonde anywhere.

That wasn’t what caught his attention the most.

With cold blood, Endo noticed that everyone had an emaciated expression on their faces. The dark circles under their eyes were noticeable to the naked eye, and their skins looked dry and unkempt as if they hadn't rested in days.

Three pairs of eyes fell on his body, causing his pupils to shrink.

"Endo."

It was Umemiya who spoke to him.

His voice, unlike in the past, was devoid of any joy.

If he didn't know him, he would think that the person in front of his eyes was a living dead.

Endo never boasted of his intelligence, but he did hate it many times for the ability to give him immediate answers that he often didn’t want.

"I imagine why..."

"Where."

Endo cut Umemiya through gritted teeth.

The white-haired guy looked at him with empty eyes. He clearly heard him, but he didn’t respond.

No, that bastard knew not to answer him.

He was about to go crazy.

"Where is Sakura!"

"Endo."

At Kotoha's cold voice, his shoulders twitched slightly.

Her face was paler than usual, and you could see the broken skin on her lips. The dark bags adorning the upper part of her face made her piercing gaze look even darker.

"Don't shout in my place.”

Smiling wildly, he let out an unfunny laugh.

"Something happened, right? Is that why you’re hiding it from me?” he spat.” Well, that's too bad! I'll find out even if you don't want it and—!”

"And what will you do?"

Kotoha silenced him again. Umemiya watched her silently, without stopping her.

Endo hesitated a little.

"What do you mean by doing something?"

"Endo," she smiled weakly, setting the glass down on the counter. “If you can really do something for Sakura after finding him, I would thank you for a lifetime.”

Kotoha's eyes filled with tears.

She seemed to be tired of crying, but she couldn't do anything about it.

She was completely exhausted.

“... I’m sorry.”

She put her hands to her face, turning her back on him. From his position, the only thing he could see was her trembling shoulders.

For some strange reason, he couldn't tell her anything.

His attention shifted to Umemiya, who silently stared back at him. They both stayed like this for a couple of seconds until the leader of Fuurin stood up and walked towards him, nodding at the entrance.

"Let's talk outside.”

Putting his hands in his pockets, Endo followed silently under the watchful eye of Suo, who never spoke.

Their gazes met just a moment before his body turned in the direction of the exit, closely followed by Umemiya.

All the way, neither of them made a sound. Endo didn't ask where they were going and Umemiya wasted no time on absurd preparations, arriving at a desolate alley littered with boxes and old wood.

"This is the waste warehouse we have for repair supplies," he let him pass first. “I guess you remember something, don't you?”

Endo looked at him impassively, scanning the entire place out of the corner of his eyes.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Umemiya was silent for a moment, seeing his own hands full of bandages.

"You'll need something to break after I tell you what happened, apart from my face," he smiled at him without that emotion reaching his gaze. “I wouldn't want you to break my younger sister's place, y’know?”

"Ha...”

Putting a hand to his matted hair, Endo didn’t answer, lowering his head.

As the seconds passed in complete silence, the veins began to mark the inside of his wrists, arms, and neck gradually.

Umemiya watched the whole process without saying anything, crossing his arms with a bit of laziness. Like Kotoha, his mood was quite low, exhausting him mentally.

He didn't have the time or desire to feel too much like the person in front of him, and he didn't feel like holding back either.

With his eyes woven into red lines, Endo looked at him with a storm inside his dark eyes.

"Tell me everything that happened."

And so he did.

From Kotoha's call, the process of how Sakura was injured, his admission to the hospital, and his subsequent isolation due to his delicate condition: he didn’t omit a single detail. He explained everything in a voice devoid of fluctuations.

The face of the ancient legend of Fuurin went through a succession of emotions in just a few minutes.

First, he blanched to as white as paper when he discovered that his new obsession had been on the verge of death. Then the color came crashing back, dyed a furious red dominated by anger.

Just as Umemiya had told him, his body moved on its own. He lunged at the old boxes and wood, smashing them into a pile of splinters and crumpled cardboard.

But that wasn't enough.

His knuckles tore as he crashed into the cement walls, leaving behind large cracks with the force of his blows.

His breathing was irregular; his chest rose and fell like that of an angry animal. In two strides, he stood in front of the white-haired guy and grabbed him by the neck, concentrating all his hatred on that impassive face.

"You—"

Showing him his teeth, he shouted at him with all his might.

"What the fuck were you doing that you let this happen?!"

Endo pushed him with such force that he ended up slamming his back against the ground without letting out a single groan.

Winning astride him, Endo's bleeding fist slammed into Umemiya's cheek.

"You should have known! You should have avoided it!!”

Blow

"You knew perfectly well the risks Sakura was taking as the new leader and you didn't do anything!"

Another blow.

"Didn't you call yourself his older brother when you talked to Takiishi?! A true brother wouldn’t have allowed his little brother to be almost killed!!”

More blows.

"If I knew this before, I would’ve taken him with me the last time we fought! I would’ve taken better care of him than you!”

His fist fell again to take another blow, but he was stopped by a hand grabbing his wrist.

With blood gushing from his nose, Umemiya looked at him without any sign of pain besides his eyes.

Inside them, the suffering seemed to be so unbearable that it sent shivers down his spine.

"I wouldn't have let you do it.”

His voice sounded as hard as iron.

"I was indeed wrong, and I bear a lot of the blame, but even if I knew, I wouldn't have let you take it.

He looked directly at him.

"No one will take my little brother from me. Not again.”

For the first time since he had met him, Endo felt the overwhelming fire of the person beneath him affect him, causing his neck to go numb.

It was as if a pile of ashes had finally found the spark to burn everything in its path.

Letting out an angry laugh, he spat poison at the weakest points.

"Really? Because if that bastard managed to kill him, he wouldn't have just taken him, he would’ve taken him away from you forever.

Even he was hurt to say it.

"But, ah, wait, we don't know if he made it yet, do we?"

His smile became forced, showing a grimace riddled with pain.

"Because Sakura still doesn't wake up.”

Umemiya fell silent.

Endo didn’t want to do it, too, but like a snake, his best method of attack was the poison between his teeth.

"And now you can't even touch him or be near him to feel his heart beating or hear the sounds of that fucking machine that keeps him alive. You can't feel anything, say anything, touch anything, or do anything. You are...”

His voice choked out at the end, gripping his damaged hands.

“... We are useless at this point.”

Those eyes.

That pair of uneven eyes that allowed him to see his face reflected in them for the first time. Those who showed him that he could also be looked at back. Those eyes that were everything in his life...

They were no longer open.

For a week, those eyes were hidden.

And as much as he wanted to, even if he broke up and reshaped the country from top to bottom, there was no guarantee that they would do it again.

Sakura may never look back at him again.

And that burned more than lost.

Tensing his jaw, Endo stepped away from Umemiya's body, bringing his hands to his already matted hair and pulling hard.

With his eyes unfocused, his mind worked at a thousand miles an hour as he turned his attention to the guy still on the ground.

He felt his eyes itch from blinking, but he didn't allow himself to cry or look away.

"Do you know who that bastard is?"

Taking his time, Umemiya sat down with some difficulty and took out a crumpled piece of paper from the inside pocket of his uniform, holding it out to him lazily.

Like a beast, Endo took the drawing between his fingers and observed each stroke with a lunatic aura.

He seemed to want to etch every millimeter of those lines on his retina.

After observing until he was satisfied, he quickly took the phone out of his pocket and dialed a number without blinking.

The tone sounded twice before a muffled voice answered:

"Hello...?"

"Hey.”

There was no patience left in his tone.

"I don't care how much you charge me or what the fuck you have to break to get it, but I want you to find the whereabouts of a fucker named Kazuya as soon as possible."

The person on the other end of the phone took a few seconds to come out of his stupor, babbling.

"Mr. Yamato...? I, of course, can do it, but do you have...?”

"I'll send you a picture of what he looks like right now, and I'll visit you tomorrow. You'd better have every single move of that motherfucker and his minions, even if you need to get into the cameras all over town as fast as you can.”

"What...?!"

"As soon as possible, did you listen? The faster I get that son of a bitch in my hands, the better off y’all will be.”

The guy on the other end fell silent.

"If you need help, contact Tetsuhaya. I’ll mobilize all the groups around the city; If you find a blind spot, send them there.”

“... Okay...”

"See you."

He cut with the veins marking on the back of his hand.

His red eyes fell back on Umemiya's body, who was still sitting on the ground with lost eyes.

Letting out an unfunny laugh, he passed by without giving him another look.

"Endo."

Before disappearing down the alley, the voice of his former companion stopped him.

He would’ve commonly ignored him, but something inside him made him stop.

"That bastard is mine.”

It was a threat.

A threat that didn’t need more words to make it clear that, if he intervened, Umemiya would never leave him alone.

His lips stretched into a sardonic smile.

"Then find him first."

He looked at him over his shoulder, hatred distilling from every movement of his body.

"Y’know you're not the only one who wants to destroy that son of a bitch, right?" Umemiya looked at him coldly. “Instead of standing there as a useless piece of thrash, better move to find him before any of us do.”

Leaving those words in the air, Endo left without looking back.

Umemiya, left alone in the alley, stood still for a couple of minutes staring at the ground. Due to the other's blows, his hair became disheveled and ended up falling over his eyes, hiding his true thoughts.

Amid the silence, his words seemed to resonate between the walls as he said:

"Everything went as planned.”

It seemed like he was talking to himself, but as soon as he finished reporting, two people appeared on the side of the alley opposite the one Endo had left.

They were Suo and Nirei.

"Very well acted, Umemiya-san," Suo flattered, offering a hand to lift him.

Nirei nodded beside him, stretching out one of his hands as well.

“I just let myself be beaten, what good acting is about it?”

Blurting out the comment as if it were nothing, he accepted the help of both boys.

A couple of days ago, after almost completing the week with no results, both they and Kotoha met in the hospital hallway outside Sakura's room.

Every time they felt like they would go crazy, they came to that cold, lifeless corridor.

The image of Sakura through the glass, connected to a bunch of machines that kept him stable, and his arms full of bruises from the IVs that administered his medicines and IV.

His eyes closed, with his monochromatic eyelashes trembling with each breath, his chest rising and falling; a living Sakura.

A Sakura who was only sleeping, who would eventually wake up.

That must wake up.

"Why...?"

In the silence of the four of them, Kotoha whispered angrily, squeezing her throat.

"Why, even though we’ve searched the whole city, do we still not find anything?!"

Her fists clenched tightly, ready to smash into the glass with all her fury. However, at the last moment, she stopped.

Instead, her trembling fingers brushed against the transparent surface, as if longing to feel Sakura's warm skin beneath her fingertips.

"Where can that bastard be?!"

None of them answered as they all had the same pain and questions.

Winning behind her, Umemiya caressed his younger sister's back as a silent support, watching Sakura in the center of the room.

Kotoha's shoulders trembled, but no tears came from her eyes.

Since the doctors forbade them from entering the room, Kotoha couldn’t cry sincerely again.

The hospital psychologist explained that she had an emotional block due to trauma and post-traumatic stress, and that it would probably pass when the situation showed improvements.

Otherwise, therapy would be an obligation.

“Umemiya-san, Kotoha-san.”

Both brothers looked in the direction of Suo, who was with his head down.

"I have an idea.”

He looked up at them.

"But you may not like the methods.”

"Even if you don't agree to do it, that's fine," Nirei spoke next to his friend, pursing his lips decisively. “Suo-san and I will take care of this.”

Suo went on to explain.

"The way we’ll act wouldn’t be appropriate to the Fuurin, since we’d use the rest for our own purposes. But...”

He paused.

“The results would be assured.”

His visible eye carried an enviable determination.

Attentive to their reactions, the two first-year boys clenched their sweaty hands when they didn’t receive any response.

Surprisingly, it was Kotoha who answered them.

"What are the chances that we’ll find that bastard?"

Her eyes were a pair of sharp daggers that could get stuck in their necks if they didn't give her the answer she was hoping for.

The two gave each other a sideways glance for less than a second.

"If we talk about percentages, it would be 100%," Nirei replied with his hands behind his back, imitating his friend.

"Then let's do it.”

She turned to look at her older brother, sharing a silent emotion.

Umemiya nodded.

"What do we need to do?"

Like that, the plan was formed.

Suo explained that their "manpower" was poor and too flashy for a group that prepared for a long time, hiding their every step after taking action.

That guy seemed to know each of his actions and round patterns, so it was very likely that he had them playing in the palm of his hand while he was in charge of retaining their movements within that space.

As expected, Nirei found that there had been a great stir on the outskirts, specifically intercepting groups they had a good relationship and making it impossible for them to provide help.

"If we based ourselves on this, rather than using them, we would be working together to get the shit out of our shoes," Suo pointed to the name of the other 3 large groups written in the notebook. “But, when it leaves our territory, the motto that represents us...”

They could understand him without him saying it.

Fuurin was known for defending all those who harmed within Makochi, protecting its people and its values. The only time they brought in people from outside for personal reasons was in the fight against Noroshi.

And that was thanks to Sakura, a foreign boy who taught them that asking for help was okay.

Now, it would be different. Their movements would extend beyond their own limits and they’d fight in other people's territories.

It was a possibility they couldn't ignore.

But would they stop because of it?

Everyone turned to look at Sakura in the center of the room, completely alone.

"It doesn't matter.”

Umemiya spoke at last.

The other three looked at him, waiting for his next words.

"We've lost a lot by acting passively, letting them have the idea that they can walk over us. Of our people.”

The Fuurin leader observed his own reflection in the glass that separated him from his younger brother.

Three years ago, he was in the same position, with pain surrounding him and affecting everyone around. He was the one who decided to change everything by cutting it off.

Endo wasn't so wrong: he was a selfish bastard. He could recognize it without any shame.

After all, as long as the people he loved could walk calmly without looking back, Umemiya would burn all the weeds that got in their way.

"We are going to change this from the root.”

The four of them began to act.

As a group that was too territorial, Shishitoren would be the easiest group to control. The key to doing so was to use the right words with a backrest behind them.

Information.

Who was the best person when it came to collecting it?

Nirei nodded. "Should I only say that they’ll try to attack their people?"

"Not exactly. Hint at it," Suo corrected him. ”Shishitoren is not lacking in intelligence, and putting them in a situation where we assure them that it’ll be that way could be a bullet fired into our own feet.”

Suo drew a few dots around the circle enclosing the name.

"Try to drag on the conversation as long as you can. This way, they’ll create their own speculations and end up acting of their own free will in the search.”

He was cruel.

It wasn't a lie that that bastard's group was going after the most powerful gangs in the area to destabilize them, but the point at which they would do the same as with Sakura was.

The wound inflicted on their captain was directly fatal. The pain on a physical and psychological level that they would achieve in Fuurin was simply a plus to their true objective.

Kill Sakura.

Why was still unclear, and no matter how much they broke their heads about it, they couldn't find a clear reason.

Probably, it was something that only their friend, fighting for his life in isolation, could tell them.

As much as they hated him, that bastard's move was really smart. Under the pretense of testing strong people, he killed two birds with one stone.

But it wasn't something Suo, an expert at getting people to act as he wanted, didn't find a way to occupy it in his favor.

"Anyway, if they find that this method works, they could easily use it again." His tone was cold. “Warning them could be a good deed on our part.”

"Understood.”

Without wasting any more time, Nirei replied and moved the pages of his notebook to the second central part of their plan.

Endo.

“In this case, prolonging things or seeking a dialogue is not convenient. Endo-san is too smart to fall for our games.”

Suo looked at the pair of brothers.

"He probably knows that that bastard is playing with him and keeping him away. His source of information about Fuurin must be pretty good and his way of occupying his cards is annoyingly good”

His eyelashes trembled. "The good thing is that he created the situation where we can use his anger in our favor.”

"What should I do?" Umemiya asked immediately.

"You must measure your words as much as you can. Endo-san is smart enough to guess what happened with a few clues and the actions of the citizens as soon as he sets foot in the city.”

Taking Nirei's pencil, he wrote "workmanship" under his name.

“What we need from him is his network of contacts to use people. Our goal will be for the same number of people who fought against us that time to collaborate in the search," he explained the main point. “Unlike the Shishitoren, from which we need the strength for small groups that will be sent as a distraction.”

He watched his friend. "If Nire-kun succeeds, they'll have enough rage to eradicate every attempt that bastard tries to stop us with disposable groups.”

He wrote the name of the other gang next to it, drawing small crosses around it.

The plan was perfect for Fuurin to focus fully on taking action once the rest took care of giving them the tools they needed.

The three people listening to him nodded.

"Umemiya-san," Suo called out to him again.” You may need to let yourself be beaten and insulted by Endo-san without defending yourself so he feels the need to fix everything on his own.”

He pursed his lips with some hesitation.

"Can you do it?"

"No problem.”

Umemiya smiled with some irony.

"I've been in worse pain these days. I don't care about a few blows.”

Everyone understood his words.

They were in the same situation.

"The important thing with Endo is that we must stoke his fury more, right?" Kotoha asked. The first vice-captain nodded. “Perfect. Let him get to my coffee shop.”

"Kotoha?"

Her older brother was startled, paling a few tones.

He didn't seem to want another of his little siblings to be in danger.

However, her younger sister silenced him with a look.

"There is no time to doubt. We must find that motherfucker before he tries to do anything to Sakura now that he can't defend himself.”

Another of the great reasons why they spent almost the whole day in that cold corridor full of painful memories was that.

That bastard could come to finish off Sakura once and for all.

Even though her words were true, Umemiya couldn't help frowning.

"I'll be fine," Kotoha reassured him. “I'll just make the situation delicate enough so you can take him somewhere else where he explodes. This way, you’ll talk less and postpone the explanation more, increasing his anger.”

Suo nodded, accepting that her help would be ideal for the plan.

"You must tell him everything that happened with details as soon as you see him about to explode," he clarified. “With his intelligence, hiding something from him will not give us any benefit.”

Making everything clear, the four of them acted each of their parts with cold hearts.

And as Suo planned, everything turned out perfectly.

"Now we just have to wait.”

As they walked back to Kotoha's coffee shop, Suo spoke in a flat tone.

His lack of participation was also planned. After all, his manipulative personality was quite well-known, unlike the rest.

No one would suspect the skittish freshman who was learning to fight and the Fuurin leader with a heart too pure to occupy people in his favor.

Umemiya nodded, replaying for the thousandth time that day the face of Kazuya, which Momose had drawn based on Aki's description—the girl Sakura had saved.

That portrait, which every student and inhabitant of the city had a copy of, was on the kitchen counter in Kotoha when they arrived.

The paper, crumpled at the edges from having been taken so many times, had numerous cuts from a sharp object in the center of the face.

"Did everything go well?"

Kotoha, wiping a kitchen knife with a cloth and an impassive expression, asked without looking at them.

The three of them kept a slight silence, feeling the lower part of their backs fill with cold sweat.

“... Yes.”

Umemiya didn’t say much.

"Ha.”

His little sister chuckled, seeing her reflection in the knife in her hands.

Then, that same knife was driven so forcefully into the portrait that half of its blade sank into the counter, the plates trembling with a sharp clink from the impact.

The three boys at the door flinched, but none questioned her actions.

"That's very good.”

Spending most of her time in the hospital, and her poor communication with the people participating in the rounds, no one really knew that the person who was restraining their murderous intentions was none of them.

It was her.

That girl who had to hold her little brother's increasingly cold body in her arms, feeling that his breathing stopped and his heartbeat stopped beating against her own chest when she hugged him; that girl who experienced everything firsthand.

No Nirei, no Suo, no Umemiya.

No one wanted to crush Kazuya's neck more than Kotoha.

"We'll find you soon," she whispered, stabbing another freshly dried knife into the portrait.

Her eyes became as sharp as the object in her hands.

"And you're going to pay me, Kazuya."

Chapter Text

«Aki-chan, what time will you return home? We are worried.»

Turning off her phone, Aki ignored her grandparents' message.

Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her dry, pallid skin bore the undeniable signs of the sleepless nights she had endured over the past week and a half.

After being discharged with minor bruises, she ignored the instructions and went out every day to look for clues. Her grandparents were more desperate for her to rest, but she couldn't sit still.

It was all her fault.

What destroyed her most emotionally wasn’t the lack of sleep, but that Sakura still didn’t wake up. She didn't feel worthy of closing her eyes and opening them again when the man who saved her hadn't yet.

Besides, she was the only one who knew more about that bastard.

Their interactions had been limited, but knowing him for quite some time, she knew the kind of person he was, as well as the possible places where he could appear.

Taking the last sip of her energy drink, Aki looked at the large sign above her.

The red light district.

Looking back on her memories, she felt like the biggest fool in the world. The countless conversations about alcohol, hired hands, and illicit deals should have been more than enough clues to realize that her "leader" was anything but clean.

His talks about equality and protection of the weak were contradictory to his actions. Who was he supposed to be protecting them from?

Of himself?

Clicking her tongue, Aki continued to mentally insult herself as she entered the bizarre street.

As a high school student, these types of zones should be prohibited. Being surrounded by drunks, conflicts, and innuendos was not at all something for someone her age.

In the past, she would’ve ignored it out of respect and consideration for her grandparents. Now, that it was 12 days since Sakura woke up, she didn't have time to worry about those things.

Tightening the hood over her head, she hurried her steps cautiously.

Seeing men lying on the ground with red faces and bottles in their hands was something she expected, so she didn't take it into account. Her eyes were focused on dodging any woman who sought to invite her in by mistaking her for a short adult.

If they discovered that a high-school girl was hanging around here, they’d hold her and call the group that commanded the area and gave them the biggest clue as to where to look.

The Roppo Ichiza.

Being a faction that acted as a small reparation to the wave of fights in the area, most honest workers respected them and reported any suspicious action they saw.

For people focused on dishonorable activities like Kazuya and his group, they had been a real headache.

"Those bastards from Roppo Ichiza ruined our business again.”

Once, when she arrived early at the training venue, Aki heard a low-haired guy inform Kazuya with an unfriendly face.

Hiding behind a wall, she continued listening.

"Again? Don't they have anything better to do?" Kazuya sounded jaded.

The guy shrugged.

"It seems that after Fuurin's visit, they’ve become more vigilante," he sighed. “The façade of the bar ended up crumbling.”

"Tsk. It's already the fourth time...”

She didn’t continue spying.

At the mention of Fuurin, the object of her admiration, she hastened to announce her arrival without really trying to understand the conversation. In her mind, Fuurin was so cool that this Roppo Ichiza was inspired by them.

In the mind of a teenager, many things could be overlooked.

After that bastard's betrayal, she burned her head thinking about any important clue as she wandered around Makochi for two days without any result. It was at that moment that she remembered that moment.

Unfortunately, she didn't know of any other gang besides Fuurin. She spent almost a week walking the streets full of bars without finding anything, even reaching the streets of a group called Shishitoren.

She asked from person to person until they named this place to her along with the small organized gang she was looking for. Fortunately, drunks didn't seem to care that a high school girl was looking for the red light district.

Her sleepless nights led her to ignore the busiest parts of the street. Whether due to the flow of people or excesses due to alcoholics, Roppo Ichiza would be aware of these sectors most of the time.

If they wanted to do something illegal, like Kazuya's group, they would look for a much more discreet site that didn’t discord with the environment.

Almost reaching the end, the number of people gradually decreased. The only thing left was one or two guys lying in the street and apparent guards guarding the entrances of each business.

Putting her hands in her pockets, Aki straightened her posture and walked as lazily as possible. The more normally she acted, the less they would suspect her.

After all, there were all kinds of people in the red light district. As long as she didn't create problems, they wouldn't give her a second look.

That didn't mean she wasn’t scared, though.

As much as she pretended to be an adult, she was still 14 years old. Throughout her life, her grandparents had been in charge of giving her the best conditions, even when Makochi was still at its worst.

Surrounded by strong men and fierce appearances, her back was drenched in cold sweat.

The only thing that didn't make her turn around and run away was the image of Sakura holding her in his arms so that the knife wouldn't touch her.

As a method of torture, she didn’t forget how Sakura was not permitted even the relief of concealing his suffering. He bit back a groan of pain as blood began to seep through his clothes, staining them.

She didn't stop doing it even though her eyes stung from obsessively staring at the road in front of her without blinking.

Observing the street from milestone to milestone, Aki analyzed each location as discreetly as possible. Her head ached as she forced herself to remember even the smallest name and point of reference.

When I filter out the most suspicious ones, I'll tell Umemiya-senpai, she thought, striving to keep every little detail in her retina.

Because, since Sakura spent the first night, neither he nor his sister wanted to see her again.

Aki could understand them. Because of her, their younger brother was fighting between life and death, hooked up to a bunch of machines not knowing when, or if, he would wake up.

In addition, the people she recently called her closest friends were responsible. The group she was so proud to belong to was nothing more than a sham, and they carried a blood debt on their hands.

If she were them, she wouldn't want to see her either. It must be very difficult to contain the urge to hit her until she was also in a hospital bed, losing her vitality day by day.

“... Uff...”

She let out a sigh, holding back the lump in her throat.

Thinking about that wouldn't get her anywhere.

One day, while crying falsely in front of Sakura about her supposedly violent boyfriend, she said that she was a fool for making a mistake in falling in love with someone like him.

"You're not a fool," Sakura scolded her, “and it's not your fault either. And even if it were, aren't you trying to do something about it? Anyone can make mistakes, but few have the courage to face them.”

Yes, she made the worst mistake of her life. Meeting Kazuya was his death sentence.

But she wanted to change it.

She was going to change it.

"I'll face it," she whispered to herself, her eyes welling with tears. “I'll face it so I can look at your face when you wake up, Sakura-san.”

Scanning with her eyes, Aki obsessively stared at each person's face as discreetly as possible. She leaned against the wall overlooking an alley and took a pack of cigarettes from her pocket.

To maintain the façade, she took them from her grandfather along with a lighter. Putting it to her mouth, she lit it with somewhat clumsy movements, noticing those around her sideways.

Taking a puff, she felt her mouth itch as if a bunch of needles were stuck in her cheeks and throat. She barely held back the smoke inside and released it after a few seconds.

It was her first time, but she couldn't understand adults. It was bitter and spicy.

Maintaining her role, she kept the cigarette between her lips. At first, a few guys found it odd, noticing her clear inexperience in lighting it, but they soon let it slide when they saw her persist.

They must have thought she was an addict or something.

When the cigar was halfway through, Aki took advantage of her low profile and turned her full attention to a bar in the middle of two large casinos.

Her instinct told her something.

The place was quite ordinary at first glance. Two small paper lanterns hung at the entrance leaning on two sticks, «Bar Ichinose» reading on them.

The entire building was made of wood and a small table for playing mahjong was placed outside. Compared to the opulence of neighboring businesses, it was easily ignored.

That caught her attention more.

Considering the illicit dealings of that bastard, it would be very convenient to have random places surrounding him. Also, a bar in the middle of them wouldn't be strange, allowing him to do his dishonest jobs without raising suspicion.

There didn't seem to be a bodyguard around, but she didn't let his guard down.

If he already failed 4 times, it was very difficult for Kazuya not to take much more care than before.

With that in mind, Aki looked at the paper lanterns suspiciously again. Taking the last puff, she pretended to bend down to extinguish it on the floor and narrowed her eyes.

Thanks to the light inside, she could see a small, somewhat round object in the center of it when she looked at it from another angle. Being right behind the letters and surrounded by strong lights, it wouldn't be noticeable even when facing it front.

Bingo.

Those were cameras.

Taking out her phone, she ignored the numerous messages from her grandparents and pretended to answer something by logging into the notes app. Letting out a couple of lethargic giggles as if she were drugged, she opened the camera.

Positioning herself carefully so the bar was visible as if searching for the perfect lighting, she snapped five different photographs. In one of them, a faint shadow appeared within the paper lanterns.

Satisfied, she reviewed each of the photos to see if the quality was good when, as she arrived at the last one, she noticed the door looked a bit blurry, as if it were being opened.

Her blood grew cold.

Turning around so fast that her neck rang, she connected glances directly with a guy with blonde hair that came out at that moment.

He seemed to notice her action, as he didn’t stop looking at her.

However, he did nothing. He just stayed there.

That scared her even more than if he ran to ask her what she was doing, so with a forehead full of sweat, she pretended to look at her phone again and answer messages.

In doing so, she strategically opened an app that was in night mode to make her screen look dark and tilted it slightly to the side, letting her see the guy's actions through reflection.

She let out a few stiff giggles and kept typing nonsense on her phone while keeping an eye on him. The blond guy just stood at the door, staring at her, his hand resting on his face as if he were bored.

The agonizing silence stretched for three whole minutes. The tension of possibly being caught made her feel as if she'd just stepped out of an ice-cold shower.

Letting out a discreet sigh, she slipped her phone into her pocket and shoved both hands in after it. Without looking back, she started walking away. She needed to get out of there—fast.

Maybe it was because her senses were on high alert, or maybe she'd already grown used to the sound of drunks yelling and dancing, but she heard it perfectly—

The door behind her creaked open once more.

A thick voice seemed to ask something in a haughty tone, and the blond boy who only watched her giggled.

"He was spying on us.”

Aki didn't need to look back to know that the person that bastard happily mentioned was her.

Feeling her heart shrinking, she wasted no time on absurd plans and ran with all her might.

"Wait there, you son of a bitch!"

The thick voice screamed at her like a beast, and the sound of an animal following her reached her ears.

Breathing heavily, Aki sped up with her legs burning. At some point, her hood fell off due to her sudden movements, exposing her orange hair taken in a poorly worked bun.

She didn't stop until she reached the busiest area of the street, nor did she bother to apologize when she hit a bunch of drunks on her escape.

She could hear the men grumbling at the guy following her, complaining about being shoved aside. Silently, she prayed with all her might that one of them would pick a fight with him, giving her the time she needed to put some distance between them. But it never happened.

Getting closer and closer to the entrance, her eyes filled with tears of despair.

Once she passed that point, no one would help her!

Refusing to look back for fear of tripping and being caught, she gritted her teeth in agony at being so weak.

If I were stronger, if I could defend myself, if Sakura-san was here...

... Sakura-san!

Subconsciously thinking of the boy who had made her feel safe the last time she found herself in such a dangerous situation, she cried bitterly in her heart.

I should’ve sent the photos to my grandparents so they could send them to Umemiya-senpai...!

Resigning herself to the fact of being caught, she blamed herself again as the only thing she knew how to do since she left the hospital.

However, a selfish part of her brain screamed louder and louder, ending up filling her entire head as the pressure of an angry body about to touch her reached her back.

Please, someone help me!

"Kan-chan!"

"AGH!"

Her body was held back by the warm chest of another person who rushed to hold her in their arms.

Looking up with tears streaming down her cheeks, she managed to see the worried face of a beautiful young woman with short bangs and light hair staring back.

For some reason, her eyelashes trembled and a sigh vibrated across her lips, feeling secure in her grip.

The cute girl seemed to notice she was a high school student as she opened her eyes wide, but soon, the attention of both was stolen by a roar behind.

Turning around, the broad back of a man dressed in a two-piece suit was still in position to have struck a blow. A few feet away from him, the guy following her was still moaning on the ground while holding his jaw.

"Everything’s fine?"

The man asked a question, but it wasn’t directed at her.

Looking back at the cute girl, she clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture, silently begging her not to rat her out as she pulled her hood back on.

The cute girl pursed her lips, eyeing her with a mix of hesitation and determination. Then, without a word, she grabbed her firmly by the shoulders as if grounding her in place.

“Yes, Kan-chan.”

"Perfect.” His attention returned to the man lying on the floor. “You'd better disappear from my sight before I'm done dealing with you somewhere else.”

“... Damn!”

With fierce eyes, the guy stumbled up and gave her one last hateful look, running in the direction he had come.

Feeling her heartbeat painfully squeeze her ribcage, Aki clung to the cute girl's clothes while hiding her face from the guy who saved her.

She knew it was impolite of him, even more so now that she owed him a big one, but all his presence exuded being someone powerful and important within the area.

As she expected, the footsteps of three other people came towards them.

"Chairman, is everything okay?"

"He was a simple bastard. Miyoshi, send people to watch the area where he ran.”

"As you wish.”

The guy with the long ponytail didn't take long to pull out his phone and concisely talk to a few people.

She couldn't help but turn pale.

If they got involved, that bastard, Kazuya, would become more alert than he already would be with her presence!

"W-wait!"

Aki risked it all. Her mind failed to process that, whether he called people to go watch or not, Kazuya would already be wary of a possible spy with the recent persecution.

The eyes of everyone present expanded in surprise as they recognized her developing voice, and the cute girl just squeezed her shoulders tighter.

She knew she was in trouble, but the thought of losing the slightest clue to avenge Sakura scared her much more.

"Please! Listen to what I have to say!”

"Are you a high school student? Who was the irresponsible one who brought you here?” the guy they called Chairman narrowed his eyes. “Did someone force you here?”

Aki shook her head desperately. "No, I came alone!"

"What is a girl like you doing in places like these? It's dangerous!” He scolded her.

She knew it, and she prepared herself a whole night before setting foot on the red street, but her conditions didn't allow her to simply not do it.

As if sensing the battle inside her mind, the pretty girl interceded for her.

"Kan-chan," the imposing man looked at her immediately. “She seems to have her reasons. Let's listen to her first.”

The trio that seemed to work under his command turned their heads toward him, waiting for instructions. Putting a hand to his head to mess up his short black hair, the guy let out a sigh.

"Fine.”

He nodded to Miyoshi.

"Stop the order momentarily. We’ll proceed after listening to what she has to say.”

"Yes, Chairman”

Thus, while the boy in the ponytail made a few calls again, Aki was taken to a place with a large stage in the center.

There, two boys performing in a dance-like fight were being applauded loudly by a large group of drunks. Aside from their screams, the place was quite quiet.

She watched everything around her with her defenses raised, but no one judged her for it. It was normal for a high school student to be suspicious of everything and every one after suffering such a traumatizing moment.

Silently, she was directed to an adjacent room that consisted of a small kitchen and rectangular tables. It seemed to be a cozy attached house that served as a meeting point.

Behind the counter, a boy not very old was cutting a carrot into medallions like a professional. His hair was tied in a well-prepared high bun and his short bangs highlighted his stern face.

Seeing them arrive, he nodded to the entire group in greeting.

“Kanji-san.”

"Suzuri," he replied. “Can you prepare some light dishes? If you're not too busy.”

The boy named Suzuri looked from point to point at the entire group. His eyes lingered a little longer on her, acknowledging the discordance, but he didn't ask anything and accepted.

"In a moment.”

Giving him a short thanks, Kanji led them to one of the tables farther away from the bustle on the other side. Despite all the noise, he seemed to want to keep the conversation private.

Nervous, she played with the drawstrings of her hood by pursing her lips. For a moment, her brain seemed to light up.

«It seems that after Fuurin's visit, they have become more vigilante,» the short-haired guy who spoke to Kazuya that time said.

Could it be that these people also knew Sakura?

Aki guessed that they probably did. If they were still unaware of what happened to him, it was because Umemiya was protecting that information under seven keys.

After all, there was a good chance that those who attacked him were from the outskirts. Within Makochi and even in surrogate areas it was practically impossible to find anyone who didn’t appreciate Sakura.

But even she wasn’t sure. It was true that she had never seen him in the city before, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that someone inside might be keeping him informed.

In part, the measure of hiding Sakura's situation was somewhat risky but also understandable.

Umemiya wouldn’t risk some evil outsider taking advantage of his younger brother's situation and trying to attack now that he couldn’t defend himself. Outside Makochi, and even inside, it was hard to trust.

With that in mind, the blood within her veins grew cold.

"Take a seat."

Kanji still looked annoyed that a girl was in the red zone, and she could fully comprehend his mood. He sat down with a wrinkled expression, hoping she would do it too.

Unfortunately, it was difficult to do so with thoughts eating away at her head. If it weren't for the pretty girl, who introduced herself as Shizuka on the way, helped her sit on the couch in front of the intimidating guy, she doubted she would’ve succeeded.

Frowning more at her trembling appearance, the man folded his arms and spoke:

"Well, you can talk. What are you doing in this place?

Aki pursed her lips, lowering her gaze.

That man's aura was very much like Umemiya's.

Her skin still prickled every time she remembered being the target of those eyes, as dark as the sea in a storm, demanding explanations from her in the hospital.

"It would be great if you spoke to my eyes when you talk to me, anyway.”

"Kan-chan," Shizuka scolded him, leaning in to keep up with her. “Hey, he's not as bad as he looks. Why don't you take off your hood and speak properly?”

With sweaty hands, she obeyed the request.

The feeling of having to observe directly was too overwhelming. Guilt was about to eat away at her insides.

“... You really are a little girl." Kanji wrinkled his eyebrows. “Will you explain now what is happening?”

“...”

The words didn’t come out, so she only nodded.

Recalling the image of Sakura being attacked for defending her as shock therapy to find her voice, she clenched her hands on her legs and took a good breath of air.

"I... Was... I ended up here because...”

Unfortunately, nothing outside her mouth sounded coherent.

The people in the room watched her with doubt hovering over their faces, giving each other sidelong glances that they thought she couldn’t notice. The situation became more tense when Suzuri put some small plates to snack on in the center of the table and didn’t move.

Aki felt her nose sour, biting the inside of her cheeks.

"You can’t say it?"

The cook spoke to her.

Shaking her head like a spring, she looked in his direction with a lump in her throat.

"Is there something or someone that prevents you from speaking?" He squatted down to be at her level. “Would you be in danger if you said something?”

"No... Exactly," she sniffed his nose. “He probably knows it's me already, and he’ll look for me later, but... That's not what worries me.” She shook her head, tears beginning to fall.

Kanji shared a worried expression with Shizuka as they both hunched in her direction to give her a sense of safe space.

"Your safety should be your priority," the cute girl stroked her shoulder.

The man nodded. "That's right. What can worry you more than that?”

Tensing her jaw, Aki reminisced about each day since she left the hospital.

Despite having clear reasons to hate her, Umemiya hadn't told anyone that she had been to blame for Sakura's state. Fuurin knew of the existence of a girl who was involved, but not her identity.

Besides Kotoha and him, no one else knew that she had been involved in the trap that left Sakura in a coma.

Every morning, she could open her eyes and sneak out the window before her grandparents noticed. She could walk the streets without anyone looking at her reproachfully or telling her that she was the one who should be in a coma, and not Sakura.

Daily, it was the guilt that weighed more and more on her back and those thoughts in her mind.

She was still alive. Sakura wasn’t.

She continued to exist. Sakura's life was paused.

And the worst thing was that Sakura still didn't completely escape the clutches of death.

She didn't know at what point her body began to tremble or her breathing to quicken, but Shizuka's sweet words whispered in her ear made her notice that she was crying again.

Since she was discharged, she has suppressed the pain. It felt like a reminder of what she did wrong, and she preferred that it form scars inside her rather than let go of it when she didn't deserve it.

But today... It really seemed to be too much.

"It was my fault," she sobbed, covering her face with her hands.

"What was your fault?"

The cook's voice was still calm. Aki remembered how comforted Umemiya made her feel before he found out, and she cried louder.

"I... It's my fault that he doesn't wake up... I took everything from him... I hurted so many people...”

"Who?" Kanji asked patiently.

At this, she bit her lip so hard that it broke.

She didn't dare.

"Who, little one?" Shizuka urged her, giving her a light squeeze on the arm.

"He... He is...”

At some point, her voice cracked amid her babbling, but she managed to let go of it by making her heart go through her guts.

"Sakura..."

There was a small silence, and her assumptions became real.

That's great. She wanted to do something and ended up harming more people.

As usual.

“¿Sakura? ¿S-Sakura Haruka?”

Kanji stammered as if he couldn't believe his ears.

She could only nod.

“... What happened to him? W-why do you say that he doesn’t wake up?”

Between hiccups, Aki told him everything that happened since she saw Kazuya for the first time. Her mouth looked like an open faucet that threw out everything she had stored, spreading so much pain that it managed to reach those who listened to her.

"T-that's why I came here... Because I once heard him say that he was here... T-that bastard can't disappear again...”

"Where?"

Suzuri didn't yell at her or speak beaten, maintaining the same soft tone.

However, now there was no warmth at all.

Knowing that would happen, she took the phone out of her pocket and handed it to him with trembling hands.

On the screen were the photos she took outside the bar.

"I-I'm sure they're there...”

"I see.”

Kanji stopped to look at the photographs next to the cook in complete silence. His face seemed to lose all emotion and he watched the screen as if absorbing every detail.

Then, he turned at lightning speed toward the door.

"Chairman!”

"Kan-chan!"

Aki didn't know him, but the reactions of the three guys who worked for him and the cute girl next to her told her enough.

That guy would go to finish them off personally.

"Miyoshi, move.”

The high-pony-tailed boy was sweating noticeably as he stood between the imposing man and the door. Being the direct recipient of his murderous aura must have been quite traumatic.

"Calm down first," still, his voice didn't tremble. “We need to plan something and let Fuurin know.”

"If we don't do something now, they'll escape," he spat back. “We can also let them know when we have them pulped and give them inside a box.”

"Kan-chan, you're right, but that's not the way to talk..."

Shizuka slowly approached his back, placing one of her small hands on Kanji's huge back.

"We know where they are, but we don't know everything they have. If we go now, we could be eradicated." She pursed her lips with a pained grimace. “Do you think Sakura-san would like to know that you hurt yourself because of him?”

That seemed to make him reconsider.

Turning around, he let his face distort bitterly, allowing himself to show how much the news had affected him. The cute girl curled her eyebrows sadly, caressing his face with the same hand she rested on his body.

"It hurts all of us, Kan-chan. Sakura-san made his way to the heart of all the people in this room.”

Pausing, she turned to her and gave her a complicated look.

"Even for her.”

Aki took such a quick breath that it felt like something digging into her lungs, releasing a new round of hot tears that burned against her skin.

“... You're right," he murmured in a broken tone, rubbing against Shizuka's touch. “I am sorry...”

"It's okay," she smiled at him.

Miyoshi had red eyes, but he maintained an impeccable posture when the girl turned her attention to him.

In this situation, it was clear who was the only one keeping a cool head to give orders.

“Miss Chairman.”

"I told you not to call me like that. That I go out with your Boss doesn't make me one either," she scolded him in a soft voice.

Then, she hardened his face. "But Kan-chan is right. If we don't do something now, they'll get away. They must already be alert for having been discovered.”

Her eyelashes drooped, hiding what was inside her eyes.

"We can't let them go untouched.”

"That's true.”

Everyone turned to look at Suzuri with his phone in hand as he handed hers to Aki.

"I already told Tsubaki and he must be running over here with Umemiya. If we want to let go of some of our anger, we must act before Fuurin arrives," he explained.

Shizuka nodded. “Is the place in the photos far away?”

"It's almost at the end of the street. It should be about five minutes away if we run," Kanji replied.

Miyoshi didn't need any more words and quickly moved with the other two boys to mobilize their own people. Suzuri also typed other things into his cell phone with a serious face.

"I told my friends to keep an eye on the area and tell me anything new.”

Shizuka reached down to Kanji's chest, slapping him twice. “Save all that anger and deal with it when necessary. Prepare yourself.”

"Thank you, Shizuka," he whispered, nodding.

All of that happened in just a few minutes.

Aki, who was still crying on the couch, was speechless. Her eyes fell unconsciously on the slender body of the girl who comforted her, blinking so the tears wouldn't cloud her vision.

Despite being the weakest-looking, she handled the situation with enviable strength...

"Hey.”

Lost in thought, she didn't notice when she addressed her until she was almost in front of her face.

Jumping in place, her cheeks flushed.

"Yes," she replied with her heart in her mouth.

"Are you okay?"

For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to lie to her and offer a positive answer. Her mind wouldn't let her say no either, feeling as though she didn't deserve to be at ease after the situation she had caused, especially when she had come out of it unscathed.

In the end, she ended up dodging her gaze with her mouth hanging out.

As if she understood what she felt, Shizuka patted her head as gently as she had patted her partner.

"We'll go take a little revenge on the man who hurt you. You’ll come?”

Opening her eyes wide, she shook her head and walked away like a wounded animal.

"N-no! I am not a person you should have compassion on! Sakura-san...!”

"You're also a victim.”

She was left speechless.

"That guy seriously hurt Sakura-san, it's true. It’s also true that you were involved.”

Shizuka advanced towards her again, holding her so she wouldn't run away again.

Forcing her to face what was in front of her.

Forcing her to face the life she had thanks to Sakura.

"But it's also true that you were a victim.”

The swirl inside her eyes connected directly with hers, taking her breath away.

"You're not to blame for everything. Kazuya is. Now, I'll ask you again." She gave her a slight squeeze on her shoulders. “You’ll come with us?”

As if the mist that overwhelmed her heart finally dissipated, Aki frowned and hardened her face with conviction.

"Yes.”

"Great. Let's go then... By the way, I didn't ask, what's your name?”

"Aki," she introduced himself. “And I would like to know if you can trust me to carry out the little raid.”

Suzuri and Kanji, who were already waiting for them at the door, turned to Shizuka's side to look at her with some amazement.

The cute girl blinked in his direction, cocking her head.

"What do you want to do?"

"There is no one who knows Kazuya better than I do, however little," she began, walking toward them with a burning flame hidden in every step. “But that's enough for me to know how he’ll act and how we can take it by surprise even with our lack of information.”

She had a point.

Such an elusive rat that hid itself from the insatiable search for much of the area would definitely have backup plans in any situation.

Without prior knowledge of his character, it’d be very difficult to lay a hand on him by letting themselves be carried away by rage.

It was very likely that this was what Kazuya was looking for them to do.

Suzuri moved his hand away from the door, crossing his arms.

“What's your plan?”

Kazuya clicked his tongue as his informant finished explaining to him.

"I couldn't do anything," he excused. “That bastard from the Roppo Ichiza didn't let me catch her.”

Giving him a laconic look, he fiddled with his fingers on the back of the large seat that had been placed for him.

Being watched by those dark eyes, the guy who failed to catch Aki shuddered.

"You said it was a girl spying on us, right?"

"What, boss? Do you know her?”

The blond boy who noticed they were being spied on was leaning against the door of the small office with his arms crossed. His face seemed to carry a deep drowsiness, yawning every two minutes.

Kazuya gave him a sidelong glance.

"Maybe.”

"Ah," another yawn. “I'm sure that's why she caught us.”

Looking behind his back, he blinked slowly and commented in a stretched voice.

"What is this attempt? The fifth...?”

"Shut up.”

A huge guy with tattoos on both sides of his body cut him off in a dry voice. He wore a shirt close to his chest open at the collarbone, which was covered with numerous silver necklaces and chains.

His eyes were hidden by triangular sunglasses, and his whole person exuded luxury and pride.

"I was just commenting," the blond clicked his tongue, bringing his eyelids together as if he could fall asleep at any moment. “Killjoy.” He murmured.

"What did you say?"

"Shut up, both of you," Kazuya stopped them, rolling his eyes.

Then he turned his attention to the pale boy who had failed to catch the rat that had snuck into them.

Nodding, he gave an order in a weary tone.

"Number 1, take care of it.”

“...! Wait, please...!”

Without a second glance, the guy with the triangular glasses approached the trembling boy in two strides.

One of his large, stout hands closed around the other's neck with a disgusted grin, dragging him toward the exit as his knees burned from friction. The boy made no complaint, barely struggling to pull the grip away as his face turned increasingly purple.

In less than two minutes, screams and the sound of banging could be heard through the doors, as thin as paper.

The blond yawned. "What do we do?" Shall we leave?”

"It's too late.”

Kazuya rested his chin on his hand, staring at the ground with an absent air. Within his mind, numerous plans were being formed.

"Why is it too late?"

The other boy seemed to be too lazy to think.

"If she's who I think she is, she should’ve told the people who are looking for us," the fingers of his free limb tapped rhythmically on the backrest. “They should be here in a few minutes.”

"Wow, the owners of the monochromatic bastard?" For the first time, his attitude seemed to perk at the mention.

"Themselves," Kazuya smiled slyly at him. “Uncontrollable monsters are just about to reach our door.”

"Great! I guess my nap can wait.”

The blond stretched lazily with a happier face.

He turned to him. "What do we do, boss?"

Kazuya's smile widened, carrying with it a machiavellian air.

"For now, you'll tell the rest of our people to get ready to arrive. After this, we’ll have to fight our every step in this city.” He laughed.

"Understood.”

Taking out his phone, the blond sent an audio because he used less energy than writing a message.

After making the announcement, he turned his gaze to his boss.

"And now?"

"Let's wait," he replied in an absent voice, standing up from his seat. “After dealing with them, we'll leave.”

"Well...”

Returning to his sleepy tone, the blond waited for Kazuya to pass by him before following.

When they reached the front of the premises, they found a group of people blushing from alcohol, scattered among the tables. Bottles of hard liquor were descending at a worrying speed in his hands.

Most of them had a murky air. Some sported tattoos or scars from sharp weapons on one of their arms, while the other rested on a woman's curvaceous waist.

The women, although they seemed to attach themselves to the bodies of others, were by no means defenseless; The muscle marks on their backs and arms made it clear they could stand on their own.

Ignoring them as if they were trash, Kazuya advanced through the center of the bar, with the blond following at a safe distance of a meter. At the sight of him, the drunkards who still retained some lucidity bowed respectfully.

He didn’t return it.

The hustle and bustle gradually diminished as their boss approached the entrance of the premises. With focused eyes, everyone present waited for his directions.

Among them, an androgynous-looking person stared at him with uneven eyes so bright that they resembled a pair of spotlights, blushing coquettishly.

Kazuya stopped right in front of the door, turning around with both hands in his pockets.

Then, he smiled like a false prophet, feigning a complicated expression.

"My dear friends, I have some bad news for you.”

Most of the people at the bar immediately tensed up, returning to sobriety.

"Again, strong people are showing their sovereignty over us, even though we haven't harmed anyone." His eyes squinted when he said that. “With their eagerness to remain calm, they also take away the only entertainment from us, the weakest.”

The sclera of the most intoxicated reddened more than it already was, clutching the bottles in their hands with their chest bubbling with injustice.

"Unfortunately, we must leave this place in the next hour, so I would appreciate your cooperation in leaving this place clean," he asked them with false altruism.

In reality, that was his way of getting everyone to cooperate and there wouldn’t be evidence of his dealings at the time of escape.

"Also, we will be attacked by very strong people in a few minutes. I know it’ll be difficult, but I beg you all to leave and not look back.”

"But boss...!"

A drunk reproached him with tears running down his cheeks.

Kazuya narrowed his gaze as he was interrupted, but maintained his Good Samaritan smile.

"We can't leave you alone, boss!"

"It's true, boss!"

“You’ve done nothing wrong!”

More and more voices joined the request. The blond man who was watching everything lazily smiled weakly at the stupidity he was witnessing, and the guy with the triangular glasses, who had returned a few seconds ago, also let out a snort with sarcasm.

Surrounded by drunks alienated for helping their superior, the androgynous person rested his colored face on his clenched hands, sighing like a lover.

Enjoying her screams, Kazuya let a few seconds pass before feigning a moved expression, putting both hands to his heart.

"You make me so happy with your fervent support, my friends. I don't have enough time to thank each one of you," he smiled tremblingly. “But for that very reason, I need help in other areas.”

He pointed to the entire premises. "I would like you to help me save as much as we can for the time when we can rise again. For a successful new opening, I need each of you. However, I understand you:  you’re worried about me. Therefore...”

He held up two of his fingers.

"A part of you will be in charge of guarding and taking everything, while those who feel more capable will stay here and fight by my side.”

The eyes of his followers flashed.

"Obviously, I need you to be honest with yourself. It is not wrong to be weak; It’s the duty of the strong to protect them. Please stay behind and don't get hurt, passing us on in the process. A wound in you is a pain for us.”

"Nice way of saying don't get in the way," the blond whispered to the guy with triangular glasses, laughing like two kids.

However, in the effervescence of the moment, no one listened to them.

With renewed energy, the people at the bar quickly got organized. The weakest and most intoxicated withdrew to their own positions, leaving a handful of people with conviction on the surface.

Among so many muscular guys, the group of 4 girls with burly arms stood out.

"We know we're not as strong as Number 5, but we can help you, boss," the representative spoke, blushing like a schoolgirl.

Holding back a cynical smile, Kazuya measured his expression and nodded in feigned appreciation, imperceptibly moving his eyes to the legs that could be seen under their shorts dresses.

"Thank you very much, my friends.”

The girls didn’t seem to notice that he didn’t mention their names or recognize them as such, observing each other with clear emotion.

The blond man stood next to the guy with the triangular glasses waiting for directions, and soon the androgynous person joined them with a dark expression. His mismatched eyes were fixed on each of the women who spoke to Kazuya.

After a few minutes, fewer things were left in the bar. Even the tables had been transported with enviable speed.

They looked like a hive of ants sorting out their provisions for the winter, working together with no room for error.

When there were only a few tables left in poor states, Kazuya uncrossed his arms and looked towards the door.

"They arrived.”

As he said, 4 people were on the other side. One of the drunks opened it, allowing him to see them.

Two of them had a terrifying appearance, throwing daggers at him with their eyes. The other duo were a couple of girls holding each other.

Kazuya's eyes fell mockingly on the shorter one for a second before returning it to the entire group.

Knowing that the rest of his followers couldn't see his face as his back was turned to them, he didn't bother to fake a puzzled expression and asked directly:

"Excuse me for skipping the protocols, but what are you doing here?"

The short-haired man curled his lips with rage distilling from every pore.

"Don't come at me with your bullshit. You know perfectly well why we’re here.”

"Really?" He faked a bewildered tone. “As far as I know, we haven’t done anything illegal. We didn't create a problem on your street either, Mr. Kanji—”

His eyes curled. “President of Roppo Ichiza.”

The volume of his voice remained respectful, and if they hadn’t been looking at his every expression, they would’ve believed his false benevolence.

However, seeing every second of their features warping into an unvarnished mockery only caused their jaws to tense.

Kazuya looked at the other man in front of them with slightly raised eyebrows.

"I knew about the rumor about your union with Gravel, but I never believed it," he put a finger to his chin. “Considering their misdeeds, I didn’t think that a group recognized for its high values would end up allying itself with a group of criminals.”

"Hey.”

Suzuri glared at him.

"Don't you dare talk about Gravel with that dirty mouth of yours.”

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I understand that people can change and that Roppo Ichiza has a big heart," he turned his attention to Kanji. “Although, shouldn't it be the same for everyone? I know we've had our grudges in the past, but we're also different.”

The murmur of the drunks behind him caused the sardonic smile that adorned his lips to become wider.

"Don't we deserve a second chance too?"

"You say you've changed, don't you? Does the name Sakura Haruka ring a bell?”

Kazuya's face froze for a second at the question of the taller girl.

Within his mind, a hundred questions were formed at the speed of light, but he didn't show any of them on his face.

Instead, with confused exclamations echoing behind him, he feigned an innocent look and answered:

"I'm sorry, I only remember the names of normal people.”

Crack.

The phone in Kanji's hands shattered under the force of his clenched hands.

His closest followers giggled as if he had just told the joke of the decade. Some drunks, without fully understanding, mimicked their laughter.

The faces of the four people in front of them twisted at the taunts, and while part of Kazuya's heart rejoiced in their discomfort, another part drowned in irritation.

He wasn't really surprised that Roppo Ichiza and Gravel knew Sakura, especially since that monochromatic bastard had a habit of sticking his nose everywhere like a dog, but since when did so many people cherish him?

As I thought, he spoke to himself with a grimace, all of Makochi is plagued with lunatics.

Ignoring the scathing glances the other group sent him, he turned slightly to his followers and ordered:

"I need all those who’ve come to support me to come back to help our friends. Number 4, you’ll guide them.”

The entourage of drunks widened their eyes ready to refuse, but the excited voice of the androgynous guy silenced them.

With each word spilling honey, Number 4 nodded with burning cheeks and replied:

"Yes, boss!"

As he turned to the rest of the people, his face was devoid of any kindness.

"Move."

“... But boss!” A drunk couldn't help but protest. “If we leave, you’ll be at a disadvantage!”

"Don't worry about me, my friends," he turned to give them a confident smile, although his eyes were full of sadness. “It seems that I didn’t calculate the hearts of these strong people correctly, and they’ve tried to set a trap for me.”

Both his followers and the group of 4 people who had come to fight tensed in their places.

Aki's face paled.

"Don't you remember? Roppo Ichiza is much bigger, and they’d never leave their Chairman alone in a raid," he shook his head, pointing at them. “Gravel is also a group recognized for its closeness...”

Hiding his mockery behind his curved eyes, he asked a question in a mocking tone:

"If they are not here, where else can they be?"

“...!”

Acting as if their tails had been stepped on, both Kanji and Suzuri jumped towards him with their fists raised.

They seemed ready to slaughter him in that very place.

However, Kazuya did not move a hair, watching calmly as those blows threatened to connect against his face.

Before achieving this, both attacks were stopped by the hands of the blond boy and the guy with triangular glasses.

Kanji and Suzuri widened their eyes in surprise as they noticed that, despite using all their strength, their arms had been pinned down under the grip of those two men.

"Well, well. The boss is always right," the blond boy laughed at them. “Angry beasts always try to bite the neck.”

The man with glasses clicked his tongue in disgust, looking at his own hand.

"If I knew we were going to touch rabid dogs, I would’ve brought my leather gloves. Tsk.”

"Yes, yes, Number 1, less chatter and more action.”

"Shut up and work, Number 7.”

As soon as they finished speaking, they both attacked with iron movements. Kanji and Suzuri backed away unable to avoid it, only being able to defend themselves like cornered animals.

Enjoying the increasingly white expression of the intruders, Kazuya narrowed his eyes with pleasure and ordered again:

"Everyone to work.”

Those he named under the nickname of numbers moved much more fiercely, while the small group of drunks let out a sigh, throwing out all their worries, and turned in the direction that the rest of their companions left, led by the androgynous boy.

While Kanji and Suzuri were cornered by two beasts that didn't even sweat when launching attack after attack, the two girls were left in the middle of the street hugging each other.

The student trembled as she watched her rescuers fall on the short end of the pole. Opening and closing his mouth, her mind repeated over and over again:

It's your fault, all this was caused by you. Again people will get hurt because of you.

Who told you you could try revenge? You're a 14-year-old weakling. You're nobody.

Look, everything you touch suffers. Your grandparents, Umemiya-senpai, Sakura, Kanji, Suzuri...

If you hadn't...

"Are you thinking that everything would be different if you hadn't been born?"

Choking, she looked at Shizuka with misty eyes.

Shizuka didn't look back at her, completely focused on Kazuya even though she paled more and more with the sound of the banging beside her.

"All that helplessness, all that frustration you must feel...”

Her expression hardened.

"Take all those feelings and swallow them.”

Aki frowned.

"Look carefully at the people who’re giving everything for you and save everything you feel to face them later. That's what Sakura-san once told me.”

Panting, the high school student pursed her lips with difficulty.

However, Kazuya's shrill laugh caught the attention of both of them.

"Ah... That son of a bitch is always spreading his shit wherever he goes...”

The taller young lady squeezed Aki more tightly into her arms, looking at him with undisguised disgust.

Kazuya didn't care, moving his eyes to the shorter one's body.

"You thought you knew me and tried to set me up, didn't you?" Unencumbered by his disposable subjects, he didn't bother to feign a good-natured tone.

Instead, his voice was so cold that the blood in Aki's veins froze.

"It's a pity that I foresaw your every step, don't you think, Aki-chan?"

He used the same affectionate nickname as when they were alone.

The girl's teeth chattered, but she didn’t shrink in herself.

"S-shut up!"

She pointed his finger at it. "You can enjoy your empty power now, but you'll soon pay for everything you did to Sakura-san!"

“Sakura-san?”

Kazuya acquired a bored expression.

"Didn't I already say that I only remember the names of normal people? Monsters and trash have no space inside my mind.”

"Shut the fuck up!"

Dodging a right hand that stirred the short hair of his sideburn, Kanji screamed venomously from across the street.

"Don't you dare talk like that about Sakura!"

"Focus on our fight, weakling.”

Turning on one of his feet, the man with triangular glasses raised his other leg which directly hit Kanji's stomach.

"Kan-chan!!”

Shizuka shrieked in horror as she saw her boyfriend's body fly into a pile of trash, gasping as if he was short of breath.

Aki watched each of the attacks on the people who agreed to help her, and her appearance became sicker and sicker as she heard, after a few seconds, the sound of fights across the street.

All the feelings she was swallowing were about to explode.

"Do you see, Aki-chan?"

Even though Kazuya didn't move from his spot in front of the bar, she could swear his cold voice was speaking right next to his ear.

She began to hyperventilate.

"This happens when you act against me.”

Aki's eyes clouded and everything seemed alien to her body.

"Why didn't you come with me, Aki-chan? You're the only person who I made an effort to remember the name, and you decided to side with that bastard who wasn't even wanted by his parents.”

“... No...”

Holding both hands to her head, Aki shook her head desperately.

“... No... No... No...! Shut up, no!”

"The proof is right in front of your eyes, Aki-chan. It's all your fault...”

"No! You don't know anything about Sakura-san or me!! Shut up!!”

"Are you sure I don't know anything?"

Kazuya chuckled.

"Everything that's happening now...”

Aki couldn't calm down. Not even Shizuka's desperate screams trying to control her registered inside her brain.

Before her eyes, all there was was Kazuya's burlesque smile driving her crazy.

"None of this would have happened if that freak died when I stabbed him.”

"So you did it”

Suddenly, a body appeared behind Kazuya's back.

Feeling the alarms ring inside his head, he crouched down just as a hand swung where his head once was, beads of sweat falling down his face at the sensation of death kissing the back of his neck.

Through her flooded eyes, Aki stared mutely at the tattooed man up to his neck scratching the nape of his head covered in luxuriant, curly black hair.

His sclera, full of red lines, highlighted the raging fire, capable of burning everything in its path, hidden within his shrunken pupils.

For the first time that night, Kazuya's face was deformed into bewilderment.

“Yamato Endo?”

"Ah, you know me.”

Noticing that his gaze quickly moved around to scan his surroundings, Endo let out a graceless chuckle.

"Don't worry, Takiishi isn’t here. I haven't had time to tell him.”

Kazuya pursed his lips, standing straight a good amount of paces away from him.

Noticing his tense posture, his followers gritted their teeth and glanced sideways at the situation to protect him in case that monstrous sick head attacked their boss.

However, both had to dodge increasingly fast and ferocious fists from the opponents in front of them.

"Don't be distracted from our fight, motherfucker," Kanji and Suzuri said at the same time with focused expressions.

In less than a minute, their lead had crumbled.

The situation turned around because of Yamato Endo.

Knowing that they were on the short end of the stick, Kazuya wrinkled his nose and looked at the monster that wanted to devour him cautiously.

"Why did you get involved?"

"Don't you already know?" Endo replied with a dangerous smile. “You've researched everything about us. Don't get the idea?”

In fact, he did.

But accepting that the bastard of Sakura Haruka managed to wrap a beast like Yamato Endo around his fingers was still hard to digest.

"Your ego and hatred don't let you see the reality in front of your eyes, Kazuya... Or should I say, Kiyaki Haruka?”

Kazuya's eyes widened in amazement.

"How...?"

"Do you think you're the only one who can know everything?" He cocked his head like a snake ready to bury its venom-filled teeth. “It's a shame that you messed with a person you shouldn't have.”

Gritting his teeth, he screamed like one whose tail had been stepped on.

"How is that possible?! That bastard shouldn't be liked by anyone...!”

He shut his mouth abruptly as an object flew past him at speed unrecognizable to the human eye, falling silent at the clatter of a shattering window behind him.

Putting a hand to his face, he noticed that the warm feeling running through his cheek was blood.

His blood.

"Don't call him a bastard.”

Endo looked at him like a lunatic.

"A trash like you has no right to name Sakura.”

"Leave the boss...!"

Behind his back, a woman's fist tried to connect with the back of his neck, but she was immediately stopped by a pale, well-groomed hand with expensive-looking acrylic nails.

The woman looked with surprise at the model-like girl who held her hand firmly, paling slightly at the smile with very red lips.

"Don't hurt yourself by touching this dirty, ugly man. I'm telling you for your sake, sweetie," the model spoke to her in a honeyed voice. “This guy isn't afraid to hit a woman, so I'll knock you out before you do any more crazy things, okay? And don't break my nails, I got them recently.”

Finishing speaking, the girl with a delicate body bent her knees a little and, with her other hand, hit such a right hand on the woman's cheek that she tried to hit Endo that it sent her flying through the air about two meters.

The woman did not stand up again, and the girl who looked like a model straightened up properly, adjusting the short dress that barely covered the upper part of her thighs.

"Don't expect thanks from me," Endo commented without emotion.

The model rolled her eyes. "I didn't. I know animals don't know the concept.”

Without wasting any more time, she walked shaking her hips towards the bustle of people fighting across the street. The sound of her heels slowly faded away, along with her voice saying:

"You're lucky we were free tonight. I know the rest of your people have the decency to not raise their hand to a woman, so we'll take care of every lady we see.”

Raising her hand as a farewell, she disappeared down the alley. Leaning against the wall, three other girls with slender figures and revealing dresses blew a kiss before following her.

Shizuka and Aki watched them leave with their mouths open. Kazuya, for his part, tensed his jaw with his face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

Endo sneered.

"Do you understand now the mistake you’ve made?"

"Don't think this is all I have," he spat defiantly. “You should know the kind of people who work for me.”

Endo's mocking smile dimmed a little.

As if it were a warning, a body as agile and swift as a shadow appeared at his side, raising its leg toward his face. Endo stopped it with one hand, just inches from his nose.

Beside him, the androgynous guy’s smiling face blinked at him flirtatiously.

“It seems you have a thing for the eyes of phenomena. Why don’t you spend some time with mine? At least I’m human and not garbage.”

After speaking, he made sure to highlight his mismatched eyes—one a striking light blue, the other a deep gray—fixing them on Endo with a look filled with playful desire.

Veins bulged on Endo’s neck as he tightened his grip on the other’s ankle. With inhuman strength, he swung him like a piece of trash, hurling his body toward the opposite wall.

The androgynous boy was sent flying as if it were nothing. His lungs emptied of air when he crashed into a pile of garbage, yet instead of pain, his cheeks flushed with excitement.

Seeing his own reflection in those mismatched eyes—filled with unmistakable lust—churned Endo’s stomach, stoking his fury.

He was doing it on purpose.

Cracking his knuckles, Endo lunged at him again, engaging in a fight where he clearly had the upper hand. But no matter how much he dominated, the increasingly intoxicated, delirious expression on that bastard’s face robbed him of any sense of satisfaction.

Kazuya, now freed from those crazed eyes, let out a quiet sigh. Ignoring the commotion, he reached inside his clothes and checked the time on his hidden watch.

He clicked his tongue.

"We're leaving in a minute! Let go of anything you can't carry and follow the escape plan!”

Screaming at the top of his lungs, he took action himself the next second, running in the opposite direction of all fights.

Shizuka and Aki tried to grab him as he passed by them, but a slap that reddened the backs of their hands made them retreat.

Focusing his bloodshot eyes on the high school girl's body, Kazuya whispered:

"You'll pay me for it, Aki.”

And, without further ado, he disappeared down an alley.

After coming out of the stupor, Aki let go of the hug and chased him with all the strength that her shivering legs would allow despite Shizuka's desperate screams behind her.

Stumbling a good amount of times, Aki leaned against the wall of the alley at just the right moment that Kazuya began to climb the walls like a cat, jumping from side to side until he reached the ceiling.

With her mouth open, she couldn't help but compare it to the memory of Sakura doing the same.

Kazuya smiled at her machiavellily, as if he knew what was going on in her mind, and disappeared in the middle of the night.

“... No! Come back here, you bastard!”

But it was too late.

Just after a minute, all of Kazuya's subjects gave a blind blow to their opponents and ran in the direction of different alleys.

Without exception, they all climbed the walls in the same way, hiding away from the sight of their oppressors.

"Damn!"

Kanji, who had a broken lip and a cut at the level of his eyebrow, roared angrily as he saw how they escaped under his nose without them being able to do anything about it.

The sense of defeat was even worse when, in less than thirty seconds, the sound of more footsteps rushing towards them was heard.

With pursed lips, Umemiya stared at the ceilings with hatred.

"They escaped, didn't they?"

Suzuri, bruising darkening at the level of her right cheekbone, quickly apologized.

The Fuurin leader denied his head and turned to the people who came with him, noticing their faces covered in indignation.

"Those... Those—" Nirei muttered. “Those bastards...! They imitated Sakura-san!”

Everyone saw the way they climbed the walls.

It was pretty much the same as Sakura did.

Tensing his jaw, Umemiya lowered his gaze and kept his comments to himself. The rage that was becoming more and more difficult for him to control bubbled inside his chest like a fire, burning his lungs.

"How is it possible that...?!"

Tsubaki, putting a hand to his forehead and messing up his neat hair, left the question that everyone was asking hanging in the air.

How could they perfectly imitate the way Sakura climbed the walls?

"That's because they've been watching it longer than we have.”

Hearing Endo's voice answering, they turned to look at him with dark eyes.

Endo was wiping his blood-stained hands on his half-worn jacket with a disgusted expression. Taking it out, he threw it into the garbage heap as if it belonged there.

"What do you mean?" Suo demanded to know without any respect in his voice.

Endo didn't care. "They're from the same city where Sakura comes from."

“...!”

Everyone opened their mouths at the impact of that information.

Umemiya took two strides in his direction, grabbing him by the neck with white knuckles.

"Explain yourself.”

He wasted no time asking how he knew because it was useless. Someone like the legend of Fuurin had enough tools to get everything he wanted with just one call.

Endo pushed the white-haired man's grip in discomfort, fixing his sleeveless shirt.

"The group that this bastard leads is called «Taizai», and they’re originally from the city where Sakura was born. As I researched, Sakura was the only guy who fought a bunch of times against them when they tried to make their dirty deals in that city.”

His eyes darkened. "However, he was more marginalized as a result. His caretakers even went to throw him at Kazuya's house to be punished because, according to them, it was all Sakura's fault.”

Umemiya trembled imperceptibly, just like the rest of his companions, as the memory of the day Sakura was hospitalized resurfaced.

By protocol, whenever a patient was admitted in critical condition, the hospital was required to inform their legal guardians as listed on the birth certificate.

But when the nurses called, their voices heavy with sorrow, none of Sakura’s legal caregivers picked up.

Hoping for a different result, Umemiya tried from his own phone. The call was answered on the third ring.

He barely had time to explain the situation before a cold, dismissive voice cut in:

"Are you telling me that this phenomenon got into more trouble and you expect us to go see him? Call me when he's dead. That’s the only good news we could ever get about that hindrance."

For the sake of Sakura’s unstable older sister and his friends, Umemiya swallowed the rage burning in his chest and kept that cruelty to himself. He told himself he would deal with it when things had settled down.

But right now, at this very moment, he had never wished more to have those two old bastards standing in front of him—so he could break their faces with his own hands.

"Taizai?"

With an icy tone, Nirei spoke for all to hear.

"Do you know them, Nire-kun?" Suo asked in a tremulous voice.

The blond nodded. "They're known in the western part of Osaka.”

Understanding a little more about where Sakura came from, everyone widened their eyes in surprise. After all, Osaka was about 4 hours from Makochi, and it took a lot of train combinations to get there.

“«Taizai» comes from the seven deadly sins. That group is supposed to be inspired by it and each of its members represents a sin, with their respective minions sharing their beliefs.”

He raised his cold eyes to Endo.

“However, the last I heard from them is that their name didn't make sense because they were 8 main members.”

Endo smiled sarcastically.

"I see you're well versed in it, but you're missing a little information.”

He raised two of his fingers.

“The deadly sins we know today were simplified by St. Gregory the Great. Originally, there were eight.”

Everyone present fell silent again.

“The eight original sins, created by Evagrius Ponticus, were anger, pride, vanity, envy, avarice, cowardice, gluttony, and lust. St. Gregory the Great eliminated vanity and cowardice, leaving them in the order of: Pride, Avarice, Gluttony, Lust, Anger, Envy, and Sloth.”

He shrugged. "Each one is represented with its respective demon, so, if it wasn't already obvious, its origin goes back to a biblical one.”

"And where does the eighth sin come in there?"

Understanding his point, Umemiya asked the real doubt.

Endo smiled loosely and returned with another:

"Do you know what is the sin that God doesn’t forgive, according to the Bible, and that that bastard wears with pride?"

Everyone pursed their lips when they didn’t know the answer. Japan was a Shinto-believing country, so their knowledge of Catholicism was quite low.

However, the high school girl's gasp caught his attention.

"Aki?" Shizuka asked carefully, noticing that the girl's face had lost all traces of blood.

She hesitated, clutching her hands against his chest.

“... My father lives abroad. H-he is a believer in Catholicism and he told me about it once.”

With her teeth trembling, she blurted out the answer that the rest were waiting expectantly.

"The only sin that God doesn’t forgive...”

She swallowed dry.

"Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit."

Exactly.

Endo clapped his hands with false joy, looking at Aki with cold eyes.

He seemed to know that she also had something to do with what happened to Sakura, but he didn't lift a finger against her for some reason.

Noticing her gaze, the high school student hid behind Shizuka's body again.

"And why does he consider himself that sin?" Tsubaki asked.

"For the same reason they’re trying to get rid of Sakura.”

The answer threw them off.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know that bastard's real name?" Endo returned the question.

“Y-you said his name was Kiyaki Haruka..."

It was Shizuka who answered, being the only one other than Aki who was close enough to hear him.

"Haruka?" Nirei gasped. “Like Sakura-san?”

"That's right," Endo spoke with deep hatred. “That bastard's family is rotten in riches, which is why he could do everything he wanted without repercussions.”

He clicked his tongue. “They have most of their companies abroad, so they are quite related to Catholicism. His grandfather is the God of car export in Japan and his father has the nickname Messiah for his donations to numerous orphanages and support centers for helpless children.”

“... The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," Suo whispered, understanding where he was going.

Endo nodded. "That's right. All his life, that bastard was raised that way. However, when he met Sakura and learned his name, adding to the fact that he meddled in each of his plans, you can imagine how he reacted.”

Claining their hands, the Fuurin students raised their eyebrows as if they couldn't believe it.

“... It cannot be—”

"But it is," he cut them off. “Sakura's existence, plus the fact that they shared the same name, morphed into blasphemy in his eyes.”

Blasphemy to the Holy Spirit.

The existence of the first-year captain was pretty much the same for Kazuya.

Sensing that the situation had overtaken him, Umemiya ran a hand over his face to stretch his features laden with killing intent and spoke directly to Endo.

"Tell us everything you know. And don't come back to me with your shit of remuneration, it's not the time and I’m not in the mood.”

"I don't care if you are," Endo replied annoyedly, "but I wasn't going to ask you for anything either. That Sakura gets better is the only thing that matters to me.”

"Good.”

Without saying more, the Fuurin leader walked in the direction of the place where the Roppo Ichiza held their meetings. The rest of the presents followed him without waiting for directions, advancing in profound silence.

With the information being processed inside his mind, Umemiya made up his mind.

If we have to suffer divine punishment for this, then so be it.

His younger brother would be avenged even if they faced God himself.

Chapter Text

When Kotoha saw her older brother's name on her phone screen, she was momentarily scared.

On the counter, a plate of omurice rested, already cold, next to some egg sandwiches with fruit of the time. Right next to it, a ketchup bottle with which she wrote "Congratulations on waking up" was about to empty.

She didn't mind losing a few eggs as long as she had her little brother's favorite dishes as a welcome. The sad thing was that she had to throw them away for almost two weeks because the person for whom they were made still couldn’t eat them.

Like a psychological shadow, Kotoha was frightened by Umemiya's messages. The idea of someone else occupying her brother's cell phone to inform her that he suffered an accident didn’t let her sleep well at night.

With trembling fingers, she opened the messaging app and read what had arrived.

"We found him."

She didn't need more.

Quickly typing for the location, Kotoha ended up just outside the red-light district around midnight.

It was a dangerous place for a girl all alone, but she would’ve loved to see who was brave enough to try to do something to her and give her a chance to empty some of the rage that was boiling inside her veins.

One of Kanji's men, whom she met best at the post-Noroshi celebration party, took her to the place where her brother and the rest of the people were.

Upon arriving, she found the Shishitoren leaders watching everything with cold expressions and no trace of sleep. At their sides, the President of the Roppo Ichiza and the head of Gravel also waited with some patches adorning their faces.

Her brother was leaning on one of the tables with his arms crossed, and he nodded his head to indicate that she should come closer.

Thanking the man who guided her, Kotoha withdrew to Umemiya's side. The two looked in the direction of the makeshift blackboard in the center of the room, as did the rest of those present.

There, Endo acquired a more comfortable position, putting a hand in his pocket. His features still retained a certain murderous intent, though he controlled it as he began his explanation.

"I guess we all have a common enemy here, right?"

Taking a marker, he wrote "Taizai" on the board and slapped the name with an open palm afterward.

"These are the sons of bitches who harmed Sakura.”

At the mention of his name, the air became much more tense.

Endo’s voice was sharp and cold, as he recounted everything he had already shared with those present during the disastrous fight. He spoke with a force that seemed to crack the air, his words fueled by the fury that had been simmering inside him ever since he’d heard about their connection to Sakura’s hometown

Togame spat through gritted teeth, his hands clutching over his legs. “I'm going to tear them apart when I see them...”

"That's what we all want," Kanji said, crossing his arms.

The rest nodded at his comment, and Endo continued with his explanation.

“To know more about Taizai, and as I mentioned, you should know that there are 8 leaders who represent a capital sin. Each of them has their own group of lapdogs under their command.”

He wrote down the names of all of them and their respective sins and then detailed them.

"The first is Kiyaki Haruka, the boss and listed as sin Number 0. His parents are big shots within Japan due to their large overseas business dealings, and he’s used their power throughout his life. That's how he gathered the rest of his bootlickers.”

He drew eight different faces with exaggerated features to look like animals. The eyes of some opened with surprise when they noticed that, when portraying number 5, he drew a girl.

Endo pointed to the first with the back of the scoreboard. He had triangular sunglasses on a huge pig nose.

"The first sin is Pride, although some also call it Arrogance, and he's Number 1. His real name is Tsumaeda Haji, and his uncle's bankrupt company resurfaced thanks to his connections to the other bastard. Now he boasts of having a lot of money in his bank account.”

Kanji's eyes narrowed as he heard the description, feeling the cut above his eyebrow throb painfully. Shizuka stroked his shoulders without saying a word, afraid to interrupt.

Endo moved the marker to the second portrait, showing a guy with long and somewhat tattered hair. His lips were stretched in a big smile that showed teeth painted black.

"Next up is Number 2, Greed. What characterizes this one is his poor appearance and gold teeth. He lives in a pigsty on the outskirts of Kyoto, although he has at least ten properties in his name along with a recycling company. His real name is Yoshida Yoku.”

He pointed to the drawing of a guy with a round face and a wide nose with short hair. His eyes were just two lines.

"Number 3, Gluttony. This guy is the provincial Taekwondo winner from where he lives, and he’s taken gold more than 5 times. It is said that his dome was financed by the company of the first bastard. Her name is Osoda Taisho.”

When he reached the fourth portrait, Endo didn’t hold back his expression of disgust. The guy in the drawing had delicate features and eyes of different colors.

"Number 4, Lust. This guy has nothing special besides his appearance. It is said that he was the only one who joined without wanting anything in return other than to be close to his "boss". His name is Mihara Shiku.”

Endo paused for a moment, gazing over the rest, his ravenous eyes devouring every detail.

"I warn you that this bastard is mine. No one else will reduce him to the shit he is besides me. Are we clear?”

"Go on," Umemiya replied disinterestedly, giving him a rest.

Endo nodded and moved the marker to the face of the only girl drawn. Her hair was medium-long and tied in a large ponytail, while the most characteristic thing was a mole under her carefully painted lips.

"Number 5, Wrath. The only girl in Taizai, and definitely the strongest," he confessed.

"Is she the strongest?" Nirei asked with a bit of surprise.

Endo clicked his tongue. “She’s a retired boxer from the youth league due to her family's financial problems when her father fell into prison. It is said that the bastard took her in as she had nowhere to fight. Her name is Akari Smith, and she is half-American.”

The spirits of those who listened to him became a bit heavy, thinking about how they were going to deal with that girl. Everyone in the room knew how to fight, but they’d been raised to never raise their hands to a woman.

The only person who wouldn't care already said he would fight against the guy who represented Lust. Who could stand up to it?

"It's mine, then."

Like springs, everyone turned to look at Kotoha with their eyes wide open.

Umemiya paled, whispering his sister's name in disbelief.

She ignored him. "None of you’ll dare to fight her, so I will. I would’ve loved to get rid of Kazuya's bastard, but I'll take care to make her unrecognizable, at least."

"B-but, Kotoha-san, it's not that I doubt you're strong, but—"

Nirei pursed his lips, not knowing how to continue. Tsubaki also had a complicated grimace, exchanging his attention between the two brothers.

"I've already decided. You won't change my mind," then she pointed to Umemiya with her thumb. “Don't forget who I am sister, okay? I assure you that I can beat any of you if I put my mind to it.”

Everyone turned their eyes to Fuurin's leader, who ran a hand through his hair with his shoulders drooping in defeat.

"She’s right.” He confirmed.

Not caring about the surprise of his friends, he turned to his little sister and whispered:

"Will you be okay?"

"Better tell me to control myself," she smiled at him with a cold gesture. “I don't think I can control myself, Ume-niisan.”

Umemiya knew she meant it when she named him that way. He had no choice but to nod.

Seeing that the problem was fixed, Endo followed. The marker moved to the face of a guy with perfectly combed hair and thick glasses adorning his elongated face.

"Number 6, Envy. This guy’s been laid off from numerous jobs and even ended up living on the street for a full year. It is said that there, he learned to fight, and that bastard found him, giving him the most expensive clothes he had. His name is Miyagino Tanemi.”

Moving to the last portrait, Suzuri couldn't help but clench his sore arm.

The guy in the drawing had light hair and both his eyes and lips were drooping exaggeratedly in a lazy attitude.

"Number 7, Sloth. He is one of the strongest despite being the last to join. He comes from a wealthy family and never had to work for anything, and being the fourth child, they don't expect much from him either. It is said that the only thing that excites him is fighting. His name is Darui Yotsuya.”

Leaving the scoreboard on the table, Endo turned to the rest.

"It's clear that after today's raid, that bastard is going to be more alert than ever. I came up with the plan to directly attack his family business and ruin every investment so he has no choice but to come out of hiding.”

He pointed to himself. "My family can take care of that.”

"I-I can help too..."

Fuurin's legend looked at the youngest in the room with disgust. Aki cringed in fear, but she didn't stop talking.

“M-my parents are abroad and have a powerful company in the country. I-I can talk to them so they... help suppress Kazuya's family..." The last part came out in a whisper.

Under everyone's watchful eye, her unstable mind was about to short-circuit.

"Tsk. Fine. You'll meet me early tomorrow," Endo accepted with his jaw clenched, crossing his arms.

Aki nodded as fast as a chick chopping rice.

Knowing that he would definitely follow through on what he said, Umemiya didn't worry about how to find that shittyhead again. Thanks to Endo, he would end up knocking on their door in his own volition, and none of them would hold back.

"Then how are we to divide ourselves from the rest of the guys?"

It was Choji who spoke.

He pointed to the pictures on the blackboard, and everyone understood what he meant.

"Guy No. 4 is for Yamato and the girl is for Kotoha-chan," he looked at the others. “What about those that are left over?”

Looking at each other, they all seemed ready to jump up and say that Kazuya must be theirs. While killing his followers was important, the main prey that everyone longed to have in their clutches was the bastard who injured Sakura.

The silence extended for a few seconds, filled with young people thirsty for revenge seeing who would surrender first.

Pursing his lips, Kanji raised one of his hands.

"Please leave the guy who represents Pride to me.”

"Kan-chan!"

Shizuka couldn't help but gasp in protest.

Her boyfriend looked at her with some apology hanging between his eyebrows, but he maintained his firm posture.

"I've fought him a little. He's strong, probably stronger than me, but...”

His eyes showed an overwhelming fire.

"Sakura taught me that I shouldn't not fight just for that. This battle is something I definitely won't lose.”

Some of his followers shuddered to see him that way.

The leaders of each faction simply nodded, agreeing to his request, and then looked at each other again.

Suzuri stepped up.

"I fought the guy who calls himself Sloth, and although I’d love to face him again, I must recognize when it would end up being more of a problem than a solution.”

His finger pointed at the round-faced guy.

"Give me the guy called Gluttony."

"That guy is a Taekwondo champion," Endo reminded him without much interest. “Are you sure?”

"I come from the Sunaba district," he looked down at his own hands. “That place is plagued by poverty and people who don’t know if they will have a crumb with which to fill their stomachs the next day, or where they’ll drop dead due to fights or starvation.”

He wielded them, looking completely determined.

"He calls himself Gluttony, but I'm sure that between the two of us, there is no one who knows more about the desire to devour everything than I do.”

"Mhm..." Endo made a little sound, smiling slyly. “Well, all yours, little chef.”

"I suppose we'll stay with Greed if we go on with that, don't we?"

Suo smiled at them all, looking at his friend sideways.

Nirei jumped in his place but soon understood what he meant. Inside the room, they were Sakura's best friends, and craving was painfully building up inside them.

He himself longed more than anyone else to become strong so his best friend wouldn’t have to go through this type of situation again.

Nodding, he expressed his opinion to the rest of the presents.

"Suo-san and I will take with that guy.”

"Good," Choji nodded without further ado. “That leaves Sloth and Envy. Who’ll do it?”

Amid the doubts, a voice they didn’t expect to hear made itself louder.

"I'll take the Lazy guy."

Umemiya opened his eyes with his heart in his mouth.

“Sugishita—?”

"Umemiya-san," Sugishita wasted no words in explaining himself, looking at the one he admired most with supplication and determination in equal parts within his dark eyes. “Let me do it.”

"But...”

"You must win, Sugi," Kotoha cut his brother off, looking at the tallest one seriously. “Can you?”

Sugishita nodded instantly.

"It's decided then," Choji spoke again.

Then, he turned to the silent boy sitting next to him.

"Kame-chan, you should take care of the missing one.”

"Choji?" Togame, visibly disoriented, asked in a thin voice.

His friend put a hand to his chest, smiling at him.

"Trust me. Shishitoren will take care of the weaklings that follow each of them and defend the outskirts of the city. Wani-chan and I will be at the front, so you must be in a place where you can help the most.”

He pointed to the last guy left unmarked on the board.

"No one resonates with envy more than you, doesn’t it, Kame-chan?"

Togame was startled.

“... You knew?”

"I'm your best friend," he blinked innocently. “How could I not notice?”

Togame was very envious of both Sakura and Fuurin.

That twisted feeling settled in his gut when he fought Sakura for the first time, envying the way he could act and speak freely about his own ideals and the broken Shishitoren they were. That got worse when he opened his eyes to the mistake he made with Choji.

Because of his true-to-himself personality, Togame admired and envied Sakura in equal parts. He also envied Fuurin, who got that impulsive little boy before them, because wouldn't everything have been solved faster if Sakura ended up being part of the Shishitoren first?

Clenching his hands, the doubts in his mind quickly dissipated.

"Good. I'll take care of that bastard.”

“Great, Kame-chan!”

Clapping, Choji stood up with renewed energy and arranged his jacket. His vice-captain followed instantly, bidding farewell to everyone with a small bow.

However, instead of walking towards the exit, the leader of the Shishitoren walked straight towards Umemiya.

Giving him a harmless blow on the arm, he looked up at him in complete seriousness.

"Break that bastard's nose for me, okay? Your fists should be heavier than ever.”

Umemiya was speechless.

"Give him a good blow for me, too." Togame joined in, giving him a lopsided smile. “I'll do my best to defeat the fucker I got, so I hope you can do the same, Umemiya.”

Kotoha, turning her head toward her brother, spoke with complete coldness in contrast to her mocking expression. “I don't want you to leave a bone intact in that bastard.”

One by one, everyone present shouted, each request more twisted than the last. Even Shizuka and Aki asked that he be prevented from escaping the psychological shadows, ensuring he would never get close to Makochi—and, most importantly, Sakura—again.

Looking from point to point, Umemiya frowned somewhat embarrassedly, asking with shrugged shoulders:

"You’re letting me fight that fucker?"

"Who else then?"

Endo was the one who put a stop to his cheap sentimentality.

With his arms folded, he could feel the hatred in his eyes exuded at having to give Kazuya's head to an incompetent like him.

"You're Sakura's older brother. Take your place and take down that bastard who dared to damage him while you weren't looking.”

Tsubaki frowned at his insinuation and was about to reproach him, but Umemiya stopped him by raising one of his hands. Seeing it, he couldn't stop her heart from skipping a beat.

"Okay.”

The weight carried by those words penetrated deep into the skins of those who heard it.

Putting a hand to his chest, Umemiya swore to them:

"I'll take revenge on that bastard for all of you. It's a promise.”

The first time Sakura wondered if he would ever be loved was just three years old.

It was a depressing thought, considering that the first memories usually form at that age, but he remembered it clearly. He also remembered how many times he asked himself the same question afterward.

Sometimes, when he heard people say that they didn't remember anything from their childhood, he felt envious.

If the brain erases painful memories to protect us, why did his retain everything?

Did his own brain hate him too?

Night after night, Sakura was mulling over the idea.

Sleepless nights became more frequent when he lost his mother at five. He never met his father, and his mother didn't want to talk to him about him either.

He was small, but he understood that there must be a reason for her silence.

She wasn’t a loving mother like those of his classmates, but he never lacked a dish on the table. She was, at least, a decent mother.

On his birthday, she became ill. She didn't want to go to the hospital because it cost money, and home remedies didn't pay off. In less than two months, she couldn't even stand.

Sakura learned how to heat instant noodles from a young age. Since they ate the same thing every day, it was just a matter of replicating step by step what his mother did.

Once, he tried to make a nutritious soup by following the steps that a classmate told in class. According to him, his grandmother prepared it for him when he got sick, and that cured him immediately.

(That's when Sakura wondered, for the first time, that, if he had had a grandmother, she would’ve loved him. His mother never told him about hers... was it because she wasn't a beloved child either, like him?)

However, all he managed to do was spill the hot water all over the floor and burn his thighs. The stabbing pain barely gave him time to react before his mother berated him furiously:

"Don't you see that we are short of money?! Stop wasting things!”

Crying from the burning, Sakura understood two things that night: that his mother wouldn’t care about him and that, at the age of five, he already had to learn how to heal his own wounds.

Luckily, the hot water didn't leave any serious marks or scars. Searching through what little he had, he discovered that it was only a second-degree burn, not too extensive, so he didn't need a doctor. Still, the blisters were hell.

Three months after that incident, his mother took her last breath.

She was on the thin futon on which the two of them slept. Her sucked, yellowish skin had spots along her neck and jawline, giving her an agonizing appearance.

Her lips, pale and parched, gasped as she weakly raised her bony hand to get his attention.

"Haru... ka...”

It was the first and only time his mother called him by his name.

Surprised, it took him a couple of seconds to notice he was being called and he stumbled until he was next to her, suddenly nervous.

His mother's eyes were always dark and clouded with sadness. He never understood why they shone so brightly as she stared at him as she neared death.

(Maybe his mother wanted to die.)

“... Mom?”

“... Yes... I... I'm your mother," she said between sighs. “C… come here...”

Sakura bowed with sweaty hands. Being so close to her scared him.

“Haruka... forgive... me...”

He kept listening, though everything in him wanted to run away when his mother's skeletal fingers brushed against the white part of his hair.

"Forgive... that... the lo... ve between your... Dad and... I... has been such a cu... rse... that it... went... to your hair...”

It was difficult to understand her with so many pauses, but Sakura understood the general idea.

His appearance was cursed.

Turning his face to connect his uneven eyes with his mother's gray eyes, he watched attentively the first smile he saw crossing her lips.

"You'll always have… a little bit of your dad and me... in you...”

As the force left her body, his mother's hand fell down his face, lingering a second longer in his golden eye.

Then, her chest stopped moving.

The concept of death was too deep for his childish brain. Although his mother never was the most affectionate, seeing her take her last breath took a part of his heart with it.

Sakura spent three hours next to the corpse. He watched as her body hardened until, no matter how he tried, he couldn’t straighten her hand. Tired, he decided to ask a neighbor for help.

At first, the man spat on him and slammed the door in his face. Only after his insistence did he agree to listen to him on the fifth attempt.

"What do you want, you damn brat?"

Just as his mother said.

"Mom doesn't wake up. I can't even move her hand because it's so hard and cold.”

Chaos erupted.

The man turned pale and ran to the house, screaming as if he was being beaten at the sight of the limp body. Sakura watched blankly as neighbors crowded into his home and the ambulance arrived.

People dressed in white moved in a hurry, putting up yellow ribbons to keep the crowd away. When they asked those who lived nearby, they turned to look at him with disgust.

None of them came to explain what had been going on for a long time. It wasn't until a blonde-haired, blue-eyed paramedic noticed him that he covered him with a blanket and asked in broken Japanese:

"Are you this woman's son?"

He heard at school that foreigners looked different, but Sakura never expected that he would be treated differently as well.

Shyly, he nodded.

The foreign guy grimaced with pity.

It was the first time Sakura had received a reaction other than disgust or anger.

"I'm so sorry, little friend," pushing lightly on his shoulder, he led him to the back of the ambulance. “Don’t watch anymore.”

He obeyed only half the sentence. As he was carried away by his warm hands, he couldn't help but take a look at his house again.

There, they were taking her mother out in a white bag.

What happened next was like a typhoon. No family member claimed his mother's body, and when they saw him, no nurse wanted to help him. Sakura was scolded by the cleaning assistants when he was carrying half of her mother's body washed.

The next day, he’s given a small jar even for his tiny hands.

"Here are your mother's ashes," the nurse explained with a frown. “Now, get out.”

Sakura never knew if the way they proceeded with his mother's body was correct or what the autopsy determined as her cause of death, but he didn’t look for it either.

It was one of the few times he felt that ignorance was true bliss.

That day, Sakura walked for hours to get home. When he entered with his face red from the effort, the only thing he received were the looks full of rejection from his neighbors.

"This was expected. Giving birth to such a child could only lead her to this.”

"She was cursed from the moment she let that monster be born as her son.”

“Her death was painful and lonely because of the sin she committed.”

It wasn't the first time they’d said cruel things in front of him, but Sakura would always remember it.

"That phenomenon killed his mother.”

As he shuffled his feet to the courtyard of his house, Sakura knelt down with his thighs burning. But he didn't pay attention to that.

Bringing one of his little hands to his head, he touched the white hair his mother stroked before closing her eyes for good and felt that adults might be right.

Covering his hair with the cap of his thin jacket for the first time, he scattered his mother's ashes on the ground with an expressionless face.

"Mom was always happy when she came to water the grass after saying she didn't want to see me," he patted the earth until it mixed with the gray dust, like his mother's eyes. “Grow big and strong, mommy. And don't have another child like me.”

In the silence of the sunset, a warm wind unusual at the end of summer passed by him like a cry.

Within minutes, some guys calling themselves child laborers took him to an orphanage in Osaka, throwing him away like a dog with nothing but what he was wearing.

The men had a bad face all the way. The caregiver who received him too.

Sakura knew that it wouldn’t be easy for him.

Although the garden where he went when his mother was alive wasn’t the best, at least they let him be in the classroom all the time. At the orphanage, they ended up kicking him out because he bothered the other children with his presence.

After his arrival, the government gave him some clothes, but he never took off his thin hooded jacket. First, they bothered him for being dirty. When they saw his hair and eyes when the hat fell off, they teased him for a phenomenon.

The children repeated everything they heard. And that didn't mean they weren't cruel.

Just 3 months after his arrival, he learned to fight.

In the face of constant mockery, he turned a deaf ear as best he could. In his old house, the neighbors and his children did the same, so it didn't matter.

But none of them grabbed him by the hair and threw him to the ground with scissors in hand.

"The teacher taught us that before anyone different was eliminated," the boy smiled amid the laughter of his classmates. “Let me help you so it won’t happen to you, phenomenon.”

Then, he tried to cut.

As if passing in slow motion, Sakura moved his arms to support his body and raised his legs until they connected in the face of the boy who attacked him first.

It was instinctive. That part of his head was the same one his mother caressed before she died, and the eye that the other children tried to hit afterward was the one his mother brushed while taking her last breath.

Sakura fought back against every one of them. Even when the orphanage's caretakers arrived because he’d beaten more than five children to bleed, he didn't stop.

Because they wanted to take away what his mother touched.

Because they wanted to take away the only thing he had from his parents.

As expected, he was punished. The director was furious when he found out and forced him to spend two days locked in a tiny room without food or water.

But he couldn't stop.

After that, more children tried to attack him. Some for revenge, others to imitate their peers. Sakura fought back and won against everyone.

Over the years, he learned to escape before the director locked him in that dark and suffocating room. He also stopped hiding his appearance under a hood and glasses because he would be attacked whether he wore them or not.

And he eventually learned to fight street style while defending himself.

The children in the orphanage used numbers, not strength. Sakura had a hard time in a lot of fights and had to learn everything from bandaging cuts to refitting a dislocated limb.

Adults turned a blind eye to it. The authorities blamed him even if he was the most beaten. But that was okay, because Sakura knew no other life and that's how it should be.

Or at least that's how it always was for him.

When he turned 10, a man arrived claiming to be his father's brother. He introduced himself as his uncle.

"Take your things. You’ll come with me.”

Sakura's concept of family was one full of love and warmth. The hopes that were born when they announced a relative came for him died when he noticed the disgust and rejection in the eyes of that man.

The house he arrived at was beautiful, and the yard was huge. In front of the window on the right, there was a large box that his uncle called a shed.

The well-developed intuition he achieved over time made him look at it for a few more seconds.

"Don't bother taking off your shoes. Stay there.” His uncle said as he opened the door.

He obeyed.

At the entrance, a lady with short hair past her shoulders frowned, holding the arm of a child close to his age.

They both had the same eyes as their uncle.

Eyes full of disgust and rejection.

"From today onwards, you’ll be legally part of the Sakura family. I know that your whore mother gave you your last name deceiving my brother, but it didn't take on any value until today.”

He wrinkled his nose. "Don't get confused, though. A phenomenon like you will never be recognized by us.”

Sakura listened to everything with an empty expression.

His uncle folded his arms at his lack of response and won in front of his apparent wife and son, pointing to the window afterward.

Looking in that direction, he saw the shed.

"You'll sleep there. Go away.”

Lowering his head in compression, he took his last look at the mirror hanging in the driveway of his —not— new house.

On his back, he carried only a backpack with books full of poor notes and a small bag with his only pairs of white shirts and intact pants.

His hair was still uneven, like his eyes.

He came to a different place, but he was still the same.

Someone who would never be accepted.

Sakura left.

Day after day, Sakura's routine changed from escaping from the orphanage so as not to be punished to looking through the hole that served as a window to his "family" living inside the main house.

A family he would never be a part of even though half of the blood that ran through his veins also ran through theirs.

Slowly, he became accustomed to being set aside, to being despised, and to being alone.

Defending a girl from harassment only to be reproached by her, demanding he won’t approach her, and reminding him that she never asked for his help. Picking up a wallet from the ground and being charged with theft.

Returning to the shed he called home only to be yelled at by his uncles because of the fights, and quietly treating both his wounds and the fevers brought on by his body's changes as he grew up.

Nothing matters anymore, he thought.

That was his life.

Until, at 16, he arrived in Makochi.

Makochi was the infamous city that housed the foul-mouthed college of delinquents: Fuurin. Social security was at rock bottom, and not even the authorities were trying to do anything. It was a city where everyone had given up.

As with him.

Setting foot inside gave him a sense of belonging that he never experienced before. He’d barely been walking down the main street for a few minutes when he found a group of idiots to beat up in his new—and expensive—Fuurin uniform.

It was practically an abandoned place, forced to survive through fights. Exactly like Sakura.

"Thank you.”

Or so he thought.

Makochi...  was strange. Everyone knew it as a city you definitely shouldn't live in, but it was still... Warm. For someone like him. For everyone.

He didn't understand it and, over time, even less.

But he adapted. Because there are things that don’t need to be understood, only accepted.

Like accepting that nothing he experienced was fair.

Accept that he was weak.

Accepting that he was constantly taking refuge in the shell of someone strong because, in part, he was. Because, despite being terrified, he kept trying.

Accept that he had a miserable past, but decided to remain pure.

Like Makochi.

He hadn't even lived in that city for a year, and he was already wondering how he managed to survive his entire existence without having Nirei, Kotoha, Suo, Umemiya, his class, or the people of the city by his side.

His mind remembered everything, but his memories didn't make sense after really knowing what it was like to live at 16.

Experiencing such a paradise made him forget that the past always finds a way to bite you on your heels if you don't let it go. And Sakura was never taught to let go, because he never had anything to lose or call his own.

Those moments that he pushed to the bottom of his memory came back in the worst way he could’ve imagined: Kiyaki Haruka was back. Or Kazuya, as he liked to call himself. That guy with whom he shared a name, but their lives were at different extremes.

If his life had been unfair because he had nothing, Kazuya's was unfair because he had everything.

From loving parents to a lot of money: Kazuya was practically the son of heaven. His age was not yet written with two digits and he already had a company and legacy in his name.

An existence like Kazuya's should be something that someone like Sakura deeply envied, but the reality was that he didn't.

If it weren't for his twisted personality and dishonest activities, Sakura would’ve ignored his existence completely.

As fate would’ve it, his cousin had been invited to Kazuya's 14th birthday party, which had invited his entire school to brag about his family's money.

His uncle, a wealth-loving fox, dressed his son in the most expensive clothes he could find and bought the most luxurious gift he could afford without sparing too much expense.

In the purchase, he also used the money sent to him by the government to buy him a second-hand two-piece suit.

"Here. You'll go with your cousin," he ordered. “You'll pretend to be his servant.”

With no options, he had to attend. Although he didn’t dye his hair or wear a contact lens as his family wanted.

His cousin ignored him throughout the trip and treated him like the plague when no one was looking. The only moments where he remembered his existence were when he forced him to deliver the gift and hang up his jacket.

Focused on creating friends with the millionaire heir, he gave him free will to tour the mansion as he pleased. That day was not all bad: Sakura was able to eat a hundred delicacies without paying a penny.

Everything was going smoothly until he felt like going to the bathroom.

Being such a large place, it was obvious that someone like him, who was avoided and looked at with disgust whenever he approached to ask where it was, would get lost along the way.

It was in that way that it took him almost 10 minutes to find the blessed place to empty his bladder, and another 10 minutes to find his way back to the main hall.

On the way, he noticed a girl in a beautiful light dress running towards one of the numerous aisles that connected with the big event and followed her by inertia.

It was thanks to his intuition that he saved her from being harassed by Kiyaki Futagami, the second son of the millionaire family and Kazuya's older brother.

If he remembered correctly, that guy must have been about 18 years old. The little girl I was following didn't even seem to have turned 15.

Without thinking twice, he pounced on him and knocked him out with a single kick. Accustomed to a life of luxury and flattery, he never needed to fight or defend himself, so he was embarrassingly defeated by an 11-year-old boy.

Terrified, the girl fled as soon as she saw the appearance of her supposed savior, narrowly escaping involvement when the guards arrived to investigate the rampage.

Noticing the second young master lying on the ground, the huge guards mercilessly subdued him, pinning him to the ground. A sharp pain ran through his chest as his ribs were crushed, drawing a stifled scream.

The commotion immediately attracted the attention of the guests. From a distance, Sakura could see his cousin's angry face as he heard the murmurs that spread through the crowd, speculating about the origin of that beast.

Walking among the sea of people, Kazuya stood out like a Buddha.

"Why are you holding him like this? Let him go.”

"Fourth young master," replied the gorilla who was holding him. “This monster attacked the Second young master.”

Kazuya's calm eyes wandered on the ground until they found the body of his older brother. Noticing him, his expression became tinged with surprise and a fight seemed to break out inside his mind.

Looking somewhat displeased, he ordered:

"Still, this isn’t the way to hold a small child. As far as I know, we have sensible people watching our backs, and not gorillas. Release him immediately.”

Almost as if he saw the second incarnation of Jesus, the man let go of him with a smile.

"As expected of the benevolent Fourth young master.”

Then, he gave him an icy look and lifted him up.

"Show your respect to your benefactor.”

"Enough is enough.” Kazuya walked up to him and looked at him from head to toe. “Are you ok?”

With cold sweat sliding down his forehead, Sakura nodded silently. His appearance was miserable, and his posture reflected the intense pain that had been inflicted on him.

However, his mind was elsewhere.

Perhaps because he never received a sincere token of kindness, even if he longed for it with all his might, he developed a special instinct for detecting genuine affection.

And the way the guy looked at his older brother had nothing but disinterest.

"That's good," he went on, pretending to be a good person. “Now... could you explain to me what happened and why you hurt my brother?”

"He was harassing a girl," he replied without any courtesy.

His words were true, but all the intruders looked at him as if he were a lunatic. Some even laughed and asked him to come up with a better excuse to justify his envy.

"I'm not lying," he protested. “I really saved a girl.”

"Is that so?" Someone from the gossip audience spoke ironically. “And where is she now?”

The girl he saved had already hidden in the crowd, staring at him with a face as pale as paper. Her apparent friend was asking her what happened to her, but she was still staring at him.

She didn’t step forward to prove he wasn’t lying, instead looking at him with a clear plea, silently asking him not to betray her.

That was the moment when Sakura understood that while he might become strong enough to defend everyone, no one would defend him.

Gritting his teeth, he stayed silent.

The laughter of the rest wasn’t long in coming.

"It's obvious that he was lying.”

"Look at his appearance, how could he not be violent if he is a monster?"

"They should arrest the parents of this phenomenon. If he beats people just because they're normal and he isn't, won't he be much more dangerous in the future?”

His opinions and poisonous comments increased as the seconds passed, completely ignoring that he was capable of hearing everything. Or maybe they didn’t care.

His cousin was as red as a tomato, staring at him with eyes so fierce that he knew, without warning, that his uncle would be furious once they got home.

"Fourth young master," the gorilla who crushed him stepped forward. “Please tell us what you want to do next.”

"Don't do anything.”

The terse answer silenced everyone again.

Moving forward until their gazes connected, Kazuya bowed deeply amid the gasps of his guests and guards.

"I'm sorry.”

"Fourth young master...!"

The man was silenced with a wave of his hand.

"I believe you," Kazuya continued to speak as he straightened up, narrowing his eyes slightly. “I know I'm not my brother, but I offer you my sincerest apologies.”

Sakura felt so uncomfortable that the atmosphere was suffocating, and everything worsened when he noticed the joy hidden behind that false expression of a good Samaritan.

The whole situation was crazy. The second son of the family delighted in harassing those who were weaker than himself, while the fourth, who was given everything on a platter, turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.

He was disgusted.

Controlling his expression, he clenched his hands and took a step back.

“... It’s not me who should receive the apologies, and neither should you be the one to apologize.”

"You're right," Kazuya nodded, widening his smile as if satisfied. “When I find the one who was molested by the Second Brother, I’ll make him apologize.”

Then, his calculating eyes swept him up and down. Sakura's body, smaller and thinner than children his age due to malnutrition, shuddered under that inexplicable gaze.

"What's your name?"

The room was so quiet that you would feel the fall of a needle. Suppressing the growing discomfort in the center of his chest, Sakura replied between his teeth:

"Haruka."

"Oh! Your name is the same as mine.”

Knowing that his uncle would be more furious if he mentioned his last name, he kept that information to himself, giving his first name.

Kazuya looked genuinely ecstatic as if he enjoyed the fact that such a tiny, miserable existence bore his name.

Sakura could be considered very foolish due to his lack of education and poor school performance. His knowledge of complicated and extensive words was poor and limited. But he still knew that the person before him was nothing more than an unscrupulous narcissist.

Frowning, he didn't look down at him.

"It's a nice coincidence," he scanned him again from head to toe. Why don't you come with me for a while?

Faced with the new round of gasps from the rest, he knew that the proposal was quite surprising.

However, the alarms in his brain were dyeing everything red. His instinct screamed to don’t follow him.

And so he did. "I'm sorry, Fourth young master. I'm not one of your guests, so I’m not honorable.”

Mimicking the gorilla's tone, Sakura tactlessly rejected the offer.

Squinting, Kazuya smiled like a predator enjoying the vain attempts by his prey to escape.

"It's a pity. I hope we see each other more often, Haru-chan.”

But Kazuya would deeply regret his words over the years.

After that disastrous encounter, Sakura was greeted with shouting and reprimands from his aunt and uncle, followed by a brutal punishment: an entire week without food or water, plus two months without receiving his money from the government.

In his desperation to find food, he ended up running into groups of gang members who were trying to destroy the street stalls in the poorest area. Without thinking twice, he kicked each of them in the ass.

None of the vendors thanked him, but from time to time they turned a blind eye when he bought a cheap muffin and left a coin that didn't quite cover the cost.

It wasn’t until he arrived in Makochi that he understood the truth: these bullies were sent by Kazuya and his family to expel the tenants and make the land cheaper, thus facilitating the construction of a new subsidiary of his international company. It was a common tactic among the big fish in the real estate industry and their clients. And Sakura ruined everything.

Kazuya probably believed that his meddling in those dirty businesses was intentional. But he didn't know that Sakura had an annoying habit of getting into other people's trouble because of his instinct to protect the weakest, even if they never did the same for him.

He understood the extent of his mistake the following year, when he came face-to-face with Kazuya again.

It was a coincidence... and definitive proof that Kazuya was directly involved in those shady dealings.

For the umpteenth time in the week, Sakura reduced a group of gang members much larger than him to a secluded alley from the main street. As he grabbed the leader by the shirt, he ordered him to spread his words:

"The weak will fear me, and the strong will seek me."

A shadow was cast at his feet.

At the entrance to the alley, a 15-year-old Kazuya watched him with empty eyes.

"Haru-chan," he smiled feignedly, staring at the bodies lying on the ground in cold air. “What an interesting way to meet again.”

"Fourth young master," Sakura greeted him without interest, releasing the guy in his hands.

"Wow, do you remember me? It’s a real honor.”

"I should be the one saying that.”

The exchange of glances was so tense that it could be cut with a knife, but a whole year of fighting several times a day hardened his countenance in situations like this.

Kazuya watched his feat from top to bottom before advancing towards him with his hands in his pockets. Sakura had to raise his head; he was at least six inches taller than him.

"You're still as small and thin as I remembered," he said, looking him up and down. “Wouldn't you like to go eat at my house? You can call me Kazuya, by the way.”

"Thank you for the proposal, but I must reject it. I have to come back early." He ignored the disgust he felt at being looked at that way. “And, Kazuya?”

"Knowing that we were both called Haruka, I felt it was appropriate to create a nickname so we wouldn't be confused," he explained happily. Do you like it?”

Sakura couldn't completely control the grimace on his lips.

"It's... acceptable. As long as you like it.”

"I'd like it better if you liked it."

Kazuya giggled, and Sakura's expression soured. Every second with this lunatic felt more dangerous than the last.

"You know, Haru-chan? I know that it may be my impression, but I’ve always felt you have a certain rejection towards me since the first time we met. And it has only been twice.”

His eyes became two crescents. "But then I think that's very strange because your cousin and your uncles hold me in high esteem. The Sakura seem to worship me, am I wrong?”

Since being pushed aside after the disastrous party, Sakura stopped spending time in the empty shell he used to call home. Because of that, he had no idea of his growing closeness to Kazuya's family.

What he noticed was the smile they wore daily along with expensive jewelry and watches adorning their bodies every month.

It all made sense at the time, but he wouldn't admit it in front of this guy.

"Is that so? I guess everything has exceptions.”

Kazuya's smile was erased, but the inexplicable feeling living inside his eyes burned more than ever. Sakura was tempted to scratch his skin off.

"Haru-chan, you know what I've been doing, don't you?"

He didn't have time to answer that he had no idea what he was talking about when Kazuya kept talking:

"Why are you fighting me? I offered it to you once, remember? Come with me. I would take better care of you than those attempts you have as legal caregivers.”

He stretched out his hand toward him.

"Come, Haru-chan. I’ll give you everything you deserve, and I’ll fill you with the affection that’s never been given to you.”

Sakura looked at the outstretched hand without expressing any emotion, slowly raising his gaze until he met Kazuya's eyes.

He looked sure of himself as if this offer were nothing more than a simple formality, convinced that everything would turn out as he wanted. All his life, nothing had been denied him; Everything had been arranged to satisfy his tantrums.

He planned and manipulated with the ease of someone who never knew a real barrier. And at some point that Sakura could not specify, he himself had become another of his whims.

But Kazuya made his first mistake.

Sakura, someone who had endured injustice from the moment she was born, who lost the closest thing to her without ever receiving a shred of love, who was forced to exist by being despised at every turn, had never changed.

Because although he was convinced that he’d never be loved, that he’d never know what it was to be loved, he never stopped being himself.

Even at that moment, in the face of someone who surpassed him in every way, he wouldn’t bow down.

Because, no matter his past, Sakura was proud of who he was.

“No, Kazuya.”

Kazuya's eyes widened in amazement.

"No iré contigo."

That was probably the point at which everything broke.

After that, the gang members who came to torment the street were much more violent. They carried knives and bats capable of taking someone's life with a single blow, terrorizing the owners of the few premises that were already left.

No matter how hard he tried, Sakura wasn't able to hold them all back. Their fights became increasingly dangerous and extensive, achieving victory with a bunch of shallow cuts along his limbs.

On several occasions he returned with a dislocated shoulder to the shed he had for home, enduring the stabbing pains that ended up exploding with a fever in the solitude of those four walls.

Eventually, it didn't come enough. The last owner of a bread shop ended up closing his business months before he turned 15.

"You'd better stop fighting for something that can't be fixed," the man had said, turning his back on him. “The only thing you’ll achieve is to cause more problems. Get out of here.”

And Sakura left, because his existence was curse enough.

What he never expected is that, just a week after the construction of a subsidiary of Kazuya's company in the area was confirmed, his uncles would forcibly take him to the house of that bastard.

Not understanding, he tried to get away by all means, but his uncle seemed to have enormous strength over his body beyond his efforts.

"Be still," he spat angrily. “Did you think we wouldn't find out that this great project was delayed because of you? Stop being a nuisance in our lives and behave!”

Amid struggles, he ended up kneeling in the same place where he first met Kazuya, forced to keep his head down by his uncle's hand in his hair.

Kazuya's grandfather and father had the same eyes devoid of warmth as that bastard. They both had their arms crossed and watched the entire scene occur without making a sound, only showing a slight reaction when Kazuya entered the room.

Just like that time, he advanced to where he was and acted like a good Samaritan.

"Please let him go. He's just a kid.”

"I'm sorry, young master Haruka," his uncle blurted him out as if the touch was burning.

That was the first and only time he heard his name from his uncle's lips, and it wasn't even addressed to him.

As if he could read the thoughts in his head, Kazuya smiled crookedly at him from an angle that no one but Sakura, who was kneeling in front of his legs, could see.

"I'm sorry you were brought here like that," he said with false pity, bending down to his height.

Then, in a playful voice, he whispered:

"If you followed me, this wouldn't have happened.”

He hated being humiliated, but if he had to relive this scene for the rest of his life to not breathe the same air as that hypocrite, he would gladly do it.

Returning his smile with a defiant air, he whispered back:

"This isn’t so bad.”

The corners of Kazuya's lips froze in a forced expression.

Noticing the strange environment, the man with short hair and a prominent white beard raised one of his eyebrows.

"Everuthing all right, Haruka?"

"Yes, Grandfather.”

Standing up, Kazuya gave him one last look before turning around and walking in the direction of the two adults.

The other man who remained silent watched Sakura's kneeling body carefully.

"He's the guy who stopped our new branch for a year all alone?" His tone contained astonishment and annoyance in equal parts.

For some reason, his lower back became filled with cold sweat.

Looking at Kazuya, the man asked:

"What will you do?"

The question was suspended in the air. Although nothing around him could hurt him if he fought with all his might, the tingling in his neck made him feel as if he was under the guillotine.

Kazuya was silent for a few seconds, enjoying the power that was put into his hands, and ended up smiling.

"Nothing, Father. Don't see what it looks like? That's punishment enough.”

The man nodded.

"That's fine.”

Then he turned to his uncle, who was already gasping to invent some excuse or flattery, and spoke again:

"Don't worry about this incident. My son’s been instilled with the virtue of benevolence, and as a family, we always follow it. Something so small won't break relations between us," he smiled at him with the same falsehood as Kazuya looking at his brother.

Ecstatic, his aunt and uncle didn’t even look at him when he returned home, and they didn’t raise any objection when Sakura told them he wanted to study at Fuurin, a school for delinquents that one of the owners of the premises told him when he once helped her.

"You can go and do whatever you want with one condition," his uncle warned him the day before he left. “You’ll never communicate with us again. For our relationship with the Kiyaki family, we don't want to know anything more about you.”

And Sakura agreed.

With a simple carry-on suitcase on him, Sakura left Osaka on the same day of his birthday with his Fuurin uniform wrapped with the utmost care.

It was such an easy and minor decision that he never imagined the great mark and change it would mean in his life.

And so, he never thought he would see Kazuya again until he met Aki.

Aki was a frail and shy 14-year-old girl he met on one of his rounds. She had one of her cheeks swollen and cried hidden in a corner that served as a blind spot in the park.

With his characteristic impulsiveness, Sakura ended up getting involved. She told him that her boyfriend beat her and she was afraid to tell her grandparents. She didn't have enough courage to break up with him either.

He already found disgusting that a guy in his twenties was with a high school girl, but the fact that he punched her by taking advantage of her strength hurt him deeply.

He was about to go and break his face as soon as she finished telling him what happened, but Aki stopped him by the arm and begged him, between sobs, to please not do it, as it would only make things worse for her.

In the end, Sakura ended up letting out a sigh to relax his tense shoulders as he ran a hand through his hair, agreeing to help her until she was ready.

"And what's that bastard's name?" He asked angrily, looking at the swollen cheek with a sour chest.

Between hiccups, she replied:

"Kazuya."

Sakura felt that everything made sense.

For the next few days, he walked like a lunatic, walking through every uncrowded alley and shopping street until his eyes burned.

He knew that his abnormal attitude was getting the attention of his friends, but he couldn't risk involving them in the face of such a bastard. His economic and social power must’ve been much greater since the last time he saw him.

For the first time, Sakura had something he feared losing more than his own life.

After class, he escaped from his classmates' questions to meet Aki. Every day he saw her arrive with a new blow, he felt his heart tighten, knowing that this bastard no longer had scruples if he was capable of harming a high school girl.

That's why, a day before Aki decided to break up with Kazuya and asked him for moral support, Sakura escaped at midnight to look for him.

Having thwarted his plans for so long, he quickly guessed that the most suitable place for his dirty dealings would be the street in the red light district. And Sakura was as elusive as a cat, moving around unseen.

Around one in the morning, he found a group of vandals smoking in one of the most remote alleys in the area.

Holding back his annoyance at the smoke, he approached with his hands in his pockets. For fear of involving Fuurin, he went with his simple white shirt.

The cold night against his skin helped him keep his mind focused.

"What do you want, freak?" One of the guys asked aggressively, directing a warning with his fierce eyes.

"I'm looking for Kazuya," he replied simply, grimacing at the strong smell of tobacco against his face.

The group raised one of their eyebrows and looked at each other with some doubt, frowning.

"I think you've got the wrong men, buddy," replied another blond-haired man, taking a drag on his cigarette.

Sakura didn't give up.

"Don't you work for him?"

"We work for the boss. We don't know of any Kazuya.”

“...”

Sakura looked at his own feet. His instinct told him that his search was on the right track, so rummaging through his memories, he asked again:

"Does your boss have brown hair tied in a high ponytail?"

The gang members jumped into place, adopting defensive postures.

Like a mad dog, one spat:

"What do you want from the boss?"

"Nothing. Personally, I don't really know her—“ In his memories, there was only the image of a girl with an aggressive aura asking the girl he saved what happened. “Who I'm looking for is probably the guy she works for.”

Relaxing their shoulders, the group of gangsters was reassured to know their boss wasn’t in danger. The blond boy, letting go of the tail of his cigar and extinguishing it with his foot, walked to the other end of the alley and nodded his head.

"I don't know if the boss will be there, but I'll take you where they usually meet. Follow me.”

"Thank you," he muttered in a low voice, bowing slightly to the rest of the boys who returned the gesture.

The trip was silent most of the way. Sakura wasn't naturally outgoing or talkative, so he didn't feel uncomfortable walking in silence.

The other guy didn't seem to be either, but he still opened his mouth when they got far enough away from the alley.

"You're Sakura Haruka from Fuurin, right?"

Sakura felt flabbergasted and looked at him with his eyes wide open.

Although he’d made friends with Kanji and Suzuri, he didn't often go to play the new console the leader of Gravel bought with his savings.

Did they also know him in the red light district?

"Don't look at me like that. Your appearance is too unique not to be recognizable," the guy sneered.

Blushing, he replied aggressively:

"So what if I am?"

"It's not a bad thing," the other hurriedly clarified. “In fact, if I'm taking you to the boss's meeting place, it's because you're Sakura Haruka.”

Faced with the clear doubt adorning his face, the guy giggled.

"The boss adores those who defend women, whether they are weak or strong. If they are weak, she teaches them to be strong, and if they are strong, she controls them to use their power to protect the weak.”

He looked at him over her shoulder. "You don't know me, but my sister once told us how a boy with two-colored hair saved her from bastards. So I thank you for that.”

Sakura's face took a redder tone, avoiding the other's gaze with gritted teeth.

"I just did what I had to do.”

"And that's why I'm taking you to the boss's place," the guy smiled at him.

They didn't talk anymore.

The place he arrived at was quite ignorable in the middle of two large gambling sites, where drunks came and went with big smiles on their faces intoxicated with alcohol.

Knocking four times on the door in the shape of a cross, they both waited a few seconds before it was opened by a muscular guy with tattoos.

Seeing who had hit, the man's brow furrowed.

"Aren't you one of those who works for Boss 5?" He spat with doubt filling his voice. “You never come here.”

"The boss doesn't like us coming," clarified the guy who brought him as if it were nothing.

Moving away a little, he let the man see his body hidden behind him.

"The reason for my presence here is because my friend is looking for the boss's boss.”

Hardening his expression, the muscular man scanned him from head to toe and shifted his attention to blonde with veins marking on his neck.

"Did you bring a stranger to our lair?"

"He's not a bad guy. He's someone who protects the weak." He cut him off with a sarcastic smile. “It’s someone who meets the income parameters and the requirements of the boss to call him a good person. Did I do something wrong?”

The man gritted his teeth. "These things are warned.”

"If you were the boss, I would. But she doesn't like us being here, so, can't we leave this between the two of us?” He winked at him.

Snorting, the man ran his hand over his face as his lips formed a line.

His position made it clear that he accepted.

"You owe me one," he immediately stated.

"Annotated."

The guy turned, moving away from the small local and Sakura. As he left, he raised one of his hands in farewell and Sakura imitated his gesture.

When they were alone, the man focused his eyes on him and scanned him back up and down.

"Which of the bosses are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for a guy named Kazuya.”

Freezing in place, the guy's gaze gradually became cautious.

“... So you’re looking for the Boss.”

His tone made it clear that Kazuya was the biggest fish within the entire group.

Clenching his hands inside his pockets, Sakura nodded without giving another comment.

Stepping aside, the man motioned for him to enter with a nod of his head.

"Follow me."

Without looking away from his broad back, he entered.

He could feel that although the bustle inside hadn't subsided, a multitude of eyes stared directly into his face, burning his skin as if trying to create gaps along it.

Spending his entire life being watched for his appearance had been transformed into a fortune disguised as tragedy.

Maintaining an imperturbable attitude, they led him to one of the doors at the back of the premises. Due to the poor lighting, which only accentuated the entrance, very few people would be able to find that place if they didn't get close.

"The chiefs are meeting in here," the man informed him, stopping about 5 paces away.

Sakura nodded and moved to pass by him, but was stopped by the guy's muscular arm. When he looked up, he found a clear warning in his eyes.

"I trust the judgment of the imbecile who brought you, so let me tell them of your arrival," he asked.

Grimacing, he couldn't help but ask:

"Won't it bring you trouble?"

"I was already in trouble since I let you in," he laughed unamusedly. “I hope you're really an acquaintance of the Boss, or we'll both have a hard time.”

Sakura couldn’t bring himself to tell him that if he was the Kazuya he was searching for, the reaction he provoked might be worse than if he hadn’t known him at all. In the end, he simply nodded again, pursing his lips.

Satisfied, the man stepped forward and knocked on the door four times, tracing a cross almost identical to the one of the guy who brought him. The difference was that every time he hit the right and left, his touches were double and fast.

In less than five seconds, an androgynous-looking guy opened the door disinterestedly.

Seeing him, Sakura couldn't help but stare at his mismatched eyes in puzzlement. The man in front of him didn't look surprised, though he did give them a sidelong glance as if he silently understood the situation.

The androgynous fellow also looked at him in surprise, but his expression instantly soured.

"What do you want?"

"Boss 4," the muscular man saluted. “I'm sorry to interrupt you, but the guy behind me is looking for the Boss.”

"Hah?" And who does he think he is to look for the Boss?” He spat venomously, showing his teeth like a dog protecting his bone.

The man reacted visibly uncomfortable with the question, looking at him with some apology. Sakura understood the fact he overlooked asking his name, and raised his voice instead.

“Sakura Haruka.”

The uneven eyes of others fell on his.

"My name is Sakura Haruka. I'm sure your boss will remember me.”

Curving his lips sarcastically, the androgynous fellow leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms.

"Your name is as common as your appearance, why do you think the Chief will know who—?"

“—Haru-chan?”

Kazuya's presence captured all eyes.

Standing in the room, he wore a simple black shirt open at the level of his collarbone. His short hair was combed to the right, highlighting his marked features.

Smiling, his eyes lit up like two spotlights.

"You really are Haru-chan.”

“... Boss?” The androgynous fellow stammered, turning pale.

Kazuya glanced at him sideways and patted him on the shoulder.

"Shiku, leave us alone.”

Shiku lost all the color in his face and nodded like a broken wrist. His feet shuffled out of the room without even giving him one last look. The muscular man who accompanied them merely waved goodbye before following him.

Now alone, Sakura looked at him with annoyance.

Kazuya laughed.

"I missed that look.”

"I always knew you were despicable, but not that you could fall so low.”

"And hello to you too," he replied undeterred, folding his arms. “Don't you think it's a pleasant coincidence that we're so close? You even came looking for me.”

"Coincidence and bullshit," he spat, feeling the rage bubble in his chest. “Why did you come to Makochi?”

Kazuya's smile widened with a barely concealed mockery.

"Guess what?"

You damn bastard.

Sakura suppressed the insult, digging his nails into his palms to not lose his sanity.

"It was a girl, you fucker," well, he didn't repress it completely.

"You mean Aki-chan?" Kazuya rolled his eyes. “Haru-chan, you really like to get in where you're not called, don't you?”

"I'll get involved if it's about protecting everyone in this city!"

In two strides, Sakura pushed him by the shoulders.

Kazuya stumbled backward but didn't seem too affected. He raised an eyebrow in annoyance, though his smile was still intact.

"Anyone who passes this point with the intent to do harm, bring destruction, or harbor malice in their heart will be purged by Bofuurin, without exception," he recited, his threat as sharp as his red eyes.

"Ha...”

Kazuya grunted low, reflecting the same energy.

"So you won't hide it any longer.”

"It's the rules of this city," he wiped his hands on his pants as if he'd touched garbage. “And don't play the fool, surely you already knew that. Damn sickhead.”

Kazuya let out a nasal chuckle.

"If Bofuurin messes with me, I have every right to mess with them back. Can I?”

"Like I'm going to let you do it," he bellowed, clenching his jaw, saving all his anger for the next day.

Kazuya gave him a strange look that, unfortunately, he didn’t take into account.

"We'll see, Haru-chan.”

It was impossible to reason with a spoiled bastard like him. Sakura turned, swearing to himself he would beat his face in a fair fight, and walked towards the exit.

He’d barely taken a few steps when Kazuya spoke again.

For some reason, his sensitivity to other people's emotions allowed him to perceive a certain resignation... and something more. Something he didn’t know how to identify.

"Is this your answer, Haru-chan?"

Sakura stopped. But didn't look at him.

Kazuya sighed.

"You belong to Fuurin now, so you reject me. Definitely.”

Sakura's eyelashes trembled. He opened his mouth after a few seconds of silence.

"I never intended to follow you," he confessed.

And without waiting for an answer, he left.

If he’d turned one last time, he would’ve seen the bloodthirsty resolve forming in that bastard's dark eyes. He could’ve prepared himself for the killing intent that solidified in his expression along with the trembling in his tightly gripped hands.

If he had, he wouldn’t have felt death kiss the back of his neck.

The next day, everything went normally.

The same routine: waking up, washing up, going to school, studying, leaving class, and meeting Aki. Nothing was different. The only thing new was the tension in his muscles, typical before a fight.

He always fought putting his life at stake, willing to die rather than change or be bowed down.

And maybe that's why being truly on the verge of death didn't feel any different than any other day in his life.

After saying goodbye to Nirei and Suo, he walked to the place they’d agreed upon. According to her, it was the place where the two met.

Since he was near Kotoha's cafeteria, he thought for a moment about stopping by to say hello or creating a backup plan in case the situation got complicated, but the very thought of putting her in danger made him feel sick in the stomach.

He ended up meeting with the high school girl and waiting for Kazuya to show up for the meeting she’d requested.

And as he’d anticipated, it was not him who arrived.

More than 15 tall, muscular men approached with disdainful smiles, carrying bats and spiked-wrapped sticks as if nothing had happened. Aki paled next to him and trembled on the verge of crying at any moment.

"So you're the bastard who's messing with the boss's women?" One ran his tongue over his lips, laughing like a pig. “You'll see what happens—”

He didn't finish when, with a jump, Sakura’d already kicked him against his jaw, sending him to the ground in a single blow.

Adjusting his uniform with cold eyes, he blurted out his only comment:

"It's a kid, you moron.”

The rest of the gorillas came out of their stupor and ran to attack. Sakura dodged the bats and sticks that sought to connect against his head as best he could, moving it from side to side and hitting the aggressors in their blind spots.

Some fell after a single hit, but the others looked like rabid dogs, becoming more and more aggressive with each impact.

As one tried to land a kick against his torso, another ran through his blind spot and swung a spiked-wrapped stick at his neck, completely out of his mind.

Sakura felt the danger tickling and slumped straight on his back, holding his hands behind his head. Taking advantage of the momentum, he lifted his legs and impacted against their cheeks, moving his body like a top.

He didn't even have time to breathe as he watched them fall with white eyes when another guy screamed as he lunged at him with a bat, wobbling the object horizontally and aiming at his ribs.

Sakura barely pulled away, rolled on the ground twice, and then jumped to dodge a low blow. He felt the sweat fall down his forehead as he connected his fist against that man's cheek, listening to his jaw dislodge.

Everyone, seeing themselves in a disadvantageous position, attacked him like headless flies. Despite the advantage that this meant, facing so many guys who had more than their own fists was still a difficult job.

Watching everything from a distance, Aki rocked back and forth not knowing what to do. Her hands were caught in the center of her chest, looking more nervous by the second.

Dodging a blow aimed at his nose, Sakura narrowed one of his eyes from the effort and shouted:

"Run!"

Aki practically wanted to cry.

"I can't leave you here alone!"

He had to hold back the urge to growl, kneeling to evade a right hand. Resting his body on the ground, he lifted his left leg to kick his jaw.

"Then hide!"

However, before the girl could think of a place to hide, a guy from the group turned to run toward her with a fierce expression.

Aki looked at him in dismay, her lips parting in genuine surprise. She stood still as if the shock paralyzed her.

Sakura didn't have time to think too much about her reaction as his body moved on its own, pushing two guys with all his might.

He had to hold a groan deep in his throat as that man's fist lodged in the center of his chest, knocking air out of his lungs. He’d come at just the right time to prevent that attack from connecting with Aki's face.

Looking over his shoulder, he growled in a tight voice:

"Hide!"

Coming out of her stupor, the high school student ran to the other place with her eyes full of tears.

With more freedom, Sakura beat the group of gang members until they were unrecognizable, breathing in puffs.

"Sakura-san! Aki peeked out again, her nose red and congested with crying.

The sound of more people approaching made him mentally curse, running in the direction of the girl and dragging her towards the main street.

"Run!"

"Stop there, you bastard!"

He’d guessed that Kazuya would send his entourage of fools once he found out about his closeness to Aki—and that he would likely be there himself—but he never imagined he would send an entire horde, one he couldn’t possibly defeat on his own, no matter how strong he was.

Between gasps, both ran through the most desolate streets until they reached the center of the city, seeking to avoid as many accidents as possible to innocent citizens.

The student looked worse by the second, crying like a bundle of nerves.

"Why is everything going like this? Why are they doing this?” She asked again and again.

Sakura could understand her desperation, pushing her between the shortcuts he knew through gritted teeth. He had no mind or time to explain to her that there was no point in trying to understand the twisted mind of an egomaniacal bastard like her boyfriend.

And it was Kazuya's conception that made him completely forget the idea of calling for reinforcements.

Forming a quick plan, which consisted of hiding Aki in Kotoha's cafeteria without those who followed them noticing and having her friend take care of calling the rest while he fought against those who could, he felt his mind light up when they turned a corner and the shopping street showed itself.

"It's not long now! Run!”

"Yes!"

The sound of screams and footsteps of people following them, combined with their own gasps and heartbeats pounding in their ears, made them both sweat profusely, uncertainty squeezing their lungs.

Getting closer and closer, Sakura ignored the dismayed looks of the tenants when they saw him running in desperation and indicated to Aki between shouts:

"You'll go into the Photos café and hide until I tell you!"

The high school student looked at him like he was a fool. And in part he was.

"Are you crazy?! You won't be able to beat everyone alone!”

"I won't be alone, I just need time!" He clarified, showing his teeth, and pushing her around the last corner. “When I tell you—!”

But his words died along the way.

A few steps from Kotoha's place, Kazuya and two other guys were waiting for them with a sardonic smile.

Knowing that he would hear him despite the hubbub, Kazuya spoke calmly:

"You'd better get into the alley if you don't want everything to turn out worse."

Gritting his teeth, Sakura grabbed Aki's wrist and went into the alley that the bastard indicated him to.

Leaning her against the wall, he turned to protect her from any eventuality. He could feel her body trembling, clinging to his back with all her might.

“Sakura-san…?”

"Don't talk. I'll take care of this," he calmed her down, trying to look as calm as possible.

Nodding, they both watched Kazuya enter from the same direction as them. On the other side, the group of people who’d been following them stopped with heavy breaths, glaring at them with red eyes.

Kazuya waved at them and they all lowered their bats and spiked sticks, standing as still as trained dogs.

Sakura's stomach sank at such a scene, watching Kazuya with all his senses on alert.

"Aki-chan," the bastard ignored him. “What does all this mean?”

Tensing, the high school student was unable to respond.

Kazuya made a soft sound. "I see...”

He watched Sakura from head to toe.

"Is this some kind of betrayal?"

The aura emanating from all the idiots who followed him became much more dangerous, making them feel like they were on the edge of a cliff.

Cursing mentally, Sakura quickly scanned the entire alley looking for a way out. His nerves twitched for every second in that deadly uncertainty, hating to see that shit-eating smile with which Kazuya looked at him.

However, his triumph did not last long.

Crying, Aki ended up breaking down between hiccups.

“Ka-Kazu-chan.”

His heart skipped a beat.

"Kazu-chan... Let's get this over with, please...”

"Aki?" He asked in amazement, looking over his shoulder.

The student didn't look at him, fixing her watery eyes on that bastard's body with an attempt at a smile.

"W-we've measured Sakura-san's value enough, don't you think?” She sniffed through her nose. “I know your actions are that e-extreme because you want to protect the weak, but this is too much...”

"Aki."

Kazuya cut her off in a cold voice. The person behind him let out a terrified gasp, putting her hands to her chest unconsciously.

Cocking his head, Kazuya received an object wrapped in a piece of cloth from a bespectacled guy next to him, slowly unwrapping it.

His eyes, icy and threatening, pierced the high school student's face like a snake about to coil around her neck, suffocating her to death.

"When did I give you permission to speak?"

Fwosh.

"Be careful!”

With all his senses at the limit, Sakura managed to run Aki to the side at the same moment that something flew next to them and stuck in the wall with a shrill sound.

Utterly speechless, they both stared at the kitchen knife stuck in horror.

Aki almost fell to her knees, as white as paper.

“Kazu-chan...?”

"You are no longer of any use to me.”

Kazuya hid his hands inside his pockets and nodded at them.

"Grab them."

The guys next to him immediately rushed toward them.

"Shit!"

With adrenaline taking control of his body, Sakura bent down slightly to grab Aki's legs and pass them around his waist. The high school student's scream burst his eardrum, but he didn't stop.

"Hold on tight!" He shouted back.

Aki obeyed out of inertia, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Feeling that his grip was firm, Sakura rushed towards the wall in front of him and began to climb between jumps. His legs burned in protest at the extra weight he was carrying, though his mind registered none of it. Nor the feeling that something fell out of his pocket.

Amid the stunned looks of their oppressors, Sakura climbed to the roof in less than thirty seconds and ran with Aki on his back, carrying her away amid the child's terrified screams.

"Catch them," he managed to hear.

He ran and jumped between the rooftops with all his might, never letting go of his grip on her body. His lungs burned as the minutes passed and his vision became cloudy.

Not even that could stop him.

"I'm sorry," Aki cried against his neck over and over, completely devastated. “He deceived me, Sakura-san, I-I didn't want this to happen...”

"It's all right," he comforted her between gasps with a dry throat. “There’s no time for apologies. Later, you’ll tell me well what happened.”

At this point, failing to realize it was all a trap would be foolish. A part of him was furious at how the situation had unfolded, but his mind remained clear enough not to blame the girl he was carrying.

Sakura knew that Kazuya’d used her to get to him.

If he looked at it that way, the victim who was involved and guided like a headless fly was Aki herself.

"Change of plans," he gasped as he jumped onto some emergency stairs and descended as fast as he could. “You'll get as far away from here as you can and not look back, okay?”

The girl's face wrinkled as more tears fell uncontrollably, but she nodded anyway.

"I'll bring help. I swear I'll fix it, Sakura-san...”

Sakura nodded to make her feel better, even if his intuition told him that it’d all be in vain.

Finishing down the last stretch, he started running towards an alley that would take him away from the main street when the sound of something being thrown again reached his ear.

Lunging forward, he rolled on the ground amid Aki's screams. His arms moved faster than his mind and he hugged the high school student's body, protecting her as best he could.

Both finished rolling after a couple of meters. Next to their heads, a stick full of nails with the tip sticking out rested on the ground.

It was the object that had been thrown at them.

Paleing, they looked at the guy who’d done it, and saw the guy with glasses who handed the knife to Kazuya approaching while eating his nails.

"Ha, what a touching scene. The way you protect her even though she betrayed you... I want that too...”

His thick-rimmed glasses didn't hide the way his eyebrows, curved in a melodramatic fashion, took on a completely still position like a madman.

"I'm dying of envy.”

“!!”

Sakura pulled Aki to the side, turning to avoid the foot that sought to crush their heads by the hair.

"I want to have it. If I can't have it, then I'll destroy it.”

His muscles were too exhausted to get up quickly enough and dodge the trampling. He could only roll on the ground, his uniform covered in dust and dirt like that of a wounded animal, unable to stand up.

"I want it! I want it!! I WANT IT!!”

Each stomp fell harder, as did the screams that accompanied it.

At one point, his shoulder slammed into the nail-covered stick, and a shriek escaped his lips as one of them sank into his skin. The pain blurred his vision for a second.

A second enough for the bespectacled lunatic to put his foot up, pointing directly at his head.

"If you don't give it to me, die!"

"NO!!”

The impact never came.

Opening his eyes, Sakura watched in horror as Aki lunged at the guy.

"Aki!!”

As if waiting for her, the spectacled man's alienated expression returned to normal in less than a blink, using the student's momentum to turn her and smash her to the ground with one of his hands.

The little girl's face was disfigured in pain, opening her mouth to let out a mute cry.

"Let her go!"

However, as he tried to stumble forward, a metal bat whistled in the air, searching for his back. A chill ran down the back of his neck as he narrowly dodged it.

He turned his head, his pulse racing, and found the group of gang members smiling crookedly at him.

"Very good job, Tanemi.”

Kazuya appeared next to the glasses guy, putting one foot on Aki's head.

He put pressure.

"Aaaah!!”

Aki couldn't contain her scream.

"Let her go, you bastard!" Sakura roared, but couldn't advance even two steps when another guy from the group behind him again tried to attack him. “Shit!”

"It's not good that you're so upset, you know? It can cost you dearly in the middle of a fight," Kazuya sneered stepping on Aki's head nonstop, seemingly delighted in her squeals.

His eyes curled into two crescents, and he spoke to the retinue of idiots with bats and clubs.

"Attack.”

In less than a blink of an eye, a horde of almost 20 people pounced on him.

Sakura didn’t even have time to curse before throwing himself into the fight, defending with tooth and nail. Sweat clung to his skin, the exhaustion of fleeing and fighting taking its toll.

No matter how skilled he was in combat, his body no longer responded as it’d at the beginning. The reflexes became heavy, the muscles ached, and before he could react, the blows and impacts of blunt objects began to break through, punishing his body mercilessly.

"No! Kazu-chan, that's enough!!”

Seeing that he was being cornered and overwhelmed, Aki screamed with all his might despite her situation, crying with such impetus that snot fell from her nose.

She looked devastated.

"Why is it enough?" Kazuya asked with genuine doubt, watching as Sakura fell toward the short end of the stick as if watching a movie. “I'm simply getting rid of the new great threat to Fuurin's power. I am preventing this city from falling back into ruins, Aki-chan.”

"AGH!"

Among his absurd explanations, a bat hit Sakura's legs with such force that it forced him to kneel.

The student's eyes burned from the lack of blinking, witnessing all that her stupidity was causing.

"That’s isn’t true! Kazu-chan, STOP!!”

"I don't want to.” He sneered.

With a gesture of his hand, the guy with glasses stopped pinning her to the ground and yanked her to a halt, keeping her arms restrained behind her back.

A sharp pain throbbed in Aki’s head, making her narrow her eyes, her face damp with sweat. Rough fingers seized her jaw, forcing her to keep her focus on the fight.

A spiked stick was about to strike Sakura’s cheek, but at the last second, he crouched, dodging it just in time and landing a solid blow to the attacker’s stomach.

However, the only thing Aki's brain processed was that Sakura was almost seriously injured.

"NO!!” She tried to stir. “Enough, Kazuya!!”

"Haha...”

Kazuya simply laughed, whispering playfully against her cheek.

"Why should I? Look what you've helped me achieve, Aki-chan. Enjoy this show as I do.”

Aki tried to shake her head with all his might, but the hand clinging to her jaw prevented her from even moving an inch. Another hand joined in the torment, pressing against her forehead with such brutality that her eyelids were caught under the palm, forcing her to keep her eyes open.

It was no different from torture.

"Enough! Please, enough is enough!!”

Aki screamed for mercy until her voice was reduced to a hoarse thread, but no one heard her.

Sakura could feel the pain in each of her screams as if her chest was being torn apart. He’d knocked down half of those bastards despite the overwhelming disadvantage, but he still couldn't catch up with her.

He gritted his teeth and forced his body beyond its limits, using the walls as a prop to propel himself and kick his assailants into the stomachs. He rolled on the ground regardless of his condition, dodging blows with the desperate precision of someone who couldn't afford to miss.

Thanks to his chaotic and savage fighting style, gang members began to fall one after another, tipping the scales in their favor.

Kazuya's smug smile faded little by little, his laughter dying in his throat as he watched the situation reverse before his eyes.

Aki's mouth was half-open, gasping harshly almost as if by reflex, tears still streaming down her face.

"Do you want us to do something, boss?"

The man who kept Aki's eyelids immovable spoke with some prudence, his huge body leaning respectfully towards Kazuya.

Seeing that Sakura was about to knock out the last three guys left, Kazuya let out a sigh and spoke in a bored tone.

"Give me that."

Without delay, the enormous man handed him another object wrapped in a cloth. It was a little bigger than the one the type of glasses had given him.

Looking sideways, Aki paled.

"Tanemi," the guy with the glasses straightened his posture. “Take care of those that remain so there’s no evidence left.”

"Yes, boss.”

With a jump, the boy ran in the direction of Sakura.

Unwrapping the object, Kazuya walked far enough to be in front of the student, turning his back to Sakura. His arm carrying the huge knife was in such a position that, from behind, it would only look like it was going to hit her.

"No!"

Aki could immediately guess what he’s going to do, and hearing Sakura's cry getting closer and closer, she shouted with all the hatred in her heart:

"KAZUYA!!”

Smiling, Kazuya lowered the knife.

However, the pain did not come bodily.

Feeling Sakura's arms coil around her at the same time as the burly man let go of her, Aki watched in horror as the knife plunged into Sakura's body second by second, as well as Kazuya's happiness overflowing from his pores.

Everything was happening in slow motion, and Aki went crazy.

"SAKURA!!!”

Sakura didn't let out any sounds, falling to his knees next to the student. The three guys he had been fighting had already been knocked out by the goggle guy, who was watching the entire scene in total silence.

"Sakura! SAKURA!!”

Hugging him, Aki couldn't stop screaming in a high-pitched voice.

Kazuya continued to bury the knife with all his might, enjoying Sakura's spasms with each thrust and the warm blood splashing against his hand.

Knowing that the girl wouldn't hear him by completely breaking her mental state, he got close enough to whisper in Sakura's ear while twisting the knife inside his guts.

"Your sin was that you didn’t honor me, Haru-chan.”

His cheeks were red as if feeling Sakura die under his hand excited him.

"If you don't want to belong to me, you can't belong to anyone.”

Puaj.

Sakura vomited blood.

"Sakura!!”

Pulling out the knife in one swift motion, Kazuya watched the hot blood begin to stain the ground, stopping without taking his eyes off his masterpiece. His breathing was heavy, too intoxicated.

After a few seconds, he turned and handed the bloody knife to the burly guy, who wrapped it again with utmost care.

"Keep it and frame it in my office," he commanded, walking away from the alley with calm steps. “Let's leave before the others arrive.”

As he spoke, he took a cell phone from his pocket and threw it in the trash can.

It was Sakura's phone that had fallen in his escape climbing onto the roof.

On the cracked screen, the messaging app was still on.

Tachibana Kotoha.

Please, sister, help me.

Location.

Read.

After being stabbed, Sakura felt the darkness envelop him.

His limbs went numb, his eyelids heavy like lead. The warmth that flowed from the wound contrasted with the cold that spread through his body. Breathing became an agonizing task.

Aki's screams, which at first deafened him, began to fade into the distance. Even as he felt her small arms clinging to him in despair, Sakura had the terrifying feeling that he was slipping out of reality.

Perhaps, what disappeared was not the world, but himself.

A spasm ran through his body as he coughed up blood, and a chill deeper than the cold of the wound settled in his chest as if something inside him already knew what was going to happen.

With a titanic effort, he looked away at the entrance to the alley. A panting silhouette paused in the twilight of the sunset.

… It looked like Kotoha.

"SAKURA!!”

The arms that held him changed suddenly. Now they were longer, firmer, trembling with anguish. They arranged him with desperate care, resting his body on something soft.

His head was spinning, but even in the fog of his mind, he could feel the warmth in that embrace.

"No! No please, NO!!”

Between screams, the person squeezed his wound, which had penetrated to the other side of his chest without him noticing, and pressed with such force that his weakened senses sent a signal of pain to his brain.

He couldn't help but gasp, arching his back.

"Don't fall asleep!! Resist, Sakura!!”

Completely overcome with grief, Sakura faintly heard the sound of more footsteps approaching, followed by gasps and horrified screams.

"Oh my God!"

"Aaah!!”

"An ambulance! Call an ambulance!!”

With his consciousness being just a piece of what it commonly was, he could guess that the combination of voices and screams were desperate to save someone.

But who...?

"Sakura!!”

Ah, it was him.

Someone wanted to help him...

Sakura never thought that he would see someone go crazy for trying to save him. Even less, that it would happen while he was dying.

… The fate was really unpredictable.

A sigh-like laughter escaped his lips, and with one last effort, he looked up.

Everything was blurry, the world was darkening at the edges, but still, he could see them.

The tears.

The first ones fell on his skin like warm drops, followed by many more, contrasting against how icy his face felt.

Through the mist, he recognized that face discomposed by pain.

Kotoha chattered his teeth as she pressed his wound desperately, opening and closing her mouth in screams that he struggled to understand.

He no longer felt anything.

"Don't fall asleep!! Don't you dare close your eyes, Sakura Haruka!!”

“Sakura-san!!”

Aki's trembling hand took his, though he could barely feel the rubbing of her skin against his numb hands.

More blood fell from his mouth as he opened it to say something, receiving more screams from the people watching him.

"Sakura!!

“... F…”

Sakura remembered the face of his mother, sucked and yellowed.

Does he look the same?

He didn't want Kotoha to have that image of him as the last one...

"Sakura!!”

Two hands, red and filled with a hot liquid, held his head still.

Kotoha forced him to look directly into each other's eyes.

Sakura had never seen her so destroyed, crying as if her life was ending along with his...

He didn’t cry when his mother died.

He didn't even want to cry now that he was dying.

But seeing Kotoha cry would have brought tears to his eyes if he’d had the strength.

Feeling that he could no longer feel his whole body from the neck down, Sakura knew that his time was near and forced himself to speak:

“... For... give me...”

Forgive me for not being enough. Forgive me for not winning. Forgive me for leaving such a big wound in your heart when you didn't deserve it.

Forgive me for dying.

Absorbing the sight of Kotoha raising her eyebrows in dismay, Sakura knew that even if she didn't understand him, she’d heard him.

And he stopped forcing himself to live.

He didn't know if his soul had left his body and wandered around the same place until the ambulance arrived, but in the middle of the darkness, he saw it all with heartbreaking clarity.

He saw what happened when his chest stopped moving.

Kotoha let out the most anguished cry he had ever heard—or should he say he would never hear?—and clung to him as if her embrace could bring him back. She swayed between shrieks, crying out for his awakening, her sobs tearing through the increasingly cold air of the evening.

He didn't know when the tenants arrived, but they were also shouting his name, some crying, others trying with awkward desperation to remove Kotoha from his corpse.

No one succeeded.

She pushed them, struggled, threw frantic hands, clinging to him as if separating meant losing him forever.

Blood soaked her green apron, slid down her face, and mixed with tears, leaving lighter furrows on her cheeks. Then, she buried her face in his inert chest, and, not feeling his heartbeat, she cried even harder.

Refusing to give up, Kotoha began to press his chest with both hands, counting between breathy gasps, pushing with her whole being, in the absurd hope of bringing him back to life.

Sakura wanted to tell her to stop. That it was useless.

But he couldn't.

His existence had already crossed the threshold, and his voice would never again reach the world of the living.

Then, everything became a whirlwind of darkness and memories.

In the blink of an eye, the alley lit up with the ambulance's flashing lights. He was lifted onto a stretcher urgently, amid the heart-rending screams of Kotoha and Aki, who rushed up with him.

In another blink, she saw Kotoha pull out her phone, screaming in despair that his heart wasn't beating, tears streaming down her face until it glowed in the white light of the ambulance.

And in another blink, everything went black.

He didn't know if he was alive or dead. He didn't understand why his conscience came and went like a bad joke or if he was supposed to have already crossed over to the other side.

Didn't limbo exist?

Was there no other life?

Would he stay in that darkness forever, listening to voices?

Will he remain until the end of the world hearing the voices of his friends, of Kotoha, of Umemiya, and more people fluttering through his mind until he goes mad?

He didn't know how, but Sakura felt his brow furrow.

First, he felt the people around him begging him to wake up, and then the sound varied between strangers saying numbers he didn't understand to his friends telling him about their day, which he guessed because his consciousness heard half of it.

In others, nothing made sense.

“... fight...”

Like at that time.

It was Umemiya's voice.

He couldn't understand what he was saying, but soon he heard another voice.

“... Will he stay...?”

Kotoha?

"Yes. He will take care of... while we... and I... I fight Kazuya...”

…!

No!

The darkness seemed to flash a million shrill lights against his mind, causing his blindness to be too white now.

You can't!

Fighting Kazuya is something that only I can do!

"Are you sure you can go alone?"

"You'll face that girl alone, too. You are not in a position to reproach me.”

Kotoha was going to fight too?!

"I know. It's just that... I don't want to lose another brother.”

“Kotoha-chan...”

Sakura felt useless.

His brain, for some strange reason, seemed to be fighting along with him to regain control of his body, but it was costly. He was struggling so hard to wake up and stop them that Sakura couldn't even process that a dead person wasn’t supposed to do that.

"Today marks two weeks since he’s been in a coma, right?"

“... That's right.”

"The doctor said that if he didn't wake up in that time, it was difficult for he to do it again..."

There was a silence for who knows how long.

“... I miss him...”

"Me too," Umemiya let out a giggle that he didn't need to look at to know it was forced. “Damn, if he opened his eyes at this very moment and told me to stay by his side, I would gladly give my fight to someone else...”

"Don't tempt me. I would do the same.”

Sakura struggled to take control of his body more strongly.

Don't go! Don't go!!

"We are too spoiled siblings. We’re already used to Sakura giving us the privilege of his existence that now we could abandon everything to be by his side.”

"You say so. I never imagined that I would gladly give my life for someone who wasn’t my blood...”

No!!

"But does that really matter? Sakura is our brother anyway.”

"I never said it mattered, silly big brother.”

Please don't go...!!

Beep!

The shrill sound of a machine made him see stars.

"What's going on?!" It was Umemiya who shouted.

"Quick, call a doctor! His heart is racing too fast!”

Feeling footsteps running in desperation, Sakura wanted to scream.

Don't go!

Don't leave me!

Don't die for me!

The words were about to choke him, and forcing his body to obey the commands of his brain, Sakura opened his eyes.

Everything before him was so blurry that it might as well be an amalgam of shadows and shapeless figures of different colors moving away from him, but Sakura knew perfectly well that they were the bodies of Umemiya and Kotoha.

Of his siblings.

Remembering what they said, Sakura managed to move one of his fingers slightly and opened his mouth, noticing the blurred silhouettes stopping as if their hearts had been ripped out.

“... Don't go...”

Sakura didn't notice that he’d woken up, much less that he said that word out loud with a broken voice.

He was so worried about stopping his new family that he didn't even process that he had, indeed, survived.

Chapter Text

Takiishi Chika looked out the window.

The sun was about to disappear in the west, and the stars were already accompanying the moon on that silent night. Inside the hospital room, the sound of machines monitoring vital signs was the only thing that broke the lapidary silence.

Arms crossed, his eyes fell on the entrance of the hospital.

"Will you stay here?" He heard behind him.

Without looking at him, he nodded.

Then he added, "That's what was asked of me.”

Sakura let out a slight chuckle, interspersed with a few sighs. Any action seemed to hurt him, even something as simple as a laugh.

"I assumed so.”

He was silent for a few minutes.

"Would you go and help if necessary?"

At the question, Chika turned his head slightly.

"I was asked to stay here," he repeated. “With you.”

"I'm hospitalized," Sakura returned between puffs. “There are guards outside who can take care of me.”

"But none of them are as strong as I am," he replied obviously.

Lowering his arms, Chika walked to the bed in the center of the room and leaned on its side. His golden eyes fell directly on the body lying on it, analyzing him for no apparent reason.

Feeling his gaze, Sakura blinked tiredly and frowned.

"What ya’ looking at?"

Without answering, Chika shifted his gaze from the thin, barely perceptible figure between the sheets to Sakura's paler, bonier face.

The last time he’d seen him was after his confrontation with Umemiya. They were both soaked by the sudden rain, but Sakura's uneven eyes didn't tremble as he looked at either Endo or him.

Takiishi thought it was interesting.

He was just a puny boy, smaller and skinnier than any other of his age, with an appearance so singular that it forced you to look at him more than once. He was covered with wounds, and the rain wasn’t enough to wipe out the deplorable state of his uniform, dirty with dirt and full of scratches.

And yet, he couldn't help but feel in those alien eyes the same overwhelming heat that he’d once felt in ancient Umemiya.

Endo looked happier than usual after saying goodbye to him, casually reminding him of an apparent promise to talk again in the future — something that sparked his curiosity.

His mind strained to recall the features of that guy who had stubbornly refused to disappear from his life a few years ago, and he wasn’t sure if that stupid smile was the same one he always wore.

"Are you happy that the little boy agreed to keep seeing you?"

There was nothing behind the question but an attempt at small talk, yet Endo still looked overjoyed.

"You mean Sakura?" Endo adjusted his grip on Chika’s thighs as they slipped into a blind spot in the city. "If I’m honest, I am."

Endo turned his head slightly, just enough to meet his gaze.

"Interested?"

"A little," Chika admitted, resting his chin on Endo’s shoulder. Endo’s body tensed, but Chika didn’t take it seriously. "He seems like someone who’s going to become very strong."

"You think so too?" Endo chuckled. "He definitely will."

Watching his red ear sideways, Chika blinked and let Sakura's face etch into his mind, shifting his attention to the street they were traveling.

"We should recruit him.”

“It would be a dream to be able to do it, but I see it as quite difficult.”

In the end, Endo was right. Sakura was untouchable not only to the representation of Fuurin completely, but to Umemiya Hajime himself.

Reluctantly, Endo added Umemiya's number to his phone, and the three had a small encounter in the month that Makochi was striving to return to normal, taking advantage of the fact that Umemiya was forbidden from helping until his wounds healed.

During that conversation—mostly led by Umemiya—Chika casually mentioned Sakura and asked if he might be interested in joining them.
"I noticed you were close that time, and you know people better than I do," he explained without any expression.

However, Umemiya’s smile vanished in an instant, replaced by an unusual coldness in his deep blue eyes. Reflexively, his hands clenched into fists, and even Endo stepped forward, sensing the sudden tension.

"Sakura belongs to Fuurin," the white-haired man declared, his voice leaving no room for argument.

Endo clicked his tongue.
"That’s not for you to decide. If Sakura wants to come with us, you can’t stop him."

"Yamato Endo."

It was rare for Umemiya to use someone’s full name—especially in such an unmistakable tone: a clear warning to shut up.

Umemiya’s gaze pinned them both in place, making it clear that any foolish ideas they had about Sakura needed to end immediately.

"No one will take my little brother away from me."

After that, the two began arguing like little kids. Endo complained that Umemiya was being selfish and that Sakura would be furious if he knew decisions were being made for him. For the first time, Umemiya showed genuine exasperation, insisting that Sakura would never leave Makochi—or Fuurin.

In the midst of them, Chika kept drinking his iced tea in silence, letting the first two people he considered "not boring" continue their childish discussion about the third person that his mind, for some reason, decided to remember.

Now, that same beaten and skinny face was in front of him, staring back at him. His cheeks looked more hollowed, and although he was clean from head to toe, his pale skin made him look even worse than when he was covered in wounds.

But his eyes... those eyes remained the same.

The same overwhelming energy. The same fire that was not extinguished by rain or storms. The same fire that seemed to grow with each attempt to extinguish it.

Frowning tightly, Sakura watched him as if he were looking at a lunatic.

"What the fuck are ya’ looking?"

"Don't you want to join us when you recover?"

Silence.

The beep, beep of the machine next to the bed was the only one that marked the seconds in which neither of them said anything.

After a timed minute, Sakura gasped in genuine confusion.

"Hah?"

"Us. Endo and I," Chika explained. “We are recruiting interesting people.”

"No— stop. I understood that. What I'm saying is..." He closed his eyes with some annoyance, looking at him with a much more noticeable uncertainty. “You're asking... me?”

"Who else?"

Sakura was silent again, pursing his lips. The machine monitoring his heart detected a slight rise, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“... I don't understand why," he ended up replying. “Did Endo say anything about me?”

"Besides how he’d go to fight a guy who calls himself Lust because his boss almost killed you, no," he replied as if nothing happened.

At the mention of the fight, Sakura's body tensed up in plain sight. The corners of his mouth twisted with suppressed rage, and his mismatched eyes lowered until his eyelashes cast a shadow on his cheekbones.

“... So why do you want me to join?” His thin arms pointed all over his body. “I don't know if you noticed, but I'm useless right now, and probably will be for the rest of the year.”

Chika also looked at his body from head to toe, shrugging his shoulders.

"You're still interesting.”

Opening his eyes in surprise, Sakura ended up letting out a laugh that almost squeezed the air out of his lungs, squeezing his stomach at the level of his wound.

The former strongest guy in Fuurin just watched him laugh expressionlessly, just as unflappable as ever. Besides when he fought, his face showed no great emotion.

"Thank you for that, but I'll have to decline," Sakura spoke between sighs. A layer of sweat formed at the height of his forehead, bringing a little more life to his appearance. “I want to stay here, with Fuurin.”

Chika turned his face to the window, noticing that the stars had already finished filling the entire sky.

"Even though you'll be useless for the rest of the year?"

Sakura let out a sigh while still smiling, nodding.

"Despite that.”

"Good," Chika agreed, taking his hands off the bed. “I'll ask you again in a while.”

The hospitalized boy raised one of his eyebrows in amusement.

"I already said no.”

"Now you did," he clarified, "but in the future the answer may change.”

Sakura chuckled. "You're insistent.”

"I'm used to getting what I want," he explained, remembering Endo. His eyes wandered to the other's stomach, where Sakura was still squeezing as if in pain. “Don't laugh anymore, your wound can open.”

"It's been intact for more than two weeks," the man with uneven hair said, brushing it off. “Now there is only a little pain left. No shit I haven't overcome before.”

Chika listened in silence, remembering how much Umemiya and his sister —who called herself Kotoha— insisted that Sakura couldn't suffer even the slightest scratch by leaving him as his direct defense.

With this in mind, he commented:

"Your siblings will be angry if they know this.”

Tensing up, Sakura stopped laughing suddenly, pursing his lips with some guilt.

“... Don't call them like that," he spat. “And don't tell them either.”

"Aren't they your siblings?" Chika asked, genuinely curious.

After all, when Umemiya clarified that they couldn't take him, he really believed they were brothers. They both shared the same hair color, and one of their eyes looked alike.

“... Yes, they are," Sakura said with red cheeks, avoiding his gaze.

"Then behave and recover," Chika put his hands in his pants pockets, walking to the window.

There, the entrance was no longer as desolate as it was a few minutes ago. Four figures in Fuurin's uniform faced them, and even from that distance, the desire to tear apart those a few steps away could be felt.

Among the opposing group, a guy with long hair pulled back in a simple ponytail was staring directly at him, smiling as if he’d already located his prey.

Chika held his gaze for a few seconds before pulling out his phone to look at the time.

It was three minutes to seven o'clock at night.

"They’re here?"

Sakura asked, though his worried eyes gave away that he didn't need the answer. Chika nodded anyway, walking straight to the door.

"I'll be back in a few minutes," he stopped just before picking up the knob. “Well, I may not come alone, by the way.”

"It's okay," Sakura pursed his lips, looking resigned.

His clenched hands trembled on the bed, and it didn't take anyone to be a genius to know that he was about to go mad by not being able to fight. It all started with him, and as the main victim, he was forced to watch from the sidelines. Completely useless.

However, his eyes, fixed on his, burned harder than ever.

The fire in them was unbreakable, as if he knew everything would be all right.

"Come back soon."

It was not a "good luck" or an order for them to win. Sakura was sure they would. He only asked them not to take too long.

Nodding, Chika opened the door and walked out, nodding to the two first-graders waiting outside the room. One had pink hair, and the other was a muscular guy with orange hair.

"I don't think it's necessary, but don't move from here in case something escapes us," he said on the air, heading for the exit.

He heard the positive response from both of them behind him as he boarded the elevator. His phone vibrated twice, and on the screen he read Umemiya's name asking if everything was okay.

"Yes," he replied without much detail. It was one minute to 7 o'clock.

As he made his way to the exit, he noticed that all the nurses and doctors were still acting normally, ignoring that a horde of dangerous guys were waiting for orders to destroy the place.

At the entrance, a group of boys in Fuurin's uniform and another in various clothes approached as the automatic doors finished opening. Among them, a woman in a mid-skirt approached him with a soft smile.

Chika recognized her. "Did Endo send you?"

"Where else would we be otherwise?" She replied simply, pursing her lips in a pout in the cold air that, apparently, would ruin her skincare. “The two most important things for the boss are here. We strategically divided ourselves into all locations.”

"Are the others about to start, too?" Chika asked, walking towards the four kings who were watching him sideways, without moving an inch.

"Exactly. The battle will begin..." The girl looked at her watch. “In a few seconds.”

"Takiishi." Tsubaki nodded at him, letting him pass to face them all.

Chika nodded, listening to the girl tell in reverse with some emotion. His golden eyes locked onto the confident expressions of Taizai's bastards, without making a sound.

“3… 2…”

At the last second, he glanced up right at Sakura's room and let out a sigh.

"Let's do this quickly. Sakura asked us to end this soon.”

"Yes," the group behind him responded in unison.

The girl smiled and finished telling:

“1.”

The sound of vibrating cell phones resonated throughout the area, on both sides.

In all of them, he said the same word:

"Attack."

On the outskirts of the city, a large group of people approached an abandoned site.

The place was practically in ruins, with an old winery crumbling at the center of a small hill. The walls were so corroded they looked as thin and fragile as paper, and the area was overrun with weeds and dead plants.

"I didn’t know Makochi had places like this," Inugami said, resting his hands behind his head.

Beside him, the Shishitoren members nodded in agreement. More reservedly, the guys from Gravel and Roppo Ichiza did too, though they didn’t seem particularly affected by their surroundings. In their eyes, there was a certain familiarity with such landscapes.

It was the students from Fuurin who remained silent, their eyes fixed on the back of the person about to face one of Taizai’s great commanders and his provisional leader in the upcoming fight.

Sugishita never took his eyes off the front, maintaining his usual hunched posture and cold gaze.

"How much time is left?"
Without delay, one of his companions pulled a phone from his pocket and replied:
"Less than a minute."
"Good."

Without turning, Sugishita glanced over his shoulder at all his allies and ordered:
"I’ll go in. You stay and fight here."

Most of them didn’t raise any objections, although some of the older Fuurin members frowned with concern.

It was true that the long-haired, shaggy boy who always followed Umemiya around had grown big enough to tower over them by at least a head, but that didn’t mean they were comfortable letting him face the strongest opponent alone — not even if Umemiya himself had allowed it.

"Sugishita," one of the third-years stepped forward, hiding the discomfort in his voice. "I think that—"

However, Sugishita seemed to know exactly what they were about to say. His posture straightened slightly, radiating a much more mature aura that silenced everyone around him.

"I said I’d fight him. Umemiya-san trusted me."

Turning fully around, Sugishita let them see the fierce fire burning in his eyes.

"Trust me, too. Please."

In the past, Sugishita would have simply grunted and walked in anyway, not caring in the least if any of his companions followed him.

However, now he stood before them with his head held high, asking them to let him fight alone. Asking them to believe that he could defeat him— to believe that he was strong enough to win this fight.

Sugishita wanted them to trust in this new version of himself.

For some reason, those students who had once met him as just a scrawny freshman now felt a bittersweet warmth rise inside them.

"Go, then."

Inugami, as lighthearted as ever, gave him one last smile before shifting his gaze to a point beyond him.

Behind the abandoned cellar, a hundred people with wooden crosses hanging around their necks emerged, their expressions confident as they cracked their knuckles.

Clearly, they were outnumbered — but not one of them flinched.

With excited grins, all of Makochi’s allies shifted into battle stances.

"We’ll handle this," someone said.

"Don't get yourself too beat up either," Sako muttered, cracking his neck and sporting a slight blush on his cheeks. "Hiiragi asked me to tell you that..."

"Good," Sugishita nodded, already moving toward the building.

As he walked, he caught the sound of one of his companions counting down behind him.
The moment his phone vibrated in his pocket, he knew.

The fight had officially begun.

"AAAGH! WE'LL FINALLY MAKE YOU PAY, TAIZAI!"

Amid the chaos of battle erupting behind him, Sugishita pushed forward, shoulders tense, scanning the decrepit interior of the cellar with sharp caution.

Inside, the place looked even more worn down. Aside from a few twisted pieces of iron and crumbling bricks piled into a corner, the walls looked ready to collapse. If he punched one with a little force, he was sure his fist would break clean through.

The stairs were destroyed, a massive gap splitting them in two, making it impossible to reach the second floor.

And yet, a bored voice echoed above him.

"You’re really not taking us seriously, huh?"

Accompanied by a yawn, the blond boy looked down at him like he was trash. "Of everyone outside, they send a first-year after me... I can’t tell if they’re underestimating me or just trying to get rid of you, shaggy guy."

Sugishita didn’t bother to hide the single line on his uniform’s arm, frowning at the blatant provocation carried in that lazy tone.

Much to his surprise, the guy wasn’t that different from the sketch Endo had drawn.
His blond hair fell to his shoulders, and his dark eyes drooped at the edges, as if even staying awake was a struggle.

The singular difference between Endo's exaggerated drawing and the bastard in front of him was the silver cross that hung around his neck, and which the guy carried with great pride.

"You seem like someone of few words," the blonde said, letting out another yawn. “I hope you at least entertain me when I beat you up.”

Sugishita let out a snort, sending an unfriendly face in his direction.

"You can try if you want, lazie.”

Smiling sideways, Darui Yotsuya, the representation of Sloth, jumped from the second floor with alarming speed, as if it was nothing. His body settled into the air in a perfect posture for landing, and the dust his fall kicked up blinded Sugishita for an instant.

Before he could process it or see what was in front of him, a kick embedded itself in his hip, throwing him squarely against one of the rusty walls. The impact, added to the power of the blow, caused the tin to give way, leaving a sunken hole with the shape of his body.

Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Sugishita glared at the blonde as he clutched his stomach.

"I don't like to drag things out too long. I'm lazy," Yotsuya yawned, closing the cellar door as if nothing had happened. “Let's do it quickly, shaggy.”

Gritting his teeth, Sugishita stood up again. Instantly, he raised his arms to shield his face from a punch that threatened to crash into him, feeling the cold sweat slide down his forehead as his limbs went numb at the impact.

He took a hurried step back, refusing to budge. He struck a punch with momentum, holding back a groan as Yotsuya dodged it with irritating ease.

The bastard moved with disconcerting speed, even though everything in his attitude screamed that he would rather be anywhere else. For someone like Sugishita, whose fighting style relied on broad movements to harness the strength of his long limbs, facing such an elusive opponent was a nightmare.

He felt the air escape from his lungs as an open hand slammed into his chest, and he couldn't help but remember Sakura.

Yotsuya and Sakura were nothing alike, save for their irritating ability to sneak away from their blows like water. With each failed attack, rage accumulated like a poison in the center of his heart.

Kicks, punches, headbutts, trips: every second, Sugishita was cornered on the short end of the stick, and the wounds all over his face looked more and more horrific.

The worst?

Yotsuya was still completely intact.

"This is boring," Yotsuya said after kicking him flying a few yards. He let out another yawn and looked at him haughtily. “Why didn't one from third grade come instead? Or Umemiya himself? I bet that would’ve been more entertaining.”

Coughing, Sugishita bit the inside of his mouth to refocus his vision, growling under his breath as he watched the bastard approach with lazy steps.

Staggering, he tried to punch him three times, but each time was dodged by Yotsuya, and instead, punches landed directly against his cheeks and jaw.

"I don't understand why you keep trying to fight me. You're just a freshman brat. You have no chance of beating me." The blond scratched the back of his neck, observing his embarrassing state from head to toe. “Give up. I have more important things to do. Like ending your friend's unnecessary existence, for example—”

“... san...”

Yotsuya's monologue was abruptly interrupted.

For the first time since the fight began, he showed a different expression.

His face, disfigured by confusion, opened in an automatic gesture.

"Huh?"

"It's—" Sugishita spat the blood pooling in his mouth, rising with fierce eyes. “Umemiya-san for you.”

Yotsuya kept a small silence.

Then, he laughed.

"Bwahahaha! What the fuck was that? Do you worry about honorifics now? Bwahahaha!” He held his stomach, moving his head from side to side as if he couldn't believe it.

Sugishita continued to grit his teeth as he straightened up.

Blood gushed down his nose, a wound prevented him from opening one of his eyes, and his face and limbs were covered in scratches. The neatness of his uniform was now only a memory.

Damn, he thought, he'd swear that bastard had left a hole in his back when he threw him against the pile of rusty tin. And he didn't know how to sew! His grandmother would be very upset.

With that in mind, Sugishita swung his arms from side to side, trying to land a punch. His head was down, not letting Yotsuya look him in the eye.

"What?" Yotsuya was still amused, dodging as if he were taking a walk. “Do you have another joke under your hand—?”

He couldn't finish the sentence.

In less than the blink of an eye, a fist embedded itself against his cheek, almost deforming his face with the impact. His sentence was still rolling down his tongue, and the sudden attack made him wonder where he was for a split second.

Stumbling to the side, Yotsuya raised a hand to his lip, feeling a strange stinging in that area.

As he touched it, a stabbing pain made him frown. When he looked at his thumb, he saw the red spot spreading.

Blood.

Stunned, he looked at the brat, hating the metallic taste that filled his mouth.

"How...?"

Had… that brat become faster suddenly?

"Take back what you said," Sugishita growled, snapping his fingers and baring his teeth like a predator. “Now.”

“... Ya’ fucking brat!” Yotsuya roared.

Furious, he rushed towards him with his fist raised, smashing it against his cheek with all his might.

But Sugishita didn't move.

Barely tilting his head, he looked at him with red eyes, with a dangerous light shining that made the blond shudder.

"I let you do a lot of things because I hate wasting time on nonsense, too," he said quietly, "but you went over my limit.”

“Agh!”

Sugishita caught Yotsuya's arm with an iron grip, squeezing it tighter as the other tried to break free.

"Sakura is the most annoying person I've ever met in my entire life," he pulled his other man's fist away enough to fix his gaze on his. Yotsuya's arm trembled in his futile attempt to break free. “But...”

Bending his knees slightly, Sugishita grasped his free hand and, swinging his torso to the side, slammed his fist into Yotsuya's stomach, causing the opponent's entire body to curve from the impact.

Saliva mixed with blood exploded from the blonde's open mouth, slightly staining Sugishita's face. However, the tallest did not even take it into account, annihilating him with the fire of his gaze.

"His existence will never be unnecessary, you damned bastard!"

With almost unnatural speed, Sugishita retracted his arm and spun on his own axis, lifting one leg in the process. Thanks to the momentum of the spin, he hit Yotsuya's side with such power that now it was the blonde's turn to fly through the air, coughing at the lack of air.

The metallic taste in his mouth intensified, and an excruciating sting spread all over his right side. The pain was about to drive him crazy, if it weren't for the fact that he had to crawl like an insect to avoid another kick from that damn first-year brat.

Crack!

The wall where he used to lie now had a huge hole. The rusty tin was no match for the power Sugishita’d put into his attack, and Yotsuya paled as he imagined how that blow would’ve shattered his ribs without much trouble.

Unable to help but do so, his pupils shrank, and his eyes vibrated within their sockets as he looked at Sugishita.

"One of the strongest in Taizai, but you represent Sloth?" Sugishita let out a laugh-like sigh, retracting his leg. The night light streaming through the hole illuminated part of his face, giving a gloomy aura to the darkness of his gaze. “Don't make me laugh.”

Gritting his teeth, Yotsuya pushed away the fear growing in his bones, forcing himself to stand awkwardly.

"Shut up once and for all!"

Screaming, Yotsuya rushed towards him.

Yotsuya struck, and Sugishita struck as well. Yotsuya kicked, and Sugishita kicked as well. Yotsuya unloaded his fists over Sugishita's entire body, and Sugishita responded blow for blow.

As the minutes passed, dust and blood began to fill the floor of the old cellar. Sweat fell profusely on both of them and burned against the cuts that already covered their faces, but neither took their eyes off the other for a second.

Unlike before, where Sugishita was clearly losing, the situation began to change.

From a balanced fight, it passed to Yotsuya desperately struggling to land a single punch.

At some point, he was forced to roll on the ground to avoid being knocked out by a single impact, and his whole person lost the carefree and arrogant air he used to boast about.

This damn first-class brat was cornering him!

Gritting his teeth as he received another right hand that left him seeing stars, Yotsuya felt his vision fill with an angry red at the thought.

That couldn't be possible!

He was Taizai's seventh deadly sin! He’d been recognized by the Holy Trinity itself!! He was bestowed with a life and strength that no one else could ever have in their life!!

He couldn't lose to a fucking freshman brat!!

"This...!” Letting the blood fall down the edge of his eye, Yotsuya felt everything around him begin to fall apart. “This can't be happening!!”

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Yotsuya again ran towards Sugishita with saliva falling from his mouth. His eyes were completely bulging, and yet everyone could see the desperation in his every move.

Sugishita looked at him like trash, dodging the blow with barely a shake of his head.

Skewering his fist against Yotsuya's stomach again, Sugishita let out an airy chuckle and tilted his face slightly.

"Your movements are slower," he sneered. “Are you tired already, Sloth?”

"… SHUT UP!!”

Jumping back, Yotsuya let out a trembling sigh and hugged himself with the arm that he didn't feel about to fall off. What that brat was telling him wasn't a lie, but he refused to admit that he was right.

He’d lived in paradise for almost two years. He had people and lapdogs at his disposal that would fulfill any whim with a single snap of his fingers. He was blessed with the miracle of inexhaustible riches as long as his boss felt that he was a useful piece in his chess.

Yotsuya didn't mind being used or seen as a mute token with no will. As long as his privileges were untouched and as long as he could maintain that life of vagrancy by getting everything without any effort, he was willing to play the puppet in the twisted plans of his boss.

However, deep down in his heart, he was always afraid of losing everything one day.

His subordinates always told him that he was the strongest. His teammates always told him that he was a persistent nuisance. His boss always told him that he was one of his most useful tools.

But still, Yotsuya was always afraid.

Deep down, he knew he was nothing more than a coward and mediocre with the stupid illusion that he’d one foot above the rest of the world.

And now, seeing Sugishita approach him with an icy expression, ready to shatter all his dreams until there were nothing left but crumbs of them, Yotsuya turned pale.

"Don't come close..." His voice came out more tremulous than he intended. “... D-don't come!”

Jumping, Yotsuya retracted both legs into the air and stretched them out like an arrow, aiming directly at Sugishita's chest. However, his legs were grabbed before they even connected, and his whole body was circled like a top.

A scream of sheer horror got stuck in his throat as the speed of the turns increased, and he felt his soul leave his being as Sugishita let go of him with a chilling smile, throwing him straight into a wall.

He felt all his bones crack as he broke through the tin wall and rolled through the dirt outside. Small rocks and sharp undergrowth embedded themselves throughout his body, causing him a stabbing pain that made him lose consciousness for a fraction of a second.

“... Ugh… Ungh, agh…”

Everything hurt. Everything felt broken.

Everything felt like it was the end.

In the distance, he heard Sugishita emerge from the same hole that his ejected body opened, and Yotsuya's eyes filled with tears as he watched him walk towards him.

In the middle of the night, the brat looked like a lion stalking its prey, slithering through the undergrowth, hiding the murderous hunger exuded by its claws and fangs.

With each step, the terror in Yotsuya's chest grew, cutting off his breath.

A tear fell when he tried to move his legs, and they didn't respond.

They were broken.

"No...” He whimpered, crawling desperately.

Stones dug into the gaping wounds of their palms, leaving threads of blood darkening the dirt in the middle of the night, but fear clouded any other sensation.

At that time, there was nothing worse than Sugishita.

"I hate wasting time, too," Sugishita said hoarsely, moving forward without stopping. “I hate feeling useless things. I hate sharing with people I don't care about. And all the annoying things— I'll hate them until the day I die.”

He stopped right in front of Yotsuya, looking down on him like a cruel god.

"But do you know what I hate the most?"

"E-egh!”

Yotsuya groaned as Sugishita grabbed him by the shirt, forcing him to his feet on his shattered legs. A white, piercing pain clouded his senses.

Sugishita brought his forehead close to his, staring straight into the abyss of his soul.

"The conceited ones."

"Aaaah!!”

Sugishita tossed him to the side, and Yotsuya rolled like a broken doll, adding more cuts to his shattered body.

Before he could process the new pain, a kick sank his stomach, robbing him of all the air.

"I hate those who think they can do it all just because someone convinced them they had power. I hate those who talk big without having overcome shit.”

The image of Sakura on the first day they met crossed Sugishita's mind. The overly self-filled boy was as elusive as a cat, moving between his blind spots and forcing him to shut up in front of Umemiya, who always ended up staring at him with eyes heavy with adoration.

However, despite putting together all the things he should hate, Sugishita couldn't do it.

This fool had shown, day after day, that his words that began as empty now became a weight that increased the power of his fists, and that although it pained him to have to carry all that on his own, he was willing to do it. For Makochi, for Fuurin, for them, and even for himself.

The little boy who had arrived on the first day, too full of himself, was actually like that because his baseless words were the only thing that could fill the void within his chest, and now that he knew something he really wanted to protect, he did.

A Sakura so alive, a Sakura who had finally learned to live, had been forced to struggle between life and death when his existence had already been unfair enough. And all because of bastards like the one in front of him.

His skin burned.

He leaned over, his hair brushing against Yotsuya's dirt-stained, blood-stained cheeks, and he basked in the terror he saw in those broken eyes.

"Do you know what those kinds of people provoke in me besides hatred?" he whispered hatefully. “Sloth. They seem boring to me”

“...!”

Hiccupping, Yotsuya tried to move, but Sugishita put a firm foot on his back.

"You called yourself Sloth simply because everything made you "lazy" and someone convinced you that you were important, didn't you?”

Sugishita let out a raspy laugh, barely a snort.

"That's just shit that you made yourself believe in. Do you know why you actually resonated with that sin, Darui Yotsuya?”

Yotsuya looked over his shoulder with wide eyes, his face covered in tears, snot, and dirt.

"Because you used laziness as an excuse for your cowardice.”

Yotsuya trembled like a leaf.

"You liked to finish everything quickly because you knew you couldn't fight fair. Against people who really know how to fight... You're nothing.”

"Ungh...!"

Biting his lips to keep from sobbing, Yotsuya cried like a broken key.

"Sin of Sloth?" Sugishita smiled, baring his teeth like a lion about to devour its prey. “To me, you're nothing more than the Clown of Cowardice.”

"NO!!”

Baam.

Lifting his leg, Sugishita forcefully crushed the center of his back.

Yotsuya arched like a broken bow, eyes rolling, mouth open in a hushed scream that never came out.

In the middle of the night, surrounded by dirt and weeds, the sin of Sloth was humbled with a few words.

Yotsuya didn't move anymore.

Seeing that his opponent didn’t make any more actions to move, Sugishita let out a snort and brushed aside the hair that fell over his face, wrinkling his nose in annoyance.

This bastard really made him talk a lot...

"Tsk.”

Complaining under his breath, Sugishita resumed his hunchbacked posture and walked towards the rest of the people who were fighting. His mind thought of Sakura again unintentionally, so he pursed his lips tighter.

Cracking his knuckles, Sugishita hoped one of his companions would leave him some idiot to vent his anger on— The anger burning inside him because he still couldn’t get that jerk with the uneven hair out of his head.

The place where Suo and Nirei were summoned was the closest thing to a pigsty.

"Is this really the place where they will fight?" Anzai, who was arranged in their group, asked with clear doubt.

Suo nodded. "These were the coordinates.”

In the company of a handful of Fuurin students, boys from Shishitoren, along with equally split Gravel and Roppo Ichiza workers, they left Makochi earlier than the others when they were called to a remote location nearly two hours away.

Tsubaki and the rest of the Four Kings raised some objections when they received the locations, arguing that it would be dangerous to send them that far. But in the end, they relented when both Nirei and Suo insisted they would go anyway.

"It's the only way they'll leave Sakura-san alone," Nirei said through gritted teeth, clutching his notebook tightly to his chest. "Only this way can we make sure they never touch him again."

"Besides," Suo added, "we need to fight them. Not just for Nire-kun’s reasons."

The fire of vengeance burned in their eyes as they spoke, and all their companions understood what they meant without the need for further words.

Protecting Sakura was the main reason— but taking justice into their own hands was what burned hottest in the veins of the entire city.

In the end, Umemiya dispatched them before heading to his own fight, surprising them with a hug and a few firm pats on the back.

"You're my little brother's best friends," he whispered close to their ears, "and some of the people he cares about most. I know you’re strong... but come back safely. Please."

After the brief shock, Suo simply smiled and patted Umemiya’s back in return, glancing sideways at his friend. In Nirei’s gaze, he found the same steadfast certainty he felt in himself.

"Don’t worry, Umemiya-san," Suo said in a low voice, meant only for the three of them. "Our fighting style works best against strong people."

The trip had been silent.

Everyone was tense, ready to explode at the slightest touch, counting down every second until the long-awaited battle, where they could finally grind those bastards down until they were unrecognizable.

Many of their allies were first-year fighters, especially those from the 1-1 class. Like those closest to Sakura, the fire licking at their insides was the fiercest of all.

"Don't let your guard down," Nirei warned, putting away his notebook and narrowing his eyes at the dark streets. "In enemy territory, the advantage isn’t ours."

The rest nodded grimly.

Ahead of them, a maze of crumbling streets stretched out in every direction.

The concrete walls were eroded and filthy, scattered in a way that resembled an unfinished construction site. The stench of feces and rotting garbage was unbearable, and many of those who had come for Makochi covered their noses in disgust.

The constant buzz of flies swarming like a beehive filled the air, making the entire place feel even more revolting.

"Let's go."

And even so, without hesitation, they all followed Suo as he stepped forward, hands casually clasped behind his back, wearing his usual easygoing smile.

As they advanced, a bunch of homeless people gave them a quick look, lying on makeshift beds made of cardboard and tattered fabrics. Their clothes had various stains along their entire bodies, and a foul smell of natural residue enveloped them.

"Disgusting," Anzai murmured helplessly, covering his nose.

However, Suo's eyes remained cold.

"Don't let your guard down.”

The rest turned to look at him, without hesitating for a second at his warning.

Suo let his gaze wander loosely over each of the beggars who clearly outnumbered them, noticing the lack of surprise in each of them.

In front of them, his own group looked like an outdoor herbivore among a whole group of predators hidden in the mud.

"They’ll be our opponents.”

"Ah, did you notice?"

From the depths of a dark alley, a ragged guy came out with a sardonic smile occupying half of his face. Under the dim light of the makeshift headlights, his gold teeth shone like the sun.

Most of Makochi's allies tensed at the man's aura.

Suo was unfazed, and if he had been affected by the danger emanating from that person, he didn’t show it.

“Yoshida Yoku.”

"Wow! It's a pleasure to be known by one of the stars of Fuurin." Yoku's eyes curled in ecstasy, licking his golden teeth. “One of the most famous first-year students, Suo Hayato.”

Suo smiled falsely. "I'd like to say that the pleasure is mine, but to be recognized for shit like you make me so disgusted that I might vomit."

“Bwajajaja!”

Yoshida Yoku let out a big laugh, clenching his stomach.

He pointed to Suo.

“I like you. I want you.”

"I'm sorry, I don't stoop to belonging to the trash," Suo stopped smiling.

Yoku let out another round of laughter, putting a finger to his chin.

"You're as cruel as rumors say. How could someone so brilliant allow himself to be mastered by a phenomenon that is better off dead—?”

"Hey.”

Nirei slashed him off, glaring at him with his eyes full of murderous intent.

"Shut your fucking mouth.”

"Ah! Another freshman treasure!” Yoku clapped his hands, and with each clap of his hands, one of the tramps around them began to stand up. “The best informant, Nirei Akihiko. He doesn't have great battle power, but his ability to gather strong people is the best.”

Letting out high-pitched groans, Yoshida Yoku began to touch his entire body. His clothes, already tattered, stretched under the movement of his hands, highlighting with perverse pride the parts exposed by the holes.

From the legs to the arms, a hundred strangely shaped scars began to color a furious red at an alarming rate. Most of them could not contain their moans of disgust when they noticed how a certain part of his body rose like a tent, grotesquely visible due to the exaggerated friction that he himself caused and the thin fabric of his pants.

"I love you..." he purred like a cat, his eyes shining with lust as he devoured Nirei with his gaze. “Your mind, your diligence, your loyalty—I want it, I want it, I want it!”

Suo stretched out an arm in front of his friend, shielding him from the bastard's disgusting desire with a posture that distilled his desire to break his bones one by one. The rest of the listeners also hardened their expressions, cracking their fists through clenched teeth.

As Makochi's allies took up combat positions, the tramps approached with the same obscenity dripping down their beggar faces, laughing as if they were living the time of their lives.

From the alley where Yoshida Yoku appeared, another vagabond emerged, this time with a face as deformed as a poorly molded mass. His eyes, abnormally large and bulging, glowed with excitement as he squealed and jumped from side to side like a child receiving candy.

A huge scar crossed his face from end to end, deforming his features as if his face were a poorly put-together puzzle. His mere appearance was capable of causing chills, and more than one felt nauseous when they saw the drool falling from his mouth, almost without teeth that weren’t rotten.

The man looked at the students one at a time, and his grotesque face flushed like a steamed bun. He clapped his hands and jumped, vibrating with enthusiasm.

"Soft! Soft meat!!”

"That's right, Silly," Yoku chuckled, patting his bald head like a puppy. “Here are a few toys for you to practice before the dish you want so much.”

Opening his eyes with excitement, Silly began to squeal in a high-pitched voice.

"Dessert! Milky dessert!!”

Frowning, Nirei was stopped by Suo as he tried to advance towards the two men, his face completely distorted in fury.

"Who the fuck is that dish you're talking about?!"

"Oh! Interested?” Yoku sneered in a melodious tone. “That anger at the useless phenomenon... Ah, I want to have all that love...!”

His golden smile widened.

"And tear it to pieces with my hands."

Gritting his teeth, Nirei shouted with red eyes.

"Answer, damn it!"

"Isn't that obvious?" Yoku answered, looking at the bald man humorously.

The guy, who was nicknamed Silly, was as red as a tomato as he opened and closed his hands as if he were squeezing something, giggling goofily with saliva falling from his mouth.

"Dessert," he murmured, completely intoxicated with pleasure. “Smash dessert until it cries and isn’t soft... Milky...”

Everyone could understand who that "dessert" was and what that damn sick man wanted to do to him without needing him to say it.

The fire within their veins burned more than ever.

"Fucking bastard...!"

"Don’t move.”

Suo, even though he looked ready to kill someone, stopped them with a single word.

His icy eye fell on his friend, who breathed agitated with hatred distilling from each of his pores.

"Nire-kun.”

"I'll take care of that son of a bitch," Nirei dictated, pushing Suo's arm away, witouth moving from his place. “I'm going to break him into a thousand pieces.”

Suo dropped his eyelids slightly, remaining silent for a few seconds.

"You know how to defend yourself, but your offense isn’t good yet," he reminded him without intending to be cruel. His words only reminded him of the reality of his level.

Nirei nodded, letting out a sarcastic chuckle, not taking his eyes off the deformed man for a second.

"I know. However, as you say, my greatest strength is defending.”

He rested a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it tightly.

"And I'm able to defend Sakura-san from the whole world.”

Smiling almost imperceptibly, Suo placed his hand behind his back again and straightened his posture, feeling that one of the companions Shishitoren had sent began to count backward.

“3…”

"What a coincidence," he remarked in a soft voice, but loud enough for his friend to hear. “I can do that too, Nire-kun.”

“2…”

"Destroy him," Nirei didn't glance at him. “We mustn’t let anything touch a hair of Sakura-san. Never again.”

“1…”

"I know," Suo smiled like a wolf.

At the same time that the count reached 0, everyone's phone vibrated at the same time, receiving the same message.

None of them read it, because they already knew what it said without having to.

Without exception, they all roared to the sky as if they’d just broken their chains, and threw themselves towards their opponents without worrying in the least about getting dirty when fighting. The only thing that filled their minds was the desire for revenge, the burning fury of being able to tear, at last, the bastards who’d hurt one of their dearest people.

In the middle of that abandoned place, the sound of fists and kicks impacting against other people's bodies broke the stillness of the night, creating a burning battlefield that destroyed everything in its path.

Nirei and Suo didn't need to say anything. They moved like bullets, straight at the enemies they’d already marked beforehand.

Almost as if they shared a single body, they raised their fists at the same time, with sparks dancing in their eyes ablaze with rage.

The bald guy let out a high-pitched laugh and dodged the attack with jerky movements, jumping up and down like a broken dummy. He spun in the air and threw a big downward kick. Nirei curved backwards with trained agility, dodging it with precision. Taking advantage of the inertia, he deflected the enemy foot to the side and threw a punch directly at the face, now unbalanced.

But far from showing pain, the deformed man smiled more lasciviously. He held Nirei's hand against his face, using it as an anchor to propel himself upwards, stretching his legs like an arrow straight into the blonde's stomach.

Nirei evaded him again with a sidestep, and using his free arm, he dug his elbow with brutal force into the other's knees. A dry crack echoed through the air. The joint broke as if it were rotten wood.

Letting out a guttural shriek, the man dropped to the ground and rolled away, leaning on his elbows.

His eyes shone like two lighted lanterns, his face flushed to his ears, and he hadn’t a hint of the expression of one who’d just suffered the dislocation of both knees. On the contrary, his whole expression screamed that that single movement almost brought him to a climax.

Like an articulated doll, he brought his hands to his legs without hesitation, and with two dry clicks that ran through the air like a shiver, he put the bones back in place.

He didn’t emit a single groan of pain. He just did. Cold. Precise. Horribly satisfied.

A fucking crazy guy.

"Tsk," Nirei blurted out under his breath, massaging his elbow, somewhat resentful of the force he used in the blow.

However, he didn’t stop. As soon as the madman got back on his feet, he didn't waste a second in attacking like a bullet for the second time.

On Suo's part, as soon as he raised his fist, Yoku stopped him with a strong grip and immediately raised his opposite leg straight towards his face.

Without even batting an eyelid, Suo abandoned the attacking attempt and took advantage of the pressure exerted by his opponent to twist his back, dodging the kick with feline grace. The move forced Yoshida to lean into an awkward position, losing control for a second.

In that same breath, one of Suo's legs rose between them like lightning. With terrifying accuracy, he unloaded a direct kick to the man's stomach, not caring about the saliva that flew to his face as Yoshida Yoku let out a muffled groan with his mouth wide open.

Taking a couple of steps back, Yoshida clenched his stomach and smiled more enthusiastically, watching Suo wipe his face with a cloth without much expression.

"You're amazing. So young, but so strong." He spoke almost breathlessly, looking ecstatic. “You have so much, so much, so much, so much! I want everything you have!”

"Can you handle everything?"

Suo looked at him with drooping eyelids, staring at him like a death sentence.

"All the hatred I feel towards you right now, can you bear it?"

Widening his smile, Yoku felt his whole body shudder.

The greed within his gaze shone almost as brightly as his golden teeth in the light.

Exhaling a large amount of air, he attacked like an arrow.

"What you have—"

He went straight to Suo's face.

"Give me everything!"

"Ha...”

Suo smiled as well.

"Good.”

Without moving an inch, Suo's hand went inside the right hand aimed at his face, applying light pressure on the other's wrist to deflect the blow to the side. The fist grazed his ear, but Suo’d already shifted with terrifying calculation, dodging him by millimeters as he moved his other hand toward Yoku's open legs.

Mimicking the previous move, his arm slipped between the enemy's knees and, with precise force, lifted Yoku's entire lower body into the air.

For a split second, Yoshida Yoku was suspended, hanging like a horizontal line.

He opened his eyes in surprise. He’d not managed to plant his feet on the ground when Suo retracted his arms like a snake, raised them above his head, and gripped them with all his fury.

"Let's test your greed then, you capital sin-wannabe.”

And Suo dropped the punch, brutally impacting the center of Yoku's back. A sharp sound burst into the air, as if his spine had given way under the weight of the world.

With his eyes rolling, Yoku felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs as he was slammed into the ground. He couldn't even scream. His body reacted before his mind could register the pain: he jumped to the side on all fours, avoiding by inches the foot that sought to crush his head.

Panting, his smile tightened at the sight of the crack in the asphalt where seconds before his skull had been, caused by an embroidered shoe that now floated above him.

"Don't dodge," Suo said, keeping his leg up like a statue. From above, his visible eye was devoid of any brightness. “I still have much to give you, Greed.”

Yoku laughed and wiped the blood from his mouth with a careless gesture as he stood, no longer feeling much of his back.

"Come to me, Suo Hayato," he smiled until he showed his gums. “Let me satiate all my greed with you!!”

A few steps away from them, Nirei was still in his own fight.

With sweat running down his forehead, his eyes were surrounded in red cobwebs as he didn’t close his eyes for a second, dodging every punch and kick that sought to impact the center of his face.

The bald man laughed like a madman between each attack, getting excited like a child every time Nirei failed to move his body with the necessary speed, and the rubbing of his fists stung against his skin like a cut.

The more the seconds passed, the more areas of Nirei's white face reddened from different directions, becoming more and more noticeable by the sweat that slowly soaked him under the light of the streetlights.

However, Nirei never faltered. His eyes, which were always full of honey as he looked at Sakura, now looked like an inextinguishable vortex that seemed ready to devour the man in front of him as soon as he let his guard down.

Being the recipient of that ardent attention, Silly let out a completely buoyant laugh, clapping like a madman.

"You hate me!" He laughed as he clapped, allowing the blonde a break. “You hate me, you hate me, you hate me!”

His eyes curled like two crescents.

"Your hatred... I want it all!”

"That's right. I hate you. And I've never hated anyone like I hate you and your whole damn group." Nirei sighed without blinking, wiping away the sweat around her mouth. “And with this hatred...”

He smiled as well, mimicking the machiavellian aura his opponent used to intimidate him.

"I'll destroy you until you don't want anything else in your whole fucking life, you fucking bastard."

“... Bwahahaha!”

The bald man's shoulders moved so hard that he seemed to be about to fall apart. Hiding his face in one of his hands, he slowly parted his fingers as he raised his other arm to point at Nirei.

"You...”

His tongue, white and broken in several places, licked his rotten teeth with emotion.

“Aperitif.”

"Really?" Nirei shook his shoulders, releasing all the tension in them. “Let's see if you’re not full at the first bite, son of a bitch.”

At the same time, they both shot at each other like arrows, slicing through the air with their fists raised.

Looking at him obsessively with her red eyes, Nirei dodged the blow by cocking his head and slammed his own fist into the other's cheek. Without looking away, he wasn’t surprised to see his opponent smile more effusively, knowing that his attack only appeared to be powerful.

He stepped back instantly and bent his torso as the bald man sprang up to kick him, spinning in the air like a beast. His hair was swept away by the movement, and his eyes burned from the lack of moisture, but he didn't let his racing heart cloud his deep state of concentration.

Seizing the moment when the other touched the ground again, Nirei lunged at his face with a clenched fist, threatening to attack his stomach. The man taunted him as if he were an idiot and, taking a step back, raised his arm again to hit his back, which was already in his field of vision.

However, the next second, Nirei disappeared.

Silly opened his eyes in surprise, looking for him from milestone to milestone in less than a second. A cold sweat ran down the back of his neck at the bad feeling that was embedded in his spine. His center of gravity only worsened that omen when the world seemed to lean forward.

When he lowered his gaze, he found Nirei's lunatic smile, which destabilized him from the ground like an insect, enjoying every second of his fall against the hard asphalt.

Due to the surprise, his brain couldn’t order his arms, and the impact against his jaw filled his eyelids with stars, disgusted when he felt the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth.

He hated the taste of blood. It wasn’t sweet.

Gritting his teeth, Silly tried to get back up, but his lungs lost all air as he felt a weight slam him against the ground again, drowning out a silent scream.

Straddling his back, Nirei grabbed him by the neck and forced him to curl face-to-face, squeezing.

Unable to breathe, the bald man began to despair, throwing slaps and disorderly backward punches.

The blonde received them all as if they meant nothing.

"It doesn't matter how much you beat me," he whispered, staring coldly at his increasingly red face from lack of oxygen. “Nothing hurt as much as almost losing Sakura-san.”

The grip tightened.

The bald man struggled harder, feeling that his eyes would bulge out of their sockets.

"You call Sakura-san a dessert, but does someone as disgusting as you really dare to think of it?" Nirei stopped smiling. He pressed his face so close to the other's face that his eyelashes brushed. “You're nothing but trash. Get it out of your mind right now.”

“... Ugh... Ungh...!”

"You're dirty. You're a waste," Nirei continued, clenching so hard that his knuckles turned white. “Do you resonate with greed? Do you think your desire to have it all can change the shit you are inside and out? Do you believe it?”

With tears streaming down the edges of his eyes, the bald man felt his vision fill with black spots. He struggled more desperately, slapping Nirei's face with weaker and weaker movements.

He even nudged him, but Nirei, despite blood running down his nose and lips, didn't move.

He didn’t stop pressing either.

"These hands wanted to touch Sakura-san..." Nirei, in a low and chilling tone, looked at the hands that were hitting him with deep hatred. “Then... I'm going to destroy them.”

And with a swift movement, Nirei bit the other's hand with such force that something snapped.

Crack.

“... Agh...!”

Out of breath, Silly could only let out a gasp as his tears fell. The consciousness that was about to vanish came back like a whirlwind, dizzying him with the sharp pain that shook every part of his reason.

He felt like he was about to go crazy.

Nirei, unperturbed, spat out the blood that filled his mouth and released the bald man's neck before he fainted. Seeing him cough and hug his broken hand to his chest, he grabbed him by the clothes and dragged him like trash to one of the gnawed walls.

There, stacked pieces of wood formed a small bench of half a meter.

"Even if I know how to defend myself, I'm still not very strong," he said between the cough of the other, who was trying to loosen the pressure of the clothes on his neck. “If I were, I’m sure I’d have been able to help Sakura-san...”

Climbing up to the wood, Nirei glared at him so coldly that Silly began to tremble.

"So, like you, I'm going to use whatever it takes to win.”

Realizing what he intended, Silly's limbs softened with fear, shaking his head desperately.

"No...! N-no...!” His voice sounded broken after being hanged for so long.

"Not what?"

Nirei cut it off, smiling as if he was the devil claiming his soul.

"You'd better get all the appetizers you wanted, you follower of greed.”

“... NO...!”

Leaping up, Nirei shifted his grip from the clothes to the back of the bald man's neck and used gravity to smash his face into the ground with terrifying force.

Blood exploded instantly, and Silly would look dead if it weren't for the spasms that still shook his hands.

Walking up to him, Nirei squatted down and took him carelessly by the jaw, staring at the bloodied face he had torn apart.

"Don't fall yet," he growled, his voice heavy with hatred as he smiled faintly. “I still have plenty to satiate your greed, you bastard.”

"Wow.”

Seeing it all from the sidelines, Suo couldn't help but smile as he saw his friend fighting in such a savage manner and having complete control over the fight, proud of the growth he’d had in such a short time.

"If we're talking about greed, Nirei really wants to own everything more than anyone else right now," he chuckled, leaving one hand behind his back while the other covered his mouth.

Then, his eye returned to his usual coldness since he’d heard about the attack on Sakura, to look at the man who was not far away from him.

"Shall we continue with our business?"

“... Uff...! Hah...!”

Between gasps, Yoku didn't look as good as he once did. His short hair was stuck against his forehead, and various blows and cuts adorned his face and clothes, leaving him in worse condition than he already was at the beginning of the fight.

Wiping away his sweat, he gritted his teeth in fury burning his veins as he watched Suo return, noticing that this damn student was still as neat as he was when he arrived.

They’d been fighting for more than 5 minutes, but he hadn't managed to get even a scratch on him!

Looking at his surroundings, his stomach sank as he felt that his side was losing shamefully. The whole area was their lair, and no one knew it better than they did, not to mention that they outnumbered them to the point where only one of them had to face about five of their own, and yet it was most of his people who were lying on the ground with their faces shattered.

This... wasn’t right!

How was it that they were losing?!

"What happened?"

Suo's mocking voice made him look at him again.

Suo smiled like a hyena. "Did you realize that the power you boasted about so much is nothing more than a stupid illusion?"

Yoku gritted his teeth until they gnashed.

"Shut up!"

"Does it hurt you to accept reality? That would make sense," Suo nodded, playing with the detail of his earring. “You are Yoshida Yoku, the second deadly sin of Taizai, representing Greed...”

His eye became as deep as a black hole, and Yoku trembled for a second as he felt himself falling uncontrollably into it.

“A perfect representation for a bastard who has nothing and seeks to satisfy that emptiness with material things.”

Unable to help himself, Yoku's limbs trembled. He didn't notice at what point it was that his breathing began to speed up or small whines, like those of an injured animal, began to escape from his clenched jaw, but he wasn't intimidated.

"Shut up! You're just a brat! You don't know shit!!”

Yoku rushed towards Suo, jumping up to spin in the air and increase the impact of his kick, but before he could even land his attack, his leg was grabbed with a tight grip and directed forward, causing gravity to overpower his body, and he ended up falling like an idiot on the ground.

Twisting and crawling, Yoku had to grit his teeth as a pile of sharp stones and trash began to create small cuts in his skin, annihilating Suo with his gaze as he was finally able to lean into his arms.

"You're just a clown who was made to believe he was strong," Suo patted the hand with which he had redirected his body as if he had touched garbage, looking at him with total sarcasm. “Your whole group is nothing more than a group of imbeciles who thought they received a 'miracle' from the gods to justify the mediocrity of their lives.”

Standing up again, Yoku bellowed with red eyes:

"SHUT UP NOW!!”

His fist went up in another attempt at attack, however, Suo did nothing but move a little to the opposite side and thrust his arm as if it were a child's, burying his own wide-open hand in Yoku's chest.

He felt like the whole world was impacting his chest. Yoku only felt the metallic taste of blood fill his entire mouth as he flew toward a pile of trash behind him, coughing desperately at the sudden amount of oxygen that refilled his lungs.

"Did you really think you were blessed by God?" Suo walked slowly toward him, squinting his eye. “Did you really think you were special for being the lapdogs of a son of a bitch? Is that what gave meaning to your lives?

Suo, standing in front of him, stamped his foot in the center of his stomach and was unmoved as Yoku squeezed his leg with his mouth wide open, looking at him with a clear plea in his eyes.

In fact, he stomped harder.

“... AGH...!”

"The power you boast so much about is not something that comes by the miracle of the gods," he spat, increasing the pressure by the second. “Most of the time, people must learn to fight because they were abandoned by everyone, and it’s the only way they have to not be swallowed by this rotten world. It happened to Tsubaki-san, it happened to me, it happened to Sakura-san...”

His face finally left that false perfection he was used to, letting an expression distorted by fury consume each of his features.

"Power is achieved with effort, with desperation, with the desire to survive," he gritted his teeth. “Not because of a stupid belief that the gods gave it to you, you bastard.”

Writhing like a worm, Yoku felt nausea gather in the center of his chest and gasped in a choked voice. The foot gripping his body at the height of his stomach seemed to squeeze directly into his insides, rearranging all his organs as if he were a piece of garbage being demolished by a greater force.

"Give up that stupid illusion that you're somebody, you son of a bitch." Suo leaned in until all Yoku could see was the hatred in his eyes. “Let go of that stupid belief that you’ll be able to touch Sakura-kun again.”

"Suo-san.”

From the side, a body was thrown like a sack of potatoes beside him, exploding the garbage bags on which they were leaning.

Due to the impact, Yoku felt the world spin around as Silly's head hit his own forehead, making him doubt where he was or who he was for a split second.

“... Ngh… Ugh, uh…”

Yoku blinked with vomit soaking his taste buds, feeling the foul smell of urine exploding against his nose like a bomb.

Beside him, Silly cried like a coward, complaining with a bloodied face full of wounds. His eyes were filled with fear as he looked at the blonde boy who stood next to Suo, one of his hands in front of his mouth to bite his nails and the other protecting his private part, which was completely soaked.

Silly’d urinated on himself.

"Wow, Nire-kun," Suo whistled, giving him a sidelong glance. “Now that's an amazing scene.”

"No need, Suo-san." Nirei wiped his hands on his uniform, looking at them both with cold eyes. “You'd better be done with this soon. The return journey is long, and I already want to see Sakura-san.”

"I want that, too.”

Suo crooned, slowly moving his gaze to the guy who’d been brought to him as an offering. The delight in his gaze increased as he saw Silly tremble more strongly under his attention.

"What do you want me to do, Nire-kun?"

"You said it yourself: I'm good at defending myself, but not attacking." Nirei put his hands in the pockets of his uniform. “I want you to give it the final blow for me.”

Suo let out a laugh.

"As you wish."

And in less than the blink of an eye, the foot that gripped Yoku’s stomach rose like a mountain, falling with all its strength on the intimate part that the bald man protected so much.

Paling, Silly's eyes showed deep agony before they flipped into their sockets, and he vanished. His mouth, open in a scream that never came out, began to spit saliva combined with blood, and the pestilent scent of fecal matter also began to emanate from his body.

With a single blow, Silly’d even defecate on himself.

Losing all the color of his face, Yoku trembled uncontrollably at the sight of his best subordinate's state.

He’d been humiliated with a single blow.

“... No..." Yoku shook his head in despair, changing his arrogant stance to a total plea as he looked at Suo again. “No, please—!”

"Shut up.”

It was Suo's turn to silence him.

Crying uncontrollably, Yoku shook his throat when he saw that Suo didn’t lower his leg, looking at him as if he were one more garbage bag in between.

"This is my last object of value to you, Greed. Hope you like it.”

And then, his foot embedded itself against Yoku's face. Right in the center.

Crack.

Standing up straight, Suo watched Yoku's broken nose without any emotion. His mouth was open and hanging, while his eyes, already white, were still shedding tears uncontrollably. The garbage bag he was leaning on exploded from the impact, and a pile of food scraps mixed with blood filled his face.

The flies didn’t take long to fill the two men, finishing crowning them like garbage.

"I already informed that we ended up here," Nirei commented as if nothing had happened, putting his cell phone away. “Let's leave before it gets too dark.”

"Yes, Nire-kun.”

The two walked toward the few remaining stragglers, helping their companions to return to Makochi as soon as possible.

With their shadows casting into the darkness of the night, Suo and Nirei's backs resembled those of two great demons, both of whom seemed ready to claim the souls for their one lord.

On that day, their future as Sakura's biggest defenders was set in stone.