the man known as Sagara Kosuke

She looked at the person who saved her from the attack the blue orbs known as his eyes sharpened like a hawk's posture that of an experienced fighter

She admired how he took Ashima down forcing him into a position where Sagara can control his actions, he could either put pressure on the knee and tug at the arm to cause pain or simply let him go.

It was a technique not of strength nor speed but of control

"dude what the fuck?!" Ashima said face still in the asphalt

"you know I hate meaningless violence," Sagara said a bit of an edge to his usual voice

Shinoe shivered

"fine, I get it, but what would you have done if she attacked? you pacifistic fucking sociopath," he asked or more like growled through the asphalt

"you doubt me?" Sagara raised an eyebrow

"ha! The day I do that would be the day Regulus gets a girl who won't slap him when he mentions his hobbies" Ashima barked in laughter "so you still up for that ramen place? Sebastian and others would be there" he invited

"Nah, I got something going on after this," he said before looking at Shinoe directly with a piercing gaze for a second before his eyes softened "are you OK? This I'm sorry about him he usually thinks with his fist" he said in a softer tone

"dude, I don't mean to disrupt your little moment here but are you forgetting something?" Ashima said who was still face-first on the floor, hands behind his back and knee at his neck

"oh yeah, I forgot, sorry," Sagara said getting off him letting Ashima stand beside him

"I gotta go get the others" Ashima excused himself but not before looking at Shinoe pointedly in warning "don't try anything funny with Sagara or you'll regret it" he threatened and walked away

"well that was surely something," he said conversationally

"your hurt" Shinoe said pointedly at him with a vigor she had no idea where she got

"so you noticed that huh?" he looked at his left leg wincing as some dark wet substance wet the fabric

"Don't worry about it. I just have to change the bandage" he said standing up and not bothering to cover the limp he had when walking away from her

She'd wanted to help. She wanted nothing more than to let him lean on her for support and escort him to the nearest clinic in the school

She'd wanted to help him as he did her a while ago regardless of which faction he was in

But one thought stopped her from moving "he's part of the committee" being within proximity of him would only bring both of them trouble

The best-case scenario would be running into another committee member. Which would surely result in Sagara using more of his strength to defend her rather than get to the clinic safely

The worst-case was if they ran into a council member who would no doubt attack Sagara on first sight and he could suffer more injuries than he already had

She turned around with a heavy feeling of helplessness. She couldn't do anything. She can't do anything

Before she knew it she'd spent the whole day brooding about the fact that she was useless outside of sneak attacks or in clean up duty

She gazed at the setting sun as she made her way home still brooding

Shinoe Yuki wasn't like the others, after all, she didn't have the strength to help them directly, she didn't have the bravery to stand up to her enemies, she didn't even have the courage to help Sagara when he helped her.

"maybe I am useless," she said to herself approaching a nearby alley avoiding the speeding cars of the district of Shibuya

"hm!?!?" she suddenly muttered as a hand covered her mouth and dragged her into the alley covering her mouth with a hand

For the second time, that day fear so intense gripped at her heart thinking of the unspeakable things this person would do to her

This part of Shibuya was so close to the slums that it was practically a part of it. She knew she couldn't count on any local police to help and even if there were, this part of it was practically owned by the yakuza so they would most likely turn a blind eye to her

"shh!! Calm down it's me" a voice whispered in her ear one that she recognized. She looked up at the sharp eyes of Sagara Kosuke looking alarmed

"the local yakuza are vacating an area for some reason and I don't want to know why," he said urgently peering outside the alley

"i'm going to let go of you now don't make any loud noises" he instructed

Seeing her nod he let his hands fall to his sides into his pockets where he searched for something but came out empty

Bang!!!

The gunshot rung so close Shinoe could hear the ringing that came with the gunshot.

By her estimate, the gun was probably shot from right outside the alley a little to the right

Her senses told her to move but her legs refused to answer the heed of her mind grounding her to the ground she stood on

"where is your house located?" Sagara asked urgently taking out what looked like a black rod from his back

"it's in block 12 in the Yumize subdivision" she answered as quietly as she could

Sagara scowled.

That was at least an hours walk for their current position and if the two teens had stumbled across something big the Yakuza was planning they would surely hound them to keep their silence

"too far. See the railings?" he whispered pointing to a nearby railing at the side of a worn building

"you can climb up it take to the rooftops and head right until you see an abandoned building" he instructed quietly

"what about you? Won't we get caught? They have guns" she said trying to stop the light tremble in her voice

"i'll be your distraction," he said pressing on a button on the rod he was holding extending it into a… Quarterstaff?

It was shorter than a regular quarterstaff about the hight of Sagara which in comparison to Shinoe was huge

Quickly he dashed out of the alley swinging down hard on the man supposedly responsible for the gunshot earlier

Crack!!!"

The audible crack of the staff hitting against flesh resounded harshly followed by an aborted

"what the fuck?!??" before he was silenced by another swing of the staff

"go!!!" Sagara commanded in a tone that brooks no argument as a gunshot was heard aimed right at him luckily he dove right

Shinoe started at the railing climbing the rusted metal carefully as to not give them enough pressure to break under her weight

Gingerly she maneuvered through several more railings making a slow pace for the rooftops.

When she got there the sounds of fighting from below almost stopped with only a few shouts being heard

"find him!!!" a stern voice ordered

"yes, boss!!!"

She took a risk and peaked down the rooftop

She found a group of about twelve men wearing suits searching for her classmate armed with guns and knives

She soon found Sagara hiding behind a building to their left looking at her making a motion for her to move urgently

She started to follow when

Bang!!!

A bullet hit the potted plant next to her and she dove for cover

"there's another one!!!" they yelled before peppering the building with bullets

Shinoe froze in place the hail of lead hit the dense wall in front of her, some bullets managing to pass-through

It was only a matter of time before she was hit

But slowly the bullets stopped as the sound of flesh hitting something hard was heard bellow

Shinoe steeling herself stood and gazed upon a scene of utter chaos

The five gunmen were either currently knocked out or clutching their hands that were bent in a direction no hand should go

Sagara for his part was engaged in a battle between six armed men with knives or swords.

"This is real, " she said to herself her voice going into hysterics.

Indeed this wasn't like in their school where knives and swords were dulled. Which means there was a very real possibility for Sagara to get killed

She watched in horror as they charged at her schoolmate with weapons drawn intent on killing him.

She looked at the face of Sagara expecting to see an emotion of fear, but instead, there was one of cold determination and calmness

He weaved through the six men tripping two of them in their charge sending them tumbling down the asphalt as he brought the quarterstaff down hard using the momentum on the head of one of his assailants

One down

Spinning the staff into a reverse grip he avoided a slash for his neck by stepping in the person's guard and jamming the staff into his assailant's chest before ducking quickly as two blades almost stabbed his back

"How are we losing to a kid?!?!" one of them shouted

"Fuck you, that's how," Sagara said spinning the quarterstaff sideways and bringing it down on the leg of one of his attackers

His attacker brought his sword down to defend but was batted aside by the sheer force of the blow sending the staff to his legs

"AHH!!! My leg!!!" he screamed as a sickening crunch was heard before being silenced as Lester spun with his Staff hitting him on the head in the process while keeping the other four at bay

"there's no way he's that strong!!!" one of the remaining four shouted

Shinoe's eyes widened as realization struck

Sagara was using the momentum of staff to get blows to land hard enough to break bones

"You litle brat!!" one of them charged at him with a knife poised to stab his chest

"what" Shinoe whispered as Sagara took a stance that looked like a pose from an anime showing where he would aim a strike with his staff

"I got you now!!!" the assailant shouted before Sagara brought his foot down on his head in a sudden ax kick

"oh no!" Shinoe muttered to herself seeing a man Sagara thought to have knocked out earlier. rise and creep up behind him slowly with a broken hand grabbing for his weapon on the ground

She reigned in her fear, she would not be useless, not this time when it actually mattered

Shinoe dashed from building to building leaping the distances and positioning herself directly above the man about to stab Sagara

With no hesitation, she leaped letting her legs fall onto the shoulders of the man about to stab her school mate

"hrgh!!!" he made a choking sound as Shinoe placed her legs in a flying triangle choke before he simple collapsed

"1…2…3…4…5" she counted before releasing him completely

"Got ya you little shit!!!" her head snapped to the side as a knife was hurled at her direction aimed straight at her face

There was a flash of green

"godammit, that hurt!!" Sagara howled shielding her. a knife embedded in his right shoulder