Chapter 6

She cannot remember where she learned how to fight.

She thinks it's thanks to the group but Kelly thinks it's with their idiot leader, Natsu. Natsu has taught them how to fight, how to survive in a fight with bigger bullies, and the ways to be crafty. They grew up in the streets, getting into fights in the streets and living the life that she always wanted to have.

She cannot remember most of her past anyway.

"Izumi, let's go somewhere," Kelly decided. They were in their hideout - an underground cubby hole they managed to find accidentally in a large rain tree. They found it when they were messing around in the mountain – wanting to explore every nook and cranny of it because they were bored out of their minds.

It was their hiding spot - their sanctuary and they liked staying in it rather than being at home.

"Go where?" she inquired.

She was weary whenever they had to go somewhere.

She hated the outside world. There were too many bad people and less good people.

If she had a choice, she'd rather stay here with Kelly until they grow old.

Kelly will never hurt her.

Kelly looked at her with a knowing smile. Both were children; seven years old but even if their bodies were just a child, their minds were of adults and they knew their place, they knew the world. After all, they lived in the darkness for a long time.

A ring interrupted the silence they shared, and Kelly picked it up.

"Natsu has called for us."

She perked up from lying on the ground. "A fight?"

"Looks like it."

They shared a grin and left the sanctuary hole they both called home. They linked hands as they walked down the mountain path, and headed toward the city area where Natsu had called for them. They were all wild kids, up to mischief and they were a close-knit group, growing up with darkness heavy in their chests.

By the time they came, Natsu and Liam (the four of them were complete now) were deep in a fight with older bullies so they stepped in to help. It was a weird sensation; but being in trouble together, going through thick and thin together allows the bond that they shared to evolve exponentially.

It was an eye-opening sensation.

…

I went to the kitchenette area with a yawn, bringing my bag down with me to find Setagawa-san in a foul mood as he cooked by the stove and Haru-san was nowhere to be seen. I greeted a weary good morning and sat down at my usual spot.

While I was pouring coffee, I looked at the older man - with his back to me. It was then that I finally remembered Hajime-san had talked about visiting his restaurant after his volleyball practice. If I told him that, I wonder if he would be happy and stop wearing that awful expression on his face.

"Setagawa-san, would you mind if the people from school came over to eat at the restaurant?" I asked innocently.

He whirled around as if he didn't hear me correctly, and his eyes were wide with surprise as he looked at me. He looked like he didn't believe his ears. All of the grumpiness that he had shown on his face completely disappeared.

"Did you make friends, Izumi-chan?" he asked in shock.

I gave him a flat look. His elation in me finding friends was too obvious. "Not friends, just merely... acquaintances," I mumbled.

"Of course, I won't mind! The more the merrier!" he exclaimed happily. "Did you give them a taste of my cooking?"

"Yes, I gave one senior boy half of my bento because he looked like he needed it badly," I explained. "He was going through a break-up. And he told his friends that the food he ate was nice so I gave them your name card."

"That was nice of you, Izumi-chan."

"I guess so."

"This is good, now I have more reasons to improve my cooking skills!"

"You still need to teach me, Setagawa-san."

"Oh yes, I won't forget about that."

Smiling a little, I sipped my cup of coffee slowly while I waited for breakfast food to come. It was a little odd that Haru-san had not arrived for breakfast yet and I felt it was the wrong moment to ask Setagawa-san about Haru-san since he had an angry expression earlier so I just kept quiet about it.

The adults could settle their problems amicably.

With food in my belly and a bento box packed inside my bag, I made my way to school with a little smile on my face. Hoping that today would end up being a good day, I set off to school with a skip in my step. I was looking forward to eating the food for lunch and I also could not wait to start learning how to cook.

This will be a good start.

However, life was not kind.

Today, out of all the days, the discipline master was standing outside the gate and I knew I would be caught as I don't abide by their uniform rules at all.

Cursing my luck, I tried to blend myself amongst a group of students and keep my head down as I stepped past the front gates. However, I stood out like a sore thumb so I was slapped with detention and a verbal warning which I took with stride.

Though he chided me for not abiding by the uniform rules and trying to keep to them as much as I could, he told me that I was glad that I hadn't been tardy and that he had a lot of hope for me. I didn't know what to think about it so I simply thanked him.

Jerking his head to the right, I took that as a sign to leave and enter the building, heading my ass up to homeroom class. I glanced down at the pink ticket he had given me; reading what he had written down on it with his messy scrawl.

Not abiding by school rules: wearing lip rings, colored hair. Colored ankle socks. Too much. Detention for a month.

I chuckled at his description despite the simple fact that I had detention for a month and kept the pink slip inside my pocket when I caught a faint sob echoing along the hallway. I stopped walking, I knew what it was and thought I knew the mess that would come after, I headed towards the noise.

…

During math lessons, I had my head down and my hand covering my mouth so I wouldn't attract attention and that caught Kousuke-san's attention so he stood next to my table. I didn't look at him, merely kept my head down to my notes and my hand didn't move away from resting against my chin.

"Show me your face, Izumi," he ordered.

I didn't move which angered him.

Clicking his tongue at me, he snatched my arm away from my chin and let out a curse when he saw the cut on my lip. He forced me to stand up and dragged me to the infirmary. I merely followed without a protest, silently berating myself for being found out.

I guess I was being too obvious.

In the infirmary, I was told to sit down on one of the mattresses and the nurse tended to the cut on my lip. I had my eyes averted from Kousuke-san's angry gaze and kept my hands curled tightly together. He must have noticed my quiet disposition and so he caught my bluff, pulling apart my hands to see the knuckles.

The skin had torn apart and bled through, leaving streaks of bruising around the knuckles. The nurse was surprised to see them, and quickly administered first aid, marveling at the extent of the injury on them.

"Why were you in a fight, Izumi?" he asked angrily.

I kept my eyes averted from him, refusing to reply.

"If you don't reply to me, I'll hand you to the school counselor and you'll be up for a psychiatric session!" he threatened.

I grew sick of his excuses and felt fury soar into my chest. My hand curled up into a tight fist till they shook. It was difficult for me to calm down, knowing that I could never rely on Kousuke-san anymore.

"Leave me alone."

The female nurse stood in between us, shielding him from me. "Now Oshiba-sensei, I've told you many times, do not speak to our students like that," the nurse said gently but firmly. "Why don't you leave the infirmary and get back to your class? I will handle this from here."

I kept my gaze averted, not wanting to look at him as he left with a huff. The nurse let out a deep sigh of relief and began patching my hands up as gently as she could. I stayed quiet and wondered if Setagawa-san would be called, hearing the same statement he had been hearing since I started high school.

"Why don't you take a rest first, honey?" she suggested after she was done and patted my shoulder gently. "It's best if you don't go back to his class just yet."

I thanked her and headed to the back bed to have a rest, pulling the curtain close to have privacy. I was exhausted. I must have fallen asleep as I heard muffled voices around me. I went alert when I heard someone using my name and a gentle hand holding mine. Staying still, I listened to their conversation. 

It was between Setagawa-san and Kousuke-san.

"We still have no idea what the fight was about, Oshiba-sensei," Setagawa-san said with a firm voice. "Izumi-chan tends to get into fights when she sees the other party being bullied. She was not like she was before. She has changed for the better. You have no right to say this because from what I know you were gone for four years. People can change."

Kousuke-san let out a sigh. "Well you are right," he decided.

I didn't want to hear them talk about me anymore so I opened my eyes. "Don't talk about me as if you were there with me all this time," I said flatly as I sat up from the bed. "You left me behind, Kousuke-san."

"Izumi-chan! How are you feeling, my dear?" Setagawa-san asked in a worried tone.

"I'm fine."

"Now, tell us what happened," Kousuke-san demanded.

I sighed. "A group of bullies ganged up a kid and I stepped in," I said. "They were beating up a frail-looking kid and I had to teach them a lesson."

Setagawa-san had a knowing look on his face while Kousuke-san was pissed. He indeed was right after all. However, I wasn't sure if I had changed. I felt like I was falling back into my old habits, the same thing occurring over and over again. It feels like a lost cause. A hopeless one.

"I'm glad you're okay, Izumi-chan," Setagawa-san spoke with relief. "You should take a few days off to let your knuckles heal first-"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Kousuke-san hissed angrily. "Why were you so careless?"

I was taken aback at his anger.

"Oshiba-sensei, I don't appreciate the way you're talking to her," Setagawa-san said in a disapproving tone. "She has proven to me many times that she can take care of herself and that she is changing for the better. If you have nothing nice to say, please get out of this room or I will call the police for harassment."

The tension was so thick I couldn't look at Kousuke-san. I was angry at how he spoke, and I wanted to put one punch to his face but Setagawa-san was there, so I didn't want to do that in front of him. It was about to get more awkward but it dispelled once we heard a racket outside and then a familiar brown-haired boy emerging from behind the curtains looking harried.

"Izumi! Are you okay?!"

I jumped in shock and I stared at Hajime-san, too shocked for words at his sudden appearance. My voice was gone and I could only stare at him. He noticed the other two adults with me and then his eyes dropped to the bandaged hands of mine so he swooped to gather them in his while demanding what had happened. At the same time, Kousuke-san left the room while Setagawa-san chuckled at his dramatic entrance.

"I'm fine, Hajime-san," I said, feeling my face redden with embarrassment at how much he was paying attention to me. "Calm down -"

"How am I supposed to calm down?!" he exclaimed angrily. "Were you in a fight? What happened to you?!"

I burst out laughing, mainly to hide my embarrassment. It has been quite a while since I've received such care and genuine concern from another person. I kind of missed this though. I smiled at him, it was at this moment that I realized how genuine he was.

"Why are you laughing?" he demanded. "It's not funny, Izumi!"

Deciding that it was time to change the subject, I turned to the older man who was watching us both with an amused smile. "Setagawa-san, this is Hajime-san," I introduced. "This is the guy who liked your cooking."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, young man," Setagawa-san said cheerily as he offered a hand to the other boy. "I'm her landlord."

Hajime-san looked confused as hell but he was courteous enough to greet him without a problem. He must have been surprised to know that Setagawa-san was my landlord, he must have assumed the adult was my father or my guardian at least. I watched them exchange greetings and I had a little smile playing on my lips as they interacted.

A few minutes later, Setagawa-san left, claiming that he needed to be back at the store since he left so abruptly, so it was just Hajime-san and I left in the infirmary. He sat down on the other chair with a loud huff and proceeded to give me a pout, which made me laugh aloud at his cuteness.

"What on Earth are you doing?" I asked with a laugh.

"You got into trouble and didn't tell me," he exclaimed and pouted again. "I thought I was your friend!"

I paused. I was taken aback by his statement. I didn't think that we were friends and I felt awkward. "Well … you are now," I said, trying to keep the smile from growing wider. "But how did you find out about it?"

"One of the girls was gossiping about it and I overheard," he said with a nonchalant shrug. "Next time you call me for help, okay?"

A laugh left my lips. I don't believe he can hold himself in a fight but I was grateful for it.

"Okay, I will."