Chapter 7: What Do You Think You’re Doing To A Girl?!

(Chirp Chirp)

The cicadas are chirping so blaringly.

And yet…

"What the hell was that this morning?"

I can hear the sound of my thoughts clearly.

I'm walking to school right now, recalling everything that has happened in the past 24 hours.

After the breakfast incident, I ran to the fridge in a panic and ate the first item I saw. Luckily, my taste had immediately returned. I guess it was because I had just brushed my teeth. I wasn't too sure, but I decided to convince myself that was the case.

I just wanted to hurry and forget about it.

However…

That dreadful feeling of sadness and regret I had felt when I sat down at the table.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot forget it.

I feel like it's been engraved into my soul as if someone is pleading for me to remember that feeling.

"No no no, I'm definitely just overthinking. I can't let something so small bother me."

I decide to ignore it and continue heading to school.

I didn't know it at the time but ignoring that feeling turned out to be the biggest mistake of my life.

******

After about 10 minutes I reach the stone bridge which marks my halfway point to school.

"Ugh… he's there again."

Just like yesterday, there's a man laying down on the grass by the riverbank.

"I'd rather not have to talk with him right now."

I try to quickly make my way across the bridge so that he doesn't notice me.

"Ohhhh! Is that you shounen?"

However, my efforts were in vain.

I slowly turn my head toward him.

"Yo! How's it hanging?"

"It's fine…"

"Hahaha, what a boring answer, shounen!"

He stands up and starts stretching.

"I meant about what we discussed yesterday."

"Oh, that…" I recall the messages Kyoko and I exchanged yesterday.

"It worked out fine, no thanks to your advice though..."

I emphasize the hostility in my tone as I say the last part.

"Is that so? Well, I'm glad it worked out anyway."

I don't know what it is, but it's hard to even be serious around this guy. He acts like he has no troubles in the world. I don't understand how he can be positive.

I find energetic people in general to be bothersome, Kyoko being the sole exception.

"So shounen, do you understand why I gave you the advice I did yesterday?"

Advice? Is he talking about the gestures of gratitude? Honestly, I have no idea what that was supposed to mean, but for some odd reason, it was one of the things I recalled this morning.

"Nope, no clue."

"I see. Well don't worry about it, you'll figure it out eventually!"

"If you say so. Anyway, I'm going to head to school now."

I turn my back toward him and walk away.

"You'll definitely figure it out…"

"After all, you're _____ …"

******

After another 10 minutes, I arrive at school.

I got here much earlier than I typically do so there's still a decent amount of time until class starts.

"I wonder where they are?"

I didn't see Yamaguchi or Kyoko on the way here so I

figured they must've gotten here before me.

Many students are happily chatting outside.

It's pretty rowdy considering how early in the morning it is.

"Guess I'll go sit in the classroom for now."

I make my way to the second floor.

Our school has three floors with each one being for different years. So the first-year classrooms would be on the first floor and third-year classrooms on the third floor.

After climbing up the stairs, I notice it's surprisingly vacant on the second floor.

Everyone must be in their classrooms or outside.

As I'm walking, I notice a familiar face.

"Yamaguchi?"

Yamaguchi is at the end of the hall against the wall.

There's a tall brolic guy with a pompadour hairstyle wearing a sports jacket in front of her.

He looks like the typical jock character you'd see in movies. Looks like he's a third-year student.

There's also someone else there with them.

A small girl with red hair and a bunch of jewelry.

If I remember correctly she's the girl from yesterday, I believe her name was Kotori.

I quickly hide behind the wall and try to eavesdrop on their conversation.

I intended to just ignore her and go to class but…

"I heard you caused trouble for my girl yesterday, Yamaguchi."

"Hahhh? More like she tried ta pick on my friend for a stupid misunderstanding."

"There was no misunderstanding! She bumped into me and everyone saw it, so don't try to lie!"

Seems like Kotori ran to her boyfriend about the incident yesterday.

(SLAM)

The jock slams his hand against the wall and leans closer to Yamaguchi.

"Listen, Yamaguchi, I know you think you're hot shit, but if you bump into someone you need to apologize."

"What the fuck're you on about?! I told this girl yesterday that Kyo-chan apologized when she bumped into her! Is there something wrong with yer fucking brains?"

"That's some mouth you got there, Yamaguchi. You must not understand the position you're in right now."

"Wha—"

(Bam)

"Ow!"

The jock pins both of Yamaguchi's arms to the wall.

"If Kotori-chan says she didn't apologize, then she didn't apologize. If your friend ain't here to do it, then you best get on your knees and do it for her."

"Get your damn hands off of me, you piece of shit…"

Yamaguchi tries to free her hands as she glares daggers at him.

"Hahaha, you think I'm scared of you? You may be strong for a girl, but you're nothing compared to me. So know your damn place, you trash!"

(Slam)

He aggressively throws her against the wall and Yamaguchi falls down.

"…"

I've seen enough. This has gone on for far too long.

(Cough)

"…You think you can scare me punk?"

Time freezes around everyone for a second as Yamaguchi stands up. The air has gone completely frigid and the presence surrounding Yamaguchi has changed.

This is the scariest I've ever seen her. She has a gaze filled with murderous intent and the most ferocious scowl I've ever seen in my life. She reminds me of a mad dog ready to tear its prey limb from limb.

(Corner an animal, and that's when it becomes most dangerous.)

I feel like I understand what that saying truly means now.

She'll definitely win like this.

Even the jock takes a step back out of intimidation.

"Hah? You wanna go?"

"H-Hey I think that's enough…You're going too far Ryuji-senpai," The red-haired girl grabs his sleeve and urges him to stop. She looks pretty shaken up from the situation now.

"Shut your mouth!"

"Hnk…"

The jock tosses Kotori aside, completely disregarding what she's saying.

"You asked me to teach her a lesson and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

"Bring it on, you damn bastard…"

Yamaguchi puts up a fighting stance, but something isn't right.

Her legs.

They're trembling.

Yamaguchi is scared.

What the hell was I thinking…

Yamaguchi's still a girl.

Of course, she'd be scared fighting someone almost twice her size.

And yet she didn't back down even for a second.

That stubborn girl…

"Hehe, now that's more like it."

"You better not regret this!!!"

The jock throws a punch with enough force behind it to easily knock someone out.

(WHACK)

The sound of the impact echoes throughout the hallway.

(Drip Drip)

Blood begins to stain the floor red.

"W-Who the hell are you?!"

"…"

"You… What are you doing here Fuyuki?!"

"Hey. What the fuck do you think you're doing to a girl…"

I slowly raise my head with his fist still implanted on my cheek.

"Haha, I see. You must be her boyfriend then. What, you wanna take a beating in her place?"

The jock mockingly jeers me.

I can't beat this guy in a fair fight.

In that case, I'll…

(Grab)

I grab his wrist and dig my thumb into his

Neiguan (pressure point P-6) as hard as I can, making sure I apply as much force to the two large tendons as I can.

"OW! What the hell are you doing?!"

He quickly looks down toward his wrist.

This fight is already over.

Humans are instinctively afraid of pain. So if I target a point that causes a lot of it, then of course he'll want it to stop immediately and look toward the source of it.

This is what I was hoping for.

He momentarily let his guard down when I attacked his pressure point.

I don't miss this opening.

(STAB)

I drive my fingers straight into his eyes.

"GAH MY EYES!"

I let go of his wrist and he starts vigorously rubbing his now watery eyes.

Another opening.

(WHAM)

I kick him in his groin as hard as I can.

I feel an unpleasant sensation on my leg as it makes an impact with his family jewels.

"OUCHHHH!"

He grabs onto his crotch in agonizing pain as he falls to his knees.

The eyes, the throat, the nose, and the groin. These are typically the best points to attack in a fight.

No matter how big or strong you are, if you get hit in one of those spots you will undoubtedly experience the same pain as anyone else.

We've made a lot of noise so people will start to show up soon and that would spell big trouble for me.

I'll finish this now.

(WHACK)

I kick him right across the chin.

(Thump)

He falls face first onto the floor, now out cold.

With that, the fight comes to an end before it even started.

"Let's go, Yamaguchi. I don't wanna get suspended on my second day of school."

I urge her to flee the scene with me.

"R-Right." Still shocked at what she had just witnessed, she hesitates a bit before running over to me.

I turn around to the other girl that's been silently watching the whole time.

"Sorry about your boyfriend. I let my emotions get the best of me when I saw him try to hit Yamaguchi."

"N-No it's fine. He went way too far, so he had it coming. I didn't think he would try to fight Yamaguchi. I'm sorry…"

Surprisingly, she bows sincerely toward Yamaguchi.

"Forget about it, just make sure you apologize to Kyo-chan. Got it?"

"Y-yes, I will! Please hurry and leave, I'll handle this."

She once again bows to us and we quickly run away, leaving her to deal with the aftermath.

I guess she's not that bad of a person after all.

******

Once Yamaguchi and I have safely evacuated the scene she tugs at my sleeve.

"Hm?" I turn to her to see what she wants.

"I'm sorry…"

Yamaguchi has her head downcast as she apologizes.

"What for?"

"You got hurt because of me…"

"Ah."

I take note of my slightly swollen left cheek and bloody lip.

She must be feeling guilty.

"Don't worry about it. I may not look like it, but I actually work out almost every day."

I flex my bicep and smile at her to show her I'm fine.

"But…"

"It's fine, Yamaguchi. I couldn't let you fight a guy almost twice your size. If Kyoko found out you got hurt she might've tried to confront him by herself. You wouldn't want to worry her like that, would you?"

"…"

"And besides, you're my friend. Isn't it natural to want to protect your friends."

"Ah…"

Yamaguchi's eyes widen and she quickly averts her head.

"T-Tha— Than—."

"…"

Her voice is barely audible and her face looks like it's burning up from embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. It's no big deal."

I save her from the embarrassment of trying to thank me.

Yamaguchi insisted it would be a bad idea for me to head to class with my face like this, so she dragged me to the nurse's office holding my hand the entire time.

"I told you it's not that big a deal, it doesn't even hurt."

It looks like the nurse hasn't arrived so Yamaguchi is grabbing some stuff to treat my minor injuries.

"It ain't fine at all! Do you know how worried Kyo-chan would be if you walked into class with a bloodied and swollen face?"

Damn her… she's using my own logic against me.

"Fine."

I obediently sit down on a bed.

"Here, I'm going to rub this ointment on your cheek and put a bandage on it."

"Alright."

She leans over and starts rubbing the cream over my left cheek.

It actually feels kind of nice. It's a warm and soothing sensation. Her pleasant fragrance tickles my nose. She smells really good and I find myself glancing at her.

Our faces are extremely close right now, if she moved forward an inch we would probably kiss.

And that would be bad for numerous reasons…

Yamaguchi is actually a very beautiful girl. Her long silky purple hair that goes down to her lower back and moist violet eyes that look like amethyst crystals. They both compliment her naturally pretty face. Not to mention she's relatively uh… well endowed, I guess you could say. It's too bad she has that personality, otherwise she'd probably be pretty popular.

She applies the bandage onto my cheek and then…

Our eyes meet.

"…"

Her face instantly flushes red and she quickly backs away.

"Y-y-y-you! What are you looking at me like that for?"

Feeling flustered, I quickly rebuttal.

"HUH? Aren't you the one that's looking at me like that?"

"NO WAY IN HELL I WAS!"

"…"

"…"

There's an awkward silence between the two of us until…

"Ha… ahahahaha."

We both start laughing.

"You should've seen how red your face was. Do you like me or something?"

"Yeah right! It's yer face that was beet red! You better not be catching feelings for me or anything like that, ya hear?"

We continue our silly banter for a bit longer before heading back to class.

As we're walking, she grabs my sleeve again.

"Hey, Fuyuki…"

"What's up?"

"I'm only going to say this once so listen up…"

"Sure what is it?"

"…"

She stops walking and lowers her head for a second before…

"Thanks for saving me, Fuyuki."

She expresses her gratitude to me with the biggest smile I've ever seen her make.

"So you can be honest after all." I tease her in response, now feeling a bit flustered from seeing her smile so sincerely at me.

"…"

"Yamaguchi?"

"FORGET IT! I'm never thankin' you for shit again."

She furiously storms past me with her face bright red.

Looks like I made her angry.

"Well, she'll get over it by lunch. I hope…"

******

Once I arrive in the classroom, most of the students have already arrived.

"Hey did you see that third year out in the hall earlier?"

"Yeah dude, he was out cold, lol"

"Do you think he got into a fight or something?"

"Who could have beaten that brolic guy though?"

"Must be a real monster…"

"True that…"

A good portion of the class seems to be discussing the incident from earlier. Luckily, it would appear that no one knows that Yamaguchi and I were involved.

"Good Morning Akira-kun~"

"Mornin' Kyoko."

"What happened to your cheek?!"

"Oh, this? It's nothing serious, I actually wasn't paying attention and ran into a poll yesterday."

I doubt she'll believe that, but it's the only excuse I could come up with on the fly.

"That's terrible, Akira-kun! Are you alright?"

She believed it…

"Yeah, I'm totally fine now."

"..."

Yamaguchi is sitting next to her, completely ignoring me.

"Alright everyone, take your seats!"

The teacher walks in and tries to calm the students down since class is about to start.

"I'm looking forward to lunch today, Kyoko."

"Yes, please look forward to it, I did my best!"

I wave goodbye to her and head to my seat.

"Fuyuki…"

I'm greeted by the skinny kid from yesterday. I think his name was Fujibayashi.

"Morning, Fujibayashi."

"Don't 'morning' me!"

"Huh? You say morning in the morning don't you?"

"That's not what I mean!"

"Then what are you on about?"

"I'm talking about how you were just talking with two incredibly cute girls! I thought we were in the same boat, how could you betray me like this..."

I had forgotten this guy's a dumbass.

"C'mon Fuyuki, you gotta introduce me to one."

"Sorry, but no can do man."

"Why not?!"

"That's because one of them would chew your head off, I'm sure you've heard of Yamaguchi."

"You mean she's THE Yamaguchi?"

"Yup, so you'd better give up on that."

"Ughh fine… Then what about Kyoko-chan? She's super sweet and nice to everyone. Do your pal a solid and introduce me won't you?"

"That's a no go as well."

"Why not!?"

"That's because she's my girlfriend."

"…"

Fujibayashi's face has frozen stiff and his jaw looks like it's about to fall off.

"Wait one minute…"

He stands up and puts his hand on my shoulder while covering his face with the other.

"You mean to tell me you're friends with THE Yamaguchi and dating the school idol Kyoko-chan?"

"Yup."

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

"Why did it have to be you?! It's just not fair, it's not right!"

He falls to his knees and starts rambling nonsense.

"That's how it is so please stay away from them." I pat his back, feeling a bit sorry for him.

"I just wanna be happy…" Fujibayashi mumbles as he slumps over on his desk dejectedly.

"Yo Fuyuki, morning."

It's the playboy from yesterday.

I'm pretty sure his name was Manabe, but I'm going to keep calling him playboy in my mind.

"Yo, mornin'."

"What's up with that guy?"

He gestures toward Fujibayashi with his head.

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's just trying to come to terms with a harsh reality."

"Is that so?" He glances over at the sobbing Fujibayashi with a confused look.

"Yup, that's how it is."

"Hm, alright, if ya say so."

(Ding Dong Ding)

The second bell rings and homeroom begins.

Seems like today is shaping up to be another eventful one, to say the least.