| Fan Fiction |
by Reisa
Sho, the one who I had contacted first, asked me to be careful. “You’re not going alone, are you?”
“Of course not,” I replied. “I know better than that.”
I heard him chuckle over the phone. “You’ve grown up, Kana. You really have. Shun would be proud.”
I smiled. Sho didn’t know how much his words meant to me. “Thanks, Sho.”
After we ended the call, I immediately called Yankumi.
“I found out where Kudo is.”
“I did too. 3-D helped asked around town.”
I was surprised. After all, they had come off as a group that didn’t care much about one another.
“I’ll meet you there,” I told her before hanging up.
Because I was closer to the place, I found myself getting there within minutes. I knew that Yankumi would take longer, since the place was far from Kurogin.
Kudo’s hideout was a well-hidden club. I stood at the entrance, waiting.
Suddenly, a guy grabbed my arms from behind me and hauled me inside. I would have fought him, but this was going to be my destination either way, so I let him drag me to the inner club room.
I was stunned to see the piles of jewelry on the tables. I realized that this was what Kudo had robbed from the store. My fists clenched as I was pushed to the floor in front of him.
The guy who had grabbed me spoke. “I found her lurking in front of the entrance.”
“That true?” Kudo said with a smirk. “Perhaps she was hoping to join us, knowing that we’re rich now.”
I let out a scornful laugh. “Like I’d sink to your level.”
He swiftly grabbed me by the hair and forced me to look at the gang, at the glittering jewels.
“Not bad, huh?” he snarled. “Look at all of this, all this I gained at the expense of those two weaklings.” His voice turned into a mocking sneer. “Did you have fun with those two last night?”
I reached up and dug my nails into his wrists, causing him to hiss in pain and let go of me.
“You’re not getting away with this,” I said calmly.
He glared at me. “What’s wrong with you? Why do you care about people who have nothing to do with you?”
“You don’t know anything,” I responded.
He looked amused. “Do they even know who you are, what you’ve done? Of course, it’s none of my business if they want to associate with a murderer.”
Something in me snapped. Before I knew it, I had grabbed Kudo by the throat.
“I wouldn’t have killed him if he hadn’t killed Shun!” I said fiercely before pushing him into one of the tables, knocking it over. The other attacked me immediately, surrounding me. I made good use of the items round the room, chairs, tables, even the jewelry.
In the heat of the fight, I noticed a guy swing a pipe at me too late. I ducked and avoided a blow to my head, but my side took the impact. I fell, clutching my side. The guy brought the pipe up once more. My aching side did nothing but prevent me from moving. I waited for the crack that would break me.
It never came. I opened my eyes to see a hand wrench the pipe from the guy and knock him down. Yankumi. I breathed in relief and struggled to sit up.
Kudo demanded to know who she was. She answered that she was Yabuki and Odagiri’s homeroom teacher. She then asked if they were willing to turn themselves in, at which they laughed.
She then proceeded to take them down, starting with Kudo, until one by one, they fled.
“Yankumi…Kudo!” I gasped, catching sight of him edging away.
She heard me. “You, I can’t let go,” she said, grabbing him. When he lunged at her, she used the same move she had used to subdue Yabuki; a straight punch to the gut. He fell to the ground, unable to move.
Yankumi helped me up and quickly pulled me out, just as sirens surrounded the place. I smiled grimly. Justice would be served.
-----
At the police station, Yankumi joined her students in a mass group to greet the two when they were released. I stood a ways away from them, a hand on my throbbing side. Yankumi had asked me if I needed to go to the hospital, but I had refused.
Odagiri and Yabuki looked stunned when they walked out and saw their classmates waiting for them. They were immediately surrounded by their joyous friends.
The mean detective that had led them out walked up to them. “Don’t do anything that will get you blamed for these kinds of things,” he said menacingly.
Yabuki stepped forward angrily but Odagiri jerked him back.
Instead, Yankumi spoke up. “You’re forgetting something, Mr. Detective. You need to apologize.”
Everyone stared at her in disbelief.
“You made the mistake of accusing them for something they didn’t do,” Yankumi said.
“Yamaguchi…leave it. We’re used to this kind of thing,” Odagiri said.
“It’s not okay!” Yankumi shouted. “When people make mistakes, they apologize. That’s the way things are. If people who are supposed to be the role models of society don’t do such things, how are these kids supposed to learn?!”
“Even if you think so, will these kids ever learn?” the detective retorted.
“Of course,” Yankumi said. “I believe that wholeheartedly. So please, teach them how to do the right thing.” She bowed to him.
The detective hesitated, then bowed to Yabuki and Odagiri. “Sumanakatta,” he said, before quickly walking away.
Everyone cheered and prepared to leave, with Odagiri and Yabuki in tow.
Seeing them reminded me of Shin and the time he had been released from prison. The thought made me miss him deeply and I was no longer in a mood to celebrate. I smiled though when Odagiri caught sight of me. He held my gaze for a while, but I shook my head, motioning for him to go with the others. I then turned and walked away. I figured that if I missed Shin at a time like this, his sister would be as well, so I called Natsumi and decided to hang out with her for the rest of the day.
------
As I walked home, my thoughts were full of everything Natsumi and I had talked about. She was in her second year of high school now, one more to go. She and I got together at times, just to be company for each other. Plus I had promised Shin that I’d take care of his sister. I smiled at that memory.
While I walking along the street, I looked up and saw Odagiri coming from the opposite way. He looked up and slowed down, surprised to see me. I planned to saw hello, how are you, bye and walk past him.
As I tried to walk past him, however, he grabbed my arm. When my eyes flickered to his, he looked at me deeply, as if searching my eyes for my emotions. His arms suddenly wrapped around me and pulled me close.
I was shocked and didn’t know what to do. He and I were about the same height, though he was a little taller. Odagiri, sensing that I was not used to this, began to let go, but my arms tentatively wrapped around him. He was showing me that he cared, and I wanted to return that.
All that happened in less than a minute and didn’t last long. I winced in pain when his arms tightened against my side and he immediately released me.
“You’re hurt,” he said darkly. “It was Kudo, wasn’t it?”
I blinked, not knowing how he knew. I figured Yankumi had told him. He slung his bad over his shoulder and began to pull my hand.
“My house is right over there. We should put some ice on that,” he said, leading me.
His house was big, a lot bigger than any I’d ever been in. His father must really be someone important. I remembered in time not to ask, since Odagiri’s relationship with his family supposedly wasn’t so great.
A woman opened the door, and Odagiri pulled me inside.
“Mom, bring some ice to my room,” he said.
The woman stared at me skeptically, and Odagiri stepped in front of me, as if shielding me from her view.
“She’s a friend. Just bring some ice. We’ll be in my room.”
The way he said it wasn’t exactly the nicest way one could speak to their parents. I had seen family conflicts before, though, and knew that it wasn’t my place to interfere. Perhaps, like Shin, Odagiri would one day be reconciled with his family, whatever they had done to him.
“Nice room,” I said, when I saw the neat white and black contrast in its design. I strode over to the balcony, fascinated with the view from his window.
“So how was prison?” I asked, turning to look at him. “Glad to be out?”
“Yeah,” he said simply. He was watching me intently. “Yamaguchi told me about Kudo.”
I nodded. I was startled by his next question. “Why’d you go after him?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You could have gotten really hurt...You did get hurt.” His words irritated me.
“I can take care of myself,” I said flatly, turning away from him.
Silence. Then, “I didn’t mean it like that, but…”
“Would you have gone if Yabuki and I had been caught by the police?” I asked him.
He frowned at my sudden question. “Yes, of course, but…”
I nodded. “See, it’s what anyone would have done.”
“…We’re not worth it though.”
I turned quickly when he said that. “Says who?” I asked softly. He looked up at me uncertainly.
The knock on the door broke the tension, and Odagiri went to get the ice pack from his mother.
“Sit,” he said, motioning to his bed. I did so hesitantly. I wasn’t used to having other people treat my wounds.
When I lifted the side of my shirt a couple inches, we both winced at the large dark bruise on my side.
“You should get that checked,” he said.
“I’m fine,” I insisted. He placed a finger on my bruise, and I sucked in a sharp breath.
“See,” he said. He then gently replaced his finger with the icepack.
“It’s cold,” I said, pushing it away.
“You won’t heal unless the swelling goes down,” Odagiri protested. I stood up.
“I’ll heal eventually. I always do,” I answered.
He reached up and grabbed my wrist. He didn’t say a word for the longest time. I finally gave in, not able to stand the awkward silence, and sat back down. He placed the ice pack on my side, holding my wrist the entire time. The whole time, I wondered why I even put up with this.
After about ten minutes, I got up. “I should go. Thanks Odagiri.”
He nodded. “See you…and thanks…”
--------
Instead of going straight home, I went up to my special place, the spot that Shin had “given” me the night we had graduated. I sat for a while, just staring down at the town.
Everything was happening too fast. It seemed like just yesterday that Yankumi and I had rescued Odagiri from his gang, and now he and Yabuki already knew about some of my past. I was getting into more fights within weeks than I had in this past year. I wanted to go back to when I was in school, to when Shin and the others and I could just hang out and not worry about things like this. But at the same time, I wanted to see where Yankumi’s students were going.
What Odagiri had said saddened me. They had already experienced the harsh judgment of society and they knew that most people didn’t expect much from them; therefore they learned not to expect much from others.
I had a feeling that they would learn from Yankumi the importance of valuing themselves, as well as valuing others. And perhaps the best way to teach that was to show it.
After all, it was what she had taught me.
But what Kudo had said still lingered in my mind.
Murderer...
-------------------------------------------------------------
*Sumanakatta: A man's way of saying Sorry
As always, thank you for reading and commenting!