Shori No Megami

Objective #5. Her First Teammate

Shinai Academy, Class 1-S, April 28th, 0800 hours

Sumire takes her seat and smiles cheerfully at Ito. “Hello, Ito-san! How are you this morning?”

Ito looks terrified. “Uh… um… Well, fine, I suppose…”

“Oh? What’s wrong, It—“ But to her surprise, a boy with spiked hair dyed a remarkable shade of red grabs the collar of her uniform, pulling her out of her seat and inadvertently activating her comm. Link. He shoves his angry face close to hers.

“Hey, you bitch! Who the fuck do you think you are, humiliating our Banchou like that?”

Her cell phone rings, reporting an incoming message. Hm… Rose, maybe? With one hand, she calmly grips the boy’s wrist with her thumb pressed against the back of his palm. She applies pressure and twists, forcing him to release her. She continues twisting until he’s almost on his knees with pain. With the other hand, she adjusts her glasses to turn on the surveillance feed. Her expression is casually curious as she nearly breaks the strange boy’s wrist while simultaneously reaching into her bag to check the message.

:Who the hell is that!?: It’s Rose. Sumire responds with a quick message. :dunno. Surveillance enabled.:

“OW! FUCK, WOMAN! LET GO OF ME, YOU BITCH!”

“Oh, sorry. Forgot you were still there,” she responds calmly as she releases him. Her expression is bland. “Can I help you?”

“Didn’t you hear me?! Who the fuck are you? What did you do to our Banchou?! He hasn’t been himself since he went chasing after your skank tail!”

Sumire’s expression is blank. “Banchou? Who’s that?” Since seeing Shou she’s had difficulty seeing him as anything but the childhood friend and brat of her youth. His status as the leader of the school’s delinquents has slipped to the back of her mind. The image and the reality were too incongruous.

“The Shinigami of Shinai! Kichida Shou! Our Banchou!”

Sumire snorts back a laugh. The shinigami of Shinai? That brat? “Woah. That cry-baby’s seriously your leader? You’re screwing with me, right?”

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?”

She levels a glare at him and crosses her arms over her chest. Her tone is condescending. “So who are you and what do you want with me?”

“Sawada Ichigo. Fuck, lady! What did you do to my hand?”

“That’s what happens when you touch something that doesn’t belong to you. Now what’s this about Shou?” She runs through a number of different scenarios, many involving Shou betraying her.

“Fucking bitch. Watch how you address our Banchou.”

This conversation is getting us nowhere. “If you don’t have something nice to say... Look, kid, I’m not going to stand here and listen to you prattle on like some love sick fan boy. I don’t know what happened to Shou.” She prepares to retake her seat. “Stop bothering me.” 

“You… If you did something to him…” He pulls his arm back as if he’s going to hit her. Before he can even give it a second thought she stands and shoves her desk into his stomach. In the next moment she’s twisting his arm painfully behind his back.

“So much as think about hitting me and I’ll do you the favor of making sure you never use this arm again.” Never mind having my cover blown, if this keeps up I’ll have every delinquent in the school coming after me. Damage control…