𝓘𝓻𝓲𝓼 | ʜɪɢʜ & ʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀꜱᴛ

Chapter 9: The True Alliance

Yasushi's phone buzzed and they all turned to him as he answered, "Who's this? Oh! Kiyoshi, how was the checkup? Oh, I see... what?! Housen's Shidaken?"

"Shidaken?!" the twins chorused, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Hey, Yasushi! Let me talk to him," Todoroki took the phone from his hands, "This is Todoroki. How's Shidaken?"

The twins glanced at each other, wondering if Shidaken was alright and if their brother already knew about it.

Suddenly, Nozomi's phone buzzed this time. She took it from her pocket, her eyes widening in shock when she saw who was calling her.

"What's wrong?" Kiko asked.

Nozomi glanced at her and then at Fujio and the others, they were already looking at her.

"Tsukasa," she replied and answered the call, putting the device in her ear. She doesn't want to get hopeful if it wasn't her boyfriend who was calling her.

She bit her bottom lip as she spoke, "Hello? Tsukasa, where are you? Are you okay?"

[Wrong, princess. Is he okay? I can't say that he is.]

Her face paled as she heard that familiar voice she loathed. She felt her body go cold with his final statement. Tsukasa was badly beaten up when they took him, now he's far worse than before and Nozomi felt sick in her stomach.

"I'm going to kill you," Nozomi said in a low dangerous tone, causing the others to look at her in shock. Now they were sure that it wasn't Tsukasa who was on the other line.

[Give the phone to Hanaoka Fujio or you won't see your little boyfriend again.]

She glanced at Fujio and slowly, she gave him the phone.

"You bastard..." he said in a low tone.

The younger Odajima twin walked towards the sofa and sat, letting out a shaky breath. Kiko immediately went beside her, putting a hand on her back for comfort.

"Yeah!" Fujio said on the other line, "We'll be there."

The male gritted his teeth in anger as he handed the phone back to Nozomi. Kiko took it from him as her sister wasn't in the state to face them yet.

"We're going, right?" Yasushi asked, facing Fujio.

"Yeah."

The students cheered, determined to take the Three Schools Alliances down.

"Bara Biz being out doesn't change the situation much," Todoroki interrupted them, "We're the only ones left that can fight, including the twins. It would be foolish to attack them head-on."

"Right now..." he sat down beside the twins on the sofa, leaning his arms on his lap, "Focusing on just rescuing Tsukasa is our smartest move."

"You'll never know," Fujio muttered as Todoroki looked at him in confusion.

"What?"

"We'll never know until we try!"

The two males faced each other as Todoroki stood up.

"You think I don't want to rescue Tsukasa?" Fujio scoffed. Todoroki smiled at him and nodded.

"Here in Oya High, we keep it simple," the leader turned to the others. "We use our fists to fight the battle in front of us."

"Lofty ideals aren't enough this time. Use your head!" Todoroki shouted at Fujio but the latter didn't even waiver.

"Todoroki... taking Bara Biz out of the equation was more than enough."

Fujio bowed down in front of him, "Thank you."

The twins frowned at his action, silently watching the situation unfolding.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Todoroki asked, "Are you saying... you don't need me anymore?"

"No!" the Oya leader replied, "It means I'll lower my head if it means to help my friends."

Kiko recalled what she and Fujio were talking about earlier when they were trying to come up with a plan.

"If you're desperate to take back someone from people who outnumbered you, what do you think you should do?"

It was a rhetorical question but she was glad she kinda helped him into realizing something.

"We've formed friendships by crossing our fists," Fujio said, turning back to Yasushi and the others, " And I'm not just talking about the people here!"

Kiko realized what he was talking about. He bowed down and asked for help from Housen.

"Did you.." Todoroki trailed off as Fujio turned back to him.

"If they want to form an alliance, let's show them what a real alliance looks like!"

The twins glanced at each other and smiled.

--

The Oya High students discussed their plans for tomorrow, letting the twins join in the conversation, too.

"Amagai Kohei," Nozomi muttered, earning their attention.

"Amagai?" Todoroki repeated, trying to recall where he had heard the name.

"Yeah, that's the person who called earlier. He's that guy from Senomon with bleached hair," the younger twin explained.

"We're also sure he's the one who's doing all of this," Kiko added, "We've heard of him before. His family's rich so he must've paid the others with money to create this alliance."

"To get them to work for him?" Yasushi asked in disbelief.

They were all facing the twins as they explained to them who are the students they should pay attention to the Three Schools Alliances.

"Well, he's irrelevant," Nozomi said as they frowned at her.

"You just said–"

"In terms of fighting strength, he's not important," the younger twin explained to them, shrugging, "He's just some arrogant rich spoiled brat who thinks he's superior to all of us."

"Anyway, Suzaki Ryo's the one you should pay attention to," Kiko took over as she caught the men's bewildered looks at her sister, "He's formerly the head of Nami High. We have no idea how he ended up in Senomon and followed Amagai like a lost puppy."

"Then, there's Sabo Amahisa or Saboten," Nozomi continued, "He was formerly Senomon's strongest with Tsudanuma until Amagai and Suzaki transferred there."

"That's pretty much all the information we know from Senomon," Kiko said, "Well, you guys met the duo from Kamasaka High, Gandhi, and Himuro Reiji."

"Yeah, I fought the other one," Fujio said, referring to Reiji.

"That bastard Gandhi!" Yasushi exclaimed. He was the one they fought and caused Kiyoshi his injury.

"And since Ebara's out, we don't need to talk about them," Kiko told them.

"Our main problem was the number of students from both schools," Todoroki pointed as the twins nodded in agreement.

"Since Housen's going to join, we're somehow even with them in numbers," Nakaoka stated, nodding.

"Are you sure you two are going?" Jamuo asked the twins.

"Yes," they chorused.

The male turned to Fujio who nodded in confirmation.

"We're not gonna be a burden," Nozomi assured them even though they already know what the twins were capable of.

"We know," Yasushi replied as the others nodded in agreement.