Living A Dead Dream (Baji x OC)

32

Without waiting for a proper reaction, she returned to her place beside Pehyan. With a smile, the taller male ruffled her hair, earning the usual protesting smack. "Take it from me, most of the guys here won't give a shit about your gender. Everyone knows how much you've helped Toman," he said with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "but I'd still rather keep my guard up than get hurt. I made that mistake once."

Then, one by one, cheers of affirmation slowly began rippling through the crowd. They assured her that her gender didn't matter. That she had done more than enough to prove herself. That she was part of their family. Sure, there wasn't a single person outside of the people who had already found out that wasn't surprised, but they were willing to accept her.

She was completely taken aback by the reaction. She knew that there would be some sort of reaction, but she hadn't expected to be accepted like this. The last time she had told the people she thought were her friends, they had just completely abandoned her, left her alone, and unable to trust anyone for the longest time. But here they were, telling her that that type of thing didn't matter and that she was a part of the gang that had become her family. It took a weight off her chest that she had grown so used to that she had completely forgotten about it.

~

"I know I said some kinda mean things when we fought, but that was just the adrenaline talking. Inupi, you look great in heels, and Koko, you aren't an ugly snake. I'm sorry for being a bit of an asshole. No hard feelings, right?"

Inui and Kokonoi blinked in surprise at the girl. Compared to what they had seen, this was the complete opposite of how she usually acted. She always had a hard exterior, when she wasn't fighting, that is. But, now, she's complimenting(?) them. "Right...?" Kokonoi unsurely answered, still taken aback by the sudden change. Even when she was making that announcement not too long ago, she radiated nothing but unwavering confidence and now she just looked like a slightly awkward teen. It was quite the shift. After a second, he cleared his throat. "I guess I should apologize too."

She blinked a couple of times, not knowing what he was talking about. "About... what?" she asked as she tilted her head to the side with her brows knitted in confusion, effectively confusing both boys as well.

An arm draped around her shoulders, making her look up a bit at Baji. "She's an idiot at times, if ya change the subject, ya gotta specify what you're talkin' about," he explained before ruffling her hair. 

"Who're you calling an idiot?" she rebuked as she smacked his hand away, throwing a light glare at him. "Last I checked, you were struggling with fractions."

"Math is abuse! You're slow with conversations!"

Kokonoi and Inui shared a look as they sweatdropped at the situation. "I'm talking about letting your whole secret gender thing get out," Kokonoi said with a bit of a sigh, interrupting the impending argument that was seemingly brewing between the two black-haired teens.

"Hm? Oh, that. Don't even worry about it. I planned on announcing it sooner or later anyway. And with how easily I get distracted, you actually made it easier for me. If you hadn't of found out and told a buncha people, I probably woulda been forgetting about it for a few more months. Hell, it probably woulda been longer before I got around to doing it. I'm the type to do things when I'm motivated or forced to. And motivation is hard for me to come by," she said, ending with a smile.

"Did you even breathe during that...?" Baji muttered with a sweatdrop.

"Well, then, you're welcome," Kokonoi said with a shrug and smile.

"Either way..." Inui started as he locked his gaze with Danny's curious one, "what I said to Takemichi applies to you as well. You don't have to trust us, but if you ever need help, just call."

Her smile widened a bit. "Guess I'll need your numbers then."

~

Days passed by and Sayu had been practically begging Danny to go to a new salon with her. At first, the taller teen didn't want to go, saying that she didn't need to get her hair done, but after some convincing, they were both on the train heading for the salon. All she would be doing is getting her hair treated and re-dyed since she wanted to let her hair grow out while Sayu would be getting some touchups on her hair color.

Not much time passed after the pair got there and had gotten started on the dying process before the salon door opened with a chime. A somewhat familiar set of steps sounded after, making Danny curious. She looked up from her sketchbook which had various hairstyles littered all over the page into the mirror only to see Ran Haitani. Sayu hadn't noticed though since she was still getting the foil placed into her hair and was conversing with the stylist. Brand new year and he's the first rival delinquent I see. Great.

After a couple of short minutes, the tall male was seated in the only empty seat, that being directly to Danny's right. "We just keep running into each other, don't we?" Ran mused as he looked at Danny through the mirror while his stylist got to work.

She only looked away from her sketchbook long enough to roll her eyes before she said, "This is only the third time we've seen the other, Haitani." She continued with the sketch she was working on without even looking at the male.

A bit of a smirk adorned his face as he chuckled. "You know... rumor's been going around that the infamous Danny is actually a girl." His droopy violet eyes met her deep blue ones as she finally looked at him through the mirror with a cocked brow.

"And?" she asked, sounding and looking unamused.

His smirk widened a bit. "Is it true? Because, honestly, it's the best joke I've heard in a while."

"Yeah, so what?" Ran's smirk faltered as his stylist went off to grab something. "It feels a lot better to kick someone's ass when they're under the false impression that you're weaker than them," she added as the side of her mouth quirked into a half-smirk. "I only presented myself as a guy so people would see me as an equal, but that got boring." With that, her eyes went back down to her sketchbook as she turned the page to start on a portrait drawing. "Feel free to tell as maaany people as ya like."

"You're joking, right?" he guffawed.

"Nope! She's not!" Sayu piped up from the other side of Danny. Unlike the last time she had encountered the older, better-looking Haitani, she wasn't a nervous wreck and didn't feel threatened in the least. He couldn't do anything to them while they were in a business like this. And even if he tried, Danny was between her and him. Ohmygod, he's even hotter with his hair down!

Well, fuck me, the rumors were right, Ran thought to himself with an impressed look. If he hadn't seen exactly what Toman's Beast was capable of back during the Halloween Conflict, he would've thought the girl was weak. But he had seen just how many guys she had knocked down. Hell, he had even seen when she broke someone's leg. Before the fight had even started, he thought that Danny was just another wannabe delinquent who was just playing around in their world. That happened with more than plenty of guys their age, after all. But, as the fight went on, he noticed how strong she really was. She was on par with Draken, at the very least. She even ended up having decent commanding skills. Then just before they all had to clear out, he saw just how much conviction she had. Not many people would grab the blade of a knife, after all. And now that he knew that she was a girl, he found her all that much more interesting. Now he knew why his brother was so interested in someone like her.

~Just wanna say that I am loving the new season so far. I ended up watching the first episode twice, the second time with my BF, and I was still super excited to see the boys. And he, an anime-only person right now, likes the twins too. 

Also, there's a good chance, hopefully, of me doing a second book that'll focus on another character that'll be appearing in a few chapters:) It'll obviously be a little while after this one is done, but I just wanted to put that out there.~