Chapter 2: Confronting the Boss

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“You actually came,” Rina said, a hint of surprise in her voice as she saw her classmate come to a full stop in front of her. Rina had to admit that she didn’t actually think Tomomi would come. She figured Tomomi would get too scared and back out; she just didn’t seem like the kind of person to go through with something like this. She had to hand it to her classmate; Tomomi had more courage in her than Rina had given her credit for.

“Of course I did,” Tomomi said, faking her matter of fact tone. In truth, Tomomi was scared. Whether she was more scared of speaking to Haruna or the prospect of joining a gang, that was something even she didn’t know. The young student pushed down the worry that bubbled in the pit of her stomach. Rina flashed her classmate a smile, turning on her heels and strutting down the sidewalk without another word to the girl. Tomomi walked a slow pace behind her, unsure of what else to do.

“Now, when you meet senpai, there is one very important thing to remember.” Rina paused her sentence, stealing a glance over her shoulder at Tomomi, who was looking around aimlessly. “Never make her angry.” Tomomi couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped her throat at Rina’s sentence. Everyone knew not to make Haruna angry. She had seen the things that girl was capable of when she was angry and she definitely didn’t want to be the cause of that anger. No one intentionally made Haruna angry unless they had a death wish.

The two girls continued their trek in silence, not knowing what else to say to each other. There wasn’t much to say. Rina and Tomomi weren’t friends. They never talked and they never came near each other before this. Tomomi would never associate with a member of a gang, so she didn’t know much about Rina and she didn’t want to say something that would harm her chances of impressing the leader. She only knew enough about Rina to know how close she was with Haruna.

The girls didn’t seem to have walked for long before Rina came to an abrupt stop, almost making Tomomi slam into her. Tomomi looked around at the setting around her, taken back a bit by what she saw. She hadn’t even noticed they had crossed into such a bad neighborhood; she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice. Many of the buildings looked worn down, graffiti covering the sides of the building with grime covering almost every other part. Every building at either boarded windows or ones with bars on them. The streets were covered with trash, filthy looking people strewn about the streets. This was one part of Tokyo that Tomomi would never have come to if Rina hadn’t led her here.

“I know you’re scared, Ogawa, but you need to suck it up. Don’t show fear in front of any of these people. Fear doesn’t fly well around these parts.” Rina voice was much darker now, the cheeriness disappearing from her tone. It was like this was a completely different person standing in front of her now. “Let’s continue, it’s not much farther.”

“O-okay.” Tomomi made sure to stick closely to Rina, ignoring her advice about not showing fear. She was too scared to listen to that kind of advice. She began to wonder how Rina had gotten used to this. Rina was such a sunny person, but as the duo walked along these streets, her body language and voice stayed dark. She was like a different person, a much stronger person.

“We’re here.” Tomomi’s eyes jolted forward to look at Rina who was now standing in front of the metal fence. “You’ll have to climb the fence but don’t worry, it’s not hard.” Immediately following her words, Rina tossed her school bag up and over the fence, climbing the fence with ease after it. She landed on her feet on the ground with a soft ‘oof’, turning around and beckoning for Tomomi to follow along.

“Here goes nothing,” Tomomi mumbled, tossing her bag over the fence as Rina had done. Tomomi had never climbed a fence before but really, how hard could it be? Just put your hands and feet in the right holes and hoist yourself up, that’s what Tomomi figured at least. The student had managed to get herself to the top before swinging a leg over in an attempt to begin going down the other side. As she swung her leg, Tomomi felt herself lose her balance and toppled to the ground with a hard thud. She groaned softly, hearing her companion begin laughing softly. Rina lied; climbing a fence wasn’t as easy as she had made it look and sound.

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