Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter five│aftermath

"Y-yeah, I remember ─ and I actually won against her!" She couldn't help but feel proud saying that, as if it was some sort of huge accomplishment. Even now, she was surprised that she has even managed to win against Minji. She kind of wanted to go against her again to see if she could once again win, but she almost immediate dismissed the thought upon realizing the condition Minji was in.

"Yeah, well, don't feel too proud about that..." Taichi speaking up had both snapped her out of her thoughts, and confused her, looking up at him with curiosity and confusion. Before she could ask what he meant by that, he answered the question for her.

"Remember, you only managed to take her down because you caught her off guard, then I'm pretty sure you collapsed out of exhaustion afterwards."

She hadn't truly realized just how long it's been since she became a hero, since she met Taichi, Minji and Satou. Even though, she felt like she hadn't gone far at all since that point... Sure, she became a hero, but... despite how long it's been, nothing much apart from that has changed.

She still hadn't fixed her relationship with Taichi, she rarely ever saw him anymore, oddly enough. She knew pretty much nothing about Satou, and Minji... it was the same situation, she hadn't really realized because of her cheerful personality and the way she acted like she had nothing to hide, but she didn't really know anything about her, either.

But with how Taichi described her that one rainy afternoon, she had been underestimating Minji a lot. Not only did she want to know more about her, but she had a bitter taste in her mouth after the way things ended with Taichi. Especially thinking back to the amusement park, that Taichi asked her to join him to as an apology for the way he reacted after Minji was badly injured. She couldn't blame him, Minji... really wasn't doing so well, but she seemed to have made a full recovery.

She can't just expect him to take her to another amusement park or something just to apologize. If she wanted to fix the problem between them, which she did, then she'd have to confront him about it, even if she felt like it was mostly her fault, he was the one who ended things on bad terms.

So maybe after she finished her training session with Minji, she could have a quick chat on Taichi, depending on how it goes. Hopefully the arguments they've had in the past will be forgotten, they'll put the past behind him, and at least will be able to speak to each other without any awkwardness.

Snapping her out of her thoughts, the school bell finally rang, immediately causing every student to rise from their seats. Chieko did the same, packing up her things and waited for her classmates to leave before following them out the door. The halls were crowded with students making their way to their lockers, eager to go home.

Chieko calmly moved through the crowd, heading to her locker. She looked around her, looking for a familiar red head in the crowd, just in case. She grew nervous, despite the red head and her friends not being anywhere in sight, but that just meant they could be hiding, waiting to pounce at the right moment.

Pulling her bag out of her locker, Chieko shook her head and slipped it onto her back. If they really weren't anywhere nearby, then it'd be best to hurry up before they head this way. Taking one last look towards the large crowd of students, she turned away and started walking towards the exit.

She tried not to think about the three girls, she had been lucky that day ─ for once, she hadn't received some kind of beating from them, for the first time since she could remember, she had managed to escape without a scratch. There was no guarantee she'd be as lucky the next time, though. Because of her miraculous escape, the three would go harder on her the next day, showing no mercy.