"My name is Miki Kurosaki. I am 14 years old and I am an eighth grader. This is my first year at this school so, please, take care of me," I said in front of the mirror practicing what I would say in front of the class. As you could probably tell from what I said, it is my first year at this school. Ishini middle and high school. Yes middle and high school students share the campus but we won't get in each others' way. I think. I haven't visited the school to see how things work there. So I'm kind of worried if I would fit in with the people there. It's times like these that I wished my mom and dad were here. They're in England running a company they inherited from my late grandfather. I didn't go because I didn't want to go to a different school let alone a different country. So they let me stay here and do as I pleased. But they said that I had to live with adults so they could sign school forms for me as my legal guardians. I live with Mister and Misses Tachibana. I live in the upstairs studio apartment type of thing while they live in the actual house part of the building. They don't really care about what I do. They have two sons. One is really adorable. He's five years old. His name Mirai. And they have a twenty year old son. His name Hirata. He's a stupid, lazy college student. He argues with me for no reason at all!! Sometimes I just wanna go to his room and strangle him to death!! Most if my friends say that he's so cute and sweet and kind and blah bla-blah bla-blah. I absolutely don't see it. Maybe because he's more if a big brother always teasing like saying "What guy would date you?! You're so damn ugly!!" Well who gives a shit?! I still don't like it. He could go suck my none existent dick for all I care!! Oh lookie here. He has already gotten me in a sour mood. I must get in a cheery mood so I won't give a bad first impression on my first day of school. Oh crap it's already 3 A.M. I've been up for two hours. I must go to bed.
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The actual morning part of my day, I skipped down the stairs and greeted little Mirai. He was fruity pebbles for breakfast.
"Good morning, Mrs. Tachibana."
"Ah, good morning, sweetie. Are you ready for today?!"
"Are you kidding?" I turned to her picked up my right hip and saluted to her. "I was born ready!" then I felt a thump on the back of my head.
"Shaddup!! No one really cares!" I turned to see Hirata with a wooden spoon in his hand.
"You're the one who doesn't care, Hirata. I am very proud of her," said Mr. Tachibana. He's like a father to me whenever I need encouragement. And now is a very good time for that.
"Thank you, Mr. Tachibana."
"No problem, sweetie. What do you want for breakfast?"
"I can't have anything. I'm late. I'll pick up something from the convenience store. Thank you, though. I'm off!!" I exclaimed as I ran in the direction of my new life.
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I could feel the dread oozing off of my body. I'm already tired from looking around the school for girls to hang out with. But there are no girls. No girls but delinquent boys. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a hang out for gang members. I have a bad feeling about this.
As the feeling of something bad was going to happen, I felt an arm wrap around my waist and a hand on my mouth.
"Don't say a word," I heard the owner of the voice whispered every word one at a time, so I can hear him clearly.
He pulled me to the back of some building. He stood I'm front of me. He was kind of good looking. Well, except for that big nose (lol just like some a-hole I know).
"Now listen up. You will do whatever I say or--" he took out a knife and put it to my neck. "You're dead. Got it?"
I had lost my voice but I managed to subtlety nod my head.
"Good, girl," he praised me as if he was praising a little puppy. That got me a bit pissed.
"Now turn around and get on your knees."
"Why don't you turn around and fight me for her?"
Great now another guy wants to rape me?? Are these guys really this desperate? To want to rape me? I'm not that great dammit!!
"Senpai? Why don't you? If you want her that bad?"
The guy who had already made his way up to my breast turned and kicked the guy's side. He only slid a little a bit but other than that he was unphased. The guy that got kicked did a series of attacks that were too fast to comprehend what he really did. Though I wasn't looking I could tell that he was winning.
Great so I'm going to passed on to this guy. Is this why all the other girls left? I'm pretty sure it is. I heard a thump next to me. I looked to my right and saw the guy who wanted to rape me first laying there with a split lip and a cut on his left eyebrow with blood seeping from his shirt. It looks like two of his ribs were broken.
The guy stood in front of me. When he put his hand out I flinched and went into the fetal position. He got down to eye level with me and gave me his hooded sweater.
"Take it and wear it. You'll be safer. And if I were you I would start nibbling holes for you're thumbs in the sleeves," he said as he threw it at me since I didn't reach for it.
He walked off. I waited until I was sure he was out of audible range so I could throw a fit.
"Geez is it gonna be like this forever?!" I asked as I kicked the wall. I heard the Senpai moan. It made me jump two feet up. So I ran away.
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I managed to make it to the entrance ceremony without anybody hurting me or trying to rape me.
I tried to hide behind the biggest guy I was close to. But they moved away. It seemed like they feared me or something. I ran off to a corner and started to nibble in the sleeves as the guy told me to do.
I didn't pay attention to what the principle said. Though, I'm sure it was something like "Welcome back to a new year at Ishini Middle and High school..." I'm sure no one cared about what he said either. I was just worried about the senpai and that random dude that saved my ass.
Before I knew it, it was time to go to our class rooms. The school was really big so I had a hard time getting to class 2-C for third year middle schoolers. I got there a little late. But to my surprise a few people were in class. Maybe because since everyone was a delinquent they would skip class. But the most off setting thing there was the dude that had saved my ass earlier was sitting on a desk with a murderous vibe was surrounding him. Why, oh, why does he have to be in my class. Maybe if I slowly, slowly back away from the door and run as fast as I can in the other direction-- I was cut off by two guys. One had bleached hair. The ends that hung over his left eye were dyed black like the top part of a heart. He gave me a charismatic smile. The other guy was eating a lollipop. They looped their arms through mine and lifted me to class. They threw me onto the seat of the desk the guy was sitting on. He turned to face me. I was looking down and nervously nibbling on the sleeves.
"I see you have taken my advice," he said with a charming smile.
"No… I'm just hungry… I—uh— I skipped breakfast…," I said. I felt my face heat up. Dammit why am I acting like this. Like a little freaking school girl with a crush.
He giggled. It was surprising how a guy like him could could have a sweet side or at least act like he had a sweet side. So I looked up at him with a puzzled look on my face.
"Did anyone target you while I was away?"
"…No…" I said regretting speaking to him. "They walked away from me."
"As I thought," he said with a matter of fact face on. He stared out the window and stared at a group of guys. I followed his gaze. They had the same way of wearing the uniform as the guy who had tried to rape me from before.
"Wanna know why they didn't bug you?" he sang without tearing his gaze from the guys. They signed ways of killing him at him. He just smiled back at them.
"Because you're wearing my jacket," he whispered into my ear still not taking his eyes off them.
"Why? Are they afraid of you?"
"Not only them… everyone is afraid of me. They're afraid of my friends as well."
"It's true!" a different guy said and the two others nodded in agreement. I noticed that they had holes for their thumbs in their sweaters. They all looked so kind. Well except for the lollipop dude. He looks like he'll rip your head off if you took away his lollipop. And this guy always looks like he's in a bad mood. The other two looked cheery. How would people be afraid if these guys?
"Don't believe us?" the bleached hair dude asked.
I shook my head and managed to whisper a "no".
"Hehe nobody does!" he giggled. "You could call me Shigeru. And that weird ass dude with the lollipop is called Yonji. We've been friends with that guy and his cousin since first grade. What's your name?"
"Miki Kurosaki."
"Well Miki-chan. I'm Ayumu," Another guy spoke. I should have known these guys don't have respect. Using my first name as if were friends forever. Or is that just how they roll. I mean they only told me their first names. "Ryuu, aren't you gonna tell her your name?"
"My name is what he said. You can call this guy dumb ass. Mostly because he's stupid."
"Okay," I wanted to say something like "Yea, I've noticed," but these are gang members so I have to watch what I say.
"Well since guys have been trying to rape you, we'll protect you!" Ayumu said.
"And, of course, there's a price," Shigeru added.
"A pirce?" she asked as Ryuu climbed off the desk and got on the one behind her.
"Duh! There's always a price!" Ayumu interjected.
"...What's the pirce?..."
"You must pay," Ryuu grabbed her from behind, "with your body," he whispered in her ear.
She jumped away from him. She made a cross with her fingers and said, "Stay away evil demon child of Satan!"
"What? You only need to serve the four of us!" Shigeru whined
"That's it! I don't wanna serve anyone!!"
"Does that mean you don't want our protection?"
"What?! No. If I have to do that then I don't need your protection. I'll be okay by myself," I said
There was a moment of silence when Ryuu sighed.
"You heard the girl. Disperse. If she's in trouble don't help her. Got it?" Ryuu ordered the others. Ayumu and Shigeru were a bit let down. "Do you understand? Don't expect help,"
Ryuu seemed to be pissed. Was it because I didn't accept his help? Why would he be pissed? It's not like I mean anything to him. I don't get this guy.
He jumped off the desk and sat on his seat which is in the next row but two seats behind me. A perfect view to glare at me. And he took advantage of that view.
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I made it through the whole day without any trouble. Though I took off the jacket to dust it off. At that time I saw two guys coming after me. One had a crow bar. But once I put it back on they ran off screaming. Is he really that dangerous? He's in my grade. How can an eighth grader strike fear into so many people, especially into upper class-men.
As I walked into the shared house a was greeted by shots of water to my face.
"Hirata, I would expect this from you, but Mirai! You? Out if all people!"
"Sorry, nee-chan."
"Heh, I'm not!!" Hirata sprayed me again.
Usually I don't care about what he does to me, but this time I ran upstairs to my room and started crying. I violently took off the jacket and flung it across the room. I stared at the jacket.
"Fucking Ryuu!! I hate him!!" Why am I so pissed at him?! Why does it hurt whenever I think of him?! Is it because he's being cold to me? Why would I care if he's ignoring me? It's not like I live only to please him! I should ignore him back!
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The morning was a blur. All I remember is getting dressed and leaving for school. Hirata got kind of freaked when I didn't answer back when he insulted me. All I did on way to school was subconsciously nibble at the sleeve o the sweater. I didn't know I had brought it with me let alone wear it. I didn't care about much the whole morning. I didn't care that guys were eyeing me. Or that they were planing ways to murder me. I didn't care about what teachers were talking about. The only thing I cared about was P. E.
You see, we have P. E. every other day. Since the other girls transferred a year before I got here, the rules for dressing into our P. E. uniform had changed. Everybody got dressed in the class room. Well, I learned that after I walked in on them changing when I came back from changing in the bathroom. How embarrassing. I couldn't look away. Who knew that delinquents had such amazing bodies? They do get into fights on a regular basis, so that's pretty much a work out a day.
"Hey! What are you doing here?! You can't come in!" Ryuu yelled at me. The most embarrassing thing then was that I was staring Ryuu the most.
"Oh, I… I'm so…r-ry," I managed to whisper. At least I thought my voice escaped my mouth.
Don't even ask me what I what happened during the actual physical part of that education. The only thing I could probably tell you is that I was there. And that i got hit on the head.
After that we had to get into our regular uniform. It turns out that there are bathrooms in the gym. So I got dressed there. When I was putting on my shoe, I heard something from the stall next to me. I quickly put my other shoe on and stood on the toilet to see what or who was there. To my surprise, it wasn't a rapist but a peeping Tom with a camera. He was taking a look at the pictures he had taken of me. It's not better or worse that an actual rapist. He could send someone to target me.
I stood there staring at him. I nodded in acceptance to the situation. It being me being watched as I got dressed.
"Okay, okay," I muttered, "WHAT THE HELL?!?! WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ALL THESE PEOPLE?!?! HAVEN'T YOU EVER SEEN A GIRL BEFORE?!?!"
At that moment I heard crashing coming from outside. With out thinking I ran out planning on telling off the people who were fighting. Turns out the people who were fighting were Shigeru, Ayumu, Ryuu, and Yonji and some other guys. Ryuu's team won. He ran up to me and held me tight against his chest.
"Now do you see why we need to protect you?! Are you okay?" He sounded sencerly concerned about me. He was panitng and his heart was beating fast.
"Ye-yea. Why?" Again I blushed from being in his presence. Damn me.
"These guys were planing a gang "bang" on you. Where's your sweater?"
"It's inside the bathroom... Wait so the guy in there is a gang member?"
"There's a guy in there?" His eyes shot open and he froze in rage. His grip on me got tighter and tighter until I was gasping for air.
"Ryu..u. Stop p..lease."
"Oh, I'm sorry," He loosened the grip on me but could swear that there was fire in his eyes.
"I'll go get the sweater," I said trying to wiggle my way out of his arms though for some reason I didn't want to.
"No. I'll get it," He walked off to the bathroom. But instead of shuffling through my stuff, I heard punches and kicks and shrieks of pain.
"Get your ass out there. Wait don't run!" then I heard some shuffling. "Damit where did she put it? Hey you! Did you see where she left a sweater?"
"It's over there." a small and feeble voice spoke.
"Awe poor guy. Being bullied by idiot Ryuu."
"Just so you know, that guy isn't all that innocent," Ayumu informed me.
"What do you mean?" I asked turning to him slowly. Being at a school where nothing seems to be what it looks like.
"Just wait and you will see what I'm talking about," He looked at the entrance to the bathroom with unease. So I followed his gaze.
I saw the poor guy getting pushed out of the door way to face us. He was actually cute. I mean a cute little boy who you would baby sit for a few bucks. I could tell he had a few scars from past battles and some new ones forming. I could also tell that he was sent by some leader of a gang to come and get some pictures to black mail me.
"Now go apologize!" Ryuu yelled and pointed in my direction. The kid didn't budge. "Dammit," Ryuu pushed him to the floor and pulled him over by his ankles. When they got to our vicinity, the kid was going to make a run for it. But before he could, Ryuu picked him from his armpits. Now that I got a clearer look at him, He looked like a tenth grader. He's so small and adorable, like a little puppy.
"This is Kyou. He's the tenth grade gang leader. His father is the owner of many love hotels around the city, so he gets pictures of under aged girls and sells them to his father's customers. He also gets the horny guys who always go to the hotels to go --uh-- 'get off' from one of the girls he has targeted," Ryuu said from behind Kyou. I looked back to Ayumu. He gave me a "sadly it's true" nod. "He's also my neighbor. We used to hang. But my mother found out about his father. So she cut off all ties between us. Also he was peeping on my older and younger sisters."
"Uuh-huh. Okay. Okay. That's not so cool. And Ryuu did you see if he had a camera?"
"Yea he did," He said as he pulled out the camera.
"Oh thank God he didn't keep i--"
"I'm gonna keep it."
"So you can delete all the pictures he took of me, right?" I asked with a smile.
"No," He put it back in his pocket. I stared at him in shock. Him out of all people! "What? I'm still a guy."
"And we're guys, too!! So give it here," Ayumu said with his hand out. Yonji followed his lead.
"No," He put Kyou in a head lock and wrapped his arm around my waist. "She's for my eyes only," I could swear he licked my ear at that moment.
He unwrapped his arm and threw the jacket at me.
"We will discuss this later."
I nodded as I put on the sweater.
"We'll walk her to class."
Ryuu walked off with Kyou still in a choke hold.
"C'mon! We're already late for class!" Shigeru was excited. I never knew gang members were so punctual.
~~~~
About half an hour after class had started, Ryuu burst in panting.
"I'm sorry teacher. It's just--"
"Ryuu, I don't even want to hear it."
"Yes ma'am!" he saluted and took his seat. I couldn't help looking at him. His face was all scraped up and his shirt was torn; the right side of his collar was dangling. His tie was wrapped around his hand with blood seeping through it. I could tell he had hurt his ankle. I heard whispers. People were saying that he got in a fight with Kyou and his goons.
"And that's it for history. You have a break."
I got Ryuu and ran to the infirmary. I didn't know where it was, though. But I managed to find it.
"Why am I here?"
"You need to treat your wounds."
"It's okay. It doesn't matter."
"Yes it does!" I opened his shirt and pointed to all of his wounds, "See these? These could all be infected! I know a guy who had many wounds like you. and they all got infected. It took him five months to get them to heal. Do you want that to happen to you?"
"....No.."
"Then sit over there." He sat on the bed.
I got the alchohol rub, towels, and some bandages. I layed them next to him on the bedside table. I saw his eyes widen in nervousness.
"Is it gonna hurt?" He asked like a little boy. It made me smile a bit.
"Just a little bit. But don't worry; it'll be all over soon..." I said as I moistened the towels with the rub, "Now don't move."
As soon as I touched him he yelped in pain. I had to chase him around the room. We knocked down chairs and tables. Eventually he tired himself out and dealt with the pain.
A couple minutes later we were on our way back to class.
What was I thinking when I did that?! What got into me?! I would never do something like that for anyone! Crap crap crap crap crap crap.....
"What's up with you? You seem out of it."
"Huh? Ah, no, no. Nothing's up. Don't worry about it."
I went through the day without anymmore distractions. Except for my mind. All I was worried about was my future in this school. I don't wanna die. Although I have protection from them, I still feel paranoid that something bad might happen.
I was being escorted to the school entrance when Ryuu asked why I was spacing, again.
"It's nothing, okay? Just forget about it."
He backed me into the corner. I couldn't escape his glare.
"Tell me... what's bothering you..." He said in a stern whisper.
I broke down. I was about to cry, "I don't want to live in fear of what the next day will be like.... If tomorrow will be the day I see "the" angel. I don't want to be here...."
He wrapped me in his arms and put his chin on my head, "It's going to be okay. I wont let anyone hurt you. If anyone did, I will never forgive myself.... nor will they."
"They? They who? Who they? What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about? You're hearing things."
"No I'm not!! You said "they"! Who is "they"?!" I was banging his chest, trying to get him to answer my question. Was he sent to look after me by my parents? Oh that would be so cool!! But they didn't know that I changed schools. Wait.... who sent him..?
"It doesn't matter! Haha! I'm here, so don't worry about it!" He was laughing so hard. I was serious. His laughter made me feel bad. So I just turned and walked home.
"Wait, wait!! I'm going with you!"
I guess I'll be alright since I have them. I don't mind coming again tomorrow. I actually am looking forward to it. See you tomorrow Ishini Gakuen!