June 18th, 2008.
"I... I thought you were just some girl!"
"Some girl...?"
You stomp on the man's face. This was the fourth time this week that a gang tried to approach you about a 'payment' the Kanto Manji Gang set out. You had no idea what was going on through Mikey's mind to even set a bounty on you.
To scare me? Physically make me give up?
The men around the alley start to shakily get up off the pavement. "They didn't call this chick 'Untouchable' for nothing... Not one scratch is on her...!" One of them said, groaning in pain.
You take your foot off of their leader's face. Wiping the blood from his nose on his chest, staining his uniform. You look over at the rest of them, "Well? You wanna try to land a hit on me?" You tilt your head, challenging them. They all stayed still as if they were contemplating. You hear a car roll by and you turn over to look at it.
A limo?
The door from the backseat opened and it was Kokonoi Hajime. Your expression was sour upon seeing his face.
You charge at him, kicking him back into the car. His back lands on the seats roughly. "Jeez, [Y/N]..." He groans before getting back up. The dark-haired boy pats his clothes, "No 'hi'? No 'how are you'?"
"Why should I greet you properly? I don't respect you," you tell him coldly. "Ouch!" Kokonoi says sassily.
He gets out of the car, again, and closes the door. The boy looks at the array of beaten men surrounded by the narrow space. As well as their unconscious leader, bleeding from the nose, on the ground. "At least you kept them alive," Koko jokes. You glare at him from the side, not liking how friendly he's being with you.
The last time you talked to Koko was during the Kanto incident. AKA, Toman vs Tenjiku. Obviously, you had no fond memories from that day, especially with Koko. The only interaction the two of you had was when you found out he changed you while asleep.
"Listen here, you idiots," Kokonoi starts, talking to the biker gang that was on the ground. "The payment I gave to a select few gangs in the city was to avoid this girl, not approach."
Avoid?! The situation got even more confusing for you. All the bruised men look at each other and nod their heads, "Kinda makes sense..."
"Because you misunderstood this, though," Kokonoi continues, "You will be taken care of by the Kanto Manji Gang." He snaps his fingers and a hoard of men, all in the same white uniform as Koko, come into the alley and pick them up. Shoving them in the limo.
Once the gang has been escorted into the car, the limo leaves. Both you and Koko walk out of the alley and a smaller car pulls up.
"Paying people to avoid me?" You look at Koko oddly, "Sounds like a waste of money." The boy laughs a bit, "Yeah, I argued that already."
You raise a brow and he turns to face you. "Mikey was pretty adamant about not having you involved with gangs anymore," he shrugs, "Instead, it was the complete opposite..." He rubs his forehead, "That guy always thinks irrationally when it comes to you."
"He does...?" You muttered. Koko reaches into his pocket and hands you a stack of money. Your eyes widened at the sudden wad of cash.
Does he just carry that around like it's pocket change?!
"Here, for the trouble we've caused you," he tells you, reaching the money closer to you.
That whole stack?! You exclaim internally, looking at the bills.
"Well, well, well..."
A hoarse, but deep sounding voice approaches. Both you and Koko look over. A smaller but more expensive car was right behind Koko's. "Looks like the Kanto Manji Gang's out to scout her too," the man said.
He had slicked-back hair, a cigarette in his mouth and a scar across his left eye. A smaller person walks out of the car. Their hood was up, making their face unidentifiable. They were both wearing the Brahman uniform. A long, cloak-like, hoodie with flowers and swirl designs contrasting the dark colour of the fabric.
"Scout?" Koko repeats. Both you and he were surprised Brahman showed up. Let alone, scout you. "So the girl's swayed by money?" The tall Brahman member asks, raising a brow. He opens the car door and takes out a suitcase. He opens it up, revealing it was filled with cash.
Did I hit the lottery or what?! You scream in your head looking at the overwhelming amount of cash. But joining Brahman...?
You turn to Kokonoi, "Looks like there's someone richer than you in this city," you make fun. "Tsk," Koko clicks his tongue in annoyance, "She won't be joining Brahman," he says sternly.
The man takes a puff from his cig, "Who said? The Invincible Mikey?" He chuckles, blowing smoke out of his mouth. "Why not be a gentleman and let the lady decide for herself?" The man turns to you and smiles, "Apologies. I'm Akashi Takeomi, Brahman's number 2."
"And I'm Kawaragi Senju, Brahman's commander," the smaller member takes their hood off. It was a girl with short, light-pink hair. "I want to recruit you under Brahman," she requests, "I believe you'd be a strong asset for our team, you'd benefit as well."
"Benefit?"
Senju walks closer, "Your friend, Draken, is also working with us since we have similar goals."
Draken?!
"Similar goals...?" You repeat, asking for clarification. Senju nods, "He wants to bring Sano Manjiro back. I want to defeat the Kanto Manji Gang and become Tokyo's top gang."
You scoff, "Tokyo's top gang? What a childish reason," you mock. "I'm only here because the Kanto Manji Gang owes me," you tell the girl, "I'm not interested in joining any gang." You take your hand out and Kokonoi hands you the cash. You pocket it and turn to walk towards Chifuyu's bike, Goki. You hop on and turn to face both Brahman members again.
"The Tokyo Manji Gang will always be the top of Tokyo, no matter how many gangs try to achieve that."
-
You sigh deeply as you approach the gates of your high school.
"Good morning, Lady [Y/N]!!" Two lines of students make a pathway for you at the entrance.
You missed when no one knew who you were back in middle school. With the Kanto incident as well as word being spread that you were the 'Untouchable [Y/N],' that has defeated multiple gangs, you've gotten popular because of it. Which you hated. Not just the attention that you were getting but the title as well.
'Invincible Mikey,' 'Unmatched Senju,' 'Unparalleled South'... Sounds like titles for Shonen manga characters.
The only reason people know about this was because of Takemichi's middle school friend group. Because they knew you, they felt the need to brag about being acquainted with someone as strong as you were. To which you always denied that you were strong at all.
All your opponents had an unknown disadvantage against you because of your foresight. Since training with Grandpa Sano, your visions have improved. You were able to foretell your opponent's next move just by looking at them. The title 'Untouchable' was given to you because you never let your opponent land a single hit on you. Why would you if you already knew what their next moves was anyway?
"Morning, Lady [Y/N]," Chifuyu teases as you walk into the classroom. You take your seat and groan, resting both your arms and your head on the desk. "Why couldn't you be the popular one? Why me...?" Chifuyu scoots his chair closer to you, "I'm not the one being targeted by gangs in Tokyo," he chuckles. "How's that going by the way?"
You lift your head up and stare at him tiredly, "Awful," you put your hand next to your mouth and whisper, "I got scouted by Brahman..."
Chifuyu's eyes widened for a split second and he leaned closer. "Really?" He whispered back. "They just want to grow their team... Become 'Tokyo's top gang'," you replied, "We need to go to D&D Motors after school."
"What for?" Chifuyu asks curiously. "Draken's in Brahman apparently," you told the boy, lifting your head up from the desk.
"Did I hear Brahman?!"
You jump up from your seat. It was Yamagishi. "Do you just spawn when you hear gang names?!" You ask, half-jokingly. Yamagishi grabs a seat and scoots by you and Chifuyu, sitting down. "I actually got some news on the Three Deities!" The glassesed boy says excitedly. Both you and Chifuyu lean closer to listen.
"A bunch of lower gangs in Tokyo have been found nearly dead! Rumours are pointing that the Kanto Manji Gang is at fault!"
"Nearly dead?!" You exclaim, "Why would-"
You stop yourself as you remember what Koko said. "You will be taken care of by the Kanto Manji Gang."
"But they're... Alive right?" You ask for clarification. Yamagishi shrugs, "Nearly dead is how it's been described. It looks like the Kanto Manji Gang is really trying to eliminate any more competition."
Absolutely not... You disagree in your head. None of those gangs would even be considered competition for Mikey. He's just beating those gangs because they misunderstood his request...
"At least you won't be targeted anymore," Chifuyu says, looking over at you. "Yeah... I already got that confirmed yesterday..." You sigh, "Kokonoi came to do some damage control and apologize for the whole thing."
Yamagishi leans into his chair and groans. "Must be so cool to be involved with the Three Deities! I mean, I barely had much time while I was in Toman!"
"All you did was brag about being in Toman..." You lid your eyes at the boy, feeling his complaining was stupid. "Hey! I fought a few battles!" He says defensively, "You weren't even a member!" The boy points.
"You're so rowdy, Yamagishi..." Takemichi walks into the class, yawning. The blonde takes his seat, "Are you talking about gangs again?" Yamagishi nods his head rapidly in response. He encourages Takemichi to join in, to which was blonde refuses.
"I'd rather not become another errand boy..." Takemichi says slightly sulking, remembering his middle school days. "I can't even remember how I became the first-division captain in Toman!"
You lightly pat the blonde on his shoulder, "You don't need to worry about that, you don't stick your nose in gang business anymore." You turn to Yamagishi, "Unlike someone..."
"Hey!" Yamagishi expresses offendedly.
The real 14-year-old Takemichi has no memory of how his future conscience worked. He only remembered snippets from his memories or even the moments between Future Takemichi's timeleaping.
He was a lot more timid than the Takemichi you were initially friends with. This one avoided any violent altercation out of fear. Most of the old Mizo Mid guys wanted to put gangs and Toman talk in the past. Except for Yamagishi, who is still somehow an encyclopedia for gangs in Tokyo.
"Yeah but aren't the top gangs looking for me?!" Takemichi exclaims fearfully, "I don't even remember anything from the Kanto incident because of my concussions!"
The best excuse you and Chifuyu could give the real 14-year-old Takemichi about his 'memory loss' was all the blunt force trauma he took during fights. To which he immediately believed, since it was the only logical-sounding explanation.
"That's why, keep your hair down so they don't recognize you and act ignorant," you advise, ruffling his hair, "They'll eventually see that you're not strong and move on. You just have to look out for the leaders, they're smarter."
Like you, Takemichi has also been popular. After the August 3rd incident, his name was widespread. People talked about his involvement in Bloody Halloween, the Battle on Christmas and especially the Kanto incident. But the Takemichi gang's wanted to recruit wasn't here anymore. Not only did you deal with gangs mistakenly fighting you for a bounty, but you were also trying to keep Takemichi out of the gang world. Especially away from the Three Deities.
Yamagishi turns to you, "You met the leaders, haven't you?" He asks curiously. You hesitantly nod. "Only Brahman but... From afar," you lie, knowing he wouldn't stop talking if he found you were scouted by them. The glassesed boy asks you what they're like.
"Uh..." Annoying? Power hungry? Arrogant?
"Scary?" You answer. You shake your head, "The Three Deities are like having three Tenjikus. Except richer and bigger... It doesn't help that Rokuhara Tandai has some of the past members too."
"And Brahman has some of ex-Black Dragon members, right?" Chifuyu asks and you nod in response. "All three gangs are shady as hell," you add, "They're more Yakuza if you look at it. Which is why I dislike gangs nowadays..."
Claiming to be the next powerhouse? Top gang in Tokyo? It's all noise, you thought.
They can never achieve what Toman can.
Chapter fifty-eight, end.