Chapter Text
"Is something wrong, Blueberry?" Karma asked, watching his fiancé pace the living room.
"No," Nagisa answered. "Sort of?"
"Talk to me, Nagisa," Karma said.
"I mentioned one of my students got roped into joining his brother's gang, right?" Karma nodded. "Well I've been overhearing his classmates, all of them, making plans to get him out. I always knew they'd be good at working together, that was clear from the beginning, but this is a big deal."
"Do you think they can handle it?" Karma asked.
"I want to. And I do, but..." Nagisa trailed off, but Karma knew exactly what he was thinking.
"You're worried, aren't you," Karma finished for him.
"I'm really proud that they're trying to do this on their own. They're almost adults now. I shouldn't be worrying so much."
"'Almost adults' is still kids," Karma reassured, stopping the bluenette's pacing by pulling him into a hug. "It's okay to be worried. If you want to go with them, just as a precaution, you should tell them. I'll even go with you, if you want; I like those kids."
"You would? You don't have to."
"Of course." Nagisa hugged his fiancé back, finally. He felt lucky at that moment. Like the luckiest man alive.
—
"Saishuu-kun, Fumei-kun, may I talk to you after class?" Nagisa asked just as the bell had rung.
"Should I wait up for you?" Shirota asked.
"Nah, go on ahead, I'll catch up," Saishuu answered. Shirota nodded and left the classroom with the rest of the students, completely oblivious to what was going on, unlike his peers who had some pretty good guesses. "Are we in trouble, Nagisa-sensei?"
"No you're not in trouble," Nagisa assured. "In fact, I'm very impressed by what you two are doing."
"Uhh... what... what do you mean?" Saishuu stumbled out, nervously.
"I know what you two are planning, don't try to deny it," their teacher said. "I want you to know that I'm proud, but I'm also worried. I'd like to come with you. I'll stay out of the way, and not interfere unless I have to. I want to respect your independence, but I also have a responsibility to make sure you're all safe."
"Alright, Nagisa-sensei," Saishuu agreed after a moment. He tried his best to make his worried glance towards Fumei subtle, and if Nagisa noticed, he didn't say anything. Adult supervision was probably for the best.
—
It was tricky, organizing every student in the class without Shirota knowing. Being the most connected kid in class, he was hard to work around, especially without seeming suspicious. Somehow, and no one could say how exactly, they managed to pull it off. A date and time were set. And twenty students, and one teacher, all prepared themselves for the worst, while trying to hope for the best.
They all met one block away from the Midoryu's headquarters. The idea was to have Ritsu connect them all before they went in, just in case, then most of them would enter through the front door en masse for maximum intimidation points. Asui, Ushiwara, Ken, Kiya, Nagisa, and the Ryouma twins would split off from the group beforehand and find hiding places so if things went south they could ambush the gang members and get the drop on them, throw them off their rhythm, if nothing else.
Ippantekina was the last to arrive, dragged behind Hinata to the stern glares of Marihara. "Sorry we're late, Harushit was being a whiny bitch about it," Hinata—apologized? Complained? Insulted?—said. We'll go with said.
"As per fucking usual," Fumei muttered, turning on Ritsu. "Alright Ritsu, link us up, please."
"Of course," Ristu agreed cheerfully. She was wearing grey tactical gear with a yellow 'E' on the collar, a similar get-up to the one Nagisa-sensei was wearing, and Fumei noted it to mention at a more opportune time. "Link established. Best of luck to you all!"
"Thanks Ritsu." Fumei slipped her phone in her pocket and returned her attention to her classmates who were checking to make sure their phones weren't on silent. "We all know the plan?" A round of nods, twenty faces set in solemn and determined expressions. "Alright. Let's split up. Good luck 'B' team, and be careful."
The seven who had been designated as 'B' team, or "the sneakers" as they'd been nicknamed, slipped off into the night, disappearing into the shadows to regroup in the rafters or the walls. Silent cobras preparing for the right moment to strike down their prey.
The rest of the class, 'A' team, waited a few minutes for the sneakers to get into position, then walked purposefully toward their target. When they reached the front door of the broken down building, Saishuu knocked, they weren't animals after all. The door swung open to reveal a man barely older than they were, and shorter than a good few of them. He was unassuming, and wore comfortable-looking clothes that had what looked to be cat fur in a few places.
"Who is it Haku-kun?" called a voice from inside.
"I dunno!" the man called back over his shoulder. "Looks like a bunch of kids!" He turned back the them. "Who are you?" He asked evenly, seemingly unperturbed by the group of teens, one of whom had a sword.
"We're friends of Shirota's," Saishuu began while Fumei stood next to him with her arms crossed, glaring menacingly, not that one could tell with her sunglasses on.
"Uhhh... I don't think so..." the man, Haku, said with a frown. "Wait. Shirota who?"
"Yukine," Saishuu clarified, realizing the confusion.
"That makes more sense, I guess," he said, still frowning. "Why are you here? If you're looking for him, nobody here's seen him in like, a week." This was a lie. Hakushaku knew exactly where the younger Shirota brother was staying, but he had not told anyone for the boy's safety, and he would not tell the boy's friends that he knew for two reasons. One: they already knew, and he knew they already knew, and two: he was playing dumb, otherwise he would not have asked in the first place.
"Actually, we came to convince his brother to let him out of the gang," Saishuu explained. They had all agreed beforehand that he should do most of the talking as he was easily the most diplomatic among them. The other two students who were good talkers were Asui, who was a sneaker, and Shirota, who was obviously not present.
"And you brought 13 high-schoolers, with impressive glares I might add, just because... what? You wanted an entourage?" Haku raised an eyebrow.
"We were hoping your leader would just agree, but we're prepared to make him release our friend by force if need be," Saishuu said, just the slightest threat in his voice. "We would like to come in and speak with Daimondai."
"Alright," the man agreed, and gestured for them to follow him inside. He knew very well that Yukine was not well suited to this life as his brother was. But he also knew that the fearsome Daimondai would not give up a prize fighter so easily, so this should at least be entertaining to watch. "It's some friends of your brother's, boss," Haku introduced. "They wanna talk to you."
"Great, thanks," Daimondai said sarcastically. "Can you get your damn cat outta here, Hakushaku, everyone keeps tripping over it!"
"She's not my cat, and I didn't let her in," he responded.
"I don't care," Daimondai snarled back. "It followed you in, and it won't let anyone else touch it. Get rid of your damn cat." Hakushaku rolled his eyes and left in search of the animal. "What do you want?" Daimondai asked the group of teens, annoyance clear in his voice.
"We want you to let your brother out of your gang," Saishuu said, voice stern but still level.
Daimondai let out a bark of laughter. "Why the fuck would I do that?"
"He doesn't belong in a place like this," Saishuu said imploringly. "Everything you do here terrifies him, and he hates it. He's not like you, and he doesn't want to follow in your footsteps."
"If that's true why didn't he tell me that himself when I asked him to join?" Daimondai said smugly.
"Because you brainwashed him to never go against what you want!" Fumei snarled. Daimondai's head snapped over to the girl, noticing her for the first time. His eyes widened briefly, and then his face set in a contemptuous scowl.
"You," he snarled, "you've got some nerve showing your face again. I'll kill you, you psychotic bitch."
"Try me, fucker," she said, and lifted her sunglasses so that only he could see her glinting, midnight black eyes before placing them back over her face. His breath caught almost imperceptibly with fear, but she noticed, and smirked.
"Okay, ignoring that," Misono interrupted, "Mr. Daimondai, Shirota-kun is our friend, and he's in trouble. All due respect, but this gang isn't good for him. He's been all anxious and spacey, and we just want him back the way he was. Don't you want that too? He's your brother, don't you want what's best for him?"
"Have you seen the kid fight?" Daimondai said, still eyeing Fumei warily.
"Of course, we do sparring in P.E.," Misono said.
"Then you know why I can't let him leave," the man said. "Don't know where he is just now, but he'll come crawling back eventually. I'll have him when I need him."
"So you won't let him go willingly?" Saishuu reiterated despondently.
"Not a chance, kid."
"Then we'll have to make you," Saishuu said, gathering his resolve.
"You know, even if it was just me against all you kids, you still wouldn't win," Daimondai said, "but as it happens, I've got an army of my own. Come on gang, we've gotta teach these kids a lesson. Barging in here and making demands like they own the place. Children don't belong in a place like this, let's send 'em home to their mommies."
"Ristu, signal," Fumei whispered, and the AI obliged.
"Finally, we get to do something," Ippantekina said loudly, cracking his knuckles with a grin. "I was worried these pussies would actually give in."
"You asshole," Hinata chuckled at his friend, and the two barreled toward a group of about half a dozen gang members who were following their leader's orders.
A man grabbed Satori from behind and she squealed and fought back almost entirely on instinct, knocking the guy unconscious in a matter of seconds. "Nice Sato-chan," Asui commented as she dropped from the ceiling onto another man, and swiftly kicked the legs out from under a third.
"Uh thanks?" Satori squeaked, returning to fighting when a man with bleached-blonde took a swing at her head.
Katsura had gone immediately for some of the larger, scarier looking men, who were now on the ground, clutching their sore spots. The enemy's numbers were thinning, several gang members had seemingly disappeared thanks to Ushiwara and Kiya, who snuck up behind people, knocked them unconscious, and dragged them into various rooms and closets. And Kirasaya was literally just whacking people really hard with her still-sheathed katana, but it worked.
Misono, never much for dodging, already had several bruises visibly forming on his skin, but he didn't look at all fazed by the abuse he was taking.
"You're not bad, kid," the man he was fighting said. "Never seen anyone take so many hits and keep swinging. What's your name?"
"None of your business you lump," Misono snapped.
"You're not even out of breath," the man noted.
"But you will be," Misono smirked. You see, he had noticed something that the large man had not, and that was a certain quiet artist approaching from behind, arms ready to wrap around the man's neck, which they did.
Mirikitani latched onto the man like a boa constrictor and didn't let go, even when he stampeded through the battlefield and rammed the teenager against walls, until he collapsed from lack of oxygen.
"Thanks Mirikitani-kun," Misono said. Mirikitani responded with a nod, and they both returned to fighting.
Daimondai stood out of the way, thinking his goons would be more than capable of getting rid of children, but one of his best fighters had just been taken down by a bald kid and his friend with purple hair, another was engaged in what looked to be a battle of circling each other and not doing anything with a little girl with glasses and pencils in her hair, and even his second most skilled fighter, Mari seemed to have her hands full with two of the taller boys who attacked her relentlessly from both sides.
Katisu, his second in command, was fighting the green-haired kid who had done most of the talking—wait, where was the green-haired kid? He saw Katisu's head whipping around clearly wondering the same thing, then a girl with safety pins all over her jacket dropped from the sky and jumped on Katisu. She didn't knock him over, but she threw him off balance, and the the green haired kid reappeared, and Katisu was trapped under a knife. So much for his second in command. Where was his trump card? His ace in the hole?
"Hakushaku! Get in here!" he bellowed.
"Coming boss." The reply could barely be heard over the sounds of fighting, and a few moments later, Hakushaku returned from down the hall carrying the fucking cat. "Oh."
Almost immediately, he was confronted by a pair of identical twins. "Wait!" Hakushaku said quickly. "Don't! You'll spook the cat!" The twins stepped back uncertainly, but didn't put their fists down. "I'm not gonna fight, so you can go at somebody else. Try the girl with pink hair and tattoos, she's easy pickin's." The twins looked at each other, and then at Hakushaku as he pushed an unconscious associate off the couch and sat down, kicking his feet up and stroking the cat on his lap.
"Haku you useless ass!" Daimondai snarled, but it made no difference. He was down to just a handful of underlings, and they were surrendering, even without his order to do so. They were only human after all, and their self-preservation instinct was bound to kick in at some point. It was time to surrender.
Nagone crossed the floor, stepping over bodies, all of which were breathing as far as he could tell. "Call my brother, and get him here," Nagone asked Saishuu once he reached the boy. "I give. I'd like to take care of my people while we wait for him to arrive."
"Fumei-kun, keep an eye on him," Saishuu asked, and pulled out his phone.
"With pleasure," Fumei said with a smirk.
The students helped clean up, and those who knew how helped with first aid. They had got what they wanted, and there was no reason to be jerks about it. No one was injured too terribly beyond a couple of concussions and maybe a few broken bones. No one was dying, anyway.
Yatoni glanced up at their teacher who was still up in the rafters, largely unnoticed and obscured by shadow. Hardly anyone saw him swing down and clap when a student was in danger. Kirasaya had counted twice, Mirikitani counted twice as well. Saishuu counted three times, Katsura four, but only Fumei and Yatoni had noted all six times the teacher had immobilized an enemy with the clap of his hands.
"Oh, is the fighting over already?" Sujimura asked as she sauntered into the room with two of Daimondai's men following behind her like lovesick puppies. "I guess I'll see you later boys."
"No need to ask where you've been," Kurra rolled his eyes and sneered.
"You fight your way, I'll fight mine." Sujimura glowered at him.
"Enough," Nagisa said, finally dropping down from the rafters to end their argument before it began. He didn't know why, but those two had been at odds since the class trip and it was beginning to grate on everyone's nerves.
"Just how many of these high-schoolers are there?" lamented one of the Midoryu through the gauze in his mouth which stemmed the blood from a missing tooth.
"Actually, I'm their teacher," Nagisa said with a frown.
"So you're the famous Nagisa-sensei," Nagone said. "I should have known you set all this up, Yukine speaks very highly of you, when he speaks at all."
"Actually the students planned and executed this themselves," Nagisa said. "They just let me tag along. They're very bright young people, and resourceful, and compassionate, and talented, and your brother is no exception. I don't mean to offend, but I believe his potential would go to waste in an organization like this. Wouldn't you like to see him grow to be even greater than you someday?" Nagone said nothing, just stared at his feet in thought.
"He's almost here," Saishuu informed them all.
They waited tensely for a few minutes, and then the door opened, and Shirota Yukine was there. "Holy shit," he said once he saw everything. "What the hell happened‽"
"You've got some good friends is what happened," Nagone said. He walked toward his brother, and Yukine took a step back. "It's a real shame they're not on my side, honestly. I could use some kids like them in my group... but they came here to make me let you out. Kicked all my guys' asses, and didn't leave me no other choice. I'll say it again... you certainly picked yourself some good friends little Yukine."
"Um... Nagone?"
"They told me that you never wanted to join up in the first place, is that true little brother?" For once, the word 'brother' felt like an endearment as opposed to a cage, it was strange, but not unwelcome. Yukine nodded. "They said that since you joined up you've been scared and anxious?" Yukine tensed, but nodded again, more hesitantly this time. "And your teacher here said that making you stay would be a waste of your postential, and that you're too good for this life."
"I don't know about that..." Yukine admitted.
"I do," Nagone said. "And it's one hundred percent true. I'm sorry for making you feel like you didn't have a choice. I see now that you've found your own gang, your own family, and it's not me and mine. I officially release you from the Midoryu. You can get that tattoo removed if you want, or you can keep it. I'm still you're older brother, though, and I'm gonna protect you, even though you've got other people for that now."
Yukine shot forward and hugged his brother tightly. "Thanks."
"You can come back home now, if you want," Nagone said breaking the hug, "I won't try and make you do anything." Yukine nodded again.
Finally this whole mess was over, and everything was settling down again. Just in time too, because they were only a week away from summer vacation.