𝚃𝙴𝙴𝙽𝙰𝙶𝙴 𝙳𝙸𝚁𝚃𝙱𝙰𝙶 ,, high&low

chapter thirty-two | top down

thirty two

top down

Housen Academy was a far more appealing building than Oya was, not a single speck of spray paint in sight, not a blade of grass out of place.

I stepped out of the car with a slight hesitancy, unaware of how the second fiercest not-quite yakuza school in the prefecture would treat outsiders, even if I was a guest of Odajima's

"Do you remember the last time we were here together?" I asked with a smile, chuckling at the memory.

It was about a year and a half after the infamous keg party. Genji Takiya had broken the non-aggression pact between Surzuran and Housen, and Housen were taking it way too far. Sensing that Genji was going to need the help, Serizawa had come all the way out to Oya to recruit the Sato Seven to help in the faceoff. Surzuran had won, but not without our help. Two days later, Odajima decided that he wanted to get into Housen.

"You mean when that one Housen guy literally picked up Tatsumi and threw him across the field?" Odajima laughed at the memory of our scrawny friend being lifted above the head of a member of Housen's Skinhead Army.

"Well, neither of us are getting any younger." I said, nudging my head in the direction of the door. "We might as well get this over with."

Housen prided itself on tradition. Odajima had once described it to me as 'university but if it was a fight club.' They trained their students in four kinds of martial arts, as well as teaching them educational classes in God-knows-what (Odajima mentioned that he was studying kiniesiology). The youngest student in Housen's current graduating class was Shida Kenzo, who was barely twenty. Sachio was the same age as me, and Jinkawa and Sawamura were older.

"For a place that thrives off tradition, it sure has changed since high school." I mused, my white Vans squeaking across the pristine tile floor as I followed Odajima down the main hallway.

"Don't let Sachio hear you say that." Odajima chuckled "Housen's been trying to patch itself together for years after what happened with Taiga."

"I mean, we did sort of destroy the place."

"That too."

Everything in Housen was done in shades of grey. Pictures lined the walls of the main entrance hall, some faces I recognized from way back when. One face even looked like one of the guys from Daruma Ikka, but again, junior year was so long ago.

It was steely quiet, the only sounds being grunts of pain form one of the training rooms. It looked like class was in session as we walked past a classroom teaching the fine art of pressure points and acupuncture needles. What exactly they were teaching these guys remained a mystery to me.

"So where are your friends?" I asked, my voice echoing over the spotless hallway. The whole experience was giving me ideas about how I could fix up Oya, make it seem a little more inviting and less like 'enter if you dare'.