Fikush-ON!

Ch. 30: Another Festival Day, Part II

Against my wishes, I had gotten myself into a tough situation with a bunch of delinquent guys, causing trouble at the Sakuragaoka festival. I had hoped that my intimidation would be enough to make them head off, but I was wrong. They only became angrier, and I was actually punched in the face. Sure, I could've just punched him back, but instead, I just pinned him to the ground. That seemed to rile the two other guys up even more, and one of them was charging towards me. I couldn't see a peaceful way out of this. However, due to my survival instinct, I wouldn't just let these fucks beat me up. The only way to protect myself is to... fight back. And to make matters worse, Ui was watching me. She would witness me beating the living shit out of these bastards. That's not what I want, not at all, but... what other choice do I have!?

...I'm sorry, Ui.

...

"Why hello there, sugar tits! Nice weather for a festival, huh?"

...What?

Blinking to clear my vision, I saw how the guy, who was charging towards me only a second ago, was now in a chokehold. And the one doing it was Ichiro... Wait, Ichiro!?

"My, my, what's all this ruckus about?" another sarcastic voice could be heard from further away. "Can't you darn brats play nicely?"

That's... I turned to face the voice, and indeed, it was Tadaaki. He walked over to the henchman guy, placing his elbow on his shoulder, forcing him to crouch down a bit. Tadaaki lowered his head to get a better look at the guy, and seemed to recognize him. He then proceeded to stare at him right in the eye.

"Come on, now. Fighting at a festival, really? Didn't you learn your lesson last winter?" he muttered to him, unamused.

The guy under me was squirming to get himself free, so I stepped off of him. He quickly bounced back on his feet, but took a few steps back. Hm, guess he wasn't sure what to do now that there were three of us.

I looked at the scene before me. Ichiro holding the guy in a light but firm chokehold, and Tadaaki intimidating the henchman guy simply by leaning against him... None of the harassers seemed too eager to fight anymore. I say this whole thing is pretty much done at this point.

Relaxing my fist, I said: "Now, I'm not sure about the whole 'psychopath from Yukinokawa' stuff. But, I can tell you one thing..."

I took a look at my friends, and then at the three frightened dickheads.

"...I never fought alone."

Many tense seconds passed as we kept staring at each other. Though I felt much more at ease now that my two friends were here, my heart was still pumping like crazy. Finally, to my relief, the henchman guy shook Tadaaki's elbow off his shoulder, taking a step back.

"Fuck it, let's just get out of here before someone calls the cops."

Ichiro took it as a sign to let go of the guy, who immediately backed away from him, heading over to the henchman guy. The one who was lying under me just a moment ago joined them too. After giving us careful but spiteful glances over their shoulders, the trio left the scene quietly and at a swift pace. The observing crowd made way for them, as if avoiding them like plague. The guys and I watched as they made their way towards the main gate, soon disappearing into the mass of visitors. So, that's that, then. Fight avoided. And now, to ask the obvious question...

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked the duo.

Ichiro scratched the back of his head. "Well, we really wanted to visit the festival, so..."

"He wanted," Tadaaki swiftly corrected him.

"Hey, I didn't hear any objections when we left the school!" Ichiro retorted.