(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 8

With one mess cleaned up, Aoi turned his attention to what was happening behind him. Another person had joined the party, and a spray of glass greeted his curious gaze as a ramune bottle was smashed over the previously knocked out guy's head. Aoi's eyes narrowed, and the light went out from them. He recognized the hulking highschool boy who arrived late, and felt his stomach turn when that boy pulled up the face of the beaten orange-coat by his hair. The big one pulled back his arm and slammed his fist into the bloodied face, once. Twice, then rearing back again but stopped by a thin arm between fist and face.

"Enough," Aoi growled out. His eyes cut up to the irritatingly familiar face, which mirrored his expression.

"Ah, so you didn't die then. How's it, Aoi?," Jo released his hold on his victim and stepped back. Aoi caught him before he hit the ground and kicked away the glass shards before lowering him onto the pavement. Sakura started up at Jo, while Aoi knelt down to inspect the damage. There was a lot of blood, but most of it didn't look too serious. The kid's nose was absolutely broken after his late pummeling, though. Aoi wiped away the blood with an alcohol pad from one of his deep pockets and patched up what he could. He stood up and locked eyes with Jo again before joining the rest of his group.

"What was that about? You know that loser?," Sakura was as curious and clueless as ever. Aoi's eyes were still dark and clouded, and there was a small frown playing at Suo's lips.

"He came from Shishitoren's side," Nirei offered what little information he had heard. Suo rested a hand on the freckled boy's shoulder and continued the explanation.

"He had a reputation over there, wasn't exactly popular. He came over here, to Furin's side, after a fight went south," Suo glanced at Aoi as he explained, only elaborating when he got a nod from him.

"They threw him out?," Sakura jumped to a pretty solid conclusion, but Suo shook his head. Nirei was curious too, and looked at the pair expectantly.

"I left on my own. Wasn't actually a part of Shishitoren," Aoi answered this time. There were sure to be more questions, but for now, they had arrived back at the school with the middle schooler in tow. They climbed the stairs in silence, most faces drawn tight with dread at meeting with the head of Furin's student body. However goofy his speech was earlier, the point still stood that he was in charge of a notorious student body full of delinquents.

Those fears were shattered into a million pieces and replaced with dumbfounded silence once they were on the rooftop and bombarded with the energetic and one-sided discussion over the various plants growing up there in different pots and raised beds. Hiragi struggled to reign it in, when the youngest of the gathered group finally burst into the conversation with a squealing shout.

"I'm sorry! They were trying to defend me from the Shishitoren guys! It's my fault-"

"Sasaki," the bubbly high school leader rested his hand on Sasaki's shoulder and smiled gently down at the boy's tear-streaked face.

"How do you-?"

"Let's have a seat, and you can explain."

They were ushered to a group of desks gathered under a large tree, whose roots had overtaken a portion of the rooftop and the front wall of the school building. Sasaki explained why he was over there, and how Sakura and Sugishita had jumped to the rescue by knocking one of the attackers out cold.

"They what?!"

"Umemiya," Hiragi groaned, clutching his stomach. Umemiya jumped out of his seat and leaned over the makeshift table to ruffle Sugishita's and Sakura's hair, in turn.

"Haha! That's great! I see you're patched up already, too. Thanks, Aoi," Umemiya's hand kept going down the row, moving absentmindedly with his excitement. He blinked when his wrist met something first, and he saw Aoi's small hand pushing back against his thick wrist. Sugishita snarled and lurched in his seat, settling back down reluctantly when Umemiya held up his other hand to calm him.

"Sorry. Wasn't thinking."

Umemiya backed up, reaching a reasonable level of cheer for the first time during the discussion. Much to Hiragi's short lived relief, as a megaphone-powered voice rang up over the walls to address Umemiya directly.

Several of the boys rushed over to the fenced off edge of the rooftop, Aoi hanging back. He recognized the slightly distorted voice, and rushed down the stairs just ahead of the others. He took the last set with a huge leap, rounding the corner down the hall and out the battered glass doors to the schoolyard.

"Oh! It is Aoi, look at that! I thought you ran after-"

"That belongs to Furin," Umemiya pointed to the Furin student whose head was firmly in the smaller of two intruders' grasp. Two unwanted guests stood at the end of a trail of knocked out Furin guys, with a few others behind them in matching orange jackets.

"Tomiyama, I told you to listen," Jo complained in his drawn out way. Tomiyama, his companion, ignored him outright and heckled Umemiya for a fight. While he did that, two of the other Shishitoren guys moved up to the base of the stairs that the remainder of Furin's unfortunate team of the day stood atop. One had a buzzcut on one side, with wavy blonde hair flipped over to the other side. The other had an undercut and a manbun, and clung to the first. Aoi gave them a passing glance, icy cold, earlier at the tunnel. He didn't give them the courtesy now as they stared up at him.

"Hey, not gonna say hi Aoi? After all we've been through together?," the dark-haired one prodded first. Aoi remained silent as the eyes of his classmates flicked over to him, feeling his face grow hot. Even with the mask covering it, everyone could see his jaw working overtime.

"C'mon. You tryin' to just hide away and forget that you tried to off poor 'Numa here?," Arima joined in with a deep stabbing remark. Suo was stuck between that conversation and whatever was being decided between the two schools' leaders a little ways off. Aoi was unresponsive, with the two nosiest boys left exchanging glances.

"Wow. You have a face like that, but you talk like a little boy. What's up, hit your head one too many times?," Suo addressed Kanuma with extreme distaste, stepping slightly in front of Aoi without realizing. Pulling his attention fully away from other matters and going right for the throat.

"Hm? Who're you? Mind your business," Kanuma took the bait and glared hard at Suo.

"What, you his boyfriend or something? Lame ass can't even fight for himself now?," Arima scoffed at the two of them. Sugishita stepped forward, in front of Aoi on the other side and glaring hard at Arima.

"Okay! Sounds like we've got things ironed out. We'll be having a party tomorrow, a home game," Tomiyama butted in, slicing away the tension with a completely out of pocket explanation.

"He means, we'll be having a tournament of sorts. Arima, Kanuma, you good with fighting those two?," Jo grabbed Tomiyama's jacket and got ready to drag him off the property. The two boys Jo questioned gave their affirmative, feeling the intense leering eyes of Suo and Sugishita all the way to the gate.

"Well, that's that! Let's go get some grub, we're heading out from here first thing in the morning," Umemiya addressed his ragtag group with more burbling enthusiasm. He ushered them all to Pothos, locking them in saying he would join them after addressing the rest of the students who had overheard somewhat and were raring for a rumble inside the building.