(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 41

"Qing, another round's up!"

Qing was struggling with her heels, worn out and ready for a good nap. She had been caught in several twisted tangos over the past few days, putting her stamina to the test. She nervously checked her phone behind the counter, frowning as the time got closer and closer to midnight. An older man seated a few stools down noticed her look, and waved her over.

"I heard it's supposed to get pretty nasty out tonight. Stormy season n' all. Why not head home early?," he spoke loud enough for the older bartender to hear, earning little reaction from him but a better one from Qing.

Weather was fine earlier. A little rain never hurt anyone. ?

The man read the text, then held his hands out asking for the pen and pad to write a note of his own. Qing surrendered them, rocking on her heels as she waited impatiently for him to finish and pass it back. Her brows furrowed as she read, then her lips pursed tight as she read the final part.

Go, don't wanna be late. I'll cover for you, so next time show me a good place to eat during daylight hours. Show that pretty boy your thorns, little Furin rose.

"What's going on?," the other man moved over and tried to read Qing's notepad. She pulled it to her chest, studying the writer's face and slinking away when he nodded his confirmation. She slid into the back room, startling Shizuka who was getting ready for another show there.

"Qing? It's not time yet, is it?," Qing shook her head. She made a motion with her hand like punching a timecard, then bowed her head and pointed to the door.

"You're leaving?," Shizuka looked almost sad at that but stepped out of the room anyway. Qing changed quickly, knocking on the door to let Shizuka know it was safe to reenter and ducking out the back.

...

"Hey, we're missin' one," Anzai pointed out Aoi's absence as their group moved into position on one of the three bridges leading into town. Nirei checked his phone but hadn't heard anything for a while, watching as the time ticked by. There was just a minute left on the clock when Aoi skidded to a stop behind them all.

"Where were you?," another classmate ripped into him, mostly choosing the wrong outlet for his wound up nerves.

"Work," Aoi huffed as fireworks went off somewhere in the city. The horde stationed on the other side of the river bank called that their mark to get started and charged ahead. Their path was narrow, and littered with combatants as they tried to get through. At first, hardly any trickled back. Then as things dragged on, and Aoi contemplated jumping in, he heard something in the grass just under the bridge. On the riverbank, where three men emerged as they tried to sneak past.

"What, they just got a random kid back here?," one of them scoffed as Aoi moved to block their advance. He was met with a swift kick to the ribs and sent tumbling down the bank. The other two flew forward, taking quite a bit of damage as they tried to get hold of the boy. They finally succeeded, when Aoi got sidetracked by someone shouting out to Nirei. Pulling him by the hair, kicking and cursing, to the edge of the bridge and holding him out between the steel beams that rose up and over it.

"Aoi!," Kiryu called out, ducking out of a wild swing and toppling his opponent with practiced ease. Suo broke eye contact with his opponent, a man with a white bob that had been a pretty good match for him so far.

"Hey now, loverboy. Don't lose focus," the man swiped at Suo's legs but missed, rolling out of the way just in time as the boy's foot slammed down into the pavement. There was a shrill cry followed by a loud splash below, whipping several faces over to where Aoi had just been. Had been, and was no longer. Replaced by Tsugeura's hulking body, face ashen as he realized his mistake in trying to free his classmate from the men's grasp.

Aoi started to choke, then held his hands over his face in an attempt to hold in the last of his breath and keep the water out. He had plummeted down from the bridge, right into the cold waters of the river below. That saved him from a nastier impact, but now he was disoriented under the surface and tangled in the weeds that grew up from the bottom.

Breathe. No, wait. Just don't panic.

He raced through his thoughts. Instructions, simple but vital to his survival. No one was going to be able to rush down from the bridge, and the longer he took the more worried they would get.

There, that's the bottom. The water's pulling this way, so that means up is that way.

His face pointed upward. What he assumed to be upward at least, the faint blue light of the moon being his only real guide as it danced and flickered on the surface. Just as he started to right himself, a pair of hands plunged under the water and wrapped around his shoulders. Groping, grasping, finding their way around his throat and closing in tight. Aoi pulled uselessly at the fingers, hearing them crack and groan but refusing to let go as the last of his oxygen was let out in huge bubbles that floated away. Then he was free, with a hard tug at the collar of his jacket and a rush of sound as he was pulled from the water sputtering and coughing.

"Wow, you really can't swim," a familiar voice reached his ears. One he hadn't heard in months now, that used to grate his nerves something fierce.

"Don't die on us now," another one joined in. It was a voice he knew, but lacked the usual speech patterns.

"What're you two doin' here?," Aoi shivered in his wet clothes as he looked up to see Arima and Kanuma standing over him and the man they had knocked clean out. It was the same one Aoi had taken down earlier, resurrected with cruel vengeance.

"You had that guy come talk to Tomiyama, right? We're here to save your asses," Arima answered with a smug grin. Aoi stood up on his own, moving to wring out his clothes somewhat and sighing at how much heavier he was now that he was soaked through.

"That wasn't a very manly sound though. Was it, Arima?," Kanuma started to tease about the yelp Aoi had let out as he fell. Aoi felt his face flush despite the situation they were all in, gritting his teeth and realizing that he had also lost his mask somewhere. He wrung his hair out, also having lost the band that held it in place to the water.

"If you have time to bother me, you have time to go get your shit wrecked up there," Aoi grumbled at the two who had saved his bacon. He unbuckled his belt, the other two flipping their lids as he slid his shorts off and over his soggy shoes. He tossed them onto the grass, and moved to pull his shirt up and wring it out. Something about the sounds the other two made at that made him freeze, slowly lowering the cold cloth and shooting them a quizzical look.

"So that's what you and your boy toy are into, huh?," Arima jeered at him. Kanuma tugged at the other guy's sleeve and pointed toward Aoi's chest, where a bit of lace had peeked out under his soaked shirt. Aoi's face went crimson as he realized it, the thing he had forgotten to remove while he hurriedly changed at Ougi. A bralette, black and lacy and still visible under his shirt now that he was all wet. A stark contrast with the boxers he wore under it.

"Shut up! Go up there and do something useful," Aoi smacked both of them with his wet coat, sending them back up the embankment ahead. He picked up his discarded shorts and trudged up after, depositing his items there and tying his jacket around his waist. Heavy as it was, he needed the identifier so he didn't get mistakenly taken out by his own team members in the mad scramble.