(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 43

"So that's what y'all are into, huh?," Jo teased with a goofy grin plastered on his face. Suo pretended not to understand, barely containing his laugh at the way Aoi's face looked.

"It's not-I just...forgot.. Something when I left work in a hurry," Aoi tried to cover it somehow but only made it worse.

"Whatever. Let's get this over with, what you are don't matter," the boss charged ahead, quickly taken out by Jo. He promised to take charge of the front line, sending Suo and Aoi back to their positions or something close to it. Nirei was getting ragged, and was just about to get pummeled when something brushed his shoulders and pushed off. He looked up, greeted by a flash of green and a mess of hair that whipped by and delivered a decisive blow to his attacker. He landed with a slight flourish in front of Nirei, hair falling over his face and ruining his entrance.

"Aoi?," Nirei addressed him as Suo helped him to his feet and steadied him. Aoi flipped his hair over his head, but it still covered part of his face and fell all over the place in its damp state.

"If you're tired, you can take a break at the back," Aoi grinned at his obviously worn down friend. It wasn't the usual snarl that he tried to hide when fighting or stressed, but something much warmer. Much more innocent and fun, despite the gravity of the situation they were facing with all of Furin and the town riding on their victory. Nirei was confused as all hell, looking to Suo for some sort of explanation or guidance but just getting a similar smile from him. That was normal for Suo though.

"Where'd your pants go?," Kiryu joined them, taking Nirei's arm over his shoulder. He held something out to Aoi, a thin hair tie that the other took and used to try and contain their mop of hair.

"Uh. They're super heavy when wet, and all the stuff in them got soaked. So I dropped 'em for a bit," Aoi spoke as if that just made sense. Like it would be common sense to everyone, tilting his head at the distressed reactions he got.

"Most people don't strip down for a fight," Nirei pointed out what was actually obvious to everyone else and Aoi felt his face heat up a little bit.

"Well..it doesn't really matter does it? It's not like I'm runnin' around buck naked," Aoi went a little too hard on the defensive and two of the others snickered at him.

"Nice tattoo," Kiryu turned away with one final tease and a wink as he pointed out the now visible thigh tattoo. Nirei sighed as he was escorted off the field, knowing full well the ear full he was going to catch for that later. All of them, once the dust settled and they were back to normal. He paused for a moment as he was lowered onto the ground beside Aoi's discarded belongings, realizing something. He had assumed they were going to win, though the messages in his phone seemed dire for a good bit during the fighting. He checked them now, and things were slow to update but reinforcements had arrived all over. Shishitoren, and the Roppo Ichiza. Some of the Gravel members who were scattered about the red light district, too.

Back on the bridge, Aoi took over where Nirei had been, along with Suo to fully seal up the rear again. The opponents changed in and out, unconscious bodies starting to clog up the bridge's limited space and spilling out into the street on the other side. Aoi took over where others were lagging behind, having more energy since he had a bit of a late start. He would swap with a classmate to give them a breather, then swap back and hang out near the riverbank to make sure no more of the enemy tried to sneak over. A few weapons came out as things dragged through the night, each one getting tossed into the water once the wielder was disarmed and dealt with.

With the numbers finally thinning out, Aoi felt comfortable untying his jacket and using it as he fought. He wrapped it around a much larger guy's head, pulling his face down and ramming his knee right into it. Then he flung it out, the sleeves wrapping around the legs of a guy going for a classmate and tripping him. That was the one thing that remained consistent in Aoi's fighting, Suo noticed. He always used his surroundings and nearby items to their fullest to support his movements. Whipping around the bridge's frame, mimicking Tsubaki's dance moves with sign posts or flinging his jacket to grapple like an extension of his arms. Even the bodies of friends and foes alike, vaulting off their shoulders or pulling himself along with their violent swings and drops. All while grinning like a fool having the time of their life.

"Hey! We got messages coming in from the other checkpoints!," Nirei called out. He had made his way over the bridge and nearly got hit with a stray from Aoi's rampage.

"Sorry, what?," Aoi course-corrected and sent the guy tumbling into a small pile of dudes by the edge of the bridge. He looked around him, realizing that at some point the streetlights had gone off and the sun was showing its first light on the horizon. There were few stragglers left standing, with Furin somehow squeaking out the win overall. Those left grouped up around Nirei to see what the situation was elsewhere.

"Nearly all the other checkpoints are clear. We're just waiting on Sakura's situation, and Umemiya's. They haven't said anything for a while-oh!," Nirei's face lit up as two messages came in, almost at the same time.

"We did it?," he shared the news with the others, in disbelief despite the hope he had felt earlier as he watched everyone fight. He shook his head and tried again, declaring their victory with a little more oomph behind it.