(Wind Breaker) The Green Rose's Thorns

Part 44

Several boys fell down, either sitting sprawled out or laying flat on their backs panting in the early dawn's light. Aoi was one who spilled out onto his back, the exertion finally catching up with him all at once.

"We're all supposed to meet at the school. But, what about all these guys?," Nirei gave the orders from the top and surveyed the bodies littered all around them.

"Could leave someone here to deal with 'em as they wake up," Aoi suggested, rolling up to a sitting position. There was an exchange of glances and whispers as everyone thought over who would be best to stay behind, none volunteering themselves at all.

"No need. We're done with this place," a voice behind their little huddle startled more than a few of the boys, heads whipping over to see a few of the initial attackers standing just a few feet away. Two of them were holding up the guy who tried to choke out Aoi, all leaning into each other and completely thrashed. Aoi gave them a sidelong glance, then stretched his arms out and yawned.

"You may be, but what about the rest? You ain't exactly the one in charge are you?," he gestured at the others who were in varying states of arousal. Regardless of allegiance or orders, they all seemed thoroughly defeated and ready to bail.

"Yeah, fuck this. Y'all are crazy," another ragtag group shuffled past them, back the way they came. Slowly, weary and worn out as they were, the others scooped up their companions and left. Suo watched a certain group of them leave, a dark look lingering on his face until they were well out of sight.

"We can hang out, you guys go check on your leader," Jo offered to stay, glancing at Arima and Kanuma to assess their condition. The two of them groaned, exhausted, but the matter was settled and Furin packed up. Heading back to their home base, the school yard, half-carrying their worst wounded back.

The rest of the town looked more or less the same as before, with just a few more busted up bodies shuffling the streets than usual. Some heading away, out of town. Some headed toward the schoolyard with them, where they found a few of their fellow classmates out cold in the dirt and covered in blood and bruises. They were helped up, and carried into a spare room on the first floor. All those who were still unconscious were spread out in the classrooms and staff rooms, then everyone else headed for the rooftop.

Once there, they spilled out the door and circled around the spot where Umemiya and Sakura were sitting, with two others. All were beaten pretty bad, and worse the whole rooftop was a mess of potting soil, broken pots and furniture, and even some new holes in the fence that lined the edges.

"Did we really win?"

"We did, right?"

"We gotta, look, they're, well.."

A bittersweet sentiment spread over the group, with the victor being incredibly unclear in their trashed base with four battered bodies clinging to consciousness in front of their eyes. Umemiya chuckled at that, startling them back to full attention.

"We lost," a dark-haired boy covered in tattoos spoke up. He sounded surprisingly unperturbed by that, and it was pretty unsettling. The man beside him, sporting fiery hair cut in an unusual way, was silent but nodded his agreement.

"And?," Aoi was pushing for something more, taking the Sakura approach and speaking out of turn. Rather than get lectured or chastised, Umemiya smiled back at him in an almost apologetic way.

"We're out. We'll leave you guys be. Got nothin' worth stickin' around for," the dark haired man threw one last insult as he rose to his feet and extended a hand to his partner. A hand his partner didn't take, standing tall on his own. Then they left, the small crowd parting to let them through but eyeing the pair warily as they passed.

"That's really it?," Nirei asked Umemiya. The white-haired boy just nodded, leaning into Sakura who sat behind him with a tired look on his face.

"You guys look awful," Umemiya said with a goofy grin. Feeling the mixed reactions even though his eyes were closed, he adjusted his posture a little bit and gave another order.

"Aoi. Grab any spare hands and go patch up whoever isn't up. Everyone else, go home and rest up. We've got some allies keeping watch, so let's take the rest of the day off."

With that final command, Umemiya's vision faded out and he lost consciousness. Sakura wasn't much better off, lacking the energy to push his leader off his back or even turn red like normal. Aoi selected a small group of people with any first aid experience, and tended to the two on the rooftop first. The others he sent downstairs, to locate supplies and assess the damages there. Suo and Kiryu, sustaining the least amount of injuries, stayed to help out and stuck close to Aoi as he worked.

"Qing?," one of the injured in the makeshift medical bay on the first floor came to just as Aoi was finishing up their bandages. Faces had started blurring together as exhaustion caught up with the boy, and he blinked at the one who just called out to him trying to get his vision to focus properly.

"Huh?"

"What're you..?"

"Kanji?!," Aoi blurted out the name as he realized who he was bent over. The leader of the Roppo Ichiza, and his coworker at Ougi. He couldn't stop himself in time, and felt his face contort with a sudden wave of intense anxiety over his mistake.

"Qing?," Kiryu of course overheard that exchange and was overcome with curiosity. Aoi glanced wildly around the room, feeling only the slightest bit of relief upon seeing that most occupants were still out cold.

"You're...Furin? Wait, ain't that an all boys' school? You're in highschool?!," Kanji went through a ton of alarming thought processes just then. Piecing things together and near-fainting as he was hit with each one.

"We'll talk later. Rest," Aoi gave his orders and stood up. Or tried to, but he was suddenly feeling faint too and stumbled back into something. Someone, who held him up by the shoulders and gave a sharp look toward the only one left out of the loop.

"If you're tired, you should rest too," Suo's voice reached Aoi's ears while his vision swam around. Aoi wanted to argue, but didn't have the strength and just let his body's whims overtake him as he leaned into the other boy.