The Song of Windchimes

Iris

┏━°⌜防風鈴 ⌟°━┓

Chapter 14

┗━°⌜防風鈴 ⌟°━┛

Togame attacks Sakura, who jumps back and stares at him before kicking his side. Togame stagers back, Sakura's fists that were once up now being put down at what he just realized.
Everyone watches, Shishitoren members muttering under their breaths as they watch their higher up struggle against a first year from Furin.
"Are you for real?"
"There's no way."

'There isn't that same force... and drive from before. His punches... they're wavering.'

'What happened?'

"What's your deal?" Sakura asks Togame, his tone one of annoyance. "You're not taking this seriously."
"Huh? On the contrary-" Togame tries to explain himself, only for Sakura to cut him off.
"Ya don't even wanna land your punches." He scolds.
Togame looks away. "And you're not even tryin' to dodge my kicks."
'I thought...' Sakura thinks, a reel of memories re-playing in his mind 'they knew what happened, that's why they came to pick a fight.'
'But...' Togame's voice arose in the back of his mind, saying 'what the hell...? I never heard about this.'
'They didn't. So then, why did he beat those two up?'
'I wanna know. I wanna know more about him."

"Come on..." Sakura furrows his brows "what the hell are you doing?"

Togame avoids eye contact, looking towards the audience, but at no one in particular. He chuckles, "yeah, for real..." Togame reaches up for his face and pushes back his messy bangs "what am I trying to do..." He says to himself.

Sakura stays silent for a second, before speaking up. "Why did you beat up your own guys? Your team doesn't give a shit about what you guys do as long as you've got the strength to back it up, right?"
Togame's bangs move back to their place messily as he moves his hand back to hold onto the back of his neck, his braid under his hand.
He brings his hand down.

"Yeah... because this is the den of the strong..."
"It's not a place for lowlifes to gather."

Sakura's eyes widened at that.
Togame's imagination runs as he draws a starved lion in his mind, lying lifelessly on the ground.
'When someone loses their mind... they won't be able to move their four limbs properly.
And gradually... I spent more and more time skinning the weak'
A Shishitoren jacket flutters into the sea of those that look the exact same.
'And that's when...'
'We got into a tussle with Bofurin, Choji's obsession.'
Togame says something, standing a few feet behind Tomiyama.
Choji smiles at that, turning around gleefully and running towards the door, not letting Togame explain what had happened.
He was alone on the roof, looking down as he thought to himself.
'I used to think it would become the trigger to change things...but... It ended up dragging the whole team down... Into a fight that has no meaning, no justice.'
'Sadly, there's no going back.'

'On that day,' the memory of Togame holding onto the "skin" of the first member who was kicked out of Shishitoren, 'I committed to the wrong path... I can't stop here. It's too late'

The crowd yells. They're wanting more action as they had stopped for a little too long in their opinion. They were complaining, believing in their second-in-command to be able to beat a first year. Tomiyama, though, is silent, and so are the members of Furin.
Togame looks at the logo on the stage wall. It has faded, and in his eyes, no longer represents what they are as of right now.
'This emblem has faded quite a bit...' he thinks, Sakura's voice invading his thoughts again.

"Right..." He smiles up at the emblem "I wanna... Live in the mountains."
"Haaah?"
"My punches must be getting to you. I thought you said this wasn't a place for scumbags..." Sakura grabs his attention, the audience's yelling and complaints were muted as they both interacted with each other. "So explain what you're doing here. I genuinely wanna know, because you're a textbook example of one."
"I'll admit, yeah, you're strong," Sakura states "but you're just another lameass lowlife."

Sakura starts slowly moving to take a fighting stance again, legs spread to keep his weight even, and slightly hunched to make him seem bigger in a width standpoint. "I'll prove to you by beatin' you... Then, I'll make you stop doing all this lame bullshit. So that you'll join the cool club... and BECOME SOMEONE I WANNA FIGHT AGAINST!"

Togam chuckles, an attractive grin on his face.
"You really are selfish, aren't you?" Togame taunts "You've sure got a big mouth for someone facing a man who's leagues stronger than you."
"WHO CARES IF IT'S SELFISH?" Sakura calls out, running forward and jumping high, leg stretched up. "THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO PERSEVERE, TO PUSH MY WILL IN A FIGHT, RIGHT?!"
Sakura brings down his kick with a loud boom as it strikes the floor of the stage. The dropkick was dodged, and Sakura instantly got up and rushed forward to punch Togame while yelling.
"EVEN IF... I'M FACING SOMEONE WHO I OWE MY LIFE TO!" Togame dodges the punch, Sakura quickly turns and sends another one towards him, who just dodges it again. "EVEN IF MY OPPONENT'S STRONG!"

"I WILL NEVER LOOK AWAY!" Sakura leaps upwards, jumping high and bringing his fist back "I WILL NEVER BEND MY WILL!!"

Togame's eyes are wide as he freezes with a gasp. Memories of what got him to be who he is now re-playing in his mind. The rain splattering on the floor, his voice asking questions, Tomiyama's voice scolding him, his words feeling like a stab in the back, the rain blending in with his incoming tears.

Sakura switches from his punching stance to kick the side of Togame's neck making him stumble back and place his hand on the fading emblem, struggling to breathe from the hit he just took.
When he recovers, Togame laughs. Sakura is huffing for breath, watching as Togame picks himself up.
"Honestly, you really know how to push my buttons."
Togame turns around, taking the bi-colored teen off guard and punches him in the face. Sakura stumbles back before picking himself up with a smirk, whipping the sting of the punch off of his face. "Yeah, I knew it... You weren't bein' serious at all earlier... Right... Scraggles?"

"The name isn't Scraggles." Togame kicks off his geta sandals, the wooden footwear making loud Ka-Tank's on the tiled floor of the stage. "It's Togame... Jo Togame."
Togame introduces himself as he takes the rubber hair tie and pulls it off, hair flowing freely with a quick movement. "All right, I get it."

"Then let's get serious about this...

Sakura."