Heart Strings

Chapter 4: Kung Fu Fighting

"Ooh! Nice shot!" Budo says as Jaku spars with some of his fellow club members. He's quick to adapt to the various tactics that have been thrown at him, and he manages to best just about all of them, except for Budo. "For a new student like you, you're a quick learner, and a good fighter might I add."

"I never knew I had this in me." Jaku chuckles. "You alright Mina?"

"Yea, I'm good." Mina chuckles as Jaku helps her up. "You should go against Budo."

"I think I'm good." Jaku chuckles. "It's only my first day in the club, I can't go against him yet. I might have natural talent but what does that really mean nowadays? You know?"

"He does have a point." Budo chuckles. "You gotta leave soon anyway."

"Yeah, see you guys later." Jaku says as he changes into his normal uniform and heads out into the halls. He finds that he's the first one in the classroom as he drops off his bag and decides to roam around the halls for a little but, then he witnesses something- a fight has broken out between two random students and it's attracting a crowd.

"OH YEAH?! COME AT ME BASTARD!"

"I OUGHTA TURN YOU INTO MINCE MEAT WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!"

"SON OF A-" And various other insults get thrown around as the two students continue to brawl. Jack recognizes one of the two combatants as Gaku, but the other student he does not know, and eventually Jaku spins around to see Aoi running in.

"Clear the way guys!" Jaku shouts, and the students quickly make a path as Aoi rushes in and practically pries the combatants apart before knocking their heads together, stunning them.

"That'll teach you to horse around." Aoi growls as the combatants stumble off and Aoi simply walks off as if it never happened.

"Well... That's certainly something." Jaku chuckles to himself.

"Hey, thanks by the way." Aoi says more benevolently as she passes by Jack and flashes a small smile. Jaku decides to return to the classroom as class is just a few minutes from starting either way and with that the teacher emerges, having seen the commotion and class begins. Jaku occasionally steals glances at Ayano, and he notices that she's been staring at him as well. He pays it no mind as the class continues and eventually everyone is dismissed for lunch. Much like yesterday Jaku heads outside and finds Uekiya, and she notices the martial arts headband around his head.

"Oh, are you part of the martial arts club now?" Uekiya asks.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jaku replies. "If you didn't notice the headband." 

"Of course I did." Uekiya says. "I really hope that Gaku guy doesn't come around though. He seems to like messing with you."

"It doesn't help that he's in my class either." Jaku says as the two pull out their bentos and start eating. Suddenly Uekiya realizes something and she looks at Jaku.

"You wouldn't mind if you watch over my bento for me? I just realized something." Uekiya says, and Jaku simply nods as she rushes off to her gardens. That's when Jack notices something off- Off in the corner, Ayano is peeking around, as if she was in some sort of spy game. He pays it no attention though as she soon leaves, and Uekiya returns and resumes eating her bento. "Sorry about that. I just realized that some of my club members forgot to water the plants."

"That's never good." Jaku says as the two finish eating. The two then get up, and they both look up at the roof to make sure nothing is going to drop on them. Once they're sure, Jaku stands off to the side. "Ladies first."

"Oh you're such a gentleman!" Uekiya giggles as she walks inside. Jaku attempts to do the same thing, but suddenly, something falls on his head and what appears to be flour goes everywhere! Uekiya looks away and cringes as she can hear Jaku hacking and coughing, trying his best to get rid of the cloud of flour blinding him.

"Oh what the hell is this?!" Jaku shouts as he coughs, and when the cloud finally clears, Jaku is covered head to toe in the fluffy stuff.

"What in the?" Uekiya asks, utterly shocked. "Is that... Flour?"

"Oof, happened again didn't it? I feel bad for you man." A voice calls out as a familiar white headed council girl approaches. "Now your hair color matches mine."

"Very funny Shiromi." Jaku chuckles. "At least you know how to lighten the mood."

"Hey Aoi, our friend here just had what appears to be an entire bag of flour dumped on him." Shiromi says, pulling out a walkie-talkie type device. "Are you on the roof?"

"I caught one of the delinquents." Aoi's voice crackles. "It wasn't Gaku but one of the other ones."

"Good catch." Shiromi replies before she looks at Uekiya and the flour covered Jaku. "Alright I'm gonna take my leave. You might wanna hose him down flower girl."

"Sure thing." Uekiya says as she leads Jaku to the gardens and blasts him with the garden hose. After a few minutes of spraying there's not a single trace of flour left on Jaku but he is completely drenched as a result. "Oh! I'm so sorry please forgive me!"

"At least we got all the flour off." Jaku chuckles. "But I seriously need to get out of this, god I feel like a wet dog." He adds as he shakes off some of the water like a wet dog, making Uekiya laugh.

"I'll let your sensei know what happened, but you really need to change out of that. I hope you have a spare uniform!" Uekiya says as she leaves.