Underground (2045)

Chapter 1: Shio Legume (2043)

Shio walked down the street. His brown hair was held back by a red bandana that he never seemed to take off.

Normally he'd head straight home after school let out, but this time, he had different plans.

He had heard a few of his friends talking about a gang near the tracks that had beaten a delivery man black and blue two days ago. Shio was curious.

Every story he had read up til that point, every source he had checked, the bully always had a motive. More often then not, it was actually reasonable. So he wanted to see if the same applies to this situation. If the schools were telling the truth and, it they were, why was no one helping them?

It was a 30 minute walk from his school to the tracks, but he was fine with it. After all, this could help someone. This could be his chance to leave his mark.

...
He stopped in his tracks, hiding behind a box. He had found them. The hostile gang. It consisted of 6 men, and..

'A girl?' Shio hadn't expected a girl. She seemed young, maybe 5th grade, and sat on the top of a derailed train cart. She has dirty blonde hair and a bright blue scarf. Definitely not from Japan. She has European lineage if he had to guess.

The gang was was chatting, they all seem like good friends. The ring leader must have been the dark haired boy seeing that they all circled around him.

Bang, bang

The girl hit the side of the train cart with her foot, alerting the rest that they had a visitor. Shio emerged from his spot. A smile appear on his face as he greeted the group.

The dark haired boy he had suspected as the leader emerged from the group, cracking his muscles. The girl however, stayed on her perch, watching with curiosity.

"Yo, priss' boy. Whatcha doin' 'round these parts?"

Shio was taken aback. He had never met a person who spoke like that. "Um... I am Shio Legume. I heard you guys beat a delivery man about 2 days ago-"

"2 days ago? Boy, we weren't even here 2 days ago. We beat 'em up 3 days ago and left 'em blacked out in front of the station." A few of the guys in his group laughed.

Shio smiled even more. The station was very popular area, to leave an unconscious body there means they wanted someone to find him, to give him medical attention.

"Well, you see, I'm here to figure out why you beat him up." Shio reached to his back pocket to pull out a notebook. "So do you think you could tell me you thought process and reasoning behind-"

Kei punched him square in the face. "Why da hell would we tell you our reasoning behind beating up some elite suck up. If we wanted to, we'd have gone to the cops."

Shio was staring at the ground. He had expected to be look down upon, to get beat up too, but he didn't realize how strong they were. How willing they were to hurt people.

He stood up, not bothering to wipe the blood from his nose, he threw his own punch.

Kei dodged it easily and kicked Shio straight in the ribs.

Shio toppled down, gasping for air. However before he could catch his breath, he was picked up by his shirt collar.

"Damn up town prissy. You'd bet your ass that I'm gonna make sure you never set foot back here again." With that Kei threw him to the ground and lifted up his leg. Before he could land another kick on Shio, a high pitched voice called out.

"What the heck do ya want Thorn."

The girl continued speaking, but in a foriegn language. Shio recognized it as English, although he couldn't speak it personally.

"Hito."

"She says to let the kid be. Judging by his cloths, he's a big shot's son. If you hurt him too badly, they'll ring our necks."

Kie put his foot down, muttering a string of curses that Shio probably should never repeat. Before he could stand back up though, he felt a knife cut his cloths. Or specifically, his school uniform jacket, straight down the sleeves.

"Think of this as your price to live, kid. Feel free to come back anytime. Well be waiting." Kei tossed the jacket to another gang member whom immediately tossed it to Thorn. "And don't expect to get off so easily next time."

Shio struggled to stand up, then continued to walk away. A small smile on his face.

Perhaps he got beat up, but he got some other information too. Once he was well out of sight he pulled out his notebook.

> they left the delivery man in a highly populated area for medical attention

> seem to have a grudge against elites

> take souvenirs?

> left my legs unharmed, perhaps so I could leave easily? Or maybe they never got the chance to hit them

> Thorn and Hito??

"They all said I couldn't do it. That it couldn't be done. I'll believe them when it happens."