Nezumi didn’t have any other choice, did she? There was no way that they were letting her out of their sight even though she had made it very clear that she could handle everything on her own. It’s not like she was terminally ill or something. She just didn’t want to visit the hospital just so they could tell her that she had to stay until all of her wounds would have healed. They tried to hold her back when she stumbled inside the other night, covered in blood and her old wounds re-opened. The nurse on duty recognized her from her previous visit and she made sure to tell the attending doctor to keep her hospitalized this time. That woman should have known better. She escaped the first time after numerous attempts to keep her in her room, so why would this be any different? The only reason she showed up at the hospital the second time was because she foolishly ran out of Wataru’s house after another argument even though he was trying to help with some first aid. And by the time she got halfway home she had to admit that the wounds were seriously starting to sting and the bleeding had only stopped slightly. Even she wasn’t foolish enough to risk it all just because she didn’t like hospitals. So she stumbled inside, got patched up, waited for the nurse to make her round and escaped again. She did, however, send some flowers to thank them for their good work though she expected them to take it more as cheeky rather than polite and thankful.

Either way, here she was again. Heading home after school, covered in bandages and bruises that told the story only a few could tell, but feeling better than she felt earlier this week. The fact that she didn’t have to worry about any fight or vengeance or about Saburou following her and waiting for the right move to strike at her or the people she was hanging around with made her a lot calmer and a lot more happy than when she first came to town. Other than the fact that she now had a group of former yankees following her around.

“Are you purposely walking around in circles or did you really forget your way home?” she heard him frowning and stopped walking. They were so eager to find out where she lived and make sure she got there in what they called “her vulnerable state” aka the few scars she had, they had been following her all the way from school. But she had no intention in letting them find out where she lived that she decided to take a different route and ended up walking around the same block a couple of times before they finally figured it out.

“It took you long enough,” she grinned as she turned around to face them and crossed her arms.

“After a while you start to recognize certain things...” Ryosuke said proudly, although Nezumi wasn’t quite impressed. They had been circling the same block for a good half hour now and only now did they speak up?

“So, stop wasting time and just head the right way, ne?”

She sighed, “Well, if I am wasting your time then why don’t you just go home yourself?”

“We told you already...”

“There is nothing to worry about. Saburou is dead, his gang has disappeared and I am completely fine!” she said as she relaxed her arms again. “So stop worrying about me!”

“Who said anything about worrying? Why would I be worried about you?” he scoffed proudly.

“Yeah!” Nippori added with a fist pumped into the air, “Aniki is just being... pre-cautious...?” he seemed to trail off, his mind trying to find a better word to describe Wataru since this pretty much came down to the same thing.

“Fine, but on one condition...” she sighed once more and Wataru raised his eyebrow out of curiosity. “You fight me first!”

“Mattaku...” Wataru sighed as he slapped his forehead. “Is that still all you think about?”

She grinned, “I haven’t forgotten about my ambition to fight you, Wataru,” she explained. “Though previously it was out of vengeance, now it’s just a challenge, an ambition.”

“A fool’s plan,” he shook his head.

“Sore wa ii no yo...” she crossed her arms again. “You don’t have to fight me... But I’m not moving another inch until you do...”

“You are so stubborn,” Ryosuke shook his head,

“Are you like ashamed of how you live?” Nippori tilted his head innocently.

She scoffed, “Not as much ashamed as just not wanting you guys to know where I live... Just because I decided to stick around here does not mean you guys automatically get to know everything about me.”

“Fine,” Wataru scoffed impatiently as he immediately turned around and marched off. “Ikou ze!” he called without looking back. He had kept his patience long enough but this was just getting too annoying for Wataru. If she wanted to be stubborn then so be it. It wasn’t his concern after all. The fact that somewhere he felt like he should care did not mean that he had to.

“Ja, matta~” Ryosuke saluted casually before heading back in the direction Wataru was walking. Nippori mimicked the salute, a bit more comedically, before running after his friends and let Nezumi staring after them.

“Finally...” she sighed as she tilted her head slightly. It wasn’t so much that she was ashamed of the place she had called home since she moved here, but the fact that they would know where she lived would mean she had a lot of more explaining to do. Something she really didn’t feel like doing.

“Nezumi-chan~”

“Seriously...” she sighed frustratingly as she turned in the direction of the voice. A voice that was getting on her nerves ever so slightly and increased every time she heard it. “Now what?”

“Are, that’s not a nice way to greet someone...” she sounded genuinely surprised by the greeting she received from the yankee girl. After all this time, didn’t she know better?

“Yeah, well... I’m not nice,” she said through gritted teeth as she wanted to brush past her classmate and head home.

“Chotto, Nezumi!”

For some reason she stopped walking. Normally she would’ve just marched on and pretended to be deaf but still she stopped and waited for whatever important news this girl wanted to share with her.

“Ano~ You are coming too tonight, right?”

She turned around and tilted her head with a frown. What was she talking about? What was going on tonight and why did she have to participate?

“Nani?”

“The fireworks festival of course,” she grinned as she took a step closer to the girl. “There are announcements everywhere,” she held op her hands and twirled around a little to make her point more clear.

Nezumi took a quick glance around and indeed noticed the several posters handing from poles and windows of stores talking about a fireworks festival that was being held tonight. She didn’t really pay attention to it at first, mostly because she didn’t really care for these kind of things.

“I pass,” she replied and turned around again but Michiyo stopped her once again.

“Come on Nezumi,” she sighed. “It’s going to be fun, even for someone like you!”

She turned around once again, “Oi! What is that supposed to mean?!”

“I mean someone as tsundere as you,” she replied with a slight grin. “I’m sure you’re going to like it. Mizumi always loved the fireworks festival!”

“But I am not Mizumi...”

“I know,” she nodded kind of obviously which Nezumi only slightly took as an insult. Then again, she couldn’t really claim to be anything like her sempai. “But I figured, if Mizumi liked it, it can’t be that bad, can it?”

She had a point there. Nezumi know Mizumi very well and although she was slightly more feminine then you would expect, she was also a tough person. And for her to seek amusement in something as simple and childish as a fireworks festival meant that it couldn’t be that bad.

Reluctantly she sighed, “What do I have to do?”

A smile appeared on the little tumbling captain’s face as Nezumi spoke these words, “Well, first of all you must wear a yukata. You can’t pull the same clothes prank as you did on the date...”

“Forget it,” Nezumi scoffed.

“It’s tradition!”

“I am not going to prance around in a stupid yukata for some silly lights in the sky,” she shook her head.

“Oi!” she pouted. “Don’t be so stubborn, it’s only for a few hours...” she tilted her head. ”I’ll even help you pick the perfect one!”

“Ne~ Kinoko-atama...” she took a few steps closer. “Anata wa baka desu ka?”

“Baka ja nai yo!” she pouted once again. “Would it seriously kill you just to dress up for the occasion and actually act like a normal human!”

She wanted to reply to that but for some reason she couldn’t come up with anything to say. It was true that it wouldn’t hurt to act out of her normal character once in a while, but did that really mean she had to wear a stupid dress just to be different?

“It’s only for tonight...”

Nezumi sighed and looked away, “If I do will you promise to leave me along and never speak of it again?”

“Of course!” Michiyo smiled brightly at the fact that the stubborn yankee was caving in.

“And you’ve got to stop calling me Nezumi-chan too,” Nezumi continued.

“We’ll see about that,” she grinned and grabbed Nezumi’s arm, “Sa, ikou!”

“O-oi!” she called as Michiyo happily dragged her behind her, “Chotto!”

“Will you stop fidgeting?” she mumbled rather impatiently as her yankee companion tugged on her collar once again. “It looks fine!”

“I don’t care about that!” she growled. “It’s just so uncomfortable!”

Reluctantly she had been following Michiyo into the city after being convinced in wearing an outfit for the occasion. And outfit Nezumi wasn’t really used to wearing, it made her feel rather stupid to say the least.

Michiyo seemed to wear it like it was just another day wearing a yukata, then again Nezumi didn’t really expect anything other. The main color of the yukata was a beautiful light blue, with pink, red and orange rose motives all around the fabric, leading down to a shade of orange at the bottom. In all honestly it was a rather beautiful yukata, but that still didn’t keep from the fact that Nezumi still hated wearing them.

Her own yukata was at least a bit more her style. Or the color was at least. The main color of her yukata was black, a light pink cherry blossom flower sitting on her shoulder as petals were slowly floating down on the fabric and reached a flow of purple on the bottom of the dress.

“It’s just for one night,” she rolled her eyes at her childish whining. “You’re supposed to be a yankee, right?”

“Yankees don’t wear yukata’s or kimono’s!” or barely and rarely.

“But they don’t whine about a piece of clothing, do they?”

Nezumi rolled her eyes and frustratingly lowered her arms away from her collar. Why was Michiyo right, again? It’s not like she was actually going to admit it out loud but still. Why was Nezumi even here? What witheld her from just walking away and go home.  She already knew that Michiyo wasn’t going to stop calling her ‘Nezumi-chan’ or leave her alone. She didn’t owe her anything, so what kept her from going away?

“If this damages my image in any way... You’re dead,” she growled and as Michiyo turned around she straightened her face, “What? I did it before, didn’t I?”

“Nezumi...”

“It’s a fair warning, isn’t it?” she scoffed as she brushed past her and looked around, “So, now what?”

Michiyo wanted to continue on the topic Nezumi just brought up but quickly changed her mind. After the whole fight she had barely spoken with Nezumi. She couldn’t bring it up to talk to Nezumi at all at school, and it seemed that she had been trying to avoid most people who were involved, other than the fact that Wataru and the others kept on keeping an eye out. What were they expecting? That someone else would be around or that Nezumi would snap once again and kill another person?

“Let’s head out for the bay, the show is going to be held over there,” she nodded, putting up another smile as she lead the way through the city heading for the outer bay were a lot of other people were heading for as well.

She dragged after the preppy girl, trying her hardest not to give in to the frustration and tug on the collar of her yukata again. She just had to it up and deal with it, just this once. Just this evening.

“Ah, looks like Azuma-san is having a nice busy evening as well,” Michiyo stopped and looked over at the entrance of the restaurant owned by Wataru’s mother. Well, what could be easier then to just step in and get some quick food before the festival, not to mention that his mother was a great cook. “Are you hungy?”

“No!” she immediately replied. God forbid of any of the guys saw her in this attire, she would never hear the end of it. She was already at risk that they could bump into someone she didn’t want to bump into. “I mean...” she quickly redeemed herself as Michiyo raised an eyebrow, “It’s already crowded, we musn’t add to the stress, ne?”

“That is...” she started thoughfully and Nezumi was ready to cringe under the scolding of how bad her excuse was. “Strangely thoughful of you, Nezumi-chan.”

“Eh?” She bought it?

“Besides, I bet there are going to be some stalls for sweets as well,” she grinned. “Let’s go!” she grabbed the young yankee’s arm and pulled her along again.

“Ne~” she huffed as she didn’t quite coöperate with the dragging, “Why are you doing this?”

“Nani?” she smiled.

“Being so nice to me?” she stopped and pulled her arm out of her grip. “Insisting in me coming along and stuff?”

“Can’t I just be friendly?” she tilted her head innocently.

“Don’t play the fool card on me,” she placed her hands on her hips, “I still remember your snarky attitude towards me when I first came to Kara High!”

She grinned, “A lot has happened since then though...”

“You don’t have to be nice to me just because Mizumi was my friend...” she tilted her head.

“Oh, I know,” she nodded. “Sometimes I seriously question my sister’s taste in people...”

Nezumi scoffed with a smirk.

“I don’t know, I just thought it was nice for you to have a friend here.”

“Oi! I have plenty of friends! And I don’t want to be your charity person you know!” she crossed her arms with another scoff, this time without a smile or smirk of even a grin.

“Well, no one is forcing you to stick around, right?”

“You forced me to come here dressed like this!” she tugged the skirt of the yukata to proof her point.

“No, I politely persuaded you to join a friend in a festivity,” she corrected in her usual manner.

“Well... You forced me to wear this!” again she tugged the yukata.

Michiyo sighed, “Will you stop whining about that?”

“Michiyo-chaaan~”

She closed her eyes and sighed frustratingly at the voice that called her. She knew exactly who this was and was not to happy about it. It was such a bother, that guy who used to roam the streets beating up people and had a million girlfriends on the side.

Nezumi wasn’t too happy about this sudden interuption as well, as it came down to a thing she had dreaded the most. People who knew her as the tough yankee seeing her dressed up in a way she didn’t feel comfortable, all because of this preppy girl.

“Oh great...” Michiyo sighed.

“Oi! Be nice, Kinoko-atama!” Nezumi smirked, “That guy really likes you.”

“Pffft...” she turned around, immediately shifting her behavior slightly and conjured up a smile on her face as she greeted the blond haired beau who had also decided to dress for the occassion in a black kimono with white symbols scattered all over. “Konban wa, Ryosuke-kun.”

“Isn’t that a coincidence? Bumping into you here?” he grinned his all too familiar grin.

“Not really...” she scoffed slightly.

“You sure run fast, Ryosuke!” Nippori’s slightly exhausted voice broke the conversation as he and Wataru joined the blond haired boy, both dressed up in a black kimono as well. Was Nezumi really the only person left that felt a little bit of dignity or was she the only one who was so against it.

“One glimps of Michiyo and he flew out of the restaurant,” Wataru chuckled.

“No, I didn’t,” he said through gritted teeth as he stiffened a grin and glared back at his friend who just continued laughing.

“How cute,” Nezumi laughed.

“Nezumi?” Wataru suddenly sounded a lot less amused and a lot more surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“What? Can’t I go out to celebrate a festival?” she scoffed.

“Nezumi, you look so different though...”

“See, I told you?”

“Urusai yo!” she yelled at all of them as she started to feel like a subject of amusement. “Don’t get used to it!”

“Ne~ Nezumi-chan looks kawaii, ne?” Michiyo grinned as she nudged the other girl.

“So desu,” Nippori grinned who caught on to the joke. Or maybe he meant it. Who knows, that endless grin of his could mean pretty much anything.

“Urusai yo!” she repeated once again.

“Nezumi? And cute? Muri desu~” Wataru laughed.

“Oi!” she frustratingly raised a clutched fist.

“See?” he smirked. “Daijobu, you take things way too seriously...” he jokingly placed his arm around her shoulder, which she immediately brushed off.

“Baka~” she turned around to face all of them, “If any of you ever speak of this again, I will seriously kill you! Wakarimasu ka?!”

“Ne~ Are you done complaining?”

“Humpf, looks like the two of you have more things in common then you think,” she crossed her arms and mumbled, glaring from the blond haired boy to the taunting girl who immediately changed her expression.

“So!” Wataru nodded. “Let’s go!”

The fireworks were, in Nezumi’s opinion, not all that special but admittedly pretty amusing. Wether it was the fact that it was the first real peaceful moment she had without having to worry about it being interupted by someone or some threat, or because it was just too easy making fun of Michiyo and Ryosuke, she didn’t completely regret coming along in the end.

After the festival, they all decided to go their seperate ways. Ryosuke insisted on walking Michiyo home and although she reluctantly left alone, he soon followed her. He was getting borderline stalker here but at least it was someone else he was following after this time.

Nippori went off to pick up his younger sister who was spending time over at a friend’s house and wasn’t allowed to walk out all by herself.

Nezumi and Wataru headed the same way in silence, after all, there was only one way to get back from the bay and both of them headed off at the same time. It was an awkward silence, she still wasn’t too happy about the way she was dressed even though everyone had dressed up for the festival. But ever since the final battle with Saburou everyone seemed to be treating her differently. Wether it was because they were all afraid to step on her toes and make her snap like she did back there, or because they pitied her in some way. She wasn’t quite sure about the reason but it was a bit too obvious, or maybe she was just still being paranoid because she had spend the last few years constantly on the look out for fights and more importantly the last two years getting ready and focused on revenge for her friend’s death, and wasn’t used to such peacefulness.

“... What do you think?”

“Eh?” apparently Wataru had decided to bring up a topic of conversation but she was so zoned out that she hardly caught a word he said.

“Ryosuke and Michiyo?” he frowned.

“Ah...” she nodded slowly. “Well, that fool is head over heels... I think Michiyo is either playing hard to get or is just too stubborn or something...” she shrugged. “Not that it’s my problem.”

“So desu ne...” they stopped right in front of the restaurant where most of the lights had already turned off. Customers had left and his mother was probably finishing up cleaning the place before going to bed.
 “Ja... I’ll see you on school...ne?”

“I guess so,” she nodded and wanted to walk off.

“Ne, Nezumi...”

She turned around, “Nani?”

“That yukata does look cute on you,” he smirked before escaping inside and closing the door.

“Eh?” she looked down for a second before looking back up and clutching her fists, “Watashi wa kawaii ja nai yo! Wataru!” she yelled, catching a few confused looks from the few people on their way home before huffing and turning around, marching off home. The nerve to keep taunting her. That’s it, tomorrow someone is going to pay for this humiliation! Unlikely. 

And with that we have started Tumbling Down 2! Hope everyone will enjoy it!