The next day Michiyo was on her way to school. She had already thought of a perfect excuse for the bruises that she received after last night. She couldn’t possibly tell everyone what really happened, especially not since she wanted to distance herself from that part of her past since the beginning. No one would ask questions when Nezumi walks up to school covered in scars and bruises, everyone knows by now that she’s a hardcore yankee, which Michiyo has witnessed herself, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone. But the class president and also captain of the female tumbling team, someone like her wouldn’t get into fights and get hurt. So she just decided to stick with a bike accident excuse to explain everything.

“Yo!” she looked up to see Nezumi, waiting casually in the middle her path. She too was covered in bruises but didn’t seem to put much effort in covering them up. Then again, it’s not surprising that she takes pride in those wounds.

“Ohayo~” Michiyo politely greeted with a nod as she stops in front of her. “Ne, do your limbs hurt as well?”

“No,” she shrugged casually.

“Don’t lie.”

Nezumi grinned, “I like this pain I feel after a fight.”

“Baka,” she scoffed.

“Deshou? I think it’s just my yankee soul,” she shrugged casually again and turns around to stare in the distance.

“You know...” she then hesitantly started. “You don’t have to be nice to me, just because you know who I really am now... I still betrayed you.”

“Ah?” she glanced back at Michiyo and laughed. “Would you rather I punish you for your betrayal then?”

“No but...-”

“Urusai yo,” she shook her head. “Besides, I didn’t have to come and rescue you right?”

Michiyo nodded slowly but then another question came to mind, “Why did you come and help me?”

Nezumi thought for a second before looking back into the distance, “If a friend calls on you, you have no choice but to go, don't you?”

“We never thought of each other a friends though...”

“So desu ne... But I knew that Saburou had something to do with it. He and I have some unfinished business...” “Plus if you really are related to Mizumi then I guess you can’t be that bad, ne?” she nodded. “So either way... I had to go.” Nezumi turned around and looked up at the sky. It’s another clear blue sky, barely any clouds covering the pure color of the emptiness above them. “You might be interested to know... I’m still planning on fighting Wataru, before I take care of Saburou.”

“Wataru-kun?” she frowned. “Why are you so driven in doing so?”

“Wouldn’t you want revenge for your sister’s death?” she asked without looking at her. She seemed rather occupied by her surroundings instead of focusing on the person she was talking to.

“Eh?”

Slowly Nezumi nodded, “Surprised?” she asked with a grin. “Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to help. This is my fight, in her honor.” With that said she turned around and headed off towards school, still a slight limb in the way she walked.

Michiyo stared after her for a moment. She never did find out who killed her sister but she would never have expected it to be Wataru. Surely he’s been a rotten guy in the past but even he wasn’t capable of killing someone. Despite all the rumors of Kiyama as well, that bunch of guys would barely hurt a fly.

“Ch-chotto Nezumi!” she called as she quickly caught up with the hooded girl. “Are you sure?”

“I am,” she nodded. “Wataru might have declined in the past, but I will make him fight me. And he will pay for all that he has done.”

“He’d never fight you,” she shook her head. “Tumbling means too much to him, and so do his friends. If he fights he will get kicked out and his team will be disqualified.”

“And I care because...?” she asked innocently.

“You’ll be wasting your time on him,” she implied.

“Did you see how mad he got back in the gym the other day? He was so close to fight me,” she smirked. Indeed, Wataru was beyond mad when he found the gym in that state, just like anyone else. And he jumped too fast to the conclusion that Nezumi had done it just to spite him. But would he had been so mad to break his promise and fight her?

“But what will it solve? A life for a life?”

“I’m not going to kill him... But he must pay for what he has done to Mizumi, wouldn’t you agree?” this time she turned her head to look at the girl walking beside her.

Michiyo merely shrugged. True, she had wished that the culprit would be caught and punished for killing her older sister, but the ambition with which Nezumi was after the revenge was beyond unhealthy.

“Besides,” she continued. “We’re not friends so... Why would you even care?” with that said she started running faster in the direction of the school.

“Michiyo-chan~”

“Oh my god!”

“What happened to you?”

Those were the cries of her friends as she entered the gym. This week they would all pitch in to clean up the gym so they could continue training again. Even the male tumbling team was going to help and several other students offered to clean up as well.

“I-I fell. With my bike,” she quickly explained as she briefly brushed the scratch on the left side of her face, “It was so stupid.”

“Ne, Michiyo-chan,” she turned around just as Ryosuke approached their little group, “Those bruises make you look even cuter.”

Some of the girls behind her started giggling, however, Michiyo was far from impressed. Even before their project she had a very low tolerance for types like him. Even during the brief moment that they were tied together she was extremely annoyed by his flirtacious ways.

“Too bad they usually make you look even dumber,” she snapped at him before walking off, leaving a rather surprised looking Ryosuke behind.

“Ne, Ryosuke...” he turned around and immediately straightened his face. “Don’t you think she’s a little too good for you?”

“Oi!” he growled but she merely brushed him off and walked over the the red headed guy in the back who was busy lifting some of the ripped mats from one side to another.

“What do you want now?” he sighed frustratedly as she approached him.

“I had a run in with Saburou last night...” she told him even though he barely seemed to care. Although mentioning the name caused a slight eyebrow twitch which lead her to believe that he was slightly interested in what she had to say. “It reminded me to stay focused. On you.”

He scoffed. “You make it sound like you’re having a crush...”

“BAKA!” she yelled immediately. “Don’t honor yourself by confusing my hatred for love. I loath you. And you can scream, shout and insult all you want. I won’t leave you alone until you fight me! No matter the consequences for either one of us.”

“You’re just wasting your time,” Yuuta scoffed. “Wataru has more important things to worry about.”

“Oh really?” she arched a brow as she moved over to stare at him, “We’ll just see about that, ne?” she roughly pushed him aside, Yuuta almost tripping over the very mat they were just carrying, before walking out of the gym.

“She’s obsessed with aniki...” Nippori sighed.

“But for all the wrong reasons,” Kaneko nodded.

For the wrong reasons, maybe. In their eyes at least. But in the eyes of Nezumi herself she was persuing something important and noteworthy. She sought out the one who took the life of a dear friend with the mission to repay him for his deeds. Not everyone would do such a thing, she could’ve done what Saburou did and just go on with her life, fighting idiots and following his lead instead of Mizumi’s. And because she chose to go a different way and went looking for Wataru, in a way, she betrayed her former friends. If you could even call it that.

Michiyo wasn’t convinced whether or not she had to appreciate Nezumi’s efforts or not. From everything her sister had told her in the past she had high expectations of the girl that became Mizumi’s best friend. But in all honesty Nezumi was the last person she had expected to become friends with someone like her sister. Even though both were yankees, the two of them were so different from each other. It seemed like Nezumi was mainly focused on trouble and cruelty while her older sister was more kindhearted although not someone to mess with.

Wataru on the other hand had no clue what had gotten into that girl. She was crazy to say the least. To him she came across as a girl with more than one personalities, but he had to admit that at least she was a noteworthy yankee. He couldn’t understand why she was so focused on fighting him without any reason. He wasn’t the guy he was a year ago thanks to the tumbling team, and even then he couldn’t remember ever meeting her or doing something that could make her so keen on defeating him. She was a nuissance to say the least and he was still convinced that she had something to do with the demolishment of the gym. Even though the culprit had been captured, who’s to say she didn’t put him up to it?

After school Nezumi was on her way out when something caught her eye. It was a little paper airplane that was slowly soaring through the air and landed right in front of her. She briefly looked up to see who threw it but there was no one on the roof nor anywhere around. Hesitantly yet curiously she picked up the airplane and unfolded it. It was a letter. From Wataru?!

⦍Alright, you can have your way. ⦎

I will fight you.

Tonight.

Meet me at the abandoned warehouse.

Come alone.

⦍Wataru ⦎

Immediately a smile appeared on her face. Finally, he cracked. The yankee inside of him couldn’t resist the challenge anymore. She finally got him to accept the fight. She knew he couldn’t decline forever and she had been persistant enough. And although still bruised by last night’s battle, she was more than fired up for tonight. She would finally get her revenge for all he had done. And this proved everyone wrong who said she was just wasting her time. Speaking of which...

“Kinoko-atama~” she grinned as she started skipping across the courtyard towards the school library. She knew that Michiyo spend some afternoons studying in the library, usually with some of her friends but this time she was alone. “Kinoko-atama~”

She sighed irritably as she turned a page of her book.

“Oi, are you ignoring me now?” she frowned as she hit her fist on the table.

She glanced up from her book, “I’d thought it best to pretend nothing ever happened, deshou?”

“Ah... So...” she slowly nodded before remembering why she came here for in the first place, “Then I just got four words to say,” she smirked as she held up the letter. “I told you so!”

She arched a brow and tilted her head, “Eh?”

“Read this!” she nodded as she placed the letter on her book in front of her and crossed her arms.

Michiyo quickly read the letter and looked back up at Nezumi.

“Did he give you this?”

“No, it fell from the sky,” she grinned as she folded the letter again and hid it in her pocket. “But this is proof that I haven’t been wasting my time and I was right all along!”

Michiyo shook her head “Don’t you think this is a little suspicious?”

“How so?”

“All of a sudden Wataru decides to risk everything to fight you, then writes you a letter telling you to meet up at the very place you fought yesterday?” she wondered as she closed her book.

“Your point being?”

“Are you sure this is real?”

Nezumi sighed as she pulled back the chair across from Michiyo and sat down. She then pulled out the letter again and another piece of paper.

“It’s his handwriting,” she explained as she showed both papers. “I’ve checked.”

Michiyo frowned again, “Where did you get this? It’s last week’s essay...”

She shrugged, “I borrowed it from Kashiwagi-sensei.”

“And he was okay with it?”

“Well duh, he doesn’t know I have it,” she scoffed. “I’ll place it back where it belongs later...”

Whether it was surprise of disappointment that Nezumi actually went as far as to steal an essay to check if the letter was real, Michiyo didn’t really know what to think of this. Part of her felt it necessary to talk to Kashiwagi immediately, but she had to admit that it was a good idea to check it if was really written by Wataru.

“So, you’re actually going to fight him?”

“Of course!” she jumped up with clutched fists, all fired up. “This is what I came here for!”

Michiyo sighed as she picked up her book and got up, “Well then... Ganbatte ne?” with that said she turned around and walked out of the library. It didn’t really sound sincere but Nezumi didn’t really expect anything else.

The entire female tumbling team agreed to meet up at school that evening to finish cleaning up the gym. They had gotten pretty far with all the help they received but they still had a lot to do before they could continue on their training schedule before the championship.

Carrying several cleaning materials, Michiyo entered the gym and greeted her friends. There were a few teachers, including Kashiwagi. She briefly wondered whether or not Nezumi had returned the stolen essay but quickly forgot all about it when she noticed the male tumbling team enter the gym. Well, the more help they got the better. But the strange thing was that the last person to enter was none other than Wataru. Who was supposed to meet up with Nezumi. Had he forgotten already?

“Wataru-kun?” she said as she approached the red haired boy. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean?” he scoffed. “I want this gym cleaned up just as much as you do.”

She nodded, “I know that but... Aren’t you going to be late?” she wondered. “Nezumi will be even more angry at you.”

“Ah?” he frowned as he tilted his head slightly. Apparently he had no idea what she was talking about, or was he just pretending not to know.

“Your fight? At the warehouse tonight?” she reminded him but he still looked clueless. “You wrote her the letter?”

“I didn’t do anything,” he scoffed again. “Why would I...-” then something suddenly popped up in his mind as he stopped mid sentence. He hadn’t written her the letter nor was he planning on fighting her all of a sudden. But someone did it. In his name. Someone else was waiting for Nezumi at the warehouse. And he had a faint idea of who that person was. Immediately he turned around and hurried out of the gym without explaining anything else. Michiyo merely stared after him, not really sure what to think of this.

It was getting dark. Darker than it was yesterday. But still Nezumi found her way to the warehouse easily. Although she had been here just twenty-four hours before, this time she was even more fired up for that which lay ahead. Surely this is what she had been waiting for all this time. The reason she had beaten up all those idiots before, the reason she came to this city and kept bothering Wataru for.

She stopped in front of the doors and looked up. She was the first one here, which made her wonder if Wataru chickened out. Maybe Yuuta found out about his plan and forced him to abort because he didn’t want to risk everything. In which case she would not forgive him.

“Wataru?” she asked as she slowly walked in. Still, she was starting to wonder whether or not Michiyo could have been right. It was rather suspicious that he suddenly decided to risk everything and his entire team to have one lousy fight with her. But she was so focused on it, with Saburou in the back of her mind, on defeating him that she barely ever considered that possibility.

The doors behind her closed as she was far enough into the warehouse and quickly she turned around. Impossible. It was just impossible. This couldn’t be a trap. Did Wataru betray her as well?

“Shinji rarenai...” A low, sooth yet menacing laugh echoed through the room as she turned around once more, trying to find him. “I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to fall for this again...”

So it was. She had indeed fallen for it again. She had been tricked by the same guy twice and ultimately Michiyo was right. It was too suspicious. She should have known. But the letter, the handwriting, it was identical to the essay that she stole from Kashiwagi to determine whether or not it was real. Then again, maybe it would have been best if she had just checked with Wataru in the first place. How could she had fallen for his trick again. Someone as stupid as her deserves to be punished.

“Impressive,” she managed to smirk as she had stopped looking around and concentrated on her surroundings. She could hear his footsteps echo through the emptiness and it was only a matter of time before he would step out of the shadows. “You actually managed to use Wataru for your own agenda...”

“You give me too much credit,” there he was, right behind her. Stepping out of the shadows with an amused smirk painted on his face. He slowly moved around her as he spoke, “But Azuma Wataru has no part in this. I merely used his name, he has no idea what is taking place.”

“Identity theft?” she continued upholding that smirk. She couldn’t let him know she was regretting this choice, that she might even be a little afraid since she wasn’t prepared for this and was sure she was outnumbered although she had only seen Saburou. “Genius.”

“What can I say?” he shrugged as he stopped right in front of her. “I’m full of surprises.”

“Here I was getting my hopes up for a fight against Wataru. ” she grinned as she tilted her head. “I show up here and get you instead...”

“You sound disappointed,” he said as he crossed his arms. “I must ask. Why exactly are you driven to fight that lousy Wataru guy?”

She mimicked his stature by crossing her arms, “Like you don’t know?”

“If I knew, would I be asking you that question?” his amused grin turned into a rather cocky smile as he spoke out his words.

“I’d like to think that everyone deserves what’s coming to them,” she explained. “But Wataru has yet to be punished for the murder he has comitted...”

“Murder?” he tilted his head slightly.

“Wasn’t it you who said that you saw him kill Mizumi?” she questioned. Why was he acting dumb, pretending he had no idea what she was talking about. After all, he was the one who explained to her about what happened that night. You’d think something like that would stick with you, then again someone like Saburou had probably forgotten it the very next morning.

He started chuckling, slowly turning into a roaring laughter. Nezumi couldn’t get what was so funny about it all. Was he really that far gone that he’d actually got amused by things like murder and deaths?

“Naze anata wa waratte iru?” she frowned.

“You actually bought that story?” he asked between laughs.

She arched a brow as she clutched her fists tightly, “Nani?”

He merely shook his head as his laughter stopped and he looked at her again.

“Sa... Shall we begin?”

“Eh?”

“Well, I did invite you to fight didn’t I?” he asked her as he relaxed his arms again. “It’s time to punish the traitor.”

“Traitor?”

“Nezumi,” he held up his arms and moved into a fighting position. “Kiai irero yo!” with that said he took off towards her.