YOUR POV

“Yo,” I called out as I entered the classroom with Odagiri.

“_______’s BACK!” Takeda, the official skin ship lover, threw his arms around me while Hyuuga gave me a high five.

“I heard you were in the hospital?” Yabuki raised his eyebrow, concern showing through his otherwise calm and blank face.

“Yeah, some stuff has been happening recently,” I answered nonchalantly. There was no way I was going to get these guys involved in my personal crap, especially when it’s this dangerous now. “How are you guys?”

Tsuchiya glanced over at the rest of the boys and sighed. “Yesterday Yankumi tried to interview us all individually. Something about preparing us for what lies ahead after college or something… but we all ditched. Today we’re being forced to participate in her little game.”

A smile twitched at the corner of my mouth as I pictured a serious Yankumi asking the boys questions. “Have fun with that.”

I left school early to help out at Kuma’s restaurant, since the number of customers momentarily overwhelmed him. When I returned to hang out with my friends, they weren’t in the happy and chipper mood that I left them in. The interviews were over and done with, but they couldn’t have been so horrible to the point that the boys would be like this, right?

“What’s wrong?” I asked, worried that something bad had happened in my absence.

“Hyuuga,” Tsuchiya snarled. “He got himself some night job and now he thinks he’s all high and mighty, especially since he’s wearing all this brand name jewelry and clothing.”

“Hyuuga has a job?” I was startled. The only night time jobs that could afford for their employees to buy such expensive clothing that I could think of would be clubs or bars; places where minors like Hyuuga weren’t allowed to work.

“Yeah,” Take pouted. “We barely get to hang out with him now.”

Hyuuga better not be working for some gangsters. Many club owners were notorious for luring in underage boys to do their dirty deeds with their sweet talk of having a high salary. I clenched my teeth and glanced up at my boyfriend. He was standing to the side, staring off in the distance, worry evident on his face.

To ease up the atmosphere, I suggested that we go to the amusement park and everyone readily agreed. After a brief phone call invitation to Hyuuga, which he naturally declined in favor of working, we looped elbows and chatted gaily as we enjoyed our afternoon. The pictures that we received from our rides on the roller coasters kept us doubled over in laughter as we pointed out our hilarious faces.

This afternoon was really memorable. I looked over at my friends as we sat on a bench, watching the sunset slowly. No matter what happens in the future, I’ll never forget this moment.

It was nighttime by the time we began heading for our respective houses. Just as we parted ways, my phone rang one of its special tunes, indicating that I was receiving a call from Kikwang. Remembering how he acted with my phone last time, I puffed out my cheeks in annoyance as I answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey ________.”

“What’s up?”

“By any chance, is one of your friends working for a night club right now?”

“No- wait. Hyuuga’s currently doing some suspiciously high paying nighttime job. Why?”

At my words, all four of the guys were instantly by my side.

“He just got dragged off by some tough looking men. They’re at XX right now.”

“Really? Thanks. I’ll be there soon.”

Hanging up, I dashed off to the location without telling the guys any details. They were right on my tail with anxious looks on their faces. We sprinted full on into the warehouse, only to find Hyuuga beaten, on the floor, with his mom covering him, and Yankumi facing off with some of the club owners.

“Hyuuga!” I heard the guys call for their friend from behind me and couldn’t help but smile slightly. No matter how mad they were before, they still cared about Hyuuga.

After giving the bad guys a short lecture that was rejected, Yankumi tossed her glasses to the side, a motion we’ve seen many times before, and pulled her pigtails out. The fight began.

And it ended a few minutes later with these big muscular guys staggering about, Yankumi standing still before Hyuuga, totally fine.

Hyuuga’s mother wiped the blood off her son’s face, but he swatted her aside. “Why did you have to come and embarrass me like this?”

To everyone’s surprise, Yankumi exploded. “Don’t say that your mother is embarrassing you! Who was the one who made their parent have to be stuck in such a situation? She raised you, cared for you, worried about you, and even risked harm to protect you! You don’t even understand this, but you call yourself independent? Don’t make me laugh. You would’ve never gotten this far on your own. All parents struggle to raise their kids properly. It’s not easy. They have problems just like you have problems. Yet they still try and persist.” Walking up to him, she lowered her voice. “You’ll make mistakes in the future, but you can still start from where you left off and begin anew.” Turning to Hyuuga’s mother, she smiled. “Please, take him home.”

Hyuuga’s mother nodded and gently placed her hand on Hyuuga’s arm. He shrugged her off and she instantly let go.

“Hyuuga,” I spoke up softly. “You should consider yourself lucky that your mother is willing to go this far for you. Having a mother who honestly cares about you, though it may seem annoying, is far better than having a mother who doesn't visit her daughter in the hospital. Please. Go home with her.”

His mother reached out for him once more. He flinched, but accepted her help, finally realizing that he still needed his mother. As they left, we grinned, happy that the son and mother were reunited once again.

“You better show up to school tomorrow, you punk,” Tsuchiya yelled after their retreating figures. Hyuuga turned around and smiled.

“I’m glad their story ended well,” I muttered. Odagiri caught my words and frowned, knowing exactly what I was thinking about. “Six more days.”

Wrapping his arm around my shoulder, he flicked me in the forehead with his other hand. “Idiot. Don’t think about that now.”

“Think about what?” Yabuki’s ears perked up. “What’s this secret code language I hear going on?”

Shooting Odagiri a look, I plastered a pleasant smile on my face. “Nothing, Ryu here was just talking about this drama we’re watching.”

“Odagiri… watches… dramas?” The guys chorused after each other, stunned beyond belief.

The guy in question grasped my hand and tore across the horizon, dragging me after him in order to avoid the accusing looks his friends were throwing at him. When we arrived home, he huffed and sat down on the couch.

“See what you’ve done? Now they think I’m such a dork,” Odagiri scrunched up his nose at me. “Besides, it’s still seven days. Don’t cut the days short just because it’s nighttime. And hey, it’s not like we know for certain anything is going to happen yet.”

“That’s true. I hope nothing happens. And if anything does happen, I hope you and the rest of 3-D doesn’t get involved.” I thought back to the Kobayashi Group and remembered what Odagiri had told me about Harumi’s brother being a higher-up in the gang. Something was off.

Something in the puzzle wasn’t matching. The pieces were set, but I felt as if something wasn’t right. It was as if we were playing chess, and we were winning, when suddenly the tables turned and with one move, all of our players were wiped out.

“What’s wrong?” Odagiri read my face.

“Just… things are… something weird is going on.” I grabbed my phone. This eerie chill had worked its way up my spine. “Pick up, pick up,” I muttered.

“________? Why are you calling so late?”

Hearing Seiji’s voice, I let my breath out with relief. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Nothing. I just had this really bad feeling that something was dreadfully wrong.”

“Usually when that happens, you’re right and something bad happens. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“That night when we had been attacked by the Kobayashi Group, what happened to son of the boss?”

“Oh, after your grandfather and the Oedo Family beat their members up as a warning, we let him go. They haven’t given us any trouble yet.”

“I see… I just remembered that Odagiri had told me that night that Harumi’s brother is a higher-up in the gang. Something seems fishy about that. Can you keep a close eye on her? I feel like she’s up to no good and perhaps she’s just playing the sympathy card to get our guard down.”

“Is that so? Okay, we’ll keep on the lookout. Thanks for the heads up.”

“No problem. Give me a call if anything happens, okay?”

“Of course. Stay safe, okay?”

“Yeah. Bye.”

I stared at the phone as I tossed it onto the table.

“Do you think the Kobayashi and Kyosodan Groups are working together?” Odagiri voiced out my thoughts.

“Maybe. The Kobayashi have a reason for revenge, though they’re the idiots who started a fight with us in the first place.” My fingers traced a random pattern on Odagiri’s arm as I leaned my head on his shoulders.

“We should let the Oedo Group know what’s going on.”

I looked up at him. “You think so?”

“Ah.”

“That’s a good idea. If this turns into a fight and the Kyosodan Group somehow wins, this will change the yakuza world for the worse,” I mused and dialed Yankumi’s number. Right before I pressed call, I thought better of it and redialed Yankumi’s grandfather’s number instead. If Yankumi finds out about what’s happening, she’ll go ballistic.

After filling the Oedo leader in, he heartily agreed to help us. “Actually, ________, your grandfather already gave us a call.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he wanted us to know what was going on and asked us to help when the day comes.”

“Thank you!”

“No problem. In seven days, or should I say six since it’s almost midnight, when the ‘hurricane’ strikes, I’ll have more of my men patrolling the streets. You’ll be at your grandfather’s house, right?”

“Yes. Thank you!”

“No problem. It’s the least I can do for my best allies and long time friends.”

I sighed in relief and cuddled against Odagiri once more after I hung up. The entire conversation had been on speakerphone, so he knew what was going on as well. “You’re going with me to my grandfather’s house,” I announced, though he had heard Sho command the same thing before. He nodded against my head.

“This is going to be a long week.”

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Seven Days until the "Hurricane" strikes! 

& about 6 more chapters left until this story is over- one for each day of the countdown for the "Hurricane". & maybe one chapter after that.

Thanks for reading!