Episode Ten

I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my front door. I slowly made my way through my apartment and opened the door. It was Yamato.

I yawned, "nani?"

"What are you doing still sleeping," he showed me the time, "hurry up and get dressed."

My eyes widened. ! I was going to be late for school. I ran back into my bedroom and got dressed. When I came out, Yamato was looking at a picture on my wall.

"Are these your parents?"

"Yes," I pulled him out of my apartment and locked the door, "let's go."

We got to school just in time. I sighed plopping in my desk.

"You look like your mom by the way," Yamato said sitting in his seat.

I smiled, "thank you."

"Why don't you talk about them," he asked.

I shrugged, "why don't you talk about your's?"

He turned to the front not saying anything. I laid my chin on my desk and watched the others. They were goofing off and having fun just like every other day, but then a fight broke out between Hosokawa and Ikeda. As they pushed each other, two boys ran out. I guess they were going to get Yankumi. A few seconds later, she came running in.

"What are you guys up to?! Stop it! I said stop it," she easily pushed them down, "geez, this early in the morning. What is it this time?"

"This guy ate all of my chips!"

"But only crumbs were left!"

"Are you kidding me? The best part is when you pour all the crumbs from the bag into your mouth!"

I facepalmed, "are you guys elementary school students?"

Yankumi sighed, "okay everyone. Line up your chairs, desks and take your seats."

"Come to think of it," Ren yelled, "why are you so strong?"

Everyone turned to Yankumi.

"Yeah, yeah, why is that," Ichi asked.

Yamato stretched, "why do you ask this only now?"

"I've always wondered...," Kamiya mumbled.

"That was some crazy strength just now," I commented.

Kura nodded, "before we knew it, it's like "Yankumi = Strong." I sorta went unnoticed."

"Are you learning hand combat of some kind," Ichi asked.

"Um...Since I love action movies, I sorta copied it," she punched the air, "also...a little bit of self-defense techinques. You know, girls have to worry about erts and such."

Yamato stood, "but you know. Isn't that kinda pointless?"

Ren agreed, "yeah, right! A ert would never pick her!"

"She's not y," Ichi pointed out.

Kura laughed, "no guys would ever target you!"

Everyone laughed in agreement.

Yankumi huffed, "I'm taking attendance!"

As the rest of the class went back to playing around, as my guys gathered around Ren.

"Hey hey hey," Ren lowered his voice, "Yankumi is definitely hiding something."

"By day a teacher, by night a masked wrestler," Kura said.

"Wanna investigate a bit," Ren asked, "let's follow her and find out the secret to her strength."

The guys agreed.

Yamato snickered, "geez."

As soon as the last bell rang, we began to follow Yankumi. She started talking to a couple of boxers. She turned into the parking lot where they came from.

"Boxing? Is that why she's that strong?"

We peaked around to see her petting a dog.

"Aw, Shouhei! You're so cute today!"

We almost fell over, "what the heck is she doing?"

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," she got up and starting walk out of the parking lot.

We quickly pressed against the wall so she wouldn't see us. Once she walked by, we relaxed.

"I guess boxing wasn't it," I whispered.

We went after her. She suddenly ran around a corner. We ran after her, but when we turned the corner, she was standing there glaring at us. We froze.

"What are you guys doing," she sighed, "geez. Why are you guys following me?"

"We just wanted to figure out the secret to your strength," Ren stated.

"Why would I have a secret...," she suddenly turned around and started mumbling to herself.

She turned back around and pointed to the sky, "a flying frog!"

We looked, "frog?"

When we didn't see anything, we turned back around, but Yankumi wasn't there. We looked to our right to see her running away. We ran after her, but lost her.

"We lost her," I panted.

"Damn, she can run pretty fast."

"Why are we chasing her anyway," Yamato asked.

"Hey! What are you guys doing?"

We turned to see Kumai-san coming to us.

"Um...did you happen to see Yankumi," Ichi asked.

He shook his head, "uh, no. I didn't. But her house is close by."

I stepped forward, "do you know where she lives?"

"Yeah, I do."

We smiled at each other. After getting directions, we ran straight there. It was a beautiful house. We walked in.

"Excuse us!"

We saw Yankumi and smiled.

She gave us a small smile, "welcome! What's going on guys? So, you found this place."

Ren narrowed his eyes at her, "you made it tough on us because you ran away."

"Uh, no. I didn't run away from you," she thought for a second, "I was just jogging."

Yamato huffed, "what the heck?!"

"This place is amazing," Kura looked around, "it's like back in the Showa era!"

Kamiya nodded, "your house is pretty interesting, Yankumi."

"What does your family do," Honjo asked.

She looked taken back by that question. I looked around and saw two guys on the other side of the room. They looked familiar.

I pointed to them, "haven't I seen you somewhere?"

"Um...You must be mistaken," the taller one said.

"Ah! The takoyaki guys," Yamato remembered.

"Ah!"

Yankumi went up to the two men, "that's right! Our family have been takoyaki makers for generations. These two are employees. This is Tetsu-san and Minoru-san."

They smiled weirdly, "domo."

We gave a slight bow, "domo."

"So, that shop belongs to Yankumi's family," Ichi observed.

Kura smiled, "oh, it's really good."

"Thank you."

"But why does that say "Oedo Family," Honjo asked pointing to things on the walls.

The Oedo Family? Isn't that family bad news? Wait...does that mean Yankumi is acually a bad person? What am I thinking? There's no way Yankumi is a bad person. Suddenly two scary-looking guys walked in behind us followed by an older man. Yamato pulled me behind him shoving me into Honjo.

The older man looked at us then Yankumi, "guests?"

We ended up sitting on our knees across from Yankumi, who turned out to be the 4th generation of the Oedo Family, her grandfather and Tetsu-san. We gluped. Tetsu-san broke the silence.

"I have a favor to ask man to man...," he glanced at me, "and woman. If the school finds out about our family, Ojou will be unable to continue working there. Can you guys hold this secret close to your hearts," he bowed his head at us, "so, I'm begging you."

"We understand," Yamato said.

"Don't worry. It doesn't involve us," Ren added.

I smiled, "school would be boring without Yankumi. Right, guys?"

They nodded, "yeah."

Yankumi's grandfather turned Yankumi, "Kumiko, you have some good students here."

She smiled at us, "yup."

They invited us to stay for dinner, and we couldn't say no. They made us a hot pot. We sat on one side while the family sat on the other side of the table with Yankumi sitting on the end. I sat in between Yamato and Ren.

"Eat up everyone," Yankumi said, "you're welcome to seconds."

We grabbed our chopsticks, "thanks for the food!"

We dug right in.

"Yummy!"

"It was shocking," Kura stated, "I never would've thought Yankumi's family is actually..."

"When I was 7, I lost my parents in an accident," Yankumi explained, "that's when my grandpa took me in. This has now become my precious home. Everyone is very dear to me more than my real family."

We all smiled at her except Minoru-san, who was still stuffing his face.

"Minoru...All you do is eat meat," Tetsu-san hit him on the head, "when Ojou's giving a heart-to-heart speech!"

He swallowed, "there won't be any meat left though."

Tetsu-san hit him again making us laugh. The rest of the time we just laughed and laughed with Yankumi's family except Yamato. He just sat there and watched us with a sad look on his face. After we finished dinner, we left.

"Yankumi sure has been through a lot," I pointed out.

"Yeah, she has. But it must be fun living at that house," Kura said.

Yamato nodded slightly, "yeah. They really felt like a family, huh?"

Ren and I looked at him. He glanced at us.

"What is it?"

"Nothing, it's just unlike you," Ren commented.

"No, that's not true," Yamato gave a sad smile.

"Hey, hey, hey. Wanna go to karaoke now," Kura cheered.

"Sorry, I'm going home," Yamato started walking away, "bye bye."

I said bye to the others and ran after him.

I grabbed his hand, "you didn't forget you're walking me home, did you?"

He gave me a fake smile, "of course not."

I frowned, "what's wrong Yamato?"

"Nothing," he quickly said.

"Why are you lying to me," I grabbed his shoulder so he would look at me, "please tell me what's wrong."

He pulled my hand off his shoulder, "nothing is wrong," he sighed, "I need to get home. Can you walk the rest of the way?"

"Sure," I bit my lip, "Yamato, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

He kissed my forehead, "I know. Ja ne."

"Ja ne."

I watched him walk off. Once he was out of sight, I walked home. I couldn't get to sleep. I tried and tried. I tossed and turned, but the image of Yamato's sad face wouldn't leave. Suddenly there was a knock at my door. I got up and answered it. It was Yamato.

"Yamato, what are..."

He hugged me tight, "I'm sorry I woke you, but this was the only place I could think of."

I broke the hug and led him inside. I the lights and sat him down at my table. I brought him a glass of water and just sat there, waiting for him to talk. After a few minutes, he dropped his head and began doing something I never thought he would ever do. He cried. I quickly made my way to him and pulled him into a hug. I rubbed his back trying to calm him down.

"It's okay Yamato," I whispered as we pulled apart, "It's oka..."

He cut me off with his lips. I was shocked at first, but then slowly closed my eyes. I could feel all the pain and anger Yamato was holding in his heart in that one kiss. We broke for air.

He placed his head down on my shoulder, "be with me."

I froze, "what do you mean?"

He got closer to me, "please. Help me take the pain away. Please be with me."

When I didn't say anything, he kissed me again.

---

When I woke up, I didn't know what hurt worse. The fact that last night was my first time, or the fact that I woke up alone. I felt the side of the bed where he slept. It was cold. Sighing, I slowly got up, took a shower, got dressed and went to school. I walked into the classroom and looked for Yamato, but he wasn't there. Sighing, I sat down in my desk.

"What's wrong Heza," Ren asked making our group turn to me.

I leaned on my desk, "nothing."

Thankfully, someone started talking about how this week was delinquent extermination week. My guys turned to him. As they talked, Yamato walked in. He sat down in his desk without looking at me.

"Delinquent Extermination Week? What? They're doing something like that again," Ren huffed.

A guy in a hat nodded, "yesterday, we went to karaoke and a teacher from Kaitoku High preached to us."

Honjo turned to Yamato, "hey, wait. Yamato, isn't your dad a Kaitoku High teacher?"

The class started asking and talking about it until Yamato slammed his hand down and stood.

"Shut up," he yelled glaring at them, "it's none of your business."

I stood, "Yamato..."

He glanced at me then at the guys, "sorry."

He walked out and I ran after him.

"Yamato," he stopped and turned to me, "about last night..."

He rolled his eyes, "you've gotta be kidding. We slept together, big deal."

"Big deal," I yelled, "what do you mean big deal? Didn't last night mean anything to you?"

"Why should it," he asked plainly.

Tears began to roll down my face, "I see."

"Are we done?"

I nodded. He sighed and walked away. I began to drop to my knees, but was caught by Ren. He held me as I cried.

"Shhh," he my hair, "I didn't hear what happened, but I'll go talk to him. Do you want to come?"

I shook my head, "no. He's made it clear that he doesn't want to talk to me."

Ren handed me to Ichi and stormed off.

"Ren," he stopped and turned to me, "don't be too hard on him. I know he doesn't mean it. Please talk to him as his friend, not my brother."

He nodded and went after Yamato. I was silent the rest of the day. After school, the guys took me to our usual place to wait for Ren. They tried to cheer me up, but the only thing that would do that is Yamato. I wanted to see him smile again. I wanted to hear him laugh again. What's wrong with you, Yamato? Why are you acting like this? After a few more minutes, Ren walked in with a very pissed off Yamato. He looked at me then walked to the other side of the room. Ren quietly told us what happened between Yamato and his dad. Seconds later, Yankumi ran in.

She looked at Yamato, "Ogata, what's the meaning of this?"

Ren stepped forward, "I'm at fault for provoking his dad."

"That has nothing to do with it," Yamato yelled, "it's a problem between my father and me. It's all my fault. It's my fault that my family has fallen apart. My dad told me that a guy like me could never be happy," he glanced at me, "it doesn't matter what happens to me! Leave me alone!"

"Don't say stupid things! It does matter," Yankumi went up to him, "running away like that won't solve anything. Especially at a time like this, you've got to face the problem head on. Listen Ogata, there's no one who hasn't been hurt before. People all overcome difficulties and carry on living."

"Shut up," he glared at her then walked out.

It all makes sense now. Why he was so sad watching Yankumi's family; why he came to my apartment and cried. Why didn't I push him to tell me? I felt more tears roll down my face.

"Why didn't Yamato say anything to us about this," Ichi asked.

"We've been together ever since we were freshmen," Kamiya stated, "I didn't even know."

Honjo sighed, "isn't it okay to at least tell your friends?"

"How sad," Kura said.

Ichi agreed, "yeah."

"It's because you're friends," we turned to Yankumi, "Ogata is the most thoughtful of his best buds, right? If he showed his torn heart to you guys, he thought you would worry about him, mainly you Saitou."

I sniffed, "he's that kind of guy."

Ren put his hand on my shoulder, "let's go look for him."

We all ran out. We split up in groups of 2, 2 and 3. We looked all over, but couldn't find him. We met up at the park.

"He's nowhere," Honjo panted.

I looked around, "where did he go?"

"We'll find him Sai-chan," Kamiya said.

We ran off again looking for Yamato. We came to a bridge and saw a bunch of people surrounding a cop car.

"What happened," Honjo asked.

"It was a fight," Kura replied.

Ichi pointed to a guy on the ground, "looks like there's a guy bleeding."

"Hey, it can't be Yamato, right?"

I didn't wait for an answer. I ran towards the crowd with the others right behind me. I pushed my way to the front and looked for Yamato. I saw him be forced into a police car.

"Let me go!"

I called to him, "Yamato!"

He looked up as we ran to him.

"Why are you taking Yamato in," Kamiya demanded.

"Please stand back," the cop said trying to push us back.

Yankumi stepped forward, "he is my student. Please let me speak with him."

"If you want to talk, please come to the precinct," the cop informed her.

He pushed Yamato in the car. As they drove off, we ran after the car.

"Yamato!"

---

The next day, I didn't sit in my desk. I sat in Yamato's. I didn't talk or look at anyone. No one said anything to me. I just sat there looking depressed until two guys ran in the door.

"Bad news! Yamato's dad has brought a withdrawal letter!"

Everyone sat in their seats.

"Does Yamato...really have to quit school," Ichi mumbled.

I got up and began to walk out, but Ren stopped me.

"Heza, where are you going?"

I turned to them, "I know Yamato didn't do anything. So I'm going to go prove his innocence," I sighed, "please help me. I want us all to graduate together. Please, I love him."

Everyone froze, but then smiled.

Ren shot up, "alright! Let's go guys! Let's go free our friend," Ren cheered, "fight-oh!"

Everyone shot up, "oh!"

We ran out of the school and went to the area where Yamato was arrested. We asked everyone we saw if they had seen anything last night.

I walked up to an old lady and bowed, "excuse me ma'am. Did you happen to see a fight last night in this area?"

She shook her head, "I'm sorry."

I bowed, "thank you."

I went to person after person, but nothing.

"What are you guys doing?"

I turned to see Yankumi. We went up to her.

"If we can prove Yamato's innocence, his withdrawal can be retracted, right," I quickly asked her.

"We want to be with Yamato a while longer," Ich added.

"You guys...," she looked behind us at the others who were busy asking for a witness, "alright, let's split up."

We nodded and resumed our search. After who knows how long, two boys in middle school came up to us. They told us that Yamato protected them from three guys who were trying to take their money.

"Shall we all go to the police together," Ren asked.

The boys nodded. We started to walk when a group of guys stepped in front of us.

"I can't allow that," the leader said.

They surrounded us. I kept the boys close to me.

"You guys keep quiet and let it blow over," the leader ordered.

"So, it was you," Ren growled, "you framed our friend!"

"And what if we did?!"

The group ran at us. I quickly moved the boys away from the fight, but one grabbed me from behind. I punched him making him drop to the ground. I punched and kicked every guy who came near the boys.

"Put an end to this right now!"

I smiled at the sight of Yankumi. It was all over for the others now.

The leader walked towards her, "who the heck are you?"

"I'm their homeroom teacher," she plainly said.

"Teacher," they laughed.

Yankumi got in her serious mode, "how dare you guys give my student a bad rap."

"It's just a teacher. Are you stupid?

They started to attack Yankumi.

"If you look down on me just because I'm a teacher, you're in trouble," she lectured.

"Bastard! Don't get too cocky!"

Yankumi took out the leader, "if you still wanna go, I'll take you on. But be prepared, in order to protect my precious students, I won't go easy!"

"Let's go," the leader yelled running off with his buddies.

I turned to the boys, "you guys okay?"

They nodded. The rest of the class ran up and helped my guys stand. We went to the police station, and the boys told the cops what really happened. We stood at the front gate waiting for Yamato. Ren turned to me and smiled.

I looked at him, "what?"

He nudged me, "so you love Yamato," I blushed, "are you going to tell him?"

I smiled, "yeah."

"Aww!"

"Shut up," I yelled at whole class.

They laughed, but went silent as the front door opened. I smiled bigger when Yamato walked out and looked at us.

"Yamato," Ren yelled.

Everyone cheered and waved at him. Yankumi stepped out from behind him and started talking to him. We all ran up to him.

"Geez. Don't make us worry," Ren laughed.

Yankumi lightly pushed Yamato to us. He slowly walked down the stairs to us. Some of the guys started clapping.

Yamato looked at all of us, "I'm sorry."

Ichi nudged him, "what are you saying?"

Kura smiled, "don't be so distant."

"Aren't we friends," Honjo asked.

Kamiya nodded, "that's right, Yamato."

Ren smiled, "right?"

"Right," Yamato smiled, "thanks, everyone."

He went up to the guys. They started cheering and laughing. I stepped back and watched. There he was smiling and laughing. I was finally happy again. He stopped once his eyes met mine. He made his way to me.

I smiled, "hello."

"How...," he asked, "how can you still smiled at me after everything I said to you?"

"It's because she loves you," Kamiya yelled out getting a slap in the head.

His eyes widened, "you love me?"

"Yeah. Yamato..."

He pulled me into a tight hug, "I'm so so sorry. I know I hurt you, but I lied. Last night was the greatest night of my life,"he broke the hug and looked at me right in the eyes, "now I know I can be happy because I have you. I love you, Saitou, Heza."

"And I love you, Ogata, Yamato."

We kissed making class 3-D cheer. We pulled away and smiled at each other.

"I saw the first kiss," Honjo cheered.

"No you didn't," Kamiya smiled at us knowingly, "from what we just heard and the way Sai-chan was glowing yesterday, I think they've already kissed along with a few other things."

"What do you mean," Ren looked at us then his jaw dropped, "NANI?!"

Yamato grabbed my hand, "come on. I'll introduce you to my mom."

He pulled me away as Ren cried on Ichi saying something about how his little sister wasn't innocent anymore. Yamato led me to his mom.

"Mom," she turned to us, "this is Saitou, Heza."

I bowed, "it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Ogata."

She smiled and bowed, "it's nice to finally meet you," she turned to Yamato, "you're right Yamato. She is very beautiful."

I looked at Yamato to see that he was blushing.

"You have to have dinner with us tonight," his mom insisted.

"Oh...um..."

"Don't worry. His father shouldn't be coming home tonight, and if he does, just ignore him."

I smiled, "okay then. What time?"

"I'll send Yamato to get you around seven."

I bowed, "okay."

---

7'o clock came really fast. I was so nervous. I changed my outfit for the fifth time when there was a knock at my door. I opened it and was greeted by a well-dressed Yamato. He wore an opened white buttoned shirt with a plain black under shirt along with a pair of black pants and black boots.

He looked down at his clothes, "my mom made me wear this."

"I like it," I did a spin, "do I look okay?"

I was wearing a short sleeved black and white stripped shirt that didn't show too much along with a black skirt and a pair of 2 inch high heels.

He smiled, "you look beautiful."

"Thank you."

I closed and locked my apartment door. Yamato took my hand and led me to his house. When we got there, my jaw dropped. It was huge. He laughed at me expression before leading me into the house. His mother greeted me and told Yamato to set the table then she went back to the kitchen.

"Can I help in anyway," I asked watching Yamato pout as he set the table.

"No," he smiled, "you can look around if you like."

I walked into the living room and looked at all the photos on the walls. The photos were mainly of Yamato when he was a little kid. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned thinking it was Yamato, but it was an older man.

"So you're the girl Yamato has been seeing," he said looking me up and down with disgust, "so he chooses his girlfriends as he chooses his friends, poorly."

"So you're Yamato's father," I said ignoring his comment, "funny, I was expecting someone happy."

He narrowed his eyes at me, "nani?"

I shrugged, "just saying, for a man who lectures others about being happy, you would think he was happy himself. But let me just say this, Yamato doesn't need a lecture about being happy. He is happy. He has friends who will never abandon him, a mother who supports him, and someone who loves him for him."

He shook his head, "you call that happiness? That boy will never be..."

"Shut up," I yelled, "that boy is the love of my life, and I will not stand by and let you belittle him. He is the best, and he will become a better man than you will ever dream because unlike you, he has love!"

The man froze. He slowly turned and was about to leave when Yamato walked in.

He glared at his father, "get out."

His father didn't say anything. He just walked out. Once the door closed, Yamato leaned against the door frame and smiled at me.

"You heard didn't you?"

He nodded, "yes, I did and you know what?"

"What?"

He slowly made his way to me, "I love you."

I playfully rolled my eyes, "I love you too."

That night we had dinner, laughed and joked around. His mom even showed me every baby picture she had until Yamato took the picture books away. He walked me home and kissed me goodnight.

"I know I've said it a lot already, but I love you."

I smiled, "I love you too."