Episode Two
Gokusen 3 Remake
Episode Two
It had been a week since the incident with Ren. Surprisingly, Yamaguchi has yet to quit her position as our home room teacher. Despite her constant
annoying voice in our class everyday, everything was pretty normal. Like today, a couple of fights broke out. I sat by Ren in the back watching as the boys
threw punches at each other. Ichi and Kura were sitting in the front row cheering the fights on as Ren calmly watched. I looked over at Ogata. He was sitting
in his desk watching the fights like a leader while Honjo and Kamiya were standing cheering on the fights like Ichi and Kura.
I silently laughed at the six, 'they're more alike than they realize.'
The door slid open. Yamaguchi walked in with Sawatari and Yajima. As the two male teachers yelled at the boys to stop fighting, Yamaguchi tried to pull
them apart. Kamiya and Honjo yelled at them telling them that the fights had nothing to do with them. Yamaguchi fell in front of Ichi and Kura. I laughed as
they shooed her like a dog. She got back up only to be shoved to the ground again. She suddenly got up on the desk at the front of the class.
"Give it a break already," she demanded causing the class to become silent, "If you want to fight that badly, I'll take you on! Let's go outside!"
Everyone looked at her in shock. She gasped as if she realized something.
She got down from the desk, "Outside...ow...," she knelt down and grabbed her ankle, "ow ow ow ow!"
"Does she honestly think that cover up will work," I mumbled.
The class remained silent for a few more seconds before the bell rang for lunch. Everyone walked out of the classroom like nothing happened. I made my
way to the roof. I laid down on one of benches. I watched a few clouds slowly float by before closing my eyes to catch a few minutes of sleep. Suddenly the
roof door opened making me open my eyes and jump. I watched Ogata grumpily walk to the edge of the roof. He sighed and leaned against the edge not
noticing me. He sighed again.
"I can't sleep with all that sighing you're doing," I announced catching his attention.
"And? Does it look like I care," he snapped looking out to watch others having lunch in the grass.
Ignoring his comment, I got up and walked to him. I leaned against the edge.
"I thought you would've skipped by now with Honjo and Kamiya," I said watching some boys in 3-D stealing some freshman's lunch.
"We were going to, but that annoying teacher....," he grumbled, "why does she try so hard when she knows we hate teachers?"
I laughed, "maybe that's why she tries so hard."
He looked at me, "so what about you? Why aren't you with Ren?"
"Just because we're childhood friends doesn't mean we're always together," I said plainly.
"But aren't you two...," I raised my eyebrow at him, "never mind."
"What? You thought that me and Ren...," I laughed giving him a little shove, "that's gross. He's my brother."
He smiled. I felt my face heat up and quickly looked away hoping he didn't see the blush.
"Um, Ogata..."
"Yamato."
I looked at him shocked, "huh?"
"You can call me Yamato," he put on his tough guy act, "but don't think this makes us friends or anything."
"Wouldn't think of it."
The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. We walked to class. When we walked in, he went to his friends, and I went to mine. They looked at me wide-eyed.
I sat down, "what are you three gawking at?"
Ichi leaned towards me, "were we seeing things or were you just with Yamato?"
I scratched the back of my head, "what? No...um...."
Before I could say anything else, Yamaguchi walked in. I sighed in relief. She placed a yellow can on her desk.
"Let's start the 3-D "kick the can" competition," she cheered.
I rolled my eyes, 'baka.'
"Hey! Why do we have to do this childish crap," Honjo complained.
"What this class needs right now is a sense of solidarity and friendship. In order to build that, everyone needs to work and sweat together, and get
passionate about the same thing," she explained trying to sound wise, "of course, I'll be participation too."
"What the hell is "kick the can" anyway," Kura asked.
"Huh? You don't know," she said looking at him like he had two heads.
"We don't know, right," Kamyia moved his hand in the air over the class getting nodded in agreement.
Her eyes widened a little, "you guys don't know the fiery and fun game? The world's at its end."
"You always exaggerate things," Ichi commented.
She explained the game and said it was the perfect game for us at the moment. Before leaving, she told us to change into our gym clothes and head out to
the field. Of course, no one followed her.
I turned to Ren, "so when are you and Yamato going to fight?"
He crossed his arms, "right after school at Shirokin shrine. Wait, did you just call him Yamato?"
I blushed, "umm....well...."
Kura poked my cheek, "look she's blushing."
I slapped his hand away, "baka! I'm not blushing."
"Yes, you are," Ichi laughed, "it's almost like you like Yamato."
I froze. Their jaws dropped.
"Do you," Ren whispered.
"Of course not," I laughed, "why would you think that?"
The three sighed in relief. I glanced over at Yamato. He was looking right at me. I quickly turned around.
'Oh please tell me he didn't hear our conversation,' I prayed, 'please!'
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After school, the whole class made their way to Shirokin shrine. Everyone made a line and began to cheer. Ichi, Kura and I stood on the left side while Honjo
and Kamiya stood on the right. Ren and Yamato walked up to each other. Yamato threw his bag to the side as Ren just tossed his to the ground.
"Don't lose Yamato," Honjo yelled.
"Deck him good Ren," Kura punched the air.
Kamiya pointed at Yamato, "you'd better win."
"Go ahead and knock him out," Ichi said coolly.
The class began to cheer louder, "go! Go! Alright!"
"Don't lose you two!"
Everyone became quiet and turned to Yamaguchi, who was standing in the middle of the line.
"Go all out! Fire away," she whooped and punched the air, "fight! Fight!"
Yamato rolled his eyes, "why are you here?"
"Anyway, wouldn't you normally stop it," Ren asked in confusion.
"There's no need to stop a "bare-one," right?"
"Bare-one?"
"A bare-handed one-on-one fight, don't you know," she asked like we were stupid.
"Of course, we don't," Honjo answered.
"Either way, I won't stop it," she announced, "go ahead and fight each other with all your strength. You guys will become real comrades."
Ren huffed, "comrades?"
"Right. Guys wanting to be the boss are like that," she explained earning a glare from Yamato.
"What do you mean comrades," Ichi asked.
"You keep saying that, don't you," Kura observed.
"Let me tell you," Yamato said getting her attention, "I'm not fighting for that."
She sighed and took a step towards him. Before she could take another step her phone rang.
"Just a second."
She walked off, but we could still hear her conversation.
"A brawl at the Shirokin shrine?"
That caught our attention. We walked up behind her so we could hear better. She said something about us having an adorable side causing me to snicker
a little.
She hung up and turned to us, "the fuzz are coming."
"Fuzz?"
"The cops," she panicked, "everyone run!"
Without hesitation, everyone ran out of Shirokin shrine. Once out, we scattered. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. Catching my breath, I looked around. Ren
and the others were no where in sight. I took a few steps and felt a pain in my right ankle. Groaning, I looked down.
"Great," I said to myself, "I sprained it."
I took out my cellphone to call Ren, but it was dead. I forgot to charge it last night. I started walking with a slight limp. I kept walking until I saw Honjo's
blonde hair, and where there's Honjo, there's...
"Yamato!"
The three turned to me. Honjo and Kamiya groaned at the sight of me, but Yamato had a blank look on his face. I limped my way to them.
"What do you want, girly," Kamiya asked obviously irritated.
Ignoring him I turned to Yamato, "can I borrow your cellphone right quick?"
Honjo leaned down so his face was level with mine, "now why would we do that? Why don't you go bother Ren, your little boyfriend?"
I glared at him, "okay, one: he is not my boyfriend; two: does it look like he's here right now, and finally: you're just jealous because a girl hangs out with him while girls run from your ugly face."
"Nani," he growled.
"Honjo, let it go," Yamato ordered, "here," he handed me his phone.
Honjo and Kamiya looked at him in shock as I smiled, "arigato."
I dialed Ren's number. He picked up on the first ring.
"What do you want, Yamato," he snapped.
"That's a rude way to answer your phone," I laughed.
"Heza? Why are you calling from Yamato's number," he asked in a panic.
"That's not important right now," I said glancing at Yamato's group, who were watching me intently, "where are you?"
"Walking with Ichi and Kura."
"That doesn't give me a location, baka," I lectured, "I'm going to your house."
"Why?"
"It's closer," I answered, "I hurt my ankle and don't want to walk all the way home."
"Alright. Ja ne."
"Ja ne," I hung up and handed Yamato back his phone, "arigato. Ja ne."
I walked off. I turned and waved. Yamato raised his hand slightly in response earning another shocked look from Honjo and Kamiya. I got to Ren's house as
his sister, Kaoruko, was leaving for her night job. She smiled when she saw me.
"Konnichiwa Heza! Ren's not here right now."
"I know. You see, I hurt my ankle."
"Say no more," she handed me the key to their small apartment, "make yourself at home. You know where the food and extra futons are, and Ren should be
home any minute."
"Arigato."
She shook her head, "no need to thank me. You are welcome here any time. Well I have to go before I'm late. Sayonara."
We hugged, "ja ne."
I walked in the apartment that I considered my second home. I looked at the time and decided to make dinner. As soon as it was done, Ren walked in. He
grabbed some ice from the ice box and ordered me to sit. I plopped down on a floor cushion. He gently took my right ankle and pressed the ice to it.
"Itai!"
He quickly took the ice away, "gomen," he pressed the ice to my ankle again but more gently, "why did you have Yamato's phone?"
"My cellphone was dead so he let me borrow his," I explained trying to ignore the pain.
"He just let you borrow it?"
"Hai."
He nodded, "I see."
Once the ice was melted, he wrapped my ankle. He gave me some of his clothes to wear for bed. We ate dinner then went to bed. When I woke, I screamed
causing Ren to jump awake. He landed on his head with a bang. He quickly recovered and made his way to me.
"What's wrong?"
"My ankle," I whined.
He carefully unwrapped my ankle. I flinched when I saw it. It was swollen and purple. Kaoruko ran in half asleep. Her eyes widened at the sight of my ankle.
"Go get dressed for school, Ren," she said softly, "I'll help Heza."
As Ren got dressed, Kaoruko handed me two painkillers before re-wrapping my ankle. She helped me stand as I got dressed. She gave me a few more
painkillers to take with me before saying bye and going back to sleep. Ren and I slowly made our way to school with me leaning against Ren with every
step. We made it to the park when Yamato walked in front of us. By the look on his face, I knew he wanted to fight Ren. I guess Ren noticed it too because
he nodded. He led me to a stump so I could sit. Ren walked back over to Yamato.
"Let's do this," Yamato started walking towards Ren.
"Time-out," Ren said turning his gaze away from Yamato.
Yamato stopped, "huh?"
"Hey, can we stop this already," Ren asked seriously which shocked me a little, "I don't really care if you lead the class."
"That'd be meaningless," Yamato yelled angry that Ren didn't want to fight him, "unless I beat you in a fight, I can't call myself the head."
Ren shrugged, "I don't really care any more about being the head or ruling Akadou."
"Well then start caring," Yamato growled before punching Ren in the face.
I yelled for Yamato to stop as he kicked Ren to the ground.
"Stand up! Bring it," Yamato yelled.
Ren got up, "you !"
He punched Yamato. The two threw punches and kicked at each other. I flinched every time Ren or Yamato's fist collided with the other's face. I was fine with
them fighting until they picked up a piece of wood. Forgetting about my ankle, I ran to stop them before they hit each other, but Yamaguchi beat me to it.
"Stop playing around," she grabbed their weapons and threw the boys to the ground, "a one-on-one is supposed to be bare-handed," she threw the pieces
of wood to the ground.
"Whether bare-handed or armed, winning's all that matters in a fight," Yamato argued.
"You didn't stop us yesterday, did you? So why the hell are you stopping us now," Ren yelled in frustration.
"Because yesterday was bare-handed," she said like she was talking a child, "the brats nowadays don't know how to fight properly. They don't understand
moderation, they go overboard," she said more to herself than the boys shaking her head, "listen up. When you hit someone, your own fists hurt, right? If you
feel that pain, you shouldn't want to hit someone for no good reason."
"We don't need a lecture on hitting someone," Yamato interrupted, "a fight is fought in order to win!"
"That's not it at all," she said softly.
"Yamato!"
"Ren!"
I looked over to see Honjo and Kamiya running to Yamato, and Ichi and Kura coming up to me and Ren.
"Alright, listen well," I turned my attention back to Yamaguchi, "people can't live on their own. In order to live you have to have comrades. Real comrades are
those who will be with you when you're in the most pain. They can show their weaknesses and tears in front of you. Before you realize it, they're by your side.
A fight is to protect those comrades and other things that are precious to you. Fighting just for yourself is meaningless."
"Can it with the pretty words," Yamato said interrupting her again, "I can't take all this from you teachers!"
With that said, he walked off with Honjo and Kamiya following. Yamaguchi called after him as Ren turned and left in the opposite direction of Yamato. Ichi and Kura followed, but I stayed.
"Just don't forget this," she called after them, "there's no top, bottom, high, or low among comrades. Those things don't matter," she watched them walk
away then turned to me, "nani?"
"Nothing just wanted to say thanks for stopping them," she smiled at me, "well I better catch up to Ren before he thinks I followed Yamato."
"You've accepted Ogata as a comrade, haven't you?"
I thought back to the warehouse incident last week.
Flashback
Hiro kicked Ogata in the side making me snap. I jumped on Hiro's back.
"Don't touch my nakama!"
End of Flashback
I smiled slightly, "I guess I have."
I caught up to Ren, and we walked around town. My ankle was killing me, but I didn't complain. I knew Ren was pissed, and none of us wanted to bother
him. It was nighttime when the guys started to talk to Ren to cheer him up.
"There's a cute girl working at that restaurant now. Let's go there," Kura suggested.
"Not interested," Ren grumbled.
We kept walking as Kura talked about going to karaoke. We were passing an overpass when Ichi stopped us.
"Hey, isn't that Yamato?"
I looked under the overpass to see Yamato, Honjo and Kamiya being beat up by the Yellow Jacket gang. I wanted to go and help them, but I knew I didn't
stand a chance against all those guys even if my ankle was 100%. I looked at Ren, who was trying to decide what to do. Suddenly he ran into the overpass with a yell. He grabbed one of the caution stick and began swinging it making the gang back up. Ignoring my ankle, I ran to Yamato.
"Let's run for it," Ren called.
I grabbed Yamato's hand and took off. The seven of us ran until we came to the little bridge by Shirokin shrine. We sat down out of breath.
Ichi panted, "I can't run anymore."
"We should be fine, coming this far," Honjo said looking around.
"Man, if I run anymore, I'm going to die," Kura complained.
Kamiya nodded in agreement, "no kidding."
After catching our breath a little, we noticed who we were sitting beside. Ichi with Honjo, Kura by Kamiya, and I was sitting between Ren and Yamato. I froze
realizing that I was still holding Yamato's hand. As he and Ren turned away from each other like the others, I quickly let go of his hand. The guys went silent in embarrassment.
"Are you hurt," Ren asked breaking the silence.
"Nah," Yamato answered.
"I see...," Ren said awkwardly.
Yamato sighed, "I owe you one, huh?"
"It doesn't matter," Ren mumbled.
We all stood. Yamato said bye to Honjo and Kamiya before heading home. I called after him. He stopped. I said bye to Ren and walked up to him.
"Mind if I walk with you? I'm this way too."
He shrugged before walking again. As we walked, there was a silence between us, but surprisingly, it wasn't weird or awkward. It was a comfortable silence
until I stepped wrong and hissed.
He stopped and turned to me making me stop too, "daijoubu?"
I looked at him, "oh, un. I hurt my ankle running from Shirokin shrine yesterday, but I'm fine now."
I smiled to show I was fine, but he saw right through it.
"Baka," he started walking again, "where's your house?"
I walked after him, "I can make it from here on my own."
"No, I'll walk you," he stated leaving no room for argument, "now which way?"
I pouted and pointed the way to my apartment. We walked along until we came to my apartment. I turned to him.
"Arigato, for walking me home," he nodded, "and thank you for last week. I never thanked you for helping that little girl."
He shrugged, "it was no problem."
"You're good guy Yamato," I smiled.
Before I could stop myself, I kissed him on the cheek. With a quick good-bye, I entered my apartment and closed the door.
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I laughed. Kura was complaining none stop about running too much yesterday as we made our way to school.
"Hold on! I ran so much yesterday. I'm all sore!"
"You're sore! Try running with a sprained ankle," I said only to be ignored.
Ichi and Ren laughed.
"Kura, you're totally out of shape."
"Ah! I can't run anymore," Kura yelled to the sky.
"Metabolic Syndrome," Ichi asked making me and Ren laugh harder.
Kura chased us. We ran until the gang from last night circled us. Ren immediately went into big brother mode holding me protectively to him. The leader
stepped forward.
"Thanks for yesterday."
We were forced to a warehouse where the gang began to beat us. We tried to fight back, but there were too many. With my ankle in shape it was, I couldn't
fight like I wanted. Ren one time pushed me out of the way when a guy swung a pipe at me. He hit Ren in the back making him drop. Ichi and Kura soon joined Ren on the ground. The leader pulled my hair to keep me from falling.
"With high school brats looking down on us, we can't maintain face."
"Stop it!"
Everyone turned to the entrance to see Yamato, Honjo and Kamiya.
"What, did just three of you come to save these guys," the leader asked all smug, "are you idiots?"
The gang laughed.
"Those guys weren't involved. Keep your hands off them," Yamato demanded.
"Don't with me," the leader pulled my hair harder, "they're your comrades, right?"
"They're not my comrades," Yamato responded trying to protect us, "so get your hands off of her!"
The leader let go of my hair allowing me to fall to the ground, "stop talking nonsense!"
Yamato's gang ran at the Yellow Jackets entering the fight. I stood up with the Ren and the others. We all tried to fight them off, but were still out numbered.
Under the pressure of my ankle, I drop to the ground. I felt like passing out as I got kicked in the stomach and back over and over. I closed my eyes. Suddenly I felt weight on top of me. The person wrapped their arm around me protectively. I clinged to their jacket as I slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing I registered was Yamaguchi's voice.
"Cut it out!"
========================================================================
I opened my eyes and groaned from the brightness of the sun. I sat up.
"You woke up."
I looked to my right to see Yamaguchi sitting beside me in the grass. I looked around to see we were beside the sports field at school. All of 3-D were
running around with smiles on their faces.
"What are they doing," I stretched.
"Kick the can."
"Nani?"
"You had us all worried," she stated.
"I didn't mean to worry anyone," I groaned, "how did I get here?"
"You were carried. I didn't think I would ever see him that worried about someone."
I smiled, "Ren is a softie when it comes to his friends."
"I'm not talking about Kazama," I tilted my head in confusion, "Ogata is the one who carried you."
I looked out at the guys and saw Yamato laughing with the others. I felt my heart beat faster. Yamaguchi continued.
"After bring you here, he didn't want to leave you. The others convinced him that you would be fine, and I said I would sit with you so he could go have fun
with the others."
"I'm glad he did," I admitted.
Ichi looked over at me, "HEZA!!"
This caused everyone to look at me. I gave them a small wave as they ran to me. They swarmed me with questions and cheers. I stood only to feel a
horrible pain rip through my body. I began to fall when someone supported me. I looked up hoping it was Yamato, but I saw Ren's face.
"Don't get up so fast," he lectured.
I stuck my tongue out at him and smiled. Everyone laughed at us.
"You had us all worried," Honjo said as Kamiya lightly patted my head.
I smiled, "you guys.."
"You sure did," I looked over to see Yamato walking up to me. He had a serious look on his face,"don't scare us like that again."
I could tell he was trying to act cool in front of everyone and laughed, "hai."
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