Artificial Love: Chapter 15

Kimiko POV

 6 weeks later…

“Still no call…” I said to myself sighing away and closed my phone.

 I was resting on an old bus bench with my bike tipped over to the side with a basket strapped behind with some cold glass bottles of milk inside. It’s been 6 weeks since Hiroto and I last met since the awards ceremony, and it was driving me completely insane. I felt guilty for everything that night and it was because of that stupid Aoi, if he wouldn’t have kissed me at that time, Hiroto and I wouldn’t be like this. I began to ride my bike up to the steep hill where I was on my way delivering Hiroto’s milk, and before fully coming to his house I stopped my bike and got off taking one milk bottle out of the basket.

“Okay Kimiko, lets rehearse again, -ahem- Hi Hiroto… Look! I brought you some of your favorite morning drinks today as usual!” I pulled out the bottle in front of me. “Um, you probably got my text the other night and…I have to set the record straight.” My hands drew back closer to my chest. “Back at the ceremony, you know, with Aoi and I… I just wanted to tell you that you have the wrong idea and that Aoi and I are in no serious love relationship! There is only one person who I truly love in this world and its definitely not him! The person who I really like is…” I stopped myself…bobbing myself in the head.

“What the hell are you doing Kimiko?! You’re not confessing your feelings to him yet!” I yelled at myself. I sighed hopelessly in distress, “Whatever just concentrate!” I told myself and continued to ride towards his house. But as I finally reached to the top of the road I met Misaki at his door as she stood there on her tippy toes placing what looked like a wrapped bean paste bread and some juice inside his little mail bag.

Once she was done placing them into the bag she caught my eyes and her orbs widened. “Oh hello, it’s just you Kimiko-san” she said.

“Hello, Oh and Kimiko will be just fine I don’t like it when people add -san to my name, sounds weird.” I greeted her back.

“Oh yes I remember, I’m sorry.” She apologized politely. “How are you this fine day Kimiko?” she asked.

“I’m fine thanks, and you?” I asked taking out two bottles of milk from my basket as I slowly approached the door next to her.

“Oh I’m fine thank you.” She replied. “Are you going to hang out with him today?” she asked shyly.

“Um no… I’m just here to deliver him his milk, as you can tell I’m a milk lady…I was just wanting to talk with him about something that’s all.” I said to her awkwardly, “How about you? What brings you all the way here?” I asked her with the same polite manner.

“Oh I was just around the neighborhood and all… I needed to speak with Hiroto but… seems like he’s not here” she answered timidly. “So I’m just going to sit here until he comes.” She added.

“Seems like it’s really important.” I commented as I slowly put his two bottles of milk into the small mail bag. She nodded and kneeled down hugging her knees close to her chest. “The thing is… I don’t think he’s gone. He’s probably inside his house… probably ignoring me.” She said.

“Why would--”

“But I don’t blame him… after all I met him at the music awards ceremony just six weeks ago… and I guess I kind of yelled at him.” She said. All the memories where coming back to me, at the ceremony, she didn’t recognize me when Hiroto and I bumped into her. She yelled and was angry… which was a little startling to see someone like her so innocent and kind to be so aggressive and angry.

“Oh is that so?” I questioned, she nodded her head.

“I saw his girlfriend there too or so he says it was. She was really pretty and tall. Had long hair and eyelashes… really pretty.” She commented. “Funny, she kinda reminded me of you somehow.” she chuckled.

“What? Me? Noooo impossible! If you say she was really that pretty it certainly isn’t me. That’s an impossible comparison if you ask me” I awkwardly and chuckled along. Once the chuckling had died out, she sighed in some sort of relief as she lifted her arm only to brush away her hair from her face and hid them behind her ears.

“Do you have someone you like?” she randomly asked out of the blue.  My head began to tilt to the side and my fingers itched the back of my head awkwardly, somehow I was unable to speak for a minute.

“L-Like? There’s different ways that word could be interpreted” I said.

“I mean, I guess you could say did you ever have a crush?” she asked followed by a chuckle.

“Why of course I have… definitely.” I smiled thinking about Hiroto run through my mind.  “I admire everything about them. When I see them, everything seems to brighten up my day… that’s what keeps me going with a smile.” I added. This time Misaki’s head had tilted onto the side to look up at me with an impressed smile.

“That’s so cute. Do they know your feelings?” she asked. I began to shake my head, “Besides, I think it’s best if they didn’t know, at least, not now. I don’t want things to get awkward between us.” I answered.

“It’s best to tell them now then later… you’ll never know, they might have the same feelings as you, and if you don’t hurry… someone else will take them away from you.”  She said with a frown.

 [Fast Forward]

6:30 PM

After a long conversation with Misaki, we decided to leave the area since Hiroto wasn’t there after all. After having to go to 2 of my other jobs I went to help out Miyuki and her uncle at the studio. “Miyuki! I’m here!” I announced coming in from the door, I heard someone running from the other side of the room calling out my name as happily as ever. There behind the other door, Miyuki had come out with a smile on her face and ran towards me with opened arms, hugging me tightly in her welcoming arms.

“Kimiko my best friend! How are you this afternoon?” she asked.

“I’m fine I guess.” I answered her as I sat down onto the nearest chair. She pouted her lips and kneeled down at me, “Something tells me different.” She said.

“I’m I that obvious to read?” I asked with a light smile. She nodded, “Just like you can read me the same way.” She said. “Now, tell me what’s wrong.” She demanded softy.

[Fast Forward]

“EHHH?! Aoi did what?! And Snatcher’s God brother is Shin?! Mother of God! Poor kid, he’s with the biggest jerk in the world.” Miyuki yelled grabbing her hair from the side, “I swear Kimiko, I’ll throw a hurtful punch at him for you if he ever does that again. You shouldn’t let him take advantage of you that way, even if it’s for money, Don’t.” she said.

“I told you, it was unexpected there was nothing I could have done. And Shin is actually an okay person, well, in a way. He’s really nice and caring when it comes to the kids. They’re really close to him so it seems.” I said followed by a sigh. “Now Hiroto won’t answer my calls and he won’t even get the door when I deliver milk to him.” I added. “And I met Misaki there at his house today.”

“Misaki? Why on earth would she be there?” Miyuki asked.

“Who knows, she said that she needed to talk to him about something important. At least it seems so, the way she yelled at him at the awards ceremony. I’m surprised that she didn’t even recognize me there.” I answered. Miyuki’s brows scrunched at my answer as she began to walk back and forth thinking.

“Important huh? Interesting.” She stated.

“What? Is there something wrong?” I asked.

“Misaki and Hiroto, You say they were close friends yes? Well, in Misakis perspective. Don’t you think she’s probably moving away?”

“No, she said that she had just came back from the states. There’s no way she’s moving again.” I answered.

“Hmm. Weird then, they must have gotten into a huge fight about something.” She stated.

“Nooo you think?” I rolled my eyes. There came a sudden ringing bell as the from door opened, the first sight was a bouquet of flowers into their hands. As the door shut, deep manly footsteps clacked onto the wooden floor and out eyes began to widen as we saw their complete body structure and face.

“Aoi?” I called out his name. Miyuki started to walk fast towards him as she blocked his way from coming any further.

“You can’t come in at this hour we are still preparing for the next class.” She said crossing her arms. 

“Why does she get to come in here and I can’t?” he asked as he looked down at her. 

“Because she volunteers here, and she is a family friend.” She answered. There was another voice coming from the other side of the room, her uncle was calling her name. She glanced over to the other side and then back to Aoi telling her uncle that she’ll be right over.

“Miyuki, I’ll just be in the training room.” I said and got up to my feet and walked over to the other door. Miyuki’s uncle had called her once more, leaving her no choice but to leave Aoi. She lifted her arms and pointed at him with a glare. “If you do anything to her, I’ll kick your like you wished you’d never been born.” She threatened and left.

Aoi walked towards the direction I headed to and stopped at a door where I had been changing inside the locker room to change into my kung fu uniform. There were three knocks on the door, Aoi called my name twice but I decided to ignore it because I was so pissed at him.

“Look, I know what I did back there…went a little too far and I’m sorry.” He said.

“A little?” I said. Once I was done dressing up, I opened the door wide open and saw him right in front of me as his eyes had widened. His expression had changed as he took a long look at me in my uniform. “You look great in that uniform.” He commented. My eyes started to roll as I pushed him out of my way to continue onward towards the training room.

“Look, I’m sorry. I really am.” He said. When I turned around to hit him on the face, my own face was shoved gently by the bouquet of flowers he had had brought. “These are for you.” He said. My hands took a hold of them as he let goed.

The scent of white roses had caught my attention, the beautiful aroma; I really liked white roses since I was little. Somehow I was reminded the night Hiroto and I had danced surrounded by white roses. But remembering everything after that, the terrible thing Aoi had did to me in front of Hiroto, I shot back into reality and threw the bouquet back at him with a glare.

“You think a simple sorry or even a bouquet of flowers will make me feel any better?” I beamed at him. “My life was perfectly fine before I met you! Everything now is a mess and it’s all because of your fault.” I shouted. He looked at me for a few moments

“This is about Hiroto isn’t it?” he asked.

 “It’s not just him. It’s everything else you put me through.” I answered slowly coming to the equipment room and pulling out katana out of the room and clenched onto it tightly.

(Song playing for this part: E for extinction by thousand foot krutch)

Aoi POV

“Did I ever tell you that Mr. Ogawa taught Kendo too?” she asked, when she came out of the equipment room she held a katana in her hand and gripped onto it.

“Kimiko…” I called out her name. “What are you ---”

“I want to hurt you.” She said as she pulled out the sharp bladed sword from its sheath.

“Kimiko, look that’s not the rig--” I shifted myself to the other side after she had dashed towards me with the sword and swung it. Knowing that she had missed, she turned around with the same intense glare on her face. “Kimiko I swear, stop wh--”

“Hold still you piece of .” She charged at me once more, preparing to swing at me in a vertical force. Just before the blade could get to my face, my hands and clapped together, stopping the swing from coming to my face any further. She tried to push more forced onto the sword, I could feel the sword almost slipping through my hands just as she took a step forward to ram me down to my knees.

“Kimiko stop!” I demanded her but she only ignored and continued. I didn’t have a choice but to give all my strength away and pushed her back making her fall onto the ground. I ran towards the equipment room to find another katana. To my luck there was one next to the inner door way, once I had taken it out of its sheath Kimiko got back up and ran again with the same rising position of her sword.

To my defense I held my sword sideways as I felt her blade it my own. I pushed her once more; she made a chuckle and tilted her head to the side. “I hope you know how to use that Aoi.” She said coming at me once more.

(Song playing for this part: Paper cut by Linkin Park starting @ part 1:26)

Kimiko POV

Once I charged at him with my sword something caught my attention. He just stood there with his eyes on the ground, it startled me at first, but my anger got the most of me. I charged at him as fast as I could, but from there he shocked me the most. He lifted his eyes at me and smiled, he lifted his own sword up and blocked my attack and took a full swung around.

Just before he could slice my waist I blocked it quickly with my sword and pushed away.  He then quickly charged at me and swung again, our blades touched each other one again. We both moved our swords in circular motion until our swords finally tangled apart. One by one his sword hit mine at a fast pace, it was hard for me to keep up with every move he took.

My arms began to grow tired and weak from his speed; honestly to me, this was all very shocking and frightening to me. He was good, no, more than good, he was pro skilled maybe better experienced than Mr. Ogawa. Just after he had pushed my own sword towards me, I found myself falling onto the ground. He made a glare like expression with the next slash he was going to make, he lifted his katana up behind his head and I lifted my sword with every last bit of strength I had and held it above my head for protection. With the last full swing he had, he leaned forward and attacked, with our blades touching for the last time, to my surprise, my sword broke in half from his swing.

(Song ends)

I dropped the handle as it was now in its incomplete form without its long shined blade. My eyes traveled up to Aoi’s as he looked down at me with his sword almost touching between my whole face. He pulled back his sword and looked at me with an expressionless emotion.

“I guess I didn’t tell you that I’m a 8^th Dan rank in Kendo” he said.

“Wha—and 8th Dan? B-But that’s – you can’t be!”

“Young I know. But I got mine early because I was so good at it.” He interrupted and started to come closer as he leaned down face to face with me. “Have you got it all out of you now?” he asked. I felt on coming tears about to fill my whole eyes.

“You’re a horrible person.” I pushed him away from me and got up running my way towards to exit just as Miyuki was about to come in.

“Kimiko?!”She had a shocked look on her face after I had run passed her and out the studio. She looked over at Aoi who was still holding the katana in his hand; her eyes looked down at the broken sword on the ground and stormed up to him angrily. “I thought I told you if you did anything to her I’d hurt you.” She said.

Third Person POV

“Miyuki stop!” a voice came behind and stopped her just before she could throw a punch at Aoi. Her uncle, Mr. Ogawa stood next to the door way with his arms crossed each other onto his chest. “Go out.” He commanded her.

“But Uncle!” she yelled. He pointed down at the ground, implying for her to come at once. “Now Miyuki” he said. She looked at him in disbelief but did as she was told to. She looked over her shoulder to see Aoi and made one last glare as some sort of threat she would make to him next time. Once she was out of the room, Mr. Ogawa entered the room silently with his usual emotionless expression. His eyes lingered down to the broken Katana as she came down to it to pick it up.

“I see you’re a very skilled swordsmen at Kendo, an 8^th Dan rank for a young person like you? I’m very impressed.” he commented. “Only those who are elders as an 8^th Dan rank can break through these strong solid katana. I’m surprised that you can do it at this age.”

“Sorry, I’ll pay for it sir.” Aoi apologized.

“Yuu Shiroyama was it?” Mr. Ogawa asked. Aoi’s eyes widened slightly.

“Hai… How did yo--”

“I saw you on a magazine one day while I was getting some groceries with Miyuki. What was it again? PS Company I believe. You’re a guitarist in a band called The Gazette from what I understand, am I correct?” he asked. Aoi had nodded in response. “Hai I am.”

“Kimiko is a very strong and passionate girl who holds a lot of pride.” Mr. Ogawa started out. “She lost a father and I lost a good friend. Don’t be the one to lose her as a good friend or even … a lover judging by white roses there.” He pointed over to the other side where the flowers laid on a chair. “She’s kind hearted and a delicate person. Treat her that way.” He got up with the broken sword and took the katana from Aoi’s hand.

“Go now and find her and seek her forgiveness.” He said to Aoi. Aoi nodded and bowed down at him, “Arigato gozaimasu, I will.” He bowed once more and exited himself out. Miyuki had come back in and stared at her uncle in disbelief, “Uncle what are you doing?! He deserved to be pu--”

“I didn’t teach you Kung Fu for mere punishment. I taught it for self-defense, not to start a fight.” He interrupted her. “He is one fine skilled swordsman” he chuckled to himself.

Kimiko POV

I ran and ran to where ever my feet took me, it didn’t matter where, just as long as I was far enough from the studio. ‘What a jerk’ I thought to myself as I started to wipe away my streaming small tears from my cheeks. When I went back paying attention to where I was going, somehow I ended up to a familiar place.

“Whoa!” I yelled after I took a left onto the corner and suddenly I bumped into someone hard that their stuff started to fly off on air and drop to the ground. The both of us to fell onto the ground and landed ourselves on our butts.

“Ow… that hurt… OH! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I said to the man in front of me helping the hooded man up first and started to pick up his stuff from the ground. ‘Peanut butter cup chocolates?’ I thought to myself. ‘These are my favorite kind’

“It’s alright I guess, you in a rush or something?” he said and started to pick up the rest from his side.

“No, I just…” I stopped, for some reason I couldn’t say anymore. Once there was one more to pick up from the ground, at the same time, both of our hands suddenly brushed against each other.

“I’m sorry!” we both apologized, but as we both looked up to each other’s gaze, our eyes widened up.

“Hiroto?” I called out to him.

“Kimiko…” he called out to me as well. For a few moments we stood there silently, staring at each other’s gaze until he leaned closer and slightly scrunched his brows. “You’re crying.” He said, noticing a single tear had shed on one side.

“Oh” I quickly rubbed my eyes and wiped them away, “It’s nothing.” I said to him. I remembered now, that this place was near the Hangaki Park where He and I brought chocolates together at the See’s candy store.  

[Fast Forward]

I found myself sitting in front of Hiroto next to a small street vending restaurant where only a few people roam around in the streets a side walk. It was silent and awkward between us, it was like we were complete strangers, and I hated it. It wasn’t until he held out his arm and had a opened peanut butter chocolate in his hand.

“Here, please have one, you’re lacking energy its getting me worried.” he offered. I took it gladly and took a bite, he started to smile and out came a small chuckle from him. “Kawaii” he commented. My cheeks started to burn and turned into millions shades of pink.

“I’m just eating it like a normal person… what’s so cute about that?” I asked shyly. He shrugged. “It just is.” He answered. “I’ve been addicted to these ever since you’ve first introduced them to me.” He picked one out from the bag and started to unwrap the wrapping and took a bite.

“I told you it was good” I said with a small smile. He made another chuckle and nodded, just as he was done eating his chocolate he threw the wrapping away to the trashcan next to him and folded his arms together and smiled lightly at me. I smiled back but had nothing else to say, it was another awkward pause that came into the atmosphere.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other or called.” I said out randomly. He nodded in agreement, “Yeah it has, I’m sorry I didn’t get to call back, I was busy this month with the drafts and such with my band mates.”

“I see.” I nodded.

“So you work at a martial art studio or something?” he asked while noticing that I was still wearing my uniform.

“Hai, actually,well, I just volunteer there because my best friend and her Uncle own and work at their studio, it’s fun to be there.” I answered and he nodded. Another silence hit between us again, I started to look around the surroundings as so did he. It wasn’t until he broke the silent when I started to clear his throat to say something.

“I need to tell you something” We both said at the same time.

“Oh, well you can go first” I insisted him.

“No you can, its fine, I’ll hear you out first” he offered.

“No no, mine can wait.” I said.

“You sure?” he asked, I nodded with an awkward smile.

“Alright then…” he started. “Six weeks ago, I’m sorry; I didn’t know that you and Aoi were going out. Really, I’m so sorry for---”

“No no no don’t be… you have the wrong idea Hiroto. Trust me, you do. Maybe I should have gone first.” I interrupted him. He looked at me with a confused expression with his head slightly tilted to the side. “I’ve got it wrong?” he asked.

“Yes, Aoi and I aren’t going out, we aren’t going out at all! Well sort of… we are but at the same time we aren’t.” I said to him. He had given me an even more puzzled look on his face. “Huh? Sort of? What does that mean?” he asked. I took a deep breath and breathed out the excessive air within me, knowing that I needed some major explaining to do.

“If I told you what’s really going on between me and Aoi, Promise me you won’t tell anyone? Or even freak out?” I asked him. Once Hiroto had acknowledged my seriousness, he began to relax and nodded.“Hai I promise.” He nodded.

[Fast Forward]

7:00 PM

“So you see, I’m actually working as Aoi’s fake girlfriend.” I said finishing my story. Hiroto looked at me with such a surprise expression painted across his face, “I know, I know, it sounds stupid and foolish. You probably think differently of me now… It’s okay, you can call me what e--” I was interrupted suddenly when he started to burst out laughing.

“Chotto matte, chotto matte kudasai (Wait, wait a minute). So tech—technically you’re having a love contract” he chuckled between his question. I frowned and nodded.

“It’s not that funny… it’s painful” you said gloomily. Once your sentence had reached him, he had stopped laughing slowly and cleared his throat awkwardly before speaking, “I’m sorry, it’s just....”

“I know, I wouldn’t blame you for being so shocked.” I said. “You probably think I’m some kind of gold digger and a freak… maybe even a somehow, at least that’s what everybody calls and transitions to a lady gold digger nowadays.” I frowned and looked down. After a few seconds, I felt a warm touch underneath my chin and lifted it up to see a pair of brown glossy orbs.

“I never thought of you that way kimi-chan and I never ever will.” He said softly. He was so close that I could feel his gentle breathing hitting on to me, “You’re the most honest, lively, kind –hearted woman I’ve met, why would I want to ever think of you as a gold digger ?” he said.

“I don’t know… but thank you above all that things you said about me” I smiled up to him. He smiled back and pulled back, “I’m so relieved.” He said closing his eyes leaning back onto his chair and sighed in relief.

“Why is that?” I asked. He smiled and answered, “I don’t know, just because… I just am.” he smiled widely this time. Both of us had got up from our chairs realizing it was getting dark and decided to take a small stroll near the park. “An Artificial Love huh?” he asked out loud.

“Hai, and I hope it ends soon, being with Aoi… it can be a pain sometimes.” I said chuckling.

“Is that why you were crying back there?” he asked just as soon as my chuckling had died out. “Eh?” I asked in a surprised tone.

“Did he make you cry? Did he hurt you?” he asked in a serious tone.

“Ano, it wasn’t like that, he just made me angry because he did something I didn’t approve of---” I was suddenly pulled close to his chest as his arms wrapped around me tightly but gentle enough for me to breath normally.

“Hi-Hiroto…” I called out his name softly, confused on what’s going on. I felt his hands almost clinging onto my uniform as he pulled me closer to him with one of his arms on my back and the other one on the back of my head, gently my hair.

“If he ever hurts you or makes you cry… you come to me, and if you want I can beat him up for you… or even if the situation doesn’t involve him, come to me.” he said to me, “You can count on me, I’ll always be there for you” he whispered to my ear. Somehow my legs started to feel weak and my body felt like it was going to melt into his arms. My arms rose and clenched onto his T-jacket from the back and hugged him back as I felt like wanting to cry. I was in the arms of the man I love, and he was in mine, I never wanted this special moment between us to end.

“Thank you, for understanding.” I said blushing madly as ever before. Just halfway, we pulled away and our eyes once again gazed at each other’s. “You’re very welcome.” He said smiling.

“You promise not to tell anyone?” I pleaded him.

“I promise” he answered. I felt my heat beat rush and looked away, I couldn’t look at his eyes anymore. The more I stared, the more my heart ached from its fast beatings. “Kimi-chan” he called putting his fingers underneath my chin, making me look at him again. Unintentionally, he slowly leaned in and I, myself, started to go onto my tippy toes slowly making my way up to him.

RIIING RIIING! RIIING RIIING!

With the sound of my ringtone coming from my pocket, we both quickly pulled away half frightened at the sound. “Ano, I’m sorry!” I apologized in embarrassment.

“No, no there’s nothing to apologize for.” Hiroto said quickly looking away as he blushed in embarrassment as well. ‘Stupid phone out of all the times why now?’ I thought to myself and pulled out my phone from my pocket, it was my mother on the phone.

After I had the called with her, I put my phone back into my pockets, “It was my mother, and she wanted me to arrive home, well since it’s getting late and all.” I told Hiroto. He simply nodded and understood, “Well then, I should walk you home, its dark and all so it isn’t safe around to be here at a time like this.” He said.

“Oh no, its fine! Besides, I’m a strong girl and I know kung Fu so it’s all good. I can protect and defend myself, so don’t you worry.” I assured him.

“Or are you just saying that just to make me go away?” he chuckled. I waved both my hands, “Oh no no no! That’s not it at all. It’s just that the bus stop isn’t far from here so...” I said half way finished. He nodded and continued to chuckle.

“I see, well, I’m really glad we’ve figure this whole confusion out.” He said.

“Hai, me too. Oh and thanks!” I bowed.

“No problem. Well then, I guess I’ll see you later, be safe!” he started to walk off and waved goodbye.

“Yeah, see you later then!” I waved goodbye and headed my own way. As I was heading my way back, I couldn’t help but feel so happy.

“Gahhh!” I yelled happily and hugging myself; remembering what Hiroto said. ‘Come to me. I’ll always be there for you’ I kept replaying the phrase over and over inside my head. Once I was just on the edge of turning onto another street I was bumped into a stranger. “Oh sorry excuse me.” I walked to the other way, but at the same time he blocked me from going again.

“Sorry. How about I go to the right and you go left okay?” I said, but this time he kept blocking me from getting any passage. ”Excuse me sir, I’m trying to get home” I said but it was no use, he kept on blocking my way.

“Fine, then I’ll go the other way” I turned around and walked away, but just as I was about to turn, another man had popped out from the corner and blocked my way.

“What the?” I questioned. From each side of the corners, 4 other men had come out from their corners.

“Well well, look what we’ve got here boys. Looks like we got a pretty mouse lost here. Would you like some help?” a man with piercing on every inch of his face said from the corner.

“No I’m fine, I’m just going home” I corrected. When I started to step backwards, I suddenly felt I had bumped into someone from behind. I quickly turned back around and found myself bumping into two other guys from behind.

“Oh but you look a bit thirsty, why don’t you have a drink with us? It’s on me, what do you say?” the man with tattoos all over his left arms said. “Oh man can’t you see that you’re scaring her?” his companion said to him. “But I think she looks even cuter when she’s scared.” He replied back.

I found myself surrounded by drunks and erted men at every corner, “STAY BACK!” I yelled at them, I looked around to see if there was anything I could have used for defense, and luckily there I saw a straight, long, solid wooden stick a few feet away from me. I picked it up and held it tightly in my hands.

“I SWEAR TAKE A STEP FORWARD AND ILL KICK YOUR !”  I yelled at them, they all laughed as a response.

“Oh come on, you can’t take all of us out, you’re just a small----” at the moment when the man touched my shoulders from behind I swung around and roundhouse kicked him in the gutter. I spin around to swing a powerful hit on his face with my stick and he sputtered out a single curse word laced with blood coming out of his mouth and crumpled to the ground.

“Holy man!” his friend had come over next to him and had noticed he has already passed out and looked at me with a vengeful glare. “GET HER!” he commanded to the rest of his companion. They started to surround me in a circular form and laughed, “AHHH” on man came charging at me. I made another roundhouse kick and kicked him in the ribs, he howled loudly in torment but still had the guts to throw the first punch. I quickly dodged away from it and hit the back his head with the stick knocking him down onto the ground.

Three other men came ramming at me, only they had weapons of their own. One man had charged me with switch blade in his hand, I threw a sharp punch to his jaw, and if it would have been powerful enough I could have broken his jaw bone right from the start. I threw hands fast and hard as I could for the next oncoming man which he had a broken glass beer bottle in his hand. I acted fast and went under his punch, and when he had started to run back to me, I jumped and threw a tornado kick at his face making his nose bleed as he fell to the ground.

“ come here!” another man yelled and ran towards me.

“Bring it on” I smirked. Little did I knew that this man actually smarter and knew what he was doing. After he threw the first punch I was able to dodge it but just as soon as I could get my chance to hit him, he quickly turned around and punched me right onto the stomach making me move a few step backwards and coughed violently for a few short seconds.

“Score!” he said rather in an enthusiastic tone. “Come one cutie, are you gonna keep on fighting or just give in to us? Best if you take the second option, I’d love to do a thing or two with that body of yours” he smirked.

“In your dreams” I shot at him and glared, and straightened my back like it was no big deal. I ran back to him and swung my stick, he managed to dodge again and attempted to trip me by dropping down and did a quick slide kick on the ground, but I was quick enough to jump over it, and from there I had my chance. I threw my arms up holding the stick in both my hands and swung it onto his shoulder blades hard making him scream in pain.

“! WHY YOU--” he twisted himself around and punched me onto the chest and grabbed my uniform top literally picking me up and threw me to the other side on a cemented wall. I fell back down and squirmed in pain as I felt pain rush through my back.

“Score 3, hit in the stomach and onto the back” I heard him say and slowly making his way towards me. I attempted to get myself up quickly before he could come any closer. Just before I could get the stick I had dropped in midair the man’s foot had stepped onto it and picked it up to break it in half.

“You won’t be needing that.” He said with a chuckle.

“You know… you’re right… I don’t!” I quickly threw my first punch at him onto his nose, hearing it crack onto the other side and kicked him onto the stomach pushing him away from me and threw another kick, making him fall instantly to the ground.

“AHHH! MY ING NOSE! YOU BROKED IT!” He screamed.

“You broke my stick.” I replied back. I heard a couple of monstrous footsteps coming from behind, turning around I saw one of the injured man coming with some healthy reinforcement, roughly about 20 of them. Just as I was about to run to the opposite side, I made a huge gasp as I was met by another big group of men with another injured man by their side.

“Her! It was her!” he pointed at me.

“yeah that one!” the other man added and pointed at me.

“W-What?” I gasped taking a few steps back. ‘No way… there’s more? There’s about 40 of them!’ I began to panic mentally, but I stood strong physically. “STAY AWAY FROM ME!” I screamed at them. They only laughed and drew closer; they were readying up their fists and weapons they had in their hands.

“This should be a piece of cake, now that there’s more of us.” One other guy said. “LETS GET HER!” one said and started charging at me with their group of people as the other group did the same I prepared myself in a defensive position and closed my eyes once, and re-opened them.

‘Please make it out alive Kimiko’I mentally told myself.

Once a man had attempted to hit me, I blocked it and threw a hard punch onto the jaw. After I had knocked out 10 or 12 of them, I was losing energy and my focus at a fast pace. I started to linger weakly and limped from side to side and tried to recover my breathing, there were still about 18 of them that needed to be taken down but with the draining energy in me, I was losing my strength. Just as I was done knocking one of them to the ground, I was suddenly pulled back by a man from behind.

He placed his hand over my mouth with a white cloth in his hand, and knowing what that was I tried elbowing him onto the stomach. Successfully on the third attempted he let goed but I was at my vulnerable state. Even though I had resisted the drug for the most part, breathing only slightly, the drug was already kicking in, making me lose control of my balance and making feel dizzy and tired, along with my vision going blurry. I found myself dropping to the ground so weak and able to get back up.

I heard chuckling and footsteps coming closer, “That’s right, you should have given up before” man said picking me up as he grabbed onto my top. “Men, we’ve got her. Why don’t we have some fun with her shall we?” he laughed victoriously, his friends agreed and laughed along.

‘No… no please…’I thought, he had dropped me hard onto the ground, lifting me up so that my back was leaned against the wall and attempted to strip me. “NO! STOP!” I pushed him away. “Shut up !” he smacked me on the face, but I no matter how weak I was, I tried pushing him away as many times as I could.

“NO PLEASE STOP! GET AWAY FROM ME!” I yelled in tears.

“SHUT THE UP !” he had slapped me again, “Men! Take a hold of her!” he commanded his friends. They did what they were told to, grabbing my wrists up to the air and held my feet. ‘Someone, just some, please help me!’ I thought and cried to myself. ‘Hiroto!’ my mental voice screamed for his name.

“GET YOUR ING DIRTY HANDS OFF HER!” a voice suddenly broke in.

“What the---” the man said, but before he could fully turn around, he had been hit hard onto the face by what looked like a metal baseball bat. Thick lace of blood came from both his mouth and head and splattered onto my top as he dropped onto the ground. The rest of his friends looked and was terrified by what they had witnessed, they had looked over to the man that had hit their companion and had backed away to a large distance. The blurry man from my sight had walked over to me, pushing the collapsed man out of the way and cupped my bruised my face gently into their hands as they saw the marks of a hand tattooed onto my side and tears streaming down to my cheeks. He spotted some red burned slashed on my wrists and arms; he then touched my stomach as I ached in pain. By the sound of my pain he quickly opened up my top only from the bottom to see my stomach and saw a large bruise forming.

“Who the did this to her?!” he yelled in a hoarse tone, everyone felt his anger rush into the atmosphere. They backed away a few steps as they started to get scared of what’s going to happen next. Most of them already knew and attempted to escape. However, the man in front of me stood up quickly and beaten down those who tried to run away. He looked back at the crowd of men who were starting to go defensive on themselves, “Each and every one of you will pay the same price.” The man threatened and charged at them with his bat.

I tried seeing clearly on what was going on but all I could see was a blur of men hitting each other. The sounds of their screams and hits rang into my ears. I blinked twice to see a shiny bat from the reflection of the light hitting forward, backwards, and side to side. A last hit of someone’s body ranged into my ears for the last time as they screamed in pain, ”RUN! JUST RUN MAN! THIS GUY IS CRAZILY MURDEROUS! HE’S INSANE!” the sound of running away feet came in, assumed to be the bad guys forfeit of the fight. The smell of blood filled the air and it was making me sick, after a minute or two I heard fast footsteps paced forward towards me. They kneeled down and their hand had touched my face once again.

“Hey now don’t give up. Don’t you dare give up on me!” the voice said to me worriedly. “Come on stay with me here!” they shook me lightly. I couldn’t help but linger my head all over at each angle and side to side, I absolutely couldn’t focus. Their voice kept fading in and out and my vision kept seeing two to three people of a single person.

“I—I…” I tried speaking to the person but that that came out was just a blob of whispers and shreds of tears. They held me close to their chest as they leaned in their face.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… for leaving you… for coming so late.” They said holding me tightly yet gentle enough so that my wounds wouldn’t hurt.

“It’s… It’s…”  I tried to finish my sentence but suddenly I found myself unable to speak. “Hey… Hey! No no no, Stay with me! You hear me?! Stay with me!” the voice said shaking me again and again. When I tried keeping my eyes open, they finally betrayed me and closed shut, the last thing I saw and heard was the person’s voice calling out to me and their blurry face fade away into darkness and silence.

To be continued.