Toman had been acting a bit more on edge lately. Mikey wasn't in his usual happy-go-lucky mood and his guard seemed to be up. Not to mention, one of the Toman captains was missing... Pah-chin? That was him.

No one had told you anything about what was going on—which was understandable—but it felt odd to be out of the loop. Anyway, enough of that, Hina had invited you out to the Musashi Festival today with Emma. But, most likely, they would be with their respective lovers.

You did not want to be stuck as the third-wheel. Besides, you'd rather just do your own thing and take your time. And so, here you were in a hoodie and some shorts buying all types of food that was available. It wasn't everyday you would be exposed to all this festival food.

Not to mention, all of the stalls were so much fun! Although they were quite rigged. You were scammed 500 yen for trying out the ring toss. Those rings did not fit over the prizes at all.

Your short-lived joy however had soon come to an end when you felt a drop of rain hit the tip of your nose. "At least I finished eating..." You pulled up your hood and ran towards the forest to get shelter from the rain. Then you realised that there would probably be a better spot to stay – the shrine.

Thank goodness you were wearing good shoes; going through the now wet dirt under this heavy rain became an easy feat. "I didn't even bring an umbrella... I wonder how Tachibana-san and Emma-san are going. They're wearing yukata's today." When you arrived at the shrine, you noticed that there were people there – but not regular shrine visitors, they were Toman members.

You stayed hidden behind a tree, observing the scene. You didn't recognise any of them so far, but they seemed to be scheming something. As you were about to approach them, two figures coming out from the other side of the shrine appeared. Some Toman member was dragging... Takemichi towards the bigger group. Was he also spying on them? But where was Hina?

He was then thrown onto the ground with quite some force and struggled to get up. You decided the best thing you should do was stay hidden until something worse happens. You didn't know whether or not any of them had any weapons or underhanded tactics they might use.

"Oi, Hanagaki!" You were startled when the main leader of the group had shouted Takemichi's name. Did they know each other from a previous event? They didn't seem to be on the best terms.

When your friend was trying to stand back up, he was immediately slapped by one of the lackeys and continued to be thrown around like a rag-doll until he fell back onto the ground. The poor boy was then surrounded by the group just to get kicked around once again.

Seeing Takemichi in such a weak position made your heart ache. How could they even do that? Your attitude towards them changed when Takemichi had taken his own pride and dignity in order to apologise to the boys in the most formal way possible—on his knees with his forehead to the wet stone ground.

You clicked your tongue and stepped out from your hiding spot. "Hey." Their attention was now onto you, "If you're going to do this type of stuff, don't do it in front of the shrine. It's disrespectful."

"[last name]...chan?" Takamichi lifted his head from the ground, only for it to be stopped on.

"Let Takemichi-san go, and get on with your lives." You outstretched your hand and pushed the taller male off of your friend. "Are you alright, Takemichi-san?"

"[last name]-san, watch out!" To your left, a fist was incoming. You leaned back just a bit and grabbed the person's arm with your hands and threw him over your shoulder.

"Takemichi-san, stand up if you can and run."

"I can't leave you behind!" You pulled the back of his shirt and jumped backwards. "Woah–!"

"If you aren't looking at the battlefield, then you're as done as dead. That dude just tried to punch you."

"Kiyomasa?"

"Tch, we've found ourselves a little rat. Someone grab the duct tape. Get ready for some brutal punch on's, girlie." The boy names Kiyomasa cracked his knuckles and walked over towards you.

The only ever person you've really fought seriously was your brother. Even then, you still weren't able to beat him because of the larger size of his body. You were confident in your skills, but you don't think you were going to be able to fight all of them while also taking care of Takemichi.

While you were trying to dodge every punch that came towards you, there was hardly any time to even think about your friend. You swung your leg around to hit the nearest boy back into his friend. When you took a spontaneous glance back at Takemichi, he was still trying to get up. "Takemichi-san, look behind you!" He didn't react in time and was slugged into the ground. You didn't think he was that useless when it came to fighting!

With your head turned to face him, you didn't realise a hand coming towards you. "Didn't you say you should keep your eyes on the battlefield? Huh?!" He had grabbed the back of your hoodie and pulled it towards him; he was slowly choking you from behind. You couldn't even slip out of the hoodie since the collar was so close to your neck.

"[last name]-san!!"

"Ta-Takemichi! Run away!" You could feel yourself dribbling, "My elbows aren't even affecting him! It's those damn uniforms!" You felt yourself soon getting light-headed as the rouge-Toman members began to tie your wrists and ankles up. Kiyomasa had finally let go of your hoodie and dropped you onto the ground.

Within a few minutes, they had done the same with Takemichi but even worse since they covered his mouth. After kicking him around a bit more and throwing you off to the side, they finally left the area. "Geez... To think I thought I could beat them. Takemichi-san, sorry for not being able to save you."

He was a bit busy drowning in his own sorrows to hear your apologies. He also couldn't believe that he got you caught up in this. "Takemichi-san, I'll be going off first." You sat up and used your teeth to make a small tear in the tape binding your wrists to escape. "Is it the rain? Or are you really crying, Takemichi-san?" You ripped the tape off of your ankles before doing his mouth. "I should be the one crying."

"I'm sorry, [last name]-san. I got you in this mess. You don't need to protect me."

"Don't apologise, this is what friends are for, right? I've got your back." You were going to get rid of the rest of the tape on him, but you soon stopped when you heard Hina's voice come from the distance. "Takemichi-san, tell Hina I said hi. She'll take care of you for now. I'm gonna go follow Kiyomasa, was it?"

"Wait! Don't follow them, [last name]-san! [last name]-san!" It was too late – you had already left the area. It was hard to find your way through the rest of the forest though. It was still raining as hard as ever, and not to mention your clothes were all dirty. You were going to catch a cold soon.

But there was a pro to the weather, you were able to follow the muddy footprints towards some sort of car park. You got out of the forest and went down the stairs towards said car park. When you got a closer look, there was a whole sea of white – it wasn't Toman, but another gang? And Draken was... he was fighting them with a bloodied head.

"Draken-san?"

"[name]-chan? You're here!" You didn't notice it before, but Emma was standing at the bottom of the stairs out of the battle. "But Draken is..."

"Emma-san, make sure you stay under your umbrella and don't go near the fighting." She nodded and wiped her tears, "What's going on? Why is Draken-san fighting?"

"Pah stabbed someone and turned himself in. Peh-yan"—she pointed towards him—"hit Draken with a bat when we were trying to get out of the rain. Peh-yan brought all of these guys to get revenge for Pah's arrest!"

"Ah... No wonder Toman has been so tense. There's been some internal dispute." You took off your hoodie and tied it around your waist, "I'll give Draken-san some support."

"But... [name]-chan, you're full of scratches and your legs are bleeding... are you okay?" She pulled your hand towards her to get you under her umbrella. "If we call for help–"

"It's okay, Emma-san. Do you mind passing me the other umbrella you're holding? It must be Draken-san's." She grabbed the umbrella under her arm and handed it to you.

"Be careful, [name]-chan..." You dragged the tip of the umbrella on the floor and you approached Draken. Poor guy was on the brink of fainting – his eyes were squinting and blood wouldn't stop flowing from his head.

"Draken-san, you should stop fighting before you actually die."

"[last name]...? What are you–" He stopped when you stood in front of him. "I can still fight. Don't think I'm a weakling just because I got hit in the head."

"I'm only here to give you some support. You can fight... but I'd recommend you don't." Using your weapon, you smacked an incoming gang member—one with a white uniform—away from Draken. So there was another group involved in all of this?

"Draken-kun! [last name]-san!" Takemichi's voice shouted from behind – looks like he stopped crying and made it to the real show.

"Mitsuya, Takemicchi."

"Peh-yan, you bastard!" Mitsuya turned towards his friend standing with the white gang members. "The hell are you teaming up with Moebius for?!"

"Shut up, Mitsuya. I'll kill you, too." From the conversation, you got one thing – Moebius must've been a rival gang to Toman, or Moebius had to do something with Pah-chin's arrest.

"Ugh... I'm tired." Draken took in a deep breath and swayed side to side, trying to find his balance. "I'll leave the rest to you, Mitsuya."

"Got it."

"And [last name], if you get hurt, don't let Mikey yell at me." You helped him sit down on the pavement where he was.

"I'll make sure Mikey-san doesn't do that then."

"Gosh, I'm tired." He lifted his right hand to cradle his injured head.

"You little shits really think you're a match for all of us?" You didn't even know who shouted that; what confidence they had. As the Moebius members were riling themselves up, the sudden sound of the revving of a motorcycle was heard in the distance. Judging from your friend's calmness, it must've been someone they knew.

"That exhaust sound..."

"That's Mikey's CB250T." And right on cue, Mikey had slid into the parking lot with his motorcycle. The expression on his face... or you should say there was no expression – he was emotionless. His pupils were darker and there was no ounce of joy written on his face.

He turned off his ride and walked towards the middle of the conflict, "I see now. The reason why I got called to be somewhere else was so you could attack Ken-chin." He stopped in front of Peh-yan, "And then you were gonna out the blame on me and break Toman in half."

"I'm just doing this for Pah-chin!" This was definitely something you should not put your two cents in. All you could do was support your friends in this fight. But if you had to give your opinion, you don't think Peh-yan-san would've done this by himself.

"Wow, I'm impressed." Another person had joined this conversation – he was quite tall and lean and had a don't-give-a-shit look. Not to mention he had a cigarette in his hands, yet he didn't look much older than anyone else here. "Guess you're not just brawn after all." He appeared from the crowd with one if the Moebius members holding an umbrella above his head.

You took note of the height different between the new guy and Mikey – he was about a head taller. "...I'm sort of in charge of Moebius for now. The name's Hanma."

"So you're the creeper who's been pulling the strings?"

"Wow, you're a pain in the ass, Mikey–" Within a flash, Mikey had struck his ankle towards Hanma's head, but he had blocked it with the back of his hand. Mikey was incredibly strong; so see if someone block his kick was a tad scary. "Don't be in such a hurry, Mikey." Now that he was swinging his hand around to subside the pain, you saw tattoos on them. The left had 'sin' and the right, 'punishment.'

"Our goal is to crush Toman." The Moebius members suddenly got into a formation to stand behind their temporary boss. "But that's a pain, so we wanted you to fight yourselves. I mean, it works out either way in the end. This just means I get to kill the Invincible Mikey with my two hands! Moebius has 100 men here! And Toman has a measly four, plus a whiny girl!" As the two boys were having a stare off, you finally snapped out of your distraction and opened your umbrella.

"Takemichi-san, can you hold it please?" He stumbled a little before taking it into his own hands. "Draken-san, you're still bleeding quite badly." You felt around yourself to find and see if you had any tissues. "Ah, I have a handkerchief."

"You don't need to do this. I'm fine."

"For Emma-san's sake, I'll take care of you for now." You glanced over to the girl who was still standing off to the side watching everything go down.

"But, [last name]-san, you're hurt too, right?" Takemichi spoke up.

"Just a few... battle scars." You were able to wipe off the blood on Draken's head and tied it around his forearm. "Are you feeling alright, Draken-san?"

"I'll be fine, don't–" Yourself and Draken were taken aback when you heard the the familiar growls of motorcycles.

The boy with the tattoo chuckled a bit, "They're late." The car park was soon lit up by the lights of the Toman members who had arrived.

"Takemichi-san." You snatched the umbrella from his hand as he was too distracted from the sudden appearance of Toman. "Draken-san, don't push yourself too much."

"Yeah, yeah." The taller male stood up and went to stand by Mikey's side. You used this time to slip away from the crowd and to Emma's side.

"[name]-chan! Draken is–"

"Emma-san, Draken-san should be fine..." You led her to a safer spot near the entrance of the car park where there wasn't any fighting. "Look at how he's fighting– Wait, I lost him. He knows his limits so he should be okay."

"But... I'm worried." Emma clenched the handle of the umbrella, looking out towards the fighting.

"You should call Tachibana-san while this is happening. She might be waiting for Takemichi-san, but at this point it's unlikely that they'll see each other unless you call her." She pressed her lips together and reached into her pocket. "Emma-san, just stay hidden for now. I'll... do my part."

"Eh? [name]-chan! Wait, don't leave!" You had already closed your umbrella and began to knock the Moebius members out, leaving your friend behind. You were trying to go find your way to Draken since he was on the one who was most likely to pass out first. You probably shouldn't of left him there.

"[last name]-chan?! What are you doing here?! Get out of the fight!" Baji was the first to notice your presence, "[last name]-chan!"

"Baji-san, look behind you!" You pushed him to the side and swung your leg into the attacker's head. "I'm looking for Draken-san, so I can't leave now! Make sure to watch your back."

"Damn! She's hot." Baji's pony tail swayed side to side with his movements. "Don't get hurt now!" There were so many people in this small parking lot. You couldn't even find Takemichi in this crowd. Every now and then you'd be knocked into by a Toman member and pushed back.

You were about to take another step forward, but a pair of hands had pulled you back. "Oh no–! Huh? Mitsuya-san?"

"People are being thrown left and right, be careful." He let you go and went onto fight once again. You'd have to thank him later. Going back on track, you looked all around you, trying to find some tall people. But unluckily for you, everyone else here was taller than you.

But your attention was taken from random people to a certain male who walked past you. "Kiyomasa?" You then turned to the direction he came from and noticed a familiar cardigan on the floor. "...That's Draken-san's–!! Draken-san!" You ran in a straight line towards the male who was currently laying face first on the concrete.

"Draken-kun!"
"Draken-san!"

Takemichi seemed to have also noticed the male at the same time. "Draken-san... got stabbed?"

"Draken-kun! Draken-kun! He's been stabbed!" You placed your umbrella beside you and flipped Draken onto his back. There was something you could do, right? He was stabbed in his stomach... which is a very fatal place.

"I don't know what to do... Um, stop the bleeding." You fumbled on your words before unwrapping your hoodie from your waist and having Takemichi lift him up for you to tie it around Draken's wound. "That should help a little... Takemichi-san, come on! We need to get somewhere safe!"

"E-Eh?!"

"Take care of Ken-chin for me!" You heard Mikey's voice from the middle of the conflict.

"Takemichi-san, I'll carry him! Help me get him on my back." You kneeled down and held out your arms behind you. "I won't take no for an answer! You look like you're about to break. Come on!" Takemichi grabbed Draken under his arms and pulled him onto your back.

Thankfully you were strong enough to speed walk away from the car park and out towards the isolated streets. "Takemichi-san, I don't know where I'm going."

"We just need to get him to a hospital!" Takemichi wasn't even doing anything yet he felt like he wanted to give up. You were carrying a heavy Draken with injured legs and a thin shirt in this rain. He didn't understand how you were still going.

"Takemichi-kun! [name]-chan!"

"Hina! Emma-chan!" The two girl were running towards you three in worry.

"We called an ambulance! How's Draken-kun?"

You stopped walking to answer, "It's okay, I feel him breathing. I tried to stop as much blood as I could with my jacket, so hopefully it's doing something." Takemichi helped you get Draken off your back to lay him onto Emma's thighs. "Hopefully the ambulance comes here soon."

"Are we just supposed to wait here until they show up?" Takemichi asked Hina.

"Yeah, but apparently, it's really crowded because off the festival and rain." You noticed Takemichi's gaze not on his girlfriend, but on the path to her right. He seemed to be in disbelief at whatever he was looking at. He took a few steps in front of Hina wanting to take a closer look at the group that had just approached.

You pulled Hina back towards Emma so she wouldn't get noticed... by Kiyomasa and his lackeys. They were currently talking smack about Draken, Takemichi... and one of them just had to mention you. "Isn't it that little girl who thought she could beat us up? Ha! She's a joke!"

"[name]-chan...?" Hina pulled your shirt in worry. You were going to reply, but noticed some movement beside you. Draken had sat up.

"Thanks, [last name]. Takemichi." He used Emma's shoulder to get some balance. "Now take Hina-chan and Emma, and run. I'll be fine."

"Run...?" Takemichi's back stiffened as he turned back to look at Kiyomasa.

"Get moving, you guys."

"Draken-san, we won't–" Your words were omitted when Takemichi let out a loud scream.

"Gosh, I'm pathetic!" He wiped the sweat from his face. "What the hell did I even come here for?!" His shoulders slouched for a moment before his straightened it and outstretched his arms before you all. "Hina, [last name]-san, step back. I'm sorry, Draken-kun. Thanks for the courage."

"Oi, oi..." The boy proudly walked towards Kiyomasa with his fists clenched and looked him in the eye. "What's he doing? He