A teenager was walking along the road, taking in the sights of his surroundings lazily - just enjoying the quiet of the afternoon by himself. To those who did not know him they might think that he was a young man in his early twenties by the way he looked and merely by the way he held himself with the confidence in strides.
He was Maki, a third year student of Kainan, the captain of one of the most powerful high-school basketball team in Kanagawa and also one of the district's star athlete.
Maki was passing by a couple of teenagers sitting and chatting together on a bench when one of them noticed him. The young boy nudged his friend and she gasped, pulling at her friend's arm. The girls whispered while the boys gaped in awe at being able to see their idol walking at the same area, too star-struck to say anything to him.
The Kainan PG sighed in relief.Might as well, he thought, not wanting his time of peace to be disturbed. He continued on his way, until he reached a block of buildings which were warehouses surrounded by a tall wire fence.
The warehouses were pale grey with yellow stains at the base caused by the wet ground and some parts of the building the paint has peeled by changes of weather and lack of attention. Nothing was there to hold Maki's eye, when he heard something odd nearby. He kept on walking, running his fingers along the mesh of wire of the fence, until he could see what lay between the small distance of two warehouses. What appeared in a short moment that Maki nearly missed it, were two people hitting each other until one of them pulled back and the other followed that both disappeared again from view.
Maki thought hard on whether he should investigate the obvious situation, knowing the possibility that it may be a gang fight and there might be more than 2 people at the back of the warehouses thus making it a dengerous situation for him, but the worry that someone innocent would get hurt unnecessarily and unfairly prompted him to decide to take a chance. Easily finding an entrance into the warehouse vicinity, Maki swung open the unpadlocked door and hurriedly made his way to where the fight may be.
What he saw, he has already expected but not fully prepared on what to do. There were four young boys at the scene, probably near his age, if not younger. Three of them were ganging up on one boy who has slicked dark hair.
Not a fair fight but the brunette seemed to be able to handle himself since the three looked as bloody and bruised as him, maybe more.
Maki actually thought of just waiting for the boy to take down his enemies when he saw one of the three creep towards the boy from behind with the intent of harm. Maki's brows furrowed in a frown. One of the things Maki hated the most was a coward.
Fuck, Yohei cursed. What he hated the most were cowards. The three boys who jumped on him were from a gang from another high-school in another part of town. The Sakuragi Gundan and Hanamichi have gained a reputation throughout Shohoku since their first year in highschool for being able to defeat other gangs from senior classes and that annoys the hell out of some people. Some of them prefers to just wait and see who else these first year boys will bring down next while the rest would rather take action to show everyone that they can beat these young bloods but as of yet noone was able to do so.
Strength comes in numbers and a few of these jealous gangsters think that by taking Hanamichi and his gang one by one would be easier.
And at that moment Yohei was cornered behind the warehouse after being lured there - doing his best to survive.
He delivered a hard blow on one of his attackers when suddenly he felt something coming at him from behind. He quickly stepped away before the body of one of the bullies fell down at the spot where he was standing, motionless. The remaining two looked behind Yohei in surprise, glaring at the new fighter, making Yohei turn around to see who had come to his aid.
The person was tall, but not at tall as Hanamichi, with broad shoulders and an all out well-built body that Yohei was not surprised that he managed to knock the boy unconcious. The remaining two boys were beginning to look uncertain.
"Don't you think this is unfair?" said the person, flexing his tanned fists.
"Shut up, man," warned one of the boys, "Stay out of this."
The other one with the slicked-back hair stayed silent, watching the tall boy speculatively.
"And if I don't?" Maki challenged, body ready.
"Then you'll find yourself wishing that you did," came the answer before the Kainan guard was charged.
A few minutes later, the two joined their friend to the ground, unconcious. Yohei stepped back and lifted his hand to wipe away the blood which has trickled down his chin from his split lip and mumbled, "Assholes."
Stepping away from the fallen bodies, he then he turned towards his ally with a grin, "Thanks for the help, though I wonder why you even bother."
Maki fingered the newly acquired bruise on his cheek and answered, "They were a bunch of punks."
Yohei gave him a one sided-smile, "And what made you so sure that I'm not like them - just a punk?"
Maki turned to him and answered without hesitation, "Maybe you are, but that doesn't make it right for them to attack you from behind."
"Yeah, I guess so," Yohei said, combing his hair back with his fingers, trying to straighten it back from its mussed look.
Maki ran his fingers through his own brown hair before he looked at the brunette carefully, a small look of recognition on his face.
"You look familiar..." he voiced out.
"Yeah, I know you. You're that Kainan guy, Maki," Yohei said pushing his hand in his pocket, the other dangling at his sides, knuckles more than scratched.
"And you are?" the older boy asked, racking his brains trying to remember where he has met the boy.
"Yohei. Yohei Mito. I'm Sakuragi's friend," answered the brunette, pulling out his barely wounded hand out to extend it to Maki, "We met only once when you were with that noisy kid on your way to the train station to Aichi. I was with Sakuragi and my other friends, outside the pachinko arcade."
Maki's face showed displeasure when he remembered that day, "Yes, I remember that one of your friends called me old man and Kiyota a monkey."
Yohei scratched his head sheepishly, "Gomen ne, those jerks like say things to annoy other people. They're kinda like Sakuragi."
"Yes," Maki mused, "They are."
After a few moment of silence, Yohei spoke up, "Hey, why don't I treat you to a snack at Danny's? Kind of a way of saying thanks."
"No, that's alright," Maki declined.
"Come on," persisted Yohei, "You don't have any pressing engagements, do you? Or does the Kanagawa star have people lined up for his esteemed presence?"
Maki arched an eyebrow, "Looks like Sakuragi and your three friends aren't the only people who likes to annoy people."
Yohei chuckled, "So? Are you in or out?"
Maki shrugged, "Sure, why not?"