Naomi Shirazawa, in an unusually good mood, was eating her lunch together with two boys that day, one she'd first interacted with in any way during the math lesson that had kicked off the day, and one that was one of the most popular at school, and considered handsome by the female part of the school.

Although he was popular, many didn't know anything about him.

He was the Vice President of the student council, a figure that was known in legend but not often interacted with. He was rarely approached at school, only chatter in the background would address him.

He usually hung out away from the student body, in the student council office, but he was for some reason sharing lunch with the most notorious delinquent of Akumu high school.

Despite the obvious bizarreness of the situation, Naomi was smiling as she ate her lunch box. As Kaharu ate his food, he got annoyed at the people looking at them, chattering about it.

He stood up and shouted

"Mind your own business, idiot sheep!"

Melliacci immediately intervened and said

"Calm down, Kaharu. Let them do what they want to, although a little quieter wouldn't hurt."

Kaharu said as he sat down again

"Shut up."

Kaharu observed his surroundings again, seeing people who had come to visit them from the hallway quickly disappear into obscurity.

Like sheep, they all walked in sync at a shout of aggression.

Like a sheep herding dog, Kaharu had barked and provoked them to go away in a direction.

His look locked into place for a second as he observed Tsukino Scott's clique continuing to eat without issue.

A mental note was burned into his retina as he looked at the smiles presented by that table.

Melliacci opened up a conversation, as he saw Kaharu stare into nothing. He said

"Kaharu, have you ever been to that game center by that French sweets cafe?"

Kaharu looked over at Melliacci's soft and kind face as he, with an uninterested face, said

"Yeah, I used to go there a lot during summer vacation. It was 'aight"

Naomi quickly finished chewing on a piece of fried chicken as she said

"I know that one! I was there last week, they had some great claw machines."

Kaharu, now with an arrogant tone to his voice, said

"You, game center? I thought you studied all the time."

Naomi dropped her chopsticks as she was filled with shock.

It wasn't often someone made a comment on her perceived character. Although it was true that she studied a lot to maintain her grades, she wouldn't have called it a hobby.

She wouldn't even say that it was that fun to study at all.

She got flustered as to the misunderstanding. The thought of being misunderstood really bothered her for some reason, instantly calling a wave of urgency to rush into her brain.

With red cheeks, Naomi half-stood up, leaned over slightly with her hands by her face as she said

"No, no! I'm not like that, I like to play around as well! Don't misunderstand!"

With weird looks piercing her, not only from Melliacci and Kaharu but from the remaining class as well.

She quickly realized her mistake The embarrassment also rushed into her head, the same feeling she'd experienced the school-day before, at a certain mathematics lesson.

Her mind was instantly filled with dark stuff, like she'd been shot with a shotgun and all for her to fall into was a void of darkness.

Her dreams standing on top of the cliff she'd fallen off of, onlooking her fall with sorrow. Her eventual fall leading to a seat on the chair of which she'd stood up from a couple of seconds ago.

She longed for that time again, it was so close to her but impossible to reach.

Kaharu changed the object of focus to his notebook again as he said

"Huh."

Although no harm was meant, it was the metaphorical coup de grace to her fragile heart.

In the background, Kaharu heard something that piqued his interest. A couple of school girls gossiped, saying

"Did you hear? Apparently, almost all teachers are absent today, so it's self-study throughout."

"Eh, really? Couldn't you just skip then?

An idea was quickly sparked, and Kaharu quickly finished his yakisoba sandwich. With the in-the-slumps Naomi and the confused Melliacci looking up at his stature as he stood up from his chair.

With a raised fist and excitement, Kaharu exclaimed

"No teachers means no absence-taking! I'm free for the rest of the day!"

Kaharu instantly dashed out of the room, leaving the two confused.

Melliacci had an understanding of how Kaharu worked and thought, so he wasn't that disturbed by the sudden rush. He was dissatisfied with it though, the fact that he so easily would ditch school didn't sit well with Melliacci at all.

In his book, it was disrespectful to just abandon your duties like that.

But he realized what the time was and thought it was about time for him to get back to the office, otherwise, he'd get into a lot of hot water.

So hot that his skin probably wouldn't heal for a long time. He rose and excused himself, as he hurried back towards the office, leaving the classroom.

Naomi was left alone with her thoughts as she stared at the entrance to the classroom.

Her future slowly fading to dark.

…

As Kaharu had exited the classroom, a familiar face approached him.

Kosuto Kokoru roamed the halls with his usual rough, cocky face. Both his hair and uniform were completely different, they were extravagant and attention-seeking once again.

A return to form. Kaharu stood confused as to what he'd seen that day when a normal Kosuto had appeared in front of him. A gentle and mature Kosuto, behaving like a normal person.

But the unusual Kosuto caught sight of a slightly confused teenager with dyed blond hair, a purple school uniform with decals and chains blasting out of his jeans, approaching him with a couple of people from his clique.

Only two of them were there that time, maybe Kosuto had lost a couple of comrades. Kaharu smiled maliciously as he said

"Oh, what happened? Did your 'friends' catch you walking around like a plebeian, so they abandoned you? Looks like two of them decided to be loyal, though. Bet you're happy over having friends."

Kosuto felt a vein popped as he once again approached Kaharu and grabbed his collar, instantly triggering something within Kaharu. He said

"I see you also heard about the absence of teachers. Let's go to the roof, and we'll see if you want to insult the people I care about again."

Kaharu looked down at his own uniform and saw the sight of two foreign hands holding it. Like watching to hands tamper with his very own heart, Kaharu's emotions were put into effect instantly as his protection mechanism instantly threw away his hands. He said

"Someone important, huh..."

…

The scenery was different this time around, there was no golden glaze to the roof.

There was no atmosphere to it, it was midday as Kosuto, his friends, and Kaharu had gone to the roof, carefully checking so that there wasn't a witness.

The lack of atmosphere proved itself to be true as Kosuto and Kaharu just stared at each other.

Two teenagers who'd hurt each other's feelings were about to fight, and they knew about it. As much as they hated to think about it, there was a chemistry between them that sparked from time to time.

It was inherent to their feelings. They wished for the experiment in the chemistry lab to end up in an explosion though.

As they slowly prepared to start, a reflection of their history showed itself. Ever since the first day Kaharu switched following his reputation, they'd been in a state of conflict.

They were relatively evenly matched, got on each other's nerves and constantly got contact as they ditched class and hung around the school.

It was a recipe for this situation, and the recipe delivered. It created a Curry with a perfect mix of ingredients, but the spice level exceeding human consumption.

Kaharu brought a guard as tensions increased, and a showdown was finally on its way. Kaharu said

"So what happened yesterday, Kosuto? You finally get tired of getting your ass kicked by me so you reverted? Probably best for you."

Kosuto instantly got a lot angrier as he thought about the comment. He took it as an insult, not only to him but also to the person he was with.

Someone precious to him.

That anger got channeled through his body as he looked up at Kaharu and initiated the fight.

He ran up to Kaharu and threw a punch that Kaharu easily dodged. After trying to retaliate with a hook from the right, Kaharu quickly stabilized himself as the punch had thrown him off balance.

Kosuto took advantage of the situation and threw a punch from his left directed Kaharu's liver. Kaharu managed to put up a guard in time, but he wasn't in safety yet. The punch had only been a distraction as Kaharu caught sight of a knee flying towards his torso.

Without the ability to block nor counter, he took a hit to the stomach as he hunched over. Seeing that as an ability to continue his streak, Kosuto took hold of Kaharu's head and put him in a headlock.

Mimicking a wrestling move, he dropped towards the ground with the head, leaving Kaharu with a trajectory towards the ground.

*CRASH*

It landed as both of them hit the ground, Kaharu taking most of the damage in the fall.

Kaharu, who'd unsuccessfully tried to get out of the headlock, summoned strength to his upper back as he managed to shift the scale of power in his favor and push Kosuto to the ground with his head against it.

He got out of the headlock and was about to throw a punch when Kosuto used his right leg to throw a powerful kick at Kaharu, which worked as he quickly fell over. He hadn't expected it, so he paid the price.

Kosuto quickly rose to his feet as he went over to Kaharu's lying body and started kicking it.

This time, Kaharu had been the one with bad luck.

They were both fighting over the same thing in essence, but the winner had been decided.

Kosuto continued his kicks as he counted the paybacks

"This is for insulting me!"

*KICK*

"This is for hurting Tomohisa!"

*KICK*

"And this is for talking about Yokosu!"

*KICK*

The last kick had extra energy to it that really hurt, like the kick itself had something against Kaharu Kahari.

Kosuto thought about continuing, but decided to stop. He'd been shown mercy the last time, so he would return the favor and show him respect.

He deserved that at least, that's what Kosuto thought as he walked away from the hurt Kaharu towards the box. His supporters were prepared to leave the place to help fix up Kosuto as he'd been pretty hurt as well but stopped in their tracks as they saw something

"Where… do you think you're going, bastard?"

Kosuto turned around in surprise, Kaharu was rising from his damaged position. He looked incredibly hurt as he pulled himself up, and hunched over while staring right at his opponent. Kosuto looked at him in surprise for a moment, until he got excited about a direct continuation.

"Maybe you should be the one to learn when to quit, huh, Kaharu!?"

It could be likened to an activity to pass the time to Kosuto.

At its core, fighting like this was just something to pass the time with. A cruel and pride-filled way to pass the time, while it in a way strengthened their bond.

It was the materialization of bittersweetness, two teenagers in their prime of youth, sharing blood, sweat, and tears as they fought to protect what they considered to be important to them, while nothing being at stake.

No one would die if they didn't fight, no one would get hurt nor would anyone be in danger, but yet they spoke to each other with their fist.

Communicating in the best way they knew.

Maybe they did it to pass the time.

Maybe they did it to protect what mattered to them, and their pride.

Maybe they did it because they were confused as to what they were supposed to do in life.

Maybe they did it because without it, they were more hollow and lonely than they could accept.

Both Kaharu and Kosuto didn't know, nor did the thoughts cross them even once during the unfolding of their destiny.

They were only living in the moment as they continued, punch after punch, kick after kick.

At the end, they were both left on the ground with thoughts about various things.

But the one to rise at the end was Kosuto, who managed to start walking towards the exit.

With a sympathetic look thrown at Kaharu, Kosuto started walking towards the box.

Kaharu Kahari had lost a fight.