"That bitch told on me," Hiro spat the next day before World History.

Minoru, always abhorrent of profanity, glared at him from the corner of her eyes but said nothing.

"Calling a girl a bitch does not make you popular with other girls," you told him, feeling defensive of Kimiko. She wasn't necessarily a good friend of yours, but she was still a friend and you didn't want to hear her referred to as a bitch... Even if she could be bitchy.

"I'm sorry," he said before whining, "I'm just so mad! I'm gonna be in detention for the next two weeks. And I have to pay for all the damages in the computer lab. My parents are pissed."

Kimiko wasn't usually a tattle-tail. After all, she never told on you for the surströmming prank. In fact, she even took the fall.

You thought Hiro and Kimiko really hit it off. She got so jealous over him looking at you that she couldn't stand to be in the same room as the two of you. Maybe she ratted him out as punishment for looking at another girl?

That didn't make sense, though. When she was jealous, she lashed out at the person she was jealous of, not for. You shook your head as you remembered poor Sumiko Doma and how her luscious locks were cut short.

So, at lunch, you asked her why she did it.

"Because I hate that motherfucker. I hate his fucking guts, and I hope he dies," Kimiko explained, as chipper as can be.

"Language!" Minoru scolded as she picked at her food without actually eating any.

"Sorry, Mommy," Kimiko simpered before stuffing a fist-sized pork bun in her mouth and chewing with reckless abandonment.

A thoughtful silence settled over the table before Minoru interjected with, "Aina tried to set you up with a boy named Hiro, didn't she?"

"Yeah," Kimiko said through a mouthful of pork and bread. Meat juice and saliva dribbled down her chin. "How'd you know?"

Minoru tut-tutted at her again before reaching across the table with a napkin to lovingly wipe her face. Kimiko beamed under her attentive gaze. You were just glad she was focused on someone other than you.

You didn't know how Hinata and Kimiko got used to all the babying. It was so embarrassing. You wished you could be more like Oshiro and not stand for that shit. But that would jeopardize your relationship with Minoru.

Then Minoru did something strange. She looked Oshiro dead in the eye and nodded. The larger girl stopped slurping her ramen and stiffened up before nodding back.

What are they saying? It made sense that they had their own system of nonverbal communication, given how long they had been friends. But that didn't help you, who had only really known them since the start of the school year. It was beyond frustrating. What, what, what are they saying?

...

There was a fight in the school courtyard later that day. For a prestigious private school, fights weren't all that uncommon. It was just rare for one to break out during school and not after school.

This could be a good thing, you thought as you ducked and weaved through the crowd surrounding the fighters. Oshiro's route started when she got into a fist fight with the main character. Like a true sadist, she fell in love with him after seeing how prettily he bled.

Except Oshiro and Hiro weren't fighting. Instead, Hiro was up against boys from Oshiro's little gang. Not only was he outnumbered -three to one- but these were athletic boys built for two things: agility and strength. Cruelty was just an added bonus.

It wasn't even remotely a fair fight. A pair of boys held Hiro's arms behind his back, kept him down on his knees, eliminating any chance he had of fighting back. It was overkill, really. One of them could have handled him.

Meanwhile, the last boy rained blows down on him. The first blow came hard and fast at his mouth. It appeared to hurt the attacker just as much as it hurt Hiro. The next was softer for it, a kick aimed at his belly.

Oshiro was there, but she didn't throw any punches, just loomed over the scene. It made you wonder... Did she orchestrate this fight or was she just a casual observer, like the rest of the crowd?

You had to step in. You couldn't stand idly by and watch Hiro get beaten into a bloody pulp. You ran up to Oshiro, grabbed her by one beefy arm, clenching fistfuls of her leather jacket in your hands. "Oshiro! Oshiro, make them stop!"

She just pried your hands off and shrugged you away as if you were an annoying gnat. "Sorry, princess, it's not my fight." Despite your pleading, she stayed on the sidelines, barely looking interested in what was happening in front of her.

Sure, Hiro was kind of an asshole, but most teenage boys were. No matter what happened that led to this fight, he didn't deserve to be beaten like an animal. No one did.

You did the first thing that came to your head. You threw yourself at the attacker, jumping up and grabbing his arm mid-swing. "Leave him alone!"

It didn't end well for you. The boy swung his arm back to throw you off and his elbow jabbed you right in the nose. He didn't even look back at you, just threw another punch at Hiro.

The fall split open your elbow, and his elbow may have broken your nose with how bad it hurt and how much it was bleeding.

It seemed that was the push Oshiro needed to enter the fight, however.

"Oh, you think you're a big man, hitting a girl like that? Square the fuck up," she yelled, advancing on the boy that accidentally knocked you down to the pavement. He made the mistake of turning to face her.

Unlike him, she knew how to throw a punch. One punch sent his two front teeth flying and him into unconsciousness. The two boys holding Hiro dropped him and scrambled away. She didn't chase them down, seemingly satisfied with her unique brand of justice.

You crawled over to Hiro, tried to assess the damage. "Hey, are you okay?"

He groaned as he rolled over onto the side that presumably hurt the least. "No. You?"

You let out a huff of a laugh to keep from crying. "No. Can you walk?" You climbed to your feet, one hand holding your nose as if you could hold all the blood in. With the other hand, you helped Hiro get his feet under him. "Come on, let's go to the nurse's office."