The first year students at Irura high parted like the red sea, pressing their backs against the wall, some of them visibly shaking as Kouta Murakami stormed down the hallway. The mo-hawked delinquent was flanked by his right hand man Shinsuke, a tall boy who rocked the classic pompadour delinquent hair style, and Suzuki, a small, bulldog of a boy, rocking a short punch perm.
“They’re just up here in the Gym”, Shinsuke said, nodding his head towards the double doors at the end of the hallway.
Kouta reached the doors, pushing them open so hard that they just about flew off their hinges, as he barged into the gym.
A large group of iruma High delinquents had formed a circle in the middle of the gym. They stepped aside as Kouta, Shinsuke and Suzuki reached them, to reveal the three boys that Taka had beaten up, kneeling on the ground.
Kouta stared daggers at the three boys “Who did this to you?”, he barked.
The middle boy started to speak, his voice shaking. “It this pretty boy. We thought nothing of him, but he was insane”.
“One guy did this to you, just one guy?” Kouta said, his voice raising even louder.
The middle kid bowed his head in shame. “He had a message for you. He said…. He said to tell you that you fucked with the wrong Gaijin. That Hitokiri is coming for you”.
“Hitokiri?”, Shinsuke said, surprised to hear the name. “They still exist?”, I thought they ended when them and The Flying Tengu wiped each other out”.
Suzuki spoke up, his voice a soft growl, just like the bulldog he resembled. “Nah, I’ve heard a few whispers that there’s a small eighth generation kicking around, apparently led by some guy named Ken Fujita.”
Shinsuke shook his head, “It doesn’t make sense though. A gang having the back of a foreigner. You know how it is with them, Japanese only. Always been that way”. He questioned Kouta, “You don’t think this Jamie guy you fucked up is a member do you boss?”.
Kouta took a while to speak, mulling things over in his head. “What was that name again Suzuki. Ken Fujita?”.
“Yeah, that’s it. Why?”, Suzuki replied.
“Just the name rings a bell. I swear my cosuin’s mentioned a real tough guy that goes to Makoshi High by the name of Ken Fujita before.
“But wouldn’t he know that this guy’s the Hitokiri president if he goes to the same school as him then?”, Suzki replied.
“Nah, not necessarily”, said Kouta. “If they’re only leading a small crew like you say so, then they might wanna keep it on the down low until they’ve built up strength”.
Kouta crouched down in front of the boys. “You sure you’re not mistaken about what the guy said to you?”, He questioned the middle boy kneeling on the ground.
“I’m certain!”, the boy replied. “Hitokiri’s coming for you, that’s definitely what he said.”.
Ken nodded his head slowly, thinking about what move to make. “Okay then, find out about these Hitokiri guys for me Shinsuke! I want to know everything about them you possibly can who they are, where they live, who they’re friends with”.
Shinsuke nodded. “I’ll get right on it”.
Kouta turned to Suzuki “Take some of the boys here down to Makoshi High and find this Ken Fujita”.
Suzuki nodded. He clicked his fingers at a few of the guys standing around the boys kneeling on the ground. “You guys come with me”. They all nodded and followed Suzuki out of the gym.
Kouta stared back down at the boys kneeling on the ground. “Thanks for the message guys, you’ve been helpful”.
The middle guy looked up at him, snivveling. “Can we…. Can we go”.
Kouta tilted his head backwards as he let out a laugh. “Of course you fucking can’t!”. He turned his back, heading for the doors with Shinsuke. “Take care of them boys!”, He barked.
The three Iruma High students kneeling on the ground went pale with fear as the doors of the gym slammed closed and the circle of delinquents began to close in on them.
It was lunch time at Maokishi High, and the students sat around in the courtyard. Kaoru and Yumi sat under a tree, each enjoying a bento box and some lemonade.
“So you just haven’t heard from him since then?”, Yumi asked Kaoru.
“No”, She replied. “Maybe I should try and call him.”
“Honestly, it’s probably for the best”, Yumi said, “You don’t want to get caught up in that kind of shit. Those idiot boys running around playing gangster. I’m telling you those guys are all gonna find themselves in Juvie”.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right”, Kaoru replied before taking another bite of her lunch.
“Must have been scary though”, Yumi added.
“Oh yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it before”, Kaoru replied.
She sat in thought as she chewed her food. While it was true that she had been scared as the group of armed delinquents attacked Jamie, she also found it weirdly exhilarating to watch him fight that like that.
“You should have seen him fight though”, she said to her best friend. “he was taking on multiple guys at once and winning”
“You’re smiling there girl” Yumi said.
Kaoru realised that she was in fact smiling a little bit. She quickly covered her mouth, trying to play it off.
“be careful”, Yumi added. “I don’t want you getting hurt”.
“Ken Fukujima! Where is Ken Fukujima?”.
The girl’s conversation was interrupted by a voice screaming across the courtyard. A few moments later, and Iruma High’s Suzuki, followed by a group of other delinquents from that school came strolling into view.
“What are guys from Iruma High doing here?” Yumi whispered to Kaoru.
A teacher ran out to meet them. “You guys can’t be here! Leave immed….” SMACK! The teacher was cut off as Suzuki backhanded him across the face.
“Shut the fuck up old man!”, He barked. “Everyone listen up! We’re after Ken Fukujima. Someone come and tell us where we can find him or we start breaking noses!”
A small first year student slowly raised his hand, shaking. “I… I can help you” The student said.
“That’s the can do attitude I’m after!”, Suzuki replied. “Get your ass over here young man!”.
The first year student slowly walked over to the group of Iruma High delinquents. “He’s ummmm He’s not here today, I don’t think. But I know how to access the student’s home addresses on the computer system. I’ll get it for you if you just promise not to hurt me or any of my friends”, he said.
The first year pointed to a group of equally scared and nervous looking first years sitting at a table in the court yard.
“Haha, of course we won’t”, Suzuki said as he slapped his hand on the first year’s shoulder. “Now lead the way”.
The Iruma High delinquents disappeared further into the school as they followed the first year student.
“What the hell is that all about?” Yumi asked.
Kaoru’s best friend suddenly found herself yanked up from her seat as Kaoru grabbed her hand.
“Come with me!”, Kaoru said in a tone showing concern. “I’ve gotta call Jamie! I’ve got a bad feeling that this might be related to what happened at the train station!”.
Louis was chilling playing a video game in his apartment, when he started to hear a vibrating sound coming from somehwere in the room. He paused the game, searching around for the source of the sound. It was Jamie’s phone receiving a call. Louis’ twin was still asleep in his room and as usual had left his phone lying on the coffee table in the lounge room.
Louis looked at the screen. Kaoru was calling. He assumed that she was probably calling to check up on Jamie. As far as he knew, Jamie hadn’t contacted her since the incident at the train station. He sat in thought for a moment, unsure about if he should answer the phone or not. “Oh fuck it”, he muttered as he tapped the screen, bringing the phone to his ear.
“Hello”, He said.
“Hello! Jamie, is that you?”, Kaoru asked on the other end of the line.
“No this is Louis, Jamie’s brother. We’ve never talked before, but we have seen each other ”.
“Oh yes, Hi “, Kaoru said.
“Listen Jamie’s sleeping right now”, Louis continued.
“Sleeping? In the middle of the day?” Kaoru replied.
Louis remembered that Kaoru hadn’t seen the end of the fight, she didn’t know that the group of delinquents had gotten the better of his brother.
“Yeah, um. I heard you were there when those guys attacked him” Louis said.
“Yeah, I was”, Kaoru replied.
“Well, they ended up overwhelming him and laying into him pretty good with those bats”, Louis said.
“Oh no!” Kaoru gasped. “Is he…. Is he okay”.
“Yeah, he’s fine” Louis replied. “He’s just a bit banged up, but it’s nothing he hasn’t experienced before. He’ll be back to normal in a couple of days. He’s a tough bastard my brother”.
“Listen Louis, I’ll tell you what I called to tell Jamie then. I don’t know if this is related or not to what happened to him, but a group of guys from Iruma High just showed up at school”.
Louis froze. Iruma High was were Mura’s prick of a cosuin went. He knew that this was definitely related.
“Iruma High, really?” He said.
“Yeah, they were after Ken Fukujima”, she added. “Do you know him?”.
“Fucking hell, this isn’t good”, Louis thought to himself.
“Yeah, yeah. I ran into Ken on our first day I think”.
“They’ve gotten one of the first years in the IT club to access the system and find out where he lives for them”, Kaoru said.
“Shit, well that’s pretty horrible for Ken, but I don’t really know what that has to do with Jamie”, Louis added. He was playing it cool, trying not to alert her.
“Oh!”, Koru said. “Well I figured I’d call and tell Jamie. I can’t explain it, but I just had a bad feeling about it”.
“I’ll run it past Jamie when he wakes up”, Louis said. “Maybe he knows something I don’t”.
“Okay, thank you”, Said Kaoru.
“Later”, Louis said before hanging up the phone.
He threw Jamie’s phone on the sofa and grabbed his hoodie hanging over the chair, pulling it over his head as he ran towards the front door. He quickly threw his shoes on, before kicking open the door, bolting outside.
“I gotta go and help Ken”, he thought to himself as he sprinted down the length of the balcony that ran along the outside of all the apartments in the complex.
The music was blasting loudly in Ken’s garage as he bobbed his head along to it while he polished his car. So loudly in fact that he didn’t hear the sound of Suzuki and five Iruma High Delinquents as they walked through the garage door. Suzuki pointed towards the speaker, and one of the delinquents walked over to it, turning the power off.
Ken popped his head up as his J-Rock playlist stopped. He was shocked to see the delinquents standing in his garage. It only took him a split second to instantly recognise that disgusting teal green colour of the jackets they were all wearing.
“You boys are from Iruma”, he said as he wiped away some sweat from his shaved head with the cloth he was using for polishing, before hanging it in his back pocket.
“Ken Fukujima?” Suzuki asked as he stepped forward.
Ken nodded. The Bulldog like delinquent scanned the garage. His eyes locked on the banner displaying the Hitokiri emblem hanging on the back wall.
“So I’m at the right place. Seems the rumours are true. There really is an eighth generation wearing the crossed kunai”.
“Were you one of the guys that attacked Jamie at Okamimachi station?” Ken asked.
“Nah I wasn’t there”, Suzuki replied. He motioned towards his accomplices. “But some of these boys were”. He walked slowly started to walk towards Ken. “Is that Jamie guy in your crew?”
“Probationary member”, Ken replied.
“Interesting”, Suzuki said nodding. “Tell me, what’s a bousozuku doing with a Gaijin in their ranks?”.
“Times change”, Ken replied, as he too started slowly edging forward. “And we’re not a bousozuku anymore. That term’s outdated.
Suzuki turned to the other Iruma High Delinquents. “Give us some space will ya boys?”. They complied with his request and exited the garage.
Ken cracked his knuckles and stretched out his neck then raised his fists as the two squared off in the garage.
Louis turned the corner into the backstreet behind Ken’s house as quickly as he could. Just up ahead, he saw five Iruma High delinquents, standing outside of Ken’s garage, staring into it.
“Oi cock heads!” He yelled out.
The delinquents turned to see the brown haired Aussie running towards them.
A couple ran to meet him halfway down the narrow street. Louis leapt into the air, cocking back his fist and delivering a devastating flying punch to the lead delinquent, knocking him out on impact. He kept his momentum, kicking off the back wall of one of the houses and kicking the second delinquent right in the head.
The three remaining delinquents ran to avenge their downed friends. “You’ll fucking pay for that asshole!”, one of them yelled as he he came in swinging.
Displaying that quickness that earned him the Panther nickname back in Perth, Louis easily manoeuvred out of the way of the his enemy’s attacks. He dodged a punch, and grabbed an Iruma High guy with each of his hands, smacking their heads together just like something out of a slapstick comedy show.
“Fuck that hurt!” One of them yelled clutching his head.
“This’ll hurt more!”, Louis said as delivered an elbow strike to his face, sending him flying to the ground.
He followed that up with a kick to the other delinquent’s knee, sweeping his leg out from under him and punching him in the face as he landed on the gravel. The final Iruma High delinquent swung for his face, but Louis ducked under the punch, grabbing a hold of his teal jacket, using it as leverage to throw him over his back. He hit the ground hard with a thud, and that was the end of them.
Louis began to run again, finally reaching the open garage door. He stared inside, only to see Ken and Suzuki absolutely going at it, exchanging strikes. Ken blocked a punch and sent Suzuki stumbling back with an overhand right. The pair separated for a bit, and the Hitokiri leader noticed Louis’ presence. He grinned, blood running from his nose down into his mouth and across his scar.
“Louis! You’re just in time to see me finish this son of a bitch off!”.
