Word had quickly spread throughout Iruma High that Kouta and the other top guys were going to be having a showdown with the eighth generation of Hitokiri. Kouta had said to keep it quiet, but that lasted all of a minute. The rumour soon reached other schools and before you knew it, it seemed like all of Ueno was buzzing about the fight.

Kaoru sat in her room sipping from a cup of coffee as she listened to music and browsed the internet on her computer. It was only early on a Friday night, but still she was the only person awake in her house.

Her phone vibrated as she received a text. It was from Yumi. She picked up her phone to read it.

“You going to the fight tonight?”, it read.

Kaoru was hardly shocked. Everyone at school that day had been buzzing about how the legendary gang Hitokiri were back and how those new kids from Australia had become prospective members. Obviously Kaoru knew that Jamie wasn’t exactly an angel, but she had still been somewhat surprised to hear that him and Louis were running with a gang.

“Why would I”, she replied.

Yumi was quick to reply. “Because your boyfriend’s gonna be there.”.

”I haven’t spoken to Jamie since what happened at Okamimachi station”, she messaged back. It was true, she hadn’t, and she was starting to wonder why. Was she embarrassed or ashamed of what had happened, or did the date just not go as well as she had planned?

“So it’s over with that guy before it even started, good riddance. You dodged a bullet girl!”, Yumi texted back, followed up with “Anyway, if you’re not doing anything, do you wanna come and stay over?”.

“Sorry, I’m pretty tired, maybe tomorrow night?”, Kaoru replied.

“Yeah, tomorrow night’s good”, Yumi texted back.

Kaoru was lying, she wasn’t tired, in fact the coffee had left her feeling wide awake. Truth be told, she was considering going to the fight. She still couldn’t stop thinking of Jamie fighting those guys in the train station. She couldn’t properly explain why, but she wanted to see it again.

She sat in her room for a bit, staring idly at her computer screen and checked the time. It wasn’t too long until the fight was scheduled to start. If she left now, then she could still make it to Nishimachi Park on time.

“Fuck it” she muttered to herself. She leapt from her desk chair and quickly got changed, taking a couple of minutes to quickly apply makeup in her mirror before leaving her room.

She walked through her house slowly, making as little noise as possible so as not to wake anyone.

“Let’s hope I don’t regret this”, she thought to herself as she pulled the front door closed behind her.

 

---

 

Kouta, Shinsuke, Suzuki and about 20 other Iruma High delinquents were leaning up against a tree in Nishimachi Park, smoking and awaiting the arrival of their opponents. The park was small, and surrounded by buildings on all sides. More and more spectators began to funnel in through the narrow entryways as the fight drew closer and closer.

“Seems like word’s spread further than just Ueno”, Shinsuke said.

“What do you mean?”, one of the Iruma High delinquents asked. “Well, see those guys over there by the swing set”, Shinsuke said, pointing with his head. “Pretty sure they’re with the Fire Walkers out of Akihabara. And see those posh looking guys chilling against the wall over there? They’re SSS from Ginza”.

“SSS?”, the delinquent asked, puzzled.

“Silver Soul Slayers”, Shinsuke repiled between puffs of his cigarette.

“Fucking hell, seems like half of East Tokyo’s here then”, The Iruma High Delinquent said.

“Probably wanting to get a look at the new generation of Hitokiri”, said Shinsuke.

Ken chuckled confidently as he leaned up against the tree. “Well they’re not going to want to blink, because we’re gonna be finished with them real quick! Isn’t that right boys?”

The Iruma High guys yelled and hollered in response to Ken, some of them fist bumping and others thumping their chests in an attempt to hype themselves up.

The group from Iruma High stood and waited for their opponents. Several minutes passed by, but there was no sign of Ken and the others. Shinsuke checked the time on his phone.

“They should have well and truly been here by now”, he said.

Whispers began to spread through the crowd. “What the fuck are Hitokiri?’”, “Shouldn’t they be here by now”, “Maybe the chickened out”, “Maybe there isn’t an eighth generation after all”.

Kouta stepped forward from the tree. “It seems that Ken Fukujima and the rest of his crew are too pussy to face me!”, he yelled, his voice booming, making sure that every one there could hear him. “All of you here can see that this is the power of Iruma High! We’re so feared that the legendary Hitokiri don’t even want to face us”.

Two of the Fire Walker members from Akihabara leaned in to whisper to each other as Kouta boasted in front of the crowd.

“Pfft, who the fuck do these people think they are?”, one said. “I know right?”, said the other. “What the fuck even is Iruma High? Never heard of it”.

Kouta began to swagger back to the others under the tree. “Come on guys, they’re not coming, let’s get out of here”.

As soon as those words left his mouth, the sound of a car engine drifted into the air. It wasn’t just any car, you could tell by the volume and the distinct sound of turbo flutter as it shifted gears that it was heavily modified. Kouta spun around, looking towards one of the entrances to the park as the car got closer and began to rev loudly. A split second later, and Ken’s GT86 came into view as it turned the corner, driving through the entrance of the park, followed shortly after by Shohei’s van.

The cars pulled to a stop, the GT86 rumbling and revving for a moment, before the engine turned off. The crowd all stared at the vehicles, intrigued by this sudden arrival. The doors to the 86 flung open. A moment later, and Ken and Hiroshi stepped out. Shohei, Taka, Riku and Ginji hopped out of the van, and all six of them stood together in front of Ken’s car. They each wore black jackets with the gang’s emblem of the crossed kunai and the kanji for Hitokiri emblazoned across the back.

Ken began to lead the six Hitokiri members slowly towards the group from Iruma High. The crowd began to whisper again, mesmerised by the entrance of the eighth gen.

“There they are!”, said one voice. “It’s the crossed Kunai! It wasn’t a rumour. Hitokiri lives!”, said another. “I knew they wouldn’t bitch out!”, another added.

“Sorry we’re a little late!”, Ken called out.

Kouta snarled. “You’re lucky we don’t force you to forfeit for being late!, he screamed.

“You guys would be the lucky ones in that scenario!”, Ken said with a smirk. “So how do you wanna do this?”.

Kouta looked the group over. “Hold on!”, he said. “Where are the new guys? That Gaijin that we fucked up the other day and his brother?”.

“Oh don’t worry about them!”, Ken said. “They’ll be here in good time. For the time being, why don’t you worry about us?”.

Kouta wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t gonna let the other Iruma High delinquents see that. “We’ll do one on one fights”. He barked. “There’s six of you, so we’ll make it best of six. First to 4 wins!”.

Ken nodded. “Alright, suit yourselves!”.

“We’d be happy to take all of you pussies on at once!”, Shohei called out, antagonising his opponents. One of the Iruma high guys went to run at him, but he was held back at another.

Shohei laughed. “Keep your fucking dogs on a leash Kouta!”, he yelled, laughing at the mo-hawked leader.

Kouta stared daggers at Shohei. “Enough talking!”, he barked. “Pick your first fighter!”.

Suzuki tapped Kouta on the shoulder. “Boss, I wannna go first if that’s fine with you?”.

“Get your fucking hand off me!”, Kouta snapped back at the bulldog like delinquent. “You already lost to one of them. You’re sitting this one out”.

“But…..”,

Kouta cut Suzuki off, before he could even get out a reply. “No buts, I’ve made up my mind. Shinsuke!”, he called to his right hand man. “You’re up first!”.

Shinsuke nodded and began to walk forward out towards Hitokiri.

On the Hitokiri side, Taka stepped forward. “I got this first round guys”, he said as he began to walk out towards Shinsuke.

“Do us proud Taka!”, Ginji yelled out at him.

“Don’t you dare fucking lose!”, Shohei added.

Taka turned back to them and winked. “Don’t worry, that aint gonna happen!”

The two representatives from each side met in the middle of the park. Taka brushed the fringe of his red tipped hair out of his eyes as he surveyed his opponent.

“Nice pompadour!”, he said. “Didn’t realise anyone actually wore that hair style anymore.

“You’re gonna be pretty embarassed then when a guy with this hairstyle kicks your ass pretty boy!”, Shinsuke replied as he put his fists up.

“Before we do this, I just wanted you to know that I’m the guy who gave those three guys from your school a beating they’ll never forget. Judging by the fact we’re all here tonight, it seems that they delivered the message I asked them to”, replied Taka with a smug grin.

Upon hearing this revelation Shinsuke swept in at Taka. The Iruma High fighter clearly had something to prove, wanting to make an example of his opponent. The Hitokiri fighter leapt to the side, dodging Shinsuke’s opening strike, and entered into a stance of his own. Taka was fighting with an open palmed stance and he was much lighter on his feet than Shinsuke was. He danced around him weaving in and out, teasing his opponent. Shinsuke threw another punch, but Taka darted to the side and sent a lightning fast kick into into his calf.

The kick was so powerful that it took Shinsuke’s leg from under him. Taka lowered his hands, staring down at Shinsuke.

“Come on, get back up”, he said, backing off a bit.

Shinsuke hopped back to his feet and again put his hands up. The two delinquents squared off once again, before this time Taka closed the distance. He jumped into the air, lining up a knee strike with Shinsuke’s head, but just as he landed, the green jacketed delinquent moved to the side. Taka turned to face him, only to be met with a big right hand square in the face, sending him stumbling backwards.

“Fuck yeah Shinsuke! Knock his ass out!”. The Iruma High kids screamed as Shinsuke landed the blow.

Over on the Hitokiri side, Hiroshi took a drag of a cigarette. “That was a good punch”, he said.

“Yeah”, Ken agreed, “He got cocky, I almost feel bad for what he’s gonna do to that Shinsuke kid now that he got a hit in”.

Taka wiped away a bit of blood from his mouth, then stared back at Shinsuke with a grin.

“It seems I’ve underestimated you”, he said. The grin suddenly disappeared as his facial expression became an almost emotionless glare. “You won’t hit me again”.