“R-Reicchan, you’ve changed.” Asuka gave me a strange look.

“Huh, what do you mean?” I asked with a questioning expression.

“Nee-san! Stop, you’re embarrassing me!” shouted Kei-chan in my arms. 

My cute and adorable little brother was entering his first day of middle school! I was so happy that I couldn’t hold back from hugging him at the gate entrance of Yazawa Middle, which luckily was on the way to Yazawa High. Kei-chan and I had become closer since our parents’ separation, which made me extremely happy as well as extremely reluctant to be parted from him. 

“You’re turning into a bro-con, Reicchan!” Asuka said between peals of laughter. 

I gave an aggrieved expression. It wasn’t my fault; Kei-chan was just too cute! His chubby cheeks that still had baby fat, his cheeky but sticky attitude; all of it was too moe! 

“I’m gonna be late for class!” Kei-chan pushed me away with an embarrassed expression. 

“Okay, I’ll pick you up after school!” I said happily, ruffling his messy black hair. 

“Nee-san!” He whined, running away after shooting me a glare. 

“Okay, okay, we’re gonna be late too, Reicchan!” Asuka hooked my arm with hers and dragged me away from the gate entrance. Luckily, Yazawa Middle and Yazawa High were only a couple of blocks away. 

A crowd of energetic looking youths entered the front gates. Asuka looked around excitedly, waving every now and then to a few friends and acquaintances of hers. Luckily, due to my previous loner personality, I didn’t have any friends other than Asuka so no one really bothered me. I was a little sad at first thinking about it, but now it’s better that people didn’t know me well. If I happen to change a bit now, they won’t notice too much of a difference I think. 

“Wow, look at them!” 

“How scary~” 

“But I can’t look away, Ueta-senpai is so handsome!” 

“Hush! Don’t let Inoue-senpai hear you! She’s insanely jealous of anyone who likes Ueta-senpai. I mean, they’re dating after all! Who would like people that lust after your own man?” 

Many voices erupted in whispers around them, causing Asuka to look around in curiosity. It wasn’t long before we spotted a particularly eye-catching group of people. 

A group of ten or so people stood in the shadows of the trees near the open space in front of Yazawa High. They seemed to be looking at the crowd of first years with interest as we all headed to the gymnasium for the entrance ceremony.

“Woooow, look at all these fresh faces!” One of the people in the eye-catching group said out loud. 

“So many cute young girls.” A mediocre-looking man with an old-fashioned looking pomp hairstyle on his head. He grinned at all the students walking past with a mischievous look. 

One of the girls in the eye-catching group spoke up in a disgusted tone. “Don’t be so disgusting, Kimura. The cops’ll charge you for harassment just for that lecherous gaze.” 

“Mind your own business, Sasaki.” The pomp-hair young man named Kimura retorted. 

“It’s not fair that all the freshman guys are mediocre or ugly.” Another girl complained. 

Kimura rolled his eyes. “It’s because y’all two-faced bitches compare everyone to Ueta-senpai. He doesn’t count!” 

“Well, that and most of the good-looking guys go to Kaisei High, the all boy’s school.” The girl named Sasaki said, running her hand through her long blonde hair with shaved sides. 

“Wow, I wonder who they are.” Asuka said with a curious glance. 

“They’re just delinquents,” A passing student said with a look of distaste on his face. “A couple of flashy nobodies that strut around like they own the place.” 

“No, they’re the elites of YZW Gang! They basically rule this school...” Another guy, who looked a little flashy with his hair coiffed back, spoke in an excited manner. 

“Like I said, just a small gang of nobodies.” The passing student walked away with a shake of his head. 

YZW Gang? It sounded vaguely familiar… 

However, Asuka and I didn’t waste much time contemplating irrelevant people. We entered the gymnasium and took our seats. As the crowd continued to shuffle in, there was a buzz of excitement in the air. When all the seats were filled, the teachers stepped to the stage and introduced themselves. Then the representative of our class, the top student, spoke in front of the class. 

Yazawa High was a mixture of students from the area, coming from many different middle schools. The majority of the first year student body came from Yazawa Middle, but there were also a few from other private and smaller public schools. 

“Ah, if you wouldn't have enrolled in school so late, I bet you’d be up there as the first year rep!” Asuka leaned over and whispered to me. 

I shook my head. “No, thanks. I’m good.” This may sound a bit cocky, but I already know I’m smart if I apply myself. I’ve already lived a life striving to be the best in everything. Now, I just want to relax, enjoy my days and take care of the people I love. 

“Ah, ah~ What a waste of your smart brain.” 

Someone in front of us turned around to shush us. 

Asuka and I both looked at each other and laughed quietly. 

Once the entrance ceremony ended, the first year students were divided into their respective classes and returned to their classrooms. As students who attended the prestigious all girls’ Shohoku Middle School, Asuka and I had pretty good academic standing. Since I applied late, I was unable to get into class 1-A, therefore, both Asuka and I ended up in class 1-B. 

A lanky middle-aged man stood behind the teacher podium and gestured to the blackboard. “Welcome, Yazawa High’s Class 1-B. You can refer to me as Harada-sensei. I will be your homeroom teacher for this year.” He pushed up the glasses on his face and gave a welcoming smile. 

Everybody gave introductions as always, and a pretty young girl with a cheerful personality was chosen as class representative. Her name was Sachie Kobayashi, and she came from Yazawa Middle so she knew quite a lot of people. 

The rest of the day was rather uneventful as the class got acquainted with one another. 

“Wow, you’re really pretty! I don’t think I’ve seen you at school before.” A cute young girl ran up to Asuka with a curious expression on her face, glancing between the two of us. “You guys aren’t from Yazawa Middle, so you must be from one of the neighboring middle schools right?”

“Mai-chan, that’s rude to just assume things about people.” Kobayashi scolded, but she still kept a smile on her face as she sat down with a few other girls who were also curious about Asuka and myself. 

“Sorry, sorry! I’m Mai Fujiwara, but you can just call me Mai-chan!” The cute young girl smiled cheerfully, showcasing a cute set of dimples on her round cheeks. 

“Nice to meet you Mai-chan! My name is Asuka Kudo. You can call me Asuka-chan!” My childhood friend returned the smile with a friendly expression. Asuka really was outgoing and great at making friends. “This is my best friend, Reiko Ikeda. We both went to Shohoku Middle School!” 

“Ah!” Fujiwara clapped her hands together. “Now I know why you look familiar! I’ve seen you guys at the girls’ soccer games!” 

“Yep, that’s us! We used to play on the middle school soccer team.” Asuka said proudly. 

“Oooh, are you guys going to join the Yazawa High soccer club?” Fujiwara inquired in excitement. 

Asuka looked at me. I shrugged in response. “Uh… Maybe? We’ll see, I guess!” She replied for the both of us.  

Honestly, I didn’t really care for small talk between strangers, but I kept an amicable attitude because of Asuka. She loved meeting new people and making new friends, so I answered as nicely as I could. After going through the formalities of meeting every girl in class as well as exchanging numbers, I was emotionally and mentally drained. 

Asuka, however, seemed quite excited and began to ask more questions about Yazawa Middle and High school. 

“What was up with the people standing outside before the entrance ceremony?” Asuka asked in a curious voice. “What’s the YZW gang?” 

“Um…” Fujiwara looked over at Kobayashi with a bit of a nervous expression. “That’s a bit difficult to explain.” 

Kobayashi sighed, scratching her head with a slightly wary expression. “The YZW gang is made up of delinquent students from Yazawa Middle and High school. There’s a boss in every school year. Basically, they sort of run the area and protect the students from other gangs. But… Well, the new head of YZW is a couple, and their followers have become rather unruly lately.” 

Fujiwara nodded her head and took out her phone, displaying a few photos for visual reference. The first picture showed a young couple who very blatantly seemed to have superior looks, just like an idol would. The young woman had bright peach-shaped eyes that were honey-colored, and her hair was dyed a golden blonde; she had a nice shapely figure with a love-filled expression on her face as she stared at the young man beside her in the photo. The young man had a handsome appearance, sporting matching golden brown hair and eyes filled with confidence. Clearly, he knew he was handsome, and his charismatic aura displayed his full attractiveness. Though, in my eyes, he looked pretty flashy and fake. Girls seemed to like these ‘suave’ type males nowadays. 

“They rose into power during their second year, overtaking the previous head of YZW. The girl is named Fuyuko Inoue, currently a third year high school student. Next to her is her boyfriend, and YZW’s most handsome male student, Kenichi Ueta.” Fujiwara explained as she clicked through the pictures. 

I wasn’t interested in them as much, but I kept a half ear open anyway while lazily lying down on my desk with my arms propped up in a sleeping position. I closed my eyes and let the voices of other people lull me into a half-sleepy state. 

Returning to high school was a little nerve-wrecking, but that wasn’t what had me scared and on edge for the past week, so much so that I kept losing sleep over it. 

In my previous life, Asuka died in our first year of high school. That meant that Asuka would die this year. I wasn’t around in my previous life, but now that I hadn’t transferred to the private school, I should be able to prevent that from happening. As my memories recalled, Asuka killed herself by jumping into the river at night. Police concluded that she most likely was depressed after coming to a public school and having no friends in her class; thus, she ended up killing herself. At that time, I was also depressed about her death, and it was also one of the many reasons why I never returned to my hometown to see my mother or Kei-chan. 

Thinking about Asuka’s death now, I knew something was off, especially after seeing how Asuka behaved on the first day of school. Even without me around, Asuka was naturally cheerful and friendly. Many of the girls in class already had a positive impression of her. There was no way that Asuka had no friends in this class, but the police had concluded as such. That means that no one admitted to being Asuka’s friend; she was deliberately being isolated somehow. And even if she was being isolated or bullied, I had few doubts that Asuka would kill herself because that would mean leaving her grandmother alone, which was something Asuka would never do. Therefore, it was only logical to conclude that:

1. Asuka was being bullied, so jumping into the river was an act of bullying that accidentally resulted in her death.
2. Asuka was being bullied, and her bullies had deliberate intention to kill Asuka by making her jump into the river at night. 

Either way, there was no way in hell that I would let anything happen to Asuka now that I was finally starting my second chance at life. And if anybody tries to fuck with my friends or family, there’ll be hell to pay.