Toshi’s shoelace had been unknotting itself for most of the morning.

 

Not that Toshi noticed. He was very distracted by everything else. He had returned to school the day after he knocked out Madoka and, of course, he was the talk of the town. Everyone knew he had laid out Madoka, but how it happened varied as rumor often spirals out of control. It was an accident. She had been rude to Toshi so he did it on purpose. Madoka had been looking down on Toshi for being a boy so he did it in the name of GUY-POWER!

 

Not that many people held it against him. It was something funny to tease Toshi over, not to take seriously. Madoka was the top athlete in school. Toshi was, arguably, the hottest guy in school. While he did look good, it was his ‘forbidden status’ that had raised him up to near mythic status as 'the most datable boy in school'. Not to mention he was thought of as a saint by most. Only someone with a heart of gold would take a bullet for Naora, after all. For most girls in school, Toshi was OUT of your league. So they could only watch from a distance and admire the budding formation of the school's newest power couple.

 

On the other hand, the cheerleader's faction, as led by Sado Kingo, hated Toshi’s guts.

 

He wasn’t getting harassed, so much as glared at. Kingo made it quite clear what his opinion was, and everyone loved a good drama. More than one person told Ruri about what was going on, and she relayed it to Toshi.

 

“Kingo wants you dead.”

 

Toshi blinked at Ruri and her frank statement, “Really?” Ruri nodded, “Not that he’d ever try anything, but yeah. He’d love to see you dead, but he’s far too much of a coward to try. Expect him to settle on ruining your life until you give up Madoka.”

 

Toshi smacked his forehead, “I don’t HAVE Madoka.” He gestured into the distance as they walked down the second floor hallway, “You’d think almost killing her would discourage her from dating me, but Oh-NO!” He shook his head, “She pinned me into a corner. I had no choice but to agree to a date.” He tapped his chest, “I’m not the guilty one here. Madoka is chasing ME!”

 

Toshi stopped. He felt something. Something strange. He couldn’t put a finger on it, “Did you…” He looked around.

 

Ruri shrugged, “Did I… what?”

 

Toshi looked around with a puzzled expression, “I don’t know. Something is off.” He resumed walking down the hall, looking all around, except where he was supposed to be going. Not the smartest move as he approached the top of the stairs.

 

For a brief moment he felt his teeth begin to itch.

 

This made him tense up as someone rushed past him and gave him a rather harsh shoulder slam. The sort of shoulder slam you give another kid in the hallway when you don’t like them. Normally not a problem, except that Toshi’s shoelace had completely unknotted itself at this point and threw itself under his other shoe. This caused Toshi to stumble backwards.

 

The look on Ruri’s face when Toshi hit the railing and went over was quite the sight to see.

 

---

 

Meiko was a quiet student. 

 

She grew up in a temple. She had been practically raised from birth to work at the family temple. This wasn’t just a place of worship. The temple in question had rather substantial influence and many important artifacts were stored there. It was quite the business, especially when you considered donations and what not. Her upbringing made it difficult for her to relate to other people. She was brought up to be strong of spirit and body. She had a firm grasp of the truth and so it took a while to realize people lie.

 

She was easy prey for con artists and quickly came to distrust people. However, it was by sheer chance she met Hinako. She was standing up for someone else. Facing down Naora in one of their first clashes. It was the first person she had met outside her family that appeared to have the same values as her. So she jumped in and engaged one of Naora’s allies who was trying to sneak up on Hinako.

 

Meiko never threw a punch. She just stood there and blocked everything that was thrown at her. She abhorred violence, so her martial arts focused on soft style. She was an expert on being able to deflect and immobilize people. Hinako and her became friends. Meiko’s best friend. She might know the others in there circle, but Hinako was more of a sister than just a friend.

 

She was an average, typical, almost boring looking girl. She was so typically Japanese, she had this tendency to just blend into the background. She didn’t draw much attention and she was extremely unlikely to be aggressive about anything, so she didn’t have many relationships. Especially with boys.

 

When Hinako asked her to date her brother, Meiko had a really bad feeling. However, her friend asked her a favor, and so she would do it. Not that she knew how to date or anything like that. She would go on this date, try her best, and most likely that would be that. After all, her brother was a bit screwed up. Socially awkward, you might say. He had this strange tendency to draw way too much attention to himself. He was handsome, she was plain. He was very popular, she was unknown. He seemed to get caught up in all sorts of nonsense, she lived a dull, boring life.

 

 ~He was her polar opposite in every way.~

 

This is what she was thinking as she turned around the corner on the landing to see Toshi tumbling off the railing above her.

 

Meiko’s martial arts reflexes kicked in without thinking. She leapt forward in a sacrificial dive to catch Toshi. With a twist of her body she yanked his head up and cradled him in her arms, using her body to take the impact. She hit the ground first with a grunt as they then proceeded to roll down the hall and crashed into Naora who was hanging out at the corner in her usual spot.

 

“What The FUCK?” Naora cried out as she had her legs knocked out from under her and she fell back on the tumbling couple.

 

“TOSHI!” Came down the stairwell and the cry was quickly followed by Ruri running down the stairs as fast as her little legs could carry her. Everyone was gathering around to see what happened. Toshi was blinking and glancing around trying to figure out what happened. He spotted Meiko beneath him, “Holy Crap!” And quickly got off her. She let out a moan and winced, “Ouch.”

 

Naora looked at Toshi, looked up the stairwell at the quickly approaching Ruri, then back at Toshi, “Holy shit. Did you fall down that?” Toshi looked at her and nodded, “Yeah, someone bumped into me, I tripped and-” He looked down at Meiko, “Christ on a crutch, you okay?” Meiko slowly started to sit up, holding her head, “Yeah, I’m fine.” Ruri finally arrived and was checking out Toshi, “What the hell, Toshi! I thought you were dead for sure!" Naora had a look on her face like her world almost came to an end. She abruptly started to check over Toshi, “You okay? Nothing broken?”

 

About this time, the commotion had attracted the attention of a passing teacher. Also, someone apparently had texted Hinako, because she could be seen rounding the corner down the hall and running at full tilt. Toshi brushed off Naora, “I’m fine. Thanks.” He looked at Meiko, “And, amazing catch.” The teacher was asking what happened as Hinako came barreling in, “What Happened?” She glared at Naora, “What did you DO?”

 

Toshi held up his hands, “WHOA! We hit her!” He looked at Naora, “Sorry about that.” She waved it off, “It’s fine. I’m-” She paused and turned to Meiko, “You saved his life.” Meiko, who was trying hard to keep quiet and unnoticed at this point blinked uncomfortably as she became the focus of attention. Naora, with a most serious expression, extended a hand to Meiko, “Thank you.”

 

Hinako stepped closer and pulled Meiko to her feet and away from Naora. She glared down at her nemesis, “Why do you care?” Naora did a one eye wide, one eye squint at Hinako, “Oh. I dunno. He saved my life and I am extremely grateful for that?” She put on hand on her hip and tilted her head, “So maybe when she stopped  your brother from doing a half gainer into the concrete stairs-” She pointed at herself, “I’m THANKFUL!” Naora and Hinako glared at each other. You could practically see the lightning shooting out of their eyes at each other.

 

Toshi deliberately stepped in between them. He focused on Meiko, “Actually, I’m thankful as well.” Ruri spoke up, “Did you see who that asshole was who pushed you?” Hinako and Naora both snapped their gaze towards Ruri, “Someone PUSHED Toshi?” It had been a while since Ruri had felt this sensation. This time was a little different, however.

 

This time it appeared that TWO massive sheets of pure black rage had appeared before her. They gazed down on her with pairs of eyes that each burned with the white hot rage of a thousand exploding suns. The amount of anger pointed at Ruri at that moment left her completely paralyzed.

 

Toshi raised his hands and waved them, “No no no! Someone just kinda bumped into me. I-” He paused as he tried to remember what happened. He remembered that teeth itching sensation. As he thought, he noticed his shoe was untied, which was odd because he always double knotted his laces, “I tripped over my shoelace and fell back. I don’t think it was on purpose.”

 

Naora started to crack her knuckles, “I’ll be the judge of that.” Hinako cracked her neck, “No. I'll be the judge of that.” That is when a teacher cleared his voice, “NO.” Everyone looked at him, “I'LL be the judge, thank you very much.” He was on the short side, but seemed intent on throwing around his weight as a teacher, “Everyone calm down. I want the whole story.” He pointed at Toshi, “Starting with you.”