ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ

୨⎯ It Starts With a Punch! ⎯୧

It was the year 2005 and I was seventeen years old. About to hit young adulthood, I was just recklessly punching my way off through the corners of each street I passed by.

Many would say I was too brutal for a girl, or I was resembling too much of a boy for my taste in fashion. Was it just about being cute and having tiny pink bows in her hair to be a girl? It didn't really have an effect on me.

I simply just didn't care. What would I look like if I were to kneel on the ground and apologize for being who I truly am? A fool, that is. That's the Y/n that I know. That's me, and this is how I usually live.

Along the Street 09, there was supposedly a show-off here, but it seemed like a team chickened out. "That sucks," I uttered as I sighed deeply. With my chin resting on my palm, I planted my face on my bare hand, exhaling a breath from extreme disappointment.

My classmate, who also happened to be in the same gang as me, chuckled upon witnessing my aggravated face. "You were looking forward to watching their battle," he commented.

I turned my head to look at his eyes, speaking with a gruff voice, "It was gonna be the highlight of my day honestly. And later on after the show-off, I planned to have a cone of ice cream that was being sold by the school gate. People said it tasted good."

He laughed louder than before as he heard my response and then replied, "Why not just buy it without having to watch the show-off? It won't really ruin your day if that ice cream was actually good. How about I treat you one?"

"For what?" I squinted my eyes a bit when I asked him. I had a subtle feeling that there was an ulterior motive behind his sudden kindness. The guy then answered, "I'm being nice for once. You looked really upset so..."

I got up and dusted my back. He, too, followed my actions. I looked behind and said with a hurried pace in my voice, "Thanks, Inui Seishu." Without any delay, I left the area and headed towards the school gate, enough to make it just in time before the ice cream vendor was going to leave. "What's with the full name though?"

Thankfully, we made it in time. In fact, we were the ice cream vendor's last two customers. Yes, Seishu also bought one for himself. As I took my first bite on the freezing cold chocolate flavored ice cream, my tongue was met by a rich, sweet, and delightful taste. How could one cheap ice cream taste so expensive? The best part is it's literally right outside our metallic silver school gate. I couldn't help myself but to devour the ice cream in four munches.

Seishu looked at how I quickly ate the sweet dessert and formed a smirk tugging the side of his lip. He asked, sounding sarcastic, "Don't you like it?" I then answered with an unbothered expression, "No, I'm just testing its flavor."

Seishu went back to the ice cream vendor and bought some more for me. I pretty much ate 2 more ice creams that late afternoon. Before we parted ways, he told me, "I'll update you once I get any notice regarding the canceled show-off earlier. Anyways, you're always up at night, right?"

I shrugged my shoulders at him, saying, "I don't know. I'm trying to fix my sleep schedule. Are you?"

"It's not consistent. I only stay up late when it's necessary," he simply replied. "Well, see you around at school, Y/n. Don't go missing a day."

"If I ever do, that means something." I flashed a playful smile before turning my back and walking toward my house's direction.

I never really liked the symbolism of the word 'home' since I had not felt it for so long now. I couldn't even remember when I last felt 'home'. How odd it is that I'm inside a house which is technically called a home as well, but I don't feel at home. I always wondered why it has been that way, or maybe I just didn't care at all anymore, making me forget about it.

"I'm home..." I said with a dull tone in my voice. Nobody wanted to hear it anyway, so why do I still bother saying it whenever I come back to this stolid house? At the right timing as it was, I saw my brother, Haruchiyo, completely walk past me, coming from the kitchen and walking up the staircase most likely to go into his always-locked room.

"Would it hurt to even say 'hi' to your little sister?" I spoke under my breath the moment I heard his door open and then close in just a second. "When will I leave this house to be honest?" I continued to talk to myself, softly throwing my school bag by the couch.

A familiar nagging voice then came from the backdoor located inside the kitchen, blurting out, "Why don't you leave? You know, you have your own freedom! I'm not forcing you to stay. One less mouth to feed if ever." It was the least thing I wanted to hear before I could enter my room and lie down on my comfy mattress.

He then had the guts to show himself, now standing by the doorframe of the kitchen. Our oldest brother, Takeomi, sure was totally mad again...just like every day of the week. Just gonna point it out, this scenario never changed.

Now, I was fully reminded of everything. Takeomi was much of a blabber while Haruchiyo was the literal opposite. When was the last time I heard his voice again? I was kinda forgetting how it sounded. Was it a gentle voice? Or was it similar to Takeomi's annoying, loud voice? Either way, I could handle Haruchiyo's behavior, but this? Absolutely not.

Pay me a million paper bills, then maybe I'll reconsider it. The probability of that happening, though, is less than one percent.

"I'll try, but I'll report you first to the police. For, hmm, mental abuse? Pretty much everything you've done to this household, to Haruchiyo, to me." I said with a provoking expression projected on my face.

Teasing him was the only thing I could ever do, but I could never physically hurt him. I mean he was part of a big shot gang back in his days. I can't lie about his strength.

Well, I sort of knew where this was headed. As usual, I was punched in the face by him. Surprisingly enough, he only landed one singular hit around my right cheekbone. It was usually two or three if I was unfortunate.

I guess I could say I was quite lucky for this day. Plus, it didn't bleed. Sure, it had a subtle purple tint to it currently, but that would fade by tomorrow morning. "That's another one point to your way of playing, brother. When will we stop with the physical games?"

I quietly chuckled to myself as my right hand was feeling the effect of the punch. Takeomi was already gone by then when I spoke. It might seem like I loathe him, I do really, however, he did take care of me. I guess this is how "family" is. That's the best I could do.

I yawned and felt exhausted as hell, so I ended up sluggishly walking up the stairs and on to my room which was right next to Haruchiyo's. If I weren't such a sleepyhead that time, I would've at least lightly knocked on his door and said something like a "Hey, what's up?" or a "How are you doing?", but I could do that next time. I didn't wanna abuse my own body as it already was.

I plopped down on my bed, my head was a perfect fit for my elongated silky pillow, and in just a minute, my eyes were closed shut. I missed dinner again, however, the taste of those ice creams that I ate were still lingering at the back of my mouth. Nobody bothered shouting my name to eat anyways.

I feel the need to drown in my own thoughts, bathing in my brain fluids as I sink to the deepest and darkest part of my soul, to shut everything out. The sound of submerging myself underwater is oddly satisfying to my ears. It's a kind of experience I would like to feel once in a while as it refreshes something inside of me, like my emotions get reset back to zero where I feel nothing and forget about the weight on my shoulders. Being around delinquents is just a way to be me and not some broken teenager. I'm not obsessed with fighting but, hey, it helps lift up my mood. I'll take whatever I can to make myself feel some joy because no one else can.

"God! What happened to your face? Did your brother do this to you again? Hey, look at me, Y/n." Yuzuha, my only ever friend in school, spoke to me in a concerned tone as she roughly grabbed me by my jaw and directed my view to her eyes. I blurted out, "Huh?" as I snapped back into reality, disconnecting myself with my infinite thoughts.

Shiba Yuzuha, with her usual self, planted her face into her palm as she seemed pretty stressed out because of me. She replied, "I asked what happened to your perfect face? You thought nobody would notice the discolored spot around your cheek, huh?"

"No... yeah." Her eye just twitched. I defended myself as I shrugged my shoulders, "I mean, you've seen it so many times, Yuzu." She then slammed her hand against my desk, the noise echoed inside the classroom occupied by only the two of us, and said with a triggered tone, "Does it hurt to be honest with me? Come on, you should seriously do something about your abusive brother. Y/n, will you?"

I took a second before I acted carefree, releasing a relieved sound and stretching arms sideways. "Hmm, will I? That's an interesting question. Oh right, will you join me later tonight?"

"Changing the topic won't help you get out of this conversation."

I then asked with hope brimming on my lips as I pretended not to hear her recent line, "You will, right?" Yuzuha rolled her eyes at me before grabbing her school bag and stood by the sliding door.

She then looked at me with cold, stabbing eyes, and said, "Get your shit together, Y/n. I can't help you if you don't want to help yourself. See you tomorrow." Just like that, she left the premise of the school. I guess she didn't appreciate my offer.

I try to stay positive most of the time when I'm around her. I honestly don't know why. It just felt nice to be around someone I can rely on. Maybe because it makes me feel the need to drop my independent self for once.

Yuzuha may look older than me, but in all honesty I'm a year older than her. People get confused sometimes about who's who and I don't blame them. We do have the same kind of vibe if I were to evaluate our friendship; And maybe the same family situation, however, she's a bit more fortunate compared to my pathetic life. She finally solved hers while I still hadn't, though I'm getting there (not really).

I suddenly felt a huge hand grip the back of my head. Damn, what's with me today and my exclusive thoughts? It kept me from being aware of my surroundings. Okay, to be fair, I wouldn't be like this if I was having family problems. I'm sorry, that wasn't nice to say. Please forget about that.

"Earth to Y/n? Are you inside your head again?" Seishu asked, tilting his head a bit as he watched my facial expression slowly come back to life. He then noised a small chuckle and said, "There we go. Hello, welcome back. I came here to fetch you just so you're reminded."

I made a thinking noise and then replied, "Yuzu's not joining me. She has rejected me countless times now. It's starting to grow on me."

Seishu took my school bag, resting his occupied hand on top of his shoulder and said, "Maybe she's not into this stuff anymore. Shiba siblings have some rough history with them in terms of gangs."

I exhaled a defeated sigh, saying, "Okay, you're right. Shall we go now?" He simply nodded his head and we left the school. "Thanks."

"It's no big deal."

Seishu and I headed to where our designated match was gonna be. Apparently we were gonna fight some bigshot people and "test" our abilities. To me, it just sounded like a death wish or some kind of massacre. What are we compared to bigshot delinquents? The gang we're in was somewhat okay but not above average in strength.

The first time I met these people, I thought I was in trouble for something but they just wanted a female representative in their team. It was weird to have these guys around me all the time. They treat me like their queen, so I decided to bring Seishu with me every now and then since he didn't belong to any group anymore, and, ta-da, here we are now.

"Yep, those are the guys.""Damn, they got a chick with 'em. What are they doing? Showing off to that gal? Pfft!"

I jumped off the stacked wooden bench and approached the leader of the gang. "If we were to lose this match, I'm quitting, alright?" I spoke to his ear. He seemed pretty fired up the moment he processed my direct message.

The look in his eyes spoke of determination with a hint of a provoked ego. The leader responded to me with a toned attitude, "You bet we're gonna win with you on our side." I think he was implying that I'll lose on purpose.

Half of me wanted to leave this gang months ago, but I wouldn't really do it intentionally. The massacre was gonna happen any minute now as we lined up against the deadly duo. They honestly looked cool as hell but I didn't know what to think of them. They look weak–

"Ah! Shit!""Motherfu–!!"

Those lines were the only things I kept hearing as I watched our members get taken down one at a time by those two. I pushed my way through the crowd to stand closer to them and to my huge surprise, one of them was oddly familiar to me.

"Haitani..?!" I accidentally shouted in shock.

My eyes were wide open as I got a glance of that blue and yellow hair. It instantly hit me that I was extremely loud with my voice to the point that I felt it echoing in the area.

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said with an uninterested tone, "Huh?" He then knocked me out as I was caught off-guard. "Who the hell are you?"

♥ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴇᴅ...