“I won't come.” Shin vehemently refused while being surrounded by Akira and class 3D's fist-fighters. Miharu went into the Principal's office to finally meet the Principal, hence, Shin was left alone with Akira and the other guys.

“Are you saying that you're not going to support Akira in this?” Ryou's voice rose a little higher for comfort as he eyed Shin. “Akira's doing this for you since you’re one of us and now, you're saying that you're not coming with us?!” There was a hint of disbelief and troubling accusation heavily evident on Ryou’s voice as he spoke.

“Going out there to confront them is not a big deal.” Shin explained calmly. “The problem is...” Shin took a pause. “Before you guys or above anything else, my priority is Kago-san. I won’t risk her safety again. If we pursue this… revenge against those Kyotei students, what assurance could I have that Kago-san will not be harmed? She’s one of us too, right? ”

“She's that important to you, huh?” Ryou asked mockingly.

“Of course, she is! She's his girlfriend, duh!” Taiki interjected his unsolicited opinion with an idiotic smile on his face, which only earned him Ryou and Akira's deathly glares. This made Taiki's smile vanish as he pouted and cowered in a corner muttering something like 'What? It's true...'

“If we are going to do this, I have one condition.” Shin spoke amidst the Akira's gang as they were planning to confront Kyotei Academy due to Shin's injuries. “I don't want Kago-san to be part of it. I won't risk her safety again.” He said with an unperturbed expression on his face.

BANG!

Suddenly, Akira, who was slumped asleep in a corner, rose up from his desk as he slammed both his hands on it. He looked like he was sleepy but the truth was, he was listening to the whole conversation. “Alright... We're not going to let Kago-san come with us to keep her safe.” He announced. No one questioned him so it was assumed that everyone agreed.

This time, Taiki laughed loudly like crazy which grabbed everyone's attention. “Ahahhahaha! Eh... Akira, I have a question. Hehehe How are we going to stop Kago-san from going?” By then, his question caught everyone thinking. They all knew Kago-san's erratic behavior and they all witnessed how she kicked a.. Apparently, no one wanted to know what it would be like to be caught in Miharu’s bad side.

Seeing everyone confused, Akira banged his desk again. “Yosh! Who's going to volunteer to convince Miharu not to come?” He asked.

No one raised a hand.

Taiki continued to snicker as Akira sighed. He looked at each of them in the eyes. But when he did, they evaded his gaze and looked away. Only Ryou and Shin didn’t look away but they were pretty much bummed as to how not to get Miharu involved in the fight.

“So… What are you planning to do now?” It was Shin who asked.

As if on cue, Akira’s gaze wandered through the door and saw Kenta peeping. A grin suddenly crept up his lips as he walked towards the clueless nerd. “You!” He pointed at Kenta who surprisingly, was not wearing glasses this time. “Do you want to be part of our crew?” Akira asked with a wide grin on his face.

With his eyes bulging out in excitement and surprise, Kenta jumped out from where he was peeping and stared at Akira with a wide smile on his face. “You’re going to let me join?!” He asked with a tone full of so much enthusiasm that it was almost too pitiful imagining him having to deal with Miharu. Talk about having the sheep deal with… hmm… not a wolf, more like a lioness… a very fierce lioness.

At the background, Taiki couldn’t help but suppress a laugh while the others shook their head in pity. The others merely looked at each other and grinned then started betting as to how long Saitou Kenta would be able to hold off Miharu. Ryou stared at Akira in disbelief while Shin remained nonchalant but had one of his brows raised, silently questioning Akira’s decision as the leader. Somehow, he was about to put Kenta’s life in a sort of unprecedented peril.

“Oi…” Ryou called out. “Akira, don’t tell me you plan to let him tell her the big news?” He asked with a hint of disbelief. It was Miharu they were talking about here. She, who had fought off with them against Kyotei guys without a scratch on her face while theirs looked like they were attacked by savages.

“Iie… I have a better plan.” Akira grinned. “And that includes you, Ryou.” He winked.

-oOo-

“Kago-san!!! KAGO-SAN!!!” Miharu’s head immediately perked up as soon as she heard Saitou Kenta shouting her name out loud in a tone of panic and nervousness. His voice sounded urgent so it immediately alerted Miharu, who was currently cleaning the corridors with a broom at hand. When she turned to the direction of the sound, she saw Kenta running wildly while failing both his arms in the air.

“Nani?”

“It’s… It’s Fuji-kun! He’s… He’s in danger!!! At the rooftop!!! QUICK!!!” As soon as those words escaped Kenta’s mouth, he suddenly felt a violent gush of wind past him, only to realize that it was in fact, Miharu breaking into a speedy sprint. Wide-eyed and shocked, Kenta caught himself at awe but soon ran after Miharu realizing that he had a mission to carry on courtesy of Akira.

“Ehh? Kago-san!! Matte!” He shouted as he ran after her.

On the other hand, the moment Miharu heard Kenta’s words, she felt herself launching forward in a reflex-like manner towards the rooftop. She didn’t ask why. Nor did she ask who. All she did was run on impulse. She didn’t even think twice to consider that Shin was her bodyguard and he was more than qualified to defend himself. The only thing that registered inside her mind was that, Shin was in danger and she had to do something about it somehow.

However, the moment Miharu went through the threshold of the door towards the rooftop, she was greeted by the sight of Ishiguro Ryou, calmly leaning by the railings. Confused as ever, Miharu tried to open her mouth to ask where Shin was but was soon silenced by the sound of the door being locked behind her, by no other than Saitou Kenta. As soon as comprehension dawned on her, Miharu’s expression turned sour as anger flashed violently through her crimson eyes.

“Gomen ne, Kago-san…” It was Kenta who apologized behind her.

“Nani?! What’s the meaning of this?!” Miharu demanded an answer. She didn’t even dare deny the anger she felt. All she knew was that she was betrayed and that she didn’t want to be standing face to face with Ishiguro Ryou. Of all people, Ryou was the person she least wanted to be with.

“Miharu…” Ryou softly spoke but was soon met by Miharu’s deadly gaze. Although his eyes were apologetic and tamed, Miharu continued to glare at him in pure and unrestrained anger. Whatever it was that happened between Miharu and Ryou from the past, clearly, Miharu has taken it to heart and has not yet forgotten

“You!” Miharu pointed at Ryou accusingly. “You planned all of this, didn’t you?” She asked with a fierce tone.

Pretty soon, Saitou Kenta was left out as Miharu and Ryou continued their seemingly silent war as they continued to stare at each other; Miharu, with her sharp and deadly crimson eyes aimed at Ryou, and Ryou, with his seemingly tamed and apologetic look as he stared back longingly at Miharu. If the scene were to be vaguely described, it would be a scene from a movie of reunited lovers who shared a bitter past. And indeed, it was…

“Iie! I didn’t… plan on anything…” Ryou vehemently denied. “…But since the opportunity of having some private time with you presented itself, I gladly took it.” Ryou replied taking a step forward. In all honestly, seeing Miharu being so furious at him broke his heart into thousands of miniscule pieces. God knew that he did what he could to protect her. Although it wasn’t as conventional as how his brother did it to protect Miharu, he did what he could. He never betrayed her!

“Don’t you dare take another step forward.” Miharu warned.

“Miharu, please, listen to me… Let me explain!” Ryou pleaded.

“There’s nothing to explain. You betrayed us. You betrayed Rei. Your brother died because of your betrayal!”

-oOo-

2 YEARS AGO…

“Find the girl!” A loud masculine voice rose up above everyone else’s as men in black suits came running to look for a sixteen year old Miharu, who was hiding in one of the dark corners inside a run- down building. Her long black hair was strewn carelessly. Her face was full of cuts and bruises. Her clothes were untidy and there traces of dried tears along her cheeks.

Miharu had been kidnapped by those men but fortunately, someone helped her escape. It was her dear best friend, Ishiguro Rei. He didn’t explain how he found her. He didn’t even explain how he managed to get through the men in black suits. He just came barging to the room where she was tied and kept, and helped her escape. Seeing as he had no time to explain, Miharu simply ran along with him, glad to have had help come to get her.

“You have to escape somehow…” Between ragged breaths, Rei whispered in a hush tone to Miharu as they were in hiding. He looked badly beaten up himself. There were cuts along his face and surprisingly, his hair was combed in such a manner like that of Ryou’s. When he came to save her, Miharu almost didn’t recognize Rei. She almost thought of him as Ryou if it weren’t for his lankier frame than his brother and his much softer-sounding voice.

“No… We have to escape together.” Miharu insisted.

“Listen… I’ll be okay. Those guys won’t hurt me… But if they find you, I’m not so sure they’ll let you live.” Rei explained. He momentarily looked around and made sure that they were safe before turning back to Miharu. “Stay here, okay? Don’t make any unnecessary movements. Don’t make any noise. I’ll be back…” Rei instructed and crept out of their hiding place.

Through the crack among the boxes where they hid, Miharu could see Rei standing straight. One man wearing a black suit found him but made no motion or whatsoever to take him. Instead, the man in black suit even bowed to him. It was as if he knew Rei. This made Miharu all the more confused. ‘What was happening here?’ She asked herself.

“What happened?” Rei asked. Surprisingly, his voice didn’t sound so soft this time. He sounded exactly like Ryou!

“The girl. She escaped… Honto ni gomen nasai, Aniki…” The man in black suit replied with a slight apologetic bow.

‘Aniki?’ Miharu mentally repeated. Aniki was a term of respect for someone’s older brother. Rei looked no more than a few years younger than the man in a black suit but he was being called as Aniki! Miharu was all the more confused. Furthermore, Aniki was only commonly used among gangsters… yakuzas… Miharu gasped as she began to figure out things. Suddenly, almost surprisingly, someone grabbed Miharu from behind.

“Aniki! I found her!” Another man in a black suit appeared. He was the same person who grabbed Miharu from behind and dragged her out of her hiding place. Miharu kept struggling out of his hold but she was no match for the man’s strong grip on her by her neck. Miharu momentarily saw Rei’s eyes widen in fear as he saw her being held by the second man in a black suit.

As if on cue, more men came to gather around Miharu and Rei. One of them stood significantly different above everyone else. He stood beside Rei as soon as he came. Other than that, he stood out from the rest because he had a distinct vertical scar across his right eye and he was the only one who seemed to stand up on equal footing with Rei. He placed a hand on Rei’s shoulder, as if restraining him from doing anything rash.

The man with the scar motioned for another man in black suit standing on his right. “Kill her.” He commanded. Almost immediately, the man standing at the right of the man with the scar raised his M-16 and aimed it at the young girl. Without flinching or batting an eyelash, he seemed as if he was trained to kill. He didn’t even care if he was pointing a deadly gun at a helpless sixteen year old girl. The sight was truly menacing.

Miharu watched in slow motion as the man who was pointing a gun at her, fixated his finger on the trigger. She could feel her heart hammering inside her chest as tears slowly fell from her eyes. She felt nothing else but fear and impending doom. Little did she know that she wasn’t the one who was going to die. In a blurry slow motion, Rei’s eyes widened as he took off into a speedy sprint towards Miharu. He forcefully broke off from the scarred man’s grasp and ran toward Miharu seconds before the man in black suit pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Rei at the back.
He was able to reach Miharu in time and shield her from harm.
The catch?
Rei lost his life.

By then, police sirens wailed at a distance. However, when Miharu lifted up her eyes to look at the man who killed Rei, she came face to face with Ryou. His expression was full of anger. He punched the man who killed Rei listlessly as he straddled him to the ground. Not even content of beating the sh!t out of the man, Ryou went berserk. He punched every man that was on his way. He even took another man’s gun and aimed it at the other men in black suits.

“DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I SAID?! I TOLD YOU NOT TO HARM THEM!!! LOOK AT WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!!” Ryou shouted in full fury as tears came streaming down his eyes.

It was then that Miharu pieced everything together…

Apparently, reality was a very bitter thing.

Rei pretended to be Ryou to get her out of that place.
Rei, her best friend, was now dead.
… And Ryou, her boyfriend, was a member of the yakuzas who kidnapped her.

After that incident, Kago Miharu vowed never to be weak again…
After that incident, Kago Miharu embraced the color of blood...
… now the color of her eyes…

To Be Continued…