LOL it being months since the last update aside, i decided to quickly wrap up the draft i had for this since i'd found the time.
for anyone keeping up with this, i suppose i can't promise regular updates anymore-- but that isn't to say i'm not interested in continuing!! there is a lack of HKT fics IMO and i still want to help fill that hole
CHAPTER 3
“Dude, this popcorn’s gone stale.” Chikoku said.
Fukurotoji, while fumbling with a chewed piece of popcorn in one hand, sighed several times in succession. “Where did you get this crap? It’s like you scooped up all the popcorn residue from last week off your hands, shaped them into kernels, and boiled them in warm water.” She added, flicking the popcorn over towards the girl in the cap.
“Shut the fuck up.” Ota replied, shielding her face. “I tried grabbing some from the usual place, but there were cops around. The fact that they had all of our photos at the front with ‘keep out’ underneath didn’t really help.”
“Don’t be such a loser. Getting arrested is what being a yankee is all about!” Katakana said, standing up to add emphasis to her statement.
“Not everyone has bail money sticking out of their socks, be more considerate.”
Neji nodded, grinding her teeth in attempt to crush down the piece in her mouth. “If it makes you feel any better, I’d bail you out.”
“Wait, really?” Ota said, her face almost lighting up.
“Yeah, but you’d have to pay me back twice as much.” Neji laughed with the rock-like popcorn rolling around her tongue. Ota groaned, getting a handful of popcorn and tossing it in her direction.
“What are you, a loan shark or a yankee? Just die.”
“Holy shit,” Chikoku said, spitting onto the floor. “I don’t know if that’s my tooth, popcorn, or the rock I thought was chocolate earlier.”
Next to her, Goukyuu was starting to sniffle. “I was just trying to enjoy the shitty popcorn, but you guys kept making fun of it and now it tastes super bad…”
“Nothing we can do about that.” Fukurotoji called out, stretching her arms up above her head. Leaning on a nearby desk, she used her foot to move the popcorn bag a good distance away from her. She was about to take a power nap until she heard sniffling from another direction.
“Ah… it’s so gross I can already feel my skin breaking out…” Narushi was tearing up. She’d been clawing at her tongue in an attempt to get the taste off as the others rolled their eyes.
“Stop crying! That’s my job!” Goukyuu whined angrily, throwing popcorn at the overdressed delinquent.
As the banter carried on into the period, the door of the classroom slid open with a light bang. Sakura strolled inside, bag in hand. With the teacher hopelessly writing notes onto the chalkboard and students spread out across the class minding their own business, no one really paid any mind to her. Or, you could say, they were reluctant to catch her attention.
It’d been a mere couple of days since her fight with Bouyomi had taken place on the top floor, but it hadn’t taken nearly as long for the news of the upset to spread across the student population. The two of them had taken time off to recover fully, so in that time, people have been buzzing about their return. How bad did she mess up Bouyomi’s face, some wondered, while others speculated, what does this mean for the ‘top’ now? Sakura’s face was lightly bandaged with slight swelling, but as curious as they were about how much damage was done to areas unseen, it’s not as if the lot of them were about to ask. The girl had partaken in only two fights and yet, she’s managed to intimidate nearly every single one of her peers to a certain extent. Many of them didn’t even want to do so much as make eye contact.
But, as for the ones that did want her attention, it seemed as if they’d go to great lengths to do just that.
The seven girls surrounding the pile of stale popcorn had gone silent when Sakura had entered the room, fourteen eyes carefully following her as she made her way to her seat. By some luck of the draw, she’d been assigned to a desk only a meter away from where they usually loitered in the class, so she could definitely feel the stares against her back. It was unsettling, to say the least.
“Ara, Sakura is back.” Ota said.
“Oi.” Chikoku said.
“Sakura, come here.” Fukurotoji said.
“Miyawaki.” Neji said.
“Hey, Sakura.” Narushi said.
“Oi, Sakura.” Katakana said.
“O-Oi. Sakura.” Goukyuu whimpered.
Sakura attempted to block them out as she looked over the review sheet the teacher had given her.
“Sakura-sannnn--” Ota said.
“Get over here, Sakura!” Chikoku said.
“We missed you, Sakura-chan.” Fukurotoji said.
“Did Bouyomi make her go deaf?” Neji said.
“That would be ironic. But her ears are the same size, so probably not.” Narushi said.
“What the fuck? That makes no sense.” Katakana said.
“Sakura… Hey... ” Goukyuu whimpered.
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose, tapping her hand against the desk.
“Phoning Miyawaki Sakura. She’s from Kagoshima, wears her skirt about an inch above the knee. Big eyes and ears, slightly trimmed eyebrows.” Ota said.
“God, this tastes so bad. Makes me wanna die.” Chikoku said, tossing another kernel into her mouth.
“Miyawaki-senpai, I have a confession. I’m in love with you.” Fukurotoji said.
“Wait, are we really sure that’s Sakura?” Neji said.
“Of c-... Well, actually, it could be that Hori girl...” Narushi said.
“Oh, Miona? Mayb… Hold on, are you kidding!? That chick goes to a whole different school!” Katakana said.
Goukyuu said nothing, having already given up.
“What…” Sakura began, managing to shut all of their mouths at once with a voice that was barely above a whisper. “... do you guys want?”
Instead of having her come over to where they were sitting, the seven of them immediately decided it’d just be quicker to surround the girl at her desk and interrogate her there. A few of them pulled out chairs, either from empty desks or from underneath girls who’d been seated, while Ota rested an arm on Sakura’s right shoulder, Fukurotoji leaning on the other. You’d think that they’d want nothing to do with her for the sake of their pride, but they were really the only ones willing to gather the courage and have a conversation with the girl. In fact, they’d gotten extremely comfortable, much to Sakura’s dismay.
“Guess you didn’t get to see Katsuzetsu so quickly, huh?” Ota laughed, having expected this to happen. “I’m not surprised. Beating all of us isn’t much to brag about if you’re aiming for the top, you know.”
“What? Are you saying we’re not strong?” Fukurotoji turned towards the cap wearing girl, the others scowling at her just the same.
“I didn’t say we were weak, dumbass.” Ota side-eyed her, rolling her eyes. “I’m just saying that they’re on a whole other level, especially Katsuzetsu.”
Fukurotoji lowered her fists and sighed. “Fair enough.”
“Can you guys shut up! ” Goukyuu whined, rubbing her eyes. “I just want to hear about Sakura’s fight, but all I can hear are your annoying voices…”
“Fine, fine,” Ota groaned, turning her attention back to the seated girl. “So, how’d it go?”
------
Meanwhile, a certain musical club room on a certain top floor was also having their fair share of interrogative conversations.
Bouyomi’s absence had left them bewildered. Sure, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that she may have been the weakest link of their group of members, but even the worst kind of diamond was worth millions. As the ‘top’, it was their job to remain leagues above the next contender for the strongest, which meant that just one of them alone would be able to take on the entire school at once. (Which, to be fair, isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds considering their school didn’t have too many students to begin with) But it wasn’t as if they’d sent her out under Katsuzetsu’s name expecting her to soil it. That’s just how much faith they had in the girl, in addition to how much they’d underestimated the transfer student, not like they’d want to admit it.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Oshiri glared at the kneeling figure on ground, her voice in disbelief.
Bouyomi, who’d been on the floor and apologizing profusely for the past couple of minutes, bowed once again. “I’m sorry! She was just-- It was just--...”
“This was a pleasant surprise.” Kakuni leaned over the couch, resting on her elbows. She’d been doing her best to keep up a disappointed expression, but it wasn’t hard to see through. Her attempt at sarcasm sounded particularly sincere. “Honestly, this is hilarious.”’
On the other hand, Megaphone’s feelings on the matter could be seen-- or, more accurately, heard-- quite clearly. She was pacing around the room, screaming internally, occasionally stopping to kick over a desk. The floor shook as someone from the lower level hit the ceiling in order to shut them up, but it went unnoticed. Her frustration was enough to tempt her into wanting to punch a wall, but the best delinquents saved their fists for real fights, in the end. “DAMN IT!” She bellowed.
Katsuzetsu had been standing in front of the wall behind Oshiri, looking out the window as she kept an ear open to their conversation. Despite her arms being crossed and a seemingly indifferent expression on her face, she’d been listening pretty intently. It wasn’t every day that one of the top fighters in the school got pummeled by a new kid on the block. She took a deep breath and sighed, then turned her head to look down at her fallen comrade, who was still apologizing profusely to all of them.
“Let me go see her.” She said.
“No,” Oshiri replied, not even looking back, “it was probably just luck.”
Feeling her pride receive yet another blow, Bouyomi glared up at the girl towering over her, but grimaced immediately as she realized she was challenging the girl at a game she’d probably created.
Letting out a fed up sigh, Katsuzetsu made an attempt to push past the girl who was preventing her from leaving. With her strength unmatched she’d done so with ease, but Kakuni ended up strolling right into her path before she could get any farther. Oshiri made eye contact with the girl, a hint of desperation on her face that could easily go unnoticed if you didn’t know her like they did.
“Not yet, Katsuzetsu,” Kakuni’s serious face was only a little different from her amused one, “we can handle this. Seriously.”
Katsuzetsu’s eye twitched as she raised a brow. She didn’t completely understand why her members were so against the idea of her confronting Sakura, but judging by their expressions, she knew nothing she did would convince them otherwise. They hadn’t known each other for too long, but she knew them well enough to realize that fighting all of them at once would just be a pain in the ass.
Saying nothing, she decided to go and lie down on the couch.
“Alright then,” Oshiri said, walking up to the pacing girl and placing a hand on her shoulder, “Megaphone, you’re up. Shrimp, got any tips?”
Bouyomi felt another blow upon hearing her nickname. “Just… I don’t know… Be careful? I mean… I thought I was beating her until she, like… pulled out her scarf…”
“Oookay…” Kakuni side-eyed the girl, “so, basically, she’s like the Hulk. Got some sort of trigger. Maybe if she takes her scarf off, try and put it back on?”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Katsuzetsu called out from the couch.
“I was kidding!”
“Anyways,” Oshiri rolled her eyes once again, “okay, just watch out for the moment where she takes her scarf off. Otherwise, just do what you do best.”
“What I do best?” Megaphone nodded, staring at her fists.
“Yeah. Like, scream really loud and punch really hard.”
“OKAY!” Megaphone exclaimed, then stormed out of the room.
“WAIT YOU HAVE TO PRETEND YOU’RE KATSUZETSU OTHERWISE SHE WON’T FIGHT YOU--”
“OKAY!” Megaphone said loud and clear to the ears, despite having already made it her way down the stairs.
----
Upon retelling her first experience with one of the strongest of the school, Sakura had failed to dismiss the girls from her desk as they bantered about what should be her next course of action. Sakura herself, while having considered a couple ideas, was more focused on getting this review out of the way. Now, she wasn’t particularly a model student, all things considered of course, but her mother had let her study away from home on the sole condition that she actually complete her homework. It was a bit of a problem back in her hometown, to the point where she’d been at risk of flunking an entire grade, so she was due for a wakeup call either way. Besides, she wasn’t stupid. She just didn’t have the drive for things she wasn’t interested in.
Nor did she have the patience to deal with seven girls throwing popcorn over her head as they chattered endlessly into her ear.
“Thing is,” Ogi began, whilst crunching down on a couple kernels inside her mouth, “Bouyomi’s a pretty gimmicky fighter. She can’t get rid of her… well, lack of a voice, so she uses it to her advantage. Look weak at first, then surprise ‘em.”
Chikoku nodded towards her, having gotten sick of the popcorn. “Yeah, yeah. But once the surprise is through, it’s not like she isn’t capable. She can hit good, just not hard, you know? That’s the problem.”
“You act like you’ve survived one of her punches,” Fukurotoji rolled her eyes.
“... Okay, but that’s besides the point.”
“I mean, I get where you’re coming from,” Neji spoke up, inspecting her nails for any sticky butter residue. “She’s just too reluctant. No offense.”
“But Bouyomi’s been working on it, right?” Katakana said. “Can’t go a long while without seeing her in those training gloves. I hear the bag a lot, too.”
Goukyuu scoffed at her. “What, you can recognize who’s hitting the bag by its sound? She probably just wears the gloves for aesthetic purposes. Like Fukurotoji. Or Neji’s gross pig tails.”
“What’s got your panties in a bunch, man?” Ogi smacked the hooded girl’s head, before immediately going to rub the injured area after seeing tears well in the girl’s eyes. “Guess you’re still sore after that accidental run-in with the queens a couple weeks ago, huh?”
“H-How was I supposed to know that the kid I was butting in line for ice cream was Kakuni’s little cousin? I didn’t even know that Bouyomi b-babysat for a goddamn part time job.”
“Maybe that’s why she doesn’t hit too hard. ‘Cause she spends her off time touching and making food for babies.”
“Sure as hell hit hard when she saw Goukyuu, though.”
“You know,” Fukurotoji said, leaning back on a nearby wall, “It’s kinda sad hearing about how many times you guys got pummeled by Ms. Pipsqueak, considering that Sakura over here beat her down in one try.”
But before the rest of them could chime in to defend themselves, the door slammed open once again, startling even the teacher.
“ANYONE SEE SAKURA?”
Megaphone called out into the room, while simultaneously basking in the look of fear mongering in her peers’ eyes. While it wasn’t exactly uncommon for any of the “top” members to be seen loitering around the school, especially for this member in particular, they usually never did so without reason. Whether it was to find another washroom as a result of their school’s lack of a budget for plumage or do the aforementioned monthly walk around to remind the shrimps that they will never see higher heights, they found little reason to leave the cozy abode that is their club room. Save for the times that they are bored beyond their minds, in which case they might go out and take someone’s food or something.
“Tell her Katsuzetsu is here.”
Either way, there was a purpose for Megaphone’s visit. And it was quite obvious, even if she didn’t state-- or rather, yell it upon her arrival.
The students who’d been loitering around the classroom turned their heads towards the girl who stuck out like a thumb at the back of the class, who was looking back curiously at the girl who barged inside, dubbing herself as Katsuzetsu. Ogi and friends raised an eyebrow at the girl who was clearly not the Katsuzetsu they knew and feared, but didn’t want to intervene at the risk of getting pummeled. Instead, they simply shrugged at each other and pointed at Sakura. “Right over here, boss,” Fukurotoji said, taking a step back, “Knock yourselves out, you two.”
Megaphone nodded, her expression turning stern. She turned her body, leaving the room and closing the door with a slam as loud as the one she’d done to open it.
“LET’S GO!”
Her voice could be heard from outside, startling them before they could wonder why she hadn’t just told Sakura to come while she was still in the room, before they remembered that it was Megaphone they were talking about.
After Sakura quickly stowed her books away into her bag, she pushed her chair out from underneath the desk, knocking on Narushi’s head which had been leaning on it. Narushi immediately patted down her hair before looking to glare up at the girl, but wasn’t able to as Sakura’s book bag decked her in the nose when she stood up to leave. Katakana, who’d witnessed the whole scene, turned her head to hide the laughter which would otherwise disrupt this incredibly tense moment, but Narushi took notice and proceeded to kick her in the face. The two of them, as did the rest of those in the room, waited patiently for Sakura to close the door behind her before they resumed usual business-- which, for them, was to start wrestling in the middle of the class.
“So, who do you guys think’ll win?” Chikoku said, carefully waiting a moment before speaking up so that the two wouldn’t overhear them, “All respects to Megaphone and all, but I’m gonna bet on Sakura. She’s a real all-rounder.”
“All-rounder, you said? Doesn’t matter if she’s decent at everything, you’d need more than decent defense to tank one of Megaphone’s insane punches. Girl’s got gorilla hands, I swear to god,” Fukurotoji shivered, having recalled a moment in which she’d experienced those gorilla hands face first.
Ogi thought to herself, thinking back to the fighting style Sakura had used that ended up destroying all of them in one go. “Yeah, Megaphone’s a hard hitter. But she’s kinda reckless. Sakura’s the opposite, she doesn’t waste a single swing,” she scoffs, “Hell, the chick didn’t even want to fight us to begin with. Probably thought we weren’t worth her time.”
“Tch, I’m betting on Megaphone,” Narushi spoke up, surprising the rest of them considering the fact that she sparingly participated in their fighter analysis sessions, “Haven’t you heard? She’s been in a real bad mood lately. Something about her favourite red shirt getting torn in a scrimmish. Totally understandable, by the way.”
--
With Sakura trailing close behind, Megaphone led her through the graffiti stained hallway. Only having arrived a mere few weeks ago, Sakura hadn’t really found the time to get a feel for the building, as the security that came with knowing a place well was somewhat comforting to her. But, with her having to catch up on a couple of assignments (they never really handed out too many, since, well, they hardly received anything back in the end) and having to leave school as soon as she could to have time to prepare her own meals, free times have been scarce.
Her old school wasn’t as yankee infested as this one. In fact, Sakura had gone to a relatively normal middle school, teachers handing out work and getting work back and all, so it’d be safe to say she wasn’t exactly used to these kinds of circumstances. Most of her delinquent business was done outside of school hours, but it wasn’t as if she never stirred anything up during class, of course. At the same time, the yankee culture back home wasn’t as intense as the one here, so Sakura hadn’t gotten the details about how wearing your uniform properly was actually considered weird-- but then again, she had to keep her reputation clean enough so her mother wouldn’t have to take a train all the way down to her local police station just to bail her out.
Long story short aside, Megaphone had taken it upon herself to open a door to a vacant classroom, politely beckoning for Sakura to come inside. Upon closing the door, Megaphone’s manners seemed to dissipate as she slammed it hard enough to audibly startle a couple of grunts who were loitering outside. Sakura, who’d only flinched slightly, gulped down any look of hesitation as the red coded girl sized her up.
“So,” Megaphone began, her indoor voice still being hard on the ears, “Did Bouyomi put up a good fight, or what?”
“She was a formidable opponent,” Sakura nodded to herself.
Suddenly, Megaphone let out a hearty laugh, going so far as to comically slap her knee and wipe invisible tears from her eyes. “Formidable? God, how did such a tightass like you ever become a yankee?”
But the laughing quickly subsided, and as she straightened her posture, the icy glare returned to her face.
“I asked if she put up a good fight, are you going to answer properly? Did her punches hurt?”
A bit taken aback by the sudden interrogation, Sakura struggled to get the words out of her mouth. “She… She was strong. Her punches were strong--”
“Good, you answered,” Megaphone smiled, clapping rather obnoxiously, “Now, let me tell you one thing, Sakura. Bouyomi’s punches are strong, sure. The kid can barely topple a sandbag, but sure. They’re strong.”
“But my punches? Let’s just say...” Sakura felt the incoming danger as Megaphone steadily approached her, but soon was met with a wall that prevented her from creating any more distance between them, “I like punching a lot more than Bouyomi does.”
Immediately going to grab her scarf, Sakura’s wrist met with both an iron grip and a knowing smile plastered over Megaphone’s face. As surprising as it would be to her club mates, Megaphone was actually rather observant, and a “pretty good” listener as she would say so herself. Figuring that she’d be next in line to be sent to Sakura in consideration of the unspoken hierarchy between the top members, she’d kept an open ear to Bouyomi’s breakdown of their fight. She also happened to catch a few tidbits of what the half a dozen goons were saying upon their exit, but it wasn’t much.
Sakura managed to break out of her hold, kicking Megaphone away from her. The girl readied her position, keeping a guard up as Megaphone let her fists sloppily fall to her sides. Megaphone knew herself that she was a sloppy fighter, but what did it matter when her punches had enough of an impact to even leave a mark on Katsuzetsu’s right arm (which also happened to be her most crowned achievement)? Each of the top members had a specialized way of fighting, and while Bouyomi’s feint didn’t seem to trip Sakura, Megaphone was confident that she’d be able to take the girl down.
“Pah!” Sakura let out, getting sick of being stared down by a hungry looking Megaphone and going in to throw a punch to her face.
Megaphone let it land, wincing for a moment before showing the girl her true specialty-- a counter punch.
Falling onto the floor as she felt double her own power sock her good in the jaw, Sakura, feeling pretty pissed off, decided to spit onto Megaphone’s shoes as she recovered from the blow. Megaphone was unfazed, kneeling down to take the fabric of Sakura’s scarf and used it to wipe the red tinted saliva off her boots. She was about to get up and call it over when the sounds of an outside conversation seeped through the door.
“D’ya hear that Megaphone dragged Sakura somewhere for a fight?” One voice said.
“Haha, I was in the damn class when it happened! I was ‘bout to be like, ‘Oi, Megaphone, you’re too goddamn loud upstairs,’ but then she was all, ‘Hi everyone, I’m Katsuzetsu!” Another replied.
“That’s fuckin’ deadly. I’d probably start laughing on the spot,” another voice chimed in, “No disrespect to her, and God fuckin’ forbid she hear this, but she’d be an annoying ass Katsuzetsu.”
“Yeah, calm and collected tops are the best.” The first voice said.
“Calm and collected? Sure, but Katsuzetsu can get insane when she’s fightin’.” The third one said. “I see what you’re sayin’ though, she looks mad cool when she’s all quiet ‘n’ sittin’ on the throne ‘n’ shit.”
“Yeah, I’d be pissed the hell off all the damn time if our strongest fighter was a loudmouth like she is. Though maybe things would be a hella a lot more entertaining, y’know. Everyone looks up to the top, so maybe everyone would be screamin’ in the halls ‘n’ all.”
By that point, the voices began to trail off.
Sakura, who’d been listening as intently as Megaphone was, looked up to see the girl with a hard expression on her face. The two of them had gotten two different things out of that conversation:
For Sakura, it was that she was not, in fact, fighting the real Katsuzetsu.
For Megaphone, it was that she had a lot more faces to beat in than Sakura, at the moment.
But, having recovered long enough and seizing the opportunity, Sakura had lept up from the ground, ripping her spit ridden scarf off and threw it off to the side. She grabbed hold of the still kneeling Megaphone and headbutt her, waking the girl up from a daze. Realizing what was happening, Megaphone stood back up on her feet, deflecting one of Sakura’s hooks with her arm before knocking her down with another counter.
Sakura ignored the pain this time, grabbing hold of Megaphone’s ankles and yanking it back so that the girl would be an even ground. Megaphone had taken the chance to use the impact of her fall to drive the heel of her shoe into Sakura’s head, which had shaken the girl enough to let go. But as soon as she was about to land another fight ending stomp, Sakura rolled out of the way and stood back up.
“Why do you all keep lying to me?!” Sakura growled, making Megaphone let out a chuckle, “Why can’t I meet Katsuzetsu?!”
“Tch! You still think you’re worthy enough to even say that name?” Megaphone yelled, having kicked Sakura’s face on her way back up, “Quit underestimating Katsuzetsu like that, you cocky bastard! Just fucking die already!”
Megaphone latched onto Sakura’s collar, punching her with her good hand and keeping her standing up with her left. She felt Sakura’s legs go weary after consecutive hits, and was about to land another clean one when she felt her hand move off target.
Having managed to deflect Megaphone’s punch by doing the same technique that she’d shown her, Sakura took advantage of Megaphone’s shocked expression and landed a counter punch that was all too familiar to the girl.
It was at this point in time that Megaphone somewhat resented her high power punching, as being on the receiving end of one that was meant to double her own didn’t exactly feel too nice.
With that, Sakura watched Megaphone fall to the ground. She found it quite fitting, really, for the end of a fight with such a booming opponent to have such an eerie silence pour over the room.
the next chapter will be more katsuzetsu centric !!!! for sure!!! one of the reasons i started writing this was because i felt that katsuzetsu's character was not given justice in the show... but we will see if i can deliver that haha