The summer holidays were fast approaching, but despite that Makoshi high was seeing a wave of new transfer students. Word had spread quickly about Hitokir’s presence at the school, so pretty much every new student was a delinquent, looking to get in with the gang and make a name from themselves. They roamed the halls of the school, acting tough, intimidating people and getting into fights with each other.

Hiroshi ran a hand through his slicked back hair, before he lit a cigarette. He squatted on the floor in one of the bathrooms, accompanied by Louis, Ken, Ginji and Riku. “You guys see all these new kids we’ve got hanging about?” he asked.

“Yeah” replied Ginji a bunch of meatheads walking around, getting into fights. This morning one guy knocked a guy out in front of me, then looked at me, like he was seeking my approval. “

Yeah, I overheard a guy asking where the Hitokiri guys were. Because he wanted to ask to join” Riku added.

Ken laughed as he leaned up against the wall. “Well, I guess it was kind of to be expected” he said. “Hitokiri’s legendary around here after all as you all know, so of course that’s going to attract people wanting to join. Plus, believe it or not, Makoshi High actually used to be a pretty tough school back in the day. A lot of strong guys used to go here, even some of the members of the early Hitokiri generations”.

The door swung open and a first year walked into the bathroom. He was immediately met with the glares of the five boys already in there. “Ah, excuse me, I just need to go to the toi….”.

“FUCK OFF”, the Hitokiri guys all yelled in Unison at the first year. He went running out of the bathroom door so quickly that he almost left a dust cloud in the shape of his body like something from a cartoon.

“Hey Ginji, chuck me one of your markers will you?” Riku asked, sticking his hand out. The surgical masked delinquent fumbled around in his pockets for a second, before he found a marker, and handed it to Riku. “What are you gonna do with it?” He asked.

“I’m gonna throw up the emblem” replied Riku.

Ginji, Hiroshi and Ken all burst out laughing. “You can barely even draw a stick man” Ginji said. “How do you expect to draw the logo”.

“As they say, practice makes perfect. Just watch me!” said Riku as he walked over to one of the bathroom walls, and began to slowly draw on it. The bandanna wearing delinquent muttered to himself as he messed up the first line, erasing it and starting again.

Louis was feeling a bit restless, so he began to pace up and down the bathroom. “Ken, you do wanna grow the gang right don’t you?”.

The shaved headed Hitokiri leader nodded, “Yeah, of course I do, why’s that?”.

Louis stopped in the middle of the bathroom. Hanging his head in thought for a moment. “Would you be open to any of these new kids joining?” He asked.

“I mean, yeah, I guess so”, replied Ken. “Some of them definitely seem like they can handle themselves, but I can hardly make them all prospective members”.

“This might sound a little odd” Louis said, “but what if we do something, like hold a tournament. The top few places get the prestige of being the strongest in the school, and they get made probationary members of Hitokiri”.

“So, kind of like a tournament arc in an anime?” Ken replied, with a puzzled look on his face.

“I mean yeah, I guess so” Louis said. The Hitokiri members were silent. They said nothing to Louis for several seconds. To be honest, he thought they were about to laugh at him and tell him how stupid the idea was.

Hiroshi exhaled some cigarette smoke. “I actually kinda like that idea” he said. “What do you think pres?”.

Ken scratched at the scar that ran next to his mouth, then nodded his head, chuckling a bit. “I kinda like it too, could be fun, and I gotta tell you Louis, you got balls on you, suggesting something like that as a probationary member yourself”.

Louis wasn’t really sure how to reply. He didn’t realise that he’s stepped out of line by floating the idea of a tournament when he wasn’t yet a full member.

“Yeah, about that Ken. When are you gonna make these guys both full members?” Ginji asked. “I think they’ve proven themselves after our little squabble with Iruma.”

Ken looked back at Louis and smiled. “I’ll know when the time is right”.

“You know, we could use the Kendo hall for the tournament” Hiroshi added. “It’s down the back of the school, and barely ever gets used anyway.”

“Yeah, that sounds perfect” Ken said.

“Alright finished!” Riku yelled out, interrupting the conversation.

The other 4 guys turned to look at the wall as Riku stapped back from it. He tucked his hands in his pockets as he gazed up at the wall, proudly admiring his work. “So what do you guys think?” he asked. “I reckon it’s not half bad, maybe I could draw up some posters to advertise this tournament you’re talking about.”

There was a brief moment of silence, before the rest of the guys guys once again burst into laughter. This time Louis joined them.

“Dude, are they supposed to be the crossed Kunai?” Ginji asked.

Riku stared back at him, confused. “Yeah, of course” he said. “What else would they be?”

“They honestly look like two crossed dicks” Hiroshi said.

“I reckon more like dildos” said Ginji. “there’s no balls.”

“Dildo’s are just fake dicks you idiot” Hiroshi said back. “it’s the same thing”.

“Dildo or dick, it doesn’t really matter” added Ken. “The main point to take away here is that Riku better get that shit off the wall right now before someone sees and associates that with the gang!”

Riku bowed his head in defeat. He walked to one of the toilet stalls, retrieved a bunch of toilet paper, then wet it in the sink and started scrubbing his work off the wall. “I’d like to see any of you try and do better” He mumbled as the water washed away his artwork”.

“Hey by the way Louis, whEre’s your brother?” Ken asked the Australian.

“Oh, he’s at baseball practice. He said he really got a feel for swinging a bat around when the Iruma guys attacked him at the station, so he’s gonna try his hand at playing it.”

“D….Does he even know how to play?”, Ken asked, his face scrunched up in confusion.

“D…. Do you even know how to play?”, The pitcher asked Jamie as the Australian delinquent stepped up to bat.

“Nope, but how hard can it be?” Jamie said back. “You throw the ball at me, I hit it, then I run somewhere, repeat for a few hours, then we all go and get something to eat afterwards right?…. Coool, now throw the ball at me!”

The pitcher looked left to right, making eye contact with his team mates, checking to see if they were just as bewildered as he was. They were. “Okay, first thing, it’s called a pitch, not a throw” he said.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what it’s called, just throw me the ball so I can hit it already!” Jamie snapped back at him.

The pitcher shrugged. He threw the ball. Jamie swung with all his might…. And missed.

“Jesus, throw it so I can actually hit it will ya”? He yelled at him.

The pitcher stuttered….. “Uh, you’re supposed to hit balls like that”.

“Well I’m a beginner, so a bit slower okay!”

The pitcher threw the next ball. Jamie took a swing…. And missed again. “Alright listen you!” he yelled, pointing the bat at the pitcher. “If I don’t hit this next ball, I’m gonna shove this bat so far up your ass I’ll be able to carry you around like an ice cream on a stick”.

The pitcher sheepishly nodded, before throwing the third ball. The throw was so soft that it might as well have been underhand. Jamie swung the bat with every ounce of strength he had. The ball went flying. The entire baseball team stood there watching it sail out of sight with their jaws dropped.

“You’re a natural! I’ve never seen anything like that before!”, exclaimed the pitcher. “Once you’ve had more practice and understand the game properly you’re gonna do great. We might actually be able to win some games this season!”

Jamie dropped the bat to the ground. “Well, I’m bored. I’ll catch you guys later”, he said with a wave as he began to head off.

“What? But practice goes for another hour”, the pitcher yelled back at him.

“Yeah, but I’ve had enough for today. I’ll see you guys next time. Besides, there’s someone I need to go talk to”.

“Look at this poster I got!’, Yumi said as she shoved a poster of a Japanese boy band in Kaoru’s face.

“Oh that’s cool!”, Kaoru replied, feigning interest.

“I know right? just look at them. I swear every single one of them is like the hottest thing ever. I’m gonna hang it up tonight”. Yumi carefully rolled the poster up and placed it back in her bag. “What’s up girl?”, she asked, noticing Kaoru’s distant demeanour and the fact that she’d only lightly picked at her bento box. “You’ve barely touched your food!”

“Yeah, I dunno, I’m not really that hungry. Just thinking” the purple haired 17 year old replied.

“Is it about Jamie?”, Yumi asked.

Kaoru paused for a moment, she didn’t want to let it bother her too much, but she just couldn’t understand why Jamie still hadn’t contacted her since the incident at the train station. “Yeah, I just, I still haven’t heard from him since our date. I just want to know what’s up? Why he’s not talking to me?”.

Yumi sighed. “Listen you’re my best friend, and you know where I stand on this guy, but if this bothers you so much, why don’t you just go find him and talk to him? Ask him what’s up”. Yumi took a bite of her food, tilting her head slightly and looking past Kaoru’s shoulder as she did so. “Or maybe you could just wait a few seconds and he’ll come to you” she said with a smrik.

“Huh” replied Kaoru. Yumi nodded her head, gesturing at something behind her. Kaoru span around in her chair to see Jamie walking towards her. He stopped at her table.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

Kaoru was surprised to see him. “Uh, yeah, of course”. She spun back to Yumi.

“What are you looking at me for? I’m not getting up, I wanna finish my food” Yumi said.

“It’s all good, I was gonna go grab a teat” Jamie said. “You wanna walk with me?”.

Jamie held the door open for Kaoru as the two left the main building of the school and headed outside. They were in a small area of the school where no one really went. They walked around for a moment, trying to find someplace to sit, and ended up settling on a half wall that was partly covered by a tree branch, providing at least some semblance of shade.

Jamie hopped up onto the half wall and took a sip of his jasmine tea. “Listen….” he started. “I’m sorry that I haven’t contacted you since I got jumped at Okachimachi station.”

Kaoru took a seat next to him, looking up at the bright blue sky overhead. “I was worried about you, After what happened to you, I just wanted to know you were okay.”

“I know” said Jamie. He hung his head, his eyes fixed on the concrete. “I just, I was ashamed, embarrassed maybe too that I got you caught up in that stuff. You shouldn’t have had to see that. You’re…. You’re a good girl Kaoru, that type of world isn’t for you.”

Kaoru looked back at the Australian delinquent who was opening up to her.

“I like you Kaoru, I do.” Jamie continued. “You don’t wanna get caught up with a guy like me. Back home I got other girls caught up in this shit too and I don’t want to do it again.” He raised his head and looked at her. “I saw you at the fight the other day. The showdown between Hitokiri and Iruma High. What were you doing there?”

“I heard about the fight and knew you were going to be there….. I…. I wanted to make sure you were okay” Kaoru replied.

Jamie, looked back at her confused. “Why though? Why do you even care?”

“Because I like you” replied Kaoru. “I don’t care about the fighting or anything like that, I can’t explain it, I just like you okay!” She leant in and kissed him on the cheek. Jamie looked back at her surprised. “I was going to give you that when we went to the movies, but I was rudely interrupted.”

Jamie just looked at her for a moment, then he started chuckling. “Hey I heard that you spoke to Louis when those Iruma High guys came looking for Ken.”

“Yeah, seems like my hunch about it being something to do with you was right” Kaoru said giggling. “By the way, he straight up lied to me and said he didn’t know of any connection.”

“He was just trying to protect you”, Jamie said.

The Aussie delinquent hopped down from the half wall and walked a few steps to put his now empty tea bottle in the bin. “Okay Kaoru, we can still hang out if you want? But just be warned, this gang and fighting shit, this is what Louis and I do. We promised our mum that we wouldn’t continue with that behaviour here in Japan, but we couldn’t even last through one full school day before breaking it. She is pissed by the way!”

Kaoru hopped off the half wall and walked over to Jamie. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. I know that that’s not all you are”, she said.

The door to the main building creaked as it opened, and the pair turned to see Ginji walking outside, a stack of papers under his arm. The masked delinquent stopped in his tracks as he saw Jamie and Kaoru standing together. “Man, you are one lucky bastard!” he yelled at Jamie. “Anyway, don’t mind me you two, I’m just hanging these posters up.”

“Posters? Gimme a look at one of those” Jamie said as he walked over to Ginji and snatched one of them from him, taking a look. “A fighting tournament?”

“Yeah” said Ginji. “We’re doing it to test all these new guys we’ve got running around here. The top 3 places get to become probationary Hitokiri members.” Ginji walked over to one of the walls, and set about plastering it with posters. “Oh yeah and get ready, because you’re first up topknot!”

Ginji turned to see Jamie snarling at him. “We’ll discuss the part about me being first later, but what have I fucking told you about calling me topknot?”.

Jamie charged Ginji. The stack of posters went everywhere as the masked delinquent ran as fast as he could across the yard, trying to escape Jamie’s wrath.