At the sight of the very woman who destroyed his life, Tamashi began to shake, his voice sounding anguished.

“What is this? What’s going on here? Is your name really even Star? I knew it sounded fake!”

“Jeez, you’re more mouthy than I remembered. Anyways, I’ll explain everything if you agree to come with me. Otherwise, you can just go back to your cell and sit in your own tears and piss until the trial starts. Your choice.”

“YOU SENT ME TO HELL AND NOW YOU’RE BAILING ME OUT?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!”

“I’ll tell you if you agree to do this meeting. So make a choice already. I don’t have all day, brat.”

Tamashi wanted to lunge at Star, but he managed to calm down the storm in his mind, and began to think rationally.

He thought about his options. He quickly concluded that he didn’t want to sit in jail for months, but he also didn’t want to concede so easily to Star.

After a few moments passed, he made his offer.

“I’ll go with you and talk to you, if you agree to two conditions. One, I want to be free to go after we talk. I don’t particularly like you anymore, so I don’t want to stay around you for long. And two,”

Tamashi matched his gaze with Star’s, his eyes becoming pools of intimidation.

“I want to eat the biggest, juiciest, and most expensive steak you can find. Jail food is a joke.”

As an eerie silence fell in the area, except for the rustle of a light breeze, Tamashi thought about whether his demands were taken seriously.

After a brief pause, Star began to laugh. Sweat formed on Tamashi’s forehead.

“Of course! That works for me. Now, one last thing before we go. Let me properly introduce myself.”

The wind picked up, blasting through Star’s hair. The bright sunlight shone in her hazel eyes. Her lips formed into a determined grin.

“I’m the president of the Kita gang. My name is Bri. Nice to meet you, Tamashi Yosha.”

——

Savior: Original Story by OneSevenEight

Episode: Framed Perspective - Part 3

——

All he could do was stare out the window.

Charlie held a gaze that was fixed on the cafeteria windows as his food grew cold.

He thought about the news broadcast that he had watched that morning. He saw that Tamashi and this other person were both almost run over by a truck.

He also saw that Tamashi had been arrested for attempted murder.

‘Is my best friend really a murderer? Did I miss something this whole time? Or is something else going on here?’

Charlie felt a poke on his shoulder, which interrupted his thought process. He turned around to find Anna, who was giving off a harsher-than-usual scowl.

“You look extremely unpleasant. You’re usually all up in some girl’s holes during lunch.”

“What do you want, Anna?”

She sat down in the seat next to Charlie.

“The news this morning was crazy.”

“Yeah, so what do you want?”

“That situation seemed really bad.”

“Totally, so what do you want?”

“You worried about Tamashi?”

“Maybe, so what do you want?”

Anna slammed her hand into the table, then proceeded to lean in and invade Charlie’s personal space.

“I WANT TO GIVE YOU SOMEONE TO TALK TO INSTEAD OF LETTING YOU DEPRESS YOURSELF, DORK!”

The outburst was enough to catch the attention of the cafeteria as a whole. A silence descended into the room.

“Hey, you’re… kinda… close.”

After an unsettling pause, Anna snapped back into her seat, a bright red blush forming in her pale face.

For the first time that day, Charlie allowed a slight smile to form on his face. He had forgotten that Anna could be really cute sometimes.

For years, he kept his distance from Anna, trying to encourage Tamashi to make his move. The plan never worked out, as Tamashi was too much of a wimp to take the opportunity.

Anna dropped her head into her arms, her neck-length black hair settling on them. She left her yellow eyes barely visible, full of embarrassment.

Charlie could see why Tamashi was fond of her.

“Um, do you two know that Tamashi guy?”

Anna lifted her head up. Charlie spun around to greet their guest to the table.

She had decently long brunette hair and an amazingly deep brown gaze. Those brown eyes were turning into puddles.

“Uh, I- I’m the person he saved. I- I’m sorry… I couldn’t stop them!”

——

As they rode along to their destination, Tamashi’s mind was stuck on two thoughts: how thankful he was to be out of jail, and how pissed he was at Star, who’s now going by Bri.

“You’re awfully quiet. Why don’t you say something so you can wake me up?”

“Shut up, I’m trying not to strangle you right now.”

“Wow, so mean. To think that I agreed to get you that steak.”

An audible rumble surged with earthquake-level power within Tamashi’s stomach.

“Psh”

Tamashi moved his arm up to the sill, laid his head down, and stared out the window.

“You know, I’m shocked that you haven’t even questioned why you’re about to have a meeting with a ‘gang’”

“I’ve pretty much accepted that this day’s been weird as hell, and my life is actually going to hell, so I don’t really care.”

“Wow, the trial hasn’t even started, and you’re already giving up.”

“DON’T TALK ABOUT THE TRIAL WHEN YOU’RE THE REASON I’M EVEN GOING TO A TRIAL! IF YOU WANT TO TALK SO BADLY, THEN TELL ME WHY YOU’RE DESTROYING MY LIFE, STAR, OR BRI, OR WHATEVER THE HELL YOUR NAME IS!”

“Be patient, brat. We’re here. Save it for the meeting.”

The sight of what appeared before Tamashi took his breath away.

Until now, he had failed to realize that he and Bri were riding in a limo-like SUV.

The location they had arrived at was a towering, overbearing mansion. One that Tamashi had never even realized had existed in the area.

“Welcome to HQ. Your future begins here.”