12. The Day After

Day: 5

Morning

Kenji POV

"Well shit just apparently went down..."

"Language Kenji!"

"Sorry Mom! I have to go! Thanks for the breakfast!"

Kenji had just woken up and was at the breakfast table, and he had just found out about the announcement yesterday made by the Metal Fang leader. He was minding his business and eating his breakfast when he got the notification from his group chat on his watch. It was from his club, discussing the yesterday's evening announcement. Seeing this, he knew he needed to clarify things and he rushed out of his house. 

"Sigh what can I do with this boy..." his mom mumbled as she watched her son tumble out the house. She was aware that he had a close knit community now having joined the karate club, and that could lead to him randomly leaving the house if someone needed help, as long as he was helping people, she did not mind.

It was the weekend, and he thought he could have a day off but things have started to take an extremely dramatic turn.

He and his club members have planned for Sunday to be a casual fight tournament. He had no idea that the girl he saved yesterday had so much bad blood and leftover drama. 

All of which is going to surge into the karate competition.

This is not good at all.

He needed to go and clarify things with the one person who he think could clarify these misunderstandings.

Well its not like her house was far away from here.

*****

Aoi POV

Aoi was busy eating breakfast when she heard the knock on her door.

"Would you mind getting the door darling?" Her dad asked, his nose buried in the watch which was displaying the news in holographic form.

"Sure dad..." she tidied her face before making her way to the door and opening it, to reveal that Kenji was standing right outside, still in his pyjamas.

"Kenji?!"  She shouted, shocked to see her at her front door.

"Kenji? A boy?" Her dad's voice could be heard muffled behind her, she then tell her dad it was a just a friend before she closed the door, to give herself and Kenji some privacy.

"OK Aoi, sorry it seems like I just rushed out of my house..." he paused and just realised he was still in his pyjamas and forgot to change out of them. 

That totally defeated the statement he just made as it was evident he did just did rush out of his house.

"Wait...how do you know my name?" Aoi inquired, curious as to why Kenji was even on her front porch and what he wanted, or what was so important he had to be here so early on a Saturday morning.

"Yea sorry for this really weird situation Aoi...I will explain everything but to answer your first question...I know your name...well because..."

He pulled out his watch to show his partners name.

It had her name plastered on it.

*****

Aoi's Dad POV

The commotion had gotten his curiosity, so he got off his seat and made it to the front door and peaked through the eyehole to see what was going on.

He could not hear what was going down but he could see his daughter was jumping all over this guy's watch, and she had some bright shine to her eyes, as she was rapidly talking, as the guy (who was weirdly standing in his pyjamas) seemed overwhelmed by her energy.

The guy seemed good natured from his posture and from the way he spoke, he felt like whoever this 'friend' was he could trust his daughter to handle it.

He was happy to see his daughter who was sulking and quiet the past few days have a new skip to her step, he chuckled as he made his way back to his seat, letting the kids have their fun.

*****

Aoi POV

"How?! How do you have my name?? And if this is true...why do I not have your name??" Aoi was staring intently, her gaze shifting between his watch and his face.

Kenji sighed as he explained his point of view of the first few days to her.

"When I got your name, I was able to locate you, but then I heard you quickly got your boyfriend and your watch already had someone else's name on it. I was grumpy for a bit so I was getting into a few fights with a knucklehead to vent during those days... but then a rumour was circulated by the journalism club that apparently there was an elite squad of student hackers that were able to hack into the watches and play matchmaker, basically assigning people names to whoever they wanted."

Aoi eyes almost popped out of her eyes as she heard this new lore drop.

Kenji nodded his head seeing her reaction.

"This type of information is deeply embedded in the underground system the school has, there is a lot of crazy stuff there that goes down and unfortunately, the crazy ex of yours really wanted to have you..."

"So he basically made them set me up as his girlfriend? And he changed his original name to mine to convince me?"

Kenji nodded to affirm the conclusion that Aoi had arrived at.

Aoi took a few seconds to digest this before pressing Kenji with more questions.

"Does this mean that the day you saved me...it was the day you found this out?"

Kenji nodded.

"When I saw the guy attacking you, it was the same day me and my friend Hiro found out the secret. I was going to confess there and then but of course more personal things came out...(Kenji recalled the moment Hiro found out about Naoko). I am glad to be doing this now though...but this is not all..."

Aoi was getting mentally prepared for the confession, but then was hit with the 'but there is more'

ah crap is this exactly like those movie romcoms. No time for an actual confession and just drama stuff?

Aoi knew she needed to be patient regardless, since Kenji did storm his way all to her house for something important.

"Well...I am really glad to hear that you are officially my partner, I was so sure that my ex was such a horrible fit, but he gaslight me into thinking I was probably wrong...it means so much more that it really was all a hoax...why do you think he chose me? And is you storming to my house any way related to this?"

Kenji smiled at seeing her relief.

He felt robbed when he initially saw the guy approach Aoi, and thought that maybe his watch was bugged. He told Hiro about the whole dilemma back then and Hiro told him that while his personal watch seemed like a glitch, he had a feeling that Kenji's watch was something about outside interference.

Some investigation later and a confirmation from the journalism club (which seemed very much into cracking into the underground delinquent gangs) they were able to confirm the details.

Kenji was super happy and wish he could just immediately drag Aoi to a date to forget the last few bad days, but he knew he had still that new drama to take care of, to take care of her.

"Yes...as much as I would love us to start properly dating, I have some bad news to share with you Aoi...It is basically a threat presented by a gang from the underground."

Aoi eyes sharpened hearing this, and Kenji's heart fluttered seeing her fighter spirit flare up at the mention of a threat.

"Lay it on me...is this related to my ex?"

Kenji nodded.

"Unfortunately it seems that your ex was connected to the Metal Fang gang, who are rivals to the small group me and my friend Hiro heads up. Usually we keep ourselves to ourselves, but this is a direct attack and claim for power, most probably to save their reputation after your very impressive performance against 5 members of his gang"

"Ahh..." Aoi verbalised, understanding now what is happening.

"Ignoring them now would just mean they would thrash my karate club members and steal the best gang reputation, and that would bring ruling and bragging rights in the underground. I am letting you know because I want to protect you, to protect my club and to protect my best friend Hiro from being humiliated further..." Kenji, while saying all this, reached out to grab Aoi's hands.

This action did cause her to slightly blushed, but she paid close attention to him as he continued, his face super serious.

"I want to make sure that they do not overstep, and that we can end all the drama here. I can fight on your behalf, if you would have me..." Kenji, still holding on to her hands, dropped to one knee as if he was proposing to her.

He is really cute...and so kind....

"Listen Kenji, I appreciate all the theatrics and all your support, but don't worry your head about it. If they want a challenge, tell them that I am going to be ready by tomorrow and I will be there at the tournament, ready to fight. I can fight my own battles, and I think I deserve to end things on my own terms, I thank you so much for you warning me of this and your offer to help..."

Aoi leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Kenji's forehead, who instantly turned violently red.

Aoi giggled seeing his expression and then pulled the boy up to a standing position, so that he was now up close and facing her at the same level.

"Now...boyfriend, why don't you go back home, get dressed and we can have a training date?"

Kenji smiled so hard his cheeks were hurting, but right now he felt like he was the happiest man alive.

"As you wish Aoi..."

*****

Day: 5

Morning

Hiro POV

"Well I do hope Kenji finds his happily ever after, it would make sense for a sidekick as pure hearted and kind as him..."

"Bro! Hiro would you seriously stop glazing your best friend! If you are the main character or whatever you got to act more nonchalant!"

Hiro turned to face his sister's voice emitting from outside his door and responded.

"Sis...I don't need to be boxed into a single characteristic, people love their multicoloured charismatic hot main characters, just got to live up to those expectations..."

He heard a groan from his sister before she went back to her doing her own thing, leaving with "let's hope you get your main character delusion fixed before something bad happens..."

Hiro knew that while he is the apparent main character in this universe, he needed to navigate his world carefully.

His sister may be rough with him but he knew she was right, he needs to do what is best for his family. That boils down to the numerous things he is working on, like finding out who is responsible for the hacking watch incident from the journalism club and his current love triangle dilemma.

If this does not scream main character I don't know what would.

Speaking of the love triangle, he had great vibes with Naoko. She was pretty and a good click. He was extremely thankful for Kenji supporting him during the first time he met up with her, and he hopes him helping in figuring out the watch hack helped Kenji back.

The issue with Naoko was the class disparity. It was immediately obvious that she was in a whole another league compared to him. She was a daughter of a company. He was simply middle class. This was a huge obstacle that either of them did not consider given the short time they had to meet up.

It's OK, we will figure it out...

And then there was this girl called Airi. 

No news from her yet but if love triangle tropes we're anything to go by, she would show up in some dramatic climax.

Food for thought for later...

He suddenly heard a notification pop up on his watch, which prompted him to check on it, his eyes widened seeing the name on the screen.

It was a message from the Metal Fang leader, asking him to meetup with him to discuss about the karate tournament being held on Sunday.

Hiro was well aware of the first challenge sent out on Friday evening. He did not expect this to escalate and to be notified like this, as he assumed it was a small affair between Aoi and Kenji, with Hiro respecting their ability in handling themselves.

However it seems that the leader is out for more than just a rise in popularity. He wants to be the definitive winner, by totally crushing Aoi and potentially any allies, he would have a much larger claim to the whole of the underground and that could lead to a potential authoritarian control over the entire system instead of the power being shared by gangs.

What greed does to people, or something. Hiro is not quite sure why Metal Fang's leader is going this far to change even the current system of gang tolerance.

He understands fixing a reputation, like the nickname Hiro has, but this seems there is a much bigger play the Metal Fang have under wraps. 

Whatever it is, they are using the karate tournament as their stage.

Hiro read out the message on his watch.

The message read: 

I know who you are...Elephant. it seems I have severely underestimated the ripple effect my initial announcement would have had. Now I realise that the stakes for this karate tournament will be bigger than ever. Come meet me at the community park near the community house in an hour and I will discuss terms...terms of the defeat of your gang and us claiming top dogs in the school.

I'll see you there Elephant.

Signed~ Epsilon

He definitely knows what buttons to press.

This felt in a sense a declaration of war, and this was almost unheard of in the school's history of the underground.

There were always small skirmishes over shared issues or territories, but never a direct message between leaders where there was clear nefarious intentions.

Hiro knew he was stepping into a landmine.

But he was the hero, if it was going to be a landmine, he was going to take that step and beat the explosion before it even gets on him.

That analogy...didn't make sense but screw it , it sounded cool. 

"Well here's the deal..."

Hiro now faced his imaginary camera to drop his main character monologue.

"I don't really give a shit about other gangs, we all just do our things and respect each other...however, with your sudden ego trip Epsilon...I am afraid to say that you barked up the wrong tree. I was totally happy with ignoring your initial taunt since that seemed something Kenji and Aoi had in the bag... but this? Getting butthurt because you realised you are facing off tough people? Well know this...nobody gets away will calling me that nickname and go on and act high and mighty...this is your funeral and I will have my audience clapping as I dance over your gangs' corpses...."

Having ended his edgy monologue he winked at the invisible camera and got himself ready, to discuss terms and to see just how far Metal Fang is willing to go.

"We would probably need a mediator for these talks before things get wild...heard there's a Yankee from our school there...maybe she can be of help..."

Hiro was narrating as usual when his sister chimed in.

"Oh? Are you talking about Sassy Sakura? Yea I can introduce to her if you need...she is pretty cool and helps out the kids there...let me in on your gang stuff..."

Hiro audibly sighed, his sister heard the entire monologue outside his room.

And he figures she will not stop bothering him if he doesn't at least let her accompany him to the place. She craves drama.

"Alright Rin, get ready, we got some shit to do at the place...you can help me introduce myself to Sakura..."

For the first time in a while, he heard his sis not sound sarcastic.

"Sure bro, let's do this!"

Hiro chuckled, hearing her enthusiasm.

"Well I did want her to be removed from feeling like an NPC, maybe this is her moment to shine..."

Whatever goes down, he knows that he got his sister to help him out no matter what.