14. The Plan

Day: 5

Morning

Sakura POV

oh crap

She had no idea why seeing this average looking guy spawning out of nowhere was what somehow prompted her to call him out with that weird nickname. To be fair, Sakura was not even sure if her brain could even register the word before it left her lips.

This was some sleeper agent nonsense.

Was there something deep down that triggered such a reaction?

Sakura was now locked in and scanning throughout her memories, trying to recollect if she had seen the guy from anywhere before.

Well the fact he looks like an NPC legit could mean he could have been anyone in my past... Sakura thought defeatedly.  

To be fair, it was not like she could have even met the man before.

Before she even moved to Academy  Academy, She was not properly attending school. Her old school was privately funded, not by the government and thus much poorer.  What really motivated her to go to that school was really the disconnect from the usual control of the government. Private schools still had to be monitored closely, but to her it felt like she had a higher level of autonomy there.

The downsides were the clear lack of budget, forcing most students who seriously wanted a job after school to relocate to the main school in the city, Academy Academy.

Her reason of relocating was to find Daiki, or whoever had the first name of Daiki.

She thought she found the one, but now it is back to square one. She is now back to skipping school again, hoping that she could use another method of researching the government.

Lore dump aside, she could have never crossed paths with this guy. The only time could possibly be if he attended her previous school, which other than Rin claiming to have been together then in primary, she has no recollection of the sort.

"I am sorry...I don't know why I called that name out to you..."

There was a brief pause as everyone stared at Kenzo, waiting to see his response.

For a split second, his face was in a total zone of concentration.

After that, he returned back to his goofy jolly face and responded.

"Ahh don't mind me, sorry I thought you were dropping a crazy insult hahaha, that just took me off guard..."

Yea this guy and me definitely have some hidden history, I just cannot remember it for some reason and he is going to pretend that it was a mistake, better play along and maybe....he will answer me privately if I ask him again...

Sakura thought that whoever this new kid was, she needed to have a private chat where Rin and Hiro were not around.

"So awkward stuff aside what brings you here to the main plot Kenzo? You trying to be useful or annoying?" Hiro posed the question.

"Hardly, wait actually...I was going to ask if your sister was single..."

Hiro had the look that was worse than when Epsilon was threatening the people and his gang.

Rin just smirked, seeing her brother pissed.

"You know what Hiro? At first I thought he was a dumbass, but honestly, he might be the one..."

"Rin don't you dare touch this asshole!" Hiro yelled.

"Bro she can choose who she wants!" Kenzo exclaimed, his joy in Rin understanding his vibes was present on his face.

And...we are back to this chaos again...

However, stupid shenanigans aside, Sakura with the little time she is getting to know the people, she seems to enjoy the vibes.

She is always down for banter, however she was always seemed to stick out like a sore thumb whenever she tried to express herself.

Her being fed up with the way the society wanted to force people into being a caricature of themselves when they interacted was what inspired her to go and try adapt the yankee lifestyle.

The rebellious spirit in her that made her who she was, she was seeing the same fire in these individuals.

She may have only heard bad things about the delinquent system, but whoever these dumbasses were now, she did not mind.

Might as well chime in...

"Hiro, you keep acting like this stuck up brother and your reputation is going to get worse than it is already, ready to be called a sister lover too?"

Hiro now had his angry eyes set on her. Rin and Kenzo were trying to hold in their laughter as Hiro held the expression of 'how dare you take their side?'

"Sorry...was just trying to be a neutral." Sakura cheekily said.

"What in the bullshit is this, you are not even being neutral!" Hiro barked back.

He took a breath before regaining his composure. He seemed to be going through an internal monologue as he stared and contemplated his existence, as Rin and Kenzo in the background were fist bumping each other, clearly enjoying messing around with Hiro.

This reminded Sakura so much of the people back in the community centre, the comradery and vibes they always shared was so similar to this.

For the first time in the past couple of days, Sakura felt like smiling again.

*****

Day: 5 

Afternoon

Naoko POV

Naoko was trying out dresses in her room, seeing which one would make her look the most dazzling. Her bed covered with an array of her discarded choices, all cluttered as she was sweeping through her collection, hoping to find the one.

"What if in the time I am absent he bonds with the other girl? No...he and me are too perfect..."

Naoko knew she and Hiro had immaculate vibes. He definitely gave the aura of the guy who would swoop in and save the day, even though he may be misunderstood.

The bad boy.

Naoko shivered, remembering the conversation they had, but also the stare he held.

He must have been through so much...poor guy. (this is all Naoko's fantasy she is now superimposing on Hiro)

Who even would his other girl be?

Also how was the government so bad at assigning names?

I mean Naoko knew that her and the others who might have issues with their watches were in a super small minority, but it was odd that this was not a one in a thousand chance. It felt like while the matchmaking services usually have been on point for the past three generations, (that was as far back, according to her family, the watches have existed for), it seemed that there was a much greater amount of people who apparently had watch issues.

This is all based on the rumours she had heard floating around after her lunch meeting with Hiro the other day.

Could there be a third party interference? There was some talks about it within the journalism club. Apparently there was some news of someone who was undercover in the underground delinquent system feeding information back into the journalism club to expose the system itself.

A lot of crazy things were going on, there were even rumours that the principal might have gotten the trust of someone to do that dirty work for them...

The delinquent underground system feels like a myth amongst the student body. Most are aware there is some existence of it, but they are not really able to find much proof of it all.

Which either means the students in general are dumb or the members of the delinquents are smart.

Not that any of it matters to Naoko.

Her Hiro would never be a part of such awful activities.

It also felt nice to finally have some peace and quiet as her parents have stopped being so annoying and are rather happy for her that she finally found the one. 

Life is going great...

A knock on her bedroom door startled her.

"Dear miss...this is Alfred your butler dear...I wanted to inform you that there is a young strapping man waiting to talk to you in the meeting room. He seemed to rather request for you urgently."

What? Was Hiro here already? So soon?

She had butterflies in her stomach, but she had to make sure.

"Did the young man say his name, Alfred?" She smiled and closed her eyes, waiting to hear his name sweep in and capture her beating heart.

"Ah yes miss, he said his name was Daiki! From the Darv Company!"

A moment of silence.

"...Who?"

*****

Day: 5

Afternoon

Hiro POV

"So now that we know what Epsilon is proposing... I say we let Aoi and Kenji go forth for two of the positions, they are themselves both training and ready for any fight regardless...and I would take the third spot for this challenge, any objections?"

A fake snore escaping Kenzo told all he needed to hear.

Hiro, Rin and Kenzo were now hanging out at a nearby café, mainly to discuss what would be the best members to approach Epsilon's challenge with. They had left Sakura to her community centre, as she herself was not that interested in taking part but had wished them the best of luck.

Epsilon seemed uncharacteristically unhinged, it was almost as if he was covering for something. Hiro was able to make this deduction as he shared it with the group.

"So with the positions all settled, and I thank you so much for your input Kenzo..." He paused to frown at the wink Kenzo threw him, at which Rin giggled. "..All that is left now is to probably figure out why the hell this is even happening. He even went ahead and threatened the other people who are associated with my gang and the community centre...why?"

"Beats me...also where are your other members? I swear I legit only run into you and That Kid all the time...." Kenzo replied, ignoring the question.

"Kenzo for the last time, it is Kenji, and I am only tolerating you right now because you are unfortunately, pretty good at figuring out shit so I do want to listen if you have anything worthwhile to add..." Hiro noticed Rin was trying to hold back her laughter, and he rolled his eyes at her before focusing on Kenzo again.

Kenzo just shrugged his shoulders, before saying, "look bro, all I know is that whatever bullshit is happening with the watches, I have an inkling that they might either be directly or partially responsible for the glitches. The timing of this all seems way too convenient, especially with the journalism club putting anonymous hit pieces recently. According to you we have not ever had dramatic face offs like this so I am betting this is more than just a reputation fixer..."

"Wow, you actually don't just yap bullshit." Rin exclaimed, almost surprised that the dude was more than just the class clown.

"Oh and what are you? just some trophy girl? Why is she even here Hiro? I thought this was an important meeting..."

"Respect my sister or I will punch you so hard you will vomit your guts...but if you want to know..." Hiro was about to explain before Rin cut him off.

"The girl...can speak for herself."

Hiro of course knew never to interrupt his sister. 

Sometimes he has got to let the side characters shine of course.

"Listen here Kenzo..." Rin leaned in across the coffee table they were all sharing, appearing intimidating as she makes direct eye contact with Kenzo.

"...I asked to come out here with my bro because he seems to be trying to help out the community with his stuff, and he always shoulders his shit. He always puts people before him and I thought I could be of use to him. Even on the weekend, he is taking his time off to make sure people are safe..."

For what seemed like after a long time, Hiro was hearing what his sister thought of him, besides the usual teasing she does.

"He is my role model, and I am here to learn, observe and help my older bro. I enjoyed the banter and flirting we did initially because I knew it would piss him off. Here is the thing though Kenzo...you are nowhere near half the man as my brother is. So I expect you to show him some respect, and some respect for me too might be nice, unless you prefer to parade around your fake assholeness to act funny. Don't try changing now though just because I said it, not like you ever had a chance with me anyways."

Kenzo was smiling as Rin let all her thoughts out. Hiro was oddly surprised by her heart warming confession.

Her top tier insults aside, he was happy to learn that deep inside she still was ready to defend and support her brother, no matter the situation.

Kenzo sighed before breaking his smile and replying.

"Sorry y'all, I do love teasing and teasing but I guess it can get pretty damn annoying. I am glad I did that though because you managed to really lash out and say your thoughts...I think that basically counts as a good therapy session. Your bro seems happy with what you said and I did all of this for free!"

Hiro felt like he had to have seen this coming.

Kenzo again with his little mind games to orthodoxly try and help people out. 

This time it was to piss his sister off so that she would rattle out some truths.

Hiro had always felt that he and Kenzo had similar goals, it is why he felt this guy was his rival of sorts, trying to outsmart him in this game of two.

Hiro did not want to admit it, but sometimes it felt like he was looking into a mirror, and he really hated seeing his personality reflect back in another person.

Kenzo was very much like him in certain ways, and that pissed him off.

However, for the sake of this unexpected progress (Hiro turned to face his sister to see her reaction after what Kenzo said and he saw that she was agitated at him reading her easily like this, but she was quiet now and contemplating.) Hiro was happy to let this slide.

The Hiro vs Kenzo arc could wait till Epsilon was taken care of.

"Well listen here Kenzo, happy  to hear your analysis of the situation...but I hope you do realise how serious the threats are? The ones I told you about?"

Kenzo simply nodded.

"Yeah, look I may act the asshole but I do also hate assholes who want to do stupid things to innocent people, so I am willing to help my fellow club members..."

Hiro rolled his eyes at this, before his gaze fell on Rin again.

Rin was awfully quiet.

"Hey...sorry for making you pissed girl, we were bonding moments ago so I just want to say no hard feelings..." Kenzo noticed her silence too and wanted to help.

"It's ok...just don't do it again..."

Rin got up and then, without warning, left the two of them at the table presumably to head home.

"Ok, Kenzo, if you broke my sister somehow...your club is finished."

Kenzo just nodded, really confused by the development.

"I will accept that, sorry any help you need with her or if you need more help.."

For once the two boys were cordial and not at each others throats.

"Well club leader, I will let you know when the time comes...just make sure to keep your friends close, Sunday could be big."

With that Hiro left the table to go after his sister, see what has gotten to her, if it was even what Kenzo did or of it was something else.

"Ahh and they left me with the bill...perfect." Kenzo mumbled to himself as he realised he was left alone with three empty coffee cups sitting  on the table. 

*****

Epsilon POV

"I bet they are going to be boring and go with the safe bet three..."

Epsilon was currently sitting in a café. He was just chilling as he was enjoying the afternoon cool air, it felt refreshing.

Especially when he felt he would inevitably win.

Epsilon knew he had himself in the mix for the top three, obviously.

His second in command was going to take the second spot.

Some dude who liked to spend his time in the shadows, apparently doing surveillance as his part time job. He had a pretty good track record with the government so he has been doing little spy missions for them.

And last but not least, one of his newest members.

She had been super promising, apparently throwing them leads and pinpointing other gang activities, as well as trying her hardest to find whoever leaked the watch manipulation rumour.

She also seemed pretty skilled in martial arts, in the few times he has seen her fight.

Her name was Airi.