Taking out the Trash

Niiya took a massive empty gulp in her throat as she stood still, looking at Meguru as he approached the gang. She knew the smart thing to do was to do what he said, as much as she hated being told what to do, Monta or otherwise. Yet at the same time, it didn’t feel right to her to take the cat and run. Not only was that cowardly, but she felt bad knowing he’d be in for the beating of a lifetime at the hand of these girls.

She felt herself stuck at a crossroads. What would be the right thing to do? What would be the best course of action?

“It looks like you’re just asking for it.” The gang leader spoke as he continued to walk. “I guess someone needs to put a boy like you in his place.” However as she finished her sentence, something happened which surprised everyone standing in the alley. Out of nowhere, a trash bag came in flying and hit the girl right on the head. It burst open as week old garbage exploded onto her.

“Huh?” Both Meguru and Niiya couldn’t believe what had transpired before them as the girl turned around, livid about her current state.

“Hey!” She yelled out, facing in the direction where the bag came from. “Who dares to mess with us?” Behind the entire gang, standing at the entrance and exit of the alley stood a boy with his hoodie on backwards, obscuring his face.

“I dare.” He spoke with a tough tone. “Now, how about you losers move along now?”

“Oh that’s it.” Already having forgotten the pair they had surrounded. The leader commanded the entire gang to chase after him. “After him!” The mysterious hero turned to run away and it was in this moment Meguru realized something important.

“That’s Ryuo.” He spoke only just loud enough for Niiya to hear. “We have to help him.”

“What?” Before she was able to register the scene before her, the boy standing besides her began to sprint off towards the exit to follow along the rest of the gang. “Hey, wait.” She tried to stop him and he did, but it wasn’t the words that ended his pursuit. Just as he got out of the alley, Meguru slowed his pace before nearly collapsing onto the wall of the building.

“Phew, there goes my adrenaline.” He spoke breathlessly as the boy could no longer move on. As much as he wanted to keep going to save his friend. His body would no longer listen to what his mind had to say.

“You idiot.” She knelt down to him and took a closer look at the bruise on his face from the punch. “You know they’re just going to beat you up. It doesn’t matter that you’re a guy when there’s a dozen of them.”

“I’m not an idiot. Of course I know that.” He defended himself as he sat. “But for someone with your reputation, I knew you’d try to fight even though they’d beat you too.”

“I don’t need someone like you thinking about my well-being.”

“I was thinking about the cat.” He quickly corrected her as they spotted the animal walking out the alley. “It’s totally helpless. So that’s why I told you to run with it.” Meguru attempted to pick up the cat once more as it passed, hoping to have earned its trust with his actions. Unfortunately this earned him a scratch on the face.

As he winced from the pain, Niiya looked carefully at his new wound on top of the bruising he received from the gang. She sighed as she reached into the pocket of her skirt.

“Come on, let me take care of that.” She produced a small bottle of ointment and opened it. When she dabbed a bit onto her finger and tried to apply it on his injury, he shook his hand to prevent her from doing so. “Come on, don’t be so stubborn.”

“I don’t need a Capa taking care of my wounds.” Though to him, he’d rather no one take care of him in such an embarrassing manner.

“Don’t be stupid, it’ll scar if you don’t properly care for it.” She was persistent as she tried using her free hand to prevent him from fighting back. “Let’s be real, there’s not much going on for you with the ladies. You might as well not add ugly to that list.”

“What’s the real reason you’re doing this?” He asked, still fighting back. “Is that some kind of poison?”

“Yeah sure, like I always carry poison for situations like this.” She replied sarcastically. “Look, you were willing to sacrifice yourself for me. And I hate being indebted to anyone, especially a Monta. So just let me do this and we’ll be even.”

“...Fine.” Begrudgingly he put his hands down and finally allowed her to put on the ointment. Gently, she began to rub it on his face. Despite the differences between them, he couldn’t help but blush and feel a little hot under the collar over being touched by a girl. Meguru cursed himself for having such a feeling over a girl like her.

It wasn’t just him who felt this way either. Niiya couldn’t maintain eye contact. She could barely even look at his face as she struggled to pay enough attention to apply the ointment. They were both so occupied with their current actions and their intimate moment that they failed to notice anything in the outside world.

“Hey! What are you doing to him?” A strong, deep voice called out to them. They looked in the direction of the sound to see Benzou rushing over to them, ready to fight.

“Whoa, you got it all wrong.” She stood straight up, putting her hands up in surrender.

“I swear if you hurt him.” He didn’t care as the boy got right up in her face. “You’ll wish you were never born.”

“Benzou, I’m okay!” Meguru spoke loudly as he tried to calm his friend. “See? I’m totally fi-” He tried to stand up to convince him, but his body still was too exhausted to move as he fell back down to the ground. “Well, at least she’s not to blame for my pathetic state.”

“Hey now, let’s not be too hasty.” Long after he had appeared in their vision, Sumiwa finally made it to them. “There’s no way she’d do anything to hurt him. Niiya’s a total softy...” Her voice trailed off as she saw the boy laying on the ground. “Wow, you really did a number on him.”

“I didn’t do that!” Niiya screamed as she defended herself. It took a while to explain the situation, but eventually the newcomers were able to understand the situation.

“I see.” Benzou said after hearing them out. “I suppose I should apologize for jumping to conclusions.”

“The most important thing is that I saw Ryuo.” Said Meguru after he finally was able to regain enough energy to stand up. He was in no position to run or do anything physically strenuous though. “He’s in trouble. Those girls are after him.”

“While it sounds worrying, I’m sure he’ll be okay.” He replied. “Despite how you girls might view him as strict, he can be rather crafty as well. I’m certain he’s given that band of delinquents the slip.” However, there was something more important in his mind about this situation. “Though I believe we can all rule out any doings of blackmail by either of our presidents. It seems that something else is going on here that none of us can understand.”

“Yep, me and Oosaga were talking about this before we ran into you.” Sumiwa jumped in to explain their thought process. “We were at the mall when we saw Jurie. There she seemed to be eating to with someone.”

“Wow, I can’t believe she’s actually hiding the fact she’s dating someone.” Said Niiya, who followed it up with. “Well, actually that’s the more believable part.”

“Except the fact that the other person she was eating with had Sicilian pizza.”

“Ryuo’s favorite?” This triggered a thought in Meguru’s mind. “So they are together?”

“We didn’t see him in the mall. So it’s just an assumption.” He responded. “After all, there’s a pizza spot in that food court for a reason. There’s no way he’s the only person who enjoys eating that.”

“I didn’t see any girls with him when he saved us.” Meguru knew that it was hard to see that it was even him to begin with. But there was no one else with that disguised boy anyway. “But I guess he could’ve told her to stay back.”

“No way.” Niiya spoke up. “If Jurie sees one of us in trouble, she’ll do anything to protect us. There’s no way she’d be there and do nothing. Besides, as if she’d listen to the command of a Monta.”

“None of this makes sense.” Sumiwa was getting a headache trying to figure out this confusing case. She shook her head before finally making a decision. “Let’s call Tenmaro. We should see if he’s seen anything new.”

“And I’ll call Riyone.” Meguru pulled out his phone to also make a call. “Something’s going on here and we’re going to figure it out.”