Intervention from an unlikely hand

From the perspective of Inagaki Asuka

“You’re joining the Inagaki Punks, Tsuruhashi–kun,” I declared with conviction in my voice. Seeing how broken he was, I couldn’t bear to see another person thrown around by life like that.

He flinched and stammered.

“A–are you sure…? W–won’t I be a delinquent?”

“With your reputation in shambles like this, is there really any other way aside from running?”

I was quick with my words, and I could tell how hard that question hit him. He paused for a moment, sitting at a standstill between staying the same, weak boy he is, and the stronger person I know someone like him can become. After all, I was like him when I was younger, too. Middle school was hell, but I found another circle to heal in while I was away from school.

“I… I suppose not,” he lowered his head, the conflicted expression on his face never leaving.

I smiled warmly.

“Good, now let’s stage a suicide.” If my question hit him hard, then this was like getting hit by a truck.

“H–HUH??!”

“I’m not kidding by the way,” I said as I pranced over to the bench by the rooftop doors, where my bag was. Inside, I pulled out a tracksuit and walked back to Tsuruhashi–kun and passed it over to him. “Here, put these on. I’ll look away.”

As I said that, the doors crashed open with a pair of dinguses I knew too well. A pair of tall dummies, dyed hair and good builds in the green school uniform.

Masayuki and Kiritaka.

“You’re late, boys.” I teased.

“Yeah, Kiri was holding me up,” Masayuki laughed. He wasn’t even facing me, rather he looked like he was guiding Kiritaka up the stairs with something.

“Shut your mouth, man.” Kiritaka said as he pulled up a dummy with a short black wig with a pot of fake blood packs. “You could at least help me with carrying this stuff instead of just guiding me.”

I glanced back at Tsuruhashi–kun. He was genuinely shocked and a little uncomfortable based on his expression, so I took the opportunity to reassure him that everything’s fine.

“Boys, this is our new addition.” I told Masayuki and Kiritaka before turning to Tsuruhashi-kun. “And Tsuruhashi–kun, these two boys are Masayuki and Kiritaka. They’re dummies, but I love ‘em.”

“Hey!” Masayuki exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face.

“Yeah, this one’s dumber than me, believe it or not.” Kiritaka laughed. Masayuki playfully punched his arm, and he rubbed it.

“I’m sure you already know my name, but… it’s Tsuruhashi Kazuya.” Tsuruhashi–kun bowed, but they immediately went against that gesture. Though, that wasn’t to say they didn’t appreciate it.

“You don’t need to bow, man,” Kiri said, smiling. “Thank you, though.”

“Yeah, we’re not uptight on that stuff.” Masa added. “But it’s good to meet you, too. Sorry about what’s going on, man.”

I saw his expression loosen up, and I even saw the faintest smile tugging at the ends of his lips, which was enough to make me happy. I pushed the jersey into Tsuruhashi-kun’s arms before stepping over to Masa and Kiri.

“This jersey is a spare that Masa bought as a spare in case he lost his,” I said. “Hurry up and change, because I—rather, we, weren’t kidding about staging a suicide, as messed up as it is. Got it?”

Tsuruhashi-kun nodded, and Masa, Kiri and I went to the doors and turned away from him as he changed clothes.

“Kiri, did Nobu-kun call his brother?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Kiri nodded. “Nobuhiko phoned him as soon as he saw us climbing the stairs with the dummy and the fake blood. His brother’s showing up in a few minutes, and… if we time it just right, we’ll be throwing the dummy over the railing and into the courtyard the moment they show up.”

“Perfect.”

✦

Soon enough, Tsuruhashi-kun finished changing out of his uniform and into the jersey. Kiri and Masa put his main uniform on the dummy and packed the fake blood inside. Meanwhile, I decided to make myself useful by styling the wig with my hands to make sure it looks like Tsuruhashi-kun’s hair.

Shortly after, Masayuki glanced over the edge at the front of the school, where three policemen came through the front gate.

“Nobuhiko’s brother is here,” he alerted us. “Toss it over!”

Kiritaka nodded. Given the fact that it was lunchtime and students were all over, this little stunt is a surefire way to distract everyone. Before Kiri threw the dummy over, however, he looked over to Tsuruhashi-kun and asked, “Do you have a wallet?”

Tsuruhashi-kun patted his pockets and checked his bag, and he found it. He paused for a second and asked, “W–why?”

“Because we need an identifier, like an ID or something.” Kiritaka said. “Don’t worry, though. Nobuhiko’s brother will confiscate it and keep it safe for now.”

Tsuruhashi-kun passed his wallet to Kiri and stuffed it in one of the pockets. Masayuki kept his eyes on Nobuhiko’s brother leading two other cops.

“Okay, you guys are taking too long!” Masayuki butted in as he saw Nobuhiko’s brother get closer to the school, picking Tsuruhashi-kun’s backpack off of the ground and wrapping it around the dummy’s arms. Kiritaka shrugged briefly and helped him haul the dummy to the railing.

“Here, leave your shoes at the edge and follow me!” I crouched down and grabbed Tsuruhashi-kun’s ankles, pulling his feet out of his shoes. I slid them over to the edge and stood back up, yanking his wrist and running back into the building. Meanwhile, Masayuki and Kiritaka were quick to just chuck the dummy off of the rooftop.

From there, we all scattered to the different entrances to the rooftops.

Even though Tsuruhashi-kun and I were inside, we heard the gross splat followed by an ear-piercing scream. But, even though he and I were moving through the halls, I made sure to take the safest route with the guy—such as areas with less people, and less people meant less attention. As per usual, I was proud of Masa and Kiri and how perfectly that part of our plan went, but my focus was on getting Tsuruhashi-kun out of the school.

✦

When we reached the front of the school, I tightened my grip on Tsuruhashi-kun’s wrist and dashed out the metal door. Then, once we were out, I jogged a bit more with him in tow until we reached a small playground.

“Whew!” I huffed, stretching to my sides. “That was exciting!”

Looking over at Tsuruhashi-kun, I noticed how badly he was out of breath.

“Not much of an athlete, are you?” I softly asked as I sat on an empty bike rack. Tsuruhashi-kun shook his head as he sat down on the sand and caught his breath, lightly smacking his tongue every so often to keep his mouth wet.

“Do you guys normally get up to stuff like this…?” He asked.

“Well…” I tilted my head, shifting my gaze upwards for a moment before looking back at Tsuruhashi-kun. “Every so often. But it’s fun every time! And it’s usually for the sake of someone else.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The Inagaki Punks are pretty much a juvenile vigilante group. We love to help people out in any way we can without going too overboard. We’re about to graduate, so… it would be unwise to break the law, because it would suck to be tried as an adult.”

“That’s… super admirable.”

Seeing Tsuruhashi-kun break a smile made me feel a great sense of fulfillment. However, I didn’t mention one vital thing about the Inagaki Punks.

After high school, the group’s disbanding. Not out of any internal strife or anything, but the fact that me and the others aren’t the only ones in the group—they’re all around the school. They just keep to themselves. We… rather, I hope that my leadership with the Inagaki Punks was enough to instill hope with our underclassmen, but to a point where they don’t need to band up like this. I just want to reassure the people around us that they have their own unique voices and strengths, and to claim weakness in a chance to be strong is one of the worst things they can do.

We’re punks after all. We were never going to fit in with what society demands us anyway.

That’s something he’ll come to learn soon enough.

I’m really counting on you to be our last ace in the hole, Tsuruhashi-kun.