An unexpected proposal (2)

This person was no one other than Matsumoto Tomoya, Makoto’s right-hand man in the gang and what’s more important, his childhood best friend. They have known each other since they were babies and kept their bond strong to this day.

But it wasn’t only because the boys had known each other for so long that Tomoya had a spot as the vice-captain of the Yokai Gang. He was a skilled fighter as well but in comparison to his sworn brother, his style was more calm and calculated. His muscles weren’t as trained and refined as Makoto’s but he matched those shortcomings with his speed and technique.

And yet, even with those skills, the nickname that he was given, Shapeshifter, wasn’t in any way related to them. It was Tomoya’s looks and some overly creative rumors that got him this title.

In Matsumoto’s household, there are actually two children. Tomoya is a younger one having a sister who is a practicing hairdresser. If you match little brother’s chill attitude and the habit of agreeing to everything without a second thought and a passionate young woman who needs a guinea pig to try out some new techniques on hair every week, you end up having a teenage boy who comes to school on Mondays with an entirely different look.

Today his hair was blue of middle length, with the bangs covering one of his eyes but next week, who knows? It could be a buzzcut or long straight rainbow hair.

Because of that a lot of members of different gangs ended up miscommunicating while visually describing the vice-captain of the Yokai Gang. The personality and age always matched, but the rest of the visuals were never the same. Embracing the monstrous theme of Onitsuka’s gang, they just decided to call Tomoya a shapeshifter to not confuse themselves any further in conversations.

“Can I talk to my buddy now, or are you too busy studying during lunch break as well?” Tomoya teased the second the bell signaling time for the lunch break had rung.

Makoto glared at his friend in response. He sometimes wondered how he managed to live for so long with such an annoyance by his side.

“Man, I barely managed to not get on Sakamoto-sensei’s bad side, give me a break”

“Fine, fine! Someone is grumpy today.”

“More like hungry,” Makoto patted his stomach as it quietly grumbled. “I was so sure that my alarm clock was set right but it just didn’t. There was no time for breakfast. It would be my last one if I decided to take my sweet time eating it anyway…”

“Now now, don’t be so dramatic!” Tomoya patted him on the back with his left hand. “Here!” he lifted the other one revealing a wrapped in a cloth bento box. “I had a feeling that you won’t bring your lunch for one reason or another so I made you extra!”

“You’re my savior, Tomoya!” the red-haired boy looked at his best friend with sparkles in his eyes as he took the lunch box from his hand to unwrap it quickly and start consuming the delicious-looking food.

“Now that I have your focus,” Tomoya started as he sat down by his desk and started opening his own bento. “Let’s talk gang business.”

“What is there to talk about?” Makoto asked with his mouth full of food which ended up sounding not very audible.

“Apparently,” his best friend took a slice of an egg omelet between his chopsticks and started mindlessly waving them up and down. “There is a rumored person who is desperately looking for you. Asking about the Red Oni more specifically.”

“And what’s weird about it? Seems like a usual thing.” Makoto retorted between the bites. “Just this morning some guys tried to fight me on my way to school.”

“The difference this time is that the said person is not interested in our gang, only you specifically. That’s not how it usually goes.” Tomoya said with slight concern. So focused on his own topic, that only after a few seconds did he process all of what his friend said. “Wait. Some guys tried to fight you this morning!?”

“Yeah, like I said, some two guys approached me but I had to run so I had no time to fight them.”

“You know, between the two of us, I am supposed to be the airheaded one… What if it leads to a bigger fight? You know some guys get angry if you won’t fight them right away.”

“Let’s leave this problem to Nakano,” Makoto put his hands together in front of the now-emptied lunch box in a sign of gratitude. “He’s our mediator after all!”

“I’m sure he will be overjoyed to have once again more work on his head.”

At that both of the boys smirked and started laughing, moving the conversation into more random topics, entirely forgetting about the mysterious person who was in search of the Red Oni from Kinishiro High.

The rest of the day in school passed in a flash. After saying goodbyes to their classmates and a few of their gang members, both Makoto and Tomoya walked towards the second’s house.

“I told you, you don’t have to come every time to do the dishes when I give you an extra lunch.”

“Ain’t no way I won’t repay you one way or the other so shut it and let me do at least this much!”

As they were walking and talking with occasional bickering, from the corner of his eye, Makoto noticed three figures on the street that intersected with the road the two boys were currently following.

“Something wrong?”

The red-haired teen entirely ignored his friend to focus more on the three figures standing a bit further from them. He had a feeling that those people were somehow familiar to him. At least two of them so he just couldn’t ignore his curiosity and walked towards them not even caring whether Tomoya followed him or not.

Once he was much closer it was clear why he somehow recognized them. It was the same guys that tried to bother him in the morning. Only this time, a small girl was standing with them with a visible frown on his face. That irked the boy. It was fine for delinquents to bother other gang members, but bothering a girl, one that didn’t look like a gang member in the slightest was just asking for a free beat-up from him.

“Oh, Red Oni!” the taller one yelled out but before he could say anything more Makoto threw the first punch straight to his face.

“Nobody taught you not to bother girls that don’t ask for it!?” Makoto shouted out angrily getting ready to hit the guy more but somehow, he managed to roll over to the side and quickly get up shocked by the sudden attack thrown at his way.

“Wait, you got it wrong, we just-” the shorter one wanted to explain but before he could finish his sentence, he got swiftly kicked on his stomach by Tomoya.

“Guys like you are really lame, you know~?”

Even though the short and tall duo tried their best to keep up in the fight, they lacked the skill and experience of the captain and vice-captain of the Yokai Gang. After a few kicks and punches were thrown, they ended up lying on the ground with red and blue-haired boys standing victorious above them ready to knock them out for good.

“W-wait, let us explain, it’s not-” the tall guy tried to explain but this time they were not cut by either Makoto or Tomoya. This time it was a feminine voice that decided to cut in.

“Well, well, well. It comes to my surprise that my search finally came to an end!”

Makoto turned around to look at the girl who was standing with two of the now beaten-up guys before. She was small, like very small, if she stood right in front of him, her face would be met with his chest. Her black hair was put into two short braids, tied up with hair ties with small golden bells that jingled slightly with the movement. Round glasses hid big chocolate brown innocent-looking eyes. Looking a bit lower, it was easy to recognize that the uniform she wore was from one of those posh elite schools that required you to have at least 95% in your exams to get in. Overall, Makoto could admit that the girl was simply cute.

“I have heard a lot about you, Red Oni. Your fighting skills truly match the tales I have heard!”

Makoto looked at Tomoya hoping that for some reason he would be able to explain this confusing situation but he, just like his best friend, was standing dumbfounded deciding whether to start asking questions or laugh at the girl’s strange way of forming sentences.

The girl wasn’t phased by the lack of response from the boys in front of her so she continued: “So, Red Oni, I have a proposal that you simply cannot decline!”

The red-haired delinquent was confused already but nothing would ever prepare him for the question he would be asked next.

“Become my familiar!”