Past collides with present (1)

Sister.

How is it that Makoto did not see it all along?

Oh… That’s right. He isn’t the brightest when it comes to deductions of this type.

When Onitsuka first heard about Watanabe’s true reason for reaching out to him in the first place, his brain automatically created a whole scenario that fit his imagination.

It was hard for him to say why, but he imagined the sister to be more like Mami, who just turned into a rebel. Maybe finding some boyfriend in a ruthless gang, and that’s what the ‘joined dark forces’ part was about.

But of course it didn’t work like that. Siblings aren’t always similar, and in this case, it was obvious that the girls were like water and fire, though he could imagine them sharing some similarities like impatience or stubbornness.

Suddenly, the Red Oni remembered something Mami had said the first time they met.

…conquer the evil herd of wolves.

Was all the gibberish the girl has said out loud not that nonsensical this whole time? She knew that her sister’s gang was called the herd, and the wolf part was a clear indication of Honoka’s pin in the shape of the animal’s head in the center of her cap.

The hints were there all along; Makoto just didn’t consider them to be anything more than a part of the specific speech caused by Chuunibyou syndrome.

“Hey, that’s unfair, Red Oni!” The girl, who was still standing at the entrance, yelled out, “We were supposed to join our forces in this battle; I do not appreciate the way you have left me in the dark!”

Mami tried to get past the bunch of fighting teenagers, but before she could get to the unsafe zone, Makoto yelled out to Tomoya to get his attention.

“Make sure she ain’t getting anywhere near the fight!”

When the Yokai gang leader saw his friend nodding at him and running towards the upset girl, he knew that he could focus back on his fight. It wasn’t a good thing to put one of his best fighters out of there, but Watanabe’s safety was more important than winning this battle. Now, turning back to Honoka, he could see her fuming with rage.

“I tried so hard to push her away from this shit. And you just had to bring her back into it,” she said, clenching her fist. “You’re dead meat.”

And the short girl sent him a salve of punches. Heronce more. Her fighting style has shifted, and it was not hard to notice. Honoka's movements were no longer under her control; every move she made was motivated by her rage. That was actually beneficial to Makoto. She was blindly attacking him with no tactic whatsoever, which meant she could slip up and give out more openings for the teen delinquent to hit her.

“Look, I have no idea what you mean by all of that,” Onitsuka said in between punches, “but I did not encourage Watanabe to come here. Hell, I told her it was dangerous to hang out with us for the time being!”

“She shouldn’t know you in the first place, you bastard!”

“Hey, that’s on you!”

“Huh?” Makoto clearly caught Honoka off guard with what he said.

“She only wanted my help because you apparently told her to find a strong yokai to bring you back home!”

“What Red Oni has just announced is entirely correct, sister of mine!”

Surprising both of the gang leaders, Mami cut in, with Tomoya standing by her side with a slightly guilty look on his face.

“You were supposed to get her away from here, not bring her closer, idiot!” The Red Oni couldn’t help but yell at his friend out of frustration.

“Now listen here, Mako-chan,” the Shapeshifter started defending himself, “I would definitely have done that, but Mami-chan here explained the situation shortly, and I think she needs to be there as well.”

It was getting ridiculous. Everyone around them fought, and here the two leaders, together with one vice captain and a girl who wasn’t officially a part of either of the gangs but was in some way connected to both, were standing there like idiots, trying to make sense out of the situation.

“I can’t believe it. Both of you-”

Once again, Makoto was stopped mid-sentence as Honoka ran onto him, swaying her left leg high enough to do the side kick, which, with sheer luck, he managed to avoid in the last millisecond before it could reach him.

“I don’t give a damn what the hell is happening right now. I will kick all of your asses, and that is going to solve the problem quickly,” the leader of the Herd announced, not stopping with her attacks.

Onitsuka wasn’t letting her corner him to be on defense all the time, though. Every moment he sensed the girl being distracted, he took advantage of it. He may not have been able to land a clear hit yet, but grazing her was more than enough. It didn’t look as if it would be impactful, but with the chances he had, he was able to slowly tire her out.

“I would rather solve our differences through peaceful conversation,” Mami cut in, entirely ignoring the fact that she was disturbing the fight. She even nearly bumped into one of the duos fighting against each other nearby—that is, if Honoka didn’t manage to push her away on time.

“Just go home, Mami! When will you fucking learn that hanging around me ends up with you getting hurt?”

“I…”

“You are the one in this fancy school! You shouldn’t be that dumb!” Honoka sounded more frustrated with each sentence she directed at her sister. “It’s because of me that you speak in this dumb way... Just let it go and leave me alone!”

“What?” Makoto let out the question before he could even realize that any words had left his mouth.

The enemy gang leader turned back to him, her deadly glare not changing in the slightest. “Fuck. Fine. If it will make you all shut up and let us fight, Let’s tell them. What do you think, Mami?”

The question was clearly rhetorical, as the girl did not wait for her sister to answer, and it looked like Mami was not able to say anything in the first place.

“I was always going around fighting alone with some punks weaker than me,” Honoka started. “Guess one group was really salty, and a girl like me beat them up. So… They decided that it was a perfect idea to take my sister to threaten me.”

It was such a cowardly thing to take someone who wasn’t involved at all just to get revenge. Just thinking about this situation made Makoto unconsciously clench both of his fists in anger.

“Long story short, I beat the hell out of them once I found them with my younger sister. But that didn’t matter. When I came up to her, she was terrified.” Honoka then turned back to the girl with braids, who kept quiet the whole time, not even trying to add anything to the story. “I was all bloody too; I got the nice scar back then when one of those losers thought it was fair game to attack me with a sharp rock.” She pointed at her left cheek while saying that. “When I got to Mami, she was really scared. Couldn’t stop shaking. Back then, I thought, ‘She was never afraid of those monster stories she read and wrote, so maybe making it like a scene from a book would help the case.’ So I did that.”

The girl took a moment to take a longer breath. It felt like all the fighting around them was in slow motion, as if those who listened to the story were wrapped up in a bubble that was it’s own universe, cut off from the rest of the world.

“I told her that they were bad demons and I had to kick their asses before they could hurt more people, and they went after her because she had magic powers and they were scared of her.” Honoka once again turned, this time to look back at her opponent. Perhaps she couldn’t manage to look at her sister any longer while bringing that memory back, or maybe she just wanted to make sure Onitsuka heard the next part clearly. It was hard to tell. “It worked; she stopped shaking and suddenly was more excited than scared, so I took her home.” The girl looked down at the ground this time, but she was not yet finished with her story. “When we got there, Mami continued to speak in that weird way, and it didn’t look like she was about to stop anytime soon. The old hag said it was my fault. And she was right. It’s because of me. That’s why…” The Herd leader raised her head and looked straight into Makoto’s eyes, showing her full determination. “That’s why I decided to leave. I didn’t want to ruin my sister’s life even more.”

No one spoke up for a moment. What was there to be said? Actually, a lot. But how could one even start, especially in a situation like this when they were technically still in the middle of the fight? Tomoya didn’t look like he wanted to intervene. Makoto, on the other hand, felt like he should do something. Clearly, both of the Watanabe sisters loved each other. It’s just that their ways of showing love were different.