Chapter 1: The Fox X and X Dragon

Akira’s conscious fades back in as she stares blankly at the wall, she taps her phone on, squinting her eyes at the flash of light. It was 6:00AM. She had awoken 30 minutes before the alarm. Akira makes an effort to throw off the warm covers and turn off the alarm before going to get ready. Today was her first day, she was in her first year of college. She had decided to move here and now lives alone. Her parents decided it was best for to find residence here instead of trying to commute. She took her time freshening up, throwing on pants, a shirt, a red hoodie and then the schools blazer. Akira pour herself a bowl of cereal before turning on the tv to the news. Nothing much has happened, downing the last bit of milk and leaving the bowl in the sink as that will be a future her problem. Making sure everything is in the bag before she heads out, locking the door on the way out. Akira lived in an apartment, it wasn’t bad for the price. The sky had hues of pink and yellow as the sun rose slowly, she walks along the path passing by stores of all kinds on the way. And obnoxious people I guess, even at this hour some people just wanna be loud? Standing partly in an alley, two tall dudes who seemed to be towering over someone smaller, she couldn’t really see from here, but her staring caught the attention of one and when she got close enough he engaged.

“ Quit staring at people and mind your own business bitch,” the buy with a bomber jacket says, which Akira would’ve let go if not for the uncalled for name calling, she could now see who the victim of these two were. Another student, going to the same college as her, tears stained her face.

“ What did I just say, get-” before he could finish he crumbles to the floor, clutching his stomach, One hard hit was all it took, the other guy had thrown a punch, Akira was able to evade the punch and counter, two hits this time. One to the face and one in the stomach, The girl runs behind Akira as the two guys help each other up, “ Your so dead! Do you even-” hes cut off again, this time Akira spoke up,

“ I couldn’t care less about who you are, I don't like you, and thats all I need,” She grins at the duo, they both rush at her. Akira was swift, she was able to strike the both of them in near rapid succession, using the momentum from the first strike to execute the second, it ended with the dudes fleeing. Akira sighs in fulfilment, she then remembers the whole reason this started, turning back to see if the girl was ok, “ You um, you ok?” Akira asks, she wasn’t very good at consoling people.

“ Yesyeahimfinenowthankyousomuch!” The girl sudden blurts out, the only word Akira made out was yes, “ Sorry, Im fine now thanks to you, Im Yuko,” Yuko introduces herself,

“ Akira” she shakes the girls hand, noticing her watch. The time read 7:52AM . First class was at 8. “ Shit were gonna be late!” Akira shakes her hand quickly and makes a full sprint towards the school. The sound of furious running drummed the quite halls of the school, sliding open the door to see shes not the last one, but the second last one. Yuko jogs up next to her completely out of breath, she takes a couple of seconds to regain her composure. They both enter and take their seats as the bell chimes, they had barely made it. The teacher, Mr. Sei, did rollcall, going down the list of names of every student in his class, after he went over the things this semester. We jumped right into learning. Everything was familiar from the previous year of highschool, going over basics was how the first day played out. Lunch time had rolled in quickly, Yuko pulls her seat next to me, we both eat in silence, aside from the chatter of the other students. “ …do you like?” Akira had been lost and thought and hadn’t noticed Yuko was asking her something, she repeats herself.

“ What kinda things do you like to do?” Yuko asks keeping her eyes locked on her food, occasionally looking up at Akira, just asking this one question took a lot out of her clearly, a faint trace of red can be seen on her cheeks, a smile dons Akira's face.

“ You know, things. Games, shows, other stuff,” she answers vaguely, she wasn’t really sure how to answer, but it was enough for yuko, her entire face changed at the mention of games. She engages Akira in what felt like an hours long talk about games, such as the type she plays? Mostly gacha, Yuko found that amusing as she got a good laugh out of it, she admits that shes the same. The conversation would’ve gone on if Akira hadn’t noticed a familiar figure, standing outside on the courtyard were three people, one of them was wearing a bomber jacket, the same guys from this morning, the new guy she had no idea who but she didn’t care. She needed them gone, Yuko looked up at Akira as she walked away, then out the window, panic over took her as she rushed after her friend. “ wait wait Akira is this really wise?” Yuko blurts out running up next to Yuko, the two were descending the stairs now,

“ Yes, this is one of my many wise decisions, if I don’t deal with this now it’ll be annoying going forward,” Akira argues pushing open the doors, the guy with the bomber jacket points at her, mouthing off something she can’t hear to the new guy, she hadn’t noticed until now but they all wore bomber jackets the only difference was the new guys one was red, while the other two wore dark blue.

“ I heard you roughed up my dear members, Im afraid I can’t let that go,” The man with the red jacket speaks smiling casually, his light blue eyes say other wise. His hair was well kept, he steps forward toward Akira, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Akira had thrown her hand up in defense, she had barely seen it in time but red jacket guy had thrown a punch, the force from it puts distance between the two, her left forearm throbbed from that hit, Akira furrows her brows, Yuko had stepped back to the doors. Akira retaliates by throwing a kick, the guy manages to catch her leg but shes able to free herself by forcing him to defend against a punch thrown at his face, which he does with ease. And thats when Akira noticed, his hair flowed down to neck level where its been neatly leveled, “ Your a girl??” Akira blurts out suddenly, the realization dawned on her when she paid more attention to the face, and then her chest, and when she put more thought into it the voice was feminine, she just hadn’t cared enough before to really notice.

“ haaaaa?” The red jacket girl was probably pissed now. Akira takes advantage of her sudden revelation to push back with a series of timed punches, only one landed. They began to exchange blows, some landing, some not. At this point everyone had noticed what was happening, but the two did not care, they were locked into their fight. Akira's entire body ached but she ignored it, the thrill she felt from this fight overwhelmed all other senses, the duo smiled as they continued, the fight would reach its conclusion. The two put distance between themselves, Akira had her focus set, she dashes forward in one lunge, ducking low and jabbing once at her stomach, throwing her other arm up to block a swing which cost her the combo, the only thing she could do was brace herself, for the punch that wouldn’t hit, someone else had blocked it?

“ I appreciate the enthusiasm for the battle, but I think thats enough, no?” The stranger speaks, smiling at the red jacket girl, she pulls her fist back and takes a few steps back, wiping her mouth. “ Haha, you must be the infamous “9 tailed fox?” the girl speaks, He was tall, his blond hair combed back as his orange eyes drift to her, then back to the other girl, He was wearing their school jacket only on the back a fox was etched into it, one with nine tails.

“ tch, we were just getting to the good part, oh well. We can finish this another day…your name?” She asks shamelessly after having started this whole thing, “ Akira,” She manages

“ Suzuki,” Suzuki replies, turning around to leave with the two others she had forgotten about,

“ WAIT! You promised you’d get pay back for us, this isn’t that!” One of the guys argues, Suzukis smile drops, halting her advance. Despite her vibrant eyes she was able to convey a great amount of fear simply by changing her face, the guy is shut up instantly and they walk off.

“ Come on, lets get you to the nurses office and then you can tell me what happened here,” the new guy says walking back inside, Akira didn’t protest as she was in no condition to disagree. “ Get into another fight Taro? You never listen huh?” the nurse says with her back to the trio, she glances over her shoulder eyeing Taro, and then me. Yuko had explained everything to him while the nurse patched me up, “ I see, I guess that makes sense. Still, Im surprised you were able to hold out for that long considering your opponent, you really don't know who that was?” Taro says laughing as Akira stare in confusion,

“ The dragon of wrath,” The name held no significance to Akira but it seemed to be a big deal as even the nurse was surprised, “ You fought Suzuki without evening knowing who she was? AHA! Now thats something,” The nurse laughs patting her on the back, she winces but manages a smile, she still had no idea who Suzuki was, or why it was such a big deal.

“ Gods Dragon, a gang in another school. You fought one of the vice leaders, more specifically one of the more known ones, Suzuki is known for her strength and ruthlessness. The fact that you managed to walk away from that fight awake is something,” Taro praises her for something she had no idea was a thing, but one question still remained,
“ She called you the, “ Nine tailed fox”? Does that mean your also in a gang?” She asks

“ What year are you in?” The nurse asks, “ first year, Im new to the area.” Akira replies, to which the nurse smacks her head lightly, “ Even if you are new you should’ve at least heard of rumours,” The nurse scolds her, Akira looks to Yuko, who nods her head indicating that even she knows who this guy is. Taro laughs again.
“ Its alright Mrs. Yako. Much like the Gods Dragon, out school has its own gang, were known as the Children of the fox, I earned my nickname thanks to my strength, and the fact that Im the leader!” He boasts, Akira stare wide eyed, she had met two big shots in the span of a couple hours, Taro laughs again, seemingly at her reaction.

“ How about joining the foxes?” Taro asks enthusiastically, which earned him a hard smack on the head from Mrs. Nanao, “ I’ll join,” Akira had made up her mind, she throws her hands over her head as Nanao turns to her, She just lets out a sigh and rubs her head, as if anticipating more work in the future. We were sent back to class, everything went on normally then. At the end of the day Akira was bombed with questions from the other students who had seen her fight with Suzuki, she managed to answer a few and slip away. Akira walks home with Yuko, turns out they live nearby. They exchange contacts and head home. Akira takes a quick shower and changes, too lazy to make something she makes cup noodles. Akira's phone buzzes, A series of texts from Yuko, mostly stickers and emojis. The two exchange messages for awhile when Yuko suddenly stops, perhaps she had fallen asleep? It was pretty late. Akira decided to get some sleep.