Chapter 2: Invitations X destinations

Much like yesterday she had awaken before the alarm, she turns it off and runs through the usual routine, her body ached from yesterday, not as much thanks to mrs. Yako. This time someone she would find herself with company

“...Good morning,” Yuko says standing at her doorstep, Akira lets her in to wait. “ Im sorry about last night, I fell asleep,” Yuko apologies, Akira waves her off, “ Its alright it was pretty late anyway, come on lets head out,” Akira picks up her bag as she accompanies Yuko out, they manage a peaceful walk to school.

“YO!” Taro waves over to them, he managed to find Akiras class before it started, he hands her a jacket similar to his, “ Since you joined you’ll need this, oh and heres one for you,” He cheerfully says handing a flustered Yuko a jacket, making her an official member. Taro says he’ll talk more during lunch as Mr.Sei had started yelling at him for interrupting class time, but the two seemed to be close as well as Mr.Sei wasn’t all that serious, he was smiling while yelling, odd. Another day of learning and lunch had already arrived, Before we could go find Taro Mr.Sei had approached us, still smiling gently.

“ I understand you joined Taros little gang but please don’t be like him, or what Im trying to say is don’t be as reckless as that idiot, its bad enough that theres one of him, two would be even worse,” he says rubbing the back of his head, Akira laughs lightly,

“ Of course not, If anything I’ll be better than him!” She says, causing him to sigh, then the door is slammed open, there stood a boy around Taros height, his black eyes scanned the room until they landed on us, he was wearing a fox jacket. Mr. Sei turns to stare at him, indicating that this has occurred more than once.

“ Sorry for the intrusion Mr.Sei, but Taro sent for these two,” The new guy says, Mr.Sei sighs once more and waves his hand as he heads back to his desk, and without saying another word the other guy walks off leaving Yuko and Akira to scramble after him. They managed to follow him up to the roof where Taro await, eating his lunch. He waves to them when they arrive, smiling gleefully as he ate.

“ That over there was Ben, the vice leader, he may seem distant but hes like that with everyone so don’t may much attention to that,” he says in between bites of his food. Akira and Yuko take a seat on the floor alongside Taro as they too begin eating their lunch,

“ Nothing new on Gods dragons after yesterday, we’ll handle them if they decide to show up again,” Ben says leaning against the fence. “ I’ll introduce you to the others later, im not sure where they are at the moment,” Taro says very carelessly, before anyone else can say anything a sudden shout catches their attention, yuko had nearly dropped her box.

“ OOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!” Suzuki yells from the ground level, Akira hadn’t seen who it was but she can tell its her, the four of them had decided to just head down and meet them instead of conversing from up high, when they had reached down Suzuki stood beaming, with someone new next to her, he was slightly shorter than her, Akira made sure to pay close attention to the face this time. He had short hair, a small scar on his chin and light yellow eyes, he wore a gentle smile. Akira takes a glance over at Ben and Taro, Ben was straight faced while Ben was relaxed, smiling.
“ What brings the esteemed leader of Gods Dragon all the way here today, Ryuji?” Taro says all too casually, Yuko stands behind Taro as she peeks over him at the other two.

“ Next week, Akira and I will settle our match properly,” Suzuki points at Akira as she declares their battle date, not caring much for the others consent, Akira nervously glances over at the leader, “ Im here to propose a duo battle, two matches, the second match being against me and Taro,” Ryujin's eyes drift from Akira and meet with Taros,

“ Next week saturday, 2pm at the abandoned gym. That work for you guys?” Taro asks maintaining his eye contact with Ryujin, both Akira and Suzuki nod, Ryujin simply walks off, Suzuki waves goodbye as she follows behind, Ben lets out a heavy sigh,
“ how could you agree to that so simply?” Ben goes off on Taro for his reckless decision, he simply laughs it off, which ticks off Ben further. As we head back to class Taro explains what’ll happen,

“ Our fight is next week, we’ll help you get ready for that fight, today after school I’ll show you where the foxes rest,” He ends vaguely, making it seem like hes going to show them where he buries his victims. They say their goodbyes for now and make it back to class in time. Akira and Yuko meet up with Taro out in the court after school, without saying much he leads them into the city. They stop in front of a cafe, it seemed to be open.

“ This is the lair of the foxes?” Akira pondered, she had imagined something more…foxy? When they entered only a handful of people filled the room, whom all look up at them when they enter, Yuko cowers behind Akira, this many staring eyes seemed to weigh heavily on her. Taro places his hand on Akiras shoulder,
“ These two are the new members I mentioned before, Akira and Yuko. And as I mentioned yesterday Akira and I will be facing off against God Dragons Leader and vice leader,” Taro says. One of the guys stands up abruptly and walks towards Akira, he seemed ticked off.

“ Your saying shes the one who fought the dragon and wrath? And you expect her to do it again a week later? Whos to say a week would make a difference in the outcome, huh?” The guy says, getting up in Akira's face, which she didn’t appreciate very much, Taro gently pushes him back, “ Now now Wren, your more than welcome to test her strength yourself if your so skeptical,” Taro says smiling, Wren looked to Taro, then back to Akira before walking out back, she followed. Behind the cafe was a decent sized square of nothing, an empty lot fenced off.

“ Prove yourself,” Wren simply says, allowing her the first strike, she wouldn’t take it. The others had followed them out and simply watched from the side. The sun dyed the sky an orange red, Akira stood with her guard up, Wren threw the first hit, his fist slamming into Akiras forearm. She didn’t let it show but it hurt like hell, almost as bad as Suzukis. But unlike that fight she was unable to find the moment to attack, she tried her best to defend against the heavy swings but they hurt all the same, “ tch, is that really it?” Wren scoffs at her pathetic attempt. She would have to take another approach to this fight, and so she did. Instead of trying to defend she takes a step back, evading the attack all together, carefully Akira weaved around Wren, frustrating him. Her attacks began landing, during her fight with Suzuki she didn’t care much about defense as they were practically even when it came to speed but Suzuki seemed to outclass her in strength by a bit, but now she held somewhat of an advantage. Night had fallen, A lamp attached to the building illuminated the square, at this point they were both exhausted. Those around them still watched on in curiosity to see who would win, Akira attempts what she did against Suzuki, she waited for the right moment, when Wren threw a punch with his right arm she would drop everything else, putting herself in a state of total concentration, her eyes devoid of light. In one quick lunge she ducks under the his fist and rising up to throw one punch, this time the combo ran uninterrupted, or so she’d like’d it to have. Akira's concentration was broken as they both landed clean punches to the others face, they were breathing heavily, Wren dropped first, chatter and laughter erupts from the others as they crowd around Akira and Wren,

“ Ahahaha! Who would’ve though that Wren would get beat up by the newbie!” says some guy, he puts his arm around Akiras shoulder, “ Your pretty good, how about facing me now,” He says smiling, with an almost crazy look in his eyes. Taro bonks his head,

“ Come now Yukio, give Akira a day to rest and then you can help her prepare,” he says, Akira stare in bewilderment, this match was set up to help train her? Yukio laughs once more,

“ Tomorrow then, you better be ready!” He says beaming with excitement. Akira feels something tug on her sleeve, it was Yuko, she looks like shes about to cry. Akira reassures Yuko that shes fine, they head inside as the cafe owner had prepared dinner for them, turns out the owner is good friends with Taro and his mom so she treats the foxes like family.

“ Eat as much as you want,” Ms. Tsumiya said, Akira overheard her name when she was talking to Taro, turns out he had told her ahead of time and she was preparing. Akira and Yuko find a seat and enjoy the meal, the main dish was a large batch of fried rice with a whole bunch of other things as sides. It was good. Yukio joins us,

“ So, what was that thing you did at the end?” he asks, “ You know, the thing with your eyes,” he continues as Akira stare in confusion, “ Oh that, yeah Im not sure either, it happens when I focus deeply, kinda like a trance,” Akira explains, taking another bite of her food. She shifted the conversation to something that would be more comfortable with Yuko, so Akira asked if Yuko had seen any of the new animes, which kicked off a whole new conversation. Yuko and Akira eventually say their goodbyes to the others and head home, Akira would say her goodbyes with Yuko when she reached her apartment, she had decided to take a quick bath and head to sleep as it was pretty late. Akira's body still ached from the fight with Wren. The next day she fought Yukio, who beat her pretty easily. That was how the week went, she would go to school and learn, then head to the cafe and sparre with Yukio until wednesday, which the last two days were rest days, so that she doesn’t go into the battle sore. The day before the fight was here, Akira wasn’t really nervous or anything before, but now that its the day before shes starting to feel it. She had managed to make it through the day and went home, Yuko had decided to drop by. The two come home only to find Taro and Ben waiting inside, she of course yelled at them for this. They had already made themselves at home,

“ Don’t worry about tomorrow, as long as you yourself know you can win, thats all that matters,” Taro says, patting her head. She swats his hand away, clearly caught off guard and flustered at the gesture, the others got a good laugh at least. Akira and Yuko see Ben and Taro off as they decided on what to do next. Yuko suggested she sleep over, Akira was fine with it. The two spent the rest of the day watching whatever Yuko put on as they ate dinner, they chat quite a bit before heading to bead. Due to lack of space they had to share Akiras bed, cramped but they still slept well, at least Yuko did. For what seemed like the first hour Akira was awake, even with her eyes closed she was still conscious,

“ come on, can’t be nervous now. I know I’ll win, I will,” she thinks to herself, eventually giving in to the lull of sleep. Morning eventually rose, Akira wakes to find Yuko clinging to her, she was stuck. She would’ve gotten up but she didn’t wanna disturb her friends sleep, plus it was still 7 in the morning, she could wait a bit longer. Yuko woke up an hour later finally letting Akira out of her grasp. She lets Yuko borrow one of her extra toothbrushes as they both get ready, Today was the day. The two get ready and have breakfast,

“ Are you ready?” Yuko asks, to which Akira smiles confidently,

“ Of course,” She simply replies, the two head out at around 1:40 to the place following Yuko as Akira doesn’t remember where they were supposed to meet, but Yuko remembered but she followed her phone as she wasn’t that familiar with the area.