Around nine thirty, it was time to finally return home and leave the Shiba household. This time, Yuzuha did not insist on guiding me home this time.

Of course, I hugged my friend and told her that I had a great time with her and that the presentation would be fire.

And it was true, as I left her house -without stumbling upon another brother of hers this time-, I was in a rather good mood. I had a lot of fun with Yuzuha and I felt like we had grown even closer this time. It was nice spending time in her house and I promised her that once my dad was not running a fever anymore, I would also invite her over.

I walked by myself quietly, looking down on the ground as I did, lost in my own thoughts as I passed by some flickering street lights. It was not too late, yet today- or tonight seemed a bit darker and quieter than usual.

My mind was stuck back in those scary angry eyes looking at me in the kitchen.

Taiju Shiba was a really mysterious and cold person.

Not like I knew him personally, but I just got these vibes from him, the way he behaved, spoke and looked at me...

I was worried for Yuzuha. And I was worried for her younger brother, too.

Was Taiju scaring and hurting them? It seemed too crazy for everything to be simply a coincidence. The injuries on both the two younger Shiba siblings and the fear and worry of Yuzuha over doing something so simple that her brother disapproved of, such as doing things too late than allowed or forgetting to do things or disturbing him...

But I could not just ask her like that. Or at least, not yet.

I just cared about her. Was she really dealing with problems a lot more than she showed? I was sure that she was keeping things away and just pretending that it was fine. As if she was not scared of her own brother and as if she would occasionally injure herself by accidents, such as falling down, tripping, getting scratched by a cat and what not.

"Hey, girlie."

I paused for a second and turned to my side. On a dark alley, there were three rather big looking guys staring at me, two of them grinning, cigarettes on their lips and fingers.

Oh, just great.

"What are you doing out here all alone? It's dangerous for a girl like you. Why don't you hang out with us? Come over, don't be shy. We don't bite." A dude with blonde hair grinned at me with a few scars on his face and hands as he motioned me to come over his other dark haired 'friends' with buzz cuts looking at me like hawks, smoking their cigarettes.

".... no, thanks." I mumbled and turned my head on my way and kept walking, just a bit quicker than previously, a poker face on as I silently prayed that these idiots would not cause any trouble or keep bothering me.

I felt my anxiety piling in the moment I heard footsteps approaching me and next thing I knew, the blonde guy was already walking on my left, while the other two got close to me on my right.

I bit my lower lip slightly and refrained from making eye-contact with them.

"Hey, it's rude to ignore us kind gentlemen like that." The blonde guy said, making one of his guys snicker at his comment.

He then reached out his hand to me, holding his cigarette. "Here."

"... No thanks." I said quietly, glancing at the cigarette with narrowed eyes for a few seconds before focusing right back on the road. "I don't smoke."

"Wouldn't hurt to try, c'mon, you'll like it." The guy told me. However, he was only met with uncomfortable silence.

"Hmph, suit yar'self." He hummed and took a drag out of it as they walked right next to me in a completely relaxed manner, while I felt extremely uncomfortable.

I felt their eyes upon me as we walked. "What's your name, beauty?"

"..." I did not answer him. I remained completely silent as if I didn't hear him.

"... Hey." He suddenly said and put a hand on my shoulder firmly, stopping me from moving anymore, not removing his hand. The other two stopped as well.

"Don't give me the cold shoulder, I asked something simple nicely." He said, looking down at me with his black eyes. "Your name."

"..." I stared at his hand and then up at him. ".... Y/n." I finally responded after a while, holding my breath. That earned a grin from him as he eyed his pals mischeviously. "Ain't our Y/n over here just a cutie?" He laughed with them. "I'm Osanai." He introduced himself, as if I cared. He continued walking with me.

"... Nice to meet you." I forced my self to speak. "I gotta go now, though. My parents are waiting for me."

Osanai chuckled, "What a cutie... You should talk more. You got a nice voice." He 'complimented' me. I then felt him wrap an arm around my neck and pulling me all of a sudden very close to his side, making my freeze a bit and my eyes widen, feeling my face pale. "Don't you worry your pretty little head. I'm sure mommy will not mind some handsome and strong guys like us taking care of you. You know, you could stay over at mine for the night and I promise to bring you back home safe and sound tomorrow. What do you say?" He said with a smirk, making me feel extremely terrified and uncomfortable. "We can have a nice date... You know, the two of us... Get to know each other an' stuff. I think you're very pretty. And I'm a handsome guy with money. I could get you whatever you want with all this money. And I'm sure I could make you open up a bit, huh?"

".... no, thank you." I mumbled quietly. I was extremely terrified, because this guy gave me the false sense that he would not do anything, but he looked dangerous. And it was not just him, he had two other people blocking all my escape routes. One wrong movement and I could get hurt, killed or worse. "I just want to go home. And I have a boyfriend already." I lied to him.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Sure you do... Come on, he doesn't have to know-"

He paused talking the moment noises of motorcycles were heard, getting louder and louder as well as these machines lighting up the entire dark roads.

The guys squinted their eyes, suddenly forgetting about me as they stared at the bunch of motorcyclist that were getting closer and closer. I could count at least eight to ten motorcycles approaching. 

".... Shit." Osanai mumbled.

"Boss, it's the Black Dragons!" One of the guys said throwing his cigarette on the ground.

"I know!" Osanai glared at his friend, looking angrier and a bit more anxious in a way, before he glanced at me for a second as I just stood there and blinked, lips parted as I stared at the bunch motorcyclists approaching, suddenly feeling myself getting even more anxious.

However, before Osanai and the two other guys could do anything, the motorcyclists stopped extremely close to us, all the engines roaring loudly and angrily, making me stare wide eyed at all of them.

All of them were wearing the same uniforms.

They were gangsters.

"Hey." One of them said on the front.... He looked familiar to me for some reason and I could not take my eyes off of his eyes and his long eyelashes. I would have mistaken him as a girl if it were not for his voice. He looked so pretty and feminine. Right behind him was sitting a blonde, green eye boy with a red mark around one of his eyes, dressed in more casual clothes than the gangsters and was looking at us with a blank expression, holding onto the guy speaking tightly.

Osanai and the two other guys tensed up, their breaths hitching. Before they could speak, the familiar guy spoke again.

"Harassing a girl?" He asked them, looking at them with a narrowed, bored expression. "Not cool. Listen here...." He sighed. "I don't feel like getting up and kicking your asses... But I sure as hell can make these men do the job for me. So I'd kindly ask you to let the girl alone and get your asses outta here, before we leave you hurt and paralyzed here." He said with the most bored tone ever, as if he did not just threaten these guys.

But he had every right to appear this unbothered. After all, it was three guys against a bunch of motorcyclists. It was not like he had any reason to appear scared.

Osanai sweated and looked over at his boys, before he clicked his tongue. "Assholes..." He muttered under his breath. "Come on, fun time's over. We're leaving." Osanai said in a low tone, giving me a quick wink, before he and the two other thugs followed after him, leaving.

"...." I remained there standing, awkward and frozen, as I noticed the three guys finally leave me. I felt relieved to say the least.

Turning my eyes back on the motorcyclists, they also appeared to be strong and dangerous. Everyone was covered in tattoos, muscles and piercings and definitely giving those deliquent vibes. But a few of them perhaps looked a bit familiar... And the guy that was previously speaking, who appeared to be the leader of this gang perhaps, just saved me from being further harassed by a bunch of weirdos.

"Thank you so much." I thanked them all and bowed down to who my gratitude.

"Yeah, don't mention it." The lilac-colored eyes spoke.

".... Yo, Wakasa," Suddenly, another very familiar looking guy spoke. Black hair, brown eyes, long ass scar on his face....

That's it! I could recognize three of these guys back in Shinichiro's house!

"Isn't this H/n's sister?" The guy asked the feminine looking guy that threatened Osanai, now known as 'Wakasa'.

"Yeah," Wakasa replied, "I know, it's her. Y/n, wasn't it?"

My eyes widened and softened a bit. "Ah, yes, yes that's me..."

The guy with the scar scoffed and took a drag out of his cigarette. Damn, everybody smoked here? "What an irresponsible brother you got, doll.. Shouldn't he be accompanying you outside at this time of the night? It's dangerous for you to wander outside by yourself."

"Ah, it's fine... I-I'm on my way home right now anyways.." I said quietly, scratching the back of my neck and looking down, feeling embarassed by the many people looking at me.

"... Hey. Hope on. Get behind Benkei." Wakasa said suddenly and pointed behind him with his thumb, pointing at a very tall, muscular guy with a tanned complexion, a platinum blond crew cut, a beard and golden earrings, who was one of the three guys that I had seen at Shinichiro's. He stared at me with his big eyes. "We're taking you home to Shin."

Many men right behind Wakasa and the passenger behind him, Benkei and 'Scar guy' looked at Wakasa in shock. "Shin? She knows him?" One of them asked.

Wakasa gave a lazy grin. "Yeah, she's a family friend of the Sano's. She visits dear old him and his siblings quite often." He said before looking at me. "Any friend of Shinichiro's is a friend of ours. Now hop it." Wakasa repeated to me, as if he was even demanding me to follow in a way. All the men looked at me in surprise to whispering to each other.

And you know what? Fuck it. Instead of going home on my own after all this, it would be nice to be given a ride. I knew that it was stupid to trust strangers but... They were friends with Shinichiro and they would take me there instead. I'm sure Emma and Mikey would be more than happy to see me there. And hopefully, I could call my parents and convince them to have a sleepover at the Sanos.

"Thank you so much!" I said happily, finding myself smiling a bit, feeling excited, as I started approaching this big Benkei guy.

"Hi..." I said quietly and awkwardly. "Hey," He said and extended his hand out, immediately helping me get right behind him, the motorcycle bouncing slightly at this. He forced a helmet on me and made sure to adjust it well for me. The helmet was a bit too big, almost blocking my vision. I felt myself a bit anxious.

Surprisingly, Benkei seemed to notice. "First time on a motorcycle?" He asked. "....yeah." I mumbled quietly and nodded in embarassment. He hummed. "That's fine. I know how to drive this thing well. You'll be fine, just hold onto me right." He advised me, making me nod as I wrapped my arms around his muscular body tightly around his waist and abs, holding onto him really tightly.

Soon enough, the engines began roaring extremely loudly and the next thing I knew, we were all driving super fast.

I felt my heart beating loudly and I instinctively held onto Benkei even tighter as I looked around us, how fast we were passing by the buildings and trees around us. I also glanced around on my right and left and in the front to see gangsters riding around us as well all following Wakasa. I could not bring myself to look backwards, but I knew that there were even more motorcyclists right behind us.

"You okay over there?" Benkei's voice asked me loudly, not glancing over me as he focused on the road.

"Yeah, I'm good!" I replied back, finding myself smiling. Despite me feeling anxious and a bit scared of falling off, I found myself feeling really pumped up, excited and energetic, actually enjoying this ride. It felt amazing, driving so fast with so many people, it was incredibly fun.

Usually during the quiet hours of the day I would find myself disturbed by the loud engines of the motorcycles passing by and I hated the sound... But now getting to be on top of one and traveling so fast like this made me think so differently about this experience.

"Thank you for helping me out back there!" I thanked Benkei, and actually the entire gang for actually stopping and helping me out with the blonde idiot whose name I had already forgotten. "Yeah, don't mention it." He said. I looked at Benkei's back and read the logo 'Black Dragons.' I spoke again. "You guys seem really cool and nice. Wakasa seems like a great leader." I complimented with a smile.

"Hm?" Benkei hummed, glancing at me over his shoulder for a second. "Wakasa? He's not the leader. Shinichiro is."

"..." I remained silent, processing his words.

... Shinichiro.

The kind, almost lazy and goofy looking guy with the silly haircut. The guy who finds himself bored when it comes to training in the dojo. The guy who looks this weak and unable to even hurt a fly. Leader of a gang.

"Shinichiro." I deadpanned. ".... Come again?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE PUBLISHED ON: March 10th