twenty nine

nowhere generation

My return to Oya was heralded by over a dozen over-excited, screaming teenage boys.

I crossed the courtyard with Murayama, hands interlocked, the sleeves of our respective sweaters and jackets pulled over our knuckles. It had been a hectic morning to say the least. The last thing I had expected to wake up to was Yasushi lighting Fujio's shirt on fire after trying to use the stove, Odajima and Murayama beating the crap out of each other in the backyard ( to which Hiroto replied 'if he's beating up people who've slept with Midori, I'm more than willing to give him Masaki's name') and Tsukasa and Nakagoshi stealing Masaki's credit card to buy breakfast (which Nakagoshi said was Murayama's idea).

The whole crew of us were heading to Oya. We were like a parade: me and Murayama in front, the kids directly behind us, and the Amamiyas plus Odajima bringing up the rear. No doubt the kids' absences were already garnering questions from their respective Factions.

Somewhere along the line, Fujio had jumped into a shopping card and demanded that Nakagoshi push him along, to which the younger boy had simply laughed, pushing the shopping cart into the middle of the road and almost getting the Hanoaka boy run over.

When we got back to the school grounds, things were less chaotic than I had expected. In all honesty, I wasn't sure there'd be an Oya Kokoh to go back to after our little day of playing hooky.

"Midori-san!" One of the kids in the YasuKiyo Faction shouted over a balcony

"The Queen of Oyakou has returned!" Shibaman whooped from his perch on a giant pile of old chairs, a can of Pepsi in his left hand.

I rolled my eyes, waving at the kids, eyes cast downwards. I never liked attention.

"She's back!" Nakaoka hollered, rushing across the courtyard and tackling me to the floor.

I grimaced as I hit my head on a piece of drywall, a fifteen year old on top of me and my boyfriend being tugged down with the two of us.

"Christ, Nakaoka!" I chuckled. "Seriously, the way you guys have been acting, it's like I came back from the dead or something."

Kiyoshi choked back a laugh "Yasushi did think you were dead."

Yasushi's face went an unsightly pink "Shut your damn mouth!" The tiny boy snapped back. Day by day, he seemed to look more and more like an angry twelve year old.

Tsukasa chuckled, clapping the shorter boy on the shoulders. "It happens to the best of us, Nishikawa. It's called developing empathy."

"Oh, shove off."

The kids seemed to flow towards the main area, all eager to catch sight of our return, with little doubt in my mind that some of them would start asking questions once they saw Odajima and the Amamiyas were with us.

"So, what's for breakfast? Where's the food?" Tsukasa's friend- the one that looked a bit like Micheal Jackson- asked

Fujio snorted "Who's gonna tell him?"

"Sorry kids. I overslept so we got takeout." I grinned slightly, pulling the stolen flannel I'd taken from Murayama tighter around my shoulders as a breeze cut through the landscape

"You traitors!" Tsuji shouted "Why didn't you tell us? We haven't seen the four of you since yesterday so you probably got a whole ass four course meal!"

"Can we please stop all the screaming?" Masaki whined "It's too early in the morning for this!"

Todoroki frowned "What are the Amamiyas doing here?" The full-time leader continued scanning the crowd until his eyes landed on a certain Housen student. "Absolutely not, why is he here?"

"I went over this with the kids yesterday, Todoroki." I sighed, getting to my feet "He's an old friend."

"Who's ass I kicked."

"That's irrelevant."

"I'll get you next time!" Odajima promised the other boy

As Shibaman and Tsuji rushed to hold Todoroki back, murmurs and whispers started making their way across the campus about why the Amamiya's could possibly be here, and what exactly our current predicament with Housen meant.

If only they knew.

There was movement in the horde, and people started moving out of the way as a girl pushed her way to the front of the crowd. She looked a little different in the daylight, hair falling around her shoulders, dressed in a Doberman Infinity shirt and a pair of ripped jeans over some battered Converse.

Sakura Kobayashi.

"So that's where you've been, baka." She frowned "Maybe your mom didn't notice, but I did."

Yasushi blanched. "What are you even doing here?"

Sakura shrugged. "Spur of the moment decision, so imagine how I felt when I knocked on your door and your mother said she had no clue where you were?"

Fujio snickered, earning him an elbow to the stomach, courtesy of Tsukasa.

"Doesn't matter." Sakura said, curling in on herself slightly, obviously uncomfortable with all the attention she was attracting to herself. "Your friends seem nice." She said shyly, gesturing to Shibaman and Tsuji

Yasushi chuckled "Yeah, I wouldn't call us friends."

"Are you alright?" Tsukasa asked. "You left the cookout crying, and I'm pretty sure that's not normal."

She shook her head. "I'm fine, really. It's an anxiety thing, I get stressed, and then I cry."

Nakagoshi shrugged. "We just blamed Fujio."

"Okay." I interrupted, breaking the awkward atmosphere. "All of this is great, but we really have things we need to do. So, take Sakura and show her around or whatever. Teach her how to play beer pong, maybe. The adults need to talk."

"That's called discrimination." Yasushi quipped

"It's a S.W.O.R.D matter, Yasushi. You can't get involved."

"Fine then." The boy huffed before crossing the courtyard to Sakura. "Come on, it's time for the formal tour, and then your induction into the YasuKiyo Faction."

One by one, the kids vanished, Tsukasa chasing Sakura like a lost puppy. I hoped Skaura would stick around, and I had a feeling we'd be seeing more of the brunette as long as the idiots that hung around here managed to keep themselves in check.

"Todoroki, don't go far." I said, watching as Todoroki stopped walking, turning back towards us with a disappointed look on his face.

"Come on." He frowned "I was going fishing today! The weather is great for it!"

"You'll have to reschedule." Murayama said, a wide grin on his face, no doubt brought on by Todoroki's misery

"We need Shibaman and Tsuji as well, but don't let the full-timers know. They hate you three enough already." I said, scanning the balconies. "Where are Furuya and Seki? We'll need them too."

The group of us gathered in the mat room, worried looks on Shibaman and Tsuji's faces. They were some of the few first years who had been involved with the container fight, and they didn't look too thrilled to be heading back into the fire.

"I can't do this again." Tsuji said quietly. "I almost died last time. My sisters need me. My mom needs me around."

"Hold your horses, kid." I said grimly, leaning against the arm of the couch. "Nobody's fighting anybody yet. We don't even know when they're going to come after us, which is why we need to get a leg up."

The door at the other end of the hall crashed open, followed by Furuya's lazy yelling for Murayama.

"It's too early in the morning for this." Furuya frowned once he laid eyes on the Amamiya brothers

"Exactly what I said." Masaki agreed.

I rolled my eyes while Murayama snickered slightly. "Here's what's gonna happen." I said, sitting up a little straighter. "That school that attacked us, that was your guys' alma mater, right?" I asked, pointing at Shibaman and Tsuji.

Shibaman hummed, anxiously playing with the sleeve of his faux fur coat. "See, you use that word rather freely. I was kinda sorta suspended-"

"And I graduated early with honours." Tsuji cut his friend off, annoyed. "What's your point?"

"My point is that we need somebody to go back there and find out exactly what the Mighty Warriors promised them to attack first. Exactly what their angle is." I said matter-of-factly. "I figured you guys probably still have friends there, right?"

Tsuji nodded "Yeah, I know some guys. We'll see what we can do."

"Next, Masaki, Hiroto. You guys are going back to the Funk Jungle."

Hiroto nodded "What are we looking for?"

"Anything that tells us what the Mighty Warriors and Kuryu have in store for the bordertown, and when they plan to act on it."

I sighed, stressed from the entire ordeal. Brushing my hair behind my ears, I checked my phone notes for the details the kids had filled me in on from the Daruma Babies' visit to Oya. None of them had been privy to the meeting, which is what we need Todoroki for. One thing was for sure: with our numbers, we were grandstanding at best if we went up against Doubt's full forces.

"Murayama, you're going to pay your old buddy Hyuga a visit."

"Seriously?" The boy complained

"Yes, seriously. Believe it or not, we need him if we're gonna win."

Seki snorted "You think that clown is going to team up with us of all people? When hell freezes over."

"Then hell better freeze up soon! You guys of all people should know what we're up against!" I shouted, springing to my feet. Shibaman and Tsuji jumped backwards, worried expressions on their faces.

I exhaled, turning back to Murayama and Todoroki. "Todoroki, can you go with him? You were the one that met with Hiroomi and the other Babies yesterday, so you already know their demands."

"Hold on." Murayama shouted "You want me to work with him?"

"Yeah, that's not going to work." Todoroki agreed

"It better work." I frowned "If we don't have the Daruma on our side, we aren't making it out alive. Did they say if they've talked to any of the other subgroups? I know the Rascals have the SMGs, but I thought they were smart enough to stay out of this."

Todoroki shook his head. "We were the first people they talked to. Your friend is really worked up about this."

"It was his building site. He was project manager."

"What about us?" Furuya asked

"I need you and Seki to make sure the kids don't burn this hellhole down." I said with a sigh. "Yasushi lit Fujio on fire this morning trying to use the stove, I don't want a repeat of that."

"Yeah, and then the damn kids stole my wallet!" Masaki complained, causing the few people in the room that hadn't been at my house that morning to laugh.

When everybody had calmed down a little more, and were getting ready to head out and do whatever it was they needed to do so that we could win this thing, Todoroki turned to me.

"What are you going to do? It's your fight, so no doubt you're at the center of this."

I looked over at Odajima. "We're going to Housen. Without them, we would have lost to Kidra. We need them to help us out again."

NOTES!

so much dialogue.... but finally we're getting somewhere!!