Chapter Text
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"Shut up!" Sakura yelled, walking away after yet another tease by Suo caused his face to go red like a tomato, his hands stuffed into his pockets. Suo — who was holding back a wide grin — followed after him, the light sound of his laughter echoing through the rather empty corridor. School had ended about 15 minutes ago, so it made sense that it was quiet — everyone had already left.
Actually, they'd left too, ready to leave for patrols. But Sakura, ever the forgetful one, had forgotten his phone on his desk. He's using it more often now, but he still often forgets the thing exists. And Suo decided to 'accompany' him, which was just him trying to see how red Sakura's face could get.
"Come on Sakura-kun~" Suo called after him, walking with his hands behind his back. The calm, carefree smile on his face as always. "Lighten up a bit-"
"JUST SHUT UP FOR A BIT" he retorted — he wasn't the best at comebacks when it was with his vice captain, the guy was so difficult in every way. Sakura slid the door to their classroom open, walking up to his desk. Where lo and behold, his phone was just laying there, on the seat. The two-toned boy picked it up and shoved it into his pocket, his mismatched eyes went over the empty classroom for a moment.
Suo entered the class shortly after, his eye landing on the grade captain, who was just standing there.
"Did you find it, Sakura-kun?" The eyepatch-ed boy asked, tilting his head slightly, making the tassel of his earrings sway with the movement.
Sakura, as stupid as it seemed, was just thinking about... this class, the people, the memories it held. This room... had become more of a home for him than his own apartment — if one can even call it that.
"Sakura-kun?"
He.. he'll protect it. He's made that promise to himself many times already, and he'll do it a thousand times more. This class — or rather, this entire school — means so, so much to him. It's weird to think now that he used to plan to fight his way to the top, just to satisfy himself.
"Sa-ku-ra-kun~"
It's weird to think about it, his old logic, that his worth was determined by how many people he could beat. It sure was.. strange. But that was also what was burned into his mind — fighting, blood, punches, kicks-
"Earth to Sakura-kun~"
But these people told him that's not true, that he's worth so much more. Now, his only motivation to be top dog is... to protect them, to protect everyone in this town, everyone who made him feel so... loved..
FLICK!
"Sakura-kun" Suo repeated for the fifth time or something as he flicked Sakura's forehead, snapping the latter wince and snap out of his thoughts.
"The hell was that for-!?"
"Ah, there he is!" Suo interrupted cheerfully, smiling like an idiot, the smile reaching his eye. "You had me worried for a second there" he said, his smile going back to it's normal 'level'. He had an amused look in his eye, which was there most of the time anyway.
Sakura's mismatched eyebrows furrowed, his expression a not-so-pleasant one. "You don't gotta be worried 'bout anything" the grade captain mumbled as he began walking again, going out of the classroom, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
Suo's smile remained, and Sakura heard a small, held-back, giggle from the vice-captain — which made Sakura roll his eyes.
"Oh Sakura, with you, I have to worry about everything" he said, the teasing lilt still in his voice. The vice captain was quick to follow after him too, walking beside him again, his posture perfect as always. His steps were never too fast, nor too slow, it was as if everything he did was so goddamn perfect.
Sakura scowled at his own thoughts, only that bitter expression was physically on his face. And of course, Suo saw it, that bastard sees everything.
"You don't look too happy, Sakura-kun" The eyepatch-ed boy thought out loud, his voice still cheerful as ever. "Aren't you happy about the fact that people care about you?" he added playfully, Sakura could never say no to that..
"Tch- It's not that I'm not-too-happy about" Sakura muttered, quickening his pace a bit — they're probably late for patrols..
Hiragi's gonna kill them
Unless Sakura kills himself before he gets there, because Suo's being a little too annoying right now
And Sakura has this weird feeling in his stomach...
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As they walked through the school's doors, they could see Tamon team standing in the school grounds, most people already grouped up for the patrol, only waiting for Hiragi to send them off like they were going on some kind of mission. Hiragi was leaning against the fence with his arms crossed, almost glaring at the two. But the two first years couldn't be too effected, Sakura just didn't care and was walking up with his usual kind-of-tense expression, whilst Suo smiled as if they hadn't been a bit late.
"6 minutes, 13 point 95 seconds, you first years just really wanna give me a stomachache, don't ya?" Hiragi muttered, shaking his head and moving towards the gate. And with a small wave, the two first years split paths. Sakura headed over to his little patrol group — consisting of him, Nirei and Kiryu — and Suo went over to his partners for the patrol, Anzai and a second-year student — Tetsuji Kitada.
"Right, remember, stay in your groups of three" Hiragi ordered. "If any of you encounter a large threat, and if you can't handle it alone, don't hesitate to ask for help" was the last thing he said before walking out of the school gates with his patrol partners, and with that, the rest of Tamon team followed.
"It took you a little while, Sakura-san" Nirei commented, pocketing his own phone as he began walking with the group. "Could you just not find your phone?" Kiryu asked playfully, wondering if that's the reason Sakura took so long (by Hiragi's standards) — if he'd left it in a not-very-visible spot.
"Nah, it was on my seat" Sakura replied casually, his eyes straight ahead as they walked. "Just bumped into stuff on the way" he explained — but now that he thinks about it, that's a pretty bad reasoning..
"Huh" Kiryu said, he was probably thinking the same thing — that's a weird reason to be late. "Well then, this patrol's gonna be fun if Sakura-chan keeps bumping into things like that" the pink-haired boy teased.
"Tch-" Sakura muttered, already being the subject to more teasing, great. "It would do some good anyway" he muttered, not responding to the tease all that much, "patrols are so boring nowadays"
"Sakura-san, don't go complaining about a little peace and quiet" Nirei chimed in — it was so difficult to get this 'peace and quiet' in the first place..
And of course, in a few moments, the air around the three was filled with chatter — mainly by the other two. Sakura listened to the other two most of the time, responding only when he felt like he needed to. But usually, a nod or a hum was enough for him.
Even though he's being quiet, he's still enjoying this — being with them and all. And he didn't notice the small smile making it's way to his lips.
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But not too long into the patrol, they'd heard scuffling from an alleyway. Of course, they quickly made their way to it, only to see five or six guys ganging up on one person. That's pretty lame.
The one guy was still fighting back, pretty decently too. But they also wouldn't let this go on much longer. Sakura and Kiryu got to work, first removing the burden of the two or three guys surrounding one person, before moving forward to take down the rest as well.
And of course, with two of the strongest people from their class, the situation was dealt with pretty quick. Kiryu looked around, checking to see if there were any more of them, whilst Sakura was looking at the ones who were already down.
"Haven't we done this before already?" Sakura said, looking down at one of the guys, he recognized them. "You're still just as lame"
"Ooh, haven't seen these guys in a while" Kiryu said playfully as he walked up to the grade captain. "These are the 'Spaltips' right?"
Sakura shrugged in response, "don't know who they are. But yeah, we've definitely seen them before, you think they'd be a bit stronger by now" he muttered, his eyes narrowing at the bodies on the ground.
The guy, who was trying to fight those guys alone, overheard their conversation, and pushed himself off the wall that he was leaning on. And despite previously talking to Nirei, he spoke to those two, he couldn't help himself "Those bastards, they're not just weak. They're also scumbags who-"
"Woah woah, Mimura-san, let's go back a few steps" Nirei said, trying to get back to the conversation he was previously having with the guy. "What were you saying about your brother?" the blonde asked as both Sakura and Kiryu walked up to him and the guy.
The guy — who Nirei was calling 'Mimura-san' — wiped some dirt off his face. "Right- yeah, they were like.. selling this shit, near my brother's school. And well, as my brother calls them, the 'cool kids' talked him into buying it" he muttered, "All near a damn middle school!"
"Huh? What's this about?" Kiryu asked, looking at the blonde, hoping for some explanation. The blonde rubbed his neck, giving a small smile. "Well, Mimura-san here, he says these guys were selling.. drugs, and he found out because his little brother had bought them from their group" Nirei said, trying to make it short but brief.
"Huh?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. Selling drugs? He knew what it was, of course, it happened here and there in his old town. He'd fought those 'druggies', as people would call them, a couple times too — they'd often just be causing trouble, everywhere they went. Sakura knew these kind of people were usually no good.
But this kind of stuff has reached Makochi too?
Sakura was surprised, and a bit worried too.. "Holy shit, I didn't know stuff like this happened here.." He always thought that with so many people watching the town, drugs and that kinda stuff wouldn't even make it into the streets.
"You're the one who was saying patrols were getting boring" Nirei said in an exasperated tone, eyeing the grade captain.
Kiryu grabbed his head in a dramatic gesture, "Oh no, Sakura-chan cursed us all!"
"Calm down, no I didn't" Sakura muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and walking back towards the guys on the ground. The two-toned boy crouched down in front of a guy and pulled on his collar, bringing the guy face-to-face, his mismatched eyes stared sharply into the guy's green ones.
"Just who told you that you guys can smuggle that shit over here?" Sakura spat, his glare sharp and unwavering. The guy, who had dried blood caked below his nose and lips, grunted — he was probably in pain from another hit he took.
"Come on-! We weren't even the first ones" the guy spat back, his voice rough and unkind. "It's those damn dragon guys who 'smuggled that shit' here in the first place!"
Huh?
Sakura's grip on the guy's collar tightened, and the other two — Nirei and Kiryu — walked up to Sakura, standing behind their grade captain. "Who are these 'dragon guys'?" Sakura muttered.
"Tch" the guy clenched his jaw. "I don't know who it was, asshole! One of those punks in the white jackets"
"Huh? You mean KEEL?" Nirei interrupted, looking over Sakura's shoulder. That's the conclusion the blonde came to — after all, KEEL did wear white jackets with blue dragon symbols, it was a possibility.
"I don't know" the guy spat, "maybe it's them, those guys stay just out of town, I wouldn't mess with them"
Just out of town? Nirei thought. "Yup, that's definitely KEEL" Nirei thought out loud.
"Ah, they're causing trouble again" Kiryu said in his usual laidback tone, "can't they give it a break for once" he said in an exasperated tone.
"Doesn't look like it" Sakura muttered, letting go of the collar and letting the guy fall back onto the cold, hard ground with another grunt.
"If they cause any harm in this town, Bofurin will purge them" Sakura repeated the words which were spoken to him long ago, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.
"They're not getting away with this"
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