MAUL

Oh man, her modesty only only made her even more cuter! Kai's grin widened and she kept her arm slung around the girl's narrow shoulders.

  "I would be honoured to, dear lady, though I at least request a name by which to follow.”

Finally! A boy who didn't seem 'intimidated' or creeped out by her! Man, this was already promising to be a great day. Plus seeing him right up front only confirmed that yes, he was cute.

"Hah?" An annoyed but confused scowl curved his lips at the sound of the strange girl’s slow threat. It unfazed him. If anything, he felt more ridiculous than threatened at the moment given how he was bending down a bit just so the girl could be on eye-level with him. She was rather cute, he had to admit, but it was a shame she was one of those girls who get into brawls a lot. Such a waste of a pretty face. Before the idol could open his mouth and demand for an explanation as to why she was getting all pissy at him, the female stranger beat him to it.

Hidechin? Oh.

"What are you talking about?" With a sharp tug, he ripped the girl’s grip off of his shirt before straigtening up. "I don’t consider Hidechin-kun lower than me." The fact that she even described him the way he described those damn aristocrats had mostly gotten under his skin but he willed himself not to lose his temper. He was nothing like those power-hungry sadists and this girl had no right to describe him as such. They just met for heaven’s sake!

"I can talk to you however I want!" The bear princess shot back, her fists clenched in anger. Really, all she was itching for right now was a chance to sock his hopelessly cute-when-angry face and teach him a sorely-deserved lesson.

"And what do you mean girls these days, huh?! I should punch your gut in just for that alone, you- you-" Everything in her head screamed at her to just show him her point with her fists, perfectly-manicured nails and all, but she willed herself to stay calm. As calm as she could stay while wound up like the way she was, that is. She had never been the best with words; Ujiyasu often pointed that out, but she tried.

Her brows pinched together, concern and helplessness waging war on her face as her words spilled out like from a broken dam. "He's coming to the compound with these cuts and bruises peeking out from his shirt and yeah, you can say, 'He's in a gang! That's only natural!' but no, Hidechin isn't like that! He doesn't get into fights- he's too nice and it was stupid for him to join us to begin with. And then I found out he was getting them fresh from here, so I had to do something!"

Kai didn't even really need to get her hands dirty with handling the situation- she could have easily ordered as many of the men at the compound she wanted to beat the idol up for her, but this was too personal. This affront wasn't only against Hideaki, or even against her, but it dirtied the good name of her great lord's clan and it went against her very ideals, the ideals she was raised to believe in and protect. Her voice went into a growl that was almost savage in its intensity.

With a few bags of grocery in her hands and a smile on her face, Tsubame was glad she had made it to the end of the day special sale at the supermarket. As usual it was a fierce battle with housewives fighting over the special items on sale, but luckily years of experience discount shopping made it easy for her to snag what she needed and quickly move on. Proud that she had managed to get everything she needed for such a great price, Tsubame wondered what she should make for dinner that night.

Listing possible possibilities she could make for tonight’s dinner, Tsubame passed by a small alleyway and noticed a girl about her age who seemed like she was being harassed by a small time gang. Since Tsubame wasn’t the type to turn a blind eye to those who may need help, the caramel haired teen approached the gang.

“Is everything ok here?”

She was in a particularly awful mood, and besides, none of them were attractive whatsoever! They were nobody to waste her time on. The bear princess wordlessly lowered her delivery box on top of a dumpster and clocked the nearest one in the face without any warning. Naturally, that made the rest angry and they started closing in on her.

"Four against one delicate lady? I hardly think that's fair!" she said with a pout, crossing her arms over her chest. Rather abruptly, a feminine voice came from the mouth of the alleyway and she blinked, peering up over the men to look at her 'savior'. It appeared they noticed her too, because they turned to leer at her and were already starting to move their way towards the smaller girl.

The sight that awaited him was an odd one. Most of his anti-fans were guys after all but this one was just a mere brunette dressed in feminine street fashion. She didn’t seem happy to see him in spite of the fact that he was the one she was evidently looking for.

"Mmfirst of all… who’re you?" Kou asked in a befuddled tone, his voice still drowned in sleep. "…and second of all, I don’t care. Whatever this is about, can’t it wait ‘till morning?" He doubted that he’d even have time for this girl tomorrow given how his schedule was packed with classes, music shows, radio shows, interviews, practice and shooting of his upcoming music video. He couldn’t even find the energy to put on his usual jubilant mask on for the sake of saving his image right now. Any ordinary person would be pissed to be woken up from their sleep considering how taxing their day had been.

Rage flooded her senses, and blinded her common sense- she didn't even care if she was just mistaken, that it could have easily been any of the other members of the Mukami household, that any moment now any one of them could walk in and put a stop to this and report her to the police or something. All she knew was that she was out for blood and she wouldn't go home without getting this hurting of her gang member, her little brother, to stop.

"I will tear. You. Apart," she hissed in his face, carefully-manicured cherry-red nails digging even deeper into his shirt. If she had been in a totally different state of mind she would have made a remark on how cute he looked in those cat pajama pats that were a touch ridiculous, and would have even attempted to flirt with him in her flawed, clumsy way , but this was wrong, and what he was doing was so awfully wrong, and the words spilled out of her mouth naturally before she could stop them.

"Er…" Tricks? Sure, he knew some here and there, like a kickflip and an ollie, nothing extravagant. He wasn’t a professional in the slightest, but he knew enough to be considered a decent skateboarder. It was something he had learned from his friends back in middle school, and all the moves stuck with him.

"Yeah, a little…" he finally stuttered out an answer. What’d this girl want? If she were a skateboarder, she definitely didn’t look anything like it. Sure, he knew some female skateboarders, but they weren’t as… girly as her, to say the least. He gave a quick glance at the bag that looked like it was on its last strand. They vaguely resembled fashion magazines, which didn’t surprise him if they were.

"Just curious! The guys back at the compound can't do much save for a few ollies here and there. Well, attempts at ollies, more like it it. It's kinda lame, honestly. I'm always around here and I know pretty much everyone, but I think this might be the first time I've seen you, now that I think about it," she replied, automatically bending a bit to the side so she could look him in the eye.

"I'm Kai, by the way!" She grinned and held out her free hand for him to shake. 

As soon as those from outside had paid for their tickets, the first person they’d meet was Yata. He collected the tickets, looked them over, and then ripped them up before handing them back and wishing them to have an enjoyable show with the most forced smile he could muster. It wasn’t as though Yata was bad at smiling or was in a bad mood, but when one worked a tiring job beforehand smiling became rather tedious. That was why once all the showings had ended for the evening and Yata had finished cleaning up all of the viewing rooms, he found himself sitting on the bench outside with a cup full of soda from the cinema. 

The male emitted a heavy sigh as he held the cup in both hands and leaned his head back. It was already well past midnight. He had to wake up early to go to his first part time job and once that was finished rushed next door to the cinema to begin that one. It was tiring. It would be great if he could find a roommate to help share in the expenses with, but he didn’t want to move in with someone he didn’t know.

He held up the cup and tipped it forward as he took a swig from it but immediately dropped his head as he heard a car tearing ass down the street. He raised a brow. “The hell’s that guy’s hurry? Whatever..” He finished off the last of his drink and threw it into a nearby trash can. Just as he was ready to go back inside to change into his clothes, the car circled back around again. That probably wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it weren’t for the person who was currently trying to cross the street. 

"Hey! Look out!" Yata scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the person who stood there frozen like a deer caught in headlights. Yata darted forward into the street, grabbing the person and rolling with them out of the way to avoid impact. Had it not been for Yata’s ability to make himself fast when need be he probably wouldn’t have been able to make it on time. Either way it didn’t make his heart pound any less.

Thankfully someone had already grabbed her and moved her away before she could be reduced to a skidmark on the street. Her heart was pounding like a snare but that did little to change her mood and her infamous temper reared its head.

"I hope someone slashes his tires or something. I'll do it myself, I swear to god!"  Kai practically growled, fists shaking with disdain. She guessed she was partially at fault anyway for being so distracted and not looking both ways before crossing- not that she was ever going to admit that. As far as she knew, pedestrian lanes were there for a reason.   

"Thanks for saving me, though! I owe you one!" She threw her rescuer a genuinely grateful smile that turned into a look of surprise once she saw who it was. She only ever saw the boy at work when his shift ended and hers began, so she wasn’t all too familiar with him, but she recognized him nonetheless.

"Ah, it’s you, Yata! Eh, I broke a nail, but I’ll live!" Kai flashed her co-worker a grin and a thumbs-up, proudly showing off said nail in all its cherry-red, partially-chipped glory. The motion sent a sharp jab of pain up her wrist though, and she winced, withdrawing her hand and cradling it with the other.

Mamura didn’t have the faintest idea where the hell he had traveled to. The last thing he remembered was hopping onto his skateboard, plugging his earbuds in, and just letting himself roll wherever the board took him… which ended up being a lot farther than he had anticipated. His surroundings weren’t familiar whatsoever, and he definitely wasn’t going to ask someone for directions, either.

Truth be told, he’d never traveled beyond the Twilight District. He just never found the need to. But now it was here to bite him in the butt.

In her distraction, she nearly bumped into a boy who stopped just outside the shop. The first thing she noticed was his skateboard. A few of her father’s younger gang members were into skating- she’s tried it once, when she was twelve or something, and all she had to show for it were cuts and bruises on her knees and elbows. 

Seeing one brought back nice memories, though, and a grin tugged at her lips as she waved to get his attention. “Oi, you do any cool tricks?”