Joao turned around to walk away, he kept his pace slow and consistent. The police were looking and six o'clock was preying in on the boys. He lived all the way on the opposite end of this neighborhood and no matter what he could think of, using conventional roads will only get him punished.
Which is why he was taking this time to study the gaps between houses, he was going to use that to stealth his way home. Around that time the last train for the inner circle will be called for and all the workers who stay in the middle domain will leave on it.
He was pretty confident that Tumi wouldn't dare touch him in front of the law. As far as the food chain was constructed, he was below Joao, and getting in trouble with the police would cripple him.
Despite knowing that Tumi still marched forward with nothing but anger boiling in his guts. He was sweating buckets and the only thing he could think of was the embarrassing beating he got from Joao. Even though the fight ended up in a draw he still felt empty.
At the same time whenever he thought about the fact that Joao is right in front of him and he can't even lay hands on him. He steamed, nonetheless he had come here with a goal in mind. In truth, he never expected meeting Joao on his first errand after crying his way into their lair.
As he was getting closer and closer to Joao, he started thinking less and less about resolving this with just a simple warning. He was bigger than him, stronger than him, and probably had even more fighting experience than Joao. But Joao still treated him like he was inferior.
More especially when Copper was attacking him and Joao interfered, giving him a chance to escape. He could never think back to that time wishing he had the power to erase memories or at least undo events in time.
His walking speed grew faster and faster, Joao who had noticed this decided to trust the police less and grow more active in getting home without a scratch. Joao disappeared into the cars by the sidewalk. Tumi followed and about three officers got interested in the development.
They whispered among themselves and one left to follow the students.
Joao checked his watch. 17:39, he looked back and Tumi snarled. Joao pointed at the cop and as soon as Tumi looked back to check on him Joao took off running into a passage. A dog started barking and both the cop and Tumi took off after him.
By the time they reached the passage Joao was already over the wall and the dog by the dumpsters still upset about being outran turned their attention to the new challengers. They barked and woofed until a brave one from the four bulldogs sped forward.
"FUCKOFF!" The cop screamed as he backed up a little. To his surprise, Tumi bolted forward. The other three bark fiercely at him but he kept a solid frown on his face until wimped away. He used the dumpsters to get over the wall and he couldn't find Joao anywhere.
"Just wait there you little scum!" The cop called out. He took out his baton and pointed it at Tumi.
Tumi rolled down his beanie hat and covered his face except for his eyes, he jumped off the wall ran forward. By the time the cop got over the wall, he was already gone too.
His radio screeched and a voice followed, "so did you get them?"
"Those little bastards are fast, I didn't catch a single one."
"Wanna cause trouble for them?"
"You mean like add an arrest for failure to comply by city policy in their permanent records?"
"Fuck yeah."
"And why would I do that when have to go and make sure that there is no threat to the train before it leaves for the inner circle?"
"We can do it after checking the train, we'll be bored afterward anyway."
The officer on top of the wall didn't respond, looked down on the alley, and chuckled, 'that corrupt bastard is probably doing this to extort money from their gangs. It's not like we didn't benefit from Divinity setting those other guys up a while ago.'
He jumped off the wall and walked back. "Don't you ever think about your own kids before you do these kinds of things?" This cop's name was Squad Captin Saint. K. Lawrence and he was a great benefactor of Monke's.
After he had left, Tumi cursed in silence on a corner of the wall, he wasn't confident in his speed like Joao so he decided to hide. "I might not know your name, but I promise that I'll make you pay for what you did to me a hundred times over.
"Your weakness disgusts me, I am ashamed enough having you as my son. But how dare you go out there pick fights with my honorable students and get mad when you lose. Have you no respect for your father's image…" An old man from Tumi's memories said with a sharp tone and the young boy carried buckets of water in his back. These events are from a whole year before he ran away from home, but he remembered it more than anything else.
"It was always about you, you fucking old man. Have you ever thought about the pressure your name put on your son? Was I ever anything more than a symbol of weakness to my siblings, and a manifestation of your mistakes to you?" He said as he stomped away while cursing at the blurry image of his father he carries in his mind.
Joao was finally at his apartment, it was dark and the stars illuminated a clean place with little to nothing inside. "I'm home," he waved as he switched on the lights. It had the basics, a television, couches, a rag, and a table. But it still lacked life, despite his family watching the tv and not taking notice of him.