"What the hell..."

Mari Takara mumbled under her breath as she spotted a motionless body on the concrete path ahead of her. Mari hesitantly approached the body. It was getting dark and she was alone. After finishing an exhausting day at cram school, a dead body isn't what she needs. She had decided to take a longer route back home in order to avoid her ex-group of "friends" that she was kicked out of.

Mari noticed a small pool of dark red velvet seemed to grow larger from underneath the body's waist.

"Is that blood..?"

She snapped into her senses, "Hey! Sir, are you alright?! Are you awake?!" She cuffed the boy's head and he grunted.

"I'm... Fine-" he coughed up blood as he tried to lift up his upper body, only to collapse on the ground again.

"No, you are in fact, NOT." Mari examined his blood-soaked waist to find a wound. "Crap, that looks deep" she muttered. As she scanned for other wounds, she noticed his outfit; a long gray coat with stitched red inscription written in kanji. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, she thought, 𝘞𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥... 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮?!

"Are you part of some gang?!" Mari let out a sigh and removed her sweater, "This is why you don't get involved in stupid gang fights." she wrapped her sweater around his waist and pulled tightly. He let out a faint groan of pain. "This should stop the bleeding a bit. We need to apply pressure" she said.

"You don't have to do this" he murmured weakly "I've still got some energy in me."

"You can't even pick yourself up" Mari scoffed. She then quickly dropped her bag off behind a dumpster in the nearby alley. She took a deep breath. Was she really about to get involved in all of this? He's part of a gang, meaning he comes with trouble. Plus, it's not like she's all that strong. But she can't just leave him here to die. It might be too late if she ran around and tried to call for help. She might even accidentally run into the guy that stabbed him!

She sighed, "It's alright, Mari. We can do this. We can't let him die" she muttered under her breath as motivation. "I also won't let myself get hurt. And for that, I need to cover up my identity" she said as she tied her hair into a ponytail. She tucked her hair under her black beanie so that the only thing visible were her bangs drooped over her forehead. She reached into her school bag for an extra mask and put it on her face. She rushed back to the boy and crouched down with her back facing him.

"Alright, get on. I'll give you a piggy back ride to the hospital. We don't have much time, you know."

The boy tried to pull himself up, "It's dangerous for you to be here, miss. There's a huge fight going on in the nearby park," he said "Just go home. My buddies are close by anyway."

"We can't guarantee that they're going to come. Now hurry up and get on my back." Mari snapped "You'll be fine because I'm taking care of you now. I won't ask you again."

The boy snickered as he pulled himself up and collapsed onto her back. Mari struggled to stand up straight, trembling at the sudden weight she has to carry. "You good? You don't seem all that strong" he joked. "At least I'm not stupid" Mari groaned as she hauled the boy out the alleyway, trying to gain a quicker momentum with each step.

Although her words were sharp, her pulse raced and her stomach was in a knot. What if she didn't get him to the hospital in time? What if she runs into a gang member? She wouldn't be able to defend herself nor the boy. What if he dies on her back because she was too weak? Mari felt dizzier with ever step as she ran.

"Thank you." he mumbled "I'm Ryuji Sho. You never told me your name."

"Uhm... Just call me Shin. And please refer to me as a boy from now on." Mari answered

"A boy?"

"I don't want any gang members knowing I'm a girl. They might get funny ideas. I read the news you know." Mari sighed, "Just last week there was some gang that set fire to this guy's house, then they kidnapped his girlfriend. All because he spilled a drink on the gang leader's shoes. I don't want that stuff happening to me or my friends, so there's no way this face is going to be associated with you."

"Oneiroi... Yea, I know what gang you're talking about," Ryuji paused for a moment, "Lots of the gangs here are crazed. They don't know when they've crossed the line" he coughed a bit, "That 'kidnapped girlfriend' is my best friend's sister" he murmured, "That's why we started this fight. To avenge her. The boss is going to take back the stuff they stole from her-" Ryuji was cut off as he hacked up more blood.

"You're involved in this?" Mari stopped talking to breathe for a bit, "I'm sorry about that." There was an awkward silence. "...Well if you're going to get yourself in trouble, do it really well. Your crew better be beating them up so hard right now."

Ryuji chuckled weakly and lay his head on Mari's shoulder.

"Don't worry. My buddies are kicking their butts right now." he said

"Their butts?! You have to go for the nuts."

"Hey, now that's unfair."

"It's every man for themselves out there."

"Do you know how painful it is to get kicked in the balls?"

"Beats me. Actually no, it beats them."

"Pfft. There's an unspoken rule among us guys. In a proper gang fight, it's cheating to hit each other in the balls."

"Stupid rule."

Mari heard faint shouting and incoherent madness from the gang fight nearby.

"Crap, we're getting close to the heat" she muttered. Mari began picking up the pace. Her legs and arms were growing tired and her breath grew heavy. 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯, 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳...!

"Why're you working so hard for me?" Ryuji asked, "You don't even know me."

"Because... I don't know...!" Mari grumbled, out of breath, "You were bleeding... So... Any decent person... would help you"

"There aren't many decent people around anymore."

"Plus, your family would be upset... They're waiting for you... They're worried"

Mari felt her lower back grow more and more damp. It must've been Ryuji's blood, penetrating through her thick hoodie. Mari's throat felt like sandpaper from all the running. How much longer until they reach the hospital?

"I wouldn't say that," Ryuji mumbled, "Mom worked the night shift last night, so she's fast asleep by now. My little sis is staying with my dad and his girlfriend today, so she ain't coming home tonight either." Ryuji chuckled ruefully, "But that's good. Mom's got enough on her plate working for us, and the only thing my sis is worrying about is if she gets to eat her brother's special ramen tomorrow. I don't wanna add to their worries tonight."

Mari slowed down and rested against a nearby wall to catch her breath. "You got it wrong...I'm sure your family is always worrying about you." she panted, "Whenever you aren't with them... They're probably wondering if their idiot son or idiot brother is getting into trouble again... Or if you ate enough..." Mari started to get back on route, "... I'm sure they love you... Cause' the way you speak about them so warmly..."

"Can you apologize to my sister for me?" Ryuji muttered, "There's still so much I have to do."

"Apologize yourself!" Mari snapped, "You'll do what you have to do. You'll survive this, Ryuji! I'll make sure of it!"

Ryuji chuckled warmly and buried his face into Mari's shoulder. Mari ran faster, "My mom's always busy too, you know. She's a detective," she went on, "She cheated on my dad twice, and he's still with her. Doesn't that piss you off?!" she scoffed. Mari slightly turned her head to the right to look at Ryuji, "He barely eats a good dinner. He's always bringing home food from these oily fast food places. So promise me that once you're out of the hospital, we'll make the best ramen for my dad and your sister?"

Ryuji smiled softly, "Forget about the ramen. Let's cook up a full on meal for them." Suddenly, Ryuji caught a glimpse of a tall familiar figure suddenly appearing in front of them. He wore the same uniform as Ryuji. The tall figure's left hand rose and it was clenched in a tight fist.

"Oh crap- Shin, watch out!" Ryuji yelled, but it was too late. Mari suffered a harsh jab to the cheek which broke her balance. She suffered a knee to the stomach and she toppled to the ground along with Ryuji. Her nose began to drip with blood.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with Ryu?!" the tall boy bellowed.

𝘎𝘰𝘥... 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭! Mari winced, clenching her stomach as she coughed. 𝘏𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘙𝘺𝘶𝘫𝘪 '𝘙𝘺𝘶'? 𝘚𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳? She looked up at the tall boy who punched her; well defined arm muscles, same gang uniform as Ryuji, and a dark red undercut with spiky bangs that drooped over his eyebrow slit.

"Keiji! Stop it!" Ryuji shouted with the energy he had left, "He's not with Oneiroi!"

"Ryu! Who is this?!" Keiji snapped.

"Ryuji, are you okay?!" Another shorter boy who was with Keiji clasped his hands to his mouth.

Mari's eyes widened-- she recognized that voice. It was her math classmate, Mio Amano. She knew Mio was a delinquent, but she didn't know he was strong enough to be in a gang. Mio was a ginger with fluffy short hair, and was much shorter and scrawnier than Keiji. Mari always thought of Mio as someone who tried hard to be cool, but never could be. In hopes of not getting recognized by him, she pushed Mio to the ground and tried to carry Ryuji onto her back again.

"Hey! You ain't goin' anywhere!" Keiji grabbed Mari's arm and pulled her close.

Mari tried to shake Keiji's grip but he only held onto her tighter. She relaxed her throat and tried to make her voice deeper, "We don't have much time! Ryuji's been stabbed and I'm trying to take him to the hospital-" Mari choked and coughed violently.

"Did you see who hurt Ryu?!" Keiji snarled.

"*cough* N-No! *cough*" Mari stammered, "I was on my way back from cram school, and I saw this boy on the ground with a bloody wound!"

"He's telling the truth, Kei" Ryuji chimed in.

"Holy crap! Ryuji, you're bleeding a lot!" Mio shuddered and pointed at Ryuji's blood soaked hip.

"Mio, help Ryuji get on my back" Keiji said

"No" Mari said, "We need you to defend us. If someone from the other gang pounces us out of nowhere and blocks our path, you two have to fight." Mari asserted, "I'm no fighter, but I can tell from your blows that you are."

"I can't trust you." Keiji hissed, "Mio, hurry."

Mio took Ryuji and he collapsed onto Keiji's back.

"Shin, thanks." Ryuji said quietly, "I'm fine now. You can trust these guys." Mari nodded hesitantly and smiled weakly. Mio and Keiji ran off with Ryuji on their back, and the three figures grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Mari sighed and headed back to the alley to grab her bag.

"God, the hit in the gut hurt like hell" she mumbled to herself, "I hope they make it to the hospital."

Mari found her bag behind the dumpster, and thankfully all of her belongings were still there. Mari's heart was still pounding and her jaw ached. Her thoughts were swirling and she wasn't sure if it was alright for her to get home so easily right now. Was it okay for her to just leave Ryuji like that? What about the dinner promise between Ryuji and Mari?

Just then, she heard a group of guys clamoring nearby, growing closer. She hid behind the dumpster and eavesdropped.

"Rory got the third division captain. Stabbed him right in the hip!"

"That'll teach that stupid Kansai Kill Thrill."

"One of our guys spotted two Kill Thrill members carrying someone on their back."

"One of em' must've been the captain."

"Let's ambush em'"

"Yeah!"

Oh crap. They're gonna ambush Ryuji. Mari was right, dammit! Can they handle it? Keiji is strong, but his hands are tied if he's carrying Ryuji. And Mio always shows up to school beat up-- he doesn't seem like the sharpest when it comes to fighting. But then again, it's not like Mari can fight either.

She looked down at her lofty bag. 𝘈𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. Mari clenched her fists and stopped in her tracks.

𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵.

She slid her bag onto her shoulder and tailed the Oneiroi members.