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School was boring. Inosuke hardly understood any of the lessons and the teachers always woke him up when he dozed off. With a swing of his leg, he kicked a stray pebble out of his path using more strength than needed. He felt agitated. Sitting still for hours upon hours always made him antsy—he itched to move, itched to kick, itched to punch. The nagging itch clawed at him every inane second in class that tick-tocked mockingly slow, driving him close to insanity. He had wanted to flip the table. He had wanted to throw the chair out of the window.
But he didn’t.
He had made a promise to his grandmother to be a good student. He couldn’t make her travel the long-distance across the mountain to meet his teacher because he misbehaved—she had bad legs and it would take a toll on her. He had resolved to keep her (and himself) away from the disciplinary master’s office.
He huffed as he kicked another innocent pebble with as much strength as he could muster. It flew a great distance, falling down in an arc, and then-
“Ow!”
A blond, scrawny teen rubbed the back of his head, his other arm clutching a mountain of miscellaneous packs of bread, snacks, and drinks to his chest. Some of them slipped and fell down to the ground, and the blond shrieked even louder.
“No! They’re gonna kill me!” He squatted down, picking them up hurriedly, trying to blow the dust and dirt off them.
Remember to apologize if you hurt someone, Inosuke. I know you’re a good boy.
With his grandmother’s words ringing in his mind, Inosuke felt the need to apologize, although grudgingly.
“Hey,” he called out to the other student.
The blond looked up with teary eyes. He blinked blankly, then recognition set in and he screamed again. Inosuke winced. The lungs on this boy. He was louder than the dogs on the night of a full moon.
“Ack! Hashibira Inosuke! Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry, I’m in a rush, sorry, please don’t kill me, sorry!” He stood up in a rush and sprinted off, his yelled apologies growing softer the further he got. What a weirdo. What did he have to apologize for? Inosuke was the one who had been in the wrong.
That wasn’t the last Inosuke saw the weird blond.
Inosuke often saw the blond around during lunchtime or after school. He seemed to always be rushing somewhere like a squirrel, always carrying things, always snivelling and avoiding eye contact. Well, his granny couldn’t fault him for not apologizing if the other person never stood still long enough for him to do so.
Today, too, the blond zipped past him in a mad dash as though someone was chasing him. Inosuke couldn’t understand him and decided it took too much energy to.
Inosuke headed to the courtyard to eat his bento and was disgruntled to see a group of boys in his usual lunch spot. He hated eating in the noisy and crowded cafeteria. How dare they steal his spot? They were huddled all together like a weak bunch of herbivores too, surrounding a…
Wait a minute.
Were they… kicking a cat?
“Oi!” Inosuke thundered, breaking into a run. He jumped up in the air and stomped down on the closest person’s face. A sickening crunch sounded in the air upon impact. Inosuke somersaulted backwards, dropping nimbly on his feet. Blood dripped from his opponent’s broken nose. Without giving them room to breathe, he rushed forward again, punching and kicking without mercy.
“What the fuck is up with this freak!”
“He’s too strong!”
“Surround him! We outnumber him!”
With a jumping kick, the strong bone of Inosuke’s shin connected with another person’s neck. The teen was immediately flung to the side. Inosuke jabbed his elbow backwards into someone else’s face. He fought hard, vicious in each and every attack he made. There were too many of them and he couldn’t defend against all the attacks. He grunted in pain when someone punched him in the stomach.
At the first sign of weakness, they doubled up their efforts, ganging up on him. Fists, knees, elbows… blows seemed to come from every direction. He deflected some but missed more and more. Even so, he refused to give up, fighting hard while being careful to avoid the cat laying limply on the ground.
“Sensei! Over here! Boys are fighting!”
The teens ran away immediately, leaving Inosuke alone in the middle of the courtyard. He breathed heavily and looked around for the teacher. Fuck, where was the teacher coming from? He had to escape too. Dammit, he broke his promise to not fight again.
A blond head peeked out from behind a wall. Wasn’t this the wimpy boy Inosuke had accidentally hit with a pebble a few weeks ago? Inosuke blinked at him dumbly, wondering why he was here.
“Oh my god! You’re bleeding!”
The blond dropped the armful of bread and drinks and rushed over, surveying the damage done to Inosuke’s face. He dug into his pocket, pulled out a yellow handkerchief and used it to dab the corner of Inosuke’s bleeding lips.
“Does it hurt? Oh, of course, it must...”
The blond fussed over him in a way that made Inosuke think of his grandmother. Being treated so gently and carefully made Inosuke feel strange.
“...Where are the teachers?”
The blond chuckled, shaking his head. “That was just a lie to make them stop. They can’t afford to have another suspension again for fighting. I’m so glad it worked though! Ah, Chuntarou!”
The blond dashed to the injured cat and knelt down. His hands hovered about the cat helplessly, unsure of what to do. Looking closely, the blond was trembling like a leaf in the wind. He resembled the frightened wild rabbits Inosuke sometimes caught in the forest—the ones he couldn’t bring himself to kill because they looked too tiny and weak.
“What’s your name?” Inosuke demanded.
“H-huh? Oh I’m Agatsuma Zenitsu,” Zenitsu introduced himself, not even taking his eyes away from the cat for a moment. Worried, he reached down to pat the cat’s head. The cat blinked blearily, letting out a soft purr. “And um, he’s Chuntarou. He’s a stray cat who lives on the school campus.”
“How long are you gonna stay there staring? Take him to a vet.”
Zenitsu gasped and nodded. Gingerly, he scooped up the cat and stood up.
“Thank you so much for saving Chuntarou! How could I ever repay you?” Zenitsu bowed profusely, the cat cradled carefully in his arms. The tabby cat meowed weakly and nudged its head against Zenitsu’s chest, a clear sign of trust. With sparkling eyes, Zenitsu continued, “You were so cool and strong! I bet you could win all of them if it was a one on one fight! Maybe you could even take on the senpais!”
“There’s no need to thank me. I was just annoyed by their faces,” Inosuke crossed his arms, blowing hot air out from his nose smugly. It felt good to have people grateful to him.
“Thank you!” Zenitsu said again, bowing a final time before he left. Inosuke couldn’t help but feel proud about doing a good deed. His grandmother would be so happy to hear about him helping someone!
The very next day, Inosuke saw Zenitsu running down the corridor towards him, arms full of food like always. Why was he always rushing about like a squirrel preparing for winter? Inosuke couldn’t help but give in to the curiosity nagging at him.
“Hey, Genjitsu, where are you rushing to?”
“That’s not my name! It’s Zenitsu!” Zenitsu huffed, jogging in place for a moment. “I need to deliver all these! See you!”
Deliver? Was he working in school? Dumbfounded, Inosuke followed Zenitsu since he had nothing better to do. Zenitsu ran into a classroom, and Inosuke followed a few steps behind him.
“You’re two minutes late! Do you think I’m easy? You’re getting complacent because I’ve been treating you too well!”
Inosuke arrived just in time. He saw the group of boys he fought yesterday surrounding Zenitsu, haunches raised as though ready to fight. One of them raised a fist, and—
Zenitsu squeaked and flinched, turning his head away to avoid the blow. He squeezed his eyes shut in preparation for the pain.
The blow never came.
He opened his eyes slowly. The fist right in front of him was stopped by Inosuke’s strong grip on the bully’s wrist. Awed, Zenitsu’s mouth fell open.
Inosuke bared his teeth and snarled, “What are you trying to do to my underling, huh?”
The group of bullies flinched at the sight of Inosuke. All of them were still recovering from the fight yesterday. One of them had thick bandages around a broken nose, another had an arm in a cast, while another had to use crutches. Even so, they had their sense of pride and stood their ground.
“F-find someone else. He’s already our bread shuttle.”
“Huh? ” Inosuke repeated, leaning in as his grip tightened.
“Fuck! Fine, take him!”
Pleased, Inosuke flung the wrist aside and grabbed Zenitsu by the back of his collar. “Good. He’s mine now. If I see you guys hanging around him…”
Inosuke punched the table. With a thunderous bang, it broke cleanly into two. He sneered at the paling faces of the weaklings before him.
With a stern voice, he continued, “Got it?”
A series of small, ashamed nods were his answer. With a triumphant huff, Inosuke dusted off his hands. He walked away, but turned back when he noticed Zenitsu wasn’t following him.
“What are you doing? Come on!”
“Oh, uh, yeah!”
Zenitsu scampered after him. They walked down the corridors. People steered clear of them, gossiping under their breath about what happened. Zenitsu stole glances at Inosuke, worrying on his bottom lip. After hesitating for a long while, he bit the bullet and asked, “Hey, I’m really thankful for your help, but… what do you mean by underling? You mean you want me to continue doing what I did for them, like, getting you food, cleaning your shoes, doing your homework and all that?”
That did sound very tempting. Inosuke hated doing homework. But he knew his grandma would be upset if she found out he wasn’t doing it himself.
All of a sudden, Inosuke remembered his grandmother’s words from last night.
“You’re such a good boy, Inosuke. Are you getting along with your friends? Invite them over sometime, grandma would like to meet them.”
Friends… that’s right. He needed to get ‘friends’ to make his grandma happy.
“Oi, you.”
“Y-yes?”
“You’re my ‘friend’ from now on, Sabisu.”
He was confused by Zenitsu’s silence. What, did the blond not want to be his friend?
Suddenly, Zenitsu got close to his face, wide eyed with a flared nose as he shrieked in disbelief, “You call us friends, but you can’t even get my name right! How many times have I told you? It’s Zenitsu! Ze. ni. tsu!”
“That’s what I said! Zenatsu!”
“Ahhh!” Zenitsu gripped his hair in frustration. “You were so close! How did you manage to botch it?”
“Whatever, dumbass! Will you be my friend or not?”
“Dumb- You’re the dumbass!” Zenitsu huffed. He scratched his head wildly and gave up. “Ah, whatever! Fine, we’re friends!”
Inosuke grinned. “You can’t take it back, Zenitsu!”
“Like I told you, it’s— wait, you actually got it right this time!”