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One day, Hikaru was walking home alone from school while thinking about what he had learned earlier.
So, the person who made the promise to Zul was Sakamoto-san's twin sister? I never knew she had one, and she's Zul's girlfriend too, Hikaru thought, reflecting on what Zul had told him earlier in class. You must be sad after losing her.
As Hikaru walked forward and passed a dead-end alley, he heard voices echoing from the narrow space.
"Where are you going, cutie? Don't be shy, come with us! Become my girlfriend too," said a group of middle school boys surrounding a girl.
"No, please, leave me alone. I don't want to be with you guys," the girl pleaded.
Hikaru peeked into the alley and froze. It was Eri. The same seniors who had caused trouble on his first day were now harassing her.
Sakamoto-san? And that senior? Him again? Hikaru thought. The narrow alley had little room for movement. The seniors stood near the entrance, their shadows looming over Eri, who was backed against the wall.
Eri’s fists clenched under the leader’s gaze.
Yikes, this guy again, the one whose leg I kicked on the first day, she thought. What should I do? Fight back? No... I promised Onee-chan and Zul. I can't break that promise.
Her conflicting thoughts battled inside her.
I could end this now… but if I fight, I'll betray them. They believe in me. I need to believe in myself too, she thought, releasing her trembling fists.
Someone… please help me, Eri thought, her voice wavering as the leader reached for her arm.
Hikaru darted into the alley.
"What are you guys doing? Leave her alone!" Hikaru shouted, stepping between Eri and the seniors.
Eri's eyes widened. "Takumi-kun? What are you doing here?"
"Who are you, and how dare you interrupt us?" the boys demanded.
"Wait, I know you. You're that brat who stopped me before," the senior said with a smirk.
"Last time I was alone, but today I've got my friends here. Guys, let's teach this brat a lesson!"
"Heh, come on—bring it!" said Hikaru with a smirk, preparing to fight as they charged at him.
Meanwhile, Zul was looking for Eri, as she hadn't arrived at the library as they had planned. He was looking around the town trying to find her.
"Where is she? I've been waiting for 15 minutes, thought Zul.
As he walked, Zul saw the dead-end alley.
"What's that commotion?" Zul said, running toward the alley.
Back in the alley, two seniors punched Hikaru in the stomach while another hit his shoulder. Hikaru stumbled backward.
"Takumi-kun! Are you okay?" Eri cried, rushing to his side.
"Stay back! I'm fine," Hikaru said, though his body ached.
"Guys, please stop all this, please stop this fight," Eri begged.
The leader sneered. "You want us to stop? Then come with us, cutie."
Eri froze, her gaze shifting between the seniors and Hikaru. If I go with them, they'll stop hurting him, she thought.
"Don't do it, Sakamoto-san," Hikaru said, grabbing her arm. "This isn't over yet."
"Takumi-kun... But..." said Eri.
"He's right, Eri. It's not over yet—it's just the beginning," a voice interrupted.
Zul entered the alley, his fist connecting with the nearest senior’s face. The senior staggered into his friends.
Zul stood beside Hikaru. "Sorry I'm late,"
"Zul!" Hikaru and Eri exclaimed in unison.
"Are both of you okay?" asked Zul.
"I'm fine, but Takumi-kun..." said Eri.
"This is nothing, Sakamoto-san," replied Hikaru.
"Who are you, brat? How dare you punch my friend?" the senior demanded.
"Me? I'm their friend, so what's your problem?" Zul shot back.
"How dare you lay your filthy hands on them? You'll pay for it!" he said angrily.
"You finally said it, huh? That’s what I’ve been waiting for," Hikaru said, standing up after being motivated by Zul's words, which truly recognized him as his friend.
"Still standing? Not bad," said Zul.
"Of course I can. I'm not that weak, you know," said Hikaru.
"Tch, one brat after another. Fine! If you want to fight, bring it on!" they sneered.
"Sakamoto-san, stay behind us. Let Zul and me handle these guys," said Hikaru, walking beside Zul.
"But..." Eri protested.
"Don't worry, Eri. Let us handle this. I don't want you to dirty your hands with violence ever again," said Zul.
Eri hesitated but nodded. "I'll trust you," she whispered, stepping back.
"Come on, guys, let's beat these two brats," said the senior.
"Let's go, Zul. Let's show them what we can do," said Hikaru.
Both sides charged at each other and began exchanging punches while Eri stayed behind. She covered her eyes with her hands and pressed herself against the back wall because she didn't want to see the violence.
The seniors crowded together in the narrow space while Hikaru and Zul stood near opposite walls. Trash cans clattered to the ground, echoing through the alley.
Hikaru blocked a punch to his face. Zul hit another senior in the stomach. A senior swung at Hikaru's head. Hikaru ducked and pushed him back. Zul knocked down two seniors with quick punches.
Hikaru kicked a senior’s leg, sending him down. Sweat ran down their faces, their breathing heavy.
Moments later, everything fell silent, and Eri opened her eyes.
What she saw was the seniors lying on the ground. Some held their stomachs. Others rubbed their faces.
Hikaru and Zul stood, exhausted but victorious.
"Zul, Takumi-kun, are you okay?" Eri asked.
"We're okay," Hikaru said, breathing heavily.
"See, Eri? Just leave it to us," Zul said, offering her a reassuring smile.
"How are these brats stronger than us?" the senior groaned.
Zul walked up to the senior and grabbed his collar.
"Don't ever show your face around us again, or you’ll taste this fist again," he warned the senior and his gang with a scary glare.
"Alright, we won't do that to you guys again, we promise," said the senior.
"Let's run, guys. This brat is scary," they said.
The seniors got up from the concrete ground and ran toward the bright alley entrance. Some tripped over the fallen trash cans. Their footsteps grew quieter as they ran away.
"They ran away, huh?" said Hikaru, sitting down heavily from exhaustion.
"Yes, it seems so," said Zul, wiping his sweat away.
"Eri, are you okay?" Zul turned to face Eri, who stood behind them.
Eri ran to Zul, tears streaming as she hugged him
"Zul..." Eri cried out.
"Hey, what happened? Why are you crying?" asked Zul.
"I was so scared... thank you for saving me," she sobbed.
"Don't cry," Zul said softly, patting her head. "It's okay now. You're safe."
"I'm glad nothing happened to you," said Zul, gently petting her head.
"This is my fault—I got both of you into a fight. I... I couldn't even protect myself earlier, even Takumi-kun got hurt because of me," said Eri.
"Don't blame yourself. You didn't fight them back because of that promise, right?" said Zul. "Please stop crying."
As he comforted her, Zul's mind drifted back to when Eri had saved him from bullies years ago. I can't believe this is the same person who used to save me back then. You've really changed, huh, Eri? Looks like our roles have been swapped.
Eri’s outgrown violence, but here I am. Sorry, Arisa... you’d hate this, especially since you don't like to see any violence, Zul thought to himself.
"By the way, I'm not the only one who saved you. It was Hikaru who came to help you first. You should thank him for that," said Zul.
"Yes, you're right. I should thank him," said Eri.
"Umm, Takumi-kun..." Eri said with shy tones. "Thanks... for helping me earlier. If not because of you... I might have been dragged away by them."
"You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. Ouch, ouch," said Hikaru, feeling a bit hurt from his first fight earlier.
"Umm, are you okay...?" Eri asked with concern.
"Don't worry, this is nothing," said Hikaru.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch," he groaned when he tried to stand up.
Zul approached him and offered his shoulder for support. "Here, let me help you," he said.
"Eri, could you carry his bag? Let's get out of here first; it's too dark, and we need to find a suitable place to rest."
Zul helped the still-groaning Hikaru out of the alley while Eri followed them.
As they left the alley, Hikaru leaned on Zul for support. Eri carried his bag, walking silently behind them. They found a bench and sat down.
"Thanks, Zul, for carrying me," said Hikaru.
"No, I should thank you for saving Eri earlier," replied Zul. "Are you okay? Did you get any injuries?" he asked.
"I'm fine, I didn't get any wounds, just my body feels a bit sore," said Hikaru.
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear that. If you had gotten injured, I would have taken you to the nearest hospital," said Zul.
"I don't think I need to go there, haha," said Hikaru, chuckling.
"By the way, Zul, you seemed so strong earlier when fighting them. How did you become strong like that?" asked Hikaru.
"Well, I trained myself every day since elementary school and learned how to fight and defend, so I could protect someone important to me. Also, thanks to her words in the past, which motivated me to become strong like this," said Zul, while petting Eri's head.
Eri just stayed silent and turned red hearing Zul's words.
"Haha, you two must be close since back then, right?" said Hikaru, chuckling.
"About your condition now, Hikaru, can you stand up?" asked Zul.
Hikaru slowly stood up and felt okay. "Yes, I can stand up now. It doesn't hurt anymore, thanks for your help," he said.
After that, the three of them decided to return to their respective homes. Hikaru immediately returned to his house.
A lot happened today, he thought. I never expected I'd get involved in a fight, but I had to do it. Something might have happened to Sakamoto-san if I hadn't. I'm still glad I was able to protect her. I'm also glad to have a friend like Zul, who really cares about the people close to him.
Meanwhile, Eri and Zul canceled their plan to go to the library to study together because of the incident, and Zul walked Eri home.
"Umm, Zul, is Takumi-kun alright?" asked Eri, still concerned about him.
"You're still worried about him? Don't worry about it, he'll be okay. That close friend of mine is not that weak, after all," said Zul.
"Also, I'm sorry again for getting you involved in the fight like that. I'm not the same as I used to be before. I feel so useless right now, even unable to protect myself," said Eri, feeling down.
"Eri, stop saying things like that. You did the right thing by not getting into the fight anymore. You did a good job staying loyal to Arisa's promise.
Also, I didn't get into this fight just because I wanted to. I got into it because I wanted to protect you and Hikaru. You're not the only one who made a promise to Arisa, I did too. Remember, I promised her I would protect you in her place," said Zul.
"Yes, you're right. She asked you to protect me like that. I totally forgot about it," said Eri.
"Then, calm down. Don't blame yourself anymore, okay? From now on, whatever happens to you, just leave it to me, okay?" said Zul.
"Understood. I'm counting on you, Zul," replied Eri.
The next day, they came to school as usual. Hikaru wore a patch on his face from yesterday’s fight. While walking into the school entrance, he bumped into the same group of seniors from yesterday. Most of them were wearing patches on their faces too from the previous day.
"Hey, watch where you're walking!" said their leader.
"Ah sorry, I wasn't watching my step," Hikaru apologized. "Oh, it's you guys. Good morning!" he added with a smile.
"Wait, this is the brat from yesterday. Let's get out of here!" they said, running away from Hikaru.
Ah, now they're scared of me. Well, never mind, it was their fault for causing trouble with us anyway, Hikaru thought to himself.
As he entered his classroom, his classmates were shocked by the patch on his face.
"Hikaru-kun, what happened to your face? Did you get injured?" asked one of them.
"Or did you get into a fight with Zul?" said another.
"What do you mean?" asked Hikaru, confused.
"Well, he's wearing a patch on his face too. We thought you two had fought," said the classmate.
"No, that's not it. It's just a coincidence. I fell down yesterday. Maybe Zul has his own reason for wearing that," said Hikaru, covering up yesterday's incident before going to his seat.
"Good morning!" Hikaru greeted Zul.
"Good morning!" Zul replied.
"What's with the patch, Zul? I thought you didn't get injured yesterday," said Hikaru.
"Well, I got hit from them too, and it suddenly swelled up last night, so that why I'm wearing this," said Zul.
"So we're both wearing patches today, huh?" said Hikaru.
"Yeah, looks like it," said Zul. Both of them then chuckled after that.
Hikaru then noticed that Eri's seat had been empty. Usually, Eri came to school early with Zul.
"Wait, is Eri absent? I haven't seen her since earlier," asked Hikaru.
"Yes, she's taking the day off. She said she wasn't feeling well today," said Zul.
"I see. Maybe she was tired from yesterday's incident, I guess," said Hikaru.
"Yes, I think so too. It's better to let her rest for a day," said Zul.
Hikaru noticed Zul's expression turn sad and tried to change the topic to cheer him up.
"Hey, want to hear something funny? When we showed up wearing the same thing, most of our classmates thought we had gotten into a fight with each other," said Hikaru with a chuckle.
"Really? They thought we got into a fight? Haha, that's the most impossible thing that could happen between us," Zul chuckled. "They don't know the real story behind these patches."
"You're right, only we know the real story about this," said Hikaru.
"Also, Zul, another funny thing happened this morning when I was coming to school. You know that senior we fought yesterday?" said Hikaru.
"Yes, what's wrong with them?" asked Zul.
"You see, when I bumped into them earlier, do you know what happened after that?" said Hikaru.
"Yes, what happened next?" said Zul, curious about it.
"All of them were running because they were scared of me, haha," said Hikaru, laughing.
"Really? That's so funny hearing that about them," said Zul, also laughing.
"Look at Hikaru and Zul laughing. Hikaru was right—they didn’t fight."
"Zul’s so quiet with us but talks nonstop with Hikaru."
"We can see how close they are," the classmates chatted among themselves.
Back in the present time, both Hikaru and Zul stood looking at the alley.
"That's right, a lot has happened since that day," said Hikaru.
"Yeah, I still remember the moment we beat up that senior together, an unforgettable experience," said Zul.
Suddenly, Hikaru's stomach growled.
"Haha, sorry, that was me. Remembering everything is making me hungry," he said.
"Then how about we stop by the bakery where Takeru works after this?" suggested Zul.
"Oh, that's a great idea, Zul! Let's go there. Their bread yesterday was really delicious and well-made," said Hikaru.
"I can't wait to taste their 'Golden Chocolate Donut' again," Hikaru added.
"You've been talking about that donut all day, Hikaru. You really like it that much?" Zul commented, shaking his head.
"Alright, let's go there, and as usual let me treat—" started Hikaru before Zul interrupted.
"No, this time, let me treat you," said Zul.
"Eh? Are you sure about that? I was planning to treat you today since I brought a lot of money," said Hikaru.
"It's fine. Let me treat you today. It's not fair for you to always be the one treating me," said Zul.
"Well, if you say so, then I'll just follow your decision," said Hikaru.
Both of them went to the bakery together after that.
"Oh, welcome!" said Takeru, greeting them as they entered the bakery.
"Hey, I'm here again," said Hikaru.
"Oh, it's you, Hikaru-kun. You're back again today, and you brought Zul this time," Takeru added.
"Looks like it. By the way, is that 'Golden Chocolate Donut' available? I want to taste it again—it's really delicious," said Hikaru.
"Oh, you liked it, huh? It's delicious, right? Of course, it's available! It's over there—I just finished putting it in that section," replied Takeru.
"Don't hesitate to take as many as you want—I'll pay for it," Zul added.
"Really!? Thanks, Zul! Alright, it's time for me to dive in," said Hikaru as he prepared his tray to pick up his favorite donut.
"Haha, looks like he's fallen in love with that," Takeru chuckled.
"Yeah, he hasn't stopped talking about it since earlier," Zul sighed.
"By the way, where are you two back from? Going somewhere today?" asked Takeru.
"We just came back from the batting center nearest to this area," said Zul.
"Oh, that batting center? That's nice. That's why both of you look a bit tired and a little sweaty. It's been a while since I've gone there. Maybe I should go again after this," said Takeru.
"Then, Zul, you too, take your time and choose what you want," said Takeru as he went back to his work.
"Thanks," replied Zul.
"Then, I will take the one I want right now," he said.
Zul took the sausage roll from yesterday since he liked it. "This will do, but I think I'll choose another bread for my family too," he said.
As he finished taking it, suddenly, he got a message from Eri and took a look at his phone: "Zul, my family and I will be back the day after tomorrow. Can't wait to see you!"
Zul glanced at Eri’s message and paused before replying.
"Me too. Then see you on that day," he typed while smiling.
"Is that from your princess already?" said Hikaru, appearing from behind him with a smirk.
"Wargh, you startled me," Zul said, shocked. "Geez, don't just appear like that behind me," he added while almost dropping his phone.
"Ah, sorry, that wasn't my intention," Hikaru said, chuckling.
"Yes, that was from Eri. She said she will come home in two days," said Zul.
"I see. She's finally coming back from her vacation," replied Hikaru.
Suddenly, Hikaru received a message from Mizuha: "Hikaru, I'll be coming home from visiting my grandparents tomorrow."
"Really? I can't wait to see you. I have something surprising for you too!" Hikaru replied.
"Surprise? What is it, Hikaru?" Mizuha responded.
"Just come home first. It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you now," Hikaru wrote back.
"Yeah, that's right. Okay, I need to leave for now. See you later, Hikaru," Mizuha said.
"See you soon," Hikaru replied.
"What is it now? A message from your beloved Mizuha? Is she coming back soon?" Zul asked.
"Beloved? Geez, Zul, is this payback from earlier?" Hikaru said, blushing.
"Yes, you guessed it right. She will return tomorrow," he replied.
"Looks like both of our main heroines are coming back soon," said Zul.
"It looks like that. Then let's talk with them about our vacation plans after both of them return," said Hikaru.
"Yeah, let's gather the five of us to discuss it three days from now," Zul added.
"That's a great idea, Zul. We'll text them about it later," Hikaru said.
Zul had won a vacation ticket at a market lottery earlier, and both he and Hikaru had planned to use that ticket to bring Mizuha, Eri, and Shimizu on vacation with them.
"Anyway, let me pay for all of this first. We've already stayed here too long," said Zul, wanting to pay for their bread.
"Yeah, then I'm counting on you. Also, thanks for this, Zul," replied Hikaru.
It feels nice to finally pay for him after all these times he treated me, Zul thought as he paid for the bread at the counter, feeling good about treating Hikaru for once.
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