𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 4
: 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 |

ꨄ︎

   "...just a blur, you say?" To say that he became curious about what Karin can do beneath her fragile and gentle disposition would be an understatement. Before, he only felt that she's just an ordinary girl who joined the strongest gang because she's attached to her friends. Turns out, there's still so much more than it shows on the surface.

  Countless roars of cheers and astonishment greeted the ears of the girls and the founding members of Toman after a long painful silence.

The sudden noise seemed to wake Karin up from her daze. Immediately putting her eyeglasses, she ran towards the guy she knocked out.

  "I'm sorry!"

She hurriedly fished out her handkerchief, wetting it with the water that she bought from moments ago, and placed the wet cloth to his bruised neck.

As she is doing her thing, her other gang mates joyfully trotted to her.

"Karin! That was amazing! You can always fight me, come at me and I'll always be ready!" Miyu jumped onto her back.

"N-No, i can't do that." Karin softly said, flat out rejecting Miyu's idea. She can be spoiled about anything, except the idea of fighting her.

"Eeeh!??"

"How come you can still fight like that when it's not us?" Shuna pouted, crossing her arms.

"Last boss! I have to fight you, no matter what!" Arisa stared at Karin with fire in her eyes, determined to defeat Karin as she remembered the first time she lost to her. It was still a shock to her when she was suddenly defeated in a blink of an eye by a normal looking girl.

  "Shuna's the last boss here, Arisa.." Karin sweatdropped at Arisa's statement, her gamer side started slipping out.

  As they bicker back and forth about fighting Karin, the whole members are watching the scene - both in amusement and curiosity. So this is the Koketsucho, the bond that they are  sharing sure are very precious - that same thought running through their head.

  "Do you think she's a worthy opponent, Ken-chin?" Mikey suddenly asked Draken who was beside him.

"I thought you don't hit women, is that a lie?" Draken smirked down at Mikey who have a rather interesting expression on his face.

His usually lifeless eyes, sparkled at the sight of Karin's gentle smile as she talked with her friends.

"I don't hit women. I just thought that maybe, I'll be really lucky if she's one of my siblings."

Draken suddenly got quiet from what Mikey said. The fact that Shinichiro, his brother who died years ago is a known reason why Mikey wanted to create a new era of delinquents.

Mikey who were still watching Karin closely, suddenly met her gentle gray eyes. His eyes widen in astonishment. They made eye contact.

After that day, the look of Karin's gentle eyes as she smiled still remained in Mikey's mind. It's an unforgettable night under the moonlight.

What is this feeling of bubbles in his stomach? He wondered on that very night.

....

  Karin released a long breath as she walks through the corridor, carrying a bunch of books she wanted read again in the library - but was unfortunately full of students.

Since she doesn't like crowds that much, she decided to come again tomorrow. For now, she planned on going to one of her odd friends.

For a normal girl, she sure does have a lot of weird friends who stood out in their own way. But that what makes them lovely.

"Sensei, Can I leave these books here for awhile? I'll take them tomorrow." Karin smiled at her female teacher who always had a doting expression.

"Sure, just leave them there sweetie."

"Thank you."

After dropping the books to the faculty room, she proceeded and left the school premises. Adjusting her eyeglasses as it slowly slipped down from her nose.

  "Ah, you're leaving early, Yuzuru-san?" A familiar voice called out to her, recognizing the voice as the guy who sat next to her.

  She smiled at him, facing him properly. He is in his gang uniform, about to head to the their headquarters - and he happened to see Karin, the quiet and nice girl in the class.

"Inui-san."

He stopped infront of Karin. "I always see you at the library, you're going home early?"

  Karin scratched the back of her head, "Well, the library is packed with students - so I decided to go home."

  Hearing her reply, he chuckled in amusement. "That's so like you. Do you have any plans today?"

  Karin pondered a little as to what she's going to say. She planned on going to Maika's house because she doesn't want to go home yet.

"I actually planned on going to my friend's house."

"Can I walk with you?"

Karin stared at him for a good ten seconds before she answered, "Why not?" She smiled and started walking, Inui started following her after - a small smile adorned his stoic features.

  He never really noticed her when it was the first days of school. She's a very plain and simple girl who doesn't catch attention from others, but she's so noticeable for some reason.

At first, he ignored her presence just like what he does with everyone he doesn't know. But then one day, his eyes would follow Karin's figure unknowingly. He didn't know when it started - maybe because she always smiled gently at him. She reminds him of his sister.

  As her seatmate, she would always help him when he's having trouble with his studies - even going as far as lecturing him about his habits of procrastinating, giving him some small advice. It made Inui feel comfortable of her presence.

But that's not the reason why he is interested with her.

It happened when he was walking with Kokonoi, he caught a sight of Karin's familiar long black hair tied in a two low twintails. He stopped walking and watched Karin walking towards a group of girls, it seems to be a bullying situation.

"S-Stop!" Despite Karin's soft voice, she catched their attention. The girls turned their heads to Karin.

"Huh? This is none of your business, get out of here." One of the mean looking girls said to Karin.

Karin's eyes travelled to the kneeling girl, trembling in fear. The girl was covered with cuts and bruises. Seeing the state of the victim, Karin pursed her lips in worry, feeling sorry for her.

She didn't hesitate to walk over to the kneeling girl, squatting infront of her - completely ignoring the girls.

"I'm sorry..." Karin was about to wipe the girl's tears when her hand was suddenly grabbed by one of the girls.

"Why the hell are you meddling with someone else's business!? Listen to me, this girl is a big problem of ours - and you are getting annoying already. If you don't want to experience hell, I advice you to leave already."

Karin sadly looked at the girl, "What did she do wrong to you then? Why is she the problem here?"

They stayed silent, not wanting to give their reasons to a stranger. And they are starting to lose their patience.

  "I can't understand how bullying someone can solve a problem. You all just want a reason to trample over someone weak, and you want me to ignore this?" Karin's expression showed a speck of grief and sadness, as she remembered an unpleasant memory from a long time ago.

   The leader of the girls gritted her teeth in annoyance, she slapped her hands away from Karin and glared at her.

"Ah, you're really testing my patience." The leader snapped her fingers, a single to the girls to get ready and attack Karin.

"You said trampling over someone weak, you are goddamn right. We love seeing weak people like you suffer in silence! It's our pleasure! So what if we trample over them, they deserve it for being so weak! They are better off dead!"

  What she said greatly affected Karin, she stood there in silence, a storm brewing in her chest.

"Girls." The leader signalled her girls to attack Karin. As they were about to get to her, Karin jumped a few steps away from them.

As she gets her space, she removed her glasses - and her twintails became undone.

"Unforgivable.." She mumbled.

The girls didn't hear her and ran towards Karin to attack her. But before they could even land a hit on her, Karin immediately evaded all of them - using her pointed finger, she exerted a certain amount of pressure on their carotid artery; knocking them out of consciousness.

One by one, they fell in an instant.

The leader stared wide-eyed at Karin who stood amongst the unconscious bodies of her comrades, unscathed.

Karin stared at the ground, before looking back up to the leader. The intensity of Karin's stare were enough to hold her breath in fear.

"M-Monster.." She mumbled in fear.

She can't believe that the girl from earlier and the girl she is facing now is the same person at all.

On the other hand, Inui was astonished as to what he just witnessed. Karin was actually capable of doing something like that. She was so fast, agile, and accurate. He could barely catch her movements earlier. He never expected that from a gentle girl.

"Woah.."

To think Karin is actually this amazing.

And that's the end of the flashback. Currently walking together with Karin, he can't help but to glance at her from time to time. And she seemed to notice him stealing glances at her.

"Is there something wrong, Inui-san?" She asked, looking up at him.

  Inui scratch his nose, shades of pink dusted his cheeks - to see his usually stone cold expression turn into a bashful one - Karin's eyes curved in amusement.

  "It's a little cute seeing you flustered like that, Inui-san." Karin chuckled.

  Inui cleared his throat and went back to his normal self.

"Say, Yuzuru-san. Are you part of a gang?" He asked.

Karin hummed.

"Yeah, I'm a part of Koketsucho."

Inui gaped at her, "Hey, aren't they the strongest girl gang?"

Karin giggled, "Yeah. They are amazing."

"They?" He raised his eyebrows in curiosity.

"Yeah, them. They are amazing."

"What about you?"

   She remained silent for a moment, at the silence - Inui started to fiddle the hem of his shirt, the uneasiness bottling up.

  Karin stopped infront of a house, which made Inui stop as well.

"This is my stop, Inui-san."

"Ah. See you tomorrow, Yuzuru-san."
He started walking away, as Karin's eyes stayed on his figure - having an inner conflict.

  She sighed, pushing her thoughts at the back of her head, and excused herseld inside the house.

  'How could even tell him that I am normal, and completely normal when he witnessed me fighting?'

"He'll get involve if he gets too close..." 

To be continued....

ᴜɴᴇᴅɪᴛᴇᴅ//

Ps. Sorry for any out of characters.

༆ 𝙵𝚞𝚗 𝙵𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜;

› Inui became worried if he somehow made Karin mad in his way home.

› Karin and Maika talked all night about how the book they are both reading is amazing.

› Karin stayed for the night at Maika's.

› Karin is popular for being plain but kind and reliable at school.

› Karin thought of Inui as a very cute younger brother.