"Ren?" A feminine voice pulled Ren out of his deep thoughts. "Are you okay?. "
"I'm fine," Ren assured.
"I'm Just... tired that's all. I didn't sleep much last night. " Ren added.
That much was true at the very least. He hadn't slept well in about three weeks. The nightmare of that night kept repeating itself in his mind over and over whenever he tried to get a shut eye.
Fubuki wasn't too convinced by his answer but she knew not push. "The opening ceremony is in the gymnasium. It's this way. "
Together the three of them turned a corner, and the whispers faded as they moved into a less crowded section of the hallway but Ren's mind was still racing thinking about where he could find answers.
Hana had stopped abruptly just before they reached the gymnasium doors. She turned around so fast that Ren nearly walked into her.
Her sharp eyes fixed on him measuring him.
"Listen, " she said, her voice low enough that passing students wouldn't overhear their conversation .
"I don't know who you are or what that bloodstained paper means to you. "
"It must seem important that much I can see. " She added.
Ren opened his mouth to respond, but she held up a hand.
"And I don't need to know. That's your business." Her expression hardened. "But this school.... this town.. Its not as peaceful as it looks. "
Something in her tone made Ren feel pity for her. The way she sounded made him want to pay closer attention to what she said.
This wasn't casual advice. This was a warning.
"What do you mean?. " he asked carefully.
Hana glanced around, checking that no one was listening too closely. When she spoke again, her voice dropped even lower. "Just... just stay out of their business, you know. Keep your head down. Go to class, do your work, go home. Don't get involved with them.
"They are bad news those guys. Nothing good ever comes with meddling with those guys. Please "
Gangs.
There it was again.
It was confirmation of what his mind had already been piecing together with the clues he got. The whispers, the coloured armbands and the way certain students carried themselves through the hallways like they owned the place.
"Gangs? " Ren repeated, making his voice sound more uncertain than he felt. Playing dumb. Seeing what she would tell him.
He needed all the information he could get.
Fubuki shifted beside him, her hands clasping and unclasping nervously. She looked at Hana, then at Ren, then down at her shoes.
"Sakuratei," Fubuki said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. "They run the school. Most students just try to avoid them. "
"There are other gangs too.. " Hana added, her eyes still locked on Ren's face.
"Crimson Dragons, Oni Crows, New Wolves and the Kaiser. Yugen City is full of them. They all have... territories, agreements... accords and when those agreements break down.. "
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.
Ren thought about the blood on his apartment floor that night. The way his older brother Kaito had stumbled through the door, already dying.
His desperate final words desperately clutching for air. "Find Hasegawa... the dragons... they're not... "
He was still puzzled.
The dragons.
The Crimson Dragons?
Aren't they the bad guys here.
"Violence, " Ren helped finished Hana's statement, his voice flat. "When the agreements break down, there's violence. "
Hana's expression flickered surprise, maybe, that he had understood her so quickly or the recognition of something in his tone that said he knew about violence firsthand.
"Yeah," she said quietly. "Indiscriminate Violence. "
They stood there for a moment, the three of them, while other students flowed past toward the gymnasium. The bell would ring soon. They should be going in.
But Hana wasn't done.
"You seem like a decent guy," she said, and for the first time, her voice softened slightly. Not friendly, exactly, but less hostile. "Don't get pulled in. It's not worth your life. "
"Thanks for the warning. "
Hana studied him for another long moment, like she was trying to decide if her warning had actually landed or if she was wasting her breath.
Whatever she saw in his face must have told her it was the latter, because she sighed and turned away.
"Your funeral," she muttered under her breath.