As he walked through the garden, Yukito's mind wandered.
"Did I really have to go to that academy?"
The idea of a boarding school, far from everything, didn't feel very inviting, especially considering what he was going to do. "Maybe I'll just run away to find more people who use X-Energy," Yukito thought, until his mother's voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"Yukito... Are you thinking of doing something stupid again?" his mother asked, her expression serious and surrounded by a menacing aura. "No," Yukito replied calmly, despite being terrified.
His mother's menacing aura was enough to frighten even a lion.
"I was just thinking," he said, trying to change the subject. "By the way, you didn't tell me the name of the academy."
"Tenbi Academy," his mother replied, a smile playing on her lips.
"No," Yukito said. —Tenbi... Tenbi—that name seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.
"It sounds familiar. I must have beaten someone up there," he thought, still with doubts in his mind.
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City X, 20xx.
In an arcade filled with the 8-bit sounds of the machines and the incessant click-clack of the buttons, the lights—red, blue, green—illuminated the place, revealing the focused faces of young people engrossed in their screens.
In a corner, next to a row of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and The King of Fighters '99 machines, a group that seemed out of place was milling about. Five boys, wearing baggy, unbuttoned high school jackets over dark T-shirts.
The one who seemed to be their leader, a boy with unevenly dyed blond hair and a pierced eyebrow, propped his boot against the base of an arcade machine, shooing away anyone who might approach.
"Where's the boss?" said one of the five delinquents who was playing on one of the machines.
"He should be here any minute," replied the blond delinquent, glancing at his watch.
It wasn't long before the leader of this gang arrived. The blond-haired boy stopped propping his boot against the machine. The murmurs and laughter of the group were abruptly cut short when the back door of the arcade, the one that led to the alley, opened.
Yukito walked in.
"What's up, guys? Everything alright?"
The innocent aura he usually possessed had vanished, replaced by a dominant and undeniable presence.
"Boss," one of the delinquents murmured, nodding. The other four did the same as a gesture of respect.
Yukito crossed his arms, his gaze fixed on each of the five delinquents.
"I'm not going to beat around the bush. I've gathered you here today to tell you the following," he said, his voice clear and firm. "I'm leaving."
A silence fell over the group. The blond blinked, confused. "You're... leaving? Where to?"
"That's none of your business." Yukito offered no further details, simply raising his hand and pointing at the blond. "From this moment on, Makihara is in charge."
"Huh? Me?!" Makihara exclaimed.
" "Well, that's it," Yukito said, taking one last look at the group, his little ant empire in a grimy corner of the world. A part of him resisted letting them go. "If fate wills it, we'll meet again."
Just as suddenly as he'd arrived, he left. He simply turned on his heel and pushed open the back door of the arcade, disappearing into the shadows of the alley from which he'd emerged, leaving behind a group of confused delinquents.