After Yino walked away, Yohan made his way through the silence of the corridor toward the infirmary. The room was empty; perhaps the nurse hadn't been notified of the situation yet.
Yohan stepped into the washroom. He turned on the faucet and washed his face thoroughly, splashing a bit of water onto his head before smoothing back his hair.
He then rested his hands on either side of the basin. The water drained away completely, leaving only the sound of his breathing.
But slowly, the mask began to fracture. Yohan's pale green eyes, usually as steady as glass, started to tremble with a violent, internal tremor. The veins at his temples throbbed against his skull, and his grip on the basin's edge tightened until his knuckles went skeletal white. A low, guttural growl vibrated in his chest as his entire frame shuddered with a rage that wasn't just anger—it was a toxic, suffocating envy.
"How?" he hissed, the word scraping against the silence. "How did a common gangster like that find the strength to stay upright? I broke him... I felt his spirit snap, yet he stood there like he was the one holding the high ground."
He grabbed a handful of his own hair, wrenching his head back to glare at the ceiling, his jaw locked in a grimace of pure resentment. "Why do I feel like that piece of filth was the one looking down on me? He has a crew, a sister, a reason to bleed... and I have nothing but a clean record and a hollow win."
The realization hit him harder than Yino's knees ever could. He slowly released his hair and slumped over the sink, his forehead nearly touching the cold ceramic. He let out a soft, heavy breath that tasted like iron. If the Headmaster hadn't shown up, he thought, I would have kept hitting him just to see if I could find where that spark of his was hidden.
He splashed his face twice more, forcing the heat out of his skin. Drawing himself up, he stared at his reflection with a forced, surgical calm.
"This isn't the time to unravel," he told the ghost in the mirror. "You're in a new cage now, Yohan. Adjust. If you let this envy blind you, you'll end up just as broken as he is—only you'll be doing it alone."
Yohan barely had time to settle his pulse before the sterile silence of the infirmary was shattered. The frantic, rhythmic slap of sneakers against linoleum echoed down the hall, growing louder until a figure burst through the washroom door.
"Yohan! You're still here!" Kairin stood in the doorway, her chest heaving, hair frayed from a dead sprint.
"Kairin?" Yohan straightened, his voice dropping into a defensive low. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
"I lied," she managed between ragged breaths, her eyes darting to the hallway behind her. "I told the teacher I was sick. We have to move, Yohan. Now. Before the window closes."
Before he could demand an explanation, she lunged forward, her fingers locking around his wrist with a desperate, iron-tight grip. She began to haul him toward the exit, her small frame straining against his weight.
"What is this panic about?" Yohan asked, his brow furrowing as he allowed himself to be led, though his pride stung at being "rescued."
"The 1st Crew doesn't just have one Enforcer," Kairin explained, her voice a frantic whisper as they reached the clinic's threshold. "The Wheeler brothers... they're a set. Yino is the technician, the speed. But his older brother? He's the foundation. He's bigger, stronger, and he doesn't have Yino's sense of restraint."
They reached the heavy oak door of the infirmary, but the handle never turned. The sunlight from the hallway was suddenly eclipsed by a massive, looming silhouette.
Kairin froze, her breath hitching in her throat. Standing in the frame was a mountain of a young man, his broad shoulders nearly touching both sides of the casing. His hair was a shock of jagged blonde, and his presence radiated a heavy, suffocating heat.
He didn't look at Kairin. His gaze, heavy and resonant like a tolling bell, bypassed her entirely to lock onto Yohan.
"Kairin Olivera, holding a stranger's hand in the dark," the boy said, his voice deep enough to vibrate in Yohan's bruised ribs. "Trying to smuggle him out like a secret. I guess the rumors weren't just talk."
The comment hit Yohan like a physical jab. He abruptly wrenched his hand free from Kairin's, the skin of his wrist stinging from the sudden friction. He stepped forward, putting himself between the girl and the giant.
The blonde boy lowered his head slightly, his neck muscles tensing as he focused his full attention on Yohan. "So, you're the new guy. The one who managed to put Yino on the floor."
Kairin's fingers dug into the fabric of Yohan's shirt, her knuckles turning a ghostly white as she pulled him back. Her voice was a serrated whisper, thick with a panic she couldn't hide. "Yohan, don't. Don't invite this. You've seen what they do—you'll get yourself killed."
The blonde-haired Enforcer watched the display with a slow, monstrous amusement. A cold, mocking smile stretched across his face, though his eyes remained as heavy as lead. "You certainly seem to treasure this new boy, Kairin," he said, his voice dropping into a resonant, dangerous register that seemed to vibrate in the narrow hallway.
He took a half-step forward, his massive frame eclipsing the light from the corridor. "But you should consider the image of our gang. If the word gets out that the Boss's own sister is shielding an outsider—turning against her own people for a stranger —what else could the streets call it but treason?"
The standoff in the infirmary tightened, the air curdling with the sudden, sharp shift in the power dynamic. Yohan, despite the dull throb of his battered ribs, refused to yield an inch of ground to the massive blonde Enforcer.
"So, you're doubting your own people without even knowing the facts," Yohan said, his voice cutting through the heavy silence as he stared up at the Enforcer's imposing frame. "Isn't that a form of betrayal too?"
He didn't let the giant find his footing. Stepping closer into the Enforcer's personal space—a move that was as much a psychological strike as it was a physical one—Yohan continued, "Regardless of the problem, you have no right to speak over the Boss's sister."
The effect was instantaneous. A vein throbbed at the blonde Enforcer's temple, and his cold, mocking smile twisted into something far more jagged. The room seemed to shrink as the giant fixed a murderous, heavy gaze on Yohan, his hands slowly curling into fists the size of mallets.
Kairin, now truly frantic, grabbed at Yohan's arm, her voice a desperate, terrified hiss. "Yohan, what are you saying? Have you lost your mind? You're pouring gasoline on a fire!"
But Yohan was past the point of caution. He ignored the pull on his sleeve, his pale green eyes locked onto the Enforcer with an unwavering, glacial intensity. He leaned in, his voice dropping to a low, steel-edged whisper that left no room for negotiation.
"If you have questions about this, take them straight to the Boss," Yohan said, his words landing like hammer blows. "Don't take them out on me. Or are you too afraid to ask your leader why his sister is walking with a stranger?"
The air in the infirmary, already brittle with tension, shattered the moment the blonde Enforcer lost his grip on his temper. Yohan had seen the tell-tale twitch in the giant's jaw, a flicker of warning that he signaled to Kairin with a sharp, sidelong glance. It was a silent command to stay back—a calculated move to draw the lightning.
The strike didn't just happen; it erupted.
A fist the size of a mallet swung in a tight, punishing arc, aimed with surgical malice at Yohan's already compromised ribs. Yohan had anticipated the trajectory, his muscles coiled to absorb the blow in a perfected defensive brace. He had fought heavyweights in Detroit; he knew how to "roll" with a punch.
But the moment of impact defied every law of physics Yohan understood.
The strike didn't just hit his guard—it demolished it. It felt as though a structural pillar had been dropped onto his forearm, the shockwave bypassing his muscle and rattling his very skeleton. The sheer, kinetic violence of the blow lifted his 175-pound frame off the linoleum, sending him skidding six feet across the floor like a discarded toy.
Yohan scrambled into a seated position, his lungs seizing as they struggled to find oxygen. A searing, white-hot bloom of pain radiated from his side, making his vision swim with jagged spots.
"How?" The thought was a frantic, fractured thing in his mind as he clutched his ribs, his fingers digging into his gray T-shirt. "I timed the block. I braced... but it went right through me. Is this even human strength?"
The heavy, rhythmic thuds of the enforcer's boots echoed against the linoleum as he closed the distance. Yohan, his breath coming in sharp, jagged gasps, forced himself upright. Every muscle in his midsection protested, the kinetic aftershock of the blow still vibrating through his ribs, but he refused to meet his end sitting on the floor.
The giant leaned in, his voice a low, simmering growl that felt like the hum of a high-voltage wire. "You think you can cow me by throwing the Boss's name around? I didn't come here to play politics, kid. I came to take a pound of flesh for my brother."
Yohan braced his lead foot, his vision narrowing as he prepared for a collision he knew his body couldn't handle. But before the storm could break, a cold, sharp command sliced through the tension.
"Stop."
Kairin stood by the door, her frantic energy replaced by a sudden, chilling composure. A thin, wintery smile played on her lips—a look that belonged to someone who understood exactly how much power she held.
"Do you forget who I am the moment my brother isn't in the room?" she asked, her voice quiet but carrying the weight of an executioner's blade.
He froze, his massive frame tensing as he turned to face her.
Kairin didn't flinch. "Do you truly believe that if the organization cuts your ties—if the Boss decides you and your brother are more of a liability than an asset—that the two of you could survive a single night in this city alone?"
The threat wasn't physical; it was systemic. She was reminding him that without the gang's shadow, he was just a large target.
Gritting his teeth so hard the muscle leaped in his jaw, Yano turned away from Yohan. He marched toward the exit, his sheer mass forcing Kairin to step aside. But as he reached the threshold, he paused, leaning in to leave a final, freezing vow.
"I'll let it go for now," he rumbled, his eyes cutting back to Yohan one last time. "But remember: I am a Wheeler, too. Yano " Yang-Half" Wheeler. New York is a big city, but it's not big enough to hide you forever. We'll meet again."