New Leaf, Old Leaf

Turmoil spun Miyako’s thoughts around like a whirlpool. Reality phased out for her. All she could think about were Jiro, Junichi, Shigeru and Yasuo. Their sacrifice so that she would have to live on. It was difficult to accept. Rejecting reality, she returned to a better time, a time she felt more comfortable in.

Years before Japan went to hell, Miyako’s life was a simpler one. A comparatively simpler life, though most would likely disagree with it being anything but simple. Yet, against the backdrop of a merciless warzone of friends killing friends for no reason, it was simple. It was still a bloody affair and a warzone, but nothing so cold or pointless.

Miyako, age seventeen, had considered skipping classes, but elected to stay. Old habits certainly died hard, as the saying went. It was hard some days keeping it together. Especially the looks from the rest of the class. They mixed between confusion and fear, not knowing when she would jump up to surprise them all that she was just faking the whole thing. But it wasn’t fake. It was the truth. As much as none of them believed her.

It didn’t stop her from pushing the path that she took. She even got it from those that she thought she trusted. But the truth showed her who she should trust and who not. It became very clear quickly.

Walking away from her high school, she saw a group of rough appearing boys all with overly confident looks and a chip on their shoulder. They were the type that she really couldn’t stand. They were simply looking for any way to make a name for themselves. Between her decision and the fact that she was a woman, they thought she was an easy target. They just assumed it.

The other students stayed away from the group making an effort to cross completely to the other side of the street just to avoid them. However, Miyako wasn’t one to be intimidated. And her old life was a difficult one to escape. ‘We’ll see how resolved they are for this…’ As she passed around them, she gave them a deathly glare that would chill even the most experienced street brawler.

For a second, it seemed like they might have decided to back out of their foolish and childish plan. But one didn’t get the message from Miyako. He stepped forward still planning to carry out their goal. One of his friends grabbed him by the arm trying to stop him. “Hey man, maybe we shouldn’t do this.”

Ripping his arm free, he looked back incredulously at his supposed friend. “We’re doing this! You know the score. Everyone’s talking about it.”

“Yeah, but she’s the Eighty Deaths, leader of the Blood Lotus Gang!”

“Former leader,” he corrected, “And former gang. Neither exist anymore, she’s just a lone high school girl.”

Their voices were hardly quiet, but Miyako just ignored them. Yet her menacing presence just from her back never quit. It had the rest of the group trying to talk the headstrong fool out of his insanity. “But none of the gangs mess with her. There’s a reason for why they all stir clear of her, even now!”

“Are y'all a bunch of spineless bastards? She’s forfeited her territory, it’s anyone’s for the taking!”

“But no one wants it! They’re still afraid of pissing her off!”

“C’mon let’s just go. No one will think any less of you, man.”

“To hell with all of ya! I don’t need any one of ya to take her down! Her head is mine and then I’ll be the new legend in this city!” The moment he said that, Miyako came to a stop. His friends took several steps back already wanting to run away, but only sticking around due to misplaced loyalty. Miyako merely tilted her head over her shoulder to glare back at the idiot. One look of just her right eye locked straight on him was enough to make him piss himself. “…on second thought…maybe you’re right…guys…”

Peace returned to the streets.

It wasn’t the way she wanted to start her afternoon. School tired her out, still not completely used to a full day. Thoughts of homework and career planning spun around in her head making her almost wish for something to ram her fist into, even just to break the stress. Not an easy course, she knew, but she was determined to hold it.

Not that her past would ever leave her alone. “Boss! Boss!” shouted a familiar, yet tiring voice for Miyako. She looked ahead of her to see Takayuki with several others. He waved her down completely ignoring any sort of social courtesy.

Once he closed the distance to meet up with them, she reprimanded them for their behavior. An unruly lot even after the disbanding. “How many times do I have to tell you, don’t call me boss anymore. I’m just Miyako. I’m not Eighty Deaths or any of that stuff anymore.”

It was something that they never seemed to learn. Old habits again. “You’ll always be our boss, boss!”

“Morons, I quit that life. You don’t need to follow me anymore.”

“None of that matters to us!”

“That’s right!”

“We’ll follow you regardless if you’re running the gang or not!”

She was sighing so much, she wondered if she already lost ten years off her life. “You guys…”

“Boss…”

They had very determined expressions. Naturally, it wasn’t the first time they followed her after she made her decision. It might have only been a week since, but they kept at it. She had grown tired of trying to convince them out of their stubbornness. ‘I’ve lost so many hours of my day trying to lose them. I should just accept that I can’t rid myself of my old life so easily.’ Miyako stared at them. Determined as they were to follow here, it could only last for so long. ‘They’ll get bored and realize that I’m not going back. This is my new life… It’s what I’ve decided…’

Chapter 302 – New Leaf, Old Leaf

Making the decision seemed hard at the time, but it was actually the easiest part. Once she left the life she had known for so long, she found that she had time for so many other things. Things that were important to her new life path. Ones that her boys didn’t seem to grasp fully. She looked back at them with a slightly tilted expression to match the befuddled looks they were giving her. “What?”

“What are you doing here, boss?”

She looked back up at the sign. It shouldn’t have been very hard for them to figure out. “That should be obvious. I need some books from the library.”

The boys exchanged strange looks back and forth to each other. Despite following their boss for the last week, anything they did was actually fruitless. It was mostly running around after her. So they really never knew what she was planning. “A library? Have you ever been to a library before, boss?” Further uncertainty went around the group.

“It’s just a library,” she said with unfounded confidence, “What’s there to be worried about? It’s just an oversized bookstore.” Despite her certainty, they still showed doubt. She wasn’t about to stop by them.

She started to the front door. The ribbon on her school uniform bounced with her heavy stride and reminded her of a different matter. Tilting her head back, she checked out all of them. Any reservations that they had didn’t matter. They planned to follow her. “Clean up your appearance a little, guys. I know most of you don’t attend school, but you look like a bunch of street punks.”

They looked back at her a little surprised to be hearing her say that to them. A few glanced around at each other trying to gauge their appearance. It all seemed appropriate for them. It was a little flashy and made them stand out. They enjoyed the wild look and it made them easy to spot by other gangs that wanted to pick a fight.

“But we are street punks, boss.”

“Oh…right, I guess you are. Well then I guess try to look less like you’re spoiling for a fight. I don’t want any trouble in the library.”

“Yes, boss!” They all became unnaturally stiff as though soldiers under inspection by their commanding officer.

Another sigh. “You look even worse now.” She waved her hand at them, as she walked into the building. “Just don’t look at anyone and try to not draw attention.”

“Boss!”

Unfortunately, that was an impossibility. She did her best to look like she didn’t belong to them, but they followed her around like baby chicks. It was hard for people not to assume they were with her. Though she still received a lot of strange looks. A bunch of rough looking boys stalking a normal looking high school girl probably had them thinking that they should call the police to save her. ‘If they’re going to be doing this, I’m going to need to fix them up. This is more trouble than I need right now…’

Digging through the aisles, she searched each one quickly before moving on. The boys just watched her in silence. None of them really knew what she needed for obvious reasons, as they never asked her. And she had a determined expression like she wanted to do it alone. So they just followed.

After five minutes of repeating the same twenty aisles, one of them spoke up. “Boss? What are you searching for?”

“Huh?” she paused on the current aisle frantically searching it a little longer than she had before. Though she did hear the question, she kept looking at the aisle intently. ‘Has to be here…where the hell is it?!’

“Boss?”

“What?!” snapped Miyako, glaring back at the group. It made them all step back a little, a familiar expression started to appear in her eyes. Old habits really do die hard.

“Um…what are you needing?”

“Huh? Books, of course!” Not really the answer they were wanting. The obvious reply actually made them sweat a little, as they were seeing an unusual side of their boss. “…study…guides…”

“Boss?”

“I said study guides!” Her voice rang through the wing of the library they placed themselves into for the search. It drew up the attention of everyone, turning her face red quickly. Anger covered up embarrassment until she deflected it back at them. “Look at what you did!” She barely controlled her voice.

In a surprising bit of common sense by her boys, they led her away from the bookshelves out to a corner of the library. Isolated from all of the tables where people gathered, they would not disturb anyone.

“Study guides, boss?”

“Yes, exams are coming up soon, not to mention I don’t exactly have the best attendance record right now.” Miyako’s face turned a little redder. They continued to see sides of their boss they never knew even existed. She wasn’t the person that they knew. “This is the only way I’m going to pass at this point.”

“But can’t you buy those at a bookstore?”

“Yeah, I know I’ve seen some of those bookworm types saying they go there for them!”

Crossing her arms up, she turned a little away from them and leaned back against the window frame. “I know that already. But it’s not like I have spending cash just lying around. They aren’t cheap, you know!”

“Boss…” They had all sort of forgotten her situation. It wasn’t something they dug in too deeply. They just knew the minimum that she was willing to talk about. They were all still teenagers, but she was the only one of them without the same sort of support they had.

“The library’s free, right? So I should be able to study here. I see plenty of those nerdy types in the school library all the time.”

“Couldn’t you have gone to the school library? They probably have the guides or books you need to study available for you.”

Miyako turned around completely to stare out the window. It was nothing so simple unfortunately. “That’s not an option.” She balled up her hand, pressing it against the pane. She never imagined how much she would end up regretting her past actions.

“Boss?”

“I sort of got banned from the school library.”

“What did you do?”

“Some punks from East thought they step on our turf and I showed them the error of their ways.” Pride came out in her voice, despite also having sadness mixed into it.

“Well we’ll help you find what you need, boss! Right, boys!” They all started to get excited, finally able to do something for their boss, even if it was something so boringly mundane as searching for a book.

“Forget the books.” Miyako suddenly pushed off from the window and marched down the hall. Purpose suddenly painted over her face. The new Miyako disappeared.

None of them knew what happened to change her mind. They knew the look she had. “Boss?” Rushing to catch up, they walked around her flanks trying to figure out what was on her mind.

“There’s something I need to do.”

It had no more of an answer for them than the last thing she said. Anymore seemed to be impossible to get out of her. Her mind locked on to the target she found.

Outside the window Miyako stared at, there were five street punks. Four of them were ganging up on one out in the middle of the street with no care for the scene that they started. The four boys all had familiar looks.