Chapter Text
Any luck?
Holding his phone in one hand, Nirei sent his response of no back to the group chat. With a sigh, he pocketed his phone. He wished he had a little more information about where Risa-chan might have run off to- the cat had briefly been spotted a few blocks off the shopping street, but they'd lost track of her once she'd taken the rooftops.
Ah well. With this many people looking, they were bound to find her.
A flash of pink caught his eye, and he turned his head- his gaze following the stray cherry blossom that floated on the breeze. The trees on the road leading to the school had been in full bloom for the entrance ceremony, but now only a few pink flowers remained. He guessed the season was almost over.
The petal danced through the breeze, towards the riverbank. He followed it on a whim, stopping short of the grassy incline leading towards the river. It landed on...
...hm?
Nirei squinted at the small figure. They were asleep on the grassy incline, right in the middle of a patch of sunshine. The cherry blossom petal had landed on their hair, not disturbing them- nor the white cat that was curled up asleep next to them.
Wait. Wait, wait.
Nirei pulled out his phone, scrolling through the group chat. There was a blurry photo there of a child that someone else had taken a few days ago- of an unusual looking kid with split color hair and heterochromia wearing dirty clothes. It had been snapped in the middle of them clambering up onto a rooftop. Wasn't that...?
No way. It totally was.
That was Sakura- the runaway kid that kept popping up around Tonpu Shopping Street. The same one that had practically given all of Bofurin a run for their money at this point. No one really seemed to know where he came from, or even where he was living- or if he was living with anyone. He regularly stole food from the shopping street, and given how dirty he was, it was hard to imagine that he wasn't living on the streets somewhere.
But right now, he was fast asleep. There was a large bandage on his right cheek, and the left half of his hair was a much more vivid white than it was in the photo. Had he gotten hurt somewhere? Had someone patched it up for him, or had he-?
Wait. Wasn't that Risa-chan right next to him?
Very quietly, Nirei pointed his phone in their direction. He snapped a photo, hastily sending it to the group chat alongside the message-
I found both runaways. What now?
The group chat, predictably, was quickly flooded with messages. Even among the first year students, Sakura had quickly become infamous. He'd kicked Tsugeura in the shin the other day- and had stomped on Anzai's foot when he'd tried to grab him just yesterday. Rumor had it he'd apparently kicked Umemiya in the shin too...
Sugishita was... not exactly happy about that, apparently.
He was probably even less happy about Sakura using his face as a springboard to the roof the other day. The way Suo had laughed about it hadn't helped- or so he'd heard. He'd missed the whole thing, so he only had secondhand information.
I'm coming over, Suo sent, try not to wake them up.
He sent a quick okay as a reply, before pocketing his phone. He looked towards where Sakura and Risa-chan were sleeping and... ah.
Too late.
Sakura blearily rubbed his gold eye, squinting at him in a way that suggested the kid was still half asleep. Risa-chan briefly lifted her head to look at him, before lowering it again, giving only the faintest flick of her tail as acknowledgement.
Ah crap. He'd bolt as soon as he fully woke up.
Wait! If he remembered correctly, didn't the kid really like...
"D-do you want some curry bread!?"
Sakura froze- ah, he'd reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out... was that a rock? Was he going to throw a rock at him? He really viewed Bofurin as his enemy, didn't he? Clearly he couldn't possibly be from around here, Nirei thought.
"Wait," he muttered almost to himself, "-you're tryin to trick me!"
"Not at all!" Nirei held up his hands. "I promise!"
Sakura's brows furrowed. "I ain't stupid! You're with the green jackets!"
"I'm really not lying, though!" Nirei said. "See?"
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a still wrapped piece of curry bread. He'd been saving it for an after patrol snack, but... well, the kid probably needed it more.
Sakura narrowed his eyes, but slowly lowered his rock. Phew.
"...okay," he said, "-but no funny business."
Nirei furiously nodded, carefully making his way down the incline. Sakura didn't take his eyes off him- nor did he let go of his rock. He practically snatched the curry bread from him, tearing the plastic wrapping open with his teeth... all so he didn't have to drop his rock.
...that was good street smarts? He guessed?
Sakura bit into the curry bread, tearing into it very much like a kid who didn't know when his next meal would be... which, yeah. He guessed he was that. He licked his fingers once he was done, before staring at the plastic wrapper in his hand and awkwardly shoving it towards him with an expectant look.
Nirei took it. He could throw it away later. It was awfully admirable of him to not want to litter, though!
"You're Sakura, right?" Nirei asked. "I'm Nirei Akihiko. I'm a first year student at Furin High School!"
Sakura narrowed his eyes, his gaze flicking up and down him almost as if he were assessing him. Nirei did his best to smile, uncertain what it was he was looking for.
"...you don't look very strong," Sakura muttered.
Ouch. He was right, but hey.
No, no! He wasn't going to let it get him down! He knew he was weak- if Suo hadn't been there that day when he'd tried to rescue that girl, he probably would be sporting some bandages of his own right now. He'd had mixed feelings about the whole situation- being rescued by one of the people he'd admired from afar had been both exciting... and deeply frustrating.
He guessed he needed to do more than just put on a Furin jacket to be strong.
"Well..." Nirei trailed off, "-honestly, I'm not."
"But you're part of a gang?" Sakura asked. "Why?"
"No, no," Nirei waved his hands, "-Bofurin's not a gang!"
Well, they were. Sort of- b-but not in the same way a team like Shishitoren was! They didn't just fight for fun, or do things like chase middle school students around. They stood up and protected the town. That was why he admired them! It was why no matter what, he wanted to be one of them.
...even if changing himself was proving harder than he thought.
(But at least he was friends with all his classmates? It was hard to believe, given how famous they all were, but...)
Sakura's brows furrowed. "...they're not?"
"Not at all!" Nirei said. "They protect the town!"
"Protect?" Sakura repeated.
"That's right!" Nirei said. "For example... ah, that's right! Risa-chan is with you! We've been looking all over for her! Her owner's really worried about her, you know?"
"Risa...chan?" Sakura cocked his head- and then very helpfully scooped up the sleeping cat. "Oh. I've been calling her Hamburger Steak."
...incredible naming sense, Nirei thought.
The white cat wiggled a bit in Sakura's grip, but he held firm to her- while still holding onto that rock from before. He was starting to piece together why this kid seemed to be fending for himself while living on the streets so well.
He guessed that was a... good thing? It was a good thing, right?
"I know," Nirei said, "-why don't you help me bring Risa-chan back to her owner? I'm sure she'd be really happy!"
Sakura looked uncertain.
"...she might have some food as a reward?" Nirei tried.
Sakura's eyes lit up.
Ah... he was starting to understand how Kotoha had managed to lure him into her cafe with nothing but the promise of omelette rice. He felt like he should be a bit worried about that, but... well, everyone in Makochi was a good person. Maybe if they could make Sakura understand that, he'd stop running away so much.
Chasing him clearly wasn't working.
"Then, follow me!" Nirei smiled.
Sakura nodded, clutching to Risa-chan to his chest as he trailed behind him. He felt a bit like a mother duck with her duckling, he couldn't help but think. Luckily he'd already memorized where Risa-chan's owner lived when he'd glanced at the map earlier. It wasn't that far from the riverbank. He took mostly side streets, a little worried that Sakura would bolt at the first sign of another Furin jacket- and take Risa-chan with him.
His odds of catching him if he did were... well, not good.
"By the way," Nirei said, "-what happened to your cheek?"
Sakura flinched, ducking his head. "...nothin."
Nirei frowned. He'd assumed he might have banged into something while running away, or maybe even just hit something in the dark, but that reaction...
...had someone done that to him?
Nirei opened his mouth- and then slowly shut it. Wait. He had to think this through. Sakura was a skittish kid, clearly- how much questioning was too much questioning? Was he actually in a dangerous situation after all? Which, okay- stupid question, of course he was- he was presumably living on the streets by himself. But what he meant was...
"...are you okay? If you need help, Bofurin can-"
Sakura bristled, his head snapping back up at the question. "I'm fine! I don't need your damn help!"
Nirei snapped his mouth shut. Sakura was glaring at him- but his hands were faintly trembling. He didn't think he was scared, though. No, it was more like...
...oh, Nirei thought. He was frustrated.
Yeah. He understand how that felt.
"There's nothing wrong with it if you do!" Nirei said hastily. "Need help, that is."
Sakura's grip on Risa-chan tightened- until the cat yowled in protest. Sakura's eyes briefly went wide- before he shoved the cat towards Nirei. He scrambled to grab hold of her before she could slip away, even as the cat yowled over the abrupt exchange.
"I don't need it!" Sakura yelled. "I'll deal with it myself!"
"Wait, Sakura-!"
...no good. He was already running away. Nirei tried to hurry after him, but running while holding Risa-chan wasn't exactly easy. By the time he rounded the corner, Sakura was nowhere to be seen. Heaving a long sigh, he glanced down at Risa-chan- who almost seemed to give him a scolding look.
...he'd messed that up, hadn't he?
Risa-chan yowled in agreement.
"So Sakura-kun said that?"
"That's right," Nirei frowned, "-and then he ran away."
He heaved a sigh, resting his chin on the table. After turning Risa-chan over to her owner, their patrol group had reconvened at Pothos, where he'd caught them up to speed about what had happened with Sakura. The group consisted of himself and Suo- who had been recently chosen as the grade captain over his own objections, since it didn't seem like anyone else had wanted to do the job.
(Kaji had lost his temper and forced it on him- and well... there wasn't much to say against it after that. Suo had accepted it with a dissatisfied look on his face.)
...for some reason, he'd chosen him as his vice captain- a baffling move that Nirei did not quite understand, when their class was full of other strong people.
Heck, Suo hadn't even chosen a second vice captain yet.
There were two fantastic prospects sitting across from him- Kiryu Mitsuki and Tsugeura Taiga were both well known for their strength. He'd seen as much the other day!
(He'd just hung back with the girl, unable to do anything.)
"But I'm impressed, Nire-kun," Suo remarked, "-he actually talked to you."
"That's right!" Tsugeura agreed. "He always just runs away from me!"
"He really is amazingly skittish," Kiryu said, "-but well... I suppose if a bunch of older kids I didn't know were chasing after me, I'd run away too."
"That's true," Kotoha chimed in from behind the counter, "-but it's not as if he sticks around to talk to anyone. Nirei and I seem to have been the only exceptions, and he's been avoiding me ever since then. He's really wary of other people."
"I still think rigging up a box trap would be a good idea..." Tsugeura frowned. "We could tie some curry bread to a string underneath it and everything!"
"No, no," Nirei waved a hand, "-he can't be that much of a glutton."
"It might be interesting, though!" Suo said with a smile.
Nirei just shot him a look. "Suo-san..."
"Still," Kiryu said, "-he can't be that wary of people, right?"
"That's true," Suo agreed, "-he would have never talked to Kotoha-san or Nire-kun if he was really that wary of people. And didn't you say his cheek was bandaged?"
"Yeah," Nirei nodded, "-I wondered if he'd done it himself, but..."
"Hm," Kotoha tilted her head, "-I haven't heard of him stealing anything like a first aid kit. It's mostly just food."
"Someone else must have done it, then." Tsugeura said.
"Whoever they are must be amazing," Kiryu remarked, "-I can't imagine him getting that close to me. Do you think he has a guardian after all?"
"Wouldn't he at least be in school then?" Nirei asked. "It sounds like the third years asked around, but it doesn't sound as if he's enrolled in any of the local elementary schools."
"Ah, that's true," Kiryu said, "-I went to a private elementary school, so I didn't think of that. All the ones around here are free, right?"
"Was there anything else, Nire-kun?" Suo asked.
"Eh?" Nirei blinked. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he hummed in thought, trying to recall if there was anything that stood out to him. "His hair looked cleaner, I think?"
"Cleaner?" Kiryu asked.
"Yeah," Nirei nodded, "-it looked whiter than in the picture Enomoto-san sent to everyone."
"Now that you mention it..." Kiryu glanced at the photo he'd sent them, "-did he visit a public bathhouse or something?"
"Oh, that's right," Tsugeura said, "-there's one around the red light district, right?"
"No, I don't know if a child would go there..." Nirei trailed off.
"There's two," Kotoha corrected, "-well, the other one is in Shishitoren territory, though."
Nirei grimaced. Just the thought of going anywhere near Shishitoren territory gave him the shivers. They'd caught three of their members chasing down a middle school student while on patrol on the first day- luckily, the kid had made it back to their side of the tracks before they could catch up to him.
They'd mocked them the whole time.
Umemiya hadn't exactly been happy about it, he'd heard- but he couldn't really do anything, unless he wanted to risk sparking a conflict with Shishitoren. His hands were tied.
"I doubt that matters much to Sakura-kun," Suo remarked.
"True," Kiryu agreed, "-from the way he talked about Bofurin, he's probably from out of town. I wonder how he got here in the first place..."
Everyone looked towards Kotoha, who just shook her head.
"Don't ask me," she said, "-all I got out of him was his name and age."
"And with just Sakura to go on, looking him up is probably impossible." Nirei sighed. "I wonder why he's hung around this, though. Wouldn't you normally leave if you thought you were being chased by a gang? Especially for a kid that young."
"Maybe he has a reason for staying here?" Suo suggested.
"Like what?" Tsugeura asked.
Suo just shook his head.
"If we knew more about him, maybe..." Nirei sighed.
"That is the conundrum, isn't it?" Suo asked. "We barely know anything about him, but he won't exactly stick around long enough for us to ask questions. If we knew his full name, maybe..."
That was true- if they knew his full name, there were databases they could search. Of course, that was provided that someone had uploaded details about Sakura to one of them- short of going to the police, they had no way of accessing the actual missing persons database. Then again, if no one was even looking for Sakura...
...no, there had to be someone, right?
"We have no choice but to catch him, then," Kiryu frowned, "-but he's not exactly making that easy for us either. He's quite nimble!"
"He's at perfect shin kicking height too!" Suo added- a little too cheerfully.
"...why do you sound so happy about that?" Nirei asked.
"It's amusing!" Suo smiled. "I mean, isn't he a fun kid?"
...fun? Nirei tilted his head in thought, recalling the way he'd been sleeping curled up with Risa-chan in a sunbeam- at the way he'd lit up at the offer of food. He was more than a bit of troublemaker, but... yeah. He'd kind of like to see what he was like when he didn't have his guard up all the time. He'd run away partway, but he'd still tried to help him bring Risa-chan back home. He didn't think he was a bad kid...
He'd helped Kotoha too, he thought.
"Yeah," Nirei said, "-I guess he sort of is."
"Besides," Suo patted him on the back, "-now that he's spoken to you, he might do it again! So keep at it, Nire-kun! I'm sure you can become friends with him!"
...eh?
"Wait, me!?" Nirei exclaimed. "I can't!"
"Eh, why?" Tsugeura asked. "I think you're perfect for it, Nire-kun!"
"I agree!" Kiryu raised a hand. "You should give it a try, Nire-chan!"
"Eh..." Nirei said, glancing towards Kotoha.
"They're right," Kotoha smiled, "-I think it's a good idea."
Was it? He wasn't so sure about that himself. But it was true that he'd gotten Sakura to talk to him... and even to follow him, even if he'd screwed it up in the end. And that frustration of his... it felt like he could understand it, just a little.
He might not be strong, but... maybe this was something he could do.
"Okay," he said, "-I'll give it my best shot!"
That's right. Even if he wasn't strong, there was still a way he could contribute to Bofurin. He'd do his best to befriend Sakura!