Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XXI Episode X: Kiwami Shakedown

Keiji was instantly met with resistance--one of the boys behind Fricket started to fight him. He leapt at Keiji with intent to kick him into the air--only for the vampboy to counter this by dashing forward, ducking under the kick, and retaliating with a swift chop to his neck--hard enough to send him to the floor in an instant.

By then, Flash had recovered and returned to the fray, tackling one of the cronies and shoving his knee in his back before flipping him over his head. But then, he was nearly caught off guard by a hefty sumo-like slap from another boy that he barely blocked in time with his arm, forcing the two into a struggle. “Gah! Why are you all working for someone like that, anyway?!”

“Kazoku!” the boy yelled in response.

“What?!”

In the midst of dodging the attacks of another member of the group, Keiji would shout, “It means ‘family’! Must have close ties to each other or some shit!”

“That still doesn’t explain why you need to attack us!” Flash yelped, “And all the smacktalk against Yona is just uncalled for! Should we use our--?”

“Nah,” Keiji replied as he kicked another gang member to the floor, “We don’t wanna kill these idiots. Just mess ‘em up.”

Meanwhile, in the nearby restroom…

“...You okay, Yona?” Coral asked as she watched Yona wipe her face of tears.

“No. Yona is not okay,” she muttered with a sniffle, “Sandbar is out there fighting Yona’s battle when Yona should be the one fighting. I’m the whole reason they’re bothering us. Maybe Yona should just go home…”

Coral tried to console her by patting her on the back. “Hey now…we all like you. Who cares what those losers think. If you ask me, you should go out there and give ‘em one good rockin’ and sockin’ until they ain’t walkin’!” she said while punching her fist at the air for emphasis.

Yona raised a brow, looking down at the girl. There was one little problem with Coral’s plan. “...Yeah. And confirm mean kids’ biases by acting like behemoth who smashes things? That would just prove them right.”

“Oh…” Coral lowered her arm and folded them against her chest. “Darn…I guess you’re right. Don’t wanna give them ammo to use against you…” She started tapping her foot on the floor--her lips scrunched up out of frustration. “Grrrr….well I’m not gonna just stand here idly while my big brother risks his neck!” With that, she prepared to storm out of the restroom, only for Yona to ask…

“Wait, what is Coral doing? It’s too dangerous!”

“Maybe for me,” Coral reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. “But not for a piece of hackable tech.”

Outside, as the fighting raged on…

Keiji and Flash had actually managed to hold the gang of Shinji’s crew quite well. Either that, or they weren’t really trying hard enough to completely subdue them. However, Sandbar…well, he was still moving with one goal in mind.

“...C’mon, Fricket,” one of her girl friends called out, “Let’s leave the guys to handle this and get outta here.”

“Yeah,” the other girl added, “They’re not work dealing with, mm’kay?”

“Not until she apologizes to Yona,” Sandbar called out from afar, laser focused on Fricket, and casually brushing aside any gangster boy that tried to attack him with a shove from his shoulder. “I’m not leaving until you apologize for what you said.”

“...What the--?” Fricket turned her head and took a step back, gritting her teeth as her pupils quivered out of fear. “...H-how are you still standing?!”

She and the other girls watched in horror as Sandbar was nearly punched by one of Shinji’s goons…only to grab his hand, shove him aside and keep walking. This would rinse and repeat twice, thrice…four times…all while Sandbar walked at a turtle’s pace.

“Apologize,” Sandbar growled as his eyelids started to twitch. The boy’s patience was finally starting to run thin from all of the chaos surrounding him and his friends. “And call off your friends. Please and thank you.”

One of Fricket’s friends shouted, “Just give up!”

“He’s like one of those terrifying robot freaks from the movies!” her other friend yelped, “Fricket?!”

But Fricket was a deer in headlights--stuck in a frozen state of anxiety as she watched Sandbar effortlessly toss aside the rest of the gang members--having saved Keiji and Flash in the process to boot!

“Last chance,” Sandbar snarled as he stepped up to Fricket--now at arm’s length from her. “What’s it gonna be? Are you going to apologize to Yona now?”

“...” Fricket had collapsed to the ground, and started backing away until her back collided with a nearby potted plant. “W-why…why do you care about her so much?” she whispered from her quivering lips, “I-It’s that loser behind the desk at the store’s fault that I’m here in the first place.”

“...” Sandbar took a moment to take a deep breath, and allowed the deafening silence to instill more fear within her for a moment. “...So…you messed with Skeedaddle too, huh?”

“...!” When she realized she had been caught, Fricket started to stumble over her words. “I-I well…u-uh…”

“Get up.”

“W-wha…?”

“On your feet. Now.”

“...”

In a last-ditch attempt, Fricket would employ a rather cheap tactic.

“Touch me…and I’ll call the cops on--HRRK!”

“Okay then,” Sandbar complied maliciously. With his control over sand, he created a projection of his fist large enough to wrap around and clench her body, carrying her as he walked towards the restrooms. “Now, you’re coming with me, and are going to apologize to Yona for what you said about her. Please be so kind as to think about what you’ve said and consider how you’d feel if it was you on the receiving end.”

As she was carried off, Keiji and Flash stared on in silence, and visibly shaken by Sandbar’s change of demeanor…

“I fear nobody…” Keiji muttered, “...but the fury of a patient man…”