Description: Lunch time : the New Girl has taken up Daigo's personal spot! It is time for her to learn her place and to put her through the test to see if she's a real Gedo High girl...
The bell rings. Classes are over for a little while, at least a good hour to let the students out to participate to various club activities as well as to eat their lunch. The loud noise of the overexcited teenages can be heard echoing through the halls as everyone rush outside to eat or at the cafeteria, like a huge tidal waves that sweeps everything in its path.
Daigo follows after the massive wave. Unlike the other students, the tall man took his time to neatly put his pen, pencil case and everything in his schoolbag and slowly made his way out, giving a respectful nod to the teacher on his way out.
Why rush out of class when you could just wait a minute or two and have the entire hall to yourself? Daigo takes long and slow strides through the hall as he makes his way out to have lunch outside. Most students were in a hurry so they could have a seat outside, but not Daigo... Everyone /knew/ that the picnic table near the tree was /his/ table and no one messes with that.
Well, /mostly/ everyone knows which table is Daigo's table. It seems like no one opted to inform the blue-haired new girl that she's positioned her posterior on someone else's personal property. As far as Rocket is concerned, the fact that people are giving her some space is a welcome sign. The hazing hasn't been -too- bad - at least not since the exploding bench incident - but it's been there, and she hasn't quite clicked with anyone just yet. It probably doesn't help that she's always got those headphones on loud enough that it's hard to get her attention.
Like right now, for instance. She's sitting on - not at, but on top of - Daigo's favourite table, her rollerblade-clad feet dangling off of the side. She's dressed for the summer, even if it's not, in a tank top and blue jean shorts, along with her usual black protective skating gear, and her ever-present baseball cap is turned backwards on her head. Everything from her clothing to her posture to the bag sitting lazily beside her pretty much screams 'casual' (if you can scream casual without irony) as she eats her lunch. Maybe nobody's told her about Daigo's spot because she looks like she belongs there.
There are some whispers in the background. Obviously people wondering if this girl was crazy or something. Most of Daigo's followers were more than eager to put the other students back in their place when they showed disrespect toward Daigo but Daigo, on the other hand, was slow to anger. Though seeing him mad was definately worth it, and others were eager to see what would happen when he'd finally arrive.
Here he comes. The tall man making his way from a distance, his school bag slumped over his shoulder. He lifts his gaze up and notices the new girl. The one who bumped into him this morning. His brows curl into a slow frown and he keeps walking in her direction, close enough for him to hear the music coming loudly from her headphones.
The only thing that betrays his presence when he walks up to her from behind is his shadow as he looms over her. He slowly leans foward, closer to her, resting one hand on the table to support him as he approaches his face beside hers. She can feel his breath for a moment as he inhales her.
Nothing creepy here, just checking something. Hopefully she has followed his advice. This ought to get her attention. He leans back after he got a draft of her scent (or lack of).
Did a cloud just pass over the sun? Rocket pauses chewing her rice ball for a moment as the shadow falls over her, then swallows nonchalantly and returns her attention to her lunch kit, snatching up another rice ball between her chopsticks and lifting it up to her mouth. Right as she pops it in and closes her mouth to start chewing, she suddenly becomes aware of someone's breath on her neck. She freezes, much like one would if they thought they'd heard a bear behind them, and slowly turns her head to face the interloper in her personal space, scooting a little to one side to immediately end the contact when she feels her face touch his briefly.
Seeing the familiar face of Daigo, she slides the rice ball in her mouth to one side, causing her cheek to puff out, so that she can speak.
"Can I hewp you?"
One eyebrow is arched quizzically, giving her a bit of a ludicrous appearance between that and the dilapidated chipmunk look.
She smells perfectly fine, of course - maybe a little soapy from showering off the fish smell from before.
The tall man slowly leans back. He stares down at her silently with his stern gaze, his body not moving an inch from his position. After a long moment of silence, Daigo takes the school bag on his shoulder and he puts it on the bench of the picnic table.
"You're sitting /on/ the table," Daigo comments. He takes a step aside and he sits at the table on his spot, opening his school bag to take out a rather casual brown bag that contains his lunch. There's a post-it on it with a few scribbles that reads : 'Have a good lunch big brother -- Akira'
"Sit down," He adds after a moment as he sits. His voice was strict with a nononsense tone to it. He opens up his brown bag to see what his lunch was and slowly takes out its content.
"So, Rocket," Daigo says, "Didn't have any clash with other students today?" He asks.
The chopsticks are set down for a moment so that Rina has a hand free to pull her headphones down from her ears to rest on her neck, so as to better be able to hear Daigo. Chewing and swallowing as she listens, keeping her eyebrow raised, she pauses for a moment when she's ordered to get off of the table. Then she picks her chopsticks back up, selects another rice ball from her lunch, and shrugs her shoulders casually.
"Kiss my ass," she tells the big man, keeping her tone even and the ass in question parked where it is as she pops her food into her mouth and carries on as if nothing had happened.
"Shome guysh glittered up my locker and wrote Princess on it in pink marker," she continues, speaking with her mouth full. "But I wash like, whatever. Nothing I really give a shit about."
Daigo closes his eyes and heaves a soft sigh of exasperation at how Rocket actually reacts to his demand. Obviously, she had no idea who he was. He remains silent and listens to the rest of her speech, though his attention is divided between her and the various students who are witnessing this scene.
Daigo did not like to act this way, but wearing the cloak of leadership meant he could not tolerate such insubordination and irrespectful behaviour toward him. "Get off my table and sit down. Now,"
His words are harsher than before, this time his brows are furrowed a bit into a glare. "I won't say this again, Rocket, if you don't, I'll make you," He adds with a clear warning in his voice.
If there's one thing Rocket has never liked, it's being told what to do.
Sure, you could /ask/ her to do something, and she might give the idea consideration. But telling her she /has/ to do something is only likely to repel her from the idea, even if it's something perfectly reasonable, like not putting her butt where other people put their food. Thus do good manners become almost anathema to the young skater punk as Daigo insists that she demonstrate them. It's less about superiority than independence.
The glare from Daigo is met with one of her own as she swallows her food, sets her chopsticks and lunch kit down on the table and places her hands on the surface in a leisurely manner.
"Fine. Make me," she says before sticking her tongue out briefly at the gang leader in defiance.
"Very well," The tall man replies. Both of his hands open up and rests on the table so he can rise up from his seat. He did not like to do things like that, but it was an obligation that came with the job from time to time. Beside, Rocket had plenty of chances to comply to his demands... Now that she refuses? Well she had to face the consequences.
Once he's standing up at his full height, Daigo quickly moves one of his hand to try and get a hold of Rocket's collar from her blouse. If he suceeds, he'll pick her up from the table with his single arm with relative ease considering his great strength and he'll pull her away from the top of the table, bringing her down to sit her down on the bench beside it.
"A little bit of curtesy and common sense won't kill you," Daigo replies with a strict tone, "If you don't show respect to others, don't expect to get any from them," The tall man adds on a side note.
Rocket braces inwardly as the giant rises up to his full height, but doesn't make any move to retreat or show an outward display of having second thoughts. She does wrap her fingers around the table's edge to try and keep herself in the spot, but when he grabs hold of her shirt collar, it quickly becomes evident that fighting it is probably going to get the garment ripped, so she relinquishes her grip on the tabletop quickly. She closes her eyes and inhales as she's lifted up off of the table, expecting to be violently displaced...
And then she's set harmlessly down on the bench, causing her to blink a couple of times. Some of the other students watching are probably just as surprised as she is. She looks up at Daigo, then over at her belongings, and pulls them quickly toward her spot on the table.
"Yeah, well, I don't like being bossed around," she says defensively, taking a juice box out of her lunch kit and fiddling with it. She jabs the little straw into the box aggressively.
"I thought you were gonna bodyslam me there or something," she adds, a hint of confusion in her tone, before slurping from her drink.
Once Rocket has been put down and sit on the bench, Daigo steps over to sit on the other side of the table, so the two are actually facing. His valid eye is closed, as if lost in his thoughts. He stays silent when Rocket speaks, and despite the threat he had given her he seems serene and calm after his actions.
"I could have, if I had to," Daigo replies to her. He opens his eyes to stare at her, "But I don't like to use violence," He says with a slow nod, "Especially if it's for something like that," Daigo says dismissingly. He holds no grudge against her for now and allows Rocket to test his limits somewhat, but she's better not test her luck too often. His eye glance over in the direction of the other students who are staring at them.
"After that other new girl challenge me and got sent to the infirmary, everyone's on high alert for another showdown," Daigo admits with a soft sigh. His large hands reach out for his bag and Daigo opens it up again to take out some fresh and nicely cut vegetable from it.
"I don't boss people around -- you're free to do whatever you want," Daigo says with a slow nod, "But if you're causing trouble on the school ground or you're being disrespectful to me," He says, lifting a piece of carrot to his mouth to take a bite, "Then it concerns me. There's a clear difference between independance and anarchy,"
He takes another bite and then says, "I'll treat you the way I'd like you to treat me, it's that simple. If you treat me like shit and disrespect me, then I'll have to knock some sense into you. I'm one of the few student here who actually give a chance to others to show they deserve respect instead of earning it the hard way," Daigo says.
The girl's slender frame seems to relax a little as Daigo continues to speak to her calmly and respectfully. She sets the juice box down, the container now a little crumpled, and picks her chopsticks back up.
"Well, when you said to not to let people push me around, I might've taken it to heart," she says as she pokes at the remaining contents of her lunch box. "Plus you were kinda in my space. I don't still smell like fish or something, do I?" She picks out a piece of meat from her box and pops it in her mouth, before crinkling her nose a little as she sniffs the air. After a moment, she gives a dismissive shrug.
"Look, I'm not trying to disrespect you. I mean, you seem like a pretty cool dude. And I'm not really tryin' to cause trouble, so I think we should be cool." Of course, Rocket for not trying to cause trouble, Rocket tends to succeed pretty well at it. "I was wondering why everybody was leavin' this table alone. It's in a pretty sweet spot, nice and sunny. I guess nobody around here wants to mess with you, huh? Other than that other new girl. I don't think I've met her yet."
Daigo's lips curl into a gentle paternal smile at Rocket's explanations. He doesn't seem mad about her and seems to take her explanations rather well. "My apologizes," He replies with a slow nod of his head, "I didn't mean to make you uneasy. You smell fresh now," He states, matter of factly.
Once Daigo is through with his veggetables, he takes out a small box from his bag. It was a cute little lunch box with cold meat, rice and all sort of cooked food that had been neatly packed into the box. Definately not the sort of lunch you'd expect out of a tough looking guy like him. "Nobody takes this place because it's my spot," Daigo explains, taking his chopsticks to eat the content of his box. It was quite a sight to see him use the small wooden sticks with his big hands with such agility. Unlike Rocket though, Daigo took his time to chew his food and never spoke with his mouthful.
"But today, you're my special guest," Daigo adds after the moment of silence that followed a first bite. He then turns his gaze away and says, "Everyone around here seems me as their leader, that's why nobody wants to mess with me... Let's just say it's a very long story,"
The comment about her smelling fresh causes Rocket to seemingly become much more interested in her lunch box. She glances down at it for a moment as she gulps down the food in her mouth, then starts picking at some slices of avocado. She doesn't seem to take notice of the polite manner with which Daigo approaches his meal, nor does she let eating get in the way of continuing the conversation.
"Well, thanks for letting me sit with you, I guess. I didn't realise I was dining with royalty," the girl replies. Her tone isn't completely ironic, but it is a little prodding. She's got a smile on her face at this point, and it brightens and softens her expression.
"Nice lunchbox, by the way. Did your mom fix it for you or something?" she also comments through a half-mouthful of food before washing it down with some more juice.
Daigo's lips curl into a faint smirk. He doesn't seem to mind her intonation, or at least ignores it. He bows his head gently to her, "Don't let it go to your head," He replies with a bit of amusement in his voice.
When Rocket mentions something about the lunchbox, the hint of playfulness on his features fade away. His face becomes incredibly harsh and he replies severely, "No, my mother died years ago. My sister made this lunch and she takes pleasure and pride in it,"
The thought of Akira causes him to turn his eyes away from Rocket. He takes another bite from his lunch, slowly bringing it to his mouth. He chews on it, lost in his thought, which allows him to regain some trace of serenity on his features, "How long have you been around, Rocket?" Daigo finally asks.
Rocket pauses mid-chew when her comment strikes a nerve with Daigo. Her own smile disappears, and her expression is a little awkward and sheepish for a moment. She opens her mouth as if she were about to say something before the question is asked of her, but for once, she appears to think twice about it. When it is, she answers with a somewhat more modest tone, "Well, uhh... I guess that depends what you mean. Here at Gedo, it's my first day. I've only been in Japan a day longer than that. On this planet? Eighteen years and a bit. I kinda took a couple years off school."
The last comment seems to be an explanation of why she's in high school at her age.
"I figured I'd be better off going ahead and looking for a job or whatever. I mean, with my grades I obviously wasn't going to med school or anything." She's made her way through a couple of slices of avocado and another piece of meat by this point. "My mom died when I was born. Sorry if I sounded like a jerk," she appends, although the apology isn't made with the tone of an afterthought.
"This school used to have a great reputation," Daigo explains, "As I told you before, its purpose was to educate young men into proper adults by teaching them discipline, focus and responsabilities through martial arts," He gives Rocket a nod and glances at her, "Its special method eventually caused many delinquents to be accepted in Gedo High, giving them another chance at reform..."
He takes a pause and then adds, "Things got a bit out of hand and there were many gangs in Gedo before you came. There still are, but alas, the school's reputation has suffered a lot from all of this," He grits his teeth a bit at the thought, his hand curling into a fist unconsciously, "And now most of the other teenagers in Southtown in other schools think that everyone who attends Gedo High are a bunch of no-future criminals... Tsss," Just the thought of those prejudice seems to anger Daigo.
He glances back at Rocket and shakes his head, "No," He answers coldly, "You should finish your education. Perseverance is important, and you'll take pride in it. Don't let others tell you you can't do it," Daigo heaves a soft sigh and says, "A lot of the students think like you do, because they never had anyone believe in them or telling them they could succeed, and I think that, alone, is a big part of the problem,"
Daigo's expression brightens a bit though as he changes the subject and he waves his hand up dismissingly, "Don't worry about it, you couldn't have known,"
The cyan-haired girl leans forward with her elbows on the table, resting her cheek against one of her hands as she listens to Daigo speak, idly sucking juice from her straw. Despite her relaxed posture, her eyes seem bright and attentive. Once he's done speaking, she props herself up, resting her chin on both hands.
"Well, I never really gave a fuck what people think about whether or not I finished school," she say matter-of-factly, her rollerblades swinging underneath her bench. "I mean, the job I managed to land was pretty kick-ass and the pay wasn't too shitty. I mostly just wanna skate, and my friend Mimi got me work delivering packages that I could do on wheels. I'd probably still be there if I hadn't trashed Ken Masters' car, which was totally peer pressure. I mean, other than that I wasn't hurtin' anybody." She sips from her juice box again. "Well, except in a couple of club fights, anyway. But yeah, now that I'm stuck here, I figure I'll just finish school here and be done with it. That way if I get in shit again they no one can use it as an excuse anymore."
The girl's chatter seems to get faster and more lively as she speaks, as if she's been holding the words in and now they're finally escaping. She finally takes a breath, then asks, "So, if the other schools are givin' you guys - I mean, us - shit, why don't you like, go tag their turf or something?"
The fact Rocket actually uses the word 'us' instead of 'you guys' brings a smile to Daigo's lips. A deep chuckle escape his throat and he turns his gaze away, "We're working on it," Daigo says with a secretive intonation.
He spares a glance in Rocket's direction, gauging her idly, "If you're interested, perhaps you could give us a hand..." Daigo offers. There was no pressure in his intonation, a simple offer, "A girl fast on wheels, and with the potential I've seen with fighting could be quite handy," He adds. No pressure there, but Daigo would definately welcome her within his gang if she chose to.
"You see, there are six different high schools in Southtown. Gedo High, Justice High, Gorin High, Pacific High, Taiyo High and Seijyun. Each one has a different mentality, but unfortunately, almost all of them look down on us. That's something that needs to be changed..."
The girl's green eyes light up at Daigo's words, sparkling with a bit of mischief, and she pulls her legs up under her on the bench so she can lean a little closer over the table, glancing from one side to the other in conspiratorial fashion. The other students seem to be leaving the two alone at the moment, although there's probably some idle speculation going on about what's going on between the boss and the new girl.
"Hey, if it's stickin' it to the Man, then I'm definitely in." Of course, the Man in this case would be a bunch of high school students. "What do you need me to do? Hopefully nothing too inconspicuous. 'Cause, you know."
"Nothing that should be out of reach for the great Rocket," Daigo says with a playful smirk. Considering what he had seen of her, he figured she would be perfect for this little introduction mission. "Let's see what you've got and if you got the guts for it though..." Daigo adds with a slow nod.
"Gorin High and Gedo High have some old bad blood issues. A long lasting hate between the two schools, you see.. Because Gorin High is a school for elite sports, they think they're much better than us.. The competitive spirit and all of that," Daigo says, waving his hand up dismissingly.
"You're agile on roller blades.. Seems like you could send them a good inoffensive message... Something that'll raise the spirit of our school," He glances around and then leans a bit closer, "Just some harmless graffiti, on the campus, so everyone can see it. Something that says Gedo High rules, and/or that our sport teams are better than theirs'"
The last couple of pieces of meat and a final rice ball disappear into Rocket's mouth and down her throat as she listens to Daigo, keeping her eyes on him the whole time. Once the last of her meal is gone, she stuffs the container into one of the pockets of her satchel, along with the chopsticks.
"Alright, that sounds easy enough. So I go to this jock school and tag the place. I'm sure that I can skate faster than they can run, so getting away shouldn't be a big deal if I do get caught."
She taps her chin thoughtfully for a moment.
"I should probably cover my face or something anyway, though. I mean, if I don't want it to be super obvious who did it. It might end up getting back to my grandparents... but then again, I guess in the worst case scenario, that just means I end up going home early or something, so it's pretty win-win." She pauses for a moment, then adds, "And just so you know, I don't really take orders. I'll do it as an act of goodwill or whatever and 'cause it sounds fun, though."
The tall man takes some time to take another few bites after his explanations, giving Rocket the time to think about it. He nods his head slowly when she ponders out loud what she should do, silently agreeing with her, or at least it seems that way.
"Rocket," Daigo says, "You'll always be free to do as you please, and you will always be able to decide for yourself in the end, no matter what," Daigo explains to make things clear. Who knows, eventually, in dire situation, Rocket might end up obeying Daigo's orders, if only because she'll trust him, much like most of his boys do.
"So long as you don't cause too much trouble in Gedo and give mutual respect to others, I don't see any problem with that," Daigo says with a nod. He leans in a bit and adds, "And if anyone disrespects you or treat you poorly, feel free to put them back in their place," This was probably the most important rule to live by in Gedo High.
The sound of the school bell cuts through the yard as the lunch period comes to an end, resulting in... well... not a whole lot of movement. Students do start to slowly drift toward whereever it is that they're supposed to be, or intend to be, now. Rocket, for her part, does slip off of the bench that she's on, skating around the side of the table so that she's next to Daigo as she slings her bag over her shoulder.
"Alright. Sounds like a deal!" she says, holding out a gloved fist toward the leader of Gedo with her knuckles up, the other hand holding onto the strap of her satchel. "I'm gonna get to class. Gotta go at least once so I know if I can afford to skip it later, right?"
"Take care, Rocket," Daigo says, lifting his massive hand to return the gesture, bringing his knuckles against hers and a quick fist-bump. His massive hand made hers look so small in comparaison.
"Try not to get caught... Looking foward to what imaginative thing you'll come up with..." He lets his words traill off and adds, "Surprise me, Rocket..."
Daigo slowly rises from his seat and says, "Oh, Rocket..." He says as he seems about to head out. His lips curl into a warm smile and he adds, "Welcome to the big Gedo family..."
Log created on 12:23:11 11/13/2014 by Daigo, and last modified on 22:01:20 11/13/2014.