Later that evening Eizan and Mio were busy having dinner, left over spaghetti his mother had made. Mio was currently pissed off at him.

“Listen I’m not saying we can’t be friends!” Eizan said with an apologetic tone.

“That’s exactly what you just said.” Mio yelled at him angrily and stood up to leave.

“No, no please listen to me.” He was currently following her to the door.

“I get it I’m not that interesting. So don’t worry about it I won’t talk to you.”

“Wait.” Eizan reached out and grabbed her hand as she turned to leave.

Sakurai was shocked but still angry. She tried to pull her hand away but he held firm.

“Please listen to me. I find you very interesting. It’s not that at all. It’s just umm.”

“It’s just what?” she was furious.

“It’s just I have a horrible reputation and I don’t want you to be dragged into it.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“Listen please. I like you a lot. I don’t want to avoid you either, but for now can we just talk outside of school.”

Sakurai face was dyed completely pink.

“You like me a lot.”

Eizan immediately heated up. “U-um I didn’t mean it like that. You know what I mean.”

“I’m not mad any more so let me go.”

Eizan released his hand. She immediately ran out of his apartment.

“Baka.”

"I knew that wouldn’t end well. What are you making me say you little vixen."

Sakurai was currently riding her bike home completely flustered by Eizan’s statement. "He likes me a lot." She blushed again and her heart was racing.

Monday, Eizan noticed the everyone staring at him as he entered the school yard. He just ignored everyone and kept walking to his shoe locker. As he was opening his locker one of the basketball players, who had beat him, knocked into him from behind. Blinding pain shot through his body and he leaned on the locker. The player kept walking like nothing happened. Eizan’s was sent into a rage like he had never felt before. He was about to turn and pursue the man who had just harmed him when from behind him a teacher called his name.

“Are you Hashimoto Eizan?”

“Principal Yokoyama?”

“I need you to follow me to my office please.”

The principal turned and started to walk off. Eizan followed behind him wondering what was about to happen. Is he going to expel me? I haven’t done anything wrong so that should not be that case. What business does this man have with me? After a short walk through the campus Eizan was led into the principal’s office.

“Sit.” The principle demanded. Eizan sat on the couch across from the principal’s desk.

“Can you tell me what happened to you at school last week?”

“I’d prefer not to disclose what happened.”

“You were beaten enough to send you to the hospital. Do you think you have an option?”

Yokoyama Ichigo was clearly angry. He runs his school with a semi-relaxed atmosphere but that style faces criticism. A student getting beaten half do death at his school has already been wide spread news. While the students name was not released to the general public the school was still facing criticism from parents. He couldn’t allow the perpetrators to go free.

Eizan sighed. “I’ll give you a warning first and you can still tell me if you want me to disclose the information.”

Yokoyama looked at Eizan with a cold stare. “What warning?”

“If I tell you their names it will dramatically affect the school. There may be more backlash than me not telling you.”

“You’re saying the repercussions of punishing the students who did this will be worse than not punishing them?”

“I knew you were a smart man.”

Yokoyama gave Eizan a weird look.

“Will you go on record saying you won’t disclose the names?”

“How about I fix your problem instead.” Eizan smiled a mischievous smile.

“Fix my problem?”

“You really should fix that cracked step in the gym. I hurt myself pretty badly when I fell down them you know.”

Yokoyama raised an eyebrow “Step? Oh, yes, the cracked step near the gym will be fixed immediately.”

“Glad the problem is solved then. Can I take my leave?” Eizan stood up to walk out of the office.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

“Yes, its fine for now. Thank you and have a good day.” Eizan left the principal office leaving the dumbfounded principle to contemplate what just happened.

The principle stared out the window thinking about what just happened. "I’m not sure this completely solves the problem but it may slow the criticism. But what scares me most is that boy. He saw right through why I was questioning him. It’s like he knew from the beginning that I was worried about the school’s reputation. And the last line is what scares me the most “its fine for now.” What does that mean? Is something big about to happen? Maybe I should just retire and make my niece take my position."

Eizan walked through the hallway towards his classroom. He could hear the whispers of the students he passed on the way. When entering the classroom Sano ran over to him.

“Eizan your back. What the hell happened to you man?”

“Those damn gym stairs sure did a number on me.”

“Stairs?”

“Yeah, I fell down the stairs behind the gym. I can’t believe I broke a few ribs and got a concussion. I don’t even remember getting to the classroom.” Hashimoto was loud enough that the other students could hear it clearly.

“So that’s what happened. What were you even doing behind the gym?”

“I just wanted a place to take a nice nap.” Eizan scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

“So that’s what happened I was really worried about you. Next time answer my texts jerk.”

“Sorry, Sorry I was busy.”

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Shimada and Sakurai were staring at each other with a look of surprise.

Shimada whispered to Sakurai. “Why do you think he lied like that?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t like it one bit.”

The next week went by with nothing major happening. Sakurai and Eizan would message each other every day but had not really talked since last Sunday. Saturday evening Eizan was approaching his house after his part time job Sakurai was standing outside his apartment building waiting. Eizan stopped and gazed at the angel that descended in front of him. A simple white dress, and sun hat on such a beauty made his heart skip a beat.

“Hashimoto.” She smiled and waved.

“Sakurai hopefully you weren’t waiting too long.”

“Only about ten minutes.”

“How was work?”

“Fine, I guess. Paperwork is boring.”

Sakurai giggled as she ascended the stairs to his second level apartment.

“You really do seem to hate paperwork.”

“Next week I can start working like normal again.”

“They’re going to make you do physical labor this soon?” Sakurai looked worried.

“I’ll be fine don’t worry.”

“You said you would show me how to cook tonight remember?”

“I did?”

Sakurai puffed out her cheeks. “Don’t even try to get out of it. You promised.”

Eizan laughed as he entered the apartment. “I bought the stuff to make dinner last night so don’t worry.”

“Baka.”

In the kitchen is very small and is only really suitable for one person to cook at a time. Standing shoulder to shoulder Eizan gave cooking instructions on how to make spaghetti to Mio. For some reason to his surprise, she had asked him to teach her his mothers’ recipe. He really didn’t think his mother’s spaghetti was that great, secretly he changed it to one of his liking. He honestly didn’t think his mother’s cooking was very good. It was edible of course, but she didn’t season food enough for his tastes. This is the main reason he had taught himself how to cook. His parents were also very busy some nights, learning to cook had become a necessary to avoid ordering food frequently. On a side note, his sister was very disappointed when he moved away. She had fallen in love with her brothers cooking over the last few years. Sakurai was in the middle of stirring the ground beef in a pan. He was preparing the tomato sauce and instructing her on the correct amount of season and tomato puree to use. The noodles were boiling on the stove. They would bump into each other from time to making each other blush frequently.

The cooking finished and they served the dinner at the table and began to eat. Sakurai didn’t have what one would call a lady like way of eating. She had chosen to use chopsticks and was slurping the spaghetti getting sauce all over her face. Meanwhile he was wrapping it around the fork he had chosen to use instead of chopsticks, eating it in a way that caused little to no mess. Sakurai did a small little dance when she took the first bite. Eizan had a sweet smile on his face looking at the girl whose cheeks were willed with pasta. She looks like a chipmunk with a mouth full of nuts he thought. They were just about finished eating when he took his napkin and wiped the sauce from her cheek. Sakurai blushed in embarrassment and she puffed out her cheeks.

“You could have told me I had sauce on my face.”

“Then it wouldn’t have been as cute.”

“Cute? You think me being a messy eater is cute.?”

“I’d say it makes you very charming. You’re always so reserved, but when you eat it’s a different story. Did you know you do a little dance when you find something delicious?”

“I do not!” She looked a little mad.

“There’s nothing to be upset about. Like I said it’s an endearing quality.” Eizan smiled softly

His gentle kind smile and handsome face made her blush a little. She thought to herself "Maybe Shimada was right he Is a wolf. He really acts like a lady’s man sometimes, but other times he acts innocent. He’s too charming at times, mainly he’s just sarcastic and a little bit of a jerk. But there are times when he’s extremely sweet and kind." He tilted his head a little because of her staring.

“Is there something on my face?”

“Nope, I was just thinking you’re a jerk.” She stuck out her tongue in a mocking manner.

“Hey what did I do?”

They finished their meal and sat down to play video games. “Hey before we start can I ask you a question? Its ok if you don’t want to answer and I won’t be mad If you want to keep quiet about it, but I’m curious about something.” Eizan locked eyes with her and nodded his head. He knew where this question was headed. “So, I’ve heard the rumors about you and honestly, I don’t know what to believe. They said you injured half of the soccer team at your old school in a fight. They say you harassed a girl and her boyfriend was mad about it. But you don’t seem to have the kind of personality to start a fight. You didn’t even defend yourself in the last fight. I guess what I want to ask is, are any of the rumors true? And if it’s true, can you explain to me what happened?”

Eizan sighed looked up at the ceiling and there was an awkward silence for a minute before he answered her. “Promise me you won’t be afraid of me.” Sakurai looked straight at him. “You know I can’t promise that beforehand.” Eizan thought for a minute longer. “Alright I’ll tell you the rumors are half true. I was attacked by half the soccer team and they lost. My father taught me martial arts since I was a child. I was angry and I went too far and crippled half of the soccer team.” Sakurai’s eyes widened. “Crippled!” Eizan looked at her with a crestfallen look on his face. “I won’t go into their injuries but they will not play sports for a long time, if ever again. I didn’t come out of the altercation unscathed but my injuries were light compared to theirs.” He could see the slightly terrified look on her face. “That’s why I swore I would never fight back again. I went too far last time and couldn’t hold back my anger. That’s why I’m in the condition I am now. My father gave me permission to fight back when I was lying in the hospital. But, of course I’m very hesitant to do so. Maybe I could hold back this time, but if I was truly angry I uh don’t know what I would do. I’ve never been a violent person and only took up martial arts because of my father. But something snapped in me that day, maybe it was the circumstances behind why they attacked me. I’m not really sure, I have a great memory but when I think back to that day, I can’t remember anything. I just remember the start of the fight and then I was riding in a police car. If there hadn’t been another student videoing the whole altercation, I’m sure I would be in prison. The video proved that they were the aggressors but that doesn’t make me innocent. To me it just makes it feel like I got away with something horrible. Maybe, I could have run away, I could have let them beat the crap out of me, I could have talked my way out of the situation, I could have done anything else.” Eizan looked down at the floor and went quiet.

His thoughts were running wild. "She’s afraid of me now, I know it. How could she not be scared, a kind girl like her would surely fear someone like me. I get it if she never wants to see me again. I did something horrible that should not be forgiven. I ruined people’s lives and I’ll regret it for the rest of mine." He raised his head to look at the girl sitting next to him. To his surprise she was crying. "I knew it she definitely hates me now." He looked at her sadly “Please don’t cry anymore. I get it if you don’t want to be around me anymore.”

“T-hats not why I’m crying you idiot.” She was wiping the tears away from her eyes. “Do you really think I would hate you over something like that? I just don’t get it. Why did you let them beat you up like this? It’s not your fault, why are you blaming yourself for this? Did you really think it would be better if you let them hurt you, you could have been killed? It’s ok to defend yourself you know. I just don’t understand a couple of things? Why were you so angry and how did something like this hurt your reputation this badly? The rumors I heard were that you ruthlessly beat up half of the soccer team for no reason. They said you were a womanizer who played with women’s hearts.”

Eizan stood up and grabbed some tissues and handed them to her. “I won’t tell you why I was so angry, but there was a reason. Let me just say it wasn’t because they attacked me. This matter involves someone else and I don’t want it to have an effect on them. But as for me being a womanizer, I’ve never even had a girlfriend. I’ve only ever been close to one other girl in my life and we never did anything like that. I’m not the type to just start dating someone I don’t know. I know this is going to sound weird though, but I have been on a few dates with different girls who asked me out. It just felt rude to turn them down without giving them a chance. Not taking their feelings seriously would make me sick to my stomach. But it never went farther than a date or two. Like I said I’ve never been in a relationship.”

Sakurai stared at him for a few seconds. She had calmed herself down as he spoke. She didn’t know why she had been crying. It didn’t seem like a story that would normally make her cry. Maybe it was his tone when he described it to her. He looked so sad, like someone who had given up on everything in the world. Someone who had lost everything. She had noticed him talking to people at school but she noticed he didn’t seem to hang out with anyone. He was always alone at night. It was if he was distancing himself from people. “Is that why you distance yourself from everyone?”

“Those guys who attacked me were originally my best friends. They were going to do something I didn’t agree with and that’s why we fought. I lost everyone I was close to that day. One of them had a very connected family and I’m sure that’s where most of the rumors stem from. Everything changed after that day. My childhood friend looked at me differently, no one would talk to me. Even the teachers seemed to fear me and started treating me horribly. It finally came to a point moving seemed like my only option. I thought moving here would change things. But somehow the rumors followed me all the way here. I don’t want anyone to get close to me, I’m afraid that they will get hurt.”

Sakurai seemed to be tearing up a bit. “But you’ve let me get close to you. Wait is that why you said you wanted me to stay away from you at school? Are you afraid I will get hurt because I’m close to you? I don’t have many friends you know. It’s really hard to stay away from someone I get along well with at school. I really only have you, Shimada, and Murata.” At the mention of Murata Eizan’s face went cold for a split second. Sakurai didn’t notice or pretended not to notice.

Eizan calmed himself and looked directly at the teary-eyed girl sitting close to him. “I know, I want to talk to you at school also. But, can you give me some time to heal before we do? I may not protect myself anymore but if anything happened to you, I don’t know what I would do. I…” Her face had turned completely red. Eizan realized he may had said a little too much.

Sakurai stuttered “Y-you want to protect me?”

Eizan scratched his cheek. “Who wouldn’t want to protect one of their friends.”

“Freinds huh.” She said in a soft voice.

“What was that I didn’t catch the last part?”

“No, nothing important. Ok so after your healed we can talk at school again? You won’t go back on your promise?”

“Give me a month and we can talk again at school.”