Chapter 5 Direct Approach

"Yo. You that kid who got the drop on Alucard's men didn't you?"----"Alucard? Who the hell you're talking about?"

"No need to play dumb bro. We know you may be new here...however ain't no way you don't know about the Vicious Two..."

These men had practically invaded my table. This is the second time some shady men had gotten into my personal space. And I very much disliked that.

"Listen buddy. We saw how you wasted those fools back at the bathroom. You got any clue just how strong those guys were?" ----"Bathroom?...wait you don't mean those two wannabe molesters?"

I think back to the those two men from about half an hour ago. However the one who was more memorable to me was that one guy(?) who had a more stronger yet subtler presence.

"I couldn't imagine those two twerps be anything dangerous."---"Seriously?...." one guy face palmed himself while the others laughed at my face.

"We also saw your little skirmish back at the lounge. You and your friend know how to throw some serious one shotters."---"Oh so you guys was there huh...." Appearantly these guys happened to be the suspicious characters who was watching us back then.

"Anyways I'm not trying to get into any trouble. So is there something you need or what?"---"We're here to give you some simple advice." Another guy responded.

"Throughout your time here in Yon you're going to encounter alot of shady type of people you hear?" He slung his arm over my shoulder pretending to be all nice and buddy buddy.

"These shady people are strong and only desire complete dominance here. If you want to survive all the way through to the end....your going to need to watch your back." The later half of his sentence had sounded alot more serious then his earlier statements.

His gaze became sharper and the arm on my shoulder tightened in his grasp. To return the favor I matched my gaze with the same intensity and responded.

"Where are you going with this?"---"Alucard's team is a rowdy bunch. They will pick fights with anybody they deem is worthy of a target..."

Again I thought back to earlier today at that bathroom again. While that scene wasn't nothing too crazy on its own....if it was true they was in this gang with this man named Alucard then it wouldn't be hard to imagine a revenge ploy from any close friends of theirs.

Yet even still I had confidence in my abilities. Ever since I was five I had received many years of training. A majority of the martial arts I learned was created by my family masters who enjoyed going overseas. To put it simply, the techniques I learned was based off a mixture of different combative style cultures like Kung-fu, Brazilian Wrestling etc,...

My personal favorite one, and one I learned to use to create non lethal supression, would be the Aikido version of the Ascended Handstyle. The Rakshata Technique was the name of the overall style my family made....and I had learned two of their Prized Rakshatas. To top it off my legs and kicks was my body's prized treasure when it came to combat. Remembering this I manage to reassure myself.

Alright then. Should it come down to fighting, I better be prepared and take another closer look at their attires. You never know if they got knifes or even guns on standby. Their jackets had a special gold ingot looking pin attached to either the sleeves or vest area. In fact those pins looked exactly like the ones from the lounge area. Guess they really are some sort of fashion trend?.....no its deeper then that isn't it.

It was then I started to understand the full picture. The men from the bathroom. The ones who messed with Oghi, these guys sudden yet overwhelming interest in my combat abilities, this Vicious Two business, and the pins....it was starting to make sense in my mind. All that was left was one question to add the final piece of logic.

"Don't tell me yall are in some sort of gang?...." the men looked at each other for a small moment, and then threw out some small grins.

"Whatta y'know? This kid is quick with the uptake!"----"You see these pins right here?" "We're with Orion. The boss being Vylad! Don't forget it punk!"

Orion? So that was the gang those guys from the lounge was with. Hell didn't Ohgi bring it up in passing a few minutes ago? Well judging at a first glance, the word 'gang' would be an exaggerated term to simplify 'semi-violent and possibly immature faction of wanna be tough deliquents'. In other words, kids trying to act tough to other kids.

At any case I immediately understood the situation and came up with a response. They was trying to be pushy with me, subtly (not really) using intimidation tactics stemming from their advantage of outnumbering, and rude behavior to subdue me into a state of cowardice. Peer pressuring...a tactic effective on the weak minded, and/or ill prepared prey.

So this is what bullying feels like.

"Look I'm not interested in your little recruitment schemes. I would appreciate it if you just left me alone."

I spoke clearly and precisely. My tone wasn't lowered or shy but just the right volume that showed no sign of weakness, or disrespect. Speaking clearly in the right tone is one way to show that you are not some pushover.

Usually reversing the same tactic on them is semi-effective, but nine times out of ten it ends up in conflict, especially since again, their advantage of numbers are raising their morale.

"This isn't some recruitment scheme bro....." the man stopped for a second. His grasp over my shoulder tightened further, and his face leaned in closer.

"Its nothing more but a strong suggestion. Ain't that right boys?" Their generous smiles started to show a more cocky aura.

This was obviously a threat. A threat that I saw completely unneccesary. However I didn't have the time to try to gloss over the facts again. Right now I have to hold my ground and prove to them I wasn't some run of the mill pushover.

"And I would strongly suggest that you let my friend go and fuck off." Before I could react Ohgi had already arrived to the scene and caught their attention. While all eyes was on him, I grabbed the head of the man who sat next to me and shoved it swiftly, yet firmly into the table. Keeping him pinned down with one hand I stood back up and removed the arm from my shoulder. "Bas...bastard!" I'm not a mirror pal.

"Oh its Ohgi! I wonder where one one of our prized 'customers' was at!" Another hooligan spoke.

"Customer?" I threw a curious glance to him, but he immediately responded with a 'tch'ed sighing expression followed by a "Don't ask." Well I guess it wasn't the time to question that in the first place anyways.

"Anyways your lucky we ain't after your ass right now Ohgi."----"Why is that?"---"Back at the lounge. You got the drop on our homies. Normally under the conditions we would retaliate and make sure you learn your place!"---- "Though your friend....Z was it? He seemed to have some interesting fighting capabilities so he is the main topic at hand."

I'm seriously am not trying to brag but all that I did was do a couple kicks here and there. I didn't show off not even a portion of what I am capable of but I was already attracting this much attention? And if I was able to deal with 'strongest members' so quickly I found it odd that their gang members were considered strong. Makes me wonder how weak the overall average male is here....

Regardless my whole plan not to garner attention had been foiled. It hurts especially when no one paid me any mind when I first came yesterday.

Ohgi and I sighed in unison. It seems he too was thinking the same thought. I stepped forward putting distance between him and the table and slowly approached the other three men. Ohgi watched carefully of the one who got pinned down. Once he realized he was eating table he got back up with anger plastered across his face. If it wasn't for Ohgi stepping between us two, I would have to worry about a stab in the back. Instead he regrouped with his buddies and shook off the dirt from his attire.

"I'm not interested in joining you guys. I simply plan to get through a couple years of this school on my own without garnishing any attention. I would prefer it if you simply left me alone from now on." My line of dialogue may have lasted a little longer then I intended, but I laid it on to them and respectfully declined their approach with honesty.

Possibly stunned by my lack of fear the boys looked towards each other for answers.. Judging by their actions and attire, along with the atmosphere of this school entirely, most likely they was used to either intimidating men or complete pushovers.

At first glance I don't have nowhere near physical features to look like a fearsome badass but I also didn't seem like a wimp. Perhaps its due to my 'poker face' being 'incapable' to show fear...or any emotion at all on that matter.

At any case, to add on to the nice spectacle of defense Ohgi walked up close behind me and put his hand on my left shoulder, adding on to my overall confidence. "There's your answer. Now you can guys can scram!" He followed up with.

We had hoped that this was going to be enough to get them off our backs. We was hungry and I was still feeling a bit of jet lag from the five minute nightmare, but it was obvious they had other plans in mind.

After having a conversation with their gazes it appears they had reached an agreement on something.

"Its such a shame you know?"---"We would have let you off easy if you just submitted, but now we get it."----"You said you wanted an easy life right?"----"How exactly are we supposed to let you go off scot free....when you bastards fucked with our friends!?"

Ohgi sighed and tensed up slightly. They balled their hands into fists and charged at us two. "Zeno.....GET READY!" As much as I prefered the pacifist option, guess the only way out was through our fists.

Peace was never an option.

But he didn't need to tell me twice. I was already one step ahead. In the span of a second I got into a lackluster defensive position.

It was designed to look weak and exposable, similar to the posture of a lazy amatuer. It was a not so encouraged technique that one of my teachers taught me in passing. Its orginal goal was to make yourself look weak to hopefully lower the enemy's caution and possibly take it easy with their barrage of hits. If done correctly one wrong mistake would all it take for me to exploit and have them on the floor upside down...possibly unconcious should the situation come to that.

The moment they was in our faces would be the moment they was going to be sent flying, but before any type of combat broke out....we all sensed something meancing....

This aura....felt oddly familiar....wait could it be!?

This meancing presence had stopped everyone in our tracks. We was frozen in either fear and/or intimidation. We looked towards our left to see a familiar student slowly approaching us.

"Five versus two huh?.....heh. Why don't you let me throw myself into the mix then to make it fair?"

My instincts was right on the mark. Not surprising seeing as how it happened a couple of minutes earlier. The boy(?) had his right hand pulling down the edge of his hat to cover his eyes, yet the way he spoke and carried himself so casually spoke the word "cocky".

When I looked back to the members of Orion I saw that they was ready to shit their pants....One man barely managed to utter out a word in his shaken state.

"Sha.....Shayna!?"