22a. The backpack [Ushiro route]
The soft glisten in the water reflected the bright morning sun, beads of sweat dripping off our forehead as we ran. In a way I felt excited, a rush of adrenaline washing over me as we approached the origin of what sounded like an argument.
Yamatsu's expression tensed up, her body was almost floating as she sprinted as fast as she could in rigid, stressed movements. She heaved dry breaths while pushing herself ahead.
It soon became clear what was happening.
A girl was hunched over the bag while a couple of guys were kicking her as she yelped out in pain. Small drips of blood could be seen on the heels of the attackers' shoes.
Yamatsu boiled up in anger as she started shouting at the three guys surrounding the poor girl, who laughed in her face as she threathened them.
"You wanna go, pipsqueak?" one of them said as he cracked his knuckles, one of the other guys stared me down trying to intimidate me. I don't think I know any of these guys, but from what I can see the leader must be the well trained one, while the lanky guy and the loud mouthed brat act as goons trying to look cool.
The well trained one stepped forward casually, crossed his arms and taped in an impatient gesture.
"Whatd'ya want?"
In a demanting tone of voice and a rough gangster accent it was clear he wasn't pleased with us being here.
Yamatsu yelled at him before I could speak up: "Why the fuck did you have to kick her?!" in an emotional tone. He shrugged, simply saying that she got in the way when they tried to dispose of trash, pointing at the backpack. "That all?" he asked in a sarcastic tone, egging us on to leave.
Trying to deescalate and getting some more info, I took a deep breath and spoke.
"No reason to beat her up for it, right? It's just a backpack, it's not like she has any use for it."
In turn I got stared down angrily as if i just threathened to kill them.
"Just kicked the bitch because she was making a fuzz, dumbass. She was the one causing shit."
Yamatsu only got angrier at this comment.
"So what?! It's not yours right?!! You could have just given it!"
It was clear that she wasn't just mad about the backpack, there was something important she hasn't told me. But I ddin't have time to figure it out. The smaller guy that threathened her earlier gave forward and shoved her, causing her to trip and fall back.
"None of your business, bitch!"
I ran over to her side, but she shoved me out of the way as she stood up again.
"It is my fucking business, asshole. Don't you ever put your disgusting hands on me or my friends again."
My friend, huh. So that's it. Not just someone she somewhat knew. Else she likely wouldn't be this pissed off from what I know about her.
"What'cha gonna do about it?" He said tauntingly, "Gonna cry about it to the teacher?"
Yamatsu in an instant pulled back her fist and flinged it right at the guys face, who only barely managed to dampen the blow by stepping backwards. It was a lightning quick strike with force I wouldn't have expected from someone that stature.
"Y-you fucking bitch.." The guy said as he staggered backward. "You're fucking dead, all of you!"
I definitely won't be coming out of this situation unharmed.