Plum had her arm wrapped around Burajiru's, smiling like the world wasn't ending in two weeks. Kyra padded along beside them, tail flicking lazily.
Burajiru yawned.
Plum leaned into him. "Good Afternoon, my Sun Bear, I couldn't stop thinking about you all day in class."
Burajiru "I couldn't sleep thinking about you, my Moon lion."
Plum "Awe, my heart is melting, I am forever your Moon lion"
Kyra stopped suddenly.
Her ears twitched.
She stared into a cluster of bushes along the sidewalk.
"...Meow."
Burajiru sighed. "Really?"
He stopped walking. "Plum, I think your friends are stalking us."
Plum turned.
Her eyes locked onto the bushes instantly.
"...Why are you hiding?"
The bushes rustled.
Einstera stepped out first, brushing leaves off her sleeves.
"I was inspecting the soil," she said calmly. "Sometimes people neglect less eye-appealing plant life."
Xiu popped out behind her.
"I was following her."
Plum nodded. "Oh. That makes sense."
Burajiru blinked.
"That makes no sense."
They continued walking.
Xiu and Einstera followed, staring openly now.
"...Okay," Burajiru said. "Why are you two being weird."
Xiu poked his arm.
"Whoa. Bronze skin. Does that give you extra power?"
Einstera leaned in.
"Maybe invincibility."
"Or speed," Xiu added. "Or like... hidden stats."
Burajiru shifted uncomfortably.
"I don't know how to feel about this."
Plum growled, low and sharp, like a lion warning cubs away.
"Stop touching my man," she said sweetly, "or I will turn you both into skeletons."
Xiu and Einstera gasped dramatically and clutched each other.
"Not skeletons!"
They laughed.
Then the air changed.
Roxer stepped into their path.
Jah Jah and several other students followed behind him.
Burajiru muttered, "Darn it. Not this guy again."
Roxer cracked his knuckles.
"Plum. I thought you being booed up with this loser was a joke."
His eyes burned.
"But I see now you're serious."
He clenched his fist.
"I can't allow this. It disrespects the tradition of power."
His goons cheered.
Jah Jah laughed. "Tell him, Roxer."
Plum tilted her head.
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"I don't understand why you're so obsessed with me. You're good-looking. You can have whoever you want."
Xiu raised a hand. "Like me."
Einstera muttered, "Don't be a pick-me."
Roxer ignored them.
"I don't want anyone else. And you shouldn't either."
He pointed straight at Burajiru.
"We're honor students," Roxer said coldly. "Future Black-Ops. Chosen."
His finger didn't shake.
"You Sleeper boy?" He scoffed. "You're nothing."
A few nervous laughs rippled through the onlookers.
Burajiru "You're annoying Roxer."
Roxer circled him slowly, eyes sharp, voice lowering.
"You sleep through class. Every day. While the rest of us train. Study. Bleed."
He stopped in front of Burajiru.
"That's not 'manly' That's weakness."
Burajiru didn't respond.
Roxer leaned closer.
"You know what sleeping really means?"
"It means you can't stay awake when things matter."
"It means when danger shows up, you close your eyes and hope someone stronger handles it."
His gaze flicked to Plum.
"You think you can protect a Scytherian like that?"
Burajiru's chest tightened.
Roxer straightened, spreading his arms.
"Real strength is inherited. Hammerians, Herculeans, Gamblers, power passed through blood, tradition, discipline."
"We're built for this."
He jabbed a thumb at his own chest.
"You weren't born strong. You didn't earn it. You didn't even try."
The words dug deep.
"So do what you're good at," Roxer finished, voice dripping with contempt.
"Go back to sleep or else this time I'll make sure I toss your into something worse than a truck."
Inside Burajiru's head, everything went quiet.
...maybe he's right.
He looked at his hands.
I freeze when it matters.
I hesitate.
I imagine everyone else strong... but not me.
A familiar heaviness crept in.
Life was easier before.
Before attention. Before expectations.
Before Plum.
For a moment, he genuinely thought about stepping back.
Letting go.
Walking away.
Then...
Warmth.
Plum's thumb brushed gently against the back of his hand.
Once.
Twice.
The touch was subtle, almost unnoticeable to anyone else, but to him, it felt like heat returning to a limb he didn't realize had gone numb.
She didn't say anything.
She just kept rubbing small circles, steady and calm.
As if to say: I'm here.
Something else brushed against his leg.
He stiffened.
A weight, warm, firm, wrapped lightly around his waist.
Burajiru's eyes widened.
...a tail?
A lion's tail.
He hadn't even known she had one. He thought to himself, I thought she was a bear, then he remembered her saying she was 3 animal types.
Plum leaned slightly closer, her head tilted just enough that only he could hear her breath.
Her grip tightened, not possessive. Protective.
The noise around them faded.
The doubt didn't vanish.
But it stopped growing.
Burajiru swallowed.
...I don't know if I'm strong enough.
But for the first time, he also thought.
Maybe I don't have to be alone.
Plum didn't hesitate.
"Sun Bear is worthy of me," she said.
"And he's the best boyfriend ever."
The crowd fell silent.
Burajiru stared at her.
Plum's confidence shattered instantly.
"...I, I didn't mean, I know we never made it official, I'm sorry."
She looked up at him, nervous.
He didn't answer.
Burajiru smiled "Don't be sorry."
Roxer snapped "Boyfriend."
He opened his palm. Abi seeped from his hand.
"That's it."
He summoned his hammer. Abi erupted form his body.
"I'm going to crush him."
Students backed away.
Plum summoned her scythe.
Burajiru gently placed a hand over hers.
"It's okay," he said quietly.
"You don't have to fight for me."
Einstera narrowed her eyes, studying him. I do believe women should decide who they give their hearts too but I am alos curious as too why she has chosen Burajiru.
Burajiru stepped forward.
The Hammerian Hammer, capable of destroying mountains, some say even destroying an entire village with maxed strike. He's reckless for even using this weapon so close to school and around so many students. The casualties could be catastrophic. I I should use planet and and take care of him once and for all.
Burajiru stretched out his hand.
Abi gathered, a silent, invisible supernova forming in his palm.
Only Plum could see it, her bond to him revealing what the world could not.
Roxer sneered.
"Don't know what you think reaching your hand out is gonna do. You got no Art. No power. You're worse off than a parasite. I'll show you what a real man is."
The hammer came down.
Plum felt it first.
A pressure.
A presence.
Burajiru's eyes shifted, just for a moment, into the calm, ancient gaze of the short-faced bear.
Then, a hand stopped the hammer mid-swing.
The impact cracked the ground.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
"Yusuke..."
Xiu whispered his name.
Einstera flushed. "He's... incredible."
Yusuke stood there, expression unreadable.
"Roxer," he said calmly, "mind your business, gamer boy"
Jah Jah snarled and summoned his wind sword.
Plum raised her scythe.
Yusuke didn't move.
He just looked at them.
"...Enough."
To be continued.