A Bro's Life (AGG-ish Anime Bro Quest)

Thankful you've reached your destination, and for finding something to take your mind off your conversation with Yato, you begin to approach the three girls. You start prepping to say hello, but stop when you feel the general malaise hanging around them.

Well, two of them.

Specifically, the first two Jindai girls you met when you arrived at this stadium. You believe the white haired one was named Iji, while the black haired one was called Haruka. The two of them are sitting against the wall with their knees drawn up to their faces. You can almost see the general feelings of sadness that have overtaken them. You'd expect the ears on their heads to be drooping if they were real.

The one standing up, the gray haired Yoko, is the only exception. She's waving her arms through the air while saying to the two of them, "Aw, don't be so down on yourselves. You both did fine! Besides, there's always next year. And at least we didn't lose to those Raijin jerks."

You tilt your head and stop about five steps away from the group. They still haven't noticed you yet. If the fact that none of them have even bothered to glance at you is any indication. You clear your throat to get their attention, "Uh, hey there."

The only one to react in a way you expected is Yoko. Iji and Haruka take one look at you before going back to their self-pity. Yoko actually moves over to you, eyes narrowed as she gets up in your face. She pokes you in the chest as she speaks, "You! Come to laugh at us for our loss in our match?"

"You guys lost your match?" you reply, surprised at the outcome. You figured that, if they were your rivals, they would've been able to make it to the finals. Guess not though.

Yoko's expression changes to one of embarrassment. She quickly looks over at Iji and Haruka, the two having drawn deeper into themselves. She curses under her breath before turning back to you, "N-n-no! I'll have you know I won my match. Easily!"

She puffs her chest out, a prideful smile coming over her face. You cross your arms, "Really? Nice. And what about them?"

You jerk your head in Haruka and Iji's directions. Yoko flinches and looks away from you. She coughs a bit while one hand starts pulling on her sleeves, "Ah...well...they did alright. Gave their opponents a run for their money. Really showed how much-"

"We. Lost," Iji interrupts, her voice far more dour than the first time you met her. She places her cheek on one knee, showing you the sad frown on her face, "Both. Lost. Lost. School. Tournament."

"The three of us were chosen to be our club's representatives. Iji for Kendo and me for Karate," Haruka picks up after her friend. She leans her head back while letting her legs lay out in front of her. A sad sigh leaves her lips, "We both lost our fights, but Yoko-senpai won hers. A consolation prize."

"Don't be like that girls," Yoko says as she moves to stand between the two. She crouches down then places one hand on each girl's shoulder, "You two did great. I'm proud to call you my teammates. Besides, it's not like we needed to win. This is supposed to be for fun."

"But what about Raijin?" Haruka frowns in your direction, "We were so adamant about keeping their club out of the tournament. Now they're here, and we got beaten. We're gonna lose so much standing for this."

You frown and speak up, "That's something I want to talk about, actually. What the fuck is up with asking for our club to not be allowed here? I mean, we were attacked by another school and you decide to say all the students who defended themselves shouldn't be allowed to be here? Why?"

"Wasn't. Our. Club's. Idea," Iji says with a shrug, "Was. Vice. Principal's."

"She didn't like the idea of her 'elegant and precious girls' having to fight 'uncouth ruffians who get into street brawls'," Yoko explains for you. She stands up with a shrug, "Personally? I don't think any of us really cared. If anything, I got excited. A chance to see how people who have been in real life or death struggles fight? Why would I pass that up?"

You raise an eyebrow, "Does everyone at this Tournament have a love of fighting?"

"Yes," all three girls speak in unison, "Don't you?"

"...Got me there," you smile and shrug.

"But yeah. That wasn't our call. But we couldn't really do anything about it. We're just a Martial Arts Club after all," Yoko sighs before moving over to the other girls. She waves her hand through the air, "Make some room, girls. I need to sit down."

Haruka and Iji do so, letting Yoko sit in between them. The girl lets out a grateful sigh as her back hits the wall. Going with the general mood of the whole thing, you move to a wall directly across from the gathering of girls. Then you sit down with a sigh of your own. For a bit the two of you just keep stealing glances at each other, not really sure how to continue the conversation. You keep your eyes focused on their faces. Even if doing so is kind of awkward. Given what you heard from Hazma when you first met their "Headmistress" they'd probably take any other glances the wrong way. Of the three, Yoko is the only one to consistently meet your eyes. Haruka keeps sighing before pulling on her ears, and Iji seems content to bury her face in her knees.

You eventually cough into your hand to finally break the tension. This gets the girls' attention on you...which makes you go quiet for a second. You were going to mention how your fight went...

[Empathy: Feelings: 35 VS DC 30. Success! +1 RP with Jindai Girls]

...but you get the feeling that doing so will only make them more upset. So you take a moment to carefully curate your choice of conversational topic. Lets see....ah, got it!

"So," you begin, scratching the back of your neck, "what's Jindai like anyway? You know...considering it's an all girl's school."

Haruka huffs but does speak up, "If you're hoping to hear something scandalous you can laugh with your fellows at Raijin about, then we'll be glad to disappoint you."

"Haruka," Yoko pokes the girl's cheek. Haruka's response is to let out a squeak before turning to pout at her senpai. Yoko is unamused, "He just asked a question. Don't go letting what the Headmistress said get to you."

"So. It's. Not. True?" Iji speaks up, turning to you with curiosity plain on her face, "You're. Just. Wondering?"

"Well, yeah," you shrug, crossing your arms while moving your legs to get more comfortable. Lets see...one out stretched while the other is pulled up close to you. That'll work. You turn back to Yoko, "So...you gonna answer my question or...?"

Yoko waves a hand through the air, "Yeah, yeah. Look, it's not really that special. Just imagine Raijin, but there were no girls and you only had a bunch of guys to talk to all day."

"So, what, you're just more comfortable talking about stuff you wouldn't usually talk about around guys?"

"That's the gist of it," Yoko shrugs, "Sorry if it ruined a fantasy that you had."

"I don't fantasize about that type of stuff," you say while shaking your head, "Not really my thing."

"Oh? Then what would be your 'thing' exactly?" Yoko's smirk sends a chill down your spine. Especially when the other two stare at you with judging gazes.

Crap. This isn't good. Need to change the subject....got it!

"Ah...uh...actually! I've been wondering about the rivalry between Jindai and Raijin," you snap your finger to further get their attention, "Where does it come from. Like...did we steal your dojo's flag or something? I know that can be a pretty big deal to Martial Arts Clubs."

"You. Don't. Know?" Iji looks genuinely surprised, "How. Long. Have. You. Been. At. Raijin?"

"Little over two months now?"

"And no one's ever told you the story?" Haruka says with an equally surprised expression.

"I'm there on scholarship. That seems to make a lot of the students not want to talk to me. So, no, no one has. Also, story?" you say with a dismissive wave.

Yoko chuckles, "Well, guess that's one thing that's different between our schools. We don't treat those of us here on scholarship any different from the ones paying to go here. At least, we shouldn't be. But I have heard some rumors."

The three girls' expressions darken for a moment. Then Yoko shakes her head, "But never mind that. As for the story, it's supposedly something that happened a while back. I think maybe five or so years? How long has the feud been going on?"

Haruka and Iji both shrug. Yoko sighs but continues, "Doesn't matter. Anyways, so a while back there used to be this girl that went to Jindai. She was essentially the 'Queen' of the school so to speak. She was pretty, had a great personality, had the highest test scores, the works. Everyone in the school loved and admired her. She was the jewel of the school."

"Then one day, she got a boyfriend," Haruka takes over, hissing out the word 'boyfriend' like it's a curse. She shakes her head, "He was a student from Raijin who lived close to the school. Since they couldn't meet up at Jindai, she would always see him after school. It took a few weeks for the rest of the students to figure it out. When they did, her closest friends tried to convince her to leave him or at least be careful. They didn't trust him."

"She. Didn't. Listen," Iji takes up the mantle next. She adjusts herself so she's sitting cross-legged, resting her head on her right hand, "Stayed. With. Him. Then. Story. Gets. Murky."

"Murky? How so?" you're a bit invested in this now. You don't really care that much for drama and stuff. But this is giving you some insight into where this grudge comes from.

"Well...it's a story told and carried by high school students. Some details get exaggerated and overblown, while others are left to gather dust. Not even some of the other third years remember exactly what happened. But based on what I got through word of mouth, there are currently three different accounts of how it all ended up. And people usually find themselves in one of those."

Yoko holds up three fingers. She folds one down, "One of the accounts states that the fact that she had a boyfriend at all made the rest of the school stop seeing her as their Queen. She was no longer 'pure' and 'was sullied', you know stupid crap like that. She lost all her cred and eventually dropped out from the shame. No one knows what happened to her after that, but everyone blamed Raijin for it. Figuring that if she had never met the guy, none of this would've happened."

She folds down a second one, "One states that some of the Jindai girls started threatening and bullying her boyfriend. Trying to get him to break up with her or stay away from her. Rather than back off, it only made his affection grow stronger for her. The two ended up eloping because they figured no one would let them be together. Jindai blames Raijin for taking away their Queen."

She folds down the last one, "And then there's the third one. Which is the one most of the student body seem to believe is true. The girl's boyfriend turns out to be scumbag playboy. He's supposedly seen hitting on other girls that go to Jindai, treating the Queen like shit, and over all being an awful boyfriend. According to the story, he pressured her into sleeping with him and she found out she was pregnant a bit later. He disappears completely, devastating the Queen, and leading to her dropping out of Jindai. No one knows what happened to her after that, but Jindai supposedly brought it to the attention of Raijin...who did nothing about it."

"Because the likely though it was hilarious!" Haruka says while pounding one of her fists on the floor, "Those damn Raijin bastards! Thinking that he shouldn't be punished for playing with a maiden's heart like that!"

"Eh, I personally don't buy it," Yoko shrugs again, "Puts too much emphasis on making the boyfriend out to be the bad guy. Stuff like this usually isn't so black and white. My money's on the two eloping with each other."

"How can you honestly believe that?" Haruka asks, sounding incredulous, "You've seen the students at Raijin. Can you truly believe none of them would try such a thing?"

Yoko raises an eyebrow then waves a hand towards you, "Don't know. Think that he would do such a thing?"

Haruka turns to look at you.

[A Good First Impression]

You just smile and wave at her.

She starts blushing then looks away from you. She coughs to clear her throat a bit before she speaks, "Well...I...maybe. He...he could be faking his kind disposition to catch us off guard."

Yoko rolls her eyes before turning back to you, "Sorry about that...uh...Nagai, right?"

You nod.

"Right. Hope you didn't mind us talking your ear off for a bit there."

"Not at all," you shrug, "If anything, I'm happy to learn a bit about you guys."

"You're. Rather. Easy. To. Talk. To. For. A. Boy," Iji admits with a tilt of her head, "I. Approve."

Yoko whistles, "Lucky you, Nagai. You're the first boy that I've ever heard Iji approve of."

You scratch the back of your head in slight confusion, "That's...good I guess?"

Haruka huffs before pouting at you, "Don't look so cocky. I still don't trust nor accept you. And don't think simply smiling is enough to break down my defenses!"

Yoko rolls her eyes. But before she can speak the door to their locker room suddenly opens. From inside steps the Headmistress, white hair flowing around her face as she looks between your two groups. Her eyes eventually fall on the three girls, who all flinch away from her gaze. She speaks in a deadpan tone, "So, this is what you three were doing? Going off to fraternize with a boy from our rival school? Can't take my eyes off you three for a second."

"N-No, Headmistress!" Haruka is quick to say, "We most certainly were not fraternizing with him! He-He was the one who approached us!"

"Oh, really?" she turns to look at you, the expression of disinterest still on her face, "And you stayed to talk to him because?"

"Because we...uh...well...um..."

"Knock it off, Headmistress," Yoko says while standing up. She stretches her arms up, bones popping as she reaches upward, "The guy's not bad. He's pretty cool, actually."

"That's what he wants you to think," the Headmistress says with a roll of her eyes. Iji gets to her feet as the woman points at the three of them in turn, "Either way, I want all three of you back in the room in fifteen seconds. We need to get prepped to go see the finals. Even if we lost, we're not gonna be sore losers about it."

"Yes, ma'am," all three girls say in unison. The Headmistress nods then turns to you.

She points two fingers at her eyes.

Then points her fingers at you.

Then she repeats the action twice more.

Only after that does she step back into the room, closing the door behind you.

Well...guess that's your cue to get going. You get your feet and do some stretches of your own to get the kinks out. As you do, you see Yoko waving to get your attention. You turn and nod to show you're paying attention. She speaks up, "So, Nagai. If you could hang with any one of us, who would you pick?"

"Huh?" you say with honest confusion.

"You seem alright. And, honestly, I'd like to keep talking with you. But we're not allowed to bring guys anywhere near school grounds. And we all have stuff to do after school, so if all three of us started leaving to meet with ya, people would get suspicious. So, if you could only hang with one of us after school, who would it be?"

"YOKO-senpai! You can't be serious. Us? Hanging out with a boy?" she whispers that last part to Yoko. Her eyes dart between you and her senior with clear trepidation, "What if...what if we end up the same as the Queen?"

Yoko flicks Haruka's head with a finger. Haruka lets out a small "Ow", while Iji looks on impassively. Yoko places her hands on her hips, "I told you that stuff's not true. Stop being so paranoid. Anyway, what do you say, Nagai?"

....Huh.

Certainly didn't expect this.

Hmm....

[] You choose Yoko. She seems to be the most easy going of the three. Would be the easiest to talk to. (Gain Yoko SL; Starts at Rank 1 with 3/3 RP; MMA Fighter)

[] You choose Iji. She's the quietest of the bunch. Which makes her the most mysterious. And you do like a good mystery. (Gain Iji SL; Starts at Rank 1 with 2/3 RP; Kendo Fighter)

[] You choose Haruka. She's the prickliest of the three. But that kind of makes you want to get to know her better. See where all that comes from. (Gain Haruka SL; Starts at Rank 1 with 1/3 RP; Karate Fighter)

---

So, when I did the rolls for Jindai? Yeah, the dice were not in their favor.

Like, they rolled really well at first and seemed to have an advantage against Tosa.

Then they just....lost two fights in a row.