Luke didn't even control his fall and hurt his hand as he fell over it. Akira wasn't done though, as she stood up and soon had her foot on his neck. He didn't react, but held his hurt hand close to him and avoided her gaze.

Akira kept quiet for a long while. She was breathing haggard from both the effort and the anger. Luke was getting tired of her long silences since he had so much to do, but just took it in stride. Each bully had their own flavor, it seemed.

After she thought about whatever she had been thinking, she took her foot off his neck, stepped back, put both hands in front of her and bowed. "I have acted dishonorably. I apologize."

Luke suppressed a sigh. So she was one of those. Now she would pretend to be a nice person until he lowered his guard and she could "surprise" him with a knife on the back again. Been there, done that.

Well, at least it would give him some reprieve at a time he needed to focus on saving his grandfather, so he would play her little game.

"It's alright." He still didn't stand up or look her in the face though.

She straightened up. "I... Where did you... If you can fight like this, why the hell would you bow to some weaklings?"

Luke snorted. If she wanted to play demure, he would at least slap some truths in her face in the meanwhile. Her attitude was getting to his nerves in a way even Jackson couldn't.

"Everything is so easy for you people, isn't it?" he said. "If you want something, you go and take it, and you don't have to worry about the consequences. Papa and mama will take care of everything if things spiral out of control, right? Well, surprise surprise, some people are poor and their families are weak, and if they mess with the wrong people, they soon find out the only way to protect those they care about is fucking suicide."

"Bullshit," Akira replied immediately. "Even if you wouldn't fight back, you could leave the school, go away with your grandfather, you only had to tell him the truth. Some people's families suck, but that's not your case. You chose to submit. Why?"

"Why indeed? Why would a poor guy do whatever it takes to keep having the best education around for free? Why would I bet on my future when my present life sucks so much even without daily beatings? We barely have enough to eat." Luke laughed with teary eyes. "You live in a world where everything is always perfect, Akira. When things go wrong for you, they are setbacks, not insurmountable obstacles. Your present and future are guaranteed to be good as long as you don't mess up. I have nothing but hope even if I do everything perfectly."

That had been the case in the past, and after today, it couldn't be truer; Luke had nothing but the hope that he could save his grandad in time.

"How well can you learn at school when you spend more time in bed recovering from a beating than on the books studying? I checked your grades, they aren't much."

He laughed dryly. "Of course they aren't. Do you think I would stand out even more for Jackson to get more upset? That I would compete with rich geniuses so they would also make my life harder? I keep my grades to the minimum required to keep the scholarship."

He wasn't a genius, but he could certainly do better than B- if he tried.

Akira's hostility turned into disgust. "What a pathetic personality. You claim you have no money for food? In a cheaper city, you would have, so you only had to tell your grandfather the truth and move out. You claim you can't compete with geniuses? With better grades, you would be more valuable to the powerful, and you would gain protection, not enemies. You claim that the bully boy is untouchable? The recording of a beating and an email to enough news agencies would be the end of it, especially with his parents being public figures."

She started walking toward the exit. "I was wrong about you. You're no cattle; you're a cockroach, surviving on the scraps dropped by those you consider above you. Even cattle run away when they find the doors open, yet you look for excuses to stay. It's all in your mind." She arrived at her geta and put them on. "But then again, I said you wouldn't revert to humanity in a day, didn't I?" She looked at him. "I promised I would do anything you want if you beat me, and you did. I owe you one. Pick your reward well. I can even get rid of the untouchable guy for you if my elder doesn't do it first out of sheer pity. You came home looking like shit today, after all." She left.

Luke smiled self-deprecatingly. His new bully got off on showing her moral superiority when she realized she couldn't beat him in a proper fight. He had heard Japanese schools could be hardcore, but he had to admit she was better than he had thought because she had poked right where it hurt.

He wasn't dumb enough not to see what she was doing, but he had no arguments against her. He felt like a random piece of trash she had left behind.

Luke knew she just wanted him to hope things could be better so she could crush his hope. Yet, he couldn't deny that somewhere inside him, something was sparking. Something he had buried so deep for so long that he almost didn't even recognize it. It was a desire to fight back, not for his grandad, not for revenge, but for simple justice.

And as he had learned to do many times before, he quickly quelled the flame. Maybe he could come back to it another day. However, as nice as justice was, he couldn't heal the sick with it.

His priority wasn't fixing the world.

It was saving the one he loved.