The Square.

A man charges Akari. She kicks him in the stomach, and he collapses.

Another fighter, backing away, shouts, “What kind of woman are you?!”

“Tch!” Akari clenches her fist. “Let’s go, Emilija.”

But three more men charge all at once. Before the leading one can strike, Emilija kicks his jaw, bringing him down. The other two men hone in on Akari, but she seizes both their incoming fists. Her face showing no mercy, she squeezes their arrested fists until their eyes begin to tear. Then, Akari throws their arms back at them. Now that they’re disoriented, Emilija kicks one man’s chest, and Akari punches the other in the face.

Akari sighs, and Emilija smirks at a job well-done. But just then, yet another man throws a punch at Akari. Of course, she sees it coming and outright roundhouse kicks his arm out of the way. Emilija, adding insult to injury, grabs his other arm and throws his entire body over her head, down to the concrete.

“Goddamn bitches,” one of the fallen fighters mutters from the floor. “Someday, Griffiths will put you in your place!”

“Griffiths?” Akari mutters, unintimidated but annoyed. “Isn’t that the surname of the president?”

“Pretty sure his son is a student here,” Emilija replies.

“He’s the strongest!” another fighter barks. “He’s in England for the first half of the semester, but he’ll be back! Don’t think that you can make this place your playground in his absence!”

“Pfft! It’s not like I was intending to,” Akari replies.

“Women like you…” a fighter starts, and Akari gives him a tense stare, daring him to finish his statement. “What disgraceful eyesores,” he spouts anyway.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Akari kicks him in the face.

“AUGH!”

Emilija restrains her. “Oy, oy! Let’s just leave 'em to grovel, okay?!”

Akari keeps growling, but does not resist, only trembling within Emilija’s arrest.

—

For about three minutes, Akari washes her hands in the dining hall bathroom. She then meets Emilija back outside, behind the building, with no other students nearby. Approaching her, Akari bites her lip with tears in her eyes.

Yet Emilija smirks. “You don’t usually react this way. Is it Akira?”

“Tch!” Akari looks down furiously at her unfazed friend.

“Calm down,” Emilija says, still lighthearted. “It’s fine; I mean, you two were like peas in a pod last night when I came back, heh heh. I really don’t think Akira is the type to mind your lack of, well, ‘conventional womanhood.’”

More or less pacified, Akari replies modestly, “It’s not like he likes me in that sense anyway.”

Emilija sighs. “Just tell me what’s biting at you.”

“It’s the reality of it all.”

“Be more specific, dammit.”

“I will be getting those comments a lot! And Akira will witness that rhetoric as well. Harassment that demonizes men like him, and women like me.”

“You think the latter could influence him?”

“I’d like to think not, but he’s motivated by masculinity. He thinks he’s a failure of a man, and that’s why he needs to become strong. He doesn’t judge me at all, and even praises me a lot. But… I don’t want him to change his mind about me. And, well, it’s true I don’t feel feminine, but I still wouldn’t tolerate any man insulting me.”

“I reckon he’s already been exposed to misogyny before. I think he knows not to entertain it. His rhetoric likely involves men and nobody else.”

“Yet I doubt he would actually shame another frail man.”

“Probably not. He’s likely to be the only casualty, a self-inflicted one.”

“I’m worried this campus will make him feel even worse about his frailty. I can’t let him hate himself so much. I need to…”

“Give it time. Let your relationship with him take its course. You’ll have your chance to help him.” Emilija chuckles. “Just as I’m sure he’ll help you, right?”

Akari gulps with a blush.

—

A brother and sister walk towards the dining hall when they hear a woman’s screams. Both students prepare to give chase, before the sister stops her brother. “Hold on.”

As a brunette girl flees from two smirking women, there comes, from the back of the dining hall, Akari and Emilija. As the siblings watch, Emilija trips one woman’s leg, while Akari locks the other’s arms, just as the brunette trips herself.

“Ah, sorry I couldn’t catch you!” Akari yells to the brunette, still holding onto the grunting belligerent. She tries to bite her captor’s arm, but Akari catches her just before, pulling the attacker’s head back with a potent rage. “Don’t you dare!” She throws her to the ground, with her landing right next to the other attacker.

“Akari,” Emilija says, stomping her shoes on both attackers’ backs, “calm down.”

“Pfft!” Akari pouts, looking at the dirt and spit already on her coat. “I have to wash this.”

“No, you don’t.”

Akari sighs. She walks over and extends her hand to the brunette, wearing a gloomy face.

“Ah… Thank you!” the brunette meekly remarks as she takes Akari’s hand. Yet, once she’s standing and looking up at the tall girl, she can’t help but take a few steps back.

“C-Certainly,” Akari murmurs, hunching her back.

Emilija winks. “Of course!”

Akari, trying to guide her attention away from the victim, looks down at the subdued.

One of the attackers growls at Emilija, “Mind your own business. And get your damn shoes off me!”

“Nah.” Emilija yawns.

Akari storms over, wielding a hostile scowl. “You cowards!”

Emilija sighs, and steps off the attackers, leaving them to stare up helplessly at Akari’s towering form.

“Listen!” Akari commands them, before stomping on their backs herself. “I’ll break some bones the next time you do this, you hear?!”

The attackers just whimper and groan fearfully under her feet.

“Tch!” Akari walks off. “Get up and go!”

The two bullies are about to flee, but then a voice yells out, “You two!”

“Y-You’ve got to be kidding me!” one of the attackers spouts.

The brunette smiles. “Oh, it’s the Peng Twins!”

The Peng Twins, Jie and Chao, confidently present themselves. Jie: a somewhat tall woman with tan skin and silver eyes, sporting long black hair with trimmed bangs. And Chao: a man just a few inches over five feet, who certainly resembles his younger sister, but with heavier bangs and larger eyes.

A confused Akari gazes over at them.

“That was quick.” Emilija laughs.

“Is this how it feels to strike gold, Chao?” Jie looks up at Akari, while Chao chuckles.

“Who are…?” Akari murmurs.

Chao, with a smile, announces, “We two lead the Northern Peak Blizzards.”

Indeed. On just their second day, an opportunity has already presented itself.

To protect the campus.

And… to protect Akira.

Chapter is over. Some art of Jie and Chao : )