Parallel You

RAVEN’s POV “Why can you not just let this dream of yours go?!” I heard a voice scream. “Never! I will be the only remaining one left in this vast universe and you all will die in my hands!” “Raven, no!” “Aoi!” I heard someone call from outside my room as I slowly and surely opened my eyes. The light from the sun’s shade was clearly blinding me making me shut my eyes tigther than it was but sooner or later, the sound of my name being called grew louder and louder until someone barged in the door making it open wide. I flinched as I peered my head towards a figure on the door frame. My eyes adjusted a bit on the image as I realized who was standing at the door frame. “Jeez, man! You sleep like a freaking buffalo after a day’s work! Oba has been calling on your name for like a hundred, no, a thousand times now! You are going to be late for school! Hurry up, sleepy ass!” Haru said as he grabbed my towel hanging from behind the wooden door and threw it on my face making me grumble as I stood up and took it off my face. I woke up from the bed as Haru walked away and closed the door since he was brushing his teeth. I admired myself on the mirror and saw dried drool on the side of my lip, my eyes all hazy and stuffed with morning eye boogers. My hair which I just had done a week or two ago was in a mess. I grabbed my towel once again and hit the showers. As I was applying shampoo to myself, I kept thinking about the dream I had last night. Someone was crying and the other was just angry. I heard my name was mentioned but I could not see anything, the vision was dark and there was nothing but there was a strong force that I felt. I brushed the idea off as I rinsed myself and gave my teeth a good ol’ brush. It was probably just a weird ass dream. I am just glad I did not dream of me pissing because that would result in me pissing in my bed and I do not want me, Ayumi-san or worse, Haru to clean my pissed sheets. I wore my uniform which was a gray skirt, black socks, a long-sleeved blouse and a red tie. But, me, being the rebel I am, did a few modifications. I let two of the long-sleeved blouse’s first buttons loose and folded the sleeve up to my elbows. I applied a few eyeliners, lip tint and face powder and tied my hair that was not looking a bit okay. I had it dyed last week and Haru will not stop teasing me and called me a “reverse pudding” daily. I wore my piercings and rings and grabbed my school bag. I left my blazer because I do not wear them and I will rather jump off a bridge and be caught dead never wearing one. I stepped out of my room and saw Haru already eating breakfast with nearly the same style as me and in front of him was Ayumi, his aunt which he calls Oba. I only call her Ayumi-san since she’s older than me. “Oh, Aoi-chan! Take a seat here and eat already!” Ayumi-san said as she puts the pillow seat next to her as I sat there. We had some rice, miso soup and side dishes for breakfast and started eating. The television was left on as Haru, Ayumi-san and I gobbled our food. “Recent reports of gang fights have been rising in Roppongi and people, especially at young age are caught in these acts,” A news reporter says on TV. “Gosh, you two betters be going straight home after classes alright? Look at today’s teenagers. Fighting and rumbling all day long. That is all they do!” Ayumi-san says. Me and Haruto looked at each other as we nodded. If she only knew... We finished our food as Ayumi-san locked the doors. She also had a bakery across the street so no one was left inside the house. Ayumi-san rode her bike as she said good bye to me and Haru. Haru and I walked to the street where our school when I heard him speak. “Shoot! I forgot my home economics homework. Can I copy yours?” He asked. “We do not have the same assignments. You are my senpai. We are not from the same year, dumbass,” I replied. “Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. You just do not show me any respect at home and in school that I forgot that I was indeed older than you,” Haru grumbled. As we were about to enter the school premises, a man came running pass us making me startle as Haru pushed me aside the sidewalk. “s**t! Raven, you good?” Haru asks. “Yeah, yeah. I am good,” I said as I remove the dust. “Boss! Boss!” I heard someone calling as I look forward to see Kenshin, Kouji and Ryu running towards us. “Hey! What is up with the three of you and who was that man?” Haru asked, annoyed. “Do you remember the guy that borrowed his money two months ago and came running off? That was him! We saw him earlier at your aunt’s bakery and he ran on us!” Kouji reported. “What the hell, man? Why in front of Oba’s store? Could you not have waited for him to leave first?!” Haru yells as he slaps the forehead of the three gang members, we had in front of us. “Calm down, Haru. Come on, we still have a chance. Let us catch him while we can!” I said as I tied my shoelaces tighter. “Raven, we have classes starting in two minutes,” Haru explains. “I do not care. No one messes with my gang. Kouji! Kenshin! Round up the other side of the street. Haru and Ryu will come with me and bring some tubes with you. Go!” I ordered as we both went to block the sides of the streets wherein the man might pass. “There he is!” Ryu shouted as we spotted a dude wearing a black shirt and some shades. As he saw us, he quickly ran to the opposite side of the street but was fortunately blocked by Kenshin and Kouji. He was trapped. I quickly leaped on of the metal boxes and kicked him in the face making him fall on his ass flat. He spit blood from his mouth as I stomped my foot on his face refusing him to stand up. “Is this the guy, Ryu?” I asked as I coldly stared down the man. “Y-yeah, boss. That is him!” Ryu replied. “So, where the hell is the money?” I demanded to the guy who’s face I was stepping on. His face was all bruised and bloodied that it actually looked really disgusting. I spit on the ground as I pushed back my short hair and looked back at him deadly in the eyes as I received no response. “What the hell, man? You going to let us wait for you to speak? Do you not know how short my patience is? I am demanding an answer right now! Where the hell is the money?” I growled as I felt someone held me back. I turned my back to see Haru locking my arm behind me to stop me from going berserk. “Stop it, Raven. You are done. Can you not see the dude is already beaten up? Let us just let this go,” Haruto told me but that made my mood worse than it was. “Let it go? And how many people will this little bastard fool again? That money was from one of our guys, Haru. That was thousands of yen and he promised to return them so where the hell are they now?!” I shouted, making the man shiver. “It is okay, boss. I will let him off the hook. It looked like he really needed that money,” Ryu spoke, the one who lent the guy money. I remove my foot from stomping the guy as I kicked him on the shin one last time before saying a thing. “Next time I hear your name from one of my guys again, you are not coming out of Roppongi alive,” I said with my jaw clenched as the man sprinted out of the alleyway. I grabbed my occasional backpack as I tidied my uniform of any dirt. “You need to stop going into brawls before school starts, Raven. That is a bad habit,” Haru said. Azumane Haruto, or known as Haru by me of course, is the vice leader of the Panthers who handled Roppongi, Tokyo in Japan. The nightlife of the country itself. Well, he used to be it’s leader not until both of the butt heads in middle school wherein I definitely kicked his ass. He specializes in Jiu jitsu and is my left hand now in the crew. That is why he invited me to join his gang and became its top boss and now, this was my life. “Yeah, boss. You will ruin your pretty face!” Kouji and Kenshin spoke. Nishinoya Kouji and Nishinoya Kenshin were also part of Haruto’s crew back then but now they work for me. Both of them are twins and the only thing that separates them is that Kouji had red hair while Kenshin has blue. Kouji was the older twin but the irresponsible one while Kenshin was the opposite. Both of them knew systema and worked together like a duo making them the captains of the team alongside Ryu. “You did not have to do that boss; I am just a mere member of the group!” Ryu shyly said. Kageyama Ryuunoske was a new member of the group and came in when I was already the leader but he climbed up the ranks fast because he had skills in boxing. I am Raven Takashi, the boss of the Roppongi Panthers gang. Despite my appearance and age, older men look up to me with scared and snotty crying faces because of fear. Fear of being manipulated beaten up. At first the thought of having a gang to join was too tough but since I was too lonely, bored and had nothing to do after school and nowhere to showcase my street fighting skills, I decided to grab the opportunity Haru gave me. I was already in my second year of high school and Haru was a senpai (senior) of mine. He is around eighteen because while I was a year younger. I have a shitty life and I am fully aware of that. But nonetheless, I still want to live my life to the fullest. I will not submit to its nature. “Shut it, Haru and next time do not stop me from doing what I want to do. You are not the boss of me,” I grumbled as walked away with the four of them behind me. “Well, we will see you after school, leader and vice!” Kouji said as Kenshin and Ryu walked on the other side of the street with them. They go to an all-boys school and was the same year as Haru. The thing is, those dudes are repeaters so they were already nineteen now. As we arrived, students were already flocking inside. Our classes started around eight forty-five in the morning and good thing it was currently eight forty. so, we still had time. As I stepped inside the school premises, I could already feel the people’s eyes prying at me and Haru and as usual, for different reasons. The girls would look at me scarily because of the bruises on my hands and the reputation I held but with Haru, it was different. They praise and see him like some worldwide idol and try to flirt with him for a whole lot of time. That is one of the reasons why these girls hate me to the core. It is because I am friends with Haru and it is quite funny since the dude himself does not like girls. Sometimes, I think he is into boys but I know that is too bizarre to be true. “Hey, looks like one of your chicks wants to talk to you,” I teased Haru as I pointed my head towards a girl who was holding a letter and waving in our direction. “Ugh, when will these non-ending confessions stop? Can they not just get a clue?” Haru said as he rubs his ear in frustration. It was a habit of his. “Oops. Another day, another heart broken and shattered to pieces. I will be going inside now; I have social studies. See you after school!” I told him as I gave him a pat in the back and rushed inside the school hall and into my room. “Class 2-3... ah! Found ya!” I told myself as I went inside my classroom. I belonged to the third section. As I got inside, the commotion and noise happening inside the classroom died out as they watched me sit on my desk at the back of the class next to the window. Talk about main character moment. I glared at them to let them stop looking at me like some animal as they moved their gaze away from me, quickly making me chuckle. I grabbed my arms and laid them at my table as I put my head on top and closed my eyes for a while until my teacher came. “Good morning, Miyazuki-sensei!” The class said as I wearily stood up from my own seat and bowed. Our teacher walks to the center of the class as he puts down his envelope and starts writing on the board as one hell of a day starts once again. — It was already ten thirty in the morning as lunch time started Most of the people brought out their bento boxes and flocked the cafeteria stalls. We finished three subjects as four to five more awaited. I grabbed a fit bar from my backpack and started eating as I looked outside the window to see other people outside the school. Some are doing sport practices for their club time tomorrow, some are chatting with friends, some are pulling pranks on their friends, some are just plainly goofing around and lonely ones who wish to spend their vacant time alone, like I do. I always felt lonely and empty. Probably the result of being a motherless and fatherless child but even though Haru, the gang and Ayumi-san has been with me for nearly three years, my life has not been that easy nor has it smiled upon me and that just empties me day by day. I just wish someone out there would understand what I feel and could fill the hole in it. Someone like...me. “Ah! Oh my gosh, I just matched with someone!” One of the girls from the separate table said as I turned my head towards the said direction. They all flocked to one place as they looked at something at the desk which they looked like they were enjoying clearly and me being the nosy ass that I am, walked towards their place to see what was going on. One of the girls quickly noticed my presence as she kept tapping the others to catch their attention and look at me. Soon, all the girls in the circle had eyes on me. “U-uhm, hello Raven,” one of them greeted but I did not care and shoved her over to grab what they were looking at and buzzing over. “Uh- that is my phone!” One of them said as she reached for the phone which I quickly retracted away from her. “I know. Give me a second. What the hell were you all talking about? You were all so damn noisy when I was eating my lunch so you better shut up now,” I threatened as I looked at the phone. The color of the screen was blinding purple with letters and words around indicating that the user has found a match. “What is this? Some sort of dating app?” I asked the girls as they repeatedly shaked their heads “no”. “Then what the hell is this?” I asked them. “It is a new app called “Parallel You”. It just started earlier. It is an app that lets you match with someone who is similar to you. Like traits and likes and everything. Someone who understands you!” The other explained. “What kind of corny s**t is that?” I scoffed as I looked at the app one last time before giving the phone back to them. “Parallel You”, huh? That app kind of sounds interesting.”