blackmail; shuji hanma

three. taunt

The walk home in the rain with Hanma had been surprisingly nice. Despite the couple of times he had moved the umbrella so the water from the top would fall on her head, it had gone without incident. Small talk had been made and he teased her a couple of times about the article, but never once did he sound upset by the fact she had broadcasted his delinquent status to the entire school (even though everyone already knew by now). Then, once she had arrived home safe and sound, he disappeared and didn't show up in school for the next week.

Her next interaction with him came in a very roundabout way. 

It was a clear Saturday and (Y/N) was walking home from the library, leafing through some files she had printed and paperclipping different pictures to each one. She was so engrossed in her work, her feet following the route home like it was second nature, that she didn't notice the gaggle of gang members hanging around on the side of the street. Before she could pass them, one of them called out to her.

Set on ignoring them, she didn't say anything back, but that, like always, backfired.

"Oi, we're talking to you!" the boy said, clearly peeved by her dismissal.

(Y/N)'s eye twitched in annoyance, so she turned to see just who was bothering her. To her surprise, she found that she recognized the group of boys standing there from her photos - she had information on almost all of them, including but not limited to illegal activities they had been involved with and photo evidence proving they had done such things. This particular group just so happened to be the main stars of some of the files she was carrying. The easiest way to get them to leave her alone was simple, all she had to do was hold up one of her photographs.

"This is you, right?" (Y/N) said back to him, showing off the photo where the boy before her could clearly be seen hitting a civilian over the head with a baseball bat. "It would be a shame if the police got a hold of this."

One of the others scoffed, tapping a metal pipe against the concrete. "Only if you make it out of here alive."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" (Y/N) asked genuinely, tilting her head, "I've got a P.O. box with copies of these and more that will be opened if anything happens to me."

"Are you blackmailing us?" the first boy asked, his dotted eyebrows raising up into his hairline at the audacity. 

She smiled, "Yes, yes I am. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

Reluctantly, the gang members backed off, allowing her to continue on down the road without incident. (Y/N) wasn't lying about the P.O. box, as she had used one since the start of her middle school debut, and even in the future, she found herself leaving information there. Besides, it felt strangely enjoyable to be able to hold something over someone else and protect herself through means that weren't just physical.

Now more alert, she stopped messing with her files and cut through a side street to get to her neighborhood, except the second she turned, she found herself skidding to a stop. There, almost as if he was waiting for her, was Hanma, a cigarette in hand and a wide smirk on his face. In that moment, she knew he had seen what she had done.

"Blackmail, huh? I didn't think you were the type," Hanma said, letting out a puff of smoke upwards and watching as it faded into the atmosphere.

"It's not something I usually flaunt," (Y/N) grimaced. She tried to walk past him, hoping he'd take a hint, but instead, he fell in line with her, walking alongside her on the narrow road. Every so often, the close perimeters would make it so his hand would brush against hers and she would pull away, unused to physical contact with other people. 

Hanma glanced over at her face, rather than the more interesting files in her arms. "Still wearing that facemask?"

"That's none of your business," she said, unconsciously tugging at the top of the mask to pull it up further and ensure her braces were hidden. The metal contraptions on her teeth were set to be taken off in a couple of weeks, but she still couldn't get used to the sight of them every time she saw her reflection.

"You've been wearing braces for about a year now, so why are you hiding them now?" Hanma continued, strangely perceptive. 

When she glared up at him, he simply blew out cigarette smoke into her face, which made her close her eyes and cough, despite her facemask preventing most of the carcinogens from reaching her. Though, now she understood why her past self had such a fascination for him, he was certainly much more interesting and thought provoking than any of her other classmates. If she had to decide why she had been sent in the past, she would say it was because of him. To learn more about him than anyone else.

"Maybe I'm just sick. Did you ever think about that?" She crossed her arms over her chest the best she could, holding tight to her bundle of files, and preventing any more contact between his hand and hers from happening. 

He held up his hands as to say he would drop the subject, before returning back to the one topic she would have liked to avoid for a little longer. With a flick of his wrist, he threw out the rest of his cigarette into someone's opened trash, all while saying, "Is there any chance you have blackmail on me?"

Yes, of course she did. 

"Nope," she said, popping the p for emphasis. "That would do me more harm than good."

Out of everyone in Tokyo, she probably had the most information - well, blackmail - on him. The last thing she wanted to do right now was cause conflict, so she'd keep that little tidbit to herself for as long as she could. Besides getting to know Hanma when he didn't know she had things she could hold over him would be actually kind of fun.