Royal Pride (Leona Kingscholar/Yuu)

26 ~ Fistfight

As Yuu exited the greenhouse and was walking absentmindedly, she saw a familiar blonde hyena. They locked eyes, and he started taking a few steps back.

Before he could start running, she lunged at him, punching him in the face. He staggered backward and she knocked him to the ground, readying for another hit.

"You have no idea how long I waited—at least Leona showed up once! You absolute—" Yuu kept cutting off her words, so many things to say yet so few ways to say them. She settled for yelling obscenities at him instead. Her voice was scratchier than it had been before her argument with Leona, but she was too heated to care.

He tried to shove her off of him. "It's not like I wanted to avoid you!" She clenched her teeth and barraged him with even more punches. "Then what? What stopped you!?"

Ruggie wasn't going to take those punches lying down, even if he knew he was in the wrong. You don't just run up to a guy in the hallway and punch him. He started hitting back, and soon it devolved into a fistfight with little conversation besides screaming and hurling crass insults at each other.

A crowd began to form around them—not like that hindered anything. If anything, their punches got more intense. They both knew better than to use magic, but that didn't mean they wouldn't fight with all of their physical might.

"Off With Your Heads!"

The two of them paused for a second to stare at Riddle before going back to punching each other. "That was unnecessary," Trey remarked with an unamused laugh.

Riddle gripped Yuu's shoulder tightly. "What are you two fighting about!?" She glared at him before elbowing him in the nose. "None of your business!"

Ruggie threw a punch at Yuu, adding, "Yeah, buzz off!"

Riddle's face flushed crimson as he started to lecture them, but Yuu punched him in the face too. "Don't butt in if you can't do anything about it!"

Now it was the three of them brawling, and Trey tried to stop them, but his ankle was still injured and he wasn't able to do much.

Azul, Jade, and Floyd walked by, watching their fight with amusement. "My~ Whatever could this be about?" Azul asked, clearly entertained.

"This looks interesting~" Floyd added, wanting to be a part of the fight. Jade simply stared at them with his usual unreadable grin on his face, saying nothing.

She fought off a few more punches from the other two before punching Floyd, and then Jade. Both of their demeanors were irritating her, and she was punching everything that so much as breathed.

Floyd licked his lips, grinning widely. "Ehehe~ This is gonna be fun~!" Jade just let out a sigh, though it was evident that he found the situation humorous. "Don't get carried away, Floyd." Jade seemed like he could get carried away himself, though.

The five of them—Yuu, Ruggie, Riddle, Floyd, and Jade—all fought with each other in the middle of the hallway. Over what? They were unsure at this point, but they were all angry and this seemed a good way to solve it. It's not like the school had therapists or anything to talk about their feelings.

Jamil and Kalim made their way toward the four, and Jamil furrowed his brow in confusion before getting the explanation from Trey, who stood by helplessly.

Kalim grabbed Yuu, who was clearly throwing the most punches, around the arms. "Why aren't you punching him!?" Ruggie protested.

"Are you kidding? I can't punch Kalim! He's actually nice to me, unlike you!" And so, Kalim managed to put an end to the little altercation because no one wanted to punch him.

'Maybe it is good to be naively kind sometimes.'

Kalim and Jamil, upon Kalim's request, helped escort the five to the infirmary. The nurse let out a sigh when he saw them all enter. "I haven't seen this place so lively in a long time."

The five of them lay in their beds in silence as they all got treated for about an hour before they got bored and began chatting again. Yuu had ended up sitting at the foot of Ruggie's bed, staring him down, while Riddle was desperately trying to get Floyd to stop bothering him—Jade was watching the scene unfold with a smile.

Yuu felt a little bad for getting them involved, but they insisted that it was fine. Floyd even said that it was fun, which was probably true for him.

Riddle even begrudgingly admitted that it was a good way to blow off steam and uncollared them both, so that was a bonus.

"I'm still waiting for a proper explanation. And apology," Yuu huffed. She was much more comfortable expressing her anger around Ruggie than Leona, as she'd done it quite a few times in the past. It was why they were so close—they had good communication.

She would have to establish that with Leona if they ever made up.

"I'm sorry," he said at long last. "Really. I knew you wouldn't support the idea, but you don't get it—the prospect of winning against Malleus? I'd do anything for that. As you can see. And Leona has a solid plan, so I'm following him."

She nodded slowly. "During Spelldrive, it's already embarrassing enough having to sit back and watch as Malleus does all of the work. I'm sure what you guys are feeling is much worse, though."

"And Savanaclaw is all big on Spelldrive too, so... you can see how everything went on from there." He puckered his lips, stretching out his arms in front of him.

Yuu stared at him intently. "Are... you planning on continuing with the plan?"

He paused, looking everywhere but at her. She nodded. "I see. I get it, but that doesn't mean I approve or that I won't try to stop you if I get the chance."

"Expected as much," he laughed before holding up a fist. "So, we good?"

She felt a soft smile play on her face. "We're good. I'm still upset with Leona, though."

Ruggie's eyes widened. "So that's why I was getting a bunch of calls from him earlier (that I couldn't pick up since I was getting beat up)! C'mon, tell me what happened!"