KOF School

Undeserved

The event ended right after the performance for Last Christmas. Zayn bowed and decided to give a shout-out to the band's president and concert master before leaving the stage.
"You just had to do that, didn't you?" Iori snorted as soon as Zayn made a beeline for him right after exiting the stage.
Zayn shrugged. "Well, yeah. You still performed amazingly despite being beaten up with a busted lip and swelling eyes. Does it hurt?"
"A little," Iori admitted. "It hurts whenever I close my eyes."
Zayn gave him a sympathetic smile, which morphed into a grimace when his gaze fell on Yashiro who stood a little way off beside the redhead. Zayn briefly glared at him before retrieving his brother's sunglasses. He then ran off, giving Iori a wave as he did.
Iori sincerely hoped that Masaomi and Kazuhiro would leave the topic and just let Yashiro off, but that seemed like it wasn't happening. The two men came straight to him.
"Where's that idiot?" Masaomi growled.
Iori begrudgingly turned to the spot that Yashiro stood at and was relieved to find that he had slipped out. He inwardly heaved a sigh of relief and turned back to his father and uncle.
"He left," Iori stated. "I didn't see where he went."
Shermie and Chris came up, concerned looks on their faces.
"Did Yashiro do something?" Shermie asked. "I saw him frantically running into the hall, dishevelled. And then you came in with a slight limp afterwards. Is everything alright?"
Masaomi turned to Iori. "Are these his friends?"
Iori nodded. "Yes."
"He attacked my son, do you know where he went?" Masaomi questioned.
The two immediately shook their heads and quickly left. Kazuhiro frowned and suggested they wait outside.
"We need to get our stuff from the band room first," Aiko said, coming up with her saxophone.
"We'll come with you," Kazuhiro insisted. "Come on, Niisan. We can catch him there."
So the four of them went over to the band room, which got increasingly crowded due to all of the members returning for their things. Iori and Aiko were fairly quick and were soon out. Kyo left since he left his things in the car instead, but not before telling the Yagamis to confront Yashiro since he didn't deserve to run free after ambushing Iori like that.
Sadly, Yashiro's things were already missing when they got there, signalling that he had already retrieved them and left. That didn't stop the older Yagamis from hunting him down.
They eventually spotted him and his mother in the foyer, seemingly having a prideful conversation of Yashira congratulating her son and admiring his prizes. This seemed to be the best time to confront them since they were alone too.
"Let's go, she's proud of him, right? Let's see how she feels when we tell her that her son's a jerk," Masaomi spat, pulling Iori by the arm to bring him to the Nanakases.
But what they witnessed next was far from what they had expected.
Yashiro was surprised too, especially when his mother slapped him right across his still-sore cheek.
"How come you got second and not first in your class?" Yashira shouted, loud enough for the Yagamis to hear. "And you're proud of this? No one remembers the second person in anything, only the first."
"I... I came first in swimming?" Yashiro suggested, holding up the certificate that stated it.
"Swimming doesn't count," Yashira spat. "What is there to be proud of in gliding around in a pool of water?"
For a brief moment, Yashiro's gaze met Iori's, his eyes laced with a hint of fear. But it was evident that he thought Yashira was a bigger monster than the Violent Iori he had seen earlier.
Iori felt his father's grip loosen around his wrist and turned to look at the older man, only to find that he was looking at him too. Iori slowly shook his head before taking his father's hand and turned to walk towards the gate, the rest of the family at their heels. The walk back to the car was silent, save for their footsteps crunching against the layer of snow that had built up during the blizzard.
"No wonder he's such a jerk, his mother's crazy!" Kazuhiro remarked as he started the car. "For some reason, I feel like we should just leave this. Iori, just go speak to him on Monday and tell him that he shouldn't have done that."
Iori gulped, contemplating on whether or not he should tell them the full story. "Dad... Uncle... there's something I didn't say."
"What is it?" The two men asked, almost in unison.
"I... I went crazy again," Iori said. "I don't know how... I think it was triggered when Yashiro punched me in the face."
"What?!" Kazuhiro gasped. "Are you okay? Never mind that Yashiro boy, he looks fine. What about you?"
"I guess I was fine too... I don't remember much, it feels like a dream, but Kay and Zayn said that I gave them a scare at first and then ended up cowering in fear. I think I kinda remember that, I was actually afraid that I would attack them."
"You tried to run when I came up too," Aiko added. "But you eventually relaxed. We thought you fainted at first, but then you were still responsive and woke up when Kyo splashed water on your face."
"All of this happened, and you two didn't even tell us," Masaomi sighed. "You're okay now?"
"Yeah, but I did beat up Yashiro quite badly," Iori sheepishly stated. "I think he was actually shivering when I sat beside him during the performance just now. I can't really remember what I actually did to him, but I think I tried strangling him at some point."
"You actually seemed proud when I asked if you attacked Yashiro back," Aiko smirked. "Dad, Uncle. He actually laughed in reply."
"I laughed?" Iori said in surprise. "In that state?"
"Yes..." Aiko nodded. "Zayn told me that you even responded with a wide grin when they asked you the same thing."
Iori shook his head in disbelief. "Darn... Violent Iori is evil!"
"Good thing too," Masaomi said, much to his surprise. "He deserved that. Who asked him to bully you in the first place?"
"That's true too," Kazuhiro agreed. "But I'm just glad that he managed to escape."
Aiko firmly shook her head. "Nah, I feel like that wasn't enough. Look at what he did to Niisan. He was even bleeding!"
"My legs hurt too... he held down a music stand on them," Iori grimly stated. "But I still feel like I need to apologise. I feel bad to have attacked him like that..."
"No need," Aiko shook her head. "He triggered you enough to let Violent Niisan loose. That must be worse than what you did to him. You weren't quite yourself, what about him? What's his excuse for attacking you like that?"
"She's right," Masaomi nodded. "He shouldn't have ambushed you just because he was jealous. That was wrong of him."
Iori frowned silently. It was true, after all. Yashiro had wanted him to 'know what it's like to have something not go your way,' when Iori had been experiencing that for a long time before. He didn't stop to think for once what Iori might have been going through just because he was being treated badly by his mother.
He still felt the need to go and apologise to Yashiro on Monday, though. There were still a few more days left before the holidays, that would be a good time to speak to Yashiro and apologise to him for showing him his crazy side. Iori wished that the Rampant Beast would just leave him alone. He felt like some video game character with an aggressive counterpart, like Jin Kazama and his Devil Form in Tekken.