picked with him, and he hadn’t hurt his opponents too much.
But it all started going south when he saw a classmate being harassed in town and took on the fight for him.
Soon people began to gather around him. His classmates’ friends called more friends into the circle, causing it to grow.
At times, some people offered to handle the fights for him, and Masaomi’s group began to make a name for itself within their public middle school. Of course, it was a school without many true delinquents, and they weren’t in a position to make trouble with any nearby schools.
But that only meant there were no brakes to stop them.
Slowly, so slowly, the group grew in size.
In his youth, Masaomi did not understand what this meant yet. There was merely a vague sense of anxiety in the back of his mind.
And then, around the time their group took on the name of Yellow Scarves…
…Masaomi stopped telling Mikado about it.
Instead, he told his old friend about things in town like usual. He just didn’t include any details about his odd companions.
During the days, he would hang out with his Yellow Scarves as always. It wasn’t awkward for him. In fact, he enjoyed the feeling of lording it over his little group.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that it only served to further distance the old memories of his countryside home.
He cared about his friends in his new environment. But he felt that there was a fundamental distinction between them.
If he bragged about his gang leadership to Mikado, that would somehow end his connection to home for good, he felt.
Should he stay true to his old self? Or embrace his new role as leader of the Yellow Scarves?
It was a silly and unnecessary choice, but it tormented him all the same.
His friends here were only connected to him as long as he was fighting. He was worried that they might leave him as soon as he slipped up and made a mistake.
He wanted someone.
Someone to affirm his actions and support him.
Someone who, like Mikado from his hometown, set him at ease and grounded him so that he could be at home in Ikebukuro.
It was during this period of growing unease that she showed up out of the blue.
“That’s a cool yellow scarf. It looks nice on you.”
She was referring to the trademark of the Yellow Scarves tied around his arm.
The girls showed little fear or concern about Masaomi. It was what one might call a “reverse pickup,” where a group of young women around their age reached out to contact Masaomi’s little group hanging out at the train station.
Masaomi was fully comfortable with his life in the big city right around the time that the Yellow Scarves numbered about thirty in total. As their numbers grew, Masaomi got tired of the fighting, and the Yellow Scarves as a whole turned easygoing and relaxed. There were very few squabbles with other gangs at that point.
He tried picking up girls when he was on his own, but he rarely succeeded, and even when he did, the relationship was lazy and brief. That’s how he had always related to women, even before coming to Ikebukuro.
Mikado always marveled at these exploits, claiming that he was “still just in middle school!” But Masaomi had been going out with girls since his elementary years, so he usually turned the tables and teased Mikado for being too shy instead.
So when this moment came, Masaomi didn’t give it any more thoughtthan
Hey, I got hit on by some girls, and they’re pretty hot, too. Lucky me, I’m not doing anything right now.
“You’re called the Yellow Scarves. Isn’t that right?” one of the girls asked boldly. Masaomi felt his excitement cool off.
Oh. She’s not interested in me personally, just the group. Then again, we must be getting famous if even normal girls like her are aware of us.
He was ready to put on a different face, to express more acutely his individual nature as Masaomi Kida, but one of the girls preempted him with a gentle smile.
“You’re way cooler in person than
But it all started going south when he saw a classmate being harassed in town and took on the fight for him.
Soon people began to gather around him. His classmates’ friends called more friends into the circle, causing it to grow.
At times, some people offered to handle the fights for him, and Masaomi’s group began to make a name for itself within their public middle school. Of course, it was a school without many true delinquents, and they weren’t in a position to make trouble with any nearby schools.
But that only meant there were no brakes to stop them.
Slowly, so slowly, the group grew in size.
In his youth, Masaomi did not understand what this meant yet. There was merely a vague sense of anxiety in the back of his mind.
And then, around the time their group took on the name of Yellow Scarves…
…Masaomi stopped telling Mikado about it.
Instead, he told his old friend about things in town like usual. He just didn’t include any details about his odd companions.
During the days, he would hang out with his Yellow Scarves as always. It wasn’t awkward for him. In fact, he enjoyed the feeling of lording it over his little group.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that it only served to further distance the old memories of his countryside home.
He cared about his friends in his new environment. But he felt that there was a fundamental distinction between them.
If he bragged about his gang leadership to Mikado, that would somehow end his connection to home for good, he felt.
Should he stay true to his old self? Or embrace his new role as leader of the Yellow Scarves?
It was a silly and unnecessary choice, but it tormented him all the same.
His friends here were only connected to him as long as he was fighting. He was worried that they might leave him as soon as he slipped up and made a mistake.
He wanted someone.
Someone to affirm his actions and support him.
Someone who, like Mikado from his hometown, set him at ease and grounded him so that he could be at home in Ikebukuro.
It was during this period of growing unease that she showed up out of the blue.
“That’s a cool yellow scarf. It looks nice on you.”
She was referring to the trademark of the Yellow Scarves tied around his arm.
The girls showed little fear or concern about Masaomi. It was what one might call a “reverse pickup,” where a group of young women around their age reached out to contact Masaomi’s little group hanging out at the train station.
Masaomi was fully comfortable with his life in the big city right around the time that the Yellow Scarves numbered about thirty in total. As their numbers grew, Masaomi got tired of the fighting, and the Yellow Scarves as a whole turned easygoing and relaxed. There were very few squabbles with other gangs at that point.
He tried picking up girls when he was on his own, but he rarely succeeded, and even when he did, the relationship was lazy and brief. That’s how he had always related to women, even before coming to Ikebukuro.
Mikado always marveled at these exploits, claiming that he was “still just in middle school!” But Masaomi had been going out with girls since his elementary years, so he usually turned the tables and teased Mikado for being too shy instead.
So when this moment came, Masaomi didn’t give it any more thoughtthan
Hey, I got hit on by some girls, and they’re pretty hot, too. Lucky me, I’m not doing anything right now.
“You’re called the Yellow Scarves. Isn’t that right?” one of the girls asked boldly. Masaomi felt his excitement cool off.
Oh. She’s not interested in me personally, just the group. Then again, we must be getting famous if even normal girls like her are aware of us.
He was ready to put on a different face, to express more acutely his individual nature as Masaomi Kida, but one of the girls preempted him with a gentle smile.
“You’re way cooler in person than
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