Renegades: Battlegrounds.-Chapter 32: Takeshi Kuroda

The final bell had rung fifteen minutes ago.

Students flooded the hallways, eager to escape into their after-school lives. Club activities, cram school, hanging out with friends, going home to families.

Normal teenage stuffs.

Ren lingered by his shoe locker, slowly exchanging his indoor shoes for outdoor ones. Every movement of his calculated to take as long as possible. He wasn’t ready to face the walk home yet.

He closed his locker, turned and nearly walked straight into someone.

"Shit.. sorry, I didn’t. "

He looked up and a student stood there. The guy was tall, broad-shouldered, the kind of third-year who looked like he had his own gravitational pull. He had a sharp features, dark eyes, hair styled back in that effortlessly cool way some people could pull off.

He wore the standard black gakuran, but something about him felt different. More polished. More deliberate.

And on his left arm, partially visible under his sleeve was a white armband embroidered with cherry blossoms. But the embroidery looked faded. Older.

Sakuratei. But not quite right.

"Took you long enough," the student said, smiling extending his hand like they were old friends.

Ren blinked. "Do I... know you? "

"Takeshi Kuroda. Third-year. I’ve been wanting to meet you since you transferred in. "

Ren stared at the offered hand.

"Takeshi Kuroda. " Ren thought. "That name... Shiin mentioned it. One of the faction leaders during the civil war. "

Slowly, cautiously, Ren shook his hand. Takeshi’s grip was firm, confident. The handshake lasted a beat too long.

"How do you know who I am? "

Takeshi laughed. "Everyone knows who you are now. Kaito Ryūhara’s little brother. The guy who fought Mad Dog Yuto and survived. "

He leaned against the lockers, casual, but his eyes were sharp and calculating.

"I knew your brother, you know. Before everything fell apart. "

Ren’s attention sharpened immediately. "You knew Kaito? "

"Yes, I fought alongside him for two years. Back when Sakuratei actually meant something. " His smile dimmed slightly.

"Back when we stood for the Five Virtues. Righteousness. Courage. Benevolence. Respect. Sincerity. "

He said the words like he was reading a prayer out loud.

"Your brother built something beautiful, Ren. " Takeshi said softly. A gang that actually protected people. That fought for principles, not just territory. Something worth fighting for. Not... whatever Hasegawa turned it into. "

Ren frowned. "I heard that Hasegawa saved Sakuratei. That the civil war almost destroyed it. "

Takeshi laughed bitterly. "He saved the name. But Sakuratei’s soul? That died the day Kaito walked away."

"The ideals didn’t fail. We did. We failed him. " His expression hardened.

"After Kaito left, we tore ourselves apart fighting over scraps of his legacy. And then Hasegawa came in and... rebuilt it into something else entirely. "

"Hasegawa’s Sakuratei is about survival. Pragmatism. Making the ’hard choices’ that keep us alive. "

"But what’s the point of surviving if we’ve lost what made us worth fighting for? "

"What do you want from me? " Ren asked.

He pushed off the lockers, took a step closer. Not threatening at all.

"You’ll have a choice to make soon. Maybe sooner than you think. When you’re inside Sakuratei and you will be soon enough, whose side will you stand on? Hasegawa’s? Or ours? "

"I haven’t even decided if I’m joining. "

"But you will. You’re too deep in now. Hasegawa has made sure of that. "

"You’re your brother’s legacy. Whether you want to be or not. With us you’d be the symbol that his ideals aren’t dead. "

"Us?"

"There are those of us who remember what Sakuratei used to be. The third-years mostly. People who fought under Kaito, who believed in his vision. "

"We haven’t forgotten. And we haven’t given up on bringing back the real Sakuratei. "

"The Red Faction. " Ren thought. "Shiin warned me about this. Third-years opposing Hasegawa’s leadership. "

"And you think I’d join you because...?" Ren spoke out.

"Because you’re Kaito’s brother. His blood. His legacy. " Takeshi stepped closer, his voice low.

"You joining Hasegawa’s side would legitimize everything he’s done. It would say loudly that Kaito’s brother approves of burying his ideals but if you joined us..." His smile returned, somewhat predatory now.

"...you’d be a symbol. Proof that Kaito’s vision isn’t dead. That his brother carries the torch forward. "

Ren felt something cold settle in his stomach. "He doesn’t care about me.He just wants to use me as a symbol... as a political piece. "

Ren said flatly. "I’m not a symbol. "

"We don’t get to choose what we become, Ren. Your brother learned that the hard way. "

He offered Ren a business card. Plain. A number printed in black ink.

"Think about it. When Hasegawa puts you through the Five Trials and ask yourself, are these Kaito’s virtues? Or Hasegawa’s twisted version of them? "

He stepped back, turning to leave.

"Oh...and Ren?" Takeshi glanced over his shoulder.

"Don’t trust Hasegawa. He’s got his own agenda. "

He walked away, hands in pockets, leaving Ren standing there with a business card and a head full of questions.

"Red Faction are trying to recruit me to use me as a symbol against Hasegawa. "

He looked at the card it was just a number.

"Everyone wants something from me. Hasegawa wanted loyalty. Takeshi wanted a figurehead and I still don’t know what Kaito wanted. "

Ren crushed the card in his fist and tossed it into the nearby trash.

"I’m not joining anyone’s faction. " He thought. "Not until I know the truth. "

And the truth was waiting somewhere far from Sakura High. Down in Downtown. In Crimson Dragons territory.

He shouldered his bag and headed for the exit.

Outside, the afternoon sun was beginning its descent.

"Tomorrow’s Saturday. "

"No school. No eyes watching. No rules. "

"I’ll go where Kaito went. " He decided.

"And I’ll find what he found. "