Renegades: Battlegrounds.-Chapter 54: The First Detention II

It was the afternoon English class and Ren stared at the textbook with the most utmost seriousness but the words blurred together.

"Detention until 6:00 PM."

"But trials start Thursday at 6:00 PM."

"It’ll take me Fifteen-minute sprint to the Old Hanasakura Shopping Arcade, if I run the entire way."

"Can I make it five days in a row? Two weeks?"

His phone buzzed silently in his pocket. Ren glanced at the teacher who was writing on the board, his back turned to the class.

Carefully, Ren pulled out his phone under the desk.

It was an unsaved number. "Heard about Hanagaki’s detention play. Don’t worry. We’ve adjusted the schedule. Just be ready. -M"

Matsuno.

Ren stared at the message. "How does he already know that?"

Then he remembered.

Hasegawa said they had him under surveillance.

Of course Sakuratei had eyes in the school.

Maybe a sympathetic teacher.

Maybe cameras of their own.

He typed back quickly. "Adjusted how? I can’t miss detention."

The response came thirty seconds later:

"You won’t. Just be at the old shopping arcade by 6:30 PM today. We’ll brief you on the changes. Don’t be late."

Ren deleted both messages, pocketed his phone.

Relief and anxiety mixed in his chest. They weren’t dropping him. But what did adjusted schedule mean?

The afternoon crawled by.

Next was Math class with those equations on the board that might as well have been hieroglyphics.

Then History class about the Meiji Restoration that Ren couldn’t focus on.

His mind kept circling back. "Detention. Trials. Two weeks. Can I survive this?".

The final bell rang.

Students packed up, chattering about plans, karaoke, arcade, studying at cafes.

Ren grabbed his bag, stood slowly.

Shiinchiro appeared beside him. "You got this. Just two hours. You can handle two hours, right?"

"Yeah." Ren’s voice was hollow. "Two hours. Then tomorrow. Then the day after..."

"One day at a time, man." Shiinchiro clapped his shoulder. "I’ll wait outside when it’s done. Guide you to the meeting spot."

"You don’t have to..."

"Shut up. I’m doing it anyway." Shiinchiro grinned. "What are friends for?"

Ren managed a small smile. "Thanks."

They parted ways at the hallway split with Shiinchiro heading towards the exit and Ren toward Room 2-B.

Detention.

Room 2-B was on the second floor, tucked in a corner of the building away from main classrooms. The kind of room used for storage and punishment.

Ren opened the door.

Eight other students were already seated scattered throughout the classroom, maintaining maximum distance from each other.

The usual suspects. Repeat offenders, troublemakers, students who had given up pretending to care about school.

A few looked up when Ren entered. Most didn’t.

But one did.

Third row, window seat.

A second-year with bleached hair and a bored expression.

His school uniform was worn loosely, tie undone. And on his left arm, partially visible under his rolled-up sleeve.

A red armband.

Red Faction.

Takeshi’s supporters.

Their eyes met. The student’s gaze was cold, calculating. Predatory.

"Ryūhara."

Ren turned.

Vice Principal Nakamura stood at the front of the classroom with his reading glasses on, a stern expression carved from years of dealing with delinquents. He held a clipboard and a thermos of what was probably very strong coffee.

"Sit. Anywhere."

Ren chose a seat in the middle far from the Red Faction student, but not obviously avoiding him. He dropped his bag, sat down, pulled out his homework.

Nakamura closed the door with a definitive click.

"Rules are simple," he said, voice flat and authoritative.

"Silence. Homework only. No talking. No sleeping. No phones. If I catch you breaking any of these rules, you get an additional day of detention."

He sat at the teacher’s desk, opened a newspaper.

"You’re here until 6:00 PM. Not 5:59. Not 6:01. Exactly 6:00. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good."

The clock on the wall read 3:37 PM.

Two hours and twenty-three minutes until freedom.

Ren opened his math textbook and tried to focus on equations.

The clock ticked.

Much louder than usual in the silent room.

Ren worked through math problems. Numbers always seemed to make sense to him at least.

Always logical, solvable, unlike everything else in his life.

By 4:15 PM, his hand had cramped from writing. He switched to his English homework, a reading comprehension passage about a historical figure who’d overcome adversity.

"How fitting." He thought about his predicament.

Across the room, the Red Faction student was staring at him. Not constantly just occasional glances, enough to be noticed. Enough to unsettle him.

Ren kept his eyes on his work.

At 4:30 PM, Nakamura stood abruptly. "I need to step out. Five minutes. If anyone leaves this room, two more days added. Understood?"

The class murmured acknowledgments.

The door closed behind him.

Immediately, the atmosphere shifted. Students pulled out phones. Two in the back row started whispering.

The Red Faction student stood, walked over to Ren’s desk.

He leaned down, voice low enough that only Ren could hear. "Dead man walking."

Ren’s pen stopped moving. He looked up slowly.

The student smiled with no warmth, just teeth. "Hasegawa’s pet project. Everyone’s talking about you. Kaito’s little brother, playing gang member."

He tapped Ren’s desk twice.

"Red Faction doesn’t forget. And we don’t forgive. Hope you don’t pick the wrong side."

Then he walked back to his seat, sat down, pulled out his phone like nothing had happened.

Ren’s hands were shaking again. "Breathe. Just breathe. He’s trying to scare you."

But it was working. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Nakamura returned around 4:35 PM and the room fell silent again instantly.

Ren’s eyes kept drifting to the white armband under his sleeve. He could feel it there, constant reminder of the choice he’d made. "No going back now."

With fifteen minutes left for his first session. The tension in Ren’s shoulders began to become unbearable.

His homework was done—all of it, out of sheer need to stay focused on something.

He stared at the clock. Watched the second hand tick around the face.

Tick.

Tick.

Tick.

And once the clock’s minute hand clicked to twelve.

Nakamura looked up from his newspaper. "You’re dismissed. See you tomorrow, same time."

The chairs scraped. Bags grabbed. Students filed out quickly. Freedom tasted sweet after two and a half hours of silence.

Ren stood, muscles stiff from sitting. He grabbed his bag, headed for the door.

He looked back and the Red Faction student was already gone.

Ren burst through the school’s front entrance, legs pumping before he’d fully cleared the doors.

"REN!"

Shiinchiro was waiting at the gate, bouncing on his heels. "Took you long enough! Come on, we gotta move!"

They took off together, weaving through the after-school crowd of students heading home.

"HQ is in the old shopping district!" Shiinchiro called out, already breathing hard. "Fifteen minutes if we run!"

They cut through side streets, taking shortcuts Ren was still learning. Hanasakura District transformed at dusk, the soft glow of street lamps, businesses closing for the day.

At 6:13 PM, they went past Hanami Park. A few Kotekai bikers watched them run past but didn’t interfere.

"Why..." Shiinchiro gasped, "...am I...doing this?!"

"Because you’re a good friend!" Ren shouted back.

"That’s...not...why!" Shiinchiro pushed harder, catching up. "I’m doing this...because I want to...understand!"

"Understand what?!"

"What you’re...getting into!" Another breath.

Ren glanced at him. Shiinchiro’s face was red, lungs burning, but his expression was dead serious.

"Shiin..."

"Save it...for later!" He pointed ahead. "There! The arcade. "

The old shopping district came into view.

It was a relic from decades past, a covered arcade with shops that had closed years ago. Faded signs. Cracked pavement. But structurally sound, and most importantly, abandoned enough for privacy.

Ren and Shiinchiro skidded to a stop at the entrance, both gasping for air.

The arcade stretched ahead, dim and atmospheric.

And at the far end, figures waiting in shadow.

"Made it," Ren breathed.

Shiinchiro bent over, hands on knees. "Never... again..."

Ren straightened, adjusted his bag, touched the white armband under his sleeve. "Here we go."

He took a step forward.

"Hey, Ren?"

He stopped, looked back.

Shiinchiro was still catching his breath, but his eyes were serious. Determined.

"Whatever happens in there... I’m not just the guy who guides you, okay?" He straightened up. "I’m the guy who decides if this is something worth joining."

Ren’s stomach dropped. "Shiin, you can’t be serious..."

"I told you. I make my own decisions." Shiinchiro walked past him toward the arcade entrance. "Now come on. You’re the one who’s late."

For a moment, Ren just stood there.

Then Fubuki’s words from lunch echoed in his head.

"I don’t know. Are you?"

Damn it, Shiin.

They walked forward into the arcade together.