[SFW]

There were few things in life that could well and truly make the young Alice Grimwald utterly furious. Her Mother was one of them, constantly staying away from her life and earning her ire with the love she showered her brother in. Her brother showing attention towards somebody else that wasn’t her, that was another thing that she couldn’t stand.

But the thing that would tick her off beyond anything else, would be seeing her brother hurt by a hand that wasn’t hers. The second she spotted a bruise on his cheek and understood that his grades had been dragging, she interrogated him and asked about who could’ve done this to him. After he asked her to calm down since “it wasn’t that serious”, he explained that the one who had been doing this to him was a boy by the name of Tarou.

Thanking her dearest brother for his time, after then helping him work his way through his homework and showing a bit of care towards the bruises he had accumulated, she set her sights on the boy who had harmed the boy he held nearest and dearest to her heart.

Her first task came in the form of investigating the boy for everything that might be useful. Something that she could use to get under his skin and pay him back for what he had done. Getting his official records from the school wasn’t an issue as she could just coerce her gym teacher, who she had a close relationship with, to get them for her. Once she had them in her hands, filtering through them would be the next step.

Pages upon pages of official documents that were buried underneath a mountain of legalese later, and she finally found something she could use. She found the young man’s personal spending account, which had been noted down to ensure that the school had an idea of how much he was spending. Due to the prestige of the school, a financial check like this was necessary every few months.

Upon further investigations and cross comparing receipts stored on his account, the young pink-haired mastermind with a grudge noticed a pattern. Every other sunday, he had spent money on some sort of feminine website. Whether it was for makeup, clothing, singing lessons, a variety of things that a natural born delinquent wouldn’t be worried about unless they either had a girlfriend, or…

“...So that’s the game he’s playing.” Alice muttered to herself as she printed out a picture, pocketing it after staring at it with a mild sense of intrigue in her eyes. It made her crack a slight yet noticable smile, almost feeling nostalgic when she looked at it.

Her next step after that was an easy affair, as she picked up an ink pen and got to work…

---

A few days later, the young lass found herself on top of the school’s rooftop, watching the dark clouds above. How awfully fitting, considering what would no doubt be coming up. After everything she had researched about the bully that had bothered her brother, she almost felt sorry for what she was about to do. Almost. Her cold, selfish heart wouldn’t allow her to feel any kind of pity for somebody that hurt her brother…

“What’s the meaning of this?” She heard a voice cry out from the other end of the rooftop, prompting the girl to turn towards the source with a neutral expression on her face. “Is this your doing, girl?” The voice asked as it got closer, letting the mastermind get a good look at them.

Standing a foot or two taller than the girl was a young man with a tan and long, silky black hair. His build was reasonably lean compared to the short and thin one that she had. Combine that with a look in his eyes that seemed to be a mixture of befuddled and curious, and there was only one person he could possibly. He even matched the bully’s physical description in the papers she had gotten.

“Matsugane Tarou, I take it.” Alice spoke up, ignoring his questions as she held her hands behind her back. “You received my letter, yes?” An air of dignity hung around her head as she spoke, something she was known for. The air that served to silence anybody that would criticize her…

Tarou shifted his eyes a little. “Yeah, I got it.” He muttered as he pulled it out, seemingly pristine. Upon closer inspection, he had actually opened it, but he had sealed it back up as neatly as it had been packaged. “Who’re you anyway, sending me a letter like this? Asking me if I’ve been keeping on top of things? What are you, my mom?” His words were slowly growing agitated, her presence annoying him more than anything.

“I was merely wondering what kind of home situation you have.” The light-pink haired girl replied as she brushed the locks of hair on her head aside slightly, her expression turning smug in the process. “Because I don’t see the kind of boy that would willingly go out of his way to bully somebody weaker than him in your files. What are you doing, beating up a boy who hasn’t earned your ire?”

This made the black-haired boy twitch, a vein visibly growing strained on his hand. “Oi. Who the hell are you? You trying to be a shrink? I ain’t taking that, no way.” He spat at the ground, walking closer. “You’re smaller than me too, what makes you think that I won’t hurt you like I hurt them?”

“You’re weak, Matsugane. That’s why you won’t.” Alice replied with an edge of mockery to her voice. “You’d only hurt somebody that you knew you could bully, because you’ve got something within you that compels you to strike out when you’re insecure of yourself. It just so happened that my Brother, Albert, was the closest one to you when you had your last incident.”

Tarou’s eye twitched as he dug his well-done nails into his palm, drawing just a little bit of blood. “You’re that bastard’s sister? You’re even smaller than he is! Please, gimme a reason not to smash you for what he did!” He was tipping over the edge, the fury in his eyes burning bright…

“You won’t be able to.” The younger girl replied as she shifted her stance, bringing her fists out as she prepared for the boy to strike first. “You’re going to tell me what he told you, what drove him to trigger your insecurity. Once I hear it from you, I’ll dish back everything you did to him!”

The taller boy grit his teeth as he threw his fist forward, aiming to land it straight on the smug girl’s face. Not that it made the impact he predicted, as the girl swerved around his arm and delivered a punch to his side in return. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as his punch would’ve hurt her, but it was still a blow he could’ve avoided if he just kept his head cool.

“Gh… You think you know what’s wrong with me!? You don’t know me, you don’t know anything about me!” Tarou shouted as he threw another punch, only to sweep with his arm in the direction of the girl’s dodge this time. Yet again, she dodged around it and landed a punch in the exact same spot, leaving him with another bout of pain.

Alice stroked her upper lip slightly as she started grinning, her expression taking on a thirstier look thanks to her own fire lighting up. “I know what’s wrong with you, I’ve seen this behavior before!” She laughed as she weaved around the punches he threw out, seeing them coming from a mile away. “They’re the desperate behavior of a boy who doesn’t know his inner self!”

“PISS OFF!” He shouted straight back at her as he tried to intercept her approach with a knee to the face, only to barely graze her cheek and receive a punch to the hip instead. “I’M GETTING REAL SICK OF YOUR SHIT, BITCH!” His language and articulate speech was failing him as his anger boiled over, his fury focused on the girl in front of him…

The light-pink haired girl continued laughing at him as she weaved out and around his blows, mocking him with the deftness of her movements. “You’re a pitiful excuse for a boy, you know? Always acting out whenever questioned, never asking people for help when they offer you the olive branch! You have a lot of infractions on your record for that exact reason, and if they held you back a year like they intended, they would’ve likely suffered physical trauma at your hands! What do you have to say for your vile behavior, Matsugane?”

“SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!” He refused to listen to her as he screamed over her, every blow being thrown out with increased intensity as a result. He wanted her gone, he wanted her to disappear from his line of sight and let him clear his head. No matter the cost.

As she kept on dodging, her breathing was getting a little labored. ‘Curse this underdeveloped body of mine, this is what keeps me from the damned championship, and now it causes me troubles here too..!?’ Alice thought to herself before weaving around another punch, clearing her throat as she kept up the mockery. “What did my brother do to trigger your issues, Matsugane? Tell me, I want to know before I knock your teeth in!”

“HE ASKED ME IF I NEEDED HELP, AND HE DIDN’T WANT TO TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!” Tarou shouted back at the bitch that was causing him so much trouble, his fists continuing to briefly scrape by her body as she grew ever so slightly slower. “WHY WOULDN’T HE JUST PISS OFF!? HE GOT HIS CUTE FACE HURT FOR A REASON, AND NOW YOU’RE ON MY ASS LIKE IT’S MY FAULT!”

There it was. The real reason her brother had been harmed. And just like she thought, it was connected to a deeper rooted issue. “Listen to the words you’re saying, you bullheaded idiot!” The light-pink haired girl shouted back at him as she weaved around another punch, this time putting her back into it as she smashed her knuckle into his stomach to knock him ever so slightly backward…

He stumbled back, clutching his stomach with one hand as he started catching his breath, sweat running down his face. “What… What the hell are you talking about…” He gasped, panting as his sight wavered, making it look like there were two of Alice as she approached him.

“Listen to the words that you use to describe my Brother, Matsugane.” The girl said again as a raindrop brushed against her cheek, the dark skies above finally giving way as the emotions in the air reflected the current weather. “You care about him. Whether you want to admit it or not.”

Tarou twitched as he clenched his fist once more, a droplet of blood joining the water pouring down aroudn him. “I don’t care about him! I want him out of my life! I want nothing to do with him, I don’t want to look at his pretty face and think he… think…” His words were starting to reach through his head, his expression wavering bit by bit.

“You’re listening. Good, you’re not as meatheaded as I thought you were.” Alice muttered as she got back into her stance, hopping from left to right a little. “Admit it, Matsugane! You laid your eyes upon him, and because you didn’t want to lose your image despite the love blooming in your heart, you had to push him away and continue down the path of delinquency you’ve chosen!” She shouted, provoking him once more. He wouldn’t be able to accept it immediately, but it was the only way forward. Otherwise, he’d be stuck in this rut until the day he died.

Unfortunately, this time her words did manage to send him over the edge. Perhaps more so than she had intended. “I DON’T LOVE HIM, AND YOU’RE NOT GOING TO TELL ME I DO!” He shouted at the tip of his lungs before he charged straight forward, his fist aimed square at her face.

Yet again, he was going on the fumes of his anger. It wouldn’t last, and he’d just end up inflicting more pain on himself than on her. She shrugged her shoulders and bounced back and forth, waving her head around his fist as she aimed for his face this time, delivering as much force as she could muster…

Only for him to catch her when she finally let her guard down. Alice’s expression froze as she saw the fist coming towards her, having forgotten all about the other arm. She mentally steeled herself for what came next, as both of their attack made their mark.

The light-pink haired girl was flung across the rooftop from that blow, knocked straight into the fence that kept her from flying any further. She could feel the pain stinging across her expression, and anger welling up from within as she looked forward…

Her opponent was standing there in the rain, weakly swaying back and forth as he covered up his eye. She had nearly caused a more fatal injury than she probably would’ve liked, but in the end he wasn’t overly harmed. Just exhausted, with the final push into nearly passing out caused by the Cross Counter. He collapsed onto his knees, the water soaking into his clothes and keeping him pinned…

The rain just kept pouring down around them, capturing the turmoil filled within the boy who had launched the girl across the roof. Pure sadness burying a respectable desire underneath it all. Even more so as tears started streaming out of the boy’s eyes, sniffling as he realized what he had just done…

“Are… Are you done now, you horrid, horrid bitch..?” He asked nobody in particular, refusing to look up and see if the girl was still trying to harass him. That single strong blow was everything he wanted to do to her, and his anger was starting to pour out. In fact, his rage was manifesting in those tears, his body shivering from the cold overwhelming him.

Unfortunately for young Tarou, the steps that were being taken towards him indicated that a certain girl definitely wasn’t done. “You think… All it takes to get rid of me... is a stupid punch to the face?” Alice was doing her best to suppress her anger at being struck, even despite the blood running down her face from her nose. “I’m more durable than that, you confused piece of work…”

“Yeah yeah…” The boy muttered as he let the water wash across him, not even bothering to talk back. Talking to a menace and a torturer her wouldn’t be worht it. She’d just try to psychoanalyse him again and she’d rile him up and they’d be back at square one. “Just leave me alone. I don’t want to hear anything from you. You’ll just give me another headache.”

The light-pink haired girl scoffed as she held out her hand, offering it to the boy stuck in his overly soaked clothes. “Get up. You look pathetic when you’re letting your issues dictate the way your life should go.” She stated, ignoring the fact that he had struck her and that she rightfully had a reason to stay pissed at him.

“What are you…” He muttered as he slowly looked up at her, the rain falling down on the two slowly coming to an end as the last few droplets hit the puddles around them.

Alice put on a smile, for once one that didn’t radiate smug. Something about slugging it out with somebody always managed to put a smile on that twisted face of hers, a genuine one without any malice in i. “I’m going to help you, whether you want it or not. Like my Brother wanted to.” She explained as she reached into her sleeve and pulled out a picture, chuckling a little as her mood had improved.

“That…” Tarou muttered as she showed him the picture, only for his cheeks to flush red. “That wasn’t supposed to be public. It was my secret, my…” He muttered, his own rage having trouble igniting now that she knew something he tried to keep hidden to the rest of the world around him.

She just smiled in return, pocketing the picture as she continued offering her hand. “Matsugane… No, Sachi-chan. That’s what you call yourself when you show off on the web, isn’t it?” The smug little girl kept her head cool and her voice smooth as she spoke. “I want to help you realize your full potential as a girl. And apologize to my brother for lashing out at him, when you’ve clearly got a crush on his bright smile.”

The boy, no, the gender-confused youth looked up at their newly found rival as they reached to grab her hand. “You better not be playing me with this, girl…” They muttered a little meekly as they got back on their feet, the skies above clearing up in response to his emotions being tidied up…

“As long as you show the resolve to change and be everything you could be, I’m going to help you every step of the way.” Alice replied. “And, the name’s Alice. Keep it close to your heart, Sachi.” She concluded, gripping her new friend’s hand as tightly as she could.

Sachi cracked a little smile of their own as they nodded, wiping away a couple of tears from their cheeks. The bitch in front had managed to match them blow for blow, which earned her some sort of respect from the youth. Now, it was time to listen to her and see if she actually could keep her word.

Thus, the youth started to shed the skin of a bully, ready to take on the task of becoming a beautiful butterfly...