Ladies and Gentlemen, the revision and adaptation of "Get Laid Out", a Baki the Grappler fanfic love story.

I found this really fun and interesting fanfic a few months ago, which was a Baki the Grappler love story. However, it hasn't been updated since 2013. With no new content in sight, I decided to take up the mantle on "Get Laid Flat". Here's my own adaptation and continuation, "Knock You Down!"

Disclaimer: I do not own Baki the Grappler, nor the characters from this franchise. Nor do I own Kala-Warrior's Original Characters, though they may be changed from their original trajectories you might be able to see in the two chapters available.

Kala-Warrior18 OC Characters: Names and Meanings

Main Character—Anna Takeyama- "Grace/favor," "high mountain"

Yoshinori Okamoto- "correct rule/law," "hill true"; Nickname: "Yoshi"

Hyousuke Okamoto- "Helpful soldier," "in front of rice field"; Nickname: "Yuudai Jr," –"big/great/large hero"

Mr. Ahiru- "Mr. Duck"

Titled: "Knock You Down" is the title of the track that plays during the boss fight against Giga Queen in"DELTARUNE : Chapter 2".

This is a Baki Hanma x OC story. Read, enjoy and review! Please read all of it because it is a "revision." :D

Chapter 1: To the Moon and Back

All for freedom and for pleasure..

.
Nothin ever lasts forever...

.
Everybody wants to rule the -

"Anna Takeyama." A stern, whiny voice pierced through the music.

A girl of thirteen with long brown hair and blue eyes that shielded behind a thick pair of purple-framed reading glasses looked up from her desk to the teacher, who stood beside her with disappointment and expectation written across his face.
'Oops. Caught.'

"Miss Takeyama, although you are one of my top students, that does not make you exempt from the Class rules everyone agree to. Now pass the player over." He held his hand out to her, a confiscating gesture for said item. Some students began to snicker at her misfortune and their teacher's scolding comment.

Anna sighed, taking the ear plugs out then handing her beloved treasure to the pirated fiend, Mr. Ahiru.

Mr. Ahiru smiled a thin, wry smile which drew across his stuffy face as he crammed her IPod in one of his pants pockets, a doomed and seemingly bottomless vault where taken tech vanishes without a trace.

'Eww.. do I even want it back now? and what was he smiling for?' Anna thought to herself.

"Thank you and now that I have your attention, again." He said as he walked back to the front of the class, "Please solve these first three problems on the board, Anna. Give everyone an example."

Placing an elbow on the desk and her chin in her hand, she stared at the chalkboard for a second. A bored expression filled her face and voice with an untrying tone.
"45%, (38)67, and 78." She answered before looking down at her paper of today's assignment, already done and ready to be graded with an A.
As usual.

She heard Mr. Ahiru make a puzzled hum, then after saying she was correct "as always," he returned back to teaching the lesson for the other students, who whispered unintelligently that she was a "Teacher's pet" or "Know-it-all."
She didn't care about such comments. Being a suck-up, teacher's pet, what have you. Certainly was better than being a bum who copies answers and barely scrapes by without any ambitions beyond next week.

Anna began to ignore the hustle of the classroom around her. She had completed the tasks Mr. Ahiru had given on the board half an hour ago, all twenty of them. Whilst her fellow classmates struggled to race and complete the board - so they could leave this class without any homework, Anna was busy honing another skill. She flipped through a withered little sketchbook, spinning a pencil haphazardly in her left hand as she scanned through her progress. The book was filled with oodles of messed up looking faces, places and landscapes. She stopped at the first empty page. A flower took up the leaf on the left, but the right hand one was blank. She smiled in self-satisfaction as she began to absent-mindedly scribble lines here and there. A perfect paradise where this sketch could slowly become anything, evolving with each graphite stroke.
Suddenly, a whiny voice decided to split through Anna's serenity once more.

"Baki Hanma!" Ahiru barked.

'Here we go again..' Anna thought in light amusement, turning in her seat just in time to witness the dozing boy jolt up from his slumber and fall to the floor, followed by a wave of laughter of peers after impact. Anna remained silent, studying the class room with a still face.

"I hope you were dreaming about the Algorithm lesson today, Mr. Hanma." Ahiru jabbed at the young man's already shattered dignity.

Baki was soon back in his seat, scratching the back of his head with a goofy nervous smile, "Of course, Mr. Duck- Uh sorry. I mean. Ahiru." He corrected quickly, giggling nervously.

Everyone, except Anna, laughed harder at his misspoken words; it didn't matter to them if he did it on purpose or by accident. It was an insult to Ahiru when referring his name to the English word "duck" and his punishments were so severe, a student never made the mistake again.
"Seems you've mixed up your English class an your basic Japanese manners, young man!" Ahiru yelled, but his voice barely stuck out among the loud classroom. The teacher blew a loud whistle, which silenced the class immediately.

Anna shook her head and turned back into her seat, head in her hand, 'This guy just continues to dig his own grave.'

Mr. Ahiru kept his irritated glare locked on Baki. "Well, Mr. Hanma, let's hope that you can 'stay up' during the rest of today's school hours AND Saturday's—during your detention you just earned."

Everyone snickered, again then settled down as the lesson carried on.

Anna went back to continue her drawings but her mind was preoccupied as she wondered quietly about that boy - Baki Hanma. A name wreathed in mystery.

Baki Hanma was just…odd; at least to Anna. He was thirteen-years-old with red hair, wine colored eyes, and was very heavily built. Especially for a guy his age. He was pretty short too, but still a head taller than Anna. Sometimes he came to school late with bruises, cuts and bandages on his body and slept in every class everyday; and apparently, all the school bullies hated him. It wouldn't be a surprise if he were failing all of his classes. That is besides Gym of course, which is well known he excelled at.

Baki didn't just excel at Gym class, it was said he was a master of physical fitness; he could bench more, run farther, faster, and was more flexible than all of the other students combined. No matter what the boys' coach gave him, he never complained. He just did it.

She turned to steal a glance at Baki, sat two seats behind her in the next row of desks in the back corner of the room. He was once again staring out the window, lost to the world, his muscular forearm bulging from his rolled up sleeve as he was leaning his head against the palm of his hand, his elbow straight against the table-top. Anna couldn't quite look away though. She hadn't taken much notice of this problem student before now. But here, the guy seemed to stand out as if he was the most imposing one in the room. His jaw was sharp, but gentle too. His cheeks full but his eyes were narrow. His eyelashes were elegant and dispersed the light to twinkles around each lash, and his lips were full and effeminate. He had no blemish on his smooth face, save for that small beauty mark just above the left corner of his lip.
How come she never seen his beauty mark on his cheek till now? He was actually really... He wasn't really just handsome - He was beautiful. Suddenly, he glanced up from his own world, wine red eyes looking right over at Anna.
'AGH! Stop looking! Look away!'
She sharply turned back to her sketch book to advert her gaze (and hopefully her thoughts) from the red-headed individual, only to silently gasp in surprise.

Her hand must have taken a mind of its own because right on paper was a very rough portrait of Baki Hanma; indentifiable by the short scruffy hair she had scribbled or the tiny beauty mark she had drawn in the exact same place. From an artistic standpoint, it was terrible. She was even more quietly humiliated and immediately slammed the book closed, completely flabbergasted and embarrassed. What was worse than accidentally drawing someone from her class, that it had to be someone she barely took notice of; yet, her heart was beating 90 miles per second possibly trying to escape through her ribcage!

As much as she wanted the world to continue without her for 5 minutes, she felt a sudden tap on her shoulder from the back. It felt like folded paper.

Anna deceivably yawned and reached behind her, acting like she was rubbing her neck from exhaustion but grabbed the paper instead and then brought it to her desk. Mr. Ahiru hadn't notice anything. In fact he was too busy tapping away at his desk laptop.

She opened the paper. It was a note of course. Chicken scratch handwriting was the staple of her younger brother, Hyosouke. He had signed it off with part of his nickname.
Find something interesting? :) -Jr.

One of Anna's eyebrow rose before writing down her own reply and passing it down at her sides. Mr. Ahiru was too fascinated by the problems on the board to acknowledge his class's attention was out the window.

What are you talking about? She hung her arm behind her, offering the note out. It was taken.

Then, a slight nudge to her arm that was hanging at her side and she grabbed the note then unfolded it.
Baki?

Anna felt a sudden wave of slight embarrassment skip across her heart. Baki. The rough delinquent, who no doubt got into fights with the other good-for-nothings around here everyday. Flunked and slept in classes. Of course, Takeyama, why would you even dream of him even in a million years? Her stomach squirmed, because she just could not quite stop thinking about him.
'Perhaps if he went on dates with me, I could get him to see why he can be a better person... We can go to the library together every day on cute dates-'

Anna sharply turned her gaze to her desk, where her closed sketchbook lay with the mechanical pencil strewn across the top of it.
Cute? She never thought he was cute before. Come to think of it, she NEVER thought a boy was cute! She looked from the corner of her eye to see if he was still looking. He wasn't, he was staring back at Ahiru, at least pretending to focus on the lesson.

Anna sighed a little before writing back to Yuudai Jr.
It's nothing.

Should I get Yoshi? Was the reply.

Her pencil quickly scratched across the paper before she carelessly jabbed it back to her brother.
No! Never involve him!

Alright, sorry. :(

She felt guilty now at her brashness. What would a big idiot get about such a strange and mysterious feeling?
Was just daydreaming. She wrote back on the creased up piece of paper, rushing to return it to the desk behind her as Ahiru peered over the lid of his laptop, leering eyes sweeping the classroom like a panopticon. Anna quickly received a reply.

Daydreaming about Baki? ;)

'Wow. He bounced back fast.' She thought dryly. She was slightly annoyed but scribbled her reply.
LOL. Yoshi would be MAD.
The paper returned between Anna's fingers very quickly.

He'd be furious.. Am done with classwork. Should I call mama and papa at lunch that you're working 2nite?

Yes, thx

K. By the way, BBQ Pork and Egg Dumplings are on menu, right?

The space on the page was running out. She drew a smiley face of finality before slipping the paper one last time to the soft, sausage fingers waiting behind her one last time.

Anna smiled, wondering if Hyousuke might manage to make himself sick from eating too much again. After that conversation, she didn't feel so bad about temporarily losing her IPod or being embarrassed about starring at Baki. Speaking of Baki…

Anna slowly looked over her shoulder, seeing that he was now staring out the window on his other side. His eyes were narrowed and fierce, his lips set into a thin line, and his body was tense; he seemed deeply in thought like if he focused hard enough, he could conjure up some sort of enemy in real life.

'He shouldn't frown like that... It ruins his perfect face...' she thought to herself before going back to her own little world.

…

..

.

Anna followed other students up one more flight of steps before opening the door to the school's roof top. It was lunch time and most of the students went there or into the schoolyard to eat. A large statue of a Greek warrior rearing his fists at the sky, stood proudly at the precipice of the rooftop. It made the school iconic. The steps at this monument were a popular place for students to gather.

On the rooftop some students stood against the walls around the door, most sat in the middle of the floor and others stood next to the railings, gawking gormlessly out to the magnificent view that was the megacity Tokyo off in the near distance, whilst wind played about their flowing hair.

"Anna!"

Anna looked to see a smiling plump boy with short spiky chestnut red hair and a basic boy's uniform on, sitting on the floor with containers and wrappers of food surrounding him, his back resting on the bars of the railing with a bowl of food in one hand and the other waving at her. Another boy with the same uniform, who was tall, lean, with black hair and glasses, sat behind him on the railing with his nose in a leather-bound book, one of his legs was curled up towards him on the rail and the other on the outside of the railings edge.

Anna smiled, too, and strolled over to join them.
"Jr., Yoshi, how are my favorite brothers doing in this lovely little establishment." She asked sarcastically, sitting down on her knees with her skirt folded around her lap and her book-bag placed by her side.

Hyousuke giggled like a schoolgirl, with specks of barbecue sauce around his mouth. "Wonderful! I couldn't think of a better place to be." He retorted just as sarcastic as her.

"How about we pay some respect." Yoshi muttered, turning another page in his book.

"Well, there's French in 30 minutes. Should we respect her majesty Madame Cessaunt?" Anna answered helpfully, smiling oh-so sweetly at Yoshi.

Both Jr. and Anna laughed while Yoshi stayed silent, eyes engrossed in his readings, a smile ghosting on his dry and cracked lips. It was silent for a moment, and Anna thought over a few things while eating her lunch, mainly the two boys in front of her.

Hyousuke Okamoto "Jr." and Yoshinori Okamoto "Yoshi" were her comrades and family. Found family. Although not blood related with each other, they lived under her Godparent's roof and treated her like the sister they never had. They were like brothers she never had.

Hyousuke Okamoto was just turned 13, younger than Anna by a few months, had green eyes, was not very bright and as big as three athletic teenage boys; the school had some difficulty finding a uniform size in stock for him because of his weight and size. His bulging physique made him seem weak and unfit, but according to Hyousuke Science, it was actually compact muscle that could put Sumo warriors to shame. He loved American "WWE" wrestling and watched matches religiously.

His signature belief was that food was the soul and strength for all fighters; sometimes he even said once
"The more you eat, the bigger your body and your strength becomes! Because of the energy of life within the food!"
Occasionally though, Hyousuke crossed the line between enjoyment and gluttony, causing him to suffer regular indigestion. Overall, he had that personality you couldn't refuse or be mad at because he was so helpful and caring.

Now Yoshinori Okamoto was the total, complete opposite of Hyousuke.

Yoshinori was 15, a grade higher than them both, a mastermind and took everything seriously. At 5'8" (compared to Hyousuke's 5'5" and Anna's 5'2"), he was a bit taller than other students even for the sophomores. His facial features were sharp like a hawk when looking for prey and his black eyes saw through and judged everything in sight, along with his black thinly-rimmed, rectangular framed glasses he wore. His chestnut red hair was long in front, with bangs bordering his sly face; whilst at the back it was short and undercut, giving his features more of an intense, powering and feminine look. Yoshinori was a little bit of a snob and a dandy, silently and sometimes not so silently proclaiming that it was he who was the leader to their small group. He followed every rule and studied everything to the last period or detail and could recite or perform it the next minute. Though he mostly kept to himself studying, he'd never missed a chance to correct someone or criticize them; and most times, his opinions or answers were cruel and sharp-to-the-point.

All in all, Hyousuke and Anna decided Yoshinori's icy-cold attitude was just a cover for a real stand-up guy who really cared about the people close to him and wished for them to improve on themselves.

Yoshi looked over the top of his book before turning back to the pages. "Anna, you're still wearing your glasses."

Or maybe, Hyousuke and Anna imagined he cared in his own odd way; delusional, yes.

Anna sighed, "Yoshi, I can wear them to the end of school." But was reluctant to argue with her older brother, slipping her glasses from her nose and into her bookbag beside her.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." Jr. agreed, stuffing his last pork rib into his mouth.

"It IS a 'big deal.' Her glasses should only be used for reading only, as were the doctor's orders, using them for long periods of time other than what was prescribed will lead to more unnecessary and unavoidable damage to the retinas." Yoshi argued, swinging his leg off the ledge and over to their side now, closing his book and pushing his glasses back up his nose with a pointed finger.

Jr. looked up at him dumbfounded. "Retinas?"

"It's what allows conscious light perception and vision of the eyes."
Hyousuke seemed to still not get the picture. Yoshinori groaned, rolling his eyes and slapping his book shut over the improvised bookmark which was his finger stuck in the crook between pages.
"The bit at the back of your eyeball, Yuudai."
"Ahhh. Well you should have just said that."

Anna dismissed the rant with a wave of her hand.
"Yoshi, I'm fine. Perfect vision, perfect grades, etcetera, and etcetera. I can solve my own problems. You don't always have to save me, you know." She said, reassuringly

Yes, Yoshinori Okamoto had a habit of checking-up on her from time to time whether it was school, chores.. He was an overprotective older brother. Anna was grateful for it. With the defense of the Okamoto brothers

"Not even from…Baki Hanma?" Hyousuke said, leering at Anna with a mischievous grin. Anna gasped suddenly, then felt her heart drop and her face heat up.

Yoshinori's eyes targeted at her like missiles, with one eyebrow up for questioning.
"That delinquent?"

Anna was too shocked to answer at first, agitation firing up within her.

"You told!" She snapped at Hyousuke, causing a few nearby students to glance their way.

Jr.'s face dropped, his bottom lip puckering out a little and his eyes became watery and guilt ridden, like a puppy's.
"I'm sorry, Anna. It just came out. I wasn't thinking."

After glaring at other students for listening to their conversation till they turned away, Yoshi returned his attention to them.
"Actually, some false accusations were flowing around the student body..." His expression gained a different kind warmth and worry to it, "so if he's bothering you, please let us know. An idiot like Hanma should be put in his right place."

Anna sighed in irritation.
"Look the both of you," She began, waving a hand out to them in emphasis, "There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, going on between Hanma and me. I was daydreaming, and he happened to be staring at me, which freaked me out!"

Anna breathed in deeply after her rant, waiting for her brothers to believe her lie.

Hyousuke smiled and without thought took her word for an "If you say so!" And started eating, again.

"Hmm," Yoshi began taking her story into consideration before shrugging his shoulders, "I'll need to have a little chat with Hanma. Get him to stay away from you." He smiled thinly.
"Not necessary." Anna said.
Yoshi did not respond. The three prepared themselves, did away with their trash and began to mill alongside the crowding students, slowly filtering from the rooftop through little green doors which entered back into the school building.

Walking along behind the two, Anna suppressed a quiet sigh of relief. Her small blip earlier today had gone unnoticed. Baki was just - bothering her. Yeah. He was.

When Yoshi opened the door, the bell rang a deafening metal racket, signifying the next hour class. It sometimes amazed and disturbed Anna how he knew to time everything so well, as though his life could flow like clockwork

"Anna, could you help me, please?" big Yuudai Jr. asked as his trash spilled across the floor, several students cursing as it caused a holdup in their ability to get to class on time. Instead of stopping or helping, the crowds diverged and marched around as best they could.

Anna started picking up a few wrappers, letting out a frustrated yelp as the wind came and plucked some of the plastic in its grip, skittering it across the rooftop, away from the people and behind the little building housing the stairs, where some stranger seemed to be sat on the ground, his back against the bars of the fence.
"Hyousuke!?" Anna called out, looking around. All the other students seemed to have vanished, however. Jr. would've been dragged along with them.
Anna returned her gaze to the stranger, two pieces of rubbish in hand as she instinctively approached him, trying to make out who exactly it was.

It was Baki Hanma, picking-up his own hands-full of containers and wrappers, occasionally cursing as he dropped a few here and there.

Against all better judgement, she kept walking towards him. One foot fell in front of the other in an absent-minded march.

As she crossed the short distance between them, Anna's mind went into over-drive. 'What am I doing? This is not like me! Well, I'm just helping out a fellow student, right? Right! Besides, he probably doesn't even remember me staring at him.. He probably doesn't even know my name, either. So there's no need to get worked-up, I'm just- No this is stupid, I need to go to class.'
Anna began to turn, but Baki looked right up at her from where he was crouched on the floor. She froze in place

"H-Hey, you need any help..?" She uttered a broken question, standing over his hunched over body, arms stiff by her sides.

Baki took a quick glance at her before continuing his task. "Sure thing, Anna."
Anna was fazed for a moment before getting down and collecting trash as well.
"You know my name?"
"Sure I do.." Baki had finished picking up all the trash, and he compacted it with his hands until it became little more than the size of a dodgeball. It crunched and crinkled loudly as he held it up in one hand, bouncing it up and down with a smart smirk playing across his face.
Anna frowned crossly and she itched the bridge of her nose.
"Don't show off in front of me, Hanma!" She scolded hotly.
He just shrugged and shook his head.

"Why were you staring at me in class, Anna?" Baki asked
Anna jerked her head up at Baki, caught off guard by the question. "Huh?"
"After Mr. Duck yelled at me in class, you were staring at me like I was the strangest thing on Earth... It was kinda weird." He accused, finishing it by looking back at her, a dumb simper played on his face.

She didn't know what to say, stuttering for words to come out as she blinked rapidly at him. He must've thought it was some kind of terrible attempt at Morse code. If he even knew what Morse code was!

She locked with his eyes. They were bold, unflinching, irises a wine red that was so deep and vast, like an ocean, she wondered if it ever ended. There was something behind them she could tell as she studied them. They were passionate, and held a lot of deep hurt. His eyes flittered away and the moment ended as it began.

"There you go staring at me, again." Baki taunted, sounding cocky. He began to walk past her, and she felt a tug pulling her to tag along.
"Hanma." He stopped, half turned to her, "I.. I was only staring at you because... Because I was daydreaming!"

That sounded really bad and she immediately wished she could take it back.

He chuckled. "About what?"
The wrapper crumpled in her fists. Obviously, Baki had caught onto her. He'd probably start laughing in her face at any moment! Anna decided to come up with a lie very quickly.

"I was wondering... When Mr. Ahiru would give me my IPod back!.. Yeah, this is the third time he's taken it this week, you know." The excuse past her lips softly.

"Oh… I see.. I don't see why you need to listen to music to study anyway, when you're so smart."

It returned to awkward silence, again. Baki kicked the floor, scuffing his shoe against the concrete, which made a dull thud in the ground.

Baki took his ball of trash over to the little disposal unit across the rooftop. When throwing her share of trash, Anna felt she just absolutely had to break the tension between them, feeling guilty of her brashness.

"Did you actually eat all of that food?" she asked looking at him, who was resting one of his forearms on the top of the lid.

Baki looked away, using his other to scratch the back of his neck. "Ah.. yeah. I kinda have a big appetite."
Anna thought it was so cute how embarrassed Baki was and with trying to hide his small blush.
"You're not fat or anything, you know. You're really fit. And healthy."
Baki nodded. A few grey clouds slipped by overhead.
"I try."

"I should say. It looks-like you could rival Hyousuke in an eating contest. A hah" Anna said, hands clasped behind her back after adjusting her skirt awkwardly.
He itched his chin, looking at her confused.
"Hyousuke? I don't know him."

"OH," Anna replied, seeing the mistake she made, "My apologies. He's one of my brothers, he sits behind me in Algorithm. Chestnut hair?" she answered, giving him a hint with the hair color. Immediately, she saw the recognition glint on his face.

"Oh, you mean the big guy." He said, innocently, making a circle gesture with his arms.

"Baki!" Anna snapped, "that's my brother you're talking about!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be insulting." He said genuinely though smiling anyway. Even taking a slight bow towards me.
Anna seemed genuinely surprised by the apology. She took a slight step back and her eyes widened a little.
"Oh, uh, it's not a big deal. Just don't let him catch you making fun of him like that... He's-"

Baki raised an eyebrow like a little chastising could be considered bad or odd, especially with Hyousuke's size. "Sensitive?"

"Well," She said trying to put in the best of words so he could understand. "Sort of. He's got a short fuse; and let's just say, he really can throw his weight around."

Baki smirked, as if it were a challenge, "I have no doubts about that."
Anna leaned against the wall, since the trash bin was on the side by the stairwell, her hands behind her back and her legs crossed over the other. Her hair floated in the breeze, strands flicking against her face which she fought to brush back.
"So Baki, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Turning her head to look at him and trying to make light conversation.

Baki shook his head, now having both his forearms crossed on the trash bin as he leaned against it. "Nah, sounds like a chore anyway."

"What about your folks? What are they like?" She asked, not knowing how much that question affected him till now. Baki had frowned, quickly and feverishly glancing around, whilst his body tensed up immediately, as if he were prepared to defend himself at any second from the mere mention of his parents.

"Look, Anna, you should be getting to class right?" He said suddenly. He took a step towards her; his large, gentle hand placed warmly yet firmly around Anna's right shoulder as he guided her away, "you don't wanna know about it. Okay?" He then added.

Anna jumped as she felt the strong grasp of this boy's hand literally pushing her away from him. She took a few steps back and made quiet apologies. The boy looked at her with a slight scorn in his eyes, a face completely removed from the delinquency she'd known him for. He was vulnerable - scared even. Anna Takeyama felt her heart skip a beat, and all she wanted to do was reach out and put her hand on his shoulder in turn. There was a mystery at the bottom of Baki Hanma. This boy was in need of help. But, there was nothing she could do.

"Oh, okay then.." She replied, solemnly, retracting from the boy.
'Surely he's able to handle himself.. Right?'

Then the bell rang a second time, causing both students to stare at it surprised. Anna gasped, the 10 minutes to reach each classroom after lunch was up and she was late!

Anna pushed away from the wall, running away from Baki, who watched her bewilderment,
"Eek! You're right. I'm late! Sorry, got to go. It was nice talking with you, we should do it again sometime." She rushed, going around the corner, opening the door and hastily down the stairs. Baki stared as she sprinted away, bursting into the stairwell with book bag in hand with hair flying in the wind.

...

..

.

After hearing the door shut, Baki walked over to the railing with a curve of a smile teasing his lips. Anna sure was something else.. The encounter was strange, and made him wonder.

She was his age as far he knew, in his grade, about 5'1" (compared to his 5'4" that put her to his nose in height), had long brown hair that went to the small of her back, curling slightly at the ends. He never seen her style it and he liked it, it looked more natural and elegant than highlights or French-braiding other girls wore. Her light blue eyes were glassy like ice. They were intelligent, but tough.

And she was clearly very smart. Excelling at every class, seemingly without much trouble. Baki could say he was a little jealous.
But he couldn't bother with chasing grades. He grit his teeth tightly.

A face of a sickening demon flashed through his mind. A goalpost he'd never reach..

Baki gripped the rail in his hands, making the metal cry under the pressure of his powerful grip and leaving indents of fingers around it.

Stronger, he had to get stronger. Nothing could distract Baki from that goal.

'Anna, you and I live in two different worlds.' He thought, looking out to Tokyo. A final promise to himself and to the city that no heart-felt emotions would get the best of him.

After gazing out to the city awhile longer, Baki recalled what Anna said in her rush to class.

"It was nice talking with you, we should do it again sometime."
It had hurt silently that he had to push her so suddenly away, but he wouldn't hold that against himself because they barely knew each other.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and stared silently over the skyline of Tokyo..
"I know you're out there somewhere..."