Bookstore Encounter (for k0hryuu)

Once Navi released Yukiko, she planned on simply paying for her books, and leaving. But once she saw the rage on Yukiko's face, she realized (too late) that her tongue has gotten her in trouble again.

She didn't react in time as the angry blue-hair punched her in the face. In surprise, she dropped all the books she was holding in her right hand, to grab her hurt face. The force of the punch caused her to stagger backwards, and, to avoid dropping on her rear completely, she put her left hand on the closest bookshelf she could find.

However, she applied too much force on the shelf, and it broke as a result. Navi still dropped on her rear and the books that were on the shelf came tumbling down on the floor with very audible "thuds".

================================

Meanwhile, Melody was just entering the store, trying to find Navi (and hoping to buy a comic or a manga volume for herself) when she heard several audible thuds. At first, she thought it was probably nothing, but then people started turning with a shocked look on their faces at the comics and manga section for some reason. Melody's curiousity lead to approach the part of the shop...

Yukiko certainly felt a lot better after she socked Navi like that, however she quickly felt bad as it caused the blonde to break a nearby shelf, dumping books out all over the ground.

"Shit...!" the blue-haired girl wondered frantically whether she should try to help clean up the mess she caused, considering Navi probably wasn't going to accept an 'I'm sorry', and allow her to do so. Freezing up as she felt the stares of all of the customers in the store aimed towards her, Yukiko became embarrassed, realizing her temper had just gotten her into another mess.



Her own retrieval mission having gone faster than planned, Akiko was strolling down the streets over towards the shop Yukiko said she was going to, seeing if she could meet up with her there. Her partner hadn't responded to her text message yet, though she just figured that Yukiko hadn't heard her phone notification. Pretty normal if one was inside a busy store.

Coming up near a bookshop, the fiery-haired girl thought about stopping there and browsing through some manga until her friend replied. As she got close, though, she saw a lot of people gathering near the front and peering inside, speaking frantically and some taking pictures with their phones. With a city full of AFW fighters, brawls out in public weren't exactly a rare occurrence, but it still got Akiko excited and curious to see if anyone she knew was fighting.

"Shit...You bitch!", Navi remarked while rubbing the hurt spot on her face. Be they anywhere non-public, Navi would've leaped up by now to return the favour. However, the clicks from cameras of people's smartphones were fairly audible. As much as she loved people hating her, she didn't want this type of popularity.

She very quickly glanced at the broken shelf as it still stayed attached by the back supports "I would really love to NOT pay for that...", the blonde thought to herself.

Melody finally came closer towards the comics and manga section, and just as she entered she saw the sight of Yukiko standing over her best friend as she sat in pile of books under a broken shelf:

"NAV!", she shouted, as she got the wrong idea of the situation. She practiaclly leaped towards her friend trying to check how hurt she was.

"Hey, Green. I am...ow...fine. Don't worry about it"

However, Melody's own temper was already getting the better of her as she looked at Yukiko:

"What the HELL ARE YOU DOING?!", she screamed at the woman.

Melody's abrupt appearance was enough to shake Yukiko out of her hesitation, and to immediately cause her to become defensive. "Y-your stupid ass friend started this!" she argued childishly, though quickly managed to regain some of her composure. "The Black Feathers aren't gonna tolerate any threats towards us! Anyone who tries to screw with us is gonna be taught a lesson!"

They were practicing a line like that, thinking of trying to hold a promo to restore some of the reputation they lost, but without thinking Yukiko had blurted it out anyway.



Squeezing her way through the crowd, Akiko overheard two very familiar screaming voices and immediately felt her heart sink. Rushing towards the source with a sense of urgency, the fiery-haired girl stumbled into pretty much one of the scenes she'd expected to see.

Her partner was either trying to save face or just justify herself at that moment, but even if she had no idea what happened, Akiko was going to back her up. Even if she had a feeling she was going to have to chew out Yukiko later on, she had no choice but to play along.

"R-right!" she proclaimed, standing over next to Yukiko, "We screwed up once, but that doesn't mean anyone can go ahead and treat us like weaklings!"

"Hahaha...seriously with "she started it" complaint?", Navi retorted as she finally stood up next to Melody, still holding her stinging face.

Neither Melody nor Navi were that surprised when Akiko came to her friend's defence. Melody's mood soured even more as the person she respected encouraged her partner's behaviour, while not thinking about how guilty her friend was in all of this:

"So you just go around fighting people at slightest provocation?!", Melody angrily said, her hands visibly clenching into tight fists...

...with Navi noticing that. Hoping to not make situation worse than it already was, the blonde would say:

"Mels, calm down. Me and Kuzuryuu were having a small argument, that's it. And we deemed that the best way to handle this argument would be a match"

She would then look at the former tag team champions and say: "This really isn't the best place for a fight...", while pointing at the, fairly large, crowd that formed to look at the altercation."Once I get home, I'll make a call to the officials and ask to book the match for the closest free show. And it will be No-DQ, so you can have all the low blows you want. Because I can beat you, even if you continually fight like a coward", she accidentally let another insult slip from her lips.

"It's just active self-defense." Yukiko growled in response. After they had put up a weak showing at Avalanche, the gang was concerned about other teams coming in to try and prey on them. They had to show off that they were still strong in spite of that, though in that sense, this situation was perfect.

Akiko was just relieved the situation had calmed down and let herself relax a bit, however her blue-haired partner remained tense, as the trash talking between her and Navi wasn't done yet.

"I won't need to rely on any tricks to beat you." he stated bluntly. In spite of her temper, Yukiko was the cleanest fighter out of the Black Feathers (which wasn't saying much), however she wasn't afraid to get down and dirty if provoked, much like how Alicia and Nemain done. Though unfortunately, Navi seemed to be going down that path now. "But if you're asking for me to kick your pussy in, I'll be happy to oblige."

"Yeah, sure you will...", Navi retorted, once again not taking her opponent seriously.

She finally let go of her face, as the pain from the punch turned into minor stinging, and turned to Melody: "Let's go"

Although Melody wanted to buy something for herself in the shop, the mess of books on the floor and the crowd at the back would make it difficult to buy anything here without paying extra: "Alright"

"See you in the ring, blue"
As Navi turned away from Black Feathers Gang to leave, Melody would angrily glare at the duo before turning away herself, afraid of saying needless things.
The 2 then made their way through the 20-30 people that watched the altercation, most of those turning away and leaving as well since it was, seemingly, over.

"Never again", Melody would say as they made their way to the car

"Hmm?"

"You are NEVER to go to a shop without me again!", Melody answered in a sharp tone: "Do you...get some sort of a kick when insulting people? I might not have heard what you said, but I think I have a pretty good idea..."

"Maybe...but it's fine. Don't worry about it...", Navi said, as she got into the front seat of the car

Melody had a reluctant look on her face as she got in to the driver's seat. "...Can't help it"

After a second of thought Melody got out of the car, realizing something:

"We will need to visit the supermarket one more time"

"What? Why?"

"We will need extra ice for your match now..."

"...oh, I get it...", Navi said, getting out of the car to follow Melody to the supermarket.

Both of the Black Feathers glared right back at their new rivals, not taking their eyes off of them until they were out of sight. As soon as the crowd started to disperse, however, they quickly slipped out of the shop and away, before they could get stuck a bill.

Turning a corner into an alley, Akiko and Yukiko paused to catch their breath, checking to make sure nobody was following them.

"Yuki-chan, you really need to get better at making friends." Akiko stated irritably, jabbing her finger into the blue-haired girl's boob.

Blushing slightly, even though it did hurt a little, Yukiko really didn't have an excuse and just sighed in response. "Yeah... Though I'm pretty sure that one was a lost cause." It did seem inevitable after the first time they met Navi back during Avalanche, but it really didn't need the embarrassing spectacle that happened today.

"Probably..." Akiko sighed back, considering her relationship with Melody had probably just gone sour and there wouldn't be any turning back. "Let's just hope we don't have another Alicia on our hands..."

Yukiko cringed at the mention of her hated nemesis, remembering how Alicia had ambushed Akiko and beat her badly. "I'll try to keep it civil, as long as she does..." Considering how much she was bad mouthing them, it was probably safe for them to assume Navi was a honorable fighter, but with an attitude like that they couldn't know for sure. "Ergh... I still haven't picked up my Blu Rays yet. C'mon let's go before it gets too late."

Whatever was done had been done, so there wasn't much point in dwelling on it further. Shrugging it off, Akiko followed right behind her blue-haired partner, off to finish their errands.