I Was Forced To Date A Mafia's Daughter

Sato stirred on his bed, the gentle ring of his alarm clock pulling him from sleep. He stretched out a hand, fumbling for the button atop the clock to silence it. As he finally sat up and looked around, his mom entered the room, a tray of food in her hands.

"Sato, dear, are you alright?" she asked, her voice soft. "You can skip school today if you still feel sick. I also brought you breakfast in bed."

Sato stood, stretching his limbs. "There's no need to skip school, Mom. I'm fine. You just focus on the restaurant; I can take care of myself."

His mom immediately punctuated his words with a light punch to the head. "Start by saying thank you for the breakfast, Jess!" she exclaimed, dropping the tray on a nearby table before leaving the room.

Sato rubbed his head, watching her go with a puzzled expression. His gaze then fell on his phone, and his mind flashed back to yesterday, to Hikari's promise to text him. He picked up his phone, looking at her contact, but there was nothing new. He stared at the contact for a moment, as if willing a message to appear. Could she have forgotten? Maybe she went to sleep early, right? he thought, letting out a heavy sigh as he put his phone down.

"Why am I thinking too much about it?" he muttered to himself. "We'll meet at school eventually." With that, Sato began to get ready for school.

At School

Sato walked through the school entrance, exchanging his outdoor shoes for his school shoes from his locker. He then headed down the hallway towards his classroom. He didn't notice Sakura until she suddenly materialized behind him, throwing her arm around him.

"Hey, Sato! I heard you were sick," she chirped. "That rain really fucked you up; I thought it would kill you! Good thing you're okay."

Sakura hugged him tighter, her hand accidentally pressing against his neck, cutting off his air supply. "If you keep this up, you'll be the one to kill me," Sato gasped.

Sakura immediately released him. "My bad, got excited!"

Sato coughed a bit, rubbing his neck, and glared at her. "What are you even doing here alone? Aren't you supposed to be with Hikari?" he asked, glancing to her side but seeing no sign of Hikari.

Sakura smiled. "Well, Hikari isn't coming."

Sato looked confused. "What? Did something happen?" They began walking down the hall together as Sakura explained.

"Well, no. You see, every Wednesday, the Kurodas visit Hikari's mom's grave. It's like a ceremony or something. I don't know, I only went once, and it was like a burial. The place was so quiet you could hear a pin drop from afar, and even he was there, Hikari's dad." Sakura paused, recalling that day.

Sato looked at her in shock. "What? No way! You saw him? The mafia boss?"

"Yes," Sakura answered, continuing her story. "Ryū Kuroda."

"For a man that cold to attend, that means he really did love his wife," Sato mused.

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, the same way he loves Hikari, but you can't tell directly. He's never at home, and any time he is, he doesn't even make time for his family. I mean, this guy doesn't show any emotion or feelings at all. It was a miracle Hikari was even born! Since he doesn't show affection, I wonder how he did it with his wife to make Hikari, am I right?" Sakura said teasingly, nudging Sato gently with her elbow.

Sato blushed slightly, trying to hide it. "Can you stop?" he mumbled as Sakura laughed.

From the side, four popular girls stared at Sakura with anger as she walked into the classroom with Sato. Neither of them noticed the girls as they continued their conversation.

"So if that's the case, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with her?" Sato asked.

Sakura replied, "Well, yeah, but Kaito told me to come watch his football training, which is today. I mean, he did pay for all my lunches yesterday, so I couldn't say no."

As their conversation continued, the group of girls could no longer stand just staring. The four girls finally approached them.

"Hey, you!"

Sato turned to see the angry girls walking towards them, but Sakura ignored them, still talking to Sato. Nozomi, the leader of the group, walked in front. "Hey, bitch, we're talking to you," Nozomi said.

Sakura turned around in confusion, staring at them. "Were you talking to me?" Sakura asked calmly.

Nozomi frowned. "Yeah, your mafia friend isn't here to protect you, so you'd better watch what you say."

Sakura stepped closer to Nozomi, observing the three girls behind her while the whole class watched in silence. Sato, behind Sakura, wasn't sure what to do. Sakura smiled as she stared at Nozomi. "Okay, you whores got my attention. What do you want?" Sakura said, engaging Nozomi in a stare-off.

The class became hyped by the exchange of words. Sato, trying to de-escalate the situation, spoke up. "By 'whore,' she means 'nice girls.' Can't we all just sit and talk it..."

Before Sato could finish, Nozomi and Sakura simultaneously snapped at him, "Stay out of this!!!" Sato took a few steps back as the two girls continued their staredown.

"You'd better stop getting all buddy-buddy with Kaito. He's going to be my boyfriend soon, and I don't want a low-class girl who hangs out with a mafia in my way. It's awful enough that Sa-loser is his best friend."

Before Sakura could reply, another girl from behind Nozomi spoke up. "Yeah, yesterday, I caught them eating lunch together!" All the girls mumbled in a fuss while Sakura couldn't help but laugh, pissing them off even more.

"Is that what this is about?" Sakura taunted. "Sorry, ladies, but Kaito doesn't give a f*ck about you. If he did, he'd be dating one of you now, but he doesn't. And yes, I did have lunch with him, and if this makes you guys feel better, he's inviting me personally to watch his team training today, and I plan on asking him out on a date."

Sakura's words added fuel to the fire, causing literal veins to pop out of Nozomi's forehead in anger. Nozomi spoke, "You... I know everything about Kaito. He's meant for me and me alone. I think it's time for me and the gals to teach you a lesson."

The three girls stepped up to join Nozomi. Sakura's smile widened. "If that's what you want, I'll be happy to fight you."

After seeing enough, Sato grabbed Sakura gently by the arm and pulled her to a quiet corner of the classroom. He leaned in, his voice low and serious.

"Look," he said, gripping her shoulders lightly, "the last thing you want to do is piss off Nozomi. She's not just rich and popular—strong guys have a crush on her. And she's the number one martial arts student in the entire girls' division. She could beat half the guys in the martial arts center. Just apologize to her. She might forgive you if you're lucky. That's how I've handled things before when she's gotten like this."

Sakura smiled at him, a teasing glint in her eyes. "Aw, that's cute. You looking out for me. What's next? You gonna tell me you like me?"

Sato frowned, clearly frustrated. "What's wrong with you? This isn't the time for—"

"It's okay," Sakura interrupted softly.

Sato paused. The expression on her face was calm—too calm. He'd never seen her like this before.

"Why do you think I've been Hikari's friend for this long without Kuro-Kyoufu coming after me?" she asked quietly. "Or why Sora relies on me to protect Hikari inside the school? I got this, Sato. Don't stress."

Sato could only watch as she walked back into the center of the classroom, where Nozomi and her clique stood waiting. The room was tense. The other students looked at each other nervously, whispering things like, "Should we help her?" or "Someone should do something." But no one moved. No one dared step in.

Nozomi, arms crossed, cracked her neck and stared Sakura down. Behind her stood three girls, all equally confident. Sakura cracked her knuckles with a casual sigh.

"Alright," she muttered, "let's get this over with."

Nozomi sneered. "God, I hate you." Then she turned to her girls. "Don't worry, I got this. I don't need your help to beat her. If she wants a fight, then she's gonna get one. I'm gonna smack this bitch real bad."

Sakura remained expressionless. "If you apologize and bow until your forehead touches the floor, I might go easy on you."

Nozomi scoffed, then lunged at her with a high kick. But Sakura sidestepped it effortlessly, letting out a small sigh mid-dodge. The whole class gasped. Nozomi was stunned for a moment, but she recovered quickly and attacked again—punches, kicks, fast and wild.

Sakura slapped some of the strikes aside, dodging others with a calm grace that made the room go silent.

Sato, standing at the back, blinked in disbelief. "I knew she was scary when I first met her… but I didn't know she was this scary."

Nozomi, now frustrated by her repeated misses, shot a quick glance to her friends. She backed away, pretending to reset her stance. At that moment, two of her friends rushed forward and grabbed Sakura from behind, locking her arms. A third girl pulled a pocketknife from her bag and tossed it to Nozomi.

Nozomi caught it and laughed maniacally. "Looks like you've got nowhere to run now. If you beg—like really beg—and promise to stay away from Kaito, maybe I'll let you walk out of here."

Sato's heart dropped. One of the girls even locked the classroom door. Sweat rolled down his temple. Is she serious? Is she really going this far?

But Sakura? She didn't even blink. She smiled.

"For someone who's supposedly the top martial artist in school, you're kind of disappointing," she said coolly.

Nozomi stepped forward, rage in her eyes, knife trembling in her hand.

"That's enough!" a voice shouted. Takeshi, the class leader, rushed in and grabbed Nozomi's wrist. "You've gone too far, Nozomi!"

The rest of the class finally snapped out of their fear and backed Takeshi up.

Nozomi glared at him. "Kaito is mine! I've loved him since we were kids! I know everything about him—how he smells, where he lives, what time he leaves for school. Our dads are friends—we were made for each other! Sure, he doesn't see it yet, but he will. He's mine! So let me go!"

Takeshi loosened his grip but didn't back off. Suddenly, there was loud banging at the classroom door.

"Nozomi! Open this door now!" came a teacher's voice from outside. "We've seen everything on the camera. You're in serious trouble!"

Sato ran toward the door, but Nozomi pointed the knife at him. "Don't even think about it!" she shouted.

Even her own friend stepped forward nervously. "Nozomi, don't you think this is going way too far?"

Nozomi responded by slapping her across the face. "If you want to leave, then go! I don't need any of you!"

Sakura tilted her head, smirking. "You know, I never knew school could be this fun."

Everyone froze. Then, all eyes widened as they saw the two girls who had been holding Sakura unconscious on the ground.

Nozomi backed away, panic rising in her eyes. She waved the knife defensively. "S-Stay back! What are you?!"

Sakura took a step forward. "Why don't you find out?"

"No! I can't let you win! Die for me and Kaito!!" Nozomi screamed, charging at her.

But before she could get close, someone grabbed her from behind. It was Kaito.

He plunged a needle into her neck. Nozomi froze mid-step, her eyes rolling back before collapsing into his arms.

Everyone in the class let out a collective breath.

"Sorry about that," Kaito said, gently lowering her onto a table. "Nozomi has psychological issues. She... snaps like this sometimes. I just injected her with Calmizene. When she wakes up, she'll be okay—well, temporarily."

Sato stepped forward, stunned. "Wait, how did you even get in here?"

"I heard Nozomi lost control, so I ran home, grabbed her meds, and came back. But the door was locked, so… I climbed up through the window."

Sakura blinked. "You climbed two stories?"

Kaito gave a modest smile. "Yeah. The building has a lot of well-placed pillars. Good for climbing."

Takeshi shook his head. "Still dangerous. What if you fell?"

Kaito picked Nozomi up again. "Then I fall. But I didn't. Someone please let the teachers in."

As the class unlocked the door and the teachers entered, the students began cleaning under their supervision.

Sato leaned toward Sakura and whispered, "All that stuff you said about Kaito… is any of it true?"

Sakura chuckled. "Of course not. I just said it to mess with Nozomi. You know I have a boyfriend, right?"

Sato's jaw dropped. "Wait—what? You don't act like someone in a relationship."

"Yeah, I get that a lot. It was love at first sight. That kind of love usually burns out fast… but not this one. We've been going strong for a long time."

Before Sato could respond, the teacher clapped her hands. "Less talking, more cleaning! I want this classroom spotless! Everyone back to your seats!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the students chorused.

Later that evening, in the school's infirmary…

Nozomi lay on a bed, sleeping peacefully. Kaito sat beside her silently, his hands folded on his lap. He stared at her face—now calm, no trace of rage.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

Meanwhile at the kuroda's mansion.