She came without a name. But her presence said everything.
The air cracked with tension as the fiery-eyed and fierce mysterious girl stood her ground in the narrow alley behind the school where the senior boys loitered.
Kartik had just made the fatal mistake of calling her "aunty."
Her glare could've melted iron.
"What did you just call me?" she asked, her voice calm, too calm.
The boy chuckled, not noticing the shift in the atmosphere. "… aren't you a little too old to be playing around with juniors?"
A second later, the girl yanked the cricket bat out of another student's hands so swiftly that none of them had time to react. With a clean swing, she smacked the first boy right on the backside. He yelped like a dog caught stealing food.
"Say didi," she demanded.
"Ow! Okay, okay! Didi! Didi!" the boy shouted, trying to shield his rear.
She turned to the others. "Anyone else confused about what to call me?"
The group froze, speechless. The bravado that usually came so easily to these boys vanished as fast as it came. No one wanted to be next.
Then, the main bully of the group—Kartik—stepped forward, his smirk faltering as he took in her stance, her grip on the bat, the absolute lack of fear in her eyes.
"Woah…" he muttered under his breath. "She's crazy. Who the hell is she?"
She turned toward him. Her bat hung loosely in her hand, but her presence filled the space like a thunderstorm waiting to explode.
"You talk a lot for someone who hasn't felt pain today," she said.
Veer stood a few feet behind, watching in stunned silence. His jaw hung open slightly. There was something familiar about her—something in her energy, her fierce protectiveness. It reminded him of someone. Aradhya?
No... this girl fought with a wild intensity, raw and almost untamed.
"You think you're scary?" Kartik barked, regaining a bit of courage. "Let me show you what—"
Before he could finish, she hurled the cricket bat aside, walked up to him, and in one swift motion grabbed the nearby baseball bat resting against the wall. With a light spin of her wrist, she slammed the end of the bat onto his shin.
Kartik howled, dropping to one knee.
"You were saying something?" she asked.
Veer stepped forward cautiously, worried things might get too far. But before he could intervene, Kartik lunged at her with a desperate shout, reaching to grab her.
Big mistake.
She caught his wrist mid-air, twisted it with a trained motion, and swept his leg with her foot. He fell back hard, but before he hit the ground fully, she had already gripped his collar and headbutted him lightly, just enough to daze him. His eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the ground.
Knocked out.
Complete silence.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Veer stood motionless for a second, still stunned by the ferocity of the mysterious girl who had just taken down Kartik and his gang like a seasoned fighter. The air still vibrated from the echo of her bat crashing into the side of Kartik's face. He lay unconscious, a stream of blood trickling down his temple. The rest of the bullies had already scattered in fear.
The few students who had gathered nearby gasped.
"You're Veer, right?" she asked.
Veer, still processing the scene, blinked and nodded.
"Thank you…Hehe whispered.
She offered a small smirk. "No problem. I think we'll meet again."
That stopped him cold. "Wait—how do you know my—?"
But she was already walking away, long strides, boots clicking on the pavement, her hoodie fluttering behind her like a shadow. She disappeared down a side alley near the school wall. Veer watched, frozen in place. Something about her presence clung to the air, as if a storm had passed but left the clouds hovering.
He replayed the moment in his head. Her stance. The precision of her moves. The calm rage in her eyes. And—her voice. It had something familiar. Her build is too. Athletic. Feminine, but strong. Not Aradhya. No, Aradhya had a gentler edge in her voice. But this girl? She was chaos in human form.
He turned back and glanced at Kartik's unconscious body. "Who was she?" he whispered to himself.
She turned and walked away, leaving a crowd of confused, shocked students and a fainted bully lying in her wake. Veer watched her silhouette disappear around the corner.
"Who… is she?" he muttered, still dazed. A question pulsed in his chest. She looked like Aradhya, moved with the same instinct to protect… but she was sharper, more aggressive. And her skills? Unbelievable.
But why did she say they'd meet again?
Later that evening, Veer couldn't stop thinking about her. Even in the gym, as he pummeled the punching bag with focused aggression, her image kept surfacing—her wild, rebellious aura, the way she called him "Veer" without hesitation, as if she'd known him for years.
"Instructor," Veer said suddenly during cooldown stretches.
The instructor glanced up from the corner where he was taping his wrists. "Hmm?"
"There was this girl today. At school. She saved me from a group of bullies."
"Saved you?" The instructor raised a brow. "That doesn't sound like you."
Veer shrugged. "I wasn't expecting it. She… she came out of nowhere. And she fights. Not just fights—like you. Like a trained mercenary."
The instructor narrowed his eyes. "Did she tell you her name?"
Veer shook his head. "No. But she knew mine."
The instructor looked away, thoughtful. "Interesting. Be careful."
"You know her, don't you?"
"I know many fighters. And not all of them are good."
That answer only made Veer's curiosity spike.
The next day, the school buzzed with rumours. Kartik hadn't shown up, and people whispered about a masked vigilante who took him down. Some said she was from another school, others that she was an undercover cop. None of them knew the truth.
Veer sat quietly in the corner of the library, flipping through pages but absorbing nothing shadow fell over the table.
"Still wondering who I am?" the same cool voice asked.
He looked up. She stood there, arms crossed, this time wearing a fitted black jacket and tight denim jeans.
"You—again?"
She smirked. "Disappointed?"
"No. Just… surprised."
"You'll get used to that."
He stood slowly. "Why are you here?"
"To return the favour," she said. "You've been fighting my fights for a long time. Figured it's time I paid back the debt."
He blinked. "What?"
She looked around, made sure no one was listening, and leaned in slightly. "Let's take a walk."
They stepped outside into the cold breeze. She led him to the back courtyard of the school, empty except for old benches and a basketball hoop. There, she turned and faced him fully.
"I'm not from your school," she began. "I'm training under someone—someone who once fought alongside your instructor."
Veer's eyes widened. "You're—?"
"No. I'm not one of them," she interrupted. "But I was saved by an instructor "
She pulled up her sleeve. A faded scar ran along her arm.
"I was attacked once. Like Aradhya. And your instructor… he helped me get my life back. So now I train. I fight."
Veer sat down slowly. "Why didn't you tell me yesterday?"
"Would you have believed me? Or would you have stared at me like everyone else?" she asked, challenging.
"Maybe both," Veer admitted.
She smiled faintly. "Fair."
Silence fell between them. Veer looked at her again. Her face was sharp but youthful, her eyes glinted with something between pain and defiance.
"What's your name?" he asked.
She looked at him long and hard before answering.
"PIHU"
"PIHU", he repeated. "Why did you say we'll meet again?"
She turned to walk away but called over her shoulder, "Because we will. We've only just begun."Veer had many questions. Who is she? And why did she feel so familiar, like a memory he couldn't place?
Could she be related to Aryadhya somehow? Was it possible…?