Chapter Text
A sound soul dwells within sound mind and sound body.
Takemichi sighs and checks the clock on his phone yet again. There were still some twenty something minutes to go before reaching Mizo and he could feel the knot on his tummy tighten due to the anxiety generated by this whole situation.
What happens if he couldn’t recognize his own friends and is left to wonder alone on the city? Even worse, what happens if his friends don’t recognize him? After all, even years is time enough for someone to change. Now his hair was bleached blonde, he had grown quite a lot since his 10 years (thank you puberty) and he had even gained a little body weight (maybe not as much as he had hoped for but at least he didn’t look like a twig anymore) all thanks to the weapon training he miraculously managed to find on the other corner of the world where his parents had dragged him.
The train announced the next station and Takemichi realized with apprehension that his twenty something minutes had banished while he was anxiously thinking. Standing up from his seat, he took his travel bag in hand and waited for the mechanic doors to open, casting a last glance at the big sign with the mantra hammered in his skull since becoming a meister.
A sound soul dwells within sound mind and sound body.
With a nervous smile, Takemichi grasped the handle of the bag a little bit harder with his sweaty hands and then he went out of the platform. For good or bad, he was home.
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“Takemichi-kun!”
A thick brown mane filled his vision before the blond could even turn completely. The owner, a beautiful girl with warm eyes and a beauty mark hugged him effusively.
“Hina! It’s been a long time!” Takemichi hugged her back, relieved that at least his childhood best friend recognized him.
They separated and the blonde could now appreciate the absolute beauty that Tachibana Hinata, aka his best friend since kindergarten, has become. Her brown locks were shorter since the last time he saw her seven year ago and she had also grown up a bit with all those other changes girls do when they hit puberty. Aside from all that, Hina hadn’t changed that much from the memory he had of her. She was still warm and joyful.
“It’s been way to long Takemichi-kun!” She said with the biggest smile and softest laugh, touching his hair slightly “I almost can’t recognize you with your hair like this, you even got taller!”
Takemichi laughed a bit at that. Since they were kids, Hina had always been one of the tallest on their little group of friends but now, Takemichi passed her by at least a head. Hina backed up a little and offered to help him with his luggage. Assuring her that it was fine and he could do it didn’t do much to soothe her, apparently her stubbornness hadn’t changed much either, so he hander her the backpack where he kept his personal documents and most private belongings.
“Are you here alone? I thought Akkun and the others would be here too”
Hina passed the backpack on her shoulders and shook her head with a bit of a sheepish look on her face.
“I’m sorry Takemichi-kun, a last-minute-mission came up suddenly and it looked pretty serious, so they had to take it,” Hina linked their free arms and beamed at him “Oh but don’t worry! Once they’re back, we can all celebrate together that you’re finally back in Mizo.”
Takemichi let out a nervous laugh, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck in which Hina recognized as the nervous tic her blonde friend always had had since they were kids, from whenever he was feeling particularly sheepish or anxious, sometimes even both. She knew one of the things her best friend hated the most was to impose on people in anyway, it didn’t matter how simple or how much he needed, Takemichi had this habit of putting other people’s need over his own. Hina knew her friend was one of the kindest souls to ever step foot on the planet and even though she thought of that kindness as a virtue, it exasperated her a bit how little he thought of himself.
Hina knew Takemichi didn’t think of his own needs as something that mattered that much.
Before said blonde even opened his mouth to said what Hina definitely thought was on the sorts of ‘they don’t need to do that if they’re busy’, Hina pulled on his arm and lead them towards the street where they could get a cab.
“No excuses Takemichi-kun! I’m sure that none of the boys would mind. Besides, I still have to introduce you to Yuzu-chan!”
With the topic changed to one the blonde wasn’t too uncomfortable with, they both exited the train station to wait for a taxicab, having a light talk about his travel has been. When the cab pulled over, they put Takemichi’s luggage on the trunk and, giving the driver the address, set course towards the apartment Takemichi will move into to leave his stuff before going to grab something to eat.
Just as before, the talk inside the cabin was light and comfortable. Hina filled him in on how the paramedic’s course on the Shibusen were going and how the few missions she had gone went, always commenting something about this Yuzu-chan and oh Takemichi-kun I’m sure you’ll like her. Takemichi smiled, feeling so happy for his friend’s life and that everything seemed to be going so well for her; if there was someone who deserved the absolute best life had to offer, he knew that was Tachibana Hinata.
Their pleasant talk came to a stop when Hina’s phone ringed. The brunette made a sheepish face, apologizing quickly but Takemichi dismissed her with a soft smile, not really minding. Hina mouthed another apology before answering and Takemichi sat back on his seat, looking out of the window.
Mizo’s streets looked slightly different than the ones on his memories, although that could just be his hazy memories playing tricks on him, after all, ten years had gone by since the last time he set foot here. He wondered how the Shibusen would look like, how all the classes will be, could he actually manage to finally find a partner to go on missions and collect souls for Shinigami-sama?
That last though made his tummy turn.
A partner.
Growing up away from the Shibusen and with little (if not zero) guidance on behalf of his parents about how to become a proper meister or what to do to find a weapon partner. That’s why he had to learn step by step and punch by punch with the very shady people who named themselves his ‘mentors’ –even though calling them that will be quite the stretch –but none of the less, had taught him a thing or two.
With a furtive glance to his childhood friend, a small disgruntled smile formed on his lips. Sometimes, Takemichi thought, it would be easier if Hina was a weapon or even better, if he was a weapon and she was his meister. He sighed. Life had never been particularly kind to him so what did he expect, that the search for a partner would be that easy? Right…
“Ah, pull over here sir!” Hina pointed towards the department complex as she hanged up her call, returning her phone to the pocket of her coat. She turned to smile at him “Let’s go Takemichi-kun! I’ll help you unpack and then we can go!”
The blonde smiled back at her, knowing very well his friend won’t take a no for an answer, and nodded. They got off the taxicab and took his luggage before walking towards his apartment.
The complex hasn’t changed at all since the last time he was there and suddenly, a strike of nostalgia made his eyes wet. The last time he had ever walked through those halls had been with a bag on his hands and his parents quickly dragging him far away from there after his grandmother’s passing.
They stopped at the door of what was once been the home of his grandmother and him had shared and it was now completely his as per stated on his grandmother’s will. Hina was behind him and, with a thoughtful look on her face, touching his right shoulder with a gentle hand, squeezing lightly in silence. Takemichi took a deep breath a couple of times and wiped the tears silently running down his cheeks with the sleeve of his jacket, nodding slowly at the unspoken question on Hina’s eyes.
He was fine, there had been more than enough time for him to cry for his grandmother and now, surrounded by all his childhood mementos, Takemichi will probably find some more time to weep in the privacy of his own room, but that would happen once he was left alone. Hina probably knew it too but she didn’t say anything. Takemichi knew his friend would never think less of him because of it.
A watery laugh sprouted from his lips while grasping the key to open the door and leave his bags inside, maybe he could convince Hina into leaving them there and go to that café she was talking about before, he didn’t want to face the risk of his emotions getting the best of him. He turned around with the intention of telling Hina as he opened the door but before he could say anything, several detonations made him jump a couple feet in the air, making his thoughts halt and a choked scream that did not sound like a little girl’s scream at all to come out of his mouth.
“Welcome home Takemichi!”
Said boy blinked a couple of times, clearly confused. There, on the living room were the rest of the members of his little friend’s group Atsushi (or Akkun as he called him since they were kids), Takuya, Makoto and Yamagishi, all of them holding what it looked like a confetti canon (which explained where the blast came from) and a smile on their faces. Takemichi blinked again.
“Guys…?”
Yamagishi and Makoto couldn’t hold it any longer and bursted out laughing loudly. Akkun came closer to him smiling, clearly doing an effort to try and hold his own laugh.
“Geez Takemichi, what was that man? Ten years without seeing each other and first thing you do is jump to the celling screaming like a girl?” Akkun said patting him on the back. The blonde recovered a little and scoffed at his red-haired friend.
“That’s what I should be saying! You guys almost gave me a heart attack!” Takemichi said, faking exasperation. Now that he was calmer after the surprise wore off, Takemichi felt a warm feeling spreading in his chest as he looked at his friends “For a moment there I thought we were being attacked.”
“If that’s your reaction when you get attacked then I can’t wait to go on mission with you, I can tell it’ll be very entertaining.” Takuya came closer, laughing softly.
Takemichi made an undignified noise and Akkun couldn’t hold his laughter any longer.
“Aw c’mon, don’t be like that Takemichi! We’ve been planning this for months! You have no idea how hard the landlady was to convince to let us in.”
“Wait a minute, planned? I though you guys went on a mission…” then, the blonde’s eyes went to Hina still behind him, an apologetic smile on her pretty face “Hina!”
“I’m so sorry Takemichi-kun, but we wanted to give you a surprise!”
“And boy what a surprise that was, right Takemichi?”
“Yamagishi-kun!”
Takemichi wanted to complain more, after all, they really almost gave him a heart attack but looking at all of his childhood friends, reunited on his childhood home, all of them laughing and welcoming him, Takemichi felt a lump on his throat stopping him from saying anything. He just smiled and felt an overwhelming security spread through his body, leaving no room for doubts. He was finally back to where he belonged, he was finally home.
A small sob left his lips and his friends turned around to see him and Takemichi couldn’t help the smile that shaped his face, cheeks aching a little and tears streaming down his face.
“Thanks guys. I’m home.”
A moment of silent passed and then it looked like his happy tears were contagious because Takemichi saw how their eyes damped, some of them quickly turning around to wipe the tears. Akkun’s warm hand squeezed lightly on his shoulder.
“Welcome back home, our crybaby hero.”
________________________________________
“Hey Takemichi, are you sure about this? You can still take some time before starting classes, you know? I hardly think the Shibusen will complain; you just came back to Mizo after all…”
Takemichi finished arranging all of his jackets and hoddies inside of the closet to turn and face Akkun, currently sitting on his bed. The blonde shook his head and kept on organizing the rest of his clothes on the drawers.
“I mean, they did tell me I could take the rest of the week if I wanted, you know, to readapt and stuff…” Takemichi said “but everything I needed is ready; I got my papers in order, the chores were taken care off and to be honest, I rather just star with the induction course already. The faster I begin the faster I get to finish it so I can go on missions with you guys.”
And truthfully, he really didn’t need to take more time. The apartment was all taken care of and organized thanks to Hina and the others who helped him clean and decide what should stay or not. It’s possible that, if he had been left alone to it, he would never had finished, especially with how sentimental he got when they got to the stuff that belonged to his grandmother. Luckily for him, his friends knew him too well, no matter how many years had passed, and thanks to their help, everything was taken care of in just a couple of days.
Most of the furniture were still in very good condition and, generally speaking, they only had to reorganize the positions of it, making a few changes to have a little more space. What had been the real quest was deciding what to do with his grandmother’s room and belongings. Takemichi could still feel the burden tightening his chest and his throat every time he passed by the room.
With Hina, Takuya and Akkun’s help, he settled every belonging inside; from almost all of the clothes (with just a couple of exceptions, of course) they had packed to donation, next to the unused cosmetics and perfumes. The jewelry and personal trinkets like diaries, letters and pictures were safely secured on the closet where they wouldn’t suffer any damage.
At the end of the cleaning, the room had lost a bit of its childhood nostalgia and looked a bit more like a guest room, although Takemichi was still pondering on that. After his friends left, the only space on the apartment left was his room which really wasn’t that much of a problem.
And just like that, five days after he first stepped foot back in Mizo, Takemichi was already settled and ready to begin his new life there.
“You don’t have to push yourself that hard man, we only just started taking on missions ourselves a couple months ago too,” Akkun assured him, handing the rest of the clothes “besides, you also got your own experiences on that town you lived before, right? If that didn’t count for something the Shibusen would had make you take the introduction course the whole year instead of a month.”
“I hardly think that whole fiasco can be called ‘experience’,” Takemichi scoffed a little “I could barely learn the basic stuff about weapon mastery. Thanks to all the gods above I took classes of wavelength control with Hina back when we were kids otherwise, I could have died on those missions. I’m still shocked the Shibusen just gave me a month.”
“Aw please, I’m sure that if they gave you just one month then you’re probably not in that bad shape” Akkun chuckled “tell you what, once you’re all finished with the course, how ‘bout you and I take on a mission together, huh?”
Takemichi froze for a moment and looked back at his friend, eyes shining with emotions.
“Really? You mean it?” the red-haired smile widened and lifted his thumbs and Takemichi definitely wasn’t crying, he was just really happy so a couple of tears piled up at the corner of his eyes. Akkun, of course, knew his crybaby friend a little too well to ever believe something like that.
They spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up Takemichi’s room and talking about the Shibusen, the classes, some of the missions Akkun had participated and some of the missions Takemichi had the bad luck to join where he lived before. While Akkun recounted him on how they had opened a bigger wing for the paramedic course (the one Hina was part of) and habilitated a whole new access point on a more accessible and private place.
“So, the Musashi Shrine is no longer an access point?” the blonde asked, finishing a slice of pizza.
“Well, it’s still active if you want to go but almost nobody tries to enter through it, especially after Touman practically made it their headquarters…” the red-haired boy sighed but Takemichi could see a little sparkle on his eyes.
“Touman?” he said, pondering where had he heard that name before “What is that? I sort of have the feeling I had hear that before.” Akkun snorted, amused.
“Of course you have! Yamagishi nearly took an hour and a half explaining all of the gangs in Mizo” his friend nudged him with his elbow “you really weren’t paying attention, huh.”
Takemichi grimaced slightly and laughed with Akkun.
“How is that even my fault? Yamagishi just started talking and talking about the gangs on Mizo as if he was giving a class,” the blonde defended himself “I was just arriving, I could barely follow what he was saying!”
“True,” Akkun snorted again “but you know how Yamagishi can get… besides, I don’t think knowing a little bit on the subject can hurt, this way you’ll be mindful of who you’ll get in a fight with instead of what you did when we were kids.”
“Hey, I’ve never looked for a fight back then, they were the ones who always started!” he defended, slightly offended “And that doesn’t matter anyways! The only thing I wanna do from now on is focus on going to missions and find a partner… I didn’t come back to fight gangs…”
“C’mon Takemichi! Don’t you feel the need for adventure? Touman is the baddest, strongest and coolest biker gang in this side of Tokyo! Most of the members are weapons with a meister license but the meisters too are really cool and strong and they all got this bikes that—” Akkun keep on counting the reasons why Touman members were so cool, the sparkling in his eyes shinier than before.
From then on, the rest of the conversation was Akkun telling him everything he knew about Touman (and a few other gangs) and how cool were the captains and vices. Somewhere between all this, Akkun had took out his phone and showed Takemichi all of the videos people that admired them had took of them, whether it was them on big scale missions, fighting other gangs or passing by in a parade of bikes and ok, Takemichi must give credit where credit is due, they really did look very fucking cool with their black and gold uniforms and roaring bikes on the streets.
Akkun kept on talking the rest of the evening and into the night. He told Takemichi about how both those who assisted classes on the Shibusen and normal people who simply lived in the area admired and feared them. He told him about when they beat the Black Dragons when there were only five members and how they beat everyone looking for a fight.
“And that’s not all, the Commander is like, crazily strong! People say he had defeated a hundred men at the same time, isn’t that amazing?” Akkun said excited. Takemichi would be lying if he said he wasn’t getting excited too.
They kept on and on talking until Akkun realized how late it was and, apologizing for taking advantage, bid him goodbye for the day. Once alone, Takemichi took out his phone and quickly put on some music to avoid the silence and decided to go to his room to finish up any stray detail.
Personally, Takemichi didn’t mind being by himself, after all, his parents had practically raised him in solitude and, to some extent, he sometimes felt strangely comforted by it. But in the home where he and his grandmother used to live, the silence felt unsettling.
His grandmother had never been a noisy woman, in fact, some of the comfort he felt in the quiet was due to her; but the absolute silence he was confronted with when he was alone in the apartment made Takemichi remember how she wasn’t there with him anymore. Takemichi hoped he could get used to her absence on his new life in Mizo faster.
He sighed, deciding to take a bath and then go to sleep. Tomorrow his induction course on the Shibusen would begin and he had to get up early to make lunch.
While he was filling the bathtub with hot water his mind drifted to what he and Akkun had been talking most of the afternoon. Takemichi evoked those times when Akkun, Takuya and him dreamed to become delinquents and form their own gang that inspired fear and respect in the streets of Mizo. They dreamt with being so tough no witch or demon could even dare to challenge them; they dreamt with becoming number one in Tokyo.
Takemichi laughed softly at his childhood dreams. It seems that everything he and his friends once dreamed on had become true to others. He remembered the excited face of his friend while he told him all of the feats Touman had done and the look on his face as he admitted how cool it would be to be a part of it.
“Being part of Touman, huh…” the blonde voices his thoughts, then a smile pulled on his lips “that would be pretty cool…”
_________________________________________
“Takemichi-kun, are you ok?”
Said boy opened his blue tired eyes at the calling of his name to see Hina’s worried eyes greeting him from above. ‘Huh, that’s odd… when did I lay down?’ he wondered, not recalling when his body fell to its current position.
“It’s ok Hinaa, I’m feeling just fineee…” Takemichi said a little bit slurred, his voice almost cracking at the end and making the effort to stop the trembling of his arm as he tried to stick out his thumb in a sign everything was fine (he failed) “Don’t worry, ‘m just resting for a bit.”
Hina, still looking a little worried, laughed a bit and kneeled down to where he was sprawled on the floor of the gym specially made to train soul wavelength control. His friend searched on her pocket and held out a candy bar to him.
“Here, eat this. A little candy can help your body fight the fatigue” Hina said with a medical tone, no doubt left that she had seen this before “The soul wavelength training is very hard for unaccustomed users, it’s impressive you haven’t fainted already with how hard Stein-sensei’s training regimen is. You should be proud of yourself Takemichi-kun!”
Takemichi let out an ironic laugh.
“That’s the side effect of having your soul stretch out to its limits for almost a month it seems…” he said in a shaky voice, trying and failing to unwrap the candy bar. Hina laughed again, taking the bar so she could open it and handing it back to Takemichi, nodding with appreciation as he lifted it to his mouth “At the end, you get used to it, I suppose.”
“That’s a big accomplishment already Takemichi-kun! I haven’t seen many people get used so quickly, even to the most strenuous exercises,” Hina smiled with a proud twinkle in her eyes “Your soul is really adaptable, that’s a great thing you know!”
Takemichi smiled fondly at his friend, Hina always knew exactly what to say to cheer him up. It was not an exaggeration that the training regimen to attain a proper soul wavelength control had been nearly spartan, to put it nicely (as expected of the trainings developed by the infamous professor Stein of the main headquarters on Death City) and, even though Takemichi knew he wasn’t the strongest or smartest, his soul had enough perseverance and toughness to take on and adapt so fast. His teacher had also said so.
He wasn’t sure if it had been a compliment or just an observation, but Hina was right. Takemichi should at least be able to be proud that he had been doing something right.
With some difficulty and Hina’s help, Takemichi managed to stand up on wobbly legs. He took a moment to make sure he wasn’t going to collapse on the floor again before finally standing up straight.
“Are you feeling better now Takemichi-kun? You can lay down for a bit longer if you want it” Hina said with a worried glance to his still shaky legs.
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry!” the blonde said in what he hoped it was a reassuring voice, walking slowly but surely out of the gym with Hina next to him “I usually get a little dizzy at first but it’ll always pass away after walking for a bit. ‘Sides, I do actually feel better thanks to the candy bar.”
They exited the gym and headed towards the Shibusen’s hallways so Takemichi could pick up his things. The sky was still blue enough for him to know that it wasn’t as late as he imagined, which meant today’s training had ended earlier. Typically, his soul wavelength classes ended late in the afternoon but, as his soul managed to get used to the hard pace of the exercises (even though he still sort of sucked at the transmutation to other elements) Takemichi started noticing how the time spent on the gym (both training and unconscious) had lessened a little.
It would be nice if he could say the same about his weapon mastery class. No wonder Akkun and Takuya were the only weapons to accept his request for training.
Hina followed him to pick his things up and then walked him to the infirmary so she could make sure everything was fine. The nurse didn’t even lift her eyes to meet them, too engrossed with a couple of students who wore the same face Takemichi had when he and Akkun tried to do a soul resonance and failed; she sort of waved to Hina and pointed her to were the equipment she needed was.
The brunette was an advanced student of the paramedic course, as well as a usual volunteer on the nursery duty so she didn’t take long to check up on Takemichi. Once she deemed everything ok, she told him he should take the rest of the day and rest.
“I still have a few classes so, meet you tonight for dinner at your house? We could make the curry you wanted to try before” she walked with him to the gates “Why don’t you tell Atsushi-kun and the guys? Making curry just for two is kind of a waste.”
Takemichi grimaced.
“Actually… it’s been almost a week since I don’t speak with Akkun and the others… they even skipped weapons training…” he scratched his neck nervously “I think they’re avoiding me…”
“Avoiding you? Well, now than you mention it… they had been a little odd these couple weeks…” Hina said frowning a little “they’ve been coming more often to the infirmary with more bruises but they’ve also been accepting more missions lately. Maybe they’re just tired,” she tried to console him “why don’t you try and talk to them Takemichi-kun? Maybe invite them to dinner so they can relax and distract themselves for a while.”
The blonde smiled back at his friend and nodded. They waved each other goodbye and Takemichi headed towards the gates at the exit point, his mind drifting to his friends and how elusive they’ve been the last couple weeks. Maybe Hina was right and the increasement on their missions they’ve been taking was the reason, after all, the last week they had skipped weapon practice by giving a signed form to his teacher. Still, Takemichi could feel something more was happening.
They didn’t spend any time at his house anymore, they avoided him at the hallways, even Akkun had stopped answering the last messages Takemichi send him. To be honest, he kind of felt like the carrier of some incurable disease.
‘Maybe they’re mad with me because I suck at coordinating in the weapons practice…’ he thought, if that were so, then maybe that explained why Akkun and Takuya didn’t want to talk to him but what about Yamagishi and Makoto? Those two were meisters like him so it wouldn’t make any sense they were avoiding him to skip the introduction course practices when they didn’t even assist there.
This whole thing gave Takemichi a bad feeling because, what could possibly be happening that made his closest friends avoid him like the plague? Could there be something more behind all this? Maybe he just needed to do what Hina told him, perhaps if he confronted them, they would tell him why the sudden change.
Lost on his own thoughts, Takemichi almost miss Akkun’s bright and flamboyant red-haired pompadour, sticking out on the crowd and, next to him, were the rest of his friends. He called out to them but that just made them flinch and walk faster and before Takemichi could even finish they were already out of the barrier and out of Shibusen grounds.
The blonde blinked, what did just happen? Even if he didn’t get to finish calling out their names, he was confident that his voice was loud enough for his friends to be able to recognize it; he even saw them flinch, there’s no way they didn’t listen.
More doubts came to his already confused mind, but there was one thing he was sure now: his friends were actively trying to avoid him.
Now, anyone who knew Takemichi would have thought that this was reason enough for him to bawl his eyes out while feeling so rejected he wouldn’t be able to stop crying for the night and, in a way, they wouldn’t be wrong because Takemichi, like it or not, had to admit he was soft at heart. Nonetheless, even with a sad pang pulling at his heart, in that moment Takemichi felt angry. And rightfully so.
What the hell was wrong with Akkun and the others? Why were they avoiding him like that? He hadn’t done anything wrong, or at least, nothing that deserved the cold shoulder. Fine, maybe the resonance wasn’t his strong point but Takemichi had been gone for years! Anybody could lose their synchronization at first! And even if that wasn’t the reason behind his friend’s actions, then what could be? No matter, Takemichi was sure it was just as dumb as the minds that came with it.
And so, finally regaining some clarity, Takemichi swiped his student license at the Tori that marked the end of the Shibusen’s barrier and came out to the access point, back to Mizo. Quick on his feet, the blonde ran as fast as he could in hopes to catch up with his friends; luckily for him, they weren’t that far off.
Getting closer but still managing to stay hidden, Takemichi slowed his pace and found cover on an alley not too far away, he took a deep breath and tried to lower his presence. It was a good thing for him that none of his friends had the same sensibility to perceive and see souls as clearly as him and Hina did, although the training of the morning had made Takemichi’s soul to be dimmer than usual so they would not notice him if he kept a good distance.
The four boys turned the corner and the blonde caught a quick glance at their faces, twisted with fear and dread. He stopped on his tracks, why were his friends making those faces? He shook his head and kept going, maintaining a safe distance until he heard voices he couldn’t recognize. In a fast move, Takemichi hid behind a near wall.
“Oohh, so you’re finally here, huh? Good, Kiyomasa had been waiting for y’all to come. Now be happy, today you’re gonna be the mvp’s of the evening.”
Takemichi peered out to where the voices came from and saw two other guys, both with black hair styled in shorts pompadours; one of them had a couple of yellow streaks but both wore the same mocking expression. None of his friends dared say anything and kept their heads down, even when one of the guys pushed them to keep walking, making fun of them if they tripped.
‘What is happening here? Why are they letting those guys —wait, did they say Kiyomasa?’ Takemichi’s eyes widened in horror ‘What are they doing hanging around someone like Kiyomasa?!’
Personally speaking, Takemichi had never meet that Kiyomasa guy and he could only hope he never had to, if the rumors he heard were anything to go by. He had a little bit of a reputation on the junior classes on the Shibusen, maybe not as big as some of the members of Touman but Takemichi knew, if those rumors and the word on the street had some truth to them, then his friends were on deep shit. Kiyomasa was definitely bad news.
Underground fights between students, threats and intimidation were some of the few things Takemichi had heard of the man and his flock of thugs on the little time he had been going to the Shibusen; all of them were known to be part of the feared Touman gang.
The blonde peered again over his shoulder and saw his friends walk away with the two thugs. He gulped. Takemichi knew how serious the situation had become but even so, he couldn’t turn his back on his friends; quickening his pace, he followed them to what looked like one of the parks around the neighborhood.
He had to halt suddenly when he saw more thugs standing a little farther on a corner, they had cigarettes on their mounts and intimidating bikes next to them. They nodded when the thugs escorting his friends passed by and snickered when they saw their faces. Takemichi cursed. There was no way he could pass through that without being noticed.
He racked his brain, trying desperately to think of a plan quickly before something bad happened to his friends. Frustrated, he watched them walk away further and further, so he just started running in the opposite direction, deciding quickly that the best plan, for now, was to surround the area and hope no more thugs were waiting on the back of the park.
He sneaked through the alleys, avoiding some shady looking dudes until he finally reached the side entry of the park, blissfully empty. He didn’t stop to catch a break and his legs burned with strain when he started running towards the stairs that surrounded the park like a stage and from where Takemichi could hear cheers and screams.
Then, as he reached the center of the park, Takemichi stopped brusquely, completely horrified.
Right in the middle of the ‘stage’, surrounded by a bunch of screaming and cheering people, Takuya stood fighting a man twice his size. ‘Fighting’ was a nice way to put it, what was really happening there was Takuya being beaten half to dead. Takemichi stood there, paralyzed, watching as his friend took punch after punch until one of them, specifically aimed to his stomach, made him bend forward and fall to the ground, blood spilling from his mouth.
The huge man, with a bored expression on his face put his hands on his pockets.
“C’mon, that’s all you got? You should be able to take it, aren’t ya supposed to be a weapon? I thought you had more pride…” he took a cigarette and a lighter out of his pockets, ignoring Takuya’s effort in standing up but failing. Then, when suddenly everyone went silent, the man turned.
“Huh? And who’re you supposed to be?”
“Takemichi?! What are you doing here?!"
Takemichi blinked twice. Without thinking, his body had moved on automatic and now he was standing there, in the middle of a gang of thugs, standing up to a guy who was huge and intimidating and was beating the living hell out of Takuya without mercy a moment ago. He blinked again.
The man came closer, imposing his huge body over his.
“Hey you little shit, I’m talking to ya, who the fuck are you?”
He was really intimidating, that guy. Takemichi was sure that, if he was in a more conscious state of mind, he would had never dare to stand up to someone like this man in his life. But if there was something that made his mind snap and only see red, was seeing how the people he loved were abused. So, with his self-righteous fury running through his veins and making his soul throb, the blonde clenched his fist and focused all his force there.
With a clean movement, hammered in his body daily after weeks of training, Takemichi jumped and punched the man straight on his face with the most tuned in wavelength he had ever managed since the beginning of his training. Takemichi felt his soul vibrate when the punch connected neatly.
There was a collective gasp from all the people present, startled on their spots as they saw the bigger man stagger back a few steps and then everything went quiet again.
“Kiyomasa-kun!” Screamed one guy Takemichi recognized as the one of the thugs who escorted his friends here and for the third time since reaching the park, Takemichi blinked.
That huge man, which surprisingly seemed way more affected by the punch than Takemichi thought because one of his legs had gave in and he had fallen onto one knee, looked up; his eyes were blazing with hate and threat and now Takemichi could see the scar on his left eyebrow.
That guy was Kiyomasa.
A sudden shiver ran down his back. Now that the fury had somewhat left his body, the signs of him facing someone way stronger than him started showing up. Takemichi stepped back a little but then his eyes meet with Takuya’s who, even though surprised, was still bending forward and clutching his stomach in pain. The blonde turned his eyes back to Kiyomasa and his mind, in the middle of his adrenaline induced craze, reached a conclusion.
He was fucked.
“Huuuuh, looks like someone with a dying wish came up,” Kiyomasa spit a little bit of blood and stood up “seems we have a new player. C’mon, say your name so we can put you on the pool.”
For a blissful little moment, Takemichi actually thought of grabbing Takuya and make a run for it without looking back. This was definitely out of his league, goddamn his impulsive personality always landing him on trouble’s way. But as soon as it came, it vanishes as he glanced at his friends still in the crowd.
No, Takemichi was done with running away, he was sick and tired of being a coward. Didn’t he come back and enrolled on the Shibusen to become stronger so he could protect those he held dear? The adrenaline running through his veins singed and his soul throbbed again with renewed vigor. All the odds were against him and he was sure that, if he came alive out of this, he would get the beating of his life but Takemichi had never felt more motivated and grounded.
“My name is Hanagaki Takemichi. Kiyomasa,” Takemichi looked up defiant, not giving into Kiyomasa’s intimidating aura. The blonde raised his fist “let’s have a one-on-one fight.”
“Huh?” Kiyomasa walked up towards him, a vein popping on his forehead as he looked down on the annoying blonde in front of him “Oi, don’t go regretting this later.”
Without any notice and a quick movement that Takemichi couldn’t follow, Kiyomasa brutally punched him on the stomach. The blonde could barely manage to protect the area with little soul wavelengths cleverly spread to the most vulnerable areas on his body. But his soul was already dimmed because of the training, so the little protection this could offer didn’t stop the air from leaving his lungs.
Not losing his time, Kiyomasa connected several blows to his face, his cheek, his side, then he kicked him again in the stomach, forcing the air out of him and making him bend. Another hit flew towards him, but Takemichi’s muscled memory reacted in time and, pivoting with one hand Kiyomasa’s fist, Takemichi succeeded in squaring another wavelength filled punch in the middle of his face.
Kiyomasa lost his balance and Takemichi took the opportunity to lift one leg and hit the other on the jaw with the point of his foot, making Kiyomasa stumble backward and fall on one knee again. The kick had been higher than he thought and made him lose his balance.
Takemichi’s ears were buzzing because of the hits but he could still hear the noise of his surroundings. He thanked every single god he could think of for all the training he had to put through on the little town he used to live before; it was thanks to all of those lessons that felt more like street fights that he was able to even land a hit on Kiyomasa, because if Takemichi learned something there was to be quick and react on time, it didn’t matter if he was stronger or not.
Takemichi straightened. His legs trembled, his face ached and he could feel the blood dripping down the side of his face. It really was a damn pity Takemichi hadn’t been able to develop more muscle mass on those fights, it could have been very handy to have a little more strength.
‘Even if I’m using the wavelength, I can’t knock him out… it’s like a k-car fighting a bulldozer.’
Kiyomasa recovered faster than Takemichi had expected and, gaining momentum, he struck a kick to his face. Takemichi saw the kick coming, but his reflexes weren’t fast enough to react on time.
The kick landed straight on his face and made him dizzy, stumbling back a couple steps as he felt a new flood of blood coming out of his nose, broken no doubt. The crowd cheered on Kiyomasa and Takemichi could faintly listen to his friend’s voices through the screams.
“Takemichi!” That was Takuya’s voice.
“It’s enough Takemichi!” And that was Akkun’s.
“Not yet…” was the only thing he could mumble. Kiyomasa’s punch came back against his cheek and without losing his momentum, he kneed him again.
Kiyomasa didn’t stop his ruthless beating and Takemichi could barely concentrate on keeping on standing and protecting his most vital areas with what little wavelengths he had left, but he wasn’t sure how longer he could keep on.
Fluctuating between consciousness and unconsciousness, Takemichi realized that all of the people surrounding them had stopped screaming and now there was another silence, this one felt a little awkward. His ears were still buzzing so he could only catch a little from the conversations around him. “Why would he go that far?” “Shouldn’t we stop him?” were some of the few comments he could grasp. Kiyomasa landed a blow on his jaw and send him backwards, stumbling but still standing.
“Takemichi that’s enough, please!” Ahhh, was that Takuya again?
“You’re seriously gonna die!” That was definitely Yamagishi.
A strange silence took over and Takemichi wondered if he looked as bad as he felt. That thought made him laugh a bit, something must had gotten loose inside his head after all those punches.
“Not… yet… not yet…” The blonde smiled and wiped the blood on his face with the back of the hand “running and running all the time… I’m not gonna just stand and see my friends suffer…”
“Give up already Takemichi!” He heard Akkun scream, his voice sounded desperate “You’ve showed us enough of your determination!”
Takemichi was seriously tired of running away. His soul, reduced and weak, seemed to vibrate approvingly.
“I AIN’T GIVING UP!” He screamed, the tears coming out freely, since when had he started crying? “NOT WHILE I STILL HAVE A REASON NOT TO!” Takemichi looked up “Kiyomasa,” in front of him, the guy that doubles him in size trembled slightly but Takemichi noticed “the only way you’ll win is by killing me.” He declared, smiling. “I absolutely ain’t gonna lose.”
Kiyomasa frowned and the blonde saw how a cold sweat made his face shinier and his breathing was getting labored; maybe it was tiredness, maybe it was a side effect of being directly hit by soul wavelength. A manic smile split Kiyomasa’s face and he turned towards his crowd.
“Red, c’me here and transform into a bat! I still have to teach this asshole some manners” he looked at Takemichi, smile widening “I’m gonna kill you.”
Shit, a weapon? Takemichi had no chance of winning if a weapon joined the fight (not that he had much of a chance since the beginning).
The air felt tense and heavy, all of the presents were mumbling to each other while Kiyomasa kept screaming at his partner to transform into a weapon immediately.
“Bat, he says…”
“I thought this was a one-on-one fight?”
“Oi, Kiyomasa.”
“HAH?”
Takemichi looked up when he heard Kiyomasa choke on his own spit and straighten his posture. Now that he thought about it, everyone there had stayed eerily quiet. Curious, Takemichi tuned to the new voice’s direction.
In front of them stood an unfairly tall man, with blonde hair pulled up in a braid on the top of his head and the rest shaved, a very intimidating dragon tattoo on the left side of his head. The new guy looked absolutely intimidating, Takemichi gulped. He came closer and looked around a little annoyed, from behind he heard Makoto whisper “Blonde braid and a dragon tattoo on his temple, isn’t that Touman’s vice president, Draken?!”
Vice president? Well, if Takemichi wasn’t fucked before…
“You’ve drawn quite the crowd” the intimidating blonde said, his tone bored “you sure are worked up ain’tcha? Even though you’re the host.”
“Hey, hey Kenchin!” A second voice called, the so named Draken turned with an annoyed scowl.
From behind him, another blonde boy with shoulder-long hair tied at the top in a half ponytail and a very distinct height difference smiled and waved his hands.
“All my dorayaki is gone.”
What? Dorayaki? Was he really talking about food? No wait a damn minute, who the hell was this guy? Couldn’t he read the mood a little here? Where had he come from?
“Don’t call me by that nickname, Mikey.” Said the taller blonde, obviously annoyed but with cero signs of hostility against the other and Takemichi couldn’t help but ask again what the hell was happening.
Everyone’s reactions were immediate.
“GOOD WORK, PRESIDENT!” everybody yelled, lowering their heads. Takemichi jumped a bit with surprise and turned to look again at the smaller blonde, who was licking the remaining crumbles of his sweet treat off his cheek. The smaller blonde’s pitch-black eyes found Takemichi’s and he watched as the blonde leaned his head to the side, an enigmatic smile on his face. Both blondes walked towards the middle of the circle with ease.
“M-Mi… Sano-kun!” One of the guys on the crowd called, coming closer to the so-called Mikey “I’m with the 3rd special attack unit, I’m Akaishi!”
His introduction, however, fell on deaf ears since Mikey kept walking without acknowledging him in any way. Akaishi halted when he didn’t receive an answer.
“You’re in the way,” the taller blonde called Draken cut him “Mikey doesn’t talk to guys he ain’t interested in.”
The guy tensed and stepped back apologizing. Mikey passed by Kiyomasa who nodded and whispered a stalled “good work”. An aimed kick impacted against his stomach and drew the air out of him. Draken withdrew his leg and looked at him with the same bored expression.
“Kiyomasa, when did you become so important?” He asked, leaning his head back “you’re seriously going to greet the president with that swallow bow?”
“I… I understand!”
Takemichi’s survival instincts kicked back and rang the bells inside his head after that overwhelming display of power. He could only connect a few half decent punches to Kiyomasa, was this actually happening?
Mikey kept moving forward and Takemichi had no more doubts that he was walking towards him. His body tensed and took a defensive pose but the smaller blonde, in the blink of an eye, had already stepped into his personal space right in front of him making Takemichi completely loose balance, falling backwards on the ground.
The blonde’s black eyes followed him and he leaned his head to the side again.
“What did you say your name was?”
“H… Hanagaki Takemichi.”
Mikey seemed to think about it for a moment.
“I see… Takemitchy.”
“Huh?” Takemichi blinked in confusion, had he heard right? “T-Takemitchy?”
“That’s what Mikey said, so that’s what it is,” Draken spoke, his expression unchanging “Right, Takemitchy?”
Too many things were happening too fast, what was he supposed to do? What was this situation, to begin with? Yet again and before he could even react Mikey came closer to him, crouching down and bringing his face closer while his right hand grasped the back of Takemichi’s head, forcing his face even closer. Mikey smiled; his black eyes sparkled for a second.
“Are you really just a meister?”
‘Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?’
“Takemitchy, from today onward you’re my bitch, ok♡?”
“Huh?!”
Just as sudden as he came, Mikey pulled back, standing and putting his hands inside his pockets, the smile he had now gone from his face. His eyes found Kiyomasa and he walked back to him.
“Are you the one who organized this ‘fighting ring?’” Kiyomasa lifted his head and saw Mikey smiling so he smiled back to him a little nervous.
“Y…Yes!”
In a quick and fluid move, Mikey lifted his leg and connected a strong kick (if the cracking noise Takemichi heard was anything to go by) right on his jaw. Takemichi recognized with awe the trained, almost beautiful looking movement, whilst he could barely lift his leg without losing his balance, Mikey made it look as easy as breathing.
Kiyomasa lost consciousness for a moment and fell, but Mikey grabbed him by the hair and brought his face to his height, an overwhelmingly intimidating look on his face.
“Who the fuck are you?” Mikey’s fist tightens on Kiyomasa’s hair and with the same ease as he had thrown the kick, he started to punch him square on the face. Takemichi didn’t feel any vibration from his fist so Mikey wasn’t using any kind of wavelength, but every hit looked unbelievably painful.
Nobody dared to said anything while Mikey was punching Kiyomasa until he got tired and let his head hit the ground, stomping on it with his sandals.
“Now then,” he turned with a smile at the tallest blonde, small specks of blood on his face “shall we go home Kenchin? Underground fights are stupid.”
“Don’t do things to ruin the name of Touman.” Draken said to everyone around them, following Mikey.
For a short moment, a gust of air made the coat over Mikey’s shoulders flutter for a second and Takemichi thought he saw what looked like some black tendrils twirling at the edges of his coat, almost like spirals.
“Takemitchy!” said blonde jumped with surprise and looked back at those black eyes “See you later.♡”
“You guys, don’t stay there daydreaming, go away!”
Takemichi blinked again.
What the fuck had just happened?