#Osaki City | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Kazakhstan’s Minister of Communications and Informatics has blocked the Tumblr site because it contained 60 sites of terrorism, extremism, and pornography in 2015.

nymbruyn · 5 months

Text

On change un peu des petits animaux, j'ai commencé une petite série de personnages de pop-culture en chibi sumi-e. ^_^

Ryo Saeba/Nicky Larson Mu du Bélier Nana Osaki BlackJack Loki Azula

121 notes · View notes

saebaragi · 1 year

Text

me when my biases from the same fucking group interact: 🥹👏😭🎉🛐💗😁💐💘💞💕🎊💫♥️💚❣️🌈🥳🫶🤩💖❤️

#nct #ncity #neo city #nctzens #neo culture technology #stanning this group is wild #I LOVE YOU MARKTARO #marktaro #mark #taro #shotaro #mark lee #osaki shotaro

13 notes · View notes

daichiduskdrop · 9 months

Text

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚⋆·˚ ༘ *𝙎𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡 ⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚

Chapter 11

Pairing: BTS Ot7 X fem! reader

Genre: A/B/O AU, Fluff, Angst, Strangers to lovers,

Warnings: slight mentions of unhealthy eating habits

Words: 3435

Taglist: @thelilbutifulthings @ilovemoneymorethenmen @singukieee @cherrysainttt @felicityroth @mageprincess7 @lucis-noctiana @danielle143 @osakis-gf @girl-nahh @vintageoldfashion @neverthefirstchoice @juju-227592 @silentreadersthings @i-have-no-life-charlie @everyonehatesshani @iamkookiesforyou @dragons-flare @fangirl125reader

⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ✩‧₊˚⋆·˚ ༘ *

With the night continuing on calmly for a while, snow eventually started falling rapidly. The storm, more like a blizzard started around midnight. And after a while hail started to fall too.

The soft pattering sound turned into much louder and harsher booms, eventually waking you up.

With your eyes fluttering open, you sighed out tiredly before curling up closer into yourself. Hugging the hoodie to your chest, you started to feel more and more consious about the loudness around you.

It sounded harsh to your ears, like hundreds of fireworks going off at the same time, and when light flashed behind the curtains you were more than definitely freaked out now.

You were still very tired, woken up so suddenly you didn't understand well what was happening. Your sleepy brain wasn't able to comprehend the harsh weather. Only noting of the noise you felt your breathing quicken.

Throwing the blanket back, you stumbled out of the bed, almost falling before you were quick to scurry towards the doors of your room.

Just as you were about to pull them open, loud boom sounded out, and with that the thunder started. The snow continued, hail still falling as you yelped out startled.

Rushing out through the entrance you were standing in the now fully dark corridor, whining, you were terrified. Not being able to remember any of the rooms, you blindly rushed towards the first ones in sight.

Not bothering with knocking, you knew that the men were most likely dead asleep, they wouldn't likely wake up. So, with the tears starting to stream down you face you stumbled into the dark room.

You couldn't see much, your eyes still not adjusted to the darkness and so you walked blindly, your now loud sobs filling the room. The man woke up immediately after hearing those, sitting up quickly in bed before he rushed towards you.

Your shaking figure looked so small in the odd lights of the lightingbolts, your shoulders moving up and down virgously with your cries.

Taking a hold of your cheeks the alpha looked in your eyes, bending down to be in eye level with you. His eyes were soft and concerned, looking back towards the entrance he pulled you to his chest.

„Sweetheart? Pup, what's wrong? Tell alpha baby 'mega.” Namjoon's voice was rough from sleep but he still made effort to soften it up for your ears. You were startled enough already.

You didn't get to even try to answer before another loud boom sounded around you. It rumbled and growled and you were just getting more and more stressed out.

Whimpering at the thunder, you moved to cling to his body, your arms stretching upwards to grib his soft cotton t-shirt he wore to sleep. Understanding the problem, he furrowed his eyebrows.

„Oh baby... I know, it's scary. Come here, come to alpha sweet cub. Let alpha hold you, it's okay.” whimpering into Namjoon's neck you sniffled.

Picking you up under your thighs, he helped guide your legs around his waist, lightly patting you at your hips in a comforting pattern. He didn't expect it to be so loud himself, the city must be right in the middle of the storm...

The digital alarm clock he had placed on the bedside table showed 1:10, sighing out he smiled softly at you, cradling you closer to his warm chest.

He knew well that it was usual for the lowest ranking second genders to get scared with loud noises and with the flashing lights added, he wasn't shocked by your reaction at all.

Pushing your head gently to his neck he allowed you to snuggle closer to himself, and after turning on the big standing lamp that he had placed close to his bed, warm light enfulged the room.

Walking around with you through the room for a few minutes, he watched gently as you settled down more and more. With every passing second you melted into his body a bit more, making him smile softly at you.

He was very tired still, gone to bed only about two or so hours ago after making his final round through all the rooms occupied by his packmates, and now you too. It felt normal for him to check in on everyone before going to bed, making sure that everything was okay.

Sometimes, one of them would wake up, earlier when they just became a pack it would startle them a little, especially the youngest Kookie, but now that they grew used to it, they didn't mind at all.

Carresing your back, Namjoon took a seat on his bed again, adjusting the covers so he could sit just on the mattress, he smiled at you.

Your arms hooked around his neck you fisted the back of his shirt tightly, sitting on his lap with your legs around his waist, slinged over the bed.

The pack alpha wore a comfortable pair of sweats and a basic black t-shirt that loosely hung on his body. Breathing in his scent you were calmer than before, only a few occasional sniffles coming from you when the loud thunder hit.

When such happened, Joon was quick to pull you closer to him, if that was even possible, cradling you softly and swaying from side to side.

„Hush sweet pup, don't cry sweetheart. It's alright, alpha is here. You are safe small baby...”

And so after a few minutes of doing a great job at settling you down, he hooked one arm around you while he crawled back into the bed, throwing the duvet over the both of you.

Sliding down so he layed back on the pillows again, he smiled at you with his dimples showing. Resting on top of his chest, you placed your head near his neck again, resting just at the place where his collarbone met the pectoralis.

Running his fingers through your hair for a few minutes, he patted your head softly, occasionally rubbing his nose over the top of it, scenting you slightly.

When your eyes grew tired again, it has been about thirty minutes later since the storm started. The hail has stopped by now, only the snowflakes were falling, the strong wind carrying them around in waves.

Namjoon payed his full attention to you the whole time, even if he was tired himself, the packalpha subtled up his yawns as much as possible.

Stretching his arm to turn of the lights he tried to be as sneaky as possible, not wanting you to get startled again from your soft and sleepy state.

Your eyes has already been closed for a few minutes now, resting over where his heart was beating. You were holding his arm with one hand and the hoodie Hobi gave you in the other, closely tucked to your face.

With the lights off, the room was once again dark. Namjoon rested his head back, also closed his eyes. Only occasionally rubbing your head, he pulled the covers close to your face, tucking them around your sides.

With his arms around you, he too fell asleep.

❄️

The sun hadn't gone up when the alarm clock Joon had set up went off. It was winter, and while he loved the snow to a certain extent, waking up while it was still dark out just didn't do it for him.

It reminded him of the times he had to get up early to catch the flights that were still so uncomfortably booked in his earlier debut days.

Furrowing his brows, he turned it off without opening his eyes, breathing in the sweet scent covering everything around him.

Remembering what went down during the early night, he sighed softly. You were still calmly resting over him, breathing out in a slow pattern.

None of the sounds or motions woke you up, but since he had to get ready and still finish up some stuff he didn't get around to doing last night, he had to get up.

Shushing you at your whines, he sat up, gently placing you on the mattress where he had earlier fallen asleep with you, the spot still warmed up.

You only whimpered at the loss of his scent, but when he pushed a pillow heavily scented from sleeping on it so often into your arms, you just went on with your peaceful slumber.

Watching you settle back down, the packalpha rubbed at his eyes, unplugged his phone from the charger, and checked the time. It was only 6:02, so you still had time to sleep a little more.

He was glad you could; knowing how tired you probably still were, you deserved all the rest you could possibly get. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed out before going to shower with a chosen outfit in hand, you still calmly sleeping in his bed.

The next to wake up was Jin; only a few minutes after the packalpha, he too heard his phone alarm go off. They had thick soundproof walls, so any loud alarms wouldn't really go through. It was a great thing; no one would get disturbed this way.

After getting ready for the upcoming day himself, he climbed down the stairs slowly, yawning. Putting the water on the boil, he started to get breakfast ready for his pack.

Firstly, Jin started to prepare the rice, scooping it into a large metal bowl, where he then rinsed it until the water turned clear. Putting it in the rice cooker they had, he added carefully measured water as instructed. Turning it on, he went on to prepare the soup and side dishes for today.

The alpha already started the soup yesterday since it had a longer prep time. After taking you to Hoseok, he first started by soaking the short ribs, drawing out some blood.

After the thirty-minute timer went off, he was quick to blanch them in boiling water, removing all the remaining blood and some of the fat too.

After boiling the meat for a little bit, he added sliced radish, onions, garlic, and a little bit of ginger too, being mindful not to make it spicy for you.

Seasoning it with salt and soy sauce, he brought the soup to a boil for a longer period of time until the meat turned tender, just in time before he too went to bed.

Now all he had to do was prepare the soup to be served. Carrying the big pot to the stove, he stirred it occasionally until it was brought to a boil. Tasting it and seasoning it to taste, Jin added dangmyeon, letting it boil for only a few minutes before he turned the stove off.

Meanwhile, he cut some of the radish into bite-size pieces before boiling the soup again, making sure it would soften up a bit so it wouldn't be hard to bite into.

With Namjoon walking down the stairs, he greeted him calmly, already pouring him a bowl. The rice was resting for only a short while, but the packalpha never minded, so he served him a big bowl of the steaming white.

„Pup came to me last night. The storm woke her up.” He sighed tiredly, digging in. Looking back at him, Jin felt worry creep up on him.

„Poor thing. She must have been terrified.” Looking out from the window near the kitchen, it was still dark. By now, only a few snowflakes have been falling, but the snow must have grown a good few centimetres over the night.

„She was. But it's alright, she is asleep in my room now.” Nodding at that, Jin prepared himself and the other alpha a cup of coffee. They had a long day ahead.

Also helping himself to some breakfast, more and more of the packmates started to trickle in with the passing time.

With Taehyung, Jimin and Hoseok already munching on the rice and soup with the few side dishes, Jin cleaning around a bit and Namjoon reading over news on a tablet, the morning was going peacefully. Rubbing his face the packalpha noticed the time.

„I'll go wake Y/N up...” He murmured, getting up. After mentioning your name he had many eyes settled on him already, interested.

Going to call out about also going, Jin was fast to calm the ecstatic alpha down. „Taehyung-ah, come help me with the trash, we still have to take the bins out before the garbage truck comes.”

Looking over at his elder with his lips opened up a bit, ready to cry out his pack alpha's name, he nodded defeated. There would be next time, he supposed.

Walking up the stairs slowly, Namjoon wanted to prolong your sleep for as long as possible. Going into your room, he looked around for your clothes you chose yesterday for your upcoming day.

Shuffling around he pulled the neatly folded clothes from the plastic bag, he also took your hairbrush and other toiletries you took with yourself, left in the bathroom yesterday.

Ruffling up his hair, he softly opened his room doors, looking in before he stepped any further.

You were curled up underneath his grey sheets, your back turned to the doors, the brown jumper and pillow hugged to your chest tightly.

Smiling at you, he walked towards you, taking a seat at the foot of the bed before he gently rubber over your covered shoulder.

„Baby cub, wake up... Come on pup, it's time to get up now.” moving around a little the alpha chuckled at you. It was still dark out, even if it was only a bit before 7 in the morning.

„I know sweetheart. Come here, baby.” uncovering your shoulders, you were met with harsh cold air, whining softly at it, curling up into yourself more. The packalpha was quick to shush you, sneaking his hands under your arms before he pulled you up to sit up.

With your eyes open only a little bit, you watched with blurry vision as Namjoon ran his fingers through your hair, taming it down for you.

After a few minutes you were gently coaxed awake, and after letting you change into your outfit in the bathroom, the packalpha patted the bed again, right infront of where he was sitting.

With a hairbrush in hand, he gently brushed through your locks, letting your hair be down for today. He wouldn't be able to do much else anyways, only maybe tie a ponytail for you.

You would have to ask someone much more clever like Yoongi or Jin to make you something like frenchbraids.

Smiling at you softly, he lead you to the kitchen again, allowing you to take a seat before he sat down himself again, the now much cooler coffee cup still not empty.

At your presence the now full pack grew more aware, cooing at your still sleepy state. Quick to also prepare you a bowl of soup and rice Jin handed you a spoon. „Your outfit is so cute babycheeks.”

Tae complimented, watching over your reaction. Even if you were still sleepy, your cheeks reacted fast, warming up to a pink shade.

You weren't wearing anything special, only wanting to keep yourself warm from the cold weather outside. Since noone at art schools like yours judged what the other students were wearing too much, you didn't have to worry that bad.

A plush oversized cream coloured jumper you wore suited you well, the dark brown ribbed turleneck peeking through only the smallest bit at the neck and wrists. Opting for a pair of comfortable fitting loose baggy thicker black jeans you looked - and felt - comfortable.

Thanking for the compliment softly, you started to eat the breakfast yourself. It was a comforting food, warming you up from inside quickly. „It's very tasty Jin!” You looked at the alpha, meeting his eyes while smiling. He did so too, his eyes scrunching up a bit.

„Thank you soft peaches. Here, drink up your juice and get ready, we have to be leaving soon. It's gonna be almost 20 in a few minutes...” mumbling, the alpha handed you a glass of juice just like he did a few times before.

Thanking him softly, you finished your breakfast, Jungkook picking up your now mostly empty bowls, looking at how much you ate. Satisfied, knowing you won't be too hungry any time soon, he smiled at you with his bunny like teeth showing.

„Good job babybun.” combing his fingers through your hair, he left to also get ready, still wearing whatever he was sleeping in earlier. Following up in a few seconds, you met Yoongi while walking up the stairs.

„..Kitten slow down baby-! Don't run.” His caring words came to deaf ears as you just nodded abstinently, quickly jumping up the few last stairs.

The alpha was already ready to go, with a backpack slung over his shoulder he had everything he needed on him for the day. Since his own morning coffee was still a bit too hot when he tried to drink it, he left it to cool down while he gone to prepare in his room.

He watched over you as you ran up the few last stairs before he shook his head softly. One day for sure you'll trip if this continues. Sighing out at the thought he slumped down in his seat at the kitchen table, most of the men ready to leave or gone, doing so at the moment.

Quickly brushing your teeth, you used mouthwash that layed on the countertop. After packing up everything you needed for school, you hoped you didn't forget anything. Filling up your water bottle with some water in the tap downstairs, you were gently nudged by the alpha.

„Princess do you want just water? We have some sirups here, let's see... There's raspberry, blueberry and we even have some homemade one from Jin's hyungs uncle's strawberry farm. I'll pour you a glass so you can try, it's tasty.”

Filling up the glass with only enough to cover the bottom, he poured the rest full of filtered through water. Handing it to you, he watched closely how you liked it. It was very good, much better than any store bought ones you ever tried. Nodding at the taste he smiled at you, Jimin's eyes closing up into crescent shapes.

„Good. I'll prepare it into your water bottle, what do you say?” Nodding eagerly, you looked at him. You were more than grateful for their kind gestures.

Closing the lid tightly for you, the alpha helped slid it into your open backpack, only a few things laying around in it. With your phone safely tucked in your pants pocket, you were just about to go to put on your jacket when Jin stopped you.

„Cub, here, I prepared you a lunch box. Eat well alright sweet baby? Do you eat at the cafeteria?” Handing you the steel dosirak case, it felt heavier than any other ones you ever made for yourself.

You would often forget to prepare yourself a good lunch, and with the small spare change you only had you weren't really ever able to afford any food at the cantine. You were used to skipping meals from time to time, sometimes unconsciously doing so.

„Thank you! Um... I usually just eat outside of the building or somewhere close. There is a nice park close by the school.” You mumbled the last bits of the sentence. The alpha didn't have time to reply before Hoseok was already calling for them to get in the car.

Rushing to tie your shoes you allowed the two other alphas to coddle you a little before leaving the house, making sure your boots were tied properly, the scarf knotted well and jacked zipped up all the way to your neck. With Jimin and Jin on either side of you, you watched as the older placed the passcode in, locking the main entrance.

With their heavy coats on, the packmates all filled in the black van, this time driven by their youngest. Pulled to sit in the middle once again, you huddled between Yoongi and Hobi, still a little tired.

The sun has only started to rise up, and so you yawned a little, your backpack placed by Hobi's feet. Rubbing your head gently, the alpha cooed at you. Typing in the address of your school and saving it into starred locations the car GPS system hosted, Kook backed up from the drive way.

And so with Coldplay playing on the music radio system, you let Yoongi nudge your still tired head to his awaiting shoulder. Looking at his face, he quickly avoided your gaze, looking out of the window.

„Rest for a bit kitty. It will take a bit sweet baby. We got you, you'll be okay.”

⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ✩‧₊˚⋆·˚ ༘ *

398 notes · View notes

noticiasarquelogicasjaponesas · 2 months

Text

Sean bienvenidos japonsistasarqueológicos, a una nueva publicación en esta ocasión nos trasladamos a prefectura de Akita una vez más para hablar de la tumba de Ono no Komachi una vez dicho esto comenzamos. - Fue famosa como poeta, si no también tenía una belleza incomparable: ¡Fui a cubrir la tumba de Ono no Komachi en la ciudad de Osaki! ! La ciudad de Osaki, fue donde se refugió tras, ser expulsada del mismo, tuvo que regresar a Akita su ciudad natal. Después de eso, realizó una visita de 100 días para orar por la recuperación de su enfermedad, pero falleció el día en que se cumplió su deseo. Se dice que cuando los aldeanos la vieron, se apiadaron de ella y erigieron una lápida por su triste muerte. - ¿Quién fue Ono no Komachi? Fue una poetisa del periodo Heian, se desconocen cuando nació y murió, pero se la conoce como "Rokukasen", se baraja la posibilidad de que viviera en Kioto, además de la prefectura de Akita, como la prefectura de Kioto y la prefectura de Kumamoto, sobre dónde se dice que nació. - Espero que os haya gustado y nos vemos en próximas publicaciones, ¿Conocían esta historia y a la poetisa?. 今回も秋田県に場所を移し、小野小町の墓についてお話しします。 - 歌人として有名な小野小町だが、その美しさは比類ない。大崎市にある小野小町の墓を取材した！!大崎市から追放された彼女が避難した大崎市は、故郷の秋田に帰ることになった。その後、病気の回復を祈願して百日詣りをしたが、その願いが叶った日に亡くなった。その姿を見た村人たちが憐れみ、悲しい死を悼んで墓石を建てたという。 - 小野小町とは？平安時代の歌人で、いつ生まれ、いつ亡くなったかは不明だが、「六歌仙」の名で知られ、京都のほか、秋田県、京都府、熊本県などに住んでいたと考えられている。 - この物語と歌人をご存知でしたか？ Welcome to a new publication, this time we move to Akita prefecture once again to talk about the tomb of Ono no Komachi, so let's begin. - She was famous as a poet, but she also had an incomparable beauty: I went to cover the tomb of Ono no Komachi in the city of Osaki! ! Osaki City, where she took refuge after being expelled from Osaki, had to return to Akita, her hometown. After that, she made a 100-day visit to pray for recovery from her illness, but died on the day her wish came true. It is said that when the villagers saw her, they took pity on her and erected a tombstone for her sad death. - Who was Ono no Komachi? She was a poetess of the Heian period, it is unknown when she was born and when she died, but she is known as "Rokukasen", and it is thought that she lived in Kyoto, as well as Akita Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture, where she is said to have been born. - I hope you liked it and see you in future posts. Did you know this story and the poetess?

36 notes · View notes

nanaosaki3940 · 1 year

Text

A Condition Called Love [Tokyo Revengers]

|| Tokyo Revengers ||

(Almost follows the canon storyline of TR & is up-to-date with the manga.)

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Angst.

Note: A very long post (A collection of snippets from my original Tokyo Revengers fanfic. I know this is an xOC fic but you can read it as self-insert)

TR masterlist

"When I see you, it's as if space and time become the finest point imaginable as if time collapses into one tiny speck and explodes at light speed. It's as if my universe begins and ends with you. I could run forever, search forever, but in the end, every path leads right back to your heart and soul. I love you, always."

- Keisuke Baji

Nana's POV

As far as I could recall my memories, I had known the Sano family for ages now. My father's family, the Osaki and the Sano (who were apparently also my neighbor) had been family friends for generations, was what I had been told by my parents and the others. So, growing up, the people I always found myself surrounded by (besides my own parents) were the Sano brothers and their idiotic friends.

Shinichiro Sano, the eldest son of the Sano family, also the founder and First Generation President of Black Dragon, had always been a kind and sympathetic individual; a total softie if I must say. Known by everyone in the delinquent world as the 'Weak King', Shinichiro was yet a terrible fighter but nonetheless a charming and charismatic leader. Back when he led all the tough guys in Tokyo, to me, Shinichiro sparkled brighter than anything. All the delinquents in Tokyo respected and idolized him, a guy who was weaker than them, and sometimes this confused the heck out of his younger brother Manjiro.

"Shinichiro-Nii... Even though you suck at fighting, you're girl-crazy and your farts stink, how come all the guys like you?" Manjiro once asked him that.

"Haha, you just don't get it yet, Manjiro." was what Shinichiro responded back then with a bright smile and a hearty chuckle.

Maybe back then Manjiro didn't understand what made his older brother so special, but I on the other hand knew and understood everything. In one of many memories of mine, I could recall how Shinichiro never liked taking those dojo classes with his grandfather and always skipped the classes whenever he got his sweet chance. In his words, he would rather hang around with his gang (the Black Dragon) while riding his bike across the city than spend hours at the dojo with Grandpa Sano who kept scolding him for everything like a broken radio.

But despite his carefree attitude, Shinichiro was sensible, responsible, and reliable. Whatever the situation was, Shinichiro was always there, right in the front, reaching out his hand to anyone who needed help and saving. Aside from that, he also had a charm that attracted people around him, but even with that charm, Shinichiro never resorted to violence. He was just so kind and earnest that even the people who fought him ended up liking him.

And that's why I was attracted to Shinichiro in the first place. Even when he playfully warned me - "Don't go falling for my good looks now" - I still ended up falling for him hard. Before I could even realize how it happened or when it happened, I was madly in love with Shinichiro Sano despite him being 10 years older than me.

Another thing that I could recall from the past was what his friends (Takeomi Akashi, Wakasa Imaushi, and Keizo Arashi) used to call him back then - "A loser in both fights and love" and it was because of his inability to fight despite him being the leader of a delinquent gang and him getting rejected by women 20 times consecutively. I never understood why girls never liked Shinichiro or why he got rejected every single time. Good looks, charming personality, leadership quality, strong morality - he had it all, yet women still rejected his love confessions without giving a thought to his feelings. And not just his looks and personality, he also had this aura of warmth and homeliness that could make anyone feel comfortable and safe around him and that he was the kind of person who would cry along with and for someone if they got hurt or were in pain of some sort.

In my opinion, those women were really dumb for letting go of an angel like him because to me, there was no one else like Shinichiro Sano.

On the other hand, his brother Manjiro, the youngest son of the Sano family, was quite the opposite of his older brother Shinichiro. Manjiro was selfish, bratty, clingy, and possessive, yet was sometimes sweet and understanding all at the same time. He was someone who looked down on the weak ones and deemed himself as the strongest in the whole of Shibuya, all the way back from our elementary school days. He was everything that Shinichiro wasn't, meaning his personality wasn't likable enough for me and my taste, but even so somehow Manjiro and I still managed to get along with each other pretty well and became best friends for life in the process. People around us used to say that I was quite mature for my age while Manjiro was the most childish one between the two of us, we somehow balanced each other despite being the polar opposite of one another. Growing up together ever since when we were still in diapers, Manjiro and I had known each other for the longest and because of that we were practically inseparable.

Even to this day, I could still remember all those beautiful memories of mine with the Sano family like how my parents were so good friends with Mrs. Sano (Shinichiro and Manjiro's mother) when they were all alive and well or how Shinichiro used to babysit me and Manjiro back in the days when he was still in middle or high school or how we used to play and spend our time together with Takeomi's (Shinichiro's friend) younger siblings named Haruchiyo and Senju at the Akashi residence with Shinichiro and Takeomi by our side and the list goes on and on. And in every single one of my memories, I always found Manjiro there with me by my side all the time, never once leaving me alone even for a single minute. As if I was his other half and he was mine.

Although I didn't have any clear memories of Mr. Sano (Shinichiro and Manjiro's father) because he died in a car accident when Manjiro and I were only 3 years old, I did use to hear stories from either Shinichiro or Mrs. Sano about him like how he was so kind and gentle as a person or how Manjiro got his looks from his father and everything. At school or on a playground, I never felt lonely or abandoned because of Manjiro. He was always there whenever I needed him whether it was to support me, cheer me up, or grace me with his "cool and mighty" presence. I thought as long as I had Manjiro with me, I wouldn't need anyone else. But then I was proven to be wrong not so long after. In our own little world full of rainbows and unicorns, when it was just me and Manjiro, someone else suddenly walked into our lives and changed the whole dynamic of our friendship; it was Keisuke Baji.

Manjiro and I met Keisuke for the first time when all three of us were only four years old. Living in the same neighborhood as us, Keisuke just newly joined the Sano dojo to learn martial arts from Grandpa Sano while Manjiro and I were already a part of the student body back then. As time passed by at the Sano dojo, I started to learn more and more about Keisuke as a person before realizing that his personality rested somewhere in between my mature one and Manjiro's childish one.

From my point of view, Keisuke Baji was kind, obedient, bashful, gullible, somewhat playful and yet was also pretty much brainless, and stupid. But also at the same time, he was loud, competitive, aggressive, and violent. Keisuke was the first person in my life that I had seen someone having a major anger issue. And aside from his hotheadedness, he was also very perceptive of the things around him and was fiercely loyal to the ones he loved and cared for the most. In other words, Keisuke Baji was wild and free, like a bird soaring high up in the sky with its wings spread wide open.

Back in the days, Keisuke always used to challenge Manjiro in fights to see who was better at martial arts but in the end, would always get his ass whipped by the blonde Sano boy, and being the only mature one in the group, I always had to step in and stop the fight before giving medical attention to the ravenette boy named Keisuke.

"Good, that's enough!!" Grandpa Sano shouted out to the students, letting them know that the class was over for today.

Manjiro, Keisuke, and I were also there in the midst of many students in the dojo, getting ready to pack things up, and at the moment, Shinichiro who was a middle schooler back then, sneaked into the dojo to pay us a small visit.

"Yo, Nana-chan, Keisuke, what's up?" Shinichiro called out with a grin on his face, leaning back on the doorframe with his schoolbag slinging on his shoulder. "You two sure got a pretty solid body for little kids..."

"Shinichiro-kun!"

"Shin-chan!"

Both Keisuke and I greeted him back with a bright smile, our eyes twinkling like the stars in the sky. But Shinichiro's smile on the other hand immediately vanished in thin air when we called out his name out loud.

"Keep it down, you dummies!" Shinichiro scolded us lightly with a nervous look on his face before running away from there.

"Shinichiro!!" Grandpa Sano yelled out with a scowling face but the ravenette Sano boy had already left the spot. "Dammit! Always messing around, never coming to the dojo. Don't you two turn out like him, Nana and Keisuke! Both of you got potential."

"Y-Yes, sir!" Keisuke and I responded back nervously.

And just then our attention shifted towards Manjiro who was still practicing his special move; high kicks.

"Sensei, how come he's so good, even though he never practices?" Keisuke asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"He's a prodigy!" Gramps replied in a proud tone.

"Whaaat?! No fair! Why's he get to be the one?!" Keisuke complained.

"Because he's my grandson!" Gramps smirked at Keisuke in response.

But Keisuke being Keisuke wouldn't give up that easily and stomped towards Manjiro.

"Hey, Sano! Spar with me!!" Keisuke demanded.

"Huh? No way!" Manjiro immediately rejected the demand. "I don't wanna get all sweaty."

"Then why would you come to the dojo?!" Keisuke asked, pointing at Manjiro in an accusation manner.

"To show off how cool I am. I wanna stand out!" Manjiro replied, flashing out a cheeky grin.

"Wow, what a jerk!" Keisuke grumbled out in frustration.

And this wasn't the only time that happened. It later became a daily ritual where Keisuke would challenge Manjiro in a fight and then later get his ass whipped.

"Damn that Sano!" Keisuke hissed out in frustration while I was putting bandages on his new scars and bruises.

"Don't get mad, Kei-chan..." I stated in a soft tone and the boy locked his gaze on me. "I'm sure that someday you'll get stronger and beat Jiro-chan in a fight."

"You believe I can do that, Nana-chan?" Keisuke asked, his gaze softened, and his voice filled with hope and anticipation.

"Hmm!" I hummed before flashing out a bright smile. "You work hard a lot and you have dedication. Mommy and Daddy say that hard work and dedication always pay off, whatever you do."

"Really?"

"Yes! I believe in you, Kei-chan!"

And right on cue, Keisuke's face went blushing red like a tomato.

"You know what? I'll help you train, Kei-chan. That way you'll get stronger." I suggested and his eyes went wide open in response.

"B-But I can't fight you, Nana-chan!" he stuttered out nervously.

"Why not?" I asked with a pouty face and a frown. "I know I'm not as strong as Jiro-chan, but I can still help."

"But you're a girl, Nana-chan. My Ma taught me not to hit girls. That's bad." he pointed out.

"Violence on anyone or anything is bad in general, Kei-chan. And besides, you're not gonna hit me with bad intention, so it's okay." I shrugged and Keisuke's eyes softened again in response.

"You're really nice, Nana-chan..." he stated in a gentle tone and my eyes widened a bit at his words.

"You think so?" I asked, a small blush appearing on my face.

"Yeah! I told my Ma about you and she says you're a nice girl!" he added before hopping on his own two feet. "You know what, Nana-chan? You should come to my house now that we're friends. We can play video games and eat yakisoba together!"

"Okay!" I giggled out, standing up on my feet as well. "Do you have any anime and manga collections? I love reading manga, you know."

"No way! Really? Me too!" he gasped out in surprise.

"Then I guess we should hang out more often!" I laughed out in delight.

"Yeah!" Keisuke responded back with a huge smile on his face.

And that's when I noticed his left sharp canine tooth poking out in between his closed lips as he continued to smile at me. Curiosity got the best of me as I reached out and touched his pointy tooth.

"W-What are you doing?" he stuttered out and a wave of red flushed his cheeks.

"Your canine tooth was poking out in between your closed lips. That's really cute, Kei-chan." I giggled at him again.

"C-C-Cute?!" he gasped out in shock.

"Yeah, cute!" I nodded my head in agreement.

"I'm not cute! I'm manly! Stop teasing me, Nana-chan!" he grumbled out with pouty lips.

"Huh? I'm not teasing you. I'm just stating the fact. And who said you can't be cute if you're manly? I think you can be both manly and cute at the same time if you want." I pointed out and his blush deepened even more than before.

Yeap, Keisuke Baji sure was a cute and adorable boy back then.

And speaking of cute and adorable, when we were like 5-6 years old, a new addition came into the Sano family all of a sudden; Emma Sano. Through my parents, I got to know that Emma's mother was Mr. Sano's second wife and was a year younger than me, Manjiro and Keisuke. Meaning that Emma was Shinichiro and Manjiro's half-sister.

Everything just happened all of a sudden and happened way too fast in my opinion.

On one bright day, Emma's mom suddenly appeared out of nowhere at the Sano residence with Emma and dropped her daughter there in the care of Grandpa Sano, and just left. And when I meant left, I meant she never came back for Emma again. So from that day onwards, Emma became a part of the Sano family and a part of our friend group. It was already weird enough for me to learn that Mr. Sano had another wife while Mrs. Sano (Shinichiro and Manjiro's mother) was still alive and now this?

"Huh? Wow! So you got different moms?" Keisuke asked in surprise and amazement as the four of us (Me, Manjiro, Keisuke and Emma) sat on the floor at the dojo after today's practice before Keisuke looked over at Manjiro with a grin on his face. "Sounds like a foreigner's name."

"I know right?" Manjiro grinned back.

"Then I will be Edward. Ed for short." Keisuke suddenly stated out of nowhere.

"And... I'll be Michael. Mikey for short." Manjiro added as the two boys continued to grin like idiots.

"Huh? What the hell?" I deadpanned at those two while Emma remained unfazed.

"Nana-chin, pick a foreign name for yourself!" Manjiro stated excitedly, looking over at me with a smirk.

"No way in hell." I rejected him immediately.

"You're no fun, Nana-chan!" Keisuke complained.

"Oh, I know! It's 'Nina' for Nana-chin! Or, maybe 'Nancy'. Or, 'Nathalie'..." Manjiro went on and on.

"I think I like Nina better!" Keisuke chimed in.

"Nina it is then!" Manjiro finalized.

"Hey, I never asked for an American name!" I snapped but those two idiots won't listen as they began to talk in broken English among themselves, causing me to let out a heavy sigh in response. "I give up. Those two are hopeless..."

"To be honest I know..." Emma suddenly spoke up for the first time in hours and we all turned our attention to her. "I know how Mommy feels... Mommy hates me. That's why she got rid of me. I know, but she told me she would come to get me after she finished her errands. She said so..."

And with that, she started to sob in front of us, tears flowing down her chubby cheeks. At that moment, I didn't know what to say to comfort her even though I wanted to. It wasn't like Emma and I became really close friends as soon as she arrived at the Sano residence, but I knew I wanted to be friends with her; my first female friend.

"I want to make Emma-chan smile..." I spoke up at the dining table later that night while eating dinner.

"You want to be friends with her?" Mom asked me with a smile and I nodded my head in response.

"But I don't know how to approach her though..." I added with a pouty face. "Every time we practice at the dojo, she would just stand outside and watch us from the doorway."

"Maybe she wants to learn martial arts, but is too shy to ask anyone to teach her?" Dad pointed out. "Maybe you can become her teacher. You already train with Keisuke after class, right? Ask her to join you guys."

"That sounds like a plan!" I responded back with a bright smile, loving the idea my Dad gave me.

And then according to my plan, I approached Emma the next day and asked her to join us for the training, and to my surprise, she happily agreed. It wasn't as hard as I imagined. Maybe she also wanted to be friends with us after all then. So every day after the dojo classes ended, Keisuke and I would stay back and teach Emma some of the martial art moves we knew.

"You're learning from them, Emma?"

The three of us looked over to the side and noticed Manjiro standing at the doorway with a deadpanned face and this offended me and Keisuke to no extent.

"What do you mean 'learning from them', huh?!" Keisuke snapped, frowning his eyebrows at the blonde Sano boy.

"Just because we're not as strong as you, Jiro-chan, doesn't mean we can't teach Emma-chan martial arts!" I added, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Yeah! And besides, we're also getting stronger because of our hard work and dictation!" Keisuke stated proudly, puffing his chest.

"Kei-chan, it's dedication, not dictation." I deadpanned at the ravenette boy.

"Oh really?" Keisuke asked in confusion and I facepalmed myself in response.

"I will be Mikey from now on..." Manjiro spoke up again as he walked over to us.

"Huh?" Emma asked, raising an eyebrow as we all gave him a confused look.

"If your big bro's name is Mikey, then we match, so it's not weird, right? So it's just gonna be Mikey now, Emma." Manjiro clarified himself and hearing this, Emma let out a chuckle in amusement.

"Wah, she finally laughed!" Keisuke whispered into my ear in surprise.

"I know right?" I whispered back, surprised as well.

"You don't get girls at all. I wasn't worried about my name." Emma continued to giggle.

"Ah, you smiled." Manjiro pointed out before his lips curled up into a small smirk. "Don't fall for me now."

"No way, stupid. You are not my type." Emma responded back in a sassy manner.

And from that day onwards we shared a bond that was completely unbreakable.

At the age of six, I lost both of my parents in a car accident. My relatives rejected me, saying that I'd be a burden to them. And in a difficult situation like this, the Sano family was kind enough to take me in and give me a roof over my head. Mrs. Sano, Grandpa Sano, Shinichiro, Manjiro, and Emma, all welcomed me into their family with open arms. They became my 2nd family, my 2nd home. Even though I was very young back then, I started to come to terms with my parents' deaths and began to cope with the situation I was in. For myself, to survive in this cruel world, I needed to become strong, both mentally and emotionally. Instead of mourning over my parents' death, I needed to move on with my life, or else I'd never find happiness like this.

As things started to get a little better for me, another tragedy hit us like a typhoon; Mrs. Sano passed away from an illness after being hospitalized for months, just two years after the death of my parents.

To me, Mrs. Sano was like my second mother and she loved me like her own child. Her death was another shock that I had to cope with along with the Sano family. When Mrs. Sano was still alive, I remember how Manjiro and I used to go visit her in the hospital once a week before going back home after school. There we used to spend hours with her telling her stories of what we did at school or at home and everything. And Manjiro being Manjiro would always share his 'heroic' tales with his mother of how he beat up some random kids at school or at the park, claiming how strong he was. That cocky little shit Manjiro made his mission of asserting his dominance in the whole of Shibuya back then.

"I met this big guy from East elementary's third grade and I beat him up." Manjiro stated proudly with a huge grin as he and I sat on a chair beside the hospital bed.

"You're so strong, Manjiro. Just like your father." Mrs. Sano responded back with a warm smile.

"But violence is bad. Don't you think so too, aunty?" I chimed in and Manjiro threw a dirty glare at me.

"That's true though. What Nana-chan said is also right." Mrs. Sano added, agreeing with me.

"You're just saying that because you're weak, Nana-chin!" Manjiro snapped at me.

"No, you're wrong. I'm not weak and I can fight!" I snapped back, huffing and crossing my arms over my chest. "Unlike you, I'm not a violent person and I don't pick up fights with random people to assert my dominance! Not to mention you always make them cry!"

"They cry because they're weak. It's their fault that they're weak!" Manjiro tried to reason.

"But children cry easily, don't they?" Mrs. Sano asked with a smile.

"Did Daddy also cry easily?" Manjiro asked.

"I wonder if he ever cried in public though?" Mrs. Sano wondered before her lips curled up into a smile. "That man was hopeless..."

The way she smiled, I knew she was thinking about Mr. Sano at that moment. There were times when Mrs. Sano used to tell us stories about Mr. Sano which clearly indicated how much she still loved him and missed him.

"You love Daddy very much, don't you, Mom?" Manjiro asked, tilting his head to the side.

"You think so?" Mrs. Sano chuckled out with a smile.

"Well, then I'll be like Daddy too!" Manjiro stated with a big grin on his face.

But that happiness didn't last long when Mrs. Sano's condition worsened even more. I could still remember the last encounter I had with her. We all went to visit her one last time at the hospital where Manjiro boasted about his victories in fights as usual, and stated that weak guys did not cry so he will not cry as well. He also promised to protect her. However, Mrs. Sano told him that, just because he did not cry did not mean that he was strong. She also revealed that he used to be a crybaby when he was younger. To lighten the heavy situation, I even ridiculed him for being a "crybaby" which made Manjiro furious but Mrs. Sano and I simply shrugged him off and laughed away together.

Three days later after our final visit, Mrs. Sano took her last breath and passed away. The Sano family and I all went to visit her at the hospital where her lifeless body was kept in a room, and there we all grieved and sobbed, except for Manjiro. At first, I was worried, wondering where he went but later I found him in one of the hospital corridors bawling his eyes out. Manjiro wanted to be strong. He wanted to appear strong. He didn't want to be deemed as weak. That's why he always went around and beat up people in order to prove a point that he was the strongest in the area he was at. And because of that, he didn't shed tears during his final visit to his mother. Even at that moment, he didn't want his family to see him cry like this.

I understood how he felt. I understood his pain. After all, I was also an orphan like him. I didn't say a word and simply walked over to him before pulling him into a bear hug. I let him cry silently on my shoulders. Manjiro knew I won't tell anyone about him shedding tears. We might bicker with each other every now and then, but when it came to keeping secrets, we always trusted each other to no extent.

"Nana-chin, promise me you'll never leave my side..." he sobbed causing me to tighten my grip around him even more.

"I promise, Manjiro... I promise...."

Even though I said I understood his pain and suffering as a fellow orphan, I actually never realized what he was actually going through after his mother passed away. As time went by, I noticed some sudden changes in Manjiro which were very concerning. He was getting more and more aggressive and violent and started picking up fights with even older guys on the streets and alleyways. When I confronted him about this, Manjiro explained his situation to me - "Dark Impulse".

He explained that something dark was growing inside him and whenever he succumbed to that darkness, it conflicted with the aspects of his personality and contradicted his behavior like how he felt attracted to violence and wanted to embrace a life of violence by committing multiple atrocities or otherwise or how his emotions would shut down and that would make him act indifferent towards anyone while holding a cold poker face or how he felt capable of hurting or even gunning down his dear ones.

At first, I got worried about his mental state when he told me all of that but then he also assured me that his "Dark Impulse" was in complete control and that there was nothing to be afraid of. As gullible as I was back then, I believed his words and that was the biggest mistake of my entire life.

While growing up, besides Emma, Manjiro and Keisuke, I also became good friends with Takeomi's (Shinichiro's friend) younger siblings named Haruchiyo and Senju. Those two were also the same age as me and the others and we always used to play together at the Sano residence all the time. There was this one time Shinichiro made a toy plane for Manjiro which caught almost everyone's attention and I could still remember how Keisuke, Haruchiyo, and I used to chase after him and begged him to let us play with his toy, but Manjiro being selfish and possessive as always never shared his toy with us.

Senju was no different from us when it came to this aspect. She was also fascinated with Manjiro's toy plane and wished to have one for herself someday. One day, her wish almost came true when she sneaked into Manjiro's bedroom and found the plane sitting on top of a small shelf. Greed and curiosity got the best of her as she took the plane to play with it around the living room only for her to trip by accident and break the toy in the process. It didn't take long for Manjiro to find out about the condition of his toy and when Senju tried to apologize to him, he asked her who broke the toy and she lied, saying it was Haruchiyo just to escape from Manjiro's wrath.

I wasn't sure how things later went down as I was hanging out with Emma in her bedroom, but when I heard Keisuke and Haruchiyo screaming, I immediately dashed out of the room and went outside to see what happened. There in the garden, I found Haruchiyo kneeling down on the ground with the corner of his mouth ripped out, blood gushing out from the wounds. Manjiro was standing right in front of him, his hands soaked in blood, eyes hollow and soulless. A trembling Keisuke was also on the ground just a few feet away from them, shocked and horrified, staring at Manjiro in utter bewilderment. I also found Senju standing on the porch of Sano dojo with her arms wrapped around herself, shaking in fear and horror.

"Oh my God! Haru!!" I cried out in concern before rushing over to his side. "Shin-chan! Take-chan! Come outside, quick!!"

I immediately pulled out my clean handkerchief and held it against Haruchiyo's mouth to stop the bleeding. I then looked over at Keisuke and found him still on the ground, shocked.

"Keisuke! Go and get Shin-chan and Take-chan! Quick!" I ordered causing Keisuke to snap out of his trance.

Keisuke didn't utter a single word in response and immediately obeyed as I said, getting up and rushing back into the house to get Shinichiro and Takeomi.

"Laugh, Haruchiyo." Manjiro demanded in a cold tone and I looked back at him with a frown.

"Manjiro, stop it! That's enough!" I snapped at him but my words didn't reach his ears.

"Laugh, Haruchiyo." he repeated his words which Haruchiyo obeyed as he started to laugh out loud with tears rolling down his cheeks.

There it was, the "Dark Impulse". I knew Manjiro had some mental issues. He admitted that to himself. But I never realized it was this bad. At that moment as Manjiro stood in front of me and Haruchiyo, staring down at us with those soulless eyes, he looked like a goddamn murderer from my point of view. And for the first time in my life, I felt terrified and threatened by Manjiro Sano.

From there, things changed a bit between me and Manjiro after what he did to Haruchiyo. Sure, I still talked to him and was still friends with him, but I always kept a distance between the two of us out of sheer fear and terror. And me pushing Manjiro away from me brought me even closer to Keisuke in the process. Sure, Keisuke was a bit violent and had anger issues, but he wasn't as terrifying as Manjiro was.

Two years passed by since that incident and when we were all at the age of ten, we met Ken Ryuguji aka Draken for the first time.

"You defeated three high school students in seconds while you are only in 5th grade?! Are you a monster?!" Keisuke gasped out in shock as we were walking back home from school that day.

"As expected from Mikey." Haruchiyo chimed in with a smile.

'How is he even friends with Manjiro after that incident?' I thought to myself, looking over at Haruchiyo in concern.

"Hm, yeah, just like a biker gang." Manjiro mumbled to himself with a lollipop in his mouth.

"By the way Mikey, I don't know if you heard about Yamamoto from class 2." Keisuke spoke up again.

"He was being blackmailed by first-year high school students... Apparently, he was saved by a boy from elementary school class 4." Haruchiyo informed.

"Wow. Sounds like a great guy. From elementary school class 4, right?" Manjiro asked with curiosity.

"Not only that, even though he is in 5th grade like us, he has a dragon tattoo on his temple." Haruchiyo added.

"What kind of guy is he?" Keisuke wondered.

"Sounds like trouble to me." I scoffed.

"If I am not mistaken... He's called Draken!" Haruchiyo went on.

"What a strange name." Manjiro commented.

"Ah! The other day I picked up an erotic magazine... It had a strange name like 'The 48 Positions'..." Keisuke chimed in, suddenly changing the topic.

"Keisuke, you perv. You started reading porn at this young age? How disgraceful." I deadpanned at him.

"I-I didn't read it, Nana-chan! I just happened to read the title on the cover only! Believe me!" Keisuke stuttered out in embarrassment, trying his best to convince me that he wasn't a pervert.

"Yeah right. As if I'm gonna believe that." I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him.

Keisuke was about to say something back when suddenly a familiar voice spoke up from the other side of the road, catching our attention.

"Ah, Mikey-kun!"

We looked over to the side to see one of our classmates standing there with a tall, blonde-haired unknown boy who had a dragon tattoo on the left side of his temple. It took me a few seconds to realize who this unknown boy was; it was Draken.

"A boy with a dragon tattoo on his temple..." Keisuke trailed off.

"That's Draken!" Haruchiyo gasped out in a whispered tone.

This caught Manjiro's curiosity and he immediately walked over to Draken with me, Keisuke, and Haruchiyo following him from behind.

"Hey, don't you think the name 'The 48 Positions' is weird? I mean some of the 48 positions are overlapping, right?" Manjiro asked Draken, causing the taller boy to look at the shorter one in utter confusion.

"Eh? What?" Draken asked.

"No matter how you think about it, there's barely a forty of it. What do you think?" Manjiro questioned again.

"What do I think? I never even heard of that." Draken trailed off before I smacked Manjiro hard on the back of his head.

"Ow! Nana-chin!" Manjiro cried out in pain, looking back at me with a dirty glare and pouty lips.

"Mikey, you friggin moron." Keisuke grumbled under in breath.

"Baka!! You can't just ask a guy you just met about porn magazines!!" I snapped and Draken's face immediately went hot red in embarrassment upon hearing my words before I looked back at him with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. He's a confused child."

"It's okay, I guess..." Draken trailed off before looking back at Manjiro. "Erm, you're Mikey, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. What is it?" Manjiro asked with curiosity.

"Some dudes from middle school asked me to take you to them." Draken stated.

"Huh?" Manjiro asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Well... I won't force you." Draken responded back hesitantly.

"Okay!" Manjiro replied, his lips curling up into a smile.

"Manjiro." I called out in a warning tone but the said boy ignored me.

"I'll come along because you asked me. I'll go put my stuff at school first." Manjiro added and I immediately stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No need for that. Walking back to school will just waste our time. Give your bag to me." I stated before taking his schoolbag from his shoulders.

Draken then led us to a local parking lot in the neighborhood where we noticed a gang of middle schoolers waiting there, especially for Manjiro's arrival. Manjiro still looked relaxed and unbothered as if dealing with gangs like these was just another part of his everyday routine.

"Hey, I brought him." Draken spoke up with his hands in his pockets. "This guy's Mikey-"

Draken couldn't even finish his sentence as Manjiro dashed forward to those boys before jumping high up in the air and landing straight on the face of the leader, kicking him in the process. The leader was immediately knocked out cold, blood profusely gushing out of his nose while Manjiro landed on the ground with ease before looking back at the other gang members with a scary look on his face.

"Holy shit!" Draken gasped out in shock with widened eyes.

"He really is a monster!" Keisuke commented.

"That's Mikey for ya!" Haruchiyo laughed.

"Show-off..." I sighed heavily, shaking my head.

"So what do some mama's boys who gotta gang up on others want with me?" he asked coldly, his lips curling up into a cocky smirk. "I'm Mikey-sama from 7th Elementary."

It didn't take long before the whole gang ran away from the spot in fear and terror, leaving the rest of us in the parking lot alone.

"You're Draken from 4th elementary, right? Why is a badass like you hanging out with those pieces of shit?" Manjiro asked before a warm smile formed on his face. "Let's be friends, Ken-chin!"

In response, Draken smiled back before looking back at the rest of us.

"Sorry, I didn't get your names yet..." he stated awkwardly.

"Nana Osaki."

"Keisuke Baji."

"Haruchiyo Akashi."

The three of us happily introduced ourselves to him and before we knew it, Draken also became a part of our group; a delightful addition and a reliable friend.

Speaking of delightful addition, we had another one in our group after we befriended Draken; it was Takashi Mitsuya. We met Mitsuya through Draken not long after Draken became a part of our group. Similar to Draken, Mitsuya was a calm level-headed person who always served as the main source of positivity in our group. Despite his rough upbringing, he always tackled every day with a smile. Mitsuya was a pacifist, preferring to not get into an altercation if possible, but at the same time, won't hesitate to fight to protect what was dear to him. He never showed his angrier side to us and always kept his head cool.

Mitsuya also had two younger sisters named Luna and Mana and they meant the whole world to him which showcased how loving and caring he was as a person. And since their mother was rarely at home due to work, Mitsuya took the responsibility of raising his sisters by himself, acting more as the parent than as an older brother in their lives. Mitsuya and I immediately became good friends from the get-go and our friendship later deepened even more when his sisters also took a liking to me. Since I didn't have any younger siblings myself, becoming Luna and Mana's "onee-chan" was just a wonderful experience in my life.

Soon after Mitsuya joined the group, Manjiro and Keisuke brought another boy into our lives and he was Kazutora Hanemiya.

As soon as he arrived in our group, Kazutora became quite attached to Keisuke in a short period of time. I was completely okay with Keisuke and Kazutora's newfound friendship until I observed something odd about the latter. Unlike Draken and Mitsuya, something was off about Kazutora. I didn't know what it was but something about him was peculiar. Usually, Kazutora was calm and chill to hang around with but whenever there was a tough situation he would always talk about violence, fighting, and breaking bones. In short, he was fairly unstable, sadistic, and incredibly violent.

On top of that, his violent tendencies were rubbing off on Keisuke and that had me concerned. Keisuke had always been a violent and hot-headed person ever since his younger days, someone who was hard to control, so the last thing I would ever want was Kazutora's bad influence in his life. While Manjiro was becoming calmer because of Draken's influence in his life, the exact opposite thing was happening to Keisuke because of Kazutora's influence in his life. And because of that, I always kept my eyes on Keisuke and Kazutora just in case they ever got into any trouble. I knew I couldn't stop Keisuke from becoming friends with Kazutora, but at least I could just stick by his side and make sure he didn't do anything stupid and irrational along the way of life.

Unlike Manjiro and Keisuke, I wasn't aware of Kazutora's family situation until I started to hang out with him even more. From the man himself, I learned that Kazutora grew up in an abusive household in a case of domestic violence where his father was the abuser and his mother was the one being abused. At a very young age, his mother always forced him to pick between the parents, and because of all these things, Kazutora grew to scorn upon other happy families. Something as simple as seeing children having tender moments with their parents always trigger a sore spot within Kazutora and irritated him deeply.

I knew I would never understand Kazutora's pain and suffering, but I still wanted to try and understand him. Unlike Kazutora, I grew up in happy and healthy families. I remember my Mom and Dad being loving and caring individuals in general and from what I could recall, they always shared a healthy marital relationship with each other and because of that, I led a very happy life with them till they passed away. After the death of my parents, the Sanos who became my 2nd family took me in and they gave me all the love, care, and respect in the world they believed I deserved. Unlike Kazutora, I was loved and wanted. So, I would never understand his pain, but I was willing to understand him and be friends with him.

On June 19, 2003, Tokyo Manji Gang was formed in front of Musashi Shrine with Manjiro as the Commander, Draken as the Vice-Commander, Mitsuya as the Elite Guard Commander, another new friend added to the group named Pah-chin as the banner carrier, and last but not least Keisuke and Kazutora as the Attack Unit. Keisuke was the one who came up with the idea after we learned that Kazutora was getting bullied by the 9th Generation Black Dragon; the same gang which was initially created by Shinichiro years back when he was also the Commander of the 1st Generation Black Dragon. I was kind of against the whole plan of creating a gang like this knowing how gang life could get nasty and brutal through Shinichiro's experiences, but since it was about protecting each other from the outside terrors, I finally gave in to the idea. "A gang where we can all risk our lives for each other" - was the motto of the Tokyo Manji Gang, something that Keisuke came up with as well.

"Nana-chin! I want you in my gang as the Advisor! The brain of the group!" Manjiro demanded and I deadpanned at him in response.

"No way in hell." I scoffed at him while the other boys watched the two of us bickering from the side with amusement.

"Huh?! Why not?!" he exclaimed out in shock.

"Your gang's name is Tokyo Manjiro Gang. Who the fuck even name their gang after their Commander's first name? I ain't joining a gang with such a shitty name."

"Are you saying my first name is shitty?!"

"Yes."

"So cruel! You suck, Nana-chin!!"

"Right back at ya, Manjiro. If it was Shin-chan, probably I'd have given a second thought, but with you as the Commander, I'll pass."

"Why are you so obsessed with my big bro?! He's too old for you!!"

"It's called falling in love, Manjiro. You won't get it. And I've my reasons for liking Shin-chan. He's charming and charismatic, unlike you."

"What did you say?!"

"You heard me. You don't even fit as a leader. You always fall asleep in the backseat while riding a bike, you make us do your shit, all day you do is eat and sleep and never do anything productive, you make us carry you on the back like a potato sack, you suck at making decisions and choices and the list goes on and on. So there's no way in hell I'm working under you, bitch."

"Bitch?! You're gonna pay for this, Nana-chin!!!"

"Hey, stop that!! Don't cling on my back like a goddamn monkey!! Manjiro, don't you fucking dare pull my hair!! I'm gonna fucking kill ya!!"

"Will this ever gonna stop?" Mitsuya asked as he and the rest of the gang continued to stare at me and Manjiro with deadpanned faces.

"Not until the next few hours." Draken sighed while rubbing his forehead.

"The drawback of being friends with one another since the diaper days..." Pah-chin commented in amusement.

More time passed by and before I could even realize it, it was already the month of August in 2003. Shinichiro's birthday went by on 1st August and now Manjiro's birthday was coming up very soon which was on 20th August. And so, Shinichiro and I decided to make plans for cocky little shit Manjiro together for that year.

Despite all his delinquent ways as a teenager, Shinichiro grew up to be a respectable adult in the end. Mature, responsible, sensible, dependable - these were the perfect words that could describe the adult Shinichiro Sano and these qualities were the reasons why I swooned over him in the first place. There were those days when I would spend hours with Shinichiro at his bike shop "S.S MOTORS" and we would talk to each other non-stop. We talked about anything and everything that came into our minds, from how we started our days to how we ended them. Or sometimes, we talked about our likes or dislikes, any new books or manga that I had read, any new TV shows or movies that he watched, his past life as a delinquent, those golden eras of gang life, and the list could go on forever. Shinichiro and I never got bored as long as we had each other. And even in those days, when we didn't talk much, just sitting there beside Shinichiro in silence made me feel that I wasn't alone in this world. I didn't know what supernatural power Shinichiro possessed, but his presence was soothing which always made me feel relaxed and safe around him.

There were those other times when he would call Wakasa and Benkei over to his bike shop and they would bicker all day long while I would watch them quietly from the side with a content smile on my face. Then when it would get extra late, Benkei would go home while Wakasa would stick around and pull out a shogi board before asking me to play with him. I never thought someone like Wakasa Imaushi would be interested in a board game like shogi, but he always claimed it got his brain going. And then Wakasa and I would continue to play the board game while Shinichiro would work late into the night. At one point in time, Shinichiro would call it a day and join us in the game as well. Despite never being able to beat Wakasa in a game who was extremely good at strategizing and thinking ahead, I always won against Shinichiro who was way too cocky about his abilities for his own good and after losing against a kid like me, Wakasa would always rub my victory in Shinichiro's cute, pouty face.

And this never changed between the three of us. It was a regular routine that we religiously followed, but only this time around we were hanging out at Wakasa's gym instead of Shinichiro's bike shop. Wakasa's gym was located in the opposite direction of Shinichiro's bike shop, on the other side of the road, and because of that, through the windows of the gym, we could easily see the bike shop from the other side.

"A bike? As Manjiro's birthday gift?" I asked, looking up from the shogi board.

"Yeap. A CB250T motorcycle." Shinichiro replied with a toothy grin.

"That's the bike Mikey always wanted, right?" Wakasa asked, leaning back in his seat.

"Yeah... Looks like Manjiro has to say goodbye to his dear old moped now." I stated, stretching my arms up.

"Did that moped have a name?" Wakasa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Street Hawk." I replied with a smile, recalling just how a few days ago Manjiro kicked his own moped because some gang bullied Keisuke and shit.

"That's so like Mikey." Wakasa chuckled in response.

"And what do you want for your birthday this year, Nana-chan?" Shinichiro asked me with a bright smile, leaning towards my side.

"It's August now. My birthday is in December." I pointed out.

"Won't hurt if we started planning right now." Shinichiro shrugged and I took a moment to think about what I wanted from him.

"Then take me on a date on my birthday this year." I responded back causing Shinichiro to choke on his cola while Wakasa stared at us in amusement.

"D-D-DATE?!" Shinichiro stuttered out, his face erupting hot red like lava. "Y-You and I on a date-"

"Don't worry. It won't be a romantic date, Shin-chan." I spoke up with a smile, trying to calm him down. "It's gonna be just you and me hanging out together all day long. We can go to an amusement park or to a movie theatre, grab some lunch at a restaurant, or maybe go to an arcade or bawling center, maybe sing our hearts out at karaoke, take a quiet stroll at a park while eating our favorite ice creams, and then when the sun goes down and the stars come out, we can go on a long ride on the outskirts of Tokyo on your fancy little bike."

"Wow. Nana-chan's so mature." Wakasa commented in amazement. "Look at all the plans she made. But why you wanna go with Shin? I thought you and I were soulmates."

"No, we're not. You're being delusional, Waka-chan." I stated in a cool tone.

"You wounded me, princess." Wakasa sighed dramatically before looking back at Shinichiro. "Do you have any clue what to do on dates?"

Immediately Shinichiro went completely silent, his lips forming a tight thin line.

"I didn't know you were this clueless, Shin-chan. Even Keisuke knows better than you. Last week he even took me on a yakisoba date after school, you know." I informed.

"Keisuke took you on a date?!" Shinichiro asked in surprise.

"Looks like Baji's finally becoming a man, huh?!" Wakasa laughed out loud. "Hey Shin, might as well take some tips from Baji if you need any."

"Fuck off, Waka!" Shinichiro snapped before standing up from his seat.

"Where are you going?" I asked as I watched him walking towards the entrance of the gym.

"I left my cigarettes in the shop. Be right back." Shinichiro replied.

"You can take mine if you want..." Wakasa suggested, pulling out a cigarette packet - Black Stone, cheery flavor.

"Nah, I don't smoke that shit." Shinichiro scoffed. "Seven Stars is the only one for me."

"What's up with you guys and those cancer sticks? You two should stop smoking. They make your breath smell bad." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"One day, Nana-chan! One day!~" Shinichiro sang out before leaving the gym.

"Shin's lucky to have some like you, Nana-chan..." Wakasa stated with a warm smile on his face. "We all thought he might die a virgin, but looks like that won't be the case anymore. Finally, there's someone who took interest in our poor little Shin!"

"Yeah, someone who's 10 years younger than him. Is it weird for me to love him?" I asked and Wakasa shook his head.

"Age-gap relationship is common around the world. There's nothing weird about it. But yes, at the same time, both the partners in this kind of relationship have to be of appropriate ages. And that's why you need to wait a bit longer, Nana-chan. First, grow up and become an adult. Till then I'll make sure Shin's here, waiting for you." Wakasa responded back with a toothy grin causing me to smile back.

Although Wakasa's words did bring some hope and happiness to me, I never took into consideration to such possibility that his words might never come true, that it would be the last time we would be seeing 23-year-old Shinichiro Sano alive and breathing when he walked out of the gym in front of our eyes that very night.

As if the whole universe stopped moving and every law of physics stopped working. To me, the world became monotone, dull and lifeless. I felt numb and weak. It felt like all my life's energy was sucked out of my body. And the reason I was feeling all of this was because of one thing; Shinichiro Sano passed away - or to be more precise about it - had been murdered by Kazutora Hanemiya. The fact that Shinichiro was gone for good and was never coming back, the fact that Kazutora was the one who killed him or the fact that Keisuke was there during the time of the incident and witnessed everything in firsthand, it was so difficult for me to come to terms with either of those facts and accept them.

At first, I was in denial when I saw Shinichiro's lifeless body in front of me and it went like that for the next few days but as soon as the reality hit me, the next thing I knew was tears rolling down my cheeks like waterfalls until my tear ducts went completely dry, leaving me with a painful headache. Grieving and crying, organizing and attending the funeral, handling and consoling the other two Sano siblings, coping and moving on from Shinichiro's death - all of these took a huge toll on me, leaving me completely lifeless on the inside.

The last time I saw Keisuke was the night of the incident; when Wakasa and I started to wonder what was taking Shinichiro so long just to grab a packet of cigarettes, we went up to his bike shop to check up on him, and there I came face to face with that horrifying scene - Shinichiro laying on the floor lifeless with blood gushing out from the back of his head, a trembling teary-eyed Keisuke kneeling beside Shinichiro's unmoving body with a horrified look on his face and a petrified Kazutora standing beside them with a heavy metal tool in his hand which he might have used to hit Shinichiro on the back of the head from behind.

"What do you want, Keisuke?" I asked in a cold tone.

There he was, Keisuke Baji, standing before me in the middle of my bedroom while I sat on my bed, staring him down with a hard expression.

“I-I want to explain everything that happened and I want to say sorry...” Keisuke spoke up, serious and devoid of any emotion other than guilt. "I know you're mad and you've every right to hate me, but I also want you to listen to what I've to say. So please..."

I didn't respond back and simply stared at him with cold eyes which was a cue for him to continue talking. He started to explain how Kazutora suggested stealing a bike for Manjiro’s birthday, how the two of them broke into the shop, how Keisuke recognized Shinichiro and tried to call for Kazutora, but his friend was so high on adrenaline and fear that he just didn’t stop in time, how Kazutora didn’t want to harm Shinichiro and how guilty he felt afterward, how Keisuke got away with hefty fine his mother had to pay, while Kazutora, being the one to commit the act of murder, was sentenced to two years in a juvenile detention center.

"At first, I didn't want to do it. I was totally against the idea, but Kazutora kept on saying how Mikey would be happy if he got the bike and-"

"I already know everything, Keisuke." I cut him off mid-sentence, furrowing my eyebrows a bit. "I wanna know... why are you here, Keisuke?"

"I want you to forgive Kazutora..."

"Huh?"

"I said I want you to-"

"I heard what you said just now. But why are you asking this for Kazutora?"

Keisuke was here to make an appeal for Kazutora, but not for himself. Why was he so damn selfless?

"Nana, listen, he-"

"There's no way in hell I'm forgiving him for murdering Shin-chan, Keisuke. Don't you get it? Shin-chan is gone and he's never coming back. And Kazutora is the reason why Shin-chan is dead in the first place. Manjiro and Emma lost their brother. Gramps lost his grandson. I lost my childhood best friend, the love of my life, my first and only love. I was in love with Shin-chan for years now, Keisuke, years. For years, I kept loving him. And now all of a sudden he's gone for good because of Kazutora and you're asking me to forgive that guy? Have you lost your sanity just like Kazutora or what?"

Silence filled the room once I stopped talking as I watched Keisuke looking down at the floor with shame and guilt.

"What did Manjiro say?" I spoke up again.

"Mikey forgave me, but not Kazutora." he muttered out in a low tone.

"That's fair. I don't blame him for that." I shrugged, letting out a sigh. "Keisuke..."

The said boy looked up again and met my gaze.

"There's a saying that goes like - "Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from your mistakes, but never regret"... Have you ever heard about this saying before?" I asked and in response, he shook his head. "Well, but now you did... Keisuke, I don't know what Manjiro's current feelings for Kazutora are like and honestly, I don't care if Manjiro forgives him or not. The truth is I can't either forgive or forget. I can't forgive Kazutora for killing Shin-chan and I can't forget how Shin-chan lost his life. And talking about mistakes and regrets, it was my mistake that I allowed you to hang out with Kazutora in the first place, it was my mistake that I let you become friends with him, it was my mistake that I didn't pull you away from Kazutora when I had the chance. I'm learning from my mistakes, Keisuke. Meeting and becoming friends with Kazutora was a mistake, mine and everyone else. And from those mistakes, I learned not to associate myself with Kazutora anymore and I don't regret this decision, Keisuke. And also, I already forgave you and I hold no grudge against you. That's my final decision and you can't change my mind in any way possible. So take it or leave it, your choice."

And with that silence filled the room once again as I continued to stare at my childhood best friend named Keisuke Baji - loyal, generous, trustworthy, dependable, a self-sacrificial idiot with violent tendencies and the need to destroy.

"You shouldn't forgive me that easily, Nana..." he whispered out, eyes getting teary as he spoke.

"But I just did..." I responded back calmly.

"I was there when Shinichiro-kun got killed and I couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening."

"I know but you weren't the one who killed him..."

"I'm an idiot and I only bring destruction in life."

"I know you do."

"You should stay away from me."

"You know I can't do that..."

"Nana..." Keisuke trailed off in a soft tone before he walked over and stood a few inches away from me while I kept sitting on my bed. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and his eyes softened at me even more.

"From now on, can you let me protect you and stay by your side till my last breath?"

At one evening (2005)

Right now, I was at Keisuke's apartment, helping him out with his studies and upcoming test. Keisuke Baji might not be the brightest flower on the field (certainly the prettiest of course), but he was very eager to learn. As his smarter study buddy since our elementary school days, a study date at his place was my way of saying sorry to him for ditching our yakisoba lunch date this afternoon. When I walked into the Baji residence, I was warmly welcomed by Keisuke's mother and his only parent, Ryoko Baji who greeted me with a friendly smirk and hair ruffle before she started to yell and kick Keisuke again (which she was probably doing earlier before my arrival).

Much like her son, Ryoko Baji had a violent and short-tempered nature that would quickly lead to an aggressive attitude which could be heavily suggested that Keisuke got his unpleasant traits from his mother. However, unlike her son, Ryoko was normally able to be very cool and calm at times especially towards me because, in her eyes, I was a nice and polite kid. She was also someone who would always recognize the flaws in her son and would also be really worried about him like any normal parent should.

Ryoko always disapproved of Keisuke's violent attitude and would even smack or yell at him (not in an abusive way) for his actions (and by actions I meant him getting into fights almost every day and burning down cars just because he was craving peyoung yakisoba). Despite recognizing all of Keisuke's flaws, Ryoko always desired that he would be a good boy and would do better in his studies and school.

When I met her for the first time, I was only five years old back. It was when Keisuke joined the Sano dojo a year back that he and I became really good friends and he ended up inviting me to his place so we could play together with his toys. Long black hair, sharp brown eyes, thin eyebrows, pointy canine teeth; she looked really pretty in my eyes (aside from my own mother and Mrs. Sano) and I was really amazed by her beauty.

And Keisuke got all those exact same physical features from his mother, even her hot-tempered attitude. In short, Keisuke was a mini version of his mother and it was really cute in my opinion. Upon our first meeting, I thought Ryoko was Keisuke's older sister or something like that just because she looked so young. Maybe she was one and had Keisuke at a very young age, who knows? Also, most of the time, she had this frown on her face which most likely indicated that she was always constantly worrying about her aggressive, angry son.

Ryoko was one of those cool moms who gave zero fuck to everything, like 'I don't give a fuck' sort of attitude. Single working parent who had a habit of smoking and always walked around like a boss with her head up high - that was Ryoko Baji to me and to everyone; a lady with a firm, explosive personality but underneath hid a very sensitive and caring person.

"Did Keisuke get into fights again today, Nana-chan?" she asked narrowing her eyes at me with her arms crossed over her chest.

I peeked to the side and saw Keisuke doing some weird hand gestures, telling me to lie to his mother.

"Keisuke's been a good boy at school today, Ryoko-san..." I replied, looking back at her with a convincing smile.

Even though he kicked asses of some punks on the way back home earlier today...

"Is that so, huh?" she hummed before a small smile appeared on her face. "Well, that's good then. Thank you for always taking care of that useless son of mine, Nana-chan."

"It's not a big deal, Ryoko-san." I chuckled in response.

"Mom! Why do we have only one packet of peyoung yakisoba here?!" Keisuke suddenly yelled out from the kitchen before he started to head towards the front door. "I'll quickly go and buy some yakisoba from the nearby store!"

"Oh, no you don't, mister!" Ryoko yelled back, kicking him to get inside the house again. "Nana-chan's here to tutor you, not to eat yakisoba! Don't waste her precious time, you son of a bitch! Get your ass to your room right now! And also, no yakisoba for you today cause I'm cooking dinner tonight!"

"Ouch! Stop kicking me, woman!" Keisuke yelled out again while I simply stared at the mother-son duo in amusement.

Did Ryoko-san just call herself a bitch?? Wow...

Soon after that, Keisuke and I settled down in his bedroom and we began to study, or more like I began to tutor him. When it came to studying, locations didn’t really matter to Keisuke, but somewhere quiet, with no “annoying punks” around always was the best way to get him to concentrate on his school stuff. To my own surprise, his school stuff was actually really organized - colorful folders for every subject, important documents in clear film, and so on, but unfortunately, he had zero motivation. When he would stray from his schoolbooks, I had to either kick his ass or smack him on the head to bring back his concentration, but once he would get into that “Learning Headspace”, things would go upwards from there.

Keisuke would even tie his hair up into a ponytail and put on those stupid glasses because he considered his study sessions with me a serious matter. I had to go through the entire school curriculum with him and since I already completed my second year in middle school last year, it was easy to teach him what he didn't know. However, the hardest part of the whole process was actually having him understand the content I was teaching him. Like he had trouble remembering kanji words in Japanese or events and key figures in Japanese history or phrases in English or understanding the formulae and methods of mathematics and the list goes on.

"What? Takemichi?" Keisuke asked as he looked up from his book and locked his gaze on me, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. That guy's name is Takemichi Hanagaki." I responded back with a smile. "He's weak at fighting, but the way he faced Kiyomasa... For some reason, he reminds me of Shin-chan... Manjiro took a liking to him. He's probably thinking about recruiting that guy in Toman."

Keisuke immediately went quiet for a moment before furrowing his eyebrows at me.

"So, now what? You started liking this twerp or something?" he grumbled out, sounding a bit irritated.

"Huh? What? No!" I replied, frowning back at him. "Of course not, you idiot! What are you even talking about? Takemichi might remind me of Shin-chan in a way, but he isn't my type at all. Also, I just met him today. He's a total stranger to me. I don't fall in love with strangers."

Hearing my answer, Keisuke now looked visibly relaxed.

What's wrong with him? He never behaves like this...

"So, what's your type?" he asked, leaning towards the side.

"My type?" I asked back and he nodded his head at me. "Well... someone who knows me well, someone who will accept me the way I am, someone who's loyal, honest, and respectful... I don't care about the looks, to be honest as long as the guy is nice and has a good heart."

"Is that so, huh..." he trailed off in a whispered tone as he momentarily looked away from me and stared off to space, getting lost in his thoughts.

What is he thinking now? This boy... so unpredictable...

"Okay, that's enough. Breaks over." I spoke up with a sigh causing Keisuke to snap out of his thoughts. "Let's play a game."

"We finished studying already?" he asked in confusion.

"No, we're not. You see, I'm gonna give you 50 pop quiz questions. It's about everything we went through up until now. If you get half of them correct, like 25 questions, I'll take you to a yakisoba dinner tomorrow... And if you get all of them correct, then I'll-"

"Then can I get a kiss from you?"

"I'll slap you, Keisuke."

August 3rd, 2005

That day after breaking and shattering almost everything Takemichi owned followed by the yellow-haired boy's sudden outburst with a piece of turd on his head, Manjiro and Draken finally decided to make up and things went back to normal like how they used to be. As long as those two weren't fighting each other and creating chaos, I didn't need to worry about anything anymore, for now at least. So I went back to my usual relaxed mood again, releasing myself from all headaches, burdens, and panics.

Then two days later after the incident at Takemichi's place, Keisuke called up and asked me if I wanted to go to the festival this year which was going to be held at the Musashi Shrine on August 3rd. I accepted his offer, thinking that it would be a great way to relax and treat myself to food and stuff while having a better chance to spend some quality time with my best friend named Keisuke Baji.

Tonight was August 3rd, meaning the night of the Musashi Festival. Several food stands and game stands were whelming the area of the Musashi Shrine. The place was lighted up by numerous lanterns and decorations that emphasized the festival and the traditions. Walking down the path while pushing through the crowd, Keisuke and I were in our normal casual clothes (our usual denim shirts and black jeans with black combat boots) as we didn't even bother to wear yukatas on this occasion for various reasons. Like Keisuke came up with like - "What if we've to fight some punks on the street tonight? We can't do that if we're wearing a yukata now, can we?" He had a fair point though. Being a part of a delinquent gang meant we were constantly surrounded by punks, constantly fighting random gangs and shit. How exhausting.

"What's Mikey doing tonight? Is he coming to the festival later on?" Keisuke asked as we walked together side by side, holding hands with fingers intertwined.

"Don't know." I shrugged. "Manjiro suddenly got an urgent phone call from some Toman members this evening, saying that they wanted to meet him somewhere near the Shibuya station."

"That's strange..." Keisuke muttered out, furrowing his eyebrows a bit as we walked down the narrow pathway. "What's so urgent that they have to call him up like that?"

"I know right? Doesn't make any sense at all." I responded back, slightly frowning as well.

To this day, I could still remember how I used to come to this festival every year with Shinichiro, Manjiro, Emma and Keisuke. Shinichiro used to take us to different food stands and buy us whatever we felt like eating. Playing games and buying souvenirs were things we all enjoyed doing but watching fireworks together at the end of the festival was a must. There was no way we could miss out on the chance of watching fireworks together - that was what we used to say back then. We even had our own special spot around the Musashi Shrine where the five of us would sit down on the grass and enjoy the firework show together. But everything suddenly changed after Shinichiro passed away. I really missed those days, really.

Then all of a sudden, a familiar voice spoke up from behind us.

"Nana? Baji?"

We immediately halted in our spots and turned around to look - it was Emma, Draken, Takemichi, and Hinata standing behind us with confused looks on their faces. The girls were wearing cute yukatas which suited them very well while the boys were in their normal casual clothes just like me and Keisuke.

“Nana! You came!” Emma smiled brightly and walked up to hug me, but the hug wasn’t very comfortable as Keisuke refused to let go of our intertwined hands. "I thought you wanted to stay at home tonight."

"Keisuke asked me to come, so I came here with him." I smiled back with a nonchalant shrug.

“Look what the cat dragged in...” Draken stated with a smirk, looking down at Keisuke’s unbuttoned shirt. “Nice tits, Baji.”

"One more word out of your mouth and I'm murdering you right here and now, Draken." Keisuke snarled out and I nudged him to the side to calm him down since Takemichi and Hinata were also there.

"Be nice now, Keisuke..." I stated in a soft tone before looking back at Takemichi and Hinata with a smile. "Takemichi, Hinata. Hey there!"

"Hello, Nana-chan!" Hinata greeted me happily as she and her boyfriend came closer to us.

"Nana-chan, who's that?" Takemichi asked in confusion, feeling intimidated by Keisuke.

"Oh, this is Keisuke Baji, Toman's 1st Division Captain. The biggest edgelord in the entirety of Shibuya..." I introduced them to Keisuke causing the said boy to twitch his eyebrows when I called him 'Shibuya's Edgelord'. "Manjiro and I've been friends with Keisuke ever since we were four years old. He's our oldest childhood best friend."

"Toman's 1st Division Captain?!" Takemichi gasped out in shock, his eyes widening open.

"You're that twerp from the other day." Keisuke scoffed, frowning down at the yellow-haired boy. "Takemichi Hanagaki, right?"

"Y-Yes! Nice to meet you, Baji-kun!" Takemichi squeaked out in fear, almost comical in a sense.

"Keisuke, stop scaring the poor guy." I scolded, causing Keisuke to pout at me before I looked back at Takemichi with an apologetic look. "Sorry, Takemichi. Keisuke looks scary, but he's a nice guy. He means no harm."

"Anyway, where's Mikey?" Draken asked, looking around.

"He's not here..." Keisuke replied before draping an arm around my shoulders. "Got some urgent call or shit."

"Huh? Really? I thought he would definitely be here given that Nana's here too. You know how clingy he is to her." Emma pointed out with a sly smirk but I ignored her remark while Keisuke scoffed in response.

"Whatever. We're leaving. Let's go, Nana." Keisuke stated with his arm still draped around my shoulder before he started to pull me away from those other four.

"Lead the way, my beloved arsonist." I joked with a cheeky smirk causing Keisuke's cheeks to turn hot red in color.

“I have more to my personality than burning cars, Nana.” He grumbled, dropping his arm off my shoulder and grabbing my hand again, intertwining our fingers.

“I know. I’m just teasing you.” I chuckled out at his bashfulness.

“Whatever.” Keisuke dismissed me, before leading me away.

“See ya later, guys!" I shouted out to my friends.

Saying farewell to my friends, I walked away with Keisuke hand in hand through the crowd of the festival. Back then, as little kids, Keisuke and I used to come to this festival together every year with the Sano siblings, and I could still remember how Keisuke and Manjiro used to hold my hands on each side and walk down the path of the festival. They were so stubborn that neither of them ever wanted to let go of my hands. Holding Keisuke's hand at this moment was reminding me of those days.

During the Musashi Shrine festival, vendors would set up all around the shrine grounds and sometimes the surrounding vicinity. They sold traditional snacks, from baked sweet potatoes and takoyaki to newer additions, such as chocolate-dipped bananas, candy apples, and character lollipops. Traditional festival games were interspersed among the snack vendors. An example of this was goldfish scooping. The game master would provide a delicate paper ‘net’ to scoop the goldfish into a bowl. Once the net would break, the player's turn would be over. The player would get to keep any goldfish they caught. An unusual variation in this game was played with mini turtles. Other carnival-style games like ring toss and target practice could be found here at this festival as well. Small trinkets, stuffed toys, and other souvenirs could be bought at Musashi Festival. Many were edible, while the toys, masks, and other goods often appealed to young children. They would also include stuffed toys of popular cartoon characters and plastic masks depicting animal faces.

"Okay, general knowledge time..." I spoke up and Keisuke looked over at me with curiosity. "Do you know what this Musashi Shrine is known for?"

"This Musashi Shrine...?" the ravenette boy trailed for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I've no clue."

"This shrine is locally known for being the site of what are claimed to be the graves of Hirata Muni, his wife Omasa, and most controversially, the grave of Miyamoto Musashi himself. Miyamoto Musashi also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke, or by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer, and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in his 61 duels. Musashi, as he was often simply known, is considered a Kensei, a sword-saint of Japan. He was the founder of the Niten Ichi-ryū, or Nito Ichi-ryū, style of swordsmanship, and in his final years authored The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) and Dokkōdō (The Path of Aloneness)." I informed him causing the boy to give me a look of amazement.

"And that's why I love having you as my tutor. You're just too smart." he grinned and I giggled out in response before looking up at the sky above us.

"This year... I don't want to miss the firework show, Keisuke." I stated as we sat closer to one another on a bench somewhere quiet (a more secluded part of the festival grounds) eating takoyaki and candy apples together.

"You really love the fireworks, huh?" Keisuke asked with a grin and I giggled out in response.

"I always wanted to draw rainbows in the dark, hold pencils of pure light, I guess that's why I love fireworks so. The fireworks are chaos and predictability - their explosive gifts finding their own time and space to own. As they do, I am the spectator, seeing their blazing trails arc above. There's something about them that warms me even in the cold as if their stray sparks passed into my blood. Arcing fireworks light the sky as rainbows of starlight." I stated in a soft tone causing Keisuke to give me a look of amusement.

"You can be so poetic sometimes, Nana. Seriously though..." Keisuke responded back, chuckling out as well.

As I sat there beside Keisuke looking at him, I suddenly started to realize how beautiful he actually was. The silvery-platinum moonlight fell on him and illuminated his every feature, making him look absolutely ethereal. Long black hair - smooth, silky, and wavy; sharp brown eyes; sharp teeth; sharp jawline and cheekbones; skin like milky yet manly rough; eyebrows sharp yet thick; tall stature with a perfect muscular body for a middle schooler - Keisuke Baji was a total hunk among the many.

After Shinichiro Sano, if I did find any other man physically attractive or found myself getting attracted to someone other than Shinichiro, that was Keisuke Baji. I always knew from the start that I was somewhat attracted to Keisuke one way or another, but my love for Shinichiro was so deep and passionate that it blinded me from realizing my feelings for Keisuke.

I always believed a man's beauty starts from his hearty, loving soul and radiates from there to create his final form; and men like Shinichiro and Keisuke were the perfect examples of that. Loyal, trustworthy, honest, respectful, kind, generous, compassionate, and a heart of gold - those were the words I could associate Shinichiro and Keisuke with. Sure Keisuke was violent and pretty much brainless while Shinichiro was weak and a crybaby, but I couldn't overlook the fact that they were the type of men who were perfect for almost every type of woman out there after analyzing their beauty and personality.

"Take a picture. It'll last long."

I immediately snapped out of my thoughts when Keisuke's words reached my ears. I then noticed the boy smirking at me mischievously, his left-top canine tooth poking out from in between his lips.

"Why would I take your picture?" I scoffed, looking away from him a small blush on my cheeks. "You're ugly."

"Ouch. Now you're hurting my feelings, Nana." Keisuke joked as he put a hand on the left side of his chest and I smacked him playfully on his arm.

"Shut up." I huffed with a pout, causing him to let out another light chuckle.

His voice was so deep and velvety, it sounded really tantalizing to hear.

"We'll be able to see the firework show from here. I think it's a perfect spot for the view." Keisuke pointed out and I looked around at the area.

"Yeah, you're right." I hummed in agreement.

"I'm the one who found the spot here. I'm a genius, ain't I? You should thank me for this." He smirked at me cockily.

"That's not happening." I scoffed and he threw a playful glare at me.

"You ungrateful woman. You're lucky that I love you." he scoffed, rolling his eyes and I stuck out my tongue at him teasingly.

"And that's your fatal flaw." I joked sassily as if the words I just said were the biggest secret this universe could offer him while staring up at the full moon night sky. "Your love for me might kill you someday."

Then suddenly silence fell between the two of us for a moment and this caused me to start to panic from the inside.

Why did he go quiet? Why isn't he responding? Did I screw up something? Did I say something I shouldn't have?

When I looked back at him again, I noticed he was already staring at me with a soft look in his gaze - so loving and soft it started to make me all warm and fuzzy inside. Taking the advantage of me losing myself in a daze, Keisuke scooted closer to me, arms touching, shoulders brushing, as he gently grabbed my hand that was on my lap and intertwined our fingers.

"To me, that's a beautiful flaw..." he whispered out, leaning closer to my face, his sharp eyes darkened and his thumb gently brushed the knuckles of my hand that was intertwining his. "I don't mind dying for you."

And my eyes immediately widened at his words and without knowing myself, I tightened my grip on our intertwined hands. Worry and panic slightly started to display in my eyes as I looked into his eyes in desperation.

"Don't you ever dare die on me, Keisuke..." I whispered back and his gaze softened even more. "I already lost Shinichiro. I don't wanna lose you too."

I could feel the heat and warmth radiating from Keisuke's body as he leaned closer and pressed his forehead against mine, his warm sweet breath caressing my face and lips. He smelled very nice, a mix of mint and sandalwood. Keisuke gently pushed a few strands of my raven locks behind my right ear and cupped my right cheek with his left hand, brushing my skin with his thumb, innocently yet teasingly while the look in his eyes was hot, fiery, and passionate. The way our skin touched, the way we invaded each other's personal spaces and boundaries, I didn't mind or feel uncomfortable with him being this close to me at this very moment, and neither did he. We never did and we never would.

"Sorry for scaring you... I won't say that again, Nana..." he whispered again and our noses touched, slightly. "I won't ever leave you alone. Ever. I promised you that day, remember? I'm here, always. By your side."

Keisuke Baji was an unpredictable man. For me, who was good at reading people just by observing their behavior, there were times I couldn't tell what was actually going through Keisuke's mind. This man was so wild and loved the thrill of adrenaline so much to the point that he would punch someone out on the street for no apparent reason, only because he felt like it, or would burn down a car simply because he was hungry. His erratic behavior always confused me to no end and I always had to figure him out, always had to learn something new about him which was frustrating and fun at the same time. Like that one time when I was tutoring him, he asked me for a kiss as a reward. I still couldn't tell if he was being serious or he was simply just joking. Like right now the way he was touching me was so loving and passionate yet so playful and teasing.

Keisuke and Manjiro had always been touchy and clingy towards me ever since we were little kids; Keisuke lesser than Manjiro but it was still the same. As kids, their touches were friendly and innocent but it all slowly started to change once we entered middle school. While Manjiro's touches were possessive and demanding yet somewhat child-like, Keisuke's ones felt more different, more like the way one would touch their lover, not their mere childhood friend. I wasn't sure if I was being paranoid or was overthinking it, but that was how I always felt under Keisuke's touches; unsatisfied and breathless. I wanted more. I craved more. And I knew if this kept going on like this between me and Keisuke, I definitely would go crazy one day. Keisuke Baji would be the death of me someday.

Hearing his soothing deep voice eased my heart and soul before I closed my eyes and nuzzled against his hand which was still holding my face ever so lovingly and gently.

"Hey, Keisuke, listen... I want to tell you something-"

I was suddenly out off when a cell phone started to ring; it was Keisuke's. We then quickly pulled away from each other before the ravenette boy answered his phone. I noticed his face went from calm to serious and then to furious. Furrowing his eyebrows deep, his eyes sharpened and his jaw tightened.

"Yeah, okay... I'll go and get the rest of the crew right now. Don't worry about it..." he stated and hung up the call.

"What happened?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows as well.

"Mitsuya called. It's Peh." He replied, looking back at me with all seriousness. "That bastard snitched."

24th October 2005

After that whole chaos that went down this evening, I called a certain someone to meet up with me in the neighborhood park which was located in the same area I lived in, the same place where Manjiro, Keisuke, Emma and I used to play together back when we all were just little kids. Life was so simple back then. No gang, no fighting, no shit – just me and my friends hanging out together, goofing around. If only I could bring those days back.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Nana…”

As I was sitting on one of the benches at the park, I turned my head around and looked over to my side to face the person who standing there just a few feet away from me - black shirt with black jeans and boots while the cool breeze of late October blew by making his long, wavy black hair gently sway in the air; the man was looking as beautiful and exquisite as always in my eyes.

“You went too far, Keisuke. Did you really need to punch Takemichi like that on the face though? That poor guy…” I stated with a pout, crossing my arms over my chest.

In response, Keisuke let out an airy chuckle in a sheepish manner before taking a seat beside me on the bench. I moved a bit closer to him as soon as he sat down until our arms were touching, our shoulders were brushing one another.

“Well, in order to convince them, I needed to keep up with the bad guy appearance, you know...” Keisuke replied and I scoffed in response.

Keisuke Baji, as always, sought violence, even if he didn't mean actual harm. I doubted that man was ever going to change in life.

“But still though… I think you went a bit far with it. Apologize to Takemichi the next time you’re seeing him.” I stated and this caused Keisuke to furrow his eyebrows in seriousness.

“I don’t think there’s gonna be a next time, Nana.” He responded back in a firm tone, causing me to give him a confused look.

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go back to Toman after what I just did today…” he added.

“Do you seriously think that Manjiro and the others are gonna abandon you just like that for such a trivial thing?” I asked, almost deadpanning at him. “You’re their friend, Keisuke. You’re like a brother to them, like a family. Each and every one of them loves you to death. Do you realize how hurt they were when you said that you were leaving Toman for Valhalla? Even though they didn’t show it on their faces, I know how it broke their hearts when you left the gang and walked away from them. Especially Manjiro. That poor guy is getting more and more desperate with the passage of every second just to bring you back to the gang.”

“But Nana, I need to do this for the gang too.” Keisuke countered back.

“What are you talking about? I mean once we’re successful in kicking out Kisaki from the group, you can easily return back to Toman, Keisuke.”

“I’m not only doing this just to kick out Kisaki from Toman. I’m also doing this for some other reasons…”

“Like what?”

“Kazutora…”

Silence fell between the two of us when Keisuke said that name - Kazutora Hanemiya, the man who murdered the love of my life, Shinichiro Sano.

“Huh? Kazutora? What does this anything have to do with Kazutora anyway?” I asked, getting even more confused.

“I got a letter from Kazutora almost a month ago… He got out of juvie not so long ago...” Keisuke replied and my eyes went wide open in realization.

That’s right. Kazutora went to juvie for killing Shinichiro back in August 2003 and for the act of murder he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment. And right now, it was October 2005, meaning he was already out of juvie by now.

“I met up with Kazutora after leaving Toman’s meeting this evening. He has joined Valhalla as well…” Keisuke added.

“Kazutora joined a gang as soon as he came out of juvie? Just what in the world… Just why?” I questioned again and this time, Keisuke took a moment to respond back.

“To kill Mikey…” he stated in a low yet firm tone and I let out a small gasp in shock.

“Kill Manjiro? What do you mean kill Manjiro? Is this some kind of a joke now?” I barked out in annoyance.

“After killing Shinichiro-kun, Kazutora had this mental breakdown and he started to put all the blames on Mikey. Because of Mikey, he went to steal that motorbike and ended up killing Shinichiro-kun. Because of Mikey, he went to juvie and wasted two years of his life there… This is how he’s trying to cope with the fact that he murdered a person at the age of 13, no less Shinichiro-kun, Mikey’s brother…”

“Without taking the blame onto himself for murdering Shin-chan which he actually did and that’s the fact, he’s blaming Manjiro for everything that happened? I mean, what the fuck is he on right now? Was he doing drugs or shit for the past two years while being locked up in juvie? Does he really think he'll be able to kill the Invincible Manjiro Sano?"

"I don't know, Nana. I don't know what Kazutora is capable of right now. So to protect Toman from Kisaki and Mikey from Kazutora, I need to join Valhalla. I need to stick around with Kazutora as long as possible because I promised him my support to the very end... 'I'd never kill Mikey's brother. I did this for Mikey's sake. This is all Mikey's fault. So I need to kill Mikey'... I remember that night, Kazutora kept on repeating those words over and over again after he realized that the person he killed was Shinichiro-kun. And without giving much thought to it, I ended up promising my support to him for eternity... And that's why I need to stay with Kazutora in order to fulfill my promise and to keep him away from Mikey."

So he's doing all this shit for Manjiro and Kazutora...? Why is he so damn selfless?

"But what about me though, Keisuke? What about your promise to me? You said you'll stay by my side till your last breath... You're breaking that promise now, Keisuke, as if I don't matter to you anymore..."

Keisuke's eyes widened a bit upon hearing my words before they softened a bit at the sight of me. Without saying another word, he immediately wrapped his arms around my petite form and brought me into a warm embrace, pressing me into his muscular chest.

"I'd never break our promise, Nana and you know it..." he whispered into my ears, his hot minty breath sending a shiver down my spine.

"But you are breaking your promise, Keisuke." I whimpered out in desperation, hugging him back with my dear life while resting my face in the crook of his neck, the scent of his cologne invading every five senses of mine. "Please don't leave me, Keisuke... Please don't... I need you..."

"I think you need Mikey more than me." he chucked out in a dejected tone.

"Who said I need Manjiro more than you?" I scoffed.

"I just know, okay? I know you'll choose Mikey over me in a heartbeat-"

I immediately cut him off by moving my face away from the crook of his neck and held his face in my hands, making him look into my eyes. I held his face so close to mine that our noses almost touched one another. Taking in his beauty under the silvery brilliance of the full moon in the sky, I began to wonder when Keisuke became as precious as Shinichiro to me. Before Keisuke came into my life, it was just and only me and Manjiro and no one else. Then it became the three of us, but when that whole Haruchiyo incident happened, I created a distance between myself and Manjiro out of fear and disappointment. Then it somewhat became just me and Keisuke and it had been like that ever since then.

During the time of my fallout with Manjiro that happened after he attacked Haruchiyo, Keisuke took Manjiro's place in my life and wiggled his way into my tiny heart, making himself at home there. Even I didn't know myself when Keisuke Baji became so dear to me. Back then I would've burned the whole world down just to protect Manjiro from any sort of malice. Manjiro was everything to me and I was everything to Manjiro. But it was years ago. Time passed, things changed along with feelings, people moved on.

The fact was - my first love was Shinichiro Sano and he would always and forever have a special place in my heart, it was something that was never going to change, ever. But also at the same time, it didn't take away the fact that I was falling in love again, that I was in love with someone else who wasn't Shinichiro Sano. Things were different now. Situations around me changed along with my feelings. I had already accepted the fact that Shinichiro was gone for good and he was never coming back, that I had to move on with my life without him, that my childhood best friend, Keisuke Baji had already replaced Shinichiro in my heart. To me, my love for Keisuke was a quiet emotion that in time became part of the oxygen I needed to breathe, and so though I might feel not sure that it was there, any form of removal and the emotions would begin to choke the life out of me.

Only if Keisuke knew how wrong he was.

"You're so wrong, Keisuke..." I spoke up in a firm yet soft tone, frowning down at him while Keisuke looked at me with surprise, almost shock in his eyes. "Do you remember that one line I once told you years back when we were kids...?"

Keisuke's eyes softened once again upon hearing my question, his arms tightened even more around my waist as he leaned closer to me.

"I remember that, Nana... You and I are the fireworks in this velvet dark, the blaze that dares to light up the night... You told me that once when I lost to Mikey in a fight back then. You said you'll always have my back and that you believe in me..." Keisuke muttered out with his lips curling up into a small delicate smile.

His response made me let out an airy sigh of relief and contentment before I gently pressed my forehead against his and this action made both of us close our eyes at once as we continued to bask in each other's warmth and embrace. To me, Keisuke was like my personal drug. One touch from him and the intoxication was instant as if everything was over; it was always that way with me ever since Shinichiro passed away and Keisuke became a constant figure in my life in Shinichiro's place.

Whenever we touched one another, I could always feel electricity in my skin, hormones shutting down my higher brain. From there on in it was all passion, intense, intoxicating. Keisuke became my release, my escape, my drug. Not that I was easy, I knew well enough to avoid letting a man lay his hands on me. Yet with my chemistry with Keisuke, too many of my switches were flicked for a reverse gear to be possible. In short, I was simply smitten with Keisuke Baji to the point where all I could do was go along for the ride and pray my instincts were right.

"Just because I knew Manjiro ever since we were babies, just because I knew Manjiro longer than I had known you, doesn't mean I'll choose him over you. Let's get one thing straight. If it ever came down to you and Manjiro, I would gladly let go of him, Keisuke. I will always choose you..."

October 30th, 2005, 8:00 PM

"So, Chifuyu and Takemichi came to talk to you this morning, huh?" I asked the long-haired ravenette boy who was sitting right beside me in front of Shinichiro's grave before he simply hummed in response.

"Chifuyu's smart." Keisuke pointed out in a serious tone. "I knew something like this was gonna happen."

"Chifuyu's not smart, he's just perceptive. If he's smart, then I'm Albert Einstein." I countered back with a small smirk and Keisuke rolled his eyes at me in a playful manner.

Ever since Keisuke left Toman and joined Valhalla, it got difficult for me to keep in contact with him, especially talking to him in person because wherever he went he was either accompanied by Kazutora or Hanma or maybe even both of them. The only way was left to talk to Keisuke face-to-face was at school but otherwise, it was either late-night phone calls or text messages. So it was a relief for me that I was able to speak to him in open like this without anyone noticing or spying on us. On top of that, we were at the cemetery in the nighttime, so the darkness of the night played a huge role in hiding us from the naked eyes of humans.

"But you're right though... Chifuyu, Takemichi, and I went to meet Osanai at his workplace to do some digging on Kisaki." I added.

"What did you find?" Keisuke asked, furrowing his eyebrows a bit and that's when I started to spill everything to him.

"Kisaki was the one who put Osanai in the power and using Osanai, he started to instigate everything from behind the curtains. Kisaki was the one who sent his men to beat up Pah's friends and that led Pah to the edge. He used Peh for the conflict on August 3rd and he manipulated Kiyomasa to kill Ken-chan. After that, he approached Manjiro and got to his good side by bashing Osanai, saying that it was all Osanai's fault. And then in the next part, you already know what happened. Kisaki offered a deal to Manjiro regarding Pah and in exchange, he wanted the position of the 3rd Division captain." I went on while Keisuke simply stared at me with wide eyes in shock.

"Kisaki did all of that...?" he trailed off and I nodded my head at him in response.

"Not just that... Kisaki's new partner in crime is Shuji Hanma... Chifuyu and I assume that Kisaki is the one who's leading Valhalla." I added, leaving Keisuke even more shocked. "I mean think about it, Keisuke... No one knows who the Commander of Valhalla is. Hanma is the Vice-Commander and he's working with Kisaki. After everything Kisaki has done up until now, I won't be surprised if he turns out to be the leader of Valhalla as well..."

"You're not wrong though..." Keisuke muttered out, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

After that, for a moment a comfortable silence fell between the two of us before I spoke up again.

"You know, Manjiro assigned Takemichi to bring you back to Toman..." I mumbled out and this caused Keisuke to raise an eyebrow at me. "Did Takemichi say anything to you today?"

"Now that I think about it... that twerp did say something really weird..." he trailed off in a daze and I gave him a confused look. "He said - Please make it through tomorrow alive. Please don't die. Because Nana-chan and Mikey-kun will be really sad... something like that."

First Ken-chan and now Keisuke... that's weird...

Why does it feel like Takemichi always knows that something bad is going to happen to one of us...

Like at first, he was against the whole idea of going into a conflict with Moebius...

I remember Takemichi acting really strange when I asked him why we can't fight them...

Then he was hellbound to keep Ken-chan protected from Kiyomasa during the August 3rd fight...

And now he's saying this to Keisuke... as if he knows that something bad's gonna happen to Keisuke tomorrow...

If that's what it is, then I'll definitely keep an extra eye on Keisuke tomorrow... just in case nothing bad happens to him...

"So what's your plan tomorrow?" I asked and Keisuke looked over at me again.

"Kill Kisaki." he replied in a firm tone.

"You can't be serious now." I stated, raising an eyebrow.

"I am serious, Nana." he huffed and I rolled my eyes at him.

"You'll go to jail if you literally kill Kisaki, you moron. And this will make Ryoko-san cry again." I pointed out before noticing how Keisuke's eyes softened at the sight of me.

"And you'll not?" he asked and I gave him a confused look. "You'll not cry for me if I go to jail?"

"No. Why would I cry for you? My tears are too precious to get wasted like that." I responded back sassily, causing Keisuke to let out an amused chuckle before he leaned to my side and rested his head on my shoulder.

"And here I thought you'll shade your tears for me, even if it's just a single drop." he sighed in a dramatic way, slightly shaking his head and my eyes immediately softened at his words.

I can burn down the whole world for you, Keisuke...

You're just that precious to me...

Even I don't know myself what I'll do if something bad happens to you...

So tomorrow Keisuke... better not die on me, my beloved arsonist...

30th November 2005

“Now Valhalla is linked with Toman and fucking Hanma's joined the gang..." I muttered, letting out a heavy sigh in frustration.

Right now, Keisuke and I were sitting by the Musashi shrine while having our very own little picnic with peyoung yakisoba noodles. After the whole meeting that went down back on 15th November, where Keisuke was appointed as my new personal assistant and bodyguard, he and I had been hanging out and spending a lot of time together lately. Although it wasn't anything different from what we always used to do before. Also on top of that, it was a good thing that we were together and I had no complaints about it. I mean in this way, I was able to look after Keisuke from dawn to dusk while making sure that either Kisaki or Hanma didn't come and cause harm to him.

"After everything we tried to do…” Keisuke growled out, slamming his fist against the dirt ground. "It's not going well. Kisaki is going to take over Toman at this point. After the last ceremony, I tried telling Mikey again, but Kisaki somehow still managed to do this... If we don’t do something soon, there's gonna be real trouble."

Keisuke then laid his head against my shoulder as he relaxed under the rays of the afternoon sun.

“Damn that Kisaki...” he muttered out and all I could do was just pat his back and make sure he didn't get too angry.

"We did pick out some evidence about Kisaki from the outside, but pulling Osanai into this mess won't be the right thing to do..." I added.

"I know right? Also, the sneaky bastard hides his tracks too well. It's crazy.” Keisuke stated while I let out another sigh and stretched out my arms causing Keisuke's head to fall gently onto my lap.

Instead of grunting about the sudden change of position, Keisuke just exhaled out a breath of satisfaction and closed his eyes.

“Are things going okay with you and the others?” I asked while I began to softly run my hand through his long, luscious raven locks.

"Just normal stuff…" Keisuke trailed off before opening his eyes again, his gaze staring off at the horizon. "Everything's gone back to normal, so I’m glad that nothing has changed because of the fight. I wonder though, what's going to happen next?”

I was about to say something back when suddenly my cell phone started to ring. I pulled out the device to see who it was. It was Hinata.

"Hello, Hinata?" I answered the call.

“Nana-chan! Takemichi-kun is in trouble! What do I do?!” Hinata cried out from the other side of the call.

"Huh? Takemichi's in trouble?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion while Keisuke sat up properly and leaned closer to my phone. “Hinata, what's going on exactly? Where are you?”

"We... I don't know where we are, but we met some new friends… Shiba-kun and Yuzuha-chan-"

Wait... Hakkai and Yuzuha...? The Shiba siblings? What's going on?

"...the Black Dragons!! Takemichi-kun is getting beat up by Taiju-kun!"

"Wait, you guys are with Hakkai and Yuzuha?" I asked and Keisuke furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"We were hanging out with Shiba-kun, and Yuzuha-chan, and then we encountered the Black Dragons gang and they said we're on their turf. Takemichi-kun is getting hurt! He's going to die!”

"The Black Dragons's turf?" I asked before looking back at Keisuke. "Keisuke, do you know where their turf is?"

"It's the same area where Hakkai lives..." Keisuke replied before pulling out his own cell phone with a scowling face. "Did Hinata say ‘Black Dragons’? What did Takemitchy get himself into this time? Geez… Let me call Mikey and inform him about this real quick."

"…T-Taiju-kun just let Takemichi-kun go. Nana-chan, I’ll call you back!”

And with that Hinata hung up the call.

"She said Taiju let Takemichi go. Now they're taking him back home." I informed and Keisuke nodded his head at him in response.

"Okay, let's go, Nana."

Later that evening Keisuke and I went over to the Hanagaki residence to visit Takemichi and when we reached there we found Chifuyu and Takemichi's old friends in his bedroom chilling around with Takemichi still laying on the bed, sleeping, all bruised up.

"He looks awful..." I commented in concern as my eyes softened at the sight of Takemichi.

"Tell me about it..." Yamagishi stated before he and his other three friends went back to play cards on the floor.

"What happened, Chifuyu?" Keisuke asked as he took a seat on a chair beside the said boy while I sat on the end of the bed where Takemichi was sleeping.

"This afternoon Takemichi and Hina went out for a bowling date and met the Shiba siblings there. The Shiba siblings then invited them over to their place but weren't aware that Taiju came back home just at that time, and the rest you know what happened..." Chifuyu informed while holding a manga in his hand that he was reading earlier.

Then just at that moment, I noticed Takemichi waking up from his sleep before he sat up on his bed and by the looks of it, it seemed like he didn't notice any one of us present in his bedroom. He looked like he was in a deep trance and was mumbling to himself.

"I’m the only one who can do this… can't depend on anyone else… gotta do it alone…" he went on.

Seeing this I reached my hand out at him and flicked hard his forehead, waking him up from his trance.

"Ouch!" Takemichi groaned, rubbing his forehead where I hit him.

"Takemichi, wake up..." I called.

"What are you mumbling about?" Akkun asked, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

"Creepy-mitchy!" Yamagishi commented with a scowling face while Makoto and Takuya stared at the yellow-haired boy with a deadpanned look.

"Huh? N-Nana-chan... You guys… what are you doing at my place?!" Takemichi gasped out in surprise.

"We came to check on you, what else?!" Yamagishi snapped back.

"You're captain, man. Grow some self-awareness." Makoto added.

"If you keep being reckless, we won’t be able to keep the 1st Division together." Takuya pointed out.

"Huh? what do you mean we…? What?! Did you guys join Toman?!" Takemichi asked and this made me give him a confused look.

What the hell is he even talking about...? Does he not remember anything he's been doing these days...?

"Huh? Yeah, we did." Takuya replied.

"You invited them in yourself, didn’t you?" Chifuyu finally spoke up.

"Oi, Shitty-mitchy, are you trying to ruin my legacy as the former 1st Division Captain or something?" Keisuke asked with a scowling face and in a menacing tone, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's been only two weeks, and there you go, getting your ass kicked by that fucking Taiju Shiba. I didn't make you my successor so that you can get our ass kicked by other bastards every time. Grow some pride and self-respect in yourself, dammit. Learn how to fight back and if you can't do that, at least learn how to defend yourself."

"B-Baji-kun... Chifuyu..." Takemichi stuttered out, finally noticing their presence before suddenly small tears started to form in his eyes.

"Hm…? What's with the pause?" Chifuyu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you okay, Takemichi?" I asked in concern but Takemichi shook his head at us.

"It’s… it's nothing…" he trailed off before looking back at Keisuke. "Sorry, Baji-kun for being reckless. I'll be careful next time, I promise."

"It can't be helped I guess..." Keisuke sighed before running his hand through his hair. "I can't completely blame you for this though..."

"Still to think the Black Dragons would shatter the balance…" Akkun chimed in.

"Yeah. Things are gonna get rough." Yamagishi added.

"The higher-ups are gonna get involved for sure." Makoto pointed out.

"Takemichi is a captain in Toman now, a gang that grew to over 450 members after absorbing Valhalla. Him getting beaten up by the Black Dragons is more than enough to start a conflict." Takuya stated in a concerned tone.

"If we get into a fight with the Black Dragons, it’s not gonna be like anything we have dealt with before. These are the guys known for their active fighting faction, the killer squad. The Black Dragons have been the top delinquent gang in the Kanto region for generations. And the 10th Black Dragons are the most maniacal and evil one they have ever had." Keisuke informed, leaning back on his chair.

"The most maniacal…"

"And evil…"

"That’s because of one reason alone. Their absolute ruler, Taiju Shiba. Toman and the Black Dragons have an unbreakable connection. Because the Black Dragons are the reason Toman was created at all. Two years ago, Kazutora clashed with the 9th Generation Black Dragons and Keisuke brought up the idea of forming Toman so we could help him. Then we fought the Black Dragons. We crushed the Black Dragons and Toman became a well-known gang overnight." I added.

"Damn Toman!" Akkun cheered.

"Then this next fight will be easy peasy!!" Yamagishi added with a grin.

"It’s not gonna be easy! Toman beat the 9th Black Dragons at that time which was led by Shion Madarame, one of the members of the S62 Generation. The Black Dragons should have faded out after we defeated them but the guy who revived them was Taiju Shiba. The Black Dragons changed under Taiju. He got their uniforms totally redone… Trained the members to act like an army and made them an impressive-looking gang." I stated.

"He’s one awesome guy!" Yagamichi gasped.

"But those new uniforms… Wouldn’t making those for every member caused a shit ton of money?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah, it would. Where would he get that kind of cash…?" Takuya asked.

"He’s not that much older than us right?" Akkun asked.

"Yeah, just two years older than us. And a year older than Baji-san and Nana-san." Chifuyu replied.

"Unlike other delinquents, Taiju sells his violence. Taiju is not your typical bruiser. He's got ties to the wealthy and makes money in exchange for his military force." Keisuke stated in a serious tone.

"So that means he fights for money?" Yamagishi asked in concern, getting all scared now.

"Scary. Must be one fucked up kid." Makoto commented.

"It’s like he’s from another world!" Takuya added.

"Anyway, the current Black Dragons are totally different from the 9th generation. If Toman fights them now…" Keisuke trailed off.

"There’s gonna be casualties…" Akkun concluded with a concerned look on his face.

Then suddenly Takemichi hopped out of his bed and stood on the ground.

"You guys don’t have to fight!" he stated in a firm tone and furrowed eyebrows while we all gave him a confused look.

"Huh?" we all asked.

"This is between me and the Black Dragons. It’s got nothing to do with toman. I’ll settle this on my own…" he went on.

"Wait, what?!"

"The hell are you saying?"

"On your own?"

While Takemichi's friends went on asking him questions out of pure shock and concern, Keisuke and I looked over at each other and shared a knowing look.

"Takemitchy..." Keisuke called out before standing up from his seat. "Come with us real quick. You too, Chifuyu."

In response, Takemichi gave us a confused look but didn't say anything back. The four of us then left the Hanagaki household and drove away from the area by riding our motorbikes. I was riding with Keisuke on his Goki while Takemichi was with Chifuyu on the latter's motorbike. A while later, we reached a different neighborhood and parked our rides in the parking lot beside a ramen shop.

"I'm starving right now, so let's get some peyoung yakisoba..." Keisuke stated as we all hopped down from the bikes.

"Baji-kun, I get it..." Takemichi stated out with a furrowing face, looking down at the ground while clenching his fists. "You're gonna tell me not to take on all this by myself, right? I know you wanna say my friends are here for me!! But…!"

"I didn’t bring you out here to say that, you moron." Keisuke scoffed and smacked Takemichi on the back of the head before the latter gave him a confused look. "I didn’t leave Toman to you because I wanted to stress you out. So cheer the fuck up, Shitty-mitchy!"

"Just have fun while you're at it, Takemichi..." I added with a warm smile. "Don't worry too much."

"Besides, you've me now as your partner, so cheer up!" Chifuyu grinned widely at his new friend.

"Baji-kun, Nana-chan, Chifuyu…" Takemichi trailed off in surprise with tears rolling down his cheeks. "I... I've something to tell you guys..."

"Huh? What is it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I-I came from the future…" he stated and the whole place went completely silent after hearing his words.

Wait, what...?! What does he mean by 'came from the future'...? What is he talking about?

"Huh? What the hell do you mean? Came from the future?" Keisuke asked with furrowed eyebrows while we all looked at Takemichi in utter confusion.

At that moment, Takemichi began to panic but somehow, someway he was able to speak up and started to tell us the entire truth.

Apparently, the Takemichi standing right before us was a 26-year-old Takemichi who came from the future, back from 2017. One day after coming back from his work, someone deliberately pushed him into the train tracks and before he knew it, he was sent back 12 years into the past, back in his 2nd year of middle school days. Then he met Naoto (Hinata's younger brother) and shook his hand and was again sent back into the future. Takemichi later met up with the adult Naoto and together they started working together to save Hinata's life because according to Takemichi, 12 years into the future, Toman would become a huge but dangerous organization, committing all sorts of crimes from murder and fraud to prostitution and drugs and the list goes on and on. And the future Toman happened to be the one to kill Hinata in the first place. That's why to save Hinata's life, Takemichi was going back and forth between the past and the future to make changes in both timelines. It started from saving Draken's life and trying to stop the conflict between Toman and Moebius to saving Keisuke's life and stopping Manjiro from killing Kazutora during the battle of Bloody Halloween. Somehow Takemichi was able to complete all of his mission, but still, each and every time he failed to save Hinata and the rest of us simply because of Kisaki, as the adult Kisaki from the future was the one who kept on killing us each and every time.

"And that’s everything I have done…" Takemichi trailed off.

"So we are gonna get killed by Kisaki? We are gonna die…" I spoke up again, deep in thought.

Now it all makes sense... the time when Takemichi tried to stop us from fighting Moebius...

The time when he was getting desperate in saving Ken-chan's life...

The time when he requested Keisuke not to die and stay alive...

Takemichi always knew what was going to happen... He always knew...

"Just kidding! I was just joking around! Haha!" Takemichi began to chuckle out sheepishly, trying to ease the tension in the air.

"Somehow we always knew…" Keisuke trailed off, causing Takemichi to give him a confused look.

"Thinking about it, there’s a lot that’s off about you. Also, there have been times when you have looked different. From our conflict with Moebius to our battle with Valhalla in Bloody Halloween... I noticed how desperate you looked each and every time. Whether it was about saving Ken-chan's life or saving Keisuke's life or stopping Manjiro from killing Kazutora, you always looked desperate... The first time I suspected you was when you tried to stop us from fighting Moebius because you knew Ken-chan might get killed. The second time I suspected you was when you requested Keisuke to stay safe and not die before the battle of Bloody Halloween. It was as if you always knew something's gonna happen, something bad's gonna happen..." I added.

"Well… I mean that’s…" Takemichi trailed off, looking away from us.

"Before the fight with Valhalla, you told me, 'please don’t die, or else Nana-chan and Mikey-kun will be sad'…" Keisuke pointed out.

"Yeah, even I heard that too… I wasn’t standing close enough, so I didn’t hear what you were talking about in detail. But I definitely heard that." Chifuyu chimed in.

"You knew I was gonna die. That's why you were so desperate." Keisuke concluded.

"Yeah, I knew and that’s why I tried to stop it. Even though Nana-chan got stabbed instead of Baji-kun in the end." Takemichi muttered in a sorrowful tone.

"But hey, I lived, right? I didn’t die. So, don't worry about it anymore." I stated with a smile.

"You're pretty incredible, Takemitchy." Chifuyu commented and Takemichi looked at him in surprise. "You have been fighting all alone, right? With nobody praising you or anything."

"Be proud of yourself, Takemitchy. The results don't matter." Keisuke stated in a firm tone, literally ordering the boy to cheer up.

"Nobody’s watching but you stood and fought without running. We respect you, Takemichi." I added while gently ruffling his hair in an affectionate manner.

"You guys really believe me? And all the stuff I say that sounds like total bullshit?" Takemichi asked in surprise with teary eyes.

"Of course we do, dumbass! We’re friends now, aren’t we?" Keisuke scoffed before smacking Takemichi on the head again. "As much as it sounds or looks crazy from our point of view, we still believe you after everything you've done for us."

And this brought tears to Takemichi's eyes again out of sheer joy and relief.

"Damn it!! Quit making me cry, Baji-kun!!" He cried again and I giggled at him in amusement.

"Haha! You’ve got giant tear glands!" Chifuyu teased him.

"Shut up! You’re making fun of me?!" Takemichi scoffed at his partner.

"Man, I’m starving!" Keisuke spoke up loud as he and I started to walk away.

"Don’t ignore me, Baji-kun!"

Later the four of us went into the ramen shop and sat together at a table to discuss future plans like what to do next about Kisaki or the Black Dragons.

"Kisaki is really gonna kill us, huh? That future is really pissing me off right now." Keisuke snarled out under his breath as he grabbed his chopsticks so tightly that they might break in half at any second now.

"So Kisaki really is Baji-san and Nana-san's enemy all along…" Chifuyu added.

"Yeah, no doubt about it. Heard that straight from Kisaki himself in the future." Takemichi confirmed.

"I’ll fucking kill him!" Keisuke snapped and I immediately grabbed him by the arm to calm him down.

"Calm down, Keisuke..." I spoke up in a soft tone before the said boy cooled down a bit upon hearing my voice. "As the 3rd division captain, Kisaki has 100 men under his command. There’s also the newly established 6th division formed out of former Valhalla members. Plus compared to them, Takamichi and Chifuyu just became the new leaders of the 1st Division while you became my newly appointed assistant and bodyguard. None of us are real functional yet..."

"That’s a real big difference…" Takemichi agreed, nodding his head.

"But even though I’m really pumped!" Chifuyu stated with a big smirk while Takemichi gave him a confused look. "We are gonna make the 1st Division into an unbeatable team, Takemichi! Just like how it was when Baji-san was still the 1st Division captain. You’re starting from nothing, but I know you can pull it off! We’ll curb stomp the Black Dragons, Kisaki, I don’t care who! I got your back to the very end! That's my answer to you for telling us everything!"

"Chifuyu…" Takemichi trailed off in surprise, completely moved by Chifuyu's speech.

"Let’s make this work!" Chifuyu added with a grin, making Takemichi grin back at him.

"Yeah, alright! Let's do this, partner!" Takemichi responded back before the two blonde boys started to make plans about how they could stop Hakkai Shiba (the 2nd Division Vice Captain) from leaving Toman.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Keisuke asked, deadpanning at those two boys while listening in to their ridiculous plans. "Having Chifuyu by my side for more than a year made me realize what a big dumbass he really is. Takemichi's also not too far behind in that category by the way. They might get their asses kicked if they keep up like this..."

"I think it's okay... Just let them be. You're neither a part of the 1st Division nor you're Chifuyu's boss anymore, so let them work together and figure things out on their own." I responded back with a shrug and in response, Keisuke gave me a skeptical look, narrowing his sharp eyes at me.

"You're having fun with this, aren't you?" he asked and my lips curled up into a small mischievous smirk.

"You know me so well, Kei-chan.~" I cooed causing Keisuke to simply roll his eyes at him before he let out a small chuckle in amusement and went back to his yakisoba noodles again.

5th December 2005

"Ah? Then you want to fight the Black Dragons?" Draken asked the 1st Division admins while idly leaning back on his seat.

Right now, some of the Toman members (Draken, Keisuke, Takemichi, Chifuyu, Smiley, Mucho, Kisaki, and Hanma) and I were dining at Danny's for lunch while discussing what to do next regarding Taiju Shiba and the Black Dragons. Keisuke was the one who requested Draken for this urgent meeting to be held here today so that Takemichi and Chifuyu could talk things out with the Vice-Commander.

"Yes!" Takemichi replied back with enthusiasm and determination.

"Quit fucking with us, jackass. I have said I'll kill you a million times already!" Smiley intervened in a threatening voice but with a smiling face.

"If you actually kill people every time you say so, you end the world, you moron..." Mucho stated in a monotone voice and deadpanned face.

"I'll kill you, Takemitchyi! Ah! See, I say it again!" Smiley scoffed yet was still smiling before looking back at Takemichi again. "Anyway, we reject the decision to crush the Black Dragons to stop Hakkai from killing Taiju!"

"Hella dull!" Hanma sang out with his annoying chuckle beside a brooding Kisaki.

As much as I hated Kisaki and Hanma to the bone and didn't want them to join the meeting, I had no other choice but to helplessly watch Draken calling them over here today for the gathering because even after everything, at the end of the day they were still one of the higher-ups of Toman now.

"Whaddya think, Draken?" Smiley asked, causing everyone to look over at the Vice-Commander.

"Hmm. Rejected!" Draken stated in a firm tone and looked back at the 1st Division captain with a frowning face. "Takemitchy, I know you probably have your own considerations backing this up. But do you really wanna ruin the peace pact Mitsuya worked for? Doing this would ruin his reputation. This discussion is over."

"Well damn, Ken-chan, you rejected Takemichi just as fast as you reject Emma. No wonder your situation's so terrible..." I commented with amusement and in response, Draken kicked me on the legs from the under the table we were sitting at.

"No more funny words from you, woman." the tall blonde beanpole threatened me in a menacing tone but I wasn't fazed a bit.

"Sure, this might ruin Takashi's reputation but also at the same time this is Taiju Shiba we are talking about and that bastard can't be trusted. We did all this shit just to protect Hakkai and Yuzuha but do you really think Taiju's gonna keep the promise? Ken-chan, take some time and think about it for once... If Hakkai commits that grave mistake, the poor boy's gonna end up in prison very soon. And it's not like he's doing this just to entertain himself or anything. He's doing this because he's compelled in doing so. He really has no other choice left if he wants to keep Yuzuha away from that fucking tyrant of a bastard Taiju..." I added before letting out a sigh.

"That's their problem, Nana. We shouldn't get mixed in this." Draken argued back.

"But Hakkai's our friend and a former teammate." I countered back with a scowl.

"If we try to intervene, there's gonna be a war, Nana and you know it. Fighting Taiju Shiba means blood's gonna be pouring down like rainfall. That guy's a menace and he runs his gang like an army, so we need to be careful on this one, you said it yourself, remember?" Draken stated and that's when I didn't respond back because what he said was completely accurate.

Sure I wanted to help out Hakkai but risking my other teammates' lives when Taiju Shiba was in the question...?

"Dammit, so many complications!" I groaned out in frustration and gently slammed my forehead on the table. "This is the worst birthday ever."

"Huh? Today's your birthday, Nana-chan?" Takemichi asked in surprise and I slightly nodded my head in response before a gleeful smile formed on Takemichi's face. "Happy birthday, Nana-chan!"

I turned my head to the side which was still resting on the table and looked over at his form.

"Thanks, Takemichi..." I responded back with a small smile.

"It's never gonna be your worst birthday when I'm still around." Keisuke finally chimed in with a scoff as he stood up from his seat, making his way over to my seat.

"I'm not celebrating shit in a critical situation like this, Keisuke." I scoffed back before the said boy softly grabbed my arm and pulled me up from my seat. "H-Hey, what are you-"

"I'm taking you out right now. I promised you that, remember? Let's go." Keisuke stated and before I could even do anything about it, the long-haired ravenette dragged me along with him and pulled me out of the restaurant.

"But, Keisuke!" I whined out with a pout as we walked over to his motorbike Goki at the parking lot.

"No buts, Nana." he cut off my whining.

"But at least tell me where are we going? We can't go anywhere further or out of Tokyo." I stated with a heavy sigh.

"I'm aware of that, dumbass. I wanted to take you to the Tokyo Disney Sea at Urayasu, Chiba but canceled that plan at the last minute. We can't go that far when the stakes are high..." he replied, slightly shaking his head.

"It's that new theme park founded back four years ago, like 2001 right?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

"Yeah... I'll take you there next time, I promise. Right now, we're going shopping..." he stated, causing me to give him a confused look.

"You know I hate shopping, Keisuke." I pointed out with a deadpan face.

"We're not gonna shop for clothes and makeup. I'm taking you to the Animate shop at Akihabara. You wanted to buy some new manga and anime merchandise, yeah?" Keisuke asked, and hearing his words made me gasp out in shock while it brought the light of happiness to my brownish-amber eyes before I snapped out of my shocked state and jumped into his arms, hugging him all tight, literally startling him to death.

Animate is by far one of the largest, most popular anime and manga chain stores in Japan. It has hundreds of anime and manga goods ranging from manga and figures to posters, stationery goods, and much more. Located at Akihabara in Tokyo, the home of anime and otaku culture, this branch is filled with seven floors dedicated to all things anime. No matter the level of anime fans, Animate's extensive collection of figures, cosplay goods, and collectibles are sure to captivate and intrigue guests of all ages. If one's looking for the latest releases or just wants to find merchandise for their favorite anime character, chances are they'll find them in this large anime shopping mall. The first Animate store was opened in 1983 in Ikebukuro, Tokyo which is also known as a town of subculture hobbies just like Akihabara. Each floor is subdivided to help guests navigate, split from CD & DVD sections, manga sections, video games, character goods, cosplay accessories, etc. There's even a floor dedicated to holding events where anime creators and voice actors come out for meet-and-greet events. Animate is one of the most popular stores to visit for all things anime and manga, making it a must while in Akihabara. Animate is so popular that it currently has about 120 shops all over Japan. There is no prefecture in Japan without an Animate shop.

He actually remembered that I wanted to go and buy some new manga...?! Keisuke's so sweet!!

Although he's always been sweet towards me no matter what... Keisuke's the best!!

"You know me so well, Kei-chan! I love you!" I squealed out in joy.

"Hey! W-What are you-" Keisuke began to stutter out with a deep blushing face but was immediately cut off when I placed a soft kiss on his cheeks. "D-Don't kiss me in public like this!"

"Oh, so you want me to kiss you behind closed doors?" I teased him with a mischievous smirk.

"W-What?! I never said that!" he argued back with a frowning face, his cheeks still hot and red.

"Seems like it to me.~" I cooed at him.

"Tsk... Careful, you damn woman. You're playing with fire right now." Keisuke warned me with a sharp look but I brushed him off with my giggles and teasings.

Let's just say that in the midst of all these troubles and chaos, my 15th birthday didn't go all that bad because later in the evening after finishing shopping, Keisuke took me to the Sanrio Cafe at Ikebukuro for dinner where I was able to take a cute picture of him (much of his own annoyance and embarrassment) and saved that photo as wallpaper in my cell phone (without him knowing of course).

14th January 2006

It had been only four days since the 27-year-old adult Takemichi went back to the future after completing his mission and almost ten days since Kisaki and Hanma were kicked out of Toman. Now with those two out of the way, to me, life came back to normal. There was no stress, no burden. After New Year's, Mitsuya and I went back to school again and were getting ready for our middle school graduation which was going to happen this upcoming spring in April. Others like Keisuke, Chifuyu, Hakkai, and Emma were about to advance from 2nd year to their 3rd/final year in middle school. Manjiro and Draken were also about to graduate from middle school, but they weren't exactly thinking of attending high school, unlike Mitsuya and me.

And in school, where it was just only two months left before my middle school graduation, student life suddenly became hectic as hell - from final exams and high school admission tests to taking preparation for the graduation ceremony and everything, I never found myself so busy and concerned in life.

"Graduation is coming up soon... Any plans and ideas about which high school you guys wanna go to?" a brunette girl beside me spoke up as we were eating our lunch at the cafeteria; her name was Kyoko Hori.

Kyoko was this tall, slim girl, known to be cute and pretty by most of our classmates with mid-back length chestnut-brown hair with bangs swept to the right side and possessed golden-brown eyes. She was normally a very energetic and popular person who always created a happy atmosphere around herself and was a hard worker in all aspects of her life. Although when nervous or embarrassed, she tended to switch to a violent state. She was also known to be the very jealous type when at times girls flirted with her boyfriend, Izumi Miyamura, to the point where we started calling her the "Ice Queen" or the "Goddess of Jealousy". But overall, Kyoko was a sweet, caring girl who became one of my closest friends in school.

"I'm thinking of going to a school close to my home actually..." another girl with short blonde hair spoke up from beside Kyoko; it was Yuki Yoshikawa.

Yuki was a short, slim girl with light olive-green hair that was cut short with bangs parted in the middle into bangs framing her face while she also possessed round yellow eyes and thin eyebrows. She had a typical bubbly and ditzy personality who often created a fun and happy atmosphere for those close to her, though she could be quite lazy which was evident by her tendency to sleep during class a lot of the time. She was easy to get along with and was someone who could make friends relatively quickly. However, Yuki often tried to hide her negative feelings, especially in front of friends, by pretending that she was alright and didn't care about the situation, hiding it by covering it with a smile and that the more she didn't want to let go of something, the less she talked about it. As she was reserved when it came to her own feelings, she would never tell anyone how she really felt or what she really wanted and due to this attitude of hers, the things she loved often were out of her reach most of the time.

"I wanna attend the same school that Sakura's gonna attend!" another different individual spoke up in a cheery tone from beside me this time - she was a part of the student council committee, Remi Ayasaki.

Remi was a beautiful, very cute young girl with waist-length hot pink hair, always tied up in twin tails, bangs hanging over her forehead while she had these big dark-pink doe eyes. She had a very short stature and this caused her to be the shortest one among our girlfriends' group. Remi was a rather childish girl who had a very straightforward personality and who wore her emotions on her sleeve. She relied on other people's help regularly, especially her childhood best friend Sakura, and was also not very smart.

"That would be nice if we all stayed together like this." the last person spoke up in a meek yet happy tone and it was Sakura Kono, another person part of the student council committee.

Sakura had short green hair, green eyes, and wore a pair of eyeglasses whose height and body stature was similar to Kyoko's except she had a pair of fairly large breasts. Sakura was a well-rounded, kind, and responsible person. She was very hardworking, making sure that the student council did its work. She was quite reserved as a person and there were times when she used to feel insecure about herself but that slowly changed throughout her time in middle school with us, leading her to gain self-confidence and make new friends.

Kyoko, Yuki, Remi, and Sakura - all four of these girls were my closest friends here in this middle school I was attending.

"Hey, what about you, Nana?" Kyoko asked with a curious look in her eyes, leaning forward against the table while sitting on my opposite side and I gave her a questioning look as I looked up from my meal.

"Huh?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Weren't you listening, Nana?" Remi huffed with a pout.

"Oh, you mean which high school I'm choosing? Yeah well, I decided to stick to the reputable ones in the Shibuya area." I replied nonchalantly. "I don't wanna go too far from home..."

"That'll be very sad if we all go our separate ways..." Sakura commented with a small sad smile.

"Yeah. We won't be able to meet much often like now." Remi whined out while Yuki nodded her head in agreement.

"You guys... this isn't gonna be our final goodbye." I sighed and slightly shook my head. "The world is small. We'll definitely meet again. We'll meet outside schools and stuff if we end up going to different high schools. If you guys think that the walls of a school campus are all there in this wide world, then you guys haven't grown up much yet."

"Oh, Nana and her wise words. Gonna miss that so much.~" Kyoko sang out dramatically.

In response, I scoffed and playfully flickered her forehead while the other girls let out some giggles and chuckles in amusement.

"Hey, I've heard that a lot of the seniors are getting proposed and asked out left and right these days?!" Yuki suddenly spoke up in a whispered tone, now changing the topic and she talked in a way as if she was gossiping about something scandalous.

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and Kyoko nodded her head in response. "Why?"

"Yeah. Graduation is on the way and many people are gonna go to separate paths and directions. They don't wanna lose the opportunities they have, so yeah, many of them are either asking out their crushes or getting asked out. Some are getting accepted and some are getting rejected." Kyoko explained.

"Hmm... Don't wanna lose the opportunities; Time is running away; It's not ever gonna return to us; Chances like these might never come back; Seize the moment and learn to live with it... Ah, how poetic." I muttered out and the girls started to chuckle again.

"Seriously, Nana? You should become a writer or a philosopher in the future." Yuki giggled, wiping away her fake tears.

"But now that we're on this topic... Nana, did anyone ask you out?" Remi asked with all curiosity.

"Huh? No. Not yet." I replied, shaking my head.

"Seriously, not yet?!" Remi gasped in shock.

"But Nana, you're so popular in school. I'm sure there's a handful amount of boys who like you." Sakura stated but I just shrugged in response.

For some reason, I always used to get this unnecessary attention here in this middle school from the very beginning. But one way or another I also had expected this attention since this school thought highly of successful students and I was, unfortunately, one of them. With getting high scores in exams and somewhat possessing good looks or whatever, I was one of the admired members of the top of my school's social pyramid. And this had its ups and downs. One of the advantages of having what I would call 'superficial popularity' was that I was never alone. People were never afraid to say 'hello' to me, asked how I was, sat with me at lunch, request tutoring and the list goes on and on. However, everything has its negative side or disadvantages to it, and the term 'superficial popularity' also pulled me into a situation where the student body would automatically see or wish to see me as someone "perfect" without even trying to know who I really was.

"I don't know if I've secret admirers or not. I don't care really." I responded with a shrug.

To be honest, I had never thought about this kind of stuff, to begin with. At first, I was in love with Shinichiro when I was younger and after he passed away, I decided to move on with my life when I again fell in love for the second time with someone else and it was Keisuke. Throughout my whole life, I had always been in love with someone who was very dear to me at different times and places in my life whether it was Shinichiro or Keisuke depending on those times and places, so small things like crushes or secret admirers had never actually crossed my mind. It was nice and sweet to know that someone was probably out there who liked me but also at the same time I wasn't interested at all.

I mean I already had Keisuke in my life, so what else would I need anyway?

"Ne, ne, Nana-chan... Is it true? Have you finally decided to..." a random girl from my class spoke up as she and her group of friends approached me after lunch and stood around my desk with a curious look in their eyes.

"Hm?" I hummed in response, looking up to meet her gaze.

"...Confess to Sengoku-kun?" she completed her question.

"Huh? Confess? What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.

"Well..." another girl spoke up this time around. "You can't be in a relationship without someone taking initiative."

And this had me even more confused.

What the hell is she even blabbering about...?

"If you're not together yet, the whole class agreed to help!" another one commented enthusiastically and I hadn't even asked for that.

What the hell? How would they know if I'm even relatively interested in a relationship right now?

And only then did I realize that a good half of the class was listening attentively to our little conversation, including my girlfriends Kyoko, Yuki, Remi, and Sakura. I also noticed Remi was now wearing a sour, bitter expression on her face, her eyes downcasted when I was asked about Sengoku.

Kakeru Sengoku was a charismatic member of the student council committee of our school who was also Kyoko's childhood friend since elementary school. He was a slim, pale-skinned young man with smooth red hair that was parted towards the right side where it completely covered both his ears and also possessed red eyes. Due to his skinny figure, he usually used to wear multiple layers of clothing to appear of a healthier weight. This, along with his unusually high voice, made him appear somewhat feminine.

Sengoku was a rather shy boy who would get embarrassed easily. The slightest thing would make him cower in fear, especially things to do with horror or insects. As a student, he was very smart and serious, usually ranked No. 1 in terms of grades in the school and No. 2 in Sports and Physical Education class. He enjoyed reading and had an incredible level of concentration while doing so, to the point of ignoring everything else going around him. Sengoku wasn't generally very expressive with his emotions but the sole exception was his anger or irritation, which he showed from time to time as he was one of the leading members of the student council.

The reason why Remi was looking all downcasted at this moment was that she had this crush on Sengoku for a while now. I had always been aware of her feelings from the very start. My other girlfriends were also aware of this whole situation and because of that, they had always supported Remi and her feelings. I supported her too, so it was kind of awkward for me whenever people would come up to me and ask about Sengoku. And it wasn't like I was super close to him or something like that. I met and became friends with him through Kyoko at the beginning of our middle school years and there were times when we would study together in the library or I would help him out with the student council work and because of that many people sometimes caught us spending time together but that didn't mean we were attracted to each other or liked each other beyond platonic level.

Besides, I spend way more time with Keisuke than I spend with Sengoku...

Then why the fuck rumors about me and Keisuke hadn't still spread through school yet...?

"I'm sorry. I believe you've got it all wrong." I sighed.

Lashing out would be like giving them what they wanted and what they wanted was some good gossip.

"Sengoku and I don't have any romantic feelings for each other. We're just good friends." I stated in a firm tone, establishing the fact as strongly as possible.

Two weeks later

As presumed the rumors didn't stop with that, no matter how clear I made it. A week had passed and my class still hadn't shut up. The worst part of it was that they labeled me as some sort of "love-denying kuudere" or shit like that. And, just as I predicted, the small flame I believed I had contained had flared into a raging wildfire. After a weekend break, when I returned to school, I expected to resume my school life like normal, but I was suddenly the center of attention. Every single time I walked into a room, they were staring at me. Every single conversation I had, had to be about Sengoku. Whenever I walked beside the red-haired boy, a cascade of "ooo's" and "ahh's" would fill the hallways. I had become twenty times more popular than I was before and I hated every second of it.

"Sengoku..." I called out sternly in a low voice as he and I were sitting in the student council room for lunch. "We need to talk about the elephant in the room."

"Mmph?" Sengoku mumbled, looking up at me, his mouth was stuffed with food.

He looks like a little chipmunk...

"The rumors...." I went on and he was yet to respond back. "Aren't you bothered by it? At all?"

Was he that clueless? It can't be, right...?

"C-Can you specify... Which rumors?" he asked in confusion and I raised an eyebrow at him.

He really didn't care?!

"You know... they think we're dating..." I replied and Sengoku immediately choked on his onigiri.

Let's just say, the red-haired boy got so flustered that in the end the conversation didn't go anywhere and the problem remained unsolved.

Every time the rumors were brought up, I counted on Sengoku to shoot them down, but for some reason, he didn't do it and it was making my life a living hell. Remi on the other hand also started to feel more and more downcasted and gloomy as time went on and it made me so hard to even look at her in the eyes because the last thing I wanted was to hurt her feelings and become an obstacle for her potential love life.

I need to do this for Remi...

"I love Keisuke and I'm currently in a relationship with him." I lied in a monotone yet firm voice to those girls who initiated this whole rumor shit about me and Sengoku.

"Huuhh?! Baji-kun?!" they gasped in shock and I looked at them in confusion.

Why are they so shocked anyway...?

"Why do you girls look all shocked?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Keisuke and I are childhood best friends and our relationship blossomed from platonic friendship to romantic love. There's nothing unusual about it. Things like this happen all the time."

Can't childhood best friends fall in love with each other...?

"But he's a nerd and a former delinquent!!" they pointed out, looking all distressed and defeated.

"Yeah, so?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in annoyance.

"Sengoku-kun's way better than him!"

"I don't think so..." I stated nonchalantly.

"Baji-kun's so nerdy looking and he always wears these weird glasses!"

Bitch, have you ever seen him outside school? He's fucking hot as hell! He's too beautiful and sexy for his own good!

Not to mention you bitches even said that same shit about Miyamura before that poor guy had to cut his hair short...

"If you girls see him without those glasses, you won't be saying that again. Besides, I don't care about his looks or anything. All I care about is his personality and his morality as a human being." I stated with a sigh and with that, I walked away from them.

It didn't take long for people to spread nasty words like - "Holy shit, Osaki from Class 3-1 is dating Baji from 2-3" or "She's super smart and pretty cute too" or "Why the hell is she dating Baji?" or "It's crazy! Hell, I'd be a way better match for her!" or "Osaki's dating Baji? The nerdy-looking former delinquent? OMG! What's wrong with her? Talk about terrible taste!" and shits like these. And just as I expected, these words reached up to Keisuke's ears as well.

"So rumor has it that I'm allegedly your boyfriend and we've been secretly dating for a few months now..." Keisuke stated, staring me down with narrowed eyes as he and I were sitting in an empty classroom after school where I was tutoring him for his upcoming math test.

And this made me spill out everything to him about the rumors that were going around about me and Sengoku, thinking that he would obviously understand.

"It was really frustrating, you know." I sighed while running a hand through my raven locks.

"So you chose me as your convenient fake boyfriend to escape from the situation?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows at me.

"More or less yes. You were my safe solution to this problem." I replied and placed my chin in the palm of my hand which was resting on the desk we were sitting at before my lips curled up into a small smile. "Also, I like the idea of dating you, even if it's fake."

Keisuke's eyes immediately went wide open in shock when I said those words and his cheeks started to turn pink in color.

"Y-You like me?" he asked in a quiet tone, looking at me all confused.

It's now or never... Let's do this... Seize the moment... Don't let this opportunity go...

"I thought I was always obvious about my feelings for you..." I stated with a teasing smile.

"What about Shinichiro-kun?" he asked.

"What about Shin-chan? He passed away and he's never coming back. I don't wanna live the rest of my life loving a dead man." I scoffed in response.

"But why me?" Keisuke asked, pursing his lips as the color of his cheeks were turning from pink to red. "What's so great about me anyway?"

"To this, I don't have a specific answer. To be honest, I love everything about you - your good looks, your personality, your loyalty, your honesty, your morality, your passion, your energy... Even though you're violent and aggressive and love to live a carefree life, even though you burn down cars simply because you're hungry and craving peyoung yakisoba, I think you're still very charming and sweet. Life always seems fun and colorful when you're around. When I'm with you, I feel like I'm in a flower meadow for the first time having spent what feels like an eternity living in a windowless box. There's a lot of emotion I feel for you, Keisuke and I can't just describe it with just one word. I've always loved and cared about you ever since we first met, Keisuke, always..." I stated with a sheepish chuckle, my cheeks also started to turn the deepest red in color.

For a moment silence fell in between us with Keisuke looking down at his hands on the desk, contemplating the words I just told him now while I was silently sitting there, waiting for a response.

Please Keisuke, say something... Anything...

I had accepted my feelings for Keisuke a long time ago and now that I had told him everything, there was no going back. The man was confident, but not too cocky and funny. Enjoying his company always seemed so natural to me. Whenever he was around, I couldn’t help but hear the loud beating of my own heart. But who was to blame? Keisuke was drop-dead gorgeous. Who wouldn’t get captivated by him? Keisuke was weird, but he was kind. He was a violent tsundere who liked to commit arson when hungry but he also had a heart of gold. He looked intimidating and scary, but his intentions were always pure and selfless.

Maybe that's why I was in love with him. I loved him so much that I would lose control of myself. Keisuke was someone who was fine with being the sacrificial lamb for his friends and dear ones. And I found it irritating sometimes. He talked and walked around like nothing was wrong, always pretending that he was indifferent, just fine with all the negative things people thought about him. It was so irritating that it made me want to turn his head around and look at me, made me want to tell him how special he was to me, how great he was to me. That he, Keisuke Baji, had a huge impact on the lives of every people he came across up until now.

I kept falling in love with him and each time was harder than the last. Every time the feeling got deeper, more complete, more bewitching. There wasn't a thing I wouldn't do to keep him safe, so Keisuke wouldn't ever have to think of asking for my affection. The more love I gave him the more I had bursting inside of me. Crazy, huh? The more love we shared the more it multiplied.

I loved Keisuke in the way a puppy loved - devoted, playful, trusting. I guess I should be ashamed of that somehow; weren't we all supposed to be tough? Yet I preferred to be strong; strong enough to risk being broken all over again, to love again, fully knowing my own fragility. I had known heartbreak enough to shatter my mind, to leave my soul feeling like dust in the wind and my body unwilling to live. But Keisuke was worth my life and all that I had left was his.

"If... if that's the case..." Keisuke spoke up, pulling me out of my trance as he looked back at me again with furrowed eyebrows and blushing cheeks. "Then let's make it real..."

My breath hitched when he said those words and my eyes immediately went wide open in surprise.

"Let's make this fake dating thing real..." he added as his eyes softened at my sight. "But before that... Nana, I’m a very simple guy, so, I’ll say my words in my simple ways..."

I nodded my head, telling him to continue while my heart started to beat faster than before.

"I'm in love with you, Nana... I always have been. It was always been you." Keisuke confessed before his lips curled up into a gentle smile when he noticed my red, hot cheeks and my widened eyes which were staring at him. "I'm not that smooth with my words and I'm not good at expressing my feelings, especially in things like this, but that's the truth and I wanted to tell you for a long time now..."

I was always kind of aware of Keisuke's feelings toward me so it was somewhat expected, but I didn't think that it would be this soon. And he said he was in love with me from the very beginning we met. Did he really love me for that long now?

"I’ve been in love with you ever since I first met you 11 years ago..." he went on before reaching out and grabbing my smaller hands in his larger ones, intertwining our fingers, his warmth radiating through me when our skin touched. "I've been so in love with you, so desperately, hopelessly in love with you and I always hoped you would see me like that too. That one day you would wake up and realize I was right here, and I always had been. But at the same time, I didn't want to ruin this friendship since you're my best friend and one of the most important people in my life. I don’t wanna lose you. But I couldn’t stand keeping this to myself. I only see things in terms of 'what are'. No start or end. I guess that's a kind of pragmatism. I cannot conceptualize them as a passage or journey. That complicates things. My head has so many puzzles to solve. To me, love has to remain simple, pure, easy, and kind. So, that I love you now is that I love you forever. Moment, eternity... They are the same to my heart and soul. I ask you to stay. Just stay. I will too. I'm sure that's all it takes. I hope that is enough... Because it's all I have to offer. So, I need your answer, Nana. Will you go out with me? Like girlfriend-boyfriend kinda thing?”

Some might call it bewitched but I called it love. For there was an emptiness in the freedom of being alone and liberty in being caught in that divine spell. And so when I saw in his eyes the feelings of my heart, in that very moment we became one and if that wasn't magic then I couldn't say what was. Because his love was so whole, my missing pieces would immediately appear. Because his touch carried such passion, what was scarred became soft once more. Because he was steady and patient, my open wounds had time to seal and vanish.

Perhaps that was why they say love is such magic, this gift from the universe, this sweet addiction to the man I was born to find. For with my twin soul, the only other born in the same flame as I, we were able to bathe one other in warmth and light as easily as we breathe, immune and oblivious to darkness.

"And you're saying you're not that good with words." I let out a chuckle in amusement as my frantic heartbeat started to slow down and his smile grew wider. "But I won't date you unless you promise to marry me in the future."

"Deal." he immediately replied without any hesitation, grinning widely at me and I gave him a surprised look.

"Seriously? You'll marry me?" I questioned and he nodded his head with all seriousness. "What about having kids after getting married?"

"We'll have them when the time is right. But not more than two, okay?" he replied with a smile.

"And pets? I'm a dog person and you're a cat person." I pointed.

"Then we'll have both; one cat and one dog. No big deal..." he suggested with a shrug and this caused me to let out a soft giggle.

I could tell his love for me was real, pure, and genuine. His love for me became my protector, my defender, my ride-or-die connection that stayed with me for always and in all ways. It was raw and it would roar for me if required. It would stay with me in quietness and be my comfort. Keisuke's love celebrated with me and raised me up. His love would be okay with my sadness and kiss the scars I hid from others.

It was rare, so I always treasured it and was trying to keep it alive as long as possible, for Keisuke's love was the greatest blessing that heaven could ever give me. His love was pure, unselfish, and undemanding. His love made me feel free, made me feel all soft and warm. This was the kind of love I had waited for, prayed for. I inwardly thanked God for this because a love like this was to be cherished for life. Finally, I felt like being home.

Keisuke isn't perfect and I'm not either, but together we make a great team and are perfect for one another...

"Two kids and two pets, huh? Looks like you've all figured it out... But hey, at least take me on a date at first!" I stated playfully and Keisuke flashed his signature smirk at me.

"Well, let's go then." he stated before standing up, pulling me up from my seat as well.

"But your upcoming math test?" I asked as I watched him quickly packing up our bags and stuff.

"Fuck the math test!" he grinned at me, showcasing his pointy canines before grabbing my wrist and dashing out of the classroom.

Soon after that, we were out of our school campus and went to a small parking lot in the nearby area where Keisuke's Goki was parked at.

"Hop on, Nana..." he stated as he hopped on his own bike and tossed his helmet to me. "Safety first.”

After putting on his helmet, Keisuke shuffled forwards slightly to give me more space to sit on the bike behind him. He then took off his fake, goofy reading glasses and shoved them into his pockets, his long ravenette hair still tied up in a ponytail.

"Where are we going?” I asked, taking my seat on the bike while Keisuke shrugged, chuckling slightly when I gently wrap my arms around his waist.

"Don’t know, but hold on tight!” he warned, revving his engine and taking off without another word.

From other people's point of view, I might be a fool for getting on a motorcycle with Keisuke and letting him take me to an undisclosed location, but it had always been like ever since Keisuke started learning to ride his bike and I trusted him enough to know that he wouldn’t try to drive me off a cliff or put me in danger. Keisuke always drove his motorbike like a madman and would leave me with no other choice but to cling to him with dear life. If I didn’t bury myself into his side, I probably would have flown off with all the sharp turns he always did around the other cars or bikes. It was like being taped to the top of a vehicle in Mario Cart, but that was where the fun and the thrills lay.

"You're never gonna change your driving style, huh Keisuke!" I shouted out over the harsh blaring of the wind while the said boy simply let out a loud chuckle in response.

"Look over to the side, Nana..." he uttered, slowing down slightly.

Taking his word for it, I turned my head to the side so my face was no longer pressed against his shoulder. Passing the edge of the road, I could see the perfect view of the beach below, the sea gently glistening under the orange sunset, the fresh ocean air hitting all my senses.

"The beach.” I mused, smiling down at the completely deserted sandy shore, which looked so beautifully peaceful in contrast to how busy it was when I would usually come.

"No shit.” Keisuke chuckled, his eyes remaining glued to the road.

“But it’s closed.” I let out a defeated sigh, leaning against his back.

“Yep, that means we’ve got the whole place to ourselves!” he nodded with a wide grin causing my eyes to go wide open in astonishment.

Before I could question what Keisuke meant by that, he steered off the edge of the road and down the steep hillside which led to the beach, though it definitely was not meant to be driven on as there were several warning signs at the side of the road, warning drivers about the hill.

"Keisuke, what the fuck?!” I scolded him over his amused laughter.

“Isn’t this fun?!” he yelled back, enjoying how the wind felt against his skin as he maneuvered his bike down the steep hill.

Not going to lie, this experience was exciting and concerning all at the same time but it soon all ended when the bike came to a smooth landing on the soft sand of the beach.

“Well, how was that?” Keisuke asked with a smirk, immediately hopping off the bike before offering a hand to me.

"You're a madman, Keisuke." I commented with an amusing giggle as I took off the helmet before accepting his hand, and stepping off the motorbike while the smile on his face widened a bit more. "But... do you think we could do this again? Some other time, maybe?"

And in response, Keisuke let out another loud chuckle, resulting in me becoming sheepish for a moment until he wrapped his arms around me and picked me up for a hug.

“Obviously! Anything for you, doll!" he grinned, and my cheeks heated up slightly at his words.

Keisuke and I are really dating now!! Holy shit!! This is real!!

It's not fake at all!! Can't believe this is actually happening!!

"Huh? Doll? Are we gonna give each other nicknames now?" I playfully scoffed at him causing Keisuke to lean closer to my face, his sharp bronze eyes boring into my brownish-amber ones.

"You want other names? Like Baby, Babe, Buttercup, Cutie pie, Babydoll, Sweet-Cheeks?" he teased with a mischievous smirk to which in response I threw him a dirty glare and pushed his face away from mine.

"Ew! No! That's cringey!" I scoffed while he let out another chuckle and placed me back down on the sand before he started to dash off towards the sea.

“Anyway, let's race! Loser owes the other lunch!” he shouted out at me.

"Eh?! Oi, Keisuke, you moron! Wait up!"

And this was how Keisuke and I started a new chapter of our lives.

I love you, Keisuke, Like the sky loves the birds, With open hands and infinite freedom.

February 19th, 2006

It was still early in the evening when Chifuyu and Takemichi arrived at Keisuke’s place today to help him out with the furniture redecoration of the Baji household just because Keisuke’s mom, Ryoko Baji felt like doing so. The thing was, Ryoko heavily believed in astrology, good luck charms, and stuff like that and she also believed that redecorating her whole house would bring good luck to the Baji family’s life, especially in Keisuke’s life to be more accurate.

“Sorry about this, guys…” Keisuke stated in his usual deep yet soft tone to Takemichi and Chifuyu who were shifting heavy furniture from one room to another. “Nana and I were supposed to help my mom redecorate our whole house. Feng Shui says it’s good luck. But obviously, it’s impossible for just the two of us alone, so you two are really saving us here…”

“So heavy!” Takemichi grunted out through his gritted teeth when he tried to lift a box that was filled with showpieces.

“Careful, Takemitchy!” Chifuyu called out in concern before rushing over to his friend to help him out. “That box has showpieces in it. Drop it and everything in it will break into millions of pieces.”

“Thanks, Chifuyu and Takemichi…” Ryoko stated with a wide grin of gratitude on her face as she talked into the room while holding a book in her hand. “My Keisuke's here is a weak boy, so he ended up troubling you two.”

“Who’s weak?!” Keisuke snapped, growling at his mother with furrowed eyebrows before I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“Calm down now, Keisuke. Let’s not make a ruckus now.” I mumbled into his ears in a gentle voice to which the said boy immediately went quiet before returning to work.

“N-No, we're fine!” Takemichi stuttered out in embarrassment with a blushing face, smiling sheepishly at Ryoko.

This was the first time Takemichi came to the Baji household and the first time seeing Keisuke’s mom, so naturally, he was feeling quite flustered – after all, he didn’t expect the matriarch Ryoko Baji to be so young-looking and beautiful.

“Where should we put this, Ryoko-san?” Chifuyu asked her in a polite tone before the Baji matriarch started to guide the two boys with the whole redecoration again.

“Alright! That's it then!” Ryoko stated just after the two blonde boys shifted a cupboard to a different room.

“Okay!” Chifuyu and Takemichi responded in unison, sweat dripping from their bodies from all their hard work for the past few hours.

“Chifuyu, Takemichi, apparently the living room furniture is important too, so after you're done with that please take care of it.” Ryoko instructed with a smile while her eyes locked down at the pages of the book which was still in her hand.

The book in her hand happened to be one of those which tells you what’s good luck for you or not and using that Ryoko had been guiding us through this entire time.

“Oh! Ah, yes!!” they replied before dashing towards the living room.

“Hey, mom!” Keisuke called out with a frowning face as he pulled out some manga books from his mother’s bookshelf. “I thought all my manga were gone. Why are they here?!”

“Keisuke, I’m still reading them!!” Ryoko snapped back.

“Please, don’t fight over some manga, you two…” I spoke up again, sighing heavily at the antics of these two Bajis while rearranging some showpieces on the shelf just like how Ryoko wanted.

“Oh excuse me, Chifuyu. Can you go to the convenience store on the corner and get me a garbage bag?” Ryoko asked in a gentle, motherly tone.

“Yes!!”

“And Takemichi, please be a dear and get me a small parfait from the sweets section. The waitress there often forgets to serve it with a spoon, so make sure it’s ready to go.”

“O-Oh, okay, yes!!”

Making Keisuke’s friends do all of her work - that was one of Ryoko’s personality traits which I found very funny sometimes, like how she was ordering around Chifuyu and Takemichi and making them run around the house but none of them could say anything to her because one, she was a parental figure to them, so they couldn’t be disrespectful towards her which was obvious and two, she was ordering them around in such a soft, motherly tone that the poor boys didn’t exactly know how to refuse her orders.

“Finally, we are done!” a sweaty, tired Takemichi exclaimed out in joy with a grinning Chifuyu standing beside him as we all looked around at the redecorated house.

“Oh, I’m sorry. This is wrong.” Ryoko suddenly spoke up in a concerned tone, staring down at her book with furrowed eyebrows, and in response, Takemichi and Chifuyu went stiff as a stone in their spot.

“Huh? What are you saying?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“I was looking at the wrong page!” Ryoko stated, showing me a certain page from the book. “This isn't gonna bring me good luck!”

“What the hell are you doing?!” Keisuke snapped at his mother again with his hands on his hips. “You're kidding me! Come on woman, this is enough!”

“This isn’t good!” Ryoko snapped back at her son. “My lack of fortune caused you a lot of problems before, Keisuke! Remember that one time you broke your left arm?!”

And her words suddenly made me recall one incident from early 2004 which was just two years ago when one delinquent gang named Killer Bee forcefully barged into our school to attack Keisuke because they were aware of the fact that Keisuke Baji would never fight and throw hands inside the school campus. Although Keisuke didn’t fight them back and ended by breaking his left arm when he was defending himself from their attack, his former vice-captain Ryusei Sato and Chifuyu were the ones who jumped into the action right on time and saved his life from that gang. I was also there with them and I remembered knocking the commander of that gang out cold in one go by throwing one of Manjiro’s infamous roundhouse kicks on that man’s head.

“I don’t care! And that had nothing to do with this!!” Keisuke shouted out in frustration again as he and his mother began to throw fiery daggers at each other through their sharp glares.

“A-Ah don’t worry! We’ll do it again!” Chifuyu intervened in a nervous tone, trying to calm down those two Bajis before looking over at a concerned Takemichi. “Right, Takemitchy?!”

“Y-Yes!!” Takemichi squeaked out, furiously nodding his head before they both rushed over to the room to shift around the heavy objects again.

“Ngh! Uaghhh!!!”

“Ha!! So heavy!!”

“I know right!!”

“What’s wrong?” Keisuke asked as he walked over to the boys who were now on the ground, all sweaty and tired and was out of breath, taking a break for a moment before they would start redecorating again. “Are you two worn out? Well, I suppose you two did carry a lot of stuff.”

“N-No we are totally fine, Baji-san!” Chifuyu tried to convince his former captain but failed miserably.

“Just give us a moment, Baji-kun and we will carry-“ Takemichi was about to say something more but was cut off immediately when Keisuke lifted a huge cupboard with just one arm.

“No more. Just rest.” Keisuke stated in a cool, nonchalant voice before he walked away with the cupboard in his arm while the two blondies stared at the ravenette man in complete shock with dropped jaws and widened eyes.

“And his mother calls him weak?!” Takemichi gasped out, causing me to chuckle in response. “Just how strong is Baji-kun?!”

“A lot actually. Just like Manjiro and Ken-chan…” I replied with a smile before walking away as well to help out Keisuke.

And it wasn’t long before we redecorated some of the rooms again and our entire work came to a completion.

“Okay, that’s more like it.” Keisuke stated, slightly nodding his head as we looked around the house to see if anything was left to be done.

“Yeah, it’s good, isn’t it?” Ryoko grinned with a satisfied look on her face.

“Well, then. Let’s get something to eat.” Keisuke added before I started to walk towards the kitchen with Ryoko.

“Ryoko-san and I’ll go and cook something for us. You guys take some rest in the meantime.” I stated, causing the faces of the boys to light up in pure happiness and excitement.

“Thanks, Nana-san!” Chifuyu called out with a smiling face to which I smiled back in response.

After entering the kitchen, Ryoko and I pondered for a while, thinking of what to cook for dinner tonight. After going through several different options, we finally chose to cook hot pot for the dinner.

“I appreciate your help!” Ryoko stated with a smile as we all gathered around in the living room with the Baji matriarch sitting on a couch while the boys and I were on the floor with our legs crossed, the TV in front of us was turned on and the food was served on the kotatsu table beside us. “Feel free to eat whatever you want.”

“Yes!! It’s good!!” Chifuyu and Takemichi stated happily in unison as they took a bite from their food.

“Also, thanks for the help too, Nana-chan.” Ryoko stated as she then turned to look at me, her smile widened a bit more. “You were a great help today, especially when we were cooking for dinner.”

“I’m glad I was able to help you, Ryoko-san.” I smiled back. “Feel free to call me for help whenever you need it.”

“Ah, sometimes I feel like what I’m gonna do without you, Nana-chan.” Ryoko let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back on the couch in a relaxed manner.

“Now, you’re exaggerating, Ryoko-san. You’re gonna make me blush.” I added before the said woman and I both started to chuckle together in unison.

“Oi, Shitty-mitchy.” Keisuke who was sitting close beside me called out while pointing at the TV, causing the time-leaper to look over at the ravenette boy. “What do you think?”

“Huh? What’s this?” Takemichi asked in confusion, looking over at the TV as well.

“That’s Baji-san's favorite TV show.” Chifuyu informed while chewing his food.

“It’s Kayo Suspense Gekijyo.” Keisuke stated, staring at the TV screen with a serious look on his face, furrowing his eyebrows a bit. “I found out that the woman behind him is the culprit. She claims she wasn’t there when it happened, but I’m pretty sure she’s playing some kind of trick.”

“Oh! You like this kind of thing, don't you, Baji-kun?” Takemichi asked excitedly, his lips curling up into a smile. “No wonder you were always suspicious of Kisaki from the very start.”

“Keisuke’s really into the mystery, crime-thriller genre. Movies, TV shows, novels - doesn’t matter. As long as it contains this particular genre, Keisuke engages himself into it with all his heart, mind, and soul.” I chimed in with a smile before looking over a Keisuke for a moment. “Sometimes I wonder why you wanna be a pet shop owner when you get older… You’re smart and hella perceptive. You can become a police officer or a detective if you want.”

“Police officer or detective, huh?” Keisuke trailed off, getting lost in his own thoughts.

“Yeah, I also think those professions will suit you, Baji-kun…” Takemichi added.

“I can guess the killer too, you know!” Chifuyu chimed in as well, his lips curled up into a wide grin. “I have really good instincts when it comes to that sort of thing!”

“Dumbass! It’s got nothing to do with intuition!” Keisuke playfully scolded his former vice-captain with a smirk. “You have to think in terms of music.”

“Keisuke, it's logic, not music.” I muttered into his ears, immediately correcting his mistake and in response, Keisuke’s cheeks went red in color in complete embarrassment.

“Ah, yes! That's it! That's it!” the ravenette chuckled sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.

As the four of us continued to chat and laugh while watching the TV show, Ryoko who was sitting on the couch behind us decided to intervene in our conversation.

“You idiots!” Ryoko suddenly spoke up in a loud tone with a beer can in her hand and we all turned over to look at her. “In most of these cases, the fourth guy fighting on the TV is the culprit! the main character, the sidekick, the girl, and then the killer! That’s why the old man is the culprit!”

“Huh?!! That’s not funny at all!” Keisuke snapped at his mother yet again for the umpteenth time this evening.

“Look, the old man is the murderer!” Ryoko countered back, now pointing at the TV. “He’s the killer, only one person can get in that car…”

“He’s not that old!” Keisuke growled out with a frowning face. “If he's an old man, then you are an old woman too!”

“Huh?! What did you say, Keisuke?!!” Ryoko finally snapped back before she threw a kick at her own son.

And the rest of the night went with me and the blonde boys trying to disrupt the fight and calm down the two fiery Bajis every once in a while. As time passed by and the clock almost struck midnight, I found myself the only one in the Baji household to be wide awake while the rest of them were all passed out either on the couch or on the floor. Since I was the only one still up and functioning, I decided to go ahead and engage myself in some household chores, like putting blankets on their sleeping bodies to keep them warm, cleaning up the kotatsu table, putting away tonight’s extra food into the refrigerator, washing all the dirty dishes, and then last but not the least, cleaning the kitchen up completely spotless.

It took me some time to finish my job and as soon as I was done with it, I noticed Ryoko finally waking up from her slumber and sitting up on the couch.

“You’re awake, Ryoko-san.” I smiled, walking up to her.

“You did everything by yourself?” Ryoko asked with a sheepish smile. “Thank you, Nana-chan. Sorry for causing you all this trouble.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m happy to help anytime you need me.” I responded in a reassuring tone.

“Well then, Nana-chan… Can you be a darling and go to the convenience store around the corner and get me some turmeric? And some of those cake rolls with that chocolate chips… the cheeky ones that try to up the quality a notch.” Ryoko stated with a closed-eyed smile and I sweat-dropped at her in response.

She’s never gonna change, is she…?

“Okay, sure. Be right back.” I smiled back before turning around and walking away towards the front door.

“Don't worry about the house key. Oh and uh, Nana-chan…” Ryoko called and I turned to look back at her again, noticing a warm, gentle smile on her face as she was staring at me with her soft, bronze-colored eyes. “Take care of Keisuke for me, okay?”

In response, my face softened a bit as I blinked at her a few times.

“He was born to an idiot like me and an even more idiotic father.” Ryoko went on in a light tone, her eyes shifted from me to her sleeping son on the floor. “And now he’s a fool too. But… he’s always sincere in what he does. He's simply irresponsible. I taught him that much. Keisuke rarely brings his friends home with him and it’s even more shocking that he fell in love and decided to date a smart, capable girl like you… This is the first time I’ve seen him laughing with all his friends like this. Keisuke is an only child, so maybe Chifuyu and Takemichi are like little brothers to him. And I have nothing to say much when it comes to you, Nana-chan. You and Keisuke have been best friends ever since you two first met years ago at the Sano dojo and now you’ve become lovers. I’m really happy for you two, you know?”

“You’re… happy that Keisuke and I are dating?” I asked as my lips slowly curled up into a small smile.

Ryoko-san’s happy… it means she approves of our relationship, right…?

“I always wanted Keisuke to end up with no one else but you, Nana-chan. I’ve been shipping you two ever since then.” Ryoko replied with a soft chuckle and my smile widened a bit more upon hearing her response. “I hope Keisuke doesn't make too much of a fool of himself. Please keep a close eye on him.”

“Yes, I will, Ryoko-san. You can count on me.” I reassured her once again.

I love Keisuke to death, Ryoko-san…

He’s just so precious to me…

I promise to love and protect him till my dying breath…

As soon as I walked out of the building to head toward the convenience store, someone familiar called out my name from behind me.

“Oi, Nana.”

I turned around to see Keisuke making his way towards me, yawning while running a hand through his silky, raven locks.

“Why are you going alone at this late hour?” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows a bit, his eyes telling me he was still tired.

“You were sleeping, so I didn't want to wake you up.” I smiled at him apologetically and in response, he rolled his eyes at me.

“Don't be stupid. I’m coming with you.” He scoffed before we both headed towards the store together.

“Thanks for coming.” I smiled at my lover after we finished our shopping and stepped out of the store.

“Don’t thank me, stupid. As your boyfriend, I have to tag along with you wherever you go.” He scoffed again before gently taking the shopping bag from my grip. “Also, I’m sorry about mom being super annoying today…. I said I didn’t care about my mom’s fortune, but…”

“No, it’s okay.” I giggled in response as we walked down the quiet streets together side by side, the moon in the sky glowing brightly above us, illuminating the whole area like a spotlight. “It’s been a while since I hung out with Ryoko-san like this.”

“You sure? She’s always so pushy.” He muttered, letting out a heavy sigh tiredly.

Somehow, her being a Baji kind of justifies her behavior….

“Besides I got your mom’s approval today.” I informed, grinning at him.

“She always approved you ever since we first met 11 years ago, Nana. She thinks you're the right choice for me. Well, I think that too…” Keisuke smiled back before reaching out and grabbing my hand in his larger one, intertwining our fingers together.

He then looked away from me for a moment and set his eyes on the ground underneath us, that breathtaking smile was still dancing on his face.

“You know, Nana, I… I have known you ever since we were four years old, but then again sometimes I feel like I still don’t know very much about you. I’m still learning about you, little by little. At least, I hope I can fully know and understand you someday…” he muttered in a low, gentle tone which was enough for me to hear his words given the quiet environment around us.

“Yeah, well, the feeling’s mutual…” I muttered as well, tightening the grip of our intertwined hands. "For the past 11 years, we were just childhood best friends and now we are lovers. Our relationship changed and took a completely different form, so obviously, we’ll start rediscovering each other from the scratch.”

“Really?” he asked as he looked back at me, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” I replied with a smile, causing him to smile back in response.

Soon later we both came back to the Baji household where we found Ryoko and the other two boys on the floor in the living room, sitting in a circle with a big bag placed in the middle.

“What’s that?” Keisuke asked, raising an eyebrow as he and I moved closer to see what it was.

“Candies.” Ryoko replied with a smirk as if she just achieved something great.

“Damn, this is a huge bag. Is it all just candy?” I asked, looking at it while Chifuyu and Takemichi excitedly went through the bag to find anything else other than the sweet treats.

“Yeah. I won an online contest.” Ryoko replied with her smirk growing even wider than before. “The bag is full of candies of different flavors. I wanted to give these to you kids earlier but for some reason, it just slipped away from my mind. Anyway, choose whatever you like.”

“Huh? Online contests? When did you get into this kind of shit?” Keisuke asked in confusion as he and I took a seat with the rest on the floor.

“Doesn’t matter, Keisuke.” I stated before looking through the bag with Chifuyu and Takemichi, pulling out some candies as well. “Let’s see… We have strawberry, fig, pomegranate, orange… There are some weird ones as well, like cheese…”

“Cheese, huh?” Keisuke trailed off, taking the candy from my hand before looking over at his former vice-captain. “Oi, Chifuyu… You don't like cheese, right?”

“Hell no. I’ll rather throw my wallet in a ditch than choke down cheese.” Chifuyu scoffed before huffing and looking away with a pout while Keisuke unwrapped the candy and took it in between his two fingers.

“Right…” Keisuke muttered with a sadistic smirk before he leaned a bit toward the blonde boy, holding the candy in front of his face. “Say aah.”

Just then, for some reason, Chifuyu’s whole face went red.

“Baji-san's feeding me candy!” Chifuyu started mumbling to himself, squirming around where he was sitting as his face was showing all sorts of emotions – shock, happiness, disgust, and a lot more. “This may never happen again! But it’s cheese flavor… Cheese flavor!”

And seeing Chifuyu like this caused me and Takemichi to deadpan at him while Ryoko started to giggle in amusement from beside us.

“Is he in love with Keisuke or something?” I mumbled to Takemichi.

“You creep. Eat on your own.” Keisuke scoffed in disgust, throwing the candy at Chifuyu before moving far away from the blonde boy.

“Huh, B-Baji-san?! I’m sorry for making you uncomfortable! I’m not in love with you, I promise! I see you as my big brother!” Chifuyu cried out in a reassuring tone but Keisuke moved away from him even further yet again, causing Ryoko and Takemichi to laugh at them in amusement.

While this whole commotion continued in the middle of the living room, I quietly moved a bit far away from them and started to go through the candies that I picked from inside the bag- one of them was clay flavored. I simply stared down at the candy in my hand with a confused look written all over my face.

Huh? Clay-flavored candy? What in the world is that?

“Which flavor is that one? Strawberry?”

I quickly looked up to see Keisuke now sitting beside me, also looking at my candy while the others (Ryoko, Takemichi, and Chifuyu) were busy with their own activities just a bit away from us.

“Huh? No, it's clay.” I replied before unwrapping the candy and putting it inside my mouth.

As soon as I did that, I felt like gagging right at that moment. The taste was bitter and was so horrible that it literally killed me.

“Why are you eating a clay-flavored candy?” Keisuke deadpanned at me.

“Just wanted to try the taste… It’s really bitter.” I replied with a small pout, not realizing the look in his eyes and how close he was leaning to my face.

Keisuke then looked back at the others for a bit just to find them still talking about different flavors of candies before he turned his attention back to me and that’s when I looked up and noticed his sharp bronze eyes boring into my brownish-amber ones. The look in his eyes was completely different, something I had never seen before. The emotions behind those pretty eyes were so intense and passionate that they started to draw me toward him even closer without me even realizing it.

What’s with this look?

What’s with the strong emotions behind those eyes?

“Bitter, huh…” he whispered in a deep, rough yet smooth voice before he leaned in even closer to my face, his eyes flickering between my eyes and my lips.

And before I could realize what was happening or even ask him anything, I felt something soft being pressed gently against my own lips – it was Keisuke’s lips and he was kissing me.

Huh? Wait, what? Keisuke’s kissing me now?!

My eyes immediately went wide open in surprise as my body went stiff on the spot but even with that, I still didn’t move an inch and stayed right where I was frozen in shock.

Keisuke, who was doing all the work, was kissing me as if I was breakable like thin glass and all I did was just close my eyes, slowly and unconsciously, to enjoy the moment before noticing him about to do the same as well. I felt him smirking into the kiss, his lips moving against mine slow and soft as his hands crept their way up to my cheeks, holding my face firmly in place so he could lead the kiss. I felt a warm tightening sensation go wild in my stomach, wanting more than just Keisuke's kiss. My hands found their way to his chest where I brought him closer to me, I held onto him tighter than I intended to.

At that moment, I didn’t care if Ryoko, Chifuyu, and Takemichi noticed us kissing. I just simply didn’t care. All I could care and think of was Keisuke’s kiss, his lips, his warmth, his hands, his whole existence. I wanted more. I craved more. I wanted Keisuke to ravish me and sent me high up in heaven or down to the pits of hell; either way, I would remain extremely satisfied with the outcome.

I could feel the heat and warmth radiating from Keisuke’s body with his warm sweet breath on my lips. He smelled very nice; a mix of mint and sandalwood, invading all my five senses, literally driving me to the edge. He then gently pressed his tongue to the seam of my lips, asking for permission, and at my grant of access, delved his tongue inside my mouth. As our tongues intertwined with one another, the kiss got rough, sloppy, and even more demanding. Euphoric warmth began to blossom within me and the whole feeling became completely blissful, making the kiss feel like fireworks, tingles, and desires. It felt as if nothing mattered at that moment, as if nothing existed in this universe; it was just only me and him.

Keisuke moved one of his hands from my cheek to the back of my neck, deepening the kiss and I could nearly feel the slight burn of the cola he was drinking earlier as it rolled off my tongue and seeped down my throat with every push of his tongue against mine.

A kiss is one of the most sensual happenings, aside from sex and of course, I loved it. His lips were so warm and soft and tasted of mint and cola which caused trembles to shake my body while the euphoric warmth blossomed within me once more. He then gently tilted my head to the side and continued to kiss me, his lips demanding. I felt a smoldering heat deep within me as he slanted my head further, deepening the kiss while his fingers in my hair gently ran up and down the back of my neck, coaxing shivers out of me.

The kiss had a raw intensity; breathing fast, heart rated faster. To me, Keisuke was like my personal drug; one touch and the intoxication was instant. His touch electrified every nerve in my body along with my brain. I think probably it was the anticipation of being together in a way that was more than words, in a way that was so completely tangible.

In that moment of the kiss, it felt as if our chemistry became an ever-bright flame. His kiss was not at all the same as those movie stars, but one steeped in a passion that ignites. It was the promise of realness, of the primal desire that lived in us all. In his kiss, I found the promise of years and the sweetness of waiting for real love. In his kiss, I was home, finally.

The kiss lasted for a few seconds before we broke apart for air and rested our foreheads against each other’s, panting slightly before opening our eyes together. In that brief second of pause, all I could do was lovingly stare back at him while he took his time to study my face. I felt my blush deepen under his scrutiny as Keisuke gazed at me lovingly, his eyes softening with tenderness.

He was so gorgeous that my heart seemed to plummet into darkness. His long, black hair; his perfect, carven features; his arrogant, sensual mouth – fuck, right now I wanted to kiss him again so bad. His kiss was so tantalizing, it left me breathless, greedy, and unsatisfied, wanting more.

Just as I was thinking about diving in for another make-out session with Keisuke, he suddenly moved away from me with an unreadable expression, looking absolutely nonchalant, leaving me in utter confusion.

“Keisuke, could you get me some water?” Ryoko suddenly spoke up from her spot with Takemichi and Chifuyu by her side and her voice brought me back to reality.

And that’s when I noticed something weird – the candy which was in my mouth earlier wasn’t there anymore.

“You’re such a pain.” Keisuke groaned out, rolling his eyes before standing up and walking away without spearing a glance at anyone.

On the other hand, I was still sitting in my spot with a hot, red face burning like the sun. Not only Keisuke and I just shared our first kiss seconds ago in front of his mother and our friends but also he stole my clay-flavored candy which was literally in my mouth.

“What’s up, Nana-chan?” Takemichi asked as he came over to me with a confused look.

“Keisuke stole my candy…” I muttered out as a response, not meeting the gaze of the time-leaper.

“Eh, really? What flavor was it?” Chifuyu asked, who also seemed clueless about what just happened earlier as he pulled out some more candies from the bag. “We still have a bunch more, Nana-san.”

“I-I’m good, thanks!” I stuttered out in embarrassment.

“Okay then, you should give this flavor a try!” Ryoko stated before tossing some candies at me who also looked clueless and I let out a heavy sigh in relief.

Looks like they didn’t see what happened between me and Keisuke, huh…?

Thank God…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3rd Person’s POV (Meanwhile in the kitchen)

With a burning face and a racing heart, Baji leaned back against the refrigerator and let out a heavy sigh, trying to process what just happened right now - He just kissed Nana and for both of them, it was their first-ever kiss. Well, he won’t call it a simple kiss; it was more of a small make-out session for them. His breathing was heavy, his hands were now all sweaty, his heart hammered hard against the ribcage as if it would burst out of his chest at any moment now but even after everything, he had never felt so alive and loved before.

Fuck, I love her so much…

Baji then slowly reached up and touched his lips with his fingers, getting himself lost in a deep trance again, thinking about how Nana’s lips felt against his own ones – it was sweet, it was soft, it was sensual and most definitely, it tasted like cherry because of the lip balm she always used.

“She’s right…” Baji mumbled to himself as he closed his eyes, and sighed, twisting the stolen candy with his tongue inside his mouth. “It actually tastes like clay…”

If you wanna check out the entire fanfic, then go to -

81 notes · View notes

pbreverie · 3 months

Text

STORYBOOK ENT. REVEALS ALL SEVEN MEMBERS OF NEW MINISERIES, PHANTASIE BOYS

Posted by OmniscientAuthor • January 26, 2024

Throughout the past two weeks, Storybook Entertainment has been steadily releasing each member of their- still unnamed- new boy group, in preparation for the PHANTASIE BOYS YouTube miniseries.

All the current information we have on the members has been sourced from official Storybook Entertainment posts, old social media accounts, and some word of mouth. Here is all of that information repackaged:

Birth Name: Sasaki Shoji (佐々木正治)

Stage Name: Shoji (쇼지)

Birthday: March 4th, 2000

Birthplace: Tokyo, Japan

Ethnicity: Japanese

Nationality: Japanese

Height: 5'10” (178cm)

Face Claim: Osaki Shotaro (RIIZE)

Shoji grew up taking dance classes, and as he grew older, he dreamed of becoming an idol. However, after failing multiple auditions, that dream seemed far out of his reach. That is, until he was scouted in 2021 by Storybook Entertainment. He dropped out of university- where he was studying dance- in order to chase his dream of becoming a K-pop idol in Korea.

Birth Name: Lǚ Míng Tāo (呂明涛)

Stage Name: Mingtao (밍타오)

Birthday: November 3rd, 2000

Birthplace: New Taipei City, Taiwan

Ethnicity: Taiwanese

Nationality: Taiwanese

Height: 6’0” (181cm)

Face Claim: Liu Yangyang (NCT)

Mingtao's father insisted on putting him in dance classes at an early age. This proved useful as the boy would grow into an extremely gifted dancer, being accepted into the National Taipei University of Arts for a 7 year degree programme at just 15 years old. During his time at the school, he had been scouted multiple times but turned down every offer in favour of finishing his education. In 2022, Mingtao finally graduated and moved to Korea to train at SBE.

Birth Name: Lee Jin-Ho (이진호)

Stage Name: Jinho (진호)

Birthday: April 9th, 2001

Birthplace: Andong, Korea

Ethnicity: Korean

Nationality: Korean

Height: 5’8” (175cm)

Face Claim: Lee Heesung (ENHYPEN)

Jinho has seemingly always loved music growing up, as he began learning guitar at only six years old and formed an indie band during his middle school years. After graduating in 2019, Jinho joined a different entertainment company before moving over to Storybook Entertainment in 2021.

Birth Name: Yú Hào Rán (於浩然)

Stage Name: Haoran (하오란)

Birthday: July 7th, 2002

Birthplace: Guangzhou, China

Ethnicity: Chinese

Nationality: Chinese

Height: 5’9” (177cm)

Face Claim: Zhong Chenle (NCT)

Haoran grew up as a theatre kid, but he was also a big fan of K-pop groups like Exo. Thanks to his excellent voice, Haoran was accepted into SM ENTERTAINMENT in 2018. He moved to Korea after that, training with the company for around four years before leaving in 2022 to join SBE.

Birth Name: Jason Lee

Stage Name: Jason (제이슨)

Birthday: September 19th, 2002

Birthplace: Los Angeles, USA

Ethnicity: Korean

Nationality: American

Height: 5’9 (177cm)

Face Claim: Choi Taeyang (P1Harmony)

During Jason's highschool years, he danced both in and out of school, and his love for performing made him dream of becoming an idol. When he finally graduated in 2020, he joined JYPE and trained there for three years, even working as a backup dancer during the later years of his stay. Jason moved to SBE in 2023.

Birth Name: Yang Do-Won (양도원)

Stage Name: Dowon (도원)

Birthday: December 2nd, 2002

Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea

Ethnicity: Korean

Nationality: Korean

Height: 6'1” (185cm)

Face Claim: Yoon Hyunsuk (CIX)

Despite being encouraged to play sports like basketball due to his height, Dowon prefered to spend his free time writing raps under stage name YONDER. He auditioned for SBE with a self written rap in 2021 and was accepted into the company.

Birth Name: Kim Tae-Joon (김태준)

Stage Name: Taejoon (태준)

Birthday: August 11th, 2003

Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea

Ethnicity: Korean

Nationality: Korean

Height: 5’9” (175cm)

Face Claim: Park Sungho (BOYNEXTDOOR)

Kim Taejoon is an ex-child actor and model who disappeared from the entertainment industry in 2020 and has been completely MIA for the past three years, except for a few public sightings. According to the official post, he became a trainee in 2021, but there is no other information about him regarding his trainee life or his history in dance/singing.

───

[COMMENT SECTION]

[+156/-24] the choreography is about to eat i fear

ㅤㅤ⤷ [+23/-78] is it just me or does having three strong dancers seem like a recipe for disaster… they're gonna look like they're fighting eachother on stage

ㅤㅤ⤷ [+37/-12] just say your faves can't dance and move on.

[+49/-92] Taejoon's about to pull a Sujin and add nothing to the group but his facecard

ㅤㅤ⤷ [+56/-10] and he can't even do that because Jason's here 💀

ㅤㅤ⤷ [+73/-20] ntm on miss min now...

[+67/-6] what kinda witch craft did sbe make nvla do to pull these trainees

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

#⋆⁺₊⋆｡°•☁︎𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 ── (𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦)#⋆⁺₊⋆｡°•☁︎𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 ── (𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘤)#fake kpop group #fictional idol community #fictional kpop idol #idol oc #kpop oc #fake kpop boy group #fake kpop idol #fake kpop oc #fictional kpop boy group

10 notes · View notes

tempetejovienne · 4 days

Note

6:A song that makes you want to dance 🎻👯

Osaki ni Shitsurei 🕺 je suis dans une période city pop

#ask

2 notes · View notes

doughbrainer · 4 months

Text

Alrighty, Sorry This Took So Long But I've Updated Barley's And Everret's References! As Well Got A Better Idea For Their Personalities And Story! Some Information Might Be Different From The Original Reference, But I Also Rushed Those Really Hard So Don't Be Surprised.

Anyways, Let's Get To It!

BARLEY CALHOUN (She/Her) Voice Claim : Nana Osaki (Nana)

Barley Calhoun Is The Human Daughter Of Barney Calhoun And Currently Unnamed Mother And Is From The Universe That The Original Half-Life Games Take Place. Barley Was Born Before The Suppression Field Was Put Into Place And Was Hid In Secret By Her Mother And Eventually A Scientist Known As Dr. Cohrt. She Sticks With Dr. Cohrt For A Long Time, Helping With The Work He Does, Seeing Him Somewhat As A Father Figure.

Eventually, Like Her Parents, She Goes Under Cover For The Resistance And Becomes A Metro Cop. Around The Same Time, Dr. Cohrt Gets In Contact With Eli Vance And Isaac Kliener. Working Together As Gordon Freeman Eventually Comes Back. They Make Their Move To City 17 To Help With The Uprising. Sadly, Due To Dr. Cohrt's Age, He's Unable To Fight Back And Eventually Dies.

Barley Continues To Fight Against The Combine And Finally Meets Up With The Other Scientist. Soon, She Finds Barney And Realises He Is Her Father. It's Not Easy For Her To Get Along With Him At The Start As It Is Right After She Loses What She Thought Was The Last Family She Had, But Soon She Does Start Seeing Him Properly As Her Father.

When She's In Her Mid 20s, She's Approached By The G-Man, Representing His Employers. She Tries To Avoid The Job She's Given That Would Hire Her But Eventually Does It By Accident Anyways. Therefore Putting Her In Similar Position To The G-Man. This Automatically Gives Her A Long Life, Technically Immortality But Barley Can Still Get Fatally Wounded But Still Won't Die. Eventually She Gets The Power To Travel Across Universes, Which Is How She Goes Into The HLVRAI Universe And Meets Benrey, Gordos And The Gang, As Well As The Kickstart For The Events That Led To Everett.

Speaking Of The Boy!

EVERETT CALHOUN (He/Him) Voice Claim : (Older) Snufkin (Moomin Valley) (Younger) Adorabat (Mao Mao: Heroes Of Pure Heart)

Everett Calhoun Is The (Unconfirmed Fanon) Son Of Barley Calhoun And Arden Ardven. Obviously, He Took His Mother's Last Name. He Was Born After His Mother Got Pregnant After Eating His Father Heart. After Barley Found Out That Arden Couldn't Regenerate Any Part Of Him If It Was Eaten, She Took It Upon Herself To End Arden And Took His Heart, Therefore Ate It. Everett Never Knew Who His Father Actually, He Understood That Benrey Was His Uncle Due To Being Related, He Knew Of Arden's Life As His Actions Greatly Affected Not Only His Biological Family But His Alien Species As A Whole. The Reason Why It Took So Long For Him To Find Out Was Because No One Didn't Know How To Break The News To Him Until Barley Rips Off The Bandaid For Him When He Was 13.

Everett Wasn't Much Of A People Person Growing Up, He Only Really Hung Out With People He Knew His Mother Trusted, So Most Of His Family, He Considers His Friends. The Only Person He Could Really Consider An Actual Friend That Isn't Family Is Joshua. He's Very Attached To His Uncle Benrey, As Benrey Felt A Father Figure To Him. Everett Is Very Expressive Both Physically And Emotionally, He Uses Sweet Voice A Lot, Especially Into Adulthood. When He Does Eventually Find Out Arden Is His Father, He Becomes More Noticeably Anxious About Stuff. Although Everett Is His Own Person, He Has Nightmares About Parts Of Arden Living On Inside Him.

Arden Is @pistachi0art's Original Character. Everett Is NOT Canon To Arden's Lore As Far As I Know, So This Is Just My Personal AU For Now.

Also Despite Barley Being A Half-Life OC, From The Half-Life Universe, I Won't Be Tagging Half-Life, I Don't Want To Get My Ass Bit

#barley calhoun #everett #everett calhoun #barley #arden ardven #arden #benrey fam #hlvrai #hlvrai oc #benry hlvrai #hlvrai benrey #benrey hlvrai #benrey #hlvrai benry #benry

4 notes · View notes

maninthemiroh · 1 month

Text

About my NCT DR

💚 THIS IS ALSO MY MAIN DR 💚

Full name: Xia, Pharoah Jamyang Kirua Kittithorn Yinyin Ayomide Min Kaleo Koket Dakila Itzcali Nullah Cahaya Erdene Bidziil

My nicknames: Kitti, Thorn, Killua, Killa, Kiki, Ki, Yin, Ayo, and Mighty

My faceclaims (yes, I have two; they look very similar and I typically use the former to represent a relatively younger version of myself): @/theyluvreo & @/_cr0102 on ig

Gender identity: Cis-male

Orientation: Demi-Homoflexible

Blood type: O-

Allergies: Chocolate

More about me and my group below the cut <3

My pre-debut story: I was born on October 31st, 1992 at 3:00 AM in Deqin County, Tibet to my parents, Onizuka-Xia Hinata, a Chinese-Japanese farmer, and Xia Dichen, a Chinese-Tibetan singer who was very popular in Tibet. I began formal education in mainland China at the age of four and sped through it, graduating high school at the age of five and college at 9 with two degrees, one in medicine and one in law. Shortly after my tenth birthday, both of my parents died due to getting trampled when our family yaks went on a stampede one day. Custody of me was given to my dad's childhood best friend, Hideto Matsumoto from J-Rock group X Japan, and he was granted the right to move and live with me in Tibet, so he did, but also continued activities with his band. In 2007, I traveled with Uncle Hide to the US for one of X Japan's longer tours and ended up getting on the American TV show, Kid Nation, which would be my first televised appearance ever. Later, I attended the September 28th SHINee World 2014 concert in Chiba at Ichihara City Hall and was approached by their manager who suggested I audition for SM entertainment. I listened, made it in, and only trained for a month before being added to the line up for the SM survival show 99 Problems. In the show, I scored 1st overall (despite a lot of evil editing :/) and was made co-leader with 2nd place winner, Taeyong, of a group we would name Neo Culture Technology. Other original members were Johnny, Seungcheol, Mark, Jeno, Hwall, and Hendery, but NCT would soon have many other units added to it with new members.

Fun facts about me:

Before becoming an SM trainee, I ran a very popular SECHSKIES fan account on Twitter under the username Mummy that I now use for idol things, but my old DSF posts are still up for the world to see

My stage name is Mummy, a nod to both my Kemetic roots and fashion style which many would consider to be feminine.

My personal fandom name is teethling because I play D&D, my favorite species to play as is a tiefling, and my representative animal is a sabretooth liger

I have heterochromia, albinism, Tourette syndrome, autism, DID, and was born blind as well as deaf but I had corrective surgery when I was nine, so I can see and hear, now

I was mentored by the members of X Japan during my trainee days

I literally have an animal reserve in my backyard

More on NCT as a whole:

NCT albums always come with a CD, some standard member photocards, and two album-themed posters, but could come with at least seven of the following items: A short letter to fans, an AR photocard, am membership card, a small album-themed purse, a film strip relating to the album’s production or members in general, a holographic photocard, an album/member/group-themed plushie, an album/member/group-themed stationary item, an album/member/group-themed jewelry item, an album/member/group-themed, an album-themed look book, album-themed member ID card, album/group-themed temporary tattoo stickers, a fragrance photocard, a member polaroid, a member photocard, or a free concert ticket to the next concert closest to the location the album is being shipped to/sold in.

Lightstick versions: There’s one like Epex’s lightstick in this reality, but it has “NCT” printed on the bottom of the narrow end & there's no button or such with “zenith” on it. Additionally, it's pearl neo champagne colored instead of that, like, forest green or whatever that is and black instead of grey. Also, the lightstick naturally glows black instead of white, but adjustments may be made via the NCT lightstick app. Plus, the band that separates the light-up sector from the rest of the lightstick is the only band on the lightstick besides the ones at the end and front. Lastly, the stripes that run parallel up the light-up sector aren't so prominent, it & the other lines blend in pretty well, but are still visible because they're meant to indicate what part of the lightstick may be removed for battery changes. Then, there’s another like The Boyz’ lightstick in this reality, but it has “NCT” in the middle of the heart & “Neo Culture Technology” printed on the side instead of “TBZ” in the middle of the heart & “The Boyz” printed on the side. There’s also one (which comes in many different colour combinations which looks like a revolver & another that looks like a pistol.

Greeting: “Out with the old, in with the new! Hello, we are NCT _”

Concept: NCT’s concept is a mix of that of Ateez, Just B, and NCT’s from my original reality.

NCT logo:

Note: All the names after Pharaoh are middle ones… I'm Arab, it's what we do. Additionally, SECHKIES is an SM group, Cravity is an SM group, Monsta X is an SM group, Kris Wu doesn’t exist, Hyuna doesn’t exist, Dreamcatcher doesn’t exist, none of the big non-SM groups are near as popular (I’m a fan of a lot of ‘em, but I’m also an attention whore), neither Luhan nor Zitao leave iKON (EXO), SHINee's Jonghyun, ASTRO's Moonbin, X Japan's Hideto, f(x)’s Sulli, & Kara's Goo Hara, Kim Hwansung, etc. get the help they need and don't die. Plus, me & the other NCT members are all in one ginormous gay relationship and I got rid of all the inactive SM artists, SM solo artists, NCT Universe: LASTART, and SM girl groups. I also added the Seventeen members, Huang Justin Minghao from Yuehua's NEXT, and ex-The Boyz member, Hwall, to NCT, Block B, eaJ and BtoB to EXO, and NCT WISH to Cravity. Additionally, the StayC, Aespa Everglow, and (G)I-DLE members are part of Offlinetv, not idols. Oh, and any not already covered people that I scripted songs and shit from also don’t exist (this list is long, I’m not gonna name ‘em all).

PS: My voice claim is Corpse Husband and I'm 9 feet tall because when given the choice to become my ideal self, why wouldn't I? Before anyone comes at me, I did use to have GERD! Also, like in this reality, my biological parents were abusive because I can't bring myself to completely erase the idea of them, even if it would be for the better of myself. I also didn't script myself having any disorders I don't or didn't have in this reality.

#shifting community #poc shifter #poc shifters #reality shifting #black reality shifter #asian reality shifter #reality shift #shiftblr #shifting antis dni #shifting blog #shifting realities #shifting reality #kpop shifting #kpop shifter

2 notes · View notes

nanapodcast · 1 year

Text

Nana: A Review

"Nana Komatsu is a young woman who's endured an unending string of boyfriend problems. Moving to Tokyo, she's hoping to take control of her life and put all those messy misadventures behind her. She's looking for love and she's hoping to find it in the big city. Nana Osaki, on the other hand, is cool, confident and focused. She swaggers into town and proceeds to kick down the doors to Tokyo's underground punk scene. She's got a dream and won't give up until she becomes Japan's No. 1 rock'n'roll superstar. This is the story of two 20-year-old women who share the same name. Even though they come from completely different backgrounds, they somehow meet and become best friends. The world of Nana is a world exploding with sex, music, fashion, gossip and all-night parties."

This is actually the first review I've done for a manga and I'm kind of excited and nervous. And if you want to know why it is because this is one of my favorite mangas to date, but I'm also nervous because there are a lot of people out there who don't consider manga a form of literature. They use words like "kiddie stuff" or "boring comics" to describe what I consider to be one of the highest art forms that we have. Better even than Marvel and DC, which I don't consider to be very interesting or worthy of review because they have gone through so many changes and re-tellings and parallel universes for me to care. Also superheroes who aren't Sailor Moon bore me (sorry). Now you know my stance and those of you who don't appreciate my sentiment are welcome to leave if you are offended. But to get back to the review. Where to start? Well, without giving too much away, I'd like to say that this series is perfect for any of you out there who really enjoy "slice-of-life" manga. Or just books in general that deal with people and their day to day lives where no magic or supernatural elements come along to gum up the works. It is also perfect for those who love rock bands and enjoy reading autobiographies about popular heavy hitters such as The Sex Pistols, Marylin Manson, and The Red-Hot Chili Peppers. This story follows the lives of two girls with the same name: Nana Komatsu and Nana Osaki, who meet on a train and end up living together in Toyko while they each pursue their dreams of love and career choices. Again without giving too much away, the trails that each of the girls go through are things that many of us can relate to in our day to day lives. And I'm not talking about whether or not that cute boy in biology class likes us, as most shojo-manga and many teen novels seem to do. The story tackles real life issues such as abortion, sex, cheating, abuse, lack of parental guidance, underage prostitution, as well as what it means to be individually independent. It is a gut-wrenchingly sad story that I think every young person should read because, even though the story has not been completed as of yet, there are pieces in it that will call to you and moments that you will have to revisit again and again as you grow older and begin to understand what it means to make adult choices. That's really all I can say about it for now because this is one review where I don't want to spoil any bit of the plot. Be aware though that copies of the Nana manga are not sold in Barnes and Noble anymore and are becoming increasingly hard to find. But if you keep your eyes peeled in second-hand bookstores there is usually a copy floating around somewhere and if that fails the internet is a solid back up. I promise it's worth every penny.

#aiyazawa #nana and hachi #nanamanga #nana anime #ai yazawa #nana manga #nana osaki #apartment707 #nanakomatsu #nanapod #manga review

20 notes · View notes

ciaossu-imagines · 2 months

Text

Personalization Prompt #2 – Ghostie

So, from the reader appreciation day of the event, I used the second personalization prompt for the talented Ghostie! She’s always been really supportive of my writing, does amazing stuff herself over here at @rebornologist if anyone isn’t following her, and I hope she’ll enjoy!

BLACK: what face claim from an anime, comic book, or cartoon do I associate with you?

Okay, so this one was a little hard because there’s a couple face claims I could possibly use and I had to narrow it down to the one I felt fit you best, as you exist in my mind! And that one, as seen above, is Nana Osaki! She has the colouring I picture you as having and the style seems to almost fit if you toss some more pastels in there along with the punk/goth aesthetic!

WHITE: what flame type and box weapon do I think you’d have in the khr!verse?

Oh, this is another hard one. I definitely see you as someone with the potential to use multiple flames, both Storm and Cloud flames, with Cloud being your more dominant flame type. As far as box weapons are concerned, I see you using Cloud dragonflies. Again, I’m basing this off spirit animal symbolism, with the symbolism behind dragonflies being change, transformation, adaptability, joy and lightness of being, and them being a strong symbol of the emotional realm and a connection with nature. That, and using Cloud’s propagation abilities, it’s really damn cool to imagine a swarm of colorful, shimmering dragonflies being used either as an attack or as a barrier.

RED: what aesthetics do I associate with you?

Alt fashion. Well-manicured hands delicately shuffling and then dealing tarot cards. Pastel colours. Low ponytails. Red lipstick. Experimental art and industrial spaces. Converse clad feet striding purposefully down crowded city sidewalks. Colourful Teacups. Late fall evenings slowly ticking away into the witching hour of early morn. Snakes slithering up and wrapping around an arm. Confident grins. The hectic sound of quick typing. Raw sensuality and a lust to experience life in its totality. Fear, respect, and attraction towards the macabre and the deadly, all held in balance. Anubis.

BLUE: what are three songs I’d put on a playlist for you?

WHITE RABBIT, jefferson airplane

FEMME FATALE, x-ray dog

BRING ME BACK A DOG, iamx – just because you’re the ONLY other person I know who knows of and enjoys Dogs: Bullets & Carnage as well and this song is always my go-to whenever thinking or writing about that fandom

YELLOW: what fictional world out of all my fandoms would I picture you in?

Of course, the obvious answer is that I picture you in KHR, right along the Varia babies. But I also can picture you in the Dogs universe, as evidenced by the other personalization prompt and I can pretty easily picture you fitting into the Servamp universe pretty well.

GREEN: who would I pair you with out of all my fandoms?

You already know my answer for the KHR fandom so, for K Project, I ship you with Totsuka. For Dogs, I ship you with Heine or Giovanni. For Nanbaka, I ship you with Uno. For Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun, I ship you with Asmodeus. For Bungou Stray Dogs, I ship you with Dazai. For Servamp, I ship you with Tsubaki. For Saiyuki, I ship you with Gojyo. For Eyeshield 21, I ship you with Agon. For Ronin Warriors, I ship you with Ryo. For Kekkaishi, I ship you with Shichirou. For GetBackers, I ship you with Ban. For Black Cat, I ship you with Jenos. For Karneval, I ship you with Hiroto. For Gangsta., I ship you with Galahad. For Bleach, I ship you with Gin. For Naruto, I ship you with Hidan. For Deadman Wonderland, I ship you with Senji. For Ouran, I ship you with Nekozawa. For Durarara!!, I ship you with Izaya. For Yu Yu Hakusho, I ship you with Yoko Kurama. For Gintama, I ship you with Okita. For Mystic Messenger, I ship you with Jumin. For Ikemen Revolution, I ship you with Lancelot. For Blush Blush, I ship you with Poe. For Date Warp, I ship you with Alben. For Hatoful Boyfriend, I ship you with Anghel. For The Outsiders, I ship you with Dally. For Class of the Titans, I ship you with Neil. For Ultimate Spider-Man, I ship you with Flint. For Gravity Falls, I ship you with Robbie. For The Mighty Ducks, I ship you with Portman. For The Covenant, I ship you with Chase. For Jungle Fury, I ship you with Jarrod. For Ninja Storm, I ship you with Dustin. For Mystic Force, I ship you with Xander.

PURPLE: what gif reminds me of you?

PINK: if you were an AU, what type of AU would you be?

Okay, but because I gush and fawn over your smut writing skills, it’s gotta be a succubus/incubus style AU! Something that gives the opportunity for lots of chances to sin and to write smut, hahaha!!

RAINBOW: if i were to write a khr sequel, following Tsuna’s demise, and could only use my reader’s as characters, who would you be?

I see you as the next Cloud Guardian for the Varia and one of the commanding officers, probably the right hand of the Varia’s boss.

#unrequested prompts #ghostie

1 note · View note

daichiduskdrop · 8 months

Text

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚⋆·˚ ༘ *𝙎𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡 ⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚

Chapter 35

Pairing: BTS Ot7 X fem! reader

Genre: A/B/O AU, Fluff, Angst, Strangers to lovers,

Warnings: anxiety and panic attack, light implications of attempted rape

Words: 3457

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm sorry I didn't update earlier, I've been very busy. Currently I'm away with my school so I won't be able to post for a while!

Please enjoy this soft chapter :)

Taglist: @thelilbutifulthings @ilovemoneymorethenmen @singukieee @cherrysainttt @felicityroth @mageprincess7 @lucis-noctiana @danielle143 @osakis-gf @girl-nahh @vintageoldfashionstyle-blog @neverthefirstchoice @juju-227592 @silentreadersthings @i-have-no-life-charlie @everyonehatesshani @iamkookiesforyou @dragons-flare @fangirl125reader @roseidol @frieschan @popcatx0 @liz67900 @exfolitae @plexcaffeinate @strawblueberrys

⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ✩‧₊˚⋆·˚ ༘ *

„What a great choice, little pup. Of course we can go see; come on, let's go, sweet baby.” The packalpha smiled widely at you, taking your hand in his before he started to lead your little group towards the said store.

Yuki and Moonsik followed happily, both okay with going to the music store. While neither of them played any instruments, they enjoyed listening to music, so they wouldn't mind.

Plus, sometimes seeing all of the gadgets and things lined up cleanly just satisfied them, even when they weren't there to buy them.

And so, Namjoon led you close, watchful so you wouldn't bump into any bypassers as you were caught too deeply into explaining the new art technique you only just learned.

The packalpha knew a fair bit about art, but by no means did he know enough, considering how much new information you shared with him during the few small seconds.

Litography for sure sounded complicated, but you looked ecstatic about it, even though you repeated many times that you really didn't know what you were doing most of the time.

Maybe he could start a course with you? Or maybe some of the other packmates would go. Or maybe, if you don't want them to be there with you, you would prefer to do so alone?

Seoul was a large city; for sure, there must be a printing unit of some sort, an atelier, or anything like that.

Namjoon really wanted you to persue your hobbies and dreams, and he knew you held art very close to your heart.

The packalpha wasn't sure what type of school you would want to continue to study at, but he realised well that the pack could for sure help.

He thought a little about what you might be able to do to help them, and the packalpha already had quite a few good ideas.

But nonetheless, Namjoon was more than happy to have you around, and you could choose whichever path you found interesting, and he and the pack members would support you.

The walk across the mall wasn't lengthy, and so soon enough, you were aware of the music store you desired to see when it was closed.

It was open this time, and the lights that were turned on made the display of the instruments and gadgets much clearer and simpler to see.

To your eyes, it looked quite magical. You knew your fair bit about art—of course you would; you studied it after all—and when you were young and lived in Japan, sometimes you would go see theatres too.

Your budget didn't allow you to see the interesting plays anymore, and it wouldn't be too safe for you to go on your own either.

Since most of the theatres would play during the evening, starting at the earliest of 18 o'clock, even when it would be the summer and the sun would come down later, by the time the play would end, it would be dark.

Seoul wasn't a small city by any means, but your apartment was on the outskirts, and you didn't live in the nicest part of it.

You were an omega. Only now were you being courted, and before that, you had no one to make sure you would get safely home.

The last time you went to see the play R.U.R., which didn't wow you but didn't hurt to see either, you left the theatre by the evening, and the stars would twinkle and shine.

The bus you had to wait for took quite some time to arrive, but whenever a bit off-looking alpha or beta would come sit by you on the waiting bench at the stop, you would make sure to get up and create a distance so no contact would be created.

You were on your phone, busying yourself on Instagram as there was free WiFi available, and so when your bus arrived a good half an hour later, you entered.

All went well in the beginning, but as the drive continued, less and less people stayed, and it came to only you and an alpha.

The man didn't seem too suspicious at first, but when he stood up, to you seeming to go to leave the vehicle, he didn't step out but instead stepped closer to you.

You were more than lucky that night, to be certain. Just the reminder of the sickling smell of the rut had your stomach turning, and when you noticed the look in his eyes, you realised what was meant to go down.

Before the alpha could do anything, you left the bus in a hurry, as your stop just came, and luckily for you, the dreaded man didn't follow you.

Since then, you wouldn't go outside comfortably and would always be wary of being on your own during the night.

Just the terrifying memory made small tears spring up in your eyes. What would happen if that man took you to mate that night? What if he marked you too?

Surely, none of the pack members courting you now would be interested in you then.

You felt your fingers shake a little, and you could tell you were about to cry. You couldn't go crying in the mall like this, and if Yuki and Moonsik were with you too, what would they think of you now?

Your breaths started to cut shorter and shorter, and as your eyes squeezed shut, a slight ringing clouded your mind.

Then, you couldn't tell well what was going on—too much in a haze to realise. You could hear your heartbeat, or was it yours?

It sounded close to your ear, and you felt your lungs hurt from how unwell you were breathing, your intakes shorter and shorter every moment passing.

„...okay, pup,'s okay...."

You recognised the packalpha's voice well, but it sounded distant and far; your ears were somehow weak, and you were tired.

The soft smell around you brought you a slight comfort and warmth, but even then, your shoulders shook and tears would come down your face.

Whenever your sobs would get louder, the warmth brought to you felt more close, as the scent felt more strong and noticeable.

Somewhere deep in the back of your mind, you knew you had stressed yourself out so much that you had another omega drop, but then again, you couldn't think too clearly.

„...don't worry, sweetheart, just breathe for alpha baby;.."

Namjoon's voice caressed you in the background as you sobbed and cried softly. You were just too scared and anxious at this point, too worried out of your mind, to really pay attention to what was going on around you.

It took you quite some time to calm down to a point where you would realise what was going on around you. Sobs wrecked your body, and your shoulders would shake as you gasped for air.

„...there you go, pup, just like that. Breathe for Alpha little 'mega..."

Namjoon didn't know what exactly went down to cause you to suddenly drop on him, but he knew it wasn't good.

It was just like that—your scent would change, and he would notice something was wrong. And before the packalpha could do anything to help prevent it, your soft sniffles and cries already came.

And what was he to do? He knew he couldn't do much as the rest of the packmembers weren't there to help, and surely all of their scents would do you good.

Namjoon didn't even have that lamb plushie they bought for you, and gosh, he was cursing himself for not getting at least a keychain to carry around himself in case of need—like now.

They all will, for sure, purchase one right away after they hear about your soft state. None of them will care about how bulky or weird their keys might look; that would not matter.

If they would get a keychain that would carry all of their scents, for sure, that would help when you might drop on them so suddenly.

Namjoon didn't have that at the moment, and so he was stuck with what was possible to help relieve your anxious state—his own scent.

And so he did what he thought would be best, releasing all of the protective and calming pheromones he had as an alpha.

The moment the packalpha realised you entered an omega drop, from standing before you crouched while caressing your cheeks with questions pouring out about your dazed state, he was quick to get into action.

When your tears appeared and your scent fully changed, he took you into his arms, not caring one bit about anyone looking—you were his top priority.

And so Namjoon cradled you to his chest, safely tucking away your face into his scent gland as he would try to calm you down.

When your sobs and cries turned into gasps for air, he could truly feel worry cloud his mind, and he could tell his brain was dashing up with only a few simple words screamed at him.

Mate; Danger; Breathe;

And he held you even closer, going from trying to gently talk you out of your closed state to feeling himself start to go feral in worry.

Was it one of the bypassers that made you freak out so much? Was it the shop owner? Oh, he was going to have a word with him if that was the case for sure.

But before the packalpha could do anything, Moonsik, who still held Yuki's hand closely as they both looked worriedly over the two of you, stepped closer.

„You need to go somewhere where it's calm and quiet, Namjoon-ah.” The beta's voice held a sense of urgency in it.

His own pack's omega wouldn't drop too often, but when he would, it was always a great worry for both Moonsik and Juwon.

He recognised the short and quick breaths, along with how off your scent seemed, and knew that you really weren't doing well at the moment.

And so, he was quick to step in as soon as he noted Namjoon's growing distress; it was understandable that he was worried. You were their courted omega after all, and it was every packmember's worst nightmare to see their littlest ones cry of fear.

Moonsik calmly came over, a harsh but not really meant growl leaving the packalpha as he took a step back. The beta understood—the younger wasn't thinking too clearly and wouldn't take time to realise who was safe and who wasn't.

At this point, the only ones allowed to come closer to the distressed omega were the packmates, and even then, the packalpha would strictly watch.

And so, the beta took the lead and started to walk to one of the stores where it surely would be quiet and calm—the small library, which had a café at its entrance.

Namjoon rushed to follow, pecking your cheeks and temples repeatedly as he would comb his fingers gently through your hair.

The only thing he wished for was that you would be okay.

None of the drops he experienced with you went to such an extent, and you never had such issues with breathing. What if something was seriously wrong?

Hastily, the small group of yours entered the café. Moonsik brought Yuki over to order, as he didn't want it to seem like you all just came over to sit and not have anything.

The other omega was scared and worried for you, asking the beta numerous times if you were okay and saying, „Y/N doesn't look fine, hyungie!” Nearly bursting into tears himself.

Though the beta was professional in distracting the younger and calming him down, he by no means needed Yuki to drop too; that would be truly bad timing.

And so, Moonsik asked the omega about which drink he thought you would like the best, or what pastry, but the conversation always stopped, as the omega would go turning to look at you sitting in a secluded booth, curled up closely to Namjoon.

Yuki couldn't see much, as the packalpha had tucked you closely against himself and kept you in the corner, his back partly turned to the entrance.

„You're okay, my baby; breathe now; breathe for Alpha." He would whisper, a little frown on his face as he held you to his chest, making sure your ear was pressed right up against his heart where you could hear it the best.

The alpha caressed your hair softly, pecking your forehead as his chin would rub up against the top of your head.

His scent was noticeable all around the booth, and while he might feel a bit emberassed normally, considering that it's not really well with the etiquette to have one's scent take up the whole room, he really didn't care at the moment.

Luckily, the people working and in the café were understanding and didn't freak out or start a scene over it, and everything truly was calm.

Apart from the soft, calm music playing in the background, the shop was quiet and calm, and he only then realised that it was definitely omega-centred too.

And soon after, your teary eyes, Namjoon so restlessly viped over and over, fluttered open. The moment you realised it was the packalpha who was gently looking over you, holding you close as he would caress you, soft shushes leaving him in hopes of you breathing better, a soft sob left you again.

Namjoon looked over immediately, his eyes widening, before he held you even closer, tucking your head right into the very crook of his neck.

„Oh baby...” He whispered gently, pecking your temples repeatedly as he rubbed your back and petted your hair.

You gripped onto the alpha's t-shirt tightly, the man pulling you up and closer to his chest in answer.

Your cheek rested against Namjoon's collarbone as the still slightly agitated alpha held you very close, trying his best to settle you.

Just then, Moonsik and Yuki came over with the order they thought both of you would like the best: an americano for Namjoon and a sweet lemonade with a little cheesecake for you.

Just as Yuki went to whine out, noticing that you wouldn't turn to look at them, the packalpaha being the only one to have acknowledged them, the beta was quick with his thinking.

„Hyungie-”

„Sh, baby, sh, come here." He whispered gently as he pulled the younger omega over to himself, letting him sit on his lap too.

The beta knew well that you needed some space and time to truly relax and calm down, and staying with the packalpha for the time being was for sure the safest bet.

And so, Moonsik fed his omega small bites of the brownie cake and had him drink his own lemonade. Yuki hoped you would like yours just like he always liked his.

„Should I call someone, Namjoon-ah?” Moonsik asked after a little while, worried eyes set on you. While you weren't sobbing and gasping for air uncontrollably anymore, you were still softly sniffing, no matter what the packalpha would say.

Namjoon looked up from pecking your forehead, frowning a little in thought. The packmembers would for sure freak out if they knew, but it was necessary, he thought.

And so, as the alpha pulled you even closer, your nose right against his scent gland, he stayed for a little while in thought.

„If you would be so kind, Moonsik-hyung, that would be very helpful.” He whispered softly, not wanting to startle you, as he gently patted your hair.

The beta nodded and ushered Yuki out of his lap, taking the younger's hand before he went over to the more secluded area—he didn't want you or anyone else to hear to call.

You didn't need to drop on them the second time in a row today.

Precautions were a must in such situations, and your fragile state for sure required one, so they needed to be careful now.

Moonsik quickly switched on his contacts, searching through them until he found the first packmate he had saved on his phone, Yoongi.

And so, as Yuki looked over the books on display, opening and closing them after he realised they were in the horror section, the ringing noise sounded in the beta's ear.

It took a while for the alpha to pick up, but he did soon after, having the beta sigh from the pent-up worry he didn't even realise he kept inside.

„Hello?”

„Hello, Yoongi, it's Moonsik...um, the beta, we met in the mall and-”

„Yes, I remember. What do you need? Is Y/N okay?”

„Y/N dropped a few minutes ago, but Namjoon is trying to settle h-”

„What?! Fuck, where are they?”

„We are in the reading café right now, but maybe you all shouldn't come at the same time..."

„Aish, send me the address, and I'll be there soon; I'll let the rest know.”

„Of course, I will. Thank you.”

Yoongi was the one to switch off the call, but in the background, Moonsik could very well hear his keys jiggle as the alpha quickly got ready to leave.

He wasn't sure where Yoongi was at the moment or if they were all planning to come into the café, but he trusted them and knew that they would do their best to help you.

„Come on, baby, let's go." The beta softly said, gently tugging onto Yuki's hand, the omega following right away, abandoning the book he held before.

They walked back up the stairs and over to the booth to see you still closely held by the packalpha; only now you weren't really sniffling too badly.

Only when they sat down and Moonsik got a better look at you did he realise what happened—you cried yourself to sleep, far too exhausted to keep up with everything.

Namjoon held you close, very much in a protective headspace, wary of anyone and everyone passing by.

The alpha tried to feed you a little bite of the sweet cake or have you at least take the smallest sip possible, but you wouldn't budge, a soft whimper leaving you whenever Namjoon would slightly pull away to give you a little bite.

And so, after a short time, the packalpha has given up on having you eat or drink at the moment, and as you fell asleep, he would hold you just as close as before, if not closer.

He sipped on his coffee the beta and omega, so kindly got him, but it was still quite hot, and he didn't really know how to relax at the moment.

„I called Yoongi; he said he was on his way.” The beta almost whispered, not wanting you to wake up, but seeing your truly tired state, you weren't about to.

The packalpha murmured soft thanks, glad that the beta was kind and considerate in such a jumbled situation.

Just as Namjoon went on to apologise about the hangout taking a terrible turn, the beta was quick to shush him.

„It's okay, Namjoon-ah; it's not yours or Y/N's fault; things like these just happen.” He said it calmly, cutting off a little bite of the brownie to feed Yuki again.

The packalpha could only thank him softly, holding you close as he rubbed your back up and down, keeping you close.

It didn't take a long time before the other packmate came, and it wasn't just Yoongi either.

The moment the youngest recognised your distressed scent in the mall, he took off running, with the older alpha following soon enough, finding the path to you by your scent.

And soon enough, Jungkook stood at the entrance to the café, a mask and heavy jacket on, as he came just from the outside, where Yoongi had driven them.

A soft gasp left him as he finally saw you and Namjoon, your body tightly cuddled up to the older alpha.

„Babybun!” He whispered, taking long strides over before he came to the side of the booth with you.

Jungkook reached over to hold you, Namjoon sighing out gently, before he let you be held by him, only a soft whine leaving you.

„Don't cry, my bunny, it's okay. Alpha is here now. Alpha is here." He would whisper, his chin and cheeks rubbing vigorously over your head as he tried to have his calming scent mask your still unsettled one.

„Oh, kitty...” Yoongi murmured, taking a seat next to the youngest as he too gently petted and brushed through your hair, worried eyes set on your still-half-asleep form.

⋆·˚ ༘ *ੈ✩‧₊˚˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚˚ ✩‧₊˚⋆·˚ ༘ *

219 notes · View notes

rbelle310 · 1 year

Text

Warning: Death and birthdays

As many people die as people are born in a single day, but death was no stranger to Matsukawa Issei.

Ojii-san liked to say that 'back in the day' there would always be an occupied coffin under their home.

Today, with the city providing venue and crematorium all in one, they now only had to help the bereaved make all the arrangements. Coffins had to be selected, a temple had to be contacted to schedule the necessary prayers and rituals.

There were no corpses under the Matsukawa home anymore, but death and mourning still pervaded.

Issei and his siblings were raised as their parents were: to laugh quietly and celebrate discreetly. One's joy should never be shown overtly lest it offend another's grief.

On very special years, like his grandparents' kanreki or shichi-go-san, a birthday became a somewhat rowdier affair: Hotels or ryokan were booked, special dinners were arranged.

There was a photo of Issei's fifth birthday at B*kkuri D*nkey in his room, when he got so over-excited, he ate so much hamburger steak and left no room for his own cake.

But for the most part, Issei remembered muted celebrations and soft singing so as to not interrupt any urgent calls that might be taken at the time. Death waits for no one, and certainly not for chocolate cake with a handful of candles.

Today would be the same as before, Issei thought as he washed up after practice, folded his sweaty gym clothes into a ziploc, and prepared to leave with a perfunctory "osaki ni".

He should've realised something was amiss as he stepped outside to put on his shoes only for his sock-clad feet to crinkle plastic tarp on cool concrete.

It hit him all at once. Literally. The cake in his face, a spray of confetti and a series of loud cracks as party-poppers went off at totally different timings alongside and assorted (and somewhat confused-sounding) shouts of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATSUKAWA-SAN!".

As Hanamaki helped him wipe fresh cream out of his eyes, he blearily made out the scowling figure of Iwaizumi slapping Oikawa on the head, giving him scolding for not doing 'what we discussed'.

Various first years scrambled to salvage the ruined cake in their hands, Watari in particular, panicking as he looked from the smashed chiffon sponge to the mess of cream now tinged pink with strawberry juice.

"Matsukawa-senpai! Um... um... sorry! We didn't know he was going to do that!"

"I did." said Iwaizumi, although plainly having hoped against hope that his childhood friend would behave himself.

"So did I." Hanamaki added wryly, gently guiding another wet wipe along the contours of Issei's face to remove the last bits of cream.

There was nothing to be done about his uniform though, no amount of wet wipes would cleanly remove the speckles with crumbs and dairy. And his socks were ruined when he stumbled onto a blob of cream in his surprise.

Issei's lip twitched.

Gods, what even was this?

He sat down on the tarp, heedless of the mess and lifted his sticky foot. A broken square of white chocolate was stuck to it with a blurry "Happy birthday Mattsun!" piped in dark chocolate.

"I said we'll serve him the cake later, not serve the cake at him!" Iwaizumi continued his harangue in the background as Issei threw back his head and laughed louder than he ever had in years.

"I should've seen it coming." he chortled and then ducked as first year Yahaba, having finished with helping to clean up the gym, came out and received the next cake in the face.

The next year, on this very same day, as Issei prepared to step out of the gym, he brought an umbrella.

#haikyuu #matsukawa issei #seijoh #matsukawa's birthday #matsukawa hcs

8 notes · View notes

nanaosaki3940 · 1 year

Text

Something About Us [Tokyo Revengers]

|| Tokyo Revengers ||

(Almost follows the canon storyline of TR & is up-to-date with the manga.)

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Angst.

Pairing: Keisuke Baji X OC

Mentioned pairing: Mikey X OC, Shinichiro X OC

Note: A snippet from my original Tokyo Revengers fanfic "A Condition Called Love". I know this is an xOC fic but you can read it as self-insert if you want.

Read the second part here - Part 2

TR masterlist

3rd Person’s POV (Year 2010 – The New Timeline)

It had been 12 years since Mikey, Takemichi, Baji, and Nana traveled back in time to fix the previous disastrous future from falling apart even further; 7 years since they and the others formed the Tokyo Manji Gang again from scratch; 4 years since their battle with Tenjiku and the Black Dragons; and 2 years since the disbandment of Toman. So much time had passed by since then and so many experiences they encountered all throughout these years. And now that they were out of that delinquent life for good, the time had finally come for them to face and experience a new chapter of their lives which was adulthood.

It was the year 2010 when Nana Osaki and Keisuke Baji became the 3rd year students at Tokyo University located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. In that university, at the age of 20, the mentioned young adults were studying in two separate departments of their personal preferences as they had totally two different dreams that they were following and pursuing. The former Advisor of Toman was majoring in Medicine since she was planning to become a researcher in the future while the former 1st Division Captain was majoring in Veterinary Medicine because he was dreaming of becoming a vet one day, which would give him the opportunity to spend more time with animals.

They weren’t a part of the legendary Toman anymore as the infamous delinquent gang was dissolved way back in their high school days when they were at the peak of fame and glory. And soon after the disbandment, almost everyone graduated from high school and went in different directions in life. While people like Nana, Baji, Mitsuya, Chifuyu, Kazutora, Kisaki, Kokonoi, and Takemichi went to attend their preferred colleges or universities inside Tokyo city, others like Mikey, Draken, Izana, and others went in different routes to pursue their own dreams and passions.

Now coming back to the two main protagonists (Nana and Baji), on one fine weekend, Baji went to visit his mother (Ryoko Baji) after getting a phone call from the older woman early that morning. He went to visit her at their old apartment where they once lived together and now Ryoko was the only one living there, all on her own.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, Baji and Nana were now living together in a shared apartment just a bit away from the university campus location. It was something they both decided back when they were in their final year in high school, that they were going to live together once after getting into college. They always wanted to live independently away from their families after becoming college students yet they also wanted to stay with each other since they were dating; so this current living arrangement of theirs was the most convenient way to fulfill their both college and dating life desires with no difficulties whatsoever.

Baji was still out and hadn’t returned home yet, so Nana decided to spend her lonely spare time watching TV since she didn’t have anything better to do at that moment. Going through the channels with a bored look on her face, the sound of the doorbell suddenly went off and it caught her interest; Baji was back home.

“Welcome back, Kei.” Nana greeted him with a smile as she opened the door for him.

“Hey, I’m back…” Baji responded, smiling back at her and immediately Nana noticed something was off about him.

Something seemed different about Baji’s smile. It looked a bit tired and forced. Nana wanted to ask if anything was bothering him, or how his visit at his mother’s place went but nothing came out of her mouth. She simply let Baji walk into the house before he freshened up and changed his clothes and after that, he joined her on the couch in the living room. The look on his face was telling her that he was feeling conflicted about something.

“Nana, there's something that's been eating me up. Can I talk to you about it?” Baji asked, wearing his infamous frowning expression on his face, and in response, Nana turned down the volume of the TV so that she could pay attention to his words.

“Yeah, sure. What is it?” Nana asked in a soft concerned tone, leaning to his side while Baji leaned back on the couch to get more comfortable.

“My Dad is staying at the hospital. Should I visit him or not?” he asked in a quiet voice and Nana’s eyes widened a bit in surprise.

She was shocked to hear Baji mentioning his father all of a sudden like that. After all, his parents got a divorce a few years ago just because his father was cheating on his mother, Ryoko. Baji took his mother’s side and supported her meanwhile despised his father for what he did to her.

“What? Hospital?” Nana questioned back in confusion. “What about Ryoko-san? Does she know?”

“She was the one who told me to go and see him.” Baji sighed in response while Nana reached out and gently took his hands in her smaller ones.

“What happened? Is he in a critical condition?” she asked worriedly.

“I couldn’t stand Mom talking about him. So I didn’t listen to a word she said and just stomped out.” He groaned in frustration, running a hand through his long raven locks.

“Geez… what are you, six or something?” Nana sighed, slightly shaking her head at him. “So… What do you wanna do?”

“I don’t want to see him. Even now I still hate him.” Baji revealed, furrowing his eyebrows even deeper as he sounded conflicted.

“But the reason you’re bothered by it… isn’t it because you wanna see him?” Nana asked, tilting her head to the side.

“If you were me, would you go?” he asked as he looked back at Nana with anticipation.

“I’m not sure, Keisuke... Wouldn't it be good to visit him, just once?” she trailed off in a confused tone, furrowing her eyebrows a bit as she didn’t know what to say to him. “I mean, he’s sick… Once you see him, it will be clear whether it was a mistake or not that you met him.”

In response, Baji let out a heavy sigh again before leaning his head back on the couch and closing his eyes for a moment. Taking the opportunity, Nana then reached out and began to run her dainty fingers through his raven locks, slowly massaging his scalp to ease him and calm him down.

“Maybe…” he muttered, calming down a bit and Nana gave him a soft look in concern.

Nana wanted to help him out with his family issues and everything but also at the same time, she didn’t want to appear as pushy or forceful in his eyes. She knew for sure that Baji would open up his heart to her on his own sooner or later and so she decided to remain silent and give him the time and space he needed to understand and figure out his own feelings.

“I hope he’s not seriously ill.” She whispered in response as she placed a kiss on the side of his head.

“Yeah…” he whispered back.

After that a few more days went by and Baji then finally decided to go and meet up with his father in Kyoto. While on his way heading there as he traveled in a bullet train, Baji began to recall back to those old days and times when he was still a kindergartener himself and his parents were all lovey-dovey to each other as a happy married couple. Baji really loved the type of relationship his parents had with one another at that time and he always dreamed of becoming a good partner or husband like his own father when he would grow up. Back then, Baji looked up to his father as an inspiration when it came to romance and relationships but now, that admiration was long gone and he felt nothing but hatred towards his father.

After reaching Kyoto, Baji wasted no time and went straight to the Kyoko City Hospital. He tracked down the room number before finally entering the ward where his father was staying over. And upon seeing his son, the first expression Baji’s father flashed out at him was utter shock and confusion.

“Yo, what’s up, old man?” Baji greeted his father calmly with a stoic expression as he walked towards the bed.

“Keisuke…” Baji’s father trailed off with widened eyes, sitting up on the hospital bed.

“So you have liver cirrhosis?” Baji asked as he put down the fruit basket that he bought for his father on the bedside table. “I brought some fruit but the nurse said you’re not allowed to eat anything. You should have taken better care of yourself. Then you won't have needed this operation in the first place. You can eat this later or give it to someone else.”

And just when he turned to face his father again, he noticed tears rolling down the cheeks of the older man. Baji’s father was crying; he was sobbing his heart out, happy with the fact that his son had finally come to see him at the hospital. He got so overwhelmed that he couldn’t stop tearing up in the end.

“Huh? Dad, are you crying?” Baji asked in a concerned tone, furrowing his eyebrows a bit as he reached out and patted his father’s shoulder. “Why are you crying, you dummy?”

How could I forget this…? Both Mom and Dad start tearing up whenever they get emotional… Such crybabies…

Minutes after that when the older man stopped crying and calmed down a bit, the father-son duo then decided to step outside of the hospital ward and go to the garden which was inside the hospital boundary where they could sit on a quiet bench and talk privately without anyone listening to them or interrupting them.

“Let me take a look at you, son.” Baji’s father cooed happily as he held his son’s face in his hands, squeezing his cheeks. “Geez, you're good-looking, just like me. Girls must be crazy about you.”

“Shut up and let go.” An annoyed Baji scowled in response and swatted his hands away from his face.

“You’re 20 now, right? Are you attending college?” his father asked.

“Yeah…” Baji replied, slightly nodding his head.

“What university do you go to? And what’s your major?” his father inquired even further.

“Tokyo University. And my major is veterinary science.” Baji replied to his father’s questions again.

“Oh! that's wonderful! Good for you.” His father grinned widely. “Do you have a girlfriend? Of course, you do, right?”

“Is this an interrogation or something?” Baji scoffed at his father. “What about you, Dad? I heard you broke up with that woman you remarried to.”

“How would you know?” the older man asked in surprise, his eyes widening a bit.

“Aunt Akari told me...” Baji responded back, referring to his paternal aunt (his father’s younger sister). “I kept in touch with her and my cousins.”

“But Akari never told me anything about it…” his father mumbled, pursing his lips a bit.

“Aunt said that your 2nd wife was a gold digger and you fell for it. And that she took half of your business from you.” Baji added, furrowing his eyebrows at his father again.

“You can’t trust anybody these days…” his father sighed with a sad smirk.

“That’s your punishment, Dad. For leaving Mom like that.” Baji scoffed again.

“Maybe… I guess you’re right…” his father agreed with his words, his face softening a bit.

Dad has aged a lot since I last saw him… He has wrinkles around his eyes and he looks gaunt… I could tell he lost weight too…

“You should make the best of what’s left of your business. And take care of your health.” Baji sighed heavily as he looked away from his father.

“Hey, Keisuke…” his father spoke up again, trailing off a bit. “If I go back to your Mom, do you think she'll accept me?”

And hearing that, Baji froze in his place. He snapped his head around, quickly looking back at his father again, and wore a deep scowl on his face.

“What…? Are you crazy? Did you just say that with a clear mind?” Baji snapped, scoffing at his father as if the older man had lost his mind or something.

“Also, you must have had a hard time not having a father around…” his father added in a soft tone, trying to convince his son to agree with him and help him out. “I’m going to say I’m sorry about everything and beg on my knees to have me back, So, I was hoping you would help-“

“Stop. Don’t even think about seeing Mom. If you do, I’ll beat the crap out of you, whether or not you’re my Dad.” Baji growled out in a low, threatening tone, frowning down at his own father with hatred swimming in his bronze-colored eyes.

If he was teen Baji, he would have immediately punched his father in the face and beat him up black and blue without any hesitation right then and there. But since he was a responsible adult now, he tried his best to maintain his cool and composure at that very moment. Sure Baji was somewhat still the same as how he was in the past, but with the passage of time, he started to change his attitude as he aged and grew older. Because he knew he couldn’t keep up with that aggressive attitude for the rest of his life, especially a life which he was sharing with his beloved Nana. Sure he was still somewhat aggressive and violent like his teenage self, but he also knew how to keep his cool and immediately calmed down whenever the situation needed.

“Are you the one who’s out of his mind? Watch what you're saying, boy.” His father scoffed back and Baji’s scowl deepened even more. “What did I do that was so terribly wrong? Was it that bad that I need to take this crap from my own son? Of course, it was wrong to cheat on her. I’m not denying that. But the one who asked for a divorce was your Mom. I even told her if she wanted, she could go and have an affair herself! Whatever it took, I begged her that we stay together! Do you know why I did that? It was all for you that-“

His father’s blabbering was quickly cut off when suddenly Baji stood up from his seat and grabbed his father by the collar of his hospital shirt.

“If you had any idea what Mom had to go through all this time, you won't talk bullshit like that!!” Baji yelled out in his father’s face. “Don’t ever think about seeing Mom, or me ever again!! Got that?!”

This shocked his father causing the older man to not know how to respond to that. Baji tried to maintain his composure but in the end, he failed after hearing all those words coming from his father’s mouth. He then let go of his father with another scoff before turning around and quickly walking away from there.

I shouldn’t have met him… I’m so disappointed… After all, I used to love him… I wanted to take after him… Am I going to turn out like that too…?

Baji wasted no time and took the next bullet train to come back to Tokyo later that day. After reaching his city, he went straight back home, back to his beloved Nana. He needed Nana. He needed her to hug him. He needed her to comfort him.

“Hey, welcome home, Keisuke.” Nana welcomed him as soon as he walked through that front door. “How did the meeting go? Is your father seriously-“

But she was cut off when Baji threw his arms around her and pulled her into a bear hug. And this concerned the girl.

“Are you okay, Kei?” she asked lovingly, immediately hugging him back.

Baji wanted to cry his heart out but he couldn’t do it. He was exhausted, mentally and emotionally. In response, he tightened his grip around her, hugging her with his dear life, and buried his face deeper into the crook of her neck, inhaling the fruity scent that was coming from her long raven locks.

“Please, Nana… please just let me… just for a little while…”

A few months later

Months passed by since that incident. Baji thought he didn’t have to deal with his father ever again but destiny had its own plan for him and it was frustrating as hell.

“I went to Kyoto three days ago, where your Aunt Akari lives. I went to see your Dad too.” Ryoko stated in a soft tone with a distressed look on her face.

That evening, after getting off from work, Baji decided to drop by his mother’s place to visit her before heading back home. He usually did that whenever he got the time, so it was nothing unusual what he did today. But after getting there and listening to what his mother had told him just now left him in complete shock.

“Why?! Why would you want to meet Dad?” he gasped in surprise with a scowling face.

“Keisuke, why is not important right now…” Ryoko sighed in a quivering tone, looking down at her hands on her lap. “What should we do about your father? That poor thing… His condition is getting worse. He might die like this. Akari took care of him until now. But she has come down with uterine cancer and has to have an operation herself. She had to work and take care of your Dad at the same time, so she must have overworked herself… There is nobody to take care of your Dad… What should we do?”

“Why should we do anything for someone like him?!” Baji snapped again before grabbing his mother’s hands in his larger ones. “Mom, don’t contact Aunt Akari anymore! I won’t contact anyone on Dad’s side either. They have nothing to do with us anymore. Please let's just forget about them all.”

Even though he said those words, he could definitely see the pain and distress in his mother’s eyes and face. His father cheated on her and yet she still cared for him to some extent. Baji just couldn’t comprehend this. How could she even care about that man? And why did she care about him? Did she seriously forgive him even after what he did to her years ago?

Although she looks scary, Mom is actually so kind… She still cares for that man while I hate his fucking guts… God forbids but if I ever cheat on Nana, would she forgive me like how Mom forgave Dad…? Would she still care for me even if I leave her for another woman…?

Baji hated doing this but he didn’t have any other choice. He didn’t want to see his mother cry again. So he decided to go and visit his father once again in Kyoto. He again took a bullet train to travel towards his destination and on the way, he was typing down his report on his laptop which he had to submit within the next few days.

I have to write my report since I won’t be able to take the midterm exam. But I can’t concentrate… Why on earth do I have to waste all my time on Dad? How frustrating... I spent almost two whole hours on the train, but only managed to write a few lines, making me feel anxious…

Soon he reached Kyoto and went straight to the Kyoto City Hospital. There at the front door, he was greeted by his aunt Akari who looked exactly like the younger female version of his father.

“Keisuke, I’m sorry…” Akari stated in a soft concerned tone. ��I’m really sorry for making you come all the way here…”

“Aunt Akari, why did you tell Mom about Dad?” Keisuke asked in annoyance. “Did you have to tell her? You know very well what Mom had to go through because of him.”

In response, Akari looked down at the ground with a sad, guilty expression on her and that sight softened Baji’s eyes a bit.

I wanted to shout at my Aunt for using my soft-hearted Mom… But my Aunt's face had become so pale and lifeless, it was obvious how much suffering she had been through. I couldn’t stay angry at her… My Aunt always looked so young and beautiful back then, but now that youth and beauty of hers were long gone… It was evident that she was sick too…

“He’s in here…” Akari noted before opening the door of the ward where his father was staying over. “Nii-san, Keisuke is here to see you… He must have been so worried about you. it took him two hours to get here.”

Akari and Baji walked into the room and he noticed his father sitting on the bed and was looking out at the window, his back was facing them. As soon as Akari said those words, his father turned around to look at them and his gaze fell on Baji’s form. Immediately his expression changed from neutral to anger and it threw Baji off-guard.

“Why are you here?!! Akari, you crazy bitch!!” his father suddenly screamed out in pure rage and threw a pillow at his sister. “It was you, wasn’t it? You brought him here! Are you out of your mind?! Get out! Get lost! You have rotten a lot! Never come here again!!”

Baji quickly stepped in and held his aunt in his arms before looking back at his father. He was about to scold the older man for yelling at his aunt but immediately cut off himself when he noticed his father was now standing up from the bed with an enraged expression and clenched fists, glaring at them. Dull skin, abnormally swollen belly, skinny body, wrinkly face – that was how he could describe his father’s current appearance now. And seeing his father like this left Baji in utter shock.

“Keisuke… Let’s get out of here for now…” Akari whimpered out in pain and Baji immediately stepped out of the room, pulling his aunt with him.

“Aunt, are you okay? Is Dad always like that?” Baji asked in concern.

“Nii-san… He must have been so embarrassed to see you… He’s not always like that, I promise. He must be having a hard time too. He can't control his body. He must feel so stressed.” Akari muttered in embarrassment.

She just said that he’s not always like that… Which may mean that this isn’t the first time…

“Keisuke, I’m sorry for calling your mother… I'll look after Nii-san, whatever it takes. Tell Ryoko-san that I’m sorry for being so selfish. And thank you for coming all the way out here.” Akari added and Baji simply nodded his head in response even though his heart was conflicted.

“Okay… I’ll get going now.” Baji mumbled to his aunt.

“All right. You work hard on your studies and stay healthy.” His aunt added.

“I will…” Baji replied and with that, he left the scene with a heavy heart.

I want to run away right now… Skinny cheeks and hands, dull-colored skin, a stomach abnormally swollen up from ascites… When I saw him I could see how serious his condition was… Perhaps, it's my fault… Maybe it’s because I was so mad at him and turned away like that… No way… It's all Dad's fault… But if Dad dies like this, what on earth am I going to do…?

As Baji traveled back to Tokyo, he began to recall his mother’s words again.

Your Dad is really sick, Keisuke. Your Aunt is suffering a lot too. Couldn't we help out…? Just until your Aunt recovers from her operation? If we are by his side, he might get better…

Baji let out a heavy sigh and leaned back on the seat of the train he was traveling in. He then received a text message from Nana saying that she would be waiting for him at the train station to pick him up. And seeing her text brought a small smile to his face.

I want to lean on Nana… I want her to comfort me… I want to talk to her about what I should do…

Later after reaching Tokyo, Baji met up with Nana at the station and the Osaki girl threw herself in his arms as soon as she noticed her boyfriend.

“Keisuke! Welcome back!” Nana greeted him with a sweet grin and a warm hug, something which he really needed after his long tiring journey from Kyoto.

“Hey, I’m back.” Baji chuckled in response, hugging her back.

“How was the trip? I’m glad you arrived safely.” Nana stated as they pulled away from the hug.

“Yeah, it was okay.” Baji responded back calmly, grabbing her hand and intertwining their fingers.

“Did you eat anything on the way?” She asked and he shook his head as a no. “Okay, come on then. Let’s go eat something nice. It's on me.”

“Sure. You choose the menu.” Baji smiled at her and Nana noticed something was strange about him.

Baji just flashed out a small, tired smile. He wasn’t smiling or grinning like how he always did; he wasn’t flashing out his signature wolfish grin from time to time, something that Nana really loved about him and now she missed seeing that smile. He wasn’t being his normal energetic self lately and it was concerning Nana a lot. She knew how it was rough for him to deal with the issues related to his father and he had been dealing with those issues ever since his parents got that divorce but then again, these issues weren’t unavoidable. Baji just couldn’t pretend that his father didn’t exist or anything. He just couldn’t run away from it.

As they both settled down at a nearby restaurant and ordered Baji’s favorite yakisoba noddle for their today’s lunch preference, Nana noticed how Baji hadn’t talked about himself this entire time.

“Didn’t you say you have to hand in reports for both your summer school courses? How's that going?” Nana asked as they waited at their table for the food to come.

“Oops, I forgot.” Baji groaned in reply, slapping the palm of his hand on his forehead before running that same hand through his raven locks in frustration. “I’ll have to write them as soon as we get back home tonight.”

“Also, I forgot to ask... How's your dad doing now?” she asked carefully in a concerned tone.

“His condition has become worse. So I think I’ll have to stay in Kyoto for the summer break.” He replied in a nonchalant way and that surprised Nana.

“I didn’t know that…” she trailed off, raising an eyebrow at him.

“That’s because I didn’t tell you.” He replied with a smile.

“Isn’t there anyone else who can take care of him? Are you sure you’ll be okay, Keisuke?” she asked as she reached out and gently grabbed his hands in hers.

“I’ll be fine. All I have to do is just sit next to him.” He reassured her, giving Nana’s hands a light squeeze.

“Don’t you have any other relatives? Or maybe you can hire a care worker…” Nana stated, throwing out some options at him.

“There’s no need. I can handle it.” Baji responded back, reassuring her once again but Nana knew how he was feeling at that moment.

Why is Keisuke pretending to be okay? I get that he’s worried about his father and everything, but it’s also stressing him out so much… I feel so helpless right now… I can’t do anything for him to reduce his problems or ease his anxiety…

After that a couple of more days passed by in peace and it was the time when Baji was ready to leave for Kyoto.

“You didn’t have to come here today though.” Baji stated with a smile as he and Nana arrived at the train station.

“But I wanted to see you off at the station.” Nana countered back in a sweet voice and Baji’s heart just melted away at the sound of it.

“There’s no need.” Baji chuckled softly. “It’s not as if I’m going somewhere special.”

“I want to stay with you for as long as I can. I won’t be able to see you for quite a while. I’m gonna miss you…” Nana noted, revealing her true feelings and Baji’s face softened at her sight.

He then opened his arms widely at her and a bright smile adorned his face. It wasn’t one of those tired smiles he had been giving her lately. This smile he was flashing at her right now was genuine and loving.

“Nana, give me a hug.” Baji stated in a tender tone and in response, Nana wrapped her arms around his torso, giving him a warm embrace.

“Don’t get stressed out while you’re there.” She mumbled into his chest causing Baji to smile and press a soft kiss on top of her head.

“Okay. It's gonna be boring, so call me as often as you can.” Baji stated as he hugged her back, tightening the grip around her.

“You too… And you have to tell me if you are having a hard time.” Nana added in a concerned tone, bringing another smile to Baji’s face.

“I will…” Baji reassured her once again.

And with that Baji left for Kyoto once again and this time around it was for almost a month and a half.

Since then Baji had been taking care of his sick father at the Kyoto City Hospital but the older man was someone who didn’t listen to any word that anyone said.

“Damn it! Why won't you just let me drink?! Leave me to die already!” Baji’s father cried out in anger and frustration, squirming in Baji’s hold as the younger male was dragging the older one down the hallway and back to his ward.

“Shut up, old man!” Baji snapped at his father, scowling as he threw him onto the bed once they reached the ward.

“You too, Keisuke! You don’t want me around either, do you?! Damn it! You’re the only son I have got and look at you!” Baji’s father continued to cry and nag.

“Be quiet in the hospital. Please.” Baji begged in frustration, his patience running thin right now.

Soon later the doctor came with a nurse and checked up on his father.

“He’s suddenly started coughing and his condition seems to be getting worse…” Baji informed the doctor while his father was now sound asleep.

“That’s because his liver is functioning poorly and he cannot detoxify anything. After the ascites puncture, I’ll inject some pain relievers. You as the guardian must keep an eye on him, so that he doesn't drink or smoke. I have informed you already. this isn't the first time this has happened. I’m sure you are aware of it.” The doctor stated.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Baji apologized in embarrassment but there was nothing he could do about it.

As days went by, his father was becoming even more childish and was throwing even more fits and tantrums in unnecessary situations. And because of his father’s antics, there were even days when he couldn’t sleep that well or study properly even though he had his books in his hands.

One day when Baji came back to the wardroom, he found his father having a heated argument with some other patients.

“Turn the volume down, man!” his father yelled out, enraged.

“Everyone's fine watching TV! What’s your problem?!” the other patients yelled back.

“My head’s throbbing! Turn the volume down! How many times do I have to say it?!” his father countered back.

“What’s wrong?” Baji asked, stepping up to handle the situation.

“These people have the remote control, so I told them to turn the volume down! And all they did was press the volume button once!” his father complained.

“There’s nothing to be mad about. Stop it.” Baji stated, requesting his father to calm down.

Even though his father later cooled off, that didn’t change the fact he tried to cause chaos earlier.

“The patient is making too much of a fuss. The other patients are complaining. He has changed wards so many times already. This has to stop.” The nurse complained to Baji later that day in the hallway.

And Baji being Baji, accepted all the faults and mistakes.

“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Baji apologized, bowing his head to her.

The nurse simply scoffed at him in response and walked away from there. Baji couldn’t even complain about it because he knew she was right. Baji went back to the room and sat down on a chair beside his father’s bed. His father was laying down there on his side, his back was facing Baji.

“You go home now, Keisuke.” Baji’s father stated in a tired, monotone voice.

“And who will take care of you if I do?” Baji scowled in response, picking up a textbook to read.

“Since when do you care?” his father scoffed. “There is Akari. What’s she doing? Why isn't she coming?”

“Aunt is tired too. Just let her get some rest.” Baji replied with a sigh, turning the pages of the book.

“Why would she be tired? Geez…” his father sighed and Baji scoffed silently in response.

You know nothing, Dad…

At that moment, Baji began to recall back what his aunt had told him a few days ago.

Keisuke, please don’t tell Nii-san that I’m ill… He might get ideas… You know, he might do something drastic… I’m so worried… Keisuke, you understand right…? Please take good care of him for me…

Baji let out a heavy sigh at the thought of his aunt’s words.

I feel like I’m suffocating… this situation… everyone… I’m suffocating… How frustrating, all because of him… I wish he would just die…

As soon as he realized the last thought that came to his mind, Baji froze in his spot. With a conflicted heart and feelings, Baji stood up from the chair and began to walk out of the room.

“I’m gonna step outside. I’ll be back.” He informed his father.

“Since when did you start telling me when you were leaving? Have some dinner while you are out there. The hospital food is foul.” His father responded back through his coughing but Baji didn’t say anything back and simply walked out of there.

To Baji, being around his father was suffocating for him. He needed to take a breather for a moment.

I’m fucking crazy. I really am. What was I thinking? I’m supposed to be taking care of Dad… Get a hold of yourself, Keisuke.

Baji then went to the terrace of the hospital which had a small beautiful garden up there and after going there, he lit up a cigarette to smoke. While taking a long drag from his cigar, Baji ran his hand through his loose ponytailed hair in frustration as he watched the sunset from the distance, observing how the color of the sky was changing in the time of twilight.

Dad looks dead and he smells bad… There’s nothing about him that’s living… At the hospital the subtle scent of medicine and the ward's atmosphere… It takes away all my energy… Even when someone screams in pain, nobody cares… It's the same for me… When will this be over…? Even if Aunt Akari has her surgery, I’ll probably still be the one that has to take care of Dad. I would not be able to pretend he doesn’t exist like I used to. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with me wishing he were dead. I have always hated him so much… And it will be better for Mom and Aunt if he isn't around… It would be better if he didn't exist…

Baji was keeping himself so busy these days that he didn’t even realize his own health was deteriorating too. One day after using the bathroom, when he was washing his hands at the sink, he noticed his own reflection in the mirror. He looked so exhausted and lifeless as if he was done with his own life.

I have dark bags under my eyes… My skin is pale and dull… Why am I breaking out all of a sudden? Geez… I’m freaking ugly…

The only time Baji could calm himself down and be happy for once was whenever he talked to Nana over the phone. She would tell him about her studies and her part-time jobs, about the people she hung out with that day, about Shinichiro or Mikey’s stupid antics, about Kazutora or Chifuyu’s craziness and so many other more. Baji loved hearing her talk but sometimes it ached his heart whenever she mentioned Shinichiro or Mikey over the phone given that he was fully aware of their crush or romantic feelings for her.

I miss Nana a lot. But she's studying and working day and night. I can’t ask her to come and meet me all the way here. I want to hear her voice. But it’s getting harder for me to talk to her. All I can say is “I’m hurting”. And I honestly can’t enjoy listening to her stories the way I used to. Above all else, though… Please don't talk about other guys, especially Shinichiro-kun and Mikey… You’re making me nervous, Nana…

A few more days passed by and it was the time when Baji’s aunt was about to have an operation for her uterine cancer. One afternoon, Aunt Akari dropped by the Kyoto City Hospital to check up on her brother and her nephew, to see how they were doing these days. Baji’s father was laying down on the bed with his eyes closed while Akari sat on the chair beside the bed and by her side, Baji was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Aunt, has your operation been scheduled?” Baji asked his aunt while his eyes were fixated on his sleeping father.

“Yeah, it’s in two weeks.” Akari muttered tiredly in response.

“Don’t you have to be hospitalized before that?” he asked further.

“Just the day before the operation.” She replied before looking up at Baji with worried eyes. “Can't Nii-san have an operation too?”

“If it was liver cancer an operation would be possible, but in the case of liver cirrhosis, the liver itself hardens, so a transplant is the only way. There are so few donors and so many people on the waiting list… Usually, a family member with the same blood type donates a part of their liver.” Baji replied and that’s when he noticed the change of aura around his aunt.

“If that’s the case…” she trailed off in a nervous tone, her voice quivered. “Keisuke, what was your blood type again…?”

In response, Baji frowned at his aunt and looked at her in a way as if she had lost her mind. Why was she being so selfish now?

“Shut up, you crazy bitch. Have you lost your mind?” Baji’s father suddenly spoke up and this caught their attention, throwing them completely off guard.

“Nii-san! I thought you were asleep.” Akari gasped out in surprise, noticing the said man was now wide awake.

“If you plan to keep talking bullshit, don't come here ever again, you damn witch.” The older man snapped at her again.

And this comment hurt her feelings once again. Akari had tolerated his verbal abuse, profanities, and offensive comments since he was admitted to the hospital for his liver cirrhosis disease. For months she was keeping up with this but her brother’s attitude towards her never changed nor even softened a bit.

“I need to use the bathroom…” Akari excused herself in a quiet tone before quickly walking away from there.

Baji watched his aunt walking out of the room and in that moment, he felt bad for the older woman.

“Hey, don't listen to a word she says.” Baji’s father spoke up again. “She’s just stressed, that’s all…”

“I know. Don't worry. I’m not gonna go to all that fucking trouble for you.” Baji scoffed at his father with annoyance, ending the conversation right then and there.

It had been a month since Baji left Tokyo and came here to Kyoto to help his father. He wasn’t in contact with his friends that much lately, but the only person he had been talking to every single day was Nana. Because she was the only person who understood him from the inside out. And that’s when Baji received this text message from her earlier this morning.

Nana: I’m on the train for Kyoto. I’ll be there in half an hour. It’s Kyoto City Hospital, right?

Baji felt like his heart just skipped a beat in shock and happiness. He then wasted no time and immediately texted her back.

Baji: Yes. But you don’t need to come alone. I’ll meet you at the station and pick you up. If I leave now, I can meet you right when you arrive.

Nana: Okay! See you at the station then. Love you!~

Baji: Love you too, babe!

The conversation eventually came to an end and Baji walked down the hallway of the hospital with a bright smile on his face as he was making his way toward his father’s wardroom, feeling fuzzy and giddy on the inside.

First I have to shave. I also need to brush my hair. Geez, I wish I was wearing something nicer today…

But as soon as he stepped inside the room, he noticed his father was missing once again and wasn’t in his bed. And that brought an annoyed scowl on Baji’s face. He let out a loud scoff in irritation and stomped away from there, heading out to find his father again. In the end, he finally found the older man who was drinking alcohol at a nearby restaurant.

“Stop drinking! You have been doing a good job staying sober these days! What's wrong with you now?!” Baji scolded his drunk father as he grabbed his arm and tried to pull him up from his chair. “What on earth’s wrong with you?! Don't you know why you're paying all that money to be hospitalized?! Do you really want to die or something?!”

“It would be better if I were dead…” his father muttered these words out in a dejected tone, feeling regretful for his actions.

“Fine! Fucking die, then!” Baji snapped again before successfully pulling his father up from the seat and was now dragging him back to the hospital.

“I’m giving Akari a hard time… and you too… I’m so stupid… Why am I still alive…?” his father cried as Baji helped his father to walk with his arms on his shoulders.

“If you have the sense to say stuff like that, quit drinking first.” Baji scoffed in response.

“I have already failed… my life’s a failure… my last days… why are they so pathetic?” his father sobbed out again but Baji remained silent this time around.

Slowly they came back to the hospital and as Baji was about to enter the main entrance, he noticed someone familiar standing outside the hospital, leaving him in utter shock. It was Nana, all dressed up nice and pretty.

“I was waiting for you at the station but you didn’t come, Kei.” Nana smiled sweetly at Baji, clutching onto the straps of her bag before her eyes traveled over to Baji’s father. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Baji.”

The said older man simply nodded his head at her in response but Nana could tell that he wasn’t able to recognize her. She was about to introduce herself to him but suddenly Baji spoke up.

“Let me take my Dad back to his room. You wait here, Nana.” Baji replied in a gruff tone, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

Baji was irritated right now, yes. But he wasn’t irritated at Nana; he was actually irritated at his own father. Furious to be more exact. Because of him, Baji wasn’t able to pick up Nana from the train station and she had to come here all on her own. And on top of that, Nana had to see him and his father like this. How embarrassing. He had never felt so pathetic as he was now.

“Keisuke, do you need any help?” Nana asked softly, walking towards them with a concerned look as she noticed the flushed, sweaty face of Baji which was caused by the heat of the summer sun shining above their heads.

“It’s okay. It's gonna take some time for me to take Dad to his ward. How about you wait for me at the café on the main street, yeah?” Baji stated, walking past Nana while dragging his father toward the entrance with him.

“Oh, okay…” Nana muttered in response, watching them walk away.

And that’s when Baji’s father let out a scoff and slightly pushed Baji away from him, removing his arms from his shoulders.

“Let go, Keisuke. Stop treating me like an invalid.” His father stated in a deep tone, trying to act in front of Nana that he wasn't helpless and pitiful at all. “I can go by myself. You go with your friend.”

The older man tried to walk on his own and he did just for a little bit before tripping on his own feet and falling onto the ground. Nana let out a gasp in concern as she and Baji immediately dashed toward him to help him get up. Baji was faster than her, so he was able to grab his father before Nana could even touch him.

“You can’t even stand by yourself. What are you talking about?” Baji scoffed at his father. “Stand up. I’ll help you walk.”

“Sir, are you all right?” Nana asked the older man worriedly before looking back at Baji. “Keisuke, I’ll help too.”

Nana was about to reach out and help the older man to stand up, but Baji beat her to it by gently grabbing her by the wrist, stopping her from reaching out any further.

“Nana, I said it’s okay. I can do it by myself. I don’t need your help. I’m already embarrassed as it is, so just please… Go and wait for me, okay?” Baji stated in a tired, annoyed tone and the tone of his voice softened Nana’s expression even more.

Nana didn’t say anything after that and watched Baji walk away with his sick father in his arms. This sight ached her heart.

Nana never realized how much Baji had changed within these last few years. Unlike his teenage self, the current adult Baji was responsible, sensible, and reliable. Sure, he was still pretty much aggressive, violent, and unpredictable like he was back then, but at the same time, he had also become quite calm and collected like how a responsible adult should be. He could take on any task even if it was hurting him physically, mentally, and emotionally. He never complained about anything and did everything on his own within his own capability while not saying a word to anyone. It was something that didn’t change in Baji; he would always try to figure out the solution by himself. If he believed that he could tackle the situation on his own, he wouldn’t ask for anyone’s help and would get extremely annoyed if anyone tried to interfere in his business.

As Nana waited for her boyfriend at the café, she sat at a table and had her head down on the table surface, slowly hitting her forehead in frustration and annoyance. She was frustrated and angry at her own self. She wanted to help Baji but she didn’t know how to.

Just then, at that moment, someone placed a hand on her forehead and stopped her from hitting herself. Nana immediately looked up to see who interfered with her and it turned out to be Baji.

“Oh, hey, Keisuke.” Nana greeted him again with a sweet smile.

“Why are you banging your head on the table?” Baji asked, raising an eyebrow. “You'll hurt yourself. Have you had lunch?”

“Not yet. Oh, what do you want to eat?” Nana asked, her smile widening even more. “Do you want me to buy you lunch?”

“You came all the way here.” Baji smiled softly at her in response, even though his eyes were telling him that he was tired and exhausted. “Tell me what you want to eat. I will pay.”

Nana didn’t reply and simply stared at the Baji with an intent gaze. She noticed his pale skin tone and the dark bags under his tired eyes. This simple sight of him ached her heart even more.

“I look pretty bad, huh?” Baji chuckled in humor.

“Yeah, real bad…” Nana trailed off in concern but didn’t say much after that.

Hours later, after having lunch together and talking for a while, they went to the train station as it was time for Nana to go back to Tokyo.

“Hasn’t your father been alone at the ward for too long? He seemed very unwell.” Nana pointed out worriedly as they waited for the train.

“I’m gonna head back as soon as you get on the train.” Baji replied calmly with his hands in his pockets before giving Nana a reassuring smile. “Don't worry. You came all the way here for me. I’m so sorry you have to go so early. I feel bad that all I have done is whine to you these past few days. I even acted harshly toward you today. I’m sorry about that too.”

“I’m the one who is sorry. I couldn’t do anything for you.” Nana responded back in a sorrowful tone, reaching out and grabbing Baji’s hands in her smaller ones, her heart was filled with a lot of regret.

Baji had always been like this. Whether it was him dealing with Kisaki in the previous timeline during the Valhalla incident or him dealing with his father in this new timeline, Baji always chose to solve any issue on his own. Although during the Valhalla incident, Nana herself was involved in that situation and was able to help him out just for a little bit, but in this case and situation where his sick father was involved, Nana couldn’t do anything for him.

“Attention to all passengers waiting to board. The 6:30 PM train to Tokyo will be arriving soon. Passengers, please…” The announcement was suddenly made.

“So don’t apologize to me...” Nana added as she looked up at him with teary eyes. “I’m the one that’s sorry. I’m so sorry I feel like I could die. I love you so much, Keisuke. I know that I can’t do anything for you right now. And I have been so cranky with you these past few days just because I have been busy. I hate myself for that and…”

“Why are you crying?” Baji asked in a soft concerned tone while cupping her face in his hands, brushing his thumbs on her rosy cheeks.

“I’m not.” Nana sobbed out quietly causing Baji’s gaze to soften at her sight.

He then leaned down a bit and kissed her on the forehead.

“Don’t cry.” He mumbled into her skin.

“You’re hurting, aren’t you?” she asked, her lips quivered a bit.

Baji then looked at her again and flashed out a small smile. It was a weary smile but it was loving and genuine.

“Yeah, I am.” He finally admitted his true feelings.

And it broke Nana even more, causing her to tear up again. This time Baji pulled her into a warm bear hug, giving her the reassurance she needed.

“You’re so silly, Nana.” Baji chuckled softly before placing kisses on top of her head, trying to calm her down. “You're here for me and that's all that matters. Don't worry. Thank you.”

Baji was grateful, really. It didn’t matter to him whether or not Nana was able to do anything for him. She was worried about him; that’s all it mattered. She cried for him, shed her own tears for him when he couldn’t do it himself; that’s all that mattered to him. And he was content with that. As long as Nana kept on loving him and wanting him, Baji didn’t need anything else in this world.

After Nana left, Baji immediately went back to the hospital only to not find his father again in the bed.

“Not again…” Baji groaned, letting out a heavy sigh before looking over at an elderly patient who also stayed in that same ward. “Sir, how long has my father been gone?”

“About half an hour maybe?” the man replied. “He was coughing a lot and then left the room. You know people should age gracefully and not be a nuisance to those around them.”

“Thank you for telling me…” Baji responded back politely with a bow and walked out of the room.

I bet he’s drinking again… Maybe I should look for him at the convenience store.

And just then, he remembered his aunt’s words.

Nii-san might get ideas… You know, he might do something drastic… I’m so worried…

Baji let out a small sigh and eventually made his way to the hospital terrace. There he found his father standing at the edge of the rooftop, looking up at the twilight sky. Feeling relieved that his father was okay, Baji pulled out a cigarette packet and a lighter from his pocket. The older man noticed the presence of his son behind him and so he turned around to face him.

“Since when do you smoke?” the older man asked in confusion as Baji stood a few feet away from him, lightening up his cigarette.

“Since a couple of years ago, I think? I was in high school back then.” Baji replied, taking a puff from his cigar.

“Don’t smoke. It’s bad for you.” His father advised in genuine concern.

“You stop drinking first, old man.” Baji scoffed in response.

“Don’t live your life like I have, Keisuke…” his father added. “The girl that came to see you today... Was she your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, it’s Nana…” Baji confirmed. “You know her.”

“Really? Her name does sound familiar though.” His father stated.

“Remember the Osaki couple who lived beside the Sano residence?” Baji asked and in response, his father nodded his head at him.

“I remember now. So she’s Daisuke-san and Junko-san's daughter.” His father noted before a sad smile adorned his face. “Shame she had to see such an ugly sight. Does she know you smoke?”

“No. I never told her. She’ll get worried.” Baji sighed heavily, slightly shaking his head.

“Then quit smoking already. Don't make her feel worried for you.” His father lightly scolded him and Baji’s eyes softened a bit before he tossed his cigarette away.

Baji began to wonder that one thing he thought about months ago; would Nana ever forgive him if he ever cheated on her. That thought itself made him feel sick to the stomach. He felt like puking at that moment. How could he ever do something like that? How could he ever hurt his precious, beloved Nana? Baji would rather kill himself off and die before even having the thought of cheating on her with someone else. Nana was right; he wasn’t like his father. He could never cheat on Nana. He would never do that to her.

“Hey, Dad… It was really difficult for Mom after the divorce…” Baji stated in a calming tone and his father listened to him carefully. “Did you know that? She had to take a year off work. She didn't want me to know, but she was taking antidepressants. But even then she didn’t want me to feel lonely. So she stayed at home all the time and cooked for me. Underneath her rough and tough exterior, Mom is so kind and gentle. You know that too, don't you, Dad?”

“Yeah…” his father trailed off in a low tone as he looked away from his son, guilt and regret washing through his veins.

“So, I don’t want Mom to worry about you anymore. I’ll donate my liver to you.” Baji went on in a firm tone with a serious look on his face and his father’s eyes went wide open in shock. “Take my liver and get well soon. Get on with your life and try harder than you are now. For me. For me and Aunt Akari. Please.”

His father was too shocked to come up with a response and that conversation ended that day.

A few days later, one early morning, when Baji went to visit his father at his ward, he noticed him not resting in the bed and was packing up his bags. He also wasn’t wearing his hospital clothes; rather he was on his normal casual clothes.

“Dad, where are you going?” Baji asked in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.

“Pack your things. I’m leaving the hospital. And… can you find a treatment center for me? One that treats alcoholism…” his father stated and that left Baji in complete shock.

But he didn’t say anything to his father. He did what the older man had told him to do. Hours later, they reached a treatment center which was located on top of a hill, just a bit far away from the Kyoto City Hospital.

“This is the treatment program.” The lady at the treatment center stated politely and handed them two forms to fill up their information. “As you can see, the course for smoking is best taken together with a guardian. Generally, patients are hospitalized for three months and then move on to an outpatient treatment program for one year.”

Baji and his father followed the instructions and carefully filled up the forms just as the lady had told them to do. And after going through some procedures and formalities, Baji’s father finally got admitted to the treatment center where he could treat his alcoholism problem now.

“The bus is taking so long. Maybe it’s because we are halfway up a mountain.” Baji let out a sigh as he and his father waited for the bus to arrive; the bus which would lead Baji back to Tokyo.

“You don’t have to come if it’s too much trouble.” His father stated softly.

“You heard the doctor. You have to take the Friday course together with your guardian.” Baji responded back in a nonchalant way, bringing a smile to his father’s face.

“It feels like just yesterday you were a middle schooler. Now you have grown up so much, you're acting as my guardian.” His father stated, reminiscing about the old days while also appreciating his son’s responsible behavior.

“I grew up to be a nice guy, didn’t I?” Baji smirked teasingly. “Mom did a good job raising me.”

“Yeah, yeah. You grew up well.” his father chuckled in response.

Later that day, in the evening, Nana was at her home in Tokyo, chilling by herself in the living room while reading some shoujo manga that she borrowed from Chifuyu a few days ago. In the middle of her reading session, she heard the sound of the doorbell just went off. Wondering who it could be, Nana got up from the couch and went towards the front door. She then opened the door and came face to face with a certain familiar person; it was Baji, standing there with a wide grin on his face.

Nana was so shocked to see him there. She couldn’t believe in her own eyes that he was there. And before she could even come up with any word, Baji threw himself in her arms and pulled her into a bear hug.

“You didn’t tell me that you were coming back today.” Nana chuckled in response, hugging him back. “I thought you were staying in Kyoto for a few more weeks.”

“I wanted to surprise you…” Baji responded with another grin before leaning down and pressing his lips against her. “I missed you, princess.”

“I missed you too, Kei.” She whispered back into the kiss, smiling as well.

A moment later, after pulling away from the sweet kiss, Nana looked up at him with concerned eyes.

“How is your father now? Is he okay?” she asked.

“He is in a treatment center for alcoholism...” Baji replied, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her even closer to his chest. “He said he's going to quit drinking.”

“Will he get better then?” she asked in worry and in response, Baji simply smiled at her.

“I guess he won’t get any worse…” he replied, hugging her again before burying his face into the crook of her neck.

“What about you? Are you all right, Kei?” she muttered, her face pressed against his chest as she listened to his heartbeat.

“I said I’d give him a liver transplant, but he said no...” Baji mumbled into her hair, his minty breath hitting her skin, sending a shiver down her spine. “He said that no matter how useless a father he may be, he didn't want to leave a scar on his son's body. And then he decided himself to enter the treatment center to cure his alcoholism. No matter what kind of person Dad is, I could tell that he does love me…”

“Well done. You have been through so much. I hope you’re okay now.” Nana sweetly smiled at him, causing Baji to return the gesture.

“Yeah, I’m okay… everything is okay now.” He whispered out to her in response.

This time, it’s not a lie. I really am okay...

The original fic on Quotev and Wattpad -