affinity. takashi mitsuya.

EIGHT

august 3rd, 2005.

colorful festival lights, the smell of delicious foods, and the laughter of cheerful people invaded hitoka's senses. she was there with takemichi and hinata, draken and emma. for now, she was fifth-wheeling, but soon takashi would come, and she would have her own date.

hitoka couldn't wait for takashi to come. yesterday he spent the night after his mother insisted he took a break from caring for his sisters and their home. they parted ways in the morning, promising to see each other later at the festival.

"emma-chan, draken-kun, and hitoka-chan are going to leave us behind!" hitoka said, and emma pulled hitoka by her arm, snapping her out of her daydreaming about takashi. takemichi worriedly looked at hitoka but realized she would be safe with emma and draken.

"let's go toka-chan," draken followed the two girls, keeping his eyes on them.

"it's okay emma-chan. i'll go wait for takashi, he should be here soon," hitoka said, brushing emma's arm off.

she eyed the blonde girl and draken, "have fun you two," hitoka winked at them. emma always told her draken didn't have feelings for her, but she saw how he was looking at emma, and there was no way her feelings were one-sided.

-

deciding to wait for takashi in a parking lot that was a short walk from the festival, hitoka realized that she left her phone with emma. she didn't think it was a big deal. soon she wouldn't be alone.

soon, it started raining. hitoka cursed at herself for being stupid and not bringing an umbrella. she wondered where takashi was since he was supposed to be here already.

hitoka backed away a bit, trying to find some coverage provided by the trees behind her. she couldn't hear anything over the soft pittering of the rain, growing worried at the eerie silence.

she hadn't heard any footsteps approaching, and to say she was caught off guard was an understatement.

one moment hitoka was standing, and the other, she was crying on the ground, convulsing from pain. her attacker hit her from behind, while she was completely unaware.

a stab to her lower back sent agony rippling through her body. hitoka screamed as she experienced the worst pain in her life. in a panic, she realized she couldn't feel anything below her hips. her mind went to the worst possible scenario, breath short and starting to hyperventilate. she tried to get away using only her arms to pull herself, but they quickly gave up from the pain and the exhaustion she was experiencing.

over the sound of her own sobs, she managed to make out someone panicking, "kiyomasa, what have you done to her? we can't leave her like this."

but kiyomasa only laughed in return, enjoying the sight in front of him. he finally got revenge for the time she hit him and humiliated him in front of a crowd, "relax, peh-yan. she'll be fine. it's just a scratch anyway."

hitoka was left there, lying on the cold, wet ground. her chest was painfully constricting, and she was gasping for breath. small hiccups left her mouth as she tried to calm down, but it didn't work.

she could only do so much before the pain took over again, and her panic attack made her lungs scream for air. scared and alone, hitoka couldn't fight it anymore. blood loss was catching up to her, and she decided to give in.

-

takemichi heard the engine of a bike slowing down next to him, realizing it was only takashi, " takemitchy?"

"mitsuya-kun! it's really bad mitsuya-kun!" takemichi sounded out of breath as he approached the bike of his senpai. "where is draken and hitoka-chan?"

"draken-kun is going to get attacked! he is with hitoka-san," takashi relaxed hearing those words, knowing draken would protect hitoka. he felt bad for not letting hitoka know he wasn't going to be able to attend the festival. as soon as he heard peh-yan's plan, he drove there to warn draken and take hitoka somewhere safe.

the two boys were running through the park, wanting to get to the scene as soon as possible, unaware of hitoka's unconscious body lying just down the road from them.

arriving at the scene, takashi looked for hitoka. he couldn't see her nearby, and the rain and thick fog weren't helping either. he hoped she was safe, knowing there wasn't a way of getting out of this situation to look for hitoka.

and takemichi, oblivious to the situation, completely forgot about hitoka. he was in his own world right now, finding a way to save draken.

-

adrenaline rushing through his veins, takemichi was on the verge of breaking down while sitting in a hospital chair after getting his hand fixed.

he realized the grave mistake he made, having no idea how to explain to the others who would arrive shortly what happened to hitoka. nobody knew about her whereabouts, and takemichi wanted to let out an anguished scream.

hitoka would die. in the future, she went missing on this exact night. nobody knew where she was until they found her body a few days later. she was declared a victim of the incident.

takemichi swore he wouldn't leave her alone in this timeline. he knew it wasn't humanly possible to be at her side all the time, but toman's members made his job a lot easier. he couldn't help but blame himself. after she died for the first time, takemichi quickly forgot about her and moved on with his life, escaping from everything when middle school was over.

naoto helped him relive the painful memories of his dear sister figure, and he swore he would rather die than let it happen again. he had failed once again.

emma and hinata were the first ones to arrive at the hospital, "where is hitoka-chan?"

shaking his head at hinata's question, emma collapsed in hinata's arms. on top of her first love fighting for his, her burden doubled. nobody had any idea where her friend was.

takashi and peh-yan arrived shortly after. peh was worried about draken and he was about to ask if he was okay, but takashi beat him to it.

"you told me hitoka was with draken! where the hell is she?" takashi asked takemichi, forcefully pulling him towards him by the collar of his shirt.

"i-i don't know. i am sorry mitsuya-kun," takemichi said, tears threatening to spill. takashi pushed him away and punched the wall. he promised hitoka he would never let anything happen to her, but now she was gone with no trace of her.

he pulled out his phone, calling hitoka. in the otherwise quiet waiting room, the only sound came from emma's bag. the one where hitoka's phone currently was. takashi imagined the worst possible scenario in his head and angrily punched the wall. nobody dared say anything, scared of what takashi could do. they had never seen him lose his temper like this before.

peh-yan felt realization hit him. the girl kiyomasa hit and left was takashi's girl. he felt even worse now, but he knew he had to own up to his mistakes sooner or later. peh stepped out and began, "mitsuya-kun, i know where hitoka is. i'll take you to her, but we have to hurry," that was everything it took for takashi to push past takemichi, determined to find hitoka.

and where peh-yan told him, he had found her.

author's note – august 11th

last chapter before epilogue. i am scared this is a little fast-paced, and i am starting to doubt my writing. it's hard writing without feedback, so i'll probably take this book down and edit it (or not) as soon as i publish all of the chapters. :)

also, i started writing a new book. it's a shinichiro x fem!oc and the updates are going to be much slower because i'll try my best! <3