Favorite Crime || Mikey/OC/Mitsuya

08 - the almost war

"ah," he slurs, "izumi~!"

I fight the urge roll my eyes as I approach Shuji. the guys surrounding him followed my every step, but they remain unmoving and incautious of me because of Shuji's acknowledgement. Shuji wraps his arms around me the moment I was in his reach—he smelled like cigarettes per usual.

I push him away after a few seconds and he smiles down at me. be good izumi, you're in his territory,  I repeat in my head like it's a mantra. I look behind me to try and count the guys present and see if maybe I could beat them—they're too many. it'd be too risky to show any open hostility to Shuji who was their acting leader.

"to what do I owe the pleasure?" he smiles down at me.

"I have a message for Kisaki," I lie.

the plan is actually to talk to Baji and convince him to go back to toman. the hole in my plan is that I don't know what he looks like or if he's even here in the first place.

"hmm," he holds his chin and scans my face for any lies, "then I'll take you to him,"

"no, here's fine," I hiss.

"but I'm actually quite busy ri-

"I've returned," a voice behind me cuts him off.

I turn around to see a boy with long hair with streaks of yellow, his bangs covering half of his face. I meet his eyes and feel a sudden chill within me—I look away. this time, my eyes meet with someone familiar. he also seemed to recognize me judging from his reaction, then it finally hits.

Hanagaki Takemichi. he once came over to the Sanos and thanked me for taking the knife instead of him the night Draken was stabbed. he looked confused and somewhat betrayed.

he must've thought I'm some traitor.

well I don't really wanna be here too, Takemichi.

+++

the next ten minutes after that was quite eventful. I found Baji beating up a blonde kid with an undercut; he was from toman and was brought in for Baji to beat up and prove his loyalty to Valhalla. Takemichi was brought in to serve as a witness and messenger for toman.

I idly stood beside Shuji, wondering how the hell do I approach Baji. Shuji wrapped an arm around my shoulders as if to protect me from the guys who had closed in in the tight space which was quite ironic—who's gonna tell him that to me, he was the most dangerous guy in here?

Takemichi kept glancing my way and on Shuji's arm around me, but explaining myself to him wasn't my priority right now. after Shuji formally welcomes Baji to Valhalla, Takemichi tells Baji to go back to toman. in a turn of events, Baji had explained what happened between Kazutora, him, Mikey, and Mikey's brother.

that explains why the Sanos had a spare room.

my heart ached for Mikey and all the things he had to go through. to think that it was nearing his birthday when his beloved brother died, and to think his closest friend was responsible for it. looking back on all the times I've been with Mikey, he was always smiling and I've always disregarded the sadness in his eyes.

how could he bear so much pain and still manage to laugh and smile so freely? he gave warmth to people—to me—the warmth he couldn't feel himself; the warmth he had lost when his brother died at the hands of his friend.

as Takemichi left with one last look at me, I force myself to push aside the thoughts I had of Mikey. first and foremost, I needed to talk to Baji and assure Mikey's suffering won't worsen by his death.

"so, where've you been staying huh?" Shuji asks me.

the crowd has dispersed and Baji had walked away with Kazutora. fuck, how do I talk to him? as if feeling my intense stare, Kazutora had looked back at me. an idea pops in my head in the moment of crucial desperation to talk to Baji.