red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter vii: a turn of events

a few days have passed now, and the battle on august 3rd is nearing. takemichi didn't think that he should change anything before the said date, but he sacrificed a bit of his dignity to have draken and mikey make up after pah-chin turned himself in.

yes, he let turd get on his hair again for the sake of those two making up.

they're currently playing soccer with the rest of takemichi's friends in the playground while takemichi sat on the steps of the pavilion. hinata and emma sat with him, simply watching as the rest continued to play around to pass the time.

nothing much has changed yet, and takemichi is running out of time. he figured that the kanto incident should still happen for them to get rid of izana and kisaki at the same time, but he still has no idea how to save mikey from all this.

mikey himself is a hard person to read, and he doesn't know much about him. all he knows is that mikey is the most selfless individual he's ever met.

should he try making him a little selfish, then?

he shakes his head, disagreeing with the thought that he can't possibly accomplish. mikey is strong to his beliefs, after all.

"are you alright, takemichi-kun?"

hina's gentle voice managed to snap him out of his thoughts. he brings his eyes up from the ground and turned to her, finding both his girlfriend and emma worriedly looking at him.

"we've been calling you for awhile now." emma said. "are you okay?"

"y-yeah, sorry. i was just thinking." he smiled back reassuring to the two. "mikey-kun showed me a tattoo a few days ago. it was a taiyaki."

"heh, looks like he loves it so much." hinata hummed. "that much that he'd get a tattoo, huh?"

emma giggles at her friend's speculation. "is that what mikey told you, takemitchy?"

"yeah, and that its name is blob blob." takemichi sweat drops.

"it's a pretty special tattoo. he got it with someone." emma said. "she's also the reason he loves taiyaki so much. she makes the best taiyaki in tokyo."

"she?" takemichi asked. "is she the same person mikey-kun was talking about regarding that red string?"

"oh, he told you about it?" emma looked at him, shocked to find out that mikey actually told someone other than draken and her. "he must really trust you, takemitchy. he usually kicks people down the ground when someone asks about it."

"eh?!"

"so, you're telling me that mikey-kun could've killed me back then?"

"mikey doesn't really talk about it much, but i'm sure he thinks about her all the time." emma sighed, smiling a little as she looked up at the clouds. "there's one person in this world that mikey would gladly sacrifice everything for. she's really nice too. i treated her like she's my big sister, and she took good care of me back then."

"is this the lead i'm looking for?" takemichi's eyes gleamed. "if this person is someone who impacts mikey-kun that much, then maybe she can help me save him!"

"i thought i told you to leave me alone already."

their conversation was cut short when takemichi heard a familiar voice from the distance. the three turned to the entrance of the park, finding the same middle schooler takemichi saw back at the train a few days ago.

she was being tailed by a pretty persistent male, much taller than her and has a cigarette between his teeth. he also wore a gang jacket that implied which gang he belongs to.

moebius.

"has this happened before? i don't think i ever saw her when i first time leaped." takemichi thought. "but she keeps appearing out of nowhere."

"we should help her." hinata says.

"let mikey handle it." emma suddenly said, grabbing hinata's wrist to stop her from standing. the blonde turned back to the boys playing nearby. "mikey! someone from moebius is harassing a girl!"

"eh? but that girl can take care of herself!" takemichi thought. "she should've kicked that guy like she did to the bastard before."

mikey's attention wasn't that hard to get, especially when it involves people in danger. he let the ball drop from his head, approaching the scene that emma told him about without any hesitation.

"come on, already. you won't regret the fun we're about to do, girly."

"you're such a disgusting excuse of a human being. maybe shoving your head down the dumpster is my definition of fun. you up for that?"

"now don't be like that. i can introduce you to a new method of fun!"

"i prefer sticking to throwing disgusting pieces of trash in the dumpster. thank you very much."

"what's going on here?"

both the girl and the moebius gang member stopped arguing after a third voice joined the party, eyes now letting him in on the situation.

"sano?"