red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter x: an old favor returned

the brawl already began when takemichi reached the parking lot, and he struggled to find draken in the crowd. the rest of the toman members, and assuringly mikey, were already indulged in the fight that he can't ask them of draken's whereabouts anymore. he didn't want them to be injured too much because he's trying to find someone in the middle of the battle.

"draken-kun!"

the panic in his voice was evident, and it was because he saw the vice commander of toman stabbed for the second time in his life. he hurriedly ran towards him and hoisted him up, leaving the fight as fast as he could.

"mikey-kun!" he yelled. "draken-kun was stabbed! i'm taking care of him!"

the leader himself couldn't pass through hanma easily, and it left him no choice but to trust takemichi that he will save draken. "thanks, takemitchy!"

***

"time is ticking, kazzie. what's your decision?"

she sighs, taking off her uniform to reveal her bandaged chest. chest wraps are much more comfortable when fighting, which is why she prefers to have them on when she's out. she tied her jacket around her waist and hopped on her motorbike, kicking the kick stand.

"there's no need for me to involve myself. they chose to live in danger since they were young. they can handle themselves." she scoffs.

"huh?"

disappointment covered her face.

"i'm out of gas." she mutters.

"ah, classic." senju laughs at the other end of the line. "take this as the world's way of deciding for you, then!"

"this isn't funny, frosty."

"but it is!"

kazua rolled her eyes. she pulled the kick stand out with her foot again, setting her motorbike down to get off.

"whatever," she mumbles, "get your ass here and refill my tank. i'm going."

"sure thing. i bought taiyaki to lighten your dampened mood, kazzie!"

kazua's eyes visibly sparkled, but senju didn't need to know that. she took her jacket off and placed it down the seat of her motorbike, ejecting the keys. senju has a copy of it, anyway.

"whatever. get here in ten minutes. i'll be done by then."

"aye-aye~"

***

takemichi tried to take a different route, but kiyomasa's group still somehow found them. even with his friends arriving at the scene and taking over the fight, they're overpowered.

they're running out of time too.

draken is slowly losing consciousness, and rapidly losing blood. they need to get out of the situation quick.

worse is, takemichi got his hand stabbed again. "i can't change mistakes that quick, huh." he internally scolded himself for still being impulsive in fighting.

"they're annoying." one of kiyomasa's lackeys said.

"you're annoying, jerkface."

an immense amount of concentrated pain stung his cheek, sending him flying towards the fence of the nearby building.

"that was...!"

kazua emerged from the forest, cracking her knuckles as she stretched her neck. her jacket was off, leaving her in chest wraps and a facemask to cover her face.

"s-sada kazua." takemichi couldn't stop the smile from appearing on his face. he goes back to draken and carefully hoisted him up.

"why is she here?" draken asked weakly. "she....kaz...."

"do save your breath, ken." kazua stepped in front of takemichi's friends, patting their shoulders. "leave this to me. the ambulance should be arriving soon."

"but there's too many of them!"

"you'll die!"

"no, leave it to her." draken told takemichi's friends. he pulls a weak smile, meeting the girl's eyes for the first time in years. "they're done for."

"hngh," kazua smirked underneath her mask. "don't die on me now that i returned the favor, you jerk. i'm coming over to see if you bite the dust or not."

"feel free, then. see you later, kazua?"

"we're not done yet!"

kazua delivered a spin kick towards one of the toman members that tried to attack her sneakily. "see you later, draken."

she faces the goons and raised a taunting hand. "well, who's next?"