red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xvii: bathhouse

"i want him to be happy."

takemichi dipped his chin down the warm water, arms wrapped around his knees as he remained deep in his thoughts. a few days have passed since his last meet up with kazua, and he's yet to know about her entire plan after she found out about the future of toman.

"you said chifuyu helped you before, right? do exactly as you did when the problem with valhalla happened. this time, tell him about the future."

kazua hopped off the wooden railing, holding her shopping bags over her shoulder as she turned her back on him. with a light smile, she throws a peace sign at him and said, "leave the rest to me."

"sada-san..."

"you came to me, so have some faith in me, hanagaki-san." she said. "come on. i'll take you home. it's not safe for you to be out at this hour."

kazua sounded like a protective boyfriend, and thinking about it made takemichi sweat drop. the girl is awesome, he concluded. she was brave, and has been guarding mikey's back even when mikey seems like he doesn't know anything about it at all.

"bah!"

"agh! mikey-kun?!"

takemichi held a hand over his heart, surprised when mikey popped out of the water in front of him. his hands were on his waist as if he was proud of surprising takemichi.

"haha! was i that scary?" mikey grins.

takemichi only stared up at him, finding it a little odd how this man captured someone as sada kazua. they don't look like they'd get along at all, especially with the difference in their personalities.

kazua's more mature both physically and mentally. she knows when to shut off her emotions to decide for the better.

mikey...is the complete opposite. he shows more of his childish side than his mature one, and it only shows when he's the president of toman. his personality is more complex, one that he could easily flip with a switch.

"hey! shut up, you two!" the two turned to the shower area and found draken shampooing his hair with a shampoo hat on to protect his eyes. "you're not a kid. quit messing around in a public bath."

"i don't want to hear that from a third-year who still wears a shampoo hat." mikey retorted, smirking. "isn't that cute? that giant beanpole's still scared of getting shampoo in his eyes."

"shut the hell up."

takemichi laughed along with mikey, both of them now peacefully sitting on the public bath. "that's right. i should do exactly as i did before if i want to trust sada-san. she won't let baji die, after all."

soon enough, draken joins them in the bath and sat on takemichi's other side, letting his hair down than having it on its usual braid. on takemichi's left, mikey floated on the water with only his face sticking out, daydreaming.

"draken-kun, are your wounds all better now?"

"huh? yeah! check it out."

draken stands from the bath, ketting both takemichi and mikey look at his abs in all its washboard glory. "have a look at my abs and scar."

the scar itself looks so badass. it kind of looks similar to the scar on takemichi's hand, but it's definitely bigger.

it's deeper too.

kazua must have noticed how fatal it was when she arrived, which is why she chose to go against kiyomasa's gang by herself and let takemichi take draken to the hospital. "come to think of it, does she have any medical knowledge?"

"whoa," mikey awed, but his face gave himself away. he was anything but impressed.

the leader of toman probably thinks that his abs are far more impressive, knowing him.

without a single thought, mikey punched at draken's scar and made the latter hurl over in pain. "hehe~looks like you haven't completely healed yet! don't push yourself~" mikey says with a light smile while swimming away from said beanpole.

"the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"hahaha!"

"you little shit! whether i'm all healed or not isn't the point! take this!"

"ow! the hell, man?!" mikey groaned. "that's it. now you're gonna get it!"

"my 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner!"

"quit tryin' to be all fancy!"

"that's dangerous! don't!"

takemichi sighed helplessly before sinking in the water again.