red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xviii: an enemy

"you punched kisaki in the middle of the ceremony?!"

kazua couldn't help but howl in laughter. she walks beside takemichi through the empty street, having a few lamps lighting up the way to his home. "so, baji gave you the easy way out by beating you up instead?"

"yeah. now that i thought about it, he saved me." takemichi chuckled, awkwardly scratching his head. "so, should i still do it?"

"why not?" kazua wiped a tear from the corner of her eyes. "punch him harder this time, though. for me, takemichi."

"e-eh?!"

"i would beat that bastard myself if i could, but that seems a little out of place, isn't it?" she grinned. "random girl punching toman's new 3rd division leader. that's a good one, though. maybe i should go there and punch him. say something like, you cheating bastard not having time for me anymore cuz of that hoe you're seeing! sounds good?"

"i'd rather you not, sada-san."

yeah, that's how takemichi got to punch kisaki tetta the second time in this timeline, but he was sure to fulfill the girl's request by making his punch harder. he didn't hesitate to land right on the face too.

but because of that, he costed the division captains getting mad at him too.

"ah, i hate that bastard so much." takemichi thought, looking into kisaki's eyes as if he's planning murder.

maybe he is, maybe he isn't.

who knows?

"the hell are you thinking, takemitchy?!"

"hey....you throwin' dirt at mikey's face?" nahoya, better known as smiley, cracked his knuckles as his smile lingered on his face. it only made him look more dangerous in takemichi's opinion.

"where's baji?" takemichi's eyes darted around in hopes of looking for the 1st division captain of toman. his cue should be in by now.

"oi, what's going on?" a familiar long-haired male now came up the stairs, joining the rest of the present division captains in surrounding takemichi. "this looks fun."

"baji..."

"hey, you're not allowed here right now."

"he's here!" takemichi's eyes brightened.

his thoughts soon flew out of his mind when baji launched towards him with both fists ready. takemichi let him punch him until he falls down the ground on his own, doing just as kazua told him.

"now," takemichi chuckles in his mind, watching mitsuya catching baji's next punch seamlessly.

"quit it, baji."

"let go, mitsuya. i'll murder you."

"what are you tryin' to do?"

takemichi sits up from the ground, realization hitting him in the gut once again now that he was able to hear the conversation a second time around.

mitsuya was catching on that baji was up to something, but he didn't know what and how to approach it. baji already planned to beat him up in front of toman to save his skin.

"baji probably saved you because he saw your anger against kisaki too." her words rang in his ears.

there have been a lot of hints all along.

baji ripped his arm away from mitsuya's and turned to mikey who stopped himself from leaving when the fight broke out. "mikey!"

"what are you doing here, baji?" mikey looked over his shoulder, sounding as indifferent as ever. "you're not allowed at our meetings because of a certain internal conflict, remember?"

"i ended up beating some twerp just now." baji smirked back at the leader. "am i finally gonna be fired for ruining your precious meeting?"

"baji..."

"i'm going to valhalla." baji finalized. "you don't want any troublemakers, do you, mikey?"

he goes to leave.

"baji!"

but he continued until he's at the bottom of the stairs.

"i'll go ahead and quit." baji looks over his shoulder, his smirk never leaving. "starting today, former 1st division captain baji keisuki is an enemy of toman."

it leaves takemichi to question why kazua even let baji go to valhalla in the first place.

after finding out that baji dies that way, she took a gamble and let the future play out.

what could she be thinking?