red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xxxiv: shopping

"do you think kazua will be alright?"

the next day after visiting kazua at her home, baji picked up chifuyu from his house to take him out and buy more hair ties for himself. chifuyu walks beside baji, surprising him when he asked about kazua's condition.

"she talks as if being stalked is a norm to her now." the blonde said, tucking his hands inside his pockets.

"she's gone through worse things before." baji muttered. "that's probably why she doesn't sound so fazed at this point, but you're right. i don't think i should let her handle this alone."

"then again, she assigned us something else to do while she does. i don't know if we should follow through or not, considering that it's the future we're trying to save here."

baji hops on his motorbike and patted the seat behind him, motioning for his partner to get on before he leaves him. he wasn't able to sleep much last night, concerned for what could happen while he wasn't there to make sure that kazua was safe.

she still is one of his best friends, regardless of what happened in the past. the whole reason why mikey even cut ties with her was because he wanted to protect her being from the dangers of being associated in gangs around tokyo, but it seems as if it did nothing at all.

it only left kazua to fight for herself.

"i'm planning to tell mikey about it." he said as he started the engine and drove off. "kazua in danger, i mean."

"ha? but didn't she tell us not to? if mikey finds out, then—"

"i don't give a rat's ass what she's ordering us to do. she's basically telling us to not care about her." he grumbled back. "and if there is anyone who can knock sense into her, then it's mikey."

chifuyu frowns. he didn't know what to say. he wasn't particularly close to mikey and kazua. he'd sometimes hangout with mikey's gang because of baji, but nothing too personal's been exchanged. mikey isn't one to tell sentimental things.

"what happened?" he asked, mustered courage putting to use. "to them, i mean."

"hm?" baji accelerated the bike. "mikey being an idiot. that's what happened."

even he doesn't know what mikey was thinking.

***

"he's probably at the cafe wondering where i am."

kazua laughed childishly as she walked through the busy streets of harajuku while holding senju's shopping bags, the latter herself following a little behind. senju couldn't help but roll her eyes. she was the one who played along with her spontaneous lie yesterday to lead the stalker astray from where they really were.

"you're pretty energetic for someone who hasn't slept a full eight hours."

"a full sleep doesn't exist to me, frosty." kazua grinned over her shoulder. "hurry up. i want my mint choco."

"yes, yes."

the rest of the day, the two went around harajuku to buy anything that catches their eye. to kazua, it's mostly figurines and manga sets. as for senju, her brother would often tell her to buy clothes that would make her appear a little more like a lady, so that's what she tried to do.

keyword: tried.

in the end, she still chose clothes from the men's section. kazua was in for it, though. she was the one who suggested looking through the men's section in the first place.

"i'm going to that shop." senju points at a comic book store they haven't gone in yet. "you said you're buying a christmas present for hanagaki-san, right? you can go look around for a bit."

"sure," kazua took her phone out and checked the time, "meet here in thirty minutes?"

"okay, don't get yourself in trouble!"

senju waved at her and skipped towards the store, humming a happy tune that she's probably making up on the spot. kazua watched her enter, making sure that she's inside before heading off to find a gift for takemichi. she doesn't have a clue on what to give him, but she'll go with her instincts like always.

as she kazua roamed around aimlessly, she took her phone out and took a few pictures of the busy streets. kazua fixed her scarf around her and entered a video game store.

"does he even play video games?" she muttered lowly to herself as she went through aisles one by one. "oh. they have a copy of saber x! and black night too."

kazua kept seeing games that she likes instead of actually finding the ones that takemichi might be interested in. sighing, she decided to take three of the games she found and paid for them at the counter.

"he might not like these, so i'll check the other stores too."

bump!

"ah, sorry!"

a man wearing a black face mask bumped into her side, quickly apologizing after he did. kazua only looked at him, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

she knows a suspicious person when she sees one, and she's fully alert now more than ever knowing that she's in danger.

"it's alright," she bows lightly.

the man bowed apologetically at her before leaving the store empty-handed.

with a sigh, kazua takes the bag handed to her by the cashier and went out of the store. she plucks off a piece of circular metal attached on her winter coat and skillfully attached it to a gang member passing by her.

she smirks to herself, glancing over her shoulder to find the same man who bumped into her entering an alleyway.

"it's gonna take more than that to reach me, fucker."