red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter lv: punish

"emi-neesan isn't here?"

after they got to the hospital, kazua was immediately rushed to the emergency room. no one was allowed to enter, but the nurse handling her told them that chances of her surviving is extremely low.

she lost a lot of blood, her pulse is incredibly weak, and her body was turning cold.

while mikey lifelessly sat on an empty seat, leaning against the wall weakly, takemichi tried to get a hold of emi to beg her to save kazua.

but she isn't even there.

"s-sorry for disturbing you." he bowed apologetically to the nurse before rushing back to the waiting area.

emma and draken were already there, talking to each other in front of mikey. draken was obviously pissed, really pissed.

"mikey..." he turns to the commander of toman. "...let's go outside for a bit."

takemichi didn't like where this is going, but he can't do anything to stop draken. even emma pulled him back from the two as they exited the hospital.

"takemitchy," emma cries, "i-is kazu-neesan alright?"

"i..." takemichi began to follow the two outside, having emma right behind him. "...i don't know, emma-chan."

***

"what happened?"

they were at the clear parking lot, draken facing mikey with a dangerously calm demeanor. when mikey didn't respond to him, draken threw a punch right at his face.

"you were there, how the hell could this happen?" draken asked again.

and mikey didn't respond again.

"what the fuck are you doing?!" draken raised his voice. "you built toman to protect everyone, didn't you?! you left kaz three years ago to keep her away from danger! pah-chin was arrested, so was kazutora! baji and mitsuya nearly died!

"so why?! why did this happen?! out of danger, you said! she'll be happier, you said!"

as draken was about to punch mikey again, someone got between them and blocked his punch.

takemichi's eyes widened.

"move the hell away, senju." draken scowls down at her.

"you fucking move away." she growled back, eyes blazing in anger. "i got here as soon as i could, and the nurse inside told me that she's dead."

"what?" the four's eyes widened.

she tossed draken's fist away like it was nothing, turning around to face mikey herself.

punch!

kick!

thwack!

"it hurts." she cried. "it hurts that i have always been there by her side, trying to make her happy because you left her broken.

"but you know what? no one could make her happy like you could. you're her lifeline, and you keep getting her in fucking danger! hey, tell me!"

senju lifted mikey from the ground by his collar, repeatedly punching him in the face as she let her anger get the best of her. "WHY DOES YOUR HAPPINESS MATTER MORE THAN HERS?!" she screamed. "WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO KEEP HURTING FOR SOMETHING SHE DIDN'T DO?!"

desperation, anger, sorrow.

it was all in her voice, cracking and begging for an answer to be given to her.

"i have to keep her together because you keep breaking her." senju choked through her own tears. "manjiro, she's dead because of you!"

"this is why..." her shaking hand let go of his collar, letting him drop down on his knees. "...this is why she told me. she's willing to go this far...just for you."

the weight of senju's words affected mikey more than anyone ever thought it would, and no one seemed to notice.

after all, it was nothing but the truth finally being voiced out for him to knock himself into reality.

"she's only sixteen." senju dropped down in front of him, hands coming up to bury her face in. "she had a whole life ahead of her. we're supposed to spend our third year together, pass answers to each other during exams, graduate..."

all those simple things that she wished to spend with kazua, all gone.

and it was because of him.

"no matter what happens, follow through the timeline, hanagaki-san."

takemichi's eyes widened in realization. she warned him already. this is going to happen, and he's meant to fight against tenjiku nonetheless.

"sada-san, you did all this...just to help me save everyone?" he sniffled, wiping his tears away with the back of his palm. "i won't let you down."

takemichi turned away from the four, leaving to head to musashi shrine and lead toman in the fight against tenjiku.

and he will make sure that both izana and kisaki die again.