red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter lxx: fates changed

patter!

crack!

patter!

mikey stood by the windows, looking down the streets as rain poured down heavily tonight. he stared out blankly with his hands lazily tucked in his pockets.

"what's up, boss?" kokonoi, who was working with his laptop by the meeting desk, looked up and checked on their dazed leader.

"it's raining quite heavily." he muttered. "i got a bad feeling about tonight."

he had been getting those feelings a lot these days, and his impulses were warning him a lot about her. yet, no matter what voice he heard in his mind, he stopped himself from reaching her.

"this is the best." he'd convince himself.

knock!

knock!

kokonoi stood from his chair and opened the door. from the other side, a member of kantou manji gang held a letter between his hands. he handed it over to kokonoi. "a letter to the boss." he says.

"who's it from?"

"the same person." they replied. "the unknown sender."

they have been receiving a lot of these. specifically, mikey has been receiving a lot of these letters. sanzu wanted to burn them all down and keep it away from mikey, but when the boss himself found out about it, he stopped any of them from ever rejecting the letter.

he is the only one who knows of its contents, and possibly know who the sender is.

"i'll give it to him." kokonoi takes the letter and let the member leave them. shutting the door, he turns around to advance to their leader.

he stands beside him by the window, handing it over quietly.

"another one." mikey thought.

he takes it wordlessly, a sign for kokonoi to get back to his laptop and start working again before mikey gets pissed off by his prying. the raven did just that, seating himself by the desk once again to furiously type on his laptop.

mikey slowly opened the letter by himself, unfolding the piece of paper as he prepared himself for its contents this time.

your gang really is such a pain in the ass, you know?

"what, no hello this time?" he mutters to himself.

emma was attacked in her own high school. some of the seniors there are part of your gang. and guess what? they tried to kill her.

how many times did this happen now?

you should know. i do tell you every single one.

don't worry. she's fine now. she's still so badass, i was surprised she remembered all the stuff grandpa taught her. you should come home and check on her yourself, you know? she's really worried for you. draken misses you like hell too.

don't tell him i said that.

the promise you made last year, to keep your loved ones away from this dark path you're taking, it didn't come true.

heh, did any of your promises ever come true?

i'm tired, manji. i really am.