Kintsugi: the golden repair // Hanemiya Kazutora x Reader

Chapter Five get away from the pain you drive into the heart of me

The next morning Y/n noticed her elbow had bled through its bandage. Staining her bedsheets. She had to change the wrapping. Her mother's only response to the injury is that Y/n should reconsider her friendship with the boy. "Boys are this age are rough baby. Maybe you should spend afterschool with girls from school instead." She contemplated her mother's words all night, debating on whether or not their friendship was worth the hassle. Trying to understand what motivated him was hopeless, I have no idea what goes through his mind. But I can try to find out.
 Y/n went to look for Kazutora. He needed to know that he hurt her. Not just physically. She could handle bumps, cuts, and scraps; she couldn't handle feeling like she was hated by her best friend. His little pranks were excusable no matter how stupid they were. But he had crossed a line when he got so harsh with her. Getting home from the park the day before, she finally let out the tears she had toughed through. The boys had done their best to make her laugh, talking to her while they walked her home. Mitsuya talked about his sisters, Draken talked about his motorcycle, and Pah-chin made the most random comments. Mikey had remained quiet but at her side, contributing occasionally to the conversation but keeping his eye on her. They really are good guys, and Mom always says show me your friends, I'll show you your reflection. So if they're good guys than Kazutora's a good guy too. He just didn't realize his own strength. All he has to do is apologize and we can go back to normal. She looked outside, eagle eye able to scan the apartment complex, the playground, the stairs. There is he. Tora was sitting on the last step so she made her way down the flights of stairs. He didn't look back when he heard her coming.

"Hi Tora." he didn't respond. Y/n invaded his personal space. She bent over his shoulder to stick her face in front of his. "I said hello Tora." He side-eyed her, "I heard you." His voice was bland, monotone.
"What're you up too?" She went down the rest of the stairs to stand in front of him. "I'm about to hang out with my friends." He still wasn't looking at her. "Can I come?"
"No." Only uncomfortable silence followed.

Y/n shifted on her feet, "Soo Tora, about yes-" He stood up quickly, getting close, and looked down at her, "You're a sheep. All you know how to do is follow a crowd. I put up with you tailing me like some lost pet but you're not going to start leeching off of my friends too. Maybe you should learn how to be alone for once." Y/n couldn't even speak up, she lost her voice. She had found him with the intention of fixing the conflict from yesterday only to get talked down to instead. He kept going, "They don't actually like you. They only pretended too because of what Mikey said. No hurting girls. They're soft. None of them wanted to hurt your feelings. That's why I pushed you, so you would go home and finally leave us all alone."

The sound of a motorcycle pulling up to the sidewalk caught both of their attention. Baji parked his bike and started to get off of it. Waving as he walked towards them, "Hey Y/n! Do you wanna ha-" Kazutora quickly walked up to him, violently shaking his head 'no', he whisper yelled something to Baji.

"No, no, no. I don't want to hang out with her today."
"Damn alright man my bad. See you later Y/n!" He went to wave goodbye to her but she was already gone. He looked confused for a split second but brought his attention back to Kazutora. "Let's go riding! The guys are waiting for us with their bikes too." They both hopped onto Keisuke's bike and hollered loud whoops over the sound of the engine as they drove off.

Y/n shut the front door of her home behind her with a heavy slam. Her mother wasn't home from work yet and even if she was Y/n didn't want to tell her what happened. She'll just tell me that I shouldn't even bother with him anymore. Maybe I shouldn't. All of them were so nice to me yesterday, and when they left they said see you soon. There's no way they were just pretending. It sounded like Baji was going to ask me to go out with them. Maybe he was just asking to be nice and hoping I would say no? Why? Why doesn't Tora want me around anymore? Are we just growing apart? Different worlds now that we're in middle school?  I think he's ready to just end our friendship, he's got all of them now.

Her mother came home to dinner waiting on the table. Y/n needed to distract herself. She tried doing homework but couldn't focus. So she took it upon herself to leave her mom something warm after a long shift at the hospital. "You going to join me honey?"
"No mom I already late," she lied, "I think I'm going to go to the playground. I need some fresh air."
"Alright, I'll be showering but then I'm reading my book before bed. I expect you home before I fall asleep?"
"Yes ma'm." Y/n slipped on her shoes and out the door. She made her way slowly to the swing set. Y/n just wanted to feel the breeze in her face, look up at the stars. The desire to drown out the swimming intrusive thoughts that what Kazutora had said was true fueled her as she pumped her legs. Soaring higher and higher. She almost fell out of the swing entirely when a man's booming voice called out. "You. Have you seen my son?" Y/n skidded to a stop. Mr. Hanemiya?! It had been a long time since Y/n had seen her friend's father. The distaste and hatred for the man she held rapidly resurfaced. The way he treated Kazutora. The way Kazutora treated her. She snarled towards the man. She looked upon him as if he was the most repulsive creature anyone could have the misfortune of witnessing. "No." her words were blunt and cutting, "I haven't seen him all day." Mr. Hanemiya clicked his tongue, turned around muttering. "What a good for nothing brat."

Y/n found out later what had happened on the night Kazutora's father found him wandering the streets with Baji. In the meantime, she remained distant from him. She walked to and from school without him. His own indifference to the situation was prominent. Even when he slammed her locker shut or hit her books out of her hands, he looked bored with her. She worried that Tora might amp up the antics out of boredom but he didn't. As the week of school went on his torment started to slow down, eventually stopping all together. It was afterschool right before the weekend, when Y/n was stopped by yet another person looking for Kazutora. She was walking through the apartment complex, almost at her building when Junpeke came into her peripheral. "Hey, hey Y/n!" She sighed and turned towards him. Behind Junpeke parked on bikes and standing around was a large group of what looked like upperclassmen, maybe even a few high schoolers. "Where's that punk Kazutora?"
Fear gripped her throat but she did not let her demeanor expose her true feelings. Why is he looking for Tora? And bringing all those guys? Is this about getting punched in the face? She remained as neutral as possible. "I don't know Junpeke. I'm not friends with him anymore." The boy looked skeptical but accepted the answer, walking back to the group. Once they had left, Y/n began to run. She headed to the only possible place she could think to find Tora to warn him.

She was almost to the park with the basketball court when Mikey, still in his school uniform, came out of a convenience store. Dorayaki sticking out of his mouth, his words were mumbled, "Y/n? What're you running for?"
"Mikey," she curled over breathing heavy, "Mikey, some guys are after Kazutora. A huge group of them. I need to tell him. Is he with you?" Mikey took the snack out of his mouth. "Y/n you go back home. I'll take care of it. You've got nothing to worry about, you just go home and wait for Kazutora to come back alright?" She froze unsure if she should really let Mikey handle it all by himself. She stepped closer to him, ready to follow him. "But Mikey, there's a lot of them and I think there were a couple high schoolers." He just returned her a big cheeky smile and started to walk away. He looked over his shoulder still smiling, "Don't worry. I'm the strongest." With that Y/n had no choice but to walk back home. It was during her walk back when she heard the engine of a familiar motorcycle, Keisuke was riding down the street and Y/n jumped up and down waving her arms to get his attention. He quickly maneuvered the ride to park in front of her. Before he could even greet her she started rambling "You'renotwithKazutora?! Baji, Junpekehasabiggroupofboysandthey'relookingforTora." He put both hands up, "Woah, woah, Y/n, slow down. Junpeke's looking for Kazutora?" She could only nod her head catching her breath. It was his turn to cut her off, "I got a good idea where he is. It's be alright Y/n." he held a big smile, like the one Mikey had. With that he rode away before any more time was wasted.