Agoraphobia

Ikigai

Takemichi was doing better, so much better, in fact, that Emma had invited him to one of her shops on the first floor. Mikey's sister had three shops, one here, one in Shinjuku and another in Shibuya, and it was incredible. The one here was just a kiosk, the pastries made at the second location in this ward.

She invited him to the first floor. This made today obviously a big occasion for everyone in the tower. Security had been ramped up to twelve, Sanzu out of his mind with securing the building, beating up anyone who stood a hair out of line, so the whole place was on edge. Hundreds of men were scattered throughout the tower and even disguised as loitering civilians on the streets.

It was extra, but it was also Takemitchy, so the higher ups just accepted it.

Emma looped her arm through Takemichi's with a mega watt smile, her golden hair and tan skin even shinier in her pregnancy, "Take-chan! Take-chan, we're going to have so much fun! I can't wait to show you the set up I have."

Emma was over joyed and it started to rub off on Takemichi who smiled shakily back. Takemichi wasn't as scared as he thought he would have been, but he attributed it to the fact he had so many kind friends who were here. People who accepted his friendship and wanted to protect him. He didn't think he deserved anything like that, but it was appreciated. 

Takemichi figured the reason they wanted to help him so much was because of his relations to Emma and Mikey, but the truth was that Takemichi was just a likable guy who did his best to not make his issues others. Naturally that made people want to reach out a hand.

"I have a café all set up, I'm so excited."

Takemichi's smile became more steady. That's right this is for Emma-chan. Everything in his life was easier when he did it for someone else. 

"I-I'm kinda excited too," He whispered, his dimple pressed up against the band of his eye patch. That's right, he was wearing the new eye patch he had made with his friends. It was a band that was more comfortable that the strings he normally used. The band covered his ear too, but he also liked that too. 

"I'm glad."

They continued forward, Draken and Mikey trailing behind them. Emma wanted to spend alone time with Takemichi, but the boys didn't want to leave them alone and it would have argued about it, but, it turned out, that Takemichi didn't want to leave without Mikey, so they compromised (which made Mikey's eyes shine with a level of obsession that actually scared Draken).

Each step felt heavy, but Takemichi couldn't believe how confident he felt. He was still unsteady, but he didn't feel like he was falling apart at the seams, which was a visible improvement that he could be proud of. He and Mikey met up at Draken and Emma's apartment and left for the first floor together.

When they actually stepped from the elevator, Takemichi's feet stopped moving since the space it opened to was so vast he felt like if he took a single step he'd fall to his death.

An arm wrapped around his other one and Mikey rested his head against his shoulder, "Come on, Takemitchy, I got you."

And as corny as it sounded, the world fell away at the look in Mikey's pitch black eyes. He was comforted by Mikey's presence, reminded that he wouldn't be hurt with Mikey here. That the world couldn't reach him.

The walked further into the lobby, Emma all smiles as she sat Draken down across from the boys, "Okay, I'm going to get us the good stuff, k?" Before anyone could respond she was already heading towards a counter with a wide array of deserts on display in a glass case.

The counter was manned by one person who's maroon hair looked awfully familiar to Takemichi, but he couldn't quite place him. It was peculiar, but Takemichi was quickly distracted by Mikey who tugged on his arm.