Mikey! (Manjiro Sano x OC) [Tokyo Revengers]

VIII. Help

Karina decides to not attend classes for a while. She can hide her wounds and bruises with cosmetics but the makeup won't calm the pain inside her chest. Aiko, Sano-san, and her mother--thoughts of them swirl inside her mind and hurt her from within.

So she stays inside Goro-san's convenience store, passing time until the storm of emotions quiets down inside her battered heart.

A bottle of cold Pocari Sweat is placed on the table in front of her by the old convenience store owner. "Here, drink up, lass. I can see your injuries beneath all that product."

Karina's hands automatically reach her face and try to hide her wounds.

"What's the point of hiding them?" Goro-san sits beside her. "Everybody knows you're being beaten by your own mother and by the bullies in your school. Even your teachers know! I know."

"I don't... know what to do." Her voice is small but honest. She cannot lie to Goro-san. In the short time she's been working at his store, he's been like a real grandfather to her. He's always been there for her, never judging her and giving her whatever he could offer—shelter, food, medicine, cosmetics, advice, and most of all company whenever she needs it the most.

"I told you, lass, you should just stay with me and my family," he offers, but Karina just shakes her head.

"No, Goro-san. I do not want to trouble you any further. I've only been a burden to you since I've worked here." Goro-san's family is big and they barely fit inside a small apartment room. She couldn't possibly think of trying to fit herself with them.

There is a glum look on the old man's face. "What do you intend to do then?"

Karina is about to respond when they hear the sound of glass breaking.

A wooden chair is thrown into the store, shattering the glass walls. Its shards litter the store and one wounds Goro-san's face. He shouts in pain. "What on earth—"

"Hoy, where's that pipsqueak Mikey?" A group of five high school-looking boys enters the store through the broken glass wall. They have bats and wooden sticks with them, like the group of delinquents who had injured Mitsuya-san and Sano-san before. While walking toward Goro-san and Karina, they strike everything that comes into their view. The broken shelves and products lay waste on the floor.

One of them, a tall white-haired brute who seems to be the leader of the group, says to the gray-haired girl, "You're the bastard's girl, aren't you?"

"H-huh? N-no. Y-you're wrong." Fear grips Karina like a snake.

The scary boy comes even closer until one of his hands reaches the collar of the trembling girl's shirt. This boy seems more dangerous than her mother or an angry Aiko. He lifts her from her seat with sheer strength. "Where the fuck is that bastard Mikey?"

"I-I don't know—"

"Lying bitch!" He tosses her to the side of the store, hitting the magazine stand. Some of the papers fall onto the girl. But he isn't done with her yet. His big hand now clutches Karina's hair, forcing her to look at him. "Where the fuck is your boyfriend hiding?"

In the corner of her eye, the girl could see the other delinquents stealing everything their hands could carry and Goro-san silently approaching the boy, hurting her. She needs to find time to let Goro-san come nearer to them. "I told you already! I don't know! M-maybe he's at school. Who knows right? Or maybe he's at the park with his friends." She bluffs but takes care not to mention the places Sano-san might actually be.

The boy's eyes are reduced to slits. "You think I'm an idiot, don't you?"

"N-no, I don't—"

"Not you." Then he looks at his back to face the approaching Goro-san. He almost lands him a fatal blow, thank goodness Karina finds enough time to tug his muscular arm away from the convenience store owner with all her strength.