Amore Mio || Sano Manjiro [✓ ]

⋆ ˚ 𖦹ْꓸ ⋆୨ chapter eighteen ᵎᵎ

𓆩ꨄ︎𓆪
╰┈➤ "𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒕?" Mikey's eyes grew darker and darker the longer I took to respond. However I was well aware I had to choose how I phrased my next words very carefully.

"Well it's not exactly that they forced me to come at all, I was just following Takemichi to make sure-"

"Takemichi can take care of himself! I can't believe you went along with them to somewhere so dangerous, and you didn't think to call me?" His arms found themselves grabbing my wrists, squeezing it tighter and tighter as he went on. I winced in pain, but I was too scared to interrupt him.This was the first time I had ever felt afraid of Mikey—the first time I became aware of the Tokyo Manji Gang commander. "What the hell were you thinking, those guys could've done something bad to you! Or worse—" Draken thankfully intervened, reaching to pull Mikey off of me.

"Quit it Mikey. Look at her shaking, you've scared her half to death. Bad enough she went to her hide out and now you're giving her this shit? I get that you're worried but you can't explode at her like this. You're riled up from earlier." Mikey glanced at me again, his rage subsided into surprise. I gathered I must have looked very terrified, because he immediately took my wrists into his hands; this time gently rubbing where he had hurt me.

"I'm so sorry (Nickname)... I really didn't mean to hurt you..." I simply brushed him aside, still shaken from earlier but I just wanted to get away from him because I was starting to feel quite—suffocated.

"Um it's okay. Im fine." I felt his eyes stare directly at me, causing me to purposely avert my gaze. I couldn't stand to face him after everything that just happened. I was strangely embarrassed, or maybe it was scared—either way the feeling was very hard to describe. "Do you want me to walk you home? It's getting a little dark." His voice went back to its usual tone, no longer sounding angry, but not playful like I'm used to.

I'd never seen this side of him before. It's almost like a ticking time bomb, one wrong move and he could go off. Something about it made me start to develop a fear of him, a fear of stepping on another landmine. Mikey must have realized this, because he face became ridden with worry as I denied his offer.

"I think I'm okay, I'll walk with Takemichi. You should get home and rest, it's been a rough day for you." I smiled instead of giving him a hug or kiss. He definitely knew something was off. He opened his mouth to argue, but was pulled away once again by Draken. I didn't see him walk away, only feeling his eyes linger on my back as I made my way back to Takemichi.

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"You sure you're okay?" Takemichi looked at me, a guilty expression on his face. Right now I knew he was blaming himself for Mikey's outburst—since he allowed me to come along with him.

I was glad to have someone like him by my side. He may be a delinquent, but he is a solid guy. Normally I'd never approve of someone like that for Hina—he was lucky I already knew him when they started dating.

"Yeah just a little shaken. Don't beat yourself up over letting me tag along yesterday, I still would've went even if you told me not too. It's not your fault anyways, that crazy dude basically forced me to come with." I paused for a short moment, realizing that he's been through a lot too these past few days. "Besides, how are you? I mean you did get threatened by Mikey earlier."

"Haha, I appreciate you trying to cheer me up." He laughed, easing the tension in the air, "And yeah, no biggie. Chifuyu was with me anyways, talking about how Baji is spying on that Kisaki guy." I paused when I heard the name.

"Kisaki? That name sounds really familiar." Takemichi stopped, wide-eyed. He waited for me while I backtracked in my mind, trying to figure out where I'd heard the name mentioned. Suddenly my eyes lit up, "Oh! He's my neighbor in the apartment complex!" Satisfaction overtook me as I stood with a close-eyed smile, but the young man beside me was shaking.

"YOUR WHAT?" He yelled, turning a ghostly and pale white. I watched him start to tip over, and I frantically shifted to stop him from falling.

In the end, I had to drag us both home.

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╰┈➤ EDITED ♡