A Future Without You is Soon |Mikey x OC|

Chapter Twenty-Two

   "Are you okay, Shishi~Chan?" Mikey asks Shiho on the roof of the hospital. She doesn't respond for a minute.

  "Yeah," she says finally. She pulls her knees to her chest, her face hidden behind her knees. "Just a couple bruised ribs and a minor concussion."

   Mikey sits down next to her. It's been a day, and Shiho decided to go get looked at after the good hits she took from both Etsu and Tao. Etsu is in one of the private rooms downstairs. She's still asleep. She lost a lot of blood. Tao was taken to prison. Apparently he was nineteen, just old enough to land there.

   Shiho sighs. She wants to confess to Mikey, but after all this? How could she? Fuck it. She'll go for it.

  "Hey, Jirou?"

  "Shishi~Chan?"

   Shiho's face flushes, and Mikey looks away. Shiho smiles and chuckles. "Yeah?"

   "The other day...Kazutora said you were there with him and Baji? What did he mean?"

   Shiho pulls her face from her knees, slightly surprised. Shiho looks away from him. "I'm sorry. I...I should have told you."

   "Told me what?"

   "Tora~kun was right. I was there with them. Tora~kun wanted to surprise you with the CB250T. He brought us both along. And after he...he killed Shin~nii~Chan, Baji insisted I leave them there. So you weren't alone. And I...I couldn't bring myself to tell you. All this time... I thought I betrayed you by not telling you. The worst part is, I don't think I ever would have if Tora~kun never said anything. I...I get it if you want to leave."

   "No, it's okay."

   Shiho looks over at him. His gaze is locked calmly at the sky. He's...okay with it? No, he has to be fucking with her.

   "What...?" Shiho finds herself asking. "How can you be okay with it?"

   "I think...I think somehow I knew," Mikey says. "You just happened to be driving past the shop? At the exact same time that Shinichiro got hurt. It...felt to much like a coincidence. And I... I was never mad. Besides, how could I be mad at you for long?"

   Shiho stares at him. She had never expected him to accept it, just like that. After all, he spent years hating and avoiding Kazutora for it. And sure, he forgave Baji, but she kept her involvement a secret! At least he had the balls to fess up.

   Shiho heaves a relieved sigh. "I thought you would hate me."

   "I could never hate you."

   Silence for a moment, then Mikey talks again. "Your friend—Etsu, right?—do you want her in Touman?"

   Shiho looks up at the sky. "I'd love her to be apart of Touman. If she wants."

   "Great, tell her she's welcome here when she wakes up."

   More silence. Mikey goes to talk again, but Shiho cuts him off with a laugh. "You wanna know who Hide is, don't you?"

   Mikey pauses. "How'd you know?"

   "Zai and I weren't exactly quiet," Shiho says. "Hide was our friend."

   "'Was'?"

   "Hide's dead. He has been for a long time now..."

   "Oh, I'm—"

   "Don't be sorry. It's okay. It was a freak accident."

   "What happened?"

   Shiho looks at the ground, wind blowing her messy black hair in her face. "I don't like talking about Hide a whole lot, but...you should know."

   "Shishi~Chan—"