Agoraphobia

Forgivness

Akkun could say he lived a blessed life, in that it was better than many others. He wasn't going hungry, he had a job, a home and really good friends. He had more than most and he was grateful for it. He enjoyed his work, his boss was sweet, Emma-chan did her best for all her employees. He should be happy... but people are more complicated than that.

It started in middle school didn't it?

Akkun and his friends were made slaves to the Tokyo Manji Gang in their younger teens. It was awful, it was dehumanizing. There were so many nights he would stay awake and imagine what it would be like to be free. He and his group were forced to fight in dangerous pit fights for money and entertainment. It was dreadful and it continued for so long that they agreed together to distance themselves from Takemichi to protect him. 

All Akkun, Yamagishi, Makoto and Takuya wanted was to protect their friend. They had gotten themselves in this mess and they couldn't drag their friend into this, not with how much of a mess he was, he wouldn't survive. None of them had even realized that they had hurt him to the extent that they had until recently. They knew he'd be upset, devastated, but Takemichi was such a likeable person that he would surely move on and make new friends... is what Akkun thought as a stupid teen anyways.

He saw him, just yesterday, for the first time since they were seventeen in the bakery chewing out Hinata Tachibana, his ex-girlfriend. He was flabbergasted that Takemichi, the same kid who was the human embodiment of a downward spiral, was that monster, Manjirou Sano's boyfriend. He never would have guessed the man was Takemichi, even if he had one million years and yet-- that was indeed the case.

He wiped down the counter by the register once more, he was closing down the baked goods kiosk today, him being the afternoon shift again. He loved his job and he didn't complain that he had to stay an extra hour since the last shipment of coffee ingredients for tomorrow were running a bit behind schedule.

"Heyo Atsushi-kun," Emma greeted from the entrance, she had on yoga pants and her protruding belly was framed by the fluffy jacket she wore. She held a beautiful smile as she presented him with an envelope, "I have a little bonus for you~"

"I don't deserve this, Emma-san," Akkun smiled softly, yet he still accepted the envelope easily enough since he really did need the extra cash. Yamagishi was fired a few weeks ago from that computer repair job he had for the last two years as a side job and Akkun and Mikoto were picking up the slack for now.

"Nonsense, you work so hard for me, without complaints."

She was smiling, but Akkun couldn't accept it so easily since he felt so guilty. He couldn't keep living this way, couldn't ever since Takuya died, back when the guilt of that pushed them to distance themselves from Takemichi. Yet after what he heard yesterday, he just had to make it right no matter what.

Emma turned to leave with an over the shoulder wave and a hope that he makes it home safe, "Well, I'm headed up. Growing this baby is exhausting," She laughed softly and Akkun looked up to see Draken leaning against one of the walls near the elevator reserved for Mikey's floors. So they were living with Mikey then? Akkun had once heard he had multiple apartments up there.

Talk about luxury.

"W-wait, Emma-san," Akkun stepped from around the counter and she turned to face him fully. He swallowed any hesitation he had as the woman turned back.

"Atsushi-kun?"

"I-I have a confession..." He trailed off nervously. He needed to say this. He had to speak with Takemichi, but there was no way he could ever reach him, not with how Mikey was drilled to his hip. The talk around the tower, from Yamagishi and Makoto's own mouths, was that the boss' boyfriend was to be protected at all costs. They had even heard that people were being tortured to death for jeopardizing Takemichi's security...