ᵇᵘᵇᵇˡᵉᵍᵘᵐ ᵇᵘᵇᵇˡᵉ | ᵗᵒᵏʸᵒ ʳᵉᵛᵉⁿᵍᵉʳˢ ˣ ᵒᶜ

𝕗𝕚𝕧𝕖

Mikey didn't stay the night. She felt simultaneously thankful and upset. He was an interesting person she couldn't quite understand yet, but he was also a little brat.

"So is he good a fighting?" Aya asked Ken as he watched over Mikey as he left.

"I thought he was a "that" to you," he said, rather pettishly.

"More like "brat", but eh. Answer my question."

"He's the captain, he's the best fighter," Ken said, with a eyes filled with pride. Aya felt a sudden, depressive thought. He has never felt that prideful with me, or Eiji, or Kai.

"Hm. Acts like it." She went inside, but not without hearing Ken mutter "all of sudden, you're fond of him." Maybe she was, a bit, fond of the little brat.

~

"Hey, Aya. Want to..." Ken said as he stood in her doorway. A week had passed and they had grown, slightly, closer, but she still felt on edge near him.

"What?" She asked, then popped a candy in her mouth.

"Hangout. A few of my friends will be there... including Mikey."

Aya waited a minute to finish her candy, before responding. "Sure."

"For Mikey?"

"To meet your friends." She got up and sauntered past him. She held her head up, though her blush was too bright to hide with confidence. No, she did not have a crush on Mikey. She knew her feelings better than that. Just... the idea of her liking someone romatically made her embarrassed.

She headed to Eiji's room and knocked on his room. She opened the door before he answered.

"Hey, I'm going to head out with Ken," she told him. Eiji looked up with a shocked face.

"... Are you gonna fight?" A bead of sweat dripped down his cheek as he looked passed her as if terrifed of possible destruction in the hallway.

Aya rolled her eyes- but Eiji wasn't wrong to worry. She would be praying for her well being if she were in her younger brother's position.

"No, we're going to hang out. I'm going to send Kai to your room, okay?" She turned around to walk away, but turned back around to check on Eiji.

A sudden feeling of sympathy washed over her. Eiji was too young. Kai was too, but he had multiple people watching over him and hadn't lost his sense of safety. Eiji however... he lost the gleam in his eyes at a very young age. He was only 8 when Ken and Aya started to fight. She was 10 and Ken was 11. Kai was only 4, he didn't pay attention to the arguments. Now Kai was 8 and he had this cute little gleam in his eyes and his smile was always on his face unless he was upset. The only way he got really upest was over school, that was his biggest worry- school. Her biggest worry at 8 was taking care of a 2 year old and a 6 year old. Her older brother was beginning to hang out with Mikey.

But Eiji was in the middle of it. He was old enough to understand that his older siblings were arguing and he was old enough to be stresses by that too. Plus, he was old enough to remember all the drunkards that came in and out of the house before Mr. Sakamoto made a rule about it. But he was young enough to hide under blankets and cry while Aya cuddled him. He still shouldn't have experienced that.

"Yeah, it's fine. You can go and I'll watch Kai," Eiji waved her off.

Aya nodded at him and called for Kai.

"Thank you, Eiji." She began to walk out. She turned to him. "Sorry for barging in."

He looked up at her. "It's fine."

Kai ran into the room and jumped onto Eiji's bed. Aya grinned at the interaction.

-

She walked beside her older brother as they made their way through a crowded street. She played with the hem of her sleeve as she eyed the strangers around her. She moved a little closed to Ken.

She let out her first real breath after they made it out of the alley. She had a lot more space now, she gave her brother some space as they walked through the somewhat busy streets. They were probably meeting Mikey at a food stand and walking around town while babysitting him. That's how she would imagine their hang out would go.

And it did.

Mikey ate the corners of a steaming taiyaki as Ken and Aya made sure he didn't accidentally walk into the road. He came close to it many times.

"Mikey!" Ken grabbed the back of the boy's shirt and pulled him back onto the sidewalk. Aya sighed as she took a bite of her taiyaki. The taste of the red bean paste was almost worth her burning mouth. Oh well, the tongue heals fast. She took another bite.

Ken decided to walk in front of them. Aya stood in between Mikey and the road.

"Can I have some?" Mikey pointed at her taiyaki. She looked at him, thinking deeply.

"No."

He gasped, holding his hand to his chest. "Why?!"

"Cuz it's mine." She took another bite.

"Well, I want it," he said.

"Well... no."

"Well... yes." He took a bite out of her taiyaki with a big grin across his face.

She slapped him lightly with it while he chewed. But she didn't want to hurt him. She would've laughed if it hadn't been her taiyaki.

"Mean," she called him.

"Yep," he took a bite of his own taiyaki. He walked a little closer to her and her heartbeat went a little faster.

-

i might make this a tiny fanfic instead. ten chapters or so. just about Aya and Mikey because god the manga is so damn sad😭 also i've been getting into twisted wonderland so i might focus on that instead.