Rearranging Fate | Tokyo Revengers x OC

37 • The Second Future #3

"You're cool, y'know," he muttered, taking a seat on the edge of the bed with a bowl of soup in hand. "Nobody doubts you...not even now. The only ones who know are the ones who you willingly told...maybe Takemitchy is an exception, but even he knows out of coincidence."

"Fuck off, Baji."

"Your hair's grown...think of cutting it?" Taking a clump of it between his fingers, Baji couldn't help but frown when Reina buried herself deeper into the blankets. The news confirming Mirai's death must've hit her harder than he thought, or this must've been the least severe reaction she could show considering what she had done last time.

Nobody was allowed to visit her except for him, Chifuyu, Kazutora, and her two assistants from Hokkyokusei. Otherwise, they would get a knife thrown to their heads. The ones who could visit her made sure to visit daily, or at least took turns making sure she was living. So, Baji knew something was wrong when Reina wasn't burying herself under the blankets when they came to visit last week.

Using Hokkyokusei, she managed to find Mirai, but at the cost of her last remaining hope. Based on what he heard from Anggita, Mirai was a 'good deal' in the underground auction, and in just a year, she had been 'transferred' to many 'people' and Baji wasn't ashamed to admit he threw up, nor was he ashamed to admit he cried when he knew that the girl had overdosed on painkillers and her corpse was 'used' before being 'disposed of' carelessly, and those were Anggita's filtered words.

The news hit Toman hard and Mikey even harder. After the whole fiasco of Hakkai killing the Black Dragon's president, Black Dragon merging with Toman, and how Kisaki kept on succeeding, Toman was heading down the cliff and Baji didn't know what to do when the only person he could rely on wasn't in the right state of mind to help him.

"Baji," Reina suddenly called out, the first time she had done so after the news. She tilted her head to the side, bloodshot green eyes staring straight at him with unshed tears. "What's the point of being...me...if I can't protect them?"

What was the point of being powerful and indomitable if she couldn't even protect her family? What was the point of even staying alive if she was the only one left?

"You protected us, didn't you?" Baji wanted to curse himself for his poor attempt to comfort her. He wished it was Kazutora or Chifuyu here. At the very least, they would be able to comfort her better. "I...it probably won't get better...but I...we...we won't leave you, Rei. You can rely on us, y'know."

Baji didn't know much about mental health, but he was pretty sure this wasn't how he was supposed to comfort someone. He didn't know what he was doing, so he just slid the bowl until it bumped against her elbow. "My mom made miso soup...something easy to digest, she said. It's good."

And like always, he waited.

The soup had gone cold by the time Reina finally lifted her face from the smothering blankets. Baji tried to spoon-feed her, but Reina glared. Resigned, he handed the spoon over to her, waiting in silence as always. If he was a better person, maybe he would be able to find the right words that could improve the situation. But Baji Keisuke had always talked with his fists more than his mouth, so remaining silent was all he could do.

The sunlight filtering through the gap in her curtains illuminated a line in the room, and it took Reina until the white light turned orange to finish a quarter of the soup, most of the time being used to stare at nothing instead of eating. Despite that, she was willingly eating, and Baji counted that as a success.

"I'll come over tomorrow, 'kay?" Reaching his hand out, he pressed his palm against her forehead and gently pushed her to lie back down. Smiling at the girl who was staring blankly at him, Baji brushed the bangs out of her face. "Mom's making corn soup tomorrow."