The yesterdays that were mine

Embers on the Coffin

Four months later

That day, she remembers it like it was only seconds ago. She remembers the day Shinichiro Sano died, and it's never left her mind since. She was with Draken and Manjiro when it happened, when he received a call telling him that Shinichiro was killed.

The three of them had just stepped off Draken's motorbike to get some food, then Nana turned to Manjiro, who she noticed had gone completely still. They all heard the electronic ring as he pulled out his phone and answered a call.

"Hello?" He said

Every moment after that was a progression, in her mind it's all clear. But in that moment, Nana only focused on Manjiro's face, the way it fell, then lit back up with this horrified expression. The three of them stood in the fluorescent red and blue lights of the city around them. In the moment of silence, the thickening sense of urgency multiplied. His head whipped around, towards the darkened alleyway behind them.

Nana and Draken said nothing, because partially they didn't need to. They knew something was very, very wrong. In the lasting moments Manjiro was in their full view, it was of his back running down into the alleyway city lights didn't touch.

Without saying anything, they followed behind him. Nana's heart was beating so hard she felt her ribcage vibrating with every step, every breath until a different kind of blue and red lights shadowed their way through the streets. When they caught up with Manjiro, he was standing in front of the scene, in front of the bike shop they had passed all those nights she was driven home.

"Stay back here" Draken said, and Nana stilled, watching the commotion in front of her unravelling.

There was a flurry of lights and noise, but amongst it all three things stood out, and their memory would burn into her mind every second after that day. Every single fibre and fragment of her being splintered when she saw Kazutora and Baji cuffed and escorted out.

There was this second that Kazutora looked over the sea of bodies and looked Nana straight in the eye. This look of utter rage consumed his face before he was pressed into the back of a police car. And the third thing; a body being carried out by paramedics, already in a body bag.

Nana couldn't feel her heart anymore, just this engulfing feeling of emptiness, washing over her.

She couldn't imagine what exactly it was Manjiro felt in that moment, perhaps like a limb was torn from him, but Nana couldn't say, because he stood before it all completely still and silent, even when two of his closest friends were dragged from his own brother's crime scene.

Shinichiro Sano's funeral was one of inexplicable sorrow, filled to the point where there were crowds of people weeping over themselves behind the pews. Nana had had the privilege of meeting him a few times, and by those few meetings, she was able to know why so many people showed up to mourn the loss of him.

The group of seven walked to the back of the Sano dojo, and Nana again hid behind Hayashida. She felt that maybe Manjiro's brother would have to be even more intimidating. They walked over into the garage that had its tin door hiked up completely.

"Look who I brought" Manjiro spoke up, and Hayashida stepped aside to reveal Nana. His brother was bent over the seat of a motorcycle, dark patches of grease staining his shirt and fingers and face. He looks up, and his entire face seems to light up.

"Another Komore!" He smiled, walking towards Nana, arms open wide.

She acts in a split second and also opens her arms, allowing Shinichiro to hug her. She felt the cool metal of the chain around his neck press into her. They broke away after a short moment. The others had now lounged around on a large worn down lounge that also had similar grease stains coating the armrests.