Mikey! (Manjiro Sano x OC) [Tokyo Revengers]

XII. Spirit

What the hell was he thinking?

Making a girl a Toman member?

And it's the meek, unsure Karina Maya.

Mikey clenches his fists at his sides. First, he tells the girl that he doesn't like her, and then he shows up at her door and teaches her how to fight. And now he makes her a member of their gang.

Again, what the hell was he thinking?

Should he stop this and tell the group that it was a bad decision? The girl couldn't be one of Toman?

No.

The girl's already involved in the fight between Mammon and Toman. Hadn't she been singled out and injured by the other group? And her bully, that Aiko girl, is aiming to join Mammon. Maya needs to be protected. And being in the same group as him is the only way for her to be guarded.

Mikey can't believe he's doing this much for a girl. And he doesn't even like her.

"E-excuse me... Sano-san—"

"What?" He sounds angrier than he really is but the girl is no longer afraid of him.

Maya fidgets. "Me? As a Toman member? I'm not so sure about that..."

I'm doing this for you, his mind was saying. Instead, he silently asks her, "Can you think of another way to protect yourself?"

"I don't want to be a burden to you." Maya is looking straight into his eyes and he sees the raw strength within her that he's been noticing since spending time with the girl.

"Then, be our limb, too," he tells her. "And you need this to defeat Aiko. Don't you want to properly face her?"

The girl falls silent as she thinks.

"Mikey! We cannot accept that!"

"A girl? You've got to be kidding me!"

"She's not joining Toman!"

The members are in a frenzy, clearly not in favor of Mikey's latest decision.

Draken steps up and shouts, "Shut up! Mikey already made up his mind!"

"No," the Toman leader says. "Let's do this: all who are against my decision go to this side." He gestures to his right and a great number of their members walk toward it. "First to three. Choose your representatives. Maya will fight each one by one. If you win three fights first, Toman will not accept Maya as a member. But if she wins three fights, no one should be against welcoming her as a new member." He looks at the girl, "This will prove that you can be helpful to us, too."

The girl's eyes sparkle. In the short time that they've been training, Mikey realizes that she's a born fighter. A natural. Her newly learned techniques, plus her tolerance for pain, turn her into a formidable foe. If she loses, she can train more. But if she wins, it's a win for Toman and she'll gain even more confidence. Mikey smiles inside.

"Bring it on!"

"We won't lose to a girl!"

"Fight me!"

"Is it alright to strike a girl?"

Mikey tells them, "If you're thinking you can't hit a girl, that's good too. Just remember, if no one fights Maya then she'll automatically be accepted as one of us."

Silence ensues until Maya breaks the ice, "I-I'll fight. Who will be my opponent first?"

The crowd looks at each other. A hand raises and they see a lanky boy with a buzz cut step out of the group. He's Fukuyama, a fairly new member of Toman. "I'll fight you first. But don't expect me to hold back."