Replay

4-7 Short-circuit

A/N: Happy New Year!

Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for sticking around. I wrote this chapter over winter break. Geez, I've gotten rusty not writing for a few months. Officially, this story will now update whenever I finish a chapter, but at latest, I will release the next within half a year lol. I'll try to write a bit every now and then and aim to finish by three months. I'll write a notification on my profile when I'm almost ready to post.

The battle is split into two chapters, and after that, there will be one more chapter in this arc. More information about the rest of the story will be given then.

Oftentimes, I google the anime scenes while writing so that I can view the settings in color and better immerse myself, only to notice some deviations from the original scene in the manga. Like how the anime makes the church walls black and how I thought the church was lit by electrical lights inside because it looked so well-lit in the manga, but it's actually all candles...

Totally not an important detail to overlook. Nope.

"It has come to my understanding that my behavior..."

Hakkai felt like he was tripping.

The hard wood against his back and warmth of his sister's shoulder against his own assured him otherwise.

Taiju spoke with the softest voice Hakkai had ever heard from him. Soft candlelight bathed his brother's face as he looked down at his two seated siblings from beside the altar. The inside of the church was well-insulated from the cold, yet his skin tingled from an icy wind.

He fastened another button of his gakuran.

"...has been detrimental to your development. However, this doesn't deny the fact that I have been taking care of our family—"

"Taiju." Yuzuha's voice was sharp as steel.

Taiju scowled and trudged towards them, his heavy boots plodding along the carpet. Hakkai shrunk back against the pew as Taiju stopped in front of them and peered down through narrowed eyes. Yuzuha gave his hand a small squeeze. It did little to stop his quivering.

"Hakkai, I'll let you choose one more time: Toman or the Black Dragons?"

...what?

He scrutinized Taiju's face to get a hint at his brother's intentions, but his lowered brows and disapproving frown looked no different from his usual demeanor.

Yuzuha leaned closer to him. Her voice was mellow. "It's alright to choose whichever gang you—"

"Hakkai. Sit up straight and tell me your decision, now."

He immediately sat upright, dislodging Yuzuha's hand, and met Taiju's golden irises. His breaths came shallow and his heartbeats rapid, and he swallowed to wet his dry throat.

What more would Taiju make him sacrifice? What punishment would he face for the wrong answer?

"I..." Hakkai began. "I choose—"

---

Takemichi came prepared to hold off a fire, but not prepared to hold back a wince as Baji kicked open the double doors and yelled—

"I'm gonna fucking kill your ass, Taiju!"

—at the three people huddled together at the other end of the hall. The interior of the church was not as bright as it'd been during the day, but it was still well-lit enough by candles perched at each column and electrical lamps beside the entrance for him to distinguish Taiju's red coat and two black-clothed figures sitting together at a pew.