Chihiro Hanagaki

Chapter 20

The next day, Takemichi told her that he and Chifuyu would talk to Baji. Chihiro met up with Hibiki and the two went to find Kazutora. She knew it was a long shot, but she wanted to talk to him. As she expected he was hanging around the area of the abandoned arcade which served as Valhalla's base. "Why are we doing this?" Hibiki asked her. Chihiro shrugged, "I want to know more about his thought process."

Kazutora noticed Chihiro right away and walked over to them. "Chichi~ Whatcha doing here?" he asked with a grin. Chihiro frowned, "First, don't call me that. Second, I'd like to have a private word with you." Kazutora glanced at Hibiki who was glaring at him, "Pinky, in on the convo?" Chihiro nodded, "She insisted on coming along." Kazutora put his hands in his pockets, "Sure, where to?"

Chihiro led them to a nearby bench a few blocks down. "I wanted to know a few things." Chihiro began. Kazutora looked at her curiously, "Oh, what kind of things? You want my number~" Hibiki made a gagging noise and Chihiro cringed, "No thanks. I'm already seeing someone." Kazutora sighed, "Too bad." Chihiro chose not to beat around the bush, "I want to know more about you and Mikey." Kazutora tensed up and his pupils shrunk, "Did Draken send you?" Chihiro shook her head, "I saw the charm. It had a picture inside it and you were in it. You seemed to be good friends with everyone then."

Kazutora had a distant look in his eye, which led Chihiro to think he was reliving some things in his head. "Yeah we were...but things changed," he muttered. Chihiro could see the struggle of emotions dancing in his eyes. He really was a shell of a person now. It was only after the Bloody Halloween fight, Kazutora got the help he needed. It also took those events for Mikey to forgive Kazutora finally. "Kazutora, you do know that what happened that night was an accident right?" she told him. The older boy glared at her, "You don't know shit!?"

Chihiro sighed, "I don't claim to know anything. Just what I can take from the information given. At the end of the day, the fact a life was taken won't change. However, it doesn't make it Mikey's fault. You want to make it his fault so you don't have to live with the guilt. Finding someone to blame and be angry at is a whole lot easier than facing reality." She had already expected it to come before Kazutora moved. He tried to punch her, but she dodged just in time. Chihiro could feel the air blow in her face with the force he used. "Chihiro!" Hibiki shouted. Chihiro lunged, shoving Kazutora onto the bench and pinning his arms down.

Her muscles were contorting from the force that Kazutora was using against her. He was indeed a strong person compared to her. "You good?" Hibiki asked her. Chihiro grunted, not wanting to lose her concentration. "I'm not letting up until you calm down," she huffed. Kazutora glared at her with such hatred in his eyes. He tried to throw her off again, but she refused to budge. "Who the hell do you think you are?! You don't know a damn thing about me?! You can't say shit to me about my life?!" he seethed.

"You're just a scared little boy! Own up to the things you did instead of running away from them or pushing blame onto others! If you don't you'll end up doing something you'll deeply regret! The only friends you have, Kazutora, are the very people you're trying to eliminate!" Chihiro snaps. After the words left her mouth Kazutora wasn't fighting back anymore. He was just staring at her like a deer in headlights. Hibiki was equally shocked at her outburst. She may have gone too far, but with someone like Kazutora, you had to speak plainly. The only reason he blamed Mikey was because it was less traumatizing for him.

In his warped mind, it was less traumatizing to blame Mikey for Shinichiro's death, instead of owning up to the fact he killed someone. She had no way of knowing what was going on in his head that day. But that didn't change the fact that someone died because of it. "Okay, Chihiro let's get outta here," Hibiki told her. Chihiro could tell how serious she was simply based on her full given name being used. She backed off, but Kazutora did not attempt to move from where he sat on the bench. The two left; well Hibiki dragged her away, "What were you thinking?!"