The Song of Windchimes

Marigold

┏━°⌜防風鈴 ⌟°━┓

Chapter 18

┗━°⌜防風鈴 ⌟°━┛

The sudden silence after the yelling and screaming is almost deafening.
"Screw this..." Tomiyama whispers, hands relaxing, "I don't need you anymore, Ume."
Tomiyama's voice trembles as he speaks "I don't want anything..." a small river of tears dribbles down his cheek from his right eye and falls from his chin.
Tomiyama's eyes are blank in agony, terror, anger, and too many emotions swirl behind his irises, making his eyes almost seem emotionless in Ryuu's opinion.

'When did the skies... become gray with clouds?' Tomiyama walks on, head down looking into each crack on the dry ground. 'It's dark,,, and it's cold... everything is so dry, no matter how much it rains, I feel so empty... so thirsty ... It's as if... my heart has turned into a barren desert.'

'What do I lack?' Bloody hands reach towards him, 'What am I missing?'
'I don't know...' he drifts off, body coming to a stop in the middle of the dry land that is his heart, He looks up towards the dark sky that envelops his heart.
'I don't give a shit anymore... Everything is pointless. Meaning less. No matter what I do, no matter what I claim as my own... nothing will ever change.' He crouches, wrapping his arms around his knees as to comfort himself in the lonely, dry, and cold abyss of loneliness.

Tomiyama stops screaming, everyone in the audience being taken aback at the sudden loudness on the stage.

"I've never seen... Tomiyama-san like that."
"This is bad, isn't it?"
"Yeah..."
"He's... scary."
The audience mumbles, nervous and in shock that their usually energetic leader is so agitated and angry at the realization that this battle won't come out the way he wanted.
"Ch...Choji..." Togame mumbles in horror, eyebrows pulled close to each other in worry, eyes wide and dull in fear and shock.
The leader of Shishitoren widens his stance before rushing forwards, and with a battle cry, he kicks Umemiya's stomach, making the taller male stumble back. Tomiyama doesn't let him pick himself up though, striking him with a jump spin hook kick and sending him to the ground.
Tomiyama quickly gets on top of Umemiya, taking advantage that the taller male is on the ground, and straddles him.
Each punch he gets on Umemiya comes with a scream, and the sound of splattering blood.

Ryuu sits forward onto the edge of his seat, having his bag at the ready to get up there and pull Furin's number one away from the fight.

"Wh-whoa..."
"Should we, like, intervene?"
"How come he isn't fighting back?"

'He's just... letting Tomiyama use him as an outlet instead of his members,' the realization dawns onto Ryuu and Togame. Ryuu tightens his grasp on the strap of his bag, feeling stuck in his place.
'Umemiya?!' Togame's mouth opens as he watches in shock.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Sakura calls out to Umemiya, doing the same thing as he did to Hiragi when he went down during his fight. His loud voice makes everyone turn to him. "YOU WERE BOASTING ABOUT HOW YOU WEREN'T GONNA LOSE! SO START HITTING BACK!
"He's... he's gonna die..." Nirei trembles, face blue in fear as they watch Umemiya be punched again and again.
"Hey..." Sugishita gets Sakura's attention "Shut up and watch."

Tomiyama punches Umemiya once more before leaning back slightly, breathing heavily, tears kept seeping through his right eye.
"Tomiyama..." Umemiya turns to face him "I'm sorry." He apologizes.
"I didn't mean to... push you over the edge like this..." His words made Tomiyama tense.
"But I guess... This shows how close you wear to the brink of snapping..."

"SH-SHUT UP!!" Tomiyama stutters before punching Umemiya, but that doesn't stop the Furin member from speaking.

"But,"
SHMACK
"If you keep spirallin' in despair..."
SMACK
"And end up destroying everything..."
SHWACK
"Then from here on..."
WACK
"For the rest of your life..."

"You'll only keep suffering."

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" Tomiyama screeches out "SHUT UPP!!! His head is held up high before bringing it down and chomping on Umemiya's neck like a predator going for the kill.
Everyone watches the two leaders in shock, eyes wide, having not expected the move. Ryuu's left hand grasped at Togame's forearm, his hold tight in stress.
"End this fight right now, Togame," He mutters, eyes not leaving the two leaders who are on the floor.
"I-I can't," Togame says "I can't, Tomiyama would slaughter me and you, anyone who even tries getting up there will be skinned."
"Human bites can cause severe infections, Togame," Ryuu stands, only to be held back.
"Togame, if you don't let go of me..." Ryuu's voice is deep in anger.
"I can't let you up there," Togame's hold trembles. "He'll jump you and you don't know what could happen."

Ryuu sits back down, lips raw from how much he's biting them, eyes wide and slightly pink. He felt tangled up in chaos. He could barely breathe.

Umemiya breathes, bringing his hand up and wrapping it around Tomiyama, hand ruffling his hair as a way of comfort. "It's okay," He mumbles "The answer's there, in your heart."

At the warmth of Umemiya's hand and voice, Tomiyama jumps back in confusion. "I..." He punches Umemiya's face again "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Umemiya rolls to the side, picking himself up now that Tomiyama is no longer on top of him.

"Do you still remember when..." he pauses as he slightly struggles to sit up "when Bofurin and Shishitoren... duked it out?" He asks.
"In the end... It was all just a misunderstanding"
Togame and Ryuu watch in shock, eyes wide.
The memory of the past plays out in Togame's mind.

"We're heading back!" someone from Shishitoren calls out, everyone walking back to their respective side of the town. Umemiya watches them walk away, their orange jackets with a lion drawn to their name on their backs.
"Man, you're stupidly strong," Young Arima complimented the shorter teen.
"Damn, you saved my hide again..."
"Yeah, same here."
Togame and the rest of the Shishitoren first years walked behind Tomiyama,
"Thanks, man! We'd be toast without you!"
"Heh heh heh!" Tomiyama giggles "I'm glad I could help!"
Tomiyama turns around, "UME-CHAAAN!" He calls out. "That was super fun!" He waves with a large smile "LET'S DO IT AGAAAAAIN!"
Umemiya huffs in contentment.

"Back then... Your fists were a lot heavier. They held a lot more power..." Umemiya says, "Than they do now." Umemiya's hair is a mess, no longer held back by gel, and covering his face and he sat on the floor, hands on his knees. "You were dazzling and shining... A lot brighter than you are now." His smile is like a father, blood dried on his face. He looked quite attractive.

"You looked like you were having more fun then..." Tomiyama stares at Umemiya, eyes wide, his right eye still dripping tears, "More fun than you are having now."