ENGLISH VERSION - Second Star to the Right (Mikey Bonten x OC)

Chapter 8: The Shadow

POV MIKEY

The office is dark. Tokyo's lights stretch out in front of me. I'm sitting behind my desk, playing with the knife lying there.

My gaze drifts into that familiar void, the inner chaos that never stops. I can't shake this scene from my mind. The way I found her—tied up, vulnerable, at Sanzu's mercy, my right-hand man. I'm pissed as hell. Should've just sliced his hands off and let him bleed out. Nobody touches Ayana. Nobody but me. She belongs to me. Even if it's through pain, even if it's in the abyss I've become, she's mine. This thought obsesses me, consumes me.

When she walks into the room, wearing my hoodie, it's like a knife twisting in an old wound. I knew she'd be back. The world is huge, but our paths were always meant to cross again.

She sits on the couch, crossing her legs.

"I didn't think I'd see you again, Mikey."

Her voice snaps me back, memories rushing in—her warmth, her fingers in my hair, her lips on mine. Damn. That burning need to touch her again comes back with a force I struggle to control. I twirl the knife between my fingers to distract myself, to resist the urge to cross the room and pull her into my arms.

"Not me. I was sure I'd see you again someday, Ayana."

"You've become someone important. Should I be worried?"

"Depends." I smile, but there's nothing warm in it.

"Aren't you supposed to hate gangs? Isn't that what you told me the last time we talked?"

She presses her lips together, and I see in her eyes the memory of that cursed day.

"I still hate them. That hasn't changed."

"So why are you seeing Atsushi?" I drop the question like an accusation.

She rushes to answer, her tone getting sharper.

"I'm not seeing him! And besides, Atsushi's not in a gang. Toman doesn't exist anymore."

I nod, the knife's blade moving back and forth between my fingers.

"True. I disbanded the gang before starting high school."

She frowns, trying to understand what all this means.

"So what is all this, Mikey? Why am I here?"

She still doesn't know who we are. That bastard Atsushi told her nothing. A wild rage fills me, but I shove it down, keeping it buried.

"We're far from Eden now, huh?"

She sighs, closing her eyes for a second before answering, more calmly.

"You're not answering my questions."

I frown, looking out the window. Tokyo's lights, once comforting, are now just dead stars.

"Ask your buddy Atsushi why you're here. You're hanging around with the wrong people, Ayana."

"Look who's talking!"

I let out a bitter laugh.

"Your Atsushi owes Bonten a lot. I'm sure you've heard that name before."

And suddenly, it clicks. I see the terror in her eyes, that flash of understanding that freezes her. Bonten... That name echoes inside her like a death sentence. Of course she knows us. Everyone in the city has heard of us.

"You... you work for them?" she asks, swallowing hard.

I stare at her, my gaze once soft now cold and impenetrable.