red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xxi: d-day

"kazzie!"

senju waited outside her best friend's gate, pouting a little while rocking on her toes. she's wearing her school uniform, minus the coat because it's quite hot this particular morning.

creek!

her eyes lit up at the sight of the raven heading out of her house, but her happy face soon morphed into a confused one when she saw her wearing a brown oversized hoodie and black leggings instead. the heels of her black boots clicked as she made her way towards the gate, greeting senju with her typical gentle smile.

"frosty, didn't i text you yesterday? i'm not going to school."

kazua locks the gate behind her, making sure that the security in her home is also active through the panel beside the grills.

"heh, that's today?" senju frowned. "where are you going?"

"to scold a certain shampoo model." kazua rolled her eyes. she turned back to faze senju and grabbed her bag from her hands. "i have time before it begins, so i'll walk you to school first."

"let's go to the bakery to get breakfast first. i'm hungry."

after buying a few pastries in the nearby bakery, kazua walked senju all the way to their school. she doesn't like it when her friends walk home alone, especially if they're women. japan may be deemed a safe place, but there still are a lot of gangs around who screw innocent lives for a living. she's not about to let any of her loved ones be their victims.

kazua held senju's bag over her shoulder, humming softly to herself as senju ate her dorayaki happily. "you're going to be okay, right?"

the silence broke at senju's question, and it snapped kazua back to reality. she directed her eyes from the clouds to the shorter girl beside her, finding a nervous smile plastered on her face as if she was trying to reassure herself that nothing bad will happen.

"i'm not as stupid as you think, you know?" kazua playfully ruffled the girl's hair. "i'll be back unscathed, i promise you that."

"that's all i need to hear." senju finally brought her sweet smile back on her face. she fixed her hair again with one hand, carefully taking kazua's hand off of it.

***

the bloody halloween, as takemichi would like to call it, will apparently happen in a junkyard. kazua prefers to call it a car graveyard, but either way, it's the location of the fight between toman and valhalla.

she put her black facemask on as she entered the premises, her hood already pulled up to cover her face. there are a lot of known people gathered in the arena today, and most of them are people kazua stumbled upon at least once or twice.

there is no bad blood made with any of them, thankfully.

she isn't the type to make a fuss about stuff, so she would often easily get away from trouble. there would be circumstances when she'd be force to fight, though. after landing a kick or two, no one dares to mess with her again. if any of them recognize her here, she wouldn't be able to completely fulfil the end of her deal with takemichi and chifuyu.

kazua climbed a stack of crushed cars by the side, gaining a full view of the cleared out battlefield of the day. "a few of the valhalla members are already here." she muttered to herself, crossing her legs underneath. she hunched over and rested her elbows on her knees, pouting behind her mask. "but kei isn't anywhere. he might be hiding."

"kisaki is the enemy." that's what he told her the last time they met, and she is yet to know what kisaki looks like.

all she needs to know is that he's trouble, and she immediately got everyone else's back.

"you guys ready?! let's bring out the stars of the day!"

one of the gates opened.

"tokyo manji gang!"

then another opposite to the first gate opened.

"valhalla!"

kazua looked at her right, finding takemichi and chifuyu easily in the crowd of toman members. that is partly because chifuyu has a sash and takemichi's the only one who has bright yellow hair in the gang.

for a moment, chifuyu turned to her direction, and she gave a two-finger salute to let him know that she's watching. his eyes stopped on her, and he nodded back with a determined smile.

"that guy treasures baji so much. he must be a really good friend." kazua smiled. "must also be the reason why baji's not as violent as before."

"it's mikey."

"the invincible mikey!"

and of course, the invincible leader of toman is at the very front of the cavalry. kazua rolled her eyes when she found out that he still keeps his shirt off when fighting, showing a bit of his toned chest since the lower section is wrapped in bandages.

"representatives! step forward!"

"that's—!"

kazua gritted her teeth together, eyes glaring down at the person she hasn't seen in years.

kazutora is free from juvie. she was reminded when she saw him stepping forward with a smug smile on his face. he definitely changed in a lot of aspects, but his eyes have always been the same as before.

unknowingly, her hands balled into tight fists to suppress her anger.

he stood in front of draken, troublesome hues looking up to meet the vice commander's.

"you guys decide, kazutora." kazua managed to hear draken say after a few words were exchanged.

"huh?"

"but on one condition. baji keisuke's return."

"just like what takemichi said." kazua grumbled. "so that is how it's going to lead. we're headed the right direction for the plan."

she raises her hands in front of her and cracked her knuckles, preparing for what the outcome of this fight.