red string || sano manjiro/ mikey

chapter xxx: tailed

a month has passed since the bloody halloween, and kazua returned to her own routine.

going to school, keeping tabs on toman, walking senju home, then repeat.

she didn't allow herself to see any of the toman members since then, most especially sano manjiro himself. after letting her guard down on her birthday, she knew to herself that it's the last time she's going to ever relive the past. there is no turning back now that mikey is still pursuing the path he decided for himself.

thankfully, mikey didn't make the job too difficult for her. he may be too caught up with toman to have time for her, anyway.

"your brother's not doing much in toman yet."

kazua bit on her mint popsicle, giving no signs of wincing at the cold that engulfed her mouth. beside her, senju walks along while eating her popsicle the normal way.

school has ended, and they just got off the train that leads to senju's neighborhood.

"yet, you mean." senju sighed. "that's kind of good, i guess. he's not causing much trouble for you."

"maybe so."

senju has no idea of the inner conflict happening in toman, and she doesn't know about kazua meeting with the original six—four—a month ago on her birthday. all she is aware of is  that kazua's cleaning up the mess in toman, saving two of the most important members of the gang in the process.

kazua carries her mission of saving mikey by herself, and while senju offered to help her many times, she prefers to keep the girl out of harm's way rather than drag her in a problem that she wasn't even supposed to be a part of. senju could only offer support by listening to her, and she feels as if that isn't enough at all.

there is an eagerness she's been taming at the back of her mind, wanting to respect kazua's privacy and decision to take matters into her own hands. however, she couldn't help but worry.

kazua has been like a big sister to her, a better sibling than her original two.

"i haven't heard from hanagaki-san in two weeks now." kazua muttered, looking up at the grey sky. she carefully wrapped her grey scarf around her neck to protect her from the could.

it is the first day of december, and snow should be appearing any day soon. the chilly weather has been present since late autumn, leading to the two preparing warm clothing for winter season.

"you think something happened in toman?" senju asked. "you can't really blame the guy. you told him to not be too obvious in meeting you, right?"

"yeah,"

if mikey finds out that she's still meeting with takemichi, he wouldn't hesitate to break it off and stop them. it was pretty evident to her that mikey doesn't want her in toman's business, mostly because she could get hurt trying to meddle in.

"well, this is my stop."

kazua glances at her right, gasping slightly when she realized that the akashi household was already there. she didn't even notice. "oh, we're here."

"mhm," senju giggled, "we're still going out shopping tomorrow, right?"

shing!

kazua turns to senju with a light smile. "sorry, we should cancel. i have to study for a quiz tomorrow."

she never studies for quizzes, senju knows that. she thankfully got the message and nodded. "so you're probably going to manzua cafe to study tomorrow?"

"yep, sorry."

"it's alright!" senju grinned back at her. "let's reschedule."

"yeah. you should get in now." kazua took a step away from the gates and let the girl open it. "stay safe, frosty."

"you, too, kazzie!"

as senju made her way to her house, kazua proceededto walk past the akashi household. both of them had the same thought in mind.

"someone's following kazzie."

"someone's following me."

kazua didn't know who it was, nor does she know if it's a gang member or not. "it'd be safe to assume that they already know where i live." she thought. "thank heavens for papa's home security."

her home is a few streets away from senju's, but because of the shortcuts and alleys that kazua discovered throughout years of walking home alone, it became quicker to head home.

this time, however, she took the long road. if someone will be following her, she can't have them know her other exits to escape their eyes.

when she got to her house, she spotted three figures wearing the toman gang uniform standing right in front of the gates. her brows furrowed, a little surprised that they were there.

"what are you three staring at my house for?"

"g-geh!"

takemichi and chifuyu turned around, shocked to see the owner of said house standing right behind them. the tallest figure turns around and grinned at her, not even fazed that she suddenly popped out of nowhere. "hey, kaz!"

baji keisuke, she should've known that he would be the one to lead the two in her home. they don't know where she lives until today, and they visited at the most unfortunate time.

"hey, you're all right on time!" kazua grinned. "kiko should be done preparing dinner. let's go!"

she unlocked the gate, pushing the three inside immediately before locking the gate again. kazua didn't forget to reactivate the home security her father installed when they bought the house too.

as soon as they entered the house, she locks the door and began closing all the curtains.

"who the hell is kiko?" baji grumbles.

"dinner?!" the other two gawked behind him.

"will you three shut up?"

kazua dragged the three up the stairs to the mezzanine lounge, tossing them easily on the grey sofa that had black and white throw pillows.

"i was being followed." she said, sitting across them on the black bean bag. "i assume it has something to do with you three?"