Butterfly kisses and Flower petal wishes

Reborn Pt.2

"WUR ZORREY!!!" Bloody and bruised, tears streaming down his face, Takemichi found himself kneeling alongside Akkun, after receiving the beating of their lives. His cousin had lied, he was no leader just a 'Gofer', and all to just show off to him the hapless and naive younger cousin. Who believed him, and then spread it to his own friends.

"Michi, whatever you do. Don't listen to Baka-Masa." His sister's words rang through his mind, "That coward would rather save face than do or say anything honest. He doesn't have anyone's best interest at heart but his own."

'Ow... She was right.' Takemichi slightly thought in pain, as he and Akkun continued to remain kneeling before their attackers. '

The leader of the group, a third-year from the school they had gone to, by the name of Masataka Kiyomizu, better known as Kiyomasa, glared down at them with disgust and annoyance as he talked down to them. "You spineless little dweebs. You've got some nerve, callin' yourselves delinquents."

From behind Akkun and himself, Takemichi could hear Yamagashi hic and whimper as the other three boys lay beaten, and in the case of Takuya passed out.

"From today onwards, you shits are going to be little soldiers for the Tokyo Manji Gang. Better work your asses off." Kiyomasa's second in command spoke up, though neither Takemichi's or his friend Akkun dared to look up from the ground even as the older gang members walked away into the evening sunset.

Even as his Akkun rose to check on the other boys, Takemichi himself remained as he watched his blood slowly drip and paint the ground below him.

"You okay?"

"Just... Don't tell anyone I cried." Yamagishi whimpered.

'The Tokyo Manji Gang...' Takemichi thought, 'That's right. This is where it all started.' His mind conjured the image of days long passed, 'Our hellish days spent doing their bidding. All of us. That's why I got the hell away from my hometown after graduating middle school.' His mind flashed to himself walking away from his friends on graduation and pulled up his final conversation with his sister.

"Ah! Wait, where are you going?" His sister concernedly exclaimed as she tried holding onto the lone duffle bag he'd packed.

"Let go!"

"Michi please! Talk to me!" She begged, he had never been used to her begging. "What the hell is going on? Let me help you!"

"Shut up!" He remembers pulling the bag away and shoving her away. She'd fallen back almost hitting the bottom steps of the stairs, and the sense of guilt only fuelled his self-loathing and fear. "I... I don't want your help! I'm not a fucking child Meiko! Stop treating me like one! Just leave me alone!"

"Mi...chi..."

"I HATE YOU, AND EVERYONE IN THIS STUPID TOWN! I NEVER WANT TO SEE ANY OF YOU AGAIN!"

"TAKEMICHI!"

He ran, his sister's tear-stained face fueling his run. His harsh words like ash on his tongue as he begged and cried to any god, that she'd believe his lies and stay away.

'I started living on my own and working.'

"Quit slackin' off! You're as slow as a fucking turtle!!"

"Sorry!"

'But nothing went right. I could never do anything very well.'

"Can'tcha do anything right?"

"I'm sorry!"

'So I apologized.'

"I'm very sorry!"