Sano "Mikey" Manjiro was a boy who couldn't care less about girls or relationships. To him, all that mattered was friends, family, and having fun. In the life he lived, he didn't believe he needed a girl by his side, and to him they were all the sam...
"How do you know about that? How did you know him?" He asked trying to get her to answer, he was desperate.
"He... he was someone very important to me. He looked after me Kei, I had known him since I was just a child." She felt tears prick the back of her eyes, but she forced them away.
"How do you even know that it was Kazutora that killed him?"
"My brother told me." She said, and she noticed this look on his face which had her confused. "Shin was Mikey's elder brother, so why? Why are you talking to him?" She exasperated. Baji could feel his heart strings tugging. There was pain, so much of it, not just in him but in her too. Her tears finally fell, and he bit his lip to stop it from trembling.
"Hey, hey, just calm down. It's okay." He said as his large hands brushed the tears from her eyes. He hated seeing her cry. He knew she was a tough girl, so for her to be this upset... it just crushed him because he knew she must be feeling really hurt to let it out.
"Its not okay, none of this is okay." She muttered and Baji sighed wondering if it was the right thing to tell her that he was also involved. He had never felt so nervous in his life.
"There's more you don't know..." He said taking a deep breath. He was about to tell her when Kazutora appeared around the corner, startling both of them.
"Uh, if everything is okay, can we get back to it? I'm kinda in a hurry." He said with a closed eye smiled causing Naoka to shoot daggers at him with her eyes.
Baji looked back to her, still holding her.
"I'll explain later but please, just stay here. Don't go anywhere, okay?"
She nodded reluctantly and Baji sent her a soft look. He let go of her before following after Kazutora.
Her legs felt shaky, and she finally let them give out as she slumped to the ground, shifting back to rest her head against the railing.
'What the hell is going on?'
***
"I was there."
"What?" She asked as she stared at the uneasy looking Baji.
"I was there when Shinichiro died." Baji said, and Naoka flinched slightly as she looked into his honey eyes, trying to see if this was just some sort of sick joke, or if he was telling the truth.
And indeed, he was.
"We broke into a bike shop. We were going to steal a bike for Mikey's birthday, Kazutora just wanted to see him happy you know? We didn't expect anyone to be there but... he just thought he was protecting me." Baji said as the memories rushed back and his hands felt shaky. "We didn't know it was Shinichiro's shop, I swear we didn't..." Baji said looking up to meet Naoka's gaze and all he saw was a devastated look. Her gaze shifted to the ground.
Silence.
For the first time, Baji worried. Worried that she hated him.
He had never cared before of what people thought about him, yet here he was, stressing about what she was going to say. He needed her to say something. The silence was deafening.
"Can you say something?" He asked and she clenched her hands tightly before releasing them.
"It wasn't your fault, you must know that, right?" She said still looking to the ground and he flinched a little confused by her answer.
"Do you hate me?" He asked, clenching his jaw tightly as he waited for her to respond. Her lilac eyes met his and he saw them soften slightly.
"No, I don't hate you, I'm just... a little mad I guess."
"But I do hate him, I hate Kazutora. Why are you still by his side Kei? I don't understand! How can you do this to Mikey? He's done nothing wrong, yet he's lost, not only Kazutora, but he's going to think he's lost you too. It's not fair!" She argued and he swallowed know that she was right. He didn't know how to explain himself.
"Look I know it doesn't make sense, but this is for both of them. I'm not abandoning Mikey, not really. You just don't realise that Kazutora has been by my side for a very long time. I can't just abandon him either." He tried to reason, but he knew it wasn't that easy. "Just trust me."
Of course, she wasn't going to warm up to this idea, but she was going to do her best to help him and Mikey in whatever way she could.
"I'll trust you for now, and I'll be there for Mikey, but you better promise to apologise to him after all of this is done. Okay?"
"Okay, I can do that." He said offering her a small smile and she returned it. He opened his arms to her, wondering what she would do and to his surprise, she rolled her eyes before stepping into them and wrapping her arms around his waist.
He smiled gently to himself as he secured his strong arms around her small body. He inhaled her vanilla scent, relaxing and enjoying it as he wasn't sure she would ever let him hug her again.
"Oh, why on earth did I get myself mixed up with you troublesome boys?"
~*~
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