ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ: ǫᴜᴇᴇɴs | ᴍɪsᴀᴋɪ ʏᴀᴛᴀ

4

"Y/n" she spoke, the same smokey voice she always had.

"Kimiko. Evening, old friend." I replied, my lip tugging into a smirk. I remained staring at the fountain. "Scepter four, huh? What made you change your mind?"

The ravenette sighed but then chuckled, "Made a deal, let's say. Homra, huh?" She chuckled again. I smiled at her,

"How'd you know?"

"Always seemed the type." She winked. We stood in a comfortable silence. The memories flooding past, the school days, the incident, the fights, the laughs. We were mature enough to know that the some sort of friendship we had was forbidden, but it didn't occur to us at the time that anything serious would happen. Usually, due to the fact that the Kings usually took matters into their own hands, getting violent with each other while clansmen stood and watched like dogs.

"We're supposed to be dead, you know.." I mumbled, watching the water freely flow and sparkle.

"Yeah, Scepter four think you are, and the Strains and everyone else in that building...but maybe that's a good thing. They were surprised I crawled out alive, Fushimi especially." She uttered, I chuckled and smirked.

"Monkey bastard, he knows I'm alive. But what he's planning is beyond my knowledge," I sighed "Anyway, any news?"

"Yeah, rumours of the Colourless King are lurking. And if he's around so is she." Kimiko always had this serious tone to her, she never changed. But that's why we got along: it was sophisticated with erratic. It was a balance, a balance Shizume never had.

"Yep, I heard about that too. I really hope she doesn't pull anything again, the first time was traumatising enough." I never really told anyone about that event, to be honest, I didn't really remember the details. All I saw was red. Or white.

"If the King's back, she will be too. She'll pick us off, clan by clan, member by member. Anything to stop us from stopping him." Kimiko explained. She wasn't wrong, we've seen it happen before and it was catastrophic. It's a shame that hardly anyone else remembers, but perhaps they were within the radius of the wipe. We ended our catch up soon after, both going our own ways.
I made my way back through the streets to my apartment. Oh how interesting it was knowing how the world functioned.

Honestly, there's nothing exciting about sitting in a chair watching kids swim on a Monday morning. It was boring but easy money, also meant I could catch up at Homra about any morning shenanigans.
But the clock struck 12 eventually and I was never slow to leave the front doors, cruising my way straight to my place, dumped my bags and cruised to Homra. However, I never made it to the bar. I was pulled into an alley by Ema and Tatara.

"Y/n! You can't go out there. The blues are at it again for whatever reason!" Tatara explained. His arm was slung over Ema's shoulder, presumably to protect her.

"What are you guys doing here?!" I yelled in a whisper.

"Ema's a Strain, Anna told me to come find you, she says you're in danger." He replied. Ema..a Strain? And she didn't say?

"Who are these people? Who's Anna! Y/n, what's going on!?" She panicked, vigorously running her fingers through her pigtails.

"Oh shush, we just need to keep Ema safe, they can't know she's a Strain. Tatara, be careful, please." I begged, he nodded with me.

"Yata and the others are out there fending off the blues, the plan is to push them back until Mikoto gets here. They're after Anna, something to do with information." He explained. I peered out the corner of the wall to capture a sight. I couldn't just stand there, I had too much adrenaline.

"Right, I'm going out there. Stay here, please keep her safe, Tatara," I affirmed "I'm going to help." I didn't give time for a response, I cruised down the streets via Heelys. I had never felt such a rush before, red flames engulfing my body, adrenaline taking the worries away. My name. My name being yelled but the adrenaline silenced it. Silence. The blue slashes. Everything went too fast to comprehend, I remember grabbing some old metal bar, that had been ripped off a staircase in an alley. That bar blew into flames and my fingers curled. The clink of the bar against something else turned the volume on the world again, and before my eyes, I was face to face with a Scepter 4 sword pushed against the bar, Yata underneath my feet.

"What are you doing? Get out of here!" He scolded. I ignored him and continued to maneuver my way through the blues, pushing their weapons back, getting a few hits on them. I didn't really know what I was doing to be honest, but the mark on my rib was burning, just as I was. Getting used to the aura would take time but the thrill of fighting was extraordinary! The clinks and clanks of metal against metal, my smirks and laughs erupting under their attempts to insult and take me down.
Feeling the heat become blistering, I stepped down and, I dare say it, back handsprung my way to Mikoto, who stood at the back of the advance. Scepter 4, however, showed no sign of stepping down. But the rest of Homra left Mikoto to it.

"Your Sword of Damocles will crumble soon, Red King. I'd think twice, if I were you." The Blue King taunted, but I took a glance up and that sword appeared fine. So that was a good indication of events that would follow. Mikoto shrugged and started to walk away back down the streets, presumably to the bar. Shocked, the blues lowered their weapons as group by group of Homra followed our King. Myself and Kimiko caught each other's eyes and nodded, she put her sword back and turned to walk away. I grabbed a raging Yata by the arm and gently pulled him with me.

"Let's go, Yata.." I grumbled. One last glance back at the blues, they stood startled at the decision but one by one they followed Kimiko then Awashima. The boy struggled and squirmed under my grip, the flames burned out slowly.
I made it around the corner into the peace, Yata had given up and followed behind me, my hand still balled in his white sleeve. The sun still burned bright over the city, and it all went back to normal with workers and public.

"You can let go now." The boy grumbled. I still didn't let go, despite his blush and struggle. We stopped near the bar and then I let go. He grabbed my shoulder and swung me round, completely red in the face.
"What the fuck is wrong with you! You could've been killed! Don't ever do that again!" I just stared at him while he yelled. I lowered my head slightly and scuffed my shoe against the curb.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I'm s-sorry, thanks f-for what y-you did, y/n." His cheek was bruised and his eyes were still burning passion. I smiled and we walked into the bar, I was immediately engulfed into a hug by Tatara and Ema.

"Are you okay? You were so cool!" Tatara exclaimed, spinning my small frame around.

"Y/n, why didn't you tell me you were a Red? I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was a Strain, I just wanted to keep you safe.. " Ema apologised, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"It's okay, I was never safe to begin with. But yeah, I'm a Red now and I guess it's my time to protect you from those bastards, hehe." We giggled about it, no bad vibes needed really, it was going to come out one day.