The crowd went still as they finally get to see what was hidden underneath Kazuo's mask. And boy were they not expecting this. Takemitchy's eyes widened as he looked at Kazuo and Mikey back and forth, 'Eh!? WHAT'S GOING ON!?' Takemitchy thought as he rubs his eyes to make sure he's just not seeing things.
Draken looked at him as if he had grown two heads while Mikey stared at him with an..unreadable expression. Kazuo starts to sweat as all the attention went to him. He didn't even realize that the strings on his mask were holding on to its dear life.
Suddenly, Mikey walked towards Kazuo and leaned closer to his ear, "We'll need to talk a lot after this." He said which sent chills down Kazuo's spine.
"Are you the one who organized this fighting ring?" Mikey asked as he walked towards Kiyomasa now. Kiyomasa who was still bowing down, answered a small yes. Mikey smiles and suddenly kicked Kiyomasa so hard. Kazuo cringed, he can't even imagine being in Kiyomasa's position right now. He's pretty sure that hurtled a lot.
Takemitchy was pretty much shocked. He still can't move on from his-uh-saviors face and then Mikey just suddenly kicks Kiyomasa very hard on the face. After kicking the man, Mikey grabs on his hair, pulling him closer to his face, "Who the fuck are you? Huh?" Mikey said and punched Kiyomasa to the face. Kazuo felt shivers run down his spine as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.
Kiyomasa dropped to the floor, completely passed out after getting punched by the Toman leader himself. Kazuo took a step back as he winces seeing Kiyomasa's condition. As if that was not enough, Mikey even stepped on the poor guy's head and turned towards Draken with a smile, "Shall we go home, Kenchin?"
Takemitchy's mouth was slightly agape as to what he had just witnessed, "Underground fights are stupid" Mikey says as he walks away, "Don't do things to ruin the name 'Toman' " Draken says as he follows shortly behind Mikey as he made a glance towards Kazuo.
Mikey turns around to Takemitchy, who now mustered the strength to stand up, "Takemitchy," Mikey called out which made Takemitchy standstill, "See you later♡"
And in a quick second, Mikey's expression changes as he shifted his gaze towards Kazuo. Kazuo gulped as he can feel Mikey's burning gaze towards him, "And you," Mikey called out which made Kazuo scream on the inside, "We still need to talk."
♡♡♡
Kazuo found himself in front of a shrine. Kazuo immediately recognizes this shrine since this is where Mikey usually makes his announcement. The three of them stared at each other in silence. Mikey just staring at him while Draken observes Kazuo's features.
Kazuo anxiously played with his hands, trying so much to avoid staring at Mikey directly. Maybe just staring at him would offend Mikey or something,
"You.." Mikey spoke out all of a sudden. Kazuo snapped and looked at Mikey, "Why do you look like me?" Mikey asked in which, Kazuo just stared at him, dumbfounded.
"Dumbass that's a pretty obvious question," Draken says as he sighs, "You," Draken calls out this time, "Are you somewhat related to Mikey?" Draken asks
Kazuo shakes his head frantically, "I-I'm not!", "Then why do you look exactly like me?" Mikey said in a serious tone, "It would've made sense if we were twins separated by birth" Mikey says as he turns into his thinking pose, "That might be true. Hey, when are you born?" Draken asks
And that's where Kazuo realizes something. HE DOESN'T KNOWS THE PREVIOUS OWNERS BIRTH YEAR AND DATE! Kazuo starts to sweat profoundly as he looked at Mikey and Draken nervously. The two looked at him impatiently, 'crap!' he thought, 'I know that the owner had his birthday based on his memories, but I don't know which date!' he sighed deeply as he just risks saying his actual birthdate in his previous life. Kazuo took a deep breath and-
Suddenly, Kazuo's phone started to ring which made the three of them flinch in surprise. Kazuo frantically reached to his phone and thanked the gods that this phone call saved him from uttering a complete lie in front of Mikey and Draken. Kazuo looked at the name and saw that it was his mom, "I-I gotta take this hold on" Kazuo said as he turned around to answer the call, "Hello?"
"Kazuo where are you? you should get home now. We're going to the supermarket." His mom says through the phone, "A-ah, yes. I'll be home now. I just got caught up in some matters" Kazuo says as he took a glance behind him to where Mikey and Draken are, "alright, come home now. Bye," His mom said before hanging up. Kazuo sighed in relief. After this incident, he's going to make sure to hide even more. Just encountering Mikey and Draken in person makes him truly understand the reason why the owner of this body hid, "Ah, I'm sorry but my mom is asking me to go home now," He says bowing down. Draken opened his mouth and was about to say something when Kazuo shouted a quick 'bye' and ran away.
Mikey watched the latter as he runs away from them. He looks at him amused watching him till he's a distance away from them, "There's no way someone that looks like you would not be related to you somehow," Draken says as he was also looking at where Kazuo ran at, "This is getting interesting," Mikey says with an amused look on his face. Draken looked at Mikey before sighing in disbelief.
♡♡♡
Kazuo sighed as he lazily sat on his chair. It was almost lunchtime and he seriously was still tired from what happened yesterday, "aaaaa I wanna go home..." Kazuo muttered to himself as he rests his chin on his palm. He stares at the teacher with a bored look on his face, "psst- Kazuo" Kazuo looked to where the voice came from and saw his friend, Sotatsu(or Sota for short) grinning at him, " What?"
"Can u accompany me to the canteen today? I know u have ur own lunch, but Jiro is absent today," Sota said, "Sure, I didn't bring any homemade lunch today," Kazuo said as he remembers his mom telling him to buy lunch for the day.
The school bell rang and the two walked out of their classroom when they noticed the students crowding the hallways. Kazuo looked at Sota, confused, "What's going on?". Sota just shrugs as they both walk closer to the crowd.
As the two looked closer to what was going on. Kazuo's eyes widened as he recognizes who the center of the attention was.
"Woah, did Tachibana just slap him!?" Sato said as he looked at Hinata nervously. Kazuo loomed at him, shocked, " You know who they are?"
"Well of course! Tachibana's pretty famous and no one doesn't know who the infamous Mikey is!" Sato says to Kazuo.
Kazuo did NOT expect to be in the same school as Takemitchy and Hinata! Over the past few days, he didn't even see a single strand of their hair. Of course, he would naturally think that he and Mikey won't run on each other anymore.
The crowd lessened a bit and the two of them just stood there, watching the scene unfold. Kazuo snapped and pulled his mask up to his face, "Sato, let's go-"
"Oh- Kazuo?" Kazuo froze. Sweat starts to form from his forehead as Sato looked between him and Draken. Kazuo gulps as he tightens his hold on Sato's arm, "ow! Kazuo you're hurting me!" Sato whispered to Kazuo, "ah-" Kazuo then apologizes as he removes his grip from Sato.
Takemitchy turns around as he sees the same guy who saved him the other day, 'huh!? I didn't realize he goes to our school!' Takemitchy thought,
"Oh? I didn't know you go here, Kaz" Mikey says as he starts to make his way to Kazuo, "What the hell is going on Kazuo?" Sato whispered at him as he starts to feel tense with Mikey getting near,
"Oh, you're still wearing your mask too." Mikey says as he stops in front of them, " eh? Kazuo he already saw you with no mask on!?" Sato said, surprised.
"Of course! Now if you don't mind, may I borrow him for a little bit?" Mikey says as he just grabs Kazuo's wrist and starts walking away, "H-hey!" Kazuo calls out as Mikey just drags him away.
♡♡♡
"I AM SO SORRY!!" Hinata says as she bows to Mikey, "I must've misunderstood something!" Hinata says to Mikey, "It's ok, don't worry about it" Mikey says a little unfazed, "It was an amazing slap though," Mikey says as he touches his right cheeks. Hinata blushed due to embarrassment, "I AM SO SORRY!!" She apologizes again, " It's fine to do the best for the man you like but don't get too carried away," Mikey says to Hinata as he sort of lectures Hinata about the incident that happened earlier.
Hinata bids them farewell. Takemitchy asks about their date and Hinata just tells him to postpone it.
Kazuo quietly and slowly tries to walk away from the three when Draken suddenly grabbed his wrist, preventing him to walk away even more, 'Crap! I forgot Draken was also here' Kazuo thought as he just sighs in defeat,
"Y'know, why are you still wearing your mask?" Draken asks. Kazuo stays silent for a moment, "I'm sure you know the reason why," Kazuo says to him as he pulls his mask upwards.
"Don't you feel hot in those?" Draken asks, "Well, yes. But I have to do this for the sake of my normal school life." Kazuo answers back. Who is he kidding? No school life is normal, to begin with! There's always something crazy that's about to happen.
Mikey turns his attention towards Kazuo now, after talking to Takemitchy about something, "You're free to take those off for now Kazuo. I'm pretty sure no one would know once you get out of the school grounds anyways." Mikey says as he walks away from the school.
Kazuo contemplates for a moment before taking it off in front of the three. Takemitchy is still feeling surprised by the uncanny resemblance the two have while Mikey just smiles at him.
♡♡♡
The four of them went around biking. Mikey was tagging along Takemitchy's bike while Kazuo was forced to sit behind Draken's bike. (He's still a little shy towards Draken anyways)
Mikey starts talking about Shinichiro as Takemitchy just carefully listens to this. Kazuo felt a little sleepy as he feels the cold air surround him. Kazuo was known to love cold weather and the cold air for sure made him want to take a nap.
Kazuo hesitates for a second before just saying 'fuck it' and lays his head on Drakens back, and dozes off to sleep.
♡♡♡
Kazuo felt a light thug which woke him up. He notices that they're beside a river now and that Mikey was saying something important to Takemitchy, But Kazuo can't figure out what since he's pretty much still very sleepy.
"You're quite a heavy sleeper," Draken says. Kazuo then finally realizes that he's no longer on the bike, but now laying on the grass.
"You didn't even wake up the first time," Draken says as he stands up and walks to where Mikey and Takemitchy are,
"That's why I'm going to create an era for delinquents," Mikey says and that's when Kazuo realizes what's happening, 'Ah..' he says as he rubs his eyes, 'he's about to recruit Takemitchy'
"You should accompany me on that journey," Mikey says to Takemithy as he stood up, " I was pleased by you, Hanagaki Takemichi"
"We have plenty of guys that are good at fighting," Draken says, "But, there aren't many guys like you who would stand against anyone. If it were for something you couldn't just give up" Draken says with a small smile on his face,
Takemitchy looks at them both with a smile on his face as the two of them began to walk away, "Think about it, Takemitchy" Draken says to him,
"As for you, Kazuo" Kazuo snaps and looks at Mikey with a surprising look on his face. Mikey just stared at him before smiling at him, "You're interesting, so it'd be fun for you to stick around for a bit too" Mikey says as he finally walks away.
Kazuo stood there, dumbfounded, 'that's it..????' He thought. What is he even gonna do if he joins Toman? He doesn't know how to fight(despite his fast reflexes) and he's not smart to be an Intel or sorts.
Kazuo just sighs, he may never know what's going on in Mikey's brain. Kazuo looks up only to see Takemitchy staring at him, "A-ah, I'm sorry for staring.." Takemitchy says as he did a quick bow, "No, it's fine.."
...
"So..where do you live?" Kazuo asks, "eh?", "I'll accompany you to walk home," Kazuo offers, "Ah, no it's fine!" Takemitchy says as he shook his head, "really? What a bummer" Kazuo mutters the last sentence as he just walks in the direction of his house, "See you tomorrow, Takemitchy." Kazuo said, grinning at Takemitchy before walking away.
♡♡♡
After accidentally going back to the present. Takemitchy and Naoto discuss the stuff that happened and will happen. After their discussion, Takemitchy then realizes something.
"Hey, Naoto" Takemitchy calls out, "Do you perhaps know a person named Takahashi Kazuo?" Takemitchy asks and Naoto freezes, "Takahashi...Kazuo"
"What do you wanna know about him?" Naoto says as he takes a file out of a cabinet, "wait so you do know him!"
"Of course, why wouldn't I know him? He's put a big role in Sano Manjiro's life" Naoto says to Takemitchy, "I met him after saving me from Kiyomasa's beating... " Takemitchy says to Naoto as he stares at the table, "Are they twins or something?" Takemitchy asks Naoto, "It would be easy if that were the case." Naoto says, "But Takahashi san was born on April 20 1991 while Sano Manjiro was born on August 20, 1990. A 1-year difference," Naoto explains to Takemitchy as he lays down a file in front of him.
"So then, what's their relation towards each other?" Takemitchy asks as he read Kazuo's file. It states that the male currently resides in America and lives there with no other spouse, "It would be impossible for him and Mikey to not actually be related to each other when they look almost..identical!"
Naoto stops and sighs, "That...would be a long story.."