16. Concerned Confessions
"The aim of love is to love:
No more, and no less."
- Oscar Wilde
...... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....
Takemichi watched as you smiled while talking and laughing with the others and he felt tears forming in his eyes.
You changed so much those twelve years (y/n)-senpai, but in a way, you never changed at all.
"Takemicchi, what's wrong?" You noticed him, making him tear up even more.
"(y/n)-senpai," he wiped his tears," It's great to see you again!"
"Ohhh...sure," you wondered if what happened during Christmas had traumatized him this much. "You too, I guess? Is something wrong?"
You're always so caring, (y/n)-senpai, always worrying over others, Takemichi smiled, I'll save you, no matter what, so don't worry about it.
"So weird," Mikey murmured as he took your hand," Let's get away, wifey, before he rubs off on us."
You walked side by side along the narrow path, shoulders brushing against each other as the cold nipped at your nose and ears. Not a lot of people were here, still viewing the fireworks, and you shivered slightly from the cold.
"Wifey, what do you think of Kisaki?"
"Hmm...Kisaki-kun, huh?" You frowned while contemplating," Calculative, I guess? I don't know, maybe smart. I haven't known him long enough."
"No, I mean. Do you think he's a good guy?"
"Well, like I said, I don't know him that well but he's weird, I think. I won't say that he's a bad guy, but I can't say for sure if he's good."
"Chifuyu said something about you and Bloody Halloween," Mikey told you," He said that Kisaki wanted to make you scared of me. What do you think about that?... Were you...scared of me?"
"No," your answer came out too quick, too hasty.
'No?'
Your stomach became sick as you swallowed the lump in your throat. You had ignored this for months now, but when Mikey brought it up, everything you felt came bubbling up.
"Well," you glanced away from Mikey who stood in front of you, his eyes searching yours for the answer, and you felt tears forming in your eyes," I got scared of you, a little, and I wondered if I would ever be able to look at you again."
Mikey frowned as you thought over your next words carefully.
"But... when you held me in your arms again just after that, I knew that everything would be alright. I'm glad I realized that I don't ever have to be scared of you. You would never do anything to hurt me, I know that.'
"There's nothing to apologize for, (y/n)," Mikey pulled you in and hugged you, resting your head on his shoulders. "If it were me, I'd be scared of myself too."
"Thank you."
You were glad he understood.
☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆: .｡. .｡.:*☆: .｡. .｡.:*☆
"Tetta Kisaki!" Mikey called out as everyone became silent.
'Yes!"
"You're fired."
Silence.
Then the whispers rose up.
"Kisaki got fired?"
"For real?"
'"uh? But why?"
"I dunno."
"What are you saying, Mikey?" Kisaki asked, ignoring all the murmurs going around, "You're joking right?"
"I'm not joking here. You're fired."
"Woah. Woah," Hanma's voice came through the crowd," Hold the phone, Mikey. If you fire Kisaki, then I'm out too. Which means four hundred and fifty total members of Toman, the fifty former members of Moebius, and three hundred former members of Valhalla will all leave. And Toman will shrivel to a mere one hundred. You sure about this?"
"I don't care," Mikey replied coldly," Toman's gotten too big anyways."
"Ah?"
"Gotten too big?" Kisaki fumed," What the hell, Mikey?! Isn't that Toman's goal?!"
"Then...was your instigation of the Christmas conflict done to make Toman bigger?" Mikey continued as murmurs ran through the crowd. "You spurred on Takemicchi and the others and gave Yuzaha a knife, so she could kill Taiju. Mitsuya and Chifuyu told me everything. In order to make Toman bigger, I've ignored your underhanded methods till now. But that ends here."
"No!" Kisaki ran up the stairs as fast as he could," You'd grown weak! Taiju was a threat to Toman! I acted for your sake!"
"Hey!" Draken stopped him," Who said that you could come up here?"
"Shut up and let Kisaki talk, fucker," Hanma got in his way, fists blocked by Draken at the last second.
"Asshole."
Kisaki ignored Hanma and Draken as they confronted each other, focusing on trying to make Toman's captain change his mind.
"Don't listen to these worthless fools, Mikey," he was desperate," Aren't you going to make a new age for delinquents? Toman's gonna get bigger and become an organization that can bring anyone to their knees. And if it gets bigger, it's sure to breed darkness. And I'll take on that darkness so that you can shine!! You need me, Mikey. I am the shadow you cast. We need each other. So consider this, Mikey!! You can't achieve your dream on lip service alone!"
"We're through here, Kisaki," Mikey turned away," Your arbitrary decisions will screw up my dream."(A/N: Big words for a small guy👀)
"It's (y/n), isn't it?" Kisaki said, a smile that could make hairs rise spreading across his face," She made you weak, Mikey! You don't need her, you need me to achieve your dreams. She's made you go all soft, right? That fucking bitch! That-"
Kisaki was met with a kick to his face that sent him stumbling, and Mikey stood in front of him, fist balled up and eyes dark.
"It's '(l/n)-san' for you," he spat, walking away as calm and collected as possible, but he was burning up inside.
He heard Kisaki cry out his name behind him and Draken concluding the meeting, but Mikey was raging as he remembered how you looked that morning on New Year.
He never wanted to see you like that again.
☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆: .｡. .｡.:*☆: .｡. .｡.:*☆
"This concludes everything," the Principles voice echoed throughout the hall," From this day forward, you are students of this school."
"Yay yay yay!" (f/n) cheered as she hugged you," I'm so glad the three of us got into the same school together again. And Akihiko's in the same class as us too this year!"
"She's sure that a lot of things will happen this year since we're in high school now," Akihiko smiled and shook his head slightly.
"Too bad Mikey isn't here. He's at school right now too, isn't he?'
"Yep,' you sighed comically," I forced him to at least attend the first day. He's been busy fixing a bike with Draken, and they finished yesterday. He says it's a twin to his CB250T or something, but I don't know that much about bikes so..."
'You're telling me!" (f/n) agreed wholeheartedly,' When he gets into rants about a random bike he sees on the streets- even Akihiko can't catch up!"
"But this bike is special, isn't?" Akihiko joined in," Shinichiro found it, I think."
"Yeah," you were smiling now," He and Draken have been working on it for forever. I'm glad they're finally done."
"You would be," (f/n) teased, "That pesky bike taking up too much of Mikey's time?"
"Yeah, right," you snorted," I hope he focuses on his studies. Did you see his grade last semester?"
"Just means that you get to spend more time with him~"
"Sure, sure. If I see his face today instead of him studying, I'm gonna...commit a crime!"
But when the school day finally ended and you saw him waiting for you in his school uniform, CB250T parked beside him, you broke into a bright smile, but that wasn't going to stop you from bombarding him with questions.
"Mikey, what are you doing here?" You ran over to him, "Did you go to the entrance ceremony? If you didn't then I'm-"
He placed a taiyaki in your mouth to silence you, stopping you from getting another word out as he smiled.
"I did. You told me to, after all."
"But still," you bit the taiyaki, chewing and swallowing it," Why are you here?"
"Care to go for a ride?" He asked, grinning as he turned towards (f/n) and Akihiko. "You guys won't mind, right?"
"Not at all. Since you're done with the bike and all~"
Mikey gave her a confused look as you got on, but before you could properly seat yourself a voice could be heard calling for you and your friends.
"Leaving so soon? Why not check out the clubs first?"
It was Ikeda Manjiro, a senior two years above you and the student council president.
"Ah, Ikeda-senpai!" You quickly got off," Sorry about that, but something turned up."
He looked towards Mikey and smiled," I see."
"But clubs are important too," he continued, turning and pointing at Akihiko, trying to prove his point," For example, do you have any interests!"
"W-well!" Akihiko shot up straight," M-mostly movies and books...I want to become a filmmaker or something later in life..."
"That's exactly why you should join the photography club!" Ikeda's eyes shined as he said it, fist in the air as the three of you looked at him in awe. He then turned towards (f/n)," What about you?"
"Well, I want to be a reporter! What club should I join, Ikeda-senpai?" (f/n) answered eagerly, eyes bright and sparkling.
"The broadcasting club!" He answered matter-of-factly, and even you were getting pumped up. "What about you, then...?"
"(l/n) (y/n)," you smiled, getting ready to consider his offer when Mikey spoke up.
"(y/n) already has a dream," you could hear the jealous pout in his voice. "She's gonna have-"
"Mikey!" You blushed, covering his mouth as he shouted muffled words of protests," I'm not sure yet, Ikeda-senpai."
"Is Mikey his real name?" Ikeda asked, intrigued when he heard a boy who was clearly Japanese being referred to with an English name.
"Well, his Japanese name is Manjiro."
"The same as yours, Senpai!" (f/n) piped in, index finger pointed up as if she'd made the discovery of the decade.
"It is," he nodded affirmatively, looking at you again," Well then, what are your interests, (l/n)-chan?"
"I'm not sure. I like kids, I guess? I'm always taking care of my sisters so...I've gotten quite used to it," you smiled sheepishly.
"You could always be a teacher," he suggested, voice filled with enthusiasm," And teach and look after small kids!"
Your eyes widened as your smile turned genuine," That's a great id-"
"If you want to, go look at your clubs," Mikey started his engine up before you could say anything, his usual smile strained and forced," See you."
"Mikey-!" The rest of you watched as he took off, disappearing into the distance.
"I didn't intend for that to...happen," Ikeda trailed off, feeling bad," But I suppose I came out too strong, huh?"
"N-not at all!" Your face burned from embarrassment.
"We're gonna go look for the clubrooms," (f/n) and Akihiko slowly backed away, trying to escape the awkwardness.
"I guess you're good at looking after people, huh?" Ikeda made a weak attempt to throw light at the mini-tantrum Mikey had just thrown.
"I guess so," you laughed bleakly," He can be like that sometimes."
"I'm sure he got mad after you stopped him from telling us your dreams. Why was that? Did you have anything else planned? I'm sorry if I over-stepped."
"Not really," you sighed over Mikey for the millionth time," It's just this stupid dream we talked about; our future together and all. I haven't told anyone else about it yet, so I guess I was kinda uncomfortable when he almost blurted it out."
Ikeda smiled softly, looking at your infuriated self as you thought about your boyfriend's sudden display of childishness.
"That's not a stupid dream, (l/n)-chan," he said wisely after some deep thought," It's a very great privilege to have someone you can talk to about those things."
You glanced at him: no wonder he was this popular and well-liked, he was very charming indeed.
"Do you have anyone you can talk to about it then?"
"Not really. Like I said, it's a privilege," he turned and started making his way back inside, prompting you to follow him.
"You seem like someone people wouldn't mind sharing their dreams to."
"Really?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled playfully," Then mind telling me what your dream with that kid from earlier is?"
"Mikey?" You laughed lightly," Oh, it's nothing big, just staying together and getting ice cream every Saturday."
"I'd like to disagree again, having someone to get ice cream with every Saturday is a nice thought to have."
"Yeah, maybe it is."
Ikeda seemed certain of what he was saying; maybe you could call Mikey up and find a way to make it up to him, though that was a task for later.
"But is that all you want to do in life?" Ikeda asked after sometime," You seem like you have a bright future ahead. Do you really want to spend it...you know, just waiting around?"
"Waiting around?"
Unprepared for his question, you weren't clear on what he meant by that.
"I don't know, I just get the feeling you're waiting around for something to happen."
"Oh. Maybe, I'm not sure about that."
"Sorry," he stopped walking and slapped his hand over his head dramatically," I'm speaking out of line, just forget about it. The feeling hit me kind of hard, is all."
Agreeing to forget about it the two of you continued on into the school, but you knew his words telling you to do so had come too late, and that a long night of contemplation and thinking over his words lay ahead of you.
☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆: .｡. .｡.:*☆: .｡. .｡.:*☆