Takemichi balances a pencil between his upper lip and nose, only half paying attention to his math class. He's too caught up in a more important life or death mission than to learn about numbers and letters at the moment.
In order to save Hina, who got caught up in the Tokyo Manji Gang's dispute, he and his twin have to find its two leaders. They found one leader, Sano Manjiro. But unlike his twin, he has no idea what to do next.
"OI! You can't just barge into a school however you like!" Just then. Loud voices from the hall get his attention. "What school are you from!?"
The door to his classroom clatters open, and a head pokes through. Takemichi nearly goes pale when he sees who it is.
"Oh, there he is." The door slides open fully, and Mikey barges into the room with a grin on his face. "Let's go play, Takemitchy!"
Unable to speak, he lets Mikey drag him out of the room. Upon entering the hallway, he sees a bunch of upperclass students pantsed and laying half unconscious on the floor.
'Our third years!?' Takemichi turns to Draken, who's already standing outside next to him. "Uh, what's all this?"
"All this?" Draken looks towards the mess he and Mikey made. "They pissed me off, so I knocked 'em down a peg."
He then turns to the third years while they slowly start standing up. "All you guys lay down here on your stomachs."
They obey, not wanting to get punished by the two strongest and scariest people of Toman. "You're too far apart. This is gonna hurt you more than it's gonna hurt us."
Before they can utter another word, Mikey and Draken begin walking on their backs. With the guys being so far apart, they have to hop from one guy to the next, hence Draken stating that it was going to hurt.
'Yeah... The Tokyo Manji Gang is crazy after all.' Takemichi walks next to the pair, awkwardly holding his hands behind his back.
"I heard there's someone trying to take control of Shinsen," Draken reports, as the pair continue to walk on top of the third years.
"S'alright. Let's go knock 'em out," Mikey answers cheerily.
'Tormenting people is an everyday occurrence for these guys...' Takemichi glances nervously at them. 'To them, it's as regular as brushing their teeth...'
The three continue down the hallway until they reach the locker room at the front entrance of the school. Draken drapes an arm over Takemichi's shoulder, bending down to meet his level.
"You feelin' alright?" the lanky teen asks him.
"Well... It's so soon after yesterday," he responds quietly.
"You're free today, aren't you?" Mikey questions. "And where's Kano-chin? If she's going to be so protective of you, then she should come along as well."
"I'm not, uh, free. But I dunno where Nakano-san is... I think she's still in class."
"Let's go find her and hang out for a little while."
Takemichi pauses as he hears chatter from behind him. Some of the students are coming out into the halls to see what's going on, not making this situation any better. He hopes Nakano will come to the rescue, but then again, he's not too sure how that'll play out. After he saw her act the way she did the other day, who knows what she'll do if she sees Mikey again.
'Nakano might not come in time... But I can't waste this chance...' Takemichi regains his confidence a little bit. 'I have to get close to Mikey and stop him from meeting Kisaki.'
"Hold it right there!" Just then, someone yells through the tense atmosphere. It doesn't sound like Nakano, but rather...
'No-' Takememichi turns to see his girlfriend approaching them. 'Hina!?'
The pink haired girl is standing tall, a serious look on her face. She takes strong steps towards them, only making Takemichi's anxiety skyrocket.
"Who're you?" Draken asks as if to intimidate her.
"I'm sorry, Hina... Today is actually a little busy for me, so-"
Hina walks right past him and towards Mikey. To the male twin's horror, she raises a hand, and smacks him right across the face. The slap is hard enough to twist his head to the side.
The feared delinquent doesn't move after Hina walks away. Meanwhile, Draken is just as shocked as everyone else who witnessed the stupidly courageous act.
"Takemichi-kun." He feels Hina grab his wrist, and leads him away from the scene. "Let's go."
As she pulls him away, he looks back towards Mikey and Draken. 'Holy shit! We're so gonna die! Where's Nakano when you need her!?'
"You mustn't do what these people want," she suddenly utters to him. "I will protect you with the strength I have."
"Hina..." He feels her hand trembling as they walk off.
"Oi." Suddenly, another hand grabs her wrist. Takemichi looks up to see Draken glaring dangerously down at her. "You think you can slap someone and say 'see ya later'? Don't make me laugh!"
"What part of this is a joke?" Takemichi catches a glare from Hinata as she musters up all her courage. "Coming into their school and forcing someone to go with you? That's not the sort of thing friends do! Takemichi-kun has been coming to me all beat up lately. If it was because of you guys, I will not forgive you."
After hearing his girlfriend's speech, Takemichi moves on instinct. He grabs Drakens shoulder tightly, forcing the taller teen to look at him. However, he can't help his heart as it begins to speed up.
"Let go of her..."
"Whatcha say?" Draken bends down once again to directly glare at him. "I don't think I heard ya!"
'I...' "I said to let her fucking go!! You dumbass!!" 'Promised to protect Hina in this time!'
The vice-president of Toman lets her go, but his menacing gaze remains locked on Takemichi. "You bastard. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"
Takemichi returns an enraged glare of his own, except it's aimed at the floor in front of him. "I ain't gonna give her up a second time!"
Upon hearing this, Draken steps back and straightens up, a confused expression completely replacing his death glare. "Hah? A second time?"
"Awe... And here I thought we could be friends. Too bad." A smile appears on Mikey's face. "Well then. Since Kano-chin isn't here to protect you..."
He then turns to Takemichi, his smile disappearing in an instant. "How do ya wanna die?"
The male Hanagaki twin shudders. He's right, Nakano isn't here. 'But would she even be able to take him on if she was? Doesn't matter now, I guess...'
As the president of Toman makes his way towards him, his heart races as beads of nervous sweat streak down his face, but he doesn't stand down. "Just promise me... Promise that you won't lay a hand on Hina!"
"Hah?" Mikey then winds up a punch. "I don't give a damn about her!"
Takemichi shuts his eyes tightly as he braces for impact. But before it comes, he hears footsteps. Really fast footsteps, as if someone is running in their direction.
He opens his eyes for a moment, and everything is a blur. Someone hooks their arm to block Mikey's punch, and yanks him back. He's thrown into one of lockers, where he's pinned between them and-
"Nakano-san!" He can hear her seething, as she holds him against the lockers with an arm at his throat.
Mikey looks surprised for a moment, but then grins at her. "Oh, there you are, Kano-chin!"
"You mother FUCKER!!!"
With an infuriated scream, she winds up a punch and goes to strike. Her left hook makes its mark, and blood flies from Mikey's cheek. The same cheek Hina slapped.
Takemichi is awed, but horrified at the scene. His sister just punched Toman's president hard enough to make him bleed, and he didn't do a thing! He knows that Mikey's strong, but his twin never demonstrated this kind of strength in front of him before!
"OI!" Draken then runs up to her and wraps his arms around her torso. "The fuck do ya thing you're doing!?"
He pulls her off of Mikey, but it's not long until she forces her elbow into his stomach. He lets out a grunt of pain and releases her. She charges at Mikey once again, but in the blink of an eye, she's suddenly in his arms. Her wrists are secured tightly in his hands, and crossed over her chest.
He has a bloody gash on his left cheek now, but he remains calm. "Easy, Kano-chin-"
"SHUT UP!!!"
Nakano struggles against his grip, but Takemichi rushes towards her. "Nakano-san, stop!"
He grabs her shoulders, and looks her in the eyes. He just about shits himself right then and there. Whatever he's staring into right now, it's definitely not his sister, is it?
"Nakano..."
Instead of the impassive auburn gaze she usually has, it's as if there's a fire blazing inside her eyes. Even still, they hold a sort of darkness he can't describe.
As she struggles in Mikey's grip, it's like she's thrashing around like an irate beast. He knows that she can be aggressive at times, but this level of hostility? He thought yesterday was bad enough!
Takemichi forces himself to look for her, hoping that she might relax now that he's there. "I'm still alive, Nakano! Calm down!"
Her breathing is heavy, but gradually gets slower. She blinks once, and from the looks of it, she's returned. The fiery glare is gone, and she's looking at him with a softer gaze, which almost resembles relief to him.
Finally, her body relaxes, and Mikey lets her go. She looks around her, and his gaze follows as well. It's like the whole school is watching them.
"Nakano-san..." He gets her attention. "What the hell was that?"
The black haired twin looks towards Mikey, narrowing her eyes as if they're arrows piercing into their target. "He was going to kill you!"
As Draken wipes Mikey's face, he casually looks back at the angered twin. "It was a joke, Kano-chin, I swear! Like I was actually gonna kill him."
Takemichi sees her clench her fists, so he grabs a hold of one of her forearms to keep her from going on another rampage. "Oh yeah? And I could've killed you too! Why didn't you try to end me first if you're so goddamn strong!?"
"Pft." Mikey just smiles in her direction. "I know better than to hit a girl, let alone kill one."
Takemichi sees Nakano's face contort into confusion, but before either of them say anything else, Mikey continues. "So, now that we're all here, we should go somewhere!"
As Toman's president walks out the door, Draken approaches the twins, looking at Takemichi specifically. "Takemitchy, were you trying to threaten me?"
He lets go of his sister's arm. "I... I'm sorry."
"It's okay." The teen with a tattoo gives him a half smile. "Nowadays, there aren't any men that'll say that about women, are there? That's old school."
As Takemichi laughs nervously, Draken then glances back at Nakano, who's now much calmer, but her demeanor is now stoic and tense. "And you. You have some nerve punching Mikey like that. That was fucking reckless, but badass all the same."
She doesn't react or respond, so he walks towards Mikey, who's waiting at the door. "Were you surprised? It looked like you were."
Mikey smiles again, as he and Draken walk out of the school building. Hinata approaches the twins, and stands next to Takemichi. "Huh... Takemichi-kun? These people are..."
After some realization, Hinata runs after Mikey, as Takemichi and his twin follow behind her. They see her stop and bow to Toman's president, who still has his back turned to her.
"I'M SO SORRY!" Hina then shoots up, blushing in an embarrassed fit. "I must've misunderstood something."
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Mikey turns to Hina, rubbing a hand where his cheek is still bleeding slightly. "Besides Kano-chin's punch, that was a pretty amazing slap."
The pink haired girl bows again. "I am so sorry!"
"It's fine to do your best for the man you like," he then continues. "But don't get too carried away. Things would have ended badly if you'd hit someone who'd fight back, you know?"
"Yes!" Hina then starts making her way back inside. "I have to be going now then."
"Eh-" Takemichi turns to her. "What about our date?"
"We can postpone it for now." She turns to him and smiles once again, making his heart flutter. "Since your friends went out of their way to come hang out."
"Bye-bye! Next time, don't hit me!" Mikey waves at her, a friendly smile on his face as she bows once more and disappears into the school. "What a nice girl. It's rare to see one like that."
"Yeah," Takemichi agrees, slightly surprised by Mikey's statement.
"Be sure to take care of her." He then looks at Nakano, who stands silently while watching the two carefully. "Now, you."
As Mikey approaches his twin, he nervously watches. She doesn't move, but her gaze is locked on him.
"I'm sorry, Kano-chin." Nakano looks surprised for a moment, before she glares at him with distrust. "I didn't mean for things to get so hectic. I should've known you'd be so quick to protect your brother. You take this sort of thing a lot more seriously than others."
She doesn't say anything, so Mikey plasters on another grin. "Anyway, come with us! I promise I won't try to kill either of you."
Takemichi shares a glance with Nakano. He knows the mission, and his twin looks like she's a bit more in the right state of mind to think rationally too.
"Right then! Let's go!"
The twins start following Mikey, making their way from the school grounds. As they do so, Takemichi takes a glimpse at his sister.
'Damn, Nakano is much more terrifying than I thought... What else do I not know about her?'
━─━─━━─━「卍」━━─━─━─━
It's been a couple hours now, and the sun is beginning to set. The twins, Mikey and Draken are currently riding on bikes. Takemichi is taking control of one bike with Mikey on the back, while Nakano and Draken follow behind them on their own bikes.
As they silently pedal through a neighbourhood, Takemichi starts thinking about the gang, who's leaders he and his twin are currently biking with. They both learned of the Tokyo Manji Gang twelve years in the past from Naoto.
They're a heinous gang that will resort to anything. They're responsible for gambling, fraud, murder, rape, and likely everything else above, below and in between.
"Taking bets at this little underground fight club is stupid."
"I know better than to hit a girl, let alone kill one."
As Takemichi replays those quotes said by Mikey in his head, he starts to spiral into denial. 'Is this guy really the boss of the terrible Toman?'
"Um... Why were you pleased with me before?" he then asks out of curiosity.
"That's a stupid question," Mikey responds lazily.
"Sorry..."
A couple seconds of silence passes before Mikey breaks it. "I have a brother who's ten years older than me. He's dead now though."
Takemichi is surprised by this new bit of information. 'He had a brother?'
"He was a reckless guy," Mikey then continues. "He'd always calmly challenge guys way stronger than him to fights."
The male Hanagaki looks ahead and smiles fondly. "He sounds like a cool guy."
"You kinda remind me of him, Takemitchy."
"Huh!?" He almost loses control of the bike at that comment. "I ain't that cool no matter how you look at it!"
The smaller blonde laughs. "Well, it's true he wasn't as lame as you, Takemitchy. Maybe Kano-chin is more like him."
"... You're so mean."
The groups eventually stop to take a break on a hill that overlooks the sunset. The scene is peaceful, a stark contrast to the drama that unfolded at school. As Takemichi watches Mikey walk onto the hill, he stays behind with his sister, who hasn't spoken a word since they left the campus.
"This is an era when delinquents are called 'lame', isn't it?" Takemichi silently agrees, remembering the word being tossed around when delinquents were mentioned at the time. "In my brother's generation, there were quite a lot of street gangs in this area. There, you'd listen to your intuition and you'd act on it."
Looking towards the sunset, Mikey smiles to himself. "Everyone acted big. And all they did was fight. But everyone took care of themselves. What's so lame about that?"
He then sits down as the sky becomes a canvas of a beautiful pink to orange gradient. "That's why I'm going to create an era for delinquents. And you two should join me on that journey."
The twins both remain silent. They once again share a look. Takemichi studies his sister's face, but still can't decipher what she's thinking.
"I was pleased by you most of all, Hanagaki Takemichi."
"We have plenty of guys that are good at fighting," Draken then joins in. "But, there aren't many guys like you who would stand against anyone if it was for something you couldn't 'give up'."
Takemichi smiles and looks at Nakano, who is still stony and silent. 'This is our chance, Nakano-san.'
"Think about it, Takemitchy," Draken says, as he and Mikey begin returning to the bikes, leaving the twins with the beautiful sunset.
After watching the two current top guys in Toman disappear from view, they then start making their way home. As they do so, they walk side by side in silence so they can both take in what they went through today.
'Mikey is a delinquent... But he's not a "bad person".' Takemichi starts thinking to himself. 'In twenty-seventeen, Toman rams a truck into a festival and kills Hina, someone they have no connection to at all. At the very least, he's not the same as the boss of that organization.'
Glancing at the ground, he considers something else. 'I wonder if something changed Mikey...'
"I know what you're thinking." Nakano finally speaks up after hours of silence. "How are we supposed to kill Manjiro."
Takemichi is taken aback for a moment, but he can't utter a word since she's quick to persist. "He is much stronger than I let on. Fast with lightning reflexes, not to mention strong enough to restrain me. We're going to have to catch him off guard if we're going to kill him."
"Kill him!?" Takemichi yells, getting Nakano to slap a hand over his mouth.
"Shush. He might still be here." She seems to be unfazed by her own words. "Anyway, I could barely take him down back there. At least I got a chip in, but we need to think of something el-"
"No, Nakano!" He abruptly cuts her off. "We're not going to kill Mikey-kun! We can't..."
She looks at him with a glint of anger in her eyes, unsettling him once again. "And why the hell not."
"Because... He seems like a good guy..."
Suddenly, he's grabbed by the shoulders, and slammed against a nearby wall. He lets out a grunt of pain, wincing at the sudden impact. When he reopens his eyes, he trembles with fear when he sees his sister's windows to hell.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now!? You don't wanna kill him because he's a 'good guy'!? Do you even know what he runs in the future!? He killed Hina, likely hundreds of people, and he almost killed you! Not to mention all the vulgar crimes he committed! Don't let him manipulate you!!"
Takemichi winces, trying not to break under his twin's intense gaze. "But-"
"But what!?" Her voice only raises even more.
"But... Things could be different now. We're twelve years in the past, so anything could've happened to Mikey-kun." Takemichi tries his best not to falter under Nakano's hostile behavior, so he gathers up as much courage as he can. "We can't end him here, it's wrong! You'd be stooping to the future Toman's level!"
He feels Nakano tense, but she releases him. She takes a step back, hiding her eyes behind her bangs again. Her breathing is still heavy, however, indicating that she still hasn't calmed down.
"Violence and death aren't always the best solution. And if we kill Mikey-kun now, we're probably going to end up murdering an innocent kid!" Nakano tenses once again, and he catches her head twitch ever so slightly. "I know you're desperate to protect me, Nakano-san, but please, don't go to the extreme. Help me keep Toman from becoming evil in the future! Without killing anyone!"
Nakano slowly begins to relax, her heavy breaths and random ticks coming to a halt. She finally looks up to Takemichi, who looks for her in her auburn eyes. While they no longer look aggressive, they now look... Dead on the inside. He can't read her, but he doesn't know if that's a good sign or not anymore.
"Are you back... Nakano-san?"
She doesn't respond right away, but does after she starts walking the path home again. "Fine. But I still don't trust him. If he tries to kill you, don't expect me to not murder him first."
Breathing a sigh of relief, he catches up to his twin. "And... I'm sorry."
He glances at her, catching a look of guilt on her face again. "For slamming you against a wall and screaming at you. Fuck, that was so shitty of me. I'm so sorry..."
"Don't worry, Nakano." He places a hand on her shoulder, trying his best to smile for her. "You shouldn't have to be a part of this, but you're still here for me. Thank you for protecting me."
"Anything for my twin," he hears her utter, just loud enough for him to hear.
He smiles to himself and looks back towards the path ahead. But little do they know, they're missing someone very important right now...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Okay, damn...
I read this over, and realized how little I wrote of Nakano. But she was pretty aggressive in this chapter. The question is, how hostile can she get?
I dunno what else to say, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter! There's plenty more to come from here!
- tokyoavenger