Comfort character:
"A comfort character is when a character, which can be from a TV show, game, book etc. makes you feel safe and happy when upset, sad, down etc."
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When asked to take care of her comfort character, what's a poor girl supposed to do with her heart?
I'm currently waiting near the apartment that Baji and Chifuyu live in. Extra nervous since I'll be meeting my comfort character very soon. If this was a peaceful encounter, maybe I could've shaken off the nervousness and pretend to be completely cool in front of him. But, it's not.. I'll have to somehow convince him to go to the hospital, that is if he has not already gone yet.
'With his face that bruised up, I don't think he'll come back home without going for treatment first..' I think to myself, while remembering how badly hurt he was in the manga due to constant punching from Baji.
As if to prove my thoughts wrong, at the exact same time, I see a badly bruised blonde guy, with blood stains everywhere. 'He's actually going to the apartment while looking like that!'
"Chifuyu-kun." I call out to the boy, in the exact way Baji asked me to.
Chifuyu who is surprised to hear a girl call his name turns around to look at the face of the person who called him.
"I was.. uhm.. Baji-san told me to take you to the hospital." I blurt out the truth, being unable to lie to one of the characters that brought me comfort in my darkest times of life.
He slowly approaches me, looking as intimidating as ever. "How do you know Baji-san?"
"I'm just an acquaintance..." I reply.
"He asked you to take me to the hospital?" He questions.
"Yes.."
"Okay then, let's go." Chifuyu starts walking towards the hospital, with no doubt present on his face. 'He is just that loyal to Baji...'
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I didn't expect it to be that simple to take Chifuyu to the hospital. I was waiting outside the building, looking at the slowly setting sun. 'Baji... please be safe.'
After getting all bandaged up, Chifuyu comes out of the hospital. "Now that I'm all treated, how will you tell Baji-san about the news?" He asks while making his way towards me.
"I guess I'll just look for him around the town..."
"..."
"Wait, you're serious?" He asks, looking a bit shocked.
"Yeah.. I've kinda been doing that for a while now." I say, not realising that I'm saying the truth without even thinking about the consequences.
"For a while?" He suspiciously glances at me.
"Aah! he didn't mind though." 'At least I hope he didn't.'
"When did he tell you to take care of me?"
"It was about a few days ago." I answer, as we start walking towards the way of his home.
"So he already knew about what was going to happen before..." He ponders. 'He's trusting my words completely..'
"So who are you to Baji-san?" He asks again. He's hitting me with a ton of different questions.
"An acquaintance?"
"He wouldn't tell you all that stuff if you were just an acquaintance." Chifuyu retorts.
"His favourite stranger.. maybe..? Though I did claim that title alone.. He did call me a stalker but that was in a joking way.. We address each other as strangers so saying that we're friends feels a bit off.." I start to ramble.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Chifuyu looks confused. "What the hell are you talking about!? Stranger? Friend? Stalker? Acquaintance? Which one is it?"
"I'm not sure myself.." I answer back confused.
"What a weird person.." I hear Chifuyu mutter by himself but it was loud enough for me to hear. 'My comfort character just called me weird.. ' I feel a tad bit sad hearing that. Looking at my expression, maybe he noticed the sudden change, "Shit did I say that out loud? Sorry, I tend to talk without thinking sometimes." He apologises.
'And now the tiny bit of sadness has melted away~'
"No it's fine. I can be pretty weird at times." I sheepishly chuckle.
"Do you like Baji-san?" He asks me.
"Yes!" I answer enthusiastically.
"Wow, that was quite direct. You're a pretty straightforward person, huh?" He looks at me with a hint of amusement in his eye, when I suddenly realise the meaning of his words.
"No No!! I didn't mean it in a ro-romantic way!" I clarify. "I just really admire him as a person!" 'I feel like I've said this line one too many times.'
"So you meant it that way." He smiles for the very first time. "I admire him a lot too."
"As admirers of the same person, let's work together Chifuyu-kun." I pause my footsteps.
"Work together?" He asks, only after a little while seeming to have noticed me stopping behind him.
"Let's bring Baji-san back."
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The next day, Takemichi joins Chifuyu, who explains to him that Baji joined Valhalla so he could get at Kisaki. He asks Takemichi to help him out, to help Baji, while also talking about a purple-haired girl he met the earlier day.
"She suddenly told me to work together with her to bring Baji-san back." Chifuyu tells Takemichi.
Being reminded of a certain girl who asked him to do the same with teary eyes, Takemichi asks Chifuyu her name. To this, Chifuyu replies that he forgot to ask her name, so he doesn't know.
"Did she talk about admiring Baji-kun?" Takemichi asks, and Chifuyu nods in a surprised way. "I think I know the girl you're talking about."
.
.
.
Together with Mikey and Draken, the four of them visit Shinichiro's grave. They were talking about the past with mixed emotions.
After being asked by Mikey about what he wanted to accomplish, Takemichi fearlessly replies that he wants to be the top guy in Toman.
Laughing at what he said, Mikey and Draken go on a separate way from Takemichi and Chifuyu.
Chifuyu jokes about Takemichi failing to read the mood while Takemichi just becomes sheepish.
"I'll help you become the leader of Toman, so help me out with what I wanna do." Chifuyu reaches his hands out for a handshake. Agreeing to help him out, Takemichi shakes his hand back.
"I'm countin' on you! Partner!"
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During this exchange, Aoi was running around recklessly in order to find a certain someone she's admired for a long time.
'Finding him used to be so easy, where the hell is he hiding now?' Aoi grumbles in frustration at her inability to find Baji.
Of course it was a given that she couldn't find him though. All this while, it was Baji who was waiting for Aoi to find him. Wanting to talk to her, one more time. Wanting to give in to her words and not join Valhalla. But he knew he had to do it for his friends. So now that he's decided to play the role of the evil guy, he suppressed his feelings of wanting to see his favourite stranger. That's why he stopped roaming around easy to spot places...
While running around like crazy, she spots a pair that she has decided to work together with. "Takemicchi! Chifuyu-kun!" She calls out.
"Aoi-san? Are you okay?" Takemicchi asks in a caring way, looking at her messed up self, panting after hours of running.
"Looking for Baji-san used to be so easy. Where the hell is he now?!" Aoi expresses her complaints to the two of them.
"You're telling me you look like this right now, because you've been running around, trying to find Baji-san?" Chifuyu asks, being unable to believe the words of the girl in front of him.
"Yes I am!" She replies full of energy but her legs give out to the physical tiredness and she plops onto the floor.
"I forgot to ask for it yesterday. What's your name again?" Chifuyu gently looks at the tired girl.
"It's Suzuki Aoi."
After resting for a short while, the three of them decide to formally be partners, shaking hands like in the movies. They decide to conduct a thorough investigation of the connection between Valhalla and Kisaki Tetta.