As he silently walked home, Takemichi could not help but get lost in his thoughts once more. 'Twelve years from now, Hina and I won't be dating. We hadn't seen each other in years.' He paused in the middle of a crosswalk, 'I abandoned Meimei too, I told her I hated her. I hurt her to push her away. Even if I should be trying for my sister I'm not obligated to save Hina. Who's to even say, Mei-nee would accept my efforts.'
"I'm going to protect you, Hanagaki-kun!"
He remembered Hina's words to him, and felt tears well up.
"I gotta make sure you're alright. I have to protect you!"
"But... Who's gonna protect you?"
His dream from when he was knocked out replayed in his mind.
"But they..." The dam broke, hand clutching tight to his chest, as his other hand flew up to try and stop his tears as he cried. "They're not supposed to die!" He sobbed, remembering the missing part of his dream.
"I'll do it!" The younger Takemichi sobbed, stopping his sister before she could brush him off. "I'll protect you too, Meimei! Even if you don't want me to! I'll be your hero!"
Meiko stared in shock, at his bold tear-filled claim, then smiled as threw her arms around him laughing. "Okay! I'll protect my hero, and you can protect me!"
"Mnn!"
The siblings clung tightly to one another as the elder of the two rubbed their faces together, "No matter what, we'll always be together! Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
His eyes slowly widened though, as the memory faded as quickly as it came, and the familiar guilt for his past washed over him. "Mei...mei." Looking up he realized something, as tears continued streaming down his face. "I haven't met Meimei face to face... in years." Hearing the timer for the crosswalk ticking down, Takemichi's heart raced. Almost tripping over himself and his still slightly twisted ankle, as he rushed down the street. 'Home! I haven't been home in years!'
Left
Right
Three houses down
Left
It had been years since he had been to his childhood home, years since he ran from the only stability and comfort he had ever known.
"I HATE YOU, AND EVERYONE IN THIS STUPID TOWN! I NEVER WANT TO SEE ANY OF YOU AGAIN!"
"TAKEMICHI!"
"That... I really love ya! And that you're the best big sister, a guy could ever ask! And... I'm sorry for not saying it more!"
"... You spaz. You really had me worried there, you dummy."
Slamming into the corner that led into his childhood home's front yard, Takemichi gasped for air. Slowly looking up, as he noticed house lights still on... and like a moth to a flame it beckoned him close. 'Home... Meimei...'
Rubbing his eyes dry, he pushed himself towards the door. Stopping at it with his hand raised up, it shook. Mouth dry, he'd tried swallowing, using his other hand to stabilize his hand as he reached out, and opened the unlocked door, and stepped in. "I... I'm home!"
July 6th, 2005 Meiko
Taking a deep breath, Meiko quickly put aside her cell phone, as she began to make her way towards her home's front door hallway. 'Okay Mei, you can do this.' She thought, 'Just keep your cool, you know Michi doesn't respond well when you push. So let's try the more subtle approach this time.' Nodding to herself with a quick fist pump, she dramatically swung herself through the open door frame with a bright smile on her face.
"Welcome home Michi, dinner's-- Oh my god! What happened?!" And promptly dropped it as she noted her brother's bloody and bruised up state.
"Meimei..." Takemichi whispered, as his eyes took in the older sister he had not physically seen in so many years. 'It's her... It's really her!'
"How... when... who?!" Almost running to his side, Meiko hands fretted around his frame, looking him over head to toe. "What the hell happened?!"
Fearing where to grab, questioning if she could, and noting more and more just how dirtied and bloody he had actually come home this time. Meiko's heart plummeted to her stomach. 'She wasn't kidding.' Meiko concernedly realized, 'He really is worse tonight.' Eye's threatening to fill with tears of rage, her hands flew up to his face. Turning to glare and demanding an answer from the bloody boy, she froze as she felt his tear-streaked face, and met his tear-filled gaze.
Sobbing out loud, Takemichi stuttered out. "Mei...mei..." Before flinging himself into her arms, and pulling her tight into a hug as he buried himself in her shoulder. "Meimei! Mei-nee! Meiko!" He heartbreakingly whaled, feeling the strength leave his legs as he dropped. Dragging his sister down to their knees at their home's entrance as he clung to his sister's form. 'Meimei! It's really her! She's really here!' He whaled harder as he tried to bury his face more into her, 'I'm home! I'm sorry I ran away, I'm sorry for leaving you behind!' He quietly cried, unable to voice those words no matter how hard he tried. 'I'm sorry I didn't stay! I'm sorry I didn't protect you! Meimei!'
Feeling tears slowly streamed down her shocked face, Meiko felt her heartbreak, and pure rage simmered beneath her skin. Wrapping her arms aggressively around her little brother, and held him close. "Shhh." She shifted them, keeping him close as she rocked him back and forth, never letting him go as she caressed the back of his head. "It's okay." She whispered cooing, "It's okay now, I've got ya Michi. I'm right here." Turning her gaze away from the sobbing and whaling blonde in her arms though, her gaze became murderous and dark as she glared at the front door.
'And I swear, whoever did this... Is as good as dead.' She angrily thought, none the wiser on how much of Takemichi's pain and sorrow was actually from grief and guilt than any of the actual wounds he still carried. Nonetheless, she held him as he cried, she held him for as long as he needed her, and silently cried for him. Once his cries had subsided enough, she waited for the blonde to pull away.
Finally meeting his sister's gaze once more, Takemichi struggled to not cry again. Noting his sister now tear-stained cheeks as she gently took a hold of his face again. "Hey."
"... Hey." He struggled not to choke.
"Feeling better?" She gently asked, brushing away any unshed tear from his uninjured eye.
He nodded hesitantly, "Yeah."
"Do you want me to help you clean up?" He nodded. "You hungry?" His stomach growled at this, making him blush as his sister softly giggled at the noise. "Okay, do you think you can serve yourself and eat while I get you a change of clothes and the first aid kit?"
"Yeah..." Takemichi embarrassedly nodded, "Though I'm not a kid you know." He flinched as he felt her gently ruffle his head as she got up.
"Maybe to you, but you're still my crybaby brother."
Watching her walk away, Takemichi felt his heart start to soothe as everything began to set in, 'I really did miss you... Meimei.'
Watching from across the table, Meiko happily watched as her now bandaged and clean-up brother devoured the meal before him. "Wow, you're inhaling it tonight. Is it really that good, or did you forget to eat your lunch today?" Meiko teased, as Takemichi struggled to not cry as ate away more and more of the meal his sister had prepared.
'It's so good!' He mentally yelled, 'It's been so long since I'd had a proper home-cooked meal, let alone Meimei's cooking.' Swallowing, he sent his sister the happiest grin he could muster without crying again, "It's cause your cooking's always the best Meimei!"
Blushing at her brothers' sudden praise she scoffed, "Tch, don't think that just cause you praise my cooking you can get out doing your dishes, or that--"
"Done!" Takemichi suddenly exclaimed, cutting his sister off, as he suddenly stood up. "Let me do the dishes."
Meiko's eyes became wide as she noted the boy grabbing not only his but her finished dishes. "Michi--"
He smiled embarrassedly as he looked down at his elder sister, "You already put my uniform to wash and helped patch me up, and you worked hard on today's meal. So let me help you out, kay. I mean I do still owe you those two months of chores right?"
"Mnn." Meiko quietly nodded, turning in her seat to watch as her usually stubborn and slobbish little brother. Actively washed, dried, and put away not only his dishes, but hers, and the dirty pot she had left soaking while they ate.
"Hey! Do we have any dessert?" Takemichi suddenly asked as he turned to grin at his sister's still shocked form.
"Uh... Yeah, I bought some purin this afternoon after my parkour."
"Can we share some?"
Meiko actively stared at the boy as if he had grown a second head, nodding with a noise of confirmation as the boy almost seemed to obliviously go to grab them both some cups of the custard dessert from the fridge. 'He's... different.' Meiko couldn't help but think, 'Not in a bad way... I think... And it doesn't look like he's trying to force himself.'
"Here!" Holding out the cupped dessert, Takemichi waited for his sister to take hold of the sweet before now taking a seat at her side.
'But it's still... so different.' Meiko thought, 'And yet...' Taking a bite out of her favored sweet dessert, she happily hummed as she savored the creamy sweet. 'So familiar.' In her mind the happier days of her and Takemichi's youth passed through her mind, she and he happily sitting across from their parents back in their elementary days, as they ate this same dessert together.
Finishing the sweet at the same time, the siblings happily sighed as they simultaneously said. "Ah~ That hit the spot." Freezing the two teens turned their similar blue eyes to one another in shock, "Jinx!" They shouted pointing at one another, before snorting and laughing as they realized they had once again spoken in unison.
'It's so warm.' Takemichi thought, 'How long has it been... since I felt so warm and at home?' His gaze became solemn as their laughter died, 'That's right, even back then... this was my safe haven. Home with Meimei.' Takemichi thought, 'Even if it was hell on earth, I always knew if I just got home. If I just made it through the day, I'd be home and safe...'
Noting her brother's sudden shift to a solemn mood, Meiko's smile fell. '... It's time.' Looking down at her empty dessert cup, Meiko took a deep breath before she spoke. "So... You wanna tell me why you suddenly came home looking like a bloody pulp." She caught him stiffening from the corner of her eye, "Or maybe why you and the guys keep seeming to be getting more and more beat up, over the past few days?" Leaning onto their kitchen table, Meiko tilted her head towards her little brother while she rested it on her hand. "Well, Takemichi... I'm waiting."
Turning his wide blue eyes to his elder sister, Takemichi almost shook in place. 'She knows... Of course, she does. She knew back then too...' The image of his sister's concerned face, and angrily yelling at him back in those days flash through his mind. 'But I never told her anything about it the first time around...' He regretfully recalled, 'I'd banked on her prepping for high school entrance exams, and trying to keep her grades up during her final year of middle school to keep her off my back.' He thought, 'But she'd still tried...'
"Michi." Noting the darkening of his mood, Meiko tried calling out to him again. Noting the boy refused to meet her gaze as he looked down at his hands and lap. "Please... whatever it is, let me help you!" She firmly yet gently tried to demand, even removing her head from her hand as she slammed her fist onto the table.
'Should I...' Clenching his hands tightly into a fist, Takemichi almost trembled in place. 'Meimei has always been strong.' His mind recalled their youth and how she'd been able to carry him for the longest time over her back till he had finally outgrown her in height. 'And compared to me, she was always the more studious and quick-witted when it came to problem-solving...' He recalled how she threw her shoe just to stop their cousin from taking his bike, and how quick she was to beat him up. 'Hell, she was even the better fighter between us.'
"Kickboxing?" He recalled their mother exclaiming, "You let her sign up for kickboxing!"
"She made a sound argument." Their father nervously defended, "She swore it was just for self-defense!"
"Then why not Karate... or even Judo! Or--"
'Maybe I should tell her... Maybe she could help?' He thought. Nervously opening his mouth to speak, "I... it's a sorta long story."
"I have time." Meiko nodded.
"It's getting late, and we have school tomorrow."
"Nothing, we haven't done before."
"... I... Part of this is our own fault."
"Yeah, I can believe that." His sister bluntly replied, making Takemichi feel as if he were stabbed through the heart.
'Ouch! Though she isn't wrong to think that.' He mentally cried, before sighing to himself. 'Get it together man, you're stalling! Just... Just tell her what she wants.' Takemichi angrily scolded himself with an aggressive shake of his head. "I... You see... It all started when we talked to Masaru-kun." Takemichi began to explain, Meiko's eyes sparkling with joy as he started to open himself to her. "We were asking about his gang an--" She had placed her hand over the top of his tight-fisted hands and he froze.
A sudden spark blinded his sight, and a focused vision flashed through his mind.
Kiyomasa's bat slammed against the side of Meiko's head with a sudden crack! Takemichi and his friend's cried out in shock. He watched as his sister's body dropped, and blood began to fall from her head. Before Kiyomasa murderously glared down at her fallen form with a bloody nose, and split lip, and proceeded to bring down the wooden bat down towards the down girl.
"Die."
Flinching back, Takemichi lept away from his sister's touch, chair knocking over to the group as both siblings openly stared at one another in shock.
"Wha-what's wrong?" Meiko concernedly questioned as she quickly rose from her seat noticing the sudden paleness and fear upon her brother's face as he struggled to breathe. "Michi?"
'No.' Takemichi fearfully thought confused and disoriented with what he saw. 'No I can't tell her. I can't drag her into this!' He panickedly thought, 'She'll confront him!' He flinched back when she tried to reach out to him. 'She'll fight him!'
"Michi, calm down, talk to me!" Meiko almost seemed to panic too, noting how her brother's eyes remained unfocused as he stared at her.
"I'll fucking kill you."
'HE'LL KILL HER!' Takemichi's eyes shut tight, unshed tears brimming in the corner of his eyes. 'Or worse!' Shaking his head, he bolted and ran away again.
"Takemichi!" Meiko concernedly exclaimed, trying to run after the boy, only to hear the familiar sound of his bedroom door slam shut and lock. Unshed tears filled her own eyes as she stared up the steps, "Oh Michi... What happened to you?"
Upstairs in his room, Takemichi slid down the back of his old bedroom door. Clutching tight to his head, as he struggled to make sense of what he saw, and what he felt. 'Wha... What was that?! Was that my mind... Or was that a--' He struggled to not cry, the mere notion of his mind conjuring the image of his sister being battered, or that he'd somehow had a vision doing nothing to help salvage his frazzled mind. 'No... It doesn't matter what that was, because that was exactly what I wanted to avoid.' Takemichi thought, 'That was why I never spoke up. I didn't want to risk Meimei being dragged into my mess, I didn't want her being beaten or even--' He shivered, unable to finish that line of thought. 'None of us could.' He recalled the image of he and the rest of his friends swearing their enslavement to Kiyomasa and his group a secret and away from Meiko's ears. 'It was the one secret we were able to keep, it was the one thing we tried to hide up until I ran away.' Slamming his head back on his door, Takemichi silently cried, "I can't tell her...'
Back downstairs Meiko picked up the fallen chair Takemichi had knocked over as she silently stood in their home's kitchen lost in thought. 'Before he shut down. He'd mention Baka-Masa, and his supposed gang...' Narrowing her eyes, she grabbed hold of her cellphone and slowly began to make her way upstairs as well to get ready for bed. 'But... What does Baka-Masa have to do with him and the boys being beaten up?' Entering her bedroom, she closed her eyes as she began to undress, only to pause. 'Wait... just a few days ago...
July 1, 2005 Meiko
It had been lunchtime, and Meiko had decided to take a nap after she'd finished off eating and cleaning her bento. Even with the room abustle with noise from some of her classmates, she thought to try and gain some respite from a late night of binging movies with her brother. 'Note to self.' She tiredly thought, 'Don't get into a petty test of courage with Baby Michi, over the last bag of potato chips... I think my throat and ears still hurt as much as I feel tired from those horror movie binges.' She almost whimpered in her arms, ears perking up as a pair of males reentered the classroom.
"Did you hear?"
"About the fight clubs being run by that gang in Shibuya?"
"Yeah, apparently a bunch of guys from different schools participates in them for cash."
"Seriously? You mean there's gambling?"
"Yeah! My sister's boyfriend goes to the same school where the main directors of the fight go,
Shibuya Third Middle School."
She had drifted off around then, no longer hearing about the fight club. Nor caring to look into or get involved with it and its supposed gang connections. After all, it didn't involve her, nor did it affect her own life or the lives of anyone she cared for... or so she thought.
June 6th, 2005 Meiko
Eyes flashing open, Meiko felt the hairs of the back of her head tingle, "Shibuya... Third Middle School... That's..." Rage welds up inside her, "That's the school Baka-Masa goes to!" Shaking her head though she tried to calm her anger. "Wait, no, there's no actual way Baka-Masa could be involved in those fights, the guy's a total pushover in a fight! And besides, he's not that stupid to drag Michi-- wait, no he is." She angrily twitched as she began to pace about her room in only her T-shirt, biting the back of her left thumbnail she growled. "But you can't just accuse the asshole of anything without any legit proof. I mean, Baka-Masa, in a gang." Her mind conjured the unappealing image of her idiot cousin cowering and flinching away from Meiko at family gatherings. 'The guy's a total no-good wannabe gangster monkey-faced loser!' She mentally ranted, never having been close or even gotten along with the male closest to her age as they'd grown up. His habit of pushing around, and trying to boss her little brother around in their youth, having burnt any goodwill when he failed to learn from his mistakes, or even take responsibility for them. "Hold on." Grabbing hold of her cell phone again, Meiko muttered. "Emma says she hangs in Shibuya a lot, maybe she's heard something?"
Quickly typing a new message for the slightly younger girl, Meiko patiently waited for a response with bated breath. 'Let's just hope she hasn't gone to bed yet.'
To Em-chan:
Hey, have you by any chance heard any rumors about a fight club being run by a Shibuya gang.
Having been getting a drink before bed, honey gold eyes became wide, as Sano Emma almost spit out her drink as she saw the new text Meiko had finally replied to her with. From behind her the two boys that walked by the kitchen stopped, as they noticed her sudden coughing fit.
"Oi~ Emma, what's wrong? Did it go down the wrong pipe?" The smaller of the two asked, as his much taller tattooed friend came up to pat her on the back.
"Hey, you okay?"
Coughing up her drink Emma shook her head, holding up the universal sign to wait with her drink hand as she quickly began to type a response.
To Mei-chan:
A fight club run by a Shibuya gang! What are you talking about?
From Mei-chan:
It's a rumor I overheard at school, apparently, there's this lame-ass fight club being run by a gang in Shibuya. Specifically by some guys at Shibuya Third Middle School.
From Mei-chan:
I finally got my little brother to open up to me a bit before he shut down. He mentioned our stupid cousin, and a gang he was part of.
From Mei-chan:
He's a student at that school! Michi actually came back home bloody, and sobbing and crying his tears out to me tonight! What if he's part of a fight club because of that damn bastard and this gang!?
Staring down at the text with concern, Emma turned to the two males. "Hey, Mikey, Draken... Do you guys know anything about a fight club being run by a gang in Toman Territory?"
"A fight club?" The taller tattooed male known as Draken frowned, "In Toman space?"
Frowning alongside his taller companion, the blonde male known as Mikey walked up to Emma with his hand held out. "Where'd you hear this?"
Handing over her phone Emma concernedly stared down at the device as the two males looked through it, "My friend... The girl I told you about."
Perking up at the girl's words Mikey, hummed. "Ah! The girl from the train!"
Nodding, she continued to explain, "Her younger brother seems to have gotten mixed up in some things for the past few days since we met. He hasn't said anything, till tonight it seems, and she now thinks it may have something to do with a rumor she heard at her school."
"... Now that you mention it there have been some weird rumors floating around about gambling and fight clubs. Pretty sure some of Pah's guys even go to this school." Draken noted as Mikey hummed in deep thought.
"Is that so..." Lightly tossing back the phone into Emma's hands, Mikey turned to leave. "Guess we'll have to look into it tomorrow after school." Turning back to the surprised Emma he added with a reassuring grin, "Just let your friend know not to worry, we'll get to the bottom of this."
"Mikey..." She smiled at his words.
"Though!" He childishly pointed a finger back towards Emma, "In return! You gotta let us meet this girl! After all, any friend of my little sister is a friend of mine." He almost seemed to sing as Emma sent him pouted glare.
"What? No way! Get your own friends!"
"Come on! I share mine!"
"No! Let me have my own friends!" Emma shot back, as Mikey simply turned away with a wave.
"Yeah, yeah. Remember I wanna meet her."
"Mikey!" Feeling a hand be placed at the top of her shoulder, Emma blushed as she slowly looked at a tired Draken as he shook his head. "Draken?"
"Just let it go, Emma. You know how stubborn Mikey gets, once something's caught his interest."
Pouting once more she nodded reluctantly, "Yeah..."
"And don't worry about your friend's brother." Draken added, "We'll look into this rumor. If there's any validity then Mikey and I will put a stop to this."
Smiling, Emma nodded up at the taller teen. "Thanks, Draken. I know I can count on you two."
Laying unmoving in bed, Meiko jumped as she heard a text response alert go off on her phone. Picking the charging device up from beside her mountain of cryptid and yokai plushies, and pillows, Meiko's eyes scanned Emma's final text response for the night.
From Em-chan:
Don't worry. I've asked my older brother and our friend. They said they'll look into it.
Staring at the screen though, Meiko could not help but frown, 'I'm sorry Emma-chan, but I can't do that.'
To Em-chan:
Thank you so much!! Please tell them both I really appreciate it!
'I can't just sit idly by as a bystander anymore.' Flipping the phone shut, she placed it back down. 'I will protect, Michi.'