Putting your hand on your hip, you give Draken another look as he continues to sit by the chair next to the counter.
He's been bothering you about working for you for two hours now, insisting that he wants to be able to pay you back for the money that you used for his hospital bill a few months ago.
If it wasn't for Manjiro's big mouth, you think that you would've gotten away without Draken knowing. Then again, the kid's quite smart so either way, you would've had to deal with stubborn Draken. "For the last time, kid, you don't have to work for me to pay back the money. Knowing that you're actually trying to be safe and not get hurt is good enough for me. Now scram. It's almost midnight, you need to go home." You hear him huff as you turn your back on him to start counting up the sale from today along with putting back some tools that you cleaned earlier.
As you walk around the shop, making sure that the equipment is all placed back where it's supposed to be, in good condition and that there's no appliances that are still plugged in, you finally turn back to face Draken who has now decided to follow you around.
With how mature he usually acts with the other kids, you can't help but be endeared with this side of him, still a little kid even though he towers over you.
If Shinichiro was here, he'd surely tease this kid to no end with how persistent he is, unknowing that Shinichiro is just as stubborn, if not more.
"Then... I won't work for you... Just take me as an apprentice. C'mon! I'll help around the shop and you can teach me things. I can clean up, talk to the customers. I already know the basics, it'll be like having an employee without having to pay!"
"That's illegal, Ken."
"It's not if it's an internship!"
Letting out a groan, you rub a hand on your face, absolutely done with his persistence.
Clicking your tongue, you nod which earns you a triumphant laugh from the teenager. "Fine, fine! I'll take you as an apprentice but please! Just go home and sleep early!" Shooing him out of the shop, you quickly lock up, conscious of the time and how the kids must all be sleeping by the time you get home.
Walking over to your own motorcycle parked beside Draken's, you give him a wave before he drives away first. Making sure that he's safely turned down the corner, you start your own bike and head home, body starting to ache from the long day's work as you quickly reach the street leading to the Sano household. Seeing that all of the lights inside the house are already off, you decide to just head over to your own home for the night, not wanting to wake any of them up by accidentally opening a door too loudly.
You'll just have to head over for breakfast real early tomorrow.
Driving a few more minutes to your house, your eyebrows raise when you see another motorcycle parked in front of your car along with someone sitting by the door, head perched on top of your knees.
Warily, you approach the figure, eyes straining to see who they are until you catch sight of a certain long haired blond. "Haruchiyo, what're you doing here?" You hold out your hand, lightly tapping on his shoulder before pushing his hair to the side to see him slowly open his eyes.
Oh my.
Did he fell asleep outside the house waiting for you?
Helping him stand up, you immediately open the door, letting him in as you turn on all of the lights.
Watching the teenager slump on the couch, you can't help but frown at the obvious tiredness radiating off of him. Even with the mask covering his face, you can already picture the frown marring his face. Closing the door behind you, you walk over to him before gently removing his mask.
Setting it on the coffee table, you turn on the fan before heading to the kitchen to fix both of you a quick dinner, taking out a few instant noodles and some sausages from the convenience store nearby, a perfect comfort dinner to end a tiring day.
Once you made sure that they're cooking, you head back to the living room to see Haruchiyo pulling his knees to his chest, a deep sigh leaving his lips as he looks over to you. "Hey Y/N-nee... thanks for letting me in."
Shaking your head, you sit beside him on the couch and start fixing his hair, pulling it up in a messy bun with the hair tie wrapped around your wrist that you usually keep for the kids with longer hair.
Mostly Manjiro though since he never brings his own.
Once you're done tying his hair, you gently pat his cheek. "What would you have done if I didn't come home here tonight? Would you have slept outside?" Letting out a sigh, you stand up, pulling him along as you lead him to the kitchen before making him sit by the counter. "What were you even doing outside my house? Why didn't you just go home? Or you could've at least called me."
You continue as you turn to the stove to make sure that your food isn't burning.
"I didn't know where else to go... I ran away and my phone died on the way here..."
At the sound of his answer, your eyes immediately widen, getting whiplash as you abruptly turn to him at the news.
You may have not known where his older brother has been for the past years, nor do you know what Takeomi has been up to, but you never even thought that he'll let his younger brother run away from home.
Approaching him, you immediately look over his exposed skin, checking to see if he has any bruises. "What?! Why? Did something happen?"
Shaking his head, he pushes your prying hands away, a small smile starting to show on his lips. "Not really... it's just, why bother staying there when I don't see any of them anyways?"Even with the teasing tone in his voice, you can see something swimming in his eyes which makes your shoulders drop, the look familiar to you.
You've seen it somewhere. And you're pretty sure you had that same look a few years ago before you met Shinichiro.
The loneliness in his eyes almost screams at you as you look him in the eye as he continues to explain. "It's not like Takeomi's home long enough to talk to and Senju's been busy with other things to actually be able to hang out with. So might as well leave. It's not like I'll lose anything."
"Oh Haru..." You whisper under your breath before pulling him into your arms, hugging him as tight as possible which rips out a silent chuckle from the teen.
Rubbing his back, you let out a hum when he hugs back.
After what seems to be a few minutes of hugging, you finally let go. "Did you at least bring your things with you?"
Rolling his eyes, he nods over to the door leading outside. "It's on my bike. I didn't have a lot of things anyway so it was easy to bring." Nodding, you head back to the stove to turn off the fire and put the noodles in bowls and put the heated sausage on a big plate.
Hopping off of the counter, Haruchiyo helps you in bringing the food to the dining table, taking out glasses of water for the two of you as well.
Once the two of you have sat down, you point at Haruchiyo with your chopsticks. "Y'know, you can always stay here if you want."
"Yeah, that's why I went here in the first place. I knew you wouldn't leave me to die." He sounds so smug that you almost want to roll your eyes but the accuracy of his words only makes you chuckle to yourself.
Putting one of the sausages in his bowl, you watch as he takes a bite, smiling to yourself when he lets out a satisfied hum. "One day, you should make me talk to your brother, I outta beat some sense into him. He's still dabbling in gangs right?"
"I'd really enjoy that. You should beat him up real good like how Wakasa once beat Shinichiro up." He jokes which instantly brings a smile to your face, the memory of hearing Manjiro tell you the story is still strong in your mind.
"Did you hear that from Manjiro too?"
"Yeah, I heard him telling the story in school a few years ago during recess."
"That gossip..." You sighed out.
Continuing your very late dinner, the topic slowly moved to that of Tokyo Manji Gang's latest fights and other business. "So, you've been moved to the fifth division right? With that big guy Mucho?" Haruchiyo nods at your words, finishing off his ramen with a slurp. Humming, you set your chopsticks down, suddenly reminded of a memory due to that name. "Yasuhiro Muto?"
Again, Haruchiyo nods. "I feel like I've met him before..."
Then, just as you're about to let go of that thought, a memory of you picking Izana up from Juvie after he was let go pops into your head.
Among that memory, you're reminded of a few faces that you remember talking to Izana as they were waiting by the gate. If you remember correctly, Mucho was one of them, along with two brothers.
"But also, we actually have a fight- Hey, Y/N-nee! Are you listening?" Haruchiyo lightly nudges your arm, breaking you out of your stupor.
Looking up, you give him a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that, I zoned out. But continue. What were you saying again? A fight?"
Nodding his head, Haruchiyo takes a bite out of the last sausage on the plate then continues to tell the story. "Yep, we have a big fight tomorrow. The gang is quite new. The name is Valhalla and from what we got, they don't really have a leader or anything like that but the captains of Toman has a plan right now but they won't tell any of the other members, not even the vice-captains. They said that it's top secret and only the captains are allowed to know so I didn't even bother to pry. It'll be too much work."
Slumping against his chair, Haruchiyo finishes up his water, wiping the sides of his mouth before looking up at you, immediately noticing the furrow in your brows. "You good, Y/N-nee?"
"Yeah... just that Manjiro and Draken didn't tell me anything about this big fight that you're talking about." Letting out a sigh, you finish up your own ramen. "I even made them promise to tell me about these fights just because of what happened to Draken last time."
"True. The fights are getting out of hand recently. A lot of gangs are suddenly wanting to fight with Toman."
"Where's tomorrow's fight gonna take place?"
"Hm? Just by the junk shop with the cars. It has a wide area and I heard from Mucho that a lot of gangs will be spectating the fight."
"Is that so..."
~~~~~
Morning came and you immediately woke Haruchiyo up, pulling him along to the Sano household so that you can start cooking for everyone while the others are barely just waking up. The first one down is Grandpa who's a little confused at the sight of Haruchiyo in the kitchen but lets it go the moment he greets you good morning.
The next one is Emma who ignores the other blond all together and just helps you with breakfast. The moment breakfast is about to finish, you head over to Manjiro's room in order to wake him up.
Shaking his shoulder, you slowly pull his blanket away, giving him a few more seconds of warmth before inevitably ripping it off of his form. Almost in an instant, his eyes shot open, hands reaching out to try and take the blanket back only to groan when he sees that it's you holding his precious blanket. "Wake up, Manjiro, breakfast is ready."
Rolling over in bed, he lets out a groan before begrudgingly sitting up on the edge of the bed where you quickly move over behind him, hand taking the brush on his bedside table in order to start brushing his hair and giving him his usual style. The moment your done, he seems to be a little more awake.
Tossing him his blanket, you tell him that you'll be waiting downstairs before walking out.
Breakfast finishes soon enough the moment Manjiro makes his way to the kitchen, not even questioning why Haruchiyo is there as well.
After a hearty breakfast, Haruchiyo immediately leaves, saying something about finishing something for Mucho which leads to Manjiro walking you out to the gate as you're about to head to work. "Haru mentioned something about a fight you'll have with Valhalla later..." You nonchalantly mentioned, not at all thinking that it's some big deal but when you see Manjiro's reaction, your suspicions immediately skyrocket.
The blond has seemingly frozen in place, eyes wide in shock, mouth agape and hands immediately making their way behind him, looking like some guilty child who stole some snacks from the snack cabinet.
He looks exactly like he did years ago when he'd steal Shinichiro's snacks from the kitchen cabinet.
Turning around, you cross your arms which makes Manjiro sweat even more. "What are you hiding, Manjiro?"
"Nothing..." He says with such a suspicious look on his face that it almost looks funny.
"Are you sure?"
"... yes?"
Clicking your tongue, you decide to let it go, not wanting to push him further. Waving your hand, you let out a sigh before starting to get on your bike. "Alright then, I'll go now. See you later-"
"Takemitchy told us not to tell you about our next fight because he told us about his secret and said that you shouldn't be in our fights next time 'cause you'll be in danger that's why Ken-chin and I didn't tell you. All of us promised to keep it a secret from you." Your eyes widened, eyes immediately trained to Manjiro's guilty face. You don't think he even realised what he told you.
"Us? So it's not just the three of you?"
"The other captains are in it too and Kazutora too since he just got out of juvie the other day and told us not to tell you-" By now, Manjiro must have realised that he just spilled all of their secrets, his eyes getting even wider as he forcefully shuts his mouth with his hands, geet stumbling as he tries to get away from you. "You didn't hear anything! I didn't say that!" Looking around as if Draken or Takemichi's gonna show up in a blink of an eye, Manjiro looks at you with pleading eyes. "Don't tell them that I told you, okay? Thanks, Y/N-nee! Bye bye! Have a nice day at work! Love you! Bye!"
Right after that, he runs back to the house, leaving you confused by the gates.