There was an awkward air of silence as the moment processed for everyone. What Takemichi's friends had assumed was that since Takemichi and [ Name ] had seemed relatively close to Mikey and Draken, and seeing that they were gangsters themselves, they would share that [ Name ] was in a similar situation already.
However, they realized just how fucked things could get if Draken didn't take the information dump lightly. He could see this as them hiding her affiliations with malicious intent, which wouldn't be a pretty sight for anyone.
Takuya ignored the bead of sweat forming at his eyebrow as he let a shaky smile upturn his lip.
"Oh... he doesn't know?" He questioned.
Atsushi lifted his hand to cover half of his face as he turned to Yamagishi who was sitting beside him.
"Shit, were we supposed to keep that a secret?" He whisper-shouted over towards the boy with glasses. He only shrugged in response, looking from Draken and back to [ Name ], before he spoke loudly for everyone to hear.
"I mean, it's Draken, so who cares!"
Takemichi's attention snapped over towards Yamagishi as he let his irritation show on his face with the way his eyebrows were downturned and a frown stretched his lips.
"I care!"
Yamagishi looked over at him with a blank face before he gestured his head to the side where [ Name ] was sitting beside Makoto.
"[ Name ] doesn't seem to care." He pointed out.
Looking over at the girl, she really didn't seem to care. She only blinked slowly as her attention diverted to each person that talked as she listened silently to the dilemma going on in the room with an apathetic expression. When she made eye contact with Takemichi, she only shrugged her shoulders to show she agreed with what Yamagishi said.
Draken walked further into the room causing everyone to fall into a dumbfounded silence as if they had forgotten he was even in here in the first place. The aura surrounding him demanded attention, and from what Takemichi could see, he looked irritated from them either openly talking about wanting to keep it a secret from him, or the fact they were straight up ignoring him.
"Alright, alright slow down. Are you tryna' say [ Name ]'s a gangster?" He questioned as he glared over at the girl fiercely, the presence he was exuding similar to the one he gave off when he visited Takemichi at his school for the first time.
Takemichi moved to stand up, swallowing down the nervous lump in his throat as he inched his way closer to [ Name ] in case Draken would decide to suddenly throw hands. With Draken's attention solely on the girl, the four goons sat silently in anticipation since they couldn't come up with an answer for him. They were indecisive in whether or not they should say anything.
Luckily, [ Name ] wasn't intimidated by the aura and spoke freely, nodding her head in response to his question.
"Yes I am. I didn't mean to keep this from you, it just never turned up in conversation."
When a dry laugh fell from Draken's lips, the tenseness in the room disappeared as quick as it came as he grinned and shoved his hands back into his pockets.
"Totally called it."
Takemichi blinked repeatedly as he processed the words before his jaw fell open in shock, looking over towards the tall boy to see if he was serious or not. Seeing that grin etched on his face as he looked over at [ Name ], he knew by no means was he caught off guard and actually was prideful that he figured her out.
"Huh? You knew?"
Draken nodded. "We... ah him and I had thought about it some time ago and we figured as much. She's got too much of a hardened aura not to be one."
"Now I'm super invested in your story. Come, let's talk over some nice watermelon." Draken gestured his head over towards the doorway where a watermelon sat, having placed it on the floor when he walked in since he was too distracted with intimidating the group instead of showing the fruit off.
Cheers traveled around the room as everyone looked in awe at the large green fruit, knowing a sweet watermelon was perfect on a hot summer day like today. Yamagishi could already feel his mouth watering as he hurried everyone to gather around the table, moving aside as he called over for [ Name ] to sit beside him. She didn't hesitate and stood up while verbally thanking him, sitting in between him and Atsushi comfortably.
Makoto was disappointed he couldn't sit next to her longer, but he got up to find a spot while Takemichi left the room to get something to cut the watermelon with.
And so, the group enjoyed the watermelon as they talked about dumb little things off the top of their heads as they settled into a happy atmosphere. Though, Yamagishi was quick to disperse that atmosphere. He slammed his slice of watermelon down and perked up in excitement, suddenly remembering something, making the group look over at him in confusion.
"Show him the thing!" He said as he looked at [ Name ]. The 'thing' was in reference to what was etched on her arm, something she had shown them in the boy's bathroom the time they first met.
At first, confused glances were shared, though Atsushi perked up as he nodded his head and repeatedly poked her arm facing him that held the tattoo.
"Oh yeah, show him [ Name ]!"
[ Name ] nodded her head as she placed down her half-finished slice of watermelon on the plate in front of her. Realizing the shirt she was wearing wasn't what she usually wore, the arms far too stiff and constricting than what she usually liked, she knew she couldn't roll up the sleeves without it getting stuck at her forearm. She resorted to taking off the button up completely since it would be easier to just slide the sleeve off from her arm.
She began to unbutton her shirt starting from the bottom making everyone 'Oooh' and lean in, however wearing an undershirt, they wouldn't get the display they initially thought they were going to get.
Sliding the sleeve off her arm, the [ Color ] tattoo was revealed making Draken hum and raise a curious eyebrow.
He reached over the table, his chest pressing against it as he moved to press two of his fingers against her arm and rubbed harshly. Feeling the texture of her soft skin and noticing how the ink wasn't smudging in the slightest, he could tell it wasn't a fake tattoo, which made him whistle in interest.
"That's badass. What's the gang called?" He questioned as he leaned back and retracted his arm.
She folded the shirt neatly in her lap as she answered him without looking up.
"The Yaksha."
"Never heard of it." He replied suspiciously, his eyebrow quirking upwards as he skimmed his mind for anything even similar to it, but coming up with nothing. Which was unusual, since he knew about lots of gangs in Japan seeing as it was an essential for being in a gang himself.
Makoto quickly intervened as he spoke over whatever [ Name ] was about to say, unintentionally saving Takemichi from having to do that himself since he knew [ Name ] was a little too honest at times and didn't give a shit about people knowing about her circumstances.
"It's foreign and it got disbanded! She got into gang trouble and that's why she's living with Takemichi."
Draken hummed and nodded his head, never once taking his eyes off from the girl who didn't back down from looking at him.
"Makes sense. Didn't know she was living with him though."
Takemichi only sweat-dropped as he was in the same boat as Draken-- not really knowing she would be living with him either up until she suddenly decided to do so a few days after they first met. He couldn't complain after getting to know her though, and having her become a friend of his made him determined to save her life. Her living with him only increased the chances for the success in that since he vowed he would protect her.
Takemichi looked over towards Draken, who finally broke eye contact with [ Name ], and instead looked towards him as he leaned his elbow on the table and leaned his cheek into his palm.
"Anyways I know you wanted to be caught up on the situation with Pah," He trailed off. Takemichi slowly nodded his head in confirmation as he fixed his sitting position and gave Draken his full attention.
And so Draken would explain the situation with Pah and what had become of him. Though when Mikey was brought up and it was questioned on how things were with him, Draken became infuriated instantaneously like the mere mention of the boy was a sin.
In his fit of anger, he picked up his hand and curled it into a fist before slamming it down onto Takemichi's puzzle, making pieces fly in all directions.
[ Name ] looked over in pity at Takemichi's horrified expression, knowing how dedicated he was with finishing it and had spent hours placing piece after piece.
"Toman's finished." Draken declared as he glared down before he stood up and backed off.
He quickly stormed out, leaving a room filled with a tense and awkward silence as no one made a move to follow. After a moment of hesitation, Takemichi shot up from where he was sitting and quickly trailed after the tall boy.
"Hey! Wait!" He called, but Draken didn't even look over his shoulder as he went down the stairs and grabbed his shoes to leave the house.
[ Name ], Makoto, Yamagishi, Atsushi, and Takuya stared at the open bedroom door in silence, intending on letting Takemichi handle Draken's sudden irritation.
However when the two stepped outside, Mikey just so happened to be waiting right there. The commotion that would be a result of Draken taking sight of him would make the group still inside very much aware something had gone wrong as they scrambled up to look out the window and outside to see who the additional voice belonged to.
"Huh? What the hell are you doing here?"
"What? What the hell are you doin' here?"
Takemichi made it outside to see the sight while his friends and [ Name ] continued to curiously watch from the second floor of the house.
[ Name ] calmly opened the doors to the deck and walked out, the other four following her as they all shared worried glances between one another. Maintaining their distance and not interfering in the moment was probably for the best, because those heated expressions just screamed a brawl between the two was about to break out, and they mutually decided they should just stay out of it.
[ Name ] looked down over the rail and let a small sigh fall from her nose. She turned to lean her hip against the side rail while she watched with her hands crossed beneath her chest, knowing she would intervene if things got too far even if the others refused to.
The two blondes glared at one another as they argued, Takemichi's jaw dropping and eyes bulging as he held his hands out in front of him, wondering what to do.
"I came to see how Takemitchy's doing."
"Well, so did I."
"Huh? Takemitchy's my friend. Who asked you to butt in? Right, Takemitchy?"
Mikey looked over at Takemichi, who having been put on the spot so suddenly, found himself at a loss for words.
"Huh.. I, uh--"
Draken's lip turned up into a sneer as he quickly interrupted Takemichi from whatever he was about to say as he raised his voice.
"Huh? What the hell are you talkin' about? You're my friend, aren't you, Takemichi?"
Takemichi could only stand in shock as he swallowed the nervous lump forming in his throat, refusing to answer knowing it would make one mad for taking the other's side. Before he knew it, the fight began to break out to an even worse degree when he didn't answer and Mikey tried to walk past Draken to reach him.
"Out of my way beanpole, I can't get by."
"What? You out of my way, shrimpy."
The two began throwing Takemichi's stuff at each other and the boy could only watch in horror as his belongings went flying from one side of the road to the other, breaking and damaging everything they threw without any mercy.
After a while of watching them do that, Takemichi, in a fit of anger, let out a yell making them both stop as he began punching towards Mikey, who dodged each punch with ease.
[ Name ] sighed and shook her head, turning so that she pressed her hands on top of the railing and leaned over before her lips parted to say something. Before she could shout down at them, Takemichi tripped over his own feet and stumbled forward, hopping from one foot to the other while everyone watched as he fell and landed face first into a pile of trash.
[ Name ] pressed her lips back together before she shook her head in disappointment and turned to Takuya who called out for her. He said that they were going to head down and for her to come with them, to which she didn't object and quickly shut the balcony doors behind her as she followed them through the house.
As Takemichi gave an inspirational speech on how the two were being selfish and tearing Toman apart, he had failed to realize there was a large piece of shit on his head the whole time from when he fell into the trash.
When Mikey pointed it out, he had bursted out laughing along with Draken, the two unable to maintain their uncaring features as they looked at how foolish Takemichi looked.
"God, you reek!" Mikey exclaimed before he ran away with Draken to get as far away as possible from Takemichi while a chorus of laughter from the two followed them in the distance.
Takemichi turned to look towards his friends as he sighed, glad at least the two found they could get along to make fun of him at the very least. Though as he began to talk, he would quickly cut himself off as he noticed what exactly his friends were doing.
"What am I supposed to--"
The four boys decided to abandon [ Name ] there and were sneaking off to get away from Takemichi, and when he turned, they all began yelling at once as they broke out into a sprint down the road.
"Shit!"
"Gross!"
"Run away!!"
Takemichi grew an angry tic mark as he watched their backs grow smaller, his voice erupting from his throat loudly out of irritation.
"Come back here dammit!"
As Takemichi turned to look at [ Name ], she quickly looked away so he wouldn't see her struggling to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Her shoulders bounced lightly, though she tried to hide any signs of amusement from him. He could clearly see it though and felt even more irritated that even she would find his misfortune funny.
"I..." She coughed as she steadied her voice. "—I will prepare a shower for you," She offered as her voice cracked slightly from holding back her laugh.
She had only offered so that she could get away knowing she would make the teasing worse if she broke and laughed loudly, so she quickly shuffled inside and to the bathroom. Once that door shut behind her, Takemichi walked inside to get a change of clothes and could hear the muffled and distant sounds of bubbly laughter that she wanted to contain.
He sighed and shook his head back and forth, though hearing her laughter was different then hearing the other's. That was because he didn't hear her laugh often; he almost thought she was incapable of it. Many of the times she held a sad and distant look, but he was somewhat glad that a giant turd managed to find its home on his head if it eased the tension and showed him a lighter side of [ Name ].