Valhalla's leader was Mikey. Valhalla was a gang created for Mikey. 12 years ago, on October 31st, the Bloody Halloween, Valhalla took over Toman, and a new Tokyo Manji Gang was created with Valhalla as its parent organization. That's the current Toman now. Toman suffered its first defeat that day. It's Mikey's fault that Toman lost. That day... Why didn't I realize it sooner? Mikey was just a 15-year-old kid with an enormous cross to bear. That day Mikey attacked Kazutora and killed him. Mikey didn't get arrested. Because... Kisaki had prepared him a decoy. Since then Mikey's heart has fallen into darkness. Valhalla took over Toman. With Mikey as the Commander and Tetta Kisaki as the acting Commander, they grew into a huge organization. Thinking back on it now, Kisaki joined Toman because he had his sights set on Mikey from the start. Imagine yourself in Mikey's position. Can you be sure you can stop yourself from killing Kazutora? He is a guy who killed his brother. And on that day... Baji was killed in front of his eyes and Baji's death is the reason why Nana left Toman for good and never came back. As far as I know, after her middle school graduation, she left Shibuya and went to live with some cousins of hers from her father's side of the family. She cut off all sorts of contact with us and that was the last time any of us saw Nana before she disappeared in thin air.
Nana's POV (October 30th, 2005, 8:00 PM)
"So, Chifuyu and Takemichi came to talk to you this morning, huh?" I asked the long-haired ravenette boy who was sitting right beside me in front of Shinichiro's grave before he simply hummed in response.
"Chifuyu's smart." Keisuke pointed out in a serious tone. "I knew something like this was gonna happen."
"Chifuyu's not smart, he's just perceptive. If he's smart, then I'm Albert Einstein." I countered back with a small smirk and Keisuke rolled his eyes at me in a playful manner.
Ever since Keisuke left Toman and joined Valhalla, it got difficult for me to keep in contact with him, especially talking to him in person because wherever he went he was either accompanied by Kazutora or Hanma or maybe even both of them. The only way was left to talk to Keisuke face-to-face was at school but otherwise, it was either late-night phone calls or text messages. So it was a relief for me that I was able to speak to him in the open like this without anyone noticing or spying on us. On top of that, we were at the cemetery in the nighttime, so the darkness of the night played a huge role in hiding us from the naked eyes of humans.
"But you're right though... Chifuyu, Takemichi, and I went to meet Osanai at his workplace to do some digging on Kisaki." I added.
"What did you find?" Keisuke asked, furrowing his eyebrows a bit and that's when I started to spill everything to him.
"Kisaki was the one who put Osanai in power and using Osanai, he started to instigate everything from behind the curtains. Kisaki was the one who sent his men to beat up Pah's friends and that led Pah to the edge. He used Peh for the conflict on August 3rd and he manipulated Kiyomasa to kill Ken-chan. After that, he approached Manjiro and got to his good side by bashing Osanai, saying that it was all Osanai's fault. And then in the next part, you already know what happened. Kisaki offered a deal to Manjiro regarding Pah and in exchange, he wanted the position of the 3rd Division captain." I went on while Keisuke simply stared at me with wide eyes in shock.
"Kisaki did all of that...?" he trailed off and I nodded my head at him in response.
"Not just that... Kisaki's new partner in crime is Shuji Hanma... Chifuyu and I assume that Kisaki is the one who's leading Valhalla." I added, leaving Keisuke even more shocked. "I mean think about it, Keisuke... No one knows who the Commander of Valhalla is. Hanma is the Vice-Commander and he's working with Kisaki. After everything Kisaki has done up until now, I won't be surprised if he turns out to be the leader of Valhalla as well..."
"You're not wrong though..." Keisuke muttered, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.
After that, for a moment a comfortable silence fell between the two of us before I spoke up again.
"You know, Manjiro assigned Takemichi to bring you back to Toman..." I mumbled out and this caused Keisuke to raise an eyebrow at me. "Did Takemichi say anything to you today?"
"Now that I think about it... that twerp did say something really weird..." he trailed off in a daze and I gave him a confused look. "He said - Please make it through tomorrow alive. Please don't die. Because Nana-chan and Mikey-kun will be really sad... something like that."
First Ken-chan and now Keisuke... that's weird... Why does it feel like Takemichi always knows that something bad is going to happen to one of us... Like at first, he was against the whole idea of going into a conflict with Moebius... I remember Takemichi acting really strange when I asked him why we can't fight them... Then he was hellbound to keep Ken-chan protected from Kiyomasa during the August 3rd fight... And now he's saying this to Keisuke... as if he knows that something bad's gonna happen to Keisuke tomorrow... If that's what it is, then I'll definitely keep an extra eye on Keisuke tomorrow... just in case nothing bad happens to him...
"So what's your plan tomorrow?" I asked and Keisuke looked over at me again.
"Kill Kisaki." he replied in a firm tone.
"You can't be serious now." I stated, raising an eyebrow.
"I am serious, Nana." he huffed and I rolled my eyes at him.
"You'll go to jail if you literally kill Kisaki, you moron. And this will make Ryoko-san cry again." I pointed out before noticing how Keisuke's eyes softened at the sight of me.
"And you'll not?" he asked and I gave him a confused look. "You'll not cry for me if I go to jail?"
"No. Why would I cry for you? My tears are too precious to get wasted like that." I responded back sassily, causing Keisuke to let out an amused chuckle before he leaned to my side and rested his head on my shoulder.
"And here I thought you'll shade your tears for me, even if it's just a single drop." he sighed in a dramatic way, slightly shaking his head and my eyes immediately softened at his words.
I can burn down the whole world for you, Keisuke... You're just that precious to me... Even I don't know myself what I'll do if something bad happens to you... So tomorrow Keisuke... better not die on me, my beloved arsonist...
October 31st, 2005; The Bloody Halloween
Looking around at my surrounding, I noticed the abandoned car lot was crowded with delinquents from all over the city, all here to watch the fight between Toman and Valhalla from the sidelines and this was because they were all aware that the winner of today's fight would be one step closer to running Tokyo. While my gang was getting ready to step onto the battlefield through the front entrance, I carefully made my way toward the viewing gallery (a mountain/pile of broken-abandoned cars) where the spectators were at. When I reached my destination, I noticed two familiar faces sitting on the rooftop of a broken car with bored looks on their faces.
"Didn't expect you morons to be here as well..." I called out in a sassy tone causing those two familiar faces to turn around and look at me. "Could have given me a call at the very least if you guys were dropping by."
"Nana..." the one with two pigtail braids, colored blonde-black, acknowledged my presence first with a crooked smirk on his face.
"It's been a while, pipsqueak." the other one with neckline-length blond-blue hair wearing glasses greeted me in a monotone yet taunting voice, and hearing his tone had me the urge to smack him right in the face.
"Bastard, I'm already 5'5" tall and will be turning 15 this upcoming December. I'm still growing!" I snarled out, kicking the glasses guy on the legs while the braided one chuckled out loud at my words.
"Ouch! That hurts, you damn yakuza!" the glasses hissed out in pain with a frown on his face, throwing me a dirty glare. "You're too violent for being a woman."
"Say the guy who's a sadist and finds joy in fights." I taunted out, rolling my eyes before making my way and taking a seat between those two men.
The two men sitting on either side of me were the Haitani brothers - Ran Haitani and Rindo Haitani, the infamous delinquent brother duo who ruled over the Roppongi district in Tokyo. Ran (with pigtail braids) was the older brother while Rindo (with glasses) was the younger one.
Ran was a lanky build with a small face and purple downturned eyes, blond eyebrows, and a thin mouth. His shoulder-length hair is alternately dyed in the colors of black and blond, with his roots and their end sections black and the midsection blond. Ran usually liked styling his hair in two neatly-woven pigtail braids like how he had them now. Rindo on the other hand was of average height and lean build with neckline-length blond wavy hair with light blue streaks in them, styled in a curtain that he often wore down. He had purple downturned eyes and blond eyebrows while he frequently wore a pair of circular glasses.
Ran was naturally whimsical toward others which made him inscrutable. He was also independent in his own right and only held regard for his younger brother Rindo who he was governing the district of Roppongi with. This showed the limitations of Ran's obedience and respect, for he and his brother as a collective duo were widely known for their supreme authority in Roppongi for the majority of their childhood, hence his nescience to shouldering orders from a superior and complying with them.
Rindo on the other hand was sadistic. He found joy in fights and had no trouble inflicting injury of any degree, which was the main reason why he landed himself in a juvenile detention center at a young age. Although sometimes he was perceived as the weaker brother by others, Rindo still took great pride in what he and his brother were capable of since they were widely recognized for their authority and fighting capabilities as a duo. Rindo was also blunt and preferred to keep more of a stoic facade in comparison to his brother. He would also make snarky remarks and ridicule his enemies during fights.
The Haitani brothers didn't have a gang and they worked alone. However, if they called for delinquents they could gather 100 men with a single call. These two brothers were like celebrities in Roppongi and so back in 2000 when Ran was only 13 while Rindo was only 12, the captain and vice-captain of Roppongi Kyougoku aka Max Maniacs which was the largest gang in Tokyo at that time decided to pick a one-on-one fight with the Haitani brothers and the event was entitled as "Roppongi Battle of the Ashes".
When the fight started, Ran took out the captain with ease in only one hit, and then he immediately went after the vice-captain who was fighting against Rindo. And as Rindo locked down the joints of the vice-captain, Ran kept on beating their opponent in the face until he was severely injured and passed out. The vice-captain suffered heavy injuries and was taken to the hospital after the battle ended but unfortunately, he wasn't able to survive.
After that, even without having their own gang, the Haitani brothers ruled the entire district of Roppongi. They were so strong that they could rule an entire district all by themselves and that's why they would always say that they didn't need a gang. However later, they eventually went into a juvenile detention center because of the crimes they committed and it wasn't that long since they came out of juvie, probably a year or two maybe.
"A little birdie told me that your Kei-chan left Toman for Valhalla." Ran sang out into my ears, draping an arm over my shoulder but I quickly swatted him away from me as if he was some sort of disease.
"Don't touch me, you idiot. And no, Keisuke didn't betray Toman. There's a lot going on underneath the surface..." I grumbled in a low tone, causing Ran to grin and Rindo to roll his eyes at me in response.
"Looks like it's party time." a voice spoke up and we turned our attention to the battlefield.
Marching to the center of the area came the commander of the Ikebukuro Criminal Black Members, Hansen.
"Toman and Valhalla ain't shit." He added with a cocky grin. "I'll be the one overseeing today's fight. The name's Hansen, and I'm from the Ikebukuro Criminal Black Members."
"Is he supposed to be the referee? What is this? A national-level championship for delinquents and shit?" I spoke out loud deadpanning, causing Ran to chuckle out in amusement while Rindo kept a straight face as usual. "Why the fuck do we even have a referee anyway?"
"You guys ready?!" Hansen yelled loudly. "Let's bring out the stars for today!"
One of the gates of the lot opened, revealing Toman, who stood in their glory, dressed in their black uniforms.
"Tokyo Manji Gang!"
The other side opened a second later, and standing across from Toman was their opponent, Valhalla.
"Valhalla!"
"Hansen-kun. Thanks for agreeing to oversee this today..." Manjiro stated calmly, standing in front of his gang.
"If this fight sucks, I'm taking you both down." Hansen huffed.
A representative from both teams was to meet in the middle before the fight would begin and in this case, it would be Kazutora and Draken who would talk over negotiation on how this fight would go down.
"A five-on-five with your best guys... Or an all-out melee with everyone. What do you guys wanna do?" Hansen asked, putting down the options.
"Valhalla brought this fight to us. You guys decide, Kazutora." Draken remarked.
"Huh?" Kazutora asked, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.
"We only have one condition - Keisuke Baji's return. If Toman wins this battle, we'll be taking Baji back. That's all." Draken mentioned with all seriousness.
"Huh? Baji came to us on his own. There's nothing to return." Kazutora responded back with a smirk.
"We'll be taking Baji back. That's all." Draken reaffirmed, intending for Kazutora to oblige the condition.
Kazutora found it offensive that Draken dared to provoke him in a threatening way.
"You jackass..." He snarled out and got a fist ready, attempting to contain his anger. "Bring it on."
Hansen noticed this and spoke up again.
"Hey, you guys gonna fight he-"
But he got cut off immediately by Kazutora when the latter threw a sucker punch to his face, then on the stomach. He let out a grunt lowly at the impact of Kazutora's fist before falling to his side, trembling in pain.
"Did he just seriously punch the referee?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at his antics.
"Give me a break..." Kazutora stated as he strained a wide smile. "Overseeing this fight? Conditions? You guys here to play house or some shit? We came here to beat the shit outta you until you're dead!"
This was more than enough to signal the start of the melee fight. No one looked like they were gonna back down. This was legit.
"Wanna get shit started already, Mikey?" Hanma taunted Manjiro and this pissed off the latter.
"Let's go, Toman!" Manjiro exclaimed before his comrades and underlings accompanied him in the upcoming fight, more than determined to obey him, per usual.
"Yeah!!!"
And so began the melee brawl between the Tokyo Manji Gang and Valhalla. Neither group intended to hold back, nor was a coward. Because whoever would win this fight would gain a step higher to conquering Tokyo. One would be crazy to back down from an opportunity like that. The Division captains and vice-captains of Toman were easily knocking down the Valhalla people, except for poor Takemichi who was panicking and almost shitting his pants in the middle of the brawl.
"What the fuck is he even doing?" I mumbled out, deadpanning when I saw him getting punched across the face by someone from Valhalla and then later turning my attention to somewhere else.
I noticed Kazutora running forward, holding back his dominant fist so that he could land the first blow on Toman's Commander, Manjiro Sano.
"Die!" He exclaimed out of bloodlust. "Mikey!"
But when he reached him, his punch got deflected by a firm arm that belonged to Draken while Manjiro remained unfazed.
"Like I'd ever let you lay a finger on Mikey!" Draken stated.
"Draken?!" Kazutora irked.
A second after this, Draken jerked his head over his shoulder and removed his arm from Kazutora's fist. He crossed his arms over his upper body and face, attempting to cancel out the kick that Hanma aimed at him. In the end, he slid backward, now a yard away from Kazutora and Manjiro.
"You get to deal with me, Draken." Hanma cackled, exchanging his signature grin at Draken.
"Bring it on, Hanma." Draken challenged, already expecting this to come about.
"I'm leaving Mikey to you, Kazutora." Hanma grinned at his teammate before glancing back at Draken. "You better entertain me, Vice Commander."
"I'm thrilled. I don't remember the last time I got to go all-out." Draken replied while cracking the knuckles of his hands.
"Mikey!" Kazutora called out, his bloodlust only grew by the second. "I've been waiting for this day!"
As much as Manjiro wanted to believe that there was some ounce of good within Kazutora, he knew he had to serve his responsibilities as the commander. Even if he had to fight his own friend to achieve his dream, he'd do it. Though it'd not like he forgave Kazutora for the incident that involved his beloved older brother.
"I'm not gonna hold back, Kazutora." Manjiro responded back in a firm tone.
Meanwhile, Toman's leaders were handling their own, taking down each member of Valhalla, one by one, at their own pace.
"Mitsuya, you okay?" Draken called out after giving a Valhalla member a sucker punch to the face.
"Yup!" Mitsuya replied before taking down a Valhalla member with ease.
"There are too many of them." Draken pointed out, analyzing their current circumstances.
"Yeah..." Mitsuya admitted. "We're already at a disadvantage with Toman having 150 and Valhalla having 300. But they're older than us, so they're bigger and more powerful, too... Even if the captains hold their ground, our other guys are getting owned."
And just then, a Toman member fell on his butt, defenseless, and as a Valhalla member was about to attack him, Draken came through and prevented the Valhalla member from harming his underling, using one arm to deflect it, and the other to punch him down in one go.
"Get a grip." Draken ordered his underling. "If you're panicking, you won't be able to win a fight even if you could've."
"Damn it... I wish I could do something, too. But we just can't fight like you or Mikey, Draken! I'm sorry..." the underling stated as he tried his hardest not to cry.
"I'm gonna protect all of you..." Draken assured him while Hanma kept his distance from the Vice Commander, hiding behind two of his underlings, his cocky smirk was as visible as ever.
"What's wrong, Draken? Come at me, bud!" Hanma called out as Draken began to hear the overlapping cries of defeat and hopelessness from Toman, taking it as a bad turn on the gang's end.
"Shit...our guys are already giving up..." Draken mumbled.
There was still a whole sea of Valhalla members that remained, all ready to fight Draken. The numbers at this point were overwhelming, even for Toman's Vice Commander, though he wasn't gonna say that out loud.
"Our commander's so far away..." Draken muttered, straining a smile before his attention went to the loud scream that sounded like was coming his way.
Rolling his arms in a circle ever so carelessly, running to the fullest of his abilities, was the new member of Toman's 2nd Division, Takemichi Hanagaki. Regardless of how stupid he might appear to others right now, he continued to give it all, refusing to give up.
"Who's that?" Rindo asked, deadpanning.
"Our crybaby hero..." I replied with a small chuckle causing Rindo to give me a ridiculous look from the side.
"Come at me, jackasses!" Takemichi demanded before he stopped running and walked at a slow pace, near his limit, limping from side to side, struggling to move properly while ignoring the bruises and scratches left on his face. "I-I ain't going down... I'm gonna end all of this! I'm gonna... crush all of you!"
Little did Takemichi know that his determination was serving as a motivation to his comrades. Takemichi then lost the strength in his legs and fell to his left before Mitsuya caught him at the right moment, securing an arm around his shoulders so that he could keep him propped up.
"Not bad, Takemitchy." Mitsuya smiled proudly at the yellow-haired boy.
From Toman, those who were just about to quit regained their confidence and were encouraged to continue this fight until the very end. Draken was astonished at the sight but was also thankful for Takemichi.
"Draken..." Mitsuya called and gave him a genuine smile. "We're good now."
Draken interpreted those words as an approval to go all out.
"I guess I don't need to protect them after all..." Draken stated with a stern look on his face as he went down to stretch out one leg, then the other. "Our only option is to attack."
After thanking Takemichi for the motivation, Draken dashed towards Valhalla at full speed before he started to demolish Valhalla's numbers tremendously, in a matter of minutes. Soon after he was finished with the underlings of Valhalla, Draken finally turned his attention toward Hanma in order to take him down. Aside from Draken, everyone in Toman was fighting with all they had got and their hard work brought a smile to my face.
"Have you seen your Kei-chan yet, Nana?" Ran asked from my left side which suddenly made me realize something.
"You're right... Keisuke's nowhere to be seen..." I trailed off in confusion and anxiousness before I started to scan the battlefield around, looking for the boy named Keisuke Baji.
And so is Kisaki... Just where in the world are those two anyway? Is Keisuke okay? Is he doing alright? Did he get hurt? I hope he didn't... And where the hell is that fucking Kisaki? What is he plotting right now?
"MIKEY!!!"
Draken's sudden yell echoed throughout the area, stopping all the fights that were going on among the lot. I was already aware of where Manjiro was before glancing over at where he was fighting with Kazutora - at the mountain of broken cars. Plastered on the edge of a car was a bloodied Manjiro, his eyes wide open, but no pupils visible in them. No one knew if he was dead or unconscious, but Kazutora, Chonbo, and Chome got the impression that he was done for.
"Manjiro..." I whispered out in concern, my breath hitched at the horrifying sight.
"Mikey-kun!" Takemichi called out from down the battlefield in concern.
"We win." Kazutora declared as he gazed down at the fallen commander, with no remorse in his voice.
But despite his head injury, Manjiro regained consciousness and began talking.
"Just tell me one thing, Kazutora." Manjiro stated quietly, head down as the blood leaked down his face. "Am I... Am I your enemy?"
"I... I suffered because of you." Kazutora replied, his frown deepened. "I went to juvie because of you."
"Huh?" Manjiro asked in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Of course, you're my enemy! I'm going to eliminate everything in my way." Kazutora added, his eyes strained from the anger that whelmed within him before he went up to the top of the car pile. "Did you know, Mikey? If a person kills someone, they're a bad guy. But if you kill your enemy... You're a hero."
"What the hell is he talking about?" I muttered to myself, completely dumbfounded.
"Kazutora..." Draken called out breathlessly, watching the fight between Kazutora and Manjiro from afar.
"Batshit cray-cray, am I right?" Hanma snickered with amusement.
Chonbo then secured his arms around Manjiro's left leg, seeing as though it was his dominant while Chome locked his arms underneath Manjiro's armpit. This resulted in Toman's Commander being immobilized and vulnerable. Kazutora then pointed at Manjiro with the same pole he used to hit his head.
"Don't let him go." He ordered before instinctively swatting the pole at his face.
"I guess it's over." Hanma pointed out, his smirk widened even more seeing Kazutora landing consecutive hits on Manjiro's head.
"Mikey's done..." Rindo commented calmly from my right side.
Manjiro, don't just stand there and take the blow! Do something dammit!!
My body quivered in agony as the nonstop sound of the pole clanking echoed the voice like a nuisance. A moment later when Kazutora stopped hitting me, Manjiro spoke up again with his head down, the bleeding worsening after the series of blows he took to the head.
"Kill your enemy?" Manjiro trailed off before rage overtook him, finally locking eyes with Kazutora. "Is that why... you killed my brother?"
Kazutora didn't know how to react to this question, because fear came about, deep within him. Manjiro on the other hand moved his head back, purposefully hitting Chome's nose. The force he enhanced behind the collision caused the Valhalla captain to let go of him which enabled Manjiro to then lift up Chonbo, who still was holding onto his left leg before the Sano boy swung that same leg at Kazutora, hitting him on the temple, knocking both of them out cold. I simply watched the whole scene in utter shock as I didn't know how to react to this other than that. Manjiro remained standing, but unlike a few minutes ago, he was not calm at all. Anyone could tell that the Invincible Manjiro Sano was absolutely livid.
Then a moment later, I noticed Manjiro panting at a slow pace while staring down at Kazutora's unconscious body. He soon lost all the strength in his legs and fell to his knees, subconsciously jerking his head down, making the decision to rest then and there.
He's not moving a muscle!! Someone from Valhalla might take the chance and attack him!!
"Follow me!" The last of the Valhalla captains, Choji called out as he gathered his own squad to accompany him in his upcoming attack. "We're gonna take Mikey down!"
As the Valhalla squad started to dash towards Manjiro to land an attack on him, Takemichi tried to push past everyone to reach the Commander of Toman. Even I also started to stand up from my seat in order to go and help out Manjiro. But however, Choji failed to succeed after getting punched across the face, to the point of losing consciousness. The second he fell on his stomach, a white boot was pressed onto the top portion of his head. I gasped in shock and noticed that the person responsible for Choji's defeat was the culprit behind the fight, Tetta Kisaki, standing with pride, accompanied by his vice-captain and the whole 3rd Division squad.
"Tokyo Manji Gang 3rd Division Captain, Tetta Kisaki." Kisaki restated his name and position, causing me to furrow my eyebrows at him. "Our division will personally take charge of protecting our commander."
Just as I thought... It doesn't matter which team wins... Kisaki profits from both outcomes. His plan is all thought out... If he sucks up to Manjiro like this and Toman wins, it's gonna look great for him. If we lose, Valhalla's just gonna absorb Toman. It doesn't matter how this fight goes. His plan was to take over Toman all along...
And this caused my blood to start boiling inside me due to the overwhelming anger when Mitsuya and many others started to praise him for protecting Manjiro.
Damn it! Everyone's playing right into his hands!
"Kisaki! Good work!" Draken yelled out from the battlefield and my eyes widened at his words. "I'm leaving Mikey to you!"
But just then, before anyone could realize what was going on, someone from Valhalla had already made their move on Kisaki.
"I've been waiting for this moment..." a familiar deep masculine voice spoke out.
Making a sudden yet heroic appearance while pulling back a metallic pole from right behind the 3rd Division captain, it was the former 1st Division captain of Toman himself, Keisuke Baji.
"Kisaki!" Keisuke yelled out as he didn't hold back when he hit the solid object against Kisaki's head.
The single hit propelled Kisaki off the car and away from Manjiro, followed by the shattered lens of his glasses.
"Kisaki!" Keisuke called out again while wearing a sinister grin on his face. "I'm gonna jack up your face so bad, so no one will recognize you!!"
"Baji, stop!" Draken exclaimed.
"We came to take you back!" Mitsuya added.
Keisuke frowned at this, resisting the urge to say otherwise then and there but stopped himself before he was suddenly grabbed by the back of his uniform jacket and thrown away by Kisaki's vice-captain. Keisuke then landed on a couple of cars before coming to a complete stop. After that, Chifuyu got in front of Keisuke, asking him not to fight Kisaki as taking him down now, would mean that he was betraying Manjiro. Keisuke punched Chifuyu, telling him to move and that he only kept him because he could fight. Chifuyu told him he was there to protect Keisuke and that he won't be holding back.
Keisuke gave his former vice-captain a try and ten seconds to attack him, however, Chifuyu didn't move or attack Keisuke. Keisuke was then about to start climbing the cars again, but Takemichi came out of nowhere and charged him, holding him and yelling at Chifuyu that they needed to protect Keisuke. Chifuyu then started to shed a few drops of tears and stated that he couldn't hit Keisuke, and at that moment, Keisuke hit Takemichi in the back of his head, but Takemichi somehow managed to fight the pain and kept holding onto Keisuke.
When all of these were happening, I looked around and started to analyze the situation. Something got me in a dilemma or to be more specific, someone was missing from the scenario. Manjiro was kneeling down on a rooftop of a car all by himself. Kisaki and his goons were standing in a car beneath him. Keisuke, Chifuyu, and Takemichi were talking it out far away from them.
Almost everyone's here... But still, there's someone missing... who's that...?
Then it suddenly clicked on me.
"Where the hell is Kazutora?" I asked with a frowning face, immediately standing up from my seat.
"Nana, what's wrong?" Ran asked but I ignored him and started to dash towards Keisuke and the others.
"Wait, what are you doing, you idiot?!" Rindo called out but I was already far gone.
My eyes darted all around the area, only for them to stop when I saw the familiar locks of his black-blond hair just standing around. The boy reached into his pocket and soon revealed a pocket knife. From where I was, I could see that Kazutora was going to target one of the three boys at the bottom of the cars. From all the information that I had gathered and piling it all together, I realized - Kazutora was aiming for Keisuke. Like hell, I would let Kazutora stab Keisuke and kill him. That wasn't happening as long as I was alive and breathing. Not in this lifetime. Without wasting any more time, I started to sprint down in that certain direction. Kazutora was already making his way down, but luckily I was faster than him. Takemichi still had his grip on Keisuke and it all ended up to my advantage.
"Keisuke, Takemichi, watch out!!" I yelled out, almost reaching their side.
Both Keisuke and Takemichi lifted their heads up slightly at the sound of my voice in confusion before I moved behind Keisuke to protect him from Kazutora. Everything happened so damn fast that nobody had the time to react or understand the situation which was going on. I had only intended to push the boys out of the way to prevent Keisuke from getting stabbed but plans never go the way they're supposed to. Behind me was Keisuke, who was standing his ground with Takemichi wrapped around him while in front of me was Kazutora, who had just stabbed me in the abdomen, still pushing the knife deeper into my stomach. Kazutora's mind was in complete shams right now, he could not think straight nor think logically.
"Fuck, Kazutora!! Stop it already, you dumbass!!!" I screamed out in pain and agony through my coughs and grunts before pushing Kazutora down onto the cars, hoping that would wake him up from his daze.
It took everyone on the battlefield a moment to realize what just happened before my scream of pain and agony reached their ears.
"Huh...? Nana-chan... and Kazutora-kun? Wait... Nana-chan!!" Takemichi yelled out before letting go of Keisuke and running straight over to me, noticing my blood staining my jacket with the knife lodged in my abdomen. "Are you okay?! What do we do?!"
"N-Nana...?" Keisuke stuttered out in complete shock, his voice cracked, tears forming in his eyes before he immediately caught me in his arms when I was about to fall and hit the ground. "Nana! W-Why... Why did you...?!"
"Kazutora!!" Chifuyu yelled as he jumped down from his spot and grabbed the boy by his collar. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"It's Baji's... It's Baji's fault." Kazutora kept on muttering to himself in a daze and this caused Chifuyu to throw him back down before he ran over to me.
"I'm... okay..." I muttered in a shaky voice, coughing out some blood; my own body was betraying me. "Just... making sure that you were okay, Keisuke..."
While Chifuyu fumbled with his phone to call an ambulance, Keisuke held me tightly in his arms not wanting to let go of me and Takemichi took off his school jacket before wrapping it around my abdominal region to stop the excessive bleeding. I was sweating, my breathing was getting heavier with every second and my vision was getting even more blurry. My whole body was in extreme pain and I was about to lose consciousness at any moment now, but I was fighting back to stay awake.
"I'm gonna kill, Kisaki..." Keisuke growled out in a low tone, tightening his grip around me.
I was sure what Keisuke said right now, he actually meant it, but I didn't want him to go after Kisaki right now because I had this fear in my mind that once I would let him go, something bad might happen to him. So I needed him to stay with me by my side, holding me in his arms.
"N-No... fuck Kisaki... don't go, K-Keisuke... just stay with me..." I trailed off in a desperate tone, clinging onto the said boy with my dear life.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Keisuke immediately responded back, almost frantic yet in a reassuring tone. "I'm staying here with you! I'm never leaving you, Nana!"
"Mikey-kun?" Takemichi suddenly spoke up and this caught my attention.
Even though everything around me felt hazy, I still could make out some of the things that were currently happening right now. Draken and Mitsuya were frantically running around to see if the ambulance had still arrived or not. Keisuke, Chifuyu, and Takemichi were still by my side with Keisuke kept on holding my almost unconscious body into his arms. The fight between the two gangs immediately stopped as soon as I got stabbed by Kazutora. In the midst of all these, Manjiro was conscious again before he stood up and started to walk down the pile of cars, making his way toward Kazutora.
Kisaki on the other hand was trying to provoke Manjiro into attacking Kazutora and this caused me to feel extremely annoyed with Kisaki once again. Manjiro then revealed that he thought of killing Kazutora the moment he got out of juvie, however, Keisuke managed to convince him to not do it and that Kazutora wanted to make Manjiro happy and to make things make sense for him, he had to make Manjiro his enemy. As Manjiro finally stepped down from the pile of cars, he declared the fight is over. Hanma told him that it wasn't something he could decide, but in that instant, Manjiro kicked and knocked out the taller boy. Shocked by his overwhelming strength, most of the Valhalla members started to run away from the battlefield.
The aura around Manjiro was totally different now. It was eerie and unsettling. To me, it felt dark and murderous. His eyes held no emotion and he appeared cold as ice as if nothing unfazed him. What was this dark energy that was radiating from him, I didn't know. The way he was holding I was really scared and concerned about what he might do to Kazutora now. The look on his face was blank and cold-blooded as he slowly approached Kazutora. It felt as if he was about to switch on his berserk mode and unleash his wrath on the tiger-tattooed boy anytime soon.
"How dare you touch my Nana-chin?" Manjiro asked in a cold tone, staring at Kazutora dead in the eye and this sent a shiver down my spine. "How dare you brazenly stab my Nana-chin like that? First my brother and now my Nana-chin... If all you can do is destroy the things I care about, then I'll destroy you right here and now. If all you can do is destroy, then I'll destroy you, Kazutora."
At that moment, I slowly started to feel even more pain throughout my entire body while also beginning to feel dizzier than before. I couldn't tell much about what was going on after that but I still could figure out that Manjiro was punching Kazutora to death. It was dead quiet within the area. The only thing that could be heard in this abandoned parking lot was the sound of a colliding fist that was demolishing a solid face.
"M-Manjiro..." I muttered out, coughing out more blood and this caught the attention of Keisuke and Chifuyu. "S-Stop him... He's gonna kill Kazutora..."
"Nana, please don't talk! Just stay quiet!" Keisuke cried out, wiping away blood from the corner of my lips before looking over at Mitsuya and Draken with an annoyed look on his face. "Where's the damn fucking ambulance anyway?!"
"I-It's on its way!" Mitsuya responded back in anxiousness, making his way toward us to check up on me.
Hearing the repetitive noises of Manjiro's punches worsened the fear within me. This needed to be stopped. I couldn't let the Sano boy kill someone. This wasn't going to happen under my watch.
"M-Manjiro..." I called out, my quiet voice wasn't heard by the Commander, so I raised my voice, loud enough for Manjiro to hear. "MANJIRO!!!"
Manjiro immediately halted the fight before turning around and his eyes fell on the wounded me in Keisuke's arms with Chifuyu and Takemichi by my side. I coughed out more blood after screaming out his name like that while a tearful Keisuke wiped away the blood from my mouth, continuously telling me to shut up and not to talk.
"M-Manjiro, you fucking moron!" I went on, coughing and groaning in pain. "H-Here I am dying from this stab wound and you're there trying to kill K-Kazutora! Is he more important than me now?! F-Fucking asshole! Take me to the hospital right now, you bastard! Then kill Kazutora later whenever you get the time!!"
"Stop talking, Nana-san!" Chifuyu advised, not wanting me to worsen my condition while I coughed out another puddle of blood.
"Don't faint on us! Nana-chan!" Takemichi cried out in despair, holding onto my hands.
"Mikey! Just fucking listen to Nana once for God's sake!" Keisuke yelled out, growling at the Sano boy in pure rage. "Leave Kazutora there! We need to take her to the hospital right away! She's bleeding away too much blood!! Even after all this, can't you just stop and look at Nana?! She took the stabbing for me and protected me because she knows how much our friendship means! She knows how much we care about each other, and to prevent us from fighting to the death, she stepped in and got stabbed instead! Damn it all!! You're all my treasures, and I wouldn't give up on any of you. There's no reason to try and kill each other anymore!"
"Baji, do you not care about Nana-chin?" Manjiro asked with a frowning face. "She's dying over there because of Kazutora. And friendship? She only did it to protect you because she loves and cares about you. Shouldn't you feel more resentful towards Kazutora? He's the one who stabbed her."
"Mikey-kun!" Takemichi yelled out, also in rage. "Just listen to yourself, come on! Why don't you get it?! Baji-kun almost got stabbed and Nana-chan is dying here! Why the hell do you think they risked their lives for?! It was for both of you! For Toman! Nana-chan didn't want Baji-kun to die because she knew that it would hurt both you and her. Baji-kun was also ready to risk his life so that he could protect Toman from outsiders! Are you just going to step all over that?! Baji-kun just wants you to forgive Kazutora-kun!!"
And right after that, a charm fell out of Takemichi's pocket; the same one which we bought on the same day we created Toman. Manjiro picked up the charm from the ground and asked Takemichi where he got it. Takemichi explained that he picked it up at the last meeting (on the night of the 3rd Division captain nomination ceremony).
"Baji... were you holding onto this charm the entire time?" Manjiro asked, looking down at the purple charm, recognizing it from when Toman was founded.
"I always kept it with me. I must've dropped it or something." Keisuke replied in a soft voice and this brought tears to Manjiro's eyes.
"Baji, you were the one who formed Toman, not me, yet you were the one who got hurt the most. You were fighting all by yourself this entire time..." Manjiro trailed off and sniffled, his voice filled with guilt and remorse as he started to regret his previous actions. "Just to keep that promise we all made that day... I'm sorry, Baji..."
Finally, that idiot is getting his fucking senses back... Thank God...
And right on cue, the sound of police sirens could be heard from the district, and within a few minutes, everyone started to disperse and run away from the junkyard. And in the midst of this Kazutora came over to our side and spoke up again.
"I'm... gonna stay with Nana. If you leave her here, she'll be found by the paramedics faster and brought to the hospital... while I get arrested for stabbing her. You all should get out of here." Kazutora stated, looking down in shame. "I did this. I want to be the one to settle it. Also, Mikey... I can't ask you to forgive me. Not about Shinichiro-kun...or Nana or even Baji. But I'll carry that burden the rest of my life."
Each and every word of Kazutora was true and genuine as a plea for respect while holding back his hands and bowing his head down low and deep. In response, Manjiro didn't say anything to him. To be more specific, he didn't know what to say. Just a few minutes ago, he was beating up Kazutora into a pulp, prior to him doing the same earlier. And now, the same person was bowing to him, portraying the start of his salvation. No one could exactly give a proper reaction after all that. It takes a lot of courage to forgive someone as well as understand them and their situation. Anger is always there residing within us and sometimes the act of forgiveness can be really tough, but if we decide to open our hearts a bit more and be a bit more considerate and compassionate, maybe we can be able to approach in a diligent matter such as this. Turning away from Kazutora, Manjiro took one last look at me while I was on the brink of unconsciousness, cupping my face and leaning down towards me.
"Nana-chin, please... stay strong..." Manjiro muttered with teary eyes. "Don't die on me..."
"Y-You can't get rid of my annoying ass that easily, Sano..." I gritted out in a sassy tone. "I'm just too fabulous and amazing to die like this..."
Hearing my response brought a small smile to Manjiro, Keisuke, and Chifuyu's faces while Takemichi continued to shed his tears like always.
"Still sassy as ever... even on the brink of death..." Mitsuya commented in amusement, shaking his head.
"Let's get out of here, Toman!" Draken shouted at the gang, leading them all out while Keisuke handed my wounded body into Kazutora's hands.
"Nana..." Keisuke called in a soft tone before leaning down and placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Please fight... Don't give up. Promise me that you won't die..."
In response, I simply smiled at him and hummed.
"Okay... I won't die." I responded back. "I promise you, Keisuke..."
All the boys then gave me one last look before soon enough, the whole lot was empty, leaving just me and Kazutora alone on the abandoned battlefield.
"K-Ka... Kazutora..." I called out in a whispered tone.
"Nana? You shouldn't talk if you want to stay alive... And if something bad happens to you, Baji and Mikey would kill me for sure..." he replied in a frantic tone with teary eyes, using the sleeve of his jacket to wipe away the blood and sweat from my face. "I'm sorry, Nana... I'm so so sorry..."
"T-There are a lot of things I want to say to you..." I whispered, blackness started to invade my senses. "B-But I don't have the energy to do so... Just stay safe in prison... or wherever you're going..."
"You don't need to talk now. You can tell me everything when you're feeling better." Kazutora sniffled, his throat tightened up.
"Just know that you have people that love you... Keisuke, Manjiro... everyone... they all love you..." I added while closing my eyes, slowly trailing off.
And before I knew it, I was slowly pulled into an abyss of darkness where I lost all sorts of senses in my body that kept me connected to this conscious, living world.