Truth be told, little Nana couldn't exactly remember how long it was ago when she first met the half-Japanese-half-Filipino boy, but the one thing she could remember was that their first interaction was quite weird and awkward.
"Shin-chan, why are we here again? Are we visiting Ran and Rindo today?" little Nana asked the older teen Sano boy in confusion, her grip on his hand tightened a bit as they were making their way towards an institution after a long bike ride.
"No, Nana-chan. We'll be visiting someone new today." Shinichiro replied with a wide, soft grin before giving her hand a gentle yet reassuring squeeze. "I'm sure you're gonna love him."
"Him? You mean a boy?" Nana questioned again to which Shinichiro simply nodded his head in response.
"The boy we're meeting today is Emma's older brother. Izana Kurokawa." Shinichiro stated and this caused Nana's eyes to widen in surprise.
"Oh? Do you mean the one she sometimes talks about...?" Nana asked.
"Yes. And also, Izana is only three years older than you. So, he's not too old." Shinichiro added.
"I see..." Nana trailed off, getting lost in her thoughts.
"Nana-chan, listen to me carefully..." Shinichiro spoke up again in a warm tone and in response, Nana looked back at him with curiosity. "The reason I brought you here today is that I wanted to introduce you to Izana so you can become friends with him."
"Become friends with this Izana person...? But why?" she asked again, getting more confused.
"Emma's mom abandoned Izana when he was only 7 years old – just like how she abandoned Emma. Izana's lonely and he doesn't have that many good friends. That's why I want you to become friends with him and fill up that void in his heart, Nana-chan." Shinichiro explained with a smile before placing a hand on top of her head, ruffling her raven locks.
"Okay... If you're the one who's asking this, then it's fine. I'll become friends with this Izana person." Nana smiled back sheepishly in response, her cheeks turning pink in color.
Her beloved Shinichiro asked for a favor and she would reject the request...? Yeah, as if that was ever going to happen in any lifetime.
Shinichiro and Nana walked in and immediately went to the backyard where they noticed some kids watching them curiously but Nana didn't give much attention to them and started to look for this Izana Kurokawa kid. Shinichiro then guided her under a big tree and told her that they had to wait there for Izana to appear.
It didn't take that long when Nana noticed a boy, older than her by some years, rushing over towards them with a giant smile adorning the younger boy's face. However, his smile fell immediately when he saw Nana standing closely beside Shinichiro before an annoyed expression started to take over his face now.
"Huh? Who are you? And why are you with my Shinichiro-Nii?" the boy asked in an accusing tone, a hint of jealousy dripping from his voice as the boy frowned down at Nana - He was a bit taller than her with hair silver in color while possessing these beautiful big, purple eyes and a light brown complexion.
"Hello. My name is Nana Osaki. I'm Shin-chan's childhood friend and I live with him." Nana introduced herself in a calming tone as politely as possible.
"Childhood friend?!" Izana gasped out in surprise as he looked over at a sheepish-looking Shinichiro for a moment before glancing back at her. "So are you like a little sister to Shinichiro-Nii or something?"
What's his deal? Why is he being so possessive towards Shin-chan like this...? Not to mention the jealousy...
"No. You're wrong. I'm not Shin-chan's little sister." Nana responded, getting herself also a bit confused.
"Then what are you?" Izana asked again, gazing her down with narrowed eyes.
"I'm Shin-chan's future bride." Nana replied nonchalantly yet in a serious tone, causing Izana's eyes to go wide open in surprise.
"Eh?! Nana-chan?!" Shinichiro, who was standing beside them this whole time, cried out in total embarrassment. "D-Don't say things like this out loud!!"
"There's nothing to be shy about, Shin-chan. You know I love you." Nana giggled at the bashful older Sano boy in a teasing manner, causing his face to turn deep red in color.
"Shinichiro-Nii's future bride? But isn't he a lot older than you?" Izana asked in confusion, who now looked visibly relaxed after hearing her response, but still gave her a skeptical look.
"Shin-chan doesn't look that old though. Besides, Waka-chan once told me that the 10-year age gap isn't a big deal once you get older and become an adult..." Nana then pointed out to which Izana also agreed.
"Yeah. You're right..." Izana replied before he questioned again. "But why his future bride?"
"Because that's what I promised him... Shin-chan's not that lucky when it comes to women, dating, relationships, and stuff like that.... so I promised him that I'll be his future girlfriend and bride... Also, if I'm like a little sister to Shin-chan, then I won't be able to marry him in the future. That relationship would become incestuous, you know." she explained in a calming voice.
"Nana-chan, please stop making fun of my love life. You're breaking my poor little heart..." Shinichiro animatedly cried to her, a stream of tears rolling down his cheeks.
"Wow. For a little girl like you, that's a difficult word you just said there." Izana pointed out in amazement.
"I love reading books, so my vocabulary is quite strong." Nana stated with a smug face, feeling proud of herself.
"Is that so...? That's impressive I must say." Izana commented as his lips curled up into a small smile before Shinichiro decided to intervene.
Despite their bickering and bantering, to Shinichiro, it seemed like Nana and Izana were getting along quite well. Shinichiro knew the starting wasn't that good and befriending Izana was quite a difficult task, but at the same time, he had his faith in Nana as well. He knew either way Nana would break through the shell and soften up Izana, eventually making the boy like her one way or another.
Besides, Izana wasn't like any other regular child. He was different in his way and Shinichiro was confident about the fact that Nana would have a huge influence on Izana's life in a good way possible.
Even though Nana was generally known to be quiet, shy, and introverted, she could also be warm and friendly toward the people around her if given the chance. Sometimes she might also get talkative and energetic and would showcase personality traits that an introverted person won't show; traits she picked up from her childhood best friends, Keisuke Baji and Manjiro Sano, by being friends with them for years now.
Nana knew from the get-go that it won't be easy to get along with someone like Izana. The half-Filipino boy was different from the other boys Nana was familiar with. Izana wasn't loud and friendly like Baji. He wasn't mischievous yet understanding like Mikey. He wasn't a big-hearted crybaby like Shinichiro or a teasing, lazy bastard like Wakasa. He wasn't even an obsessively loyal dog like Haruchiyo either - Izana was just so different from everyone else.
"Okay. It looks like you kids are getting along quite well." Shinichiro chuckled in amusement before he started to walk away from the scene, leaving the two kids behind alone. "You kids stay here and hang around for a while. I'll be right back in a moment."
'He's probably going somewhere quiet to smoke a cigarette or something...' Nana thought to herself, watching Shinichiro walk away.
As soon as Shinichiro left, Nana turned around and looked back at Izana with seriousness written all over her face.
"Shin-chan asked me to become your friend. So here I am. Let's be pals from now on." she noted, sounding as if she was a woman on a mission.
"Huh? Why would I want you as my friend?" Izana scoffed in response and this confused Nana.
"You don't like me? But you have been talking to me nicely all this time..." she asked with a frowning face and pouty lips.
"Yeah. But that doesn't have to do anything with me liking you or not." Izana replied sassily.
"But Shin-chan asked me to... If you don't let me become your friend, you'll be going against Shin-chan's request. You might even end up upsetting him as well. Do you want to upset Shin-chan now?" Nana asked before her lips curled up into a small mischievous smirk when she noticed a shocking look appearing on Izana's face.
"What?! Of course, not!!" he snapped at her. "I would never do things that might remotely upset Shinichiro-Nii!!"
"Then let's become friends! For Shin-chan's sake! Because that's what he wants and wishes." Nana stated with an enthusiastic grin.
"Ah, you just manipulated me using Shinichiro-Nii. Are you always this stubborn and manipulative?" he asked and in response, Nana scoffed at him.
"No, not really. But as Shin-chan requested me to do something, I want to keep his word and fulfill my duties wholeheartedly. And don't call me stubborn and manipulative with that voice tone. You're making me sound as if I'm some sort of villain and criminal mastermind." Nana responded, pursing her lips to which in response, Izana rolled his eyes at her yet again.
"So how long have you known Shinichiro-Nii?" Izana asked as he took a seat under the tree with Nana following his actions, sitting right beside him.
Despite blatantly admitting that he didn't want to talk to her, Izana still was making some effort to make some more new friends, at least for Shinichiro's sake.
"Actually my whole life. The Sano and the Osaki families are family friends for generations now, so I've known Shin-chan and Jiro-chan ever since my birth." Nana replied with a smile.
"Jiro-chan? You mean Manjiro Sano?" Izana asked with a distasteful expression, raising an eyebrow. "That's the younger brother, right? I don't like him though."
"Huh? But why...?" Nana asked in confusion, furrowing her eyebrows a bit. "Jiro-chan might be a precocious brat, but he's nice."
Izana seemed hesitant at first to reveal the truth to a little girl who he just met today but he did it anyway. After his beloved big brother, Shinichiro wanted him to get along with this Osaki girl.
"I just don't like the fact that he's Shinichiro-Nii's brother and that he lives with him. I want to be Shinichiro-Nii's one and only brother." Izana revealed and his answer made Nana realize a few things about the boy.
'Ah, I see now... Izana is lonely. He never knew his father. His mother abandoned him out of nowhere. He got separated from his little sister Emma when he was only seven years old. Izana never had a happy family, unlike Manjiro... Shin-chan is the first family member to come and look for him. This touched Izana's heart and that's why he's clinging to Shin-chan with his dear life... And that's when his jealousy comes in when he sees someone else getting close to Shin-chan in a sibling-kinda way... No wonder he relaxed a bit when I said I don't see Shin-chan as my older brother but rather I see him as a man who I'm in love with...' Nana thought to herself before speaking up aloud in a soft, comforting tone. "I see... but unfortunately you can't change the fact that Manjiro is Shin-chan's brother and also your half-brother..."
"I just don't like that... I don't wanna talk about him anymore." Izana stated with pouty lips and that's when Nana decided to drop the topic, noticing the malice in his tone.
"Oh, okay... Then do you want me to talk about my other friends?" Nana asked with a small smile. "I have Kei-chan and Emma..."
"Who's this Kei-chan now?" Izana asked with confusion and curiosity, raising an eyebrow at her.
"His real name is Keisuke Baji. Kei-chan's our childhood best friend. We've known him ever since we were four years old. Kei-chan's pretty much brainless like Shin-chan and has violent tendencies, but underneath that tough look, he's really nice and cool to hang around with. The other day, Kei-chan met this guy named Kazutora at an arcade and later they both burned down a car to commemorate their newfound friendship." Nana stated with a giggle, recalling the crazy activities done by her ravenette best friend.
"That's crazy!" Izana commented with a gasp of surprise.
"I know right!" Nana giggled even more.
"How about Emma? How is she doing?" Izana asked and this time his voice went low and soft and Nana immediately understood the reason.
"She's doing great now. When she arrived at the Sano residence for the first time, she was miserable. She acted as if nothing affected her, but we all could tell she was really sad that her mom abandoned her. In reality behind the curtains, she used to cry quietly in secret when no one was around to see or look..." Nana recalled with a hint of sadness in her tone before her lips curled up into a small, graceful smile. "But she's okay now... She also talked about you quite a few times and that's how Shin-chan and I got to know about you."
"I see... so Emma still remembers me, huh? That's nice to know..." Izana muttered, smiling as well.
"Don't you have any friends here, Izana?" Nana asked and Izana gave her a confused yet skeptical look. "I wanna meet them."
"Well, I do have one..." Izana responded in hesitation as he wasn't sure whether to introduce her to Kakucho or not.
But thinking back on what Shinichiro wanted him to do and why Nana was with him in the first place, Izana eventually decided to push his pride and insecurities away just for a moment and led the little Osaki girl to somewhere else where he could find his one and only friend.
Izana never had a happy family life. He didn't know the meaning of parental love or any kind of love in general. He didn't understand how to deal with certain emotions or how to behave around elders and superior ones or even how to treat people who are inferior to him. Nobody taught him well enough so he didn't know. No one taught him the moral ethics of life in general and because of that, he always ended up doing bad stuff.
Izana didn't know how to respond when someone showcased their love for him and because of that, he tended to get very possessive towards the people who loved and cared about him even for a tiny bit.
Kakucho was his best friend (more like his subordinate/follower; Izana liked to think in that way) and Shinichiro was his older brother; they both loved him and always cared about his wellbeing. Izana needed them in his life to survive like how he always needed oxygen to breathe. He knew these two were always going to be there for him no matter what and that's why Izana trusted them with his whole life.
But he couldn't say the same thing about Nana Osaki though. She just came out of nowhere and suddenly became a part of his life.
'Should I trust her...? But Shinichiro-Nii brought her here...' Izana thought to himself. 'Shinichiro-Nii wanted me to be friends with her... but she's so small and stubborn... Not to mention, she always keeps smiling like an idiot and talks as if she some kind of monk or philosopher... Just who the hell are you, Nana Osaki?'
Izana wasn't that surprised when the small ravenette boy named Kakucho (a year younger than Nana and four years younger than Izana) didn't shy away from hiding his happiness and enthusiasm upon meeting Nana. Izana knew that this little girl could pierce through the chest and win over anyone's heart and that included Kakochu as well. As Izana quietly observed Nana and Kakucho interact with one another ever so comfortably, he slowly started to understand Nana as a person more and more.
'What a weird little girl...' Izana thought to himself while staring at Nana's ever-sweet smile.
Nana might be shy and quiet at the beginning when introduced but once getting familiar with a certain individual, she would become warm, kind, and welcoming like the sun itself - the source of light and life. She would smile and giggle at the smallest thing that happened around her, appreciating every moment of her life. She was mature, smart, and perceptive for her age and would notice every small detail around her.
Izana didn't have to tell her his sad backstory because he knew she knew and understood - that's the kind of person Nana Osaki was. She was kind, devoted, and protective but yet at the same time she wouldn't mind becoming a tigress and attacking someone to protect her loved and dear ones. Nana was everything and anything and this always made Izana confused and conflicted whenever he would try to figure out the little girl. They didn't need words to describe their feelings; the silence they shared between themselves was enough for them to speak up on their own.
Izana didn't want Nana to get closer to him, but Nana being Nana, the stubborn girl she was known for, barged into his life without any announcement or permission. She started to change small things in his life leading him to become somewhat of a better human being. Because of her, he began to view the world from a different angle now. The world to him always seemed all black and white, but Nana made it all colorful and vibrant. And before Izana could even realize it himself, Nana became that person in his life who came in clutch and started to save him from his old dark self.
As time passed by, days became weeks, weeks became months, months became years and before anyone could realize anything, it had been almost four years then since Izana met Nana for the first time. The half-Filipino boy couldn't realize how and when time flew by so quickly and fast. And with this passage of time, the little Osaki girl also became a constant figure in his life just like Shinichiro and Kakucho. Nana radiated positivity and Izana needed such positivity in his life.
Just like his younger adoptive brother Manjiro Sano, Izana needed Nana in his life.
Izana never knew who his father was; always assumed it probably would be Mr. Sano just like Emma and the Sano brothers. His so-called mother abandoned him, send him off to an orphanage, and never came back for him. Emma was taken away from him when both siblings were young. Unfortunately for him, he never had a perfect, healthy childhood. With no family member in the picture to take care of him and be concerned about his wellbeing, Izana became a depressed, lonely kid who was growing up with his past traumas, mental issues, and different other complications until the day he met his friend Kakucho.
And then later came Shinichiro and then Nana into his life. They were the ones he believed were the people who truly wanted to be there for him through thick and thin. For someone who always craved a happy family life, who always wanted to be validated by someone, who always wanted a place which he could call 'home', Kakucho, Shinichiro, and Nana did surely make him feel loved, made him feel wanted.
And because of the connection he had made with them over the years, he started to get possessive over them. To him, not only they were his precious ones in life, but they were also his possessions.
When Izana first met Nana, he assumed that she probably wanted to become his friend out of pity, but this perspective of his completely changed once he learned about her life – like how her parents died and she became an orphan, how her family rejected her and so the Sano family took her in because she had nowhere to go, how her life was indirectly affected by the actions of her two older cousins (the Haitani brothers) and like how her father's traditional family deemed her as a problem child despite of her doing nothing wrong in life.
And after knowing her life story, Izana realized that he and Nana were somehow similar and this became the reason for Izana to grow urges within him of wanting to protect and take care of Nana just like how he always felt and did for Kakucho as well. He wanted to be the sole one to give her the happiness she deserved and keep her protected at all costs. He wanted to be the prime and only reason for her smiles and laughter; not Mikey, not Shinichiro, not Baji; just him and only him. And before Izana could even realize it himself, this puppy love of his slowly started to become stronger as time went by.
"Snow!!" the three kids exclaimed in sheer joy and excitement before they ran outside to the lawn to play with the frosty white.
"Not fair, Izana!" Kakucho cried out in frustration when Izana threw a snowball right into his face. "We agreed that it's my area past that line!"
"Idiot! Promises are made to be broken!" Izana laughed while throwing more snowballs at the other boy.
"Aaahh!! The snowman I made!!" Kakucho shrieked when he noticed Izana sitting on top of his snowman, completely ruining his masterpiece.
"I was just trying to help, but it just fell apart!" Izana responded with a grinning face as he continued to playfully bully his friend.
"So mean, Izana! I'm gonna go play by myself!" Kakucho announced and just as he was about to walk away, Nana who was quietly building an igloo all by herself this whole time called out to those two boys.
"Now, now. Rather than doing that, come and look at the igloo I just made." Nana called out with a kind, warm smile causing the other two to run over to her side.
"Wow, Nana-chan! That's amazing!" Kakucho gasped out in joy with a wide grin on his face.
"It's our country's castle..." Izana commented with a smile.
"Our country?" Nana and Kakucho muttered in unison, utterly confused.
"Yeah!" Izana grinned before he led the two inside the small frosty castle, sat on the frosty ground with legs crossed in a circle, and started to scribble away on a piece of paper with a pencil, writing down notes and ideas. "See, this is our top-secret plan! We'll put this plan into action and make the strongest kingdom before we became adults! I'm the king, Nana-chan's my queen, and you Kakucho, my servant, are...hmm... let's see... I'll give you your own squad!"
'I'm Izana's queen...?' little Nana thought to herself as her heart started to pick up its beat, a small blush appearing on her cheeks, shocked by the fact how nonchalantly the Kurokawa boy called her 'his queen'.
"A squad...?" Kakucho asked in confusion, tilting his head to the side as he stared down at the piece of paper Izana scribbled away.
"We fight for our country. We'll make everyone who has no family our citizens and give them a place called 'home'..." Izana replied with a dreamy look in his eyes.
'Ah, I get it now... Unlike me who still has the Sano family as a support, Izana's got none of that; no parents or family. The same goes for Kakucho as well ever since his parents passed away in a car accident. And that's what I can see in Izana's eyes now... the yearning... the desire of having a happy family with whom he can laugh and cry till his dying breath... the desire of wanting to find a place he can call home...' Nana thought to herself, her softening at the sight of the two boys while Izana crawled out of the igloo and stood on the ground with head up high just like the king he loved thinking about himself.
"Citizens! Pay your taxes to me!" Izana called out, pretending to be some superior while pointing his finger in a random direction before looking back at us with a toothy grin. "Like that!"
"Hahaha! Nice! Very like you." Kakucho commented, grinning back at his friend.
"That's why we can't ever lose from now on..." Izana added, gazing at the distance with a satisfied look on his face.
"Yeah! If that's the case, then we can't lose even once, huh!" Kakucho agreed with a closed-eyed smile and Izana then looked over at the small ravenette girl.
"You're with us, right Nana-chan?" Izana asked, his eyes burning with desire and longing. "You won't leave me, right? Promise me, Nana-chan... that you'll stay by my side forever..."
And without thinking anything straight, Nana just blabbered out what came to her mind at that moment.
"Okay, Izana-kun. It's a promise." She replied with her signature kind, warm smile because the way Izana asked and was looking at her, there was no way she could ever reject such a desperate request. "Well if we're making our own kingdom, what's it gonna be called...?"
Izana, Kakucho, and Nana were now laying down with their backs on the frosty ground, staring straight up at the cloudy sky as the latter two waited for the former to speak up again.
"Hmm... Let's see..." Izana trailed off, his lips curling up into a small smile. "If I'm Tang Sanzang... then Kakucho is Sun Wukong, right?"
"Oh, you mean that Chinese novel called Journey to the West...?" I asked and Izana nodded his head in response.
"Our kingdom's name is Tenjiku!" Izana added, his voice filled with full of enthusiasm.
"Tenjiku, huh...?" Kakucho muttered to himself, trailing off at the thought of the new name.
"Together the three of us will create a great era for sure!" Izana grinned before turning his head to the side to look over at Nana. "Right, Nana-chan? You're with us, right...?"
And in response, Nana grinned back at him, promising to never leave his side, ever.
"Yep, I'm with you, Izana-kun! Always!" she replied, warming up Izana's cold, little heart with her own love and warmth.
A promise which was meant to last forever...
A promise which later was long forgotten...
Izana had always wanted an older sibling, especially an older brother; someone who would teach him different things in life, someone who would guide him down a path and teach him the ways of living life. Then all of a sudden, it was that one day a guy came to visit him, saying his name was Shinichiro Sano and he was his older brother. Later after getting to know each other, Shinichiro taught the half-Filipino boy about motorcycles, taught him how to fight, taught him the ways of a delinquent, fashion, how to style his hair, and taught him how to smile and laugh from the bottom of his heart. Shinichiro taught him everything. He was his older brother whom he had all to himself.
"Shinichiro..." an older Izana greeted his big brother with a smile as he stood in front of the S.S Motors shop while Shinichiro who was working on a motorbike with a kid named Seishu Inui sitting by his side looked over to his shoulder and smiled at his younger brother.
"Hey! It's been a while, Izana!" Shinichiro greeted back with a smile as well, a lightened-up cigar placed between his lips.
"Hop on the back of my bike. Wanna ride?" Izana asked and Shinichiro's smile grew even wider.
"Yeah sounds good..." Shinichiro responded while wiping his dirty hands with a piece of cloth, standing up from the ground. "Gimme a sec, okay?"
It wasn't that long before the two brothers went out on a motorbike ride with Izana driving the two-wheeled vehicle down the streets of Shibuya and Shinichiro sitting in the back.
"To think the day would come when I would ride on the back of your bike, huh." Shinichiro chuckled in amusement.
"I've gotten good, huh?" Izana chuckled back as he kept his eyes straight ahead on the road.
"When did you get out of reform school?" Shinichiro asked with curiosity, but Izana chose to stay silent for a moment before deciding to change the subject.
"Shinichiro... Will you let me take over the next generation of Black Dragons?" Izana asked with a smile.
"Huh?" Shinichiro asked in confusion, furrowing his eyebrows a bit.
"Since it's important to you, I want to protect it!" Izana added with a clarification, now grinning widely at his brother.
Shinichiro didn't know what to say to Izana at that moment while they continued to drive down the nearly busy streets. He went speechless for a few seconds; because after all the older Sano had left his precious gang, the Black Dragons, behind years ago so that it could be taken over and led by his other younger brother Manjiro Sano one day in the future. That was Shinichiro's plan the entire time and it had always been that way. But now it seemed like things were going to be different from here on out, all because of Izana and his small wishes and requests.
Despite not being related by blood, there was no doubt that Shinichiro loved Izana dearly from the bottom of his heart, just like how he loved his own younger brother, Mikey. Both Mikey and Izana meant a lot to him. There was no way he would be able to turn down Izana's humble request nor he could let go of his future plans for Mikey. So without giving much thought to it, he spoke up to Izana again.
"Sure... I've always thought that I would give it to you one day..." Shinichiro stated as his lips curled up into a small smile, his eyes softening up as well. "Izana, thank you. It was my dream to pass it down to my siblings. I want to leave the Black Dragons to you... and Manjiro..."
And hearing this, Izana immediately went stiff in his seat, and eventually, the smile fell off his face, his purple eyes widening as well.
Huh? Manjiro again...? But why? Just why?!
Since that day, a year or two passed by before one day Izana ran into someone he never thought he might see again – his mother (Emma's biological mom), the one who abandoned him a long time ago without a second thought.
"Mom... Why did you abandon me?" Izana asked as he stood quietly behind the woman who was playing some gambling games with a cigarette in between her lips. "To do this?"
"Tch! So annoying." The woman, who happened to be Emma's mom, clicked her tongue in annoyance, her face looked cold and emotionless.
"Huh?" Izana asked in confusion, frowning as well.
"You're not my kid. You're the bastard son of my 1st husband and a Filipino bitch. He was a useless man. In the end, some thugs stabbed him and he died. You get it? You're someone else's kid and we aren't blood-related." She explained and this revelation made Izana's eyes go wide open in complete shock.
"Huh? W-What?" Izana stuttered out in disbelief. "Your first husband? But then, what about Emma...?"
"Emma isn't your actual blood-related sister because I had her with my 2nd husband, Makoto Sano... This means you're not related to either Emma or the Sano family..." the woman added with a scoff, leaving Izana devastated and heartbroken.
And this led Izana to confront Shinichiro the next day, in an alleyway under the shower of the afternoon rain, and when he did come face to face with his adoptive older brother, the first thing Izana did was throw a powerful punch right at his face.
"You knew, didn't you, Shinichiro?!!" Izana exploded, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Why didn't you tell me?!!"
"Yeah. I knew it from the very start." Shinichiro groaned out in pain while standing up from the ground. "But, that doesn't matter, does it...?"
"It doesn't matter?! It's the most important thing, isn't it?!!" Izana yelled out again, feeling betrayed. "And don't tell me Nana-chan knew about this too?!"
"Why Izana? Just because we are not related by blood doesn't mean something changes between us, right?" Shinichiro asked, furrowing his eyebrows again. "And yes, Nana knew about it as well. I'm the one who told her to keep this a secret..."
And this crushed Izana's already broken heart, even more, his vision becoming warped as he struggled to comprehend the fact that Shinichiro wasn't his actual brother and Nana hid the truth from him despite knowing everything.
Even Nana-chan knew about this...?! And she kept this a secret because Shinichiro told her to?! Does she not care about me?! Does she not care about my feelings at all?!
"Shut up!!" Izana screamed out again at Shinichiro through his gritted teeth while clenching his fists ever so tightly in complete fury and sadness, tears continued to roll down his cheeks before his voice cracked at the end. "Why did you even come to me?! If I was alone from the beginning, I would have been fine by myself. You get it, Shinichiro? The hell of one day thinking that you have happiness only for it to suddenly be taken away..."
Even Nana-chan betrayed me!! And I trusted her the most!! Why did you do this to me, Nana-chan?! You too, Shinichiro!! Just why?!
Then a few years after that, Tetta Kisaki who just got kicked out of Toman recently back then, approached a depressed and drained-looking Izana at a random park, remarking on his sorry state before he asked if Izana was depressed because his brother Shinichiro died. And not long after this encounter, Izana decided to build Tenjiku with Kakucho and the former S-62 Generation gang. From a childhood friend to former gang members, Izana had everyone with him by his side except for one person and that was Nana Osaki who promised him her support and love for eternity.
Promises are made to be broken...
A promise that was long forgotten...