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Anime4us
Chapter 2
You'd really gone and goofed this time. How many times had Kei told you to stay in your lane? Toman was a separate world from your own. That was how it was supposed to be. You should have walked away when you'd seen someone at the grave. To be perfectly honest, school was in session at the hour, and you really wanted to talk to your brother. Then again, Toman was filled with delinquents... didn't their persona usually indicate that they didn't go to school? You'd heard plenty of stories from Kei. He'd told you of battles that Toman has faced and conquered, but you'd only ever met Kazutora face to face. Even that had been an accident. Kei had thought you were out for the night but you had opted to stay in and study for an exam the next morning. One pee break later and you were seated in the room with both Kei and Kazutora. That had been an interesting conversation. Kazutora is an odd boy, to say the least. There was no inherently aggressive behavior to speak of. The last time you had seen him was before the incident with the motorbike. Kei had been seriously torn up about it and you had spent nights with him, just listening to him ramble about everything and nothing. You'd give anything just to have one of those nights with him again.
"Baji?"
Blinking out of your reverie, you turned towards the girl standing in front of your desk. You looked around her, seeing that the classroom was empty. A quick look at the clock showed that school was out for the day. You couldn't remember a single thing that had been taught today. You were definitely going to fail the exams in a couple months' time.
"Are you sure it's not too early for you to be back?" The girl asks gently, as if her words wouldn't leave a gaping hole in your chest anyways.
"Doesn't matter when I come back." You mutter. "Whether it was today or a month from now, he's still dead."
The girl in front of you flinches away, but you can't find it within yourself to feel guilty. Shoving your books into your bag, you quickly shoulder it and make your way towards your locker. Indoor shoes switched for outdoor ones, you quickly head out of the school building. You're tired of all the piteous stares and hushed voices... People walked on eggshells around you. It was absolutely infuriating. It made you want to spin around and yell "Yes! He's dead!". Of course, that would cause its own problems, so you refrained, if only for face alone.
"You look like you've had as good a day as I have."
Pausing in your tracks, you look towards the fenced wall that boarders your school and raise a brow at the boy leaning on it.
"Why? Did your brother die last week?" You deadpanned, slightly put off when the boy doesn't react the way you were expecting.
"Something like that." The boy before you hums, pushing off the gate. "I had an inkling that Baji had a sister, but I was never certain."
That comment puts you a little on edge, but you merely shove the feeling down, shoving your hands into the pockets of Kei's favorite sweater. It doesn't smell like him anymore, but it still brings you an element of comfort nonetheless. You start to walk away from the boy before you, not sure what else he wants after saying his piece. You'd already broken your promise with Kei once, and really didn't want to do it again. Nonetheless, the boy you had thought you left behind falls into step beside you, either unaware of your annoyance or uncaring of it. Glancing to the side, you finally take in the other's appearance. Blond hair pulled up into a half up, half down ponytail. Flipflops that Kei's complained about before so it's only becoming clearer and clearer just who you were trying to blow off. Letting out a gentle sigh, you turn you gaze towards the shorter boy, making sure to include a level of annoyance you only reserved for people that really put your day off.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of Toman's invisible leader picking me up from school?" You ask, fake bravado alongside some very real resentment detectable in your voice.
Mikey seems genuinely impressed with you, but for what, you have no clue. You'd prefer that Toman boys stop popping out of nowhere so that you could try and salvage what was left of your promise to Kei.
"You remind me of Emma."
The words mean nothing to you. You aren't sure who Emma is, nor do you particularly care. You really wish that this Mikey kid would take the hint and leave you be.
"Take this however you will, but I don't really care." You say as you reach into your pocket, fishing for your phone to bury your consciousness in. "I didn't want to ever see you, much less meet you." You say as you distract yourself from crying by fiddling with a social media app.
If life were like the movies, you'd probably lose a finger or two for the disrespect you were displaying. Instead, Mikey chuckles bemusedly. His reaction catches you off guard, making you snap your attention towards him.
"I don't blame you." He replies, implementing an element of guilt within your stomach. "Maybe you're more like Takemichy's girlfriend in that regard." He muses.
Another name you don't know and don't plan on learning either. For all the years you hid in your twin's shadow, it seems that without his light, you've nowhere to hide anymore.
"Why are you here?" You decide to ask.
"Curiosity?" Mikey replies, not really looking at you, but rather at the road ahead.
He hasn't really let his gaze settle on you since you've met. His answer drags up another bout of resentment that has you fuming.
"Well, you've quenched it, right? You can be on your way now." You look down your nose at the boy before you, not at all deterred by his status.
You're pushing your luck, and maybe you're doing it cause you're hoping it'll make Mikey snap cause then you'd finally feel something other than the damn bottomless pit in your stomach. That bottomless pit that somehow still brings tears to your eyes even after nights where you've stared at the wall for hours with nothing. You're startled from your reverie when you feel a hand settle on top of your head. Coming back to the present, you're face to face with a smiling Mikey.
"Ya. I've been there too." He says, leaving his hand in your hair.
It's warm and reminiscent of late night talks with Kei. There is no way to stop the tears that slip down your cheeks. No matter how many times you try to wipe them away, that warm hand on your head reminds you of the way Kei used to tease you when you were upset about something silly.
"I'm sorry." You choke out, because you are.
The hand ruffling your hair lets you know that the apology is accepted. Or maybe it's the words that follow.
"Don't forget that there are people you can talk to."
0_0_0_0
Chifuyu had to wonder if Baji was tired of seeing his ugly mug. He probably came here too much, but it's one of the only places where he could get his brain to shut up. Turning into the pathway that holds the Baji Family grave, Chifuyu isn't surprised to see a figure already there. She's sitting cross-legged, hands wrapped around a mug of something warm. It is a chillier day today. She peaks up at him, eyes barely visible in the oversized hood to the hoodie that she's seemingly always wearing. He watches as she turns away from him, shuffling around until she produces another mug out of her pocket and pops the lid off of her thermos. She fills the mug before holding it out to him. Chifuyu's a little stunned by the action, but reaches out to take the drink nonetheless. Taking care not to spill any of the tea, he takes a seat next to her, taking in her rosy cheeks and tear stains that she hasn't bothered wiping away.
"I met Mikey today."
Chifuyu pauses mid sip, turning his attention towards Baji's sister. Had he heard her right? How had she managed to meet Toman's number one? Then again... she is a Baji. They have a way of turning the tide in their direction.
"He's not as scary as Kei made him out to be." She muses as she brings her tea to her lips.
There's a mug poured for Baji as well, sitting untouched on the edge of the gravestone where people can leave offerings. He wishes they were sitting in front of the captain of the first division instead of his gravestone, but he'll have to settle for this.
"Mikey's only scary when he has to be." Chifuyu finds himself replying as he wraps his cold hands around his mug. "I thought you weren't supposed to be mingling with us." He tacks on for good measure.
"You ruined that." She huffs, birthing a sense of guilt Chifuyu doesn't believe is fair to associate himself to. "Then Mikey waited outside of my school, so I didn't really have much choice there." She states before taking another sip of her tea.
"Do you want to put a barrier between you and Toman?" Chifuyu asks, earning her attention.
"Kei loved you guys. From the stories of nights spent on motorbikes to nights where you guys had each other's backs. The price for him getting my help with bandaging his ass up was to tell me about you guys. Did you know, Chifuyu, that you were probably his closest confident. Bar Mikey of course." She states as if it's casual information and not something that makes him want to cry.
"You didn't answer my question."
She raises a brow in his direction but keeps him in suspension as she takes another sip of her tea. She's not worried about the stress he feels at hearing this answer. Chifuyu doesn't understand it himself. Maybe he's just hoping for something to fill up his time so he doesn't always spend it here. Maybe he wants to prove to Baji that he can keep her safe like he'd protected all of them just last week.
"I don't want to cut the people Kei loved out of my life. It hurts meeting you people. It hurts not being there when he needed me the most. Seeing you guys only serves to remind me that." She states, her eyes sad as she rests the mug on her knee. "I want to get to know the people who my brother gave his life to protect."
Chifuyu feels something in his chest lighten. Breathing is a little easier as she turns a small smile towards him. She looks tired, her hair a wild mess under the hood, eye bags competing with the dark purple of it. He'd be lying if he didn't admit that he wanted to get to know the girl that was a twin to the first division captain.
"Will you talk to me about my brother?"
She's set her mug on the concrete on the opposite side and pulled her knees in. She's balancing her temple on her arms as she peers at him, and Chifuyu can't help the swell of excitement he gets at the thought of gushing about the person he admired the most in the world. She looks equally as excited as he is. Chifuyu's left to wonder if people are pretending that Baji never existed around her as they do around him. As this girl interjects into his stories, offering commentary of her own, he can't help the sense of kinship he feels as they chuckle at stupid stories and things that Baji has done to make their days a little better in the past.