"Hey, Baji."
"Huh? What do you want, Mikey?"
"Why did you bring this crying girl here?" The blonde pointed to the girl who was pulling her knees to her chest, she was sitting from afar, alone, wiping her tears as she did so.
Mikey thought the original plan was to train together with Baji at his Grandfather's dojo but he suddenly came with a girl with him.
"She's my cousin, she'll be staying with us from now on." Keisuke explained shortly, his hand stuffed on his pockets.
"Ha?! What the heck does that mean?!" Mikey was still confused, so what if she's his cousin? Does that mean she'll be joining them right away? And also why did she come here just now? Keisuke and him had been friends for awhile now so he should've known about her from the start.
So why now?
"Look, Mikey." Keisuke motioned Mikey to come closer to him, his voice suddenly decreasing its volume. Mikey leaned closer to the black haired boy, ready to hear what he has to say. "You really wanna hear what happened? Fine, I'll tell you."
But Mikey surely wasn't ready to 'that' kind of topic, especially coming from Baji who seemed like he was free from worries and stuff related to that.
Apparently, Y/n was a girl raised by a single Father who didn't act like a Father at all. He was an alcoholic drug addict, it started when his wife had died. Over the years, Y/n had grew up abused and afraid, she would've been in a much worse situation if Keisuke's Mother didn't visit from time to time to let her stay at her place, that's where she started spending time with Keisuke.
It was no surprise that the two got along quite quickly, Keisuke understood the situation Y/n was in six months after they started hanging out. By that, Keisuke knew he had to put an end to her Father's doings. He couldn't let Y/n live a life like that anymore, she wasn't someone who deserved something like that.
Six weeks after that, Keisuke's Mother got busy with her work and Keisuke was worried because he still couldn't see Y/n and how she was, and so, he asked his Mother for her address, saying Y/n left some things at home and wanted to return it.
He didn't know if his Mother knew about Y/n's Father or not, since Y/n hardly ever opens up to anyone and her body showed no signs of abuse, that was because her bruises were hidden, under her clothes.
By that day, Keisuke went to his cousin's apartment.
That day was traumatic for the both of them, Y/n almost got raped by her own Father and Keisuke saw it with his own two eyes, he something terrifying, something his cousin was about to experience.
Keisuke didn't hesitate attacking her Father and drag Y/n out then immediately called the police.
By then, her Father got arrested.
Mikey was quite shocked. He didn't knew a girl around his age had to go something terrible. He knew it was no doubt that it was traumatizing, heck she might even be already traumatized.
"Baji, why didn't you told me sooner?" Mikey asked, a bit downed after he heard the information from Baji. A visible frown painted his face.
"She's having a hard time with new people, but today I forced her to come since Mom wasn't at home today." Baji explained. "Mikey, what happened to her scarred her, I need something that can maybe help her."
Mikey couldn't believe that Baji was actually very worried, she must be someone really important to him. It made him smile.
"Don't worry, we'll help her, together." He grinned.
-
"Wh-What?! Keisuke still haven't come home?!" Y/n bursted, her eyes wide with her brows knitted. She knew something was up, Baji always comes home because his Mother always worry about him
"Did something happen, Y/n?" Mrs. Baji looked concerned, she knew Keisuke was old enough to take care of himself, but he's reckless at the same time.
"I... I don't know, I'll ask Mikey, maybe he'll know what happened." Y/n sighed, Mrs. Baji wasn't the only one worried, she too started to worry. It was unlikely of Keisuke to not come back home.
Y/n wasted no time and immediately went out, going out to where Mikey was. She knew he'd probably be strolling around right now, at this time of night, but she had to check if he was there.
It was only a matter of time before Y/n arrived at the beach. The very same beach where they hung out.
She couldn't help but slightly shiver, it was freezing cold and she had just worn some light clothes. She gritted her teeth and bared with the temperature, she immediately ran into the beach once she saw an all too familiar figure standing by the shore.
"Mikey." By just the sound of her voice, Mikey almost immediately turns his head, a second before their eyes met.
"Y/n? What are you doing here?" Mikey's brows rose, quite taken aback by the sudden appearance she had.
"Did something happen? Where's Keisuke? He hasn't been coming home lately." The girl had no time stalling, she needed to know if something had happened.
She noticed how Mikey went silent for a minute right after her question. He also looked a bit off.
"Y/n..." Mikey took a deep breath. "I don't wanna lie to you. Baji took off and joined Valhalla." Y/n wasn't that clueless, she already knew who and what Valhalla is.
Her brows quickly furrowed in confusion. Valhalla was a gang Toman was going to fight with in a few days, and Mikey told her he ran off and joined the enemy? Just what the heck happened?
"Mikey. You're lying-"
"I'm not, Y/n." The blonde cuts off, his face showing no signs of him actually lying. The part of Y/n who didn't believe Mikey suddenly went silent, Mikey was serious.
"Wha-I-" Y/n breathed deeply. "How? Why? What the heck happened?" This had to he some kind of prank right? Keisuke wouldn't join the enemy. She found it hard to breath as her chest tightened, does this mean he actually betrayed Toman? Why? They had been friends and family for a very long time, so why? Did she do something wrong? Did Mikey do something wrong? She can't lose Keisuke, she knew she had every right to be angry with him because he became a traitor.
But why did she only want him to go back to Toman? Why did it only saddened her than angered her?
She knew the reason why, it was because Keisuke was someone she held very close to her heart. He was the first family and friend she could have ever had. She couldn't bear to proceed with her life without him.
That's why... Keisuke...
"I don't know. Takemitchy even saw how Baji beat up Chifuyu infront of the Valhalla captains." Mikey added, stepping up to Y/n. "But don't worry, Y/n." He told.
Mikey saw how worried Y/n was, it was the same kind of face Baji had when he told Mikey about her.
"Mikey, what happened to her scared her, I need something that can maybe help her."
"We're going to win the fight and take him back to us." The blonde smiled, stepping closer to the female, his hands slowly wrapping its way to her waist. "I won't let anything bad happen to him, I promise, so don't worry." He grinned, hugging the girl tightly.
Earlier, Y/n felt suffocated, but after hearing Mikey's words, she knew she could rely on him.
He's Mikey after all.
Y/n didn't hesitate to hug the male back.
"I trust you, Mikey."
-
"My name's Manjiro, but you can call me Mikey! What's yours?" The blonde looks down on the girl, she was a mess, her face were stained with tears, her eyes and lips were puffy and wet, and her hair wasn't tamed.
The girl remained quiet. Which caught Mikey off guard.
"Baji wasn't kidding when he said you were having trouble with new people." Mikey whispered.
He signed.
"Well, no worries! Y/n-chan, there's nothing to be afraid of." Mikey smiled softly. His hand reached out for Y/n to grab, basically it was a gesture of asking for her trust. "Starting from now on, we're all going to be family!"
Mikey couldn't allow himself to forget.
The way Y/n's tears and sniffles died down, the way she looked at his hand with wide eyes. She looked fragile, weak, frail. It made him want to protect her at all costs, it made him was to be soft on her and treat her better, it made him want to take care of her for as long as he could.
He couldn't let this girl suffer when she did nothing wrong.
Anyone who's important to Keisuke was important to him as well. And plus, he didn't mind having another new friend to be with.
He actually hoped they would be together for a very very very long time.