a few days had passed and all of Toman was gathered at the Musashi shrine, for yet another meeting.
you stood off to the side near Takemichy and Mitsuya, as you were under his division.
listening to Mikey, his voice boomed over the crowd, asking the new third division captain to step up.
ever since Pah was sent to juvie, the third division has not had a captain so you thought it was well overdue to get a new one.
a boy with blonde spiky hair and square glasses walked up to the front near Mikey, and sat down with his back turned to him.
and outrage of voices called out, calling him disrespectful and all kinds of other names.
you stood there, looking to Mitsuya, confused on what was going on.
you caught his attention and he looked down at you, smiling.
"it's fine, Mikey'll know what to do."
you nodded and turned back to the front, somehow missing the whole part where Mikey introduced 'Tetta Kisaki' as the new third division captain.
before you knew what he was doing, Takemichy ran up to the front and punched Kisaki square on the cheek.
Kisaki's glasses flew off, and he glared at Takemichy.
another round of yelling broke out, and suddenly Baji came out of nowhere, beating Takemichy until he was unconscious.
you ran up to Baji, pulling on his arm in a feeble attempt to stop him.
"Baji, what the hell are you doing!" you yelled at him, but your voice fell on deaf ears.
Mikey then spoke up, surprising you with his words.
"what are you doing here, Baji? you know you've been banned from Toman's meetings."
"huh..?" you mumbled, looking around at your friends, who wore sullen frowns.
"i know, i just thought i'd come here one last time to formally tell everyone i'm quitting the gang."
your heart dropped, slowly letting go of his arm and staring at him.
you were confused, to say the least, as this had all just been sprung on you.
'the fuck did i miss while i was at Draken's?!'
everyone watched as Baji turned and left, but you ran after him, no one daring to stop you.
as you followed him to the bottom of the stairs, you grabbed onto his shoulder and made him turn to face you.
"let go of me, y/n." he growled lowly, but you held your ground.
"what's going on, Baji? why are you leaving Toman?"
"i'm joining another gang. one that i like much more."
your breathing hitched, sadness welling in your chest.
"which one?"
"Valhalla. otherwise known as the headless angels."
your blood ran cold. you remembered the headless graffiti on the side of Hanmas gangs' meeting place, and you paled at the thought.
"does.. Hanma run that gang?"
he finally looked at you, eyes slightly widened in surprise.
"yeah, do you know him?"
anger bubbled in your chest, rising up as you felt hot tears forming in your eyes.
"he's the dickhead who beat me up."
you could see the change in Baji's demeanour, his jaw hanging open and he looked at you in disbelief.
"don't join them, Baji. practically no one there is good."
after collecting himself, he turned away again.
"i have to y/n. you don't understand."
he started to walk away, but you called out of him.
"Baji! don't do this! whatever reason you have isn't worth it!"
his footsteps stopped, and he gulped, thinking of something to say to get you to stop trying to make him stay.
"im not staying. im tired of looking after your sorry ass and having to protect you from every little thing. do us all a favour and leave so we don't have to help you."
his heart broke at what he said to you, but Baji knew he had to say something mean enough for you to hate him.
he needed to know that nobody would miss him if things went south.
he walked away, leaving you standing in the cold, angry tears rolling down your face as you hugged your body.
you were so angry at Baji, but couldn't bring yourself to think anything bad about him.
you kept telling yourself he was doing this for a reason, and would be back to you and your friends again soon.
wiping the stray tears off of your face, you headed back up the stairs to where only a few people were resided.
most of the members had left, leaving you, Mikey, Draken, Mitsuya, and Takemichy.
Draken rushed over to you after seeing your figure at the top of the stairs, concern written on his face.
"are you okay? we heard yelling down there."
you put on your best fake smile, and directed it towards all of them.
"yeah, i'm good. just wanted to say goodbye to Baji."
————
Draken had driven you back to the brothel on his motorcycle, and the two of you headed inside the building together.
you both greeted the workers in the main lobby, and went into Drakens' room.
"so, what's going to happen between Toman and Valhalla?"
Draken looked at you in surprise, not knowing you knew about which gang Baji was joining.
"im not sure," he sighed, "Mikey said something about their leader being a crazy asshole, so i don't think anything good is going to come from this."
you looked down, worrying about what would happen in the near future.
another thought then popped into your head, and you spoke up yet again.
"hey, Kenny," "hmm?" "do you know someone named Kazutora?"
he gazed at you with wide eyes, nodding his head slowly.
"he's actually a founding member of Toman. how do you know him?"
it was now your turn to be surprised.
"he's the one who i clicked with the night my mom kicked me out. why is he in Valhalla now though, if he's a founding member of Toman?"
you followed up your answer with a question, not wanting Draken to figure out it was Valhallas guys who had beaten you up.
Draken told the whole story, your attention never once leaving him as you learned more about your dual-haired friend.
once he finished explaining, the two of you stayed quiet for a while, him letting you process everything.
"so Mikey had a brother, huh?"
Draken only nodded, remembering the tragic events of the night long ago.
"that is a crazy story. but i have to say, there did seem like there was a lot more to him than what met the eye."
your moods had quickly turned sour talking about Kazutora and his relationship with your friends.
Draken grabbed your hand, pulling you out of your thoughts.
you shot your head up with a questioning gaze, wondering what he was doing.
"just, promise me, if anything does happen, stay safe okay? tell one of us if you need help."
your mind flashed back to earlier that night,
'im tired of looking after your sorry ass and having to protect you from every little thing. do us all a favour and leave so we don't have to help you.'
even with Baji's words ringing in your head, you nodded and smiled at Draken.
"i promise."
he returned the smile, and to both of your disappointment, let go of your hand.
it was nearing midnight and the two of you were growing tired, finally saying goodnight and you headed to your temporary room.
shutting the door softly behind you, you sighed and pinched the bridge of your nose to alleviate the headache that was forming.
you crawled under the covers on the bed, and shut your eyes.
sleep did not come to you, but in a way you were relieved.
as much as you hated to admit it, you were scared of having more nightmares.
since the first bad dream you experienced, whenever you slept for more than an hour at a time it would happen again.
they were all different but all equally scarring, forcing you to replay past events.
dark bags formed under your eyes, and it was getting harder to conceal them with makeup.
you felt sleep tug at your relaxed consciousness, pulling you into the depths of darkness.
you soon fell asleep, but it was restless and yet again filled with nightmares.
waking up multiple times throughout the night, you didn't bother to ask Draken for help even though he told you to.
you stayed lying down, staring at the ceiling above you while wishing to be able to get one good sleep.
but, alas, it didn't come, and before you knew it the sun was rising to signify the start of a new day.
you groaned loudly and flipped onto your stomach, shoving your face into the pillow and shutting your eyes tightly.
staying like that for a while, you were just about to fall asleep when someone rudely barged into the room.
"wake up y/n, emergency Toman meeting!"