2005:
"I'll talk to Taiju," Mitsuya smiled, facing the blue haired boy.
"Taka!" Hakkai gasped in shock.
I will admit, visiting the leader of the Black Dragons seems very risky to me. Mitsuya is a strong guy, but not even a captain like him would do good in a fight against Taiju, alone.
After the meeting, Hakkai, Mitsuya, Chifuyu, Takemichi, Katsume, and I walked to meet the Black Dragon's Leader. If this is our only option to stop Hakkai from leaving, then so be it.
"Hey Taka," Hakkai spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Going to talk to Taiju is a bad idea," he warned. "Cause no matter what you say, he won't change a thing. He's a piece of shit."
"I wish you'd stop doing that," Mitsuya sighed. "You need to quit trying to handle things all by yourself. You know what I'm curious about?"
The silvered haired boy turned to us.
"Why'd we get these four tagging along?"
"Huh? I'm the one who got the crap kicked out of him," Takemichi reminded us.
"I'm here cause he's here," Katsume yawned, pointing to Chifuyu.
"And I'm his reminder, because he is a moron," Chifuyu added.
"Woah, who are you calling a moron?" Takemichi shouted. "You're the one who came up with the stupid plan with the cake!"
"Yeah, but everything still turned out alright," Chifuyu laughed.
"I have nothing better to do right now," I sighed. "Plus, you might need the extra muscle if Taiju decides to get violent."
Mitsuya smiled before telling us all, "alright, come along then."
-Time Skip to the Meeting with Taiju-
On one side, Taiju sat with his feet on the table. Behind him stood two members of Black Dragon, one with black hair and the other, who was blonde with a burn scar on his left side. On the other sat Mitsuya, with Chifuyu, Katsume, Takemichi, Hakkai, and I standing behind.
"Nice to meet you, Taiju," Mitsuya greeted. "How ya doing?"
"I'm dying to find out about this Mitsuya character that's been messing with my little brother's head," the blue and white-haired man sneered.
"Quite an accusation coming from you," Mitsuya retorted.
"I should kill you now, you shit!" Taiju threatened. "But go on and say what you want to say, as long as you keep it short."
"I'll let Hakkai quit and join Black Dragon and we'll cease all contact with him," Mitsuya offered.
"Huh? That's not what you said you were going to offer him at all!" Takemichi blurted.
Idiot.
"Hehe well now isn't that a laugh," Taiju smirked. "I thought the whole reason you came here was to stop that."
"In exchange, you agree to release Yuzuha," Mitsuya ordered.
Hakkai and I gasped. I remember Mitsuya mentioning that the Shiba's were a fucked-up family. Not even Yuzuha was immune to Taiju's anger.
"Takashi!" Hakkai exclaimed in shock. "Why'd you say that?"
"Taiju, you know you only have yourself to blame," Mitsuya growled. "You forced Hakkai to act to protect his big sister from all of your violence and abuse."
Evilly grinning, the man opposite to us seemed amused by this proposal.
"Now that's rich, coming from trash like you!"
"Come here, Hakkai," Mitsuya looked back at the boy with blue hair. "Sit."
He fearfully looked at his brother before muttering an "okay" and taking a seat beside his captain.
"Hakkai's not leaving Toman because he's afraid of you," Mitsuya clarified. "Let's be clear, he's doing it to protect Yuzuha."
A vein on Taiju's head popped out, before he attempted to punch Mitsuya, who blocked it. Holy shit! That made a loud noise; that had to hurt like a bitch. Hakkai panted, in a cold sweat.
"Hey, not bad," the buff man stood back up.
"Once again," Mitsuya frowned, standing up. "We'll let Hakkai join you in Black Dragon, but you have to release Yuzuha. If you accept that condition, Toman won't retaliate for Takemichi's assault."
"And what if I refuse?" the man in the red coat instigated.
"Then you declared war!"
"Well played!" Taiju laughed, forcefully grabbing Mitsuya's hand. "Looks like we gotta truce. I'll set her free even though I don't admit to your accusations and since you're all so concerned, I'll swear to you that I'll never strike Yuzuha."
The meeting concluded, causing us to all exit in silence. This wasn't what I was expecting to go down. This is probably the exact same thing that happened in the timeline that Takemichi just returned from. Mitsuya and Hakkai walked in the front, while I lingered in the back with Takemichi, Katsume, and Chifuyu.
"I'm not sure what we gained there since Hakkai ended up joining with Black Dragon just the same," Chifuyu admitted.
"Yeah, but I did learn one new thing," Takemichi claimed. "Hakkai's real motivation, he's going to kill Taiju in order to protect Yuzuha from him."
"Something's not right," I looked at the blondes. "It's hard to believe that Taiju would agree to that so easily."
"Yeah, but that still wouldn't change what he did to her," Katsume noted. "But, as much as Taiju dying would be great, we'll have to find some way to stop it."
"Taka, I wanna thank you," Hakkai mumbled. "I just-"
"It's okay, Hakkai," Mitsuya turned, facing the blue haired boy. "Just remember, even when things are tough, only use your strength to protect others."
"Taka-"
"Don't hate the life you were born into," Mitsuya continued. "Embrace it, Hakkai."
Breaking away from Mitsuya and Hakkai, the rest of us ended up at a nearby park.
"I think I'm going to go back to the future," Takemichi announced.
"Huh, what for?" Chifuyu asked. "You didn't prevent Hakkai from joining Black Dragon."
"So, you didn't accomplish anything," Katsume added.
"In the timeline I saw, Hakkai killed Taiju in order to protect Yuzuha," Takemichi explained. "But now that Mitsuya got her set free, Hakkai has no reason to kill his brother anymore. So, the future probably has changed."
"I suppose you might have a point," Chifuyu pondered.
"Might have?"
"Have you ever thought that this could've happened in your timeline?" I thought out loud. "For all we know, there still could've been that meeting with only Mitsuya and Hakkai present."
"She has a point," Katsume agreed. "But I don't see the harm in checking."
"But what if you're wrong and nothing's changed at all?" Chifuyu countered. "Aren't you just assuming that Hakkai killed Taiju to protect Yuzuha?"
"But what other reason could he have?" Takemichi frowned.
None of us really know the Shiba family too well, so it could be anything. I guess going back to the future would be a bad move right now.
"And also, in the future aren't you now under arrest?" I pointed out, remembering Takemichi's story. "So how are you going to shake hands with Naoto when you're in a jail cell?"
Takemichi's thinking expression turned into a shocked one. It happened to him directly, how could he forget that already?
"You're right!" Takemichi clenched his fist. "If I leave now, I may not be able to get back here."
"It's way too big a risk to take," Chifuyu sighed. "And besides, it was Mitsuya's actions that got Yuzuha set free, not yours."
"So?"
"So, if you yourself haven't changed anything that's happened here, then I doubt the future's changed," the blonde continued.
"Now that I think about it, you guys are right," Takemichi leaned forward. "You guys are pretty smart."
"No, I think that you're just dumber than us," Katsume snickered.
"Yeah, are you sure you're twenty-six years old?" I mocked.
"Fair question," Takemichi frowned, scratching the back of his head.
"Takemichi!" Hakkai yelled, running towards us.
"What? What's the matter, Hakkai?"
The blue haired boy sat on the bench and Takemichi took a seat on the stairs behind him. Katsume, Chifuyu, and I sat on the playground fixture, across from Hakkai.
"I want you to thank Taka for me cause I'm not gonna see him much anymore," he told Takemichi, as he looked at the concrete.
"Sure, that's cool," Takemichi obliged.
"The thing is, my family's all messed up," Hakkai explained. "We didn't have a mom, and from the time I was little dad was never home. So, since Taiju's the oldest, it was always him who ran the family. He's been a boss since he was a kid. It didn't hurt that he was bigger than everyone else and stronger too. But even more than that, he was an expert at getting people to like him. All his buddies really admired him and looked up to him. He was like a king. He learned how to use violence to get results. He didn't give half ass beatings to his followers, he beat the crap out of them, and he treated me and his sister the same way. I always thought that love was supposed to be painful, because that was the way it always was for me. Because that's how I was raised. But Taka, he turned my world upside down. At that age he should've been out playing, but there he was looking out for those two kids. It seemed like he had a tough home life, and yet somehow was always smiling."
I can't believe that he had to go through that. Hakkai is such a nice person, it was hard for me to believe Takemichi when he told us that he was responsible for the murder of his brother. But now the puzzle is piecing itself together. Hakkai smiled, still keeping his eyes glued to the ground.
"Whenever I was there at his place and he cooked for us, I don't know why but I just cried my eyes out," he ranted. "He always said, only use your strength to protect others. And so, I made a promise back then, to protect my own family. So, from then on, I got Yuzuha's beatings plus my own."
The four of us were taken back by his last sentence. No one deserves to be treated that way.
"For a while it worked," Hakkai continued. "It protected her, but then one day, he broke his promise. He beat her, just like he has many times before."
"That bastard!" Takemichi tensed up.
"Yeah, what a total asshole!" Chifuyu furrowed.
"How could someone be so cruel," I frowned.
"Sounds like he doesn't actually care about his family," Katsume growled.
"So, you see," Hakkai lifted his head. "This so-called promise that he made to Taka doesn't mean shit to him. He's not about to let Yuzuha go free, not ever! I'm ashamed to admit it, but to this day I still tremble when I'm in Taiju's presence. I'm powerless against him."
"No, you're not," Takemichi muttered.
"As long as he exists," Hakkai stood up. "That's what made up my mind. That's why I had no choice but to quit Toman. Staying would've only done more damage to his reputation. Now I'll use my strength to protect my family, like Mitsuya said. As for Taiju, it's time. I'm going to kill him."
Hakkai's expression was terrifying. It was similar to the emotionless face that Mikey wore during some of his fights. Well, it's a good thing that Takemichi stayed in the present.
"Of course, I'll be arrested for it," Hakkai concluded. "So, you guys should just stay away from me."
Chifuyu, Katsume, and I slid down the slide of the play fixture, making our way towards Takemichi.
"Then why are you telling us what you're going to do?" I asked.
"To work up the courage, kinda," he smiled. "Saying it out loud will help me to not chicken out. I'm just like that."
That's a fucked-up way to think, but I get why he thinks that this is the answer. Hakkai started to walk up the stairs, before speaking again.
"I didn't know you for very long, Takemichi, but it's been fun."
The blue haired boy disappeared into the distance before Takemichi broke the silence.
"You guys, we can't let this go down that way!"
"No," the rest of us agreed.
"Taiju is total scum, so I get why Hakkai wants him dead, but if he kills him his life is over!"
"That may be true, but-" Chifuyu refuted.
"I know what I have to do!" Takemichi claimed. "I'm gonna destroy the Black Dragon Gang!"
"Do you know how insane you sound?" Katsume sighed.
"Why don't you try to come up with a plan that's actually possible?" I recommended. "Maybe stop Hakkai from killing Taiju."
Takemichi stared at us with a blank expression. Was he getting any of this?
"Ugh, alright alright, just stop making that face, damnit!" Chifuyu shrugged, turning around.
"This is serious!" Takemichi exclaimed.
"I'll give you this," Chifuyu faced the other blonde. "If we do crush Black Dragon, that'll definitely change the future."
"Exactly!"
"Alright, let's go."
"Right!'
We left the park and went our separate ways.
The next night was our officers meeting. We were meeting at a restaurant called Danny's. I haven't been hanging out with Mikey much recently due to the whole Takemichi coming from the future thing. Instead of hanging around Draken and Mikey, like I usually did, I spent all my time with Chifuyu, Takemichi, and Katsume. I was excited to see Mikey tonight, since I haven't seen him since the last meeting, but I was disappointed to find out that he ditched with Mitsuya.
"What?" Draken frowned. "You wanna fight Black Dragon over that?"
Takemichi told Draken that he wanted to stop Hakkai from killing Taiju.
"That's right," Takemichi cautioned.
"Are you kidding me?" Nahoya angrily smiled. "You freaking insane or what? I threatened to go and kill someone many times, dude."
"If we actually did it every time we said it, there'd be no one alive anywhere," Yasuhiro added. "So, forget that we're not about to start a war with Black Dragon just cause you wanna stop Hakkai from killing Taiju."
"What a dumbass," Hanma snickered.
"What'd you think, Draken, (Y/n)?" Nahoya inquired.
"Denied."
"Approved."
Draken and I looked at each other.
"You can't be serious," Draken frowned. "You think that Mikey would be okay with this?"
"Of course not," I answered, honestly. "Sometimes it's the right thing to do to intervene."
"It's not our business, so we're staying out of it!" he argued.
I stayed silent. Nothing I say can make this better. Looks like we're on our own.
"Takemichi, Chifuyu, and Katsume, I'm sure you have what you think are good reasons to do this, but you're asking us to violate the truce that Mitsuya just negotiated."
Shit, I didn't think of that. Of course, they wouldn't want to break it.
"You would be disrespecting Mitsuya," the tattooed boy continued. "And since he and Mikey aren't coming tonight, my decision is final. The answer is no."
We dropped the subject and finished our meeting. Soon mostly everyone went home, leaving me, Takemichi, Katsume, and Chifuyu sitting at the booth.
"I guess I can see how we'd be disrespecting Mitsuya," I sighed. "So, Draken has a point."
"Things just aren't going our way so far, are they, Takemichi?" Katsume frowned, sipping on her apple juice.
"No, not yet. But that only means that we need to handle this ourselves."
"Mind if I join you?" the boy this table despises the most asked. "What if we work together on this?"
Oh, hell no! This bitch is definitely doing this for his own gain. I don't know or care how this will benefit him, there is no way I want to work with this murdering asshole.
"Huh?"
"I wanna stop Hakkai too."
Chifuyu angrily stood up, banging his fist on the table.
"Oh please, do you really expect us to believe that crap? There's no way we'd ever trust you enough to work with you!"
"Alright, then what's your plan?" he retorted. "Because as long as Mitsuya's truce between us and Black Dragon is still in effect, none of the other Toman officers are going to be willing to back you up or join with you. And you wouldn't take that gang on with just you four, because I know you're not that stupid."
Ugh I hate to admit it, but he's right. But he's still up to something. Chifuyu backed off of the blonde with glasses.
"You've seen how weak Mikey is lately," Kisaki continued. "On the other hand, Black Dragon is getting stronger every day, so now's the time to crush them."
Maybe meaning up with Kisaki isn't the worst idea. As long as we're cautious. The Mikey part really pissed me off though. Chifuyu broke his cup, pointing a glass shard at Kisaki's throat. Way to make a scene, dumbass.
"You watch how you talk about Mikey!" he growled. "No more of that shit, yeah! And suppose you tell me what makes you think he's gotten weak! You may be a captain, but that doesn't make you any better than us! So, you had better watch your mouth."
"Chifuyu stop it! You're making a scene," Katsume yelled to her boyfriend, as she stood up.
Hanma came up from behind her, placing a knife to her throat.
"Hey, hey, hey," he smirked. "No fighting allowed, remember? I could just lose my temper if you make me enforce that rule. Get my drift?"
"Both of you, stop it!" I growled.
Both parties dropped their weapons. I was the highest ranking one there, so it's not like they had a choice.
"What's in it for us if we agree to work with you two," Chifuyu attempted to negotiate.
"I've got a mole inside Black Dragon," Kisaki explained. "A secret informant."
Why am I not surprised?
"But if we're going to act on this, we've gotta do it right now. Come with me."
It's like he knew that we were planning this from the beginning. Kisaki and Hanma led us to a karaoke place. The rooms in here have no windows and are meant to keep the people outside from hearing the people inside the room. Smart choice. We sat in a room with drinks, while Kisaki put ¥100,000 on the table.
"This better not get back to Black Dragon," the informant threatened. "I'm a dead man if Taiju finds out."
"Nothing to worry about, no one here has anything to gain by ratting you out," Kisaki reassured. "You get what I asked for?"
"Yeah, you want the boss's movements," the informant clarified.
"Where he goes and when," Chifuyu blurted.
"That's right," Kisaki faced the blonde with the undercut. "If we're going to face Black Dragon, we start by cutting off the head. We need to know where Taiju goes, everything he does on a typical day, everything we can learn about his routine. Knowing your enemy makes him easier to defeat."
"I've been Taiju's gopher longer than anyone else, so I know just about everything he does," the informant continued. "First thing he does each day-"
The door opened, revealing three Black Dragon members, the one in front with black hair. Shit, this is bad.
"Damn, it stinks in here," he evilly smiled. "Smells like a rat or something."
The informant looked at the boy in terror. Wait, I recognize this guy, he was with Taiju at the meeting. Damn it that means that he's close with Taiju! We might've completely fucked our plan up.
"Looks like maybe the rat had a rat," Katsume pointed out.
"Think you're right," Hanma agreed.
"I thought you would've learned something after the last rat we caught," the black haired boy frowned, keeping his hands in his pockets. "You remember him? He felt so bad he killed himself."
"You got it all wrong!" the informant tried to prove his innocence, but it's too late for him now. "It's not what it looks like, Koko! I was spying for you guys!"
"I hope it was worth the money they were paying you," the guy whose name is Koko remarked. "Now you're in for some torture."
I knew that Black Dragon was more like an army, but this sounds like some mafia shit.
"Take this scum away," Koko ordered his two lackeys.
"Yes sir."
I heard the boy scream, as he was dragged out of the karaoke booth. The right thing would be to go save him, but that wouldn't help us obtain our goal.
"Well then," the black-haired boy now faced us. "Where were we?"
"We don't want to fight if that's what you mean," I spoke up.
Koko softly hummed, his eyes darting to the envelope filled with cash.
"A hundred grand," he said emotionlessly. "Give me a hundred grand and I'll tell you anything you wanna know about."
Kisaki took the opportunity to snatch the money to give to the boy.
"We wanna know when Tajiu's gonna be alone with no guards."
"Taiju's careful to never be completely alone," he answered. "He's got five bodyguards with him at all times, except on one particular day."
"What day is that?"
"The 25th of December, on Christmas night. You'd never guess it, but the boss is actually a devoted Christian. And every year on Christmas in the dead of night, he goes to his church to worship. And he's always alone."
"Got it."
"Anything else you wanna know?" Koko asked.
"No, I think that's good enough," Kisaki expressed.
Koko made his way to the door before stopping and speaking again.
"Even when the boss is alone, he's still tough. I doubt all six of you can kill him. I can hardly wait for Christmas."
"Why are you betraying Taiju in the first place?" Takemichi questioned.
"My loyalty will always be with the strong," the black haired boy hesitantly answered, walking away. "If you wanna know anything else, it'll cost you another hundred thousand."
"I guess Black Dragon isn't as rock solid as everyone thinks it is," Chifuyu concluded, as soon as Koko was gone.
"Takemichi, we needed to find out when Taiju was alone, not so we can kill him," Kisaki revealed.
"It wasn't?"
"Hakkai said he was going to kill Taiju, right? So when would he do that?"
"I guess-" Takemichi paused to think.
"When he has no bodyguards or witnesses," I answered for the blonde.
"Of course!"
"So now you can stop Hakkai," Kisaki smirked.
I still think that this is going to go terribly wrong. Kisaki probably ratted out his own informant for all we know.
"Kisaki, why the hell are you doing this?" Takemichi frowned.
"Why not? Is there something wrong with trying to help out my Toman brothers?" he paused, looking at Katsume and I. "And sisters? Together the six of us will stop Hakkai's plan and then defeat Taiju! It'll be our own Christmas night battle."
Usually on Christmas, I went on a bike ride. I usually sat on the back of Mikey's bike, and we were followed by Baji and Shinichiro. I don't want to leave Mikey alone on Christmas, but I need to do whatever it takes to prevent the future from harming us all.