HIS PRIDE ⇀ Manjiro Sano

Part 5

*TW: REFERENCES TO LOOSING SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU, SH AND SU*CIDE*

It'd been a few days since Mikey and Akira had talked at the meeting. The leader of Toman had gotten busy those few days, preparing for the conflict brewing. But today was a day that Mikey had decided he was to take a break, go spend time with his new friends.

"Are you sure?" Mikey hummed, looking up at Draken who nodded, rubbing his forehead as he scanned the hallway.

"He wasn't in his class or at the gym, I don't know Mikey." Draken grumbled out. Mikey frowned as he looked down at his phone, the texts he'd sent the boy getting no response.

"I want you to send everyone you can find to go look for him." Mikey spoke, looking up at Draken who raised an eyebrow.

"You think we can afford to do that with the fight coming-" Draken was saying before Mikey interrupted him.

"He could be in trouble, Ken-chin." Mikey spoke causing Draken to sigh again, nodding knowing the boy was right.

Toman ventured throughout the city, all of them looking for the black haired boy or one of his friends. Rain poured against the Tokyo street, motorcycles on nearly every street.

Mikey sat on the back of Drakens bike, looking around for a familiar face as they searched for the boy.

Another motorcycle drove up next to them, Mitsuya squinting through the rain as he finally found his commander.

"Mikey! One of my group found em!" Mitsuya shouted causing Mikey's eyes to widen, patting Draken on the shoulder.

"Pull over, Ken-chin! Pull over!" Mikey commanded, excitement and worry lacing his words. Draken pulled to the side of the road, Mitsuya pulling aside them as he wiped his face, trying to keep the rain from his eyes.

"He's in the cemetery on fourth! Right on the corner!" Mitsuya spoke, remembering the silent boy sitting under a tree.

Mikey nodded, patting Draken on the back signaling him to go. The two raced through the wet streets of Tokyo, arriving at the cemetery. Mikey stumbled off the bike, jogging into the cemetery while telling Draken to wait for him there.

Mikey walked through the cemetery, looking around for the boy he'd been so worried about. He looked to a tree, seeing a silhouette sitting against the tree.

"Yo! Aki! What the hell are you doing?" Mikey asked as he climbed the hill. Mud slipped under his shoe causing him to slightly stumble, making it to the top of the hill.

"Aki?" Mikey asked, his eyebrows furrowed in worry as he saw the black haired boy turn to face him. Mikey saw tear stains running down his face as he looked up to the boy.

"Shorty? What're- what're you doing here?" Akira asked, his voice raspier than it normally had been. Mikey sighed, making his way under the tree to try to minimize getting hit by rain water.

"Why haven't you been answering my texts? I got worried." Mikey mumbled as he sat next to the boy who hummed.

"I uh, I don't have my phone. Sorry." Akira spoke, brining his knee up to rest his head on. Mikey looked at the boy, slightly concerned. He reached out, trying to see what was wrong with the boy but before he could make contact with him, Akira flinched away.

"Listen I uh, I appreciate you coming out here for me. But I'm okay. I don't need help." Akira spoke causing Mikey to huff, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the tree.

"Well. I'm not going anywhere until you agree to come with me out of the rain." Mikey spoke, stubbornness flying through his words. Akira sighed, looking to the boy. For the first time in the dreaded day, Akira had a small smile on his face.

"I'm fine, Mikey." Akira spoke softly, his voice being nearly overpowered by the rain smashing against the ground.

"You're sitting in a cemetery while it's pouring rain and you've been crying. Put aside your pride and let me help you!" Mikey spoke back, expressing himself with his hands.

Akira huffed, turning away from Mikey and staring towards the graves down the hill, nestling himself into his knee.

"That grave, down at the foot of the hill?  That's uh, that's my mom." Akira finally said, struggling to get the words from his throat. Mikey's eyes widened at the words, looking down at the lone grave with a crestfallen face.

"Oh I uhm, I'm sorry." Mikey spoke, only being able to get those specific words out.

"She and my dad adopted me when I was five. It was amazing, she was the best mom anyone could ask for. Then, around four years ago she..." Akira trailed off causing Mikey to reach over and place his hand on the boys hand.

"You don't need to tell me." Mikey assured the boy, making him shake his head.

"No, it's okay. You came all this way, you deserve to know." Akira said while sniffling.

"I came home one day after school, my dad, he worked all the time. Fourteen hour days. I only got to see him on weekends but he did it so my mom could take care of me during the day." Akira explained causing Mikey to nod, still holding onto the boys hand,

"I got home, and she was crying. I must've asked her a hundred times why. Finally, she hugged me really tight and told me that she was sick. Of course what I didn't know it was cancer, the terminal kind." Akira spoke, tears threatening to spill from his eyes, Mikey biting the inside of his lip trying to process everything.

"She said she'd fight it, fight for me and my dad. Three weeks later on my birthday, I ran home from school, thrilled to spend it with her. I uhm- I found 'er. I found her with a buncha pill bottles next to her. She left a note saying that she knew how expensive the chemo was, she wanted me to live comfortably." Akira explained, staring off into the sky as rain splashed against this face, mixing with the now flowing tears.

"Oh, Akira..." Mikey whimpered, sadness filling his voice as he moved closer to the boy. He pulled his body into Akira's wrapping his arms around the boy while covering him with his now taken off jacket.

"Wanna know the worst part?" Akira mumbled, not waiting for Mikey to answer. Tears began to fall heavier as his breath hitched.

"I couldn't even do anything when I found her. I didn't call the police, I didn't call my dad... I just held her. I held her, begging her to wake up. I sat there for hours until my dad got home. You should've seen his face when he came into that room, Mikey. He looked at me with such anger, such hatred." Akira sobbed out, grasping ahold of the boys shirt and pushing his face into the crook of his neck.

"He beat me, Mikey. He didn't even take me out of the room. He just threw me off of the bed and beat me. He told me that it was my fault- that if they didn't adopt me then that wouldn't have happened. I loved the s-shit outta them, Mikey, and I-I... I killed my mom, just by being there!" Akira sobbed into the boys chest.

Mikey didn't move nor respond, he didn't know how to. It was so much information to the boy, he couldn't understand why his father would touch someone like Akira.

"I loved them! I even loved my dad when he used to beat me, I kept saying one day, he'll stop. He'll get his anger out. But he didn't. For years he didn't. Then, last year I just didn't come home. I figured living on the street had to be better. It just had to be." Akira spoke causing Mikey's eyes to widen. Akira had been homeless? He still went to school and tried to help people and he didn't have a family or a home to stay at?

"It'll be okay, Aki. I'm here now, I won't let anything bad happen anymore, I promise." Mikey mumbled, rubbing the boys back as Akira leaned his head against Mikey's shoulder.

"Please don't disappear too, Funsized." Akira mumbled, watching the rain smash into the ground.