Astrophile

042

When you returned to Shinichirō, he could tell by your expressions that it did not go well. You wordlessly walked away, sparing him a side glance before continuing with your way to your house. The day after, Shinichirō told you to give Izana some space, even though Kakuchō had called you to apologise for Izana's behaviour.

After what had transpired that day, you were too tired to bother going about with it. Shinichirō obviously, was worried for you but you would always wave him off.

Bags started forming under your eyes, you even lost your appetite. The once bright little child that you were, was starting to change into something miserable. And there was no one that could help you.

Not Shinichirō, not Manjirō, not Emma, nor Baji, you had to do it alone.

2003

It was time...

After years of planning, the time had finally come. As of right now, you were on your bike riding to Musashi Shrine where Manjirō had called to meet up. It became a regular meet up spot for you all, it almost gave you guys the look of a gang.

Speaking of gangs....

Izana ended up leading the 8th Generation of the Black Dragons, retiring only a while ago. You know because of what Inui would tell you often on phone calls. He would talk about how Izana practically ruined the Black Dragons' name.

He truly despised what the beloved gang of Shinichirō had become, and it scared you. Only a while ago, Izana gave up the gang to someone named Shion Madarame. You didn't know much about this generation as Inui stopped giving you any information, hell, you barely had any contact with the scarred boy.

Thankfully, Shinichirō was unaware of what Izana was doing, so the man didn't feel any sort of misery regarding his brother or his gang.

Completely lost in your thoughts, you failed to hear Mitsuya calling out to you as you rode your beloved Yamaha YZF R1, "[Male Name]-kun!! Hey, [Male Name]-kun!!" You snapped out of your thoughts and turned to him in surprise.

"What?" He looked at you in worry at your unresponsiveness, "[Male Name]-kun... if you're not feeling well then you should have stayed home..." You only shook your head with a small smile, "I'm fine..."

Revving up your engines, you sped forward and looked back to shoot him a grin, "Looks like I'll win our little race!!" He looked at you in surprise before shouting something and speeding off himself.

Truthfully, you didn't know that everyone had a race going on since you completely tuned out what the others were saying back at the meet up spot. But after knowing your friends for so long, you knew that they probably were racing anyways.

You arrived at Musashi Shrine to see Draken already standing next to his beloved Zephyr, making you smile at him as you kicked out your stand, "I won!!" He declared with a proud smirk which made you smile back, "Yeah, i know..." You pat his shoulder and began climbing up the stairs to take a seat at the very top.

He grinned brightly at your appreciation before jogging up to you and taking a seat with you, "What's wrong, Ken-kun?" He shook his head while keeping his grin, "Nope, nothing!!"

You shot him a suspicious look as he looked at you innocently, well... as innocently as he could with that dragon tattoo.

You heaved a sigh before leaning back on your hands and began waiting for the rest of your friends. Your companion followed your actions while turning to you, "What do you think Mikey wants to talk about?"

You shrugged your shoulders and continued to look above at the clouds, "Beats me.... Knowing Manjirō, he'll probably have either something very stupid to say or something very important.... no in-betweens." Ken let out a snort at your sentence and nodded before looking up at where your gaze was, "Damn, what's taking those slowpokes so long?!"

It was you turn to let out a small laugh and Ken grinned proudly. Lately, you've been really over the edge, and even if you tried to play it cool, they knew better that you were probably bothered by something.

But apparently no one knew anything, not Shinichirō, not Wakasa, Takeomi or even Benkei. They were just as clueless as your friends. So seeing you laugh and loosen up a bit, made the tall boy happy.

Unfortunately, this troubled behaviour of yours had been going on for quite a while, so they had no other choice but to get used to it.

After some time, you finally saw Kazutora, Haruki and Mitsuya arriving, almost at the same time. You greeted then with a soft smile and they smiled back before turning over and watching Keisuke carry Manjirō over the stairs.

That blonde brat fell asleep again...

You let out a yawn while getting up after Keisuke came up with Manjirō, "Oi, Mikey!! Get up!!" He woke up slowly, "Oh.. we're here already..."

"Yeah, no shit.." Keisuke grumbled as he felt Manjirō slide off of him and draping himself over you, "Manjirō, you owe us an explanation..." You mumbled softly to the half-asleep boy on your shoulder.

Draken pulled him up from you and shook him slightly before placing him on the ground, "Why the hell did you call us here?!" Ken grumbled at Manjirō as he straightened up.

"Have you heard of the Black Dragons??" The short male's question left everyone in surprise, "The Black Dragons?! They're brutal, I think they're three years older than us..." Mitsuya mumbled and looked at Kazutora who flinched.

"Why didn't you ask us for help, Kazutora?" Mikey questioned with a frown as you turned to the yellow eyed boy, "Kazutora-kun... I thought you said you got in a random fight...." You said in slight disappointment, knowing that if you had helped him then maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt like this.

"He went head to head with the Black Dragons?!" Mitsuya asked in disbelief.

The yellow eyed boy rubbed his head bashfully, "How'd you know, Mikey?"

"Baji told me." Was the simple response of Sano Manjirō. Pah scratched his head and nodded, "Well, he does live in the Black Dragons turf..."

Ken, who was quiet the entire time, spoke up, "Wait, you want to throw over the Black Dragons, Mikey?!" The said boy nodded in agreement, "Yeah, the Black Dragons are huge... if we're gonna do this, we're gonna need a good reason!!"

"If I remember correctly, the current 9th generation's leader is someone with the name of Shion Madarame..." You trailed off with a hand on your chin, "In terms of strength, the 9th generation is nothing compared to the 8th generation, maybe that's why Kazutora-kun was able to make it out alive...."

They all gaped at you with how much knowledge you had over the Black Dragons, "You know a lot about them, right?" Mitsuya asked with a sweat running down his cheek.

His question made you rub your head bashfully, "It's only thanks to the friend I had back in the 8th generation..." This surprised everyone, "You had someone leak you information during the time of the most violent generations in the Black Dragons' history?!" Kazutora yelled and shook you by the shoulders.

You waved him off slightly with a small smile, "Well, he did quit with the 8th generation... I don't blame him, Madarame is unsightly..." The purple haired boy beside you stifled his laugh at your words, "I don't think he quit the Black Dragons cause he found their newest leader ugly...."

You smiled back at him while Keisuke suddenly yelled, "I have an idea... How about we form our own gang?!"

"Our own gang?!" Ken asked in disbelief, while even Mitsuya looked surprised, "You think we can make a gang that easily? With just the seven of us?!"

"Of course, I already have our positions ready!!" Baji grinned, showing off his sharp fangs in the process.

"Our leader, Sano Manjirō, the most arrogant and the strongest out of all of us!!" Mikey grimaced at the arrogant part but it was the bitter truth.

"Our dependable big-brother type Vice-Commander, Draken!!" The said boy grinned proudly.

"Mistuya will be our mediator and lead our elite squad!!" Baji yelled with pride, "The powerhouse, Pah-chin will bear our flag!!" He then pointed to himself, "Kazutora and I will form our attack unit, with the all-knowing [Male Name] as our strategist..." He grinned brightly as he thought of the perfect name for you.

"[Male Name], the Coordinate!!"