Keep Fighting

𓊈卍 𝟕𝟔 卍𓊉

"You really didn't have to carry me, Takemitchy," Chifuyu says as he clings onto Takemichi's back.

"Well, we couldn't just stay there, and you're seriously fucked up right now," Takemichi responds with heavy breaths and staggered steps. "We just need to go somewhere safe and rest up for now. My house is too far, and even if it wasn't I wouldn't want to go back there, anyway." He sighs deeply. "Now I know how Nakano feels..."

"I'm sorry, Takemichi. This must be so hard on you right now. Both you and Nakano-san are struggling with a lot."

"You don't have to be sorry." Takemichi stumbles a bit. "Whoops! You okay up there?"

"Put me down already, Takemitchy. You're gonna end up wasting your strength." Chifuyu hops down from Takemichi's back, also fumbling as pain surges up and down one of his legs. "Uff!"

"Chifuyu!" Takemichi quickly helps to stabilize him. "Fuck! We're seriously beat up here! It hurts to move!"

Chifuyu nods, and silence grows between them. He looks around, as a realization clicks. "Hold on... I think I know where we are."

Arm in arm, holding each other up, Takemichi and Chifuyu hobble down the dimly lit street. Chifuyu leads them down an alleyway, and they stop at a boarded up door.

"Huh? The lock isn't on here." Chifuyu takes the knob and twists it open. "Hello?"

From inside, they hear a bit of shuffling before someone comes into view. "Chifuyu? And Takemichi!"

"Inui-kun?" Takemichi's eyes widen at the blonde male.

"You think you could help us out?" Chifuyu asks him. "We got into some shit."

"Clearly. I'll grab the first aid kit." He points down the hallway, but moves in the opposite direction. "Go sit on the couch. I'll be right there."

The partners make their way into the main room, and sit on the couch as Inupi instructed them to. Takemichi looks around at his surroundings.

"So you've been here before, Chifuyu?" he questions him.

"Yeah. When you told me to bring Inui-kun to the hospital after the meeting, he led me here instead. This is where I treated his wounds," Chifuyu explains.

"Alright." Inui then returns with the first aid kit in hand. "Take whatever you need."

Takemichi and Chifuyu start cleaning and bandaging up their wounds with a bit of help from Inupi. Once they're all patched up, they all sit together. Chifuyu and Takemichi on the couch, and Inupi on the floor next to them.

"Damn. So Mucho really is still loyal to Izana," Inupi comments spitefully after hearing their story. "Have you... Decided to stop trying to bring Nakano back?"

"No!" Takemichi responds immediately. "There's no way in hell I'm giving up on her so easily!" He lowers his head. "There's so much we still need to talk about. I have to help her..."

"I agree..." Inupi stares ahead. "She'll probably be pissed at me if she finds out I told you this, but when she told me about the time leaping, I've never seen anyone emotionally crash that hard right in front of me. Not even my parents or Koko after my sister died. It took a lot of convincing, but she broke it all down right in front of me. It's like it all came down on her in an instant. By then, we'd only known each other for a few weeks, but she still told me everything. That trust she showed me meant a lot. She was nothing like the strong figure I saw standing before the Eleventh Generation Black Dragons in that moment."

"I've made that mistake. Unlike me, you encouraged her to talk, while I just turned a blind eye because I thought I knew her." Tears well up in Takemichi's eyes. "She's the strongest person I know, because she's been carrying all those secrets, burdens, and trauma all alone her whole life. And that was the twenty-six year old Nakano you were talking to. If only mom had told me we weren't siblings, maybe I could've helped her earlier..."