𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐝 - s. ᴍᴀɴᴊɪʀᴏ

𝟎𝟎𝟕: 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫

Mikey makes a sudden stop. You look over and it was a bridge near a body of water. He turns the bike off and gets off of it. You got off, as well, to follow him.

You take a deep breath before breaking the silence. "What happened between you two?" You ask Mikey, shakily. Normally you wouldn't want to bother him but you wanted... No. You needed to know what was going on between him and Draken. It must correlate to his death somehow.

"A friend of mine got arrested not too long ago," Mikey answers, his voice monotone.

"What? Why?"

Mikey remained silent. His answer confused you more. The blonde finally spoke again, "Draken grabbed me before I could stop him from turning himself in."

How would this correlate to the visions you've seen? You didn't want to pry more, you knew all this wasn't your business, but you couldn't help but ask him to elaborate.

"Because he stabbed someone."

Could this "friend" be Kiyomasa? You look into his eyes to see if he was going to continue. You got a vision instead.

He slid down, sobbing, outside of a hospital.

"What are you doing on August 3rd?" You ask him, which surprises the boy. "Did Ken-chin tell you?" he questions back. You shake your head. "We're supposed to fight another gang, Moebius," Mikey answers. You gulp before asking him another question.

"Do you think... that's a good idea?" You ask sheepishly, he glares at you. A chill runs down your spine. You forgot Mikey was a serious delinquent, he's able to be terrifying and intimidating despite his usual energetic demeanour. He turns away and takes a deep breath. "I..." Mikey takes a long pause before speaking again, "I didn't want to leave him behind. And he got arrested because I couldn't stop him," He says, guilt in his voice.

You look at him warily, you put your hand on his shoulder. "That isn't your fault, Mikey," you tell him softly. Mikey doesn't reply, he doesn't even look at you. You take your hand off and turn away from him.

That was clear enough that he wouldn't order someone to kill his best friend. He blamed himself more than Draken over something that was out of their control.

"It was... Nevermind." You stop yourself from telling Mikey that his friend chose to turn themselves in. You knew it wasn't what he wanted to hear. You don't even think he wants to talk at all. Though Mikey's expression fell blank, emotionless even, his eyes counter that.

Even through his look of emptiness, you knew his head was full.

You take a step next to him, closing the space between you two. You place your head on his shoulder and your arm behind him, hugging him a little. Slowly, you felt his head lean onto yours.

Both of you stayed like that in silence, looking out at the view of the lake in front of you. All you could hear were the leaves and branches from the wind gusting into them. Mikey takes his head off you and looks at you. "Thank you," his tone had softened.

You take your head off him and give him a small smile and he leans closer. Both of your foreheads are barely centimetres away. You stare at him, wondering what he could be thinking about as he too, stares at you. You see his eyes slowly become lidded. Your noses begin to touch.

Mikey immediately turns his head, the opposite way from you. He starts walking rather quickly back to his bike. You follow, confused about what just happened. He gets on his ride, "Let's get you home, it's getting late," he says, looking forward in his direction. You get on the seat behind him, wrapping your arms around his waist. The lights on his motorcycle turn on.

"Hey," you say, the blonde leans back closer to listen to you.

"It's not my business to comment on but... I think you and Draken should try to talk it out."

Mikey leans forward, revving his engine. The two of you get off the road, driving in the evening.

-

"He was gonna KISS ME?!" You yell, jolting forward in front of the pink-haired girl.

"Why else would he lean into you like that?!" Hina yells back, in disbelief at how oblivious you were.

"Could you two quiet down?! JEEZ!" Naoto yells from the other room and the both of you apologize profusely before closing the door fully.

You came over to Hina's to tell her about the Toman conflict, telling her that it was what Takemichi wanted to speak privately about. Trying to keep it vague so you don't out yourself or Takemichi. Which escalated to you talking about your drive around the city with Mikey. "I can't believe he would back out," Hina says, sounding slightly disappointed. Both your hands slid down your face, you couldn't tell what was more embarrassing. You not knowing Mikey was leaning into a kiss or Hina only focusing on that bit of info over anything else you were talking about.

You sit back down across from her. "I'm worried about Draken..." Hina squints, a puzzled look painted on her face. "Don't you mean Mikey?"

Fuck. I forgot she doesn't know he was going to die, you curse at your slip-up. You look at her, feeling the sweat form on your forehead. "I mean, he's also a part of the split sooo..."

Hina looks at you suspiciously. You sat there tense, anticipating what she was going to say next. The girl crosses her arms, "What were you and Takemichi really talking about?"

It would be dumb to say he informed you about the split since they all knew. Talking alone would've looked dumb. But if you told her the truth, it would out you and Takemichi. "I told you everything we were talking about," you say, faking a little confidence in your voice. Hina tilts her head to the side, her brow slightly raised.

"Why couldn't he have all that in front of me?" She questions, putting her hand on her face. You shrug. Mentally patting yourself on the back for saving yours and Takemichi's ass.

"Do you think Mikey and Draken will make up?" She asks. You shrug again, "I told Mikey to consider talking to him before he took me home, but he didn't say anything back."

The room fell silent. Hina looked saddened that the two were fighting at all. You were still thinking of how you could tell the news to Draken about Kiyomasa. Without looking and sounding like a delusional weirdo.

"So, about your almost-kiss..."

"Oh, drop it!"

Chapter seven, end.