𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐝 - s. ᴍᴀɴᴊɪʀᴏ

𝟎𝟏𝟔: 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧

The two of you finally get to the top of the stairs. "This is where I host all of the Toman meetings," he informs. You look around at the open space. You haven't been here since the festival in August.

"Why this shrine specifically?" You ask. Mikey smiles, "This was where the Tokyo Manji Gang formed."

He continues to walk and you follow. "Kazutora got into it with another gang called Black Dragons. We wanted to face them somehow, so Baji proposed we form a gang ourselves," Mikey tells you. "I came up with the name and Baji came up with our positions. The founding members are me, Ken-chin, Baji, Kazutora, Mitsuya and Pah-chin. 'Our gang is one for all and all for one', Baji said."

Mikey stops walking, "Truthfully, I don't want to fight Baji," he confesses. Which shocked you a bit. You thought he'd be angry, seeing his friend side with Kazutora. If you were in his shoes, you felt you'd be rightfully mad. "What are you gonna do then? When the fight happens," you ask. Mikey turns to you and smiles.

"I'm gonna bring Baji back," he says confidently. You smile at his optimism. He's definitely a perfect fit to be a leader.

"Mikey," you start to talk and he listens, "Try... try not to go overboard." The blonde looks at you quizzically. You remembered the vision you got from Kazutora. He continues to stare at you and you freeze up a little. "You know, try not to hurt yourself too much," you think of an excuse, "Wouldn't want you coming back bruised or anything..."

The blonde smiles sincerely at you and pats your shoulder, "I'll be fine," he says softly.

"It'll be Valhalla coming out with bruises!" He exclaims. You chuckle at his cockiness. "Crutches too!" He adds.

You roll your eyes, "You're too strong for your own good," you joke. The both of you continued to walk around the shrine. Your mind was still occupied with the brawl on Halloween. Thinking about what Takemichi plans to do and if your brief talk with Mikey will stop him from potentially killing Kazutora. You can't imagine what it's like to live with the fact you've murdered someone. Especially at Mikey's age. It's something that'll affect him in the long run.

"Oh yeah," Mikey suddenly speaks, "Don't-"

"Interfere?" You interrupt, "I know, Draken already told me."

Mikey shakes his head, "No, I was gonna say don't swing mindlessly. I heard that some of my members got hit by your umbrella during our fight with Moebius."

"REALLY?!" You shout. You felt your face turn red in embarrassment. "Yeah, one of our captains, Smiley, got hit in the knee by you," he laughs. You ask him to apologize on your behalf and he continues to tease you.

"I lied," he admits, and you tilt your head. "I was gonna tell you not to interfere. There'll be other gangs from different parts of Tokyo watching the fight. Since they're still our rivals, I wouldn't want them to know you're close with me or Toman," he says seriously.

You think back to the time you and Takemichi followed Mikey and Draken. When they paid a visit to Pah-chin's friend's girlfriend. You nearly forgot how cruel and violent gangs had been since you've been close with Toman. It was more than petty brawls. You remembered all the visions you used to get of kidnappings, murders and assaults caused by people in gangs. You even think back about your future self and how you're still involved with investigating gangsters. You wonder if this was your fate.

"I didn't lie about Smiley getting hit by your umbrella though," Mikey abruptly interrupts your thoughts. You hit him on the shoulder for continuing to tease you about the whole umbrella thing.

-

"Good luck on Halloween," you tell him. The both of you arrived at the front of your apartment. You get off and he asks you to wait. You turned and he had his hand out.