Chapter Text
Another day, another session of getting beat up by Sanemi in what felt like thinly veiled retribution for getting a girl
“I think I’ll give up” Obanai said suddenly, right as they reached the edge of the woods “It’s just undoable”
“It’s not.” Giyuu wouldn’t usually be the one to argue, but for some reason, he felt motivated today “I’ll show you”
“Shinazugawa will go easy on you to prove your point” Obanai crossed his arms, Sanemi vehemently denied. Even imagining it felt incredibly off-character, as the white-haired had almost negative qualms with hurting Giyuu
“He won’t, I’ll go with the three of you hunting for me. The one that hid the flags this time was Rengoku, so I don’t know where they are either” Tomioka said, taking the front
“Me? Going after you?” Obanai said, lifting a brow
“EFFERVESCENT IDEA TOMIOKA!” Rengoku seemed motivated as usual
“However. I know that the little bitch boy won’t be satisfied with just that.” Tomioka said, Sanemi was the worst possible influence “So let me motivate you fully” Giyuu, wearing his usual blue tracksuit, brought down the collar, showing what looked like a bruise in his neck
“You got hit with a stick?” Sanemi asked, confused
“I went on a date,” Giyuu said straight-faced. All three of them looked at him with wide eyes
“And the bitch hit you?” Obanai pointed, angered
“Guess who was the girl I went out with first” Tomioka said enigmatically, none of the three had any idea “One clue. White-haired. And it’s not Shinazugawa’s mom, believe it or not”
“Ma’s hair ain’t even white” Sanemi grumbled, not paying attention to the clue
“No you didn’t.” Iguro’s eyes widened even more, almost like they would pop out “No you fucking didn’t”
All three understood who he was talking about, and as if the information clicked, all three understood the mark was not a bruise… It was a fucking hickey
Giyuu earned a death glare so powerful it could kill a man. The raven jumped towards the woods, all three following close behind him. He got one flag, another, and another. Rengoku came in from the side, hand formed in a fist. Giyuu dodged, blocking the incoming kick by Sanemi
From below, Obanai appeared, using one of his slithering attacks, one that managed to hit Giyuu, though the boy jumped off without taking too much damage
The four continued running, Tomioka not stopping once, in constant movement, soaring through the ground like a current. All three followed close behind, and the boy could dodge their incoming attacks. He wasn’t stronger than Sanemi or Kyojuro, they are pretty much at the same level and if he actually had to fight them he’d be a goner, but if he ran away, he could outpace them just enough to finish the mission
It took three hours, with Obanai dipping after a while, though the two continued to furiously pursue Tomioka, until he actually came around, mission complete
“How.” Obanai asked, seeing Giyuu let the little flags fall on the ground. The boy sat down beside his friend, Sanemi and Kyojuro were still looking for him
“It’s not impossible, I told you”
“Not just that… How did you go out with her? Daki, the sister of Gyutaro motherfucking Shabana.”
“Her name is Ume actually” He corrected softly
“I don’t give a shit. You remember what happened to the guy that copped a feel at her last time don’t you?” Of course he remembered, the story ran the block. A guy grabbed Ume’s ass from under her skirt. As a response, not only did she curb stomp him on the spot, but later the guy was seen being dragged through the block by Gyutaro with his bike, running him through the asphalt. No one saw the guy afterwards, he was apparently in the hospital, and once he was out, he moved out of town
“The thing is I didn’t cop a feel, I’m not a scumbag… It was a legitimate thing”
“So… You two are dating?”
“I wouldn’t go that far”
“Look that hickey had to show up from somewhere”
“Still, we didn’t go that deep”
“Oh you went deep alright” Obanai complained. “I thought I’d win this race, right when I got the lead”
“You can be the first one to get a girlfriend still”
“You’re on the lead again”
“My thing with Ume was a one time thing… I’m not sure if there will be another, we haven’t talked since”
“When did it happen?”
“Yesterday night”
“OF COURSE YOU DIDN’T FUCKING TALK! IT HAPPENED LESS THAN A DAY AGO!” Obanai shouted
"Still…"
"Ah fuck me." Obanai complained, lying down
Out of a sudden, a loud thump was heard, Tomioka’s eyes widened, a punch that he managed to block with his forearm, but it hurt like a bitch
“Heh… Good block” An excited, somewhat brittle voice spoke. One familiar to both, but not from a friend.
“Shabana,” Giyuu acknowledged.
“Where the hell did you come from?” Obanai shot up, slowly crawling away.
Gyutaro ignored the boy, and if Iguro, Tomioka, Rengoku and Shinazugawa were slackers, this guy was a delinquent. Everything, from smugness in his expression, hunched posture with a relaxed hand in one of his pockets, and even a gang uniform (as strange as that sounded), Gyutaro Shabana really was a delinquent that looked like he came from the manga pages.
“Ya think I didn’t hear about your shit with my sister?” He squatted, Tomioka sitting up to face him. Gyutaro wasn’t much taller than them, but his presence made him appear bigger “Y’know, I’m a polite guy, so I’m gonna ask ya one thing”
He grabbed hold of Tomioka’s scalp, the boy grabbing the delinquent’s wrist in trade, Gyutaro snickered when he did so.
“Don’t talk to Ume anymore huh? I don’t want her hanging with bad influences like you” Gyutaro accused, completely tone-deaf “I try real hard to keep her out of this life, and ya aren’t helping”
“I haven’t done anything” Tomioka argued
“Ya can’t fool me” He laughed “I’ve seen meth addicts soberer than you”
“What…” Tomioka couldn’t even process the information delivered to him
“Don’t bother her anymore, and I won’t need to give you a whooping, capisco?” Gyutaro pointed, making sure it was clear as day. He got up again “If I catch ya again, I’m not forgivin ya twice”
The engine of Gyutaro’s bike roared as he disappeared as quickly as he came by. The two sat wondering what the fuck just happened
“NOW LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!” Obanai shouted, Sanemi and Kyojuro popped out of two different bushes, clearly biding their time to attack the delinquent, should it devolve into a fight
“I swear to god Tomioka” Sanemi covered his eyes as he sighed
“In my defense… I didn’t know he reacted so violently to a normal, healthy date” Giyuu lifted his hands
“YOU SHOULDN’T EVEN HAVE GONE ON A DATE WITH HER YOU IMBECILE!” Obanai exclaimed, more outward with his anger than the others. Which was strange, since Sanemi was right there
“Just… finally” Sanemi smiled “I was itching to fight these guys… To have some excitement… How about we all dominate the fuckin town?”
“I don’t care much for dominating anyone…” Kyojuro scratched his chin “But I’m all for fighting!”
“Well… I roped you in this… So I’m tagging along”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN FIGHTING THEM? ARE YOU INSANE? HE’S A FUCKING DELINQUENT!” Obanai shouted, having to play the straight man in a hospice wasn’t exactly easy.
“So go on, keep dating the annoyance girl, marry her if you must, and we let them come to us” Sanemi planned, Giyuu nodded, mostly because he didn’t plan on stopping his dates with Ume as of yet
“YES! WE ALL WIN!” Kyojuro exclaimed, excited
“NO WE DON’T!” Obanai stomped
“Yeah, we gotta train him more before” Giyuu pointed at his shorter friend, completely missing the point
“NO! THAT’S NOT IT!” The serpentine complained “THIS IS INSANITY!”
“Yeah! Insanely cool!” Sanemi smirked
“I… I won’t get involved in that.” Obanai took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down “So screw you guys, I’m going home”
“Alright you goddamn killjoy, don’t complain when you get jumped and get beaten up like a bitch” Sanemi warned, shrugging off, and letting Obanai go home as he had said he would.
The walk home was lonely, as expected. He, of course, was shivering with paranoia the whole way through, what if the warnings were true? What if he really was going to 'get beaten up like a bitch' for simply associating himself with those three?
That's when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He went in to check and sure enough, a message from Mitsuri!
-HEEEEY!
-DO YOU WANT TO GOOUT?
-SOREY
-Do you want to go out?
Oh the way his heart raced. All fear dissipated at the idea of meeting Mitsuri again, especially on another date setting
-we could go to the zoo
-if you're fine with that
-I LOVE ANIMALS
-WHEN areyou free?
-pretty much any weekend
-thats when im not at work
-TGIS SATURDAY
-fine by me
-ill pick you up and then we go over there by train
-AHSHEJSJRHSKBDU
Now, Obanai did not know how someone could have so many speech quirks translated into written form, but he didn't much care, it was still cute
With his shriveled and dead heart lighting up a tad, Obanai's remaining path home became suddenly a lot brighter, even though the day only grew dimmer.
There was a hope