Chapter Text
“So, you’re leaving? Just like that?” Draken asks incredulously.
“Yes,” Takemichi replies. He came to say goodbye to Draken only because Takemichi believes that if Draken had been there when things went down, he would have given them compensation. He doesn’t know why exactly, but he just feels like he can trust this man. Takemichi hands Draken a slip of paper, “I trust you. I wrote down where you can find more food in this area. There are also freshwater tanks around. Salvage those first. The water from lakes and such might be contaminated.” He instructs.
Draken listens patiently, but really all he wants to do is grab the other and shake him. Shout at him and ask why he is leaving after all they talked about. He wants to protest, he really does, but he knows that their reasons for leaving are valid.
He was livid when he found out what Kisaki had done, and honestly, he was part of the group that believed Takemichi had been too kind. Unnecessarily sacrificing members is something they would never do even when there weren’t undead monsters trying to eat them at every turn. Why should they start now?
He had heard how Mikey had done nothing and instead asked Takemichi to calm down. He wonders for a second if Mikey has lost his mind. The Mikey he knew would never just stand by and watch his gang members die, but then it hit him. Hairo and his friends were technically not part of Toman.
Draken sighs and just pats Takemichi on the head, ignoring the other boy’s unamused protests, “I’ll keep it in mind. You should be careful out there, man. When - not if - we cross paths again, I better see you alive, be it missing a limb or two. Got that?” Takemichi simply nods and rises to leave, his mouth twitching into a small smile.
At the door he looks back one last time, “Keep the lower members safe for me will you?” and Draken laughs, “Sure, Takemitchy. I’ll keep them safe.”
No other words need to be exchanged. Takemichi had said lower members specifically and Draken knows the reason. He knows and so doesn’t ask. Takemichi sees the determination in Draken’s eyes and smiles to himself.
Draken is a good man.
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“You can’t just pull members out of Toman!” Mitsuya yells indignantly. Taiju looms over him but he won’t back off. Not now.
Taiju exhales sharply, “I will not say it again, Mitsuya. I want my siblings.”
Chifuyu walks over and stands beside Mitsuya, “You heard the man. You are only entitled to take your gang members out of here.” Taiju scoffs and points a finger at Chifuyu, “I don’t want to hear shit from you…” he narrows his eyes at him before turning back to Mitsuya.
Takemichi walks out of the room Draken was in and is instantly met with Taiju and Mitsuya shouting at each other. Mikey is standing nearby, a little dazed. Chifuyu is beside Mitsuya, but no one is paying any attention to him. Baji and the other captains are standing around.
“Have you ever asked your siblings what they want?!” Mitsuya yells. He is so done with Taiju. He snaps his head at Hakkai and asks, “Do you want to follow Taiju or stay in Toman?”
Hakkai stumbles, suddenly put on the spot. He shoots the smallest look of betrayal at Mitsuya. All eyes turn to him as they wait for his answer, and Hakkai doesn’t know. He looks at Yuzuha for help, but she is already standing near Take-Nii.
Welp, her decision seems clear then.
Hakkai’s eyes land on Takemichi and for a second they make eye contact and Hakkai hesitates. Does he want to stay with Toman?
He knew Hairo and his friends. They were always warm and welcoming. Hakkai and Yuzuha owed a lot to Takemichi as well. When Hakkai ran away and asked Mitsuya for help against his brother, Yuzuha went to Takemichi. Hakkai remembers the latter had looked absolutely horrified when Yuzuha had cried to him about Taiju. He had stalked over to the other, punched him square in the face, and asked him to ‘cut the bullshit’. He had asked him how he could treat family this way. How he could beat and threaten the same people he used to protect and take beatings for.
Hakkai and Yuzuha had watched, fearing for their and Takemichi’s lives but Takemichi had cried angry tears that day. He had scolded Taiju for what seemed like hours and Taiju had only listened with a shocked expression. By the time Mitsuya was ready to help after convincing ALL of Toman that Hakkai should be helped, Taiju had already been kneeling in front of Hakkai and Yuzuha for half a day.
They hadn’t forgiven him then. Far from it. Instead, they had started little by little. Taiju eventually stopped controlling every little thing they did, or at least he tried his best to. He talked to Takemichi a lot as well.
One day, Takemichi had barged into their living room and dragged them all to therapy. He even paid for it. All of it. In therapy, once the group sessions started, Hakkai and Yuzuha learned about how Taiju thought he was showing affection because that is how their father used to do it. They realized just how affected their older brother had been by their piece of shit father’s ‘love’ and so they also opened up. About their feelings, hobbies, likes, and dislikes. Everything. Everything that Taiju wanted to know, that he was working for.
They had cried a lot of tears, exchanged a lot of words, and yelled many profanities.
At each other and for each other.
Hakkai knew their relationship was far from mended still, but they were getting there. It was slow but steady. They are healing together and Hakkai will forever be grateful for that. No outsiders were involved in family matters, no one was killed, and their family problems were not on display for everyone to see. (Even though Toman heard about it, they did not need to interfere in the end.)
Takemichi was the reason for all that.
Now, Hakkai could confidently say that he loved his brother. Maybe not forgive him yet, and definitely never forget, but love? Yes. He was grateful that Taiju had at least tried, in the only way he knew, to take care of them. Hearing from Taiju himself that he loved them had been the best day of his life.
As these memories resurfaced, the scale in Hakkai’s mind began to tilt.
“Go…” he whispers then.
“What?” Mitsuya asks and Hakkai looks up to meet his eyes, “I’m sorry Taka-kun, you have done a lot for me and I am grateful for it, but I want to leave with my brother and Take-Nii.”
Mitsuya freezes. His shaking eyes almost cause Hakkai to feel guilty, but he knows that as long as Take-Nii is out there by himself, he will never be able to rest easy, loyalty to Toman be damned. It is only a stupid gang anyway and one that hadn’t done anything for him until Black Dragons had given Toman a reason to fight. And then they fought, only to claim Hakkai as one of their own like an item.
“A-are you sure? Hakkai, you can think this over-”
“I’ve made up my mind.” He won’t change his mind. He knows it deep in his bones. He believes that as long as they are with Take-Nii, they will survive. More than survival, he knows he will be loved and cherished and for someone who has been starved of affection almost all his life, affection from Take-Nii is what he needs.
BANG
Eyes turn to the source, Mikey, who had kicked one of the bikes down in anger. He stomps away, most captains on his tail.
Sanzu, to everyone’s surprise, doesn’t follow and instead walks up to Takemichi. He takes out something black and shiny from his pocket.
“Here,” he offers, “It’s Kisaki’s gun. I also put some bullets in it. Here’s some extra as well. Your bats were pretty cool.” He hands the items to Takemichi, praises his weapons, and walks away, while Takemichi stands there shocked. Mucho shakes his head in exasperation, “What he means is stay safe. He likes you, so don’t die.” he translates for his eccentric friend and smiles. It was rare for Sanzu to take a liking to someone who was not his ‘king’.
Takemichi laughs, loud and clear, “Tell him I said, ‘I won’t die.’”
“No thank-yous?”
“Got a feeling he won’t like that.” Takemichi chuckles. Mucho nods and leaves with his own version of ‘stay safe.’ Takemichi turns to Hakkai, “So, you’re coming with us? Love your big bro that much, huh?” he jokes, and Hakkai only sheepishly laughs. Yuzuha joins in.
Taiju walks up with a relaxed expression and puts his arms around Takemichi’s shoulder. Admittedly, his favorite pose with his fellow leader. “I think it’s you they like more, Micchi.”
Takemichi smiles, his hand automatically reaching up to touch the silver photo locket that now rests around his neck. He feels warm, surrounded by familiar faces, and for just a moment, he allows himself to relax and bask in the comfort of this familiar love.
In a few hours, they will have to leave. In a few hours, they will have to look for shelter, food, and water. In a few hours, they will have to survive in a kill-or-be-killed world.
And as guilty as he feels for dragging his gang members with him, he has no regrets. He wants them safe, and he knows for a fact that it won’t happen if they stay with Toman.
Still, he waits at the gate. for Mikey. For an apology. For a ‘good luck’. For a greeting or a good-bye.
For anything.
But It doesn’t come.
And Takemichi walks away.
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Takemichi stares across the street from where he is sitting on the apartment building’s roof. He spots a car, probably having crashed when things went to shit. He thinks of investigating it. Lord knows he needs a car, or better yet a truck of some kind, having to lug around more than a dozen teenagers but corpses are roaming around the street below.
His eyes follow as one walks up to the car and crashes into something. A loud boom resounds in the area.
The car explodes, wiping out all corpses that were near it on the street. Takemichi sighs in relief. He could have been in that explosion. Dead, blown to bits with not even a chance of becoming one of those things after death.
He wonders if that is a better way out before shoving those thoughts away into the darkest corner of his mind and getting up. He purses his lips at the fact that he doesn’t have a car to take anymore. He looks at the other side of the street.
Taiju walks up beside him, along with his siblings and captains. “What are you looking at Micchi?”
Takemichi glances at his friend before looking back at the street. “A car blew up,” he says. “Yeah, we heard,” comes the reply.
Takemichi turns to Taiju, “We need a vehicle. We’re too many people to travel on foot without inviting any trouble.”
Yuzuha looks at Takemichi with a raised brow, “Where exactly are we ‘traveling’ to?”
Takemichi turns back and stares distantly at faraway buildings. “I was thinking we could get away from the city.”
“Why?”
“If we can get out of the city, we can look for something like an abandoned building to set up a base. We’ll need to raid a few places before that, but the farther we get, the safer it will be. Less number of corpses to deal with.”
Inui nods, “Sounds like a plan.”
Takemichi frowns, “not much of a plan, but it’s all we can do for now. Since we don’t have a car.” He faces his friends, “Let’s go, we need to find ourselves a ride.”