Work Text:
Maki was cooking dinner for his teammates. It wasn’t in his schedule but somehow he found himself cooking on the stove for a big group. He didn’t exactly plan it out to go in that direction since it was brought up right out of nowhere.
It was a suggestion made by Tsubasa when they were all in the changing room and getting out of their sweaty and dirty tennis clothes. The heat of the sun got to them and they decided to end practice a few minutes early since everyone insisted they’d get heatstroke. Maki was in shock of the proposal for a few seconds and had made an attempt to ask ‘Why’ but before he could open his mouth everyone was already agreeing and laughing with each other. They had already gotten a taste of his cooking, how could they not want to go over to his house, and plus, Maki liked their company.
What kind of monster would he be to turn down the idea? Besides, what’s a little harm in making some dinner for your friends.
The light skinned boy smiled as he added some water to the pan, moving the contents in the bowl shaped pot and flipped it around to mix it up.
He had actually earned himself some money—and it wasn’t from Shinjo. Though, he only used a fourth of that money for needed groceries.
His mother had explained that her old classmate from high school lived near them and that she had to go to work a few more hours longer for a couple of days since there were some difficulties with their staff and needed more hands on deck. Her friend had a small dog and a baby, and she was also a single parent, so Maki understood why his mother wanted to help her. They both knew the struggle well to know that helping her would make her current situation much easier and give her less stress.
He got ¥4284 every day since he’d stayed there for four hours and took very good care of both the pup and the baby. In total, for the three days he did watch over the two, he earned about ¥12852. He was as happy as a clam knowing that he made his own keep. He had his own personal jar he kept hidden under his bed for whenever he did earn money. He didn’t tell his mother about it. The only person he told was Toma. He wanted to keep saving up so when that bastard of a father did end up using all of the money his mother and him had saved up that didn’t go towards any house expenses, he’d be able to provide at least something they could go off of. Even if it wasn’t as much as he could hope for.
He had actually saved up a hefty lot in the jar. It was about the size of a gallon jug with mostly yen bills in it.
The dark haired male smiled as he grabbed the sauce and spilt it on the meat and vegetables merged in the pot, adding more flavors to just the meat and greens juice. The rice in the other pot was already starting to soften up and he knew soon that he’ll have to turn that side of the stove off and let the rice cool off a bit. He moved on to the noodles that were just about done swelling up in the boiling water. He decided to make some yaki soba for his teammates as a side dish. It originally was going to be the Okinawa noodles Arashi had liked but he realized he didn’t have three ingredients included in the recipe.
He carefully took out the noodles by using the spaghetti scooper, hoping he could use the water for some of the juice he’d put in the noodle bowls. He wiped at his forehead and grabbed the rice pot with his oven mitts, not wanting to burn himself as he took it and carefully dumped the rice in the bowl that was centered on the table. Once finished he put it in the sink and allowed the cold water to cool it down.
A yawn passed through his lips as he took the contents in his last pot and set it down on the table, seeing the many different dishes cover the tabletop. He smiled at his work and turned back towards the stove to start seasoning the noodle broth.
Just then, before he could take out any more ingredients, Maki heard the bell ring making him frown and check his watch. He sighed in relief realizing it wasn’t time yet. It was ten minutes early for everyone to be arriving already, but he shrugged it off with a smile, thinking that they’d just want to lounge in the living room and converse for a while as he finished up dinner preparations. He turned off the stove and waved the little bit of evaporating water before making his way over to the entrance.
Humming, he unlocked the door and twisted the handle, making the mistake of not looking through the peephole.
“You guys are early—“ his voice caught in his throat when he realized that the hand that wedged itself in between the door and the door frame wasn’t as young and small as the tennis players usually were. Before he could jolt out his trance, the door swung open and Maki was face to face with the devil himself, seeing the older man leering at him with a twisted grin, cold calculating eyes covered with red tinted glasses.
“Yo, Maki.” The teen could only stand there frozen, seeing the man he so deeply despised. The dark haired boy, after breaking out of his shock, immediately turned around and tried making a break for it to the bathroom but his collar was snagged and he choked against the shirt as he was pulled backwards. He shook his head as he felt his eyes sting. He managed to yank his shirt from his father's grasp and turned to him with stiff movements, paralyzed with fear.
“G-get out! You can't keep st-stealing our money.” his voice wavered but he so desperately needed to try. The man wasn’t supposed to be coming to the house. He shouldn’t be taking the money they needed.
Maki swallowed as he watched the man frown and stand there with a face. He heard him click his tongue before he watched the man raise his arm and pain blossomed in his left cheek, finding himself with his chest to the floor a few seconds after the hit. He groaned in pain before he tried to look up at the man, only to be kicked on the same cheek he’d been slapped with.
That seemed to be his father's favorite move.
“That’s no way to treat your father, you brat.”
He felt his mouth fill up with something, the warmth filled his mouth like recently made tea, it was leaking out of his mouth and down his chin, staining his white shirt by the time he started to drag himself away from the man. He looked down and saw the patch of red slowly sinking down his shirt.
Quivering he backed up into the closest corner he could find which was the space between the couch and wall. He slowly rocked back and forth as he heard his father pace around the room, looking for the money Maki would usually hide.
But this time, there was nothing to hide. They didn’t have enough money to just give to him as he pleased.
His mother needed her money. A few days ago she was persuaded by Shou to just let the bastard suffer and get his own money, so she hesitantly took the money from under the pig and put it back into her wallet.
The Katsuragi smirked as his father started angrily looking around, searching everywhere for the envelope of cash he’d usually hide somewhere.
His victory smile was cut short when he was yanked from his position. He shook his head as he was dragged to the kitchen. He made sure to purposely struggle away from the dining table since he had a few things already set up and he didn’t want to ruin it for his teammates. They didn’t need to know that this was happening.
“Let go you—you jerk!” He felt the stinging pain in his other cheek and he struggled a little less as his father stopped and pressed him up against the counter, digging his lower back into the counter side. He gasped for air when he felt hands wrap around his throat. He wheezed as he felt barely any air go through to his lungs.
Wincing, Katsuragi grunted in pain and tried to make as much movement as possible to get the grown man off of him.
“Where’s the money, Maki. I don’t have time to play these games with you.” The raven head shook his head with tears effortlessly sliding down his face. He could smell the smoke and alcohol in the man’s breath with every word he said. His hands gripped the man’s own as they tightened on his throat. Looking up, Maki saw the look in his father's eyes, making him realize something.
He knows that there’s no money…he’s doing this solely just to torment me.
The black hair middle schooler managed to get a few words out as he stared at his father with fearful eyes.
“E-even if there was…I’d never…tell it’s whereabouts to…a b-bastard…like you.” The pressure on his neck lightened and he took a gasp of breath, feeling his eyes sting as he gulped in the much needed air. But not even a second after he could do something to get away from the man, he heard Kenji curse at him before grabbing the smaller boy's left arm and smashing it down on the still hot stove.
“You fucking piece of shit.”
Maki could only shriek as his arm was forcefully held down on the burning metal, making him cry out and thrash around. His arm being there for a few seconds was already enough to cause extreme agony as it soared up his arm.
He cried as he felt his skin scream and peel as the stove nibbled at his arm with its heat. He tugged his arm to get it off but the others grip on his arm wouldn’t let up.
Maki knew the man liked to torture him, but he couldn’t even describe how scared he was if his father was willing to go this far just for money. He bit his lip, not minding the extra blood as it slid down his chin.
When Kenji finally let go of his arm the teen cradled it as he weeped over the red limb. He felt his hair get roughly grabbed but only winced and kept looking at his injured forearm. The slightest touch felt like needles stabbed deep into him.
“Maki, Maki, Maki. You never seem to really know your place.”
His arm was grabbed again, snatched away from the safety of his chest and brought near the cooktop again. The blue tearful eyed boy cried, feeling where the stove had burned his arm, leaving it looking a bright, raw red. He shook his head and tried to pull his arm away.
He glanced at Kenji and saw him eyeing the boiled water used for the noodles. The cogs in his head turned faster than a car's engine could turn on at the twist of a key.
It hadn’t taken long to get to the door, it’s only been about two minute since the man walked into the apartment. It didn’t take him long to look around the house considering it’s so small, meaning the water hasn’t even cooled down enough to be proved harmless. He tried to back away from the counter but the man held his arm in place on the countertop, using the safety mittens to pick up the hot bowl of slightly clouded water.
“No. Please no. Stop stop stop.” Maki shook his head as he felt the man tighten his grip on the boy's arm. The middle schooler struggled and wailed as the man brought the pot closer to his twitching arm.
“You don’t get to decide what to do here. I’m the adult. You should’ve never disrespected me like that, Maki. But don’t worry, water washes the pain away. Well at least…cold water does.”
Maki screamed as the hot water was poured on his arm slowly, Kenji being careful to avoid hitting his own hand.
“STOP IT, STOP IT. IT HURTS“ the boy sobbed as he felt his arm burn and burn and burn . And the pain…oh god the pain. He felt the hot water slowly go over his arm and his recent burn, submerging him in a world filled with excruciating agony.
He couldn’t bare to watch as his arm turned red and his nerves went haywire as the psychopath just watched the scene. He jolted and twisted in his grip. Anything to get him loose. Anything to get him away from him.
Getawaygetawaygetaway—
He whimpered and thrashed against the demon's grip when the rest of the water was poured onto his burned wound. The counter and now the floor was a mess, covered in foggy water that could have been put to perfectly good use. Maki cried and let his tears fall from the white hot pain he felt.
When he felt the grip on his arm finally loosen, he slid away as fast as possible, backing away as the adult let the pot down without care, letting it clatter on the floor when he dropped it.
“Where’s the money Maki? Just tell me and I won’t hurt you anymore.” Katsuragi gave a short shudder, swallowing the tang taste of metal in his mouth. He felt his face itch from the drying tears but didn’t take his eyes off of the man as he came closer.
“I-I already told you… there's no money for you h-here. Get your own damn job. Mom has to work hard for it yet you…you’re just stepping all over her like it’s nothing.” The man's expression didn’t falter from the kid's explanation, showing just how much he truly didn’t care.
“Oh Maki. You never learn. I don’t care”
Maki’s eyes widened as he tried to move backwards, but his back hit the curtains. He could only watch as his father made his way towards him.
_____
“Nao, what took you so long? If you took a few more minutes we would’ve been late.” The smoke haired boy shy rubbed the back of his head.
“Sorry I had to ask my father if I could go instead of mom. She doesn’t like you guys.” The team looked at him with a deadpan expression.
Who would’ve known.
“Well, we should get on our way! I can’t wait to eat Maki-Maki’s yummy food again! Oh~ I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.” The team all nodded their heads, imagining the table full of food they’d see when they make their entrance.
“Ah, Shingo, you’re drooling.” The light haired auburn flared up before wiping his face. Everyone laughed along as the teen tried to cover up his embarrassment, but nothing worked.
Toma smiled as he watched his team interact. The way they stood out was nice, of course, they stood out in a good way.
He sighed as he pushed up his glasses and looked at his phone, the screen light dimmed to save some batteries. He saw the text message he got from Maki a while ago when he earned some money to put in his savings jar–about ¥64734. They were a few ways away from Maki’s house, but they were all relatively close to each other, it would probably take seven or so minutes to get there.
The dirty blond slid his phone back into his pocket and looked around. Shinjo grinned watching the teammates interact, either holding a conversation with someone or joking around.
The team was better than before—physically and mentally. They also seemed to get along way better than what they use too.
Toma smiled as the dark haired male came to mind.
It’s hard to believe that one person changed the tide of the team completely. He shook his head with a hearty chuckle.
That’s Maki alright.
_____
Staring at the man in horror, Maki saw Kenji walk out of his room with the jar of money he had been secretly saving up.
“Ohohoho~ you’ve been hiding this from me haven’t you, Maki? You’re a very naughty boy.” Said boy could only watch in anger and desperation as his body laid limp on the ground. Bringing up an arm, he tried to push himself up, feeling his body ache as he made the slightest movements.
It was his fault. When his father had mentioned money for the umpteenth time, he unconsciously looked towards his room, mind going to the stash of yen he had under his bed. His father though, had caught onto the look and stopped kicking his stomach to ask what he was looking at. And upon saying nothing, he took that as his que to walking right into the teens room uninvited.
“I’m lucky you keep the amount of money on a piece of tape. Saves me time from counting it myself.” Maki shook his head and hurried in trying to sit up.
“T-That’s mine, you can’t have it. I worked h-hard for that.” The demon looked at him with a glint in his eyes. Maki was now standing up, wincing at his aching body. His left arm was numb and he could feel the air making it slightly itch.
“You worked hard for this, huh? Well then I guess you wouldn’t mind if I brought you with me to earn some money for me too, right? You’ve been with your mother long enough anyways.” Maki was terrified at the suggestion and immediately backed away as his father came near him.
“Come on Maki.” The boy shook his head and smacked his father's hand away as it reached for him, only to have the action returned three times harder, making him fall to the ground with a thud.
“Stop struggling you damn brat.” Maki wailed as he felt the hand grip his hair and start to drag him towards the entrance. He felt the roots of his hair scream in anguish as his hair was sharply yanked with the man’s strides.
“No! I don’t want to go with you!” The teen struggled as his feet kicked thin air, trying to get out of the man’s grasp as he used one hand to carry the jar and the other to pull the boy. Maki watched as the lights passed above him and the door frame came into view. His father had opened the door and was halfway out when he knew he had to do something.
With blurry eyesight from the tears, he scratched the man’s arm as hard as he could and felt the grip leave, hearing a curse in response. Wasting no time, he backed into the house completely and shut the door, speeding up and locking it before his father could come back in, ignoring the pain erupting from his arm and abdomen.
“Maki, open the damn door!” He could hear the man raise his voice but not shouting. Probably didn’t want to alert anyone nearby.
He felt the vibrations from the door as his father banged on it a few times before starting to ring the doorbell repeatedly. Shaking his head, Maki sat down against the door vibrating as he hiccuped and cried silently.
“No, go away.” The was more ringing on the doorbell and the teen covered his ears, shaking as tears slid down his face.
“Maki, open the goddamn door!” He could still hear Kenji’s gruff voice as he pressed himself up to the door, afraid that he’d end up getting in somehow.
“Maki, open the door, you’re going to end up like me anyways.” Maki could only shake his head and curl up into his ball tighter, feeling his mind falter for a second.
Maybe…if he opened the door… no
Go away…
The boy could only shake and snivel, hoping the man would go away and leave him in peace.
The doorbell wouldn’t stop and Maki let his mind wonder. What if he did go? Would his mother be free from the demon's grasp.
He looked up at the door knob and slowly reached for the lock, pondering on what would happen to him. Would he be missed?
An image of the soft tennis ball team flashed through his mind and he immediately pulled his arm away like it was about to be burned again.
Maki didn’t know how long he sat there for, but he felt as if it had been half an hour.
Suddenly, the doorbell stopped, and he didn’t hear anything on the other side except the ding of the elevator. He almost let out a sigh of relief a few seconds after, but heard the doorbell ring again. He cried as he screamed from the other side.
“I SAID GO AWAY…go away…go away…. You have what you wanted…I don’t wanna to go with you…please don’t make me go” his voice cracked as he sobbed into his fatal position, hands over his head as he tried to hide in the darkness.
“M-Maki…” His breathing hitched.
Toma?
_____
The boys reached the building a minute before they had to be there and pressed the elevator, but it was already going up to another floor.
“Ugh…I think I kind of understand why Katsuragi uses the stairs…I really want to have some of his food but some bastard got to the elevator before us.” Everyone nodded with Tsubasa’s statement.
“You guys want to use the stairs then?” Taiyo’s suggestion had everyone nodding in agreement, making them turn towards the stairwell.
Meanwhile, when the elevator stopped on the designated floor, Toma’s blood froze.
It was the eighth floor.
His mind whirred and went through the possible explanations in his head, ignoring his team's questions on which floor they needed to go through to get to Katsuragi’s apartment.
Maki doesn’t use the elevator and his mother was still at work…and it couldn’t have been Shou since he only visits so frequently and Maki told him he visited just a few days ago. And no one lives in the vacant apartment across from them. With the dreading feeling sinking deeper and deeper into his stomach, Toma could only make a beeline for the staircase and hope his feeling was wrong.
The team stared in shock as their captain bolted right up the stairs, face looking anxious. Though, they didn’t let the surprise stop them as they ran right after him, sharing confused expressions as they quickly flew up the steps.
They got to the seventh floor when they saw Mitsue about to go up the stairs. Her eyes widened when she saw the team and fumbled with her phone.
“W-what are you guys doing here?” Toma stopped and looked straight as the short girl, wasting no time in asking her the burning question he had.
“Mitsu, while you were in your apartment, did you hear any noises from the floor above yours.” Her look of surprise made his face pale.
“Yeah, I heard an object drop but thought that someone was just cooking and dropped a pot, but I heard more thumps later on so decided to check up and see if—wait, how did you know?” He didn’t explain anything as he ran up the stairs again, the team groaning before catching up with him, with the addition of Mitsue, who followed them with a frown.
“Shinjo, what’s this all about? Why are you rushing?” Yuta asked with a small frown on their face, voice soft as they all reached the eighth floor.
Everyone was quiet as he went up to the door, even Itsuki had a worried expression as he watched his friend ring the doorbell, his guts nervously dropping with alarm. Before anyone could ask what the big deal was, their faces paled as they heard a shout from the other side of the door.
“I SAID GO AWAY…”
The thing was, no one knew where Katsuragi had lived, with the exception of Toma, Mitsue, and Yuta. But there was no mistake that the voice on the other side belonged to Maki.
Rintaro stepped forward with wide eyes and opened his mouth, but the voice on the other side spoke again, this time in a more quieter and feeble tone.
“…go away…go away…. You have what you wanted…I don’t wanna to go with you…please don’t make me go…” everyone’s stomachs dropped at the sound of the cracking voice, throats going dry.
Was this the same Maki from their team who was always helpful and laid back but focused?
They all watched as Toma opened his mouth.
“M-Maki…” they winced as his voice also cracked. He stood there rigid, waiting for an answer. The other side was quiet for a while before the voice answered back.
“T-Toma?” Shinjo replied with a hum.
“Can I…can we come in Maki…” there was a shuffle on the other side of the door before more silence.
“I…I want you to come in…but you can’t…” the way he spoke sounded as if he was worn down and his throat was sore, which didn’t ease any of the members' worries.
“Why can’t I come in?” Everyone held their breaths, seeing Toma’s pained expression and he had to utter out those words.
“You probably already know but don’t know the extent of it…don’t make me say it out loud through the door…everyone can hear me.” That was true. As he spoke, each person was twitching, their insides hurdling around, feeling the panic settling itself in their stomachs.
“Maki…they were going to find out eventually…please just…please open the door.” Nothing happened for a few seconds. There was only the slight tap of someone's shoe to soothe their jitters.
Then there was the sound of a lock and a door knob twisting. And soon the door slowly opened, showing Maki with his head down, hair shadowing over his face. Before anyone could say anything to the teen, the door swung fully open, showing the rest of Mali’s body.
There were gasps of horror…which, yeah, made sense.
Everyone stared terrified at his bloody face and red arm. There were bruises forming on his arms and legs and the blood soaked into his shirt was most likely from his mouth and nose. As soon as everyone got over their shock, Shinjo quickly embraced Maki, seeing the boy's legs start to slightly wobble. He ushered everyone in behind him and they looked at the house's appearance with expressions of dread. There was a pot on the floor in the kitchen with water spilt on the ground, the small table next to the couch was pushed over while the carpet was crooked and compressed.
“W-what the hell happened?” Mitsue was the first to come out of her disturbance, but she didn’t get a response to her question. Everyone could only watch Shinjo bringing Maki to the couch. They swallowed and followed, Itsuki being the last as he stared with wide eyed as the injured boy's arm.
Are…are those burn marks?
He helped the others set the table and carpet back to a neat position before sitting down on the floor, facing the two on the couch.
“Can someone get the first aid kit please?” Yuta stood up and nodded, walking past the couch and going as directed when Maki had let out a small whisper telling them where to go.
“Bathroom…bottom cabinet…you’ll see it.”
Yuta emerged out of the bathroom with the red box, going over and opening it as they helped Toma latch up the pale raven head. Using the time he had available to talk to him, Toma began speaking.
“Tell me what happened.” Maki silently sat on the couch, looking down at the cushions as everyone watched. He didn’t reply to Toma which made everyone feel anxious. Getting fed up with the silence, Tsubasa spoke up.
“Dammit Katsuragi, at least tell us who…who did this. Why would anyone want to do this…” Soga was about to cry. He didn’t want to, but he was trying to blink them away as he looked up at the ceiling.
I don’t understand…why would anyone do this…why would they do this to you. How heartless can they be?
He bit his lip seeing the water work its way down the boys cheeks. The others watched as Yuta and Toma wiped his arm down slowly with the antibiotic wipes, making the blue eyed boy stiffen and shudder.
“…we didn’t have money this time.” Everyone froze and looked at Maki, who was still looking down.
Toma had gone as white as print paper.
“B-but shouldn’t he have left if there was none?” It seemed like their fellow captain knew what Katsuragi’s situation was. They listened, feeling the tense atmosphere surrounding the apartment.
“He thought that…” Maki’s shoulders went up as he tried to bury himself with his body, but Yuta kept his arm in place, not letting him curl up so they could continue to wipe down his arm.
“He thought that…I hid the money again…but we didn’t leave any out for him this time…and he got really mad…” Futsu’s thigh was going up and down with impatience before letting his question out, not wanting to wait as his nerves drove him mad.
“Who’s ‘he’, exactly.” Maki stayed quiet, not wanting to answer, so Toma did.
“His father.” No one said a word as they processed the information.
His…father?
And suddenly, they all wanted to throw up. Except, before anyone got the chance to say something, someone banged the table.
“What the hell.” Itsuki glared at the wood, eyes watering as he stared down at the surface.
“Why would…how could he…his own son? What kind of insane bastard just…just…does that?” Everyone stared at the teen, seeing the water droplets fall from his face and onto the carpet. No one had the courage to say anything, afraid that their own composure would break away.
And Mitsue…
“Y-you’re telling me…that whenever I heard a thump from the floor above, that was you…and your…f ather .” She spat out the last word as if it was poison on her tongue.
“And I could’ve prevented that from happening…” Maki kept his face down, eyes suddenly finding the fabric of the cushion very interesting.
“Katsuragi…do you know how many times that was…I was downstairs this whole time, listening to you fall to the ground…and I was unaware this whole time? I could’ve helped you that whole time…but I was too stupid to realize what was happening until you finally decided to explaining it to me… I feel so useless ” Maki didn’t do anything, but when he heard a sniffle, he looked up to see Kanako standing up with tears running down her face.
“Why are you crying?” She furiously wiped her cheeks with her sleeves before looking at him with blazing eyes.
“BECAUSE WE’RE FRIENDS ASSHOLE.” Maki jolted back in surprise. A smile soon made its way onto his lips afterwards, realizing what she said.
“Thanks Kanako.” She sat back down with her arms crossed as she tried to stop her tears from falling.
They all sat in silence once more, watching the captain and manager wrap his left arm up in gauze.
“…fine.” Every perked up, hearing their teammates' defeated tone.
“My mother and father…they divorced when I was eight because my father wasn’t exactly the…nicest man. So my mother decided to move as far away as possible from him when she got custody of me. Then, not too long ago, we came here to live in this small apartment. It may not look much, but it’s home.” He smiled at his statement, moving his body to face the others when Toma finished with his arm. Yuta finished up his legs before sitting down next to him like Toma when he finished his arms.
“Anywhere else.” Maki debated showing them the rest, but since they were doing it now, they’d get mad if he didn’t show them. He sighed before grabbing the hem of his shirt with a wince. Pulling it up he heard a sharp intake of breath before pulling the clothing completely off of him. They soon got to work putting the cream on his body,
“As I was saying, I have lived with my mom for a while now. But…my father somehow always manages to find us again…no thanks to the divorce contract.” Maki gulped as he tried to stay calm.
“He’s been coming over from time to time to take money from us…and my mom always leaves it out…” he bit his lip as he looked to the side, flashing off the bruise forming on his cheek.
“I couldn’t just let him take the money…so I’ve tried countless times in hiding it…but he somehow always finds out where it is. I think this is the fifth time he’s visited.” Suddenly, Maki’s false excuses made up for school made sense. Every ‘I fell on my face getting out of bed’ or ‘I tripped on my way to school’ or even the ‘I fell down the stairs’ made sense.
“I…I was excited you guys were coming over today…even if I never really did get a say in the decision.” Tsubasa laughed nervously at that, feeling sick all of a sudden.
This is my fault.
“Tsubasa, I see what you’re doing. It’s not your fault.” Said boy raised his head to see dark ocean blue eyes piercing into his soul. He chuckled before nodding.
“Anyways…when the doorbell rang, I didn’t wait to open the door, or bothered checking who it was since I was impatient and thought you guys just came early.” His breathing was becoming irregular before Yuta put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile of reassurance. Maki swallowed before continuing.
“He forced the door open like he usually does when I open it slightly. By then I realized how idiotic my decision was. I shouldn’t have let him in…” he winced slightly when the pain relief cream was applied to his abdomen and back, making Toma apologize with a frown. They had just started wrapping his upper part of his body with gauze, using care.
“I told him to get out but he…he…” Maki held the left side of his cheek, and no one needed him to finish the sentence to realize what the bastard did. Maki couldn’t look at his teammates any long and turned his attention to Toma.
“He hit me Toma…and when I tried to get up he kicked me…I went to hide in between the couch and wall but he didn’t find any money…so he…” Shinjo carefully wrapped his arms around Maki as he cried, soaking up his shirt in the process.
“Shhhh…shh…what did he do Maki…” there was a hiccup and every struggled to keep in their own tears as they heard the broken boy trying to speak.
“He dragged me to the kitchen…and…Toma he…I turned the stove off when I went to go get the door, but it was still hot…it didn’t take Kenji long to figure out that there was no money…he was just doing it because…because he wanted to…” they heard a gag and looked over to Taiyo who had a horrified expression, hands covering his mouth as tear dots were on his eyes. His figure shook as he began crying. Nao took that as his que and took the trembling teen in his arms, shushing him gently and coaxing him into a stable state.
“He held my arm down…and…it h-hurt so much Toma… he didn’t let go…” Mitsue stood up and went to the kitchen, avoiding the chaos that surrounded the stove and grabbed a cup from the cupboard and filling it with ice and water.
She solemnly made her way back and handed Maki the drink, getting a nod in thanks and a smile. She bit her lip as she went and sat down with the others once more. He took a sip of the icy beverage and set it down, going back to curling himself up into Shinjo.
“Then he saw the boiled water I used to make the noodles…I was going to save it and use it as some of the broth for the yaki soba, but he didn’t care…and he grab my arm again and told me that ‘water helps the pain go away…or at least cold water does’…I told him to stop…I really did try Toma, but he didn’t stop…he just kept pouring it all over my arm…it hurt so badly…it hurt so much…” Maki gripped his shirt again and buried his face into it, not wanting the others to see his ugly expression as he let his sorrows out.
“After that he kept hitting me…over…and over…he kept mentioning money as an excuse…and I didn’t mean to but…I looked towards my room……Toma, he took my money jar…” the arms around Maki tightened, making the others look at him.
“How much yen did he have?” Toma silently sat there…before letting out a sigh and answering.
“About ¥64734.” Everyone let out a wince. That was still a lot of money, in their opinion anyways.
“He told me…he said that if I worked hard for that money…then I wouldn’t mind going with him to earn money for him also…he wanted to take me away from mom…but I told him no and he grabbed my hair and started to drag me to the door…” everyone knew where that ended up.
“I managed to get out of his grip and lock him out…but he kept insisting through the door…” Toma smiled.
“That’s good. You did the right thing.”
Maki swallowed before admitting his dreaded thought.
“Actually…I almost felt like I had to go with him…” Everyone stared at him. Toma didn’t say anything, feeling the boy tense up in his arms. Yuta watched the raven head tremble with a frown engraved on their face.
Why would he think of doing something so reckless?
“I mean…mom wouldn’t have to keep giving him money if I went…I almost opened the door…” the team flinched. Everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing as their faces went slack.
You didn’t open the door though, did you?
“…but then I remembered you guys……and I wasn’t ready to give that up…” Maki’s voice cracked as he sobbed. The team felt the wave of sadness wash over them, watching the player in such a depressed state.
Maki buried his head into Toma’s shirt further, yelling out all of his sorrows into it, the fabric in his grasp shaking along with his body.
“He’s horrible Toma. Horrible! I don’t want to see him again. He’s terrible…so…so terrible…” and like a switch being turned on, everyone sitting down on the floor got up and wrapped their arms around the miserable thirteen year old, feeling his body tremors. They couldn’t stand the fact that one of their own was crying because they couldn’t get to him fast enough.
“…why can’t he just leave us alone…” and soon enough, like dominoes, tears that weren’t his own joined his own. He felt them on his back and arms, making him look up, seeing the team members joining in with him on the couch that was too small to fit them all.
“Don’t worry Maki-Maki, we won’t let him touch you again…” Itsuki’s grip stayed on him, eyes flashing to his covered arm.
He didn’t want another person to go through that…not when they could clearly remember it while he had the luxury of having no memory at all. He bit the inside of his cheeks, keeping his head on top of Maki’s hair, feeling the soft strands rub on his chin. He had soft hair. Itsuki soon figured out why everyone liked rubbing his head so much.
“Katsuragi…I also made sure to text your mother with the phone number Toma gave me. I’m sorry, but she needs to know about this if you want to get rid of the bastard for good.” Maki froze.
His mother shouldn’t have been notified—why did…
He let his shoulders sag a bit, sighing when he realized that the damage was already done. He needed a distraction.
“I guess I'll finish preparing food before she gets here then.” And like the snap of someone’s fingers, the boys cleaned up the kitchen while the occupant of the apartment finished setting up the table, waiting for the others to get the floor dried up and some dishes cleaned.
Maki smiled as he watched everyone do different things. With a flash of a grin, he waved Toma down and used his good arm to drag him towards the dining table.
“Can you please carry the pot right there? I can’t use both of my arms as well, so…” the boy with glasses agreed with speed, doing exactly as the other told him, earning him a giggle in reply due to his antics.
Soon enough, the table was set up and food filled up the surface of it, making everyone drool at the delicious aroma.
“Now now boys, I have to give two plates to my mother when she gets here, so just wait a few more seconds.” Everyone groaned and stared longingly at the food, as it secretly attempted to beckon them over.
Maki had filled a bowl of noodles with a plate filled to the brink with food that easily passed as two fillings, before turning towards the others shooting them a smirk.
“Okay. That should be all. You can dig in now.” Before anyone could even blink, bowls were already almost empty and everyone was too occupied in eating their food, moaning in delight as the taste swarmed their taste buds, to notice the black haired boy stare at them with a soft, tender fondness.
After doing everything needed, he joined in with a plate of his own, munching on his food happily as he joined the conversations, making sure to pull Toma into them because he knew the guy had some serious issues trying to join into a group without causing distributions.
Maki couldn’t have been happier sitting at that table as he had fun with his friends.
He wouldn’t give them up for the world.
__________
The boys stopped relaxing on the couch when they heard the bang of the front door, and heels clicking into the room.
“Maki? Where are you?—oh god.” His mother stopped and threw her hands over her mouth when she saw her sons condition. She couldn’t stop the tears as she walked over and embraced him tightly, peppering kissing on his face and head.
“Oh Maki, are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere? What did the bastard do—“ she stopped when he took her hands off his shoulder and used his own to place them atop of hers.
“I’m okay mom. My team helped me. I’m great.” He gave her a comforting smile and hugged her, feeling her stiff body relax under his touch.
“Oh thank heavens you’re okay.” She wiped her eyes and stood up straight, turning towards the boys as they watched the scene play out.
“Thank you boys for taking care of my Maki.” They all bowed with smiled and flashed thumbs up.
“No problem Ms. Katsuragi.” She gave them a warm welcoming grin before replacing it with a stoic one. Quickly whipping out her phone, she dialed in something before putting it up to her ear.
“Uhm…mom. What are you doing?” She gave the boy a smile and gently rubbed his head.
“I’m doing what I should’ve done a long time ago.” He gave her a questioning look before she let her eyes darken,
“I’m going to court with that son of a bitch. I want him behind bars.” Maki’s eyes widened as he looked at his friends, who all seemed to be grinning at her claim.
“But doesn’t that cost a lot? What if—“ he was shushed and his mother smiled at him.
“It won’t be too much, since someone owes me a favor. The cost won’t even hurt my bank account.” He nodded before turning to his friends with shock covering his face.
They all smiled at him and pulled them into a hug, laughing together as they fell to the ground when they were thrown off balance.
Maki grinned and looked up at the ceiling.
He loved this family.