Chapter Text
Chifuyu hated him. He despised him. Wanted to beat him so bloody, he would regret ever being born… Or that's what the old Chifuyu a year ago would've said. Now, he just slightly hates Kazutora Hanemiya. Resent might be a better word. After all, if he really did hate the man, he wouldn't be sitting directly across from him on Baji Keisuke's birthday.
Chifuyu stares at the person in front of him as he fidgets in his seat. He hasn't seen nor talked to Kazutora since Bloody Halloween so this whole meeting was pretty awkward to say the least.
It wasn't until 5 minutes later that one of them finally spoke.
"Who would've thought that Chifuyu Matsuno would request a visit for poor ole Kazutora," Kazutora joked lightly, hoping to ease the evident tension between the two boys.
"Haha yeah…" Chifuyu replied lamely. God this is so awkward. He thought.
Chifuyu cleared his throat and began to speak again, "S-so how have you been-"
At the same time Kazutora asked, "Chifuyu, why are you here?"
Once again, an uncomfortable silence settled among them.
Chifuyu took a deep breath and decided to just get straight to the point, "Uh so I-I'm here today because I wanted to um…" he took a pause and sighed. "I wanted to celebrate Baji's birthday with you," He finished, looking Kazutora in the eyes.
Kazutora's eyes widened at the comment just made by the boy across from him. It was clear to see that he wasn't prepared for a statement like that. Of course Kazutora knew that today was his dead best friend's birthday. He had it memorized and engraved in his mind ever since he's known him. He had been counting down the days until it arrived. To think that Chifuyu Matsuno, the boy that Baji bragged about just a couple years ago in those sacred letters, was proposing that they celebrate the birthday of the only person that's ever cared about him.
Sensing that Kazutora wasn't going to reply anytime soon, Chifuyu took lead with the conversation again, "I brought cake," he smiled and lifted up a bag. "The guards checked it already and they said you're allowed to have some."
"W-why…?" Kazutora asked, tears starting to form at the corner of his eyes.
Chifuyu tilted his head, "What do you mean?" He asked, opening a bag and placing its contents on the table that separated the two.
"I thought you hated me," Kazutora said, staring blankly.
Chifuyu thought for a moment then answered, "I do… Or did… Sorry, I'm still a little confused myself."
Kazutora leaned forward, "Okay, so you don't like me, right? Then what are you doing here? Why do you want to celebrate his birthday with me ?" He demanded.
Chifuyu stared at him, tears starting to well up in his eyes too. "Because you're you Kazutora. Because you were the closest to him . Because he would've wanted all of us to celebrate his birthday. He would've wanted us to celebrate his birthday with him!" Chifuyu ended, out of breath.
Kazutora sat there shocked but eventually nodded his head, not wanting to attract any more attention to their table after Chifuyu's outburst.
They both sat there with unshed tears in their eyes, just staring at each other.
Seeing as none of them were going to speak anytime soon, Chifuyu opened up the cake box and layed two spoons out, one for him and one for Kazutora.
"No plates?" Kazutora asked, looking at the cake in front of him.
The cake was simple. Just a plain vanilla cake that said "Happy Birthday". Any outsider would've thought that the cake was meant for one of them but instead it was for their now long gone friend.
"No need for plates when we can just share," Chifuyu said calmly, handing Kazutora his spoon.
Kazutora just stared at it dumbly until Chifuyu jerked his hand forward, urging him to take it.
Once Kazutora took the spoon, Chifuyu dug into the cake then waited for Kazutora to do the same.
When they both had cake on their spoons, Chifuyu smiled and clinked their spoons together and mumbled a "happy birthday Baji" before unceremoniously shoving the piece into his mouth.
The two boys sat there in silence while enjoying the cake, trying to avoid any and all eye contact with each other.
Kazutora coughed, attracting Chifuyu's attention. "This is a good cake," he said. "Where did you get it from?"
Chifuyu swallowed the cake that was in his mouth and put the spoon down before answering, "I got it from this little bakery near the school that opened up a while ago," he paused. "Maybe if you're lucky, I'll come visit you again with something else from them."
Kazutora's eyes widened in shock once again then he relaxed and smiled, feeling the mood become a bit lighter.
They resumed eating the cake but this time in a much more comfortable and welcomed silence.
After finishing the sweet, Chifuyu breathed and spoke up, "He would've been 17 today, you know?" He said, tears forming in his eyes again but this time they started to fall.
Kazutora looked down, biting his lip so as to not cry either, "I know…" he said.
Chifuyu sat there sniffling quietly, he really didn't want to cry today but it was ultimately inevitable.
"You know I…" Kazutora started. "I think about him everyday… I think about that time three years ago w-when we broke into the bike shop for Mikey's birthday pre-esent…" He was full on crying now despite his effort not to.
Chifuyu just watched him silently as Kazutora continued, "I was s-so st-upid back then," he stopped to collect his thoughts. "I thought that… if Mikey was gone then everything would go back to normal and work out just fine… That's why, when I got out of reform school I joined up with Kisaki and Hanma in hopes of finally getting rid of Mikey but in doing so I dragged Baji along…" Kazutora started to cry harder, as if reliving everything from the past.
"A-and then Toman versus Valhalla happened and I-I stabbed h-him and then everything started to happen so fast and h-he fe-ell and he- he stabbed himself in the stomach and told me it's not my f-fault but it is… it is my fault that I'm he-here and he's not…" He finished and cried some more.
Seeing Kazutora so pained and sad hurt Chifuyu, he didn't know why but he knew he wanted it to stop. So, he slowly reached out his hand to act as a small offering of comfort for the crying boy.
Kazutora saw the hand slowly inching toward him and without hesitation he grabbed it and squeezed it lightly.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, just holding hands with tears streaming down their faces. It wasn't until a guard came over telling them that their time was up, that the two boys separated.
After wiping his face, Chifuyu grabbed the empty cake box and plastic spoons, ready to head back home.
Neither boy bothered to say goodbye or even acknowledge what had just happened.
It wasn't until Chifuyu was on the train home that he took in everything that was said today and cried even more until he was in the comfort of his own bed.
Maybe… He doesn't hate Kazutora all that much anymore.