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It was by pure chance that Mitsuya found Chifuyu.
Earlier in the evening, he had received a strange text from the younger teen asking for Mitsuya to stop by the church in the Black Dragon Gang’s territory tonight. Mitsuya was going to ignore the text. It was Christmas Eve after all. He had promised his little sisters that they would hang out the next day.
That being said, he couldn’t keep Chifuyu’s text out of his head. Something about the urgent wording worried him. Chifuyu had a good head on his shoulders, so Mitsuya couldn’t see him rushing off to do something too stupid. A horrid moment later, he realized there was one reason that Chifuyu would rush headlong into danger: Takemichi. The two of them had been nearly inseparable since Baji’s death. Ah, well. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to simply check on the younger Toman executives.
The church looked deserted as he parked his bike. He would check in the church. If they weren’t there, he would head back home. Something strange caught his eye as he made his way up the front steps. He crouched down to take a closer look. There was blood on the cold steps. It had been scuffed about like someone had tried to quickly hide it, but the red stood out starkly on the white. Mitsuya was immediately on guard. He followed the trail of blood to a side door of the church. After pausing for a moment to gather himself, Mitsuya opened the door.
The room was mostly empty. This made it easier for him to rule out any immediate threat and focus on the sole person seated on the far side of the room. Mitsuya’s eyes went wide when he recognized the Toman uniform and the undercut. It was Chifuyu. What the younger teen was doing here, Mitsuya didn’t know. What he did know was that Chifuyu was currently unconscious and tied to a support pillar of the room.
Mistuya rushed over to him. Chifuyu’s body was limp in its bonds. Mitsuya quickly removed the gag, wincing as the younger teen’s desperate wheezing became audible. Chifuyu didn’t react as Mitsuya worked on unbinding him from the pillar. As he worked, Mitsuya decided whoever had done this had been particularly cruel. Chifuyu’s rib cage had been severely compressed by the bindings, forcing him into a state of perpetual hyperventilation. The lack of steady oxygen was undoubtedly what had caused him to pass out.
It was then that Mitsuya noticed the blood. Chifuyu’s hair on one side was matted with a dark crimson. Mitsuya felt something like fear creep up the back of his throat. He paused what he had been doing and gently felt the side of Chifuyu’s head. There he found a deep gash that caused him to grimace. The younger teen had taken a pretty bad hit to the head. However, there was nothing that Mitsuya could do at the moment.
He went back to untying Chifuyu. The moment the bindings were loose enough, Chifuyu started coughing. After a few tense moments, he began stirring. He was clearly disoriented because he began struggling as soon as he could. Mitsuya easily held him still.
“Sorry… ‘michi…” Chifuyu coughed, still out of breath.
“Not Takemichi. It’s me, Mistuya,” Mitsuya frowned.
Chifuyu blinked sluggishly as though he was trying to bring Mitsuya’s face into focus.
“Mi-ts’ya?” he sounded confused.
Confusion was never a good sign. Mitsuya awarded him with a small, but worried smile.
“Chifuyu, what happened?” he asked.
“Hanma ‘n Kisaki… beat me up…. ‘n tied me here…. passed out….” Chifuyu groaned, bracing his ribs as best as he could.
Mitsuya frowned. There was a lot to unpack from the picture in front of him. First was the problem of the clearly bruised (perhaps broken) ribs. Second was that Chifuyu was most certainly concussed. Lastly and most concerningly was the information that Chifuyu had been beaten up by two of their own.
“And then they left you here?” Mitsuya asked.
Chifuyu nodded slightly. Mitsuya didn’t like that one bit. It was clear that Chifuyu was supposed to have remained hidden. If that had happened, then Chifuyu undoubtedly suffocated to death before help would have found him. Mitsuya had never fully trusted Kisaki or Hanma. He suspected that they had secret plans of their own This only deepened his suspicions. He wondered if they had been planning not only for Chifuyu to die, but to also use his death as a means to start an all out gang war. After all, if Chifuyu were to die in an unnatural manner on another gang’s turf, the alarms would be immediately raised.
“What were you doing here?” Mitsuya asked.
Chifuyu’s text had been cryptic to say the least.
“Michi wanted to… keep Hakkai from…. making a huge mistake,” Chifuyu grunted out.
Mitsuya sighed. That sounded like Takemichi. He was fairly certain at this rate that kid was going to be the death of him. It was a good thing that he had heeded Chifuyu’s text and come. Next to him, Chifuyu attempted to stand.
“Stay down, Matsuno. You’re all beat,” Mitsuya applied pressure on Chifuyu’s shoulder in an effort to keep him seated.
Chifuyu’s face went pale at the pressure and Mitsuya wondered if he needed to add a broken collarbone to the list of injuries. He let up on his hold. Chifuyu took advantage and staggered to his feet.
“No. I’m fine,” Chifuyu insisted.
“You’re going to follow me anyway, aren’t you?” Mitsuya sighed.
Chifuyu grunted out something that might have been a yes. Mitsuya frowned. He didn’t want to let Chifuyu fight, not in that condition, at least. Chifuyu would likely as not put a rib in his lungs or give himself permanent brain damage.
“Fine, but if there’s a fight, at least don’t join in. I would guess that might actually kill you and I would hate to see Takemitchy cry because you died,” Mitsuya said sternly.
“I’ll survive,” Chifuyu shrugged with a wince.
Mitsuya could do nothing more than shake his head and sigh. A loud crash resounded through the building. It had both Mitsuya and Chifuyu on guard.
“I suppose we had better go investigate that and make sure Takemitchy hasn’t gotten himself killed,” Mitsuya huffed.
With Chifuyu behind him, Mitsuya headed towards the main entrance of the church.