Chapter Text
At this point, Atsushi was no longer surprised to see Chifuyu swooping in to save Takemichi. Chances were that they came here together—those two never seemed to be apart these days.
"Takemitchy, Akkun, run!"
Atsushi staggered, darkness creeping on the edges of his vision, but he steeled his will, forcing himself to remain upright. Losing consciousness here would practically be suicide, with Tenjiku members all around them, hungering for a pound of Tōman flesh.
His attention was caught by a blotch of white moving abruptly—Takemichi crouching low and arms splaying out for a piggyback carry.
"Akkun, get on!"
And fuck, as much as Atsushi wanted to get out of here on his own two feet, to not be a burden and literally weigh his friend down, Atsushi knew there was no way he could run in this state.
So he got on.
Amber wafted by his nose, carrying the sour tang of stress and confusion and anxiety. Unsurprising, considering how close Atsushi was to Takemichi.
Quickly, Takemichi stood up and broke into a run. Atsushi grit his teeth as pain erupted over his body. Reality might have whited out for a moment there, but who cares?
"I'll be right behind you!" Atsushi distantly heard Chifuyu yell, already sounding so far away, and that was wrong. Even as the scent of relief hit him, weak and immediate, belonging to Takemichi, somehow Atsushi knew there was something wrong. Urgency tugged on the back of his mind and blared—no, no, no. Atsushi was forgetting something. There was some crucial piece of information he was missing, hovering at the fringes of his awareness. If only Atsushi could catch a moment to think—
"Shit, what the hell's going on? Akkun, why is this happening?"
Atsushi scraped through his memories—hanging out with Yamagishi, Takuya and Makoto, going to the bathroom with Takuya, coming back to see Makoto and Yamagishi—
"This way!" Yamagishi?
"Get in, quick!" Makoto?
Everything dissolved into a blur—"Come on, hurry!"—"Lock that door!"—the clunk of a lock—banging against glass—violent rattling—"Bust down the door!"—pain, pain, pain.
Atsushi came to Yamagishi asking, "Where's Chifuyu?"
"He'll catch up!" Takemichi replied. "He's strong, so he'll be fine."
And Chifuyu was strong. He was the strongest of the first division—the vice of the first division of Tōman. But even more than that, Chifuyu was smart. Surely he would make an escape after he had brought them enough time? Surely—
"I mentioned Tōman's name," ah, Makoto was speaking, "And they just attacked us. Akkun acted as a decoy so the rest of us could escape."
Yes, that's right.
Fragments of memories fell into place, creating a coherent picture.
Members of Tenjiku were attacking us. So many of them—
Alarm lurched in Atsushi's chest.
Chifuyu!
"Takemichi," Atsushi spoke, trying his best to get the words out. "Tenjiku's bad news. I think all 300 of their members came today."
"What?" Shock. "300?!"
Then, complete, overwhelming fear. Atsushi could feel Takemichi faltering, looking back. And while Atsushi shared that fear, while he understood why Takemichi was so deeply worried, the sheer terror drifting from Takemichi still took him by surprise.
Ah, Atsushi thought.
Just as Atsushi expected, Takemichi slowed to a stop a few blocks over, handing him over to Yamagishi. Tried to get them to safety under the guise of alerting the rest of Tōman to what was going down and getting help. Made sure that they would be okay before whirling back around, shouting, "I forgot something! I'll meet up with you guys in a bit!"
Because Chifuyu wasn't coming. Because Chifuyu was strong, but he was only one person. Because Chifuyu did the mental calculations and lied, sacrificing himself to protect them.
"I forgot something?" Atsushi parroted. "What a shit excuse."
Yamagishi was wearing a resigned expression, though he didn't seem all that upset, a smile pulling on his lips. "We're going after him, aren't we?"
Makoto was grinning. "Let's go save our stupid vice and captain."