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"You a boy or a girl?" the man asked gruffly.
Yumeno looked up at him. He was big. Dangerous. Their fingers itched for their doll, their safety. Nothing.
"Well?"
"I'm not either…"
He scoffed. "Yes, you are. What are you?"
Yumeno looked around for Kenji. He was taking too long. Why did he have to make Yumeno wait outside the bathrooms…
"Hey, I'm talking to you," he said. "Stop being stupid. What are you?"
"I'm not-"
"You are," he snapped.
Yumeno inched away, snatching a piece of glass off the ground, someone's smashed bottle. They didn't want to. But if this guy-
The man, thinking Yumeno was going to run, reached to grasp their collar. They ducked, thrusting the glass out, slicing up his arm. He roared, angry, hurt. Nothing more than a beast.
Yumeno stared, blood dripping. They'd sliced their own fingers doing it.
A familiar voice from behind him. "Yumeno?"
Kenji stopped, staring.
Yumeno held a bloodied shard of glass in their hand, staring at a large man in front of him, who'd been the target of their assault. He was holding his arm, bleeding, growling curses.
"You little bastard-"
"Stop." Kenji didn't know what happened, but he wasn't letting it get worse. He got in between the two. "What happened?"
"The little prick stabbed me, that's what happened!"
"Okay, okay. They're thirteen, please don't get violent." Kenji looked at the smaller kid. "Yumeno-"
They looked terrified. Kenji's heart ached for them. He felt bad for even considering they were being violent just for the sake of it, that they hadn't changed since their mafia days. They were just scared.
"Yumeno, it's okay…" He softened his voice, his whole demeanor. "It's okay."
Yumeno staggered back, dropping the glass. Their hands were bleeding. They stared at the blood.
"I'm sorry…"
"Yumeno-"
A broken whimper. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm- please, don't lock me up, I didn't mean- I didn't mean to, I swear, I'm sorry-"
"Yumeno, it's fine. Everything's fine. You're not getting locked up."
"I'm sorry, please…" they cried.
"What the fuck…" the man behind him muttered. Kenji turned to him.
"I'm very sorry for my friend. They're struggling, they haven't got used to being in public yet. Here-" He thrust a business card into his hand. "Our doctor will fix up your arm, free of charge. Please don't call the police. They didn't mean to hurt you."
He didn't have time to wait for an answer. He put his focus on Yumeno - gently pulling them outside, somewhere without a crowd. He didn't let them run off.
"You're fine, Yumeno…"
"I'm sorry…" they wailed.
"I know. I know. It's okay. No one's locking you up, okay? Even if that guy gets the police involved, you have the agency at your back. We won't let that happen." He kept his hands on their shoulders, not wanting to force a hug yet, but wanting to stay close. "Can you tell me what happened?"
"He- he scared me… Chuuya said, when I'm scared, to find him but he's- he's not here! He didn't tell me what to do when he's not here- he- I didn't want to get hurt, so I hurt him first; I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
They were sobbing hard, almost inconsolable. Kenji hadn't seen them this bad before.
"Yumeno, has something like this happened before...? Where maybe people didn't listen to you…?"
"I don't wanna get locked up again, I don't wanna…"
"That's okay." Home time. Yumeno wasn't calming down anytime soon. "Everything's okay."
They'd quietened down by the time they got home, but Kenji could tell they were still scared out of their mind. He gently led them inside.
Chuuya stood up, eyes on Yumeno's bloody hands.
"The hell-"
Yumeno stumbled backwards, starting to cry again. Chuuya stopped.
"Kyuu…"
"We had an incident." Kenji took them straight to the bathroom, to clean up their hands. Chuuya followed, waiting by the door to give them space. Yumeno let Kenji take over, gently working soap over their skin.
"What sort of incident?" Chuuya asked warily.
"They got scared. And it sounds like the only thing they could think of doing was hurting the other person, to defend themself."
Chuuya winced sympathetically. "Everyone okay?"
"They only cut his arm. He might show up to the agency pretty angry, but it's okay…" Kenji dried Yumeno's hands carefully. "They got really scared, afterwards. They kept begging me not to lock them up…"
Chuuya's expression shifted. He nodded. "There was an incident, when Yumeno was in the Mafia. They caused a massacre. After that, they were locked up, so they couldn't hurt anyone else." He breathed out slowly. "They were only about ten, maybe eleven. I lost friends. My anger didn't allow me to question locking away a child."
"Sorry…" Yumeno whispered.
"It's fine, Kyuu. I forgave you ages ago."
Yumeno shook their head. "You guys didn't listen… I tried…"
"I don't want to talk about it. Can we focus on today?" Chuuya said, getting the bandages out.
Kenji shook his head. "Hold on… Yumeno, who didn't listen?"
"Everyone…" They pointed shakily to Chuuya. "I tried… I tried telling them…"
Chuuya's eyebrows furrowed. "Telling us what, Kyuu?"
"He tried to… Touch me… It hurt, and I panicked…" They were crying again, hugging their own chest. "I didn't mean for all those people to die! Only him!"
Chuuya stared, something strange on his face. Strong guilt.
"Baby, where'd he touch you…?"
Yumeno whispered to him, shaking. Chuuya went pale, and hugged them tightly.
"Kenji, could you… Make some food…?" he bit out.
Kenji nodded. He wasn't a part of this chunk of history. He left the bathroom.
Chuuya felt paralyzed. He thought of Yumeno as his child, now, and he'd forgiven them for what happened in the mafia. But he'd never felt bad about the punishment before - it was done to keep people safe, so they couldn't hurt anyone else. The idea that they'd only struck out in self defence, and then been locked away for it for years-
He felt sick.
Thinking back, he remembered Yumeno kicking and screaming, trying to talk, get a moment to explain. No one had given them even a second. Everyone had lost friends, they were angry, hurt. By this broken little ten year old, only trying to keep themself safe.
He held Yumeno tight, feeling himself shaking as much as they were.
"I'm sorry…" he choked out. It was nothing, nothing could give them back those years, nothing could take away the trauma being imprisoned had left them with. "I'm not letting anyone lock you up, ever again, okay?"
They sobbed into his shirt. He gently took their hands, so they couldn't worsen the cuts. Scrubbing at his face with a sleeve, he focused on bandages. He'd become adept at applying them, having spent years with Dazai. It was an unconscious skill, at this point. Unfortunately, this meant it was mediocre distraction.
"Fucking…" he muttered.
"Bad word…"
"I know." He petted Yumeno's head. "I'm… So sorry, Kyuu. I didn't know- I didn't listen. I should've tried. Even if it was later, once things had calmed down."
Yumeno settled close. As soon as they'd started to trust Chuuya, they'd become as clingy as a toddler with seperation anxiety.
"You were nicest to me…" they whispered. "Only you and Kouyou visited to be nice…"
"…You remember that?" Chuuya knew their memory was missing chunks. No surprise there.
They nodded. "A bit…"
"…It's still not enough. You didn't deserve any of that pain."
"I don't deserve this, after everything I've done. But you're giving it to me anyway…" They looked up, mismatched eyes watery. "I forgave you in the cell… you brought me sweets and blankets… I had blades, um, hidden in the wall… Your visits were the only reason I didn't k-"
Chuuya squeezed them into his chest. It hurt, so, so, much. He could hardly take it. He kissed their head, cradling them.
"I am so grateful you didn't die in that cell, okay? You are my kid now, and I'll never let you feel that bad ever again… I love you, Kyuu. Okay?"
Another sob wracked their tiny form. They nodded.
It took a while for them both to pull themselves back together. Yumeno was still shaking, but Chuuya had been masking since his memories began. It was barely a struggle for him.
Kenji had made ham and cheese toasties, still hot. He offered a smile to Yumeno, who went to hug the blond boy. Chuuya was glad he had a friend. He wanted Yumeno to feel as normal as they possible could.
"How are your hands…?" Kenji asked, pulling the chair out for them.
"Better…"
"That's good." He sat next to them.
He didn't ask about what had happened. Didn't drag the conversation back at all. In typical Kenji manner, Chuuya was learning, he moved right on, unconsciously putting the both of them at ease. He was good, Chuuya would give him that.
"Can we have a sleepover…?" Yumeno voiced, quiet.
"Yeah, sure." Yumeno could get away with whatever the hell they wanted right now. Chuuya still felt rotten. "If Kenji wants to."
"Of course!" Kenji smiled at Yumeno, eyes crinkling. "I have a couple new games from a store I helped out a few weeks ago! We could play them."
Yumeno brightened a bit. "Yeah…"