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spicysoftsweet · 3 years

Text

Chapter 9

Masterlist

tw character death

Mitsuya was used to listening to crying, comfortable even. It was a normal human response after all, and his sisters cried all the time.

But Kumi cried in a very odd way he wasn’t exactly prepared for. Without warning, in the middle of a conversation about her and his plans for high school and beyond, tears had started to run down her cheeks and her speech had paused for a moment, before she continued to speak as though nothing had happened.

She wiped her tears with the back of her hand as though she’d simply sprung a leak, and promptly continued, her voice wobbling a little, but still smiling.

“I-if I at least stay in T-Tokyo after graduation, we can still be friends even if we don’t go to the same high school, right?”

He furrowed his eyebrows.

“Why wouldn’t we stay friends?” He asked, confused.

She grinned widely from across the low table in his home, her eyes shining still.

“Promise you won’t get tired of me.”

Mitsuya looked at Kumi’s obvious forced smile and wondered if Toman was the only thing Baji had dropped. His behavior was stranger than usual definitely, but maybe he was really just showing his true colors. Even if defecting to an opposing gang was unreasonable (even by Baji standards), Baji and Kazutora had always been terribly close, and if Kazutora changed, so could the latter.

“I won’t,” he replied.

He, like Mikey, didn’t want to end up fighting his friend, but he wouldn’t mind landing one solid punch for good measure.

---

“I don’t know if I wanna be an angel this year,” Kumi mused as she walked out of the convenience store down the street with her best friend trailing closely behind her. She unwrapped a lollipop, sighing before popping it into her mouth. “You get to look cute and sexy in the devil costume and I’m probably going to look like a nun,” she pouted.

Kaksi took the bag of discounted pre-Halloween candy from her and fished for a milk chocolate bar, unwrapping it for a bite.

“We can trade if you want.”

Kumi turned to her with surprise, but Kaksi grinned appropriately devilishly.

“But you won’t look scary at all, so how can you be a devil?” With that, she held the bar in her teeth and squished Kumi’s cheeks, causing the latter to frown and swat away at her hands.

“Stop!” She whined.

Kaksi laughed louder, which led to her chocolate falling to the ground which had her gasp in dismay.

“Karma,” Kumi pretend-disguised the remark with a loud cough, wincing as Kaksi gave her a slap on the shoulder, then giggled back. “Don’t worry, you can have mine.”

“As I deserve,” Kaksi said, then glanced at her watch. “We should head there quickly, the store will close soon.”

“Mm.”

The girls managed to find their way to the corner shop and picked out their outfits, taking pictures together as they tried their accessories, a white halo for Kumi and a pair of red devil horns for Kaksi.

“You didn’t want to trade?” Kaksi asked, looking through their pics on her flip phone as they walked home, shopping bags in hand. “We can still swap if you want.”

Kumi shook her head.

“My parents are already being too lenient by letting me go out for the parade tomorrow in the first place, so putting on leather on top of that will probably be pushing it,” she said, with a dramatic sigh.

Kaksi laughed.

“You know, for a moment I was wondering if you’d change being around gang members for so long, but it seems like you’re still a goody two-shoes after all.”

Kumi smiled in response but her smile was a little less bright this time, and Kaksi frowned. She’d almost gotten over the sting of Kazutora essentially breaking things off with her but she had to remember that Kumi’s situation was still fresh in her heart.

An idea suddenly popped into her head, and she grabbed Kumi’s hand suddenly, turning around to face her.

Kumi’s eyes widened as Kaksi’s beamed.

“Hey, we’re gonna be friends forever, right? A pair, you and me, right?’.

Kumi nodded slowly in agreement, not exactly sure where Kaksi was getting at. Of course, she was her best friend.

“So… I think we should make a pact,” she proposed.

“What kind of pact?”

The sun was starting to set, pinker than usual, and with the wind picking up in that late October evening, Kumi had the feeling that whatever Kaksi was about to say next would be terribly poignant. She found herself holding her breath, as Kaksi continued.

“When we’re old maids later on in life, we should just buy a huge house in the woods and live together. We can get dogs and cats and make a garden where we grow our own food and not worry about any mean losers that just fight all the time. We’ll buy lots of books and play music all day and you can do all the cooking because I hate cooking but it’ll be amazing. What do you think?”

Kumi’s smile was genuine this time. She clasped her other hand over Kaksi’s warm ones.

“It sounds amazing.”

Maybe Kaksi was the only person she really needed after all, Kumi thought.

---

Even if Kumi was trying to focus on literally anything else aside from Baji, there was a small part of her that still worried about the tension brewing between the Tokyo Manji gang and Valhalla, and the thought of another brawl landing him or even Mitsuya in the hospital seemed to haunt her. It didn’t help that Mitsuya had told her that there would be ‘Toman business’ on the afternoon of Halloween and so he’d have to pass on going to the parade with her and Kaksi. She had insisted that they could all go, and he’d told her that there was something big, without really giving her additional details.

Big was not good when it came to gangs.

All day Kumi dwelled on it until she felt that she had to say something by the time lunchtime rolled around, starting with a long sigh to feign nonchalance.

“So I know we’re not supposed to discuss they-who-must-not-be-named anymore,” she started, stopping abruptly when Kaksi raised her eyebrow at her, “but I feel like something bad’s gonna happen.”

“Like what?” Kaksi asked, barely looking up from her plate.

Kumi frowned.

“I don’t know, Mitsuya wouldn’t really tell me but supposedly they’re preparing for something today and with all that’s going on it seems like it might be a bigger deal this time,” she continued. At this point, Kaksi’s curiosity must have been piqued because she finally looked at her then propped her face up by her elbow on the table.

A slight embarrassment ran over Kumi when she considered how obvious it was that she was still worried about Baji despite the fact that he’d been awful to her, while her friend seemed to take everything in stride.

While Kaksi seemed to be thinking, Kumi decided instead to content herself with spoonfuls of rice.

“Maybe I am nosy,” she laughed out loud for a moment once a couple minutes passed. She considered the idea of showing up again, in front of Baji who probably only found her annoying by now, and she considered that the idea of being chased away a second time was too much to bear. Maybe if she didn’t annoy him, she could pretend that they hadn’t really broken up, just drifted apart. That would work, wouldn’t it?

“Well I’m curious now,” Kaksi said, rising suddenly.

Kumi remembered this exact scenario from just a couple days ago and immediately regretted saying anything.

“Actually maybe this time we shouldn’t-” she began.

“It’s just information. We don’t have to do anything about it,” Kaksi insisted. Kumi agreed.

“Let’s try to ask someone after school.”

...

The school seemed to empty out before either girl could corner a single person. It was odd really, and when they reunited from their different classes, both grimaced as they realized they had absolutely no intel for each other.

Despite the nagging feeling in the back of her mind, Kumi went home to prepare for the evening parade after separating from Kaksi at her house. Walking the rest of the way, she contemplated further the idea of getting over her feelings completely, reanalyzing nearly all of their interactions over the past couple of years to determine what she had missed. This only made her sadder, and by the time she was nearly at her door, she was holding back sniffles.

She hated the fact that she cried so easily.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she found herself running into another boy her age, surprised when she realized it was Yamagishi of all people, one of Takemitchi’s friends that she’d seen a couple times but not really interacted with.

“Oh my gosh, sorry!”

Yamagishi looked at her in surprise.

“Kumi-chan, what are you doing here?”

She tilted her head, surprised by the question, pointing to her house a few paces away.

“I live here?”

Yamagishi’s face turned a deep shade of red, and he laughed nervously.

“Ah, yes… well, it was nice to run into you,” he said, politely, dashing in the opposite direction.

Kumi thought about the weird encounter and considered shrugging her shoulders and going on her way, but then she stopped in her tracks, and ran back to catch up to him.

“Hey!”

Yamagishi stopped, surprised and looked at her in surprise. Kumi faltered a little, phrasing the question, then blurted out, “you know a lot about gang stuff, right?”

Yamagishi scratched his head sheepishly but was clearly pleased. “Yeah, of course. I can literally tell you anything!”

Kumi nodded. “Have you heard about anything big happening tonight? With Tokyo Manji or…?” She didn’t outright say Valhalla, but it was the more pressing question for her.

Yamagishi furrowed his brow.

“Toman’s going to have a huge fight today, if it hasn’t already started…”

Kumi held her breath.

“Where?”

“There’s an old junkyard. I considered going just to see, just because I know it would be crazy, but my parents wanted me home unless I’d get in trouble. They’re going against Valhalla, everyone in the delinquent community knows about it.”

Her heart thumped, and she immediately went ahead to send a text to Kaksi to meet up with her immediately.

“Please tell me where it is.”

---

By the time the girls made it (with multiple wrong turns) to the junkyard, where there were even more people than the Valhalla hideout those couple days before, the fight was more than half over.

At least in sheer numbers,the crowd had already started to thin from Valhalla’s 300, including Baji, Kazutora, and the tall, lanky and obnoxious-sounding boy the girls would later know to be Hanma, and Toman’s 150, including Mikey, the source of all their problems, Kisaki and the rest of the gang they knew well. There were enough bruises and injuries and unconscious boys to go around, and while Kumi and Kaksi froze in space, their eyes quickly scanned the crowd for those that they cared about the most.

The first thing Kumi saw in the distance upon arrival - what they both saw - was the knife in Baji’s hands.

A knife that was raised to the heavens, loud words that sounded like nonsense to her tumbling out of his mouth, and a bold smile on his face.

What is he-

Before Kumi could even process the situation further, or even take account of the other bodies in the junkyard, Baji plunged that very knife straight into his abdomen.

And her heart stopped.

“Kei!”

Maybe his eyes widened for a moment as he searched for her voice, and he did finally see her running towards him, as he collapsed immediately into Chifuyu’s arms who were closer, stronger and faster.

He hadn’t factored this into his move.

In fact he’d thought about what he was doing but he hadn’t really thought at all, had he? Just doing whatever it took to save Kazutora.

Making his death matter.

Bambi, I…

“Kei!” Kumi screamed again, crying this time as she ran, until she found herself intercepted by Mitsuya who saw her run into the fray in time and held her back.

“Let me go!” She shrieked.

Mitsuya said nothing, but held on to her with all his strength, arms tightening as he turned her away, as her screams mixed with Chifuyu’s.

“Someone call an ambulance! Someone stop the bleeding! Please let me,” she sputtered and choked for a moment, losing the ability to breathe. “Let me help him!”

There was nothing she could do. Mitsuya’s grip was like iron and his hold felt like betrayal, and as she watched Baji, turned away from her while he said his final words, her stomach writhed in despair.

Her voice seemed to die in her throat.

“P-please let me go,” she continued helplessly, knowing that Mitsuya wouldn’t give in even for a second, and once she had lost the strength to scream hysterically any longer and her legs grew unsteady, he allowed her to fall to her knees and double over in sobs.

This was cruel, Mitsuya thought, but he could see that Kazutora and Mikey’s standoff was escalating and she couldn’t be in the middle.

Kaksi covered her mouth as she took in Baji’s corpse in turn and it seemed as though time had gone to a stand still until she heard the sickening crunch of Mikey’s knuckles connecting with Kazutora’s jaw.

“I’ll kill you!”

The words came out of Mikey’s mouth, repeated like a mantra and with them, his punches were heavy and relentless; Kaksi could sense the immediate intent to kill.

She couldn’t pretend she didn’t understand why. Kumi was curled into a ball beside her and within Mitsuya’s reach, still sobbing inconsolably while Chifuyu’s eyes clearly went in and out of focus, staring at his friend’s body. She could see the subtle pain behind Mikey’s voidless eyes.

Mikey was absolutely going to kill him.

Her feet moved on their own, faster than she had ever done before, dodging the arms that attempted to stop her. Kaksi could feel her heart racing and her stomach turning at the sight of her ex-boyfriend’s blood being splashed onto the floor. She couldn’t understand why no one was stopping them.

Baji…

Baji had just injured himself and this fight needed to end. So she didn’t think twice, loudly screaming at them to stop before getting in between Kazutora and Toman’s leader. She faced Mikey while her ex-boyfriend was shielded by her back, even though she was slightly smaller than him and much weaker.

The look in Mikey’s eyes was one she had never seen before. She shivered, realizing in what position she had just put herself in. But Kaksi couldn’t turn back now. The fury in his eyes spoke for him and she was unsure about what would happen to her at that moment. Takemichi stood behind while Chifuyu was still focused on Baji’s cold body in his arms. He watched the scene unfold, holding his breath but thankful that the girl had been quick to act.

“Get out of my way,” Mikey told her in an icy voice.

“Mikey, ple-”

Kaksi’s eyes widened as she felt Mikey’s strong hold on her. She let out a whimper as she felt herself pushed to the side, violently falling onto the ground. Everyone surrounding them watched in shock as Mikey aimed for Kazutora again. Takemichi took a step forward but to his relief, Kaksi was standing up again.

The pain from her fall was still present but she didn’t hesitate to run over to Mikey again, this time wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him back as hard as she could. He hit her once with his elbow and she cried out, unsure about being able to take another hit. Unfortunately, Kaksi only managed to put him off balance slightly despite being taller than Mikey and giving it all her strength.

The second hit she received had her fall back down, her hands as well as her knees covered in blood and dirt. That hurt, her breathing was heavier this time and she took a moment before standing up again. But the sight of Kazutora’s bloodied face and the sound of Mikey’s knuckles meeting bones was too much.

“Stop!” she screamed again, even louder than the first time, throwing her body in between the two boys again.

The sound of Draken’s voice calling out the girl’s name could be heard as his eyes followed Mikey’s fist but it was too late. Takemichi cried out watching her take a direct hit for Kazutora. Kaksi wanted to scream, the blunt force stronger than anything she had ever felt before but the sounds were caught in her throat as she found herself unable to breathe. She stumbled backwards. Mikey, stunned by the sight of her falling from his blow instead of Kazutora, stayed immobile.

What have I done?

Takemichi caught the girl in his arms, preventing her from hitting the ground, clearly unable to stand anymore. Horror took over Kazutora instantly as he watched her limp body, the pain probably too much for her to have withstood. He stepped forward, fury taking over him again at the sight of his unconscious darling.

Mikey didn’t move, eyes glued to her as Takemichi slapped her face gently in an attempt to wake her up. He didn’t mean to hurt her, he was aiming at Kazutora. He would never ever hit Kaksi, he thought as guilt washed over him. He would never hit a girl, and especially not this girl, his friend, or maybe more.

“You fucking asshole!” Kazutora yelled his fist connecting with Mikey’s jaw for the first time after a while.

The pain brought Toman’s leader back to his senses and it was instinctively that he blocked Kazutora’s next move. Takemichi watched once again, anger taking over him this time. They couldn’t be serious. He screamed out of frustration for Kaksi who couldn’t, Kumi who was still held back by Mitsuya and everyone surrounding them.

“What the fuck do you think Baji died for and Kaksi took that punch for?”

Kazutora’s eyes filled with tears as he looked over to his best friend’s corpse and his ex-girlfriend’s unconscious form. Mikey was about to argue but Takemichi cut him off, getting impatient now.

“He died for Toman! He died for you two, god damn it!”

Takemichi’s tears fell onto Kaksi as he gently moved her body, taking off his jacket hurriedly to put it under her head before walking over to the two boys fighting. But as the piece of clothing was folded, the charm Takemichi had kept with him fell, catching Mikey’s attention.

“Kazutora didn’t kill him!” he continued. “He killed himself because he didn’t want Kazutora to feel responsible! Because he wanted you to forgive Kazutora!”

Takemichi stopped for a moment, the sobs racking his body making it hard for him to speak.

“Everything Baji did,” he said. “He did it because he loved you guys! Why can’t you understand this?”

Kazutora found himself unable to move, too many conflicting emotions taking over him while Mikey kneeled, picking up the charm that was sent flying. He examined it carefully before asking Takemichi where he had found it. Then Mikey’s eyes widened in shock as the founding members of Toman realized who it belonged to and what it represented. He couldn’t help the tears blurring his vision at the realisation of what they had just lost and at what cost exactly. For a moment Mikey reminisced, brought back to Toman’s founding day.

“I didn’t create Toman,” he explained. “Baji did.”

Kumi, who had thought she didn’t have any more tears to cry, felt a new wave wash over her as her shattered heart ached harder. The emptiness she felt, piercing through everyone who had known Baji.

If one of us gets hurt, we’ll all protect them. I want a gang that’s all for one, and one for all.

They could all picture Baji saying those words, whether they had been there or not to witness it two years ago and at that moment everyone found that they couldn’t muffle the sounds of their pain anymore.

There was a pause that hung heavy, impregnated with tears, but where they all remained unmoving, as they considered everything that had been said.

Kumi stirred finally, wiping her tears, and turned to look at Mitsuya. He eyed her carefully, his own eyes no longer dry, and in a voice that sounded too pained to be speaking, she begged for a chance to move.

“It’s safe now, right? I’m not interfering anymore.”

Without waiting for an answer, she rose and walked over slowly to where Chifuyu still held her first crush, love, whatever she would call it. Chifuyu didn’t look up as she knelt down across from him and placed her head against Baji’s chest, her heart sinking as she couldn’t hear a heartbeat. Throat drying up, she might have deluded herself into imagining something, anything where there should be a sound, so instead she lifted her head quickly, and gently slapped him on the face.

“Wake up,” she whispered. She tapped his face again with her open palm, again trying to ignore how unnaturally cold his cheek was on contact.

She took a deep breath again, then thumped his chest again, a little harder this time. She knew very well that this was futile, and if anything she was upsetting Chifuyu even more, who had started to shake, but she was going to do this. She had to do this.

“Wake up, the fight is over and you’ll be fine. Someone called an ambulance and you need to get checked, but it’ll be okay.” She paused, and bit her lower lip.

She reached over to untie his ponytail, letting the hair tie sit on her wrist. As luck would have it, this one she recognized; he had borrowed it from her. She swallowed hard, as she ran a hand through his hair.

“Kumi, he’s-” Chifuyu started then stopped once she cut him off sharply.

“I know.”

Despite this, she still shook him.

“I forgive you for being mean, okay? We still have dates and movies to go to,” she leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, as though that was the reason why he wasn’t responding to her, not the fact that he was no longer breathing.

“I’ll learn how to make that yakisoba you like. Your mom promised to teach me before, remember? It won’t be as good but you have to promise to eat everything.”

“Kumi,” Chifuyu repeatedly her name softly, and she swallowed a sob but kept talking to the dead boy before her.

“I never gave you those chocolates I owe you, remember? You can’t die before I do that.”

As she said this, the tears she’d thought had run out just earlier seemed to replenish and she buried her face into his jacket and finally let herself weep fully, her arms around him.

“You’re so fucking mean, Baji Keisuke.”

#baji x oc #kazutora x oc #tokyorev #off target effects #collab fic #mae.writing #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers x oc #tokyo revengers imagine #tokyo revengers #longfic

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spicysoftsweet · 3 years

Text

Chapter 10

Masterlist

tw death, vague suicidal ideation

When Kaksi woke up in the emergency room in the nearest hospital, confusion overtook her. It took a little while to get over her lightheadedness and the pain she felt from what she assumed was the injury that brought her here. It seemed that she was fine; however, the doctor had reassured her once examining her briefly.

Remembering how she had passed out, she was relieved to see familiar faces next to her. But seeing Chifuyu and Takemichi’s puffy red eyes and bruised faces was in no way comforting. She was afraid to ask what had happened.

“Where’s Kumi?” she inquired instead.

Takemichi took a moment before answering, wondering where to even begin when the girl would ask what had unfolded while she had been unconscious.

“She must be home by now.”

The silence was heavy but Kaksi needed answers, even though she was unprepared for them.

“What…” she hesitated. “What happened?”

Takemichi bit his lips, feeling a new wave of fresh tears coming, blurring his vision completely. Yet the most heartbreaking sight was Chifuyu’s trembling body as he started sobbing once again. A few tears rolled down Kaksi’s cheeks in response, shocked to see the happy boy she knew break down in front of her like this.

“I’m so sorry, Kaksi,” Takemichi said, voice breaking. “I couldn’t save Baji-kun.”

Kaksi bit her lip as her tears fell uncontrollably.

He couldn’t save Baji? What did he mean?

“What are you talking about?” she asked, the words barely coming out as her throat was tightening.

She only received the sounds of Chifuyu and Takemichi’s pain as an answer for a moment, making her feel like it was impossible to breathe.

“Baji didn’t make it,” Chifuyu choked out in between sobs. “He’s dead, Kaksi. I’m so sorry.”

Kaksi’s heartbeat was so awfully loud she felt like her ears should be bleeding.

“That’s not true,” she said, shaking her head and tasting her tears as she spoke.

Chifuyu, wishing that it wasn’t, couldn’t bear it anymore and decided to exit the emergency rooms. Takemichi didn’t stop him and stood by Kaksi’s bed wondering if there were any words of comfort he could give even though desperation was what ate away at everyone at that moment.

“Baji’s one of the strongest people I know,” she said, brown eyes staring into nothing. “He would never…”

She couldn’t say it, she couldn’t face it. Kaksi shook her head, wiping off her tears with the back of her hand. Maybe if she believed it hard enough, Baji would be out the door ready to make fun of her for passing out from a single punch.

---

Mitsuya paced slowly, his whole body aching just as much physically as much as he was emotionally, in the direction of Kumi’s house, with Kumi in his arms.

She had not wanted to leave, even when the police were approaching, meaning he had to all but rip her away from Baji’s body, throwing her over his shoulder as he ran with the rest of his crew, leaving just Kazutora and his dead friend behind.

She’d fought against him and then eventually tired out, crying so much that she’d even puked and it had just barely missed his shirt. Now she was fast asleep as though she had drunk heavily, and night was falling. He looked terribly suspicious; it was obvious he’d been in a fight and he looked miserable, plus he was carrying an unconscious girl in the street.

But he’d do it for her, for his friend who was clearly just as traumatized as he was right now. Neither of them could have foreseen things going this way.

Mitsuya knocked on the door of her house to see her father open the door, and the older man’s eyes widened then his lips pulled into an angry scowl as he took the two teenagers in.

Before he could start yelling, Mitsuya bowed as best he could with the load he was carrying.

“She’s fine, sir, I apologize for bringing your daughter back in this state. I promise she is okay and nothing has happened to her.”

He was partially right.

Kumi’s father all but snatched his daughter out of the young boy’s arms as her mother came over to inspect the young girl’s tear-stained face and hair matted with sweat and tears and vomit.

“She better be fine,” Kumi’s father muttered in a threatening tone. Her mother gave him a harsh look, then turned back to the young man and thanked him softly.

Maybe if he had known what Mitsuya had seen, he would have understood why Mitsuya said nothing more, and turned on his heels to go home as fast as he could.

---

Kumi did not show up to school for the rest of the week.

The first day her parents forgave her, knowing that whatever had happened had been significant enough if it had sapped her will to wake up in the morning, and as she lay wrapped up in a blanket in a dark room, they watched over her carefully, coaxing her to speak with soft words and warm meals to no avail. Kumi neither looked at them, nor her phone, just periodically at the picture of Baji and her, just a day ago stuffed in her drawer out of irritation, and now lain beside her in her bed.

The second day, her mother begged her to come down for meals at the very least and after several minutes of pleading, gave up and brought soup up to her room instead. When she returned a couple hours later, the soup was no longer untouched, and so her mother was thankful that she’d at least eaten. She tried her luck again at asking her if she wanted to talk, and though Kumi used her voice for once, all she said was ‘no.’

The third day, her father dragged the covers off of her at the crack of dawn in time for class and gave her an ultimatum the moment she stirred, eyes puffy from crying overnight.

“Either you tell us what happened so I can punish whoever’s responsible or you go to school as usual if you want to act like nothing happened.”

Her father’s voice was stern, even if it was out of an abundance of love and fear.

Kumi continued to stare at the wall, and her father, angry as he thought of the millions of awful things that that young man with the lilac hair who brought back his puke-covered daughter could have done to her, clenched his fists where he stood.

“You will not continue to ignore us! Your mother is worried sick,” he said, reaching over to turn her so that she faced him.

“Leave me alone!” She shrieked, and her father recoiled, shocked at the distress in her voice. Kumi had always been an obedient child, and now she shook like paper in her bed, curling up against the wall into fetal position. Her father noticed the picture now on the other side of her bed, and picked it up taking a good look at it, and was instantly infuriated.

“Is this all over a boy?”

Kumi grit her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, hugging herself. She said nothing.

Her father groaned, resisting the urge to tear up the picture to prove to her that any breakup at this young age was meaningless, but then placed it back down on her desk instead. He took a deep breath, then sat down on the edge of her bed, finally softening his voice.

“Did anyone hurt you?” He asked. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to hear any other answer than no.

She shook her head no, and he sighed in relief. He placed a hand on her shoulder, rubbing it.

“Sweetheart, I know it hurts but boys come and go.”

It was the worst thing he could have possibly said at that moment, and because Kumi was still facing the wall, he didn’t realize how badly he had renewed her anguish. Her legs curled up and she nodded slowly, holding her tears as her father, none the wiser, kissed her atop the head and rubbed her back again.

“It’s his birthday today, and I can’t celebrate it with him,” she whispered with sobs. Her father gave her another pat on the head.

“There will be other birthday parties you can go to, honey, it’s okay.”

Kumi swallowed something like acid in her throat. He had no idea.

“You’re going back to school first thing tomorrow, okay darling?” Her father added, believing in his heart of hearts that he’d helped fix the problem.

The moment he stepped out, she buried her face into the pillow, and sobbed anew.

On day four, Kumi woke up early in the morning, slightly dizzy from multiple days of crying and poor hydration and missed sun, and willed herself to get ready for school.

As she made her way to the kitchen, her parents looked at her warily as she sat at the breakfast table.

“Good morning, honey, would you like anything special for breakfast?” Her mother asked, still hovering over the stove. Her father glanced at her hopefully over the morning newspaper and a cup of coffee.

The desire to either rewind time or disappear entirely from the face of the earth occurred to her for a split second, but she settled for asking for an omelet. Something simple that would go down her sore throat without resistance.

She sat at the table without an additional word, picking at her eggs with a fork once the steaming meal was set in front of her.

She paused, and then tears ran down her cheeks, yet again.

“Kumi…”

She wiped her tears roughly and then shoveled eggs into her mouth, barely chewing before she swallowed. Her mother was by her side in moments, and her father, at wit’s end set down his newspaper, unsure of what to do.

“I’m sorry, I-I can’t… I can’t seem to stop,” Kumi croaked out of embarrassment as her mother hugged her. “I’ve been trying to stop… It just hurts too much.”

“What hurts, darling?”

Before she could muster anything to explain, there was a sudden knock at the door. It was probably too early in the morning for normal visitors, and Kumi’s father rose to get the door.

At the door was a harried woman he had never seen before, with dark, wavy hair and fox-like brown eyes tied in a messy ponytail. She looked like she was well into middle age but gracefully so and her body seemed to shake as he opened the door, and when she looked up to meet his eyes, her gaze was even more clouded than his daughter.

“Is this the right home? I was told that this was where Kumi-chan lived?” The lady’s voice was husky as though she were sick or had just smoked, and her words cracked as she spoke.

The strange occurrences were accumulating far too quickly and Kumi’s father, taking in the stranger’s disheveled appearance in jeans and a t-shirt, was starting to become overwhelmed. His first impulse was to politely lie, but before he could come up with a word to say, Kumi pushed her way past him and into the woman’s arms.

“I’m sorry, I should have done something,” she cried, and the woman held her, crying softly too as she stroked her hair. “I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t do anything, I-”

Baji’s mother nodded while her own parents stood in dumbfounded shock.

“Please come to the funeral, Kumi-chan,” she said finally, squatting to meet her at eye level, a sad smile on her face. It pained her to look at this little girl who clearly loved her son so much, and it pained Kumi to look at his mother, who looked so much like him. “He would have wanted you to be there.”

Kumi felt bile rise in her throat, but nodded her head emphatically, wiping her tears.

“We’ll bury him tomorrow.”

---

Kaksi found that her response to her friend’s death setting in was numbness rather than tears.

It was an odd sensation, but it was welcome. She felt like once she got past that numbness, the intensity of her true feelings would be too much to bear. So for however long it lasted, she decided there was nothing wrong with pretending everything was fine even when her mother would point out she was incredibly quiet this morning, barely finishing her breakfast.

She found that her facade was crumbling much faster than anticipated, however. Not seeing Kumi’s face at school left her alone with her thoughts and it was crying in the bathroom that she realised she would not get back the friend she lost. The only person keeping her company those days was Chifuyu as they exchanged messages back and forth. He had eventually told her everything that had unfolded before the girls had arrived by her request, and she felt bad for reminding him what had happened.

Kaksi worried about her best friend but didn’t go to see her, fearing that her presence wouldn’t do her any good in those difficult times, barely handling her emotions herself. Then, by the time she received an invitation to Baji’s funeral, she had decided she couldn’t keep the truth away from her family. They had been shocked, knowing the face of the boy she had mentioned and while they remained supportive, everyone could only acknowledge that there wasn’t much to do anymore.

Chifuyu had informed Kaksi about Kazutora’s whereabouts, assuming she would like to talk to him while he was still detained before being sentenced. However, she was too upset to even think about him, so she figured she would visit once she would have calmed down a little bit.

Kaksi saw Kumi’s face for the first time after Baji’s death the day of his funeral, they kept close to each other and talked a little bit but there was barely anything to say as the weight of what was happening crushed the two girls. Kaksi found that looking at Baji’s body and expressionless face surrounded by flowers was a sight she could barely stand, breaking down into tears as she approached him.

She wept as quietly as she could, returning to her seat next to her friends. Sharing her pain in different ways, Chifuyu rubbed her arm before handing her a tissue while Kumi kept her hand in hers.

Kumi found that by the time the funeral rolled around she had truly run out of energy to weep.

The girl was completely expressionless as she stared at the Baji family grave at the end of the ceremony, despite still holding her friend’s hand as they stood together.

The lack of tears shed by her was becoming startling by now to Kaksi and the rest of the gang but Kumi continued to stare blankly at the stone as well as the flowers she’d just set down among the tons he’d received from family and other friends.

There was a fleeting moment where she considered that dying herself would be better than being in this much pain, and Kaksi, as though she could feel the turmoil ripping through her insides, squeezed Kumi’s hand. It was a gentle reminder that she would always be there.

“We should go, it’s late,” she said, with a sad smile.

Kumi didn’t argue and started to move on Kaksi’s cue. Takemichi had told her just minutes before that Baji had apologized at the end for hurting her, even if it had been too quiet for her to hear. Hearing this almost replaced her lack of emotion with rage for a fleeting moment but she did nothing but nod that she understood in response. It didn’t matter if he was sorry - she didn’t give a rat’s ass if he was sorry. She wasn’t sure she could forgive him for dying at all.

Did that mean he’d cared about her after all or was he trying to make penance with the gods for bullying her before he made his transition? Kumi kept seeing the knife in his hand in her mind’s eye and wondered if he hated her so much, he had preferred to die than to be honest with her.

Was she making this about her? She sighed, and took another glance at Baji’s mother, whose face remained swollen and puffy and red as she stood to the side, managing the guests despite looking as though she’d collapse any second, then bowed to her. She had only had her and her son in the world.

“You can come by anytime to talk,” the woman offered. Kumi nodded and thanked her genuinely in appreciation.

But she’d never take up that offer.

By the next week, her parents had transferred her to the countryside to live with her grandmother, admitting that they were wholly unequipped to deal with the second phase of her depression, apathy. A change of scenery was meant to help, and they prayed that it would. For the sake of their daughter and their daughter’s future.

Kumi knew she was leaving but neglected to say bye to anyone.

Not even to Mitsuya, who she loved like a brother nor to Kaksi, who might as well have been her twin flame.

Kumi opted instead to disappear, the way Baji had asked her to, just days before he died.

#baji x oc #kazutora x oc #tokyorev #off target effects #collab fic #mae.writing #tokyo revengers x reader #tokyo revengers imagine #tokyo revengers #longfic

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