Chapter 44

"What the fuck do you mean...?" He seethes. You look down at the ground and sigh feeling overwhelmed.

"You're right... Kisaki is trouble... but Kazutora is also trouble..." Baji's eyes narrow as he waits for you to continue. "Kazutora doesn't trust you... He thinks you're betraying him..."

"What makes you say that..."

"Kisaki... Kisaki-" You start fidgeting with your sleeve. You shouldn't be saying any of this... it's going to ruin everything...

"KISAKI WHAT... FUCKING SAY IT YUKI!" 

"KISAKI CONVINCED KAZUTORA THAT YOU ARE NO GOOD! THE PLAN IS TO KILL YOU!"

"Huh... Yuki why didn't you tell me this?" Chifuyu huffs. Baji lets go of Chifuyu and sits back, staring at the ground.

"You know too much, and Kisaki knows you know too much... so he manipulated Kazutora to be suspicious of you... which will result in your death..." You softly say. Chifuyu stares at you before speaking.

"How do you know this..."

"I... I... Just trust me..." You softly say, pulling your legs towards your chest and shoving your face into your knees. Baji blankly stares at the ground.

"Is this really true, Yuki? Are you being serious...?" Chifuyu questions.

"Yeah..." Baji quietly answers. Chifuyu slowly looks at Baji and his eyes widen when he sees his face. Baji has an agitated and sad look in his eyes. Baji slowly stands up and grabs his jacket. "I won't die..." he says walking towards his closet.

"You say that, but I know you're lying." You imply. Baji pauses in front of his closet. You stand up and look towards him. "Death isn't the solution... your disappearance won't solve anything. Your mother will lose her child and your friends will lose you..." Chifuyu looks at both you and Baji. Baji relaxes his eyes and looks towards you. "Don't be stupid... you won't fix anything by just recklessly jumping into a fight without thinking it through..." You add. Baji bores into your eyes. You step back a bit feeling uneasy as he stares blankly at you. 

"Chifuyu... leave..." Baji rasps. Chifuyu furrows his eyebrows and then slowly nods. Baji walks Chifuyu out and then walks back into the room, closing the door behind him. You stand still, staring at the ground. Baji slowly walks towards you and stops a few steps in front of you.

"What else do you know?" 

"Huh?"

"What else do you know?"

"What do you mean?" Baji stares at you without giving you an answer. You slightly squint at him and then sigh. "I don't know what else there is to really say... but Kisaki has a motive and it involves Mikey."

"I know that..."

"You do?" You question, looking at him confused.

"Yeah..." He sighs. "I don't know if I want to do this anymore..."

"Huh?"

"I mean... yeah I want to beat the shit out of Kisaki... kill him even... but- what you're saying is there's no way around it... He will kill me before I could kill him..." You slowly nod. He stressfully laughs before sinking down in front of his bed. "Fuck this shit... I'm done..." he says in a tired tone.

"Huh...?"

"Whatever plan Mikey has going for this new Toman he's building... I want no part of it..." Baji pulls something from out his pocket and hands it to you. It's an omamori charm. 

"Why're you giving this to me?" You softly ask. Baji sinks his head down and doesn't respond. You frown a bit and then you slowly walk towards the door. "Baji... if you aren't going to do anything to save Toman... then what will you do?" 

"Go to school..." He answers. You look at him confused. "I rather put my effort into that then to be dealing with this bullshit..." He sighs. "I want nothing to do with Toman and Mikey..."

"... you sound off... That doesn't sound like something you would say..." You comment. Baji smiles and scoffs. 

"Mikey has changed... and I can't stop him... Mikey chose to stand with Kisaki knowing what kind of guy he is... the fuck else am I supposed to do..."

"But-"

"The same shit keeps repeating... No matter how many times I try to stop Mikey... he won't listen..." Your eyes widen when you see a tear fall from Baji's eyes. Did I break something... the story is falling off script... You panic in your head. "I'm tired." Baji's head droops fully and his arms and legs drop down. His hair fully covering his face. "Tell Mikey that... That I give up being his friend..." He quietly says.

After leaving his house you slowly walk down the stairs. Chifuyu is sitting at the bottom step. You slowly sit beside him.

"How did you know Baji is planned to get killed." Chifuyu asks without looking at you.

"Baji became a threat to Kisaki's plan... just like how he planned for Draken to be killed... Baji is next..."

"So, you had a hunch this was all going to happen?" He asks you.

"Kinda..." You softly say as you fidget with the charm Baji gave you.

"What's that?" Chifuyu asks.

"A charm... I need to talk to Mikey..." You say standing up.

"Do you want me to walk with you?" Chifuyu asks. You look into the distance before looking back at him. 

"Yeah... but can you call Mikey or Draken for me?"

"Yeah..."

You slowly walk on a path towards Mikey who's crouching in front of a gravestone. Draken looks at both you and Chifuyu. Mikey slowly stands up and looks towards you.

"Yuki." He bubbles as he smiles at you. You grab his wrist and pull his hand towards you, placing the charm in his hand. Mikey's eyes widen when he sees what you placed in his hand. "Where did you get this from?"

"Baji gave that to me..." 

"... Baji still had this. Why did he give it to you?" 

"He wanted me to give this to you..." You softly say. "..." You think about the other things Baji said and didn't have the guts to say it. Mikey stares at the charm and then back at you.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm just tired... I'm going to go now..." You turn around and walk away. Chifuyu looks at you confused. Mikey watches you as you walk away.

You don't know exactly where to go but you choose to just walk. You continue walking until you reach a park. You slowly walk into the park and up to a swing. You stare at the swing before sitting down on it. You sigh and close your eyes as you push yourself back and forth a bit.

"I thought you had to talk to Mikey-" A voice said from beside you. You quickly look up to see Chifuyu. You sigh and shake your head. "What happened?"

"I feel useless..."

"What do you mean?" Chifuyu sits down on the swing beside you.

"I mean... this is all so stressful... It's so chaotic... and so many things are happening... so many problems... and everything is changing...."

"Huh?" Chifuyu looks at you confused but with concern in his face.

"I mean... all the drama... between Toman... Valhalla and Kisaki... I can understand why Baji wanted to quit... It's all so tiring..." 

"Quit? Wait Baji is quitting?" 

"Yeah, that's what he said..."

"That's what you didn't want to tell me?" You and Chifuyu's eyes widen. You turn your head back to see Mikey and Draken standing behind Chifuyu. You glare at Chifuyu.

"You didn't want to tell me they were with you?"

"No... I didn't know they followed me..."

"Well yeah... you were acting weird." Draken implies.

"You keep mentioning Kisaki... What are you not telling us, Yuki?" Mikey asks as he slowly walks over to you. "And what happened between you and the black dragons?"

You loudly groan and stand up from the swing. "If I'm not telling you something it obviously means I don't want to tell you..." You start to walk away and Mikey grabs you by the wrist. 

"What is Baji quitting?" Mikey asks in a stern tone. You glare at Mikey, making Mikey glare back at you.

"He no longer wants to be friends with you..."

"What?" Mikey's eyes widen then he stressfully laughs. "Baji doesn't get to decide that..." Mikey seethes. "Why did Baji say that?"

"I don't know why Baji doesn't want to be friends with you anymore..." You rasp, yanking your arm away from him. "Why don't you ask him yourself-"

"Baji doesn't want to be friends anymore?" A voice says from behind you. Your eyes slowly drift towards the voice to see Mitsuya walking up to the four of you.

"..." Your eye twitches and you walk past Mitsuya towards the Bakery. Once you get to the bakery you see your grandmother working inside and some costumers sitting at a couple tables. You open the door and walk towards the back. 

"Yuki... you're back... are you alright?" Your grandmother says, stopping you before you walk up the stairs. You slowly nod and walk up the stairs. You walk into your bedroom and flop onto your bed, burying your head under than blanket. You close your eyes, forcing yourself to fall asleep.

"Yuki?" Mitsuya says as he walks into the living room. He slowly walks to your room and walks over towards you, sitting down beside you. "Yuki..." He softly says, shaking you awake. You slowly open your eyes and moved the blanket a bit to see Mitsuya.

"What?" You sigh.

"You okay?" He asks. You stare at him a bit and then shoved your head back into the blanket.

"No..." you answer. Mitsuya tilts his head a bit and lays down on his back.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asks. You slowly sit up and move the blanket from your face. Mitsuya sits up along with you.

"There's so much going on..."

"What do you mean?"

"... One of my friends left... the other one hates me... and now I believe one of them are lying to me... why am I even saying that... she's not even my friend... we've only known each other for a small period of time and I've only met her a couple times and..." You sigh. "An old friend I didn't know I was friends with became friends with me again... all the drama with Kisaki and Baji... and I feel like everything is falling apart and its all my fault..." You sniffle. Mitsuya stares at you with wide eyes.

"... honestly you said so much and I didn't really catch most of it..." Mitsuya hesitantly says. You sigh and droop your head a bit.

"I don't understand how Takemichi was able to do any of this without losing his mind..."

"Huh? Takemichi...? Who's that?" Mitsuya asks. You slowly look up at Mitsuya and slightly smile.

"A crybaby hero..." You chuckle. Mitsuya smiles at you in a confused way. You tilt your head a bit, staring Mitsuya in the eyes. "How do you do it? You deal with all this drama... run a club at school and take care of your little sisters... how do you handle all of that without falling apart." You ask. Mitsuya looks down a bit before looking at you.

"I have given up a few times... I cannot lie... but it takes a really strong person with a strong mentality to be able to do that much. I guess it's because I have a drive... there's something I want to accomplish later in life... so I keep pushing through..." He chuckles. "Even when it gets hard..." He sooths. Your eyes widen. That's why Takemichi was able to compose himself... he had a drive... You thought to yourself. You smile a bit and nod, tearing up a bit.

"I feel like I've said this already but you're really admirable Takashi-kun..." You softly bubble. Mitsuya's eyes widen a bit. You both stare at each other as silence fills the air. Mitsuya slowly leans in close towards you and gently presses his lips against yours.