Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I wasn't too alarmed when I woke up in a bed that was in a room that wasn't my own. Somehow, I just knew what I was supposed to do, and I was supposed to be getting dressed and heading to school.

I was a third-year in middle school now, at Mizo Middle in Shibuya. Despite never having gone to this school before, I knew the uniform, I knew the route, and I knew what class I was in.

So, without a single question, I left the house and walked to school that morning. When I got in, I went to my classroom and somehow also knew which desk was mine. I sat in it and just waited for something to happen. So far, everything felt... muffled. Distorted, almost like I was dreaming. It didn't feel real to me, but everything somehow made perfect sense. It was almost like I was on autopilot.

"...ko. Junko. Hey." A hand waved in front of my face, and I looked to my right and saw two girls looking oddly at me. One was a dirty blonde with a cute face and the other had light brown hair with pink streaks in it.

"Hey, sorry." I shook my head. "I don't think I'm awake yet."

"Girl, you and me both." The one with pink hair said. "Tell me why I slept like, an hour last night?"

"Your stupid boyfriend again?" I said without missing a beat.

"My stupid boyfriend again!" She exclaimed, hitting the table with her palm. Now how did I know that? Come to think of it, I didn't know either of these girls. Yet here we were, being all buddy-buddy.

The bell rang, and the teacher walked in to get class started, so we all quieted down to let him speak and start the lesson. My mind kept drifting off, though. Something just wasn't right here. And I'm not entirely sure what it was.

The day progressed as usual, whatever "usual" meant, and soon we were headed to lunch, the three of us as a group. I noticed heads turning as we walked through the hallway and wondered why so many people were staring at us.

We got our lunches and took a seat at a table together, and both of the girls started eating while I just picked at my food and moved it around a bit.

"Junko, what's with you? You're really off today." The blonde said, looking concerned.

"I don't know. I just don't feel right, I guess." I sighed, then dropped my chopsticks and just drank the bottled tea that I had. Why didn't I know their names? What the fuck was going on here, it was starting to drive me crazy.

"Oh, there goes your brother and his little girlfriend." The pink-haired girl said, and we turned and saw a blond guy with blue eyes walking with a redhead girl who had a mole by her mouth. She was pretty, way too pretty for him...

Did she say brother?

I was taken aback. Not my brother. I don't have a brother. But at the same time, I knew his name and everything about him. He was Takemichi Hanagaki... my younger brother. And that was his girlfriend, Hinata Tachibana.

It started to piece into place, finally. These were my best friends, Mai and Sora. We three were some of the most popular girls at Mizo Middle, and Sora swore that we'd be even more popular once we got into high school.

I... was Junko Hanagaki. Right. The oldest Hanagaki sibling. Takemichi was my younger brother. My younger brother whose only dream in the world was to be a delinquent, which I had told him time and time again that that's a stupid dream to have.

I don't think my brother had it in him to be a delinquent. He was too polite, too respectful. I kept telling him that if he wanted to be a true delinquent, he had to stop giving a shit about other people. He never listened. He also cried. A lot. Toughened delinquents didn't cry like he did.

"Hinata's way too good for him, I don't know what she sees in that boy." I shook my head and drank more of my tea.

"I'm sure he'd agree with you." Sora chuckled.

"Oh, stop. He's a perfectly good boyfriend to her." Mai waved her hand at us. "How is your boyfriend, by the way?"

"Oh, fine..." Sora started to answer, and I tuned them out.

Something was still wrong, I just couldn't put my finger on it. It was gnawing at me inside my head, driving me to the brink of insanity of why everything just felt so wrong.

The day carried on, and soon I was saying goodbye to my friends at the end of the day and walking back home, Takemichi nowhere to be seen. Probably out with his own friends, causing trouble as usual.

It wasn't until I was seated on the bed in 'my' room, alone in the house, that my phone beeped, and I pulled it out of my bag. I was going to check the text, but something else quickly caught my attention.

There was a charm on my cellphone. Just a silly little charm on a cord connected to my phone, but seeing it made the world come to a stop.

It was a little metal heart made by two hands coming together, like how you'd normally make a heart shape with your hands. It froze time right there for me, though, as everything I ever knew came rushing into my brain all at once.

I was not Junko Hanagaki. There was no Junko Hanagaki. I shouldn't exist.

I was... well, fuck. I don't remember my name. But I know it wasn't Junko or Hanagaki. What I did know was that I didn't belong in this world. This world was fictional, and I did not belong in it.

I was a fan of Tokyo Revengers. I knew the entire series like the back of my hand. I'd consumed the fan theories, the fan art, the fanfics... God, the fanfics. I knew just about everything there was to know about it. It was my favorite manga, like, ever.

And that reminded me of something. I got dressed in a daze this morning, so I wasn't really paying attention. I quickly looked down at my left hand where, normally, there would be a tattoo of my hand bones.

My hand was blank. The skin didn't have so much as a scratch.

I quickly removed my tie and my shirt, leaving me in my bra, and I got up and went to the mirror. No tattoo of a death moth on my ribs. No possum tattoo on my left arm, no centipede on my left arm, no Marie Antoinette portrait on my left arm, no Hannibal Lecter portrait on my right arm, no snake with cherry blossoms on my right arm...

And most importantly, no Draken's dragon tattoo on my neck, and no panel of Mikey on my left arm, either.

I was wiped clean, and for some reason, that made me tear up. All those years, all that money and work and pain... and it was all gone. I didn't know if I could get it all back. I didn't know how to get it all back. I didn't know if there was a back for me to go to.

I sat on the floor of this bedroom and cried, also realizing that if I had none of my tattoos, I had none of my piercings, either. All that money, time, and pain was suddenly gone now, too.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror again and saw that I looked relatively the same as I remembered. I had brown hair with some highlights, I had hazel eyes that leaned more towards a honey-green than brown. I had faint freckles dotting the top of my nose and cheeks.

I looked just as I did when I was sixteen, minus the dyed hair in every color of the rainbow. And if I didn't wear any makeup.

I slowly gathered myself back together and shrugged my shirt back on. My mind was racing, trying to figure out several things all at once. What was I doing here? Why me of all people? Did I have a purpose here? Was I anything like Takemitchy and his time-traveling?

I had no answers to any of these questions.

So, I got dressed in some casual clothes and left the house in search of snacks and a place to think that wasn't as suffocating as that bedroom.

Okay, first I had to figure out when it was. Takemitchy was still a teenager, obviously, but that told me basically nothing. I couldn't tell if he had time-traveled back or not yet. I don't know how close he was to Mikey or even Toman as a whole yet. I don't think I noticed a scar on his hand when I saw him earlier, but then again, I wasn't really looking for it.

Ugh, this was probably going to be harder than I was anticipating. Also, why am I even here? Am I supposed to fix something? If there was a message telling me what to do somewhere, I was not getting it.

Well... I wasn't anyone to begin with. Takemitchy's family isn't even seen in Tokyo Revengers; the manga or the anime. It's unknown if he has siblings or even what his parents' names are. If I was acting as his sister currently, that didn't mean a thing in the grand scheme of things.

But I could insert myself... somehow. It would just be tricky figuring out where I could fit in. Or where I even wanted to fit in. I couldn't just slide in randomly wherever I wanted, I had to think this through strategically.

When could I get close to the action of the main series, and was I supposed to change anything? Maybe I was just here to keep an eye on things. That seemed plausible, maybe.

But where could I fit? In Toman? In Valhalla? The Black Dragons? Tenjiku? Kanto Manji? Fuck it, Bonten?

Before that even, girls weren't really welcome in the delinquent lifestyle, so we've seen in this universe. So maybe my first attempt would also be my last. Or maybe I'd have to prove myself worthy somehow? Who knows.

I stopped my thoughts to stop in a cafe and got myself an iced latte flavored with cherry syrup and took it to-go. I wandered the streets a little, taking a mental inventory of the different shops around, just to see what was available locally. It was weird. I wasn't from Japan at all, but somehow I just knew where things were and how shit worked.

I didn't even want to start questioning how I could understand people when I didn't know a lick of Japanese. Latin, sure. Japanese? Nope.

Before it got dark, I was heading back home, not having figured anything out and was now a bit hungry. Takemitchy had come home in the time that I was away, and I was finding it really hard to just talk to him like a sister would.

"Where have you been?" He asked.

"Out," I just said and took a seat next to him at the table while our mom finished up dinner.

"That's it? Just out?" He stared at me.

"It's not your business," I shrugged. That was sisterly, wasn't it? To get defensive?

"Don't tell me you have a secret boyfriend." His eyes narrowed at me.

"God, no." I scoffed. "Mind your own business."

It then just occured to me that I shouldn't be calling him Takemitchy just yet. I didn't know if Mikey had given him the nickname yet. I wasn't even supposed to know who Mikey was at this point. I glanced at Takemichi's left hand, and lo and behold, there was no scar. His revenge fight with Kiyomasa on August third hadn't happened yet.

At least that gave me some idea as to where I was in the timeline.

Chapter Text

The very first thing I did when I had some extra time was buy some notebooks.

One, just to keep my thoughts straight about the timeline.

Two, to write down the lyrics to every single Taylor Swift song I knew by heart and hopefully become famous for "my" writing.

It was one of the only things on my mind since she clearly didn't exist in this universe. And that just wasn't allowed as far as I'm concerned.

So, I spent a good amount of time writing down the lyrics to every song I could remember in chronological order, which I knew I'd miss a few since there were about two hundred and seventy-four songs in total.

I knew I was concerning Mai, Sora, and Takemichi with this new obsession, but until he got that damn scar on his hand from that fight, I couldn't be concerned with anything else.

"In a storm... in my best dress... fearless." I hummed to myself as I wrote some lyrics down at the end of class before the end of the school day.

"Girl, are you good?" Sora asked as we gathered our things.

"Hm? Yeah, why?" I blinked at her.

"You seem really... focused lately," Mai said, looking nervous.

"I just... got a wave of inspiration, you know?" I shrugged and walked out into the hall with them.

"Is he friends with Mikey? I didn't know someone that cool went to our school!" A voice said, and I recognized the words, and so my head snapped up in that direction.

Right before me was a crowd gathered, all staring and whispering at Mikey and Draken talking to Takemichi, who was looking rather shaky.

"Is that...?" Sora started to ask.

"Who's that with him, though?" Mai asked, and I just knew they wouldn't know about Draken or Mikey or anything Toman-related.

Hinata marched right past us and right up to Mikey, and I instantly debated in my head whether or not I wanted to interfere.

Eh, fuck it. Let her slap him.

She did so, making the sound of her palm hitting his cheek echo through the hallway, and then she turned and grabbed Takemichi's wrist and started walking him back towards us.

Draken then grabbed her and began making his threats, and that's when I decided to step in.

"Alright, everyone needs to cool it," I said with my most authoritative voice. Hinata and Takemichi both looked at me in shock, and Draken raised his eyebrow at me.

"One, you are not going to hit a girl in front of me, I don't care who you think you are," I said to Draken. "Two, Hinata, I know you know it's not okay to just hit someone like that. Three, Takemichi, what the fuck have you gotten yourself into now?" I crossed my arms, staring at him, and watched him cower under my gaze.

"And who might you be?" Mikey spoke up.

"Junko, please..." Takemichi started, and I shot him a look to shut him up.

"I'm his big sister, what's it to you?" I asked.

Holy shit, I was really mouthing off to Mikey and Draken here. It's a wonder how I wasn't shaking right now.

"So, Junko Hanagaki, huh?" Mikey just hummed, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"So?" I challenged him. "Why are you here?"

"We're just here to grab Takemitchy to go out and have some fun." He shrugged, and I watched Hinata's face shift into one of realization and embarrassment.

She quickly apologized for misunderstanding the situation, and Draken backed off, but I held firm.

"Junko, are you crazy? Let it go." Sora hissed, she and Mai were a few steps behind me.

I rolled my eyes like a big sister would, and let out a heavy sigh. "If he comes home any more hurt than he already is, I'm holding you two accountable."

"Hear ya loud and clear," Mikey nodded, then led Takemichi and Draken outside and away.

"That was so cool, Junko!" Hinata skipped up to me with a big grin on her face. "Do you know who those guys were?"

"Kind of," I shrugged a shoulder.

"Well, I've got to get to cram school. I'll see you around! Bye bye!" Hinata waved at us before going off to get her bag and leave, and Mai and Sora followed me out of the school in a group.

"Are you actually fucking crazy, Junko?" Sora eyed me, and I turned my head and saw her wide eyes.

"What?" I blinked. "It wasn't that bad." I shrugged then.

"Still, that could've turned out really bad," Mai looked nervous.

"I actually dare anyone to try me," I said as I turned back around. "Anyway, wanna grab a coffee?"

They agreed and so we went to this cafe that seemed pretty popular near the school. I glanced over the menu and spotted a peach matcha, so I ordered one of those.

"You say coffee and then get a matcha," Mai smirked at me.

"Hey, you know I can't resist anything peach-flavored." I shrugged as I stirred my iced matcha with a straw before taking a sip.

"Should we sit for a minute?" Sora hummed, leading us to an empty table, and we took seats, setting our bags down.

"So, like, I have to ask," Sora started while looking at me. "What are you writing in those notebooks all the time now?"

"Don't laugh," I sighed and they both nodded. "Songs. Well, I can't play an instrument, so I guess they're just poems for now. But songs. Lyrics."

"Really?" Mai looked surprised. "Like what? Can we hear some? Just... whatever you're comfortable with sharing."

"Um... yeah," I shrugged and leaned over to pull the right notebook out of my bag, then flipped through some pages, deciding which lyrics I wanted to read to them.

"Okay, well, here," I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat. "She said I was seven and you were nine. I looked at you like the stars that shine in the sky, the pretty lights. And our daddies used to joke about the two of us, growing up and falling in love. And our mamas smiled, and rolled their eyes, and said, 'Oh, my, my, my.' Take me back to the house in the backyard tree, said you'd beat me up, you were bigger than me. You never did, you never did. Take me back when our world was one block wide. I dared you to kiss me, then ran when you tried. Just two kids, you and I. Oh, my, my, my, my."

They were quiet for a moment after I decided that was as much as I wanted to read, and I looked up, waiting for their reaction.

"That was..." Mai blinked.

"Actually really good, Junko." Sora finished for her.

"Oh, thanks." I smiled, then tucked the notebook away again.

After we'd finished our drinks, we three parted ways to head home for the day. I somehow knew the way back to the Hanagaki house, where I got myself in with a key on my keychain. A keychain with another heart symbol that changed everything for me.

I went up to my room and changed into some comfier clothes, then noticed the pile of dirty clothes in my hamper and decided to do a load of laundry. Homework and whatever could wait, I'm sure I'll do fine.

So, I started my laundry while I had the house to myself, so I also sang and hummed to myself like I would back home.

"Did you hear about the girl who lives in delusion? Break-ups happen every day, you don't have to lose it. She's still twenty-three inside her fantasy. And you're sitting in front of me... At the restaurant, when I was still the one you want. Cross-legged in the dim light, everything was just right. I, I could feel the mascara run. You told me that you met someone. Glass shattered on the white cloth, everybody moved on. Help, I'm still at the restaurant. Still sitting in a corner I haunt. Cross-legged in the dim light. They say, 'What a sad sight.' I, I stayed there. Dust collected on my pinned-up hair..."

Takemichi had come home sometime during that verse but didn't say a word to me as he went to his room.

Let's see... Mikey and Draken came to visit him at school today, and he left with them. That means Mikey told him about Shinichiro and told Takemichi that he liked him. They basically offered to make him a delinquent with them in their new era. Then, while heading home, Takemichi would pass Tetta Kisaki without realizing it.

"Hey," He hummed from his doorway while I was headed to my room, which was right across from his.

"Hey?" I blinked, waiting for him to continue.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking up into my eyes.

"What do you mean? I'm fine." I shrugged.

"You... you're different now, Junko." He sighed. "I don't ever remember you singing this much, or obsessively writing in your journal."

"And that's your business how?" I just asked. "Hey, what was up with those guys earlier?" I asked, pretending not to know.

"Guys? You mean Mikey and Draken?" He blinked. "They're my new friends."

"Your new friend was going to fucking attack your girlfriend," My eyebrow rose.

"No, he wasn't. They're not like that." Takemichi waved his hand.

"Uh-huh," I pursed my lips, keeping up the act although I knew better. Draken would never resort to violence against a woman for any reason, and Mikey would probably get beaten up by Emma and his grandpa if he even tried to hit a girl.

"I swear, they would never hurt Hinata or any woman." Takemichi put his hands up in surrender.

"Okay," I sighed. "If you say so."

Takemichi nodded and slowly started to turn back to go into his room when I suddenly had a thought.

"Hey," I said, and he turned to look at me again.

"Hey?" He asked.

I took a breath and sighed it out. "You know I care about you, right? And if you ever need help, you can come to me, right?"

"Yeah..." He looked at me weirdly. "Where's all this coming from?"

"Just," I sighed. "These new friends of yours, they might be okay, but you don't know about their friends or the people that they might know. If you ever get into trouble, with anyone, I don't care how tough they think they are. You come to me, understand?"

"Yeah, Junko," He nodded, giving me a weird look. "You're kind of scaring me here."

"Sorry," I grinned. "I'm just trying to keep you alive, ya know?" I then shrugged. "Besides, what kind of big sister would I be if I didn't look out for my baby brother?"

"I'm not a baby," He huffed, but I could see him smiling. "Thank you."

"Yeah," I nodded. "Alright, mushy moment over. Go back to being a fucking dork."

"And you can go back to being so damn weird," Takemichi just shot at me, and we both retreated into our rooms.

Chapter Text

"It's alright, just wait and see. Your string of lights are still bright to me. Oh, who you are is not where you've been. You're still an innocent. It's okay, life is a tough crowd. Thirty-two and still growing up now. Who you are is not what you did, you're still an innocent..."

I was waiting. Just hanging out in my room, waiting for anything now.

Currently, I was sitting at my desk trying to remember all the lyrics to Innocent off of the Speak Now album. One of my favorite songs off of one of my favorite albums.

Honestly, I couldn't wait until I finished this album and got to the Red album and wrote all nine hundred ninety-seven words to All Too Well, the ten-minute version.

My phone beeped with a text that startled me out of my concentration, and I picked it up from the corner of my desk to check it. I had one new text, and it was from Takemichi, and all it said was 'HELP' in all caps.

'Where are u?' I texted back and waited a minute for a response.

'Musashi shrine' He sent back, and I sent a quick 'omw' before getting up to grab my shit and leave.

Just like with anything else, somehow in my head were the directions to the shrine by the river. I arrived after all the bikers did, so I then had to wade my way through bikes and teenage gangsters trying to find someone I recognized. Whether that be Mikey, Takemichi, Draken, Hinata, Emma, or anyone else.

"Hey there, girly," One voice from some rando called out, and I didn't even spare him a glance as I kept walking, looking around.

"What's someone as cute as you doing out here?" The voice drew closer, which I continued to ignore.

"Hey, Emma!" I heard Draken's voice call to my right, so I started in that direction.

"Hey now, don't just ignore me..." The guy said and grabbed my hand, which I tore away from him with a sharp glare.

"Fuck off," I spat at his shocked face and kept walking, now a little pissed.

"This is Takemitchy's girlfriend. Look out for her, okay?" Draken said to Emma, who was still walking up.

"You got it," She sighed, then finally looked up. "Hey, wuss-boy!"

Ah, shit. Right, that happened here.

"Wuss-boy? Who's she talking about?" Hinata had on a tight smile.

"So, how do you know Emma?" Draken had a tight look on his face as well.

"Why'd she call you wuss-boy?" Hinata's face finally fell.

"It- It's not what you think, Hina!" Takemichi started to panic, and I was debating stepping in or not.

"You got to see me in my underwear and you still ran away. Wuss-boy." Emma sighed, looking uninterested.

Honestly, love Emma and all, but fuck, her nerve right now.

"Really? So that happened, huh?" Hinata looked downright pissed.

"Did it? Um... I really, truly, don't remember..." He said until Hinata found a bat. "Where'd you get that?!"

I finally stepped up, putting an arm around Takemichi's shoulders with a smile on my face, and Hinata stopped in place.

"Now, now, y'all. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation here." I said tightly and felt Takemichi trembling under me.

"And you are?" Emma's brows rose.

"Junko, thank God." Takemichi just sighed, one hand clutching my shirt. I threw him a look and he shrunk under my arm.

"Ugh!" Hinata threw down the bat and walked off, and Takemichi relaxed just a little bit.

"You got a girl like that and went along with me anyway," Emma smirked with her arms crossed. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I care about you or anything. I just wanted to grow up faster, that's all."

"There are other ways to do that that don't include making someone's boyfriend cheat," I said pointedly, and she just shrugged, and looked over at Mikey laughing and talking with Draken.

"I'm fed up," She started to walk off. "He's not interested in me at all! It's all Mikey, bikes, and fights with that guy. I thought he'd at least get a little angry..."

"Oh," Takemichi hummed. "She's trying to make Draken jealous?"

"Hilarious that she picked you out of any other boy," I rolled my eyes, then let him go. "You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks," He sighed and brushed himself down. "I can't believe you actually came."

"You texted," I shrugged like it was nothing.

"Oh, Junko," Mikey's voice spoke up, and we both looked over to where he was leaning on his bike. "You're here, too?"

"Seems like it," I just hummed.

"Well, the meeting's about to start. Why don't you two just follow me and Kenny?" He smiled gently, so I put on a smile as well.

"Okay, thanks!" I hummed, and fell into step behind Draken, keeping my head up while Takemichi cowered behind me as he followed us.

"Good evening, leader!" The crowd of delinquents in uniforms chanted at once, and Takemichi jumped behind me while I kept my face set. Mikey led us up the stairs to a platform, and Draken led Takemichi and me to stand off to the side and let Mikey speak in the middle.

"We're gathered here today to talk about Moebius," Mikey started. "If they go against us, it'll be a huge rumble. If a rumble happens, it'll be during the Musashi festival. So, I wanna hear everyone's opinion on this." He sat down cross-legged and put on a smile.

Behind me, Takemichi looked clueless and Draken certainly noticed.

"Tell Takemitchy about it," He said to Mitsuya.

"Sure," He hummed. "Moebius is a biker gang that's two generations above ours. They're currently in control of Shinjuku."

"I thought this was Toman's turf?" Takemichi looked even more confused.

"Toman's got Shibuya. Shinjuku's different. Plus, Toman's still a pretty new team, you know." Mitsuya shrugged. "And speaking of conflict..."

That's when Pah came right up behind us and kicked Takemichi right in the back, and my head snapped around so fast there might've been a crack in my neck.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Takemichi looked up from where he was kicked down, but Peh got all up in his face.

"Got a problem?" He asked, clearly intimidating Takemichi.

He then went into some rant about Kiyomasa and blah blah blah, whatever. I shifted slightly to the side and got the angle right, then brought up my foot sharply, kicking Peh in the head and sending him down.

"Junko!" Takemichi stared wide-eyed at me in shock.

"The fuck's your issue?" Pah now looked at me while I kept my face straight.

"Sorry, I assumed that's how you greeted people around here." I shrugged, but couldn't help the small smirk that slipped onto my face as I stared back at him.

"Cut it out," Mitsuya said sharply as Peh got back up to his feet.

"Get up," I hissed to Takemichi, who stood beside me as we both eyed the third-division captain and his vice-captain.

"Don't rough up the leader's guest, Pah," Mitsuya sighed, then looked at me and just shook his head as he looked away. At least he knew better than to scold me now.

"Forgive them, will you?" Draken sighed to us as Pah went to go talk to Mikey. "Pah's pretty pissed off right now."

"Moebius' leader, this guy named Osanai, got in a fight with Pah's best friend over something dumb. Moebius' members beat the shit out of Pah's friend, then they raped his girlfriend right in front of him, strung up his parents and siblings, and took all his money. He came to Pah for help as a last resort. This ain't a kiddie slap fight, here." Mitsuya said, looking disturbed.

"Damn..." Takemichi also looked troubled, and I just had my jaw set and my face straight.

"That's the kind of gang Moebius is." Mitsuya nodded sadly.

"Well, Pah?" Mikey got our attention. "You gonna fight?"

"They're two generations above us, you know." Pah started to say while he bowed to Mikey. "They're not gonna take it lying down. It's just gonna be a pain in the ass for all of us... but, Mikey, I just can't stand it."

"I didn't ask about any of that shit," Mikey said, holding his head up high. "You gonna fight? Or no?"

"I wanna fight! I wanna kill those sons of bitches!" Pah said with tears in his eyes.

"I know, right?" Mikey grinned before he started shouting encouragement to the rest of Toman, getting grins and cheers before declaring to crush Moebius. He turned right around towards us but looked over his shoulder to face the crowd.

"August third. Our rumble will be at the Musashi festival." He finished with a sharp grin.

He then came to pause in front of the three of us and gave me a curious look.

"Did you really have to kick Peh in the head?" He asked.

"Did Pah really have to kick Takemichi in the back?" I asked in return. "I'm not of the opinion that you can go around and hit or kick whoever just cos you feel like it. Or for any other reason, really." I shrugged.

Mikey grinned at me and Draken just shook his head while smiling. Takemichi, of course, looked as confused as ever.

"You..." Takemichi started to say. "Junko, you used to kick people all the time."

"When I was a baby, yeah." I rolled my eyes. "Mom likes to tell the story of how if anyone would hold me but her, I'd kick them in the jaw or mouth," I smirked, earning laughs from both guys.

"She's the reason a lot of our family members have chipped teeth," Takemichi nodded. "I was much more well-behaved."

"I was neater than you when I ate." I pointed out. "Much neater. You were a slob. You still are a slob."

"Am not!" Takemichi huffed at me.

"Yeah? I can't wait to see your place when you get older. It's going to be a warzone." I rolled my eyes.

"How would you know that?!" He asked with wide eyes.

"Please," I just scoffed, playing it off like I knew better.

"So, you're Takemichi's older sister," Mitsuya walked over, nodding slowly. "You look nothing alike."

"I know, I got all the good looks in the family," I smirked before Takemichi could even get a word in.

"Hey!" He protested while I grinned widely. "Not cool, Junko."

I just shrugged carelessly, then hummed. "Well, speaking of good looks, this has been fun, but I really gotta get some beauty rest in."

"Wait, did you walk here?" Takemichi's brows furrowed.

"Yeah?" I blinked. "How else would I have gotten here?"

"Do you want a ride?" Draken asked immediately, taking me aback. "I'd feel bad, making you walk all the way back home."

"It's not super far, it's no big deal..." I waved my hand, then Takemichi hit my arm, making me pause. I closed my eyes to find the patience within me, and stared at Takemichi dangerously.

"She'd love a ride," Takemichi said, ignoring me while I stared at him.

"Come on," Draken smirked and started to walk back down the steps to his bike, and I sighed and followed.

"People better not start thinking of me as some groupie because of this," I said as I got on the back of his bike after him.

"Why would anyone think that?" He just asked. "No one's thinking that."

He started up his bike then and took off out of the parking lot and down the road, and I pointed at streets to give him directions to our house. He got us there in no time, and was shutting off his bike in front of our house and helping me get off the bike.

"You really love your brother, huh?" He asked then, looking me right in the eye.

"He is my little brother. I'd do anything for him. Wouldn't you, if you had siblings?" I asked, tilting my head.

"How do you know I don't have siblings?" He asked, looking a little confused.

Oh, shit. Oops.

"I'm just figuring you don't," I said, shaking my head. "You wouldn't be asking me about it if you had siblings of your own. You'd already know the feeling, what it's like."

"Right," He just nodded, then stepped back a little from me. "Well, have a good night. I hope you get some good beauty rest."

"Thanks," I chuckled with him. "And thanks for the ride, you really didn't have to do that."

"You're alright, Junko." He just shrugged. "I wouldn't mind having you around more."

"Thanks," I smiled, then turned to get in the gate, and waved to him a last time before going in the house.

Holy. Fuck.

Chapter Text

"Hold on... to spinning around... confetti... falls to the ground... may these memories break our fall..." I spoke quietly to myself as I wrote down the lyrics in my notebook.

"Will you take a moment? Promise me this? That you'll stand by me forever, but if God forbid, fate should step in, and force us into a goodbye. If you have children someday, when they point to the pictures, please tell them my name. Tell them how the crowds went wild. Tell them how I hope they shine. Long live the walls we crashed through, I had the time of my life with you...!"

I stopped writing just to sing out the bridge of the song. Then I paused and just listened.

It was a little too quiet around the house. I know Takemichi had gone to the future for a little bit, just to gather some info on Osanai and Moebius, but I didn't know exactly how long he was there for or exactly what day the fight in the warehouse happened.

I know he came back briefly to stalk Draken for a bit, then went back to tell Naoto that he was wrong; Mikey and Draken could never fight. Then he would come back and witness the fight in the warehouse... which I already forgot which middle school it was by.

So, there goes my plan of just hanging out by the warehouse in hopes I'd see Mikey, Draken, Pah, or Peh. Well, I guess Pah and Peh wouldn't be too thrilled to see me.

It wasn't August first yet, which is when Takemichi's friends and Draken would visit him, which I would obviously be here for, duh. The one thing I didn't like about this series was how some important events didn't have set-in-stone dates. So, now that I was currently living in its universe, I didn't know where the fuck I was currently in the timeline. In a series with multiple timelines, at that.

So, basically, I just hung out until Takemichi got put in the hospital, then hung out at home for three days while he worked on his stupid-ass puzzle. Then I knew we were back on track.

The Mizo Middle Four came around, and I let them in and then hung out in my room with the door cracked so I could keep an ear out for Draken's appearance. In the meantime, I was absentmindedly writing in my notebook, as usual.

"Who's too tight to fight?" Draken's voice suddenly sounded, and I sat straight up and looked at the door.

"Draken?" Takemitchy gasped.

"Came to check up on you, Takemitchy," Draken said. "Man, it's hot as hell in here. That cos it's such a sausage fest in here? Also, where's your sister?"

"One sec. Junko!" Takemichi called, and I let out a loud groan to act as if I was annoyed.

"What?" I appeared in his doorway, leaning against the doorframe. "Oh, hey, Draken. Guys." I nodded casually.

"What are you doing right now?" Takemichi asked, and I just stared at him, not answering. "Writing in your weird little notebook, got it." He just nodded.

"I don't give a shit if you're injured, I will kick you," I warned. "What do you want?"

"Draken brought watermelon. You want some?" He asked, and I let my uptight act cool down a bit.

"Yeah, sure. I'll make some tea." I sighed and turned to go down to our kitchen. Thankfully, our parents were out right now, leaving me alone and Takemichi to heal.

I was working on brewing some black tea and putting it in a big iced pitcher, then paused in the kitchen, trying to figure out how I was gonna carry all of this up to his room.

"Hey," Draken hummed, suddenly behind me, and I turned around sharply.

"Hey," I put on a smile.

"I figured you might need some help with everything." He shrugged and I nodded.

"You came just in time, then." I chuckled, then started getting cups down from the cabinet. "You can carry these, I've got the pitcher."

"That's a big pitcher," Draken nodded to it.

"I think it's two and a half liters? Maybe? I like making tea a lot, and I drink a lot of tea." I just nodded.

"How are you, Junko?" Draken suddenly asked.

"Me? I'm fine, why?" I blinked up at him.

"You haven't been around much," He shrugged.

"I haven't been invited to anything," I just smiled. "Plus, if it's like they say and Toman's breaking up, does it matter anyway?"

Draken huffed under his breath while I just watched him.

"I'll invite you to stuff," He then said. "It matters to me."

"Thanks," I chirped, then led him back up the stairs.

"Dude, I think Draken likes your sister," One of the guys hissed.

"No way," Takemichi scoffed. "I can't imagine anyone liking Junko."

Well, that stung a little. I was one of the most popular girls at our school, wasn't I? I had to have people crushing on me.

"Bitch," I muttered, making Draken smile before I nudged the door open with my foot and we walked in. Once we were seated, the tea was served, and the watermelon cut and eaten, Draken finally talked about what they all wanted to hear.

"Pah won't get out for at least a year," He started. "Osanai's alive. If he'd died, then Pah would be in the pen until he grew up."

"Oh..." Takemichi swallowed thickly. "And how's Mi-"

"That bastard. He's so full of shit." Draken brought his fist down on the puzzle, wrecking it and making Takemichi jump and yell.

"Oh, sorry." Draken looked at the puzzle.

"I spent three straight days on that!" Takemichi whined while I rolled my eyes.

"It's a puzzle, dude. Seriously. It can be redone." I sighed.

"I guess," He just pouted.

"Anyway, me and Mikey are done." Draken stood up. "Toman is over."

"What do you mean? That's a joke, right?" Takemichi looked honest-to-God scared.

"I'm heading out," Draken said and just walked out of the room.

"Wait just a minute!" Takemichi ran after him, and I silently followed them both down and out of our front door, right to where Mikey was standing.

"Huh? The hell are you doing here?" Mikey asked.

"Huh? More like, the hell are you doing here?" Draken just asked in return.

"I came to see how Takemitchy's doing," Mikey said, standing firm.

"That's why I'm here." Draken glared down at him.

"Huh? Takemitchy's my buddy. He's got nothing to do with you. Right, Takemitchy?" Mikey said.

"What're you talking about? You're my buddy, aren't you, Takemitchy?" Draken pushed.

"Move it. You're in my way, blockhead." Mikey huffed.

"You move out of my way, shrimp." Draken tensed.

"Hey, wait. Wait just a minute, you guys!" Takemichi said from in between them. "I don't know what happened between you two, but you shouldn't fight! So calm down, both of you!"

"Hey!" Draken grabbed Takemichi's collar. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

This is when a protective big sister would step in, right? Right, I think so.

"Hey!" I stepped up beside Draken and Takemichi. "You're really gonna threaten your dear friend like that?"

That got all three of them staring at me while I stared at Draken, not caring that he had about five inches on me, plus a load of muscle he could easily beat me down with.

"You have a lot of nerve, girly." Draken just said, still holding tight onto Takemichi's collar, who was now glancing between us with worry all in his eyes.

"You know my name, Dra-ken." I just tilted my head, my tone daring him to try me. "Let my brother go."

Draken released his collar, keeping his eyes on me the whole time, and Takemichi took about five steps back from us. I broke the eye contact to give Mikey a look too, letting him know he hadn't slipped my mind.

"Now, we all know you're not here to check up on Takemichi. You're here to one-up each other. Well, you're both here now. You gonna talk like rational people or fight it out like the meatheads you are?" I crossed my arms, looking between them.

"That's not..." Mikey started.

"I'm not letting either of you use him as an excuse. You're not fooling anyone, especially me." I shot him a glare. "Your choice. Talk or fight."

We stood there in silence for a moment, and I briefly wondered how bad I was fucking things up right now. I mean, I stepped in where Takemichi was supposed to be handling things. I stopped Mikey and Draken from wrecking all of his shit, which means he wouldn't blow up at them, try to fight them, then trip into the trash and get dog shit on his head. If he didn't do that, Mikey wouldn't tell Kisaki about it later at one of their little secret meetings before he became part of Toman.

"This is really none of your business, you know, Junko." Draken sighed.

"You're making it my business by including Takemichi in your bullshit." I just said.

Draken's eyebrows furrowed in the middle. "He just said you're unlikable upstairs, and you're still defending him?"

"You heard that?" Takemichi whimpered.

I rolled my eyes. "He's my brother and he's an idiot. He's gonna say stupid shit, I know this already."

Draken chuckled a little and shook his head, and even Mikey was smiling fondly now.

"We all know that," Mikey said, and now Takemichi was looking between the three of us.

"Wha... hey," He frowned. I just reached over and patted the top of his head, ruffling his hair a little.

"It's okay that you're an idiot. It's what makes you loveable." I said fondly, while Takemichi just gaped stupidly at me.

It got Mikey and Draken chuckling, so at least they weren't fighting anymore. A little later, we were at the park near our house, and the Mizo Middle Four found a soccer ball and kicked it around while Mikey, Draken, Takemichi, and I lounged around on a pavilion.

"I'm sorry, Mikey." Draken sighed at one point.

"It's cool. I'm sorry, too." Mikey just smiled over at him where he laid back.

"Why were you guys fighting anyway?" Takemichi asked.

"I forgot," They both said.

"Kenny was right, though," Mikey sat up then. "Pah gave himself up, after all."

He then stood and smiled brightly. "When Pah gets out, we'll have a huge-ass party."

Then he went to join the guys with their soccer ball, and Draken followed him, as always.

Takemichi lied back for a little bit while I watched the guys kick the ball around and do tricks with it, I almost didn't hear him calling me.

"Junko, how'd you do that?" Takemichi asked and I looked over and saw him staring at me.

"Do what?" I blinked.

"Get Draken and Mikey to stop fighting like that." He said.

"Well, I don't idolize them, for one, like you do." I hummed. "They're just guys, Takemichi. I don't give a shit how strong or influential they are."

"You're brave, Junko." Takemichi smiled at me before looking back at the sky. "I hope one day I can be as brave as you."

"Takemichi!" A voice then called, and we both looked over and saw Hinata and Emma coming over. "Oh hey, Junko." Hinata greeted me with a smile.

"Hinata, Emma." I nodded to them.

"What's up?" Takemichi asked, and they dove into Hinata asking him to go to the festival with her that was in two days, and Takemichi agreed, naturally.

"Are you going?" He then turned to me and I hummed.

"I might be around," I shrugged and saw Emma rolling her eyes out of the corner of my eye.

So, it was like that, huh?

Chapter Text

August third, the day of the Musashi festival. I was at the festival eating just about anything and everything I could get my hands on. I wasn't dressed up traditionally or anything, but I was in some of my more "showy" clothes than my casual ones or my school uniform.

I came with Takemichi while he went to go meet up with Hinata, Draken, and Emma for their double date, and I just went off by myself and tried to avoid them as best I could...

For now.

Draken was going to be attacked, then a big brawl was gonna break out, and then he was going to get stabbed. All of that was unavoidable. I was going to be around when it all went down, but for now, I didn't want to intrude on their date.

So, I just hung around for now, eating fried food and drinking lemonade and such. I hadn't seen any of them since arriving at the festival, so I guess I was doing an alright job.

I just had to wait for it to start raining, then figure out which parking lot the fight was going to go down in.

Around twenty minutes later it started to rain, and I was wandering around, keeping an eye out for any uniform at all, black Toman or white Moebius.

After about ten minutes of walking around, I did see a bunch of passed-out Moebius members making a trail leading to the back lot, and when I squinted forward, I could just barely make out Draken fighting about thirty guys at once while Emma stood off to the side.

"Junko?" A voice called, and I turned and saw Takemichi and Mitsuya running toward me. "What are you doing here?"

"Draken, he..." I gestured over to where he was, and then the three of us ran over.

"Hey, Mitsuya, Takemitchy, Junko..." Draken said in a tired voice while bleeding heavily from his head.

"Takemitchy! Mitsuya!" Emma called.

"Peh! Asshole, what are you doing with Moebius?!" Mitsuya called over.

"Shut the fuck up, Mitsuya, I'll kill you, too." Peh spat.

"Peh, you coward! Having someone attack him from behind with a bat. Plus, you brought a ton of guys with you! And you call yourself a man?!" Emma spat back at him.

"I'm tired," Draken slumped a little. "Looks like twenty guys is my limit..."

"Here," I stepped up and helped him sit on the ground so he could rest a bit.

"Rest are all yours, Mitsuya." Draken sighed.

"Got it," Mitsuya hummed, standing tall and confident.

"You think you two guys can take all of us?" Someone from Moebius asked.

"Shut up, dumbass." Mitsuya just smiled.

I knew Takemichi was starting to panic behind us, and I kept kneeling by Draken, trying to find out how deep the wound on his head was. I kept an ear out for a motorcycle exhaust, though, and soon, one was getting nearer.

"Take them out. All of them." Peh ordered, looking all high and mighty, and then looked startled as Mitsuya and Draken grinned suddenly as the exhaust sound was getting even closer.

Mikey skidded to a halt on his bike, his hair soaked and plastered to his face, which held a deadly serious expression that honestly didn't suit him at all for this point in time.

"Now I get it," He hummed as he stood. "I got called out somewhere else so Kenny could get attacked."

Mikey looked directly at Peh, who was just staring at the wet pavement below us. "So, you're trying to make it my fault that Toman's gonna split in two, right?"

"I'm just doing it for Pah!" Peh yelled, looking ever so tense.

"This isn't how you do shit!" Mikey snapped, his eyebrows drawing together. "Who tempted you into this?"

There was a beat of silence where Peh stared wide-eyed at the ground while someone else walked up to join in on the commotion.

"Wow," Hanma started, holding a lit cigarette between his fingers. "Didn't think Mikey could even get mad. Lame."

"Who are you?" Mikey turned to him, as we were all staring at the newcomer.

"Doesn't matter who I am," He brought the cigarette up to his lips. "But I'm the current leader of Moebius. Name's Hanma."

"So, you're the nasty creep behind all of this?" Mikey asked without hesitation.

"You're such a pain in the ass, Mik-" Hanma started with a soft, fake smile, then Mikey quickly brought his leg up to kick him, which Hanma blocked, to everyone's surprise.

"Don't be in such a rush, Mikey," Hanma waved his hand, the back of his wrist now a bright red from the impact of the blow. "I'm here to crush Toman. That's a pain, so I thought I'd make you do it yourselves. But either way, Toman's over. Now, I'm gonna take you on, Invincible Mikey, and kill you with my bare hands!"

The quick switch from lazy to excited must've given everyone else a shock, but I was watching with interest now that I was getting to see everything up close.

"Here's the entire Moebius army! A hundred people!" Hanma announced with his arms raised. "Against four guys from Toman! So, don't wimp out like you did last time, guys!  I'm not nice like Osanai, you know. If you guys run, I'll come after you and knock every last one of your teeth out!"

"Yes, sir!" His army called in response, and it took real effort not to snort a laugh right then and there.

"Now," Hanma stood tall and pointed at the group of us. "Go after Mikey, Draken, and whoever's with them, and kill them all."

More rumbling of bikes were heard then, and the boys all turned as motorcycle after motorcycle pulled up and each member of Toman walked forward to join us.

"Just in time," Mitsuya smiled.

I recognized nearly everyone at the front, of course. Mucho with Sanzu behind him, Smiley and Angry, Baji and Chifuyu, even Hakkai inching over to Mitsuya's side.

"We brought all of Toman along, you piece of shit." Baji said as he started to tie up his hair.

"Who's ready to die first?!" Smiley grinned, as usual.

"Peh! I'm starting with you!" Mucho warned.

"Shit!" Peh swore, looking scared, until Hanma came behind him with his hand on Peh's head.

"Now things are really getting fun!" Hanma just chuckled.

"A giant brawl on festival day," Draken started to stand, so I stood with him as he walked forward. "Now that really gets my blood pumping."

"That'd be the head injury, dumbass." I stared after him. "But hey, if you wanna go on and die, feel free." I put my hands up and stepped away.

"Junko!" Takemichi gasped at me, looking panicked because of course, he was.

"Let's go!" Mikey yelled, leading everyone forward and into the brawl, all while Hanma stood there laughing, and I grabbed Takemichi's shirt and pulled him back with me.

"Jun- what are you doing?!" He struggled, but my grip was tight.

"We're keeping an eye on Draken, but from the outside." I said and he stopped fighting me and just eyed me.

"Okay. Why?" He asked.

"That idiot is gonna get himself killed fighting with a head injury like that. If you go marching in there to find him, you're gonna get dragged into a fight and lose sight of him. Best to stay on the outside, close to the edge to keep an eye on him." I explained, and Takemichi just nodded along and followed me as I had eyes on the tall, blond, bleeding boy and was walking over to the closest spot on the edges of the brawl.

Once or twice, someone tried to grab Takemichi and drag him into a fight, only to be swatted away by me with a sharp glare.

A guy stumbled out from the crowd and faced the two of us, then started to grin.

"What's this? A couple of punks trying to sneak around?" He chuckled, then started to throw a punch. It seemed to be slow, though, so I smacked his hand away with the back of mine, then brought my own fist back to punch him in the nose. He stumbled back, holding his nose, and I suddenly decided I wasn't done.

"You don't wanna tip your head back," I said as I stepped towards him. "You think it would stop the bleeding, but it doesn't. It just makes you swallow the blood. Our stomachs can't really handle blood, so swallow enough, and soon you'll be puking blood back up."

I aimed a kick for his stomach then to get him to double over, holding his stomach now, then grabbed his hair and smashed his face into my knee, hearing something crack with the impact.

"Junko!" Takemichi gasped behind me, and I let go of the guy, letting him drop with a heavy thud onto the pavement.

"Since when did you have all that in you?" Takemichi came to my side, looking impressed.

I just shrugged and looked out over the brawl, trying to find Draken again. "Lost sight of him. Damn." I pursed my lips in disappointment.

"Wait!" Takemichi gasped and took off from my side, so I followed him into the crowd and soon we found Draken on the pavement, bleeding out.

"DRAKEN!" Takemichi yelled, just loud enough and panicked enough to get people's attention.

"Takemitchy! What happened?" Mikey called from some thirty feet away.

"Draken was stabbed! Don't worry, we got it!" I called back, my hand by my mouth as I projected my voice clearly enough.

"Junko?" Takemichi looked up at me, all confused. "What are we gonna do?"

"You're gonna carry him to the hospital," I said, getting my phone out to call for an ambulance.

"I'm what?!" Takemichi stared at me, but I shushed him as I held the phone up to my ear.

"Hi, yeah, we need an ambulance at the Musashi shrine. There's been a stabbing." I said, and the operator told me the soonest one could be there would be about fifteen minutes due to traffic from the rain.

I hung up while Takemichi was struggling to lift Draken, so I tucked my phone back in my shorts' pocket and started to help him carry the fucking giant out to a safe spot.

We got him away from the fight fast enough, and soon Emma and Hinata found us, saying they also called for an ambulance just to make sure that one was definitely coming.

"How's Draken?" Emma asked with tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry, he's alive." Takemichi said, and we started to lower him down to lie on the pavement.

"Well, what do we got here?!" A voice said, and we looked over and saw that group of Toman traitors coming over. "Draken ain't dead yet?"

"The hell do you think you're doing, pussy-michi?" Another called.

"What's a loser like you trying to do here, anyway?" The one with the scar on his eyebrow, Kiyomasa, stared at Takemichi.

"Someone get me the duct tape!" He then called to his friends, who started laughing, all while Takemichi panted in a panic behind me.

"Takemitchy..." Draken breathed. "Take the girls and run."

"Bullshit," I sang, rolling my eyes, getting everyone to look at me as I smiled all sweet-like.

"Junko?" Draken looked up at me from where he now sat up.

"We ain't going anywhere, Draken." I smiled over my shoulder at him.

"Who's this bitch acting all tough?" One of the cronies laughed, and I turned back around to face them, a smirk settling on my face.

"Who's this limp-dick, butt-ugly piece of shit think he's calling a bitch?" I just tilted my head tauntingly.

Their eyebrows rose in surprise at my mouth, which, to be frankly honest, I could do much worse. In fact, I will do worse.

"I know y'all are the ones that have been giving my brother a hard time." I nodded, then held my hand up to look at my nails, seeing they were adequately long and sharp enough for my liking.

"Brother?" Kiyomasa smirked. "I know you're not talking about that little loser."

"Loser he may be, but at least he's not a pathetic waste of space and air like some people here." I stared hard at them, taking joy in their offense and astonishment.

Kiyomasa's mouth had just fallen open slightly in his shock, and I decided to mock him with my own mouth open.

"Uh, uh, uh..." I hummed, rolling my eyes at them. "You could do better. God, and all I've been hearing about this Kiyomasa guy, I'm quite disappointed. I was expecting big, buff, scary fuckin' dude. Not... that." I pointed a sharp fingernail at him, not caring that I was getting crazy looks in return.

"Now," I turned to Takemichi with a kinder smile. "I believe you wanna take revenge on these little bastards?"

Takemichi stared at me for a second, then nodded once and stepped forward, facing Kiyomasa.

"We never finished our fight, did we? Our one-on-one match in the fighting ring?" He hummed.

"What are you talking about? You obviously lost, dumbass!" A cronie spoke up.

"I didn't lose," Takemichi just said, staring straight ahead.

"Yeah?" Draken hummed. "A hundred million yen on Takemitchy!"

"Huh?" Takemichi whipped around.

"Me, too! A hundred million on Takemichi!" Hinata called.

"Me three! A hundred million yen on Takemitchy!" Emma joined in with a grin.

"They've all lost their minds!" Kiyomasa laughed to his friends.

"Nope," Draken just grinned. "Takemitchy's got this."

Chapter Text

"Let's go, Kiyomasa!" Takemichi yelled and started to swing his fist, and I bit my lip hard as Kiyomasa whipped out the knife at the last second and stabbed it through Takemichi's hand.

I didn't really see a way out of that one.

He screamed, and Kiyomasa started grinning again.

"Aw, I thought I'd killed you. I like that reaction, though." He said while Takemichi panted, holding his hand with the knife sticking out of it.

"I'm not gonna fight you one-on-one, man." Kiyomasa said calmly. "I'm going to kill you. This is an execution. And then I'm gonna teach that sister of yours a lesson in manners she won't ever forget. Maybe show her another way to use that mouth of hers." He chuckled, and it got his stupid friends laughing, too.

I rolled my eyes and tightened my fists, wanting to go over there and finish the job myself, but I knew Takemichi needed this character development. It was vital.

He ripped the knife out of his hand and threw it down with a shout, and started to charge forward, only to get sent back by Kiyomasa.

"What's wrong, Hanagaki? You haven't hit me once yet!" Kiyomasa looked way too excited for my liking.

"He doesn't have to hit you to win!" I called, hoping Takemichi would get the message.

"Huh?" Kiyomasa looked at me, distracted, while Takemichi ran at him and grabbed him. Kiyomasa tried to knee him in the stomach and hit him in the back and the head. But Takemichi held on and bit him as hard as he could.

"Quit fighting dirty!" One guy yelled at him.

"Oh, who gives a shit!" I yelled back.

Takemichi ended up on Kiyomasa's back, wrapping his arms around his neck to strangle him, and after a minute or so, Kiyomasa slumped back - unconscious.

"I won...?" I heard Takemichi ask, and I started to walk over. I kicked Kiyomasa off of him so he could sit up, panting for breath.

"Proud of you, little bro." I said, and Takemichi looked up at me with a grin as bright as the sun.

I then noticed the knife behind me, and picked it up before anyone else could, then faced the rest of the guys.

"Well," I hummed. "Your leader went and shit the bed, so, what now? Your choice."

"Junko..." Takemichi looked at me a little warily.

"Little girl with a knife, huh?" One of them spoke up. "You sure you know how to use that thing, sweetheart?"

Hiding my anger at his comment, I turned the blade in my hand as if I was ready to fight with it.

"Wanna test me?" I offered with a smile.

In all honesty, I've never fought with a knife before. In perfect honesty, I've never actually been in a fight before. I probably wouldn't win, statistically speaking. But, I was mad enough and could bullshit my way through just about anything, so...

(Plus I didn't exactly mind killing a few of the fuckers off since they didn't matter in the long run anyway, but no one else had to know that but me.)

There was a tense moment of silence until some yelling came from the trees beside us, and fucking Akkun came from nowhere with the rest of the Mizo Middle group and they started fighting Kiyomasa's group.

Of course, they got their asses kicked, but they kept the group away from Takemichi and Draken, which was good enough.

They fought until the ambulance came, and then helped pick Draken up and carry him to the ambulance, all while I tossed the knife into some bushes and went along with Hinata and Emma.

"This can't be happening..." Emma cried into Hinata's shoulder while we all gathered in the waiting room while Draken underwent surgery.

"Hinaaa! I'm so scared." She whined. I tried to be patient as I knew Draken would come out fine, but they didn't have my knowledge.

"Takemitchy!" Mitsuya called down the hall, and Takemichi and I turned to face him and Peh. "How's Draken?!"

"Is Draken okay?!" Peh asked, looking all kinds of scared.

Takemichi told them Kiyomasa stabbed him and that he went into cardiac arrest a little ways down the hall, and I watched with crossed arms as Mitsuya turned and punched the wall.

"Damn it!" He swore.

"No way... Kiyomasa did this?" Peh gasped.

"Takemitchy," Mikey called as he walked up calmly.

"Mikey," Takemichi sighed. "Draken is..."

"Yeah, I heard. Where's the waiting room?" Mikey just asked and Takemichi walked him over to the rest of us.

"Mikey!" Mitsuya gasped.

"Mikeyyy!" Emma cried, looking up at her brother.

"Mikey, I..." Peh started to say.

"You're being way too loud." Mikey cut them all off. "This is a hospital, so keep it down."

'You need to calm down, you're being too loud. And I'm just like...' My thoughts sang, but I didn't dare let anything show on my face.

Mikey went to take a seat while we all quietly watched him, most of us with bated breath, waiting for him to explode.

"Kenny... has never broken his word the whole time I've known him. He's not gonna die here. He'd never be that dishonest." Mikey said in what was probably the most even tone he could muster right now, given everything that's happened tonight.

"Cos he promised me we'd own the whole country together." Mikey then put on a smile. "So, Emma. Mitsuya. Peh. Takemitchy. Believe in Kenny."

So, we all sat around or hung out while waiting for the operating room light to switch off, and eventually, it did. When we noticed, we all stood and waited while someone in scrubs came out to talk to us.

"He narrowly escaped death. The surgery was a success." He reported.

"ALL RIGHT!" Takemichi yelled, and the other four started cheering for Draken.

"Geez, keep it down." Mitsuya was wiping his own tears away with a grin.

"Hinaaa!" Emma was crying while hugging Hinata again.

"Let's go tell the Toman guys waiting outside!" Mitsuya called, and a few of them started down the hallway. Mikey was nowhere to be found, so I slipped down the opposite hallway that led outside where Mikey stood alone.

"Hey," I tried to make my voice as gentle as possible as I approached him. "You okay?"

Mikey's head was hung, his hair obstructing his face. I could see his shoulders shaking, though, and hear little sniffles coming from behind the curtain of his bangs.

I don't know what possessed me to move, but I touched his shoulder gently before pulling him into a hug, and Mikey absolutely collapsed against me, crying hard against my shoulder.

I kept quiet and let him get it out, using one hand to rub his back in what I hoped would be comforting for him. After a few minutes, his cries reduced back down to sniffles, and that section of my shirt was soaked in salty tears now.

"Sorry," Mikey said in a thick voice, hoarse from crying, and I just shook my head.

"There's no need to be sorry, Mikey." I said, ducking my head to try and get a look at his face. "Draken's gonna be just fine. You know he's strong like that."

Mikey nodded and sniffed, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand, and I pushed his hair back a little from his face.

"You did good," I started to say. "Putting on a brave face for everyone else. But you know you don't always need to do that, right?" I asked, and Mikey just stared at me, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Doesn't matter right now, I guess." I just sighed and looked aside, seeing the end of Takemichi's shoe at the corner, knowing he was checking up on Mikey.

"Need some water or anything?" I looked back at Mikey, and he just shook his head silently.

"Okay. I'm gonna head back to the others. You take your time, okay?" I said and started to walk away, but then Mikey caught my wrist, and I turned to look back at him.

He seemed to struggle for words for a moment, then opened his mouth slightly.

"You're..." He paused. "Thank you, Junko. You're a good person."

I let slip a little smile. "Hey, we're all just trying our best here, right?"

He let me go after that, and I rounded the corner and grabbed Takemichi's arm to pull him along with me. Thankfully, he followed without making a sound.

I didn't let him go until we got to the front doors where the rest of Toman was celebrating the news of Draken being alive.

"Takemichi! Junko!" Hinata called and she and Emma came up to us along with the Mizo Middle guys.

"Yeah, what's up?" I hummed.

"Where were you?" Emma blinked at me.

"Got lost," I said. "Hospitals confuse me. Too many hallways." I shook my head.

"I have to head back home. It's past midnight, my mother's probably worried..." Hinata said.

"Takemichi will walk you home." I offered up immediately, and he just blushed and stammered next to me. "Payback for getting Draken to drive me home that one time." I hissed to him.

"Wait, what?" Emma asked.

"Nothing," I smiled at her, then pushed Takemichi forward to Hinata.

The two of them went off together, and soon, Mikey was walking out of the front doors too.

"And where were you?" Emma skipped up to him.

"Nowhere, geez." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Takemitchy's gone?"

"Walking Hinata home," I nodded.

"Do you need a ride home?" He looked at me.

"Oh, how kind." I smiled. "Shouldn't you be getting Emma home, though?" I asked, watching him falter.

"I'll be fine on my own, take care of your sister." I shook my head, smiling at him, then turned to the sidewalk and waved at them. A few waved goodbye back, and I started my walk home.

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset. She's going off about something that you said, cos she doesn't get your humor like I do..." I started to mumble to myself.

I was keeping in mind not to be too loud. One, because it was fucking past midnight, nearly one in the morning now. Two, I needed to keep an ear out for my surroundings, mainly to make sure I wasn't being followed.

"...And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town. I haven't seen it in a while since she brought you down. You say you're fine, I know you better than that. Hey, whatcha doing with a girl like that?" I fully sang, still trying to keep my voice low, but images of Taylor Swift performing the song at the Eras Tour was filling my head, and soon I was twirling my hair and doing the same steps she did to the song while on stage.

"Oh, I remember you were driving to my house in the middle of the night. I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry." Two claps in beat, and continue. "I know your favorite songs, and you tell me about your dreams. Think I know where you belong, think I know it's with me..."

I went through that song and then Love Story, as that's what came after in the setlist for the Eras Tour, and before I knew it, I was home. I let myself in and quietly went up to my room, half surprised that neither mom nor dad was waiting up to scold Takemichi and I for being out so late. Did they even care?

You would think, if you had two teenage kids, that you might wanna keep track of them and if they come home or not? I mean, in canon, Takemichi's parents are never seen at the hospital whenever their son ends up there. Did they care in the slightest when he got beat to hell and back? When he breaks something or gets shot or dodges death? Never seen those fuckers when he does manage to survive that shit.

Jesus, the kid needs me around more than I realize if I'm gonna be helping out. I was remembering Kisaki shooting him in the foot at the Tenjiku fight. Mikey breaking his arm during the battle of the Three Titans. Takemichi fucking getting run through with a katana at the Kanto Manji and Toman fight right at the end. The boy needs all the help and support he can get, seems like.

I stayed up in my room a little later, until Takemichi came home and went to his room for the night, but we didn't say anything. If he was anywhere near as tired as I was, he should've passed right the fuck out.

Which is now what I planned to do.

Chapter Text

A mere week later, it was August tenth, and I planned on joining Takemichi going to the hospital to see Draken.

"You're so fucking lame, dude." I shook my head in shame at my so-called brother. Not even I and all my bullying could stop him from wearing those ridiculous 'outlaw' shorts, an unbuttoned button-up, and sunglasses.

"Mikey and Draken are gonna see you and roast you alive, I hope you know." I said as we walked down the street together.

"Greetings, Takemichi senpai!" Some boys called while bowing, and I couldn't physically roll my eyes any deeper than I already could.

We got to the hospital and found Draken's room, and Takemichi was on such a power trip, he walked in as loudly as possible.

"Hey, Draken! How are you holding up?" He asked and Draken took one look at him and glared.

"Quit acting like a jackass." Draken said, stopping Takemichi in his tracks.

"Huh?" He paled. "H-how am I doing that?"

"It's written all over you," Draken sneered. "Just because you got some attention, don't get a big head about it, you asshole. It's lame as hell."

"I'm literally embarrassed to be seen around him now, Draken. It's a real struggle." I spoke up, staying close to the wall with my arms crossed.

"You two wouldn't understand," Takemichi grumbled. "This is the first time anyone's ever looked up to me! Let me live a little, okay?!"

"I can't believe you'd admit something that depressing at max volume..." Draken said and I stifled a laugh.

"I'm not like you guys!" He just whined. "I'm not all cool and strong like Draken, or popular and attractive like Junko..." He pouted at us.

"You could be nicer. Said I saved your life, but you start getting better and it's back to this..." Takemichi turned away.

"Oh yeah," Draken hummed suddenly. "Here."

"Hm?" Takemichi turned back around.

"It's from Mikey," Draken nodded to a bag on the stool next to his bed. "He said to give it to you."

Takemichi reached inside and pulled out the black jacket with gold stitching.

"A uniform?" He asked.

"That's the uniform Mikey wore when he first started Toman. In Toman, that's finery. It's as important as your life." Draken said.

"Why does he want me to have this?" Takemichi asked.

"He said it's up to you if you wanna wear it, but he wanted you to have it." Draken just smiled. "Takemitchy, you're Toman's savior. Everyone knows that, including me. Let me show my gratitude once more."

He then started to get out of bed, and I considered stopping him, but I knew this was important to both of them.

"Thank you," Draken bowed to him. "Take good care of that uniform."

"This is Mikey's... He gave it to me. That's heavy." Takemichi just gasped, holding it up to the window. "Wonder if I'll ever be the kind of guy who can pull this look off?" He grinned to Draken then.

"Go see him," Draken said, looking out the window. "He's probably napping up on the roof."

Takemichi carefully packaged the uniform jacket back up and left the room, and I didn't bother following him. Draken turned to me and my crossed arms leaning against the wall, and I sighed.

"Okay, back in bed. You're stressing me out, standing up and bowing and shit." I said, earning a chuckle from him.

"Yes, ma'am," He said and carefully sat back down on the bed, and I fixed the sheet around him.

"Ew, that makes me feel old." I scrunched up my nose.

"How old are you, Junko?" He asked.

"It's August?" I hummed. "I'll be sixteen in October." I nodded slowly, lying. I'd actually be twenty-six come October, but whatever.

"Anything planned for your sweet sixteen?" He smirked at me.

"God, no." I grinned, taking a seat beside his bed in one of the chairs. "What? Don't tell me you expect me to wear a crown and a sash around or something."

"Hey, you never know." He shrugged lightly. "Aren't you popular girls supposed to make a big deal out of your birthday?"

"Ah, there it is," I nodded slowly with my lips pursed.

"Hm?" He asked.

"Look, I don't really agree with the whole 'popular girl' thing." I rolled my eyes. "I'm not even sure why I'm considered popular. I really only have two friends. I don't even know that many people. I just think a lot of people know about me or think they know me. They don't."

"I think it's more than that," Draken said, and my head tilted as I listened. "You're pretty, you're nice, you're charismatic. That's all it really takes to be popular, I think."

Draken then chuckled to himself before speaking. "You know, you really surprised me back at the fight a week ago."

"Yeah? How?" I asked, feeling a little smug.

"The way you just... verbally abused Kiyomasa and his group. You tore them down, Junko. And you made it seem like you didn't even care, you weren't even trying." He looked at me, and I felt my face heating up slightly. "I already knew you can be demanding as hell, like when you yelled at me the first day we met."

"Ugh!" I threw my hands over my face to hide my embarrassment.

"I didn't know you could be so brutal, though." Draken just laughed at me.

I scrunched my face up, and it took me a moment to lower my hands and peek at him, only to see he was watching me carefully.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I think, with all this popular business around school and whatnot, I feel like I'm not really allowed to get mad while in the public eye. I just kinda... swallow it down and save it for later." I shrugged lightly.

"Makes sense," He nodded.

"Yeah," I breathed out. "I'm definitely not like you or Mikey or any other Toman member, who can turn my anger into an advantage."

"You ever done any fighting, Junko?" Draken asked, and I pressed my lips together. "What?"

"I did kinda beat someone up at the fight last week," I admitted.

"No way," Draken grinned. "First time?"

"Yeah," I nodded, feeling embarrassed.

"I knew you had it in you!" He just grinned, surprising me. "You're a fighter, Junko. I knew it. I knew you were tough when I first laid eyes on you."

I had nothing to say to that, so I just sat there in my chair, cheeks steaming red. Draken then moved to sit on the edge of his bed, facing me, our knees brushing each other.

"Hey," He said lowly, and I watched him carefully as he slowly started to reach up with his right hand and tuck some of my hair back behind my ear.

Oh. Okay.

"Hey," I smiled softly, my eyes locked on his, just waiting to see what he would do next.

"Takemitchy won't try to beat me up if I make a move on you, right?" He asked in a soft voice that had my heart melting.

I couldn't help but smile. "He wouldn't dare."

With that basically as my permission, Draken smiled and caught my cheek in his palm, then slowly started to move in, giving me plenty of time to reject him or turn away.

I didn't, though. I closed my eyes and let him kiss me, and my hand came up and held his wrist to keep him close and know that I was okay with it.

It was a soft, simple, sweet kiss that lasted just a moment or two. I was smiling as Draken pulled back, and was overjoyed at the sight of the smile on his lips as well.

Of course, Emma was on my mind, in the back of my mind. But I also couldn't make myself care right now. It's been a good long while since I kissed anyone and liked it, so I was soaking this all up.

"You're sure Takemitchy..." Draken started again.

"My brother doesn't dictate who I'm into at all." I rolled my eyes, grinning, and saw Draken's eyebrows raise.

"Who you're into?" He hummed, and my lips parted slightly in shock, now worried I had said the wrong thing. "So, you're into me?"

I blinked, not sure if he saw it as a good or bad thing, but then his hand was cupping my cheek again, tilting my face up and more toward his. I couldn't hide my blush even if I wanted to at this point.

"I, uh... yes?" I felt so stupid and like I was caught in some sort of trap.

Draken grinned and pressed his lips to mine again, this time for longer, and it took me a full second to remember to close my eyes and kiss him back. I didn't want him going anywhere, so I brought my hands up to come around his neck, locking at his nape, and felt shivers when his other hand met my waist.

His hand curled around my side, and his thumb was just slightly pressing into my stomach, which I actually quite liked. He had huge hands, after all, which correlated with him being a big dude. I was a bit small proportionally, and I prayed that this didn't mean I had some sort of size kink.

But... I bet if he wrapped both hands around me, his fingers would touch in the middle. And that was kind of hot.

After a minute, Draken slowed our kisses down to a pause, then just rested his forehead against mine. We took a moment just breathing the same air, and I couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face.

"What are you smiling about?" Draken asked, and I shook my head slowly against his. "Could it have something to do with you finally kissing the guy you're into?"

I lifted my head from touching his, a sudden thought coming to mind.

"Are... you not into me?" I asked, and watched his face fall.

"No, no, no!" He brought both hands up to cup my face, bringing me even closer to him. "That's not what I meant at all, Junko."

"Well, you've been talking about how I'm into you, but I haven't heard anything from your end..." I started to frown, wondering if I've just made a fool of myself.

"Junko," Draken sighed and pressed another kiss to my lips, this one seeming a little desperate. "That's not what I meant. I am into you. I do like you. I'm interested in you. However you wanna put it, yes." He said, looking directly in my eyes so I'd get the message.

I nodded slowly, now understanding, and brought his hands down from my cheeks and to my lap, where I just held them for a minute.

"So..." I hummed.

"So?" Draken was still watching me.

"Are... like?" I tried to ask, but words weren't coming to me. "Are we a thing now?"

"Do you want to be?" He asked, taking one of his hands to brush my hair back again.

"Do you want to be?" I peeked up and saw the most patient smile on his face for me.

"Yeah, I do." He said with confidence, it had me blushing all over again.

"Okay," I nodded.

"You did take my first kiss, so I expect you to be my first relationship, too." He just grinned, and I hid my face behind my hand again. "You're so shy, Junko." Draken then laughed.

"Am not!" I said. Draken caught my wrist and brought my hand down, then kissed my forehead.

"Sounds happy in here," Mikey hummed as he and Takemichi came in again. I didn't say anything, just glanced at Draken as I was ready to follow his lead on how he wanted to proceed. He just shrugged though, and let my hands go as he went back to sitting on the bed normally.

We hung out for a little more, then a nurse brought Draken his lunch, saying visiting time was over for now. Mikey and Takemichi turned to leave, and I got up as well.

"Junko," Draken hissed, and I turned back to look at him. He just smirked and pointed to his cheek, so with a blush, I went over to kiss his cheek only for him to turn his head at the last second and catch my lips.

I smiled a little too widely, breaking the kiss, and rolled my eyes at him when I pulled back.

"Fucking dork. I'll see you soon." I said.

"Okay," He just smiled at me, watching as I left the room to join Mikey and Takemichi.

It was quiet for about one minute, then Mikey turned to me with a grin.

"Sooo, anything interesting happen?" He asked in a teasing voice.

"Depends on what you find interesting, I guess." I hummed, trying to keep my face straight.

Mikey hummed for a long moment, until we left out of the front doors of the hospital.

"You know what I find interesting?" He finally spoke. "Kenny told me he was gonna confess."

"Confess?!" Takemichi gasped. "To...?"

"Your sister," Mikey smirked and I just rolled my eyes as Takemichi turned to me in shock.

"Did Draken confess to you?!" He asked.

"Kind of, yeah." I nodded, trying to play it cool.

My heart definitely was not playing anything cool right now though.

Chapter Text

September passed in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, we were in October.

I knew Takemichi had gone back to the future with Naoto, and if my memory served right, Hina was saved but then died in front of him, and Draken was in prison on death row. If that's where we were right now, it takes Naoto a minute to get Takemichi a visit with Draken, so he was stuck in the future for a while.

Speaking of Draken, we didn't really go public with our new relationship. We didn't really see a need to show it off or anything. As I had said to him, I only had two friends at school, and they didn't know who he was. People in Toman didn't really know who I was, so Draken saw no point in telling them, either.

In my head, I kept it on the backburner that Emma was still open about her feelings for Draken. I didn't want anything drastic happening if we revealed ourselves as a couple, and I'm almost certain that Draken thought the same.

So, while Takemichi was in the future figuring shit out, I spent my time just living life as usual. Going to school, hanging out with the girls, seeing Draken whenever I had the chance. Things were going good.

What also lived in the back of my head was that according to the timeline we get at the end of Tokyo Revengers, this is the point in time where Kisaki makes a move to become Mikey's friend. He offers to bail Pah out of jail, he wants to become a captain in Toman in exchange, Mikey and him go get ramen together... sickening, honestly.

So, whenever I was with Draken and/or Mikey, I kept both an eye and an ear out for any small details I could catch. Even if it was just Mikey saying something in passing.

Alas, there wasn't anything.

"So," Draken started to say to me when school had let out and he and Mikey were trying to catch up with Takemichi, but saw me first.

"It's October," He said, and I just nodded along, not knowing where he was going with this. "You said your birthday is in October. When is it?"

"Your birthday is coming up?!" Mikey jumped into excitement at hearing it.

I rolled my eyes. "The seventeenth," I answered Draken. "You don't have to get me anything."

"I'm getting you something," He nodded firmly. "What do you want?"

"I don't really want anything," I shrugged. "I have everything I need. I'm pretty happy as is."

"I know what I'm getting you for your birthday!" Mikey grinned.

"Do I get to know now?" I just sighed.

"I'm getting you a room for a night at a love hotel with Kenny!" He laughed while both Draken's and my face fell into horror.

"I'm pretty sure that's not legal, Mikey!" I squeaked, then tried to clear my throat. Glancing aside, I noticed quite a few boys eyeing the group of us and whispering, and I managed to catch words like "Toman" and "Invincible Mikey" and such.

"Eh, whatever." Mikey waved his hand. "You said the seventeenth, right?" He said and I nodded, then he grinned and sauntered away.

"I'm scared," I smiled forcefully at Draken, who chuckled and traced some of my hair with his fingertips.

"I'll make sure his gift to you is appropriate, don't worry." He said, and I just nodded.

Come the morning of the seventeenth, there was honking outside of my house. With a certain feeling stirring in my gut, I went to the window and peeked out the curtain, and saw Draken on his bike. He noticed me and grinned this giant smile up at my window, making me blush and smile all the same while I got dressed and ready for the day.

I went downstairs and out the front door, then crashed into Draken in a hug, clearly surprising him. He hugged me back all the same, though, and pressed a kiss to the top of my head.

"Happy birthday, Junko." He said with a heartfelt smile, and I just grinned back at him. "Well, how does sixteen feel?"

"Not any different than fifteen yet," I sighed. "Are you here to escort me to school?"

"Only the best for my best girl," He nodded and patted the back of his bike. I climbed on, mindful of my skirt not riding up and showing anything, and got a grip on his sides as he kicked the stand down and revved the bike up.

He took the long route to my school, zipping and weaving through morning traffic like he'd been doing this his whole life. It thrilled me, to say the least. I was grinning and could see the edges of his grin on his cheeks as well.

When he finally came to a halt outside of the front of Mizo Middle, I climbed off and he caught my hand so I wouldn't leave yet.

"You think I'm gonna let you start your day without a gift?" He just smirked at me.

"I told you, Draken, I don't really want anything..." I sighed, but smiled all the same.

"You'll want this gift, trust me." He just nodded.

"Okay?" I hummed.

"Close your eyes," He said, and I did so, waiting a moment before something pressed to my lips. Realizing it was his lips, I kissed back, slowly lifting my hands to hold his cheeks and drag this out as long as I possibly could.

When we parted, I blinked my eyes open to see a gentle smile on his face, all boyish and cute.

"That was hardly a gift, you kiss me all the time." I couldn't help my smile.

"But I've never sent you off to school with a kiss before," He pointed out. "Now go on and have a good day. I'll be back later to pick you up for your other gifts."

"Plural?" I hummed, my brows raising.

"Scared?" He teased.

"Terrified," I smirked and pressed another kiss to his lips before pulling back and waving as I walked up to the front doors of the school.

All in all, I did have a good day at school. Mai and Sora each yelled happy birthday to me when I came into the classroom, which clued in everybody that it was my birthday, and that quickly spread around the school, so random people were wishing me a happy birthday when I passed them in the hall.

"So, any plans later?" Sora asked.

"Um, yeah, I think so." I nodded slowly. "Sorry, my boyfriend told me he was picking me up, but he didn't say what for."

The day passed pretty smoothly, and as promised, Draken was outside on his bike waiting for me, but he wasn't alone. Mikey and Mitsuya were with him, which kind of surprised and kind of confused me.

"Hey, happy birthday!" Mikey beamed when he saw me walking over, and I knew Sora and Mai were trailing along somewhere behind me.

"Thanks," I smiled, stopping by Draken's bike. "What are y'all doing here? Should I be expecting a party?"

"Why, do you want one?" Mikey asked. "I can easily call up all the guys and-"

"No, you don't need to do that. I was joking, Mikey." I smiled at him, shaking my head.

"Literally, who does she think she is?" A voice said in a really snotty tone, and I looked over and saw a few girls whispering while looking at me.

"Junko," Draken sighed and stood to full height off of his bike.

I held my hand up and put on a smile. "I've got it," I just said and dropped my bag, then walked over to the girls.

"Hi, sorry! Who were you talking about? Because I know it wasn't me you were saying that about." I kept the smile on my face as I drew closer.

The three girls exchanged a glance while my patience drew thin. My smile dropped, and I quickly drew back my fist and punched the one in the middle in the nose, making her fall back and the other two step back in shock and scream.

"Junko!" I heard Sora gasp from somewhere behind me.

"Don't let me catch your pathetic asses talking shit again," I warned with a smile before turning and walking back to Draken and them.

"Let's go before a teacher comes out," I said, and the three started up their bikes while I got on the back of Draken's, and spared a glance to my friends before we took off down the road.

"I didn't know you were that badass, Junko." Mikey chuckled, and I just shrugged where I held onto Draken.

"I could've done worse," I sighed.

"I'm glad you didn't," Mitsuya said with a softer smile.

They drove to the shrine, which gave me an idea.

"Hey," I hummed when we parked and got off the bikes. "I think I thought up something I want for my birthday."

"Yeah?" Mikey asked.

"I wanna join Toman." I said, facing him, and shockingly, his expression didn't change in the slightest.

"Why?" He just asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

"You just saw me punch that girl's lights out," I shrugged. "I think... that I may be stronger than I previously thought. Which, previously, I thought I was weak. So, there's still strength to be gained, but I think now I have something going for me."

I then paused for a second and grinned. "I also think it would be really funny if I became a member before Takemichi."

Mikey grinned then. "That would be funny, you're right. Alright, I'll let you join."

"Really, Mikey?" Draken asked, sounding surprised.

"What? I agree, it's funny." Mikey shrugged at him, then looked at me again. "But, I also agree with the other points, too. You're strong, Junko. Probably a lot stronger than you ever imagined."

I smiled softly then, looking down, ready to admit something I would ever only mention to my therapist.

"I don't know if Takemichi knows this, but I used to be bullied. Like, a lot." I chuckled. "I used to cry and get my feelings hurt and all of that. I never fought back or anything. Never tried to stop it. I just kinda... took it. Accepted it."

I took a breath and raised my head. "I think it was last year I decided that I'd had enough of being called the weird girl and getting made fun of all the time. Mentally, I don't know, I toughened up. I snapped back when people tried to talk shit about me. I've never really gotten like, physically violent with anyone before today. So, that's new." I chuckled.

I then peeked at Draken. "That's kind of what I meant when I said I didn't know how I ended up popular. I had to become mean this past year to protect myself. And yet..."

Draken came over and touched my hair with a gentle look in his eyes. "And yet I still said I knew you were tough from the moment I laid eyes on you. And I was right."

I smiled softly and caught his hand to hold in mine, and Draken just lifted both and brushed his lips across my knuckles. 

"We'll have to think up a position for you," Mikey said, making me glance over to see him deep in thought.

"You're not just gonna throw me in a division?" I asked.

"Where's the fun in that?" Mikey grinned at me. "Toman's first girl member. It'd be even funnier to put her in a position of power."

"Assistant to the Captain and Vice Captain?" I said as it popped into my head.

"Yeah?" Mikey hummed. "You want an assistant, Kenny?"

"Are you sure?" Draken just looked at me, and I nodded.

"Alright! Welcome aboard, Junko Hanagaki, Assistant to the Captain and Vice Captain!" Mikey cheered.

"Do I get a uniform?" I peeked over at Mitsuya, hoping that wasn't asking too much.

"Of course!" Mikey rolled his eyes with a big grin. "Gotta look the part, don't you?"

"Can't wait," I grinned back, equally as excited.

Chapter Text

Three days later, on the twentieth, I knew Takemichi was coming back from the future at night, just in time for the Toman meeting.

Mikey had somehow gotten Mitsuya to get me a Toman uniform and adjust it to my measurements. I was supposed to wear it to the meeting while Takemichi went to the bath house with Mikey and Draken, so he wouldn't see me before and would be surprised.

That was Mikey's idea, of course.

But right now it was daytime, and I was just twirling my pencil, waiting to get out of school.

Mai and Sora haven't said a word to me today. Well, not since I punched that girl for talking shit. I hoped I didn't scare them off or anything.

When the bell rang, I grabbed my bag and whisked out of the room, ignoring everyone and everything as I went to my locker to trade my shoes.

"Darling, it was good... Never looking down... And right there where we stood, was holy ground." I hummed to myself as I slid my shoes on and closed my locker.

"Junko," A voice said, and I turned my head and saw Sora standing there, all tough and tall with those pink streaks while Mai stood a little ways behind her.

"Yeah?" I asked, deciding not to be a smartass this time around.

Sora took in a breath and sighed it out. "We're worried about you."

"About me?" I asked, my brows furrowing. "Why?"

"You... you punched that girl a few days ago. Like, really punched her. You've never done anything like that before." Sora just said.

"Yeah, I know." I nodded, closing my eyes to reel myself in from doing or saying something stupid.

"So, why...? Is it your new boyfriend?" She asked.

"Draken? What's he got to do with this?" I asked, staring at her with furrowed brows.

"I don't know, you just... you got this gangster boyfriend and now you're punching people..." She sighed.

"Draken would never hit a girl," I shook my head. "Actually, none of the three that were here that day would. So, seeing as I'm a girl, I was the only option." I shrugged, then sighed, letting my shoulders drop.

"Look, neither of you knows what it was like to be considered the weird girl for years and years. Neither of you has ever been called a freak to your face. We've only been friends for what? Little over a year now? And that was after I grew thick skin and puberty hit me like a fucking bus." I rolled my eyes.

"Junko..." Mai had this pitiful look on her face that I did not appreciate.

"I'm not tolerating anyone putting me down anymore. For any reason. And that's a promise and a threat." I said sharply before turning on my heel and walking away.

I made it home without crying, and just wiped down my face in the bathroom before going to my room to collapse onto my bed for some rest before the big meeting.

Draken texted me when he got to the bath house with Mikey and Takemichi, so I got myself up and started getting ready for the meeting, and headed to the shrine to meet up with some others that were there early.

I sat myself down on the steps leading up to where Mikey usually stood before the crowd, and I paid no mind to those also in uniform eyeing me like I was crazy.

"You," A voice said, and I looked over and saw someone with long blond hair and a face mask coming over, and my eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Me?" I hummed as he came to stand directly in front of me, looking down at me with something unreadable in his eyes.

"You're Draken's girlfriend, aren't you?" He asked, his head tilting slightly.

"I am," I nodded.

"What do you think you're doing, wearing that uniform?" He nearly spat.

"I think I'm wearing it because Mitsuya made it for me and Mikey told me to come here and wear it." I hummed, not able to not smirk.

"You. A member of Toman?" He just blinked.

"I'm impressive, yes, I know." I chuckled at myself as I continued to smirk.

It was honestly a terrible idea to push Haruchiyo Sanzu like this, but I really couldn't help myself. He was one of my top favorites in this universe.

"So," I hummed, leaning back on the steps. "Excited for a new captain?" I asked.

"It's not you," He suddenly narrowed his eyes at me.

"God no, it's not me." I rolled my eyes while smiling. "Nah, I'm Mikey and Draken's assistant."

"Assistant?" Sanzu sounded amused. "And what are you supposed to be able to do that they can't do by themselves?"

"I don't know, but when they think of something, I'll let you know." I just winked at him, then wondered where in the fuck did that come from.

"Everyone gather around!" A loud voice called, and we both looked over and saw everyone getting into place.

"Think they're here," I hummed, and stood to stretch my back slightly. I stood back a little and watched Mikey walk up the steps with Draken, who went to stand off to the side, and with them came Takemichi, Smiley, Mitsuya, and Mucho; who all blended into the crowd at the front. Sanzu threw me a last glare before taking Mucho's side, which had me smirking.

"The nomination ceremony for the Tokyo Manji Gang third-division captain will now begin!" Draken called.

"Oh, one thing first," Mikey said at normal volume, confusing Draken and a few others. Takemichi hadn't spotted me yet, which was perfect. He really only had eyes for Mikey, the poor kid.

"This ceremony is also to appoint a new admin; Assistant to the Captain and Vice Captain!" Mikey announced, which started up some muttering in the crowd about who and what that even was.

"Step forward!" Mikey called, eyeing me. So, like Kisaki should do, I went right up the steps and stood beside Mikey, facing the crowd.

"A girl?" Seemed to be the general comment when the crowd saw me.

"Junko?!" I heard Takemichi gasp, and I turned my head in his direction and smiled.

"Introduce yourself," Mikey smiled at me, gesturing to me for everyone to see.

"Hi," I held up a quick peace sign out of habit before dropping it. "I'm Junko Hanagaki. You may know me, you may know my brother, Takemichi. Glad to be on board!" I grinned and heard Mikey chuckling at me from beside me. Glancing over, I saw Draken smiling all wholeheartedly at me.

Mikey nudged me over to stand with Draken, so I did so with my hands behind my back, waiting for the shitshow to start.

"Now," Mikey raised his voice. "Third-division captain! Step forward!"

Down in the crowd, I saw Kisaki and his lackey walking forward, eventually passing Takemichi, whose face dropped as he watched Kisaki walk up the steps, turn around, and take a seat.

I was really trying to keep my face as blank as possible, but with all that I knew would go down, it was hard. Doable, but hard.

"The hell's his problem?"

"He seriously just sat down with his back to the leader!"

"What's your problem, asshole?! Don't act like you're hot shit!"

"Listen up, morons!" The lackey whose name I forgot yelled suddenly. "The man sitting behind me is the new third-division captain! Tetta Kisaki!"

"Man?" I mumbled, unable to help it. Wasn't Kisaki thirteen? That's not a man at all, he just started puberty.

"Junko," Draken hissed, and I reset my face again like nothing happened.

I kept my eye on Takemichi, now starting to sweat and panic as the meeting continued, and I barely heard a word Mikey had yelled out over the crowd about Kisaki.

"Leader!" Kisaki eventually got up to bow when Mikey turned away. "Thank you very much!"

"Yep," Mikey just hummed and kept walking away. Draken had his eye on Kisaki, and I was watching Takemichi rush up the stairs and straight to Kisaki, knocking his glasses off and to the ground with a punch straight to his dumb little face.

"The hell's wrong with you?!" Draken snapped, whipping around. "Takemitchy! Who do you think you are? You're not even in Toman! Are you trying to ruin our ceremony?!"

"Draken..." Takemichi just gasped, clearly having a hard time breathing normally right now.

"What's your problem, Takemitchy?" Mitsuya asked, sounding tense.

"You trying to ruin Mikey's reputation, asshole?" Smiley grinned tightly, and Mucho was also walking over, all of them ganging up on him.

"You got it all wrong, guys... I was just... I was just..." Takemichi panted.

"Okay," I stepped between the four and Takemichi, putting on my authoritative voice. I turned to the guy I called my brother, and took a step forward.

"'Michi, come on. I know you know better. Talk to me. What's up?" I had my eyes on him, but the rest of my senses behind me in case anyone tried anything I wouldn't know about.

"Hey now, what's going on?" Baji stepped out from the side, but that was okay since I was expecting him. "Things just got real interesting!"

He then rushed over and punched Takemichi and started beating on him. I pursed my lips, of course, wanting to protect the dude, but I did not want to get in Baji's way at the same time.

Thankfully, Mitsuya caught Baji's arm mid-swing, stopping him.

"Cut it out, Baji."

"Let me go, Mitsuya. I'll kill you." Baji warned, and I took that time to go over to Takemichi and help him stand and check him over. He was bleeding from his mouth and had a few scrapes and bruises from the punches, but that was about it.

"Mikey!" Baji then turned to yell at him, and he had stopped by some trees, just watching silently.

"Why are you even here, Baji? You caused the infighting in the gang, and have been banned from our gatherings." Mikey sounded tired.

"I just punched another shitty brat," Baji just smiled. "Since I ruined your precious gathering, are you gonna throw me out this time?"

"Baji..." Mikey warned.

"I'm leaving to join Valhalla," Baji stated plainly. "You don't need a trouble-maker like me around. Right, Mikey?"

"Baji!" Mikey finally snapped, but Baji was already turning away.

"I quit," He said as he walked down the steps with an easy smile on his face.

"Hey, 'Takemitchy,'" Kisaki was suddenly by us, and I tightened my grip on Takemichi's arm.

"What's better; your face, or your stomach?" He asked with a smile that sickened me.

"Haha, neither," I said quickly and tugged Takemichi behind me, facing Kisaki myself. "Like you're so fucking clever?"

I was probably just putting myself down as a target on Kisaki's shit list, but I could deal with that later. A little pissant like him didn't scare me. The fact that he was thirteen and thought himself such tough shit was laughable to me, really.

Besides, I had faced worse.

"And who are you?" Kisaki dropped the smile to stare at me.

That made me put a smile on as I had a thought. "You don't know? I think you should, given what I know about you."

"What?" His facade dropped for half a second, and I just kept smiling.

"Again, you think you're so fucking clever." I shook my head, then turned to leave, dragging Takemichi with me.

I paused by Draken and sighed. "Sorry about tonight, I think we're just gonna head home."

"Junko, wait." Mikey walked over, making everyone fall silent. "I wanna talk to Takemitchy."

I turned to my brother. "Are you gonna behave if I let you out of my sight?"

"Yes," He huffed, and I couldn't help but smile a little. "You're still the one who would kick people all the time."

"I was a baby, what else was I gonna do?" I rolled my eyes and pushed his shoulder. "I'll see you later."

As they walked off, Draken sighed next to me, and I looked over, surprised to see him with a gentle smile on his face.

"Can I take you home?" He asked.

"Yeah," I smiled back and walked down the steps with him to get to his bike. We didn't speak during the ride, not until he parked outside of my house, and I took my time getting off the bike, not wanting to leave him yet.

"You're a good sister, you know?" Draken hummed, and I just looked at him with a little smile.

"I try my best," I shrugged.

"You really look out for Takemitchy. I doubt he even realizes how much, though." He shook his head.

"Well," I sighed, cursing myself for getting depressing out of nowhere. "I didn't have anyone looking out for me. I don't want the same for him."

To that, Draken pulled me to his chest in a hug, squeezing me tight enough where I couldn't even lift my arms to hug him back.

"I'll look out for you, Junko. I promise you have someone looking out for you now."

Chapter Text

I dreamed a dream that night, a dream I didn't particularly like.

It wasn't exactly coherent. Like, there wasn't a story playing out or anything. There were just flashes. But they were very vivid, very clear to me.

There was a little girl curled up on the floor in a kitchen somewhere while two adults yelled at each other while she was just trying to figure out how to escape. It then shifted to walking in tiny steps from the living room to the kitchen and hesitating around the door because both adults were mad and the girl didn't know how to speak up. There were some other violent flashes, and finally it changed to the adult man yelling and being pushed out the front door by the adult woman, all while the little girl watched.

The woman then turned to the girl, grabbed her hands and made direct eye contact.

"Don't you ever let anyone speak to you that way, you hear me? No one." She said sternly, and the girl just nodded along silently.

I woke up with a gasp that morning, covered in sweat. I kicked the sheets off of me, which cooled me down a bit, then checked the time to see if I had enough time for a quick rinse in the shower.

I did, so that's what I did, going to school with damp hair that I would just let air-dry throughout the day.

Mai and Sora were still keeping their distance, but after last night, I couldn't make myself care right now.

At lunch, I sat by myself picking at my food, all until Akkun came up to me, the other three boys (minus Takemichi) were straggling behind him.

"Hey, Junko," He greeted me, so I nodded to him. Akkun was the only one out of the group brave enough to talk to me, so I had a bit of respect for him.

"Where's Takemichi?" I asked, looking around.

"In the classroom," He said, looking a little awkward. "About that... we heard that he became a member of Toman last night. As did you."

"Yeah," I just nodded, my brows furrowing. He said something similar to Takemichi... right before Kazutora introduced himself. Did that really happen right after the ceremony chapter/episode? It was getting a little hard to remember the pacing, but whatever.

"He just seems a bit preoccupied. Stressed, even." Akkun smiled faintly, showing concern.

I nodded. "I'll swing around once school is over and figure it out."

They went away, and I now had some thinking to do. I could probably worm myself into being escorted to Valhalla's base with Takemichi. But did I really want to sit through Baji's storytelling with only the visuals in my head? Did I want Hanma knowing I existed? There were quite a few gambles here that I wasn't sure I should make.

At the end of the school day, though, my feet carried me to Takemichi's classroom all the same. The Mizo Middle guys were already there, and there was no sign of Kazutora yet.

"Hanma's the 'acting leader.' Nobody knows who the real leader is. The Headless Angel. That's what people call Valhalla." Yamagishi explained to Takemichi, who was listening with more attention than I've ever seen him put into anything school-related.

"The former Moebius members are gathered under Hanma, Valhalla's number two, and the anti-Toman force gathered under the number three guy, Kazutora Hanemiya." He said, and right on cue, Kazutora appeared right next to me in the doorway.

"Excuse me," He said to me, so I automatically stepped in and to the side.

"Junko, hey." Takemichi glanced to me, then turned his attention back to Kazutora.

"Is school over already?" Kazutora looked around at the empty room.

"Who the hell? You don't look familiar." Makoto stood.

"That's not very polite! I am your senpai, after all." Kazutora just smiled brightly.

"Huh?" Makoto made a face. "Who are you? Never seen you here before."

I then practically heard it click in Yamagishi's head.

"Makoto, stop!"

"What's your deal, Yamagishi?"

"Hey, you guys know Takemichi Hanagaki?" Kazutora just asked, tilting his head so his earring jingled.

"T-Ta-Takemichi! It's him!" Yamagishi sputtered.

"Takemichi?" Kazutora asked.

"Huh?" Takemichi stared in confusion before Kazutora came over and scooped him up in a tight hug.

"This is Valhalla's number three, Kazutora Hanemiya!" Yamagishi squeaked.

"Yay! I'm so happy!" Kazutora said. "I had no idea there was a Toman member one grade below mine! Okay, Takemichi!  Let's go to Valhalla's base!" He cheered and started to pull Takemichi away, but I stepped back into the doorway to block them.

"Whoa, there," I held a hand up and Kazutora's smile dropped when he looked at me. "You want a Toman member? You got another one right here. In your grade, too."

"Is that right?" He hummed, his head tilting and earring jingling again. "Toman's changed quite a bit, then."

"That it has. For the better, though, I think." I said with my own tight smile.

Fuck, I think I just fucked myself over.

"Let's go then," Kazutora hummed and I stepped out to let him lead the way, Takemichi now following with me.

"That's the guy?"

"Who's the girl?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I said before I could even think about shutting up for once.

We walked out of the school and down the road with Kazutora and his little lieutenants, and I just tried my best to stay alert while Takemichi talked to Kazutora. I could not afford to get distracted right now, or that could mean serious trouble for me.

We came upon an abandoned arcade with the headless angel spray-painted out front, and Kazutora led us inside. It was dim and smoky and smelled horrible, but I did my best not to gag and hold my head high as we walked past a sea of staring teenage gangsters.

Kazutora led us deeper inside until we could hear grunting and blows being landed on flesh, and soon Baji beating up Chifuyu came into sight. Of course, Takemichi didn't know Chifuyu yet, so he had no idea what was going on.

"Kazutora, what's going on here?" He asked.

"It's a test of faith, of Baji's belief in our group. Leaving Toman to enter Valhalla is like switching religions. So, he needs to show us he's ready. The guy Baji's beating up right now is Toman's first-division vice captain. Baji's most trusted retainer." Kazutora explained while Takemichi gasped and I just looked at my nails.

"Toman is Valhalla's enemy. If he's betraying his old God, Mikey, then he's got to curb stomp his old beliefs." Kazutora hummed, seeming proud.

"Well?" Baji spoke up after catching his breath. "Is this good enough for you, Hanma?"

He then stood and took his hair down from the ponytail it was in, and Hanma raised his head with a nasty grin on his face.

"You're a real bastard," The dude eating chips with stretched ears said. "He was with you for a long time, right?"

"I'm surprised you went this far." The other one with the face tattoo said. And the third with the face mask (who I knew to be Kisaki's other lackey) remained silent.

"Shit, man. I didn't come here for a damn lecture." Baji huffed.

"KAZUTORA!" Hanma called in a loud voice.

"Yeah?" Kazutora just hummed.

"You ready?"

"Yep," Kazutora then turned to smile at Takemichi. "Here he is, Takemichi Hanagaki. He's Toman's newest member."

Hanma stepped over, but he paused in front of me, not Takemichi.

"Who's the girl?" He asked, seeming almost amused.

"She's another Toman member. She insisted on coming along." Kazutora shrugged, and I put a smile on my face as I looked up at Hanma.

His brows furrowed then as he stared at me. "You were there, at the shrine on August third. Yeah, I remember you." He nodded slowly.

"Aw, I'm honored." I grinned.

"Don't tell me you're the same girl I heard shit-talked Kiyomasa straight to his face?" He chuckled.

"That'd be me," I nodded.

"You," Baji hummed. "You're... the new assistant, right?" His head tilted at me.

"Yep," I popped my lips.

"Assistant?" Hanma hummed, all amused again. "What's your name?"

"Junko Hanagaki," I said with a little smile.

"Another Hanagaki?" He nodded, looking between me and Takemichi. "Well, two's better than one, I guess."

"Huh?" Takemichi looked freaked out.

"No one's gonna die, chill out." I hissed to him as Hanma walked back over to a ledge to stand over everyone watching.

"One of Toman's founding members, the first-division captain, Keisuke Baji.  He says he's gonna throw away Toman and join Valhalla!" He grinned. "Indeed, this is a very serious matter. Enlisting Baji will aid us greatly in crushing Toman. But there's just one problem remaining. He might be one of Toman's spies!"

That brought up some muttering, which Hanma smirked at.

"So I had Kazutora prepare a witness for us!" He announced. "Takemichi Hanagaki!"

"Yes?" Takemichi surprisingly didn't stutter.

"At Toman's gathering, what did Baji say in front of everyone there?" Hanma asked, Baji standing right under him, glaring at Takemichi.

"Um..." Takemichi blinked. "'I'm going to Valhalla. Toman is my enemy.' That's what he said."

"'You don't need a trouble-maker like me around, right, Mikey?'" I quoted in a fake deep voice while looking at my nails.

"What do you think, Kazutora?" Hanma asked.

"The test of faith, and the witness summoning. Don't you think that's good enough?" Kazutora hummed. "He'll be useful for fighting other gangs. And he knows what went on in Toman while I was away at reform school. Even if Baji is a spy, it's still worth letting him into Valhalla. Right, Baji? We will crush Toman. And we're gonna kill Mikey."

Baji didn't say anything for a moment, then bowed before Kazutora.

"Yeah. I'll use my power to help, Kazutora."

"Alright," Hanma seemed pleased. "From this day forward Keisuke Baji is a member of Valhalla!"

"Wait a minute!" Takemichi cried. "Baji! You helped found Toman alongside Mikey and the rest, didn't you? Why are you betraying them?!"

"Shut up, 'Michi..." I sighed and tried to pull his sleeve to get us away, but he wasn't budging.

"Just because I'm a founding member means I can't betray Toman? What a joke. That guy is one of the founders, too." He nodded to Kazutora.

"Huh?" Takemichi gasped, and I rolled my eyes as deeply as I could.

"Anyone can be a traitor for any reason, 'Michi. I'm sure the idiot has his reasons." I sighed.

"Kazutora resented Toman. I can never forget." Baji started, shooting me a glare before looking straight ahead into space.

"In two thousand three, the summer of our first year of middle school, we ran wild..." He dove into the story of Toman being founded, the day at the beach where Baji protected Mikey's dumb moped, Mikey fighting alongside Baji to protect him, and finally, Kazutora and Baji finding Mikey's dream bike and the plan to steal it, which as we all know, went sideways in the worst way possible.

"Kazutora stood up for me, so I didn't end up in juvie. I've been waiting for him to get released." Baji grinned as he finished the story.

"Nice, Baji." Hanma hummed. "In that case, I'll be more than happy to have you aboard. Here, it's Valhalla's uniform." He said and tossed Baji a white jacket.

"Cool, can we go now?" I sighed, tired of this fucking place and these fucking boys.

"Sure, but give Mikey a message for me, won't you?" Hanma smirked as he sat down.

"What?" I rolled my eyes over to him.

"A week from now, on October thirty-first. In the abandoned car lot. Valhalla versus Toman. Our final night!" He called.

"Cool, cool. Can't wait. See you. Byyyeee..." I hummed and turned, dragging Takemichi out by his sleeve.

Chapter Text

I was gonna do it. Fucking finally, I was going to do it. I had hyped myself up and I was gonna do it.

Well, I meant to do it.

'It' being writing all near one thousand words of All Too Well the ten-minute version in my little lyric notebook.

My hand was going to fucking fall off, but it would be worth it.

So, I packed a tote bag with my notebook and some nice pens, my wallet, some other shit, and I went off in search of a cafe to sit at and write it all down.

There was one near the shrine that had a nice aesthetic I could vibe to, so I chose that one and studied their drink menu before stepping in line to order.

They had toffeenut as a flavor, which was one of my favorites, and they offered almond and soy milk, too. So, I ended up ordering a soy milk toffeenut iced latte, and chose a table to settle at while my drink was being made.

"I walked through the door with you, the air was cold. But something about it felt like home somehow..." I scrawled down, making sure each letter was perfect, and a minute later, they called out my name. I got up to grab my drink, then sat again, getting comfortable since I was going to be here a while, and sipped my latte as I wrote down one of Taylor Swift's absolute masterpieces.

It was a ten-minute song with nearly a thousand words in it, so it was going to take me a while to remember all of them in order. I paused at several points just to quietly hum it to myself, running over the lyrics in my brain to refresh myself before writing them down. I also paused at several points to stretch my hand and give it a short break, and to drink more of my latte while I was at it.

"Well, maybe we got lost in translation, maybe I asked for too much. But maybe this thing was a masterpiece, till you tore it all up. Running scared, I was there, I remember it all too well..." I wrote, then had to run it back in my head to find my place again.

"And you call me up again... just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name... of being honest. I'm a crumpled-up piece of paper lying here, cos I remember it all, all, all..." I recited lowly to myself, writing each word down carefully, not paying a single bit of attention to my surroundings.

"They say all's well that ends well, but I'm in a new hell every time you double-cross my mind. You said if we had been closer... in age, maybe it would have been fine... and that made me want to die. The idea you had of me, who was she? A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel..." I trailed off, closing my eyes to think because going that fast made me lose my place yet again.

"Junko," A voice said, and I snapped my head up and saw Draken and Mikey standing before me, just watching me, and I sighed.

"I love you both to bits, but I am really focused right now, I cannot lose concentration." I said, looking back down at my notebook, going back a few lines and repeating them in my head to figure out where I was.

"We're not even here," Mikey said, and I could hear him smiling.

"...A never-needy, ever-lovely jewel..." I repeated out loud but to myself, squeezing my eyes shut to try and remember how she worded it. "Whose shine reflects on you... Not weeping in a party bathroom, some actress asking me what happened, you. That's what happened, you."

I nodded to myself as I wrote it down, now back on track. Peeking up once, I saw that Mikey and Draken had ordered drinks and were watching the counter while sitting at my table waiting for them to be made and called out.

"You who charmed my dad with self-effacing jokes, sipping coffee like you're on a late-night show. But then he watched me watch the front door all night willing you to come. And he said 'it's supposed to be fun, turning twenty-one...'" I wrote down, then set my pen down and shook out my hand for a second, rubbing my knuckles before picking up the pen again.

"Time won't fly... it's like I'm paralyzed by it. I'd like to be my old self again, but I'm still trying to find it... After plaid-shirt days, and nights when you made me your own. Now you mail back my things, and I walk home alone..." I mumbled, then tapped my fingers of my opposite hand on the table as I kept trying to think.

Once again, the Eras Tour popped into my head, specifically of Taylor performing the entirety of this song.

"And I was never good at telling jokes, but the punchline goes, 'I'll get older but your lovers stay my age.' From when your Brooklyn broke my skin and bones, I'm a soldier who's returning half her weight. And did the twin-flame bruise paint you blue? Just between us, did the love affair maim you, too? Cos in this city's barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow, and how it glistened as it fell... I remember it all too well..." I murmured to myself, then shut up as I debated writing the last lines that just repeated over and over until the song faded out.

I think the boys noticed I had finally gone quiet, as I was now just reading over the entire thing, looking for any mistakes I might've made.

"So, whatcha doing?" Mikey asked, and I peeked up again to see them just watching me.

"You'd laugh, so no." I just said.

"Would not," Draken said.

"He would," I nodded to Mikey.

"No, I wouldn't! Come on, I wanna know!" He pouted.

I sighed and slumped back in my seat a little, looking at my hand and stretching it out to get rid of the soreness.

"I uh, write song lyrics." I admitted. "Well, I can't play any instruments, that being said. But a song without music is basically just a poem. So, yeah. I write that shit." I shrugged, trying to not make it a big deal or sound impressive or anything.

"Well, can you sing?" Mikey just blinked.

"What?" I asked, now confused.

"You write lyrics, but can't play an instrument. Can you at least sing?" He asked.

"I mean, anyone can sing. I don't know if I sing well, but yeah." I shrugged a shoulder.

"Sing me something," He smiled.

"Mikey, we're in public." I stared at him.

"Does Takemitchy know you do this?" His head tilted.

"Yes, he thinks it's weird." I sighed, stirring the straw around in the last bit of my drink.

"He thinks it's weird?" Draken asked and I nodded. "What's weird about it?"

I just shrugged. "Speaking of, Mikey, I heard you threatened to kill him if he didn't bring Baji back to Toman?"

"Yeah?" Mikey just sipped his drink through a straw, looking at me.

"...Do you not see why I might have an issue with that?" I blinked at him.

"Please, Junko. If we killed someone every time we threatened to, there'd be no one left on Earth." Mikey rolled his eyes.

"Yes, but you know how Takemichi is. He takes everything so goddamn seriously." I rolled my eyes and finished off my drink.

"He literally thinks you're gonna beat him half to death if he doesn't make progress with Baji, which we know isn't gonna happen." I said, and Mikey stared at me, his brows drawing together.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "Why isn't it going to happen?"

I set down my empty cup and looked Mikey right in the eye as I spoke so he would know I'm dead serious.

"Look, I haven't been around long, I know that. But I've seen enough to figure out how shit works and will probably go down." I started.

"Okay?" Mikey said, letting me continue.

"Kazutora came around and took me and Takemichi to Valhalla's base, alright? We were there to witness Baji's initiation into Valhalla. He beat the absolute fuck out of Chifuyu, then told us all the story about how he and Kazutora... you know. Shinichiro." I trailed off, seeing Mikey's eyes grow darker at the mention of his brother.

I lowered my voice then. "Now, I don't know if I fully believe it, but Baji said he's just been waiting for Kazutora to be released. That tells me that he has had some sort of plan in his head for a while now. I don't think Valhalla was specifically a part of that plan, but I do think joining up with Kazutora wherever he ended up was."

Mikey sat back, just staring at me with a thoughtful look on his face.

"You're saying Baji was always on his side?" He asked.

"I don't know," I shook my head, bullshitting my way through this for whatever reason. I'll think up a reason later. "It just makes sense that way to me."

I couldn't mention Baji going undercover into Valhalla to expose Kisaki, because technically, I wasn't supposed to know about that. That was Chifuyu's and Takemichi's business. I wasn't supposed to have any clue about it. Given that information I wasn't supposed to have, I was leading Mikey somewhat to the same place with what I did have that could be considered "public knowledge."

I had to be really fucking careful about this, though. There were tons and tons of secrets I knew about that I wasn't supposed to know at this point in time. Like how Baji, Mikey, and Sanzu were all childhood friends, how Senju was the reason Sanzu got scarred by Mikey, how Baji had a fearful respect for Mikey to this day because of that incident.

Baji loved Mikey; there was no doubt in my mind about that. But Kazutora was his best friend.

About Kazutora, now that he's popped into my mind, I didn't like the guy. He was a decently-written character, but I still didn't like him. And now that I've actually met him face-to-face, I liked him even less. I wouldn't go as far to say that I couldn't stand him, but it was close.

I remember my first day waking up in this world, and just moving on autopilot but having no clue what was going on around me or who I even was. I remember knowing my name here was Junko Hanagaki, but I also know that's not my true identity.

I don't actually know what my real name is, the name I had before I appeared here with all the knowledge I had from being obsessed with the series in my old life. I've tried to remember, but I can't.

What I did remember though, were those violent flashes I sometimes dreamed about. I remember sitting curled up on the dirty kitchen floor, watching my parents yell at each other, my mom moving to stand in front of me and block me from my father's view. I remember needing something from them in the living room but not knowing how to voice that while they were fighting. Somehow, even at that young age, I knew that interrupting would be a bad idea for me.

Most importantly, I remember my mother kicking my father out of our house for good. I remember him screaming as she physically pushed him out the front door. I remember him calling her a bitch and moving to hit her and sticking his middle fingers up in her face. I remember her slamming the door shut and turning to me, telling me with tears in her eyes to never let anyone speak to me that way ever.

I remember later, when I was a bit older, my mom telling me about all the times she called the cops, called a lawyer, and how every time they dismissed her and the abuse we were enduring. I remember looking at a picture of a cop holding a child's hand in my elementary school, and thinking how it was supposed to show us kids how cops were friendly and could be trusted. I remember thinking that I already knew better. I'd experienced it, after all.

Even here, as I sat at the table with Mikey and Draken, more flashes of memories began to flood my mind.

And that's why I couldn't stand Kazutora. I may not have experienced domestic abuse in this life, but I surely and clearly remembered it from my past life. I wasn't going to let the past fester and consume me only to eventually drive me to insanity.

As I had promised and threatened before, I was not going to be a fucking victim this time around.

Chapter Text

It was now Halloween, and I wasn't getting dressed up in some slutty costume and hanging out with Mai and Sora at a party or something.

No, instead I was suiting and gearing up for this fucking car lot fight and mentally preparing myself to see Baji stab himself and die.

I was pulling on and buttoning my Toman uniform, slipping a pocket knife into my pants pocket just for in case I needed to stab a bitch or cut my way through someone. Mikey probably wouldn't like it, but for now, what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Takemichi left early to meet up with Chifuyu and scope out the place, so I left by myself and arrived just a little early as well.

"Hey, girly. You sure you're in the right place?" Some fucking rando with a cigarette in his mouth called to me from a good ten feet away, attracting eyes to me.

I paused and looked over at him, then gestured to my uniform with my hand.

"What's it look like?" I rolled my eyes and kept walking, looking around. Partly looking for Takemichi and Chifuyu, partly keeping an eye out for the Haitani brothers, since I wanted to know if they looked anything like they were depicted. I imagined their aura or vibe or whatever to be intriguing yet intimidating, so I just wanted to see if that was accurate or not.

"Junko!" A voice called, and I looked over and saw Mitsuya waving at me, Hakkai standing behind him, silent as ever. I hummed and walked over to join them.

"What were you doing?" He asked.

"Lookin' around," I shrugged carelessly.

"Okay... have you met Hakkai yet? I don't think you have." He then gestured to the guy, who was refusing to look at me.

"Hey," I put on a smile, and just watched as he kept staring above my head, saying nothing. "Alright, then."

"It's not you. He just... doesn't know how to talk to girls." Mitsuya rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Not like being a member of Toman would make that any easier, I guess." I just hummed, then looked past him and saw more Toman members gathering together.

"Haha! It's party time!" A voice called. "Toman and Valhalla ain't worth shit!"

"He's funny," I said in a dead tone, making Mitsuya grin next to me.

"I'm the one overseeing today's fight. The name's Hansen, from ICBM, the Ikebukuro Criminal Black Members."

"Whoa, I'm so fucking scared..." I sighed as I checked my nails over.

"Junko, please." Mitsuya said under his breath.

"You guys ready to throw down?!" He called then. "Fighters! Make your entrance! Tokyo Manji Gang! Valhalla!"

We walked forward, and I suddenly realized I was right at the front with Mitsuya, directly behind Mikey and Draken. I had a good, clear view of Hanma, Kazutora, the other three Valhalla captains, but I didn't see Baji anywhere.

"Both teams' representatives, step forward!" Another guy called, and Draken and Kazutora met in the middle with Hansen.

"A five-on-five with your best guys, or an all-out melee with everyone? Which will it be?" Hansen asked.

"Valhalla picked this fight with us. So, you decide, Kazutora." Draken said.

"Huh?"

"We just have one condition!" Draken said a little louder before Kazutora could say anything else. "To rescue Keisuke Baji. If Toman wins this battle, we will take Baji back. That's all there is to it."

"Huh?" Kazutora grinned tightly. "Baji joined our gang on his own. There's no taking him back now!"

"We're taking Baji back. That's all there is to it." Draken just repeated, staring down at Kazutora, and I pursed my lips at his tone.

"You fucker... you think you're hot shit?" Kazutora clenched his fist at his side.

"Hey, don't start punching just yet." Hansen made a move to stop him, which only resulted in Kazutora punching him twice to send him to the ground.

"Damn, what a lameass." Kazutora just smiled. "Overseer? Conditions? You guys think this is playtime? I see you brought the girl here, is she gonna play mommy when we beat you all to death?"

I stared right at Kazutora as he grinned, and even Draken looked back at me. He started to raise his hand as if to tell me to calm down, but he was a bit too late for that.

"Oh, my God, you're so funny!" I said in my most sarcastic voice. "Where'd you get your sense of humor, Kazutora? Same place you got your little bitch genes? Huh? Your mom or your dad?"

I couldn't stop myself even if I wanted to, and I frankly didn't want to as I saw his face fall into shock, and then pure anger, all while I smirked straight at him.

I may have just painted a target on my back, but I'd figure it out and deal with it later.

Hanma laughed out loud, almost doubling over, getting everyone's attention off of me, thankfully.

"Shall we begin, Mikey?!" He called with a big, stupid grin on his face. "Let's do this, Toman!" He yelled and everyone started running towards the other gang and got the fight started.

Mikey stood still in the middle, waiting for Kazutora to come to him, and I was standing a bit behind them, watching as Draken came and blocked Kazutora's first swing aimed at Mikey.

"Think you can take on Mikey?" Draken huffed. "You're never gonna be as good as he is!"

"Draken!" Kazutora had that tight grin on again as Hanma stalked up behind Draken and kicked him back.

"Shit!" Draken swore.

"Haha! You gotta deal with me now, Draken!" Hanma laughed.

"Come get some, Hanma." Draken glared at him.

"Hey, Kazutora! Mikey's all yours!" Hanma called with a wide grin. "Let's have some fun, vice leader."

"What are you staring at, cutie?" Someone said, and I snapped my head over to three Valhalla guys making their way towards me.

"Not you, that's for sure." I scoffed.

"You, uh," He looked like he was trying not to laugh, which ticked a nerve. "You had some mean words there for Kazutora."

"And?" I stared him down.

"Kind of a bitch yourself, aren't you?" He just smirked at me, the other two guys chuckling behind him.

I hummed, tilted my head to get the right angle, then quickly but swiftly kicked him square in the crotch, sending him down to the ground on his knees as he yelped in pain.

"That was a dirty move!" One of the guys shouted at me as they both backed up.

"What do I care?" I hummed, taking a careful step forward, my eyes on the guy on the ground. "I'm a bitch, you said? At least I'm not some pathetic-ass worm clutching my balls on the ground." I spat.

It was like instinct at this point; the ideas were coming too fast for me to decide what to do before I was doing them. I lifted my leg again and kicked him in the nose, knocking him backwards as blood gushed down his face.

"Get up," I taunted, then aimed a sharp kick to his ribs, and heard him groan in pain. "You're a fighter, aren't you? You're not gonna get up? You're just gonna let some girl kick the shit out of you?"

He remained lying there, curled up on the ground, and because it was a free-for-all brawl here, I aimed my last and hardest kick to his face, hearing a crunch as I made contact before I turned to see who else wanted to try and take me down.

But the Valhalla boys were inching away, and the Toman guys were giving me uneasy looks.

"What?" I asked somewhat harshly.

"Junko, you don't gotta shit-talk them when they're down." Smiley said, his smile wavering.

"Keeps 'em down," I said as I walked past him, people clearing the way for me as I walked, looking around for some new idiot to target.

I eventually walked far enough into the crowd where I found Mitsuya holding a beaten-up Takemichi, and I came right over and kneeled by him.

"God, look at you," I sighed, turning his face so I could see the cuts and bruises. "Mom's gonna kill you." I smiled, making him chuckle tiredly.

"I've got him, Mitsuya. You rejoin the fight." I said, and he just nodded and got back up and back to punching people.

"Junko..." Takemichi said, and I looked back at him, only just slightly worried.

"You..." He struggled for a second. "I didn't know you could be so mean."

I pushed some of his hair back, then wiped a little blood from his temple.

"I'll explain someday. Just not today." I said and he just nodded.

"MIKEY!" Draken then screamed, and we both looked over to where he was staring at the car pile, where Mikey was lying with Kazutora and two others above him.

"Mikey!" Takemichi gasped, and we both stood to watch.

"Did you know, Mikey?" Kazutora started to announce with his arms in the air, one hand holding the bent pipe he used to hit Mikey with. "If you kill people, that makes you evil. But, if you kill bad guys, that makes you a hero!"

The two guys then took their positions holding Mikey in place while Kazutora took hits on him, which was honestly a little painful to watch, even though I knew what comes next.

"That's not fair!" Takemichi hissed. "They're holding him so he can't move. That's not a fight!"

"To bastards like those in Valhalla, like Kazutora, that doesn't matter." I just told him, and he looked a tie between astonished and hurt.

Mikey finally raised his leg, taking down all three guys, but then fell to his knees and didn't move.

Kisaki's other lackey, the one in the face mask, took charge leading Valhalla guys to attack Mikey. Which, you know, would've worked maybe, if Kisaki didn't have everything planned to the letter.

Takemichi ran forward to try and fight off some of the guys heading for Mikey, along with some other Toman members, meanwhile I stood and watched, then decided to walk over to the car pile, slipping through the crowd of fighters and dodging here and there.

Kisaki, in the meantime, punched down his lackey before he could touch Mikey, and immediately began getting recognition and praise for it.

This, of course, lasted just barely a minute before Baji swooped in behind him and swung his own pipe at Kisaki's head.

"Baji beat down Kisaki!" Valhalla cheered.

"Kisakiii," Baji taunted. "I'm gonna smash your face in till it doesn't even look like one anymore!"

Kisaki's other lackey, the big guy, threw Baji down the car pile, and though I couldn't hear them, I knew that this was the moment Kisaki gave the order to kill Baji.

I watched as Chifuyu stood up against Baji, trying to stop him, but wouldn't actually fight against him. I watched as Takemichi rushed forward to hold Baji in place. I watched Baji hit Takemichi to try and get him off. I even watched Takemichi piece together that Kazutora was the one who was supposed to kill Baji, not Kisaki.

And so, I watched Kazutora stab Baji in the back, quite literally.

Takemichi pushed Kazutora away a moment too late, and I closed my eyes briefly and sighed, still preparing myself to actually witness Baji's death up close and not on the pages of a manga or through a screen.

When I looked back up again, Baji had just hit both Chifuyu and Takemichi, then turned away to tie up his hair before taking on the fifty guys from the third division under Kisaki.

I kept walking toward the pile as Baji fought, taking people down as easy as breathing, and finally, as he made his way to Kisaki, pointing the sharpened end of the pipe at his neck.

I watched with rapt attention as Baji started to cough blood, and I started to bite my lip in worry, scared of what I knew was coming next.

Chapter Text

"I see now!" Kisaki exclaimed as Mikey slowly started to get to his feet. "Kazutora lured Baji into Valhalla so he could kill him when he least expected it! Right, leader?"

"I wanted to kill you," Mikey said as he started to make his way down the car pile. "For so long. As soon as you got outta juvie, I was gonna kill you. But you know who kept warning me not to...? Baji."

He kept walking down, and I would've kept watching him, but for some reason I kept my eyes on Kisaki, still at the top, and I think after a minute, he noticed.

All he did was stare back at me though, this wordless communication passing between us.

On my end, an endless string of profanities and violent threats of ending him.

On Kisaki's, something smug with a hint of cockiness and a dare to prove myself.

"Mikey," Draken gasped as Mikey met the ground, expressionless as everyone was silent to see what would happen next.

"Kenny," Mikey simply said as he approached him and Hanma, now at a standstill. "This fight is already over."

"Huh?" Hanma blanked. "Hey, hey, hey! The fight's over? You lookin' down on me, Mikey? That's not something you get to decide, bitch!"

And with that, Mikey kicked Hanma's head into the ground without even blinking.

"See? It's over." Mikey said, scaring a few, but stunning everyone.

Valhalla guys started yelling and running away a few seconds later, leaving the Toman guys and the spectators.

"People will always betray you..." Kazutora came back to coherency. "Let's end this, Mikey. Will you die? Or will I?"

Mikey punched Kazutora then, knocking him down, emotionless as he stood above him.

"Since all you're good at is destroying the things I care about," Mikey started. "I'll destroy you, right here and now."

He then kicked Kazutora in the head, and moved to sit on top of him before beating his face in, not stopping even when Draken and the captains began to worry.

I looked over at Baji where he lay with Chifuyu kneeling by him, waiting for him to get up and do what I was fearing most.

"Mikey!" Baji eventually yelled, struggling to get up, and Mikey stopped in place, looking over his shoulder to see Baji staggering as he tried to stand.

"You got mad on my account?" Baji smiled as he walked forward. "Thanks, man."

"You gotta stay down, Baji!" Chifuyu yelled, and I'm sure everyone could hear the pure panic in his voice.

"I'm not gonna die," He said, standing tall and confident. "A little wound like this ain't gonna kill me!"

I heard the swish and click of the knife in Baji's hand and just tried to take deep breaths and prepare myself for the horror of watching someone die.

"So, don't worry about it, Kazutora." Baji said, then raised his hands before plunging the knife into his stomach.

"I'd never let you take my life."

He collapsed again, Chifuyu rushing down to cradle him with Takemichi nearby this time.

I didn't realize how fast the tears were swelling in my eyes and how quickly my breaths were coming as Baji said his last words to Takemichi and Chifuyu. Draken was nearby and noticed me, tearing his eyes away only to come over to me and put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to his side.

Mikey resumed beating Kazutora once Chifuyu screamed out in anguish when Baji stopped breathing, and I closed my eyes and finally let the tears fall.

There was another scream a moment later, and I looked up just in time to see Takemichi forcing his way between Mikey and Kazutora.

"Move, or you're dead, too." Mikey warned.

"We gotta stop this, Mikey!" Takemichi said, only to be met with a punch in the face from Mikey. I started to step forward, but Draken gripped my arm where he held me, not letting me move away from him.

"Baji didn't want this!" Takemichi just yelled, trying to get up again, so Mikey kicked him down.

"Don't you dare talk about Baji." Mikey warned with a dangerous look on his face.

"Don't talk about Baji?" Takemichi panted while he lay on his back on the ground. "Baji's dead, God damn it!"

He then got up, stumbling as he threw his jacket off, and the charm that would change everything flew out of the pocket as he did so.

"Why don't you get it?! What do you think Baji died for in the first place?!" Takemichi continued to yell, not noticing that Mikey was only paying attention to the charm on the ground now.

Takemichi yelled and yelled, all while Mikey calmly walked over and kneeled to pick up the charm.

"Takemitchy, where'd you get this charm from?" He asked, his voice finally not drenched in anger and violence.

"During that gathering. I found it at the shrine." Takemichi sniffed while rubbing his face.

"A charm...?" Draken gasped.

"Is that...?" Mitsuya realized at the same exact time.

"Baji kept it... all this time?" Mikey stared at it in his hand. "This charm is from that day... This is the charm from the day we formed our gang. I didn't create Toman. Baji did. If one of us gets hurt, we'll all protect them, he said. He wanted a gang that's all for one, and one for all. That's what our gang was founded on."

Next to me, tears sprung up in Draken's eyes, but he kept on a stern, straight face as usual. It pained me to see him like this, hurting inside and still keeping a tough exterior.

"Baji was fighting all by himself... this whole time... to uphold the promise he made that day." Takemichi cried, wiping his face repeatedly.

"I'm sorry, Baji." Mikey sighed where he stood over Baji's body.

Not two seconds later, sirens were heard and drawing nearer. Toman guys looked up in alarm, and the spectator gangs started calmly clearing out.

"I'm staying with Baji." Kazutora spoke up, now sitting up. "You guys go on... this is my fault. I want to take responsibility."

"Understood." Mikey just said and started to walk away.

"Toman's leaving, too!" Draken called, me still under his arm, and we started to walk out of the lot.

"Mikey," Kazutora stood then. "I won't ask you to forgive me. I'll live the rest of my life with Shinichiro's and Baji's deaths on my shoulders."

And with that, he bowed to Mikey, who didn't say anything and kept walking out with the rest of us.

"Come on," I said in a small voice, my arm coming around Draken's back to lead him away. His grip tightened on me, and within minutes, I was climbing on the back of his bike, headed to the shrine.

It was just Mikey, Takemichi, Mitsuya, Draken, and I. I was trying very hard to keep a straight face, but certain lyrics were running around my head, making it hard to stem the tears, so I kept wiping my cheeks clean and trying to set my face.

We all sat around the shrine, a pool of tears and sniffles. I wished desperately to pull myself back together, but my stupid, stupid mind had to go and relate shit and make connections.

"Hey," Draken was the first to speak softly, and he turned to me and started to run his thumbs under my eyes, wiping away the tears for me. "Come on, you don't have to act so strong. Not now. Talk to me, Junko."

I pressed my lips together tightly and shook my head, knowing the floodgates would break if I tried to speak.

"What's going on in that head of yours, huh?" He tried to smile for me, which just broke my heart.

"Just... a song." I sniffed and rubbed my eyes clean. "Stupid, sad lyrics." I shook my head.

"I wanna hear," Mikey said, surprising me.

"Mikey..." I sighed.

"I don't care if you don't sing them, I still wanna hear." He said, a patient look on his face.

I found myself taking in a shaky breath before speaking, not singing, the words.

"I guess you really did it this time... Left yourself in your warpath. Lost your balance on a tightrope. Lost your mind trying to get it back..."

My voice wavered a little bit, and I kept my eyes on the sky, refusing to look at anyone right now.

"Wasn't it easier in your lunchbox days? Always a bigger bed to crawl into. Wasn't it beautiful when you believed in everything, and everybody believed in you?" I sniffled, still trying to keep my voice as steady as possible as I teared up.

"It's alright, just wait and see. Your string of lights are still bright to me. Oh, who you are is not where you've been. You're still an innocent... Did some things you can't speak of, but at night you live it all again. You wouldn't be shattered on the floor now, if only you had seen what you know now then. Wasn't it easier in your firefly-catching days? Everything out of reach, someone bigger brought down to you. Wasn't it beautiful, running wild till you fell asleep? Before the monsters caught up to you...?"

I took a shaky breath and closed my eyes briefly to stop myself from crying, still refusing to look at anyone else and their tears as well.

"Time turns flames to embers, you'll have new Septembers. Everyone of us has messed up, too. Minds change like the weather. I hope you remember, today is never too late to be brand new..."

My voice cracked then, the tears slipping down my cheeks, and I merely whisper-sang the last chorus.

"It's alright, just wait and see. Your string of lights are still bright to me. Oh, who you are is not where you've been. You're still an innocent. It's okay, life is a tough crowd. Fifteen and still growing up now. Who you are is not what you did. You're still an innocent... Lost your balance on a tightrope... it's never too late to get it back."

I squeezed my eyes shut then, trying my very absolute hardest to keep from breaking down into tears. Draken had taken my hand in his at some point and was now squeezing it within his grasp.

I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

"I think Kazutora's gonna kill himself." I said, lowering my head as the four boys turned to stare at me.

"What makes you say that?" Mikey asked, clear tear-tracks on his cheeks along with lines of blood from his forehead.

"How he worded what he said to you. He said he'd live the rest of his life with their deaths on his shoulders. To me, it doesn't seem like he means for that to be very long." I said carefully.

Kazutora had to save Takemichi in the future after all. He couldn't kill himself now. I'd make sure as soon as possible, Draken would visit and get it through his head that Baji wants Mikey and Kazutora to live and forgive above all else.

Chapter Text

So, I knew the meeting where Valhalla joins Toman and Takemichi gets promoted to first-division captain is coming, I just didn't have a specific date for it. Once again, I was hanging around just waiting for a sign to get me back on track.

I had decided to treat myself for all my hard work lately and go shopping for some new clothes and shit. I spent a good long while looking for clothing stores with alternative-style clothes, and prayed that they might have some stuff on sale cos I knew alt-styles could get expensive as fuck.

In my previous life, I was good at saving money even though I didn't make a lot of money. I also bought expensive clothes and shoes little by little when I did have a little excess money to spare, all in the name of looking like I had more money than I usually did.

And it worked, too. I kept my clothes and shoes in pristine condition, until they literally would start falling apart, so no one would know how long I'd had them. My friends constantly thought I had more money than I really did, and I never bothered to correct them and share my secrets. I was just very good at budgeting and saving, that was it.

So, now, here, in this life, I may not have a job yet, but I did have family money. And I could sell my shit for a little more extra cash, too.

That was the first thing I started working on. I sorted through my closet and picked out stuff I wouldn't wear, made sure they were clean, and bagged them up and took them to a second-hand shop to sell. There was a lot I found I wouldn't wear, so I made a good amount of money off of it all.

But today, I was treating myself out to a shopping spree. I had three different stores I wanted to check out, and gave myself a spending limit on each store. Plus, I was doing my best to keep in mind to only pick things that I would wear on a normal day out. Nothing too fancy or showy just yet. I could be patient for that.

I had finished up in one store and was flipping through the shelves at the second, humming to myself as I looked over every inch of the place to see what was available.

"This ain't for the best... my reputation's never been worse, so... you must like me for me..." I mumbled to myself as I flicked through hanger after hanger. "We can't make... any promises now can we, babe? But you can make me a drink. One, two, three, let's go, bitch. Dive bar on the east side, where you at? Phone lights up my nightstand in the black. Come here, you can meet me in the back..."

I nodded my head along, not seeing anything very interesting to me as I moved along the racks.

"Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you. Oh, damn, never seen that color blue. Just think of the fun things we could do... cos I like you..."

"Hey," A gentle voice said, and I snapped my head up and saw Draken smiling at me from the other side of the rack.

"Hey," I greeted, then furrowed my brows. "What are you doing here?" I looked around, confused as to why he'd be in a store like this. I noticed the employees peeking at him, and who could blame them, but they were probably wondering the same thing.

"Saw you in the window. Thought I might say hi and join you." He just smiled.

"Oh, okay." I nodded, having no problem with that.

"So, you're shopping?" He came around the aisle to join my side, which I felt slightly smug about.

"Yeah, I need to refresh my closet with things I'll actually wear." I chuckled. "I sold like, more than half of my shit. I wasn't wearing any of it."

"Ah," He nodded, watching me sort through the hangers some more. He followed me through the store as I picked pieces out, then waited patiently while I tried them on and made decisions on what I would get.

After paying for what I had chosen, we stepped outside, two shopping bags in my hand now.

"Alright, one last store..." I sighed, then looked at Draken. "You up for that?"

"Sure," He just grinned at me, and I stretched up to give him a kiss. He was smiling sweetly when I pulled back, then took my free hand and let me lead the way to the next store.

"You were singing something when I came over to you," Draken said, and I glanced over at him. "One of your songs?"

"Yeah," I smiled shyly.

"Do I get to hear?" He asked.

"Not... now." I decided.

"But eventually?" He squeezed my hand.

"Yes," I chuckled.

"I'll hold you to that," Draken hummed, smiling softly to himself.

I found the last store on my list and went in with him, and started looking around, combing through the entire place so I wouldn't miss anything.

"You're very thorough." Draken chuckled as he watched me and stuck by my side.

"I don't wanna miss any options." I shrugged.

I had chosen basic items in the other stores, like T-shirts, jeans, shorts, some skirts and a couple dresses. Now I wanted some slightly flashy pieces.

"That's quite a short skirt, Junko." Draken hummed while I checked out a pleated black miniskirt.

"Scared you'll have to beat up guys when I wear it?" I hummed, glancing at him with a little smirk. Draken just stared back at me for a second, then sighed.

"No," He said carefully. "Not scared. I'm down to beat up any guy for any reason. But I also know you could beat them up yourself if you wanted. I just don't want them seeing anything if you do have to fight them."

"Aw," I chuckled and held his cheek in my palm for a moment. "It's like you care about me."

"I do care about you," He grabbed my hand and kissed the backs of my fingers, making me blush.

I took about an hour in that store, picking out stuff and trying it on and making my decisions. When I was done and had my third shopping bag in hand, Draken tugged on my shirt sleeve.

"Come over to mine for a bit," He said softly, making me smile at how gentle he could be.

"Okay," I nodded and followed him further into the city, straight into the red-light district. I knew I should probably act surprised that Draken lived in a brothel and was raised by sex workers, but I wasn't sure how surprised I should act that would be believable.

I supposed when the elevator opened on the fourth floor to let us out and a girl was standing at the front desk in just a see-through baby doll dress, that was a good time.

"Oh," I hummed and blinked, and she turned to look at me with the manager, I'm assuming the older guy was.

"Kenny's bringing a girl home?" He grinned. "That's a first."

Draken was watching me, I guess studying my expressions, but when he said that, his head snapped over to glare at the guy. I chuckled and stepped forward out of the elevator, Draken keeping close behind me.

"Glad to hear I'm a first. Hi, I'm Junko." I smiled, doing my best to be polite and unbothered.

"Okay," Draken just sighed and started to pull me down the hall. I snickered all the way down, but set my face straight when we got into his room and I saw he wasn't amused.

"Whoa, hey. Did I...?" I set down my bags as he shut the door, stepping towards him.

"I just..." He sighed with his eyes closed. "Gimme a second."

"Okay," I nodded, and shut myself up and just stood there while he took a moment to breathe and finally opened his eyes and looked at me, something close to pain written there.

"You... don't care?" He asked softly.

"About what?" I blinked.

"That I live here, in a brothel." He sighed, sounding so tired. "I haven't brought many people around, but when I do..."

"Hey," I walked over and took his face into my hands as gently as I could, getting him to look me in the eye. "You can't help your living situation, and I'm not one to judge someone on something they can't help. Sure, it's unorthodox, but it's your home."

Draken watched me for another moment before he leaned down to kiss me, this one prolonged and gentle. His hands slid across my arms and gently wrapped around my wrists, bringing them down so he could hold my hands in his.

I was kissing him back, enjoying every second we were connected, and then I heard the moans coming from the next room over. I grinned against his lips, unable to help it, and he sighed again and just touched his forehead to mine.

"You get used to it, I promise." He mumbled, and I just giggled.

"Yeah, I bet." I hummed, and saw him open his eyes and peek at me.

"You really don't care?" He asked, probably just needing the reassurance.

"I could not care less," I said and pressed another kiss to his lips before pulling back, then looked around his room, finding the infamous photo wall.

"What's this?" I grinned, going over to look at all of the pictures while he sat on his bed and watched me. I took my time studying them, seeing nothing but friends with wide smiles on their faces.

"It's everyone I hold dear to me," He just said.

"Am I gonna make it up here someday?" I looked over with a teasing grin, and just saw him smiling gently at me. He then reached over and touched a picture that was right beside his bed, and curiosity got the best of me. I went over and crawled onto his bed beside him to study the picture, and saw it was of me, smiling contentedly to myself, and I couldn't place where or when it was taken.

"When...?"

"Doesn't matter," Draken said and turned my face towards him so he could kiss me again. I turned the rest of my body to face him, kneeling on his mattress, and after a moment, he broke the kiss and quickly lifted me up and onto his lap before I could protest.

Not that I wanted to protest or anything. I got a grip on his shoulder to steady myself and found myself looking down into those dark eyes of his, always so full of care for me.

"Are you sure?" I found myself asking softly.

"Sure about what?" Draken asked, holding my hips in his large hands.

"About... having me this close," I blushed.

"I want you as close as I can get you," Draken sighed, tilting his head to press a kiss to my jaw. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah," I breathed, tilting my head to give him more access to that side of my jaw and my neck. Draken took a second to push my hair back over my shoulder, then somehow pulled me even closer, flush against him, and he kissed at my neck, leaving a trail, going up and down as he pleased.

I was pressing my lips tightly together, trying not to make any noise, but I fucking loved neck kisses; my neck was easily one of my most sensitive spots.

And, like he heard it inside my head, Draken trailed the kisses up my neck and to my ear, which he then gently bit, and I let out a shaky sigh, my fingernails digging slightly into his shirt.

Draken's grip tightened on my hips, and my thoughts ran fucking rampant. I was growing a little uncomfortable between my thighs, and I wondered if I told him, would he want to do anything about it?

I mean, again, he grew up around sex workers. It's a no-brainer that he should know how everything works. Plus, the place is obviously stocked with condoms and lube and whatever else may be needed. Draken was the responsible type, and I could see that going either way in a situation like this. He could either refuse and want to wait for whatever reason, or he could grab a condom and have the safest sex imaginable.

But also... he did get a tattoo in the fucking fifth grade, so... maybe not that responsible.

Now, I, I was twenty-six. I was not a virgin in my past life. I tried my best to have safe sex, as in, I always insisted on condoms and I regularly took birth control. I've even taken the morning-after pill a couple of times, just to be extra certain, and I've even gone far enough to take a pregnancy test twice, I think, just to be extra extra certain.

I have not taken birth control once in this current life. So, if we did end up having sex, I'd definitely insist on using a condom, which I'm sure Draken would have no problem agreeing to.

"Hey, you okay?" Draken squeezed my waist, pulling back from kissing my skin to look at me, and I blinked stupidly at him. "You went all quiet."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I shook my head with a faint smile. "Just got lost in my head, I think."

"Do you want to stop?" He asked.

"No!" I said quickly, then reeled myself back in when I saw his smirk. "...No."

"Someone seems to like having her neck and ears kissed... and bit." He hummed, tracing down my neck with his fingertips, giving me shivers where I sat on his lap. I squirmed just a little, still trying to muffle myself, which only made Draken chuckle at me.

Wanting to shut him up, I leaned forward and kissed him hard, which seemed to surprise him for a second before he was kissing me back with the same intensity. Before I knew it, Draken was licking over my lips, and I was parting them against his, allowing him to meet my tongue with his own.

Now we were both sighing and humming out little moans against each other's lips. My arms had made their way around his neck, and Draken was holding the backs of my thighs now, but didn't dare go any higher. I wanted to show him that it was okay, but I didn't want to seem like I was pushing him. So, I just let it be for now and enjoyed the closeness.

Chapter Text

"Nice to meet you, where you been? I could show you incredible things. Magic, madness, heaven, sin. Saw you there, and I thought, 'oh, my God, look at that face. You look like my next mistake. Love's a game, wanna play...?' Ay!"

I was in my room, getting ready for the upcoming Toman meeting later today, where I think Takemichi was going to be nominated by Chifuyu as the next first-division captain.

"New money, suit and tie. I can read you like a magazine. Ain't it funny, rumors fly. And I know you heard about me, so hey, let's be friends. I'm dying to see how this one ends. Grab your passport, and my hand. I can make the bad guys good for a weekend!"

I was less focused on getting dressed and more focused on dancing around my room, chanting out the lyrics.

"Cherry lips, crystal skies. I could show you incredible things. Stolen kisses, pretty lies. You're the king, baby, I'm your queen. Find out what you want, be that girl for a month. Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh no. Screaming, crying, perfect storms. I can make all the tables turn! Rose garden filled with thorns. Keep you second-guessing like, 'oh, my God, who is she?' I get drunk on jealousy. But you'll come back each time you leave, cos darling I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream!"

There was a knock on my door then, just as I was finishing buttoning up my shirt, so I turned and opened it slightly, peeking to see who it was.

"Mikey?" I hummed, then opened the door a little wider. "What's up?"

"Thought I might give my assistant a ride over," He smiled. "You usually walk to the shrine, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, then turned back into my room to get my shoes on, then finally grabbed my phone, wallet, and keys, and left with him.

Mikey pulled the bike around by the back entrance when we arrived at the shrine. Hanma and Chifuyu were already waiting there, refusing to look at each other. Couldn't blame them, really.

"Come on," Mikey hummed, leading us up and to the spot where he usually stood in front of the crowd. I, as usual, went off to stand on the side, and Hanma and Chifuyu remained standing at attention behind Mikey.

Peeking down at the crowd, I saw Takemichi close to the front in his new uniform, and I smiled proudly to myself, just a little.

The space was dead silent, everyone staring at the group of them, trying to figure out what was going on, and just waiting for Mikey to speak.

"Bloody Halloween," Mikey started, in a less powerful voice than he usually projected with. "Valhalla's three hundred versus Toman's one hundred and fifty. Despite the overwhelming disadvantage, each of you held your own, and claimed our victory. Shuji Hanma, vice-leader of the gang we defeated, has a message for us about Valhalla."

He stepped forward just half a step, looking dead bored to me.

"Shuji Hanma here, from Valhalla." He started, his tone completely different from the previous times I'd heard him speak. He was usually excited or... fucking psychotic and deranged. Now, he just seemed a bit... dull. Lifeless.

"Valhalla... has never had a leader. So, in wake of our defeat, we're coming under the banner of Toman." He said, and he sure didn't sound excited about it.

"Valhalla is now under the umbrella of the Tokyo Manji Gang!" He announced, which drew up some chatter about how big Toman was now.

As the members cheered for Toman, I kept my face straight. I'd never thought about it before now, but I also wasn't close to Toman before now. But, given Valhalla was a conpletely anti-Toman gang, how did the average Valhalla member feel about suddenly joining up with Toman, the gang they'd previously sworn to end?

"Somebody helped to connect our two gangs. It's thanks to him that this is happening at all!" Hanma called while everyone was still excited. "Tetta Kisaki!"

I kept my thoughts to myself as Kisaki joined them up there, and placed his hand on top of Hanma's and Mikey's joined hands. Symbolic shit about union or whatever, I could not care less.

"There's one more thing to discuss," Mikey said when Kisaki and Hanma joined the crowd. "Though we gained much from Bloody Halloween, there's also someone we lost. The first-division captain, Keisuke Baji, died that day."

Now everyone was dead silent at his remembrance.

"We must reflect deeply on this reality, and take it seriously." Mikey said, then stepped aside. "I'll let you say the rest."

Chifuyu stepped up, looking all too serious, and hung his head a little as he began to speak.

"I considered leaving Toman..." He started with a sigh. "But our leader stopped me, asking me, 'do you want to snuff out the first division's flame?' Leading the first division would be a huge responsibility for me. I talked it out with our leader, for days and days, and arrived at this conclusion."

He suddenly lifted his head, an intense look in his eyes, and shouted.

"I'm gonna name the guy that I wanna follow!" He said. "Takemichi Hanagaki! I nominate you as the first division captain!"

Looking down with the tiniest smirk settled on my lips, I saw Takemichi looked absolutely stunned still, staring up at Chifuyu.

"Takemitchy," Chifuyu then addressed him. "I believe this is what Baji would've wanted! Our leader and I decided that Baji left this responsibility to you."

"Takemichi Hanagaki!" Mikey then called. "Raise your head, and give us your response!"

Takemichi, as expected, was already tearing up.

"I'LL DO MY BEST!" He shouted to the sky, and I couldn't help but snicker a little, raising my hand to hide my smile.

Mikey called the end of the meeting then, and I took that as my cue to skip down the steps and hug Takemichi. He hugged me back, to my surprise, and wiped his cheeks off when he pulled back.

"I'm so proud of you, seriously." I said quietly, just so I wouldn't embarrass him in front of the guys.

"Thanks, Junko. You're... not half-bad as a sister." He grinned, and I punched him in the arm, but not as hard as I could've.

"Dick," I said as the rest of the guys came up to talk to us.

"Be nice," Draken chuckled, smiling at me as he took my hand.

"He just...!" I pointed at Takemichi, then huffed, all while Takemichi laughed, still wiping tears away from his cheeks.

"Be nice to your sister, Takemitchy." Mikey smirked as he chastised him.

"Ha!" I stuck my tongue out at Takemichi, which then gave me an idea.

They all talked while my head swam with ideas. When I was dropped here in this new life, I was a blank slate. Like, literally. No tattoos, none of my piercings, no scars... the only "blemishes" on my skin were my freckles, and they were pretty faint at that.

Back in my old life, I had seventeen piercings and countless tattoos. I was good at saving money and timing when to splurge a little perfectly. So, it was easy to afford a new tattoo or a piercing whenever I felt like it. Plus, I was able to hold a steady job that allowed me to express myself how I saw fit, so I didn't have to worry in that sense.

I'd have to work out how to earn the money... or just get the money, and decide then...

But one way or another, I was getting all of my piercings back. I fucking swear it on my life, I was going to do it.

"Hey, you with us?" Draken squeezed my hand, and I blinked, now back in the present moment.

"Oh, yeah. Just had a thought." I shook my head and smiled.

"That's rare," Takemichi hummed, and I snapped my gaze over to him.

"You really wanna fuckin' go there?" I asked and saw his eyes widen by a fraction.

"Hey, I just said be nice." Mikey said, but looked a little too amused for my taste.

I crossed my arms, dropping Draken's hand, and scrunched my nose up.

"Oh, reminding me," Mikey hummed. "Junko, what was that song you were singing earlier in your room?"

I dropped my face and looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"How much did you hear?" I asked carefully, and Mikey just smirked.

"Something about being a nightmare dressed like a daydream?" He hummed.

"Ah, so just the end." I nodded.

"One of your weird songs?" Takemichi asked, looking at me.

"They're not weird," I rolled my eyes. "One day you'll recognize my genius."

"Genius," Takemichi smirked, and I was this close to hitting him, I thought as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Alright," Draken tugged me back to his side, his arm coming around my shoulders. "Save the sibling brawl for your own house."

Off to the side, I saw Kisaki roll his eyes and look away, but I didn't have it in me to care about him right now.

Draken offered to give me a ride home, which I accepted, and we arrived at the house before Takemichi did.

If I was right in my thinking, he'd soon be heading to Hinata's to shake hands with Naoto and skip back to the future for a bit. Now, if I was remembering right, this time around he was a top admin in Toman. It would be revealed that Kisaki was killing off the founders and admins one by one, and Takemichi would witness him shooting and killing Chifuyu. Kazutora would save Takemichi, meaning to save Chifuyu, and tell him how bad Toman's gotten.

Blah blah blah, when Takemichi comes back, he'll be in the middle of a bowling game with Hinata, and will meet Hakkai and his sister, Yuzuha, immediately after.

Then begins the Black Dragons arc, possibly my least favorite arc, given how much I fucking hate Taiju Shiba.

"You good?" Draken snapped me out of my thoughts when he cut the bike off, parked outside my house.

"Yeah," I said, putting on a faint smile and got off the bike.

Draken stood as well and tilted his head at me. "You don't have to act fine all the time around me, you know."

"Huh?" My brows furrowed, not knowing what he meant.

"Your brother was being a little insufferable back there," Draken chuckled, and I nodded along.

"Give him an inch and he takes a mile. You remember how he was back in August, with his head all up his ass." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah," Draken sighed. "I don't doubt that he'll be a good captain, though. I think just the idea that Baji left him the job and Chifuyu is looking up to him will have him doing his best."

"That's true, too." I sighed back. "He's a good kid at heart, maybe too good."

"What do you mean?" Draken's head tilted.

"I..." I paused. "I worry about him and this life, you know? He's wanted to be a delinquent and take over Japan since he could speak. But, come on, I know him. He has too pure of a heart. He doesn't have as thick skin as others we may know. He's a fighter, sure, but only under the right circumstances."

Draken nodded along as I spoke, and he gently reached for and took my hand in his to hold. I smiled down at our hands and swung them a little.

"Everyone calls him a crybaby, and it's true, you know? He cries all the time." I let out a heavier sigh. "And I don't think there's anything wrong with crying. It's just how he's wired. But I get scared that some of these other delinquents will see how much he cries... and, I don't know. They'll become too much for him to handle on his own."

"He won't be on his own, though." Draken said softly, and I looked back up at him. "He's got Toman backing him up now. He'll never have to handle anyone looking down on him on his own."

"You can't promise that," I shook my head, hating that it was the truth.

"I can promise on behalf of all of Toman that we've got his back when he needs it." Draken squeezed my hand, and instead of arguing further with all the knowledge in my head, I just nodded along.

Chapter Text

Takemichi had gone back to the future, like I thought he would. And I was stuck here with my bad dreams, as usual, and all my shitty memories.

"One look, dark room, meant just for you. Time moved too fast, you play it back. Buttons on a coat, lighthearted joke. No proof, not much, but you saw enough..." I was humming to myself one random day while waiting for Takemichi to come back and get a move on.

It was getting closer and closer to Christmas with every day I waited, and I was torn between decisions that could affect the timeline. Do I mind my own fucking business and just get presents for people? Or do I join the fight against Taiju on Christmas or whatever?

Personally, I don't think I had it in me to stand up to Taiju... so maybe I'd keep my nose out of this one. I just needed to plan presents and shit...

But, at the same time, I didn't really celebrate Christmas to begin with. I didn't celebrate any holidays, really. My family has ruined them all for me.

I sat silently in my room for a good long while, just stewing on that. Just the memories of cops being called to separate family fights on Christmas had me wanting to tell people not to get me anything, I didn't want to celebrate. But I knew better. I knew here, in this current life, I had none of those reasons to back me up. Takemichi had a good, caring family. A normal family.

A part of me supposed that I was given a second chance to have a normal family here in this universe, and the other part of me couldn't accept it. What had I done to deserve it? Nothing, as far as I could recall.

Back in my old life, around the time I was sixteen or so, I stopped spending holidays with my family and started spending them with my best friend's family instead. Her parents were still together, she had a lovely little sister, cousins who loved her, and aunts, uncles, and grandparents that doted on her.

She basically had everything I was deprived of gift-wrapped and handed to her on a silver platter, and neither of us realized it at the time.

The first Christmas I spent with her, it was at her aunt's big-ass house, as she happened to be rich. There was a spread of all kinds of food to snack on while mingling and chatting, all before the family would gather together in the giant living room. They told family stories and sang Christmas carols, and I distinctly remember a hollow feeling in my chest at realizing that no one was fighting or making snide comments. No one was calling the cops. This family actually got together and knew how to function as a family, and I... I just felt like an intruder there. I know I didn't belong. I figured that all of that, whatever it was, was just something I was not meant to have.

I teared up now, just thinking about it, the tight feeling in the back of my throat coming back. The hollowness in my chest, something that felt vaguely like a void.

I mean, it just hit me. Maybe I'm not meant to have a family. I never pictured myself married with kids in the future. I was denied a loving family as a kid. I was given this second chance at family with Takemichi and his parents, but once again, I was just an intruder.

With the blanket of depression over me, December twentieth came around and I was being summoned for a meeting of the admins about the Black Dragons. Looks like Takemichi came back while I wasn't paying attention and was rotting in my bed every second I could.

"We got all the admins here?" Draken asked with crossed arms as he stood to the right of where Mikey sat on some beams. I was beside Draken, Chifuyu and Mitsuya to my right. Mucho, Smiley, Kisaki, and Hanma were on the tattered chairs, and Takemichi and Hakkai were coming into the room, Takemichi looking an absolute mess.

"As you all know, four days ago, Takemitchy was beaten by the head of the Black Dragons. He committed violence on Takemitchy, knowing he's our first-division captain. Which means that this is a declaration of war by the Black Dragons." Draken said, his brows furrowing at the end.

"Cheeky bastards," Smiley grinned tightly. "Let's stomp their asses."

"We already crushed the Black Dragons once," Mucho hummed. "It'll be easy, right?"

"We beat the ninth generation before. The tenth generation's totally different." Mitsuya sighed, eyeing Hakkai, who was standing ever so quietly.

"You're missing the point!" Smiley spoke up again. "It wasn't Takemitchy's fault that he didn't know where the Black Dragons' turf was. So why the hell did you take him there, Hakkai?"

"Hey, Hakkai," Mucho walked over to him. "Are you acting as a spy for the Black Dragons, you son of a bitch?"

"You're the boss's little bro, aren't you?" Smiley pushed.

"Tried to hide that from us, huh?" Mucho got in his face.

"Wait just a minute. Hakkai didn't mean to-" Takemichi started to say.

"Shut the hell up!" Mucho snapped at him. Normally, I feel like I would've snapped back at Mucho, but I was just so tired lately. So, instead, I sighed rather deeply, and ignored Draken eyeing me.

"I won't make any excuses," Hakkai dropped to his knees. "Hate me, beat me, do whatever you want. As his little brother, I'm prepared for the consequences. So, leader! I, Hakkai Shiba, Tokyo Manji Gang's second-division vice-captain, request permission to leave Toman!"

"Is that really what you want?" Mikey asked after a beat of silence, and no one spoke in response.

I then suddenly remembered the God-awful embarrassing situation Takemichi was about to put us in by offering Mikey a dorayaki, and my head snapped up rather quickly.

I lifted my hand halfway up, which gathered some attention on me.

"I have a question," I hummed, making sure my voice came out clear. "For Hakkai, actually. You said you're prepared for the consequences... of what, exactly? Of being the little brother of an asshole? Why would there be consequences for shit you didn't do?"

Hakkai, still on the ground in front of Mikey, turned his head away from me as if he were uncomfortable.

"You bring up a good point, Junko." Mikey hummed thoughtfully.

"What's your decision, Mikey?" Draken asked, looking up at him.

"I'll leave it up to Mitsuya, since he's the second-division captain." Mikey said, and Mitsuya got up and stepped over to stand beside Hakkai.

"Sorry, Taka-chan. I've already made up my mind." Hakkai said softly.

"Don't look so sad, Hakkai. I understand." Mitsuya just said.

"Taka-chan!" Hakkai stood then, and dipped down into a bow. "It was a pleasure working with you!"

"Huh? What are you saying? I didn't say you could leave." Mitsuya said, then turned and smiled at him. "Let me talk to Taiju!"

The meeting was dismissed after that, and I was just busy staring at my feet until another pair of boots came into my field of vision, someone standing right in front of me.

"Junko," Kisaki said in a weirdly civil tone.

"Mhm," I hummed, not looking up yet.

"I think we should talk." He said, and I finally did look up and look him right in the eye.

"'Bout what?" I asked, and he didn't say a word, he just kept staring sternly at me. "Yeah, alright." I shrugged with a sigh and turned to the doors to walk out, knowing he was following me.

I walked a good block away or so, peeking over my shoulder every now and then to see if Kisaki was still following, or if anyone else had decided to follow.

"This good enough?" I hummed, looking at the near empty sidewalk we were on.

"Yeah... who are you?" He asked, his eyebrows drawing together, and one of mine raised in question.

"Uh, Junko. You just said my name." I blinked.

"No, I know that's your name... or at least, the name you're going by right now." He said, staring at me with a tilted head. "But I don't know who you are. I know Takemichi Hanagaki, and he does not have a sister. So, who are you?"

Well, fuck.

I guess I underestimated little Kisaki here. Look, I know there's a general understanding throughout the fandom that Kisaki is obsessed with Takemichi. There's some fan theories that say he's in love with Takemichi, but I don't know if I'd go that far. I'd definitely buy obsessed, though. Kisaki's known Takemichi and been stalking him since they were little kids. Kisaki probably has more information on Takemichi than I do, and I'm supposed to be the guy's damn sister.

I didn't know how to answer him without fucking everything up, so I just kept my mouth shut and stared at him.

"You know you sound crazy, right?" I ended up saying.

"I'm crazy?" Kisaki huffed a laugh. "You don't even look anything like him! I don't know how anyone else is buying that you're his sister. Most of all, I don't know how Takemichi himself thinks you're his sister."

He then took a step closer to me, something intense going on deep in his eyes. "I hear you and Takemichi talking about things that have happened in the past. Things I would know about. Things I have no memory of."

"Wait, wait." I held a hand up. "You don't have memories of me?"

"No," He shook his head. "And believe me, I would know. I would remember."

"No, I believe you." I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair as I tried to think.

"It's like, one day you just popped into existence out of thin air..." Kisaki sighed. "I don't get it."

Eh, after all the confusion the guy's been through, I guess I could give him a little break. Hell, maybe he could help me figure out some shit.

"Trust me, I don't either." I sighed a little laugh, and Kisaki looked up at me again, now looking a little shocked. "I woke up one morning, not knowing where I was or even who I was, but I somehow knew what I had to do. I knew I had to get dressed and go to school and get through the day. I learned little by little that I'm supposed to be Junko Hanagaki and all these other things."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't have any memories of life here. I'm slowly regaining my memories of my life before I 'popped up' here. It seems like they're mixing together, almost. Takemichi remembers our mom talking about me kicking people as a baby. That's from my past life. I bet if I asked him, he'd find that he has no real memory of it. It's just something he knows, just like how I woke up just knowing things."

Kisaki was now staring at me with wide eyes, frozen in place, and I eyed him for a moment.

"Back in my world, I was obsessed with this manga-turned-anime. Tokyo Revengers, it's called. I know... almost everything about it." I shrugged. "I know the past, the present, the future. All the futures. I know the futures that won't even happen, as long as we're on the right path..." I hummed, then thought about which path that would be. I guess we'd end up with Bonten with the way things are going. I'll pay more mind to it later.

"Why are you telling me this?" Kisaki actually started to look a little scared.

I sighed out a laugh then, glancing away from him. "I'm tired, dude. We're like, almost halfway through this shit, and I don't even know if I wanna make it to the end. I don't know which ending I'm striving for, really. Things are getting fucked up and they're gonna continue to get fucked up, that I know for sure."

I looked back over and saw a small group behind Kisaki made up of Takemichi, Mitsuya, Chifuyu, and Hakkai. Probably on their way to talk to Taiju now.

I figured I was still safe. I hadn't said anything at the end there that was incriminating.

Kisaki noticed them and let the look drop off his face. He looked back at me, and I just shrugged and turned to walk away, not even sure where I was headed now.

Chapter Text

"Uh..." Draken started with the most patient look on his face. "You want to fight the Black Dragons?"

"Yes!" Takemichi said ever so confidently, Chifuyu right at his side.

We admins were now in a restaurant, minus Mikey and Mitsuya, who suddenly weren't going to make it.

"Quit messing with us, jackass." Smiley huffed. "I've said 'I'll kill you' a million times already!"

"If you actually killed people every time you said so, you'd kill the whole world, moron." Mucho said with that same stoic-ass face.

"I'll kill you, Takemitchy. Ah! See, I said it again!" Smiley exclaimed.

"Anyway, we reject the decision to crush the Black Dragons to stop Hakkai from killing Taiju." Mucho sighed.

"What do you think, Draken?" Smiley leaned over to ask.

"Yeah, rejected." Draken agreed. "Takemitchy, I know you probably have your own considerations backing this up. But do you really wanna ruin the peace pact Mitsuya worked for? Doing this would ruin his reputation."

"Junko," Takemichi sighed, and I looked up, alarmed, to basically see him begging me with his eyes.

"Oh, you do not wanna drag me into this," I shook my head, then picked up my soda glass to busy myself with drinking it.

"Junko, please." Takemichi sighed.

"'Michi, I agree with them. Let it go." I sighed, looking down.

"That can't be your opinion," He shook his head. "Did you not hear me? Hakkai is planning on killing Taiju."

"Let him," I found myself saying, silencing both of our tables.

"What?" Takemichi gasped, and I rolled my eyes heavily as I lifted my head again.

"Then let him." I repeated. "For one, Smiley and Mucho are right. You can't take it so seriously every time someone threatens death. But also, say he is serious and he does actually have a plan and whatever else. So what? Let him kill Taiju." I shrugged a shoulder.

Takemichi stared at me in disbelief, and I couldn't really blame him for that.

"'Michi," I sighed, leaning forward. "Domestic abuse isn't a light topic. It's easily misunderstood. Taiju's been beating his siblings practically since they were born. If I were Hakkai, I'd want to kill him, too."

"But..." He struggled for a second. "It's murder. It's taking a life."

"It's either that, or staying a prisoner inside your own family." I finally gave into the urge to glare at him. "You don't understand, Takemichi, you couldn't possibly begin to understand."

Takemichi finally quieted, staring me down, looking half angry and half heartbroken.

"Something you need to talk about, Junko?" Hanma broke the silence, a stupid grin on his face.

"Nah, I'm good." I sighed and looked at my nails, doing my best to look disinterested suddenly.

Draken then called an end to the meeting and forbidding any more discussion, and was soon insisting on giving me a ride. We were the first to leave the restaurant, and he turned to face me outside.

"Wanna come over for a bit?" He asked, and I just nodded silently, climbing on his bike with him. He started it up and got us out of there and headed towards his little corner of the world in Shibuya.

We got to the brothel and were both quiet as we went to his room, his hand holding mine rather tightly.

I guess right now Kisaki would be trying to team up with Takemichi and Chifuyu, Hanma right by his side just for shits and giggles. I wonder, after my little speech, would they still carry out their plan?

Would Kisaki still drag them to that meeting room? Would Koko still interrupt them and tell them what they want to know anyway? Would they still team up and hatch a plan to stop Hakkai? Would they plan to kill Taiju themselves?

I think all will still go according to plan, the canonical plan.

In the meantime, I stepped into Draken's room, shrugging my jacket and bag off and setting them aside, then joined Draken's side when he sat on his bed.

"Junko," He sighed, hanging his head, and I just watched him carefully. "Is there something you need to talk about?"

I sighed, looking away from him. "No,"

"Junko," He sounded almost pained.

"I don't want to talk about it," I just said.

"But... if someone's hurt you..." He said, and I glanced over, my heart breaking at the tortured look on his face.

I placed my hand on top of his, drawing his attention. "I'll tell you someday. Just... not now."

"Okay," Draken sighed, meeting my eyes, then leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

I closed my eyes at the contact and sighed when he pulled back. I followed him, resting my head on his shoulder, still holding his hand down, my fingers curling around his palm.

I'd learned my lesson when it came to talking about my past. One guy I'd dated when I was twenty-four cried when I relayed every traumatic event in my life that shaped me as a person. The most my closest friends knew is that my dad was a major asshole who was horrible to my mom and I, and that he was currently dead. They didn't know much more than that, mainly because I didn't want them seeing me any differently.

What I'd learned is basically that not everyone needs to know everything. The phrase, "what they don't know won't hurt them" rang true in circumstances like this. Plus, not telling anyone shit meant a lot less pity sent in my direction, which I didn't fucking need in the first place.

I didn't need tears shed for my sake; it meant nothing. I didn't need furrowed eyebrows and looks of concern. And that's all I seemed to get whenever I spilled a little here and there in my past life.

So, for now, I kept my silence and just rested against Draken's shoulder.

"You okay?" Draken asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah," I sighed, still not opening my eyes.

"How much would your parents freak out if you didn't come home tonight?" He asked, and I opened my eyes in surprise.

"Hard to say," I hummed. "I could tell Takemichi I'm staying with you. At least he'd know I'm safe."

"Okay," Draken nodded, and I sat up while getting my phone out of my pocket and typed out a message to said brother. When it sent, I snapped my phone shut again, set it on his bedside table, then fell back on his bed.

"You really want me to stay?" I asked, looking at him where he sat, watching me.

"I'd sleep a lot better tonight if I was sure you're somewhere safe." He said, and it made me smile a bit.

"Aw, you care about me!" I cooed, teasing him, and Draken just rolled his eyes and leaned over, pressing a kiss to my lips.

"It'd be pretty fucked up if I haven't cared about you this entire time," He said, making me smile a little wider before I pulled him closer by his neck into another kiss.

Draken soon shifted, bringing his leg over onto my other side to get on top of me, holding himself up above me as we kissed. My arms looped around his neck, holding him close, just enjoying this for now.

I briefly wondered if it was uncomfortable for him to hold himself up like this for so long, or if it was straining him at all. I didn't know how to word that if I pulled back to ask, and all my brain could think to do was to lower a hand to his chest and grip the T-shirt he wore in my fist.

"You want it off?" He hummed against my lips, and my brain screeched to a halt.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly, watching as he grinned at me, then pulled back slightly and sat above me, pulling his shirt over his head and flinging it aside.

Holy shit.

Draken was really on top of me right now, shirtless as could be, ripped as hell, smiling like he knew exactly what he was doing to me, and slightly breathless. I was getting a little... uncomfortable in the lower regions, and pressed my thighs together before I could even think about hiding it. Shit, I didn't even think about hiding my expression as I stared ever so stupidly at him.

"I take it you like what you see?" He continued to grin like the fucking devil he was, and finally, I came back to my senses.

"Oh, shut up," I started to turn to the side to get away from him.

"Ah ah," Draken stopped me by taking my face in his hand and turning me back to face him. "You're not going anywhere, huh, sweetie?"

And my brain froze again.

"Uh..." I just blanked and blinked.

Draken then smirked like he was proud of himself, and his hand slipped down to my neck, holding me down with slight pressure as he started leaving open-mouth kisses on my neck. I sighed out, honestly unable to help it, closing my eyes and accepting my fate.

Several things ran through my mind while Draken kissed trails up and down my neck. One was that I remembered this is a brothel, and if I listened very carefully over the sound of Draken's lips and both of our breathing, I could hear a girl's moans down the hallway. Maybe three doors down? It didn't help the feeling between my legs at all.

Two was that Draken was a very respectful guy, probably the most respectful in the whole damn series. He'd never ask me directly to remove any of my clothing while making out, no matter how bad he may want to. If there was even the slightest chance I was uncomfortable with something, he'd shut the whole thing down in seconds.

So, I had to be the one to make the moves. The problem is that it takes a lot of mental strength for me to pluck up the courage to even hint that I may want something. It was going to be really fucking hard.

In my last relationship, when we'd have sex, my partner was a service top and I was a pillow princess, to put it basically. I'd lie there while they did most of the work, and I let them put me in any position they wanted and took whatever they wanted to give me. It worked out pretty nicely, in my opinion.

I could sort of see Draken being the same way, being a service top. Wanting to do all of the work and just give and give rather than receive. Of course, I wanted to do my share as well, I just... wasn't very confident about it.

So, all this flashing through my mind, I sighed a little bit in disappointment at myself, mixed in with the pleasured sighs I was giving Draken. His hand on my neck had inched down a little, now closer to my collarbones and the top of my chest than it was say, my chin.

"Draken," I hummed, and he raised his head slightly, peeking at me. "Let me..."

"What?" He hummed, his teeth nipping at my skin.

I hummed at the feeling, my eyes falling closed for a brief second, and before I could chicken out, I crossed my arms over my torso and started to lift my shirt.

"Whoa, you don't have to-" Draken quickly started, sitting up to give me room.

"Do you not want me to?" I looked at him, my shirt just under my bra now.

"I..." Draken peeked down at my stomach, and I smirked a little at how he fell quiet at the sight of my bare waist and hips. I had curves, I knew it. I just hid them, usually.

I pulled my shirt the rest of the way off and set it aside, leaving me in the black bra I'd chosen that day, and I relished in how Draken's eyes trailed over me, seemingly drinking in every detail.

He sighed, and his hand met the middle of my torso, his fingertips resting right under my bra, palm on my stomach.

"You're beautiful, Junko. You know that?" He said before leaning down to kiss me again, making my head spin.

Chapter Text

Since I hated the Black Dragons arc, I never really bothered to pay attention to the dates and timeline. So, I was a little lost currently.

I spent that night at Draken's. We both remained shirtless, testing out our new comfort zones, and I lied with his arm around me that entire night. I stayed warm and toasty, comfortable and secure.

But now I was back in my room again, trying to figure out what was going on in the world.

Takemichi was going to break up with Hinata on the twenty-fourth, I believe, then fight Taiju in the church on Christmas... day? Night? Kind of hard to keep track.

I wish I could talk Takemichi out of breaking up with Hinata, but that just didn't seem possible right now. First off, I didn't know when Hinata's dad would talk to him and ask him to break things off. Secondly, I haven't seen Takemichi in a day or so now.

Unrelated, but I haven't even bought presents for anyone yet. I was too busy being a self-loathing sad sack of shit. I blame the holidays making me feel that way, quite honestly.

I also just had half a mind to show up at the church on the twenty-fifth for the fight... but I wasn't sure what I planned on doing there. How could I contribute anything? Would I just fuck shit up? Ruin something future-related? Literally, I had no idea what I would even do there.

So, when Christmas day came around, I stayed in my room, in bed, rotting as usual. And then sundown came, and I groaned as I made up my mind. I forced myself up and got dressed, then headed out, looking for the church. I forgot the name, but I knew what it looked like and I knew it was a Christian church. So, it took me maybe half an hour to find?

There were a bunch of Black Dragon members outside already, which I guess means the fight must've been going on. Thankfully, I wasn't in my Toman uniform and looked like a regular-ass civilian.

"Hi, sorry, excuse me. Sorry. Oh, sorry..." I apologized my way through and walked right up the steps and quietly opened the door and went in, leaving a good number of the members confused behind me.

The first thing I saw was Yuzuha on her knees, tears in her eyes as she watched Takemichi and Hakkai fight Taiju. I quietly walked over and leaned down next to her.

"Hey, girly," I smiled as I whispered, and she looked over at me.

"Who're you?" She looked confused.

"Takemichi's sister, Toman assistant, nothing too big." I shrugged. "You just... keep back a bit, yeah?"

"What are you doing?!" She hissed as I started to walk forward. "They'll kill you!"

"They can fuckin' try," I smiled back at her.

"What's this?" Koko hummed loudly, looking at me with a smirk on his face.

"Oh, I'm just here for my brother, don't mind me." I waved my hand at him.

"Junko," Takemichi gasped, and I looked at him, my eyes widening as I marched forward.

"What the fuck happened to you? This is like, the worst I've ever seen you, 'Michi." I sighed, and he smiled a little, bloody as it was. "Ugh, go sit down before you lose a tooth."

"Junko, I..." He started and I just threw him a look, getting him to back up.

"You can come back in when I look half-dead, okay?" I said and stretched my arms out, cracking my knuckles.

"Little girl's really gonna try and fight me?" Taiju seemed amused as I turned to him.

"Little girl stabbed you earlier, didn't she?" I tilted my head, not caring that I wasn't supposed to know about that yet.

"Have we met?" He asked as I stood next to Hakkai. Chifuyu's leg was messed up, Mitsuya was taking a knee, and I just sent Takemichi to the sidelines. Mikey and Draken would be joining soon, but no one else knew that.

"Nope," I said. Taiju looked very confused by this, and I rolled my eyes.

"Let's just say I'm getting revenge on someone else through you, got it? Plus, you've been beating up my baby bro. Can't let that shit slide." I shrugged.

Taiju stared at me, unimpressed now, and I was doing my best to not let my nerves show. Truthfully, I know he was a big dude. He was right fucking in front of me, shirtless and showing off all those damn muscles. Too many muscles, honestly. It was intimidating, all that strength on display plus those crazy eyes he was always doing.

"Don't tell me you're suddenly afraid to hit a girl," I decided to talk and taunt my way through this. "We gonna stand here all night and wait for your balls to drop, or...?"

Taiju grit his teeth and came running at me while I held firm, trying to time this out. I watched as his fist came back, ready to punch me and send me flying back, but I waited until the very last second possible to drift aside slightly and send a punch to his nose directly. It wasn't as hard as I could've punched, but all my attention was going to dodging at the same time, so whatever.

I compensated by grabbing his hair as quick as I could and bringing his face down to meet my knee, suddenly hearing the satisfying crack of his nose when they made contact.

He groaned, shooting up and stumbling a few steps back, and I just followed him, bringing that same knee up into his side where Yuzuha had stabbed him earlier.

Taiju gasped and clutched his side, now pouring blood onto the floor of the church, but that didn't stop me. I kept attacking, going for weak spots in various places, mostly using my legs since they were more powerful than my arms were, and I was just hoping to get him on the ground so I could kick his shit in.

After a good few minutes, he took a knee, which then led me to instinctively Spartan-kick him right in the face, sending him lying back on the floor, where I just went to town kicking and stomping his body.

At least until Mikey opened the doors of the church, and I glanced up for half a second just to see everyone looking at him before I continued my assault.

"Merry Christmas," Mikey greeted. "What are you guys doing on a day like this?"

The church was dead silent apart from Taiju's groans and the sound of my boots making contact with him.

"Junko?" Mikey hummed, coming over.

"Little... busy here!" I panted, sending a last kick to his ribs before planting my boot on his neck and looking up, pushing my hair back. "Yeah?"

"You good?" Mikey looked a little concerned.

"Perfect," I grinned. "Couldn't be better."

"Draken's outside," He said, pointing his thumb to the doors. "Why don't you..."

"Got it," I hummed and lifted my foot off of Taiju's neck, and he gasped for breath. I took one step away, then decided to get one last kick in, right in his cheek, then walked past everyone and into the cold air outside, where Draken sat on the steps with blood splattered on his face and the hundred or so guys all on the ground.

"Junko, what are you doing here?" He stood and walked over to me.

"Came to kick Taiju Shiba's ass," I hummed with a shrug.

"Did you?" He asked, looking concerned.

"I think so, yeah. Mikey might be finishing him up for me, though." I sighed and pulled him into a hug. "Merry Christmas, I guess."

"Merry Christmas, sweetie." He chuckled and kissed my cheek. "Got you a little something."

"No, you know you didn't have to get me anything..." I protested as he pulled back and started to take a small box out of his jacket pocket.

"Just open it," He shook his head and handed the box to me.

I rolled my eyes and carefully lifted the lid, and saw a black chain lying on a little velvet cushion, a shiny black letter D pendant hanging from the delicate chain.

"What's this?" I smiled, knowing exactly what it was.

'I want to wear his initial on a chain round my neck, chain round my neck, not because he owns me. But cos he really knows me, which is more than they can say...'

"It's uh..." Draken looked away, and I grinned as I realized he was blushing.

"I love it," I said and lifted it out of the box.

'I recall late November, holding my breath, slowly I said, 'you don't need to save me, but would you run away with me?' Yes...'

"Can you put it on me?" I asked, turning around before he could see me tearing up. I handed him the necklace and gathered my hair up, then felt the cool weight of the metal hanging around my neck as Draken clasped it for me.

There was then unmistakable heat as he pressed a kiss to the side of my neck while I still held my hair up, and I grinned to myself, blinking the tears away. I dropped my hair and turned around, joining our lips together, and Draken kissed me back effortlessly.

Someone cleared their throat a moment later, and we both looked up and saw Mikey and everyone else coming out of the church.

"Ew, you guys kiss and stuff?" Mikey teased as he joined Draken's side, and Draken just held me against his other side.

"One day when you grow up, Mikey, you'll want to kiss someone, too." I teased him right back while Draken laughed.

"...We lost," Koko gasped as he stepped out with Inui and saw all the beaten men on the ground outside.

"Takemitchy!" Hakkai gasped and we turned just in time to see him falling over and Mitsuya catching him.

"Junko may have taken down Taiju, and Draken may have wiped out the Black Dragons, but I think the real MVP here was Takemitchy." Mitsuya said, looking at the guy all bloody and beaten and barely standing.

"Yeah, that's fair," I hummed. "Doesn't really know when to give in, does he?" I sighed, crossing my arms.

Mikey soon took Takemichi to meet with Hina, and Draken was walking home with me, since they came on Mikey's bike and now Mikey was riding with my brother.

"Did you know he broke up with Hinata?" Draken asked me.

"He was kinda forced to by her dad. He didn't want to." I explained. "I'm sure Hinata understands."

"Yeah," Draken nodded, hands in his jacket pockets. "So, what made you come out and beat Taiju up?"

"Fucker deserves a good beating, a taste of his own medicine." I just hummed.

Draken's brows furrowed, and he sighed lowly.

"You know, you're really concerning some of us with your stance on this." He said. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but you seem to be taking Taiju's abuse of his siblings pretty personally, Junko."

"I just..." I started, then paused and sighed slowly. "I don't know how to explain."

And that was the truth. How could I possibly say I had firsthand experience with domestic abuse when I was currently in a perfectly normal, non-abusive family?

"I had this friend," I started, trying to pick my words carefully. "She had a mom and dad, she knew they loved her, but something always felt kinda off. When she was four, her parents divorced and her dad would come by once or twice a year for a visit. It wasn't until she was a little older that she started to remember and understand some things."

"What things?" Draken asked, listening patiently, which I was grateful for.

"She said her mother told her a story once about when she was a baby, and her father refused to hold her for more than a minute. Flat-out refused to watch her so the mom could make dinner or even get a shower. The mom had to do it all herself, even when the dad would yell and hit her, she did everything herself."

My voice started to shake then as tears filled my eyes, and I kept my gaze trained on the ground and tried to take in steady breaths. Draken noticed, of course, and pulled me closer to his side as we walked, his arm tightly around me.

"Your friend, what was her name?" He asked, and I smiled a little, knowing he knew I was talking about me... somehow. Even if it didn't add up.

"I don't remember her name," I shook my head.

All that was going through my head right now was "seven" by Taylor Swift, as I was trying my best not to cry over it.

We passed Hinata's apartment on the way to my house, and Mikey and Emma were still there, with Takemichi and Hinata, of course.

"Hey," Mikey greeted and came up to us. I quickly set my face and blinked the tears away, putting a smile on, but it faded a little when I saw Emma watching us.

This was the first time I've seen Emma since the Toman meeting way back when. I haven't seen her since I started dating Draken. I could imagine her heart must be broken, but right now she just looked annoyed... or pissed at the sight of me.

"I got you something too!" Mikey said cheerfully as he came over, and my eyebrows furrowed as I realized he was talking to me.

"Wha- Mikey, you really didn't have to..." I shut up as he went over to his bike and pulled off of it what looked to be a guitar case.

"Is that...?"

"Yep, got it while Kenny was picking out that necklace for you," Mikey said and handed me the case, which was heavier than I expected.

"Thank you, Mikey." I looked at him, hoping he knew how sincere I was being.

"Now hopefully you can play an instrument to go along with all those songs you write." He just smiled.

"I'll do my best," I nodded firmly.

I got the guitar on my back and walked the rest of the way home with Takemichi, and once I was in my room, I uncovered the shiny new guitar and lifted it, placing it in my lap.

I was hesitant to touch even a single string until something stirred within me. Placing my fingers on the neck, I strummed a chord, and it actually sounded good. So, I strummed another one, and then another until I realized I was playing "Dear John."

Holy shit.

Chapter Text

It was... amazing, how the songs filled my head and I just somehow knew how to play them all on the guitar Mikey got me. And they all sounded perfect, too, just blowing my mind further.

"I, I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us. So baby, can we dance, oh, through an avalanche? And say, say that we got it. I'm a mess but I'm the mess that you wanted. Oh, cos it's gravity. Oh, keeping you with me..."

My door creaked open, and Takemichi poked his head in, so I shut up to give him my attention.

"You're getting good at that," He nodded to the guitar in my hands.

"I'm trying my best," I smiled bashfully. "What's up?"

"There's a meeting tonight," He then stepped into my room, showing me that he was in his Toman uniform.

"Ah, right," I nodded, then set the guitar in its place, and turned to gather my uniform up to change into it. "Meet you downstairs." I threw over my shoulder, and he left my room.

Once I was changed into my uniform, I left the house with Takemichi, and we walked to the shrine together. We met up with everyone else and stood at attention when Mikey and Draken stood above us and the rest of the crowd that had gathered. All four hundred and fifty, I believe?

Though that was gonna change soon.

"The first meeting of the year will now begin!" Draken called, silencing everyone.

"Toman and the Black Dragons faced each other in conflict," Mikey started. "We originally had a peace agreement, but that failed. It was caused by the discord between the brothers Hakkai Shiba and Taiju Shiba. Toman clashed with the Black Dragons on Christmas, claiming victory after a hard-fought battle."

"Three people today will discuss this matter with everyone!" Draken then called. "First person! Hakkai Shiba, to the front!"

Hakkai walked up the steps and looked rather stiff as he addressed everyone.

"It all started with a stupid little lie I told," He said. "To keep up that little lie, I dragged my family... I dragged Toman into it. Then the problem grew bigger, resulting in the conflict between Toman and the Black Dragons. I'm responsible for all of this. Everyone... I'm sorry."

He then bowed, and there was a beat of silence before Mucho piped up.

"Don't worry about it, Hakkai!" He called. "The first thing that sparks a conflict is always something small, anyway."

"Besides, we beat the Black Dragons, so things ended up fine! Right, guys?" Smiley called, his smile not looking strained for once.

"Fine, yeah," I muttered to myself, knowing exactly what was coming.

"Hakkai! You've still got a place with us, as the Tokyo Manji Gang's second-division vice-captain!" Mitsuya then called to him. "You guys cool with that?" He asked the members behind him, who all cheered in agreement.

When the cheering died down and Hakkai rejoined the crowd, Draken stepped up again.

"Second person! Inui, to the front!"

Both he and Koko stepped up in their white Black Dragons uniforms, and I was surprised to see Inui wearing boots instead of heels, like I was expecting.

"Seishu Inui, from the eleventh generation Black Dragons." He introduced himself.

"Hajime Kokonoi, from the same gang." Koko just said, somehow still looking smug. "The tenth generation Black Dragons lost to Toman. Our former leader, Taiju Shiba, has retired. We have succeeded the gang as the leaders of the eleventh generation."

"After discussing it with Mikey, we've decided to join under Toman." Inui said.

"I assign the Black Dragons to the first division. In other words, under Takemichi Hanagaki's command!" Mikey said, and Takemichi's mouth dropped open where he stood next to me.

"What?" He asked dumbly, making me roll my eyes.

"'If we're going to be part of Toman, we'd rather be with him.' That is what they want." Mikey just said.

"Well," Koko hummed as they both started down the steps towards us. "We wanted both you and your sister, actually, but we learned that she doesn't lead a division, and you do."

"Huh," I just hummed, tilting my head as I considered it. "Really?"

"You were the one that took down Taiju," Inui looked at me, though he didn't look impressed.

"Oh, do say that just a little louder, why don't you?" I hummed with a little smirk, and he just rolled his eyes.

"Anyway," Koko elbowed him. "Glad to be here, captain!"

"I won't ask you to trust us," Inui turned his attention to Takemichi. "Just tell us when you need us, and we'll help you."

They settled into the crowd behind Takemichi, and Mikey stepped forward again.

"Lastly, I want to talk about something involving the Christmas conflict." He said, turning almost cold and serious. "Tetta Kisaki!"

"Yes!" Kisaki chimed up from the crowd, and I felt myself holding my breath.

"You're fired." Mikey said, and the entire place fell silent for a moment before murmurs erupted.

"I gave Mikey a general report of Kisaki's betrayal," Chifuyu said behind Takemichi, who turned to stare at him. "But I never thought Mikey would respond like this. He's a captain, you know? Never imagined he'd get fired."

"What're you saying, Mikey? You're joking, right?" Kisaki looked absolutely panicked.

"I'm not joking. You're fired." Mikey held firm.

"Whoa, whoa. Hold the phone, Mikey." Hanma stepped forward. "If you fire Kisaki, then I'm out, too. Which means out of the four hundred fifty members of Toman, all fifty former members of Moebius and all three hundred former members of Valhalla will leave. Toman will shrivel to a mere one hundred. You sure about this?" He grinned like he knew better.

"I don't care. Toman's gotten too big, anyway." Mikey said.

"Eh?" Hanma's face fell, which honestly made me smirk.

"Gotten too big?" Kisaki grew angry. "What the hell, Mikey?! Isn't that Toman's goal?!"

"Then, was your instigation of the Christmas conflict done to make Toman bigger?" Mikey asked, calm and collected as could be, which was honestly impressing me now that I was seeing the scene play out in real time.

"You spurred on Takemitchy and the others, and gave Yuzuha a knife so she could kill Taiju. Mitsuya and Chifuyu told me everything. In order to make Toman bigger, I've ignored your underhanded methods until now. But that ends here." Mikey countered.

"NO!" Kisaki exploded in anger now. "You've grown weak! Taiju was a threat to Toman! I acted for your sake!"

"Hey!" Draken stepped over as Kisaki had started up the steps towards Mikey. "Who said you could come up here?"

Hanma was on his way up to punch Draken in Kisaki's defense, as I remember, but Kisaki then suddenly whirled back around, his eyes scanning the front of the crowd.

"Junko! Help me!" He yelled, taking everyone, especially me, aback.

"Help you?" I scoffed. "Why the fuck would I do that?"

He stared intently at me, trying to communicate something silently that only I would get, and I was getting it, but I was also just going to play dumb.

"I'll tell them your secret," He said, eyes looking wild and sweat breaking out across his brow. He truly looked desperate here, and I was going to play him like a fiddle.

"Oh," I hummed. "Which secret would that be?" I tilted my head, smiling like I was playing it off as a joke.

He stared at me a little harder, not saying anything, and I made sure I was staring coolly back, confident I would lie my way out of his 'blackmail.'

"Oh! Do you mean the secret that sounds insane when you say it out loud?" I asked, then waved my hand carelessly. "And I mean, more insane than you usually sound?"

"Junko," Takemichi hissed, probably trying to warn me to not poke and prod at Kisaki like this.

Kisaki was seething openly now, and I honestly have never felt more alive. I was fucking poking a bear here, and it was exhilarating. I guess I liked to flirt with danger, I liked to test just how far I could test and taunt someone.

I was nowhere near done here.

"Kisaki here believes that I'm not really your sister, Takemichi," I announced, crossing my arms. Kisaki's eyes widened as I said it, and Takemichi just looked confused as I turned to look at him.

"He thinks I just popped into existence one day and I've been brainwashing you and our parents that I'm Junko Hanagaki, your older sister." I rolled my eyes and smiled. "I told him our mother would have a lot of explaining to do if that were true, but he seems to stick to his delusions."

I then looked at Kisaki again. "Told them, you happy now? Got anything else?"

He was practically red in the face with anger now, and I was just tempted to push just a little farther.

"I guess he doesn't want me spilling his reasons for thinking I'm not your sister... right? Right." I hummed, challenging Kisaki as I stared up at him with a smirk.

"You..." He hissed, and I couldn't help it as my smirk grew little by little.

"...Lying, scheming bitch!" He yelled. "You all think I'm bad? You've yet to meet the real Junko, whoever she is!"

Draken had then grabbed Kisaki and started hauling him away, and Hanma was a bit too stunned to do anything about it, as he was just looking between Kisaki and me, looking just about as confused as everyone else.

"Junko?" Takemichi asked, and I looked over, seeing a troubled look on his face. "Why would Kisaki think you're not my sister?"

I let my face soften a little for his sake. Fucking sue me, I've come to genuinely care for the guy.

"Story for another day, 'Michi." I sighed.

"But you know." He said, eyebrows furrowing further. "You said you knew his reasons..."

"Blackmail, brother mine." I smiled and shook my head. "Believe me, I have more real dirt on Kisaki than he has fake dirt on me."

"Junko," Mikey called, and I looked up and saw him nod his head back. I nodded and started up the steps, Draken taking my side. The three of us went to the back of the shrine, away from everybody else, and Mikey turned to me.

"I want to know," Mikey said, and I pinched my eyebrows together.

"Know... what exactly?" I asked.

"Your dirt on Kisaki." He said, and I nodded slowly, sighing.

"You can't tell Takemichi. I don't care how much he asks, he can't know." I said, giving a pointed look to both of them, and they both nodded.

"Well, it's no secret that Kisaki admires you, Mikey. But he's obsessed with Takemichi." I spilled. "When we were all kids, around nine or ten, I think maybe, was when Takemichi met Hinata. Kisaki was friends with Hinata and met Takemichi one day. Hinata said she fell in love with Takemichi the day he saved her from some bullies, and that kinda just... wrecked Kisaki. So, Kisaki started following him around, learning about him, planning to take his revenge on Takemichi for taking Hinata from him, you know?"

"So, where do you come in?" Draken asked.

I rolled my eyes deeply. "Kisaki says he doesn't have any memories of me while he was stalking Takemichi. That's not exactly my fault if he never noticed the object of his obsession has a sister."

"Guess not," Mikey sighed, shaking his head slowly. "This whole thing's a mess."

"It'll get better," I offered, giving him a small smile. "Personally, I think there's more important things than growing your gang exponentially. Quality over quantity and all that."

"Yeah," Draken nodded, looking at Mikey, who still stared at the ground.

"Junko," He started. "If Hanma hasn't left yet, can you talk to him?"

"What do you want me to say?" I asked.

"That he can leave," Mikey said, sounding dead inside.

"I can do that," I nodded and turned back around to walk the way we came. Hanma was still at the front of the crowd, of what remained of the crowd, and I skipped down the steps and paused right in front of him.

"Mikey says you can leave, Hanma." I said as clearly as I could, shocking the other captains. "And I assume he means take your men with you."

Hanma looked surprised, and a laugh bubbled from his mouth.

"You know this is a bad idea as well as I do, right, Junko?" He asked, tilting his head.

"I'm with Mikey here; I don't really care." I shrugged. "Come what may, we'll handle it in due time."

"You're so confident," He hummed, looking me up and down. "Wonder why... Maybe Kisaki's right and you know more than you're letting on." He smirked.

"Maybe Kisaki can suck my left nut," I just shrugged carelessly.

He walked away, and I walked down the rest of the steps, coming to a pause beside Takemichi, who was eyeing me warily.

"What?" I asked and he shook his head and looked away again.

"Don't let Kisaki in your head, 'Michi. You know better than that." I warned before we started the walk home.