Chapter Text
"Huh?! What did you say?"
"I'm here to fight Mikey."
"You fucking bastard! You think you can just-"
Mitsuya tipped his head back and gave a deep sigh as he walked over. This just had to be when he was the closest person to deal with this. Well, at least they don't have to scrape them off the ground if it had been Baji or Mucho.
"What's going on here?" he called out as he walked in.
As one, the Toman members backed away and gave a polite bow.
"Mitsuya-san!" they called out.
Mitsuya looked at the guy who showed up to their regular meeting place and frowned. Some middle schooler, judging by his uniform, and frowned. Did he think that Toman was some fucking walk in the park? How did he even know that their meetings were here?
But there was a look in his eyes. Bright blue eyes so clear that Mitsuya could see his reflection in them. It wasn't the crazy gleam he saw in most guys who challenged them. It wasn't some power high or something crazy like that. It was a kid in his school uniform with a bandage across his cheek, and Mitsuya couldn't believe that someone would actually show up to fight someone else like that.
Either he was an idiot, or he was looking down on him. Mitsuya didn't care. All he had to do was crush everyone that came snapping at Mikey's feet. His only hope was that it would be a good fight.
"Captain, we'll take care of this punk!"
And without further prompting, the kid with a bad dye job took a bold step forward. "I'm here to fight Mikey, the Leader of Toman."
"You bastard!" one of the other members snapped back at him, "Shut up and show some respect! This is Mitsuya Takashi, the Second Division Captain!"
Mitsuya, in all honesty, didn't care about all that shit. But, he would say that it was a little relieving to be in such a straight-forward fight. This guy came right up to their meeting spot and blatantly asked for a fight. There was no ambush. There was no weapons. He wasn't standing there just trash-talking the Toman Mitsuya treasured to get a rile out of them. The guy was alone.
Stupid? Yes. Ballsy? Also yes.
But this was Mitsuya's favorite type of stupid and ballsy. There weren't a lot of people like that.
So for that, Mitsuya supposed he'd take him out himself. It was a simple thing and he knew that he wouldn't have done the same, showing up to a gang meeting place by himself to face the boss. He didn't spit or curse at Toman's flag or insult Mikey or anything. He came here for a fight, simple and easy. He wouldn't take him straight to Mikey, but he would give him a thrashing instead.
He had Mitsuya's respect.
So he took a step forward and nailed a flying kick against his head. His division members scattered as the kid went sailing through them, and Mitsuya stared back.
"Get out of here, kid. Mikey doesn't talk to people he's not interested in."
Mitsuya turned around, figuring that the kid would wake up and leave on his own, when he heard his division members whispering again. Whipping back around, he stared, wide-eyed as the kid stood back up. Blood oozed out of his nose, and he picked himself up off the ground.
"I'm here to fight Mikey," the kid said, breathing hard but his eyes were as clear as they were right before Mitsuya nailed his face in.
Mitsuya stared at the kid for a moment longer and pulled his jacket open. He hoped he didn't look too excited. How long had it been since he had been into a fight that got his blood pumping? Good, this was good.
"Let's do this then. If you want to get to Mikey, you gotta get through me."
The kid was stubborn as he shook his head. "I'm not fighting you. I'm here for Mikey."
Mitsuya scowled, what the fuck were they, then? Cannon-fodder? Did he really think that he'd step back and lead him straight to Mikey?
The kid wasn't even worth Mikey's time. He was full of openings and even when he tried to dodge, Mitsuya could follow him easily. A quick one-two had him on the ground again. What a joke. He swallowed down the bitter disappointment, because why'd he talk so big if he was a lousy fight?
"Get out of here," he said.
"I... I'm here for Mikey."
And the guy got back up.
Mitsuya stared at him and then sighed. Pocketing his hands, he approached him. Easily, he landed a hard kick to his side, watched as the guy didn't even defend himself, and when he fell, Mitsuya kicked him in the chest. The guy was light, and his entire body came off the ground and rolled over. He could literally feel his ribs creaking against his foot. He coughed miserably.
Dimly, Mitsuya felt like a punching bag would do a better job.
He turned around, ready to tell one of the guys to throw him out, but he heard his voice again.
His eyes widened, as he whipped back around. The kid rolled onto his stomach and slowly pushed up on his fists. Pulling his legs underneath him, he pushed onto his knees. He trembled as he got back up to his feet, and looked back at Mitsuya.
When people get hit, they get angry. Or they panic. Or flinch back in fear. There were the occasional freaks that got more excited, but the point is that when someone gets hit, they got hit. They feel something. Something triggered in their head, and they behaved like a human being with their life in danger.
Double bloody nose and a bruised jaw, the middle school brat in front of him met his gaze the same way he did when they first started fighting.
"I'm not here to fight you," he said, eyes bright as they were clear and Mitsuya felt like he could see his reflection right in them. "I'm here for Mikey."
Around then, despite never being hit once, Mitsuya took a step back.
"...You..."
"Oi, oi, you're going to fight without me?!"
Mitsuya looked over and took a deep breath. Baji. This was going to get ugly. For some strange reason, he felt like it was a bit of a waste.
"Hey, Mitsuya, what's the matter with ya? This brat giving you trouble?"
"Baji," Mitsuya sighed, but before he could say anything else, their intruder spoke up.
"I'm here to fight Mikey," he declared, either ignorant of unnoticing how they were drawing the attention of everyone here. He wasn't going to get out of here alive.
"Haa?" Baji drew the sound in his mouth, his smile turning into a frown.
"I'm not here to fight you."
"...Let's see how long you can keep that up. Don't bore me now!"
And shoving Mitsuya out of the way, Baji jumped in with his fist raised.
Staring down at him, the kid shook his head. "I'm not here to fight you."
--
There weren't a lot of people that could take a beating from Baji and still get up. Baji, who long lost his smile, stared as the guy got back up. His knuckles were actually bruising since he wasn't pulling any of his hits, but to his shock, the guy kept standing back up.
Blood dribbled down his face, pooling at the ground, but the stranger got back up on his feet. They all fell silent as they watched him do so. The formally rowdy members fell silent, and the sound of blood plopping to the ground seemed to echo in the temple grounds. His ragged breathing seemed to be so much louder as he picked himself up off the ground again.
"I'm not here to fight you," he said, or Mitsuya assumed he said because his words were slurring from how swollen his face had gotten. Mitsuya had seen Baji's handiwork many times, to think that he was even standing right now seemed short of a miracle. It was a testament to his strength.
Or rather, it was a testament to how badly he wanted this.
"I'm here to fight Mikey."
"...You're going to die if you keep this up," Baji told him.
And the kid gave this raspy laugh. His eyes gleamed, like he would be his own light, blasting down his own path, and Mitsuya felt it pull on something inside of him.
"But I won't die a liar."
There was another pause, Baji's gaze turning into something else as the kid stared back at him, eyes bright even if one was swollen shut.
"...What's your name?" Baji asked, tying his hair up. He was serious now, and Mitsuya knew he should interrupt, but interfering in a battle like this was hard. He wanted to know. How far can this guy go? What was he doing this for? Even if he faced off Mikey, there was no way he was going to last for a fight. There was a pull in his chest as he watched the teen who spat a mouthful of blood out.
"Does it matter?"
"Hey, what's going on here, that we can't start a meeting?"
Everything seemed to stop as their top two walked over. As one, the entirety of Toman seemed to straighten out. With formal bows that no one would expect from delinquents, they stood at attention and then bowed at their waist politely.
"Good evening, President!"
"Good evening, President!"
"...Hey," from behind Draken, Mikey stepped forward. There was a shine to his eyes that Mitsuya knew very well. The spark of interest in something, and he hoped that it meant that this kid would become one of them soon. "Are you really a middle schooler?" he asked. "What's your name?"
"...My name is Hanagaki Takemichi," the blond said, "And I'm here to fight Mikey."
"Yeah?" Mikey replied, and he looked dazzling, shining with a eagerness that the others had not seen before. "You sure you don't want a break? Looks like my boys did a number on you."
"Nah," he replied. His hand came up to pull the collar of his shirt up to his mouth, and immediately, it was drenched in blood. He cleared his throat, and shook his head. "I needed the warm up."
The absolute delight in Mikey's face did not go unnoticed.
"Let's do it then."
--
"Who the hell is he?" Draken asked.
"No idea," Mitsuya replied. "Just showed up asking to fight Mikey."
Draken could count on one hand the number of people who could take Mikey's kick straight to the temple and get back up. There was now one. He stared like everyone else from Toman did, as their Leader nailed four more kicks just like it, but the guy got back up. Considering that he had just been tangling with Baji and Mitsuya just a moment ago, it was more than impressive.
It was a death-wish.
One of his eyes was almost swollen shut. Just looking at him felt like agony, but Draken could not take his eyes off the one-sided beatdown.
"...He's got grit," Mucho said, respect in his voice.
"Stop it!"
"Hey, you can't be here!"
And a group of four managed to push past some of their Toman members, and Draken was going to give all of them hell for letting outsiders just come charging into their meetings. What a mess this whole thing was. They were still a small gang, these kinds of incidents really set their reputation.
"Takemichi! It's fine! You can stop now!" the kid with a pompadour cried out.
"Not yet," so-called Takemichi rasped out.
His back looked permanently hunched, and his legs trembled, and really, he had Draken's respect for bearing the brunt of all of Mikey's kicks and still remaining standing. From the sounds of it, Baji and Mitsuya didn't hold back either, but neither of them were scratched because he never fought back. He couldn't tell if the guy was stupid and stubborn, or there was something else going on in that empty head of his. At the very least, Draken wasn't sure if he could take that many hits from some of the strongest people he knew in a row like that.
To begin with, standing up against someone so obviously stronger than himself was respect worthy. After the first hit, it's usually extremely obvious how big of a difference two fighters had. A brittle kind of fear birthed itself inside of the human heart, and it spread a vicious disease throughout the entire body. The bigger the difference, the worse it could get. There were plenty of people that packed up and left after a one-sided beatdown from Mikey.
"I haven't... lost yet."
His voice was quiet, but it rang loudly in the area they were in. Draken felt himself straightening at his words, eyes completely focused on him.
"Takemichi! I'm okay!" a long-haired kid yelled out from the side, "I'm okay, you don't-you don't have to do this anymore!"
Was he doing this for a friend?
Blood sprayed. And Takemichi, their intruder, stood a little taller, like he was freshly reminded why he needed to. "I'm not going anywhere! I got a damn good reason not to!"
Outmatched and outnumbered, was this guy bleeding for his friend?
Draken felt a weight lay over his heart. It made the world slow down a little more, and an itch for knowledge started to scratch and press against his throat like a bad cough.
"...Why do you want to fight me?" Mikey finally asked, probably feeling that same itch.
The boy called Takemichi stared back at him. Everyone seemed to lean in a little closer to hear his answer. What was worth the beatdown? What was worth taking several hits until he was bruised and bloody? What was worth staying on his feet for when anyone else would have passed out by now?
His breathing was ragged but he held strong, "I want my friends to be free from Manji. Manji and their shitty slaves and their shitty fighting rings can go to hell."
Spitting a mouthful of blood out, the blond whose hair was becoming an unruly mess as the gel was punched out of him, Takemichi, met his gaze as his chest heaved for breath.
"If we keep going," Mikey said, an easy-going smile on his face, "You're going to die."
"Whatever you do to me, leave my friends out of it," Takemichi replied back, and the light in his good eye refused to be extinguished. "Even if I die, I won't lose."
There was a moment where Mikey stared at him for a few more seconds. The kind of pause that Draken hadn't seen Mikey give before. There was this slump to his shoulders, relaxed and curious as he stared forward.
And, in a moment of "if you blink you will miss it" Mikey blurred in front of them. He gave a high kick to Takemichi, and just like all the times before, it sent Takemichi sailing to the ground. The crunch of his shoulder hitting the ground, his head smacking against the floor, and the pained gasp he gave before Mikey rushed forward to land a kick that had him sprawling out some more.
Just like before, Takemichi's hands curled into fists and pushed himself up.
Before he got up, a foot came swinging at his face and knocked him backwards and onto his back. Mikey wasted no time dropping his foot on top of his sternum, a crack resounding and Draken took a step forward. This was treading dangerous territory.
"Still..." the crazy blond on the ground grinned back, "...not dead."
A chill ran down Draken's spine.
"What's wrong?" he rasped out, "Getting tired?"
And grabbing Mikey's leg, Takemichi gave a harsh exhale, white teeth stained pink from the blood in his mouth.
Mikey replied by dropping a fist to his face, stepping back as Takemichi rolled over onto his elbows and knees with a gurgling groan. Blood dripped out from his mouth and nose, but he wasn't done.
"Hah..." he breathed out, shaky breaths as he got on his feet. "I'm not done..."
And when he ran forward to punch Mikey, Mikey took a step to the left, avoiding it with ease. The force of Takemichi's punch when he swung had him sprawling down against the ground again.
"You need to put up a better fight than that!" one of the younger members called out. Draken frowned immediately. Next to him, Mucho was already moving to take them out.
"What were you thinking, challenging Invincible Mikey?!"
Mikey turned to those that laughed. "Who just laughed at him?" he asked, eyes sharp. "Step out."
And somehow, faster than ever, Takemichi ran forward and in front of Mikey.
"Your fight is with me!"
Toman's leader stared at him for a moment longer, inquisitive and interested, before he came up and kicked him again.
But this time, Takemichi's arm came up to block it. Eyes so bright it looked like they were emitting their own light, he gave a grin.
"He... blocked Mikey's kick!"
Mikey took a step back and swung his other leg up to kick at his chest. Twisting his body up, he swung his other leg up to aim it at Takemichi's head. Around then, something truly impossible seemed to happen, when Takemichi's foot slipped on the blood and narrowly dodged Mikey's kick.
He went crashing into Mikey at the same time. The two collided into the ground and Takemichi climbed over him to land a clean hit across the face. He lifted his fist back to do it again, spewing blood all over Mikey's face.
"Get off of him!"
And another Toman member tackled him off of Mikey. A few others jumped forward to hit him, and Draken came rushing in to stop them.
"Takemichi!" his friends called out, while Draken felt a fury unlike any other.
How dare anyone get involved in a fight like that? How dare anyone trample on Mikey's fight, on Mikey's honor, spit on Toman itself, and dare to wear the same uniform as him? He grabbed them, Mucho barely a step behind as they all but threw them off.
"Watch to the end," he snapped at them.
"B-but!"
"Don't fucking embarrass us," Mucho's voice was low and cold.
"Augh," the blond groaned as he pushed himself onto his hands and feet. He coughed miserably, and then gave a little chuckle, "Not... so invincible, are you?" Takemichi asked, wiping at his mouth. Slowly, painfully slowly, he pushed up and he was standing again.
And Mikey laughed back, a breathless, airy smile as he sat up. Sitting up, he looked up at Takemichi, grin so wide he looked radiant.
"...Yeah," he said, "I lose. My guys jumped in unfairly."
Takemichi stared at him, gasping for each breath. "Akkun! Takuya! Yamagishi! Makoto!"
He looked over to his friends and gave a wide grin that looked painful. Blood ran down his face.
"We're free!"
And just like that, the craziest motherfucker that Draken had met yet, pitched to the side.
Mikey jumped to catch him.
"Ken-chin," Toman's leader said, a satisfied grin on his face as he looked down at Takemichi and carefully laid him down on the ground. "Call an ambulance." Cracking his neck, he looked at Takemichi, and then his friends. "You guys got a good friend."
"I know," Akkun with the pompadour said, eyes full of unshed tears and voice raw, running to his friend while the other three rubbed at their eyes as they surrounded him.
"When he wakes up," Mikey said, "tell him I'll be happy to take him."
--
"So," Smiley lifted his hand up, "I'll take him in my division."
"Oh god no," Mucho deadpanned, "That's a terrible idea. We don't need any more loose cannons. I'll take him."
"What? No way, he's going to be mine," Mikey replied.
"I didn't get to finish my fight with him, so I'll take him," Baji said with a toothy grin.
"You're going to kill him as soon as he gets out of the hospital?" Mitsuya asked. He shook his head, "I met him first, so I'll take him."
Draken eyed him, and he gave him a toothy grin in return. Draken only got to see the end of it, so he could look at him like that.
"I said," Mikey frowned at them, "He's mine!"
Exasperated, Draken replied, "You need to at least ask him to join."
"He'll join," Mikey said.
"My division," Smiley pitched again.
Rolling his eyes, their vice-president looked to where his old time friend sat with them, a frown on his face as he stared at the table.
"Pah-chin, you good?" Draken asked.
"Hm," Pah-chin tilted his head to the side, "...I can't help but feel like I've seen him from somewhere," he replied. "I just don't know where..."
"Yeah?" Baji said, "So what? He's still joining my division."
"I already said, he's going to be mine!" Mikey snapped back, slamming his hand on the table. "And that's final!"
And with some grumbling, they finally calmed down.