The Musashi festival takes place at the shrine annually. It's weird that it's the very place where TOMAN gather for meetings. It's the very place where TOMAN was formed three years ago. Mikey had informed last minute he'd to go somewhere, so he'd be a little late. So Suzume decided to tag along with Draken and Emma, there they met Takemichi and Hinata who were out on their first date.

"I want to eat that," Emma pointed at the anpans. A round bread bun stuffed with sweet red bean paste.

"Huh? You'll get fat. Leave it."

"What?" The girl nodded at Suzume who was having an Onigiri. A snack made with white rice, nori, and some type of filling. "Why don't you tell her that."

Draken puffed, "Hime and Mikey have the same metabolism, but you...carbs makes you blot."

The boy is right Emma is quick to blotting, the girl complains regularly after meals. Draken was just looking out for her but his tone was harsh.

"Why don't you have a cotton candy instead?" Suzume directed her gaze towards a stall selling the pink candies.

Emma beamed at that and grabbed Draken's wrist, "let's go."

"Hey!" the boy hissed following the girl.

Takemichi came and stood bedsides her, "Draken hardly pays any attention to her. Even though she's so cute."

Suzume agreed with a nod as she took another bite of her food. "Em is so in love with Ken-bou that she goes a little out of control sometimes. Like when she tried to do 'that' with you."

Takemichi blushed recollecting the event, "ahhh..."

She turned to him, "but I'm glad you left, other boys would just take the chance."

"I'm a virgin!"

"What?"

The boy became redder, "I don't know why I even said that!"

Suzume began to laugh, Takemichi is really weird and funny at the same time.

"What's so funny?" Hinata appeared with a smile on her face.

"Uh...nothing." Takemichi scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Why don't you love birds take a stroll," the girl said pulling out her phone from her purse, "I'll give Mikey a call."

They nodded as they headed towards the stalls.

Takemichi and Hinata were having fun Emma was having fun, she don't know about Draken but hopefully he's having fun as well. It's just her—who's not having fun at all. I'll make it upto you, is this what? I'll make it upto you means. She thought grimly as she took a sip of the steaming rice tea, the rain began to pour down suddenly but a kind old man have provided her shelter in his tea stall.

"Suzume!" Hinata appeared out of the blue, "I've been searching for you everywhere. Why aren't you picking up the phone?"

The girl have knowingly put her phone on silent because she was pissed at Mikey, she didn't think her friends would be searching for her.

"It's Takemichi, I can't find him anywhere and his phone is switched off!"

"What?"

"He told me to wait by the trees and disappeared, something doesn't feel right."

Suzume could feel it too, something was wrong. Why would Takemichi just abandon Hinata and leave? The girl thanked the old man and then left with Hinata to search for the boy. Due to the rain both Draken and Emma's phones were out of reach.

They headed towards the back of the shrine where it was darker and covered with more trees, Mikey would usually take this way back home after the TOMAN meetings. And there's a spot right there—the girl pushed that thought away from her mind, she should be looking for Takemichi not thinking about make out spots at the moment.

A figure laid still on the ground as the rain was pouring down. "Takemichi! What is this? What happened?" Hinata jogged towards the boy.

Suzume was on her heels, the boy was tied down with duct tapes. What the hell?

"Stay still, I'll peel this off." Hinata kneeled on the ground as she placed the boy's head on her lap.

Suzume squatted down and helped the girl with the task, she could clearly see that the boy had been beaten. But by who and why?

"Sorry, for leaving you alone like that." He apologised to Hinata as she peeled off the duct tape off his mouth. "I'm so pathetic. I tried as hard as I could. It's painful. It's exhausting. But I tired my best. And yet...I'm worthless!"

"That's not true."

"Leave me alone Hinata!" He yelled, "I don't want you to see me so pathetic like this! If I were Draken or Mikey. I could've dealt with those guys with no problem! I'd just beat them up and get the stuff done!" Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "But I'm...I'm just a useless being."

Hinata pulled the boy into a soft tender kiss. He was taken aback, but that did shut him up. Good job Hinata, Suzume congratulated her friend in her mind. She slowly pulled away, "you're not Draken or Mikey. You are you. You shed tears for others, and you would worry about others from the bottom of your heart. You're Takemichi and I like you for who you are."

The boy was crying uncontrollably as he hugged Hinata, Suzume was beaming at the sight. She never thought Hinata and Takemichi would be this cute together.

"Don't cry again, okay?" Hinata finally said as she let go of the boy.

"I am not crying! This is from the rain!"

The girls laughed at his words.

Takemichi had informed that he got beaten by Kiyomasa and some others because he overheard their conversation. Some guys from Mikey's faction in TOMAN are targeting Draken, not everyone agrees with what happened and some guys got heated up because of it. There was a Moebius member present there too, that only means—the second big dispute is about to start.

They'll needed to go home before anything goes south but first they need to find Emma and Draken. If those guys are targeting Draken, Emma would be in trouble as well. "You and Hinata go back home, I'll find Draken and Emma myself."

"No." Like hell she's going to leave Draken and Emma, and the boy doesn't know but Suzume can fend for herself. And no one in their right mind would ever lay a finger on her, everyone knew how precious she is to the boys.

"Mikey would kill us all, if anything happens to you!"

"Nothing will happen to me, I assure you."

Takemichi gave it a thought and then turned to Hinata, "you need to go...I can't protect you."

"He's right, you should go Hina."

The girl pressed her lips, "take care okay?"

They both nodded, "we will."

As Hinata disappeared from view, they headed towards the road. "Hime!" Mitsuya called her from behind, the girl stopped on her track. "Taka-chan?"

He drove his bike towards them, "what are you guys doing in the rain? And where's Draken?"

"This is bad Mitsuya!" Takemichi said, "Draken will get attacked."

"Ahh I know, Peh-yan right?" Mitsuya got off his bike.

"Takemichi said it's Kiyomasa."

"Hmm," the boy rubbed his jaws. "Peh-yan is the one who couldn't let it slide...so maybe he'd team up with Kiyomasa and some others who dislike Draken."

Suzume rested her throbbing head on his chest, "I'm so glad you're here...you don't know how my night is going. Mikey literally stood me up, and then the rain and Takemichi getting beaten up and now this!"

He rubbed her back comfortingly, "I'm sure you're having one hell of a night...Hime..."

Takemichi cleared his throat a little too loudly, "can we guys go and look for Draken now?"

Mitsuya took the umbrella from Suzume, "you can vent all you want while we look for Draken, Heh."

A small smirk appeared on her face, "and that's why you're my partner Taka-chan."

Peh-yan believes that TOMAN abandoned Pah-chin. That's why he teamed up with the remnants of Moebius to give Draken a lesson.

Mitsuya pointed at the golden bike of Peh-yan, "since his bike is here...the fight may have already started."

The forest coverings around the shrine stretched kilometres. How were they supposed to find Draken in time and in this pouring rain?

"Let's check the parking lot at the back," Suzume suggested because there's sheds around and Draken and Emma might've taken shelter there.

When they reached the parking lot Draken was fighting all alone, and there were about 30 Moebius members surrounding him. The boy was bleeding from his head.

"Ken-bou!" Suzume called out.

The boy looked over his shoulder, "Hime."

"Peh-yan! You bastard why are you working with Moebius?" Mitsuya asked as they saw Peh-yan in his TOMAN uniform and white sash standing in the rain watching the fight.

"Shut up, Mitsuya! We will kill you too!"

"It's the Second Division captain, Mitsuya." Someone said. "He's strong."

"Peh-yan, this is unfair!" Emma jogged towards them holding an umbrella. "You guys attacked him from behind with a bat and ganged up on him! How can you call yourself a man?"

"What?" Suzume mouth's agape, that's so unfair.

Emma stood besides her, "where's Mikey?"

Suzume totally forgot about Mikey, the girl pulled out her phone. Five missed calls. Good, he should learn his lesson but now is not the time to punish him. She gave him a call back but the network was acting out, so she send him an emergency sos. He'll find her location right away and hopefully he'll be here in time.

"I'm tired." Draken said weakly. "Seems like...this is my limit. I'm leaving the rest to you. Mitsuya."

The boy stepped forward. "Got it."

Draken sat on the ground, "my head hurts."

"You guys really think you can win with just the two of you?" A Moebius member asked.

"Shut up, dimwit!"

"Take all three of them out." Peh-yan told the members referring to Draken, Mitsuya and Takemichi.

"Let's do it!" They'll yelled.

Mikey's CB250T exhaust was heard at a distant. Everyone stood still. Peh-yan gasped at the sound, realisation struck his face as his eyes landed on Suzume. The girl was here all along and she'd called her boyfriend.

"Right about time." Mitsuya grinned.

"It's Mikey's Bobber." Draken said proudly.

The tires screeched as the bike came to a halt.

"Hey, isn't that..."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No one told me about this."

"Mikey..."

The Moebius members murmured.

"Thank goodness! Mikey's here." Takemichi gave a sigh of relief.

The boy got off his bike, "I see you called me elsewhere so you guys could attack Ken-chin?"

So someone planned this out but who?

"Little sparrow," he glanced at Suzume a small smile spreading across his face. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting...you see I was quite busy."

The girl returned the smile, even in the worse situation Mikey can always smile for her.

He turned his attention back to Peh-yan, "so you're planning to blame this on me and split TOMAN in half?"

"I just wanted to save Pah-chin_"

"This is not how you do things. Who told you to do this?"

Out of the blue a tall guy appeared, smoking a cigarette. Several other Moebius's members followed. "Oh, that's unexpected. Didn't know you're that sharp."

"Who are you?" Mikey questioned the guy.

"How boring." He puffed the cigarette. "It doesn't matter who I am. But I'm in charge of Moebius. At the moment, at least. I'm Hanma."

Shuji Hanma Moebius temporary president, have black hair with a bit of a dyed blonde streak between the middle of it—that compliments his long golden earring in his left ear. But what stood out in him was the tattoo "Sin" and "Punishment" on both his left and right hands.

"So you're the squirming creep behind all this?"

"You're a pain in the ass, Mikey_"

In a flash, the boy tried to kick Hanma down but he was able to block it with his hands. "That hurt."

"He blocked Mikey's kick!" Mitsuya said in disbelief, it was a rare sight to see someone do that.

"There's no need to rush, Mikey. My goal is to crush TOMAN. But it's a pain, so I was trying to make you fight amongst yourselves. But it all worked out in the end. Because now I can take on the invincible Mikey..." he put his hand that read punishment and covered one eye, "and kill you with my own hand!"

He stretched out both of his arms. "Moebius's entire gang, 100 people! Versus four guys from TOMAN!" Then he warned the Moebius members. "Don't wuss out like you did last time, you fools! I'm not soft like Osanai was. If you run away, I'll hunt you down and beat you till all your teeth are gone!"

"Yes sir!" They all responded.

"Take on Mikey, Draken and everyone one of them...and kill them all."

More sounds of exhausts were heard.

"They made it," Suzume exhaled.

The rest of the TOMAN members showed up with their bikes.

Mikey glanced at her surprised, the boy knew she's the one who'd informed the others. The girl was quick enough to send an sos to Keisuke Baji, TOMAN's First Division captain about the fight.

"Which of you wants to die first?" Nahoya Kawata also known as Smiley, TOMAN Fourth Division captain asked.

"I'll kill Peh-yan first." Yasuhiro Muto, TOMAN Fifth Division captain said.

"This is getting fun!" Hanma said as he put a hand on Peh-yan's head.

"A big brawl on the day of the festival..." Draken finally rose up and walked upto Mikey. "It make your blood pumping. Isn't that right Mikey?"

Mikey agreed with a laugh, "you're right, Ken-chin."

"Kill them all." Hanma yelled.

And then the real fight among Moebius and TOMAN began. There were too many of them to keep track on so Suzume and Emma stood on the side and hoped and prayed for TOMAN's victory. The girl scanned for Takemichi, he was right besides her when the fight started but now he's missing. Where the hell did he go? He wasn't a fighter and if he'd gotten himself into the brawl, he'd be badly injured, he'd already been beaten and tied up by Kiyoma and the others some minutes ago.

"Peh!" Mikey yelled as Suzume saw him charging towards the boy. The girl moved towards them, even though Peh-yan is wrong he's still a member of TOMAN and a friend, she didn't want Mikey to make a decision he'd regret.

The boy turned around. "Mikey..."

"It's their boss..."

"Let's get him."

"The invincible Mikey is just shit!"

Three Moebius members charged forward one of them holding a baseball bat. But Mikey had put down the boys in an instant.

"Peh! Why did you attack Ken-chin?"

"You bastard!" Another member charged forward but Mikey put him down with a punch.

"You knew that Ken-chin and I already made up, right?" Another member charged forward, then another but the boy put them both down. "Don't use Moebius to fight dirty with us!"

"You guys can't just get to an understanding that easily!" Peh-yan said. "I won't accept it."

"We're done arguing over Pah."

"I'm not done yet!" His hands formed into a fist, "Pah-chin got arrested and you're just going to sit still and do nothing? Don't make me laugh! This is the only thing left that I can do!" He threw a punch at Mikey, the boy took it. "Pah-chin was everything to me!" He punched him again. "If TOMAN is going to abandon Pah-chin...then they're my enemy!" He challenged, "come at me, Mikey! Why won't you punch me back? You can beat me in one punch!"

Mikey reached for Peh-yan's head and pulled him closer so that their temples were touching. "Am I laughing? How can I laugh over Pah-chin's arrest? It hurts. It would be sad if Ken-chin and I fought, splitting up TOMAN...that's what Takemichi told me. He told me that everyone would end up fighting because of that. And I never even thought about it. Punch me as much as you like, Peh-yan. I...don't want to fight you. Vent all your anger with that and come back to us."

Peh-yan was moved to tears. Suzume couldn't be more proud of Mikey, he's truly the president of TOMAN. If they weren't in the middle of a fight, she'd have totally hugged him.

"Draken!"

"Draken!"

Takemichi's scream cut through the air.

"What happened Takemichi?" Mikey yelled as he fought the advancing Moebius members.

"Draken is stabbed!" Takemichi screamed.

Suzume's eyes searched for Takemichi and Draken hopelessly but they were buried in the sea of people and the pouring rain.

Then Hanma reached for Mikey and pushed him aside. "Mikey!" He giggled, "found you!"

And then—the two boys were fighting, throwing kicks and punches everywhere. Hanma was bleeding from his lips now, "how boring."

Mikey gave Suzume a quick glance, "take care of Ken-chin little sparrow." As he fought Hanma, now he's bleeding from his lips as well.

Suzume was desperate she didn't want to leave Mikey but she needed to know if Draken was okay, so she ran towards her right. Where she heard Takemichi screaming before, Emma was helping Takemichi in lifting Draken's heavy body. She gave them a hand as Takemichi piggybacked the fallen boy, he was bleeding from his abdomen. "We'll take him to the hospital," Emma said wearily. "You stay here with Mikey."

"But..."

"I'll keep you updated."

The girl was torn but she chose to stay, Emma and Takemichi can look after Draken. Emma will call an ambulance that'll take them straight to the hospital. She'll just need to stay out and watch over Mikey, only a handful of people know how dark Mikey can get if trigged. And especially at times like these, it's very easy for him to fall into the darkness. What the boy would or wouldn't do, even the boy himself doesn't know if the darkness takes over him.

That's the reason why Suzume needs to be by his side before his dark impulses gets triggered. She's the only one, who's able to pull him out of it before. And she might be the only one who could do it. The girl hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

The fight had been going on for an hour, finally the guys were giving up one after the other.

"I'm beat." Mitsuya huffed as he sat on the ground.

"Hey!" Smiley smiled as he put an arm around the Fifth Division captain, "we're done here."

"This guy just busted his foot."

"Where's Mikey?" Mitsuya asked.

"Over there," Suzume nodded to her right.

Hanma and Mikey were the only ones standing, blood dropped from Hanma's lips. "Mikey, you're boring after all. You don't even lose your breath, what a monster."

"Shut up, just die already."

A buffed up guy appeared on a motorcycle. "Hanma, let's wrap it up."

Sirens were heard, it was the cops again. The gang members began to split at the sound.

"Mikey. The strongest and worst motorcycle gang alliance in Kanto will be born soon. It's Valhalla. I am Valhalla's first vice-president. Shuji Hanma. Remember that Mikey. From now on, there will be no peace for TOMAN." And just like that Hanma sat on the bike and rode away.

Suzume moved towards the boy, "Mikey."

His gaze softened as he faced her, "little sparrow."

She pulled him into a warm embrace, he relaxed under her touch all the tension evaporating from his tense body. If she could just stand there with him she would but the night wasn't over yet.

➿➿➿➿➿

Draken was taken to Civil Hospital, the last place Suzume Sato wanted to be. When her mother sees her and her friends at her workplace she'll put the pieces together. But the fear of Draken's life hanging by a thread outshines the fear of her mother.

Her new pastel blue kimono was now stained and soggy, it was a gift from her mother's best friend Dr Chan. When Dr Chan and her mother's sees the condition of the kimono, their jaws would be on the floor. If only she could go back home and change—if only. When they reached the hospital, Mikey had to literally aid the girl to walk inside the building and up the elevator.

As they entered the waiting room, the boys stood up. "Takemichi," Suzume wobbled as she hugged the boy, who looked like shit. He had gone through one hell of a night, it shows.

"Before we got to the hospital, his pulse was already...he had an cardiac arrest!"

"Cardiac arrest?" She couldn't belief what she was repeating. "This can't be true. Tell me it's not."

The boy didn't respond, Suzume pushed back the tears forming in her eyes. No this can't be. She refused to believe this.

Takemichi gently handed her over to Mikey, the boy wrapped his arms around her. She let the tears fall on his chest, the boy drew small circles around her back. "Ken-chin. He's the type of guy who always keeps his word. He won't drop at a place like this. I definitely won't let it end like this."

The girl looked up at her boyfriend. "He...he promised me that we'd take the top together. So believe in Ken-chin. Everything will be fine," he gave her a comforting smile as he wiped her tears.

It stuns her how Mikey can smile even in the worst situations of his life. But he's right, losing their cool isn't going to help.

He put his hand on the small of her back and guided her towards the sofa. The girl was exhausted, she rested her head on Mikey's shoulder as the boy let their fingers entwine.

Peh-yan, Mitsuya and Takemichi sat on the opposite side. Mitsuya had informed that Baji had taken Emma home because the girl had a breakdown. Suzume couldn't blame her, if she was in Emma's shoes she'd be worse.

The operation went on for hours, Suzume had fallen asleep. She awoke when she heard the sound of the electronic door slide open, she blinked. It was Dr Chan the chief surgeon of Civil Hospital and besides him was her mother the chief nursing officer.

"We were able to revive him." Dr Chan announced, "the surgery was a success."

They were all beaming.

Her mother's eyes landed on her, "can I have a word with my daughter?"

Suzume nodded and followed her mother out of the waiting room. "I'm disappointed at you is an understatement! Didn't I warn you from the beginning? Hanging out with hoodlums is bad news? Now, look one of them nearly died under my watch!"

"I..."

"I don't want to hear anymore excuses! You're going to end whatever is going on between you and that boy! And you're not going to entertain any of those boys ever again."

"Mama_"

"Not a word," her mother warned as she walked away disappearing down the hallway.

The girl walked back into the waiting room, Mikey stood by the door. "You okay?"

She exhaled, "mama's being mama again."

"Yeah?" Mitsuya let out a chuckle. "Why don't we inform the guys outside the good news?"

"Yeah." Takemichi nodded in agreement.

"I...I can't meet up with everyone." Peh-yan sounded embarrassed.

Mitsuya looked at the boy. "Everyone will understand that you did all that for Pah-chin. But Peh-yan, the one who thinks about Pah-chin the most is Draken. Ever since that incident, he goes with Pah-chin's parents every day to visit him. He would always bring gifts even though only relatives can see him and he'd wait outside by himself during the whole visit."

Suzume's heart swelled, these are her boys. The boys, her mother forbade her to mingle with. They might be delinquents but they're her treasures.

"And that's the guy you tried to kill! You better apologise. To Draken and to Pah-chin. And to everyone."

"Welcome back Peh-yan," Mikey told the boy. Peh-yan's eyes were filled with tears once again.

As they stepped out of the hospital it was past midnight and the rain has finally stopped. But it was just the calm before the storm.

May 05, 2023.

⌛️⏳

Shuji Hanma (Moebius temporary president & vice-president of Valhalla).