Author's Note: Another one-shot continuing from my Micchy one-shot "I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason". As with the said one-shot, it is also inspired from the 'Demon in the Bottle' storyline from Iron Man comics.
Disclaimer: All characters and elements belong to their respective owners.
Four months after Helheim's destruction... As Zawame continues to rebuild itself after the longstanding crisis involving Yggdrasil and the Overlord Inves. The citizens began to live in peaceful smiles. The Beat Riders, now united as one continued their dancing in Zawame's dancing grounds - from Teams Gaim, Baron, Invitto, Raid Wild are standing together as they take the dance floor.
Elsewhere in the Kureshima family mansion. Takatora was alone, having recently recovered from his coma following that fateful clash against his younger brother, Mitsuzane. While having his hands on through his laptop, while looking for various topics and works so he can go abroad so he can finally start a new leaf following the catastrophic events four months ago. But, there is something that has been shaking his head... It's Mitsuzane.
Lately, Mitsuzane is in a catatonic state of depression, followed by the heinous acts that he has committed to his friends as well towards Takatora himself. Also, the older Kureshima learns that Mitsuzane began binge drinking, as he starts lashing out anyone whenever he is completely plastered. Unknown to Takatora, Mitsuzane starts acting erratically in both at home and in at school.
He even recalled what his younger brother said... "I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason.", saying he is the only ones who outlived Kouta, Mai, and Kaito.
Later that night...
Mitsuzane finds himself passed out drunk just a few inches away from the Drupers. He was just in his school uniform, in his bag, he secretly conceals cans of beer for him to drink. The young Kureshima, to the detriment of all things, continued to drink copiously to try overcoming his pain regarding his past. When Bando, Druper's proprietor finds a plastered Mitsuzane. It becomes WAY to inconvenient around him whenever they notice someone who is just a minor like Mitsuzane to drink alcohol. Bando tries to help the youth up, but failed. Since Mitsuzane began to act erratically while under the influence, it seems most of the people of Zawame, who can't seem to stop pontificating Mitsuzane for his treacherous acts towards his friends began to delight at being humiliated while in a drunken stupor.
Even Takatora is quick to notice at his younger brother's erratic behavior, knowing that Mitsuzane continued his drinking habit.
Mitsuzane feels that he deserved to be shunned from his old friends because of his actions against them, it was one reason he turned to the bottle at an early age. He began frequenting in bars, despite being warned by the guards that he is just a minor, but being him still able to twist the truth, he tells them that he's already 20; the legal age for those who need to drink.
To Mitsuzane, he felt that he was in paradise to take a drink. To think no one is there to stop him.
He began gulping 3 to 5 glasses of whiskey, it didn't get him drunk, he took 10 more, and more, and more to the point he has reached 25 glasses of liquor in his body. To make matters worse, he begins to act more erratically than usual. Considering how much alcohol he consumed, he throws up.
A nearby bar patron asked him, "Hey, are you alright dude?"
But, the young Kureshima refused to answer, and tells the stranger to beat it. Then, when the stranger again does it, chaos erupts, resulting into a bar brawl. Mitsuzane gets kicked out of the bar after discovering that he was just a minor.
Mitsuzane passes out again...
The following day, a man with very familiar red and black threads finds Mitsuzane sitting on the alleyway drunk. It's Zack!
"Micchy! Wake up!", Zack shouted, intent in waking Mitsuzane up. And yet, he can smell the alcohol around him. It's no surprise for Zack why did Micchy choose the path of an alcoholic at an early age following Helheim's eradication. He even noticed the bruises on Mitsuzane's face, seemingly he got into a bar fight, and worse, his skin gets even paler, presumably the fact that Mitsuzane has been drinking for how many days without eating.
To Zack, Mitsuzane is literally in the edge of a breakdown, and subsequently in the verge of going cold turkey, seeing him in a pitiful state and at the same time completely drunk. Seeing he still believes that Mitsuzane can change, he considered himself lucky to intervene just in time.
"Z...Zack...? What... are... you... doing?", Mitsuzane's speech became so impaired due to the fact that his body is weakening due to the alcohol he sustained in his body.
Zack is more or less horrified seeing him completely hammered, and said. "Micchy, what is wrong with you? Aren't you too young to drink one of those?!"
"...", the young Kureshima said nothing at all, as he is completely weakened.
Zack, despite injured, braves himself to take Mitsuzane back to his home, the only thing he can't stand is the smell of alcohol around the latter.
Upon arriving in the Kureshima's family mansion, when Takatora was about to leave to find Mitsuzane, he was shocked at the sight as Zack carried an unconscious Mitsuzane to Takatora.
"What happened to him?" he asked.
"He's been drinking lately...", Zack responded.
Seeing that Mitsuzane is in a completely dangerous state, as he is in the edge of alcohol-induced sickness, both Zack and Takatora rushed him to the hospital.
"It seems that the level of his intoxication is at 75%, damaging his liver and temporarily impairing his reasoning. But, it is not his alcohol consumption is the problem, but this is caused by a case of post-traumatic stress disorder." said the doctor.
Takatora knows that Mitsuzane already has PTSD, as Mitsuzane himself admitted in killing Kouta, and Mai died right before his very eyes. It makes sense why he turned into heavy drinking. Despite Takatora first pleaded his brother to stop drinking, Mitsuzane refused to heeded his brother's warning anyway, wishing that he had never been born.
Mitsuzane's recovery in the hospital took two months. But, in order to quit drinking, it's going to take a lot of effort for Takatora to do so.
"Nii-san...", he said calmly, with regret.
"Mitsuzane, if only you did not choose the path of an alcoholic, you could at least become different." said Takatora. "I know you have to deal about being shunned by your old friends, but to start a new leaf is something you must focus on your future."
"I'm sorry..."
"For the love of... That's not the point, don't feel sorry at me, and don't feel sorry for yourself!", his older brother continued. "Can't you see that you've become your own worst enemy? And you are trying to kill that same enemy with liquor! Only that I'm not turning away this time, I know we both got pressures neither you and I can't tell to anyone. But, for pete's sake let go of the troubles you can talk about!"
Takatora also tells Mitsuzane that none of his friends shunned him, Zack for example, and he tells him to stop being a self-sacrificing loner and share his life.
Mitsuzane remained mute...
"Oh, what's the point?!", Takatora said in utter dismay. "You weren't even listening. Mitsuzane, couldn't you listen to me for once, as your brother, as the one who raised you while our parents are away, get that weight of your shoulders before it can break you!"
Until, Mitsuzane breaks down emotionally, and decides to find help from his brother. "Nii-san... please, help me!", the younger Kureshima cried into the shoulders of his brother, seeing what he become.
The path to recovering can be hard, while Mitsuzane is trying his best to thoroughly quit from drinking alcohol, even go as far as getting himself locked in his room for several days. How many times Mitsuzane pleaded for "just one drink" - and then suffers with feral anger and conflicts when Takatora refuses; which is the first step for Mitsuzane in going cold turkey. For days, stalemate ensues... Until at long last, emotional blocks began to crack and then crumble.
And Mitsuzane finally spills his pent-up pain like milk from a split pail. He sighs, he shudders, and he shares. The purging helps, Micchy returns to his life work; returning to school, sharing his experiences to others seeing that he just recently recovered from the nightmare that he fought. That is, it is in the end, there's a beginning.