Corner of a Birdcage

by oxeh

Yuu is a university student that tends to live for the moment. Mika is a cynical superhero that's more super than a hero. Fate is a bit aggressive with intertwining their lives.

1. Angel

"Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a princess named Psyche. Psyche was both very kind and beautiful. She was so beautiful that the goddess of love and beauty, Venus, was so jealous of her that she sent her son, Cupid, to curse her. Cupid was the god of love and he had a bow and arrows that could make people fall in love with anyone. 'Cupid, you must make Psyche fall in love with the most horrible, disgusting creature you can find! This is her punishment for daring to have looks that challenge the Gods!' Venus said."

"Cupid went to make Psyche fall in love with an ugly monster, but when he saw her, her beauty surprised him. He ended up hurting himself with one of his arrows and he fell in love with her. Venus was very mad at her son for not being able to do as she said. She put a curse on Psyche herself so no one would ever want to marry her."

"After her two sisters got married, the king of the land, Psyche's father, went to a fortuneteller for help. He was told to abandon Psyche on a cliff alone. Psyche cried a lot. She lost a lot of hope… But soon the god of the west wind, Favonius, carried her away to a big castle that was the home of Cupid."

"Cupid was the son of Venus and so he was good-looking. However, he had a pair of very big white wings. He did not want Psyche to know who he really was so he made himself invisible whenever he was around her. He told her to never try to see what he really looked like because he would show her when he was ready."

"Psyche was very happy. She was treated well by Cupid and his servants in the castle. Soon, Psyche fell in love with Cupid…"

Yuuichirou trailed off as he plainly looked over the picture in the book that accompanied the text. The book was a new one, but even so it bored him senselessly.

He flipped the pages back to the front, unwilling to continue reading now.

His green eyes scrutinized the cover of the hard covered book skeptically while his black brows furrowed a bit in concentration at the cover art. It was rather colorful and brought a lot of attention to the plethora of characters on it that all practically reached out to the reader. The title sat at the top in bold, eye-catching letters.

'Classical Mythology for Kids'

Unsurprisingly, the tale that he just read was one of the first ones in the thick book.

Cupid and Psyche.

He had only turned to this story in particular first because Cupid was among the only names in the table of contents that the young boy was familiar with. The others were too alien, he didn't want to get pulled into reading something strange or boring. Unfortunately, this story ended up being duller than he thought it would be.

Yuuichirou glanced up from the book that he allowed to rest on lap. His thin legs, too short to touch the floor from the chair he sat on, dangled above the clinic room's hard wooden floorboards. His gaze rested on the boy less than a foot away from him on the hospital bed.

Within the room was painfully quiet, save for the low and consistent beeps that came from the machines that ran numerous amounts of tubes and wires from the their sockets to the body of the boy that laid still and silent from his place in bed.

"Were you liking the story? I honestly thought it was crap." Yuuichirou voiced as he sat up straighter in his seat.

His words cut through the silence of the room quickly and received no response. Naturally, he wasn't surprised. He had long grown accustomed to only ever hearing his own voice and only getting the short, meticulous beeps from the weird monitors stationed around the bed as a response to the things he said.

It felt like so long ago that the director of the orphanage had left him in charge of reading to the other kids since it seemed like he was the only one that knew how to read. The others had been abandoned by their parents too early to have ever had a chance to learn while some never even went to school.

Among them, Akane was the oldest after him and she was decent at reading too. However, when it came to story time, it seemed as though all the kids always rushed to him.

Yuuichirou wasn't even sure why. It wasn't as if he put a lot of convincing expression and character into what he read. Despite his own thoughts, he always found it difficult to deny any of them when they begged him to read a particular book or story.

Yuuichirou's attention went back to the boy before him.

He was still silent and motionless. From Yuuichirou's position, he could tell that his eyes were slightly cracked open. However, after being in the room day after day and seeing him in this condition, he knew better than to assume he was even conscious.

Ever since Yuuichirou first came to the orphanage around three years ago, he had been in the orphanage's small clinic room. Like a hospital, it had two beds within it. One of those beds was always occupied by the blond boy and he was always plugged up to some machines and tubes with the weird, clear mask that covered his mouth and nose.

The director had long ago informed Yuuichirou that he was naturally very sickly. He had all sorts of problems from a weak heart and lungs, to nerve issues that had him unable to move his limbs at times.

It sounded horrifying. But when he learned that the excess tools that surrounded him were all there to keep him alive, it was reassuring.

Due to the boy's state of being unconscious nearly 24/7, the other kids had grown accustomed to referring to him as Sleeping Beauty. At a point, Yuuichirou couldn't stop himself from thinking the same too. His blond hair didn't exactly help his case either.

Mr. Sleeping Beauty was frequently visited by adults that Yuuichirou assumed to be doctors just about every other day. At a certain time they would wheel him out of bed in a wheel chair and carry him out with some tubes and needles still in his arms even as he slept. Due to these seemingly sporadic visits, the Director generally tried to keep all of the children of the orphanage away from the clinic room unless they were actually feeling ill.

Yuuichirou found himself to be the exception to this rule from a while back.

Every day he was given permission to read a story or two to the sleeping male for an hour at the most.

He never really saw the point considering the blond was always asleep. However, he did always try to make the most of it whenever he came in.

"Geez, when are you going to wake up and join the rest of us?" Yuuichirou questioned with pursed lips as he rested his elbow on the chair's armrest. He allowed his cheek to rest in his palm as he observed the slumbering male unwaveringly. "Being the oldest around here gets tiring. The director said you were about my age too…" He muttered the last part a bit softer.

There was zero expectation for a response, but he kept going regardless.

"Hurry up and get better, would you? Everyone really wants to get to know you better." Yuuichirou carefully watched the blond's delicate facial features. He resembled some sort of expensive porcelain doll or something. "Especially me," he ended with a slight sigh.

For a brief moment after Yuuichirou finished uttering out the last syllable of his sentence, everything in the room was at its usual harmony.

It only took a few more beats of the heart rate machine before things seemed to pick up in pace. Yuuichirou's eye grew wide as he watched as the boy's left pinky finger give a small twitch. Following soon after it, the other fingers on his hands seemed to give short, near-spasms as though he were fighting to regain control of his body.

Yuuichirou's large green eyes turned to look at the blond's face in wonder. Despite the amount of wild pale hair that covered the frame of his face in an unkempt fashion, Yuuichirou was still able to see his eyes barely cracked open, only teasing an appearance of the male's natural blue eyes as he stared up at the ceiling. From beyond the oxygen mask on his face, Yuuichirou was able to make out the young boy's colorless lips parting slightly, more so than when he first came into the room to read.

A large sense of excitement and urgency suddenly flooded into his body as the Yuuichirou practically jumped up from his chair. "A-Are you waking up!? For real!?" Unable to stop himself, he immediately began rushing to the door, thoughts of getting the director in his mind.

"Guys, I think Mikaela's waking up!" He announced loudly as he made it to the door.

As he made it to the doorway, Yuuichirou paused before giving the male a look over his shoulder with a grin. "I'll be back, Mika!"

---

Yuu kept his eyes trained down at the paper within his hands. His pupils practically zeroed in on the red inked, numerical marking to the top right of his test form.

How the actual hell did he get a 67%?

Sure, he hadn't studied for the test, like at all... But the material had been ridiculously easy. It made no sense whatsoever.

Fuck, why didn't he study?

He resisted the urge to massage his temple as the budding feeling of an oncoming migraine struck him somewhere in the back of his mind.

He had to keep the results a secret from Guren for sure. If he found out he got a 67%, Yuu didn't even want to imagine the inevitable conversation that would go down. Even though he was in college now, Guren still cared for how he did. And although he wasn't on his back as much as he had been when Yuu was younger about his studies, Yuu supposed some habits really did die hard.

Yuu glanced over at Yoichi who was sat beside him in the classroom.

The curly haired brunet was clearly lost in his own world of academics. Next to his test, which had a very beautiful 92% in the upper right hand corner, Yoichi had his notebook for the class where he was currently writing notes. From that, Yuu could only assume he was documenting which questions he got wrong in order to correct them later on.

He was so into his own results that he didn't even bother to ask Yuu what he got on his yet. Of course, that wasn't exactly something he was about to complain about because having to verbally admit his failure would be a blow to his pride.

Up ahead at the front of the classroom, the professor was making announcements for what was going to be on the agenda for next week. Yuu allowed his half lidded eyes to stare off into the distance. He didn't realize how much he'd miss having windows to mindlessly gaze out of when he left high school. College classes honestly felt way more like jail in this aspect.

After a few more painfully long minutes, the professor began to reach the end of his speech and Yuu all too eagerly began shoving his shamed test into the main compartment of his backpack. The loud, familiar sound of shuffling papers and moving zippers sounded throughout the auditorium minutes before the facilitator even dismissed the lecture hall.

Yuu was more than ready to get up from his desk. He slung his book bag over a single shoulder and gazed down at Yoichi as the more petite male only now began packing up his belongings.

"Do you really have to wait until the professor tells us to go to start packing up, Yoichi?" Yuu plainly inquired with an annoyed glance his friend's way.

The other students within the hall all made their ways to the two doorways on either side of the room, but due to the capacity, both sides were blocked up with slow moving people.

Yoichi laughed a bit. "Sorry, sorry!" He finished zipping up his backpack before standing up with an apologetic smile on his lips. "I just find it rude to start zipping up when he's not done talking." With his words he walked up closer to Yuu while they made their way to the exit.

"Who cares? The entire auditorium does it anyways. And it's not like we're in the front or anything." Yuu argued with an uncaring shrug.

His friend came to his right side with a low noise of protest. Even though Yuu kept his gaze fixated down the hall toward the exit out of the building, he could still see the pout the shorter brunet had to his cheeks.

Yoichi glanced up at him with a frown still on his lips. "That doesn't make it less rude, you know!" The male's voice was still so soft even with his exclamation, it was a bit difficult to really know how exasperated he really was.

Yuu met his eyes before turning away with a tired exhale. He was unwilling to bring the topic into a further debate.

Not that he would have even had the time to because the moment the two made it out of the building and stepped outside, Yoichi inquired, "how did you do on the test, by the way? I completely forgot to ask, sorry." He ended with a short, sheepish laugh.

Yuu grunted as a slight twitch came to his right eye.

"We have our health, Yoichi. That's the important thing." He replied back shortly, entirely ignoring the puzzled look his friend gave him at the seemingly random answer. However, before Yoichi could repeat the question or ask him to explain, Yuu reached into his pocket for his phone in order to check the time. "Didn't you say you had work after class today?"

Yoichi's light green eyes widened a bit and Yuu could have laughed at the way realization dawned on his rounded features. "Yeah, I did! Gah, what time is it!? If I'm late again, Tomoe's going to kill me!" He nearly squeaked out as he hastily brought out his own phone. Looking at the time didn't appear to ease his worries and Yoichi's frown grew before he waved at Yuu quickly and turned to go in a different direction. "I'll see you later, Yuu!"

Yuu nodded off at him with a small smile to his lips as he watched the brunet power-walk away.

This was just about their normal Friday routine.

He still had over an hour until next class and he always waited it out in library.

The walk there from his other class' building was conveniently short, luckily. In about five minutes he found himself on the second floor of the library at one of the larger tables toward the corner in the far back.

Yuu pulled out a chair after placing his book bag on the table and brought his phone up. There was a passing thought in the back of his head that urged him to take proper responsibility and go over his test as Yoichi had done.

He should look over the ones he got wrong and correct them so he understood where his faults were. If he did that then in the future when his midterm and final for the class came up he'd be more prepared.

The thought now made him pause as his fingers hovered over one of his phone's apps.

Yeah, that's what he should do.

He'd do it…

With that in mind, he placed his phone down to the side in order to open his bag. He brought out his test along with the chemistry notebook. He prepared to get a pen and highlighter out too, but his green eyes went back to his phone.

… After he checked up on what was happening in the Internet world and what not.

It'd only take about two minutes to scroll through some people's posts anyways.

However, two minutes turned into twenty minutes and those twenty minutes soon threatened to turn into forty-five minutes.

Yuu found himself entirely consumed in a plethora of funny short videos. With his headphones now in his ears after he watched the first one, his original intention had just been to see one short six second puppy video, but… When he finished watching that one, he had to click the one below it.

And so on and so on.

The videos were all random and ranged from puppies and kittens doing silly things to people reenacting 'relatable' situations in exaggerated ways.

It was embarrassing how funny he found all of this.

He tried to stifle a laugh as he watched a kitten frantically attempt to catch light from a laser pointer only to stumble over itself.

"Do I even want to ask what you are watching, Yuu-san?"

Yuu nearly dropped his phone in surprise at the voice that felt as though it was nearly in his ear. His fingers scrambled to get out of the app and switch to his 'safe' one, the local news app. At the same time, the female who presented him with the question in the first place leaned back from her sudden place over his shoulder to stand up straighter.

As he whipped around to view her, Shinoa stared at him plainly, but the amusement in her eyes was evident to see.

In return, Yuu gave her an annoyed look in an attempt to hide his mild shame. "Geez, Shinoa. Can you not creep up on people like some kind of stalker? I wasn't watching anything." He lied blatantly through his teeth despite himself.

He was only a bit embarrassed about it because he knew she'd end up teasing him over it more than he deserved. She had such a habit of doing that with virtually anything. At a point, Yuu assumed that was just Hiiragi nature given how her sister behaved just the same at times.

From beneath her lavender colored bangs, the petite girl looked back at him entirely unmoved. "The face you make when you're caught doing such 'Yuu-like' things never ceases to entertain me. Please, never change." She lightly stated while walking around the table to sit across from him.

Yuu scowled at her. "I wish I could tell you the same, but there are a few parts of your personality I wish you'd work on— hey! What are you doing!?" He questioned out as she suddenly snatched his test from before him.

Shinoa's brown eyes evaluated the sheet for a brief moment before they lingered on the score to the top corner. Yuu grunted as he stretched his arm over the table in an effort to get it back and in the process, his headphones fell out of his ears.

His friend simply pushed her chair back a bit to avoid his incoming hand. "My, my… You really bombed this, didn't you?" She rhetorically inquired with a shake to her head.

Yuu felt his cheeks grow slightly warmer as he tried to get the paper back. Fortunately, she handed it back civilly and he roughly pulled it back under his bag with a pointed glare.

When they were in high school she used to be much worse about it. Thankfully, as they grew up, Shinoa was less immature about teasing him over his occasional D or F.

She fanned her face with a dainty, pale hand. "Yuu-san, you need to start taking your classes seriously. If you don't, you will be forced to drop out and live the rest of your life as a beggar. You don't want that, do you?" She gave him a plain look that he returned with an irritated stare.

"You're so annoying. It's literally my first bad grade of the semester. I'm human, bad grades happen. Big whoop. I'll just do better next time." He voiced with a slight huff as he turned away from her.

Shinoa leaned her head into her hands as her elbows propped up on the table. "Maybe so, but wasn't that your first chemistry exam of the semester? If you're not careful that's just a sign of things to come." Her words came out in a sing-song kind of way that nearly made Yuu roll his eyes.

"Thanks for believing in me."

"I believe in you. But I also believe you're the type of person that rather watch pug videos instead of study the periodic table."

Yuu squinted. "Do you know anyone that isn't that type of person?"

Shinoa paused as she rethought her words before she shrugged. "Okay, point taken. But the fate of the world could be at stake for you to just go over basic molar conversions and I can just see you procrastinating on it to watch some kittens cuddling on a six second loop."

He said nothing more. His attention now averted to his phone where a new notification popped up.

Area in the northern Kichijōji district shut down due to Horseman attack.

Before he had a chance to think more of it, Shinoa's voice called to him. Yuu looked back up at her curiously.

"Yuu-san, you should skip your next class and go shopping with me." Shinoa voiced seriously and Yuu raised a brow up in questioning. She leaned back in her seat. "I need a new lab coat for microbiology," she explained with a nod, "I won't go into detail about what happened to my original one, but the sleeves are severely burnt. Also, it couldn't hurt to do a bit more clothing shopping anyways, right? I'm sure you need new pants or polos or panties or whatever it is you're into, I don't know."

He gave her a flat look that she ignored before continuing. "The campus store is ridiculously overpriced and you know how much it physically pains me to give this institution more money than I'm required to. So are you down?"

Yuu leaned his cheek into his palm idly. "Well, I have my lab next class, but I can afford an absence I guess. My lab partners should have my back." He then paused to glance down at his phone. "Oh, if we're shopping, let's avoid the Kichijōji area, there's some Horsemen of John threats happening there right now."

Shinoa tilted her head to the side slightly with a hand now to her chin. "Oh?"

Yuu clicked the article for any updates on the situation and as he skimmed it, he wondered if Archangel would show up to take care of the situation. If not him, he supposed the police would… He'd been hearing a few things about them coming closer to developing adequate gear for fighting the monsters lately.

His thoughts were voiced out loud by Shinoa not too long after they crossed his mind. "Maybe Archangel will deal with it. Hopefully he does before any casualties occur," she shrugged a bit, clearly not caring too much for the conversation.

For some reason, Yuu kept it going regardless. "You know… I've never really put too much thought into Archangel, but when you really think about him, he's really shrouded in mystery, isn't he?" He hummed a bit with a thoughtful look up at the ceiling.

Originally considered a vigilante by authorities, it soon became very apparent that Archangel's activities weren't exactly restricted to taking down criminals. He had weird powers that actually enabled him to take down the grotesque monsters that were called the Four Horsemen of John.

"No one knows where he even came from… Do we even know when he first started popping up?" Yuu lowly muttered out.

The amount of time it took him to reach a situation that was usually too big for the police ranged from five minutes to hours. Sometimes he wouldn't even appear at all. But whenever he appeared, it was fast and he left as quickly as he showed up.

Like a typical superhero, he wore a mask that thus far shielded his true identity. It didn't help that he also always had on a white hooded cloak that covered the rest of his head too.

Lots of rumors circulated about him. Some people believed that he was a demon or something else and as ridiculous as the claims were, Yuu couldn't necessarily blame them for thinking that oddly… Some of the stuff Archangel did was physically impossible for a human to do.

Not only that, there were two early instances of him having a pair of large, white bird-like wings. There was no photographic proof of it, but the stories were from two survivors that were saved by him and claimed to have witnessed it with their own eyes. The moment the stories hit the Internet, they went viral and the nickname Archangel was stuck to him.

Even with those accounts, Yuu was pretty sure the police still regarded him as 'human' for some weird reason.

"It's been like three years and we still have no idea what he looks like." He stated as he began to move his thoughts to the hero's potential identity.

Shinoa arched a brow. "If you're so curious, perhaps you should go to the Kichijōji district and hope for Archangel to sweep you off your feet amid his fierce battle with the Horsemen." She dreamily put a hand to her forehead with a blissful look. "Ah, yes! He'll scoop you up in his arms and shield you from harm's way after defeating the ferocious dragon and carry you off the battlefield like a prince rescuing his princess!"

Yuu grunted in irritation. "Don't confuse your weird fantasies with mine."

Without missing a beat, his friend shot him a sweet smile. "Oh, Yuu-san… So young and so naïve. Someone as beautiful as me doesn't have to 'hope' for anyone to sweep me off of my feet. If I ever desired it, I'd have a million boys, girls, and everyone between and out-tween fighting for a chance to be my knight charming!" She took a moment to return her hand to her chin thoughtfully as she went over her last words. "Knight charming… Or is the correct term prince in shining armor? Hm…"

"Shinoa, I know I tell you this at least three times a day, but you're really fucking weird." Yuu deadpanned.

Shinoa didn't acknowledge his words in the slightest. She stood to her feet and placed her bag over her shoulder and looked at him with a smile. "Now then, shall we go shopping?"

---

Eight stores.

They had gone through eight stores so far.

And not a single one of them was a store that would be likely to sell lab coats.

At this point, Yuu was positive that Shinoa was looking for everything except a lab coat.

In the past three hours he's felt a wild range of emotions that ranged from helplessness to flat out sorrow. It felt like puberty condensed into a more concentrated time frame, except he certainly wasn't getting any random boners.

Following Shinoa around like her own miserable, five year old child as she browsed through racks of clothes in all levels of the triple floored Forever 21 to awkwardly standing in the perfume section of Victoria's Secret while she gushed over a 'Buy Three Get One Free' panty sale—yet she took forever to choose which ones to buy and something just told him she did it on purpose to make him squirm. He had nothing but regret on agreeing to go shopping with her.

"Oh, no. No. No! No more!" Yuu now exclaimed as he watched her prepare to walk into another clothing store.

Shinoa stopped walking to turn and look back at him. Around them, other pedestrians passed by, some occasionally bumping shoulders with either of them due to the limited space on the sidewalk. Shinoa raised a brow. "What's your problem?"

"My problem? What's yours!? This is store number nine, Shinoa!"

"Actually, considering I've only bought three things, it's store number four. Visiting a store doesn't count if you don't buy something from it."

"It damn well does count when you spend 20 minutes looking through the clothing racks!"

"It's 20 minutes, not 20 days. Take it easy. You sound like Micchan." She blandly retorted and Yuu groaned with his hands gripping his hair restlessly.

In frustration, he glared at her. "Can we just get your lab coat and then get something to eat? You're killing me slowly."

Shinoa sighed while holding her hand out for him to give her back her shopping bags. Yuu immediately obliged while she gave him a plain stare. "I already told you earlier Kimizuki and Micchan are going to be at that American restaurant you all like for lunch. They said they'd be there soon, I was just going to browse through here real quick before going… You'd enjoy this trip more if you looked for stuff for yourself anyways. You following behind me like a pouting child while I shop will give people the wrong idea. They'll think you're my son." She paused with furrowing brows. "Or worse… They'll think we're dating."

"That's it. I'm getting the fuck outta here." Yuu remarked as he turned around to walk away. He then paused to rethink Shinoa's words before exhaling heavily. "I'm going to find an ATM. I'll be back," he informed her simply with a look back.

Shinoa pointed at the store she'd been seconds away from walking into with her index finger and a blank expression. "When you're done, I'll be in here if you need me."

As he walked, he wondered why he was even bothering. He knew the amount of money in his account was going to be pitiful at best.

He might as well considered himself a psychic because after getting to one of the machines, his balance was only ¥ 565.62…

Yuu groaned as he took it all out from the machine.

"Stupid Shinoa… Inviting me out while I'm broke…" He muttered distastefully and ignoring the strange look the person behind him in line gave him as he walked off a bit.

Honestly though, he really needed to get a job. He was still living off of Guren like a child. It didn't help that Guren wasn't that flexible with the amount of money he deposited into his account each month.

With that thought in mind, he pulled out his phone while he stood to cross the street alongside a small crowd of pedestrians. He opened up his messages and began to type one out to his adoptive father.

From: Yuu

Not to sound like a brat but im in desperate need of more ¥¥¥¥ if you get what im saying… please

Right as he prepared to exit out the app and he started walking across the street along with the crowd, his phone vibrated and a banner notification showed him a new message from Shinoa. He quickly tapped on it.

From: Shinoa

Don't go to the store I was at. Mitsu called me and said she and Kimizuki are already at Deep Fries

He quickly replied with a brief 'alright' before he focused himself on the mild walk he had ahead of himself to get there.

More or less, ten minutes later Yuu found himself stepping into the restaurant and his eyes actively searched toward the front of the place for his friends.

He instantly managed to spot Kimizuki due to both his tall stature and striking pink hair. He quickly made his way over to the booth his three friends were already seated at and he plopped down beside Kimizuki with a grin.

"Hey, guys!" Yuu greeted cheerfully.

Shinoa sat in front of him with her eyes scanning the menu entirely unbothered, Mitsuba was to Shinoa's left and she gave Yuu an acknowledging nod in greeting whereas Kimizuki gave him a slight irritated look as he was forced closer to the wall. "Careful, idiot. You nearly sat on me."

Yuu prepared to retort, however before he could, Shinoa clapped her hands with a glance up. As all eyes on the table moved to her, she smiled sweetly. "Everyone, I have wonderful news. Today, I will try the 'Triple Bacon and Cheese Heartshaker' as opposed to my usual order."

Her words were met with exasperated looks from her peers and Mitsuba distastefully looked at the item her index finger pointed to on the menu. "Drink a liter of chicken grease and I guarantee you'll get the same bodily results."

"I've had the TBCH before." Yuu remarked. "It doesn't really shake your heart, but after you get about halfway through, you have to swallow really hard and drink lots of water or juice because it feels like some of the food is getting stuck in your chest! It tastes really good though, I recommend it!"

Shinoa frowned. "Sigh. Forget it. I suppose I'll just get my usual order."

"Thank you for announcing that." Mitsuba sarcastically stated and right after her sentence ended, a waitress came by ready to take their orders.

After getting everything and assuring them their food would be out very soon, she left and that was when Yuu gave a whine as his face pressed against the table.

His friends watched his display with dull eyes while he groaned. "The fact I could only afford a soda is so messed up. Ugh, I'm going to starve."

Unlike what he expected, his words weren't met with sympathetic gazes.

"You only have yourself to blame for your poor money management."

"Learn to budget better and you wouldn't have this problem."

Yuu glared at both Mitsuba and Kimizuki irritably whereas Shinoa brought her gaze to her phone while she tapped away on it. "I don't understand how you're always so broke when you don't even live on campus." She stated airily.

Yuu pursed his lips as their drinks and food arrived. He attempted to ignore the overwhelming aroma that came from all their food and instead stuck a straw into his drink with a bit more force than necessary. "Not all of us can be rich like you, Shinoa." He claimed with disdain before taking a long sip of his cola.

Kimizuki gave Yuu a slight exasperated expression. "Though that's true, your bad management is a part of the reason you always wind up like this. Also the fact that you're still depending on your father for money instead of getting yourself an actual job."

His words admittedly had a degree of truth to them and Yuu grunted as he stubbornly looked away. After taking another sip of soda, he exhaled tiredly. "Listen. It's not like I haven't been trying to get a job. I just stopped since the semester started since no one was hiring me before anyways."

At this, Mitsuba twirled her straw within her lemonade, a reflective look in her lavender eyes. "To tell you the truth, I can't even imagine you with a typical part-time job anyways, Yuu. Retail and customer service… Just doesn't seem like your thing." She placed several of her chicken wings onto Shinoa's plate while Shinoa placed about half of her burger and half of her fries to Mitsuba's plate.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

Shinoa glanced up from her fries. "Aha! I can definitely see Yuu-san being a waiter at Yoichi's place! Perhaps the uniform wouldn't be the most flattering on him—"

"Wow."

"—But the thought of him spilling hot coffee everywhere can't escape my mind! I think that's the perfect place for him! Perhaps it is fate for him to learn true grace there?" As she ended her words with a slight giggle she pushed her plate toward Yuu.

His green eyes instantly widened as he looked up at her questioningly. Shinoa didn't return his look and instead moved closer to Mitsuba as the two shared a plate of food now.

Gratefully, he clasped his hands together and bowed his head in their direction without a word before he began eating.

Kimizuki cleared his throat after a couple minutes of silence at the table. Yuu as well Mitsuba and Shinoa glanced at him curiously.

"To continue the work discussion, I just got a text saying I have to pick up a closing shift." The hardness in his tone was unmistakable and Yuu blinked. "At the repair shop or the pet shelter?" He inquired and he earned a short glower from his friend as he ushered for him to get out from the booth.

"The repair shop, obviously. When am I ever upset about picking up a shift at the shelter?" Kimizuki muttered the second sentence a bit lower, his cheeks flushing a bit. As he moved out from the booth, he slid his remaining plate of fries and half a sub toward Yuu's side of the table.

Yuu noticed and immediately flashed him a smile. "Thanks! Aww, you guys are so nice to me!" He laughed out as Kimizuki tsked. "What was I supposed to do? Throw it away? Anyways, next time don't go out to eat when you know you don't have money, idiot." He nodded off at Mitsuba and Shinoa before departing.

Yuu returned back to his seat, his hand dipping a few fries into his ketchup before he looked over at Shinoa curiously. "Would it be stupid of me to ask if you got your coat in that store you went in earlier?"

Shinoa smiled cutely. "No. But I bought a really nice pair of jeans and that's what really matters."

"I am never going shopping with you for anything ever again."

The pigtailed blonde beside Shinoa snorted as she wiped the corners of her mouth delicately. "What on Earth even possessed you to go shopping with her in the first place? You already know how she is."

"Excuse me? What's that supposed to mean, Mitsu?" Shinoa inquired with a challenging smile to the female beside her.

Mitsuba returned the look with a plain stare. "You know exactly what it means. You're insufferable whenever you go shopping and you know it."

Yuu watched the two begin to quarrel in their usual routine before he found his ears perking up at the name 'Archangel.'

He blinked his eyes as he concentrated a bit on the conversation to the booth beside them. He glanced over at the two girls that appeared about his age, eating and clearly talking about Archangel.

"Apparently Kichijōji has an all clear given because of him."

"That can't be right. People on my feed are saying that the police handled everything…"

"They're lying! My cousin was in the area! He said he saw Archangel with his own eyes!"

"What? Seriously? Did he at least get a picture?"

"Hello, Yuu-san? Are you there?" Yuu blinked rapidly as he returned his attention back to the two sitting in front of him. Mitsuba shook her head while Shinoa put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, my. I can't imagine how far deep your mind must have been for you to space out while staring at those girls like a creep…"

Yuu grunted, his eyes glaring at her in aggravation. "Shut it." He took a sip from his soda with a stubborn look away, unable to meet her eyes. "They were talking about how the area from before got cleared because of Archangel is all. I just wanted to know if everything turned out okay," he murmured.

The blonde at the table made a low noise as she placed a fry within her mouth. After chewing and swallowing, she reached for another. "Even though he's been around for a few years now, everyone's suddenly becoming so obsessed with Archangel, I swear."

Her words were like a lighter to ignite the overdramatic queen that rested in the shorter teen at the table.

Shinoa grinned with a mischievous look Yuu's way. "Well, why WOULDN'T anyone be obsessed with him?" She questioned with her arms extending outward. Mitsuba groaned when one of Shinoa's hands nearly smacked her between the eyes. "I'm positive he's sporting thick, beefy muscles under that cloak of his, he's obviously tall, he has that typical bad boy-intimidating yet comforting demeanor, apparently his hair is so long it flows luxuriously in the wind, and he has the pure white wings of an angel! Anyone lucky enough to reproduce with him would have little cherubs floating around! And isn't that the American dream?"

"We're Japanese." Yuu replied shortly and Mitsuba gave her companion a half lidded stare. "I don't even think Americans have that as a dream."

Unbothered by their less than impressed reactions, Shinoa let out a small laugh before looking at Yuu kindly. "Yuu-san, may I please see your phone?"

Suspicious, Yuu squinted his eyes at her, but his hand went into his back pocket regardless. He first pulled out his Swiss Army knife and placed it on the table, earning an incredulous look from Mitsuba and a blank look from Shinoa.

"What is that?"

"Your phone, Yuu-san. I said your phone. Not your weird looking dildo."

Yuu flushed a bit as he brought out his phone and handed it over to Shinoa before picking placing the multitool back in his pocket. "It's a Swiss Army knife! Not something dirty!" He pursed his lips while looking at Mitsuba defensively. "Guren got it for me like a month ago after we lost our can opener. It has a bunch of tools in it… I just keep it in my pocket for emergencies, you know?"

The blonde skeptically nodded at him and Yuu furrowed his brows. "Don't look at me like that!"

After a minute or two of her typing away, Shinoa turned the screen around to both him and Mitsuba. "My friends, this is an artistic depiction of Archangel. After eyewitness accounts and a bunch of blurry photos, this is what we get. Isn't he beautiful?"

Apparently, he had blond hair, though it wasn't nearly as long as Shinoa's little speech made it seem to be… And honestly, even though it was just a 2D image, Yuu would be lying if he said he didn't find it the least bit attractive in a way.

Still not moved, Mitsuba shrugged her shoulders. "His mask is a total turn off… It gives me Pyramid Head vibes if I'm being honest."

Yuu bit into his burger and if he hadn't been chewing, he probably would have retorted to her words in a better way than Shinoa ultimately did.

"Micchan, you should know that it's what's on the inside that counts. After all, there's no way someone like him doesn't have a big cock."

Yuu found himself choking on his burger while Mitsuba groaned with a hand to her face, though even Yuu could see some of the blush at her cheeks. "Shinoa, can you please not say stuff like that so loud when we're in public."

As he tried to get the burger down properly, Yuu coughed up a bit before settling. Shinoa silenced herself and after a couple minutes, she returned Yuu's phone to him.

Without a second glance, he slipped it back into his pocket.

Shinoa then moved to grab hold of Mitsuba's arm while she pulled herself closer to the blonde. "My precious and beautiful, Mitsu… If you had to choose between marrying Archangel or I, who would you pick? I must know." She seriously remarked and Mitsuba's cheeks burned red as she tried wiggling Shinoa off to no avail. "I'd pick neither of you!"

Their usual routine continued like that as Yuu dully watched as he finished the remnants of his food.

After a few more minutes, the two finished up and they were able to leave the restaurant.

As they stood outside, Shinoa tapped her foot. "Guys, I still need my lab coat, you know."

Both Yuu and Mitsuba released heavy sighs in unison that instantly made Shinoa squint at them.

"I'll help you look, but I swear if you don't find one within the hour, I'm leaving you—"

"That's perfect! Let's not waste time!" Shinoa exclaimed, not even waiting for the taller female to finish. Excitedly, she grabbed Mitsuba's hand before dragging her off with the blonde complaining about it from the moment she was pulled. Shinoa glanced back at Yuu pleasantly. "Yuu-san, hurry up or you'll be left behind!"

If Yuu was being honest, being left behind didn't sound so bad in that case.

He tiredly let out a breath, unable to just leave his friends even in this sort of situation. He prepared to follow after them and he found his phone vibrating wildly in his pocket.

Guren is calling you…

Seeing the name, he swiped the call right in order to pick up before placing his smartphone to his ear. "Hello?"

"So what's up with you begging me for money when I just put some into your account a couple days ago?"

The man on the other line skipped the greeting entirely, jumping straight into what he wanted. Yuu long ago got accustomed to Guren's mannerisms like that which most would consider rude. He just saw it as straightforward at this point.

"A couple days ago? Guren, it's been three weeks." With his words, Yuu kept walking ahead, his eyes still able to see the two moving purple and yellow heads of hair not too far in front of him. He walked through the crowd on the sidewalk with his phone pressed against his ear a bit tighter.

"Oh. Has it really?"

"Yes, really."

"Well, it's your fault for not budgeting properly, I bet."

Hearing those familiar words that his friends struck him with not too long ago made Yuu grunt as though an arrow pierced him. He cleared his throat before stubbornly claiming. "That's not the case!"

On the other end of the phone, Guren audibly snorted. "Do you feel no shame from begging your daddy for money even though you're nearly 19?"

"You know damn well it isn't my fault no one was willing to hire me! I actually tried job hunting for months!" Yuu exclaimed with annoyance dripping from his tone.

"It has to be your shitty, bratty personality stopping you from getting hired then."

Yuu narrowed his eyes. "If an asshole like you can get a job, I should be able to get one too." He saw Shinoa and Mitsuba walk into a clothing store. As he got closer, it didn't appear to be one that would have a lab coat for sale. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he stood stationary by the exit to wait for them.

"Glad you think so because after you turn 19, you have to get a job. I already paid for your first two semesters, at least with a part time job you can cover the books."

Yuu scowled, his eyes gazing up at the sky stubbornly. "Whatever. I don't need any extra money anyways."

Guren scoffed, amusement was clearly heard in his voice. "Yeah, right. If you say so." There was a pause before he continued. "So how did your classes for today go?"

Leaning back on the wall behind him, Yuu inquired. "Oh? Do you really care?"

"Obviously, since I'm the one paying your tuition."

Yuu said nothing more and after a couple passing seconds, Guren went on. "Okay, okay. Of course, I care. I'm concerned about your progress and wellbeing, dummy. This semester isn't too much for you so far, is it?"

It was times like these that Yuu really felt a lightened connection between him and Guren. Obviously, the two loved and cared for one another, though the average person would sooner see them as adoptive brothers rather than father and son. Not that he could blame them due to the age difference between them. Regardless, when Guren showed concern for him, it reminded him that he was really lucky to have a family that cared for him.

It only took another second before he recalled Guren's question and the facts he got a terrible test score back as well as skipped his last class just to shop with Shinoa.

"E-Everything's fine…" Yuu shakily replied.

"Uh-huh." Guren said, his tone clearly indicating he knew Yuu was holding back the truth. Thankfully, he didn't pry deeper into that. "Anyways, I'm going to be spending the night at Shinya's, so don't worry about me not coming home, alright? I left some stew for you in the fridge, that way you won't go hungry tonight for dinner."

"Alright, I gotcha." Yuu stated right before Guren told him bye and hung up.

Yuu did the same and placed his phone back into his pocket without a second look, his attention returning back to the shop that Shinoa and Mitsuba still hadn't come out of.

---

From the instant Shinoa got her receipt for her lab coat, Yuu's thoughts had been on getting home. He already planned to study his ass off with chemistry all night until he was positive he understood everything he got wrong.

The study plan had worked out, especially considering he'd left his phone downstairs when he first came in.

Eventually, he went on to study and do homework for his other courses and as he did so, the remaining hours of the day unraveled before Yuu even knew it.

It took a few hours into the night until he felt hungry.

After heading downstairs and checking the fridge for the food Guren had left for him, he placed it in the microwave before inspecting the refrigerator and the freezer for any juice or soda. His results came up short to only half filled jugs of both water and milk towards the front shelf of the fridge.

As the microwave began ringing to signal his food was ready, Yuu weighed his options.

He really felt like drinking juice or something with his stew, not water and certainly not milk.

There was a convenience store practically down the street from his house anyways. He left the kitchen to go to the living room where his phone was situated on the longer couch. He picked it up and pressed one of the side buttons to view any potential notifications he missed.

His mind was nowhere near the pile up of text messages, a majority of which came from his group chat, or on the few notifications he had from the likes of Snapchat or Twitter…

Instead the only thing he could focus on was the picture of Archangel that was currently his lock screen.

Yuu grunted, instantly knowing that Shinoa had to be the cause.

He quickly unlocked his phone and had to resist the urge to groan at the fact even his home screen was white cloaked superhero.

From: Yuu

Youre so fucking annoying

After his words he sent two screenshots of the two pictures she'd left him with. Almost instantly, he received a reply back.

From: Shinoa

Lmao

Smug little asshole.

He decided not to give her the satisfaction of an outraged reply because honestly, that would only make her feel the need to tease him more.

He grabbed his phone and wallet from the counter before heading out, already resolving to use the card Guren designated for 'emergencies only.'

Technically, this was an emergency in its own right.

He knew Guren wouldn't even be pissy about him using it to get juice or anything anyways since it'd serve for the both of them anyways.

As he walked down the street, Yuu turned his attention to his photo album where Shinoa had managed to save at least 10 different drawings of Archangel. All of them were in different styles, but the general look on him was the same. He wasn't even sure why he was entertaining it instead of deleting them off his phone.

His outfit looked super impractical, but cool in an aesthetic sense at the very least.

Yuu swiped to the next picture.

Looking at his mask really made him wonder what he looked like underneath it.

He supposed everyone's expectation was for him to be super handsome.

"Please, someone help me!"

Yuu's steps came to an instant halt as he saw a woman stagger out from an alleyway up ahead. She looked around the empty road frantically and when her eyes landed on Yuu, she rushed toward him quickly.

He froze, attempting to get a feel for the obvious impending situation at hand as the woman looked up at him with panic on her features. Her breathing was both shallow and forced, instinctively causing Yuu to grip her shoulders gently, but firmly in an effort to keep her upright. "Are you okay, Miss!?" Yuu questioned.

He attempted to be calm, but he kept a certain energy to his tone, already prepared to act in some way.

She had to be older than him, somewhere in her mid to late 20s if the maturity on her face was any indication. Her wide, violet eyes stared up at Yuu pleadingly, nearly erasing whatever years of experience she had over him and causing her to appear like a vulnerable child. "M-My brother! He's being attacked by some weird man! I need help! Please!"

At her words, Yuu nodded urgently. "Where is he!? Come on, take me to him!" He insisted, his mind moving into overdrive and his thoughts of going to the store entirely forgotten.

Without wasting another breath, the woman began leading him down the same alley she had emerged out from.

Yuu followed behind her, his fists clenched at his sides as he felt his heart rate increasing with the passing second. It only took a couple of seconds down this darkened passageway before the unnamed woman before him made a turn to her left.

They were away from the street lights and the only thing that illuminated the second dark alleyway that she stood at the opening of were the moon and stars. This alleyway was narrower than the initial one they came down and it appeared to lead into a dead-end… Or at least Yuu assumed so because he couldn't see beyond it at a point.

Right before that darkness at the end of the alleyway, he could make out two silhouettes. He didn't have much time to process everything as the woman beside him spoke up.

"I'll go find someone to call the police!" She exclaimed before running off fearfully. Yuu didn't even watch her go, his eyes were trained up ahead as he willed his eyes to adjust better in the dark.

Yuu was already mentally prepared for a fight. He was capable of taking down a mugger.

He took a step forward and opened his mouth to inform the assailant he was going down, but before he could utter a word out, his suddenly found his feet swept from the ground and his body slamming into one of the brick walls of the alleyway.

In surprise, Yuu released a shout when his back was met with the solid concrete behind it. Pain shot through his body, but he barely had time to register it as he came to realize there was a hand at his throat. He winced as his eyes opened to stare ahead at his attacker.

"This guy barely looks 16…" The male that had his hand clutching Yuu's throat tightly voiced in disappointment. His dark brown hair fell over his piercing red eyes that immediately made Yuu grunt.

His hands moved to grasp the male's wrist as he attempted to tug his hand away desperately to no avail. The male's grip was unyielding. "L-Let me go, you—Argh!" He managed to gasp out before exclaiming when he felt the older man tighten his hold for a moment.

In the back of his mind, Yuu began wondering if the woman's brother was okay or if he'd been killed already. Trying to maintain focus despite the fact his breathing was slowly being cut off, he tried to look around, but right as he tried to do so, his aggressor continued. "I guess Marie decided to bring your meal first. She always plays favorites with us." He scoffed before dropping him.

Once he was free, Yuu's first and immediate thought was to take down the man that had choked him, but faster than he could blink, the brunet was replaced from his vision with another, older looking man. Yuu found his arms being thrusted over his head and against the wall behind him so quickly, he could have sworn he heard a snap.

He cried out in pain. "W-What the hell is wrong with you!? Let me go, you fucking bastard!" He struggled to free his arms, but found it stuck against the iron grip this man had over him.

His mind flashed to the army knife he had in his back pocket. If he could only reach it…

The second male that now dominated his vision laughed lightly. Though he looked nothing like the first man, the two both shared those near-glowing scarlet red eyes. The man averted his eyes from Yuu to glance over his shoulder at his darker haired companion. "It's late out, you should know your type rarely walk the streets alone at this time." He turned back to Yuu with a smile as his hand gently stroked the flailing male's cheek. "I love them at this age… Teenage blood is so much more flavorful."

Yuu felt his body freeze up in horror at his words, his struggles falling to a standstill.

Blood…

That meant that these two were—

"Ugh. Male blood isn't even that good." The first brunet remarked from his spot on the other wall as he watched the two with bored eyes. "Well, it is good… But the blood from females is even better. Men can't compare." He corrected.

The male hovering over him allowed Yuu's arms to drop as he gave his companion with a slight pout. "Male blood is fantastic, especially from adolescents."

Taking this opportunity, Yuu's arm swung into his back pocket in an effort to fish out the Swiss Army Knife toward the bottom of it. He didn't even hesitate, he brought out whichever tool he could before stabbing the male before him with it.

In surprise and mild annoyance, the brunet before him turned to look at the bleeding wound he now had at his collarbone and Yuu prepared to go in for another attack.

However, before he could even properly raise his hand, the dark haired vampire that had been on the other side of the alleyway was at the pair with amazing speed. He snatched the weapon from his hand with great ease in order to inspect it closer.

Yuu had no chance to even protest as a single second later, the man he'd stabbed powerfully kicked Yuu further down the alley with an incredible amount of strength.

He'd have probably had more airtime if he hadn't crashed into the dead-end wall with a strong amount of force. His vision threatened to entirely black out and the pain that executed throughout his body was instant. His chest felt like it was being crushed.

Breathing hurt so badly, but he was desperate for air after the collision.

He still tried to move and get up, to push past the pain and face his attackers. He refused to die like this.

In between his thoughts and trying to cope with the newfound pain in his body, he hadn't even realized when the male that kicked him approached him once more.

"F-Fucker… Stay away from me..." He grunted out hostilely. Despite himself, he mustered up the dirtiest glare he could manage, but it was only met with a smile as light haired brunet stooped down before him.

He cupped Yuu's face with an open teethed smile, displaying his sharpened fangs. "You're a feisty one. I can tell your blood will taste delicious."

Yuu felt his eyes widen as the man moved his face toward his shoulder. He pushed aside the collar of Yuu's jacket and shirt and placed his mouth at his skin to the point Yuu could feel his attacker's eerily cold breath on him.

Anger quickly flooded through his system as he willed his body to move despite the pain he was in. He grasped the male's hair within his hands desperately and tried as hard as he could to move him, to no avail.

"Get the hell off of me, you fucking monster!" He snarled out breathlessly before his hand clenched into a fist and he began hitting at the male's head as hard as he could. "Fucking drop dead!" He desperately seethed.

He refused to die here. He couldn't.

His seemingly feeble attacks only earned him airy, mocking laughs from the two men within the alleyway. That only served to further his frustration and anger.

Yuu immediately stilled with widening eyes when he felt the man's teeth make contact with his body.

"That's enough."

The teeth that had grazed at his exposed skin pulled back along with the male over his body.

At the newfound voice, Yuu glanced up beyond the body of the man that had him trapped between the wall and ground.

Even in the darkness of the alleyway, his green eyes instantly grew wide in shock. He had mostly become adjusted to the lack of light and there was no mistake about it.

Standing only several feet away from them at about the midpoint of the alleyway in all his white hooded cloak glory was Archangel.

Yuu felt his breathing stop altogether.

"How annoying. Can't you wait for us to finish our meals before harassing us?" The dark haired vampire questioned with a slight smirk on his face.

He leaned off the wall behind himself whereas the lighter haired brunet stood up from over Yuu.

With the overbearing weight finally off of him, Yuu felt a bunch of relief, however, his focus was entirely placed on the male that not too long ago Yuu had been looking at as only a picture on his phone.

This couldn't be real.

"Don't think we're stupid." The brunet remarked as he took a step away from Yuu. "We knew you were trailing us basically all day." His hand went to his side where he pulled out what looked like a switchblade of some sort.

Yuu grunted lowly as he tried sitting up. His eyes remained glued on the three men ahead of him stubbornly.

It didn't seem to matter anyways because faster than his eyes and brain could register, the two men charged at Archangel who already brought out what appeared to be his sword.

The sound of clashing metal filled his ears and Yuu winced as he attempted to keep up with the fight.

All three of them were moving inhumanely fast, it was near impossible to tell much of what was happening when combined with his throbbing and dizzy head as well as the lack of light in the alleyway.

"What's wrong, dog boy? Krul got your tongue?" One of them taunted out.

"Go back to the fucking Underground city and tell that bitch that we'll drink from the source whenever we please! If she wants to stop us, how about she gets her useless ass off her throne and try it!"

In between the arrogant words being tossed, Yuu struggled to pick himself up from the ground. He used the wall behind him for leverage and right as he tried straightening up, a strange sound hit his ears from the fight commencing only a few feet away.

When he looked up, he gasped a bit, an action that caused his chest to cry out in protest painfully.

Archangel's sword swiped through the neck of one of the aggressors and before the body or decapitated head had a chance to hit the ground, they disintegrated into what appeared to be ashes.

Before the remaining male could even bring up his own blade for defense, Archangel's sword whirled over to him before it swung downward and managed to sever an arm.

The brunet growled before he took a jump backward to create distance between the two of them.

From this position, the vampire was a closer distance to Yuu, however he had his back turned to him in favor of facing the white cloaked male that just sliced off his right arm. On the other end, Archangel took a couple steps forward in order to plunge his sword into the dismembered limb. He twisted it into the ground before his sword shimmered red and it began to crumble into ash around the weapon.

He hissed dangerously after having glanced down at his wound. His red eyes flashed dangerously as he regarded the silent blond in nothing but contempt. "You fucking bastard!" He snarled out before charging forward at him once more.

Yuu's eyes grew as a movement toward the opening of the alleyway caught his attention.

The woman that had originally led him there was standing there. And a sense of relief and happiness flooded through him as he recalled how she'd gone for the police earlier. However, as he saw her raising what appeared to be a gun and with no noticeable law reinforcements, he felt his blood rush cold.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He found himself shouting out, his chest immediately hit him with a bunch of pain for moving so carelessly.

His words were practically drowned out in the short lived gunshot that practically filled the walls of the alleyway they were in.

Yuu watched with horror as Archangel visibly staggered, having been shot in the back. Still, he had no time to recover as the vampire before him relentlessly attacked, now taking an opportunity to stab him near the heart.

The blond pulled away, the dagger in his chest remaining even after he managed to kick his opponent into the alley wall with an unyielding amount of strength, which caused the concrete to both visibly and audibly dent.

Archangel removed the dagger from his chest without a flinch before he threw it at the vampire that was still stuck at the wall. As the vampire dissolved into ashes, the male now turned to face the female that still had her gun aimed at him.

She smiled at him sweetly, her violet eyes practically shining beneath the new found moonlight from above. "You're a mid-to-close range fighter. Against an opponent that works far-ranged, you a lot of opened space to utilize your speed." She pulled the trigger, igniting a loud shot that caused Yuu to wince in surprise. "Unfortunately for you, there's not too much space here."

Archangel easily side stepped it, but the woman let out a laugh. "Let's see how long you can keep dodging!" She rushed forward at him with an amazing amount of speed comparable to the first two vampires and her gun raised.

Numerous amounts of gunshots rattled throughout the as she tried to land a second hit, though the blond dodged each gunshot expertly.

20 seconds probably went by, but to Yuu it felt like an eternity, before Archangel gave a frustrated grunt when his shoulder was shot, the stalemate between the two finally ending. He clutched his wound painfully, the fresh red blood easily staining his white cloak.

"You're starting to feel the effects of the first bullet, I see. Your body must be feeling sluggish now, huh?" The brunette acknowledged with an amused smile to her face. Though she received no reply, she continued, her eyes bursting with arrogance. "These bullets have a special spell engraved on them. If they get stuck in your body for a certain amount of time, they work to shut down your body for several hours."

From his spot at the end of the alleyway, even Yuu had to take in her words with a large degree of horror. Fear threatened to overtake him as he watched Archangel desperately.

Still silent, the hero released his bleeding shoulder in order to take an offensive stance with his sword.

"Don't worry about your body shutting down though. You'll die before you get that far!" She exclaimed before she ran forward with blinding speed. She appeared behind the blond faster than Yuu could blink.

He prepared to gasp out a 'Behind you!' in warning as she prepared to pull the trigger with the gun aimed at his head, but Archangel turned just as quickly, his sword slicing through the female's hands as though they were paper.

"Idiot," he coldly voiced and before her limbs could even touch the ground, Archangel whirled around to kick the female into the wall opposite to the one her comrade had been sent into only moments ago, the only difference appearing to be that the impact this time was delivered with less force. "Between the two of us, you're the only one that's dying tonight."

The male took steps to walk toward her before he brought down his sword to slice her body in half even as she attempted to get one last pleading word in.

Just as her two comrades, her body disappeared into a flurry of ashes that practically evaporated into the air.

And with that, the only two beings within the alleyway were Yuu and Archangel.

The sense of adrenaline in his body from witnessing the battle before him hadn't left the dark haired male's system and he tried to find himself. His mind began pulling itself back into reality as the fact that he was now safe started to settle.

It was all over now… Archangel saved him.

As that thought dawned upon him, the woman's earlier words of the bullets shutting down his body returned to Yuu's thoughts. He blinked as he now watched Archangel begin to stagger away, out of the alley's narrow passageway.

"H-Hey!" He found himself calling out to him shakily. His voice cracked a bit and he tried clearing his throat as the Archangel continued going ahead, his walk visibly weakened to a wobble. Yuu prepared to call out to him again, but he found with widening eyes that the male reached his limit as he collapsed to the ground near the exit of the alleyway.

Yuu grunted. "O-Oi! You— You can't just…!" He trailed off as he tried rushing over to his fallen savior, but he had to pace himself as he was instantly given a reminder of his injured ribs when he attempted to move too quickly.

As he reached Archangel's side, Yuu reached out to pull him upward, but to his surprise, the blond practically growled and moved away from Yuu's hands as though they were poison. "Don't touch me." He hostilely barked out, catching the male off guard. "Just go away." He hissed out more lowly this time and Yuu hesitated now.

"I… I can't do that." He argued after a couple of seconds. "She said you'd be out for hours, you can't stay here. I'm taking you home with me, alright?" Yuu decided on firmly. "You'll be safe there, I promise."

He expected another statement of refusal to come from him, but when he got nothing, Yuu leaned over as though to get a better view of the male's face even though it was shrouded by his mask. "Oi… Did you hear me?" He questioned while rocking his shoulder lightly. "My house isn't far from here and I'm going to be there alone until tomorrow evening… It'll be okay. I promise to make sure nothing happens to you."

When he still didn't receive an immediate reply and a few more seconds passed by, Yuu then realized the hero fell unconscious.

He takes a moment to take a deep breath— and he is rewarded with that sharp, brisk pain in his chest— before he tries to consider everything.

Even though his house was close by, there was no way he could manage to carry Archangel there on his own. Not only because of his weakened physical state, but there was running the risk of the two of them looking incredibly suspicious and him getting the cops called on him.

He tried to consider his options.

If he couldn't walk home, he'd need someone with a car to drive him there.

Instantly, he went into his back pocket for his phone. It was a pleasant surprise to see it completely unscathed, especially after how he got a bit roughed up within the past several minutes.

After going to his contacts and pressing one of the numbers in his Favorites, he placed his phone to his ear. As it rang, his eyes went back down to Archangel who was still unmoving.

It only took ten seconds for Kimizuki to pick up, but given the situation he was in, to Yuu it felt like years.

"What is it, Yuu—"

Yuu didn't waste any time. "Hey, listen, Kimizuki!" He exclaimed as powerfully as he could. "I have an emergency on my hands right now and I desperately need your help! You know the convenience store that's on Hatsudai? Think you can head down there right this second and come pick me up?"

Kimizuki's voice seemed filled with confusion and a bit of annoyance as he replied. "Wait… Isn't that like two minutes from your house?"

"Yes, but by walking, especially with how I am right now, it'd take me an hour to get home." He impatiently voiced before his voice softened considerably. "Please hurry up and get me if you can. This is an actual emergency and you're the only one that has a car that I can trust." He pleadingly voiced.

His friend was silent on the other end of the call for a brief moment as though he were attesting Yuu's words, however, before Yuu could speak up again desperately, Kimizuki sighed heavily. "Alright, I'm on my way right now. Give me like ten minutes."

"Thank you, Kimizuki." Yuu breathed before ending the call. He placed his phone back into his pocket and tried to calm himself down once more.

He was alive, Archangel was alive, and Kimizuki was going to come get them. Everything was going to be okay.

Realizing that there was no way the car would be able to come down the alleyway, so Yuu had to be prepared to at least carry Archangel to the vehicle, Yuu worked to pick him up.

He grabbed the male's good arm, minding the fact that his other shoulder was darkened with blood, and pulled it over his shoulder.

Yuu counted down to three mentally before he attempted to stand up with him. Due to his chest being in such a sensitive state, he grunted in pain at the newfound weight on him and Yuu found both him and Archangel stumbling onto one of the alley's walls. He tried to keep a tight hold on Archangel to prevent his body from completely slamming onto the asphalt below them.

Gently, he attempted to lower the blond down to the ground once more.

As he did so, he came to notice how much blood he was covered in. Though Yuu wanted to believe most of it was the blood from his opponents from earlier, he knew it wasn't.

Don't freak out. He couldn't start panicking now.

Yuu placed Archangel's head onto his lap after he kneeled back down.

He slowly took off his jacket before pressing it against the wound at the male's chest where the blood still appeared to be flowing from. He pressed it against his body firmly before his gaze returned to the male's face that was still majorly obscured by his metallic mask.

A fleeting thought of removing his mask came to mind, but Yuu quickly brushed it off. Instead, he pulled the male's white hood back on before he gazed further back into the alleyway where the battle from only minutes ago took place.

Though the woman's body turned to ash, her weapon didn't.

Carefully, Yuu removed Archangel's head from his lap before he staggered back up to his feet in order to get the weapon that laid unsuspectingly in the middle of the alleyway. He observed it briefly, his fingers feeling about it before he found the safety button. When his results came up short, he gave a 'tsk' before placing it in his back pocket regardless.

It was obviously too dangerous to leave out there anyways.

He then went over to where his Swiss Army knife had been tossed before placing it in his pocket as well.

Yuu returned back to Archangel's side. He placed his head on his lap once more, his hands pressing his jacket to the unconscious male's chest firmly.

He didn't know how much time went by, but when Yuu began to feel as though Kimizuki would be nearby soon, he worked to get both himself and Archangel up again.

"Work with me this time." He muttered, though he knew it'd fall upon deaf ears as he worked to get the blond's arm over his shoulder once more.

Yuu tried to maintain his breathing shortly and gave a quick mental countdown before he stood up to his feet with Archangel's dead weight leaning against him. Gravity threatened to tip the both of them over, but he tried as he could to stay upright.

"If you can pull a dagger out of your chest without flinching, then I can carry you a couple steps…" He murmured mostly to himself, recalling the actually very badass scene from before. He began walking the two of them out from the dead end alleyway, out to the wider, dark passageway that ultimately led out to the streets.

He walked toward the end that was closer to the convenience store that had been his original destination not too long ago, but he remained within the shadows of the alleyway in case any pedestrians were walking by, potentially catching sight of him and the unconscious blond on him.

Tiredly, Yuu leaned the both of them against the wall behind them. The cool temperature of the building honestly felt unbelievably good on his skin. He hadn't even realized how hot he was until now.

A couple minutes probably passed by in silence as Yuu remained in restless thought before his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. The buzzing nearly caused him to jump a mile in his own body with how sudden it was.

Quickly, he picked it up, having already seen the Caller ID.

"I'm in front of the store, where are you?" Kimizuki instantly questioned before Yuu even had a chance to say anything.

Yuu perked up as he now began slowly moving himself and Archangel closer to the road ahead. "Drive down some, I'm in one of the dark alleyways." He honestly informed him.

"… Do you understand how fucking shady that sounds? If you killed someone and expect me to help you dump the body, I'm driving off before you make me an accomplice."

"Don't be such a dumbass." Yuu grunted painfully as he stopped right by the edge of the passageway. As an afterthought, he hesitantly added. "I do have a body though."

"Fucking hilarious, Yuu." He received in reply before Kimizuki hung up abruptly.

Yuu clicked his tongue in annoyance before glancing back at Archangel. Due to his hood, Yuu couldn't see any of his hair, mask, or the bottom of his face. Despite that, he couldn't help but smile a bit.

He was saving a superhero after all.

Kimizuki's car slowly pulled up, but it was obvious he hadn't seen Yuu, so the dark haired male found himself barely stumbling forward with Archangel and his hand raised up for him to stop.

The car halted and Yuu hurriedly rushed to the backseat before he practically tossed Archangel's body in before him with a surprising amount of difficulty. He hopped inside after him and swiftly slammed the door behind him, taking note that there were still a few people on the sidewalk that saw him.

He pushed that thought to the back of his head as he looked forward at Kimizuki urgently. "What are you doing!? Drive!"

Kimizuki watched back at him in what appeared to be disbelief, confusion, and even some worry. "Yuu, who the FUCK is that!?" He practically shouted out.

Yuu grunted. "Archangel, now just drive, idiot!"

"W-What!?"

"Drive! Quick!"

Despite himself, Kimizuki obeyed him, though even as he went down the road, his eyes continued looking at the rear view mirror with evident anxiety at the two in the backseat.

Yuu brought a hand to his chest and he released a breath. "Can you turn up the AC? Jesus, it's hot—"

"Don't fuck with me, Yuu! What the hell is happening!? What do you mean that's Archangel!?" Kimizuki questioned almost frantically.

Yuu ran a hand through his hair with a sigh, his mind trying to recall how things even ended up as they did. "Okay, I was only going out for some apple juice or something, holy fuck. I can't even believe this… But I got attacked by vampires, I think… I don't fucking know. But while they were attacking me, Archangel came out from the heavens and killed them. But they…" He trailed off as he returned his eyes to the male laid across the backseat beside him. "They knocked him out and he's going to be out for a while." His eyes returned to the side of Kimizuki's head as he drove, now slowly up at a yellow light. "I couldn't just leave him there. So I'm taking him home until he wakes up, I guess."

Kimizuki stopped as they came to a red light. He turned to look back at the two of them, most notably, Archangel. "Shouldn't we be taking him to a hospital or something!? Stupid Yuu, why would you take him to your house of all places!?"

"Take him to a hospital!? That'd put his whole identity at risk, hell no!" He snarled back with a glare.

"Which do you think is more important, idiot!? His identity or his life!? For all you know, he could be in critical condition! Jesus, Yuu! What if—"

"His identity is his life, you shitty bastard! They'll rip off his mask and it'll be all over for him!"

The light up ahead turned green once more, and Kimizuki grunted before turning his attention back to the road. "That's… You're so moronic, it's unreal." His hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. Despite his words, Yuu was able to tell that his friend was still driving him in the direction of his house.

For the remainder of the ride, the two fell into silence until Kimizuki pulled up into Yuu's driveway.

As he began to park up, Yuu leaned forward. "Kimizuki, just trust me, alright? And please, promise me that this only stays between the two of us."

Kimizuki was silent for a moment and Yuu resisted the urge to groan before he pleaded once more. "The less people that know about this, the better. Please?" He all but begged before Kimizuki sighed with a nod.

He unlocked the doors before turning to Yuu with a slight frown. "I promise."

Yuu instantly brightened up with a grateful smile while he reached for Archangel after having opened the door. "Thanks. I appreciate it." He began moving to pull the limp blond out, now once again being painfully reminded of his own injuries as he struggled to get the male out.

"… Do you need help taking him in?" Kimizuki questioned, almost reluctantly as he watched Yuu get him out and pull him closer.

Yuu tried to mask his wince of pain as he shook his head. He flashed Kimizuki a brilliant smile as he prepared to close the back door. "No, I'm fine. I can handle it… But seriously, thank you for everything…" He took once last look inside and kind of laughed a bit. "Also, you need to wash out the bloodstains in the seats. God knows if some evil scientist gets a hold of that shit, we'll have evil Archangel clones flying around."

Kimizuki blanched as he turned to look at his backseats after Yuu slammed the door shut.

Yuu had no idea how he managed to make it back into his house without dropping Archangel, but he was grateful for whatever it was, whether it was luck, skill, or the grace of God.

Of course, going up the stairs had been another story all together.

He dropped Archangel like twice and nearly tripped and tumbled downward at least fifty times. It had been a hard trek, but he managed it up in one piece and that was the important thing.

His first thought was to stop by the bathroom and clean up and bandage any of the wounds Archangel may have had.

Yuu turned on the light to bathroom, almost blinding himself with the newfound intense light surrounding him for just about the first time in a while. Rather than set him onto the closed toilet seat to just slump and fall over, Yuu sat Archangel down to the floor with his back resting on the wall.

He went into the medicine cabinet and beneath the sink, rummaging around for bandages, ointment, and anything else that could be of use. He hoped there wouldn't be anything that required stitches because he was completely sure he wasn't qualified to do anything that meticulous on another human being.

With everything in hand, he turned back to the unconscious male on the other side of the bathroom floor.

Staring at him now, Yuu realized he had to strip him.

He swallowed thickly and fought back any embarrassment that threatened to surface.

This was serious.

He just had to channel his inner doctor from those drama shows he used to watch back in high school.

He kneeled down, resolving to remove Archangel's cloak first. It was difficult, given that he had to unhook some of the golden clasps to the front of it and raise up his lower body from resting on it. His outfit was even more elaborate than the one presented in the fanart Yuu had seen.

Now, he was able to see Archangel's blond hair more clearly. It was long, but certainly not as long as Yuu had imagined it to be, though a good portion at the sides and back were covered by his metallic appearing mask. Naturally, after everything they went through, he wasn't surprised with how untamed it was.

Yuu placed the bloodied cloak to the side before looking at the white jacket on the male with a slight eye twitch.

Despite this, he cracked his knuckles before getting to work at the golden buttons.

As nice as his clothes were, Yuu couldn't help but wonder if he had to go for such elaborate outfits that took a year and a day to remove.

Jesus, didn't it get annoying to put on and take off every day?

With that done, Yuu couldn't have groaned loud enough at the sight of the black button up the male had beneath that as well.

"Who the hell needs this many layers? Couldn't you have just gone with spandex or sailor fuku? Geez…" He muttered to himself in slight annoyance as he began undoing the buttons as quickly as he could manage.

When he finished, Yuu pitched the shirt in the pile along with the other outer layers.

Now, Yuu was given a good look at the male's upper body, which was unsurprisingly filled with muscle. Knowing he couldn't just gawk, he instantly went to get a wet rag to begin wiping away at the blood.

He made sure to be gentle with how he wiped it all away and as he went over an area he believed to have an opened wound, he found his eyes widening at the fact that the place he had been stabbed was already healed up.

In awe, he brought his free hand over to touch at the spot. There was still a slight scar, but Yuu supposed that that too would disappear soon. His hand rested on the spot lightly before he moved his hand over the male's skin, feeling his heart beat peacefully beneath him.

His green eyes moved up to stare at the mask still placed over the male's upper face before he went back to cleaning off the remained blood over his chest.

When he felt satisfied with his work, he moved to take off Archangel's thigh high boots in preparation to remove his white pants.

However, the moment Yuu removed the second boot, he paused.

His face threatened to warm up considerably as he thought of removing Archangel's pants.

He honestly didn't have to.

That honestly went far beyond what he was capable of. Besides, any potential wounds he suffered from below the belt had to be healed by now anyways.

Letting out a short breath, he prepared to pick Archangel up once more before he began carrying him to his room.

Once in his room, Yuu immediately set the slumbering male to fall into his bed, his head falling near the army of stuffed bears that Yuu had to the side corner of his pillows. He then took his sights to his drawers to find something for the blond to put on.

It's then that he recalled how a majority of his clothes were dirty and he was actually supposed to wash them earlier that night, but he completely forgot.

God, he was an idiot.

He still had one pair of clean PJs left, fortunately. He pulled them out from the depths of his sleepwear drawer before turning back to the sleeping male on his bed.

Yuu propped him up before placing the red, long sleeved button up on his body. Yuu began doing up the buttons as fast as he could manage before setting him back down on the pillow gently.

His eyes glanced back at the pajama pants and though he didn't want to leave Archangel in his dirtied white pants, even he knew if he was knocked out and woke up and saw someone changed all the clothes on his body, he'd be a teeny bit embarrassed, if not creeped out.

Besides, he knew he couldn't handle the shame that would come with knowing whether Archangel was a boxer or briefs kind of guy.

Knowing that he basically had Archangel all set, Yuu found himself returning to the bathroom to inspect himself, within his hand was a change of clothes for himself.

He stood before the mirror and proceeded to lift up his own shirt.

The state his ribs were in did not look good at all.

With a probing finger, he poked at them and winced, already seeing the bruising that was on its way to appearing on his skin.

He hoped it was only bruising and nothing was actually broken because going to the hospital would only end up being a massive hassle.

As much as he knew he should probably take a shower, everything from the night was starting to crash down on him as his adrenaline and remaining bits of energy died off. He resolved to freshen up properly in the morning.

While he began stripping his clothes off as carefully as he could without disturbing his injuries, Yuu was then reminded of the weird gun in his back pocket.

He took it out and placed it on the sink countertop.

Honestly, he needed to stop his habit of waiting until the last minute to do his laundry because now he was feeling the true consequences as he changed into his new, clean outfit for sleep.

Trying not to give himself another look in the mirror, Yuu went into the medicine cabinet before taking out some pain killers, already knowing tomorrow was going to fall on him like a truck if he didn't prepare himself in advance.

After downing them with some sink water, he picked the gun back up along with his dirtied clothes and Archangel's before heading back into his room.

He pitched their dirty clothes to the side of his bed, resolving to clean up in the morning and then went to place the odd appearing gun in one of his bottom drawers.

His body felt way more weighted than it did when he first brought Archangel in through the front door, but he supposed that was natural.

Humans had their limits after all.

He reached over for his wheeled chair that was at his computer desk before he brought it over to the side of his bed.

After taking a seat and leaning back, he tried to control his breathing in an attempt to make it as painless as possible.

The room was silent and as Yuu kept his eyes zeroed in on the sleeping male, the one impulsive thought from before returned.

He could honestly take off Archangel's mask and see his face if he wanted to. He could take it off and put it back on right after. No one would ever know, no one except himself.

The thought was a negative one and Yuu quickly waved it away. He'd told Archangel he'd keep him safe and that meant from himself too. Even if Yuu wasn't exactly a supervillain or whatever, Archangel's identity had to stay only to himself or to the people he chose to tell, unless there was some other way to find it out.

He ran his hands through his hair with a sigh.

It was then that Yuu took a moment to fully let the situation at hand sink in. There he was, wearing nothing more but an oversized, white T-shirt, his elephant designed boxer briefs that Shinoa had given him as a gag gift for Christmas last year, and a lot of fatigue, while he stared down at the unconscious superhero that saved his life only about an hour ago.

Or perhaps it had been longer.

His sense of time was completely out the window.

But he really was only alive because of Archangel's intervention. That much was what he did know for sure.

He stifled a yawn as his eyes began to close. Exhaustion now began winning the battle against him as he found himself falling asleep.

---

Every chapter so far averages between 10k-20k, so this is a pretty heavy story. The rating will go up in future chapters. Not yet sure what my updating schedule will be, but I'll figure something out.

Anyways, hope it was enjoyable! Let me know what you think!