This takes place in the year 2020, eight years after the series. However, I decided to use their manga ages instead, so as to lessen the time lapse by four years and thus create a less awkward gap. Questions, comments, suggestions and the like are very much welcome. Thank you and happy reading!

Dedicated to Cathy, Hazel, Ivy, Johanna, Jorem, Karissa and Mia.
Thank you guys!


01 : A FUGITIVE'S RETURN
Even men of confidence tremble at the thought of facing the demons they've left behind.


Stepping off an airplane had never been so nerve-wracking.

What he felt that fateful day eight years ago, when he was about to settle the score with Takeshi Manganji in the 2012 World Cup finals, wasn't even half of the anxiety and dread that was racing through his system like an electric current gone mad right that moment. He wasn't just having a panic attack; he was at the verge of a nervous breakdown, which was downright strange, as he was a man of confidence.

But even men of confidence tremble at the thought of facing the demons they've left behind, he reflected as he made his way down the ramp, adjusting his hold on the backpack he had carried with him during the duration of his flight. He tried to slow down as much as he could so as to possibly delay his arrival at the waiting lounge, but the stream of excited passengers, Japanese and foreigners alike, carried him off despite his will. All he could do to help himself was take one deep breath after the other, but even that failed to calm him down.

Five years. He had been running away for five years, hiding in a foreign land that was well beyond his demons' reach. America wasn't exactly what he'd call a friendly place, with people whose customs and practices differed from his own, but still he chose to stay with those strangers rather than return to his homeland. And it wasn't because he wasn't wanted back in Japan; it was, in fact, the contrary. His parents had invited him to come home many, many times, and so did his friends, yet he refused to do so, giving out an entire checklist as to what he needed his time off school for. To finish his projects. To review for his exams. To undergo on-the-job training. Even to help train a new generation of Gear Fighters at the request of Gina Firestone, the GFA Commissioner.

Yet he couldn't run away nor hide forever. A single document, composed of fancy pieces of paper bound together by a cute pink ribbon, was all it took to send him packing – the invitation to Kyousuke Jin and Lan Fang's wedding. And their request that he be one of the groom's men was one he just couldn't turn down.

Even if it meant facing his demons.

His heart thumped with much irregularity, like drums being played without the intention of creating a beat. Each step he took brought him closer to the confrontation he so dreaded, right from the moment he fled. And the unfortunate truth was, he had already crossed the line and taken a step too far that there was no longer a way out. He couldn't turn around and run away again, nor could he stay at where he was and let everyone pass him by as if he didn't exist.

The waiting lounge was only a couple of footsteps away, and the sound of everyone else's animated voices began to overwhelm him. Too late to do anything but move forward, he willed himself to do so, hoping against hope that he would survive the encounter and be able to attend the wedding he had come home for. He, of course, didn't fear physical injury of any sort, but an emotional assault that could cause more damage than any slap or punch would, and that was definitely something that would be more than he could handle. And a certain brown-haired, indigo-eyed girl he had loved – and still loved – happened to be very good at that.

But no one was waiting for him.

He didn't know whether he should be relieved, or whether he should panic. Sure, the people he somewhat didn't want to see, considering what he had done to them five years in the past, weren't anywhere near the spot he was standing, but they could very well be waiting for him just around the corner. That only meant the worst was yet to come.

Suddenly, he found himself laughing, causing those standing near him to either walk away with puzzled looks on their faces, or raise an eyebrow at his apparent oddity. But he didn't even seem to notice their reactions, for he had just come across a truth that shattered the aura of fear that had engulfed him upon his arrival in an instant. He was the psychologist, wasn't he? So there was definitely no reason for him to fear being twisted, as he was the one in the position to do the twisting.

He then sighed, shaking his head. He was becoming neurotic.

-x-

"Kouya!" Marimo Marino gasped, a horrified expression spreading through her plump face as she rushed towards her son, who stood at the doorway of their family's restaurant, the La Mére de Marino, with all his bags and suitcases. She then exclaimed, in utter shock and surprise, "Good heavens! Your flight was tonight?"

He scowled and then shook his head in annoyance, leaving his bags at where he had halted and settling himself down on one of the stools by the counter. His mother quickly dashed behind it to serve him a drink, and after pushing away his aggravation towards the safe zone, he answered, "Yes, Mom. It was tonight," in a voice that, despite his efforts, failed to hide his feelings of provocation.

If Yuhya was alive and was the one coming home, I bet he'd even be welcomed with a red carpet, he thought bitterly as he took the glass that he had been offered and drowned down the contents until there was nothing left. He didn't want to revive the resentment he had felt towards his brother, who no longer stayed with the living, but sometimes he just couldn't help but notice how his parents continued to favor the one who had departed. Despite everything he had accomplished in his life, from becoming the Crush Gear 2012 World Champion to graduating with a degree in Psychology at a prestigious university in the West, it seemed as though he will forever be second best.

And that was one of the reasons why he didn't want to return to Japan.

His mother seemed to have heard his thoughts somehow. "Dear," she began, taking her seat beside him as if she was just another customer, "I'm so sorry. Things just happened. Look at the mess." She paused to point at the cluttered arrangement of tables and chairs at one corner of the room, with broken pieces of glass scattered here and there. She then shook her head upon recalling what had transpired. "Gang brawl. Not an everyday thing, but it happens anyway."

He knew she was doing her best to avoid the issue, to the point of dramatically shifting the topic to another, but he could not help but be suddenly interested at what she had to say. "Gang brawl? Here? Since when did you allow punks and gangsters to crash in here anyway? Don't tell me–"

"I didn't know," she answered, cutting him off in a voice that projected such helplessness. "That's how kids are nowadays. You can't tell who's a gangster and who's not. Even those who practically have everything they want and need in life throw away what they have to 'have fun'. And you can't tell them to quit what they're doing, because they're not going to listen to anyone." She then shifted her position to completely face her son and be able to look straight into his eyes, at the verge of warning him about the dire consequences of becoming a gangster. "The thing is, even when you quit a gang, or the members disband for whatever reason, your enemies won't care. They'll continue to hunt you down."

He stared at her incredulously. "How do you know so much?"

Marimo only got off her stool and went back to her post behind the counter, shrugging her shoulders lightly afterwards as her initial response. Then, after helping herself to a glass of water, she continued by saying, "I hear stories from our customers, all the time. From disheartened mothers whose children were taken away by the lives of crime they chose to live, and from angry fathers who blame themselves for their children's downfall. Being part of a gang is an 'in' thing for people like you nowadays, you see. Your friends can even tell you a tale or two, details intact. Why, don't gangs exist in America?"

Of course they did, that he knew as much and that he told her, but there was just something a little wrong with the picture she had presented to him. Gangs existed even before he left for the United States, but from the way she sounded, it was as if she actually knew someone who became one while he was away. As she excused herself to prepare a 'crab meal' in celebration of his arrival, he couldn't help but sigh. There were things that still didn't change, but those that did clearly outnumbered them.

And he could only wonder how much his friends had changed.