Keisuke took a deep sip of his drink, slurping loudly enough that Kaede cut her eyes at him, "So…" he breathed out loudly dropping the half-empty can on the table, "Why'd ya let him win?"

"What?"

"Oh please," he huffed, rolling his eyes at her.

"Shut up, Keikun. Mind your business."

Keisuke narrowed his eyes at her. Between their bright golden color and his pointed canine teeth, he looked like a big cat when he got suspicious. Like a puma in a tree above her ready to strike.

"What?"

He stared at her for a moment longer before huffing again and rolling his eyes, "Look If you're gonna leave Mikey it has to be for someone better than him."

She laughed sharply, "Oh please!"

"So if you're not trying to flirt with him why would you let him beat you, huh?" He said, leaning toward her.

She frowned. He was always like this. He was pushy and he was nosy and when he thought he was on to something he'd do pretty much anything to figure it out. He'd been that way since they were children, the only things that had changed were the strength of his punch and the length of his hair.

"Tell me, Bunny," Keisuke said, tugging on one of her pigtails gently, "you know I'm gonna assume the worst otherwise."

She swatted his hand away, "I'm not leaving Manjiro for anyone, you know that."

Keisuke leaned back, looking out at the group as he took a sip of his drink. "Fine, but you have to want something from him then, right?" he said, holding his drink to his chest. He kept his head turned to the ringing bells and flashing lights of the arcade.

"Yeah," she sighed, "Look. I'm not going to say anything to Manjiro because...well...you know."

He turned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"How he gets! You know? When he's decided something he can be-"

"Oh that. Yeah. Sure. You don't like Takemitchy then?"

"I don't know that I don't like him but...he's sort of weird. Isn't he? Sometimes he acts like he's known me for way longer than he has. Then literally the next day he's all weird and nervous and won't even speak to me, much less be friendly. It's really weird. That's weird, right?"

"Eh," Keisuke shrugged, "That's happened with a lot of the guys when they were new."

"What?"

He smirked, shaking his head and looking at her, "You seriously never noticed the number of new guys that have tried to talk to you not realizing who you're with?"

She frowned. Now he was messing with her, "Baji-"

"Hey!" he frowned.

"...Oh sorry," she said, scrunching her nose at him, "right, right your nickname," he smiled at her slightly, "Edward," she finished.

His smile dropped and he frowned at her, blushing ever so slightly, just enough to be seen in the strange lighting of the arcade, "Bitch," he muttered.

She smirked at him, "Look, who cares about dumb boys thinking every girl they meet is single, if that's even happening, I don't think that's what's going on with Takemichi at all. He's just...he's just really odd."

Keisuke sighed, pushing his hand up through his hair and holding it here, showing off his widow's peak and reminding her of the shaggy cut of his youth, "Why is it bothering you so much?"

She frowned. In all honesty, she didn't know. He was right. It definitely was bothering her but Takemichi was far from Manjiro's worst friend. He was strange but he wasn't weird. He wasn't very violent or dangerous. He wasn't even officially in the gang and it didn't really seem like he wanted to be.

"It just...a lot of guys join the gang because they wanna fight, right? They wanna be the toughest guy, or they want money, or blah blah blah stupid macho boy stuff-"

"Watch it."

She rolled her eyes, "but Takemichi is weak. He can't beat anyone at anything. He doesn't act like he wanted to be Toman's errand boy or get dirt to trade to other gangs or...anything I'd think a weak guy like him would want."

Keisuke stared at her like she was crazy, "Have you considered he might, I don't know, want to be friends with Mikey?"

"Yeah but," she knit her eyebrows together, "why?"

Keisuke snorted, "I'm gonna tell Mikey you said that."

"Stop!" she whined, "I'm being serious. I can tell Takemichi wants something but I don't know what it is. I guess that's what's bothering me."

Keisuke was quiet. She looked at him, still frowning with worry, and finally, he looked serious. He stared into her face, eyes glancing over her expression. He rubbed the back of his neck and groaned a low noise that turned into a loud growl as he finished. He flung his hand in the air, bringing it down on the back of her head and yanking her forward. Their foreheads clacked together in a way that immediately made her eyes sting with tears. She gasped in pain, shoving him back and grabbing her forehead.

"I hate it when you do that!" she shouted, holding her head in her hands.

She could hear the smile on Keisuke's voice. He didn't sound like he'd even felt it, "Stop whining," he laughed.

She glared at him which only made him smile harder.

"Stop thinking about other guys so much, I'm getting jealous on Mikey's behalf," he said, poking his pointer finger against her cheek and flicking a tear away, "but if it'll keep you from acting so crazy, I'll help you."

She sniffled reflexively trying to keep the tear that his headbutt had drawn to her eyes from falling, "What?"

He rolled his eyes at her, "If you think somethings weird with the new guy then maybe something is. So I'll help you look into it. But don't go talking to everyone about it."

"Why not?"

"Cause they're stupid."

"Oh are they? Should I get some paper? You could write that note down for me. You know the kanji, right?"

Keisuke smirked, then broke into a smile, "Shut up, you're so fucking annoying."

She grinned at him even though her head was pulsing from his headbutt. She knew he was the right person to tell her worries to. He always listened when something bothered her. Not that the others didn't. Manjiro, Emma, Ken, even the other founders of Toman were her good friends but there was no one that listened like Keisuke. He didn't listen to make her feel better he listened to understand what she was saying. He wasn't the type to sugarcoat things or to lie. More than anyone else she thought he could help her to figure out why Takemichi was bothering her so much.

She turned back to Keisuke and he quickly looked away.

"What was that?"

"What."

"What do you mean what. You were staring."

He forced a harsh laugh, "Get over yourself. I wasn't staring."

She rolled her eyes and shut them, raising her eyebrows. Insufferable.

"It's bothering you," Kenchin said beside him.

Mikey glanced over his shoulder at him, then looking at Baji and Kaeji-tan again, "It's not."

Kenchin scoffed, "Oh come on, Mikey."

Maybe it was. Maybe it always did a little. Baji had a pattern. He'd withdraw from them for a while. Be his own man and his own school, still a part of Toman but a more distant one. Then he'd drift back to them. They'd all hang out more. It would be like old times and like old times he'd start getting too comfortable with Kaede.

"You gonna fight him about it?" Kenchin asked, clearly watching them over Mikey's shoulder.

Mikey sighed, "Might."

He pushed up from his chair and slowly made his way over. Sometimes he wished he could rip the bandage off. Things were so complicated. His brother, Kazutora, and Kaede were all dark shadows that hung over his relationship with his childhood friend. Irreversible things. Baji had accidentally taken so much from him but he was a good person. A wild guy but an honest one. And he knew Baji would never get over his guilt. He knew even as he laughed at teased Kaede it must hurt him. But much like himself, Baji would accept that pain if it meant he didn't lose everything. He'd take the sting of the guilt if he could stay with Toman.

"What are you two fighting about this time?" Mikey said, smiling softly.

Baji rubbed his neck, eyes avoiding Mikey's, "Just Bunny being herself again."

"What does that mean?" she said, leaning forward to try and get in his line of sight.

"Means you're being stupid."

Mikey laughed, "Hey, hey, you two we aren't in grade school anymore. Cut it out." He reached out, putting his hand around Kaede's and pulling her from her seat, "Come on, I wanna play a game."

"Oh?" she smiled, sliding off the chair, "What game?"

He grinned, "I'm not picky."

"Air hockey."

Her eyes glinted with excitement that made him smile. He glanced up at the red mark on her forehead where Baji headbutted her, he leaned in and kissed it softly, "Sure yeah, air hockey could be fun."

She grinned at him, quickly turning to survey the arcade for an open table. He glanced at Baji who, leaning with an elbow on the table he and Kaede had been sharing. He forced a tight polite smile to his face, one that didn't look natural. Not on the face of a man that never held himself back.

"Oh, Manjiro," Kaede said, tugging his arm, "Over there. I want the blue one."

"Obviously. I'm always red," Manjiro laughed.

He dropped in coins and listened to how the air rushing up through the small holes of the table seemed to dull out the world around them. Kaede never won against him. Not unless he threw the game but that annoyed her so he tried not to do it, even if he liked the way she'd jokingly tease him when she won until she realized what happened. If she'd noticed Baji's behavior she didn't express it. Maybe it was easier for her to pretend it wasn't there even if she did. Or maybe she was in denial. Sometimes he wondered if she regretted her choice all those years ago. Baji would be better for her. He was more focused. More earnest. Wild but good. If Baji struggled against the dark impulses Mikey could feel pulling on him, he didn't show it. He ran the risk of pulling Kaede down with him. Maybe Baji didn't and if he didn't then maybe-

"Manjiro!"

He blinked, looking up at her.

"Where'd you go?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Kaede smiled softly and pointed to the flashing lights on the arch above the center of the table, 1-0.

"I don't normally score that easily."

He smiled, "Heh, you don't normally score at all."

Her mouth dropped open in shock, the corner tugging to a smile.

He turned the striker over in his hand and hunched over the table, "I'm not giving up just yet, Kaeji-tan."

He put the puck back on the table, watching how it wobbled from the air current, floating dangerously close to his goal before shooting it back across the table.

Kaede hit the door hard, panting as her hands slapped over the cracked glass frantically searching for the handle. If she could just get inside and hide. She just needed them to lose sight of her for a moment, just long enough for them to think she'd picked up the pace and gotten far out ahead of them.

"Fuck...fuck!" she shouted, kicking the door in frustration. The spiderweb crack on the glass spread with a sick creak. She paused, glancing behind her. They were far enough. Maybe she could kick her way in. The glass was already messed up, old spraypainted tags from long disbanded gangs still littered the walls. She kicked again, harder this time, and the glass shattered into the room. She crouched by the hole, elbowing it to make the opening big enough for her to slide through. He could feel shards of glass cutting her through the old coat. Through Mikey's old coat. She wondered where he was. Wondered if he knew she was desperately running for her life in a coat he'd draped over her shoulders when she was in high school.

She pulled the sleeves of the coat down over her hands, balling them into fists, and crawled through. The glass cracked and crunched under her body. Digging into her coat and shredding her knees through the holes in her jeans. She hissed, tears dripping from her face into the dust on the floor but when she stood she didn't stop to pull the glass from her skin, she blinked urgently into the darkness around her and began rushing forward as soon as she could see.

She stumbled over a bundle of cables and fell hard on her knee, crying out when glass crunched deeper into her skin. She forced herself up, limping slightly as she felt her way forward through hard metal machines. She realized she'd run to the arcade. The one they had called the 'new arcade' back in the day. Back when the old one was used by various gangs as a hideout.

She heard a car squeal to a stop outside and she froze, dropping behind an old pinball machine. She pressed her hand to her mouth. Car doors. Heavy footsteps. She could hear men talking but couldn't tell what they were saying and then there was a loud pop. A gun. The metal chains that had held the door shut slithered to the ground and she heard the glass brushing over the floor as the door opened.

"Kaeji-tan," a man sang, "we know you're in here."

"Your blood's all over the ground," another said, paused for a moment before she heard a wet popping sound, "it's pretty sweet."

The other man laughed, "You're disgusting, man."

Her stomach turned. Imaging a dirty blood-soaked finger being sucked on by some lacky of Kisaki's. She slid back slowly, getting under the pinball machine for cover as she thought. If she could just get out. She could keep running. Now she'd be slower because she was injured but maybe someone would see her. Maybe the cops would come. Even if she could just find a more populated area maybe they'd give up on her. She couldn't imagine Kisaki wanted her dead so badly that he'd risk a public execution in the streets of Tokyo. If people saw them then there could be video. And if there was video Manjiro would know it was his own men that killed her. That was if he hadn't ordered it himself. The thought sent a chill down her spine. The men's boots were getting closer and the pinball machine was tall enough that her hiding spot wasn't very well hidden even if they didn't crouch. The only advantage she thought she might have left was that her eyes had fully adjusted to the dark and she could see far ahead of her the sliver of light from the back door.

She'd run. She had to. A few machines away one of the men crouched, looking under the machine. He stood and repeated the process with the next one. Two more and that was it. She felt something cold against her thumb she picked it up carefully and turned the flat round object in her hand. An old token. She drew her arm back and chucked it against a machine diagonal from her, the furthest from the door she could reach.

The crouching man jumped up, "Sneaky little whore, aren'tcha?!"

The other shot at the corner, the flash blurring Kaede's eyes and she scrambled from under the machine, hoping the sound of her clothes and the glass in her body would be somewhat covered by the noise of the unsilenced bullet.

"Hey!" The crouching man shouted behind her.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the gunman swing his arm, shooting immediately. She felt heat against her back but she wasn't dead so she kept running. Her hand caught the light switch as she ran, flinging it on as every other line of machines slammed to life causing a cacophony of digital tunes and a blinding flash of neon lights. The door was locked from the inside and her fingers, wet with blood, fumbled on the thumb turn for a minute before she unlocked it and flung the door open.

She took a deep breath and rushed into the parking lot. Staring into the black sky in a daze for a moment. Shocked she'd made it that far, struggling to think of what she could do next. Slowly she began to register the pain that wracked her body. She felt dizzy. Adrenaline blurring her vision and roaring through her ears. She smiled for a moment, an empty reflex of relief. Her back still felt warm. Wet. Her lungs hurt. She slapped her hand against her chest, gasping at the sticky warm liquid that covered her side. Another loud pop cut through the ringing in her ears.

She dropped, falling so fast she couldn't even catch herself. Her cheek slammed against the gravel and she laid there, shocked that it felt so awful. She'd never thought being shot would feel good of course, she wasn't stupid. But she'd never imagined how it would hurt. One of the men, she couldn't even guess which, grabbed her shoulder and flipped her over-grinding her bullet wounds against the dirty parking lot in the process and making the bullet that was lodged somewhere in her back grind against her bones. Her mouth opened and she knew she screamed but she couldn't hear it. She screamed again. And again. He hit her but it didn't feel like anything. She wanted to be heard. She was dying but she wanted to die knowing they were caught. She thought of the girl, her old friend Hinata. The woman Kisaki was going to kill. She hadn't been able to remember how she looked before but now she could see her. The memory of Hinata's smile on the steps of the old temple as they joked around waiting for the boys was so vivid it made her smile.

The man straddled over her, sitting against the wound on her stomach. She saw a flash, a silver reflection of the arcade lights. The cold of the blade sliding under her shirt stood out against the burning sensation of everything else. Then he cut her. Six lines. It didn't really hurt. She knew it should. She thought that maybe it would have if she was going to survive. Even as the point of the knife scraped her sternum it didn't hurt. Instead, she thought about the shape he carved. She would have known it anywhere. He stood, turning back to find his companion. Her arm was heavy as she dragged it up, fumbling until her fingers landed against the smooth wounds in her skin; a manji in the center of her chest just like the Buddha himself.

She let her hand fall to her side, too tired to continue to trace the familiar shape. Instead, she watched the beautiful lights flashing around her. The neon colors of the arcade bouncing off the unlit streetlamp above her. In the distance, she could hear the distinct scream of the Tokyo police siren. She shut her eyes and she hoped, one last time, that she'd done enough.