Alright! Chapter 8 of Father Thy Blood is now out! Recap: Ryoken is beginning his new life at the mental hospital, but he is very bothered that Mizushima hating him for no reason at all. Then Ryoken explains to Chika that she has autism and that she doesn't have a mental illness, but a mental disorder and that people with autism shouldn't be at a mental hospital. Then he sees Tanaka and Osamu making fun of Mizushima after Tomo goes all lovey dovey on him and he is pissed off by it. Ryoken confronts Tanaka by jumping onto him and holding on his neck, kind of choking him. Then Doctor Kamiyama comes in and sees Ryoken and Tanaka fighting, so he stops them and tells them never do that again and then sends them to get a medicine for a patient. When the boys go through the hospital to look for the medicine, Tanaka ditches Ryoken to play poker with some men, even though Tanaka is trying to handle his gambling problem. Then Ryoken sees Aoi and her childhood friend, Miyu Sugisaki, talking as Miyu is totally fine. Then Ryoken also sees Kanata being friends with them which surprises Ryoken and he hides from her from knowing that he is in a mental hospital. Then Tanaka, who has just won the poker game, goes up to talk to the girls and he learns all about them a bit, then Kanata tells Tanaka why she is at the hospital, but we won't learn why she is there until later. Tanaka tells Ryoken that Kanata is visiting a friend who has cancer, or at least that's what Tanaka thinks since he barely pays attention, but Ryoken stops him and he doesn't want to hear anything and goes back to the mental hospital. Now onward to the story!
It's been two days after Ryoken and Tanaka's little 'fight' and things has gotten a little awkward after that. Mizushima isn't glaring at Ryoken anymore. He just gives him a glance and doesn't tchs at him anymore or is angry at him, and it kind of makes Ryoken confused a bit. Okay. A lot.
Not only that things between him and Mizushima are awkward, but things between him and Tanaka are pretty tense after that fight and Tanaka has been picking on him all the time and it annoys him a lot. Ryoken is not a little kid anymore. Tanaka's not a kid either, but he sure acts like one.
All of the other patients keep bugging him a lot and try to tell him all about their mental illness and that makes Ryoken nervous and he sometimes hides in his room.
The only people who he trust the most are Hirabayashi and Chika. Well, technically, Chika doesn't have a mental illness, but a mental disorder, and Hirabayashi isn't all crazy or insane like the others, so he trusts her.
The sooner he gets cured and his ghost father is out of his head, the sooner things will be back to normal and away from this mental hospital.
A little while later, Ryoken sees Spectre coming into the mental hospital. He must be visiting him today.
Spectre goes up to the couch where Ryoken is sitting on and sat down with him. "Hello, Ryoken-sama. How are you handling at the mental hospital?"
"Awful." Ryoken told his friend in a upset tone. "The patients here are either annoying or rude, the food here is crap, and I already made a new enemy here, and I didn't even terrorize him in Link VRAINS."
"That is awful, indeed." Spectre said, feeling bad for Ryoken. "Who is the person that is harassing you?"
Ryoken points at Tanaka, who is playing cards with some mental patients.
Spectre examines Tanaka for a bit. "This guy is harassing you? He seems a bit dumb to harass you, Ryoken-sama."
"He is dumb, but he can bully me all the time, with throwing gross foods at my face and bugging me all the time. I feel like I'm in elementary school again."
"Just try to ignore him for a while, Ryoken-sama, and maybe he'll stop harassing you."
"I doubt that." Ryoken gives out a tired sigh and he glares at Tanaka. "I almost strangled him to death two days ago. If I try to strangle him again, will I go to prison for murder?"
"I don't think murdering someone will help you with your problem, Ryoken-sama."
"Mmm… Maybe you're right, Spectre."
Spectre takes one more glance at Tanaka. "He seems familiar. What is this man name?"
"Katsu Tanaka. Why do you ask?"
"Ah. Now I remember. He is the son of Kagami Tanaka." Spectre said with a smirk on his face.
"Who?"
"She is a famous model in Japanese, and all of the world to be in fact. Surprised to see her own son in a mental hospital for… what is he in here for?"
"Gambling problems."
"Oh. I see. That makes some sense since his own mother is modeling around the world and his own father is nowhere to be found."
"How is it that I never heard of her or that his own mother is a model?" He asked.
"Well, you said that Katsu Tanaka is a bit dumb, right?" Ryoken gives a nod to Spectre. "Well, he takes his stupidity from his mother sometimes. Always forgetting her own name and coming up with a new one."
"That… makes a lot of sense."
"Hey!" Ryoken and Spectre turned their heads towards Tanaka, who is giving them a annoying look. "Why are you two dorks talking about my mommy's short term memory loss all of the sudden when you two could at least do some man on man action."
Ryoken raises an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh? What are you talking about? Spectre has been my friend since we were kids. And also, I'm not gay."
Tanaka tilts his head a bit, looking at Ryoken up and down. "Are you sure? Cause you look gay to me."
"What makes you say that I look gay, you idiot?"
"I would say the slightly long hair makes you look gay. All the guys with long hair are gay."
Ryoken gives an annoying look towards Tanaka. "Mizushima has long hair as well, and so do you. Are you also considering yourself as gay too?"
"No! I'm interested in woman, thank you very much! Also, Mizushima has Ohno by his side, so he's not gay either! So the only person here who is gay is you!"
Ryoken rubs his temples in annoyance before he turns back to Spectre. "You see what I have to go through?"
"Yes. He seems rather difficult to handle. But I'm sure you can handle something like Tanaka, Ryoken-sama."
That is true. Ryoken can handle anything that troubles him. He's already handling his ghost father by going through this nut job place, he can handle an idiot like Tanaka.
"By the way, you also said that there is another man bugging you as well." Spectre said, curious.
"Yes. His name is… Nobuyuki Mizushima, I think…" Ryoken said, barely remembering what his name was.
"And which one is he?"
Ryoken points at Mizushima, who is sitting at the table with his feet on the table and his arms over his head, looking at the ceiling as if he is thinking about something.
Mizushima turns his head and looks at Ryoken. Ryoken acts quickly and turns his head away so he won't be eyeing at Mizushima and he wouldn't scoff at him or glare at him with such hate. Ryoken eyes on Mizushima for a bit and he sees that Mizushima isn't glaring at him, but is back to looking up at the ceiling.
"You said that Mizushima was bugging you after you got here, right?" Ryoken nod his head. "He doesn't seem to be bugging you right now."
"I know. He's been like this after that so-called fight with Tanaka that everybody claims to be two days ago," he told Spectre before knotting his eyebrows in a distress way, "it's kind of creeping me out."
"I'm sure he's just thinking about becoming friends with you, Ryoken-sama. You did say that you defended him from Tanaka, right?"
"Mizushima? Becoming friends with me? Ridiculous." Ryoken scoffs when Spectre said that.
"It might not be as ridiculous as you think, Ryoken-sama," Spectre said with a smile, "he might feel bad for treating you like crap and wants to be your friend, but is finding the right time to do it."
"Yeah. I'll believe it when I see it or when pigs fly." Honestly, what is Spectre thinking? Mizushima becoming friends with Ryoken. Ridiculous! Mizushima would just reject Ryoken by a second and Ryoken would probably do the same thing too.
Then the same nurse with the bored dead-pin faces goes up to the boys and looks at Spectre. "Okay, visiting time is over. Now get out."
Spectre gets up from the couch and looks at Ryoken with a friendly smile. "It was good to see you again, Ryoken-sama. And I hope you get well very soon." And with that, Spectre leaves the mental hospital.
Ryoken gives out a tired sigh and he lays down on the couch. Then he eyes on Mizushima for a bit. 'Mmm… Maybe Spectre might have a point on Mizushima. Maybe he might become my friend. I know I'm okay with Hirabayashi-san and Chika, but I think maybe Mizushima might want to become friends with me.' Ryoken thought to himself, but for a few seconds, he sighed. 'Oh, who the hell am I kidding? There's no way Mizushima would want to be friends with me.'
It is now nighttime and Ryoken is asleep, or at least he was asleep if it wasn't for the knocking on his door.
He groans in a tired way and gets out of his bed. 'Who on Earth could be knocking on my door this late at night?' He thought to himself as he walks to the door.
He opens the door and is surprised to see someone who thought would never ever thought of coming to see Ryoken.
Nobuyuki Mizushima.
"Hey there, Kogami-kun…" Mizushima said, looking a bit nervous.
Ryoken stayed silent for a moment at the sight of Mizushima before he finally said something. "M-Mi-Mizushima? Wh-what are you doing here?" He asked still in shock.
"What? Can a guy just come to visit the new guy this one time?"
"Uh…" Ryoken doesn't know what to say anymore.
"Nevermind. Come on. I want to talk to you. In private."
Ryoken got confused and deep inside, a little scared when he said that, so he follows Mizushima to the lounge room.
They go to the window and Mizushima opens it, which made Ryoken shock even more. "H-hold on!" Ryoken shouted quietly, being careful not to wake anyone. "We can't just escape the mental hospital already! We'll get in trouble and I do not want to get in trouble again."
"Relax, newbie," Mizushima told him, "we're not leaving this place without being cured from our mental illness. I've learn that lesson already. We're going to my secret place for a little talk is all."
'I'm kind of afraid of what the talk might be about.' Ryoken thought to himself, looking pretty worried.
The two mental patients go out through the window and they walked around the building. They go to some unfolded cardboard box leaning against a wall, in which Mizushima moves to the side, revealing a hole and he enters inside.
Ryoken is hesitant at the moment. He doesn't know what Mizushima is going to do with him at this "talk." He might try to beat him up for always eyeing on him or he might yell at him to stay away from him. Or even worse, he might-
"Hey! Kogami-kun!" Ryoken got startled when Mizushima called him out. "Are you going to come inside or what?"
Ryoken swallows the fears of Mizushima trying to do something to him (and some of his saliva) down and goes inside the hole.
Inside a hole were some chairs, a coffee table, and a mini fridge. Ryoken thought it looks kind of decent, for a guy like Mizushima.
"Take a seat." Mizushima told the 18 year old. And Ryoken did as he is told.
Ryoken sees Mizushima going to the mini fridge and opening it, then pulls out two water bottles. He throws one to Ryoken, who catches it with reflexes.
Mizushima sits down and looks at Ryoken. "Now that were alone, here are some things I want to say," he said, and Ryoken tries to swallow all of the fears, but his mouth feels dry, "I just wanted to say-"
Ryoken clenches his eyes tight. 'Please don't hurt me! Or yell at me! Or, or or-"
"thanks for defending me in front of Tanaka back then."
…
'Wait… What?'
Did Ryoken hear that right? Nobuyuki Mizushima? The one Ryoken thought he might be harassing him when he first got and and who he thought hated him, is thanking him?
"I've always been picked on by Tanaka since I first arrive at this dump. Always making fun of me for thinking I was in a relationship with Ohno, which I am not. And always laughs at me whenever I get drunk after smuggling some alcohol from the conference room, and nobody ever defends me," he told Ryoken, "but when you suddenly stood up Tanaka just for me, I thought you would just ignore me like everyone else did, but you kind of just suddenly defend me like that. So thanks." Mizushima gives a smile to Ryoken, which surprised him a little.
"Um… Your welcome?"
And no sooner or later, none of them spoke another word. Then Ryoken opens the cap of the water bottle and drinks it.
"I've been noticing that you're kind of afraid of me." Mizushima broke the silence.
Ryoken stop drinking his water for a moment and looks at Mizushima. "Huh?"
"You keep looking away from me whenever I sometimes look at you, so it's obvious that you're scared of me." He said.
Ryoken looked very annoyed when Mizushima said that. "I'm not afraid of anything. He told him. Ryoken has never been afraid of anything, not even an Ignis. … Well, he has one fear, but he doesn't want to talk about it.
"So why do you always avoid me?" He asked.
"Well, you always glare at me when I first got here, so I just thought you hated me."
Mizushima looks down at the ground for a moment and Ryoken notices some sadness in his eyes. "I'm always in a bad mood because… well, my mom force me to come here to get cure for my drinking problem."
Ryoken knotted his eyebrows in sadness when Mizushima said that. "Can you tell me about what happened with your drinking problem?" He knows that he shouldn't ask him that, but he didn't have much of a choice.
Mizushima was silent for a moment, but he looks at Ryoken. "If you want to know, then I'll tell you."
Ryoken's eyes widen in surprise when Mizushima said that. He never expected that to happen.
"My old man always goes to the bar all the time when I was young and my mom always yells at him to stop drinking so much, and the old man just tells her to shut up," he explained to Ryoken with a sad and also an angry expression, "soon when I was around 9 years old, they got a divorce and my mom got custody of me, but I sometimes go visit my old man during the weekends, which I really hate the most. He gets so really drunk that he always beats the crap out of me. Day and night. Night and day. And that's when I had enough of it and told my mom about it. She got pissed off at my old man and call the cops on him and arrested him for good."
'What's with people calling the police on either ex-lover or a drunk-headed father and getting arrested? That just keeps reminding me of how I call the police on my father 10 years ago…' Ryoken thought to himself, remembering what his father did 10 years ago, but he keeps on listening to Mizushima's story.
"After that experience, my mom filed a restraining order on my old man to stay away from me, and I develop depression because of that experience. When I was 16 years old, I got invited to a high school classmate's party and I saw some beer cans, and… well, I just started to drink them. A lot. Everyday. I was starting to become like my old man. The apple doesn't fall hard from the tree. My mom got concern about me, and sign me up for the mental hospital. I got angry at her for doing that and I accidentally hit her. She got so scared and I was very shocked that I did that. So I have no choice but to go to this crap hole. I didn't like it here and nobody felt bad for me, so I tried escaping, but the security guards spotted me and they tasered me for it. So I'm stuck here until my drinking problems are done for good."
Wow. Ryoken never thought he feel bad for someone like Mizushima after hearing his story. "I'm sorry…" He said in a sad tone.
"Why are you being sorry for?" Mizushima asked. "You didn't get beaten to the crap by your old man."
"I know. I just feel sorry about what happened to you… That's all."
Mizushima smiles a bit when Ryoken said that. "Thanks. Nobody ever feels sorry about me before, so this is a first. I always thought everyone in this mental hospital are douchebags, but you're not like that. I like that."
Ryoken blushes a bit when Mizushima said that. "Um… Thanks, Mizushima-"
"Call me Nobuyuki. It's better this way."
Ryoken smiles at Mizushima, no, Nobuyuki. "Alright, Nobuyuki. So, are we good?"
"Yeah. We're all good here, Ryo-Ryo."
Ryoken got surprised by what Nobuyuki just called him. "Ryo-Ryo?"
"Well, Ryoken seems kind of old fashion, and Kogami is also pretty long too, so I thought I might call you Ryo-Ryo instead. Unless you don't like it, then-"
"No! I don't mind you calling me Ryo-Ryo," Ryoken told Nobuyuki, "I have an old friend from my childhood who still calls me Ryomi, so it's fine."
"Alright then. Then I guess we're friends now. So, let's shake on it." Nobuyuki holds out his hand towards Ryoken.
Ryoken smiles a bit and reaches his hand towards Nobuyuki and shakes it.
After that whole settlement, Ryoken and Nobuyuki leave the hole, go back inside the mental hospital and went back to their rooms.
When morning came, Ryoken and Nobuyuki walked into the kitchen to get breakfast and they see everyone in the kitchen is packed.
They go up to Chef Opal, who is serving the food (Obviously), and she is surprised to see Ryoken with Nobuyuki. "Hoh, hoh? What is this? New boy with mean drunk-head? This is very unexpecting."
"Well, you're going to get used to him being with me, Chef Opal." Ryoken told the chef.
Chef Opal shrugs for a bit and pours veggie mush into Ryoken's bowl, which some got onto Ryoken's face, and then Nobuyuki's bowl, and they walked to find a table.
Ryoken sees Hirabayashi and Chika at a table and goes over there and sat down. Ryoken motions Nobuyuki to come sit with them. Nobuyuki was kind of hesitant at first, but goes over there and sits next to Ryoken.
Hirabayashi was surprised when Nobuyuki is sitting next to Ryoken all of the sudden. "Mizushima? YOU'RE sitting with us? And next to the new guy?"
Nobuyuki looks away for a bit and looks pretty upset.
"It's okay, Hirabayashi-san, Nobuyuki is cool." Ryoken told her.
Hirabayashi blinked in confusion. "Now you're calling him by his given name? Who are you and what have you done with Kogami?"
Nobuyuki looks down at his veggie mush. "Maybe it was a bad idea…" Nobuyuki was about to get up from the table, but he felt Ryoken grab his wrist and Ryoken looks at Hirabayashi.
"Look, I know Nobuyuki is not a good person towards you and everyone else, no offense-"
"None taken."
"but I trust Nobuyuki. He can be a better person, even if he is in a bad mood sometimes. So, can you please just give Nobuyuki a chance?"
Hirabayashi thinks for a moment to decide, then she looks at Ryoken and gives him a grin. "You know, for a new guy like you, you do have a good heart."
Ryoken smiles at Hirabayashi. "Thank you, Hirabayashi." He looks at Chika. "What about you, Chika? Do you think you can give Nobuyuki a chance too?"
Chika stares at Ryoken for a moment. Ryoken hoped Chika payed attention to what he and Hirabayashi have discuss, then Chika nods her head, which Ryoken smiles.
Nobuyuki was shocked for a moment that Hirabayashi and Chika would give him a chance, then he smiles and sat back down at the table. He looks at Ryoken. "Thanks, Ryo-Ryo."
Ryoken smiles back at his new friend. "No problem."
Katsu watches the whole scene of Kogami sitting with Hirabayashi and Etsuko and then he sees Mizushima sitting next to Kogami, which shocks Katsu so much. "What the hell?! Nobuyuki Mizushima is sitting next to the new guy and suddenly is being nice to him, Hirabayashi and the weird brat?! How did this happen?!"
"Well, it might just be a coincidence of Kogami-kun and Mizushima-san hanging out, or they might of settle with their difference." Osamu said as he adjusts his glasses and Katsu gets annoyed when he was talking.
"Shut up, Ando!"
"Yes, Tanaka-sama."
And that's about it for chapter 8. And hey, this is the first chapter that Dr. Kogami's ghost doesn't appear this time. And Mizushima and Ryoken are now friends, and for now on, in Ryoken's POV, he will refer Mizushima as Nobuyuki. And Ryoken has gotten a new nickname. Ryo-Ryo. So, Kanata will call Ryoken "Ryomi" because it's his childhood nickname, and Mizushima will call Ryoken "Ryo-Ryo" and I have a feeling that in the future in later chapters of Father Thy Blood, when Yusaku will learn that Ryoken has his father's ghost in his head, Ai might begin to call Ryoken "Revolver-sensei" similar to season 3. Anyway, I'll see you guys later for chapter 9!