WARNING!: Violence(somewhat graphic) and a whole lot more swearing than the previous chapters
Adding Insult to Injury
Osomatsu really can't catch a break and smoking isn't good for you kids
His body felt heavy.
It felt hard to breathe.
He tried moving around, but every movement was met with a sharp pain.
He noticed he was lying down. His ears picked up the high-pitched cry of cicadas from outside.
He slowly turned his head to the side. His eyes hurt from the bright surroundings and white haze all around. He couldn't see where he was.
However, a few feet away from him, he could clearly see Tougou. He was talking to someone on the phone.
He seemed really angry.
Tougou's voice sounded muffled and was going in and out. He couldn't comprehend what the man was saying. He tried making out some words.
Jo-san? Price?...Him?
Tougou was swearing a lot; pacing about the white space. His movements and gestures were tense and aggressive.
It made him feel really nervous.
Now Tougou stood there looking at him. Glaring down at him. He felt so small.
He blinked sluggishly. Tougou was saying something to him but no sound came out.
Despite this… it scared him.
His body began to tremble.
Tougou started moving again.
He was scared.
He tried to get up but it hurt.
It hurt so much.
Tougou.
He tried to scream but he couldn't.
Tougou.
He didn't like this.
No.
Tougou.
Stop.
"No!"
Osomatsu slowly blinked awake.
He was still sitting in the alleyway with his head in his knees. God, he must have been exhausted.
He was shivering like crazy and there was this painful pounding in his head.
'Shit…' he thought annoyed. 'When did I fall aslee-'
Osomatsu stopped his train of thought once he realized the feeling of soft nudges and pulling on his clothes.
'You've got to be kidding me.'
He stayed still and pretended to sleep as he heard the arguing of two hushed voices in front of him. He could feel the warm breathing of one of them on him as he was being patted down.
"Bro, hurry the fuck up. He's gonna wake up if you don't move your ass!" One whispered voice said.
"Shut up and gimme a sec." Another, the one closest to him, replied.
"He better have something on him. Shit, it's cold!"
"Quick you're whining. I'm almost done."
Osomatsu wanted to roll his eyes.
'Idiots.'
He felt a hand on his sweater; the sound of the money crumpling around the stranger's grip.
"Jackpot!"
As the stranger pulled the money out of his pocket, Osomatsu's body moved automatically; grabbing the unsuspecting man's shirt collar and pulling him forward.
Despite his throbbing head, Osomatsu felt the growing smirk on his face as he slammed his forehead hard against the ametuer thief's head.
"Fuck!"
Osomatsu finally got to his feet and watched as a tall, scruffy-haired man looking to be a random thug in his early 20s- stumble back clutching his head tightly.
"Ouch," Osomatsu rubbed his forehead before walking over to the injured man on the ground. "You know, if you wanted to steal from a sleeping person, you should make sure they ain't a light sleeper."
He grabbed the stolen money back before kicking the man in the stomach. "Argh!"
"Or...y'know," Osomatsu exhaled a bored sigh. "Make sure they're not me."
Osomatsu wanted to give the man another kick for good measure, but was stopped short when the man's friend, a shorter guy with a mullet, trying to rush in from behind; a fist raised towards him.
The teen turned and side stepped away. The later stumbled and Osomatsu took the opportunity to get behind him and give him a swift kick to his left side.
The thief managed to keep himself grounded; turning back and aiming his fist at Osomatsu's face. Osomatsu smirked.
"To slow," he mocked. He dodged the oncoming attacked and planted his knee hard into the thief's gut. Giving the man no chance to catch his breath, he gave a hook to the man's chin.
The flushed teen smiled watching as the thief groaned at his feet. To be honest, he was far from happy with this current predicament but he was certainly pleased with himself.
He didn't like to brag (actually he did), but Osomatsu always prided himself at being stronger than any of the fellow lowlifes he and Tougou encountered. If they had moved passed pickpocketing chump change and actually doing some real damage, they would probably be at the top of the hierarchy with Tougou as the brains and him as the brawn. If he couldn't beat up some simple lowly thieves, he would be ashamed to call himself Tougou's partner.
"You fucker!"
Osomatsu quickly moved away, feeling the strong wind from narrowly missing the downward swing of a metal pipe. The first thief had already got up and managed to get himself a weapon to fight with.
"Tch," Osomatsu whispered under his breath. "Well that ain't fair."
Unfortunately for the boy, despite his mind being absolutely sure he could take on these two easily, Osomatsu could feel his body doing an awful job at displaying that same confidence.
He already felt out of breath. His body felt hot and tired, and his eyes kept focusing in and out like they were lenses on a camera. Not to mention waves of nausea hit him with every move he had made since waking up.
'Oh for fuck's sake, of all the times to-'
Osomatsu ducked down, dodging another swing of the scruffy-haired guy's pipe. Quickly, he charged head first at the man's torso; wrapping his arms around him. With all his strength, he lifted the thief and flipped him over his head. The man fell on his back; the back of his head making a small thump as he collided to the ground. Oso stumbled a bit backwards from the momentum as he noticed mullet guy was up and ready for more.
Osomatsu's headache was getting worse and he felt his knees begging to give under him. He didn't know how long he could keep this up, but he'd be damned to show any weakness in front of these bozos
"You want some more Mudflap?" Osomatsu goaded. "Come and get it."
The already offended thief ran up, trying to land a few jabs at Osomatsu; one managing to hit their mark as Osomatsu's right cheek forced back in reaction. In return, the teen swung around and elbowed the man's nose. The other thief soon joined in on the onslaught.
'1 vs 2? Now that's really unfair,' Osomatsu thought annoyed as he dodged another jab.
He grabbed the mullet thief's arm and pulled it backwards; pinning the arm to his back. He gave the thief's arm a good twist before roughly shoving him a few feet away before quickly missing another swing of the other's pipe. In retaliation, Osomatsu returned the other man a blow to the cheek. Now the two were grappling onto each other struggling to force the other to the started to take a few steps back.
"C'mon guys," Osomatsu taunted between heavy pants. "Quit making this so difficult. You tried to steal from me first. It's only fair for you guys to stay still like good little boys and take the punishment."
From his peripheral view, Osomatsu can see the mullet guy looking beyond rage. With blood falling from his nose and a bruise forming on his face, the man roared in annoyance. He charged at Osomatsu with full force.
Osomatsu quickly pivoted to the side, causing the taller man to move where he once was. In a hurried motion,Osomatsu let the man go, backing away and watching as the charging thief collided into his friend.
"Urgh!"
"Oof!"
The two thieves were now both on the ground. Their limbs were tangled together as they were both struggling to get back up; screaming at each other in a mix of confusion, anger, and embarrassment.
Osomatsu would have laughed at their pathetic display if it weren't for another pang of dizziness hitting him.
'I gotta get out of here.'
He needed to make sure the two thieves didn't get up. Scanning around, he saw the lead pipe that the taller thief had dropped was a few inches away from them.
He ran over and crouched down to grab the pipe. Focusing over at the two thieves still on the ground, he took the pipe ready to knock the men out. However, as he was about to stand up, Osomatsu felt movement behind him.
Before he could turn around, Osomatsu felt something hard and metal hit the side of his face. He tried to process what just happened but was struck once again to the back of his head, sending a shock through his whole body.
The next thing Osomatsu knew, he was on the ground; his vision all fuzzy and a sharp ringing in his ears.
'What the hell?'
"Shit man, you guys ok!" Osomatsu heard a new, almost distant, voice yell out. "C'mon let's get outta here!"
"Hell no! Help me teach this punk a lesson." He thought he heard scruffy-haired guy snarl.
'Fuck, something's not right here. I shouldn't...why am I...'
Osomatsu could feel something warm trickle down his face. For a second, he thought he could see red in the corner of his eye.
He tried to push himself up but was met with a kick to his stomach and a pipe to the side.
"You're dead now bitch."
As the strike of a metal bat made contact with his arm, Osomatsu couldn't help suddenly feeling a sense of growing fear and confusion. Something that seemed familiar to him.
He clenched his teeth tightly and allowed his body go limp; his mind trying to leave all that was happening at that very moment and escape deep into the corners of his mind.
It felt like hours begun to pass as Osomatsu lied there accepting blow after agonizing blow. He stayed like this until the pain started to become dull and the voices of the men grew quiet.
Soon, everything was silent. Everything was so cold.
He didn't know it was even over until soft kisses of iciness pressed against his cheek, prompting him to slowly blink his eyes open. Through the blurry vision, he noticed the thieves were nowhere to be seen.
Osomatsu noticed he was still on the ground; his face and stomach planted onto the dirty cement. Miraculously, he pushed himself until he managed to stand up; a soft, thin layer of white somewhat falling off his hoodie.
'When did it start snowing?' he questioned.
He leaned himself against a nearby wall, managing to stop himself from throwing up from the forced movement.
He shoved a trembling, bruised hand into his pocket. The money was gone. He glanced down and saw his bandanna and the wallet he stole earlier on the ground.
'Figures.'
The teen gave a subdued exhale. He was honestly surprised he had managed to stay conscious after all that.
He didn't even bother to check the wounds he got. He already knew something was probably sprained, broken, or worse if the continued throbbing in his head and the metallic taste in his mouth gave any indication of his current state. He also found himself having a very difficult time breathing and his body couldn't stop shivering.
Luckily, for the most part, he still felt somewhat numb from the suffering of his pathetic beatdown. However, Osomatsu knew it would be a matter of time before all the adrenaline left him and that pain would ultimately come back ten folds.
"Fuck...fuck me." He wheezed out. He coughed up a bit of blood; spitting it out on the ground. "Shit, was that a tooth?"
With a grunt, he pulled himself off the wall. He carefully knelt to the ground, picking up his bandanna, and gingerly placing it into his pocket.
Painstakingly trying to suppress any whimpers, Osomatsu slowly tried to limped off to somewhere away from the scene(fearing someone might have called the police due to the noise).
He only was able to move only a few blocks away before his body landed on the ground with a thud. Osomatsu grimaced in response and looked up to see a nearby trash dump. He dragged his body over to a wall by there and place himself against it; ignoring the smell of mold and piss. He was thankful that there were no streetlight over the trash dump and there were stacks of unfolded boxes left large enough for him to hide behind. Hopefully, with it being so late out, he would be able to stay there for bit without notice.
He didn't bother getting up or even wrapping his arms around himself for warmth. Instead, he clenched his eyes shut and prepared himself as new waves of pain slowly made its way throughout his entire being.
It felt so intense that Osomatsu felt tears forming in the corner of his eyes. His body spasmed with every cough he made and his mind was begging for him to just give in and pass out.
'Don't you dare you Fucker,' he demanded to himself. 'You can handle this. Don't let those assholes think they won.'
Osomatsu did his best to ignore the pain and the coldness by thinking of something else.
He tried to focus on being angry. How he would beat and kill the living shit out of those weaklings if he ever saw them again. How he would go back to Jo-san and smack that smug face of his to oblivion.
He thought numerous excuses in this mind on why he ended up like this.
He thought about Tougou-sama and how he would be saying to him now if he saw him this way. The older man would probably be disappointed. He would call him a idiot again and go off telling him a bunch of "I told you so"s and "It's your fault"s.
He imagined he would yell back at Tougou. He would come up and tell him that they had cheated and he could have taken their asses to kingdom come with no sweat. Tougou would likely smack him upside the head for talking back at him.
'Yeah,' Osomatsu thought dazedly. 'That's probably how it would go.'
Osomatsu frowned.
'Don't worry. I'm-I'm okay... I'll definitely find you...I-I'll apologize for screwing things up again. And I'll promise I'll make it up. I'll promise to get bette-'
There was a gasp.
Osomatsu's tensed up but tried to keep himself from moving a muscle despite his shaking and the occasionally cough escaping.
He heard that, right?
There was someone with him? How come he didn't hear them approach him? Or realize how close they were now? Was he mistaken and the area wasn't empty? Was it just a homeless bum?
From the corner of this closed eyelids, he vaguely felt a white light pointed at him. Did the stranger have a flashlight on them? Were they a policeman?!
Multiple questions continued to race through Osomatsu's head; not even realizing the person was trying to talk to him.
"Hey...poster, are you okay?…hurt pretty bad." The voice spoke. He tried to focus on making out what they were saying but it felt like his ears were stuffed with cotton.
"...innocence. Here, let's..face-...FUCK!?..."
It was like his hearing was going in and out. It sounded like they were panicking.
"T-this...-going on?...me...god...Calm...hospital...sh-...call...police?..."
Osomatsu's eyes shot open.
He was met with the rectangular, bright light of a cell phone. It was still too blurry to see pass the light, but he could make out the black silhouette of the cell phone holder kneeling over him.
In a quick motion, Osomatsu got up. Ignoring the hurt; ignoring his body's relentless screaming for him to stop, he pushed the silhouette to the ground and wrapped his fingers around his neck.
Breathing wildly and heart beating like crazy, Osomatsu started squeezing.
"Don't," Osomatsu wheezed out in a guttural voice. "Don't call the police or the hospital."
The silhouette was struggling, having dropped their phone and was now clawing at Osomatsu. Gasping for air, the silhouette tried desperately to remove the hands off his neck.
But Osomatsu squeezed harder and harder.
"No police or hospitals…Or I will kill you… I-I...will kill...you...Y-you...hear...me..."
Suddenly, everything was was beginning to spin. He felt heavy.
"...dammit…"
He couldn't resist as his body and mind finally succumbed to the cold blackness around him.
"I'll take these and give me four packs of cigarettes. Two Six Stars, one Harlboro, and one Cevius. Give me the best one from each of those brands."
"Uh...um, I'm sorry Sir, but could I see an ID plea-"
"*Sigh* Are we gonna have a problem here?"
"W-well, i-it-it's just you don't look-"
"Are you assuming my age? You do realize that's pretty rude right?"
"No! No Sir! I-I mean…Yes b-but my manager says we ne-"
"Your manager isn't here and I don't think my friends, you know...those guys hanging outside RIGHT now, would be very pleased to hear how you're treating your customers."
"I'm sorry. I-"
"And if you're thinking about calling an officer over keep in mind that it would probably take them a while to get here."
"..."
"Do you really want to cause so much trouble over a lame part-time job?"
"..."
"All of this and the four packs of cigarettes. Got it?"
"...I apologize...Sir...That will be 5900 yen..."
Todomatsu walked out of the convenience store chuckling to himself.
"What a loser," he commented as he gave a smug look at the stuffed plastic bag.
"Yo Todo! You got 'em?"
Todomatsu turned to the small group huddled closely together. They were all dressed up similarly to himself and some already looked pretty drunk. They were all looking at him impatiently.
"Well?" Eijiro, a bulky looking guy with a sour expression and a buzzcut, asked.
Todomatsu held out a long scowl before sighing and giving the man a forced smile.
"Here."
He threw to bag at him to which the later was caught off guard; fumbling a bit as he caught the bag.
"Fuck!" The older man shouted. "You little shit, you trying to break something in here?!"
"Pfft," Todomatsu huffed, walking to his designated spot; leaning himself against the store window. "No worries, there's no glass in there. Besides, I still got the stuff you wanted, didn't I?"
"Damn straight!" Eijiro grumbled, opening the bag up to a bunch of various snacks, cans of beer, and cigarettes.
"Nice Matsuno!" Masao, a tall, well-built guy with dyed blonde hair, grinned enthusiastically. "Hey, throw me a can over here!"
"You better not spill any on my bike ya Asswipe!" Go, a muscular guy in a leather jacket seated with his girlfriend (a rather busty girl with a tight shirt and even tighter pants) and already lighting up a cig, yelled out. "Do you even know how much the paint job and the decals cost?"
"Probably fuck-all! I have a better ride than this piece of junk. Oh! And hand me one of the Six Stars!"
Another guy about a year older than Todomatsu wearing a bunch of chains and jewelry, turned to him.
"Matsuno, you're not having one?"
Todomatsu dismissively waved at him, pulling out a different pack of smokes from his pocket.
"Nah," he said boredly. "I've got my own. Knock yourself out."
"Really?" The boy scoffed in disbelief. "Come on, what is that? Your Grandmother's shit?"
"Forget him Reiji," Go replied. "He thinks that the cheap tobacco he has tastes better."
"How gross," his girlfriend commented.
"Yeah, probably because his family's too poor for the good stuff," Masao jeered. "He's probably used to the crap he inhales."
Todomatsu rolled his eyes. "Shut up Jackwads."
"Awww, he's mad."
"No worries Todo," Eijiro laughed. "We're just playin'. It's your money. You can buy whatever brand ya want."
'Asshole...,' Todomatsu retorted back in his mind. 'You say that and you're the one that makes me buy the expensive stuff."
He clicked his tongue and gives the man a teasing grin. "Whatever it's cool," he said as he lights his cigarette.
Taking a few deep puffs, he pulled out his cellphone. He sighed and scrolled over random blog posts on his screen; not really paying attention what he was actually seeing.
At the moment, Todomatsu felt himself pushed into a tight spot.
With that latest purchase, he was pretty low on cash. Now that his parents are gone and he had no way of getting any income from his mom, he predicted that he probably had relatively three or four days of money left to spend if he managed it correctly.
Todomatsu tried to calculate the numbers in his head for a way to to give himself another day or two because there was no way he would to back home and ask Karamatsu for money. Especially if that meant giving Choromatsu the any satisfaction.
"Oh look," a buzzed Reiji called out. "Matsuno's looking at porn on his phone again!"
Todomatsu snapped his head up and looked at the other with a disgusted look. "Dude, that's nasty! Get your head out of the gutter!"
"Well, what do you expect us to think when you're staring at that screen so seriously instead of having a good time like us?"
"Yeah," Masao chided. "You're always looking on your phone. Must be interesting. Come on, give us the name of the pornsite."
"It's called 'How-About-You-Shut-Up-and-Mind-Your-Own-Business dot Screw You!" Todomatsu shouted out frustratingly.
"Yikes, touchy~"
"Boo! You're no fun Todomatsu!"
"I got it!" Eijiro added, ignoring Todomatsu. "You have a girlfriend or something, don't you? Better give us her friends' number, will ya!"
"A girlfriend? Nah, maybe he writes his own blogs with haikus justifying his taste for cheap cigs," Go suggested.
"Oooh, like a personal diary?"
"Yo lame, you're only scratching the surface there. He's like a part of a bunch of clones right? What if he and his brothers are secret science experiments and they're all trying to spread to the masses that his cheap cigs are the better ones?"
"Wrong, he's just a straight up alien. He's probably just trying to make contact with his techno alien brethren that's ready to invade Earth."
"Dude no, he's totally a secret agent partnered WITH said techno aliens fighting other techno aliens."
"You mean like the movie 'Guys in Black?'"
"Aliens?" The girlfriend giggled. "I don't think so. If anything, Masao and Reiji are. Oh but hey! Maybe he's secretly that Nousagi guy that's all over the forums?"
"Bwahaha, yeah right! A dropout punk like Todo here? That's too funny."
Todomatsu shook his head. "Ha ha very funny indeed," he said in a monotone voice. "Just laugh it up and enjoy your conspiracies theories."
He turned back to his phone; trying to drown out and ignore his drunken peers.
Todomatsu shivered and pulled his hood up over his hat; further covering his ears. He regretted not bringing a coat or something with him. He had left home so quickly after his fight with Choromatsu, that he was unable to grab himself some extra clothes. Now, he was gonna be stuck with wearing the same clothes for the next few weeks.
'Geez, it's freezing,' his mind complained. 'Why are we even out here instead of a karaoke bar or something?'
It had been snowing for a while and the temperature had been dropping earlier that night. He looked at the time on the corner of his screen.
'12:21 AM. It's getting late. I'm gonna need to head out soon and find a place to stay tonight. Home is out of the question and I'm DEFINITELY not planning to spend the night at one of these drunk idiots' place. Maybe I'll ask Hatabo or Totoko this time.'
As Todomatsu went through his contact numbers, he and the group glanced over at three men walking up towards the entrance of the convenience store. Two of them happened to look pretty worse for wear; like a train ran them over and reversed back for good measure.
It seemed that Masao knew them as he waved them over.
"Yo Eita, what the hell happened to you and Koji? You guys look like absolute shit."
"Nothing," the tall man grumbled, cradling his arm in pain.
The uninjured friend gave a chortle. Todomatsu noticed he had a baseball bat in his hand.
"Nothing?!" the friend replied back mockingly. "Masao, get fucking idiots tried to rob some kid and got themselves pummeled instead."
"A kid did that to you?" Eijiro questioned, turning his attention to the three strangers. "Man, that's just sad."
"What a bunch of idiots, right?" the man said amusedly. "I had to save their sorry asses before they became completes clowns of themselves. Now, they own me some drinks."
"Alright shut it Tatsuji!" The man with a mullet and large dark bruise on his face, presumably Koji, shouted. "We still managed to fuck him up in the end. And don't act like you wouldn't have joined Eita and I. You're just as happy that the kid had a shitload of cash on him! Probably also stolen given the wallet we foun-"
Before the man finished what he was saying, his eyes seemed to stop at Todomatsu with a wide look on his face. Todomatsu was confused at suddenly being glared at so intensely.
'What the hell?' Todomatsu thought questionly. 'He's looking at me like I killed his dog or something.'
The other injured person seemed to stare at him with wide eyes as well.
"Um excuse you," Todomatsu spoke somewhat offended. "Is there something on my face?"
Todomatsu was surprised when the man walked up to him; looking like he was ready for a fight.
"Hey Kid," the man said threateningly. "You got a brother or something?"
'Well that's a random thing to ask?!' Todomatsu was taken aback by the question. He didn't know why this beat up stranger was asking about his brothers or why he was being interrogated all of a sudden. He highly doubted any of his brothers knew the guy.
Todomatsu frowned at the man. Trying to look as uninterested or unbothered by the hostile aura he felt emitting from the man, he calmly pressed his cigarette to his lips, taking a long inhale before answering.
"Uh if by brother you mean the walking definition of a stick-up-the-ass or a stuttering weakling, than you're out of luck," Todomatsu said in a somewhat impertinent drawl.
He didn't even bother stating the other two given that one doesn't live at home while the other doesn't even step outside their door.
Luckily, the uninjured friend came over trying to pull his friend back with his hand on his shoulder. "Come on Dude," Tatsuji said in an annoyed but careful manner. "Leave the guy alone. It probably was someone who just looks like him. Let's just go and get the ice and beer."
The other seemed unwilling to move. He looked as if he was contemplating on whether to listen to his friend or not while still glaring down at Todomatsu. After a few seconds, he roughly shrugged off his friend's hand and stalked off into the store with the other two following suit.
Todomatsu scoffed. 'Weirdo.'
"Hey Todo, what did you do?" Masao asked with less concern and more with amused curiosity.
"No clue," he answered, turning back to his phone.
"Maybe one of your clones did something," Go commented.
Todomatsu glared harder at his screen.
"Heck if I know," Todomatsu said repulsed. "Besides, it doesn't matter. I don't give a damn with what they do anyways."
"But man Masao," Eijiro spoke out. "You know some weakass friends."
"Hey says you! We're buddies with Matsuno here y'know.
"Oh right," Eijiro sniggered. "Hey Matsuno, let's get some barbeque later. We got to pack you with some meat!"
Reiji looked up excitingly. "Oooh we should order some ribeye steak and the wagyu!"
"Hey Todo," Eijiro called out; letting out a thick cloud of smoke at Todomatsu direction. "You'll still be able to cover for me right?"
The later paused his scrolling for a second before quickly turning to Eijiro with a smirk. "Sure sure. No prob~"
Todomatsu was still trying to shrug off the bizarre encounter. He was used to people mistaking him for his brothers or asking him if he had any siblings. But the way the man looked at him with such anger definitely made him curious. Especially with the fact that out of all the brothers, everyone usually expected him to be the one to cause trouble.
'Speaking of trouble...'
Todomatsu's phone began to silently vibrate with an incoming call. Choromatsu's name was on the caller ID.
He rolled his eye. 'Of course it's Choromatsu. Ready to complain about something else I see.'
He shoved the phone in his pocket and let it ring; focusing on finishing his cigarette and counting the falling snowflakes instead.
However, his phone kept ringing...over and over.
Todomatsu pulled out his phone again. 'Just go to voicemail already.' At this point it, his screen was already showing 5 miss calls and texts from Choromatsu in all caps.
The Hypocrite: I SWEAR TO GOD TODOMATSU! ANSWER YOUR PHONE! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO IYAMI-SAN!
Subsequently, a text message from Karamatsu suddenly popped up.
Stick-Up-The-Ass: Todomatsu, I know you are seeing this. Stop with what you are doing and come home right now.
As if he didn't receive even more confusion, even Ichimatsu sent him a text.
Actual Shittymatsu: You've done it this time, you idiot.
"What the heck?" Todomatsu muttered. Bewilderment and concern forming on his face. Karamatsu could get equally mad as Choromatsu whenever he did anything wrong, but Ichimatsu...ICHIMATSU of all people bothered to send HIM something.
And what did Iyami have to do with all of this?
Todomatsu pinched the bridge of his nose; he made a groan of frustration.
"Problem Todo?" Eijirou asked curiously, one eyebrow raised.
Todomatsu shook his head. He threw his cigarette to the ground and smothered it out with his foot. "Nah, it's nothing. Just my brothers again."
Casually, he turned to the others and gave a dismissive wave of the hand.
"Sorry guys," he said giving a bashful grin; tucking his hands into his pockets. "But I'll have catch up with you later."
"Aw what the fuck, man! The night just sta-"
Todomatsu didn't give his friends anytime to speak. Gripping the phone in his hand- not bothering to look at it despite it still continuing to buzz- he walked off away from the bright lights of the convenience store.
With no direction in mind, he continued walking until he made his way to a more quieter place to collect his thoughts. He was in an alleyway a few blocks away from the busier streets of the city.
Todomatsu stopped and took a deep breath; looking at the remaining unread texts from Choromatsu.
The Hypocrite: YOU BRAT, I KNOW UR SEEING THIS. IT SAY READ ON MY TEXTS!
The Hypocrite: HOW IN THE WORLD DID U THINK U CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS?
The Hypocrite: YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE ONCE KARAMATSU NII-SAN AND I GET OUR HANDS ON YOU!
Todomatsu clicked his tongue in annoyance; furiously typing back a response:
"UM EXCUSE U? First off, I have no idea what you are even talking about."
"Second, I haven't even seen Monsieur Buck Teeth for two weeks now."
"And third, I didn't even do anything to him that would warrant a stupid angry mob at me!"
The Hypocrite: Stop making excuses Todomatsu! Iyami told Karamatsu already that you assaulted him. Are u not ashamed of yourself?!
"Im not because it wasn't me! Iyami was prob drunk or something bc he saw the wrong person. I was hanging out with friends the entire day"
The Hypocrite: Oh rly? Than how do I know you weren't doing that while you were with them huh? Given those people you hang out with, I wouldnt be surprised that all of you would do something like this.
The Hypocrite: What would mom think of this huh? You r to come home right now and apologize!
"Wwww yeah right. Go screw urself brother dearest (-‿◦)"
Todomatsu closed his phone; ignoring anymore responses from Choromatsu. The snow or the freezing temperatures weren't even bothering him anymore. Rather he felt hot with rage; his blood beginning to boil.
He threw his head back in anger; feeling nothing but insulted with his brothers' accusations. He begun to punch the wall next to him and continued to take his anger out on the concrete surface until he was out of breath.
'Just forget those losers,' Todomatsu thought to himself, leaning his arm on the wall and glaring at the ground. 'Just let them think what they want the heck is on me?'
He removed his arm from the wall and noticed something wet and dark was staining his sleeve. Disgusted, Todomatsu shot himself away from the wall looking at his hoodie sleeve in panic.
"Ew! Ew! Ew! Grroooosssss!"
As he backed away he felt himself almost trip on something. As his foot hit it, it made a metallic clank as it rolled on the ground. Todomatsu turned around and looked down to see a lead pipe.
He would have paid no mind to it, that is, if he didn't noticed something trailing off the pipe and onto the thin patches of snow that covered the ground's surface.
Something looking suspiciously red.
Todomatsu looked at the object before moving his eyes around the partially white ground. Interestingly, there were drops and small, thin smears of dark reds and browns within the vicinity of the discarded pipe.
'Probably just another fight.' Todomatsu figured before he paused; looking at his sleeve with irritation. 'Oh come on, I only have this sweater to wear right now!"
Crossing his arms together and clicking his tongue, he examined at the blood with a scrutinized look. He noticed a very tiny puddle of blood collect on one place.
Poking it with his shoe, it was still in the process of drying up.
"Well either way someone had a shitty time," Todomatsu said somewhat intrigued but overall unperturbed. 'Hopefully no one got killed. That would be annoying.'
He was about to walk away until he noticed something else on the ground.
An opened wallet.
Tempted, he picked up the wallet. Any cash was already long gone but surprising there were still a few cards left that were sticking out of the pockets. Curiously, he pulled out what seemed to be a driver's license from the first pocket.
'Better just drop it off at the koban and-'
His eyes widened in shock.
Why was he staring down at a picture of Iyami's face?
Todomatsu stared at the picture incredulously. He placed the wallet into his pants pocket. He opened up his phone and scrolled to Ichimatsu's name on his contacts. Quickly, he begun to type.
"Kwsk?"
It was about a minute or two before the elder brother answered back.
Actual Shittymatsu: Are you serious?
"Awww Ichimatsu, just answer will u pretty please( ̄ε ̄)"
Another minute.
Actual Shittymatsu: Shittymatsu nii-san came home ready to murder you.
Actual Shittymatsu: He said that Iyami came to him screaming that YOU attacked him and stole his wallet.
"Ohhhh…."
"And how bad was Buck Teeth beaten up pray tell?"
Actual Shittymatsu: Well, from what Shittymatsu nii-san said, Iyami was hit in the face and the stomach. He's got pretty bad bruises from that.
There seemed to be a long pause before Ichimatsu answered; almost hesitating.
Actual Shittymatsu: Hey you idiot, normally I wouldn't care what you or the others do but if you actually did this, this is really damn pathetic.
Todomatsu bit his lip, typing.
"Was that all that happened to Iyami?"
There seemed to be another pause.
Actual Shittymatsu: Todomatsu, what is going on?
Todomatsu didn't bother replying back.
Closing his phone, he casually walked out of the alley; pulling his cap further down his head. As he walked, Todomatsu made sure to keep his eyes scanning the ground. When he spotted footprints and drops of blood on the snow, he knew he was going the right way.
'Now, if I were a bloody mess after being jumped by a bunch of assholes…'
Todomatsu scoured around the areas; finding himself in the rundown, darker parts of the city. He steeled his breath. He didn't like to go around here by himself especially late at night. A lot of yakuza, homeless, and other troublesome people tended to live here. If Todomatsu wasn't careful, he could be jumped or w-...what was that?
Todomatsu could faintly hear the sound of whimpers and groans coming from his right. He turned his head to see that there was an overcrowded garbage collection spot by a closed business building.
'Don't go towards the dark and suspicious looking trash dump Todomatsu.'
Despite the nagging and reasonable voice in his head, Todomatsu started taking a few steps towards the sounds; slowly pulling out his phone and opening up the built-in flashlight. He pinched his nose in repulsion from the smell.
As he moved the light over the piles of garbage bags, Todomatsu gave a startled gasp and took a step back in reaction. It didn't take him long to find what he had heard as he saw a lump of a person hurdled by the side of a wall hidden amongst stacks of cardboard. Todomatsu, keeping his distance, examined the mystery man.
The black hooded man laid there with his body curled inward and back facing towards him. However, Todomatsu could tell right away that the man was not in the best shape. The haggard breathing of the man sounded painful and full of wheezing and coughing. Although Todomatsu was a good feet away, he could easily tell that the man's body was shaking as if he was having a seizure. The path on the floor where the man probably dragged himself on also had a thin hand-smear of blood.
If the teen couldn't already tell the mystery man was alive, or at the very least still breathing, he would have mistaken the scene before him as murder. Which, then again, was already debatable.
Hearing another painful cough coming from the hooded figure, Todomatsu sighed.
"Hey there Mr. Imposter, are you okay? You're the punk those weirdos earlier mugged right? Seriously man, you're hurt pretty bad." Todomatsu puts a hand on his hip; scanning the man's body up and down with condescending amusement.
"Though, can't say you don't DESERVE it~ Because of you, my idiot brothers think I stole from a guy we know."
He crept over and lowered himself down to the man's side; still cautiously watching the man's movements with the help of the flashlight. He could tell the person seemed to be a boy maybe his age.
'Hmm, I mean...from the looks of it he DOES have a similar build and complexion to me. Maybe I can give Iyami a pass since he was probably drunk.'
The stranger's body continued to convulse with every strained cough. Todomatsu frowned.
"Well whatever…let's get you help before you die so you can help prove my innocence."
Todomatsu carefully reached his hands out to the boy. Slowly, he took the stranger's hood and pulled it down see the back of the his head. Todomatsu was sickened to figured what the punks earlier used the bat for. The stranger's hair was matted with fresh blood, having seeped through the hood's fabric and onto Todomatsu's hand.
"Shit! Did they crack open your skull?" Todomatsu said slightly panicked and concerned. He tried pulling the man's body away from the wall and facing towards him. The teen seemed limp and unresponsive. "Hey can you hear me Mr. Imposter? Stay alive ok?"
Todomatsu shined his flashlight on the man's covered face. "Here, let's get your hair out of your face-WHAT THE FUCK!?"
As he brushed the stranger's sweaty bangs away, Todomatsu wasn't prepared to see his own face reflected back at him. He pulled himself back; heart beating rapidly.
"T-this...K-Karamatsu?...no wait...your not...no...NO...What's going on?"
This wasn't Karamatsu. He could tell it wasn't. It wasn't Choromatsu or Ichimatsu or Jyushimatsu either. The stranger, though the blood and bruises, look exactly like all of them but he also seemed different.
But he wasn't them. He couldn't be them. But Todomatsu couldn't help the gut-clawing feeling the injured person before him was too similar...way too familiar. He couldn't be...was he...but that means-
"This can't be happening to me," Todomatsu's voice quicken. He felt like he was hyperventilating. "It's not possible! It has to be a mistake! Oh god! Oh my god! Fuck calm down Todomatsu! Calm down- SHIT! WHAT'S GOING ON?!"
'Look again Todomatsu!' He tried to rationalize. 'Double check and you'll see you got it wrong. You're brain is just playing tricks on you! That's it!'
However,no matter how hard he tried, Todomatsu could only see him and his brother's face on the person currently bleeding on the ground. The look-alike needed some medical attention. The teen started to dial numbers on his cellphone.
"Right...Hospital...I should call a hospital or...or maybe the police? I-I don't know-"
Before he could press the call button, Todomatsu suddenly felt his back forced to the ground and something wrapping around his neck.
He gasped out in shock only to find no air coming in. He couldn't breath. Why couldn't he breath? His eyes opened slightly, making out the look-alike now on top of him; choking him.
"Don't," The look-alike said in low clear, threatening voice . "Don't call the police or the hospital."
'Stop!' Todomatsu wanted to scream. 'Somebody help!' He let go of his phone and tried to remove the hands off his neck.
He began to desperately scratch, hit, and kick the man but to no avail; feeling the hands going tighter and tighter around his neck. Todomatsu head was pounding, begging for oxygen. His body was going weak and his hands slowly stopped resisting. His vision was getting dark and the threatening voice continued to talk.
"No police or hospitals…Or I will kill you…"
Suddenly, as if by miracle, the man's hands begun to loosen enough for Todomatsu to taking a shaky, hungry gasp of air. He gasped and coughed, greedily taking deep breaths of the cold air around him; clutching his bruising neck. Still aware of what was happening, Todomatsu fearfully looked up to the man pinning him down only to see the crazy look-alike's eyes were unfocused. His voice weakened.
"...I-I...will kill...you...Y-you...hear...me ...dammit…"
The teen felt the extra weight as the look-alike's body gave way on top of him.
It was silent save for the shaky breathing of both men. Todomatsu stayed absolutely still; unable to move or even think. Looking at the look-alike, he had a pained, tired expression on his unconscious face.
Todomatsu, still caressing his neck, cautiously pushed the surprising light body off him before frantically crawling backwards away from the unconscious man. Todomatsu was wide-eyed, looking down to see his clothes were stained with sweat and blood. The snow continued to fall, covering both men slowly as Todomatsu stayed where he was; watching the other in fear he would get up any second.
He coughed a few more times, trying to catch his breath and calm down his rapidly beating heart.
After a few moments, Todomatsu reached out a trembling hand and pick up his phone. He steadily got to his feet and started dialing. The teen placed the phone to his ear as it started to ring; eyes like a hawk at the injured man.
After the fifth ring, the the person on the other side answered.
"Ojisan wake up," Todomatsu tried to hide the quivering in his voice. "I'm coming over right now and I'm going to need your medical help."
"Huh?" Dekapan's voice yawned, sounding confused. "Oya? Todomatsu-kun, it's late. What is the matter?"
"Just do as I say alright? Have your first aid stuff out."
Todomatsu walked towards the look-alike's body, nudging his foot on the man's leg. There was no response besides low, shallow breathing.
"Be ready when I get there and...don't freak out."
With that, Todomatsu hung up. Gripping his phone tightly around his fingers, he glared down at the mysterious boy.
"Please don't let this be him."
