"Okumura Haru…?"
Haru's silence was more than enough to tell Akatsuki that she had, indeed, been lying about her identity to him this whole time, and at that, he said nothing more as she took a preemptive step back from Mixta…
… and yet, right as she did so, she glanced up at him to look him directly in the eyes, and when she did, she saw that he appeared… shocked. Shocked… and yet, much to her surprise, the boy had also appeared to be… happy. It was hard to notice, but there was a faint glimmer in his eyes, one that told her that he was feeling many conflicting emotions in regards to learning that Haru was an Okumura, though through it all, none of those emotions were negative, and unlike many others, he didn't seem to be staring at Haru for the potential opportunities that came with her family name.
Rather, he was staring at her like she was… well, like she was his friend. An honest to God friend…
"Indeed, she's the young daughter of the the Okumura industry's owner, so unless you wish to be stomped out like the bug you are, I suggest you-"
"No."
Akatsuki's words were crisp and clear, with his usually neutral tone of voice long gone by now. Haru was beyond shocked to hear this sudden change in demeanor, as the boy sounded almost like someone entirely different.
He sounded so… so defensive, and that tone made Haru's heart clench as he turned back to her fiance with a somewhat worried look on her face. Vice versa, Sugimura was reeling back from that stern response, one spoken by Akatsuki without any hint of fear in his voice, though he recovered relatively quickly and chuckled lightly in bemusement.
"I apologise, what did you just say to me? My hearing isn't all that well today, so please-" inquired Sugimura, feigning ignorance as he attempted to use some mean spirited humor to get his way. Akatsuki was having none of it, however, as he bit through Sugimura's silver tongued charade with his straightforward manner of speaking.
"I said no. You won't have your way with Haru-Chan," repeated Akatsuki, with him sharpening his gaze and redoubling his defense over Haru. Between herself and Sugimaru, and Hell even between them and Akatsuki himself, Haru was the first to realize that he had made use of her first name when referring to her, that and he had called her Chan rather than San.
The sudden shift in honorifics was strange, to say the least, but at the same time, something about it felt… right, so to speak, though she thought very little of this as Sugimura grit his teeth, seemingly losing his patience as he stepped forwards and began to make a few thinly veiled threats towards Mixta in particular.
"Really now? And what would the lawyers of Sugimura Enterprise say to that? The word of Sugimura Takahashi overrides almost everyone else's, you know," inquired Sugimura, with him bringing up his family's business and his full name to try and dickwave Akatsuki away. It seemed to work on Haru, at least, as her eyes widened in shock, with her knowing that her fiance's business was responsible for obliterating the names of individuals that were far greater than Akatsuki. Bringing a hand up to his, the girl tried to ease him out of continuing this argument, though before she could plant her hand onto his back, the boy shoved his hands into his pockets and lowered his gaze, thus causing his bangs to shadow his eyes.
At first, Sugimura had assumed he had won, as he smiled and got ready to brush past Akatsuki to seize his prize, though before he could do so, Mixta threw his head back… and laughed.
Laughter… was a bad way to describe the noise the boy was making, however, as it sounded so hollow… so fake… and oh so threatening as he cackled loud enough to be heard through the entirety of Shujin, and once he was done, he lowered his gaze back up to Sugimura, licked his lips…
… and smiled.
Akatsuki had smiled before in the past, and Haru had seen him do so on a handful of occasions when passing him by in the hallways of Shuin. His smiles could often be described as nothing more than small quirks of his lips, barely noticeable and rarely lasting for longer than a second. This one, however… this one was large, and it had lingered for quite some time. There was no goodwill to be found in his grin, however, for it was a smile of pure malice.
Mixta had seen Sugimura's challenge and was more than willing to take it verbatim, and with his smile still maintained, he brought his gaze up to meet the older man's and answered accordingly.
"I don't know. Why don't we ask the lawyers of Hanatsu about that, Sugimura Takahashi?"
And right as that response left his lips, Sugimura felt his face growing pale as he took a sudden step back, and likewise, Haru froze a little when she heard that name.
Hanatsu… it was the name of one of the most influential political groups in Japan… run by the famous, or infamous to some, Maiden of Revolution, Kudelia Aina Bernstein. It was a reformed organisation that was created from the remains of a weak yet virtuous group, and through sheer force of will and their wish to do good, the company had built itself back up from the ground and became a national powerhouse in the political world and beyond.
Kudelia herself was a virtuous woman that very few even thought to oppose, and the very few that did were promptly crushed under the heels of her supporters. She was a pacifist at her core, one that was willing to fight to the bitter end for her ideals, and, if rumors were to be believed, she was running for President in the upcoming electoral campaign.
Those weren't the only rumors that surrounded the group, though, as the most prominent one included the fact that it used to be a yakuza syndicate that had turned towards politics. Regardless of its history, however, just bringing its name up was more than enough to make both Okumura and Sugimura pause for thought, albeit for two distinct reasons, though before long, the latter let out a choked laugh and stepped forwards once more, seemingly trying to write off the whole situation all the while.
"A cheap tactic, boy. But just saying the name of-"
Takahashi was quickly shut up when Akatsuki reached into his uniform blazer and pulled out a card, a disposable one of course, and flung it at his feet. Quietly, watched as it floated towards the ground, landing between the older man's feet within a handful of seconds, and at first, Sugimura intended to ignore it, with him seeing it as nothing more than an insult to his stature to even acknowledge its existence… though his eyes ended up darting down towards it on instinct, and when they did, they damn near bulged out of their sockets when he realized that… this boy… he was no peasant…
… he was the biological son of Mixta Atra…
… who was also the wife of Kudelia Aina Bernstein…
"You…"
By all official records, he would be named after his biological mother, Atra… but off the record, Mixta was just his middle name… his true name has always been…
"Y-You're…!"
"My name is Augus 'Mixta' Akatsuki. And you'd do well to remember it, Sugimura Takahashi."
And upon hearing the name Augus be mentioned… Haru felt her eyes widening as realizations came flooding into her mind.
Augus… that was the family name of someone that her father once knew. The ruthless bodyguard to one of his business partners… and the loving father to a boy that looked and acted remarkably like his old man. Said son was an individual that Haru had met in elementary school years prior, and now that she had his family name in her mind, she could more easily connect the dots that were missing in her cognition as two halves of a name echoed through her mind, inevitably fusing into one as the seconds ticked by.
Augus… Akatsuki… Augus… Akatsuki… Augus Akatsuki… Augus Akatsuki.
"Augus Akatsuki…" muttered Haru, and as she said that, she realized just how… right that name sounded as it escaped her lips, and upon hearing her, Akatsuki glanced back at her and smiled. It was an honest-to-god smile that made her heart speed up, though he was quick to break eye contact and turn back towards Sugimura, who was unsure of how to act on this new information as he observed Augus weakly.
"Nothing to say? Thought so," grumbled Akatsuki as he held a hand out to Haru. Although she was a little hesitant at first, she eventually accepted it and gently placed her hand atop the boy's own, and as Mixta's… nay, as Augus' fingers wrapped around her smaller-by-comparison hand, the girl had expected a monolithic pressure to be placed on it… though much to her relief, but not exactly to her surprise, the boy had held her hand gently. It was unlike all the times Takahashi had held her.
Whenever he held her, she felt like… well, she felt like an object to him, though in Akatsuki's grasp… she felt like an actual person that meant something to him. It felt like he actually cared for her… and she cherished that feeling immensely as she gave his hand a light squeeze, one that he returned in earnest, albeit just not at full strength.
"Tell Okumura to bring the issue up with my mother if he wants to know where Haru-Chan went," continued Akatsuki as he walked forwards, past Takahashi, whilst gently pulling Haru along with him. Without much care, he shouldered his way past Sugimura, who didn't even have the stones to whine about it as he stumbled back a bit at the shove. Okumura was… taken aback by just how spineless her 'fiance' was acting as Augus gently pulled her along, though she said nothing of this as Akatsuki continued to speak. "And I wouldn't recommend you stalking us, or harassing Haru-Chan either. Or maybe you should, because I'd love to see what the lawyers of Hanatsu can do to your company.
"Money and power is no issue for them; they just need a reason to tear you and your worthless company apart."
There was no attempt at even concealing the threat in his words, and upon hearing this, Sugimura had almost fallen onto his rear as Akatsuki concluded. Seeming satisfied with this outcome, the boy stopped acknowledging his existence and began leaving, with him lightly pulling Haru along with him all the while.
Akatsuki himself was confident in the fact that Takahashi would not follow them, but just to be sure, he had walked a little faster than he usually would, effectively forcing Haru to jog a little to keep up. The pink haired boy took note of this, though for her sake, he did not slow down until Shujin was out of sight, and at that, he slowed his pace to a standstill before turning towards Okumura, who appeared slightly winded.
Upon stopping, Haru had leaned forwards and almost tripped over her own two feet, something remedied by Akatsuki, who surged forwards and caught her before her knees could touch the ground. As gently as he could, Augus moved Okumura to lean against him, something that she did with very little argument, and upon doing so, the girl breathed in and out deeply as she let the events that transpired over the course of the past ten minutes sink in.
"Haru-Chan… Haru-Chan! Look at me… just… look at me," urged Akatsuki, and as he said this, Haru did as she was told. Locking her brown eyes onto his blues, the girl felt herself breathing hard as she found it incredibly difficult to process everything in such a short amount of time, and Augus seemed to notice this, as he ended up placing his hands atop her shoulders and had her focus solely on him and him alone. "Breathe with me, Haru-Chan. Breathe in…"
Haru breathed in… with her taking in a large intake of air…
"Hold…"
She held her breath…
One… two… three… four… five…
"Release…"
She did as she was told…
"Breathe in… hold… release… breathe in… hold… release… breathe in… hold… and release…"
With each repetition, Haru felt her panic slowly but surely fading as the breathing techniques that Akatsuki had her mirror worked its magic, and after a few repeats of this, the young girl was in a state of calm once more, or at least as calm as she could be at this point, with her breathing somewhat normally and without tears threatening to pour from her eyes at any given second. And at that, she found herself glancing up at Akatsuki himself, who stared back at her with a noticeably worried look in his eyes.
How curious… Haru had never seen him worried before, at least not during these past three weeks… but even so, there was a sense of nostalgia in regards to those kind blue eyes of his, and at that… it hit her…
"Augus Akatsuki…"
She knew him…! She knew who he was…! His identity had been directly in front of her this whole time… and yet… she couldn't properly figure it out! By God… she almost wished to thank Sugimura for appearing when he did, as, if he didn't, she wouldn't have known that the individual standing in front of her was… well…
"Augus-Kun? Akatsuki-Kun…?"
And even if his response was delayed, Akatsuki did nod a little awkwardly as he brought a hand up to his hair and messed it up a little. Haru watched with widened eyes as his ahoge flopped down to lay flat against his head, with his usually slicked down hairstyle being messed up to point in every which way. It made him look a lot less professional than he usually did… but at the same time, that hairstyle was very recognizable to Okumura…
It was the former hairstyle of one of her oldest friends… one that she had almost forgotten about after having not seen him for so long…!
"Akatsuki-Kun… it… i-it really is you!"
And the subsequent hug that came at Akatsuki, even if it did launch him back several feet, was not unwelcomed by him. If anything, he simply accepted it as he gently patted Haru over the head, not bothered one bit as she cried into his chest.
He would've been a hypocrite to complain, after all, as he too was crying as well.
"Yeah… it is me, Haru-Chan… it's really me…"