☠GET BENT☠

Only then did he look to the side and see that someone was there and that someone was Kanji. Eyes shot wide open when he realized that he must have seen him being weird. Rolling away quickly as a small noise came from him as he sat up. Burying his face in his hands, his face was warming up from embarrassment.

“H-How long were you there?!”

......Well, he did have his moments.

Moments?? Holy crap, this is an awkward train of thought. The blond shook his head and looked back over at the other. Oh...oh good. Looks like he was finally getting up. That makes things easier.

“Uh, not that long really. I just got here.”

Kanji started moving one hand towards the sleeping one, but then stopped.

Why was he trying to pet his friend?

Phew.  Now that could have been way more awkward than she’d intended for it to be.  Mercy had a talent for making things weird for everyone, but at least her last statement hadn’t gotten her in any trouble.  She really needed to work on her social skills.  But now that she thought about it, she really had no idea what she even wanted to talk about.  Being put on the spot like that made her draw a complete and utter blank.  Dammit.

"Uh," she so eloquently began, "I-I’m not really sure.  Maybe just… tell me about you?  And the stuff you do here?  ‘Cause I really wish I could make stuff like this."  The American held up the elaborately designed rabbit doll, eyeing it once more with appreciation.  "Or just… I dunno, man, anything at all.  I’m new here and I don’t know anyone.  It’d be nice to have someone to talk to, y’know?"

The girl seemed to brighten somewhat when he introduced himself, clearly pleased to have met someone who was kind enough to take some time to even chat a little with her.  “It’s a pleasure, Kanji.  My name’s Mercy.”  The girl juggled with her art supplies and new stuffed animal friend to free up her hand, then gave his a firm shake.  “It’s, ah, a pretty weird name, I know.”  Maybe she should have adopted a more Japanese sounding name to go by when she’d first moved to Japan.  But at the same time, she wondered if such a thing might have been considered offensive to the locals.

Having tiny conversations like this was pretty great. Kanji almost forgot what those felt like. It felt good to just talk about the little things that made you happy or things that were going on in life. Better than dealing with punks messing shit up or pesky shadows. It was a nice change.

“Wait, did I just hear you say you were new? I see… Wait again, you’re new here and the person you’d like to talk to is me? Damn, I feel special.” The blond chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. “People usually avoid me so it’s uh, yeah, I totally get what you’re sayin’. It’s really nice to have someone to talk to you. Being alone in some place you don’t know really blows.”

Still was pretty crazy that someone, especially a girl, wanted to talk to him. Girls usually didn’t want anything to do with him. Well, what did he expect? A guy that can sew and that likes cute things? What a weirdo! Ugh, too bad that kind of thinking would never change for some. Mercy was damn cool for accepting who he was. Too bad most of the people in the world weren’t as cool as that.

“Aw man, sorry ‘bout that, this ain’t all about me. Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself? It’s your turn to ramble about things.”

The outside world was different. Besides the recent string of murders, Inaba was nothing but a humble countryside town. Yu looked up from his pile of groceries in his left hand toward the foggy grey sky. It was springtime which warranted the showers. He frowned a bit, he had been invited for dinner at the Tatsumi household. Kanji gruffly asked that he come over (of course with a slight tinge of pink of his cheeks), and his ‘Ma’ was eager to see him again. It was customary to bring a dish and he was more than happy to make some of his homemade dishes he usually fed to solely Nanako. 

The rain along with the fog hindered his sights, but he had been to Kanji’s home before. With a shurg, Yu assumed the distant silhouettes were nothing more than other pedestrians going home for the evening. It wasn’t until there was a mocking tone that said something along the lines of, “Yeah, that’s who that Tatsumi punk hangs out with,” that he realized something was amiss. He was fully aware of Kanji’s past history with various gangs in Inaba, but Yu never once considered himself a target. 

It was sudden, and completely unpredictable. The sheer shock of the impact of an blade to his side temporarily blinded him from experiencing pain. With the sound of heavy footsteps colliding rhythmically with the rain, he blearily opened his eyes to see a steady pool of red along with his Junes bags. A sturdy armed looping under him to lift his heavy body from the concrete floor only elicited a sharp grunt. With every shift he could feel his body resisting and recoiling in pain. Placing a hand over his wound he applied pressure, something he recalled watching various TV shows, to prevent any more bleeding. 

The desperation of Kanji’s voice kept him from unconsciousness. He distantly wondered if this was what the murder victims’ last moments felt like. He wouldn’t have wished this one anyone. With a shaky exhale, he coughed out, “I’ll be fine,” he paused as heard Kanji’s fist colliding against the ground, “We need to go to the hospital.” 

Of course. Going to one of those would be better than him trying to patch things up himself. So... How were they going to get there? They needed to get to a hospital fast and there was no way he was going to bike there. How would he keep Yu on the bicycle? Plus, biking in this weather is risky as hell.

Maybe... Maybe telling Dojima what's going on might help? He does have a car and that'd get them to the place faster. He shook his head. No, there was no need for that. No need to drag others into this, especially Dojima. Telling people what happened can come later.

The only way would be... The only way to do this is to carry Yu there. Would that be good enough? Sure it wasn't fast or anything, but what else was there?

He looked down at his friend. God, it hurt seeing him like this... Moving as slow as he could without damaging the other, Kanji picked Yu up from the ground and took a deep breath. Wasting no time, he held on tight and began to run. "Senpai, I'll get you there. I'll get you there and you won't be hurting anymore. Everything's gonna be okay!"

Oh my god.

Oh my fucking god, thank you. This explains a whole lot.

....SOBOSBOSOBSOBOSB I WISH

“There, now we’re even.”

“Don’t you feel the same way about me..?”

The blond shook his head and waved his hands in front of his face. "J-just ignore me! I don't even know what I'm sayin' anymore!"