DayBreakers

Kosuke was on the train to Chuuoku, having sent a message days before when they had already come to the conclusion that they would have to move. At the time, he had been sent a list of locations that didn’t have a division, which was what they’d based their list of choices off of. Now that they had decided on where exactly they were moving, Kosuke was going to the main office of the Party of Words to sort things out and make the move of DayBreakers official.

Going to the front desk of the main office Kosuke was casually greeted by the receptionist who told him to wait in the lobby for a little while both the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister finished their business with another person. He silently watched all the workers and officials pasing, with one gaudily dressed man in sunglasses temporarily catching his eye.

Soon after, his name was called and a woman guided him into the elevator, through the halls, and dropped him off in front of Prime Minister Tohoten’s office. Walking inside, we was met with the sight of her and Deputy Prime Minister Kadenokoji.

“Pardon me.”

“Furuhata-san, take a seat.” Kosuke sat down on the luxurious couch that Tohoten had gestured to, albeit very awkwardly. After a moment of silence, the Prime Minister spoke again. 

“This hasn’t happened before, are you sure you wish to go through with this?”

“Yes, we do.” Kosuke replied stiffly and immediately.

“And where have you decided to relocate?”

“Kawasaki.”

“Very well then. Effective immediately, DayBreakers will no longer represent Akihabara, but will instead represent Kawasaki. This will be made public after your move has been finalized and you will be expected to make one or multiple public statements. Is that understood?” Kosuke nodded firmly, feeling the continued pressure of the two womens’ gazes. Kadenokoji then stepped forward and spoke.

“We will go to my office to handle the paperwork.” Once again, Kosuke was led out and into another room, where he signed the papers that made things official. Only his signature was needed, since he was the one initially chosen to participate in the rap battles by the Party of Words. Once he was finished reading and signing the documents he was greeted with a sentence whose malice was well concealed. Had he been anyone else, he might have missed it, but the biting words of Kadenokoji had him stiffen due to the familiarity of the tone.

“You should be able to see yourself out.” Kosuke quickly left both the building and Chuuoku itself, deciding to meander through the streets a little before heading back to the sharehouse.

“Kosu-kun!” Kosuke jerked his head towards the source of the voice, just in time to react to Emiko charging at him and brace himself.

“What are you doing here!” Kosuke realized that he was currently in Minato, somewhere he really didn’t frequent. Unable to make an excuse and knowing that he was a terrible liar anyways, he told her the truth.

“I was coming back from Chuuoku.” Emiko tiled her head in confusion.

“What business did you have there? A date~?” Kosuke gave a nervous laugh, something that Emiko picked up on as she released him from her hold and took a step back.

“No. Um, I was finalizing the move for our division.”

“Move?” Emiko stepped back and tilted her head in confusion. “Oh are you guys moving? Are you getting an apartment or something!! ~ ☆ I can help! I’m super strong see! ~ ☆” She grinned as she flexed her thin squishy noodle arms. The pose made her look a bit silly, her pink puffy skirt and frilly appearance definitely counteracted. She did wonder why he had to take it up with Chuuoku; maybe those ladies needed a new address? It made sense seeing how they would need to fill in any papers sent by the Party for the Division Battles. 

“Oh! There’s no need! Kawasaki is way too far for that!” Kosuke exclaimed in a frenzy “Though of course the sentiment is appreciated!” He clarified, not wanting to sound ungrateful.

“Kawasaki?….. You’re moving..to Kawasaki?” Emiko put her hands down and stopped her silly charade, looking up at Kosuke in slight shock. “You’re moving all the way to Kawasaki!!!” She cried. Before the literal tears pricked her eyes as she quickly embraced him once more. “But what about the Division Battle? I don’t want you to leeaaave!!”

Kosuke frantically tried to calm his friend down, as they were still in the middle of the street, and honestly, it wasn't a good look for the two of them. 

"Nonononono! W-we're not leaving! I mean! That's why I was at Chuuoku! It was for paperwork!" (edited) Emiko, still holding onto Kosuke, looked up at him with watery eyes as she cried. “Y-you’re not leaving?” She sniffled. She felt like she was going to have a heart attack from worry.

"N-no. . . .? We-. . . we're just moving. . . Rent is too much since things are going to get busier for me and Natsuki. . ." Kosuke assured her, his own panic beginning to subside.

“Y-you’re not?…..” She sniffed. “Waaaaaaaaahh! Thank you! I thought you were gonna leave forever and I’d never be able to see you again!” She cried into his chest once more as she clung to him like a child. 

Kosuke just stood there helplessly as he let Emiko’s crying pass. When the dust (tears) settled, he finally managed to pry Emiko out of his arms and talk to her face to face.

“Emiko, we've known each other for years, I would never do something that makes us never meet again. It’s just that we won’t be financially stable enough to continue to represent Akihabara.” Emiko gave another sniff and nodded with a mock glare as she pointed into his chest.

“You’d better come visit often.” Kosuke smiled at the pouty tone of her voice and ruffled her head.

“Of course I will. Take care.”

“Back at you.”

That afternoon, Kosuke returned to their sharehouse with a lighter conscience than he did before and began sifting through their options in Kawasaki once more.

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The silence was deafening in the room as the clock on the wall showed that another minute had passed without anyone saying a word.

“To be fair. 657300¥ a month is a lot to pay. The 420,000¥ range is far better. Staying would be an option if only we weren’t getting busier.” Indeed, the members of DayBreakers were moving out of Akihabara. 

“Yeah, when we pay our share, we usually have enough for healthy meals, but with you going into your second year and me into my fourth, I’ll have to pull back hours from work to study. It’ll cut my salary by about 100000¥.” Akihabara wasn’t the cheapest place to live in, but it was in a good place between Ueno, Bunkyo, and Asakusa, only 1-4 minutes away from each. Now, their only options, which were cheaper, were up to 15-30 minutes away.

“. . . What about the Division Rap Battles? Is DayBreakers going to end just because of rent?” Haruto’s voice was unusually quiet and unsure as he asked the question.

“NO.” Kosuke and Natsuki firmly said at the same time.

“Though it’s true that the rap battles do make things harder for us, I don’t think there’s a need to leave.”

“We’re choosing a place without a division. We’ll represent them in the next DRB.” Natsuki said firmly. Kosuke nodded in agreement, opening the folder on the dinner table, revealing a pile of papers of share house listings in a selection of wards and cities.

“What about Meguro? That’s a residential area. There’s also Setagaya, Edogawa, Sumida, Itabashi, Kita and Kawasaki.” Kosuke asked, gesturing to each pile of papers as he listed each area.

“Meguro’s kinda dull ain’t it same with Kita and Itabashi. At least Kawasaki and Setagaya are more interesting!”

“What about Edogawa and Sumida?” Natsuki asked as he pointed at the two small piles of paper.

“Sumida can’t be much cheaper or peaceful with the Skytree and all.” Kosuke reasoned.

“So that leaves Setagaya and Kawasaki.” Haruto said, removing all the papers they didn’t need and putting them back into the folder. It left about nine decent options left, all meeting the requirements each member had.

Kosuke wanted a large room to store his supplies in, Natsuki wanted a quieter place that wasn’t too far from his workplace in Minato, and Haruto wanted somewhere close to a park.

“Kawasaki is closer to Yokohama and farther from Harajuku though. . .” Natsuki observed.

“Are those things we should consider?” Both Kosuke and Haruto were startled by the older twin’s consideration of such a thing.

“Well like we said, we’re not leaving the rap scene. Yokohama is really tied to Ikebukuro, so if we decrease our chances of having rap conflicts, then we'll be better off. Speaking of which, how do we handle the fans? Lots of them only support us because we’re local, the news is gonna eat us alive. And the two of you are going to have it the hardest.” Natsuki was right, Haruto could suffer a loss or increase in bookings, and the same could be said with Kosuke’s commissions. But it was either risk physical and mental health, or a decrease in salary while living in a cheaper place. The answer was pretty obvious.

“Alright then, we can talk about this more tomorrow when we choose where we’ll go, but I think we should take some time to deal with this.” No one wanted to move away, they’d made friends with neighbors and Akihabara had truly felt like home. Moving away out of necessity wasn’t something that would ever be a welcome event.

Kosuke took the folder with the other share houses that were no longer being considered, and the three left the pile of those in Kawasaki on the dining table for anyone to look over when they wanted to. He then left to go to his room to finish some commissions, debating whether or not to tell the former members of the TDD in the meantime.

Natsuki got a snack before he got ready to change and leave for work at the pet shop in another hour. Haruto just went to his room, not having anything to do until later that night and just wanting to calm himself down. Natsuki was right, out of all of them, Haruto and Kosuke were all too aware of what the media would do to them and how while some would be alright with the move and sympathetic, but most would be betrayed and angry.

The next day, Kosuke, Natsuki, and Haruto didn’t speak about the move at all, instead, they spent their day with their friends outside of the division.

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Some people who I’ve interacted with who I think should be aware of this change: @kyoto-division @uenodivision @hypster-weebster @akihabaradivision  @thou-shalt-not-staple-rats @phantom-dimitrin

“C’mon you two! Rise and shine! It’s time to go to the shrine!” Haruto chuckled at his own words as he knocked. Kosuke stirred in his bed, not too startled by the loud awakening having temporarily forgotten that the Morikawa twins had been at their parents’ place until early in the morning. Checking his phone, Kosuke saw that it was about a quarter past eight and decided that he might as well get up.

Natsuki was pretty grumpy looking as he fixed himself some coffee which had a lot more sugar in it than what would make it qualify as coffee. The older twin looked at Kosuke and only said one sentence.

“We need to buy more sugar packets.” Considering that he probably had less than seven hours of sleep. . . it was pretty reasonable. Kosuke gave a small laugh as he himself got a glass of milk to drink.

“We can stop by the store on our way back.”

“We’d better.” 

Kosuke made sure to wear a scarf when going out in cold weather, but in all honesty, winter was probably his favorite season. It was fun to see his breath in the air, and it was fun to watch the snowfall during the nighttime. It always looked as if the stars were falling from the sky. It birthed inspiration and peace, along with happiness and excitement. It was a time for celebration, even if he’d been celebrating alone for the past few years. He had still sent his parents postcards, but he wasn’t really expecting one back.

“C’mon, it’s going to be so crowded!”

“We’re already going up a mountain, why do we need to run up it and risk cracking our heads open?”

“Then hold onto the railing you scaredy cat! I wanna pray quickly, buy our omamori and get our fortunes!”

“Well, at least we’re not going to a major temple, or else we’d be trampled by now.” Natsuki hummed in agreement as he and Kosuke trudged up the stone stairs, almost losing sight of Haruto on multiple occasions.

“What are you going to wish for this year? You’re going to start your fourth year sooner or later.” Natsuki gave a scoff.

“Of course I’m going to wish for something like that. It's not like I’m superstitious about it but it’s tradition, and it's the only thing that makes sense to wish for. You’re going to wish for luck in school too, and Haru’s going to want to win the next DRB.” Kosuke blinked and raised a brow, which Natsuki made a face at.

“I’m only calling him that because he’s out of earshot and I trust that you won’t babble to him.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t” Haruto eventually jogged down the stairs to meet back up, and when they got to the shrine, they were lucky to find that it wasn’t too crowded. They gave their old omamori to the temple for them to burn and made their wishes, Hotaru finished first and ran off to buy new omamori and get his fortune. Looking at the nearby trees, there weren’t many omikuji being hung up.

Looks like a lot of people are having good luck this year. 

He ended up wishing for success with his family, wishing for them to somehow attain a better relationship during the year, and he bought an omamori for education to compensate for his wish. Haruto bought an omamori for victory, while Natsuki for one for the safety of family.

When they got to their fortunes, he was glad to hear that Haruto and Natsuki got pretty good fortunes in the places they cared about. When Kosuke opened his, he was happy with a few of them, but he would admit it wasn't the best.

Middle blessing for auspicious directions, curse for his wish, a great blessing for his studies, a curse for disputes, and future small blessing for illness to name a few. Haruto peeked over his shoulder to take a look and gave his sympathies.

“Maan, you gonna hang that up?” Kosuke pondered for a moment.

“No, I don’t think I will.”

“Why not?” Haruto asked curiously as he compared their fortunes to each other.

5 years old: 

Diagnosed with asthma: He had his first attack during the winter, so he had to go to the hospital. His condition got better later in life, but he has to keep an inhaler just in case since the rap battles get very intense.

6 years old: 

Starts getting academic pressure from parents: Since he wasn’t allowed to do any extreme physical activities at the time

Starts violin and piano: Again, for academic and health purposes, Kosuke at the time really couldn;t say no, though it’s more so that his parent just signed him up for the lessons one day

10 years old:

Starts going to cram school: he goes to cram school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This gives him time to just walk around a bit on the streets afterwards.

His asthma slowly starts to get better

12 years old: 

Starts wanting to pursue art and asks parents, he gets rejected: Its about around this time that he started to go around and look at paintings and sculptures around the area. He would go to libraries and read about the creators, or just look online. Of course, he was shot down when he brought the topic up with his parents.

15 years old:

Meets Yamada Ichiro as his tutor, they become friends: Ichiro is not the best student, he also doesn’t have the money or time to go to cram school. Kosuke tutors him on Tuesdays and Fridays, and they start hanging around after school, which bleeds into the weekend

16 years old: 

Moves to his own apartment away from his parents

Starts to secretly take steps to getting into Gedai: He gets himself a part time job and saves up money to go to a different cram school over the weekend 

Stops taking instrumental lessons

17 years old:

Beginning of H Act

Receives his mic as a gift from Ichiro: Because the mics are the only legal weapon, he and Ichiro help him get one, just to be safe

Meets Kuko and they also become close: When Kosuke starts learning how to rap, Ichiro introduces the two to each other. Kosuke never gets involved with the Stairway to Heaven thing though

Gets involved with more rap battles

Becomes part of the TDD: After Kuko and Sasara left, Kosuke was initially called to be backup and showed off his skills. He was initially apprehensive of joining as he felt like he was replacing the other two, but he eventually felt like part of the group.

The TDD breaks up: What happens happens, only this time, Kosuke simply couldn’t be there to help. His parents somehow found out about his rapping and art studies, so he got the chew out of a lifetime. And his supplies were trashed along with complete radio silence from his family afterwards.

Loses contact with Kuko: After a bit of calling man messaging, Kosuke relents and believes that Kuko wants nothing to do with him either

Takes/ passes Gedai exam: Seriously, Kosuke passes out a few times afterwards, he’s been stressing over the results ever since the exam finished, he also hasn’t been taking care of himself (well, less than usual)

18 years old

Goes to study at Gedai: Great deal of pressure on himself, by himself, enough said

Maintains friendship with TDD: He and Ichiro have no reason to be on bad terms, he is a bit apprehensive around Samatoki though. He chats with Ramuda and Jakurai semi-frequently too.

Starts looking for a sharehouse because his apartment is far from Ueno

19 year old:

Moves in with Natsuki and Haruto

Receives mics from Chou-ku

Other facts:

At the DRBs, he has an inhaler incase of a an attack

Does oil painting and so half of his room is extremely neat, the other half…

Did Ichiro get him hooked on manga? Yes, yes he did

He… doesn’t really have friends at school either

Kosuke🌟

Lana: Kosuke is very intimidated. He heard what happened from Emiko and is overly formal towards her. But deep down he knows she’s a good person.

Itsuki: Kosuke respects and feels like he can empathize with Itsuki. He is also somewhat familiar with his work as a Graphic Designer.

Kanade: Similar to Itsuki, Kosuke is somewhat familiar with Kanade’s work when he started making money for himself. He admires her hard work.

Natsuki 🦉

Lana: He doesn’t really like how she can get violent quickly, but he can understand the need to release one’s frustrations.

Itsuki: Natsuki doesn’t underestimate him as a rapper, but doesn’t have a solid opinion of him as a person. If anything, though, he isn’t a fan of the constant apologizing for others.

Kanade: He's not the most fond of her. As someone who likes to stay focused, Kanade’s airheadedness irks him a bit.

Haruto 🦅

Lana: Haruto thinks she’s amazing. Finally, someone who might be able to match his energy. He needs to find more people like that.

Itsuki: Another soul who needs to let loose. He’s a really nice guy and Haruto’s pretty fond of him.