quickly rid his mind of the ocean and brought his attention back to the boy on the ground.

"What do you think you're doing at MY playground?" Keisuke sneered, secretly delighted in the way those blue eyes shook in fright. "Do I need to teach you how things work around here, weird kid?" Keisuke gave a demonstration by punching the palm of his own hand; the smaller boy didn't move from his spot on the ground, but raised his arms in defeat.

Keisuke held back a frown. He hoped that maybe this new kid would put up a little bit of a fight, that way Keisuke had an excuse to punch someone, but he wasn't all that surprised. The kid was too scrawny and his face screamed weak. He didn't seem like the type to defend himself which was disappointing in and of itself.

Talk about a waste of time.

Keisuke was about to shove the smaller boy aside when he finally spoke up.

"Leave us alone!"

Us?

That's when realization hit Keisuke. The smaller boy didn't raise his arms in defeat, but was instead raised to shield something.

To protect.

He had to admit: the weirdo has guts.

But guts isn't enough to stop Keisuke.

Keisuke gives the smaller boy a fanged smirk before grabbing a big chunk of curly black hair, earning a surprised yelp. Squatting down to the kid's eye level, he yanks his victim's head back, forcing him to stare straight at Keisuke.

"Or what?" Keisuke asked, watching as tears began to form in the kids' blue eyes. "Did you forget who's playground you're on right now? You stupid or something?" Instead of backing down, like Keisuke expected him to do, the smaller boy glared and gritted his teeth.

"I don't even know you!" The smaller boy shouts, unusually determined to not give up on whatever he was shielding from Keisuke. His body was still shaking under Keisuke's hold, but he still refused to stand down.

"Yeah? Well, listen closely you crybaby." Keisuke yanks the boy closer to him, their foreheads almost touching.

"The names Keisuke Baji and I'm the boss arou-"

Keisuke was quickly interrupted by the smaller boy harshly knocking their foreheads together, momentarily stunning the fanged boy. Keisuke lost his balance and fell back onto the grass below them.

This bASTAR—

"I don't care about who you are—!" Keisuke forces himself to focus on the smaller boy in front of him who, for some reason, seems a lot taller now; Keisuke had to crane his neck up a bit to look at the curly-haired kid. "—but you better leave us alone!!!" The smaller boy defends despite the tears beginning to trail down his cheeks.

And there was that word again. Us.

Right, that's why he decided to bother this kid in the first place: to see what he was talking to.

The same kid who thought It'd be smart to humiliate Keisuke with some stupid ass headbutt.

After sending a silent apology to his mother in his head, Keisuke sprang up and tackled the boy to the floor with a battle cry.

Whenever Keisuke fought, he'd receive an overwhelming amount of adrenaline, enough to make him feel high off of the feeling of connecting punches with skin. The adrenaline would cloud his thoughts and mind, making his body go on autopilot while he sat back and flourished in the electrifying thrill of violence. It was addicting, like a drug.

And it was very hard to stop Keisuke when he was in the middle of giving someone a beat down.

The only person who's ever been able to get through that clouded mind of Keisuke's was Manjiro and, as it turns out, Manjiro was nowhere to be seen.

Talk about luck!

Looks like Keisuke can go haywire on this kid for as long as wants-

"—eow? Meow?"

Keisuke suddenly stopped his pursuit of the boy underneath him. Did he just hear a cat?

Looking around confused, Keisuke spotted a small cardboard box next to the park bench.

Is that where the meowing is coming from?

Disregarding the bruised and beat-up boy on the floor, Keisuke stood up and tried getting closer to the box, hoping to peer inside and meet the eyes of an adorable fuzzy creature.

Keyword, tried.

Just as Keisuke began approaching the box, he felt a hand wrap around his ankle, halting his movements. Keisuke looked back down at his victim, finally registering the amount of damage he'd done to the crybaby's face.

His face was bloodied and bruised, both eyes were almost completely swollen shut. The boy's nose was bleeding, but it didn't look broken and the tears from earlier were still trailing down his face.

But the thing that surprised Keisuke the most was the unwavering determination in his blue irises as he kept a tight grip on Keisuke's ankle.

Despite the brutal beating the curly-haired boy received, he still didn't back down. Did this make the kid brave or stupid?!

Well, it's not like it matters, not when Keisuke found himself—slightly, but not by much—admiring the boy still hanging onto his ankle, his eyes looking more alive than they were moments before Keisuke tackled him to the ground.

He reminded Keisuke of a character in one of his favorite action movies: The character would get badly beaten by the enemy and— when it appears all hope is lost—the character would stand up, wipe his bloody nose with his sleeve, and charge right back into battle.

"D-Don't hurt...them!"

The smaller boy's voice broke Keisuke away from his trance. Focusing back on the hand wrapped around the boy's ankle, he frowns.

"Huh? Hurt who?" Keisuke asked, beyond confused. Who was the heroic kid trying to protect? With a quick scan across the area, Keisuke couldn't find anyone or anything that needed to be protected—well—maybe the cats in the cardboard box but-

Oh wait.

Keisuke's mind finally caught up with him.

Was that it?

Ignoring the hand wrapped around his ankle, Keisuke crouched back down in front of the beaten kid, giving him an incredulous look.

"Were you...protecting those cats from me?" Keisuke asked, amused. The smaller boy's lack of response was enough to answer Keisuke. He wasn't sure if he should be offended or impressed by the boy sprawled out on the grass. First off, did Keisuke really look like the type of kid who beats up cats on a Thursday afternoon?! If it were up to him, Keisuke would adopt every stray cat in his neighborhood and bring them home to live in his room. On the other hand, the lengths this kid would go to protect a couple of stray cats was just...

...Awesome.

Who would've thought that Keisuke would find another cat lover in the form of a beat up kid close to unconsciousness.

Man, Isn't the world just amazing?

Keisuke beams down at the smaller boy, his fanged smile obviously catching the injured kid off guard.

"Don't worry, I'd never hurt a cat! I actually really like cats and I guess you do too, right?" Keisuke asked, watching as the kid stared up at him in disbelief—his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. Keisuke forced himself not to laugh at the kid's expression and instead continued on with his rambling.

"Y'know, you're actually pretty cool! What's your name?" Keisuke ignored the confused look he was getting from the curly haired boy and waited for a response. After a few moments of observing the heroic kid make weird faces in contemplation, he finally gave Keisuke a wavering smile.

"I-I'm um...Takemichi Hanagaki..." Takemichi answered shakily, hesitantly releasing his grip from around Keisuke's ankle, but Keisuke was too distracted to notice.

Takemichi huh?

Keisuke gave Takemichi another fanged smile before standing back up. He extended a hand out to Takemichi, his copper eyes shimmering with something close to excitement.

"Let's be friends, Takemichi!"

At that moment, when Keisuke looked into Takemichi's eyes, he got the chance to witness a glimmering sparkle of hope replace the uneasy look he had before.

And— just like that character in one of Keisuke's action movies—Takemichi wiped the tears and blood off his face with his arm and took Keisuke's hand to haul himself up onto his feet.

Takemichi's smile was still a bit shaky, but that's ok. They have plenty of time to get to know each other.

"Um—ok!"

Without wasting little to no time at all, Keisuke guides Takemichi to the box of cats where they spend the rest of their afternoon petting and playing with the adorable fuzzy creatures.

Throughout that afternoon, a single thought kept playing inside Keisuke's mind.

I can't wait to introduce him to Manjiro!

The workers from across the street were long forgotten in favor of a small, injured, blue eyed boy.

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"Why haven't I seen you around before?" Keisuke asked Takemichi from the top of the jungle gym. The curly haired boy sat next to him—his blue eyes trained on the beautiful sky above them.

The sun was starting to set, Keisuke thought offhandedly; he was gonna have to start walking to the apartments soon if he wanted to make it before curfew.

"Cause' I'm not from here!" Takemichi answered back, making Keisuke raise an eyebrow.

"So you're just visiting someone?"

"Nope! Me and my mom are moving into those apartments—" Takemichi points at the same apartment complex Keisuke lives in, "—across the street."

Unbeknownst to the blue eyed boy—who had yet to remove his gaze from the sunset—Keisuke gaped at him, his jaw hung open and copper hues blown wide.

Is that why those workers were outside his building? The furniture and boxes the people carried were Takemichi's? Was the vacant apartment—next to Keisuke's—gonna belong to Takemichi's family?

Was Takemichi gonna be his new neighbor?!

Unable to control his excitement, Keisuke grabbed Takemichi's arm, making the smaller boy flinch from the sudden contact.

"You're my new neighbor?!"

Finally, Takemichi turned to look at Keisuke, his expression almost matching the feral boy.

"I'm your what?!"

And that marked the beginning of their newly formed friendship. A friendship that was destined for change, wild adventures, chaotic friends, heartfelt moments...

and heartbreak.

the clock started ticking.

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