little unsure. He moves away from the door, heading for the small hole in the wall he made all those years ago. Brushing aside dirty clothes and toys, he finds what he's looking for.

    It's still there—clear and unpatched.

    "Haru! It's here—it's right here!" He exclaims, drawing the smaller boy's attention. Haru comes up beside him and crouches down next to him, trying to get a peep inside the hole. While Haru is looking inside the small hole, Keisuke presses his ear against the wall, trying to listen for a familiar crybaby who's become his entire world.

    "I can kinda hear him, can you?"

    "Yeah, Haru, I can..."

    Haru gasps a second later, catching Keisuke off guard. "I see him! He's entering the closet and—and a kid is with him?"

    Huh?!

    "Move it, cripple! I wanna see!" Keisuke shouts as he pushes Haru to the side, earning a sharp 'hey!' from the blonde boy, but he doesn't care in the slightest. He needs to see Takemichi. He needs to make sure he's ok—that he's safe and sound.

    Sure enough, he sees the boy, or—at least—the outline of the boy. It's dark, making it hard for Keisuke to make out Takemichi, but he's definitely there. He can hear his familiar sniffles, the whimpers escaping his trembling lips, and his shaking form as he's drawn into a fetal position.

    "Michi! Michi, can you hear me?!" Keisuke calls out. The boy watches with satisfaction as Takemichi's body perks up at the mention of his name. He twists his body around, looking left and right and Keisuke wants nothing more than to wrap his arms around him—

    "Kei-kun? Is that you?" Keisuke hears Takemichi whisper, his voice filled with so much hope it makes Keisuke's heart ache.

    "Yeah! Yeah, it's me! Oh, and Haru's here too!"

    "Yep—I'm here with this obnoxious idiot," Haru spits out with a smile on his face, making Keisuke smack the boy on the shoulder.

    Keisuke listens to the boy heaving out small chuckles at their antics. "You guys are just...just—"

    "Just what?" Keisuke asks, his eyes glistening with mischief. "Amazing? Incredible? Outstanding?"

    "I was gonna say stupid."

    Both Keisuke and Haru gasp at Takemichi's answer.

    "Me? Stupid? You sure you're not mistaking me for this idiot right here?!" Haru nearly shouts, earning another smack from Keisuke.

    "You have your moments Haru—"

    Takemichi is interrupted by a voice that Keisuke's not familiar with.

    "Shut up, Takemichi! Katsumi told us to be quiet!" The mysterious figure berates. Whoever is also in the closet with Takemichi sounds like a boy—probably a boy around Keisuke's age.

    Just who is this kid? And why is he with Takemichi?

    "Ah, sorry Ken! I forgot..."

    Keisuke narrows his eyes, trying to get a better peek into the hole to no avail—it's still too dark to make out anything other than Takemichi's outline.

    "Hey! Who the hell are you?" Keisuke shouts, the urge to protect growing stronger by the second.

    Whoever's behind the wall scoffs at Keisuke like a bastard.

    "Who the hell are you?" The stranger mocks, making Keisuke furrow his brow in frustration.

    "I asked you first!"

    "I asked you second—"

    "This is Ken Ryuuguji—he lives at the brothel my mom works at," Takemichi explains, interrupting this Ryuuguji bitch.

    "Yeah? Well I live in the apartment next to the one Michi's mom lives in!" Keisuke boasts, wanting to one up this stupid bastard who apparently lives at the brothel Takemichi's mom works at.

    "Good for you?"

    "Yeah! Good for me and bad for you, so don't even think about trying to steal Michi from me, got it?"

    "...Takemichi, your friends with some weird kids..."

    "Says the one who lives in a brothel!" Keisuke exclaims, patting himself on the back for his well thought out comeback. It's silent for a few seconds before Ryuuguji speaks, his voice filled with something that leaves Keisuke on edge.

    "You don't know what a brothel is, do you?"

    "I don't need to know what a brothel is to know that it's stupid!"

    An embarrassed groan catches Keisuke's attention. The black haired boy looks at Haru whose face is bright red, steam practically pouring out of his ears.

    "Just shut up, Keisuke. You don't know what you're saying..." he mumbles, the dark blush contrasting sharply with his platinum blonde fuzz that covers the top of his head. Keisuke immediately pouts, more than a little disappointed that Haru isn't on his side.

    "Of course I do!"

    "No, you don't."

   "Yeah? Well since you're an expert on this kind of stuff, tell me all about this brothel place that Ryuuguji lives in!"

    Haru, Takemichi, and even Ryuuguji audibly choke at Keisuke's words.

    "What's with that reaction?" Keisuke asks, feeling a little uncomfortable with the way Haru is glancing at his hands rather than Keisuke's face. Keisuke grabs onto his friend's shoulder and shakes him around. "Just tell me you sneaky bastard—"

    "It's a place for adults, you idiot!" Haru explains, still doing very little to ease Keisuke's curiosity. What the hell even classifies as an 'adult place'?

    "Ok, and? That doesn't sound so bad," Keisuke murmurs, observing the way Haru's face slowly gets consumed with a stark red blush. "You keep making it sound like a naughty thing, you weirdo."

    "Cause it is naughty," Ryuuguji says from behind the wall. "It's a place where people pay for sex."

    ...sex? Like...the thing adults do when—

    Then, just like Haru, his face begins to turn a bright red.

    "S-Sex?!" Keisuke cries out, making Haru slap a hand over Keisuke's mouth.

    "Don't say it so loud, you idiot!" Haru exclaims, his face stark red as he slaps Keisuke across the face.

    "HEY!!! DON'T HIT ME!!! I WAS JUST REPEATING WHAT HE SAID—"

    KA THUNK!!!

    The sound of a door crashing onto the ground echoes through the small hole in the wall, instantly shutting the boys up.

    For a split second, Keisuke assumes that the sound came from his own apartment, but then he's reminded of the awful reality they were currently living.

    It came from Takemichi's apartment.

    In other words, that old bastard managed to break that damn door down.

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    "Takemichi? I know you're in here so just come on out, yeah?"

    Takemichi stays huddled on the ground, his knees drawn tight against his chest as he stuffs his face against his knobby knees, shaking and trembling in fear. Not even his friends' comforting presence is enough to stop his trembling bones.

    The petrified boy can vaguely hear Keisuke and Haru freaking out from the other side of the wall and a part of him wants to apologize for causing such a ruckus, but he's unable to move. He breathes in and out, in and out, in and out till' he's hyperventilating. Ken sits in front of him, pressing up against his body to shield Takemichi away from the entrance of the closet.

    That sickening voice, the one claiming to be his own father, rings through the small apartment like an alarm, blaring and loud that causes panic to seep inside his skin.

    "I'm not gonna hurt you, Takemichi. I just want to get to know my own son," the old man heaves out, a tinge of desperation twisting his voice into something dark. "I've missed out on so much because of your pathetic mother, but that will all change now that I've found you—you and her," his steps are just as loud as his voice, making Takemichi flinch with every creak of the wooden tiles.

    The feeling of warm hands covering his ears distracts Takemichi from the words leaving the old man's lips. Looking up (he can finally move), he stares at Ken who's covering Takemichi's ears with his hands, muffling the man's voice. Ken meets his gaze with a tight-lipped smile, forced and not comforting in the slightest, but it's done out of the kindness of Ken's heart and that's more than enough for Takemichi.

    With Ken's hands protecting Takemichi's ears from the strange man's monologue, Takemichi allows his body to relax, melting like wax under a candle. Ken's large hands are warm, acting as ear muffs that both heat his ears and cancel out any noise that might make the boy tense up in fear. Takemichi finds himself leaning into Ken. He presses his forehead against the older boy's chest and heaves out a shaky sob. It leaves his lips involuntarily and he can't do much but let it happen.

    For just a moment, Takemichi lets his mind wander elsewhere, away from the current situation he found himself in.

    Since when was there a small hole in the wall inside his moms closet? He feels like he should've discovered it At Least a year ago when he was playing hide n seek with the boys, but hey—there's no better time than the present, right? To be honest, Takemichi has a feeling the hole has something to do with Keisuke. If the small boy remembers correctly, Keisuke had once complained about his old neighbors who'd make mean remarks about Ms.Baji. He explained—with that endearing smile of his—how he, Mikey, and Haru all worked together to dig a hole into the wall of their apartment that connected to the neighbors room. From there, they stuffed bugs into the wall, turning his old neighbors apartment into a place infested with critters and bugs—

    The grip around Takemichi's ears tighten and his blue eyes fly open (when did he close them?). Ken's face is filled with a mixture of both Panic and rage, his dark eyes narrowing and switching from Takemichi to the closet door behind them. The boy can feel the old man's footsteps now, vibrating across the floor like rapids, reaching Takemichi and Ken.

    It doesn't take a genius to know that the old man has made it inside the bedroom.

    Ken takes his hands off of Takemichi and wraps his arms around the small boy's body, caging him in his warm lanky limbs. His long fingers dig into Takemichi's ribs, causing a ripple of pain to spark, but Takemichi keeps his mouth zipped, stopping any whimper of pain that might escape his lips. Ken's chin rests shakily upon the crown of Takemichi's head, his nose blowing through his black curls like a soft breeze. They're practically merging into each other, becoming one. It's hard for Takemichi to tell where his body starts and Ken's body finishes. It doesn't bother him though. In fact, it's pretty comforting; he'll never be alone again if Ken's body becomes one with his.

    "—we'll be a happy family! Just you, me, and your mother. She won't have to whore her body around anymore and you'll be free from this poverty. I'll enroll you into the best school Japan has to offer, Katsumi will be a stay at home wife—being there to greet us when we get home, and we'll play catch—like a father and son should."

    His voice gets louder and louder till it's right behind the closet door.

    Time seems to stop for Takemichi.

    He doesn't know how long he stays in Ken's embrace, how long his father stands outside the closet door, breathing heavily through his nose like an angry beast, or how long the static in Takemichi's ears fizzes in and out, reminiscent of a broken T.V. or a broken radio.

    Takemichi closes his eyes, ready for the door to swing open and reveal the old man's towering figure—

    "STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY BABY, YOU BASTARD!!!"

    It's his Mom! She's here to rescue him like the super hero that she is!!!"

    Upon hearing his mother's voice, Takemichi begins to squirm around in Ken's hold, trying to free himself, but Ken tightens his embrace. Takemichi opens his eyes, glaring into the boy's chest, attempting to rid himself of this cage, but nothing works.

    "Let me go, Ken!" Takemichi whispers amidst the chaos that's happening outside of the closet. He can distantly hear the two adults arguing, raising their voices at eachother like raging beasts. Hell, he can even hear something crashing against the wall, something fragile, and instantly thinks of the glass bunny his mom bought at a garage sale, her blue eyes twinkling with joy as she handled the bunny with glee.

    "No way, you idiot!!!" Ken whispers back, his arms tightening even more around Takemichi's small body. "It doesn't mean we're safe just because Katsumi is here!"

    "Yes it does—!"

    Ken pulls Takemichi in close until his face is being squished against Ken's chest, muffling his voice.

    "Shut up and let the adults handle this!"

    Takemichi wants to protest, tell Ken that his mother will come out victorious, but he's interrupted by the sound of someone being slammed against the wall.

    "You haven't matured a single-fucking-bit, Katsumi!!!" The old man roars, his voice void of any care he might've had when fantasizing about his ideal future. "I'm offering you a life of luxury! You won't have to worry about starving or being low on money ever again! Takemichi will finally grow up with some decent kids who won't grow up to be a bunch of troublemakers! He'll go to a good school, get a good education, graduate and become someone a father could be proud of! But you throw it all away because of a small little mistake I made, you stubborn bitch!!!"

    "Abandoning me when I needed you the most isn't a little mistake, Orochi!!!" His mother exclaims loudly, her voice slightly muffled from the wall. "I was twelve, Orochi, twelve years old when you knocked me up and left me to fend for my-fucking-self!!! You should've taken responsibility and taken me in, taken care of me and my baby, but you chose your damn businesses over me!!!" She screams, anguish laced in her voice as she lets everything out.

    Takemichi shudders at her words, hating the shit his mother had to go through at a young age because of this old man and Takemichi.

    "Do you have any idea what would've happened to me if they found out, Katsumi?! Those men would have torn me apart if they knew about us! Everything that I've worked for, my stability, my job, my house, my family, and my respect would've gone down the damn drain you ignorant woman!!!" The man shouts, punctuating each word with a fist against the wall, making the closet shake and tremble like an earthquake.

    For once, Takemichi wishes an earthquake would appear—creating a crack big enough for him, Ken, and his mother to escape into.

    His mother laughs like a maniac, voice loud and Erie that bounced off the walls.

    "Don't talk to me about respect when you're the one who slept with a twelve year old girl, you pedophile!"

    SLAM!!!

    The sound of someone's head being banged against the wall makes Takemichi tense up.

    "YOU MANIPULATED ME, USED ME FOR YOUR OWN PARENTS GAIN, AND SEDUCED ME TO DESTROY ME!!!"

    "M-MANIPULATED?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MANIPULATED ME!!! YOU TORE ME AWAY FROM MY FUCKING FAMILY, PIT THEM AGAINST ME TILL YOU KNEW I HAD NO ONE TO GO TO—"

    "I DID NO SUCH THING! ALL I DID WAS SHOW YOU YOUR PARENTS TRUE NATURE—"

    "OH SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET OFF ME—"

    A lot of things happen at once—things that Takemichi could only hear.

   The sound of a bunch of people bursting through the door reaches Takemichi's ears. They're all shouting, rage filled in each person's voice, all of them familiar. Takemichi recognizes Shin's stern voice, Wakasa's calm but ragged tone, and Benkei's loud feral roar. Takemichi tries to slip out of Ken's grip once again, hoping to get a peek of the three older delinquents, but Ken's grip is monstrous. So Takemichi sits in silence as chaos rains outside the closet.

    Shouting, items being thrown, cursing, swears and threats—they fill Takemichi's ears like rushing water. The small boy can distantly hear Keisuke and Haru cheering the three men on, but he can't bring himself to focus on them. All of his attention is on the men outside the closet, causing more than a ruckus outside the closet doors. Takemichi wishes he can see what's happening; he wants to feel his mother's arms wrapped tightly around his torso, he wants to smell the awful stench of cigarettes off of Shin's lanky figure as his long fingers run through his black curls, he wants to listen to Wakasa and Benkei squabble like children, but he has to make do with his imagination.

    K'thunk!

    And silence.

    The shouting stops.

    The fighting stops.

    Everything stops as if frozen in time.

    The only thing that reaches Takemichi's ears are the sounds of people breathing heavily.

    Takemichi takes this chance to slide himself out of Ken's arms who had gone slack upon hearing the emptiness of the room.

    "HEY! TAKEMICHI, YOU CANT—"

    Takemichi swings the doors open and gapes at the sight before him.

    The room is completely ruined, save for the bed and nightstand. Everything else, however, is either broken or ripped to shreds. The ground is covered in glass shards, tossed books and trinkets, and items Takemichi had almost forgotten about.

    "Takemichi...close your eyes and go back into the closet."

    The boy looks up, recognizing the voice as Wakasa's, and completely disobeys. Takemichi ignores the rugged appearances of Shin, Wakasa, and Benkei—his eyes looking for one person only.

    His mom.

    And he does find her, standing over a body with blood splattered all over her clothes, a sharp glass shard grasped tightly in her hands.

    Takemichi almost stops breathing as he takes in the sight before him. His mother, his beautiful mother, is covered in blood. Her fragile body sways from left to right, but she refuses to go down. Her long black curls are in a frenzy, covering half of her face, some strands sticking up in different directions to create a more wild look.

    And her eyes.

    Her eyes were wide. Emotionless. Void of warmth and love that Takemichi is most familiar with.

    Then Those blue eyes turn to look at Takemichi.

    And, for the first time in Takemichi's life, he finds himself scared of his mother.

    He turns around and runs back into the closet, petrified screams ripping out of his throat.

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