Reflections
The Neighbourhood
00:59 ━━━⬤──────── 04:04
"I guess I had to say goodbye eventually to our silly little puppy love, but ouch. That hurts, [Y/n]."
Those words. Those god-forsaken words that he let linger in her head made her want to bust her eardrums just so she wouldn't hear his voice ever again.
To think that she used to like him. Him of all people.
That idea was not so surprising. [Y/n] fell for people too hastily, not giving her heart a chance to beat for the right person — but... Kojiro changed. Her heart did beat for him before.
Key word; before.
Now all she could see in the reflection of his eyes were pure broken shards of a mirror... Not herself.
Not anymore.
She wasn't the one to lose feelings for him first, he was the one who did.
And it broke her fragile heart to a thousand little pieces, barely picking them back up when she found her infatuation in Chifuyu.
Honest, loyal, calm, logical and considerate. What [Y/n] could conclude from spending all these past months with Chifuyu is that he was everything that Kojiro wasn't.
Seeing that Kojiro went right back to where he was, aiming the bat at Ryusei, the [h/c] haired girl's stomach twinged and she stared with wide pupils, some of her hair covering one of those eyes.
"I'm sorry, Ryusei." Kojiro swung that bat and whacked Ryusei's shoulder, making the boy let out a loud groan in pain.
"As your close friend, I can't allow you to get all lost and confused like this." Those dark circles under Hishi's eyes darkened, making his eyes look dazzling with that iron grip on the baseball bat.
Thwack after thwack, Kojiro was ongoingly striking that bat across Ryusei's face until he was dripping with blood, his lips parted.
Chifuyu was constantly yelling out curses for Kojiro to stop but nothing could make him budge.
Eventually, he had to get to the source itself so he gritted his teeth and his muscles tightened. "Hey!! Ryusei, what the hell are you playing at?! Wake up! You don't have the balls to let a guy like that play with you like this..."
"Shut.. up." Ryusei huffed through his peripheral vision and became hazy. As a matter of fact, he looked like he was about to faint any second. It infuriated [Y/n], she couldn't see her brother like this and she knew damn well that her word wouldn't do anything to stop Kojiro.
"..This is... A problem between him.... and me... You stay out of it."
"Goddamn it, Ryu, We talked about this! For heaven's sake, you can't be still hung up on this mindless 'problem'!... Seriously—"
"Be quiet, [n/n]!"
The brother snapped, raising his voice, compelling her to draw her lower lip between her teeth and let the tears sting at the corners of her prim eyes.
"Nothing. You know nothing..."
There he goes again babbling like a fool, [y/n] thought with her head low. She knew he wasn't in his right mind. He never was with Kojiro around.
Her blood vessels grew thick and she wanted to throw a tantrum. Badly.
But she knew better than that, she wasn't a kid anymore, is what she tells herself. You are just a kid, [y/n].
The back of her head would tell her in a ceaseless loop. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch, she couldn't do anything about it but let it sink in sylleptically.
What was there to do?
"First division of the Tokyo Manji Gang... Matsuno Chifuyu, right?"
Kojiro's head whipped towards the other blond, the blood drizzling down his cheeks. He was tainted with Ryusei's red blood.
"I'm not happy about Toman enticing Ryusei, but... I only wish he would realize his mistake and come back. That's all that matters to me."
He took a breath in to expand his lungs, "I'll let you off the hook if you just stay the hell out of this. Tell that to Baji Keisuke. I kidnapped you to explain all this. You can go home now." With a pinched expression, his fingers crossed along the bat once more and he repeatedly started beating Ryusei again.
The girl's breaths grew heavier and heavier watching the extent of Kojiro's behaviour. She didn't understand. Why? Why would he do such a thing?
"...Stop it."
Teaching your friend a lesson?
That's sick.
"Kojiro, stop..."
This development of events wasn't one she hoped for.
Ryusei didn't deserve this treatment, he has been nothing but a great brother to her. He could've shut her out, many times all because of this 'problem'. But he didn't. He didn't and [Y/n] couldn't be any more grateful for him.
There wasn't a day that went by without the twins taking care of each other, and on the rare days that they actually got into a fight; they'd instantly make up, it only takes them a few hours to feel guilty when one of them is in the wrong.
No, not even on the days when their wallflower got the better of them; the days where they want to shut themselves out of the situation they're in. They only had each other, when their parents would not give a shit, and even when other people refuse to be around them because they were perpetually together.
If it wasn't for Ryusei, [Y/n] wouldn't be the person that she is now— Ryusei takes a toll on her life, not just because he was born first as the older twin with a few minutes difference, but because they were everything to one another.
But by dint of that, there was no one else who understood them better than they understood each other.
So when Ryusei was the one who was being physically hurt, the girl could feel all of that pain being inflicted on her even if there wasn't a single bruise portrayed on her other than that one created by the stun gun on the side of her neck.
Just as Kojiro was swinging for another hit, [Y/n] could see a tinge of blond briskly taking the hit in the stead of Ryusei.
Chifuyu.
His forehead started bleeding from the damage but he kept on with a slack jaw, eyes furrowed. "You're right... I don't know shit about you guys. But I do know one thing...!!" He was still tied to that infernal chair, his arms still bound. How did he even move in the first place? His thighs were tied to the seat as well, so [Y/n] only assumed that he somehow had run over without anyone noticing.
Stupid, but effective.
"I would never..."
"Beat my friend with a baseball bat!"
There. He said it.
[Y/n]'s eyes brisked with warm tears, wanting to wipe them away but she couldn't.
If you love someone, you let them go. but if you really, really love them you let them come back.
Chifuyu knew that all too well, it's like he was acting out what a certain Satou girl's type was.
She felt all too fed up with those lies people would tell that would never come to shore-- all those dull-witted 'I'm doing this because I care about you',
no, you are in fact not.
Just then, some guy from Yotsuya Kaiden had kicked Chifuyu's chair making him trip up, crashing down yet still tied up and vulnerable.
His state drove the girl to hiss out his name, "Chifuyu..!" Concern prevailed over all her other emotions of confusion.
She wouldn't be able to take it to see the boy she loved get hurt like that. No, How could she let that happen? That blow alone he got on the forehead pressured her to fret even more, the disturbing sight of all the blood both her brother and friend lost keeping her disconcerted.
[Y/n] never knew somebody like him.
She wasn't willing to let this happen.
"What are you talking about?" Kojiro stepped towards the boy on the floor who was panting, the blood dripping from his temple. "Look at you. You're so stupid, that you don't realize the gravity of your situation. Die."
"No!" [Y/n] squirmed in her chair, and as if her cry for help was heard- a baseball was shot directly at the bag Kojiro held. It seemed he wasn't holding that bat tight enough because it slipped and there was a clunk as the atmosphere grew taut.
"That sentence."
A familiar voice made [Y/n] look up in relief to see his shadow looming over him while holding a bat of his own in his right hand. "I quote it back to you word for word. You're a dead man."
The black-haired boy stepped forward with a crack of his knuckles across his palm, his eyebrows knitted together. He looked at Chifuyu who was on the ground before gravely giving him an order, "I beg you, take care of Ryusei, [Y/n], and the others... I'll deal with Kojiro."
"Y-yes!" Chifuyu responded, yet his jaw went slack when he saw Kojiro swinging his blade to Strike Keisuke, but luckily the ravenette dodged it by stepping back.
"Shall we continue from last time?"
Hishi's eyes seemed to hold resentment towards Baji, and he ended up slashing Baji's cheek, the blood splattering a little caused by the blade.
Keisuke only clicked his tongue, "is the handicap alone enough for you?"
Their fight was something one would be curious about, especially [y/n], she knew about the previous conflict between Yotsuya Kaiden and Toman.
She watched as Takeuchi freed Chifuyu from the ties and her eyes lazily looked from every person near her to another, feeling so lightheaded. Getting tased before by Kojiro didn't help- it was the reason why she feels so drained right now other than being so stressed about this messy situation they're in.
Chifuyu quickly jolted on his two feet, the blood trickling down from his wounded head. He was about to make his way to help [Y/n] but one of the Yotsuya guys kicked him right in the gut, making him cough out from the impact. "I won't let you."
The guy stuffed his hands in his pocket with a judging glare.
"Get the hell out of my way, you fuckers!" Chifuyu sat up with a pinched expression, but instead of being able to strike the enemy-- The blondie got hit again. [Y/n] felt so helpless, wanting to help the boy. But she knew better than that, he already saved her once because she didn't know how to fight.
The guy who had hit Chifuyu before looked down at him with a half smirk, "Once Kojiro-kun gets his tools out, it's over. If you'd gone home quietly earlier...- !!"
Chifuyu rose up on his feet, lifted his leg and kicked the black haired guy with a shit-eating grin right in the stomach.
"You bastards know damn well I could run away and leave!..."
"But I'm not going home without my friends!" Just as Chifuyu was saying that, [y/n]'s eyes widened as a puff of air caught right up in her lungs.
The sight of Ryusei putting Chifuyu down with a single punch, made his twin sister grimace at the noise of the impact.
"What? What are you doing, Ryusei?!"
Ryusei's chest that was blemished with blood was a complete eyesore for [y/n]. She couldn't stand seeing her brother like this.
"Chifuyu, you don't understand anything."
Ryusei started, getting ahold of his button up from a guy that also was from Yotsuya, who handed it to him.
"I'm a part of Yotsuya Kaidan."
"I'm Satou Ryusei AKA the suicide squad captain from Yotsuya Kaidan."
The way those words seeped from his mouth made the ringing in his twin sister's ears get louder and louder, her vision blurry.
"Baji and Chifuyu. From today on; you are my enemies."
[y/n] could only tune out everything from that moment, her brain unable to process what Ryusei just claimed as she bit her tongue with droopy eyelids.
Seventh of July, they want to fight on the seventh of July. That's all she could make out as the tears brimmed in her eyes.
Her eyes and Ryusei's locked together and they could practically communicate through only eye contact. He wasn't going to treat her any differently, he still wants to shut her out of the whole situation because she'll get hurt.
When his back turned to [y/n] all she could do was swallow her pride and let him go until he comes home later.
"Ryu..."
Her attention drifted to Chifuyu who finally came to aid her, untying her with rush. He had been dying to let her free through the entirety of the whole ordeal.
"[y/n], are you hurt? Are you okay? Can you move?"
He fumbled with the ties before finally freeing her, making her look at him for a second with a frown as they held eye contact.
His eyes... She could see herself in them.
Her arms wrapped around Chifuyu, leaving him to be a little taken aback. But he quickly rested his head on her shoulder, holding the side of her head. "I was so worried about you..." The [h/c] haired girl croaked out to him.
Chifuyu's breath grew shallow and he nuzzled up into the side of her neck. "I'm glad you're okay, [n/n]."
♪ Maybe it's a blessing in disguise... I see my reflection in your eyes.