Ai was currently in her room, taking stock of her remaining personal items that she wanted to take to Tokyo with her. Her mood was filled with melancholy and she could be seen sighing every now and then.
She took her phone off charge and turned it on, checking for any new messages that would cheer her up. However, at a brief glance, there were none, causing her to once again let out a sigh.
Knock Knock
"Yes?"
Ai called out, her tone sounding dreary.
The door opened up slightly, revealing her mother's head peeping inside.
"You have a visitor downstairs." Naomi said, smiling gently.
"Not interested." Ai replied, not even glancing at her mother.
Naomi's smile blossomed even further, brightening her features. It was as if the years had turned back, showing glimpses of her not yet forgotten beauty.
"Oh I think you'll want to see this one." She said, letting out a hollow chuckle before closing the door behind her.
Her words echoed in Ai's half empty room, causing her to raise her eyebrow in question.
Who would she want to see right now that her mother knew?
In the next moment her body stiffened and her expression changed. Her heart beat quickened as a certain boy's face appeared in her mind, the one she had been thinking about all this time.
Ai got up off her bed and was about to walk through the door before she paused. She suddenly remembered that she was wearing baggy clothes since she was in the middle of moving.
'I can't let him see me in this.'
Meanwhile, Ken had just been confronted with the most Yakuza looking character he'd ever seen in his life. The bright tattoos and bleeding knuckles brought the fear of god into his world in that moment.
As the figure continued to approach him, Ken could only shuffle further and further away from him since he was still seated. He looked at Tetsu and finally understood why he'd been pretending to be so nice.
'That bastard was tricking me all along.' He thought inwardly, cursing his naivety.
'Mika, I may need your help getting out of this.' Ken said, trying to ease his panic.
He wouldn't mind dropping another fart bomb in the middle of Ai's house if it meant he could survive for another day.
[Flatulence protocol is currently recharging.]
'What!? The only time I would need such a thing and it's on cooldown?'
Ken was running out of options as he continued to back up and watch the scary guy in front of him.
Yet in the next moment, the man sat down on the couch before holding out his hand for a handshake, his face turning up in a grin.
"It's good to finally meet you, I'm Tsukasa."
"Eh?"
Ken's felt his heart beating out of his chest, a result of the scenarios that had been running through his mind throughout the harrowing experience.
The dump of adrenaline triggered by his fight or flight response suddenly began to wear off, making it feel as if all of his strength had left his body.
He warily placed his hand forward and shook the Yakuza looking man's hand. Unlike Tetsu's soft hands, his were filled with callouses, giving rise to Ken's suspicions about his line of work.
Tsukasa then grabbed Ken's hand and pulled it closer, inspecting the roughness which rivaled his own.
"Hehe, I see that you've also been practicing a lot with the bat. Truly admirable." He said, appreciating the callouses of the teenager.
Ken quickly took back his hand, feeling a little shook. However, since he didn't feel in any immediate danger, he tried to make some small talk.
"O-Oh you also play baseball?" He asked.
Tsukasa's eye's brightened before he shook his head in amusement.
"God's no, I'm far too uncoordinated for that these days."
Ken nodded, however in the next moment he shuddered. Tsukasa had insinuated that he'd also been practicing with the bat. If he didn't play baseball, then what on earth could he be swinging at with a bat?
However, he didn't need to think long to figure it out. The guy was tattooed and wore leather, the typical look for someone who was in a gang, Yakuza or otherwise.
The funny thing was, Tsukasa had a small frame and was already half bald. If it weren't for the tattoos, one might just mistake him for a run-of-the-mill average Joe on the street.
Whereas Tetsu seemed more like the kind of person Ken would expect to be in a gang. Yet as Ken looked upon his grinning face, he looked like an angel compared to this scary middle-aged man in front of him.
"Ya should be thankful to this guy." Tetsu said, placing his hand on Tsukasa's shoulder.
Ken raised his eyebrow in response, not knowing where Ai's dad was going with this.
Seeing as how Ken was puzzled, he continued his words. "Tsukasa helped out with the trash who was blackmailin' you and Ai."
"Ah…"
Suddenly he remembered that Tetsu mentioned he had some old friends who would be able to help track down the culprit. It turned out that this middle-aged guy was one of them.
Just thinking about such a person showing up to his house with ill intent gave Ken the the creeps. He could already imagine the scenario of Kohei wetting himself upon coming home from school.
"T-Thanks for that." Ken responded simply.
In truth he had almost forgotten about the whole ordeal since he'd been so busy. First it was Koshien, then getting into the National Team, he'd hardly had enough time to reflect on the school year.
"It's no biggie. I've dealt with worse filth than that pissant."
The way Tsukasa shrugged so nonchalantly made Ken instantly believe him. After all, if his looks were an indication of his line of work, then it would make sense that he'd deal with a lot of unsavory people.
"Anyway, enough about such boring things. I saw you on the TV, you really are a superstar." Tsukasa said, letting out a sigh of admiration.