𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐝 - s. ᴍᴀɴᴊɪʀᴏ

𝟎𝟗𝟏: 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞

"Koko," Mikey calls, the second the door opens. "How long are you going to keep ignoring me?"

The dark-haired male sighs, annoyed. He closes the door behind him and takes off his shoes before walking further into the penthouse suite.

"If you want to talk so badly, saying 'hi' and 'how are you' is a good start," Koko scolds. He turns to go into the kitchen.

Mikey walks over to Koko. He leans back and rests his elbows on the kitchen island. "Hi... How are you?" He asks, irritated and forced. Not looking at Koko at all.

"I'm fine! Thank you for asking!" Koko said in a fake, enthusiastic voice. Mirroring Mikey's insincerity.

Koko takes a container of leftovers out of the fridge. He opens it and puts it in the microwave. "You've been going out to visit Takemitchy, haven't you?" Mikey accuses.

"Wrong," Koko answers, "I've been out meeting with CEOs and realtors."

"Realtors?" The blonde repeats. "You want to expand the gang, right?" Koko responds with a rhetorical question. "Finding a bigger space for meetings would be ideal. Unless you don't want that?"

"No, that's... Good thinking," Mikey sounded like it was hard to compliment his colleague.

Koko wasn't lying. After freeing up his schedule to make sure Takemichi and yourself were awake. He went straight back to work, handling meetings with various clients and partners for Kanto.

The microwave beeps and Koko takes out his food. Before setting the container down, he gets utensils for himself. He sits on a bar seat at the island. Right beside Mikey.

"What are you really trying to ask, Mikey?" Koko questions. Feeling like there's an underlying reason the blonde approached him.

"Have you... Talked to [Y/N]?" The blonde asks. Koko's eyebrows scrunch slightly in the middle after hearing Mikey's question.

"You want to be curious about her after what you did to her and her friend?!"

Mikey was taken aback at his response. Even Koko was surprised he said that out loud and so vexingly. He knew there was no point in backing down, even if it struck Mikey the wrong way.

"That kid could've died, you know...?" Koko said, referring to Takemichi. He tries his best to restrain his volume.

"You already won the second Kawaragi Senju lost against Terano South... It was unnecessary to go that far on someone like Hanagaki!"

"That's why you've been ignoring me?" Mikey says. To Koko's surprise, he was seemingly calm. His face stayed emotionless as well as his voice.

It was hard for him to read the blonde's expression. "I don't know, maybe I'm wrong for thinking it's uncomfortable to be near someone who has no empathy!" The dark-haired boy said with sarcasm.

Mikey looks down at the floor. Kokonoi has been holding onto these feelings since he was recruited into the Kanto Manji Gang. Even though Mikey was a tolerable commander, he wasn't a tolerable roommate. Not even a tolerable friend.

Koko understood, as an outsider, why Mikey is the way he is now. But it was getting exhausting.

"If you care about that girl so much, how about you show that?" Koko continues, "Avoiding, belittling, humiliating her? Not very romantic, is it?"

"Why do you care?" Mikey spoke again, sounding peeved.

Koko couldn't believe the tone the blonde spoke in. He could tell what Mikey was implying. "Oh, please, Mikey. Any decent man would say the same," he replied.