After his shower, Tsuna returned to his room and flew into his work clothes as Emiko moved his laptop onto the bed. She’s getting comfy already. He started his move back towards the door. He scanned the room for his shoes, nowhere in sight. Stepping towards his closet, he blindly reached inside. Is this? Its cylindrical shape had almost confused him for something inappropriate, but he had remembered that it was a cane that was a gift from his father that reappeared every time he’d thought he’d disposed of it.

You’ll never know when you’ll need this for safety. His mother’s voice said.

Tsuna exhaled a stressful sigh. “Emi, do you know where my shoes are?” Right as he turned to her, a blur of two objects came rushing across the room, knocking him square in the face.

Emiko arrogantly smirked. “Jerk.”

Tsuna couldn’t help but roll his eyes at his girlfriend’s childish tricks. “Damn.” He slipped his work shoes on and hustled out the door. Hard to think I’m working to settle with her. I know she can be mature, but she doesn’t like to show it.

Tsuna closed the door, rushed down the stairs and nearly out of the door before something caught his attention. It was a lone object in the center of a coffee table, a photo. A man and a woman embraced one another happily, as if there was nothing in the world that could tear them apart. He saw himself in both of them, the woman’s hair was long and black like his own, her Asian features were more prominent on her face than his though from a glance, overlooking their different skin tones, one could tell that they were related. Her odd gray eyes stuck out to him, somewhat envying the unique beauty of them. In the man he shared his burned skin tone, the man’s tone being slightly darker than his own. Eyes as brown as the dirt on a children’s tennis shoes. A surge of emotions gathered into his chest before he turned the photo on its face and departed.

His mind turned to other things, his employment situation, his finances. Things he didn’t want to think about, but in his current situation, had no choice but to. He no longer wanted to be a burden to his mother, who was, to his surprise, wealthy despite raising him alone. A cat as black as midnight took his attention, lying high in a tree, appearing as if it wanted to descend but couldn’t find its way. He extended his hand. “Psspss!” The animal glared at him with its beady black eyes, cautious of him as it clenched tighter to the wood. “Cmon cat, I’m trying to help you.” Tsuna reached his hand out, the cat loosening its grip leaped to him, its claws scratching deep into his left hand. Tsuna recoiled as the cat then jumped off of him and onto the ground. Shit. A scratch of its head and a loud ‘meow’ and the cat took off down an alleyway. “That cut deep.” There was no pain or blood on the cut left by the animal. A closer look showed something white beneath the mark. “Cat probably stepped on bird crap. My day just gets better and better.”

Tsuna thought back to Emiko as he continued his walk. Emiko, she can get out of control occasionally, but the charisma she has made getting married sound pleasant. Part of me can’t believe that’s the same little Emiko from all those years ago. The rhythm in his heart doubled. A natural grin went from cheek to cheek. I have to get us a place. He realized she was the love of his life.

The boom-bap of a hip-hop beat came from behind him as a car went by. He expected the blaring music to silence as the car left, yet the music continued when it passed. It wasn’t common for anyone to be blasting music on a stereo, something he viewed as a public indecency, which narrowed down who the culprit was. “Takeda!” At the top of his lungs, he shouted a name. Birds scattered. The man’s attention flew towards the trees before his sunglasses slipped down to see who was ahead of him.

“Tachibana!” He clicked the stereo off and jogged to his side. “Pleasant seeing you before work, though I’d prefer not to. Looking at your face for longer than I need to. It kills me on the inside, you know?”

“Hilarious.” Tsuna said as he checked the scratch left by the cat again. Hit at a certain angle of the sun’s rays, he was sure it sparkled. What was that? It’s still not bleeding either?

“Nasty looking cut you got there.” Takeda leaned over Tsuna’s shoulder to examine the wound. “Damn! You and your girl get into a fight? She find out you’ve been fapping to those mangas you buy?”

A jerk from Tsuna’s elbow knocked him back a foot. “Fuck off. The only reason I called you is because blasting that music will attract unwanted attention.”

“You’re right. Now that I’m traveling with a fellow delinquent, who knows the trouble that will come our way! We should find a warehouse to hide in before the cops find terrors like us walking the streets!”

The stocky Takeda stood at the same height as Tsuna. Often he would tease him about his interests, but Tsuna knew him well enough to brush his words off. He and Takeda had a long history as birds of a feather, but it was rare that they flocked together.

“Talking about things you hardly know about is what earns you a foot up the ass, Takeda.” Tsuna turned his attention towards a passerby who, from his gaze, hurried to the other side of the street. “And stop calling me a delinquent. It’s harder for someone like me to escape that title with you constantly reminding everyone in the public area.”

“Take it up with Mr. Amagi. Did you know he calls the both of us delinquents behind our backs? You’d think admitting that we stole from him once or twice back in the day would establish some kind of trust now that we work for him. Did he deduct Yen from your pay when you started to?”

“No.”

His eyes went wide, throwing his free arm into the air. “What the hell! I lost a lot of money on that month’s pay! He clearly likes you more than he does me.”

“Yeah, I think he does, too. I choose not to bring stereos to work and make a bunch of noise like it’s the late 90s. It’s 2020, get some headphones. If you’re lucky, he’ll stop looking at you like you’re some kind of clown.”

Takeda’s proud shoulders eased as he gave Tsuna another glance. “Go on without me, I’m going back home real quick.” He took off, not allowing Tsuna to respond.

“Okay.”

Tsuna continued walking. I hope the night doesn’t drag. Nights are the slower shift, but maybe Mr. Amagi would let me work on my writing on my phone when things get slow. A drip of blood trickled down his knuckle from the cut the cat had left. With a finger, he swiped it and rubbed the blood between his fingers. That took its time. A woman walked toward him, though an exchange of looks changed that as she crossed the road. A car horn went off as the vehicle’s brakes screeched. The woman lost her footing and fell back, bracing herself as the car came to a stop before her. Tsuna hurried over to her, helping her off of the ground. “Are you okay? Be more careful when crossing the road, it’s usually busy this time of day.” The man inside his vehicle hollered.

“Get the hell off the road!”

The woman ran off without a word, leaving Tsuna shaking his head and returning to the sidewalk. His attention went back to the woman who was now across the road noticing large sign being placed on the building behind her.

“Come visit the historical Tachibana museum. Free summer tour once per person.”

He shared the name of the historical Tachibana Clan from the Sengoku and Edo periods of Japan, but was sure that he wasn’t a descendant since he had no other family on his mother’s side, to his knowledge. His grandparents passed before he was born and his was mother an only child. If she was one of them, she would have connections, wouldn’t she? Maybe then the people wouldn’t have treated him as an outsider. Like a delinquent. A sigh escaped his lips, then Tsuna continued his walk.