"Hi, kid," Seichiro muttered, his gaze calm as he looked at Minoru.
"No way..." Minoru mumbled in disbelief, struggling to make sense of the man before him.
"I... I thought you were dead!" Minoru exclaimed, his voice filled with shock.
"Yeah, well - I'm not. I need you to focus, kid. There are more urgent things at hand than my mortality. Can you do that for me? I'll give you the rundown later, I promise."
Minoru looked down, his brow furrowing in concentration.
"... If you're here... At this timing... Did they find me—"
"No, kid. No one found you. You just happened to be in a bad place at a bad time," Seichiro replied, his expression weary.
"I see... W-what do you need, Mr. Kurose?" Minoru mumbled, still processing the situation.
"Your sister. Where is she?" Seichiro asked casually, but with an underlying urgency. Minoru's eyes widened as adrenaline coursed through his veins.
"You... How did... You... HOW DID YOU KNOW SHE'S HERE?!" Minoru demanded, his voice urgent.
Seichiro sighed. "You and that kid being here, plus those guys... And the fact you haven't a clue what you got into... It wasn't hard to guess why you're here. Did she get hit with the stuff?" he asked, his tone serious.
Minoru looked down in shock.
"Right... She... So that's why she acted like that... They... These bastards... Hit her with that...?" Minoru's voice trailed off, his face becoming unreadable as he stared at the ground, a surge of bloodlust radiating from him.
The man sighed again, his gaze still weary. "So that's a yes, then..." he mumbled to himself as he approached the now feral-looking Minoru, casually flicking his forehead.
"Ow!" Minoru exclaimed.
"OW!" echoed from Hayato, another young boy nearby who got his head flicked by Seichiro.
"That's what you get for fighting in my house! Hayato, go apologize to your mom. Minoru, you follow," Seichiro commanded with authority, after flicking both boys' foreheads.
"B-but DAD!! Minoru started it!" Hayato cried, rubbing his now red forehead.
Seichiro huffed, his gaze intense. "I don't care! You escalated it instead of trying to solve things... You're as guilty as him. I always tell you to hit back whoever's punching you, but Minoru's your friend. Got that, Hayato? You never hurt your friends!"
Hayato merely nodded.
"Now, go apologize! Each one do it alone! Got it, kid!?"
"Kid..?"
"Kid!" Seichiro said, refocusing Minoru's attention.
"H-huh..?" Minoru muttered, snapping back to reality.
"I need you to focus... Your sister. Where is she? I'll go get her, and see how she's doing," Seichiro urged.
Minoru shook his head, trying to collect his thoughts. "Right... There were those two INK punks... I told them to get her to safety. But I'm not sure where they went if not here... They probably ran off when they realized the mixer was in on this. This punk here protected them, I believe."
"Haha," Seichiro chuckled, though his smile lacked its usual vibrance.
"That kid's real brave, huh?" Seichiro commented, nodding toward Sendo.
"You know him, Mr. Kurose?" Minoru asked, puzzled.
"Hmm... You could say we've crossed paths once, and he made quite the impression," Seichiro muttered as he started toward the exit.
"W-wait! I'll come with—" Minoru started, moving to stand.
"No. You stay here with the kid until the ambulance picks him up... It's an order. Got that, Minoru?" Seichiro instructed firmly, glancing back at Minoru.
Minoru, frustrated but obedient, nodded. "Yes... Sir," he replied, settling back down beside Sendo.
"Good boy. I promise I'll give you a rundown later. By the way, I called the ambulance before I entered, so just sit tight. They'll be here any minute," Seichiro said, disappearing from view as he left the scene.
"Just..." Minoru started, his voice tinged with anxiety as he observed Sendo's calm, relaxed expression. Sendo lay there, a slight smile on his face despite the needle still lodged in his chest.
"Haah..." Minoru sighed, his shoulders dropping as he allowed himself a moment of relaxation.
Minoru watched the steady rise and fall of Sendo's chest, the tension slowly ebbing from his own body. The quiet of the mixer reception, punctuated only by Sendo's gentle breathing, seemed to offer a rare moment of peace amid the chaos that had unfolded earlier. Sendo's relaxed expression, almost serene with that slight smile.
"I wish I could just pass out like that... No worries, no fears, just... peace," Minoru whispered, his voice tinged with envy. He lay on the dirty ground beside Sendo, staring up at the dim, flickering fluorescent lights of the mixer.
"Ahh right... I'll have to explain everything to the cops when they show up... And then give that old fart an explanation... Ahhhh, what a pain...!!" Minoru groaned in frustration. He rubbed his face wearily as he lay on the ground, the distant wail of ambulance sirens growing closer.
"Either way... If it's Mr. Kurose... He'll find her," Minoru mumbled casually, his gaze blank as he stared into the dim flickering of the overhead lights.
"Everything works out... When he's there, so..." He added, his voice trailing off as he closed his eyes, allowing himself a moment of rest.