Back in Kyoto, Eizan and Mio are sitting at his parent’s dinner table. Eizan’s family members are all shaking their heads at both Eizan and Mio. Mary was the first to chime in. “You just had to drag her into your weird hobby didn’t you.” Eizan is sitting there with ripped up jeans, a band t-shirt, several fake piercings, and a giant grin on his face. “Mio, you don’t have to follow along with his crazy behavior you know.”
Mio sighed, she was still dressed up the same way she was in the picture Eizan had sent to Ren and Ome. “I don’t know how I let him talk me into this.”
Eizan was giggling. “I think you look good. It’s a whole different side of you I never thought I would see.”
Mary put a hand on her forehead. “So, are you going to tell me where you two are going?”
Eizan shook his head. “It’s a surprise. I’ll send you the address via text message. We should be rather late so don’t wait up.”
Itsuki frowned. “I expect you in the dojo first thing in the morning.”
Eizan stiffened up at the mention of morning practice. “S-sure thing.”
Mio was giggling as he was reprimanded. Elise was smiling. “I think brother looks cool like this. It reminds me of the days before he moved.”
Mary was shaking her head. “You’re supposed to be a good influence on your little sister. Now look what you’ve done. She’s probably going to marry some delinquent she finds on the street.”
Eizan’s eyes narrowed. “If he can beat me, he can marry my sister.”
Elise hit the table and yelled. “That’s not fair. No one is going to be able to beat you or father.”
Eizan shrugged. “Better pick someone good enough that I don’t feel the need to fight him.”
Elise’s eyes narrowed. “You know maybe it is better that you moved away.”
Eizan put a hand on his chest acted like he had just been dealt a heavy blow. “My sister doesn’t love me anymore.”
Everyone laughed at his childish display. They spent the next little while eating dinner and chatting before Eizan told Mio it was time to leave. Mary escorted them to the door. “I’m counting on you to keep him out of trouble Mio.”
Eizan sighed. “It was only once mom and I said it would never happen again.”
Mio looked at Eizan strangely. “Did you do something bad?”
Eizan froze. “Umm…”
Mary sighed. “He was drinking with his band buddies.”
Mio gasped “I thought you said you weren’t really a delinquent.”
Eizan shook his head. “Someone spiked my drink I swear.”
Both Mary and Mio were shaking their heads like they didn’t believe him.
Mary looked at Eizan sternly “You keep her safe or I’ll rain hellfire down on you when you get home.”
Eizan gulped. “I would never let anything happen to her. That you can count on.”
Mary sighed. “Have fun you two.”
Eizan grabbed her hand and started to drag her away from the door. “Hurry up were going to be late.”
Mio was wearing boots that she wasn’t use to wearing and was slightly stumbling as he pulled her along. “Slow down.” When they exited the front gate there was a cab waiting for them. They entered the cab and Mio looked over at Eizan. “Are you going to tell me where were going?”
Eizan shook his head. “Nope.”
She sighed. “Sometimes you really are impossible.”
“You wanted to know more about me, right?”
“Well… I guess that’s true.”
He smiled. “Good. I used to do stuff like this all the time.”
Mio gave him a strange look. “And your parents didn’t get angry?”
Eizan laughed. “I used to sneak out before I got caught.”
She looked surprised. “You would sneak out of the house?”
Eizan nodded. “Every night for a year before I got caught.”
“I bet your parents were furious.”
Eizan laughed. “Yup, until I told them what I was doing. They reluctantly let me continue.”
Mio sighed. “Yup, I bet they knew you would do it anyways. They probably figured it was safer if they knew where you were.”
Eizan gave her a funny look. “You sound exactly like my mother.” She hit him and stuck out her tongue. Eizan burst out laughing. “I bet you have some idea of where were going.”
Mio smiled. “Yeah, I’m not stupid. Were going to a concert, right?”
Eizan smiled. “I knew you were smart.”
Mio shook her head. “It’s blatantly obvious.”
Eizan started laughing again. “Yeah, I figured as much.”
She was shaking her head and thinking. “He seems really happy right now. I wonder how much he loved playing music. It does seem like kind of a waste for him to just play drums in a band though. Not that I really care what he decides to do.” A few minutes later they were dropped off in front of a shady looking building. “Where are we?”
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Eizan looked around. “Places like this tend to keep a low profile.” He led her to a metal door and banged on it three times. A metal slat opened up about eye level.
“What’s the pass code?”
“Bruno let me in its Eizan”
The door flung open and a large muscled black man grabbed Eizan and gave him a giant hug. “Eizan you son of a bitch I thought you died.”
Eizan groaned and patted him on the back. “I’m alive and well. I just moved.”
Bruno released his hug and looked at Mio standing behind Eizan. “You brought a girl? Hello, little lady. What are you doing with a guy like this?”
Eizan hit Bruno. “That’s my fiancé.”
Bruno looked surprised. “You got engaged. How the hell did that happen?”
Eizan shrugged. “It just kind of happened. Mio this is Bruno. Bruno this is Mio.”
Bruno walked over, picked up Mio and twirled her around. “She’s so adorable.”
Eizan sighed. “Bruno put her down please. She’s not used to you yet.” He put Mio down and apologized. “Sorry about him he’s just really friendly. Not that you would know it by looking at him.”
Bruno frowned. “I’ll have you know I got married since you left. I’m opening my own gym too.”
Eizan looked excited. “That’s awesome Bruno. Congrats on both the marriage and the gym. Does that mean your going to stop being a bouncer?”
“Nah, man I love this job. I get to listen to awesome music and it pays well. The old lady doesn’t like it though.”
Eizan laughed. “I bet not.” Eizan grabbed Mio’s hand. She was still in shock from being picked up and flung around like a child. “Come on Mio we better get going.”
She waved and yelled at Bruno as she was dragged away. “It was nice meeting you.”
Bruno yelled back. “Come visit again.”
Mio looked at the walls of the hallway that she was being led down. The lighting was only a black light and glow in the dark graffiti was all over the walls. She couldn’t help but feel nervous as she had never been to a place like this before. She couldn’t help but think this isn’t a place for sixteen-year-olds. She was about to say something to Eizan when he opened the door and she heard loud music playing. She looked around the giant warehouse like room that was filled with people all staring and cheering for the band playing on the stage. The music was incredibly loud and she held Eizan’s hand even harder than she had before. He started leading her through the crowd towards the stage. She was surprised that people just seemed to get out of his way as he pushed through. He wasn’t polite about it at all. Before she knew it, she was standing right in the front row staring up at the stage. She looked up in amazement at the band that was playing on the stage. All of a sudden, the lights went dark and the stage lit up. She noticed glow sticks appeared everywhere around her. Eizan pulled two out from seemingly nowhere and handed her one. She flicked it on and started waving it around as the band played. She was amazed at how awesome they were. The next thing she knew she was cheering and dancing and jumping up and down with Eizan. She took out her phone and started to record the show in front of her. Eizan smiled seeing the amazement on her face. “I’m glad it seems like all of her nervousness disappeared.”
They listened to two bands play until Eizan grabbed her hand again and started to lead her somewhere else. She realized how much she trusted him as he pulled her along. Even though she was nervous she was never afraid he would take her somewhere she wasn’t safe. He led her to a side door and opened it. She was led into another dark hallway before he opened a door to a smoky room. Sitting there were Kyosuke and three other people. A blue haired girl and a man she recognized from the video she saw are sitting next to each other talking. Everyone in the room turned and looked towards Eizan and Mio as they entered the room. Emica stood up in shock and immediately ran over to them. “Eizan. I can’t believe you came back.” She looked towards Mio and got a weird look on her face. “Who’s this?”
Eizan smiled. “This is Mio. My fiancé.”
Emica froze as she looked at Mio. After a few seconds she approached Mio and grabbed her hands. “Nice to meet you. You have to tell me how you pulled it off. This guys so dense he never once responded to me.”
Mio smiled awkwardly. “Honestly, I have no clue what I did.”
Emica smiled as she looked Mio up and down. “Well, I can see why he’s attracted to you.” She looked over at Eizan. “You could have called. We were all worried about you.”
Eizan scratched his cheek. “Well, some stuff happened and I kind of threw away my phone.”
Emica frowned. “It must have been pretty serious for you just to throw away everything like you did.”
Eizan sighed. “It was serious enough for me to move away. But enough about me how has everyone been and is this your new drummer?”
Emica turned towards a teen boy with spiked black hair. “Yeah, that’s Denji. He’s our new drummer. He’s still trying to learn your beats, but he’s catching on fast.”
Eizan walked up to Denji. “Yo, nice to meet you. I’m Eizan.” He offered his hand for a handshake.
Denji looked nervous but shook his hand. “Dude, your awesome. I’m glad to finally meet you.” They started chatting about the drums.
Emica grabbed Mio’s hand and led her over to the long-haired blonde man she was talking to earlier. “Mio this is Matt. He’s from America and is our bassist.”
In broken Japanese he greeted Mio. “What’s up. Nice to meet you.”
Emica pointed to Kyosuke. “That guy over there is our lead guitarist Kyosuke.”
Mio nodded. “I met him earlier at the park.”
Emica turned towards Kyosuke and frowned. “You met them earlier and didn’t say anything?”
Kyosuke shrugged. “I thought it would be better if it was a surprise.”
Emica turned back towards Mio. “Just so you know I don’t dislike you because you got him. It was never going to work between us anyways. He never once responded to me.” Emica grabbed her chest. She was relatively flat chested. “I wonder if he has a thing for girls with larger tits.”
Mio giggled. “He does seem to look at mine a lot.”
Eizan was still talking to Denji but he turned around to reply. “I do not.”
When Eizan turned back around, she looked at Emica a whispered. “He does. He’s just won’t admit it.”
Emica and Mio started laughing. “I like you. So where are you guys staying.”
“Well, were staying at his parent’s house for this weekend. But were living together in Nagoya.”
Emica’s eyes widened. “You’re living together?”
Mio nodded. “For a few weeks now.”
Emica leaned in close. “I bet he’s wild in the bedroom.”
Mio blushed. “He’s definitely a wolf.” She didn’t bother to clear up the misunderstanding.
Emica whistled. “Your so lucky. You know as long as we’ve known him, we barely know anything about him. He’s a complete enigma. He just showed up one day and offered to play in the band.”
Mio giggled. “Yeah, that sounds like something he would do.”
“So, who is he really? We’ve got bets placed on who he is outside of the underground seen.”
Mio gave her a funny look. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Emica looked shocked. “Is it a big secret?”
Mio giggled. “I would say he keeps it secret enough that he should tell you himself when he’s ready.”
Emica sighed and looked over at Eizan. “So, Eizan why are you here today?”
Eizan turned towards her and smiled. “I’m playing drums tonight.”
Mio and Emica’s eyes widened. “What? Is Denji ok with it?” Denji nodded.
Kyosuke stood up and patted Eizan on the back. “Well, I guess the original Heathens are all back on stage for one last time.”
Eizan smiled. “Yup, this is going to be my last time playing on stage. I left in such a hurry last time I never got to give a farewell show.”
Emica shook her head. “As long as Denji is fine with it, I guess I’m down. Do you remember how to play?”
Eizan laughed. “I think I’ll be fine.”