Love Me Til I Explode

Akio gawked as his head went left and right, trying to keep tabs on Tanimura and Kitsune. He marveled at the baseball player’s grit and the journalist’s collectedness.

It felt like he hadn’t even begun to know who these two were, his initial impressions of them being downright negative. But now, he was depending on them as they showed off their skills, bashing red and blue into the ground and signaling the cry of victory.

Just like how he had been sold short so often, he had been doing the same. But now, the cycle of that was being put to an end.

Akio walked forward as their opponents both surrendered. It was now his turn to keep the trust rolling. The cloaked figure in the middle had not moved at all, the towering figure giving off a sense that they were still observing. The hidden face looked right at Akio as if judging his next actions.

And then, a hand was raised forward. An outstretched palm beckoned for him to approach and claim victory as well. Akio didn’t need to be told twice as he marched forward, fists up and carefully gauging the distance.

Once he had come within a few strides apart, the palm twirled and pointed a finger out at him. That finger then stood straight up with confidence before it turned into a fist.

“So you’re giving me one attack as a freebie? How nice of you to offer.”

Seeing the figure nod slightly, Akio took the remaining steps in, reared his fist back and prepared his best haymaker. His weight shifted forward, the fist cut through the wind, and he exhaled to force his muscles to explode with power.

His opponent being too tall to slam in the face with it, he aimed for the torso, hoping a body blow would show his opponent that he meant business without any bloodlust behind it.

He was met with a wall of diamonds that sent shivers up his arm at the unexpected hardness. Akio’s eyes widened at how little damage it had seemingly done. However, the figure let out a chuckle.

“Interesting. My turn now.”

Oh shit!

The fist that had been raised pulled back. Before Akio could manage to solidify his guard, knuckles crashed against a cross block that caved as flimsy as popsicle sticks. His arms were blown away as the fist slammed into his gut.

With his eyes rolling back from the sheer force, he could no longer feel the ground until his back collided with it. There was a visceral fear that his spine had shattered, but then, he tucked and rolled, finding that he could still move his legs. He was now thankful that he did a body blow, as a counter to the face would have destroyed him.

More than anything, his mind blared with questions of why and how. There was no doubt about it. This was a fight that he had zero chance of winning. He had been given the daunting task of becoming the kings of the streets. It was a highly unfavorable result from the beginning, but he held onto hope.

That hope was demolished when the figure pulled back the hood, revealing a grinning Misaki. She threw off the cloak in the next moment.

Her father had said that she wouldn’t help him, so he had taken it as her being excluded from the battles. He hadn’t thought for a moment that she would fight him herself.

“A Haibara never loses. They will find a way to overcome all odds, no matter what it is before them. That was the condition my father left me when I decided to rebel against him. Being a yankee was allowed if I was to become the best damn one in town. And so, I did.”

Akio struggled to get up as he focused on every word coming from her, trying to guess her intentions.

“But then, I became bored, so I no longer wanted to be that. I tossed it away because no one could keep up. I left it all behind when it no longer excited me, so I looked for something else.”

She pointed a finger at Akio, beaming at him.

“I fell hard for you when you come onto me, even if it was a mistake. But still, you followed. It was so cute, so lovable. I couldn’t bear to let you go.” Misaki’s face darkened. “But then, I was reminded of the reality. No one can keep it up forever. How long until you become soft on me? How long until it stops being fun?”

Misaki paused, a tear rolling down her face.

“How long will you keep loving me?”

She wiped it away, like denying that she felt sad about anything. Akio had never seen it – a Misaki that completely doubted her own actions. In his mind, she was infallible. The world would bend to her will before she would bend to it. Because of that, Akio didn’t want to believe it.

“Bitch, what makes you think I’ll stop loving you.”

He finally found the strength to stand up again, putting his arms in a stance. With a charging strike, he threw a left cross at Misaki. Her arm came up, immovable. Akio couldn’t get so much as a millimeter of give against her brute strength. He threw a right hook that was blocked with the other hand, hopeless as well.

Even if Akio didn’t have any hope of beating her, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try. Even if Misaki had doubts about her own feelings, that didn’t change his own.

He pulled his arm back and rolled his shoulder forward for another blow. It didn’t matter that he was hitting a statue that didn’t budge, he continued his strikes – left, right, left, right – over and over, hoping that it would move Misaki the slightest bit.

Suddenly, a knee came up and smashed into his chest, sending him to the ground again. He bounced back up and brushed himself off.

“Damn, not even a Dempsey Roll will do it, huh. I ain’t stopping until I find a way inside you!”

Misaki’s cheeks gave off the slightest flush. For a moment, she snapped back to her normal self.

“There you go, saying such easily mistaken things. A girl could get so hot for you.”

“I’ll do it anyways. I don’t care about the consequences if it’s you.”

“Consequences, huh.”

Misaki’s grin dropped. In an instant, she had become a blur, too quick for Akio to dodge. He tried to move but found his arms locked behind him. Somehow, Misaki had completely shut him down.

A pair of arms snaked around his front. They squeezed tighter and tighter until he started to feel his organs slide.

“How silly it is for you to talk about consequences. There’s so much you’ve yet to know about me. So many little things I’d rather hide because you’d just hate it. A night with me and I wonder how many brushes with death you’ll feel with the euphoria. You can only survive so much poison.”

As if to prove her point, her grip continued to tighten. Akio became red in the face, all the blood being squeezed up to it with nowhere else to go. The feeling of Misaki’s hard, unyielding body pressed against him was making him see stars. And those stars were turning into a full-blown night.

“Release him, Haibara.”

Akio felt his body jostle and thrown about before he landed into a pair of much softer arms. It took him a moment to realize that the person looking at him was Yuunagi.

She faced forward after confirming that he had recovered his senses, protecting him like a mother bird.

“Don’t you think things have gotten too far? There has to be a better way to reject him, isn’t there?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been in a relationship before.” Misaki stared at the two of them vacantly. “All I know is how to be forceful. How to have it my way. That’s the person I am.”

“Well, I feel sorry for Wada-kun.” Yuunagi discarded her mask. “I can tell that he has fallen for you too. Saying that such feelings won’t last is just running away from things.”

“And what’s wrong with enjoying something and calling it quits, and then, holding fond memories of it instead of slowly losing interest?”

Yuunagi was about to object, but then, she felt a hand on her shoulder pulling her back. Akio stepped forward once again.

“What’s this I’m hearing? You’re bored of me? I’m not interesting enough?”

He stepped right up to her, mad at her words.

“You’re the one that isn’t showing me the real you. You’re the one that has to play games, being someone you think I like being with. How many times do I have to say it? I don’t like yankees, or yanderes, or perfect girlfriends, or girls that can beat me up, or girls that want to have fun always. I love you. Show me the real you.”

Misaki glared at him, that moment of vague uncertainty again in her eyes. He would get flashes of it occasionally, nothing long enough to hint at her own misgivings. He knew that she was holding back, playing games to seem more accommodating of him.

It was like walking on glass. He would rather just crash right through it.

Misaki felt a slight pain in her thigh. She looked down to see Akio’s hand under her skirt. He pulled it back, revealing a knife with blood on the tip.

“Damn, such thicc thighs. A wimpy knife like this can hardly make a mark on it. Can’t even carve my initials on those massive trunks to stake my claim.”

He had swiped the knife she kept hidden under her skirt, hoping to drive home the point. He didn’t care that she was violent and uncontrollable. He didn’t care that she wanted her way.

Akio would just have to fight harder to make her back down.

“Wada-kun, w-what are you?”

“Yuunagi, back down. Don’t you dare get in between us. It’s just a couple’s spat. Pay it no mind.”

Akio tossed the knife to the side. He raised his arms at Misaki and pounded his chest.

“I’ve drawn blood now. That means I’m prepared to fuck you up. Now it’s your turn. Come at me with everything you have. Show me who you really are. If I kick the bucket, that just means I don’t have what it takes to keep up with you, simple as that. But at the very least, I’ll know the real Misaki ended me. I’ll have loved you until the moment I die.”

A glow exuded from Misaki’s face, which had flushed pink now. Her eyes beamed with an adoration that was intense enough to make a normal person flee for the hills.

“Will you actually let me crush your heart?”

It was an innocent sounding question that gave people shivers. She made a heart with her hands at him, but then, the muscles on her forearm bulged with such raw strength, the very symbol crushed under the grip of her palms.

“Of course, Misaki. Fuck me up. I’ll fuck you up too. Let our love be something that never gets boring for you.”

With that, Misaki looked over the moon. If she could have hearts for eyes, they would beat at the sight of Akio confessing that way to her.

Akio had a certain way with words. It made him sound like the dumbest guy in the world at times. But that didn’t matter at all. The one person he cared about was right in front of him, ground cracking at the weight of her steps and looking like she could punch through the Earth’s core.

He didn’t even have time to regret as Misaki’s punch turned supersonic and collided with his chest. The feeling of bones shattering rippled from his core all the way to his fingertips. His heart stopped, mangled by the sheer pressure of everything Misaki in a single punch.

Not that Akio could regret it.

It wasn’t everyday that someone loved so hard that it caused a body to explode on contact.

His head fell against something soft. He hoped to God that it was her thighs.