Thread: The End? Or A New Beginning? (Yuna & Vandesdelca's 1x1)

Kanji Tatsumi With the conclusion of the Midnight Channel murder case had come a sort of clarity for Kanji Tatsumi. There came a time after the dust had settled -- with that bastard Adachi rotting behind bars, with Yu-senpai back home in the city, with all of his friends drifting back into their ordinary routines or breaking out on their own paths -- when Kanji realized a few things. He wasn't sure why he had never made these realizations before, but it had all come together at once. 1. He had friends who had seen him at his best and at his worse, more than he could even say for his mother. Friends for life, the sort that came from sharing blood and sweat and tears. 2. He was Kanji goddamn Tatsumi and everything that happened to imply. 3. Anyone who didn't like either of the first two facts were free to get bent. Those thoughts kept him buoyed for a couple of years, but Chie, Yousuke, and Yukiko all graduated before him and Rise and Naoto had their own jobs to deal with that kept them busy -- Rise across the country and Naoto in her own little crime-solving bubble. With Yousuke working his way up the track to manager, Yukiko officially taking over the inn, and Chie busting her butt to become a police officer, Kanji'd been left sort of out in the cold. Halfway through his senior year, he'd decided to do something about that. His mom was in decent health and didn't need any help running the textile shop -- even with the demand of the little dolls he made in his spare time. So he got another job -- it had taken some convincing, but Daidara had finally taken an apprentice. He'd had to smooth over the whole beating up a shit ton of would be gangsters with a shield thing and prove to the old man that he believed in the artistry blacksmithing -- something the old Kanji never could have done. He made little delicate works of metal art as well as big, bulky decorative shields and the like, though he still had a ways to go, but during the summer after graduation he had time to indulge that particular time sink. Besides, having Kanji around had some unexpected benefits for old Daidara. As Naoto traipsed through the Central Shopping District, there was a clamor coming from Daidara Metalworks. Yo! Get the hell back here! Drop it and I won't kick your ass! Kanji could be heard yelling. He thought it was rather diplomatic of him, really. The way it looked was a... little different. A second year was sprinting down the street with a poorly concealed knife under his shirt, his expression scared shitless as Kanji chased him down. He had... well, clearly the past couple of years had been good for him, in prime physical condition that was only shown off by his shirt -- what had once been a long-sleeved shirt with an elaborate skull motif had had its sleeves ripped off at the shoulders, leaving bare, glistening arms free... one of which just happened to be wrapped around the waist of another second year, carried like a football and looking rather sick from the whole experience. Got ya! Kanji shouted as he darted forward, snagging the second year by the collar, the youth's legs flying out from underneath him as his collar met the immovable object that was Kanji Tatsumi's grip, landing on his butt as the pilfered knife landed on the ground. Tch. Buncha stupid wannabe bikers -- don't need to be messing around with knives. 'Specially stolen ones they're a hell of a lot sharper than those pocket knives, Kanji berated with the slightest note of pride over the quality of the pilfered knife, sounding almost... responsible as he berated the two kids in the middle of the street. They weren't even that much younger than he was -- he'd clearly had a chance to mature and the fact that he was a half foot taller than either of them certainly didn't hurt matters.