"Takemichi, to this day I still don"t understand why my older brother agreed to help you?"

"Huh? Taiju-kun didn"t tell you? Ah, with his personality, he wouldn"t say it. You brothers are truly eternal..."

Taking advantage of being alone with Takemichi, Hakkai wanted to find the answer to his long-standing question, but why did he smell something off?

"Taiju-kun agreed to help me because I used you to bait him."

Yeah, he knew what that smell was! The smell of sheer terror!

"Huh????" Hakkai dropped his jaw, letting out a long string of astonishment.

"He might look like that, but Taiju-kun cares about you a lot."

The more Takemichi spoke, the more Hakkai grimaced, his face showing blatant disgust. Hakkai felt that if Takemichi said aliens were coming to invade Earth tomorrow, it would sound less ridiculous than that statement.

"Don"t joke around, Takemichi. What do you mean you used me to bait him?"

"It"s enough that you know that much, the specifics are a secret. In short, Taiju helped me because he wanted to protect you."

Hakkai looked at Takemichi in absolute bewilderment. What did he mean Taiju wanted to protect him? What did he mean he cared? It was incredibly absurd. Unacceptable. Hakkai refused to process this information.

Takemichi shook his head. People who were used to family storms found it hard to accept overwhelming familial love, didn"t they? He was always surrounded by endless family dramas.

Well, it was like this for now, but who knew, in the not-so-distant future, Takemichi might see these siblings getting along. Like gathering on weekends, eating, reminiscing about the past, talking about how they used to beat each other up—truly a fiery youth, a fierce childhood.

As for the truth of how Takemichi managed to lure Taiju to his side, he really did use Hakkai and added a few tricks of playing god and devil, so he couldn"t explain it clearly to Hakkai. But he also wanted this guy to know that his older brother wasn"t too bad.

By the time they returned to the Shiba residence, it was past noon. The two of them walked in carrying a bunch of bags and saw Taiju reading a book in the living room. Takemichi cheerfully greeted him, while Hakkai, still shell-shocked by Takemichi"s words about his brother, narrowed his eyes, looking to see if that person showed even a sliver of care for him.

And what was the result he saw? He didn"t see a damn thing!

Seeing the two return, Taiju simply set his book aside gently, then walked over to Takemichi and took a few bags of groceries from him, heading into the kitchen.

"Have you two eaten anything?"

"We had some snacks, not too hungry."

"You should still eat a proper lunch. The rice and food are still hot, come eat."

"So you just had lunch too?"

"Just now."

"Why did you eat so late?"

"I was busy with something, so I ate later than usual."

Walking behind them, Hakkai didn"t quite understand at first, but then it dawned on him. Of course, this beloved younger brother of Taiju knew exactly what their family rules were like. There was no such thing as eating lunch nearly two hours late because of being "busy."

Today, Taiju didn"t go to the Black Dragon; what could he possibly be busy with at home? Their family had a butler, so there was no need to worry about cooking—just sit there and the butler would serve it. Eating took 30 minutes at most. What was he busy with? Probably busy saving the world. He knew Takemichi would come over around noon, so he waited to eat with him, not expecting that they wouldn"t just buy groceries but also wander around here and there before finally coming back. That tone of his, neither loud nor soft, was probably him sulking about eating first.

Takemichi laid out the groceries. Whatever needed prepping was prepped first, whatever needed refrigerating was put away. Tomorrow morning, Mitsuya would come over to help him marinate the meat, and he would prepare things in advance. The party would take place in the afternoon; just thinking about it made him excited. Hakkai"s task at that moment was to set the table for lunch.

"Why did you buy so many bell peppers? You don"t even like eating bell peppers."

"I can force myself to eat them with grilled meat. Besides, everyone skewers meat with bell peppers, I can"t just not buy them because I don"t eat them."

"It"s your party, you can buy whatever you like. And what is this? You"re going to turn into a potato, Takemichi."

Taiju picked up a massive bag full of potato chips and shook his head. Takemichi just scratched his cheek and laughed.

"Hakkai bought them for me, went a bit overboard. Ah, there are some original flavor ones, want some?"

"I don"t eat that."

"So picky, you just missed out on a worldly delicacy."

"You just focus on eating your rice. You keep complaining about why your height isn"t increasing, it"s exactly because you only eat these "worldly delicacies"."

"No way, I eat a lot of rice."

"So much that every time we go out to eat, you have to scoop almost half your bowl over to me?"

"The doctor said my appetite changed so I don"t want to eat, but I used to eat a lot before."

It was a very normal conversation, but Hakkai caught a few key points that mentally shocked him.

First, this guy actually remembered Takemichi"s eating preferences? When they were buying earlier, Hakkai didn"t even know Takemichi disliked bell peppers, and conversely, Takemichi knew Taiju rarely ate snacks, and if he ever touched any, it would be the original flavor.

Second, how many times had these two gone out to eat together? And he was willing to eat food from someone else"s bowl? To put it bluntly, he accepted eating the leftovers that Takemichi couldn"t finish.

Hah, when they were young, if he and his sister couldn"t finish their food, they would be punished by him, forced to swallow it down bitterly, not allowed to leave any leftovers. Now, going out to eat with Takemichi, he willingly ate it for him.

God, what was this uncomfortable feeling? Hakkai felt both jealous and so angry he could choke.

So the saying, "In life, you will definitely meet someone who will break your rules, change your habits, and become your exception," was like this.

Takemichi had become the person who broke Taiju"s rules, changed his habits, and became his exception.

Standing behind them, Hakkai could clearly feel the harmonious, intimate atmosphere between the two. He also noticed the gentle curve of his brother"s eyes and lips, warmly sickening!

This was truly too absurd. How long had he even been by his side? Didn"t he look down on Takemichi before? Why could he now harbor so much affection for him? Even more than him? How could it be like this?

Hakkai clenched his fists. Because he had an older brother who was too strong and too talented, he always carried a sense of inferiority that led to low self-esteem.

I don"t have leadership skills like my older brother, I"m not as strong as my older brother, I can"t win against my older brother.

And now, that inferiority complex even touched upon his romantic feelings. Even though he met Takemichi first, he didn"t even realize his own feelings, and when he did, he didn"t dare admit them. And then, that inferiority made him think that his feelings for Takemichi couldn"t compare to his brother"s either.

Because Taiju changed for Takemichi, a change so obvious that anyone could see it.

As for him, he wished he could change, could become stronger to protect his friends, to protect Takemichi, but all this time he hadn"t become stronger, nor had he protected him. Takemichi still had to suffer injuries but didn"t tell anyone, didn"t tell him at all.

Still that feeling of being left behind; no matter how resentful he was, he was powerless to do anything. In the end, he was still a coward.

The emotions that had piled up in his heart for so long suddenly surged through his body. Hakkai had to bite his lip hard to restrain himself. He only snapped back to reality when Takemichi called him.

"Hakkai, what"s wrong?"

Seeing Hakkai"s complexion suddenly turn very poor, Takemichi worried something was wrong and asked with concern. Hakkai looked at Takemichi, then at him standing next to his older brother. Taiju looked at Hakkai"s expression with a stern face, as if evaluating and probing his condition.

Hakkai suddenly felt afraid, afraid his brother would realize he was angry, realize he was feeling inferior to him. He tried to hold back, but Hakkai had never been able to be strong in front of Taiju, except for that one time. But that time, Takemichi was standing beside him, not beside Taiju.

Hakkai took a slight step back, forcing a smile to cover it up.

"I"m a bit tired, and I"m not hungry either. You go ahead and eat, Takemichi, I"ll go up to my room for a bit and come down later."

"Is that so? Then go up and rest."

Hakkai then hurried up to his room.

In the end, I still ran away. Why am I still so weak?

"Taiju-kun, lately I"ve heard rumors in the Black Dragon that I"m going to leave Toman to focus on the Black Dragon. Is this true?"

While eating, Takemichi asked Taiju.

Taiju raised an eyebrow slightly. He thought he had blocked all these rumors because he knew Takemichi wouldn"t like hearing them. Takemichi"s mental state had just stabilized, and he didn"t want anything to affect him. Yet it still reached his ears. Words were always something that couldn"t be absolutely stopped.

"Originally, it started from the outside, then those restless new members of ours spread it within the gang. You know that if it were the old members, no one would say this; they all know you"re loyal to Toman."

"Did someone tell you about this?"

"It was Kimura. He told me."

Taiju"s face became somewhat serious, crossing his arms.

"Probably to provoke me or something? Anyway, he succeeded."

Takemichi added when he saw Taiju"s expression.

"Is that why you went back to Toman early yesterday?"

"Yeah, when I first heard it, I was a bit annoyed. I was afraid they would misunderstand, so I went to ask them."

Taiju gritted his teeth. More and more, that guy was exposing many issues. Taiju felt that keeping Kimura around would sooner or later cause trouble.

"If you feel you don"t like Kimura, you can expel him. That guy has something very sinister about him, definitely has his own ulterior motives."

"I know he has ulterior motives, but he"s a secret card. Kisaki understands all of us too well, except for Kimura. Besides, he"s holding some important leads. I won"t try to expel him right now."

Expelling Kimura wouldn"t be hard at all. He was a madman with abnormal thoughts, but he came from a prestigious family, with relatives who were even politicians. It seemed he was pampered, allowed to freely wreak havoc, but only in secret. He always had to maintain his image, which was why that guy could act so brilliantly.

Later on, if he wanted to expel him, he just needed to use the evidence of him participating in a delinquent gang and send it to his family. His family would naturally force him to return home. What kind of place was Japan? A place where a clean reputation was more precious than life itself. For a prestigious family with politicians, how could they accept their descendants being delinquents—hooligans, troublemakers, even lawbreakers? Takemichi kept him around for this reason too, because he had something to threaten him with.

"He"s currently my pet dog, even though his nature is that of a fox, not a dog."

Taiju really wanted to say that Inupee would scream and cry, finding a way to eradicate Kimura to reclaim his exclusive position as his pet dog if he heard Takemichi say this. Don"t let Inupee hear who was taking his spot as the good, pet puppy.

"Then by the way, I also want to ask, if you catch Kisaki, what will you do?"

Takemichi pondered, thinking for a moment.

"Probably beat him until he wakes up and stops doing bad things."

Taiju immediately narrowed his eyes at him with a "What kind of nonsense did you just say?" look. From Takemichi"s accounts, Taiju grasped just how dangerous Kisaki was. He had meticulously calculated so many things, could it really just stop at "beating him until he wakes up"? No bad guy stopped being bad just because they got beaten.

Takemichi looked at Taiju evaluating him and found it amusing. Then he said something that made Taiju freeze, unsure if he was telling the truth or joking.

"If beating him doesn"t wake him up and he still wants to do bad things, I"ll buy a really sturdy chain, find some place, and lock him up for the rest of his life. That guy hasn"t caused any major incidents yet; throwing him in jail would only get him a few years. And a genius like him going to prison, I suspect he"d create a grand revenge plan and use the criminals in there as tools. So I might as well just lock him up myself."

Taiju didn"t know if he was joking or being serious because his eyes sparkled as if talking about something very fun, very interesting, the smile on his lips still radiant. This suddenly made Taiju"s body feel a bit cold. There were moments when Takemichi made others think that behind that angelic smile, he was a true demon.

"Then I"ll pray for that guy so you don"t catch him."

Taiju said this because he assumed this was a joke, because if it were true... then this would be absolutely terrifying.

"Then one more thing. If there are no more threats, will you leave the Black Dragon?"

Takemichi would never know how long Taiju had kept this question in his heart, nor how much he both feared and anticipated his answer.

"Leave the Black Dragon? Why would I leave the Black Dragon?"

Takemichi tilted his head and asked back, causing a light to seemingly ignite in Taiju"s heart, a light of hope. He had no intention of leaving the Black Dragon? Was his perception wrong? Had he worried too much?

"So you still want to be the Commander of the Black Dragon from now on?"

"Taiju-kun, are you planning to take the Commander position back from me?"

Takemichi joked back.

"No! No! I just thought you wanted to be the Commander of the Black Dragon because you wanted to protect Toman. If there"s no more danger, you would return to Toman. After all, isn"t becoming the Commander of the Black Dragon a pressure for you?"

Takemichi just chuckled softly. He spoke slowly to Taiju.

"Yeah, it"s really pressuring. Before, I found just fighting difficult, let alone leading a gang. The first time I received money from the territory we protected, I was terrified, didn"t even dare touch that money. Or when I first took on a job to collect a 10 million yen debt for a hostess club, I knew that old man was no good, but seeing how Kokonoi used his family to threaten him, making him kneel at my feet begging me at that time..."

Takemichi felt he was nothing special; he despised himself. He hadn"t dared tell anyone in Toman about this, but he knew they probably already knew. No matter how he controlled it, a delinquent gang relied on violence to survive; its nature couldn"t be changed. But if it weren"t like that, he wouldn"t have power, wouldn"t have a lot of money.

What was more terrifying was that gradually, when facing the gang"s activities, his heart no longer pounded, his soul no longer held a shred of compassion for those people. They were bad people, and he felt he was too.

The words he once heard Kisaki say—power breeds darkness—had he been swallowed by the darkness? He didn"t even know.

Those pressures, thoughts, and internal struggles made Takemichi feel like he was stuck in a mud pit. He wanted to escape, but the more he struggled, the deeper he sank. Smiling on the outside, but inside existed countless doubts about himself, so much anxiety and fear. His heart had long lost its peace. Takemichi didn"t want to admit it, nor did he want to shift the blame, but his depression wasn"t just due to the trauma and pain of the past, but also because of the pressure from the position he held—the 11th Generation Commander of the Black Dragon. Takemichi didn"t regret his decision, but he couldn"t stop the painful feelings it brought.

"But I"m truly very happy to be the Commander of the Black Dragon and receive everyone"s respect. The Black Dragon"s current development is all thanks to Kokonoi, Inupee, and you too. I"m very grateful that you guys are by my side. With you guys, I don"t feel the pressure like I did at the beginning."

Takemichi rarely shared these things with others, and Taiju was even less of a target for him to vent his feelings to, so he was surprised to hear these words from him. Previously, Taiju also often asked if there were any problems with him becoming the Commander of the Black Dragon. He always smiled and said everything was fine. But at that time, he didn"t feel that way.

So this was his true feeling?

Wasn"t this the same as the Black Dragon being a shackle that made him feel burdened, not at all joyful as he portrayed? He had precisely sensed these emotions, sensed that he wanted to free himself, which was why he thought he would leave. It seemed Taiju"s sharpness was correct after all. The small spark of hope in his heart was immediately extinguished.

"Stop trying to act like you"re fine, Takemichi. You never liked this position."

Taiju suddenly felt the urge to get angry.

"No, becoming the Commander of the Black Dragon is an honor for me. I"m proud of this title, proud to be trusted by everyone..."

Takemichi looked straight at Taiju, again with that resolute demeanor as if nothing in this world could shake him. His bright blue eyes radiated a mysterious power that made it impossible for others to look away. That strong, beautiful appearance had moved his heart, making him believe this person would become his faith. Whatever he did, whatever he wanted, he would do it for him. But this time, he didn"t want to.

"One day, I will be the one to end the era of the Black Dragon..."

It meant not leaving, but that he would be the one to disband the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon gang would stop at the 11th generation; he would be the final Commander.

Taiju clenched his fists slightly, trying to brace himself to suppress the sharp pain in his heart. He was truly too cruel. With what they were building and would surely grow even stronger in the future, he wanted it to end?

"And I will also end the era of Toman."

Taiju froze. This time, astonishment was clearly displayed on his face. Taiju widened his eyes at him.

"The era of delinquents should end while we are still young men. Let everyone have their own path, fulfill their own dreams. Meeting each other, creating this dream together right now is already a true happiness. Let"s end it when it's at its most beautiful."