The moment everyone learned Tsuyoi's cellmate was PE-1992, the man in solitary confinement…
Nobody sat with Tsuyoi or even dared to talk to him.
Their reasoning was that they didn't want to form attachments to someone they knew would die soon. And yet, despite everything and everyone screaming at him to be afraid, Tsuyoi wasn't afraid in the slightest. He figured that whoever it was, they could talk it out.
The only one who still talked to him from time to time was Tracy. "Who is PE-1992, anyway?" Tsuyoi asked. They walked through the hallways with their hands in their pockets.
"PE-1992? No idea. Nobody knows his name, and nobody dares to utter it. Some motherfuckers even say it brings bad luck."
"Fuck outta here." Tsuyoi giggled.
"I'm serious. That guy is the devil himself. They say he has been here for thirty years and has killed 79 guards and 302 inmates since then, 127 of them his previous cellmates."
"What?! 79?! 302? 127?!"
"That's right." Tracy nodded.
"Why haven't they executed him?" Tsuyoi said in disbelief.
"No idea. He is forbidden from entering the skirmishes for being too violent, and the guards just let him be because even they are afraid of him." Tracy looked around to see if anyone was listening, as if PE-1992 might pop out at any second. "He is gangless. Neither King nor Y dares to recruit him."
"How are you even going to control a guy like that? Or forget that, how are you even going to go near him?" Tsuyoi scratched the back of his neck as he arrived at his cell.
"Well, you should figure it out as soon as possible, then," Tracy said. "Because you'll meet the man today."
"Good luck, Tsuyoi. I'll see you in the cafeteria in a few hours." Tracy walked off. Tsuyoi entered his cell, which was still empty, meaning PE-1992 hadn't arrived yet.
As the hours passed, Tsuyoi walked around the prison to take his mind off the impending threat. Then the cafeteria bell rang. While heading for the meal, he accidentally bumped into someone.
That someone was a bald man. He was in his fifties, and he looked it. His eyes were so small Tsuyoi couldn't tell if they were open or closed. He wasn't fit and had a bit of a belly, but he was tall and had almost unnaturally long legs. After the impact, the man dropped the plant he was carrying in his hand. The little vase fell on top of it, crushing the plant under its weight.
"Ah, sorry about your thing!" Without a second thought, Tsuyoi squatted down and picked it up. The vase wasn't broken, but the plant was dead. "Don't worry, mister!" His robe glowed, and blue flames appeared in his palms, healing the plant. "There!" It looked way healthier than before as Tsuyoi handed it back to him.
"Thank you, young lad! You saved Mr. Free!" the man said, walking away while caressing the plant.
"He has a name?" Tsuyoi said. The man stopped and turned around.
"Yes, he does. Is there something wrong with it?"
"That's so cool! I had a friend who took care of plants and flowers once. He named them as well. I'm just glad nothing bad happened to Mr. Free." Tsuyoi smiled softly and waved as the man walked away. "See ya later, mister!"
Once again, he sat alone in the cafeteria and enjoyed his food. It was chicken and rice, but the rice was dry as hell. He only had a cup of water to wash it down.
While he sat there all alone, a shadow crept over him. He looked up to see a man standing in front of him, with a few others behind him. Everyone in the cafeteria glared in their direction.
The young man in front of him was blond, with short curly hair. He was lean and athletic, and relatively tall. He had an offended, almost angry aura about him even though his face was expressionless. He wore a white headband with the letter 'Y' scribbled onto it. Tsuyoi was dumb enough not to connect the dots.
"What's up?" Tsuyoi looked up from his plate and stared at the man. "Tsuyoi Ketsui, nice to meet you."
The man placed his foot on Tsuyoi's plate and pointed at his untied shoelace. "Can you tie my shoes, please?" He grinned.
A mixture of gasps, grunts and laughs rose across the cafeteria from a conflicted audience.
But without saying much, Tsuyoi started tying the man's shoes. "Sure. I used to tie my brother's all the time. It happens, you know? Not everybody knows how to do it."
The stranger's smile dropped, and he glared in anger. "I know how to tie a shoe, fuckwit."
"Huh?" Tsuyoi finished tying the shoes. "So why did you make me tie them? You injured your back or…? I can heal you if you want–"
The man slapped Tsuyoi in the face, catching him off guard. "You're a long way from the seas, aren't you?" He stared deep into Tsuyoi's eyes.
Tsuyoi placed his hand on his cheek. "What was that for?" His smile dropped, replaced by frustration.
"Were you not looking for help? Or were you looking for it but also not looking for it at the same time? Apparently people like that exist."
"I'm Y of the Imaginarias." Y pulled back his feet and hopped off the table. "From now on, you're mine."
"You're that guy Tracy talked about? I'm yours? You damn romantic." Tsuyoi cackled and stood up, wiping the food off his mouth. "I'm a free man. I ain't joining your friend group."
Y sighed and placed his hands in his pockets. "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy."
The sentence lit a lightbulb in Tsuyoi's head, which surprisingly still existed. "Wait, I swear I heard that before–"
Y swung a kick right at Tsuyoi's face, at a speed even the Undying Phoenix couldn't see. Either that kick would kill him or leave him near death.
Tsuyoi closed his eyes and braced for the attack, planning to use his regeneration at the right time.
But the impact never came.
Everyone in the cafeteria stood up and backed away, some even shaking in fear.
When Tsuyoi opened his eyes, he saw the old man from before in front of him, blocking the hit with his right leg, his back flat on the table, while a glass shard gripped between the toes of his other foot pointed at Y's throat.
"…Oh. Somebody has come out to play." Y's grin returned, and he looked at the man's jumpsuit. "So you're the PE-1992 I heard so much about. Or should I call you 'Loco'? It fits better." Y withdrew his kick and stepped back.
"PE-1992?!" Tsuyoi yelled in shock and instinctively took a step backwards.
"You little brat…" Loco spun on the table with dance-like movements and stood up. "I'll bite off your wee-wee."
"My wee-wee? What are you, five?" Y's right foot was still hovering slightly above the ground, ready for combat. "This is surprising. Why did you save that nobody? You want to kill him yourself?"
"Nah." Loco hopped off the table. "He is Mr. Free's friend." He let out a growl.
The two held their stances and stared at each other for a good few seconds, both weighing their options. "Lucky you." Y turned his back and walked away. "You found a freak like yourself, Loco."
"Look at you guys. You're about to piss yourselves." Loco cackled, a manic, inhuman smile filling his face. "Come on, who here will kill me?" He stared at each individual in the cafeteria, all of whom looked away the second Loco's eyes landed on them. "Aw." His smile dropped in disappointment.
As Y and his men walked away, Loco sat down and smiled softly. "So you're my cellmate. I'm so glad to hear that."
"Yeah…" Tsuyoi sat down as well. "So you're PE-1992? Or… Loco? Where is Mr. Free?"
"Mr. Free is in our cell. He doesn't like the cafeteria because of how loud it is." Tsuyoi's food was ruined, and Loco didn't eat anything.
"They said so much stuff about you. But I guess they were exaggerating. You seem like a solid guy." Tsuyoi's smile was back. The aura radiating from the man was immense and deadly, but to Tsuyoi… he was just another person.
"Solid? Not 'Great' or 'Amazing'?" Loco's smile dropped, his eyes locked on Tsuyoi's.
"Yeah. I can't say anything before getting to know you, can I? I'm not the lying type." Without minding the footprint of another man on his food, Tsuyoi ate anyway. He had eaten worse out of the trash.
"Oh, I'm happy to hear that." Loco smiled once more.
"Those moves you just did…" Tsuyoi replayed Loco's swift movements in his head. "What was that about? I've never seen its equal. What fighting style was that?"
"Fighting style?" Loco's eyebrows shot up. "All I did was dance! I'm a free man, after all!"