Chapter Text
“Fear. War. Bloodlust. Thousands of years ago, these were the forces that ruled our world. A world where the good forces of Kitagawa Daiichi, Shiratorizawa Johzenji, Itachiyama, Ubugawa, and Kamomedai were battling the evil forces of Aoba Johsai, Nekoma, Karasuno, Inarizaki, Fukurodani, and Date Tech. The evil had an uncontrollable biological urge to destroy, kill, and”
“AHHHH! Blood! Blood! Blood!” Little Tobio pretended to start choking as he was putting on a play for the people in the town. Grabbing a ketchup bottle to try and mimic blood, he started squeezing it to let the ketchup fall out onto his stomach. In the crowd, he heard people gasping as he did so.
“And death.” To make sure the people got the gist of what he meant, he gave the ketchup bottle one last squeeze to accentuate what he was saying. There was dramatic drumming in the background for effect as well.
“Back then, the world was divided in two. The vicious predators are the evil forces.” His play partner took out his sword to show the meaning of evil as he got up from pretending to be dead.
“Or meek prey: the good forces.” He put on an innocent look for the audience. Two little boxes came down from above them to help with a quick change for the play. “But over time, we evolved. And moved beyond these primitive, savage ways.” The boxes were lifted up to show the two young boys in all-white outfits.
“Then good and evil now live together as equals in harmony.” The boys walked closer to each other, holding hands as young Tobio spoke.
“And every young person has multitudinous opportunities.” Tobio practiced that one line for weeks before he could get it right. The young girl that came out during their quick change started speaking her lines.
“Yeah. I don’t have to cower behind the Jozehji walls anymore. Instead, I can be an astronaut.” There was mysterious music in the background to go along with her dream. There was a slight applause at the confession. It only made young Tobio more excited to say what he wanted to do.
“I don’t have to be a lonely huntsman for Inarizaki anymore. Today, I can hunt for tax exemptions. I’m going to be an actuary.” There was more applause and some whistling as well. Tobio was buzzing with excitement at this point.
“And I can make the world a better place. I am going to be…” Everyone was waiting in anticipation for what the young boy was going to say. There was some funk music in the background as Tobio yelled.
“A police officer!”
Everyone started clapping, but among the clapping was a horrible cackling noise as well.
“A Kitagawa cop. You do know your territory is the weakest, right? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard!”
“It may seem impossible to small minds; I’m looking at you, Yutaro Kindaichi.” Tobio gave him a glare. He saw the smirk slowly be replaced with anger. “But just 324 miles away stands the great city of Kibo! All the actors began pointing at the set as it lifted to show the city's name.
“Where our ancestors first joined together to make a truce and live in peace, they declared that anyone could be anything! Thank you and goodnight!” There was a huge storm of applause from the audience. Among those people, there seemed to be two worried faces.
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Walking out of the theater, Tobio was holding his grandfather’s and his sisters hands, skipping and buzzing with energy.
“Hey Tobs, you ever wonder how Kazuyo-san got us this life to make us happy?” His sister asked him. Tobio, with the most energy ever, replied
“Nope!”
“Well,“ Miwa started before Kazuyo interrupted.
“Well, I gave up on my dream, and I settled with your parents. Right, Miwa?” He looked at Miwa, knowing that she didn’t want to crush her little brother's dreams but not wanting her brother to get hurt either.
“That’s right, he settled really hard so he could help take care of us. Then he took us in when Mom and Dad died.” Tobio had a little less pop to him after that. He started walking normally. He didn’t like mentioning his parents at all.
“If you don’t try anything new, you’ll never fail!” One of the neighbors piped in.
“I like trying, actually.” Tobio gave him the biggest smile as he started skipping again. He started doing cartwheels, racing to his grandfather's vegetable stand.
“What he means, Tobs, is that it’s going to be difficult, maybe even impossible, for you to become a police officer.”
“There has never been a cop from Kitagawa Tobio. They won’t accept you, we are known as the weakest, and it will probably stay that way.” Kazuyo bounced off of Miwa’s statement. He wanted to encourage the boy to have dreams and try new things. It was just that he didn’t want to lose his grandson. His daughter died not too long ago, and he didn’t know if he could take another loss.
"Yeah, he is right.” Miwa agreed.
“Yeah, that’s right.” He said it back. Tobio seemed lost in thought for a few seconds before he replied.
“Oh. Then, I guess I’ll have to be the first one! Because I…” He sped up, doing a front flip off of a haystack in front of him. “I'm going to make the world a better place!”
“Or, uh, hell, you know, you want to talk about making the world a better place? There is no better way to do it than to become a vegetable grower.” Kazuyo said it with as much enthusiasm as he could muster at the time.
“Yeah exactly! Your grandfather, me, mom, and dad before us were all part of this business. We are protected and safe from harm. It is so much fun, too! We spend all day together…” Tobio saw that the conversation seemed more between his grandfather and Miwa than between all three of them. He began to get bored and started looking around. He saw Kindaichi and his best friend Kunimi follow some kids to the big field behind the stands. He started following them as well, leaving his sister and his grandfather to their conversation.
“It’s great to have dreams, as long as you don’t believe in them too much.” They both shifted their attention back to Tobio, only to realize he wasn’t there anymore.
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“Give me your tickets right now, or I’m gonna kick your meek little Jozehnji butt!” He saw Kindaichi and Kunimi push around some little girls from the carnival in his town.
“Ow! Cut in out, Kindaichi!” One of them screamed.
“Boo hoo!” He mocked her as he snatched the tickets from her hands. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“Cry probably.” Kunimi answered in a monotone voice.
“Hey! You heard her. Cut it out.” Tobio intervened.
“Nice costume loser. What crazy world are you living in where you think a Kitagawa can be a cop?” Kindaichi taunted. Tobio held his ground, not letting his intimidating tactics and actions get to him.
“Kindly return my friends tickets,” he held out his hand, signaling for Kindaichi to give them to him.
“Come and get them.” He taunted. “But watch out, we’re from Aoba Johsai, and like you said in your dumb stage play, we used to attack you guys until you were wiped out! That killer instinct is still there in our Dunnah,” he yelled at Tobio.
“It’s pronounced DNA, you idiot.” Kunimi said right after he was finished, not seeming phased by the situation.
“You don’t scare me, Kindaichi!” Tobio stood firm and said so before Kindaichi could reply to Kunimi. Kindaichi roughly shoved Tobio back. Tobio’s police hat fell on the dirt, dirtying it up.
“You scared now?” Tobio’s breath started speeding up. "Cry, little Kitagawa! Cry,cr-“ Tobio kicked Kindaichi in the face, not wanting to listen to him anymore. Kindaichi looked pissed after that glaring at Tobio.
“Aw, you don’t know when to quit, do you? He started stalking up to Tobio, and with the help of Kunimi, they pinned him down.
“I want you to remember this moment the next time you think you will ever be more than a stupid vegetable-growing dumb Kitagawa!”Kindaichi slapped Tobio, and Kunimi let go. They both walked away from him. The tears welling in Tobio’s eyes went down, and his breathing was normal again as well. The girls from before came running back up to him.
“That looks bad,” one says.
“Are you okay, Kageyama?”
“Yea, yea, I’m ok.” He replies. He fishes inside his pocket and whips out their tickets from before.
“Wow! You got our tickets!” the third one says.
“You’re awesome, Kageyama.” One of them tells him. Tobio gets up and dusts himself off, fixing his sleeves and his shirt.
“Yeah, that Yutaro Kindaichi kid has no idea what he is talking about.” The Jozehnji girl pipes up. He starts walking towards the abandoned police hat.
“Well, he was right about one thing.” He picks it up and fixes it on his head before saying
“I don’t know when to quit.”