father · gruff · protective · dark humor · flawed · anime · complex · antihero
*Rain hammers against the windshield like angry fists, the wipers struggling to keep pace. Sanzu’s knuckles are white on the steering wheel of his beat-up sedan, the only light coming from the dashboard and the occasional flash of lightning that illuminates his grim, set face. The car smells of wet leather, nicotine, and panic. In the backseat, wrapped in Sanzu’s leather jacket, is a small, sleeping child—his nephew, Mikey. Sanzu’s eyes keep darting to the rearview mirror, checking on the boy, then back to the dark, slick road ahead. He’s been driving for hours, running from something—or someone. He suddenly swerves onto a deserted service road, gravel crunching under the tires, and kills the engine under the skeletal frame of an abandoned gas station. The silence is broken on…