I have a great love of Shawn Christensen's short film Curfew. All credit for this idea goes to him, just as Kagerou Project goes to Jin. If you have seen Curfew, go ahead and enjoy. If you haven't, there are a few things I should clear up: for kagepro, this is pretty OOC. They grew up, wow. If you do want to watch the film, this contains spoilers. If you don't want to watch the film, that's okay too. When I wrote this about a year ago, I was not at all used to writing Shintaro, so on his part this is kind of sloppy, but he's the only character I could make the plot work with. This fic has self harm, drug usage, and abuse.
The only reason his eyes were open was because of the phone. He'd had it a long time, since he used to have people to call. Now though, it just sat in the bathroom, and had been collecting dust for a while. Hand shaking, and with the blade still between his fingers, he reached out to grab the receiver. The person on the other end was already in the middle of her spiel.
"Look, I'm in a really fucked up situation right now, and I am so fucked. I just need you to watch her for one night. One night is all I ask. It's just that you're the only one left. You know what, if you want me begging, this is it. This is me begging. Can you be over here in twenty minutes? I cannot leave her alone. Please."
He paused. "Okay."
He pulled himself out of the bathtub, and after taking a minute to get his bearings, put on some clean clothes. At the sink, he watched the blood on his forearm swirl down the drain, and he scrubbed it clean to stop infection, wrapping it tightly in an ace bandage. He pulled his red jacket on to hide the dressing, and after putting a few necessary things into his pockets, he headed out the door.
By the time he reached the apartment building, he was proud of himself because he hadn't stopped to smoke, so as a reward, he put a cigarette between his teeth and fumbled with his lighter. Before he touched the flame to the end of the cigarette, he glanced around the lobby. A woman sitting on a bench pointed up at a sign that read "NO SMOKING". He quickly shoved the lighter back in his pocket, leaving the cigarette where it was. Footsteps echoed through the room. The girl who stood at the bottom of the stairs wasn't very tall, with long dark hair falling to her waist, and large dark eyes that locked with his. He thought of a girl he once knew.
Before he could say anything, the girl started speaking. "You are to have me back by ten thirty. If you don't have me back by ten thirty on the dot, there'll be hell to pay. This is some money to spend on me and only me. If you spend it on something other than me, like drugs, there'll be hell to pay." She stuffed a few bills into his hand. "Here's a list of appropriate places to take me. If you take me somewhere not on this list, there'll be hell to pay." She placed a pink index card in his still open palm.
This offered him some time to talk. "Look, I don't know if you remember me, but my name is Shintaro, and I am your uncle." At this, the girl pursed her lips.
"I don't care." She began to walk away as he unfolded the card.
BOWLING ALLEY
They sat on two couches running parallel to each other. Her head was buried in a phone, playing some game. Shintaro absentmindedly placed his cigarette in the ash tray.
"So, what year in school are you in, now?"
"Fourth."
"Do you like it?"
She shrugged. "It's kind of boring." Shintaro thought back to his own school days, and how he always felt like he was so much smarter than everybody else. He pushed those memories back inside of him.
"You know, when your mom and I were kids, I would draw a little bit. I, uh, made these flip books; you probably know what those are. Your mom, she—she thought they were funny, she thought they were a real hoot. They were about this little girl I called Akane." He thought he had her attention for a second, but she just shifted her attention back to the phone. "We never knew anybody named Akane growing up. We knew a Takane. Sometimes I wonder if she named you after those little books, but you know, it's kind of dumb." Akane kept playing her game. "Okay, get up. I need to run an errand," Shintaro said.
"Is it on the list?" Akane asked.
"Well, no, it's not on the list."
"Then we can't go."
"The list huh?" Shintaro picked up a pen, and scribbled something on the pink index card. "Boom. It's on the list. Now can we go?" Akane stood up reluctantly.
The hallway was doused in half light, and smelled like smoke. Akane clung to Shintaro's arm. She looked around at the walls, which were covered in all sorts of curiosities. African masks stared down at her, their empty eyes staring into her soul.
When they reached the ending of the passage, Shintaro entered an apartment, and his only goodbye was an index finger, signaling her to wait. Music drummed in the walls, and somewhere a baby was crying. Akane shifted her backpack uneasily on her shoulders.
She ran out of the high rise and into the alley. Shintaro called after her "Come on, what's wrong?"
"I want to go home!" Akane cried out.
"Hey, Akane, it's okay, we're fine."
"What was that place?"
"I used to live there," Shintaro said.
"I want my money!" She shouted, voice louder than her first cry.
"What?"
"You spent the money!" Akane wiped tears from her eyes. The ones streaming down her cheeks were beginning to freeze.
"No, no, I did not spend the money," Shintaro said, pulling the bundle of bills out of his pocket. "I didn't spend your money. I just thought you would want to see these, Akane." From his other pocket, Shintaro pulled out a small drawing pad. He crouched down to Akane's level to flip the pages.
Pen drawings of a stick figure filled the pages. As he flipped, more things happened to her. She was shot by an arrow, but dropped back down to the earth, using the arrow as an umbrella, but then she was smashed by a safe, and she crawled out.
"She keeps dying," Akane said.
"Yeah, she does that a lot, like Looney Toons. But Akane always comes back to life." Shintaro smiled.
"How did you do all of this?"
"I don't know, I just had a lot of time. We didn't have phones like you do to play angry birds." He laughed a little bit at his memories.
"You know angry birds?" Akane smiled.
"Yeah, I do."
"You know angry birds?" She laughed.
"Yes, I do, I know it. Can we please get out of the cold?" Shintaro stuffed his hands in his pockets.
They sat next to each other on barstools. Akane ate fries and drank soda while Shintaro smoked.
"Favorite number?" She asked.
"Seven."
"Favorite color?"
"Red," he sighs.
"What was the accident?" She turns to look at him.
"What accident?"
"The one where you weren't allowed to see me again."
"It doesn't matter." He puts his cigarette in the ash tray.
"Do you know the leading cause of lung cancer?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then why do you smoke?"
"Because it's not as bad as they say."
"Yes it is."
"Only some of the times." He scratches his face.
"All of the times." She kept eating fries. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No, I do not have a girlfriend." Shintaro shifted in his seat uneasily.
"You need a girlfriend."
"Look, Akane, I don't need a girlfriend."
"You need somebody to look after you. You can't even take care of yourself."
Shintaro scoffed. "You are giving me a huge headache right now."
He waited for her outside the bathroom for her. Two women stood at the door, talking loudly.
"This one is different! He had a job, come on!" One of the women banged on the door.
"Please, don't do that," Shintaro said.
"Oh no, they're all the same, just because he has a job it doesn't mean he's a white knight!" The other banged louder.
"There's a little girl in there." Shintaro tried to raise his voice.
"You just don't want me to be happy, do you?" More banging from the both of them.
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut the fuck up! Shut your big, fat cow mouths! Shut it! Shut! Up!" The two women stood there, angered by his actions. Akane swung the door open and walked over to where Shintaro stood. She handed him something, and he bent down to get eye level with her. He pinned her dark hair back with a red clip, and hand in hand, they walked away, leaving the women behind.
They sat on the couches again. Neither of them were doing anything but watching the other bowlers. Akane said she didn't like to bowl that much, so they decided to be spectators.
"I dropped you," Shintaro said suddenly.
"What?"
"When you were a little baby, I dropped you on your head. That's the accident." When she heard this, Akane started laughing. "What's so funny?"
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
"No, it's very serious. I couldn't sleep for a whole week." She kept laughing "You're a mean, evil person."
"And you're a dumb person," Akane laughed, punching his arm lightly.
The music switched to some pop song that Shintaro didn't know.
"I love this song!" Akane said.
She walked out onto the lanes, dancing as she went, moving one foot forward to the beat, and her arms were locked like a robot's. The people around them danced to the beat as well, but they kept their eyes locked on the girl. She twirled and laughed, and as the song reached the chorus, she did a split right in the middle of the makeshift dance floor.
"Dance with me!" Akane said, pulling on Shintaro's arm.
"No, I don't dance," Shintaro countered.
"Please, this is my favorite song."
"No!" Shintaro snapped, jerking his arm back. His jacket sleeve revealed the bandage, now bloodied.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Akane asked.
"It was an accident. I swear I'm fine."
"I think you need stitches." Akane looked at it very closely, and kept apologizing for something she had nothing to do with.
Momo took Akane into her arms when they got back.
"I promise I'll never leave you like that again sweetie," she said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Time to get you into bed."
Akane hugged Shintaro, and he patted her back. Momo glanced at him quickly when her daughter let go, but turned away to lead Akane to her room. Akane turned back to wave, and Shintaro let his fingers curl in a shy response. He looked down at the table. Sitting on the surface were some papers headed "Restraining Order".
Momo came back to dig through her purse. "She's different from this morning. I can see it in her eyes. Did you two talk about me? Did you say how I got boring when I grew up? Did she say that she hates all of the attention I draw to us?" She held her arm out to Shintaro, her face still locked on the floor. "Take the money."
"I don't need it anymore."
"Take the money." Shintaro put it in his pocket.
"I know she likes you now, but you can't come back. I don't want Akane having anymore false idols." Momo tilted her head up to look at her brother. A black bruise surrounded her eye, and a few more dotted her face. "Just go."
Shintaro wouldn't move. "Elementary school, fourth year. These two kids would bully me. They would call me names and hit me, sometimes cut me. One day, you came out onto the playground, and you hit one of them right in the jaw. He fell to the ground like a bag of bricks, and I had never seen anything like it. I got hell for it, you know? 'Oh, Kisaragi, you have to have your little sister fight your battles for you?' Momo, I wasn't angry. I was proud because that was when I knew I had the coolest sister in the whole world." Both of them found themselves with tears streaming down their faces. "And then you bring this little girl into the world, and she's so beautiful and so smart. I know you don't get like that unless your mom is the very best."
"Just go."
He sat on the edge of the bathtub with his head in his hands for a minute. Then he pulled off all of his clothes, leaving nothing but his boxer shorts, and he sunk into the red water. He undid the bandages, and grabbed the blade in his right hand, digging it into the skin of his left forearm. The phone began to ring. Shintaro swung his arms over the side and disconnected it.
He sat there for a minute, but then realized what it might be.
Shintaro plugged it back in. It still rung.
"Hey," Momo's voice was quiet "I think I need some help around here. Maybe you could watch Akane on Thursdays or Sundays or something?"
"Okay."
Moved from fresh-hot-yaois