Change for Good!

Chapter 1: Unexpected

Disclaimer: GetBackers is not mine…

"NGYAHAHAHAHA! Yeah yeah! I remembered that incident! It was really annoying for his part, ne?!" Ban's boisterous voice echoed all over Honky Tonk. Good thing there were no other customers. He held the glass of iced tea and gulped, but to his annoyance, there's no tea left. He did not even notice it. Well most probably because his eyes were closed. He called out. "Natsumi!! Another glass of iced tea please!"

Ban's taste was really weird. Iced tea in the middle of a rainy night? Pretty cold.

Natsumi knew that Ban would order again, so she prepared it beforehand. The bubbly black haired girl held the iced tea with her two small hands and moved towards Ban. "Here it is, Sir Ban!"

Ban smiled at her and said, "Thanks." Natsumi beamed at him too, then got back to her place. Pore was there, too, looking so wasted. His earnings for today didn't even reach the minimum level. Perhaps the people decided to stay in their homes to sleep.

Ginji, Ban and Hevn had been talking about a lot of things, particularly FUNNY things, and more specifically, the feminine-like KAZUKI.

Hevn gasped for more air. "AHAHAHA! Wait… Ban will you stop it now? It's over and my… tummy's already… aching! AHAHAHA!" Hevn held her tummy, still laughing hard.

Ginji didn't like this idea. He frowned a bit and said, "Hey guys, don't you think this is bad? I mean… Kazuki's not here… and we're like, making fun of him. You know I haven't seen him for almost two months since that incident had happened."

Hevn looked above. She saw the fluorescent light, then she mused. Ginji's right. Guilt covered her up, because she was the one who opened that topic again. "I think you're absolutely right, Ginji. He still hasn't showed up."

Ban also realized he was wrong. "Then, where had he gone?"

Natsumi heard all their chitchatting. Out of the blue, Kazuki entered her mind. She was there when that incident happened. Perhaps, it was not a big deal for them because Kazuki was always mistaken as a girl. The group was already used to it. But if she would really take time to think about it, almost certainly Kazuki must have encountered those situations EVERYDAY of his life. That was totally miserable, wasn't it? Kazuki had been so nice to all of them; And so she had always felt 'pity' for him.

She was thinking of Kazuki when somebody opened the door of Honky Tonk. Natsumi loudly huffed just to breathe when she saw the man. Ban, Ginji and Hevn stopped musing to look at the one who ruined the silence. Hevn's eyes widened. Ginji simply smiled at the brown-haired man – short-haired to be exact – and Ban plainly looked at him from head to foot. The evil eye man felt insecure; he was really sure that he is handsome… until this man came. Ban wanted to look at the mirror and see if he still looked good…

He's tall, -of about 5 feet 10 inches tall- His outfit was a black short sleeved shirt –which really revealed his obviously, newly developed muscles- and jeans which really fitted his long legs. His eyes narrowed, that was a manly gesture. Manly enough to make Natsumi fix herself and make Hevn leave the table to approach him immediately, which left Ban and Ginji wondering. They looked at each other. Ban uttered, "What's up with those girls?"

Natsumi greeted the young man nicely. "Good evening Sir! Welcome to Honky Tonk!"

The young man sat on the stool, placed his arm on the counter and smiled at Natsumi impishly. Natsumi felt the heat reach her cheeks. And when the brown-haired man turned his head to his right, he saw Hevn looking at him playfully than ever. He threw a smile back to Hevn and examined Hevn's clothes. He thought: Mischievous… still.

Natsumi looked at the young man. "Sir, what's your order?"

His voice was barely heard. "You…"

Natsumi wasn't really sure of what she heard. "Pardon, sir?"

"How can I have a beautiful girl like you? Can you please tell me?"

Natsumi was shocked. She blushed and nervously bowed her head.

Hevn's eyes widened for the second time. She thought, He doesn't like my beauty ne? Hmm…

Ginji's eyes narrowed. "Ban-chan, you know I don't like the way he looks at Natsumi…"

Ban smiled devilishly at the thunder boy, "Heh, you're just jealous."

Turning into super deformed, Genji blushed intensely.

Ban patted Ginji's head while the thunder boy kept on moving in his place. Ban turned serious again. He looked at the man from head to foot once more. "Ya know Ginji… he… really looks… familiar to me. He… reminds me of someone… What do you think? Does he also look familiar to you?"

The super deformed thunder boy shook his head. "Nope, Ban-chan."

The mysterious brown-haired man held Natsumi's hand. "I want wine… NATSUMI."

He got everyone's attention, except Pore's for he was asleep.

Natsumi trembled… "Oh… y-y-you... know me? How…? I've got no ID here… ne?"

"HAHAHAHAHA! IT'S EFFECTIVE! IT'S EFFECTIVE!" The mysterious man burst into laughter.

Sweat dropped. Weird man.

"So you didn't recognize me after all? Sorry 'bout that." The young man asked, still huffing and giggling.

They were already mystified. They asked in chorus. "WHO ARE YOU??"

He smiled. He got something out of his pocket. Little bells. And… some kind of… a thread…

The group wheezed and… shouted at the top of their lungs, loud enough to disturb the whole of Tokyo…"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!