Ayano Sasaki had paint beneath her nails, and not just any paint, but yellow spray paint. Ayano at the young age of twenty three was working in a small corner store, where she was thankful for her beloved employee's discount, all her spare funding was to go to pre med school and she was gracious to any source of income or rollback she could get her hands on. But back to the paint beneath her nails…
Ayano had been walking home from work; she held her arm tightly around the stuffed paper bag as a bottle of dish soap began to try to fight its way out of her bag. As Ayano shifted the weight of her groceries to her left arm, and began to sift through the pockets of her favorite apron for her apartment keys, when she nearly tripped.
Ayano nearly dropped her groceries from stumbling. She glanced around and below to the ground, and this time she did drop her groceries. The egg and milk cartoon fell against the sidewalk, spilling out and making a mess of things. Ayano fell to her knees in shock. A young man lay curled, trembling on the sidewalk, his brown hair was bloodied, and he appeared in what parts of his skin were visible, were bruised and swollen. Forgetting her groceries, and gently turning over the fallen man, her medical training kicked in, and she gasped. On his chest, damp with yellow spray paint were two words that made her stomach drop, Yellow Scarves.
After shakily dialing for the ambulance on her purple cell phone, the dangling smiling sushi charm seemed irrelevant now as it hit against her fingers while she pressing the key. From her training she knew to keep the man's head elevated. She rested his head in her lap, and began searching through his pockets for some form of I.D. Inside the pocket of his jacket was a withered wallet, she was surprised the scarves hadn't taken it, sure it held only a small sum of money, but it also held a license, which was a form of I.D.
"So your name is Akifumi, huh? Well hi Akifumi, I'm Ayano, and there are doctors on their way to help you". Her breath was shaky, but she sighed attempting to steady her breath.
"W-W-Why"? Akifumi gasped quietly, Ayano noticed his breathing was irregular and labored, she guessed that his rib cage had been broken.
"It's my job, Akifumi. Now can you tell me why the Yellow Scars did this to you"? Maybe if she interrogated him far enough she'd have something to present to the police.
"It-It-It's because… I'm a part of the Dollars"… He wheezed while closing his eyes. Ayano's own widened and she gently shook his shoulder.
"Come on, Akifumi don't go to sleep till the ambulance get here"!
"This place looks pretty messy, is that your boyfriend"? A voice asks from behind, she turned back to glance up frightened. Was it more of the yellow scarves? Taking in the two men standing behind her, Ayano relaxed slightly. The two men behind her didn't have a scrape of yellow on them, well besides the guy dressed as a bartender. He had blonde hair, and unless he was an eccentric member of the Yellow Scarves, she didn't think he'd be that much of a threat. Though she reflexively held her hand over the injured mans forehead.
"No, I just found him laying here. An ambulance is on its way". The blonde man sighed and slides a pair of dark blue sunglasses up his nose, then turned to the man beside him with curled brown hair.
"You think it was the Yellow Scarves, Tom"? The bartender asked, in turn the man he was speaking to, Tom as Ayano gathered his name to be.
"If he's one of the Dollars, I wouldn't doubt it. I've been hearing rumors that their leader had called off all attacks, but some of them aren't obeying as easily. Looks like those rumors were true"… Shizuo turned back to the frightened girl who was surprisingly trying to shield the victim. Her mouth quivered, and her eyes were full of fear. Shizuo realized she could up and run away at any moment, but she sat there, amidst the paint, blood, and fallen groceries. It was sort of admirable, she was tiny and frail looking, looking like she could easily be knocked down in a fight.
"Are you hurt, miss"? Tom asked, extending his hand to her. Shizuo watched the girl's black eyes dart to the right for a moment, before laying the young man gently on the ground, and then taking his hand, Tom helped the young girl stand up and was released from his grasp.
"Damn it, my groceries"… She muttered, before kneeling back down and salvaging the last of her savable groceries. That included a head of lettuce, a box of flour, two cups of instant ramen, and a can of tomato sauce. Once more packing everything in her nearly ripped paper bag, Ayano wiped her hands clean of the blood and filth on her stained apron and sighed standing up clutching her groceries.
"I guess I should introduce myself, since you haven't tried to kill me yet… My name is Ayano Sasaki, random civilian". She tucked a loose hair back; her tight bun for work was beginning to come undone.
"My name is Tom Tanaka, and this is my partner Shizuo Heiwajima, nice to meet you Ayano". The man said indicating to his friend and smiling. It struck Ayano odd for a man to be smiling at this moment. Suddenly the flash of red and blue lights and the blaring sound of an Ambulance as it howled loudly as it rounded a corner.
"I guess that's my ride then"… Ayano said shifting her weight to her right leg.
Now Ayano fidgeted in the plastic of the waiting room chair in the lobby of the hospital. Her dirty apron had been taken to be cleaned and she smoothed the dirt from her pants. What was she even doing here? She didn't know the man who had been beaten; she just kept him barely alive until the ambulance had shown up.
Ayano rubbed her shoulder gingerly. The past week night, she had been laying pale faced in her own hospital room. That night she had been walking home from a late night class, massaging the burning ache in her shoulder and hugged her text book closer to her chest. She had made the foolish mistake of turning a short cut down an alley way, and had made a run in with the famous Ikebukuro slasher, and had her shoulder carved to pieces. Her arm was still heavily bandaged, and she had been wearing long sleeves despite the fact the weather was as warm as it was.
"Is this seat taken"? She glanced up from her thoughts, realizing someone was speaking to her, that bartender from before. She shook her head no, allowing him to take a seat freely beside her.
"So, I guess your name is Ayano then"? Shizuo asked, the young woman beside him nodded, he noticed she was fiddling with her hands. She had long slim fingers, and unpainted nails, well almost unpainted. There were flecks of yellow beneath the top of her nail, from where she had card for the young man. Her black hair was wound up tightly in a bun, but in the process of coming undone, her eyes were half lidded and her eyelashes skimmed the tops of her cheeks. She was cute, but haggard and tired looking. He noticed how she watched her fingernails.
"I know who you are, Shizuo, the strongest man in Ikebukuro, but also in your own mind the most unfortunate… Maybe you just need to be… Loved Shizuo Heiwajima"… The young nursing student stood up and exited the hospital, her remaining groceries clasped tightly in her arms. She hadn't known what had come over her, when she finished speaking to Shizuo. It hadn't been her first encounter with the man, but it had been the first were they had spoken. She had seen him rip lampposts and vending machines from their desperate grips to the ground. Though they didn't stand a chance against the great Shizuo Heiwajima…
Shizuo watched her walk away from the door of the hospital, clutching that battered shopping bag of hers tightly. Her eyes were narrowed as she weaved through out the crowd; she turned another corner and disappeared from sight. Just then Tom joined him, standing by his side.
"That guys in pretty bad shape, but he's going to survive". He said, Shizuo nodded, not really listening to his close friends talk.
"That girl Ayano is pretty damn creepy"… Shizuo muttered, suddenly a very familiar black bike parked in front of Shizuo.
"Celty, I was wondering when you were going to show up". Shizuo said to his very close friend, the rider stuck out her PDA and it read
"Get on, Shinra and I found more info on the slasher. It's something I think you might want to hear"… Tossing a black helmet made of her special substance to Shizuo; he fitted it comfortably, and got on the bike. He began bouncing up and down quickly muttering
"Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill"… Over and over again, Celty cocked her head in a way that if she had a head, it would clearly show how she was rolling her eyes. Shizuo was the most bipolar person she'd probably ever meet. Counting in the back of her mind on how many times he'd said kill in the past thirty seconds, Celty waved a goodbye to Tom and hit the gas. Signaling to her horse that it was time to head back home to Shrina's apartment.