2. The Phoenix
A hand leisurely reached up from pearl white sheets to meet the soft, immaculate skin of the beautiful charcoal-haired girl. In the wake of its gentle contact, her sterling silver eyes revealed themselves to the world and ignited a smile on the rebellious, dirty blonde-haired boy's face. His canines peeked out from under his upper lip as he stared back at her through his amber irises, calmly using the thumb of the hand which cupped her face to stroke her cheek. She was the only one who could make him smile the way he did in this moment. The only one who could make all his regret go away with just a simple glance. He looked to her face often, as if the grace which emanated from her pores connected him to the rest of his tired soul like life support. That's what drew him to her side from the very first day they met: it seemed she was the only one who could become his other half when his spirit traveled alone.
Moments like these grew to become his only reality…but in the real world, Masaomi Kida was a coward. And to him, that was the legacy he would leave behind.
Together they existed in harmony among the sea of white pillows and sheets inside the small oceanic apartment that they called home for the past year. There wasn't much to the place where they laid. Their abode consisted of a single bedroom and a small bathroom along with a balcony which was positioned just past white French doors, overlooking the Pacific below. All things considered—with the exception of the scenic view and the ocean breeze, what they had wasn't much, but it was theirs.
Saki looked to him wordlessly with a tender smile in response to the gentle touch which continued to journey across her cheek. They shared a perfect silence completed by the sounds of the sea and of the birds, and the caressing of the light breeze which made the silky white drapes dance as it glided through the open windows. The sun had set only moments ago, and just past the walls which kept them safe, nature had given them a beautiful twilight. Stars began to emerge over the horizon in striking numbers as the cloudless sky turned vivid with a light purply-orange color.
"You know, Saki," the blonde warmly began, "every time you open your eyes, I feel like I just saw the sun for the first time."
She placed her hands on either side of the boy's face at this, running her thumbs through the hair above his ears as her smile pursed and her eyes trembled with intense happiness.
They stayed in this moment for what seemed to be an eternity, watching the colors of their faces deepen from the glow of the sunset's remnants before lovingly connecting their lips, their bodies bathed in twilight. There they lived, spirits sparking together in unison as they embraced with every ounce of their hearts.
They broke apart gently at the sudden yet light ringing of Masaomi's phone on the black nightstand which stood to the left of the bed they were enveloped in. They both softly turned their heads toward the source of the sound before looking back to each other as it continued to ring. Saki's face contorted to one of nervous curiosity as she looked to Masaomi, whose unworried expression diffused her concern in a matter of seconds.
"Hey," he comforted, playing with a lock of her charcoal hair between two fingers, "it's probably nothing."
Offering a reassuring smile, he reached over and picked up the device with the tips of his fingers, tilting it toward him so that he could see the words on the screen. The caller ID above the green answer icon read, 'Kyohei Kadota'. His relaxed smile slowly settled, falling gradually as Masaomi became about as curious as Saki was.
"I should probably take this," he said, looking to her after the brief pause. She smiled trustingly yet hesitantly in return before the blonde boy made to leave the bed, feeling the softness of the carpet between his toes as he reached for the thin, white button-down shirt on the bedpost, throwing it around his torso carelessly without bothering to button it. Saki looked upon him with an expression of unsung concern as the boy walked outside onto the balcony to answer the call. To her, the only sound now was that of the ringtone which faded away with each step her boyfriend took.
"Kyohei?" the blonde answered, finding a spot on the balcony's short, stone wall to lean on as the breeze sifted through his hair.
"Hey, Kida. How's your getaway with Saki been?" the Dollar greeted, to which Masaomi raised an eyebrow.
"It's been good, man. Thanks for asking," he replied.
"So hey, I'll keep it short and sweet since you probably wanna get back to the lady asap," Kadota started as Masaomi nodded to himself with a sarcastic, pressed smile.
"I'm all ears," he said, staring out at the ocean which grew darker as twilight began succumbing to the night.
As he held the phone to his ear, Kadota maneuvered his elbow through the crowds as he walked the nighttime streets of Ikebukuro which were bustling with people heading home from dinner, work, or some other activity.
"Listen, I just got out of a friend's office, and it looks like I have an opportunity I thought you'd wanna hear about," he said, casually weaving through some more people.
"Who's your friend?" Masaomi asked, continuing to gaze out into the night sky.
"He runs Ikebukuro Garden," Kyohei replied, prompting a short breath to escape Masaomi's lungs as he swiveled his head to look back inside at Saki for a moment, seeing that she was absently buried in her phone.
"And…what kinda opportunity are we talking?" The blonde asked, turning back around toward the ocean and speaking a little more quietly as he resumed leaning against the balcony wall.
"What are your thoughts on picking up a performance gig there? The man's in desperate need of a DJ and I mentioned your name since you used to do that back before you left Raira."
Ikebukuro was always a busy district in the way of entertainment, and it just so happened that Ikebukuro Garden was at the center of it all, especially as far as its reputation went. Well, all except for a rumor that came out of there roughly six years ago when a few kids were busted for dealing ecstasy in one of the bathrooms. Everyone probably did that, he thought, but those guys in particular the blonde had chalked down as just the unlucky rookies who were dumb enough to get caught. Regardless, the venue continued to be a top-tier, luxurious and spacious nightclub complete with a large stage, pyrotechnics, lasers, smoke—the works.
A moment passed while the blonde mulled it over. He looked back at Saki one more time if only to restrain the temptation of jumping onto the idea without thought. She looked up from her phone to him, and they locked eyes. Saki's reaction to his expression appeared to be oddly tense, and Masaomi had no idea why that was until he came to the realization of what his own facial expression must've looked like right then. He awoke from his daze after noticing this, flashing a thumbs-up at her to signal that everything was ok. She smiled back at him once again in that same trusting yet hesitant way that she did whenever she felt kept in the dark on something. Masaomi's smile faded away after turning around again.
"I don't know, Kyohei. I haven't seen anybody from Ikebukuro in a while…I'm not sure if I'm ready to go back. Besides, I have Saki to look after right now," he finally replied.
The blonde was greatly torn, as he never could've expected to be faced with a huge decision like this within two minutes of being on a phone call. Regardless of the offer however, one critical thought always kept the boy from giving it any consideration: returning to the city which he abandoned, reuniting with the ones that he hoped to god were still his friends after leaving them without a word—the whole idea seemed way too emotionally far-fetched to be within his reach.
He wouldn't dare re-insert himself back into their lives after leaving them like that. Even the rebellious ladies' man had some morals…that was just who he was.
"Well I'll be honest, that's not what I was hoping to hear from you, Kida. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. But hey, just in case you have any second thoughts…the job does have its perks," Kadota replied, attempting to get the blonde to reconsider. It worked, as Masaomi managed to push past his reluctance to continue the discussion.
"I'm listening," Kida replied.
"The pay's good, 55,000 Yen per show, 2 shows per week. And you'd also get an apartment a few floors above the venue, compliments of the house."
Masaomi's eyes widened and the hand which held his phone shook a little bit. That was a ton of money…plus a place to stay full-time, for free. To him, this was quickly becoming like something out of a dream…but the other part of him, perhaps the bigger part, quickly halted his consideration of the idea to go back to the city. He froze.
"I-I'll talk it over with Saki," he finally replied after getting his thoughts together, partially feeling as if he didn't even hear himself speak the words.
"Great!" Kadota exclaimed as he unlocked the door to his apartment in northern Ikebukuro, "Just do me a favor and let me know within the next day or two if you're on board? I'd hate to see the job float over to someone else if you decide yes too late."
"Yeah, will do. Thanks, Kyohei. It was good to hear from ya."
"The feeling's mutual, my man," Kadota finished.
Masaomi lowered the phone to his side, inattentively hitting the end call button as he continued to stare out into the starry sky. His once tranquil mind suddenly experienced a storm of emotions, many of which he tried to escape when he originally departed the city with Saki. Those were the feelings of regret that kept him from going back.
But then again, those were likewise the feelings of longing that made him unable to resist.
Masaomi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before slipping his phone into the pocket of the plaid pajama pants he was wearing and turning to head back inside. He crossed under the doorway back into the apartment, and wordlessly reached out sideways with both arms to grasp the open French doors and bring them together until they shut.
From the bed, Saki looked up from her phone and to Masaomi, who locked his golden eyes with hers before looking down, exhaling and sliding his hands into his pockets. After a short and somewhat tense period of time, Saki placed her phone onto the night stand, deciding that whatever this silence was, it clearly demanded her undivided attention.
"So, who was it?" she asked tentatively, innocently lending Masaomi her ear.
"It was-uh…" the boy hesitated, hating himself for falling into his old habit of instinctively wanting to keep everything a secret. After a couple seconds of nothing coming out of his still-open mouth, he smiled, "It was Kyohei."
"Oh?" Saki urged, intrigued by the name she hadn't heard in a long time, "Is he doing well?"
"Yeah, he's fine," he nodded, "Wondering how our vacation was going."
"Well that's kind of him," Saki winked. Masaomi couldn't help but smile at this, and laugh a little bit too. He closed the distance between he and the girl as he walked over and sat on the bed where she lay.
"So what's the part that you're not telling me?" she asked as if reading his mind—or his expression and hesitation, at least. The blonde turned his head to look at her when she wrapped her arms around his collar from behind.
"He said that I have an opportunity to DJ at Ikebukuro Garden. All I gotta do is reach out and take it," he said, feeling the air of Saki's short gasp graze the back of his neck.
"Ikebukuro...?" she tentatively whispered to her lover, to which he nodded. She circled around, sitting right next to him on the bed, taking his hands into hers. For whatever the reason, maybe he was too deep in thought or was just simply unable to do it, but Masaomi couldn't make eye contact with his girlfriend in that moment to save his life.
"You have nothing to be afraid of," she said gently, prompting the blonde to breathe sharply.
"Can you really be sure of that, Saki?" he whispered tiredly. The girl could swear that, for a split second, his voice sat on the borderline of a whimper.
"I'll tell you what…if you go back, and something bad happens," Saki began as her boyfriend looked to her as if life itself clung to each word she uttered, "I will never leave your side. I'll be right here, no matter what, just like I am now."
"…Just like that?" He asked, turning toward her with a nervous, deeply hesitant and unsure expression as he continued gliding his thumb across the top of her hand.
"Just like that," she confirmed matter-of-factly with a loving smile.
City lights beamed through the row of windows which stretched finely from floor to ceiling, casting a shadow past the desk which faced away from the impressive penthouse view. Muffled sirens and car horns could be heard in the distance below, and the lights of Ikebukuro's multiple skyscrapers twinkled in the night, accentuating the ambient glow that rose up from the busy streets.
Bourbon, made neat, occupied nearly half of a short crystal glass. Its color glowed with a brilliant shade of oak through the fingers of the man who stood at the windows, looking out at his concrete playground with a calm, sinister smirk.
Whilst taking in the scene, he suddenly heard the sound of high heels grow louder and louder as they approached him, rhythmically striking the floor down the hallway and prompting him to turn towards the direction of the stout tapping as he brought the glass to his venomous lips, inhaling an elegant sip of the brown, semi-viscous liquid.
"Namie," he said, devoid of eye contact as she proceeded toward him, "how are we tonight."
"Have you seen the news? There's a story that you may find…appealing," the woman said, scrolling down her phone as her clipboard stayed pinned between her torso and the inside of her arm.
"Oh?" he inquired, slyly smiling at her to convey his interest in the subject matter. Pacing across the floor to the coffee table in the center of the spacious room, he lifted the remote to the TV, clicking it on before placing it back down on the glass surface. Within seconds, the glow of the screen illuminated the man's face along with that of his secretary as the audio played:
…under the Sunshine 60 building. Horada was arrested last year on multiple counts of assault and attempted murder, and as such is to be considered armed and extremely dang—
"Namie," he started as he tilted his head slightly with a menacing smile at the television, "look into this for me, top priority."
"Izaya, I—"
"Now. While it's still fresh on everybody's mind…" Izaya said playfully, turning to her with a mischievous grin, "It's about time something fun happened around this place, I'm not just gonna let it slide on by, now am I?"
The man turned to the television once more, never letting his smile nor his excitement drop for the smallest of a moment.
"The lion is finally out of its cage," he said, taking his phone out to write a text as his ominous smile grew by the second, "…And now to wake the prey."
Mikado Ryuugamine splashed cold water onto his face from the bathroom sink inside his shoebox apartment. The sound of the water dripping back down into the sink reverberated shortly, the small noise hollowly bouncing back and forth from the greyish ceramic-tiled walls and floor. He hadn't even bothered to turn the lights on when he walked inside after meeting with Anri; the street outside emanated enough light that a moderate sliver of warm illumination fell through the thin blinds that were barely cracked open over the one window which was in there.
After tossing cold water onto his face a few times, he shut off the squeaky faucet and began to towel himself down. From the top of his forehead to the underside of his chin and his neck, Mikado slowly slid the towel down, staring at himself in the mirror which hung in front of him. There he stood in thought for a moment, and gradually began to realize that what he saw didn't make sense to him.
Ever since he could remember, he always yearned to accomplish the extraordinary…always looked to make the world they lived in a better place. These days, his extraordinary mission had all but failed; the Dollars were very different from what they were before. In fact, he would go as far as to say that they were too far gone at this point. Mikado eventually had stopped attempting to somehow vet the bad members from the good…ever since the Yellow Scarves were disbanded, he concluded that there was simply too much of the bad to keep the floodgates secure any longer as the stranded scarves dropped their yellow and began to find a home with the Dollars. Ultimately, the solution to separate himself from them until they died down seemed to be the most appropriate response. Then, when the group he'd founded was but a memory, he could rebuild them from the ashes—rising like the phoenix.
It was truly no secret to him that his goal remained nameless, having a million different definitions; in fact, he could evaluate each one and apply their principles to himself, just to see if the shoe fit. But after what happened to the Dollars, he found himself lost, not knowing which kind of extraordinary he thought he could be. For him, the idea that he may never find the answer to that question found itself stuck in his mind on a daily basis. And that was the worst part.
He folded the towel back up before hanging it over the stainless-steel rack on the wall to the left of the door, exiting the dimly-lit box of echoes shortly after. He honestly couldn't even hear himself think in there sometimes. The additional sounds of the cars which rolled by along with the clacking of peoples heels as they walked under the window outside didn't help at all, either. They echoed, too.
The raven paced the floor to his small kitchenette, pouring a glass of water from the Brita pitcher he kept in the minifridge and taking a couple of long sips as he attempted to collect his thoughts. The water felt good trickling down his throat—almost cleansing, even.
The footsteps the boy made caused some of the floorboards to squeak as he made his way to the lonely bed, sitting down on the side of it and bunching the sheets up against his chest with phone in hand. His eyes were downcast as he stared blankly at the screen, looking through his photos and stopping his thumb from advancing to the next picture when he landed on a selfie he had taken with Masaomi within the first weeks of his arrival to the city. He blinked, emotionlessly taking in the picture of himself trapped in the blonde's headlock for a minute before shutting the phone off and throwing it onto the floor next to his mattress.
He turned around and switched on his computer, watching its neon white lights blink to life as he took a deep breath. Reaching back behind him, he picked up his cell phone, placing it onto the floor in front of him and to the left of where his PC was set up on a small table, no wider than a stool.
He blinked at his home screen, suddenly feeling that unmistakable fire he felt when he first arrived in Ikebukuro—the resolve to reopen a door he thought he sealed off long ago began to finally resurface through the cracks. His hands subtly twitching above the keyboard with what he could only pinpoint as newfound yet nostalgic excitement, Mikado lowered them onto the keys, typing one word.
'baccano'
Suddenly, he was let into a chat room which bustled with excitement. At first, the familiarity hit the boy like a brick to the face, and he felt a certain unnamable kind of happiness once again surge through his veins as he scrolled up and down the screen. His excitement was short lived, however, met with confusion as he read the contents of the chatroom. The messages suddenly became grim. 99% of the users who were online began flooding messages in about Horada escaping from prison.
Mikado sat there agape at the news, feeling his eyes grow wide and shake with the ghost of adrenaline. The man who he had witnessed hold a gun to Masaomi's bloodied face at the Yellow Scarves' old hideout was free. And nobody knew where he was. Mikado couldn't stop himself from chiming in to the Dollars at this point.
[Taro- Hey everybody. We need to calm this down. If any Dollars see him, let the police know right away.]
[Setton- Gotcha. I'll be on the lookout, all of you should be, too. Oh, and Taro—good to have you back.]
Mikado backed away from the computer after seeing Setton's message, exhaling while placing his hands behind him on the mattress to support himself as he looked upon the messages still pouring in about the man. He felt his heart race and his breath shorten for a few minutes, and he brought the glass of water to his lips to take a deep sip. Feeling the silence of the room, he reminded himself to take things one fact at a time; that's what made him most effective. Suddenly, a refracted light shone through the inside of the glass of water that his eyes looked through, and he quickly realized that it came from his phone. Curious, Mikado furrowed his brow before lowering the glass to the floor, replacing the object in his hand with his phone. What he saw next drew a feeling from him that he didn't know how to describe within the boundaries of the dictionary itself. The light of the phone shrunk his still pupils as the boy sat among the dark of the room. The screen was devoid of content—all except for a single text message.
[Masaomi Kida: Coming home.]
