Two
The evening has been smooth so far and Rin has been keeping herself away from Ulquiorra throughout the party in a very subtle manner, as she prays that no one would notice.
She is thankful that Ryusaki called her, Clyde and Dechtire to have a word with him. The two ladies entertaining him are having some champagne as they keep to themselves from the rest of the Dark Abyss.
"I've been actually thinking about placing the three of you in a group to work together once awhile. Any objections and you'll feel my wrath or if the three of you fuck up a mission, then you could kiss off your pays goodbye," Ryusaki says as he gives them a cold stare.
"Not a problem at all, sir. However, I was just wondering why you'd be interested to talk about such important business on a Friday night like this," Clyde says.
Ryusaki laughs hollowly and says, "True, true. Why should I? TheDeath would kick me in the ass for such a topic for our Friday night dinners."
The three lower members force themselves a laugh to avoid their leader from scowling at them.
"All of you can get your asses back to the party and don't bother me anymore except," Ryusaki says as he points at Rin,"you, Rin."
"Thank you, Ryusaki-dono," Clyde and Dechtire say in unison.
The other two leaves Rin and Ryusaki alone.
"Still keeping up with the traditions, sweetheart?" Ryusaki says casually.
Rin bows and says, "Yes, Ryusaki-donno."
"You seem to fit in really well despite the fact that you are the youngest member of this clan," Ryusaki states in a factual manner.
"Domo arigato," Rin says as she bows at Ryusaki.
Ryusaki sips his champagne.
"Well, have you completely understood how our organisation works?"
Rin says, "I don't get what you mean, sir."
"Oh well, you know, we promote our members if we think they are worth it. Like, how our ex-Espada told us of his story in Hueco Mundo. The best of their types get to evolve and this is how things work here too," Ryusaki says in a serious tone.
Rin turns to look at Ulquiorra, who is slowly eating a piece of chocolate éclair.
Deep in her heart, she could feel slight anger.
She turns back to the leader and says, "I understand what you mean, sir."
Ryusaki gives a crooked smile.
"If you work harder and prove to us that you're a true Dark Abyss member, I'm considering of promoting you to a higher rank but with TheDeath's approval too but of course he can't overtake me in the decision of the clan."
Rin nods as a sign of understanding.
"It could seem unbiased that a new member like Schiffer could easily be the main assassin of the clan but Dark Abyss is not just a typical mafia clan, sweetheart," Ryusaki states in a serious tone.
Rin stays motionless and silent.
"Some of them might kill if they know that you've been promoted to a higher rank. Everything comes with a price in this clan. Jealousy rolls in and you won't be seen as who you are now. Mark my words, Rin," Ryusaki says.
"Yes, Ryusaki-dono," Rin states.
"Now, leave me," Ryusaki orders Rin.
"Arigato, Ryusaki-dono," Rin says and she quickly walks away from the leader of the clan.
Rin could feel her anger burning up inside of her. She recalls her fights and arguments with Ulquiorra before the both of them broke up and one of the reasons is because of jealousy.
Clyde approaches Rin with a glass of champagne.
Rin takes the glass and gulps it down in one shot.
"Whoa, babe. What has gotten into you?" Clyde asks curiously as he observes Rin's odd behaviour.
"I'm not hungry anymore. I need to get some fresh air," Rin states.
"What did he say to you?" Clyde asks curiously.
Rin rolls her eyes and says, "I'll be out for awhile. Don't follow me."
At the end of Rin's sentence, she walks away from Clyde and heads to the elevator to get back to her unit.
The woman enters the elevator that was already at the level she is on. She enters it, presses the button to her unit and presses the 'close' button.
The door shuts and the machine elevates.
Rin lets out a deep breath and leans her body against the railing in the elevator.
Jealousy? Hell, yeah it is! The Japanese woman thinks.
When she has reached her destination, she straight away heads to her bedroom to change her attire.
She unties the belt around her waist and tosses it onto her bed. She kicks off her geta and walks toward her closet.
Rin picks out several clothing that depicts 'grunge'. She strips off from her layered kimono and puts on her ripped jeans. She pulls a ripped white tank top over her body and wears a jacket over it. Walking over to her shoes closet, she picks out platform sneakers and wears them.
Before leaving, she pictures an image of a katana in her head and it appears in her hands. She mutters a Japanese chant and the katana shrinks and disappears into thin air. Rin brings her weapon almost everywhere she goes just in case if anything happens.
The woman locks her unit and heads back to the elevator. The doors open as she presses the 'down' button. She steps inside it and presses the 'G' button. It begins to move downwards and her hand feels her pocket for the wallet. She feels relief that she did bring her wallet.
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Rin walks out in the cold night. The cold wind blows her face as she walks briskly and stops in front of a cab that had just dropped off two passengers. She waits for the passengers to give her way and she enters it.
The cab driver asks her. She states her destination, the driver nods and he speeds off.
The Japanese woman leans her back against the cab seat and thinks, I'm sorry I can't bring you along, Clyde. I just need to clear my thoughts.
By the time the cab has arrived, Rin gives out a few Dollar notes to the cab driver.
"Thank you," the driver says.
"You're welcome," Rin replies and she gets out of the cab and shuts the door.
The cab speeds off and Rin hesitates no more and walks a bit more to one of her favourite deranged pubs where the interior decoration is avant garde and its customers are often dressed up in impractical clothing, which seem to be something Rin likes, which reminds her of Harajuku.
Rin walks inside the pub and walks up the creaking staircase to where she usually sits.
"The usual mix?" the bartender asks Rin.
"Of course," Rin says with a normal grin.
"Alright," the bartender nods and gets back to his job.
Rin looks around. There aren't many people but there are quite a number of punks at a corner, talking loudly. She ignores them.
Then, she notices that she isn't the only one seated at the bar.
From the side, Rin could see a man dressed in a black cloak with its collar reaching up to his neck. There is a red cloud imprinted towards the end of the cloak. His face is concealed by an orange mask with only one eye hole. The only thing that wasn't concealed by the mask is the top of his hair, which is pitch black and spiky.
Rin turns her head to steal a glance at the man, and then she quickly looks elsewhere to avoid the man from staring at her.
There seems to be nothing odd about that man, in Rin's opinion because she is accustomed to the cosplay culture but she is just curious to know how the man looks like without the mask. He seems to be mysterious, which sparks Rin's interest.
The man asks the bill from the bartender. The bartender nods and walks over to Rin with her cocktail.
"There you go," says the bartender.
"Thank you," says Rin.
At the side of her eye, Rin could see the man lifting the glass with a quarter of black beer left in it. He turns away from Rin and she looks away from the man, for she fears that staring at him too long would make the man stare back at her in an uncomfortable manner.
She continues sipping her drink and tries to ignore the masked man. She could hear the sound of the glass being cleared and she pretends to not be interested in the situation.
She could hear the man's heavy footsteps walking towards her and she shuts her eyes. The sound of footsteps shuffles behind her as he walks over to head to the Man's.
The sound of the bathroom door swinging open is audible to Rin's ears. The door slams shut.
She looks up from her glass and looks over at the group of punks, then back to the bottled wine, beer, whiskey and other sorts of alcoholic drinks in front of her.
"He seems like an Asian," says the bartender.
Rin looks at the bartender.
"You could actually detect his accent even if he's speaking behind a mask?" Rin asks the bartender curiously.
The bartender shakes his head.
"He didn't speak to me at all. It was all sign language but I could sense that he is an Asian and it is not because of his clothing."
Rin nods her head and says, "The fact that some Westerners wear traditional Asian clothing."
"True," the bartender says and he walks away from Rin.
The door of the bathroom swings open to reveal the masked man. He walks in a hurried manner and Rin looks away from that man.
He heads to the stairs and descends the stairs carefully.
Rin steals a glimpse of that man until he really is out of sight.
He seems one of a kind. I wonder who he is, Rin thinks.