Yay! Another update. This is in celebration of the anime (even if I'm a little late there, sorry it took so long to get out) which I'm SO EXCITED for, and I hope all of you are too. Kay, quick note, so I played Mink's reconnect route and I like him a little more now, so there will be more mink in this story than I originally anticipated. Anyway. here's the new chapter, hope you like it. And, as always, please enjoy! PS didn't edit so haha enjoy that
Let the Games Begin
"They're not twins."
That was the first thing he could think to say.
The table remained silent. Noiz and Clear sat on either side of Aoba with Koujaku making something at the stove. Whatever it was, it smelled horribly horribly burnt, but not one of them said anything. Mink had also returned and was sitting at the head of the table, puffing on his pipe and regarding Aoba cooly.
Minutes passed and Aoba's comment hung in the still air. Koujaku plopped something down in the middle of the table, but Aoba made no move to eat it. Noiz and Koujaku exchanged some looks and Clear pet his young master's head awkwardly with one hand.
After a long, long silence, Mink looked up from his pipe and regarded the table calmly.
"He didn't do it."
All eyes went to him, wide with shock.
Mink stared back at them, taking another deep puff of his pipe. "I mean it," he said when the silence droned on. "You can all relax." He swung his eyes over to Aoba. "This wasn't his work." His eyes were cold and hard as ice on Aoba's skin. "Aoba's face hasn't changed."
A vein throbbed at Koujaku's temple. "What does Aoba's face have to do with anything?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in Mink's direction.
Mink swung his eyes over to the wannabe samurai, regarding him with the same cold gaze he'd levelled at Aoba. "He does not have the eyes of a killer," he said slowly, turning back towards Aoba.
Gradually, the room relaxed.
Of course they all knew about Virus and Trip. Aoba had told them all about their "reveal" in the Oval Tower. About how they were really the guys behind Morphine, and Granny's disappearance. About how they'd tricked Mizuki and put him and all the other Rib members under Sei's mind control. Aoba had also, rather reluctantly, told the gang about what Virus and Trip had been planning to do to Aoba.
Yes, they had told Aoba that too. In the moments between when Koujaku and the others burst in and stopped the twins and when Aoba had given up his desperate fight, Virus and Trip had bent down to his level and told him all about their plans. Aoba shuddered just thinking about it.
"We're your biggest fans, Aoba." Virus's voice still haunted his nightmares sometimes, along with Trip's cool smile as he kicked Aoba in the gut hard enough to crack ribs. "We love you."
Upon hearing it, Koujaku had tried to murder the two blonde dicks himself, but their place in the Old Residential District was heavily guarded. He, Noiz, Mink, and Clear had even gone so far as to device a plan to infiltrating Virus and Trip's secure residential apartment, but it had fallen through after Granny had smacked them all squarely on the head.
After the collapse of Oval Tower the two not-twin, twins had found a place near Aoba's and had kept regular hours spying on him. They had been Toue's toys after all and once his influence was cut, they had all the time in the world to fixate over Aoba, the object of their fascination. Aoba had physically seen them little since that day in Oval Tower, but their presence was a constant lurking fear over Aoba, something that dogged his every step.
They had only tried to kidnap him once since the Tower's collapse with disastrous end results for both parties - Aoba ended up with a fractured leg and three broken ribs, Noiz with a collapsed lung and three missing piercings, and Virus with a severe concussion - and increased supervision (as if Aoba didn't already feel like a child with Granny constantly yelling at him).
Since that day Virus and Trip had kept their distance, but Aoba had always been worried they would strike again. He'd even gone so far as to wish the two dead, if only to alleviate the constant threat they posed for the young man's mental well-being.
Ren felt his master's pain and crawled up onto Aoba's lap, his bright pink tongue licking along the inside of Aoba's wrist.
"Aoba," he said in his characteristically deep voice, black eyes regarding his master carefully. "Are you okay?"
Aoba didn't respond. He wound shaky fingers through Ren's long fur and stroked it softly, breathing deep in and out of his mouth.
"So if it wasn't Aoba . . ." Koujaku eyed Aoba hesitantly, red eyes narrowing in confusion.
"Then who was it?" Noiz finished for him, sucking his lip ring between his teeth and biting down softly.
Koujaku slid a look towards the lanky teen. "You took the words right out of my mouth," he said unhappily.
Noiz bit down harder on his lip ring, grinning at Koujaku out of the side of his mouth.
"I've got to call Granny." Aoba stumbled to a stand, fidgeting with his Coil and punching in a couple numbers hurriedly. "Make sure she doesn't think . . ."
It was at that exact moment that Aoba's coil rang.
"Huh?" Aoba blinked at it, clicking it on and holding his wrist up to blink at the incoming screen. "Hello? Granny?"
"YOU MORON!" The voice on the other end screamed.
"Oh dear," Aoba groaned, holding the Coil away from his ear.
"Hi, Tae-san!" Koujaku waved at the Coil's screen, but Aoba's Grandmother barely looked at him, so foul was her mood.
"PLEASE TELL ME YOU DID NOT RUIN YOUR LIFE BY KILLING THOSE TWO LUNATICS!" she shouted, her voice three times its normal volume - which was already fairly loud in Aoba's opinion.
"Granny, I - !" Aoba couldn't get a word in edgewise. "Look, I can exp - !"
"UGH!" This is so TYPICAL of you! You forget to lock the door and now you're a big criminal on the streets. Oh, I'm so disappointed. My only grandson, a murderer."
"GRANNY!"
"Lucky for you, I don't think anyone besides you, me, and your little team of boyfriends back there - "
"Boyfriends, Granny!?"
"- would connect you to their murder . . ."
"Well, if you keep talking so loudly, people are gonna find out!" Aoba hissed, cheeks head with embarrassment.
"'Course Akushima never really needed a reason to arrest anyone. He gets even a wiff of your scent and -"
"I don't think that's going to happen." Mink stood, awkwardly entering the conversation. "The police are a lot better now that Toue's gone. They're nice and fair towards the regular folk."
"Oh, really?" Granny slid her piercing gaze away from Aoba and towards the tall, imposing man who stood behind him.
Aoba gladly gave his Coil over to Mink, sighing in relief when the attention wasn't focused on him.
"The yakuza are no longer present, as far as I can tell," Mink continued. "And even if they are, their influence is minimal at best."
"Mhmm." Granny was nodding, regarding Mink calmly with respect in her eyes.
"Either way, we saw the report." Mink looked back towards the kitchen and the other men - and one robot - gathered there. "The police chief said himself that they were ruling this as a murder, suicide. There was one little sliver of evidence that pointed towards a third party, but the person who provided that account couldn't even get into greater detail than she saw 'a strange boy'."
Granny seemed to relax a little. "Well, that's a relief."
"When are you coming home, Granny?" Aoba hesitantly took back his Coil, biting the inside of his cheek and speaking in soft tones - he so did not want her yelling at him again.
"It'll be a few more days." Granny looked away from him and Aoba saw for the first time that she was in a crowded marketplace with two heavy bags weighing down her shoulders. "I've got a couple more things I need to get and then there's this town a couple days over I'd like to visit . . ."
"Granny!" Aoba called her attention with a worried frown. "Are you sure you're okay all the way out on the mainland? Do you need some help with all your shopping, or -?"
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, YOU STUPID GRANDSON!" Granny's voice returned to its high screeching octave and Aoba ducked his head in shame. "I'm fine over here! Worry about yourself, for heaven's sake. You're the one in real trouble, living in Midorijima with a murderer on the loose!"
"Sorry, Granny." Aoba lowered his head even further.
"We're all worried about you, Tae-san." Koujaku grabbed the Coil and poked his head into the screen, smiling happily at Granny with a friendly wave. "After all, this is your first trip outside the island, in what, 50 years?"
"I don't need you reminding me how old I am, Koujaku," Granny grumbled, but there was a hint of a smile in her voice. "I've just gone out here so I can get some more herbs and medicine, some of the stuff we can't get around the island. After all with Platinum Jail closed and its corrupting influence gone, I would think our our hospitals are going to need as much help as they can get with patching up the locals."
"And you're doing a fine job, Tae-san," Koujaku said cheerily. "You're the greatest doctor this island has."
"Hmmph," Granny said, but she seemed to be calmer. "Aoba?"
"Yes, Granny?" Aoba blinked at her, returning his head into the frame.
Her eyes were soft when they found the yellow-grey eyes of her grandson. "Stay safe," she said.
"I will," Aoba smiled, bowing his head in a nod.
"And I expect all you boyfriends to try and keep him safe, you hear?" Granny addressed the group milling around behind Aoba.
"Boyfriends?" Aoba muttered, ducking his head in embarrassment.
But after a moment, everyone - Noiz, Clear, Mink, and Koujaku - smiled at the screen and flashed a great thumbs up. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good. Well, then, I'll see you later," she said as she clicked her Coil off.
With a weary sigh, Aoba clicked his own Coil off, refusing to look back at the group of men moving around behind him.
"So," he said after a beat of awkward silence. "What do we do now?"
Apparently no one had thought that far ahead, for an even deeper silence folded over the room and its occupants.
"Stay safe, I guess," Noiz shrugged after a moment.
"Shouldn't we try and find out who killed them?" Koujaku frowned at the blonde, pierced teen.
"Why?" Noiz rolled his eyes. "They did us a favor, killing those two dickheads."
"Yeah, but who's to say they won't try and come after Aoba, or one of us. Maybe its someone after anybody that has any information in regards to Platinum Jail?" Koujaku presisted.
"How would they even get that information though? And who's to say if anybody did get their hands on that kind of information, they would misuse it like that. Remember Virus and Trip were the bad guys. I still think whoever killed them did us a favor."
"You're really annoying, you know that?"
"You're one to talk, old man."
The conversation went on like that for a while with neither party gaining any ground.
"You okay, Aoba?" Clear asked when Noiz and Koujaku quieted down, looking towards his young master with worry clear on his face.
"Yep." Aoba forced himself to nod, still stroking his fingers through Ren's silky fur. "Really."
"I'm going to head out." Mink stood, looking down at Aoba. "While I don't think this guy's a real threat, it wouldn't hurt to check around, make sure nobody's heard of him."
"Okay," Aoba nodded. "Thanks, Mink."
Mink nodded and turned to go.
But just at that moment, Aoba's Coil started ringing again. Its tone was high and loud, sharper than the usual ring, not quite as pleasant on Aoba's ears.
"Huh?" Aoba held it up, opening up the screen and flicking the communicator on. "Granny? Is that you again?
But it wasn't Granny.
It was just a message.
Large orange letters sat on top of a background of blue. The letters shimmered and sparkled slightly, moving with Aoba as the young man sat back down beside Noiz and Clear with his arm outstretched.
"Hello again," Aoba read, his eyes narrowing the further down the page he scrolled. "Did you see my present?"
The tension in the room skyrocketed. Four pairs of eyes landed on Aoba, slicing through his skin and into the message screen he was reading. The whole thing began shaking with Aoba's arm the further he read down the message.
"I knew you'd like that. I never really liked them anyway. Creeps, both of them. But, then again, they were nice to me when I wasn't really nice to anybody."
"What the hell?" Koujaku stood and made to grab Aoba's Coil, but Noiz pushed him back down with a hand on his chest.
"Let him finish."
"I never got to truly thank you for that day on the beach. It was hard at the time, but now I'm so glad you turned me away." Aoba's blood ran cold as he finished that line.
"Aoba?" Koujaku extended a hand towards his friend.
Mink reached him first, laying a firm hand on his shoulder. "Finish it," he said in a stern voice.
"We're going to play a little game, Aoba. Everyday you'll get a present from me. Some you may like, others . . . well, others you may hate. Virus and Trip were my first present to you. Did you like it? Aren't you glad those two punks are dead?"
"This is sick." Someone said it, but Aoba didn't know who. All sound was running together in his mind until all of it, all of it, sounded like the words he was numbly reading from his Coil screen.
"After each present, I'll ask you a question. It'll be the same question each time, so you don't have to worry too much about your answer. This first present is a freebie, but starting tomorrow, I want you to have that answer ready."
"Is that it?" Koujaku asked. "He didn't even tell you the question."
"I look forward to playing with you, Aoba. And may the best man win."