Chapter 3: Third time lucky.
The weather was exceptionally nice that day which meant many people went outside. And what better way to enjoy a beautiful Sunday besides a stop at an outdoor café?
Downtown, there was one little, humble café with mediocre beverages. On average, it only served more or less twenty customers daily, pretty trivial. However, ever since the last two weeks, the number had increased drastically and strangely enough, most of them were highschool girls. As soon as schools ended, groups of friends had come up with the ideas of giving the shop a visit.
Sitting under shades of trees, they started chatting nonchalantly and ordering drinks to pass the time as they were awaiting a certain person. As a single sound resonated weakly but melodiously in the air, they quickly averted all their attentions towards the source of it. And there they spotted him.
A very outstanding man who was whistling strolled to the direction where the spiritted girls was. His rough appearance consisted of his tall figure, appealing jawline, biceps, broad chest and especially broad shoulders which the girls fantasised themselves being carried off the ground with. The somewhat wild look of him was easily doubled with his casual outfit which included a plain black T-shirt, blue jeans and additionally, a guitar case on his left hand. In no time, all the girls got out of their seats and stood around him.
"Hey."
He greeted informally and in the girls' eyes, it was just another charm. In unison, they exclaimed a "Good afternoon" in which annoyed him terribly. Seeing the innocently expectant looks, he sighed and understood his deed. Placing the case on the pavement, he slowly took out the instrument and glanced at the female crowd.
" Any suggestion?"
Yes, he was a busker or a street performer. A girl in the front voiced out:
" How about an English song?"
" Fine by me."
He turned his gaze from the said girl to the strings. As a habbit, he picked each string separately in case any of them needed to be tuned. When he had reassured the quality of his guitar's sound, he hummed to check the key. After which, he unhesitatingly decided a song in his mind and strummed the strings once, got right into the verse:
"Girl, you really got me now. You got me so I don't know what I'm doing..."
A powerful start, it seemed. As soon as he dived into the melody, his facial expression changed completely. If he appeared dull and uninterested normally, he would brought the house down with the rock songs and his rather rakish look.
" Girl, you really got me now. You got me so I can't sleep at night..."
At every word 'girl', he would wink at a different girl which was a handful thing to do considering this word repeated at almost all sentences.
At the end of the song, he finished powerfully with a chord which he let it ring loud and clear. The strings vibrated while the applause and cheers took over.
"Can you sing another one?"
The same person who requested the song asked gleefully. But like other times, he shook his head and murmured a small refusal. His young audience always asked for his name or if he could stay a little longer, but they had never received an answer for either of the two questions. He sang passionately and subsequently, he left and all they saw were his unrushed steps and the long, lonely back.
" Have you found him yet?"
Kuroko was having a drink at the said café and asked the blond man who had just arrived while panting strenuously. Kise was bending his body and holding his knees to relax his stretched muscles when he heard the blue-haired man's voice and looked up.
" He's nowhere to be found."
His answer was not pleased to hear, at least for Kuroko. He furrowed his brows a bit to show dissatisfaction.
" You did gather the data, saying that he always walks past this area, right?"
Kise was definitely anxious about the unhappy look of the other one and hurriedly justified:
" I did and I'm 100% sure about that. He must have left."
" What? Doesn't he perform around here?"
Kise smiled awkwardly at that and scratched his head lightly.
" Well... Actually, he never performs more than one song. He just does one request from the crowd and abruptly leaves after delivering the music piece."
" Kise-kun..."
Kuroko's voice was quite unclear. He sighed heavily and cracked his knuckles. He stared at the clueless Kise and with a rolled fist, he slammed the table where he was sitting.
"If you know he's going to be here for briefly five minutes, then tell me from the beginning and prepare quickly instead of fixating about your damn hair!"
Kise automatically cringed at the threatening voice and the scary glare of one petite and angry Kuroko. Kuroko sighed again because of the restlessness.
" Where else does he frequently go to?"
Kise straightaway took out his notepad and scanned through it. His eyes stopped upon seeing the needed information.
" About 7 o'clock, at the nearest park from here."
Kuroko glanced at his wristwatch. It was only 5 o'clock. And that meant the two of them had to wander around the said park for a long time.
The park was quite nice. It was not very vast and crowded which was weird on Sunday. But then again, it was getting late, perhaps nearly 8 o'clock. And sunset was already a few hours ago. The location was hidden from view because of the trees and the lack of brightness from the light pole. Turning on his cell phone, he frowned to see the time showed in the top-left corner of the screen.
"7:56."
He was impatient and was about to make a call when he saw a slim figure from afar.
" Finally!"
He whispered to himself and gestured the person to come to him because he really thought that was his target. But as the dim light of the moon shone the face of the man who stepped closer, he realised he mistook someone else.
" Um... Sorry, I thought you were...an acquaintance."
The stranger smiled kindly and seemed to forgive him as it was a mishap. He bowed apologetically and assumed that person would withdraw from his field of vision. Yet, he stood there motionlessly.
" Um... Can I help you?"
" Oh! Am I by any chance bothering you?"
He asked with an empty face which was actually disturbing the taller one the most. The other one just uncomfortably answered:
" N-No, it's just... I'm waiting for a friend."
The man glanced up his face and peered into his flaming eyes.
"...this late?"
" Ye-Yes, you see, my friend is a really odd guy."
" Well, you're odd, as well."
" Excuse me."
" In my opinion, no one would usually demand money from their friend."
"...!"
He widened his eyes in shock as he exhaled strongly. His stomach tightened as a horrendous idea came to his mind. The one standing in front of him must be a...
" Don't worry. I'm no police nor detective."
His voice was soft and convincing but he could not believe this man.
" You must have mistaken me for someone else, because I'm just-"
" A busker, you might say. If somebody accidentally spotted you, they would just think because you're street performer and was wandering around singing. And therefore, they might not consider you as a professional blackmailer. Very clever!"
Kuroko said all of that in a tedious voice as if he had studied them by heart beforehand. And the criminal's nervousness grew as his plan was shattered in matter of seconds. But he was only found out by an individual, so handling this tiny creature was not difficult for him. Violently, he pushed Kuroko down the ground and without hesitation, he pulled out a dagger. Seeing the object of silencing on the ground unguarded, he took a deep breath in because he was going to do something he had done before. Bending down, he grabbed Kuroko's neck and pulled his entire body up with ease. The shiny, extremely menacing blade in his right hand stuck out, he clutched its haft tightly and directed it to his potential victim's throat. Just one move and everything will end.
However, it was not so simple. His right wrist might have a bad bruise if the hand that was forcibly gripping it let go. He gave a sidelong glance and caught sight of a pair of ferocious eyes glaring unforgivingly at him. Before he could he even react, the excruciating pain came from Kise's hand caused him to release the weapon in defeat. As soon as the knife landed on the ground and a metalic sound reverberated, Kise aimed for his head and kicked, strong enough to make him let go of Kuroko and lose his balance dramatically. He almost fell backwards, but managed to be on his two feet.
" Who the hell are you guys?"
Kise laid the barely properly breathing Kuroko on the ground and took off his troublesome jacket.
" The name is Kise Ryouta. Nice to meet you, Kagami Taiga."
He replied intimidatingly while droppping the garment.
" I also have a knife, but seeing yours is here," Kise glanced down his foot which was steeping on the blade and kicked it away." Let's make it fair and fight, bare hand, of course."
Kagami was somewhat perplexed by his bold statement. However, at that moment, a feeling swelled up in him and he could not deny how great that felt.
" Sounds good."
He grinned in excitement and broadened the space between his two feet horizontally. Kise also smirked and tossed his flick knife away. His stance was different from Kagami's, though. He did extend his feet, but he placed his non dominant foot which was the left in front of the other one about half a metre and turned his upper body rightward.
" On the count of three...1..."
The redhead gulped and started to exude sweats just from the waiting. They both glared intensely at one another, trying to figure out the other's weaknesses.
"2."
Kagami rolled his fists and exerted himself, especially his legs. But he was nervous at the way Kise was weirdly relaxed, with his hands seemingly had no applied pressure.
"3!"
Kagami strode towards his opponent and landed a strike aiming for his parotid. It was pretty close but Kise managed to prevent it by quickly hit his hand by the edge of his left hand. In the same brief second, he kicked Kagami's abdomen but the redhead stepped backwards in time and advanced with a side-on kick by his right instep. And this time, his attacking attempt succeeded. The blond man got his cheek hit and fell down, his face touched the ground.
" Ahh!"
He exclaimed in pain and lied helplessly. Kagami did not waste the opportunity and went to get his dagger. Holding it firmly, he grabbed the defeated one's shoulder and turned him upside down. A stab through one's heart or throat always assures death. And he chose the beating heart. He moved the arm that had the weapon backwards to get some speed. Suddenly, Kise opened his golden eyes.
" Now! Kurokocchi!"
Kagami was caught off guard. He instinctively looked behind and saw the said person. A pain, and he was asleep.
" Kurokocchi, are you sure you're fine?"
" Yes, I am, please, stop your whimper."
As he was told, Kise shut his mouth gracelessly and remained following Kuroko around. They returned home with Kise carrying a huge man, probably his same size.
" We're back!"
Kise merrily greeted out loud and was replied back by an annoying stare of the house's owner.
" I can see, Kise. Mind keeping it down? It's nearly midnight."
Awkwardness flastered on the scolded one's face which made Midorima feel conscious of his harsh words.
" Well, it's good to see you two returned in one piece."
He adjusted his glasses and went to his office, leaving the confused Kise and the unimpressed Kuroko.
" So basically, Tetsu-kun pretended to be out cold and Ki-chan fought this Kagami."
Momoi confirmed. In the moment, Kise, Kuroko and heself were situated in the living room which was fairly vast and simple. She was on an armchair while the other two sat on the sofa with an ice-bag each against their wounds.
" Yes, Momoi-san."
Kuroko responsed but Momoi did not seem to be satisfied with that much information.
" You've trained yourself a lot and've become really strong. Why don't you just fight him head on?"
" He's no wimp, Momoi-san. It would be easier to injure him fiercely, but that is not the way I do things. I bring you guys here so as to do an important task, not making you crippled."
" But will he listen? What if he refuses to work with us?"
Momoi concernedly asked but the blue-haired man appeared to have prepared for those kinds of questions.
" The thing we're going to do certainly will bring loss, but our selfishness does not allow us to stay in the dark everlastingly. What had happened? What will happen? Human always struggle in life because of those unanswered queries and even though we're doing might not figure out the second one. But as for the first one, there is a possibility."
"..."
" Did we kill our beloved one and other innocent people? How far Akashi Seijuuro's sickening games have gone? Will he be punished? Or will us suffer everything while he walks away unharmedly? It's frustrating just to think about a few of them, yet there may be more."
" So..." Kise cautiously said." As long as he's curious about the mentioned matters, there is a chance he might accept our desperate call."
Kuroko looked away for a second and replied:
" Well, it's true, but... Kagami-kun."
He called the name and from the spare room right across the living room, its owner opened the door and stepped out. The unsurprised and sorrowful look on his face implied the fact he had been eavesdropping.
" Judging by what I'm seeing, Kise-kun, he's already approved our proposal."
He then looked at the person opposite him, Momoi.
" Momoi-san, would you mind handing me the data I ask you to find earlier?"
" Sure."
She searched her laptop promptly and turned it to the others when she had found the desired information.
" Sorry, I haven't printed them out yet."
" It's fine."
He then turned his head to where Kagami was standing.
" Kagami-kun."
" What!?"
" Tomorrow, we are going to fetch the this person."
Kagami was baffled and glimpsed the screen of the laptop. Observing the object who had dark skin and a rather intimidating appearance, his splitted eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
" Why me?"
Kuroko was still calm and eyed Kagami severely.
" My apologies for bringing this up but...regarding your past, your swear brother was dead eight years ago and it was an accident."
Kagami's heart sank.
" Tatsuya! Tatsuya!"
He shook his brother's body in fright and anxiety. His mind was filled with possibilities but he checked the pulse, it had stopped.
"Taiga, you've killed your brother."
Who said that? He looked around but saw nobody but himself. He stared at his quivering hands which was covered in blood. He screamed. It kept raining. The rain that washed away the spilled blood. But the rain could not wash away the guilt.
" You accidentally killed him and therefore, you're a manslaughter. None of us here has experienced directly the feeling of having killed anyone...yet. We still don't know for sure."
All of the people in the room, Kuroko included, twitched at his statement and their faces saddened.
" But this person, Aomine Daiki," everyone's attention averted to the image on the screen." He is a murderer which means he can unhesitantly stab or shoot his opponents. I don't need you to physicially face him up."
Kagami glanced again and met those blue, sunken eyes at which he comprehened Kuroko's intention and sighed in defeat.
" Let's do it, then."
End chapter 3.