Chapter 4: The final one.
The rather dim sunlight shone through the window glass illuminated the room that seemed to be an office. The room was neatly arranged with an old writing table in front of the said window, the relatively large bookshelf was placed at the left corner of the room and was of course, close to the table for the user to easily take out reference books when needed. It was just about six o'clock in the morning and judging by the figure falling asleep right on the table, someone had considerably exerted themself. And the person who had just opened the door quietly and stared at the sight unhappily knew this as well. She was too impatient to just stand there and immediately went to his side.
" Shin-chan."
She called and shook him gently so as not to startle him. A small groan came from his mouth as his brows furrowed.
" Takao?"
He managed to make sense of the face he saw firstly after opening his heavy eyelids. With difficulty, he got up, stretched his arms lightly and put the pair of glasses next to him on.
" What time is it?"
He asked and tried to stifle his yawns.
"Only six, it'd better if you went to bed."
" No, I'm awake. Would you mind making me a cup of coffee?"
Despite the obvious sincerity and worry showed in her voice, Midorima deliberately ignored it and returned to the mound of paperwork.
" Shin-chan, if you go on overworking like this, sooner or later you will-"
" Takao, we don't have much time."
He cut Takao rudely which was very unlike him and gave her a serious look. She sighed at his restlessness and sat down a chair situating forward the table.
" Am I the only one who is clueless? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Midorima frowned slightly upon hearing her and adjusted his glasses.
" No, you aren't. Even Kuroko knows nothing regarding this matter."
Her dazed face implied she had not comprehended the situation clearly and so, he proceeded:
" It's very close now. I just know it. I cannot say for certain but... I won't last."
The wind was blowing rather powerfully or at least they thought it was. Perhaps the fact they were driving the opposite direction and with high speed was the main reason. However, they would be lying if they were to say they dislike the feeling. The wild feeling of having a blast of cool wind hit you while you raced to your desired destination was extraordinary.
All of the sudden, he felt a poke at his left shoulder. He then exclaimed:
" What is it, Kuroko?"
" Can we stop at road 25?"
Kuroko had to answer loudly because of the overwhelming whirring sound created by both the wind and the motorcycle's engine. Kagami frowned with annoyance:
" Why?"
" I need to use the restroom."
" The vanilla milkshake here is amazing, Kagami-kun."
Even his compliment sounded monotonous, but somehow, it was a little better than usual. They were currently sitting at a fast food restaurant where Kagami was going to have more and more hamburgers and Kuroko was settled with just milkshake.
" What's wrong with you? We haven't had breakfast yet, eat some proper food."
" Then what's wrong with you? Having a bottomless stomach? Please leave something for this place to sell."
Kagami blushed and answered after taking a big bite and had his mouth stuffed to bursting:
" It's not like I won't pay. And besides, we will eventually have to get involved into more fights, it's sensible to eat a lot."
Kuroko sighed at the half-hearted reasoning and looked out the window. Suddenly, he stood up and startled the redhead.
" What is it?"
He followed suit and stared out the window, only to catch a glimpse of a man whose face was covered with a mask and showed only his eyes standing far too close to his property and jamming his passkey. Kagami gritted his teeth and ran outside instantly while shouted angrily:
" Hey! Hey!"
However, he did not make it. The thief succeeded in starting the engine and having the transport ridden away, just in time for him not to be beaten by Kagami. It happened within thirty seconds.
Kuroko ran out much later than Kagami as if it was intentional of him. He came up to the person whose long back was at him.
" Hey Kuroko..."
Kagami's voice was not at all expressive and rather dull. The look on his face reflected surprise, but he was not surprised at the fact he was robbed.
" Do you have the same thought I have?"
Kuroko stared at the direction the thief had gone, remembered the pair of eyes he saw last night and nodded in agreement:
" I suppose so."
The man knelt trembly on the icy ground and looked up with imploring and fearful eyes. Desperately, he tried to utter another plea but he gave up the seemingly futile thought seeing the merciless look of the two man observing him. He could not hide the fright in the intense atmosphere emitted in the room anymore and sweats started to damp his white shirt. He felt his heart beating increasingly faster and faster. And he felt as if it had stopped as soon as the silence was broken because of a loud yawn. The two men who were guarding him turned their face to the entrance of the office and spotted a certain person:
" Boss."
They greeted casually in unison while their posture stayed the same. The man with the sly expression and wore glasses remained sitting on the couch while the other person who was tall and big compared to his colleague stood against the wall showing displeasure because his ringleader arrived late, again.
" Yo."
He stepped in slowly or rather with a lazy manner and sat down the chair behind his desk. His eyes moved to the shivering man on the floor:
" What's with the mess in my workplace?"
He stared at the wall unmindfully and when nobody answered, he repeated, this time, directed to one person:
" Imayoshi, what's it this time?"
"As you can see, somebody has done something wrong."
He then walked to Aomine's desk and put a document in front of him.
" His name is Sakurai Ryou, 23 years old."
Aomine flipped the pages carelessly without reading.
" Did he not pay the debt?"
" Well, it's true-"
" Then, simply use the gun and..."
He stopped and used his index finger and middle finger and pointed them at his temple, indicating to just shoot the subject. However, Imayoshi appeared to have other things in mind.
" Boss, please, read properly."
"..."
" Even though he should have been killed, we cannot do it yet."
Right away, he gestured the remaining person in the room to come closer.
" Wakamatsu here happened to overhear a very special conversation. It seems Sakurai, who has been buying drugs from us, had also sold us out."
That definitely caught Aomine's attention. His eyes quickly filled with more seriousness and his voice was harsher:
" So the police found out about us?"
" We don't know, he's been in touch with and revealed our address to an unknown person."
" Get it, so this 'thing' here doesn't want to confess?"
" Yes."
Aomine then got out of his seat and crouched down to the same level as Sakurai.
" You know, usually I would hold the collar of one stubborn person like this..."
He did the said action and was capable of moving Sakurai's body just by one hand.
"... and fling them across this room."
The poor, small man cringed as his wide eyes begging him to let go.
"Or...!"
He exclaimed and took out his lighter.
" This method is usually for women, but I can have an exception."
The grin appeared on his long face, like that of the scar on his nape that could hardly be seen from behind. His eyes brightened up with awfully truthful ruthlessness. The tiny, fragile flame appeared out of the blue and was directed to his thin skin. Sakurai could feel the heat on his cheek and the coldness pierced through every inch on his body. But the icy feeling was nowhere near as cold as the dark blue eyes, staring at his.
" The third option is of course to spill the beans. Make up your mind quickly or I'll do it for you."
His low and raucous voice just added up his menacing presence.
" I-I..."
On the other hand, Sakurai's stuttering and high-pitched voice just showed his true cowardly self.
" Who was it you'd been contacting with, Ryou?"
All of the sudden, a loud clatter broke the intense atmosphere in the room. Everyone's attention was drawn to the wide open door and they noticed an extremely prominent figure stepped inside.
" Who the hell the you?"
Wakamatsu shouted and promptly pointed his M1911 at the potential threat. The other person at the door was not disconcerted, though. He spent under a few seconds to scan their features and gave a provoking smile.
"The name is Kagami. Nice to meet you, mister stealer."
" What?"
" Dude, I'm talking about your thug-faced boss."
Aomine glanced at the disdainful face with an unshown interest, but the redhead was not enough to make him stand up.
" Hum... You must be the motobike's owner. Apologise to me. I only went joyriding a bit. I could give it back tomorrow."
His voice did not match the words from his mouth. Kagami rolled his eyes at the shameless attitude and uttered:
"Ohhh, yeah right!"
"BANG!"
He almost bit his tongue when a deadly bullet was fired and went over his head and through the wall behind him. A thin stream of smoke was visible as it escaped the barrel. He eyed Aomine's crouching stance and was then greatly astonished, because he knew that bored man could have easily killed him.
" Why don't we cut to the chase? I think I know you, Kagami Taiga."
"!?"
" A blackmailer who could ruin a whole career of any unfortunate target, a wealthy business man or even an entire corporation. The ability to infiltrate, gain pieces of necessary information and to use that weakness against your target. I have wanted to recruit you. But..."
He finally decided to stand up and walk nearer to the cautious Kagami, who was terribly aware of the dangerous weapon on his hand.
"... I don't recall inviting you here. What do you want?"
He pointed his gun at Kagami's throat and asked with threatening eyes. The redhead gulped silently and opened his mouth to utter something, but it was inaudible. Aomine gave a scowl and his finger was close to pull the trigger.
" What?"
Kagami did not break his eye contact with him and receded very slowly. Aomine, on the contrary, stepped forwards and began to corner Kagami. Briefly, Kagami glanced sidelong which made Aomine do the same thing and quickly strode leftwards. Another sudden sound filled the room a milisecond before the window shards went all over the place. Wakamatsu and Imayoshi were caught off-guard and were shot by Kagami. Aomine turned around just to see blood poured out from his fainted men's limbs and he flinched upon hearing a metallic sound beside him. Still gripping his colt, he turned his head rightwards and there next to the broken window, a very normal-looking man was aiming at him.
" Freeze, Aomine-kun."
The light blue-haired male said curtly to his subject's amuse.
" Two against one? So unfair!"
Without a single fear on his face, he dropped his gun, smiled and said unworriedly and eyed the unknown men.
"I would suggest giving up now, Aomine-kun."
" Are you suppose to be the cops? Am I arrested?"
"No, we are not the police and do not come here in order to bring you any harm. We-"
Kuroko widened his eyes and uttered a cry of pain as he received a direct hit on his abdomen, resulted in falling flat on his back. Kagami was jolted and therefore fired his gun, but he missed terribly because Kuroko distracted him:
" DON'T SHOOT!"
Without hesitation, Aomine moved to Kagami and punched his chest, strong enough to stumble him. He hit his head against the wall and lost his consciousness for a brief second, only to realise afterwards his gun was taken away and he himself got another punch on the temple.
" Do you expect I will listen?"
Aomine looked at the out-cold Kagami and the petite man who was barely aware of his surrounding disappointingly and clicked his tongue loudly. Unarmed and injured, Kuroko sat up and gazed at the weapon belonged to Kagami which was touching his forehead, his nose was uncomfortable with the smell emitted from it. His mouth slowly moved to form words:
"No, I think."
His clear sky blue irises and his bluish dark one for the first time had time to really see each other.
Aomine, for some reason, was reluctant to pull the trigger. Was it because of the strange sound he was hearing? What was it? He eyed the young man on the floor, defenseless and ready to be killed, his messy blue hair and his round eyes, making his appearance looked stupid. But there was no hidden desire nor purpose in those eyes, and there was no fear looking at them.
" What do you want?"
His voice was drier, and the trigger was so close to be pulled by his unsteady forefinger.
" Please. Come with us."
He bent his brows more.
" Are you guys trying to recruit me or something?"
" You can say that."
He paused for a bit and continued the conversation.
"What will I gain? How much are you gonna pay me? I'm not free."
" Well..."
Kuroko dragged and seemed to irritate the one holding the gun.
"... To be honest, there is no cash nor anything money-related."
The force applied on his forehead increased as the scowl on Aomine's face worsened.
"Are you fricking kidding me?"
" There is one and only one thing you will get from going with us..."
"..."
"... And that is the truth."
Seeing his confused face, he glanced over Kagami and said:
" Why don't you take the paper from Kagami-kun's pocket?"
The confusion did not leave him. But what would he lose from doing that? He would check their belongings sooner or later anyway and honestly, he was confident enough to not be caught off-guard. Knowing so, he ordered Kuroko to stand up with his gun still aiming at his head and walked him towards the redhead's whereabouts. Kagami was leaning helplessly on the cold surface of the wall. Forceably, he pushed Kuroko down, had him sit next to Kagami, thrust his one hand into the pocket and searched for the said paper. As the his skin came in contact with the object, he pulled it out. He unfolded it and the content shocked him. His heart tightened painfully and the memories came unwarned like that of a storm.
" Daiki!"
The voice sounded in the air, but he could not see that person. The footstep behind just got louder and faster, but all he saw was unknown shadow. Was the hallway endless? Or was he uncapable of escaping? Ran and ran and ran, he told himself to calm down and that everything would be alright like he always did. But this time, it was different. It was not going to be alright when it concerned somebody's life. But... But...he did not do it.
His feet became so numb and senseless, but he kept running, even though his lungs were in great need of oxygen. What was it that making him run? Perhaps, desire? Or selfishness? The selfishness of going on living and the desire of justifying for himself? Or was it hope? The hope that had always helped many and many people to go through their own adversities? But...where was it, the hope that was filling up in him? Where was it when all he saw then was the unmovable wall. Where was it when that person had caught him? It had abandoned him. And when the only thing he had was his pair of bare hands and all behind him was that man's servants with weapons, when he shouted and screamed terrifying screams, when they mercilessly cut and pierced him, when he had only one route left and...when all he saw then was red on his hands, he understood. Hope had gone.
" 1234."
Momoi was typing on the laptop in her bedroom when she heard the continuous doorbell. She vacated the room and hurriedly went open the door. Expecting to see Kuroko and Kagami, she prepared to greet them with a welcoming smile, but she did not do it as she saw the sight behind the wooden door. The tall, well-built redhead had bandage around his head and stumbled slightly while Kuroko was acting normal, but she could see scratches on where his skin was exposed and a bruise on his face.
" What's wrong?"
" Oh! This?"
Kagami pointed at his injure and used the worst excuse ever: 'the stairs' and carried on going rest in his room. Kuroko silently walked into the kitchen, probably looking for Midorima. Momoi followed him and held his arm gently.
" Tetsu-kun, why are you like this? Did this Aomine beat you guys?"
Kuroko awkwardly looked at her worried face with his hands reaching the faucet in the counter.
" It's true. But then again, it was my miscalculation that I got us in more trouble than expected."
" He's horrible!"
He smiled and dried his hands.
" He's been through a lot, kind of like us, so let's sympathise him, OK?"
Momoi looked down and felt ashamed for what she had just said. What right did she have to judge him while just a week ago, she was still selling drugs? She nodded and earned a light rub on the head.
" By the way, where is Midorima-kun?"
" Um... I've been working in my room since noon, so I'm not too sure."
" What now? I want to tell him about Aomine-kun."
" Did you get him to agree joining us?
Three hours ago
Aomine did not notice his trembling hands and Kuroko pretended not to. Five seconds, ten seconds and fifteen seconds,... Kuroko did not count, but to Aomine, he just took a step back to the past and the trip was unpleasant. Out of nowhere, he rolled his hand into a fist and landed a strike onto Kuroko. Blood came from his mouth and a bruise then existed on his pale face. As for the other, something started to be visible in his eyes. Hatred, anxiety, regret and other emotions Kuroko thought they should have been shown, but he just spotted a growing desire, a desire to kill. Somewhat subconsciously, he stood up, averted the barrel and directed it to Kuroko. Suddenly, he sensed an overwhelming presence and got back to reality. He turned his head to the seemingly unconscious man and got kicked at his knees. He tripped but got his balance back rightaway. Before he knew it, Kuroko got up as well as he clouted his colt. A two against one fight was started, none was armed. Kagami attacked. He strode and kicked sidelong, but Aomine blocked it with his palm, quickly held his foot and pulled it to make him plunge. Kagami was on the floor and Kuroko was not in his field of vision. And immediately, he felt an immense pain at the area near his waist. He glanced down and saw the blood pouring out.
" Aomine-kun, give up. You lose."
"..."
"We infiltrated instead of doing so directly because that way, I knew you guys won't be prepared and surely have one gun each, unlike us. Knives are expected, but then I rethink..."
Sweats rolled on Aomine's face.
"...because all of us were stabbed by him. I figure you would be effected by that trauma and would just use guns."
" Why don't you fire?"
" Then Aomine-kun. Why didn't you fire? You could have shot me without listening to any reasoning like you always did before. But you didn't right?"
He gave Aomine a soft, truthful smile.
" Because different from him, you are afraid of the idea of killing someone."
" Shut up!"
Aomine held his wound and said. A bitter smile was broken into.
" What do you know? Just by the way you say about it, I know that-"
"-I have never killed anyone, and that is certainly true. But if it means only someone who has dirtied their hands in the past can talk to you, I can handle that. Or rather..."
He turned to Kagami who was painfully trying to get up.
"... Kagami-kun here can handle that."
Having received such an obvious signal, Kagami approached Aomine.
" As a person who has been through similar circumstances, can I talk you into doing this? You can regard it as revenge or justification for yourself."
Aomine was quiet. He observed his face with concentration while he was deep in thought.
" What will guarantee you guys don't work for Akashi and that this is not a...game?"
They fastened their eyes upon one another's facial expression and after coming to conclusion without uttering a single word, Kurokoo turned to Aomine and contemplated his beautiful yet sorrowful face.
" Your gut."
Three hours later
"It was so fierce, Tetsu-kun."
Momoi remarked upon what she was just told while Kuroko nodded out of agreement. It was lively when he told the story and Momoi questioned along the way, but soon enough, the kitchen became silent due to the appearance of one particular person.
" Midorima-kun."
Kuroko got out of his chair and walked towards him.
" Where were you? I couldn't find you."
" My apologies, Kuroko,it was careless of me. I was caught up with work and forgot the time."
" It's fine, though, oh..."
Kuroko blurted out as his eyes glanced the area behind Midorima.
" Takao is still in my room. She is helping me rearrange the bookshelf."
"I understand."
He responsed and intended to walk away, but he spotted an incomprehensible expression on his face.
" Is there anything wrong?"
" What time will that Aomine arrive?"
Kuroko was slightly taken back by the sudden change of topic.
" About 8 o'clock which is one hour from now."
" Good."
" Um... Is there any personal matter you wish to discuss with him?"
" For a matter of fact, I need to talk with all of you as soon as possible."
Watching both Kuroko and Momoi's perplexed look, he sighed and said:
"I'm terribly sorry for rushing it, but we have no time left. Right when he comes, we'll all have a meeting in the living room."
"..."
" I'm going to tell you the reason Akashi did all of this."
Exhausted, he regarded the paperwork with unwillingness and pinched the bridge of his nose. The watch on his wrist told it was time for him to go home, but like usual, he stayed for a little longer. Putting his pencil into the sharpener, he felt a light vibration at his hand which was not bad of a sensation and thought about the schedule for tomorrow. His stream of thought was cut when he heard a knock on the door.
" Come in."
He assumed it was his secretary informing him that it was very late, but he was thrilled to see another person. His huge, tall figure never failed to force him to feel envy.
" What seems to be the problem?"
He asked. The other person stepped in tiringly as he was under the weather, maybe due to eating unhealthy food again. He stopped when his feet reached the desk and put a mound of paper on which made his superior sighed heavily.
" Well. My men've just told me something very important and I think you might like it."
A grin appeared on his face as he understood the situation. With a swift movement, he pushed all the unrelated paper away and pulled the said stack closer to him. He promptly scanned the letters and stopped when his eyes spotted a photo.
" Where is this?"
He took it out and pointed the background.
" It was taken at a fastfood shop on road 25, quite far away from here."
" Is that so?"
The smile did not leave his charming face which drew the tall one's attention.
" It's rare to see you find a person interesting, is it the redhead?"
" No, Atsuhi..."
His hand moved to the image of the person nearby and lightly stroke it.
" It's the beautiful blue-haired male... Tetsuya!"
End chapter 4.
End part 1