Chapter 13 – What Lies Ahead
A Rudie was hanging out in a Shibuya plaza, sitting on a curb while music blared on his boombox. The large dark-skinned skater had cobalt blue hair shaved into a buzz cut and a soul patch of the same colour. He wore a black tank top and pants, with dark sunglasses covering his eyes. The skater also wore some flashy jewelry, including gold rings on his right hand and a gold necklace with a large pendant in the shape of the yen sign.
He was minding his own business, bobbing his head to the music, when a pair of cops walked up to him.
"Hey punk, turn that music off!" one of the cops ordered. "Or we'll have you arrested for disturbing the peace."
The skater looked up at the cops. "How am I disturbing the peace?" he asked them in a deep voice. The cops said nothing, only returning stern looks. The skater, not wanting to get into any trouble, reached over to his boombox and turned it off. The cops walked away satisfied while the skater just shook his head.
Rhyth was skating through the plaza as the incident was taking place. She noticed the cops walking away from the man on skates and decided to approach him.
"Hey, what were the cops bugging you about?" she asked the skater.
The skater looked up at Rhyth and shrugged. "I dunno, they're always hassling me for no reason. All I was doing was playing music. No big deal, right? They just like pushing me around."
Rhyth sat down on the curb next to the skater. "Yeah, they can be jerks sometimes, and you don't want to get on their bad side. If not playing your music out in public is all it takes to get them off your back, then I'd say it's worth it."
"Hey, it's the cops that need to change, not me!" the skater contended.
Rhyth sighed. "I dunno, sometimes I wonder if I'd be better if—"
The skater interrupted Rhyth after taking a closer look at her: "Wait, you're one of the GGs, right?"
Rhyth turned her head towards the skater. "Uh... yeah, I am."
"Then you'd better beat it before the cops come after you, too," the skater told her.
Rhyth hunched over and rested her head on her hands. "I know, but there's nowhere else I can skate. The place where I usually hang out — Rokkaku-dai Heights — is off limits now thanks to Poison Jam."
"Hey, Poison Jam have a loud mouth but they ain't so tough," the skater assured her. "Don't let them boss you around, kid."
"I've seen first-hand how tough Poison Jam are, and they're no joking matter," Rhyth replied, recalling her last encounter with them.
"Heh, whatever. I bet I could take them on solo," the skater bragged.
"I doubt it." The skater did look pretty tough, but Rhyth had seen Poison Jam incapacitate both Boogie and Garam with ease. It would probably take the strength of her entire gang to put up a fight with Poison Jam. Not that she was looking to fight them.
The two of them sat there for a moment before Rhyth got an idea. She lifted her head up from her hands and asked the skater the same question she asks every Rudie she meets: "Hey, do you wanna join the GGs?"
The skater chuckled. "If I joined you guys then Shibuya wouldn't be safe for me to hang around, either!"
"But you just said that the cops are always hassling you anyway," Rhyth pointed out.
"Heh, good point. Sure, I guess I'll join you guys." The skater reached out his large hand. "I'm Combo."
Rhyth introduced herself while reaching out to shake Combo's hand. Her hand was tiny compared to his which made her giggle. The two of them conversed for a little while before Rhyth decided that they should head over to the Garage. They rose to their feet and made their way to the Garage together. Combo carried his boombox with him, holding it over his shoulders.
Beat was skating through Shibuya, passing by shops and buildings that were all too familiar to him. He passed by the record shop he used to frequent (before shoplifting from it), the old ramen shop his parents would always take him to, and the playground he used to play in as a young child. Similar fragments of his past began to surround him as he skated into a nearby residential district; his old neighbourhood.
God, what am I even doing here? Beat wondered in his head.
He didn't expect himself to return to his old neighbourhood so soon. It had only been a week since he ran away from home, and ever since then he'd been feeling happier than he used to. And yet, something gave him the urge to return to his old home. Maybe it was his recent feelings of dejection, or maybe he was just curious of how his parents were doing. Regardless, he promised to himself that this would be the last time he'd ever bring himself back to this place.
Beat turned a corner, finally arriving at the street he used to live on. There, a few houses down, was his old home. He stared at it from afar, too nervous to get any closer to it. He didn't want his parents or any of his neighbours to see him. He noticed a car parked in the driveway; his parents' car. They must be home.
He began to wonder what they thought about his sudden disappearance. Did they miss him? Were they glad he was gone? Did they not care at all? He hadn't heard of any attempts to try to find him: no search parties, no missing person flyers, nothing.
They must be fine with me being gone, Beat thought to himself. They're probably happy now that their deadbeat son is finally out of their lives. Well, I'm fine with it too. And I'll prove to them… and to myself that I can make something of my life.
He stood there and realized how stupid his own thoughts sounded. Who am I kidding? What have I got to make of myself? I'm just some guy in a street gang. I just need to chill out and stop having such crazy expectations of myself.
He recalled Boogie's words from earlier that day, about how she was expecting the Rudies of Tokyo to stage a revolt against the Rokkaku Government. The possibility of such a thing occurring momentarily lifted his spirits, but he quickly shook it off as impossible. Yeah right, like that'll ever happen.
Beat took one last look at his old home. He knew that once he returned to the Garage he'd have to explain himself to Corn and Gum. He figured that he would just tell them the truth and hope that they'd forgive him. They already forgave me for the whole thing with Rapid 99. What's one more screw up?
He looked up at the sky as the sun began to set. Well, time to face the music. He took a deep breath and waved goodbye to his old home for the final time. He turned around and began skating away just as the streetlights flickered on.
Combo exited the hotel building in the Garage after claiming his personal hotel room. He skated into the courtyard and marvelled at the sound system the GGs had set up in the Garage. "Damn, how'd you guys get hooked up with all this gear?"
"I know, ain't it sick?" Yoyo replied as he occupied himself with the pinball machine.
"Damn right!" Combo reacted. "This set up beats my boombox by a mile!" He set his boombox down underneath the raised platform.
Just then, Corn and Gum entered the Garage from the overpass together. The other GGs in the Garage spotted them as they entered and quickly gathered around them.
Corn noticed two new members who he hadn't seen before: Boogie and Combo. He silently accepted them into the GGs, acknowledging that the other members of the gang had just as much of a say in who could join them as he did. "Man, this gang is growing too quickly," he muttered to himself.
"Well, what happened?" Yoyo asked him.
"The Noise Tanks were telling the truth; the Immortals had the Goddess all along," Gum answered for Corn. "The cops were made aware of where they're keeping it so it'll be back where it belongs in Dogenzaka Hill soon enough."
"What happened to the Immortals then?" Garam asked. "Did you tear them to shreds?"
"Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to; they bailed," Corn answered. "I'm sure the Rokkaku Police will decide their fate for us. Personally, I wouldn't want to see what those freaks look like underneath all those dirty bandages."
The group laughed together. Just then, Beat entered the Garage. The entire gang turned to look at him.
Gum skated towards him. "Hey, where the hell did you go? We were worried about you for a second."
"The Immortal I was chasing got away from me so I bailed," Beat explained. "I'm sorry, I know that was a shitty thing for me to do. I promise it won't happen again."
"Well, it doesn't matter since we found the Goddess anyway," Corn replied. "Hopefully the cops will be off our backs now."
"That's good news," Combo remarked. "The cops have been looking a bit on edge lately so it's nice to get a little heat off of us."
Suddenly, Potts ran up to Combo and began sniffing him. Combo tried backing away from the dog but he began to paw up his leg. "Man, why do you guys got a pet dog?" he asked the group.
"Me and Yoyo found it around Rokkaku-dai the other day and we took it in," Rhyth answered.
"Well keep it away from me," Combo said, pushing Potts off of his leg.
Beat chuckled. "What, are you scared of dogs or something?"
"I just don't want to get whatever diseases this thing has," Combo replied.
"Potts doesn't have any diseases!" Rhyth said, picking Potts up and holding him in her arms.
"If you found it in Kogane then it was probably playing around in garbage and stuff," Combo argued.
"I gave him a bath yesterday!" Rhyth replied.
The two of them continued their argument as the other GGs settled themselves into the Garage. Gum approached Beat and tapped him on the shoulder just as he was about to enter the hotel.
"Hey, the leader of Rapid 99 wanted to chat with you," she told him.
"Me? What for?" he asked. Rapid 99 was the last person he wanted to see right now.
Gum shrugged her shoulders. "Beats me."
"Hey, tell 'em that we already found the Goddess and don't need their 'help' anymore," Garam quipped as he sat down on one of the couches.
"Actually, Rapid 99 did help us get the Goddess back," Corn told everyone. "Their leader found it while we were busy chasing the Immortals around the skyscraper district."
Combo looked impressed. "How'd you get those ladies to help you guys out?"
"She felt bad for deceiving us before," Corn replied. "That's probably why she wants to talk to Beat: to apologize to him in person."
"Well go get 'em, tiger!" Garam told Beat teasingly.
"Garam, how many times in one day am I gonna have to tell you to shut up?" Beat retorted. He was just about to wash up for the night but reluctantly decided that he'd get his chat with Rapid 99 over with now. He figured that since she helped them find the Goddess, she at least deserved the chance to apologize to him properly. He made his way onto the overpass and skated towards 99th Street. As he left, Corn and Gum began introducing themselves to the newcomers.
Beat lept off of the Benten overpass down into the 99th Street shopping plaza. The sun had finally set and the neon lights that decorated the street shone as brightly as ever against the night sky. He skated to the center of the plaza and began ascending the large dragon sculpture that spiraled up Benten Tower. He reached the top of the tower and found the leader of Rapid 99 leaning against the railing. She turned around once she heard him skate towards her.
"Hey," she greeted him coyly.
"You wanted to see me?" Beat inquired, keeping his guard up.
She clutched her left arm with her right hand. "I don't know if you heard, but I helped your gang get the Goddess back."
"I know." Beat was expressionless. He didn't want to appear vulnerable in front of her.
Rapid 99 looked at the ground awkwardly. "Listen, I'm sorry for lying to you before." She looked away at the city skyline, unable to stare Beat in the eyes. "I saw an opportunity to manipulate a big fan of ours and I took it."
"I wasn't that big a fan of yours," he replied.
"Well, maybe I just hoped you were." She finally looked towards Beat. "Either way, that was no way to treat a fan."
Beat began to loosen up. Her apology seemed sincere, and he reckoned that if she helped Corn and Gum find the Goddess then she couldn't be that bad. "Apology accepted." He skated to her side and leaned against the railing. "But there has to be a good reason you chose to help us out, right? There's no way you were just being nice to us."
"Maybe," she said with a smirk. "I won't miss the Immortals, that's for sure."
Beat laughed. "So in the end you still used us to get something you wanted, huh?"
"Well, when you say it like that..."
They stood there together and shared the view of the Benten skyline in silence. This was the first time that Beat was able to witness the beauty of the colourful neon lights at night, and it was a sight to behold. The stars in the sky could barely be seen over the glow of the city. Beat was entranced by the sight.
Rapid 99 nudged him playfully. "You really like it up here, don't you?"
"Yeah, this view is awesome," Beat answered. "All the lights and sounds; it's such a sensory overload, but in a good way."
"God, you're such a tourist," she called him in jest. "But could you imagine what it'd be like if the power outage affected the entire district?"
"Yeah, then everyone would be pissed at Gouji," he replied. "He's lucky it's only affecting a tiny area that most people don't even visit."
Rapid 99 was quiet for a moment as she looked down at the ground and shuffled her feet. "You know, I've been thinking of getting the band back together."
Beat was surprised. "Really? Including Cube?"
"Oh, god no," she replied. "I still want nothing to do with her."
Beat chuckled. "Why are you even telling me all of this?"
"You're the only fan of ours that I ever actually got to meet," she told him. "I just figured that you were the best person to give the news to. Not that it's been confirmed or anything."
"Well if it does happen, I'll be there for your first comeback concert," he assured her.
Rapid 99 looked at Beat and smiled warmly. Beat smiled back. Despite what she had put him through, he found it easy to forgive her. Maybe it was because of the admiration he had for her music, or maybe it was because he saw no point in perpetuating hostilities between their gangs. Regardless, he was relieved that he no longer had to feel ashamed for liking their music.
Beat and Rapid 99 stood together at the top of the tower for a while longer, enjoying each other's company.
Rokkaku Gouji entered his office with a glass of wine in his hand. The middle-aged man wore a black suit with a brooch in the shape of a hexagon; the symbol of the Rokkaku Group. He also wore eyeglasses with dark lenses and a white scarf that hung over both his shoulders. He walked to the end of the room — each footstep echoing off of the dark painted walls of his office — and sat down at his desk. To his back was a large window pane that spanned the entire wall behind him. Since his office was at the top floor of the Rokkaku Building, the window provided an excellent view of the rest of the Shibuya district.
Gouji took a sip from his glass and placed it on his desk. He pushed a button on his office phone and picked up the receiver, holding it to his ear. After a short tone, another man's voice was heard on the other end of the line.
"How are things coming along?" Gouji asked the man in a low creaky voice.
He listened to the response, furrowing his brow. The wrinkles on his face became more prominent as he scowled at the reply.
"Well, if you see the need for further action, you know what to do. Hopefully my special agents will ensure that it doesn't get to that point." He hung up the phone and held his glass in his hand as he reclined in his seat. A wicked grin formed on his face.
"Those fools," he muttered to himself. "If only they knew who was pulling the strings..."
~End of Act One~