I.

Fujikage Ryota's body felt like lead and his mind was full of cotton when he came to.

"W… Whaa…," he eloquently slurred, shaking his head lightly to try and clear his mind.

The teen blearily looked around and noticed that he was sprawled out on the ground of a dilapidated… arcade? What the fuck? Where in the world was he?!

Ryota pushes himself into a sitting position and peers around the room once more, this time trying to find a window or a door or a-

"I see you're awake now."

The golden-haired teen whipped his head behind him and spots (was she still his friend?) Anna Kowalski sitting daintily upon an upturned pinball machine. Her legs were neatly crossed and her hands lay on her lap as she stared at Ryota with an impassive gaze.

"What the… Anna?! So it was you that I saw earlier!" Ryota's eyes were wide from shock as he gazed open-mouth at his former neighbor and classmate. "How- Why? What are you doing in Japan?! The… The last time I saw you was almost ten years ago!"

Anna shifts slightly and says, "To answer your first question: Yes, you saw me earlier today. As for your second question: I am in Japan because my boss told us to come here."

"… 'B-Boss'?! S-So you're in the Mafia too?!"

A grimace crossed Anna's features before her expression becomes neutral once more. "… In a… sense, I suppose…," she says thoughtfully, "… or would it be better to call myself an ex-Mafioso? Can I call myself a Mafioso if I wasn't willingly apart of the Mafia? How does one truly determine if one is a 'Mafioso' or not? Does one have to be born into the Mafia to be considered a true Mafioso? Or can anyone say they're in the Mafia? For that matter, what about people who are forced to join the Mafia or had dealings with or in a Family? Would they be considered 'Mafioso'? What if they didn't realize that the people they were working with or were partners with were Mafioso? Should those people also be considered a part of the Mafia? Furthermore, what about the people who marry into the Mafia? Should they also be called Mafioso? Even if they've had no contact or dealings with self-proclaimed Mafioso? And also-"

"Okay! Okay! I get it," Ryota cuts in, interrupting Anna's monologue. "So, suffice to say, that you aren't in the Mafia, right…?"

"The answer to that question is a bit skewed…," Anna admits with a shrug, "while I have had interactions with a Family from the Mafia, I don't truly consider myself to be a part of the mafia; which brings me back to my earlier question: Do I have the right to call myself a Mafioso? What does-"

"… Geez," Ryota huffs with a chuckle, "Glad to see you still do that rambling, circle-thing when you talk and start thinking 'bout stuff." The teen stands and dusts off his pants before flashing Anna a smile. "So you're not part of the Mafia then… that still doesn't explain why you're here. And also, where the fuck did you disappear to all those years ago?! Do you know how worried everyone was about you, Anna?! Everyone spent months looking for you after you disappeared!"

Cold, harsh laughter (so unlike her) escapes Anna lips as she doubles over from laughing so hard.

"W-What," Ryota demands, "What's so funny?!"

Anna takes a deep breath and replies, "What's so funny is that you truly believe that those… hypocrites actually cared about me!"

"… What are you talking about," Ryota says, brow furrowed in confusion, "your parents were devastated when they realized you were missing. And so were all the teachers and students at St. Michaels."

"Oh they were, were they?" Anna laughs once more and adds, "And whose fault was it that I 'left' in the first place?" She straightens as a sardonic smile appears on her lips. "You knew how everyone treated me. How they destroyed me every day; hell, even my own parents couldn't accept me or my talent. What kind of messed-up family… puts down and ignores their own child's bullying and pleas for help?!"

"Hah? You think you're the only person in the fucking world who had a family that did stuff like that?! There are tons of kids with parents like that!"

"Oh really? Name one another person from St. Michaels who was being bullied and ridiculed and ignored like I was."

"There was… Wasn't…? George had, no that was something else… What about-?! No… I…"

"… I did my research before leaving, you know. I was the only one going through that. One would think that someone, anyone, would help a bullied and tormented child in need, but, the reality is that everyone needs a scapegoat, someone to degrade to make themselves feel better."

"R-Really?"

Anna nods. "Yes. Everyone has a breaking point, a limit to how much abuse they face and are put through before they snap or are fed-up with everything. I just so happened to reach my breaking point all those years ago, and left as a result."

"… Where did you go?"

"I was on my own for the first couple of months before I was… ah… 'picked up' by a Mafia Family."

"Wait, so you are in the Mafia," Ryota asks in confusion, "And which Family took you in?"

"Again, I don't know if I can classify myself as a Mafioso, and you wouldn't have heard of the Family that picked me up, they were destroyed a few years ago."

"That's horrible! Did anyone you know get out with you?"

"… A few of us escaped the destruction… my boss is one of them. He was the one that decided that Japan would be a safe place for us to rest and recuperate."

"That's great! What's he like?"

II.

Anna Kowalski falls silent at the question and stares at the grinning, sickeningly bright face of her ex-neighbor and classmate.

(Not friend. Not anymore.)

She tilts her head, hops off the machine she had been sitting on, and asks a single question: "Would you like to meet him?"