Chapter 37: Life With Strings Attached
Howard Link was an interesting person. His age was unknown, his family tree was unidentified, and his personal relations were unclear. He was so interesting that even his genetic makeup had been confused by the Noah twins, who were tailing him without his knowing.
Politically German but with strong traces of Oriental genes, (which was why he'd been mistaken to be Chinese), Howard Link had been raised in England in an orphanage and taken under the wing of Malcolm Leverrier at the age of seven, when he'd been relocated to a Chinese facility under Leverrier's care. Leverrier had introduced him to a lifestyle that did not strike Howard Link as peculiar in the slightest: he was encouraged to play with guns, knives, and even medieval axes, was taught to speak multiple languages fluently, even the dead ones such as Latin, and was instructed to learn all the possible ways to bake an impeccable cherry pie.
Which was why Howard Link's attitude towards Leverrier was nothing short of reverence; he idolized the man with every fiber of his being, emulating everything that Leverrier had to offer, down to the obsession with confectionery and baked goods. Strange fetish though it was for a top-notch assassin, Howard Link appreciated all that Leverrier had to order and enacted all missions with that same kind of idyllic reverence he always had. Every mission was completed successfully and without a hitch, and every mission was proclaimed as justice in the name of Malcolm C. Leverrier.
In other words, he saw Leverrier as a god. With a toothbrush mustache. And a countenance that strikingly resembled an ugly hawk.
It was only his idolization of Leverrier that motivated Howard Link to fly all the way from chilly Japan to much warmer Portugal, which he detested with a passion. Warm beaches and golden skies? An abomination to all mankind.
Howard Link did know that the mission was of vital importance though. In fact, he was going to get rid of a very important person whom Leverrier had told him was an extreme thorn in his side. And all thorns in Leverrier's godly side had to be plucked and removed with a sniper rifle, incinerated into ashes and wiped from the face of the earth. Especially when they had survived too many assassination attempts. If they lived when they weren't supposed to, Howard Link made it a personal goal to ensure that they died—permanently—so they would not irritate Leverrier any further. That was rule number one in Howard Link's doctrine.
Howard Link therefore sped on his motorcycle with great eagerness and seriousness towards the amusement park located in northern Lisbon. His sniper gear was strapped none-too-unnoticeably to his back, all its contents itching to be used to its finest ability to eliminate the pest who had dared to annoy Malcolm C. Leverrier.
Because Malcolm C. Leverrier's word was law, and Howard Link was only too keen to make all of his deity's dreams a reality.
Rei leaned over in her seat as the Ferris wheel moved up slightly, one cart at a time. They had been the first to step onto the ride, given the VIP passes that Lavi had insisted they buy in order to save time, and were still waiting for the rest of the passengers to board. Kanda seemed to have fallen asleep the moment they'd sat down.
She gave a sigh and crossed her arms, propping her legs up on the seat across from her as she looked through the glass window down on the amusement park scenes down below. The wheel came to an abrupt stop all of a sudden, causing their compartment to halt with a jerk and then rock back and forth while emitting an eerie creak. Kanda's eyes snapped open instantly—he was clearly a light sleeper—and he sat up straight, looking around the compartment as if reminding himself exactly where he was. His blue eyes landed on Rei, and realization dawned on him.
"How long have I been asleep?" he asked.
"Five minutes or less," she answered, somewhat amused with his disorientation. "You can go back to sleep—nothing's wrong."
He shook his head, the stray strands of hair from his ponytail swinging back and forth with every movement.
"I'm fine."
An awkward silence settled. Great. Rei really didn't know what to do with these silences—what was she supposed to say? All the courage she'd gathered to apologize had evaporated the moment Kanda had woken up.
"Where'd you and Mikk go last night?" said Kanda.
"Just…around," said Rei offhandedly. "He showed me a restaurant that he goes to often…that was about it…"
"I see," said Kanda icily.
Rei winced unconsciously, knowing that Kanda's caustic attitude was attributed to the fact that she hadn't returned last night and had therefore disturbed his sleep cycle greatly. She blew out a breath and ran a hand through her hair, staring at her sandals. If there was an appropriate time to apologize again, now was it. And her window of opportunity was slowly closing with every passing second, because the more she let herself mull over it, the more time she had to re-convince herself that everything hadn't technically been her fault, and that if she was going to apologize, Kanda should too.
"Kanda—"
"Save it."
She turned to stare at him, taken back by his interruption.
"Sorry?" she said, unable to keep traces of insolence out of her voice.
"I said to save it. I know you're going to apologize. I don't want to hear it."
Rei opened her mouth, closed it to turn his words over one more time in her head to see if she could interpret them any other way, then reopened her mouth.
"I was going to say that you're a douche bag," she said sourly.
Much to her surprise, Kanda smirked instead of retorting.
"Really," he said loftily. "That's certainly not what you said…three minutes ago, I suppose. What was that?" His face screwed up in mock thought as he quoted, "'I'm sorry. I hope you know I really mean it.'"
Rei opened and closed her mouth wordlessly like a goldfish, indignation rendering her speechless as her face grew red. It took her a few seconds to recover her ability to speak.
"You…you were awake?" she sputtered.
"Yes, I was," said Kanda smugly.
"Why didn't you say something?"
"Because it was exceedingly funny."
"You just let me say that and ignored me?"
"Yes, I did." His smirk was growing so wide that it was the closest thing she'd seen from him that resembled a smile.
"How…How could you?"
"What else can I say," he said superciliously, crossing his arms as he looked at her with an infuriating air of superiority. "It was funny. And you really meant it, which was even more hilarious. It made my all-nighter completely worth it."
Rei was aghast.
"I will never, ever apologize to you ever again," she said. "Ever. You don't take apologies seriously, and you…" She turned to the other side of her compartment, wildly searching for words that could articulate her shock and mortification. "I need a hole to hide myself in…"
"You could jump out the window," he suggested.
She turned back around to stare at him, trying to determine if he was joking or not. The amused flicker in his eyes indicated that indeed he was; it then struck her that Kanda had to be extremely tired to crack a joke, crude though it was.
"Please go back to sleep," she said imploringly. "Just…sleep. So I don't have to look at you anymore."
"What, my being awake makes you irresistibly attracted to me?"
"Stop joking!" said a scandalized Rei. "You're making…you're making the world end! The people on that roller coaster are going to die because of you!"
"I've seen that movie. Final Destination, right? Hilarious movie."
"Stop saying things are hilarious—you never laugh anyway!"
"I do laugh."
"With what, your stomach?"
"No, with my eyes."
"…That was an extremely questionable statement."
"It was a joke."
"See? Bam, the roller coaster just broke. Millions of people are going to die around the world because of that joke. Our own compartment is going to fall at the very top of the Ferris wheel and we're going to die—"
At that moment, something white-hot whizzed a few inches in front of her face, followed almost simultaneously by an earsplitting boom as it lodged into the other side of the compartment. The glass window to her right shattered into tiny shards, sprinkled equally inside and outside the vehicle. Rei instinctively screamed, lurching backwards in her seat as her heartbeat accelerated with panic before she could get her mind to register what had just found its way into their compartment. Once she had, however, she did the next thing that made the most sense—she leapt against Kanda and dragged him to the floor of the compartment where they were shielded from sight by the dark plastic base of the compound.
Kanda seemed to have caught onto the situation faster than Rei had expected him to. His eyes grew alert, his face shocked yet serious as his arms encircled her waist, flattening both of them against the floor. Rei struggled a bit to sit up, looking Kanda in the face but not without the passing realization of how close their faces were.
"This isn't safe," she whispered. "They're going to know—if we're out of sight, they're going to aim for the parts they can't see—"
"It's better than being where they can see us," he snapped, all previous humor disappearing. "We have to—"
Another bullet cut his sentence short, causing another boom to resound in the air and swing the rectangular box of plastic precipitously back and forth on its hinges. Rei held her breath, forcing herself to remain calm but unable to repress the unconscious action of digging her fingers into Kanda's back.
"We've got to get down," said Rei. "We're just sitting ducks here—have the others noticed what's going on?"
"How the hell am I supposed to know? By the time they rotate us down, we're going to be dead—"
"Stop being a pessimist!" she said bitingly. "Think! What can we do?"
"Jump," he snapped.
"We're too far up—we're just going to splat the moment we hit the ground!"
"The ride's already started—when we're at the lowest point, kick open the door and jump."
Rei took in a few deep breaths, trying to judge by feel where they were in terms of height.
"They've stopped shooting," she said somewhat calmly. "They're confused because they don't know which compartment we're in—or maybe because we're too high up for them to angle properly. The bullets came from the right side, which is good because the doors are on the left…"
"How high's this wheel?"
"No idea."
"You can tell when we're at the top though," said Kanda serenely. "Your stomach lurches a bit when we descend—so if we time it right…right when we feel that we're ascending, we're going to have to jump."
"We're ascending right now, right?" she said breathlessly, trying to feel where they were.
"…Yeah," said Kanda after a moment's pause. His grip tightened on her waist, but now was hardly the time to be thinking about it. "Here's the top…that ascension took more than ten seconds…count…"
"Three," she started, taking into account Kanda's wasted breath. "Four, five—"
A bullet whizzed right above Kanda's head—Rei pulled him down further on top of her, her hand curling into his hair as she forced his head against her shoulder.
"Six, seven," she said frantically.
"You're smothering me," he said, his voice muffled.
"Shut up, no one cares right now—"
"You stopped counting!"
"Why aren't you counting in your head?"
"Are we at the lowest point yet?"
"I don't know!"
"Shit, we're moving up—kick open the door, Matsumomo!"
She twisted her left leg and kicked the plastic door as hard as she could. It yielded surprisingly easily, and without a second's hesitation, she rolled Kanda over and out of the compartment.
The fall was longer than she'd thought it'd be. Rei could see nothing but the steel foundation of the Ferris wheel in front of her—Kanda's face was somewhere under hers, yet it was somehow not the most captivating thing at the moment, as it was crossed between bewilderment, fury, and evident fear. She thought wildly that Kanda was going to serve as a cushion to her fall, but it was merely a fleeting thought and an awful one at that, and before she could think coherently about anything else, they landed with a enormous impact on a thankfully smooth surface.
Kanda gave a yell of pain at the contact, his obvious discomfort intensified by her landing on top of him. The arms around her waist relaxed, dropping to Kanda's sides heavily. Rei lied still for a few seconds, her head numbed by the fall. Only when Kanda groaned under her did she attempt to scramble to her feet as fast as she could to get off of him in consideration of his evidently worse state.
"Kanda?" she said dizzily, stumbling a bit. "Kanda, are you all right?"
His answer was hardly hampered by his labored breathing. "Fuck no!"
"Oh…shit," she said, rolling him indecorously away from the Ferris wheel so they could hide behind the steel foundation. "Hang on, hang on…" She half rolled, half dragged him to the edge and pulled him behind their safety, propping him up against the wall.
"Kanda?" she whispered. "Kanda, come on, talk to me…"
"You're so fucking heavy!"
"Thanks," she said, relieved more than anything. "Okay, what hurts?"
"My back, obviously!"
"Um, okay," she said a bit more frenetically, turning him around so she was leaning against her shoulder. "Your back, right, uh, I'm not a doctor, I don't know what to do—"
"Call the fucking police, you idiot!"
"Police. Police. Right," said Rei anxiously. She then paused, confronted with a small problem."…Do I dial 911?"
Kanda's expression was of pure incredulity and annoyance. "How the hell should I know?"
People from the sidelines were beginning to rush over to them, all of them chattering away in Portuguese with tones of conglomerated worry and disbelief. They seemed to be asking about the two foreigners' wellbeing, but Rei hardly knew how to answer.
"I don't understand what you're saying!" she said frantically. "I need the police—somewhat shot at us—he needs to go to a hospital—"
"Ma'am," said one man in English, kneeling down beside them, "calm down, what's going on?"
"Someone shot at us!" she said loudly, thinking that the words sounded less dramatic than they were supposed to. When the attendant just stared blankly at her, Rei began to point at Kanda for emphasis. "He—Kanda freaking Yuu—needs to get to a hospital because he's hurt—and you need to stop the ride because other people are going to get hurt—"
"Stop the ride!" hollered the attendant to his friend across the wheel. "Stop it!" He switched to Portuguese and yelled something equally ferociously. The wheel stopped almost instantly, and each carriage began to rotate into the regular de-boarding routine.
Some part of her brain—some insane part of her brain—was far, far away from the chaotic scenario she was entangled in. It was a crazy yet clear part of her brain that was imagining where that bullet had come from, high from an angle that would shatter that three-inch window effortlessly. It had come from the right, and based on the map she'd seen when she'd come in, the only ride to their right that was high enough to combat with the Ferris wheel's height in the middle of its ascension—for they had not been shot at during the peak of the ride—was the adventure fun house's roof. A perfect, deserted place to set up without anyone knowing, most likely without cameras, and—
"Ma'am?" said the amusement park attendant who was now peering over at her with a curious expression on his face. "Are you all right?"
Rei shook her head, trying to wear of the fogginess.
"Ambulance," she said numbly.
"We're on it, ma'am."
"Go after them," said Kanda harshly against her ear.
She struggled to look at his perspiring face. "What?"
"After the attackers," he said. "You need to find them—who they are."
"Are-Are you serious?" she said, dumbfounded. "You're hurt—"
"I'll be damn fine," he said through gritted teeth, "the moment you find that bastard and pound his face in so hard that his own mother won't recognize him—"
"But—"
"Go."
Rei bit down her lip, unsure of Kanda's sanity. She was rather tempted to follow his…order, but at the same time, that was not very safe…
"Bookman and the others are already on their way," he said snappishly. "Just go, you idiot—you're going to let them get away!"
True to his observation, Lavi and the others had alighted their compartment and were in the process of rushing towards the two of them. The moment they arrived, Rei would've lost her chance—Kate would never let her go run into the arms of immediate danger.
"Stay put, all right? I'll be right back," she said breathlessly.
Rei got to her feet without another word and, with renewed energy now that she had a purpose, ran towards the crowd that was gathering around them. She forced her way through, ignoring the pulls and the yells of concern—somewhere among the pandemonium, she could hear Kate shouting, "Where the hell did you make her go?" and Allen's indignant "Are you an idiot?" Deciding not to worry about what kind of bereavement Kanda was suffering, Rei ducked through and headed to the sides of the amusement park roads, her speed now picking up with the decreased population. She focused her gaze on the adventure house she just knew the sniper was stationed at—it was a tall, colorful Disney-like palace structure with many windows that were also ideal for sniping…
Her eyes scanned her destination as her legs carried her there. She did not feel tired. Her head was clearer than it had been for what seemed like ages, elucidated by the adrenaline of being in a desperate and dangerous situation.
It looked like all that intense workout a few days prior was going to come in handy after all.
"Twins," said Tyki sharply into the hidden microphone in his ear, "I need directions."
He was currently in the middle of an amusement park, alone and dressed in clothes that he swore he wouldn't be caught dead in, with two idiotic twins as his tour guides—by microphone, of course. So far, the Portuguese model hadn't attracted any out-of-place stares—occasionally, a teenage girl would double-back to look at him, but he made sure to keep moving constantly with his head always lowered. The sun was glaring hot and the atmosphere uncomfortable, but Tyki knew better than to complain.
"Move right," said Jas's voice.
"Left, you dimwit," said Debi's degradingly.
"Uh, we have an aerial vision, with that being north and that being south, Debi. It's right."
"Left, you idiot."
"TWINS!" shouted Tyki into the microphone out of uncapped frustration, attracting some stares from passersby. He ignored them, walking briskly forward instead and tugging his cap lower so that it shaded his face. The last thing he needed was some obsessive fan girl recognizing him, especially when someone was out to kill Kanda, who was most likely very close with Tyki's girlfriend-on-temporary-hiatus at the moment.
There was some static rustling in his ear, and a smoother, much more controlled voice took over.
"It's left, Tyki," said Lulubell clearly. Somewhere in the background, Debitto said "Told you so" immaturely. Lulu continued with her directions, effectively ignoring the bickering twins. "Five yards straight, duck into that alleyway."
"Okay, I'm here," said Tyki, thankful for the brief respite of decreased noise. "Next?"
"Start running, Tyki, he's been there for ages now. Go straight—there will be a side door to some sort of cartoon-themed structure. He's on the highest level, at the end of a restricted hallway."
Tyki obeyed, breaking into a run and following Lulu's directions as fast as he could. The side door was locked but yielded easily to one brief kick—Tyki was up the stairs in a moment's flash, his legs carrying him at their highest capability.
"Which level?" he panted.
"…Sixth," said Lulu after a short pause. "He's on the opposite side—you've got a while—"
Tyki let out a string of curses as he counted off each floor he passed. Fourth, fifth…he arrived at the entrance to the sixth level slightly winded but not quite out of breath.
"Don't just rush in," warned Lulu. "Lean out the first window on your left—carefully, mind you. See if his gear is set up."
Tyki once again obeyed, sidling carefully to the window Lulu had indicated and peering out. He could see the unmistakable barrel of a sniper rifle poised perfectly in position. It moved, however, as if tracking a target, and Tyki instinctively looked down below at the crowd to see what the sniper—presumably Howard Link—was aiming at.
His heart stopped.
There she was, clear as day, running with all her might right towards the adventure house that he and the sniper were both in. Tyki did not take the time to marvel at her instinct; his golden eyes swiveled to the pale hand that was currently wrapping around the trigger of the gun.
Tyki did not think twice. He stuck his head as far as he could out of the almond-shaped window.
"REI!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Rei heard him—somehow. She stopped right in her tracks, and something plunged into the ground a few feet in front of her, where she would've been a second later. Several people screamed at the sound and immediately fell to the ground, but Rei simply looked bewildered, and her head snapped up, scanning the floor he was on. He retracted back inside the hallway, hiding himself from view as he let out a breath of relief.
"Tyki!" said Lulu, stunned. "What the hell—are you insane? You're supposed to be in Spain right now!"
"I'll deal with it later," he said as he ran towards the sniper's direction. "Damn it, if Rei has the slightest bit of common sense, she'll go under shelter…"
"No offense to your girl or anything," said Jas dryly, "but that really doesn't sound like her."
"Thirty meters, Tyki," said Lulu cuttingly. "Get your weapon out…he'll be right around the corner—"
Tyki skidded to a stop at the corner. It took a second to see Howard Link, a second to analyze where Link's hands were, a second to draw out his gun, and a second to shoot. The hastiness of it all caused his aim to be off—Tyki had been aiming at Link's hands but instead hit the rifle's end. It spun around, clanging against the window and falling off its balance; Link reacted immediately, whipping out a gun from his side and firing dexterously at Tyki, who flattened himself along the side of the wall to avoid the shots.
It would take Rei a maximum of fifteen minutes to get to where they were, most likely less. She would go to the top floor without a moment's hesitation—it was the most logical spot for a sniper to be, and all she would have to do was figure out which corner he'd been on. This fact left Tyki in an unpleasant situation—he had fifteen minutes or less to apprehend Howard Link and get out of there, because a shocked and furious Rei was more potentially dangerous than the entire yakuza combined.
Tyki let out a swear and began to fire his gun in Link's general direction, forcing the sniper to cease fire and be on the defensive. Tyki gained ground rapidly, soon finding his way right in front of Link, when he dexterously switched his gun to his left hand and punched Link's face with as much force as he could muster. Tyki could feel something inevitably crunch right under his fist, leaving him with a slightly satisfactory feeling as Link slumped to the ground, stupefied, with blood trickling down his chin.
"Good," said Lulu's voice. "Ask him why he's here. Your girlfriend, judging from the security cameras, is at the entrance of the amusement ride."
"Great," said Tyki under his breath as he knelt down and grabbed Link's collar. "This leaves us…ten minutes—why don't you tell me why you're here?"
Link looked rather dazed and did not reply.
"Is it Yuu Kanda?" said Tyki, his voice lowered. "Or…"
He was hit with a sudden inspiration—a sudden realization. Why, if Kanda had been the target, had Link continued to shoot at Rei as she approached? Link was not supposed to harm bystanders in order not to attract attention to his organization—that was elementary protocol. Link should've started packing up and leaving the instant he saw Rei running in his direction, with all determination and purpose that she usually emitted when seized with her bodyguard instinct. Why stay, shoot, risk missing and being discovered?
Shoot only at your target and your target's accomplices, but only the latter if necessary. Shooting at Rei wasn't necessary if she were just an accomplice, which meant…
"Are you after Rei Matsumomo?" said Tyki.
His internal musings must've given Howard Link the necessary amount of time to recover, for the expression on Link's face was no longer dreamlike. Snapping out of his stupor, Link crashed his knee into Tyki's side; it connected head-on, perhaps helped by the fact that Tyki had hardly gotten any sleep the night before, and an excruciating pain—more pain than he had felt in years—jolted up his torso like a stab of steel. Tyki reeled back, gritting his teeth as his hand impulsively reached for his injured side; he stood up as readily as he could, trying to regain his balance. Link was already steady on his feet—he aimed a kick at Tyki's stomach but missed as Tyki twisted his body to avoid it—the boot caught Tyki's hand and the gun went skidding across the tiled floor. Tyki lunged forward, his left fist connecting haphazardly with Link's throat as Tyki aimed for Link's gun that had fallen to the floor earlier.
He managed to grab it but not without giving Link an opening. The sniper caught Tyki in a chokehold, his grip vice-like and relentless. Tyki found himself fighting for breath while simultaneously struggling to cock the gun in his hand—Link pulled backwards, evidently attempting to snap Tyki's neck, but the Portuguese model was much taller and consequently the effects were mitigated barely—he could feel himself choking as his hat fell to the floor. His fingers fumbled with the cold metal in the palm of his hand, and just as he thought he was about to pass out, Tyki heard a wonderful sharp sound and knew that the gun was ready. Unable to think clearly, Tyki simply snapped the gun right behind him, digging the barrel into Link's chest and firing.
His eardrum seemed to explode from the sound but the effect was immediate; Link's grip loosened significantly and the man stumbled backwards. Tyki lost no time—he barely had any left—and without waiting another second, he cocked his gun, aimed deftly, and fired a second time. The bullet lodged instantaneously into Link's chest; the yakuza member crumpled to the ground, and Tyki knew by instinct that he was dead. Blood pooled quickly around the fallen corpse; Tyki could not repress a noise of disgust. The familiar repercussion of taking a life seized his insides with a coldness that was just a precursor to indifference later on; he took in a deep breath, trying to stabilize his heartbeat.
"You killed him?" said Lulu's voice in his ear, having remained silent through the duration of the fight.
Tyki was still recovering his breath.
"Evidently," he said coolly. "What should I do?"
"…Get out of there," said Lulu sullenly.
"Leave the body?"
"The police are already at the park—it seems that Kanda and your little girlfriend caused quite a scene trying to avoid getting shot at—they jumped out of a Ferris wheel. We need to leave the body so there's someone to blame. Grab the hand guns but leave the sniper rifle—and take the duffel bag too, we might be able to find something from it."
"Right," said Tyki tiredly, massaging his throat. His waist still throbbed; hopefully nothing was broken.
"Hurry."
Tyki bit back an obstinate reply and gathered both guns from the ground, unloading them and stowing them in the large pockets of his hideous cargo pants. Half his hearing was still impaired, but he could hear the unmistakable sound of heavy footsteps swiftly ascending the nearest staircase.
He headed immediately out the way he came, down the hallway and through the opposite stairwell. He joined the crowd effortlessly, his head lowered and his hands shading his face. No one gave him a second look—everyone was too busy trying to see what the commotion was about, why the police were there…it then struck Tyki as slightly odd that he was shading his face with his hands, not with something else…
Only when he'd gotten safely out of the building and was nearly at his motorcycle did Tyki remember that he had forgotten his hat.
Rei burst into the hallway, clutching a stitch in her side as she gasped violently for air. Six consecutive floors did not sound terribly impressive, but damn were they difficult…
Her green eyes scanned the room. She had come to the right place—directly in front of her was an abandoned sniper rifle, and next to it was a fallen man whom she did not recognize.
Rei ran to his side, kneeling beside his body and bringing a hand up to his wrist, trying to feel for a pulse. She could find none. She then leaned her cheek close to the man's mouth and felt no breath, further bolstering her conclusion: the man was dead. She shuddered at the conclusion, standing up as quickly as she could and stepping back a few feet, frightened by the confrontation with a corpse.
But his body was still warm and his blood was still flowing; he could not have been killed but a few minutes ago. Was this man the sniper or simply an unlucky civilian? Rei prayed he was the former; a dead person was a dead person regardless, but his being innocent would've made her feel all the worse. She shuddered again and shook her head to clear her thoughts. She looked intently at his body—the man's hands were unsmooth and blistered, and merely judging from his profile, he was well-built and evidently fit. Chances were that he was involved in some way…she glanced around for any further clues.
Her gaze landed on a discarded hat nearby, one that looked exceedingly familiar…
She rushed towards it, picking it up and turning it over in her hand. It was a frayed, gray baseball cap, the exact same one that Tyki had worn the night before.
Her stomach dropped. She had thought for a moment that she had heard Tyki calling her name that instant before a bullet landed right in front of her…but he was supposed to be in Spain, not here, in an amusement park…
Was this really even his hat?
There was not much time to contemplate; footsteps were pounding up the stairs she had just entered through. There had to be an exit on the opposite side of the hallway, and she headed immediately in that direction.
She could not help but feel that her exit contained just the slightest bit of Tyki's lingering presence.
"How could you?"
"I—"
"WHY would you is a better question!"
Rei tried again. "I—"
But nothing could stop Kate as she continued to voice her outrage—the German woman grabbed onto Rei's shoulders and shook her violently.
"Do you know what kind of danger you were in?" she said furiously. "There was someone shooting at you, and then you went to go find him? Are you insane?"
Rei attempted to give a half-hearted explanation. "Kanda—"
"Oh, don't you even mention his name!" said Kate almost manically. "To think that he could encourage you and make you go and find the guy—I don't care how much of a bodyguard you think you are, Rei, but you are just an eighteen year old girl who is living the prime of her life right now! You cannot just go running into the arms of danger—do you know that you could have DIED?"
"C'mon, Kate," said Rei tiredly. "I can understand Kanda's point—if I had just sat there, the sniper would've never been found and he would've just gone after us again."
"That's what the police are for, Rei!"
"Give her a break already," said Kanda sharply.
He was lying gingerly against the bed—he had managed to avoid hospitalization by being the usual inflexible person he normally was. The group of them—Rei, Kate, Lavi, Kanda, Allen, and Lenalee—were gathered in Rei and Kanda's hotel room. Kanda had surprisingly sustained few injuries—his back was severely bruised, which would hamper his movement for a few days or weeks, but nothing was broken and even his head seemed fine; the only side effect so far was that he was a bit more irascible than normal, if that was even remotely possible. He had taken some pain medicine, but he evidently had not felt its effects yet.
Kate shot him an icy look—she still hadn't gotten over his insult from the day before, and his irresponsible encouragement of Rei's even more haphazard behavior did not garner him much praise either. It was therefore with burning condescension that Kate spoke to him.
"Don't even dare talking to me, cripple."
"Don't worry, I really wouldn't be if I had a choice."
"No one is forcing you to talk to me—"
"Interference was necessary because you're positively hounding Rei and she's too tired to answer, which means you'll just keep on screaming and make my headache even worse."
Kate let out an angry hiss at him but subsided the argument, much to Rei's relief. She was sitting in a chair next to Kanda's bed, her hands fiddling with the hat that might or might not be Tyki's, her eyes purposelessly watching the television. Her body felt heavy and her mind still inactive. It felt like all the energy had merely been sapped out the moment she'd returned to the group, exhausted with no conclusive discovery.
"You should probably sleep a bit, Rei," said Allen a bit anxiously. "You're really pale…"
"…I'm a bit tired," admitted Rei. "I wanted to see what the news would say though."
"We can tell you when you wake up," said Lenalee encouragingly. The Chinese girl still looked a bit disturbed by the sudden turn of events at what was supposed to be a lovely day. "Allen's right—both you and Kanda should get some sleep."
"Besides, it's not like you'll be able to understand the news anyway," added Lavi.
"Why else do you think you're here, Bookman, other than to translate?" deadpanned Rei.
"Yeah," said Kanda, "you're useless otherwise."
"Hey, what are you two doing, ganging up on me?"
"They're just upset, Lavi, it's fine," said Kate, crossing her arms as she plopped down in the same seat Rei was in. "Scoot over a bit, Rei—thanks. I swear, these chairs just get fatter and fatter—there's no point."
"Actually, nine states in the U.S. have an obesity rate of over thirty percent," said Lavi mildly.
"Why do you think it's necessary to remember these random facts? In fact, where do you get them anyway?" said Kate, somewhat appalled.
"…The news, dear," sighed Lavi. "The news."
"Speaking of the news," said Allen slowly, "I think that's our amusement park. Get ready to translate, Lavi."
Lavi's lighthearted attitude grew somber as the room grew silent, letting the female reporter's voice be the sole source of noise. Rei followed the pictures on screen with as much attention as she could muster; footage of her and Kanda's fall had not been released, thankfully enough, but just as she was about to relax, the image of the dead man she'd seen on the top floor of that adventure house surfaced. She unconsciously crumpled the rim of the hat in her hands, causing both Kate and Kanda to shoot glances at her, but none of them made an inquiry about it.
The news report stretched on for a few more minutes. No disturbing images were released—the dead man's image had simply been a biographical one—and the show switched to commercials.
Lavi let out a low whistle.
"Wow," he said. "Kanda, why are you so popular?"
"Because I'm beautiful," said Kanda.
They all stared at him a bit questionably, as hardly any sarcasm could be detected in his voice. The Japanese male gave an irritated sigh.
"I was joking."
"Stop," said Rei in a deadly voice. "Last time you joked, we fell off a Ferris wheel and nearly died, in case you don't remember."
"No, no, no, jokes are good," said Allen gleefully. "Tell another one, Kanda, maybe you'll keep on embarrassing yourself if you do."
"His jokes really aren't all that uncommon, you know," said Lenalee placidly. "He just…very sarcastic when he's tired. And sometimes his sarcasm doesn't make much sense when he's that tired."
"…How tired?" questioned Allen eagerly.
"Oh, stop it Allen," said Rei. "Bookman, what's the news?"
"The weird Eurasian guy you saw—his name is 'Howard Link.' Apparently, he's some guy from the yakuza in Japan that the police recognized because he was nearly caught a couple years back assassinating some political figure here. He was found dead in the sixth floor of a fun house a good distance away from the Ferris wheel; no one knows who killed him, but it's been confirmed that he was the sniper; his prints were all over the sniper rifle used to shoot at you both. They didn't say anything about you two—the police didn't release your names, so that's good. Nevertheless, we can assume that the yakuza are actively pursuing you here, eh, Kanda?"
"It's hard to be this irresistible," deadpanned Kanda.
"Stop," said Rei through gritted teeth. "Just. Stop."
"He's just really tired, and a bit drugged up, I suppose," said Lenalee with a smile. "We should leave you guys now—Matsumomo-san—"
"Rei is fine," said the Japanese female absentmindedly. "Kanda's the only one who calls me by my surname when he forgets otherwise."
"Oh, well, then, Rei, do you think you'll be okay taking care of Kanda? He might need some help, you know, functioning."
"Seeing as I'm helping him live, I think helping him function is somewhat of a downgrade," said Rei with the barest traces of a smirk. "We'll be fine."
Lavi grinned. "Oh, even if he needs help taking off his shirt to shower?"
"She won't mind," said Kanda wearily. "I'm irresist—"
"Go to sleep, or I'll put a bullet through your head next."
"But I am—"
"Now is a good time to leave, guys," said Rei.
"Mm," said Kate thoughtfully, "Rei, I'm thinking—Victoria's Secret wants me to go to England starting tomorrow. I think it'll be better and safer for you to come with me, you know?"
"Eh…"
"And I guess Kanda better come as well," sighed Kate. "It's really not safe here…but England has good security, I think, and if we leave immediately, I don't think anything dangerous will happen."
"What about me?" said Lavi pointedly.
Kate paused. "…I…suppose you can come."
Lavi arched an eyebrow. "You're that against me coming?"
"I mean, it's not like I don't want you to come," said Kate exasperatedly. "My parents aren't terribly delightful, all right? I don't want you to get, like, scared away or something."
"I won't be. Besides, you haven't met my gramps if you think I'll be scared away by unpleasant relatives," said Lavi darkly.
"All right, fine," said Kate. "Oh…er," she turned to Allen and Lenalee awkwardly, "would you two like to come as well?"
"…I'm actually all right, honestly," grinned Allen. "Cross might murder me if we all abandon him."
"I'll stay to keep Allen company," said Lenalee genially. "Apparently, I have to be around in order to fend off Mikk-san's sister—Road, or something."
"She sorta just…latched on to me," said Allen feverishly. "Kinda like a leech…it was really awkward…"
"So yeah, I'll stay here as well," smiled Lenalee. "How long will you all be gone?"
"Indeterminate amount of time," said Kate airily. "It shouldn't be terribly long though…Rei, you up for it?"
Rei was absentmindedly looking out the window, her thoughts focused on Tyki instead, wondering where he was and what he was doing, whether he was really in Spain or actually still in Portugal…
"Hello?" said Kate, tapping her lightly on the shoulder. "Rei?"
"Mm?"
"England? You, me, Lavi, Kanda?"
"…Do you think it's a good idea?" said Rei.
"Yeah. For modeling and for safety."
"…Only if Kanda doesn't make any more jokes. If he does, our plane will crash tomorrow."
"Mm hm…" said Kanda mid-yawn, "it's because I'm irresistible—"
"Shut up, please."
"Well," said Kate, standing up, "I'll go ahead and tell Cross about it. Lord knows he's going to be pissed, but hey, what can he do? He's just wasting time anyway."
"What time tomorrow?" said Rei.
"Noon. We'll be here to pick you and Kanda up—no one will know, so we shouldn't have any problems in terms of crazy people trying to attack us…"
"Yeah," agreed Lavi as he stood up and stretched. "See ya two later then—I'm pretty beat, so I'm just going to go back and hit the sack…"
The four of them headed for the door, waving while telling both Rei and Kanda to rest easy and not stress, since bodyguards surrounded the hotel and hallways. Rei waved goodbye halfheartedly, her lack of sleep catching up to her.
Once the door shut securely behind Allen, who was the last one to leave, Rei headed over to her bed and sat down tiredly on it. Kanda's blue eyes were already fluttering shut.
"Kanda?" she said. "Do you need to take your medicine?"
"…I'll take it when I wake up…" he mumbled, his tone indicating that he was already very close to sleep.
"All right then…"
She rolled over on her mattress, her back facing Kanda as she fumbled in her jeans pocket for her phone. If Tyki was in Spain, his flight should've landed by now, and she wanted to call to confirm where he really was. Perhaps she would ask for some solid evidence—a picture of him in Madrid's airport or something…
Rei dialed Tyki's number and brought the phone to her ear, listening restlessly in hopes that he would pick up. The rings continued endlessly, but finally, Tyki's voice appeared on the other end of the line. Rei straightened up a bit, relieved, but her hopes were instantly dissipated when the recorded message of his voicemail began playing by her ear. Her lost hopefulness ushered in instead a feeling of dread and distrust, for instinct had long convinced her that Tyki had been lying about going to Spain, and that he was definitely in Portugal, somewhere, somehow, and for some reason that he obviously couldn't tell her about.
Rei sighed and rolled over so that her green eyes were focused on the ceiling. Despite her tumultuous state of mind, sleep claimed her quickly but not without disturbance. She could not help but feel betrayed, and her slumber was disrupted at random intervals in which she called Tyki each time.
"Tyki, that's your phone," said Jas.
"I know," he answered impatiently as a masseuse massaged his bruised neck. Tyki looked at the screen of his phone and winced. "It's Rei."
"Don't pick it up," said Lulu sharply.
"Why?"
"Assume she recognized your voice. Assume that she found your hat at the scene, because you were an idiot and forgot it. What do you think she's assumed right now?"
"…That I'm not…really in Spain," said Tyki slowly.
"She's calling you to confirm that you're really there," said Lulubell calmly, her golden irises focused on her nails as she filed them. "She'll definitely ask you to send her some evidence of your arrival—you know, a picture on a Spanish street, with a Spanish flag…"
"How do you know that?" said Tyki bewildered.
"Because it's exactly what I would do if I were in her situation," she answered matter-of-factly, blowing her nails. "She doesn't trust you. She's right not to."
Tyki looked doubtfully down at his phone, feeling guilty as it continued to ring.
"I…generally always pick up when she calls," said Tyki, groaning a bit as the masseuse began to knead on a knot in his shoulder. "Damn, that feels good."
"Ignore her," said Lulu. "Tell her you left your phone in your room, and that you just bought another cell phone in Spain but couldn't remember her number so you couldn't call her."
"…You really think she'll believe that?" said Tyki dubiously.
Lulu shrugged. "No, I don't, because if I were her, I'd think that was a bloody obvious lie, but there's not much else you can do. The Earl's orders come first."
"I completed them," said Tyki coolly. "I killed the guy. I found out what he was after."
"You're not positive," replied Lulu in the same tone.
"Lulubell. His bag was full of Rei's information."
"And Kanda's," chimed in Jas.
"And Eiji's," added Debitto.
"No, he's after her," snapped Tyki. "He's been after her from the beginning—ever since they noticed her at that first Gucci party in Tokyo, when she protected Kanda. Think about it—every time Kanda's been attacked, Rei's been there too. Don't you think that's a little off?"
"We'll see," said Lulu cryptically. "Eiji's trying to see what he can find—he'll be here shortly."
"I'm done, actually," said an older voice from the doorway.
Eiji Matsumomo walked in, his expression serious as he tossed a stack of papers on the table. Lulubell beckoned to him, offering him the seat next to her, which he took obligingly.
"Cyril not with you?" said Lulu.
Eiji shook his head. "He had some political affairs to attend—we'll just recap everything to him later."
"So what are the results?" said Tyki.
Eiji heaved a sigh. "It's Rei."
"Told you," said Tyki, standing up and signaling for the masseuse to leave. "Now what? We just wait for the yakuza to just come after her?"
"No, of course not," said Eiji. "I've long made preparations for this."
Tyki stared. "You…anticipated that they'd be after her?"
"Naturally," said Eiji offhandedly. "I played a bit role in the yakuza ten years ago—my wife and I were the mediators with the Noah family. With the switch in power, my abandoning my post was a telltale sign that my family was going to be targeted."
The unemotional way that Eiji said everything only fueled Tyki's incredulity.
"She's your daughter," he said disbelievingly. "You don't care that an entire nation's underground illegal force is out to kill her?"
"Why do you think I taught her everything?" said Eiji. "Her skills are really second to none, Tyki Mikk. She'll be quite fine."
"Fine? She can't do anything if there are snipers shooting at her—if it hadn't been for me today, she'd be dead! She's not a superhuman—she's your daughter!"
"Yes, she is," said Eiji. "I've prepared her quite well, actually. I ensured that after Eileen died."
Tyki's mind whirred. Eileen…Rei's mother. She had died…in a car crash.
Something clicked.
"The yakuza killed her?" he said, stunned.
Eiji merely inclined his head, his eyes suddenly glassy. "Yes."
Lulu placed her hand on Eiji's arm consolingly.
"It's fine, Eiji," she said softly. "The Noah family represents no better security."
Tyki looked back and forth between his stepsister and her fiancé. Something clicked again.
"You've been planning this," said Tyki, "for her entire life. She's never known—she still doesn't know…you were going to bring her here ever since the beginning."
"Yes," said Eiji firmly, recovering from his miniscule amount of weakness. "I brought her here to this family for safety. In return, her skills would ensure this family's safety as well."
"Which benefits you, Tyki," said Lulu dryly. "She can't run off. She's bound to the family."
"In debt," he said.
"Not quite…or rather, you didn't need to put it so crassly."
Tyki scoffed. "You trapped her before she even knew what was going on. The exact same thing you did to me."
"You really shouldn't say that, Tyki," said Lulu through narrowed eyes. "We're not hurting her—we're only helping. We're ensuring her survival."
"You—"
"This is not the most critical thing right now," interrupted Eiji. "I heard from little Road that Rei and a few of her friends are planning to go to England tomorrow. I am fine with it as long as the public doesn't know—which, according to Road, it doesn't."
"What are they going for?" questioned Debitto.
"Victoria's Secret modeling," said Eiji with a frown.
"Wait…Rei's modeling for Victoria's Secret?" said Tyki, his anger suddenly melting away at this mind-blowing news.
"I don't know," said Eiji. "I suppose."
Rei was modeling for Victoria's Secret? Prudish, conservative Rei was going to be shooting in lingerie with seductive expressions and lip bites and—holy crap, it was an amazing thought.
"That…is…wonderful," said Tyki, sinking back into his seat. "Holy…I never thought she'd…finally, Kate came in useful—she's influenced her to be less prudish—that's amazing. I—"
"Wait," said Eiji, his frown deepening, "why is it so wonderful? What's Victoria's Secret?"
Tyki glanced at Debitto and Jasdevi, silently asking whether or not he should tell the truth. Both twins shook their heads furiously, grinning all the while.
"It's just a really nice store," intercepted Jas. "Good designs."
"With, you know, heavy winter clothes and all," added Debitto with a mischievous smile. "Not an inch of skin revealed."
Lulu looked both exasperated and humored at their blatant lies, but she didn't disprove them, much to their delight.
Eiji shrugged. "Well, I don't particularly care. The more important thing is to get her out of the country for now, since it's very possible that Leverrier will send additional assassins."
"Easy," said Jas with a wave of his hand, "we'll just track them when they go through security again."
"He'll be more careful the second time, Jasdevi," said Eiji sternly. "We have to be on guard."
"…So I guess I can't go and call Rei back and say that I'm back from Spain, right?" said Tyki.
"Are you stupid?" It was, of course, Lulu who said the degrading statement.
"I guess not," he sighed. "We should monitor passage to England as well—I assume they're staying in London?"
"Yes," said Eiji. "We'll review incomers into London's and surrounding airports as well as Lisbon's."
"So can I at least contact Rei after…you know, a couple of days?" said Tyki somewhat hopefully.
"No," said Lulubell flatly. "Nothing to jeopardize the mission, Tyki—you never know, she might fly back unexpectedly and be blown up along the way."
"You sound so hopeful, Lulu."
"Of course I'm not," she deadpanned.
"Are we going to assume that Rei's the target then, instead of Kanda?" said Jas.
"Seeing as they'll probably be together most of the time, I wouldn't say so," said Lulubell apathetically. "Save him if you can, don't cry if you can't."
"Maybe we should just blow him up when he's alone," joked Debitto.
"Not too bad of an idea," said Eiji seriously, standing up from his seat. "It'd save us a lot of trouble. I'll be going to bed then—it's late. Lulu?"
The beautiful woman stood up and followed her fiancé's example.
"You think he was kidding?" said Jas when the door shut.
"Don't think so," said his twin. "He hates Kanda—dunno why." Debitto yawned. "Damn, it's late. Bedtime for me too then—it's been a long day. See ya later, Tyki. Catch some sleep, you still look damn ugly."
"Thanks," said Tyki wryly.
"Night," chorused the twins.
His cell phone rang again as the door closed behind the twins. Tyki looked down at the screen: it was Rei, once again. He sighed, biting his lip in discomfort, but pressed the side button to silence the phone. Perhaps she would leave a voicemail. It was stupidly sentimental, but he wanted to hear her voice if not just for an infinitesimal second, because it occurred to him quite belatedly but nevertheless seriously that she could've died very easily earlier that day.
Tyki sank into pessimism, trying to imagine what would've happened had he not yelled her name, had she not stopped, and his chest pained almost instantly. He winced, leaning his head against the chair and stretching his sore neck.
A world without Rei now seemed too hard to imagine.
Malcolm C. Leverrier was an interesting man.
He was from a rich family originating in England, had been spoilt as an infant to his adulthood, and also had an uncanny habit of having anyone who annoyed him killed. That was what he had done to all his enemies and even some of his friends, and that was what he had done to Kenji Natsuno when he had decided that the yakuza was a good organization to take over.
He was therefore not a man who was patient or kind. Cold blood flowed through his veins, glittering steel was reflected in his narrow eyes, and every line on his aged face only accentuated his constant sneer of derision.
Leverrier was therefore not used to having people he disliked survive for long. His long, long pet peeve was Eiji Matsumomoi, a man who had escaped various assassination attempts for over ten years. In fact, Leverrier had gotten so tired of failed assassinations that he was beginning to drop the idea of ever killing Eiji himself, and instead going after his relatives.
Unfortunately, Eiji's daughter seemed to have inherited the same hardiness and stubbornness to survival that her father exhibited. Attempts at her life always failed—had failed multiple times, in fact. And because of her, Yuu Kanda's life had been extended as well.
Thus, the Matsumomo family was terribly annoying.
Leverrier sat in his dark office, his eyes watching the television as it played international news. He was furious. Beyond furious. Livid. Enraged. Incensed.
His best man—one of his best men, and his most highly trusted servant—was dead. Why? Because of Rei Matsumomo.
Leverrier let out an angry shout, knocking over several decorative glassware from his desk as he stood up to summon his other top assassins simply by roaring at the top of his lungs.
"Madarao! Tokusa!"
There was much shuffling of feet from outside the doorway. Mere seconds elapsed before the door burst open and the two men appeared.
"What is it, sir?" Madarao asked after a deep bow.
"Link is dead," he said with burning fury.
"Link?" said Tokusa, surprised. "Why…wasn't his target just a young girl?"
"The same young girl Gouji failed to kill when he was shooting at her through a glass window!" said Leverrier angrily. "And now, because of her, one of my best men is dead!"
"We will go after her immediately," said Madarao swiftly.
"I'm glad we're on the same page," said Leverrier, his anger subsiding a bit after having been understood quickly. "You and Tokusa will depart to Lisbon immediately—everything will be arranged. Your target's information will already be in your laptops—along with information of people she is close to whom you may kill if you have the chance."
"Understood," said Madarao.
"Sir, if I may ask," drawled Tokusa, "do we know who killed Link?"
"…That has yet to be discovered," said Leverrier, his fury resurfacing at this unexplainable dilemma. "I believe it was someone hired by the Noah family—they are warning us not to trespass their territory."
"He had to be incredibly skilled," remarked Tokusa. "Killing Link is no mean feat…"
"They had the element of surprise," said Leverrier coolly. "We will be much more cautious this time to avoid detection. I do not care about the Noah family's whims—if you see anyone hired by them, feel free to gun them down. Your main priority is the girl—kill her immediately."
"Understood," the two said simultaneously.
"Good. Leave."
The two men bowed out, letting the door close behind them, once again leaving Leverrier alone. He exhaled, clearing his thinking.
Both Madarao and Tokusa were on par with Link; with the two of them assigned to the same mission, failure was hardly an option.
The toothbrush-mustached man allowed himself one rare smile.
Rei Matsumomo would be dead within the next week.
Free Talk:
Whew! First chapter in all my writing career to break 10,000+ words. I was trying so hard to make my self-enforced deadline, and am glad I did! Why the lengthy chapter and deadline? Because today marks the one-year birthday of Diamonds in Wine!
I'd like to thank you for supporting this fic this year by reading and reviewing. I'm very grateful for this story's reception, and will always be humbled by the degree of response. Thank you so much.
As for the chapter itself, I must say that this is the first time I had such difficulty naming it. I generally create the title of each chapter after I write it, and this one gave me a lot of trouble for some reason...and I still don't like the title. Oh well.
RIP Howard Link. Lifespan: one chapter. Haha, I don't mind killing him off or totally screwing up his personality description. It was a bit funny for me, honestly. Same with Leverrier; he can spoiled and corrupt, because that's pretty much what I get from his canon personality anyway. I honestly won't try hard to keep him in character.
LJ post for this chapter will also contain a bit of...encouragement is probably the right word for other writers out there. Read if you're interested-the link's on my profile, and I think it just aims to empathize with readers who have faced some harsh criticism.
As always, leave a review on your way out, and thanks for bearing with me for a year.
xoxo,
m.n