Mikado did not know if Kida would ever forgive him for this. He suspected that Kida would not. But if he had to sacrifice their friendship forever, he would do exactly that if it was to bring Kida back to the right side of things. As much as a gamble as it was. He remembered riding behind Kida on a bicycle in another lifetime. Kida had taught him how to ride and in those days as now Mikado had closed his eyes, hiding his face against his back and hoping for the best.
Kida woke up with a latent headache and the feeling of danger. So that despite a certain confusion he realized almost immediately that he was tied up, that he was lying on a couch, and that Mikado was smiling uncertainly at him.
"Ah, you're back."
"Great way to show your gratitude."
Mikado nodded as if he accepted the charge.
"I'm sorry I had to use the stun gun on you-"
"'Sorry'?"
"-but I couldn't just do nothing. That I could never do."
Kida narrowed his eyes.
"This is kidnapping."
"I know."
"Izaya will kill you."
"Let him try, then."
Kida could tell that Mikado meant it. But he merely shrugged at this.
"Actually, I'll kill you. It's of no use telling you to untie me-"
"Those ropes are there for a reason."
"-but if you think you'll get away with this, you have another thing coming."
Mikado nodded again.
"I know that too. I'm sure you'll hate me but that's just fine. Hate me all you want, Kida. I am doing what's right. Can you honestly look me in the eyes and tell me you were doing the right thing?"
It was part of Mikado's strategy to keep any overt references to Izaya at a minimum. He knew that Izaya was more of a symptom than a cause to Kida's problems. Kida flat out ignored the question.
"So, what will you do now? Ransom?"
"For the time being I'll keep you here."
"And where is 'here'?"
Kida could tell that he was in a basement of sorts. No traffic noise. Reinforced concrete walls.
"I'm not telling you that."
A change in tactics was in order. Kida brought to mind all that Izaya had taught him about manipulation and what emotions to tug at in order to get the desired outcome. It was akin to human alchemy, a kind of dark magic of the heart.
"Hey, Mikado…give me a break here. I'm at your mercy, you can at least me tell me what you'll do to me. Don't I deserve as much?"
Kida smiled. Mikado shook his head slowly.
"I'll just let you cool down for a while and make sure you don't end up getting hurt beyond repair. Maybe you don't think it matters if something happens to you but you're important to me."
"Then could you untie me, please? These ropes are hell."
Mikado only grew icier. He remembered Kida having absolutely no qualms whatsoever about Izaya wrapping him flesh biting ropes with knots that were both a torture and humiliation to endure. While Mikado asked Celty to make sure his movements were restrained without causing too much discomfort.
"You'll be untied in due time."
"Mikado, you don't really want to do this. We're friends, right?"
Insisting on the name, on purpose.
"I am your friend, yes. I doubt you're mine."
"Mikado, just untie me and we'll talk. You must be regretting this already."
"I regret that I let it get to the point I had to do this."
Kida had already tested his restrains and found them solid. His next step was to attempt a smile followed by a well-trained wince. And he insisted on using the name of his interlocutor out of a notion that it built some sort of rapport.
"Come now, Mikado. These really hurt, you know? How about we just have a conversation?"
"We'll do that. You can talk fine as it is."
Kida considered pushing the case further but he could tell that Mikado was not about to budge. And Kida was not one to fail to notice true resolution when in the presence of it.
"Alright. What do you want to know?"
There were many things, so many that Mikado could not immediately select one from the bundle that had so tortured his reflections.
"Why did you start a gang in the first place?"
It was not the question that Kida expected and he was taken aback. So he was silent for a while. Weighing his options.
"'I just wanted not to be alone'? Something like that, you think? Not really. What I wanted was much simpler than that. I wanted power."
