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"So did you do it?" Taka-chan asked me excitedly, practically salivating at the prospect of a juicy story as he sat, jittering, in his seat at the table closest to me as I told him what had happened after I left the club—omitting it so much that the most I could tell him is everything that happened after the strange woman steered me away from the alley—while I waited for customers to come in.
When he first came in the bakery and asked me what happened, I was skeptical and wary, not to mention a little confused since usually he was sleeping this early in the morning. The confusion went away quickly after he explained that sleeping any longer than usual would be impossible because of my brother's snoring, and added a quick awe filled comment about Setsuko's ability to sleep through it. He'd probably fall asleep at his seat eventually but since there was a coffee shop across the street it didn't seem likely and in the foreseeable future.
"What? No, of course not. Weren't you listening at all?" I asked him, gently bouncing my baby nephew, Gavin, against my hip. Fortunately and unfortunately it was my weekend to babysit the three-month-old little bundle of joy. I say this because although I loved him very much, it was hard to talk relationships with a baby around—which was probably the reason Kichiro dumped him on me so he and Misako could "hang out". The lucky bastard.
"Of course I was listening, that's why it's only natural for the story to lead into you two "wrestling between the sheets"," he said, scoffing leaning his head against his hand and glaring at me through slightly narrowed eyes.
"What can I say, the moment wasn't right—" This was possibly the worst thing I could have said to him, and the way Taka-chan reacted emphasized that fact very much.
"The moment wasn't RIGHT?!" he shouted, his feminine voice breaking apart and showing his real, slightly feminine male voice. Beside me Gavin gave a small dribble sound—a sort of whine mixed with saliva—and his large, dark green eyes beginning to well up in equally large tears. I shot a glare at Taka-chan as I bounced Gavin up and down, trying to quell him before he burst into a loud crying, sobbing mess.
"Have you lost your mind?! Which part of your little story deemed sex impossible last night?!" he continued, his voice hushed but still pressured as I got Gavin to quiet down before walking over to his car seat on top of the table Taka-chan was occupying. Carefully, I laid him down, cradling his head until it lay comfortably against the cushioning and continuing to amuse him while I waited for customers to come in. Really I was entertaining myself since I was just playing with his small, sock-covered feet.
"Let's keep in mind that I had a grand total of three hours of sleep and that this," I said, holding up my empty coffee cup and rattling the straw against the rim, "is my fifth cup of coffee in the last three hours since my shift started."
"Amai, I'm saying this because I love you, and I care about you, and your sex life is great material to dish out at work when you go home," Taka-chan started, getting that "sweet" feminine edge back in his voice, "you're an idiot and you need sleep in order to make smart relationship choices."
"What?! No I don't. And no I am not! I don't feel tired and I stand by what I said: the moment wasn't right," I rebutted, slamming the empty cup into the trash can behind me and glaring at him in "subtle" hatred.
"Amai, you both confessed to loving each other, your pants were already out of the way and you had a great excuse to show him your butt. So tell me where in any of that was it not okay to have sex with him," Taka-chan relayed, straight-faced and serious as I realized the implications of my hangover/self-pity.
"…Oh nonononononono NO! What did I do?!" I yelled, dropping my head to the table and banging on it repeatedly with my fist. Gavin's feet touched my hair, kicking it roughly as he giggled at my distressed reaction and copied my movements, switching out hands for legs and attitude for attitude.
"More so it's what you didn't do," Taka-chan chimed in, chuckling at my misfortune, most likely taking delight that wither way he would be bringing something for the "girls" at work to gossip over.
"Sweet euphoria, how you elude me~" I wept, taking no notice of the bell above the door as a customer entered and looked over the varying selections of bread in their baskets, selecting a particularly tasty looking melon bread.
"Hey bakery girl, what are you doing?" the customer—a man—asked me, taking my attention away from the grain in the table to the suited man in front of the cash register, his melon bread in hand and a curious look on his face.
"Cowering under the weight of my own stupidity," I answered him, straightening out of my bent position and pinching my earlobe, easily letting go of my continued self-pity as it was replaced by a sugary-sweet smile, "But! My private like does not mix into my work life unless people from my private life show up at my work, but I won't bother you with details, good sir!" Quickly I got back to my station and rang up the price, taking small peeks out of the corner of my eye as I monitored Gavin to make sure he was still happy. "That'll be four hundred and fifty yen," I told the man, earning a shocked and disbelieving expression.
"That much for a piece of bread?!" he asked incredulously, holding the bread up as if needing to confirm that that was indeed the bread in question.
"Sir, if you don't like it you're free to do one of two things, you can either buy the damn bread and complain to your wife, your girlfriend or anyone who gives a damn, or you can go buy cheaper bread somewhere else," I told him, smiling sweetly in a way that completely clashed with my harsh words. After years of manipulation on my neurological chemistry, the technique I had learned proceeded to do little on my mouth, altering only my face and my state of thought.
Although the real reason may have been because of instinct to piss off and annoy.
"Fine! I'll go somewhere else then!" the man said, slamming the bread down on the glass cabinet in front of me and turning to leave, barely making it halfway across the room before I spoke up again.
"Are you sure? Are you certain you'll find melon bread as subtly sweet as ours, with a crispy outer layer and the fluffiest inner texture that nearly melts in your mouth somewhere else? Because if you are a hundred percent certain that you can, then you're free to go and find that place," I said, letting my talent in manipulation control my mind and mouth, my technique wearing off earlier than usual in the interest of making a sale. "I just hope you're not met with disappointment along the way," I sighed wistfully, leaning against my elbow as I placed my head in my hand, watching him as he turned back towards me, a conflicted expression on his face.
"…You happy with yourself? Manipulating people to get what you want?" he asked me, stomping back over the counter and whipping out his wallet, throwing a five hundred yen coin down on the counter before scooping up his bread and turning back towards the door. "Quality establishment you have here! Real great manipulator!" he shouted towards the kitchen, unknowing that Miss Yuumi was gone for the day on one of her rare vacation days, yanking the door open and storming outside.
"Hey! If I was half the manipulator I think I am I'd have slept with my boyfriend a long time ago pal!" I yelled at his back when the door slammed shut and he went stalking down the street, the loud noises causing Gavin to kick up a fuss and start crying.
"…Does your bread really cost that much?" Taka-chan asked, raising his voice above the baby's wails as I left the coin where it lay in order to tend to the poor babe.
"Law of supply and demand: since I'm not that great at baking bread there is a short supply today meaning the cost goes up," I told him plain and simple, picking Gavin up and holding him close, bouncing him up and down gently but only succeeding in making him cry louder. "There there, come on sweetheart~ settle down~" I cooed, stroking his back gently.
"Does your boss know?" Taka-chan asked me, looking me over with an expression I didn't quite understand, something like confusion mixed with sudden realization and something I couldn't quite put my finger on.
"Of course not," I scoffed, like he should have known better than to ask, "if she knew she'd hit my head with a rolled up newspaper like a dog. All Miss Yuumi needs to know is that it was a good business day," I told him honestly, smiling when Gavin's cries quieted down to a small whimper. "Now shut up and tell me how to seduce my boyfriend!" I said loudly, taking him by surprise.
"What?! What makes you think I know how?" he asked me, looking confused and taken aback.
"You've been working at that bar for at least ten years and over the last six or so months I've been working with you I've seen you flirt with nearly thirty guys a night," I told him, setting Gavin down once again in his car seat-turned-crib before turning to him with a determined expression, crossing my arms across my chest and telling him seriously, "if I'm not a mistaken, you sir are a tease, and if I know anything it's that teases know how to seduce people. So help me seduce my boyfriend already!"
He sat silently for a while, looking at me with something close to astonishment before it melted into some sort of passive-domineering "I know something you don't" expression. "…Fine, I'll help you seduce him, but only if you do everything I say and let me tell the guys at work."
I gritted my teeth before offering him a counter-offer. "I'll let you gossip to Naoki-kun and who he tells is fair game. Now do we have a deal or not?"
"Deal!" he said excitedly, his painted lips breaking into a large grin as he began his lesson. "Now here's where you're going wrong, with someone like Heiwajima-kun, you can't be aggressive. Now, fortunately there's a simple solution: playing passive yet flirty," he said, his index finger pointed at me like a silent command to take to heart his advice, "unfortunately I can't help you in that area." His words—which had elated me at the prospect of his idea actually working, instantly deflated me like a popped balloon.
"What?! Why not? You're the definition of flirty!" I fumed, throwing my arms down at my side; hands curled into fists while the weight from my cast pulling my arm down especially hard.
"Yes, but not when it comes to sex. Naoki-kun and Heiwajima-kun are both the same and different. They're both shy when it comes to the act, but Naoki is far more submissive—which is why you will never see this face pushed into a pillow," he explained to me, circling his face with a well manicured finger as a simple gesture to his beauty.
"That's not the only reason," I muttered lowly, trying not to voice my reason for not wanting to see Taka-chan and Naoki-san alone in bed together.
If he heard me he didn't show it, instead he continued on with his instructions. "Now, since he's so far averted your advances and has an alarming amount of self-control given your previous stories, this is where I won't be able to help you," he said, once again deflating me with zero help and inflating me with mild annoyance.
"You realize of course that if you don't help me, I'm not letting you gossip," I replied, putting my good hand on my hip as I looked at him with narrowed eyes.
"Hang on, I wasn't finished! Now, even if I can't help you through personal experience, I know a certain person who can. Just keep in mind that you promised to do exactly as I say." If he knew someone who could help me, why didn't he say so sooner?
"Yeah yeah, just tell me tell me who it is," I said impatiently, wanting him to get to the point faster than this snail's pace.
"No," I quirked an eyebrow, questioning why he was refuting my curiosity, "You need to promise me that you won't back out now, and you'll do as this person says. Promise?" he asked me, suddenly wary.
"…Tell me the name first," I asked, equally wary if he was trying to make me promise something before I could refuse.
"No, you have to promise," he persisted.
"I will, just tell me who it is."
"Promise."
"Give me the damn name you tease!" I hissed, keeping my voice harsh yet quiet in the interest of letting Gavin sleep a while longer.
"It's Monowa-san," he finally replied, watchful eyes on me as he gauged my reaction to hearing her name. Personally I was proud of my reaction since it was nicer than anything else that might have come out of my mouth at the simple prospect of going to her for help.
"No way in hell am I going to her for help."
He looked at me exasperated, like he was tired of the same old song and dance. "Amai, just hear me out. Look, I know she isn't exactly your favorite person, and I know you don't like her job—"
"Hey! I couldn't care less that she's a hooker, what matters is that she had sex in her apartment, on the other side of my freaking wall where my freaking bedroom was, and where my ears were present to every single little sound that leaked through every day! No! I refuse to go to her for help!" I ranted, unwilling and frankly too prideful.
"Don't exaggerate, she didn't do it every day," Taka-chan said, rolling his eyes away at me as he reached for his purse and began digging around in it.
"That's not the only reason I won't go to her for help, Taka-chan. she hates me. I once gave her tainted cookies by accident and she thought I was trying to kill her," I told him, watching him as his eyes lighted upon finding the object of his desire—his cell phone.
"Well then, we'll take this opportunity for you to apologize to her," he said as he flipped it open with his thumb, scrolling through names until he came across the one he wanted and began dialing the number listed. Holding the device up to his ear, he watched, bemused as I fumed, angry that he was ignoring me.
"Monowa-san~ I hope I'm not interrupting anything~" he said, greeting her through the phone with an obnoxiously friendly voice. I couldn't hear her reply, but from the look on Taka-chan's face I could tell that he hadn't. "Good good. Listen, I'm with Amai-chan over at her bakery job and we were talking about relationships—" he stopped short, listening and laughing as Kimi said something that was apparently funny.
"Haha, I know I know, she's gotten more feminine since she started dating," he laughed, the joke from Kimi obviously being one at my expense. "Anyway, one thing led to another and we somehow got on the topic of how to get him to want you and since you seem to have a bit of expertise in this area, I was wondering if you could give us some advice?" He paused again, listening to her response and laughing a bit—albeit nervously—before turning his attention to me.
"Good news, she's willing to help you," he told me with a stressed smile.
"Great…what's the bad news?" I asked.
"She said she wants to hear you beg first," he answered, biting his lip nervously as he watched my reaction. My reaction being, of course, intense loathing. But I digress, debating briefly in my mind the pros and cons and ultimately deciding that begging would be the lesser of two evils. I sighed, grinding my teeth as I held my hand out for the phone and hesitating when it was placed carefully in my hand, convincing myself that this was necessary, if not a bit conceited.
"Monowa-san," I began in greeting, staring hard at nothing as I listened to her response.
"Tachibana-san."
"…Please tell me…how to passively flirt," I choked out, stumbling a bit on my words as they passed my lips.
"Passive flirting…dear me, are aggressive attacks not working on lover boy?" she drawled, irking me with the truth.
"Let's just say that I'd be lying if I said no. Now can you please tell me how to passively flirt and what the hell that means?"
"Come on Bakery Girl, you're not that stupid. It means what it says. In other words you do stupid little things while looking like you don't care what happens next. Sex? Alright, let's do that. In-bed cuddling? Sure, no problem," she explained, monotonous and bored sounding.
"Seriously? Be affectionate but don't expect high results? And this will seriously help me?" I asked her, trying to confirm that this seemingly easy way was fool-proof.
"They do say it's the little things that matter," she said, before adding, "Although I don't think this particular tactic will work for you."
I was confused, what did she mean by that? Then again, the few times I had consciously tried to flirt with someone either blew up in my face or got me made fun of. But just to be sure I asked her what she meant anyway, unknowing that she had seen my attempt earlier in the year.
"That little stunt you pulled with Mitsukanei-san. Very enlightening and educational as to your dating history. Tell me, are you a virgin? Or are you just unskilled?" she asked, irking me once again. I bit my tongue, unwilling to sabotage myself in my endeavor just because of a little comment.
"I'll admit it wasn't my finest flirty moment, but I achieved my own ends," I spat, remembering with delight the finale of the evening when Chikan-san broke my door with his pervy face. "And anyway, I've gotten a lot better at seduction since then, so all I need are a few pointers on being passive," I said, somewhat proud of my own development since that sham of a flirtation. It just goes to show that despite sounding like a crow, Chikan-san was too horny for his own good.
"Yes, I heard about your little moment at the hospital a few months ago from Takazawa-san. Didn't know you had it in you."
I am so going to kill Taka-chan.
"Anyway, as you have probably heard," I glared at Taka-chan out of the corner of my eye, but he conveniently looked away acting innocent, "I need some help."
"Mmn~ the best I can tell you is to do the little things and you'll get there eventually. I haven't been in a serious relationship in years, so I can't tell you much beyond that," was her response to my inquiry, which ended up raising more question than it should have.
Disappointed, I pushed a little more, curious as to why she couldn't give me more detailed hints. "I would have thought, given your profession, that you would have had more expertise on enticing men."
"Not all men are complex like yours, Tachibana-san. Some are remarkably easy to lure in."
"Nn, well, thanks for the advice anyway."
"Hold on, I didn't do this out of the goodness of my heart and because you begged me. I want something from that little bakery of yours, something that wont threaten to kill me this time," she said, stopping me short from hanging up on her.
"Umm…alright. I'll see you around then," I said hesitantly, listening for the tone dial as she hung up without a word of farewell or anything. I snapped the phone shut, handing it back to a befuddled Taka-chan as he waited for me to say something. "I think I'll bring her a coffeecake," was my brilliant response to his silent curiosity. His brow rose higher, if that was even possible, at my strange sentence, before it lowered again as he came to a rational conclusion.
"She gave you some good advice then?" he asked, looking away to my nephew as he made a face and sneezed in his sleep, scratching his nose the tip of his fingernail, amused.
"Not really, she just gave me a better definition of what to do. But she did say to ask someone for help," I told him.
"So we're back to square one then," he said deadpan.
"Not really, I just remembered someone I can talk to," I said, walking back over to the cash register as another person came in, leaving soon after with some of our wares.
"So are you going to call them right now then?" Taka-chan asked excitedly, maybe too excited for his own good.
"No, I think I'm going to punish you for leaking my private life all over the place," I said irately, making him huff in disappointment. "Anyway, not to be rude, but shouldn't you go home now? Catch up on your sleep or whatever?"
"Not when your brother and his sleep apnea are there to destroy any chance of that," he replied bitterly, which was understandable since, if you weren't a heavy sleeper, it was utterly impossible to sleep through.
"It's eleven in the morning, he should be awake by now." Well, he should be. Possibly. Maybe. Well, he never slept for more than eight hours anyway. Course that could have changed since he finished school back in spring.
DRRR!
"Kichiro, I'm telling you I can't anymore," I said, juggling both my phone and my fidgeting nephew as watched the clock on the wall closely. "No, he's not much trouble at all; I just have an appointment I need to make," I told him, bouncing up at down on the balls of my feet as I tried to keep Gavin occupied while simultaneously resisting going to the bathroom. Lucky me Kyoko had decided that since I "thought it was easy" to take care of a baby, she had refused to offer any assistance. To my knowledge I hadn't once said it was easy in the odd some months she'd been here, but I guess my giving her constant advice based on the various times I had babysat my cousins and nephews counted as such.
"Of course I have to make the appointment! I'm finally getting this frickin' cast off, Kichiro. You know how much I hate this thing!" I shouted into the phone, momentarily allowing Gavin to reach my shoulder before I grasped the back of his onesie between my fingers and pulled him back down, his muted wails against my shoulder actually causing my pain.
"Stop sticking it to your girlfriend you pansy or I'll make you even less of a man than she ever will!" I yelled, snapping the phone shut with unnecessary force and making the baby cry louder than before. Sighing, I set the phone down on the glass counter and patted his back, setting a more smooth rock and bounce motion as I worked to still his cries.
'He smells fine, so he doesn't need to be changed. Maybe he needs another bottle? But how much breast milk did Misako-chan send along?' I asked myself, trying to remember the contents of the diaper bag Misako had left after stubbornly clinging to her child and saying over and over again that she wasn't leaving him. Vacantly I wondered if I would ever be like that when I had a child and be so tightly attached that not even Shizuo could pull us apart.
It was almost funny how I thought of Shizuo at that moment, because when my eyes roamed over to the window to see if Kichiro had arrived yet—not that the drive from wherever the hell he was would take less than two minutes—Shizuo happened to be there, hands in his pockets and back ramrod straight, a cigarette hanging from his lips as he looked inside. Expression wise I couldn't tell since his face did tend to be calm some of the time when he was super pissed, but his sunglasses weren't helping either way. Tom, who had walked a few feet forward, stopped when he noticed his friend and co-worker had stalled in his tracks and walked back over to him, cupping his hands around his eyes—which seemed a bit redundant considering he was wearing sunglasses as well—and peering through the window at me.
However, by the time Tom stopped and turned around, I had already ducked behind the counter, Gavin pressed tightly against me as I crouched, silently kicking myself for my stupidity. But how could I not? I couldn't deal with him just yet.
"You do know that that case is made of glass, right? He can see you," said Kyoko's voice from above me, letting me know of my obvious mistake.
"I know," I said indignantly, although I made no move to stand up. "Can you tell me when he leaves?" I asked her, burying my face closer to Gavin's.
"Yeah sure," she agreed reluctantly, tapping her foot slowly, methodically against the floor. "So why are you down there on the floor?" she asked after a few seconds, giving me no sign, verbal or not, that Shizuo and Tom had continued on their way and had written my actions off as something strange and not to be looked into.
Although the latter was less likely since I'm sure he'll ask me at some point later on.
Raising my head I looked out through the glass, confirming for myself whether or not he was still there. I sighed, finding with relief that they had gone back to their daily business. "Sorry, I thought I dropped his binky, but it turned out to be my dignity," I replied sullenly, standing up carefully so I didn't jostle him too much.
"Yeah, I think I still see it on the floor. So why are you hiding from the blond? From what I heard you two seemed pretty lovey-dovey last night," Kyoko remarked. What the hell, was she eavesdropping on my conversation with Taka-chan?
"Were you on the other side of the door before?"
"I was somewhere; let's just put it at that. So you lied to the transvestite then?"
"I said some words, that's all I'll say," I replied hastily as the bell over the door rang and my brother's disheveled figure appeared in the doorway next to an equally disheveled Misako-chan. The look on my brother's face being one of pouty indifference while Misako's was simply overjoyed. Obviously, the minute I called was the very second Misako had put her pants back on and dragged Kichiro with her. And obviously Kichiro wouldn't be going to me to babysit for awhile if the murderous glare he was giving me was anything to go by.
DRRR!
A couple years ago, no less than half a year after I started working at the bakery, I met a boy. Well, maybe boy's not the right word; I met a middle-schooler. And he seemed…like a player. His hair was a dirty blonde—by no means was it natural—and he wore a lot of…yellow. Of course at that time I didn't know much about gangs beyond the blue one that wanted my head on a pike, so this yellow one was new to me either way. But at that time I didn't know anything about anything, so when this teenager started hitting on me I didn't think anything of the color he was wearing and simply grabbed his collar and threatened his ass.
The look on the kid's face darkened a bit, and the big guys behind him mimicked his changed attitude and practically wrenched my arm the wrong way while removing my hand from their leader's collar. My memory of what happened after was hazy at best, but I remember having a bloody nose and my regular disposition of being pissed off getting the better of me as it usually did, my hands once again knotted in the kid's yellow jacket as I held him up above me.
I was pissed beyond reason, his thugs looking battered and bruised, and this kid, this stupid kid just smiled. Smiled like a regular, goofy kid, and laughing like one, too. After that he called a truce, even though I clearly had them on the fence if I do say so myself, and ended up coming by the bakery every week, just to see me and goof off. The first day I met him was also the last day I saw him make that kind of expression—dark, flippant, uncaring about anyone that dared to mess with him. Not even when he went off the grid for a few weeks after the disappearance of the blue squares did I see him make that kind face, but beneath the smile he showed me when he finally came to visit me I could tell he was hiding something.
And now today I see it again, his eyes as dark as his expression, and so deep in thought that for a moment I nearly took him for someone else when I was looking right at him.
Masaomi, what did this town do this time?
"Masaomi, I'm hurt. I haven't seen you in weeks and this is the type of face you give me?" I asked playfully, fluttering my fingers in his face to try and get him to snap out of it. He blinked a couple times, reorganization filling his eyes before they darkened once again.
"Oh, hey Amai, what are you doing here?" he asked me sticking his hands inside his pockets as he leaned back against the wall of the corridor he had walked down.
"It's a hospital, Masaomi. And this is a cast that I am sorely tempted to rip off with my teeth," I replied curtly, holding my arm up as evidence. "Now what about you? I don't see why a healthy kid like yourself is here," I asked, looking past him down the hall, wondering which room he came out of or if he was on a different floor. He stayed silent and lowered his eyes, not answering my question but giving me information nonetheless.
"Mikado?" I asked him, but he didn't respond. "Sonohara-san?"
His eyes flickered to mine and instantly I felt a pit in my stomach. I hadn't known her for that long, and the only thing I had done for her was simultaneously in my own interest of causing pain to a pervert, but I couldn't help but feel concerned about her. "Is she okay? What happened?" I asked him, eyebrows knitting together as I waited for him to speak.
"That slasher bastard…" was all he said through gritted teeth.
'Huh, I wonder if that one was working under their "mother's" direction,' I thought to myself, unable to recall if the woman sent to slash me had confirmed that I was their only other target. Maybe this happened a different night? "Did this happen last night?"
"Of course it happened last night!" he snapped, balling his fists in front of him while a crease appeared on his forehead, the result of his brows furrowing together in anger—almost like how Shizuo's are most of the time. "That bastard…he hurt Anri! And now, he's going to pay," he said darkly, giving me an even greater glimpse of his past self.
My brow rose in question and doubt. He was going to pay? How could he possibly locate the one that attacked Anri when there was probably tens of tens of them in a city this size? To put it frankly, it was impossible.
"Don't be an idiot, Masaomi. Revenge doesn't solve anything," says the hypocrite that put her second-year teacher in a self-induced coma after dealing out punishment like a stack of playing cards. "And besides, you're not thinking clearly."
"I am thinking clearly, Amai. And I've already made my decision," he said, deadly serious and so full of shit. How much did I want to bet that I wasn't going to like this decision of his? Then again, when it came out of the mouth of Masaomi I didn't like half the things he said, especially the things that involved "picking me up".
"And what decision would that be?" I asked him quietly, fearing the worst.
"I'm going back."
A loud slap rang through the air as my hand connected with his face, making his head snap to the side and his eyes widen a bit before they narrowed back into their former glare.
"What was that for?" he asked me, as cool as a cucumber and about as cold as his glower.
"Be lucky I only slapped you when you told me to hit you," I replied coolly, my frown deepening as I recalled the only time made me wait, when he quit the Yellow Scarves and made me promise to bit him if he ever joined again. Actually, if I remember correctly it was right around the time the Blue Squares disappeared. It's probably a coincidence. "But if you really want me to hit you, I can do that," I volunteered, holding up my fist as proof of my willingness.
"I don't need your approval, Amai. Just let me take care of it," Masaomi told me, pushing off the wall and shoving his way past me to the exit.
"The last guy to tell me he would "take care of it" is in a coma, so I suggest rewording what you just said," I growled, thoroughly fed up with his currently uncharacteristic attitude. He stopped, turning back to me with a somewhat determined expression.
"I can't. Please don't tell Mikado and Anri about this."
"Fine, I won't. But forgive me if I choose to stay out of gang business, just like every other time in my life," I replied curtly, allowing him to turn back around and leave the hospital. I walked back to the front desk where I had first spotted Masaomi and asked the nurse stationed there which room Anri was staying in. It didn't take as much coercing as I originally thought—what with me not being family and knowing her only as a friend of a friend, id have thought it take a bit more convincing, or lying, to get her room number—and in no time at all I was standing outside her room, wondering what I was doing, what I was going to say, and why I was putting off getting this damn cast off.
'In retrospect it's probably cheaper if I just go to Shinra. But what kind of tool do they use to get this off? I swear, if Shinra chops my arm off, I'll beat him with it!' I shouted in my mind before jumping in surprise when the door slid open and Mikado's timid face appeared.
"A-Amai-san! What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised. Behind him I saw Anri sitting up in bed, hands neatly folded in her lap with an equally surprised look on her face.
"Wondering if it would be cheaper getting this thing off my arm myseAs to what I'm doing in front of the door, I'm here to say hi to Sonohara-san and wish her well," I explained. 'As well as interrogate her about her incident last night.'
"Oh, well, I was just leaving, so I'll leave you two alone. I mean, because I'm leaving now, to go home—" he rambled until a pat on the head silenced him and he looked at me with wide blue eyes.
"See ya later, Mikado," I smiled, inwardly wondering if I should tell him about Masaomi anyway despite his plea not to. He nodded his goodbye and left soon after, leaving the door wide open for me to enter.
"So," I started jovially, taking a step inside and sliding the door closed, leaning back casually as I appraised her injuries, "you were attacked by the slasher last night." My tone was conversational, my inquisition was not.
"Yes."
"That's an odd thing; there must be more than one then."
"They did say in the paper that there were multiple attacks last night," she agreed, her hands tightening a bit.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," I agreed, wondering where to go from here. "Can you remember what they looked like?"
"N-not really," she stammered, letting me know more than she thought by saying those two simple words.
"Really? Here, let me help you out," I volunteered, walking further into the room and sitting down at the chair provided by her bed. "Red eyes? Eerie grins? Unconventional kitchen knife or switchblade or, if I remember correctly, a hunting knife? In case you haven't figured it out by now, I had my own experience last night, granted the severity of it was more an injury on the mind then on the body."
"How many of them went after you?" she asked, her genuine concern directed at me instead of the other way around—after all, she was the one in the hospital bed. I'm just the moron that couldn't manipulate a situation my way.
"Just five, I think the leader said I was a threat to their love affair or something like that," I answered her before her next question opened up a whole new can of worms.
"But the leader was with me, how could she have attacked you?" she asked me, earning my confusion at what she meant.
"There was a leader of the group that attacked me, but I wasn't talking about the head bitch. Why did their "mother" attack you?" I asked her, narrowing my eyes as I caught onto a lie.
"I—I don't know. Maybe she just wanted to?" she asked, looking away from me towards a vacant corner of the room, her hands grasping the bed cover tightly.
"Sonohara-san, my Mother was a mafia kingpin. She never once got involved directly in a fight because she was a self-described general. Leaders don't attack personally, they send their pawns. So tell me why the "mother", or whatever she calls herself, attacked you personally," I told her, calling BS on her act of innocence and ignorance. If there was one thing I knew it was how the leaders acted, and if the leader attacked her personally, then the "mother" had a bone to pick with the poor girl.
"…I was a threat to her love affair, too," she answered quietly, her wavering voice strengthening a bit compared to five minutes ago.
"You're not one of them, are you? A child of Saika?" I asked, not really interested in the love affair side events. I was only concerned if the friend of my friend was right as rain and not a pawn. That is, before I got blindsided by what she said next.
"No, it's impossible for me to be possessed by Saika," she started, holding up her arm and bending it so her forearm pointed towards the ceiling. For a moment I wondered what she was doing, and then I saw it. Her eyes turned redder than what they already were, and from her wrist a red abrasion appeared, followed closely by the sharp, gleaming edge of a katana blade. It rose from her wrist towards the ceiling—a literal extension of her arm—until it stopped its slow progression, half the blade still hidden away inside her arm. "Because I'm Saika," she finished, but I was only half paying attention as I stared at it. It was deadly, but it was also a beautiful.
"Where did you get that?" I asked her, curious to how she got acquired a cursed blade.
"It's a long story," she murmured, her voice heavy and bringing me back.
"Oh, forget it then, I can't listen to long stories," I told her truthfully, not wanting to push her.
"Can you please don't tell them?" she asked me quietly, the blade sinking back into her flesh, disappearing without a trace, like a plate of brownies in a room full of toddlers.
"Sonohara-san, if there's one thing I don't do, it's out people."
"Thanks," she smiled, small and genuine before asking me a question that took me by surprise. "Are you okay? You seem a little…" she trailed off, unsure how to word my underlying state of mind. My state of mind being anguish and anger at my inner teen
"I'm fine," I told her.
'Despite the fact that the one time Shizuo actually initiates anything remotely sexual that may have led to bigger and better things, I have a flashback at the most inconvenient of times.'
"Yeah, I'm just fine."
