Chapter 02 – The Return Of Coin
(Disclaimer: I don't know, why do we bother putting this up? I mean, isn't
obvious that I don't own Jet Set Radio? Anyway, I don't, and never will. You
know the rest.)
Cube sat on a roof in Grind Square, gazing down at the lights below. When
Coin had brought her up here for the first time, she'd nearly freaked. Skating?
Ten storeys above the ground? As if!
He'd convinced her to move, to jump, to grind along rows of glittering
bulbs. When she'd panicked, he'd just calmed her. Now she could skate along
the edge of the roof like it was a kid's grinding rail.
But now Coin was gone. And that was life, wasn't it? Everyone she
liked, everyone who supported her, everyone who she could call family ran off
and left her. Her own parents. Coin. And now the GGs.
Cube found she was about to cry again, and hated herself for it. Why
was she so weak? Why couldn't she be cool like – like anyone else?
Angrily, she jumped to her feet, and skated along until she reached a
billboard asking people to support some charity. Normally Cube left those sort
of adverts alone. It didn't hurt her, and after all, election campaigns and bimbo
supermodels got to her much more.
But now she didn't care any more. She'd been hurt. They could be too.
It'd even the score. She sprayed a blood-red trail over a pair of big eyes in a
bony face, but it didn't make her feel any better.
Beat dashed down a side alley in Shibuya-cho, trying to catch his breath. He'd
been running for miles. Over his head a helicopter circled, its shadow raising
goosebumps on his arms. His throat ached. His legs burned. He wanted out.
Eight GGs. Too much street. Not enough friends. Too many cops.
Beat tried to blend into the wall as Onishima rushed past him, gun ready. He
hadn't thought losing two gang members would make such a difference.
Combo was the real loss. His strength meant that if you were with him,
getting cornered by the cops posed no more danger than getting caught in the
rain. He could punch his way past anyone. He'd saved them all loads of times.
And now he was gone.
Cube wasn't so tough. But she was pretty agile, and the fastest at
grinding. She was good at getting to hard-to-reach places. Beat admitted to
himself that they needed her too.
And losing any two people meant that they were two less to act as
decoys, two less to cause diversions, two less to paint the streets. The GGs
were struggling.
The Love Shockers were slowly moving back into Shibuya-cho,
decorating its edges with splattered pink and blue. And Poison Jam and the
Noise Tanks – both tough, both with their own nasty skills – were starting to
take revenge on the GGs for years of being the losers.
"Ah-ha!"
Beat groaned as Onishima tore up the alleyway, and began to skate
again. He hadn't sprayed any large tags for ages. Every time he tried,
somebody came up and knocked him down.
Jumping, he screed down a banister and into the half pipe. Breathing a
sigh of relief as Onishima stopped chasing, he turned the corner to see five
Love Shockers waiting for him.
Five? Uh-oh. He'd never seen more than three together before. And he
didn't like the nasty smiles on their scratched faces either.
"Uh – I was just leaving," he said. No use trying to fight. They'd screw
him. Maybe literally.
They sauntered towards him, skates cutting over the dusty ground.
"Hey, girls, get a load of this! It's a GG."
"It's the leader of the GGs." Beat could feel them circling round him,
and he swallowed. Could he make a run for it?
"Wanna flirt with the Love Shockers?" one of them hissed, her breath
cold on his neck.
"No, I'd rather eat Poison Jam."
"Very funny." Her voice cut into his ears. "Girls – let's get him!"
Gum looked up in surprise as a dustbin rolled into the garage. Beat crawled
out, looking distinctly miserable.
"We can't go on like this," he groaned as he spat out his goggles.
"What happened to you?" Gum wasn't exactly friends with Beat, but
she was speaking to him. When necessary.
"The Love Shockers."
Gum felt quite sorry for him, but she hid it by rolling her eyes and
saying, "Too fast for you, were they?"
"Five of them…one of me." Beat was looking up at her, and his eyes
were pleading.
She wanted to say yes, but then she remembered his face as he kissed
Cube, and she itched to stuff his goggles back down his throat.
When the other GGs rolled in, Beat propped himself up on his elbow
and said, "We have to get them back."
"Who?" Yo-Yo asked.
"Combo and Cube, of course!"
Gum slammed her fist down on the table to reveal her feelings. So he
did still like that dumb Goth. She had to stop hoping.
"Why?" she snapped.
"Because we're totally getting our butts kicked!" Beat said. "Have I
ever come back in a trash can before?"
"Well, sometimes you look like you have."
"We need Combo 'cos he's tough," Beat said, anger creeping into his
own voice now. "Combo won't come back without Cube. Therefore we
need'em both back. Right?"
"If she joins, I quit," Gum said. She could feel the blood pounding in
her throat.
"No! We need ten of us, we can manage then. You can't quit. Can't
you just – put aside your differences?"
Gum stood up. "No."
"Right!" Beat yelled, his patience gone, "I'm the leader and I say we get
them back."
"Hey, what happened to democracitness?" asked Yo-Yo.
"I've had enough of that," growled Beat. "We're off to Grind City."
"You are. I'm not," Gum said.
"Fine! We'll be back with the other two in about a week. See how
many trash cans you can collect by then."
"Come on, you might as well come," Piranha said, carefully moving
Gum away before she could kill Beat. "At least you can keep an eye on them
then."
"I don't want to keep an eye on them. If Beat wants to go around
screwing vampires, that's fine with me!"
"All right, look at it this way. You stay, you'll be a prime target for the
Love Shockers." It was a well known fact that Gum hated Love Shockers
almost as much as she did crying and, at the moment, Cube.
The argument worked. "Fine. I'll come. But I won't talk to her, and I
won't sit next to her, and…"
"Yeah, yeah. Be calm, Gum. Be calm."
Gum liked travelling, she had to admit. Arriving in Grind City, she tasted the
unfamiliar sounds, and grinned despite her black mood.
"I don't see why we all have to hang round and look for them," whined
Mew. "Can't we go shopping?"
"Oh, yeah? What're you gonna buy stuff with, spray paint?" Beat said.
"We can window shop, can't we? Meet back by the statue in an hour or
two. I don't wanna see Cube and I bet Gum doesn't either."
Gum felt herself blush, and scowled.
"Okay, fine." Beat looked like he was tired of all of them. "Mew, Gum
– who else wants to go shopping?"
None of the guys did, but Mew insisted. In the end, Slate, Beat, Piranha
went to look for the missing GGs, while everyone else went – or was dragged
off – to the shops.
"We gonna check out Bantam Street, then?" Gum heard Piranha say.
"That's where Combo said they used to hang out."
Beat nodded. Gum wondered what he was thinking. "Let's go."
She turned away, and tried to think of something else.
It was hot in Bantam Street, and not many people were out. The three GGs
headed to the skate park.
"What if she's avoiding us?" Slate said. He actually looked a little
concerned.
"She can't keep dodging us." Beat rubbed a finger under his goggles,
which were starting to heat up. "Let's go."
The skate park was no less deserted. Except for one solitary figure,
doing flips along the ramp at the end.
"Cube!" Beat yelled.
She stopped, and saw who it was. Then she skated slowly down the
ramp, and said, "Yeah?"
"Look, we're really sorry. I'm really sorry. We want you back." Beat's
words tumbled over themselves as he remembered the Love Shockers.
Cube looked them over. Her eyes were even more heavily ringed with
black than usual, as were her lips.
"Well, you can't have me," she said, and skated away.
"What?" Beat caught up with her. "Why not? Come on, Cube, we
need you!"
"Sure you do. As a bit of fun when Gum says no. Well, I got better
things to do." She hissed it out. Beat felt sick. She hated him. But persistence
was one of his better qualities.
"That's not true. Look, I said I was sorry. Please come back!"
"No."
"Why won't you trust me?"
"Why should I? You didn't exactly stick up for me. Anyway, I don't
want to be part of a love triangle, thank you. I told you, I've got better things
to do."
She leapt up onto the railing and ground along it, over their heads. Beat
stared after her, not sure what to do, but Slate leapt into action – unusually for
him – and said, "I'll go after her. Talk to her. You guys wait here."
The other two watched him skim away. Beat said, crestfallen, "Why
didn't she listen?"
"Why should she?" Piranha's angry voice made him look up. "You
kissed her and made it with her and then when you get caught – instead of
sharing the blame – you leave her to take it and even fire her yourself. I
wouldn't talk to you if I were her."
"But what else could I do? It would've really hurt Gum if I'd let her
stay."
"You care about Gum?"
"Course I do. But she won't listen."
"You can't have it both ways, Beat. I think you're just gonna have to
accept you screwed up and try again. With one of them."
Beat sighed as Piranha began to practise wall rides away from him. It
was all right for her; she had Garam. He had nobody.
Cube skated faster and faster until she was dashing. She could hear Slate
behind her. He was catching up. Her skates seemed painfully slow suddenly.
Why couldn't she outrun him?
"Cube, wait!" she heard him yell as she ran into a building, and up the
stairs. It was cooler in here. He was still following.
She remembered running in here – the Rokkakus with machine guns –
hearing bullets scrape her heels – jumping – the window smashing as she got
away. But now the building was silent, and the shade flowed over the floor
like water.
She was out of breath. She sank to the ground and waited for Slate.
She'd tell him to get lost soon enough.
"Listen," he said as he dropped down beside her. "We all want you
back."
"Why do you care? You hardly even noticed I was gone!"
Slate sighed. "I'm sorry. I –" He stopped, and voice muffled as it
always was by his collar, said, "Do you like Beat? In that way?"
"No. It was a fling. He's a good friend – he was – but nothing more. I
was hurt, and scared, and thinking about Coin…I just lost it." It was good to
tell someone. Combo didn't want her to talk about it, because he was so angry
himself.
"You miss Coin, huh?"
"Yeah." Cube gazed out over the rooftops. "He really helped me, you
know. Before I met him I could just about move forward on skates. That was
how amateur I was." She grinned as she remembered something. "He tried to
teach me to grind, in the skate park. I got up on the railing, moved along it like
a snail, and then –"
"Then you fell off." Slate's voice was oddly quiet. "Right at his feet.
He was worried you'd hurt yourself, but you got up and laughed, and tried
again. And fell off again."
Cube looked at him, dread crawling down her spine. "How d'you know
about that?" That had been personal. She remembered the day and pictured
eyes on them. Watching them. "Tell me how you know about it!"
"Cube, I – I – look, this is hard to explain. I wasn't spying on you. I
was there. I was trying to teach you to grind. I saw you fall at my feet. I –"
"Slate, this is not funny!" Cube yelled. "I really loved Coin and I'm not
gonna be tricked because you think I'm desperate. Is that why you all came in
the first place?"
"No – listen, can't you? I'm telling the truth. I – I'm Coin."
Don't believe him, Cube's mind said. He's just trying to hurt you like
they all did. Anyway, it's impossible.
But if it was true…
"You can't be Coin," she said, surprised how calm she sounded. "Coin
was killed by the Rokkaku corporation."
"How do you know that?"
"He never came back – and – and they said on the radio…"
"They said he paid too high a price. You never knew what that was."
"If you're Coin, why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Because it was too dangerous. I didn't know if I was still wanted by
the Rhinos. I thought I'd better lie low. Anyway, there was something else –"
"Yeah, you don't even look like him!" Cube felt on safer ground.
Maybe she didn't know about death, but she knew about looks. "Your nose…"
"Exactly. You know how I escaped? I broke free – I ran – they caught
up – I was crazy to get out – I ran straight through a window. Got a fistful of
glass in my face. I fell a few storeys and played dead. They thought I was.
They're crap shots, as you may have noticed – they fired down at me, hit my
arm, but I lay still as I could."
Cube found herself believing him. She told herself to stop.
"After a while I managed to get up. I was in agony, but I struggled back
to Grind Square – I told you to go there, didn't I? You guys had gone, to
Tokyo-to, right? I was bleeding all over, I didn't know what to do."
He looked sincere. Cube pictured Coin – the person she used to know –
falling – hurt – and winced.
"I met up with a group of down-and-outs, well, more like down-and-out-
and-on-the-run. Among them was a guy who said he was a failed plastic
surgeon. He said he'd heal me. I guess I should've wondered why he was
failed…
"Anyway, when I woke up I was like this."
The sounds of the city faded away. Cube looked at him. His eyes
seemed sincere. And were they familiar? It was hard to tell. She'd never
looked Slate in the eyes before, she realised.
"I didn't want to come back to you and Combo looking like a freak."
Slate spat out the word. "Thought it'd be better if I just – died."
Cube couldn't speak. Surely if it was Coin – she'd have noticed – felt
something – recognised something?
Would they really play a joke like this on her?
How did he know about falling off the grinding post?
The questions crowded in on her, all demanding attention, and she
didn't know what to do.
Suddenly footsteps echoed up the stairs. They turned. And Onishima,
ten policemen and a pack of slavering dogs came running towards them.
"What're you doing here?" Cube yelled, jumping to her feet. "Isn't this
out of your jurisdiction or something?"
"I was in hot pursuit." Onishima gave her a crooked-tooth grin. "You
can go anywhere if you're in hot pursuit. I already got two of you." And to the
other cops, "Get them!"
Seven cops leapt forward and grabbed Slate. Cube stopped for one
stupid moment, but then he yelled, "Run!" and she dashed towards the window.
As she jumped, glass dancing in the air around her, she heard Onishima
cursing, and then she landed, the impact jarring up her legs. She didn't wait for
it to fade. She had to find the others.
Gum sighed. This was the eighteenth dress Mew had stopped to look at. Gum
was ready to murder her.
Or maybe it was just that every time they had to stop, her head filled
with graphic pictures of Beat and Cube 'reuniting,' and made her want to throw
up or smash something.
She'd liked Cube. Cube had been her friend. And now she couldn't
even think of her without choking on rage.
"Mew, come on!" she yelled.
"Give me a break –" Mew stopped. "Isn't that Cube?"
Gum looked up, and her hands curled into fists. Cube was skating
towards them.
"Listen…" Cube gasped. "Have – have you seen the others? Beat –
Piranha –"
"They went to look for you," Tab said.
"Then – then Onishima's caught them – he's here – he got Slate and –
and he said that he caught two others – it must be them…"
"You're kidding. What're we gonna do?" wailed Mew.
"Does he know we're all here?" asked Tab.
"Don't know…He said he was in hot pursuit or something, it sounds
like he followed you here."
"Well, we can get back to Tokyo-to," Mew said. "It's not like we have
any reason to stay."
Gum watched Cube's face, but the dark-haired girl just shrugged and
said, "Fine. Nice to have seen you."
Suddenly the street echoed with the sounds of running feet, as the cops
came charging towards them.
"Run!" someone yelled. Gum looked round, but the territory was
unfamiliar and the cops were closing in. Desperate, she dived into the shop
they'd just been looking at. Behind her, she heard Mew shriek "Let go of me!"
and Garam shout, "Hey, watch it!" She didn't look back.
Onshima yelled, "Hey, one of'em went into the shop. Get her!" Gum
heard feet pounding after her, and ran for the back of the shop. An assistant
screamed and dived for cover as Gum leapt over her head, feet bursting open
the door into the back of the shop.
She landed in a storeroom, and crashed through towers of cardboard
boxes to the open door at the end of it. Beads crunched under her feet and
clothes tangled in her path, but she kept going. Behind her she could hear
shouts.
She ran out into a blisteringly hot and smelly yard with dustbins piled
high. As the cops ran towards her from another entrance, she leapt onto the
bins and over the wall, Onishima's curses ringing in her ears.
She checked all around the city, but there were no GGs to be seen. Had they
all been caught? Gum shivered despite the sun. No other GGs. She was alone.
At least Cube had had Combo.
Talking of which, where was he? Not with them at the store. And Cube
hadn't mentioned him. It'd be good if he wasn't caught. She needed someone
on her side.
That's if he was on her side. Maybe he blamed her for Cube getting
kicked out. But surely – now everyone else was gone – he'd help her?
She'd look again. She had to find him while she still could.
Half an hour later she saw him on top of a roof, putting the finishing
touches to some glistening graffiti. At the sound of her skates he turned, but
glowered when he saw who it was. "What d'you want?"
"The others – all of them – have been arrested. We're the only two
left." Gum wrapped her arms round herself as ice slid down her spine.
"Cube and all of'em?"
"Yes."
Combo carried on painting, looking thoughtful. "How're you at jail
breaks?"
"I can work with them."
"Good. 'Cos I think you're gonna need to."
Beat trawled through his life in search of his most humiliating moment. This
one, he decided, was the winner.
Getting arrested was bad enough. Getting arrested first was worse. And
getting arrested in a skate park because you were too busy thinking about girls
took the biscuit.
He surveyed the others, trying to ignore the rattles and bumps as the
police van drove along. Mew was crying. Yo-Yo was sulking. Garam and
Piranha were whispering to each other. Tab was scowling. Cube was looking
worried, but her mind seemed elsewhere. And Slate – Slate's cool act had
completely faded. He was looking at Cube as though he were trying to get her
to talk to him by telepathy.
What had those two said to each other?
Beat decided not to worry about it. There were more important things.
Like the fact that as far as he could see, the GGs were finished.
Cube could feel Slate's eyes on her. She didn't want to meet them. She didn't
know what to think any more.
If he was Coin…
She didn't want to think too much about it. She wanted him back so
much she was scared she'd start seeing him everywhere if she let herself.
There was no real proof. Slate couldn't be Coin. He must've been talking to
Combo or someone to know that stuff.
Anyway, for now she had other things to think about. Like how long it
would be before she got parole.
(Okay, I know some of you won't agree with the whole Slate-Coin thing; I'm
not saying it's true, it's just an idea I had! I know there may be problems with
it, give me a break. Please r + r!)
(Disclaimer: I don't know, why do we bother putting this up? I mean, isn't
obvious that I don't own Jet Set Radio? Anyway, I don't, and never will. You
know the rest.)
Cube sat on a roof in Grind Square, gazing down at the lights below. When
Coin had brought her up here for the first time, she'd nearly freaked. Skating?
Ten storeys above the ground? As if!
He'd convinced her to move, to jump, to grind along rows of glittering
bulbs. When she'd panicked, he'd just calmed her. Now she could skate along
the edge of the roof like it was a kid's grinding rail.
But now Coin was gone. And that was life, wasn't it? Everyone she
liked, everyone who supported her, everyone who she could call family ran off
and left her. Her own parents. Coin. And now the GGs.
Cube found she was about to cry again, and hated herself for it. Why
was she so weak? Why couldn't she be cool like – like anyone else?
Angrily, she jumped to her feet, and skated along until she reached a
billboard asking people to support some charity. Normally Cube left those sort
of adverts alone. It didn't hurt her, and after all, election campaigns and bimbo
supermodels got to her much more.
But now she didn't care any more. She'd been hurt. They could be too.
It'd even the score. She sprayed a blood-red trail over a pair of big eyes in a
bony face, but it didn't make her feel any better.
Beat dashed down a side alley in Shibuya-cho, trying to catch his breath. He'd
been running for miles. Over his head a helicopter circled, its shadow raising
goosebumps on his arms. His throat ached. His legs burned. He wanted out.
Eight GGs. Too much street. Not enough friends. Too many cops.
Beat tried to blend into the wall as Onishima rushed past him, gun ready. He
hadn't thought losing two gang members would make such a difference.
Combo was the real loss. His strength meant that if you were with him,
getting cornered by the cops posed no more danger than getting caught in the
rain. He could punch his way past anyone. He'd saved them all loads of times.
And now he was gone.
Cube wasn't so tough. But she was pretty agile, and the fastest at
grinding. She was good at getting to hard-to-reach places. Beat admitted to
himself that they needed her too.
And losing any two people meant that they were two less to act as
decoys, two less to cause diversions, two less to paint the streets. The GGs
were struggling.
The Love Shockers were slowly moving back into Shibuya-cho,
decorating its edges with splattered pink and blue. And Poison Jam and the
Noise Tanks – both tough, both with their own nasty skills – were starting to
take revenge on the GGs for years of being the losers.
"Ah-ha!"
Beat groaned as Onishima tore up the alleyway, and began to skate
again. He hadn't sprayed any large tags for ages. Every time he tried,
somebody came up and knocked him down.
Jumping, he screed down a banister and into the half pipe. Breathing a
sigh of relief as Onishima stopped chasing, he turned the corner to see five
Love Shockers waiting for him.
Five? Uh-oh. He'd never seen more than three together before. And he
didn't like the nasty smiles on their scratched faces either.
"Uh – I was just leaving," he said. No use trying to fight. They'd screw
him. Maybe literally.
They sauntered towards him, skates cutting over the dusty ground.
"Hey, girls, get a load of this! It's a GG."
"It's the leader of the GGs." Beat could feel them circling round him,
and he swallowed. Could he make a run for it?
"Wanna flirt with the Love Shockers?" one of them hissed, her breath
cold on his neck.
"No, I'd rather eat Poison Jam."
"Very funny." Her voice cut into his ears. "Girls – let's get him!"
Gum looked up in surprise as a dustbin rolled into the garage. Beat crawled
out, looking distinctly miserable.
"We can't go on like this," he groaned as he spat out his goggles.
"What happened to you?" Gum wasn't exactly friends with Beat, but
she was speaking to him. When necessary.
"The Love Shockers."
Gum felt quite sorry for him, but she hid it by rolling her eyes and
saying, "Too fast for you, were they?"
"Five of them…one of me." Beat was looking up at her, and his eyes
were pleading.
She wanted to say yes, but then she remembered his face as he kissed
Cube, and she itched to stuff his goggles back down his throat.
When the other GGs rolled in, Beat propped himself up on his elbow
and said, "We have to get them back."
"Who?" Yo-Yo asked.
"Combo and Cube, of course!"
Gum slammed her fist down on the table to reveal her feelings. So he
did still like that dumb Goth. She had to stop hoping.
"Why?" she snapped.
"Because we're totally getting our butts kicked!" Beat said. "Have I
ever come back in a trash can before?"
"Well, sometimes you look like you have."
"We need Combo 'cos he's tough," Beat said, anger creeping into his
own voice now. "Combo won't come back without Cube. Therefore we
need'em both back. Right?"
"If she joins, I quit," Gum said. She could feel the blood pounding in
her throat.
"No! We need ten of us, we can manage then. You can't quit. Can't
you just – put aside your differences?"
Gum stood up. "No."
"Right!" Beat yelled, his patience gone, "I'm the leader and I say we get
them back."
"Hey, what happened to democracitness?" asked Yo-Yo.
"I've had enough of that," growled Beat. "We're off to Grind City."
"You are. I'm not," Gum said.
"Fine! We'll be back with the other two in about a week. See how
many trash cans you can collect by then."
"Come on, you might as well come," Piranha said, carefully moving
Gum away before she could kill Beat. "At least you can keep an eye on them
then."
"I don't want to keep an eye on them. If Beat wants to go around
screwing vampires, that's fine with me!"
"All right, look at it this way. You stay, you'll be a prime target for the
Love Shockers." It was a well known fact that Gum hated Love Shockers
almost as much as she did crying and, at the moment, Cube.
The argument worked. "Fine. I'll come. But I won't talk to her, and I
won't sit next to her, and…"
"Yeah, yeah. Be calm, Gum. Be calm."
Gum liked travelling, she had to admit. Arriving in Grind City, she tasted the
unfamiliar sounds, and grinned despite her black mood.
"I don't see why we all have to hang round and look for them," whined
Mew. "Can't we go shopping?"
"Oh, yeah? What're you gonna buy stuff with, spray paint?" Beat said.
"We can window shop, can't we? Meet back by the statue in an hour or
two. I don't wanna see Cube and I bet Gum doesn't either."
Gum felt herself blush, and scowled.
"Okay, fine." Beat looked like he was tired of all of them. "Mew, Gum
– who else wants to go shopping?"
None of the guys did, but Mew insisted. In the end, Slate, Beat, Piranha
went to look for the missing GGs, while everyone else went – or was dragged
off – to the shops.
"We gonna check out Bantam Street, then?" Gum heard Piranha say.
"That's where Combo said they used to hang out."
Beat nodded. Gum wondered what he was thinking. "Let's go."
She turned away, and tried to think of something else.
It was hot in Bantam Street, and not many people were out. The three GGs
headed to the skate park.
"What if she's avoiding us?" Slate said. He actually looked a little
concerned.
"She can't keep dodging us." Beat rubbed a finger under his goggles,
which were starting to heat up. "Let's go."
The skate park was no less deserted. Except for one solitary figure,
doing flips along the ramp at the end.
"Cube!" Beat yelled.
She stopped, and saw who it was. Then she skated slowly down the
ramp, and said, "Yeah?"
"Look, we're really sorry. I'm really sorry. We want you back." Beat's
words tumbled over themselves as he remembered the Love Shockers.
Cube looked them over. Her eyes were even more heavily ringed with
black than usual, as were her lips.
"Well, you can't have me," she said, and skated away.
"What?" Beat caught up with her. "Why not? Come on, Cube, we
need you!"
"Sure you do. As a bit of fun when Gum says no. Well, I got better
things to do." She hissed it out. Beat felt sick. She hated him. But persistence
was one of his better qualities.
"That's not true. Look, I said I was sorry. Please come back!"
"No."
"Why won't you trust me?"
"Why should I? You didn't exactly stick up for me. Anyway, I don't
want to be part of a love triangle, thank you. I told you, I've got better things
to do."
She leapt up onto the railing and ground along it, over their heads. Beat
stared after her, not sure what to do, but Slate leapt into action – unusually for
him – and said, "I'll go after her. Talk to her. You guys wait here."
The other two watched him skim away. Beat said, crestfallen, "Why
didn't she listen?"
"Why should she?" Piranha's angry voice made him look up. "You
kissed her and made it with her and then when you get caught – instead of
sharing the blame – you leave her to take it and even fire her yourself. I
wouldn't talk to you if I were her."
"But what else could I do? It would've really hurt Gum if I'd let her
stay."
"You care about Gum?"
"Course I do. But she won't listen."
"You can't have it both ways, Beat. I think you're just gonna have to
accept you screwed up and try again. With one of them."
Beat sighed as Piranha began to practise wall rides away from him. It
was all right for her; she had Garam. He had nobody.
Cube skated faster and faster until she was dashing. She could hear Slate
behind her. He was catching up. Her skates seemed painfully slow suddenly.
Why couldn't she outrun him?
"Cube, wait!" she heard him yell as she ran into a building, and up the
stairs. It was cooler in here. He was still following.
She remembered running in here – the Rokkakus with machine guns –
hearing bullets scrape her heels – jumping – the window smashing as she got
away. But now the building was silent, and the shade flowed over the floor
like water.
She was out of breath. She sank to the ground and waited for Slate.
She'd tell him to get lost soon enough.
"Listen," he said as he dropped down beside her. "We all want you
back."
"Why do you care? You hardly even noticed I was gone!"
Slate sighed. "I'm sorry. I –" He stopped, and voice muffled as it
always was by his collar, said, "Do you like Beat? In that way?"
"No. It was a fling. He's a good friend – he was – but nothing more. I
was hurt, and scared, and thinking about Coin…I just lost it." It was good to
tell someone. Combo didn't want her to talk about it, because he was so angry
himself.
"You miss Coin, huh?"
"Yeah." Cube gazed out over the rooftops. "He really helped me, you
know. Before I met him I could just about move forward on skates. That was
how amateur I was." She grinned as she remembered something. "He tried to
teach me to grind, in the skate park. I got up on the railing, moved along it like
a snail, and then –"
"Then you fell off." Slate's voice was oddly quiet. "Right at his feet.
He was worried you'd hurt yourself, but you got up and laughed, and tried
again. And fell off again."
Cube looked at him, dread crawling down her spine. "How d'you know
about that?" That had been personal. She remembered the day and pictured
eyes on them. Watching them. "Tell me how you know about it!"
"Cube, I – I – look, this is hard to explain. I wasn't spying on you. I
was there. I was trying to teach you to grind. I saw you fall at my feet. I –"
"Slate, this is not funny!" Cube yelled. "I really loved Coin and I'm not
gonna be tricked because you think I'm desperate. Is that why you all came in
the first place?"
"No – listen, can't you? I'm telling the truth. I – I'm Coin."
Don't believe him, Cube's mind said. He's just trying to hurt you like
they all did. Anyway, it's impossible.
But if it was true…
"You can't be Coin," she said, surprised how calm she sounded. "Coin
was killed by the Rokkaku corporation."
"How do you know that?"
"He never came back – and – and they said on the radio…"
"They said he paid too high a price. You never knew what that was."
"If you're Coin, why didn't you ever say anything?"
"Because it was too dangerous. I didn't know if I was still wanted by
the Rhinos. I thought I'd better lie low. Anyway, there was something else –"
"Yeah, you don't even look like him!" Cube felt on safer ground.
Maybe she didn't know about death, but she knew about looks. "Your nose…"
"Exactly. You know how I escaped? I broke free – I ran – they caught
up – I was crazy to get out – I ran straight through a window. Got a fistful of
glass in my face. I fell a few storeys and played dead. They thought I was.
They're crap shots, as you may have noticed – they fired down at me, hit my
arm, but I lay still as I could."
Cube found herself believing him. She told herself to stop.
"After a while I managed to get up. I was in agony, but I struggled back
to Grind Square – I told you to go there, didn't I? You guys had gone, to
Tokyo-to, right? I was bleeding all over, I didn't know what to do."
He looked sincere. Cube pictured Coin – the person she used to know –
falling – hurt – and winced.
"I met up with a group of down-and-outs, well, more like down-and-out-
and-on-the-run. Among them was a guy who said he was a failed plastic
surgeon. He said he'd heal me. I guess I should've wondered why he was
failed…
"Anyway, when I woke up I was like this."
The sounds of the city faded away. Cube looked at him. His eyes
seemed sincere. And were they familiar? It was hard to tell. She'd never
looked Slate in the eyes before, she realised.
"I didn't want to come back to you and Combo looking like a freak."
Slate spat out the word. "Thought it'd be better if I just – died."
Cube couldn't speak. Surely if it was Coin – she'd have noticed – felt
something – recognised something?
Would they really play a joke like this on her?
How did he know about falling off the grinding post?
The questions crowded in on her, all demanding attention, and she
didn't know what to do.
Suddenly footsteps echoed up the stairs. They turned. And Onishima,
ten policemen and a pack of slavering dogs came running towards them.
"What're you doing here?" Cube yelled, jumping to her feet. "Isn't this
out of your jurisdiction or something?"
"I was in hot pursuit." Onishima gave her a crooked-tooth grin. "You
can go anywhere if you're in hot pursuit. I already got two of you." And to the
other cops, "Get them!"
Seven cops leapt forward and grabbed Slate. Cube stopped for one
stupid moment, but then he yelled, "Run!" and she dashed towards the window.
As she jumped, glass dancing in the air around her, she heard Onishima
cursing, and then she landed, the impact jarring up her legs. She didn't wait for
it to fade. She had to find the others.
Gum sighed. This was the eighteenth dress Mew had stopped to look at. Gum
was ready to murder her.
Or maybe it was just that every time they had to stop, her head filled
with graphic pictures of Beat and Cube 'reuniting,' and made her want to throw
up or smash something.
She'd liked Cube. Cube had been her friend. And now she couldn't
even think of her without choking on rage.
"Mew, come on!" she yelled.
"Give me a break –" Mew stopped. "Isn't that Cube?"
Gum looked up, and her hands curled into fists. Cube was skating
towards them.
"Listen…" Cube gasped. "Have – have you seen the others? Beat –
Piranha –"
"They went to look for you," Tab said.
"Then – then Onishima's caught them – he's here – he got Slate and –
and he said that he caught two others – it must be them…"
"You're kidding. What're we gonna do?" wailed Mew.
"Does he know we're all here?" asked Tab.
"Don't know…He said he was in hot pursuit or something, it sounds
like he followed you here."
"Well, we can get back to Tokyo-to," Mew said. "It's not like we have
any reason to stay."
Gum watched Cube's face, but the dark-haired girl just shrugged and
said, "Fine. Nice to have seen you."
Suddenly the street echoed with the sounds of running feet, as the cops
came charging towards them.
"Run!" someone yelled. Gum looked round, but the territory was
unfamiliar and the cops were closing in. Desperate, she dived into the shop
they'd just been looking at. Behind her, she heard Mew shriek "Let go of me!"
and Garam shout, "Hey, watch it!" She didn't look back.
Onshima yelled, "Hey, one of'em went into the shop. Get her!" Gum
heard feet pounding after her, and ran for the back of the shop. An assistant
screamed and dived for cover as Gum leapt over her head, feet bursting open
the door into the back of the shop.
She landed in a storeroom, and crashed through towers of cardboard
boxes to the open door at the end of it. Beads crunched under her feet and
clothes tangled in her path, but she kept going. Behind her she could hear
shouts.
She ran out into a blisteringly hot and smelly yard with dustbins piled
high. As the cops ran towards her from another entrance, she leapt onto the
bins and over the wall, Onishima's curses ringing in her ears.
She checked all around the city, but there were no GGs to be seen. Had they
all been caught? Gum shivered despite the sun. No other GGs. She was alone.
At least Cube had had Combo.
Talking of which, where was he? Not with them at the store. And Cube
hadn't mentioned him. It'd be good if he wasn't caught. She needed someone
on her side.
That's if he was on her side. Maybe he blamed her for Cube getting
kicked out. But surely – now everyone else was gone – he'd help her?
She'd look again. She had to find him while she still could.
Half an hour later she saw him on top of a roof, putting the finishing
touches to some glistening graffiti. At the sound of her skates he turned, but
glowered when he saw who it was. "What d'you want?"
"The others – all of them – have been arrested. We're the only two
left." Gum wrapped her arms round herself as ice slid down her spine.
"Cube and all of'em?"
"Yes."
Combo carried on painting, looking thoughtful. "How're you at jail
breaks?"
"I can work with them."
"Good. 'Cos I think you're gonna need to."
Beat trawled through his life in search of his most humiliating moment. This
one, he decided, was the winner.
Getting arrested was bad enough. Getting arrested first was worse. And
getting arrested in a skate park because you were too busy thinking about girls
took the biscuit.
He surveyed the others, trying to ignore the rattles and bumps as the
police van drove along. Mew was crying. Yo-Yo was sulking. Garam and
Piranha were whispering to each other. Tab was scowling. Cube was looking
worried, but her mind seemed elsewhere. And Slate – Slate's cool act had
completely faded. He was looking at Cube as though he were trying to get her
to talk to him by telepathy.
What had those two said to each other?
Beat decided not to worry about it. There were more important things.
Like the fact that as far as he could see, the GGs were finished.
Cube could feel Slate's eyes on her. She didn't want to meet them. She didn't
know what to think any more.
If he was Coin…
She didn't want to think too much about it. She wanted him back so
much she was scared she'd start seeing him everywhere if she let herself.
There was no real proof. Slate couldn't be Coin. He must've been talking to
Combo or someone to know that stuff.
Anyway, for now she had other things to think about. Like how long it
would be before she got parole.
(Okay, I know some of you won't agree with the whole Slate-Coin thing; I'm
not saying it's true, it's just an idea I had! I know there may be problems with
it, give me a break. Please r + r!)