We skip the pleasantries this time and meet in a secluded alleyway. We arrive before Takumi and Kenta. We silently put our masks and wigs on. The slightly delay between Kaoru putting his wig and mask on. Seeing him with dark brown hair is strange. Though I assume it's the same for me, given our skin tone is practically identical.
"I'm really curious." Kaoru pipes up. "If this is just a discussion, why are we coming along?"
"In case, things so sour. You know, they invite us in for a pleasant conversation, but then we're suddenly surrounded, it's not a good time." I shrug my shoulders. I wouldn't doubt that a gang leader could stoop that low.
"That would suck." I sigh.
"That would be an understatement." Takumi interrupts us. My thoughts exactly, I think. Takumi and Kenta move their masks so that we can see their faces, I do the same, with Kaoru following suit.
"I'm just glad I didn't have to wake up early for this." I roll my eyes. An action that is entirely pointless, due to the fact that I'm wearing a mask.
"You're awake at the crack of dawn, what are you talking about?" Kaoru turns his head to face me.
"Waking up and getting up are two entirely different things, my friend."
"Yeah, the latter involves a lot more coffee." I can hear the deadpan in Kenta's voice. Judging by that, he probably had to get up for this.
"See, Kenta is a man who knows what he's talking about." I'm making up for the lack of facial expression in arm movements. Kenta tilts his head slightly, almost confused by my words. Okay, just because we're not exactly on the best of terms doesn't mean I can't speak the truth.
"Gods, I'm half tempted to do a shot right now." Takumi exhales loudly behind his mask.
"If you pay, I will too." I answer back.
I feel wefts of Kenta's aura. Like small parts breaking off from his unreadable aura. It's dark, there's introspection. I can never tell what he's thinking. Dark, dangerous thoughts. He's scheming, but what could he be planning?
"Right, everyone just follow my lead. Just do as I say." Takumi starts. "This isn't the usual way we do things. It's a lot less violent, so it will be better in the long run. Let's go."
Takumi lingers as Kenta and Kaoru walk forward. He grabs my arm as I start to walk forward. From the corner of my eye, I see Kenta's pace slow.
"I need you to do something for me." He speaks in hushed tones. I glance at Kenta. He's stopped. I feel pain radiating from him. I turn my head towards Takumi. "I want you to take charge here." I don't say anything. I think he expects me to say something. "I want you to be the face for our movement. This City is going through some big changes. We're going to uproot this entire City and turn it on its head. Takumi's hand doesn't move from my arm. "You're the only one who can lead. You're the only one who can do this. You, a marked psychic, are going to be change that this City needs." He moves his hands to my face, holding it in place. "This City has its eyes on you. You've got to step up and lead." He moves away. "Let's go." I look back at Kenta, who still stands there, staring at us. I can still feel the pain, it almost feels like betrayal. He's not looking at me, I realise. He's staring at Takumi. I look back at Takumi, then to Kenta. So many things run through my head. So many reasons. Kaoru looks back and realise that none of us are walking. I'm the first to start walking again, Kenta follows me, with Takumi trailing behind.
When we arrive at the door of the hideout, two burly guys block me from entering. Takumi quickly steps in, releasing the tension somewhat.
"This is the Red Serpents, right? We're Team Liberation. You probably heard about us from your boss?" I'm starting to wonder why Takumi left me in charge of diplomacy when clearly that's his strong suit. The men say nothing and let us in. One of the men leads to an office upstairs. A man sits alone at a desk in the centre of the room. He ruffles his hair. This mop of curly golden hair is what sticks out to me immediately. His aura is what hits me next, another psychic.
"Tate, I assume?" He speaks in an accent I don't recognise, European I assume. Takumi walks up and shakes his hand.
"I'm the second, this is Yuudai." He gestures back towards me. I walk forward and shakes his head.
"Felix." He says. His eyes, a vivid shade of green, dart across my mask. Trying to read me, he probably can sense my aura. I nod. "Sit down." He points to a seat opposite his at the desk. I look at Takumi, wondering what he should do given the fact that there's only one seat and I ain't doing this alone.
"Eh-" I go to ask Felix for another chair, but he cuts me off.
"Saoirse."
I look over to the corner, where Felix's head points. A girl with long dark hair stands in the corner. Her eyes meet mine and my arm immediately grasps my right arm. It sears, I can almost feel the mark that was once there. I know it's not. I look at Saoirse, she's grabbing her right arm too. I catch her eye and I freeze. There's something to her eyes, almost like I know everything about her. Her eyes tell me the exact same thing. Her aura. It's strange, it almost feels inhuman. More like a magic haze than a psychic aura. In that moment, I wonder if auras just don't come from psychics but a whole different set of people entirely. Saoirse brings in another chair from the room we just came from. Takumi sits down beside me. Saoirse stays in the corner, standing still.
"She's my second." Felix gestures towards Saoirse, she nods at me. I press my mask up at my cheekbones, forcing it to stay in place. I nod back. Kenta and Kaoru stay on the opposite wall. I sense several people on the other side of the doors. Probably in case something goes wrong, they are outnumbered four to two in here. I look at Felix again. He's not gang material. I can tell that by looking at him. He looks like he belongs in a lab, not chain smoking in some dilapidated building. Despite the cheekbones and strong jaw, he still has a look of innocence about him. Something a gang leader will lose quite quickly. I suspect that's why Takumi suggested a friendlier way to do this. He nods at me slowly from the corner of my eye.
"I assume you know why we're here." I start. My hands start shaking. I loosely cross my legs and hide my shaking hands in the gap.
"I do." Felix crosses his legs too. "Team Liberation. Dedicated to freeing this City from gangs. Something like that right?" He looks at me almost like he can see right through my mask.
"About that-"
"You're here to convince me to give up my territory to further your cause, am I right?"
"Yes but-"
"You need to convince me of the upsides of doing that. Can you do that?" He leans forward, almost challenging me.
"If you stopped interrupting me, I might." The words slip easily from my lips. His eyes widen. He sits back in his chair. I, all of a sudden, feel calm. Kenta. He's trying to calm me using his powers. Admittedly, it's going to be helpful. I need to keep calm during all of this or else we'll all get attacked and forced out, territory gone.
"Go ahead." His eyes have softened. I'm curious, is Kenta calming Felix too?
"This City is admittedly a wreck. An utopia that is nothing like it claims to be. Honestly, the unification with the Satellite has only caused more problems. Mass immigration, property prices soaring, huge rise in unemployment, you know the rest. Not only that, the gang scene has only become more violent with everyone from the Satellite and Arcadia joining in." He nods, he knows what I'm talking about. "Wouldn't it be great if we gave the City one less problem to worry about?" I tilt my head.
"I mean, you are right in what you're saying." A small smile breaks out on my face despite the mask covering it. "But, don't you think you're going about this the wrong way?" My face falls. He leans back in the chair. "Take over gangs aggressively, you're asking for a revenge kill. Do it the nice way," he throws his hands up, "no guarantee that I'll keep my promise.
"That's a risk I'm willing to take." His eyes snap open and rest on my mask. "There's only two guaranteed things in this life." I lean forward. "Taxes and death."
"I suppose that's true." He shrugs his shoulders, moving to sit up normally. "But will you get your end goal?"
"I believe in my goal, it will come through."
"But do you believe in yourself?" I don't say anything. "That's the key to success, you know?"
"I believe in my abilities."
"Lemme guess, moderately strong at materialising monsters and some aura reading."
"You're correct, and the same for you?"
"Not far off." He raises an eyebrow. "You've got a very strong aura for someone who describes their power as moderate."
"I've been told. I'm starting to think that aura doesn't exactly correlate to psychic powers." Felix's eyebrows furrow.
"Interesting concept." He looks to Saoirse, still in the corner. "I'm thinking the same, doesn't duel you see." I nod, we share the same thoughts. He sighs.
"You get to leave gangs behind you, you know?" I break him out of his thoughts.
"This gang isn't mine to leave." He sighs again. "I'm only here cause my brother can't be, some rare lung disease."
"I'm sorry." I say it because I know what that's like. I press memories of my mother to the back of my mind.
"Don't apologise. I'm going to find a cure." He says the last part softly.
"Is it because you're a labrat? I reckon you can do it." He turns his head back to me in surprise. His eyes widen before softening. Silence hangs in the air for a while.
"I am." His shoulders shake slightly like he's laughing. "I can't imagine he'll take me disbanding Red Serpents nicely." There's an amused tone to his voice. "How will you deal with other gangs? You know, drugs, stolen D-Wheels, the whole lot." I tempted to turn to Takumi. But he's no help, he looks at me expecting something, anything.
"Let them what they want. That stuff can happen with or without gangs." Felix raises his eyebrows again.
"You don't know how to run a gang, do you?" I move to speak. "It's okay, neither do I." He interlocks his fingers and places them on his lap.
"I mostly deal in territory wars, diplomacy isn't exactly my strong suit."
"You're not as bad as you think."
"Thank you."
"Give me a real reason." He says it with a urgency.
"What?"
"A real reason to close this whole thing. You come in, telling me to abandon my position, for what? To make my life easier? Make things better in the City?" His gaze suddenly becomes heated. "How do I know your intentions are right? That you're not going around claiming to be doing good when you're really claiming territory for yourself? Answer me that."
"Well," I sigh, "I come from the Satellite myself. My first experience with gangs was Team Satisfaction." Should I really be telling him this? Would it give away who I am? No. I wasn't technically a part of Team Satisfaction. Nobody knows that I was connected to them. "Their goal was to unite the Satellite, getting rid of gangs. They thought they would always be stuck in the Satellite. So they thought would make the best out of what they had. That's always resonated with me. This City isn't perfect, and it will probably never be. I want to make this City the best it can be. That means no gangs. No more needless violence, no cycles of revenge. Can't you see? It's the only way this City can move on."
Felix stays silent. His eyes rest solely on my mask. Something twinkles in his eyes. Something stirs deep down inside him. Have I gotten through to him? I can only hope. I opened up about Team Satisfaction. Something I haven't really told anyone in the City. It's something that could end up ruining me. If people figure out who I am, this could end badly.
"I've heard of Team Satisfaction." Felix speaks suddenly. The look on his face makes me think he didn't mean to say it outloud. He holds his hand out for me over the table. I look back up at his face. Takumi turns to look at me. I take his hand and shake it. "Congratulations." His voice is soft.
"Thank you." I smile behind my mask. "I mean it."
"Thank you Felix." Takumi speaks up. "All we ask is you disband the Red Serpents. Anything other business you have connected to this gang can continue."
"You're welcome Tate." I'm confused for a second, but then I remember it's Takumi's undercover name. "Don't worry, I'm on your side." Felix turns and smiles at me.
We smooth over some of the details before leaving. We walk slowly with smiles on our faces. Doing this the peaceful way feels a lot better than I thought it would.
Eventually, Kenta sighs and pulls at the neck of his turtleneck. "It must nice being pale enough that you can afford to not cover every square inch of skin." That's true, Kenta is a few shades darker than most people in this City. I shrug my shoulders. Kenta freezes and stares at me. Then it hits me. I stare back at Kenta. My breathing starts to quicken and chest tightens. Any sense of calmness, joy or whatever I was feeling before, gone. I just want to run, and keep running. It's him.
A/N: Shoutout to EibonVirgo and everything she's ever written. Best author, 10/10 would recommend.