CHAPTER 7:
When Secrets Unfold, Silence Consumes the Mind
"Hey, Takao..." Aomine's deep voice broke the silence that is starting to form inside the infirmary room. He didn't break it just because he wanted to have a chat with the man and neither did he break it because he liked the feeling of a quiet atmosphere – in fact, he thought it's better to be that way while the green-haired doctor, Midorima, does his job with his injured hand; however, the curiosity that was clouding up his mind forced him to call the perky man's name.
"Hmm?" Takao, while doing his usual job at the infirmary, looked up at him with a smile.
"Umm…" Aomine hesitated for a moment but still decided to go on with his question. "What do you know more about this Kagami guy?"
The moment Aomine heard about Kagami; or rather, the moment he met the red-head a while ago, his interest has already been piqued. He's all curious and had his head full of questions about the guy. And now that he had a chance to ask Takao, who seemed very familiar of Kagami, he can't help but grab it.
Eagerly, Takao began speaking, "Oh, Kagami-san? Well, aside from him being the shut call and the gang leader in Block A, all I can say is he is a very great person. I mean, yeah, this is a prison and you don't usually expect a good guy here; but, Kagami Taiga-san is different. Yes, he acts quite ferocious when he's mad and he had this overwhelming aura that can intimidate anyone – making him earn the title: 'The Tiger of Teikou'; however, Kagami-san knows what is right and what is wrong. He uses that aura of his which almost everyone in this prison fears, to maintain a peaceful enough of an environment."
"He maintains peace?" Getting more intrigued, Aomine asked further.
"Yes. He makes sure that every member of his gang – which is more than half of the inmates in Block A – behaves properly. Though, a prisoner is a prisoner, so they aren't really well-mannered or straitlaced; but every member of his gang sure knows how to stop themselves from causing too much trouble. That is why I can say he is such a great man. Even the Warden thinks of him that way, you know. He trusts Kagami-san so much; although, recently, he has been keeping an eye on the gang due to Oshiro's stubbornness."
"What was he convicted of?"
"If I'm not mistaken, he was convicted of…"
"— Inadvertently murdering his ex-girlfriend. Second-degree murder." Before Takao could finish his sentence, someone out of the blue completed the statement for him.
Aomine, Takao, and Midorima – who was pretty busy tending to the former police's hand – all glanced at the same time towards the black-haired bespectacled man and Aomine's cellmate, Imayoshi; who had just stepped into the infirmary without any preamble. On his side, was the ever-so-timid, Sakurai who had his face red for getting his hand held by the said man.
"Oh, Imayoshi-san and Sakurai-kun, Hello!" Takao greeted with a wide grin.
"H-hello!" Sakurai answered back, bowing as he usually does.
"Hello, Takao-kun, Midorima-sensei. It has been a while since I visited the infirmary, huh." Imayoshi replied as both he and Sakurai started walking towards them.
"Yeah, it has been a while since I saw that superficial smile of yours." Midorima spoke flatly.
"Heh, don't be like that, Sensei. You are exactly the same, you know." Imayoshi retorted with a chuckle in the end.
"Being reserved is totally different with being superficial. Know the difference please."
Imayoshi laughed, "Don't be too serious, Sensei. I'm just kidding." He then turned to face Aomine who was being attended by the doctor.
"Anyway, we are here to visit my cute cellmate. I feel worried. I heard he had his hand broken. Right, Aomine-kun?"
"Shut up." Aomine frowned and that of course, amused the man.
"Wow, news sure travels fast. So, now most are aware of what happened." Takao commented.
Imayoshi, who felt fully comfortable with the doctor and his assistant and inside the infirmary, lounged at the mini sofa near him with Sakurai. "Not really. I just knew that at some point, Aomine-kun will end up going to the infirmary with an injury or something."
"What do you mean you knew?" Aomine raised a brow. No one knew about his fight with Oshiro. Only the skinhead's underlings and he were aware of the brawl. Unless someone else knew about it and informed his cellmate.
"Exactly as it is. When I saw you wrapping your hand using a cloth with a serious expression after the roll-call a while ago, I knew then you're preparing yourself for a fight. I mean, who'd do hand wrapping if you're not gonna engage yourself in a fist brawl? But, man, I didn't expect Oshiro would end up like that. I thought you'd be the one receiving more serious injuries than him. You're too vicious. It's a good thing I decided to tell Kagami about it or that poor skinhead will end up like dead meat by you."
"Wait, you mean you're the one who told that red-head about it?" Aomine was half-startled.
Damn, this bastard, he thought.
However, even though he thought like that, he knew for a fact, that he should've thanked Imayoshi for doing it so; or else, he didn't know what he could've done to his former colleague for getting himself switched on in full battle mode. Aside from that, if it weren't for the bespectacled man, he wouldn't have met Kagami who piqued his interest the most.
"Why'd you even do that? Wow, I didn't know you are the type to interfere with fights." Midorima commented, pausing for moment with what he was doing to Aomine's injury.
With a grin that seemed to know things, Takao said. "Ohhh, I know so well why Imayoshi-san did that."
Midorima raised a brow towards the brunet, one that asks a question and Takao quickly answered his unspoken question with an unspoken gesture that tells everything. He raised his hand and rubbed his thumb against his forefinger and middle finger back and forth; indicating it as hard cash.
"Bingo!" Imayoshi loudly expressed. "You know me well, Takao-kun."
"How horrible…" Midorima disgustingly said.
"Everyone is horrible in Teikou. Remember that, Midorima-sensei." Imayoshi answered back and suddenly turned to look at Sakurai sitting beside him, "Except, of course, for my lovely Sakurai here."
Sakurai immediately turned like a tomato with his face all red after a startled expression. "I-Imayoshi-san!" It wasn't that hard to believe what Imayoshi said then.
Imayoshi laughed, fascinated for a moment. He really was amused of the timid man. He, then, continued speaking, "Well, my business has been going down for a while now. My number one customer was locked up in the hole for about a month and I need to do something about that. So don't blame me for selling information. No harm done, anyway. In fact, I lessened the trouble that could've happened."
Even though Aomine wanted to roll his eyes to the words that came out of Imayoshi's mouth, he just chose to ignore it as he knew that the man had a point.
"Number one customer?" Takao asked, "You mean Haizaki?"
"Yeah."
Haizaki… When did I hear that name? Aomine knew he wasn't good in remembering names, especially those he doesn't have any interest in, but hearing that now just made him think that he is an important person he should know.
"Who's Haizaki?" Aomine suddenly asked, going along again with his curiosity.
Though he was willing, Takao answered without the same eagerness he had a while ago when talking about the other gang leader, "Haizaki Shougo. The gang leader in Block B. Another shut call like Kagami-san. One thing you should know about him, he's the real devil."
Imayoshi concurred, "Agreed. Even though he's my number one customer, I can say he really is violent, cruel, and manipulative. No one can deny that."
"Ahuh. The way he runs his gang is the complete opposite of how the way Kagami-san does. He lets his underlings let loose and do whatever they want as long as they don't get his way. To tell the truth, the prison warden doesn't favor him because of his misconducts. That's why he always had the prison guards keep an eye on him; but, as a fortunate son of a politician, he secretly pays some of those guards so he could get away from his wrongdoings and receive special treatment, most especially when the warden is not around. Though there are times he still goes to solitary confinement as punishment, without getting noticed by the warden, he could go in and out of the hole whenever he wanted to. I just don't know why he's still staying there even though he could get out anytime."
"Yeah, he's being weird again, having fun of his willfulness and affecting my business." The bespectacled man scowled.
Deciding to delve further to the topic, Aomine asked. "If one gang's leader maintains order and the other is the opposite, then aren't they clashing?" His unusual curiosity is unstoppable.
With Aomine's uncommon curiosity letting loose, Takao's inclination to answer continued to satisfy the blue-haired guy. "Hmmm… let me tell you something. You know, there was originally one big gang and one shut call in Teikou. This gang existed for almost 30 years and different kinds of inmates already sat on a shut call's position. The gang was originally made and approved by the warden to have people under his wing who can control the inmates' behaviors and maintain a good-enough environment all over the prison. This system alone continued for years up until Haizaki entered Teikou. He broke the system by killing the shut call at that time and messed everything out. He then earned a followers of his own and created a gang that is a complete opposite of the previous."
Aomine, who just had his desire to know things being gratified by the brunet, was engrossed in listening to him.
"Kagami-san, who was supposed to be the exact the next shut call, was, of course, against Haizaki's hidden motives and decided to rebuild the old gang with its original purpose. But before that, he actually talked to the warden about it and the warden tried to do something that could eradicate Haizaki's gang; however, doing so caused more trouble in Teikou as Haizaki threatened to start a war to everything and rebel more. So, in the end, the warden decided to let Kagami's gang maintain the peace; at the same time, overpower Haizaki's gang by making theirs bigger little by little."
Takao continued, "Though it may sound as if Haizaki's gang and Kagami's gang are in a complete state of war, it's actually not that apparent. Kagami-san, who prioritizes peace in the prison, avoids to have a conflict with the other gang; even though he was subtly overpowering them. On the other hand, Haizaki, who doesn't actually care about Kagami-san at all, remained conflict-free with them as long as Kagami-san won't show a single thing that he could interpret as a sign of aggressiveness and war towards him and his gang. And so, there actually exists an unspoken treaty between the two gangs: leave the wolf its sheep and it will never bother you; take the wolf its sheep and it will never cease to bare its fangs together with the whole pack."
Takao's talk was long, but Aomine listened to everything. He has learned a lot of things about the gangs and somehow, he felt as though he had become more familiar with the whole Teikou prison.
"So, you mean Teikou was completely non-violent before?" Aomine finally spoke.
"Not completely. Of course, you can't avoid fights between two inmates. It's inevitable. But most prisoners were more disciplined and well-behaved in the past. If it weren't for Haizaki, Teikou might be the same as before. He's just a cruel bastard and that is why I always wonder why people kept on following him in spite of the fact that he's exploiting them. Especially Kise-kun."
Aomine's curiosity was almost completely satisfied; but then, a certain name left him wanting to ask for more again.
"Kise?" Aomine repeated, checking if he heard the name right.
"Oh, do you know Kise Ryouta-kun?" Takao asked but the former police was too busy thinking if he has really heard the blond's name and didn't respond.
Imayoshi answered for his cellmate then, "Yes. He knows him. Kise's actually the one who made Aomine-kun join our table every chow time."
"I see. Well, yes, Kise always sticks up to Haizaki. Though, no one actually knows how he can keep up with Haizaki's cruelty; but everyone knows why he keeps on sticking to him. It was because the guy's giving him what he wants and provides his needs for him, making no need for him to work and earn some money." Takao said.
"To tell the truth, Kise is Haizaki's bitch." Imayoshi crassly added. He was just telling the truth, but Aomine sure knows he isn't comfortable of what the bespectacled man said.
Aomine gritted his teeth, feeling anger rise up within him. He doesn't really care about Kise but a certain part of him; he couldn't comprehend which and why, but that part of him didn't want people to talk about Kise in such a demeaning way, even if it holds some truth. He felt irritated, irritated at himself for having such a thought out of nowhere but he quickly swallowed down the strange and overwhelming sensation. Even as these thoughts passed through him, Aomine can't help but continued listening.
"He is a beauty from Block B, anyway. No wonder Haizaki took a liking to him. Knowing that, Kise would of course, grab his chance to suck off of Haizaki's power. It's understandable. Surviving this hell should be a priority, in the first place." Imayoshi continued.
"Ah, that is true. Being a former model sure have its advantage, huh." The brunet commented.
"And a disadvantage." Imayoshi pointed out. "To begin with, if it weren't because of that beauty that can enchant men, he wouldn't have been in this prison."
Aomine glanced at the man, "What do you mean?"
"Kise is sentenced for trying to kill a son of a politician who tried to sexually harass him after getting turned down by the blond himself. Needless to say, the father made sure Kise will be in prison despite of the fact that it was only an act of self-defense after his bastard son tried to rape him. Funny how he ended up clinging to Haizaki, a son of a politician too."
"Yeah. Aside from his beauty, anyway, he's from Block B; so Kise ending up with Haizaki ain't that impossible." Takao stated. "But even if he was from the other block, he pretty much gets along with everyone from Block A; since he's a very sociable guy, I won't deny that."
Aomine was just listening to the whole conversation as always and he can't help but get more and more intrigued. He knew Kise is the type to captivate men for his own convenience; he knew that from the start. But all of this information that is quickly sinking onto him made him speechless. He wanted to know more about Kise, he wanted it more than before. And just like back then, when he first met Kise, Aomine was once again enthralled by the man. He gulped, feeling his heart race but soon he pulled himself together.
"Does Kise harbor feelings for Haizaki?" Aomine suddenly asked. After a moment then, he almost gasped as he realized what question just slipped past his mouth. It was a fleeting moment of impulse for Aomine. He never expected he would ask that, in the first place. And though, it was really pretty usual for someone to ask that kind of question about two people sleeping together – that everyone, including Takao, couldn't even think that there was an underlying motive or malice to it – Aomine still felt uncomfortable for some reason.
"I don't think so." Takao casually responded, "I think their relationship is purely physical. I mean, the rumors about him having an incestuous homosexual relationship with his brother contradicts the idea that Kise has feelings for Haizaki."
"Incestuous relationship? Wait, he had an affair with his brother?" Aomine was slightly surprised.
"It wasn't really an incestuous relationship." Imayoshi corrected. "They aren't really blood-related. Kise's parents has long been gone and the mother who adopted him remarried his step-brother's father."
"Was his adopted mother aware about their relationship?" Aomine inquired.
Imayoshi nodded, "Yeah. And that is why the mother who adopted him immediately disowned him after finding out about their relationship."
"Y-you know…" A timid voice coming from Sakurai – who had just been listening to them since a while ago – was heard. It was unusual of the guy to speak his opinions and so everyone was quite surprised of what they have heard but everyone made sure to listen as the ever - so - timid Sakurai choosing to tell what he thinks means that it was important. "A-as his cellmate, Kise-kun had been sharing some things to me; and based from all the things he told, I can say that it was pretty hard for Kise-kun. Getting disowned means not having a place to stay at, a food to eat, and a home to come back to. He began working part-time at an early age and did modeling jobs for a cheap company who abused him just to earn money. Kise-kun thought that his hard work will pay off just as long as his step-brother continues to love him; up until he was sent to prison due to the politician's son who the company introduced to him and since then; never was he once been visited by his step-brother."
Sakurai's expression was so sad. He felt sympathy for his cellmate. And so did Aomine who had just absorbed everything the timid guy said. He couldn't help but to think that the very reason Kise is sticking up with Haizaki was maybe because of the fact that Haizaki can provide Kise's wants that he couldn't easily get before.
As things unfolded like an open book, silence consumed everyone's mind. Aomine didn't actually know how these information gradually came upon him in just one go. He simply felt curious and everyone satisfied him by disclosing answers that he doesn't usually want to know. Now, he was like a deer caught in the headlights. It was all due to Midorima when he was snapped out of things.
"Okay, now that everyone had their minds filled with information about certain things, it is my turn to speak." The green-haired doctor broke the silence as he stood up from his seat and started packing up the things he had just used to treat Aomine's injury.
Takao supported what the man said and walked towards Midorima to assist him with the packing.
"I'm done splinting your arm. Usually it would only take me a short time doing it; but it seemed like the conversation all of you had just a few seconds ago hindered me from doing so." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, after the swelling in your hand subsides, it would be best to put you in a cast for better recovery for 7 more weeks or when you are completely healed. It would help decrease the healing time if the cast was used. But it would still be up to you if you want it or not, since all of this treatment shall be charged to your commissary account."
"Ah, right. My commissary account… I think my sister contributed to my account several days ago. I just don't know if it was enough to pay for the fee." Aomine said.
"You don't have work in prison yet, do you?"
"I don't. It crossed my mind once to get one but I just don't know if I could have it now with this injury."
"Well, too much strain in your hand is obviously not good. So work is not advisable for you yet. Don't worry, the medical fees doesn't have due dates, it shall be charged to you automatically when you had enough money in your account. Now, if you still want to work, you may do so; as long as the work you do doesn't strain your hand."
"Hmm… I'll think about it then."
"Ah, by the way, it would be better for your hand to be elevated to lessen the pain and make the healing process faster too. So I propose you to put your arm in a sling. You can improvise one with a cloth or something."
"Well, it doesn't take that much difference, right?"
"It does."
"I'll think about it too."
"The way you're saying it makes it look like you aren't really planning to do it in the first place. Oh well, whatever. Do as you like." The doctor rolled his eyes in resignation to Aomine's stubbornness and, after a moment, looked at Imayoshi and Sakurai. "Anyway, I just realized, how did you two manage to come inside the infirmary? Inmates that doesn't have any health issues or injuries are not allowed here."
"Ah… you asking me that means you don't have any clue how good of an actor I am." Imayoshi replied with a smirk on his face.
Midorima sighed, "You are so troublesome…"
"I'll take that as a compliment."
Heaving another sigh, Midorima just checked his watch. "Work ends at 5, Takao. You better fix your things now and go back to your cell. You might get late for the third roll-call."
Before the brunet assistant could even answer the doctor, the former police spoke first, "Go back to cell? He's a prisoner too?!"
Takao and Imayoshi laughed loudly and Aomine knew he was so wrong for assuming he's not an inmate. The whole time he was talking to the guy, he thought he was really the prison infirmary nurse after mistaking him first as the infirmary doctor. With that white coat he's wearing, how could he not have thought of that?
"What? Don't tell me, after all the familiarity he holds with Teikou, did you think he was just a nurse." The green-haired man said.
While trying to stop his laughter again, the perky man started talking. "You really are so funny, Aomine-kun. If you were to take a look at what's inside this white coat, you'll see the distinctive orange suit everyone is so familiar with."
Takao slowly unbuttoned the white coat he's wearing and let Aomine see the exact same kind of clothes the former police wore. "Wow, you really got me there."
With a silly laugh, Takao replied. "It's not my intention to have you mistaken me for something. Anyway, I think you guys should go ahead and I'll catch up with you later. I just have …" Takao glanced at Midorima and smirked. "…Something more to do." Midorima pushed his glasses up his nose, a small smirk settling on his face as well.
"Yeah, yeah. We'll go ahead and you two can go have your precious time together." Imayoshi stated as he and Sakurai stood-up from their seats.
Aomine did the same too as he just realized the underlying meaning in the bespectacled man's words.
So there is something going on between them, He thought.
The three men started walking on their way outside; but before Aomine could step out, the brunet called out for him.
"It was nice meeting you today. I gotta admit that the first time I heard about you, I almost laughed my guts out. I thought that Karma really has no deadline and you cops deserve to feel what we prisoners feel inside this hell. I also thought that you are such an idiot for letting yourself get caught in here. I mean, you were already a cop, you could've acted smarter with whatever trouble you had. However, now that I've met you, some things changed. You really are interesting. Let's meet again somewhere in Block A, Aomine Daiki-kun." He then, smiled and walked away briskly, and Aomine saw Takao close the door of the infirmary shut firmly followed by a loud click – clearly the sound of a lock.
More conversations for this chapter. Hope you didn't get bored? haha Anyway there's a lot of information that we can found on this update so please put those info in mind as they are necessary for the plot~
And hello again to the MidoTaka shippers out there 3 Hope you love their little part in the end ;)
Expected Update: November 29 (or earlier)