Book 1: Simplicitatem
Chapter 4: Liquidation
"Failing is no excuse for giving up."
-Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
The day afterwards, Aika is flipping through the pages in her book and waiting upon the Leader of the Phantom Troupe to make his appearance; she knows the book is interesting, can tell by the way the pages are set and the spine is bound, but her nerves are wound up too tight for her to tunnel her focus on the tiny words.
"You'll ruin your eyesight that way," comes the same disgustingly smooth voice from yesterday, and surprisingly, it does not scare the living daylights out of the fifteen-year-old.
She shrugs, closes the book, and lifts her head to meet her guest.
He looks the same as the day before, save for his attire, which has been swapped in favor of a loose-fitting t-shirt and darkly colored pants. It's so casual that Aika feels the irresistible need to look away.
The chessboard has already been set, and Kuroro volunteers, saying that he'll take white, but Aika frowns.
"He played with the white pieces last time." She comments.
Kuroro almost says that he's not Mike, almost, but decides against it and simply nods as he sits down one leg in front of him, the other propped up to his side so his arm can rest on it.
He wonders if this is the teenager's definition of hospitality, letting him go first, but he doesn't really need it because he'll crush her regardless.
"Check," Kuroro says after an entire eight minutes have passed, and for once Aika knows that there is no way to delay the inevitable.
She deliberately moves her king into an open area.
"You realize that's an illegal move?" He questions, expression as impassive as ever.
She looks at him, and he realizes that her gaze is almost as chilling as Machi's when she wants it to be. "What's so wrong about knowing that you've lost?" She says with the strangest tone of voice.
Kuroro doesn't need to think very hard to realize she's taunting him by alluding to Mike's death, but he nonetheless ponders this for several seconds, and then moves deftly to reset the chessboard. "Isn't that just the same as giving up?" He questions.
Kuroro Lucifer is not sure why he agreed to play chess with a fifteen-year-old naïve female but he did, and strangely enough, he is not regretting it as much as he thought he would.
"True wisdom is knowing what you know and don't know." She shrugs, moving to help him. "Sometimes you give up because you just quit. But sometimes you just know that struggling won't help."
The Leader isn't sure whether it's comical or shocking that a street rat is lecturing him about knowing his limits. She's fascinating, he realizes as he watches her make the first move, especially for her age.
"Pawn to C3." She says, and two seconds later she slaps both hands over her mouth as if she's done something terrible and unforgivable.
He doesn't react to her mortification instead he moves his own. "Pawn to D5. " He answers, and all of a sudden he's aware that she's crying.
The Leader of the Geneiryodan definitely knows how to incapacitate a grown man in under a second but he does not know how to handle a crying teenage girl so he does the only thing he can think of and says, "Why are you crying?"
Her shoulders are shaking but she answers the best she can with a broken "I don't know," an obvious lie, and moves her rook.
That night is the first time Aika manages to check him, -not checkmate, he still takes the match, but the stumble comes as a shock to him nonetheless- and Kuroro isn't sure if he should or shouldn't blame his lack of concentration on the fact that he was shaken by an emotionally unstable girl because that would be admitting a lack of discipline either way.
They play four games that night, and Kuroro takes all of them, of course. Kuroro sighs, looking up at the starry sky of Meteor City. Maybe it wasn't such a bad decision.
"Life is fair because it's unfair to everybody."
-Unknkown
TWO YEARS LATER.
She's seventeen by the time she has discovered her actual powers, seventeen years too old and too exhausted. Their chess matches take longer now and she can read faster. Her long and once-highlighted brunette hair is now a mid-length orange; she had dyed it three months prior when she realized that change was not such a terrible thing after all.
"Check." He says, hand covering his chin as he ruminates, eyes focused and depthless.
Two moves later the same word leaves her mouth and so the pattern continues, six or seven times before Kuroro Lucifer has the unadulterated but somehow unsatisfying joy of saying "checkmate" and Aika throws her hands her hands up in exasperation, the well-known and eternal scowl etched into her features.
Kuroro only smiles and begins to put away the pieces. It is one in the morning, but recently, the Leader has discovered that losing an hour or two of sleep is a small price to pay for the quality of the female's company.
The invincible Leader of the Phantom Troupe is not really sure how the hell he managed to wind up spending the majority of his day frolicking around with an adolescent teenager- a very angsty one at that- but then he reminds himself that it is entirely his own fault for not chopping off his goddamn arm that goddamn day. In a sense, he isn't entirely indebted to her, so he wonders why he's agreed to doing this to begin with.
She's become more definable now, he understands, more predictable, more… patterned.
Her voice is bitingly sarcastic more often than not and smiles are rarely, if ever given. He's finally figured out the color of her goddamn eyes that she has always pointed away, covered with her hair –a shining hazel, for the record- and Aika never seems to undo her expression of concentration, of dissatisfaction.
She has trouble experiencing things, feeling things, though he's hardly one to talk because it wasn't as if he wasn't morally compromised, being the head of the lovely Phantom Brigade –which has, by the way, gained an unseemly, but awe-inspiring reputation for being comprised solely of heartless monsters.
"What are you thinking about?" She asks, casting him a suspecting look, arms crossed as she is sitting on the ground. And yes, it is still dusty, and Meteor City is still a rotting junkyard comprised of rotten people.
"My complete and magnificent triumph."
Sarcasm, Kuroro has found, is the best way to deal with Aika. The knots in her demeanor loosen, albeit minutely, and it is easier to get her to converse with him.
The two have gotten to know each other well, though neither will admit to it. Aika silently brooding, admiring the almost-clairvoyance Kuroro has, while Kuroro makes a valiant attempt to unravel the ridiculous enigma of Aika-
"I've never asked you, have I?" He realizes, eyes going wide for a fraction of a moment.
"Asked me what?" She snorts.
"Your last name."
Her laugh is louder this time, more drawn out, and it is infinitely more bitter. "I don't have one." She shrugs.
Kuroro blinks, exhaling and looking to the side. Of course; she was an orphan.
He wonders vaguely if an apology is necessitated, but she answers him before he can reach an answer.
"Don't bother." She yawns, clearing the hair out of her face. "It's like one in the morning, so go to bed."
Kuroro is currently twenty-one and feels incredibly foolish getting lectured by someone four years his junior; she seems to do that a lot. He gets up gracefully, sighing and watching his breath materialize in the cold air enveloping him.
"Good night Aika."
He hears more than sees her eyes rolling, as they always do whenever her calls her by name. Kuroro isn't sure why –yet- but he knows that she detests the name for whatever reason, and intends to figure it out.
She scoffs again, and before she can respond, he's gone.
The winter in Meteor City is hardly a winter; there's never any snow or even frost for that matter, but the temperature does have a tendency to drop, and so, on the coldest of nights, people can see their breaths in the chill air.
The cold front lasts only several days but it's soothing, especially in comparison to the blazing summer days in the town. Slowly, calmly, it lulls Aika to sleep, and within a matter of seconds, she's asleep sitting up, having forgotten to put the chessboard away.
"True evil is becoming apathetic about other people."
- Akiyama Shinichi (Liar Game)
The world is blurry for approximately six seconds and then it is blaringly clear because Kuroro Lucifer is all of three inches away from her face, bending over with his hands in his pockets.
"Doesn't your back hurt if you sleep sitting up?"
"Fuck you!" is the only response he gets as she falls over to the side, scrambling to distance herself. Her face is flushed red and she had almost kicked over yesterday's haphazardly placed chessboard in her scramble to get away. "Why are you even here, dumb Dancho!" She hisses.
He only shrugs and straightens up. "I just thought I should warn you."
"Eh?" She answers stupidly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"There are Mafiosos looking for you." He says deadpan, as if that's no big deal at all.
She's tempted to curse at him again but this time's she's scrambling to get to her feet. "Is it about Mike?" Her expression is pained, and she assumes that the only connection she has had with the Mafia has been exposed.
He stares at her, blinks, and quietly says, "I don't know."
As if on cue, a group of four men clad in suits run by the alley, obviously not making too much of an effort to stay inconspicuous.
It's still dark and the sun hasn't woken up yet. Aika backs up into her alley, thinking about what she should do.
"They have guns," he comments, advice thrown in for free. "Be careful."
She stares at him for a while, and Kuroro can see the question in her eyes. Are you leaving?
He turns his own gaze toward the main street where there are several more Mafia men sprinting about.
"I owe you anyways." He murmurs, almost too softly for her to hear.
She finds she can finally breathe again, and she's suddenly too aware of the cold air. "What do I do?" She voices her concern aloud.
"I can get Paku or Feitan to find out why they're looking for you."
The idea of cooperating with the Phantom Troupe, especially the creepy Chinese one, immediately repulses her and Aika is second-guessing staying with Kuroro; but the teen knows that anything she could come up with would pale in comparison to what the Spiders could do.
She looks to her hands and wishes that her power didn't leave room for so many damn openings.
Aika realizes that the man she's dealing with right now is no longer the Kuroro Lucifer she plays chess with but the Leader of the Phantom Troupe. He flips open her phone and dials a number Aika can't see because of the darkness.
"Mm, Paku?" He says, but then he pauses. "What? And the Mafia didn't tell us about this, why? And the girl. Okay. Alright." Kuroro runs his hand through his hair and looks toward her again. "Did you know that you're the daughter of two very renowned scientists who dabbled in Mafia affairs?"
Aika thinks it's slightly unfair, bombarding her with all of this information in such a condensed amount of time, especially something about her parents, whom, for the record, she never met. Her back hits the alley wall and she clears her throat, swallowing hard. "No, I did not know that," is all she can really manage at the moment.
She's terrified out of her mind and Kuroro's trying to talk to her about her childhood.
"The Mafia are carrying out a clean-up." He explains.
"What-" Aika begins, but before he can finish her question, an explosion reverberates throughout the air and the screams of the denizens of Meteor City begin to pierce the air. "Wow," is what she ends with. "A cleansing?"
"Virtually." He answers.
So this is the Geneiryodan, Aika thinks, and she looks away both in awe and disgust, a group that doesn't bat an eye at mass murder.
"We're meeting up with Pakunoda and the rest of the Troupe." He begins to make his way out the alley. "Can you keep up?"
"I sure as hell can try." She puts on a brave face.
Soon they are speeding through the air, evading burning buildings and debris.
The orphans of Meteor City were well-known and rightly disliked for their enhanced dexterity and agility; if you couldn't steal from street vendors, you starved to death, and the rules were as simple as that. No one would come to save you; everyone was too busy trying to save themselves. Aika finds that keeping up with Kuroro is not as difficult as she anticipated.
A group of five is already waiting at the junkyard when they arrive.
Feitan bristles at the sight of the girl, but is soon placated by a stern look from Kuroro, and he relents with a "tch."
"What I can piece together is that this girl and the clean-up that's going on have something to do with each other." Pakunoda speaks first, crossing her arms.
"Why is the Mafia doing this?" Aika asks, a perpetual frown settling upon her face. Fires had begun to break out over the city and echoes of gunfire were heard as the Mafia mowed down citizens.
"Meteor City is used to do the Mafia's dirty work." Machi is the one who answers nonchalantly. "Every once in awhile, the city needs to be purged, both to keep the element of fear alive and to guard their secrets."
Aika is torn between declaring that their methods are terrible or just terribly inefficient.
"Why are we involving ourselves in this?" Nobunaga asks, yawning, scratching behind his head. "It's not our business if people die."
"No, it's not." Kuroro agrees, expression set in impassion, "but they are after this one," he gestures to Aika with a nod of his head, "and I owe her for something."
"Where's Uvo?" Nobunaga asks.
"Probably sleeping. You know how he is." Franklin answers. "What's our mission, boss?"
Kuroro considers this. The Troupe had a tendency to be awfully think-skulled, so his word choice was important. "Prioritize her safety." He decided. "And eliminate the shooters." The Leader made a valiant attempt to ignore Feitan's murderous aura.
"Paku and Franklin, stay with me." He decides. "The rest of you," he breathes in deeply, closing his eyes. "Disperse."
They are gone faster than the wind, and Aika is left temporarily stunned. She looks toward him and is unsure whether she needs to thank him or apologize first, but he subtly shakes his head side to side, signaling her to stay as she is.
"Dancho," Pakunoda asks, a suspecting gleam in her eye. "I got some intel."
"Let's hear it then."
"Mr. and Mrs. Brehznev, her parents," she nods toward Aika, " were apparently working on a human experiment at the time of their deaths. The test subject disappeared and apparently, is still missing."
Kuroro almost grimaces, almost as he pieces together the missing pieces of the puzzle, but he doesn't because he's in front of his Troupe members. Yes he's inhumane, but his level is sadism doesn't even come close to rivaling his morals, or lack thereof. What kinds of parents use their own child as a subject for experimentation?
Judging from the mortification on Aika's face, he's certain she's pieced the puzzle together as well. "Tsk," she looks down, doing the goddamn thing with her bangs.
"If they were carrying out an experiment like that," the gears in Kuroro's mind begin to turn, "they would want the support of a powerful group, right? Isn't that how this stuff works?"
"The Mafia sponsored them." Paku says, deadpan.
Aika is sure that if it wasn't her own life being laid out on a Petri dish for all to see, she would have found the situation comical.
"Something must have happened." Franklin comments.
"Human experimentation is a dangerous realm to dabble in." Kuroro points out. "It never turns out the way it's supposed to."
"So why are they picking up on this seventeen years late?" Aika points out bitterly.
"The Mafia has been preoccupied with more pressing matters as of late."
"More pressing matters, I'm sure." She scoffs.
Pakunoda clears her throat, standing pointedly –how Aika isn't sure, but she is- with her arms crossed. "I wasn't finished." When met with silence, she continued. "They're looking for her because she can't get caught in the clean-up."
"Well why not?" The orange-head says angrily, half-considering voluntarily throwing herself into a Mafiosos line of fire to get the damn thing over with.
"You're a biological weapon." Pakunoda turns her gaze toward Aika, staring her down. "And the Mafia intends to utilize you the best they can."
"Hmm," Kuroro considers this, raking his gaze over the adolescent in front of him. Her power was certainly one he had never come across before, though it did have its drawbacks. Being able to take the life energy of any living thing did guarantee an almost unlimited supply of stamina after all. "For now, we're going to make noise," he decides. "Let's get rid of them."
Closing her eyes and clenching her teeth, Aika took several deep breaths in and out. "Okay fine," she says with an infinite amount of sass. "Okay."
Three minutes later there are four more figures running along the fire-illuminated streets of Meteor City.
END
"The life of each human is worth one life, that's it. Nothing more, nothing less."
- King Bradley
A/N: Well, I'm sorry this chapter took me awhile, I was having trouble putting my plans paper. Thanks for being patient! For some reason, my brain wouldn't let me write in anything but present tense, so tell me if you prefer this style or the previous! I hope you enjoyed! Do drop a review ^.^