Author's Notes.
This is a bit of an Alternate Universe, mainly because of the borderline shounen-ai obsession I've inserted here. 'Texhnolyze' is an anime with plenty going on for it, with a beautiful 'end-of-the-world' background and interesting characters.
I've placed the vocabulary list at the end.
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"Silk Tie" isn't quite complete, but as I believe there are far too few Texhnolyze fics out there, it is going up. If you've any suggestions for this lowly writer, you're very welcome.
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Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of characters, settings, or any and all parts of this piece of fiction that bears any resemblance to the lovely anime, Texhnolyze.
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Silk Tie
by letmeupme
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..Toyama?
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Later on, as Ichise rode in the same car as Onishi-san, he heard that Toyama was rising in ranks, too. He wasn't surprised. Ichise also heard that Kohagura and Toyama had become very close. It seemed strange, but somewhat logical. Keeping a mistress safe took time and manpower, while fucking your subordinate actually saved time on briefing and strengthened your security. If Toyama didn't mind, it wasn't something a brother put much thought into.
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And that was the way things were, or the way they were supposed to be, at least.
Things were changing, and Ichise had no doubt that Toyama's strangely gentle touch was a result of those changes.
The Organo was quickly losing its members to mysterious infighting that nobody knew of until the deaths.
Kohagura and Onishi-san were working on it, the strange visitors from Above, and the demands coming from the usually silent Class. The increasing ferocity in the city.
Ichise didn't like that Onishi-san was placing so much trust in Kohagura. He was up to something, but Onishi-san refused to look into it. What Ichise didn't like even further was that the reason Onishi-san didn't have some of his men look into it was because the Organo didn't have that many men anymore to spare.
Men were deserting everywhere, in every yakuza clan in the Organo, in the streets, like in the Union and in the Lacan.
They were doing their jobs, and just disappeared, maybe when they went out to see their squeezes, or maybe when they went to shit.
Ichise didn't like that he was now working almost daily alongside Toyama, because that meant that they were having Organo troubles, the kind where it meant that Lux was getting trouble from the outised, rather than the usual skirmishes between clans and youths. When you were being sent to investigate new deaths from the supposed 'inter-clan skirmishes' which nobody knew about in the same tag, it meant that neither Onishi-san nor Kohagura had enough competent men to handle difficult missions on their own anymore.
While Ichise didn't mind working with Toyama, he really didn't like the situation.
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He didn't like that Toyama was showing change, too.
So to prevent anymore change, maybe pushing him off, or making a random joke or two would be the logical path to take.
He didn't know why, but he didn't want things between them to be subject to that unreality, the change that was creeping up on the rest of Lux.
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Seeing the same facial expression on Toyama as that first time they met so closely, Ichise had thought it strange, but somewhat logical, as well.
Maybe this, whatever they had, had been too strange, for the both of them.
A little too pretty, sane.
Like something you would have expected Above, not in Lux.
This change might unchange their hitherto un-nameable relationship, returning it to something normal. Less complicated.
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"Such smooth skin, Ichise-san."
The lone finger barely touching him was cool.
"..Unlikely, don't you think, that a person who lives by brute strength has such soft skin? So inviting, so warm... I-"
The skin affected by the finger tingled, reacting to the touch, reacting to Toyama.
In that same moment, Toyama could have shorn off that same skin in one fell swipe.
This knowledge did not cause Ichise any unease, for what Ichise felt for Toyama was borne of a strong affinity. Ichise also knew how easy it was to just move, limbs smoothly sliding into a well-practiced language of violence. It would be so easy for Ichise to realign his limbs to begin combat, and it would be just as easy for Toyama to retaliate to that first kick with some chopping maneuver or by retrieving his blade. It would be so easy.
Neither of them would, though.
They were too similar, if not in their fighting patterns, at least in their capabilities to combat. They were on the same plane of existence in a chaotic world, submerged in a multitude of anarchic forces struggling for supremacy, and while neither was on the other's side per se, they could count on each other to act accordingly. It wasn't much, but what they had was rare. Special, even. Yet still, it would have been easy to just..
It might have been easier for Ichise to have removed himself from this unknown game, this new conversation Toyama was trying enact.
And yet Ichise relaxed his muscles further, allowing control to slip further away.
Because Toyama was smiling, Ichise felt normal. Sort of. There didn't seem to be any logic to it, considering the bastard never really changed expression, but there it was. Just like after the time at that harbor, and when Ichise almost said goodbye to the living world for not knowing when to Reigi, and when the Organo first broke out into this frenzy. Toyama never lost that expression.
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On the other hand, it might have been curiosity that led the two of them to that day.
Neither of them had touched another without reason, without something to gain.
With the ominous winds of change and something else blowing outside, would it have been so strange to just try, with someone you could trust your back with?
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. Vocabulary:
Lux – A chaotic underground city, Lux, which is governed by yakuza and has an almost primitive feel for its violence and crime. Lux is also known for producing the weed that affects the immune system, allowing for the denizens of Lux to 'technolyze' their body.
Gabe / Ran - A rural village of Lux. It is said that the inhabitants descend from the historic leaders of Lux, and members of the Organo are seen seeking council in the anime. They protect their lifestyle with zeal, and they worship Ran, a young prophetess who sees the future. Gabe is different from the rest of Lux, in that it has a structured (non-chaotic) , albeit medieval environment.
Texhnolyze – The technology used to attach and incorporate artificial limbs to a human body. Its uses range from classic prosthesis to accessorizing oneself as one would with a tattoo. Considering that the city claims its many opposing mafia clans as its governing force, a metallic middle finger that can lengthen and sharpen at will would certainly come handy in everyday life. Texhnolyzed people are prohibited from professional fighting, and there is even a Luddite force called the Union that sees Texhnolyze as a threat to the mind and body.
Lafia – A flower of a type of liverwort that can only be grown in Lux. It disrupts the immune system, and is used in texhnolyzing.
Organo – A board of Mafia leaders that preside over Lux, including an Onishi and a Kohagura, under which Ichise and Toyama work, respectively.
Lacan - A quickly growing group of youngsters who contest to Organo's iron rule, they gather under a sole rule, freedom.
Class – A mysterious governing power from Above, which seems to have more monetary funds and clout than the Organo.
Above – As opposing to the underground city Lux, which is easy to enter from the Above, but is nearly impossible to leave. In the ending chapters of the anime, the Above, which is previously imaginable as a rich, affluent land with a population of upstanding citizens, is exposed as a clean, sterile land with a dying civilization and its ghosts. The Class, thought to be of the Above, are seemingly a different political entity, and are also dying out.
Shapes – Persons that have been Texhnolyzed from neck down, in accordance to a destructive political ideology introduced by a surviving member of the Class. The resulting robots are very uniform with clean lines, making for somewhat unsettling scenery.
Fraher – A perfectly fictional unit for measuring, even in the world of Texhnolyze
Saigo no – Japanese for "My last (piece of)-."
Sead – A glutinous, repulsive drink whose merits lie in its accessibility and alcohol content. Like Fraher, a word made for solely this story.