Chapter 10

Kind of a short chapter, but I was running on fumes. Sorry...

"Who's your partner over there?" you asked, indicating the person who was still standing beside the door. He seemed to melt further into the shadows when your attention turned on him.

"You'll know soon enough," Rin waved his hand as walked behind you and pulled up another chair, setting it in front of you. "For now, though, let's talk about you."

"Let's not," you said immediately. "I'm more interested about this place. This secret organization. I suppose you'll have to kill me or something since it's so secret that nobody knows about it."

Rin sighed heavily and leaned his head onto a hand. "Did they say that again? Don't listen to them, they're impossible. This isn't really a secret at all. You've heard of the government, I suppose?"

You nodded slowly, not believing that this organization had anything to do with the government. You probably would've heard some rumor of people dressed in black garb and hiding in alleys if they had any connection with the government. Some kind of word always gets out.

"Are you, in fact, aware of how poorly they're running the country?" the man continued. Well, this took a rather unexpected turn. He didn't wait for your reply this time, and kept steaming on. "There are certain… people… people with high status and powerful connections, that are… unsatisfied, let's say, with how the government runs things." He gave a short bark that you assumed was a laugh. "That's an understatement," he winked at you before continuing. "So they banded together to fund this organization."

"That doesn't really answer my question, but thanks for the brief history lesson," you said.

Rin sighed. "You haven't really changed much."

"Did you even know I existed?" you shot back, slightly annoyed that he had implied that he actually knew you. From what you remembered, all you did was show up at the swimming competitions a few times because your friend had forced you to skip school and drag you there. Of course, you didn't complain much now since that was how you met Makoto and the others.

The man shrugged. "Of course. With you all over Haru's bestie it'd be hard not to." A smile crept onto his face. "Still a sassy bitch."

It was your turn to shrug. "Can't help it when I'm surrounded by assholes. Now are you going to answer my question or not?"

Rin thought for a moment. "You didn't actually ask a question to begin with, but I'll be nice this time and ignore that."

You were starting to give in to the urge to strangle this guy, and you didn't care if he was Makoto's friend or not. Speaking of him…

"Don't you have a phone or anything? Makoto's been worried sick about you."

Rin snorted. "'Course I have a phone. What do you think I am, stupid?" To illustrate his point he whipped out a flashy new model from his pocket. "I just never pick up. Why would I want to associate myself with the enemy? That's a foolproof way to get yourself fired."

"And why do you hate the government so much?" you asked, trying to think of some worthy questions.

"That's classified."

"Where are we?"

"Classified as well."

"Who runs the place?"

"Aren't there any questions you can think of which doesn't involve any classified information?" Rin asked, exasperated.

You rolled your eyes. This Rin character really wasn't trying to put himself into your good books. "Why am I here?" you asked after thinking for a while.

"Jesus Christ," you heard him mutter as he put his head into his hands and held that position for a while.

You sighed internally. "What else am I supposed to do? You're basically forcing me to ask you shit questions here!"

"Let's talk about you." Rin said, lifting his head to stare at you. "That was my original intention, before you so rudely interrupted me."

"I still prefer not to," you sighed and relaxed against the chair. "What do you wanna know? My date of birth?"

From out of nowhere Rin whipped out several sheets of paper. "I have that already." He scanned the information, which you assumed was about you.

There followed a tense moment of silence where you strained to see what was printed on the paper. The organization seemed to have been thorough with the investigation. You could only imagine this organization as one that's similar to the government, but on the dark side. There would've been top-notch investigators going about trying to find as much about their targets as they can. Which in this case, was you.

"Let's start off with… when did you become a thing with our dear investigator Makoto? I don't seem to have that information in here." He directed his attention towards you, and for some reason you felt insecure.

"What kind of interrogation is this?" you asked, your memory involuntarily flicking back to when you'd met Makoto personally. It was in the hotel you'd stayed in just a few hours before. His swimming club was staying there for a competition a few years back, and you'd been there on a trip with your friends.

"An interesting one," Rin grinned, pulling you back from your past. "Now, do tell. When was this?"

"Why should I give it to you?" you asked.

"Because I'm genuinely curious and I don't want to hurt you."

"Scared to hurt a girl? How gentlemanly of you. It's a wonder you don't have a girlfriend yet."

Rin stiffened at the mention of a personal relationship. "Yeah, what a wonder," he said, though you could tell it took some effort to maintain some sort of casualness. He took a deep breath before continuing. "I may not want to hurt you, but my friend probably wouldn't hesitate." He glanced to his right, where the other figure was standing there, guarding the exit.

You followed his example and stared right at the door. The figure wasn't there. You guessed that apart from dressing in depressing colors they also moved silently. You couldn't help but compare them with death. Perhaps they did murder people.

Too late, you heard shuffling to your right and quickly snapped your attention over there. It was the figure in black who had been standing by the door. The last thing you saw before you got decked was Rin's shark-toothed smile.