Author Notes: I'll give a cookie to anyone who recognizes the character at the end.
Chapter 4: A Monster Among Us
The only sound for the longest time was the hum of the train as it sped down the tracks toward Shinjuku. None of the teenagers were looking at each other, and Ra in particular seemed determined to melt into the plastic seats, glowering angrily at the floor. There were some other people on the train - drunks and lovers, plus late commuters - but beyond a couple of glances, the group was routinely ignored.
"What the fuck was that back there?" Hirokazu asked quietly, breaking the spell finally. His head was cradled between his legs, hiding his pale complexion. Even now his hands still shook, recalling the icy chill of the air when he pulled Kenta back from joining Nakajima and Itou. His fingers twitched for a cigarette - or two - to calm his nerves, though he had a sneaking suspicion he would need to go through the rest of his box before the memory of what happened didn't make him quiver.
"The senshihenge. Weren't you paying attention?" Ra spat, barely glancing up to glower in his direction, needing to crane around Juri, Jian and Takato to do so.
"I'm sure there was a logical explanation for-"
It was all Jian was able to get out when Juri finally snapped, rounding on him, her eyes dyed red with tears.
"LIKE WHAT?!"
This managed to attract the attention of everyone in the car, who now were watching them - some more obvious than others. If the small brunette girl noticed, she didn't care as the stresses of the day weighed down on her, causing the last fraying thread of her sanity and self control to snap under its weight.
"NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE EXPLAINED WITH A NEAT LITTLE BOW! OR ARE YOU GOING TO SAY I'M CRAZY AGAIN?"
"I never said-"
Jian attempted to defend himself only to be interrupted by Juri, who shoved her finger into his chest, poking it roughly. The Chinese boy shut his mouth in surprise; he expected someone to explode, but not her.
"DO YOU THINK I'M STUPID?! YOU DISMISS EVERYTHING I SAY BECAUSE IT DOESN'T FIT IN YOUR NARROW WORLD VIEW AND WHEN WE HAVE EXPERIENCED SOMETHING WHICH PROVES ME RIGHT, YOU'RE SO EAGER TO IGNORE IT OR EXPLAIN IT AWAY!"
There was murmuring now, and Takato looked around nervously before leaning forward, hoping to steam his ex-girlfriend's tirade. He had never seen her so angry, but the last couple days have been stressful for her and today only made things worse. Still, they were drawing attention, which was the last thing any of them wanted.
"Juri-chan calm-"
"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN TAKATO-KUN! I AM NOT GOING TO BE PATRONIZED!"
That's when a heavy hand settled on the brunette's shoulder, and she whipped around to see the piercing violet eyes of Ra.
"Shut up, you're causing a scene," the taller girl hissed, glancing at the judging eyes around the car.
"Oh like you're one to talk!" Juri snarled, not about to let someone who caused the biggest scene of all to tell her what to do. "You laid a man twice your size on his back. Are you even human?"
There was a flash of something in Ra's eyes, and suddenly Juri realized she made a mistake when the shadows once again began to swirl around the other girl. She had been with the redhead long enough tonight to recognize each time the shadows began to cling to her, it directly correlated to how angry she was. It was like the angrier Ra got, the deeper the darkness which surrounded her, clinging to her like oil, became.
Juri's own righteous anger fizzled out, replaced by a deep dread as the grip on her shoulder got tighter, the redhead's fingers digging into her flesh and clutching her bone.
"I'm human," Ra growled, an unsaid warning rumbling in her throat.
"Then act like it," Jian hissed, swatting her hand off Juri's shoulder. He wondered if he was just imagining things earlier when he saw that fearful look in her eyes. Still he didn't regret it; if he hadn't imagined it and still didn't at least attempt to save her - well, he wasn't sure how he could look himself in the mirror afterwards.
The redhead glowered at him for a moment longer but crossed her arms, shooting a glare at the remaining lingering glances before leaning her head against the plastic divide near the door. Her fingers dug into her own arms, knuckles turning white, matching her white jacket. Once again she attempted to melt into the seat, refusing to meet the gaze of any on the train.
The group fell once more into silence.
Unlike before though, whispers began to fill the empty space. It was hard to catch snippets, but what little pieces of conversation made its way over to them focused on the two girls and their individual instabilities.
Once again, Juri felt like she was back in middle school. No matter what mask she tried to construct nor persona she put forward, it all came crumbling down around her and the truth shone out.
She was a freak. An outcast. And she failed to bring back two of the people who accepted her for who she was.
"It's OK, Juri. We'll find out who did this."
Juri stood next to Ayaka, the other girl's hand tightly squeezing her shoulder as the two simply stared at the brunette's books either floating in the toilet or desecrated on the floor. Numbly, Juri couldn't help but be thankful she got into the habit of photocopying her notes each day.
"What good will that do?" she asked softly, bending down to pick up her notebooks which had been completely ruined with slurs and derogatory remarks in permanent marker - Busaiku in general seemed to be a favorite this time.
"It will show them their actions have consequences!" Ayaka growled, bending down to help her, moving at a much quicker pace.
That's when they heard the bathroom door swing open and both of them looked over to see Miki Nakajima looking over with a raised eyebrow before her eyes traveled to the floor.
The short-haired girl hummed thoughtfully and carefully made her way over to the bathroom stalls, stopping at the one nearest to Juri and Ayaka. Her brow furrowed as she stared into the toilet bowl before carefully fishing out a now probably ruined book on how to talk to the dead.
"You know, you're going about this all wrong," Miki said after a moment, holding the book between her fingers like she was touching something unclean.
"What do you mean?" Juri asked, holding her hand out for the book.
While the other girl never teased Juri like the others - therefore careful to avoid Ayaka's wrath in the process - it wasn't like she was nice either. The fact she was talking to her at all had Juri on edge.
Instead of handing it over, Miki walked over to the hand dryer and hit the button causing it to splutter to life, holding the book up to the heat source. Ayaka - who had stood up the second Miki didn't hand the book over - paused, narrowing her eyes slightly.
"Have you ever considered being a medium?" Miki asked after a moment.
"But I'm no reibaishi," she protested only for Miki to turn and wink, a mischievous smile dancing on her lips.
"No, but-" the other girl reached into her own bag and pulled out a deck of cards, tossing them over, and Juri clumsily caught them. The brunette looked at them, blinking at the pentagram on the wooden box. Heart thrumming in her chest, she opened it to see a picture of a jester on a cliffside with a white dog next to it, with the words 'The Fool' carefully printed underneath in English - though she had to turn it rightside up to read it. "Who says you can't be a Western one? After all, reading the future is so in right now."
"I'm sorry," Jianliang said after a moment, quietly, breaking her from her thoughts, and Juri hurriedly wiped away tears which were beginning to pool in her eyes again. "I'll admit I don't know how to explain what we saw. A lot happened and well-" his voice trailed off for a second, leaving the thought unsaid before he shook his head. "I'm sorry we couldn't find Nakajima-san and Itou-san."
"At least we got further than the police," Juri murmured before swallowing a lump in her throat, glancing at Ra again. The other girl was like a coiled, tight spring, ready to break at any moment. The darkness still clinged to her, twisting around her in such a way if Juri weren't imagining it, she would have wondered how Ra could breathe with it choking her so.
It didn't escape her notice though how Ra hunched forward, feet on the seat, head pulled down into her shoulders like a turtle trying to withdraw into its shell. While the darkness still twisted around her, now that Juri took a moment to look around the car, the redhead wasn't alone being bathed in shadow, though Ra's was the only one which seemed alive. Her gut twisted uncomfortably at the thought with the words she said earlier echoing in her mind.
Ra terrified her, yes, but Juri of all people should know what it's like to have venomous things whispered and said about you. To feel alone. Ayaka had been her protector, but Miki was her saving grace. If she could help someone else like Miki helped her...
Besides Takato was right when he pointed out she did protect her and could have hurt any of them at any point, but didn't. Ra was also the only person who believed her about the senshihenge.
"Uhm, thank you, Ra-chan," Juri said finally after a moment, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Ignoring Jianliang's hiss to leave her alone, the brunette offered the girl a small, meek smile when those violet eyes raised to meet hers. She wasn't sure what to do to help Ra, but an apology was as good start as any. "And sorry about earlier. I went too far."
Ra just grunted and looked away, but the shadows lessened its grip on its prey ever so slightly.
"Well I mean, not so fast Katou. I think we all want to know how she managed to lay mountain man on his fucking ass and make him her bitch," Hirokazu butted in, never content to leave something alone. Juri turned to glower at him - joined by Takato and Jian, though both irritated for different reasons.
"Come on man," Kenta whispered, tugging on Hirokazu's sleeve. It wasn't like he didn't wonder the same thing, but he really wasn't interested in pissing someone off with clear anger management issues. Sure, she hadn't turned on them yet, but he wasn't exactly keen on having his best friend play chicken with her fraying sanity. If Juri exploded, well, they were probably a lot more in the danger zone than the spectacled boy felt comfortable with.
"Maybe you should try to be not so weak," came the smart ass response. It was venomous, but no attack came; through whatever grace of god, it seemed Hirokazu didn't manage to snip that fraying thread. Yet.
Kenta wasn't going to let him either, and clamped down on his mouth just as his best friend was about to say something else totally stupid, no doubt.
"Shut up," he hissed as Hirokazu's dark eyes looked over at him, enraged.
"Uhm, actually I also have a question Ra-chan," Takato said quietly, and Kenta's heart dropped to his stomach. While the crimson-eyed boy was never malicious, he occasionally had the habit of sticking his foot in his mouth. "What were you doing in Kabukicho to begin with? Are you like Juri-chan and had someone important to you kidnapped?"
There was silence among them at the question and five heads slowly turned to look at the redhead. Ra shifted under the weight of their stares, before looking down.
"I-" she opened her mouth before closing it again, pressing her lips in a thin line. "I had my reasons. Don't overthink it."
It was a non-answer and silence once again fell over them. Takato reached into his pocket before pulling out a small notepad which could fit in the palm of his hand and began to scribble. However, a few seconds later he ripped the top piece of paper off and held it out to Ra.
"Here," he said waving it slightly, and sitting next to Ra, Juri could see numbers scrawled messily on the paper. "Whatever your reasons are, we have the same goals, right? We should work together."
"Takato!" Jian protested, but before he could grab the paper, Juri snatched it out of Takato's hand, before taking out a pen from her purse, adding another row of numbers to it before passing it along.
The other girl took it, furrowing her brow, staring at the two different handwritings before carefully folding it and putting it in her pocket.
"I'll keep it in mind," was all she said before suddenly a phone began to ring - a dramatic guitar riff followed by drums which reminded Juri of a tune she might hear in an 80s supernatural Western movie.
Swearing, Ra fumbled into her pocket and pulled out a light blue flip phone with a small phone charm on it which looked like a fox. Glancing at the screen, the taller girl grimaced and flipped her phone open and turned away from them as she whispered-
"What?!"
-o—o—-O—-o—o-
A black haired woman snapped her phone shut, growling, shoving it into her pocket.
"Brat!" she swore, running her fingers through her hair before reaching into her jacket pocket and removing a pack of cigarettes. Pulling a white stick out, she put it between her lips and leaned against the brick building with a million and one missing person posters.
"Your cousin again?" the woman turned to see a man with spiked brown hair and eyes as dark as hers holding up a lighter where a tiny flame danced on its wick. Shaking her head, he shrugged and with a snap of his wrist, put the light out.
"I don't know why her mother simply can't call her own daughter," the woman growled, chewing irritably on her cigarette. "And she wonders why she doesn't listen to her!"
"You know what that child needs?" the man asked, only for the black haired woman to round on him, obsidian eyes blazing.
"If you dare say a father figure again in your attempt to court me, I'm reporting you for sexual harassment," she growled. Pulling at her black blazer, she stepped out from the shadows and into the street light. "Anyway, the captain is getting pissed. We're getting more missing person's cases by the day with nothing to show for it. If we don't find some information soon, he's gonna have our heads."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," he grumbled, waving her off. "Anyway, I'll wait here. Sato doesn't like men, so the chances of that asshole talking while I'm there isn't so good. Call me if you need back-up."
"You just want to smoke, slacker," she growled, only getting a chuckle in return. "Make yourself useful then and ask some people on the street."
"Yeah, yeah," he hummed as she stormed off, neither noticing a pair of glowing red eyes.
Notes:
Busaiku - A Japanese insult. Very vulgar. Literally means "non-craftmanship" and is used to mean the ugliness of a facial feature.
reibaishi - A spiritualist, medium or necromancer