Pieces to Pick Up
Doumyouji Tsukasa couldn't believe what he saw. Could it really have been Hanazawa Rui? The best friend, who disappeared one day without any trace? Two years, it had been two years without any message from him and he just pops up one day! And in nowhere else but a high school in the same city! How could all the private investigators Tsukasa have hired in those two years not been able to trace him down? He took a furious swag from the shot glass and slammed it down, grumbling at the bartender who waited anxiously in front of him for a fill-up.
It was always the people he counted on to be by his side that left without a trace. He had wondered if there was a curse on him, somehow, that repelled the people he loved, an aura maybe that oozed from him warning people away. No doubt that curse would have been cast by the witch with the name Kaede. He snorted at this, startling the nervous bartender who poured whiskey all over the counter. Apologizing profusely, the young man immediately started mopping up the mess with his own sleeves. He knew that even if just one drop were to drip onto Doumyouji Tsukasa's shirt, there would be consequences.
Doumyouji swore and shot the man across the counter a deathly glare, he was just about to pick up the glass and empty the contents on the other man's face when a familiar arm snaked around his neck to pull him into a close cuddle.
"Tsk, tsk Tsukasa. I know I'm late, but no need to throw a hissy-fit." The cheerful tone of the voice was at odds with the depressing aura of the bar. It belonged to a handsome man with auburn red wavy hair and beautiful figures that hinted at laughter.
"Akira, hands off." Tsukasa shrugged off the owner of the irritating hand, whose fingers have started to drum lightly on his neck.
"Aw, Tsukasa, all this hostility. We really have to work on that before we can get you a girlfriend." He gave his snappy friend one last pinch before he settled down on a neighbouring seat, signalling the bartender to get new drinks for both of the men. The bartender gave the newcomer a thankful look; he knew the red-head had saved him from certain humiliation. "So what's up with my moody friend?" Akira turned his attention back to Tsukasa who was now staring broodingly at the dance floor.
The answer came so softly that Akira almost missed it.
"I saw Rui today."
The shot-glass froze halfway in its journey up to Akira's lips. Akira turned towards Tsukasa, observing him carefully to make sure his friend was still in a sober state. After all, when Rui first disappeared, it was all Tsukasa seemed to talk about. All he seemed to do in the month after was to search frantically through Rui's house then come to this bar and get himself piss drunk. It wasn't uncommon for Tsukasa to claim he had found Rui somewhere and enthusiastically, and forcefully, assembles him and Jiro only to find that it was just a mistake.
"Are you sure?" Akira asked gently. "You know-"
"God damn it I'm sure Akira!" Tsukasa interrupted furiously. "I saw him with my own eyes! He was sitting there right before me on the emergency stairs! And where is that bastard Nikishido when you need him huh?"
Akira checked his watch and signed. Jiro had, lately, been fed up with Tsukasa's mood swings. Despite nagging on Jiro for over 15 minutes on the phone to come to their usual hang-out place today, he was, once again, late and, in Akira's opinion, unlikely to show up. "Yow, Jiro's a big boy, you know he never wastes his evenings. Just let him indulge in his delights for today." The wavy-haired boy tried to wave Jiro's absence away.
"I should have known that no good bastard wasn't going to show his face today." swore Tsukasa. "But that's not important. Akira, you have to come with me tomorrow to Aisuku High. Jiro'll just have to sorry he missed out. In fact-" The moody boy pulled out his mobile pressed a number on speed-dial. "God-damned useless dog!" He shouted into the receiver. "Yes, it is. I have a new lead I want you to look up on."
Akira shook his head, Tsukasa was probably the only guy he knew around his age to have a private investigator on speed-dial, and give his investigator so much crap. He drowned his spirit, wincing as the burning concoction slid down his throat. That was probably a bit more alcohol than he should have consumed today, after the champagnes and wines he had at the function of Mimasaka Enterprise. But although his exterior was still joyful and easygoing, he had to admit that Tsukasa had stirred something like hope inside him again. His hands shook as he set the glass down and stopped the bartender from refilling. Two years was a long time, and he was tired of working so hard to hold the fragmented F4 together. He missed Rui, the calming presence in F4 who was the only one that could curb Tsukasa's temper. So much had changed, Hanazawa enterprise's fall always reminded him of just how brutal the world of business is. And he couldn't get rid of the nagging guilt that, in some way, he had let Rui go that night. If anything happened to him, he could never forgive himself, ever.
He frowned and signalled for another drink. He couldn't let himself drown in those thoughts, he had to fulfil his promise and look after Tsukasa and Soujiro. When Tsukasa finally got off the call, with much shouting and swearing, Akira decided to lighten him up. "So where's this hot babe that you've been following, huh? There must be some progress after a whole week. And I have to say, missing school for a whole week may be pushing it a bit too far with Fukaji-sensi, wouldn't it?" Tsukasa winced, Fukaji-sensi was the only teacher in Eitoku who would dare to fail Tsukasa, and give his friend some well-earned chiding, always in English so that Tsukasa could never understand fully.
"Don't even mention that old pain-in-the-neck." Tsukasa scowled, before adding. "We have to go tomorrow. But after that, I guess I can go back and sit through his bore again for some time." His friend smiled, and gave himself a mental pat on the back. Even though Doumyouji may be the most powerful family in Japan, Tsukasa still needed to know his basic abcs to be able to inherit the company. "And for your information, I am not following a 'hot babe'. She's just a particularly annoying weed that I want to red-tag."
Akira raised his eyebrows incredulously, "Hot babe or weed, if that's your idea of courtship, then you have even more to learn from Jiro and me than I previously thought."
"How many times do I have to tell you: I Do Not Like Her!" Tsukasa gritted through his teeth dangerously, the bartender looked up nervously. Mimasaka was the only person he knew who would ever dare to even attempt a joke on Doumyouji Tsukasa. "I'll show you tomorrow when we go over to Aisuku High. After a week of inspection I've used my allowance to fund a development in that school that would be very profitable for the principal. I'm sure it won't be too much of a task for him to give me any information or do any favour for me tomorrow."
Akira frowned silently beside his plotting friend. Although Akira would never voice this aloud because he knows no matter how much his friend tried put on the strong front it was only to conceal the hurt inside, there was no denying that Doumyouji Tsukasa was growing day by day in the likelihood of the person he hates most, his mother. Akira wasn't familiar with Doumyouji Kaede, but then again, who really is? From the couple of times that he had being over to Tsukasa's house and talked to his servants, Tsukasa's mother had given him a cold steely impression that demanded fear and respect. But he had thought this to be only the product of strict household rules because Doumyouji-san had always been considerate and warm to Akira the few times he had actually met her, enquiring into his studies and family. It was not until much later did he understand why Tsukasa hated his mother so much, not until the collapse of the Hanazawa Enterprise. Now he feared her ability to irresistibly obtain the trust of people she deemed of use to her so that before they were aware of it they were lured into her trap, puppets in her show. He felt the familiar dread surface up to his thorax from the bottom of his stomach whenever Tsukasa showed growing likelihood to her. It was a sensation that was coming more frequently in these past two years. Tsukasa is mostly still childish and immature in his intentions, but he is no longer limited in his means. Akira had tried to lead Tsukasa towards kinder resolution of forgiving and letting things be. But the hot-tempered boy was never one to be denied of anything he wants. Even his best friend isn't able to persuade him otherwise when his mind is made up. It doesn't hurt to try though, especially since this weed girl seems to be the first Tsukasa have ever taken an interest in.
"What has the poor girl done to you Tsukasa?" Akira sighed. "She doesn't even go to our school for Christ's sake! Did she walk in an annoying way down the street when she happened past your Ferrari?"
"Course not, I'm not that trivial." The curly-haired boy scowled. "In fact, she dirtied my parking space then stalked off when I asked her for her name."
"Dirtied?"
"She sat in it with her commonplace clothes."
Akira tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes at Tsukasa immaturity, he was nineteen and still stubbornly absorbed in his own world. "To the contrary," He explained patiently. "She probably made it cleaner by wiping it with her butt."
"In the state her clothes was in?" Tsukasa snorted in disbelief, and then reverted back to seriousness. "She'll be dealt easily. You have to come with me tomorrow to see Rui. You have to tell me that it's real." Tsukasa stood up and steadied himself against the bar stand. He signalled for his driver in the doorway to prepare the car.
"Alright, I'll be there." Akira sighed and watched his friend amble wobbly towards the exit.
"Tsukasa." He called out.
The curly-haired head paused.
"Don't get your hopes up too much."
The muscular back stiffened for a moment before Tsukasa waved carelessly over his shoulder and disappeared into the night.
Happy New Year! Sorry that it takes a new year to finish a new chapter . Have to drastically improve my productivity... Feel free to give me any suggestions on how this should develop. Criticism welcomed.