He hadn't seen Tio in a while, not to speak to anyway, of course he'd been at work with him but it was so busy these days it was almost impossible to get a greeting in before he'd got punters shoving coils in his direction and forcing him to get to work. So even at the end of the shifts where it was quiet, the bar empty and only the two of them, or sometimes three if another bartender stayed to clean up, sometimes even then he was ignored when he tried to breach the wall Tio had put up.

But today it seemed he'd be more lenient, had actually offered a small smile when he'd remade a drink his co-bartender had managed to drop during a particularly hectic period, but what to speak of was the issue and there was one thing, one guilty nugget of information in his mind that he wanted to sort out. Keeping his voice casual as if he wasn't asking about something Tio could easily have told him about weeks ago now, hoping he hadn't been mistaken and sure he wasn't as he recalled how close Tio and Kin always were now.

"So, how'd the date go? Before I ruined it?"

"What date?" He regretted his words instantly, but the dumb part of him thought that could mean two things, either he hadn't been on a date and he was majorly wrong in his assumption, or he'd been on several and didn't know which one he was referencing, continuing even as he knew it wasn't the latter.

"With Kin? Last year, when you found me drunk in Maji burger."

"It wasn't a date," his voice was hard but Mizuki knew he was annoyed at the assumption more than he was about it having not been what he'd expected, explaining with plainly spoken words that grated against him. "He was meant to see a movie with Nobu but he got sick so I went instead."

"Oh, sorry, I just assumed."

"Maybe you should stop doing that."

"Yeah, I-" He didn't know what he'd intended to say, words dying out and just sighing, deciding the only way to try and explain was to speak the truth blatantly, to let him know he was at least attempting to make things better, tone exasperated. "Tio, I'm trying to fix this."

His sigh spoke of something more than tiredness, shoulders drooping and hair dishevelled with more than just a busy shift, very posture exhausted and hopeless, having given up on things between them ever getting solved. But he looked up to see Mizuki's earnest expression and his voice softened for a second, exasperated and bitter but at which one of them, neither knew. "I know you are. Just seems like everything you do lately pisses me off."

"I don't mean to. To piss you off, I mean. It's a New Year and stuff, I wanna do this one better. I know that's a crappy reason to change or whatever but I want to try. I don't want to be a shitty friend this year too."

He tensed then, the movements of the mop ceased and water dripped onto his canvas shoe seemingly without him noticing, resuming too jerkily and feigned disinterest in his voice obvious, "who called you that?"

"You did. I heard you and Kin talking in my apartment, the day after you dragged me home," he stopped mopping then but it was for good this time, dumping the mop into its bucket and standing there in the middle of the space he'd trapped himself in, surveying the wet floor around him if only to avoid meeting his eye. He knew the guilt in his own blue would be obvious and he would never have said anything that cruel if he knew he'd hear it. "You're right, I should have apologised."

"Bit late now." Emotionless words, but his mouth quirked up into a little smile, just one corner tilting the way Kin's did, pushing away that association and remembering that this was Mizuki he was speaking to, who was trying so hard to sort things out between them, clumsy as he was.

"Yeah. So, am I horribly selfish?" He worded it like a joke but he actually wanted to know, both of them ceasing cleaning up to just talk, to exist in the same space without shouting and lies and using each other's weaknesses against them.

"Everybody is sometimes."

"That's not what I asked." Tio knew what he wanted, he wanted the truth, he wanted the one who knew him best to list all of his faults one by one so maybe he could actually work on them instead of replaying the same shitty situations over and over until people got sick of him. He needed Tio to be cruel, to give him a harsh realisation that he wasn't the perfect person he thought, that he could be as selfish and unfeeling as anybody else, that he wasn't immune to causing others pain.

"You expect too much of people. You- You built up this little family and thought that was it, family's forever, right?" He knew better than anybody Mizuki's obsession with family, with finding people he could see as flesh and blood, who'd stick with him through thick and thin and never betray him, but he also knew how unrealistic that was. He had a family of his own and he damn sure didn't hold them that high, didn't see them as some amazing, life-changing thing, but then maybe he was ungrateful for what he had. "But, it's not like that, you can't just do shitty things and assume that because you see them as family they'll be okay with it."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Me. I was the original, right? The brother or whatever." It had never really been said, that Tio had been like Mizuki's brother, and if it had it sure would have made a lot of things seriously awkward, namely the issue of them fucking because that was not what brothers did but they'd never truly been that in the first place. But he knew the bartender saw him like that, if Dry Juice were like extended family, cousins and uncles and things like that, then Tio had been the closest thing to a brother he'd ever had or would ever know, and he used to feel pride at that title, at being regarded that highly, but now he knew the title meant he was taken for granted.

"Yeah, I didn't treat you like one though, did I?" He didn't answer that and he was glad, pausing and thinking about what he needed, about what they both needed and knowing he'd hate the results of what he was about to ask. "But, listen, if I do something shitty, or… Oh I don't know, ask you to do something unreasonable, would you tell me? I don't- I don't notice, when I ask too much of people, I need somebody to tell me."

"Sure, it's an excuse to be mad at you, right?"

"Do you need an excuse?" He'd raised an eyebrow, but Tio was smiling now, small and reluctant, almost laughing as he retrieved his mop again and nodded up at the clock on the wall, too late an hour for a heart to heart.

"Maybe not. Come on, let's get cleaned up, it's late and I have a date with leftover pizza."


It was rare now, for him to bump into Sly on the street, though he had to admit that was mostly for the best if not only to keep his reputation intact, he also didn't need that sort of sudden jarring in his chest like he'd been stabbed again but a lot less painfully this time. He wasn't sure whether this change was because Sly was more careful when he went out now, or because he himself tried to stay inside as much as possible, preferring to order in and buy enough groceries for a couple of weeks if only to mean he wouldn't have to bother getting dressed properly.

If he'd thought it through better he'd probably realise there was something wrong with him that was a little more than just a mild infatuation and an increasingly hard to control drinking problem, but he preferred to not deal with it until he had to, and have to he eventually would.

So a rare venture out of the bar, to his favourite grocery store if such a thing could exist, distracted on the way by every glimpse of blue he saw that was even a vaguely similar shade until eventually he turned into an alley and slim legs unfolded to stand tall and the blue waving in the wind was the same he'd imagined all morning.

He could have been moving to allow him to pass up the narrow stairs, but he knew that wasn't the case and manners of that sort weren't in his nature, so he paused to regard him, scanning him up and down, noticing he looked a little less sickly than he normally did. His pale, pallid gleam seemed to have dimmed and his hollow cheeks didn't make him think of skeletons and famine victims, but then where a space should have been behind him was suddenly filled and his eyes were distracted even as he willed them back onto Sly.

"Who's your friend?" Calm, casual, because this was not normal and Sly was always alone and this, this was why he never left the house, sudden willpower to get to the store and ignore the lure of the glinting alcohol aisle dying as the blonde tilted his head to the side and stepped closer to Sly as if he had any right to.

"Don't you listen to anything I fucking say? I don't have friends, asshole. He hooks me up."

He nodded then, slowly, considering this as his eyes flittered across the others ridiculous ensemble, the hat that admittedly did match the weather even if none of his other neon green and navy accessories did. "Drugs?" He didn't mean to sound judgemental even though he did, because Sly got high and Mizuki drank buckets, it was utter hypocrisy for him to sound like he didn't approve when all he'd been thinking of all day was getting drunk or fighting the urge to, noticing apathetic green eyes on him and feeling a little uncomfortable at how dead they seemed.

"Information," his voice was deeper than he'd expected, pierced lips parting to answer shortly but not to elaborate, to leave the conversation hanging there, one bandaged hand twitching about the only movement that had come from him this whole time. Despite looking like a kid, more so than Sly did, there was an oddly mature atmosphere surrounding him, like he knew far more than he should, and if he dealt in information that made a lot of sense. Sly was young too, just a teenager, but he was a brat, childish and stubborn and obviously still roiling with teenage angst, but this guy was stoic despite looking no older than about fifteen.

"Information? Hm, bet that doesn't come cheap."

It was obvious what he meant and Sly huffed a breathy chuckle, biting at his tongue and mouth spread open wide, he didn't look either surprised or bothered, just nodding his head as if it made perfect sense to him. "Getting jealous, Mizuki?"

"Not particularly," and somehow he wasn't, he knew deep inside that what could be happening, wasn't, that Sly wasn't paying this kid back the way he did everybody else and that helped him feel at least a little secure.

"Sure. But luckily for you I don't fuck kids."

"I'm not a kid." It was the first emotion he'd shown so far and he looked mildly irritated, forehead crinkling and lips turning down at the corners, he looked suddenly, horribly like Sly himself did sometimes with that pout suited to somebody younger than the things he had lived if not in years too.

Sly didn't respond to that, just waved his hand vaguely and Mizuki knew this was a disagreement they'd had before, wondering who this boy was and where exactly he had come from, not exactly inconspicuous in his neon gear and with his foreign, almost white blonde hair. Maybe he was one of the Grime types who hung out in the darker parts of the island as would really be fitting for somebody like an information broker, wondering if he was dangerous, how he found out what he did, whether it was with brute force or whether he was clever at infiltrating databases and the like.

Somehow those sharp green eyes made him think the latter even as his bandaged hands made him wonder if perhaps sometimes it was the former too, just glancing him up and down once more and those eyes not moving from his face, flickering to his neck tattoo once then away again as if he'd learnt all he needed to know.

"So, what dragged you out here?"

"Grocery shopping, you know, like normal people do," his voice had turned cold and Noiz was somehow examining everything while not moving, like he could track the cadence and resonance of their voices, hear the underlying feelings in the change of tone or pitch. He wasn't too sure why he was so bitter suddenly, but he was, maybe just because he'd like to be able to hang out with Sly on the street but would never be able to without destroying himself.

"Wouldn't know. But I'll let you get on with it, wouldn't do to be seen talking to me, would it?" He didn't respond to that but Noiz shifted to the side as if he knew already the conversation was over, opening a path to the top he took with a self-pitying puff of throaty laughter and a roll of his eyes saying he agreed wholeheartedly.

He was glad of the shirt he'd left in his backpack on the way back, it hid the tell-tale clank that would betray him for anyone who cared enough to listen.


"Who was that?"

He'd waited too long to ask and they both knew it, having moved from their stairs soon after the oddly stilted exchange of meaningless words, Noiz trailing after him and slightly behind, catching up only to ask something that made it obvious he was curious out of something less than mild personal interest. No, he wanted to know who the neatly presented man with the familiar tattoo had been, the man who'd spoken to Sly with familiarity which nobody else did, who had seemed friendly until he'd seen him and had suddenly switched to frosty.

"Nobody important," he brushed it off easily, walking them both towards his favourite noodle stand with the intention of getting his information broker and self-proclaimed rich kid to buy him food, almost certain he would, anything for a Rhyme battle after all. "Now come on, rich boy, I can't battle you on an empty stomach."

He didn't respond, just flashed his new, expensive coil at the reader when prompted, watching Sly slurp down noodles and eyes narrowing the second he was distracted shoving meat into his hungry mouth, wondering why he had lied and who that guy really had been. Not that it would be difficult for him to find out after all and the identity that tattoo gave solidifying in his mind already as they headed back to Sly's to get high at his demanded request.


"Mizuki."

He hadn't expected to see him, so his tones were warm and inviting as he walked up to the bar where he'd been lingering lazily, waiting for something to do or somebody to wander in he could talk to, Kou filling that hole perfectly. He was so glad to see somebody who might be able to distract him from the endless turning of his brain that he didn't register the mild panic in his eyes or the anxious twitching of the arm that rested against his side. "Oh, hey, Kou, what's up? I don't see you in these parts oft-"

"I need your help," That he'd interrupted him should have been the first sign that this wasn't just some odd personal concern he felt Mizuki might be able to help him with, and he paused in his speech, joke about the toothpaste smeared down his hoodie dying on his tongue. There was something in his eyes, something in the hard set of his jaw that meant this was serious and Mizuki took a second to just regard him, the tension in his shoulders and the fierceness in his eyes."Beni-Shigure's in trouble."

He observed him a second longer, eyes narrowing and feeling the horrible sense that he'd known this was coming all along, then his mouth was moving before his brain and Kou looked relieved. "You came to the right people, do I need to call the rest of the team?"

"Yeah, but let me explain first. It- It sounds totally crazy."

"Tio, I need you."

"Yeah, well, I'm busy, you'll have to wait," he sounded mildly inconvenienced more than anything else and Mizuki could do little but hover awkwardly in the doorway as he threaded a thin ring through a young woman's lip. He supposed this was the result of asking Tio to let him know when he was being unreasonable, and in that case not only the timing, but the words too had been a little demanding. He finished with the usual procedure and all the bartender could think of was how worried Kou must be, worried enough to go to another team for help, friends though they were, approaching a rival meant things were serious and by the time the woman was thanking him and leaving, Mizuki felt sick.

"So, what do you need me for?"

"It's Kou, he says something wrong with Beni-Shigure."

"Where is he?" He was surprised at the sudden seriousness of his tone, snapping off his gloves and ditching them on his bench, barely waiting for the answer before striding past him, almost pushing him out of the way with his haste and Mizuki's words dying behind him.

"In the back."

"Kou, what happened?" He pushed the curtain to the tattoo parlour open with so much force the rings rattled and clanged against the pole, Kou reaching for him immediately and taking his hand like it was a lifeline, face pale and eyes darting between them nervously.

"I, oh God, I'm not even sure," the calm composure he'd had when he walked in and spoke to Mizuki was gone, shattered, disintegrated into the air and pure panic was coming out now, fumbling over his words and Mizuki found himself feeling oddly jealous that he couldn't be this honest with him. "Just, they're gone. They're all just gone. I know that sounds crazy, it is crazy, but it's true. I've been everywhere, I've asked everyone, they've been spirited away again, like last time!"

"Beni-Shigure?"

"Yeah, everybody's gone again, Koujaku too. Last time it was weird but… I'm scared, Tio. I don't know what's happening to us."

He didn't know what to say and it was obvious, Kou clearly shaking now, twitching with anxiety and not stilling under the hand on his shoulder, Tio's blue eyes regarding him with confusion and dread flowing into him as he turned to regard the other who lingered in the doorway, "Mizuki."

"I'm calling the team. Now."


It was like some bizarre haze, hearing Kou explain what had happened as well as he could, Tio listening for the both of them as Mizuki went through his entire, extensive phone contacts, calling everybody he could, asking how soon they could get to headquarters, this was an emergency.

The tones he was met with were oddly formal too, even when they initially picked up and thought this might just be a social call, detached and distracted, like speaking to a teacher or somebody you couldn't really be genuine with. Turning harder and set like stone when he said it was important, that they needed to get to the bar the moment they could, cancel everything, this was an emergency and he needed them.

They trickled in then, some having been nearby anyway and wandering in with bags of groceries or in one case, with a small baby fast asleep in a sling carried across his front, dummy in a tiny mouth and him looking rather sheepish at the gentle taunting he received. Some others arrived in clumps, having been together already or having met up on the way, relaxed atmosphere of being with friends fading as they all, one by one, caught sight of Kou and their laughter died.

He was pale now, horribly so, he looked sickly and his skin was sallow like candle wax, hair messy where he'd been running his fingers through it and tugging on the strands distractedly, there was a hopeless atmosphere to him and he hadn't looked at anybody even though the room was filling.

There was silence and for once they weren't looking for Mizuki to speak, all of them watching Kou as he tried to catch his breath, exchanging quiet, soft words with Tio that they couldn't hear even when straining for a single vowel sound. Then a supportive squeeze of his shoulder and a grateful smile that made something churn in Mizuki's gut even as he couldn't comfort anybody, dark eyes looking up to the team, momentarily distracted by the soft whine of the dog Jin had been walking when he'd gotten the call.

But the dog was shushed and sprawled out on the floor and temporary comfort ended, "I think Koujaku's been kidnapped."

The noise that erupted wasn't an angry one, it was uneasy, maybe slightly disbelieving but somehow still one hundred percent together, unified, like somehow all of them were just one person speaking with several different voices. Mizuki wanted to call for silence, but somehow this atmosphere had pushed him onto the outskirts and he stood there instead, a silent observer at a show in a language he didn't understand, almost fluent but not quite.

"He- No, um, I went to see Hagima this morning, and he wasn't in even though he knew I was coming and he, he wouldn't just skip out on me. So I thought maybe he'd gone to see Koujaku, so I went to his place, and it was… Wrong."

"Wrong how?" Jin spoke now, his dog, more a puppy actually, lying by his feet and large eyes looking out on the scene dolefully, bored and upset at not getting any attention, regarding the discussion with as much involvement as the teams head.

"Stupid stuff, tiny stuff. Like he always folds up his Kimono a certain way and puts it on his dresser but it was on the floor, and there were mugs on his coffee table, three of them still with drinks in them, like they'd just been abandoned. But all his shoes were still there. It just, I can't explain it but it just didn't feel right."

"So, maybe he got new shoes?" He knew it was an almost insensitive remark, for whoever who had said it to be so blatantly doubting the validity of his worries, but Mizuki had to admit it was at least a more logical thought than most of the ones swirling round his mind. Perhaps somebody needed to think about this in a purely realistic sense, to say again, as with last time, that there was no way an entire team of people could have gone missing, but his mind wasn't clear right now and that one objection was shoved away fast.

"I mean, yeah, maybe. But I got nervous, so I went to see some other guys, and nobody answered, not at their doors or coils or anything, not a single one. They can't all be busy."

"This is what happened last time. First they disappeared for weeks, now suddenly Koujaku's been kidnapped or something? I don't know what's going on, none of us do, but it's bad, it sounds like they've gotten mixed up with the Yakuza or something worse. We need to try and help them out." The group was back on him again, nodding with agreement, shuffling as if impatient to get going, to try and solve this mystery they'd had thrust upon them, Mizuki back in charge the way he liked, his team behind him and feeling better even as Kou spoke and he was relegated to the back bench in less than a second.

"Koujaku was talking with those twins, the blonde ones with the weird suits? Um, he had loads of meetings with them and stuff, they said they were making their own team and they wanted to merge them together, to be the strongest on the island. He agreed, he had to have agreed but I didn't like it, they were odd."

"They came to me asking the same but I was warned not to trust them."

"By who?" Now a demand, an annoyed kind of order to be told who could have saved him from this fate, a betrayal as Mizuki hadn't bothered to try and relay the message to them, to the team he was so close to, information he'd kept to himself and had doomed them with.

"Um, Sly Blue, actually. He must have seen them come to the bar or something, I don't know, he just grabbed me one day and said they were bad news and I guess if even he doesn't like them they must be pretty bad." He nearly babbled the ending, suddenly aware he needed to defend himself even though what he was saying was innocuous enough, always covering up for this lie he was hiding from everybody, only Tio's eyes showing anything but honest surprise he'd done something helpful. There were murmurs of assent though, because yes. Sly Blue was scum and associated with scum too, so it made sense that his word meant there was something seriously fucked up about the strange duo, Mizuki pretending it didn't hurt to have his character trodden upon so easily.

"Yeah, well seems like he was right. Me and Koujaku disagreed about it, I told him if he joined them that I'd quit, I didn't want to be part of it. Guess he took me at my word."

That wasn't like Koujaku, that wasn't like any team leader or even any decent person, they wouldn't drop their best friend so easily, not for anything and certainly not for a deal that seemed so perfect it had to be suspicious. "I'm sorry to come to you, I didn't really know what else to do."

"Don't be ridiculous, we'll do everything we can, they can't have just disappeared. We'll work something out, right, Mizuki?"

But now the eyes were back on him he wished them away, annoyed with himself at how indecisive he was, sulking when he was ignored and overwhelmed the second responsibility fell onto him again. Thoughts of Sly actually helpful for once, remembering their last meeting and eyes narrowing in contemplation, hoping he'd be less of an ass than normal so his words wouldn't be useless. "Okay, I know somebody, an information broker, I'll try to find him, see if he might know anything. Tio, do you and the others want to go asking around? Or to try and find any of them?"

"I'd rather stay here," there was some surprise at the blatant way he brushed off his instructions, the cold tone he used as he issued his own orders, pretending as if Mizuki wasn't in charge and yet nobody thinking to question his words. "Kin, Riku, can you sort it out?"

Then things happened all at once, they spoke in agreement and began arranging things between them, diving neatly into groups to go to different areas and knock on doors or ask people on the streets, the baby woke up and abruptly burst into tears, and the dog made a sudden break for freedom. Chaos it seemed, had finally descended, and between Riku ushering people outside to start searching and frantic searching for a dummy beginning as Hideaki bounced his daughter rather uselessly, Kou stood up.

Nobody looked more surprised than Jin when he realised he was the intended goal of his short walk across the slowly emptying bar, scratching his shoulder nervously as he spoke, regarding the brown dog trying to pull away from him on her lead. "Um, I know you were probably going to take her with you, but can I look after your dog while you search?"

He looked so nervous and sick that it was doubtful anybody would be cruel enough to deny him anything, but his face softened as Jin clapped him on the back, handing the lead over with a grin and watching his expression lighten a little. "Sure thing man, she totally loves attention so if you give her belly rubs she'll love you forever. Oh, and she licks."

Just like that, Kou had a mild comfort in the form of both the floppy eared dog and also in Tio, who'd moved to sit on the floor beside him, watching him fuss over the canine half-heartedly, both of them unintentionally freezing out Mizuki, just nodding absently as he said he was going to make a call.


He'd never phoned him before, in fact to his knowledge he'd only ever used his coil to message him nudes or otherwise bother him over text messages, so he hesitated before he pressed the phone icon and the sound of tinny ringing filled his ears. He only realised when he answered that he had no idea what to say, the truth spilling out in an embarrassingly desperate demand he knew wouldn't be answered well if at all.

"Sly, I need your help."

"Stubborn boner, is it?" God he could imagine him saying that, stood wherever he was and picking at his nails, maybe smoking a cigarette and smirking in amusement, thinking it was hilarious that Mizuki was this desperate, not realising it was serious and nothing to do with their usual arrangement.

"What, I- No. Your friend, the information broker, do you know where I could find him?"

"He's not my friend. And yeah, I know where he lives," it took longer than it should have done for suspicion, curiosity, to lace his tone, eyes narrowing even over the crackling phone line and suddenly realising he'd been too helpful without asking why, without realising the risks of that. "What do you need him for?"

"I can't say," he could say, they both knew that he wouldn't even hesitate to tell Sly everything that had been going on, but out of respect for both Beni-Shigure and Kou he would try his very best not to, though he didn't doubt he'd find out eventually anyway. "Would you just tell me? Please?"

"What's in it for me?"

He'd expected it, but it still took him aback, staring at the coil in his hand disbelievingly as if somehow Sly would see his expression and concede defeat, just hoping his voice might make his personality diminish enough for him to be helpful. "You're serious right now?"

"Extremely."

"Oh Jesus fuck, Sly, would you just tell me this is really important," anger was building in his voice now, genuine irritation and his tone building as he felt himself grow ready to snap because for once he needed help from the other and he'd taken enough that surely he'd be able to give even a little now.

"Alright, keep your hair on," he sounded amused and Mizuki knew he was laughing at his desperation, finding it very funny even as the bartender realised he was in too deep, going to Sly of all people for help with something this serious. "He lives up behind that fancy bakery, Amaidesu or some shit like that, apartment building with a red door, I don't know what number though, he just told me the twelfth floor."

"Thank you, seriously, you're the best."

"I know." The dial tone cut in after that, screeching through his frantic, erratically functioning brain painfully and not really able to register how close his lips had been to forming those three small words again, just knowing he needed to find that broker as soon as he could.


"What?" It wasn't the politest way to answer the door, especially not to a prospective customer, but Mizuki was just glad he'd chosen the right door, not able to see much behind the mere teenager who was his only chance at help. In fact he seemed to notice his roaming eyes, shifting so more of the view was blocked, lime green eyes narrowing and legs shifting in matching sweatpants, hair messy and the same blonde Mizuki had expected, no longer covered by his hat despite the coldness of the seemingly otherwise empty building.

It hadn't been the kind of place he'd expected to find him in when they'd first met, he seemed too young to have the sort of money needed to live in the nicer area of the island, of behind the shops and fancier cafes where members of his team often took prospective dates. But the building, despite being in good condition, seemed to be abandoned by everybody else, lights in the hallways and stairs turned off and the elevator not functioning, ominous silence of the hallways he walked making him feel like he was entering an ambush.

"You're an information broker, right?"

"What if I am?" If anybody else had said it, it would have seemed defensive, but somehow with Noiz saying it, somehow it was almost putting himself down, saying that yes he was, but that it was no big deal, like he didn't know Mizuki was there for that reason only, that right now it was all he cared about.

"I need information."

He was giving him that probing stare again, eyes running down him carefully, taking in every detail, the messily tied sneakers, the slight sheen of sweat on his forehead and the relieved, anxious gleam of his eye. "How'd you find me?"

"Sly told me."

"Sly? Hm, come in I guess," he still didn't sound either enthusiastic or helpful, but Mizuki didn't really expect much more from a teenager, stepping past him and entirely forgetting what he was about to say when he took in the apartment, everything drawing his eye at once and amazed somebody could live like that. "What do you want to know?"

But he was snapped back to reality immediately, to the seriousness of this, the reason he'd asked first Sly, then Noiz for help, words blunt and to the point because he didn't really have time to piss about with unhelpful children. "Beni-Shigure, they've disappeared again, I want to know where to, or what happened, or anything."

"Alright, I can tell you. What's in it for me?" He didn't even hesitate, like he was so confident in his own skills that he'd known he could help without even knowing what the issue was, but then maybe he was so well informed he knew why Mizuki was there from the first moment he saw him.

"I can pay you."

"I don't need your money," he almost looked scornful and the bartender was beginning to worry he was more like Sly than he seemed, knowing his morals had lowered lately but not enough, never enough to go near somebody so obviously underage, voice tentative as he responded.

"Okay, so what do you want?"

"Information."


It was a weird thought that seemingly came from nowhere and yet made perfect sense, in fact it didn't even scare him, he'd just glanced across the room to where Noiz sat, eating pizza and lazily playing a game on his coil with a free hand, and thought something up.

If Noiz was older he'd be exactly the type of person Sly could see himself dating, and that was a weird concept in itself, because if he did the whole monogamy thing he'd definitely starve to death in a week. But Noiz was rich, which would fix the problem, in fact if he was only a couple years older he probably would have messed about with him already, they'd already made out a few times, they got drunk fairly often as it was Sly's favourite thing and it inevitably led to it. Fourteen though was too young for anything else and as much as Noiz didn't act his age most of the time, Sly was in no hurry to test out just how experienced he was.

"You're staring at me," he didn't even turn, didn't so much as move his eyes, so how he'd known that was lost on Sly, thinking again that either his stare was particularly sharp, or that Noiz was weirdly intuitive.

"I was thinking."

"Me too."

"Oh yeah, what're you thinking about, rich boy?" He didn't respond to the half nickname, half jab directed his way, just finishing the next level and minimising the screen, face that had been hidden by holographic pixels suddenly in harsh colour and so knowing it made him want to recoil even as he refused.

"Why a Rhymer would be so friendly with a Ribster who's the head of Dry Juice."

His breath caught in his chest, but he swallowed it down messily along with another mouthful of pizza, and reached for the cigarettes, forcing his lips into a smirk he couldn't feel in his dread filled chest. "Got me all worked out, don't you? So, tell me what you know, nerd."

"Security cameras show you going into the alley beside his home almost weekly for the past year, with the occasional gap," he shrugged off Sly's mildly unnerved expression, because as background checks went he hadn't even dug that deep, Sly's lifestyle was hardly a secret after all and it had only been this one thing he'd refused to tell the truth about. He'd come to a couple of conclusions himself and none of them were very savoury, but in Sly's case it just made them more likely, intrigued now to discover what he was doing, sneaking about with somebody like Mizuki, whose background check had dug up little dirt. "Doing some kind of dealing, were you?"

"Not exactly."

"What then?" No need to be subtle, he'd made his interest obvious, there was no way to play this off now, he'd asked once and been rebuffed and had been so intrigued he'd done his own research and ended up being forced to use his least favourite method of information gathering, actually speaking to people.

"You're really that stupid?" Noiz just shrugged, as if not agreeing but saying they should pretend he was if only for the purpose of this conversation, Sly rolling his eyes in exasperation and noting his face flicker in surprise as he bluntly dumped the truth into the air between them. "I'm fucking him."

Silence prevailed and Noiz's expression morphed from surprised to almost incredulous but in a pleased, amused kind of way, as if he was proud and entertained at the same time, almost laughing in that strange way he did, clunky, as if he didn't quite know how it worked.

"You're fucking the head of Dry Juice?"

"That's what I said. If you're so interested I'm sure I can sneak a camera into his bedroom next time." But that was what Noiz had been waiting for, the weird explanation he gave for his behaviour, so out of character and unnecessary when they both knew how unapologetic he normally was. Something else was happening there, and he really, really wanted to get to the bottom of it, but asking wouldn't work now and his sleuthing had to end somewhere, eyes flitting absently to Sly's coil and a devious thought slipping into his mind.


"You want information from me?"

"That's what I said." He didn't even blink, just standing there in his presumed living room and staring at him with such a deadpan look he felt his hackles rise uncomfortably, figuring that whatever he wanted to know couldn't be anything too terrible, especially considering he hung around with Sly already and couldn't be too morally reliable.

"Okay, so what do you want to know?"

"Sly, how do you know him?"

"Everybody knows him, he's kinda infamous." He just received a dead stare and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet, aware his lie, or lack of lie, had been noticed the second he spoke and feeling increasingly analysed under that unblinking, cold stare. "He broke into my place drunk once, I made him breakfast. He pesters me on the street sometimes. Is that enough or do you want a play by play?"

He didn't look impressed by his sarcasm, just idly flicking a finger and several screens emerging from the coil around his wrist, hovering in the air above them, moving one hand in little circles while flicking through pictures with the other, pausing suddenly on a view of Aoyagi Street. "Old man in a kimono?"

"I- well, not really old, but that's him, when is this from?"

"Two weeks ago, three forty eight am. He normally go out with no shoes on?" Now he sounded lightly amused, more mocking than anything and not able to read the mood enough to know that Mizuki was in no state of mind to be entertained by Koujaku's apparent sudden eccentricities. Zooming into his feet to show his weird socks, designed for wearing with sandals he hadn't deigned to slip on, padding over the rough surface of the street as if he wasn't even aware of his strange behaviour, standing in the street and doing nothing.

"I wouldn't have thought so."

"Every day that week, three thirty six, four twenty one, four fifty-nine," he flickered through the images so fast they made Mizuki dizzy, locating him in the street several times, always dressed in the casual clothes he never left the house in, always bare-foot and always stood, unmoving, in that one same spot.

"Question," his eyes left the screens for a moment, head not moving but green regarding him with a raised eyebrow as if he was wasting his precious time. "How exactly are you finding this so fast?"

"I've got him bugged," his eyes must have bulged a significant amount because the boy almost laughed, snorting derisively in a way he was certain to have learned from Sly, looking genuinely amused as he rolled his eyes disbelievingly as Mizuki looked irritated, realising he'd fallen for the trick easily. But he was gracious, or smug, enough to change the screens, presumably slowing down the process of locating the team leader and hairdresser, some kind of software scanning every face in the frame as he let the security tape run, zooming in to anybody remotely resembling Koujaku and face illuminating green when it finally spotted him.

"Face recognition software. So, when'd he go missing?"

"Sometime yesterday I think, I'm not sure."

He didn't speak then, moving his hands around and somehow finding several different angles of the street and his shop front, Mizuki surprised there were than many security cameras in one area, let alone that all of them seemingly worked. The images were like a 360 degree view of the street, surrounding them in a circle and the bartender turning to watch the progress of two men across the screen and up the stairs leading to a balcony decorated with traditional Japanese carvings.

They stood there in silence as the team leader emerged from the apartment, two blonde haired men following behind him, walking so stiffly Mizuki felt every hair on his arms raise and the already cold apartment building seemed to plummet several degrees. Even Noiz was frowning now, the slightest downturn of his bottom lip as he zoomed into the blondes faces and his software identified them with the tiniest of information, Virus, Trip, both Yakuza, nothing else known about them.

"Looks like he got himself involved with the Yakuza. He's as good as dead. Sorry." But he didn't sound very apologetic.