Baccano!: Bandit's Sojourn

Chapter 3: The Stage Is Set Through Departure, And Disappearance- Interior

The commotion commences...

Inside the titanic vessel, as Max, Karl, the sizeable party of foreign girls and countless others before and after them flooded in through the entrance, striding down the lavishly carpeted walkways between the rows, searching for seats, or moving up further to unoccupied tables with still other passengers clambering up stairways that led to the upper levels, others that had been unknowingly ordained by fate to bear witness to what was soon to come had already boarded prior to their arrival. Dotted about the several floors that the gargantuan ship contained, these individuals continued about their business, entirely unaware of what was to transpire.

The first of these people, found on the first, lowest floor, was a youthful girl, brown-eyed, and with hair of a matching colour styled in a ponytail, clearly a teenager by her appearance, garbed in a simple yet elegant red dress, who was currently occupied with gazing out of a window to her left, propping up her chin on a hand and staring at the teeming crowd outside with a distinctly bored expression on her face, paying those that passed behind her no attention.

This girl, of Japanese descent, was Kyoko Nokogiri. Born in the heart of Japan, with her and her parents moving to the United States relatively soon after, at the start of the Great Depression in order to pursue a different life with not so outstanding results, she had swiftly transformed into a firm cynic in the process, with her birth nation's swift recovery as opposed to the USA still being mired in its own troubles only expediting her metamorphosis. With her parents managing to scrape enough savings, upon hearing of the Fair Lady, they urged their daughter to board it in the hopes that at least she would be able to lead a decent life.

Of course, with her being what she was, she regarded their actions with her natural cynicism, despite accepting them prior. Even now, as she stared blankly out of her window, reminiscing over the circumstances that brought her here, she could only describe their actions, and her current situation, thinking aloud, as being:

"Stupid."

With that irritated utterance, Kyoko turned her eyes away from the window and, instead, cast a glance at the stream of people to her right. Eyeing the procession of the wealthy and the privileged with the same flat expression, and yet with an underlying sense of disdain, and seeing them all as being nondescript, she quickly dismissed them, and turning away, reclining and staring at the ceiling. Sighing plaintively, she spoke once again to herself.

"The ranks of the rich and the influential...such boorish, gaudy types..."

As Kyoko made her analysis, having little else to do but stare into space, she braced herself for the journey that lay ahead-

Until an accent that stood out from the din of the crowd, evidently foreign in tone, and an odd glimmer caught the girl's eye.

The source of the sight and sound was a somewhat diminutive, portly and smirking figure. Clad in an immaculately clean white suit, with a head of combed hair, his noticeable fringe shrouding a bespectacled eye, with his glasses seeming to gleam, almost maliciously, and with an unnatural degree of luminosity. As the man calmly pushed his way through the crowd with hushed, polite utterances and excusing his way through, he came to a stop at the seat beside Kyoko's, and the Japanese girl decided to take a glance at this newcomer.

At first glance, despite the rather disconcerting smirk and disturbing gleaming, the man appeared amiable and normal enough. Taking his spotless suit and accompanying gloves into consideration, his remarkably clean and refined appearance was the mark of a gentleman. Then again, as Kyoko noted, the majority of the genteel and polite took cleanliness and refinement into consideration on a regular basis. However, upon closer inspection, Kyoko seemed to sense something profoundly ominous about him- something that the grin and the gleaming had already hinted at, and something that her current examination of him made clearer. As she looked at the man, she couldn't help but feel something foreboding emanating from him like an aura, something savage and primal in nature, and something that Kyoko wanted to find out, despite it unnerving her-

"Is something the matter?"

-but ultimately, she would not yet discover the true meaning of the dark aura the man radiated, as an abrupt question asked by him jolted her forcefully out of her reverie. Kyoko hesitated for a moment, and replied, simply, "I'm sorry? I was...caught up."

"Evidently", the man remarked, earning a frown from Kyoko before continuing. "I asked, is something the matter? You took your time staring at me. Analysing me, if I dare say so. Am I already proving to be bothersome?"

Attempting to remain distant, Kyoko replied, as flatly as she could muster, "No...not really. You just stood out. That's all."

The man's grin widened at her answer, and, as he took his seat he turned to look at her, the lenses of his spectacles still being illuminated to Kyoko's hidden discomfort. "Well, then!", he exclaimed, jovially, his grin receding into a less broad smile, "It's nice to know that I'm already turning one head. Before our voyage has begun, no less!"

Kyoko responded with a low murmur of approval, and a pall of silence hung over the pair until, to the girl's surprise, the man extended a hand. Kyoko hesitated, confused for a moment, before asking, "What's up with you being so cordial? You know we've only just met, right?"

"Of that, I am well aware," the man stated in response, "but I have swiftly reckoned that you, at least, will be good company on this journey. As a result, I think it's best I properly introduce myself to you."

He extended his outstretched hand further, and Kyoko, after a pause, took it, somewhat uneasily. "Maximilian- but Max is more preferable. You?"

"...Kyoko."

"Good!", Max responed, now visibly beaming. "It's truly a pleasure to be acquainted with you, Fraulein."

The second of these people was to be located on the second floor of the vessel, situated behind the counter of an on-board bar. A man of medium stature with a head of neat black hair, clad in black and white working attire, this character, one Hickory Chambers, was already preoccupied with serving a handful of patrons. Having prior skill, he had been selected to be among the airship's crew as a bartender, and it was in this position that he sat behind his counter, watching passengers file in and take their seats.

So far, the event had been mundane for him- the most he had done presently was serving drinks and engaging in idle chatter with customers, as he was a sociable person, eager to strike up conversations with others. As he sat, arms folded on the counter, waiting for new arrivals, he sighed inwardly as he continued to eye incoming passengers, and while he was aware that the current air of dullness would dissipate after take-off, he pined for something to tide the waiting over.

It also just so happened that fortune was gracious enough to answer said pining, as a man with his head bowed, garbed in particularly eye-catching clothing, namely a fedora and a jacket with a distinct brown shade and with a bag slung over his shoulder, entered with another batch of passengers, and, after casting a furtive glance at the bar, proceeded to hastily pace towards it and take a seat by the counter. Upon seeing this, Hickory sauntered over to his new patron, and asked, appropriately, "You in a hurry, friend?"

His question was answered by a brisk nod, and a short, concise statement. "Just need to get away from the crowds, briefly. Just need something small, too, to take my mind off being hounded."

"Bourbon?", Hickory replied, offering a suggestion. Another nod later, and, in moments, the beverage was prepared, with the customer swallowing the glass' contents in a single swig. Hickory arched his eyebrows, surprised, before posing a query in regards to the man's previous statement.

"Being hounded, you say? Popular fellow, plenty of social ties?"

"You could say that. I just don't want to go the length of this trip being bothered by others. I've already heard them whisper."

"To be fair," Hickory replied, "I can see why."

"Pardon?"

"I caught a glimpse of you mid-drink. Fedoras can't always hide everything, you know." Hickory's voice then dropped to a low whisper, and he continued. "You're that rather outstanding Daily Days guy, aren't you? Rhodes?"

A brief pause, and the man responded, somewhat uneasily, and in the same tone of voice. "...Karl Rhodes, yes. You're not planning on telling others, are you?"

"Surely," the bartender stated, pointedly, "they can't all be aware of you? And forgive me for being curt, but I doubt a journalist is the epitome of fame around here..."

"I'm certain of that, but there are some who know, at the least. I'm just on this trip to meet with a colleague in Europe, and being hassled isn't a priority of mine."

"Well, I understand that reasoning- you just want a peaceful journey. I can sympathise with that. Take off's soon, and I may be flooded with customers...in the end, though, it's all a part of the job, isn't it?"

"You could say that...pressure can still be irritating."

Hickory nodded in agreement, and, after a momentary pause, offered Karl a second glass. "Seconds?"

"No, thanks", Karl replied, declining, rising from his seat and sliding a handful of bills across the counter. "One's enough...it'll tide me over."

"All right. In advance, friend, have a good one, And, one more thing..."

Karl glanced over his shoulder at the bartender, who addressed him a final time, and assured him:

"Your 'secret' is safe with me, friend."

"That's the last of them..."

The youthful ticket master outside sighed with relief as the last handful of passengers, a group of individuals clad in salient white suits, carrying numerous suitcases and with a red-headed female figure leading the pack, filed in, both because of his job being over, and because of the rather hostile glares members of the aforementioned group had shot at him. But, for him, his duty was complete, and as he withdrew inside the ship, he smiled, inwardly, as his own burden was lifted from his shoulders.

Moments afterwards, the vessel shuddered briefly as it was detached from its moorings. Outside, as the crowds viewed the spectacle, a collective cheer arose as the now airborne beast ascended, embarking on its momentous voyage as, with a low hum that rose to a throbbing roar, the propeller engines activated, drowning out even the raucous din of the onlookers as the titan turned lazily, towards Europe, through the sky.

Inside the vessel, there, too, was celebration, amongst passengers and crew members alike. The young ticket master briefly indulged in the festivities, before the words of the blonde girl crossed his mind.

"I...suppose I should keep my end of the 'bargain'...but...did she honestly mean that...?", the youth wondered. "I mean, I can't deny that some of them were lookers," he said, thoughts drifting to the party of foreign girls, "but...well, perhaps they just meant to tease me!" Coming to his own conclusion, he continued, briefly. "I mean, 'quality time'...perhaps they like me, want to play around a little...nothing wrong with that..."

With these youthful thoughts in mind, he proceeded to follow the trail of the girls. Moving up a staircase, where he saw them last, to the second floor, he saw no sign of them after briefly searching, and he came to an obvious conclusion.

Slowly, he paced up a second staircase to the luxurious, lavish upper level, which, bizarrely, the ticket master found empty, save for one group- sure enough, strewn amongst the wide seats, were the bevy of girls, who were now training their eyes on him, and the youth found the blonde girl reclining in a seat near the staircase's top, with two others, the previously met orange-haired twin-tailed girl and the mature, green-eyed blonde, sitting on the arms of the seat, on either side of their leader. The ticket master took in the scene for a moment, and then asked, somewhat hesitantly:

"You, uh...called for me?"

The smaller blonde answered with a grin.

"That we did..."

So. Done. After six, nearly seven months, if anyone's still here.

And personally, I'm of the opinion that four is an unlucky number. This being the fourth chapter leads me to state that, but make of it what you will.