RARARA! VOLUME 1 CHAPTER 5- INTERLUDE OR PROLOGUE G

TAKESHI HITOSHI

(Explanation time. I am well aware that it's extremely difficult to obtain a gun in Japan unless youre like, in the Yakuza or something. I promise the gun thing is for further reference not obtained in this volume. Thank you.)

Somewhere in Ikebukuro. 7 pm.

A young man walks casually, his arms filled with grocery bags giving the impression he lives alone.

And is an easy target.

A delinquent steps out from the shadows of the alleyway. He struts over to the shorter young man, gun in his hand. The young man-who can't defend himself due to the heavy bags-gives a reaction uncharacteristic of a victim. He gives the delinquent a look over before sighing in a tiresome way.

"Well don't just point that thing at me."

The young man growls gently as if a gun to his face was an insult, not a threat.

"Give me your money."

The delinquent thought this victim was just putting up a brave face. He didn't care though.

"My money...? Eh..."

The young man glanced to the side of his pocket and casually attempted to reach inside despite carrying so many bags.

"Well, I just used it to buy food. I don't have much at the moment. The amount I have is equivalent to the amount you'd find when walking on the street and finding a single lucky yen."

The young man brushed his light brown hair out of his left eye in annoyance and looked up at the sky in a sleepy way.

"Yeah..."

He turned back to the delinquent who still had the gun pointed at him and began walking towards him. The delinquent stepped back in alarm, cocking the gun back. The young man just chuckled soothingly.

"Calm down, you can hurt someone with that thing, you know? Who don't you just come to my house? I have plenty of money there. I'll even cook you a meal before you kill me or rape me or whatever."

This victim was not acting like a victim at all. That sent a siren in the back of the delinquent's head. Bur with the mention of money, the siren was instantly muted. He shrugged off his suspicions until a thought had come to his head like a dimly lit light bulb.

"It's a trap."

The young man raised a quizzical eyebrow at him, his bright green eye shining in amusement. His soft brown hair had once again covered his left eye.

"A trap? To someone pointing a gun at me?"

"You're going to call the police!"

The delinquent was desperate for money. He had a run in with a couple of men he owed money to earlier that day. If he didn't give the money... But he wasn't desperate enough to go to jail. Ikebukuro's cops were frightening.

The young man paused then snorted quite rudely. The delinquent stiffened in alarm.

"Please! What are you doing in the streets? You don't belong in a dangerous place like this!"

The young man chirped tauntingly in the night air. The delinquent glared, feeling his cheeks burn up in embarrassment. Being made fun of by his own victim! He shoved the gun closer to the victim's face.

The victim's eyelids lowered as he smiled eerily at the delinquent.

"I have a gun!"

"Huuhuu~! I know! You won't let me forget about it!"

The young man tilted his head. The gun followed his movement.

"Ah, I see. You're a man who wants everything to be safe and secure before taking a chance. Well then, you're not really taking a chance, are you? Huuhuu!"

His laugh subsided as he noticed the delinquent wasn't laughing along. His smile quickly vanished and an irritated frown returned.

"I wasn't planning on calling the cops anyways; they're bothersome. A straight up pain in the ass. But if you want my word, I promise there will be no phone calls to cops at my home. No one needs to know."

This assured the delinquent a great deal. He even lowered his gun. The young man rolled his bright green eye as if saying "finally!" The delinquent shoved his victim forward and pressed the gun against the young man's back threateningly.

"If you're not going to shoot it, put it away!"

The young man was really offended by the gun. The delinquent debated for a while but finally decided to put the gun away. His victim was a weird one. Maybe he had a death wish. Oh well, whatever. He was finally going to be able to get the money.

They had walked until they reached an expensive looking house. This made the delinquent happy. His greed overcame his patience and again, his gun was pointed to the back of his victim.

"Again with the gun..."

The young man muttered with much annoyance in his tone. He set the bags down momentarily as e fished out his keys from his pocket. The young man's sleek black boot tapped against the sidewalk in some sort of impatient rhythm. The delinquent was too excited to notice.

Soon enough, the door was open. The young man picked his bags off the bag as his attacker was practically bouncing with excitement.

He had no idea his victim was just as excited as he.

The door finally opened. It seemed like the young man was taking his time, eased steps were taken into his kitchen. The delinquent made sure the door was locked.

"You know, I looooove home delivery~! I haven't had it in a long time though..."

The delinquent heard the carefree voice of his victim drift from the kitchen. The delinquent couldn't help but chuckle at how easy this had been for him. He returned to the kitchen. The short young man had already fetched a cute ruffled apron. His body was small and petite. An uninterested bright green eye looked up at the delinquent. It looked back down at the bags.

"So you want the meal before or after?"

The delinquent couldn't imagine waiting any longer.

"After."

The young man, for some reason, looked genuinely surprised.

"What a shame. Less work for me, I suppose."

The next thing the delinquent knew, everything went black. Was he knocked out? No, the delinquent lifted his chin up and realized he was face down on the ground. Some force was above him. Something cool was pressed against his neck.

In a flash, the young man had already moved towards the delinquent before pinning him face down on the floor. A knife was pressed against his neck.

Of course... The delinquent should have never let his victim into the kitchen. He cursed mentally at the feel of cool steel pricking against his skin. Still, he was amazed at how swift the young man had moved.

Then he noticed.

This wasn't a kitchen knife. It was a surgical knife.

"What the hell?"

The delinquent now struggled to push his used-to-be-victim off him. The young man didn't even budge. He just laughed. Softly at first, but then it got louder.

"Home delivery~! I never had my 'lovers' walk into my house by themselves!"

What? The delinquent put on a face of disgust. The young man just smiled down at him as he slid the knife to his shoulder instead and, in an agonizing pace, let it sink in.

"Huuhuuhuu~!"

The psychotic young man laughed.

"I knew it! I knew it! Oh, have you seen the movie Maniac 2.5?"

The delinquent blinked in stunned surprise. He found that his voice was shaking. He could only scream. The young man frowned and took the blade out then slid it right next to the deep cut. He made a new clean cut as if cutting a slice of pizza and peeled off the delinquent's skin. The delinquent-turned-victim squealed like an animal.

"Fine. Don't answer me. I hate that movie. You know why? It's incorrect."

Slice. Slice. Slice. Slice.

"You think the blood is pretty bad in that movie? Ha! Look at yourself! You see it? You're bleeding much more! Much much more!"

The delinquent couldn't handle it. He didn't bother muffling the screams. The oozing red watery substance. That was his blood surrounding him. Just as he was about to faint, he heard the door click open. Hope.

"Help!"

His unnatural screams turned into words. He raised his head and felt a prickling sensation from the sting of flesh on the back of his neck making contact with his skin. Another yelp of pain.

A younger looking man had walked in. He was much taller than the green eyed maniac but had a soft childish expression on his face. His childish expression was further emphasized by his oversized green bear-eared headphones. He wore an expression of mild surprise although a gentle smile played on his lips.

"Help!"

The maniac paused for a while, his knife burrowed deep within the side of the delinquent, ignoring his new victim's squeals.

"Akihiko-kun. You're here earlier than usual."

The one identified as Akihiko laughed in a carefree manner. He walked graciously, his soft blue eyes wore an out worldly expression.

The man in his own world.

"Ah! Yes! How unusual of Hitoshi-san to bring home a new loved one before making dinner!"

It wasn't whining. It was simply noted curiously. Akihiko hadn't even batted an eyelash at the delinquent bleeding on the floor.

"Huuhuuhuu~! Yes! Home delivery! Can you believe my luck?"

"Oh wow~! No way!"

"Call the police!"

Desperation. Desperation screamed in the delinquent's body. That, and fear and pain. Looking at horror movies, the man had always thought that the actor screaming was over exaggerating. There was no way anyone would scream that loud. Yet there he was. His throat refused to go sore. It knew it was moments away from never being able to scream again so the yells and cries never ended.

"Ah, would that make you happy?"

It would have sounded like a joke. The tone, though, was one of endearment and although his smile never disappeared, his eyes shone with seriousness.

"A pa pa pa~! Don't even think about it, Akihiko-kun."

Hitoshi, the maniac, hissed in a warning tone. He smiled and laughed once again.

"I made a dear promise to my 'lover' that no calls to police would be made from this house."

"He made you promise that...? Why?"

Hitoshi's face turned serious again. His bright green eyes darkened.

"I'll have to talk to you about that later..."

The delinquent continued screaming. Even with his headphones, Akihiko winced at the sound.

"He's awfully loud~"

Akihiko noted curiously. Hitoshi looked up at him with concern.

"Does it bother you?"

"... No, not really."

"It does."

Hitoshi elegantly raised the delinquent's neck and smoothly sliced through his neck at his vocal chords as if slicing through butter.

"Ugh... Get me a cloth. I don't want him dead yet. Guess I'll have to stitch him up then..."

Akihiko rushed happily then returned and helped Hitoshi wrap it around the delinquent's neck. Hitoshi stood up as Akihiko now held the delinquent down.

"I want to do more experimenting on him. Bring him downstairs, Akihiko-kun."

"Hmm? Yes Hitoshi-san! Whatever you say! Whatever makes you happy!"

Hitoshi marched downstairs, his striped black-and-white arm warmers splattered with the delinquent's blood. Akihiko obediently followed, carrying the bloody delinquent as if he was nothing more than a notebook.

"Can you believe it? Remember the movie Maniac 2.5? Well I used the research I made in that crappy movie and guess what? It lied! He bled a full liter more than on the screen! Plus, the skin split forward, not sideways."

"Whoa whoa~! No way~!"

The two peculiar young men continued their conversation while the once attacker turned victim's body struggled in violent spasms in a last effort to escape, his mouth open in an eternal silent scream.