Chapter 21 — Senator Green Day / My Chemical Romance

Yomotsu sat down in the passenger's seat of Yuri's Rolls-Royce Phantom. The car was already nice and warm. Yuri had started it a while ago. This was no longer motorcycle weather, but Yuri had offered to give Yomotsu rides to work. If Yuri worked earlier than him and could not give him a ride, Yomotsu walked.

By January 20th, there was a light layer of snow over Graceville. Most of the Christmas lights had been taken down, and all of the remaining discounted holiday items had been sold at Yum Yums. It was a pleasant, warm holiday after what had certainly been a chaotic November.

Some said Kira had gone into hiding, and some said he must have been taken out by the FBI or some other extension of a powerful government on the world stage. All Mercy seemed to be aware of, though, was how polite Luke was and how quickly he seemed to have rebounded after she severed ties with him.

Yomotsu and Yuri were going to hang out with Mercy again. They had watched some movies together and drove around town together a bit up until now, but this would be their first time hanging out at Mercy's place. They had a nice winter drive to go before they would get there.

"What do you want to listen to?" Yuri asked. He was wearing an icy blue suit, white pants, and a white tie that had an ice cube design on it. Yomotsu heard Yuri tell him so much, when he bragged about how much he liked his look for today. Over the suit, he wore a grey cardigan jacket. A grey and green scarf kept his neck warm.

"Sure you don't want to listen to DEAD END or your new Yusei Teikoku album?" Yomotsu asked. Yomotsu, for his own part, was wearing the clothes that Yuri had given him for Christmas: a long sleeved, blue men's t-shirt that had the Justice girl's clothing store logo on it. Yomotsu wondered whether he was able to find this shirt in a men's size somewhere or whether he had somehow custom made this; either way, Yomotsu thought it looked marvelous. But that did not necessarily mean much.

Yuri shrugged and brushed some of his hair away from his face. "I am not in the mood… I think you would have something more fitting up your sleeve."

This was true—Yomotsu could not see out the window, but he already knew the right music for this setting. He felt it when he stepped outside of the house, when he turned the cold doorknob and breathed in the crisp air. This was Yasutaka Nakata weather.

He slid in a mixed CD, and as soon as the first song started, he pressed on the search button until he got to "I'm Feelin You," from Capsule's Flash Back album. He buckled himself in and rubbed his hands together. He had chosen not to wear a jacket, but he now regretted not wearing gloves.

Mercy lived in a one bedroom apartment on the other side of town. Just as it was a bit of a drive from her place every day to Yum Yums, so getting there from their place was also a longer drive than Yuri and Yomotsu were used to. Yuri never drove prior to living in Graceville. In Sternbuild, public transportation was efficient, and Yuri lived a very compartmentalized life. He only went to a few places, all of which could be easily accessed through an affordable taxi service subscription.

This was not to say that Yuri did not enjoy driving. In fact, Yuri had recently said to Yomotsu that these drives were very valuable to him. He was the one driving both when Mercy was with and when it was just him and Yomotsu, and both had their separate roles in his life.

"This is good," Yuri said, after the song picked up. Yomotsu nodded; he knew it would be. This sentimental, cute, upbeat music—did it not accurately set the stage for this encounter? Was this not the most righteous description of his feelings toward Mercy?

The apartment was fairly upscale. It was in the newer part of town, which was expanding North. Yuri described it for him as he pulled into the parking lot: four floors, a brown/tan color scheme, garages for tenants, and a playground on the property for tenants' children.

Yuri shut the car off and, after a moment, opened the door for Yomotsu on the other side. Yomotsu found his seatbelt and unbuckled it, so he could step back out into the cold and join Yuri. He heard the vehicle lock behind him, a second later.

"'Remember, mind your table manners—Don't make me regret taking you!" Yuri teased.

Yomotsu replied, "She wants to enjoy both of our company! I should say the same for you! Don't accidently start anything on fire and don't show her your mask… It creeps the ladies out."

Now Yuri chuckled. "What would you know about 'the ladies'? I honestly can't even imagine you in a relationship… No offense."

Shaking his fist at his housemate, Yomotsu fired back, "WELL, I THOUGHT THE SAME THING ABOUT YOU BEFORE YOU TOLD ME ABOUT VIDALIA AND HOW SHE JUMPED OFF A WATERFALL BUT THAT IS ACTUALLY QUITE SAD… oh, crap. I shouldn't have brought that up, right?"

They were at the door to the building Mercy lived in. There was a thoughtful pause. "It's fine," Yuri said. "That happened a long time ago… And I'm afraid one can't bring the dead back to life. Vidalia… not something I am comfortable with you joking about, but… It's fine."

Yomotsu sighed. "Sorry…" He rubbed the back of his neck. He wished he had a nice scarf like Yuri.

"Apology accepted," Yuri said. "Let's go inside—and let's hope Mercy isn't the type to throw pretzels around."

Yomotsu followed the rail up the stairs, up to Mercy's door on the third floor. He felt the welcome mat with his foot, and through his shoe he was able to detect that the words "KAWAII DESU" were on it, preceded by an arrow pointing to the person standing on or in front of the mat. Yuri knocked on the door.

Almost instantly, the door was flung open, and Mercy let a happy "WOO!" Yomotsu could picture in his mind her holding her arms against her chest, with her palms up and her fingers curled inward, as she boiled over with excitement. This was not something he was merely making up; she had a habit of getting really excited when she met up with them. She probably had a beaming smile.

"Yomotsu~! Yuri-chan~!" She jumped forward and wrapped her arms momentarily around Yomotsu. He awkwardly remained rigidly as he was, never sure how to handle such things. As she turned to enthusiastically shake Yuri's hand (he had expressly stated his dislike of hugs, and so she kept physical contact at more of a minimal with him), Yomotsu still felt the warmth of her arms. The cold outside no longer prompted him to go inside.

Yuri would later describe everything in detail to him, as Yomotsu was full of questions. What he gathered about the visuals was, then, as follows: Mercy was wearing a red short sleeve shirt with a skull on it over a black long sleeve shirt underneath. She wore a black skirt with a thorn design and black leggings. Under the blue sides of her hair, her ears had helix piercings, a small silver ring in each. The whole apartment was pretty bare. The living room and bedroom had white carpet, and the bathroom had a simple white color scheme as well. The futon and black pseudo-suede leg rest was opposite a 32 inch television, which happened to be tuned to JusTV. Above the couch was a scenery portrait of a meadow. All standard fair.

Yomotsu, at the time, slipped off his shoes. Yuri did the same and also hung his scarf and cardigan on the coat rack by the door. Mercy was moving quickly to set everything up; she placed three saucers and a respective cup or mug on the footrest.

"A cup of green tea with honey for Yuri-chan, a mug of hot chocolate for Yomotsu, and a mug of coffee with plenty of sugar and cream for me!" Mercy announced. "And, if you so wish, you may take your seats~! I was just finishing a level of Katamari Damacy, and then we can figure out what we want to do from there."

One thing Yuri did not need to describe later was what Yomotsu immediately sat on—and, in sitting on it, elicited a cry from Mercy. "Senator Greenday! Yomotsu, Yomotsu, get back up! You're sitting on Senator Greenday!"

Yomotsu did as he was asked and whirled around. He felt at the object he had sat on; it was a teddy bear that, as he noted, had one arm sewn on that must have originally have belonged to a different bear. It was a totally different texture; the rest of the bear was fuzzy, and this one arm was soft. Around the bear's neck was a tiny cape.

"Senator Greenday…?" He repeated, curiously.

Mercy scooped up the bear and held it safely in her arms. "Yes, he's my little friend! And you had to go and sit on him—gosh! Luke used to do the same thing, but it was to push my buttons…"

Yomotsu, not wanting to be compared to Light Yagami, quickly responded, "Ma'am, your buttons are the last things I want to push! I apologize!"

Mercy sighed and held the bear out to him. "It's not me you have to apologize to you—say you're sorry to Senator Greenday!"

He heard Yuri chuckling in the background. Then he mustered up his pride and, with his eyes blank eyes staring unknowingly into the teddy bear's black orbs, he said, "I am sorry, Senator Greenday, for this injustice."

Yuri full-out laughed, but Mercy was satisfied enough to ignore him and to set the little bear aside, by the TV and entertainment stand. She then took her place next to Yomotsu, who was on the rightmost end. Yuri sat down to Mercy's left, closer to the window.

Mercy explained that she was on the final stage of the first Katamari game, where she had to roll up enough objects to make a new moon. As she explained, Yomotsu found himself smiling. The game sounded fun, and the music was very catchy, but he also just enjoyed hearing her talk about it. She sounded happy describing something she was interested in, even if it was this ridiculous game about rolling up people screaming in terror along with everything else in sight.

"Ah, almost there! The timer is running out!" Mercy announced some time later.

"How big is this thing, exactly?" Yuri asked.

"Ummmm… I can check, actually…" Mercy paused the game. "It says it's as big as 27,683 cushions… however big those are…"

"…Is that the only standard of measurement we can use?" Yuri asked, a little disappointed.

"No, no! Let me refresh this," muttered Mercy, before cycling through a few other measurements. "It says that it's worth 79 rains. How about that?"

"What… what is a 'rain'?" Yuri pondered aloud.

"Sounds pretty big," Yomotsu remarked.

"Not big enough," Mercy answered. She took on a deeper voice. "Roll bigger! Roll faster! The sky is still empty; it needs… A certain thing. Ah, that's it. The sky lacks justice. Little pipsqueak Prince, let's gather up more justice for the sky!"

A couple of days later, about 1pm, Mercy texted Yuri and asked if they wanted to hang out. Yuri responded that Yomotsu worked 2-10. She texted him back, "If you don't mind, how about you and I just hang out? Who needs Yomotsu, anyway? CERTAINLY NOT US. HE IS A LOOSER AND WE ARE ABOVE HIS LOWLINESS." He said he would see how he felt, show up if he wanted, but give no warning before he would arrive, "so I can ambush you properly and pillage your household."

He showed up at her door about an hour later in a maroon suit and pants, a purple tie, and his hair in a ponytail. She greeted him excitedly and led him in. He looked down at the "KAWAII DESU" sign and did not know what to feel.

What kind of girl was Mercy? She dated Luke, who they discovered was Light Yagami, Kira. She appeared to have no connection to Kira at all, however, and her love and support for the 12th and Lunatic was clear in how she spoke. JusTV was often on in her household, and even now that they were seeing each other at the doorway, she was wearing a t-shirt with Lunatic's face on it.

It was awkward. If you've ever had your face on a shirt and seen other people wear it, you would know the feeling—only, this was not even just his face, but the face of his alter ego. He could not even diminish the awkwardness by referencing how it was his face. The shirt was black, with his face on the center, and the word "THANATOS" printed in a font that reminded him of a sports jersey. She wore torn-up blue jeans.

"You didn't have to dress up just to see me!" Mercy teased. She knew already that he always dressed up, and a day in which he was not wearing a suit was certainly remarkable.

He wanted to play along and say the same about her shirt, but he answered a little awkwardly, "How do you know it was for you? Maybe I dressed up for Senator Greenday."

They went into her room. It was a mess. The walls were full of framed pictures of herself, her family, friends, and the 12th. The floor had piles of paperwork, clothes, and empty water bottles scattered. On the nightstand, among other items, there was a big jar of Jif natural creamy peanut butter, with a knife sitting on top of the cover. The twin-sized bed was on the floor with a black cover, a red sheet, and pillows and bedspread with a black and red checker design. Senator Greenday was sitting on one of the pillows. There was a bookshelf against the wall with books by Haruki Murakami and Chuck Palahniuk. On top of the bookshelf was a cd collection.

"And when we go, don't blame us, yeah, we'll let the fires just bathe us, yeah…"

Why was he telling Mercy about his family? Why was he telling this young woman about how his father turned to alcohol and beat his wife, Yuri's mother? Why was he talking about his mother at all, let alone saying that, in some horrible ways, he was glad that she died. Simply because she told him about how missing her family in another state, did that excuse telling her about his mother's mental deterioration and fixation with her husband's death? Did Mercy need to know about the denial?

"Mama, we're all full of lies, mama we're all made for the flies…"

Somehow, listening to My Chemical Romance and telling her this made sense. Yuri's father never took him to see a marching band, but he took him to see circuses and amusement parks and Santa Claus at the shopping center and to the countryside. He showed him those things when he was not working, for he was a busy man, and Mercy would only know the half of it.

"Hey, Yuri, you don't have to tell me more if you don't want to…"

He had his hand on his face and was turned away from her. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed. He was standing by the closet. He could see the costume hanging. "If I may ask… What is this? Cosplay?" He offered her a way out. He pointed to it. All she had to do was say that it was for cosplay, and he would ask no more. She liked Japanese culture. She made a point of showing him her anime and manga collection.

"It's a long story… And since you told me so much, I feel comfortable telling you."

He turned his head and then his whole body. "Teenagers" played in the background, on low enough volume so that her quieter tone of voice could still be understood clearly.

"All of my life, I've felt as though people don't really care about justice. They say they do, but they show their true colors by supporting people like Kira or what Lunatic used to stand for. I have felt for so long that no one gives a crap, and that really, at the end of the day, you're on your own. And it's terrible… But I got used to it, you know? 'You gotta save yourself.' My family has been nice, but very conservative. And here's me, vegetarian and attending protests against the death penalty and the war. But when the 12th and Lunatic appeared… I don't know. I don't know if I believe in fate. But I don't know how to explain why they are here, why they just happened to appear in the town I moved to. I grew up in Graceville, and then my family moved away, and I went with them for a while and then came back… It's where my heart is. So when those two appeared here… I know it might sound irrational, but I wanted to be near them. So, I wear that, to hide my identity, and I sometimes try to get close to them. I know I'm not a hero, but I want to be there, in case they need me for something… And I want to see my heroes up close."

He nodded and wanted to smile. But he would not be able to explain the smile.

"And it makes me feel like, maybe, one day I'll be able to thank them for giving me hope. Someone gives a crap." She chuckled a little emotionally.

Now he could smile, and he did so while he moved to sit down next to Mercy. He looked at her face. The face Yomotsu couldn't see. She had beautiful eyes, and her whole face glowed when she spoke of her heroes—and as "Disenchanted" played, it was clear that she was "not afraid to world alone," because she knew that she was not going to need to.

"Your hair is so nice," she said, softly.

He chuckled softly. Normally he would have flipped it, but he had it in a ponytail.

"I like it more when it's let out, though," she said.

"Me too," he said. "I just felt like mixing things up."

She looked down, at where her fingers were tapping at her exposed knee. "Don't change anything just for me. When we hang out… Just be yourself. I'm sorry to hear what happened growing up… But not everyone is like your family, you know?"

He looked hard at her. "I know that. I don't know how much I feel comfortable saying, but, there was also Vidalia…"

She looked up and met his eyes. "…like the onion?"

He smiled at the silliness. "Yeah. Like the onion."

"Give them blood, blood, blooooooooood… I'm the kind of human wreckage that you love!"

"And also," Mercy admitted as Yuri was about to leave the room some time later. "About the costume… About the 12th… Is it weird, to have a crush on justice? Is it weird if I might… If I might be in love with the 12th?"