Soujiro

Every morning, at around five o'clock, Seta Soujiro woke up and went out onto the rickety balcony that was joined onto his tiny, pleasantly cheap room. He watched the sun rise, the city gradually wake up. He smoked too – and liked watching the smoke curl around buildings.

At this time, he was a watcher. A passive presence of which no-one was aware. This was the time when he separated himself from humanity, before it was six o'clock and he got dressed, ate breakfast (or not) and went down onto the street only to mingle with the people he was so different from. Soujiro was self-aware enough to find this ironic. In the end, my thoughts and worldview have nothing to do with the society that I live in.

Soujiro could say a few things about himself – one of which was that he liked people. Not individuals really, (they were all kind of the same) but people as a whole. Humans. He liked them as animals that one could watch fascinatedly through the bars of a zoo cage, in his case though the wrought-iron bars of the balcony and down onto the streets – or when he walked among them. He was mesmerized by these wonderful and ugly creatures of which he was one.

They were so interesting and he – as someone who could not see himself as human – watched them with avid curiosity. They thought they were all so different but really – there were only three types. The few who were terribly naïve, the majority who thought they were 'good' and the few who knew they were 'bad'. Soujiro understood this. And watching the tiny figures on the dirty streets, avoiding each other, greeting each other, doing their things… He got a strange feeling.

It wasn't really a sense of superiority that he got, as it was of otherness. He was different from these humans – and if he was given the chance – he would stay as he was and watch from far above, on his rickety balcony, rather than join in, as he had to every day. Soujiro thought himself neither good nor bad – and was too disillusioned with the world to be naïve. He simply did what he was told because he had nothing else to do and because it was the way of staying alive for him.

And so, as Soujiro woke up he did this. He watched the city, he watched his smoke, he watched the sun rise. It is foggy today, he thought. Then, when his watch said it was five-fifty (it ran ten minutes late) he tore himself away from that sight and retreated into his squalid room to prepare for the oncoming day. He dressed nicely but carelessly, loosely wearing a tie and a sleeker, better fitting black jacket that he did not button. He packed a small suitcase with essentials.

Breakfast was simple. Since he had no food inside, he would go outside to the Chinese bakery so that he could eat. He took his suitcase and locked the door, then walked down many flights of creaky stairs and managed to avoid his landlady, whom he had no interest in speaking with. I'll pay her the month's rent when I get back, when Shishio-san pays me for a job well completed. He could hear her yelling at someone else, however, broken English mixed with Italian swearwords and the feeble protests of whoever she was chewing out.

"Come on, lady!" he could hear the man whining. "I got a train to catch! I promise, I'll get ya the money-"

"No! You always say! Then you gamble and I wait like patient woman! And you bring me nothing! Why I not throw you out, huh? Goodness of my heart! I think, 'I am woman! Mother! I have son!' But this how you do?! I know some people! They could throw you out like this!" a snap of fingers.

"Hey, hey – I'm sure we'll get stuff sorted, how about we-"

"Ehh! You annoying punk! I know people!"

"I know people too! I know a nice guy, maybe you guys could meet up and get along, I'd set it u-" A string of swearwords in Italian and English interrupting him.

Soujiro almost laughed and then continued down the stairs. A train to catch, huh? Me and you both, he thought.

**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**o**

His suitcase slung over his shoulder with a careless arm, Soujiro walked down the foggy streets, chewing on a steaming pork bun. He had a purpose in his step, but since he was in no hurry his paces were slow and meandering. He reached his destination – the store which hid Kamatari's bar, walked in and was ushered past the counter through the 'secret' door.

Dimly lit as always, the speakeasy was free of dead bodies this time. However, in the seat occupied by Soujiro the night before, sat a man in a large fur coat and white suit. His longish hair was pushed away from his face and he was smoking a cigar. Kamatari poured him a drink, dressed not in his bartender clothes, but one of his favorite dresses. "Soujiro-kun!" he called.

The man looked up and nodded. "Oh, here you are." He said to Soujiro, sounding rather unenthusiastic.

Soujiro smiled. "Good morning, Houji-san, Kamatari-chan."

Houji downed his drink. "Ah yes. Good, morning. Finally, now that you're here I can get down to business. This is going to be amazing. Shishio-sama came up with eighty percent of this plan."

Raising an eyebrow, Soujiro nodded slowly. "Is that so…" he said thoughtfully. This is going to be rather more interesting than I originally thought.

"Oh! Goodness!" Riveted, Kamatari swung his legs over the counter and perched on its edge looking intently at Houji. Soujiro positioned himself so that Kamatari would be between himself and Houji, who spasmodically crossed his legs, then uncrossed them. His gloved hands clenched and unclenched inside the sleeves of his coat. Then he looked up and smiled, a certain mania around his eyes (or maybe it was the eye makeup – Soujiro couldn't really tell with Houji). "I'll give you the rundown of the plan!" he sounded excited.

Kamatari adjusted his cloche hat and smiled also. "This is going to be rather exciting, isn't it, Houji-san? I can see you're very excited. I know I am! Especially now that I know this is Shishio-sama's plan – it's going to be terribly exciting!"

Snorting, Houji nodded. "Oh yes." He drawled. "Yes. This is going to be very exciting. Listen carefully."