Disclaimer: I do not own Black Blood Brothers.
Way # Four: Tell him that Jirou loves him.
During the night, the temperature dropped into the single-digits, and the freezing rain that soaked the special zone turned to snow. By morning the special-zone was snug in a thick, white blanket.
Along with the thick, white blanket came several problems; people had difficulty leaving home, or just driving anywhere, a blackout, lots of cold people, and a group of renegade vampires infiltrated the special-zone. However, the snow-storm was only partially to blame for the last one. The black-out gave a young man, with nasty debts, the perfect opportunity to invite the black-bloods into the special-zone, and get them tucked safely away in a warehouse, without anyone being seen.
Unfortunately, the warehouse was already home to a group of homeless men and women. One of whom was a company operative, and alerted the company that there were illegal black-bloods in the special-zone.
The company called Mimiko, and Jirou. And all of this led to Zelman getting a call at six o'clock in the morning, from Mimiko, asking him if he would please babysit Kotaro for the day.
Zelman had already been awake; sleeping on Sayuka's couch equaled getting up when she got up and Sayuka the crack of dawn. Sayuka's strangled gasp and her dropping her coffee mug had made it all worth it though. That and watching her try –and fail- to discreetly return to her bedroom to hide the picture she had of him there.
Zelman agreed to Mimiko's request and biked over to her apartment. Any snow within ten feet of him melted.
Kotaro was still asleep. Once Jirou and Mimiko had left, and making sure the window shades were securely shut, Zelman plopped down on Mimiko's couch and followed Kotaro's example. And it was Kotaro who woke him several hours later.
"Zelman-san," Kotaro said. "Zelman-san, wake-up."
Zelman opened one eye. Kotaro leaned over him, looking anxious. "Where's Aniki and Mimi-chan, Zelman-san?"
Zelman sat up, and pushed his hair from his face. "Dealing with renegade vampires, I am watching you until they get back tonight."
Kotaro brightened up immediately, "So we're going to spend the day together."
"Yes," said Zelman, getting up. "Fetch your coat, and we'll find you some breakfast."
"Yes, Zelman-san," said Kotaro. "Thank you Zelman-san."
As everything was closed, thanks to the snow-storm, Zelman took Kotaro back to his mansion, where one of the maids prepared the boy breakfast.
Jaime Benson, Zelman's right-hand man called him, to tell him about property damages the storm had caused. While Zelman pretended to listen to Benson, the maid watched Kotaro while he ran about the front yard, making snowmen, building snowmen, and having a snow fight with the maid.
Zelman rejoined Kotaro for lunch, just as the maid set a bowl of ramen in front of the Lord Sage. For the first time, Zelman really got a good look at her. She was the deranged young woman who had stolen from him, drunk all his cola, and smeared cut-up cigarette butts all over his room.
"You work here?" Zelman asked.
The maid nodded, smiling happily.
This was the problem with running a group of criminally insane individuals. One got really lax about doing psych-checks. Still you'd think the eyes would be a give-away. They just screamed "Hi, I just escaped from a mental hospital."
But then, perhaps this could be a good thing. Cain was likely to have an aneurysm when he found out Zelman had been watching Kotaro for the day. If Zelman also let slip he'd let an escaped lunatic watch and prepare food for the Lord Sage, the black-blood would likely have a stroke right then and there. Not that it would kill him, but it would be funny to watch Cain fall over.
"My name's Mel," said the maid, waving. "How can I serve you Zelman-sama?"
"Rice balls," said Zelman. Just because the girl was crazy didn't mean she couldn't cook. Kotaro was thoroughly enjoying the ramen Mel had made him.
"Coming up," said Mel.
"What do you want to do after lunch?" Zelman asked Kotaro, lazily.
"Mimi-chan was going to take me to see a movie," said Kotaro. "Can we do that?"
Zelman shrugged, and put a cigarette in his mouth. "Maybe. What movie?"
"I don't know," said Kotaro. "But Mimi-chan said it was about a guy that was an alien, who could fly."
"As if aliens exist," said Zelman, lighting his cigarette.
The kitchen door opened, and Sayuka walked in. "Zelman-sama…"
"Here for lunch Sayuka-chan?" Zelman asked, playfully. "Mel is making rice-balls."
"I have already eaten," said Sayuka.
"Yes, I can see that," said Zelman, looking her up and down, "Maybe a bit too much."
"The Silver Blade and Katsuragai-san are here to pick up Mochizuki-sama," said Sayuka, her tone a tad cool.
"Yay," said Kotaro. "Sayuka-san, call me to Kotaro."
"Eh, show them in," said Zelman.
Sayuka left and came back with Jirou and Mimiko not a minute later. Kotaro hopped up and bolted across the kitchen, to hug Jirou, then Mimiko, and then Jirou again. All while telling them his day's events.
"You're back early," Zelman noted, over Kotaro's storytelling.
"Yes, they were very cooperative," said Mimiko.
Zelman shrugged, and idly ground out his cigarette against an ash-tray. "We were planning on seeing a movie later."
"Ah, we can all go together Zelman-san," said Kotaro.
"You should eat something Katsuragi-san," said Sayuka. "You'll recover faster."
Mimiko clamped a hand to her neck, and went red. "How do you know?"
"Mel-san, after you've prepared Zelman-sama's rice-balls, make teriyaki beef, vegetables and rice for Katsuragi-san," Sayuka ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am," Mel called.
"You should get that bandaged better, and lie down until your food is ready," said Sayuka. "Follow me please, Katsuragi-san."
"Thank you," said Mimiko.
The women left the kitchen, and Jirou took a seat beside Kotaro. "Thank you for watching my brother."
Zelman shrugged, "We had fun."
"Yes," said Kotaro. "Aniki, have some ramen."
"Here you are, Zelman-sama," said Mel, putting a plate of rice-balls in front of Zelman. "By the way, Jirou is in love with you."
"Really Aniki?" Kotaro questioned.
Mel spun around and walked back to the counter, without another word. Zelman leaned his head on his hand, took a deliberately slow bite of rice-ball, chewed and swallowed. Then he spoke. "Does she speak the truth Silver Blade?"
"No," said Jirou, coldly. Briefly, he shot Mel a cold look. She was too busy bouncing up and down on her heels and giggling hysterically to be intimidated.
"Shame," said Zelman, grinning fiendishly. "We'd make quite a pair."
"My tastes are not for men," said Jirou.
"Eh, give it a few more centuries," said Zelman, lazily. "You stop caring."
Over by the counter, Mel traded in her hysterical giggling in for a dumb-founded expression.
"Don't you have teriyaki chicken you need to be making?" Zelman asked her.
"Forget it," said Mel, taking off her apron, chucking it in the corner and stalking out of the kitchen.
Kotaro leaned over to Jirou and whispered, "She's kind of strange, Aniki."
"Yes," Jirou agreed. He stood up. "Thank you for your hospitality, Zelman Clock. We appreciate the offer for food, but we can get Mimiko sustenance on the way to the theatre."
"Oh, so we're still going to see the movie about flying aliens?" Kotaro asked.
"Of course," said Jirou.
"Can Zelman-san come too?" Kotaro asked.
"If he likes," said Jirou.
"Will you come Zelman-san?" Kotaro asked.
"Can Sayuka come too?" Zelman asked.
"Sure," said Kotaro.
Zelman shrugged, "Sounds like fun. I'll have Benson drive us."
Well, that's done. I hope you enjoyed, and would love to know what you thought. Thank you for reading.