"Being privileged doesn't mean that you are always wrong and people without privilege are always right. It means that there is a good chance you are missing a few very important pieces of the puzzle."― Ijeoma Oluo

How pathetic. Gyutaro deadpans as he walks over and lifts the bike before it crushed her to death. Immediately, she apologized and without him asking, offered to pay for damages. God, she reeked of good life! Whatever. Could be worse, I guess. like that time he came home and not only was the bike stolen but dismantled. Not only did he have to rebuild the damn thing from scratch, but convincing the neighborhood he had nothing to do with the culprit's busted kneecaps was a massive pain in the ass. Yes, it could always be worse. He should take advantage and overcharge her. In fact, he will do just that...

"Hey, uh, Gyutaro, right? I'm Marin Kitagawa. I remember seeing you at the subdivision building yesterday,"

"What do you want..." he eyed her again, "...princess?" yeah, good thing he saved her, he could practically hear the rumors 'demon siblings kill neighbor dressed as fairy tale princess in broad daylight.'

"Uh… w-well I was taught good neighbors introduce themselves and I sort of neglected that so I wanted to know, if you weren't busy that is, if you'd like to stop by my place? You're welcome to bring your sister too of course-"

"-No thanks."

"Well, how about I bring some food over–"

"Are you fucking deaf?" He raises his voice, not quite yelling, but more than a little peeved. When he faced her she looked dejected, then to his surprise, she walked away along with her friends. He goes back to work, the ghost of a smile appearing on his face, too easy. He's heard it all before, 'hi, nice to meet you, come over anytime' then they would and boom! He and his sister were no longer welcome. It happened every time without fail. One can only hear the same script so many times.

But then he hears footsteps coming back so he turns again only for his eyes to bug out at the wagon of food she brought and when he says 'food' he means stacks of fucking food. Jesus...anyone walking by would've thought he was the one having a party!. She orders her friends, like little minions, to place it at his doorstep, and afterwards, ubelievably, she scolds him!

"you don't have to be such a grouch you know" she huffs folding her arms across her well-endowed chest, "I know you can't cook and you look lonely as fuck sitting out here by yourself, why not stop by, grinch?"

...was he losing his edge or was she stupid!? He looks to her friends, both also very attractive, but only one seemed bothered by her antics telling her 'she can't force people to hang out if they don't want to'. She seemed more upset by her friend's words than anything he had to say. With a deep sigh she asks him one final time "So what do you say?" Damn. Should he answer? Speaking was like an invitation for her. He regrets saying anything at all.

Just keep it short, sweet, simple, "... No." Good, now she'll go away–

"You must've been a very sad person in another life."

"Fucking... what?!"

"Hm?" Marin was eating breakfast, when a voice that sounded exactly like Tecchin's son forced her to abandon her meal to look out the window.

"Gyutaro you low dog scum! Get your fucking ass out here now!" Hotaru was banging on her next-door neighbor's door with the fury of the gods in his fists. She's almost certain he damaged it with the amount of force. 60 seconds passed before Gyutaro's voice is heard telling him to "fuck off" though he sounded menacing as well the way he yelled almost in a rasp, more like a sandpaper's growl than an actual spoken sentence. It was much different than the tone he used when she spoke to him.

"You fucking bastard!" For some reason, Gyutaro's calm disregard triggered Hotaru even more as he spiraled into a frenzy about to break the screen door off its hinges– too bad there was a second sturdier one behind it. Marin realized she needed to get down there soon to calm the man down from killing her neighbor… or to prevent Gyutaro from killing him..? She wasn't really sure which of the two needed protection from the other. Leaving her half-eaten meal on the table she ran to her foyer and grabbed her phone, purse, and shoes about to head out when... she paused. She looks to her half-moon table holding a picture of Gojo along with his ashes in a ceramic vase reminiscing his compassion and calm steadfast approach. It made her think back to Kensei telling her not to jump into things without a plan. Maybe I should wait before interfering.

"I know you tried to kill me!" Hotaru was like a rabid dog, he even sounded like he was foaming at the mouth, "I know you put laxatives in my fucking drink, asshole! Your fucking stunt sent me to the hospital! 3 days! For 3 fucking days I shit myself! I almost shit myself to death!" Marin actually choked, throwing back her head in raucous laughter at Hotaru's embarrassingly hilarious 'alleged' murder. Not that pouring laxatives in someone's drink isn't attempted murder of course… but as far as attempts go it was a plot twist she did not see coming.

"You have no proof!" Gyutaro retorted somehow able to maintain his composure. Is his indifference to Hotaru's suffering proof of guilt? Or is it proof of innocence? A question for the philosophers...

"I have you on fucking camera pouring it into my drink you cow-faced motherfucker!" Oof... nevermind, can't argue with video evidence she shrugged. Guess Gyutaro fucked up.

There was silence for a few moments before the screen door swung open smacking Hotaru square in the face, he took it like a man though; didn't even flinch. In fact the hit seemed to fuel his rage more. Gyutaro walks out casually; barefoot, cigarette in his mouth, down his stoop – he actually walked with his back towards Hotaru! Was it confidence or insanity?! She could not understand!

But then he said something so insanely egregious, she flew out her house like greased lightning to break off the inevitable punch Hotaru would've landed on him.

"But other than that video You have NO proof." He placates calm as the morning breeze. The bold-faced lie offended all of Hotaru's senses. Made her wonder if Gyutaro actually believed a video evidence of him spiking the drink wouldn't hold up in a courtroom. (it absolutely would). Thankfully she got there in time holding both men at arm's length.

"Ok. Ok boys! Please, that's enough!"

"Ah, If it isn't The Princess Peach," Gyutaro coos, mockingly "Descending from her castle to stop the peasants from massacring each other. How noble." The sarcasm was painfully obnoxious, but calling her royalty was a bit heavy-handed, despite being younger than the two of them, she felt more like a big sister breaking up a fight.

"Ms. Kitagawa please step aside so I can murder this cockroach once and for all and do this neighborhood a favor!" Out of absolutely fucking nowhere Hotaru dead-ass unsheathes a samurai sword poised and ready to attack. Gyutaro responded in kind, pulling out a switchblade lazily and flicking it to the open ready.

"HOLY SHIT! Will you two stop!" she was definitely worried about the drawn weapons, "Hotaru! If you use that sword on him you're going to jail for a very, very fucking long time! Why don't you do the normal thing and simply report it to the authorities!? And you!" she turned to Gyutaro next. "Who… p-puts… laxatives in…" she honestly couldn't finish without laughing, seriously it was that stupid. So she opts to scold him like a dog. "Bad. What you did was very Bad!"

Surprisingly, her words seemed to reach Hotaru. He straightened himself, sheathed his sword and spoke calmly at Gyutaro, "'You're lucky the young lady was here, because I would've killed you on the spot."

"Get in line." He retorts just as sharply.

"but you know what else, Ms. Kitagawa is absolutely correct. I think I will let the police handle you. With a record like yours, I'm certain you won't make bail then it'll only be a matter of time before your sister is next."

There wasn't enough time in the universe to prepare her for Gyutaro's seismic shift from composed to bloodlust the moment those words left Hotaru's mouth. He actually growled like a wild animal and instead of sheathing his knife he flicked a second one open with lightning-quick reflexes. It was beginning to look like he might actually attack Hotaru with the intent to kill. It was dangerous to hold him back so instead she opted to hold her hands out protectively in a T-pose, atleast if Gyutaro hurt Hotaru he'd have to go through her first.

But now she found herself on the receiving end of his verbal assault, "I see you're turning out to be quite neighborly, aren't you, princess?" He spat. When she first met him he spoke almost in falsetto, his voice rising and falling over the course of the sentence, even breaking a few times… While it was strange-sounding, it wasn't what she would describe as scary, reminded her of a whimpering dog actually. But this time that whiny pitch was gone completely. His voice was hoarse, aggressive, and above all threatening, like a mix between a growling animal and a snarling human.

"First offering me food like I'm some fucking stray, then wasting no time paying me back for the damages you caused, and now you butt into something that has nothing to fucking do with you as if expecting some kind of reward! Are you that much of an attention whore trying to earn the respect of this neighborhood that already welcomes you with open fucking arms? Or Are you that desperate to hold a debt over my ass, so I'll like you?!" the bizarre accusations left her nonplussed, so she stood quietly waiting for him to finish berating her, "I know your fucking type." he continues, "you're the type that thinks everything should be kumbaya all the damn time because you never get tiold 'no' do ya? Well, I'll let you in on a little secret, you only get it as good as you do for 3 fucking reasons," he pointed with his blades:

"Here..." Face.

"Here..." Her breasts.

"...and of course." He points to her vagina last. "Without those you wouldn't be standing there acting all high and mighty talking about 'let's all just get along'. Faking like you care what happens to me when I know you couldn't care less just like…" He turns, "...the rest of this pathetic fucking neighborhood!" He shouts at Hotaru for that last part. "I'm fucking warning you, bastard" he hissed again, pointing his blade at Hotaru next, "if you do anything that leaves my little sister to fend for herself I will take from you. You're lucky it was just a mild case of the runs, imagine if it passed to your father, as frail and weak as he is…" Marin had to hug Hotaru back again as his anger resurged at the threat to his dad. Even the way Gyutaro minimized his hospitalization by saying it was mild was pretty cruel to say the least. His eyes looked down at both of them with such disdain it actually took the breath from her lungs.

"Next time stay in your lane, you dumb fucking bitch." He flicks his knives shut with a clink and bulldozes past both of them into his home throwing his door shut with such force the slam rattles the entire house. Hotaru spent the next 10 minutes apologizing to Marin as she escorted him back to his home. He asked profusely if she was OK and repeated like a broken record for her to stay away from the Shabanas. "They're utter garbage, Ms. Kitagawa, please don't provoke either of them! Don't even acknowledge their existence, they get their power from the attention. I swear I won't let him get away with talking to you like that–"

"-Hotaru" she stops him, "thank you, but I really have to go to work now." it appears he just now realized he was at his front step. She gave him a quick hug before returning to her car. She turned the key to the ignition robotically, still stuck on what Gyutaro said to her. She takes a final look at his house before backing out and heading to work.

Marin can't recall a time in her life where anybody–especially a guy ever talked to her that way. Only Hikaru, her stylist, came close but even he did so with the best of intentions, but Gyutaro? He was just downright cruel. The type of person to goad someone into jumping off a bridge with a callous justification of 'nobody will miss you'. There was so much scorn and bitterness, like he wasn't even talking to her more like what she represented; a dumb, pretty, privileged girl who only had it good because she was born that way. It was deeply disturbing and misogynistic too. What a sad way to look at life. Is there even a way back from that?

She thought paying the bill for the damages as fast as possible would help the situation but the opposite seemed true, it seemed to affirm what he already thought. He even said "hold a debt over him" like she paid up as a way to one-up or even manipulate him. That's fucking insane! She would never do something like that!

When she got home hours later, her mind was still fixated on what he said, unable to shake the words etched indelibly in her mind. Had she not heard LOUD banging on his door again she would've sat there all night pressed. "Gyutaro, come on out! You can't ignore me forever!" At first she thought it was Hotaru with the police, but no this was a different man's voice. When she peeked out her window again to get a look, she found out it was nobody she recognized from the neighborhood. Not at all.

"I have a job for you. And I won't leave till I have your answer" He bangs the dented screen door with the handle of his cane as if refusing to touch the wood. The man was older, had long hair tied back in a ponytail and scars on his forehead and sides of his face, he was also burly with a thick goatee beard. But this man wasn't just a single man.. he was surrounded by a small entourage, all dressed well, but there was something sinister in the way they stood, grass up to their knees, in the front yard with dodgy eyes as if to monitor who was watching.

"I told you, I'm still working the last one. Come back tomorrow when I'm done," Gyutaro's slightly muffled voice crooned.

"You think I'm giving you a choice?" The man bangs louder unfazed. "Open the door!"

Again, there is quiet before the door flies open. It about smacks Scarface, but unlike Hotaru, he stumbles back in time. She watches as Gyutaro steps onto his front step AGAIN barefoot and dressed in the same tank and sweatpants from earlier.

He had no elastic so the waves of his hair sort of billowed wildly about his face and neck obscuring his eyes like an 80s glam rocker. One of his hands held a cigarette to his lips while the other spun a butterfly knife- he looked like a damned cartoon villain! She didn't think anyone actually did that shit in real life yet in a single day she witnessed him do it not once, but twice, in two separate altercations with two separate people.

"I'm sure that's what you think, Rokuro. A big powerful guy like you? No one could ever turn you down, right?" He puffs out a cloud of smoke putting out the cigarette on his wall. Knife spinning into its open position as he clasps it neatly in his hand, as he takes steps forward, "But you powerful men have one thing in common," his voice climbs in pitch before it drops, "you can all die. Just like everyone else." She wasn't imagining, he sounded more threatening than he did with Hotaru. Seems he has levels when it comes to threats and reserves his most malicious ones for the worst of the worst. She only got the run-of-the-mill diatribe by comparison. Now she really wished she heard the rest of Kiriya's story about shady men coming to the door and how the neighborhood looked the other way because there was no way she was getting involved in this conflict.

Her eyes drift from the man and his small cadre of presumably hired muscle, before trailing to Gyutaro's impossibly wiry form; skin sallow; face dotted with scars, pockmarks and blotchy birthmarks splattered on his face like ink on a canvas as he grins, praying for somebody to call out his bluff and to their credit, the men step closer if only to feign courage, but then the old man stops them, "Choose your words carefully, brat, you don't want to turn me down."

"And you don't want me to make a mess in this nice neighborhood," He replies just as easily; his voice back to its usual whine. He draws a 2nd knife from his pocket, spinning them both in unison and snapping them into place beside his face, "Come on try me! You know I'll win." he goads confidence dripping off his words like poison from a snake's fangs. Marin's eyes dart back and forth between —this gang, she assumes- and Daki's brother who looks crazy as hell bearing his fangs at a pack of enemy wolves completely unafraid.

Their expressions are hidden, but eventually, The man in front straightens his suit jacket and makes a gesture to to pull out "You will pay for this." were the words he left him with as they enter their respective vehicles and leave. Marin sinks back down to the floor and puts a hand over her mouth, THAT WAS INSANE…! Oh this is too crazy, I have to call Daia. Daia, of course, having EXP dating rough men, surely she would know what to do. Marin whipped out her phone texting furiously all night about what happened.

If only she knew. It was the last peaceful day she'd have for a while because the next morning kicked off with bang– or rather a very distraught wailing that woke her and the entire neighborhood up at the ass-crack of dawn. From her window she watched Gyutaro get escorted- this time by police into the back of a cruiser, his sister at their heels screaming not to take him away. Marin's stomach sank. She thought heard Hotaru's voice in the distance no-doubt ecstatic at finally seeing him getting taken away. But it just as easily could've been ANYONE celebrating, because the entire neighborhood was remiss at the arrest. Everyone except his sister… and her.

Oh, God what have I done…

End!
Holy shit I'm trying to crank these out man! Before I start my new job and get bogged down to like a chapter once in a blue moon. Other inspirations for this chapter are Vive's story on archive of our own which I can post the link if anybody is interested in reading. I got her full permission to use her premise for this crossover and she even proofread the first few chapters back when they were rough drafts.