"If only it were so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
-Alexandr Solzhenitzyn
"DO NOT THROW WATER ON A GREASEFIRE DAKI! DO YOU WANT US TO FUCKING DIE!?" Was the rage-filled scream heard Friday afternoon when she entered her home after a particularly grueling day at work. There was definitely smoke and the alarm was going off but it didn't seem like they needed help as the duo frantically opened every window to their house to air out the remains of their latest kitchen disaster.
"Sounds like I need to buy extra food ..." Just as Marin promised, Gyutaro was home the very next morning. Daki was elated, unable to sit still until he arrived. It was a heart-warming sight seeing the siblings reunited, Gyutaro displayed a soft, paternal side she always knew existed but had never fully witnessed until he took Daki in a loving, full-body embrace. She cried angry tears beating his chest for making her wait so damn long. He blocked her assault half-heartedly, far more concerned about the bruises on her body and face. And for a split second while marin eavesdropped from the window she wondered if he'd come to her about his sister's beating.
He obviously knew the girls fought in his absence– the proof was on their faces and the neighborhood gossip served as the final nail in the coffin. But whenever she left her house and he happened to see her from his driveway, rather than anger, he always had this look of perplexity on his face; like a zoologist studying a new species of animal. Initially she thought Daki spilled all the beans on what happened but as the days passed and Hotaru's Body didn't wash up on a riverbank, she wondered if Daki kept her mouth shut on key details.
Her brother's perplexity only increased too, like when his sister rolled his bike from Marins garage, and when she told him they were going shopping together, when her friends helped clean up the property; cleaning up trash, panting over the graffiti and of course mowing the lawn (his sister was even at the forefront ordering them around like they were her soldiers.) Marin couldn't help but chuckle, his confusion was cute, really, concerned, but cute.
Now it's Friday night the day before the beach and Funny enough, what happens (because of course it had to) her car dies in the store parking lot. "SERIOUSLY!" she yells to no one in particular as she kicks the car once and then again in a childish rage. "What the hell!" After abusing her car enough (and hurting her foot in the process) she opens the hood, using the flashlight on her phone to look inside. Not that she knew what the fuck to look for though. It might as well have been a rocket ship.
Dammit without her car she's gonna have to car pool with somebody else and their cars were already full: Shiki and Akira were obviously going together but Akira's car would be full of props and equipment for the shoot, plus she was also taking Suzuka and Miyako and they had somewhere else to be by afternoon. Juju and Shinju always rode out separately– because Juju was a worse diva than Daki sometimes. Daia was taking Kensei and Rune in her car and while she should have enough space for Daki and Marin… the biggest problem would be fitting all of dakis outfits, plus hair and makeup accessories. Hikaru said he'd be there but it would be much later and they had to get makeup done right away.
Ugh, what to do what to do…What to…
"Car trouble?"
…do..? Eh?
She jumps out of her skin yelping like a puppy-dog at Gyutaro's wavering voice behind. How does he keep doing that? She shines a light directly in his eyes. He's wearing a worn out black leather jacket over a button up shirt and blue jeans, wearing a backpack presumably full of groceries (probably to replace the food they burnt earlier). "Really?" he whines, blocking the beam lazily.
"Sorry, sorry, geez, but you scared the crap outta me, for real" she lowered her phone and sighed, leaning against the bumper. "Yeah. It's been acting up lately, and now I have no idea what to do."
'It's because of your reckless driving' she could hear her friends' criticisms in her head. "Poor pirate-princess, so inconvenienced," she would've thought he was being cheeky about her eyepatch if he didn't have that cruel smirk on his face and mocking undertone. "so what're you gonna do?" His eyes slowly turn to look at her car's open hood.
"Ugh! I don't know," she throws her hands up, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Tow it? I know the last bus to our area is long gone, so unless I call somebody…" she whines in frustration, raking her perfectly manicured fingernails through her hair. "But the real problem is without my car tomorrow I can't fit your sister's outfits for the shoot. Or mine for that matter?!" she growls again missing the dramatic eye-roll he gives as he walks back to his parked motorcycle and opens a compartment pulling out what looks like a small satchel before returning, "Hand me the phone," he directs stopping her mid-rant. she hands the phone she blinded him with as He bends over to look at her car's engine turning her flashlight on a spot inside and uses his tools to pull something out that shouldn't look as black as it does. "not so good with cars, are you?" he places it into her palm absent-mindedly as he sweeps for any other deficiencies, "What time do you leave tomorrow?" he asks while still searching under the hood.
She blinks, "Uh… Depends on Daki i guess…she didn't really say." he groans audibly knowing exactly what time they'd be leaving then. "Then i'll have your spark plugs replaced before you go"
"Really?" she actually couldn't believe it. She wasn't expecting this from him., "O.m.g. you're a lifesaver, Thanks Gyu, thank you so much!" But his smirk disappears instantly. "Gyu?!" he makes a look of disgust.
Shit. "I heard it, from Duck–I mean, Daki, your sister Daki! Sorry, you don't like it? That was a lie– well, more like a half-truth. It's true his sister did call him Gyu, but Marin came up with the pet name on her own. The disbelief in his eyes spoke volumes but aside from the look he said nothing. She wonders for a few moments if it would be rude to ask for a ride but seeing no other option she goes for it.
"hey, so like… would you mind if I hitched a ride back.. with you?" Her eyes danced around afraid of what his response would be, the last time they spoke it wasn't exactly cordial, she found a nice rock on the parking lot pavement to fixate on as he replied.
"Seriously? I thought you'd be smarter, Ain't like the cops dragging me out in handcuffs was subtle." When she looked up he was looming over her, pinning her to the car with his gaze. He had his tools tucked underneath his arm and a rather noxious look on his face as his eyes bore into hers unwavering. For a few agonizing moments she said absolutely nothing. Why he was doing this? Is he mad for–
"Hop on.'' he rolled his eyes with a smirk while she mused. "R-Really?" she let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding. Was he teasing then? Didn't feel like it. Felt like a test. Unlike his padawan sister, he was the true Obi-wan, she can't read him at all!
He straightened up, "Of course genius, why would I offer to fix your car and not give you a ride back? I do owe you after all," he cackles leaving her feeling stupid for ever doubting. He turns in the direction of his bike, flicks open a case on the side zipping up his leather jacket, and offers to take the bag of groceries from her hands, "thanks, uh," she looks past him, "I've never been on one before." she admits, awestruck. Gyutaro puts on his backpack and swings his leg over. "It doesn't bite.' He patted it almost like a pet.
She runs to her car to grab her jacket, Then locks it with her remote. It is gonna be a while before she's able to come back anyway. Walking over she puts a finger to her mouth before slowly bracing her hands, swinging her leg over, he kept it balanced with his feet until she sat firm. But now what? He had his backpack on and in the movies they always did it like this so–
She yelps loudly. He jerked so hard he almost lost his footing toppling them both over when she snaked her arms low around his waist. She tilted her head at him from behind heart pounding in her chest. "You good there?"
"There are… handlebars t-to The sides. You don't have to hold on to me." Holy shit, she actually rattled him! No way he was faking that vexation in his tone.
"Uhm.. ok?" she looked to the sides for the bars he spoke of and was about to latch on and give the thumbs up when a commotion drew her attention.
"Niiice biiiiike" she heard someone drawl from across the lot as a group of young boys exited the supermarket laughing. Great…
"pleez tell me that guyz not yer boyfren. I ken be yer boyfren,baby, give you a ride on deez–!"
"-Excuse him he's had too much," one of the friends interjected quickly, not like it helped when he was laughing too. Now she was super pissed, drunk or not, she wasn't gonna let them make fun of him, "Fuck off!" she growled shutting his ass down too.
She turns away completely grossed out, "Ignore those fucking losers," and gripped the handlebars giving him the ok to go. But Gyutaro doesn't move, in fact he was uncharacteristically patient, "You're pretty brave for someone who can't fight." he says almost teasing–almost but there was something darker underneath, the oddness of his statement caused her to snort. "C-come again? Those jack-offs have no right to talk to you like that. Our neighborhood is already bad enough."
Immediately he turns his head back, lifting an eyebrow as if to make sure those words actually came out of her mouth and not somebody else who teleported behind him. The silence is tense before it's broken by his creaking laughter. "That's two now, princess!" he grins and kicks the stand down with a particularly sharp kick gently leaning the bike to the side with her still on it.
"Wait here. Don't move," he orders stepping over to the drunken trio. "Hey, maaan!" He drawls in mockery of their drunken behavior, "Yo, we wer jus jokin dude!" Drunk idiot says but Gyutaro's eyes were locked to their car.
"oh, im sure. I'm sure… this your ride? It's niiiiiice." he circles around like a vulture feigning admiration when Faster than any of them could blink he spins a knife out of… his chest? She wasn't sure where he pulled it from but he stabs their back tire. They all square up about to jump him as she watches apprehensively, but he didn't seem fazed at all. Simply holds out his free hand in a stop motion while reaching into his pocket and throwing something at their feet. What is that? She squinted but in the dim light provided by the street lamp she couldn't make it out.
"I think this is a fair exchange, but if you wanna see how this ends…" her eyes pick back up to watch Gyutaro spin a second knife for good measure. His ambidexterity is truly something to marvel. One of the guys picks up what he threw on the ground while his buddies huddle around him. From her position, she saw them conversing unintelligibly, before promptly backing down.
Gyutaro was now in complete control of the situation, he strolled around their car callously eyeing its tires before stabbing a second wheel out and standing triumphant, flicking his knives shut with a clink, "try anything and I'll take more from you." she heard him say and like Moses splitting the red sea he walks right in between them back to her car to lean against her right side passenger and light a cigarette. She couldn't believe it, she stared wide-eyed as he acted like it was no big deal… no fuck..no he wasn't acting, he truly didn't think it is!
"h-hey That was dangerous!" she sputters realizing he needed scolding, he looked at her like an adult watching a child throwing a tantrum as she nagged on. "What were you thinking? What do I say to your sister if you get hurt?" For some reason, his eyes widened when she mentioned Daki, and for a split second his mask cracked again, like her reacting that way wasn't part of the script in his head, his mouth opened like he wanted to say something but ultimately clamped shut again. Instead, He scratched at the side of his neck, hard enough to leave pink lines in the skin. She wanted to stop him but the bike wobbled so she refrained keeping her hands firmly on the handlebars.
He kicks off the car door; eyes wayward; smoking his cigarette, until he's in front of her.
"Marin."
Even the way he said her name was more like a warning than out of respect. He said it with all the charm of a serial killer who knew more about his target than she did about him. He curls his lips away so as not to blow smoke in her face, and asks, "Do you consider yourself an honest person?" another strange question, spoken like he already knew what she'd say, but it wasn't the question that unnerved her, it was his tone. Was he trying to intimidate her? Why all the hostility?
"You know I looked into you when you moved in," his voice went back to his usual as he smoked, "good money, good family, clean life….A bit of loss.." he takes a moment to gauge her reaction but she remains quiet waiting for him to finish "... I thought I had you in the bag yet somehow in my short absence you've managed to convert my sister to your coven too." her lips tugged upwards amused at his observation.
"She was hellbent on destroying you, you must be real special for her to reconsider." He didn't know it, but hearing him say Daki liked her made her feel so unbelievably happy on the inside.
She was smiling ear to ear now, "No I'm not special, you're special if anything. I could never forget a guy who looks like an edgy version of L from Deathnote!" She laughs pointing at him. His face falters again and he reaches up to scratch like a drug to help him stay focused.
"Is that something an honest person would say?!" he mutters a bit viciously; His uneven teeth grinding a bit in frustration, he even looks ready to bite. "See, I try to be honest too. But People don't like it when I am, though. They always want lies, don't they? Pretty lies to cover up their ugly truths." ironically, something about the way he said that seemed very disingenuous to her. He was definitely honest that day when he screamed at her, but right now he was speaking aimlessly like he wasn't talking to her at all but the entire world. He even averted his gaze to the horizon where cars drove past, "I don't know what you want–"
"-What I want" he cuts her off, eyes drifting back to her face "is an answer. My price is an answer from you." She waited for him to clarify but he didn't; just waited expectantly, completely comfortable in the silence. She narrows her eyes at him but he stares right back at her with even sharper ones; a most awkward Mexican standoff.
"Look, I'm not dumb, I know we've lived vastly different lives, but I think we have far more in common than you think, the neighborhood can say whatever they want but I'm trusting you."
"What?!" His gaze actually wavers, mostly out of confusion but for another reason too, but she didn't bother elaborating. She was content with her answer and breaks eye contact to look at the street instead. Still didn't stop her from feeling the laser effect of his eyes for a very uncomfortable amount of time but when that doesn't intimidate he breaks the silence first, "...you're quite the weird one, even despite what you just saw you're still willing to ride with me? I could be taking you someplace dangerous you know." But she remains quiet, not falling into any more psychological traps.
"Hmph. You really are a special type of idiot, aren't you? fine." He flicks his cigarette with a sigh truly at a loss by this point, "Let's get you home." He hops on starts the engine and peels out the parking lot.
He steadies the bike so she can get off before kicking the stand down. "Thanks a bunch!" She says grabbing her groceries, "What kind of food do you like to eat?" he seemed caught off guard by the question, blinking at her slowly, "Daki likes chicken...And steamed vegetables." he adds after a moment. She giggles, "I know what she likes but I'm asking you what you like."
"just give me the same fucking thing!" He curses glaring at his handlebars, uncomfortable for some reason.
Why is he uncomfortable now? "I was going to make chicken curry. How's your spice tolerance?" His eyes furrowed, but he did glance up at her briefly, "Surprise me." before looking away again. She bends over to peer at him, wondering if avoiding her gaze like she were Medusa was something he did with everybody, but with a scratching of her head she decides to let it go. … sounds like spicy foods are his thing…
''Sure thing, see ya 'round, handsome! buh-bye!" She coos as she walks home.
Seems Amane and Kagaya's description was spot on; they weren't monsters. They were suspicious but as long as her intentions were clear and true they never threatened beyond a superfluous insult to irritate or a cryptic litmus test to rattle. they reciprocate good deeds, and it was clear insults were their own form of teasing, probably testing her boundaries before they had to pretend to be something they're not around her. But even though she didn't like it, being themselves was a good sign of trust. So until she earned that trust completely she wouldn't run her mouth off too much on what they should say. Instead, she'll focus on their actions.
The next day she received a text from Daki that Gyutaro fixed the car. And to 'hurry up' and 'not keep her waiting.'
