"The furies are at home in the mirror; it is their address. Even the clearest water, if deep enough can drown."
-R.S. Thomas.
... ... ...
... ... ...
"The usual?" asked the old street bartender.
"You know me well old man," replied a clean-shaven man, whose long blue-black hair was combed back, contrasting with his small but bright cherry eyes and healthily tanned skin.
Smells and lights pervaded the Musutafu streets, creating a thick atmosphere with a contrary effect to the face the city showed during the day.
How could it not? The youngsters had long since gone to bed, any of them were out at this hour were either juvenile delinquents, someone reckless or just liked the nightlife, preparing to go flat out into it once they came of age.
Takuya Ryunosuke was once like that, a young man who along with his group of friends thought he was 'mature' for his age, so much so that he would buy alcohol from anyone who didn't ask for ID...
In retrospect, that wasn't the smartest move of his life, massive alcohol intake from a young age always comes with the risk of serious alcoholism, and for someone who had lived through what he had, it only made him more prone.
So, after years of heavy drinking behind the backs of his loved ones, Ryunosuke quit at the age of 28, the product of an alcoholic coma that really scared him.
Two days in a coma and quite a few lectures took their toll on the man's already depressed mind so, seeing himself cornered and with nothing to lose, he checked himself into rehab.
'Heh, I wonder what has to happen to me for me to choose to quit smoking...' he thought with contempt.
Now 37, Ryunosuke's vices were smoking and eating late at night. It wasn't healthy, but it was far less dangerous than his previous vices that were best left unspoken about.
And what did a man like him, someone who at first glance you'd think was 'depressed', do for a living?
"I see you haven't lost your bad habit, heh, " a newly arrived man told him, someone getting out of an old, but well-preserved automobile.
"... And I see you're still late and uninvited, Tsukauchi."
Tsukauchi Naomasa, code name 'True Man'. A very competent detective in his career, with a number of successes far outweighing his failures, also a good older brother who cared quite a bit about his sister, too much in Takuya's opinion.
He was an incredible confidant, to the extent of being among the first to know about the condition of Toshinori Yagi, better known as All Might, The Symbol of Peace.
"Hphm, you call me for the first time in two years and the first thing you say is that. You really do have a heart of ice."
"Nah, it's just that I was already thinking of leaving. She waiting for me at home, you know."
Naomasa looked puzzled at his friend as he took a seat, trying to process what Takuya had said.
"So... she and you...?"
Oh, Ryunosuke thought. He had screwed up by saying that.
"Don't overthink it... things are still a bit complicated between us."
The detective couldn't help but let out a sigh. He didn't know why he expected that in just two years his friend would put all his love dramas behind him.
Fourteen years had passed, she had forgiven him for what he did and the relationship between the two of them was strictly between friends. And yet, if he asked now Takuya how he felt about her, he would answer in a way that he could deflect the question because he was aware of still having latent feelings for her even though he was increasingly intimate with another woman.
On the other hand, he understood a bit why he couldn't forget her and move on, that woman and he had met when she was 6 and he was 8. Nearly 3 decades of a relationship full of ups and downs, all brought on by Takuya, something he himself acknowledged with regret.
"Well, I'm glad to hear that she already patching things up. Toshinori had told me that since she started living with you she's a little more open about what she thinks."
"She's always been someone who speaks her mind, it's just, you know... she closed herself off to others because of everything she had to do."
"And no one can blame her for that, anyone in her position would end up sick, sick of it all. It doesn't help at all that those bastards tried to send her to Tartaros."
"Wow, you're loose-mouthed today, Naomasa."
"Sigh," All Might's confidant wiped the bridge of his nose heavily. "Sorry, I'm just tired. My sister's in town."
"That explains everything then," Takuya rose from his stool, handing the money to the bartender who mumbled a thank you. "I've got to get on my way, they're showing our favorite movie at 12 AM today and she won't forgive me if I'm late."
"...Your schedule is weird, Takuya."
"Look who's talking, heh."
The answer to Ryunosuke Takuya's profession you've already seen.
To live freely.
... ... ...
... ... ...
'Another exhausting day,' thought Keigo Takami, aka Hawks, the Hero ranked Third in the Japan Ranking.
Takami was 100 percent sure that if he had to commiserate one more time in front of those jerks this week, he was going to get sick. And no, he couldn't understand the paranoia they'd been carrying around for the past two weeks.
It all went back to when an employee of the Heroes Public Safety Commission, a random clerk who went to law school.
The jerk had tried to reopen the case with a certain woman.
And it didn't go well.
The next day, a national scandal erupted when evidence surfaced that one of the senior cabinet members had received bribes from a 'hero' named Onihorn. The purpose of the bribes was to cover up the physical and emotional abuse the guy had put his partner through.
Needless to say, the various protests that erupted across the country backed the Commission into a corner and they had no choice but to do what anyone with functioning brain cells would do; send Onihorn to Tartaros and the cabinet member to a prison.
And what happened to the clerk? He was moved out of office, specifically to the prosecutor's office, making him out to be some kind of celebrity in the media as the one who exposed corruption that threatened to sully the pristine authorities that kept the heroes in line.
What a load of crap.
The nameless clerk earned a promotion of sorts, but one earned under warning that if he tried anything like that again, he would not meet the same fate.
He had no choice but to hold on to the warning knowing why it was so bad what he did.
"You play your cards frighteningly well, old friend," Hawks said to himself.
Those in high positions of power, who tried to maintain a facade of peace through any means, had only one certainty.
Ryunosuke Takuya was the greatest threat to them, and they could do nothing about it.
... ... ...
... ... ...
It was past 11 PM when with a dry clink, Takuya entered his apartment.
Contrary to what you might think, everything was clean and in order, including the luxurious display case of non-alcoholic wines that was the man's pride and joy.
He had been a bit of a compulsive cleaner since he was young, something that diminished with age to the category of 'tidy person'.
"Hmm, I'm surprised she's not asleep on the couch, though something tells me she was here not too long ago," he said with a raised eyebrow noting the dried puddle of saliva shadowing a cushion. He wanted to mentally berate himself for listening to her and paying extra on they streaming service to have access to foreign novels, whether from Spain, USA or Mexico, but on the other hand she knew how to appeal to the weak side he had.
The bleeding heart was a bitch.
His ears picked up a feminine voice singing a melody at the same time the water in the shower could be heard falling.
She was taking a shower.
Shrugging nonchalantly, he set off for the bedroom.
Once he arrived, he removed the clothes he was wearing, one that could be categorized as a strange fusion of 'summer bachelor' and 'businessman'. His eccentric clothes were replaced by comfortable pajamas dyed a matching gray with swirling patterns.
He lay back on the bed, trying and failing not to close his eyes lest he fall into the realm of Morpheus. The fatigue was too much and she won the battle.
Even being on the verge of falling into a deep sleep, he did not stop struggling.
To his luck, help was already on the way.
"Hmm~"
Soon, he felt a cold presence join him on the bed and inevitably opened his eyes once again, recognizing the beauty of his companion even in the darkness of the room.
She was Kaina Tsutsumi.
Once known as Lady Nagant, an alias they both hated.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Only fifteen minutes. Was it a tiring day?"
"A little. Naomasa's sister is in Tokio and... Sasaki had something important to tell me."
The woman he loved looked at him dryly, giving him a look hit Takuya's weak spots.
"It seems Toshinori has found a successor."
"Good for him, I suppose," Kaina said casually, surprising Takuya. Inevitably she noticed. "What, did you think I'd feel uncomfortable mentioning the guy who was once my idol?"
"... A little."
She simply started laughing at the blank look on the face of the man she loved.
He may have been very smart about a lot of things, but he was a complete fool at understanding other people, although she had to give him credit that he tried endlessly and succeeded in unorthodox ways.
"You're an idiot," she told him with a mocking smile.
Then, Kaina joined her lips with Takuya's in a deep kiss.