Tokyo-2, Inner District 5
January 29, 2042
0716 hours
Sleep that night didn't come easy for Kaworu. No matter which way he turned, one twitch was enough to make his arm flare up in pain hard enough to snap him awake on the spot – and that was when he wasn't lying on top of it after a turn. By the time the alarm clock announced it was time for him to leave the bed and start getting ready for school, he was drowsy and more than a little frustrated.
If he had known ahead of time, he might very well have asked Sanada for sleeping pills. Hindsight and all that. To be fair, the doctor did offer to keep him in the infirmary overnight for observation; Kaworu just didn't feel like imposing on him. Being treated like fragile china by just about everyone because he was hurt was annoying enough; it wasn't like he was going to suddenly drop dead from this!
After wearing the same coat for years, it didn't feel quite right for him to wear someone else's. But it's not like he had a choice: Asuka took one look at him reaching for his blood-drenched old one and practically screamed his hair off along the lines of 'don't you fucking dare wear that where people can see you next to me' until he grudgingly agreed to Shephard's offer of his own coat. After the man having already stayed home late in the morning specifically to help him change bandages, Kaworu didn't really feel like asking more, but the adult just waved him off. – "Don't you worry about it, kid, I'm taking the car anyway."
Of course, the obvious question of why Asuka didn't simply go to school ahead of him if she didn't want him to be seen in her company remained unvoiced. And to think she called him a retard for 'not getting it'...
What wasn't unvoiced was her additional opinion of him being a moron for not taking advantage of this opportunity to skip school. He, of course, didn't have a doctor's permit for that end, nor did he fail to point out that he was shot in the arm, not a leg, so there was nothing physically preventing him from going – ergo the teachers likely wouldn't buy such an excuse anyway. The ones in his old school wouldn't. That and there was a difference between missing classes for AEL reasons and missing classes for personal reasons. And while his class only had one vortigaunt teacher, it was widely known that trying to bullshit him was pointless: like the others of his species, he had an uncanny ability to instantly tell when someone was trying to deceive him.
To his credit, he never got angry at someone not doing their homework either. On the contrary, the alien was quite detached about the whole thing, aside from reminding the offender that failed exams from them deciding they don't need to pay attention to what he's teaching them are no skin off his back and he accordingly won't shield them from the consequences of failing hard enough for it to be noticed by someone above him.
'Your fuckup, your funeral', as Mari summarized.
Kaworu was sorely tempted to give the blonde a piece of his mind for dictating wardrobe choices to him at the one time when he really wasn't in the mood for it – but frankly, he couldn't even muster the energy for it. Rei didn't seem to care, having showed up at his door just as he was about to step outside. One look at his arm and the girl pretty much glued herself to his shadow, no matter how many 'you are totally his girlfriend' jeers Asuka sent their way in an obvious attempt to get a rise out of either of them.
Kaworu didn't miss the way Rei was keeping a keen eye on the rooftops, of all things. She said nothing for the whole trip, but he could tell she was deeply bothered by something. Well, as deeply bothered as Rei Ikari was capable of looking to someone who knew her enough to notice.
"What is it?" – he finally asked about halfway to the school.
"Nothing." – was all the answer he got.
Yet another secret.
Kaworu wasn't nearly as naive as Asuka usually dismissed him as. It didn't escape his notice that whenever he tried to ask Rei anything about their parents or how did she have telepathic abilities, of all things, she almost always hesitated, as if trying to decide how to phrase things. And once she did finally say something, said answer was evasive and she refused to elaborate further.
Even months later, he knew nothing more than what he did when they first met. It was obvious that she knew more than she let on, but didn't want to tell him.
Did she not trust him with it?
Or was it something she thought he was better off not knowing?
Sometimes he found himself beginning to doubt whether her claim of being his sister was true to begin with.
"Are you gonna tell me already what happened yesterday?" – Asuka finally asked once it was clear Rei wasn't going to say anything more.
"Look, it really was nothing." – Kaworu replied with a tired sigh. How many more times will people keep asking? – "I just went to the store and there was this guy yelling at the owner."
"Yelling what?"
"I don't know, he was talking in Japanese."
The girl was visibly taken aback for a moment. – "You don't know Japanese?"
"How would I? I only moved here less than half a year ago." – Kaworu pointed out. – "Do you know it?"
"Not really. I mean, mom was Japanese but I never had to learn it. Dad doesn't know it either; I asked."
"Well, there you have it. Anyway, he then started yelling at me to get out. I told him I'm only there to buy stuff, but he pulled out a gun. Owner told him not to hurt me, guy yelled at him to shut up."
"Was there anything the guy didn't yell?" – she asked dryly.
"Not after I knocked him out."
Disbelief spread across Asuka's features. – "You... knocked him out."
Kaworu tried to shrug, only to immediately regret doing so when it sent a flare of pain up his arm that momentarily got Rei's attention away from the street around them. – "What else was I supposed to do, let him hurt someone?"
Asuka just gestured towards his arm. – "Besides yourself, you mean?"
"Yeah, well... he was faster." – Kaworu replied a bit sheepishly. – "But come on, it's not like he shot me in the head or anything. It'll heal."
"Until the next time your urge to play hero puts you in the hospital for real." – Asuka sighed. – "Why didn't you just keep your head down? You should've known that you were sticking your nose in someone else's business."
"For a Lilim, the female has a surprisingly greater common sense than you seem to." – Tabris chimed in.
Kaworu's response was interrupted when Rei suddenly stopped in her tracks and fell behind them. Looking back, he noticed two rather rough-looking men with strong Asian features swiftly closing in on them from the alley they just passed by.
Both of them looking straight at him.
"彼だ？"
"うん。腕お見る。"
The tone alone told him more than a dozen (actually understood) sentences. And it did not sound good.
Kaworu decided right then and there that he really needed to start learning Japanese someday if he planned on hanging around in this part of the world. Nobody except that thug yesterday seemed to mind so far, but if people were going to talk about him behind his back, actually knowing what they were saying would be a good thing. Besides, as the saying went, when in Rome...
"Is... something wrong?" – he asked slowly once they stopped in front of him, making it clear that he was the center of their attention.
"You are." – came the blunt reply. – "A certain little stunt you pulled yesterday has made some important people very unhappy."
"Important and powerful people." – the other added. – "Who do not appreciate being made a mockery of by a random punk who decides to get in the way of things that do not concern him."
Not good, indeed.
Under normal circumstances, Kaworu would have no need to worry. He was no Rei, but neither thug looked like they could easily overpower him alone, adults or not. Hell, he might be able to handle both at the same time if he had to. With a busted arm that hurt from even the slightest twitch, however...
"I didn't do anything."
"Don't try to play dumb." – the first thug shot him down instantly. – "It's too late for that and it only deepens your disrespect towards our employer."
Employer?
That did not sound like they were simply trying to avenge a friend. Which, by process of elimination, left a considerably more unpleasant scenario.
Gangs.
More polite than usual, granted, but still.
"Hate to interrupt, but you're not the only one with powerful friends." – Asuka interrupted. – "Just saying."
The thug just scoffed. – "Nice try, princess."
If looks could kill, he would already be gasping his last on the ground from the scathing glare the blonde sent his way. – "Who are you calling princess, fuckface?!"
"Unless you wanna be next on the menu after we're done teaching your boyfriend some manners, shut your mouth!" – the other thug growled.
Both men took a purposeful step towards Kaworu, who tensed up. This was not going to be fun – and on the way to school too, of all times...?
Yet neither could so much as lay a finger on him before their heads suddenly snapped back with a pained yelp in perfect sync, sending both men plowing into the sidewalk ass-first to reveal Rei standing behind them, each hand holding a fistful of hair still attached to its respective head.
Kaworu realized he never even noticed her leaving his field of vision.
"Geroff, bitch!" – was just about the only legible part he could understand from the string of verbal abuse the two were now hurling at her as they clawed at her arms in a futile attempt to dislodge her vice grip.
Rei did not even deign them with an answer. In fact, the part of her face he could see around her shades (which she claimed to be wearing against the snow's glare when Asuka complained about her being a 'tryhard' at looking cool) showed no anger at all; if anything, the slight flare of her nostrils was closer to that of annoyance at having to deal with a minor inconvenience.
Nor did she seem to care about the stares of everyone on the street who noticed the commotion, evidently not quite sure what to make of a teenage girl casually manhandling two grown adults as if they were young children, pulling both men by their hair back into the alley.
Well, they did want to make a public spectacle by accosting him on the street...
"...who the fuck did you piss off?" – Asuka muttered.
"I have no idea."
Which only segued into more questions in his head. That whole situation in the shop was just last evening. How did they even know him?
Even if the wannabe gunman told them what happened, how did they figure out who he was, where he lived and which school he went to, all so that they could catch him at this time?
It just didn't feel like what a common street gang would do.
A muffled thud of something hitting a wall came from the alley.
"Shouldn't we at least help her or something?"
Asuka sighed and started pulling him away by his healthy arm. – "And there you go with that hero bullshit again. No."
"But-"
"Shut up. She started it, it's her business. And I'm not going to be late from class because of her."
0749 hours
Just like before, Kaworu didn't even notice when Rei caught up with them. By the time he and Asuka reached the school's gate, she was just there.
How was she doing that – or even why –, he had no clue. Was startling other people to death her idea of being funny or something?
There wasn't even a single crinkle on her coat indicating that anything happened at all. On some level he expected that, of course, but it was still good to see that she didn't get hurt on his account. Having her help him take his coat off, on the other hand, was handy – especially since Asuka didn't even slow down to do so.
"How bad was it?" – he asked Rei as they approached the classroom.
"They will live."
Kaworu just sighed. He genuinely couldn't decide which girl was more annoying at the moment.
Luckily Touji had no intent to join them in the category once he saw Kaworu's arm. – "What the hell happened?"
"Little snag yesterday. It's nothing serious."
"Did you fall and break your arm or something?"
"No, just had a bit of a scuffle with someone."
"By which the idiot means he was in the wrong place at the wrong time." – Asuka muttered just loud enough to be heard by them.
Unfortunately, she was also loud enough to be heard by Hikari, who instantly rounded upon Kaworu. – "Fighting again?"
Toji instead merely stood up and thumped his fists together as if he was preparing for a fight himself. – "Okay, who were the assholes?"
"Suzuhara!"
"First, there was only one guy and I don't know him." – Kaworu replied before looking at Hikari. – "Second, it was an adult and I wasn't the one who started it, so please don't put the blame on me." – He finally looked at Rei. – "Did you find out who were those people?"
"Associates of the individual who injured you." – Rei replied simply.
"I figured. Gang?"
"Yakuza."
Kaworu's mind immediately flashed back to that time Rei had him sit in an empty warehouse pretending to be a silent crime boss or something while she borrowed him some cash from who she claimed to be a loan shark with ties to organized crime. 'Untraceable spending money', she called it, and insisted that he go ahead with the whole thing despite him pointing out that with his AEL salary, he already had way more money than he knew what to do with in the short term.
Not that he wasn't making repayments on time from his salary, of course. It wouldn't do to have them go after her over it. And at least he eventually managed to talk her down from buying him a safehouse basement once he pointed out that as a minor, he technically wasn't allowed to own real estate in the first place. Even the apartment he lived in wasn't his; he was merely allowed by the government to live there until he came of age (or got in too much trouble with the law).
While they didn't exactly operate openly, Kaworu was no stranger to organized gangs in his old hometown either, though he always followed everyone's advice to stay out of the way. And now in hindsight the shop owner's behavior yesterday made sense.
He unwittingly interrupted that thug from collecting protection money.
This cannot possibly be called anything other than absolutely rotten luck. The kind that seemed to be par for the course for him, considering that it was also what got him involved in the whole mess with the Angels. And didn't the owner say something about having already paid this month?
Why was the thug even there to begin with, let alone now of all times?
...damn it all. He just wanted to go back to bed.
"やべえ-!" – Kensuke yelped, face going pale.
Hikari, if such a thing was possible, was even paler. – "Nagisa, what in the world did you do?!"
"Okay, I'm telling dad right now." – Asuka declared on the spot and pulled out her phone, only for the school bell to ring for class right at that moment. – "Fuck! After class, then!"
Chapter completed on 24/06/02.
In real life, yakuza are rarely violent, partly for cultural reasons inherent to Japan, partly due to their honor codes dictating that acting like a violent thug dishonors their clan and boss, and partly due to simple pragmatism that attracting the attention of the authorities is bad for business. In fact, yakuza are known to cooperate with said authorities and actually police the streets of their territory for petty crime by themselves in order to maintain a positive reputation among the people, which results in the police mostly considering them a lesser evil and leaving them alone as long as they aren't breaking the law too blatantly. They also occasionally provide resources and/or manpower for cleanup efforts after natural disasters like the Kobe earthquake and Fukushima. Yakuza often consider themselves akin to public servants and expect to be treated with the respect (and bribes) that comes with such a position, which is why they usually restrict their operations to Japan.
All that being said, the Yakuza are still criminals who make most of their income out of protection rackets, running meth and sex trafficking; they're just more polite about it than, say, Sicilian mafiosi, and many clans also run legitimate businesses like pawn shops for exchanging pachinko parlor tokens for money (gambling for money is illegal in Japan, so these parlors instead pay out winnings in tokens that can be redeemed for prizes; selling the tokens in the establishment next door that just happens to be owned by the same shell company as the parlor itself is a legal gray zone but not, strictly speaking, illegal).
As some of them have ties to right-wing militias and in fact the whole type of organization is speculated to have originated from ronin who sought employment as hired muscle, I consider it highly likely that the clans that survived the Seven Hour War sided with or at the very least cooperated with the Resistance. This may very well have granted them an at least minimal level of "don't ask, don't tell" tolerance by Confederate authorities in the early days– and as it tends to happen when humans are involved, some of them got uppity, traditions be damned.