"Daia, I'll just have Daki do it. You don't need to drive here."
"Marin, it's been months! I wanna meet her brother, you promised you'd set us up!" Marin scrunched her face.
"The fabric store closes in an hour, bitch! Bye" she blows hard into the mouthpiece on her phone, the static causes Daia to curse on the other side as Marin hangs up laughing. Gyutaro never warmed up to her and whenever Daia brought up wing-manning she felt exhausted by the thought
"Ok, let's see if she's home" She calls Daki's cell, but it goes to voicemail. Ok? She texts her, multiple times, but after 5 minutes there's nothing. Odd...
Marin got so impatient she just runs next door. She can confidently say she and Daki have become friends. Like actual friends. Daki actually comes over and not only when she needs something. She openly seeks Marin out now, and holds her opinion in high esteem. She even stopped calling her retarded. Sure, she slips from time to time (often squawking strangely and substituting it for some other confusing word), but she was trying! She started taking her financial advice too, after she explained how investing worked. Her friends really grew on her as well, even Hikaru, though their first meeting was... hostile. (He absolutely lit her up when she shit-tested him), but they respected each other.
Though Daki still hasn't apologized for what she did, Marin values the change in behavior more. Her subscriber account inched higher thanks to the Inui's, specifically Sajuna's insane graphing and projections charts. But overall Daki seemed happy... like genuinely happy. It was such a 180 from when she moved. Poor girl, Marin knew she had a good heart deep down. She just needed a proper oppurtunity to show it.
Her brother though...
"Duckie!" Marin banged on the door.
... he was more distant than ever.
It's not a stretch to say he hates her. Probably fantasizes about her dying in an accident or getting crushed under his bike again. She had no idea why. When she questioned Daki about his absence, she always said it was work. But it's been months, marin wasn't too sure if his work excuse was genuine.
But she knew, the siblings schedules, early mornings were a no-go especially on weekends for either of them, but late afternoons, evenings and especially nights were perfect for Daki since she did her cam work then and Gyutaro was never home when she did. As for him, he worked around the clock always nights, always late afternoons, always on weekends and weekdays too. The only time he was home was mornings before she'd hear his motorcycle leaving. Ever since the arrest it was like he trusted himself into working.
So she had absolutely zero worries about running into him right now in the late afternoon, which is why she was woefully unprepared when the door whipped open slamming right into her shin making her howl in pain.
"Just make yourself right at home, why don't you, HUH?!"
"ouch! Son of a bitch!" She cursed, hopping on one leg. "Fuck, I thought your sister was home! What're you doing here?!"
"Jesus, are you the only one of your parents' kids that LIVED?!" He countered in a brutal roast, but he didn't stop there, "Is there not a lump of flesh in between that thick head of yours!? I live here too, retard! If I answered the door why the FUCK would that mean my sister is available?! HUH, GENIUS!?"
"Goddammit, stop fucking calling me stupid!" although she tried to sound mean it came out more like a wheeze. It was strange, although he was the most dangerous guy on the block she always forgot the moment he treated her like an asshole. She always got the feeling he was jealous his sister spent more time with her. Maybe he was lonely and being mean out of spite? But he also looked extremely tired and cranky, so maybe she should just leave.
"You know, on second thought, I'll come back later." She said hobbling away.
"HOLD IT!" he curls his fingers at her to come back like she was a child, "Get back here, princess. You telling me you caused all that noisy racket and just figured you'd scutter back home like a little mouse?" he grinned. "No, not a mouse, more like an ugly rat, or a dog — a bitch more like! HOW PATHETIC!" His voice boomed in cruel laughter as she stood pissed.
A dog? 'Super ironic insult coming from you' is what she wanted to say. In fact she wanted to smack him, but after hearing his arrest log she'd probably die if she did. She's lucky he hasn't killed her for talking BACK to him in this manner. She knew nobody else did aside form his sister. He'd rip their throats out.
When his laughter trailed into soft wheezes, he finally, sincerely, asked what she wanted. "You came all this way princess-pipsqueak. You already got my attention you might as well ask,"
Well, at least her pain put him in a good mood.
"Fine, then can I at least come in?"
"Ha!" He moves to the side holding the door open. She has never been inside his home before. sure she caught glimpses but this time she had full permission to enter. Funny how her first visit would be with her brother.
"So what is it? Don't make me ask you again."
She spun around, pulling out a measuring tape from her pocket for him to take. He analyzed it in his hands. "I need you to take my measurements," she says joylessly as she unzipped her hoodie, revealing her bra and jeans underneath. All she wanted was the damn measurements so she could run to the fabric store in time, and Gyutaro sealed his fate the moment he shit-talked.
Instantly, he got flustered, the birthmarks on his face now blotched red, too. He averted his gaze back down at the measuring tape, squeezing it hard. She was sort of surprised. She would've teased him if she wasn't so pissed off over her shin.
"Hey don't ruin that! If you do, I'll really be screwed."
"Why are you fucking doing this in my home?!" She raised an eyebrow. "Uh, you invited me in, dude, remember? Now come on, let's just get this over with." she turns around, "we'll start with shoulders, I need you to measure my shoulder width, the tip of the measuring tape should be here," she pointed to the very edge of her shoulder.
She waits uncomfortably long before turning her head back.
"What's wrong?" She was glaring, but he was glaring right back at her too,
"You fucking–I could've received a little more warning!" where before his face was red with embarrassment it was replaced with rage.
"Sorry," what else could she say?, but when she didn't hear his feet moving again, she sighed loudly pulling out her phone, I'm trying to do this cosplay, ok, she walks over holding her phone out. "Her name is Kuki and she's a... look, it's a long story, the point is," She braced herself on his kitchen countertop, "I haven't done cosplay in a very, very long time, so my measurements are off and need to be updated, I did most of them myself, but I need a second person for this next part. The shop closes less than an hour, so whaddaya say? Can I count on you?" Based on his demeanor, she anticipated being kicked out.
But instead he pinched his bridge, pulls the measuring tape out and tells her to turn around and stand up straight. Seemed his mind was made up. She hops off the counter and pulls her long locks forward as he measures, ever so delicately, her shoulder width. It surprised her how delicate his touch was, fluctuating between rough and barely touching at all... it almost made her think of Wakana...
No... not now...
She closed her eyes and shook her head to clear her mind of thoughts of him.
... not now.
"Stop moving" he ordered. The ghost of his breath brushed the back of her neck making her shiver unintentionally. He lines the tape on her shoulders, "35.1cm" he says, she types it in her phone.
"now is the hard part–I need you to do my bust next."
She turns back around, still half-expecting him to object, but he doesn't. he only asks if it's the last one.
"uh, yeah, but it has to be accurate, Ill lift my arms," she raises her arms pulling her long hair up with her hands into a ponytail, "then you come around with the tape from the back, but you gotta measure where it hangs fullest, I'll tell you if you've got it."
He whips out the measuring tape, not looking at her face, swinging it behind her back before grabbing the other end lining it as best he could, pulling it tighter to her chest, his fingers barely touching. not that she really cares if he touches her or not, like Daki, she's grown accustomed to having people touch her body or having to undress in public. She only cared because she knew HE did.
"you gotta lower the tape slightly, make sure its still horizontal to my back, but pull it a little bit tighter so it isn't loose, otherwise ill have a much larger size than I should," he follows her instruction without complaint, "now i'm gonna put my arms down slowly ok?"He reads 86.5 cm. she whines at that it was a bit smaller than before.
"thank you" She says. He shoves the measuring tape in her hands, stomping past her to a room she assumed was his bedroom. Uh, thanks alot. You should stop by my place sometime to- "
"oh fuck you! What's wrong with you?" He spins his head—no his entire body around to face her,
"What do you mean?"
"Why are you asking me to measure your body, why? Why are you so comfortable asking me?! we're complete strangers!"
"What do you mean? we're not strangers" he scratched his neck hard at that, "Please don't do that! Look, I just, really miss cosplay..." it was such a simple answer, but it was true. However he wasn't satisfied, "No! You're not listening! Why me? Why US? Why are you doing this to us?"
She hops back on his kitchen counter top again, getting that weird interrogation feeling she did when he gave her a ride on his bike.
"Can I ask you a question? Have you ever wanted to be someone you admired?" he didn't move or react to that question which made her slump her shoulders sighing heavily, "ok has there ever been a time where you actually told the truth?" His expression suddenly changed. She couldn't decipher his thoughts, but knew he had a realization.
"Cosplay, to me anyway, is the ultimate show of empathy and love. It's a chance to truly become a person you admire most, you know? I want to emulate their strengths, overcome the same obstacles they do, know their pains, what makes them vulnerable and what makes them persevere...because life is really hard sometimes we lie to ourselves thinking were stronger alone than we really are, sometimes it helps when you're alone to lean on someone else's strength. Cosplay allows me to do that, even briefly. It's been a long time since I've felt that sensation." She paused to gauge whether he'd say something, but surprisingly he remained quiet, patiently waiting for her.
"I don't care about anything else as long as I get to cosplay. I'm sure you've felt that way too at some point in your life, you wished you could be someone else?" To his credit he doesn't make fun of her, just appeared to stew in it maybe even accept it. she checked her phone and hopped off his countertop.
"I gotta go, thanks for your help." she reached down and picked up her sweatshirt putting it on before turning to leave
"I suppose it suits you," her hand was on the doorknob when he said it, not loud but not softly either, just his usual wavering voice, "yes it does make sense, you're beautiful so... beautiful people emulating beautiful characters, makes perfect sense." He tapped his crossed arms, eyes squinting at the ceiling as if trying to solve a difficult equation.
Could he empathize? Sure, his words were more of a rationalization to himself than a compliment to her but...
He said beautiful, wakana.
She tried not to let him see the ocean of emotion flooding through. At hearing her ex's words from daki's brother of all people. Her hand shook on his door knob.
"thanks that really means a lot," she forced a smile on her face and left.
Perhaps he really wasn't so bad afterall. She knew deep down there was kindness in him, she saw it when he came home from jail and hugged his sister so tightly she had trouble breathing. There was concern in his voice too while he did. Truly, a touching moment.
So a few days later, when she is woken up by very aggressive banging on her door, at midnight, she did NOT expect him to be there at all. Initially, she panicked thinking there was a fire or someone in trouble. So she jumped out of bed and rushed down the stairs, to open the door.
But instead she found him standing there.
He spoke very quickly his voice wavering more than usual. She might have babbled a response, but she was so tired and confused she doesn't remember. She only remembers his warning.
"Stay away from me and my sister. Final warning. Stay away from both of us. I'm serious, neighbor. Don't come to us anymore." She woke up quickly after that.
"Wait a minute, what's gotten into you?" She says fully opening the door but he turned and walked away, back to his home,
"good night, Marin," he scowled, slamming it. Leaving her speechless.