[Fic] Cosmos 5/9
Title: Cosmos
Author: Sanzu
Pairing: Ryoda
Raiting: PG-15
Genre: AU (semi), romance, angst
Beta by: -
Disclaimer: I only own the plot
Summary: Music industry brings back together Ryo and Tatsuya who used to be best of friends 5 years ago until that horrible misunderstanding separated them
Warning: unbetad
Author Note: Relatively short chapters and includes an OC. Give it a try, ne ^^
Chapter 5
“Happy birthday Hiroki!” Mika smiled widely and lifted the glass she was holding in the air. The Cosmos was in a club’s VIP-section, gathered around a table to celebrate Hiroki’s 21st birthday. The others lifted their glasses as well.
“Happy birthday!”
“Thanks guys,” Hiroki smiled and each of them brought their own glass to the lips to take a good sip from one’s drink.
“Now we are going to go and dance,” Mika said then, grabbed Hiroki’s wrist and dragged him to the dance floor leaving the other three on the table with their drinks.
“Do you think she’ll start flirting again with someone today?” Yamapi asked sipping his drink.
“She doesn’t usually do that on our birthdays, does she?” Junno noted. Ryo was listening to their conversation but he couldn’t really take part of it as he didn’t know this side of Mika just yet. Apart from his own experience.
“But who knows? She seems to enjoy pissing our manager off more than usually these days,” Yamapi pointed out. Ryo knew that Mika indeed was pissing their manager off with her back talking and commenting on almost every possible thing. She had told Ryo she loved to do that, see how well their manager could take it in. In other words, she was kind of testing the manager’s or her own limits.
That was when Ryo noticed him. Kuroda. The leader of the gang Tatsuya had joined five years ago. He was there, walking just on the opposite side of the club with three guys Ryo hadn’t seen before. Ryo almost burst out the liquid from his mouth. He thought Kuroda was supposed to be in prison. The man was walking towards the lavatories so Ryo decided to follow.
“I’ll be right back,” he told the two other guys and walked after the older guy. When he heard the voice of Kuroda’s he came to a stop and hid himself a bit closer to the men’s lavatories. The bathroom seemed to be empty or Kuroda didn’t simply care if someone heard them.
“So what are you doing to do with the kid?” a voice he didn’t recognize asked.
“Hmm… Who knows? In two days I’m going to get 3 million yen from him. I guess I’ll ask for more and if he refuses… We’ll see then,” there was a clear evil smirk in Kuroda’s voice.
“What’s the thing with you calling him ‘doll’? another voice asked.
“You don’t need to know the details. All you need to know is that he’ll do whatever I tell him to do. And I want him to suffer. A lot,” Kuroda answered to that and laughed like maniac. Ryo got shivers from it. Whoever Kuroda was talking about was in big trouble. He had no idea who Kuroda was talking about but he felt sorry for the guy.
“I’m going to pay him a visit tomorrow to remind him what’s going to happen if he doesn’t bring the money,” Kuroda spoke again.
“Should we really be here? I mean, the police is looking for you,” the final unfamiliar voice asked then.
“Don’t worry. The police are too scared to let the media know a famous leader of the gang who killed unknown number of people has escaped from prison. The knowledge would cause mass hysteria,” Kuroda’s voice sounded so full of himself. Like he was proud of the things he had done. Ryo’s eyes widened. He hadn’t known Kuroda’s gang was killing people. All of a sudden he was happy he hadn’t been in a fight with the gang.
Quickly Ryo took out his cell phone and made a fast quiet phone call to the emergency number to inform about Kuroda. It was better for the ‘doll’ as well if Kuroda was captured then and there. After the phone call Ryo went back to listening to Kuroda and also to think about the information he learned.
But… did the fact that Tatsuya was part of Kuroda’s gang mean that Tatsuya had killed someone? Could that be possible? Ryo didn’t want to believe that Tatsuya would be capable of killing someone. Tatsuya had been a strong fighter but he hadn’t had one bit of killer in him. Ryo was sure of that. He wasn’t that bad at reading people.
Ryo was too confused and distracted to even think that Kuroda might be talking about Tatsuya and that it had been Tatsuya who had lied to Ryo about the time and place when the fight between Ryo and Kuroda was supposed to happen. He didn’t realize how close he was to finding out the real reason why Tatsuya had done what he had done.
The siren voice was heard from outside just then. Ryo quickly moved away from the lavatories to hide in to the crowd. He didn’t want Kuroda to see him. He also didn’t want the police to see him. He had made the phone call without telling them his name. He thought it wasn’t good for the Cosmos’ if the media found out they were somehow involved with a criminal who had committed murders.
The police came inside but somehow Kuroda and his three fellows managed to escape from the side door that was close to the lavatories. The bartender and many others could still recognize Kuroda from the picture the police showed them so the police knew for sure it wasn’t a prank call they got.
“I wonder who they were looking for,” Mika asked out loud. The five of them were together once again. The police had come to them as well but none of the others, apart from Ryo, had taken notice of Kuroda. And Ryo refused he would have noticed anything either.
****----****
Tatsuya was waiting for Mika that day outside their agency building. Cosmos had had an interview elsewhere and they were coming back to the agency for lunch. For the past six days Tatsuya had been awfully stressed. He had been trying to get the 3 million yen Kuroda was asking him to bring him but he couldn’t get that much money in any ways. He was really scared.
He had even called his parents to ask for some money which they gave him in the end but it wasn’t enough. He had also taken all his own money he could just give without getting his manager to find out about the matters. Tatsuya didn’t want to involve his manager into the matters then. He had already caused the man enough troubles when he first entered the agency.
“Yo!”
Tatsuya stiffed when he heard the voice. He recognized it right away. He turned his head slowly towards Kuroda who was standing just a few steps away from him. His three friends were right behind him.
“W-what are you doing here?” Tatsuya took a step back.
“Come with me for awhile. I need to remind you about something,” Kuroda smirked, walked to Tatsuya putting his arm around Tatsuya’s shoulders. He dragged the poor idol to the alley away from curious eyes but he didn’t notice the blond girl who was walking towards the spot they were just then.
Mika knew she was late from the appointment she had done with Tatsuya, but they got stuck in the traffic. That was why she was a little bit surprised to see that Tatsuya wasn’t there waiting for her. She looked around with a frown and took out her cell phone. That was when she heard the voices from the alley right behind the corner. She carefully stepped closer and looked in the alley. Her eyes widened in shock.
Tatsuya was pushed against the wall by Kuroda. He hit his spine painfully to the wall and couldn’t help but wince in pain.
“How’s the money collecting going?” Kuroda asked then.
“I-I need more time,” Tatsuya pleaded.
“I believe you did not understand me the last time. I told you to bring me 3 million yen by tomorrow or… I’m going to kill that Nishikido brat. You know how good I am at killing, don’t you?” Kuroda asked with a dangerous voice.
“I really need more time! I can’t get 3 million this fast,” Tatsuya would have gotten down on his knees to bow all the way to the ground if he wasn’t held against the wall like that.
“I don’t care how you get the money. But you will bring me that money by tomorrow. You know the place. I’ll give you a little something to remember this from,” Kuroda smirked, let go of Tatsuya and gave a sign to the others.
Mika watched in horror as the three guys got closer to Tatsuya to smack him a few times on his body, avoiding the face and other visible places. When they had done that they let go of Tatsuya who dropped to the ground on his knees and the four dangerous looking men came towards Mika. Mika hid behind the corner, flipped the phone in her hand open and pressed it against her ear.
“Oh yeah? Where is that? No, I don’t see anything like that around here. What? Let me see…”, Mika spoke in English trying to look like a tourist. It seemed to work well enough as the four guys just walked past her and left without looking behind.
Mika put the phone away and ran to Tatsuya who was still on his knees.
“Tatsuya!” Mika dropped on her knees right next to the boy hugging him.
“Mika?” Tatsuya looked shocked. Mika sobbed against his shoulder. She had been scared and was then terrified about what she had just heard.
“Why didn’t you tell me you idiot? You promised me you’d tell me if you were in trouble!” Mika yelled at him hugging Tatsuya tighter.
“I… I’m sorry,” Tatsuya muttered. He knew that Mika knew he would never get Mika involved in something dangerous like that. Especially as Kuroda had admitted killing people. Tatsuya already knew Mika had heard most of the conversation.
“They’re going to kill Ryo if you don’t get them 3 million?” Mika lifted her head to ask the question from Tatsuya.
“Aa,” Tatsuya nodded looking the ground.
“You don’t have 3 million!” Mika stated the obvious.
“I know! B-but I have to get the money from somewhere! I-I can’t let them kill Ryo!” Tatsuya started to cry at that point as well. He hid his eyes with his hand as if that would hide the fact that he was crying.
“Of course we can’t let them kill Ryo. I’ll help you get the rest of the money,” Mika said then.
“No! I can’t take your money,” Tatsuya declined.
“Then what? You can’t rob a bank or something! You take the money I give you and pay me back”, Mika decided for Tatsuya. He couldn’t help but agree. He knew she was right. He couldn’t get any more money legally so he either had to take the money Mika gave him or rob a bank or some supermarket.
“But first, you’re going to tell me everything,” Mika said then and at that point Tatsuya knew he had no other options. It was the only way to keep Ryo alive.
****----****
Tatsuya and Mika went to buy lunch from a supermarket and returned to the agency to find an empty room with a lock on the door. Tatsuya had promised to tell Mika everything but only in a place where was no danger of anyone eavesdropping. So there they were, in an empty room. They had double checked that no one was in the room and that the doors were locked and windows closed.
They sat down on the floor and placed the lunch in front of them. Mika waited patiently that Tatsuya would start talking. That was the moment she had been waiting for, but she wasn’t so sure anymore she wanted to know the truth. What she had been able to conclude from what she heard earlier did not sound like anything good. She was sure she was going to hear something much more awful than she ever imagined hearing.
Tatsuya was trying to gather up his courage to be able to talk about everything that had happened five years ago. He felt relieved that Mika had promised to help him get all the money Kuroda asked from him and he knew it was only fair to let Mika know what really was going on. He took in a deep breath and prepared himself.
“H-has Ryo told you anything?” Tatsuya asked then. He wasn’t sure how much Mika knew about his and Ryo’s situation. The way Mika had spoken earlier sounded like she knew something. Mika had the talent of pushing the right buttons to get people tell her whatever she wanted to hear. It didn’t work on Tatsuya anymore but everyone else was on danger zone.
“Yes. His version about you just using him to get more power in school. And finally joining the enemy gang to get more power and become cooler,” Mika told him. The tone already told Tatsuya that Mika knew Ryo’s version had the main point right but the reasons were total bullcrap.
Tatsuya was quiet for some time. He tried to figure out where he should start. He was also slightly hurt that Ryo really thought that he would have done something like that for reasons like that.
“I don’t know where to start,” Tatsuya said then.
“How about you start from when you first met the other gang?” Mika suggested. It sounded good enough so Tatsuya took another deep breath and prepared to start the story.
“Ryo was the ruler of our middle school and we were best friends. We understood each other. But Ryo… he had the urge to prove everyone he wasn’t weak and that is why he got into a lot of trouble with other delinquents. I didn’t mind that. Those fights were never nothing too dangerous,” Tatsuya started. He looked at the lunch in front of him. Mika kept quiet next to him, just listening to the story.
“One time we ran into Kuroda’s gang. You saw him out there on the alley. Ryo was being himself and provoked the older gang. So we agreed about a fight two days later. Ryo was excited and he felt so sure of himself. He was sure we were going to kick their asses.
“But the next day when I was walking on the streets I ran into the gang. They didn’t see me, though. I decided to follow them to see if I could study their fighting. I wasn’t feeling as sure as Ryo was. They were five years older than us, they looked stronger. So I wanted to find out if we needed more people to go against them. Our gang had only 6 people and they had 13.
“I managed to follow them without them noticing it. And as if it was my luck I saw how they went to the old warehouse area and met another gang. A gang of 7. They looked like high school students. I hid myself well to see the fight,” Tatsuya stopped there to swallow. He was about to get to the first hard part there was in the story. He still had nightmares of it too.
“They were stronger than Ryo thought, weren’t they?” Mika asked a small question to encourage Tatsuya to continue.
“They were a lot stronger than even I ever imagined. The other gang had no chances from the very beginning! The fight was short. The seven people of the other gang were beaten up to the ground faster than I’d ever seen anyone being beaten up before. I’m not even sure if they would have been able to lift themselves up from the ground. But Kuroda… he didn’t stop there. He…” Tatsuya had to stop at the flashback he saw in front of his eyes then. It felt too real. He still remembered the horror he felt. He was so scared back then he didn’t remember ever being more scared.
“What did he do?” Mika seemed to sense Tatsuya’s horror and her voice was trembling. One part of her wanted to stop Tatsuya from telling the rest of the story but she couldn’t stop herself from asking the question.
“He killed them”, Tatsuya whispered. “He killed them just like that and threw them in to the river next to the warehouse area.”
There were tears in Mika’s eyes as she brought her hands up to her mouth in horror. Tatsuya wasn’t able to lift his head so he just stared at the one and same spot on the floor.
“At that point I knew they were the gang the news had been talking about. The unknown gang who killed people all the time. I also knew we stood no chance with that gang. And at that point there was only one thing I could think about: I couldn’t get Ryo killed. I knew I had to do something, anything to stop Ryo from fighting with Kuroda’s gang,” Tatsuya continued with a quiet voice. His eyes were burning, trying to fight the tears.
“W-what did you do?” Mika whispered the question horror still clear in her voice.
“In the evening I came up with a plan how I could safe Ryo. So I called him and told him I ran into Kuroda, that they had a message for Ryo. And that’s when I lied to Ryo about the time and place where the fight was supposed to happen. I needed to get Ryo as far away from me as possible so that he wouldn’t ruin my plan,” Tatsuya explained. He could hear Mika sniffling next to him and he knew the girl couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
“You met the gang alone?” Mika asked.
“Yes. And somehow I managed to get them to listen to me and make a deal with me. Technically I promised they could do anything with me, use me in anything as far as they let Ryo be and didn’t make me kill anyone. Those were the only things I asked for and I don’t know why but Kuroda took the deal,” Tatsuya took the chopsticks and started to play around with his lunch as if to distract himself. He knew the hardest part was still to come.
“You sold your body for Ryo’s safety,” Mika said then. At that point she wished Ryo would have listened to Tatsuya five years ago. She could sense something really bad would still be coming. Somehow she thought if Ryo had known all of this, Tatsuya wouldn’t have had to go through whatever there was to come.
“I love Ryo. I would do anything to keep him safe. Th-that’s probably the only thing that kept me sane after the deal was done with Kuroda”, Tatsuya told.
“What happened? What did they make you do?” Mika’s questions were hesitant but it was already too late to turn back.
“Next time Ryo saw me, I was together with the gang. They were just taking me to do my first part of the deal. I had to steal some alcohol from a store. But Ryo just saw me walking with them and next day at school he beat me up calling me a traitor. In the end I had to change schools because Ryo couldn’t take the sight of me without exploding.
“I was almost depressed about Ryo kicking me out of his life just like that. I tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen. No one would listen to me. But the deal was on and so I kept doing what Kuroda told me to do. I stole a lot; I threatened people, delivered messages, beat people up. I even dealt drugs,” Tatsuya listed things he was made to do.
“All that I could take. But things changed not much after that. Instead of making me just do their dirty work they started to beat me up whenever they felt like it. That too, I could take. But when it all got… sexual… Ryo was the only thing that kept me from breaking down,” Tatsuya’s voice turned weaker and weaker towards the end. At that point he couldn’t fight the tears anymore and he could hear how Mika took a sharp intake of breath in her shock.
“T-they r-raped you?” she asked shocked and terrified.
“I don’t even know how many times it happened,” Tatsuya managed to answer and that’s when Mika hugged him and started crying against his shoulder hard. She was holding Tatsuya so tight and Tatsuya couldn’t stop himself from crying as well.
“A-a few months before my 17th birthday my manager found me and asked me to go to audition. I was so deep at that time. It was the darkest time of my life. I was so desperate that if anyone offered me a chance out of the darkness, I would have taken it. In the audition I found out I had the voice to be a singer and I got accepted to this agency.
“When that happened I had to tell everything to my manager. And through his connections we got Kuroda and his gang in prison for the rest of their lives. I went to therapy for good 9 months while getting closer with the guys who I was put in the same group with,” Tatsuya was finishing up his life’s story while Mika kept crying and hugging him.
“I’m so sorry Tatsuya. I’m so sorry,” Mika cried.
“I kept telling myself I was doing it all for Ryo. To keep him alive. Nothing else mattered. And I think that was the only reason I could pull through that horrible time,” Tatsuya confessed. He had kept going to see that Ryo was safe and just seeing Ryo walking there, alive, was enough to tell Tatsuya he was doing the right thing and that he must keep going.
The two of them kept sitting on the floor, trying to stop themselves from crying and also calm themselves down. It took them some time but in the end Mika pulled back feeling calm enough to do so.
“Don’t you think you should tell Ryo the truth?” Mika asked. Now that she knew the real truth, she wanted Ryo and Tatsuya to be friends again. And she was sure after Ryo would hear why Tatsuya had done what he had done; he would realize his mistakes and accept Tatsuya back in his life.
“No,” Tatsuya shook his head.
“Don’t you want him to know he’s hated you for nothing for the past five years?” Mika raised her voice slightly.
“I don’t want him to feel guilty for what happened to me. Besides, we’re in professional terms. It’s enough, isn’t it?” Tatsuya turned to Mika with a small smile on his lips.
“I don’t understand you Tatsuya. Don’t you want to be his friend again?” Mika asked.
“I would love to. But I’m fine like this,” Tatsuya said.
“But-“
“Mika. Stop. Please. Let’s just get this Kuroda thing over with,” Tatsuya pleaded. Mika couldn’t help but stop arguing. But she decided to do that later. At that moment the 3 million yen was what mattered the most.
tbc
****----****
Who else wants some tissues? ;_;
I've been trying to update for the past 3 days but LJ has been against it >.<
Comments are loved~
Author: Sanzu
Pairing: Ryoda
Raiting: PG-15
Genre: AU (semi), romance, angst
Beta by: -
Disclaimer: I only own the plot
Summary: Music industry brings back together Ryo and Tatsuya who used to be best of friends 5 years ago until that horrible misunderstanding separated them
Warning: unbetad
Author Note: Relatively short chapters and includes an OC. Give it a try, ne ^^
Chapter 5
“Happy birthday Hiroki!” Mika smiled widely and lifted the glass she was holding in the air. The Cosmos was in a club’s VIP-section, gathered around a table to celebrate Hiroki’s 21st birthday. The others lifted their glasses as well.
“Happy birthday!”
“Thanks guys,” Hiroki smiled and each of them brought their own glass to the lips to take a good sip from one’s drink.
“Now we are going to go and dance,” Mika said then, grabbed Hiroki’s wrist and dragged him to the dance floor leaving the other three on the table with their drinks.
“Do you think she’ll start flirting again with someone today?” Yamapi asked sipping his drink.
“She doesn’t usually do that on our birthdays, does she?” Junno noted. Ryo was listening to their conversation but he couldn’t really take part of it as he didn’t know this side of Mika just yet. Apart from his own experience.
“But who knows? She seems to enjoy pissing our manager off more than usually these days,” Yamapi pointed out. Ryo knew that Mika indeed was pissing their manager off with her back talking and commenting on almost every possible thing. She had told Ryo she loved to do that, see how well their manager could take it in. In other words, she was kind of testing the manager’s or her own limits.
That was when Ryo noticed him. Kuroda. The leader of the gang Tatsuya had joined five years ago. He was there, walking just on the opposite side of the club with three guys Ryo hadn’t seen before. Ryo almost burst out the liquid from his mouth. He thought Kuroda was supposed to be in prison. The man was walking towards the lavatories so Ryo decided to follow.
“I’ll be right back,” he told the two other guys and walked after the older guy. When he heard the voice of Kuroda’s he came to a stop and hid himself a bit closer to the men’s lavatories. The bathroom seemed to be empty or Kuroda didn’t simply care if someone heard them.
“So what are you doing to do with the kid?” a voice he didn’t recognize asked.
“Hmm… Who knows? In two days I’m going to get 3 million yen from him. I guess I’ll ask for more and if he refuses… We’ll see then,” there was a clear evil smirk in Kuroda’s voice.
“What’s the thing with you calling him ‘doll’? another voice asked.
“You don’t need to know the details. All you need to know is that he’ll do whatever I tell him to do. And I want him to suffer. A lot,” Kuroda answered to that and laughed like maniac. Ryo got shivers from it. Whoever Kuroda was talking about was in big trouble. He had no idea who Kuroda was talking about but he felt sorry for the guy.
“I’m going to pay him a visit tomorrow to remind him what’s going to happen if he doesn’t bring the money,” Kuroda spoke again.
“Should we really be here? I mean, the police is looking for you,” the final unfamiliar voice asked then.
“Don’t worry. The police are too scared to let the media know a famous leader of the gang who killed unknown number of people has escaped from prison. The knowledge would cause mass hysteria,” Kuroda’s voice sounded so full of himself. Like he was proud of the things he had done. Ryo’s eyes widened. He hadn’t known Kuroda’s gang was killing people. All of a sudden he was happy he hadn’t been in a fight with the gang.
Quickly Ryo took out his cell phone and made a fast quiet phone call to the emergency number to inform about Kuroda. It was better for the ‘doll’ as well if Kuroda was captured then and there. After the phone call Ryo went back to listening to Kuroda and also to think about the information he learned.
But… did the fact that Tatsuya was part of Kuroda’s gang mean that Tatsuya had killed someone? Could that be possible? Ryo didn’t want to believe that Tatsuya would be capable of killing someone. Tatsuya had been a strong fighter but he hadn’t had one bit of killer in him. Ryo was sure of that. He wasn’t that bad at reading people.
Ryo was too confused and distracted to even think that Kuroda might be talking about Tatsuya and that it had been Tatsuya who had lied to Ryo about the time and place when the fight between Ryo and Kuroda was supposed to happen. He didn’t realize how close he was to finding out the real reason why Tatsuya had done what he had done.
The siren voice was heard from outside just then. Ryo quickly moved away from the lavatories to hide in to the crowd. He didn’t want Kuroda to see him. He also didn’t want the police to see him. He had made the phone call without telling them his name. He thought it wasn’t good for the Cosmos’ if the media found out they were somehow involved with a criminal who had committed murders.
The police came inside but somehow Kuroda and his three fellows managed to escape from the side door that was close to the lavatories. The bartender and many others could still recognize Kuroda from the picture the police showed them so the police knew for sure it wasn’t a prank call they got.
“I wonder who they were looking for,” Mika asked out loud. The five of them were together once again. The police had come to them as well but none of the others, apart from Ryo, had taken notice of Kuroda. And Ryo refused he would have noticed anything either.
****----****
Tatsuya was waiting for Mika that day outside their agency building. Cosmos had had an interview elsewhere and they were coming back to the agency for lunch. For the past six days Tatsuya had been awfully stressed. He had been trying to get the 3 million yen Kuroda was asking him to bring him but he couldn’t get that much money in any ways. He was really scared.
He had even called his parents to ask for some money which they gave him in the end but it wasn’t enough. He had also taken all his own money he could just give without getting his manager to find out about the matters. Tatsuya didn’t want to involve his manager into the matters then. He had already caused the man enough troubles when he first entered the agency.
“Yo!”
Tatsuya stiffed when he heard the voice. He recognized it right away. He turned his head slowly towards Kuroda who was standing just a few steps away from him. His three friends were right behind him.
“W-what are you doing here?” Tatsuya took a step back.
“Come with me for awhile. I need to remind you about something,” Kuroda smirked, walked to Tatsuya putting his arm around Tatsuya’s shoulders. He dragged the poor idol to the alley away from curious eyes but he didn’t notice the blond girl who was walking towards the spot they were just then.
Mika knew she was late from the appointment she had done with Tatsuya, but they got stuck in the traffic. That was why she was a little bit surprised to see that Tatsuya wasn’t there waiting for her. She looked around with a frown and took out her cell phone. That was when she heard the voices from the alley right behind the corner. She carefully stepped closer and looked in the alley. Her eyes widened in shock.
Tatsuya was pushed against the wall by Kuroda. He hit his spine painfully to the wall and couldn’t help but wince in pain.
“How’s the money collecting going?” Kuroda asked then.
“I-I need more time,” Tatsuya pleaded.
“I believe you did not understand me the last time. I told you to bring me 3 million yen by tomorrow or… I’m going to kill that Nishikido brat. You know how good I am at killing, don’t you?” Kuroda asked with a dangerous voice.
“I really need more time! I can’t get 3 million this fast,” Tatsuya would have gotten down on his knees to bow all the way to the ground if he wasn’t held against the wall like that.
“I don’t care how you get the money. But you will bring me that money by tomorrow. You know the place. I’ll give you a little something to remember this from,” Kuroda smirked, let go of Tatsuya and gave a sign to the others.
Mika watched in horror as the three guys got closer to Tatsuya to smack him a few times on his body, avoiding the face and other visible places. When they had done that they let go of Tatsuya who dropped to the ground on his knees and the four dangerous looking men came towards Mika. Mika hid behind the corner, flipped the phone in her hand open and pressed it against her ear.
“Oh yeah? Where is that? No, I don’t see anything like that around here. What? Let me see…”, Mika spoke in English trying to look like a tourist. It seemed to work well enough as the four guys just walked past her and left without looking behind.
Mika put the phone away and ran to Tatsuya who was still on his knees.
“Tatsuya!” Mika dropped on her knees right next to the boy hugging him.
“Mika?” Tatsuya looked shocked. Mika sobbed against his shoulder. She had been scared and was then terrified about what she had just heard.
“Why didn’t you tell me you idiot? You promised me you’d tell me if you were in trouble!” Mika yelled at him hugging Tatsuya tighter.
“I… I’m sorry,” Tatsuya muttered. He knew that Mika knew he would never get Mika involved in something dangerous like that. Especially as Kuroda had admitted killing people. Tatsuya already knew Mika had heard most of the conversation.
“They’re going to kill Ryo if you don’t get them 3 million?” Mika lifted her head to ask the question from Tatsuya.
“Aa,” Tatsuya nodded looking the ground.
“You don’t have 3 million!” Mika stated the obvious.
“I know! B-but I have to get the money from somewhere! I-I can’t let them kill Ryo!” Tatsuya started to cry at that point as well. He hid his eyes with his hand as if that would hide the fact that he was crying.
“Of course we can’t let them kill Ryo. I’ll help you get the rest of the money,” Mika said then.
“No! I can’t take your money,” Tatsuya declined.
“Then what? You can’t rob a bank or something! You take the money I give you and pay me back”, Mika decided for Tatsuya. He couldn’t help but agree. He knew she was right. He couldn’t get any more money legally so he either had to take the money Mika gave him or rob a bank or some supermarket.
“But first, you’re going to tell me everything,” Mika said then and at that point Tatsuya knew he had no other options. It was the only way to keep Ryo alive.
****----****
Tatsuya and Mika went to buy lunch from a supermarket and returned to the agency to find an empty room with a lock on the door. Tatsuya had promised to tell Mika everything but only in a place where was no danger of anyone eavesdropping. So there they were, in an empty room. They had double checked that no one was in the room and that the doors were locked and windows closed.
They sat down on the floor and placed the lunch in front of them. Mika waited patiently that Tatsuya would start talking. That was the moment she had been waiting for, but she wasn’t so sure anymore she wanted to know the truth. What she had been able to conclude from what she heard earlier did not sound like anything good. She was sure she was going to hear something much more awful than she ever imagined hearing.
Tatsuya was trying to gather up his courage to be able to talk about everything that had happened five years ago. He felt relieved that Mika had promised to help him get all the money Kuroda asked from him and he knew it was only fair to let Mika know what really was going on. He took in a deep breath and prepared himself.
“H-has Ryo told you anything?” Tatsuya asked then. He wasn’t sure how much Mika knew about his and Ryo’s situation. The way Mika had spoken earlier sounded like she knew something. Mika had the talent of pushing the right buttons to get people tell her whatever she wanted to hear. It didn’t work on Tatsuya anymore but everyone else was on danger zone.
“Yes. His version about you just using him to get more power in school. And finally joining the enemy gang to get more power and become cooler,” Mika told him. The tone already told Tatsuya that Mika knew Ryo’s version had the main point right but the reasons were total bullcrap.
Tatsuya was quiet for some time. He tried to figure out where he should start. He was also slightly hurt that Ryo really thought that he would have done something like that for reasons like that.
“I don’t know where to start,” Tatsuya said then.
“How about you start from when you first met the other gang?” Mika suggested. It sounded good enough so Tatsuya took another deep breath and prepared to start the story.
“Ryo was the ruler of our middle school and we were best friends. We understood each other. But Ryo… he had the urge to prove everyone he wasn’t weak and that is why he got into a lot of trouble with other delinquents. I didn’t mind that. Those fights were never nothing too dangerous,” Tatsuya started. He looked at the lunch in front of him. Mika kept quiet next to him, just listening to the story.
“One time we ran into Kuroda’s gang. You saw him out there on the alley. Ryo was being himself and provoked the older gang. So we agreed about a fight two days later. Ryo was excited and he felt so sure of himself. He was sure we were going to kick their asses.
“But the next day when I was walking on the streets I ran into the gang. They didn’t see me, though. I decided to follow them to see if I could study their fighting. I wasn’t feeling as sure as Ryo was. They were five years older than us, they looked stronger. So I wanted to find out if we needed more people to go against them. Our gang had only 6 people and they had 13.
“I managed to follow them without them noticing it. And as if it was my luck I saw how they went to the old warehouse area and met another gang. A gang of 7. They looked like high school students. I hid myself well to see the fight,” Tatsuya stopped there to swallow. He was about to get to the first hard part there was in the story. He still had nightmares of it too.
“They were stronger than Ryo thought, weren’t they?” Mika asked a small question to encourage Tatsuya to continue.
“They were a lot stronger than even I ever imagined. The other gang had no chances from the very beginning! The fight was short. The seven people of the other gang were beaten up to the ground faster than I’d ever seen anyone being beaten up before. I’m not even sure if they would have been able to lift themselves up from the ground. But Kuroda… he didn’t stop there. He…” Tatsuya had to stop at the flashback he saw in front of his eyes then. It felt too real. He still remembered the horror he felt. He was so scared back then he didn’t remember ever being more scared.
“What did he do?” Mika seemed to sense Tatsuya’s horror and her voice was trembling. One part of her wanted to stop Tatsuya from telling the rest of the story but she couldn’t stop herself from asking the question.
“He killed them”, Tatsuya whispered. “He killed them just like that and threw them in to the river next to the warehouse area.”
There were tears in Mika’s eyes as she brought her hands up to her mouth in horror. Tatsuya wasn’t able to lift his head so he just stared at the one and same spot on the floor.
“At that point I knew they were the gang the news had been talking about. The unknown gang who killed people all the time. I also knew we stood no chance with that gang. And at that point there was only one thing I could think about: I couldn’t get Ryo killed. I knew I had to do something, anything to stop Ryo from fighting with Kuroda’s gang,” Tatsuya continued with a quiet voice. His eyes were burning, trying to fight the tears.
“W-what did you do?” Mika whispered the question horror still clear in her voice.
“In the evening I came up with a plan how I could safe Ryo. So I called him and told him I ran into Kuroda, that they had a message for Ryo. And that’s when I lied to Ryo about the time and place where the fight was supposed to happen. I needed to get Ryo as far away from me as possible so that he wouldn’t ruin my plan,” Tatsuya explained. He could hear Mika sniffling next to him and he knew the girl couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
“You met the gang alone?” Mika asked.
“Yes. And somehow I managed to get them to listen to me and make a deal with me. Technically I promised they could do anything with me, use me in anything as far as they let Ryo be and didn’t make me kill anyone. Those were the only things I asked for and I don’t know why but Kuroda took the deal,” Tatsuya took the chopsticks and started to play around with his lunch as if to distract himself. He knew the hardest part was still to come.
“You sold your body for Ryo’s safety,” Mika said then. At that point she wished Ryo would have listened to Tatsuya five years ago. She could sense something really bad would still be coming. Somehow she thought if Ryo had known all of this, Tatsuya wouldn’t have had to go through whatever there was to come.
“I love Ryo. I would do anything to keep him safe. Th-that’s probably the only thing that kept me sane after the deal was done with Kuroda”, Tatsuya told.
“What happened? What did they make you do?” Mika’s questions were hesitant but it was already too late to turn back.
“Next time Ryo saw me, I was together with the gang. They were just taking me to do my first part of the deal. I had to steal some alcohol from a store. But Ryo just saw me walking with them and next day at school he beat me up calling me a traitor. In the end I had to change schools because Ryo couldn’t take the sight of me without exploding.
“I was almost depressed about Ryo kicking me out of his life just like that. I tried to explain but he wouldn’t listen. No one would listen to me. But the deal was on and so I kept doing what Kuroda told me to do. I stole a lot; I threatened people, delivered messages, beat people up. I even dealt drugs,” Tatsuya listed things he was made to do.
“All that I could take. But things changed not much after that. Instead of making me just do their dirty work they started to beat me up whenever they felt like it. That too, I could take. But when it all got… sexual… Ryo was the only thing that kept me from breaking down,” Tatsuya’s voice turned weaker and weaker towards the end. At that point he couldn’t fight the tears anymore and he could hear how Mika took a sharp intake of breath in her shock.
“T-they r-raped you?” she asked shocked and terrified.
“I don’t even know how many times it happened,” Tatsuya managed to answer and that’s when Mika hugged him and started crying against his shoulder hard. She was holding Tatsuya so tight and Tatsuya couldn’t stop himself from crying as well.
“A-a few months before my 17th birthday my manager found me and asked me to go to audition. I was so deep at that time. It was the darkest time of my life. I was so desperate that if anyone offered me a chance out of the darkness, I would have taken it. In the audition I found out I had the voice to be a singer and I got accepted to this agency.
“When that happened I had to tell everything to my manager. And through his connections we got Kuroda and his gang in prison for the rest of their lives. I went to therapy for good 9 months while getting closer with the guys who I was put in the same group with,” Tatsuya was finishing up his life’s story while Mika kept crying and hugging him.
“I’m so sorry Tatsuya. I’m so sorry,” Mika cried.
“I kept telling myself I was doing it all for Ryo. To keep him alive. Nothing else mattered. And I think that was the only reason I could pull through that horrible time,” Tatsuya confessed. He had kept going to see that Ryo was safe and just seeing Ryo walking there, alive, was enough to tell Tatsuya he was doing the right thing and that he must keep going.
The two of them kept sitting on the floor, trying to stop themselves from crying and also calm themselves down. It took them some time but in the end Mika pulled back feeling calm enough to do so.
“Don’t you think you should tell Ryo the truth?” Mika asked. Now that she knew the real truth, she wanted Ryo and Tatsuya to be friends again. And she was sure after Ryo would hear why Tatsuya had done what he had done; he would realize his mistakes and accept Tatsuya back in his life.
“No,” Tatsuya shook his head.
“Don’t you want him to know he’s hated you for nothing for the past five years?” Mika raised her voice slightly.
“I don’t want him to feel guilty for what happened to me. Besides, we’re in professional terms. It’s enough, isn’t it?” Tatsuya turned to Mika with a small smile on his lips.
“I don’t understand you Tatsuya. Don’t you want to be his friend again?” Mika asked.
“I would love to. But I’m fine like this,” Tatsuya said.
“But-“
“Mika. Stop. Please. Let’s just get this Kuroda thing over with,” Tatsuya pleaded. Mika couldn’t help but stop arguing. But she decided to do that later. At that moment the 3 million yen was what mattered the most.
tbc
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Who else wants some tissues? ;_;
I've been trying to update for the past 3 days but LJ has been against it >.<
Comments are loved~