FIC: All's Fair in Love and War (PG) for athena8
Author: genkischuldich
Recipient: athena8
Title: All's Fair in Love and War.
Rating: Some swearing (PG).
Characters/Pairing(s): Aya, Yuushi (Knight).
Summary: When Momoe falls victim to a scam, Aya is torn between revenge and honoring the memory of Shion. Meanwhile, Yuushi has his own agenda.
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 2400.
Author's Notes: Set early on in the first season, around the time Ken and the rest of Weiss are investigating Kase. Aya and Weiss have already been to Sendai and found out part of the truth about Kikyou. Have a merry Christmas and hope you enjoy the fic.
All's Fair in Love and War
It took seconds for Youji to register the alarm. He grabbed the phone beside his bed.
4am.
Not his alarm, a call from an unregistered number. At this time of night he only accepted calls from beautiful women -- specifically, Manx and Birman. He pushed the button to accept the call and willed himself not to hope for news of a child kidnapping ring or a string of murdered prostitutes. Especially the prostitutes.
Sometimes he was just a florist for weeks on end until Kritiker made contact again. That meant watering, pruning and selling flowers -- for real.
"Hello?"
Youji listened and let out a long sigh.
"Why don't you ring him then?" Youji waited for the answer. "If you're not a cute girl, get off the fucking line."
He jabbed the 'end call' button. Fifteen seconds later he heard the familiar jangle of a soccer anthem from the room next to his.
Youji shifted further underneath his blankets. It was too long until morning.
***
A shambling figure shuffled into the Koneko no Sumu Ie via the back door. Aya looked Youji up and down, then walked towards him with purpose.
“Last night-“
“Lover’s tiff. I get it.” Youji sneaked a quick look out of the corner of his eyes to see Aya’s reaction as he turned away.
Aya’s gaze remained steady and his mouth relaxed into a frown. “Knight isn’t my lover. We were team-mates.”
“Team-mates don’t ring each other at that time of night unless there’s a mission.”
“There are other reasons.”
Perhaps it was Aya's tone of voice, but Youji’s shoulders slumped and he stood, frozen, until seeming to snap out of it. Aya watched him head to the kitchen area, pull a green mug off the shelf and stare at it, muttering something about ‘coffee’.
Aya understood, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have business to attend to.
“Youji?”
“Yes?” Youji didn't look at Aya and continued to hold his mug underneath the hot water dispenser as he tried to make sense of the buttons and the blinking display.
Aya was the first to see Omi standing there. Considering the situation, he was understandably tense and his mouth was drawn into a tight frown.
“Youji…” Omi began.
“Not even a ‘hello’? Things must be serious.” Youji slapped the top of the hot water dispenser.
Aya was used to these apparent mood swings and learned not to trust them. Youji’s voice was light, but his eyelids were still heavy and his eyes dull. Nothing had changed in the past few minutes.
“It’s Momoe. Well, Manx is coming soon to talk to her, but try not to… upset her?”
Aya spoke up. “I was going to keep him here.”
“It’s not up to you. Besides, not even our Youji could spend the next two hours trying to figure out a hot water dispenser.”
Omi smiled and, although Aya would never admit it, he felt cheered. Youji had just said goodbye to a woman known only as Maki and now Ken was facing his toughest decision since he joined Weiss. Omi, the youngest member, was still doing fine.
“I’m tired,” Youji protested, jabbing a finger at Aya. “And it’s all his fault.”
Youji set his empty mug down and looked over at the spot by the window where Momoe often sat. She was wearing a black kimono with a trail of white cosmos that started just below the waist.
“Hey, who’s getting married?” Youji asked, then winced in regret.
“I did, young man. Sixty years ago, almost to the day. But you don’t forget your first love.”
Ken looked up from his seat beside her. “It’s okay, Momoe. He looks like he needs a walk.” He lunged at Youji and grabbed his arm while Youji was still trying to guess if Ken really was going to attack him.
He really was.
Youji broke away and pushed Ken back.
“Youji… don’t be a dick. C’mon.”
“Someone, anyone, just explain what the fu-” Youji glanced at Momoe. “Tell me what’s going on. Please.”
“She got a phone call from a guy named Tokura, who she seems to know. He said he’d visit in a few hours, once she placed one million yen in an ATM.”
“Momoe, who is Toku-“
“Shut it, Kudou,” said Aya. “We are waiting for Manx.”
“And I’m the only member you couldn’t trust with this information?”
“I tried. I tried,” said Omi. He screwed his eyes up tight. When he opened them, his eyes quickly fixed on a spot behind them. “Oh no!”
Youji, Aya and Ken turned in the direction he had been looking. Momoe lay sprawled on the floor, her breaths coming in short, irregular rasps.
***
“It’s still snowing in Sendai. Just as it did two years ago.” Aya fixed his eyes on the digital sign above the platform. 19.00 to Akita, stopping at Sendai.
Without looking down, he ran his fingers along the edges of the tickets in his hand. There were three. One to get him there and a matching seat reservation ticket. The third ticket was for his return trip, but with no date specified and no reservation.
He stood in the first feeder lane for the Komachi Shinkansen, rucksack at his feet, while Yuushi stood outside the lines marked on the ground, just beyond where the train doors would open.
"It's too soon, Ran. Especially now that Mrs. Yamaguchi is in hospital.”
"Then when?"
Yuushi stood out more than Aya himself. His blond hair was tucked behind his ears and he wore an all-white assemble underneath his long white coat. He had also had a simple white scarf. Not the one he wore for missions, Aya noted. This one had no logo.
"How did you get onto the platform without a ticket?" Aya snapped.
"Don't try to change the subject."
Aya considered this. "I won't get another chance."
"It's just a clock, Ran. A thing with no intrinsic meaning. A true knight would be at Mrs. Yamaguchi's side."
"No." Aya glanced towards his rucksack.
Yuushi stared at Aya's bag until he was certain Aya was aware he was staring. "Why did you bring Shion?"
Aya swallowed hard. "Because I'm going to the clock rededication ceremony and Shion was one of Kikyou's victims too."
Limbs falling as the clockwork figures began to move, jerking them to life. A head with bulging eyes. Internal organs hanging from clock gears. He hadn’t seen it, but his imagination filled in the blanks from the news reports. In his mind, somehow, the dismembered limbs seemed familiar.
“Naomi…”
“Naomi?”
“She was a dominatrix. We met in a hotel room in Sendai…” Aya wasn’t there anymore. His eyes fixed on a point far in the distance.
The clock on the platform chimed and Aya felt the world snap back into focus. He nodded once to Yuushi and filed onto the train he hadn't even notice arrive. He focused on getting his luggage into the small shelf above his seat. He never glanced out of the window until the train pulled out of the station.
No emotions. He may have decided he was going to Sendai before Momoe’s collapse, but now he knew he needed to visit more than ever. Because of her, not in spite of.
If he had looked up, he would have seen Yuushi reading a message on his cell phone.
Yuushi’s cell phone screen was filled with icons. Several cartoon explosions, a smiley face and - inexplicably - a red high heel.
We have a mission!!!!!
Yuushi guessed Pawn had chosen the shoe to represent Erika, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
***
The waves caught the morning sunlight and scattered it across the bay. Gulls in search of food soared above boats filled with sightseers. The birds would catch the shrimp corn snacks in their beaks and then swoop closer, riding the air currents.
Atop a small cliff, surrounded by pine trees laden with melting snow, was a small teahouse with its history etched into its worn wooden frame. Aya watched from the Kanrantei Teahouse, in the same room that the Date clan had sat hundreds of years ago. Here, he felt like a samurai.
Aya sat on the tatami with his legs tucked underneath him. He wrapped his cold fingers around a bowl of frothy green tea, rotated it three times and looked out at the groups of pine islands ahead of him. He shivered.
“Cold?” asked a voice beside him.
Aya didn’t need to turn see who it was. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“I saw you leave for Sendai. And I heard the clock rededication ceremony was cancelled. And then I asked myself where the best place was for pretending to be a samurai rather than acting like one.”
“Shut up!” Aya hissed and gripped the bowl of tea tightly. “I don't usually find this kind of peace in Tokyo, you know.”
“Not unless you’re moping on a rooftop.”
Aya put down his tea and picked up a small wooden stick from the tray in front of him. He speared the accompanying snack - a ball of mochi and sweetened edamame. “Are you trying to provoke me?”
“Do you know why the ceremony was cancelled?”
Aya nodded and silence followed, punctuated only by the sound of gulls and waves.
Yuushi spoke eventually. “It’s because four shady men broke into a warehouse about a month ago and killed a local ikebana teacher. The police suspect they were behind it all and, of course, they’re still at large.”
Aya fixed his eyes on a point on the horizon. “I’m going back to Tokyo tonight.”
“For what?”
“To deal with Momoe’s attacker.”
“What attacker? Erika told me it was just an ore-ore scam.”
“No. The guy rang her and asked if she remembered him. She thought he sounded like Tokura and he quickly congratulated her on her keen memory. Then he told her to transfer money to him.”
“Who’s Tokura?”
Aya shook his head. “You know everything I do now.”
“That sounds just like an ore-ore scam. What are you going to do with this guy once you find him?”
Aya didn’t answer.
“You would have bicycle thieves executed.” Yuushi’s tone wasn’t harsh, but he sounded tired.
In one swift motion, Aya rose to his feet and turned toward Yuushi. “’Revenge’ isn’t a dirty word. It’s just as important as waiting by her hospital bed.”
“Revenge isn’t the same as justice.”
Aya reached behind him and swung his rucksack up until it hung under his arm. He unzipped it and the sleeves of two colorful sweaters spilled out. They surrounded Shion and protected him from prying eyes whenever Aya traveled. He could disentangle the katana from his clothes in seconds and Yuushi knew it.
Knight’s hands balled into fists, but his expression didn’t change. “Let’s go for a walk, Ran.”
Aya nodded and stuffed the sweaters back into the rucksack.
Hours later, they reached the bridge which led to Fukuura-jima. The tide was low, exposing rocks covered in oysters on either side. The sun was lower in the sky, although it wasn’t touching the ocean yet.
Half-way across, Aya paused and leaned on the red railing. He let himself take in the view of the pine trees as snow began to fall again.
“I should go back to Tokyo.”
“Just a bit longer,” Yuushi urged. “I’ve never seen this part of Miyagi prefecture before.”
Aya looked away. “There are ropes we can use to get down onto the beaches. I don't know who did it, but you can find them tied to fences in some places.” He bit his lips, as if he was trying to find the right words. “I always came here alone and I don’t know what’s interesting to anyone else.”
Bamboo fences and metal barriers surrounded many of the routes around the island but, just as Aya had said, there were occasional steep paths down to the beaches. Yuushi tugged on the ropes to check they were safe, and then bounded down the rocks, mainly using his sense of balance.
The beach wasn’t as unspoilt as the rest of the island. There were signs of bonfires and a few discarded beer bottles. People came here, but the clean-up crews didn’t.
Aya threw himself backwards onto the sand and watched as Yuushi walked up to stand beside him. As Yuushi did so, his hand glanced across the crown of Aya’s head, a reminder of-- what? What had they been?
"Were you going to execute the guy? Really?"
"Crashers may be part of the same organization as Weiss, but it's a different world. As Crashers, we faced each mission knowing killing was forbidden, but it's the entire point in Weiss."
"Then transfer out of it. If this is what you're like after only a couple of missions with them...!"
"No." Aya's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm so close now."
"Close...?" Yuushi's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Takatori?"
Aya nodded. "Besides, I couldn't return to Crashers anyway. Haven't you run out of chess pieces?"
"We could call you 'Castle'.” Yuushi tried to keep his voice light. “It's appropriate since you temporarily replaced Rook."
Aya looked up at Yuushi and smiled sadly. "My blade is a killing blade. I don't see why I should have to differentiate between those who kill out of greed and those who allow innocents die through their pursuit of greed." He took a deep breath and returned to the sunset. “I’m going back to the flower shop tomorrow.’
“Good.”
Aya raised an eyebrow.
“Because when you return, you'll find that the men who set up Mrs. Yamaguchi are in prison, thanks to information and photographs found at an apartment after a sudden gas explosion that alerted the police.”
Aya scrambled to his feet and lunged at him. Yuushi grabbed his wrists and hurled him backwards into a sandbank.
“It was just a scam, Ran! Just a scam and yet Kritiker got Crashers involved anyway, because Yamaguchi is important to them!”
“You had no right...!” Aya coughed and scrambled to his feet.
“I tried to persuade you to abandon your thoughts of revenge, then I got you to stay here. Just try and get back to Tokyo in time. You won’t even make it to Sendai station before the last train!”
Aya fell back onto the sand, his head bowed.
Yuushi leaned in and planted a kiss on Aya’s forehead as the evening sun lengthened their shadows. “All’s fair in love and war, or so they say.”
“This isn’t war,” Aya muttered.
“Then what is it?” Yuushi rested his hand on Aya’s shoulder until the sun disappeared behind the trees and night fell.
Recipient: athena8
Title: All's Fair in Love and War.
Rating: Some swearing (PG).
Characters/Pairing(s): Aya, Yuushi (Knight).
Summary: When Momoe falls victim to a scam, Aya is torn between revenge and honoring the memory of Shion. Meanwhile, Yuushi has his own agenda.
Warnings: None.
Word Count: 2400.
Author's Notes: Set early on in the first season, around the time Ken and the rest of Weiss are investigating Kase. Aya and Weiss have already been to Sendai and found out part of the truth about Kikyou. Have a merry Christmas and hope you enjoy the fic.
All's Fair in Love and War
It took seconds for Youji to register the alarm. He grabbed the phone beside his bed.
4am.
Not his alarm, a call from an unregistered number. At this time of night he only accepted calls from beautiful women -- specifically, Manx and Birman. He pushed the button to accept the call and willed himself not to hope for news of a child kidnapping ring or a string of murdered prostitutes. Especially the prostitutes.
Sometimes he was just a florist for weeks on end until Kritiker made contact again. That meant watering, pruning and selling flowers -- for real.
"Hello?"
Youji listened and let out a long sigh.
"Why don't you ring him then?" Youji waited for the answer. "If you're not a cute girl, get off the fucking line."
He jabbed the 'end call' button. Fifteen seconds later he heard the familiar jangle of a soccer anthem from the room next to his.
Youji shifted further underneath his blankets. It was too long until morning.
***
A shambling figure shuffled into the Koneko no Sumu Ie via the back door. Aya looked Youji up and down, then walked towards him with purpose.
“Last night-“
“Lover’s tiff. I get it.” Youji sneaked a quick look out of the corner of his eyes to see Aya’s reaction as he turned away.
Aya’s gaze remained steady and his mouth relaxed into a frown. “Knight isn’t my lover. We were team-mates.”
“Team-mates don’t ring each other at that time of night unless there’s a mission.”
“There are other reasons.”
Perhaps it was Aya's tone of voice, but Youji’s shoulders slumped and he stood, frozen, until seeming to snap out of it. Aya watched him head to the kitchen area, pull a green mug off the shelf and stare at it, muttering something about ‘coffee’.
Aya understood, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have business to attend to.
“Youji?”
“Yes?” Youji didn't look at Aya and continued to hold his mug underneath the hot water dispenser as he tried to make sense of the buttons and the blinking display.
Aya was the first to see Omi standing there. Considering the situation, he was understandably tense and his mouth was drawn into a tight frown.
“Youji…” Omi began.
“Not even a ‘hello’? Things must be serious.” Youji slapped the top of the hot water dispenser.
Aya was used to these apparent mood swings and learned not to trust them. Youji’s voice was light, but his eyelids were still heavy and his eyes dull. Nothing had changed in the past few minutes.
“It’s Momoe. Well, Manx is coming soon to talk to her, but try not to… upset her?”
Aya spoke up. “I was going to keep him here.”
“It’s not up to you. Besides, not even our Youji could spend the next two hours trying to figure out a hot water dispenser.”
Omi smiled and, although Aya would never admit it, he felt cheered. Youji had just said goodbye to a woman known only as Maki and now Ken was facing his toughest decision since he joined Weiss. Omi, the youngest member, was still doing fine.
“I’m tired,” Youji protested, jabbing a finger at Aya. “And it’s all his fault.”
Youji set his empty mug down and looked over at the spot by the window where Momoe often sat. She was wearing a black kimono with a trail of white cosmos that started just below the waist.
“Hey, who’s getting married?” Youji asked, then winced in regret.
“I did, young man. Sixty years ago, almost to the day. But you don’t forget your first love.”
Ken looked up from his seat beside her. “It’s okay, Momoe. He looks like he needs a walk.” He lunged at Youji and grabbed his arm while Youji was still trying to guess if Ken really was going to attack him.
He really was.
Youji broke away and pushed Ken back.
“Youji… don’t be a dick. C’mon.”
“Someone, anyone, just explain what the fu-” Youji glanced at Momoe. “Tell me what’s going on. Please.”
“She got a phone call from a guy named Tokura, who she seems to know. He said he’d visit in a few hours, once she placed one million yen in an ATM.”
“Momoe, who is Toku-“
“Shut it, Kudou,” said Aya. “We are waiting for Manx.”
“And I’m the only member you couldn’t trust with this information?”
“I tried. I tried,” said Omi. He screwed his eyes up tight. When he opened them, his eyes quickly fixed on a spot behind them. “Oh no!”
Youji, Aya and Ken turned in the direction he had been looking. Momoe lay sprawled on the floor, her breaths coming in short, irregular rasps.
***
“It’s still snowing in Sendai. Just as it did two years ago.” Aya fixed his eyes on the digital sign above the platform. 19.00 to Akita, stopping at Sendai.
Without looking down, he ran his fingers along the edges of the tickets in his hand. There were three. One to get him there and a matching seat reservation ticket. The third ticket was for his return trip, but with no date specified and no reservation.
He stood in the first feeder lane for the Komachi Shinkansen, rucksack at his feet, while Yuushi stood outside the lines marked on the ground, just beyond where the train doors would open.
"It's too soon, Ran. Especially now that Mrs. Yamaguchi is in hospital.”
"Then when?"
Yuushi stood out more than Aya himself. His blond hair was tucked behind his ears and he wore an all-white assemble underneath his long white coat. He had also had a simple white scarf. Not the one he wore for missions, Aya noted. This one had no logo.
"How did you get onto the platform without a ticket?" Aya snapped.
"Don't try to change the subject."
Aya considered this. "I won't get another chance."
"It's just a clock, Ran. A thing with no intrinsic meaning. A true knight would be at Mrs. Yamaguchi's side."
"No." Aya glanced towards his rucksack.
Yuushi stared at Aya's bag until he was certain Aya was aware he was staring. "Why did you bring Shion?"
Aya swallowed hard. "Because I'm going to the clock rededication ceremony and Shion was one of Kikyou's victims too."
Limbs falling as the clockwork figures began to move, jerking them to life. A head with bulging eyes. Internal organs hanging from clock gears. He hadn’t seen it, but his imagination filled in the blanks from the news reports. In his mind, somehow, the dismembered limbs seemed familiar.
“Naomi…”
“Naomi?”
“She was a dominatrix. We met in a hotel room in Sendai…” Aya wasn’t there anymore. His eyes fixed on a point far in the distance.
The clock on the platform chimed and Aya felt the world snap back into focus. He nodded once to Yuushi and filed onto the train he hadn't even notice arrive. He focused on getting his luggage into the small shelf above his seat. He never glanced out of the window until the train pulled out of the station.
No emotions. He may have decided he was going to Sendai before Momoe’s collapse, but now he knew he needed to visit more than ever. Because of her, not in spite of.
If he had looked up, he would have seen Yuushi reading a message on his cell phone.
Yuushi’s cell phone screen was filled with icons. Several cartoon explosions, a smiley face and - inexplicably - a red high heel.
We have a mission!!!!!
Yuushi guessed Pawn had chosen the shoe to represent Erika, but he wasn’t one hundred percent sure.
***
The waves caught the morning sunlight and scattered it across the bay. Gulls in search of food soared above boats filled with sightseers. The birds would catch the shrimp corn snacks in their beaks and then swoop closer, riding the air currents.
Atop a small cliff, surrounded by pine trees laden with melting snow, was a small teahouse with its history etched into its worn wooden frame. Aya watched from the Kanrantei Teahouse, in the same room that the Date clan had sat hundreds of years ago. Here, he felt like a samurai.
Aya sat on the tatami with his legs tucked underneath him. He wrapped his cold fingers around a bowl of frothy green tea, rotated it three times and looked out at the groups of pine islands ahead of him. He shivered.
“Cold?” asked a voice beside him.
Aya didn’t need to turn see who it was. “How did you know I’d be here?”
“I saw you leave for Sendai. And I heard the clock rededication ceremony was cancelled. And then I asked myself where the best place was for pretending to be a samurai rather than acting like one.”
“Shut up!” Aya hissed and gripped the bowl of tea tightly. “I don't usually find this kind of peace in Tokyo, you know.”
“Not unless you’re moping on a rooftop.”
Aya put down his tea and picked up a small wooden stick from the tray in front of him. He speared the accompanying snack - a ball of mochi and sweetened edamame. “Are you trying to provoke me?”
“Do you know why the ceremony was cancelled?”
Aya nodded and silence followed, punctuated only by the sound of gulls and waves.
Yuushi spoke eventually. “It’s because four shady men broke into a warehouse about a month ago and killed a local ikebana teacher. The police suspect they were behind it all and, of course, they’re still at large.”
Aya fixed his eyes on a point on the horizon. “I’m going back to Tokyo tonight.”
“For what?”
“To deal with Momoe’s attacker.”
“What attacker? Erika told me it was just an ore-ore scam.”
“No. The guy rang her and asked if she remembered him. She thought he sounded like Tokura and he quickly congratulated her on her keen memory. Then he told her to transfer money to him.”
“Who’s Tokura?”
Aya shook his head. “You know everything I do now.”
“That sounds just like an ore-ore scam. What are you going to do with this guy once you find him?”
Aya didn’t answer.
“You would have bicycle thieves executed.” Yuushi’s tone wasn’t harsh, but he sounded tired.
In one swift motion, Aya rose to his feet and turned toward Yuushi. “’Revenge’ isn’t a dirty word. It’s just as important as waiting by her hospital bed.”
“Revenge isn’t the same as justice.”
Aya reached behind him and swung his rucksack up until it hung under his arm. He unzipped it and the sleeves of two colorful sweaters spilled out. They surrounded Shion and protected him from prying eyes whenever Aya traveled. He could disentangle the katana from his clothes in seconds and Yuushi knew it.
Knight’s hands balled into fists, but his expression didn’t change. “Let’s go for a walk, Ran.”
Aya nodded and stuffed the sweaters back into the rucksack.
Hours later, they reached the bridge which led to Fukuura-jima. The tide was low, exposing rocks covered in oysters on either side. The sun was lower in the sky, although it wasn’t touching the ocean yet.
Half-way across, Aya paused and leaned on the red railing. He let himself take in the view of the pine trees as snow began to fall again.
“I should go back to Tokyo.”
“Just a bit longer,” Yuushi urged. “I’ve never seen this part of Miyagi prefecture before.”
Aya looked away. “There are ropes we can use to get down onto the beaches. I don't know who did it, but you can find them tied to fences in some places.” He bit his lips, as if he was trying to find the right words. “I always came here alone and I don’t know what’s interesting to anyone else.”
Bamboo fences and metal barriers surrounded many of the routes around the island but, just as Aya had said, there were occasional steep paths down to the beaches. Yuushi tugged on the ropes to check they were safe, and then bounded down the rocks, mainly using his sense of balance.
The beach wasn’t as unspoilt as the rest of the island. There were signs of bonfires and a few discarded beer bottles. People came here, but the clean-up crews didn’t.
Aya threw himself backwards onto the sand and watched as Yuushi walked up to stand beside him. As Yuushi did so, his hand glanced across the crown of Aya’s head, a reminder of-- what? What had they been?
"Were you going to execute the guy? Really?"
"Crashers may be part of the same organization as Weiss, but it's a different world. As Crashers, we faced each mission knowing killing was forbidden, but it's the entire point in Weiss."
"Then transfer out of it. If this is what you're like after only a couple of missions with them...!"
"No." Aya's voice dropped to a whisper. "I'm so close now."
"Close...?" Yuushi's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Takatori?"
Aya nodded. "Besides, I couldn't return to Crashers anyway. Haven't you run out of chess pieces?"
"We could call you 'Castle'.” Yuushi tried to keep his voice light. “It's appropriate since you temporarily replaced Rook."
Aya looked up at Yuushi and smiled sadly. "My blade is a killing blade. I don't see why I should have to differentiate between those who kill out of greed and those who allow innocents die through their pursuit of greed." He took a deep breath and returned to the sunset. “I’m going back to the flower shop tomorrow.’
“Good.”
Aya raised an eyebrow.
“Because when you return, you'll find that the men who set up Mrs. Yamaguchi are in prison, thanks to information and photographs found at an apartment after a sudden gas explosion that alerted the police.”
Aya scrambled to his feet and lunged at him. Yuushi grabbed his wrists and hurled him backwards into a sandbank.
“It was just a scam, Ran! Just a scam and yet Kritiker got Crashers involved anyway, because Yamaguchi is important to them!”
“You had no right...!” Aya coughed and scrambled to his feet.
“I tried to persuade you to abandon your thoughts of revenge, then I got you to stay here. Just try and get back to Tokyo in time. You won’t even make it to Sendai station before the last train!”
Aya fell back onto the sand, his head bowed.
Yuushi leaned in and planted a kiss on Aya’s forehead as the evening sun lengthened their shadows. “All’s fair in love and war, or so they say.”
“This isn’t war,” Aya muttered.
“Then what is it?” Yuushi rested his hand on Aya’s shoulder until the sun disappeared behind the trees and night fell.