Chapter Sixty-Two One Tool for Another
I'm My Own High School Rival: Rika's Arc.
The air around me felt… It felt… as if nothing surrounded me. I couldn’t feel warmth or pain, sadness or joy, or the weight of my body.
I slowly opened my eyes to an array of blue and red shards, floating in an empty vacuum. Surveying the area, I did my best to orient myself, but nothing added up.
Why am I here? I thought that I was… What was I doing?
I touched my face.
I shouldn’t be here because I was running away from something.
A red shard floated in my direction, emanating an ominous aura, but reaching for it was out of the question. I sighed.
“Get lost,” I said, and shoved my hands into my pockets.
The shard started orbiting me. As my frustration grew, the shard’s rotation around me tightened.
“Fine, just come here already.”
I held my arms out, and the shard stopped spinning. Reaching for it, the shard moved away, just out of reach.
I drifted, unsure of what to do.
Something was missing.
“Hey, is he awake?” A voice emanated from the shard.
“Well, that’s a first. I didn’t know that shards could speak.”
“Is he okay, ma’am?” the red shard said.
The red aura stretched across the abyss, devouring the empty space. It hurt, with sharp pains shooting through my head. My vision blurred.
“He’s been sleeping for a while now…”
The voice didn’t echo anymore.
It bumped.
Again.
The vacuum folded into something soft beneath me, something warm pressed against my side, and the floating shards thinned into passing red lights smeared across glass.
My head rolled against a window.
Pain answered.
Then I opened my eyes.
The world blurred into focus. The low lights reflected on the dark seats. I turned to my right, glimpsing the reflection of a sleepy me. Staring out of the window, I questioned the reality of my situation.
I was lost in Minobu. I fought someone, and Kai was there?
I pressed my face against the window.
But when did I get on a bus?
"Hey, he’s waking up," a young man said, sounding similar to the voice I heard in the void.
Warmth hugged my left side. I groaned, stretching, and shifted positions. But when the back of my head touched the back of the chair, pain erupted in a sharp, needle-like burst.
“Ouch, why does my head hurt so much…” I looked up, curious to see what soft and warm object held me so closely. A familiar face met mine; she was beautiful, with soft black eyes and a warm smile. “Is… this a dream?”
She touched my face with her left hand, tracing my lips and drawing our faces closer. The pain in my head dulled slightly. She paused before our lips could meet, sharing a breath. “Don’t scream or panic,” she whispered, pressing something sharp against my lower back.
I shifted slightly as the object poked me. My eyes grew wide enough to see the shitty situation I was in.
“Hey, Cross,” someone whispered. I tried to see who it was, but her hand was in my way, blocking whatever this near kiss was. My eyes met hers again, and then my heart raced, my lips trembled.
The alleyway, the woman…the killer.
“You,” I whispered. “You attacked—” gently jerking away, only to find something sharp against my lower back.
She covered my mouth with her thumb, caressing my lips. “It looks like you’re well known, Cross. So, play right, okay.”
W-why did she take me? Why didn’t she kill me in the alley?
“Ma’am?” I turned my head to catch the gaze of one of the den's houseboys, hanging over the back of his seat. His eyes were filled with concern when horror invaded my mind.
He’s seen me… and her; she’s going to kill him, too.
I moved forward to speak when she pulled me back and re-established eye contact.
I felt heat, but I had already lost. All I could do was mouth, “I’ll play right.”
The sharp object disappeared, but wasn’t forgotten.
“Oh, my,” she said. “You must be friends with my Cross. I’m so excited to meet you.” Her warm, disarming tone was the same as when I rode into Gifu. I had been played from the start, and I was too dumb to see it.
“Well, Cross. Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
I turned to him, still shrouded in a false warmth.
How was I supposed to introduce him? I didn’t even know his name. We did a job together, and that was all.
“No,” I said. I glanced at her reaction out of the corner of my eyes.
Sharp eyes and a lowered head were her responses.
I blinked slowly. There has to be a reason for my survival. Come on, think.
“We don’t have to—” I said, leaning forward, feeling the weight of her hidden hand vanish from my back. “So, what do you want?” I said, coming off more aggressively.
He hesitated, somewhat hiding behind this seat. “I didn’t mean to bother you…”
“You—” I paused for a moment, considering her play. “Actually, we sat in the back so we could,” I turned to look at the killer’s face. She was blushing, while her right hand rubbed my back, sending chills down my spine.
I don’t f- f- No! Why can’t I cuss if I’m just going to die?
I turned back to the houseboy. “She’s fine, so what were you going to tell me?”
He beckoned me closer, so I gave him an ear.
I leaned in to hear what he had to say. “Cross, we hit the vault as you said, and some of the boys think we won’t ever have to worry about money again,” he said in low whispers.
I looked at him, raising a brow. “What?”
He grabbed the back of my head and repositioned me. The pain returned, fist clenched, and teeth gnashed. “The guys think that it’s around ¥1,600,000,000. We’re going to be set for life.”
I gasped and grabbed my mouth to stop myself. My back found the back of my seat.
“What happened, dear?” She asked.
With that much money, I could do whatever I wanted… Creating my own underground ring, greasing the palms of powerful people, and establishing connections to criminal families in other countries…. There would be no reason to live modestly. But there were about 30 or so floorboys. Splitting it would be a pain.
I looked at the fool in front of me as thoughts of cracking his skull open and dumping the body became as lucid as my own hands; He turned around, smiling, and my hand slipped from my mouth.
If he dies here, we’ll have to split 29 ways, and who’s to say that more accidents won't happen? But where are we meeting?
I lowered my head and leaned forward. “Hey friend,” I whispered. “Where are we meeting again?”
He turned, and I promptly gave my ear. “Harajuku in Tokyo,” he whispered.
“Thanks.”
I smiled at something familiar: If she came with me to Harajuku, I could have it all, but how would I convince her not to do me next?
He turned around, and I leaned back, enduring the pain. I licked my lips and traced the back of my teeth with my tongue, focusing on the back of his head.
I could do it now. I could even blame her for his death; it’s not as if she isn’t killing boys anyway.
I squeezed my hands and found myself holding hers.
“There they are,” the killer whispered in my ear as one arm hung around my shoulders. “There are those eyes that make my heart scream in joy, Cross.”
I looked at her, but I could no longer hide myself.
What’s the harm in letting one tool dispatch the other?