Chapter Text
They walk in groups along the harbour. They’ve got bottles of booze in their hands, plenty to nibble on, have already started. They’re young, laughing loudly, oblivious to their surroundings. One of them, a redhead, tries to keep the others in line, but to no avail, and his smile betrays his intention; he’s as excited as they are.
“Don’t be a killjoy, Chuuya! This is one hell of a catch!”
“We even managed to snag this super rare wine,” a pink-haired girl, Yuan, adds.
Chuuya doesn’t reply, but his cheeks flush with joy.
The harbour is empty at this time, late evening, enough for the teenager sitting on a stone, looking out at the ocean, to be noticed by the gang. Shirase nudges Chuuya to get his attention.
“Did ya see that?” he whispers to him. “He’s wearing a suit and tie. He’s a rich kid for sure.”
Chuuya guesses what he’s getting at. He checks around, and there are indeed no potential witnesses.
“Cameras.”
“I can handle it!”
Chuuya pondered, observing the label on the bottle of wine they’d stolen. Isn’t that enough for today? Their group, the Sheep, is far from the only gang in Yokohama, and they’re just a bunch of inexperienced kids and teenagers; they can’t risk attracting too much attention.
“He’s alone. We’ll get him easily,” his friend adds, trying to convince him when he notices his hesitation.
Chuuya sighs. He’s not the leader, he doesn’t get to decide for the group.
“Okay, let’s…”
“You’re so noisy.”
They stop. It’s the rich kid who just spoke, without turning around.
“Tch. Ya heard us?”
“You’re screaming right next to my ear.”
That’s not true, they were discreet as well as keeping a certain distance, but since there was no one around but them, Chuuya assumes he was listening to them carefully.
“Since ya know everything, give us your money and we’ll spare ya!” Shirase threatens, pulling out his knife. “Otherwise…”
The boy sighs. He stands up slowly, and turns towards them. Chuuya has no time to marvel at his eye, hidden by bandages.
“As you can see…” He turns out his trouser pockets. “I’ve got nothing on me.”
“Huh?! And in your coat?!”
He repeats his gesture, and only pins and a spring fall to the ground.
“Why is a guy dressed like a rich guy walking around with no money or anything?!”
“What do you want… I ran away, and I didn’t have time to take anything.”
“Ran away?” Chuuya repeats.
The boy shrugs his shoulders.
“And do you know where you’ll be sleeping tonight?”
He doesn’t answer. The Sheep glance at each other.
“Do you want to come with us?”
“Uh. I was expecting something else,” he grimaces as his shoes make a sucking noise on contact with the mud.
They’ve moved to a dilapidated courtyard that’s been vaguely refurbished as a living space, the Sheep’s hideout. The Sheep go back and forth to build a fire, under the blasé gaze of the unknown teenager who doesn’t even pretend to help them.
“Be glad you’ve got a roof over your head,” Chuuya growls.
The other boy kicks a piece of garbage with a disgusted look on his face.
“A real rich kid,” Shirase grumbles. “Remind me again why we brought him along?”
“Because he’s a destitute teenager, like us,” Yuan replies.
“A teenage son of a rich man… He clearly needed help, yes.”
Yuan glares at him. Chuuya settles on the floor, a glass of wine in his hand that he has just wiped with a cloth. “All right, then. First of all, what’s your name?”
“Normally, we introduce ourselves first,” the boy remarks childishly.
Chuuya’s teeth grind. This guy’s getting on his nerves.
“I’m…”
“Chuuya, right? I heard the others calling you.”
“Then why do you ask?!”
Without answering, the teenager gazes at all of them.
“A gang of kids… You don’t find that very often… The Sheep, right?”
Chuuya’s eyes widen before narrowing warily. Beside him, Shirase draws his knife with a loud clang.
“How do ya know?” he snaps.
“And you,” he continues leisurely as if a knife wasn’t pointed at his throat, turning his head towards Chuuya and staring at him with a deep black pupil, “you must be Nakahara Chuuya. Quite well known around here.”
“Wha…”
“My name is Shuji Tsushima. I was about to jump into the ocean when a bunch of kids tried to rob me.”
This time, everyone’s looking at him with big eyes.
“You wanted to take a bath… at this time of year?”
The younger kids burst out laughing.
“We misjudged you, Shuji!”
He pouts, apparently unhappy to be called by his first name. Shirase clicks his tongue, but puts his knife away. Yuan offers a bottle of alcohol, which is passed from hand to hand, Shuji complaining that they have no sake and getting scolded for it. Chuuya enjoys his wine ecstatically. He tries to keep up with the conversation, but the alcohol always goes to his head.
“So you ran away? You had a fight with daddy and slammed the door?!”
“You could say that. Mori-san’s always such a pain in the ass!” Shuji groans.
“Wow, if you call your dad ‘Mori-san’, you must be a real bourgeois!”
“Do you have any money?! Bring us back your sake next time!”
“Sure thing.”
They’re getting drunker and drunker. Chuuya is lucid enough to notice that the new guy may be drinking, but the alcohol doesn’t seem to be affecting him.
“Yare gonna stayzhere?” he asks.
He frowns at his own difficulty in speaking, which makes Shuji laugh. He shrugs his shoulders in response. Chuuya points at him from his glass, spilling a little wine on Yuan, but fortunately she doesn’t notice as she’s asleep.
“What’z wiz th’bandagezanyway.”
He points to those on his face, but also on his neck, hands and forearms. Perhaps there are even more under his clothes. Shuji laughs softly. In the light of the flames, his face looks sad.
“I like the attention,” he murmurs.
“Rich kid…” Chuuya grumbles.
Shuji simply stares into the fire, as if trying to burn out his pupil. Suddenly, he reacts to a noise that only he can hear, and pulls a phone out of his pocket. Chuuya frowns, because Shuji’s pockets were supposed to be empty, but the fog of alcohol prevents him from coming to a conclusion. Shuji types something on his mobile, then stands up.
“I have to go.”
“Ya daddy tellz ya t’get your azz in gear’and ya obey lik’a dog?” he laughs before hiccuping.
In the trembling flames, he sees Shuji smiling.
“Good night, Chuuya.”
“Watch out, Yoko’ma sucks at night.”
But Shuji has already disappeared.
The second time they meet, it’s in Suribachi that Chuuya stumbles across him. Literally. Shuji is stretched out in the middle of the road, apparently taking a nap.
“Oi.”
Chuuya, who was chasing another gang member who had an annoying tendency to spy on them, narrowly dodged him. He kicks Shuji in the ribs, making him groan. He opens his eyes at last, blinking in the bright light.
“Ooh, Chuuya!” he exclaims happily, his voice dropping strangely at the end.
“Do you want to end up crushed?” he grunts in greeting.
For no reason at all, this makes Shuji laugh. Apparently he has no intention of leaving his spot. Chuuya shakes his hair with his hand in irritation. Because of this idiot, the spy has disappeared.
“All right, come here.”
He grabs his wrist and pulls violently, Shuji suddenly finding himself on his feet without him seeming to understand how. Chuuya scans him from top to bottom. Apart from new bandages, he looks exactly the same, still in his black suit and tie, with his long black coat draped over his shoulders (he was just using it as a cushion).
“Raah, it’s not possible!” Chuuya snarls. “You can’t walk around here like that! It’s a request to be stripped!”
Shuji looks down at his clothes, seeming to have no idea what Chuuya is talking about.
“Is Chuuya worried about me?” he asks in astonishment.
It catches him off guard.
“No! You’re just acting like… like a newborn baby, it’s like you don’t know anything about anything, so of course I’m worried!”
Shuji has a playful smile on his lips.
“So you do worry about me.”
Chuuya simply smacks his forehead with the palm of his hand.
“Where are your retinue, anyway? A king shouldn’t travel without his court…”
“I’m not a king!”
Shuji looks at him in surprise.
“The Sheep depend entirely on you. Without you, they’re nothing.”
“I’m not their king, I tell ya. I just have an asset, that’s all.”
Chuuya suddenly bites his tongue, worried that Shuji will question him about this “asset”, but he seems not to have listened to his answer, busy watching birds feeding their young.
“They’re going to die.”
“Huh?”
Shuji points to the nest with his chin.
“Winter is coming. They won’t survive.”
Chuuya observes them.
“Surely.”
Shuji stands there in silence, apparently not intending to move. Chuuya sighs and grabs his arm.
“Well, first of all, let’s get off the road.”
“Where is Chuuya taking me?”
He thinks for a moment and, when he’s made up his mind, he pulls him along. Shuji doesn’t insist and lets himself be guided.
They stop in front of an arcade. Shuji silently reads the writing on the front before turning to Chuuya.
“Does Chuuya have the money?”
He just gives him a blasé look, which makes Shuji laugh. They enter.
After ten minutes, Chuuya regrets all his past choices. Shuji isn’t just gifted. He’s invincible, and he brags about it.
“That’s because you’re all about brute strength, Chuchu!”
“Don’t call me that!”
“But Yuan calls you that.”
“It’s different with her!”
“What, in love?”
Chuuya’s response is replaced by a howl of rage as his character gets beaten, again. Shuji sighs, as if facing a child throwing a tantrum.
“Chuuya has no strategy. Is there nothing in his brain?”
At his wits’ end, Chuuya climbs up onto his chair to catch a glimpse of Shuji on the other side of the terminal.
“I’ll show you, you rich bastard!! I’m gonna blow you up!!”
“Want to bet?” Shuji’s smile is full of mischief. “What are we betting?”
Chuuya frowns.
“If I win, you’ll never call me ‘Chuchu’ again.”
“And if I win, Chuuya will stop referring to me as a rich kid.”
The two stare into each other’s eyes, and continue to stare when they nod, as if they can’t afford to let their guard down in the face of the other.
Chuuya puts all his strength into this last fight, all his experience, all his efforts, all his will, all his knowledge, all his…
The little girl with the big hammer, looking innocent, her life bar almost empty, waits for the right moment and explodes his character in a single attack. The cheerful music at the end starts up. The girl begins a victory dance. Chuuya stares blankly at the screen.
“I hate you.”
“My, my,” Shuji sighs as he stands up. “Come on, it’s my turn now.”
He pulls Chuuya by his hood and leads him outside. Chuuya doesn’t even ask where they’re going, just rants and grumbles at this evil hammer girl who must have cheated somehow since it’s not possible he lost, he has strategies, thank you very much, and they work perfectly, it’s…
“It’s here.”
Shuji turns down a street, Chuuya follows. They walked for fifteen minutes or so, until they reached a less unsavoury part of town. Shuji ushers him into a wine shop, and Chuuya’s face lights up. Mouth wide open, he spins around to take in all the bottles on display. He stops when he hears a laugh beside him.
“You look stupid,” Shuji scoffs.
Chuuya finally thinks of closing his mouth.
“But… What… What are we doing here?!”
Shuji waves to the salesman.
“Hello! This gentleman is a wine connoisseur. Can you give him some advice? A good bottle!”
The salesman nods and approaches Chuuya with a smile.
“What’s your budget?”
Chuuya turns his head from the salesman to Shuji. The latter shrugs.
“You can go for top-of-the-range.”
“But?! Shuji ?!”
Shuji kicks him in the shin.
“Shut up and listen to the man.”
The salesman takes him aside and starts asking him about his preferences and all sorts of things. Behind them, Shuji is leaning against a table, watching them intently, as if Chuuya’s confusion were a delight to behold. Chuuya grits his teeth and promises to make him pay.
He has almost chosen his bottle when Shuji suddenly starts talking, making Chuuya turn around. He’s on the phone and has moved away so he can’t be heard. Chuuya concentrates on what he’s saying, but Shuji settles for a series of: “Yes, yes” then “Okay” before hanging up. He returns to them.
“Chuchu!”
Chuuya refrains from smacking him.
“What’s the matter? Your master whistled at you? Did he throw the ball and you have to bring it back?”
Shuji just smiles. He leans over and whispers four numbers in his ear. When he pulls away, Chuuya has something in his hand.
“Huh?”
“You won’t forget them? You do have a bit of a memory, don’t you?”
“But I…”
“Good bye Chuuya!”
Before he could react, Shuji was through the door. Stunned, Chuuya looks at what he has in his hand. A bank card in the name of Shuji Tsushima.