8 Chapter 7: A dark place

POV Katsura

I leave Hori sans home early today. Actually, I am a little relieved about it. She had started another of her 'Horror Marathon' collection, and made me watch alongside her. Now, I am not a squeamish person, I have seen real blood. I have killed people, but these movies, they just seem to be more violent than they really need to be. I cant help but feel scared by them. I think what my biggest fear is, that if a ghost were really to appear in front of me, I wouldn't be able to protect myself in any way. In situations like that, objects like common sense goes out of the window. "You really are a scaredy cat aren't you?" Hori san had teased me. Man ! why couldn't I be more brave…. Heck, even Harry Freeman felt uncomfortable about this.

As I turn around the street, thinking all such things, a sound of arguing comes to my ears. The street was mostly empty, apart from two large boys, who by the looks of it were college students, and… hey wait a minute, I know that green haired girl, she was with the red haired boy-Sengoku, and with her was another boy, he had long hair, tied back, I could see piercings in his face. He looked nice, but those were one too many piercings. I never understood, why someone would physically want to make a hole in ones body, for displaying ornaments.

There seemed to be some trouble, the boys were arguing, the larger of the two college kids suddenly lashed a punch at the long haired boy, who made a good attempt at blocking it and lashing back. He was good, no doubt about it, but in situations like this he was clearly at a disadvantage. Two on one never seemed to work in favour of one, if the 'one' in question wasn't trained. I needed to help them out. The college kids were clearly bullies. I hated bullies, I faced my fair share amongst the so called 'good people' I worked for. They claimed themselves to be understanding of human nature, to be making their victims 'tough'. But I know all this charade is just to satiate their own ego. Nothing around it. They are just weak pathetic people, sheep, who try to flock together and pose as wolves. One bark, and they run home with tails between their legs.

POV Sakura

Miyamura, tries to fend him off, but I knew he cant win this, these guys are bigger and there are two of them. What should I do… There isn't even anyone on the street.

"Hey, guys what are you doing here?" I see a person coming from behind. He was waving his hand at the college students, was he their friend? His face had a big smile on it. There is more of them !

Wait I minute, that face I have seen it before… where was it….. Ah… with Hori san. What was his name again. Strange I cant seem to remember. This guy seemed like bad news. He was super creepy, even Sengoku was scared, in front of him. He has this maliciously sweet aura, but deep down, you could actually feel his strength, you know that he is toying with you, that he can kill you at any moment. Did he know these guys ? I wont be surprised if he did. Troublemakers did tend to flock together.

"Do you know this guy?" I heard one of the guys say to each other. The other shook his head.

The boy came near us and said. "There you are, I have been searching all over for you" he says smiling.

"Look kid, we don't know who you are, but we are busy, if you don't beat it, we are going to mess you up after we are done with these two" One of them says.

The boy does something astonishing now. He walks up close to the guy, and pushes him hard back into the wall. "What are you saying Takeshi kun, you don't remember me?!" He still had that mechanical smile on his face, but now everyone could sense the aura. The guy he pushed crashes into the wall, hard.

He looked scared, he understood the boy's strength with one push, and he didn't know what to make of it.

"Oh is that a bug on your face, let me remove that for you" saying this, the boy delivers a fast punch to the guy's face, knocking him out cold.

"Man ! Takeshi, have you been drinking again, I told you not to sleep on the streets" I boy says, regretfully. Was he serious ?!

"Why you!!!" The other guy, launched at the boy, who easily severed away from his blow and wrapped his arm around the guy's neck locking him into a forced chokehold blow.

The boy's smile vanished. His eyes… so dark, his face murderously cold.

"Now listen here, you see, I am not a nice person… I like hurting people. It.. it gives me a sort of a high I cant explain. You see, the way I am holding your neck, I can snap it back anytime, you wont feel a thing though, which is sad. Snapping a neck like that, death is almost instantaneous. Do you want that?" he whispers, to the guy his tone cold and ruthless.

The college student looked scared out of his wits, he made an attempt to shake his head, he was clearly scared.

"Well, man, you know what, there are certain sorts of people I hate, and bullies are a part of it. You think you are the biggest fish in the pond, so you can do whatever you want. But guess what… A shark eats all the fish, and here clearly I am the shark.

Now… I like you, so I am going to give you a choice. You are going to stop doing whatever you are doing, and try to lead your lives normally, you will toss your wallets down the drain, for my pleasure, and run off back to campus, and never harm another soul. DO you get me !!" The boy increases his voice. The guy gave a frightened whimper. "DO YOU GET ME!!!" the boy asks again, shaking him. The guy nods frantically, as if his life depended on it. "Good, give me your wallets." The guy pulls out his wallet and hands it to him. The boy tosses the wallet into the open part of the drain, but before he does that, he takes a look at the ID inside. He lets go of the guy.

"I know your name, and I know which college you go to, so if I even get as much as a whisper of a repeat of this incident, if you look at someone the wrong way, I am gonna make sure to find you out. Then I am going to kidnap you, take you to my place. I will slowly kill you, enjoying the process, then after its done, I am gonna jumpstart your hear and kill you again" The boy whispers. His tone made his believable, he looked like the kind of guy who would really do it.

The college student looked like he was about to cry. "Please, let us go, I swear it wont happen again"

"Scram" The boy says. The conscious guy picks up his unconscious friend, and they make a break for it.

All of it happened so fast, both Miyamura and I are very shocked. We both look at this boy. If this guy was for real, we were probably in more danger than before.

The boy turns to us. His face immediately changes expression. His smile was back on, except this time, something felt different about it. It felt... genuine.

"Sorry miss, it is very sad that every meeting I have with you, you have to see me like this" he says apologetically.

Such a complete turn of character Miyamura and I were both shocked. Our jaws were probably hanging open. The boy gives another apologetic smile. "My name is Katsura Takada, I go to the same school as you" he extends his hand.

We both apprehensively shake it one at a time, still not sure whether to trust him or not.

"Hey, sorry again you had to see that. I swear it was all just an act, I had to get them off you guys and I had to try it without hurting them too much" he says, looking at our bewildered faces.

Miyamura is the first to gain his composure back. "No, its all right, you probably saved the situation from turning ugly."

"Yeah, guys like these, its best to set them straight, before they can cause too much harm" Katsura says.

"You look different, outside school, Miyamura-kun" Katsura says smiling.

"Huh.. you know my name. How?" Miyamura asks baffled.

"I am your next door neighbour. Sorry I couldn't come to introduce myself earlier. I had a few run ins with your mother at the shop, but I never seemed to find you" Katsura explains

"Ohhh…. You are the 'nice guy' mom was going on and on about. Well, finally it's a pleasure to put a face to the name. Still I am pretty shocked you recognize me outside school" Miyamura says.

"Yeah, the piercings do make it hard, but I am quite precepting actually" Katsura says.

We start walking, Katsura accompanying us, both of them talking. I wanted to join in the conversation too, but I don't know where to begin.

"Umm sorry, we have met before, but I still don't know your name" Katsura talks to me directly

"Kono Sakura. I am from class 3, I am with Sengoku kun, you probably remember him" I try to be a bit harsh on him

He blushes. "Yeah, sorry for that, I was angry that day. But I swear I didn't mean any harm"

"You are pretty adept at acting then? The way you scared those guys. Do you have an experience or something ?" I ask

"Well, yes something like that…" Katsura trails off.

"I still don't understand something, why did you throw that guys wallet away" Miyamura asks him

Katsura smiles mischievously.

"Well, you see, apart from money, people keep their IDs and credit cards in their wallets and its actually a huge hassle to reissue them, that guy is looking for a long month queuing at banks and police stations filing paperwork for a renewal. The hassle alone would keep him from repeating this act again in the future, even if my threats don't work" he says

"Wow, you really thought this through huh" I say

Katsura blushes. "Its nothing, don't mention it. Although I would be pretty grateful, if you kept this incident under wraps, I don't want the whole school to know, I am this weird…. As it is people generally tend to steer clear with me"

"You are not weird, if anything the way you dealt with the situation, it was soo cool. I couldn't have dreamt of doing it in a million years" Miyamura says astonished

"Yeah, we are not gonna tell anybody, don't worry" I reassure him too.

"Thanks guys" he says

We reach at the crossroad, I will take my leave here, Miyamura's apartment is on the left whereas mine is on the right.

"Well, I thin we part ways here" I say.

"Wait, I have to ask one thing, I hope you don't mind" Katsura asks.

We both look at him, confused

"Are you two dating?" he asks. So forthright!

We blush for a second, Miyamura and I look at each other. "Yes" we both almost say it together.

Katsura pauses for a moment, as if comprehending the fact. "Good, you two seem like a perfect pair" he says.

Everyone we know had told us that it was weird for us to date. Miyamura and I were nothing alike on the surface. What makes his say this?

"And why is that?" Miyamura asks him, as if almost reading my mind

Katsura shrugs. "I don't know for sure, but you guys look at ease together." So candid in his response.

I stare at him for a moment. I think my first impression of him might have been hasty. He definitely had more layers to him than what I saw.

We don't carry the conversation on much longer. I bid them farewell and go on my own way.

POV Miyamura

"Those piercings look nice on you man" Zura says as we arrive at the elevator. On the way he had asked me to call him Zura since everyone else did.

"You think so, my mom and Sakura thinks its one too many" I complain to him

"Sure there are too many of them, but they don't look outright repulsive on you as they generally tend to look on others" he says.

"Hey, would you like to come to my place, maybe we can play some video games, or something like that" Zura asks

"Sure, my parents are at the shop anyways, so nobody is at home" I reply.

We go inside his apartment, its right next to ours. The flat looks clean and neat. "So you live here with your parents ?" I ask.

"Yeah, but they are mostly based in the US, so I mostly tend to be here alone" he replies

"So, clean, you must take good care of this place." I comment

Zura says nothing.

We plug in the console and play some games.

"So, did those piercings hurt…" Zura asks suddenly looking at me

"Yeah they did…. I did them myself at middle school" I don't know why I am telling him this

"Can I ask….. why did you do it" Zura asks with some hesitation in his voice

"Well, I…. I … was in a pretty dark place then, I did a lot of weird stuff back then" I say.

Zura leans back on his couch. "So, you are not there now then?" he asks

"Huh?" I as confused

"The 'dark place' I mean." Zura explains

"Well, no, actually, I met Sakura san here, and got to know prez and his groups, I think, I got a life, which I never felt it was possible for me to have" I say, thinking deeply. Looking back, I think meeting these people turned my life for the better

"That's good to hear. I am happy for you.." Zura says. I might have thought the words to be empty if somebody else said it, but coming from him, the words seem genuine. It was as if he meant them from his heart..

"Why? Why do you feel happy?" I blurt out. It was rude of me, but I needed to ask

Zura thinks for a moment. " I think, everyone deserves happiness in their lives, I saw you with her today, and you looked happy, so I don't know why, but it makes me happy that you escaped your 'dark place'"

"So, do you have a place like that too…?" I ask.

He looks at me for a moment. "Yes" he says, giving no further explanation. I don't want to pry any further.

"I hope you escape it too." I say. I mean it too. This guy although he seemed scary at first, the more I get to know about him, the more fragile he seems, that scary aura I saw, feels like a transparent mask on his true nature.

Zura says nothing.

"You can always talk to me, if you want, you know?" I add

"So, are we friend then ?" Zura asks

"Of course we are dummy, why would I be sitting here otherwise talking to you about such private stuff, heck no one in school knows about it" I say

"Thanks" he says. For some reason, his voice feels happy. Did I really get to him?....

"You know, you are very easy to talk too. I haven't talked like this to anyone except Sakura san about all this" I say

Zura smiles.

We play a few more rounds, before finally heading home. Zura promises to hang out again. We probably will since we are literally next door neighbours.

This guy, he seemed so different yet so familiar.

POV Katsura

I lie at bed for a long time thinking about today's events. Miyamura's situation had been a close call. If I wasn't there at the right time, who knows how it would have turned out. It seems I was too casual.

I shouldn't have let those guys who targeted Souta, walk. What if they were back for more… what if I wasn't there to protect them. They were definitely part of a Yakuza.

Suddenly I was scared. I haven't been this scared before, not even when I was tortured…

Those guys needed to be gone.

I pick up my phone and dial up handlers number. She picks up

"You all right?" she asks. She wasn't expecting a call this soon…

" I need a favour, I need a Yakuza part extradited out of the country" I say

"That's a lot to ask. What do you have on them?" she asks

"I can give you them red handed if you want, in the act" I say

"Well, I will look into it. I think I can probably manage it" she says.

I say nothing

"So, what did they do to deserve your attention?" she asks

"I am probably exaggerating it, but they tried to harm a family" I say

"And does the family, in question mean anything to you?" she asks

"They mean everything to me" I say

"Well, good to see you finally getting to know real people" she says. Was that amusement in her voice?

"So, will you help me?" I ask again.

"Sure, anything you need. But Katsura, please take care. I will call you again tomorrow for the details" she says

The line cuts

I hold the phone in my hand tightly. Was I making the correct choice here ?