Chapter Text
//A few months after the final battle//
[SHIN TOKYO]
“Future, look, it’s done!”
The six young men stood on a line, watching six neon lights that embedded on the brick wall, spelling the word ‘PASION’ in a multitude of colors, with another signboard underneath it that wrote ‘Dance Studio’ on it. The Jiggy Boyz had decided to open a dance studio for the poor and orphan children, giving them cheap, almost free dance lessons. They had originally planned to open a shelter, but as they took account of the number of personnel that they needed to have to launch a big-scale project as that, they decided to start out slow through the dance studio, to gather funds from various sources so that one day, maybe they could turn Libra’s wish into a reality.
“I wish he was here right now. He would have loved to teach those kids himself,” Claude said, his mouth twisted into a half-smile, his eyes still having the sad, sombre edges to it.
Future placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, clasping it as if to console Claude silently.
“He will always be here with us. He’s our brother after all.”
-
“Itaru!! I need your help in House of Mirrors!”
The leader sighed, as if he already heard that request so many times that day. Or maybe he did. “What’s wrong now, Kane?”
“Dill heard some customers complain that they could not see any illusion at all in that tent. I was thinking maybe you would know what was wrong with it, since you are an illusionist after all. Can you give the place a look? I’ll take care of the booth for you,” explained Kane.
The eight members of Astro 9 had compiled their savings and salaries from their time as idols under the Star of Wish company, and bought a land in Shin Tokyo, turning the place into an amusement theme park with the name Astropark. Due to their popularity as artists prior to this, the park had managed to gather a lot of customers as well.
“We have an important group of customers coming from Cho Tokyo in a few hours. Make sure to ask Kagura or Dill to give them a tour of the place, alright?” said Itaru, already going out of the payment booth to make his way to the House of Mirrors.
Kane lifted an eyebrow in confusion, “Alright, but why don’t you ask for Karasu and Aria’s help?”
“The two are going out on date today, so they are not working right now,” Teku interrupted as he greeted the other two Astro 9’s members at the booth, sipping on a lemonade in his hand. Kane just loudly yelled ‘It’s so unfair! I want to go on a date too!’ in the background, to which no one paid him any attention. “Who’s the important guest, Itaru?”
Itaru did not immediately reply, looking over to a distance as his mouth stretched into a smile when seeing Hajime walking over to the entrance of the park, with about twenty children around him. He waved to the black-haired man, and received another wave as a return. “They were the children under the care of Rowdy Shogun in Cho Tokyo, so their visit today is free of charge.”
He would make sure the kids had the best time of their life today at the park.
-
[CHO TOKYO]
It was spring already, leaving the worst of the chills from the winter behind. Several petals of sakura fell from the tree, coloring the background of the building in pastel pink with a mixture of green that came from the grass and shrubs. The building appeared to be enshrouded in silence, as the occupants seemed to feel content to just bask in the moment of peace without interference.
A few days after the battle were the hardest if times, as each of them had a hard time in coping with everything that had happened. They had lost too much, the deaths of their comrades had taken away part of their soul. Coming back to their hideouts was difficult enough, as each corner of the places had memories of their lost friends replayed in their mind. They even feel guilty to muster up a smile, and no one had even had the courage to crack up a joke to lighten the atmosphere.
Hades was trying his best to readjust himself with the change, as he was now acting as the sole leader of the group. Being the oldest needed him to watch over the youngsters to the best that he could. He had a thought on asking for Bailey’s help, but the blond man had lost his best friend as well. The three of them had stayed together for a long time before they even thought of making a group, but Bailey had been friends with Goemon since his childhood. He allowed the man all the time he needed to grieve on his loss, while he dealt his own as well. Fortunately, Marduk and Gusk had been so helpful, keeping an eye on the younger members whenever he felt too exhausted to do so.
One step at a time.
It took several weeks before the Rowdy Shogun finally saw Kisaragi emerge from his bedroom, with Q-B following closely behind him. The brown-haired man had gone straight to the kitchen, no words coming out of his mouth even when Hades greeted him. His eyes were empty and glassy, with the edge rimmed with the color red as if they had been rubbed countless times. There were dark circles and eyebags underneath his eyes. His face was pale, lips dry and chapped and cheekbones prominent, giving off a gauntly appearance to the normally impeccable-looking man. He looked absolutely miserable, but he was there, finally joining the rest of the friends.
Judy placed a cup of warm tea instead of coffee on the table, the citrusy scent it was giving off was a pleasure to their olfactory sense, all calming and comforting. A-Not wasted no time before pushing a plate full of breakfast to the man, silently praying to himself that Kisaragi would eat the meal. He was not left disappointed. Joe had sat beside the brown-haired man without so much a greeting, and instead letting a comfortable silence wash over all of them. Marine took notice of the tightly intertwined hands belonging to the grieving man and Q-B, and let out a sigh of relief.
He would be okay. They both would.
-
“--That’s all for today’s report, Goemon. I would come again next week to share with you some stories,” said Bailey, standing up from where he was sitting in front of a tombstone. Goemon’s name was written there, his grave was situated right beside his late mother and sister. There were a few other bouquets of flowers placed on his best friend’s grave, which he deduced coming from the rest of Rowdy Shogun, or even from their friends from the three other groups. A single white lily grabbed his attention, making him curious on who the sender was. As he chanced upon a look on the card, he could see a familiar handwriting on it, making his eyes slowly welled up with tears. He wiped his eyes using the end of his sleeve, before turning around him to address the other two persons behind him. “Miya, Travis, do you have anything more to say to him?”
Miya shook his head, his eyes still had the red rim around the edges as he had cried at the beginning of the visit. His lower lip quivered, as he tried hard to appear strong in front of the older man, even when he knew Bailey could see past through the facade easily. Miya was still unable to let go of the guilt that surrounded him, as he had chalked off the reason Goemon was dead was all due to him. He had apologized, but no one ever blamed him, and there was nothing for them to forgive the man as well. Bailey had consoled him, making sure that the man’s mind was not addled with his self-reproach, for him to face another day with his head held up high.
Travis had stepped up to the front, greeting the late leader before adding, “Send our regards to your mother and sister as well, Goemon. See you again.”
Let us meet each other again, in another life.
-
“How about your power? Any updates?” asked Joe to the holographic monitor, where the Mad Jesters were projected from the device.
“Well, it comes and goes. Sometimes we can use it as usual, the other times we aren’t able to do so at all,” replied Parte.
“That sounded tough for you guys,” added A-Not, munching on some snacks while his eyes still trained on the monitor.
“Not really. In fact we kind of felt relief because of it, because now we are able to act like a normal human being for once. Masato deduced that our power will gradually dwindle down as we grow older, like those Gifted back at Old Tokyo,” said Zero.
“And we are completely fine by it. Maybe, with the exception of Chatter because he wanted to be invisible when going for a grocery run, though I don't even know why,” Masato’s voice was heard, teasing his teammates out loud.
“I’ve never said that!” Chatter interrupted.
Hades laughed, before he noticed the absence of a particular voice from the monitor. “Where’s Sherrock, by the way?”
“He had few errands to do today, and he apologized for not being able to join today’s call session with the rest of you,” replied Rosso.
“Oh yeah, I will stop by your hideout and drop a package at the rooftop in a few hours. Make sure someone collects it later, okay?” added Zero, almost like an after-thought.
“Duly noted. Lupus, will you go?” asked Bailey, looking at the dark-haired man who was sitting at the end of the conference table.
Lupus looked up towards the older man before he nodded his head silently, facing somewhere else right after that as if he had already lost interest in the rest of the conversation, his act of nonchalance and dismissal did not escape the keen eyes of the Mad Jester’s members on the monitor. However, he did not realize how they were looking at him amusedly, with matching grins and bright eyes on their faces as if they were hiding something from him. The call ended not much later than that, with the leaders from both groups agreeing to meet again next week.
After about three hours after dinner, the Rowdy Shogun received another message from the Mad Jesters, informing them of the arrival of the package. Lupus wasted no time to go to the rooftop, walking up the stairs leisurely as he tightened the thin black coat around him to protect him from the cold of the night. As he opened the door to the rooftop, he was greeted with the sight of a few petals of cherry blossoms on the cemented ground, likely coming from the trees that grew around the compound.
It was ten o’clock in the night, and the rooftop appeared dim save for several spots that were lit up by the lamplights that they had installed there. However, the sky was littered with a single crescent moon along with countless number of stars, their lights shining bright and comforting.
Lupus continued to walk further into the area, blaming himself for being absent-minded as he forgot to ask Zero what package he was supposed to look for in the first place. He turned around, his eyes making a brief scan over the whole area to find the said 'package'.
And as his eyes finally arrived at a spot at the edge of the rooftop, he saw it. Him.
As if sensing his presence, the figure turned around slowly, his back no longer facing towards Lupus. There was neither light sphere around him nor the familiar white miasma that was always associated with his presence. He was just like a normal human being with no more special abilities, the same like Lupus, who now had to depend on the lights on the rooftop to guide his eyes to see his surrounding, instead of using his black flames. But to Lupus, the man had never shined any brighter than that moment, with the light of the stars dawning upon him like a blessing, for being alive.
How Lupus had longed for this day, this moment, to arrive, since the battle ended that day, with his hands covered in blood that was not his, holding tightly a stiff body in his embrace.
A person that was dear to him, whom he had never thought he would be able to harbor so much love, just for him, all this time.
“Hey.” The said man softly murmured to him as a greeting, his red hair falling down his forehead, hiding the beautiful pair of crimson eyes that Lupus had, has, loved so much. There was a smile on his face, soft and innocent, and yet it was the same smile that took Lupus’ breath away all these years.
“Welcome back, Lucas.”
Welcome home.
*