Chapter Text
Kairi slowly woke up in a dim room with a flat-white ceiling staring back at him. He felt cold, weak and achy – physical reminders of his last gangler fight. Must have been a tough one, Kairi thought as he turned his head and noticed his vitals displaying on the machine near his head. The machine beeped slowly and faintly as he tried to recall how he actually wound up in the hospital.
Kairi closed his eyes, trying to piece things together.
“We won’t let you get away with this!” Tsukasa yelled as she swung her baton at the gangler’s head. The gangler yelped, stumbling back as sparks flew from the impact.
Kairi knew that if he didn’t intervene soon he wouldn’t have a collection piece left to steal. Umika and Touma, preoccupied with a crowd of pordermen, weren’t able to help. Kairi lunged for the gangler’s back.
“Do it now!” Sakuya shrieked as he laid on his back, struggling to get up with his injured leg. Keiichiro nodded and aimed his changer, ready to fire his patented biker suppression shot.
Kairi could hear the gun charging. He rushed to crack the safe, and just as he was about to open it – the gangler jumped.
Kairi was left facing the biker suppression shot alone.
Kairi didn’t need the machine to know his heart was racing. Using his right arm, he reached for his face. He could feel some stitches above his right eyebrow and a few more on his cheek. The blood drained out of his face when he realized what happened.
My mask broke.
I have to get out of here.
Kairi sat up instantly as he tried to rip out his IV and bio monitors, but in his haste he hadn’t notice his left arm had been cuffed to the bed. Kairi grimaced as a metallic clang rang out and seemingly echoed in the empty room. Damn.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Kairi noticed something shuffle. Someone was in the chair in the corner. He turned his head slowly, and instantly recognized the red embellishments on the man’s shirt. He slumped back into the bed. Shit.
“Finally awake, huh.” Keiichiro managed to croak out. Kairi stared up at the ceiling, refusing – unable? – to respond. They both wished that they were anywhere but here.
Keiichiro reached for the lamp on a small table between them both and turned it on. The light stung Kairi's unadjusted eyes and he winced at the brightness. He tried to shade his eyes but only jerked on his handcuffs again, making the bed vibrate. Resigned, he put his cuffed hand down and laid his right arm over his eyes. He knew his eyes would eventually adjust to the lamp, but he wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to look at Keiichiro again.
Keiichiro rubbed his eyes, trying futilely pull his thoughts together. Even though he was bleary from his restless sleep, his mind kept racing trying to figure out where everything went wrong. He had hundreds of questions flying through his head, all demanding to be answered. But in the end, there was only one question he knew he could ask without screaming, or crying:
"Why?"
Kairi scoffed on instinct. He couldn’t help himself, regretting it instantly. “Does it really matter?”
“It does to me!” Keiichiro raised his voice as he slammed a fist against the armrest. He was trying to keep his emotions under check but it was impossible with the little sleep he had gotten.
Kairi mulled over his answer. “Would you believe me if I said I was doing it for someone close to me?”
Now Keiichiro was the one who scoffed. “Do you know how many times we hear sob stories from criminals? No one ever wants to take responsibility for their actions.” Keiichiro straightened himself in the chair. “So what were you doing. Selling the collection? Do you know how dangerous those items are?”
“I wasn’t selling them.”
“Then what?”
Kairi paused for a moment, wondering how much he should tell him. “We… were collecting them.”
“For what?” Keiichiro snapped back. He tried to keep his tone even, but he was an impatient man. The hours of interrogation training he endured was never able to train him out of it.
Kairi let the question hang for what seemed like an eternity for Keiichiro. Kairi turned things over in his head, wondering if he could trust the cop who had been out for his arrest for months. The cop who never failed to remind him that he was breaking the law.
The cop who came to check up on him in his darkest moment, with a cup of warm coffee in his hand.
Maybe it was alright to tell him. Maybe, Kairi had to trust the law for once. Trust that someone actually cared for him.
“… We were collecting them to bring back someone special to us. For me, that was my brother.”
“Shori?” Keiichiro recalled the name from Kairi’s case file. He racked his brain on Umika and Touma’s files and realized they both had a similar stories – missing loved ones. A band of thieves brought together by the one thing they couldn’t take back.
“Yes” Kairi responded with genuine surprise.
Keiichiro tightened his fists, frustrated by his empathy. You weren’t supposed to feel anything for criminals other than contempt. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to hate Kairi and he couldn’t stand it. Because if he couldn’t hate Kairi –
“How would this collection ‘save’ your brother?”
“We were promised that if we could get all the collection pieces together, we’d have our deepest wish granted.”
“Which is saving your brother.”
Kairi nodded.
Keiichiro slammed his armchair again. “DAMMIT!” he yelled, startling Kairi. Keiichiro then slouched, putting his face into his hands. The realization that the Lupins had not been stealing for wealth, or fame, but out of some misguided sense of justice and longing meant that Keiichiro had been wrong. The Lupins weren’t criminals. They weren’t the bad guys. They were those he had sworn to protect.
They were his citizens.
“Why…?” Keiichiro stammered. “Why did you let me almost kill you…?” Kairi could almost see the guilt piling up on Keiichiro’s shoulders. He gave a small, somber smile, devoid of its usual deviousness.
“It’s not your fault, Kei-chan”.
Keiichiro felt like he had been hit by a freight train. His chest tightened and his eyes teared up, knowing he didn’t deserve forgiveness. He was an officer of the law and he had committed a cardinal sin against his pledge to serve and protect. He bit his lip as he tried to hide his face, but a tear quickly streaked down his cheek, falling on his wrinkled jacked.
“Hey, officer, if you let me out of these,“ Kairi jingled his handcuff, “I can give you a hug”. He smiled more openly this time. It was warm, kind and just a little mischievous.
Keiichiro chuckled and composed himself, wiping his cheek with the palm of his hand. “Not just yet” he chuckled. “But maybe, if you tell me more, we can figure something out”.