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“I love you.”
Then came the most prolonged few seconds of nothingness Kiryu had ever experienced. Ten years in prison was way much shorter than this awkward pause, the immediate tense in a body lying beneath his arms, the complete silence consistent of the usual hum of the nightlight coming from the open window. It seemed Majima stop breathing too.
Until the high pitched laugh came with sharp chin knocking Kiryu’s one as Majima throw his head back hysterically.
“You, sorry, what?”
Kiryu absentmindedly touched his jaw watching how Majima started in bed holding one hand to his gut and wiping fake tear with the other one.
Not today then, Kiryu decided. He sat up in bed himself, watching for slippers. When he stood up and almost made one step forward he felt how Majima clung to his waist, clumsily tangled in sheets, almost ready to fall on the floor. He found his balance soon and raised his head once again to glare at Kiryu with his only eye wide open, concerned and worried look on his face.
“W-wait! Where do you think ya goin’?”
Kiryu stared in awe. Majima’s grip was firm, so Kiryu smiled, softly, but not without a hint of smugness in his eyes, and put his hands to the other man wrists gently pushing them apart to free himself.
“I was going to take a shower.”
Majima rushly moved his hands away murmuring something like “Ah, yeah, of course”, and Kiryu left him in the room alone.
Showering, he didn’t think about it too deeply. It was always like that with Majima. Sometimes he opened to him, in the most intimate moments which happened oh so rarely, Kiryu could even call him timid or tame. But most of the time Majima was… Majima. He teased Kiryu for being so soft, he was rough and reckless, he brushed away everything Kiryu said to him with jokes, and he laughed wildly.
It was okay. It struck Kiryu with confusion at first, he still was not sure what exactly Majima wanted from him, but he got used to it. It didn’t offend him in any way.
Or maybe he was too pushy. Who knows, maybe Majima didn’t need it, and Kiryu was in wrong being that sincere in front of him tonight. But it was useless thinking about it now, the time will show, Kiryu decided.
Kiryu turned the water off and left the bathroom wiping his head off with the towel. Only then he noticed the room was empty. He didn’t hear the front door being opened and closed so probably Majima left the love hotel through the window. Kiryu wouldn’t be surprised.
***
So, they were on their break once again. It happened before that Majima would vanish from his sight for a week or even couple of months and it was okay. Well, Kiryu was slightly concerned, but it was Majima. Everything about him was a mess, but Kiryu could not complain.
He had things to do anyway. He also had Haruka to help her with her homework, he had Date to grab a few drinks with. He had entire Kamurocho to amuse him, was it to go to a batting center or watch a movie in a booth or visit a cabaret club. So he could kept himself busy with both work and entertainment.
Which he did. He was out on the street practically every night, wandering from spot to spot, alone or with a company.
Yes, they were on their break. But it was the very beginning of it, and if Kiryu was stuck at his apartment more often, he wouldn’t spot Majima so soon.
Majima was standing on the end of the street with his family boys. Whatever business they had, Kiryu didn’t want to intervene, but unfortunate to his luck, he was spotted by one of Majima’s subordinates .
“Hey, boss, look, isn’t it Kiryu-san?”
Majima was standing with his back turned to Kiryu, holding his hands loosely on the edges of a bat placed on his shoulders.
He lazily turned to gaze at Kiryu without a hint of interest in his eye.
“Nah… Not interested.”
“...Boss?”
Majima harshly beat his subordinate on his head, grabbing his ear and screaming in it in mad and weirdly capricious tone.
“Are you deaf, you idiot? Ya boss said he’s not interested. If ya so excited to see this piece of clown go ahead, beat him, but I’m not playin’!”
Then he let the poor guy go and head to the nearest vending machine.
“Ya have some change, you idiots?”
It was the time Kiryu stepped in while Majima’s men were hastily patting their pockets in search for coins. He didn’t really knew what Majima wanted, but he couldn’t care less, picking up at least what he knew was Majima’s favorite and giving it to him.
Majima stood with his head turned to the side purposely so all Kiryu could see was his profile, the side with a patch, of course. He was pouting his lips.
“What is this all about, Majima no niisan?”
“Are you deaf too or ‘re ya just got dumb, Kiryu-chan? Not playn’ with ya. Not in the mood.”
Though, he finally grabbed the drink Kiryu was holding for him with one sharp move.
“Boys, we’re goin’.”
And without waiting for his subordinates, he hit the streets, leaving Kiryu standing besides vending machines. Majima’s men shrug their shoulders, hesitantly nodded to Kiryu, and hurried to catch up with their boss.
Well, it was already something.
***
Almost a week passed the next time they met again. ‘Met’ was a word Kiryu chose as he didn’t know how to describe the situation when you merely stride along the street when a violently thrown something hits your head and then you get attacked from behind by the wickedest creature Kamurocho could born.
“Never get ya guard down, Kiryu-chan!”
It was quite a while since they had a street brawl like this last time. Kiryu wouldn’t say he was very fond of such fights but he never hated them for sure. This one even brought him some kind of a relieve, at least Majima fought him again jumping as some kind of knife armored demon grasshopper kicking and scratching and laughing like crazy every time Kiryu’s fists landed on his body.
He was especially active today, and though Kiryu was kind of glad Majima was in his mood to ‘play’ with him again (actually, Kiryu doubted Majima had any other choices in brawl opponents, even coliseum bore him madly), he was gradually getting fed up with it. So he waited for the right moment and when Majima was opened he grabbed his skinny frame, lift him in the air and let him meet the concrete ground in one violent move.
It made Majima to calm down, at least after a moment he turned on his back and lift his hand recognizing his defeat. He was smiling what someone could call happily, looking at the sky, breathing heavily.
“Jeez, that was good!”
Kiryu bent over him giving Majima a hand to help him stand up, but Majima, after steadying his breath, stood by himself, brushing his clothes from the dust.
He wasn’t good on his legs though, he lost his balance and nearly fall, but Kiryu caught him by his elbow.
“Do you want me to help you to the doctor, or your family office?”
“Say what? Jeez, do I look fragile or something? Cut playn’ gentlemen and shit, I can care about myself.”
“Would you like to grab a drink, then?”
Majima snorted. He patted Kiryu on the shoulder.
“Dreaming never hurts a guy. See ya.”
Then he left, limping.
***
And so the things were like they used to be in the very beginning. Though, Majima was not as creative as before, he wasn’t hiding in trash cans or catching Kiryu while he was choosing his order in Smile Burger, focused, or pretended to be a zombie or police officer or whatever. He would just run towards him, or attack from behind, and they would fight just like this without much talking after, which was also something new. Well, at least Majima was not avoiding him, which was, probably, good.
He didn’t know how much time passed, they had their had their fights every two or three days and Kiryu didn’t really care to count them. But what he really could use was some evening in a good company. So he headed to the club Shine. Spending money on a good flirty conversation was never a waste, and maybe he would get lucky and meet his old acquaintance who never denied him in a date after their session.
But as he walked through the Pink Street, he spotted a weirdly familiar figure smoking in front of his point of destination. As he said, Majima stopped to be creative as he used to be. Their brawls were just bare fights, without any thought to them. So he was surprised when he saw Goromi.
She noticed him only when he reached her and asked wasn’t she dress too lightly. It was chilly after all, he really felt bad looking at this short pink disaster of a dress of her.
“Maybe…” She shrugged, but Kiryu knew this game all too well.
“May I suggest my jacket?” And without waiting for an answer, Kiryu took his jacket off and brushed it on Goromi’s shoulders. She moved them a little, adjusting to it and making sure it won’t fall.
“Hey…. Aren’t you a gentleman?” She smiled sweetly.
“I missed you, Goromi. Are you working tonight?”
“Mmmm… Yes, I do… My shift just started, so I haven’t any clients today yet… Wanna drop by?”
“Sure. I was headed to the club anyway in hope I will meet you tonight.”
“Oh, you are such a liar, Kiryu-chan! But that’s okay. Goromi missed that sweet talk of you.”
She tossed what left of a cigarette on the ground and turned to the entrance of the club.
“Come.”
Kiryu followed.
***
It was always easy with Goromi. It was amazing how much she differed from Majima at this, considering they were the same person. She was so much better in keeping a conversation, receiving compliments, flirting. Well, Majima was good at flirting too, but it always was either too crude or making Kiryu feel too weird. Goromi in her turn would always act with some sense of class, playfully pushing Kiryu shoulder away from her when he said something out of line.
She asked him lots of questions, mostly what he was up to since the last time they met. He was telling her about raising Haruka, he was telling her about some curious cases that happened on the street, he had a bunch of the stories where he ended helping random people with their struggles.
“Awwww, Kiryu-chan, you’re such a generous heart! But aren’t you easy to fool? You should be more careful and don’t trust people too much. Goromi will be so sad if you get yourself too much into a trouble!”
She shifted in her seat, sipping her champagne. All of a sudden it gone too quiet and Goromi looked a little out of there, so Kiryu decided it was finally his turn to ask questions.
“How are you, Goromi? What was you doing all this time?”
She started a little, as so the question surprised her. Then she turned her head back to Kiryu and tilted it to the side. She smiled a little too.
“So-so, I guess.” She even made a gesture with her hand, which was elegant but not enough.
“You looked sad back on the street. Concerned, even. Did something happened?”
She looked away, smile escaping her lips.
“Yeah… You can say so…”
Pensively she rubbed her elbow gathering her thoughts. Kiryu waited. Something was telling him he should not interrupt whatever was going on in her mind, and after a while he found he was right.
Goromi sat a little bit closer to him, putting her head on his shoulder. She sighed heavily.
“You know… Goromi just… Goromi fell in love.”
Kiryu couldn’t help smiling.
“Hmmm, is it so, Goromi? I feel kind of jealous…. Will you tell me who the lucky guy is? Not like I was up to beat him up or anything…”
He was interrupted by a bump of Goromi’s fist on his chest. Then one more. And more. Kiryu was glad that at least she was restraining her true strength.
“Kiryuuu-chaaaaan!” She whined helplessly and almost painful. “You’re the most idiotic piece of idiot Goromi knoooooows. I’m talkin’ about y-“
“Goromi.” Kiryu gently grabbed her by her shoulders and make her face him. She was uncomfortable to be interrupted like this and forced to meet an eye contact, and despite Kiryu was partly enjoying the act, it was about the time to end it. “Goromi, whatever you say to me…. I want to hear from Majima first.”
Goromi stared at him in disbelief. Then she held her head down again and nodded.
“Okay.”
Kiryu let her go. She was not facing him.
“The session is ended anyway. Can you meet me at the entrance? I don’t promise to be fast, though.”
Then she went away with her head down. Kiryu went to pay the bill feeling he might spent too much of his resources including both money and nerves on this entire situation. Not like he minded.
***
He waited for about twenty minutes. He definitely had his doubts, because it was always not clear was he toyed or was he not, but it was okay. He wasn’t even thinking about losing his patience, when finally he heard his name called in high-pitched singsong fashion.
“Kiryuuuu-chaaaan!”
“Majima-san. How are you?”
Majima smugly smiled at him putting his hand on Kiryu’s shoulder.
“You was so up to buy ya senior a fine glass of whiskey lately… So I decided why not actually, who am I to deny free alcohol?”
Kiryu wanted to ask about the bottle of the nicest champagne Goromi drunk almost fully, but that was Goromi. So Kiryu smirked.
“Sure. Shellac will do?” Kiryu wanted to suggest Bantam first, but he wanted somewhere more private. Majima seemed to get his idea and opened his arms.
“As you say.”
But this light-headed atmosphere was soon gone as they headed to the bar. Majima started some small talk bringing Kiryu’s attention to something on their surrounding, but he wasn’t too interested in it himself, so each of his attempts failed.
When they finally were seated, they drunk their first round in silence too. But alcohol seemed to loosen tense between them a little bit as Majima started to tell Kiryu some trivia to whatever they were drinking.
“Uuuughhhhh screw it. I didn’t call ya for tellin’ ya this shit.” Majima suddenly snapped interrupting himself.
Kiryu turned to him as Majima was eyeing his glass with his furrowed brows, gripping his glass so hard, Kiryu was sure he was about to break it.
Finally, Majima managed to look Kiryu in his eyes.
“Kazuma. I just wanted to tell ya one thing, okay? But listen carefully cos I don’t wanna repeat it if ya deaf ass gonna miss it.” Majima pursed his lips in a second, obviously trying not to overthink his decision. “I love ya too, Kazuma.”
Kiryu just stared. He waited patiently for it since his very own confession and now when he heard it and with Majima calling him by his name, he realized he never quite thought how he would response. But he was relieved and happy, even.
Majima irritably throw his head back and grabbed Kiryu by his collar, giving him a shake.
“This is the part when ya hug and kiss me without caring what other customers of this shit of a place gonna think. So hurry up and do your thing. Jeez, Kiryu-chan, you’re such a moron sometimes.”