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Nine enjoyed walking in the midday city. He liked the feeling of becoming lost in a crowd, becoming one with the human wave that washed across the sidewalk in both directions. In downtown Tokyo with all the suits and the schoolgirls and the little old ladies with grocery bags, he could be anyone. He didn't need to have a name or a face.
Nine stopped before a crossing, waiting with the other pedestrians for the traffic lights to change. It was an incredibly hot summer day. The sun was heating up the pavement, and Nine could feel the burning asphalt through his shoes. He shifted his weight, and glanced at his wristwatch. It was almost five PM. Shouldn't the weather cool down sometime towards evening? Nine longed for the setting of the sun, or at least a pleasant breeze.
A hand suddenly grabbed Nine's arm, interrupting his thoughts. He jerked his head to the side and saw a young boy, brown-haired and wide-eyed, smiling sweetly up at him. The boy was standing close, uncomfortably so. Nine regained his composure and freed his arm from the boy's grasp.
”Excuse me?” Nine said.
The boy closed his eyes and widened his smile. He didn't look lost, at least.
”Sorry”, the boy laughed lightly. It was a pleasant laugh, one that could easily make you smile or join in on it. Not that Nine was about to, of course.
”I was just wondering... could you tell me what the time is?”
Nine blinked. He'd just checked the time, and was about to share the information that it was just about five PM, when the brown-haired boy suddenly stood up on his tiptoes, leaned forward against Nine, and kissed him. On the lips. In the busy street. In front of people. All of whom were probably staring at the two of them in shock. Nine felt embarrassment before surpise, blood surging up to colour his cheeks. It was something that he rarely ever experienced.
By the time Nine recovered from the shock, the boy had released him from his grasp, the traffic lights had changed, the taste of something sugary was lingering on his lips, and the boy that had kissed him was running off in the direction he had come from. He smiled and waved when he saw Nine looking at him.
”Sorry!”
On his hand the boy was holding something that looked suspiciously like Nine's own thin and brown leather wallet.
Nine felt the inside of his breast pocket. Just like he had thought. The boy had reached out and snatched his concealed wallet while Nine was still confused from the kiss.
The brown-haired boy was already on the bridge above the motorway just up ahead. He took hold of a railing and jumped down. Nine regained control of his senses and muscles and started sprinting across the sidewalk towards a nearby parking lot. He wasn't about to catch the thief by blindly following him, but he knew the streets well enough to give him chase. He'd round the boy's escape route and meet him halfway across. The stairs that led up from the underground car park would be his likely destination.
Having reached the stairs in good time, Nine drew a deep breath and waited. According to his calculations - and if the thief was taking the escape route he would use in the same kind of situation – the boy should round the corner above the stairs right about... now. And at that moment, he appeared at the top of the stairs, just the way Nine had hoped for. Nine grinned, looking up and letting himself enjoy his small victory.
”Caught you.”
Contrary to what Nine had hoped, the brat didn't seem surprised or defeated at all. He just smiled, just the way he did up on the street.
”Oh, hello again, mister.”
Nine closed the few stair-steps of distance between the two of them and took the wallet the boy was still holding in his hand. The thief put up no fight at all.
”I believe this is mine,” Nine said, holding his wallet up, looking very serious. Then he grinned at the boy again, assuming a friendlier expression this time.
”You're good,” Nine admitted. ”I like your style.”
The brunette boy laughed in that lighthearted manner of his and cocked his head.
”Thanks for the compliment. By the way... what's your name?”
A moment of silence.
”...I don't really use my real name. I go by 'Nine', usually.”
The brown-haired boy stared at Nine for a brief moment, seemingly lost in thought, then took a thin wallet out of his back pocket. He held it up for Nine to see. It looked suspiciously similar to the one Nine was holding, so he opened the original one, frowning, and found it empty.
The boy smiled and tossed the newly produced wallet to Nine.
”Here you go," he chuckled. "It's the real one.”
Nine deftly caught his wallet, staring straight into the eyes of this brown-haired trickster, saying nothing.
”Nine, huh?” the boy said, locking eyes with the other. ”Then I'll be Twelve. Because I'm three steps ahead of you.”