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Renge frowns, quickly getting up. She could see two other members of the Shinonome-gumi arrive. She briefly wonders how much longer she needs to keep the fight up, as she stumbles away. She still does not know who Shizuka has told of the plan, and logically it would be better for her to play along till the other woman arrives. Kensei clearly wants her to ambush Kaya, might as well pull the younger girl over to her while they bid their time.
She retreats, quickly making a loop back to wait for a chance in the shadows. Clearly from the way the younger Himuro was fighting meant that she was not aware of her older sister’s plans, unless she was just skilled at acting. No time to clarify that, all she can do is wait for the one who has the plans.
That damn woman better come soon, she herself taking on so many other people was not going to seem like an easy fight, especially considering she had literally just fought Suzuka.
As Kensei snaps his fingers, she rushes out, grabing Kaya and pulling her further away from Kensei, putting more distance between the already large distancee under the guise of holding onto her. She holds her knife in front of her, more for her own defence even though it looks like it was to threaten Kaya. Her smile only grows wider, seeing the self satisfied look on Kensei’s face. Her eyes flashes to Sara for a moment, before focusing back to Kensei.
As expected, he seems pleased with having Kaya within his reach, turning to prepare to leave. Renge readjusts her knife in her hand, her eyes narrowing as he walks off while speaking, while she is clearly expected to follow. She scoffed, growling out a refusal.
“Who said im going with you?”
“Renge?” Sara calls out, her surprise evident. Kensei turns around, staring right at her. Sara seems to look like she wants to walk forward, yet she remained just slightly moving in her place.
“Excuse me?”
“What makes you think I’m going with you?” Renge lowers her hand slightly, huffing out a reply. She can see everyone else looking back and forth in confusion, clearly answering the question on who here knew the plan.
Right as Kensei tried to speak, a woman in a furisode stepped in with another guy who was similarly in white. Fucking finally, Renge internally complained, taking some steps back while pulling Kaya along. Shizuka steps forward, shooting a look to her sister.
“Sorry we’re late,” Shion apologises, “Phoenix took longer to deal with.”
Only replying with a curt nod, Renge pulls away and drags the younger girl with her as they take their leave. Once they got decently far enough, she releases her hold on Kaya and stores her knife. Kaya looked like she was about to bolt, her behavior akin to a terrified puppy. Renge just let herself lean on the wall, keeping her eye on the girl.
Hearing more people approach, she turns around to see the remaining ppl coming over. Kaya rushed over to Bakuto and Yuuto, leaving Renge leaning against the wall on her own.
“Seriously? You didn’t think to warn everyone else?” Renge hissed, glaring at Shizuka.
“You rushed this and left me rushing to plan.” Shizuka bites back, her arms crossed.
“Can we get an explanation now?” Bakuto demanded his eyes looking between the two of them. Renge moved to answer, but Shizuka beat her to it.
“Long story short, I was told that Kurojou was planning some shit and so was Phoenix. Shinonome wants Kaya, I needed someone to deal with Phoenix. Considering this shit was rushed, there was a deal made.”
“What about….her?” Suzuka speaks up, pointing to Renge, who only scoffed in annoyance. This time she rushed to speak, not letting Shizuka reply for her.
“I had plans to leave Kurojou-gumi. And your sister owes me.” She curtly replies, hearing the older Himuro make a sound of annoyance.
“But why get help from Shizunee-chan now?” Suzuka pressed on, questioning Renge’s actions.
“This mission was just convenient timing for me to leave without having other people surrounding me that would kill-”
“Thats enough questions. Lets go.” Shizuka cuts in, walking off, leaving Shinonome-gumi alone. Renge followed along, walking through the twists and turns of the city. Stopping somewhere deserted, Shizuka told Shion and Suzuka to go on first, before making a turn into an abandoned store.
From the looks of it, it used to be an antique store. Ceramic pots lined one of the shelves, catching Renge’s attention. She walked over and slowly looked through each one of them. Hakurou probably had this as a hideout, from the looks of Shizuka’s familiarity with the place. Tearing herself away from the shelves, she follows Shizuka’s lead upstairs, watching as she dug around the items and dragged out a suitcase, pushing it over to Renge. She also pulled out some clothes, handing it over to the confused woman.
“Here. Some clothes you can change into.”
“Huh?”
“Your documents, clothes and money, remember?”
“I only asked you to get my documents and transfer the money from my bank.”
“Did you really expect to go out in that outfit? At least change out of it so Kurojou doesn’t regonise you right away. And you need some clothes before you can go out and get some. You fit into my old clothes anyways.” Shizuka said, shaking her head. “Bathroom is over there, we can think of how else to disguise you later.”
Renge sighed and took the clothes, knowing Shizuka was right. If she really wanted to leave, she couldn’t look like this. Quickly changing out, she untied her braid. Seeing herself in the mirror, a wave of emotions hit her. The last time she had seen herself looking….so normal must have been back when she was still in school. When….they met. She was wearing a simple t-shirt and skirt, that sat right above her knees.
But it wasn’t the right time to dwell in the past. Running a hand through her hair, she got it untangled and looking neater before making an impulsive move to grab her knife. She bunched up her hair sliced throuh her hair, leaving it sitting about waist length. Gathering up the mess in the sink, she exited the bathroom with it in hand. Shizuka looked up at the noise, her eyes softening at the look of Renge.
“You……look so different…..” She lightly commented, a similar hint of nostalgia in her voice.
Renge huffed in response, shrugging her shoulders. “Got any scissors around here?” She asked while gesturing to her hair. “Still have to get this looking neater.”
Silently, Shizuka nods and disappears downstairs, leaving Renge to stand in the silence alone. Quickly getting to work, she looked around for something to store the cut hair and her old clothes. Seeing a plastic bag on the table, she grabs it and begins shoving everything into the bag.
“Here.” Shizuka says, as she reappears in the doorway. “Turn around, I’ll help you.” Renge would have protested, but decided to just give in. Turning around with a sigh, she let Shizuka do her thing.
“I didn’t know you knew how to cut hair.” She prompts, making small talk to the best of her ability.
“Suzuka doesn’t like going to the barber much. Our mother used to cut our hair.” I took over after she died, she almost said, yet she left it hanging. Taking off her gloves, she tucks them into her obi. She lightly gathers up Renge’s hair, her nails slightly scraping against her neck. Renge clearly wasn’t expecting the touch from Shizuka, shivering slightly and flinching away.
“Still not a fan of having your neck touched after all these years?”
“Of course. And you know him. Being touched was never for a good reason.”
“Oh.” Shzuka softly responds, the realisation hitting her. It wasn’t exactly a secret among the gangs how Kensei treated his subordinates. Most of them had bore witness to his bullshit at least once. There were also rumors on what goes on in Kurojou, floating all around the tenkai ward.
The sound of the sissors cutting continued in the silence. Renge tried to let hersellf relax. Looking out the windows she could vaguely make out the shape of a cat through the curtains. There were newspaper scattered in the corner of the room, and multiple boxes piled against a wall. Some unused cups sat on a rack beside the sink. The place seemed old, but not to the point where it was filthy.
“Will you ever come back?” Shizuka asked, a slight waver in her voice pushing the unspoken words to Renge.
“I don’t know.”
“Where do you plan to go?”
“Back to the main island probably. Maybe someday I’ll transfer out of Japan.”
“Ah.”
“Hey, can you burn my old clothes for me?”
“Sure.” Shizuka replied without hesitation, brushing the stray hairs off Renge’s back and stepping back. Determining it to be okay, she placed the scissors down on the table.
“When are you leaving?”
“Probably in the next few days. I still….. There’s still Sara.”
Shizuka bit her lip, not wanting to dash Renge’s hopes. Knowing Renge, she probably knew it was unlikely possible to save Sara, especially on her own. Turning to leave, she froze at the door for a moment.
“Alright…..just stay safe, okay?”
‘I will. Thanks.”
—-------------------------------------
“Hm……” Suzuka lightly hums, leaning against the wall of the home staring into their backyard. In front of her was Shizuka tossing what looked like cut up coth into the firepit. “Whose clothes are those?”
“Renge’s.”
Shizuka’s curt reply came almost instantly, which only prompted Suzuka’s curiosity. The confrontation with Kurojou-gumi was the first time she had heard anything about Shizuka and Renge, and the fact that they had a connection made it even more interesting.
“Why didn’t you ever mention her? Almost no one knew you two knew each other,” Suzuka continued, wanting to satisfy her curiosity.
“We knew each other in the past. Why would i mention something from so long ago?”
“True…….but what was your relationship with her?”
Shizuka paused, her eyes narrowing in thought. “..........friends. We were friends back when i was in school. Why are you asking so much?”
Suzuka coud almost hear the lie, yet something in her told her not to push it. “Just curious, i mean i just found on Shizu-nee-chan had a secret friend, of course i would wanna know more,”
“It was not a secret.”
“Hmmm but it sure felt like it.” She cheekily smiled, hearing as Shizuka let out a sigh while putting out the fire.
“Think what you will of it then.” Shizuka curtly ended the conversation, walking back into the house. She did not feel a need to pour her heart and past out to Suzuka, some things deserve to remain buried in the past. It didn’t look like things were going to change anytime soon, there was no need to dig up everything.
It wasn’t as though she did not miss their past. A part of her wanted to go back to when things were better. Back when they were still gullible stupid kids. When they still believed in things that were not likely to happen.
When they could be themselves, without the worry or the name of the gang.
Yet it had been too many years, they were no longer the same people. They were adults, and she herself was now fully involved in the yakuza world.
Renge had her own path to take, and it led out of the Tenkai ward.
She likely wasn’t coming back after all.