Chapter Text
I
Ryu glanced at his watch and frowned. It was almost 8PM and his friend Ishida was supposed to appear half an hour ago. It was him who wanted to meet in the uncommon place – a strange bar called Harukiya or something like that – yet he wasn’t there.
Ryu knew his friend well enough not to doubt him. Ishida wouldn’t just let him down without a good reason. Nonetheless, Ryu didn’t want to waste time, especially without knowing whether Ishida was just being late or he wouldn’t come at all. Could he be in trouble? If only Ishida left a message!
Without any message though all that was left was to sit around and watch ice in the whisky glass melt. Ryu wouldn’t drink it anyway as he needed to stay unfazed for the case that Ishida appears after all or even needs help.
More so, Ryu wouldn’t drink whisky here even without any restrictions: its smell alone revealed less than appealing quality. The Harukiya bar itself, however, seemed pretty neat and – what’s more important – closed off. Ruy figured that was the reason Ishida picked the place.
The bar also harboured a group of rogue-looking teenagers. If Ishida knew about them he must have assumed there wouldn’t be any spies hidden amongst them. Ryu wouldn’t be so sure.
When Ruy got bored of melting ice his attention switched to the troublesome kids. He must have been just the same an eternity ago, when Neo-Tokyo was still building up. He didn’t quite remember it though as the memories of his own teenage years got all blurry and hazy in his mind.
Soon Ryu’s attention grabbed a hulk of a man who was nagging a boy so tiny that in comparison to him the man seemed as big and heavy as a truck. Ryu noticed a bag full with bright-coloured pills – naturally the kids would be into this kind of stuff. One hit and roar later the hulky guy stashed the bag inside his huge pocket. Without a doubt such scenes happen here all the time, Ryu thought as he watched the hulky guy leave the bar.
However, he wasn’t able to leave just yet. A boy in red, whom Ryu somehow hadn’t seen before, jumped in front of the hulk blocking his way out. The boy blabbered something with exaggerated excitement and even threw his arms around the stunned man even though his small figure wouldn’t let him wrap the hulk’s enormous torso. Ryu quickly realised that he was watching the “meeting an old friend” act.
As the hulky guy realised the same he roared and pushed the kid aside so he nearly crashed into the next customers’ table to the latters’ annoyance. The kid cried out a couple of crude words but it sounded more performative rather than angry. As the hulky guy left the boy stood up calmly and went right to the first tiny kid. With a smile typical for cocky kids his age, the boy in red put the bag of pills right in front of the tiny kid. Ruy already knew that the whole act was to get them back.
Ryu smirked, amused. What the boy had pulled off was very simple but effective. There was some potential to him indeed, if only he used it for something better…
“Who’s that boy? The one in red,” – Ryu asked the bartender following a yet unclear instinct. The bartender looked at him sceptically.
“Why do you ask?”
“I think I might know him, just wanna make sure”, – Ryu lied with a good natured smile. – “I’d be really grateful”.
“Kaneda’s his name,” – the bartender replied with great reluctance as if Ryu forced him to. – “He’s the leader of one of them kid gangs here.”
Ryu nodded then after a thought asked again:
“What about his parents?”
“He’s most likely an orphan,” – the bartender shrugged. – “Most of the kids here are on their own. When they aren’t in school. And they don’t go there too often, as you might imagine.”
Ryu swallowed an enthusiastic “Great!” and pretended to be disappointed.
“Oh well, I mistook him for someone else. He looks just like my friends’ son” – he answered the bartender’s silent inquiry. – “Thanks for your service” – Ryu left the money on the table – tip and answers included.
It was now pointless to wait for Ishida any longer – Ryu decided to leave and let his friend explain himself later. However, the time wasn’t wasted at all. Glancing at his untouched whisky glass for the last time, Ryu smirked. The idea of what to do with the boy in red was already forming in his mind.
II
It didn’t take long for Kaneda to realise that he was being watched. He himself, however, felt that only the blind wouldn’t notice a weird guy with a moustache that was suspiciously often around.
If Kaneda had only seen the guy in Harukiya, he would assume that the man has nothing more than a new regular patron drowning in the cheap booze. However, Kaneda could have sworn that the stranger stalked him by the school, in the city and even in the places where the boy wasn’t very often.
Could it be that the stalker believed he went unnoticed? Or could it be that his intention was to be noticed unnerving Kaneda, making him paranoid. The latter somehow seemed more plausible.
Kaneda didn’t even stop to think that he might have well imagined things. The Police – and he was certain it could only be the Police – could do anything if they wanted to get him. Neither did he question why they would target him as he had no illusions of his own reputation among the law enforcement. The pills, illegal races – just to name a couple of reasons. Knowing this Kaneda was annoyed by the stalker but oddly calm at the same time. There was nothing extraordinary.
Kaneda never doubted his assumptions as any cocky teenager would. He also wouldn’t be himself if he let the stalker get under his skin so he decided to enter the game himself.
At first he thought about telling his friends about the whole situation but something: either the thrill or pure stupidity – made him act on his own.
III
Two more days had passed before Kaneda had gotten courage to face his stalker. While he was most certainly just delaying the confrontation, he convinced himself that he was given the weird man one last chance to disappear.
On that evening Kaneda stayed in Harukiya way longer than any adult would allow him. All his friends had already left and no one of them knew what Kaneda had been up to.
The annoying stalker, naturally, also was present and didn’t seem to pay attention to Kaneda. Whatever, even if his always being around was just a crazy coincidence it will be brought to light soon enough.
Kaneda waited a bit longer then pretended to leave. In fact he hid in the alleyway waiting for the stalker to pass by.
And it didn’t take long.
A couple of minutes later the stalker waltzed out of the bar himself like it was a regular Tuesday for him.
“You’re just wasting your time”, said Kaneda from the darkness of the alleyway. He tried really hard to seem calm and self-assured yet his heart started racing. Facing his stalker was much more anxiety-inducing than he expected. At the same time this made Kaneda much angrier at the stalker and at himself.
“So you did notice me!” the stalker smirked amused. His calm demeanour ruined the illusion of being one step ahead of the man, which made Kaneda lose his composure even further.
“You ain’t that good at all those spy things” Kaneda shrugged hoping that the stalker hadn't noticed trembling in his voice yet.
“Maybe I wasn’t spying”.
“Sure, it’s easy to say that when you’ve been caught”, something clicked and the boy unleashed his anger at the stalker without mincing his words. “Hey, I know nothing about your pills, whatever they told you it’s all bullshit”.
“Wow, what made you think I care about the pills?”, the stranger smiled mildly. “Take my advice and don’t reveal yourself like this if you ever get caught by the police”.
Kaneda blushed, angry and embarrassed at the same time. He looked away biting his lip.
“Whatever, I know that already”, he muttered. “What do you want then?”
“You”.
“Huh?” Kaneda turned to the man, surprised. The thought that the stalker might want to kill him occurred to him way too late.
“Yeah, I know how that sounds, I’ll understand if you want to get away from me ASAP”.
“Well, duh,” once again Kaneda tried to fake indifference. He kept thinking that the creep wasted too much time on him to let him go easily. “But you’ll find me anywhere, won’t you? You know all my places.”
“Indeed”.
“Well, then either we continue staring at each other or you tell me whatever you want from me, I’m all ears!” As he couldn’t see himself from the side, Kaneda could only hope that his attempts to gain composure didn’t seem all that pathetic. It didn’t help that the stranger looked at him with a nauseatingly condescending smile. That smile asked for a punch but something stopped Kaneda from rushed decisions.
“If you insist. My name is Ryu and I’m here on behalf of the underground…”
“Never heard of it,” Kaneda snapped way too quickly.
“Calm down, I didn’t even say anything yet,” somehow Ryu’s smile turned even more obnoxious. “Also any underground organisation wouldn’t last long if random teenagers knew about it”.
“Yet you’re talking to me now – a random teenager”.
“Don’t play dumb. By now you must understand that you’re far from random. As I mentioned, I'm interested in you and your abilities.”
Kaneda chuckled.
“You sure I’m the one you need?”
“I didn’t notice you acting that humble in front of your friends. Hear what, I’ll tell you more but not here.” a folded piece of paper appeared in Ryu’s hand. “If you’re interested, meet me tomorrow. Time and place you’ll find here. And don’t tell anyone.”
After some hesitation Kaneda took the note.
“And if I don’t…” looking up Kaneda discovered that Ryu had disappeared into the dark. “be there?”
Rolling his eyes, Kaneda pocketed the note.
“Such a weirdo! And he trusts me like that!”
Ryu must indeed be sure that the teen wasn’t on exactly good terms with law enforcement so he wouldn’t contact them unless he suddenly warms up to the police. And not that he would be believed anyway. But was there any guarantee that it wasn’t a trap?
“Guess there’s only one way to find out”.