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“It’s so quiet up here.”
Ryth leaned against a railing, staring out over the Benten-cho district of Tokyo-To. The sun was still in the sky, but the mid afternoon heat was starting to ease as the sun started to fall westward. Beat was sitting with his legs dangling off the edge through the rails, resting on the bars. With Goji gone and the Golden Rhinos now being hunted down by the police who were back under Ominishma’s command and hiding back amongst the drudgery of the Fortified residential zone, there was very little for the GG’s to do other than keep watch over the other gangs of the city or at least, sit back and enjoy the calm that was being slowly restored. Beat hadn’t told anyone exactly what had happened in that tower and has spent most of his time away from the GG’s since the whole thing was now over, leaving some of his more closer friends in the gang to worry about him. Ryth also wanted to know the details, but was at least able to wait it out until he was ready to tell anyone.
“You can see everything right down to the Shibuya terminal from here.”
“Yeah.” Beat agreed. “It’s so barren now though. No one can afford to live there or at least those who can, can’t afford to risk it due to all the collateral damage.”
“They really damaged the city this time didn’t they?” Ryth sighed.
“Yeah, this time it will take even longer for things to go back to normal. Why live here when the new Neo Tokyo that was built on the otherside of Japan looks far more promising and less like a slum lord’s whore pit.” He actually smiled after that last comment. “Ah, but at least it’s OUR cess-pool and whore pit.” The last part made Ryth laugh. She knew he didn’t mean anything by it, but it was good to see he still had his dark sense of humour.
“That place, all shiny and new… all waiting for graffiti. It’d be like a heaven for vandals.” Beat rested his head on the bars. “Think of all the new life blood and soul of the street you could channel into the place. Unlike here, the graffiti is all crying out and showing how the city bleeds.”
“The downside to having everything run by powers of absolute corruption.”
“Well, yes… there is that. I was thinking more along the lines of all the innocent who were either killed or wounded in this whole fiasco. No one, even under a corrupt governmental control deserves to die needlessly.”
They both feel silent, Ryth occasionally glancing around at all the buildings and their glass windows reflecting the late afternoon sunset back towards them.
“Do you remember why you wanted to be a GG?”
Ryth took a step back and looked down at the redhead who hadn’t moved from his spot. She hesitated in thought. “I never really thought about it much, to tell you the honest truth. I guess at the time, it was because unlike the other gangs in the city, you guys where the only ones who I knew where not big on all those really violent initiation practices.” She rested on the top of the railing again. “You know, the first time I saw you tagging that wall in Benten–cho, I assumed you were freelance artist and weren’t affiliated with any gang. You sure didn’t look like you were.” She gave him a quick glance before continuing, “That was until after I challenged you of course, and some of the stuff you said about a person’s soul and how only artist can objectify it and give it life to share with others.”
She sighed and took a deep breath. “It was different. I will be honest with you though, you’re the only reason I stuck around for so long. You saw everything differently and never once thought about anything bad. You always found the positive to everything. As you have said before, ‘good friends are hard to come by’.”
“Why did you leave and choose to come back then?” this time he looked up at Ryth, and she could tell that any answer she would give at this point would have more weight to it than anything else she may have ever had to say to a person before.
Ryth swallowed. “Well we all sort of went our separate ways after Goji fell I guess.” She shrugged. “I don’t really know; something had changed. I know you had. You became very distant with us and well for a while I thought it was my fault for some of it. You got that job, Soda got married, well for a while I thought the GG’s where in limbo. Things just changed. As for coming back, well… I saw you and the new girl skating around and marking over Poison Jam’s work that had spread into our old turf which I sort of half-heartedly watched over… I was bound to come back and join again knowing you were all back in business.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t really want to take that job, I had no choice, it was that or they deport me for not being a proper Japanese citizen. To be honest I don’t really remember much of it, only the fact that I gave the money all to Soda and his wife as a wedding present. Things are a bit hazy about that time.” Beat admitted, looking back at the fading skyline through the bars.
“Corn and Gum told me about your break down. I wasn’t aware and I wish I had been. If I knew I wouldn’t have left back then.”
“I don’t think it would have mattered Ryth. It was going to happen and I handled it poorly you would have been pushed away otherwise. That’s kind of why I don’t really remember much. In the end when they were ready to re-establish our gang back, they sent Yo-yo to seek me out, assuming that if I was ready to come back, we’d be ready as a gang to take back what was once ours and our beliefs.” he exhaled deeply. “I was lucky that they were there for any sort of support really. They eventually sent me off to live with Combo and his daughter just to get me out of the Garage as I wasn’t handling it. Eating disorders and other things are hard to get over and let’s face it, Combo was pretty admit he’d get me back on my feet after how we all chipped in to get his little girl over here to live with him. He owed me nothing and yet felt that he did. For that I am very grateful.”
Ryth sat down beside him and place an arm around his shoulders. “What about now? You’re becoming distant with all of us again. Is it all for the same reasons?”
“Yes, no, I’m not sure.” He looked down at his dangling legs and kicked them a few times against the concrete below them. “I feel that I should have been killed when the building came down like all those other people who were trapped inside and around it.” The kicking stopped.
“You would have been if those guys from Poison Jam weren’t nice enough to lift that concrete off you that was pinning you in the rubble. We were scared you were not going to make it. I don’t think this would be the same if you didn’t walk out of there alive after everything we had been though trying to get our city back for us and the people who live here.”
Beat sighed and leaned backward looking up at the darkening sky. “I don’t feel that it’s justified. Ryth, I don’t sleep at night as all I can think about it all the screams and cries of the people who were in that damn thing. Sure it’s not the same as all the screaming and panic you guys saw on the outside with the Golden Rhinos just randomly shooting into the crowds of innocent people, but that shit still haunts me.” He closed his eyes and brought a hand up to cover them.
“You can’t forget the sound of panic and fear…and knowing you guys were out amongst all of that. What’s worse is how badly I cringe when I see dump trucks and dumpsters that crush all the general waste people have… after knocking that huge hulking metal mass off the top of the tower and seeing the metal collapsing trapping the enemy inside it… knowing that it was a person in that thing gives my imagination so many bad things to play with, it’s like I can almost feel all the bones in the human body break and limbs tear off as the machine crumpled upon itself. Knowing that thing’s long arms nearly knocked me down off with it still terrifies me. If I had not got tangled in the wires just under the flooring I would have plummeted the same way that monstrous thing had, and would be nothing but a red smear on the ground.” He moved his hand and reopened his eyes. They were dark rimmed and clearly showing signs of sleep deprivation. “You think that being some sort of un-sung hero would be awesome, but it’s not. It’s pretty traumatic. Everything you see in books and tv and movies are all lies.”
He sat back up, pulled his legs back through the bars, and hauled himself upright using the railing for support. Anyone seeing him do this would have deemed him pathetic and weak, but after Ryth’s little conversation with him it was anything but. You could see it was a sign of weariness of a person going through an emotional meat grinder. Parts of it were slipping out into the open, but there were still plenty trapped on the inside that would eventually lead to a massive downfall. It wasn’t a matter of how, it was only a matter of when.
Ryth stood up too and wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. He didn’t seem to be bothered by it, but relaxed a little from actual human contact, something he was never really too big on with anyone.
“We’re here for you, you know that right? Ok maybe not all of us, but most of us. Just don’t hide it otherwise we’ll never be able to help.” Ryth let go of her death grip and smiled.
“Yeah I guess.” Beat straightened up and regained his usual composure. “I feel an itch. Let’s go find some blank walls to spice up.”
Ryth snorted. Beat was good at shoving feelings to one side whenever he felt things were going to get too touchy feely for his liking. It’s not a matter of not wanting to deal with problems; it was a case of putting them on the back burner and stewing over them for a while. She was happy to go with it for the time being, as letting some free expression with some paint cans was always something she knew made him and herself feel better when things looked pretty bad. It was the smell of the fumes form the paint cans, the backwind of chroming on the spray when the breeze brushed it all back into your face that was part of the feeling of freedom. Putting your emotions and your soul into your work and brining a blank canvas to life would at least make some of these thoughts go away, as an artist always puts their souls into their work, and their soul is the most important thing for any person to have.