Chapter Text
Sotenbori was not a big place.
At least, it was nowhere near the size that Kiryu had been expecting.
Kiryu and Nishiki had arrived at Shin-Osaka station at 3PM the day before, and headed straightaway to their hotel in the heart of the entertainment district. Osaka itself was big and sprawling, districts endlessly flowing into districts just like back in Tokyo, and yet, legendary Sotenbori turned out to be only a fraction of Kamurocho’s size. They dropped off their belongings and went right back out, but it took them no more than a handful of slow loops around their hotel to realize that they had seen the whole neighborhood.
Kiryu wasn't overly disappointed. After all, coming from Kamurocho, it was no easy task to find a place that didn’t fall flat in comparison. Besides, people came to Osaka for the food, wasn’t that right? He figured it would be nice to take in the sights and get a nice dinner or five along the way.
Nishiki’s angle on the whole trip was something else entirely. Unlike last month’s weekend down in Nagoya, this wasn’t work-related in the slightest, and after they had called to reserve their tickets, he had declared no business allowed — the outing was strictly pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. Kiryu had little to say on the matter.
He suspected that Nishiki had set up the entire thing with ulterior motives. Ever since Kiryu’s injury some six months ago, their relationship had felt more than a little strained, and if he knew anything about his sworn brother, it was that he probably blamed himself for at least some part of what had happened. Kiryu just couldn’t figure out what. He resolved to do everything in his power to fix this mess, to prevent the two of them from growing apart here like this, and he suspected that this trip was Nishiki’s transparent attempt to do the same.
Kiryu was doing okay, really. While the loss of an eye fell decidedly on the more serious side of his plethora of occupational hazards, after the initial hellish weeks of recovery at the hospital, he was back on his feet in no time. Well, less time than he’d been expecting.
The impact to depth perception had been his first and most obvious hurdle. Kiryu had always been a great fighter, one of the best around, but the accident forced him to start practically from scratch and work hard to regain his abilities. Aside from the training itself, there was also the growing anxiety that he felt about keeping his good eye safe and in working order. Logically, Kiryu knew that it was going to take time, but the more his body healed, the more this feeling had his nerves on edge, and he didn’t know how to get it to reverse course. The entire thing got under his skin more than he cared to admit, and so he didn’t, instead opting to take it one day at a time until it simply didn’t bother him anymore. Or something.
To think, one of his first big assignments and he fucked himself up for life. Goddammit. At least there was no shortage of distractions on hand, especially with Nishiki by his side.
Today was beginning to look promising. There was a lot of city to explore and Kiryu was looking forward to seeing it in the daytime. He headed down to breakfast early, after an evening of nothing but street food and drinks at a place called STIJL. (“The best Sotenbori’s got!” Nishiki had said.) In a gesture of ultimate betrayal, according to Nishikiyama Akira, Kiryu had gone back to the hotel to turn in early, but despite the lecture he got in response, not even an hour passed before he heard Nishiki’s own door open and close again. No luck, huh?
Nishiki joined him at the hotel’s breakfast buffet a good hour later, just as Kiryu was finishing up his second cup of coffee.
“Morning, bro,” he mumbled with a stretch, sitting down in the chair opposite Kiryu.
“Mm. Good morning.”
Nishiki twisted around to look over at the buffet behind him. “What’s good here?”
Kiryu shrugged. “I just had what I like. Some pastries. Eggs. It was good.”
Nishiki gave him a look. “I’ll go see for myself.”
A couple of minutes later, he returned with a heaping plate that seemed to hold one of every item at the buffet.
“Good thing you brought the nice suit,” he said, digging in. “Wish you had more than just ‘the’ nice suit, but it should do.”
“‘Should do’…?”
Nishiki took a big gulp of coffee. “Mm! Glad you asked, dear kyoudai ! Tonight, we’re hitting up the best cabaret this town has to offer.”
“A cabaret? Why a cabaret?”
“Why- Because it’s the thing to do in Sotenbori. You don’t know, this place is huge, they’ve got everything, the girls there are-”
“You’ve been?”
“Oh, no, my buddy Yamada’s told me all about it. You’ll be meeting him soon, actually. The place is usually booked up solid, but he managed to snag tickets for the three of us and some of his friends through an Omi connection. It’s Omi-run, naturally, but they’re not too picky about the clientele. The place is way too big for that.”
“For the three of us, huh…”
“…That a problem?”
Kiryu wasn’t sure. While he had come here with a vague idea of the kind of thing that his brother would be dragging him around to, the thought was a lot more palatable when it was just the two of them. Introducing someone else into the equation made Kiryu terribly uncomfortable all of a sudden, though he couldn’t exactly place why. After all, it wasn't like he was expecting to come to Sotenbori, of all places, and not speak to a single person.
“I’m not sure,” he answered. “I just didn’t expect someone else to be joining us. Yeah. I don’t know about this cabaret thing.”
Nishiki’s face fell. “Then you might not like all the other stuff I’d planned for today. Yamada was gonna take us around town. I told him all about you. He’s got some great stuff lined up.”
“Oh.” Kiryu’s mouth tensed up. He felt the leather of the eyepatch digging into his skin, suddenly tight and uncomfortable, even though he had put it on just like always. He made a squinting sort of movement with his face in an attempt to alleviate the weird sensation.
It did not go unnoticed. Where normally Nishiki would have pushed Kiryu to give him a reason, would have pressured him into coming out with them anyway, right now he was doing neither of those things. He just sat and watched; the uncomfortable grimace on Kiryu's face was reflected on his own. It made something tighten in the pit of Kiryu’s stomach.
“It’s fine, kyoudai . There’s still tomorrow. I just need to get used to being here, I think. Sorry.”
There it was. Kiryu knew Kamurocho and Kamurocho knew Kiryu, eyepatch or no eyepatch. This was a whole new environment, and while he’d been willing to run around town with his sworn brother, willing to push through the discomfort just for him, the idea of being part of a bigger group only made him feel more and more self-conscious, especially if they were headed to a fancy club like the one Nishiki described. He’d never been the type to dwell on his physical appearance, but these days the thought bubbled up more and more often. Every day, at this rate.
Suddenly, Kiryu wanted nothing more than to be alone. Great. He hoped Nishiki would understand.
“It’s okay,” said Nishiki, and that was that.
The gloomy atmosphere between them didn't lift until they parted ways at Iwao Bridge.
Sightseeing was not Kiryu’s forte, but he tried to get into it anyway.
He decided to start slow, and while his explorations took him up and down the same few thoroughfares that he and Nishiki had visited the night before, he was glad to have the chance to take in the town at his own pace. Not that he had any specific agenda to follow. The first thing that came to mind was a gaming arcade that he remembered passing at one point, and so he decided to look around for it again. Despite Sotenbori’s relatively simple layout, it still took him several circles around the neighborhood before he found it.
Might as well start with something familiar, he thought, walking in.
There was a tempting bunchan looking over at him from the claw machine, so Kiryu went over to give it a shot. He put in the money and pushed the buttons that moved the claw first to the side, then backwards, but no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t get a good grip on the stuffed toy. Must not be his day, thought Kiryu. Happens. He tried not to grimace when the little girl at the machine next to him got a similar bird in pink on her second try.
Next, he went over to the games, but they didn’t go any better.
He started with a round of Space Harrier before moving on to spend a concerning amount of time losing at Out Run. The racing game was usually Kiryu’s favorite, but for some reason, it wasn’t happening for him at all today. Every time he thought he was having a good run, his hands jerked slightly too far in the wrong direction, running the car off the track. He kicked the machine in frustration and immediately regretted it when the arcade employee shot him a nervous look.
Next up was Fantasy Zone. His left hand shook so much over the little red joystick that it almost felt like he was playing a brand new game for the first time. He could have sworn he had played it just recently, back in Kamurocho. Or, maybe, not so recently. Maybe it had been six months.
Fuck it. There was bound to be a mahjong parlor somewhere nearby. Can’t mess that one up.
Kiryu found one on the second floor of a building in Shofukucho, sandwiched among countless bars and restaurants. He walked inside, headed up the stairs, and then grabbed himself a spot at the beginners’ table. This was more his pace. The tiles he was dealt gave him a few ideas, but a couple of turns later, he had ruined his best prospects for a winning hand, and so he spent the rest of the round changing his mind back and forth on grabbing a cheap win. It didn’t do him any good. His luck turned in the latter half, however, and he even ended up winning a little, which got his spirits up. Heh. Can’t go wrong with yakuhai.
Kiryu was tempted to continue playing, but a voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Nishiki chided him for spending hours on something he could do in Tokyo, and so he headed out again.
“Sotenbori stop! Anyone getting off for Sotenbori, this is your stop!”
The voice was coming from a hop-on-hop-off tour bus that had pulled up to the corner right outside. Hmm.
“Excuse me,” he called out, walking up to the tour guide. “How much?”
“Two thousand yen! It’s a steal, considerin' how much you’re gettin’!”
The man shoved a pamphlet into Kiryu’s hands. Kiryu quickly flipped through it; it actually looked decent.
“And it comes back here?”
“Yep! We’ll have ya back in an hour and a half.”
Kiryu decided to give it a go. While he didn’t have any intention of hopping on or off, he did find the idea appealing — this way, he’d have something to do without needing to make any decisions for a couple of hours.
The bus ran a long loop around Osaka, covering just about every sightseeing attraction that Kiryu had ever heard of in this city. He found it kind of nice to have the tour guide chattering in the background about the history of each park, temple, and neighborhood as they passed through, but after a while he tuned it out. Instead, he propped up his chin with one hand and stared out the window for the rest of the ride, playing with the bottom of his eyepatch. Something still felt off.
At least the scenery was nice — he didn’t regret spending the money or the time.
By the end of the ride, Kiryu was pleased to find himself getting hungry again. This meant he could finally check out the famous restaurant scene on Sotenbori Street, which would help him kill another hour or two. Good plan. He stood up and moved towards the exit, mentally listing several options for dinner as he disembarked.
What he didn’t expect, however, was an aggressive roar from an Omi thug, directed right at his face as he stepped down from the bus:
“Hold the fuck up! It’s you! Get yer ass over here!”
“Huh?” Kiryu recoiled. Behind him, the tour guide hopped back on the bus and hurried to shut the doors.
“Yer not gettin’ away that easy,” hollered the man. “What, ya think we wouldn’t notice?”
“What are you talking about?” Kiryu asked, finally getting his bearings.
“Didja forget the rules, Majima?”
“Who’s Majima?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
Kiryu looked around. He didn’t want to cause a scene — at least not here, in broad daylight.
“Never heard the name in my life. I’m Kiryu. I’m not even from here.”
“Uh-huh, suuure ,” the man dragged out. “There just happen to be two yakuza-lookin’ eyepatch fellas roamin’ around Sotenbori?”
“I wasn’t roaming. I wasn’t even in Sotenbori.”
Kiryu turned around to gesture to the sightseeing bus, but it was already gone.
“Majima Goro, manager of the Grand…” The gangster nodded to himself, ignoring Kiryu. “Yer not runnin’ away that easy.”
“Never heard of any ‘Grand’ either.”
“Oh, now I know yer fuckin’ with me.”
Kiryu rifled through his pockets for some sort of proof, a business card, anything. If only he had a civilian job. He had gotten some from work, but never had much need to ever carry them around on his person, and so they continued to sit neatly in their box on the windowsill at the Dojima Family office. After all, his fists were the only business card he needed.
Speaking of which…
Whatever had just transpired must have gotten on the man’s nerves, because when he looked up again, Kiryu was facing a quickly approaching brass-knuckled fist. Well. Can’t be helped. He dodged the attack with ease, quickly turning around to deliver a few devastating blows himself. After a while, his assailant caught on to his style and began to dodge more effectively, making Kiryu work harder to land a hit. It was beginning to annoy him a bit — he was meant to be on vacation, after all. Time for a shortcut.
He grabbed a folding sign from the sidewalk and smashed it over the guy’s head, knocking him down to the ground. Surprisingly, that was all it took. His opponent made a couple of attempts to stand up again, but gave up shortly after, curling up into a ball on the pavement.
Heh. Still got it, I guess. He almost felt disappointed by how easy that had been.
As always, it was best not to linger, especially in a new town that must have had its own flavor of street smarts to catch up on. Kiryu walked away, shaking his head.
Whoever this Majima guy was, he must have been in it deep.
For dinner, Kiryu decided to check out Kani Douraku, all the way at the opposite end of the neighborhood.
As soon as he turned the corner onto Sotenbori Street, a gigantic sign announcing the Grand Cabaret came into view. Ah. That explained it. Kiryu suspected that this was the same cabaret that Nishiki had been talking about. As short as the fight had been, channeling his frustrations into something physical made Kiryu feel a little better, and he was even considering joining Nishiki at the club after all. He decided to wait and see.
The summertime sun seemed to draw the entire population of Osaka out into the streets, and Kiryu walked through the crowd, listening curiously to their accents and enjoying the smells coming from street stalls as he passed by. It was helping him work up an appetite, which was a must if he wanted to properly enjoy his feast of Osakan crab.
For a minute, he stood smoking underneath the big mechanical crustacean, taking in the early evening atmosphere all around him. It was a weekend night and the drinking parties were just starting up, groups of all ages wandering around in search of an izakaya to suit their needs. Kiryu liked this time of day. The dishes of plastic food in the display window actually looked good and the smells coming from the restaurant made his mouth water. He stubbed out his cigarette, opened the door, and walked in, too hungry to waste any more time.
The server led him to a booth and then handed him a menu that offered pages upon pages of crab delights, each looking more scrumptious than the last. After spending some time perusing the options, he settled on a crab kaiseki set called Shoto. It did not disappoint. Kiryu tucked into course after course after course of tasty crab — pickled, baked, grilled… it was all there. The meal was so satisfying that he breezed through it much faster than he was planning to. Heh. So much for killing time.
When he was all done and the check was paid, Kiryu stood up from the booth, right as the person on the other side of the frosted glass divider stood up from his.
He did a double take.
Tuxedo, with the top few buttons open and a gold chain peeking out from underneath.
Long hair, pulled back into a ponytail.
Eyepatch, over his left eye.
Fits the bill.
“Hey! You.”
The man looked up, then squinted over at Kiryu with his one eye. “Haw?”
Kiryu hadn’t thought this far.
“I don’t look like that ,” he blurted out, with a nod in presumably-Majima’s direction.
“The fuck’s wrong with how I look?”
Absolutely nothing, thought Kiryu. Pretty hot, actually. He didn’t know what else to say. “Someone thought I was you.”
“And?”
“I’m obviously not.”
Presumably-Majima grimaced again. “You tryin’ to start shit?”
“Not really.”
“The hell do ya mean, 'not really’?”
It wasn’t that Kiryu was trying to sound like an ass. He’d spoken up without thinking, and now his head was going a little blank and his mouth was spouting off the first thing that came to mind. He considered smiling to lighten the mood but decided against it. Might do more harm than good.
“Excuse me…” cut in the server in a meek voice, almost approaching a whisper. “Could you gentlemen please take this outside? For the sake of, um, the other customers…”
Presumably-Majima’s demeanor changed at the request.
“‘Course, miss.” He glared at Kiryu again. “Outside.”
The streets buzzed even louder with activity as night fell. Presumably-Majima nodded towards the Sotenbori footpath and Kiryu followed. He found himself a little curious at this turn of events, but the animosity from the other man was beginning to get on his nerves. Kiryu didn’t feel like being hassled by a stranger for a second time today. He frowned.
“What, ya wanna fight?” Presumably-Majima demanded.
“No.”
“Huh? Then, what the-”
“I’ll fight you if you don’t leave me alone.”
“If I don’t leave you alone? What’s yer deal?”
“I’m just trying to get in some sightseeing.”
“What…” Presumably-Majima squinted at him.
“Some guy mistook me for you, I think. ‘Cause of the-” Kiryu gestured to his own eyepatch. “You know. Wouldn’t leave it be, so I ended up kicking his ass.”
“Huh.”
“Sorry.” Kiryu looked away. “I was just surprised that I actually ran into you.”
The apology seemed to relax the mood a little.
“Don’t sweat it. I’ve… been havin’ a crummy day myself.”
“You are Majima Goro, yeah? Manager of the Grand?”
“Sure am.”
“Kiryu Kazuma.” He extended his hand and Majima took it in a brief handshake. Warm.
“Didn’t ya have a business card or somethin’ to show him?”
Kiryu sighed. “Not on me.”
“Huh. Sightseeing, eh?”
“Yeah. Got some time to kill.”
Maybe this isn’t so bad. After all, Majima didn’t seem like a bad guy. It made him wonder even more what his story was.
“Let’s go have a smoke in the park," Majima said, already turning around to trot back up the stairs. "I gotta hear who this was.”
Again, Kiryu followed. They walked across the bridge and into the heart of Shofukucho until they arrived at a small triangular public park. The place was full of grime and garbage, not unlike Kamurocho. Majima sat down on a bench and lit up a cigarette, and Kiryu did the same. They sat in silence for a bit.
“So what’s it like to manage a place that big, Majima?” asked Kiryu.
“Oi,” Majima kneed the side of his leg. “That any way to address yer elders?”
“Heh.” Elders. “Okay, niichan.”
“What the-“
“Eyepatch-niisan?”
“No respect.” Majima shook his head. “Kids these days…”
“You can’t be that much older than me… are you?” asked Kiryu.
Majima raised an eyebrow. “I’m twenty-four. You?”
“Twenty. See? Not too far.”
“Mm.”
“Sorry. I was just joking, Majima-san.”
Majima looked up with a start. “Oh, me too. ’S fine, really. Ya don’t have to use -san.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. But I get to call ya Kiryu-chan,” he said, elbowing Kiryu in the side.
“…I’ll take it,” said Kiryu with a chuckle. He even liked it a little bit.
“So, who was that lookin’ for me?”
Kiryu told him everything.
“Swear to god, they’re gettin’ dumber by the minute. Must be Sagawa’s new guy.”
“Who’s Sagawa?”
“…never mind that. So yer really here sightseein’ without a plan?”
“Pretty much. I came down here with someone, but we’re doing our own thing today. He’s going to a cabaret and I wasn’t feeling up to it. Getting a little bored on my own, though. Almost considering joining him after all.”
“Ah. If that’s the case, I don’t wanna keep ya,” said Majima in a serious tone. “Just thinkin’… if ya wanted some company. Well, I got the night off.”
“Yeah?” asked Kiryu with a little too much enthusiasm coloring his voice.
“Yeah.”
“That sounds perfect.” He grinned.
Majima gave him a small smile in return.
“I just…” started Kiryu. His hand unconsciously went to his eyepatch to fiddle with it again. “I guess I just didn’t feel like going to a place that big, you know. Meeting new people and all that.”
“I’m a new person,” chuckled Majima.
“Yeah but–” Kiryu made a vague gesture with his cigarette hand, still rubbing at his missing eye with the other. “It’s different.”
“I getcha.” Majima clapped him on the back. “Let’s hit the town, Kiryu-chan!”
Their first stop was karaoke.
The bar, Utahime, reminded Kiryu of similar spots back home. It was small and simple: a decent karaoke machine was on display in the middle of the room and the bar stood off to the side. Just the essentials. Kiryu went over to order a couple of beers while Majima was getting set up for the first song. Usually, he preferred to spend some time over a couple of drinks before getting to the singing, but for some reason, today he didn’t mind jumping right into it.
Majima opened with an unexpected, bubbly number called “24-Hour Cinderella” by some male idol that Kiryu had been hearing all around Kamurocho. The song was cute and his companion turned out to be surprisingly good; his singing voice was smooth and pleasant to listen to. Kiryu didn’t think he would end up enjoying it as much as he did.
Then again, maybe it was just Majima that he was enjoying. Talking to him was fun, and every time he smiled, Kiryu could barely tear his eye away.
When it came time for Kiryu to have his turn, Majima sat back on the couch, sipping his beer in anticipation. Kiryu pretended to flip through the song catalog for a little bit, looking over the selection as if he didn’t already have one in mind. Don’t want to come off too eager. He didn't generally care about what other people thought of him, but Majima seemed to be an exception.
He typed in the code for “Judgement” and the initial notes of the song started coming through the speakers.
Showtime.
The familiar tune worked wonders on Kiryu’s nerves, and as he sang, he felt a bit more of his confidence coming back. He had plenty of memories singing it with Nishiki at bars around town, with some of their fellow Dojima newbies at drinking parties, and even alone on nights when he wasn’t in the mood to socialize. Naturally, he knew every word.
When he was done, he returned the microphone to its spot and came over to join Majima on the couch again. He was smiling ear to ear and Kiryu couldn’t help but give him a small smile back.
“Great voice. Ya like that song, huh?”
“Is it obvious? Heh. I even used it for my nickname when I wrote to this radio station for their postcard contest. It was Judg-“
Majima’s smile vanished. “You’re Judgment Kazzy!? No freakin’ chance…”
“How do you- you were listening?”
“Used to write in, too.”
“No way. What was your name?”
“It was stupid.”
“Majima.”
“Ohhh no.”
“Oh... oh, you can’t be… Gorogorogoro-chan!?”
“If ya laugh, I’ll fight ya right outside.”
Kiryu snickered anyway. “Feel free to try.”
“Well, look who’s confident… I’ll take ya up on that, I swear.”
Kiryu still couldn’t believe how easy it was to sit and joke like this with someone he had just met. (Not that he didn’t detect a note of eager curiosity in Majima’s threat, which was… well, something.) It was a breath of fresh air from the increasingly awkward silences between him and Nishiki these days, and he couldn’t help but wonder why there was such a marked difference. Of course, the eyepatch coincidence played a big part, but he was sure there was more to it than that.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking. Kiryu couldn’t deny how much he was drawn to the man. He turned away to avoid staring.
“Thanks for bringing me to this place,” he said. “It reminds me of a similar one back home.”
“Where ya visitin’ from?”
“Tokyo. Kamurocho.” Kiryu wondered if he was being too obvious about his occupation. Then again, he had his own suspicions about Majima. Omi-run, huh?
“Ah. Thought so. Used to live there, myself.”
“Seriously?”
“Years ago. Not worth talkin’ ‘bout it now.”
Kiryu nodded, pushing his curiosity aside.
Majima drained the rest of his beer in one gulp, then turned to face him. “Whaddaya say we go have some real drinks?”
Kiryu had no objections.
Once they settled the bill, they headed outside, Majima leading the way back out to Shofukucho and Kiryu following behind. On the corner, he thought he caught a glimpse of a man in nothing but his underwear calling Majima’s name, but right then, Majima grabbed him by the elbow and began to walk faster, almost at a jog. Kiryu enjoyed being pulled along like this — but then again, any contact with Majima felt good. He wondered if it was the beer getting to his head.
Once again, they ended up at Bar STIJL, the same Bar STIJL where Kiryu had spent the previous evening with Nishiki.
“This is where we came yesterday,” he said.
“You’re kiddin’.” Majima’s face fell.
“It’s okay, I don’t mind at all. It’s a great spot. And besides… I’m glad I got to come here with you,” he confessed.
Majima stared at him for a few moments, then nodded and turned to the bartender to place an order for a couple of whiskeys. The good Yamazaki, Kiryu noted.
Once they were both settled in at the last spot along the wall, Majima didn’t beat around the bush.
“So, Kiryu-chan… Mind if I ask how it happened?” He gave a subtle nod at Kiryu’s eyepatch, then quickly followed up: “‘Course, ya don’t gotta tell me anythin’ if ya don’t feel up to it…”
Kiryu had been expecting this. In fact, the same question had been on the tip of his tongue all evening. “I don’t mind,” he said with a little smile to underline that he really didn’t.
Majima’s expression softened a bit in response. They held eye contact a little longer before Kiryu resumed what he was saying.
“Well, hmm… not sure where to start. I guess… it was for work. I was delivering something to someone. Really shady place to begin with. I could tell there was going to be trouble as soon as I walked in. And to make matters worse, it turned out to be a whole big setup… Someone was going after my boss’s business interests and thought kidnapping me would be a good move. Which, for the record, never made sense to me. It’s not like I carry any weight there, at work.”
He shrugged and took another sip of his drink.
“Next thing I know, I’m surrounded by a crowd of yakuza thugs from some small-time clan, around forty at first, but then it felt like even more than that. I can usually hold my own really well, so I wasn’t worried or anything, but then… as I was punching my way out of there, this one guy comes out… just, huge. And fast. Had me on the ground right away, and then no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get up again. I still… I– I don’t know, I still think it was just that I couldn’t get a good read on his technique. Maybe with a little more training I could’ve… I don’t know. So he got me on the ground, and the only thing I could think of was this judo-type trick I’d just learned. Figured it was my only chance — if he wasn’t gonna let me up, maybe I could get him on the floor, you know? So I tripped him, down he went, and somehow, it worked. I couldn’t believe it, yeah? So, there I was with the guy in a chokehold, thinking that I’d won… when he just freaks on me, starts wriggling around trying to buck me off. I held on tight. That stuff, I could do, you know? Then, I don’t remember too well, since it all kinda happened in a flash, but — his hand flew up to my face, and I got a glimpse of one of those knuckle blade things, and next thing I knew, there was just… pain.”
Kiryu winced and his arm gave an involuntary jerk on the table, nearly spilling his drink.
“And the worst part is,” he continued, “my boss had caught on to the whole thing while I was in there, so the very next second, backup ran in and cleaned them up in no time… if only I’d held out a moment longer. Really, just a few seconds more and I’d be–“
He inhaled sharply as the memories of that day came rushing back. He couldn’t stop his arm from shaking anymore, so he just sat and watched it, until Majima reached over to cover it with his hand, all the way up by his elbow.
“How long ago was it?” he asked in a whisper.
“Six months,” answered Kiryu.
“Oh… Oh. That’s recent, Kiryu-chan…”
“Mm. I’m good now. Just… keep thinking, if only I hadn’t messed up so bad… you know? I’d still… I’d–”
“Oi.” Majima gave his arm a hard squeeze. “Sounds to me like ya didn’t mess up at all. Ya never know how somethin’s gonna play out, but you did all you could’ve… ‘Sides, ya don’t wanna think that way. It’s easy to spiral down into it—I should know—but there’s no point in gettin’ caught up in regrets for the rest of yer life. Look at me — I had a similar thing happen, and I’m still doin’ good. Takes time, ’s all.”
Kiryu gave him a long, hard look. He wasn’t sure just how ‘good’ Majima was doing, considering the worrying encounter with Omi muscle, but at least it was comforting to hear him say that. That there might be some hope at the end of the tunnel. That this wasn’t the end.
“How did yours happen, then?” asked Kiryu. He figured it was safe enough — after all, Majima wouldn’t have brought it up at all if he didn’t want to talk about it.
“Ahh… right. Well, in my case, there wasn’t as much action involved. Long story short, it was punishment for somethin’. Had it taken right out. It’s been years, though... I’ve had more than enough time to get used to it.”
Kiryu thought that sounded even worse. Suddenly, his gruesome pseudo-accident paled in comparison to the idea of someone doing that intentionally to another human being. To Majima.
He looked down at his arm again.
Majima followed Kiryu’s gaze, then removed his hand. “Sorry.”
“It’s alright,” said Kiryu.
He took another sip of the drink, then scrunched up his face. The eyepatch was bothering him again and he lifted a hand to readjust it. Majima watched closely.
“I don’t know what it is today. It’s been all uncomfortable… I should be used to it by now.”
He felt Majima’s hand return to his arm.
“Hey.”
Kiryu looked up.
“It’s not really… physical, know what I’m sayin’? Gonna be like that for a while. Happened on and off for me.”
“Great.”
“All ya can do is just… know what it is, yeah? It’ll get better, I promise,” he finished with a grin.
Kiryu couldn’t help but smile back. He looked forward to spending more time with Majima — it made him feel comfortable and he was already beginning to see his own situation from a different perspective. He hadn’t even realized how much he’d needed something like this. Someone like him. The thought of going back to Tokyo made something tighten in the pit of his stomach, but he pushed it away. It wouldn’t do to worry about that right now — he wanted to give Majima his full attention instead.
“Enough of that, Kiryu-chan. I promised ya a good time, didn’t I? How ‘bout some darts?”
It turned out that Majima was good. Really good.
“Where did you learn to play like that?” wondered Kiryu, well on his way to losing his third match of count up in a row.
“Heh. Come here a lot, ’s all.”
Another dart. “I swear I was never this bad… Don’t know what’s up with me tonight.”
Majima squinted at him. “You know, I wouldn’t expect ya to be good at this kinda thing until you’ve fully recovered. Don’t look like you’re quite there yet.”
“Right. Sorry.” He ended the round, giving Majima another well-deserved win.
“The hell ya apologizin’ for?” Majima poked him in the side pretty hard. “Thought we covered this?”
“Yeah,” said Kiryu. He couldn’t stop frowning.
“Anyway, how long are ya in town for?” asked Majima.
“Just today and tomorrow. Leaving on the last train tomorrow night,” answered Kiryu with a grimace.
“Ah.” Majima didn't say anything else; instead, he stared into the last sip of his drink.
Was there some way to stay longer? Kiryu’s mind hopped from idea to idea, trying to brainstorm some way to make that happen, but he couldn’t imagine any scenario where work would be that forgiving. He’d have to come back, then.
That is, if Majima even wanted to see him again. Kiryu felt a jolt of nerves at the thought. In the end, this was nothing more than a stranger kindly volunteering his time to entertain him for the evening. Not to mention, a stranger who ran Sotenbori’s legendary cabaret and undoubtedly had much, much better things to do with his time. He glared down into his empty tumbler, tilting it side to side in his hand.
When he looked up again, Majima was sporting a similar expression, staring at the row of bottles on the other side of the bar. Or, Kiryu reminded himself, maybe he was just choosing his next drink. He needed to stop letting his imagination get away from him with all sorts of unnecessary thoughts.
Then, Majima looked back at him and their eyes met. “Let’s get outta here,” he said.
Kiryu swallowed.
There was no trace of good spirits in Majima’s expression anymore, and it made Kiryu wonder whether he was annoyed or displeased with him somehow. After all, he wasn’t exactly being a lot of fun. It only made sense that it was turning out to be a disappointing evening for his companion.
He followed him outside.