Corpse Bride || Haitani Brothers/OC

22 - first act

A hooded man sat on the bar stool, his leg jumping up and down from the floor. he was caved in on himself, afraid that anyone would see his face that'd become hideous. It was all his fault.

Haitani Ran.

even thinking his name made his feet cold and the hair on his neck stand. he was nothing different than death that bloody night of torture, and blood, and raging fire. but what had been the most painful and most blood-chilling was that he laughed and smiled the whole time.

"so it's you? I mean I saw your pictures but you look so much like shit," he'd said. him, who stood tall while he quivered beneath his shoe.

"why are you doing this?! I did nothing to you!" Kenji had screamed, he's not sure if he'd been weeping, all he knew back then was that Ran's million-dollar shoe was crushing his skull.

he laughed—his eerie, carefree laugh that dried all his sweat.

"do you want to live?"

"please!"

"then tell me what you did to Hikari back then. tell me what you know about her brother—about his debt. why did that asshole even have such a debt anyway? no matter how much I trace back, he's never had enough money to even pay their rent or send his sister to school trips."

"he didn't really have a debt! we sent him as a rat to Bonten, but I don't know how he died."

"I know how he died...what do you mean he doesn't have a debt?"

he was trembling and stuttering, and only then did Ran set him free from his shoe.

"he was supposed to acquire us a billion yen with the blue files from your organization, but then he backed out, he'd become friends with some of the people there!"

"and like the cowards you are, when he died, you decided to get a billion yen not from Bonten, but from his sister who had just landed a hotshot job as an accountant?"

"this is about Hikari?!" he'd asked, half in disbelief and another in anger.

instead of words, Ran had slashed across his face, Kenji's throat trembling from the loudness of his scream.

now here he sat in the club. his one eye blurry, his face split diagonally. Hikari.

Tanaka Hikari, no, Haitani Hikari.

rumors had been widespread of Ran having had a secret wife who'd become not so secret anymore. he couldn't believe it at first. how could Ran, someone who slaughtered and tortured for pleasure, marry a woman as cheap as Hikari?

she's pretty, but it was pretty much the only good thing about her. she had a nasty temper, would get into fights unlike other women, and her mouth swears and curses more skillfully than most men. he remembered fucking her while putting his hand over her mouth, and he loved to see her cry at her own helplessness.

maybe Ran loved to see that too.

but it was too bad that it had almost cost him his life. all of a sudden, like being hit by an unwarranted breeze, the scent of expensive shampoo and soap fills his nose as a girl sat beside him. he reminds himself not to turn and look at her face.

he was here as a backup to some executives who had meetings with some people, having been advised to remain invisible.

"won't you look at me, sweetie?"

he turns around to face her immediately, his eyes—at least the one Ran left okay—widened in surprise. but the girl before him smiled, leaning in to rest her chin on her palm.