POISON TREE, Tokyo Revengers

one

CHAPTER ONE, 一

2017

HINATA IS DEAD.

Tachibana Naoto picks up his cellphone and makes an international phone call to Hong Kong.

Daiyu's cell phone vibrates on the dining table just before she steps away. She sighs and picks up her cellphone, her eyebrows furrowing at the unknown number calling from Tokyo.

It's almost certainly a scam call so she declines the call and she does not have the opportunity to place her phone back down before it starts ringing again. It's the same number.

This makes Daiyu cuss in Cantonese, something she usually would not do. She answers with hesitation but does not speak.

"Hello, is this Daiyu? Kojima Dai– Sorry Keung Daiyu?"

Her whole body stiffens at the voice and at that name. The voice speaks in Japanese. It is familiar but she cannot distinguish who is on the other end of the line. "Yes, speaking. And who –"

"It's really you, Daiyu." The deep voice that interrupts her sounds relieved, so relieved that his next words come out as a croak. "It's Naoto. Tachibana Naoto."

Daiyu's eyes widen as the name brings forward memories. She feels the corner of her lips lift, and a smile slowly stretches across her face. It's not a big smile but it's the first genuine smile in months. Her cheeks ache a little at the now foreign movement of her lips.

"Naoto, it's been a really long time. How are you? How is Hina?"

There is silence. "Hina...Hina's dead."

His words are sharp and blunt just like how Naoto always has been.

Daiyu wants to laugh in disbelief. She wants to berate Naoto for the sick joke he just made. But it isn't a joke. His words are nothing but the truth.

Her best friend is dead.

The words are echoing in her head repeatedly. It doesn't only bring great pain but it makes her sick. She feels physically sick to the stomach. She is frozen in her spot, staring at her reflection in the window. There are tears spilling from her eyes, tears that she can no longer hold back.

"Daiyu? I know you must be busy but it would really mean a lot if you came to the funeral."

"How did it happen?"

"I...They say it was an accident. The truck... She was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Daiyu forces a stable voice out of her throat, and the words come out, stiff and monotonously. "I'll be there tomorrow."

But the moment she ends the call, her lips tremble like a young child. Then finally a sob escapes through her lips and she falls to the ground, her hands buried in her hands – the cold cell phone screen pressing against her cheek. Her whole body becomes an earthquake, the shaking gets increasingly violent. The pain and grief she's been holding so deeply within her are released through an aching howl that burns her throat.

It was Hibiki then Yulong and now it is Hinata.

How, how does she mess it up so bad that even when given a second chance at life she can't manage to keep what is precious alive. She is useless just like her mother once told her – good for nothing.

It's a greedy and selfish wish but she doesn't cower away from that burning wish. 

If only Daiyu is given another chance, just one more chance to save all that is precious to her – to save herself.