Tangerine ~ Bullet Train

10 - "We need to find that fucking case."

Yuina didn't really feel like being around her peers anymore, acting like she was interested in their words, but here she still was. The worst part was that they all needed to get off at the same stop to wait for another train, so she had to spend even more time with them. As if it wasn't bad enough that Akira re-joined the group again, she brought someone with her.

'Look who I found!' she stated happily, dragging along a person in a big costume. 'It's Momomon!' Momo–who? Yuina absolutely didn't know who this costume was supposed to represent, but the group bounced up in enthusiasm. 'Momomon!' they all shouted, laughing. 'No way!' At this point Yuina was afraid to ask where she should be knowing this creature from, but she thought it would be a character from an anime or something. 'Can we please take a picture?' Himari asked, to which the mascot just stood still and gestured they could squeeze in for a picture. 'We're with too many to take a selfie,' Yuina said, 'should I make the picture instead?'

It was a win-win situation. Yuina didn't want to be in the picture anyway, and if their peers were honest, they didn't want that either. They just had to be around her because of their parents. Still, the thought of posting the picture online for everyone to see that they hung out with the daughter of a successful employer in the business world sounded appealing. 'No,' they all therefore said, after which Akira took over. 'We need to be in it together! Maybe we can ask another person to take a photo.'

'Surely not that creepy duo,' Himari said whilst looking through the wagon. It wasn't very crowded at the moment, but there was a lady who kept looking at them very annoyed. Yuina heard her mumbling something, after which she looked at the sign that was hanging on the wall. It said this was a silent area.

'Excuse me,' a man in a green sweater and neatly short haircut said, 'would you like me to take the picture?' Yuina wanted to object, but the group already said "yes". 'Alright,' the man said, 'smile!' Whilst the old lady looked at them annoyed again, the group smiled. Yuina could only hope that hers wouldn't look fake, but she knew it was. 'Thank you, sir,' Himari said politely, to which the man nodded and took his seat again.

Momomon quietly walked further up the wagon, to which the group sat down again. Yuina was glad she could sit in her empty four-seater next to them again. The mascot tried to entertain some more people and walked back into their direction again. 'Thank you, Momomon!' Akira said. The mascot waved goodbye and disappeared into the direction it came from.

In the meantime Tangerine and Lemon, still standing in the hallway, tried to suppress the upcoming panic. 'Argh!' Tangerine groaned frustrated. 'It was only a ten million dollar case!' he said sarcastically. 'Why did you stash it on this fucking rack?!' Lemon didn't have an answer for that, and it was done anyway. He couldn't turn back time to keep holding on to it. Their biggest problem now was to retrieve the case before they would reach Kyoto station. They still had two hours to go, but they couldn't take any risks.

'We need to find the one who stole it,' Lemon said whilst reaching into his pocket, feeling his gun being there. Tangerine looked at the case that was still stashed on the rack, almost exactly looking like theirs, except for the blue train sticker. It couldn't be... His stomach turned upside down when he thought about the possibility that Yuina could've accidentally took their case with her. He knew she didn't leave hers stashed the last time she went on the train. 'What is it?' Lemon asked when he looked at his brother. Tangerine didn't want to involve her, but there still was a possibility that they were panicking over nothing. So he had to bring it up.

'It may not be stolen, but a misunderstanding,' Tangerine carefully said. 'Last time, Yuina brought a case that looked just like ours.' He nodded at the case that was still there. 'Maybe she accidentally grabbed the wrong one.'

'I'm sorry,' Lemon said annoyed, 'who the fuck is Yuina?' Tangerine didn't quite like the way his brother spoke of her, but he decided to ignore it. 'The girl who originally had to sit with us,' he explained. 'The girl who...' Lemon began, but he didn't finish his sentence. He sighed in annoyance. 'I'll tell you what. I'll be looking for the fucker who stole our case whilst you will check with her.'

Tangerine regretted him bringing it up. It was more likely that someone was doing another job on this train and they stole their case. He was ninety-nine percent sure Yuina wouldn't know what he would be talking about. He just said to her that it was best for her to leave them alone, and now he would come knocking at her door? But this was a matter of life or death. He didn't particularly wanted to drag her into this situation, but he had no choice. He had to ask her. That's why he agreed with Lemon.

To hold on to their composure that everything would be fine, they corrected their suits and walked back in their wagon. The son of the White Death was glued to his seat, so that would be at least one thing less to worry about. 'Alright, sleeping beauty,' Tangerine said when they walked up to him, 'slight change of plans. We...' He stopped talking when they looked at the son and saw him sitting on his seat motionless, two streams of blood coming out of his eyes.

Fuck, he was dead. How could he be dead?! The Twins looked around the wagon to see if anyone noticed, but nobody was looking in their direction. 'Fuck, fuck, fuck!' Tangerine exclaimed silently but panicked. He reached into his pocket and got a napkin to try and get the blood off the son's face. Lemon found a pair of Momomon glasses. He put it on the son's face and pulled the hood over his head so it looked like he was sleeping. The brothers sat down across from him and sighed desperately.

It wasn't just random their case went missing. Something more was going on here. Someone knew of their mission and killed the son, so they were now empty handed. No case, no living son. The White Death was going to absolutely butcher them. He wouldn't even left a finger on them. Tangerine and Lemon knew he wouldn't fall for them pinning his son's body on another person, but that was the only thing they could try now. They needed to find the one who killed the White Death's son, and more importantly...

'We need to find that fucking case,' Tangerine said. Lemon agreed. 'I will look up there,' he said whilst pointing into one direction of the train, 'and you will look up there. We can't let that fucker escape.' When they said their goodbyes and went on their separate ways, Tangerine realised that the thief could've already gotten away, with the train having stopped once in the meantime already. What if they found out right after the thief escaped?

Tangerine felt something he didn't feel very often. He was beginning to panic. Over the years he had gotten used to the thrill of stealing, harming and even killing, but this was something he hadn't felt before. This was the first time it felt like he wasn't having control over their mission anymore, as if there was nothing he could do to fix things. His brother and him would be totally butchered by their ruthless employer. There was no other way; even if they did get the case back, his son would still be dead.

That realisation causing his body to shake heavily, he hold on to the headrest of an empty seat. He couldn't fall apart now. He needed to get his act together, act ruthlessly himself and stop the thief from getting off the train with their case. Not only his life, but also his brother's depended on it.

Just before he would feel real panicked, Tangerine entered the hallway to be alone and gather his calm again.