Rainy Weather (Kazurei)

Foggy Day

"Kazuki Papa, Rei Papa, wake uuuup!" I awoke to Miri jumping on the bed yelling at us. "Miri, it's too early." Kazuki tiredly mumbled. I don't want to get up yet either. "Fiiiine, but I want to cuddle with my Papas too." I guess Miri caught us with Kazuki spooning me. Miri chooses to me nestle into and makes herself comfy pressed against me. "Rei Papa, did you have a nightmare?" "Why?" "I always ask Kazuki Papa if I can sleep with him in his bed when I have a nightmare. He makes all the monsters stay away." She says cheerfully. "You two, quiet down." Kazuki groans. "But Kazuki Papa, it's day time. Look at the fog outside! I wanna play in it!" Miri points at the giant window that I hadn't looked at yet. Sure enough, the outside world is just a vast sea of grey. "You're not scared of it?" I ask her. "Nope, Mama used to take me to play hide and seek at the park when it was foggy. It was so fun."
Little visibility might actually do us some good. We can move around without worrying too much about being watched. That's if we are being watched in the first place. "We can go after I'm done sleeping." "Quieeeet." Kazuki complains about our talking again. "Well, then I'm going to sleep too." I expected Miri to get upset, but she nuzzles up closer and closes her eyes. This situation is so surreal, I have Kazuki with his arm around my waist and now Miri is here cuddled against my chest. I feel complete. This is where I belong. It doesn't take too long before I'm drifting back into slumber. In total comfort, I give into my sleepiness.

———

"Reiiiiiii, get up." I'm gently shaken awake by Kazuki. "I let you sleep in longer today. I made lunch, come and eat with us." I groggily sit up and yawn. Picking up my phone I see it's 11:24. Way better than yesterday when he made me get up at 08:00. I stand up and observe the window. "Quite the view, isn't it?" Kazuki asks sarcastically. The fog from earlier still hasn't cleared out, in fact it looks a lot thicker now. "Plenty of cover." I open my mouth absentmindedly, I just said the first thing that came to mind. "I was thinking that too, but you got a call from the landlord today. She said the repairs were finished this morning. So...do you want to go back?" I can tell he's hesitant about the idea that we return to living there so soon after people were sent for us. "Yeah." "Are you sure that's a good idea?" "He won't try the same thing twice. We'll be safer there than out here." It's only a matter of time before I have no choice but to face my father. There will be hell to pay, but no price is too high for Miri's and Kazuki's safety. "I'll trust you. I hope you're right." he kisses my forehead and grins. "Time to eat."
Kazuki had prepared Yakisoba, Gyoza, and Onigiri for lunch. How very like him. "Kazuki, when are you going to teach me how to make these?" I held up my onigiri at him. "Ah right, I have leftover ingredients left. We can make some more together after we eat." "Can I learn too?" Miri asks Kazuki. She often likes to be involved with his cooking whether she's watching him cook or sneakily adding stuff into the pots he's using. "Of course, Miri." Kazuki pats her on the head. I bet he's happy about this more than anything. He's made to be a family man, that's for sure. He's happiest whenever the three of us are engaging in activities together. "Gyoza!" Miri's face lights up with delight as she lays her eyes on the gyoza. "I remembered you said you loved them, so enjoy!" Miri has Kazuki wound around his finger so tightly, he indulges her in pretty anything she wants. I mean, I do the same thing she just goes to him to ask for things more often. "Thank you, Kazuki Papa." She smiles brightly. "That fog out really is something, isn't it? Like a horror movie almost." he looks back outside. "Japan doesn't usually get fog this thick. Kinda cool though." "Fog is fog." I take a sip of the coffee Kazuki prepared for me. "So indifferent about everything...But it's true. Fog is just fog." he laughs at my response. "I don't know what we can do today. Pretty sure it's not safe to drive in these conditions. Rei, how many days did you book this room for?" "I figured already you wouldn't want to drive so I already paid for an extra night." I showed him my phone screen with the payment confirmation on it. "Always one step ahead of me as usual." "I just know that you refuse to drive in bad weather." I go to put my phone back into my pocket, but it starts ringing . "Recognize this number?" I ask Kazuki. "Can't say I do. It could be Kyu-chan using a burner phone again." Agreeing to his suggestion about Kyutaro, I answered the call. "You actually picked up, I'm surprised." "How did you get my number?" Kazuki stiffened in his seat at my reaction. "Irrelevant question. Now I'll tell you why I called. I need to speak with you in person. I'm sending Ogino to collect you and Kurusu from that hotel." It's my father. I have to choose my words carefully since Miri's listening. What could he need to speak to us about that he can't say over the phone? Most importantly, how did he know where I am? "I know you have that little girl and Kurusu with you, If you don't wish for them to get involved I advise that you choose to come down willingly and peacefully." I press on the end call without saying another word. "Kazuki, I have to talk to you." he nods at me in reply. "Miri, stay here for a minute. We'll be right back."
We go back into the bedroom and right away he knows something is wrong. "Who was that calling you?" "Shigeki." "What does he want?" "Said he needs to speak with me in person." "Again?" Kazuki is completely baffled. "Yeah." I answer his anxious questions with a simple response. "I have to get dressed." I don't have my suits with me so I have no choice but to wear my normal outfit. My father is very particular about what is worn within the household and requires all that pass through wear formal attire, but that is not an option at this time. I put on my leather jacket and use the mirror in the room so I could fix my hair into a ponytail. This is the best I can do. I see Kazuki staring at me from the mirror. "What?" "Nothing, I just think it's funny how different you look when you put your hair up...Hmm, I think you're due for another haircut soon." He looks at my hair like he's studying the length. "Maybe, you can cut it when we're home." I turn from the mirror to see Kazuki's face. "I'll be okay." Nothing I say would make him feel better, but he knows this is something I have to do. "I don't think he'll be too happy that we killed and wounded some his guys." he mentions. "The guys who came to the apartment were nobody important. Shigeki uses his most expendable people to do jobs like catching people due to the higher risk of being retaliated against. I doubt he even bat an eye for those men he sent to their deaths." He's a heartless man, human life has no significance to him if they're not a Suwa. Even then, I still got treated poorly by him despite him being my dad... "I don't want you to get hurt by that monster anymore. He put you through enough." Kazuki embraces me. "He won't touch me. I just have to take whatever job he has for me and I'll be out of there." I understand why he's worried about me, but I'll be fine. "I will call you after I'm done being briefed to tell you what's going on if that makes you feel better." "Yes, call me as soon as you can." "Alright, I need to get going." I release myself from his grasp preparing myself to leave. "Are you going somewhere, Rei Papa? I wanna go too!" Miri jumps up and joins my side. "You'll need to stay here with Kazuki." I said. "Miri, let's go to the park while we wait for Rei Papa to come back." Kazuki kneeled down to her level. "Yay! Where are my shoes?" "By the front door." he points her towards the entrance. "Oh, I forgot." She giggles then runs to put her shoes on. "Hurry up, Kazuki Papa!" an eager Miri demands." Yes, yes. I need to put my day clothes on first. I go to the door and put my boots on before opening the door. "Bye-Bye!" "I'll see you later." We say our goodbyes. I take the elevator down to the lobby, I see Ogino standing outside next to his car. I don't know what to make of him. That dead fish-eyed stare, his collection of last words from people he's killed. It's disturbing. I go outside and head towards the car. I wonder how he was able to manage to get here with how much fog there is. I can't even see the street signs and even the stop lights are hardly visible. Once inside, Ogino begins to drive but says nothing to me...however, his eyes are burning into me from the rear view mirror. That blank emotionless stare is off putting. "Does Boss know you dress in such a way?" he finally spoke. "Didn't have my suits with me." I don't much about Ogino other than his ruthlessness. He's the very definition of stone cold killer. Ogino looks like he enjoys taking lives, he's just as disgusting as Shigeki. Ogino continues to talk about things that I pay no attention to, I instead tune him out and keep to myself for the rest of the car ride.

———

The Suwa Manor. Not so sweet, not so my home. The foggy day adds an eerie effect to the normally uninviting appearance to the place. I walk inside heading up the staircase to his office. Too many horrible memories here. Every time I'm here, I'm on edge. I hate it. I can't wait to get back to them. I approached the door and knocked. "Enter." I do as I'm told and greet him with a bow. "You haven't taken my warnings to well and now you've killed our own. Have you turned your back on us?" His voice makes me shudder. It reminds me of my childhood. All his harsh words forever embedded into my brain. "Of course not, Boss. They attacked, I defended myself." I explain while keeping my composure. "I suppose if you were able to take them down so easily, they wouldn't have survived long any way. Now, Let's get down to business." he straightens himself up in his chair and looks me right in the eyes with unwavering anger. "You thought you were being sly moving from place to place each day didn't you?" He slides pictures my way on his desk. They're all pictures of Kazuki, Miri, and I going into the various hotels. "The picture I'm most curious about is this one." He practically shoved it at me, but looking at it I swear my heart stopped. It's from last night. You can see Kazuki and I together through the window in our room. "I cannot allow this to continue. You're my son and you will do as I say, or pay the consequences. Someone was watching us. The entire time. We should have been more careful... I was too sloppy. "My apologies, Boss." I don't know what else to say. My head is spinning so fast, I can't think straight. "You do this job, then return. It's time." he tosses a binder at me just like last time. "If you can't do this, someone else will and I don't think you would like that." I open the binder and when I see who my target is, I freeze in place.

Kazuki...

(A/N): i just saw the episode 11 trailer and could only assume that basically the same kind of scenario where Shigeki tells Rei to kill Kazuki that I had happen here lmao. It was already in my story board. Probably predicted the future, we'll just have to see friday. So uh, PA Works, hire me pls I would be so good uwu