Rainy Weather (Kazurei)

Lightning in My Heart

Falling in love is how you die. Do I still believe that? Is it different now? I don't know. My life has changed a lot so fast. Do I think it's a mistake allowing myself to be so vulnerable at times? Yes. But I'm willing to take that risk for the sake of yearning for normalcy. I'm powerless to resist Kazuki and his love. I'm on an endless journey of discovering what it means to be in love and be loved. Every day is a new experience. Am I willing to die for the sake of love? If I have to stay in a world of being an emotionless killer, then yes, I am willing to die for it. All things end in accepting death, I would rather accept it knowing how it felt to be with someone you care about oh so dearly than to have lived not getting the opportunity. I lack the definitive understanding and answers, but I hope to at some point. Perhaps I was wrong about what I thought of falling in love. The way I feel for Kazuki has been my reason to stay alive. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him. Without fail, I will protect him.
"Rei, what are you doing in here?" I'm in Miri's depressingly empty room tending to her flowers. I almost forgot about them. Caught them just in time. "Still keeping the cat deal going." I'm determined to have Kazuki finally let me have a cat. "I see. Well, I have to go see Kyu-chan about payment for our last job. I'll make us lunch when I return." Kazuki has been slipping out of the apartment a lot the last few days. He finds any excuse to go, and doesn't let me come along with him. Sure, visiting Kyutaro is a legitimate reason to leave, but that's besides the point. We have to prepare to leave for Tokyo next week and suddenly Kazuki is gone more often than he's at home with me. It was like this before... He isn't going out with girls again, is he? Did he get sick of me? Surely not right? Kazuki is always saying that he loves me and on a constant basis hanging all over me. Am I jumping to conclusions too fast? I might be, but what is he out doing for the several hours he's away? I'm paranoid. Maybe he's too unhappy being here without Miri around. I could see that being the case, but why wouldn't he want me to go with him? Once again the scary idea of Kazuki leaving for a women surfaces in my mind. "I...don't like that." I say to myself in a shaky voice. Calm down, it's probably not as bad as it seems. I need to distract myself. Now, what to do?...

~Kazuki pov~

"Are you sure that's a good idea? "No, but we don't have many options. I did you a favour, so please tell me you got me the materials I asked for." Kyu-chan is very against the idea of Rei and I setting off for Tokyo, but nothing he says can stop us from going. "Very well. Here." Kyu-chan sets a suitcase on the bar counter and opens it up. "Thank you, Kyu-chan. You're a lifesaver." Everything in this suitcase contains intel on the underground market beneath Hiiro No Umi. Client lists, photographs of the merchandise, schedules, spreadsheets, but most importantly we have a map of the facility with all camera locations marked. "What do you intend on doing once you gain entry?" Kyu asks. "Set all those people free and expose to the media what that restaurant really is." "You think you can chalk things up so cleanly?" "It's going to be a bloody trip, I am aware of the risks and that people will die because aof it innocent or not. It needs to be done. Give a second chance to all those victims and cause even more damage to the organisation. We'll work our way up to the top to take Rei's dad down for good." "Easier said than done. You and Rei are two people against an army of trained assassins. Are you prepared to die for something so fruitless?" "You don't believe we're capable?" I understand his doubts, but I'm curious as to why he's so adamant that this is all pointless. "Taking down the boss won't take solve your issues. In fact, I'd say it would increase your odds of being hunted down. You know how lucky you are he's not sent more men to your apartment already? Sometimes it's better to leave well enough alone. Pick up the pieces of what you have left and leave the city with Rei. Start a new life somewhere else." "Sorry, Kyu-chan. Our plan is already in motion. I'll send you a post card from Tokyo." I pick up the suitcase and leave the cafe. I'll head home since I'm carrying a high value item. As of late I had been taking small jobs that Kyu-chan had, which most of them are simple stuff like taking pictures without being noticed, or hacking into someone's devices to snag personal information. One of those jobs however...I should have turned it down. I feel stupid for accepting that assignment. I worked my way out of it a little bit, but I still had to flirt with a woman enough to have her drop her guard so I could snag her phone and ID. I managed to get out of sleeping with that woman, but I still feel dirty. Before Rei and I got together, I would take jobs like that often whenever they popped up. Rei actually got offered one of them before, he of course turned it down. Rei has never shown any interest in women. There were also some instances where I tried to introduce him to some girls, but he just couldn't get into it. Not that he even tried to. I always thought that he wasn't capable of having attraction to people in general because of how he was raised. It was a nice development for Rei to take charge of his feelings and express them in his own special interpretation. I have guilt welling up inside me. I've been wanting to talk to Rei about it and even then I keep avoiding him because I'm a coward. It's not as if I would have done that in my free time. It was work. He might not care in the first place, I should probably still tell him. We haven't been together for very long, but I can say that I really do love him...I'm shamelessly...helplessly...in love. I want Rei to understand that not matter what happens, I'll still love him. "Kazu-kuuuun!" I hear my name called. I hadn't noticed that I'm walking by Fairy Lips. Carol and Dorothy are both here at the entrance. "Long time so see, what brings you around here?" Dorothy asks with a smirk on her face. "I knew you couldn't stay away from us." Carol throws her arms around my shoulders. "N-nice to see you both. I really have to get going, excuse me." I separated myself from Carol's grasp. "Carol-chan says you found a significant other. Could it be you're still with them?" "I am, yes. Now, I am busy. I must go." I make an effort to leave, but they have both blocked my path. "You can't play with us, just for a tiny little bit?" "Carol-chan, we wouldn't want to make his girlfriend mad at us." "You say that you that, but I don't see her anywhere. Where is she? I want to see her." Carol is about to throw a tantrum. At least Dorothy seems to have some common sense. "Ah, can you show us a picture of your lady? We wanna make sure you're doing well for yourself. She's gotta be pretty special for you to deny us. After all, you used to visit us daily." Of course. Now they're both picking on me. "I'll have to ask her for a picture or whatever. She's camera shy so don't expect much." I make a quick lie. "What a shame. Anyway, we'll let you go now." Says Dorothy. "You better come play with us again!" Carol insisted, visibly frustrated. "I'll think about it." I speed walk away. I wish I drove instead. I wasted so much time talking to them. No more stopping to chat, I have to go Rei.

———

"I'm home!" I announce. I'm overly happy right now for no reason at all. Maybe it's just refreshing to be back here. Rei doesn't respond so I take my shoes off and head to the living room. "There you are-oops." Rei is fast asleep on the couch, luckily didn't wake him up.
Rei's sleeping face is so soft looking and pure. Is there a way to say you like to watch someone sleep without sounding like a major creep? Yeaaaah, I don't think so. As much as I want to stay here and squeeze in next to him, I need to sort through all this data. I set the briefcase down on the table the. pull out sets of photographs. "This is Shigeki alright..." The picture shows what looks to be an auction for people. They're mostly women it seems, not too many men. Why would a man like Rei's dad take part in something like this? Money would be the obvious reason I guess. There's also a laptop in here that's logged into the security database, so I should theoretically be able to take a peek in. I will wait for Rei and we can strategise what path we take. Kyu-chan really came through for me on this. Everything I asked for and more. The client in here is a last resort. If all else fails, the plan is to take down the real client and disguise myself as them in order to get close to Shigeki. I can manage that if worst comes to worst. The plan isn't to kill him outright. We have to dismantle his operations first to ensure there won't be any fallout after we're done. If he gets in the way though...what can you do? What we're looking for are some official documents and a few more pictures as concrete proof of what takes place beneath the floor of Hiiro No Umi. "The control room...Okay...an emergency release switch for cages. Can only be engaged with a key...Now who would be the key holder?" I'm speaking to myself, beginning to put together a plan. If I can get that key, I can let out everyone at once to grant them a chance to escape. Staff list perhaps?" I rifle through the files. "Unfortunately not. I will just have to rely on surveillance." "Kazuki, what are you doing?" I hear Rei's sleepy voice and it takes me out of my concentration. "Good morning, Kyu-chan set us up. Take a look." Rei joins me at the table and takes up some pictures and files. "He just gave you this?" Rei asks confused. "I had to do him some favours to be honest. Kyu-chan isn't necessarily a fan of this idea. But it worked out regardless. We have so much data now." "Favours? Like what?" "Oh, just smaller jobs he needed done." I answer. "You're not home a lot lately. Were those jobs the reason?" he seems to be suspicious of me. "Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I thought it wouldn't bother you much." I bit back what I wanted to say out of fear of hurting him "It doesn't. Given the circumstances of what things are like for us now...I want to know what you get up to when you're not home." His voice sounded awkward, this must mean he's gathering the courage to say something too. He's probably dealing with a lot of anxiety if his composure faltered like that. Damn it...I have to tell him. "Rei. One of those jobs, well, in hindsight I should have rejected it." "What was it?" his interest was piqued. "I had to go and seduce a woman in order to get close enough so I could grab a couple things from her without them noticing. I didn't sleep with the lady, nor did I touch her. I wasn't thinking about it when I was given the job." I gave Rei my full confession. His expression remained unchanged. What is he thinking? "Is that why you were avoiding me?" he asks. "I've been figuring out a way to talk to you about it." "I don't care, it was just work." Rei tossed all my fears to the side as if it never happened. "Wait, seriously Rei? You don't care?" Rei is indifferent about most things and it's impossible to get a proper read on him because of how talented he is at hiding how he feels behind his blank stare. "I...I mean...you didn't do anything with her. You said so. There's never been a reason I shouldn't trust you, so your word is good enough." Normally it's hard to get a proper read as I mentioned, but now it's clear to me that he's feeling insecure. "Rei, I'm sorry. I won't do it again, and that's a promise." I reach for his hand he had rested on the table. "You're the only one for me. No one will ever take your spot in my life. I love you and only you." after I said that shifted his hand so he can hold mine. "Thank you." his voice came out small and quiet. He looks content now though. "Now let me explain to you everything here so we can set our game plan, then I'll make food!" Back to mostly normal, that's good for however long it's gonna be before bad things start to happen again.