Twisted Fate | Akutagawa Ryūnosuke ✓

09 | Empty Threats

You stared out across the desolate street, watching the rain lash the flagstones only metres from where you were sat. Swamped in an oversized coat you'd managed to nab from a washing line, you were huddled on the steps of an old plaza, watching the rain drive the people of Yokohama off the streets.

It was just you, the rain and your troubled thoughts.

It stayed that way until the rain eventually relented into a light drizzle, the light easing off into a pale dusk.

Then it was dark. Silent. Lonely.

You had nowhere to go. So you stayed there, burrowing into the warm fleece and laying your head upon the dusty steps.

This was all too familiar; being out on the streets.

It was dredging up memories. Memories you'd fought hard to forget - to put behind you.

You whistled a sigh.

Why did nothing ever come easy in your life?

❖

You knocked roughly against the shoulder of a middle-aged man, dipping into his pocket as you set about apologising profusely.

"Okay, okay," the man said irritably, hitching his glasses further up his nose as his jagged blonde ponytail tumbled over his shoulder. "Ugh, you've messed up my schedule now."

Glancing down his nose at you, his eyes softened slightly at your dishevelled form, before he hurried away, digging through his pockets to retrieve a small brown notebook. Sighing, you stowed the man's wallet into the pocket of your coat and weaved through the busy throng of people.

You broke out into an unlit alleyway, shielded from the sun by overhanging rooftops. Water dripped from the broken gutters above, drowning out the silence. Leaning your back against the cold bricks, you rifled through the wallets you'd managed to pickpocket and gathered up all the notes. Enough to buy you a few decent meals, you concluded.

Pocketing your finds and tossing the remaining evidence into an open drain, you made off back into town, hood drawn over your head, eyes downcast, tracing the patterns in the paving stones passing quickly below your feet.

You were used to living on the streets, surviving through thievery and deceit. But being on the run was different. You'd spent two years removing all traces of yourself from the world, forging a new identity, a new life from the scraps of what you once were. You'd secured yourself a job, an apartment, began to take on the reins of an average life. The only thing you had been lacking was people. Companions. You'd been alone your whole life, and you doubted that would ever change.

Now you were back to level one. Back on the streets. Back on the run. Back to erasing your footprint from the planet.

Always alone.

You froze in place, startled, as a cold hand touched your shoulder. You thought, for a panicked moment, that you'd been caught - that someone had realised they were missing their wallet and recognised you as the culprit.

Alas, the truth was much, much worse.

Akutagawa was beside you.

"You're going to be caught one way or another," he muttered, his lips barely parting as he kept his eyes focused on the horizon. His hand was exerting a small pressure on your back that steered you down the street; you appeared to be heading in the direction of a bridge. "We'll always find you, no matter where you run."

You bared your teeth, shrugging out of his grasp, only to have his fingers wrap around your wrist, biting into the sensitive skin. You stifled a whimper.

"You didn't find me then."

"We didn't look for you then," he responded shortly, pulling you up the steps of the bridge and across to the railings. You almost tripped over your own feet, panic hazing your vision. "Come now and people won't die." He stopped then, in the middle of the bridge. Railing jutted into your lower back as he held you against them. His face was calm, unreadable.

Infuriating.

"I'm surprised you came to find me, Akutagawa-Senpai," you snarled, your tongue curling bitterly around his name. Licking your chapped lips, your gaze flitted briefly over the railings, to the river below; the water was a pristine blue, calmly lapping the sides of the aqueduct. "Why not send one of your dogs? Or do you like getting your hands dirty?"

You took a step closer, conflicting emotion making your chest feel tight.

You despised this man.

And yet he was almost addictive. Desirable.

To the extent it repulsed you.

He watched you coolly with dark eyes, his grip on your wrist loosening a fraction.

"Why don't you just kill me, Akutagawa? Kill me. Forget about me. Right here, right now. You keep saying you will."

His face never changed. Not once.

"Or were those just empty threats?"

You unlatched you hand from his with ease, facing away from him as you grabbed hold of the railings. The metal slid under your sweaty palms. "I'm not your pawn, Akutagawa," you said quietly, curving your knees at a slight angle as adrenaline flooded your veins. "You don't control me."

Then, pulling yourself up and over the railings, you jumped.

Akutagawa didn't even try to stop you.