7 - Blazing Heart, Dying Liver

“Where is it? I swear I had some leftovers for today...”

“Some of that good stuff from Moscow...yeah, for sure, I know it has to be there. Did that kid take them away?”

“Who the hell does he think-”

“Hey, Mr. Diego!” His comrade rushed in. “You forgot to take your- are you searching for alcohol?”

“Would you believe me if I said I wasn’t?” Diego replied. “Come on, kid. Everyone needs to take their edge off.”

“You know better than anyone the consequences of drinking while taking your medications.”

“Who gives a shit? I’m immune to it anyways. I’m special, you know?” Diego asked, reaching into his pocket. He opened the small bottle and threw the pale yellow tablet into his mouth, swallowing it with no issue. It’s the same bottle that he had kept around him for almost a year now, refreshing it whenever the need arose.

“When’s the speech today, Ichigo?” Diego said, yawning and stretching to his heart’s content. His light brown hair was done in a mullet, with a few strands hanging in the front and covering his forehead. His eyes were a mixture of yellow and orange, and his face was taken care of remarkably well. He wore the standard uniform issued for the elemental group - a specially tailored version of the uniform worn by the GSC’s elite fighting unit. It was a mostly light gray combat-suited uniform, paired with a plain white cloak, a black collar, and in Diego’s case, red markings decorating everything. He was Diego Solano - the face of the GSC, the leader of the elemental group and a soulful who had authority over flames.

“It’s in a few hours. Your script is ready, you have to be careful with the media, though.” Ichigo replied. He had darker hair, and his eyes, although dark, had a certain brightness within them. His uniform had light golden markings. At just 19, he was a soulful with potential to surpass even Diego, the strongest in the elemental group.

“How the hell do you live like a clock...” Diego yawned. Ichigo handed him a pack of neatly organized papers, and Diego looked very disappointed looking through them.

“I try my hardest to attend to my responsibilities.” Ichigo replied.

“Yeah, I know, it was a rhetorical question.” Diego said. “And I love you for it. You sure you don’t want some booze? Might take your mind off of the bad things.”

“I don’t drink, Mr. Diego.” Ichigo said, retaining his reserved manner. He was used to acting as an assistant or even a nanny for Diego, nonetheless, he accepted it as a part of his job. “You keep offering my alcohol even though you know I don’t drink.”

“Well, you do you. Gotta take my chance every time, maybe you change your mind one day.” Diego said, tossing the papers next to him on the couch. “Where’s the dumbass?”

“Mr. Hwang is currently out...he’s...presumably partying.”

“No, the other dumbass.”

“William is attending to personal matters and he plans to train for the rest of the day.”

“No, not him...he’s not even a dumbass!” Diego exclaimed. “I meant Luca.”

“Luca...he has isolated himself quite a lot after his brother’s death. He needs to take care of the funeral too, it hasn’t even been a day.”

“Well, I don’t care that his nymphomaniac brother died. All that’s in it for me is that we’ll lose less of our funds on drugs and hookers for him.” Diego grunted. “I don’t care where Luca is or where his brother is. I need them on stage.”

“Why?”

“Because...uhh...” Diego sighed. “Look, I don’t deal with a crowd of soulless fanboys that just lost one of their easily marketable idols. Besides, it’s Luca’s brother, not mine. He should flex his grief on stage where everyone can see it.”

“Everything feels a little louder than usual...I’m gonna throw up...”

“Ichigo, I’m gonna paint the floor soon...” He said,

“Mr. Diego, do you need a bucket?” Ichigo asked.

“Yeah, sure.” Diego said. “You might as well leave the room. I’ll be doing some pretty nasty stuff soon.”

Ichigo came back a few minutes later with the ‘bucket of doom’ - a small green plastic bucket that was used whenever Diego felt like throwing up, or at least that’s what everyone assumed. He left the room, disappointed, recollecting his schedule in his mind. And once he did, a smirk emerged on Diego’s face, his nausea suddenly disappearing...

“There ya go.” Diego said, staring at the item. “Now we get to have some fun.”

He went to the mini-bar under the large television set, it was his favorite part of the lounge room in the elemental group’s headquarters. He grabbed a few grapefruits, oranges, a lime, and a pair of vodka bottles. After quickly washing the fruit, he cut them open and dumped them into the bucket, showering them with the alcohol.

“Nah, this isn’t right yet...”

He walked over to the mini-freezer positioned next to it and grabbed a packet of ice. He generously dumped everything inside of the bucket. And he gazed at it, with such softness and radiance of pure love and emotions as if the bucket was a soul he dreamt of loving all his life.

“The mints do their job, but this...this is the shit that actually lets me relax...”

“And all of my alcohol ends up either consumed by Hwang or stashed away by Ichigo...finally, we can share a moment...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle...no, to hell with it...I’ll be as rough as I want...”

...

“Mr. Diego...?” Ichigo called, knocking at the door a few hours later. “Mr. Diego, it’s time for the speaking to start...you’ll barely make it in time. Mr. Diego?!” He knocked harder.

Unlawfully taken from NovelBin, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“And he has the audacity to behave himself like this? After my brother’s death?!” Luca exclaimed, knocking on the door more powerfully. He had slightly wavy hair, there was great upset and anger in his azure eyes. His uniform had dark blue tones.

“God damn it, is he asleep?” Ichigo asked himself. “No way, right?”

“Wait...”

“Did something happen to him?!”

Ichigo broke through the door, only to find a rather displeasing sight for the eyes. Although, for him, there was no disgust, but merely disappointment. Half of Diego’s uniform had slipped off of his body, he laid on the floor, the bucket was turned over and there was ice, liquid and cut fruits all over the place. And next to him there were two half-naked blonde women, barely awake. He was snoozing to his heart’s content, intoxicated enough to see heaven without dying.

He approached Diego, grabbed the bucket and chucked it at his face.

“Huh?!” Diego yelled, jumping up. “What the hell, man? That’s not how you wake somebody up!”

“Mr. Diego, you’re almost late.” Ichigo said, glaring at him. The women also woke up, and seeing the two elementals walk in with rather serious expressions, quickly covered up their privates with whatever clothes they could find at the moment and ran out of the room.

“I know.” Diego stood up and began fixing his uniform. “You could’ve just knocked on the damn door. You didn’t have to scare the girls either...”

After fixing his attire and fixing his hair by running his hands through it, he went for the exit.

“What are you here for, Luca?” Diego asked. “You could’ve been answering questions from the crowd of reporters waiting outside. Could’ve farmed a lot of PR out there.”

“I could’ve gone there with my brother had you allowed me to fight alongside him.” Luca said.

“I disallowed either of you to engage in combat.” Diego said. “And yet, you did. You’re the idiot here, Luca. You were wrong, and now, you’re an idiot.”

“Selfish asshole!” Luca took a step forward.

“You gonna do something?” Diego asked. “Go on, you mad dog. Do something. Only if ya want to, that is. But you know that you can’t. Sucks to be an idiot, sucks to be a weak idiot even worse, I bet...”

“Mr. Diego, it is due to sheer luck that your organism can withstand both your mints and the excessive amounts of alcohol you take.” Ichigo said, breaking the tension in the room.

“I’ll be fine, Ichigo. If anything happens to me, I trust that you’ll take good care of me...or my carcass. Gotta spread my ashes on a supermodel’s body and-”

“Mr. Diego, we’re late.” Ichigo interrupted him. “William is there too.”

“Right, right.” Diego said, almost falling over on his way out. Thankfully Ichigo caught him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine when we get there...I think...” He mumbled, stumbling out of the room.

“He’s insane.” Luca told Ichigo. “How can you allow yourself to put up with him?”

“You’re also late.” Ichigo said, slightly angered. “Please, let’s focus on the speech.”

Outside, underneath the night sky, a small stage was set. William, with his gentleman's appearance, awaited for the arrival of his comrades. He was an older man, with grayish marks on his uniform, slightly graying hair, and a small black beard and lapis blue eyes.

He was relieved once they arrived, as he had been improvising a thought-provoking and at the same time meaningless speech for over half an hour already. He quickly changed the topic and allowed Diego to take over.

“Thank you, everyone.” Diego said into the microphone, his voice roaring through the streets thanks to the powerful stereo systems. The crowd instantly applauded, welcoming their favorite elemental with open arms.

“Thank you, William.” Ichigo whispered to William as the latter was leaving the stage. “Thank you for covering his...habits.”

“Never will I ever force myself to these humiliation rituals again...” William scoffed.

“Where’s Hwang?”

“Wherever booze is the cheapest and the women are most promiscuous.” William said, leaving the stage.

The crowd, despite Diego’s silence, kept on cheering. So much so that Diego found a moment to turn his microphone off and talk to Luca, who was next to him.

“See that?” Diego said. “Have you ever, in your life, gotten people so excited for you without paying them?”

“Mr. Diego, please, not now.” Ichigo said.

“Once he gets riled up...it’s hard to snap him out of it.”

“Anyhow, today, dear folk, is a day of grief and sorrow.” Diego said, turning his mic back on. “We are here to grieve the passing of Matteo Rosso, the brother of Luca Rosso, our beloved comrade. He completed his duties with due diligence, he was an ingot of fine gold in a sea of rust and copper.”

“Just look at this crowd...”

“Soulless losers who need to be pampered with dopamine to shut up and lay dormant...why does Mr. Kamiki even care about them so much?”

“I wish I could burn everything...”

“This was a result of soulful terror that the GSC is fighting so desperately against. By putting your trust in us, and the GSC, we will fight against the terror and secure a future where justice prevails above cruelty and selfishness. Soulfuls, non-soulfuls, we must collaborate together in order to create a world where life is sacred, and peace reigns supreme.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that Mr. Kamiki wrote this?”

“So please, do not fear. The coalition will funnel all its efforts into catching the scum responsible. The soulful academy project’s development will not be put to halt, the project will-”

A deafeningly loud noise disrupted the speech. A bright, blazing explosion in the crowd devoured everything in its effective radius, turning every unfortunate enough human nearby into a pile of red mush.

A few moments later, once the realization set in, the crowd was engulfed in panic. Everyone was screaming, running around frantically, trying to leave, almost suffocating one another. Diego was shaken by this event, but he seemed more disappointed than concerned.

“Everyone, evacuate immediately.” Diego said, pretending to care, before turning the microphone off and tossing it away.

“Mr. Diego!” Ichigo said, rushing over to him.

“Find out who did this.” Diego said. “Sniff out every soul presence in the area. Even if it’s Hayk Nakama himself here. Although I doubt he’d reveal himself...”

“For fuck sake...”

“And here I thought I’d have a calm night and get to drink myself to sleep...but no, there’s a damn PR disaster.”

“This is all out war...” Luca thought, watching the rest of his comrades leave the scene. He, despite not wanting to, had to extinguish the flames.

“This means...a chance to get back at the lackeys that killed my brother.”

“And an even better chance to get back at this piece of shit Diego.”

“Everything will be decided at the GSC meeting tomorrow...I’m sure he will have something to say about all of this.”

...

“...where an explosion occurred. The culprit remains unknown, and the elemental group has vowed to hunt them down and deliver justice. It is suspected, however, that the soulfuls hiding behind the murder of Matteo Rosso, a former member of the group, may have involvement in the incident. There have been reported to be 17 casualties and 13 wounded, 4 of them in critical condition.”

“No way...” Ichika said, covering her mouth with her hands. She quickly grabbed her phone and made a call. Sakuto, who was also watching TV with her, was frozen.

“Hayk-”

“Ichika, I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn’t me.” Hayk said over the phone. “I have no idea who it was, and neither am I interested to find out. But we’re in the deep waters now.”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

“I’ll explain everything tomorrow. We have to get active.”