14 - Imperfect Preparation

[SEPTEMBER 24TH, 11:00PM; TOKYO]

“Is this the warm welcome that you promised me when I told you I would arrive here?” Otto asked, entering the dimly lit warehouse.

“Yes.” Reina replied. “Whilst you were arguing with Sheller, I’ve gotten myself quite the occupation.”

“Should I be concerned, knowing that you brought me to this abandoned place?

“I think you’ll love what you see.” Reina said, with a teasing voice. She flicked a switch to bless the area with cold white light.

The inside of the warehouse was very large, but strangely enough, it was empty. Only a few wooden boxes were scattered around here and there, left behind by whatever company was supposed to supervise them. What caught Otto’s attention though were the decorations on the walls - especially the wall straight ahead of him. There was a small collection of...hanging people?

“What the hell is this?!” Otto exclaimed, taking a step back both in shock and disgust.

“One step taken towards your goal.” Reina said. “They’re all Dyeman’s supporters. Figures that have influence in America but chose to operate from here, close to the devil himself.”

“How many are there in total?” Otto continued. “Do you even realize what will happen if this is discovered?”

“Oh, Sir Otto, this would never be discovered.” Reina said, repeating flicking motions with her fingers. “I keep the doors shut and tight. I thought you’d be more grateful for this gift.”

“How...many...are there?!”

“Eight in total.” Reina looked at the wall with pride. “It’s not like I’m going to keep them anyways. This was all just for...presentation purposes.”

Reina swung her arms. In one swift motion, a thin string surrounded the corpses. In another, it tore through them - reducing them to minced bits.

“Quite a lot of people suspected foul play in the hearing.” Reina said. “Your little trick with Mukawa caught negative attention. I just took care of it. No matter how much you hate my actions, you accept them as necessary.”

“You said it yourself.” Otto said in a bitter tone.

“Aah, I do wonder...where’d you find a cutie like Mukawa from? So obedient, so gloomy, and so powerful with his mindfuck powers...” Reina yawned. “Sorry I don’t have anything else to show, Sir Otto, even though I’ve been on quite an active duty.”

“Instead of-”

They both gasped in a moment of silence. Reina took a combat stance, and Otto drew his sword.

“Do you sense it?” Reina asked.

“It’s just one. He’s going to enter the place soon.” Otto said.

“Good enough. You need some warmup before you take on the likes of Hayk Nakama.” Reina laughed. Her strings tore the warehouse’s doors open, revealing a rather slim figure. It raised its arms and slowly walked forward.

“I am not here to fight or spy on you.” Dima said, slowly approaching them. Even he could feel something thin lightly wrapping around his legs.

“Sir Otto, give me the order, and I’ll make him a cripple.” Reina said with a smirk.

“Who are you?” Otto asked, pointing his sword at him. “How did you locate us?”

“I can follow people very easily.” Dime replied. “My name’s Dmitry, I am an allied associate of Hayk Nakama. I want to negotiate with you.”

“My my, this is like finding jewelry in a dumpster!” Reina exclaimed, excited.

“Reina, you will not interfere, and you will let me question this man.” Otto said. “Dmitry, what exactly do you have to negotiate with me? What do you bring to the table?”

“Myself.” Dima said. “Maybe saying negotiation is a stretch. This is more of a plea. But...I am the person who saved Mukawa.”

“Hm?” Otto looked surprised.

“Before his arrival in America, his residence was raided by the Heisei. I helped him flee with the help of my soul expression.” Dima explained. His breath was heavy and unsteady. “I spoke to him. Did he speak to you about anything?”

“Kaito is aware of it too.” Otto said, ignoring his question. “Your attempts to leverage his exposure are futile. I hope that was not the weapon you decided to bring to the negotiations table.”

“Not at all, but...” Dima said. “Am I correct to assume that this entire operation’s purpose is to impeach Kaito Kamiki?”

“You may be correct.” Otto said.

“I am aware that you have something to do with Hayk Nakama. Am I correct to assume that you want to replicate his soul expression and take it for yourself?”

“You, once again, may be correct.”

“In that case, please, I must ask you.” Dima closed his eyes. “Do not kill Hayk Nakama.”

“What a shame.” Otto said after a long pause. The light wind that creeped in from the destroyed entrance caressed his uniform. “You had me invested up until this point.”

“Please, tell me, why do you want to kill him?” Dima asked, now frustrated. “You can replicate soul expressions, right? Why not just take his power and let him be? I’m close to him, I can tell him to go against Kaito Kamiki and fight by your side.”

“What a shame.” Otto sighed. “There is so much you don’t know about your friend. No matter what pose you beg him in, he’ll never change his decision. His obsessive empathy and his willingness to play things safe will only serve to his detriment.”

“No, you have to believe me!” Dima said, his voice a little louder. “I can talk!”

“I know that you can, Dmitry.” Otto said, taking a step forward, as if aiming to lower Dima’s voice just be approaching him. “I respect your initiative. It must be tough to be allied both to Mukawa and to Hayk. Must be even tougher knowingI shall fight Hayk.”

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Dima had no response.

“If there is one thing you can take away from this exchange, it’s that Kaito Kamiki played Hayk like a fiddle.” Otto said. “There is no way Hayk will risk going up against him.”

“There...has to be something I can do.” Dima said. “Come on, please.”

“Our conversation ends here, Dmitry.” Otto ordered. “Leave now. Tell Hayk that tomorrow I will make my advance.”

...

As the night began to settle, Dima entered the gym...

“Hayk...” Dima said. He saw Hayk laying on the mats, with Rin sitting by his side, mixing up some sort of medicine.

“What is it?” Hayk asked, frustrated.

“There’s...something I need to tell you.” Dima continued. “Today, I uhh...I went and met with Otto Richter. And-”

“That’s just great...”

“Excuse me?”

“Another idiot that tries to play the hero, huh?” Hayk asked. “What is it with all of you? Why are you so obsessed with the idea of doing something stupid?”

“At least hear him out.” Rin said, applying a small piece of tissue soaked with the medicine on Hayk’s eyes.

“He said that he will be ‘making an advance’ tomorrow.” Dima said. “I...tried to reason with him, but...”

“You tried to reason with him? What is that supposed to mean?” Hayk asked. “You begged him to spare my life, didn’t you? You told him, oh, please, kind lord Otto Richter, please don’t kill my beloved mentor!”

“Hayk!” Rin exclaimed. “Get your act together.”

“He would’ve told me about his advances whenever he’d want to. Your visit just pushed the date of our meeting earlier. Are you proud of yourself, Dima?” Hayk asked.

“I’ve also spoken with Mukawa from the GSC.” Dima said. “I promised him to not leak this information, but...”

“Then shut up and keep your promise. He probably has a way of punishing whoever breaks promises.” Hayk grunted. He flinched from a rather painful sensation in his eye, but at least it was proven that the medicine was working.

“Right...” Dima sighed.

“He’s changed so much after Tsunehiro and Kouta’s deaths.”

“Don’t ‘right’ me, Dima.” Hayk continued. “If you broke a promise, wouldn’t you think that the guy would come to you and ask for an answer for your actions? You’d make an enemy, and you’ll definitely get Kaito himself to pay extra attention to you. Don’t forget that on paper you’re still a member of the Heisei.”

“Yeah, I understand, I’m sorry...”

“That’s the thing, Dima. You don’t understand.” Hayk grunted. “Neither you, nor Tsunehiro, nor Kouta, nor Ichika, nor fucking anyone. You’re all trying to do things that you don’t need to.” He suddenly stood up.

“Every time I say to leave something to me, you idiots go out there and try and prove yourself, you try to show that ‘oh, look at me, Hayk! I’m such a great person!’” Hayk continued. “And every single time you almost end up in shit. You think that’s helping?”

“Hayk!” Rin shouted.

“You think I appreciate you running around like morons and risking death? Or even just...dying?!” Hayk continued. “I don’t want any of you to die! That’s why we’re in this shithole to begin with!”

“That’s enough.” Rin said. “At least be nice to the people who care about you, considering they might never see you again.”

“So you already decommissioned me, huh?” Hayk said, disappointed, his rage came to an end. “I’m glad to hear that none of you trust me.”

“That’s not-”

“That’s exactly what you meant, Rin.” Hayk sighed. “What a shame. Hey, I might as well not do anything against him, since everyone just accepted the fact he’ll kill me.”

“Hayk, you should probably spend some time alone.” Dima said, slowly heading for the exit. “Just...please come back after tomorrow.”

Dima left the gym. Soon, Rin got up too.

“I’ll go talk to the kids.” She headed for the exit.

“Oi, what about the medicine?” Hayk said, following her.

“I applied everything, you’ll just need to take the eyedrops.” Rin said. “If you wish to be alone right now, I’ll let you be. I’ll make sure no one interrupts your little duel.”

Rin left.

Hayk sighed, wandering aimlessly around the gym. He glanced at the destroyed punching bags and broken wooden planks, he looked at the now empty chair with cups and tissues next to it. The silent ambience of the gym felt exceedingly loud.

Hayk entered the changing room. He looked at the untucked bed and empty drawers. He decided to lay down.

“Is this where you shut yourself away, Kouta?”

Hayk thought, staring at the ceiling.

“Makes sense you were depressed all the time. If I had to stay in a place like this all the time, I’d feel the same way.”

“I might as well grab some painkillers. Not just my eyes, my head hurts too from all these stupid drugs. I think I’ll get some sugar pills too...”

Hayk reached for his pockets, but noticed that they were empty.

“Must’ve run out earlier today...”

He got up and went back to the gym. There, in one of the drawers positioned neatly by the wall, he took out a small pill box filled with large white white pills.

“Well, if I get my sugar up, the headache will probably go away. I haven’t eaten too much today regardless...”

Hayk shook the box and took out one of the pills, throwing them into his mouth. He was used to taking them as if they were mints, he didn’t need any water. However, as he was about to close the box, something caught his attention.

“The hell? Since when did these things get dirt on them-”

He tried to scratch off what he thought was dirt off of one of the pills, but failed to do so. Slowly, he took it out and inspected it. Right next to the small spot, there were some other spots and cracks.

“No, this isn’t dirt...this is...”

“Paint?!”

He started to slowly scratch the cracks, revealing more and more of the pill’s true colors. The central part, where the irregularity was, was green and yellow. The more he scratched away, the more he saw something resembling letters and numbers.

He took out his phone, quickly inputting the description of this newly discovered pill into a search engine. The result struck him hard...

“These are...” Hayk said to himself, reading the answer from his old phone. “These are antidepressants...”

He sighed. The revelation had him speechless. Not in anger or denial, but in acceptance.

“Is this really what you thought of me?”

“I’ve been taking these for my mood ever since Kouta died...I thought that it was the sugar that kept me stable and my body running.”

He slowly sat down on the mat, putting the box aside and holding his head. In silence. His breathing felt a little heavy.

“Fuck...”

He slowly laid down, unable to process anything. His eyes were still dark red from the constant strain, but they looked unusually calm and dreamy. He didn’t feel like standing up either. He took another pill and tossed it into his mouth.

“I’ll keep the stronger stuff for later, Rin.” He said. His eyes began to close shut.

“I don’t know if you did this out of distrust, or out of care, or out of caution...”

“In the end...”

“It’s my responsibility to suffer.”

Hayk’s eyes closed. In this zoned out state, it was easy for him to even accidentally doze off. In front of his eyes, an orchestra of iridescent memories played out. Memories that he swore to never forget...