Walking on eggshells

KEVIN

The clock seemed to tick as the minutes passed with neither me nor Rose breaking the building silence around us.

"What the hell?" Astherielle's voice suddenly rang out of the blue instantly catching my attention. The look on her face was indescribable as she took in the surroundings.

"Did you guys hold a bar fight? Who are these people?" Briefly catching sight of Rose, she grinned, tossing the keys she was holding towards me. I caught them mid-flight.

Without warning, I watched Astherielle pull Rose into a tight hug, completely taking her by surprise. After a while, Astherielle squealed, letting Rose go and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Fancy meeting you again, my name is Astherielle but you can just call me Elle,"

"Hi," Rose said briefly letting her gaze fall towards me before shifting it back towards Astherielle.

"Oh and you," Astherielle remarked, noticing Rose's friend. "You must be a friend of Rose, right?"

"Yes," I was beginning to see a pattern here. Rose and her friend were giving a one-word answer. They seemed wary of Astherielle.

I can't really blame them. If I was in their position and some random person suddenly hug and greets me enthusiastically while our surroundings was a mixture of half-dead bodies and chaos, I'd be cautious too.

However, given Astherielle's personality, this was not surprising at all. She had always been like that. It will take a while for one to get used to it. For some, I think, they never do.

"Anyways, I'm glad to meet you both. But, can anybody tell me what just happened? What did I miss?"

"You just ruined a moment Elle," Nico stated garnering Astherielle's death glare.

"Excuse you, Nico. I just came from running an errand. It would be nice of you to at least enlighten me about what went down here. Is that too much to ask Nico?" I held a hand up, halting Nico from spatting a retort back.

"Everybody calm down, please. This is not the time to bicker," I said, eyeing the two who gratefully listened to me.

Turning my attention back towards Rose and her friend, I narrowed my eyes at her, gesturing at the mess around us.

"Remember what I told you, Rose? I won't risk my crew's life unless I know that it's for a good cause. And tonight, half of my men are injured. I think I at least deserve some answers. And don't even try to avoid it. At least give me one good reason not to ask you to pay me for the damage that has been done,"

Rose countered my stare. The minutes seemed to continue to tick by as the silence begun to grow thick once again.

"Takahashi Ryuji," she said, finally speaking at last. "You know him, right?"

I heard Nico scoff but I halted him from saying anything else right after that with a stare. I shook my head at him, shifting my attention right back at Rose as quickly as possible.

"Who wouldn't? He is at the top of the Mafia community within the country right now," I said, looking at Rose whose expression remained neutral.

"What about him?" I watched her give her friend a sideways glance, as if asking for permission. Her friend nodded and Rose was back to locking her gaze with me in a span of minutes.

"He took something that belongs to me," Rose paused. "Ah, no. Let me rephrase that. Takahashi Ryuji took everything away from me,"

Sensing that she was yet to be done with what she was going to say, I waited for her to go on.

"And I can't let him get away with it. I need him to pay. He has to,"

Nico scoffed once again. This time, I was unable to stop him from speaking out his thoughts.

"Ha!," He spat. "So what? You want our help for your vengeance scheme? Are you crazy? We are talking about the big boss here. He is the king of the Mafia community, why on earth should we be taking your side when it is quite obvious that you are bound to lose?"

I wanted to slap my forehead. Though Nico made a good point, it was not fair to Rose.

I had a feeling that Rose was not talking about material things when she had mentioned that Takahashi Ryuji had taken something from her. I had a feeling that she was talking about people, her people.

"Nico, go," Nico looked at me incredulously.

"What? You're making me leave?" I looked at Nico, making it a point to stare straight into his eyes.

"Yes," he laughed, then muttered a string of curses as he realized that I was dead serious.

"You're choosing her over me?" It did not leave my notice the hurt and disappointment evident in his tone as he said that. I shook my head vehemently.

"This is not about me choosing, Nico. This is about being human and right now, you just sounded like an animal, heartless."

Nico did not say anything as he held my gaze with the same intensity as mine. If this had been in a comic book, I could imagine electric lines to be drawn between our unwavering gaze towards each other, neither of us was willing to compromise.

"Just…" Astherielle spoke, gently dragging Nico away from me. "Let's go, Nico,"

Though Nico did not push her away, I knew that he had no intentions of coming with her. However, Nico also knew that there was no way he could stop Astherielle from taking him with her. That girl has a tight grip.

"No," Rose's voice halted both Astherielle and Nico. I turned my attention back towards her.

"You are right. It is crazy. The entire Japanese Yakuza is no easy feat. It will probably take a whole army to be able to take them down. But you know what? You're wrong about one thing,"

In a few quick strides, I watched in awe how fast Rose had landed in front of Nico. She had lifted her blade which I had seen earlier, making it glisten against the light from the ceiling and pointed it towards Nico.

"I," she paused allowing Nico to take a step back.

"Don't," another step.

"Engage," and another.

"In," the dance went on.

"Fights," Nico had slammed against a wall, his eyes refusing to show fear despite what I was sensing from him.

"I do not intend to win," I was about to come near and pull Rose away from Nico when I felt someone grab my arm. I turned around and found Rose's friend. She shook her head, stopping me.

"You have a choice, Nico. You can either join the fight or," Rose paused, cocking her head to one side. "Run like a coward."