Chapitre 2 :: Chapter 2

Publiée: 05-05-05 - Mise à jour: 05-05-05

Chapitre: 1 2 3 4 5

Chapter 2  

- I have an appointment with miss Ka...  

- What? It is out of the question!  

I crossed my arms over my chest, turning my head away. I could imagine the jaw of my poor friend touching the floor. Thinking of it made me want to push him a little further.  

- OH, YES! And I know why! Mick was irritated.  

I obstinately kept my back turned.  

- It is so obvious! Since when do you hook up with your best friend’s exes? You are not even capable of hooking up with a foreign one!  

I could feel his erratic breath on my neck. Just a little more and he would pop a vein. And I knew how to make that happen… I faced him with one of my most dazzling smiles, angling the hat back on my head.  

- And that is why you are the second best ‘Stallion of Shinjuku’. Even a hunchback or one-legged bloke would have more chances with a girl than you.  

- Me, second best! I am number one, mister!  

- Indeed?  

Putting a hand in my jacket pocket, I pulled out a matchbox. Calmly, I lit a match, carrying it to my mouth. The cigarette ignited immediately. That aroma! I inhaled with delight, sliding a glance to the man who was at the point of letting his rage free rein…  

- I thought you knew the list of my conquests by heart.  

Not to sound immodest, I was quite a looker, and generally had no difficulties making a woman swoon in my arms. Those who resisted me were rare, and even rarer those who regretted meeting me.  

I knew women. They were all similar. Beautiful and interested. A woman could prove more dangerous than a swarm of bees…  

Mick laughed.  

- Small effort. You have already showed me yours, but it is nothing compared to mine!  

The object of our argument chose that precise moment to enter the café.  

- What is nothing compared to yours, Mick? Should I be impressed?  

- KAZUE! Mick exclaimed.  

Kazue gave me a large smile and I hastened to kiss her extended hand.  

She was always the same. Beautiful and intelligent. I woman I could have loved, if my heart has not closed when the war erupted… She winked at me. In response to that small intimacy, I smiled conspiratorially back. My smile grew, seeing Mick turn ghostly pale at the idea of having to explain the reasons for the list he still carried on him. Oh, the day was looking to be as bad as the previous ones, so why not have some fun…  

I jumped off my stool and joined the future couple.  

- Oh, well, it is simple, really. Mick showed me the list of all his exes, including their phone numbers and addresses. You can see for yourself. Look at this! Can you see it?  

I held up Mick’s list and amused myself with commenting on the details, while my old partner just stood there, not moving a muscle, still as pale as the moment she walked in.  

- Would you care to explain, Mick?  

Kazue was enveloped in an aura of fury. She turned crimson and the stool beside her risked to end up smashed against her ‘future’ escort.  

True, Kazue possessed an astonishing beauty, but her sudden bursts of fury prevented the possible development of our own relationship. My poor friend was going to understand rather quickly, why we did not work as a couple…  

Mick laughed shakily and fought the urge to flee.  

- Uh, I showed the list to Ryo because... because…  

- Because of what, Mick…?  

- well, because… I hoped to get rid of it… yes, that is it… because… now that I have met you… I do not need it anymore.  

His laughter was even more pitiful than before. He quickly crumpled the paper, slipping it inconspicuously in his pocket.  

-...  

- Uhm... I can rip it in front of you if you want.  

-...  

Kazue still greeted her teeth. She looked ready to explode.  

Mick pulled the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, ripping it to shreds before the furious eyes of my former lover.  

- It is done! Let us go to diner. Ciao!  

Of course, before leaving Mick sent me a black look that made me laugh my heart out. In such moments, when life smiled down upon me, I knew that if someone decided to spend her life with me, I would turn into a puppy dog such as Mick, if that would amuse the woman I loved. But I should not dream of such things. My future, I was sure, was going to be spent six feet under. Maybe I was going to regret not taking the chance. Perhaps. But it was better to die alone, than to leave someone behind. The loss of someone you love is a fate worse than death. I would never let someone suffer because of me. I am nothing. I am nobody. I am but a gray shadow, leaning on my elbow at a café counter. A man that will probably finish with a bullet piercing his heart in these crowded city streets. This might not be a future one looked gladly onto, but it was mine.  

I glanced around me.  

I could not explain it but that café was the only place I felt comfortable in. It was always empty. Probably because of the strange couple, now quietly doing their dishes. Persevering people, with the same past as mine. It was strange seeing an old mercenary tending the bar. I liked to tease him about that, but I envied him. I envied him the capability of having a life after an ugly past like ours, where war, blood, and death reigned as master. That place resembled him. Cold, somber, but with such warmth inside.  

Maybe one day I would have a chance to know what happiness is. I smiled at the idea. Hmm, maybe… but at the moment, I had some business to attend to. Happiness could wait. After all, the suffering I administered around me, I should not be granted even one fleeting moment of happiness. Well, I will not think of my past anymore, I have an all-different life today, and I do have an appointment.  

- Miki, Falcon, thank you for the coffee, but I have an appointment. See you tomorrow.  

- What? How are you going to pay, if you are going out with a young woman, Miki asked. May I remind you, you have been out of work for more than three months now… do you realize it? Three months! In addition, you squander all your money in the cabarets just to see women dance half-naked. If you would deign searching for a job, Ryo-chan, you would realize you cannot find it locked in your home.  

Oh, that Miki, always butting her nose in other people’s business… No doubt, it was her way of looking after people dear to her.  

When she put a hand on her hips and pointed the finger of the other one at you, a little like at that moment, one could be sure, she was going to say exactly what she thought, no matter if one was a broke, the Lapland emperor or the number one sweeper in Japan. If she had something to say, she would say it without fear, eye to eye. Say it no matter what the others thought of her. That was Miki’s motto.  

I would complain, naturally, but in the end, we all need someone to direct us back on the right track. Still, it would do me good to remember her advices… But right then, I needed to go and it WAS a business appointment. A last quip and for me a completely new cabaret would open.  

- Whatever I do with my money, is none of your business, besides my appointment is entirely on a business level. Before coming here, I stepped by the station to check the message board, and, ‘Oh, miracle’, there was an assignment. But I know you will never believe no matter what I say.  

- Where to, then?  

- To the all-new cabaret that opened a couple of months ago.  

- Hmm... I heard there were rather strange occurrences happening there.  

- It is the new meeting spot for the Underworld, Falcon interrupted, busy stacking the plates. They meet there to take care of small business ventures. You should be careful, maybe it is a trap.  

- Don’t worry! I know how to defend myself, plus you know well you are the only one who can kill me. Anyway... try it! I am too strong for you. Being friends...  

Oomph, I barely avoided the plate. I would never tire of our little game.  

A cigarette for the road and I was off to the cabaret.  

Oh, the weather sucked! It started raining, to boot. And what was with the fog? Definitely not the weather for a night out. I hoped the assignment would be interesting.  

That was how I, the most popular man among criminals and killers of any kind, disappeared into the dense city crowd, hat lowered on my brow, the collar hiked up, hands in my pockets, under the annoying rain. A shadow roaming among men and women, ignorant of the danger watching them. A shadow with a shady and tumultuous past, inescapably walking towards his destiny. 

Chapitre: 1 2 3 4 5