[What they get up to as dogs is out of his control!!
Also "where do you want-" hard stop there because he doesn't want to do this at all!! But he's doing it for Jyushi and for closure. Even if he's being a moody teenager about it.]
dunno. the place we ate at when i first met you, hitoya-san?
[Ugh. Ichiro sends a short OK back to Hitoya and then all there is for him to do is wait. This feels like waiting for Jyushi to come talk to him all over again, but at least this time he knows what to expect.
And it's a small comfort that if Hitoya does have anything new to drop on him, it wont be as devastating as "Kuko hasn't said shit about his time in Ikebukuro."
Two rolls around and Ichiro finds himself landing heavily in the seat across from Hitoya at the restaurant. Now that he's sitting here, he really has to wonder what Hitoya was thinking. What did he gain from pretending he didn't know who Ichiro was when they first met?]
Well. [He crosses his arms against his chest.] You first, Hitoya-san.
Hitoya sits across Ichiro much the same as they did when they first met, cigarette in one hand and a cup of hot tea resting aside the other. The rising steam that doesn't quite reach his eyes serves as the only barrier between them.
Fortunately, Hitoya has dealt with more than his fair share of temperamental teens in his time representing them. The worst of them being the object of discussion himself.
Kuko.]
I can see why he likes you.
[Kuko that is. But he'd forgive Ichiro for assuming he means Jyushi. Hitoya is happy to oblige with leading the conversation like this but if Ichiro had something different, something more specific in mind, he's going to need to use his words.]
[With how sure he is that Kuko hates his guts, Ichiro can only assume he means Jyushi! Which, he realizes is a whole other topic Hitoya probably knows a lot more about than he does.]
I don't know what you mean, but Jyushi probably wouldn't appreciate us talking about that behind his back. [Nailed it? And, if not, then he's changing the topic anyway.]
I mean it, though - you already know who I am, so how about that "proper introduction?" [A beat.] How do you know Kuko?
[The way Ichiro responds to his observation is telling all by itself. So he can't possibly fathom that he might still be important to Kuko? They hadn't been together long, but Hitoya could read between the lines in ways that Jyushi had been too emotional to accept at the time.
The pile of evidence stacks ever higher but he still can't connect the dots.]
I suppose I do owe you an apology. Though you have to understand us regional divisions are at something of a disadvantage against you former finalists from the big city. And not everyone's out here to play nice.
[As he carries on it's said with all the air of someone that doesn't care whether Ichiro accepts what he's saying or not. The kid has right to be off put by the circumstances that led them here. It doesn't change Hitoya's objective one bit.]
Still, I hadn't intended to mislead you for all that long except that Jyushi went and complicated things. That's his story to tell so we won't be getting into that today but suffice to say I needed to let him handle this on his own. Until it became about our team.
About Kuko.
[He pauses, intending to answer the real question that had been posed to him but wondering where to begin. Finally, he sucks in a breath.]
How's this for starters. Amaguni Hitoya. Attorney at law. Third member of Nagoya division's Bad Ass Temple. If I had to list two things I like, one would be money and the other is Islay Whisky. And if it weren't for me that delinquent punk would probably still be rotting in jail.
No way. Kuko would never - [Now that he thinks about it, Ichiro doesn't know terribly much about Kuko either. He knows Kuko is from Nagoya. He nows he was on his way to becoming a monk, and while he walked a righteous path it wasn't ever a straight and narrow path.
He sometimes got involved with shady guys - just look at how he and Ichiro met and then the work they did together for Stairway to Heaven - but Kuko had a good head on his shoulders. A good sense of things. He'd never gotten in trouble with the law. Not as far as Ichiro was aware.
Hitoya's answer is enough to get Ichiro to uncross his arms and lean forward over the table in interest.] When? Was that after he left Tokyo?
[Maybe that's why he'd broken things off so suddenly? Had he gotten in trouble that he couldn't involve Ichiro in? Ichiro's about to be disappointed but he can a little bit of hope...]
[Having heard from Jyushi firsthand where their previous conversation really began to fall apart, Hitoya is very deliberate with his choice of words here. Drawing attention to their similar circumstances, the ways in which this relationship they share may overlap.]
For all the hot air he blows around, he really doesn't have much to say about himself, does he?
[Like most of the country, Hitoya doesn't put much stock in the kinds of beliefs that Kuko holds onto. He knows the customs he grew up with, has no problem with celebrating the various traditions that have endured for centuries past. Checking in at the temple on new year's or the annual pilgrimage to his family's grave during Obon.
But Kuko is the real deal. Even Hitoya can admit it to himself. Whatever insight he has, what he believes in, his conviction and faith in it is unyielding and immovable by most any force other than what he chooses to enact on it. Hitoya doesn't know much about it, but what he does understand is that it's something that exists outside Kuko himself.
Maybe that's why no one bothered to press too hard when he wandered home one day after his long absence.
Taking all this in, he sits back with a sigh.]
I had the pleasure of cleaning up that mess, what was it, five years ago now? He was still in middle school. Fourteen. Around the same time my path crossed with Jyushi coincidentally though they never met at the time.
His old man is the head of Kugenji Temple. If you're not familiar with it, there's about 500 years of history to that place. We have the kind of relationship at this point where we tend to trade favors back and forth and he comes to me one day asking me to represent his son. The charge? Attempted murder.
[Hitoya manages a smirk here.]
I don't think I need to go into details for you to know that's total bullshit.
[He really doesn't have much to say about himself, does he?
He is disappointed, but that comment does exactly what it is intended to. Ichiro listens to everything Hitoya has to say after that but it makes him think. He, perhaps, overreacted and assumed too much when Jyushi had told him just how little Kuko had spoken about his past. Kuko had told him very little, too, and it's not like Ichiro had spilled his guts about his life either. For best friends, they hardly knew each other. They'd become important to each other despite that; it wasn't necessary. What mattered was who they were then and there.
But - attempted murder?! Ichiro didn't need to know Kuko's life story to know that was complete bullshit. The surprise is still visible on Ichiro's face.]
You're kidding. Some idiot must have really had a grudge to try that.
[He supposes he should thank Hitoya then, for getting Kuko out of that. But he is also holding a bit of a grudge still. At least until Hitoya further explains himself.]
I've never taken a trial to court and lost. The case was turned around on the prosecution and last I heard that scumbag bully was just finishing serving in juvie.
[He can forgive Ichiro for not knowing his reputation. It doesn't really serve the point he's trying to make regardless. He simply drops enough details like breadcrumbs that Ichiro should have no trouble putting together the bigger picture of the conflict Kuko had inserted himself into. The report he'd received indicated Kuko had continued to act under the same conscience during his time in Ikebukuro.]
And then we parted ways more or less. He's not exactly someone that makes it easy to get close. He doesn't bestow that honor lightly. But I might still spot him around the temple when I had business there. Or get updates from his father here and there.
[He's getting to the crux of it now. Hitoya didn't just call Ichiro out to assuage the teen's feelings about his friend although he's happy to add his perspective in any way that can help. At the end of the day, Hitoya has always been thinking about the best interests of their team, of Jyushi, and Kuko, those two kids he seemed to pick up like strays one day all those years ago and now feels some kind of responsibility for.]
Like when he disappeared after a fight with his old man one day. Gone without a trace. Not a bag packed or a single yen missing. Nor a single word for the better part of year. Until he just showed back up as suddenly as he left.
Right... [So, it's his turn. He doesn't need any prompting to continue where Hitoya has left off.]
The details are kinda messy but, I'm pretty sure we hooked up soon after he got to Ikebukuro. I was already working for a guy that Kuko didn't even like but he stuck around... I don't know why. [Because Kuko understood what he was fighting for. And if Hitoya knows anything about Kuko, that should be clear without any words.] We called ourselves Naughty Busters.
Then, that shithead boss of mine tried to get us into some trouble, but he messed with the wrong people and we turned things around on him. At that point, we became Mad Comic Dialogue with two other guys. [Ichiro's not being vague totally on purpose. The details are just not as important as the whole. They'd had each other's backs whether it was helping Kuko's old schoolmate or rescuing his little brothers... Kuko stuck with him through the worst of it and he thought their shared experience was strong enough to hold their bond together forever.]
[For his part, Hitoya does listen patiently. The part about Kuko not even liking Mozuku but working for him anyway? That much is new.
He takes a drag of his cigarette, mulling over it while Ichiro gives the rest of the abridged version he'd more or less pieced together already. If Kuko was sticking around, that means there was something else he'd assigned his loyalties to. And there was only one thing that could possibly be.]
Some of it. [Hitoya admits, leaning into the truths available to him.] It lines up with what I've heard from Jyushi.
[He taps his cigarette into the ashtray sitting half full at the side of the table. Ichiro has to know there isn't a word that doesn't pass from between Jyushi and Hitoya, certainly not where a teammate is involves.]
What was he like? Any indication of what he was looking for in Tohto?
[Unfortunately for both of them, that's something Ichiro doesn't know exactly.]
Uhh, not really. I remember him using one of his weird proverbs as a reason for working together. Something like "Two inexperienced people working together will get better together"? So maybe he was just looking for experience?
[What experience he got from working under a slimy loan shark and then whatever the hell Sasara and Samatoki were, Ichiro doesn't know. He knows they did good together once they were out from under Mozuku's thumb but it still didn't make sense.]
But, man, nothing he did ever made sense. From the day he showed up to the day he left. He just did whatever that stupid, little goblin brain of his thought was "right."
[Stupid little goblin brain is said with all the affection in the world.]
[It's here that Hitoya smiles in a way that he would probably never allow Kuko to witness. It's reminiscent of only the second time he sat across from the petulant young monk--equally fractious in his own role as his lawyer--and boldly proclaimed that he'd get Kuko that innocent verdict and turn the case on its head.
Because at the end of the day, Kuko did always act on sense of what was good. Right.]
The problem is what that means to him isn't always in line with how the average person might understand it. It's like he's always had one foot planted in this world, and the other ready to step into the next.
[Even that's reaching a higher level than Hitoya can really speak to though. He sighs. So where does that leave them now? He's more certain than ever, based on the details he shares and the affection with which he speaks, that Ichiro is someone Kuko would have considered one of his own. Knows firsthand how sacred that kind of bond is to Kuko.
Which brings to mind what happened, not so long after that...]
When our team was formed, he was quite insistent that we'd become a family through the act. I didn't think much of it at the time. I mean when you're facing those kinds of stakes, you don't stand a chance if you don't have that level of faith in the guys watching your back. But the way he spoke about it? Like it was personal? He said there'd be no chance for escape or betrayal. Even death won't free us from the bond.
[Considering the situation here in Avalon, the irony's not lost on him either.]
[There it is. Out in the open. But once it's sitting there in front of him, Hitoya still hesitates, just a moment, in reaching out to take it. Ichiro's demeanor, his posture and the tension that has welled back up inside him, it precedes anything he might say and it's almost enough to keep Hitoya from asking entirely.]
... I wouldn't be so fucked up about all this if I did. [Ichiro answers in a mumble but it will still be audible to Hitoya. He just hopes he doesn't have anything to say about it.
After a beat, he takes a breath and straightens up.
C'mon. Be strong.]
Like I said, it didn't make sense. He wasn't making any sense; it was like he was trying to find an excuse to hate me in the moment. But it didn't matter if he had one or not. He'd decided he was done with me - [Me sounds too vulnerable again. He'd made the same mistake with Jyushi but this time there is no way to fix it. Kuko had made it clear that he was sick of Ichiro specifically.] and you know that once he's set on something, there's no changing his mind.
[None of this comes as a surprise. It doesn't offer any answers to the holes in this mystery but, it's not a surprise. Thought Hitoya keeps it to himself this time.
Ichiro may not notice, but the lawyer's expression has softened. He's like the kid from the outset. That Jyushi liked him, got on with him in ways that two teenagers should, only proved to be another mark in his favor. And at some point, he'd earned the highest mark of distinction of all from their team members.
It didn't add up. Not the way Ichiro is saying it went down. That much, Hitoya is certain of.]
You ever consider that it might not be about you? Think about it. He'd be quite the hypocrite to just dismiss you without any explanation.
[It's like he'd said. Bonds like that can't be severed so easily. Not even in death. Straight from the source.]
That's not the Kuko I know. And I'm willing to bet it doesn't sound like the one you knew deep down either.
No, Kuko's not like that. [He shakes his head.] But then I really don't have any answers.
[Of course Ichiro had considered it might not be about him. Even after Samatoki talked him down, anger had festered from that fresh wound and he couldn't do anything but accuse Kuko of being the sole cause of it all. Ichiro hadn't done anything wrong. He couldn't have. They'd been normal just the day before. They were looking forward to facing off with Kujaku Posse as the four of them. Kuko was just being a punkass or had some other motive.
Blaming Kuko had just left him feeling sick, though, and left him with only two options that had never felt right either. Either he had done something or something had happened to Kuko to make him act that way. It would make sense, considering Sasara had pulled the same thing on the same day but... somehow it was so hard to believe. And then everything with The Dirty Dawg happened - his blowout with Samatoki. Samatoki blamed him for something, so it only made sense that he was the common factor in both breakups.
But at least Samatoki had a reason, whether it was correct or not. He hadn't been grasping at straws like Kuko had been, and that makes Ichiro return to a previous thought.
He hesitates before speaking.]
How... much do you know about Sasara-san?
[This isn't his story to tell - he hadn't even told Rosho about Sasara's time in MCD - but if it has anything to do with Kuko, he can't keep quiet. That's why he's here with Hitoya. So they have to talk about it.]
Before coming to Avalon? [The pivot to Sasara isn't something he was expecting.] I was only aware of him from his show.
[He lifts his hand only to find his cigarette is all but extinguished by this point, moving instead to stamp the remains of it out in the ashtray. He leaves it there and doesn't show any signs of lighting another.
Ichiro must have his reasons for bringing him into the conversation now.]
Even now I wouldn't say we're particularly close. Wouldn't have pegged him for the type to be leading team of his own but considering who he's working with I suppose it makes sense. Jyushi only mentioned that he'd been part of your team in Ikebukuro. You, Kuko and Samatoki Aohitsugi.
[And then it dawns on him.]
So what caused him to head back to Osaka? He was already gone by the time The Dirty Dawg was formed, wasn't it?
You got it. Same day Kuko pissed off, Sasara-san called up Samatoki to do the same. No idea why and I was under the impression that he and Samatoki were just as close as Kuko and I.
[God, is he - is Ichiro stupid? Why had he insisted on blaming either of them this whole time when it was, clearly, never that simple? Nothing was ever what it seemed once the Hypnosis Mics were introduced.
There are still several holes in this conclusion but it now feels so solid of an explanation.
Ichiro slumps forward, face in his hands, over the table.] Dammit - I feel so stupid.
[Hitoya sucks in a breath. The revelation damning all by itself without needing to comment on it. In life there were always coincidences but this? In his world, the world of law, they'd call this a lead.
Following that train of thought, hadn't something similar happened to The Dirty Dawg? Unlike these turf battles that had taken place in one small ward, their subsequent rise to power and fall from grace had been recorded all within the public eye. Everyone knew how that had ended. To think it wasn't the first time Ichiro had faced these circumstances... his posture fills in any blanks left by his word.
Reaching out across the table, Hitoya clasps Ichiro on the shoulder in a way that he hopes is reassuring.]
Don't blame yourself. Someone... something has been working hard to pull these strings while keeping all of us just far enough apart that we stay in the dark.
[Frowning, he can't help thinking how and why he may have been a target as well. And for a moment he shares in Ichiro's sentiments. How easily had they preyed on that?]
You know... aside from Kuko, I've got another connection to all of this I should probably mention. Me and Shinjuku's leader go way back.
[He's not trying to make it into conversation, just add to the magnitude of what they're looking at. It leaves a rotten taste in his mouth that has nothing to do with his talents as a Death mage. Sure, he and Jakurai had ended things on terrible terms but that was their business and not for anyone else to manipulate or use to their own ends.]
So whatever you're feeling right now? You should save it up and pay it back to whichever bastards are responsible, sevenfold.
[Hitoya's hand on his shoulder does exactly as is intended. It's grounding in its weight and Ichiro can feel the tension draining from his body like a dam bursting.]
Tenfold. [He corrects. Because if whoever, or whatever, had managed to get so many people - all the people he cares about - entangled in this game of theirs, then they deserved nothing less. Years of questions and frustrations can't be compensated for so easily.
There are still so many questions that have yet to be answered, too, but Ichiro feels better about it all. Which is a relief since he'd gone into this expecting the worst. Jyushi and Tsumugi had been right --
Ichiro's head snaps up.] I need to talk to Jyushi.
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Also "where do you want-" hard stop there because he doesn't want to do this at all!! But he's doing it for Jyushi and for closure. Even if he's being a moody teenager about it.]
dunno. the place we ate at when i first met you, hitoya-san?
[Yes, that's a subtle dig.]
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Perfect place for a proper introduction. Meet me at 2?
[Today. They're doing this today.]
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And it's a small comfort that if Hitoya does have anything new to drop on him, it wont be as devastating as "Kuko hasn't said shit about his time in Ikebukuro."
Two rolls around and Ichiro finds himself landing heavily in the seat across from Hitoya at the restaurant. Now that he's sitting here, he really has to wonder what Hitoya was thinking. What did he gain from pretending he didn't know who Ichiro was when they first met?]
Well. [He crosses his arms against his chest.] You first, Hitoya-san.
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Hitoya sits across Ichiro much the same as they did when they first met, cigarette in one hand and a cup of hot tea resting aside the other. The rising steam that doesn't quite reach his eyes serves as the only barrier between them.
Fortunately, Hitoya has dealt with more than his fair share of temperamental teens in his time representing them. The worst of them being the object of discussion himself.
Kuko.]
I can see why he likes you.
[Kuko that is. But he'd forgive Ichiro for assuming he means Jyushi. Hitoya is happy to oblige with leading the conversation like this but if Ichiro had something different, something more specific in mind, he's going to need to use his words.]
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I don't know what you mean, but Jyushi probably wouldn't appreciate us talking about that behind his back. [Nailed it? And, if not, then he's changing the topic anyway.]
I mean it, though - you already know who I am, so how about that "proper introduction?" [A beat.] How do you know Kuko?
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The pile of evidence stacks ever higher but he still can't connect the dots.]
I suppose I do owe you an apology. Though you have to understand us regional divisions are at something of a disadvantage against you former finalists from the big city. And not everyone's out here to play nice.
[As he carries on it's said with all the air of someone that doesn't care whether Ichiro accepts what he's saying or not. The kid has right to be off put by the circumstances that led them here. It doesn't change Hitoya's objective one bit.]
Still, I hadn't intended to mislead you for all that long except that Jyushi went and complicated things. That's his story to tell so we won't be getting into that today but suffice to say I needed to let him handle this on his own. Until it became about our team.
About Kuko.
[He pauses, intending to answer the real question that had been posed to him but wondering where to begin. Finally, he sucks in a breath.]
How's this for starters. Amaguni Hitoya. Attorney at law. Third member of Nagoya division's Bad Ass Temple. If I had to list two things I like, one would be money and the other is Islay Whisky. And if it weren't for me that delinquent punk would probably still be rotting in jail.
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He sometimes got involved with shady guys - just look at how he and Ichiro met and then the work they did together for Stairway to Heaven - but Kuko had a good head on his shoulders. A good sense of things. He'd never gotten in trouble with the law. Not as far as Ichiro was aware.
Hitoya's answer is enough to get Ichiro to uncross his arms and lean forward over the table in interest.] When? Was that after he left Tokyo?
[Maybe that's why he'd broken things off so suddenly? Had he gotten in trouble that he couldn't involve Ichiro in? Ichiro's about to be disappointed but he can a little bit of hope...]
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[Having heard from Jyushi firsthand where their previous conversation really began to fall apart, Hitoya is very deliberate with his choice of words here. Drawing attention to their similar circumstances, the ways in which this relationship they share may overlap.]
For all the hot air he blows around, he really doesn't have much to say about himself, does he?
[Like most of the country, Hitoya doesn't put much stock in the kinds of beliefs that Kuko holds onto. He knows the customs he grew up with, has no problem with celebrating the various traditions that have endured for centuries past. Checking in at the temple on new year's or the annual pilgrimage to his family's grave during Obon.
But Kuko is the real deal. Even Hitoya can admit it to himself. Whatever insight he has, what he believes in, his conviction and faith in it is unyielding and immovable by most any force other than what he chooses to enact on it. Hitoya doesn't know much about it, but what he does understand is that it's something that exists outside Kuko himself.
Maybe that's why no one bothered to press too hard when he wandered home one day after his long absence.
Taking all this in, he sits back with a sigh.]
I had the pleasure of cleaning up that mess, what was it, five years ago now? He was still in middle school. Fourteen. Around the same time my path crossed with Jyushi coincidentally though they never met at the time.
His old man is the head of Kugenji Temple. If you're not familiar with it, there's about 500 years of history to that place. We have the kind of relationship at this point where we tend to trade favors back and forth and he comes to me one day asking me to represent his son. The charge? Attempted murder.
[Hitoya manages a smirk here.]
I don't think I need to go into details for you to know that's total bullshit.
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He is disappointed, but that comment does exactly what it is intended to. Ichiro listens to everything Hitoya has to say after that but it makes him think. He, perhaps, overreacted and assumed too much when Jyushi had told him just how little Kuko had spoken about his past. Kuko had told him very little, too, and it's not like Ichiro had spilled his guts about his life either. For best friends, they hardly knew each other. They'd become important to each other despite that; it wasn't necessary. What mattered was who they were then and there.
But - attempted murder?! Ichiro didn't need to know Kuko's life story to know that was complete bullshit. The surprise is still visible on Ichiro's face.]
You're kidding. Some idiot must have really had a grudge to try that.
[He supposes he should thank Hitoya then, for getting Kuko out of that. But he is also holding a bit of a grudge still. At least until Hitoya further explains himself.]
And then what?
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[He can forgive Ichiro for not knowing his reputation. It doesn't really serve the point he's trying to make regardless. He simply drops enough details like breadcrumbs that Ichiro should have no trouble putting together the bigger picture of the conflict Kuko had inserted himself into. The report he'd received indicated Kuko had continued to act under the same conscience during his time in Ikebukuro.]
And then we parted ways more or less. He's not exactly someone that makes it easy to get close. He doesn't bestow that honor lightly. But I might still spot him around the temple when I had business there. Or get updates from his father here and there.
[He's getting to the crux of it now. Hitoya didn't just call Ichiro out to assuage the teen's feelings about his friend although he's happy to add his perspective in any way that can help. At the end of the day, Hitoya has always been thinking about the best interests of their team, of Jyushi, and Kuko, those two kids he seemed to pick up like strays one day all those years ago and now feels some kind of responsibility for.]
Like when he disappeared after a fight with his old man one day. Gone without a trace. Not a bag packed or a single yen missing. Nor a single word for the better part of year. Until he just showed back up as suddenly as he left.
[Hitoya looks pointedly at Ichiro.]
I believe this is the part where you come in.
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The details are kinda messy but, I'm pretty sure we hooked up soon after he got to Ikebukuro. I was already working for a guy that Kuko didn't even like but he stuck around... I don't know why. [Because Kuko understood what he was fighting for. And if Hitoya knows anything about Kuko, that should be clear without any words.] We called ourselves Naughty Busters.
Then, that shithead boss of mine tried to get us into some trouble, but he messed with the wrong people and we turned things around on him. At that point, we became Mad Comic Dialogue with two other guys. [Ichiro's not being vague totally on purpose. The details are just not as important as the whole. They'd had each other's backs whether it was helping Kuko's old schoolmate or rescuing his little brothers... Kuko stuck with him through the worst of it and he thought their shared experience was strong enough to hold their bond together forever.]
Any of this news to you?
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He takes a drag of his cigarette, mulling over it while Ichiro gives the rest of the abridged version he'd more or less pieced together already. If Kuko was sticking around, that means there was something else he'd assigned his loyalties to. And there was only one thing that could possibly be.]
Some of it. [Hitoya admits, leaning into the truths available to him.] It lines up with what I've heard from Jyushi.
[He taps his cigarette into the ashtray sitting half full at the side of the table. Ichiro has to know there isn't a word that doesn't pass from between Jyushi and Hitoya, certainly not where a teammate is involves.]
What was he like? Any indication of what he was looking for in Tohto?
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Uhh, not really. I remember him using one of his weird proverbs as a reason for working together. Something like "Two inexperienced people working together will get better together"? So maybe he was just looking for experience?
[What experience he got from working under a slimy loan shark and then whatever the hell Sasara and Samatoki were, Ichiro doesn't know. He knows they did good together once they were out from under Mozuku's thumb but it still didn't make sense.]
But, man, nothing he did ever made sense. From the day he showed up to the day he left. He just did whatever that stupid, little goblin brain of his thought was "right."
[Stupid little goblin brain is said with all the affection in the world.]
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[It's here that Hitoya smiles in a way that he would probably never allow Kuko to witness. It's reminiscent of only the second time he sat across from the petulant young monk--equally fractious in his own role as his lawyer--and boldly proclaimed that he'd get Kuko that innocent verdict and turn the case on its head.
Because at the end of the day, Kuko did always act on sense of what was good. Right.]
The problem is what that means to him isn't always in line with how the average person might understand it. It's like he's always had one foot planted in this world, and the other ready to step into the next.
[Even that's reaching a higher level than Hitoya can really speak to though. He sighs. So where does that leave them now? He's more certain than ever, based on the details he shares and the affection with which he speaks, that Ichiro is someone Kuko would have considered one of his own. Knows firsthand how sacred that kind of bond is to Kuko.
Which brings to mind what happened, not so long after that...]
When our team was formed, he was quite insistent that we'd become a family through the act. I didn't think much of it at the time. I mean when you're facing those kinds of stakes, you don't stand a chance if you don't have that level of faith in the guys watching your back. But the way he spoke about it? Like it was personal? He said there'd be no chance for escape or betrayal. Even death won't free us from the bond.
[Considering the situation here in Avalon, the irony's not lost on him either.]
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Nothing Hitoya has said sounds unusual. That's Kuko. A real friend is someone you can call family.]
I don't know. We didn't end on good terms. Maybe he was trying to make sure that didn't happen again.
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[There it is. Out in the open. But once it's sitting there in front of him, Hitoya still hesitates, just a moment, in reaching out to take it. Ichiro's demeanor, his posture and the tension that has welled back up inside him, it precedes anything he might say and it's almost enough to keep Hitoya from asking entirely.]
Do you have any idea why?
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After a beat, he takes a breath and straightens up.
C'mon. Be strong.]
Like I said, it didn't make sense. He wasn't making any sense; it was like he was trying to find an excuse to hate me in the moment. But it didn't matter if he had one or not. He'd decided he was done with me - [Me sounds too vulnerable again. He'd made the same mistake with Jyushi but this time there is no way to fix it. Kuko had made it clear that he was sick of Ichiro specifically.] and you know that once he's set on something, there's no changing his mind.
I never got an answer.
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Ichiro may not notice, but the lawyer's expression has softened. He's like the kid from the outset. That Jyushi liked him, got on with him in ways that two teenagers should, only proved to be another mark in his favor. And at some point, he'd earned the highest mark of distinction of all from their team members.
It didn't add up. Not the way Ichiro is saying it went down. That much, Hitoya is certain of.]
You ever consider that it might not be about you? Think about it. He'd be quite the hypocrite to just dismiss you without any explanation.
[It's like he'd said. Bonds like that can't be severed so easily. Not even in death. Straight from the source.]
That's not the Kuko I know. And I'm willing to bet it doesn't sound like the one you knew deep down either.
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[Of course Ichiro had considered it might not be about him. Even after Samatoki talked him down, anger had festered from that fresh wound and he couldn't do anything but accuse Kuko of being the sole cause of it all. Ichiro hadn't done anything wrong. He couldn't have. They'd been normal just the day before. They were looking forward to facing off with Kujaku Posse as the four of them. Kuko was just being a punkass or had some other motive.
Blaming Kuko had just left him feeling sick, though, and left him with only two options that had never felt right either. Either he had done something or something had happened to Kuko to make him act that way. It would make sense, considering Sasara had pulled the same thing on the same day but... somehow it was so hard to believe. And then everything with The Dirty Dawg happened - his blowout with Samatoki. Samatoki blamed him for something, so it only made sense that he was the common factor in both breakups.
But at least Samatoki had a reason, whether it was correct or not. He hadn't been grasping at straws like Kuko had been, and that makes Ichiro return to a previous thought.
He hesitates before speaking.]
How... much do you know about Sasara-san?
[This isn't his story to tell - he hadn't even told Rosho about Sasara's time in MCD - but if it has anything to do with Kuko, he can't keep quiet. That's why he's here with Hitoya. So they have to talk about it.]
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[He lifts his hand only to find his cigarette is all but extinguished by this point, moving instead to stamp the remains of it out in the ashtray. He leaves it there and doesn't show any signs of lighting another.
Ichiro must have his reasons for bringing him into the conversation now.]
Even now I wouldn't say we're particularly close. Wouldn't have pegged him for the type to be leading team of his own but considering who he's working with I suppose it makes sense. Jyushi only mentioned that he'd been part of your team in Ikebukuro. You, Kuko and Samatoki Aohitsugi.
[And then it dawns on him.]
So what caused him to head back to Osaka? He was already gone by the time The Dirty Dawg was formed, wasn't it?
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You got it. Same day Kuko pissed off, Sasara-san called up Samatoki to do the same. No idea why and I was under the impression that he and Samatoki were just as close as Kuko and I.
[God, is he - is Ichiro stupid? Why had he insisted on blaming either of them this whole time when it was, clearly, never that simple? Nothing was ever what it seemed once the Hypnosis Mics were introduced.
There are still several holes in this conclusion but it now feels so solid of an explanation.
Ichiro slumps forward, face in his hands, over the table.] Dammit - I feel so stupid.
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Following that train of thought, hadn't something similar happened to The Dirty Dawg? Unlike these turf battles that had taken place in one small ward, their subsequent rise to power and fall from grace had been recorded all within the public eye. Everyone knew how that had ended. To think it wasn't the first time Ichiro had faced these circumstances... his posture fills in any blanks left by his word.
Reaching out across the table, Hitoya clasps Ichiro on the shoulder in a way that he hopes is reassuring.]
Don't blame yourself. Someone... something has been working hard to pull these strings while keeping all of us just far enough apart that we stay in the dark.
[Frowning, he can't help thinking how and why he may have been a target as well. And for a moment he shares in Ichiro's sentiments. How easily had they preyed on that?]
You know... aside from Kuko, I've got another connection to all of this I should probably mention. Me and Shinjuku's leader go way back.
[He's not trying to make it into conversation, just add to the magnitude of what they're looking at. It leaves a rotten taste in his mouth that has nothing to do with his talents as a Death mage. Sure, he and Jakurai had ended things on terrible terms but that was their business and not for anyone else to manipulate or use to their own ends.]
So whatever you're feeling right now? You should save it up and pay it back to whichever bastards are responsible, sevenfold.
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Tenfold. [He corrects. Because if whoever, or whatever, had managed to get so many people - all the people he cares about - entangled in this game of theirs, then they deserved nothing less. Years of questions and frustrations can't be compensated for so easily.
There are still so many questions that have yet to be answered, too, but Ichiro feels better about it all. Which is a relief since he'd gone into this expecting the worst. Jyushi and Tsumugi had been right --
Ichiro's head snaps up.] I need to talk to Jyushi.