Chapter Text
It was raining once more.
Sharp crystals descended from the heavens and attempted to drown the Earth, to submerge it all. Grey tendrils took over everything they could reach, tried to desaturate even the loudest neon lighting, a reminder that no matter how much Tatsuya tried to escape it,
The darkness was waiting.
Humid air made his shirt stick to his skin uncomfortably, the white fabric feeling damp and disgusting. It was incredibly annoying no matter how hard he tried to concentrate on the feeling of opening and closing his lighter, the clicking sound muffled by the sky’s wails.
But he had promised her he would pick her up and there he was, dutifully waiting under a marquise near his motorcycle, having enough trust in his proficiency with machinery that he wouldn’t hydroplane them to their doom. After all, he had been riding his baby for years, already knew the ins and the outs, and even if it was an incredibly uncomfortable affair,
He didn’t want to leave Noriko alone.
The neon lights above his head flickered in their battle against the overpowering grey, soft halos of yellows, greens and reds attempting to give a semblance of comfort despite the images of consumerism they displayed.
Sometime ago Anna Yoshizaka would’ve been standing next to him.
Perhaps he wouldn’t have even been there at all.
When was the last time he’d seen her with some resemblance of joy?
Back in highschool, most likely.
Tatsuya could still remember her smile, soft and subtle, rainy day air surrounding her wherever she went, both a blessing and a melancholy. She had greeted him with a curt nod and that friendly expression reserved only for those who were close, but not close enough, letting him share her black umbrella, passing it off to him so he could hold it comfortably over both of their heads.
“You’re too tall, Suou,” She’d mumbled while they casually strolled towards Tatsuya’s motorcycle.
“‘M normal. All of you are just short,” His lips mumbled in the present, drowned by the weeping heavens.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“Do you need a ride?”
Her ribbon had been proudly tied into the sweetest bow, a testament of her girlfriend’s doting, who had redone it and adjusted it with a fond scoff before sending her and Tatsuya to go off to their own classroom. It’d bounced cheerfully, following along the ruffles of the girl’s uniform, which he’d amusingly noticed Anna had attempted to sharpen in her day to day life as much as she could, to no avail.
“My shift doesn’t start till four, but. Sure, if you don’t mind picking Nori up.”
“I don’t.”
Another beautiful smile.
“Then sure.”
The bike racks had been as unimpressive as always, only occasionally the background for a fight between some local asshole and a fellow asshole from Kasugayama.
A flurry of black, white, and cyan that only rarely had been stopped by a teacher that had cared enough to intervene, or by those who had been high, but not high enough, in the chain of Kasugayama’s delinquency grabbing the student that had been dumb enough to go to Sevens and dragging him back. All of this while muttering a few annoyed apologies towards the crowd that had gathered to witness the event.
Complete stupidity, at least in Tatsuya’s opinion, even after he himself had been challenged a few times and he had responded.
At least he had enjoyed Mishina’s company when they had gotten to hang out, as their reputations had both been high enough that people hadn’t gotten the need to truly question why they were being seen together.
“I’d love to get one of these, you know?” Anna had said as they’d approached Tatsuya’s baby, which had been parked away from the offending rain.
“I can help you with that if you want.”
She had glanced at him with clever, amused eyes. “You wouldn’t stop tinkering with it, would you.”
And well, she had that.
Her clever eyes, those two blue mirrors that could easily take someone apart and rebuild them.
A sharpness, a wit.
But he’d always liked clever people, hadn’t he. His attempt at friendship with Anna hadn’t been something new. He enjoyed the visible calculations and the quick banter, the coldness and the rationality.
The little quirks.
Noriko’s soft splashing steps interrupted his thoughts and made him look away from the neon signs. She kept a composed pace as she exited her workplace, head held high as if that would hide the trembles on her shoulders, and her dark blue coat would keep her safe from onlookers. She offered Tatsuya a smile, soft and subdued, as monochrome as the weeping skies above her, contrasting with the vintage cheerfulness of the dry cleaner business behind her, yet somehow absorbing it, as if those little remnants of color were the only thing keeping her together. The bright blue ribbon on her hair was slightly crooked, and for a moment Tatsuya wanted to reach out and fix it, but.
It wasn’t his place.
He simply shot her a friendly nod, beckoning her to put on his spare helmet while he put back on his own, trying to swallow down the uncomfortable shiver that went down his spine when his damp hair touched the cheap inner fabric of the helmet.
“How was your day?”
“The same as always. A few old women came to get their coats cleaned. A man came for his suit.” She answered calmly as she put on the helmet.
“And your break?”
“Spent mostly playing games.”
“Oh.”
Her quiet voice was a complete contrast from the way she used to excitedly yell all the details of her day. And it wasn’t as if the daily routine had been any more exciting in the past, but rather than the melancholy surrounding the both of them was..
Familiar.
Settled in their bones.
If she hugged his waist a little tighter than usual as they rode through Sumaru’s darkening streets, he didn’t feel the need to mention it.
Lights blurred and turned into multicolored cascades, the rain relentlessly attempting its best to make Tatsuya’s maneuvering fail as they zoomed past it all, transformed ads of beautiful women into shells of themselves and made bar patrons whisper amongst each other of the craziness that was riding under such weather. Clear umbrellas mixed with jewel toned, hiding faceless crowds underneath, both old and young who were attempting their best to enjoy their evenings despite the rain, as hostesses tried to lure them inside their establishments and make them spend money they didn’t have.
Tears fell over all of them, uncaring of who was poor and who wasn’t, who balanced as many jobs as possible to continue studying and who skated through it all without remorse.
Fell over school children and their mothers, holding their hands with fond exhaustion.
Fell over salarymen eagerly looking to drown their sorrows.
Fell over young women excitedly chatting about their latest work accomplishments.
Fell over tattooed men joking amongst each other.
Fell between the gaps in Noriko’s tight grip.
Despite it all they arrived safely, with a small twinge of color having returned to Noriko’s face from the excitement that was Tatsuya’s preferred transport.
She got off the motorcycle with almost no difficulty, standing by her home’s public entrance and away from the rain to get the helmet off of her head.
And she was going to leave Tatsuya like that, but before she could manage to give him the helmet, quietly thank him and go to her apartment to cry out her sorrows, he gently called out for her.
“Uh, Noriko.”
“..Tatsuya-san?” No matter how hard he’d tried to tell her to call him by just his name, insisting that it was okay, the respect she’d had for him since the beginning had never truly faded. Sure, the ‘senpai’ title had been discarded, but the suffixes remained.
“Uh.” He had difficulty wording his sentiments.
Actions were better, in his opinion. Expressed a wider variety of feelings and subtleties than any words he could muster.
Noriko watched him patiently, soft dark blue eyes still keeping some remnants of her shattered innocence.
“There’s.. A coworker gave me tickets for a theatre thing. And I.. thought you would like to come. It’s about warriors and stuff like that.”
(Lisa would understand.)
She tilted her head, and for a moment Tatsuya was going to backpedal, maybe laugh it off, but a smile bloomed on her face, and she, for the first time in a while, eagerly nodded her head. “I’d love to join you, Tatsuya-san. When is it?”
“Tomorrow night,” He couldn’t help the way he tightly clutched the lighter inside his pants’ pocket, the awkwardness of his request not lost on him. “Sorry for the short notice. It’s. It’s fine if you can’t come. It’d be me and another friend.”
But Noriko just looked excited to have something to do. She nodded once more, and mouthed the date to herself, a sparkle on her eyes that had been lost long ago flickering for just a moment. “I can go.”
“Great.”
It seemed he’d been right on asking her to tag along.
“Lisa?” He leaned his head against his shoulder, where he balanced his phone as he took off his shoes, finally having left behind the unsafe slippery roads.
“Chinyan! Hi! What’s going on?” Her voice seemed to be far from the phone, echoing slightly the ruffling of some kind of plastic material.
“Uh, bad time?”
“What! Nonono! Not at all!” She let out a sheepish laugh as the ruffling noises continued, even increasing in volume, to Tatsuya’s perplexion. As he attempted his best to remove the sticky shirt off of his torso without dropping the phone he was balancing, Lisa continued. “You caught me painting my nails!”
Oh. Oooooh.
“Oh. Which color?” Well, he wasn’t going to be rude and not ask. Lisa had attempted once to paint his nails black, and while he’d been quite satisfied with the result, his dumb ass had proceeded to ruin them almost immediately via grabbing stuff he hadn’t been supposed to grab just yet. In response, Lisa had just taken a moment to laugh at his disappointed face, before actually helping him fix them.
“Green! I think it’ll go great with what I’m wearing tomorrow!”
He perked up at how easily the opportunity of talking about the following day was presented. As he chose the words in his head he walked through the dark walls of his house, only the kitchen illuminated, where his brother was most likely on some sort of little culinary adventure. He held his discarded shirt on his free hand, taking some passive amusement in swinging it around as he did his best to avoid having to pass through that sole spot of light in the way to his bedroom.
“Lisa, about tha-”
“Tatsuya? Is that you?”
Well. There went his chances of slipping through. “Wait Lisa, sorry,” was what he muttered into the phone before frustratingly replying to his brother that yes, it was him, and that he wasn’t hungry, and from there, finally, slipping into his room.
“Okay so. Uh, about tomorrow.”
“Yeah? I’m going in green and white, since I know you like wearing red. What do you think?”
“I think..” Well, he might as well say it. “I invited someone else, too.”
For a moment, there was silence on the other side of the line.
A dull beat of disappointment that made Tatsuya flinch slightly, but he didn’t back down on it, nor backtrack. It was just a second, however, and then Lisa picked the conversation right back up with a newfound fervor, as if the fall of her expectations had been nothing but a scratch.
Sure, Tatsuya had gotten four tickets from his coworker, but at the time he had gotten them, he had seen the program and called only Lisa immediately, knowing she would take some enjoyment out of seeing dramatic fight recreations to the beat of rapid drumming. She had responded positively, not only out of the fanciness that implied going to the theatre, but at the chance of seeing each other after a long while of being apart thanks to their respective responsibilities.
However, Lisa and him could see each other by themselves some other time.
“Oh! Who is it?”
“Noriko Katayama. Went with us to Sevens.”
“Katayama.. Katayama- Oh. Katayama-chan, track runner Katayama-chan?”
“Yeah.”
There was another pause.
As Tatsuya put her on speaker and continued the process of getting rid of uncomfortably wet clothing, it seemed Lisa went on her own internal journey, as it took her a longer time to continue, and this time not from disappointment.
“Yoshizaka-san’s..” Was all she mustered, a new understanding of the whole premise of Tatsuya suddenly placing a third in what were supposedly plans made for two dawning on her.
“Yup.”
And it seemed Lisa needed a little more time to fully process the meaning of his confirmation.
“Oh.. Uh. How.. how is she?” Static took over in those places neither of them wanted to fill with hollow words.
And how was Noriko, exactly?
Fragile.
Lonely.
Desperately latching onto anything that could distract her, for just a second.
The victim of pitying glances and, at the same time, sick joy.
The subject of conversation for soulless gossipers hunched together in Hirasaka’s ramen shop, who simply now considered Noriko Katayama available, a bit of a broken doll but still salvageable, who had finally seen the light, after all.
Tatsuya had to take a moment to stop gritting his teeth.
“Surviving.”
Lisa took a deep breath on the other side of the phone.
“Did you.. Did you ever see her again, Tatsuya? Yoshizaka-san, I mean.”
The last few times he had seen her she had been too far away, surrounded by people he hadn’t ever seen before, her eyes turned from mirrors into hollow glass.
Empty inside.
Surrounded by hollow laughter, by smiles that quite didn’t reach anyone’s eyes.
With them.
Until one day he simply stopped seeing her at all.
Concerned, he’d tried texting her, even calling her, but.
She never picked up.
A crying Noriko on his doorstep later, he learned that one day, after a particular argument, Anna had simply stood up, said goodbye to her girlfriend, and never came back. She had decided to choose them over Noriko, once she realised she couldn’t have both in her life at the same time.
Noriko had asked in that moment if she had been too unfair to Anna. If she should’ve followed her, at least went to the ceremonies, even if she didn’t believe in them.
If freaking out about the garbs Anna had begun wearing once a week had been her going too far.
Tatsuya had just welcomed her into his arms, trying to stop himself from tearing up.
“No.”
“I.. I see. It. It’ll be nice having Katayama-san with us, Tatsuya.”
“Sorry.” And he meant it, as he was more than aware that Lisa and Noriko barely knew each other, but he didn’t want to leave neither of his friends alone, and it seemed like the best option to just hang out with the both of them at the same time.
“Chinyan, please, don’t apologize! It’s fine! I don’t mind. Seriously.” The laughter with which she punctuated her sentence was a pleasure to Tatsuya’s ears, not only because that meant his worries had been for nothing, but because they could move on to less heavy subjects. And if he was sure she wouldn’t take it the wrong way, he’d have told her so. That he loved her voice and her behavior, just.. not in the way she wanted him to.
She had been brave, long ago, presenting a letter to him while attempting to hide her tender heart from utterly shattering, and he had appreciated it, but had to gently tell her he didn’t feel the same. As a response she’d just stood there as utter pain flashed through her, only to laugh it off and gently punch his shoulder, rolling her eyes and telling him he’d be sorry for that, as one day she would be the prettiest woman in the world, and he’d finally notice her.
Something which they both knew that had just been a defense mechanism.
She would eventually slowly cool off as they continued to hang out and he demonstrated he wasn’t the brightest lightbulb around, making her laugh at him more than once at just how ridiculous his antics could get, but there were certain things Tatsuya was still scared of telling her, simply for the fact that he didn’t want to bring his friend further pain, or even accidentally play with her feelings.
She didn’t deserve that from any man, much less from him.
And so, he’d keep to himself the little fact that he adored her voice.
“Are you sure?”
“No, I’m lying to you because I feel like it. Duh, Tatsuya, of course I don’t mind.”
“Just wanted to make sure.”
Having picked up Lisa, the walk towards Noriko’s apartment complex was uneventful.
He made sure to compliment her in her outfit, though, because she truly looked good. He himself didn’t have that much of an eye for fashion, but he could recognize when a woman looked beautiful, and she truly did. The green top and white pants looked both easy to move in and elegant, more than suitable for where they were going, her makeup made her eyelashes look impossibly long, and the short heels emphasized the elegant aura, even if she quickly demonstrated she could more than easily kick some ass if needed, her white purse being a possible weapon.
He couldn’t help his small smile at that.
As for himself.. well, he knew the occasion was fancy, so he had done his best, even had asked his brother about it, who seemed to have gotten a heart attack for a second from the sheer surprise that Tatsuya had come up to him for advice. Said advice ended up becoming Tatsuya’s current getup, a red short sleeved button up and appropriate black pants, basically a more formal version of the same shit he wore all the time.
And he looked good in it, damnit. Even if it wasn’t one of his funny shirts.
As they waited for Noriko to get down, Tatsuya and Lisa leaned against the wall next to the main entrance. Having looked around for a moment to check there were no police around, Lisa pulled out from her purse her portable ashtray, a little funny thing with cats printed on it, which she quickly handed to Tatsuya, before taking out a small, completely dark brown cigarette from a small tin.
“Do you mind?” Her gentle blue eyes settled on his for a second, looking at him with what Tatsuya could only describe to himself as shame.
Which, honestly, he had yet to understand the reason for.
He shook his head and she visibly relaxed, taking back the small ashtray once the cigarette had been lit.
The smoke curled and floated over them, thicker than simple old tobacco and unmistakably less blue, the burnt mint smell making Tatsuya scrunch his nose slightly, but not enough for him to comment on it. It framed Lisa slightly, made her softer, plump lips wrapping around the stick and inhaling her latest experiment. When she spoke, he mostly listened, her sweet voice telling him a few of the worries she couldn’t express through text, of a father who insisted on her not moving out just yet and college exams that were weighing on her.
Of maybe needing to get a few side gigs, just to get out of the house more often.
“And what about you, Chinyan? How was your day?”
“Eh. Mostly training. Spent some time wrapping people up in futons.”
That made her let out a loud laugh, and she was about to ask further information about how that had been, but they were both interrupted by the magnetic key’s screech that meant Noriko was ready to go out. This made Lisa quickly scramble to put out the cigarette and place it inside the mini ashtray once it was satisfactorily not a fire hazard, and then rush to place a piece of gum in her mouth and move her arms up and down, a quite hilarious way of trying to put away the strong smoke scent she had created.
If Tatsuya was a horrible person, he’d have laughed.
No, his shoulders weren’t shaking and he wasn’t grinning.
Not at all.
When Noriko joined them, the first thing she did was simply stare at Lisa’s wonderful rendition of a chicken dance, tilting her head.
Tatsuya simply raised his hand in a little wave, just as Lisa froze in place, her elbows still up in the air.
“Katayama-san! Hi!” Her voice had become significantly louder, a clear mark that she was nervous, but this was Ginko, and Ginko was nothing but a very self assured woman. She quickly turned the chicken wings into clasped hands, giving poor Noriko a friendly smile.
For a moment, Noriko looked.. a little confused.
She looked a little better than the day before, however, and that was mostly what Tatsuya was looking for, even more when she smiled in clear amusement, quickly piecing together what was going on, if only for the still dissipating smoke.
“I don’t mind the smell, Silverman-san. But thank you for worrying.”
Lisa sighed in defeat at that. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay! Really.”
Posture perfect as always, Noriko wore all vibrant blue, a contrast from the grey tendrils she emanated, which, while subdued, still lurked. The dark coat had been left at home this time, her silhouette at least a little brighter than the day before, and her hair was let loose over her shoulders cascading in pitch black layers, a first in a long, long time since Tatsuya had known her.
And at least Lisa’s little stunt had helped break the ice slightly.
Noriko was quickly included in their conversation, her volume a fraction of what it would have been in the past but still raising slightly, as Lisa asked her questions about her life all while carefully sidestepping any possible mention of Anna’s name.
Tatsuya, meanwhile, was just happy to listen.
“I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOUR INSULT TO ME IN YEARS PAST. I SHALL SEEK REVENGE NOW AND FOREVER, UNTIL I SEE YOUR BLOOD SPILT BY MY HAND!”
The flurry of bright white fabric and long black hair ran through the wooden runway, brown striped face alight with fury, the sword’s metal shining by the stage’s lights. They, a white face and impossibly quick feet, collided with their enemy, a warrior dressed in the loudest red who managed to dodge at the last second a certain death. The instruments got angrier, faster, the vibrations hitting the core of Tatsuya’s soul. Surrounding them, a flurry of black figures, nonexistent people, who carried the shards of what was left of the ancient ruins they were destroying. “CEASE YOUR FIGHTING, AS I AM STILL ALIVE!” The maiden shouted, a clear distress in her white face as she drew out her own sword, determined to assist the hero in stopping the spirit that had gone mad.
The music got even louder.
The stage turned and twisted, the fight turned vicious, the spirit got angrier, their dance making them gain further power, the appearance of a godling surrounding them and granting them heavenly strength.
Drums.
Red.
White.
Black.
The injury of the hero under the spirit’s hand.
Noriko, on Tatsuya’s right side, looked quite entertained, for a while her sorrow seemingly having been pushed aside, her eyes quickly following the action with great interest, applauding loudly when the rest of the crowd did, gasping and reacting in favor of the villain in a way that reminded Tatsuya of a younger track runner yelling loudly at the tv as if somehow that would change the outcome of what they were watching.
Meanwhile, Lisa, on his left side, clutched his arm tightly in the fight scenes and yelled more than once, rooting for the hero with the same ferocious tone she would take while watching her kung fu movies.
Well, Tatsuya was glad they were having fun.
As the maiden gave her tear jerking speech about how much the warrior needed to keep going despite the world’s adversities, which Tatsuya could only capture about seventy percent of thanks to the sheer age of the language being used up on the stage, he took a moment to look around.
Lisa had loosened her grip on him, focused on the maiden’s speech of love and strength, silently nodding along with her sorrow.
Noriko looked a bit annoyed by the cutaway from the action, but nonetheless she didn’t look away from the stage, preferring to admire the painted setup, the cardboard ruins painted and lit in such a way they resembled an ukiyo-e.
But from there his eyes wandered, towards the rest of the audience surrounding them.
Hordes of monochrome ensembles occasionally interrupted by a daring splash of extravagant fashion choices. A few bored partners and more than interested troupes. Outsiders who seemed to have a hard time understanding what was going on right next to foreigners who had too much idea and possibly a diploma on these things. Masked circle members. A few lost otaku who seemed to have misunderstood what exactly kabuki was and had been expecting an anime.
Nothing too remark- Wait, what.
Oh fuck.
He wasn’t aware these people would be here.
Had Noriko seen them.
He really hoped Noriko hadn’t seen them.
He looked down at Noriko.
She was still looking at the stage, thank fuck.
Carefully he looked up,
Only to find himself with a particular mask looking right back.