K -R:B-

Chapter 2

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K R:B by Azano Kouhei

3 (part ½, pages 56-70)

“…Looks like that person really is unfathomable.”

This was Kusanagi’s overall a.s.sessment of Munakata Reishi, the person who had become the new Blue King, after the Homura XO investigated him as much as he could.

It was 7 P.M., and the midsummer heat abated, but it still was bright outside. The sky was bisected in 2 colors - light vermillion and deep ultramarine; down on the ground, the radiant city lights were beginning to come to life.

Bar HOMRA had opened its doors and was now crowded, as always - although not with customers, much to the chagrin and migraine of the bar’s owner. People who a.s.sembled inside the cla.s.sy interior of the joint were boisterous youths. Like all youngsters, who have more energy that they know what to do with, the rough feel about them that their manner of speech and conduct created stood out. On the other hand, though, no twistedness warped the smiling faces they showed now and again, and the light that dwelt in their eyes was bright and clear.

They were the members of Homura, who gathered under the Red King, Suoh Mikoto. Among them, there were a few key members, frequent patrons of the bar HOMRA. It went without saying that Kusanagi and Totsuka were present, as well as Suoh, who was seated on a bar stool at the counter and drinking from a small bottle of beer, and Anna, who sat unmovingly next to him.

It was always noisy when the members gathered, and the latest hot topic about the freshly enthroned new Blue King was not helping. Although very few others could boast an informational network like Kusanagi’s, in general, the Homura members had a lot of influence in the underworld. That’s why it only made sense that all of them heard the gossip in question one way or another even if they didn’t try to hunt for it specifically.

“The guy woke up with a weird power one day, becoming a king out of the blue, yet he took it as if it was completely normal and is getting about like n.o.body’s business. He put Scepter 4’s rebuilding on the rails in no time at all… On top of that, he’s forming the actual combat troops from the scratch because he wants to handpick and train the members personally. You gotta hand it to the guy, he’s no slouch, really.”

A cigarette in his mouth and a gla.s.s he was wiping in hand, Kushanagi shared his impressions with the others. He sounded both impressed and amazed. All the clansmen paid attention, listening carefully to the explanation the team’s XO provided.

“Looks like he was always one h.e.l.l of an overachiever. To make things worse, he’s now getting about with such zeal that you have to wonder when the guy even sleeps. A polar opposite of certain other kings who only know how to eat and sleep.”

It was said on purpose, and Kusanagi sent a meaningful sidelong glance in Suoh’s direction. Suoh snorted and, smirking with only the corners of his lips around the bottle, gulped his beer.

“…That new Blue King is really that impressive?”

The one who asked that was Kamamoto, a tan-skinned blond. He was Homura’s prided heavyweight cla.s.s fighter - except that he apparently had a const.i.tution with low tolerance for heat, so in summer he would lose a great deal of his weight and look like a different person entirely. But, radical summer slim-down aside, in Homura, choke full of oddb.a.l.l.s, he was the type with well-developed common sense that could rival Kusanagi’s and played the role of the voice of reason.

“See for yourself,” Kusanagi replied to Kamamoto’s question, taking a drag of his cigarette. “A youngster who’s barely 20 is having the government and the army wrapped around his little finger. Even with the Gold King’s backing, he has to be exceedingly heavy handed, himself. And yet, despite that, he’s shrewd enough to play his cards just right, no mistakes made. Just what kind of life he had to lead to grow up into such a superman, I wonder.”
“Apparently, his crackdown on strains is going smoothly, as well.”
“That’s right.” Kusanagi nodded to Totsuka’s comment and elaborated dispa.s.sionately, “His Majesty personally goes to the scene and takes command of his forces. Well, I have yet to see it for myself, but… so far, I didn’t hear of any blunders or errors in judgement on his part.”

For Homura, the Blue King was someone who could become a threat in the near future. Yet, the way Kusanagi spoke of him could be very well taken as him enjoying the appearance of a worthy rival. Those sentiments precisely might have been part of the reason why someone like Kusanagi was a Red clansman.

Kamamoto, who listened attentively, folded his arms and nodded a couple of times to his words. The other members, however, were making slightly displeased faces.

It wasn’t easy for them to stomach that the XO they respected forgot all about Suoh and was raving about some other king instead. For better or for worse, that childish pigheadedness was one of the defining traits of Homura as a team.

“…But that’s the Blues’ boss we’re talking about, right? I bet he’s a creepy and dodgy a.s.shole, no matter how you slice it.”

The boy who made this remark, scowling deeply, was of a small stature and conspicuously baby-faced even among the young members. Beneath the summer knit cap he wore, a pair of big lively eyes glared at Kusanagi from under his knit brows.

The boy’s name was Yata Misaki. Among the members gathered at the bar, he was a relative newcomer, and younger than the rest, at that. But, he possessed one of the greatest strengths in Homura and was trusted by the members.

His popularity stemmed from his straightforward and honest personality and his absolute adoration to Suoh. Excluding the three leaders, that young boy was the core of Team Homura.

“So what if he’s a king? He’s nothing special, it’s obvious. If he tries to mess with Anna again, we’ll deal with him and his Blue stooges, so that Mikoto-san won’t have to dirty his hands himself. Right, guys?”

Yata shot out with vigor, calling out to the others and urging them to support him. The members next to him didn’t take long to: “Sure thing,” Bandou Saburouta nodded; “Right,” Chitose You laughted, his expression plainly saying that it would only be natural. Those two were always quick to join in, but the other members also seemed to agree with Yata.

Incidentally, “Blues” [*] was a popular term of reference to Scepter 4 that stemmed from the fact that their uniforms were, indeed, blue. From where Homura stood, with the members’ rough street fashion choices in clothing, the military styled uniform of Scepter 4 was too formal, too pompous and too dull - in other words, it fully qualified as the symbol of those “creepy” people.

Totsuka smiled with his usual grin. “That’s Homura’s vanguard for you. So reliable.”
“ ‘course, Totsuka-san! I’ll never forgive s.h.i.ts who dare to underestimate Homura!”

Homura was a street gang. Fights were welcomed, and there could hardly be found someone among the members who would shy away from them. Of course, it wasn’t like Bandou and most of the others were aggressive usually, but when a fight was brewing, they jumped into the fray head first without thinking of the consequences.

Saying that such recklessness was in this clan’s very nature would only be true. As far as older Kusanagi was concerned, however, it was rea.s.suring, but at the same time dangerous.

Said Kusanagi stubbed out his cigarette on the ashtray.

“First, calm down, Yata. No need to worry, the Blues have no reason to try anything with Anna anymore. Like I said to Totsuka the other day, for now we’re adopting a wait-and-see att.i.tude.”
“But Kusanagi-san!”
“It’s all good. If we talk kings and clans, we’re the senpais here, you know? No need to throw our weight around with a young upstart as our opponent. First, we’ll see what he’s got, getting ready in the meantime, okay?” Kusanagi said with a smile, and it instantly worked, putting Yata back in a good mood.
“Oh well, maybe you’re right,” he replied elatedly with a broad grin of his own. That unadulterated simplicity was probably another reason why the senior members loved Yata so much. “Alright then, I’ll make sure to keep watch on the new Blues so that they won’t start looking down on us. If something happens, as the veterans, we’ll teach them how this town works!”
“Hahaha. The Blues sure will lose face if they’ll need Yata, of all people, to teach them anything.”
“That was uncalled for, Totsuka-san! After all, it’s been a whole year already since I became a clansman, myself!”

Yata made a hurt face and the bar got filled with laughter.

Only, a small click of a tongue, coming from the corner, was mixed in with all the chuckling voices.

“…Are you sure we should be taking this so nonchalantly, Kusanagi-san?”

A quiet muttering voice, almost a whisper, followed the click. Despite the low volume, the cold ring present in the voice stood out starkly, like a foreign object, and all the members who were laughing only a moment ago found themselves focusing on the owner of the voice.

“The main duty of Scepter 4 is to police strains. And it clashes with our business in many ways.”

The only person to voice this cool-headed and somber view, refusing to be swayed by those around him, was Fushimi Saruhiko. He was a slender boy with gla.s.ses who had a somewhat gloomy, unapproachable air about him. Despite that, he was proficient at fighting and, being a sharp individual in general, excelled at electronic warfare as well. He joined Homura at the same time as Yata, making him a relatively fresh member, and, like Yata, this boy, too, was acknowledged by the team, only in a very different sense.

Kusanagi only shrugged his shoulders at Fushimi’s opinion. “You mean the trouble resolution that we’re often commissioned to do? Well, once Scepter 4 is fully operational, I expect the number of requests to drop greatly, yes.”
“Ehh? But isn’t that bad for us?”
“Kamamoto. If you’re that worried about something like that, go study your family’s supply tricks more. They’ll make for a decent source of income for you.”
“No, no! Please don’t put it in a way that invites misunderstandings. It’s not like we’re ripping off our customers, alright?”

One of Bar HOMRA’s suppliers was “Kamamoto liquor store”, owned by Kamamoto’s family. Kamamoto was fl.u.s.tered, and Yata shot a sharp questioning glare in his direction. That made Kamamoto lose his cool completely. “We’re not, I swear!” he denied in a shrilly voice.

This was when another member decided to join in the discussion.

“…For one, even if they’re specializing in strains, in the end, Scepter 4 is a government-a.s.sociated organization. Those who come to us for that kind of service are mostly in - well, not exactly illegal stuff, but, in, let’s say, gray business… so I don’t really think Scepter 4’s rebuilt is gonna affect us all that much?”

The one who pointed that out was Dewa Masaomi. Among the Homura members, he, like Fushimi, was a - relatively - cool headed man.

And he was actually right: Homura was a street gang and people who came asking them to settle some kind of trouble were, with rare exception, close to the underside of society themselves. If they had to choose between Scepter 4 and Homura to take care of their disputes, most of them would prefer the latter.

“What I’m talking about is that Scepter 4 can intervene on a unilateral basis even before a request is made. If things are left like this, we’ll just end up b.u.mping heads with them at the site,” Fushimi clarified in an annoyed tone. “On top of that… and that’s more of a problem - it’s not only strains that Scepter 4 polices. If, say, a Red clansman breaks the law, Scepter 4 will be sure to swoop down on them.”

When Fushimi said that, he cast a razor sharp look at Kusanagi.

“…Are you sure you want to just leave things like this? Even knowing that many of Homura’s low ranking clansmen have been getting carried away lately? Frankly speaking, we’re "full of holes”, ourselves, and if the Blues so desire, they’ll find all the room they could possibly ask for to get a drop on us even without really searching. The Blue King is a gogetter, right? If he’s being so energetic about his job, it means he’s got quite the ambition to fulfill, no? So if we sit on our hands affecting airs and stuff, we might be in for some really rough times, don’t you think?“

"Hey, wha, Saruhiko!” Yata interrupted, fl.u.s.tered at Fushimi’s provocative words. Fushimi turned to him with an irritated look, “What.”

Yata and Fushimi had known each other ever since before Homura. They were complete opposites in personality, but when they teamed up in a fight, even someone of Kusanagi’s level would find them more than he could handle, and the fact that Yata managed to distinguish himself almost immediately after he had joined Homura was due to Fushimi providing him necessary support.

Kusanagi gave the two a peculiar look and addressed Fushimi with a serious tone that was in stark contrast with the expression he wore on his face, “—So you think so too, huh?”

Fushimi remained silent, his eyes focused on Kusanagi and seemingly saying that he saw no need whatsoever to confirm every little thing verbally.

It was true that the Red clan’s present situation was such that should the Blue King “so desire”, he could find any number of valid pretexts, because Homura was a fertile ground in that sense. If it did come to that, and the clan still wanted to defend its clansmen - well, Homura would have no choice but to violate Protocol 120.

And in Homura, sticking up for a comrade against an outside enemy was the unwritten law, consequences be d.a.m.ned. It wasn’t like someone had set this rule explicitly, but the notion came to be trusted, becoming what supported the team’s unity. It was hard - or rather, considering its nature, downright impossible - to change that, even if sticking to that principle meant opposing Protocol.

In other words…

“…Eh? Then, doesn’t that mean a possible war with Scepter 4? Like, for real?” Bandou asked gingerly.

A moment of silence followed, and then…

“Bring it,” Chitose snorted with laughter. “The Blues are still in the middle of filling their troops, right? Then we just need to do the same and round us up some new members, and then strike. If we do it now, it’s obvious that we’ll be able to gather a lot more people than half-dead Scepter 4.”
“Huh? Why do we have to add any more fools to our ranks? It’s obvious that the only ones who aspire to join right now are trash that think Homura is a sweet place to do what they please.”
“Huuh?”

Fushimi really didn’t mince his words, and Chitose was about to lash out at him, but Kusanagi pacified him with a wry smile. “Easy, now. That won’t do for the one who was just saying how full of holes we are to be picking fights and adding to those holes.”

To change the atmosphere, Totsuka chirped in lightly, “So full of energy, eh. If you ask me, I understand where Chitose is coming from, but, uh… Right, Kusanagi-san?”
“That’s right. I had a talk with Totsuka the other day, and allow me to be blunt: at the moment, Homura is too uselessly swollen. It’s like Fushimi said: we don’t even have any semblance of control in place. …Speaking of, could you maybe make effort and crack down on the guys under you to keep them in line a little better, Mikoto?”

Totsuka had pa.s.sed the buck to Kusanagi, and Kusanagi, in turn, was looking to pa.s.s the buck to Suoh in the form of light teasing. Suoh, meanwhile, was sipping his beer as if the discussion had nothing to do with him. Having been chastised, Chitose affected a sulky pout, and Dewa, seeing him like that, couldn’t help a little chuckle.

“—If we’re going with the crackdown route,” Fushimi spoke up again, “then in a sense, revival of Scepter 4 can work in our favor. We can use it as a pretext to bring the brash c.o.c.ky fools under control. …If push comes to shove, we can even let the Blues have a few people, as a warning to the rest.”
“Hey, now, hold it, Fushimi. That’s clearly going too far, no matter how you look at it!”
“Like I care. The new guys’ve been a pain in the a.s.s lately,” Fushimi spit out in reply to Kamamoto when even the calm blond couldn’t stay silent hearing his outrageous proposal. Even among Homura’s not the most upstanding lineup Fushimi’s underhandedness was notable, as well as his lack of care for his comrades. For that reason, the members often chose to keep him at an arm’s length, but it was precisely because he didn’t get swayed by the whole Homura family spirit that he could provide an objective opinion on matters, and to the team, that was valuable.

Yata’s face was solemn when he asked, “…Saruhiko. Are the new guys really that bad?”
Fushimi frowned, “I should’ve known it already, but you sure live without a care in the world, huh. Well, I’m not saying they all are rotten, but almost all of the more or less notable ones are. They brandish the name of Homura and Suoh Mikoto and swagger in front of punks and strains.”
“Whaat?! They use Mikoto-san’s name?!”
“There’s lots of guys like that. "I’m the Red King’s buddy”, “I’m his favorite”… Oh well, those who joined Homura had cleared the installation, and to people who know nothing they do look credible, I guess.“

With that, Fushimi threw an accusatory look at Suoh’s back, the man in question still just sitting idly behind the counter.

Generally, Suoh didn’t turn down anyone who came to him. He also didn’t regard the installation as something special, so it was a fact that this kind of att.i.tude that made receiving the power too easy was one of the causes of the present predicament the clan faced.

That, and…

”…Ahh…“ Bandou showed an awkward and strained smile. "Come to think of it, an old friend of mine begged me to introduce him to "Suoh-san”… We were drinking, and I promised him thoughtlessly… I think…“
”…I can’t believe you man,“ Kamamoto said shocked.

Bandou, now being the focus of his comrades’ cold stares, hastened to apologize defiantly, "What! Did I do something bad?! Alright, I admit I did, and I’m sorry, okay?!”

What was bad about it, though, was that a ton of similar stories took place. There was a constant undrying stream of not just delinquents from Shizume town, but also from other locations who came to Shizume specifically because they longed for Homura’s prestige. Unlike them, for Suoh himself, as well as for quite a few of the key members who were present at the bar at the moment, every opportunity to see each other was a valued experience.

From the start, the members of Homura were originally outcasts ostracized by the world. But at present, to this neighborhood, Homura had become the “authority”. And the members, harboring only unpleasant feelings towards anything with “authority” label on it, didn’t find it amusing in the slightest.

And…

“Can I ask something…?” A man who was keeping silent until now opened his mouth. His name was Fujishima Kousuke, and he was a young man of few words, but honest and artless. “What’s the probability of a war with the Blue clan?”

Most members considered Fujishima a quiet, unsociable guy, but when it came to caring for his comrades, he was vying for the top or runnerup spot even among Homura. In his calm face, turned to Kusanagi questioningly, unshakable resolve could be glimpsed.

“No idea,” Kusanagi replied honestly. “But well, fighting won’t do us any good, so I’d want to avoid it, if possible, but… that will depend on what our opponent will be up to.”
“So in the end, the Blues get to call the shots and we’ll just depend on them?”
“Yes, but there’s no need to make such a scary face just because of that, Yata. When I say we’ll wait and see, I also mean that we’ll be thoroughly ascertaining the Blue King’s character in the meantime,” Kusanagi clarified with a wry smile.

Kusanagi’s conclusion had already been reached and would not change no matter how many times he had to repeat it: for the time being, they would take the wait-and-see stance. Needless to say, before deciding on this plan, he had already considered all the easy to see arguments that had been voiced so far.

In any case, caution could absolutely not be disregarded this time around, because they were up against none other than the Blue King. As the XO of the Red clan, this policy was only reasonable.

After all, the Blue King—

“There is also the fate of the previous generation to consider,” Fushimi said suggestively.

All the present - that is, all except for Suoh - winced instinctively and sent a glare Fushimi’s way.

It went without saying that among the members, currently a.s.sembled in the bar, there was no one who didn’t know about the Kagutsu incident.

“Red and Blue are like oil and water, both in power and in the clan’s nature. —Surprising as it may seem, it could be that right about now the Blues are having similar thoughts about the situation, trying to guess what move the Red King will make. Their nerves are also high strung as they’re gauging us, I imagine.”

In all likelihood, it was precisely that way. No doubt, the Blue King, too, was watching Suoh’s every move closely. And if he really had a far-reaching “ambition”, like Fushimi said, then it was highly probable that his gaze was heavy with dangerous agenda.

All the members sunk into silence.

A lone voice broke it.

“What do you think, King?”

It was Totsuka who asked Suoh that in his usual light tone. Anna, sitting next to Suoh, visibly tensed. “…Mikoto…?” She was gazing up at Suoh.

Suoh drained his remaining beer in one swig and put the bottle on the counter with a little clicking sound.

“I’ll think about it when the time comes.”

His response was unconcerned.

But in no way it precluded the possibility of a war with the Blue clan. The king’s words instantly dominated the place and the clansmen. It felt as if the temperature inside the bar suddenly jumped.

In the wake of the moment, Kusanagi, sour expression on his face, exchanged a look with Totsuka, who was also having mixed feelings. Anna’s upcast gaze, fixed on Suoh, betrayed a smidge of anxiety.

T/N: [*] The accent on clothing in this paragraph might feel a little weird, and that’s because the Blue clansmen are actually called “Aof.u.ku“ (literally ”Blue Coats”). But we all are too used to the term “Blues“ by now (blame the subs) and it’s too late to change it, because if I did, every paragraph where it’s used would feel weird. Without changing it only one paragraph feels weird, so there.

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