Corpse Bride || Haitani Brothers/OC

epilogue

proof of that was the ugly scar on his wrist.

Hikari.

to this day he doesn't have a clue why it's engraved in his skin.

Ran calls for a clean-up, and as soon as the door opens, he and Mikey were rendered silent at the man who had entered. there was nothing special about him, he was of low if not the lowest rank—the fact that he has to be the one cleaning up messes says much.

he had jet black hair. almost everyone in Japan had black hair, although it didn't seem ordinary for some reason. it was pure black. he bows, nervously looks up at them, then stutters out a greeting.

"I-I good morning." it was night. "I'm Hid-Hideo Tanaka, I was from the Shibuya branch until you went understaffed here." until Ran went on a cleaning spree. "it's always been my dream to see you guys."

Red Flower sent me for this reason alone, Hideo thought. the two men seemed to be dumbstruck which was good. he was going for the stupid, naive, inexperienced criminal.

"I- I was called to clean up—"

"Hideo, was it?" Ran cut him off. a chill ran down his spine at the man's voice, not more than his smile made his feet cold.

it was as if Ran's lazy eyes put a bullet through his head.

calm down, he tells himself.

"yes, sir."

"how about we stop talking and do our jobs, yes?"

he talked so casually. just the same, Hideo's seen how casual and relaxed the man was when putting down his colleagues in horrible ways. he's been in the industry for a while...everyone had a mission, a purpose. some liked torture, some liked a swift kill.

Ran was simply the devil. he may not be the strongest, or the leader. but he was pure evil—it was all he was capable of being. he kills for pleasure, missions were simply making it convenient. he killed women too—one of which Hideo had liked before; she was a prostitute Ran so easily discarded of.

Hideo self-consciously bends down before Ran, setting down the body bag he brought. he could feel the devil's purple eyes on him. it was as if he was doing a shit job in his undercover mission; like everything about him, his life story, his love for his sister, his two year-old little brother that no one knows about is out in the open for Ran to see effortlessly.

"it's not your first time seeing a dead body, is it?"

he feared and hated Ran's voice so much, he could feel bile rise at the back of his throat.

"no."

"no?"

"no, sir."

Mikey was a still doll.

"you seem to recognize him," Ran teases.

"I-"

"a comrade perhaps?" he furthers on, his shoe residing below Hideo's chin as he tilts it up.

Hideo was shaking—it wasn't even an act. he's even faced Sanzu and Rindou before; people who were their own kind of devils too. but Ran...there was just something of his existence that seemed to corrupt the air he breathed and altered the cogs of his brain.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Ran raised a brow, his smile taunting.

"...sir," Hideo adds. fuck, I keep forgetting.

at this point, with Ran's claws set on him, he's sure he was now under his suspicion. it was only day one; the man in charge of Bonten's intel must've really been perceptive with people.