(Mika)
Asher has been sitting at my desk for the past few days, watching my every move, "Where were you yesterday? I know you weren't with Yuu."
"I was handling Ray." I hoped that Yuu wasn't jealous of my honesty with Asher, Ash already knew, and there wasn't much I could do about that. Honesty with Yuu wasn't exactly an option. Asher tapped his foot against the carpet over and over again, yet another anxious habit, I have no idea why Yuu hadn't addressed that yet, "Why are you nervous? It went well." Well... I never claimed to be completely honest with Asher either.
"Bullshit," he brought his hand up to his mouth and began to bite his nails, "he sent me a weird text yesterday from Brighton's phone about needing to confront you."
"Yeah, he said something like that." I responded, the sound of the tapping was starting to annoy me.
"You've been spending a lot of time with Yuu." And just like that I knew that him and Ray were on the same page weather they knew it or not. They were afraid of what I was going to do to Yuu. A part of me savored the moment, yet another part of me knows damn well it's not just because of the past.
"Ash, did you know that you've been acting really nervous ever since the hospital?" I typed away on my keyboard, responding to an email about an appointment I needed to make with one of the manufacturers, "But it seems to be only towards me. Did you see something you weren't supposed to?" I shot him a glance and saw the fear course through him, "So you did. What did you see?"
"The club owner." He admitted easily. That was more than enough information for me to know exactly what he meant. If it wasn't for Yuu's not so unusual attachment to Ash, I would've already been planning something. But unfortunately I didn't really want to see him that upset. Not only that, a random death of someone he cared about could trigger some not so fond memories.
"You already knew that most of my business partners were shady, I don't direct contribute unless I have a reason to." I reminded him.
"He's a trafficker!" Asher whisper screamed.
"Woah, hold on. That sounds really bad when you're not specific. There are people out there who abduct others and sell them as a whole, which is a rather large market, but not as profitable. Crowley sells- how do I put this? When health care professionals fail and all other options are unavailable or if a personal project is unethical, Crowley is there to provide them with what they need. You're overreacting." I shrugged.
"HE'S AN ORGAN TRAFFICKER! SAYING IT IN FANCY WORDING DOESN'T HELP!" Ash retorted. He had a point there.
"Anyway, what of it? Why does it make you nervous about Yuu's safety? We know nothing bad will happen to him." It was time to try a different strategy.
"This proves that you're just as bad, if not worse, than last time." Ash reasoned out.
"You're being too sensitive, nothing bad is going to happen." I reminded him.
"You say that now, but what are you going to do if he leaves you?" He asked.
"That won't happen." I chuckled. That statement had... more than one interpretation.
"You're being naive. I'm not saying it will, but don't you think you should have a reaction planned out just in case?" He asked, "Yuu would be shocked if you suddenly switched your mood like that. Do you want to see that scared look?"
Maybe.
"We can always think about that later," I rolled my eyes, "you're underestimating Yuu's intellect, and it's upsetting me. We all know that you have a very different way of seeing him, but he's not a dumbass. Today he called me out for being a liar. That mother fucker completely trapped me in a situation where remaining silent would be the same as saying yes. He left very little room for interpretation."
"Smart. The only thing that he could do that would make him monumentally smarter would be to break up with his lying scumbag of a partner." Ash watched closely to see weather or not I would explode. I think he was secretly hoping I would.
"Yes, that would be smart, wouldn't it?" I agreed.
"You're not safe for him!" Ash finally shouted. A ding from my work phone immediately pulled my attention elsewhere.
Crowley:
The bidding for the furniture has begun.
11:23 am
Double meaning. I was glad that he was finally getting rid of the STD infected couch that my dear sweet boyfriend had hated. Anyone with half a brain cell knew it wasn't just the furniture that was being bid on though. Still, I was glad to close that chapter. What I wasn't so glad about was another secret I had to keep from Yuu.
Mikaela:
Make sure it goes smoothly. If I ever have to look at that couch again, you will not hear the end of it.
11:24am
Innocent. I swore that I would not kill the innocent. Innocence is subjective, so I swore to go by Yuu's morals. I wonder if Yuu would've thought she was innocent. It didn't really matter though, I was not the one that killed her. Actually, even now I don't really know for a fact if she's dead or not. I hadn't broken any promises.
I smiled contently, for once directing all my attention to Asher. Smile wide and spirits high, "So? Who else is safer for him? You have a crazy ex with a history of violence constantly bugging you and Yuu's family is full of corrupt individuals who don't care about him the way I do. No one cares about him the way I do. They can keep him safe, but they don't care about his well-being. The only person I can say I trust with him is his roommate because from what I've heard and what I've seen he's demonstrated time and time again that he cares about Yuu's safety along with his feelings and he already has a partner he's very committed to. My connections and money are already more than enough to protect him let alone how much I do genuinely love him. I'll admit that last time was fucked up and even recently has been fucked up, but you want to make it seem like things aren't calming down when they are. You treat the situation like Yuu is the same scared little teenager from the past, he's not. He's a fully grown adult. It's not like I'm involving him in my business affairs. I only have him work here in order to keep him close, and thus safe, and if our relationship was further along I'd ask him to quit and I would happily pay for anything and everything he needs and if he didn't want to be finically dependent on me, which he already is, that's fine, I can understand that. He is more than welcome to work wherever he wants. Do you think I like making him suspicious of me? Do you think I'm incapable of protecting him? Why on god's green Earth would I dare to hurt even a single hair on his head?"
Asher stared back at me, rage evident in his eyes, "You're so fucked." He hissed.
I barked out a dark laugh from deep within me, "I'm fucked? I'm not the one acting like the adult man is a fucking child. Yuu has other places to turn if things go south, Yuu has a fully developed life where even if something were to happen to everyone close to him, other people would notice he was missing. He's a Hiragi, for god's sake. You must not know much about that family if you don't think they're keeping consistent tabs on him without his knowledge, even if the group has disbanded. How good do you think I am at this shit? I can assure you, not good enough to cover up the disappearance of a Hiragi."
"If the Hiragis are so good at keeping tabs, then why haven't they gotten you arrested yet?" He asked.
"I've worked with the Hiragis in some shadier dealings than this. Shady work is 100% normal in the business world. Abducting a family member, not so much," I cocked my head to the side, "to put it short for you: not only do I not want to hurt him nor can I think of an instance where I would genuinely need to, I also have no possible way of hurting him without it biting me so hard in the ass I would need plastic surgery to live a normal life. Are we done?"
Asher crossed his arms as he thought for a moment, "I want some kind of insurance on that," He decided, "and it needs to fall under emotional harm as well to make sure you don't pull the same 'I don't care if he's happy as long as he's mine' shit from last time."
"Fine," I said with no hesitation, "anything you want, anything at all. Name it. If I hurt him, it's yours."
"A detailed list of every illegal activity you've participated in, including for how long, how much was made, and what people were involved. You can't do anything to this list or impact me to do anything with it. You will agree that I can do whatever I want with this list whenever I want after I receive it, including turn it over to the police." He seemed so proud of himself.
"What a waste," I snickered, "you know the justice system has never done anything about shit like that. I've given you an opportunity for anything, and you chose a book report that will end with, at most, a journalist getting murdered?" I was more than happy to provide, I knew it would never come to that and even if it did it would be swept under the rug quickly, "Sounds good to me. If I willingly hurt Yuu, the paper is yours."
...
(Yuu)
This is not how I thought today would go.
I don't know where I got off calling Mika out on being a liar when I had literally gone through his phone during the 2 hours he had actually slept just to get a contact detail for a lunatic that put the fear of god into me. But, there I was, sitting in a local café, sipping my iced vanilla latte like a basic white bitch while mismatched eyes stared me down. Mother fucker must've never watched a YouTube tutorial in his life, his makeup was so caked on I think it was cracking.
"So, let me get this straight," I said skeptically, "I asked you to come out here to help clear some stuff up, right? And instead I'm given information that raises even more questions than answers."
"I told you nothing but the truth." Ray sounded honest, but I knew from Mika that people could be very good actors and I didn't know Ray enough to be able to judge if he was lying or not. He seemed much less angry for whatever that was worth.
"I mean, I'm not really religious in any degree so I don't know if I can really believe the whole reincarnation thing, but it would explain some things." I said.
"You're surprisingly calm for all the information I just threw on you. Plus, from what you said about after your panic attack it sounds like you already have your memories back but there's something that's blocking you from fully registering them," he thought for a moment before something seemed to come to mind, "I would say it probably has something to do with Mikaela. I may have put you in the hospital, but Mikaela put you in years of therapy."
"I'm calm because it's anti-climatic," I shrugged, "We're literally sitting in a coffee shop on a Thursday afternoon."
"I'm surprised you're not more upset that your boyfriend is a sociopath." Ray tapped his fingers against the table. It wasn't a nervous habit from what I've gathered, he was just bored.
"I mean... I could've told you that," I chuckled, "he was raised by an abusive narcissistic and he's only talked about his mother once and I had to bring it up, he lies almost compulsively, he seems to be able to turn his emotions on and off like a light switch, and he has zero sympathy for anyone-"
"Except you," Ray added, "he's overly attached to you, which can make him reckless and aggressive. He's doesn't care what the cost is as long as it benefits you. And I wouldn't worry too much about his mother. Krul Tepes is a very busy woman. But as soon she finds out her son is romantically involved with someone, she'll drop everything to come and annoy- I mean meet you."
"Ok, I'm gonna be completely honest here," I took a second to try and find the right words, "in the life you described Mika seemed a lot worse. Right now he hasn't been possessive by any means and it seems like he's trying really hard to control that part of him. And I'd argue that he's succeeding-"
"While I agree with you on the fact that past lives don't define us, he killed someone last night," Ray said nonchalantly. I physically felt my body stiffen from the shock I was feeling, "well, no, he payed someone else to kill her so he could make fuck tons of money. He tried to use her as a bargaining chip to make me fuck off, it was my former wife. Needless to say it didn't work. Also," he brought his finger up to his eye and swiped sole of the foundation off, revealing an already purple mark, "and that's only part of it."
Realization hit me like a truck, "So that's what that picture was. And his hand... fuck," I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat, "well what the fuck am I supposed to do now? I can't exactly dump the crazy bastard on the spot without endangering me and everyone else. Plus, I'm not even too sure I really... want... to break up with him." I said quietly.
"What?" Ray's eyes widened, "What the fuck do you mean you don't want to????"
"I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you're not exactly the most reliable narrator, if you know what I mean. Not to mention he's currently employing me which I now realize might be financial manipulation," I might've been looking for a way out. I already knew my only options for even a sliver of the truth were Mika, Ash, and Ray. I wouldn't have come here if I didn't think Ray would tell me, "hey, I have another question. So, I feel this connection to Asher, it's like nothing I've ever felt before. I think he feels it too..."
"Well, you were happily married for a very long time. He remembers, so of course he's gonna care about you, sometimes people are just meant for eachother. Call it a soulmate if you will, weather it be platonic or romantic, there are just some people that you are bound to have in your life. Like your roommate for example, he's always been your closest friend. You never really got over that. You never got over Kimizuki's death either but for some very different reasons that I hope you never have to remember." Ray claimed.
"And why do you know?" I asked.
"Well, Asher got along well with my wife, my cousin, and his husband. I wasn't exactly the same person I once was after we killed Mikaela. I didn't have anything left to hold on to or be angry at anymore. I felt kind of empty. I ended up in a very dark path of addiction that was difficult to overcome. But I was able to move on. I got married, had a family, lived a decently fulfilling life. Because of my family, I stuck around a little so I was well aware of your mental issues. But it's not that life anymore, things have reset and I don't really care to repeat the past," Ray finally started to drink his coffee, he chugged the whole thing down and tossed a 5 at me, "and I'm sure you don't either. Make the right decision, Yuu. He'll destroy your soul with no hesitation and then make you think no one can possibly love you the way he does. Mikaela would never dare to hurt a single hair on your head, but that doesn't apply to everyone else."