"yo, ain't this guy familiar?"
keisuke placed his thumb and index finger on his chin as if he's a crime investigator identifying a suspect.
i, on the other hand, narrowed my eyes as i slowly observed the features of the person on the poster.
pale blonde locks styled in a hush cut.
thick blonde brows complimenting his hair color.
and mesmerizing lavender hues within his distinct sleepy eyes.
that's him, alright.
"haitani... pfft, randou?" he pointed at the name, wheezing.
randou?
you cannot be serious. that's literally the ugliest name i've ever heard. sounds like a pet skunk name or something.
oh, wait.
"kei..." calling his name couldn't get any easier. well, not until he displays those consecutive infuriating goat wheezes- so loud it almost creates an aftersound that echoes throughout your brain.
and that is what's basically happening right now. after yelling out his name for the third time, it finally budged, thank goodness.
"huh? you were saying?" he asked between his annoying cackles. i wasn't sure if he's really paying attention or just didn't want to annoy me further so he listened to me.
"alright, remember the name this guy gave while introducing himself? it's rain." he nodded as i begin my explanation.
"now, what if the name randou isn't actually pronounced as ran-dou, but rain-dou?"
if there's one thing i couldn't possibly do right now, it's pronouncing his ugly-ass name while maintaining a straight face.
keisuke's unnecessary mouth movements were bothering me real bad. you know those moments when you just couldn't hold back your laughter so you make weird faces to somehow distract yourself in attempt to not release a fart-like noise from your mouth.
"oh? so rain is the shortcut for his name? hah, clever." he responded before drinking his soda.
"yeah, but here's the real deal. just look at the prize money. all that for randou's head. like, literally, just imagine all the shits we get to buy with this. equipments for arson? wait, i know. we'll research on how to make pink fire, buy the materials we need, then boom. an aesthetic pink arson. that would be historical."
as the euphoric trail of adrenaline slowly took over my core, keisuke's eyes were sparkling from the thought of committing arson again.
but with pink fire?
oh, even doja cat would die just to witness one.
"we need to get randou out of the station, then!" he suggested, still in awe of the reward that awaits us.
"yes, but no. we can't just kidnap him like that. you may not believe me but that guy's real dangerous. remember when i told you we were buddies? i lied about that. he actually attempted to kill me that night." silence immediately swaddled as i finally admit the countless lies i told him last night.
listen, my brother's not the type to guilt trip you once you've done something wrong against him, but his expression right now says otherwise. he looked like he just got his heart broken after finding out i lied so much to him.
oh well, just when i thought white lies wouldn't hurt as much...
"he attempted to kill you? why are you not dead?" keisuke teased, letting out those annoying bird wheezes again.
"i simply manipulated and convinced him not to kill me. you see bro, it's not always about strength. one can be really strong and powerful, but if outsmarted properly, that'll lead to their downfall." it took a while for him to process what i just stated, but eventually nodded in the end.
"so you're saying- we'll gain his trust first then hand him over to mr. haitani?" his tone was rather doubtful, which is something i didn't really pay attention to. i'm all for the pink arson more than anything. so i, instead, gave him a confident nod.
"but that's no different from betrayal, you know." he added, patting me on the shoulder.
betrayal, huh.
the worst thing about it is that it never comes from your enemy.
i mean, he's not wrong though.
thinking about it, randou's probably not the type to put his trust on someone nor the type to get convinced so easily.
tough talk. not to mention, it's really hard to read his face. the first time he entered the room, he somehow emitted a very strong, mysterious aura. is he from a family of assassins?
no, mafia? deliquents? yakuza? something like that.
"y/n. chifuyu just contacted me. we'll be having an afternoon meeting so i can't tag along any longer. catch you later?" keisuke threw his empty soda can on a trash bin before waving goodbye. i waved back before parting our ways.
after making sure he was out of sight, i immediately sprinted back to the police station.
"sir naoto. i think i left my watch on the staff room. may i go there again?" a convincing lie babbled out my mouth. it didn't fail me though, since the officer nodded before escorting me back to the room.
good heavens, finally. i'll be able to see him ag-
fuck! he's not here!
this can't be good. what if other people find him?
nah, i won't allow that. i found him first. i should be the one to keep him.
"officer, where's the other person you sent here last night?" i ran back to sir naoto's office.
"wait, who?" he was confused.
what the heck? how could he not know? that guy's been missing for so long. how could he possibly not know?
"he's a missing person, sir. we saw a poster of him earlier on the streets. he had pale blonde hair and purple eyes, and he goes by the name haitani randou." i carefully explained, hoping the officer would at least ring a bell from all the descriptions i stated.
and he did.
"oh, right. that person was your companion last night. however, according to his provided information, his name is atsuya randou. not haitani."
what?
impossible.
"oh, uh... sir, will you give me a sec? i'll go out and check the poster again, just to make sure." i hurriedly bolted outside, recalling where we saw that poster again.
was i tripping? did keisuke put drugs on my yakisoba? was i too fixated on randou's beauty? nah. that's too much. i'm not a fucking simp.
left. right. left. forward. wait, this is the convenience store earlier. god, why do i have to remember so many things? i just want the prize money so i could buy the things needed to produce pink fire, and ultimately, pink arson.
after a shortspan of twelve minutes, i found the location. i remember it being placed on one of these graffiti walls. but there's so many. i had no choice but to search thoroughly.
i'm kinda nervous since this place is not really familiar, and i'm sorta getting the creeps because it's so empty here.
just where the hell is it? i've been circling around for almost five minutes already. i'm sure it was here.
alright, i give up.
i grabbed my phone to contact keisuke. perhaps he could help me find that damn poster.
i was about to press the call button when a feint voice spoke from behind.
"looking for this?"
cold gazes from such familiar lavender eyes pierced through my
(e/c) ones.
despite the disdainful, unwelcoming aura he's emitting, i did not bother looking away.
from a distance of around 6 feet, right in front of me was...
randou.
that fucking skunk.
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don't forget to vote and comment. mwah - randou