TW: Mentions of smoking.
Also Happy Birthday Chuuya! (I'm not late I'm not late I'm not late-)
"Ok bye Kyouka! If you have any problems, ask Kunikida or Atsushi okay?!" Ali called out to Kyouka, watching her leave the house.
Kyouka nodded and gave her a thumbs up and a smile. "Have a good day Ali-sama!" She said while waving goodbye.
Ali waved goodbye, then she took her bag and started walking away.
...
Ali finally found a suitable spot in the forest and then set down her stuff, then took out a lighter and cigarette.
She pulled down her mask and cautiously pit the cigarette into her mouth, after a few seconds of inhaling the smoke, she coughed it out.
"Jesus Christ... How'd the old guy manage to smoke this shit..." She muttered, before taking out some of the flowers that she picked from the agency the other day.
She set out the flowers and then closed her eyes, clasping her hands.
...
Sol took a long drag from his cigarette as he sat in his chair staring at the person before him.
(Sol)
"So... Why did you call me here Boss?" He asked, holding out his cigarette in the direction of the boss.
They smiled. "You've only been in the organization for a couple of weeks... But so far all your supervisors have wonderful things to say about you." They said, clasping their hands together.
(Boss)
Sol tilted his head. "So why did you call me here? I doubt that you're the type to just praise someone."
The Boss chuckled, as they stood up. "Calico. Come here."
A girl with a light pink mask and a light blue sweater came into the room, she seemed quite annoyed at the command. "Is it another mission? If so then no."
Then she saw Sol and rolled her eyes. "Another babysitter?" She questioned, while pointing at Sol.
(Calico) (?)
The Boss shifted their gaze to Sol. "The girl there is Calico. She's an important person, and I'd like to request that you protect her." He told him.
Calico sighed. "You can just call me Kaspu, Calico's just a nickname." She said, glaring at the Boss.
Sol nodded and extended his hand. "It's nice to meet you Kaspu."
Kaspu nodded and then shook his hand. "Y'know you don't have to be my babysiter. I'm fully capable of protecting myself." She said.
The Boss shook their head. "You've almost died these past few months. You clearly need protection."
Kaspu sighed and scratched the back of her head. "There's no helping it then... You're names Sol right?" She asked.
Sol nodded and smiled. "I hope we have a good time working together." He said.
"Sorry if I'm annoying or whatever." She told him. Still glaring at the Boss, who just shrugged.
Sol chucked. "I've probably dealt with worse in the past."
The Boss nodded and then handed Sol a list of his responsibility's, such as tasting her food before she ate it, making sure she was away from any dangerous area's like a balcony, or high above the ground, and making sure she wasn't alone.
So she must be his daughter...
Sol took a quick note in his notebook before closing it and motioning at Kaspu to follow him out.
Taking a glance at Sol's notebook, Kaspu raised an eyebrow. "That's a lot of notes." She mentioned, closing the door behind them, leaving the Boss by themself.
"So... What's you shukorio?" She asked, particularly glancing at his bag.
Sol raised an eyebrow. "Shu- what???" He asked, obviously confused.
Kaspu sighed. "Are you stupid? How did you manage to become my babysitter if you don't even have a shukorio?" She questioned, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Sol smiled. "I'm here from Africa, so I don't really know much about the systems in Japan." He told her, making her face less judgmental.
"That makes sense, I was scared I'd have to give you a whole geography and history lesson..." She told him, clutching her chest and exhaling.
Chuckling, Sol held up his hands. "I'm not stupid, okay? And plus, every country has the wall in it." He told her, pointing at the ominous obsidian wall in the horizon."
"Yep... Anyways, you should at be at least familiar with the concept of a shukorio." She told him motioning at the bag.
He glanced down at the bag. "Oh, is it the object thing?" He asked, his face twisting into recognition.
Kaspu held her hand to her temple. "That's a way to call it... Basically it's and object that you have to go through "life and death" with, then it'll manage to get this... Power thing I guess? And you'll be able to use it." She grimaced at her explanation. "Y'know if you're really curious about it ask someone more interested and educated in this thing."
Then she bent down to get a look at his bag. "This is your shukorio, correct?"
Sol slightly pulled the bag away from her as he nodded. "Yep. It's got a pretty plain power though. Basically it has infinite space."
Kaspu whistled. "That's pretty useful, you could be a pretty good support with that." She said, inching closer to the bag and poking it a couple of times.
Sol took out his notebook and quickly jotted something down, before looking to Kaspu. "Sadly, I'm still a trainee, which means that I don't really go onto the front lines that often."
Kaspu tilted her head. Muttering, "Why would the idiot put me with a guy who's only a trainee..." While putting her hand to her chin.
She's probably refusing to call the Boss her dad... She's in that phase isn't she?
Kaspu groaned before putting her hands to her head, using them to lean her head back. "I give up... Sensei's probably got 90 mental illnesses anyway..."
Sol chuckled before he turned to face Kaspu. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go?" He asked.
Kaspu seemed happy for a moment but then her phone rung. She picked it up and groaned. "I have tutoring..." She said, drooping down.
Then she slightly perked up. "My tutor will probably be able to explain shukorio better to you though... So at least one person's benefitting..."
Sol smiled. "Thanks, now where is this tutor of yours?" He asked.
"Oh, she's one of the government agents that we captured, I managed to get her to become my tutor though. Instead of the usual torture interrogation that the government agents receive." Kaspu explained.
Sol tried to suppress his flinch. He really wasn't used to the violence in the mafia.
...
"You're late."
Kaspu flinched at the voice and Sol turned around to see who it was.
It was a 20 something looking women, with a blank and white striped shit, grey scarf, and a dark blue cardigan.
"I- I'm sorry Miss Fumiko..." Kaspu muttered, inching away from the lady.
Fumiko crossed her arms. "This is the ninth-" She finally noticed Sol. "Oh, are you Kaspu's new overseer?" She asked, uncrossing her arms and extending her hand.
Sol nodded and shook her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Kaspu also said you'd be able to explain shukorio to me, once you're done with her, could you teach me some?" He asked.
Fumiko smiled. "It's not problem- Kaspu, stop trying to sneak away from the lessons!"
Fumiko grabbed the escaping Kaspu by the back of her shirt and dragged her to the room nearby.
"Since you seem soooo eager today, let's get started on history." Fumiko said, which caused Kaspu to try to escape even more.
"Please!!! Anything but history!!!" She cried out, clinging to the doorframe.
"Kaspu, you're 16! Start acting like it!" Fumiko said, finally separating Kaspu from the doorframe and closing the door behind her.
Looks like Kaspu doesn't like history... Must be her worst subject.
The soundproof walls were able to help block out most of the noise, but Sol could still hear some screaming.
"Kaspu, what country was Napoleon Bonaparte apart of?"
"Britain!" (I am sorry to all British and French readers)
"Incorrect! France!"
"FU-"
Sol took out a cigarette and his phone and waited for the lesson to be over.
After about 5 hours passed by, a exhausted Fumiko, and an equally exhausted Kaspu left the room.
Kaspu fell to the ground. "D'ya think I could melt into a puddle of slime right now?" She asked, drawing random shapes into the expensive red carpet.
Fumiko raised her glasses. "Biology says no. And speaking of biology... You have a test on that next week."
Kaspu slammed her head into the carpet. "FU-" She stopped herself from cursing last second. Barley evading Fumiko's ruler to the head.
Fumiko rubbed her temple then looked at Sol. "While Kaspu recovers... I can tell you about shukorio."
Sol nodded, taking out his notebook and pen, as Fumiko led him into the room.
TW: The following section have mentions of murder, very severe crimes (arson, rape, and mass genocide.) If you feel uncomfortable, please scroll down to the ... bellow.
The room was slightly empty, with a board and a teachers desk at one end of the room, and a desk with a couch at the other end. There were papers scattered across the both desks.
Fumiko motioned to the couch on the other side of the room, and Sol sat at the table, noticing how small it was.
"There's 2 types of shukorio's, and judging on what Kaspu told me, you seem to have the defensive type." Fumiko drew 2 squares on the board and then put the words "defensive" bellow the left square, and "offensive" bellow the right square.
"There's not much known about shukorio, but one thing is definite. Offensive shukorio can be obtained via murder, and defensive can be obtained via, being the victim of crimes." She said, writing those points in the respective squares.
Sol winced at the mention of murder, but he copied Fumiko's diagram onto his notebook.
"The number of murders required is random, you can be lucky and only need to kill one person, or you can be unlucky and need to kill over 1,000 people. That's the maximum ever recorded in history though, and I'm pretty sure it was from a mafia boss." She wrote that information down in the "Offensive" box.
Does this mean that someone killed 1,000 people? The mafia is a horrible place...
"As for what counts as "suffering from a crime" that is also extremely vague, despite having almost 105 years of research on our hands, the knowledge of shukorio is embarrassingly miniscule." Fumiko said, adding in an extra box in the corner of the board, which read: "Very little information!"
Fumiko continued her lecture. "Even if the severity of the crime needed is unknown, the people who have gotten a defensive type shukorio have often experience the following: murder, attempted murder, arson, rape, and crimes on equal severity."
Sol stood up. "I- I need to get a breath of fresh air, I'll be back later..."
Fumiko nodded. "I was also quite... Distraught from learning shukorio... You can come back anytime that you need." She said, opening the door for him.
"Hey Sol-" Kaspu noticed how distressed Sol looked and then stopped her sentence. "Um... Wanna go eat something? What's your favorite food?"
Sol shook his head, he doubted that he could be able to stomach any food right now. "How about we so somewhere... Fun?" He suggested.
Kaspu visible perked up and took a card out of her inner sweater pocket. "I have the premium membership for the arcade!" She proclaimed.
Then she patted Sol on the back. "You don't have to force yourself y'know?"
Sol shook his head. "It's fine..."
...
Kaspu had directed Sol to the arcade nearby in a mall nearby, and he was confused as to why it was completely empty. Shouldn't there be other kids around the place?
Sensing his confusion Kaspu explained the emptiness. "The idiot found out that I liked this place, so he decided to rent out the whole thing for me." She scoffed.
Wow... The mafia really pays doesn't it... Especially when it's the biggest in all of Japan...
For a moment Sol could swear that he saw a flicker of loneliness in Kaspu's eyes, but he chose to ignore that.
He smiled. "C'mon, what's your favorite game, I'll play it with you." He said, motioning to the empty arcade, all of theirs to play in.
Kaspu perked up, and Sol could swear he saw cat ears spring up on her head. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to a dancing game.
She proudly pointed to the leader board for every song, which was dominated by someone named KAU, but at the bottom of the leaderboard Sol could see someone named STI.
"Hey who's STI?" He asked, pointing at the name.
"Oh that's me. I used a different name that time." She said, staring at the name in distain.
"Anyways! Let's go play! What song do you want?" She asked. Already preparing the game.
"Hmm... Bling-Bang-Born?" He asked. Thinking back to when a co-worker had blasted that song in the middle of work. (They got fired shortly after)
"Oh, that's a classic! But it's pretty old..." Despite her comments, Kaspu still put on the song on the game.
Sol managed to get a decent score on the game, but Kaspu dominated the song, hitting each move perfectly and with precision.
Finally the two finished the game and Sol panted for breath, with Kaspu looked like she was ready for round 2.
"Y'know, you'd probably be fine if you didn't smoke that often. Smoking's bad for your lungs!" She told him smirking at him.
"Sh- Shut up... I just need something to relax with..." Sol said in between breaths as he rested his hands on his knees.
Kaspu just stared down at him judgmentally. "You could always just go to the arcade to relax."
Sol shrugged. "Not everyone can afford to get an entire mall to themselves."
Kaspu pouted, but was interrupted by her stomach. She looked down at it sheepishly. "I guess we should go out to eat..."
"There's probably a food court nearby, let's go look for it." He took her hand and the two explored the mall for a bit before they found an area with a bunch of table and chairs.
"This should be it, I'll go order something." Kaspu went over to a nearby booth and came back with an armful of food.
Sol stared at all the food for a moment, opening his mouth to say something about overeating.
Kaspu held up her hand, stopping him from saying anything. "I asked for 2 pizza's. That's it. I did not ask for the soda's, ice cream's, and extra pizza's."
The cashier probably just wanted get a good impression on the Boss via his daughter...
Kaspu put the food onto a nearby table. Remembering his responsibilities, Sol quickly took out his own straw and took some bites of Kaspu's food.
Kaspu crossed her arms and let out an annoyed exhale. "Do you really gotta do this?" She asked. "It's not like anyone's gonna poison my food."
Sol shrugged. "I'm not even putting my lips on the food! I'm using my own straw, and using my hands to take out pieces of the food!"
Kaspu blew on her bangs as she leaned back into the chair. "Fine..."
The two awkwardly sat together as they ate their food.
Finally Sol cleared his throat. "So, why does the Boss call you Calico?" he asked, remembering the two's earlier interaction that day.
Kaspu groaned at the question. "It's because, and I quote "You act like a cat." Like what's that supposed to mean?!" She played with the paper from the straw as she said this.
Sol suppressed a chuckle at this. "I mean... He's not wrong."
Then he realized he had another question. "What's the Bosses... What's the word... Shukorio?"
Kaspu paused momentarily becoming silent, before she switched demeanors and turned back to her usual self. "It's probably the ability to be the most senile, annoying, and psychotic person ever!"
Sol sighed, but still wrote that down in his notebook. "Oh and... I've only been in the mafia for a couple of weeks. So could you maybe explain the system to me, so that I don't screw over my entire career and possibly die?"
Kaspu raised an eyebrow, wondering how someone who'd only been in the mafia for a couple of weeks had somehow become her babysitter.
"Ah well, so basically there's 5 different levels in the mafia. The first is obviously the head of the mafia, the Boss." She explained. "You saw him earlier today." She added.
"Then there's the Vice Boss, who controls the mafia if the Boss is on vacation or whatever, then there's the executives, they're all in charge of their respective industries." She crumbled a napkin into her hand, continuing to speak. "And those are basically all the people you shouldn't piss off."
Sol nodded and took some notes. "And what are the other 2 levels?" He asked, spinning his pencil in his hand.
Kaspu sighed. "Okay... There's the average henchmen. They usually work under the command of an executive and their duties can range from, creating drugs, using violence to assert dominance, to doing paperwork." She said playing with the now ripped shreds of the napkin.
Sol tilted his head. "Then what's the last one?"
Kaspu threw the napkin shreds onto the table. "That's the successor to the Boss. They're usually his disciple, and they lie in a weird middle ground. Officially, they're just a henchman in the mafia, but everyone treats them like they're the Vice Boss..." She explained.
Sol nodded, finishing up his notes as he looked up. "And who's the current successor?"
Kaspu stood up. "Why are you so interested in the mafia system? It's not anything interesting."
Sol shrugged. "I was taught that, if you want to thrive somewhere, you need to know where you are, and who's the strongest there." He said, also standing up and making direct eye contact with Kaspu.
Kaspu paused, before she sighed. "Fine. If you really want to learn about the systems in the mafia, I can probably ask the old hoot to explain it to you, he should know it the most."
Sol smiled. "Thank you Kaspu."
Kaspu threw away the torn up napkin, and then threw away the rest of the food. "C'mon, put on your mask and let's leave this place. It's getting late."
Sol put on his black mask as the two walked out the mall and into the polluted streets, with the scent of smoke and drugs potent.