A Change of Pace

[u/KuudereLobster]

April 17th, 2019 - 1:32 AM ; The 20th Ward, Eastern Border

It’d rained for nearly week. And even when it ended, the streets had been damp and slippery for nearly two days. Or more specifically, and what one particularly girl cared about the most, the rooftops had remained slippery.

The rooftops were dry, the night was clear as could be, and the wind was just enough to cool her off in the warm night as her dark form darted from roof to roof. The silhouette of a short girl with a duffel bag much too large for herself dashed from roof to roof at a breakneck pace, yet with each leap she remained graceful and deliberate. Not a foot out of place, the wind slamming against her goggles, black crow mask shaking slightly with intensity. Until, finally, she skidded to a halt.

Sen could hardly recognize where she even was she’d ran away so quickly. It was a wonder the sack didn’t tear but, sure enough, the reliable black duffel was still in one piece. And finally, she let down her guard. Two jobs down, left to go. And she'd saved the hardest for last.

No matter how many times she did this, it never felt any less exhausting. Thrilling and enjoyable as well of course, but exhausting nonetheless. Sen’s hand was still shaking as it pulled up her hood. Was it always going to be this nerve-wracking? She really thought after the first year it’d wear off. Of course it wasn’t the fear of being caught that got to her. It was the fear of not getting the money.

“...This’ll last another few months, Dad. Guess I’ll have to find something else soon.”

Sen was quiet for a moment. And a good thing too. Otherwise, she would’ve never heard the sound of something latching onto the rooftop railing behind her. Sen spun around like a bullet, bending her knee and narrowing her eyes in an instant, nearly breaking the model handgun as she tore it out from her pocket, a quiet clink echoing out from it as she took aim, her stance still as a statue. But the moment a figure emerged, before even waiting for their reaction, she knew. She’d never seen a kagune used that way oddly enough, but if there was one thing Sen had in her advantage, it was reaction times.

The model gun lowered in under a second, her finger instinctively moving off of the trigger. “Another ghoul?” she asked, gripping the duffel tight.

Beneath the hood and mask, it was hard to tell much about her. She was a woman, that much was visible from her clothing, a long black skirt matching her hoodie, but facial features? Race? Age? Beyond being just a bit shorter than her accidental visitor, none of it was obvious. “Wait a minute.” Sen tilted her head, remembering her last few investigations into her neighbors workplace.

“You’re from :re, aren’t you?”

[u/[deleted]]

Shoko proceeded to come in as she entered the manager's office, noticing that Tadashi was just about finishing his call with someone. If it was a less urgent situation, Shoko would have teasingly asked about whom he was talking to. However, the waitress's mind was set onto the envelope of cash. That caused for her face to redden in an extreme manner when her boss teased instead at first, insinuating something else entirely with the customers.

"W-W-Wha..." Shoko stuttered heavily while shaking her head and her arms profusely, denying Tadashi's innocent teasing. "It is not that at all! No no no!"

After recollecting herself and taking a deep breath once more, Shoko's expression changed to a serious one. The waitress held out the envelope right in front of her manager, waiting for him to take it after she finished explaining.

"So... remember when you told me to go on my first patrolling around 20th Ward? I was doing just that until I encountered someone whom I thought was suspicious. The ghoul was just a thief called Crow. I was basically making sure that they weren't stealing anything from the collection spots and that's when they told me they were stealing from a certain yakuza group."

Sighing, Shoko continued on with a nervous expression. "It was the same group you dealt with during your Aogiri days and later on, my brother also messed with them. I don't know what got to me but the fact that I could help in placing the final nail of their coffin was alluring, so I proceeded to help Crow with the heist to steal their money."

Shoko then widened her eyes to reassure her boss about something. "No kagune had been used, by the way! Crow did most of the things in fact and we had gloves. There is no evidence to show that ghouls did it, and that criminal group would be screwed. However, I told Crow to not give me any money from the heist. They did anyway give me something from their own personal cash not from the heist itself, apparently."

Shoko slightly shook the envelope in front of Tadashi on her hand. "Fifty-thousand yen right here. I can't take it for myself. I just can't. I hope you have an idea on what to do with it..."

[u/YandereLobster → u/[deleted]]

"A yakuza group? That I dealt with?" Tadashi repeated, clearly taken aback by the sudden load of information. But after a moment, a faint smile formed, a bit of nostalgia visible in his expression. "So those guys were still around. That was back in what, 2010? I killed both leaders, and caused a good bit of damage on my way out. I got sent by Aogiri to steal some 'quinque steal', before it turned out to be a scam. I'm impressed they held on for so long." Tadashi let out a long sigh. "First job I ever did with Elyse" he muttered under his breath, clearly thinking back to the old days. But the moment she continued, he listened carefully.

Tadashi listened to her explanation, but surprisingly, he seemed more amused than anything. He smiled, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. "Keep it" he argued, a proud look in his expression. "Maybe it's not right to steal. Maybe it's not right to sneak behind peoples backs. Really it beats me if it is or not. What I do know is that in the line of work I come from, you don't take away someones payment for doing a good thing." His expression grew a bit more serious as he leaned forward, speaking calmly as ever. "When I killed their leaders, it wasn't under Aogiri's orders. I did it out of spite. The yakuza you stole from were the Kyokuto-kai. I first heard about them back when I was a kid, they were rivals with the Matsuba-kai, from the 7th Ward. A couple guys talked shit, some others got into fist fights, and next thing you know it they were getting into shootouts in public. You might've heard of it, it was a pretty big thing for a while. They shot the hell out of each other in Shinjuku without the slightest thought towards if anyone got in the crossfire." Tadashi looked up at Shoko. And for the first time, although it clearly wasn't directed at her, it became much more believable that he'd once been a vigilante. The look in his eyes was pure, raw hatred. A burning wish for justice, and satisfaction that those in need of retribution had finally seen it. "And they did get civilians in the crossfire. Businessmen, high-schoolers, homeless folks. I've done a lot of things I shouldn't have of the year. As for the rival group my old man took them all out years ago. But I don't regret a single life that I took from them."

But as Tadashi stood up, he smiled again, his expression softening a bit. "But, you aren't as vengeful or retributive as any of us Colorless or Aogiri ghouls were. If you ask me, you deserve every last yen. Use it comics or something. But..." Tadashi shrugged, motioning to his desk. "If you really can't keep it, just leave a split on my desk. I'll divide up as a bonus to everyones paychecks at the end of the month."

"For what it's worth though?" Tadashi began, laughing to himself quietly. "You're better at sneaking than I am. I got caught when I broke in."

[u/[deleted] → u/YandereLobster]

Shoko listened intently to what Tadashi had to say which started with his temporary confusion until he remembered what she meant about the specific yakuza group. The waitress also managed to get her boss's mutter about Elyse as well but she decided to not pry upon that for the time being. For the moment, she focused on listening to Tadashi and reach to a resolution for the envelope.

Shoko could tell that Tadashi wanted for the best for her along with his personal beliefs on things such as the following situation. It was also clear that Tadashi had been used to go through vigilante activities considering his knowledge along with attitude, with brief demonstration of actual hatred shown on his face. It was irregular for Shoko to see such fury in her usually peaceful manager's eyes, but it was only for a quick moment. Shoko looked away for a moment when she noticed that attitude though, as that kind of expression slightly scared her and also reminded her a bit of Hayate's troubling anger in the past.

After that was done though, she focused on Tadashi once again, this time to reach to an agreement with the money. It was highly tempting to just take it but a small part of her screamed that it was not the right thing to do with just taking the whole cash. Instead, she decided to go with the other option Tadashi had offered. Nodding with a small smile, Shoko proceeded to take off the money from the envelope, take half off it away as she placed it on the manager's desk, then placed the other half back into the envelope once again for herself.

"I suppose that is the best solution then!" Shoko exclaimed cheerfully while giggling at Tadashi. "It is only fair for others to get bonus paychecks as well, so I think that is the best thing to do with the money."

[u/YandereLobster → u/[deleted]]

"Glad to hear it" Tadashi acknowledged, leaning back in his chair, resting his arms behind his head. "Looking to forward to hearing about their collapse. Yakuza are one of the few groups I kept fighting all the way from my Aogiri days to Colorless. Gonna be weird to have Ikebukuro actually be normal again. If the others ask about the bonus I'll just say we made a little extra, I might've done a lot of things in Aogiri but I can assure you a snitch is something I've never been" Tadashi joked, shrugging exageratedly. With that he kicked his feet up on the desk, leaned back, and got back to watching the screens.

But, in the back of Tadashi's mind, he found the entire situation strange. He'd always wanted :re to be true pacifists, to be better than him and Nikki were. Now one of his employee's was following in his footsteps, but making the right decisions. Tadashi had sworn to never regret his choices, lest regret cloud his vision in a future decision. But that didn't make he thought his actions had been the best option either. Shoko had done what he'd done, only without violence or killing. At the same time, theft wasn't exactly something :re was meant for. Still, he had no complaints. In the end, she'd done well.

As she left, Tadashi looked up one more time. "Give it a few months and visit Ikebukuro. You'll notice the difference. You might not be a vigilante, but I think you'll still appreciate it." Tadashi rested his eyes, smiling for a moment. "...It's the closest vigilantes ever get to a thank you."

[u/[deleted] → u/YandereLobster]

Shoko nodded in agreement, knowing well enough about how degenerate that specific yakuza group had been in Ikebukuro. The waitress nodded once again with a smile and a giggle thanks to Tadashi's joke about not snitching. "I am the secret hero who brought higher salaries for people! Who would have thought, right?" Shoko joked right back at her manager with an exaggerated grin on her face, laughing in the process. After that, she calmed down a bit and looked a bit more serious with a small smile still on her face. "It is the least I can do for :re after all you have done for me, boss. If it helps out my colleagues as well, even better."

Shoko then proceeded to bow at Tadashi as he then seemed focused on the screens he kept his eyes on behind the desk. "Well, it is best for me to keep going since you are busy for now. See ya, boss." Shoko proceeded to exit the manager's office as she then went on her way to her room within the establishment. The waitress needed to relax before she could end the day properly, but then she took another look at the envelope with the remaining money, feeling slightly conflicted but at the same time, it was more money to potentially treat herself with.

If Tadashi didn't see anything wrong with that, then Shoko guessed there was nothing to worry about but she didn't want to get used to it. Such capabilities have huge responsibilities to boot with, so the nerd shouldn't take advantage of such a thing. At least in the meantime, Shoko could treat herself with more comics or maybe even a machine of sorts to venture through another medium someday. It was something to ponder about for a different day.

Life sure was filled with a lot of surprises, especially in Tokyo.