Deranged Love - Hanma Shuji

Chapter 4

Warning : mention of suicide (no suicide) - violence - gun

"Who are you?!"

The man who was comfortably sitting on my couch, legs crossed with the remote in his right hand, looked at me with a confident smile and quirked a brow tentatively. "The police?" It made him laugh right away, not even able to convince himself with those words he had just uttered. He even threw his head back with that loud laugh, his hair following the tilting of his head and draping back. The left side of his head was shaved strangely, some spots had very short hair, one had no hair at all and was only covered by a black tattoo. The rest of his skull had longer hair, down to under his shoulders and entirely white, clearly dyed like most of the men I had encountered from this organization.

With a dry scoff, I moved my hand to my back to take hold of my gun and nodded his way, "You look like anything but the police." In one quick move, I lifted the gun and aimed it at him. Relaxed as ever, the man stood up and took off his coat nonchalantly before throwing it on the back of the couch, "Private detective then." He said with a smile, I believe I even heard him mentioning not wanting to dirty his coat. "I think you should leave." I stated, glancing at the gun in my hands to make him understand. Could I shoot him? Probably not, there was no pressure, I was in my own home—but I wanted him to be afraid, which he did not seem to be. His composure remained. The man looked fashionable for someone part of an illegal organization, an outfit quite different from the five men I had already encountered. With a sigh, the criminal ran his hands from his face to his hair as he let his head fall back once more before groaning. "Put the gun down." He exhaled in a bored tone.

"Answer my question first, who are you?" Just like him, I stood my ground.

Out of nowhere and in one swift move, he reached his arm towards the ground, a metallic sound following as a baton extended along his movement. I did not know where he had it stashed, but he held it in a ferocious grip as he looked up at me. He was not playful like Hanma, his expression was dead serious. "I'm here to make sure you don't tell on us." My eyes flickered to the weapon as I lowered my gun and gestured with my head to the baton. "Are you going to beat obedience into me? Perhaps put a gun to my head?" His jaw clenched, his nostrils flared, it seemed I had ticked him off. But his face changed completely as he smiled sweetly, twirling the baton in his hand skilfully, "No, of course not. I'm more brains than brawn," He hummed to himself as he approached and grabbed the gun from my hand without even giving me a second to realize. He then threw it on the couch by his coat and grinned, "Hanma's the one responsible for whatever you do, so he's the one who'll beat ya up if you go coocoo."

There was a short silence. I then pushed him aside and walked up to my door, feeling drained from today and not in the mood for more of whatever they had planned for me. There was no purpose in mentioning how I was under Hanma's guardianship or whatever they'd call it. He had been the one to bring me in—it made sense—but it did not mean I wanted to interact more with him either. "Then leave, I won't say shit. What happened today is incriminating enough to make me stay in my lane." Another moment of silence as the man looked at me confused. He slowly walked up to me again and I rolled my eyes, walking opposite of him, not wanting him near me. "Why are you still here...?" My tone made it so he had to introduce himself, so with a short laugh he told me, "Kokonoi, call me Koko." My sole response was to raise a brow to ask him to continue, my question had yet to be answered.

Beaming, he laughed and raised both his hands again in a defensive manner, but it was more to show he was not going to do anything, "Alright, you got me!" his tone then dropped and he hopped over the couch to reach me in an instant. I flinched at the speed. He poked my stomach with the baton before dropping it and cradling my face in his hands, breathing, "I'm on guard duty so you don't fucking kill yourself." His words were crude, there was no other way to say it, but it hit me like a brick. It's only after taking them in that I reacted to how close he was and I pushed him away, slapping his hands off, "Don't touch me—" Koko interrupted me by continuing on with what he was saying, "After all, you did kill a man. It does wonders to the soul—by that, I mean it fucks it up for those who have a conscience. Tell me, do you have one?" I saw him sit on the couch and point to the free seat next to him. He had understood the boundary I had set and did not come close, it was odd, but somewhat nice.