Rules Were Made to be Broken

‣ scene 17 [tramp stamped]

Kiyotaka couldn't withdraw from his appointment just because he'd realized his own stupid mistake, so he allowed the staff members to (almost forcibly) sit him down in the special tattoo chair. He was beginning to realize, just then, how big of a decision he was making. Tattoos were permanent. He swallowed, and his throat felt swollen and dry.

"Soooo..." Ibuki's eyes ran down some kind of list on the clipboard in her hands. "Your name?"

Kiyotaka lowered his head, trying to conceal how embarrassed he was.

"...Ishimaru."

"Your full name," Daiya corrected. Kiyotaka was reminded of the time that Mondo had demanded his first name at the noodle restaurant. Even their voices and speech patterns were similar. Daiya's voice was deeper, possibly just because he was older. Did they both smoke? He didn't smell like nicotine. ...Well, Mondo didn't, either.

"Kiyotaka," he grumbled. "Kiyotaka Ishimaru."

Ibuki scribbled something down. Daiya didn't say anything. When the drawn-out silence became awkward, Kiyotaka looked up and found Daiya staring at him, taking in every detail of his appearance, looking both surprised and very, very curious.

"...Really? Y'don't say..."

"Y-Yes!" Kiyotaka stiffened and felt his face going red. Daiya's eyes were like Mondo's in the way that they felt strangely invasive. They were equally intense. "What, is it a strange name or someth—"

He trailed off. Even he (the guy who had been dense enough to miss how blatantly Mondo had been hitting on him) had a vague idea of what was going on here. Daiya had flashed Ibuki some kind of signal, and now they both seemed very interested in him. Mostly his face. Ibuki was uncomfortably close to him, her eyes wide and eager.

Mondo had said, the first time they'd talked at the restaurant, that he told his older brother everything, and maybe he'd really meant that. Maybe he'd called his brother up and told him all about the guy he was so fixated on.

"Or... have you perhaps heard my name before?" Kiyotaka asked accusingly. Daiya flinched. Bingo.

"Pffft— what?! No! Of course not! I jus' thought it was kinda fancy, is all."

Daiya Oowada may have been a good brother, but he was a pretty terrible liar. A much more reasonable excuse would be his grandfather— plenty of people recognized the Ishimaru name due to that scandal, and the surname had earned Kiyotaka no small amount of dirty looks. It wasn't as frequent of an occurrence anymore, but still.

Daiya quickly got to work organizing his tools, trying a little too hard to look busy, and gave Ibuki a wink She started asking a bunch of questions so fast that Kiyotaka could barely understand her. The piercing guy, who had been watching a baseball game on the small TV affixed to the wall, was suddenly intrigued, and he raised an eyebrow at Daiya. Daiya flashed another signal. The piercing guy didn't seem to get it just yet.

"So what made you decide to get a tattoo? Have you decided on what you want? How old are you? Where do you work? When is your birthday? What's your sign? What's your favorite animal? What's your favorite food? Do you like music?! What's your—"

"Mioda! Girl! You've gotta give the man some time to answer!" the redhead called out. Daiya casually flipped him off.

"Nobody's talkin' to you, Leon!"

The redhead, apparently named Leon, crossed his arms. He looked more amused than angry at the interruption. Ibuki did stop asking questions, though, and Kiyotaka tried to remember all of them. She seemed determined to get answers.