Wild Cards [AkiraxAkechi P5]

Chapter Twenty-Five

Akira and Goro spent most of the night awake, doing all the research they could on Osoroshi before returning to bed. They woke up in the morning in time for Ann and Makoto's arrival. Ann carried a bag full of snacks and painkillers for the boys. They were both more than thankful.

   "We've definitely got our work cut out for us," Makoto said at the table. "Usagi's Palace is huge, and there's a lot of traps, but we should be able to get the Treasure before the end of the month,"

   "There was an area we couldn't get through to, I think it's a door affected by cognition—like that locked door in Madarame's Palace?" Ann said.

   "What did the door look like?" Goro asked.

   "Here, Yusuke drew a picture of it,"

   Ann dug in her purse and pulled out a sheet of sketchbook paper, quickly handing it over to Goro and Akira. The drawing was very detailed—definitely Yusuke's work—leaving out no detail of a large white double door with flowery designs all over it.

   "Wait... holy shit, I think I've seen this door before," Akira said, eyes wide.

   "You have? Great! Where is it?" Makoto said.

   "Oh... oh..." Akira groaned and pinched his nose. "Now I remember... it's in her fucking house. When Ren and I were kids, Usagi had this assistant or whatever living with her and he was always babysitting us. I saw that door once and he told me I couldn't play in there, that it was Usagi's privacy,"

  "Does that assistant still work with her? Maybe we could get in touch and—"

   "I'm not sure. He fucking hated me. Ren was the favorite as always..."

   Akira broke his gaze from everyone and folded his arms. Goro was a little surprised by that response. Akira always spoke so lovingly about his brother, yet now just saying his name sounded like something sour was in his mouth.
    Was there something about Ren that Akira wasn't telling them?

   Before Goro could ask, the front door of his apartment flew open and Kasumi exclaimed out loud. Ann spit out her coffee and Makoto nearly had a heart attack.

   "Heyyyy, Kechi! I figured out how to lock-pick like I told you!"

   "Yoshizawa, are you fucking kidding me?!"

   "Oh, you've got company? Hi everyone, I'm Kechi's partner Kasumi-EEEK!!"

   Kasumi squealed and jumped once she made eye contact with Akira. He returned the surprised look before quietly swearing to himself.

   "Aww shit, you didn't tell me she was who you were working with..."

   "H-Holy geez, Akira...?"

"Wait..." Goro stood, "you two know each other?"

"We... used to date..." Akira sighed.

Ann and Makoto's mouths dropped open, Ann immediately put her hands over her mouth as she stared giggling. Goro winced at the thought, insecurities slowly creeping up on him.

'Oh god... what was their relationship like? She doesn't still like him does she? Does he still like her? Oh no, oh no...'

"I need more coffee," Akira got up and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Is that a problem that we used to date...?" Kasumi asked.

"I don't know, it that a problem, Akechi?" Ann said playfully before Makoto slapped a hand over her mouth, shushing her.

Kasumi snapped her head back in Goro's direction, him with his face in his hand as he avoided eye contact.

"You and Akira are dating?"

"Well... yeah...? It's a long story—"

"That doesn't matter, you gotta dump him."

Goro looked back up at her, shocked. Did he hear her right? He must've, because Ann and Makoto were giving Kasumi the same look.

"I'm sorry, why?"

"Because—!" Kasumi stole a quick glance at the kitchen door before grabbing Goro by his shoulders and speaking in a hushed tone.

"Akira is a fucking psychopath! You have no idea—when we were dating, he'd always be talking about how much he enjoyed bleeding, how he thought other people would die, he was always killing animals and keeping the bones in a box, he tried to fucking drown his little brother once! Oh my god, I still remember it, I came over to see him and—shit!"

Akira had walked back in, downing a mug of coffee. Kasumi immediately stepped back from Goro, clutching her shaking hands to her chest.

   "I—I have to get going, I'm meeting my mom for breakfast, b-bye everyone!" she exclaimed, quickly running out the apartment. Akira rolled his eyes as he dropped back on the couch.

   "Man, she hasn't changed at all," he glanced up at Goro with a smile grin. "You don't have anything to worry about, babe. I'm over her,"

   Goro couldn't reply. Makoto slowly stood up, beckoning for Ann to follow.

   "Anyway, we should be going too... Ann and I have to get to school, but we'll all meet up at LeBlanc tonight to plan for the Palace," she said.

Goro met Makoto's gaze. He didn't need words to know what she was thinking.

'We'll look into this. Stay safe.'

"I hope you two feel better soon, see you guys," Ann had slight tension in her voice, even looked hesitant when her and Makoto left the apartment.

   Alone now, Goro sat back beside Akira. Kasumi's warning remained on his mind.

   "Akira? Can I ask why Usagi's assistant always babysat you and your brother?"

   "The guy was some kind of therapist and he knew our dad. Dad didn't know how to take care of Ren because of how sick he was, so he just dumped us both on someone else," Akira said nonchalantly.

  "Mhmm... and you... didn't have any problems yourself did you...?"

   Goro tensed up when Akira made direct eye contact.

   "What does that mean?"

   "N-Nothing! I just—"

   "What did Kasumi say to you?" Akira's voice grew serious.

   "Ah... I... I..." Goro didn't know what to say. He didn't want to be quick to doubt his lover, but he knew Akira was perfectly capable of causing harm to someone.

   "Mm..." Akira smirked and moved closer to Goro, wrapping an arm around his waist. "You know what, don't worry about it. She doesn't matter. I love you a whole lot, you know that right?"

"Uh... uh-huh..." Goro nodded.

Akira pressed a kiss to Goro's cheek, trailing them to his neck. Goro pushed him away before he could get any further.

"I'm gonna get cleaned up and dressed, ok?" the brunet got up and headed to his room.

"You're gonna love our date today babe, I promise!" Akira called.

Goro only sent him a small smile. Shutting himself in his room, Goro immediately ran for his phone, going to Osoroshi's online page he bookmarked. He looked all through it until he found the name and number of her assistant; Takuto Maruki.

Goro copy-pasted the information in a text and sent it to Makoto. She responded almost immediately.

'Got it. Don't let Akira know about this, we'll find out if your partner was telling the truth or not.'

Goro breathed a quiet sigh of relief, deleting the texts to be safe. When he went into his bathroom for a shower, he paused as he was going to take his shirt off.

'He tried to fucking drown his little brother once!'

Goro locked the bathroom door before proceeding with his shower.