The Crime of Loving You

21: Whoo Yeah An Update Over A Month Late ((Sorry For The Hundredth Time))

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"Do you think your friend is alright?" Shinya asks, staring out the window as they pass by farms.

Guren sighs, "no, I think Shigure's panicking too hard, sure, it's not like Sayuri to just not pick up the kids, but I think she might be a little too over the edge right now."

Shinya hums, "wasn't talking about Shigure, I was asking about Sayuri."

Guren spares him a glance, he considers it for a moment, "it's like I said, Goshi's not a stranger to being wrong, and even if something happened to her, she's more than capable of kicking ass."

Shinya simply responds with a noncommittal hum.

"So... how're you feeling?" Guren decides to ask, and he hates the fact that his voice has the balls to betray him and sound something akin to concerned.

Shinya shrugs, "I've been worse, but I will admit, hearing that Yayoi may be a traitor is like a punch to the gut, especially since she might've told Kureto about the whole situation."

Guren huffs at the mention of the eldest Hiiragi, "surely we can reason with the asshole? Aren't Raimeiki and Kureto good friends? We can have her diffuse the situation for us."

Shinya smiles, Rai would definitely have their heads if they did that, but that might just be more reason to do it, not to mention that Kureto could never hurt her. Not really because she's just that important of a person to him, no, but more because Raimeiki would pulverize him before he could even get close enough to land a hit on her.

"If you wouldn't mind being tied up to the wall and trapped in a room with me, then we could probably leave it to her," Shinya agrees, "though, I don't imagine she'd even consider feeding us, so that might be a problem."

Guren shoots him a look of question, to which Shinya simply responds with a grin.

Just about when Guren is about to ask what Shinya meant, his phone goes off again, this time the caller being the Devil herself.

"Oh what excellent timing she has," Shinya comments, answering the call for Guren, "Rai dear, we were just talking about you!"

"Yeah, I bet you fuckers were," she replies, "Shinya, you can still visit Mahiru, right?"

Shinya tilts his head, "well, yeah. Why?"

"This edgy fuck won't tell me where the fuck they're keeping your shit, all he's saying is that it's Krul's lair," Raimeiki responds, clear frustration bubbling over as she let's out a heavy sigh, "I know for a fact Mahiru knows where that would be, but I need to make sure you can get there."

Shinya frowns, "asap?"

"Well, doesn't really matter if it's right now, but the sooner the better, right?" She says.

"Right," he agrees, "oh, also, we have another job for you."

She groans on her end, but Shinya's known her long enough to know it''s a meaningless groan and that she's more than willing to hear out whatever job they have in store for her.

"According to one of Guren's idiots, Endo Yayoi is working for the Progenitors," he begins to explain, "and we have reason to believe that she's the reason for Kureto suspecting me to be a traitor, but we also think she's kidnapped one of Guren's slightly smarter idiots too, we want you to track the smarter idiot's phone, if it's possible."

"What an underwhelming task," she sighs, "send me her phone number and I'll get on it soon."

Guren looks over to Shinya, eyebrow raised, "Isn't she still driving?" He asks.

Raimeiki chuckles over the phone, "duh. It's called multitasking sweetie, look it up."

Guren rolls his eyes, "actually sounds more like being irresponsible than multitasking," he quips, "have fun crashing."

"I will!" She cackles, hanging up afterward.

They fall into silence, the main source of noise coming from Shinya's fingers tapping out a pointless rhythm on the back of Guren's phone case as he sends Raimeiki Sayuri's number.

The silence continues past that too as Shinya sets up a GPS to the facility Mahiru was being kept in.

Shinya exhales softly, he leans back into his expensively plush car seat, he watches Guren from the corner of his eye, letting the soft serenity wash over them, knowing that in a couple of hours, they might very well be in the middle of a fight.

It's these small moments of peace that Shinya wonders if he'd be happier outside of the mafia scene, if he'd be willing to give it all up. His power, the money...the lifestyle.

He typically doesn't dwell on it, because the further he investigates his thoughts, he realizes that there's nothing in this line of work that is keeping him tied down. Maybe Shinoa, but he knows that if he left, Shinoa would most certainly either follow him or visit him often.

The money isn't even an incentive, he hates writing such long reports, usually, he just dumps that on one of his subordinates, and he thinks he'd prefer investing his time in something more mundane, maybe a bookstore, or a coffee shop.

Well, he supposes that if he left, the Hiiragi's would chop his head just in case he dared to leak anything, not that they already don't, apparently.

He wonders if most mafiosi considered and thought about leaving.

He finds himself voicing out his question, not really expecting an actual answer to be supplied, and yet, an answer is delivered.

"I thought about it," Guren had admitted, "before merging the gangs, when my father died, and even before that."

Shinya hums, he asks, "what keeps you here?"

Guren shrugs, "now, it's the Hiiragi's. Before? Probably the kids. You don't need school to be in a gang, and we had to provide for the orphans, but in order to provide, we'd need a job, but a job needs certain academic requirements, which means excelling in school, which means neglecting the kids," after a beat, he adds, "do you see the problem there?"

Shinya nods, a small smile tugging on to his face.

"Do you?" Guren asks.

"Do I what?"

Guren shrugs, "think about leaving?"

The smile falters a bit, but he nods again, "I just wonder if I'd be better off leading a boring life. I like the money, and the thrill of hitting my targets is amazing, but working within the family is stifling."

Guren hums, "that's understandable, I guess."

They don't talk much after that.

. A/N .

WAHHH THIS IS OVER A MONTH LATE!! IM SO SORRY!! SCHOOL STARTED UP SHORTLY AFTER THE LAST CHAPTER AND I'VE BEEN DYING FROM STRESS AND NO MOTIVATION TO CONTINUE ANYTHING ON-GOING I'M SO SORRY!!