chapter fifteen

last young renegade

Stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, Gillian Wagner. Some secrets are better left in the dark.

What. The. Hell?

I slowly ran through all of the possible translations again in my head, and it was the only one that made sense.

A shiver ran down my spine as my fingers shook so much that I dropped my gel pen.
Daruma Ikka. A quick Google search brought up nothing I didn't already know when I researched the area. In layman's terms, I was screwed: I had no idea who was sending me threats or why, but some part of me knew that it had to have something to do with Yuki. Some dark truth that, for whatever reason, Daruma Ikka and it's members didn't want me to know.

"Hey Gillian!" Chiharu screamed form the main floor, breaking my negative downward spiral. "Your boyfriend burnt the milk for my hot chocolate!"

"Chiharu, we are not dating!" Tetsu defended, a statement that pricked at my heart a little, like it was being wrapped in barbed wire. "And look at the milk, it's not even burnt!"

"I think the real question," Dan started, "is why you even want a hot chocolate?"

Rolling my eyes as the members of Sannoh Rengokai started to argue amongst each other, I folded up the notecard and stuffed it in a desk drawer. Right now, I had more domestic problems to deal with: the three idiots in the kitchen, one of whom I was fairly certain I was in love with.

I grabbed my slip-on Vans from where they had gotten kicked under the bed and moved out of the room and down the stairs. The large kitchen was framed on one side by the large glass screen doors that lead out to the piers in the backyard. It seemed modern enough, although I'm sure Tetsu didn't even know how to use half the appliances to make something that didn't come in a box.

There was a thin wisp of smoke in the air, and it definitely smelt like something was, or had been burning.

"What have you idiots done now?" I laughed, reaching for a bottle of water in the fridge. When nobody laughed or made a snide joke at one of the others' expenses, I turned and looked at them, confused.

They were all staring at me. More specifically, they were staring at my dress.

Tetsu spoke first. "You look incredible."

I resisted the urge to hide behind my hair as my face turned hot pink. "Thank you, that's sweet."

"Simp." I could hear Chiharu huff under his breath in the background.

"Sorry about breakfast." Tetsu said, shooting Chiharu a death glare. "Although they claim it was my fault, it was these idiots who burnt the goddamn milk."

I smiled, taking a seat at the kitchen island, all thoughts about Daruma Ikka's decently vague threat leaving my mind. "It's no big deal, I'm not really a breakfast person anyways."

"Did you guys hear that Murayama got a girlfriend?" Dan said, staring at his phone. "I wonder what she sees in him."

"I saw her yesterday." Tetsu remarked "When I crashed the S.W.O.R.D meeting. You'll never guess who it was."

"Try me."

"Midori Yamada."

Dan frowned. "The girl that kicked me down the stairs? I thought she was in Okinawa?"

Chiharu brightened. "Kicked you down the stairs? This I need to hear."

"Apparently she came back, she's living in Oya again."

"Guys," I interrupted, "I'm not opposed to all the gossip or anything, but is there a reason you're all here, waking me at some ungodly hour?

Dan grinned. "See, Tetsu here informed us about how little of home sweet Sannoh that you've actually seen." Tetsu glared at his partner in crime. "So, the group of us decided to put together the ultimate DTC Tour of Sannoh!"

"CTD. Chiharu, Tetsu, Dan." Chiharu corrected

"Chiharu no," Dan protested. "we already decided that DTC sounded the best."

"We didn't actually," Tetsu cut in "You did, and you just like it that way because it puts your name first."

God save us all.

__

listen to the song 'last young renegade' by all time low for best experience

Sannoh's main shopping street was packed, which was a little unusual for ten in the morning, but who am I to judge. Chiharu and Dan walked in the front, talking over each other's anecdotes and tall tales about the various establishments they've made fools of themselves in. Tetsu and I walked behind them, slowly falling behind as he reached over and linked our hands together.

"And over there is the psychic medium who told Chiharu he was going to die a virgin." Dan laughed, pointing at the building below the ramen store Tetsu and I had gone to the night before

"That's not what she said, Dan! You're paraphrasing!"

"Actually, if he's paraphrasing that means that he said something along the lines." I chuckled lowly

"Then he's making it up or something!"

"You guys are the biggest clowns I've ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Dan cut in

We went along hopping from store to store, the boys insisting I take part in Sannoh's culinary traditions- although I took a hard pass on the eel, I can only try so many things that are out of my comfort zone at a time- and just being dorks in general.

We used to travel a lot before my dad got sick, but once he got his formal diagnosis, we couldn't to half the things we normally did. Even when we moved to Canada I never really got to know the city I was in.

Our little group was almost all the way out of the first main street when I stopped, dropping Tetsu's hand to walk over to a window filled with stuffed animals. The entire store specialized in various larger than life plushies, and Dan groaned audibly when I went inside, meaning that they all had to follow.

I'd never really seen anything quite like Sannoh before. The entire town was so full of life, so full of hope and passion. It made me wonder why Yuki wanted to leave in the first place, and it made me more determined to find out.

We spent a while looking at the stuffed animals before Dan and Chiharu got themselves thrown out for having a snowball fight with a set of small Disney stuffies off in the corner. They continued to make faces at me and Tetz from the window as I reached to grab a giant axolotl from a top shelf.

It was going to be hell to try and bring that back home on the plane, that's for sure.

When we got to the cash register, it was a battle of wills between me and Tetsu to see who was going to pay for my new friend ( who I had already decided I was naming Steve after the most iconic babysitter in Netflix's entire repertoire: Steve Harrington form Stranger Things ), the two of us pushing each other's arms and credit cards out of the way.

"Asuka," Tetsu pleaded, staring at the cashier "take my credit card. It's my treat."

The girl- Asuka- simply laughed before taking his credit card. "You guys are cute."

We both blushed, turning away from Asuka and avoiding making eye contact.

"You should have just let me pay for it." I said softly.

"Not a chance in hell. You're my guest." Tetsu said in response as we left the shop, Steve the stuffed axolotl under my arm.

This time we walked ahead of Dan and Chiharu, and I was able to catch bits and pieces of their whispered conversation.

"Do you think they know that they're madly in love yet?"

NOTES!!

Tetsu and Gillian make my heart hurt because theyre just so . . .  AHHH

also  we finally hit 1K!! This one isn't doing nearly as well as Teenage Dirtbag but honestly, I'm okay with that because I'm having too much fun writing it to even worry.