RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Fifty-Three: Feeling Cold

PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

"Why didn't I come across that name before?" Yuko Amazawa frowned and said these words with a dumbfounded face as soon as Ebisu had left the scene. She walked past Kyouhei Kurosaki but instead of heading straight back to the direction of the event hall, she took the opposite direction and took a turn to the corner heading down to a much more deserted place in the building.

She was still feeling a little bit bitter upon recalling the particular scene she had witnessed just a while back between Kurosaki and Ami when she saw Kurosaki appearing beside her. She suddenly felt a need to look at anywhere else but him so she tried to walk away. She took more hurried steps down the empty hall until she reached the end of it that presented to her a huge balcony. The sight of the evening sky from afar eventually made her decide to walk further. She already knew Kurosaki had been tailing her from behind all this time and she did not have to turn around to prove it. She could just simply listen to the faint light footsteps echoing with hers in the silent hallway and she did not feel that bothered by him.

He can just do what he wanted as long as he kept a comfortable distance.

The chilling wind breezing in through the slightly opened glass doors of the balcony made Yuko slightly shiver from the cold as she continued to walk until she reached the particular platform leading her out to the open. When she was almost through the doorway as she pushed the glass door forward, she was put to a stop when she felt a small weight dropping down her shoulders and Yuko quickly turned to look behind her. She saw Kyouhei standing there right away, just a little too close to her side, his coat draped over her bare shoulders. 

"It's cold," Kyouhei said, sounding a bit nervous as he uttered the explanation because he did not really want her to think badly of his gesture at the moment. So Yuko just simply glanced at him with a raised brow and did not say anything. Instead, she just looked forward and started walking out to the balcony.

"Thank you," she muttered eventually after a very long pause as soon as she reached the railings, but very faintly that Kyouhei almost did not hear it if he had not been following quite close behind her. He watched her as she stopped and looked out to the dark horizons from afar. There was something very intimate in this very moment with just the moonlight, the stars, Yuko, and Kyouhei in that particular corner of the world. Kyouhei was feeling a little better now, and he let out a soft sigh of relief as he moved and also head near to the railings, stopping just beside Yuko but still making sure to keep a reasonable distance between them.

"He's not that flashy, unlike the others," Silence was just about to settle over their atmosphere when Kyouhei had suddenly spoken up in a gentle yet clear voice as he stared up to the sky, looking at the few stars shining above them.

"Are you talking about Ebisu-san?" Yuko asked out of sudden curiosity and because she thought it would be quite significant to know more about the man she just met tonight. She closed her eyes after she spoke and tried to bask in the refreshing air she then breathed in quite selfishly.

"He's completely silent. He's been in the Diet longer than I am and always preferred going low-key. He's never that sociable and had never been really too outspoken about his own intentions in running for a higher position. But he certainly has been known for being quite generous in donating to numerous charities several times," Kyouhei went on, recounting his knowledge. When he had first seen Ebisu down that hall talking with Yuko at such unusual closeness, Kyouhei had been surprised actually. He had never really seen Ebisu attend any occasion or formal event in the past years., He never really went out that much too. And for some reason, seeing him trying to interact with Yuko Amazawa out of nowhere, at the first social gathering he might have seen attending in the past several years, looked rather too suspicious.

He must be planning something. And Kyouhei felt the urge to figure it out as soon as possible. He might also be the one sending him the threats. Kyouhei kept a mental note too, just to be sure.

"Generous?" Yuko repeated thoughtfully, on the other hand. Yet instead of finding that out, she rather saw it quite interesting. Ebisu... Not that much of a name she would have heard in any industry. He must still come from money. Yet how come she did not hear of his name before? "Perhaps, I need more elaborated information about him just to see what he might be up to. I'll make sure to tell and ask Sato later."

"Sato?" Kyouhei scoffed back, sounding a little angry when she mentioned that name. She had been really getting a little too chummy with that guy and Kyouhei started to become more annoyed as he thought of them together. Yuko shot him a look of scrutiny from the distance, not really liking the way he had raised his voice at her.

"What?" Yuko asked him back, scowling in his direction, "What's wrong if I asked him? He's a reliable ally, and he got all the connections." 

"Why won't you just ask me instead?" Kyouhei gritted back, the cracks on his imaginary wall of composure slowly shattering apart as he glared back at her, "I'm here, aren't I?"

"You? You want me to ask you?" Yuko scoffed, finding this all somewhat ridiculous and stupid now. "Do you even have the best resources needed to investigate a person like him? You're hardly even at work and most of the time, you're too swamped with taking care of your own responsibilities and yet you demand that I ask you for information?"

"What is he to you?"

So, this was what bothered him? At last, the true feelings finally showed up. He had been purely driven by his own pride that he could not even see past his foolish rage and unreasonable insecurity. Yuko Amazawa bitterly smirked as she finally looked away and felt a little too exhausted to talk with him now. He was never really going to be rational if he still kept letting his emotions run him over. It will always end up in an argument and Yuko already had enough. 

Kyouhei sighed heavily, just finally realizing what he just said out loud as he dropped his head down and held onto the railings as if he was somehow losing his balance and needed some kind of support. He felt the slow reveal of that rotten side of his soul and he was so disgusted with himself, he could not even let alone breathe for a few seconds. He can't even look at Yuko again. He was just too damn scared to see what kind of expression she was giving him.

"This is not what you should be focusing on, Kurosaki."

After a moment, those softly uttered words reached him in a faint whisper as he slowly blinked his eyes open and turned to glance at Yuko, barely registering his own movements when he did. She was looking straight to the view of the city over the balcony and Kyouhei quickly forgot why he was even angry in the first place. He let out a shaky breath, almost heaving, and let his shoulder sagged a little as he finally calmed down. This was stupid, he felt stupid but now it made sense because he was a fool.

"It's not, isn't it?" Kyouhei eventually commented in an agreeable note after a moment, letting his own words sunk deep in him. And almost as if smiling, he strayed his eyes off of her and slowly took a deep calming breath. Why can't he just forget all these irrational feelings he has for her?  It will be much easier if he did not have to feel burdened by it anymore.

"There's only one thing that we both need from each other, Kurosaki," Yuko said after a while, wearing a faraway look on her face as she gazed forward.

"And what do you think is it?"

Yuko simply sighed and turned to look at him before she uttered her next words echoing through the silence of that night, saying, "Winning. That's all I ever really want from you. And that's all you ever really need to do. To win, Kurosaki."

And to finally achieve the perfect revenge that Shin had always wanted to fulfill most from going through all of this. Yuko was already more than prepared to face whatever was on the way... Just for that satisfying revenge.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Fifty-Four