RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Unchanged

PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

The signs of weariness were visibly shown on his very haggard face. That next early morning, Kyouhei Kurosaki woke up, surprisingly lying down on his sofa, inside his empty living room which had felt completely strange at first. He could not really remember ever going home last night. The images of the faded memory of him drinking with Tori-san at the usual pub that they had both always gone to were almost even barely clear in his head. Kyouhei rubbed his temples and squinted through the flashing brightness of his living room.

Something must have happened. How did he get home?

He was a little bit confused for a second as he thought it all over and Kyouhei swore he was somehow hearing a voice of a random guy talking to him before he had blacked out last night. However, he could not really entirely recall everything and could not confirm yet if that had been Tori or the bartender or someone else he might have known. Just that, he had a strange feeling, and quite feeling a little sure about it too, that the owner of that foggy voice was the one who actually took him back home here last night and left him sleeping on the couch.

Tori?

No, it could not possibly be Tori at all. That was something Kyouhei would be very certain of. Tori-san had been way too drunk to even do any of that, he remembered him passing out first. And most of the time, it was Kyouhei who had to bring him home and pay for his cab whenever they went out for drinks. And it was very unlikely for Tori to know where Kyouhei actually lives. After all, Kyouhei had never really gotten so very open to sharing too much about his personal details even if it was to a friend that he could trust. 

He was just too much of a recluse when it comes to those things. Yuko? Of course not, it would never be her. And definitely not her driver too. The voice would have been recognizable right away if it had been someone Kyouhei was very familiar with.

Well, he could just figure it all out later.

Kyouhei tried to get up from the sofa, but his head quickly started to feel so light and he found himself collapsing back to the cushion again with his entire vision almost doubling as he blinked his eyes a few more times. This was a worse type of hangover and he felt like it might really take a long while before he could gather his footing. So he tried to stay down and kept himself on the sofa while he waited for the dizziness to calm down.

Kyouhei could not point it out, but there was really just something strange with finding himself back in his apartment without ever really knowing how he even got back there. He looked around the place, but since he was still not that sober enough to get a good look at his surroundings, he then decided to see it all after he gathered himself back again. He tried to lie down on the sofa, one last attempt to get more sleep because well, it was his rest day.

He can do whatever he freaking wanted.

And since he could not really move away from his spot, he closed his again and tried to go back to slumber. The early morning was already too up but Kyouhei wanted to snore. He was going to sleep and when he wakes up again, he would check. 

Then he will be going to find out what really happened to him last night. Better get a good rest then.

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Yuko Amazawa walked down the hallway, her heels leaving faint sounds of footsteps against the tiled floor as she headed straight to the furthest end. And soon, she abruptly stopped right in front of a familiar silver door with the golden number displayed at the middle top of it. She then reached for the doorbell on the wall near the doorknob. It made a faint buzzing sound, which was fully blasting inside the room and Yuko waited for the door to be opened.

When it did not give her any kind of response from the person behind the door, she let out an exasperated sigh and pressed the doorbell again. This time, she kept her finger over the button for quite a long while. And when she was sure she was finally hearing a few shuffling and sounds of footsteps from the inside, she stopped and waited.

The door soon quickly got unlocked and it slowly opened.

As it got pushed wide enough to see the person behind the door, Yuko saw the irritated scowl on his face. She then quickly just slid her way past him and entered into the place without even a single greeting. She immediately stepped to the hallway and down to the living room. 

It was clean, but the sofa was a little bit of a mess. Kyouhei Kurosaki followed behind her into the living room, looking like the same mess too. He did not even change his clothes yet, he was wearing his usual suit and pants and it was now all totally wrinkled and disheveled just like how his hair was sticking up all over the place. He was scratching the side of his jaw when Yuko turned around to give him a look.

"What a sight for a lovely morning, huh? Does Ami even know where you've been last night?"

It was meant to be a sarcastic remark but when Yuko saw the flash of pain on Kyouhei's face she suddenly regretted saying it. He slowly walked past her and sat back on the sofa, resting his head over his palm with a loud sigh. He looked like he was so done with everything and Yuko observed him as she stood there across the living room.

When Osamu Sato informed her late last night that Kyouhei Kurosaki had drunken himself into oblivion and passed out cold on his sofa, she was expecting him to reflect over his actions. Osamu told her that the guy was actually a little out of himself, showing little or perhaps, no concern at all, about his own safety. Right after that startling confrontation with Ebisu Akai, when he had shown his true intentions to her, Yuko had been very cautious and extremely paranoid since.

But of course, what really mattered now was that Kyouhei was still safe. Even when she had been told to be careful and had the suspicion that she was now being watched, she still tried to calmly assess the situation, making sure that she still got total control over everything... including Kyouhei Kurosaki.

"Here take this, I'll get a glass of water for you," It was only then that Yuko finally let go of all of her worried thoughts as she opened her bag and pulled out a medical pillbox, and gave Kyouhei a dose of Ibuprofen for his hangover. "You need to fix yourself and pack a few things."

As she turned to head to his kitchen she almost felt him tensing up as he shifted in his seat. Kyouhei Kurosaki was not really sure if he had heard her right. Packing? And why would he have to?

It took a few more seconds before Yuko reappeared again with the glass of water in her hand. Kyouhei was still looking so confused, brows furrowing, and eyes staring blankly into space. Why was he going to pack?

"Kurosaki," Yuko tried to call his attention, but he was too occupied in his own anxious thoughts to spare her a glance. He was still trying to figure out if he was in a dream or Yuko was really there in his living room. But then Yuko suddenly walked up to him, pressing the cold glass against his cheek, making him realize that he was really awake. Yuko was really there and she just told him to pack up a few things.

"Why? Are we going somewhere?" were the words that automatically came out of his mouth as soon as he turned to fix his gaze on Yuko who was standing before him. He then took the glass of water from her hand and pop the medicine into his mouth before drinking all of the liquid, sighing out loud as he emptied it. 

Yuko did not really want to do this but she had to so she could reassure the odds on their side. And as if trying to force herself to give him an answer, she crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her weight on one foot.

"We're going out of town," she told him, not even blinking as she spoke and gaze into his eyes, "We're going to do one last attempt to keep you away from any danger... At least, until the election day comes. We have to make sure you're going to be alive on that very day."

------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Fifty-Eight