Boys For Hire!!

Bad Boy's the Good Boy

I stare wide eyed at the four people standing in front of me. A weird sense of deja-vu consumes me and my head starts to spin, causing my hand to fly and clutch the doorframe.

"Hey there, miss!" Says who I assume to be the leader of the group. He steps forward and outstretches his hand. "It's nice to meet you!! We're your Boys for Rent, please take care of-"

"No." I slap his hand away and shut the door in their gleaming faces. "MUM GET DOWN HERE!!"

***

"I'm sorry for my daughter's behaviour..." My mother sneezes wearily. "She's never been good with first impressions." She looks at me astonished, as if she's living the past once again.

"That's okay Mrs Chiseki!" When the smallest boy of the group addresses my mother, I have to hold on to something. His voice was childish. Almost as childish as.... "This might be a super weird experience for first timers with our service."

"Oh, well I'm afraid you incorrect there Mr..." My mother trails off.

"I'm Katsumi!" I look him up and down, trying to block the weirdness of deja-vu back into the weird part of my head. His hair is a light blonde, it trails a bit past his ears so when he jumps around it waves in the air. His left eye is covered by a fringe, but the colour of his right eye is a deep blue.

"Well, Katsumi," My mother gulps. "You aren't the first Boys for Hire that have graced this house." She laughs nervously, and I see Katsumi's expression darken slightly.

"Boys for Hire... Their all disgusting." I perk up a bit, eyeing the small boy whose personality had just performed a 180-degree flip into the darkness of outer space.

"Now, Katsumi." One of the remaining two boys pats him on the shoulder. His brown hair is ragged, but his green eyes are elegant in contrast to his 'bad boy' themed clothing. His arms are covered in bruises and he has multiple band aids on his cheeks and forehead. Don't even get me started on the piercings. He looks back at my brother, with equally dark eyes to Katsumi, but still smiling. "We're not Boys for Hire, we're Boys For Rent." He explains. "We are from the same Corporation, but we come from separate branches of the company. Both have their own different way of business."

"So, your rivals, that's it right?" I butt into my mother and the ragged boy's conversation.

"It's a little more complex than that, but it seems you've got the gist of it." The long haired one tells me. I look him up and down too. His black hair is messy but attractive at the same time, and his aqua eyes make his features stand out all the more. Probably dyed.... I think to myself.

"Hmph, what's so bad about the Boys for Hire anyway? At least they come when their expected. Unlike some people who just show up on the doorstep." I spit out.

"Chi!" My mother speaks forcefully, surprised at my rude behaviour. "Mind your manners, we don't know the full story yet."

The Boys For 'Rent' look at me as if I'd said the most disgusting thing. Whatever, I don't want them to like me anyway.

"Anyway, Miss." The leader of the group steps forward again, diverting his attention from me back to my mother. Under my fringe, I look at him with mild irritation. His hair's a dark blonde, and his eyes are a bright violet with a pinkish tint. No doubt the 'princely' type. The moment the word 'Prince' crosses my mind I clench my teeth. I shake my head at myself, completely fed up. I'm not going to be one of THOSE girls, I'm not letting this happen again. I stand up abruptly, giving my mother a small fright.

"I'm going to school. I'll be late."

"Chi-" My mother tries to stop me, but I shake myself out of her grip.

"Swear to god mum, if you 'rented' them, I'm NOT going to be okay."

She waves her hands around in denial. "I didn't Chi." She looks down in angst. "Even if I'm old, I haven't completely lost my senses. I'm aware of what happened last time."

I swallow loudly. Spinning on my heel, I make my way in a huff out of the house. When I'm roughly tugging my shoes back on, not even bothering to tie the laces. I hear my mother in the living room sighing.

"Sorry to ask, but while I'm clearing this up could one of you boys go with her? My Chi's awfully impulsive when she's like this..." I can hear the worry in her voice and I'm immediately hit with a sense of guilt. Quick to regain myself, I jump up, hopefully to escape whatever hell was walking behind me.

"Oi, where do ya' think you’re going?" I'm pulled back roughly, and I cough at the sudden pressure at my throat. "Oh s**t, sorry! Sorry!!" The guy immediately lets me go. I look at who grabbed me, only to see it was the 'bad boy' themed Boy For 'Rent'. I glare at him from under my fringe once again and storm out of the house. "H-Hey! Wait up!!" He calls out from behind me, but I continually ignore his existence and keep on walking. "Tch, you know you really are a block of ice ya' know." I hear him ramble behind me, before it goes silent for a second.

"I betcha' wouldn't treat your 'oh so precious' Boys for Hire like this."

I freeze, every cell in my body twitching in fury. I bite my lip until a copper taste fills my mouth.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve?" 

I can basically feel him smirking behind me. His footsteps behind me grow louder, until I can feel his towering figure standing behind me. While I'm frozen, his hands plant themselves on my shoulders, and he leans down until his lips are a centimetre from my ear. 

"Did you fall in love with one? Too bad, Boys for Hire don't 'love' anyone."

I blink, and suddenly as if warping through time, I'm standing over the douchebag's body, my fist throbbing as if I'd hit a brick wall. Oh wait, I've only hit a douchebag. 

"What the f**k do you know? Huh!?" I spit words at him like a fire cannon, his ignorance too much for me to bare. "I don't know what type of vendetta you have against Boys For Hire but stop DRAGGING my friends into your pitiful little arguments to prove a point of who does it better. It's pathetic." I turn around, prepared to keep walking and continue my way to school alone. 

Much to my surprise, the guy behind me tries to catch up to me, and we walk side by side. I sigh. "What do you want with me?"

"I'm interested." The boy's gaze is plastered on me. I try to avoid his burning stare by keeping my line of sight forward. "It's not every day that a teeny girl like you can throw a punch like Saitama. If you get that reference anyway."

I look up at him, returning his gaze for a few seconds. "One Punch Man."

"Eh?"

"It was a One Punch Man reference, right?"

"Woah." The boy folds his arms. "You watch anime?"

"You kidding? If I didn't have it, I probably wouldn't be alive right now." I chuckle and he returns it with a laugh.

"Same here."

We continue our chat for a few more blocks. I found that he isn't really that much of a bad guy, pretty downright honest really.

"What's your name again? Sorry for not asking."

"No need to be sorry." He slows down to retighten one of his dozen piercings. "It's Ichirou, just call me Ichi."

"Well," We stop at the traffic lights and I re-adjust my bag. "I'm Arian, just call me Chi." I repeat his words on purpose and he laughs a bit.

We cross the street and start to walk past Rosie's Café, where I used to work part time. It's a really upper market joint, wanna eat here bring a $50 bill. I normally wouldn't take this route to school, but now that I'm back to walking with... a guy, I decided to take a bit of a detour to avoid attention. As I'm listening to Ichirou's banter about the ending of OPM, I look into the large glass window of the café, looking to see if my boss was working the morning shift. Peeking through the glass, I scan the seats, diners and waiters.

"And then I was all like, 'what the f**k you can't just....'" Ichirou notices my cease in walking and walks back over to me.

I can feel my hands starting to shake.

There's no way... It could be...

I rub my eyes and look again, praying that I'm hallucinating.

I'm not.

There he is.

In all his princely glory.

"Yo' Chi? Chiiiii? What's doin' girl? You look as pale as a ghost right now." I ignore the boy beside me and keep staring at the one in front.

He's sitting down in a booth and he's laughing.

With a girl.

And that girl isn't me.

Eventually I'm able to tear my eyes away from the situation and notice that Ichi's looking intently as well.

"Is that...?"

I bump past Ichirou; my good bantering mood had gone straight through the window. "I don't want to talk about it."

We continue walking in silence, you could cut the awkwardness with a knife. When we're about one block away from the stony prison of school, I turn to talk to Ichirou.

"Thanks... For walking me. Once mum clears up the situation, I probably won't see you again." He nods in understanding, but then his eyes light up like he's got a brilliant idea.

"Wag today!"

"What?!" I exclaim at the excited black-haired male.

"You know, like skip, jig, cross-"

"I know what wagging is, stupid. But why?" I question him, but all Ichirou does his grab my hand and start tugging me.

"You'll find out when we get there."

Ichirou's excitement gets to me and I eventually give in. The warmth from his palm resonates over mine when he squeezes my hand. He leads me through streets over streets, and eventually to a part of the suburb I've never been too before. I look around and take in my surroundings, the atmosphere here is way different from my home. It's... Almost scary. The houses are almost derelict to the point where I could make a game pointing out how many holes in rooves, I could see. At one point I even saw a rat scurry into a gutter.

"You’re not leading me out here to murder me, are you? I only hit you and not even that hard." I swallow.

"No, I'm not gonna kill you, but now considering..." He drifts off jokingly and I playfully slap him on the shoulder. I've gotten over my bad mood already.

Ichirou leads me towards a murky river, which has one graffitied stony bridge running over it. He takes me under the bridge.

"Okay seriously, are you planning my death?"

He rolls his eyes and opens a door which is installed under the bridge's standing pillar. When the door cracks open, light pours out from the crack and Ichirou signals for me to enter. Hesitantly, I enter the room.

"Woah..." I stand there agape. Under what I thought was a derelict construction, the truth lies underneath.

"Welcome to my crib." Ichirou walks next to me and fold his arms. I scan my surroundings in awe. The concrete floors are artistically polished, and the ceiling lights flicker white beautifully. I realise that I'm standing in what seems to be an indoor skate park. There's graffiti everywhere, but not like the ugly scribbles you see on the street. It seems like people have spray painted their names onto different walls.

"This is... really cool."

"I know right." Ichirou smirks at me.

"YO ICHIROU IS THAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!" A group of boys on the other side of the ramp calls out to Ichirou laughing.

The black-haired boy grins at me before waving back to the group of boys.

"I WISH!!"

When the boys start laughing, I have to cover my face from the embarrassment, heat rising to my cheeks. "Idiot...!" I start lightly hitting Ichirou with balled fists while he cackles until he's out of breath.

"C'mon, you wanna try?" Ichirou rolls out a pink and white skateboard.

"Not on that thing I don't." I roll my eyes, walking over the extensive rack of skateboards. "Oh yeah, this one's my style." I whip out black and red s*x Pistols skateboard, complete with grey wheels.

"Okay, slow down there." Ichirou raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure you actually female? No s*x changes? Nothing? That might sound sexist but there is literally a 1/26 chance and girl will know what the meaning of s*x Pistols is."

I roll my eyes. "Please, I was signing off 2 Girls 1 Cup as a lol when I was 10." I roll across the ground slowly to start, hopefully looking as cool as I thought I sounded. When I try to step on the board, I lose my balance and the next thing I know I'm staring at the ceiling.

"Well then, Ms Bad Girl." Ichirou looks down into my face. "Look like that won't be the only thing your signing off as a lol." I blow a raspberry in his face and he helps me back up. "C'mon, I'll help you. Put your left foot there and your right foot there." He directs my body into the right position, holding my waist tightly so I don't fall. Ignoring my embarrassment, I concentrate on balancing.

"Hey," I hear Ichirou's laughter. "Your actually pretty good at this." I smile at the praise. Suddenly, one of Ichirou's friends from the group of boys calls him over and he excuses himself. In the meantime, I made my way over to the graffitied walls and looked over the art.

"Here it is." I look at Ichi's graffiti. He'd done it in black and silver, in big and bold writing. Somehow this is very Ichirou...  I look at the other names on the wall and notice a certain name. "Katsumi...?" Wasn't that the loli type boy from this morning? I look at the other two names on the wall. "Akihiko... Hotaka... Why are these-"

"Whatcha' looking at?"

"WOAH!!" I jump around to see Ichirou directly behind me, my heart beating at the suddenness. After I regain myself, I nod to the wall. "The rest of the names on the wall... Are they the other Boys for Rent?"

He nods. "Yup, all four of us."

"Wait so..." I raise an eyebrow. "You’re a group? You knew each other prior to becoming a Boy for Rent?"

He nods again. "We went to the same high school, and unlike the Boys for Hire," Ichi folds his arms and leans against the wall next to his name. "We have a choice."

"A choice...?"

"A choice to study, a choice to have friends, a choice to be where we're comfortable," Ichirou moves his face to a different direction but keeps his eyes on me. "A choice to love."

I fold my arms, suddenly feeling a bit cautious. "I thought you weren't allow to love."

"Not if you’re a Boy for Hire." His eyes darken and I feel a bit scared of this new side Ichirou. "So please understand, when we look down on Boys for Hire, we look down on their choice. They gave up everything I'd just said in order to make money. And they aren't allowed out of the job unless the company decides it."

I tilt my head in confusion.

"Didn't you know? Being a Boy for Hire pays more, but you give up everything in exchange. I find it pathetic that someone would do that." When he returns his attention back to me, he looks at my face in shock. "Hey, what are these for?" He rushes up to me and places his palms on my cheeks. I realise that I've been crying.

"I... I find it so sad. Sadder than anything, to g-give up everything. How desperate..." I choke out between sniffles. I can't help but imagine, I can't help but think of boys like Shiroi in this situation. Childish and innocent, the way he grew up and his personality is abused, just like the rest of the Boys for Hire. Just like...

"Hey, c'mere..." Ichirou embraces me gently, wrapping his arms around me. I shut my eyes and lean into his chest. "We choose who we are, their fate was determined by themselves, nothing more."

"No." I shake my head. "No, I don't believe that." I separate myself from Ichirou so I'm looking him in the eyes. "They didn't choose, the Boys for Hire didn't choose to be anything." I sniff. "Do you think they wanted to exchange their lives to be a Boy for Hire? To exchange everything. You have to think, what situation could they have been in, in order to give up their lives in order to gain money? Those boys... Some of them, had the worst possible lives." I remember Masashi and his burn scars. "They did it out of desperation, sometimes when cornered, the only way to escape is through a hole." I shake my head, shaking. If someone who didn't know what I was rambling about saw me right now, they'd think I was having a mental breakdown.

I hear Ichirou swallow loudly, before he turns around and faces the graffitied wall. I wipe my dishevelled face with my sleeve and walk up to join him. We stand together in an awkward silence for a bit, Ichirou deep in thought.

"Hey Chi?"

"Yeah Ichi?"

He turns around and grins at me, his eyes staring affectionately into mine.

"I'm glad I didn't choose to be a Boy for Hire."