ODE TO THE MURDERED, bonten

30.5

PART THIRTY-POINT-FIVE !
christmas special chapter.

TOKYO CITY IS LIKE A MISTRESS dressed in silks of midnight beneath soft, snowy flakes of winter. the days stretched on as simple routines since your lunch bonding with Mikey.

his open finality to trusting you gave you closure that you didn't know you needed, and opened a vast door of a world that is beyond the threshold of your dull life since the death of your brother. your unsteadiness and distrust slowly melts at the seams as one day turned to two, then four. you hate to admit it, but those eight men of high hierarchy of the underworld were good company, under their tutelage and wing they treated you better than the first few days since you've met them.

one lazy Saturday of visiting Marise with Mocchi and Kakucho, a Wednesday afternoon having lunch with Mikey again and Sanzu, then a late night out with the Haitani brothers, Koko and Takeomi. slowly but surely you fall into their little orbit, the casual push and pull of their normalcy that you had slowly gotten used to at this point:

and for a split moment it felt like you've known them for a century.

you weren't the only one that felt the reciprocation of your relationship with one another, it also seems like the feared Bonten executives had softened completely at your presence. if they influenced you of their hyper reality of high life: then in return you injected a part of your life to them,

a life revolving around arts.

there was one time in the late afternoon wherein Ran Haitani showed up at your doorstep with a heavy bag of art supplies, shocking you as you almost dropped the files in your arms.

"surprise." he sing songs, his easy grin enough to alight the late afternoon sun. "this is a gift from boss."

    you remembered staring starry-eyed and in awe at the gift, your heart squeezing at the small gesture: you have been diligently working with us for awhile, we didn't have much progress yet since we haven't gotten Taiju's info but nonetheless Mikey was grateful that you've been cooperative thus far.

    you don't know when one thing led to another, but you remembered seeing the hidden fascination that crossed the older Haitani's face, looking at a set of gauche paint you had placed on the counter.

"...you wanna try?"

"huh?"

"wanna try painting?" you lift the bag a bit to emphasize your question. a single considerate question turned into you sitting down on the middle of Sano Manjiro's living room with the rest of the other executives.

    apparently Ran had requested for you to teach them how to draw since it's Yuletide season and now you'd bristle at the thought.

    "y/n, look at this."

    "what's this?" you deadpanned, narrowing your eyes at the paper Rindou gave you. you scrutinize the drawing, having difficulty trying to comprehend what the younger mullet-haired male had drawn.

    you turn your gaze at Rindou, question in your eyes. "it's you." he answers, pointing at the crooked, disfigured entity at the center of his paper.

    "this looks like—"

    "the grinch, yes. i drew a perfect representation of you—" you throw the paper back to him, a sigh leaving your lips as you rubbed your temple. God was testing you.