First Arc: The Fallen Kings -- Chapter 5 -- Part Six (1/??) -- {The Hierarchy}
This next part will feature THREE (or more) PARTS. I know, so meta, right? But yes, seeing as if I go further into writing, I fear that the pacing of the story will look atrocious. So I will devote more time into putting a gap between events so that the timelapse would really be felt in the story. I feel if I just kept on writing, the whole plot is going to feel obsoloete with all the jumping of places and dialogue.
I feel like previous chapters were too rushed because I kept jumping ship. I've reached all the backstory crap I needed to do, so I'm going to go into more detail about the mundane life of Jason, Raiki and the others. The main antagonists of this arc will have yet to be developed. I just wanted a little break to get into the slice of life aspect of the story. I felt like everything turned serious with the edition of the antagonists. So the next few parts will be life-related, very mundane and relatable.
-- Atop the Tokugawa Shrine
Atop Tokugawa shrine two figures were seen. Both wearing visible leather jackets, both fur-coated. These two teenage looking figures seemed like they were siblings, with the similar hair-do and outfit they bore. Last seen, they were speaking of someone waking up and owing favors. Quite the interesting topic.
"You're still moping over that event, hm." the unknown man said, quite somber in tone.
"What do you care?" the teen spoke back, eyes only gazing at the horizon before him.
"You're fervently investigating his death. It's time you let that case go. There hasn't been evidence that the police have found ever since the incident. You're losing sleep over false leads. You should keep your attention on bettering the city at the moment; not going after a wild goose chase." A silence lingers as the zephyr winds blew over Raiki's face, gracefully moving the strands of his jet black bangs out of place. The death of this mysterious person seems to have the teen in disorient. Raiki stood up and looked at the male directly in the eyes.
"I'll do whatever it takes to put a close on that case." the teen bit his lower lip, gazing at the giant diamond-shaped memorial behind the person he spoke to. This memorial had Japanese characters carved onto it; they seemed to translate into various names across the black marble; his finger feeling the crevices of a written name on the rock. "For now, I have other matters to attend to."
"Hn. Our contract expires here." the male said. "You best watch your back, Kizu. I may have helped you save your friend as a favor this time, but I'm still against the Bureau's methods of blindly running this city. You are still an enemy to the cause and all of District 17. The lowlives your grandfather deems there aren't very happy of how he tries to build meaningless infrastructures to expand his economic empire."
"What my grandfather does is none of my business." Raiki says.
"This is why your bloodline is so far hated in this city. You hierarchs always have your priviliges handed to you on a silver platter for many generations. The higher class may respect the Kizus, but the majority of impoverished areas Shinzuku tries to hide doesn't. We're always watching, like shadows in the night, waiting for you to commit a mistake. And you'll know when you've finally slipped, Kizu."
"We're not here to debate about the philosophical views of our society. Don't vent your frustrations on me just because I have 'cursed blood'." Raiki turned around with an unimpressed expression on his face as he threw a suitcase towards the man as the other caught it with both hands. The man opened the briefcase filled with money in the form of notes. "This is where the conversation ends, mercenary."
"Hmph, if the people of District 17 and other areas didn't need this money, I wouldn't have taken you up on your offer." The man said.
"And? I don't see how telling me that solves anything. I barely have the power to move the 'empire' my grandfather has built. I'm not his customer service manager, Shadow." Raiki said, his eyebrows raising into a more annoyed expression. Just then, Raiki was flung the same briefcase onto his arms; his expression fading into a surprised one. Eyes darted onto the metal suitcase as it slowly made way to the man called Shadow.
"Forget it." the man said. "You're nothing like the person /he/ talked about. Maybe that'll teach you to be more grateful." Shadow walks towards the ridge before him, stopping and looking back at the teen. "I thought you were different from them. It looks like Shirasu puts his faith too much on people too far gone the wrong path." Shadows surrounding the man, he faded into the darkness, leaving only the teen and his suitcase filled with bank notes to think about this altercation.
Raiki shrugged off the ending statement; it seems it did not affect him at all. "I wonder if this is enough to buy new parts for my engineering project." he said as he turned and walked down the stairs; seemingly heading back t the city from the school's island.
-- Bureau Headquarters Clinic
"..hn.. where am I?" A bright light shone over the teen's face, eyelids slowly opening as he surveyed the area. There was a dextrose injected into his wrist, a pitcher and a glass of water on the desk next to him. A blonde male stood up from the chair near the door, smiling at the finally awake Jason.
"You're awake." he said. Jason realizes that he is probably in a hospital inside Shinzuku. Kiyoshi's smile then suddenly faded into a somewhat neutral expression; although his eyes seemed to be sneering at the boy. "I took a bullet for you, kid."
Jason seemed quite nervous at the fact the tone of his voice had changed, the aura of the conversation's tide has shifted dramatically.
"In the Bureau, we have three core principles. I may have failed to inform you about that. The first being that we do not let personal feelings interfere with a mission. Second, we do not stray from our superior's orders. Lastly and most importantly, we don't break the rules." the dark tone echoed from Kiyoshi's voice as his eyes struck true. In a split second, he grinned quite abruptly.
"The Bureau is a chain of ascension. That's why it's called that. We maintain the peace and order of Shinzuku City by following our superior's orders. By matter of skill, the wisest, strongest and most intelligent are ranked in succession. Atop that chain is our current commander, and he oversees all the successes and failures of his subordinates."
Jason felt a little more discomfort as the conversation continued. He very well knew that he had faced dire consequences. But there is a lingering irritation that had bothered him. "So, what's this you're telling me?" the teen asked, a throbbing headache piercing through his usual, kind demeanor.
"Be transparent with me." Jason demanded, his eyebrows furling in a slight frown. This only elected a grin from Kiyoshi.
"Mystery creates wonder; and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." the male turned around to face the door, opening it to leave. "Even I am a mystery to myself." Jason shook his head, eyebrows still furling now in confusion to what the man before him has presented. Alpha male? Mystery? Those statements didn't correlate with one another. As Kiyoshi opened the door, two people had greeted him from the outside. Their voices were inaudible from where Jason was laying down but he could faintly make out the faces of the two people.
"He's awake?" a female voice spoke.
"Oh, thank god." a male voice chimed in. The two people entered the room, Kiyoshi raising his arm to gesture for them to continue.
"I'll let the three of you have some time while I talk to his guardian." Kiyoshi said to the two seemingly close couple.
Jason then recognized these faces. Those features. It was no doubt that they were his parents: Natalie Lisbon and Aiden Alexander. Natalie then rushed over to Jason, embracing her son tightly. Still fazed by the long sleep, Jason could only tiringly stare at his mother, but a faint smile formed on his face. "What're you guys doing here?"
"The Bureau called us because you were comatosed for about 3 days. We were here on Monday." Natalie then let go of her son as she smiled. Brows suddenly furrowed as she flicked his finger on Jason's forehead. "What kind of shenanigans were you doing here?!"
"-Ow!' Jason said, rubbing his forehead, smiling sheepishly at his mother, one eye closed. "..I was.. trying to help Uncle Simon with his money problems."
"WHAT?! What's that old cheapskate trying to pull?! We're financially stable and he could've asked money from us!" Eyes with fiery rage, Natalie calmed down and took a deep breath. Aiden could only smile in the background, letting her wife go ham.
"Dear, I feel like we've brought Simon on a toll when he asked to pay Jason's tuition." Aiden chimed in, a smile still on his face, eyebrows furrowing in a concerned manner
"That stupid brother of mine." Natalie sighed as she shook her head. "But we're glad you're alright, Jason." she said, kissing Jason's forehead. "We have to go to talk to some old friends, but we hear your colleagues are coming to celebrate your recovery."
"Hm..? I don't have that many friends as of now." Jason chuckled. Natalie and Aiden then turned around, waving goodbye as they sought for old friends. With the room to himself again Jason sighed and finally laid back on his pillow. In his thoughts, he deemed to be one of the most hectic days he's had. He could still remember the face of the man he had fought. Who was he? And why was he in possession of a Mega Stone? It was clear that he was a Lucario just like him and he seemed to know more tricks with that forme than he.
Disoriented, Jason thought of the times he could've saved the people he lost if he had the skills that man had. '...I wonder if.. if I was stronger.' He was stronger, more agile, devastatingly powerful. Jason could even attest that the man was not using the full extent of his powers. 'I could've saved them all.' A hand reached for the ceiling light, Jason's eyes seemed very droopy.
"Heh.. you're finally awake, usuratonkachi." a voice said beside him. Jason was startled as he raised one of his arms up in defense. A shot of bolstering pain engulfed his forearm as he jolted it back to him.
"Idiot, you're still recovering." In full view, Jason saw Raiki with his expressionless face and crossed arms looking down at him as he leaned bakc on a wall. Jason sneered, his eyes locking quite irritated at the teen before him.
'He's so full of himself, it's disgusting.' Jason thought to himself while giving him a bit of a scoff. "What're you doing here?"
"As your superior, I have to look after your ass." Bluntly, Raiki said.
"You are /not/ the boss of me." Jason retorted. This only elected a pompous smirk from the teen.
"Is that any way to talk to the person who got you out of that septic hellhole?" the teen said, walking towards the open window. That was not opened before. It had seemed that Raiki used that to make his unexpected entrace into his room. The Luxray put a foot up on the ledge, planning to jump off somewhere again. "You're cleared for release today, someone'll come up and get you on a wheelchair." he said before jumping out the window in the form of lightning streaks.
"..Oh." Jason said to himself in a realization. He then frowned as he plopped his head back onto the pillow, sighing in irritation. "Whatever." he said to himself.
'Wonder who else is going to come knocking on those entrances..' Jason thought to himself.