Forever Dream — (Chapter 3) Still Riding The School Bus
Tags: Short Story, Fiction, Series, Forever Dream, Magical Realism

“I told you this before and I’m repeating myself again; I can’t guarantee anything, Hide!” The man yells at him, nose flaring and hair messy. “If you can’t trust me with all the details then just say it and I’ll leave. I don’t want to get woken up each night just for you to through a hissy fit every time she refuses to cooperate.”

Hide bares his teeth angrily at the short man and looks about ready to throw a punch. But the other man doesn’t flinch under the glare and once again Hide is reminded of just how weak he is.

Just how dependent.

He pulls at his hair angrily, screaming as he moves away and trains his anger towards a nearby the vase that shatters too easily. Heaving madly, he breaks a few more items around the room — a wine glass, a water dispenser, an easel, and a pair of handcuffs. This continues for some time, during which his companion takes to sitting in the sofa chair near the window and continuing with his drink.

Enjoying his private, little show.

Hide stops when the room starts to resemble a hut in Ohio that’s been through a Tornado. He’s hurt himself in the process too. Bloody knuckles and a purple bump on his forehead. Glaring at the man who’s looking at him in amusement.

“You said you could fix her,” he mutters dangerously. Eyes locked with the other man’s. “I brought her here because you fucking said you could fix her!”

“And you said she’s your girlfriend.” The man strides towards Hide swiftly, grabbing his hand to press into his bleeding knuckles as he continues, “but we both know that’s far from the truth, don’t we, Hide? So, tell me. Who is she?”

Hide winces against the pressure on his weeping knuckles and snarls at the man. Bending down as if to mock the man’s height. “Aw~ did I break your little heart, Dr Kagawa?” He pouts mockingly. An air of self-satisfaction takes over him when he sees Kagawa flinch at the remark. Kagawa is quick school his expression to his previous aloofness, but he can’t fool Hide.

“Who. Is she?”

Bending further down, Hide is just an inch away from Kagawa’s face and grins as he speaks, “why so curious, Doctor? Is the payment not enough?” He bites his lips as he says that and Kagawa visibly shivers at the words.

Hide moves away with a triumphant smirk and strolls towards the sofa chair Kagawa had previously occupied. Taking a sip from the champagne glass the other man had been drinking from, he cackles like a crazy dog. His demonic voice echoing off the walls like an omen.

And then he falls silent. Letting the quietness of the night engulf them makes me feel powerful. Like he’s in charge.

“She’s Hanazaki’s daughter,” he whispers after some time and when Kagawa issues a small gasp, he adds, “and I need her in her FUCKING SENSES!”

Hide’s voice rings sharply in Kagawa’s but the man is oblivious to the sound. He’s too busy taking in the information hurled at him.

The heir of the Hanazaki empire.

Hide watches him look at the closed bedroom door behind which the girl in question is muttering weird nothings and Kagawa is left speechless. She’s my ticket to the big leagues.

It takes several minutes before he speaks. Hide smirks at his hesitation because he knows exactly what Kagawa will say. “How long do we have to fix her then?” Hide smiles at the question and moves towards the man. Patting his back as if consoling.

“Three weeks.”