Totsuka was impolitely sitting on the couch with his feet up on it and his arms around his knees as he silently listened to Kusanagi and Suou’s argument.
Kusanagi’s hand was grabbing Suou’s collar, and he was shoving him up against the wall like he was trying to throw him against it. Suou didn’t resist, and allowed himself to be forced between Kusanagi and the wall.
“You…!” Throwing away his usual atmosphere and widening his often drooping eyes, Kusanagi glared at Suou, and spat out his words like vomiting blood. But, immediately, he shut up and clenched his teeth.
At that moment, Suou was covered in wounds. He’d received first aid, but many of them weren’t closed, and blood leaked out to stain the bandages red. But Suou’s eyes, as if in contrast to his body’s condition, were energetically- perhaps even dangerously, one might think- full of life. Like his soul alone was trying to run on ahead, leaving behind his physical body.
Totsuka didn’t try to stop Kusanagi from grabbing Suou, who was in bad shape. Totsuka also understood Kusanagi’s feelings, so much it was painful.
“Do you wanna die, Mikoto?” At Kusanagi’s expression, one he never usually wore which was a fierce look only a paper’s breadth away from looking like he was about to cry, Suou smiled in a wry, troubled way.
That scene was opposite from how things normally were.
Normally, Suou would always push annoying things off on and act so whimsically towards his elder, Kusanagi, it was almost like he was being spoiled in a way. Right then, it was Kusanagi who wasn’t able to control himself, and Suou was the one who was looking like he was watching over Kusanagi from some distant place. That also fanned Kusanagi’s worrying.
“Not really, I don’t intend to die.” Looking at Suou’s face as he said that, Kusanagi grimaced and let go of Suou’s collar.
“Kusanagi.” Suou called, but Kusanagi didn’t reply, and only irritably turned away. Still smiling bitterly, like his throat was tight (Kusanagi probably thought that even the fact that he was making such a face felt ominous), and after looking at Kusanagi’s face, he lightly layed his hand on the guy’s shoulder and left the bar.
Between Kusanagi and Totsuka, who were left alone in the empty bar, an awkward silence fell. While Kusanagi and Suou had been arguing, Totsuka had just sat there silently without opening his mouth or even looking over there. Even after Suou exited, Totsuka didn’t move and wondered what he should do for a little bit. In the end, while still not looking at Kusanagi, he asked directly.
“…should I leave you alone?”
“No.” Kusanagi also didn’t look in Totsuka’s direction, but he shook his head.
“Be there.”
“Okay.”
Totsuka nodded and closed his mouth again. Silently looking in different directions, they simply shared the same space.
Shizume City’s security was getting worse every time one looked at it. Disputes became an everyday deal, and Suou fought as the head of the team that had sprung up. What they were afraid of was how Suou was getting absorbed in those disputes. That he wouldn’t mind even if he were to lose his life during those disputes- not only that, but that they felt he was giving off a feeling as though he were charmed by the idea of burning up his life.
“You won’t say it today, huh.” Sighed Kusanagi. Totsuka raised his head and looked in Kusanagi’s direction.
“That ‘it’ll all work out somehow’.”
“…I felt like you’d get angry at me if I said it this time.” When Totsuka said that, Kusanagi smiled wryly. Totsuka opened his mouth after reading that tired expression.
“…hey, Kusanagi-san. Do you know the legend of the red king?” Kusanagi frowned questioningly.
“Come to think of it, before you said Mikoto was “a person who’d become a king” or somethin’, right… don’t tell me you were talkin’ about the red king.”
“It’s not like that. At that time I was more… I just vaguely thought ‘this guy might become someone amazing’. I thought that I wanted to see what this person sees from close by.” Thinking about it, he realized he had been a really nonsensical child. Suou, who had been followed around for such a ridiculous hunch, must have really been troubled.
But now, Suou was literally being called “King”. And somewhere inside his heart, Totsuka believed there was “something above that”.
“…it’s that story about a king with inhuman powers, right. The symbol of power, the personification of flames. That in the past, there existed a man like that, and he became king of those who lived with violence and became a deterrent in the underworld.”
“That’s it. That person was called the red king. His powers were… it wouldn’t be outrageous to say they could give birth to that crater.”
Kusanagi gave an exasperated sigh.
“That’s just a legend, ain’t it. I mean, that crater’s truth is still wrapped in mystery, and people say all kinda things about it, but still. Even in all that, the myth about the red king is still going way over the top.”
“King told me that too. He got all exasperated and asked if I was a kid.”
“You said it to Mikoto too…” Totsuka was given a look that said ‘for goodness’s sake’, but he was serious.
Stupid, a myth like a fairy tale. That may be the case.
“But, if it were really possible for there to be something like a ‘red king’… I don’t think there’s anyone as fitting for it as that person.” When Totsuka said that with eyes that looked straight off into the distance, Kusanagi put on a troubled expression.
It was right after this that Suou was chosen by the “Slate”.
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another side:red translation
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