The Proposal for a Showdown
Orochi realized long ago that indulgence in grief was a one-way road toward damnation, towards inaction, and the incapacity of learning and growing healthily. This was the road she was gladly taking. No excuses or words would change it.
Now and then, past and present, cowardice was a constant in the life of someone who thought enduring everything the world threw at her was the answer to problems. To endure until it goes away.
A snake with its fangs was taken from her. Although a metaphor, Orochi couldn’t help but touch her sharp teeth with her tongue. ‘I ended up as a coward through and through.’ A coward who plunged herself into self-pity.
But now she was sober, her mind as free as it can be from the shackles and bindings of fear and doubts. The weather outside reflected her inner turmoils. It wasn’t a warm autumn night outside, no.
Outside the cafe she took solace in, a storm raged. Unbefitting of the nice weather of a few days ago. Thunders crackled and boomed outside, loud like a dragon’s roar. Orochi breathed hard. She wasn’t catching her breath or panting, but the act of looking at the cafe’s door in wait for it to open was a laborious activity.
Her left leg trembled with anxiety; it moved out of control. Her feet tapped the floor lightly, and the inside of her mouth quivered. Her anxiety is expressed in her eyes by fear and worry.
A breath in, and a breath out. One heartbeat, two heartbeats, one beat skipped. Orochi’s heart was so loud in her ears that she felt it in her throat. All four of them. Some days she was glad for the few patches of scales on her body.
The red scales on her hands covered the bulging veins as she held her pulse. The mental ticks of a clock made sure to keep track of time. ‘Yui isn’t here.’ The Thanks-A-Latte cafe. The place they were supposed to go when slimes attacked a chunk of Kyoto.
This wasn’t a merit of fate or convenience. No, Orochi chose this day on purpose. A day when her friend wasn’t around to hang out. She went out of her way to avoid her few friends on 1-D that day.
A day of preparation. The day of her decision. ‘I can’t run from my past. Not anymore.’ She was done running, done taking the easy path to pat herself on the back.
She can’t burden them with this decision. The path she will take from now on is hers alone to walk. 1-D doesn’t need a new problem on their plate. Somehow, the storm thickened.
The droplets of water hit the earth like a furious scourge of whips. Orochi stood there, watching the rain fall, drowned in reveries and painful awareness. She did nothing but sit on a chair, but her heart rang harder than ever.
One heartbeat, three beats. A beat resounding twice.
Lightning fell. A silent flash of white flooded the lights of the cafe before a blink of darkness fell afterward.
BOOM
An ill omen, maybe. Or maybe it was the sign of the gods telling Orochi her choices would be irreversible. She doesn’t care. Not anymore. If it is for her friends… ‘It is worth stepping into this life once more.’
She was defanged. She lost the will and ability to fight as she once did. Yet, wasn’t it common for snakes to break and grow their fangs all the time? By an unconscious slip, she cuts her tongue on said fangs.
For a second, the acidic and vinegary droplets of venomous blood filled her mouth before regeneration kicked in. The wound closed immediately. Blood was supposed to taste like iron or have a unique taste. She never tasted anyone else’s blood. Yet, she knew hers were different from the rest. It was always a thick substance with an acidic sour taste like vinegar.
A reminder of how far away from others she truly is. Yet, some people befriend her. They followed after her. Now and then. ‘I’m bringing my past for the sake of my future. Protect my current friends with the ones I abandoned.’
The hypocrisy was not lost on her. ‘There is no excuse this time. Everyone is a hypocrite… what a scam.’ Her sins were her own. They won’t be ignored or waved off as “part of life”. It won’t do. She chose that path. She chose to burn bridges.
Now Orochi is back of her own accord. Her friends were taking their sweet time, she waited for several dozen minutes now. She knew the trio was on their way here, delayed by the storm, but this didn’t make the wait any easier.
Orochi looked down at the table. A cup of black coffee, no cold as she waited for them to come.
Rui, Sasha, and Umi answered the call. Suzuka was out of reach. The moment where fate is decided, and the future sealed is near. Anyone who says they wouldn’t be anxious or scared is a liar. At least, Orochi can’t comprehend someone incapable of fear and worry in the same shoes as hers.
The door rang, and three figures entered. One taller than herself, a miracle when you take into account the Japanese average height, but Rui always was the taller of the five, and two slightly above the average height for Japanese girls their age. Sasha and Rui.
Rui’s golden eyes locked on Orochi. “So, it took some years, but we finally got here, huh?” Her old second-in-command voice sent a shiver down Orochi’s hydra heads. While Orochi could boast the same deep voice her mother had, her second in command never had a particularly deep tone, sounding a girl their age.
Yet two years later, Rui’s voice reminded her of Akane’s voice, commanding and powerful. “Yes, two years… I hope you three hadn’t any problems coming here.” It took some time to arrange a schedule where her friends wouldn’t be anywhere near the cafe.
It was hard to fool Hoge and Chris, the two with the best eyes for details and plots in their class. Surprisingly, Inigo was the biggest pain of her friends. At every moment and call, he seemed to feel something was wrong.
As if he had a sixth sense for gang activity and delinquent plans. ‘For someone who can act so dumb, you can be very perceptive.’ In any other situation, Orochi would smile at her mental words. Yet, she can’t bear to shed a drop of positivity in this moment.
She intentionally fooled her friends who wanted to become heroes and she is acting behind their backs to rejoin a gang. It was painful to go around them, but it was the choice she made. ‘If those trio couldn’t get here…’ Fooling her friends at Shiketsu twice… the thought of it is enough to hurt.
“Wecamehereafewtimesinthepastwhysoempty?”
Sasha fired words like a machine gun. ‘She sobered up for this.’ Despite her addictions to substances… Sasha was the sharpest knife they had in the shed. If anyone knows what Orochi planned, it may be her.
“It is raining cannonballs out there. Sas, we got delayed by almost an hour. Do you think people will take a boat and row like we did?” The sarcasm and exaggeration were palpable in Umi’s voice.
She wasn’t wrong, although. Few people are willing to brave a torrential rain. The fact those three did shows they are looking forward to this meeting as much as her. “Heychiefareyougoingtodrinkthatcoffee?”
Sasha asks, and Orochi shrugs. “Take it, Sasha. I’m not in the mood for coffee anyway.” Orochi goes to the side. In a moment, the brunette takes the seat beside her, drinking the coffee as if it were water.
Umi frowned with annoyance. Rui took the lead and sat on the chair as opposed to Orochi. Rui wore a stern and hardened expression, aloof and apathetic; she attempted her best to not show any excitement and happiness in seeing her friend again.
Aware that this talk meant business. ‘Umi, what did you say to her to make Orochi reconsider joining us?’ It wasn’t hard to connect the dots, but curiosity remained over what transpired between those two.
Rui knew Orochi’s intention in disbanding the gang, to give them a chance for a better future. Her action was short-sighted, however. She failed to account that their best future laid within the gang.
Their chance to rewrite the future. Make a place where the outcast and rough could be free and accepted.
“So. How has life been for you, Rui? Umi didn’t change, it seems. Sasha is Sasha.”
“Of courseIamSashaSashaisthebestchief.”
The brunette chimed in, her rapid-fire words filled with pride and confidence. Unshakable and narcissistic, but strangely endearing. “Yeah, Sasha.” Orochi smiled in a somber mood, restraining herself from patting her good friend.
However, the Hydra heads didn’t receive the memorandum; the leftmost one rubbed its head against her friend’s side. Umi chose silence. She left the wide smirk on her lips to tell how she felt about it.
Rui looked as somber as Orochi. “I ran away from home. Couldn’t withstand my parents doing as they pleased with my future. Sorry about ignoring your words, but I couldn’t leave the others behind, nor put up with my parents.”
The taller girl’s words killed their mood, even the hyperactive Sasha seemed out of her funk. Orochi closed her eyes in solemnity. ‘How many times have I thought of running away? How many times…’ Her family wasn’t perfect; her mother's worst years made Orochi ponder if running away was the solution.
But to where would she run? She was too naïve, too innocent to consider living in the abandoned warehouse they “claimed,” and when she was on the verge of leaving her family behind, she had nowhere to run to.
At least in the estate, she had Kyoko, and her father, Yuusei wasn’t too far away. Her mother’s presence was a low price to pay. “I’m sorry to hear that, Rui.” Maybe the bright future she wished wasn’t there. It never existed in the first place.
Orochi’s heart ached with an unbearable sting stuck in it, almost splitting the bloody organ in half. There was a place and moments for these talks, heart-to-heart; Thanks-A-Latte is not the place, and Orochi’s intentions won’t make it the moment.
“Don’t be. I would’ve run even if the gang hadn’t disbanded.” Rui knows this as well, her answer a sympathetic and coy smile, her stern façade broken. A waitress(?) stops next to their table, ready to note their orders.
“Hello, what are you going to have?”
“Piccolo Latte.”
“Mocha.”
“Affogato.”
Her friend answers on automatic. Orochi stares at them, dazed by their spontaneous answers. She liked energy drinks, but couldn’t get the hype about coffee. Given that they were all from high-standing families. The hydra girl never understood their love for coffee…
“Alright. It will take a few moments.” The waitress(?) leaves shortly after noting down their orders.
“So, Orochi. We all know you called us not for a reunion. Well, not just for it. Then, what is in your mind?” Rui cut the chase short. Sasha flinched and moved out of the way, almost falling off her seat.
Umi straightened her posture, a dangerous glint inside her eyes. At that moment, Rui, Umi, and Orochi could hear each other’s heartbeats. Their hearts are on the verge of tearing out of their chest.
Their poker faces coldening in an unbreakable façade, but brittle and crumbling underneath their masks. Orochi’s lips pursed a few times. She attempted to open them and let words flow out, yet they only quivered, the words clogged in her mind.
They stood at an impasse for a few moments. Orochi clenched her fists. She frowned at her lack of initiative and posture.
“I…”
Her shoulders trembled, and her body felt light because of the influx of feelings and chemical reactions ignited by worry and anticipation.
“I…”
Her gaze was cast downwards. She stared at her hands; they shook with her repressed emotions. She wanted to break free of her predicament and get out from behind the eight ball.
“I want to go back to the gang. Resume the duty I should’ve never left behind. I want to return as your leader. I know what it entails, and I’m up for the challenge.” It was childish. It was dumb.
She shouldn’t ever do it, but she did, anyway. To go back to being their leader. She knew better than anyone but Rui the meaning of those words. Rui and Umi are taken aback. They knew something like that would happen, but they still couldn’t keep the surprise from appearing.
Meanwhile, Sasha stood there, smiling with uneasiness. “You… are really shameless. Go back to your duties? Are you insane? You have been out of the loop for two years, and by Umi’s account, you weren’t as sharp as you used to be.”
Rui spoke with the edge and swiftness expected from a leader. She was worried for her friend, this and the fact Orochi stood absent for years made her words cut deeper into the Hydra girl’s heart.
Her friend wasn’t wrong, but those were the reasons Orochi needed to go back to how she was. “Yeah, Orochi. That hero school made you soft. Can you stomach your old ways?”
Umi taunted with a smirk, giving a sideways glance to Rui, gauging her reaction before proceeding any further. Her boss didn’t express disapproval. An implicit “go on.”
“Beating people black and blue? Putting bullies and thugs in their place? Will you take the gloves out of your claws? Stop hitting people with a bat made of cotton?” Contrary to Rui, Umi’s voice echoed with resentment and grudge, deeply repressed, but still there.
Umi never was a person to hold back her tongue, but her words felt more personal, deeper. Like Orochi assumed, she held a grudge. Orochi couldn’t blame her for it.
“Yes. You two are right.” The smirk washes off Umi’s face, her eyes straightened in a stare. Even Sasha devoted her attention to the talk. “I got soft, and sheathed my claws, but no more. I need to go back to the old ways, how we did stuff.”
Orochi’s heart throbbed with pain. The memories of her mother giving succinct approval for her to continue. Go back into this path… ‘Will mother be proud? I don’t know.’ But she has to try and earn her place back, become stronger for their sake… the sake of her friends, old and new.
“This world isn’t going to babysit me any longer. Internships are near.” She won’t be facing simulations and make-believe anymore. She can encounter true villains, even Feral out there.
“There is no time like now to go back. I need to become stronger and relearn what I forgot. I don’t care if you think I’m unfit and weak.” In that moment, she was, but Orochi won’t stay that way for long. The hourglass was running out of sand, it needed to be turned for time to run again.
Her time needed to run again, not continue in stagnation.
“I propose my challenge here. I will face you three and Suzuka in a single battle. You can come all at once or one at a time, I don’t care. Two weeks for us to be prepared for this battle.”
Orochi raised her eyes. Tears trembled inside of amethyst orbs; they threatened to fall at any moment. Her heart subdued its intensity. Orochi didn’t know if it was going to stop at any moment now, or if she looped from worry to calm.
“On October 31st, I will come back for my place as your leader. Do you accept my challenge, Rui?” Orochi didn’t need deeper details to know who led the gang in her absence. By process of elimination, Rui was the only one fit.
Rui smiled, satisfied with Orochi’s answer. Sasha looked away, uncomfortable with this talk, as for Umi…
Red lightning cracked from her eyes, a large smirk back to her lips, and her shoulders, arms, and eyes pulsated with energy and yearning for that battle. “This is the boss I remember! Tell me, do you think you can win against us?”
Umi was thrilled and ecstatic at the confrontation put in by her ex-leader. “I have to win. Loss is not an outcome in the first place.” She can’t fail. She won’t fail.
“Ah! If you were like that when facing those goo freaks! This is how I remember you! Beware, that traitorous Suzuka is not one of us anymore.” Orochi’s eyes widened with surprise.
She knew Suzuka wasn’t answering any calls, but… “Traitorous? She…”
However, before the topic could continue, Suzuka’s high and Orochi’s surprise were cut short by a clasp of hands.
“Done with this bad topic. I accept your challenge on the condition of you join us as my subordinate. You won’t disobey me, nor question my rules.” Rui’s voice was stern and inflexible. There was no room for negotiation.
Orochi closed her eyes in acceptance. She was the challenger. Rui could simply not accept it. ‘I won’t get a deal any better than this one.’
Rui leaned over the table, waiting for their orders. “Now, we shall enjoy our orders and catch on the girl talk.” Of all of them, Rui seemed the most delighted at the news. More than Umi, even.