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geminiamethyst · 1 year

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Running. Chapter 30: The Crazy Diamonds

Chapter 1: click HERE

Chapter 29: click HERE

Chapter 31: click HERE

I have no excuses. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

“Ryoma Hoshi.”

“Who’s asking?”

“My name is Togami. We require your assistance.”

“If I refuse?”

“That’s your wish. But we may need your speed to help uncover secrets about the Facility.”

“Are you working with the one that hired Gonta?”

“If by that you mean “Shuichi”, then yes.”

“You’ve twisted my arm. But if I find that you’re lying to me, I’ll make you regret it.”

“I’ll make it worth your time.”

“Hold it. There is one more thing that I want to ask of you. If you can do this one favour for me, I’ll go with you.”

“Very well. What’s this favour?”

———————————————————————————

It has been about three days since the group arrived into Tokyo. Things have calmed down and aside from the occasional spat between Mondo and Taka, there didn’t seem to be that much tension. The dolls that Kugutsu had made were safely sealed away where no harm could come to them. Things have been going smoothly and there hadn’t been any sighting of Nightingale or Kugutsu. Keebo had wired himself to all cameras in the city and neither Council member had been seen. Even Tanken, who had yet to show herself, hadn’t made an appearance. It was peaceful, but everyone still had to remain on their toes.

Especially today.

Since things have been quiet for a while now, the small group decided that it was time for Mondo and Taka to take care of their own personal business. Mondo with his former gang, and Taka with his father. Miu had given the group a new panic button that she had constructed for a while now. It was more designed like a wrist watch, something easy and quick to press for an emergency. Since Mondo and Kaito were the only ones that could drive they decided to have Maki go with Mondo and Taka with Kaito, just like they had done since they left the small town.

“You going to be okay?” Kaito asked, keeping his voice as quiet as he can, hands on Maki’s shoulders.

“Kaito, I can handle myself.” Maki spoke confidently.

“I know! Just…just be careful okay?” Kaito sighed. This was the first time for a while that he and Maki went in different directions. He was a little on edge about letting her out of his sight, but he knows that he can’t keep her like a caged bird forever.

“I’ll be fine. You stay safe too.” Maki sighed, knowing that Kaito was just trying his best to look out for her.

“When am I not?” Kaito grinned. Seeing the glare that Maki was giving him, he wiped the grin off his face and got more serious. “I’ll be okay.”

With a newfound reassurance, Maki travelled with Mondo to where the hideout of the Crazy Diamonds. At least, that’s what Mondo hoped on. Since he had been gone for so long, he didn’t know if the gang had moved on to hide somewhere else or worse, disbanded completely. He didn’t want the work that his brother put into the gang to be gone like they had never existed. It’ll be more damaging to him than anyone could ever think. He knows these roads better than anyone, he didn’t need to look around to know where he was going. Maki stayed silent the entire time, trusting Mondo about where they were heading. She had no doubt that they would both be alright as long as they were careful.

Mondo drove confidentially through different roads and a couple of alleys. He even drove carefully to avoid being picked up by the police. Couldn’t take any chance with the risks that were swimming around them 24/7. Maki glanced around as they approached a bunch of warehouses. One of the warehouses had bay doors that were wide open. Mondo didn’t hesitate to drive in and park up. Maki didn’t question it, she knew where they were. Only it was completely deserted. Not a member or motorcycle in sight.

“Looks like they’re out for a ride or some shit.” Mondo muttered, looking around the warehouse. Maki stepped in behind him, taking everything in. The smell of cigarettes, fuel and some beer was evident. Crates were dotted about, some of them were opened and others had tool boxes on top of them for maintaining the vehicles. Posters were hanging on the walls that ranged from motorcycles, bands and Crazy Diamond posters. There were even banners and flags that were decorated with the Crazy Diamonds’ logo. H the walls were even spray painted with random drawings and symbols. There was a section that was clearly for chilling out. There was a mini bar for drinks to be served, beat up sofas and small tables. There were a couple of dart boards, a pool table, a TV and a rack of DVDs. Maki supposed that it was typical of a gang to decorate their hideout like this.

There was something that Maki didn’t expect though. Mondo was heading towards it. Maki wasn’t sure, but she thought that she could see him shaking a little. He headed towards a corner that was covered with different photos, articles and some memorabilia like a white jacket and small pendants. There were small notes pinned to the wall with messages like “once a Diamond, always a Diamond”, “forever remembered” and “brothers to all”. There were also some candles that were burnt out. It looked like some kind of makeshift shrine. Maki carefully followed Mondo as he bent down in front of a photograph that was framed. Actually, there were two. One of Mondo when he was a little younger. His hairstyle was different. Maki wondered how the hell the biker was able to style his hair into a pompadour so ridiculously like that. It was the one next to it that caught her attention the most. It was of another young man, probably in his early twenties. He had black hair that was brushed back into a pompadour (thankfully not as stupid as Mondo’s was) and had purple eyes. He was formed with white clothing and had a prideful smile on his face. Maki glanced between the phot of the man and the photo of Mondo. They looked extremely similar. It didn’t take a genius to work out who this was.

“Is this your brother?” Maki asked looking at the photograph.

“Yeah. He’s the one that started the gang.” Mondo smiled sadly as he carefully lighted the tip of his finger and guided the flame to relight a candle. Maki bowed her head respectfully, staying silent. Mondo did the same, only he held his hands together to give a silent prayer and most likely apologises for being away for so long. After a few minutes, Mondo pushed his own photo face down and stood up right.

“What was his name?” Maki asked, tucking a few strands of hair being her ear.

“Daiya.” Mondo responded, his voice very suddenly quiet.

“Are you okay?” Maki asked. Mondo only grumbled as he realised how weak he made himself look. He moved away, trying to find something else to look at. Maki let him do whatever he needed to do. There was suddenly a loud rumbling of engines that she couldn’t ignore. The engines grew closer along with the sound of excited yelling and laughter. Mondo heard it too and walked towards where he expected the vehicles to park up. First it was a couple then more suddenly started cook in, almost filling up the area that Mondo stood in front of completely. Maki did know that the gang was large from what she was told, but she didn’t expect it to be this huge. Just goes to show how much respect the gang had. Each member wore nothing but white jackets with high collars, white pants and loafers or boots. The jackets were adorned with the same motifs that Mondo had on his own jacket. They all varied in ages from teen year to near thirties or forties.

Everything went completely silent as the gang spotted who stood in front of them. Not one rumble from an engine or a laugh r shout from each of the members. There was this tension in the air that was making this more intimidating. Each member couldn’t decide on what they should be feeling or how they should be reacting. Some looked stunned, some looked almost happy while others seemed quite pissed off.

There was one in particular that was front and centre that seemed to be the most pissed off. He must have taken over the gang after Mondo was taken. He had scruffy blonde hair that was partially spiked up. He was quite young looking, not that much older than Maki. Late teens/early twenties maybe?

Maki didn’t think much of it as the boy suddenly got up from his bike. Without hesitating, he marched over to Mondo before giving him a harsh uppercut to the chin. Not expecting the attack, Mondo fell backwards, landing on his back and laid there stunned for a few seconds.

“You got a lotta nerve!” The boy yelled, shoulders hunched up.

“Is that how you greet people now, Michi?” Mondo grumbled, roughly rubbing his sore chin as he stood up.

“What do you expect?! You disappeared 7 years ago!” The boy yelled, looking like he was getting ready to punch Mondo again. “We didn’t know where the fuck you were or anything! For all we knew, you were fucking dead!”

“I can explain.” Mondo spoke calmly, holding his hands up.

“Oh really? And who’s she?!” Michi demanded, pointing a finger at Maki as her presence was finally realised. Some of the other gang members tensed up as they noticed her as well. A couple even smirked, and Maki didn’t want to think about what they might be laughing about.

“A friend. Would ya let me talk already?!” Mondo yelled, doing everything he can to not set his fists on fire by accident. “I was kidnapped by some fuckers that did shit to me and some others. All because I’m not like normal people. Same thing goes with Maki.”

“Yeah right! You expect us to believe that?!” Michi scoffed, some gang members coming up behind him, ready to chuck out the unexpected guests most likely.

“If I show you proof, would ya believe me?” Mondo sighed. Maki rose an eyebrow. If Mondo was thinking on doing what she thinks he is, it’s a huge gamble. There’s a lot of variables to consider. Who to trust, who to not trust, if there were any spies among the gang or hidden cameras and so on. This was quite the risk.

“Sure!” Michi sighed, looking like he wasn’t believing a single word that was being said or what might be said.

“What I show you, can’t be let out of the gang. You all gotta promise me that!” Mondo demanded. No one spoke up aside from a couple of scoffs. Not something that Mondo wanted. He didn’t expect a welcome back party or anything, but this wasn’t the amount of disrespect that he wanted. Time to dig in a little. “Didn’t Daiya tell ya that a real man doesn’t break a promise?! So make it already!”

“Alright! We’ll indulge with your story for now! It won’t get out of the gang! Man’s promise!” Michi finally said, a nerve being hit. Slowly, but by bit, all the gang members followed his example. They were hit in the same place too. Time to take that gamble. It was all or nothing at this point. Upon hearing the affirmative, Mondo lifted up a clenched fist without hesitation. Heat rose from it before sparks flew from it. The members all jumped back and exclaimed in shock as he brightly ignited his hand.

“What the fuck?!” Michi exclaimed, looking just as shocked as everyone else. Maki couldn’t hold back a smirk as she watched the spectacle before her. Who knew that a little flame was enough to scare people as tough as biker gang members.

“Now will ya bastards listen to me?!” Mondo asked, looking as smug as Maki was. Looks like his little gamble paid off.

———————————————————————————

After a couple of hours of explaining and answering some questions, the atmosphere from the warehouse had changed. The warehouse was sealed off to make sure that prying eyes wouldn’t see what was going on. Each member came around from being hostile to being glad that their former leader was back. Not one said a bad word since the explanation was given out. If anything they started to sound glad that Mondo came back and was happy to get some answers. They started to treat Maki like she was all of a sudden part of the gang as the first female member. It was a little intimidating but she was able to put up with it. Even if she didn’t show off her powers, she already got some respect from the gang members by beating each one in an arm wrestle or a coupe rounds of darts. She did offer a sparring match, but each one said that even if she was volunteering to fight, they wouldn’t dare lay their hands on a woman. Apparently it’s something that Daiya and Mondo drilled into their heads to respect women. That Maki can understand.

“Can’t believe you and Daiya kept this from us.” Takemichi said looking up at Mondo from where he sat.

“It’s not that we didn’t trust you guys.” Mondo sighed, his shoulders sagging a little. He was reminded again of how desperate Daiya started to look every time they left the gang at the end of the day, silently regretting about not saying anything. Mondo had started to regret it too, and had conversations about it before with his brother. “Almost every day I could see that Daiya wanted to speak up.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Michi asked. Mondo couldn’t bare hearing the confusion and sadness in the kid’s voice.

“Again it’s not that we didn’t trust you. We were ready to tell you. But that was when…” Mondo started but then the words got caught in his throat. He looked over towards the makeshift shrine that the gang had put together after Daiya’s death. He tensed up as he was suddenly reminded of his nightmare and the accident that took his brother’s life. It took everything he had to not fly into a rage or break down emotionally.

“The accident?” Michi asked as he stood up

“Yeah. After that, I don’t know what happened. I just couldn’t bring up our secret.” Mondo spoke, looking at the young leader, voice filled with regret.

“Then other than telling us why you disappeared, why tell us now?” Takemichi asked again,

“Just needed to bury some ghosts…” Mondo muttered, once again looking at the shrine. There was more that he wanted to say, but he couldn’t. It would break Michi and probably destroy the gang for good. Maybe it would be best if he took those secrets to his grave. If he had to go to hell for it, as long as the gang remained standing, he didn’t care. He can’t let his brother’s work get tarnished because of his mistakes.

“We can still protect ya and your friends. Ya don’t have to leave us. You can lead the gang again.” Michi offered, looking hopeful. Mondo couldn’t hold back a smile at that. After all, he was like a little brother to both Owada brothers since the day he joined the gang. It was great to see how far he had come since then.

“Thanks, but I gotta protect these kids. They’re strong and capable, but they’ll need the extra strength.” He smiled, placing a hand on the young leader’s shoulder, patting it lightly. He then started to ruffle Takemichi’s hair playfully. “Besides, the Diamonds already got a leader. You’re doin’ great without me hanging around to fuck ya up.”

“Thanks Mondo. Daiya would be proud of ya.” Michi grinned, looking as confident as ever. Those words almost broke Mondo. He didn’t know what Daiya might be thinking right now, but he’d rather not dwell on it too much. It might break him for good. And a Diamond must never break, no matter how much pressure is put on him.

“Hate to break up the reunion, but we need to go.” Maki said as she approached the two. She looked like she regretted it but when she gestured to the window, it was easy to see why she would bring up going back. The sky was slowly turning orange as the sun had started to set. How did time fly by so quick? It was quite scary thinking about that notion.

“Yeah, otherwise Ishimaru might be on my ass.” Mondo grumbled, not really looking forward to a possible scolding from Taka.

“And Kaito will be searching frantically if we don’t start moving.” Maki agreed trying not to grin. She could almost imagine Kaito going into a panic if she and Mondo didn’t get back to the Den without some forewarning. While on one hand, it would be funny, given the situation she’d rather not have him almost having a heart attack.

After saying some last goodbyes and promises to be back for a nostalgic ride (from Mondo of course), both Limitless started to prepare to head back to their safe place. Mondo almost wanted to stay, but he knows that it could be dangerous and he didn’t want to drag his gang further into the drama than they could already be in. If each member was a Limitless, then it might give them some reassurance, but they were normal humans. And there was a risk that he can’t protect all of them.

“Don’t worry about your secret going out. There’s no way that we’d let you down like that after coming back to see us.” Takemichi vowed as Mondo parked his bike up near the entrance. Maki slipped her helmet on and climbed on behind Mondo as Michi raised a fist to him. “If you need us, we got your backs. Diamonds can’t be broken right?”

“Ya got that right!” Mondo smirked, returning the fist bump with confidence. Again, he didn’t want to put the gang in danger, but at the same time, it felt great to have normal humans on his side for once. If there was anyone that he could count on, it was the Crazy Diamonds. Maki even smiled at the reassurance. She even told some of the members about what their pursuers looked like so it gave them some extra eyes in a way. Hopefully word will spread around the gang quick enough for everyone to be aware by the end of the day. With a final goodbye and a small cheer, Mondo drove off, ready to call it a day.

Well, almost call it a day.

“Hey, Maki? You got money on ya?” Mondo suddenly asked, grabbing Maki’s attention.

“Yes. Kaito gave me some before we left.” Maki answered, not quite sure where this was going. Maybe Mondo wanted to get some food or something on the way back, but Maki had a feeling that he had other plans up his sleeve.

“Then do you mind if we don’t go back right away?” Mondo asked again.

“That’s fine, but why?” Maki answered, growing a bit more suspicious.

“Need to make a couple of pit stops.” Mondo sighed before turning down a street towards the main part of the city.

#running fic #limitless sequel #super power au #drv3 #DR #Kaimaki #ishimondo #maki haruwaka #mondo owada #kaito momota #crazy diamonds #takemichi yukimaru

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