The Runaways In Tokyo

Chapter 8

The Dead Space

Tuesday 6:00 am

'BEEP, BEEP, BEEP…'

Kyo's alarm clock on the kitchen counter starts to go off, telling him to get up. It's the next day.

"Yaaaahhh," Kyo starts yawning as he turns over on his side, "one more minute," Kyo says as he rubs his eyes.

'BEEP, BEEP, BEEP…' the noise continues

"Fuckkkk," Kyo says as he turns his back to the ceiling to get up. Kyo stands in his small spaced apartment and goes to his kitchen to turn off his alarm clock.

"Yaaaahhh," Kyo yawns again. "Fuck it's cold in here. Does this place not have heating?"

"Hmm," Kyo says tiredly, "What time is it?" He looks down at his alarm clock, which says it is 6:05 a.m.

"Oh shit! I have to get going, or I'll miss the train!"

The train leaves at 6:30 am.

Kyo hurries to put on his shoes…

"Ah… my shoes are already on me?" Kyo says, confused.

"And what's that smell?" Then Kyo realizes it is himself and suddenly remembers everything that happened last night.

"Ah…fuck," Kyo looks down on his school uniform, which still has blood stains on it.

"Dammit, why did I have to get involved last night?" Kyo puts his hand to his face, frustration.

"Damit, I don't have enough time for this!" Kyo hurries outside of his apartment and starts running down the long, cold hallway in the morning, then down the steps and starts sprinting towards the laundromat.

"Damit…Damit!" If I hurry, I might be able to make it to school in time! Kyo thinks.

'Honk! Honk!'

Kyo stops just in time.

"WATCH WHERE YOU GOING!" The person in the car yells to Kyo.

Kyo, out of breath, says, "Fuck you!" as he flips him off.

Dammit, just what is wrong with this town.

"The laundromat is less than a mile away." Kyo breathes heavily.

Kyo starts to run again.

Kyo starts to run through the dead part of town where the homeless people live, and drugs, Bad smells, dealers who make a profit off the homeless people, then small businesses.

"Man, this is one of the worst parts about our country since the war ended; the economy started to collapse, leaving thousands homeless and having to rely upon doing things normal people wouldn't have to do to survive."

"This is why I call it the dead space."

"It's sad because people constantly get used and manipulated down here. The dead space probably has one of the highest death counts now."

"The dealers take even more advantage of this part of town, and they would pay the homeless people to do awful things, for example, killing someone."

"Hah, well, isn't that ironic? " As Kyo is running through the dead part of town, he looks to one of the walls on his left and realizes there is a bounty poster hung up there for 1 million yen.

The poster has a blond-haired person with a mustache and the name Sam.

"God, the smell is bad and not to mention, I think the waters might even be a bit toxic as well."

Kyo continues to run through the damp, cold, bad-smelling, dead space of the town.

"Well, it's clear that the dealers run this part of town, and I wouldn't want to mess with them."

"It's not like I have run into any down here."

Kyo looks up ahead.

"Ah…shit, one of the worst parts about the dead space is here…"

THE SHOPPING DISTRICT

"Hey, kid over here! One piece of clothing for 1000 yen!

"Food! Any food! For 5000 yen!

"People's bones for 50000 yen!"

"Get your fortune today for 1,000,000 yen!"

"Buy living space for 5,000,000 yen!"

"Scammers, everything is overpriced, and the living space is one isn't even real. This is what society has come to.

This is what desperate people look like, Kyo thinks.

"Ah, not to mention that the dealers also control the shopping district."

However, the shopping district is much worse at night, as that involves drugs and prostitution, and people will even bid on fighting to death. And there are a ton of other things, too.

You could also say that the shopping district has the most scandals. A lot of people fight over stuff, whether they're stealing it or trying to bid on it from other shops.

"A paradise for dealers, which is why I think they have monopolized this part of town."

"Fuck finally here…" Kyo catches his breath.

Kyo is standing in front of the laundromat.

"Fuck, this place is run down. Hell, the sign over the door is barely hanging on, there is a bunch of trash out front, and the alleyways to both sides of the place are terrible.

Kyo walks up to the door and opens it.

'Ding'

The door chimes as Kyo walks in.

"Aaaaah," Kyo sighs.

Ok, now to find the first open machine…

"Fuck! What is that smell? Oh, it's bad."

"I forgot this place has a bunch of wannabe drug lords and a ton of gamblers."

There are machines lined up from left to right with lockers in the very back and tables going down the middle, which has, of course, people gambling and doing drugs.

'Cough, Cough,' Kyo coughs as he walks over to the first set of machines on the right.

I shouldn't forget, but this place also has a downstairs for the elite gamblers and wannabe drug lords.

"FUCK!" a person slams on tables behind Kyo.

"You stupid bastard, you cheated!" The person stands up, reaches into his pocket, and grabs a knife.

"Woah, woah, just say you can't win." The person across from the guy with the knife says with a cocky voice and his hands in the air.

"That's enough out of both of you!" A person enters the room.

Kyo turns his head over his shoulders and realizes he is the shop owner and protector of the laundry mat. His name was Koji.

He had big muscles and looked to be in his forties. He wore jeans with holes, boots, and a blue leather jacket, and his black hair went back.

"You two outside! You can handle this outside!" Koji screams at them.

"Ok…Ok," the cocky guy says as he makes his way outside.

The guy with the knife follows him.

'Ding' The door chimes, indicating the two people have walked out.

"Phew… I thought I was going to have to watch someone die again today."

"I wonder what's happening with them?"

Now that Kyo has calmed down, he remembers last night's events.

Is the girl alright? I hope she got out okay.

What about the guy?

The factory?

The monster?

Just what was happening last night?

There seems to be a lot of fucked up things that happened.

Kyo reaches into his pocket for his wallet…

"Fuck…Fuck!"

"Where is my wallet!" Kyo searches his other pocket, but it isn't there.

"Oh no, I must've dropped it on the way here!" 

"Stupid me!" Kyo slaps himself repeatedly on the forehead.

Well, that shit is gone. Kyo thinks.

I probably dropped it somewhere in the dead space, and if that's the case, it's definitely gone.

"Ahhhh," Kyo groans.

I need to wash my clothes, but I have no money!

Someone pokes Kyo on the left shoulder.

"Hm?" Kyo looks over and realizes that it is Mei.

"What the!" Kyo almost falls over in disbelief.

"Looks like you need money," Mei says to Kyo.

"Ah," Kyo says.

Mei grabs a few coins and inserts them into the machine.

"Oh, thank you!" Kyo says as he bows his head and shows gratitude.

What the hell is Mei doing in the dead space?

Does she live near here? Or worse, does she live here?

"You might want to hurry and wash your clothes if you don't want to be late to school," Mei says in a calming voice that could set anyone at ease.

"Ah, right… my clothes." Kyo hurriedly takes off his clothes and throws them into the washing machine.

"Fuck, it's cold," Kyo says as he is shivering from head to toe, pretty much naked apart from his underwear.

"Hey mei..?" Kyo walks over to Mei, who goes to her machine.

"Hmm?"

"What time is it?" Kyo asks.

"Ah, it's 6:43 am."

"SHiT!"

"We have to hurry! Come on, dam machine faster!"

"Calm down; it will take at least 40 minutes, so yeah, you will be late."

"FuuuuuCK!" Kyo slumps down on the washing machine."

"Hey, kid? What are you doing?" A tall guy stands over Kyo.

Kyo looks up and realizes he is staring right at Koji.

"mY NaME… right, it's Kyo Ito!" Kyo says with a cowardly face.

"Ah, that's a good name, but I have one question: why are you pretty much naked in my laundromat?"

"Ah, you see, I was in a hurry, and you know one thing led to another," Kyo says as he rubs his head in panic.

"Well, whatever the reason, I can't have you in the laundry mat pretty much naked, so I'm going to ask you to stand outside until your laundry is done."

"Man, for real? This sucks."

"Koji, he's with me." Mei suddenly says.

"Oh, is that right? Still can't have him naked in my laundry mat, sorry, kid."

"Man fuck this." Kyo walks outside.

'Ding,' the door chimes again.

"Phew, it's cold."

'Ding'

"Hmm?"

"Ahh it's you, Mei."

"So you're just going to stand out here and wait?" Mei asks Kyo.

"Well, yeah…" Kyo looks ahead and sees a person lying on the ground with a lot of blood.

"Oh shit… it's that guy from a few minutes ago, the one that pulled the knife on the other guy.

Kyo walks up to the person and immediately realizes that he is dead.

Mei gasps in disgust and immediately runs inside to get Koji.

"Man, just what has this world come to," Kyo says under his breath.

"Hey Kyo! You should step away from him." Koji says as he comes outside.

"It's fine this isn't the first dead person I've seen."

"Well, that doesn't matter you should hurry up with your clothes and get out of here. This place isn't for someone like you."

"What about Mei?"

"Her? She should be used to this by now. She comes here almost daily."

What? She comes here daily? Just what is up with her?

"Anyhow, just hurry up and leave."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Kyo gets back up to check on his clothes.

"Hmm?"

"Hey, now that you and I will miss school, what will you do today?" Mei says.

"Fuck, I don't want to miss school, but I guess and can't be helped."

Then Kyo remembers a promise he made to a girl named Hana.

"I'm going to head over to Yamaguchi prefecture, but first, I have to pay a visit to the hospital."

"Okay, mind if I tag along?" Mei asks.

"Huh, for real? I mean, sure, only if you want to, though."

"We just got to wait for my clothes first."

"Sure," Mei says.

Hmm, maybe I will learn more about this girl as the day goes on.

Chapter 8 End