Midnight Merchants (Rin, Aida, mention of Kotaro, Tomaki, Itsuro)

Pitch black streets reflect the white light of the moon back into the sky. A night wind rushes past, and Satou Rin pulls her coat closer around her. No light reflects from her dark hair, a flat matte darkness that conceals her face like a fallen shadow. No one can see the deep bags. Late night dealings have taken their toll, and her eyes feel heavy, but the mounting exhaustion never quite reaches her core. There’s a hollow there now, an empty space where something used to be. A small, whispering, forgotten thing.

Now, Ogama’s sticky fingers are hooked into the edges of the hole, propping her up like puppet strings. The master demands, cage swinging in hand, and so the flesh obeys. Just continue paying the misery forward without end, and don’t worry. By the time the debt catches up, she’ll have her wish, and none of it will matter.

Footsteps on the street. The girl remains stock still, her umbrella spread above her head. Behind her, a circular cage blocks access to a spiral fire escape. Slinking into the parking lot beside her, a tall, thin boy leans against the damp bars. He’s wearing a black leather jacket, and his face is covered with bandages. A year ahead of her, Uesugi Aida has a reputation at Higan that lingers in his absence like a gap in a carefully cultivated pyramid. The hierarchy of needs that is the high school marketplace. Her dark eyes watch him like a hungry shark, circling the opportunity for a new feeding frenzy. She has other products, but he needs a middlewoman. That means she can squeeze this deal for all it’s worth.

“I’m surprised you called me,” the girl’s voice is small, and he leans in to hear her better. Close enough to see the sharpness in her eyes, and know she’s no novice to be swindled. “How did you get my number?”

Sniffing the night air, Aida twists his head away, half is mouth peeling open in a grimace. “Eh. Not good business to give your sources, you know?” He waffles around the question, but when Rin turns her back and starts to walk away she can hear him stand up straighter. Back bumping the bars, making the metal rattle. “Ey! Alright. Tachibana-san came around asking how he’s ‘sposed to get his beer and fake IDs now. Said he was a friend of yours’.”

Rin’s mouth curls downward. “Did he?” Idiot. We can’t be connected to each other like that. “Fine,” turning on her heel, she returns to the figurative negotiation table. “What are you looking to move?”

“I sell liquor. Mostly beer, normal students can’t afford the good shit and the rich brats have easier ways to get it,” relaxing, Aida slumps back against the cage. “I can get other things people are looking for. The good manga,” his wagging eyebrows make Rin roll her eyes. “Then I’ve got a guy for shrooms, and a smuggler who can bring in peyote.”

“Middlemen for middlemen.”

“That’s the best way to do business with this stuff.”

“It’ll affect the profit split,” Rin lays out coolly. Aida shrugs his shoulders, and she tilts her head to the side. “You barely seem bothered.”

“Some of us do it for the love of the game,” using his fingers, Aida makes some kind of hand sign. A straight palm and a curved palm. “No gods, no masters. That’s the free market, baby.” Maintaining a flat stare, Rin waits until he drops the ridiculous gang sign. Not even a businessman, it should be easy to extort him for as much as he’s worth. The faint hint of a predatory smile twitches in her cheek. An instinct leaking up from the hole, the sort of instinct never thought she could tap into before. It feels good.

“Seventy-thirty, I’m the one taking the biggest risk here,” she lays down the opening bid. Aida frowns, and she pushes the blade in deeper: “You said it was for the love of the game. Was that just talk?”

“Hell no,” he bristles, fragile delinquent ego prodded with a pin. “But I’m the one dealing with the more dangerous dealers. That’s gotta be worth more, ne? Sixty-forty.”

“You’ve done it this long without getting shanked or shot, but here you are, expelled,” keeping her tone flat and level, Rin rubs the knuckles gripping her umbrella, trying to hide the prey nerves beneath her new predator’s skin. “The school will be watching now that they caught you. That’s my risk. Seventy-thirty.”

“Tch,” spitting against his teeth, Aida shoves his hands in his pockets and glares at her. Rin angles her umbrella to ward away his look, rather than meet it. She remembers Itsuro’s advice. Look dismissive, not weak. After letting him stew for half a minute, Aida breaks first, looking away. “Fine. Seventy-thirty. But I’m gonna need something else on top. Nothin’ monetary, just a little favor.” The way he says the word makes her skin crawl, like when Kentaro eyes her up. Rin prepares to slip the corner and disappear- “You’re in Tomaki-san’s class, ne?”

Something in the way he says it doesn’t fit the perverted leer Rin was expecting. She meets his eyes, serious now. This isn’t about his annoying gangster game. He wants something real. “Talk.”

“My boy’s not doing so hot on the grades, see,” Aida rolls his hand through the air. “Girls like you, you’re smart, right? Help him study.” Rin’s expression falls away, replaced with a blank mask. None of this is what she expected walking into this. It’s left her staggered, broken her guard- and he keeps going, rambling through the gap, “Hell, if he sucks shit, forge his grades or cheat or somethin’? Make sure he passes his core classes, ne? Then I’ll sweeten the deal with something special.”

“Special?”

Wearing a cocksure grin, Aida pulls a small virtual pet out of his pocket.

“Okay,” drawling out in a deadpan, Rin points. “I’ll bite. What’s that?”

“It’s fuckin’ magic is what it is. You believe in magic, Satou-chan?”

Rin remains starkly silent.

“Cause magic’s real. And I got a way to carry it in your pocket.”

Heart hammering in her chest, Rin does her best to remain still, to maintain that straight face of disbelief. If this is real and she found another Awakened… Overplay your hand.

Spinning the device between his fingers, Aida searches her face for a hint of interest, his grin faltering. “Not a believer, huh? Well, let me demonstrate.” Holding up the Tamagotchi, he taps a button, and Rin feels the familiar rush of energy that permeates the air. A faint halo surrounds the rear parking lot. From the air above Aida’s shoulders, a cascade of fabric materializes, garbing him in a trashy looking snakeskin robe. Two red eyes peer out at her and blink, flanking his collarbone. “Eh? Eeeh? You believe in magic now, ne?”

Remembering herself, Rin lets out a belated scream of shock, pretending to be frightened and stumble back. Aida’s expression shifts and he steps forward, holding up his hands.

“Hey, easy! Don’t go screamin’,” he clicks the button again, and the spontaneous Bleeding Zone disappears, falling away like the a waterfall display that got shut off. The robe Idolon goes with it. “It’s the Other Side, see? All the freaky shit like noroi and onmyodo’s real. But you can only do it on the Other Side. People who can do it are called Awakened,” spilling his beans like a child bragging about a new toy, Aida rambles on about things Rin already knows. She tunes him out until- “And with one of these, even normal people can Awaken. Imagine how much these babies will sell for! I mean-” On and on, about the cause and rising up against The Man. Rin isn’t listening anymore.

Even normal people can Awaken. The words repeat themselves, running through Rin’s mind, a slot machine that just landed on the jackpot. He baited the hook with an irresistible little anchovy, and by Ogama she’s going to bite. “Alright.” Although it pains her, she grins and bears it. “I’ll tutor Warumachi-san, and if he passes this term’s classes you’ll give me one of those? Let me distribute them for you?” She’s unable to hide the rise in her voice, the excitement, but Rin doesn’t see the predator’s instinct in the older boy’s eyes. He doesn’t even know he’s got her in the palm of his hand right now. It’s good for both of them. If he did, she might just have to bite it off. What’s a hand between business partners?

The cost of going up in the world.

“Sounds like we got ourselves a deal,” Aida holds out a hand. Rin takes it daintily. “Now, let’s figure out where the supply drops’ll be…”

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Pub: 01 Nov 2025 01:19 UTC

Edit: 01 Nov 2025 01:19 UTC

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