December 25, 2014 :
"I'll have a blue Christmas without you.."
"Have a holly jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year.."
"With you, shawty with you, under the mistletoe…"
Christmas music is playing everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I look at the ground and kick a rock that lays at my feet. A gust of wind blows and I shiver from the cold.
".. If it's gonna be this cold it could at least snow.."
Tonight is Christmas and I have nowhere to go. Every restaurant is either closed or packed with families and friends eating dinner together.
I sigh.
I take my wallet from my pocket. It's empty.
"I guess I couldn't eat dinner at a restaurant even if I wanted to.."
Time to refill the wallet..
I walk through the Christmas crowd and turn into an empty alleyway. I open a door that leads to an underground bar. The bar is buzzing with the chatter of sober, but mainly drunk people.
Gambling games are being played in the darker corners of the room. Drugs are being sold, bought, and used. Kids my age are drinking and smoking in their own corner.
Tonight, on the happiest day of the year, all the street rats, the nobodies, the runaways, etc. are gathered in this underground bar as a family run by Division 3 of our incredibly large gang. I sigh and smile. These people can be so disgusting, but they're the closest thing I have to a family.
"HEY KID YOU CAME!" a voice shouts among the noise of the bar.
I turned around. It's my seonbaenim* of two years. He's an 18 year old, 6'0 tall boy, and the current leader of our gang's Division 1. The rest of Division 1 is sitting around a table, some getting lit, others riding a high.
"Yup." I grin.
"You gonna party with us?"
"Nah. Just here to refill my wallet."
"Ah. Spent your allowance already?" he laughs and pats my head.
I shove his hand off my head and laugh back.
He's drunk.
I can smell the alcohol on him. A nasty habit of his. Normally, I lecture him about drinking too much, but it is Christmas, a painful day for almost everyone here, so I let it slide. Like most people in our gang, he's broken, unruly, and full of dark secrets.. and yet he takes care of all of us in Division 1 as if we were his own siblings.
I wanna see him and everyone else in my division sober up and live good lives. But I guess I can't really say anything.. I'm in the same situation as they are.
I acknowledge the rest of Division 1 and walk to a room in the back of the bar. I make my way through the door and close it behind me. This room is a completely different environment than the bar just beyond the other side of the door.
It's quiet and warm.
I walk up to a desk in the middle of the room. A Japanese-American girl, about 25 years old, is passed out behind the desk, her head resting on her arms.
I lean on the desk and knock.
"Nakamura-san. Okiro*."
The girl, Rika Nakamura, slowly lifts her head. She stares at me and blinks a few times. I wave my hand in her face jokingly.
"Ohayou gozaimasu*."
I smile at her.
A look of realization appears on her face.
"Chibi-chan*!" she exclaims. "How nice of you to visit!"
I smirk playfully. "Miss me much?"
She sends a smirk right back.
"Of course. How much do you need today?"
"How'd you know?"
"You wouldn't be here on a holiday otherwise."
"True."
I hate the parties that are held on the holidays. I'm part of a gang and do terrible things even at my age, but getting high and wasted are not my favorite past times.
Nakamura is similar to me. From the outside she can be known as a "good girl". She's kind to her people and stays away from habitual drugs and alcohol. She even graduated high school and college. If you passed her in the streets you wouldn't be able to tell that she has been involved with news worthy gang activity.
Nakamura is small, slim, and reaches about 5'7 height wise, placing herself as one of the taller women in the gang. She has a large dragon tattoo snaking down her left arm, signifying the word "protector." She is one of the most accurate gunman in her division and is well versed in multiple forms of martial arts.
As rumor has it, Nakamura is notorious for taking on a whole rival gang division and coming out alive. Or so I've heard. Without her history, she wouldn't have been elected as the gang's Divisions 1-5 treasurer.
Similar to everyone else in our gang, Nakamura wears the same thing almost everyday. Rain or shine, she will always be clothes in a black modern kimono that flows at the bottom allowing essential movements. On her left sleeve, a hole in the fabric has been cut, in order to show off her tattoo. She wears cherry red heels and keeps her jet black hair in a high pony. A gun is always concealed at her waist. She is also the only one in the whole gang who can fight well with a traditional katana.
When she fights she takes off the top of her kimono and ties it around her waist, revealing a cropped tank top similar in color to her shoes.
She is and always will be one of my favorite people on this earth.
Nakamura unlocks a safe behind her and pulls out 100 dollars in ten dollar increments.
"Here. Spend it well." She grins.
"Arigatou*." I laugh. "See you soon."
"I'll be waiting."
I turn to leave.
"Oh Chibi." she calls out.
I pause at the door and turn my head.
"Merry Christmas."
I chuckle. "Merry Christmas to you too."
As I step out of Nakamura's office, a couple I have never seen before walks through the door. We pass each other and I turn my head to watch as they walk by me.
Ah, must be a pair of newbies. I laugh to myself.