Chereads / The Withering Cold / Chapter 18 - 17) Kawagoe II

Chapter 18 - 17) Kawagoe II

Hikaru sits slouched in the police station's jail cell looking down at the ants moving along the cold concrete floor with a grim expression.

Harushi leaned against the brick wall with his arms folded, his head bent down awaiting the Police Chief's next instruction.

Hikaru freaks out and scrunches his hair,

"Oh nah! My life's screwed! I just got a good step up in my life and now I'm arrested! They'll film this on TV! My career is ruined! I'll be a felon and Yoru will be... Yoru will be mad at me! AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!".

"Shut the fuck up, Hikaru!" Harushi yells at Hikaru.

"Huh-?!"

"They are checking our IDs. We will be freed sooner or later. All I ask you to do is make our time here bearable! Please," Harushi snaps back at Hikaru's behaviour in cold disappointment.

Hikaru looks back at Harushi and just hesitantly nods at his superior's command.

It seems like time passes for eternity in the cell as the cold weather creeps in the concrete room, Hikaru who ironically is supposed to be specialist in cold started shivering. Harushi not so much.

A man walks up to the cell and bangs the bars, making it vibrate and announces:

"Alright boys, you're free to go, international federal agents. Sorry for being in your way. I'll inform my men that they should not under any circumstances confront a young man with curly black hair and a kid with white albino hair".

It was the police chief.

"A-albino!?", Hikaru gasps in offence.

"Shut it," Harushi says as he looks back at Hikaru, pointing his finger at him.

"Thank you, officer..." Harushi says as he grabs his wallet and walks out with Hikaru right behind him.

They walk out the station as the night cold hits their faces, immediately turning their cheeks red and face pale, they stroll around the marketplace looking for a place to stay.

They find a neon retro styled sign that points towards a three story building that offers a night's stay.

"I suppose we could crash the place here tonight and work on the main task tomorrow morning," Harushi grunts as he walks in the building towards the reception with Hikaru right behind him.

Hikaru then begins to say,

"Are we shari-"

"No," Harushi replied interrupting Hikaru.

"Oh..."

Harushi turns to the receptionist and books a room for himself for the night's stay and walks towards the staircase.

"Uh, what about me?", Hikaru asked as he looks towards Harushi with a pleading look.

Harushi yawns in tiredness and says,

"Pay it for yourself. You're paid handsomely by Yoru...".

Hikaru, seemingly annoyed at Harushi took out his wallet and paid for his stay aswell. Harushi had already gone upstairs and to his bedroom where he was going to sleep.

Hikaru walks upstairs, looking at the old painted walls with patches concrete, and floors and steps padded with carpets. He reaches to his door and after unlocking it he smelled home.

The room seemed like it hadn't been opened in a few days or so and the bed felt cold, devoid of human touch or pressure. There was just one lightbulb hanging from the ceiling that barely was alive and a small window that showed the streets of the marketplace.

"Well, I suppose there can be worse," Hikaru says as he takes of his boots and jackets and lays down on the cold bed sheets enwrapping himself with the cold blanket.

It wasn't even a few minutes that Hikaru dozed off and sleeped soundly without any care about the world. He seemed like a little baby.

However, Hikaru began to feel irritated in his sleep. He could hear a soft feminine hum that though was calming, was giving unusual reaction for Hikaru.

The soft hum became more audible and Hikaru slowly opened his eyes and saw a blurry figure of a woman who had rested his head on her seated lap.

The woman says as she puts her fingers through his hair,

"You are my baby~ You are my life~ You are my baby~ My midnight moonlight~ I am here for you~ I am here for you~".

"M-mama?", Hikaru says shakily, but it seemed like she couldn't hear it.

The figure becomes more clear and it was indeed Hikaru's mother. She enveloped Hikaru in her embrace, her mid length white hair curling at her shoulders. She had practically the same face and same eyes as Hikaru.

Suddenly Hikaru wakes up and his entire face is sweating and chill went down his spine. Even though it was his mother, why was this reaction happening?

Hikaru gets off the bed and wears his jacket and leaves the room to go to Harushi's room.

The corridor seemed null of any activity and the marketplace's sounds were no longer existent because it was pretty late.

Hikaru walks up to Harushi's door and just as he's about to knock on the door, his eyes immediately notice a pair of a woman's black heels outside his door. Hikaru's face turned bright red.

In that moment alone, many thoughts and questions went through his head but most importantly: "why?".

Hikaru, blushingly tip toed away himself from the door and went back towards his room and went back to laying down on his now warm bed. Hikaru placed his blanket over himself till below his eyes and shuddered.

"What... What is he doing?" Hikaru asked himself in his head.

...

The morning light landed on Hikaru's face causing his eyes to tense up and be irritated. He rubbed his eyes and sat straight up and looked around as the morning light illuminated the area.

He stepped out of his bed, took off his clothes and went for a warm shower in the bathroom. Hikaru brushed his teeth clean and got ready for another day at work.

Hikaru then checked around the room if he had something he left and after being positive that he has everything he has, he left the room, locked it and went to Harushi's room.

Hikaru remembered the embarrassment of last night, but he braced for whatever would come. He knocked on the door.

"Come in. It's open," Harushi replies.

Hikaru gently steered open the door and his eyes landed onto the most homeoerotic scene in his life. Harushi was sitting on his bed, naked. The blanket had covered all of the lower half, but it was still an unruly sight. Hikaru didn't even blush he just looked away.

"What? First time seeing a man naked? Please you're a guy...", Harushi smirked as he got of his bed, wrapping the blanket around his waist.

"Go outside the building, I'll be getting ready," Harushi order Hikaru who walks away in embarrassment.

Hikaru waited for seemingly half an hour outside the inn building, observing the clear winter sky until Harushi taps his shoulder. Hikaru jumped as a response.

"Oh, it's you," Hikaru says in a calm manner.

"Yeah, time to solve the problem behind this town," Harushi says as he cracks his knuckles in excitement.

Chapter 17, end