"Where are we running to?" Kaho asked, picking up the pace to match her brother's stride.
"Ryota wants to run to the canal."
Kaho pumped her arms as she jogged, concealing her relief that the notification had reached her other friends. While Mamoru was forever away on the train, it was a relief to know that Ryota was there and ready to help.
He was at the edge of his street, waving his arms overhead. He had a big grin on his face, but Kaho could almost sense the tension in her friend's jaw.
"You okay there Ryota?" Taiga asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ryota nodded.
"Yeah!" He said, his voice raising an octave, "Why wouldn't I be?"
Taiga elbowed him in the arm as he pulled ahead of them on the path, "This is the first time I've seen you without that bright pink basketball in your hands."
Ryota forced out a laugh, it sounded like a bark, "I didn't think a late evening run was a good time to practice endurance."
Taiga shrugged, picking the pace up a bit more. His stride was greater than Kaho's and Ryota's. He pulled ahead and set the pace with ease. The canal was close, the flashing heart shaped neon light that hung crookedly from the roof was flickering. The bright red sign's bulb flickered on and off for three short moments, then three longer bursts of light between flickers, and then back to three short ones again. Kaho wrinkled her nose. The whole building was a flare against the night sky.
Their running route had been quiet, Mr Shinohara was walking his three-legged toy poodle on one side of the road, and a few businesses were closing, including the Kurosaki Deli. Kaho felt a pang in her chest, wondering how Katsuo's family were feeling.
As they approached the road to the canal, Kaho glanced down at her phone. Her icon and Kikiyo's were due to meet in just a moment. She glanced at Ryota, who slowed his pace. Taiga was getting further and further away. Ryota glanced at Kaho's trainers and nodded at her before bounding a few steps ahead.
"Ah!" Kaho called, "Wait a second, guys! My shoe is untied!"
Kaho untied her shoe and propped her foot up in a nearby bench, slowly tying her laces, making individual bunny ears and tying them together instead of using a quicker method. Taiga turned to wait for Kaho when Kikiyo, who was running briskly to make her appointment at the motel collided with taiga's large, muscular back. She stumbled back, her eyes wide.
"Coach Aigawa?" Kikiyo said, her lip trembling.
"Kikiyo? What are you doing out so late?"
"Oi!" a fat middle aged man said. He shoved past Taiga and grabbed Kikiyo by the wrist, pulling her forward. She was in a silk slip dress and a white cardigan, like she was about to go on a date. Non-descript. But pretty. Kaho clenched her jaw, willing her brother to react.
He did, wrenching the man's hand off Kikiyo's. The man sneered at Taiga, he was squat in stature, with bruises on his face, and a split lip. He had a prominent beer belly and unruly chest hair, peeking up through an ill-fitting black silky shirt. He had rolled the sleeves up, baring a few scars, and the tail end of a tattoo.
He pulled his arm out of Taiga's grasp, smirking to himself. He looked past Taiga and Kikiyo froze. Her knees buckled under her silk slip.
"Whore! You're late!"
"Excuse me?" Taiga said, spinning on his heel. He stood a head taller than the older man, and was much more muscular, "You've got the wrong girl you asshole, she's sixteen. Now scram before I call the cops!"
He raised his fist at the guy. He looked vaguely familiar to Kaho but she couldn't place him. Not from that far away.
Kikiyo looked up at Taiga, her eyes welling with tears. Taiga put an arm around her shoulder and froze for a second, unzipping his tracksuit top and draping it over Kikiyo's shoulders. She zipped it up and let the fabric swallow her.
"Come on Kikiyo, we'll take you home."
"W-we?" Kikiyo asked, pulling away from Taiga. He pointed to slightly further up the street where Kaho was, still bent over her shoe. She looked up and stepped closer to Kikiyo. Ryota grinned at her.
Kikiyo wiped her teary eyes on Taiga's sleeve and made her way to her friends. Ryota opened his arms to her and she ploughed into them, her lip trembling. She bawled into the fabric of his black t-shirt and he held her as she cried, rubbing little circles on her back. Taiga smiled and ran a hand through his hair.
Kaho lingered a step behind. She glared at the middle-aged man, retreating back to the motel. She lowered her head and scampered to catch up with her friends.
She didn't notice a boy on a motorcycle had been watching too.