Notes

Under the sky dusted with clouds, Enjin stood quietly on the roof of the Dereshit Government Headquarters. They were silently readying themselves for their first professional mission. Although, they all knew there was no way it’d be professional. They are Enjin, after all.

Natsuki coughed. “Uh, so. I’ve been thinkin’...what if we get caught?” She was so nervous that it almost came out as a whisper.

Nearly every one of the...colourful members scoffed. “Natsuki, we are literally strapped on to the roof of this building. There’s no ‘what if’s’ right now. Gettin’ scared of heights all of a sudden?” Ryo was proud of that one. She giggled and Natsuki shot her a death glare.

Takumi glanced over the hole they’d found in the roof, carefully examining the architecture of the building they were planning to enter. Her face suddenly contorted. “God damn it! Are our ropes even gonna reach that far down?” She clenched her fists.

The oldest member, Aki, shrugged. “Not my problem!” She tied up her dark purple hair, having forgotten to before, and jumped straight into the hole.

The gyaru standing next to her had somewhat broke character for a moment. Rina let out a somewhat dramatic gasp, and leaned over Aki’s apparent grave. “Ooooooooooh! Is she dead?”

Ryo rolled her eyes. “No, Rina, she’s not dead.” Ryo pointed at the hook that had been strapped on to a contraption they’d set up. “Her rope didn’t come off or anything. Geez.”

Takumi’s eyes widened, but she quickly brushed it off. “Well, damn. I’ll be going then.” She laughed her boisterous laugh, as usual, and proceeded to jump into the hole. It was almost funny to the three girls left on the roof, how she just went zooming down. You’d think she’d rappel or something, but no, she’d rather get rope burn.

Ryo looked at the other two. “I’m gonna go now. You’ll have Rina to comfort you, Nat! Have fun!” She giggled and hoped that Rina didn’t realize that she was poking fun at her. In a friendly way, of course. The brown haired girl rappelled down the inside of the building. Rope burn just wasn’t her taste.

Natsuki sighed. “‘Fraid of heights, Rina?” She glanced over at the other girl, who didn’t seem phased at all.

Rina tilted her head. “Why?” She held back a laugh. “Nooope! Are you, Natsuki?” Oh, come on. They were just making fun of her at this point.

The shorter haired girl gulped and let there be a moment of silence. Finally, she spoke, but quietly. “Go, Rina. I need— I need a minute.” She breathed heavily and Rina seemed indifferent, as she jumped, as requested.

Natsuki sighed, but then broke. “Fuck! God fucking damn it!” She looked around for any possible way to escape. “I’ll be okay, right? Yeah. Yeah! I’m on a rope. Yeah. You’re good, Nat. Hoo! Okay.”

She stepped one foot over the hole then pulled it back quickly. “Fuck, am I just planning to walk into it?” Natsuki laughed at her own joke, and then closed her eyes. She considered it a leap of faith, but either way, she did it.

When all the girls were all finally level with each other above ground, dangling, Rina and Aki began to laugh.

Ryo shushed them. “Come on, guys! Be quiet! The alarm could go off!” She said with an angry whisper, realizing after that she had been just as loud as the other two were being.

The group was about 6 feet off the ground now. They hadn’t quite planned out what to do after this.

Natsuki looked at the rest of them. “Ya know, I still don’t see why we didn’t just...find another way in. Like...a window or somethin’.”

They all looked straight back at her. Ryo quietly laughed, while the rest did nothing, besides Aki, who had something to say. “Whaddya mean? This is great, I’m all for it! I think yer just scared, Natsuki!” Aki smiled, meaning well, and Natsuki furrowed her eyebrows.

Takumi jostled around in her gear so she could look at them. “Okay, would all of you just shut the hell u-“ Snap. The other girls could do nothing but stare. She’d probably jostled a little too aggressively, since now she was sitting flat on her ass on the marble floor.

Rina couldn’t help it anymore. “P-Pfffft! O-Oh my god!” The gyaru had a very loud, cackling laugh that could set off literally any alarm in existence. And that it did. The blaring sound rung through Enjin’s ears. They all said their own versions of “Oh, fuck!” while also frantically trying to press their buttons that allowed the ropes to back up.

Takumi looked desperate. “Wait, fuck, guys!” None of them were even leaving, but somehow, Rina rappelled to the floor and picked Takumi up by her waist. Pressing their buttons in unity, the members of Enjin began the escape of their failed mission to assassinate Miku Maekawa.

Moving so quickly, Natsuki must have forgotten to watch where she was going. She slammed her head on the ceiling of the building, and then climbed up onto the roof, where the others were waiting. “Ugh, fuck!” She laid back on the roof of the building. “Owww.”

Ryo couldn’t help but laugh. “O-Oooh!!! Oh my god!” Ryo had a very prominent wheeze laugh. She crawled over to Natsuki and laid down next to her, and almost cried laughing.

Natsuki looked at her, and put a fake stern look on her face. “What, makin’ fun of me now, Ryo?” She almost laughed herself.

“Pfft! As if I never have before.” Ryo was just wheezing at this point. The others were standing up, so Natsuki and Ryo both did as well. Natsuki patted her head, still in pain from that rather hard...smack.

Takumi sighed. “I-I really thought you guys were gonna leave me back there. Like my old gang.” Rina put her hand on her shoulder, actually concerned for once in her life.

Ryo was standing away from them, watching for helicopters, but she quickly looked back. “We’re not your old fuckin’ gang, Takumi.” She said this rather quietly, trying to mask her intense anger.

Takumi snapped her head on Ryo’s direction. “What the fuck did you just say to me?” She was almost growling.

“You heard what I fucking said. I’m surprised you even consider us your friends. We have done everything for you! Everything! How could you not trust us at all? Not even for a mission like this!” Ryo scoffed, avoiding looking at the others.

Natsuki touched Ryo’s arm, but the shorter girl hissed and pulled away. “Don’t fuckin’ touch me!” Ryo almost immediately realized what she had done, but decided not to address it.

Takumi was practically fuming at this point. “I did consider you my fuckin’ friend, but I’m not so goddamn sure of that anymore, Ryo!” All the others could do was stand there in shock.

“You...you don’t trust us, Takumi. Is that really a friend? Is it?” Ryo’s eyes were filled with many different emotions, but more importantly, tears that she would not let fall.

“You try having everyone you love leave you!” Takumi immediately realized what she had said and covered her mouth. Ryo looked at her in shock.

“What...what did you just say? I can’t believe y—that you w—that you would say that!” Ryo was unable to hold back her tears anymore. “You know what happened to me! And you still say things like this!” Even Natsuki was almost crying at this point.

“Ryo...I-I didn’t mean it. I didn’t. I did not. Please, I’m so-I’m so fucking sorry.” Takumi was not going to let herself cry, but she was still very upset.

“I don’t...understand. I-Fuck. Let’s just go, okay? I can’t deal with this right now. I’m sorry.” Ryo turned away. They boarded their helicopter, operated by someone they had no money to pay but were planning to tell that after the ride, and returned home.

As soon as they arrived, Ryo went into a room by herself. Natsuki followed her, being extremely worried, and found her sitting in the corner.

Ryo stuttered and wiped her eyes. “N-Natsuki, please. You don’t need to see me like this, okay? Please go.” She wiped her eyes even more, and Natsuki gave her a worried look.

“I just-I came to tell you something. You...you really need to apologize to Takumi. What you said wasn’t okay, and I know what she said wasn’t either, bu-“ Ryo interrupted her.

“I can’t talk to her right now. I just—I can’t bring myself to. It fuckin’ hurts, Nat. I am sorry. I really am, but I can’t tell her. W-Would you do it for me?” Ryo looked Natsuki in the eyes.

The taller girl sighed. “Ah-I...Okay. Anythin’ for you. I don’t know how well she’ll take it, but I’ll do it.”

They said nothing more. Natsuki sat against the wall with her, and Ryo leaned her head on her shoulder. They stayed that way in silence until they were both ready to face the other members.