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Road Thugs and Harmony; [Single Post]
Topic Started: Jan 3 2014, 09:43 AM (51 Views)
Sumitomo
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"The hold up men all know me,

know to leave me be,

I'm a pistol packing papa,

and I ramble where I please!"

~Jimmie Rodgers, Pistol Packing Papa

------------------------------------------------------------

The sun beat down hard on the beleaguered men of the Nagashima Road Authority. They'd been toiling in the sun for hours now, painfully aware of how tired they were, and just how many close calls they'd had. It was the same everyday working for the city's road construction agency - you either stayed alert, or you died. It was simple.

Jimmy wasn't an ordinary road worker, however - he toiled and worked, but he felt little of it. John was with him, big bag John, singing hammer songs, songs of booming steel and straining muscle in his head, while he worked. Today, they were mixing cement and pouring it into molds they put up - they'd spent most of the previous weeks breaking apart the old sidewalk with jackhammers and sledges.

Nagashima was a strange place though - in many areas of the sidewalk, the concrete that had been formed had covered up man-sized sinkholes, little chasms that sunk god knows how far down - it took a lot of concrete to fill them. These man-holes (as they were ironically called) were the main reason they were behind schedule - and the main reason no partitions had been put around them.

Their foreman, Daisuke Nomura, didn't believe in such things, you see. Jimmy knew a friend of his on the crew, Bunpei Takei, had brought it up to him numerous times, but all he ever got was a stern rebuttal, a cursing, a shout to get back to work.

Bunpei grumbled in front of Jimmy as they poured cement mix into their mixer. "Fuckin' bastard Nomura is gonna get someone killed." Bunpei was a skinny man, one who seemed to constantly twitch, but an alright guy. "I'm telling you man. I'm calling it. Something bad's gonna happen."

Jimmy shrugged, a sigh emitting from his mouth. "What're you gonna do? Nomura-san," he said, stretching the last syllable, "is connected. Speak up, and he'll fire you, and make sure you never work again. You know he's the type to cut you and leave you to bleed."

Neither man liked it, but both had to deal with it. Jimmy was lucky to even have a job after Yokosuka, anywhere - his name had been run through the mud pretty damn well. He hated that he had to sit and take it, and he thought briefly, indulgently, of Mayu and her lead pipe.

Nomura was a typical bastard foreman, but he wasn't evil. He shook his head. No, the bastard wasn't evil, just a dick. Jimmy continued thinking along these lines for a while until he realized Bunpei was attempting to get his attention.

"Hey, bro." Bunpei said, snapping his fingers. "Were you listening?"

"Hmmm?" Jimmy said, blinking obliviously, "Miles away Boon, what's up?"

"I'm gonna talk to Nomura-san after work." Bunpei said, smacking his fist into his open palm. "Can you like, be there to back me up? Don't be like, with me, but just stick around a little after work?"

Jimmy smiled. "You know he's not going to listen."

"Yea? Whatever man, you in or not?"

"Sure, Boon." Jimmy said, "Of course."

______________________________________________

The rest of the workday passed without much incident. Since they were working in one of the seedier parts of town, everyone got off work a few hours earlier so they wouldn't get mugged on the way back. Most people took advantage of this, heading home to spend a few luxury hours with their families or get a little drunker that night than usual, all except for Bunpei, Jimmy, and Nomura.

Jimmy watched his friend, small, thin, and fierce, step into Nomura's office. It didn't take more than a few minutes for both to come bursting out, practically yelling at each other. They walked to one of the 'man holes' and their argument quickly escalated. Jimmy watched, a little more concerned than he was previously.

He couldn't hear the words being made out, but neither man was saying anything that could be considered respectful or tasteful. Nomura was every bit as fat as Bunpei wasn't, fat with a mean little piggy face that radiated cruelty and priggishness.

Then it happened. Nomura shoved Bunpei, a two-handed push. Bunpei took a step back, aghast, then shoved Nomura in turn.

Nomura, in response, reared back with his right fist, and cracked Bunpei on the mouth with a mighty blow. Bunpei staggered backwards...

...and fell. One second he was there, the next, he wasn't. Jimmy blinked.

It took him a second to realize what had happened. Nomura blinked too, aghast. He peered into the hole. His mouth worked up and down, his piggy little brain attempting to form thoughts. Eventually, he snapped out of it, and broke his gaze from the pit Bunpei had disappeared into to look at something.

Jimmy followed his gaze. A spinning cement mixer. They kept the mixers spinning through the night so the mix they didn't use during the day would stay good through til tomorrow.

"No." he breathed.

Nomura wheeled it over to the hole, and began to pour. Jimmy retched, puked, as quietly as he could, and staggered away. Nomura couldn't hear him, not over the mixer, and he bet the last thing his foreman was thinking about was whether someone was watching or not.

He thought of Mayu and her lead pipe. He thought of hatred, he thought of Bunpei's face as he fell down the pit, and then he thought of nothing.

He knew what he needed to do. He needed to get home, get on Bedlam, and get in contact with Mayu.

She'd know what to do.
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