Test of Strength (3)

When Kyro returned home, he noticed that Iris was a lot more cheerful than usual. But when he asked her about it, she did not say anything. He wondered about what might have happened, but did not pry. It was good that her mood had improved after the other day. He'd been worried that she'd be down after what happened.

The next morning, he went to work as usual. Nothing good could be said about Dioscuri's situation, but after the traitors were cleaned up, the slide down stabilized a little. They gained control over their fall and could choose what to sacrifice to slow the descent even more.

While sitting at the desk and looking at all the companies they had acquired over the last year, Kyro wished he could just go and punch someone. He had to pick at least half of them to let go, and it hurt him physically to do so.

Everything he and Gale took under their wing was thoroughly investigated by themselves to make sure that they wouldn't get something with a rotten core. It was Gale who went to viewings most of the time, while Kyro dealt with the owners to decide on the buyout price or what they would want for joining them.

There wasn't one acquisition that hadn't been screened by them, and each one had great potential they had unearthed. And now most of the small ones might have to go bankrupt because they would no longer have any backing until their product could be finished.

'I can't keep them, they're the money-eaters for whose fruits I don't have the time to wait, but…' He could clearly remember the joyful faces of small-time artists that had been scouted by him. Those people loved their crafts, but could not survive off them without someone putting them on display and spreading word about them.

'Those people trust me to not abandon them in face of danger, but what am I supposed to do about it? If I don't cut them off, Dioscuri will bleed out. But if I do push them away, I'll be left with nothing but the shell of the company. It'll have just the money-making parts.'

As he thought of that, his personal phone buzzed. Thinking that it was Iris, since no one else would call him on it, he picked it up without looking at the caller id.

"Six o'clock, Grand Monochrome. Don't be late," a familiar, but not the expected voice said. Without giving time for Kyro to reply, the call was ended.

What was Gale up to this time? A club? And one frequented by college students? It was weird even for him.

Kyro had no idea what his friend had planned, so he just pushed the thought away and refocused on his work. He would find out in the evening. At around four, he wrote to Iris. [I'll be late tonight, so don't wait up. Might not even return.]

[Not return?] was an instant reply.

[Yeah. Gale wants to meet, and that conversation might be a long one.]

[Okay. Good luck.]

In the evening, Kyro went straight to a shopping center to get a change of clothes, since he didn't have time return home, and going with a suit to a college bar was just a tad too much. His age was barely passable, but that kind of dress would instantly give away that he didn't belong.

When he entered the club, ear-piercing music assailed his ears. It was the middle of the week and still sufficiently early for some classes to be going, so the place was almost empty. Only a couple people sat by the bar and one wasted individual stumbled back and forth across the dance floor.

Kyro didn't see Gale anywhere, so he went deeper in. The club's walls had once been painted yellow, but the paint had long faded away and the color looked sickly. At night, with the constant haze of cigarette smoke, no one would notice, but this early… Kyro could hardly believe he had once willingly stepped in here before.

Past the third parting, he saw Gale sitting at a corner table with his back to the wall. There was a glass of beer on the table, and another in his hand. He was holding it before his eyes, but not drinking yet.

"For a bit, I actually wondered if you'd come."

The words were said in a breezy manner, but Kyro could feel the weight behind them. He pulled a chair and sat down before his old friend, taking the other glass of beer. "You look awful."

And it was the truth. Against the sickly yellow walls, Gale looked like a victim of some disease. Yellow-tinged skin, bags under the eyes, and his trademark blonde hair lying limp against his head. There was a certain air of desolation around him which screamed of loss.

"Did they cave in?"

Gale nodded, taking the first gulp from his glass. "They did. Today we finalized the documents, and Lily is finally under my protection. They can't do anything to her anymore."

But there was no joy in his words or expression. If based on his tone, it sounded like he'd lost and not won. The contrast was jarring to hear.

"What will you do now?" Kyro asked, taking a gulp of his own beer. It was bitter and tasted like bad memories, but somehow it was a welcome sensation. He took another taste.

"No need to hurry. I want to stay here till the crowd fills in." Gale smiled, looking around at the dim lights, faded paints, and crooked tables. "I missed this place. The parties nowadays aren't the same."

Kyro gave him a look over his glass. "When did we come here to party? It was always to drink ourselves to oblivion so we'd forget that day's failure."

"So you remember…." There was something in those words that Kyro couldn't decipher, but Gale didn't dwell on them for long. "I'll drink myself into oblivion, as you put it so nicely, and then… Well, I'll hope to wake up feeling human again."

Human… Not himself, just human was enough…

"You want to return to Dioscuri?" Kyro asked, his voice purposefully light. He was certain that Gale hadn't just asked him out to drink, but the likeliness of him telling it was minimal, so might as well get straight to the most important point.

At his words, Gale downed the whole glass. It was still mostly full, so he drank and drank, until his whole face was red. When he placed the glass down, his eyes shone with a bright glimmer.

"You tell me. I wasn't the one who walked away without a word, leaving you questioning whether it was all real. Kicking me out of the board couldn't have been arranged in an hour."