Chakra Wizard
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Terribly sorry for the huge hiatus, but this chapter just had me stuck on it forever – and school and work didn’t help either. Hopefully, it’s all made up for here, the series climax!! 
lol As always, enjoy*_*
Previous Chapter:
Six of us were set to take part in Iona’s assassination, so two black sedans were prepared for us out front, the trunks of which had all the weapons and equipment we’d need to pull off the job. After about three hours of preparations, I followed Seishin outside with a bag of essentials thrown over my shoulder, my seventh cigarette that evening dangling from between my lips. We climbed into the back of the sedan that Roku was driving, while the other three lowlifes were still fighting over who would drive the other vehicle. They wasted about fifteen minutes before Roku’s impatience finally boiled over and he drove off without them. I could still see them scrambling to get into the sedan as they vanished from our sight.
The drive through the city was surprisingly quiet, considering whom the other two people in the car were. I had the window rolled down to release the fumes from my cigarette and my headphones were jammed into my ears to drown out the song Roku had playing in the car, probably some lousy Japanese rock band that he loved and knew I hated. I looked over at Seishin to see what he was doing and, sure enough, he was looking out the window with the biggest grin on his face. Having been cooped up in that manor for so long, the sights of the town must’ve seemed like a newly opened Christmas present to him. He got the chance to see them for almost twenty minutes before Roku finally came to a stop in the parking lot of the hotel we’d be staying at for the next few days.
“We’ll leave the guns and equipment in here. Just grab all your shit for now and we’ll head on up to the rooms.” he said as he took the key out of the ignition, throwing it to me before grabbing the small bag he had in the passenger seat and getting out. I waited a few more seconds for the song I was listening to to end before complying.
“Come on, Seishin. Make sure to take your bag with you.” I told him before climbing out. Once I made sure Seishin had all his stuff, I locked up the vehicle and headed for the front entrance, where Roku was chatting with the concierge standing by the door – a contact with the yakuza, most likely. The second half of our little hit squad rolled into the parking lot before I could figure out, though, still *****ing at one another like they were when they left. Their loudness and all the profanity flying around was really starting to piss me off, but before I had time to do anything about it, Roku had already walked up and punched each of them in the cheek, nose, and forehead, respectively.
“All of you, shut the **** up and get inside now! I’ve got plans to make and others to go back over these next three days and I don’t have time to deal with your ****in’ bullshit!” he shouted, just barely keeping his voice within the confines of the otherwise empty parking lot. They immediately walked inside before he could say anything else, but I was too busy staring at Roku to pay attention to them. It wasn’t exactly surprising, given all the times I’d seen Roku go off like that, but it was his words and the way he used them that threw me off. It was more like the way someone yelled at their coworkers when they were just standing around while he did all the work, and given the way I usually saw Roku act, this almost seemed out of character.
“What, do I look pretty or somethin’? Get your ass inside, too.” he said out of the blue. I almost jumped as he said it – I must’ve been pretty deep in thought – but he didn’t really make notice of this and walked inside after the other lowlifes. I stood there dazed for a few more seconds before looking to my left, where Seishin had been standing this whole time.
“Come on, Seishin.” I motioned to him, prompting him to run off after Roku as I dragged behind.
Seishin and I mostly sat around the hotel room doing nothing, him still excited to be there and me the exact opposite, while the others mostly reviewed our plans or gambled their measly earnings away. I did learn that Roku has the shittiest poker face you could imagine, so he would wear a blank white mask over his face to hide his expression – I’d later find out he wore it during hits, too, but I digress. Other than that, not much else happened before everyone turned in for the night – except me, that is. I wasn’t about to let my guard down around these ass****s for a second, so I sat up in the bed with my gun at the ready for most of the night waiting for Roku to go to sleep, occasionally looking over at Seishin who was sound asleep, drooling all over his pillow – the poor lug, God love him. I thought a few more hours would do the trick, but Roku just wouldn’t cave in. He just sat there at the desk in the other room, looking over more plans and drinking coffee out of a huge thermos to keep awake – he kept the door connecting the rooms open so he didn’t have to yell through the walls. He still had that mask on for some weird reason and no matter how long I waited, he wouldn’t even look up from the desk. I nodded off more than a few times, I’ll be honest, until the phone he set off to the side of the desk suddenly starting ringing. I threw my head back against the wall when I heard it and had to bite down to keep from cursing. That certainly got his attention, but he didn’t peer into the room for more than a few seconds before answering the phone, so I couldn’t tell if he noticed I was still up or not.
“Saki ni iku. …Sudeni? Hmph, watashitachiha chōdo jikan uchi ni kuria suisoku. …Hokanohito wa genzai, subete no nemu tte iru. …Hai? …Hai, watashi wa sore o okonau yō ni shite kudasaimasu.” (“Go ahead. …Already? Hmph, I guess we cleared out just in time then. …The others are all asleep now. …Alright? …Yes, I will be sure to do that.”)
God only knows what “that” was supposed to mean, but from the context, it sounded like the cops had started surveying the manor – guess Iona wasn’t gonna take any chances after his little run-in with Kyōgi. Roku just went back to what he was doing once he hung up, but by that point, I had given up and finally fallen asleep.
He told the rest of us what he learned the night before once all of us were awake – still wearing that damn mask for some weird reason. No one else really seemed to care about the news, though, since we were already away from the manor, at least until one of the other lowlifes tried leaving the room to snag some breakfast from downstairs.
“We’re staying in this room until the day of the assassination. I’m not taking any chances of cops snooping around this hotel and spotting one of us.” he said as he held his arm in front of the door, pointing towards the small fridge in the room stuffed with rations he’d brought in advance. Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with any of us – except Seishin, of course.
“Ā, Roku no o kuru! Watashitachi wa chōdo san zentai-kakan kono kuso heya ni suwaru koto wa dekimasen. Watashitachiha, subete no ima shite ikutsu ka no shinsen'na kūki o shutoku suru hitsuyō ga arimasu.” (“Oh, come on, Roku! We can’t just sit in this ****ing room for three whole days. We have to get some fresh air every now and then.”)
“Anata wa, watashi ga iu nani demo fakku yarō o okonau koto ga dekimasu. Watashitachiha kono wariate ni iru ma, watashi no ken'i ni gimon o shiyou to shinaide kudasai.” (“You can do whatever the **** I say, ass****. Don’t try to question my authority while we’re on this assignment.”)
“I’ll question your intelligence, Denashi, **** your authority. Now move so I can head downstairs. I’m not sharing that shit in the fridge with you lowlifes for three days.” I called out from the other side of the room. I was slouched over in a chair by the window, listening to him talk before I had enough, then I stood up and walked past the couple of lowlifes standing between me and the door. Naturally, he wasn’t having any of it, and he got that mask right up in my face to show it.
“You’d best get this through your head, you little ****sucker. I don’t fail my assignments cause I don’t take chances when I bring along freeloading little shits like you. You jeopardize what we’re trying to do here and I WILL put a hole in the back of your head.” he said with my finger hardly an inch from my cheek. I could feel his breath coming the mask as he spoke – I swear I would’ve puked if I had anything in my stomach at the time – and I pulled my gun out and pushed the barrel against his shirt to show I wasn’t fazed.
“Get a ****ing clue, asswipe. You didn’t have the balls to pull that trigger when Yatsumi was your boss, so what makes you think I’m scared you will now that Mao is?” I said with half a smirk, but that quickly disappeared when he stepped back and grabbed my hand, lifting it up to his forehead.
“You point that gun at me, boy, you’d best point it at my head, cause you can bet I’m not holding anything back if I’m still standing after you shoot.”
He let go of my hand and I just stood there for awhile, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. This son of a ***** usually couldn’t have a butter knife pulled on him without shitting his pants, yet there I was with my gun against his head and there wasn’t even a twitch in his wrist or his eye. And, to my amazement, I couldn’t pull the trigger. Roku Denashi, the only person I ever hated more than Yatsumi, was standing there practically begging me to put a cap in his brain and I couldn’t grant his wish, no matter how much I wanted to. I eventually just returned my gun to the back of my pants and went back over to sit down again, at which point I heard a subtle wisp of air escape his lips.
“You always were a bullshitter, Aito. You think I didn’t ****in’ know that this whole time? …You didn’t even have the balls to kill your father before someone came in and did it for you.”
I didn’t gratify that remark with an answer – I couldn’t without revealing I had, in fact, killed the former leader, in front of his most violent subordinate, no less. I just kept my mouth shut and my neck stiff as I started walking again, stopping momentarily to pick up a pack of playing cards off the television stand as a worried Seishin walked over to me.
“I’m fine, Seishin. …Come on. I’ll teach you how to play oicho-kabu.” I told him with a soft while, and his eyes lit up as he followed me into the other room.
I pretty much spent the rest of that day playing cards with Seishin – who somehow managed to beat me twice out of twenty-three games – or doing some stretching to keep my limbs from stiffening up. There wasn’t much else to do since the lowlifes had taken both TVs for most of the day – not that I watched much of it, anyways – and with the windows kept shut, I couldn’t even take some time out to smoke a cigarette. So I waited until everyone was asleep before getting up and slipping out the door with one of the key cards on hand. We were on the top floor and there was no way in hell I was heading all the way down to the parking lot with those bastards still in there with Seishin, so I took the stairwell up to the roof, where I quickly cursed under my breath upon seeing someone else leaning over the large concrete railing. I tried sneaking back behind the door, but by that point, he had already finished his cigarette and slid his mask back over his face.
“Might as well come out now.” Roku said, and I hesitated to do so. My hand had been twitching for a couple hours now, though, so I eventually gave up and walked up beside him, keeping a few feet between us as I pulled out my smokes and lit one up, heaving a breath of relief as I exhaled.
“You don’t think I’m smart, but don’t go thinking I’m stupid, either. I knew you were gonna try getting out while we were asleep.” he said as he turned around and leaned his back against the wall.
“And you knew I would come up here?” I answered in between puffs of my cigarette.
“Where else are you gonna go this late at night? Nothing else is open in the hotel and you sure as hell ain’t leaving Seishin alone with us while you go smoke in the parking lot.”
“…Touché.”
The silence that followed couldn’t even be justified with the word “awkward”, but I just had to get another one or two cigarettes in before I went back to the room. He, on the other hand, was just standing there looking out at the city, having already smoked all the cigarettes he wanted. Guess I couldn’t blame him too much – it was a pretty nice view from up there – but I shouldn’t shake the feeling he was either plotting something or he wanted me to talk while we were still alone. I wound up saying “**** it” and caving in before I was finished.
“I’ll be honest, I can’t believe you’ve gone this long without trying to kill me.” I said sarcastically, not getting anything from him in the process – the mask was probably partially to blame for that.
“Mao ordered me to make sure you and Seishin made it back from this mission alive, so that’s what I’m doing. …Besides, if and when I kill you, I’m doing it on my own terms, not in the middle of a damn assignment.” he said, and I couldn’t help but believe him…the second part, anyways.
“Yeah…I’m sure he said that.” I replied. I saw him tilt his head slightly out of the corner of my eye.
“Why the hell do you do that?”
I was just about to exhale when he said that, and nearly choked because of it.
“Do what?” I asked once I’d stopped coughing.
“Doubt your brother’s intentions like that, no shit. He obviously gives a more of a **** about you than your old man did, and you still act like he wants you and Seishin out of his affairs. …Shit like that just don’t sit right with me.” he explained. I didn’t take another puff the entire time he spoke to avoid choking again, but his words so didn’t go with his douchebag reputation that I almost started gagging regardless. Why the **** would he hold any opinion about the way my brother and I treat each other, cause it sure didn’t sound like he was talking about him as his superior?
“And you care why?” I answered smugly. I saw his eyebrows lower beneath his mask.
“Cause you’re his older goddamn brother, that’s why. You’re supposed to be the one lookin’ out for him, not the other way around. …Jesus, it’s like Yatsumi’s kids get smarter every time he has one.”
I wasn’t sure which link in that chain he was insulting more, but I let it slide cause I was too busy thinking about what he just said. I’d been speculative of Mao ever since the night he asked me to kill Yatsumi and that suspicion just continued to grow from the night on, and even though Susume had given me a talk about this already, Roku was the last person I thought to jump on that “don’t secretly think your twelve year-old brother’s a criminal mastermind” bandwagon.
“You got a brother, Denashi?” I just asked out of impulse, figuring that to be the most logical explanation for why he didn’t like seeing how Mao and I got along. He didn’t answer for quite awhile.
“Almost did.”
Again, the fact that I didn’t have a cigarette in my mouth was the only thing that kept me from choking a second time. I wasn’t quite sure what the hell he meant by that, but before I could turn and ask him, he had already started walking away.
“Don’t stay out here all night. I know we ain’t got shit to do tomorrow, but I don’t need your lazy ass sleepin’ all day, either.” he said as he entered the stairwell. I flipped him off as the door closed behind him – out of habit, really – but I had smoked all the cigarettes I came out there to, so it was only a few more minutes before I went ahead did as he said.
The next day was the eve of the operation, and I again did practically nothing but sit around on the bed watching the antics of the lowlifes Seishin and I brought along with us. Having grown tired of watching TV all day, the three nobodies took to playing cards and gambling to relieve their boredom while Roku cleaned and inspected his guns on the opposite bed, the former having removed their shirts to display the lavish tattoos characteristic of the yakuza.
“Jigoku nashi, nōtarin! Anata wa, ni-mai no kādo o hika! Watashi wa sore o mite inai yō ni kōdō shinaide kudasai!” (“Hell no, ****head! You pulled two cards! Don’t act like I didn’t see it!”)
“Anata fakku watashideshita! Anata wa chōdo anata ga ima hōru ni yaso-doru o shite iru koto o ikatteiru!” (“**** you I did! You’re just pissed that you’re eighty dollars in the hole now!”)
“Watashitoisshoni sutāto o kuso shinaide kudasai! Ima, watashi ni sore o ataeru! Sore wa watashi no nabedesu!” (“Don’t ****ing start with me! Now give me that! That’s my pot!”)
“Dare ga seikō o ataemasu!? Anata dake no tsugi no shuchū ni sore o ushinau tsumorida!” (“Who gives a ****!? You’re just going to lose it during the next hand!”)
“Nani o futatabi tsugi no handokan'ningu shiyou to shite iru!?” (“What are you going to cheat again next hand!?”)
“Anata wa san wa seikōta shattodaundeshou!? Seinaru kuso, kore wa saiakuna rokkukonsātode wa arimasen! Sore ga hoterunanode, saishōgen ni daun kakkōī tamotsu!” (“Would you three shut the **** up!!? Holy shit, this isn’t a goddamn rock concert! It’s a hotel, so keep the *****ing down to a minimum!”)
I couldn’t help but smirk at how fast all three of them shut up after he said that, though the fact he was pointing one of his guns at them kinda took the edge off a little bit. He threw it back on the bed once they’d gone back to playing and plopped down on the other side, apparently done messing around with them for now. He laid there for the longest time while his words from last night rang in my head, and I eventually caved in and sat up beside him. Thank God the other lowlifes didn’t know English.
“So what was your thing about almost having a brother?” I asked. He still had his mask on – holy shit, what a douchebag – but he tilted his head a little bit so I knew he heard me.
“And you care why?” he said smugly, but I let it slide that time. I recalled something he told me the night before as I answered him.
“Cause I’m his older brother, that’s why…and I wanna know who you are to question our relationship.”
It was an honest question the way I saw it, but I was almost positive that ass**** was just gonna shrug it off. So I was pretty surprised when he sat up and leaned against the headboard, grabbing the pistol next to his foot before he started talking – maybe I thought I was gonna start laughing midway through.
“My old man was a lot like yours, except what yours had in extra pounds, mine had in extra cups of sake every Saturday night…”
Whatever his reason was, I was almost right. That was the most non-poetic, shitty ass beginning to a story I’d ever heard.
“He never really noticed me that often, but when he got in those moods of his, my mom was always the center of attention. She spent more than a few nights in the hospital from getting beaten so bad. …Not getting any love from the person you’re tied to makes you wanna go out and find it with someone else…you know?”
He must’ve read my mind when he asked me that. I was thinking a little bit about my own mother as I listened.
“Eventually, she came home with a kid inside her and couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it, partly cause she had no access to his money. She managed to hide it for about seven months, though, since the old man was kind of a dumbass, but once she went into premature labor, there wasn’t anything she could do. …That was the day I sliced my dad’s head off with his katana…after pulling it out of my mom’s chest.”
I’d already guessed his story’s ending a little ways back, but that didn’t make it hit any less closer to home. I was already sitting down on the other bed, so I just fell back and stared up at the ceiling as I reminisced. I didn’t look back over at him, but a few specific noises told me he had dropped his gun back on the bed and gotten up to get a drink out of the fridge.
“Appreciate your brothers while you got ‘em, Aito…there’s a lot of people who would kill for a bond like yours.” he said before going over to the door and heading out into the hall. I sat back up once he left and saw that he’d apparently left his mask on the bed, too. I spent a few minutes just sitting there staring at it, thinking about what he said before I finally got up and went into the fridge to grab two Ramune – one for me, and one for Seishin.
I turned in that night at about three in the morning, only to be woken up four hours later by Roku – guess he wasn’t taking any chances on getting caught moving to the sniping location. Grabbing all our shit took about thirty minutes and the drive about ten, then there was the long-ass walk cause he parked three miles from the ****ing building – thank God I wasn’t the one carrying our equipment. We crept up on the southern end of the building about eight minutes after nine o’clock, with still about three hours before Iona’s conference aired – Roku already had his pistol out in case the building wasn’t completely empty.
“Watashitachiha, roku-kai ni agarudeshou. Sore wa wareware ga mada kara kaigi o miru koto ga dekiru saika-kaidesunode, wareware wa yori hayaku, ichido Seishin shotto o tori dasu koto ga dekimasu.” (“We’ll go up to the sixth floor. That’s the lowest floor that we can still see the conference from, so we can get out quicker once Seishin makes the kill.”)
He hurried everyone inside the exit door while I walked up behind them, scanning the area for anyone who might be passing by or for potential security cameras – force of habit, since Hei assured us the cameras in this district would be cut off during the two hours we needed to get to where we needed. I wound up turning my head in the same direction as the Aliʻiōlani Hale in my search, and I was forced to stop and lower my gun for a second. My mind had been fixed on living with these lowlifes for three straight days and it just then occurred to me again what our whole reasoning for going through all that was. I couldn’t dwell on it for very long, though, since that douchebag was still waiting in the doorway.
“You comin’ in or what? I’m not standing out here all ****in’ day.” Roku whispered over to me, prompting me to jump a bit as I hurried inside.
The building was a standard apartment complex that had been cleared out to allow some major renovations, which meant nothing but vast hallways and rows of locked rooms, with the occasional space for complimentary laundry machines. There was thin carpeting across the flooring save for the staircase, so we had to be extra quiet going up to the sixth floor, where Roku quickly put all of us to work.
“Anata wa seishinsettoappu ni yakudatsu, anata ga onrainburōdokyasuto o eru. Anata wa ni, kono furoa no hidarigawa no sukyan o kaishi. Watashi wa kenri o eta.” (“You help Seishin get set up and you get the broadcast online. I’ll start scanning the right side of this floor. You two take the right.”)
He pointed at me and one of the other lowlifes as he gave that last order, and nobody bothered arguing with him before we set off on our respective duties. Those first few minutes alone with this nobody were uncomfortable as all hell – I almost preferred to be alone with Roku – and it made me so glad when the hallway started branching off in separate directions.
“Sono rōka daun bunki suru. Ore wa kono hōkō ni idō shite okou.” (“Start down that hallway. I’ll keep moving in this direction.”)
He looked at me for a second as if to ask who the **** I was to give him orders, but a quick glare on my part got him moving. I spent the next several minutes completely alone in that section of the building, and that alone time allowed me to regroup my thoughts from when I was standing outside the building. It just started occurring to me, the reality of us being here simply to kill someone whose ideals clashed with our own – or their own, I should say. I had one purpose on this mission, and that was to keep an eye on my brother. I also had one purpose for joining the yakuza ranks, and that was to keep an eye on my other brother. The crime aspect had already occurred to me long before I made that choice – and besides from gambling and drug smuggling, yakuza stayed away from the petty crimes I normally looked down upon – but the thought of them murdering someone to further their own goals hadn’t really caught on until it was just hours away from happening. And I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted that. I honestly don’t know how long I went contemplating what to do next with my priorities in mind, but the gruff voice that crept into my ear quickly brought it all crashing back down to Earth.
“Don’t ****ing move.”
It wasn’t a voice I recognized, not to mention it was in English with an American accent, so I knew right away that it was the kind of person we were hoping to avoid from square one. I could literally feel the pupils of my eyes growing smaller by the second.
“Drop the gun and raise your hands in the air.” he said from behind me. I stopped moving without question when he demanded it, but my hands were still very much frozen to my gun.
“Now, mother****er!!” he shouted, and I followed through almost immediately. I guess he reached for his radio next, since I was still turned around and couldn’t see him.
“Squad Leader, come in. I got an armed Japanese man up on the sixth floor on the left side. Shaggy black hair, looks about eighteen years of age. I’m taking him in now.”
He poked the barrel of his gun against my back to get me to start moving, which I probably would’ve done on my own – the loud click it made when he cocked it earlier made it pretty obvious how big it was. A lot of things went through my mind as he walked me towards the other end of the building and away from my team – God knows what had happened to them. At the forefront, I worried how Seishin was doing and if he had been found, too, not to mention how this failed operation might result in Mao’s position being discovered. In the back, though, I contemplated turning to face my captor and tell him everything I knew about the yakuza’s operations, an option that got more tempting with every step. Honestly, there was nothing else in the world I would’ve loved to do more at that moment, and I could only imagine the payoff on down the line. Roku would be more than likely be executed for his crimes – just the thought of it made me smile from cheek to cheek – and Hei and Kyōgi would probably end up with life sentences along with most of the family’s lower members. Seishin’s ignorance and my confession would probably get us brief stints in jail at the most, and even if they did manage to convince the cops Mao was the current head of the yakuza, what were the odds he’d get more than a year or two in juvy just to “show him a life of crime ain’t the way to go” – or whatever bullshit they came up with? Our estate would probably be seized as an asset, not to mention any sort of fortune Yatsumi had left behind to keep us afloat, but we would be free. Free from the crime and vulgarity-ridden lifestyle the three of us had been forced to witness and occasionally partake in since our births. There was virtually nothing about the decision that I could label a downside…so why I was so hesitant to do it, I had no ****ing idea. The pressure of it all got more precipitation out of me than the gun being pointed at my back, but most of it vanished in less than a second with the officer’s next five words.
“Squad Leader, do you copy?”
The six that came out of his radio wiped away what was left.
“I hear you loud and clear.”
The voice was too recognizable to be a mistake – I almost puked every time I heard it, after all. I immediately heaved a sigh of relief knowing I was safe, only to lose my breath again moments later when a trio of gunshots rang in my ears, followed shortly by the sound of a falling body. I couldn’t even bring himself to turn around for several seconds, but by the time I got up the nerve to, a hand had gotten in front of my eyes as it made its way up to my face, slapping me on the cheeks a few times as the rest of Roku’s body followed behind it.
“Look alive, freeloader! We’re comin’ up on midday!” he shouted as he passed me by, turning the corner into the other hallway. I thought again about turning around to see the body he had just gunned down, but I took off after him without ever doing so. I was gonna see someone else die soon enough, I thought.
When I finally turned the corner to reach our rendezvous point, I found everyone else was already lying in wait for the conference to start. Two lowlifes were standing at either end of the hall to make sure no one else disturbed our operation while the third got his laptop set up to display the broadcast, so they could get a good estimate of when to take the shot – I later found out that Roku also enjoyed watching the feed get cut off immediately after the target collapses, saying he found it hysterical that the broadcast channel would try to cover it up when everyone watching at home already knows what just happened. The douchebag in question was already in the process of helping Seishin set up his gun, turning to the lowlife on the far end of the hall once he’d finished – I noted the corpse laying against the wall as he spoke.
“Anata wa, torakku no ichi o tsukamu iku! Watashitachi wa koko kara dete kuria suru mae ni rōdo suru bodi o motte iru.” (“You, go grab one of the trucks! We have a body to load up before we clear out of here!”)
He took the opportunity to explain as the guy ran over to the stairwell. He had strangled the first officer he encountered with a wire and taken his gun, which was what he used to take out the other five he found skulking around the building. The body we were gonna take with us was the first one he killed, that way it appeared as if he had killed the rest of his team and then taken the shot to kill Iona before escaping – I was wondering why the gun Seishin had looked different from the one Roku was cleaning yesterday. I walked over and rested my hand on Seishin’s shoulder as he stepped beside the guy working the laptop.
“Sore wa mada kaishi shite imasu ka?” (“Has it started yet?”)
“Yaku ni-bu, kare wa hyōshōdai ni suteppu appu sa reru made.” (“About thirty minutes until he steps up to the podium.”)
“Yoi. Otori wa gunshū no nakadesu ka?” (“Good. Is Otori in the crowd?”)
“Watashi wa kare o sanshō shite kudasai. Kare wa ue no sono orokana kuso bōshi o motte imasu.” (“I see him. He’s got that stupid ****ing hat on.”)
I grabbed one of the two sets of binoculars sitting next to Seishin’s feet as he explained this, scanning the crowd until I found the dumb hat in question – those were some damn good binoculars. Roku walked up again moments later, picking up the other pair and inspecting the crowd before leaning down and resting his hand on Seishin, who looked about as serious as I’d ever seen him before.
“Almost game time. He knows we’re watching him from somewhere, Seishin, so keep your aim on him as soon as he steps up to the podium, alright? Don’t take your aim off of him for a second.” he told him.
“Got ya, Roku.” Seishin replied. I couldn’t tell if he was really paying attention to what he said or not – he was so fixated on peering into that scope that I wouldn’t have been surprised if he pulled back and had a huge ring around his eye. It truly killed me to say or think it, but Seishin was ripe to kill this guy – and the thought of it instantly conjured up another one.
“I call the shot. Seishin, you don’t pull the trigger until I give you the word…alright?”
I glanced over at Roku as I added on the last word. He didn’t seem all that surprised or infuriated by it, but I gave him a look, anyways. A look to inform him that this wasn’t just about Seishin being ready to take a life – it was also about me being ready to stand aside and watch him do it. He continued to stare at me for awhile to ensure I didn’t break my gaze, eventually looking back out the window and holding his binoculars up to his eyes.
“Fine, whatever.”
The last twenty-seven minutes passed by in complete silence, during which I took the time to continue reflecting. I was still fixated on the idea of forcing this plan to fall through in some way, shape, or form, then watching as Yatsumi’s empire crumbled around his gigantic coffin. I didn’t go too into depth, though. After all, my only real option by that point was to kill everyone here save for Seishin, but I didn’t even have the balls to do that – besides, I was sure Roku had his pistol at the ready just in case I did pull something like that, so what chance did I have? That whole inner debate went on for about ten minutes, I’m guessing, so I spent the rest of the time wondering what was Mahina was doing and thinking right now until Iona finally walked onto the stage, earning huge applause from the crowd as he stepped behind the podium.
“Look at that smarmy little douche. He honestly thought he had a chance of threatening us when we’re the ones who run this city. …Well, guess wrong, mother****er.” Roku snarled from beside me, prompting me to drop my binoculars and look at him for a second before rolling my eyes and holding them up again. He did have a point, though, I thought. What chance did that guy really have of challenging the yakuza if his plans moved forward? I wondered if he realized that, too.
“Citizens of Honolulu, I come before you today with a revelation about myself and my plans as governor. …I’ve made promises during my campaign filled with only empty words.”
The beginning of his speech was met with a few faint groans from the audience, plus a few snickers from the people around me. I guess it was to be expected, but it didn’t stop my heart from sinking any less faster. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but the idea of someone who could fight the yakuza’s influence in this region was kinda refreshing. I didn’t reminisce on it for very long, though. The politicians in this city have been crushing my hopes of this for over eighteen years.
“I’ve made promises regarding the yakuza who have a hold over this state, hold over our marketplace, our security, and our state of mind. …I’ve made promises that when I become governor, I will give law enforcement the strength needed to fight back against their corruption, and in doing so, lift us up from the shadow they cast over us once and for all…and by making these promises, my life has been threatened by the very men I’m hoping to put away.”
The groans from the audience got even louder than before. So this was a cowardly retreat, I thought – I’m sure the others were thinking it, too. And how could I say I was surprised? Yatsumi had been giving that same threat silently for over twenty years and it worked all the way up until his death, and this prick thought for a second that he’d finally get it away with making some progress on the homefront now that he was gone? I was almost disgusted that I actually had faith in him for a moment, though I couldn’t help but feel relieved that he saw the light before Seishin was forced to take him out.
“They attempted to bribe me, both with money and violence, into giving up this race…and to them I say…not a chance in hell.”
I felt my heart sink again – I almost started clutching my chest when it happened. There was no denying it now. This man was about to die.
“They can put a gun to my head, dangle me above a bed of open flames, dip me into the ocean and wait for the sharks to come along, but I will NOT give into the fear they try to inflict upon me! This is the capital city of Hawaii, the fiftieth state in a nation built upon freedom of all kinds, not a breeding ground for a group of thugs who don’t even originate from it! The people of this city deserve to live in a place and time where they are not held down by the fear of an enemy who thinks they can feed off of us and not worry about being punished by law enforcement! …That place is right here…and that time is right NOW!!”
As he spouted that horribly cliché threat, I saw Otori rush out from the crowd with a gun in his hand, but he was quickly tackled to the ground by a pair of guards standing at the base of the stage. I took a quick peek around the room as they subdued him. Everyone’s eyes were wide with anticipation, save for Seishin’s – he was still as focused on his shot as ever.
“There’s your cue. Aito.” Roku said when I didn’t make the call. I gave no response.
“Aito, tell him to take the ****in’ shot!”
Again, I said nothing, nor did I look around at the people in the hallway – I’m sure all of them were staring at me, maybe even Seishin. How could I give that order, though? All it’d take is a single word and then I’d be no less guilty of murdering a public official than the big lug holding the gun. And I still wasn’t sure I was ready to live with that.
“HURRY THE **** UP!!!”
I looked back out at the conference through my binoculars, watching as Iona argued with his guards to allow him to finish his address – it looked like he was on the verge of bending to their wishes. I thought long and hard about what would come of letting him walk off that stage. The possibility of him winning the election, the odds of whatever policies he intended to implement going through and, if they did, the chances of them actually having a negative effect on the yakuza’s current and future transactions. The odds were high on all counts, I thought, but those were things I sincerely wanted to happen. On the flipside, I also thought about the future that awaited my brothers and I if the yakuza did indeed fall, the possibility of us being torn apart by either poverty or court systems – criminal or family law – and the danger that might await all three of us back at the estate in the time before law enforcement took action. Again, odds were high that these things would happen, and no matter how much I distrusted Mao, I was still his big brother…and my first priority has always been to protect my own.
“Fire.”
Less than an hour ago, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at a body that was already dead, but now, I looked straight ahead as Seishin’s round pierced Iona’s skull and sent brain matter flying in all directions. As the guards who were escorting him offstage fumbled to keep his body from slamming against the floor, a loud static surfaced from the laptop behind me to signify the discontinuation of the broadcast. Roku immediately broke into a laugh-slash-cheer, throwing his fist into the air as the other hand patted Seishin roughly on the back.
“Bull-****in’-seye!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Seishin, THAT’S what I’m talkin’ bout!!” he shouted, while the two lowlifes behind us and at the end of the hall also began celebrating to a lesser extent.
“I did it, Aito!! You see that!? I shot him right in the head!!” Seishin said as he looked up, ecstatic as always. I managed a smile for him, though I couldn’t help but feel displeased by the fact that he evidently had no idea how serious his actions just now were.
“You did good, Seishin. …You did good.” I said softly, rubbing him gently on the shoulder as he stood up. The lowlife down the hall ran over to join us as Roku and the other one began packing up our equipment.
“Yoshi, soredewa koko kara otokonoko o kuria shimashou. Dorinku wa watashi ni kon'ya aru.” (“Alright, let’s clear out of here, boys. Drinks are on me tonight.”)
While Seishin had been entrusted with the bag holding the guns, the lowlifes carried the body over to the stairwell while one of them had the bag with the laptop flung over his shoulders. Strangely, the only thing left untouched as they headed downstairs was the gun used to make the kill and the stand holding it up, though I quickly found out why when I started walking away and Roku was still standing next to the window.
“What the **** are you doing now?” I said, a little unnecessary aggression in my voice admittedly. He paid it no mind, though, and kneeled down in front of the gun, lining it up the way he wanted it before gazing into the scope.
“I never leave a crime scene…without actually committing a crime.”
As much of a brute – and a douchebag – as he was, I knew Roku well enough to know the only person down there he could possibly be aiming that gun at was the lackey he chose to stand in the crowd. Still, I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about him killing someone when it was completely unnecessary. I almost told to him to stop and just pack up the gun, but I stopped myself midway. …After what just transpired, it would only would’ve seemed incoherent.
“Make it fast.” I said as I walked away, cringing slightly as the ensuing gunshot rang in my ears.
To Be Continued…
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- Fire -
Six of us were set to take part in Iona’s assassination, so two black sedans were prepared for us out front, the trunks of which had all the weapons and equipment we’d need to pull off the job. After about three hours of preparations, I followed Seishin outside with a bag of essentials thrown over my shoulder, my seventh cigarette that evening dangling from between my lips. We climbed into the back of the sedan that Roku was driving, while the other three lowlifes were still fighting over who would drive the other vehicle. They wasted about fifteen minutes before Roku’s impatience finally boiled over and he drove off without them. I could still see them scrambling to get into the sedan as they vanished from our sight.
The drive through the city was surprisingly quiet, considering whom the other two people in the car were. I had the window rolled down to release the fumes from my cigarette and my headphones were jammed into my ears to drown out the song Roku had playing in the car, probably some lousy Japanese rock band that he loved and knew I hated. I looked over at Seishin to see what he was doing and, sure enough, he was looking out the window with the biggest grin on his face. Having been cooped up in that manor for so long, the sights of the town must’ve seemed like a newly opened Christmas present to him. He got the chance to see them for almost twenty minutes before Roku finally came to a stop in the parking lot of the hotel we’d be staying at for the next few days.
“We’ll leave the guns and equipment in here. Just grab all your shit for now and we’ll head on up to the rooms.” he said as he took the key out of the ignition, throwing it to me before grabbing the small bag he had in the passenger seat and getting out. I waited a few more seconds for the song I was listening to to end before complying.
“Come on, Seishin. Make sure to take your bag with you.” I told him before climbing out. Once I made sure Seishin had all his stuff, I locked up the vehicle and headed for the front entrance, where Roku was chatting with the concierge standing by the door – a contact with the yakuza, most likely. The second half of our little hit squad rolled into the parking lot before I could figure out, though, still *****ing at one another like they were when they left. Their loudness and all the profanity flying around was really starting to piss me off, but before I had time to do anything about it, Roku had already walked up and punched each of them in the cheek, nose, and forehead, respectively.
“All of you, shut the **** up and get inside now! I’ve got plans to make and others to go back over these next three days and I don’t have time to deal with your ****in’ bullshit!” he shouted, just barely keeping his voice within the confines of the otherwise empty parking lot. They immediately walked inside before he could say anything else, but I was too busy staring at Roku to pay attention to them. It wasn’t exactly surprising, given all the times I’d seen Roku go off like that, but it was his words and the way he used them that threw me off. It was more like the way someone yelled at their coworkers when they were just standing around while he did all the work, and given the way I usually saw Roku act, this almost seemed out of character.
“What, do I look pretty or somethin’? Get your ass inside, too.” he said out of the blue. I almost jumped as he said it – I must’ve been pretty deep in thought – but he didn’t really make notice of this and walked inside after the other lowlifes. I stood there dazed for a few more seconds before looking to my left, where Seishin had been standing this whole time.
“Come on, Seishin.” I motioned to him, prompting him to run off after Roku as I dragged behind.
Seishin and I mostly sat around the hotel room doing nothing, him still excited to be there and me the exact opposite, while the others mostly reviewed our plans or gambled their measly earnings away. I did learn that Roku has the shittiest poker face you could imagine, so he would wear a blank white mask over his face to hide his expression – I’d later find out he wore it during hits, too, but I digress. Other than that, not much else happened before everyone turned in for the night – except me, that is. I wasn’t about to let my guard down around these ass****s for a second, so I sat up in the bed with my gun at the ready for most of the night waiting for Roku to go to sleep, occasionally looking over at Seishin who was sound asleep, drooling all over his pillow – the poor lug, God love him. I thought a few more hours would do the trick, but Roku just wouldn’t cave in. He just sat there at the desk in the other room, looking over more plans and drinking coffee out of a huge thermos to keep awake – he kept the door connecting the rooms open so he didn’t have to yell through the walls. He still had that mask on for some weird reason and no matter how long I waited, he wouldn’t even look up from the desk. I nodded off more than a few times, I’ll be honest, until the phone he set off to the side of the desk suddenly starting ringing. I threw my head back against the wall when I heard it and had to bite down to keep from cursing. That certainly got his attention, but he didn’t peer into the room for more than a few seconds before answering the phone, so I couldn’t tell if he noticed I was still up or not.
“Saki ni iku. …Sudeni? Hmph, watashitachiha chōdo jikan uchi ni kuria suisoku. …Hokanohito wa genzai, subete no nemu tte iru. …Hai? …Hai, watashi wa sore o okonau yō ni shite kudasaimasu.” (“Go ahead. …Already? Hmph, I guess we cleared out just in time then. …The others are all asleep now. …Alright? …Yes, I will be sure to do that.”)
God only knows what “that” was supposed to mean, but from the context, it sounded like the cops had started surveying the manor – guess Iona wasn’t gonna take any chances after his little run-in with Kyōgi. Roku just went back to what he was doing once he hung up, but by that point, I had given up and finally fallen asleep.
He told the rest of us what he learned the night before once all of us were awake – still wearing that damn mask for some weird reason. No one else really seemed to care about the news, though, since we were already away from the manor, at least until one of the other lowlifes tried leaving the room to snag some breakfast from downstairs.
“We’re staying in this room until the day of the assassination. I’m not taking any chances of cops snooping around this hotel and spotting one of us.” he said as he held his arm in front of the door, pointing towards the small fridge in the room stuffed with rations he’d brought in advance. Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with any of us – except Seishin, of course.
“Ā, Roku no o kuru! Watashitachi wa chōdo san zentai-kakan kono kuso heya ni suwaru koto wa dekimasen. Watashitachiha, subete no ima shite ikutsu ka no shinsen'na kūki o shutoku suru hitsuyō ga arimasu.” (“Oh, come on, Roku! We can’t just sit in this ****ing room for three whole days. We have to get some fresh air every now and then.”)
“Anata wa, watashi ga iu nani demo fakku yarō o okonau koto ga dekimasu. Watashitachiha kono wariate ni iru ma, watashi no ken'i ni gimon o shiyou to shinaide kudasai.” (“You can do whatever the **** I say, ass****. Don’t try to question my authority while we’re on this assignment.”)
“I’ll question your intelligence, Denashi, **** your authority. Now move so I can head downstairs. I’m not sharing that shit in the fridge with you lowlifes for three days.” I called out from the other side of the room. I was slouched over in a chair by the window, listening to him talk before I had enough, then I stood up and walked past the couple of lowlifes standing between me and the door. Naturally, he wasn’t having any of it, and he got that mask right up in my face to show it.
“You’d best get this through your head, you little ****sucker. I don’t fail my assignments cause I don’t take chances when I bring along freeloading little shits like you. You jeopardize what we’re trying to do here and I WILL put a hole in the back of your head.” he said with my finger hardly an inch from my cheek. I could feel his breath coming the mask as he spoke – I swear I would’ve puked if I had anything in my stomach at the time – and I pulled my gun out and pushed the barrel against his shirt to show I wasn’t fazed.
“Get a ****ing clue, asswipe. You didn’t have the balls to pull that trigger when Yatsumi was your boss, so what makes you think I’m scared you will now that Mao is?” I said with half a smirk, but that quickly disappeared when he stepped back and grabbed my hand, lifting it up to his forehead.
“You point that gun at me, boy, you’d best point it at my head, cause you can bet I’m not holding anything back if I’m still standing after you shoot.”
He let go of my hand and I just stood there for awhile, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. This son of a ***** usually couldn’t have a butter knife pulled on him without shitting his pants, yet there I was with my gun against his head and there wasn’t even a twitch in his wrist or his eye. And, to my amazement, I couldn’t pull the trigger. Roku Denashi, the only person I ever hated more than Yatsumi, was standing there practically begging me to put a cap in his brain and I couldn’t grant his wish, no matter how much I wanted to. I eventually just returned my gun to the back of my pants and went back over to sit down again, at which point I heard a subtle wisp of air escape his lips.
“You always were a bullshitter, Aito. You think I didn’t ****in’ know that this whole time? …You didn’t even have the balls to kill your father before someone came in and did it for you.”
I didn’t gratify that remark with an answer – I couldn’t without revealing I had, in fact, killed the former leader, in front of his most violent subordinate, no less. I just kept my mouth shut and my neck stiff as I started walking again, stopping momentarily to pick up a pack of playing cards off the television stand as a worried Seishin walked over to me.
“I’m fine, Seishin. …Come on. I’ll teach you how to play oicho-kabu.” I told him with a soft while, and his eyes lit up as he followed me into the other room.
I pretty much spent the rest of that day playing cards with Seishin – who somehow managed to beat me twice out of twenty-three games – or doing some stretching to keep my limbs from stiffening up. There wasn’t much else to do since the lowlifes had taken both TVs for most of the day – not that I watched much of it, anyways – and with the windows kept shut, I couldn’t even take some time out to smoke a cigarette. So I waited until everyone was asleep before getting up and slipping out the door with one of the key cards on hand. We were on the top floor and there was no way in hell I was heading all the way down to the parking lot with those bastards still in there with Seishin, so I took the stairwell up to the roof, where I quickly cursed under my breath upon seeing someone else leaning over the large concrete railing. I tried sneaking back behind the door, but by that point, he had already finished his cigarette and slid his mask back over his face.
“Might as well come out now.” Roku said, and I hesitated to do so. My hand had been twitching for a couple hours now, though, so I eventually gave up and walked up beside him, keeping a few feet between us as I pulled out my smokes and lit one up, heaving a breath of relief as I exhaled.
“You don’t think I’m smart, but don’t go thinking I’m stupid, either. I knew you were gonna try getting out while we were asleep.” he said as he turned around and leaned his back against the wall.
“And you knew I would come up here?” I answered in between puffs of my cigarette.
“Where else are you gonna go this late at night? Nothing else is open in the hotel and you sure as hell ain’t leaving Seishin alone with us while you go smoke in the parking lot.”
“…Touché.”
The silence that followed couldn’t even be justified with the word “awkward”, but I just had to get another one or two cigarettes in before I went back to the room. He, on the other hand, was just standing there looking out at the city, having already smoked all the cigarettes he wanted. Guess I couldn’t blame him too much – it was a pretty nice view from up there – but I shouldn’t shake the feeling he was either plotting something or he wanted me to talk while we were still alone. I wound up saying “**** it” and caving in before I was finished.
“I’ll be honest, I can’t believe you’ve gone this long without trying to kill me.” I said sarcastically, not getting anything from him in the process – the mask was probably partially to blame for that.
“Mao ordered me to make sure you and Seishin made it back from this mission alive, so that’s what I’m doing. …Besides, if and when I kill you, I’m doing it on my own terms, not in the middle of a damn assignment.” he said, and I couldn’t help but believe him…the second part, anyways.
“Yeah…I’m sure he said that.” I replied. I saw him tilt his head slightly out of the corner of my eye.
“Why the hell do you do that?”
I was just about to exhale when he said that, and nearly choked because of it.
“Do what?” I asked once I’d stopped coughing.
“Doubt your brother’s intentions like that, no shit. He obviously gives a more of a **** about you than your old man did, and you still act like he wants you and Seishin out of his affairs. …Shit like that just don’t sit right with me.” he explained. I didn’t take another puff the entire time he spoke to avoid choking again, but his words so didn’t go with his douchebag reputation that I almost started gagging regardless. Why the **** would he hold any opinion about the way my brother and I treat each other, cause it sure didn’t sound like he was talking about him as his superior?
“And you care why?” I answered smugly. I saw his eyebrows lower beneath his mask.
“Cause you’re his older goddamn brother, that’s why. You’re supposed to be the one lookin’ out for him, not the other way around. …Jesus, it’s like Yatsumi’s kids get smarter every time he has one.”
I wasn’t sure which link in that chain he was insulting more, but I let it slide cause I was too busy thinking about what he just said. I’d been speculative of Mao ever since the night he asked me to kill Yatsumi and that suspicion just continued to grow from the night on, and even though Susume had given me a talk about this already, Roku was the last person I thought to jump on that “don’t secretly think your twelve year-old brother’s a criminal mastermind” bandwagon.
“You got a brother, Denashi?” I just asked out of impulse, figuring that to be the most logical explanation for why he didn’t like seeing how Mao and I got along. He didn’t answer for quite awhile.
“Almost did.”
Again, the fact that I didn’t have a cigarette in my mouth was the only thing that kept me from choking a second time. I wasn’t quite sure what the hell he meant by that, but before I could turn and ask him, he had already started walking away.
“Don’t stay out here all night. I know we ain’t got shit to do tomorrow, but I don’t need your lazy ass sleepin’ all day, either.” he said as he entered the stairwell. I flipped him off as the door closed behind him – out of habit, really – but I had smoked all the cigarettes I came out there to, so it was only a few more minutes before I went ahead did as he said.
The next day was the eve of the operation, and I again did practically nothing but sit around on the bed watching the antics of the lowlifes Seishin and I brought along with us. Having grown tired of watching TV all day, the three nobodies took to playing cards and gambling to relieve their boredom while Roku cleaned and inspected his guns on the opposite bed, the former having removed their shirts to display the lavish tattoos characteristic of the yakuza.
“Jigoku nashi, nōtarin! Anata wa, ni-mai no kādo o hika! Watashi wa sore o mite inai yō ni kōdō shinaide kudasai!” (“Hell no, ****head! You pulled two cards! Don’t act like I didn’t see it!”)
“Anata fakku watashideshita! Anata wa chōdo anata ga ima hōru ni yaso-doru o shite iru koto o ikatteiru!” (“**** you I did! You’re just pissed that you’re eighty dollars in the hole now!”)
“Watashitoisshoni sutāto o kuso shinaide kudasai! Ima, watashi ni sore o ataeru! Sore wa watashi no nabedesu!” (“Don’t ****ing start with me! Now give me that! That’s my pot!”)
“Dare ga seikō o ataemasu!? Anata dake no tsugi no shuchū ni sore o ushinau tsumorida!” (“Who gives a ****!? You’re just going to lose it during the next hand!”)
“Nani o futatabi tsugi no handokan'ningu shiyou to shite iru!?” (“What are you going to cheat again next hand!?”)
“Anata wa san wa seikōta shattodaundeshou!? Seinaru kuso, kore wa saiakuna rokkukonsātode wa arimasen! Sore ga hoterunanode, saishōgen ni daun kakkōī tamotsu!” (“Would you three shut the **** up!!? Holy shit, this isn’t a goddamn rock concert! It’s a hotel, so keep the *****ing down to a minimum!”)
I couldn’t help but smirk at how fast all three of them shut up after he said that, though the fact he was pointing one of his guns at them kinda took the edge off a little bit. He threw it back on the bed once they’d gone back to playing and plopped down on the other side, apparently done messing around with them for now. He laid there for the longest time while his words from last night rang in my head, and I eventually caved in and sat up beside him. Thank God the other lowlifes didn’t know English.
“So what was your thing about almost having a brother?” I asked. He still had his mask on – holy shit, what a douchebag – but he tilted his head a little bit so I knew he heard me.
“And you care why?” he said smugly, but I let it slide that time. I recalled something he told me the night before as I answered him.
“Cause I’m his older brother, that’s why…and I wanna know who you are to question our relationship.”
It was an honest question the way I saw it, but I was almost positive that ass**** was just gonna shrug it off. So I was pretty surprised when he sat up and leaned against the headboard, grabbing the pistol next to his foot before he started talking – maybe I thought I was gonna start laughing midway through.
“My old man was a lot like yours, except what yours had in extra pounds, mine had in extra cups of sake every Saturday night…”
Whatever his reason was, I was almost right. That was the most non-poetic, shitty ass beginning to a story I’d ever heard.
“He never really noticed me that often, but when he got in those moods of his, my mom was always the center of attention. She spent more than a few nights in the hospital from getting beaten so bad. …Not getting any love from the person you’re tied to makes you wanna go out and find it with someone else…you know?”
He must’ve read my mind when he asked me that. I was thinking a little bit about my own mother as I listened.
“Eventually, she came home with a kid inside her and couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it, partly cause she had no access to his money. She managed to hide it for about seven months, though, since the old man was kind of a dumbass, but once she went into premature labor, there wasn’t anything she could do. …That was the day I sliced my dad’s head off with his katana…after pulling it out of my mom’s chest.”
I’d already guessed his story’s ending a little ways back, but that didn’t make it hit any less closer to home. I was already sitting down on the other bed, so I just fell back and stared up at the ceiling as I reminisced. I didn’t look back over at him, but a few specific noises told me he had dropped his gun back on the bed and gotten up to get a drink out of the fridge.
“Appreciate your brothers while you got ‘em, Aito…there’s a lot of people who would kill for a bond like yours.” he said before going over to the door and heading out into the hall. I sat back up once he left and saw that he’d apparently left his mask on the bed, too. I spent a few minutes just sitting there staring at it, thinking about what he said before I finally got up and went into the fridge to grab two Ramune – one for me, and one for Seishin.
I turned in that night at about three in the morning, only to be woken up four hours later by Roku – guess he wasn’t taking any chances on getting caught moving to the sniping location. Grabbing all our shit took about thirty minutes and the drive about ten, then there was the long-ass walk cause he parked three miles from the ****ing building – thank God I wasn’t the one carrying our equipment. We crept up on the southern end of the building about eight minutes after nine o’clock, with still about three hours before Iona’s conference aired – Roku already had his pistol out in case the building wasn’t completely empty.
“Watashitachiha, roku-kai ni agarudeshou. Sore wa wareware ga mada kara kaigi o miru koto ga dekiru saika-kaidesunode, wareware wa yori hayaku, ichido Seishin shotto o tori dasu koto ga dekimasu.” (“We’ll go up to the sixth floor. That’s the lowest floor that we can still see the conference from, so we can get out quicker once Seishin makes the kill.”)
He hurried everyone inside the exit door while I walked up behind them, scanning the area for anyone who might be passing by or for potential security cameras – force of habit, since Hei assured us the cameras in this district would be cut off during the two hours we needed to get to where we needed. I wound up turning my head in the same direction as the Aliʻiōlani Hale in my search, and I was forced to stop and lower my gun for a second. My mind had been fixed on living with these lowlifes for three straight days and it just then occurred to me again what our whole reasoning for going through all that was. I couldn’t dwell on it for very long, though, since that douchebag was still waiting in the doorway.
“You comin’ in or what? I’m not standing out here all ****in’ day.” Roku whispered over to me, prompting me to jump a bit as I hurried inside.
The building was a standard apartment complex that had been cleared out to allow some major renovations, which meant nothing but vast hallways and rows of locked rooms, with the occasional space for complimentary laundry machines. There was thin carpeting across the flooring save for the staircase, so we had to be extra quiet going up to the sixth floor, where Roku quickly put all of us to work.
“Anata wa seishinsettoappu ni yakudatsu, anata ga onrainburōdokyasuto o eru. Anata wa ni, kono furoa no hidarigawa no sukyan o kaishi. Watashi wa kenri o eta.” (“You help Seishin get set up and you get the broadcast online. I’ll start scanning the right side of this floor. You two take the right.”)
He pointed at me and one of the other lowlifes as he gave that last order, and nobody bothered arguing with him before we set off on our respective duties. Those first few minutes alone with this nobody were uncomfortable as all hell – I almost preferred to be alone with Roku – and it made me so glad when the hallway started branching off in separate directions.
“Sono rōka daun bunki suru. Ore wa kono hōkō ni idō shite okou.” (“Start down that hallway. I’ll keep moving in this direction.”)
He looked at me for a second as if to ask who the **** I was to give him orders, but a quick glare on my part got him moving. I spent the next several minutes completely alone in that section of the building, and that alone time allowed me to regroup my thoughts from when I was standing outside the building. It just started occurring to me, the reality of us being here simply to kill someone whose ideals clashed with our own – or their own, I should say. I had one purpose on this mission, and that was to keep an eye on my brother. I also had one purpose for joining the yakuza ranks, and that was to keep an eye on my other brother. The crime aspect had already occurred to me long before I made that choice – and besides from gambling and drug smuggling, yakuza stayed away from the petty crimes I normally looked down upon – but the thought of them murdering someone to further their own goals hadn’t really caught on until it was just hours away from happening. And I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted that. I honestly don’t know how long I went contemplating what to do next with my priorities in mind, but the gruff voice that crept into my ear quickly brought it all crashing back down to Earth.
“Don’t ****ing move.”
It wasn’t a voice I recognized, not to mention it was in English with an American accent, so I knew right away that it was the kind of person we were hoping to avoid from square one. I could literally feel the pupils of my eyes growing smaller by the second.
“Drop the gun and raise your hands in the air.” he said from behind me. I stopped moving without question when he demanded it, but my hands were still very much frozen to my gun.
“Now, mother****er!!” he shouted, and I followed through almost immediately. I guess he reached for his radio next, since I was still turned around and couldn’t see him.
“Squad Leader, come in. I got an armed Japanese man up on the sixth floor on the left side. Shaggy black hair, looks about eighteen years of age. I’m taking him in now.”
He poked the barrel of his gun against my back to get me to start moving, which I probably would’ve done on my own – the loud click it made when he cocked it earlier made it pretty obvious how big it was. A lot of things went through my mind as he walked me towards the other end of the building and away from my team – God knows what had happened to them. At the forefront, I worried how Seishin was doing and if he had been found, too, not to mention how this failed operation might result in Mao’s position being discovered. In the back, though, I contemplated turning to face my captor and tell him everything I knew about the yakuza’s operations, an option that got more tempting with every step. Honestly, there was nothing else in the world I would’ve loved to do more at that moment, and I could only imagine the payoff on down the line. Roku would be more than likely be executed for his crimes – just the thought of it made me smile from cheek to cheek – and Hei and Kyōgi would probably end up with life sentences along with most of the family’s lower members. Seishin’s ignorance and my confession would probably get us brief stints in jail at the most, and even if they did manage to convince the cops Mao was the current head of the yakuza, what were the odds he’d get more than a year or two in juvy just to “show him a life of crime ain’t the way to go” – or whatever bullshit they came up with? Our estate would probably be seized as an asset, not to mention any sort of fortune Yatsumi had left behind to keep us afloat, but we would be free. Free from the crime and vulgarity-ridden lifestyle the three of us had been forced to witness and occasionally partake in since our births. There was virtually nothing about the decision that I could label a downside…so why I was so hesitant to do it, I had no ****ing idea. The pressure of it all got more precipitation out of me than the gun being pointed at my back, but most of it vanished in less than a second with the officer’s next five words.
“Squad Leader, do you copy?”
The six that came out of his radio wiped away what was left.
“I hear you loud and clear.”
The voice was too recognizable to be a mistake – I almost puked every time I heard it, after all. I immediately heaved a sigh of relief knowing I was safe, only to lose my breath again moments later when a trio of gunshots rang in my ears, followed shortly by the sound of a falling body. I couldn’t even bring himself to turn around for several seconds, but by the time I got up the nerve to, a hand had gotten in front of my eyes as it made its way up to my face, slapping me on the cheeks a few times as the rest of Roku’s body followed behind it.
“Look alive, freeloader! We’re comin’ up on midday!” he shouted as he passed me by, turning the corner into the other hallway. I thought again about turning around to see the body he had just gunned down, but I took off after him without ever doing so. I was gonna see someone else die soon enough, I thought.
When I finally turned the corner to reach our rendezvous point, I found everyone else was already lying in wait for the conference to start. Two lowlifes were standing at either end of the hall to make sure no one else disturbed our operation while the third got his laptop set up to display the broadcast, so they could get a good estimate of when to take the shot – I later found out that Roku also enjoyed watching the feed get cut off immediately after the target collapses, saying he found it hysterical that the broadcast channel would try to cover it up when everyone watching at home already knows what just happened. The douchebag in question was already in the process of helping Seishin set up his gun, turning to the lowlife on the far end of the hall once he’d finished – I noted the corpse laying against the wall as he spoke.
“Anata wa, torakku no ichi o tsukamu iku! Watashitachi wa koko kara dete kuria suru mae ni rōdo suru bodi o motte iru.” (“You, go grab one of the trucks! We have a body to load up before we clear out of here!”)
He took the opportunity to explain as the guy ran over to the stairwell. He had strangled the first officer he encountered with a wire and taken his gun, which was what he used to take out the other five he found skulking around the building. The body we were gonna take with us was the first one he killed, that way it appeared as if he had killed the rest of his team and then taken the shot to kill Iona before escaping – I was wondering why the gun Seishin had looked different from the one Roku was cleaning yesterday. I walked over and rested my hand on Seishin’s shoulder as he stepped beside the guy working the laptop.
“Sore wa mada kaishi shite imasu ka?” (“Has it started yet?”)
“Yaku ni-bu, kare wa hyōshōdai ni suteppu appu sa reru made.” (“About thirty minutes until he steps up to the podium.”)
“Yoi. Otori wa gunshū no nakadesu ka?” (“Good. Is Otori in the crowd?”)
“Watashi wa kare o sanshō shite kudasai. Kare wa ue no sono orokana kuso bōshi o motte imasu.” (“I see him. He’s got that stupid ****ing hat on.”)
I grabbed one of the two sets of binoculars sitting next to Seishin’s feet as he explained this, scanning the crowd until I found the dumb hat in question – those were some damn good binoculars. Roku walked up again moments later, picking up the other pair and inspecting the crowd before leaning down and resting his hand on Seishin, who looked about as serious as I’d ever seen him before.
“Almost game time. He knows we’re watching him from somewhere, Seishin, so keep your aim on him as soon as he steps up to the podium, alright? Don’t take your aim off of him for a second.” he told him.
“Got ya, Roku.” Seishin replied. I couldn’t tell if he was really paying attention to what he said or not – he was so fixated on peering into that scope that I wouldn’t have been surprised if he pulled back and had a huge ring around his eye. It truly killed me to say or think it, but Seishin was ripe to kill this guy – and the thought of it instantly conjured up another one.
“I call the shot. Seishin, you don’t pull the trigger until I give you the word…alright?”
I glanced over at Roku as I added on the last word. He didn’t seem all that surprised or infuriated by it, but I gave him a look, anyways. A look to inform him that this wasn’t just about Seishin being ready to take a life – it was also about me being ready to stand aside and watch him do it. He continued to stare at me for awhile to ensure I didn’t break my gaze, eventually looking back out the window and holding his binoculars up to his eyes.
“Fine, whatever.”
The last twenty-seven minutes passed by in complete silence, during which I took the time to continue reflecting. I was still fixated on the idea of forcing this plan to fall through in some way, shape, or form, then watching as Yatsumi’s empire crumbled around his gigantic coffin. I didn’t go too into depth, though. After all, my only real option by that point was to kill everyone here save for Seishin, but I didn’t even have the balls to do that – besides, I was sure Roku had his pistol at the ready just in case I did pull something like that, so what chance did I have? That whole inner debate went on for about ten minutes, I’m guessing, so I spent the rest of the time wondering what was Mahina was doing and thinking right now until Iona finally walked onto the stage, earning huge applause from the crowd as he stepped behind the podium.
“Look at that smarmy little douche. He honestly thought he had a chance of threatening us when we’re the ones who run this city. …Well, guess wrong, mother****er.” Roku snarled from beside me, prompting me to drop my binoculars and look at him for a second before rolling my eyes and holding them up again. He did have a point, though, I thought. What chance did that guy really have of challenging the yakuza if his plans moved forward? I wondered if he realized that, too.
“Citizens of Honolulu, I come before you today with a revelation about myself and my plans as governor. …I’ve made promises during my campaign filled with only empty words.”
The beginning of his speech was met with a few faint groans from the audience, plus a few snickers from the people around me. I guess it was to be expected, but it didn’t stop my heart from sinking any less faster. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but the idea of someone who could fight the yakuza’s influence in this region was kinda refreshing. I didn’t reminisce on it for very long, though. The politicians in this city have been crushing my hopes of this for over eighteen years.
“I’ve made promises regarding the yakuza who have a hold over this state, hold over our marketplace, our security, and our state of mind. …I’ve made promises that when I become governor, I will give law enforcement the strength needed to fight back against their corruption, and in doing so, lift us up from the shadow they cast over us once and for all…and by making these promises, my life has been threatened by the very men I’m hoping to put away.”
The groans from the audience got even louder than before. So this was a cowardly retreat, I thought – I’m sure the others were thinking it, too. And how could I say I was surprised? Yatsumi had been giving that same threat silently for over twenty years and it worked all the way up until his death, and this prick thought for a second that he’d finally get it away with making some progress on the homefront now that he was gone? I was almost disgusted that I actually had faith in him for a moment, though I couldn’t help but feel relieved that he saw the light before Seishin was forced to take him out.
“They attempted to bribe me, both with money and violence, into giving up this race…and to them I say…not a chance in hell.”
I felt my heart sink again – I almost started clutching my chest when it happened. There was no denying it now. This man was about to die.
“They can put a gun to my head, dangle me above a bed of open flames, dip me into the ocean and wait for the sharks to come along, but I will NOT give into the fear they try to inflict upon me! This is the capital city of Hawaii, the fiftieth state in a nation built upon freedom of all kinds, not a breeding ground for a group of thugs who don’t even originate from it! The people of this city deserve to live in a place and time where they are not held down by the fear of an enemy who thinks they can feed off of us and not worry about being punished by law enforcement! …That place is right here…and that time is right NOW!!”
As he spouted that horribly cliché threat, I saw Otori rush out from the crowd with a gun in his hand, but he was quickly tackled to the ground by a pair of guards standing at the base of the stage. I took a quick peek around the room as they subdued him. Everyone’s eyes were wide with anticipation, save for Seishin’s – he was still as focused on his shot as ever.
“There’s your cue. Aito.” Roku said when I didn’t make the call. I gave no response.
“Aito, tell him to take the ****in’ shot!”
Again, I said nothing, nor did I look around at the people in the hallway – I’m sure all of them were staring at me, maybe even Seishin. How could I give that order, though? All it’d take is a single word and then I’d be no less guilty of murdering a public official than the big lug holding the gun. And I still wasn’t sure I was ready to live with that.
“HURRY THE **** UP!!!”
I looked back out at the conference through my binoculars, watching as Iona argued with his guards to allow him to finish his address – it looked like he was on the verge of bending to their wishes. I thought long and hard about what would come of letting him walk off that stage. The possibility of him winning the election, the odds of whatever policies he intended to implement going through and, if they did, the chances of them actually having a negative effect on the yakuza’s current and future transactions. The odds were high on all counts, I thought, but those were things I sincerely wanted to happen. On the flipside, I also thought about the future that awaited my brothers and I if the yakuza did indeed fall, the possibility of us being torn apart by either poverty or court systems – criminal or family law – and the danger that might await all three of us back at the estate in the time before law enforcement took action. Again, odds were high that these things would happen, and no matter how much I distrusted Mao, I was still his big brother…and my first priority has always been to protect my own.
“Fire.”
Less than an hour ago, I couldn’t even bring myself to look at a body that was already dead, but now, I looked straight ahead as Seishin’s round pierced Iona’s skull and sent brain matter flying in all directions. As the guards who were escorting him offstage fumbled to keep his body from slamming against the floor, a loud static surfaced from the laptop behind me to signify the discontinuation of the broadcast. Roku immediately broke into a laugh-slash-cheer, throwing his fist into the air as the other hand patted Seishin roughly on the back.
“Bull-****in’-seye!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Seishin, THAT’S what I’m talkin’ bout!!” he shouted, while the two lowlifes behind us and at the end of the hall also began celebrating to a lesser extent.
“I did it, Aito!! You see that!? I shot him right in the head!!” Seishin said as he looked up, ecstatic as always. I managed a smile for him, though I couldn’t help but feel displeased by the fact that he evidently had no idea how serious his actions just now were.
“You did good, Seishin. …You did good.” I said softly, rubbing him gently on the shoulder as he stood up. The lowlife down the hall ran over to join us as Roku and the other one began packing up our equipment.
“Yoshi, soredewa koko kara otokonoko o kuria shimashou. Dorinku wa watashi ni kon'ya aru.” (“Alright, let’s clear out of here, boys. Drinks are on me tonight.”)
While Seishin had been entrusted with the bag holding the guns, the lowlifes carried the body over to the stairwell while one of them had the bag with the laptop flung over his shoulders. Strangely, the only thing left untouched as they headed downstairs was the gun used to make the kill and the stand holding it up, though I quickly found out why when I started walking away and Roku was still standing next to the window.
“What the **** are you doing now?” I said, a little unnecessary aggression in my voice admittedly. He paid it no mind, though, and kneeled down in front of the gun, lining it up the way he wanted it before gazing into the scope.
“I never leave a crime scene…without actually committing a crime.”
As much of a brute – and a douchebag – as he was, I knew Roku well enough to know the only person down there he could possibly be aiming that gun at was the lackey he chose to stand in the crowd. Still, I wasn’t all that enthusiastic about him killing someone when it was completely unnecessary. I almost told to him to stop and just pack up the gun, but I stopped myself midway. …After what just transpired, it would only would’ve seemed incoherent.
“Make it fast.” I said as I walked away, cringing slightly as the ensuing gunshot rang in my ears.
To Be Continued…
