Chakra Wizard
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The finale is here, and I gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever been so proud of how a chapter turned out! 
lol It’s only about half of what I actually have planned, unfortunately, but it should wrap up nicely what’s probably the happier side of this story. Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoy
Previous Chapter:
The two weeks following Iona’s assassination were anything but boring – meaning I got barely any opportunities to take a breather from all the commotion that filled the estate during that time. Law enforcement was in an uproar, as was the public, and anybody with even a slightly yakuza-esque tattoo became susceptible to arrest. By the time it was over, at least half of the thirty lowlifes who plagued the manor at any given time were brought in for questioning, including Roku and Hei – the new public face of the syndicate, as per Mao’s instructions. By the end, though, their plan had worked, and the only possible lead the cops had was the fact that both Iona and the squad sent to stakeout our building were killed by the same gun, whose owner had conveniently gone missing after the assassination – guess none of them thought to check more than twenty miles offshore for hints of a dumped body. Things got more and more tense as the days passed, but in the end, I couldn’t help but be pleased with the outcome. Seishin survived his first mission, Mao’s position of power was still a well-kept secret, and I was satisfied with where my new life was heading…for the time being.
When things around the city finally began to calm down once again, the first thing I did was call Mahina – as I promised her I would. We immediately set up a date the coming Saturday, with plans to meet up at a bus stop in front of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel at exactly ten o’clock. And when that day came, there I was, a small grocery bag wrapped around one wrist and my new watch wrapped around the other, which I checked every few minutes as ten started looming ever closer. It was about twelve till when a patrol car pulled up a short distance away from me, but I made no attempt to gaze over at it, nor did I pretend to notice when the familiar face that was driving it stepped out and slowly walked towards me – then tried to take advantage of my apparent ignorance with the dumbest excuse for a joke I’d ever heard.
“Don’t move. Hands in the air.”
He didn’t even take his gun out – if he even carried one, ****, I dunno – and play-hold it to my head as he half-assed his line. I almost felt bad for him as I took my cigarette between my fingers and exhaled before placing it back between my lips and checking my watch. I could only imagine how red his face was.
“Very funny, Marlon.” I said, half casually and half smugly. I’m guessing the latter was what incited his next statement.
“You know, you should follow orders when a policeman tells you what to do, Aito.” he said in that typical manner of his – I honestly couldn’t tell whether or not he was joking when he said it. Again, I just shrugged it off and flicked my cigarette in the nearby receptacle.
“I’ll keep that in mind…Officer.”
I rolled up my left sleeve as I spoke – yeah, it was Hawaii in March, but what the hell? I hadn’t looked at Marlon the entire time, even as he pulled up, but I just had to see the look on his face when I showed him the lavish dragon tattoo running from my wrist all the way up to my shoulder blade, a sign of my recent induction into the yakuza.
Mao’s thirty-day promise to Kyōgi was resolved just a few days ago, so he was officially the Ryokudan family’s new oyabun. And in the meantime, with the success of Iona’s assassination – and my earlier promise to Mao – it only seemed fit that Seishin and I join the organization alongside him. The initiation was standard yakuza practice – it was one of the few things that linked us to the syndicates back in the homeland – consisting of a long exam to assess a new member’s knowledge of regional laws, committing a crime, and the classic sakazukigoto ceremony, where new members shared sake with either the oyabun, which made them a member of the immediate family, or one of his subordinates, which obviously granted them lesser status than what the former would. Getting a tattoo was also a requirement – Seishin’s would end up being a large koi fish on his right shoulder blade – but I explicitly forbade Mao from doing this, not that he seemed to take issue with my objections.
The sakazukigoto ceremony took place in the large central room on the second floor of the estate, which was a makeshift shrine of sorts, and all three of us wore kimonos for it, as did Hei and Roku – the former would be inducting Mao, who would then induct me, and the latter would be inducting Seishin as his direct subordinate. Seishin was the first to join the family, and Roku filled up the small cup in front of him – with plain water, as I’d demanded for all three of us – about halfway to show Seishin’s lower status before filling his own to the brim. They then drank half of what was in their cups before exchanging and drinking what remained of the other’s – I thought for sure Seishin might screw up and drink all of his, but he did pretty well. Everyone applauded him as I remember before things fell silent and Hei sat down to pour Mao’s “sake”. He quickly filled it all the way up to the brim before filling his own only halfway, showing that Mao was stepping into their ranks with absolute authority over everyone there before him, a rare event in the history of any yakuza – his age was a whole other story. When they’d finished, Hei set the small pitcher of water down and stepped aside as Mao took his place on the other side of the table, and I took his. He started with his cup, filling it all the way up to the brim once again, and then filled mine to the halfway mark. He set the pitcher down and picked up his cup to drink, but stopped when he saw me still sitting there, motioning for him to give me more. He hesitantly picked the pitcher up again as everyone around us watched in horror, and poured more water into my cup, staring up at me in irritation when I shot him another glare. We must’ve sat there for several minutes as I waited for him to fill up my cup, but I refused to cave in. I told him before all of this ever happened that my authority would surpass his own – both as his older brother and his advisor – and I wasn’t about to take half the “sake” he was to suggest otherwise. When I finally got this message across to him, he filled it all the way up, and we each drank from both cups. I looked around the room when I set mine down – everyone there was just staring at me, infuriated that I would demean their new leader in such a way. Not a one spoke up, though – as I’d just shown them, I now had all the power in the world to punish them for lashing out at me ever again. I didn’t stay for very long after that and left the room to change into something more contemporary…and to hide the fact that I was grinning from ear to ear at this illustration of my newfound authority.
“So you’ve joined their ranks.” Marlon said after a long pause, staring at my tattoo like he was trying to guess what it was. I rolled my sleeve back down as I replied.
“That depends. …Is this Marlon talking or Officer Palakiko?” I said calmly. He paused again, though we both knew the answer – he was probably contemplating whether or not to make it a lie.
“It’s just me.” he finally responded.
“Only as an advisor. If I’m gonna fight them from the inside, there’s no better position to do it from.” I said. He just looked at me with intense curiosity.
“That’s quite the rank for someone your age…and experience.”
“Let’s just say I know the current oyabun better than most.” I answered with a sny undertone. I was a tad surprised when he made a look as if he understood.
“Ah yes, Hei Kaozu. We had a small talk with him down at the station a short while back.” he said. I barely held back a smirk at his unawareness, though the fact that I knew why he was looking for me helped, too.
“I know. …So what did you really come to me for, Officer?” I asked with this in mind. His expression quickly became more serious.
“The same thing I came to your boss for. …What happened to Iona?”
I don’t know if he really expected me to talk or not, but I wasn’t above humoring him for a minute while I waited for Mahina. It’s not like I had any intentions of telling him what really happened…anymore.
“Well, from the reports I heard, one of the men sent to stakeout the sniper’s location killed his team and assassinated Iona himself, then took off before anyone else showed up.”
He suddenly jerked his head to the side when I finished talking. Apparently, that earpiece he was trying to hide from me was turned up too high – guess he was lying, after all. I heard some faint yelling coming from it that kept going long after he switched it off, which I traced back to his car – the windows were tinted, but I’m guessing “Jack-ass” was sitting in there listening in on him. I contemplated flipping the car off as Marlon spoke up again.
“And is that what really happened?” he asked, drilling his finger into his ear as he spoke. I feigned annoyance as I answered him.
“Those who reside at the estate were forced to remain inside for the three days leading up to the conference to avoid suspicion if something did happen to him. You had patrol cars surrounding us the whole time, so you should know that…and even if I was there, do you honestly think I would or could tell you?”
That last remark was meant to be more of a subtle hint, but I’d already given up on him or any other cop actually catching onto it. The way I saw it now, I was on my own in this little escapade to ruin my father’s business – or with Mao, if he was sincere in his own claims – and Marlon’s unrelenting ignorance didn’t help this opinion.
“So how are things on the homefront? I trust your brothers are doing fine.” he asked. I just sighed in frustration before I answered him – a bit proud of what I had to say, to be honest.
“They are. I actually became Seishin’s legal guardian a couple days ago, and I’m in the process of doing the same with Mao.” I told him, almost cracking a smile as I spoke. He actually looked a little surprised when I told him this, but wound up smiling in light of himself before he turned to leave.
“Is that so? …Well, that’s good to hear. You be sure to keep them both safe, alright? …You’re the one they look up to now.” he said as he walked away. I waited until he was just within earshot before something back.
“Yeah…I know.”
He stopped briefly and looked back before getting in and driving away – I could only imagine what “Jack-ass” was saying to him when he closed the door. I didn’t dwell on it for long, though, cause the person I was really waiting for showed up not even a few seconds later – and I took off my sunglasses and smiled as she walked up beside me.
“That took a while.” I said sarcastically.
“Well, sorry. We girls put a lot more thought into the way we look out in public.” Mahina retorted. I loved how she was just as big a smartass as me.
“How come? I’m the only one who needs to be looking at you.” I joked. I could almost see her blushing as she tried to think of another comeback – God, she was so cute.
“Maybe I’m hoping to catch some other boy’s eye, then.”
I tried feigning dejection, but I couldn’t hold that face for more than a few seconds before laughing, and she joined me shortly after. It must’ve went on for half a minute before she brought everything back down to Earth – with a question I instinctively saw coming.
“Was that officer asking about Iona?” she asked.
“Yeah…trying to salvage information from me.” I said blankly, looking off in the direction Marlon drove away in. She took the hint, apparently.
“So, are you ready to go?” she asked with a gentle smile, which I returned in kind to assure her I wasn’t mad at her intrusion.
“Actually…I was thinking we might try doing something else today.” I said, trying to keep my teeth hidden when I saw her face light up with curiosity. I’d told her previously that we were just gonna go around town and maybe grab a bite to eat.
“Like what?” she asked. I purposefully waited until the bus was less than a block away before answering with a grin.
“I was thinking…Sea Life Park, perhaps?”
She was so surprised by this, she must’ve stared at me a total of six seconds before looking up at the huge double-decker bus pulled up in front of us. I grabbed her hand as the door swung open.
“Come on. Let’s go.” I said.
“Wait! I don’t even have a bathing suit with me!” she shouted, trying almost desperately to fight back as I pulled her onboard. I held up the bag in my other hand when she said this.
“I told you to come at ten! What did you think I was doing until then!?” I said amusedly, hinting at what was inside of it. Most of the anxiety in her face cleared up upon seeing it, but she still didn’t seem too at ease with this sudden change of plan.
“O-okay, then. But I still don’t-”
“Just come on!”
I yanked her through the door just as the old man driving grew tired of waiting, paying him quickly before dragging her to the back and up the steps to the top deck – or I was about to, until she stopped me and said she didn’t like the wind. So, we sat in the very back, where I continued to laugh and she couldn’t help but smile out of exhaustion.
“Why the sudden desire to do something extravagant?” she asked when the bus began moving again.
“A sea life park is something extravagant?” I joked. She got it, but there wasn’t much humor in her face as she explained.
“No, but…it is kinda out of character, isn’t it?”
She had a point, I thought. This was only the fifth time we’d met, frankly, and only the second time we’d actually gone out, but I must’ve given her enough of a character profile by now for her to expect a more modest outing from me than this. I looked around first to see if anyone was close enough to listen in before gazing out the window – much as I wanted to get it outta my head, I figured I could at least give her a small glimpse into how hectic my life had been over the past month. It might’ve saved me another lecture from Susume in the process.
“Saigo no sū-shūkan wa, nin'i no shudan ni yotte o tsūjite eru no wa kantande wa nakatta. Ore wa jissai ni sore o ofu ni ore no kokoro o toru tame ni ikutsu ka no jikan o hitsuyō to shite imashita.” (“The last couple weeks weren’t easy to get through by any means. I just really needed some time to help take my mind off of it.”)
I looked at her as I finished.
“And I thought it’d be easier if I spent it doing something fun with you, that’s all.”
I figured I’d come to know what reactions to expect from her, as well, so a slightly regretful expression for intruding or some faint blushing seemed about right at that moment. Therefore, I was kinda surprised when she just looked at me with a gentle smile, as if she already knew what I was gonna say.
“See now? Was that so hard to say?” she joked. Damn her and her sarcasm.
“Whatever. Just look in the bag and tell me if I did alright.” I said, half-smugly and half-amused, as I looked back out the window in anticipation. I’m not sure which of the two extremes she was expecting to find in that bag – I could’ve either gone all out and got her the most minimalist bikini humanly possible, or I could’ve gotten a bathing suit so bland and unattractive that even I didn’t wanna look at her for very long, as impossible as that sounded. I wound up splitting it down the middle and getting something that wasn’t too ugly or revealing, hopefully in a color and style she actually liked. She pulled it out and looked it over for at least twenty seconds, practically forcing me to stare at her in wait of an answer.
“It’s…nice.” she finally said, in as unimpressed a tone as I could recall ever hearing from anyone. I knew she was joking when she said it, but it was so convincing that I couldn’t even ham up my comeback.
“I will turn this bus around, and I mean it.” I said in a slightly gritty voice. I started grinding my teeth a bit at how humorless it came out, but as always, she was quick to catch on and retaliate in kind.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Okay, then! Driver-”
I got up as I retorted, prompting her to grab my shoulder and pull me back into my seat. This ended up leading to a play fight that took up a fair chunk of the two-hour drive around the island, until we finally reached the park and got off.
It was only March, but Sea Life Park still had more than enough tourists and visitors to make it feel like summer vacation – the heat probably had something to do with that. We went through the front gate and the first thing we did was get changed into our bathing suits – separately, of course. Mine was nothing extravagant, though I did slip on a full-length arm sleeve to hide my tattoo – one for each arm, so it wasn’t too obvious – and I made sure to get back outside before Mahina so I could see her when she finished. I can’t even express how beautiful she looked as she walked out, and I’m sure I stared at her for about a minute before she finally snapped me out of it – she did nothing but poke fun at me for it until we finally hit the first attraction. We tried just about everything that we could do together, from the Sea Lion Show and the Ocean Theatre to all the animal exhibits, and we made sure to hit every interactive program we had time for. Watching her “dance” with one of the dolphins in the water was adorable, so much so that I didn’t even notice when another one jumped up and tried to peck me on the cheek, causing me to slip and fall while Mahina laughed hysterically – I got her back, though, when one of the penguins accidentally nipped her finger while she was feeding it. The rays were probably the only thing in the park she didn’t wanna touch, so I kinda playfully mocked her while she stood on the side of the pool and watched me swim around with them, at least until a few minutes later when every single one I tried to touch began swimming away from me – karma’s a *****, indeed. We wandered around for about four-and-a-half hours until it came time to head to the outskirts of the park for the Chief Luau dinner and show. The buffet was delicious and well worth having avoided snack bars all day, and we fed each other a few times while we waited for the show to begin – thank God she was no worse at it than I was, cause I almost stabbed her with a fork the first time. The fire dance started just as the sun began setting and it just never ceased to amaze me. She grabbed my arm at one point as they were twirling those batons around, and I just smiled and clasped my hand over one of her own to keep her there – as long as the hot night would allow it.
It was well past nine o’clock when we finally walked up to the entrance of her neighborhood, where her home was just a few houses down. It didn’t really seem like our date had taken up the entire day until the sky went from blue to black, but I suppose that’s a good thing looking back – it meant that not a moment of our time together was wasted. Aside from recalling some of the day’s defining moments, though, we didn’t really speak to each other during the ride back to the bus stop, or even on the walk back to her neighborhood until she finally spoke up, less than two blocks away.
“Well?” she said, almost catching me off guard.
“Hm?”
“Is your mind all cleared up now?”
She was tracing back to my alleged reason for planning this little adventure, which I honestly hadn’t thought about since that morning. I assumed that to be an answer in it of itself.
“I think so.” I said with a smile, which she returned in kind. We both stared straight ahead again when we realized we had nothing else to talk about, at least until she came up with something a few moments later.
“You looked good, by the way.” she said.
“Without a shirt on?” I asked, laughing a little as I did – she set me up for that one.
“With your hair out of your eyes.”
There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in her response, not that there should’ve been. I honestly hadn’t given that habit much thought in quite awhile, but I had been brushing my hair off to the side in the morning lately. I assumed I was becoming more alert to my surroundings every day and just started noticing it more, but did that stem from my increased involvement in yakuza affairs, or did my time with Mahina actually have something to do with it? The former sounded more logical, of course, but I kept leaning closer to the latter the longer I dwelled on the idea, and I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of it.
“And yes, it was nice to see you without pants and a sweatshirt for once, too.” she said out of the blue. Yet another habit of mine that’d gone all but unnoticed.
“It was a nice change of pace, I’ll admit.” I said with a chuckle, as we finally approached the entry sign and stopped to say our goodbyes. I hadn’t noticed until then that we’d been holding hands during that entire final stretch, and only because she let go and circled around in front of me.
“Thank you, Aito. …It was really nice.” she said softly. Our eyes met for what seemed like hours on end, and I was so lost in their sparkling gaze that I stumbled to find a suitable reply.
“Yeah.” I finally said. A feeling of dread came over me as we stood there, not because of how lame a response that was, but because I just had the strangest feeling that if I didn’t do something now, whatever future I had with her was gonna vanish out from under my nose. She must’ve noticed this from the look in my eyes, cause she didn’t give me much time to make up my mind.
“Well, see ya.”
She just turned and began walking away, and I was still standing there trying to figure out what to do. I reached my hand out to stop her, but it only moved a few inches before stopping and she didn’t even turn around to see if I’d done anything. She stepped off the sidewalk and onto the road, but I was still too scared to call out to her and I knew exactly why. All the signs were right in front of me. She liked me – there was no way in hell I was misreading it – and I liked her. Words couldn’t dignify how much I did, but they also couldn’t clarify just how much I despised myself – and how much I refused to allow such a good thing to happen to me when all I’ve ever brought to or received from the people around me was despair. She was fixing to walk past the stone posts that signified where her neighborhood began and the city outside ended. I was out of options.
“Wait.”
I ran forward and grabbed her hand to make her turn around, but before she could say anything, my lips were already hovering over her own. But I couldn’t close the gap. Moisture was starting to cloud my eyes, but I didn’t know if it was from not blinking for so long, or from how humiliated I felt being unable to kiss a girl who I was so sure returned my feelings. I assumed I had scared her a little and that she was about to start walking away again in embarrassment…but it wouldn’t be the first time that she’d defied my expectations.
“Don’t stop.”
I pulled back ever so slightly so I could see her eyes. There was sadness in them, yes – just as my self-loathing side projected – but there was a longing there, too, one so intense that I just couldn’t ignore it. I still needed that extra assurance, though.
“What if I go too far?” I asked feebly, praying for a sign that it was okay to experience happiness for just one brief moment of my miserable life. It would never come, though. I didn’t have the confidence to think it would. I felt just like a demon, sitting in the shadows watching a beautiful maiden from afar, too afraid to touch her for fear that I’d dirty her gorgeous skin and forever corrupt her untainted heart. I could never possibly be with her…and she could never possibly want to be with me.
“…You won’t.” she said.
**** it, I thought. Then I finally closed the gap. I pulled back again hardly a few seconds later out of fear – not from my own self-doubt, but from the sudden realization that I had no idea how to kiss a girl. My face was so red that I could feel the blood running beneath my cheeks, but she immediately closed the gap again, intent this time on showing me the proper way to kiss before breaking away again. Our tongues wrestled from within our clasped lips for the longest time, her eyes shut softly while mine refused to remain closed for more than three seconds at a time – I had a feeling she was opening hers every time I shut mine, though. When we’d finally gotten the hang of the technique, we pulled back to catch our breaths – I’d almost forgotten how to breath – and then closed the gap one last time to show each other what we’d learned. My eyes remained closed this time, and my hand moved up without me telling it to, gently holding the base of her head while my thumb caressed her cheek. I fought the urge to run my fingers through her silky hair, and I almost cried upon realizing just how happy it made me being with her like this. My mother was the only kind soul I’d ever known during my eighteen years of life – save for Susume – but no matter how much I loved her and what intense relief she gave me from the chaos of everyday life in that manor, she never once made me happier than I felt holding Mahina in my arms at that moment. I just wish I had the sense to tell her that when we finally broke away, instead of standing there smiling down at her like an idiot while I kept her fingers clasped between my own.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.” I said, and she smiled up at me gently – like she was hoping to hear something more, but was more than satisfied with what I gave her.
“I’ll be waiting.” she answered as she backed away slowly, turning around when our fingers finally parted. I waited until she disappeared into the darkness waiting beyond the closest streetlight before leaving – half of me fighting the urge to throw my fist in the air, while the other half fought the urge to curse loudly upon realizing how long the walk home was gonna be.
I can’t recall any other night where I slept so soundly, yet still managed to get up before it hit midday – I might’ve slid down the staircase that morning had I been as dumb as I pinned most of these lowlifes for. I passed at least four of them between my room and the kitchen, but I didn’t trade sour looks with any of them – I dunno if they found that weird or not. I wasn’t all that hungry after the huge buffet from last night, so I just threw together a small bowl of fried rice – it’s like toaster waffles to the Japanese – and ate that up for breakfast before scouring the halls on my way to Yatsumi’s office, which I still wasn’t all up to calling Mao’s. Along the way, I saw Seishin conversing with Roku in a mostly empty room – it was just a glimpse, so I couldn’t tell what it was about, but Roku seemed surprisingly patient with him. It was a little astounding at first – my last memory of them together in the same room outside the assassination was of Roku stealing Kappa Ebisen out from under him – but I managed a small smile after thinking over it more. A month ago, they just happened to be living in the same house, but now, they were members of the same family – almost like a father and son, as the code of the yakuza would have it. In a way, I guess that Seishin, me, and Mao were all closer to the members of the syndicate because of everything that had transpired, and though I still would’ve liked to see the manor go up in flames along with everyone in it, the path we were walking on now didn’t seem like such a bad way to go. At least, that’s what I thought as I approached the double doors of the office, stopping short of knocking when I heard some loud complaints coming from within – that was Kyōgi’s voice, I thought.
“I’ve also been receiving reports from the Bay Area of a recent smuggling gone wrong! Over twenty millions dollars worth of meth seized by prick cops, not to mention the ‘accidental’ death of the region’s wakagashira, who JUST so happens to be in league with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the family this yakuza was originally tied to! Now Mao, I dunno what the hell you THINK you’re doing by interfering with their business deals, but right now, you are offsetting the balance that your father risked everything to keep after severing our ties with Japan. The thirty days you were given to prove your worth may be up and you might have passed by a slim margin, but don’t think that means you can’t still be pried from that desk and put back in the nursery where you snot-nosed brats belong!”
The fact that he was yelling at my little brother was what originally caught my ear – I wanted to send him to an emergency room for it – but every other thing coming out of his mouth was completely new to me. I mostly assumed it was all part of Mao’s plan, his stated intentions of ending all yakuza activity in the States before sending the Ryokudan family down with them – on those terms, I had no problem if some deaths had to be incurred in the process. But then there was another part of me – either my own self-doubt coming back to haunt me, or my common sense telling me what was really going on – that thought it was all part of Mao’s plan, his unspoken ambition not to end all yakuza activity, but keep it running under his own control. At the time, I still wasn’t sure which reasoning caused Mao to get pissed off at Kyōgi’s protests.
“Are you done yet?” I heard him say. I’m not sure what look he shot Kyōgi as he spoke, but whatever it was, it managed to put him in his place.
“Yes, sir.” he answered after a long pause.
“Good. …Sonogo, ore no ofisu no soto seikō o shutoku shimasu.” (“…Then get the **** out of my office.”)
I’m not sure which happened first – the pupils of my eyes dilating or the veins in my forehead throbbing – but those words both infuriated and frightened me to no end. I don’t know if he knew where I was at the time or not, since he always seemed to, but the idea of him using such commanding language, never mind profane, in my absence only spoke wonders to me of either the hold he had or the loyalty he amassed from all the lowlifes in this house – and just how much he could accomplish here or abroad with that on hand. I was still speechless when Kyōgi burst through the door, which almost hit me as he took off through the house in a fit, not even paying an ounce of attention to my presence. When I looked back into the office, there was Mao, sitting behind the desk with his fingers intertwined in front of his face – after that little episode, I was almost surprised there wasn’t a recently extinguished cigarette in the ashtray – and Hei in his eternal position at his side, twirling the small red lollipop in his mouth. The former and I just stared at each other for the longest time as the door beside me slowly fell closed again – and I struggled with whether or not to allow it. When I reached my hand out to prevent it just in time, he finally did away with his blank expression and smiled up at me, holding out one hand and flexing his fingers back in the most formal manner I could imagine.
“You can come in, brother.”
I hesitated for some time before finally complying and walking into the room, almost flinching as the door closed behind me.
…The End
Finished at last!! Sorry to those who want more, but sadly, I have no intentions of putting the entire story on here. This is definitely one of the stories I love most, so I’m glad I could share part of it with you*_*
I’m also considering going through and possibly rewriting and rereleasing these fifteen chapters now that I’ve gone through and polished up the story a bit more. Dunno how likely, so don’t get your hopes up too high, but just know more Mob Child could very well be in the not too distant future
lol It’s only about half of what I actually have planned, unfortunately, but it should wrap up nicely what’s probably the happier side of this story. Anyways, as always, I hope you enjoyPrevious Chapter:
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- A Storm Is Brewing -
The two weeks following Iona’s assassination were anything but boring – meaning I got barely any opportunities to take a breather from all the commotion that filled the estate during that time. Law enforcement was in an uproar, as was the public, and anybody with even a slightly yakuza-esque tattoo became susceptible to arrest. By the time it was over, at least half of the thirty lowlifes who plagued the manor at any given time were brought in for questioning, including Roku and Hei – the new public face of the syndicate, as per Mao’s instructions. By the end, though, their plan had worked, and the only possible lead the cops had was the fact that both Iona and the squad sent to stakeout our building were killed by the same gun, whose owner had conveniently gone missing after the assassination – guess none of them thought to check more than twenty miles offshore for hints of a dumped body. Things got more and more tense as the days passed, but in the end, I couldn’t help but be pleased with the outcome. Seishin survived his first mission, Mao’s position of power was still a well-kept secret, and I was satisfied with where my new life was heading…for the time being.
When things around the city finally began to calm down once again, the first thing I did was call Mahina – as I promised her I would. We immediately set up a date the coming Saturday, with plans to meet up at a bus stop in front of the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel at exactly ten o’clock. And when that day came, there I was, a small grocery bag wrapped around one wrist and my new watch wrapped around the other, which I checked every few minutes as ten started looming ever closer. It was about twelve till when a patrol car pulled up a short distance away from me, but I made no attempt to gaze over at it, nor did I pretend to notice when the familiar face that was driving it stepped out and slowly walked towards me – then tried to take advantage of my apparent ignorance with the dumbest excuse for a joke I’d ever heard.
“Don’t move. Hands in the air.”
He didn’t even take his gun out – if he even carried one, ****, I dunno – and play-hold it to my head as he half-assed his line. I almost felt bad for him as I took my cigarette between my fingers and exhaled before placing it back between my lips and checking my watch. I could only imagine how red his face was.
“Very funny, Marlon.” I said, half casually and half smugly. I’m guessing the latter was what incited his next statement.
“You know, you should follow orders when a policeman tells you what to do, Aito.” he said in that typical manner of his – I honestly couldn’t tell whether or not he was joking when he said it. Again, I just shrugged it off and flicked my cigarette in the nearby receptacle.
“I’ll keep that in mind…Officer.”
I rolled up my left sleeve as I spoke – yeah, it was Hawaii in March, but what the hell? I hadn’t looked at Marlon the entire time, even as he pulled up, but I just had to see the look on his face when I showed him the lavish dragon tattoo running from my wrist all the way up to my shoulder blade, a sign of my recent induction into the yakuza.
* * * * *
Mao’s thirty-day promise to Kyōgi was resolved just a few days ago, so he was officially the Ryokudan family’s new oyabun. And in the meantime, with the success of Iona’s assassination – and my earlier promise to Mao – it only seemed fit that Seishin and I join the organization alongside him. The initiation was standard yakuza practice – it was one of the few things that linked us to the syndicates back in the homeland – consisting of a long exam to assess a new member’s knowledge of regional laws, committing a crime, and the classic sakazukigoto ceremony, where new members shared sake with either the oyabun, which made them a member of the immediate family, or one of his subordinates, which obviously granted them lesser status than what the former would. Getting a tattoo was also a requirement – Seishin’s would end up being a large koi fish on his right shoulder blade – but I explicitly forbade Mao from doing this, not that he seemed to take issue with my objections.
The sakazukigoto ceremony took place in the large central room on the second floor of the estate, which was a makeshift shrine of sorts, and all three of us wore kimonos for it, as did Hei and Roku – the former would be inducting Mao, who would then induct me, and the latter would be inducting Seishin as his direct subordinate. Seishin was the first to join the family, and Roku filled up the small cup in front of him – with plain water, as I’d demanded for all three of us – about halfway to show Seishin’s lower status before filling his own to the brim. They then drank half of what was in their cups before exchanging and drinking what remained of the other’s – I thought for sure Seishin might screw up and drink all of his, but he did pretty well. Everyone applauded him as I remember before things fell silent and Hei sat down to pour Mao’s “sake”. He quickly filled it all the way up to the brim before filling his own only halfway, showing that Mao was stepping into their ranks with absolute authority over everyone there before him, a rare event in the history of any yakuza – his age was a whole other story. When they’d finished, Hei set the small pitcher of water down and stepped aside as Mao took his place on the other side of the table, and I took his. He started with his cup, filling it all the way up to the brim once again, and then filled mine to the halfway mark. He set the pitcher down and picked up his cup to drink, but stopped when he saw me still sitting there, motioning for him to give me more. He hesitantly picked the pitcher up again as everyone around us watched in horror, and poured more water into my cup, staring up at me in irritation when I shot him another glare. We must’ve sat there for several minutes as I waited for him to fill up my cup, but I refused to cave in. I told him before all of this ever happened that my authority would surpass his own – both as his older brother and his advisor – and I wasn’t about to take half the “sake” he was to suggest otherwise. When I finally got this message across to him, he filled it all the way up, and we each drank from both cups. I looked around the room when I set mine down – everyone there was just staring at me, infuriated that I would demean their new leader in such a way. Not a one spoke up, though – as I’d just shown them, I now had all the power in the world to punish them for lashing out at me ever again. I didn’t stay for very long after that and left the room to change into something more contemporary…and to hide the fact that I was grinning from ear to ear at this illustration of my newfound authority.
* * * * *
“So you’ve joined their ranks.” Marlon said after a long pause, staring at my tattoo like he was trying to guess what it was. I rolled my sleeve back down as I replied.
“That depends. …Is this Marlon talking or Officer Palakiko?” I said calmly. He paused again, though we both knew the answer – he was probably contemplating whether or not to make it a lie.
“It’s just me.” he finally responded.
“Only as an advisor. If I’m gonna fight them from the inside, there’s no better position to do it from.” I said. He just looked at me with intense curiosity.
“That’s quite the rank for someone your age…and experience.”
“Let’s just say I know the current oyabun better than most.” I answered with a sny undertone. I was a tad surprised when he made a look as if he understood.
“Ah yes, Hei Kaozu. We had a small talk with him down at the station a short while back.” he said. I barely held back a smirk at his unawareness, though the fact that I knew why he was looking for me helped, too.
“I know. …So what did you really come to me for, Officer?” I asked with this in mind. His expression quickly became more serious.
“The same thing I came to your boss for. …What happened to Iona?”
I don’t know if he really expected me to talk or not, but I wasn’t above humoring him for a minute while I waited for Mahina. It’s not like I had any intentions of telling him what really happened…anymore.
“Well, from the reports I heard, one of the men sent to stakeout the sniper’s location killed his team and assassinated Iona himself, then took off before anyone else showed up.”
He suddenly jerked his head to the side when I finished talking. Apparently, that earpiece he was trying to hide from me was turned up too high – guess he was lying, after all. I heard some faint yelling coming from it that kept going long after he switched it off, which I traced back to his car – the windows were tinted, but I’m guessing “Jack-ass” was sitting in there listening in on him. I contemplated flipping the car off as Marlon spoke up again.
“And is that what really happened?” he asked, drilling his finger into his ear as he spoke. I feigned annoyance as I answered him.
“Those who reside at the estate were forced to remain inside for the three days leading up to the conference to avoid suspicion if something did happen to him. You had patrol cars surrounding us the whole time, so you should know that…and even if I was there, do you honestly think I would or could tell you?”
That last remark was meant to be more of a subtle hint, but I’d already given up on him or any other cop actually catching onto it. The way I saw it now, I was on my own in this little escapade to ruin my father’s business – or with Mao, if he was sincere in his own claims – and Marlon’s unrelenting ignorance didn’t help this opinion.
“So how are things on the homefront? I trust your brothers are doing fine.” he asked. I just sighed in frustration before I answered him – a bit proud of what I had to say, to be honest.
“They are. I actually became Seishin’s legal guardian a couple days ago, and I’m in the process of doing the same with Mao.” I told him, almost cracking a smile as I spoke. He actually looked a little surprised when I told him this, but wound up smiling in light of himself before he turned to leave.
“Is that so? …Well, that’s good to hear. You be sure to keep them both safe, alright? …You’re the one they look up to now.” he said as he walked away. I waited until he was just within earshot before something back.
“Yeah…I know.”
He stopped briefly and looked back before getting in and driving away – I could only imagine what “Jack-ass” was saying to him when he closed the door. I didn’t dwell on it for long, though, cause the person I was really waiting for showed up not even a few seconds later – and I took off my sunglasses and smiled as she walked up beside me.
“That took a while.” I said sarcastically.
“Well, sorry. We girls put a lot more thought into the way we look out in public.” Mahina retorted. I loved how she was just as big a smartass as me.
“How come? I’m the only one who needs to be looking at you.” I joked. I could almost see her blushing as she tried to think of another comeback – God, she was so cute.
“Maybe I’m hoping to catch some other boy’s eye, then.”
I tried feigning dejection, but I couldn’t hold that face for more than a few seconds before laughing, and she joined me shortly after. It must’ve went on for half a minute before she brought everything back down to Earth – with a question I instinctively saw coming.
“Was that officer asking about Iona?” she asked.
“Yeah…trying to salvage information from me.” I said blankly, looking off in the direction Marlon drove away in. She took the hint, apparently.
“So, are you ready to go?” she asked with a gentle smile, which I returned in kind to assure her I wasn’t mad at her intrusion.
“Actually…I was thinking we might try doing something else today.” I said, trying to keep my teeth hidden when I saw her face light up with curiosity. I’d told her previously that we were just gonna go around town and maybe grab a bite to eat.
“Like what?” she asked. I purposefully waited until the bus was less than a block away before answering with a grin.
“I was thinking…Sea Life Park, perhaps?”
She was so surprised by this, she must’ve stared at me a total of six seconds before looking up at the huge double-decker bus pulled up in front of us. I grabbed her hand as the door swung open.
“Come on. Let’s go.” I said.
“Wait! I don’t even have a bathing suit with me!” she shouted, trying almost desperately to fight back as I pulled her onboard. I held up the bag in my other hand when she said this.
“I told you to come at ten! What did you think I was doing until then!?” I said amusedly, hinting at what was inside of it. Most of the anxiety in her face cleared up upon seeing it, but she still didn’t seem too at ease with this sudden change of plan.
“O-okay, then. But I still don’t-”
“Just come on!”
I yanked her through the door just as the old man driving grew tired of waiting, paying him quickly before dragging her to the back and up the steps to the top deck – or I was about to, until she stopped me and said she didn’t like the wind. So, we sat in the very back, where I continued to laugh and she couldn’t help but smile out of exhaustion.
“Why the sudden desire to do something extravagant?” she asked when the bus began moving again.
“A sea life park is something extravagant?” I joked. She got it, but there wasn’t much humor in her face as she explained.
“No, but…it is kinda out of character, isn’t it?”
She had a point, I thought. This was only the fifth time we’d met, frankly, and only the second time we’d actually gone out, but I must’ve given her enough of a character profile by now for her to expect a more modest outing from me than this. I looked around first to see if anyone was close enough to listen in before gazing out the window – much as I wanted to get it outta my head, I figured I could at least give her a small glimpse into how hectic my life had been over the past month. It might’ve saved me another lecture from Susume in the process.
“Saigo no sū-shūkan wa, nin'i no shudan ni yotte o tsūjite eru no wa kantande wa nakatta. Ore wa jissai ni sore o ofu ni ore no kokoro o toru tame ni ikutsu ka no jikan o hitsuyō to shite imashita.” (“The last couple weeks weren’t easy to get through by any means. I just really needed some time to help take my mind off of it.”)
I looked at her as I finished.
“And I thought it’d be easier if I spent it doing something fun with you, that’s all.”
I figured I’d come to know what reactions to expect from her, as well, so a slightly regretful expression for intruding or some faint blushing seemed about right at that moment. Therefore, I was kinda surprised when she just looked at me with a gentle smile, as if she already knew what I was gonna say.
“See now? Was that so hard to say?” she joked. Damn her and her sarcasm.
“Whatever. Just look in the bag and tell me if I did alright.” I said, half-smugly and half-amused, as I looked back out the window in anticipation. I’m not sure which of the two extremes she was expecting to find in that bag – I could’ve either gone all out and got her the most minimalist bikini humanly possible, or I could’ve gotten a bathing suit so bland and unattractive that even I didn’t wanna look at her for very long, as impossible as that sounded. I wound up splitting it down the middle and getting something that wasn’t too ugly or revealing, hopefully in a color and style she actually liked. She pulled it out and looked it over for at least twenty seconds, practically forcing me to stare at her in wait of an answer.
“It’s…nice.” she finally said, in as unimpressed a tone as I could recall ever hearing from anyone. I knew she was joking when she said it, but it was so convincing that I couldn’t even ham up my comeback.
“I will turn this bus around, and I mean it.” I said in a slightly gritty voice. I started grinding my teeth a bit at how humorless it came out, but as always, she was quick to catch on and retaliate in kind.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Okay, then! Driver-”
I got up as I retorted, prompting her to grab my shoulder and pull me back into my seat. This ended up leading to a play fight that took up a fair chunk of the two-hour drive around the island, until we finally reached the park and got off.
It was only March, but Sea Life Park still had more than enough tourists and visitors to make it feel like summer vacation – the heat probably had something to do with that. We went through the front gate and the first thing we did was get changed into our bathing suits – separately, of course. Mine was nothing extravagant, though I did slip on a full-length arm sleeve to hide my tattoo – one for each arm, so it wasn’t too obvious – and I made sure to get back outside before Mahina so I could see her when she finished. I can’t even express how beautiful she looked as she walked out, and I’m sure I stared at her for about a minute before she finally snapped me out of it – she did nothing but poke fun at me for it until we finally hit the first attraction. We tried just about everything that we could do together, from the Sea Lion Show and the Ocean Theatre to all the animal exhibits, and we made sure to hit every interactive program we had time for. Watching her “dance” with one of the dolphins in the water was adorable, so much so that I didn’t even notice when another one jumped up and tried to peck me on the cheek, causing me to slip and fall while Mahina laughed hysterically – I got her back, though, when one of the penguins accidentally nipped her finger while she was feeding it. The rays were probably the only thing in the park she didn’t wanna touch, so I kinda playfully mocked her while she stood on the side of the pool and watched me swim around with them, at least until a few minutes later when every single one I tried to touch began swimming away from me – karma’s a *****, indeed. We wandered around for about four-and-a-half hours until it came time to head to the outskirts of the park for the Chief Luau dinner and show. The buffet was delicious and well worth having avoided snack bars all day, and we fed each other a few times while we waited for the show to begin – thank God she was no worse at it than I was, cause I almost stabbed her with a fork the first time. The fire dance started just as the sun began setting and it just never ceased to amaze me. She grabbed my arm at one point as they were twirling those batons around, and I just smiled and clasped my hand over one of her own to keep her there – as long as the hot night would allow it.
It was well past nine o’clock when we finally walked up to the entrance of her neighborhood, where her home was just a few houses down. It didn’t really seem like our date had taken up the entire day until the sky went from blue to black, but I suppose that’s a good thing looking back – it meant that not a moment of our time together was wasted. Aside from recalling some of the day’s defining moments, though, we didn’t really speak to each other during the ride back to the bus stop, or even on the walk back to her neighborhood until she finally spoke up, less than two blocks away.
“Well?” she said, almost catching me off guard.
“Hm?”
“Is your mind all cleared up now?”
She was tracing back to my alleged reason for planning this little adventure, which I honestly hadn’t thought about since that morning. I assumed that to be an answer in it of itself.
“I think so.” I said with a smile, which she returned in kind. We both stared straight ahead again when we realized we had nothing else to talk about, at least until she came up with something a few moments later.
“You looked good, by the way.” she said.
“Without a shirt on?” I asked, laughing a little as I did – she set me up for that one.
“With your hair out of your eyes.”
There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in her response, not that there should’ve been. I honestly hadn’t given that habit much thought in quite awhile, but I had been brushing my hair off to the side in the morning lately. I assumed I was becoming more alert to my surroundings every day and just started noticing it more, but did that stem from my increased involvement in yakuza affairs, or did my time with Mahina actually have something to do with it? The former sounded more logical, of course, but I kept leaning closer to the latter the longer I dwelled on the idea, and I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of it.
“And yes, it was nice to see you without pants and a sweatshirt for once, too.” she said out of the blue. Yet another habit of mine that’d gone all but unnoticed.
“It was a nice change of pace, I’ll admit.” I said with a chuckle, as we finally approached the entry sign and stopped to say our goodbyes. I hadn’t noticed until then that we’d been holding hands during that entire final stretch, and only because she let go and circled around in front of me.
“Thank you, Aito. …It was really nice.” she said softly. Our eyes met for what seemed like hours on end, and I was so lost in their sparkling gaze that I stumbled to find a suitable reply.
“Yeah.” I finally said. A feeling of dread came over me as we stood there, not because of how lame a response that was, but because I just had the strangest feeling that if I didn’t do something now, whatever future I had with her was gonna vanish out from under my nose. She must’ve noticed this from the look in my eyes, cause she didn’t give me much time to make up my mind.
“Well, see ya.”
She just turned and began walking away, and I was still standing there trying to figure out what to do. I reached my hand out to stop her, but it only moved a few inches before stopping and she didn’t even turn around to see if I’d done anything. She stepped off the sidewalk and onto the road, but I was still too scared to call out to her and I knew exactly why. All the signs were right in front of me. She liked me – there was no way in hell I was misreading it – and I liked her. Words couldn’t dignify how much I did, but they also couldn’t clarify just how much I despised myself – and how much I refused to allow such a good thing to happen to me when all I’ve ever brought to or received from the people around me was despair. She was fixing to walk past the stone posts that signified where her neighborhood began and the city outside ended. I was out of options.
“Wait.”
I ran forward and grabbed her hand to make her turn around, but before she could say anything, my lips were already hovering over her own. But I couldn’t close the gap. Moisture was starting to cloud my eyes, but I didn’t know if it was from not blinking for so long, or from how humiliated I felt being unable to kiss a girl who I was so sure returned my feelings. I assumed I had scared her a little and that she was about to start walking away again in embarrassment…but it wouldn’t be the first time that she’d defied my expectations.
“Don’t stop.”
I pulled back ever so slightly so I could see her eyes. There was sadness in them, yes – just as my self-loathing side projected – but there was a longing there, too, one so intense that I just couldn’t ignore it. I still needed that extra assurance, though.
“What if I go too far?” I asked feebly, praying for a sign that it was okay to experience happiness for just one brief moment of my miserable life. It would never come, though. I didn’t have the confidence to think it would. I felt just like a demon, sitting in the shadows watching a beautiful maiden from afar, too afraid to touch her for fear that I’d dirty her gorgeous skin and forever corrupt her untainted heart. I could never possibly be with her…and she could never possibly want to be with me.
“…You won’t.” she said.
**** it, I thought. Then I finally closed the gap. I pulled back again hardly a few seconds later out of fear – not from my own self-doubt, but from the sudden realization that I had no idea how to kiss a girl. My face was so red that I could feel the blood running beneath my cheeks, but she immediately closed the gap again, intent this time on showing me the proper way to kiss before breaking away again. Our tongues wrestled from within our clasped lips for the longest time, her eyes shut softly while mine refused to remain closed for more than three seconds at a time – I had a feeling she was opening hers every time I shut mine, though. When we’d finally gotten the hang of the technique, we pulled back to catch our breaths – I’d almost forgotten how to breath – and then closed the gap one last time to show each other what we’d learned. My eyes remained closed this time, and my hand moved up without me telling it to, gently holding the base of her head while my thumb caressed her cheek. I fought the urge to run my fingers through her silky hair, and I almost cried upon realizing just how happy it made me being with her like this. My mother was the only kind soul I’d ever known during my eighteen years of life – save for Susume – but no matter how much I loved her and what intense relief she gave me from the chaos of everyday life in that manor, she never once made me happier than I felt holding Mahina in my arms at that moment. I just wish I had the sense to tell her that when we finally broke away, instead of standing there smiling down at her like an idiot while I kept her fingers clasped between my own.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.” I said, and she smiled up at me gently – like she was hoping to hear something more, but was more than satisfied with what I gave her.
“I’ll be waiting.” she answered as she backed away slowly, turning around when our fingers finally parted. I waited until she disappeared into the darkness waiting beyond the closest streetlight before leaving – half of me fighting the urge to throw my fist in the air, while the other half fought the urge to curse loudly upon realizing how long the walk home was gonna be.
I can’t recall any other night where I slept so soundly, yet still managed to get up before it hit midday – I might’ve slid down the staircase that morning had I been as dumb as I pinned most of these lowlifes for. I passed at least four of them between my room and the kitchen, but I didn’t trade sour looks with any of them – I dunno if they found that weird or not. I wasn’t all that hungry after the huge buffet from last night, so I just threw together a small bowl of fried rice – it’s like toaster waffles to the Japanese – and ate that up for breakfast before scouring the halls on my way to Yatsumi’s office, which I still wasn’t all up to calling Mao’s. Along the way, I saw Seishin conversing with Roku in a mostly empty room – it was just a glimpse, so I couldn’t tell what it was about, but Roku seemed surprisingly patient with him. It was a little astounding at first – my last memory of them together in the same room outside the assassination was of Roku stealing Kappa Ebisen out from under him – but I managed a small smile after thinking over it more. A month ago, they just happened to be living in the same house, but now, they were members of the same family – almost like a father and son, as the code of the yakuza would have it. In a way, I guess that Seishin, me, and Mao were all closer to the members of the syndicate because of everything that had transpired, and though I still would’ve liked to see the manor go up in flames along with everyone in it, the path we were walking on now didn’t seem like such a bad way to go. At least, that’s what I thought as I approached the double doors of the office, stopping short of knocking when I heard some loud complaints coming from within – that was Kyōgi’s voice, I thought.
“I’ve also been receiving reports from the Bay Area of a recent smuggling gone wrong! Over twenty millions dollars worth of meth seized by prick cops, not to mention the ‘accidental’ death of the region’s wakagashira, who JUST so happens to be in league with the Yamaguchi-gumi, the family this yakuza was originally tied to! Now Mao, I dunno what the hell you THINK you’re doing by interfering with their business deals, but right now, you are offsetting the balance that your father risked everything to keep after severing our ties with Japan. The thirty days you were given to prove your worth may be up and you might have passed by a slim margin, but don’t think that means you can’t still be pried from that desk and put back in the nursery where you snot-nosed brats belong!”
The fact that he was yelling at my little brother was what originally caught my ear – I wanted to send him to an emergency room for it – but every other thing coming out of his mouth was completely new to me. I mostly assumed it was all part of Mao’s plan, his stated intentions of ending all yakuza activity in the States before sending the Ryokudan family down with them – on those terms, I had no problem if some deaths had to be incurred in the process. But then there was another part of me – either my own self-doubt coming back to haunt me, or my common sense telling me what was really going on – that thought it was all part of Mao’s plan, his unspoken ambition not to end all yakuza activity, but keep it running under his own control. At the time, I still wasn’t sure which reasoning caused Mao to get pissed off at Kyōgi’s protests.
“Are you done yet?” I heard him say. I’m not sure what look he shot Kyōgi as he spoke, but whatever it was, it managed to put him in his place.
“Yes, sir.” he answered after a long pause.
“Good. …Sonogo, ore no ofisu no soto seikō o shutoku shimasu.” (“…Then get the **** out of my office.”)
I’m not sure which happened first – the pupils of my eyes dilating or the veins in my forehead throbbing – but those words both infuriated and frightened me to no end. I don’t know if he knew where I was at the time or not, since he always seemed to, but the idea of him using such commanding language, never mind profane, in my absence only spoke wonders to me of either the hold he had or the loyalty he amassed from all the lowlifes in this house – and just how much he could accomplish here or abroad with that on hand. I was still speechless when Kyōgi burst through the door, which almost hit me as he took off through the house in a fit, not even paying an ounce of attention to my presence. When I looked back into the office, there was Mao, sitting behind the desk with his fingers intertwined in front of his face – after that little episode, I was almost surprised there wasn’t a recently extinguished cigarette in the ashtray – and Hei in his eternal position at his side, twirling the small red lollipop in his mouth. The former and I just stared at each other for the longest time as the door beside me slowly fell closed again – and I struggled with whether or not to allow it. When I reached my hand out to prevent it just in time, he finally did away with his blank expression and smiled up at me, holding out one hand and flexing his fingers back in the most formal manner I could imagine.
“You can come in, brother.”
I hesitated for some time before finally complying and walking into the room, almost flinching as the door closed behind me.
…The End
Finished at last!!
Sorry to those who want more, but sadly, I have no intentions of putting the entire story on here. This is definitely one of the stories I love most, so I’m glad I could share part of it with you*_*I’m also considering going through and possibly rewriting and rereleasing these fifteen chapters now that I’ve gone through and polished up the story a bit more. Dunno how likely, so don’t get your hopes up too high, but just know more Mob Child could very well be in the not too distant future
