A black Mercedes pulls up to the side of the road right in front of me. The window rolls down to reveal the familiar long-haired driver.
"What's up, Yasuo?" I chime as I reach to pull open the passenger door, climbing in.
"I hope you didn't cause any trouble while I was gone," —he starts, veering back into traffic— "it's bad enough with what happened last night. I thought your mother was going to kill me when you didn't come back."
"Don't worry, I didn't do anything, and as you can see, I'm perfectly fine," I replied, gesturing towards my body.
As he glanced over at me, his eyebrow raised, as he inquired, "Speaking of last night, what the fuck happened? I thought you went out to gain more intel about what the Fukuyama family is planning?"
"I did. I found those rats at the nightclub they frequent, Delirium. I pulled one of them out into the alleyway and interrogated him, except before I could get anything useful out, I was jumped by more of them. I managed to fight a few off before one-shot me in the shoulder. I got away before I passed out though."
"What info did you manage to get from him?"
Sighing, I bit and crunched on the last part of my strawberry lollipop, "Just that the Fukuyama clan has spread their business into bigger corporations in Tokyo."
"Fuck," he muttered while his right hand swept through his hair. Silence filled the air as we both reflected on the information I shared, continuing for a couple of minutes before Yasuo decided to break it, "So who's this mysterious Mizuki you want me to run a background check on?"
I grinned at the mention of her name, "She's who stitched me up last night."
"She willingly let you into her apartment rather than taking you to a hospital or leaving your ass?"
"Yup. After she stitched me up, she let me sleepover and even cooked me breakfast," I glanced over to see the disbelief that painted his face.
He shook his head while releasing a small chuckle, "What a weird girl. I can see why she caught your interest." As we finished our conversation, Yasuo pulled the car up to the gates that blocked the entrance into the Yoshioka house. A couple of seconds passed before the black gates opened and we were able to proceed down the long road up to our house. Soon enough, the traditional wooden buildings came into view and we pulled up by the front doors of the main house. We both get out of the car but before we could make it to the door, my mom comes barreling down the stairs.
"Tajimamori! Where have you been?!" She roared, swinging her small hands towards the back of my head and shoulders. "I thought you died! Do you know how worried I was?" Her hand smacks my injury and I flinch in pain.
"Ah, Okaasan! You're hurting your poor son," I raise my hands to defend myself from her assaults.
Stopping her attacks, she chastised, "What kind of trouble did you get into?"
"It's nothing too bad, I just got a small injury."
"What! Did you get it treated? Someone get the doctor over here! Taji let's—"
"Okaasan, calm down. I'm okay now plus it's already been stitched up," I confess as I put up my hands for defense against her fury.
"By who? Yourself?" She scoffs, "It's probably being held together by a bandage. Just listen to your Okaasan and have the doctor check it out."
"Alright, alright if it will make you feel better, I'll let the doctor check it out." I start coaxing her towards the doctor's office. The door comes into view and I spot Old Man Ueda poking his head out from the room, waving us in.
"Come Taji, let's check out that wound," he welcomed as I entered his office. Ueda Atsushi has been the Yoshioka family's doctor since before my brother and I were born, ever since he married my mom's sister and retired from the hospital he was working at.
"I promise Doc, it is not as bad as Okaasan is making it out to be." I unbutton my jacket, allowing Ueda to look at it, totally forgetting that I was using it to conceal the shirt I was wearing.
He cracked up at the sight of the printed corgi on my shirt, "Oh my, Taji, I didn't know you liked corgis."
Goddamnit Mizuki
"It's uh... not mine," I clear my throat, "I got it from a friend." Now embarrassed, I yanked the shirt off before my reputation could sink lower.
"Well, no matter. Let's take a look at the wound," he adjusts his glasses, and peers closely at the stitched wound. "Interesting, this was sewn really well. I'll go out on a limb and say this was done by a professional. Did you go to the hospital?"
"No."
He watches me waiting for me to elaborate, then decides to concede when I don't.
"Alright. Well, whoever did this knew what they were doing, so I'm not worried about it, but do come back in a few days for a reevaluation."
I stand up and grab my clothes, "Thanks Ueda-san I appreciate it." He gives me a little nod, and I bow before exiting the room. My mom whips around at the sound of the door and looks at Ueda, anticipating the results of my check-up.
"He's perfectly fine. The wound has been stitched properly and is healing well." She let out a sharp exhale.
"With that, I need to go inform Otosan about last night, but before that I'm going to bathe," I gave them one last bow and headed toward my room, letting their rapid whispers drift away.
After my shower, I headed down to my father's office to discuss Fukuyama's recent movements, but as I slid open the door I noticed Yasuo had beat me.
My father waved his hand towards me, "Come take a seat Taji. We were just discussing what happened last night." He sat in his chair, bringing his clasped hands towards his chin while he gave deep thought to the information.
"Things are already getting complicated with the police watching our every move, so we can't just retaliate. We need to approach this carefully," Yasuo chimed in.
Slamming his hands on the desks, my father exploded, "What is that bastard Toru planning!? How dare he try to take over MY territory!" Fukuyama Toru is the oyabun, or the head, of the Fukuyama family. He and his family have been at odds with my father and our family for years. We've been civil with them for the past five years, but they've always hated our family because of our influence over Tokyo. Though Kenta, his son, and I have had our skirmishes, they usually get blown over by our fathers. Recently they have gotten worse, so much so that it's hard to ignore them.
"Don't worry Otosan, we'll make them regret messing with the Yoshioka Family. Plus we can take this opportunity to decrease their influence even more," I reassured him as I stood up from the chair, "We'll do some digging into the Fukuyama's business deals and get back to you on what we find." I left his office with Yasuo following close behind.
"Have you seen Jae-Sang yet?" Yasuo hinted with a bit of a playful tone.
I spun around to give him a confused look, "No, why would I have seen Jae-Sang?"
"He has a background report on a certain missus that you ordered," he amused while I whipped out my phone to dial Jae-Sang's number.
It rang for a couple of seconds before he picked up, "Well good after—"
"Where are you?" I snapped.
I heard him give me a small scoff, "Well hello to you too. Gosh, what's your problem? Did a certain someone's booty call turn them down?"
"Shut up and bring me that background check…also, she wasn't my booty call," I snarled at his comment.
"Mmm and here I thought my friend had finally decided to let loose, but it was just a hoax! Taji are you impoten—"
"Can you shut the hell up and just bring me that damn background check?" I demanded, Jae-Sang is lucky he's my best friend otherwise I would have killed him a long time ago.
"Okay Mr. Grumpy, if you turn around you can come and get it." I turned to see the blond walking towards me, grinning ear to ear while holding up a brown envelope. I met him half-way and reached to grab the envelope from him, but he pulled it out of my reach, "Ah, ah, what do you say? It took a lot of work to get this you know."
"Thank you Jae-Sang, I appreciate all the work you put into getting this." He smirked at my response before handing the envelope to me.
"You're welcome. Now tell me why you're so interested in her," he ordered, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows at me.
I knew it was useless to avoid his question since he would find it out sooner or later. I gave a small sigh before responding, "She's the person who stitched me up after last night."
"Damn, she keeps getting weirder," he mumbled.
I whipped my head towards him and glared, "What do you mean?"
"Just read the background check, you'll understand what I mean," he gave another cheeky smile and slapped me on the back, "Well have fun with that. I've got a hot date with a normal girl, so I have to go." He gave a wave and walked back from where he came from, leaving Yasuo and I confused.
I heard a small chuckle behind me as another hand patted my shoulder, "You have fun with that, I'm gonna go start digging up information on the Fukuyama family." As Yasuo walked away, I walked back towards my room to open the envelope in privacy. When I entered my room, I sat at my desk and pulled the papers out of the envelope, and placed them in front of me. My eyes scanned the papers, soaking in every letter, and reading every word on the pages as my answers turned into more questions.
I get what Jae-Sang was saying about her being strange.
I let out a loud laugh and looked back at her picture provided with the papers.
She just keeps getting more and more intriguing. What exactly are you hiding, Ogawa Mizuki?
Standing up from my desk, I walk over to grab the folded-up corgi shirt.
Guess I'll have to give her another visit to figure that out.
I throw the shirt over my shoulder and head out towards our garage, grabbing the keys to my motorcycle. The bike revs up as I turn the key in the ignition. I put my helmet on and zip up my jacket before driving in the direction of her apartment.