Still sitting in the emergency room hallway, Kubo Touma massaged his cheek for a long time. He was already upset that his plan had failed, and spending his Friday night in the hospital was clearly not on the agenda. Not being able to reduce the pain that he felt near his jaw, he had resolved to make a detour before going home.
However, since his injury was superficial, he had been relegated to waiting his turn to prioritize patients with more pressing and worrisome situations. He was therefore reduced to complaining on his social networks, and also to searching the net for legal penalties for administering harmful substances to others.
She wasn't going to press charges against him, was she?
No, on second thought, even if she did report him, he would just deny it. It wasn't as if she had any proof of what had happened tonight; and considering that she had hit him in front of dozens of people in the street, he was sure that others would come forward to testify that he was the victim. She could say what she wanted, but nobody would believe her with the violence she had displayed in front of so many people.
He quickly looked at the time on his watch: 2:00 am.
He had been waiting for almost an hour, and he was getting seriously impatient. The nurses and doctors kept walking past him as if he were invisible, not caring about him, which made him even more angry. Were they ignoring him on purpose, or what?
Returning to read the contents of the forum where he had just complained about being hit, he saw that a dozen replies had already been posted following his message.
[THREAD: 'A woman hit me during a party, should I file a complaint?]
[Wah, what a loser. He got hit by a woman!]
[You should have stood up for yourself, man. Equality for men and women, that kind of stuff...]
[If he got hit, he must have done something wrong to earn it.]
[And another poor guy who thinks that all women are supposed to fall at his feet ;p]
[If she's pretty, she can hit me any time she wants! *staring*]
[Ah, the freaks are back, I'm out. Thread muted]
Frustrated by the few responses that gave him no personal satisfaction, he closed the tab on the web page and then turned off the screen of his mobile.
These people didn't know what they were talking about. What was he thinking?
He calmly stared at the still turned-off screen of his phone tilted back, disgusted that no one was on his side. He blinked, and saw in the reflection of the screen a human figure approaching and stopping by. No one had spoken to him in over an hour, so who could be brave enough to stop at his level?
Annoyed, he looked up, and was disappointed to see that the person standing in front of him was not a doctor, but a middle-aged man dressed in a simple but elegant suit. The outfit, devoid of any extravagance, however, confined the choice of possible careers to a subordinate, rather than a partner or business executive.
"Mr. Kubo I presume?" Asked the man, inexpressively.
"Who are you?" Touma asked, without in any way hiding that he found this person unpleasant.
The man reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a phone, which he carefully handed to him.
"My employer would like to speak with you," he said without revealing more.
"Your employer?" Said Touma, taken aback.
The man didn't answer, continuing to reach out to Marline's employee; unmoving.
With what little patience Touma still had, he suddenly grabbed the cell phone and saw that it had already connected an outgoing call.
With suspicion, he brought the phone to his ear.
"What do you want from me?" He asked heatedly.
"To help you, Kubo-san," replied a voice that surprised Touma.
"Help me? With what? And who are you?" Marline's employee asked pointedly.
"I heard about an unfortunate incident that occurred tonight," the voice said in a confident tone. "Also, I would like to offer you my assistance."
Touma remained silent for a moment, considering the offer. He looked up at the man who had handed him the phone: he was still motionless and calm, as if his mission was to wait quietly by the person his employer wanted to contact.
"What makes you think I'm going to trust someone I don't know and who doesn't know everything that happened?" He asked, lowering his gaze again, on guard.
"I already know that someone hit you, and that you want revenge," the voice stated. "Isn't that enough?"
Touma snorted loudly.
Who did this person think he was, intruding on his privacy like that?
"As if I'm going to listen to what someone out of nowhere says," he said scornfully.
"I also know the reason why you were hit, Kubo Touma," the voice calmly retorted. "And I might very well decide to report you."
Touma remained silent and impassive. However, in his mind was turmoil and concern.
What did this person know, exactly? And how?
Was he being blackmailed? Had the young woman already spoken out about what he did to her? Were there any other witnesses? Or worse, irrefutable proof of what he had done?
In his panic, he almost forgot about the person on the other end of the phone.
"However... You would be much more helpful to me if you were still working at Marline," the voice clarified.
"Marline? You know where I work too?" Touma asked, gulping.
"If I really wanted to, you'd already be in the hands of the police," the voice forced itself on. "After all, I have evidence. Check the videos in this phone, if you don't believe me."
With that, Touma detached the phone he had in his hand from his ear, and stared with trembling eyes at the screen that displayed the masked number. Then, as if he had been jabbed, he began to search through the files stored on the smartphone.
With agitation, he went through the different folders, when the name of a video caught his attention.
It was a date, and a name; two pieces of information that he recognized immediately.
Feverishly, he pressed the icon to start playing the video. His eyes widened, and immediately he stopped the video and hurriedly deleted it from the files on the phone.
"Of course, you must suspect that this is not the only copy that exists of this video, right?" Interrupted the voice that he could hear very clearly even without being on speakerphone.
Touma didn't know what to say. This person he didn't even know had enough information on him to turn him in, and yet...
"Why haven't you already turned me in to the police?" He asked in a shaky voice.
He thought he heard a muffled laugh on the other end of the line, before the voice replied:
"You see, there's someone at Marline's I hate even more than you".
So he owed his salvation only to the generous mood of this person? A person who could do anything with him?
It was blackmail, pure and simple. He should have known better. But since this person could get him out of this mess... As well as get him deeper into trouble. So he didn't really have a choice anymore.
"What do you have to offer me?" Touma asked.
"Oh, nothing too complicated," said the voice with a clearly audible smile. "I help you, and you help me in return. It's simple, right?"