Six months earlier…
It's a quarter past midnight, and Chief Executive Officer Kyou Takashima is working overtime. He is at his office in the Akira Corp. highrise, frantically shoveling bricks of 10,000 yen dollar bills from a safe under his work desk into a briefcase.
His life…is in immediate danger, and he knows it.
He plans to take all his money and run: to leave his job, his friends and family behind forever, to start over as a johatsu.
Someone has been following him everywhere…
They stalk him in the streets, and sit nearby when he's out to lunch or drinking at the bar.
It's always the same young man. He could pass for a university student.
Takashima is certain it isn't a coincidence…
The man with whom he had made this special business arrangement…is not one to be trifled with. He knew this, going in, but always had an escape plan in mind for the moment things got hairy. Confident that he could outsmart them: that he'd be able to make a clean getaway and live out the rest of his life in early retirement, never having to enslave himself to another's whims for the rest of his life.
He would not end up as just another Tokyo underground crime statistic.
…
At close to half past, he is almost done. There's just one more thing left to pack…
On his desk is a large family photo: of himself, his wife, and their young son: a sole memento he could carry with him, into hiding.
Frowning, he gently places it on top of the pile of the money in the briefcase…
He then tries to close it…but it won't go down—the photograph is simply too large!
"Damn it!" He strains himself to try to make it work. Though maybe if he wasn't in such a frantic rush, he would think to simply remove the photo from the frame….
However, alas, he continues to struggle fruitlessly…
During which time, through his own noise he is unable to hear the elevator rise, and the doors swish open, just around the corner. In his singular determination, he doesn't even notice Him as he is standing there, in the open doorway, watching him with the sly grin of a fox that's just cornered its prey.
Not until he finally greets him, almost like they're old colleagues, saying "hey, man…it looks like you could use a little help there."
"Huh?" Startled, he looks up quickly—bumping his head on the bottom of his desk.
"Tell you what, we can make a deal." Shuichi Hanzo points at the overstuffed briefcase. "Let me take over from here, and we can pretend like nothing ever happened."
He extends his hand, for Takashima to shake. "How's that sound?"
Takashima goes pale in the face, his voice trembling:
"Y-you're the same man! The same one that's been following me everywhere!"
"Yeah, about that…" Shuichi scratches the back of his head, suddenly appearing less confident. "See, my 'employer' has been tracing your phone calls, which is how he found out about the meeting you have planned with that agency tonight." Exhaling deeply, he crosses her arms in front of him with a serious look. "Though, I've gotta say, using your work phone to make calls to arrange for your little disappearing act"—he taps the side of his head with one finger, grinning in his amusement—"not very bright! And here, I thought one's elders are supposed to be wise."
"You've come…to kill me," Takashima said shakily—that much was clear—as he reaches a hand through the inside of his jacket—
—and abruptly pulls out a gun, pointing it at Shuichi Hanzo!
Albeit, his aim is shaky, trembling—with fear, as the swathes of sweat rolling down his wrinkly face suggests.
Shuichi…simply gives a small laugh. Again, amused.
He slowly walks over to him then squats down to his level, directly in his line of fire.
His way of speaking, until now—with a laid back, almost friendly vibe—is now, through Takashima's perspective, the single most menacing quality about him…as he then solidly whispers, "you know…if you're gonna point that fucking thing at me…" and smiles, like he's simply a kind samaritan giving helpful advice:
"It's better that you don't hesitate, and fire it right away."
Takashima gasps. "No, please!"
His finger dares to touch the trigger, but by then it is already too late…
A thin, inky black tendril, issuing forth from Shuichi's back, has wormed its way into the CEO's right ear—
Takashima's panicked scream catches in his throat—
His own hand is now pressing the barrel of his own gun into his right temple, beyond his control.
POW!
Shuichi winces at the jet of his warm blood splashing across his face…then deeply sighs.
"Dumbasses…they're always too greedy to listen."
Takashima's corpse slumps gradually, his head drooping over the briefcase full of money—staining the hundreds of thousands worth of laundered yen in a tide of red.
"Shit!" Shuichi scrambles to push his body away…
In doing so, he uncovers the photograph of Takashima's family. The glass of the picture frame is now splintered down the middle, allowing the inside to become drenched with blood. Harrowingly, he knows that for them, as well as for everyone who will be reading and watching the news in the morning…
Kyou Takashima's death will officially be ruled as a suicide.
…
SHUICHI HANZO POV:
I wake up back at the apartment, at around twelve, but I'm still tired as shit.
Surprise, surprise: I've got a new text message from Takeda:
"BLOOD MONEY."
Eugh. There's no pleasing that guy.
I mean, how was I supposed to know that fat geezer's blood would get all over the cash? I can't control gravity…
There's got to be ways you can clean blood off a dollar bill, right? He's just being an ass.
He's been extra uptight since I started dating Hina.
Speaking of: I check and there's another whole string of unread messages on LINE, on my other phone…
They're from Hina, going back a few hours.
She's freaking out, over what movie we should go to see tonight, like she's on her freaking period or something…
[ I just saw who the director of that horror movie is, and ummm . . . ]
[ now I kind of want to see it („owo„) ]
[ Shuichi, is it too scary for you? if you don't want to, it's not a big deal ]
[ ahhh the breakfast menu SUX <(╬ʘWʘ╬)> I want a damn freaking burger! ]
[ sensei had a black eye again this morning, said he fell down on the stairs. acts like it's nothing wwwwwwww ]
[ every1 says his girlfriend beats him now . . . I know it isn't funny buuut (￣▽￣*) ]
[ RING! RING! wake up! You'll be late for school again you lazy bitchhh ]
[ heyyy what about th new Avengers? I don't know, just a thought (~.~) unless you think that's too embarrassing ]
Behold: my princess. The love of my life!
She really needs to fucking chill it with the emojis, though.
Heh…it's funny, because if he knew the truth about he wouldn't ask if I was afraid to go see some dumb horror movie: that I'm not actually attending university, killing fat greedy CEOs for a living. That I'm not the normal, goody-two-shoes girl he probably thinks I am…
Though, I'm sure he would still like me…which is honestly what worries me the most.
The last text is from only twenty minutes ago, so I write her back:
[ Avengers is fine. don't be dumb ]
Unsurprisingly, the shameless slacker is already typing a reply—while she's probably still in class…
Hina: [ fuck you bitch (' ε ` )♡ ]
Hina: [ ok so at 6 ]
Shuichi: [ zzz I'm nappin until then ]
H: [ my hubb is always so responsible! ( ^ v ^)/～ ♡ so tired from being up all night studying ]
S: [ ummm actually, I was at karaoke with another girl . . . ]
S: [ her boobs are way bigger js ]
H: [ ah~ I'll get my dad to order a hit on her! Tell me what's her name? ]
I'm smiling the whole time, but that one really got a laugh out of me. She purposefully talks dumb when we text, even though she's actually the top of her class working toward a law degree. She says it's like "blowing off steam," to not have to always be serious and formal-like. I think it's pretty hot.
Still, I can't shake this feeling that's been growing inside of me since last night…
Ever since I saw that photograph of Takashima's family, drowning in all his blood like that…
Is this…guilt? I don't usually get like this. I've killed so many people, in a similar fashion, by this point it should be second nature.
Besides, I tried to give him an alternative! I really tried, but he wouldn't listen!
The rest…was simply fate, I guess: a fair punishment for all the wrong decisions he'd made.
…
I really wish Hina was with me.
H: [ (╥﹏╥) babe~ I can't wait to see you later~ ]
S: [ Whaaaaa? Are you hungry? we'll stop at the noodle place ]
H: [ NO THAT'S NOT IT . . . I just miss you (>*w*)> ]
H: [ (noodles sound good too) ]
S: [ hang on <3 only two more hours ]
Two hours…was gonna feel like an eternity, with nothing to do until then.
There's nothing I wanna watch on TV. Barely any money, or place to go…except for the park, but I really don't fucking feel like it.
To top it off, I'm seriously worried about this last job…
I might not even get paid, if all the money I was supposed to recover got destroyed!
Then, if that's the case…how would I be able to afford my bills? Or groceries? I'm barely scraping by as it is…
I'm living between paychecks in a crappy apartment, with a span of usually a few days between each new mission. Sometimes the job just involves me having to keep an eye on someone for a few hours, or a few days…and sometimes I have to make messy pizza out of them. But lately, business has been much slower…as I guess less and less people are willing to make shady deals with strange millionaire businessman. Like, go figure: maybe people are finally starting to catch on to the fact that all these supposed suicides, these 'accidents' and mysterious sudden disappearances…are really a cover for something else that's going on.
Job security is probably the last thing I should expect from this profession.It's like a house of cards that can come tumbling down at any moment, burying everyone who lives inside of it under the rubble.
And I…am directly at the center of it all, at the very bottom…
Waiting to be crushed.