by T L Brevis
Yabuto Sofu thrust it open to unveil a large balcony, made entirely of Marble and Quartz and was spotlessly neat and tidy as well, nothing unexpected from such an absurdly wealthy individual. On top of all, the balcony had a majestic and awe-inspiring view of the mountainside around Yabuto Sofu's home.
“I've always considered this to be the most peaceful section of my house. The incredible view really provides a stellar atmosphere to simply think and reflect, don't you all agree?” asked Yabuto Sofu.
The group all nodded unanimously following the question.
Yabuto Sofu took a few strides over to the edge of the balcony. His entourage did not follow him and just stood back. He let out a substantial sigh as if releasing all of the tension within him and just stared, almost star struck out into the night sky, packed to the brim with stars.
A single person then emerged from the crowd and strolled over to Yabuto Sofu. It was the boy who had attempted to torment Hiroshi minutes prior.
“Hello Mr. Sofu,” said the child, in an uncharacteristically respectable tone.
“Oh, hello there. Aren't you the son of Mr. and Mrs. Mori?” asked Yabuto Sofu, warmly.
“Yes, I am. My father wanted me to tell you something,” said the child.
“Oh yes, and what might that be, young man?” Yabuto Sofu asked, while casually leaning back on his balcony railings.
“My father said that this is for not doing business with him. You wronged him and you know it. He said he always gets back at the people that wrong him, Mr. Sofu.”
A look of confusion and shock came over Yabuto Sofu.
“What on earth do you mean, young ma-”
The child lunged forward at Yabuto Sofu before he had finished his sentence and with all of his might, he rammed himself into the man, while simultaneously pushing him upwards with both arms, and launched him off of the balcony, into the dark, seemingly bottomless mountainside leading to the base of the mountain Yabuto Sofu's Mansion was built on.
There was a brief moment of pure, unbridled shock and silence before all hell broke loose.
All of the female members of the group shrieked so loudly that the mountainside echoed. The males either gasped so hard, their lungs ached, or could not move a single muscle, except for widening their jaws and eyes to their limit. Their heart rates increased to almost fatal levels, especially for most of their ages.
Kaito and Hiroshi each let out a smirk, just as tiny as Hiroshi’s was minutes before, Kaito on the balcony and Hiroshi still downstairs, standing alone in the play area.
Hiroshi’s plan had succeeded tremendously. The pair met up at the base of the massive granite stairs and waited for the inevitable arrival of the authorities, along with everyone else still on the rooftop. He wore the same shocked and worried expression that filled the mansion by this point, but internally, that tiny, callous smirk remained inside of Hiroshi.
Chapter 6
Kaito, being one of the witnesses on the balcony, testified to the bully murdering Yabuto Sofu, essentially word for word compared to the rest of the witnesses’ testimonies. All of the others, Kaito included, also mentioned the speech the child had given before carrying out the act. This of course, prompted an investigation on the child's parents, specifically his father which he had of course mentioned.
The guests were all very shaken up, and once the perpetrator was apprehended, everyone was allowed to leave, including Hiroshi and Kaito, seemingly just another parent with his child only attempting to enjoy the event.
Hiroshi and Kaito did not utter a word to each other on the train ride back and Hiroshi simply considered the events that had unfolded that night. They alighted from the train and trod back to their motel, not looking the slightest bit as fussed as the other guests undoubtedly were at that point. The pair only began discussing the events after they had stepped into their motel room, Kaito shutting the door behind them.
“Everything went according to plan, Hiroshi. Decent work, I must say. To take out two birds with one stone like that, I mean,” said Kaito.
“Well that child did have what was coming to him,” responded Hiroshi, coldly.
The child who had attempted to harass Hiroshi was a boy named Masashi Mori. Hiroshi was able to get information about him from Kaito. He had told him that the boy had murdered three of his classmates maliciously when they did not submissively bow to him as everyone else in the school had.
Masashi was never convicted of any of these crimes because of his father's social status. He had avoided justice with the help of corruption, just like Yabuto Sofu had done to aid and abet in other's heinous crimes. They were cut from the same cloth, and Hiroshi thought they should both meet their “ends” during a similar time period as well.
Masashi would no doubt have his life destroyed for being convicted of murder. Even without the punishment being severe because of his age, with murder on his record, he would no doubt have his fair share of trouble in the future. Hiroshi thought that he had gotten what he deserved. He was quite leniently punished, as far as Hiroshi was concerned. He had committed murder, so it was obviously only equitable that he should suffer the consequences as well.
The boy’s father would most likely be convicted as well since the child's only visible motive would be attempting vengeance for his father, which he point blank stated in front of the crowd.
Along with that, Yabuto Sofu obviously deserved the end he had gotten for all of his crimes. There was no sense in even beginning to question that.
∞
“Next up on the agenda, Senator Yabuto Sofu was recently assassinated in his own home during a house party,” said Mugen Ito
Shocked expressions and gasps filled the black painted, dimly lit room.
“By who? And why on earth in such an obvious and foolish manner in front of hundreds of guests?” asked Toyo Takahashi.
“Well, he was killed by a boy. The son of Mr. Mori, Masashi. He pushed Sofu off of his own balcony into the mountainside below in front of roughly forty of his guests. He perished from the sheer impact of the fall. The boy also apparently gave a speech to everyone that his father had ordered him to kill Sofu,” responded Mugen Ito.
“Well, of course with the information the police have, they would have to assume that, or at the very least that the boy had gotten the idea from his father. The fools are too dense to realize the sloppiness after all, but of course, we all know who it really was,” said Sosa Suzuki, not bothering to look up from his laptop screen.
“Kaito,” said the group collectively. The group followed that statement up with extreme annoyance displayed on their faces and a few curses from some of the members.
“It looks as though he has blind-sided us. He gave the impression that he was training the boy, only to go and do this.”
“Kaito truly is a thorn in our side. Sofu was an integral part of our plans and he’s just taken away from us that easily?!” exclaimed Shoji Tanaka.
“Calm yourself, Tanaka. He was surely important, but not essential. We only intended for him to be a scapegoat for one of our assassination deals, we can do with someone else,” responded Mugen Ito.
“He was the only one that could have worked. This assassination is our largest of the year and is equivalent to weeks’ worth of our funds,” Shoji Tanaka sulkily.
“It is a setback, but nonetheless, we will definitely work through it. No need to fret, Tanaka. After all, we still have Takahashi,” replied Naoto Watanabe.
That response seemed to finally get through to Shoji Tanaka.
“Although, Kaito does seem to be getting more and more bold with each passing month. Perhaps he thinks the extra pair of Noromi he has on his side has made him immortal, but as we all well know, he is far from it. I propose that we give him a little reality check. No need to get too ambitious with our intentions for it, as I said previously, his death will wait, but at the very least, let us remind him why leaving us was a grave mistake,” said Mugen Ito.
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br /> “What do you have in mind?” asked Toyo Takahashi.
“Well, I suggest Naoto and Tanaka pay Kaito a little visit. It will take a fair few weeks of observation and hit or miss guessing. However, it is but a minuscule loss compared to what we suffered when Kaito decided to kill Sofu. Are you two alright with that?” said Mugen Ito.
Both Naoto Watanabe and Shoji Tanaka nodded simultaneously.
“Finally, an interesting mission. We won’t disappoint,” assured Shoji Tanaka. Naoto Watanabe agreed with a nod.
“I look forward to the results. Oh, and look at the time. That concludes this latest Owari meeting. I will see you gentlemen next week. Naoto, Tanaka, I will expend my utmost effort to receive sufficient information on Kaito, and naturally pass it over to you two immediately after,” informed Mugen Ito, ever so slightly curling his lips upwards.
The two nodded before the five men stood and bowed simultaneously and promptly exited their meeting room.
∞
“Hiroshi, we will be taking a break from missions for the time being. I suspect Owari might have been linking these deaths to us, especially the latest one in particular, so we need to keep a low profile for a bit. They might even be already acting on their suspicions, so do keep a lookout,” Kaito said, not even looking up from his laptop screen.
“Then why are we in this hotel? We’re essentially sitting ducks here!”
“Trust me Hiroshi. As long as we remain calm and level-headed, even if Owari does discover our whereabouts, we will surely be able to hold our own. However, It is unlikely that they even will in the first place with the precautions I have in place.”
“How could we possibly hold our own?! Our abilities don’t work on at least one of their members, and that would certainly be the one they would send after us. I will give you the fact that they would not be able to use their abilities on us either, but they could have weaponry or some of their murderers to aid them. We cannot possibly defend ourselves against that!”
“I know Owari. They have five members and refrain from discussing anything important outside of that circle. They pay people to kill, and for information, but that is where their outside interaction ends, so do not bother dwelling on trivial things like that. I am all but certain that they will not have their hitmen kill us. They are much too cautious to trust those people that they view as mere pawns and fools to handle anything of real importance. ”
“How do you know their still like tha-”
Kaito stepped forward and put his hand on Hiroshi’s right shoulder and began to speak again.
“Put some trust in me. I have been going against this revolting group for quite some time now. I can say with confidence that I know how they operate. Their caution is something all of us should emulate, at the very least, and is something they will always have.”
Hiroshi yielded and decided to blindly follow Kaito on the sole basis of trust. He did rely on Kaito to even get information for missions for him, so he decided to view this situation from that angle as well.
∞
Hiroshi sat there, shaking his right leg up and down, hands between his legs, staring at the chandelier above him in his tidy and luxurious bed in a fancy hotel Kaito had booked the pair into as part of his precautions against Owari. It was called The Citz-Rarlton hotel in Tokyo. Hiroshi did not mind the substantial and sudden bump in atmosphere, but certainly did not care for it.
Hiroshi had a very objective mindset. If he did not require something to survive, or if not having that something would majorly inconvenience him, he simply did not need it. However, what would be the problem with splurging a little, especially since Kaito had said he could while they were there. In reality, Hiroshi did indulge himself in something that most would consider not necessary, that being exquisite food, and since there just happened to be a 5-star restaurant downstairs, and Kaito had handed him ¥20,000 for their stay, why not treat himself a little? That was his current rationale anyway.
So Hiroshi got up from his luxurious king-sized bed, which he barely covered ¼ of but was allowed the entire thing anyway, put on the same formal clothing Kaito had bought him for the Yabuto Sofu escapade, briefly informed Kaito of his plans for the next few hours and surprisingly was told that the man would join him. He of course obliged and after Kaito got changed into the same type of formal attire Hiroshi had on, the two left without another word.
Hiroshi made his way out of the room to the elevator not even five feet from his room door. The hotel truly did pull out all the stops with the rooms, not even allowing one meter of potential space to go to waste.
Hiroshi trod over to it cautiously and gently tapped “/” on the selection panel, so as to create no possibility of damaging it and attracting attention from the hotel staff, or worse yet, Owari. Hiroshi knew this was well near impossible but nonetheless was cautious as ever, as he had been ever since Kaito had informed him of the very real possibility of coming face to face with Owari.
The elevator finally arrived after what felt like an eternity to Hiroshi considering all of this. The doors opened, not too unrushed or rapidly, and luckily, there was no one inside to increase his stress levels.
∞
“Did our spies and investigators get any leads on Kaito’s whereabouts?” asked Shoji Tanaka
“No, they said that he is hiding his information better than any of their other targets have,” responded Mugen Ito.
“Kaito may be a fool when it comes to decision making. Denying our incredibly generous offer is a testament to that, but he has always been exceptional at anything virtual. He anonymously created the world’s greatest VPN service for fun. He must feel pretty smug about the millions he made off of that,” said Toyo Takahashi.
“Well, despite his wealth, he always moves to remote and random low-class inns and motels anonymously, so there's no chance of finding him through hacking into hotel databases. Most of those backward dumps don’t even have websites, and even those that do wouldn’t be very effective because Kaito always uses fake identities regardless,” responded Mugen Ito. “Perhaps Kaito’s leading us on. He might be misdirecting us by staying at a higher tier establishment instead, knowing we’d never suspect it. In other words, hiding in plain sight. Kaito always was a fan of immature strategies.”
“So what are you suggesting? We attempt to search for Kaito at each of these hotels one by one? There are dozens around Tokyo alone. How do you expect to find him?” asked Toyo Takahashi.
“Well, the answer is simple really. Kaito is cocky, almost to a fault. If he was going to hide in plain sight, he would take that to the extreme. He would definitely pick a hotel in Tokyo, just to rub it in our faces the next time we do inevitably meet. What an insufferable fool?” said Mugen Ito.
“Well, I suppose we do not particularly have a say in the matter. We’ve already established we can’t find him by hacking into his devices or possible hotels housing him, so I guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way. Good thing you picked me for this then, huh?” responded Shoji Tanaka with a smirk.
“Alright then, it truly does seem like he has cornered us. I’ll have our current spies and investigators punished for their inabilities, not that I was very hopeful they would be of much use anyway, and as for our strategy, Tanaka, you and Naoto will visit the major hotels in Tokyo. Most notably the Palace Hotel, Grand Hyatt, Hilton Tokyo, The Citz-Rarlton and the Mandarin Oriental. Do you understand?”
The two nodded yes.
“Good. If none of have has any other conflicting opinions on this matter, let us move on to our next order of business.”
∞
“Ah, that was a good meal wasn't it Hiroshi?”
“Oh, y-yea,” responded Hiroshi sounding confused.
Kaito had never been this laid back. Ever since they had begun this “vacation” as Kaito put it, Hiroshi had noticed a complete 180 on his character. His usual solemn face and tone were now replaced with cheerful smiles and constant
laughter.
Hiroshi quickly stopped paying any mind to it however and decided to put his trust in Kaito. As the man had said previously, when had that ever been an issue?
Kaito leaned back into his chair, appearing quite pleased with himself. He called over the waiter for the bill and sat patiently simply staring off into the lounge just beside the restaurant with content.
∞
“Alright Mugen, we’ve just arrived at The Palace Hotel. So shall we just carry on as planned?” asked Shoji Tanaka through his custom made, non-traceable communication device.
“Yes,” responded Mugen Ito through a similar device, but from a different location.
“Let's go, Tanaka,” urged Naoto Watanabe simply.
“Yea, yea,” Shoji Tanaka responded while ending the call on his device and pocketing it.
The duo sauntered into the hotel, sporting informal hoodies with their hoods all the way up, accompanied with jeans and sneakers, all of the same brand, but with different coloring schemes.
