The Cursed Eye

by T L Brevis

  “Oh yes sir, I remember the man, hope he’s enjoying his retirement.”

  “Oh, he is, but please do answer the question, I’m curious now.”

  “Oh, well, I just feel like I need to keep the business world fresh is all, meetings and discussions are all too similar, and always has been, and besides, this fresh style doesn’t make you all come to these meetings any less.”

  “Well, can’t argue that. You just offer so damn much money, how could any of us refuse, we even cast aside our family rivalries in the common pursuit of being able to do business with you.”

  “Speaking of which, I have the contract right here, do look over it, take your time as always.”

  “That, I will do. You know, you’re a refreshing shift, Ito. I’ve been having to deal with some especially dark matters with some mysterious characters in the business as of late, and whenever I talk with you, it's a refreshing change of pace.”

  “Glad to hear that, I do hope you succeed in those ‘dark’ matters.”

  ∞

  “Good morning Ito,” said Kaga Rei.”

  “Good to see you once again, Mr. Rei!” exclaimed Mugen Ito.

  “As lively as ever I see, Ito. Yet another deal proposal out of the blue, huh? So your offer is ¥200,000,000? Wow, it always does amaze me that your insurance chain generates that much, even though I really shouldn’t be, you bought it at its peak of success from Toyo Takahashi after all, anything that man touches turns to gold it would seem, richest man in the country is not an easy title to obtain.

  “That ran on the news for weeks on end, that deal, you did become quite the celebrity during that time, little do those fools know, you do business with the Yakuza families. Not like we would tattle on you for it though, it would be like shutting down an overflowing goldmine.”

  “Indeed, we are still friends, Takahashi and I. Good man,” Mugen Ito said, apparently not noticing the other man’s face dropping for a second after his sentence, then returning to its original expression of amusement, while Ito’s own eyes shifted from their temporary state of deep scarlet to their original hazel brown shade.

  “Anyway, what say we finish this deal, I just remembered I have somewhere to be, forgive me Ito.”

  15 Hours Later:

  Kaga Rei trailed behind his son, who lead a group of about twenty muscled men down the street, all in files of three. They cut through alleyways, made their way down more sidewalks, and even jaywalked quite frequently to reach their destination, not that breaking the law meant a thing to them by that point.

  The moon shone down the only light on the group, barring the massive mansion that was the object of their travel, now just dozens of meters away.

  They quickened their pace and reached the gate blocking their entrance to the massive complex within the minute. They were immediately halted by a group of three men standing guard at the aforementioned gate, donning clothing as black as the night sky above from head to toe.

  “Oi, what’re you doing here?!” one of the three shouted out to the group of twenty-two men.

  “I think you know all too well,” said Kaga Rei’s son, reaching into the inside of his jacket and whipping out a handgun, snapping its barrel toward the man that spoke to them and fired two shots in quick succession, one cleanly piercing a hole in his head, and the other in his neck.

  The two men on each side of Kaga Rei’s son did the same, this time pulling out large assault rifles that were strapped behind their backs and firing them at their targets in rapid succession between each shot. The two men fell to the ground, over half a dozen bullets buried in each of them, with a giant puddle of red beginning to surround them.

  The two men in the front turned their aim toward the digital lock of the gate that stood tall before them and emptied their entire magazines into the large metal object. It obeyed their orders and ceased to keep the gates sealed any longer.

  An audible snap could be heard from the direction of the giant slabs of metal, and Kaga Rei’s son stepped up to them and gently pushed them forward in response. He entered through them, the other twenty odd men following closely behind him, forcing the gate open to its limits, his father still at the back of all of them.

  The men quickened their pace more after entering through the gates and made for the granite stairs leading up to the pristine door in between them and their goal. Two men emerged at the front of the crowd from behind Kaga Rei’s son and repeated what their comrades had done previously, this time firing at the much smaller digital lock locking the front door.

  Kaga Rei’s son flew up the granite below him and burst the door open, rushing in without a second thought, his men pouring in behind him. They were met with a large and open area, with about a dozen of men at its center, seemingly playing cards with one another.

  “Rei?! What is the meaning of this?! We’re allies!” exclaimed the largest of the men, launching himself up from his seat and throwing his cigarette to the ground. He pulled out a handgun, similar to Kaga Rei’s son’s from his back pocket and aimed it at the man himself, who by this point was aiming back as well.

  “It’s just business, Eichi. The Matsu family sends their regards,” said Kaga Rei’s son, firing two shots into the man’s head immediately after finishing his sentence.

  Kaga Rei’s son immediately ducked down as the other men at the table pulled out firearms of their own, as countless other men poured into the room from many different openings with their own weapons. Both Kaga Rei and his son used their men to absorb the mass amounts of gunfire from the other side as they made their escape.

  They slipped through the front door and sprinted for the gate, still wide open, barely getting through and turning the corner before gunfire began to collide with the complex’s walls and gate itself. They piled into the jet-black car waiting for them and escaped the premises immediately after, long gone from sight by the time their pursuers reached the gate themselves.

  ∞

  “Damn those Rei traitors,” a man said.

  “Those damned Matsus must have bought them off as well,” another spat.

  “It’s clear what we gotta do. The fools think they can get away with this? Did they forget we have the largest force of men in the Yakuza?!”

  “That’s right, I say we just storm the bastards, tonight!”

  “Agreed, we will have our revenge for what they did to Nagashima. We’ll pay em’ back by killing their leader’s heirs and end their bloodlines. Anyone got a problem with that?”

  “No!” the group of about a dozen men exclaimed unanimously.

  ∞

  Kuno Matsu sat quietly in his room, bodyguards posted at his door as per usual as he smoked from his pipe to unwind after the day of negotiations he had. His father had especially been pressuring him as of late to take over the family, the sentiment being one that had been drilled into him since childhood.

  He suddenly heard various sounds, faint at first, but soon becoming enough for his bodyguards to turn towards his door and soon after step out of it to investigate. About a minute after they had done so, they returned, their bodies rather, along with about a dozen men that poured into his room all at once, while countless screams and gunshots could be heard in the rooms all around him.

  His eyes went wide and he made for his handgun on the dresser to his right, but was tackled to the ground by two of the dozen men before he even had a chance of reaching it.

  “Don’t blame us, you brat. Blame your father for making a deal with the Eichi’s and making them betray us and kill our leader.”

  Before Kuno Matsu even had a chance to process the information, the man that spoke whipped out his handgun, aimed it to his head, and the last thing he heard was an ear-shattering pop.

  ∞

  “H-Hello Tanimoto. I really appreciate this,” said Shiraki Matsu.

  “No problem, I know how difficult it must be to lose an heir. We were neutral before, but I knew I had to help you rebuild your
family after what happened. The Eichis were always cocky, but attacking a rival head on and killing their son is unacceptable,” Tanimoto Yataro said sympathetically.

  “I was out when it happened, but all of the men left alive told me that the Eichis kept going on about revenge for their leader’s death, which I now know was caused by the Rei family, whose heir they also killed. “Somehow my family got mixed up in their betrayal, those damned fools. Their either idiots or gullible to think I had anything to do with it.”

  “This is all so confusing, but rest assured, the Yataro’s are with you.”

  “Thank you. I will be sure to show my gratitude to you.”

  ∞

  “Oh, hello Mr. Yataro. Thank you for the call. I take it you were satisfied with the service?” asked Mugen Ito.

  “Yes I was. Tricking a third party family into killing the leader of another family, then framing the Matsus for it was genius. Besides that, the casualties both of the third parties experienced was a nice bonus. You have exceeded my expectations.”

  “You are too kind Mr. Yataro.”

  “Of course. I see now why you wanted me to list my affiliations with all of those families. You’re good, mysterious assassin.”

  “Well, of course it costs a price. The same as what we agreed upon previously.”

  “I will wire it to the same account immediately.

  “Thank you. Good doing business, Mr. Yataro.”

  Mugen Ito ended the call, and set his phone down on the desk in front of him and looked up at the ceiling.

  “It was good doing business with you a few days ago as well, Mr. Yataro, not that you would connect the dots and realize the millionaire insurance tycoon Mugen Ito is also the mysterious assassin you hire. It is quite interesting to lead this quadruple life.” Mugen Ito muttered.

  “I wonder when someone will finally solve the little riddle I have been endlessly repeating for the past few decades. Speaking of, I have reached the final letter once more,” Mugen Ito snapped his gaze back to his computer monitor and opened a file on a simple notepad application. There were a set of numbers on it in a seemingly meaningless order, and he added two final ones, to have the number in its completed arrangement.

  “9 113 13217514 92015”

  The numbers each correlated to a letter in the alphabet, spelling out a message Mugen Ito wanted whoever would follow the pattern to completion to discover. Each number could be found by discovering the hours in between Mugen Ito meeting with a client from the Yakuza, and the first of however many deaths that would be caused by Mugen Ito’s Noromi. The first death in this latest escapade occurred 15 hours after Mugen Ito met with Kaga Rei to control him to cause it, thus completing the cycle with the number “15” as it correlates to “O” in the English alphabet.

  Altogether, when the pattern was complete, a simple message was delivered to whoever was observant and intelligent enough to complete that task. Though by then, if they made the connection, it would only be a nice summary of what they already realized was true.

  “I am Mugen Ito”

  ∞

  “Hello all, I am glad to notice that we have all members present for this meeting, something we have scarcely seen for the past few weeks due to the complications you are all aware of. As per usual, I would like to hear progress updates from all of you. We will begin with you, Naoto,” said Mugen Ito.

  Naoto Watanabe swiftly stood up from his seat with a very straight posture, still only barely matching the height of the seated men around the circular table. He did not waste a moment before reaching into an inner pocket of his blazer and retrieving a completely black notebook from it, and after flipping through its pages as quickly as possible in the dim lighting, he stopped at a page about halfway through the book and began to speak formally.

  “With pleasure. I have completed all four assignments I have been given during this last week, taking on an additional two after my request for them was kindly accepted by our information gathering personnel. In total, I have been able to acquire ¥542,275,000, or US$5,000,000, garnering a 50% increase in profits despite the 25% decrease in the number of missions completed because the clientele this past week was especially wealthy. Nothing more to add,” said Naoto Watanabe, reading with such perfect enunciation and formality that would put most people triple his age to shame.

  “Thank you, Naoto. Take a seat. Next, Shoji Tanaka,” said Mugen Ito.

  “Yea, yea,” said Shoji Tanaka while clumsily standing from his seat, proceeding to stand in a slouching forward position accompanied by an uninterested facial expression, everything being quite the stark contrast from Naoto Watanabe, the boy over half a century his junior.

  “I finished maybe two or three of my missions, I forget how many you gave me. I got somewhere around ¥1,000,000,000 for them. Alright, nothin’ else for me to say,” and with that, Shoji Tanaka sat back in his seat, leaning back as far as the chair’s design structure would allow.

  “Tanaka, you do realize the importance of these progress checks?” said Mugen Ito, now sounding like there was a sour taste in his mouth.

  “Yea, yea, of course I do. Who do you think you’re talkin’ to? I suggested them, and don’t forget who told you about those eyes of yours in the first place,” retaliated Shoji Tanaka, not sounding any more interested in the conversation.

  “Of course I remember, master. I also know that you are the most successful among all of us when it comes to completing client-based missions. However, you must remember our end goal. These checks are required for us to confirm our current financial status. We will need these vast resources for our goal, you do understand that?” responded Mugen Ito.

  “Yea, yea. Fine, if I must, I’ll be more formal or serious during these meetings. I did say I would use what time I have left to help you youngsters out anyhow,” replied Shoji Tanaka, not sounding like his stance was altered in the least. However, Mugen Ito seemed to be satisfied with his response.

  “Speaking of the importance of financial status, the man of the hour, Toyo Takahashi, how has this past week been for you?” asked Mugen Ito, now with a smile plastered across his face.

  The man stood up gracefully and with a wide smile, gladly responded.

  “From my current twenty-four businesses and counting, this past week has garnered me approximately ¥21,600,000,000, or US$200,000,000. I, as always, will be gladly putting that entire sum into Owari,” said Toyo Takahashi in a smug tone, proceeding to give a gracious bow, then taking his seat once more.

  “Very good, and as for me, I have completed three missions, all coming from our top 0.01% of clients, and for my troubles, I have received ¥5,000,000,000, or about US$50,000,000,” said Mugen Ito, not standing from his seat, proceeding to turn to Shoji Tanaka.

  “Oh, did I say you were the most successful among us when it comes to client-based missions? Well, maybe I left a certain, more qualified candidate out. Well, I suppose we can’t all remain in our heydays,” said Mugen Ito.

  “Bastard. Well, I guess I can’t really argue against that anyway,” said Shoji Tanaka, letting out a sinister chuckle afterward.

  “Anyway, now that we have sufficiently enjoyed ourselves, it is time for us to update our total finances. The stage is yours, Suzuki,” said Mugen Ito, returning to his deadly serious expression.

  “Gladly Ito, our updated, total finances currently sit at ¥17,328,240,000,000, or approximately US$160,000,000,000” reported Sosa Suzuki.

  “One last push, and we will be able to begin,” said Mugen Ito

  ∞

  “Hey, Hiroshi,” said Makoto, lying on his back, his blank T-shirt and dark blue jeans bending the grass beneath him to their will to support what little body weight he had, while the strands of hair not smudged into the ground flowed in perfect unison with the invisible force around them.

  “Yes, Makoto?”

  “Has it not been about thirty days since we decided to take a break from missions?”

>   “Yes, and speaking of that, I forgot to give you some information. Thanks for reminding me. When I was still taking a break from missions before we met, I did not slack off in the slightest. I thought of every single possibility for any type of criminal, no matter the setting, their status, reputation, anything.

  “Of course, because of this, I suspect I will have answers for most cases moving forward as well, but you are welcome to help modify them or come up with better alternatives when the time comes. However, I'm sure you understand. Someone of our intelligence with no distractions for weeks on end is bound to do something like that. Your uncle’s case was beyond abnormal, however, so I actually did require quite a bit of your help to form the strategy for that,” said Hiroshi, continuing to gaze up at the sky.

  “Yes, I understand. Now that you mention it, I did something very similar when my parents and I went on trips. I was often left alone in hotels and tents while they went to help people, and during that time, I would think of every possible situation these people could be in based on what I had heard and memorized from my parents and the news. Then played a little game where I would see if my guesses were correct by looking into the files my parents left behind detailing every situation they were in charge of. Finally, I would instantly come up with solutions to the problems to test if the adults could come up with the same.