The Cursed Eye

by T L Brevis

  “I would have probably not been suspected if I had only given them to him, since if a criminal of his caliber lived on that street, chances were the authorities probably would not have been very vigilant in that area. Although I will say, It looked like quite a regular neighborhood, so he definitely was decent at hiding in plain sight. But as you know, I don’t like taking chances.

  “Anyhow, I gave him the command to come with their best gunmen and weapons to ensure that his test would go smoothly. That is essentially it,” Hiroshi explained.

  “I see. That was well thought out. Holy, you just gave me a whole lot more motivation to really plan out my murderer cases better. For the last month, 20% of my guys have been caught. Half were released because I planned for them to provoke the criminals and ‘act in self-defense’ when they would attack, but still, I should have made sure those police stations weren’t so close by. For the other half, I just planned them poorly,” said Makoto, seemingly forgetting why he wanted to hear Hiroshi’s recount in the first place.

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Hiroshi has the Noromi, and you have to use normal means for your missions. You’ll improve don’t worry,” said Hakku reassuringly.

  Hiroshi and Makoto both smiled at his words and Makoto vowed to improve as Hiroshi walked back into their room to begin packing their things. Kaito had said that something big was planned the next day and they were once again moving. Hiroshi wondered what it might have been.

  Chapter 19

  “Alright you three, from now on, we’re going to be staying in at the very least, mid-range hotels,” Kaito said, seconds after closing the motel room door after himself and tucking his swaying tie neatly into its place inside his buttoned blazer, speaking to the three boys in front of him with their suitcases in tow.

  The three had equally confused expressions on their faces and stayed silent for a while, the first to catch his breath being Hiroshi.

  “Kaito, why this sudden change? Especially before Hakku and I have finished all of the five missions, and what about laying low to avoid Owari?” asked Hiroshi in rapid succession.

  “Because that would be what Owari would expect. They are expecting us to lay low at this moment, and the second they began doing so, around about the time of our encounter with them, they ceased to remain being a reason for us laying low. The police became the main reason. Now that they are getting less and less suspicions about your murders, something I purposely did not inform you about until now, we no longer have any reason to.

  The reason for us making this change now, as opposed to after you two finish the final mission is because on the chance, albeit a minuscule one currently, that your next mission falls under suspicion, we would not want the time period of just after that mission’s completion, and us suddenly making the switch to match up at all.

  The next part of the plan actually heavily involves you, Makoto,” Kaito said.

  Hiroshi was ecstatic. The police truly were growing less and less suspicious. They would surely stop their investigations once the four of them went on hiatus. He would finally be able to focus on Owari, instead of only their lackeys after this final mission.

  Makoto looked shocked. This was possibly the first time that Kaito had ever addressed him directly, much less than suggest he was of some sort of importance. With wide eyes, he waited for Kaito to continue.

  “Makoto, you said your family is always happy to accommodate friends, am I right?”

  “Y-Yes. They are,” Makoto was visibly taken aback by this, but at the same time patiently waited for Kaito to continue again.

  “Well, a key part of why I want to make this switch, on top of the unnecessary, though convenient and better living conditions, is because at the same time, I would like for all four of us to be integrated into the upper-echelon of society. Your family can help greatly with that. The reason for this is that it will be much easier to get access to high-class events for future missions if needed, while simultaneously almost completely eliminating us from suspicion, unlike if we attended using fake invitations that I would have forged. We would only be able to go to so many events before people would begin questioning why these few people only show up to events where deaths occur.

  “During this time, we will form as many bonds as possible, and do many favors for people as well. You three will not have to worry about that for the most part, save for a few small favors you could do for the wealthy people’s children, but I will mostly cover that area by helping the wealthy with things such as, funding their startups, purchasing stocks in their companies, and things of the sort. Once we are trusted, we can move even more freely than now. It will be hard work, but will pay off greatly.”

  “I see. That will definitely be possible. You can start with my parents. Although they might not need funding, my dad might need you for some other things, and they have a plethora of connections due to their friendly nature. Coincidently, their probably the best people to start with, and they happen to be my parents as well,” said Makoto.

  “There are no coincidences in this world,’’ responded Kaito with a slight smile.

  “Huh?” asked Makoto, the other two as perplexed as he was.

  “Nothing. Forget about it,” said Kaito, widening his smile.

  “Anyway, that is going to be possible, correct?” asked Kaito, snapping back into his stern expression and tone.

  “O-Oh, yes. Leave it to me,” replied Makoto, similarly snapping back into his own nervous expression and tone.

  “Good. All right, let us get a move on. I ordered a limousine that should arrive any second now. We might as well start off this luxurious lifestyle correctly,” said Kaito.

  As if right on cue, seconds later, the limousine in question pulled into the motel, drove past a few rooms and halted right at Hiroshi’s feet, the unique sound of gravel being driven across halting similarly.

  “Mr Kaito?” the driver asked after rolling down his window promptly, zooming his gaze past the three boys and looking directly at Kaito’s chest area.

  “Yes, thank you for making the trip sir,” Kaito said formally, staring directly into the man’s eyes, while the man’s gaze did not leave Kaito’s black tie.

  “W-Well, please come in sir, boys. Arrival time to the Citz-Rarlton from here will be about forty-five minutes. This vehicle provides 100-Mbps Wi-Fi free of charge, as well as three built-in television screens, along with multiple DVDs of this year’s top rated films. I hope that will be enough to entertain you until our arrival,” the driver said.

  “Yes it will, thank you very much,” Kaito said with a slight bow of his head, before turning to Hiroshi and giving him an even slighter nod. Hiroshi assumed this was regarding the choice of the Citz-Rarlton. Kaito probably felt it fitting. They did have a rather interesting history in that hotel, to say the very least, but it was practical as well. That would be the last place Owari would expect them to pick after their history there after all.

  The three piled into the very back row of the limousine, while Kaito opted for the row in front of them, just behind the driver’s seat. Hiroshi had never seen a vehicle like this, with three rows of seating, although he had heard of them before.

  Once four sounds of seatbelts clicking had been heard, the driver announced the beginning of their journey, and they pulled out of the motel to begin their 45-minute-long drive.

  ∞

  The familiar sophisticated and stylish appearance of the hotel room overcame Hiroshi as he stepped in. It did not look exactly like the other room Hiroshi and Kaito had stayed in before, but was very similar. It was slightly smaller, with a few things placed in different locations. The all-around structure of the room was very slightly dissimilar though.

  Despite the smaller size, the room would more than accommodate the three boys who would have to stay there, with Kaito inhabiting the room next to theirs. Makoto had complained about that, but Hiroshi and Hakku reminded him that it was Kaito’s money, and as such, the dec
ision was more than justified. It was still a considerable step up from sleeping on the floor of a shabby motel in any case.

  “So why don’t we take a peek at the next case then Hiroshi? We can just take a look and at least get ourselves familiarized with it even if we don’t start acting on it,” said Hakku.

  “We can’t. Kaito said that he might update these cases at any time when he first gave them to me. He might even have updated all of the one’s I’ve gotten multiple times now, and might even do it right before we finish our breaks. We wouldn’t want to get overly familiar with a case we won’t even get involved with.

  Besides, we’re in the Citz-Rarlton now, we might as well enjoy the break we’ve gotten. And we’ll have to undoubtedly attend some events, so we have quite enough on our plates as it is. Let’s just go with the original plan,” said Hiroshi.

  “I suppose. Wait, Makoto, can’t we help you with your operation?” Hakku asked.

  Hiroshi had never thought of that possibility. It was feasible, but he was always fixated on the missions at hand, and always felt as though that was Makoto’s territory until now, but with the hiatus coming up, that would be an excellent way to both help Makoto, and have something to do in between climbing the social ranks. Hiroshi’s competitive side came out as he thought of all of this as well.

  “Yes, let’s do it. On top of that, let’s make a competition out of it. Whoever completes the most missions, and gets caught the least wins. Only if you’re alright with it though obviously, Makoto,” Hiroshi suggested excitedly.

  “You know what, yea. You guys are gonna get on my turf now. Purely planning and strategy, no special eye powers and hacking skills,” said Makoto, sounding more ecstatic than even Hiroshi, which was quite shocking to him.

  He had expected Makoto to be quite disappointed, as though the two of them wanted to take over his contribution to the team, but it was quite the opposite. It seemed Makoto had quite the competitive side himself. This would truly be interesting.

  “Alright, it’s settled then. Tell us the specifics, how many assassins do you employ? How many private detectives? The limits of either of their abilities? Oh, and you absolutely must give us a fair number and skill level for our staff compared to yours,” Hiroshi said in a flurry.

  “Ok, Ok. Got it. I’ll tell you everything. Oh man, I'm getting excited now. I never thought I'd be able to compete with you two, much less in my own game.”

  “Alright, tell us everything, and make sure you tell your staff they have two new bosses coming in,” said Hakku.

  “Got it. Alright, so firstly…”

  ∞

  “Next on the agenda is an issue that Takahashi brought up to me before this meeting commenced. I will allow him to explain it,” said Mugen Ito formally.

  “Thank you, Ito,” said Toyo Takahashi with a slight bow of his head in Mugen Ito’s direction.

  “Recently, one of my subordinates who is running one of my lesser companies in the energy drink industry brought up an issue of interest to me. One of his main hackers who had previously been heavily dedicated to his craft, more so than the rest of his staff, recently stopped replying to all orders, even blocking my subordinate on every communication platform they would regularly use. This concerns me. I believe Kaito was involved,” Toyo Takahashi explained.

  “What brought you to that conclusion?” asked Naoto Watanabe.

  “Intuition I suppose,” said Toyo Takahashi

  “It could have easily been burnout,” said Sosa Suzuki, speaking up surprisingly, but at the same time, not looking up from his laptop screen, and the sound of fervent typing did not miss a beat between his words either.

  “No. It was him,” said Mugen Ito confidently.

  This caused all heads to turn to him, even causing Sosa Suzuki to pause his typing and look up at Ito himself.

  “He more than likely wanted his little student to get an accomplice. His student probably lacks in hacking ability, and he needed a quick fix for that. That was where this subordinate of yours came in,” Mugen Ito said, maintaining his confidence throughout.

  “I suppose that is a possibility,” said Sosa Suzuki, then immediately after snapped his head back down to his laptop screen, the ferocious typing following suit.

  “That is probably the case,” said Naoto Watanabe.

  “No matter. What information do you have on him, Takahashi?” asked Mugen Ito.

  “I don’t know much as of yet, only his name, but a simple check with my subordinate, and I’ll have everything,” replied Toyo Takahashi.

  “Very well. You know the protocol for traitors. I expect that you will bring me a finalized update for this soon. Do not let this take much of our time. This situation is hardly enough for us to reconsider our previous decision. We shall still wait for one that does, or until we have an easy opportunity to get the job done, whichever may come first,” said Mugen Ito.

  “Of course sir,” Toyo Takahashi said with another bow of his head.

  “Oh, and what was his name, Takahashi?” asked Mugen Ito.

  “Hakku Noroi.”

  ∞

  “Welcome, welcome! Makoto, please show your friends up to your room, Kaito, my good man, what would you prefer? Whisky, Brandy?” said Makoto’s father in his booming tone.

  “You’re too kind Mr. Waru. Anything is fine with me, thank you,” said Kaito in a much more sociable tone than usual. Despite it being like night and day compared to his usual solemn personality, Hiroshi understood the necessity of it.

  “Yes father,” responded Makoto in a timid tone, a polar opposite to his father’s.

  Hiroshi could practically feel Hakku’s urge to burst out in laughter beside him, presumably at Makoto’s strikingly different personality in front of his family, and the hilarious reality of his real personality being identical to his father’s and the man himself being none the wiser.

  The boys walked at a moderate pace to the gigantic and luxurious spiral staircase that Hiroshi had laid eyes on a handful of times, and when they just about reached it, with not a soul around within earshot, Makoto returned to his familiar cheeky personality as they ascended the stairs.

  “So, how many you got?” asked Makoto in a childish whisper.

  “Three,” said Hakku in a similar whisper, although in a sore and annoyed tone.

  “Looks like you’re off to a slow start there pal. Well I went into double time and I got ten,” said Makoto proudly.

  Hiroshi was surprised and impressed. That was one a day, but Makoto’s impressive numbers lit the competitive fire in him even more.

  “I got six,” said Hiroshi calmly.

  “Not bad for a beginner. You should take some tips Hakku,” Makoto said, sounding genuinely impressed, but then extra mockingly when speaking to Hakku.

  Hiroshi did not like to admit it, but Hakku would probably not be much of a threat in this competition. He was of above-average intelligence and would do better than the vast majority of people in this sort of environment, but where he truly excelled was in hacking and technology. This competition relied on being able to utilize each of their staff members to the peak of their capabilities.

  Hiroshi had actually taken about three to four days just talking with his entire team about their strengths and weaknesses, familiarizing himself with all of them to an obsessive degree. It was a setback, but in the future would be worth it for winning this contest of theirs.

  The trio continued ascending the luxurious spiraling staircase until they reached the second floor where Makoto indicated their stop would be. They followed Makoto’s lead and after a sharp left turn, and passing a small door, presumably leading to a closet, they reached Makoto’s bedroom. He turned the knob as if it were the most natural thing he had ever done, and they entered.

  It was quite normal by all accounts, that is except for its gargantuan size of course. It rivaled the size of the Citz-Rarlton room they had been staying at, although it looked nowhere near as
luxurious, it was quite plain in fact. A computer, desk, shelves, and a large bed, all either in black or white colors. The shelves were filled to their limit with schoolbooks, all the way from Makoto’s current grade to years ahead of him.

  “Oh, you’re looking at those books? Yea, my dad thought he would buy a bunch ahead of my grade. Of course, their all easy, but I can’t let him know that,” said Makoto.

  “Wait, but aren’t you taking a break from school because your parents think you’re really advanced?” asked Hakku.

  “Nah. I was able to convince my mom to allow me a few extra months off school, but after that, I also began really seeming down after my uncle’s death, and the school and them agreed that I could take this whole year off too. Back in the day when I skipped a good three grades when I didn’t bother to hide this genius of mine seems to really be paying off. Though, that might be the limit of how long I’ll be able to avoid that boring wasteland. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hear everything you already know, and instead of having to study it like the rest of the kids, you have to study how to get exactly half of it wrong?” said Makoto.