***
After looking at his youngest daughter running out of the office, Okhayashi Dai turned to his heir, who was sitting, as always, in his favorite chair. Taking a breath to say something, he exhaled, remaining silent. A few seconds later, Sean finally decided to say something.
“That's good though,” he said semi-interrogatively. “I do not understand your shock.”
“It's not shock. I just did not expect this. I don't know what to say now,” the elder Okhayashi said, tapping his finger on the table.
“Yes, even I don't understand it. Well, yes, he has high potential, so what?”
“Remind me what Ami said about Shina Koyama, when we finally did arrange their meeting six months ago?”
“Hmm, the same thing: Knight. What's in it for us? We should be happy for Aniko. That's if everything works out. Yes, we'll have to pay more attention to this and, perhaps, speed up the rapprochement with Koyama. I understand, a Knight and perhaps a Virtuoso, albeit not in our clan, but in a family, who's on good terms with us—that's great. However, I'm still wondering about your reaction.”
“Look,” Dai rubbed the bridge of his nose. “The young Koyama was ALREADY a Master by that time. Sakurai, on the other hand, is not even a Disciple!”
“Oh.”
“Yes, oh.”
“We should tell Ami not to talk about it. Wait, does that mean that he is now a Master? This is nonsense, why would he hide it?”
“Son, you don’t want to make your head work at all today. Do you recall what you did at the training ground before you reached your current rank? And what he turned into before you confirmed him officially?”
“Well, yes,” Sean rubbed the tip of his nose. “You can not hide this. Wait, what about the Tokyo Dwarf? You've read the report recently, haven’t you?”
“I even watched the tape. That's why I don’t believe nobody is helping him. I'm pretty sure he belongs to some kind of a bloodline with their own range.”
“That's nonsense, father, his family wouldn't let him follow two paths. Who needs a Knight-universal?”
“Right! That's why we aren't going to get involved.”
“Um...”
“You fool!” The father could not restrain from exclaiming. “Name a bloodline that can not only afford it, but that has been doing it for generations!”
“Prince Hisokhito!?”
“His age is suitable,” the head answered calmly. “However, he is just the first one who comes to mind. It's not a fact that it's him. The children of Prince Oama are also suspects based on their height and body composition. You know, they took after their mother in height. These are no more than assumptions. Who knows? Maybe the guy secretly trains the second element?”
“Geez. I take it, you held back our specialists?”
“If I hadn’t, no one would have. Alright, you can go. We'll figure it out with Shinji later. We can't be hasty about it.”
“And yet,” said Sean, getting up from his chair, “what's the difference? He can't go beyond Virtuoso anyway.”
“However, he can achieve it VERY quickly. Or not. When you have time, do some research and find out how many Virtuosos there are in our world.”
Chapter 5
“Where can I find a legit case for you?” I asked, sitting at the desk of my new office in a recently remodeled building.
In general, Taro's friend had good expertise. He had been at it for something like two weeks, but in this short time, he had managed to put a fence around the territory and build barracks, headquarters, one warehouse and a couple of polygons. Of course, all this was done in a hurry: prefabricated buildings are never very good, but they served their purpose for the time being. On the other hand, the construction wasn't anywhere near being over.
“You are the boss, so it depends on you,” said Svyatov. “However, if you do not want to have sixty inadequately prepared soldiers at the beginning of the mayhem, you'll think of something,” he turned to Kuroda, who was standing next to him. “Why are you being quiet? It'd be a good idea to beef up your soldiers.”
Kuroda Asao was now the former security chief of Shidotamoru. Having found a replacement among family men from his previous jobs, he asked me to join the personal detachment. He asked to be hired for any position, but Iwas not a fool and couldn't assign the former captain of the special police forces the rank of private.
“A few drills and they'll be ready,” said the Japanese. “I’ll even identify the objectives for them. These guys started getting on my nerves when I was working for the police.”
“Do you want to start a war before its due time?” I asked maliciously.
“They are not from Nakata Akemi's guild. If everything is done cleanly—and it will be—no one will think it was us.”
“So much confidence,” Svyatov remarked and then he added sarcastically. “Are you saying your boys are the best of the best in the city?”
“Considering our objectives and what...”
“Enough,” I stopped him. “Your arguing drives me nuts. I hope you realize that we can't beef up all our people without exposing ourselves.”
The men exchanged glances, the Svyatov shrugged his shoulders.
“That's why I’m saying: you're the boss, and you have to figure it out,” he said. “I personally don't know anything about the troubles within the guilds, so it's not my place to come up with a plan or make any decisions.”
“Same here,” Kuroda supported him. “When I was in the Special Forces, I had different responsibilities, and I didn't want to butt in. We could poke around a couple of people, though.”
“Who’s supposed to know then?” I growled. “These are gangsters we are talking about. How can we talk about any kind of training? It'll be easier to send you to the Free Lands for a week. There, you can go all out.”
“Um… I wouldn't mind,” said Svyatov. “How are we doing on time? A week won’t be enough.”
“The Free Lands would be way over the top,” Kuroda retorted, addressing either me or Svyatov. “With the current preparation, the losses will be too big. And again, we're short on time. A week may not be enough, because we need to collect the information first.”
I guess this one can't take a joke.
“All right, we'll leave the Free Lands for now. I'll mull over the objectives of the attack, if there will even be an attack. Tell me, what do you have for me as far as recruiting new people?”
Svyatov spoke first.
“Well, since my colleague, who does not know the language of people, is silent, I will begin,” Kuroda only winced slightly at these words.
Alexei always liked to tease him, but he couldn't get much out of Kuroda—a cringed face at the most. I was wondering myself if he was going to start talking.
“Of those of my acquaintances who decided to take a chance and have ranked above Warrior, two people are on their way here. One of them is my old friend and co-worker, the other is my former commander. He’s the only survivor out of thousands from my clan. He's knowledgeable and has the rank of Master. My friend is a Veteran.”
“Why wasn't he taken by the survivors of the bloodline? They weren't all destroyed, were they?” I asked.
“He was offered, but refused,” after these words, Svyatov hesitated. “Let's just say, not all bloodlines took their revenge as actively as the Warriors of the clan did after the Leader was annihilated. He was bitter about it.”
“I see,” I said, ending this conversation. “Does he know how old I am?”
“Sure. I made it clear to everyone right away.”
“When will they be here?”
“In about two weeks.”
“That’s the time it all starts unraveling... Well, what do you say, ex-policeman?”
“Ahem. I have two for whom I can vouch. They don't have families and are not Shidotamoru employees. In short, they are Warriors and former sergeants. Expert snipers. I'll add that I have no experience or training in that.”
“No one is an e
xpert in it,” Alexei noted.
“I noticed that you don't like dealing with family men,” I said, looking pensive.
“You can never get used to meeting the relatives of the deceased.”
“Yeah, it's hard to get used to it,” Svyatov grumbled sadly, looking sideways at me. “Nevertheless, don't forget... Never mind. We can talk later.”
“When will your sergeants be able to start work?” I turned to Kuroda.
“In a couple of days.”
“That's great. I think you can find a place for them.”
“And one for me,” Svyatov said quickly.
“We'll see,” said the Japanese.
Hmm. Here we faced the choice: one sniper in the company or a complete sniper group.
“For now, let them look among our students,” I said, rubbing my chin. “Later on, it will depend on the situation.”
I stopped Alexei from saying something with a gesture of my hand, repeating Kuroda's words, “We'll see. All right, you guys go and I'll think about your request.”
I watched the men leave my office. Then I leaned back in my chair, heaved a deep sigh and started contemplating.
The first person that comes to mind is Yamashita. We could kick his ass, definitely, but to be honest, I don’t like that idea. He didn’t do anything bad to me. Yes, he was rude—I gotta admit that he mocked me, but he has already been punished for that. If it were not for Taro's initiative, he wouldn't have anything to even accuse me of. He saved me money? I may not be an Eraser, but I know a thing or two about playing dirty tricks. He wouldn't have left that auction, but I would have been exposed. Whatever. What's important for me now is that Yamashita did nothing bad to me. He might be planning to, but so far nothing has happened. Don't think that I'm all white, fluffy, and righteous. I just feel uncomfortable doing it. I know that he is no saint, but I feel like I'd be attacking an innocent child. Oh, I hope it doesn't backfire on me.
Next, we have to figure out things with Akemi's guild grouping. This is even more complicated. God forbid, anyone finds out about my attack at any point. There will be so many questions. Of course, everyone I hired pledged, and I explained how confidential it has to be, but I can't forget that more than half of them are young and restless. They go to a bar, it slips off their tongues, and that's it—I can only hope that people will not take them seriously. On the other hand, they might start digging deeper. With that being said, Akemi's guild is not an option. What about some other one? Let's say that everyone around knows about my attacks. What will happen next? What will they think?
The first thing that comes to mind, if you look at it from aside, is that the kid wants to hire men and turn them into bullheaded soldiers. That, in fact, is true. He didn’t want to touch his friend’s guild, so he went to his neighbors. The question is: Why does he even need a detachment? Not many people know about my squabble with Chesuje, this situation wasn't so noticeable... How can I make it go viral so carefully that Chesuje wouldn't come undone? Perhaps, start my own book business? Open a couple of shops? Yes, that's what I'll do. I just need to find a manager... again. Although, I don't need especially trusted people for this job. Okay, I'll leave that for later. Now, since I've made up my mind, it's necessary to figure out what my goals are. By the way, I can make some money on it too—but only if I'm careful enough. They might think that this was my real goal. Screw Garagarahabi, all I care about is what aristos are going to think. Hmmm. What if I make one of my soon-to-be-enemies rob my target? After all, I will collect more trophies. As long as he can’t sell what he steals very quickly afterward. So that I can get to it on time. I can't do this without Akemi because I have no way of collecting the necessary information. What does this mean? Right. Where is my phone?
“Hello, Shin,” the woman responded almost immediately.
“And hello to you, beautiful lady. What are you doing? Are you busy?”
“I'm working.” I almost saw her shrug at that moment. “Did you want something?”
“How about dinner?”
“Your treat!”
This would be the first time we went together to a restaurant.
“Deal,” I grinned. “Name the time and place.”
***
“Girls, are you completely out of your mind?” I said, looking at THREE bentos. “Shina, beauty, what is this?”
“Not a bad way to get better,” she shrugged. “If you cook only for yourself, you don’t grow as a professional.”
I was waiting for her to start talking about the meaning of life.
“You don't think that two bentos is enough for me?”
“It's fine, you guys are capable of much more. Besides, you do not eat my mother's lunch very often,” she glanced at the couple of gluttons sitting next to me.
It looks like she's trying to compete with Aniko. She loves this kind of thing. Competition gets her going. But she never lasts long.
“You understand that I'm not going to comment on the taste qualities of different bentos, right?” I glanced at the quiet girl and continued, “In addition, how do you define 'taste?' Different people like different food cooked differently...”
I put her bento in front of me, opened the box and stopped dead.
“All right, you win.”
There was no rice in her bento. She knew my tastes, devil take her, and the fact that I didn’t like rice very much.
In any case, three bento boxes was too much. Of course, I could eat them all, but then I’d be suffering. So, while I was working on one box, I pushed Kagami's bento towards Rydon. And when I started on the second, Rydon moved his box further along. The girls noticed this, but didn't say anything. Although why would they care? They had one less competitor.
My phone vibrated in my pocket at the end of lunch, when I reached for the tea. I stood still for a moment with my outstretched hand. Everyone who called that number should know that I was in school at that time and would bother me only as a last resort. Good news could wait until the evening. Or until four, when I'd definitely be done with school. While I was pulling the phone out of my pocket, I prepared myself mentally for any kind of trouble.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Shin,” I heard Akemi's voice. “You're at lunch now, aren't you? I'm not interrupting?”
“Yeah, that's fine. We're just finishing eating,” I replied, allowing her to get the hint that I was not alone. “Is everything alright?”
“Huh? I don't know how to say it...” It wasn’t like her to sound so unconfident. “Well, yes, something has happened. I don't know yet how to react to it. Can you swing by after school? I need you. The situation requires... It's nothing bad, just... You'll find out when you get here. Okay?”
Her last words were filled with such a child-like hope that I almost snorted.
“All right, I’ll be there,” at least, if it wasn’t a problem, it wasn’t dangerous. “Can you give me a hint as to what happened?”
“I can, but I'm not going to. Let it be a surprise,” she reassured her confidence. “Okay, I gotta go. I have things to do. Bye-bye.”
She hung up without giving me time to reply. Hmm. Glancing at the girls, I saw three pairs of curious eyes. Rydon took his curiosity a step further and asked a question.
“Problems?”
“Not yet,” I shrugged. “I don't think there will be any problems.”
“But if anything, Shin, just tell me what I can do to help.”
“Yes, me too,” Teijo said.
Oh, if you guys knew what problems I might have.
Looking at the guys, I answered with a nod of my head. I don't know about Teijo, but Rydon knew that the head of Shidotamoru had problems that weren’t quite suitable for a teenager. Shina and Aniko also knew this. While Aniko put on an act of a good girl who didn't get into men's business, Kino just shrugged her shoulders and proceeded with the rest of her lunch. Shina, however, was dying from curiosity. She looked like she was really working on restraining herself from asking any questions.
After school, I went home to drop off my things and change into different clothes. Then I went to the border of the clan neighborhood, where Goro was waiting for me in the car. I had finally managed to get a house with a garage for Vas-Vas.
I called Akemi on the way to her hotel, so she could warn her punks because they didn't know Sakurai Shinji. As I walked out of the elevator, I was met by Dzuno and a couple of gangster-looking persons. When I approached them, Dzuno grabbed one of the guys by the neck and spoke in a very kind voice.
“Remember this guy, his name is Sakurai Shinji, and he's our boss's new partner,” letting go of the guy's neck, he turned to me and explained, “It's normally their post. I'll introduce you to the rest later. Let's go.”
On my way to Akemi's room, I noticed that there were more people in the halls than usual. I wasn't sure if it was because of that secret business she had, or because she wanted to have as many people as she could to see and remember me. Stopping at the door, Dzuno hesitated before telling me, “Well, you're on your own now. I should go.”
Without knocking, I pushed open the door to Akemi's living room. Right away I saw a Caucasian man, whom I didn’t know, sitting in one of the chairs and holding a glass of wine. He was dressed in an ordinary suit, worn by mid-level managers. He was radiating some kind of viciousness, but it was very familiar viciousness.
“Shinji! How long can we wait for you? You're as slow as a snail!” Exclaimed Akemi, sitting in the other chair.
Stunning audacity.
“The thing is that I met an old woman who needed help crossing the road, then a black cat that crossed that road, then...”
“Okay, okay, I got ya. By the way, meet Antipov Kirill Romanovich,” she switched to Russian. “Our headache for today.”
“Watch it, woman. You may hurt my feelings.”
“What's gonna happen then, Antipov-san? You're gonna go home?”
“I'll start cursing very loudly.”
“Oh. I guess I have to be more polite, Antipov-san.”
“I'm getting sick and tired of your 'san'!”
Losing Masks Page 14
