Nogitsune (13 page)

"...This just came in. Daiichi Fukushima, reputed mob boss, has been arrested in a restaurant in Sakuriguicho. According to detectives, Daiichi was with his wife when the arrests happened and Daiichi did not put up a fight with the Yokohama Police..."

"What the fuck?"

Kento pushed the prostitutes off of him as he reached for his iPhone. He put it to his ear.

"Ichiro, it's me. Turn on the news right now. Do you see this shit? They arrested Daiichi. How the fuck did that happen? Did Inato do it?"

A pause.

"I'm going to the compound. Meet me there."

As Kento was putting on clothes, a voice said, "Sorry! You're not going anywhere!"

Kento turned to find a woman wearing a leather jacket, white shirt, black leggings and boots, standing by the door. The face looked familiar and images of her face that killed Daiki Fukai and smiled in front of the camera played in Kento’s head. 

"YOU!" 

Kento went to a drawer and reached for a gun. Before he turned to see the woman again, she disappeared. Then, as out of the blue, she snapped the necks of both fearful prostitutes without a yelp from them. Kento froze, still pointing the gun at her.

"Who the fuck are you?" He asked.

She walked to the bed and sat down casually. She wrapped her legs "It's time we talk!" 

"You...you killed Daiki! I don’t have shit to say to you."

"The name’s Illicit! And yeah, I did if it makes you feel better. Of course, I did it on your boss' orders."

"BULLSHIT!" Kento put the gun to her temple. Illicit didn't flinch or shake in fear. 

"You sure you really want to do that before I speak my peace?"

As Illicit reached under her shirt, Kento cocked the hammer back on his gun. 

"Calm down," she said. From there, she took out a picture and presented it to Kento. "Take it, and know why this happened."

Kento took the picture from Illicit, but kept the gun to Illicit's ear. He viewed his picture to see her, his boss Inato, and another girl he had his arm wrapped around in a loving embrace.

"Her name is Yuni," Illicit said. "She was Mr. Inato's girlfriend. She worked as a stripper in one of their clubs in Roppongi. During that time, he was Daiichi Fukushima's greatest underboss and loyal friend. The rumor was that he wouldn't play ball with Daiichi's son Takashi and that's why he left. That was half of the truth. She was the other reason. Takashi was deranged. Like your good friend Daiki, he had a little trouble...getting it up. So he would mess with strippers and when he was done, he would slash their faces. Well, he ended up killing some. One of them was Yuni. This pushed Inato over the edge. So he sent me to kill Takashi Fukushima. And I did. It was my greatest kill. Fukushima's death changed everything. Inato left the Fukushimas and started his own gang."

Kento remembered the death of Takashi Fukushima. Anybody who was a part of the Japanese underworld was rocked when the heir to the Fukushima throne died. Business changed. People's mind-frames and styles changed. 

Kento viewed the picture once more. Trying to picture all that Illicit was telling him and seeing how beautiful Yuni was, he could see why Inato escaped the Fukushimas. Before he could understand, thoughts of Illicit killing Daiki reared its ugly head again. He passed the picture back and gripped the gun with both hands.

"What the fuck does this have to do with Daiki?"

"You can call it déjà-vu if you want," Illicit answered. "But the truth is you're marked for death. Fukushima gave him an offer. A chance to come back to the family...in exchange for your head on a platter."

Kento chuckled. "Now you're really out your fuckin' mind!"

He flinched again when Illicit took out her iPhone. She played something for Kento: the conversation in Sugamo between Inato and Fukushima.

FUKUSHIMA: Well, at this rate we'll never know. If you keep trying to apply pressure, I would have no problem wiping your entire family. However, that can change if you decide to come back to the fold. All would be forgiven and we can forget what happened.

INATO: You would never forget what happened. Ioka is dead and I won't be surprised that Kento is going to be targeted.

FUKUSHIMA: It started with them. We can fix this, but I won't be surprised that measures will have to be made. It's the nature of business. Think about it. You can have the keys to the kingdom again by erasing those little problems that disrupts the equation. All will be forgiven as long as you give me Kento Karahawa. Send him my way and my men would take care of the rest.

Kento's grip on the gun loosened slightly. 

"Inato was never going to kill Fukushima," Illicit continued. "There's too much history. He'll give you up before he passed up on that offer."

"So what you want? Why the fuck you’re here?"

"I want to offer my services to you. You've been wronged and you're going to pay for a wrong that had nothing to do with you. Why do you think he ordered me to kill Daiki? Daiki was loyal to you. Thanks to him, you're a threat. Without him, you're just another usable foot soldier. I guess you can say that Hideyoshi Ioka did you a favor by wiping out your future competition. Not the way I wanted it to happen, but it happened."

Another shocker made Kento sick inside. The cocaine that once felt good started to do its true damage. He went to his bathroom and threw up in his toilet. 

All the potential betrayals he witnessed during his criminal career, he ignored. This time, he was a part of one.

Illicit came out slowly into the bathroom and stood by Kento as he let out the last chunk of vomit from his mouth.

"It's okay," Illicit said. She took out her phone and made a call. She only said one sentence. "Do it!" She put up her phone and rubbed Kento's back. "There's a way you can redeemed yourself."

"By doing what?"

"Becoming the leader you were meant to be. You weren’t meant to be an underboss. You're meant to be a godfather. Right now, the seat is ripe for the taking."

Kento tried to resist the urge to shoot Illicit. Worse than the fact that a part of her may be right, she had a beautiful porcelain face that should be worshipped, not defiled. He even thought that if Daiki ruined her face when he was alive, he would kill him for her, just like Inato did to Takashi for Yuni...

****

Another day for Robert to be nervous, as he marched down to the Inato compound. As Robert thought, the yakuza were waiting with guns at the ready. Robert just put his hands up and didn’t put up a fight. 

The Japanese guardsmen were confused as to how some American knew about the Inato Compound or why he was there to begin with.

Robert told them in Japanese, "I want to see Mr. Inato. Tell them I have a message from...the Fox."

One of the men went inside while the others kept the guns on Robert. A minute later, the soldier returned and said in English, "Mr. Inato will see you."

The Inato men guided him inside and Robert's eyes were amazed at how much of a fortress this home was for the Fukushima rival. When he went inside the conference room, he could find Tomonobu Inato sitting like a king at the front. The men pushed Robert forward and forced him to bow before the boss. 

"I heard you have a message from the Fox," Inato said. "What is it?"

Robert gestured for a seat and Inato returned it in agreement. Robert sat down and began to speak immediately. "Yes, I have a message from her. She wanted me to let you know that your underboss Kento Karahawa sent that information to the police that got Daiichi Fukushima arrested."

Inato put his head down to disgust it. "And why did she send you?"

"Because I was the one he sent to give the detective the information."

"So?"

"And now, to pay off my debt to him for good, he wants me to send information to have you arrested as well."

Inato paused and slammed his fist on the table. He called for one of his men. He told him in Japanese, "Call Kento and bring him here. Let him explain himself." He called for another one. "Pay the gajin!"

Another soldier presented Robert with a package of money. Then, Inato said, "If you're telling the truth, there's more where that came from."

Robert took the money out and counted it. Satisfied with the amount, he got up, made a customary bow, and left. He stayed nervous until he left the compound completely. When the gates closed behind him, he raised his hands in the air. Not only was the plan coming together, he got richer in the process.

"Thank you, Illicit!" smiled Robert as he took out the money and kissed it.

****

Kento Karahawa gave himself a few days before he decided to head to Saitama and the Inato Compound. He had to digest Illicit's story and the uncertainly of what happens the minute he steps inside. Dressed in a slick black suit, he approached the gate with no fear.

Just as he suspected, the men ran to him with Ichiro Sato leading the charge with his gun in his hand. Ichiro stopped, but kept the gun trained on Kento's chest.

"I see," Kento said. "I guess you got the word as well."

Kento put his arms in the air and two men searched his body. One of them took out his gun and gave it to Ichiro.

"Let's go," Ichiro commanded and leading the way, Kento followed Ichiro inside the compound and straight to Inato’s conference room.

Inato entered from the door on the other side. Other Inato soldiers entered the door and before long, Kento had an audience.

"Kento! Welcome back," Inato said contentedly. "Sorry for the alarms. We can't take any chances."

"I understand," Kento said respectfully. "Of course, I have to wonder why."

"I'm sure you know. So tell me. What made you want to do this?"

Kento glared confusedly. "Are you kidding me? Do what?"

Kento gestured and Ichiro kicked both of Kento's legs, putting him to his knees.

"After all I've done for you, you have the nerve to want to give me up to the cops?" Inato said as he walked to Kento. "After all the damage you caused, I never thought you would pull this. We have a code and regardless of who it is, you never break that code!"

Kento smirked. "If you ask me, if anyone broke the code, it was you."

"Excuse me!"

"Why don't tell these men about Yuni?"

At the mention of her name, Inato took a step back. The shock told Kento what he needed to know.

"The rumor was Mr. Inato left the Fukushimas because of Takashi Fukushima. That couldn't be far from the truth. He left...because of a fuckin' woman. A stripper, no doubt."

"How dare you say her name?" Inato bellowed.

"Who would have thought our boss left because he was pussy whipped?"

With a boisterous laugh, Inato grabbed Kento's shirt collar and back-handed Kento three times. But Kento was in control as he took the pain and grinned more.

"I got something else as well," Kento continued. "He's not just pussy-whipped, he's dick-whipped as well. Are you going to tell them about your deal with Fukushima?"

Everyone was quiet and listened intently. Since that meeting, Inato hardly spoke to his men as much, even closing himself off to everyone.

Kento spit some blood from his mouth and said, "He made a deal with that son of a bitch. He gives us up and he gets to go back to the Fukushimas. All forgiven as if nothing happened. He forfeits my life and everyone else in this room, isn't that right, boss!"