Original Love

Episode Twenty-Two

There are no limits to what one man can do without hesitation for the sake of his principles and his own volition. His family. The beliefs and his own ideologies, these are things a man who has sworn his complete loyalty and sincerity to his words would never forsake in his whole life.

Being a Yakuza could be simply described like that, but it has never been that simple at all. Even with the tight bond and relationship that everyone has the deepest respect for, there would always be a few holes to fix at times. And at this point, the men inside Yanagi's family are at the risk of being pointed out suspiciously of disobeying this prime rule of the brotherhood. And that is how the ill-fated capture of the young Kira Issei, Yamazaki's spy came to action. Though Aoi had never really uttered any word about the young man's connection to the enemy, Jin Sasai has been long planning the trap for the little traitor mouse.

Three floors down the central office of Yanagi's main headquarters, a dark and very well-kept basement contains a secret meeting hall for chosen Yakuza members of Yanagi's family to attend to. And these secret meetings are not the usual, agenda-at-hand and jot-down-reminders kind of formal meetings, it is for meetings that require much more physical contact.

Like punching.

Or cutting.

Or torture.

It is a place for hell... At least to the ones who had been the subject of such activities.

Kira Issei's low grunting noises echo around the hall that is dimly lit with only one hanging bulb light at the center above his head swaying back and forth as it plays constantly with his shadows. His eyes are all puffy and almost black and blue and he cannot even open them properly. The aching pains surrounding his whole body has been too severe enough for him to feel completely numb now. His vision has even started to get blurry and as he squints to the only thing he can make of through his narrow sight, he tries to speak again.

"Ki... ll me," he hoarsely utters with not much of a sound to make anymore because he has been too exhausted after long hours of shouting and being tortured mercilessly since this morning, "Just... fu... cking kill... me, you... sons of... bi... tches."

He spits out some blood from the inside of his cheek and smirks smugly. He cannot count how many of Yanagi's men are in there with him inside the secret room but Kira knows for sure that Jin is one of them.

"You one f*****g bastard, huh?"

And as if on cue, Jin himself finally speaks up. He rolls every word with slow and precise emphasis as he moves and stops right in front of Kira Issei who has been put on a seat with his hands cuffed behind his back. Jin's normal condescending tone and distant voice take a notch lower than he usually does and the sound somehow feels like it came from the pits of hell with how alarmingly cold and very forbidding it has been intoned.

"I really feel like idiots like you should never be given a chance anymore," Jin adds after a moment, his head slowly leaning down to level his gaze with the weak ones that belong to Kira, "You don't even remorse. You sure got some audacity."

"I don't f*****g care, you motherfu--"

One big smack quickly lands down on Kira's right swollen cheek again before he could even finish that last word. He could feel the snap on the side of his neck due to the strong impact and despite the blow, he still finds himself laughing and wheezing as he turns his head back to face Jin again. Perhaps, all the torture has gotten all his blood rushing up to his brain and he finally becomes crazy. He does not care anymore, he already accepted his fate after this.

There is no way they would ever really let him alive in the future.

"I feel bad, to be honest," Jin's words after a long pause slowly registers inside Kira's head as he quietly waits for any next attack. "You could have been a better ally, Issei."

No, he would not.

"Even if you have been unfaithful to the clan," Jin further continues, "You still earn my respect for keeping your word about that f*****g bastard until the end. Just too bad... that you gotta die like this, Issei."

Kira knows.

"Too bad that you have to be the scapegoat this time."

He does not really care.

"But even if you die," Jin still goes on, and now he has started moving as he walks around Kira and stops just behind his back. Kira could hear the click of a gun just near the back of his ears. This is real. This is it. He is really going to die.

"... you're still a Yakuza," Jin slowly concludes as he raises his arm that is now holding the small gun and points in just at the tip of Kira's nape.

"Any last words, Issei?" Someone else inside the hall takes the initiative this time to ask the question to Kira himself as they wait for him to give his final will. Kira can no longer think of anything, and as he struggles to speak up with his hoarse and tired voice he just slowly whispers it to the air before the last strong blow gets shot through his neck.

"I have..." he mutters to himself with a sad tone, "... no regrets."

Just hours after lunch, the stench of blood and the lifeless body of Kira Issei has been left to be fixed and cleaned up by another parade of Yanagi's men as Jin and the rest of his torture gang exits the said secret hall.

Jin does not even change his whole demeanor as he quietly takes the fresh set of clothes that has been handed to him by one of Yanagi's men and straightly goes to the changing rooms to completely discard the clothes he is currently wearing. As he enters the restroom, he gets a quick glimpse of himself on the huge mirror inside. There are several splatters of blood around his white shirt.

Yet nothing fazes him... He cannot even feel anything. He has been doing these kinds of things so many times already, he had even lost count.

This is what being a Yakuza has always been like. So you should always prepare yourself. Kira's been too young but he has been brave enough to face the consequences. And for that, Jin truly respects the kid.

It would only be either you die for the brotherhood or you kill for the brotherhood. That is the golden rule, and no one can ever break it once you enter this kind of life.

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