Loving Dazai

THE DRUG LORD

The chiming of the door made William look up. His eyes were full of hope, but when he saw it wasn’t who he was expecting, his shoulders sagged. It had been like that since he started working at the local pub down the street, not too far from his house.

Two years had passed since his sister was murdered. Not only had she been taken from him in the most horrific way, the murderers had the nerve to send him videos of how his sister begged for her life. It was very despicable.

He still wasn't able to focus in school and tap into his artistic rhythm whenever he tried painting. His anxiety level was spiking up. He had heard of this place and a job was offered to him. The noise, the clatter, the constant flow of voices—it kept him calm.

"Hey, William." one of the waitresses walked up to him "Please go serve that table down at the end, the boss is calling me."

"Yeah sure." he took the tray of food and served the customers with a smile on his face.

The door chimed again and his gaze averted from the table he was serving and looked towards the door. He almost sighed in relief. The person he was waiting for came in with his regular friends.

Losing his sister—his only guardian and the last of his family—in such an excruciating way left him numb for weeks. It was very terrible. It was all over the news. A lady in her early twenties, brutally murdered. She was r***d, dismembered and thrown into a trash can in the alley. There were no CCTVs in the alley but their car was traced.

One of them was caught and the others were unheard of. He was a high school student who worked in a small grocery shop. He claimed that he was threatened and forced to join in the act He was given a sentence of only five years simply because he was underage. When the judge read the verdict, it was as if the entire world paused and then shattered. William sat on the bench, numb and resigned then followed by rage as the convict made an effort to look remorseful.

The murder made headlines at first, but with no real leads or breakthroughs, the buzz slowly faded. Eventually, it slipped into obscurity—just another cold case gathering dust. It was then that he decided to take the laws into his own hands.

With a gentle smile on his face “Please enjoy." he told the family he served and left to meet up with the man and his friends "Good evening gentlemen, this way please."

He led them to their regular table which was far at the back, to the right.

"Can I have your order?" he asked immediately after they sat down and put down their orders and after a few minutes, he served them. He had heard rumors about the man, on how dangerous he was and the connections he had.

"He's one hell of a brutal Asian guy. He is so hot! He’s probably Chinese or Japanese and definitely not a Korean. With all the bad stuffs he has done? The police have been unable to land him in prison, they never have enough evidence." Piper, one of the waitresses once said.

"What's his name?" William asked.

"I'm not sure but I've heard one of his underlings call him Kato or something." Piper shrugged and they went ahead, gossiping about other customers.

William walked around, attending to customers and at the same time watching Kato and his friends.

"Yo, kid, go dump the trash out." the chef told him as he entered the kitchen.

"Yes sir." he tied the trash bag and went outside through the back door. He slowed his steps as he saw the Asian man smoking and he walked past him to dump the trash.

Kato watched him intently and blew smoke "Never seen you before, kid."

William was a bit startled "Yeah, I'm new."

He looked at the man. He was graceful in style, elegant and refined. William didn't know what else to say or what to do, so he just nodded his head politely "Uh, excuse me," and started walking, heading towards the door.

"You smoke?" Kato tilted his head and looked at the bright moon "We could share a cigarette." he waved the cigarette that he had in his hand at William.

William rubbed his palms on his apron and thought this would be a great opportunity to talk to him "Yeah, okay" he walked slowly towards him but then he was slammed hard on the wall with Kato's hand wrapped around his throat tightly and the cold barrel of a gun was pressed tightly beneath his chin. "I know you, boy. You've been following me. You work for none of the organizations. So why do you keep tailing me?" His voice was calm and slow, almost sluggish, as if William was a waste of time and space.

Sharp pain shot up Williams spine "What—get your hand off of me,” He was now panicking at the tight grip, he couldn’t breathe “Let me go, I swear I can explain." he could feel Kato's hand tightening by each passing second "Please." he croaked.

Kato liked the view in front of him. Red-faced and popping veins, he inhaled deeply, searching for the smell of blood.

William started scratching his hand and tried breaking the hold he had on him "I beg you please." his eyes began to water.

Just an inch more, Kato thought, counting to ten seconds before he let go. He then pushed William to the ground.

William coughed out loud taking in large gulps of air and he kept coughing. Through his blurred vision, he watched Kato squat in front of him.

"Go on" Kato slipped a new cigarette between his lips and lighted it. His mouth hollowed as he drew in and huffed out swirls of smoke.

Still gasping, William massaged his throat trying to soothe the pain. He sat upright slowly "I know who you are and I need your help." He rasped out.

“Help?”

“Yes”

“I’m listening.”

William looked back at the door then Kato “This is not the right place. It’s…it’s really important.”

Spasms of irritation crossed Kato's face as he studied William with a critical squint. Some nerve the boy had. His penetrating gaze probed Williams as he placed the cigarette between his lips again.