Darker Than Love

THIS IS A GAME

"One hundred million yen."

Gingo Miura finally names his price, but not until he found himself entrapped with threats and Yanagi's words. And with still a disconcerted look on his face, he sighs in surrender. Yanagi grins triumphantly as he leans away and moves off from where he has been sitting and kills his cigarette on the ashtray over the table. He gives the old pathetic manager a smug expression filled with satisfaction as Kenji quickly fishes for his phone inside the pocket of his suit and dials a number.

"One hundred and fifty million yen. Club Pandora. Gingo Miura." He only utters these words and ends the call abruptly without even acknowledging any response from whoever has been on the other line. Then, he stares back at the manager.

"One hundred, fifty?" Gingo frowns at him, his brows meeting together as he looks slightly anxious after hearing the fifty million excess. 

"It's a consolation," Kenji just tells him, as he slowly walks towards the front door of the manager's office. For a moment, Gingo thought Yanagi is finally going to leave him now. But instead, Kenji just gently locks the door on their side and turns back to face him again. 

"Now, for the 'other' thing I'm going to ask from you, Gingo Miura..."

He isn't still done, as it seems.

"I need you to answer me with all the details you know about it... Off the record.

"Perhaps, the fifty million has never been really just a consolation, but still a part of a much bigger deal.

_____________________________

----------FLASHBACK----------

NINE MONTHS AGO...

Two cups of coffee rest on the table without having been touched yet and the smoke from its hot contents slowly rises into the empty space between the two people sitting across each other. Aoi Chiba settles into silence as she tries not to tear up again. It has only been two weeks since Kenichi had been found dead with a misleading case that had been concluded as another robbery mishap.

But Aoi knew it was never really what truly happened to her lover.

She knows what Kenichi has been keeping tabs on the past few months before he got killed that night. She knows someone had planned and tried to kill him to shut him up because Kenichi had probably discovered something from all the investigating he did for so many crimes done by high-profiled people. Someone is still on the loose and is walking away from what they did wrong to Kenichi. And that's unforgivable.

For Aoi, the only thing she wants now is true justice.

Kenichi had died and now the only justice that had been given to him isn't really the one he completely deserved. Aoi has already then decided to find it all out for herself. She has to give Kenichi a peaceful death, not that despicable lie that had been fabricated so frivolously to conceal the real murderer who had killed him. And even if she asks for help, she no longer trusts the authorities after giving her that false information and those unreasonable investigations. She wants the truth... For Kenichi. 

She wants to fight for the real justice that should have been given to him. So she will be doing everything on her own... From now on. But before that, she still needs to get some lead first.

"You have to help me here. Kenichi's death must be given a fair investigation. He wasn't supposed to die... We just got engaged and-" she blurts out then pauses as she tries not to cry again. In the midst of the awkward silence between her and the man in front of her, Aoi finally looks up to meet the face of Kenichi's former colleague and crime journalist, Akio Tsubasa. If there is anyone who could possibly know everything that Kenichi has worked on before he died, it should be him.

Akio Tsubasa is the man who could keep secrets and he's the one who could give her a clue so she would know where she must begin.

"Kenichi and I... We almost became a family, you know that..." she goes on as she begins to feel her heart crumbling upon remembering the memories with her beloved. "He did not die just because someone had accidentally stabbed him, did he? DID HE?!"

The apartment that has been once a very warm place for Aoi suddenly becomes cold and chilly as she raises her question louder than she intended into the humid air hovering all over the living room. Yet the man sitting across the table just remains quiet as he gazes deeply into her sorrowful face.

"You've got to say something to me, Mr. Tsubasa," Aoi pleads desperately that even her voice has now turned more hoarse and shaky with misery, "Anything! Something! It could just be someplace around Tokyo, or an object, anything about a case he's been involved in before... Even just a NAME!"

"Kenji..." At the first second... The word has only been softly murmured in a faint whisper but Aoi quickly perceived it as her eyes widen upon hearing Akio finally responding back. 

"Yanagi of the Dojima Clan... That's the only thing I could tell you, for now, Miss Chiba."

Kenji Yanagi... That very familiar name. A very scary name... A Yakuza.

"Is it him?"

If it was really him, then Aoi will surely be treading on very dangerous grounds. But there's no turning back now. There's nothing to feel scared of anymore, she needs to know who killed Kenichi and WHY. And maybe... She would kill that person too.

"I'm not sure," Akio hesitates, "But it'll be best if we don't dig deeper than this anymore, Miss Chiba. Kenichi would never want you to get involved anymore.

"Right... He will stop her here. But Kenichi is dead... And so is any hope for her after this. If she's just going to live on without Kenichi then might as well die for him. 

"That's fine."

Her pretentious face quickly masks her intent as she looks back to Akio. He does not have to know anything about what she's planning now. After all, what he had already provided is more than enough for her to move away and begin on a new chapter.

"That's all I need from you, I guess."

"Miss Chiba?" The confusion in his eyes shows as he blinks back at her.

"Thank you, Mr. Tsubasa. For everything..." Aoi just tells him, her words merely registering but she tries her best not to give the man anything to worry about. She's going to move on alone and she must forget everything about what she used to be like in the past.

This is now the beginning of her new story.

"Kenichi and I will forever be grateful for your help," she says this in a way that she's almost saying goodbye. "I'll have to move on."

That is also true... Aoi is moving on.

But with a new life... A new identity... And a new purpose.

This is now a new book about a new genre. And this is no longer just a melodrama.

This is now a REAL darker story with no guarantee of a good ending.

_____________________________

----------BACK TO PRESENT---------

The soft ringing of the phone brings Cherry back to her present.

That's right... Ayako died. And now she's waiting for what's coming for her after this. She quickly notices the huge figure of Jin as he raises a hand and answers a call on his phone.

She only watches as he stays silent while listening to whoever has been talking from the other end. Then after a few seconds, Jin finally replies.

"Understood, Boss."

That has only been his reply before he finally ends the phone call and smoothly turns his head to meet her eyes. Cherry's first reaction has been to avert her eyes and look away.

It is strange and she feels a little dumb for acting that way. But before she could speak on her side, Jin suddenly appears in front of her. Aoi looks up and sees his poker face just staring down at her.

"You need to come with me, Miss Cherry."

"To where?"

But Cherry already knows what he meant about coming with him.

"Boss Yanagi is waiting for us inside his car at the parking lot right now."

"What about Ayako?"

As soon as she mentions it, the two of them instinctively give the corpse that has been lying on the floor near them a sidelong glance and quickly notice how it looks even more different and ghastly now than it had been a while ago.

"Someone will clean up the place after we leave. And it's no longer important. She's dead." Jin just briefly answers as he returns his eyes towards Cherry.

No longer important, he says. For some reason, that really hurts Cherry as a woman even when she isn't really too familiar with Ayako. She might not have been acquainted with her for that long enough, but Ayako still had been one of the nicest girls Cherry met in this club. Poor woman. But it's been inevitable and now, Cherry just has to live on in the present.

"Am I going to get killed tonight?"

She asks this question again, but she does not really feel anxious nor scared at all. She even expects it now. But Jin just refuses to answer back as he motions her to move instead.

"We really need to leave, Miss Cherry."

Cherry already knows he isn't one to give her too many clues about Yanagi's plans. So she eventually stands up from the couch with no other choice. But she still pauses and stares at Jin for a moment, deciding to test him out for a little bit.

"What if I don't want to go with you."

Her statement immediately brings a complete change to Jin's aura. His eyes slowly squint at her as he freezes from where he has been standing, waiting for her to leave before he finally responds.

"Then I have no choice but to take you by force," he tells her without even blinking, "It's up to you, though. Do you want me to carry you out of here in the most ungentlemanly way or are you going to walk and leave peacefully with your pride still intact, Miss Cherry?"

For some reason, Cherry suddenly laughs at the way he just said those words to her. It somehow just sounded so funny to her ears. She then gives him a long stare as she raises a brow at him.

"You're quite meaner than you look, Jin."Jin's eyes widen a little as he takes note of how Cherry has just addressed him by his first name without even asking. But he quickly lets it go for now as his boss Yanagi's orders play over in his head again.

"Good for you to know, then," he only replies, "So, can we leave now? Do I have to carry you out?"

"I'll walk..." Cherry quickly tells him as she starts walking her way towards the door, "I can leave this place on my own feet."

"As you say so, Miss Cherry," Jin just courteously responds back and even when Cherry does not see him since he is now behind her, she knows he's bowing at her. She smirks again as she opens the door to step out of the room.Things seem to get even more interesting now, huh? Everything just somehow falls into place like it's been fated.

This is it then... The counterattack has already been made.

NOW LET THE DEVIL'S GAME REALLY BEGIN.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------