Darker Than Love

WHISPERS IN THE DARK STREETS

Later that afternoon, with the heavy rains still continuing to pour down over a big area in the city of Tokyo, Jin Sasai is also about to begin his own investigation by himself.

After being ordered for an emergency situation a while ago, Jin finds himself driving across the district on a mission in regards to what had happened in Shibuya with Sakamoto this morning.

How bold, it had been. Too far from what they have been expecting to come...

The enemies' actions seem to get even much bolder and more rampant just as the big promotion is also nearing its announcement date. All the more reason for the Yanagi family to finally be more alarmed and start making as many countermeasures as they could until that very big day comes. Since anyone in the family can be the next victim now, and Kenji Yanagi is really getting so frustrated knowing how extensive its evident risk has become.

Even Jin Sasai could be in the danger of getting targeted anytime by any attack soon. And he also has to be more prepared from now on for any worst-case scenario heading his way.

Kenji Yanagi had also called him earlier this morning to provide him the details about the exact implications of the whole incident and other conflicts that are affecting some of their nearby territories. Knowing the personality of the young temperamental boss, Jin is very sure that Kenji would eventually seek his bloody vengeance against all of his enemies once he finally finds the root cause of all these bullshits. It would really be far more than anything but awfully ugly, for sure. Especially now when no one can really tell what's about to happen after this and neither could anyone ever predict how it's going to be before the promotion day finally comes.

The only thing apparent here is the fact that the entire Dojima clan is completely going under mayhem with all the problems starting to break apart its alliances. Members are already choosing sides, there's no stability in most of the finances. And it is only a matter of time before someone dies again after this most recent incident. The threats are already all out there, and they're just mocking everyone.

Yet the most ultimate question is still left unanswered to the rest... Who is the real traitor here?

Jin Sasai is still so baffled with all these ongoing thoughts as he absentmindedly takes a turn at an intersection and soon enters the shady streets of Kabukicho. He has been asked to look for something he could find within the Shinjuku area that could possibly link all the suspicious accidents happening in their family with the killing attempts done against the Yanagi boss.

After a few more minutes of roaming around the vicinity, Jin eventually stops his car and parks by the front of one of the infamous nightclubs known in the Kabukicho ward. He looks at the view of its old brick building as he discards the stick of cigarette he has been smoking at the time before he finally gets out of the vehicle.

The rains have finally stopped, but the sky is still dark with thick clouds blocking the sun over the cold harsh weather. Jin walks up to the front stairs right to the entrance and nonchalantly walks into the establishment despite the emboldened letters of the "closed" sign displayed in front. The big sliding door opens at ease since it is not really locked after all. And as soon as Jin steps into the place, he immediately breathes in the pungent smell of stale beer invading the air inside the club, mixed with the strong scent of cigarette smoke.

He quickly zeroes in the lanky tall guy standing behind the bar counter from the distance. The only man inside the place also stops and blinks as he meets Jin's stare and pauses from wiping the glass he has been holding in his hand.

"Mr. Sasai?"

Jin confidently struts across the empty space of the club, merely nodding his head towards the other guy. And as he approaches him from the other side of the bar, Jin loosely rests an arm on top of the counter between them and gives the thin guy a silent gaze. Jin's tall and brawny figure is already too much to look at as the weaker guy who just stands before him, immediately slouches and inadvertently looks away, obviously looking very intimidated by Jin's presence.

"Give me my usual, Horiuchi."

Upon hearing Jin's request, the puny man immediately reaches for a few bottles behind him and starts mixing booze on a metal container. It only takes him a couple of minutes before he finally puts a drink coaster right on the counter in front of Jin and serves him his favorite drink, a Steamroller.

Jin takes a moment before he casually takes a sip, basking into silence as he tries to feel the hot chilling slide of the alcohol slowly flowing down his throat as it hits the top of his stomach with a flaming sensation. Horiuchi watches quietly from behind the bar as he waits for Jin to say anything because there's really no other reason for him to be suddenly barging into the empty club at this time of day aside from something Yakuza-related he needs to check with him.

There have only been a few people that Jin trusts around the town as his informant. And given that, this thirty-four-year-old bar-owner by the name of Asahi Horiuchi is just one of those rare numbers. Horiuchi has been working in the night district for most of his life and had even inherited the nightclub from his parents when they died ten years ago... And when Jin had saved Horiuchi from being ransacked by a few mobsters in the district, Horiuchi had sworn his loyalty to the man and eventually became one of his reliable sources in getting the dirty deets surrounding the Kabukicho ward.

And today is just that very same day that Jin would need Horiuchi's cooperation once again.

"You've probably heard what happened in Shibuya."

The horrifying news has quickly spread so fast this early morning right after it even happened. Despite the Yanagi family's efforts to fully censor the media from ever pulling it up on broadcast, the several witnesses and nearby residents that had heard and seen the whole thing happened had been far too many for the Yakuza to actually stop the ruckus from panning out across the region.

It is already too bad that this has to happen to the family out of all the times during the ongoing debacle with the upcoming promotion day. And now it is even much more troubling that the f*****g enemy is still all out there but unknown to their knowledge.

"I want to know what suspicious things you've come across around here lately. Don't care if it's all useless, I need everything you've got," Jin then adds this after a long beat, as soon as he sips from his drink again with his voice laced in a heavy harshness of authority.

Horiuchi takes a moment as he stares back at the big guy in front of him. Jin, on the other hand, just patiently waits and lights a cigarette he pulls out from the inside of his suit. After another minute of stillness, the smoke blasting a fog between the two men, Horiuchi finally moves and leaves the counter, walking his way towards the front door and shuts it close, even locking it from the inside. And as soon as he is done with it, he quickly goes back to Jin.

But this time, he chooses to sit on the stool beside him instead.

"To be honest, Mr. Sasai," Horiuchi finally begins with those words in a faint voice then he goes on speaking more as he sounds apparently worried and scared, "I might have heard something really frightening."

_____________________________

It's already closing into the evening when Kenji Yanagi finally comes back to his main headquarters and enters his building with an obvious bad look on his face.

He still could taste the heavy anger boiling just in the middle of his throat and he is almost too tempted to shout out his entire rage. Sakamoto is still unconscious and had to undergo a couple of surgeries to remove his left lower leg and to fix his broken arm that he got after falling down from the building because of the explosion. It has been already hard to accept the fact that Kenji's men are still fighting for life and death at the hospital but it has been far too worse to discover that Sakamoto had to lose a part of his body.

This is not just an ominous challenge that Kenji Yanagi has to solve and get revenge from, this is already an all-out war.

He needs to find that motherfucker, as soon as possible, no matter what. He has to get him and let him have the taste of a pure searing vengeance he deserves.

As soon as Kenji embarks on the elevator he orders his men to put tight security around the building and make sure that no one unidentified nor given permission to enter the premises is allowed to get pass through the gates. Kenji will hold separate ongoing surveillance and will also make sure to check everyone that is staying inside the headquarters through their actions. Anyone who is found suspicious will be immediately put in solitary confinement and get interrogated.

Another thing that Kenji is also keeping in mind the whole day, is the entire identity of Cherry who is now living with him in his own place. The sudden reminder of her previous attempt to kill him at the club the other night quickly comes into mind as Kenji was again triggered by those events that have led to Sakamoto's misfortunate case. And as he mentally weighs in the next action he is about to do, he bites on his lip.

The elevator doors finally ping open just a moment after and Kenji steps out of the metal platform, emanating a menacing aura as he enters the room, receiving a bow from the young man he had ordered to guard the place for today due to Jin's absence.

Kenji barely gives the man a glance as he continues to just walk across the place until he soon finds Cherry comfortably sitting on his king-sized bed while quietly looking out to the view by the window.

She looks so oblivious about everything, but all that pretense of a play should finally stop here. Kenji is already done with all these foolish games, and he strongly needs the real answers.

"Cherry."

The heavily implied sound of her name being spoken from a near distance instantly jolts Cherry from where she has been sitting as she turns and finds Kenji standing beside the bed, staring at her with sharp heated eyes. He looks so angry and threateningly sinister as he still continues to gaze deeply at her.

"You came back earlier today..." is all that Cherry could manage to say back as she nervously looks his way.

"I believe we have an unfinished business that needs to be done, haven't we?"

His question has been thrown at her in eerie calmness. A mocking smile also forms on Kenji's lips but his voice has gone much deeper and even more condescending as he continues to loom over her with his shadow hovering over her direction.

"Y-yeah... I guess w-we have." But it feels like this meant something different from what Cherry actually knows. Yet she still tries to keep herself composed as she chooses to go with the flow of his words.

"So why won't we continue from where we left off now, Miss Cherry?"

She gulps audibly as he obviously takes an evident pause as they hold each other gaze.

"Or should I say, Miss... Aoi Chiba?"

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