RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Fifty-Five: Unresolved

PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

Somewhere in between thinking and drinking his morning coffee, Osamu Sato found himself staring back again at the blank screen of his laptop. The faint ringing of his phone inside the first drawer of his desk alarmed him back to the present. He distractingly reached out for the handle to pull the drawer open and quickly caught the flashing caller ID on his phone screen.

R.

He did not really expect to get a call from that kid. Not this soon. But as soon as he saw that single letter displayed on the screen, he immediately pressed the answer button and held the phone against his ear. The static sound welcomed him and Osamu spoke right away, "What is it?"

No hellos or even hi's. He just wanted to get straight to the point and it seemed like it did not matter to the person who was on the other line when Osamu heard the kid chuckling back.

"Mr. Sato, how nice to hear your voice again," the kid said, his voice sounding a little too nonchalant and lightly pleased. Well, he was not really calling to talk about the weather and ask about how the man was doing. But at least, he was trying to be civil and formal.

"I thought you did not like talking over the phone?" Osamu inquired, leaning back on his swivel chair, sighing lightly, "Weren't you concerned about being traced through this call?"

"I know you're too busy right now," the kid's voice suddenly went serious, "So I will just make this quick."

"What is it?"

"Ami Komatsu. Syndicate deal," The kid did not even waste any second, and by the edge in his tone, he was actually concerned about this newly-found information. "I got a red flag just the other day and it seems like she's trying to negotiate a very alarming deal with the mafias," the kid paused, and after a second, he said in a lower whisper, "It's Italian, of course. And it's all basically encrypted emails and messages, but I got no doubt about this now."

"Encrypted?"

"They're codes, but nothing too complex or I would have not decoded them so easily. Probably, they didn't really think anyone could have gone past through their private communication. It hadn't been too hard to go through them. It was just a simple debug and I've dealt with enough black market negotiations in the whole span of my recluse career to not even guess that this is actually something that has to do with the mafias," the kid explained thoroughly.

Osamu gulped. Good thing he got this fellow on his side.

"So, it's legit, isn't it?" Osamu asked more just to make sure, "She's not a very reliable ally right now?"

"It depends though, Mr. Sato," the kid unexpectedly claimed.

"What do you mean?" Osamu frowned, shifting over his seat as he waited for the kid's answer who seemed to have taken a pause for a moment. Then after a long dreading silence, the kid finally spoke back.

"She might be an advantage for you now," the kid said, but something in his voice still felt strange, and then he added, almost as if to warn, "Just that if you don't end up as her enemy. 'Cause that would really be shitty."

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"I'm going to arrange it for him, don't worry about all of that, Yuko-san," Ami Komatsu briefly smiled as she raised the wineglass and took a small sip of her red wine, staring across the table towards the face of Yuko Amazawa who was now looking back at her. "You don't have to stress yourself so much. Kyohei-kun can handle himself. There's even hardly any news that says anything bad about him now, isn't it?"

Yuko tried to smile back and somehow stifled a sigh as she said, "Yes, and that really eases me. Things are getting better now and I really appreciate your support, Komatsu-san. You've been doing so much for us until now."

"Well, it's always been my pleasure," Ami replied, casting a fleeting glance to the man sitting quietly next to her and smiled wider, "As long as it's for Kyouhei-kun's benefit, I'd be willing to do anything."

You'd be, wouldn't you? Yuko thought to herself, observing the pretentious grin on Ami's face under her eyelashes. Yuko looked at Kyouhei who was sitting across from her and almost wanted to ask him, what are you thinking? He had been so unusually silent since the start of this lunch meeting and it was not really helping at all with the awkward tension rising in the atmosphere over their table. Yuko watched the two trying not to look at each other and as she swallowed the thin slice of steak down her throat, she spoke once again.

"So now that we're done talking about the upcoming event and so," Yuko darted her eyes from Ami to Kyouhei and vice versa as she went on, "I wanted to know the real deal now. Between the two of you. It's been obvious and you don't have to keep it from me, although I truly respect the privacy of you two, I just want to know at least, in case if the media suddenly starts fusing stories of your relationship."

"Sorry?" Ami looked like she had swallowed something as she gaped at Yuko, "What are you talking about?"

Yuko almost rolled her eyes but she took a deep breath and answered, "I know that there's something going on... between you two. And since I'm Kurosaki-san's publicist, I just think it might be better if at least I could confirm the status of your relationship so that I might know how to handle the questions if somehow this entire thing reaches the front pages of the papers soon."

Ami scoffed, laughing a little as she leaned forward, meeting Yuko's gaze with a slight crinkle in her eyes, "No," she told Yuko right away, "There's nothing like that. And yes, we might be intimate at this moment, but not that intimate to get serious, Yuko-san."

Kyouhei let out a faint cough, shifting in his seat, looking like he did not want to be there at all. But he still kept his silence. Coward. Yuko shot him a discreet glare.

"I see," Yuko said, reaching for the glass of water as she slowly took a drink then continued, "So, it's like a 'friends with benefits' sort of arrangement. Is that what it is?"

"It's nothing you have to worry about, Yuko-san," Ami pressed on, her eyes turning sharp as she spoke, "It's just a casual relationship. Both of us know how to handle it, we're not that immature. And so far, no one has ever talked about it yet."

"Not yet," Yuko emphasized, "But eventually, we have to be prepared for when that time comes."

"It'll never come," Ami quickly responded as if she was quite very sure of that claim. Then she matched the stare that Yuko gave her when she said those words, and then she added, "I can assure you, Yuko-san, the media will never release anything of that kind. As long as you keep your mouth shut, that is."

Were they fighting just now? Yuko could not really tell. But she knew that there was heat in those eyes as Ami Komatsu looked at her so intently. Yuko resisted to retort back, she did not really want to argue about this baseless topic so she just mustered enough energy to smile at Ami. Because, really, that was the only thing she knew that will brush off this slight tension building between them.

"I won't tell a soul," Yuko reassured, her lips pressed into a tight smile, "And of course, you know that I won't do anything to jeopardize Kurosaki-san's reputation. There's nothing wrong if you two are in a relationship. And as long as we keep everything in control... I really don't have a problem with it."

"Good," was all Ami said, like a final word. And after that, silence settled back in their table. But Yuko was gritting her teeth inside her mouth, she was actually a little bit triggered and she could no longer look up and feel her appetite. 

So, this was how it will be. She thought to herself, quite disappointingly. Because for some reason, at that very moment when Ami had looked at her with such faint hostility, Yuko almost forgot the reason why Shin had loved Lady Aoi so much to the point that he had almost sacrificed his own life for her.

At this point, there was no more doubt that this woman sitting across her, was no longer the same woman whom Shin had loved so much in the past. She was just a completely unfamiliar stranger right now. Yuko could not even feel anything but indifference for her. And she eventually felt the regret of ever thinking that this woman might still have some of what remains from Lady Aoi's delicate character...

Because right now, what she felt for her was nothing more but disappointment and displeasure. She was nothing special. Just some reincarnation, that no longer resembled the significant past that it had actually come from. 

Yuko, eventually, felt the urge to move on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Fifty-Six