RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Fifty-Four: Greediness

PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

"So, I found something about what you had asked me just recently," Osamu Sato sat on the sofa across Yuko Amazawa's office that afternoon, four days since the party gathering, and looked at her from his seat. He had in his hands a flash drive that he gently placed on the coffee table before him and said, "It appears to be that there's really nothing much that intriguing from that guy. But yeah, I knew him a couple of years back."

"So he's clean?" Yuko inquired, her eyes still drawn to the documents she had been reading from her computer that were sent by her other client. She kept her hands busy as she typed down some important notes on a notepad file while conversing with Osamu at the same time.

"Well, we can't be sure yet. Ebisu isn't particularly showy when it comes to his work and other stuff. Very introverted and also kind of reserved," Osamu sighed as he leaned back on the cushion, "But, of course, he could still be one of the bad guys. Just because we couldn't find a single flaw in him at this moment, doesn't mean he's not prone to do anything suspicious or evil. After all," Osamu paused, slightly tilting his head to the side, "He's still a human."

"Even with such a wide variety of resources," Yuko remarked with a smirk behind her desk, her fingers pausing as she glanced at Osamu, "You still didn't see anything interesting about that man? Hm."

That was unusual. And Osamu also found that peculiar. Ebisu might actually be the kind of guy they really had to look after closely. He was like a blank canvass, anything could be made out of him, but there was no assurance if it would be either good or bad. The only way to get a better judgment of what he really was is to be wary and cautious of his next steps.

However, despite this new dilemma that they were now going to add to the long lists of their own recurring problems, Yuko Amazawa still had to solve the mystery about the threats. It was one thing that she got the anonymous call and Kyouhei received the written death threats, but it would be another if it started to become a frequent incident. Since the first anonymous call that Yuko Amazawa, there had been four more others that were either silence static on the other end or a modulated voice just giving harmless warnings like the first one.

So far, Yuko did not really feel anything critically concerned about her safety yet. However, she knew that there was still a possibility of these threats going overboard and eventually becoming likely more dangerously serious than how it was.

"Keep tabs on him, will you?" After a moment, Yuko spoke up. She looked at Osamu who was now occupying himself with something he was looking at on his phone, scrolling down the screen and smiling at something he must have found interesting or perhaps, funny. 

"Y-yeah, yeah," Osamu said, barely looking at her as he still glued his attention to that phone. Yuko rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. But when she thought he was no longer going to say anything, Osamu spoke at her.

"I heard something very interesting yesterday, you know," he said but he was still looking at his phone, typing something down as he went on, "Apparently, the first daughter of the current Emperor of Japan is finally coming back home after completing her education that she had been taking in France for three years. Quite frankly, in my opinion, it's really satisfying how drastically evolved the monarchy life is today compared to how it had been back in our days, don't you think Shin-sama?"

Hm. Interesting, right. Yuko agreed silently. If the current Royal family princess was going to come home, then there would surely be another social gathering to celebrate her return. "When will it be released to the press?"

"She's expected to arrive back in Japan by next week," Osamu replied, now letting go of his phone as he placed it over the coffee table beside the flash drive, and looked across to Yuko. "Isn't this exciting? A big opportunity, right? That's just about one and a half weeks before the deliberations. Someone's going to make a total show for it. And of course, we aren't going to let that opportunity pass for us too."

"We'll make sure we will be on the front line, then," Yuko leaned back on her seat, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared back at Osamu, with a smirk on her face, "Now, all we got to prepare is a good plan."

"What's on your mind?" Osamu asked in a curious note, frowning a little, "If we get a good grip with the royal family, nothing will ever going to stop us from reaching the top, right?"

Yuko smiled wider, "Is that a rhetorical question, Sato?"

"No," Osamu chuckled lightly, "I was just saying my thoughts out loud. I mean, nothing, and no one's really going to stop us anymore. Or ever."

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"What are you thinking?"

That night, Kyouhei found himself staring up to the ceiling of his dark bedroom with Ami Komatsu snuggled against the side of his body with her arm draped over his chest. They just had some fancy dinner a while ago before they eventually proceeded to a little drinking on the side and soon, without Kyouhei even realizing it, he was back with her in his flat once again, just like the previous nights and they ended up fumbling over his bed and now naked and satiated beside each other.

It would always baffle Kyouhei how it seemed like whenever Ami was with him, he seemed unnaturally unaware of what he was doing and he would just absentmindedly go with the flow as if there was nothing else he could do anymore. 

"Kyouhei?"

Ami looked up and tried to watch the play of emotions on the very blank look that Kyouhei had on his face. He was so deep in his thoughts and she felt rejected and as she sighed out loud, he eventually answered with not much interest to her concern after a moment of silence.

"It's going to happen, isn't it?" Kyouhei asked out loud because that was really what he had been thinking about a lot in the past few days. After that quite meaningful conversation with Yuko at the party by the balcony, a few nights ago, Kyouhei had begun to be more attentive to what he actually had on his plate.

"You mean the elections?" Ami asked, frowning at him, "Are you worried about it?"

He was. But he was not really going to admit that out loud. He was not going to reveal that he was a coward so he gulped the lump forming in his throat and said, "I'm thinking about what it's going to be like once I win."

He was not sure how long he should be keeping up with all these fake confidence and shady facade that he was putting around him to conceal his real emotions. And fortunately, so far, Ami Komatsu had not yet noticed this at all. Even when she was the person he was always with most of the time. She was still so blinded by his charming appearance that she seemed to fail from seeing past through all that glimmer. And now, hearing his words, Kyouhei just heard her laugh. Just laugh. 

Then she said, "You'll going to win, of course. And that would be your greatest achievement. A man who stands on top of society. A man who can have anything he wants. That's what you would be, Kyouhei Kurosaki."

She was right. But that sounded too wrong for him. He never wanted that kind of life. But now he was pushing forth in achieving that all for the sake of false ambitions and plain vanity. Was that really going to be his life afterward? What does he want? What did he need? What does he have to do to make all of these hesitations go away?

"I guess, it is," he still went on and lied and he felt Ami Komatsu moving beside him and leaning up to kiss him on his jaw. He felt sick inside, but he did not dare to show it. He tried to numb out everything else. Then through all of his musings, Ami Komatsu whispered to his ear.

"You'll have it all, Kyouhei," her voice sultry and soft as she spoke to him, "And you'll going to love it so much."

Will he ever? If he really managed to get on top and become the country's Prime Minister, will he ever really love to live that kind of luxury? Will he be happy? Is that what he wanted? The fame, the power, the money, and everything that comes with it?

As Kyouhei got even more engrossed in his thoughts, Yuko suddenly appeared in his mind. Will she be happy then? He thought deeply. Is this what he really wanted to do?

Because if it was something that will make Yuko spare him an amount of affection, even for just a little bit, maybe he can really live with it... Even when he will never really be happy.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Fifty-Five