RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Four: Do You See Your Reflection?

He doesn't like competitions? 

Yuko Amazawa found herself laughing as she remembered what Kyouhei had just admitted to her this morning. How ironic. If General Rei had heard his present self say that in the presence of his past self, he would certainly go nuts. Such a strange reincarnation for that overzealous, selfish man that if Yuko had not been able to see the soul of Rei in him, she would never even suspect that Kyouhei Kurosaki was the reborn version of him.

Was this his punishment for being the great traitor in his past life?

Yuko laughed at again as she thought more about it. At the same time, her driver, Mr. Yosuke Sugine, who was also an acting bodyguard for her, heard the unusual sound of chuckles from where he sat by the front wheel. The old man distractingly gave a short glance from the rearview mirror to check on his boss who was in the backseat. He slowly stopped at a red light with precaution and took notice of the soft smile on Yuko's face.

He never really see her smile that much for the past three years he had been working for her. And feeling quite happy about it as well, he tried to comment about this rare good mood that his boss was showing today.

"Did something good happen, Madam?" the polite Mr. Sugine asked. His question abruptly took Yuko's attention from where she was looking out from the car window beside her and the woman simply smirked.

"Nothing," she replied as the car started to move again, "I just remembered this very... funny joke."

"It must be really funny," Mr. Sugine beamed back, delighted to see that once in a blue moon pleasant smile on his boss' face. 

"Yeah, it is," Yuko agreed, still thinking of the bizarre difference between Rei and Kyouhei's stupidity. Then she slightly leaned forward while meeting Mr. Sugine's stare on the rearview mirror. 

"Play some Chopin for me, Yosuke-san," Yuko ordered, flitting her eyes back to the window beside her as she leaned her back on her seat again, "I want to maintain this positive ambiance."

"Right away, madam," Mr. Sugine quickly obliged, and after a few seconds, the soothing melody of Chopin's "Nocturne op.9 No.2" played smoothly through the speakers. Yuko sighed with a look of satisfaction and great pleasure, letting her ears be tickled and comforted by the lovely music.

This was one of the many things she really loved about this modern era... Everything was more accessible and convenient, in just a snap of a finger.

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831 AD, 9th Century of Japan (Kyoto)

(**during this year, Prince Shin and Rei were both thirteen years old.**)

"How dare you steal from me!?"

The brutality of his anger was expressed through his violent beating on the kid who was now down on the mudded ground and who was desperately trying to cover and protect his head from the young Prince Shin's wrath. Standing beside Prince Shin was also a playmate of his, who was too much of a coward to do anything about Shin's sudden cruelty at that moment.

There were three other kids around them who only helplessly watched with fright and pity as the kid on the ground received more blows on many parts of his body.

"You lowly peasant!" Prince Shin continued to ridicule as he hit the back of the kid near his feet, "You deserved to be punished! Do you know who I am? How dare you disrespect and steal from me?! Huh?!"

The kid could not even give a proper response to the allegations of the Young prince as he kept grunting and enduring the pain and blows that he was getting from the ceaseless beatings. And when he thought there was no other hope and no one was going to come and rescue him, a very loud shout suddenly stopped the entire act. Someone had surprisingly appeared out of nowhere.

The kid on the ground heard it very clear and was a bit relieved to feel that Prince Shin had stopped his violence. And as he looked up and removed his hands from his face, he turned and saw another boy dressed in royal clothing walking his way towards them.

Was he a friend of Prince Shin too? Was he going to beat him up too?

It was very rare for someone who came from nobility to take the side of a lowly servant's child like him, but the beaten kid was silently praying that he would be spared. He quickly repositioned himself and kneeled with his head down near Prince Shin's feet and immediately begged for forgiveness. Trying to bite back the pain and the intense ache he felt all over his body, he wept as he desperately cried out.

"Please, Your Highness!" the beaten kid pleaded, "It's only a misunderstanding. I never intend to steal anything from you, Your Highness. Please spare my life, I beg of you. Please, forgive me."

"Forgive?" Prince Shin objected as he snorted with an aggravated look on his face. He ignored the presence of the other new kid, who was actually the young Rei and turned his attention back to the young slave in front of him. "If forgiveness is such an easy thing to do, then there should be no sense for giving punishments for ungrateful ones like you!"

Prince Shin moved back to give the young poor kid another hit on his battered body but Rei had quickly interfered and stopped the inevitable by pulling the kid up from the ground to his side. Prince Shin, angered by Rei's meddling, abruptly shifted all of his hate on him right away.

"Why are you saving him, Rei?" Shin demanded with manic eyes as he glared at Rei. He felt even more infuriated upon seeing him held the young peasant by the shoulder as if their status never even bothered him. "He deserved to be punished!"

"I'm not letting you hurt someone innocent, Shin," Rei calmly explained, stepping forward to push the beaten kid behind his back, "Let him go."

"Are you out of your mind?" Shin spat back, his jaw hardening as he leveled his eyes with Rei, "That lowly one just stole from me."

"Show me your proof?"

"What?"

"Show me your proof that he stole from you," Rei repeated, speaking in that annoying steady voice of his as he refused to back down from Shin's rage, "If you proved that he did steal, then he will be rightfully punished. But if not... you will let him go."

The young poor kid watched in awe as he felt relieved upon hearing what Rei had just said. But Prince Shin was livid. He knew at that moment, that whatever he was trying to show to the kids as being the Emperor's first son and crowned Prince, will never be deemed significant after hearing Rei's bold statement. He felt the humiliation crawl from the pit of his stomach up to his neck. It ate him and he let it get to his head. And ever since that day, after that one confrontation, Prince Shin swore to himself, that from then on, he will get back on Rei.

He will make him realize who should be the one winning, and whose words should matter. He will be the King and he will make sure to have Rei kneel before him. He will never get a chance to humiliate him anymore because Shin's words would definitely and ruthlessly become and will be the law.

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PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

She never really liked her steak rare.

But somehow, this schmuck just selfishly decided that they should have that for lunch. He even had the decency to brag about his shallow knowledge of haute cuisine, which to an extent was pretty annoying. Yuko could only preserve a fake smile all throughout the conversation as she tried to keep herself from spitting out every bite of the meat she took every time she met eyes with this insufferable bastard sitting across the table with her.

The said bastard was actually one of the most important sponsors that Yuko needed to suck up to so she can keep her finances and investments secured for Kyouhei. She really had no other choice but to agree every time this bastard would ask her out for lunch because she knew that rejecting his offer would most certainly bruise his ego. And this man had been mostly built with ego but obviously lacking in manners, unfortunately. 

She had to adjust and make sure that she won't do anything that might disappoint him.

Luckily though, she still had not yet been asked for an indecent proposal. But she already had been suspecting that this man would do it anytime soon. That was why Yuko had been preparing herself for the worst every time they would meet outside. She knew she had to put up walls and make sure to draw the line between them. There were too many dangers, as she had figured, surrounding women even at this time where liberty and equal rights had already been granted.

"You know the economy nowadays is quite evolving, don't you think? We used to only focus on our own domestic trade, but now we're trying to persevere in the global market. But it's impressive how we can still retain our culture and identity despite pushing for international presence," the bastard remarked, and Yuko felt a bit better to hear sensible things for a change coming out of his mouth.

He did have a point too.

Most of the time, she had only gotten compliments and dumb attempts of wooing from him before, but now, she found herself slowly warming for him. But this will be for only one time. She knew she still had to put some distance. Who knew what kind of manipulative schemes run inside this schmuck's head? He probably felt that she would be impressed if he started talking about business topics instead of childish interests.

"Change is permanent," Yuko replied with a straight face, pushing down the unwanted taste of raw meat in her mouth by sipping a good portion of red wine from her glass. "If there is anything that we must face and try to accept for us to be better and be more progressive in the present, that is change. Change is what has been keeping this society alive for centuries."

"Well, getting old does give you things to pursue and think about more seriously," the man retorted, his smile easily appearing on his face as Yuko met his stare, "Like for an instance, getting an heir and having a family of your own."

Yuko almost choked on her food, but she was too graceful enough to keep her emotions hidden as she tried not to show any form of displeasure.

"What are you trying to say?" She carefully asked after a moment of silence. But the bastard just ignored her as he took his time drinking his own glass of wine.

"Have you already heard the biggest news in the business scene recently?" he inserted after a while, and such note had Yuko's eyes perking up as she looked up to stare at the bastard.

"What news?"

There were a lot of them, apparently.

"The one about the only heir of the Seiko-Sato Holdings," the man shortly answered with a sparkling glint in his eyes, "He's a big fish to catch, Amazawa-san. If you manage to strike a deal with him, I might go all the way for Kurosaki's favor too."

 She already knew that name. And even if he hadn't mentioned it, she was already aiming for it. However, things had been too hectic and busy for the past weeks, that she somehow forgot that part of the plan.

"Is that a challenge?" Yuko shot back, feeling quite thrilled over the offer. If he was serious about this, then she had more reason to push for it.

"Depends on how you would want it to be," The bastard teased back, and as if to make a point, he leaned forward over the table and whispered more to her, "But if you can really make it happen, I would surely give anything you want. Just make sure you get him on our side, Amazawa-san."

Yuko just put on a smirk. Who would have known this bastard could also be this clever despite his dowdy looks? Well, the offer was tempting enough and she liked the challenge so there was no point in hesitating.

"Prepare a pen, then," Yuko smiled, already claiming the prize before even starting, "I will give you a prompt call once everything has been settled."

What a twist. And the two just shared a smirk as they came to an agreement before finishing the rest of their meal. On that very day, Yuko's good mood was starting to become even much better despite that one terrible problem this morning. She walked out of the restaurant, parting ways with the schmuck as she got into the car that was already waiting for her by the front driveway of the place. She quickly pulled her phone out of her bag as soon as she settled herself on the backseat and called her assistant. The line went through right after the first ring, and she immediately provided her firm orders.

"Set an appointment with Osamu Sato of Seiko-Sato Holdings, as soon as possible," she instructed, her demands clipped and precise, "Make sure to confirm right away."

"Will do, Miss Amazawa," the assistant just obediently replied and Yuko ended the call after that. She was still smiling as she closed her eyes to get a short nap before she reached her office again. What a really good twist... Osamu Sato.

Her thoughts were slowly being drifted forward to a likely vision of the future as she amused herself of the promising success. She will make sure to catch that big fish soon, and there was no other way she would never achieve it. 

She will definitely get it. And she will definitely obtain her highest goal just as she planned.

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