ODE TO THE MURDERED, bonten

45

    "and risk our men? this isn't some prissy organization. Quoia's the second syndicate for a reason, if getting rid of a competing influential organization was easy we would have done so already. their bases will probably be armed to the teeth."

    "so what, we sit like waiting ducks while they openly attack our shipments and threaten us?" Mikey understands Wakasa's diatribe. Quoia's pinned down, but for some reason, they manage to take a fingertip of something vital, something so so crucial that if Bonten attacks them Quoia can just slip Kokonoi's database to the public and Bonten will be exposed, for all their crimes, their lists of stocks, businesses, it would be total ruination. a fucking fatal flaw.

    "what do you think, Mikey?"

    the three men all turn their faces towards the platinum sitting at the table head. in the eyes of Imaushi Wakasa, he sees no similar reflection of Shinichiro Sano in him, pale complexion, tousled platinum white strands over eyes so dead and inky dark—not like Shin-chan who's eyes glowed beneath the pitch black of his irises.

Manjiro Sano is a different man to Shinichiro, and so, so remorselessly he says without a bat to his eyelids, "let's go along with this, for now."

"Mikey." Takeomi is quick to jump with a complaint, even after turning to him for suggestions. "it's a trap, you know that."

"if you have a better solution, i'm all ears advicer." Mikey's penetrative stare makes Takeomi flinch.

the platinum sighs, dealing with Takeomi's irritating habit can come later. rubbing his temple, he states calmly, "sending Kokonoi in by himself would be foolish, we can discuss more about our plans when we get him into this. right now, we should be careful of what we do and how we operate—our choices are limited and we still don't know if their threats are a bluff, they might be faking it and—"

we capture and hunt down the person who dares to slip this towards Quoia, the words seemingly dry up on his tongue before it can be spilled out. like something was stopping him from saying those words, before Mikey could ponder more about it—the older adults catches on to what he's about to say,

"the person who managed to steal Kokonoi's files..." Mikey and Takeomi turns to Benkei as he continues, the gears on his head turning. "if Quoia's managed to hack it, the question is, how did they?"

    Wakasa stills.

    Takeomi cambers his head, "if i'm following your statement Benkei, you're telling me that someone from inside manage to slip out our archives?"

Benkei nods his head. "someone who's close to Kokonoi and is always in his presence. enough to figure out and tamper with his computer to install a bug and expose its data—"

"if you're implying something, just get straight to it." Takeomi says sharply.

    silence stretches on for ages after that, a crease in Wakasa's expression and Mikey's eyes darkening. Benkei doesn't hold back his thoughts. he sighs heavily, shifting on his seat to exchange the weight in his tensed muscles.

"i'm..." he pauses briefly. "i'm referring to the girl. she might have done it."

a white flash of feeling spikes through Mikey's heart at the mention of you. lips thinning and eyes pointed daggers at Benkei, even Wakasa's expression seem to change so uncharacteristically.