"Niño~~!" The middle-aged man shouted as he tried to approach the silver-haired man but then got interrupted by Bonten's money-maker, Kokonoi Hajime, and Bonten's mad dog Kakucho as they welcomes him instead. This made the older man frown but disregard his expression as fast as he could.
"Good evening Mr. Arcos, it's been a while since we last saw each other," Koko said with a polite business smile.
"Good evening Mr. Arcos, congratulations on your engagement." Kakucho politely followed up with a curt smile.
Hernan Arcos just laughed in amusement at what the young men did as he snake his arm around the woman that was accompanying him in delight.
'These lil' children acting high and mighty.' Hernan Arcos thought, his smile never leaving his face as he stares at the group in front of him.
"Indeed. What a great honor that the infamous Bonten is here present at this old man's party." He gleefully said he reach his right hand to Koko as he is aiming for a handshake, and he also do the same with Kakucho.
After their curt handshake, Hernan lightly pushed the two aside as he is aiming at the Bonten's leader, Mikey. But even before he could take a single step, both Ran and Sanzu stepped forward and stands in front of Mikey and Den like a massive wall that protects them.
"Good evening Mr. Arcos, I would also like to congratulate you on your engagement," Ran said as he politely smile at him and the woman who he thinks is the supposed next wife of the old man in front of him.
Sanzu on the other hand just stared at the man without saying anything.
'These dogs! They always hinder me every time I tried to approach their boss!' Hernan thought as he grew impatient and frustrated with the Bonten executives' antics but his smile still never left his face.
"Ran, Haruchiyo, enough with the useless shenanigans. Let's end this so we can go back earlier." Mikey interrupted making the two men step aside. This made Hernan and the lady beside him walk toward the Sano couple at ease.
"El Niño~, it's been a while, my friend." Hernan said as he tried to hug the shorter male but Mikey evade him.
"Stop with your shit already. And we are not friends." Mikey said as he swatted the man's hands away. This made the older male stop his antics.
"Anyways, I would like you to meet my fiancée, Rika Ozawa." He said as he introduced the woman who was silently standing beside him. The woman then smiled at Mikey and Den. Den who was watching the woman in front of her since earlier look at the woman more intently.
'She does really look familiar...' She thought as she pondered where and when she thought she had met such a beautiful lady. 'Maybe a visitor from the cafe...? Hmm...'
The woman in front of them has long blonde hair and a body that would make every woman in the world jealous and make every man want her.
'Wow, if I were a man I would fall for her.' Den thought as her eyes continued studying the woman's face.
She then looks at the other's expression, Sanzu is being Sanzu. Ran has this odd smile plastered to his face. Kakucho is in alert mode. And Koko...
'Why does Koko looks so tense?' Den thought as she tried to find where Koko is looking quite nervously. Koko's gaze then landed on Rika Ozawa. Rika on the other hand seems to notice Kokonoi's stare and smile at him making Koko sweat bullets. 'What the...? What's going on?'
"She must be the rumored wife," Hernan said as he eyes the woman beside Mikey up and down with lust as he licks his lips. This action made Mikey furrow his eyebrows.
'That's one.'
"Well, I would not let any other woman accompany me aside from my lovely wife," Mikey said as he flash a small smile to the man in front of him. If you really knew Mikey, you would know that was not a genuinely happy smile, it is like a threatening smile. The kind of smile that you'll see after some psycho kills you.
'Oof, the boss is not happy!' Ran thought as he sips some of his wine as he continued watching from the sidelines.
"Anyway, there's a lot of eyes in here. Let us move somewhere private."
----
"What do you want?" Mikey said as soon as they entered a private room, not even giving the older man a chance to sit down first.
"Mikey~ can't even say any congratulations to me and my fiance?" Hernan said as he sits down on one of the couches. He then grabs Rika and lets her sit on his lap. The woman just smiled at the man's action as she wrap her arm around the man's shoulder and then started to caress the man's hair.
Mikey just stared at the man for a few seconds then rolled his eyes as he started to walk to the couch opposite where the other party is sitting. He then guides Den and lets her sit comfortably beside him.
Now that the two of them are seated, Mikey then grabs Den's hand and intertwined his hand with hers, placing their intertwined hands on his lap. This action made Den look at him in confusion.
"What?"
"Manjiro, stop that! There's a lot of people here!" Den whispered-shout at the silver-headed male. Mikey being Mikey just ignored the female and even chose a more PDA look. He then wraps his arm around the women's waist and leaned on the woman's shoulder as if he is saying to everyone in this room that she is his.
This action made Hernan look at Mikey in amusement.
"The last time I saw you, you did not even glance at the women I gifted to you but look at you now?" Hernan then started to laugh as if he is in disbelief as if someone is casting some strange illusion on him right now.
"But taking a closer look, even I would be taken by such beauty." He added as his eyes travels around the ravennete's body.
'That's two.'
"Enough with that, let's proceed to the main agenda," Mikey said as he openly glared at the older male. This action made Hernan smirk, thinking that the lil' cub he met years ago is now a full-grown lion. "Koko, start."
-----
"So that concludes our meeting for tonight," Koko said as he ended his presentation.
"Hmmm... Not bad. I think we should better talk about the other important things next time." Hernan said with a satisfied smile on his face. All he wants is that he and his connections would have an easy pass in Japan's drug circulation and by doing that, he needed Japan's number one criminal organization's cooperation. He will willingly accept their demands, any of them. For now...
"Is that it? Then let's head out now." Mikey said as he starts on getting up from the couch but Hernan stops him.
"Come on Niño~, your always so serious and stiff! Why not stay a little later and talk about some things." Hernan said as he approached Mikey with a wide grin and flushed face, Hernan was drinking throughout the presentation and now they could tell that he is more than a lil' drunk.
"We are not close enough to talk about things," Mikey said as he ignored the man, he was about to ask Den to stand so they can leave but Hernan is being insistent.
"With such a lovely wife, I would be eager to go home early too." Hernan blurted out as he walks back to his seat. "Such a shame, if only I met her first." He added as he smirks at Den with a knowing gaze. This gaze made Den uncomfortable as she firmly tugged Mikey's coat while looking down as she does not want to see Hernan's lustful gaze upon her.
'That's three---'
"Mikey." Sanzu then firmly held Mikey's hand as he knew, no, all members of Bonten knew, that any second now, one more shitty word that Hernan Arcos throw to the madam, someone will be bathed in their own blood.
"Boss, not now." Koko whispered.
'If that damned man died tonight, we will lose tons of millions. So please, I pray to whoever Gods above, please shut his mouth already!'
Mikey then looks at Den who has an uneasy look on her face.
'I don't like it if she's acting like this... It's not like her snappy and confident self at all.' He thought as he started to cool himself. 'No, I will not show her my bad side. Not now and never.' Mikey then calmed himself down. He then sighed.
"Manjiro, it's alright. I won't be seeing that man's face after tonight anyway." Den whispered to him as she give him a reassuring smile.
But for all Bonten executives present, they know for sure that this will be a long night.
-----
09/29/2022