Kouzo walked out of the shower, dried with a towel and walked towards the mirror. He looked at his face intently, his eyes wandering along the scar he had across his face. He could still remember the night it happened, the flashing of the knife, the smell of his blood, the only time he had lost a fight in his life. He usually daydreamed of paying back the pain he felt that day to the man that caused it. It would be so easy. He knew where he was, where his son went to school, he could go and cause him all the pain in the world. But Kouzo was not one to indulge in fantasies. He knew going after personal vendettas would compromise the business, and no matter how much he would enjoy it, he wouldn't risk that.
His phone rang. Recognizing the number he immediately picked up.
"Hey... Yeah, I saw the announcement last night. I've been looking into it like you asked. It's not going to be easy... Sure I can do it, but Okumura is pretty paranoid, and is paying for top notch security. Yeah, him, his daughter, the Sugimura kid, they're all well protected. It's going to take some time, especially if you want it to look like an accident... Ok. I'll let you know."
He hung up. He searched through his contacts and made a call.
"Hey kid. I just got the go ahead on the Okumura thing. I need you to keep up with the surveillance... Yeah, the boss insists on it looking organic, so get that big brain of yours working on how to do it... Ok... Hey, what happened with that other thing I asked you to do?... You did?... Great, keep it up. Don't let that bitch out of your sight."
-----
Please stop... please... I can't watch this anymore... please
Akira was on his knees. He was crying. He couldn't talk anymore, his voice long gone from all the screaming and begging he had done. In front of him were Sae and Makoto, being slowly consumed by the fire that had drawn him there. By his side, the other Akira watched, seemingly pleased with the spectacle, a cruel grin rested across his face.
Please... please... I'll do anything... just don't let them suffer anymore...
Suddenly, the other Akira turned towards him.
"Oh? Are you finally ready to help them?"
What... what am I... what are you saying? I tried to help! I can't move... I'm stuck here...
"Think about it, Akira..." The other Akira said, looking at him with his yellow eyes without blinking, getting close to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're always doing the same thing... you're in the dark so you search desperately for light. You always come here..."
The other Akira leaned towards him and whispered in his ear. As Akira heard what he was saying his eyes grew wider, his breathing faster and faster. He fell backwards and furiously denied what the other Akira was saying with the movement of his head, making futile attempts to scream.
"Why deny it? You moved just fine just now, didn't you? You know it's the truth..."
Akira looked at the other with horror. He then looked at Sae and Makoto, both screaming, both begging for him to help them. Akira stood up and took a step back, then another.
"Wait!" He heard Makoto say, "don't go... Akira? Akira! Akira!! Akira!!!"
He turned around towards the darkness and started walking, each step faster than the last until he was running as fast as his legs could go. He ran and ran into the dark, which seemed to go on and on while he heard Makoto still screaming his name.
"Akira? Akira, wake up!"
He woke up in his bed, his mind still confused. Next to him was Makoto, looking worryingly at him.
"You were having another nightmare." She said. It wasn't a question.
"Yeah." He replied.
"You can't remember this one either?" She asked.
"No." Akira lied.
"Ok..." said Makoto with a sigh. She looked at him lovingly for a second, before looking away. She thought about the day before, and how close they've been to having a full fledged fight.
Come on Makoto. You know what's happening. He's had to endure a lot this week, he's worried about you, he's been under a lot of stress and that's why he's snapping at you. It's not his fault. I just have to lighten up a little. He is doing a lot better now, I can stop being so paranoid about his health and give him some space. This is almost over. I just have to have a little more patience and all of this will be behind us.
"Let's get your wounds cleaned up."
Makoto took out the bottles of medicine and the bandages. Akira removed his shirt and sat still. Makoto removed his bandages and looked carefully at his chest wound. Makoto smiled. It seemed to be completely closed, the deep pink color she had seen over the days almost gone. The rest of his body seemed to be in great shape too. Akira noticed her smiling.
"So, good news?" he asked.
"Yes. I'm not a doctor, but from what I read about this, It seems you're almost completely healed."
"That's good to hear..." Akira said. He then looked down. "I... I missed you last night."
Makoto's heart skipped a beat. "I.. I missed you too." She said. After that, they both kept quiet, worrying that anything they said would have the wrong reaction on the other. They stayed that way until Makoto was done with the treatment.
"I'm done," said Makoto, putting away the medicines and grabbing her bag, getting ready to leave. "I'll ask Tae to come and take a look at you as soon as she can. Depending on what she says I may not need to keep doing this anymore..."
Akira wondered when Makoto got so familiar with the doctor to start calling her by her first name. He wanted to ask her but decided against it.
"Ok... Will you still come later for our walk?"
"If you want me to..." She replied.
"Yes... I'd like that." said Akira, smiling a little.
Makoto looked at him for a second, and returned his smile. "Ok... I'll come back later then."
-----
A couple of hours later, Futaba came upstairs.
"Good morning!"
"Hey Futaba. Good morning to you too." said Akira smiling at the girl.
"Ummm, someone's in a better mood. Something good happen?"
"Yeah... Makoto says my wounds look healed. It seems this is almost over."
"That's great!"
"Yeah..."
"So... I came here to tell you... I looked into this Sugimura guy."
"Did you find something?"
"Well, yes and no. The thing is, this family has a lot of money, and I think they have a good PR firm managing their image, and that includes Haru's fiance. So when I went digging, I couldn't find anything... Everything about the man was squeaky clean."
"Too clean, right?"
"That's what I thought too. So I went digging a little further and found a couple of articles that mentioned him. The articles were deleted, but their headline's are still indexed on the site. Both headlines mentioned partying, and one of them mentioned Shinjuku. Now, guess what paper ran the articles?"
"Ohya's?"
"Bingo! Why don't you try calling her?"
Akira picked up his phone and called. A couple of rings later, she picked up.
"Hey kid! It's been some time since we talked. How are you doing?"
"Hey Ohya. I'm much better now, thanks."
"Well, that's good to hear. So, what do you want?"
"Can't a guy just call to see how his friend is doing?" Akira asked.
"Not any guy I know. Come on, spill."
Akira chuckled. "Ok... Did you hear about the Okumura announcement? I happen to be friends with the bride to be and-"
"Of course you are." cut in Ohya. "Is there any girl in imminent danger in Tokyo you're not friends with?"
"What do you mean imminent danger?"
"The groom, of course. He's a real piece of work. A colleague of mine wrote a couple of articles about his adventures here in Shinjuku, and got canned for it. Inei Sugimura is violent, a total pervert, and has a thing for underage girls."
"Shit." Akira said.
"Surprised?"
"More like tired of being right... I need to do something to stop that wedding..."
"Of course you do." said Ohya, her voice filled with sarcasm. "Just be careful this time, ok? The Sugimuras are not monsters like Kaneshiro, but... Wait a minute, that's it!"
"That's what?"
"I just told you he had a thing for underage girls, right? Now, where in Shinjuku do you think he could get easy access to all the girls he wanted?"
"The bars that worked for Kaneshiro!"
"Exactly. And all the creeps that worked there are now behind bars. If only-"
"If only..." Akira interrupted. "I had access to someone who could squeeze the truth out of them?"
"Yeah, like a sister in law or something. Just thinking crazy thoughts here."
Akira chuckled. "Thank you very much Ohya. I'm calling Sae-san right now."
"Ok kid. Tell me how it goes."
-----
Sae walked downstairs towards the evidence locker of the agency. It would be the first time she would go in there hoping not to find something. If Iwai's hunch was right, some of the evidence would have disappeared and She would know where to look in the backup she'd made.
As she approached the door she saw a janitor coming out.
"Oh! Are you going in, Niijima-san?"
"Yes I am."
"Let me open the door for you." the man said while smiling.
"Thank you." said Sae without paying much attention to him and walked into the room. The man watched as she went in, adjusted his hat and walked away.
Inside, Sae went straight toward the place where the evidence the police had collected from the Shinjuku operation was stored. It was divided by each of the properties that had been seized that day. She immediately noticed that two of them were missing. Sae smiled.
Yes! I'm finally closer to catching these bastards.
She was about to walk out of the room when her phone rang.
"Akira-kun? This is a surprise. Is something wrong?... Really? And how did you get this information?... I see... Don't worry Akira-kun, of course I'll help, I promised Makoto I would and I certainly don't want anything bad to happen to Haru-chan. I'll make a few calls and get back to you."
Sae looked back at the evidence, once again amazed at the resourcefulness of his sister's boyfriend.
He still hasn't realized the real danger Haru-chan is in... But that's ok, that means Makoto also doesn't know... They have enough things to worry about right now. Anyways, if Kaneshiro kept track of special clients, and what he found out is true, then it's highly likely that there could be something on the files about Inei Sugimura. I'll have to keep an eye out for him when I review my backup. Good work, Akira-kun.
-----
"Are you sure he won't mind?" asked Haru.
"Of course he won't," said Makoto, "You know how Akira is, he's worried about you too. He's going to be happy to see you."
The two girls exited the station and walked towards LeBlanc. Haru had gone to Makoto's apartment early in the morning, feeling really distressed about the announcement the day before. Makoto had spent most of the day trying to calm her down, and had convinced her to come with her on her visit to Akira.
As they entered the Cafe, they found Akira behind the counter, helping Sojiro wash the dishes. Makoto's first instinct was to protest him being out of bed, but instead kept quiet.
"Hi," Makoto said.
"Hello Akira!" said Haru
"Hey... Hi Haru, how are you? I saw the announcement last night..."
"I'm doing better, thanks to Mako-chan. I mean, it's just like you said, the marriage won't happen in months... It's still very unsettling..."
"I can imagine." Akira said. "Don't worry, we'll figure out a way. I promise. Now, shall we go?"
"Sure." said Makoto, turning towards the door and walking out.
Haru could sense the tension between the two. She thought she should speak to Makoto about it when she had the chance. She waited for Akira to take off the apron he was wearing and walked out with him where they joined Makoto. They walked around the block and got to the main street, Makoto and Akira mainly talking to Haru. As they were passing an old truck that was parked to the side, they saw a fancy limousine pass them and park ahead of it. The driver got out and opened the back door, letting a well dressed man out of the car. The three friends froze when they recognized who the man was.
"Is that?..." asked Akira, keeping his voice low.
"Yes he is." replied Makoto. "Inei Sugimura"
Haru instinctively stepped behind Makoto, her nervousness clearly visible. "Mako-chan... I... I..."
"Don't worry Haru. Let's just see what he wants." said Makoto, a slight edge on her tone. Akira looked at her worried.
If what Ohya said is true, this man is not going to behave well, and if he tries something stupid, who knows how Makoto will react...
Sugimura approached the group, a smile on his face that seemed fake. "There you are Haru! I've been looking all over for you!"
"H-Hello Sugimura-kun. I-It's nice to finally meet you..." said Haru, stepping forward while barely handling her emotions.
"Oh please, we're going to be married in a few weeks. Call me Inei, please."
"O-Ok... How did you know I-I was here?"
"Your father's driver told me you frequent this part of town, visiting a friend who's ill. Is this him?"
"Y-yes... this is Akira-kun, and this is Mako-chan."
"Oh, it's wonderful to meet you. Any friend of Haru is my friend as well." Sugimura said, looking at them, then turning to Haru. "Well Haru, I've come to pick you up. I think it's time we had some time to meet properly and talk to each other, don't you?"
"R-right n-now?" said Haru, clearly dreading the idea.
"No time like the present!" Sugimura said, forcing his smile even more. "Come on, let's go."
"B-but I-I..."
"I said let's go Haru. I don't like to be kept waiting. Get in the car." Sugimura said, dropping the pretense of being nice. As he talked, he took a couple of steps forward and grabbed Haru's arm, seemingly trying to force the girl to do as he was telling her to. As he did, two things happened almost immediately. Makoto stepped in between them, grabbing Sugimura's wrist and applying pressure, forcing him to let go, and Akira stepped between Makoto and Sugimura, looking her dead in the eye.
"Let him go." Akira whispered. Makoto obeyed, shocked and confused to see her boyfriend's look.
"What the hell was that?" asked a furious Sugimura.
Akira turned around and faced him. "I'm very sorry Sugimura-san. My girlfriend here is very protective of Okumura-san, and is not quite up to speed about your engagement. This was all just a very big misunderstanding."
Makoto couldn't believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. Sugimura seemed to calm down with Akira's apologetic tone.
"So this is your woman? You should keep a shorter leash on her, for both your sakes."
Akira bowed exaggeratedly, trying to hide his anger at his last remark. He stopped grinding his teeth and looked up. "Of course, Sugimura-san. I try, but you know how women are. I'll make sure to talk to her in private, like these things should be handled."
Makoto felt more angry than she'd ever been. Sugimura seemed pleased. "I can see why Haru worries so much about you... Akira was it?"
"Yes Sugimura-san, Akira Kurusu, at your service."
"Thank you very much Akira-kun. It's so rare to find someone that knows how to properly treat people like Haru and me. But I'm afraid we really must be going. Now, Haru, can you get in the car, please?"
Akira thought frantically what to say. "Ummm Sugimura-san? I'm sorry to interrupt but, do you think that's wise? Two people of your stature are the focus of attention wherever they go, and I'm afraid we've already caused quite the spectacle today. It would reflect badly on you if Okumura-san was to get in the car after what my girlfriend did. Someone might think you're forcing her to do it. Maybe you should consider your meeting with Haru in a different place, away from prying eyes? Perhaps later, at her home?"
Sugimura looked at Akira. He was not accustomed to not getting what he wanted, but the boy made a good point. His family had gone on and on about how important the marriage was, and that this was his opportunity to finally do right by them.
"I think you're right, Akira-kun." Sugimura said, his fake smile back. "I'll call Kunikazu and have him set up the meeting, so no more unpleasant surprises happen." He looked straight to Makoto as he said the last part. "It was a pleasure meeting you Haru, same with you Akira-kun."
The man got in the limousine and it drove away. Haru was sighing with relief when she noticed the faces on his friends. They both seemed really mad.
"What the hell were you doing!!!" Both yelled at the same time.
"Me!?" said Makoto, her voice full of anger. "I was protecting my friend! Instead of groveling at the feet of that ashole."
"Protecting her!? of course!!" replied Akira, matching her angry tone and adding sarcasm. "And how exactly were you going to protect her? Using your aikido, flipping him over, punching him?"
"If I had to, then-"
"Then, he would have sued." cut in Akira. "Didn't you see his clothes? His car? He has money and power, Makoto. He would have sued you and then your whole future would have gone out the window, just like mine."
Makoto thought about it for a moment. Part of her knew he was right, and understood why he had played the charade he had just a few minutes ago. But the other part was still angry. It was always hard to calm her temper when she was this mad.
He did it again. He thought of a way to get Haru out of going with that prick, while keeping me in the dark, managing me like I was just another piece of a puzzle he has to solve.
Akira took a big breath, trying to calm down. "You know what... Forget it... Let's just go back to LeBlanc and-"
"You did it again." interrupted Makoto. Akira turned to look at her and realized the discussion was not over. Makoto was still furious. Her eyes wore the cherry red intensity of her sister's once again.
"What?" He asked.
"You manipulated the situation, keeping me out of it, like you did at the party."
"What are you talking about?" asked Akira, genuinely not knowing what Makoto was referring to.
"You lied to me. You lied to me about your phone, about what you thought about the party. You planned to take the fall in case the police got involved, didn't you!?"
"I was only trying to-" started Akira.
"Keep me safe!? Why of course!!" Makoto yelled, using the same sarcasm he had used just moments ago. "You're the white knight, aren't you? You always run to the rescue of the damsel in distress, you always have a plan to keep your stupid and reckless girlfriend out of danger!!... I'm not a child, Akira. I'm not some useless thing you need to push out of the way. I'm not a pawn on your chessboard that you can move however you want!!! But that's how you see me, don't you? I bet that's why you call me queen!!!"
Makoto screamed the last phrase and looked at him. She was expecting the same angry look he'd had since Sugimura left, but she found something different. Akira seemed sad and hurt, like he couldn't believe what she had said. Suddenly, the old truck that was parked next to them started and it's exhaust let out a bang. It sounded just like a shot.
Akira went white and immediately clutched his chest with his hands. He lost his balance and fell backward. Cold sweat started dripping from his forehead. Makoto and Haru kneeled beside him, each taking a side, Makoto forgetting about her anger as she realized what was happening.
"Akira?" Makoto said... "I'm... Are you okay?" She extended her hand trying to help him.
The boy's head was a mess. He could barely register what Makoto was saying. Flashbacks of the night of the party flooded his mind. He couldn't believe that after everything he'd done to protect her, this was how Makoto saw things. He felt really tired. But above all, his mind kept going back to the nightmare he had that morning, to the words the other Akira had whispered in his ears.
... you're in the dark so you search desperately for light...
"No... I'm not okay." Akira said.
... you always come here, and they start suffering...
"I'm still afraid. I'm still hurt..."
... they were fine before you showed up. Don't you see?...
"I can't sleep, I have these nightmares..."
... it's you that tortures them, it's you who causes them pain. Why else would I have your face?...
"And here you are, jumping in without thinking, again. I..."
... if you want to help them, just walk away. This light is not for you. That's why you can't move forward. What made you think you deserved the light? Return to your darkness and leave them alone... walk away Akira. They were fine before you showed up. Just walk away...
In the state he was, Akira thought that he finally understood what his subconscious had been trying to tell him all these nights. He had gotten Makoto and Sae involved in this crazy conspiracy. He had put their lives in danger. Without him, Makoto would have never found out about the party. Before him, Makoto would have never behaved like she did today. Everything came back to him. He had done nothing wrong, he had only tried to help, but as always, everything had gone to hell. It was all his fault.
"I... I can't do this anymore..." Akira finally said, standing up on his own and looking down. Refusing the hand Makoto was offering him.
Haru gasped. Makoto looked wide eyed, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.
"What do you mean... I..." She said.
"I mean, I can't be your boyfriend anymore. I can't keep doing this Makoto... I'm sorry."
Makoto was in disbelief. She couldn't believe that after everything she'd done for him, he was breaking up with her. Her anger clouded her mind and didn't let her feel the sadness that having a break up with the boy she loved would normally make her feel.
"...Fine." Makoto said. "You won't have to worry about me anymore."
Makoto turned around and started walking. Haru looked at him for a few seconds, then turned towards Makoto and started running.
"Wait up, Mako-chan! I'm coming with you!"
Akira looked up and watched them leave, tears already forming in his eyes. He looked down again and walked away.