Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Eclipse

Prologue - Fifteen years ago

It was a sunny day. There were no clouds in the clear blue sky, and in the air floated the warmth of the summer season that was approaching. It was going to be a hot one.

The man was wearing a white shirt and a dark suit that stood out against his cherry hair brushing his shoulders. The outfit was not so appropriate for the weather, but that was all the man wore outside his house. He was a police officer after all, and he believed he had to always look serious and professional, even when not wearing the uniform.

Beside the man, a young boy was trotting to keep his pace, shiny eyes the color of rosè wine jumping from one side of the street to the other, trying to take in everything they saw. He had short hair of the same color as the man - if the posture was not enough to let people know they were family, their hair would do.

They had just gotten off the busiest street in the district of Chiyoda and were now walking on a side road to hide from the sun. It was already five in the afternoon, but it looked like the sun had chosen to take its time setting down and tried to warm the air as long as it could.

They were crossing the road when a quick and sudden movement in the alley in front of them caught the man’s attention. He stiffened, his sixth sense waking up right away. Was it…

He didn’t think twice about what he had to do. If it was no threat, he would have been overly protective and paranoid, but he would have taken it. It was better than dismissing it as nothing relevant and finding a big, bad surprise later on.

The man reached for his wallet and took out some money. He put two banknotes in the boy’s hands and reached out to tenderly caress his head. The thin fingers sunk in the soft cherry hair and made a mess of it on their way out.

The boy pouted, and the man found it even more amusing than usual, with the hair ruffled and the cheeks puffed up.

“What was that for?” the boy asked, mumbling the words as he was still pouting.

“Just because,” the man said, his lips curving in a soft smile. “Go get the ice cream you’ve been wanting since we had lunch, Hyouma. I’ll wait for you in the car, alright?”

“Why don’t you come with me?” Hyouma was suspicious, his eyes thinned as his features shifted into a wary expression. 

The man grinned. The boy was getting better and better at noticing little details and at suspecting everything that happened around him. As expected from a detective’s son.

Still, he was barely twelve, and he was his child. The man would have to resign if he could not fool the person he taught everything to.

“Didn’t you say you’re big now, and you can do things alone? That’s your first mission, Detective Chigiri,” he replied, his tone large and pompous.

The corners of the boy’s lips curved in a blinding smile, his cheeks reddening a little as he puffed out his chest. “Yes, Sir. I’ll complete the task successfully, Sir.”

And with that, he sprinted back towards the main street, where he would surely find an open ice cream parlor.

“Be careful!” the man shouted at the child’s back, and then, in a beat, as a light flicks off when its switch is pushed, the soft and loving expression he wore turned into a hard, focused one.

He always carried his gun with him, not for some weird sense of justice or to show off his occupation, but because of his investigations. He wasn’t a normal cop and wasn’t the kind of detective who spent lots of time behind a desk. His work took him to illegal trafficking, drug trading, and that stuff that was so popular in action movies. But this was his real life and his real job.

He took the gun in his hand, releasing the safety but pointing it down, by his side, in case someone innocent would show up or it was a false alarm, and slowly walked towards the alley where he saw the shadows a couple of minutes before.

There was silence there, the only sound the man’s steps on the asphalt.

Maybe there was no one around, maybe they had gotten away in the mere moments the man dismissed his son. Maybe that was for the best. He could not be in every corner of the city, he could not stop the backdoor trade all on his own. If that day he could not help make the city a better place, he would try harder the next one.

Except. When he got to the end of the alley, he found himself not alone.

They were three. A smaller man in the middle, supported by two taller, bigger and steadier guys. There was no doubt who was the mind there, and who the hands. They all wore a white suit, with embroidery on the left shoulder. The detective didn’t need a better look to know that it was a vixen’s tail.

Kitsunezaka .

That was the name of the gang those scary men belonged to, the gang that had popped up too many times during the last months’ investigations.

Drug traffic. It wasn’t uncommon among underground gangs. But the drug they had been importing was different: it was stronger, more dangerous. People who took just a small dose would probably survive and disintoxicate themselves without many difficulties, but if the dose was a little bit heavier there was no turning back. It would quickly become an addiction, completely clouding the victim’s mind for minutes, and then hours, requesting bigger and bigger doses to feel something and leaving rotten and dreadful after-effects.

The detective kept his gun by his side and made no gesture to put it away. He knew who those people were, and the reason why they were there, waiting for him.

“Chigiri Akito, isn’t it?” the shortest man spoke, displaying a confident grin.

“I’m flattered you took the time to learn my name,” replied the cherry-haired man, carefully flattening his tone to mask the innate fear he was experiencing. He was a member of the police and one with great courage if he was being honest, but there, unexpectedly alone against three of them, it was not possible for him to feel at ease, especially when he thought about his son that was wandering no more than three blocks away.

“I’m gonna be honest,” the gangster said. “You are a real pain in the ass.”

Akito’s grip on the gun tightened. Receiving a compliment from an underground evil person was quite delightful. It meant he was good at his job, and if said job improved society, it was even more rewarding. But hearing such praise in person wasn’t really on Akito’s bucket list.

“Or should I say were ?” continued the man, causing a reaction in his escorts that sniggered.

A cold shiver ran through Akito’s spine. Those words were not promising. He was very much aware that just the presence of the three men in front of him was a warning sign and that there were very few possibilities of him making it out of the alley alive.

But that didn’t mean he had to surrender. If they wanted him down, they would have to try their damnedest, because he would not give up without fighting.

Or that had been his hope. The reality had been something slightly different. He’d quickly raised the gun as he bolted to the right but ended up shooting only once, grazing the biceps of one of the biggest guys, before collapsing on the ground.

The man in the middle had stood with a gun pointed towards Akito. He had shot as soon as Akito sprinted, but contrary to the detective’s, his bullet had reached the target perfectly.

Akito was on his knees, the grip on the gun now loosened, the white shirt tainted red as the blood poured uglily and rapidly from the wound. He gasped, searching for air, for something that could stop the pain. His body felt warm, but that was probably the great amount of blood running down his abdomen.

“You did your best, Chigiri,” he heard the gangster say, among the ringing that filled his ears. “But it wasn’t enough.”

He was getting closer. Akito had the gun still in one hand, and the other uselessly pressing on his side, where the gunshot was. He could barely breathe but fought against his own body to lift his head and look at the man.

The gangster's mouth cracked into a smile like a predator's, standing high at the top of the food chain and savoring the vain struggle of his prey at the doors of its death.

“You should’ve stayed out of our fucking business,” were the last words Chigiri Akito ever heard.

Right before another bullet, perfectly aimed at his heart, was fired and his world became an endless land of darkness, he thought of his son, of his Hyouma, one last time.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1 - Today

When the flaming head of cherry hair of Chigiri Hyouma entered the Zero, the babbling suddenly quieted down.

They respected the man, not just because he was the right arm to their boss, but because he exuded power himself. Even if he had long eyelashes and soft facial features that made his face look feminine, his attractiveness had never stepped in the way of his authority. His eyes saw everything that happened around him, and his reflexes were the fastest in the entire city of Tokyo. He had injured several assholes who tried to take him on, and someone had even gotten himself killed in the process.

The fear the tall man instilled in the people from the underground world was one of the reasons Hyouma was in charge of the Zero, the club that belonged to the Seidou clan. The others involved his interest in cocktails and spirits and his desire to be of some utility to the clan - he was never one to stand beside his boss as a mascot.

“Raichi, talk to me,” Hyouma called, and the buffed blond man was by his side in the blink of an eye.

“ Danna ,” said Raichi Jingo, making Hyouma smirk. He could easily say that the guy was his friend, but he appreciated - and more or less secretly enjoyed - that he respected the differences in their ranks when they were on duty. “Everything is ready. The DJ is soundchecking and the guys are in the back helping Anri with the last boxes of alcohol.”

“That’s good. Where’s Karasu?”

Raichi turned up his nose. He didn’t like the guy, and didn’t even try to fake tolerating him. “In his room, danna.”

Hyouma nodded and turned his back to his subordinate. He took two steps before stopping once again. “Raichi?”

“ Danna ,” promptly answered the other, who hadn’t moved yet.

Hyouma took a deep breath. He didn’t want his voice to tremble, and neither did he turn, for it would reveal something he didn’t want anybody to know. “Is Kunigami coming?”

“I… I don’t think waka is coming, danna .”

Hyouma didn’t answer and resumed walking. He wondered why he had hoped this time would be different.

It was a nice room on the first floor of the club, neither the biggest - that was Hyouma’s, of course - nor the smallest of the floor. It had bare furniture, just a modern bed with a metal frame on the western side, a simple rolling chair matching a black table in front of it and a nightstand with a lamp. It looked directly from the showroom, if it wasn’t for the man lying down on the cover.

“Hey,” Hyouma greeted as he entered, closing the door behind himself.

Karasu Tabito lifted his head and smirked. “I start working at nine, princess.”

Hyouma ignored both the jab and the joke and stood right in front of the table, leaning on it with his backside. “Keep an eye open, tonight.”

“Uh?” Karasu sat up, crossing his legs and placing his hands on the mattress, suddenly interested. “What happened?”

Hyouma kept quiet for a moment, pondering how much he should let the other know. All he himself had heard were rumors, and he didn’t want his staff to panic. Not yet, at least. “There have been some screw ups down at the docks in the last few days. I don’t want them to reach the club, that’s all.”

The bouncer snorted. “We don’t want to lose our job because the big boss decides to close it, I get it.”

Hyouma let out a sigh. It was well known that the people from the clan that worked at the Zero didn’t particularly like Kunigami - he didn’t show up very often, and when he did he always kept a frown and everything but a friendly expression. Yet, it didn’t sit well with Hyouma that his subordinates weren’t fond of his - and thereby their - boss, even though they did respect his authority. “I’d do the same. It’s not easy to keep the name of the clan high these days, and he’d just be prudent.”

Karasu tsked. “You don’t have to agree with everything he says just because you’re his Second and you love him, you know?”

Hyouma’s muscles tensed. His jaw clenched, he bit. “This has nothing to do with that. And keep your fucking mouth shut, or I will shut you up myself.”

Karasu raised his open hands high, surrendering. “Yes, danna . I’ll be careful.”

Hyouma stood up and left the room, closing the door behind himself. He didn’t really want to give Karasu any privacy, but he didn’t want the bouncer to see him as he let out a trembling breath. It was already hard to keep his feelings for himself, trying to bury them under all the work, and having his own people joking about it didn’t help at all.

Still, that had been going on for several years now, and it took Hyouma just mere moments to get himself back together.

Sitting on the armchair in his office at the estate of the Seidou clan, his elbows placed on the ancient wooden desk, Kunigami Rensuke fixed his cufflinks distractedly. “Where’s Chigiri?” he asked his Advisor, who was as always standing in front of the secretary, even though both of the chairs beside him were empty.

The tall man with purple hair - Mikage Reo - cleared his throat. “There’s a party tonight at the Zero. I believe he’s already there as he always does.”

Rensuke grimaced. He didn’t like when parties were held at Seidou’s club. It might show the power and hold he and his clan had, but they were a pain in the ass. On the bright side, he could not participate and no one would say a thing - apart from Chigiri the day after, but that was something Kunigami could manage. He was the leader of a mob group, after all, and he could do what the fuck he wanted to. Still, the party was his responsibility, although indirect, which meant that if something - anything - happened, it would be his fault. And everybody knew how unpredictable parties were. Even if they were reserved, strangers still found ways to infiltrate and make a mess. When Rensuke’s father was still alive, there had been several shootings in just a few months because gangless mobs had decided to rebel against the status quo. Another time, at one of Prince’s parties, some drunk cunts who took a dose too much tried to rape two of the strippers Prince had called, and all escalated exceptionally quickly. Rensuke was just sixteen years old back then, and he couldn’t remember much of what happened after, just that parties were suspended for a couple of years to clear the air.

Honestly, Rensuke wished they were still suspended.

“You don’t have to go,” Reo said in a sigh, looking at the Head of the clan with an arched eyebrow.

Rensuke lifted his eyes from the desk and fixed them on his Advisor. “Indeed I won’t. But if you do, let me know how it goes. I don’t like not knowing what happens on my property.”

Reo turned up his nose in a disapproving expression, as if he wanted to say “then go to the club yourself”, but all that came out from his mouth was “sure, boss ” right when someone knocked at the door.

Reo bowed slightly, implicitly saying his goodbyes. He was on his way to the door when Rensuke spoke. “If someone asks, tell them the usual thing.”

His Advisor sent another long, pensive look his way, but just nodded, leaving the boss’s office while Houichi Yasunori entered as always without sending a single glance towards the younger man.

Rensuke felt his jaw clenching, but he waited until the door was closed and the echo of Reo’s steps faded away before admonishing the former Advisor of the Seidou clan.

“I don’t like the way you behave with Reo,” he said, his tone collected.

Houichi stiffened, but didn’t look away. He confronted Rensuke head-on, without even bowing as a greeting, as if Rensuke wasn’t his fucking boss, as if just because he was more than thirty years older he had some sort of privilege over the man in front of him. “He has no right to stand where he stands.”

Rensuke couldn’t restrict the sharpness in his voice anymore, not when the other man had just insulted both his Advisor and him in one single phrase. “He has every right, because I chose so. And I didn’t kick you out or make someone kill you just because I believe you still have some utility here, even if you're no more in the relevant part of the hierarchy. Don’t question me nor my choices ever again, if you want to keep your head on your neck.”

Houichi finally bowed, showing his respect to his boss. If he felt threatened, or had just realized Rensuke wasn’t in a very nice mood today, the orange-haired young man couldn’t tell, but he accepted the deference he was being shown.

“Why did you come here?” Rensuke asked, his voice back to a calm and collected tone.

“Reporting what the smaller clans are doing in the north, Sir,” Houichi replied.

Rensuke nodded towards one of the two chairs in front of his desk. He wasn’t in the mood for business, - honestly, he just wanted to go to Barou’s to blow some steam off, - but willingly or not, he was the Head.

“Tell me,” he said, and Houichi started talking.

The King was empty that late at night, Rensuke’s steps echoing in the enormous space as he walked towards the center of the gym.

“What’s up, Kunigami?”

Rensuke turned around, meeting Barou Shouei’s eyes. They were the same height, but Barou, with his big and pumped muscles that emerged from the skin-tight tank top he used to wear as a work outfit, looked way taller, even when he had his long hair down. When he let his weird fixation for hair gel go wild, like that night, he gained at least ten centimeters on the other man.

“Avoiding the party,” Rensuke answered, taking off the duffle bag from his shoulder and leaving it beside a bench. Being alone with Barou, he chose to change right there and started unbelting his slacks. It was nothing Barou hadn’t seen, after all, and there was no one around that could question or comment on their quite uncommon relationship.

“How unusual,” joked the other as Rensuke unbuttoned his formal shirt - that day he wore a light orange one that matched his shorty and spiky hair - and took off with a swift movement both the shirt and the suit jacket. “What are you afraid to see there?”

The man ignored the question, taking the chain necklace off and putting on the black shorts and black tank top he used for training, then bending to open the side pocket of the duffle bag in search of the tape. Once he found it, he got up and sat on the bench, stretching his left hand to secure the elastic band on his thumb and starting taping the wrist.

He completed every gesture slowly and precisely, under the critical eyes of his trainer. Once he was done with his left hand, he offered Barou the tape.

Barou lifted his eyebrow, an implicit remark that Rensuke regrettably understood too well. He wouldn’t take the tape unless his question was answered.

Rensuke sighed. “I’ve been to those parties my entire life. I have learned more about the underground world from those things than from my father. Hell, I’ve even lost my virginity there. I’m just sick of them.”

Barou seemed satisfied with the answer, because he finally took the tape and opened Rensuke’s right hand. “Is that all? I thought you were scared of seeing that pretty boy of yours flirting with other people.” 

Rensuke fought back the instinct of closing his hand in a fist. Not only would it obstruct Barou’s work with the tape, but it would give away his feelings, and that was so much worse. It wasn’t a great sign, Barou hinting at it from time to time, but as long as Rensuke didn’t fall into his traps, he would maintain his image.

Still, he couldn’t help but clench his teeth. “He’s not mine . He’s just my second in command.”

Barou left out an amused whistle, but didn’t respond.

“Are you ready?” Rensuke impatiently asked when Barou finished taping his right hand.

The trainer lifted both his eyebrows, looking at him from head to toe and back to his head, and then he clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Where the fuck do you think you are? It’s my gym. I’m always ready.”

And then he preceded Rensuke into the boxing ring.

The music was pumping in Hyouma’s eardrums, the familiar sensation of club-induced adrenaline flowing in his veins as he drank the tequila shot Raichi had just offered him.

He wasn’t drunk - he couldn’t be when he was on duty in his own club - but that didn’t mean he had to be completely clean either. That was a thing he and his guys agreed on. A drink or a couple of shots was fine, for the parties at the Zero were made for them, too. If throwing a party at his own house meant Chigiri couldn’t enjoy himself, he would have already closed the thing years ago.

There was a voice in the back of his head that was warning him of the rumors he heard, but he decided to not listen to it. They were just rumors, and he had told Karasu and the other bouncers to keep their eyes open exactly for that reason, so he could not think about it for one night.

A young girl swiftly came to his side, wiggling on a pair of high heels that looked really excessive for her small height. She was barely of legal age, and by the look of it - her appearance, and her tight, glittering dress that looked a size too small, - she had been brought by some cheap scum that thought buying their time with a young lady who had nowhere better and safer to go was a big thing to do.

Hyouma felt only pity for the girls and utter disgust for the scums.

“I couldn’t help but notice you’re here, all alone,” the voice of the woman should have been sensual and warm, but with the loud music, it was a high-pitched scream that made Hyouma turn up his nose in annoyance.

“I’m the manager,” he replied, nicely to not scare her but not lovely enough to make her think he was even barely interested.

She was obstinate, though. “You own this entire place? You’re so cool,” she commented, lifting a tiny, soft hand to caress his bare forearm. He had rolled up the sleeves of his pinkish shirt earlier in the night, when people started coming and heating the place. Now he kind of regretted it. The touch of her fingers was delicate, her long nails painted in a bright purple tapping on his skin in an experienced gesture, as if it wasn’t the first time she did it. It probably wasn’t. If she had spontaneously come to Hyouma and approached him with that admirable bravery, it only meant she had done it for long enough to not look scared.

Hyouma took his time to study her as she kept on her seducing game.

The dress she was wearing was thin, so transparent Hyouma could see the seams of her black underwear and the edges of her nipple covers. The dress wasn’t so low-cut itself, but the revealing material was enough to make the girl desirable. She wore a pair of silver high heels and she stood proudly, as if she was born to wear them. Her hair was of medium length, curly and brightly blonde, framing a pretty face that wore so much eye makeup and red lipstick that a newbie -and anyone who didn’t have a moral code at all - would have taken her for at least ten years older than she actually was.

It was clear she had been in the business for a while, and she was probably great at what she did - flirting with people who looked powerful, making the first move to not end up with old and scary men who would only hurt her for fun or to feel mighty.

Hyouma lifted one side of his mouth in an ironic smirk. “Hey, honey. You’re good, but it won’t work here,” he gestured with his free hand to his body.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows. “Is it too early? I can wait,” she pressed, delicately moving a hand towards Hyouma’s bared slim chest, and then up, caressing his black leather choker around his neck.

He scrolled his shoulders. “No, no, it’s just that I’m gay,” he answered.

“Oh,” was all that came from the girl’s mouth, so softly Hyouma got it just because he was directly looking at her, as she slowly took a step back and awkwardly looked at the floor before leaving.

Hyouma sighed. It was always so anticlimactic, a script seen and acted so many times it had lost its interest and was becoming dull.

A sudden scream coming from the side of the club opposite to Hyouma, where the entrance was, caught his - and almost everyone’s - attention. The DJ stopped the music, and people on the floor stopped dancing. The manager’s skin shivered as his body entered emergency mode. It might have been nothing, a person too high to keep their voice low or an innate reaction of a woman to a pervert’s advances, but Hyouma wouldn’t ignore an alarm, even more in those days when there was mayhem down at the docks.

He fled through the floor, lifting his hand and making a circle gesture to his staff - his signal to keep going with the party until further notice. Music was back on in mere seconds, and people further from the entrance went back to their entertainment. They knew where they were - the Seidou clan, with Kunigami Rensuke at its top, was known in town, and people who weren’t sketchy avoided entering its turf. Which meant that basically anyone in the room had seen someone being killed in front of them - if not by them - and they would keep on having fun until the danger got too close.

The entrance of the Zero was surprisingly clear. Clients who were standing there when the scream broke out had sneaked away, not particularly excited to get caught in trouble if something was to happen. Two of the club’s bouncers stood on the sides of the door. Hyouma would have remembered their names on a common day, but the adrenaline and the alcohol in his body weren’t helping him, so he just said: “What is it?”

One of them - a tall, buff, blond man - spoke with a low and clear voice. “A man on drugs, I believe, danna . Karasu-san had taken him in the back.”

Hyouma nodded, making a gesture to the bouncer to close the door behind him as he stepped outside.

It was a chilly evening. Summer had been extremely hot and the warmth of the season had dragged on even in late September, but now that Fall fully started the nights were getting colder. Hyouma felt a shiver down his spine, and even if he tried to blame it on the transition from the club full of warm bodies to the cool alley, he knew it wasn’t the product of the weather.

Now that the door was closed and muffled the loud music, Hyouma felt the echo of every single step that separated him from Karasu and the stranger.

When he turned the last corner of the compound and entered the back street, he found a scene he didn’t foresee.

Karasu was leaning on the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest in a pose that wasn’t exactly relaxed, but wasn’t so tense as Hyouma would have guessed, either.

The other figure, in front of Karasu, was a short man in his late fifties, with short gray hair, more on the bald side, a body probably once fairly toned that loosened its form with age and gave way to a beer belly. He was so similar to dozens of old minions Hyouma saw in his life, so anonymous that the young man couldn’t even tell whether he was associated with the Seidou clan or with one of the others. He wasn’t wearing any clan uniforms, nor did he seem to have a tattoo on his arms, even though the latter didn’t surprise Hyouma. Only the big names of the clans wore the symbol of their clan on their skin, and it was a custom in disuse anyways. Hyouma himself didn’t have the Seidou clan’s one, even though his reasons didn’t exactly align with the usuals. 

What surprised Hyouma was that the older man wasn’t fighting. He wouldn’t have won with Karasu - not with the bouncer’s years-long training as a special agent, nor with his quick reflexes - but Hyouma reckoned all the commotion he had heard inside the club was due to his offensiveness, maybe to the presence of a knife or a loaded firearm.

But the stranger was just standing there, slightly bent, scratching his bare forearms with his nails, murmuring words that couldn’t reach Hyouma.

“What happened here?” the manager of the Zero asked his bouncer, furrowing his eyebrows.

Karasu just sent a glance his way. Hyouma tried to overlook the blatant disrespect the bouncer was showing him, labeling it as a precaution given the situation.

“He tried to get in the club, pushing people, scaring the younger girls, screaming about something. When I took him away, though, he didn’t fight back, and he hasn’t tried to get away.”

Hyouma swallowed. He didn’t like what he just heard at all.

“What did he scream about?” he slowly asked.

Karasu scrolled his shoulders. He and the other bouncers didn’t get it.

Hyouma studied the man more, noticing how he hadn’t changed at all since Hyouma had come. Still hunched, still murmuring things and scratching his now red and irritated skin. He probably hadn’t even noticed the manager showing up.

Hyouma decided to get close. Karasu tensed, the muscles on his arms flexing, but Hyouma lifted a hand to stop him. He was perfectly capable of defending himself, if something would happen.

He bent a little to study the man’s face. His eyes were little, but the pupils were dilated, proving the bouncer from before’s theory correct. He had taken some kind of drugs, but the effects were quite weird. He wasn’t relaxed, he wasn’t completely mad. It was something almost harmless that scared Hyouma more than if the man was deliriously pointing a sharp knife to his throat.

From that close, Hyouma could make out what the man was mumbling.

“Give me the antidote, please, the antidote, give it to me. The antidote, give me the antidote,” he was repeating over and over.

Hyouma blinked. The rumors in the back of his head surfaced once again, and he snapped back up in an adrenaline rush, clenching his jaw as he turned to Karasu. “Call Kunigami. Right now .”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

The doors of the Zero were locked when Reo Mikage got there, but a bouncer - Koshiba, was he? - was right in front of it, so Reo had just to lift an eyebrow for him to speak.

“ Danna ,” Koshiba greeted, bowing his head. “Chigiri- danna is waiting in the back.”

Reo was as confused as ever. What did the man mean by saying that Chigiri was waiting for him? Had they agreed on meeting that night? There was no way Reo could have forgotten a similar thing. He was completely sure Chigiri didn’t expect him to drop by the club. Reo himself was doing it just because Kunigami asked him to. Still, he didn’t want to act the part of the dumb, so he nodded to Koshiba and took the long way around the building to get to the back.

Chigiri and his guys used the rear of the club as a warehouse. They stored all the boxes of alcohol, as well as furniture and weapons. At times, when some yankees interrupted a party, they usually dealt with them there. Clans had stipulated an agreement decades prior that clubs - even those managed directly by the gangs - were neutral areas, but it was always better to be safe than sorry, especially as they knew that mobless hoodlums sometimes tried to cause a fuss.

When Reo opened the emergency door on the back, he found a weird and unexpected gathering. There was Chigiri, of course, his long bright cherry hair tied in a high ponytail and his sleeves rolled up, leaning against a cabinet full of boxes of guns and munitions. Raichi Jingo, the shatei gashira of the clan, was marching around the room. Teieri Anri, the manager in command when Chigiri was busy somewhere else, was sitting on a chair she brought from the club, her slender legs wrapped in a short skirt overlapped and her arms crossed over her chest, and Karasu Tabito, one of the bouncers, was standing on the opposite side of the door, looking in front of him at the only person in the room Reo didn’t know.

He was a quite old, little man - that didn’t say much, as the four young men were all on the tall side and Anri wasn't exactly a short girl, but he looked even shorter with the way he was hunching over. He was talking to himself, and he had both his forearms full of bleeding scratches. By the way he was hugging his chest, Reo figured he must have done that all by himself.

The Advisor of the Seidou clan waited for the door to close before he spoke. “What the hell is this about?”

Raichi, Anri and Karasu had already acknowledged Reo’s presence in the room, and as he was the third in the chain of command of the clan, they didn’t question his presence there. Chigiri, though, lifted his head to look at him and turned up his nose. “What are you doing here?”

Oh, how Reo wanted to quietly strangle him right there and then. They shared a nice relationship overall, but it was always Chigiri who set the mood. If he was friendly, Reo would go along, but if he went on the warpath, Reo wished he could fight with him until only one of them was left standing.

“You called for me,” he answered instead, hoping what now was clear to be a misunderstanding would still make Reo’s night interesting.

“I called for Kunigami ,” Chigiri retorted.

Reo grinned. So that was it, he just ended up at the Zero at the right time. He mentally patted himself on the back. It was always better to be present when things happened, than to hear them recounted by other people. “And yet, here I am.” Then he added the white lie he had to use to excuse his boss from club nights. “ Boss is out. Personal stuff.”

An unidentified feeling crossed Chigiri’s face. Reo’s grin deepened. If the guy in front of him was so jealous of Reo’s close relationship with the Head of the clan that brought Reo to know where Kunigami was nearly all the time, he shouldn’t have distanced himself from Kunigami. You reap what you sow, after all. And if you don’t sow near the guy you love, others will get close to him while you reap great nights at the club.

“He said he’s coming, danna ,” Karasu intruded, sending a quick look to Reo.

The Advisor furrowed his eyebrows, turning back with his eyes on the old man. If Kunigami was on his way, it only meant Karasu told him that was a big deal. And if Chigiri had ordered Karasu to tell Kunigami something like that, it meant it was a big deal. As much as anyone from the higher ranks of the clan could see from miles away how much Chigiri wanted to jump on Kunigami, both his attitude and his role kept him at a safe distance from the Head of the clan. It had been years since Kunigami went to a party at the club, and Chigiri wouldn’t even dare to reach out to invite him. The mere idea of him calling for the Head on a working night was alarming on its own.

The emergency door opened and Kunigami himself entered the warehouse. Reo’s head gearings stopped working so hard. He was either way about to find out what was going on.

“ Waka ,” said Karasu and Raichi in one voice, bowing deeply, while Anri just smiled at the boss.

Kunigami lifted a hand to acknowledge them and looked at Chigiri first, then at Reo - even though the Advisor was closer to the door and to him - and finally at the old man. Reo tried his best not to roll his eyes. If his boss wanted to really conceive his feelings, he should have stopped searching for Chigiri as the first thing every time he entered a room, but love blinds people, or however that stupid saying goes.

“What’s this all about?” Kunigami asked, taking a step forward in the glow of light. He was wearing the formal attire he had on when Reo had last seen him, but the sleeves of the suit were rolled up. Reo noticed the layer of sweat that covered his face and his forearms, and the ink of the clan tattoo - that at first glance looked like a simple ring, but was actually a koi following a circular path - glimmering. He must have still been training with Barou and got there without taking a shower.

Chigiri sighed. “I’ve heard rumors about some messes at the docks. I didn’t think they were relevant, because people were saying the usual stuff - drugs that make you stronger, fights among nobodies for power. Only one thing caught my attention, they mention some sort of antidote. Well, it’s better if you hear it yourselves, as we have a victim here,” he grunted, nodding towards the stranger.

Reo and Kunigami stepped closer at the same time, instinctively holding their breath as if the act of inhaling would mess with whatever they had to hear.

“-tidote give me the antidote, please, give me the antidote please give it to me please antidote give it antidote pl-”

Reo took a step back, grimacing. He couldn’t tell what he expected to pick up, but seeing and hearing a man on drugs out of himself wasn’t exactly what he would call pleasing .

“He doesn’t seem to acknowledge his surroundings at all. I think the effects of the drug worsen with time. When he got here, he didn’t have all those scratches,” Chigiri pointed to the man’s forearms that were probably once pale, but now were so red they could be mistaken for the sleeves of a sweater from afar.

“Is he safe?” Kunigami asked, putting some distance between himself and the poor man. He was wearing a strange expression, Reo noticed. He probably looked the same to any other person who wasn’t around him as much as Reo - and Chigiri, - but the Advisor couldn’t miss the little frown between the boss’s eyebrows and his face going slightly paler, as if he was realizing something, as if he was remembering some unfortunate past.

“Couldn’t tell. We didn’t touch him, apart from Karasu when he tried to enter the club. But he was still sane. Well, saner than he is now.”

“Did you call Aryu?” 

“We were waiting for your judgment, waka ,” replied Raichi.

Kunigami, to Reo’s surprise, got closer to the man and tried touching him on the shoulder.

It was just a tap, the boss’s hand wasn’t squeezing nor tugging anything, and yet the man snapped, turning around and trying to attack him with his bare hands, waving them deliriously as he was doing on his own arms moments before.

The four male members of the clan moved all together, taking a step closer to them before even realizing they were acting and getting their hands on their weapons. Raichi reached the scabbard on his back and got his long knife, Karasu and Chigiri had their guns out, pointed to the man’s feet, and Reo took his knife out of the sheath he had on the side of his thigh, holding it with his entire hand, ready to stab the man in the back. The fearless Anri, from the chair she was sitting on, hadn’t flinched, but had taken out her gun as well.

Kunigami lifted a hand as he took a couple of steps back, putting some distance between him and the man and signaling his guys to wait. He could protect himself very well, but Reo was the first to know how instinctive it was for anyone in the clan, especially for the people in the room, to reach for him, to sacrifice themselves to shield their boss and keep him alive.

The man, as Kunigami quite predicted, went back to his mumblings and his scratching - to his isolation from the world - as soon as the Head of the clan wasn’t touching him anymore.

Kunigami sighed. “Call Aryu. We’ll take him to Setagaya.”

It took little effort for Raichi to block the man’s wrists and let him in the Mercedes.

Aryu Jyubei hadn’t said much, and looked strangely worried. The doctor’s usual eccentricity was replaced by a frown as they quickly stated that they would run some tests on the man and the nature of the drug. It was clear he had been dosed, but neither the guys from the clan nor the doctor themselves could say whether the effect was hallucinogenic, euphoric, dissociative or a mixture of them all.

The man was now being driven in the direction of one of Aryu’s clinics, in the district of Setagaya - that was far enough from the Zero in Shibuya, - accompanied by the doctor themselves, and Raichi, should the man fall in another insane episode.

Rensuke waited for Chigiri to make Karasu disappear. The manager of the club cleared his voice and nodded towards the door that led directly to the back of the bar counter.

The bouncer understood the situation and bowed three times, one for each of the higher members of the clan, before going back to the chaos of the dance floor.

Anri got up from her chair, getting closer to Rensuke and extending one arm to give him a quick hug. He exchanged it, squeezing her body against his chest. It had been several days since they had seen each other, and as they always did since they were kids, they shared a short moment - some small talk, where Rensuke made sure she was doing good - before Anri greeted Reo and Chigiri and went back to the club as well.

Rensuke lingered some moments more in the case Karasu or Anri would come back - a habit he picked from his father - and when he safely concluded he was finally alone with Reo and Chigiri, he relaxed his shoulders, sighing. He didn’t particularly like to let others see him tired, even if said others were his right-hand man and his Advisor, but at that moment he couldn’t care less. His day had been stressful, and the night that started with his fight with Houichi was ending on a dangerous note.

“Do you want to go home?” Reo asked from Rensuke’s left. His voice had a tip of worry, but it was steady. The Advisor had been part of the clan for eight years now, and he had seen a lot, all of his breakdowns, from the ones he used to have when he wasn’t an adult yet, to the ones when his father died and he had to succeed to the clan overnight. Reo had probably sensed Rensuke’s mind before Rensuke himself did. After all, he chose him as the Advisor for that exact reason.

“In a bit,” the boss answered, and because he knew him like the back of his hand, Reo walked out of the warehouse and left Rensuke alone with Chigiri.

The atmosphere that until a few moments before was so quiet got tense all of a sudden. Rensuke felt the air around him getting heavier, the muffled music from the club room getting somehow lower and leaving space for an awkward silence.

What was it, a couple of weeks? Since Rensuke had been alone with Chigiri? Sure, back to the clan’s estate they crossed each other’s path all the time as they lived and worked there, but it was not the same. It had been years since they were of company to each other, since they willingly spent time together. Every time Rensuke had to talk with him, as a Head to his second in command, they kept it intensely professional, as if the entire adolescence they had spent together belonged to another life. And maybe it did.

Rensuke, though, couldn’t blame Chigiri. It was all his own fault, because he had become a real adult too soon, because he had found himself Head of the clan with no notice - no one had ever said his father, Kunigami Kousuke, was in danger, so how could he expect to become the leader so soon? - and when he found himself at the top of the Seidou clan, he had isolated himself. He couldn’t become a good Head if he kept behaving like an heir. If he avoided his responsibilities to play, work out and drink at night. If he gave importance to useless things like his feelings and the guy he loved.

Of course, with time the situation had become steady. It had been five years, and Rensuke had now enough free time to go to the gym and to go out drinking, if he wanted to. But all that time spent avoiding Chigiri hadn’t magically disappeared, and the man, even if he was Rensuke’s Second, his right-hand man, had gotten quieter and quieter. They used to share so much in their teenage years, but now if Chigiri interacted with him, it was always about work. Not that Rensuke had ever actually tried going back to how things were before.

Rensuke cleared his voice with a cough. “Are you alright?”

Chigiri snorted. “Yeah. It wasn’t me who tried to touch a delirious man.”

Rensuke’s eyes widened. Did he just hear a small crack in Chigiri’s voice? Well, he was Chigiri’s boss, so his well-being should be a cause of worry for him, shouldn’t it?

“He was in no position to hurt me, you know it. Even if he had a knife or a gun, I would have killed him before he could have reached it.”

All Chigiri did in response was to turn around without replying. 

Rensuke sighed. His Second had decided that the conversation was already over, and there was nothing he could do to keep it going. He walked to the door at a slow pace, waiting for the other man to make the tiniest act to stop him, but Chigiri didn’t move a muscle, and Rensuke was soon out in the chilly air.

Rensuke parked his black Chevrolet right in front of the gates of the Seidou clan’s estate, and followed Reo out of it.

“What are you thinking?” Reo asked, arching his eyebrows.

The ride home hadn’t really been neither talkative, nor relaxed, and that mixed with the Advisor’s sixth sense that was completely focused on Rensuke was probably worrying him.

Rensuke pinched the bridge of his nose. “That I need a fucking break.”

The night was pitch black, except for the lampposts of the estate that brightened the gate and little more, so Rensuke didn’t notice the car that was parked some steps away, not until a voice came from there.

“You’re one to talk!” it was a familiar, yet not really pleasant-to-hear voice.

Reo stiffened, while the Head of the Seidou clan greeted with a fake, tight smile the man who stepped closer and revealed his figure. “Aiku.”

Oliver Aiku was a tall man, a little taller than Kunigami and Reo. He was muscular, and often chose clothes that were tight-fitting enough to emphasize his bulk build. He kept his facial hair to a slight stubble, the perfect length that said he was too lazy to keep his face clean but not lazy enough to grow a beard. Or maybe he just thought he looked sexy that way. He was heterochromatic, one eye soft purple and the other bright green, matching his hair that he kept dying of a lime color in the lower part. Rensuke found it cringe, but he didn’t like the guy and admitted his opinion was entirely biased. 

The man nodded. “Kunigami. It’s funny that you’re asking for a break when you’ve been swimming in the crime world since you were born.”

Rensuke took a step forward, moving a little bit to his right, covering Reo, or at least sending an implicit yet clear sign of his intention of protecting him, creating a wall between him and Aiku. “That’s exactly the reason I want a break.”

Aiku giggled. “Uh. And yet you succeeded to your father’s clan.”

Rensuke clenched his jaw. He didn’t like the detective, he hadn’t for a very long time. “Can you stop with the friendly farce? What are you doing here?”

Aiku’s features suddenly got serious as he crossed his arms. “I was patrolling when I heard movement coming from your estate.”

Rensuke wasn’t going to buy it. Not like that, and especially not when he had already figured out what had actually happened. “You saw Aryu,” he stated. When he had called for the doctor, he was hanging out at the property.

“Maybe I did.”

Oh, Rensuke would have paid thousands of yen to be in a ring with Aiku, where he would have the right to kick and punch him until he wasn’t satisfied.

Not only was the man a cop, but he was the most dishonest cop the city had. It was the kind of corrupt officer who did what he wanted to, when he wanted to, just for his own satisfaction and his own benefit. And if that wasn’t enough, he had never clicked with Rensuke, while he was on great terms with Isagi Yoichi, the heir of the Kitsunezaka who had departed from the main family when the patriarch had died, bringing with him his most trusted men to found the Ichinan clan and leaving the main group in the hands of the other heir. The thing was, Rensuke had known Isagi forever. They were the same age, so they had spent so much time together at parties and gatherings of the clans. They got along well - hell, Rensuke hung at Isagi’s right-hand man’s gym at least twice a week, half-naked and without bringing any weapon in the bag. They trusted each other. Yet, somehow the transitive property didn’t work with Aiku.

“It’s not your fucking business, cop.” Rensuke angrily spat, but froze when a hand reached his arm and squeezed a bit. He sent a glance downwards, realizing it was Reo who was silently telling him to not heat up. Rensuke shut his mouth.

Aiku grinned. “Speaking of cops. Hi, Reo.”

When his Advisor replied, Rensuke was surprised to find his voice unwavering, as if the guy who stiffened some minutes before had been replaced. Reo’s past was to that day only known in part by Rensuke, and even if he trusted the man with his whole life, the fact that he couldn’t always know what to expect from him - especially when Aiku and the police were involved - made him uneasy.

“Aiku. Will you help us get some intel if we tell you what that’s about?”

Rensuke almost tripped, even though he was safely standing on his feet. He did hear right, because there was no one else talking, no traffic, no sounds in the range of dozens of meters. He had heard Reo right, so what games did he want to play, sharing what happened with a cop?

Aiku’s eyes sparkled in the dark night, the green one a blinding light. “I can think about it.”

Rensuke’s hands clenched in fists, but as he was about to step closer to Aiku, Reo’s grip on his arms tightened. 

“Go inside. And trust me,” the Advisor murmured. Then he moved away his hand, and Rensuke, with all the self control he could muster, stepped aside. He did trust Reo. He trusted him as much as he trusted Chigiri. The two of them were the only people in the world Rensuke put his entire faith in.

He pressed the button in his set of keys in the pocket of his suit, and the gates opened. He didn’t turn around once as he entered the estate.

“Why should I help you?” Aiku asked as soon as the heavy doors of the mansion of the Seidou clan closed behind Kunigami.

Reo, who was distractedly and a little bit awkwardly fidgeting with the hem of his purple casual shirt, straightened his arms on his side. 

He didn’t know why he felt so uncomfortable with the cop. They had always felt respect for each other, since they had met in Reo’s first year at the Academy, where Aiku was a year ahead. During the hard times they had found comfort in each other, and Reo couldn’t say he had ever seen the other in a light different than bright.

Yet, something had shifted when Reo abandoned the Academy, just a handful of months away from graduation and from the badge, and even though in all those years Aiku had proved many times to be the most corrupt detective in the entirety of Tokyo, Reo couldn’t keep out of his mind the idea of Aiku being disappointed by his choice.

“I… I think this thing’s not just our problem. It could spread out, not only to the other clans but also to the honest citizens,” Reo admitted. 

Aiku lifted an eyebrow. He looked both interested and amused, even though Reo couldn’t say what part of his speech was exactly amusing .

“Why did you call Aryu?”

Reo sighed, his stomach twisting. He hoped this was the right move to make, for he would have been a terrible Advisor if it weren’t. And Reo was already a terrible person, he didn’t need to ruin everything he touched as well.

“A man on drugs,” he started explaining, and Aiku opened his mouth. Reo knew what the cop was about to say - it’s nothing out of the ordinary, all kinds of people do drugs, and even more often people belonging to the underground world - so he quickly went on to make him understand that the situation didn’t look easy at all. “It’s not a drug we know about. He wasn’t overly excited, he didn’t have his pupils widened. It could just have been that he took the drug long before coming to the club, but… We touched him, and as soon as we did, he unconsciously tried to attack us. But just that. When we didn’t touch him, he wasn’t there with us.”

It took Aiku some long moments to process the information, but then he nodded, acknowledging it could be something to not underestimate. “So you called your doctor to have them study him.”

Reo nodded back. “We don’t know what the drug is made of, or the exact effects apart from the insanity. The man was mumbling about an antidote of sorts, so I think it’s a kind of drug that behaves like a poison.”

“Alright. I believe you, but I still don’t understand why you are telling me all of this,” the cop questioned.

Reo’s stomach slowly stopped aching. Aiku looked like a resource. He felt like an ally, in this case, and not the kind of detective who tried his best raining on their parade, the role he had liked to play so many times in the previous years. And more than anything, he was the only person Reo could trust with the suspicion he had about Kunigami’s reaction back at the club, when he looked as if a dark past he had long forgotten had returned.

He could have asked Houichi, who was the Advisor back when Kunigami’s father was the Head, but Houichi hated him because he had kind of stolen his rank, and Reo, honestly, didn't like the man one bit. Not that Aiku was at the top of the list of his favorite people, but he could access archives the clan could never even see in person, and that made him very resourceful at that moment.

“The drug comes from the docks. And I’m afraid it’s not the first time it has entered Japan. I hoped you could search in the archives for some intel on it,” Reo quickly said. It was better to be clear about his intention, to let Aiku see his honesty.

Aiku stood silent, probably pondering what he could gain.

“I’d owe you,” Reo finally admitted, because Kunigami trusted him, and he couldn’t end that meeting with a loss.

A sparkle crossed Aiku’s eyes, and his lips slowly turned into a grin. “Deal. I’ll get back to you,” he said.

As the cop went back to his squad car, Reo hoped that promise wouldn’t turn its back on him.

It was late morning when Hyouma got back to the estate.

The Zero closed in the early morning. It usually stayed open until an hour before dawn, but when there were parties, it always took a while for customers to get home. Many probably didn’t even have their own bed to sleep on.

Seeing that no one had panicked was a relief. The bouncers at the door had done a great job at reassuring the people who witnessed the man’s grand entrance. Sure, nothing had actually happened - no one was hurt or worse - but the fear of having to close the club for a scandal of any sort wasn’t welcomed by either Hyouma or Kunigami. It was good no one had thought twice about it.

After cleaning the place, Hyouma had sent his employees home, keeping just Anri and Raichi with him. The shatei gashira had got back from the outskirts an hour or so before, saying that he sent some of his men to the clinic. He believed he should be with Hyouma and not where a drugged man was being studied. Hyouma hadn’t said anything back, but shared that thought. Raichi was the most powerful asset of the clan, if brute force was taken into consideration, and the stranger was too unharmful for Raichi to be his warden. 

“What are we going to do?” asked Anri, sitting on the counter and crossing her legs. She always wore her clothes freely, confident that only people with a strong will to die would get close. That night, the white shirt and the short khaki skirt were bright against the pitch black of the bar.

Hyouma felt Raichi gulping by his side, and tried not to roll his eyes. He didn’t know if he couldn’t stand him pining over Anri or the fact that they were actually interested in each other but hadn’t make a move yet. Or maybe what really bothered him was the desire he had for a certain someone who hadn’t spared him an extra glance for years.

“Keep the club open, unless Kunigami orders otherwise,” the manager quickly replied. “Even if it’s a serious matter, there’s no use sabotaging us all by ourselves and making people panic because all the clubs in the area close.”

Raichi grunted. “I’m afraid it is troublesome.”

“I want you two to keep your eyes and ears open, everywhere you go. As far as we know, it’s the first time the drug - or whatever it is - gets out of the docks, but it may happen again.”

Anri turned up her nose. When she was at ease her face lost the serious and attentive frown and unwinded in a soft, juvenile expression that reflected her twenty-six years of age. “You heard, Raichi? You have to work. No more fucking around the club every night,” she commented, sticking her tongue out in the direction of the shatei gashira .

The blond man’s expression hardened. “I don’t fuck around, woman,” he grunted, and Hyouma wondered if his fuck around and Anri’s actually meant different things.

He didn’t want to find out, not after all that had already happened that night. Walking towards the door, he called his second-in-command at the club. “Might skip work tonight. You’ll be alright on your own, won’t you, Anri?”

The woman answered right away. “Of course. Take all the time you need, boss . You might even spend some of it with Ren.”

As Hyouma opened the door without replying, he heard Raichi’s jab. “He avoids waka so much, I’m actually wondering if he hates his guts.”

Hyouma sighed in the warming morning air. If only he did.

“ Danna ,” Iemon, Kiyora, and all the other clan members who crossed Hyouma’s path as he wandered through the corridors of the mansion greeted him with a deep bow, and the Second answered with a nod, sometimes greeting them back.

He didn’t feel tired at all, the adrenaline of the night still running in his veins even though it was almost a full day he was awake.

When he knocked on the door of Kunigami’s office, he hoped Reo was already there. He didn’t want to be with Kunigami alone twice in the span of just a few hours. They had been doing so great at avoiding each other for anything that wasn’t strictly clan-related, and Hyouma didn’t look forward to a change in the routine.

Fortunately, the Advisor hadn’t gone home yet, and opened the door himself.

“Hey,” he greeted, leaving enough space for Hyouma to get in and closing the door behind the Second.

“Raichi came back,” was the first thing Hyouma said, as he sat on one of the chairs in front of the big desk. He thought Reo would finally sit on the other, as he must have been tired as much as Hyouma, and his strange moral code that declared he shouldn’t be on the same level as the Head and the Second was actually really dumb, but the Advisor kept standing even after he closed the door and joined the other two higher ranks of the clan.

Kunigami, sitting in the armchair on the other side of the secretary, had his back straight, his elbows on the arms of the armchair and his fingers intertwined. His chin was resting on them in a pensive pose.

“Nothing happened on the way to Setagaya then, as expected,” replied Reo, and Hyouma made a slight nod.

“He was in a trance-like state, just as he was at the club. Raichi has called some of his guys over there, but he’s back in Shibuya.”

Kunigami cleared his voice, lifting his head from his hands. “How long have the rumors been around?”

“Can’t say for sure. About a week since they got to me. People are saying that the drug comes from Edogawa and Koutou. I guess they’ve been around for some more.”

Tokyo’s crime scene was born, and had evolved ever since, in the docks. That was where ships got to the city and to the entirety of Japan, and it was the hunting place for whoever wanted to import illegal stuff. Whether it was weapons, alcohol or drugs, the docks were the location. Whenever something happened, it was almost surely coming from there, so it hadn’t alarmed Hyouma to receive rumors about just another problem from that side of the city. Since he had been a big piece of the Seidou clan, they had been involved in several quarrels over things like that. That was the first reason he hadn’t said anything to his boss and to the Advisor.

As for the second reason, it was merely a territorial one. The Seidou clan owned the southern part of Tokyo’s Bay. They had their estate in the district of Shibuya, and controlled the surrounding area - Setagaya, which extended until the very suburbs of the city, Shinagawa, with its docks and commercial business, and Meguro that stood between them. The Zero was exactly in the area where the clan’s territory bordered with Isagi’s, the Ichinan clan. It was common for their business to rise in that kind of place, as a sort of challenge for anyone who tried to cause trouble - it explicitly said that they were neutral areas, and if something happened, mercy wasn’t on the table.

As the rumors were about Edogawa and Koutou, districts that weren’t controlled by big clans, Hyouma had thought either the rumors were fake, or they weren’t really relevant.

“Edogawa? Either a stupid scum has made a lot of money or they’re trying to mess with us,” Reo snorted.

Hyouma agreed. In the first case, there were just people who didn’t belong to any clan who tried drugs for the stupid idea of feeling strong, or because they had nothing better to do. A dealer found a good amount of drugs to sell and caused that mess. If that was the case, it would end soon, because either the guy finished their stocks or they made a false step - people of that caliber always did.

The second case was less pleasant. The two districts where the drug presumably came from were big-clans-free and on the other side of the Bay of Tokyo. If one of the clans, or someone enough powerful to fight them, started a new business there , it wasn’t going to end well. 

“What’s the plan, boss ?” Reo asked.

Kunigami shook his head. “There’s no plan. I don’t want our guys to panic and lose focus. Expand a little bit our patrol areas, but not so much that other clans and the police notice. Open eyes and ears to get every information they come across, and ask around slyly about the guy while we wait for Aryu to update us.”

Hyouma unconsciously shivered. He had said the same things to Raichi and Anri not too long before. The idea of being so in sync with Kunigami even if they hadn’t talked privately for ages was unnerving and thrilling at the same time. He thought they were so distant nowadays, but maybe it was just an illusion set by their stubborn efforts to avoid each other. Maybe they were still there, the two kids who had grown up together, finding in each other the comfort of a world too big and cruel for them. Maybe, even if one of them had become the Head of one of the most feared clans in the city and had kind of abandoned the other’s side, they were still deeply connected.

Hyouma’s body, after the shiver which shocked it, started getting warmer in all the wrong places. He shook his head. That wasn’t the moment to find out what Kunigami thought or felt for him. “I have to go,” he said, swallowing, and added the first excuse that came to him. “I’m feeling the adrenaline washing off.”

He got up under Reo’s knowing stare and Kunigami’s frowning face, bowed slightly and exited the room as quickly as he could.

Rensuke gently closed the door of his private room and sighed. It was what, seven, eight in the morning? Maybe even later, and the night was ending just because he made it end. He would still be in the office, talking with Reo, pondering what Aryu was doing with that man, if it wasn’t for his good sense that told him they should all take a break and get some sleep.

Not that he thought he could fall asleep now.

It was already morning. Once the clock had gotten past three or four a.m., his body had lost all the tiredness it had accumulated fighting with Barou, and what was left was just relentlessness. Moreover, when Karasu had called him in the middle of the training saying just to go to the club, his Chigiri senses had clicked right away, and he had quite literally flown from the gym - under Barou’s astonished expression - to get to the Zero as quickly as possible. It turned out Chigiri was fine, but the adrenaline triggered by the fear wasn’t going to wear off soon. And then the drug nicely closed the group of reasons that wouldn’t put Rensuke asleep for a very long time.

He didn’t know the details, but that story of a new imported drug had awoken some weird memories. He felt as if he had already heard of it, had already experienced something like that. He couldn’t place it, though, be it the psychological exhaustion or the night full of new information and events that Rensuke hadn’t expected. He had just wanted to avoid the club by going to the gym, then get tired by boxing with Barou and be so exhausted he would fall face first on his bed and sleep until Reo would bang on his door.

Instead, he found himself with a dangerous problem in his hands and another one, as dangerous, in his mind.

He knew he had feelings for Chigiri. Hell if he knew. Back when Chigiri had been taken in the Seidou clan, as soon as Rensuke had seen him, he thought how pretty that boy was, with his cherry hair and those big, round, rosè eyes.

That sensation, that immediate crush, stayed with him for some years as a question that was hard to answer, some kind of friction that would be resolved only once Rensuke pondered about his sexual orientation.

Chigiri was the reason Rensuke realized he liked boys, and not just the girls his father’s men always went with and talked about with him. Because Chigiri existed, Rensuke wondered whether he could be attracted to guys. And then, well, he confirmed his suspicion when he had invited one of his classmates at a club, when they were in the last year of high school.

They used to attend a private school, one that was affiliated with several clans, where youngsters could learn without getting involved too much with normal people or worse, with the children of cops or politicians. Their classmates, though, were not allowed in the clubs until they were out of school, a rule that didn’t apply to the leaders’ families. Rensuke was getting bored of going to parties and having to spend the night with Isagi and a couple of other boys whom he didn’t particularly like, so he tampered with one of his father’s men - a tall and buff guy who had been Rensuke’s bodyguard since he had memory - to let this guy in, for just a party. Long story short, that party hadn’t been boring at all. And Rensuke got home with a nice thought and a complicated one. The nice one? He did like guys, after all. The complicated? He very much liked Chigiri.

Ten years later, Rensuke was still there. In his room, awake in the middle of the night, pining over the same person. He had tried to stop thinking about him, and to get involved with other people, but no matter his attempts, no one had ever piqued his interest like Chigiri did. When his father had died, and he became Head of the clan, he appointed him his right-hand man, his Second, because no one could ever be in that position but him. No one knew him like Chigiri, no one had Rensuke’s complete trust as Chigiri did. Still, Rensuke, be it the sudden change in hierarchy or the realization he had to be the Head of a clan before being Rensuke, had distanced himself. He could not think about superficial and useless stuff like love, when he had to guide a clan he had just inherited overnight.

Apparently, that hadn’t worked. Sure, he wasn’t actually involved with Chigiri, but that didn’t mean Chigiri wasn’t the only person in the clan, in the city, in the world , Rensuke would raise hell itself to keep safe, the only person he would go to the ends of the world for.

And worst of all, that feeling, the love he felt, was his fatal weakness. For if Chigiri was in danger, Rensuke would kill everyone who stood in his path.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Several days had passed since that eventful night. As Kunigami had ordered, all of the guys from the clan had kept their eyes open and expanded the range of their intel area slightly, but nothing interesting had happened. There had been a couple of turmoils down at the docks in Shinagawa that had alerted Raichi, but they turned out to be false alarms, the kind of accidents that were more than usual in that area of Tokyo.

It felt almost as if they had turned a small thing into a big problem, when it actually was nothing to be worried about. Still, neither Hyouma nor Kunigami were comforted by that quietness.

Kunigami had been holding daily meetings with both Hyouma and Reo in the evening since the case of the strange man at the Zero happened. If Hyouma had to work - it was open at the weekend, and on Wednesdays and Thursdays it worked as a bar - the meeting would happen way past midnight, but Kunigami insisted on Hyouma being there to hear all that had to be said. Not that there was a lot to find out. Reo investigated everything that happened at the club, asking Hyouma about all the most unusual customers, and Kunigami stood at his desk, his chin on his intertwined fingers, silently listening. And when Hyouma finished reporting the uneventful nights, they sank into a silence that would be interrupted after a while by Kunigami, who would call it a day and dismiss them.

That night wasn't different than usual. Hyouma had closed the Zero at three in the morning and rode his motorbike back to the estate. There, he got into Kunigami's office.

It would be a lie if Hyouma said he didn't like spending more of his time with his boss. It felt like when they were teenagers, hanging out in each other's rooms, doing their own things - Hyouma would read poems and books by his favorite classical authors, while Kunigami would play some video games or work out - or doing absolutely nothing, but always with each other. But it also felt different, not only because the three of them were each constantly on edge yet tried to not show it to the other two, but especially because as much as it was familiar to have Kunigami that close, Hyouma felt the abyss that separated them, the deep chasm that had grown in those years when Kunigami had settled into the role of Head of the Seidou clan and Hyouma had to choke his feelings for the man who was now more than ever not going to reciprocate them. 

As expected, as soon as Hyouma closed the door behind himself - the meetings were part of the daily routine now, and the Second had stopped knocking before joining the other two - and greeted Reo and Kunigami, the former started his usual inquisition.

“Anything relevant?” he asked, drumming with his fingers on the back of the chair. He always stood, never made the gesture of sitting once, not even lately when their nights got so long they went to their own rooms after the sun had started rising. Hyouma kept finding it very idiotic, but he never was in the mood to question it.

“Raichi got word of a fight near Edogawa, but he sent Kiyora there and it was just a drunkard,” Hyouma calmly replied.

“At the club?”

Hyouma shook his head. “It's been a quiet night.”

As the Second finished his sentence, the phone in Reo’s jacket pocket rang. The Advisor quickly took it, a weird expression on his face - Hyouma couldn’t say if it was worry, or discomfort - that turned into a serious frown when he saw the name of the caller.

Reo answered, and put the call on speaker right away, placing the device on the desk from where the three of them could hear it perfectly.

“Reo?” said the soft voice of Aryu from the phone. Reo had a particular relationship with the most important figures of the Seidou clan - he stood in essentially the third most relevant rank of the group, but he expressly refused to be called with honorifics by Raichi or Aryu.

Hyouma, recognizing the voice, turned up his nose. They hadn’t heard from the doctor since they went with the drugged man in Setagaya, and the fact that they were calling wasn’t a good sign. What a cosmic joke, right as Hyouma said that the night at the club had been uneventful.

Reo put his hands on the desk, leaning towards the phone. “Yeah. You’re on speaker, I’m in the office, and there’s Chigiri, too.”

“Oh, great. Saves a lot of time. Waka ,” replied the doctor, and then stopped waiting for Kunigami to acknowledge them.

“Aryu. What is it?” Kunigami’s voice was strangely calm and composed. Hyouma thought he would be more on edge, given the difficult and strange situation, but apparently either Kunigami was good at faking, or he wasn’t feeling that bothered. 

“Uhm, it’s bad news. The man died not too long ago.”

The gasps that came from the three men in the room were comically in unison, but not one of them would laugh at the coincidence. Reo clenched his hands on the desk, turning the knuckles white, and Hyouma felt his heart skip a beat. Kunigami tensed a little, just slightly, and Hyouma noticed only because he had been with the other half of their lives. The boss was good at maintaining an appearance of calmness and stoicism. Hyouma wondered what kind of thoughts lingered behind that mask, if it stood just for business matters or if it hid more personal feelings.

“How?” asked Reo.

“It’s difficult to say, but I’m pretty sure it’s cardiovascular collapse. The victim was having some severe withdrawal symptoms as if it was some kind of benzodiazepine, but the cause of death… it’s like an overdose from an opioid, but the thing is that the concentration of the drug in the system wasn’t that high. It’s… extremely dangerous.”

A deep silence followed. The thoughts of the three big pieces of the Seidou clan were probably the same: if they ever tried to optimistically think that the drug was nothing to fear, that hope had been now thrown in the dumpster. Sure, it could still be a one-time thing, for an entire week had passed without incidents of the kind getting to their ears, but it was a faint chance against the brute truth they just discovered. Aryu had just directly told them it was the effect of the drug that killed the man, and it would be neither wise nor logical to not react.

It was of course Kunigami who interrupted the silence. His voice was unshaken, as much as his figure was stoic and firm, a true Head of a clan that didn't waver in front of danger. “Thank you, Aryu. Keep us updated.”

“Sure thing, waka .”

“We can't still hope it's not going to happen again,” Reo commented the obvious, putting his phone back in the jacket. His neat, purplish eyebrows were deeply furrowed. “Even if we haven't seen nor heard anything related, if it's deadly we cannot risk it.”

Chigiri nodded. “What are we going to do?”

“We’ll mobilize Raichi at the docks,” Rensuke answered, taking his own phone from the front pocket of his trousers. He would call him right away, telling him to be in Shinagawa first thing in the morning with his guys.

As he started handling it, Chigiri cleared his voice. “ Waka , I think he’s with Anri.”

Rensuke’s hands stopped as he lifted his eyes, and looked at his right-hand man for a moment. Being called waka by Chigiri always had a different taste. He didn’t use it in a derogatory way, all the contrary, but it was so strange coming from the guy Rensuke had grown up with. It felt like Chigiri purposely put even more distance between them than what already existed, and if it was alright in public, where no one precisely knew the relationships that existed among the members of the clan, when they were alone it felt utterly forced. 

Rensuke shook his head. That wasn’t the time nor the place to think about it. He nodded, letting Chigiri know he acknowledged the information and going back to his phone, and seconds later he brought it to his ear.

“Ren?” the voice on the other side of the call was tired, but didn’t seem asleep.

“Hey, jouchan ,” he replied. “Were you sleeping?”

Rensuke knew her so well he could say she wasn't, but he wasn’t that heartless to order her or Raichi around without asking how they were doing first. They were his friends, before being his subordinates.

“Not yet. Jin- Raichi has just fallen asleep, though,” she stopped right before finishing Raichi’s first name, and Rensuke could picture her face getting redder and redder. She had been in the clan her entire life, had grown up with Rensuke and Raichi and later on with Chigiri as well, but she still refused to admit the obvious. As if just the fact that she and Raichi were about to sleep in the same house, if not room, wasn’t enough. “What’s up?” 

“Nothing good. The man has died. I want to send Raichi and his men to the docks tomorrow. To patrol and look for any clues.”

There was silence on the other side, Anri pondering on what Rensuke had just said. When she finally answered, her voice was steady and calm, but the boss could hear how she was trying her best to not make it waver. “Is it safe?”

No, it wasn’t. A man died mere hours before, and they didn’t know yet what they were dealing with, if it was an isolated incident or the start of something terrifying. Moreover, the idea of it being something Rensuke had already heard of was stuck in his mind, leaving him with a weird feeling of uneasiness that hadn’t disappeared yet. But Rensuke was the Head of a clan, and as such, he couldn’t show his worries, his insecurities or his doubts, not even to his most trusted people, so he mastered his best authoritarian voice to answer, but avoided directly addressing Anri’s question. “I wouldn’t pick anyone but Raichi for this.”

Again, Anri’s answer took a while to come. “Understood. Take care, Ren.”

Rensuke couldn’t fall asleep.

He had ended the meeting more than an hour prior, and the other two were off shortly after. Reo had gone home and Chigiri had retired to his room. Rensuke did as well, but the call with Anri had left him nervous and agitated.

That’s why he ended up at the King , luckily finding it open even at that late hour.

The gym followed a weird schedule - basically, whenever Barou felt like it. The owner refused to leave others to manage it, and lived right above it, in a luxurious, spacious and modern loft, so it wasn't that strange for him to open the King and hang out there instead of upstairs.

The lights were on, though very dim, and Rensuke entered expecting to find the owner in a corner, maybe working out by himself.

But Barou wasn't around. The room was completely quiet apart from the soft buzzing of the ceiling lights. That was quite weird, but Rensuke didn't think much about it. Barou was probably in the back, or upstairs. As long as the doors were open, he had to be around.

Rensuke walked some more, and stopped at the first bench he found. He dropped the duffle bag on it and started undressing - when he was the only one around, going to the changing rooms felt unnecessary.

He took off his slacks and put on the shorts, and then started unbuttoning his coat, the jacket and the shirt.

He clumsily folded them, placing the stack of clothes in the duffle bag and taking from it the tank top.

As he straightened his back, ready to wear it, he noticed he had chosen the bench right in front of a mirror.

A young, tall, and really tired man was looking him in the eyes. The head of orange hair that usually was quite messy, tonight was somehow even more disheveled, the only tidy part of it the undercut that Rensuke always kept clean.

The body was toned, muscles on the arms and the torso well-defined, a v-line that showed the constant training and a nice show of scars all over the skin. Some came from Rensuke’s incidents when he was more or less little, and some were more serious, remembrances of fights that happened in the streets of Tokyo that reminded of his title and his role.

As did the ink on his left arm.

On the inside of the wrist was the koi, the symbol of the Seidou clan that Rensuke got when he was barely thirteen, and on the upper part of the arm, running around the bicep and finishing on the back of the shoulder, was the Head tattoo.

It was a tradition of the more ancient and powerful clans in the country. It went back to hundreds of years before, when towns didn’t exist and mobs were very different from what they were in Rensuke's age. They were communities, big families, where the Head was a leader just in the name. Tattoos were popular even among common people, and the members of the clans used to get one to remark their affiliation. In addition to that, the Head - the first ones were pushed by their people, and then it became the tradition it was those days - got a bigger one, usually on the backside, from where it would protect the leader, reminding them of all the people who got their back, and of the weight they had to shoulder. In the beginning, the tattoos were just scribbles, but as time went by, they became more and more complex and meaningful.

Rensuke got his a year after he inherited the title of Head. The first months had been frenetic, he had to learn how to be a good leader, how to make the best decisions for the clan, and the right businesses. He had to fix the hierarchy, because he wasn't the heir now, he was the boss, and the people who were loyal to his father but looked at him as if he was still a child, as if he didn't deserve to run the clan, had to go. He wanted people he trusted by his side, and fuck it if they were young like him. A generational shift was bound to happen sooner or later.

It took a while for Rensuke to wear the Head title proudly, and when he did, he finally inked it on his skin.

The sound of steps coming down from upstairs woke Rensuke from the memories of his past. He quickly put on the tank top and turned around to meet the very owner of the place, hair down and comfy clothes on. Right behind him, waddling, was a lanky man, with white messy hair and round gray eyes.

It took Rensuke a bit to recognize him, but in the end he remembered about Nagi, the new mysterious guy in the district, the one who didn't talk much and who, even though he was the perfect definition of lazy, hung around at the gym more often than sporty men like Rensuke and Aiku did.

Nagi was fixing his white large t-shirt as if he had just put it on, Barou’s hair moved as he walked down the stairs and revealed a reddish mark on his neck, and if that wasn’t enough to let Rensuke know what had happened, a guilty “ oh ” escaped from Nagi’s lips.

Barou stopped when he reached the ground floor and noticed the guest. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he grunted.

“If you’re busy , maybe you should have closed the door,” Rensuke answered.

He sent a deep glance in Nagi’s direction, and the man returned it. He exuded the greatest lazy and laid back vibes, but Rensuke couldn’t shake the idea of something being off about him. Why did he have such underworld working hours, if he didn’t belong to any gangland?

Nagi cleared his throat. “I- I’ll go,” he said in a tentative voice, “Oh, the coat. It’s still upstairs.”

Barou let out another grunt. He looked very not pleased by Rensuke’s presence in the gym, but again, if he wanted to fuck Nagi all night and all over the place, he shouldn’t have kept the doors open. The King worked like that, if it was materially open, it was open.

“You know the way,” said the owner at his newest hook-up. He waited for Nagi to disappear from sight to address Rensuke. “What’s up, trouble with your pretty boy?”

Rensuke’s jaw clenched. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for joking. The night had been mentally tiring enough, between Aryu’s report, the call with Anri, and the uneasy comfort that came from spending time with Chigiri and kept reminding the Head of his feelings.

“Long night,” Rensuke replied.

Barou arched an eyebrow. Nagi was walking down the stairs, and halted beside the slightly shorter man to murmur something to his ear. Barou nodded, and when Nagi got out of the gym, he grinned. “If you need some tutoring, loser, I can help.”

Rensuke’s blood started boiling. Barou knew when he had to stop, when Rensuke was worked-up and on the edge of exploding. And he had just purposely crossed the line. “Get on the fucking ring, I want to punch you.”

Anri was sweeping the counter of the Zero for the last time that night and Hyouma was closing the warehouse door, when Karasu got downstairs from the upper floor.

The manager turned up his nose in annoyance. He hadn’t seen the bouncer for most of the night, but he hadn’t thought he would so blatantly go against his orders of keeping an eye on the dance floor. If something had already happened once, it didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen again. All the contrary, actually. And just because they had found that man several days before and nothing else had disturbed the quietness at the club since then, it didn’t mean he could go and leave the floor so easily, especially when the manpower was reduced drastically with Raichi and the great part of his men patrolling the docks. The situation at the Zero had always been calm, so different from the other pubs and venues in town, precisely because Raichi was feared by anyone who either had been in town for long enough or had heard about the Seidou clan. And as much as Hyouma was as strong as Raichi - where Raichi had his fists, Hyouma had his gun and his speed - the relevant element was the facade. Hyouma and the bouncers could easily resolve any fight or brawl that happened in the club, but just the possibility of fights happening was what worried the manager the most. People might stop going, if they thought troublemakers were likely around.

“Where have you been?” Hyouma asked drily to the bouncer.

Anri stopped her work with the towel to look at the newcomer with interest as Karasu grinned. “Good news, danna.”

“They better not be that your balls are empty because I’m going to neuter you,” Hyouma spat.

Karasu’s eyes widened. “Uhm,” he mumbled, stopping some steps away from them. “Kinda good news, danna,” he corrected.

Hyouma’s hand crushed the door keys. “You have ten seconds. Spill it or I’ll castrate you with these keys and you will fuck just in your dreams.”

The bouncer sent a glance to Hyouma’s hand, and then another to Anri, who looked like she wasn’t going to do anything to help him, and then gulped. “I can say you didn’t have a nice night with waka . But!” he added, because Hyouma’s eyes turned so fierce anyone would be terrified to death. “I… Well, I had sex. And I appreciate you always implying I’m topping because that’s what I did. Okay, okay, I sidetracked, please put away that key, it’s scary. I found out who that man is. Or well, was. The one on drugs.”

Hyouma stopped at once. The keys dropped from his hand to the floor as his eyebrows lifted. “How?”

“I had a hunch he was part of some clan, even though he didn’t have a tattoo or was wearing a uniform. I mean, just the fact he was wandering at the docks meant he wasn’t exactly an honest citizen. So I’ve searched for a big name of a clan. Found this guy, Yukimiya, he’s one of Isagi’s guys. Alright, I admit it. It’s been months I’ve eyed him and wanted to fuck him. And even though it kinda kills the mood, as we were making out I asked him if he saw the confusion days ago. He said that he’s one of them. Like, quite low scum, but of the Ichinan clan. And then I fucked him. Yukimiya, I mean.”

Hyouma grimaced at Karasu’s words about his sexual encounter that no one cared about, but couldn’t help but worry about the intel. It was a big thing. No, the biggest piece of information they had obtained since that whole mess started. He had to tell Kunigami. And he couldn’t wait to get some rest and for Kunigami to be back at the estate.

“Karasu, that’s the only time I’ll be saying this, but thank you. Anri, do you know where Kunigami is?” he asked, his half-cracked voice the only sound in the silence of the club at dawn.

“At Barou’s, boss . Here,” she replied, taking the keys of Hyouma’s bike from a drawer of the counter and throwing them to the manager.

Hyouma was in a rush, but that didn’t stop him from changing his outfit. He didn’t want to raise any particular suspect by meeting with Kunigami, and he knew that his very presence in Barou’s gym would be strange. If he got there in his formal working fit, it would be clear he got there in a hurry right after work. Moreover, Hyouma did suspect Barou - or better, Isagi - and getting there in his suit would alarm the owner of the King for sure.

So there he was, parking his bike just outside the gym with his stupid high school sweatshirt on. Honestly, he wasn’t fond of working out - he got enough exercise fighting stupid thugs on the streets. And that meant he had never had the necessity to buy gym clothes, and now he was stuck in his teal hoodless sweatshirt that was so different from his usual classy, dark style he thought he was going to pass out from the embarrassment. Either for the color of the sweatshirt or for the fact that even after ten whole years, he still fit into the same piece of clothes he used to wear when he was a teenager. Sure, he hadn’t grown much in height since those years, but he had gained some muscular mass. Yet, he probably looked like a fucking high schooler.

A deep irked frown between his brows, he entered the building.

It was a big, spacious room, with a ring in one of the corners farthest from the entrance, some punch bags near it and several gym machines between them and Hyouma. The man would lie if he said he knew what all those were for - some looked like torture devices, and others looked devoted to a different kind of exercise.

It was not later than six in the morning, but the gym was already lively. Two men were fighting in the ring and half a dozen people were working out with the other stuff. The air smelled like chalk and Febreeze, like testosterone and sweat. The atmosphere was chatty and relaxed, a slice of cheerful life on that side of the city.

“Are you lost, Princess ?” called a deep, raspy voice from Hyouma’s right.

The Second of the Seidou clan quickly turned around, meeting the owner of the King himself. Not that any other guy would have the guts to call Hyouma names.

“The day I will enter this room willingly you’ll have to worry, King ,” Hyouma deadpanned the gym’s name, hoping Barou would catch how lame he thought it to be.

That was precisely when Barou lifted an eyebrow, scanning Hyouma’s outfit, and when Hyouma realized he had kind of just blown up his - already extremely weak - cover. He cleared his throat. “Where’s Kunigami?”

Barou took his time to answer, his face a hard, unfathomable mask, but when Hyouma was about to give up, thinking his little plan was already over and the guy would demand explanations for the presence of Kunigami’s right-hand man there, he nodded towards Hyouma’s back. “He finished not too long ago. He’s in the changing room.”

With that, he left Hyouma to get closer to the people in the ring, shouting For fuck’s sake, Hibiki, do you have noodle arms or what . 

Hyouma blinked a couple of times, unable to realize he had completely free rein. 

He quickly turned around, eagerly walked to the changing room, his circle earrings tinkling on his jawline at every step, and opened the door.

Then, he froze on the spot.

He should have realized that in a changing room people would be at least changing, and would probably be naked, be it half or fully. He should have realized that when Barou said Kunigami had finished his training not too long before, it meant that the orange-haired man had probably gone into the shower.

But Hyouma didn’t realize that, and now he had to live with the consequences.

He was there. Kunigami in the flesh, alone in the middle of the changing room. He was giving his back to Hyouma, but as soon as he heard the door opening, he turned his head to look at the newcomer.

And now they were looking at each other. Hyouma, in his stupid teal sweatshirt, and Kunigami, only a pair of gray boxers on, his broad and toned back facing Hyouma, and his fucking Head tattoo around his left shoulder shining under the lights.

The thing was, Hyouma deep down knew Kunigami had that tattoo. He had never seen it - well, until now , - but he suspected the leader had marked his skin. He had no reason not to, he was the Head of his clan, which was one of the most powerful in the entire city of Tokyo, and his father, and the founder of the Seidou clan before him had one as well. 

But knowing that Kunigami probably had a tattoo under the elegant suits he always wore was very different from seeing it, and actually realizing it existed.

It was a simple yet astonishing dragon tattoo. It wasn’t colorful, just black ink, and it didn’t take up Kunigami’s whole skin as his father’s did. The head of the dragon was on the higher part of the back. The mouth was near the spine, and the rest of the head took up the shoulder blade and the shoulder, behind which it disappeared, probably wrapping the front of Kunigami’s biceps, because the scaly body of the dragon came back on the back of the arm near the elbow, and disappeared once again where it probably ended with the tail.

Hyouma was left speechless. He couldn’t tell if it was because he couldn’t grasp the idea of the tattoo being right below the fabric of Kunigami’s clothes for all that time without Hyouma knowing, or because it was so perfectly placed it looked like it belonged on Kunigami’s skin.

Or maybe just because Kunigami was half naked in front of him and they were still staring at each other.

How much time had passed? Hyouma couldn’t tell.

Had Kunigami’s body always looked that hot ? No, definitely not.

“Oh,” was all Kunigami said as a greeting, his mouth slightly agape. He didn’t look embarrassed at all, neither because he had only his boxers on, nor because Hyouma was the one in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhm,” Hyouma dwelled. His mouth suddenly felt utterly dry, as much as the skin on his face was burning hot. That was definitely not what he was hoping the morning after his work night would be. A naked Kunigami was a pleasant addition - Hyouma’s pants were slowly feeling tighter around his groin, but he tried his best not to get distracted about it more than he already was. “Can you please put some clothes on, waka ?”

Kunigami arched an eyebrow, implicitly telling Hyouma that he was the one who had stormed into the changing room where Kunigami had any right to be as un dressed as he wanted to, but he silently obliged. It was clear he had planned to go home after training, because the outfit he put on consisted of a pair of black sweatpants and a white tank top that in Hyouma’s opinion was too transparent and too tight on his torso.

Hyouma emptily swallowed as Kunigami crossed his arms in front of his chest. The gesture seemed natural, but the way his biceps were pumped up by the position of his hands had Hyouma distracted for a moment. Fuck , was Kunigami doing it on purpose?

“What is it? If you came here , it must be important. Is it our school gym uniform?”

Hyouma’s cheekbones somehow got even redder than before. The plan he came up with right before getting on his bike looked quite alright - for being a last-minute idea, thought on the spot after an entire night of weekend work at the club - but every second that passed, Hyouma was regretting it. “I didn’t want to look suspicious.” When Kunigami opened his mouth, Hyouma anticipated it with a sigh. “Yeah, I know that just by being here I’m suspicious, it wasn’t my nicest play.”

The Head finally figured out the reason.  “Is it about the case?”

They had never called it a real case , but Hyouma was the first who acted as inconspicuously as possible, and he was quick to understand Kunigami’s game. He nodded. “He was Ichinan’s,” he said.

Kunigami pondered for a while, his expression as severe as ever. “We’ll talk to Isagi. I’m telling Barou we’re requesting a meeting,” he finally said, and started marching towards the gym.

When he passed Hyouma, the Second instinctively extended a hand, grasping his wrist to block him. He realized only then that it was the first time in months they touched. Kunigami’s warm skin burnt under Hyouma’s fingers, and the right-hand man let go as soon as Kunigami stopped and turned around.

“What if he’s behind all this?” Hyouma murmured. He was being too direct, but he didn’t know how to make Kunigami understand his worry. He opted for speaking so softly the words would be hard to be heard, if anyone was eavesdropping or spying on them. “We’d go into the lion’s den.”

Kunigami’s eyebrows furrowed. “And what if he’s not? I grew up with the guy.”

Hyouma’s expression mirrored his boss’s. “If there’s even a small chance of him being involved, we’re not going to make ourselves vulnerable like this.”

After some long moments, Kunigami’s face relaxed. “I hope your plan is better than today’s one,” he murmured back. “What do you have in mind?”

Hyouma swallowed. He kind of had an idea, but he didn’t believe in it one bit. It involved the one thing Kunigami hated the most, and deep down, it would indulge Hyouma’s yearnings. But as much as it was rough, Kunigami’s plan to talk to Isagi face to face was even worse. “Tonight there’s a big party at Kazuma’s.”

“I’m not going to a party,” Kunigami immediately stated, his tone louder to reflect his obstinacy.

“You are going,” Hyouma replied in an angry whisper, “because Isagi will be there. We’ll talk with him in a neutral area. If he’s behind all of this, we won’t be surrounded by his guys, and if he’s not, he won’t feel framed.”

Kunigami stood silent. He was looking at Hyouma, eyes fixed, almost challenging him. Hyouma kept his stance. He knew it wasn’t the best plan out there, but it was enough. Just talking with Isagi would be a big step forward in their knowledge about the drug and the entire situation that had been going on, whether he was involved or not. They hadn’t spoken about it with anyone because they didn’t want to sow panic, but now that the case was getting serious, they had to follow their only lead.

“Me going to a party is as suspicious as you coming here,” the boss retorted.

He was right. He wasn’t fond of parties since he had become the Head of the clan, and the only parties he attended were either at the Zero or at the Joker - the one affiliated with the Ichinan clan - but only for big occasions such as New Year or Isagi’s birthday. His presence at Kazuma’s would alert the other underworld groups for sure.

“It may be, but it’s the best shot we have,” Hyouma said, a lump slowly forming in his throat. Was it really okay for him to push that plan? Even if Kunigami hadn’t realized it yet, he would figure out soon that Hyouma’s proposition hid a different, trivial and dumb reason: spending more time together.

Kunigami made a tiny frown, but then he spun around and resumed walking, this time towards the exit. “You better be right.”

When Rensuke opened his eyes, Reo was banging on the door. “ Boss ,” he impatiently called.

The head of the Seidou clan groaned, taking the side of the pillow he wasn’t sleeping on and pushing it on his ear, trying but failing to tune the noise out. He didn’t want to deal with Reo right now. He didn’t want to deal with the entire world, to be honest.

“I’m coming in,” announced the Advisor, and a moment later he was standing beside Rensuke’s bed, towering over it with his height. “What’s up?”

Rensuke groaned. It wasn't that unusual for Reo to see him like this - in pajamas, under the sheets, his hair probably all over the place. Reo was the only one who could get in his room anytime he wanted to - that was how much Rensuke trusted him. Well, Chigiri was on the list as well, but it had been years since the Second had last been in that room.

Reo walked towards the window and opened the curtains, letting the afternoon light in. It was late October, and the sunset-painted sky made Rensuke realize it was about six pm. He would have to leave with Chigiri in a handful of hours.

“What happened this morning?” Reo got straight to the point. Not that Rensuke thought he would circle around it, Reo wasn’t the kind of person who sweetened his words, especially with people he was close with and when he wanted to get information.

“Nothing,” Rensuke turned to give Reo his back, and then kept still.

“Sure. So you skipping the daily meeting with us, going to Barou’s at fucking five am, coming back with Chigiri and sleeping all day means nothing?” questioned the Advisor.

The boss stiffened. “Your choice of words is quite ambiguous.”

“Is it? That’s the guys’ talk for today, though. Chigiri gets back - in gym clothes , nonetheless - and no more than five minutes later, you get back as well, right from the gym.”

Rensuke, despite the voice in the back of his head telling him not to, turned around to face Reo. The Advisor had a strange expression written on his face, his eyes were sparkling, almost amused by the situation, but his mouth was flat and serious.

The Head of the Seidou clan sighed, resigned to explain the situation, and - apparently - the misunderstanding that was running through the entire clan. Not that he didn’t want Reo to know, but he didn’t want to tell him that way. He got up, now sitting on the bed.

“He got some intel on the dead man last night. He’s one of Isagi’s,” he said.

Reo furrowed his brows. “Why did you wait twelve hours to tell me? What’s the plan?” 

“Going to Kazuma’s tonight. Talking with Isagi and understanding if he’s behind it or if he’s just as clueless as us,” Rensuke said, with much more conviction than he actually felt. It was Chigiri’s plan, after all. If it was for Rensuke, he would have called Isagi and talked to him without all the fuss of a party.

Reo stood silent for some time, the gears in his head running and connecting all the dots. He had always been smart, figuring out things - and Rensuke - with just the smallest intel. “It’s Chigiri’s idea, isn’t it? But he’s right. Meeting in a neutral place is the best choice right now. We know just how dangerous the drug is. I doubt Isagi has something to do with it, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Were you sleeping to get ready for tonight? What are you, an old man?”

Rensuke grimaced. “Shut up . Are you coming? Wouldn’t be bad to have another pair of eyes.”

Reo looked like he was about to nod, when a loud vibration stopped him. He took his phone out from the pocket of his trousers, looked at the display, stiffened a little bit and then put away the device. “Can’t. Have to meet with Aiku, apparently.”

The boss couldn’t stop his mouth from scowling. Did he trust Reo? With his life. But he didn’t like the cop one bit, and that wouldn’t change in a million years. “I don’t know which one of us will have the worst night.”

Kazuma’s place was alright. It was a wide storehouse-turned-nightclub in the middle of the district of Chiyoda. It wasn’t as fancy as the Zero, but it was decent. There were tables all around the dance floor, and on one side of the building, opposite to the stage - where people could nicely see the dancers and the singers, if there were any, - several privés were lined up, secluded areas with long sofas and bouncers checking the ropes in front of them, darker than the dance floor to give people some sort of privacy.

That’s where Chigiri was headed, Rensuke trailing behind. The Head wasn’t particularly fond of those places - not after all that had happened in the years - but he still found himself not too uneasy, as he walked through the sea of tipsy people. Maybe it was the company.

Chigiri was tall, but the bouncer in front of the most isolated privé was definitely taller, so Kunigami’s Second went on the tips to tell him something in the ear. The bouncer nodded and took one end of the rope to let Chigiri and Rensuke in.

The boss’s right-hand man disappeared into the dim light, and Rensuke was quick to follow him. As he got in front of the light coming from the dance floor, he stopped its track into the privé.

Already sitting on one of the sofas surrounding the black table was a tall and slender man, with green eyes and short, dark hair, truly elegant in his light green shirt and black suit matched with the black tie and suspenders, and the derbies on his feet. Isagi Youichi had always been more formal than Rensuke, since they were younger, and now their aptitudes were reflected in their clans’ attire. Where Isagi and his guys had fancy dress shoes, Rensuke chose some slip-on loafers. The people from the Ichinan clan couldn’t be seen without a plain shirt, tie and bands, - Barou at the King excluded, - while Rensuke’s men had complete freedom in their top fit, more often than not opting for patterned shirts and keeping their collars open and their neck embellished with necklaces.

Rensuke looked at Chigiri bowing in front of the other boss, who nodded in acknowledgment before turning around, locking his eyes in Rensuke’s and smiling.

Rensuke took a step forward, offering his hand. Isagi got up from the booth and shook it once before reaching out to get his other arm on Rensuke’s back, hugging him. The orange-haired man reciprocated the greeting.

“It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?” commented the shorter boss as he sat back. The booth was made such that the music could be heard nicely, but not as strongly as it was on the dance floor, so they could talk easily without straining their voices.

Rensuke imitated him, sitting by Chigiri’s side. They hadn’t seen each other for a while. Rensuke couldn’t even remember exactly the last time he had been alone with the other man. It was so different from their younger years when they had so much spare time they didn’t even know what to do when they were together, because they had already tried everything. “We aren’t teenage boys anymore.”

Isagi put on a little smile. “I’d gladly go back to those times when our best sources of entertainment were whether Raichi would ask Anri to dance or betting on when Barou would get pissed off and leave the club.”

As Rensuke grinned, he felt Chigiri stiffening by his side. He remembered his words in the morning, how he suspected Isagi’s involvement against Rensuke’s belief in the other boss’s innocence. Surely, in his Second’s head that little scene was fake, a mock of a sort created by Isagi to make them believe that he was the same guy they had known for so long - Rensuke for all his life, and Chigiri since he was taken in by Rensuke’s father - while he was actually scheming behind their backs. In Rensuke’s eyes though, Isagi was the same he had always been. Smart, honest and determined. And probably as nostalgic as Rensuke, but it wasn’t hard to believe. They had both walked on the hard path, becoming Heads after their fathers’ deaths, and Isagi had even been through an internal conflict within his own old clan, the Kitsunezaka, that ended with the separation of the two factions, and with Isagi’s departure from the old clan’s name and estate.

“So, why did you ask to meet me? Is anything going on?” Isagi asked after a few more minutes of small talk, the best kind of formal voice in action. Rensuke tried his best to put away his bias for the guy, but he sensed not much curiosity in his tone, nor any suspicion. Not more than the average, at least.

Chigiri, who had been silent until then, leaned forward. Rensuke clenched his jaw. He confided in the guy, but he wouldn’t have sworn on his diplomacy that day. “Have you heard of some late fuss at the docks?”

Isagi furrowed his brows. “I have. Why?”

“About a new drug?”

“The rumor is that one, yes.”

“Has anything happened in your clan?” Chigiri asked.

The boss took a moment to think about it. “Not that I heard, no. Did you hear something about my guys, Chigiri?”

Rensuke’s Second wasn’t going to stop the inquisition, and Rensuke - both as his Head and as Isagi’s friend - had to intervene to prevent it from escalating.

He didn’t want to interrupt Chigiri mid-sentence with a question of his own, nor did he want to answer him himself, for it would have been clear they weren’t on the same page. And as much as they actually weren’t - Chigiri was extremely distrustful that night, had been since they departed from the estate when he was already frowning - Rensuke didn’t want to show it to the whole world.

After ruling out those bad choices, he was left with the best one, which was somehow also the worst one, but still the only one he could carry out.

“Is any of your m-” was questioning Chigiri, when Rensuke extended his hand and placed it on Chigiri’s inner thigh.

The move created the desired effect: Chigiri stopped, shocked by his boss’s gesture, and Rensuke could exploit his silence to talk. The thing was, though, that now Chigiri was looking at Rensuke, and Rensuke made the mistake of staring back - for just a second - in his direction. He found Chigiri with his cheeks flushed, but he didn’t look like he was about to make any move to pull out his thigh from under Rensuke’s hand. Rensuke, on his end, realized only then that his heartbeat had alarmingly quickened, and that his hand was dangerously in the range of Chigiri’s groin.

Rensuke swallowed. If he wasn’t in a privé in a club that wasn’t his, if he wasn’t in front of Isagi, if he wasn’t the Head of a big clan in Tokyo, he would have gone up with his hand. He would have kissed Chigiri right there and then, and he would have made up for all the years he had spent just dreaming about it.

But he was all of those things, and the man by his side was still unreachable to him, so he finally moved his hand back to his lap and spoke.  “A man came to the Zero two weeks ago. He was drugged, and we had Aryu to take care of him.”

Isagi’s eyes widened as he quickly understood the situation. “Tada…” he murmured, and then asked. “What happened? Where is he?”

Rensuke shook his head. “Gone.”

He waited to see Isagi’s reaction, which didn’t take much. The other boss clenched his jaw, tightening his hands into fists in his lap and lowering his head.

A few minutes passed. Isagi didn’t move, and Rensuke sent a look to Chigiri, who was studying the other boss with a piercing gaze. When he felt Rensuke’s eyes on himself, he looked right back, and nodded, implicitly saying that he was starting to believe in Isagi’s innocence, as well.

“I heard of it a couple of days ago,” Isagi suddenly said, looking up. Rensuke went back to focus on his fellow Head. “The drug, I mean. Tada is… was never one to follow the rules. He used to go out on his own, patrolling when he wanted to and when he ‘was bored’, and stuff like that. Sometimes he went out and came back days later, saying that he was tired of that life and needed a break.”

That explained why, even though the Ichinan clan was so little compared to the other big ones, no one had searched for that Tada in the previous two weeks.

“We thought it was one of those times again. We started to worry only when we heard of the drug. You know when you have the hunch, that kind of sixth sense, that tells you that that’s what happened?”

Rensuke nodded. Any word that came out of Isagi’s mouth made him realize that the guy was as clear as they were. Those were not the words of a guilty person, nor could they be faked. That kind of tenderness towards their own guys, That couldn’t be made up.

“You're here because you thought I was behind it, aren’t you?” Isagi was quick with his thinking, as always.

Rensuke didn’t have the heart to nod - in the end, he wasn’t the one who thought that - but Chigiri did. “It’s a dangerous weapon, both in our world and if it reaches honest people. We can’t trust anyone until they’re proven clean.”

Isagi nodded back. “I understand. And I can’t prove with facts that I’m not involved in this, but I can say that I wouldn’t have used a drug on my own family.”

Rensuke cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for Tada.”

The other boss sent him a sad smile. “Thank you. By the way, Aiku was the one who told me the intel. He got word of two civilians he believed to be victims.”

Rensuke clenched his fists and jaw. What game was that fucking cop playing, having some intel and sharing it with Isagi, even though it was something just between the Seidou clan and him? Rensuke had always known Aiku shouldn’t be trusted. He hoped Reo knew what he was doing, working with the detective.

Isagi kept going. “Oh, also. I sent Kurona and a couple of others to the docks this afternoon. Actually, I told them to find Tada, but I guess it’s kind of a patrol, as well.”

That brought Rensuke back to the conversation - Reo was with Aiku right then, anyway, and maybe he was about to find out the same thing the man had just learned. 

What Isagi had just said explained why he was alone. Kurona - Isagi’s Second - had always been with the Head, anytime Rensuke and Isagi had met since the latter's departure from his own clan. They were together as if they were glued to each other, way more than Rensuke and Chigiri and Reo, who existed as three diverse entities and often, but not always, went to meetings together. Isagi being alone - or better, without Kurona - was by itself a pretty serious alarm.

Rensuke exchanged a glance with Chigiri. His right-hand man nodded and replied. “Raichi is there, too.”

“Did he find anything yet?”

Chigiri was starting to answer, but Rensuke tuned out the conversation when his phone started vibrating in his pocket. He didn’t have many numbers saved there - his highest ranks’, Isagi’s, Barou’s, and just a couple more. He didn’t use it much, and he didn’t receive phone calls from people who weren’t important to him.

His pulse quickened as he took it, reading Anri’s name on the display.

The sixth sense, the hunch Isagi was talking about, twirled Rensuke’s stomach as he answered the call.

“Hey, jouchan, ” he said in his most feigned calm tone. 

“Ren,” she just replied, but Rensuke caught the tremble in her voice.

“What happened?” he asked, leaning forward with his body as if that would bring him closer to her.

That movement drew Chigiri and Isagi’s attention, and they both looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, trying to understand what was going on.

“Ren, it-it’s Jingo… h-he’s been drugged.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

The district precinct was scary. Someone might wonder how a building that was so lively even at that hour of the night could be intimidating, but if that someone was Reo Mikage, former police officer in training and now Advisor of an underground clan, everything would be clear.

In another life, where Reo hadn’t met Kunigami while in police school - or at all, actually - he would have worked there. He would have been so diligent and hard-working, he would have been praised every day, and he would have been promoted to detective in no time thanks to his resolve and dedication. He would have been Aiku’s partner, probably - hopefully, - and he would have kept the other in line to not make him the corrupt cop he was now.

But that life didn’t happen, and in this one Reo was about to go into a precinct from where he fairly didn’t have any confidence he could get out. Who could tell what was going to happen inside? The clan and Reo himself were clean on a surface level, having some legal imports and businesses to their names, but who could say Aiku didn’t set a trap to cuff Reo? As much as Reo had chosen to trust Aiku, he still wasn’t sure it was the right thing to do.

He even had to leave the sheath behind - it wasn’t very smart to go into a cops’ den with a knife in plain sight on the side of his thigh - and that made him feel as if he was naked, even though he had a smaller knife in the inner pocket of his coat.

The man sighed and finally opened the door of the building.

There was a young lad at the entrance, a newbie who had been assigned to the boring job of asking people the reason why they were there.

“How can I help you?” he asked, his voice just barely higher than a whisper, in the most weary tone ever.

Reo swallowed. He remembered Aiku’s message, where he had told him to go to the precinct - no ifs and no buts - and to ask for him.

“Is Detective Aiku on duty?” Reo asked back, using his best soft and convincing voice. If he thought too much about the whole situation, his pulse would go up and his mind would go blank, so he tried his best to keep his thoughts in check. At the very least, having to deal with a bored rookie was certainly helping.

The cop sent just a look his way, probably to find out who was asking for one of the best detectives in the entire city of Tokyo. Whatever he saw - Reo couldn’t tell - had convinced him, for he nodded and picked up the desk phone.

“Aiku, sir. That man is asking for you. Uhm, yeah, tall and less buff than you. Uhm… I don’t know, sir, I’m not really into men…”

Reo’s head turned to the cop so quickly that the poor guy was startled. What the fuck was Aiku saying on his account? And how the fuck did he talk to his subordinates?

“He’ll be here in a minute,”  the lad finally said as he put down the phone, sending Reo an apologetic look that Reo didn’t fully understand.

It took Aiku several minutes to get there, but in the end, he showed up. He was alone and was wearing his uniform, - classic blue suit and white shirt, - even though the tie was loosened and the sleeves of the jacket were rolled up.

Reo realized he had been holding his breath only when he exhaled, relieved that the detective didn’t bring with him a pair of handcuffs or worse, some reinforcement. Not that he would need it, Reo knew - both from his time at the academy and from the unfortunate occasions the Seidou clan had crossed paths with him - that Aiku was pretty capable of knocking Reo down all by himself. He was a little bit taller than the younger man, and enjoyed dropping by at Barou’s more often than he should have. Reo wasn’t bad in a one-on-one fight, but he had to admit Aiku was better.

The detective was now mere steps away from him. He opened the door that separated the front desk from the rest of the precinct and flashed a smile. If Reo hadn’t known him for such a long time and hadn’t seen the worst of him, he would have thought it was genuine. “Hello! Cho, enough with the long face, or I’ll put you to guard the basement,” he warned the young lad at the desk. 

Cho straightened up and shivered. “Please, sir, not the basement,” he pleaded.

“Then don’t look like you’re regretting your entire life,” Aiku replied, as he nodded towards the precinct and let Reo in.

“I won’t anymore, sir,” was the last thing Reo heard before the door closed behind him.

That late at night - it was way past eleven - the precinct was fairly quiet. During the day, with many more employees and visitors around, it must have been turbulent and chaotic, but now the air was more relaxed. There were half a dozen people around, working at their desks, an elderly woman sitting beside a young female cop, and two people locked up in the jail in the farthest corner from the entrance.

It was a calm atmosphere, but still, no one gave a second glance in Reo and Aiku’s direction. Reo wondered if that indifference was the routine for anything that happened in the room, or if it was the treatment Aiku’s guests got. How much power did the man have?

“You can’t put the poor guy in the basement, can you,” commented the Advisor in a half-voice. Aiku might have been a good detective - the best in there, probably - but he wasn’t a captain, and Reo, even though he just thought that, refused to believe Aiku could play God around there.

The cop grinned. “Nope. But he doesn’t know that,” he happily remarked, turning around and going for the elevator.

Reo tried his best to not roll his eyes. He still couldn’t believe Aiku was a man of justice, given his sneaky and unpredictable personality.

“So,” Aiku started as the elevator got on the ground floor and the doors opened to let them in. He was using the kind of voice he used on duty, bright and gentle, and he was still smiling. Reo couldn’t tell if he was doing it for him or the audience in the precinct. “I’m not asking you to trust me, because I’m not a guy to trust. But,” he stopped to wait for the doors to close and for the elevator to start going down. “follow my lead, alright?”

Reo wasn’t comforted at all by those words. Aiku was right, the Advisor didn’t trust him and never will, especially when they were in his precinct and the entire situation was dicey. But follow his lead? In doing what, exactly?

He finally found a good way to talk back, but at that exact time, the doors opened. He chose to stay silent instead, studying Aiku who was leaning a little bit out of the elevator. He got back in after a couple of seconds and moved suddenly and dangerously close to Reo. The younger man was taken aback by that move and tried to step back, but he was basically already against the wall and didn’t have leeway at all.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he managed to whisper, his full astonishment in the sharp tone he used.

Aiku dropped the smile and the bright face in the blink of an eye. He opened his mouth to say something, but a voice from outside stopped him, just as the doors had stopped Reo. “The elevator?” the voice said, and some quick steps followed.

At that point, Reo couldn’t say what exactly happened, because he found his lips busy with Aiku’s all of a sudden, one hand of the cop cupping Reo’s face and the other finding his way to Reo’s hip under the open coat and the jacket, pressing his thumb on the fabric of the soft shirt as he pulled Reo closer.

Reo tried to pull away - because what the Hell - but as Aiku kept him close, their chests against each other, Reo, likely because of the sudden oxygen drop, realized that that was when he had to follow Aiku’s lead. 

Because he had no other choice, and his oxygen intake was very low, he reluctantly gave in, closing his eyes and parting his lips to let Aiku’s move more freely.

Aiku guided him a couple of steps out of the elevator, pushing him against the wall right as the people on the floor stopped in their tracks with a theatrical gulp.

Reo thought Aiku would stop there, but the detective looked like he didn’t have the smallest intention to end it. Instead, he moved his hand from Reo’s face to his nape, his fingers now through Reo’s hair as he deepened the kiss.

A soft and light moan escaped Reo’s lips. The man stiffened, uncomfortably noticing how his body was liking all of it. He hoped Aiku didn’t hear it, but it was a pointless thought, because there was no noise around them - it felt like their audience was, always theatrically, holding their breath - and Aiku fucking smirked against Reo’s mouth.

A little more passed - Reo couldn’t tell if instants or minutes, because he was so freaking flat on oxygen by then to think about it - until one of the two other people - cops - cleared his throat. “Sir,” he said, and at that, Aiku finally interrupted the kiss.

The detective slowly got his face away from Reo’s. When the Advisor opened his eyes, he noticed Aiku was still keeping him pinned there, between the wall and his body. He flashed him a grin before turning around.

Reo felt his cheeks flushing at once.

“Oh, fuck , I thought it was clear at this hour of the night,” Aiku overdramatically lamented, slurring his swearing, his tone back to the bright he used when he was on duty. He wasn’t panting nor had his voice broken, Reo noted with discomfort. Reo was keeping his mouth shut to not let the huffing be heard, and it wasn’t right that Aiku looked so at ease.

As the oxygen slowly went back to his brain, the Advisor of the Seidou clan started looking around. What he could actually see, at least. Aiku was occupying his entire field of vision and had pushed him into the small gap that existed between the elevator and a supporting column. He couldn’t see a damn thing, but - and he realized it way too late, for a former cop in training - neither he could be seen by the officers on the floor. Aiku was hiding him on purpose, and it was part of whatever plan he had created.

When Reo focused on the conversation the cops were having, the guards were talking one over the other. One was saying you should not, sir , and the other I don’t know if we can , but Aiku spoke over them both.
“If someone asks you, tell them I sent you away. It won’t be long,” he said, a smile on his lips and his voice the softest Reo had ever heard. He was starting to see how Aiku had gotten where he was.

Those words somehow convinced the guards, who stepped beside them to get on the elevator. As they did, they tried to send a glance in Reo’s direction, but Aiku - as nonchalantly as accurately - placed his arm on the wall exactly beside Reo’s face, covering him from their eyes.

Aiku and Reo stood there for a couple of minutes. Reo couldn’t move, still pinned there by the cop’s size, and Aiku was probably making sure no one would come back.

When the detective finally got away, Reo felt a shiver along his spine, a small part of him realizing how warm Aiku was and how strangely comfortable he was beginning to feel when the guards had entered the elevator and the two of them had come alone.

Aiku started walking away from Reo, and the Advisor trailed behind him.

“Follow your lead, uh?” he commented. Now that there was a reasonable distance between them and Aiku’s body didn’t take up the entirety of Reo’s vision and thoughts, the words came out more easily.

Aiku sent a glance over his shoulder. “Would you have said yes if I told you to kiss me to create a distraction?”

No . But he wouldn’t admit it. “Maybe.”

Aiku chuckled as he stopped in front of a door. He took his badge and slid it on the handle, opening the door. “See? How long has it been since you got laid, by the way? As soon as I graze you with my tongue, you moan… Man, you sure know how to turn people on.”

Reo had never been so grateful Aiku wasn’t looking at him, because the flush that covered his cheeks gave away the answer to his question so quickly. “Not your business, so shut the fuck up.  Why did we even need a distraction to begin with?”

The detective surprisingly didn’t keep on teasing Reo, but focused on the room they had just entered into.

It was an archive, that much was obvious. There were so many shelves of boxes named after the years and the type of cases - murders, mob investigations, even some cold cases - all piled up from the floor to the ceiling. 

Aiku quickly went to the cabinet opposite to the door, took a box from one of the higher shelves, put it on the ground and opened it. He must have been in there for so long, if he really went through that many files. Reo felt a weird pang of respect for the cop.

“I can’t take the folders home, and if I just told you, you wouldn’t have believed it,” Aiku explained as he skimmed through the binders in the box. “And to take you in here, I had to get those dumb guards away.”

Reo crossed his arms and leaned onto the nearest cabinet. “You must have people over all the time, if it took you so little to convince them to leave.”

Aiku lifted his eyes to meet Reo’s. His lips cracked in a grin. “If I told you that half of the things I do are purposely intended to divert these dumb cops’ eyes from what I may do in the future, you wouldn’t believe me.”

“I just think you do whatever you please all the time,” flatly replied the Advisor.

The other smiled and offered no answer. He finally picked up a folder from the box and handed it to Reo, who took it and looked at the title of the file.

Report on drug trafficking

He flipped through the thick stack of pages, slowing down at words like antidote and effects never seen before . It looked exactly like the drug that was being imported in the city, but the date went back to fifteen years before. Just as Reo and Kunigami feared, it wasn’t the first time that happened. But what struck Reo more was the name printed at the end of each file, the name of the person who conducted the investigations. Because Reo was way too familiar with that surname.

Rensuke, Chigiri following right behind, entered the estate in such a hurry he startled Iemon and Gagamaru, who were at the entrance.

“Where is he?” the Head asked, voice so low his boys wouldn’t have heard him, if the entire estate wasn’t in a deathly silence.

“In your office, waka ,” Iemon said, bowing slightly first in Rensuke’s direction and then in Chigiri’s.

In usual circumstances, Rensuke would have turned feral at them, for no one was ever allowed in the office of the Head of the clan without him being there first, without him being there at all, no matter who that one was.

But those were not usual circumstances. Rensuke ignored the code and just nodded. “Is Reo back?”

Gagamaru shook his head. “Not yet, but Anri-san called him some time ago.”

“Tell him to call Aryu as soon as he gets here,” the Head of the clan ordered, and then walked away and disappeared around the corner, into the big inside of the estate.

The door of his office was ajar. Rensuke’s body was so full of pure rage that he opened it with a slam.

“What the fuck ,” Anri squeaked, jumping out of the armrest of the chair she was sitting on. As soon as she noticed Rensuke and Chigiri behind him, she looked away from them, but not fast enough for Rensuke not to notice her puffy eyes.

Raichi, who was the one actually sitting on the chair, was left with the arm he had on Anri’s hips half-hanging in the air. He just lifted his eyes to meet Rensuke’s. “ Waka ,” he greeted, showing a tired smile.

Rensuke felt a pang of guilt in his stomach. He wasn’t - couldn’t - let them see him falter, even if the three people who were there in that room were the only ones who had grown up with him and had been there in the good and bad times almost since they were born. When he was nominated Head of the clan, he made a promise to himself that no one in his family would feel lost because of him, because he showed insecurity and vulnerability, and he was thoroughly committed to that vow.

That didn’t mean, though, that he wasn’t feeling awfully at fault. He was the one who sent Raichi to the docks, and told Anri that he would have sent him there. And there it was, the result of his choices. His shatei gashira had been drugged and was going to die, and his other childhood friend, who was in love with said shatei gashira , was going to resent him for the rest of her life.

“What happened?” Chigiri asked from behind Rensuke’s back.

Raichi sighed. “We were patrolling at the farthest side of Shinagawa when I heard a commotion. I ran to see what was happening, got to Minato, and found this group of people with balaclavas attacking Ichinan’s guys with pipes and batons. I know I’m not the smartest person here, but I couldn’t watch as they fought Kurona, so I stepped in. Turned out they have fucking darts,” he ended the story rubbing the side of his neck.

When he pulled his hand away, Rensuke noticed the area was reddened.

“How are you feeling?” The Second of the Seidou clan went on.

Chigiri was asking what Rensuke should have asked, was doing what Rensuke should have done. And Rensuke was just standing there, an emotionless expression on his face as he was dying inside, regretting his choices of sending Raichi to the docks, of accepting the role of Head of the clan, even of being born the heir of the Seidou clan.

“Actually, pretty well. The pinprick stings, but that’s all.”

That was good news, per se, but it didn’t make Rensuke feel better. As much as Raichi wasn’t feeling the effects, they all knew the drug was lethal. They couldn’t tell how much Raichi had, but unless an antidote fell from the sky in their hands right then, the conclusion would be just one.

Rensuke’s gaze caught Anri slowly getting out of the room, keeping her head low and avoiding Rensuke’s eyes as she walked away. 

Raichi looked at her, following her figure until she was completely out of sight, and then kept his eyes where she had disappeared, his mind wandering who knew where.

The Head of the clan clenched his fists, torn between going after Anri or staying in the room with Raichi, between two of his closest friends, two members of his family, two people he had utterly disappointed.

That was when Chigiri pressed a hand on Rensuke’s back, pushing him a little towards the door. Rensuke startled at the touch - he couldn’t remember the last time Chigiri had voluntarily touched him, and the last time he did, not more than a couple hours before, now felt like it had happened in another life.

When he looked at his right-hand man, Chigiri nodded. He was silently telling him to go after Anri, that he would stay there with Raichi.

Rensuke nodded back and left his office.

Finding Anri wasn’t difficult. Rensuke knew she wouldn’t be in the building, it would be too close to Raichi and the conversation she was clearly escaping from. So he directly went for the entrance, and soon got out in the chilly early November weather, bumping into the woman in the front yard.

She was giving him her back, her entire body slightly trembling in the night. Rensuke wasn’t sure if it was the fall breeze or if she was crying.

“Hey, jouchan ,” he greeted in a half-whisper.

She quickly turned around, once again surprised by him. This time, though, she didn’t hide her tears, and she took a step forward, lifting her arms and starting punching Rensuke in the chest.

She was strong, for being a woman that slender, but Rensuke was stronger, and Anri herself wasn’t even hitting him intending to actually hurt him. She was frustrated, and Rensuke let her until she suddenly stopped and rested her head on the same chest she had been punching until moments before.

The Head of the Seidou clan figured she was done, and wrapped his arms around her body, squeezing her in a tight hug.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to say in a husky voice. He didn’t mean it. He meant so much more, but there were no words to describe how remorseful he was feeling, how the responsibility of that entire thing had been weighing on his shoulders since it had begun, but now it turned into an unforgiving stranglehold that choked him. His guys - his family - trusted him, and all he had done in return was send his brother to his death.

“I hate you,” said Anri, gripping his coat with her hands and abandoning herself to his embrace.

Her words contradicted her actions, but Rensuke fully understood it all. She had to have, she wanted someone to blame for it, but she knew that it wasn’t their fault. Not Raichi’s, not hers, not Rensuke’s. If Raichi hadn’t stepped into the fight, it would have happened on another occasion. If Rensuke hadn’t sent Raichi to the docks, the drug would have gotten them closer to their territories. The trouble was getting out of their hands so fast that they couldn’t prepare for it, and the only thing they could do was blame each other, and Rensuke for being their leader. And that was fine with Rensuke, because he, too, blamed himself.

“I love him,” murmured Anri against Rensuke’s neck, her trembling tone barely higher than a whisper.

Rensuke placed a hand on her head, gently caressing her hair. “I know, baby .”

The guilt and the remorse were eating him alive, crimping at his guts, hurting him from everywhere inside of him. He looked at Anri, at her grief, at her love, and tried to wonder what it would have been if he had been in her position. If Chigiri was the one drugged, with no more than a handful of days left to live, at best. 

He couldn’t even think about it, about him being responsible for Chigiri's end. He was his Second, the rational part of him when he lost his focus and his grip on reality, the social and friendly part of him that managed the club and kept many relationships with clan affiliates steady thanks to that. He was the man he loved, and had loved for so many years, and he realized how dumb he had been to avoid his feelings for so long just for the sake of their position in the clan and the responsibilities they had. It felt all so fucking insignificant in front of the possibility of losing him in the blink of an eye.

Some slow steps on the sidewalk brought Rensuke back to reality, and his instincts were quick to kick in. He broke the embrace, turning around and pushing Anri behind him as he scanned the street for the source of the noise. They were fairly protected by the gates, but the gates wouldn’t shield an armed attack. And someone being in the neighborhood of the estate that late at night was already suspicious on its own.

The figure who stepped out of the shadows of the lamppost was a tall, buff and hideous man.

“Hello,” Aiku happily greeted, his hands in the pockets of his uniform jacket and a fucking grin plastered on his stupid face.

The relief of it not being an aggressor was quickly replaced by the annoyed irritation of having the cop in front of him. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Oh, Kunigami ,” the detective lamented, slurring his surname. “You should change your greeting, I’m getting tired of it.”

Rensuke clenched his fists on his sides. He felt Anri peeking from above his shoulders, and then relaxing as she saw the familiar man. He might not have been very friendly with the clan, but he wouldn’t be a danger.

“I can punch you in the face if you want,” spat the boss behind gritted teeth.

Aiku only smiled in return, as a black Aston Martin parked in front of the gates and Reo and Aryu got out of it, the former in his formal clothes, the latter in their white coat and carrying a briefcase in one hand and a file in the other.

Anri squeaked from behind Rensuke, and the leader of the Seidou clan clenched his fists even more. What the hell was Reo doing, driving Aiku’s car?

“Oh,” was all Reo said as soon as he saw the two clan members in the yard. Rensuke couldn’t exactly say if it happened for real or if it was just an effect of the dim light, but he swore he saw Reo blushing.

“Mind explaining?” he asked sharply.

Reo sent a glance in Aiku’s direction and swallowed. “I was with Aiku when Anri called me. He… gave me a ride. And then I went to Aryu’s.”

Aryu, who had walked around the car and was now beside the Advisor, bowed. “ Waka . Anri-san,” he greeted.

Rensuke inhaled a deep breath to process all that Reo had said. He knew the Advisor had to meet with the cop, but he didn’t like how that thing had ended. Aiku was once again meddling, and Rensuke was convinced he offered a ride to Reo because he wanted to know what was going on, and not out of the kindness of his heart - there were none . 

The Head bit back a remark. It wasn’t the time to pick one more fight with the cop.

“Thank you for bringing him home,” he said to Aiku, his tone so flat anyone would get his true feelings. “Now you can go back to lick some Captain’s ass.”

Aiku grinned, but then, to Rensuke’s surprise, he sent a deep look in Reo’s direction. Reo gulped - a slight movement of his Adam's apple, that Rensuke wouldn’t have noticed if he didn’t know the guy like the back of his hand - and nodded.

Aiku got back in his car and drove away, right as Reo opened the gates and got in with the doctor.

Aryu was looking at Rensuke, their eyes implicitly asking him what to do. Rensuke nodded towards the building, said “in my office” and watched as they disappeared into the estate.

When Rensuke turned back to his Advisor, he saw him hugging Anri, the woman squeezing the figure of her friend as she sobbed quietly on his shoulder. Rensuke’s guilt, which had momentarily disappeared at the revolting sight of Aiku, now came back more vigorously than before, heaving his chest.

He waited until the two separated to ask Reo: “What’s the situation?”

It was obvious he meant the situation with Aiku , and he knew both Anri and Reo understood him perfectly, but his Advisor diverted the conversation.

“You have to tell me. How does Raichi feel?” he asked back with a light tone.

Rensuke fought back the instinct of taking Reo by the collar and keeping him there. The only reason he was being that combative with his Advisor was the bad relationship that ran between the Head and Aiku, but he had chosen to trust Reo with that - he had chosen to trust him from the moment he pleaded with his father to take him in the clan. 

He inhaled, dropped the hatchet, and shook his head. “He says he’s fine,” he replied, and then turned around and preceded the other two inside the building and towards his office.

When they got in the room, Aryu was already bent on the desk, looking at the monitor of a little beeping device they had placed on the surface. It was connected to a syringe that contained Raichi’s blood, and Aryu’s eyes were fixed on the parameters that were showing up on the monitor. Beside it, the briefcase was opened, and several medical devices and some files came out from it.

Raichi was still sitting on the chair, and Chigiri was standing beside him, his back pressed against the library and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked up and nodded in Reo’s direction in a silent greeting.

As soon as his eyes shifted to Rensuke’s, the boss fought the urge to run by his side. All the thoughts he had had outside were suffocating him, and yet they seemed so useless when Rensuke and Chigiri had been going through so much, so stupid if met with what the two men were right now and the much greater and more important issue they were dealing with. Once again, Rensuke tuned out what his heart was screaming.

“Oh,” Aryu exclaimed, turning around to face the other members of the clan. They were wearing the nicest expression in weeks, far from the eccentric and excited one they used to have but so different and more relaxed than the frown Hyouma and the others had gotten used to seeing on them since the beginning of the drug case.

“What’s that?” Raichi asked.

Aryu looked at all of them, one by one, starting from Raichi, then Hyouma, Kunigami, Reo and finally Anri. They kept their eyes on her as they spoke. “Let me digress for a moment. Aiku-san gave Reo the results of the autopsy of two civilians he believed fell victim to the drug.”

Hyouma stiffened. The two civilians… That’s what Isagi had said back at the club. It was good to know the information matched, but the intel itself wasn't the brightest.

“Autopsy?” he asked. “Did they die as well?”

Aryu agreed. “And I can quite certainly say that - Isagi-san’s guy, is it? - isn’t an isolated incident, but the actual effect of the drug.”

There it was, the final proof of the destructiveness of the dope.

“But let’s go back to the current matter,” the doctor kept going. “Don’t take my words as a scientific law. It's just my hypothesis, but I’ve thoroughly gone through the result of the analysis made on the three known victims. The percentage of the drug in Raichi-san’s blood is greater than any of the previous victims, yet he looks - and is , as his analysis says - perfectly fine. All the other victims would have already been dead with that much concentration of poison.”

Reo was as always the first to catch up with Aryu’s reasoning. “You mean that…”

The doctor nodded. “It looks like Raichi-san has the antidote already in his system.”

There was a single moment where everyone in the room stood still and processed those words. Then, Anri was the first to move, crossing the room, almost running and trampling over Raichi as she hugged him. He got up, easily lifting the both of them and embracing her in the tightest hug, as she started crying once again in the crook of his neck and crossed her legs behind his back.

Hyouma stepped aside, feeling in the way. He looked at the other two higher ranks of the clan, meeting their relieved and soft expressions. The both of them, though, had a strange aura surrounding them. Reo wore a concerned grimace behind the alleviation, a look that Hyouma couldn’t really decipher, while Kunigami, who at first glance was radiating the greatest relief of them all, still had a dark shadow in his eyes.

“I’ll get going, then,” announced Aryu. “I have to find out what's different in Raichi-san’s system. Please let me know if anything changes. Waka ,” they greeted and waited for Kunigami to nod and say goodbye back before exiting the room.

Anri was back on her feet by the time the boss talked again, though she was keeping herself beside Raichi in a blatant affection Hyouma had never seen from her. Having the guy she loved almost gone had cleared any weird wall they kept between them in public.

“You’re dismissed for the night. We'll have a meeting in the afternoon, but we all need some sleep right now,” Kunigami said.

Anri ran to hug him tightly, squeezing her arms around Kunigami’s upper body, and then she softly smiled at both Reo and Hyouma before taking Raichi’s hand and going for the door.

Raichi stopped right before disappearing in the corridor, bowing deeply to the three of them and greeting Kunigami. “ Waka .”

Then, Reo took a step towards the door. Hyouma would find it unusual if it was a normal day. Kunigami usually had to explicitly send him away, or Reo would have stood there forever. That day, though, Reo had that distant and troubled expression that was weird to figure out. Hyouma kind of expected him to leave sooner than he used to, so he wasn't surprised at seeing him bowing slightly to their Head before leaving to go home.

Now that the two of them were alone, Hyouma started to realize how long that night had been. If he thought back to when he had gone to the King , it felt like a month had passed. But it all happened not even a day before. Barou’s gym, and the conversation with Kunigami, the troubled sleep before going to Kazuma’s, what happened at Kazuma’s, the conversation with Isagi, and Kunigami.

Kunigami with his woody cologne and his shirt that he kept unbuttoned on the chest, the silver chain necklace and the toned muscles of his upper part. The tattoo that now Hyouma knew was there, underneath the fabric of Kunigami’s clothes. The big, steady hand that had softly touched Hyouma’s tight.

Hyouma’s body decided that it was an excellent moment to remind him of the desiring shiver that shook his body when his boss had dared so close to Hyouma’s business end.

If it were any other day, if a catastrophe hadn’t been avoided by a whisker, the atmosphere would have been different, and he would have quite literally jumped on Kunigami.

But so much had happened, and Kunigami looked so tired and exhausted that Hyouma could only feel a surge of empathy. He could never begin to understand the responsibility and the weight of being the Head of the clan.

“So Isagi isn’t involved,” the boss said in a half-whisper.

Hyouma blinked, taken away from his thoughts, and processed the other’s words. Alright, if he wanted to go with the recount of the night, Hyouma would have gone along. He didn’t have anywhere to be, after all, and even if he had gone to his room, he wouldn't have been able to fall asleep. And to be honest, he didn’t want to leave and deprive himself of the sight of Kunigami in that outfit that Hyouma had eaten with his eyes for the entire time they had been at Kazuma’s.

“Looks like you have nice friends,” he replied as he went near the chair where Raichi was sitting. He plopped down, releasing the tension he had accumulated during those hours. He managed to put some distance between him and Kunigami, and that was good, for his mind and his body.

The boss mockingly smiled. “You weren’t wrong to doubt him. If we didn’t talk with him, after hearing Raichi’s story I would have thought Kurona set it all up.”

Hyouma nodded. Raichi and Kunigami were childhood friends with Isagi, but Kurona had been part of Isagi’s little circle for just a handful of years. If Raichi was the type of man who did not think twice about helping his allies, Kunigami would have pondered more about the reason behind Kurona patrolling at the docks and about his involvement. If they hadn’t met with Isagi and discovered his side. The other boss could have still been lying, but it was now a feeble possibility, against the much more convincing idea of the Ichinan clan being yet another victim of the true mastermind behind the drug.

“Raichi and Kurona were attacked for the first time today. Well, Kurona was attacked and Raichi went to help. Could it be that whoever is behind this is targeting Isagi?”

Kunigami stopped on his way towards his desk. “Do you think it’s Kira?”

It was obvious Kunigami would have thought right away about the other heir of the Kitsunezaka clan, the current leader of the faction that stayed behind when Isagi had dropped out, given the hostility they had, both now and back in the days when they were young and so far away from the business of the clans.

But Hyouma shook his head. “Can’t be that hasty. Maybe it’s all just a coincidence, that Tada was being drugged one month ago and now Kurona was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And even if it’s part of a bigger plan, I wouldn’t pick the Matsukaze clan right away. With his fucking dramatic ass, Kira would cause a fuss saying that we hold it against him.”

The boss slowly nodded. “You’re right. But it wouldn’t hurt to investigate this route. We’ll tell the guys about this tomorrow,” he replied, sitting in his armchair.

Hyouma looked at him for some long moments, noticing how relieved his eyes were after the issue with Raichi that had ended nicely, and yet how tense his features were after the long and tough night. But no matter how deep his frown and how dark his eyes were, he was still utterly handsome, with his bright and spiky orange hair, the undercut always kept at the perfect length and his calm aura of a leader.

Hyouma would have been in love with him in any case, but all those little things that made Kunigami the respected Head of the clan he was, were the ones that had made Hyouma fall deep, that made him unable to recover from the intense sentiments he had had for so long.

“We shall go to sleep as well, don’t we?” he asked. He would have always preferred spending his time with Kunigami to being alone in his room, but he didn’t trust the road his thoughts were starting to explore.

The boss nodded. “Sure,” he said, and got up from the armchair to precede Hyouma to the door.

Hyouma got up as well, silently following the other man.

When he put his foot in the hall, passing the Head who was keeping the door open, Kunigami’s soft voice made him pause.

“I’m sorry for tonight. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

It took Hyouma some seconds to process it, and when he finally did, he fought back the wish to disappear.

To be fair, back at Kazuma’s club he had thought - he had hoped - that Kunigami had moved his hand without thinking about it, and that it had ended up on Hyouma’s thigh for an unfortunate turn of events.

But now Kunigami was implicitly saying that it hadn’t been completely involuntary, and moreover, that the man himself had pondered over it for some time, that was pondering over it now , even after all that happened and that could have removed that small thing from his head.

Hyouma’s mind went completely blank for a moment, and he was replying before realizing he had opened his mouth. “Yeah. But had we been in another place, I would’ve enjoyed it.”

What. The. Fuck. Did he just say?

Hyouma’s cheeks went red in an instant, as he processed the words that had just escaped his own mouth, leaving both him and Kunigami quite speechless. Kunigami who was no more than half a meter away. When the hell did he get so close?

For a moment, for a single moment, Hyouma swore he could read in Kunigami’s eyes the same feelings he had been feeling for so many years, but they were gone a second later, when the boss cleared his throat and looked away.

“It’s better if we go,” he said before taking a step to the side and leaving Hyouma with a cold sensation in his chest.

“Yeah,” he agreed, lowering his head and following his boss to their private rooms.

When Reo parked his bike in front of his house and took his helmet off, he noticed a far too familiar black Aston Martin on the side of the road, the same car he had driven no more than a couple of hours before.

Reo sighed as the owner of the car exited the vehicle. 

He had hoped he could leave that surreal night behind and get some sleep, but it looked like his plans had to be postponed.

“Care to explain?” he patiently asked.

“Why I know where you live or me being here?” Aiku asked back.

Reo rolled his eyes. His house was a quite big apartment in a populous compound, but even if the detective shouldn’t have that kind of knowledge, Reo was extremely conscious that it wasn’t private information anymore - if it had ever been private. He lived in an area that was still part of the district of Shibuya, and Aiku and his men had been patrolling the area for years. He would have been ingenuous if he thought Aiku didn’t know where the higher ranks of the clans resided.

“You know which one of the two. Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I clocked out when I gave you a ride, don’t you remember?”

Touché, Reo thought. Now that Aiku said it, he did recall him stepping away from Reo while they got out of the precinct. He must have gone to take the files he had given Aryu and to punch out.

But Reo wished Aiku would have a reason to go away, because he didn’t know what he would do if the other was to stay.

Aiku wasn’t of the same mind. He voluntarily settled outside the gateway of the building, so that when Reo got closer to his house, he found himself stuck in front of him.

“Is Raichi okay?” Aiku asked. If Reo didn’t know him, he would think he was genuinely worried about the shatei gashira ’s wellbeing. But he did know him, and was conscious it was just another question to get some intel.

“It’s classified,” he bit, crossing his arms in front of his chest. 

“He’s fine, isn’t he? If he wasn’t, you’d still be at the estate.”

Reo sighed. Surely he couldn’t keep that information from the best detective in the city, the same guy who had seen him every day at the police academy.

Right then, a thought struck his mind. Had Aiku been waiting at his house since he had left the estate, and not knowing when Reo would get back? Talk about persistence.

“Yeah, he is. But I’m telling you nothing more. Please let me into my house?”

Aiku’s lips curved in a mischievous grin as he stepped aside. Reo looked at him from head to toe and back, suspiciously waiting for a move by the other, but the cop seemed to be quietly standing there, and Reo took a step towards the door.

He should have known better.

Right as he surpassed Aiku’s figure, the cop extended an arm in his direction, taking him by his hip - fuck Reo for having the coat unbuttoned - and turning him until they were facing each other.

And then, because Aiku was a fucking dick , he didn’t go on. He stood there, less than half a meter away from the Advisor, one warm hand on Reo’s hip, just where it had been when they were in the precinct basement.

“What are you doing?” Reo slowly asked, even though he knew Aiku was playing. He was still grinning, like he always did.

“You shouldn’t have moaned when I kissed you.”

Oh, fuck him , bringing that back.

“You shouldn’t have kissed me,” Reo retorted.

“My bad,” he replied, without a hint of regret and meaning, and especially with no intention of moving away. No, he was waiting for Reo to make a move. 

And what infuriated Reo more was that Aiku was being fucking respectful. His hand excluded, he wasn’t blocking Reo’s way. He wasn’t forcing him to stay or do anything. If Reo wanted to take a step away, he could. If he wanted to put some distance between them, the man would have undoubtedly left him. 

And that drove Reo mad, because when he finally crashed his lips against the cop’s, they both knew that this time there were no guards to distract, and that Reo had the chance to move away and to stop it all, but chose not to.

And when five minutes later Aiku pushed Reo onto his own bed, loosening his uniform tie a little bit more to take it off and then throwing it in the dark of the room, Reo stopped thinking at all.

The alarm went off. Reo groaned against the pillow, rolling on the sheets in an attempt to fall asleep again. When he half-opened his eyes and found himself alone in the bed, though, his tiredness wore off.

A small sigh escaped his lips, as the memories of the previous night got clearer and clearer in his mind. Aiku’s hands on his body, Aiku’s stubble rubbing against his cheek, Aiku’s warmth when they had fallen asleep as the first light of dawn shone outside.

Reo knew Aiku wasn’t the kind of person who stayed, but a small, tiny part of him still wished he was there right beside him, having a slow morning together with him. Maybe, if Aiku was there, Reo wouldn’t have felt the panging guilt in his stomach he was feeling now.

The clan tattoo on Reo’s wrist was ironically illuminated by one of the few rays that got through the shutters, reminding Reo of the place he belonged, of the people he had chosen as his family, of the mistake he had just made and of the dangerous realization that he would do it again.

The Advisor of the Seidou clan slowly got up from his bed, dragging his feet to the bathroom. He absolutely needed a cold shower.

When the tall and lean figure of Mikage Reo entered the office, the meeting had already started. 

All the people in the room stopped talking as soon as the Advisor knocked on the door, probably making him feel even more in the spotlight than he already felt.

Rensuke looked at his friend, arching one eyebrow. He was sitting on his armchair, arms crossed in front of his chest. He hoped he was emitting an intimidating aura, because he was extremely pissed off.

“Mind explaining?” he asked in a flat tone. He had said the same thing the night before, when Reo had gotten off Aiku’s Aston Martin, and that made his blood boil. He wasn’t used to Reo not being around, and he was even less used to not knowing Reo’s whereabouts.

Reo already knew. His cheeks were flushed, his head slightly bent, his eyes on the desk since he got in the room, too guilty to meet his Head’s gaze. “The alarm didn’t go off,” murmured the man.

Rensuke inhaled.

He was fucking conscious that it was a lie. Reo had never been late to a meeting since he entered the clan. First they were just informal meet-ups, Rensuke wasn’t the Head yet and he just had a small circle of friends and loyal comrades that were around his age. But still, even when his word meant just a tenth of what it meant now, Reo was always the first there, so blindly devoted to his position, to Rensuke, that he looked like a dog always tailing his owner.

And now , almost ten years later, Reo got to the estate two hours later than planned, and used the stupid excuse of the alarm. As Rensuke would get it.

That was, however, not the time for addressing it in front of everyone, especially not when Chigiri was sitting in front of Rensuke and had been distracting him since the start of the meeting.

Not that the Second had done much apart from sitting and talking like any person would have done, but his very presence was enough to destabilize Rensuke, after all that had happened the day before between them.

Being with Chigiri was always rough and tiring, because of their past, their teenage years that had been steadily growing into a blooming adulthood together when they were torn apart in the blink of an eye. And in the last weeks, when the time spent together had grown exponentially in comparison to the previous years, Rensuke had realized his feelings had really gone nowhere. They had always been there, just quiescent when he tried hard enough to not think about them, and now that he wholly uncovered them, they were flowing through him like a river in flood.

Raichi and Anri, the former standing and the latter sitting on the other chair, had helped Rensuke focus on the matter at hand, but they weren’t enough. It was Reo, it had always been Reo who could ground Rensuke, the tether that stabilized him. If he were in the room, the Head of the Seidou clan would feel more relaxed, more focused and less screwed up.

It was something that Rensuke couldn’t explain, an innate bond between the two of them. Reo probably didn’t even know that, and it wasn’t exactly fair to get upset with him because of that, but Rensuke wasn’t thinking straight - couldn’t think straight - until the Advisor finally showed up.

In the silence that was lasting a bit too long, Reo found the courage to lift his head, and met Rensuke’s eyes. The Head couldn’t say what his face was looking like to the eyes of others, but he feared he was wearing his despair for the entire Chigiri situation and his relief for Reo’s arrival on his sleeves, because his friend’s eyes opened in silent astonishment.

Anri, the angel Anri, cleared her throat. “So, continue investigating and keep an eye out for that bastard Kira that might be involved. Is that all?”

Rensuke had never been so grateful. He took a deep breath, shifting his focus on the woman as Reo and Chigiri did the same. “Yeah,” he half-whispered, and then cleared his voice to not make it tremble. “Raichi, today you’re off.”

The shatei gashira was taken aback. “But- waka -,” he retorted.

Rensuke shook his head. “You’ve been drugged. I think it’s safe to assume that whoever shot you thought you would die. I want to keep your well-being off the radar. It’s our only advantage, right now.”

Raichi slowly processed his boss’s words, and then finally bowed his head, defeated. His role as shatei gashira was fighting to go back to his comrades at the docks, but he knew Rensuke’s argument was the most reasonable, and even if it wasn’t, they were the Head’s orders. Just by being in the clan, and even more by accepting the role of shatei gashira , the man had put his entire trust and his entire existence in Rensuke’s hands.

“I’ll get in touch with Isagi and ask him about Kurona. You’re dismissed,” the boss said, nodding to Chigiri and Anri.

The two of them left, followed by Raichi, while Reo stayed behind. He knew as much as Rensuke that they needed to talk.

“ Mikage ,” started the Head, the surname of the Advisor a word strange to his vocabulary, picked exactly because he wanted the man’s full attention.

Reo startled and straightened his back even more, inhaling deeply as his eyes, opened and slightly scared, fixed in Rensuke’s.

“You have my full trust, always. I won’t ask you what you did yesterday nor this morning, but don’t test my faith any more, because I am the Head of a mob clan, especially to my subordinates.”

The Advisor didn’t look surprised at all. He was expecting it, fully aware of his misstep and of what Rensuke was capable of. He deeply bowed in front of him, even getting down to one knee, without saying a word.

Rensuke let a long minute pass before telling him to stand, implicitly adding that what had happened was now gone, left behind unless Reo would want to see what Rensuke could do in response to insubordination.

The Advisor slowly stood, and studied his boss’s face for some time, before asking. “What happened with Chigiri?”

If a small yet extremely loud part of Rensuke wasn’t already expecting a comment on what Reo had noticed in his eyes when he got in the office, he would have choked on his saliva. Luckily, he knew his Advisor as much as the other man knew him, and he managed to not look awkwardly taken aback by the question.

He also knew that there was no point in lying, because Reo wouldn’t buy it. The entire situation was already going downhill, and Rensuke needed to let it all out. Reo had silently witnessed the evolution of Rensuke’s feelings, anyway.

Rensuke recounted what he had done and what Chigiri had told him right before an urge of panic and insecurity had steadied him and made him break the little bubble of longing and enduring feelings he had created all by himself.

After the whole story, Reo furrowed his brows. “What are you so afraid of?”

The right question would have been what Rensuke was not afraid of. He feared vulnerability. It had happened with Raichi less than 24 hours before, and when Rensuke had imagined, just for a moment, Chigiri in Raichi’s place, the emptiness that he had felt in his stomach was louder than any emotion he had ever felt. Chigiri was already his biggest weakness, and he was just his Second. If he was to become something more, a partner, a lover, a husband, that weakness would only expand, eating Rensuke alive.

And there was guilt, as well. Chigiri wouldn’t have ended up in the Seidou clan if Rensuke’s father hadn’t taken him in. Rensuke had always made it clear that he just needed to tell him, if he wanted to leave, but the mere fact that Chigiri was still part of the clan wasn’t enough to make Rensuke not believe that his right-hand man felt obliged to stay. To make a move felt like Rensuke was forcing Chigiri to go along with it. He couldn’t stop thinking that Chigiri might satisfy Rensuke’s fantasies just because he was his boss and he gave him a home, a job and a role in the clan.

And lastly, the obvious idea of Chigiri not being into him. Maybe Rensuke had always read any signal wrong, and maybe Chigiri had indulged any look, any word, because Rensuke was the fucking Head of the fucking clan, and not because he actually felt something for him.

The boss shook his head. “I shouldn’t think about such useless things. It doesn’t matter.”

Reo placed his hands on the desk, leaning into Rensuke’s field of view. “You’re a coward,” he spat.

Rensuke felt his features hardened at Reo’s blatant accusation. “Excuse me ?”

“You’ve been in love with him for what, ten years? You’ve gotten so used to quelling your feelings that you’re choosing to suppress them even now that he is telling you you’ve got the green light.

“I don’t know what it feels like. To love someone, and to be in love, for that much. But I can tell you’re holding back. You think you’re protecting him by keeping your feelings at arm’s length, but the truth is that you’re shielding yourself because you don’t want to risk it.”

Rensuke couldn’t find the words to fight back. Reo, of fucking course, had centered the point with sharp precision, and the boss of the clan dropped his head, defeated. There was nothing he could say that wasn’t that Reo was right, but his reaction had already said enough.

Reo, in fact, stepped back, greeted goodbye and left the office, and Rensuke was left alone with the realization that if only he wasn’t a big, fat wimp, he would be with Chigiri.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Reo was in Aryu’s studio, sprawled on a chair, bored as hell.

His kind-of-discussion with Kunigami had left him tired and without a specific job for the night, so he went to the doctor to find at least some company.

The studio was no more than a kilometer away from the estate, and it was both a small clinic and a lab. Aryu was a practicing doctor, even if they worked less than the average doctor in Tokyo, both because they dedicated a lot of time to different kinds of research, and because, on the side, they were the Seidou clan’s affiliated doctor.

“Is something bothering you?” asked Aryu, bent over a petri dish.

Reo, who was scanning the extremely interesting joints of the floor, lifted his eyes. “Do I look bothered by something?”

“Kinda. You’re frowning a bit. And you’re as talkative as a dead body.”

Reo turned up his nose. He wished Aryu was so focused on their job that they wouldn’t notice, but maybe hanging out with a doctor with a degree in Psychology wasn't the best solution he could have taken. “I… did a thing. I think I should regret it, but I actually don’t,” he confessed, staying as vague as he could.

Aryu hummed as they placed the petri dish on a pile and took another one in their hands. “As long as you feel alright with it, I don’t see why you should be bothered by the ifs. When I went to med school, my parents were deeply disappointed. They raised me to be a celebrity, a model of whatever their pea brains thought. And I can’t say I was thoroughly happy at first, because you know, I was their disappointment and all that stuff. But I didn’t regret it, not then, and not now. It’s my life, and as long as I don’t regret my choices, I’ll be happy with it.”

Reo furrowed his brows. Aryu had just made the longest speech Reo had ever heard from them, and they had done it while looking at a petri dish of nothing . That person was always full of surprises.

But what they said was true. If that… thing was what Reo wanted, he had to pursue it. If it was going to raise troubles, he would deal with them, and if it wasn’t going to be a big deal, it would be a win. Not to mention that it might have been just a one-night thing, and it - he - would never even bother Reo again.

Reo’s phone started vibrating in his pocket. He picked it up and looked at the caller - the hell, did he summon him? - and subtly gulped.

“Is it the thing ?” Aryu commented, their tone amused.

Fuck , Reo thought. Either the Psychology degree was full in action or he was a terrible, awful liar.

“Yeah,” he choked out, before getting up from the chair to take the call outside the studio.

“Hope I didn’t break your heart by leaving before you woke up,” Reo was sure Aiku was fucking grinning on the other side of the phone, because he always was.

He throttled a bitter reply. He knew Aiku was messing up with him, and he wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of hearing him whine. “Thank God your face wasn’t the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.”

The cop sneered. “Anri interrupted us last night. I still have to give you all the intel.” To be honest, Reo had kind of forgotten about it. Sure, he was concerned by that name on the first page of the file, but with Raichi’s situation and the night with Aiku, the folder had shamefully gone to the back of Reo's mind. “At my place at one a.m.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, and Reo was fully aware that if he refused, Aiku would back off from their agreement. In the end, the detective was the one with the information, and he would lose very little if the deal was called off.

Reo swallowed. “Just for the intel,” he so cleverly said.

Aiku waited a second to answer, and when he did, Reo couldn’t exactly decipher his tone. “Yeah, sure .”

Hyouma was sitting on a table in the far left corner of the club. It was almost eight in the evening, the opening hour wouldn’t be until another hour or so. Karasu was somewhere upstairs, to no one’s surprise, Raichi was placing the chairs on the other side of the room, and Anri was filling up the liquors in the back of the counter.

“You’re more pensive than usual,” stated the woman as she closed the sash.

Hyouma lifted his eyes from the floor. “Am I?” he rhetorically asked.

“What happened with Ren?” she asked back, leaning on the counter with her back. She placed her hands beside her hips, her comfortable pose expressing how she wanted him to tell all that was going on in his mind.

Hyouma sighed. He shouldn’t have told her about his feelings during his last year of high school. Ten years had passed, and she hadn’t stopped once thinking that every interaction the two men had, little as it might be, wasn’t pulled by his attraction. That he was madly in love with Kunigami.

Not that he was not.

“Am I reading too much into him?”

Anri furrowed her brows. “Ren is obnoxiously secretive. I remember back when we were like, in elementary school, we were playing at the park, and Ren fell on the asphalt of the pavement as he was running after Isagi. He had a bad bruise, blood mixed with dirt and little pieces of asphalt. Isagi started crying, I started shouting because,” she laughed a little, remembering those old times, “I thought he was going to die. But he just got up, shook the dirt from his legs, and told us everything was fine. 

“When we got back to the estate in the evening, I went to the bathroom, and walked right in front of his room. He was whining like a baby, it hurts, it hurts so much . But when he came to dinner, he was back to his stoic facade. He had never been the kind of person that shows their feelings, be it because his father raised him to be the Head or because he’s just like that. 

“I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don’t think you’re reading too much. I think that if you’re reading something from him, it means he’s trying to let you in. He hopes you will get what he implicitly wants to say.”

“ Danna ,” Raichi called from the other side of the club. “I’m the clueless person in this room.”

“Yeah, you are,” Anri commented, puffing her cheeks.

Raichi grinned. “But even I noticed that waka would burn the entire world for you.”

Hyouma’s heart stopped for a second. For a single moment, he felt the possibility of being with Kunigami to be tangible, not a distant, unreachable dream but a concrete reality. People would think they shared a deep bond already, being the Head of a clan and his Second, but Hyouma and Kunigami knew that since they gained their titles, they had grown more distant by the day. He imagined how it would make him feel to have their relationship be not just professional. To stand closer to Kunigami, to exchange touches instead of keeping an imaginary concrete wall between them, to touch him, to feel him, to love him.

He lowered his head, not wanting to let the other two see his flushed cheeks.

But the soft and lovely feeling of him and Kunigami together didn’t linger on. A knock on the door made the three people in the room straighten their backs, dragging Hyouma to the ground, to the precarious reality they were living.

The manager of the club pondered what to do. Even if someone with ill intent wouldn’t knock before storming in, they weren’t expecting any visit, and in those days things that happened without notice were very much not welcomed.

Raichi started walking towards the door, but Hyouma lifted a hand to stop him. “I’ll take it.”

If it was someone dangerous, a gun or a dart like the one who took Raichi, neither Hyouma would be safe, but as Kunigami had said early in the afternoon, they had just one advantage, and it was Raichi himself. If behind the door was one of their enemies, one of the masterminds behind the drug, they didn’t expect to find the shatei gashira alive and well, and Hyouma would be a real idiot if he put the man on display.

The heels of his black loafers ticked on the dance floor as he crossed it in complete silence. He opened the door a little, waiting for anyone on the other side to slam it open if they wanted to barge in. But nothing happened, and Hyouma trusted his guts to open it more.

Whatever he did expect, that wasn’t Kurona Ranze.

The short guy was pale as a ghost, his shining pink hair in high contrast with his skin that was so light it was almost worrying. He bowed deeply as soon as he recognized the Second of the Seidou clan.

“Stand, Kurona,” Hyouma said, stepping aside to let the other in. He didn't expect him, but he had an idea of the man’s appearance in the club, but he didn’t want to jump to any conclusion. He would make Kurona do the talking.

Kurona stood and timidly entered the room, bowing slightly as a greeting in Anri’s direction. She lifted a hand to greet him back. Raichi had smartly hidden in the corner where he was, so Kurona couldn’t see him from where he stood.

“I’m deeply sorry,” started Isagi’s subordinate. His eyes were dry, but his voice was wavering. “Raichi-san saw me fighting those masked guys and stepped in, taking a dart that was destined for me. It’s… It’s something I couldn't repay even if I took my own life.”

After closing the door behind the newcomer, Hyouma had reached the nearest table and had leaned his buns on it. 

He crossed his arms. So Kunigami hadn’t talked with Isagi yet. And if he did, he didn’t reveal Raichi’s well-being to the other boss. Which was extremely clever and quite unexpected, given Kunigami’s close relationship with the Head of the Ichinan clan.

Hyouma wasn’t going to oppose his boss’s choice, not when he still didn’t believe in the rival clan’s complete and total innocence. “We appreciate your words, Kurona. Can you tell us about yesterday?”

Kurona quickly nodded. “Yes, yes.”

Hyouma pointed to a chair with his chin, and Anri was soon by their side with three beers on a tray that she placed on the table. She offered one to Kurona as Hyouma took one himself, gulping down half of it in just one sip.

“We knew about the commotion of the drug, because Aiku-san talked with Isagi a couple of days ago. Waka sent us to the docks to search for Tada, and told me to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary… I think it was around midnight when the group appeared. It targeted us right away, almost as if they wanted to take us out.

“I saw Raichi-san and his men on the other side of the port, in Shinagawa, and they must have seen him too, but they came just for us. And when Raichi-san stepped in, I noticed that they froze for a moment… as if they didn’t know what to do, with him in front of us. But in the end, one of them, one in the back line, shot this fucking dart and Raichi-san quickly protect me with his body and took the dart himself.

“I don’t know if this could be of any help, but I took the dart that dropped on the asphalt,” Kurona said as he took out a little pouch from his pocket. He handed it to Hyouma, who opened his free palm to receive it.

“Isagi-san told me Aryu-sensei had made some tests on Tada, so I think it’s best if they get the dart. Maybe it will help them find something useful about the drug.”

Hyouma nodded. “Thank you, Kurona.”

The man shook his head. “Don’t mention it. Not when I owe Raichi-san my life, and I’m responsible for his end.”

Hyouma read the utter guilt in Kurona’s eyes, and a part of him pushed to reveal Raichi’s condition. But his more rational and cynical side won and kept his tongue in his mouth. He would tell him, but only once he was completely sure the Ichinan clan was out of the suspect roster.

The confirmation didn’t take long to arrive, though, because Kunigami’s hunch was proved correct by Kurona’s following words.

“I think there’s a thing you should know, Chigiri-san.”

Hyouma lifted one brow, inviting him to continue.

“My men believe the weapons used by the guys who attacked us… were imported by Kira.”

“What happened with the princess?” 

Rensuke had just entered the King , the door wasn’t closed yet behind him, and Barou, sitting on the closest machine, had already commented on his expression.

The boss of the Seidou clan snorted. He was aware he looked like shit, and that was exactly the reason he wanted to let off some steam. He didn’t sign up for therapy, though.

“It’s complicated.”

Barou lifted an eyebrow. “I think you two just need to fuck.”

Rensuke’s heart skipped a beat, and his shoulder twitched, failing at keeping his duffle bag on. The thud of the bag on the floor was louder than any denying words the man might pronounce.

Barou let out a muffled laugh. “Alright, alright. Bad day, I get it. I can’t help with the sex, but I’ll do my best to make you blow off some steam. There,” he said, nodding at a bench.

Rensuke retrieved the duffle bag and went to change in complete silence. He was deeply ashamed of being read that easily. Was it that his friends - Barou, Reo, and Anri - knew him so well they noticed any change in his behavior, or that the Chigiri Situation had spun so much out of control that anyone could see the distress he felt?

Barou got up from the machine and followed Rensuke, bending next to him to take the tape from the side pocket of the bag.

As Rensuke took his formal attire off and put on the tank top and the training pants, Barou worked with the tape to unfold it. When the boss handed out his hand, the owner of the gym secured the band on the thumb and started running the tape over the palm.

“How bad is it?” Barou asked. His hands were soft on Rensuke’s skin, in contrast with his big size and his hard appearance. As much as he joked with Rensuke about all that romantic stuff, he cared about his friend.

Rensuke cleared the lump in his throat. “If I made a move now, he would let me.”

Barou was done with the first hand, and waited for the boss to lend him the other. Rensuke’s fingers trembled as he extended it, but neither he nor Barou addressed it.

“Are you scared of it?”

Rensuke didn’t answer. Reo’s words kept echoing in his mind, so sharp and yet so precise. He wasn’t scared, no, he was terrified of taking the next step. Was being in love a possibility for the Head of a clan? Was he allowed to love a man, to cherish him, to express the deep sentiments he had been feeling for years?

When he was made the Head, that night of six years before, he had chosen to leave his feelings behind. He had no time to think about stupid things like soft hands, pretty cherry hair and long and attractive eyelashes.

He didn’t regret it. He didn’t regret putting his duty as leader, his position and his role in the clan before anything else. He needed a clear mind. He was just twenty-two years old and he became the Head of the clan overnight, after his father had died way before his time. If he hadn’t chosen to be rational about it, he would have led the clan to its downfall.

But in one thing, he had been wrong.

That night, when he chose to have Chigiri as his Second, as his right-hand man, he had thought he would be over his feelings soon. There was so much to think about that he didn’t want, nor he believed, that his strong emotions towards Chigiri would linger on.

Yet so much time had passed, and not only Rensuke’s feelings didn’t disappear, but they had overwhelmed him. If he had ever thought he could get over Chigiri, that was just when he forcefully avoided him, because as soon as he spent time with him, his mind went into a short circuit, like what had been happening lately, and he would go back to square one, deeply in love and unable to think about anything else.

“Oi, Kunigami,” Barou called, and Rensuke was brought back to the gym. His hands were perfectly taped, but he couldn’t tell since when. “You’re the Head of your clan. Grow some balls and tell him you love him.”

Rensuke gulped, feeling his cheeks growing hotter. How childish and how embarrassing.

“C’mon, your heart eyes made me so sick I want to throw some punches,” commented the other man turning around and going for the ring.

Rensuke let out a shaky breath. Barou was actually right. He would blow the restlessness away and he would tell Chigiri in the morning. 

Reo got to Aiku’s building at one o’clock. He was always on time - if he didn’t count earlier that day, when he got under the shower and his mind kept going to Aiku, and to his hands, his touch, his lips. He was deeply ashamed that he lost sense of time thinking about that obnoxious and unpleasant cop.

He didn’t even like being punctual with him, because he feared that would give Aiku the idea that Reo wanted to be there. And he didn’t. His body, maybe. But his mind? Nope.

At least, this time he had the sheath, the weight of his knife around his thigh a familiar comfort against that new thing that was going on with Aiku and especially in Reo’s mind that was unsettling and weirdly interesting.

Reo rang the bell next to Aiku’s name and waited a long minute before the gate opened.

Aiku had texted him the location, - another thing that made Reo furious, the cop knew where he lived but he didn’t know where the detective stayed, - including the floor and the door, so the Advisor of the Seidou clan knew where to go.

There was another doorbell, and he rang that one as well.

Aiku opened the door not more than half a minute later.

Reo’s stomach flipped. Aiku wasn’t wearing his uniform but a white tank top that was short on his hips, and his legs were wrapped in a pair of dark sweatpants that hung low, revealing the strip of his boxer, Calvin Klein engraved on it. The V-line of his abdomen looked sculpted, and Reo’s mouth was suddenly dry.

“Like what you see?” Aiku teasingly commented, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning on the doorjamb of his open door.

Reo finally shifted his eyes to the detective’s face. He wore a smug smile, the kind of expression that would make Kunigami explode, but right then, Reo just wanted to jump on those lips and consume them with kisses.

He inhaled. He was there for the intel, nothing more. They were in an unstable situation, between the drug case and Raichi, - who was doing fine, but wasn’t completely out of danger yet, at least until Aryu found the antidote in his system, - and Reo wouldn’t forgive himself if he put his own carnal desires before the clan once again.

“Not one bit,” he let out, entering the apartment. “Excuse me,” he politely said.

Aiku laughed. “That’s how we’re playing? Alright, alright.” He closed the door as Reo placed his coat on the hanger. “I did some research.”

Reo turned to face him. “About the file?”

The cop nodded. “Beer? Water? Gin?”

“Water is fine, thank you.”

The host gestured with his hand at the living room before leaving for the kitchen side of the open space. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Reo took his time to look around the flat. It was modern, not so distant from Reo’s own tastes. The open space must have been bright during the day, as there was a wall that was all windows, facing Shinjuku district from above. On the adjacent wall were two cupboards, and a big, plasma television between them. In front of it stood a sofa way too big for one person.

Reo was relieved it was so large, and sat on one side just as Aiku was back with a glass and a piece of paper in one hand and two bottles dangerously caught in the spaces between his fingers of the other hand.

He placed the piece of paper and the glass on the little black wooden table in front of the sofa, and the bottle of water beside them. Then, he opened his beer with his hands and drank a gulp as he sat on the couch, not too close but not too far from Reo.

Reo tried his best to not indulge too much in the thought of Aiku’s biceps flexing as he opened the bottle, and opted to occupy his hands in opening his water. “He was a detective, wasn’t he?” he asked, going back to his previous question. 

He had that name impressed in his mind, and he had been wondering about it since Aiku called some hours before. The man must have been more than a simple cop. Only a detective could be responsible for a case that big, all on his own.

Aiku followed Reo’s thoughts right away. “Yeah, he was. A smart one, I’d say. Became a detective at 27, solved case after case for years. The drug one was his last.”

Reo frowned. “What happened?”

Aiku lifted his brows. “What do you think? He was killed.”

The Advisor gulped. He feared that answer, but deep down, he expected it. And then, a sudden realization struck his mind. “He’s his father.”

The cop nodded. “The timeline corresponds. Mind that it’s classified information. I don’t know yet why, but I couldn’t find his personal file in the database online, and I had to go search among the physical ones.”

Reo tried to ignore the warmth of respect that was growing in his chest. It was already the second time it happened, and he didn’t like it. Sure, there must have been a kind of official investigation going on, if Aiku had discovered the bodies of the two civilians and had requested an autopsy, and the cop was probably as interested in the case as the clans were by now, but that didn’t mean anything. He could have procrastinated at his desk for days or weeks, but he chose to go deep into that mystery. And help Reo, in the meantime. 

Aiku leaned towards the table to pick up the piece of paper that - Reo noticed only now - was the very folder they were looking at in the basement. The file that Reo vividly remembered Aiku couldn’t take home with him .

“He was killed fifteen years ago, in Minato,” Aiku said, scrimmaging through the pages.

“You’re a dick,” Reo answered.

Aiku lifted his head from the report. “Pardon?”

“You’re the biggest dick in town. You could have taken this” he pointed at the file “and told me about it today, without causing the fuss you caused yesterday at the precinct.”

The cop’s eyes were now sparkling. He was fucking amused . “You’re pretty dense, for being almost a cop. Do you think I , of all people, couldn’t take a folder from the archive?”

Okay, fair, that hadn’t been very smart of Reo. But-

But if all that had happened the day before could have been avoided, that meant Aiku wanted it to happen. That he had acted for it to happen.

Reo gasped a couple of times, as his brain processed that new information. Aiku, though, preceded any comment he might have and went back to the late detective. “It says on the paper that he was involved in a conflict among gangs. An unfortunate end, they wrote.”

The Advisor indulged his host. He was clever enough to not insist on that topic, especially when he wasn’t sure where he wanted the conversation to go.

“But?” he asked then, because Aiku’s eyes were telling him there was more.

“He was investigating a drug trafficking case, you read it, didn’t you?” Reo nodded. “Well, the drug was being imported by two clans. One of them wasn’t made explicit, I think he didn’t find it in time. But the other was Kitsunezaka.”

Reo’s back was shaken by a cold shiver. “ Isagi’s ?”

“To be more precise, his father’s. Isagi was thirteen back then. You have to fill me in with the details on your side, because that’s how far I can go. Two clans, dealing out this drug that is extremely similar to the one that’s being dealt out now. Our smart cop investigates, goes too far and gets killed. My detective senses tell me that the other clan is yours, Reo. As I said, the timelines correspond too much to believe it’s just a coincidence.”

Aiku’s reasoning made so much sense Reo was left speechless. He wasn’t in the clan fifteen years back. He came just eight years later, when he was twenty, but he got to know the dynamics and the relationships among his new family members soon enough. And Aiku’s story terrifyingly matched all that Reo already knew.

“You told me to investigate because you feared this, didn’t you?”

Reo slowly nodded. “Kunigami had a strange expression when we went to the Zero. As if he was experiencing a déjà vu, even though he still can’t place that feeling.” He got up, taking his phone from the pocket of his trousers as his heart started pounding. “I have to tell him.”

Aiku opened his mouth to answer, but Reo had already pushed the button to call his boss, and the detective ended up just looking at him with a deep frown between his brows.

The phone rang, and rang, but Kunigami didn’t pick up.

Reo tried once again, his hands shaking because of his heartbeat that was rapidly increasing, but the result was the same. He knew Kunigami wouldn’t - couldn’t - be in danger, but he needed to talk with him as soon as possible. He needed to make sure that Kunigami wasn’t involved back then, and he needed to let his Head know about the clan’s plausible association with the import.

As he touched his phone to try calling for the third time, a pair of hands covered his, pulling him. Reo had no time to register what was going on, nor strength to resist the external force, and found himself sitting on top of Aiku’s legs.

“Hey, Reo, slow down, it's fine,” the cop said, his words steady, but with a point of worry interlaced with them. 

Reo, though, was too focused on his task to process it.

He tried shaking off Aiku’s hands from his, because they were in the way of him calling Kunigami again, but Aiku didn’t let go. Instead, he enforced the grip, making Reo drop the phone. Once he did that, he moved his hands to Reo’s cheeks, cupping them.

His touch was strangely delicate, and Reo’s attention finally shifted to him.

“Hey,” the detective softly said.

Reo’s breaths quietly slowed down, and so did his heartbeat. As the other let go of his face, he became extremely conscious of his position right on Aiku, but he couldn’t really care that much now. Instead, he plopped his head on Aiku’s shoulder, closing his eyes.

“Thank you,” he managed to say, a shaky whisper that maybe the cop didn’t even hear.

A hand reached his bare neck and started caressing his skin, a soft touch that was new, unfamiliar but strangely comforting.

They stayed there, in that unusual yet comfortable position - at least for Reo - for an imprecise amount of time, but then a wave of awkwardness overwhelmed Reo, and he slowly got off Aiku’s lap to go back to his place on the sofa. Aiku let him go.

“What’s the plan?” the cop asked.

Reo looked at him. Aiku didn’t look like he was waiting for any order. Maybe he was just checking if Reo was back in his full mind.

The Advisor was fine. It was very hard to admit it, but Aiku’s steady breathing and the warmth of his body had helped Reo’s mind go back to focus. “We have to tell them about it.”

Aiku lifted an eyebrow. “ We ?”

Reo’s cheeks started feeling redder and redder. “You still have most of the intel.”

The gaze of the cop lingered on Reo’s face for a while, almost as if he was pondering something. “I do. But I don’t think your Head wants me at the estate.”

Reo nodded. He did think about that obstacle, but it was smoothly avoidable. “We’ll do it at the King . It’s a neutral zone for you and for us. Kitsunezaka’s involved anyway, so it’s even better if Barou or Isagi are there.”

Aiku agreed. “Alright. Tomorrow in the evening. I still have to check something in the files.”

Now it was Reo’s turn to lift an eyebrow, a silent question.

“I don’t like the way files have been hidden from the online database. I want to check if I can find others involved.”

Another shiver traveled down Reo’s back. He didn’t like where the story was going. When he had asked Aiku’s help, a part of him hoped the detective wouldn’t find anything relevant in the police files. And now that that wasn’t the case, he feared they were going head-on into dangerous and dire waters.

He suddenly felt the weight of the realization on his shoulders. He desperately needed to sleep it off, or he would have gotten to the King as alive as a zombie.

Reo got up and walked towards the hanger to get his coat. “See you tomorrow, then,” he said, opening the front door.

Aiku, who had followed every single move Reo made from the couch, inclined his head. “No kiss goodbye?”

The purple-haired man in response showed him the finger.

The detective didn’t need to know that Reo’s cheeks were flaming hot by the time he reached his bike.

Rensuke was walking up and down his office, still high on the adrenaline that the training with Barou had given him.

He was waiting for Chigiri to get home, but what Barou had said when he exited the gym lingered in his mind.

The owner had called his name, making him turn.

“Isagi told me about your conversation yesterday. He wanted you to know that Kurona thinks Kira might be involved,” he said.

And now Rensuke kept thinking about it, and about Chigiri’s doubts on Kira himself. It wasn’t far-fetched.

Kira and Isagi grew up together, even though Kira had never been so friendly and sociable to be with Rensuke, Raichi and their other friends. The two heirs of the Kitsunezaka clan had been on good terms for all their childhood and for a great part of their adolescence. When they got closer to their adulthood, though, they started fighting. They had different opinions on the route the clan had to take. While Isagi was more cautious and smart, Kira didn’t think twice about his choices. Where Isagi wanted to have a lot of connections to keep their relationships with the other clans and the society on a good note, Kira wanted to isolate them and believed only the clan itself was enough to survive.

Their Head died of a heart disease. Or so it was said. People in the underworld talked about Kira poisoning him, and others mentioned Isagi being so eager to claim the clan for himself. Rensuke had always believed Isagi’s side of the story, but that didn’t matter much, because the civil conflict that arose between Kira and Isagi couldn’t be solved by anything else than a drift of the two factions.

A knock on the door made Rensuke lift his head from the floor, where he was looking as he strolled. He had left the door open for Chigiri, but when he met those pinkish eyes he was waiting for, his heart made a backflip. He didn’t expect him to be back so soon. It was only midnight.

“Hi,” he managed to say, even if it came out in a half-whisper. 

“Hey,” Chigiri replied. “Kurona thinks it’s Kira,” he was still panting from the quick pace he had kept as he traveled through the estate. He was so determined to deliver his message that he had even left behind the strange aura of awkwardness he lately had around Rensuke.

“Barou said the same thing,” the Head replied. “Why?”

“The weapons of the guys who attacked them,” Chigiri explained, closing the door behind him. “Kurona’s sure they’re not Japanese, and he has received a tip about Kira importing them from the docks in Edogawa.”

Edogawa. That made sense. It was a district that didn’t belong to any clan, so a stupid, careless Head like Kira could easily break the silent agreement to not involve those parts of the city in clan businesses. If he used the docks there to import both the weapons and the drug, the entire case was explained.

“We don’t have any proof, do we,” Rensuke commented harshly, pissed off.

Chigiri shook his head. “Kurona gave me the dart that took Raichi. I just dropped it to Aryu, but I don’t think that will bring us closer to that dick. His clan has existed for years precisely because he’s somehow good at doing his fucking stupid stuff behind everyone’s back.”

“You were right,” admitted Rensuke, and Chigiri snorted. He wasn’t exactly happy about it.

Then they fell into a strange silence. It wasn’t as uncomfortable as all the other times they had found themselves alone together in the previous weeks. Rensuke could sense a slight tension, but it was weirdly pleasant. It wasn’t saying that Chigiri wanted to disappear as soon as possible, but that they were both waiting for something to happen, for one of them to make a move.

As if he was reading Rensuke’s mind, Chigiri didn’t turn around but plopped down on a chair. He was closer to Rensuke that way, because the Head didn’t move at all since he stopped his fast pacing around the room when the Second had gotten there. The boss could smell the fresh and sweet cologne his right-hand man used to wear, and it flipped something in his stomach.

He pondered about telling him right there. But would it be alright? Wouldn’t it be anticlimactic? Why was he even worried about his confession being underwhelming or not in the first place?

“I-”, he started, more to silence the voice in his head than to actually say something clever, but he ended up interrupting Chigiri who was saying “Do you-”.

Chigiri’s cheeks flushed as he bowed. “Please.”

Rensuke shook his head. “You go first.”

His Second shook his head back. “It’s nothing relevant.”

Rensuke took a deep breath. He didn’t even know what he wanted to say, and it was getting worse. Words were getting mixed in his head, his thoughts fuzzier and confused. He couldn’t confess, not in that way.

But maybe…

“Do you have to go back to the Zero?” he asked.

Chigiri frowned and sent a look at his wrist clock. “I should. But Anri can manage without me.”

Rensuke pulled at the sleeves of his suit to calm his nerves. “Let’s go, then,” he said, walking towards the door.

He had one hand on the handle when Chigiri abruptly got up from the chair. “Where?”

“To the club,” Rensuke replied in a fake light-hearted tone.

If someone had told Rensuke he would go to a club two nights in a row, he would have laughed at the poor, unreasonable joke.

And yet, there he was. Sure, the night before it was Kazuma’s, but the very idea of him near a dance floor twice in the span of twenty-four hours was ridiculous. But if he added into the equation the fact that he was extremely head over heels for Chigiri, the absurdity of it all decreased by a lot. He was just like a teenager in love who would do anything their crush asked them.

There was one thing Rensuke regretted, though. As the Head, and as the only person in the entire clan who wasn’t used to being seen at the club outside special occasions, when he entered behind Chigiri he received so many glances, some surprised, some so curious they lingered on for a while, some reverent, so many that just for a bit he regretted it all. He was fine with being famous, but he wasn’t exactly a fan of being in the spotlight the night he was planning to confess to Chigiri.

The Zero was full. There wasn’t a party, but it was Sunday. The weekend and the cool weather in Tokyo brought many people inside, and the club was already popular on its own.

Chigiri stopped in his tracks, waiting for Rensuke to get closer. The boss did, leaning a little bit into the other’s personal space to hear his voice over the music.

“Beer?” he asked.

Rensuke shook his head. He needed something stronger. “Gin.”

Chigiri looked at him, a sparkle crossing his eyes. “I’ll go get it,” he said, before walking towards the counter.

Rensuke followed his figure with his gaze. By then, he couldn’t say if the pounding of his heart was following the beat of the music, or if it was just him being stupidly in love. If he tried his best, he could come to ignore the warmth in his pants and blame the club and the heavy pumping of the speakers for the tension in his body.

He didn’t exactly know where to go from there, but a hand on his wrist saved him the trouble, pulling him far from the dance floor. His reflexes kicked in almost right away, and he froze, turning his head, but when his eyes noticed the familiar brownish head of hair of Anri, he relaxed and let the girl take him to an empty, secluded table in the farthest corner from the entrance.

“What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here?” she silently screamed when she finally left his wrist.

“It’s nice to see you, jouchan ,” he replied, feigning indifference and sitting in the booth.

She didn’t buy it. Of course she didn’t buy it. “Yeah, Ren. It’d be nice to see you too, if you didn’t avoid this place like the plague. Boss went home as soon as Kurona left, didn’t you talk?”

Rensuke nodded. “He told me.”

Anri crossed her arms in front of her chest. “And?”

Rensuke sighed. It was fucking embarrassing, but a part of him wanted, needed to share what he was feeling. “I… talked with Barou and Reo before. And realized I have to tell him I love him. But I couldn’t do it in my office.”

Anri’s face went through so many emotions at once. She opened her mouth wide, then she shut it, nodded, beamed, and squeaked. “You’re not joking, are you?”

Rensuke sulked. “Why would I be?”

She grinned. “Of course you’re not. My little boy is a grown man now,” she said, ruffling his hair with a hand. Then she suddenly got serious, a little frown between her eyebrows. “Hey, Ren. Don’t overthink.”

Rensuke swallowed. It was easier said than done. If it wasn’t for it, he would have kissed Chigiri at least two weeks prior. He got himself in that situation exactly because he was so used to overthinking, because his mind wouldn’t shut up.

Anri walked away right as Chigiri finished preparing their drinks.

Rensuke watched as his right-hand man got to him with two twin glasses in his hands.

The cherry-haired man put down his own drink on the table, and then he leaned a bit in Rensuke’s personal space to place the other.

It would be a good moment. No one was looking at them because the booth Anri brought Rensuke to was pretty secluded, Chigiri was close and Rensuke’s adrenaline had yet to go away, making his nerves bounce.

But there it was, the voice in his head telling him to wait for the true right moment, for when the music wouldn’t be so loud, for when his heart wouldn’t pound so hard. But this time, he deeply inhaled. Don’t overthink .

He lifted one hand, placing it on Chigiri’s cheek, keeping him where he was, just mere centimeters away.

Chigiri didn’t back down. He just blinked, but when his eyes met Rensuke’s, they were resolute. Rensuke felt his stomach crushing. 

Don’t overthink .

His voice came out choked, a throttled lump of words that Chigiri heard just because he was right there . “Can I kiss you?”

Chigiri leaned and put one knee on the booth, beside Rensuke’s thigh, and the other on the opposite side. “Took you long enough to ask,” he commented, finally sitting in the boss’s lap.

Rensuke inhaled again, taking in Chigiri’s vicinity, his cologne that was even stronger from that close, and the weight of the other’s body on his thighs. 

Don’t overthink .

He cupped the other cheek with his free hand and took Chigiri’s face closer, pressing their lips together as they both closed their eyes.

The kiss didn’t taste like Rensuke had imagined. In all those years of just dreaming about Chigiri, he had thought the other’s lips would have a sweet taste, stupidly cherry or even soft vanilla. But that wasn’t what Rensuke was tasting.

He was tasting reality . He was feeling real lips that moved against his, just as desperately. They tasted like… like Chigiri. That was all.

And it was the most intoxicating taste Rensuke had ever tried.

Kunigami interrupted the kiss soon after, and Hyouma’s stomach dropped. He wasn’t done yet. He had yet to fully try and taste Kunigami’s lips, to study how well their mouth fitted, how warm Kunigami’s breath was against his face.

But when Hyouma opened his eyes, while the painful idea of Kunigami regretting the kiss was growing in the back of his mind, he found that the other man was just catching his breath, his chest going up and down as he panted.

Hyouma lifted a corner of his mouth in a soft smile. He found it fucking cute, how nervous Kunigami must have been if the kiss lasted that short.

Not that Hyouma wasn’t nervous himself. He felt his heart thumping in his chest, and the skin on his hands prickled, making his fingers tremble.

He had dreamt of that moment for what felt like forever, and he still couldn’t grasp it actually happening.

The softness of Kunigami’s lips was quickly getting away in his mind, so he cupped the man’s face with his trembling hands and got closer. Kunigami’s hands moved to Hyouma’s hips and pressed on the thin pink shirt he was wearing. 

“Come here,” Hyouma murmured as he pressed their mouths together again.

A big bang exploded in Hyouma’s chest. He felt everything, every little movement of Kunigami’s lips, every little moan that escaped the boss’s mouth when it got the smallest bit of air, every time Kunigami’s thumbs slightly moved on his hips.

Hyouma parted his lips, eager, dying to taste Kunigami further, and when the other man copied him, and their tongues touched for the first time, Hyouma’s stomach squeezed so hard he felt like he could die. But the truth was that he had never felt that much alive, that much grateful to be living and to be there with Kunigami, to taste those perfect lips he had fantasized about for so long, to dance that still new and in-the-making dance their tongues were creating.

This time, it was Hyouma who interrupted the kiss, but he, too, just because he was gasping, panting for air.

He plopped down his head on Kunigami’s shoulder, inhaling the strong fresh and woody cologne of his boss as he tried to steady his breathing.

Kunigami leaned his head, enough to tickle Hyouma’s face with his light stubble. 

Hyouma’s heart made a backflip. It all felt so perfect and meant to be.

Words were unnecessary. It felt like after all those years of thinking that they didn’t understand each other, of avoiding each other and their feelings, with just a single phrase - can I kiss you? - they synced. They didn’t have to speak, because the other already knew.

That was why, after half an hour and so many kisses, they ended up in Hyouma’s room without a single word being exchanged between them.

Kunigami closed the door behind himself with a kick, too busy leaving sloppy, quick kisses on Hyouma’s lips to care about accompanying it, but then he stopped - for just a moment - to turn the key in the keyhole.

They were finally completely alone. They could hear the music from the dance floor downstairs, but it was muffled, softened by the presence of the walls and the closed door.

Hyouma wasn’t out of breath anymore - in the uncounted kisses he and Kunigami shared in the booth, they had found the perfect rhythm that could let them kiss without reaching the point of gasping for air - but his chest quickly went up and down to match his hurried breathing.

Kunigami was the same, even though the stamina coming from his training was probably helping him manage it a little bit better. This time, and only this time, Hyouma kind of envied people who worked out.

The dim light of the lampposts in the streets illuminated the half-empty room. Hyouma didn’t keep much there. His belongings were all at the estate, and he used that room just the few times he was too tired to go back home after a busy night, and on the occasions he had someone over, but that hadn’t happened for a long while.

Still, the room was always clean, the dark bed sheets perfectly ironed. It was almost a pity to crumple them.

Almost .

Hyouma pulled Kunigami to the bed by the jacket rever. They had gotten rid of their coats at some point during their make-out session downstairs, leaving them in the booth. Now, Kunigami wore his jacket open, a casual light blue shirt under it.

The Head followed Hyouma’s movement without resisting, and they fell, Hyouma first, and Kunigami after, on the sheets. Hyouma uglily shook his legs to take off his loafers, while Kunigami, more composed, got away from Hyouma’s personal space just enough to take his own shoes off.

When he was done, he went back to kiss Hyouma, and the cherry-haired man placed himself better on the sheets, cupping Kunigami’s cheeks with his hands to guide him until they were both comfortable, Hyouma almost lying down, and Kunigami between his legs, pressing with his elbows to not crush over the other man.

The kiss session that followed was long, but not as lengthy as the one they had downstairs, because they both were getting tired of just kissing, and the throbbing in Hyouma’s crotch was becoming unbearable.

When Kunigami got away to get some breath, Hyouma got up from his almost-lying position. Their bodies were so close that during the movement, Hyouma’s length brushed against Kunigami’s, causing a choked moan in the shorter man.

Kunigami sent him a look - Hyouma read desire, a little surprise, a lot of arousal.

Hyouma nodded and bit his lower lip. Let me .

Kunigami sat down on his bent legs and waited.

Hyouma imitated his position, even if he didn’t fall down on his legs. Instead, he reached Kunigami’s chest, unbuttoning his shirt, slowly, one button after the other, revealing the toned chest that he had always known Kunigami had, but had been the concrete object of his fantasies just lately, when they had met in the changing room of the King .

Once Hyouma was done, Kunigami helped him and took off his jacket and his shirt in one swift move, remaining half-naked.

Hyouma contemplated that god-sculpted body, the perfect definition of the collarbones, the toned pecs, the line of the abs. The front side of the leader tattoo, and the clan tattoo near the elbow. The lower abdomen that was puffing, synced with the milder throb of Kunigami's member.

Hyouma reached out for the button of the slacks, and Kunigami let him, widening his legs a bit to facilitate the work.

Hyouma’s fingers were strangely expert, even if he himself couldn’t remember the last time he did that to a pair of trousers that weren’t his. In a second, Kunigami’s slacks were off, and all that the Head was left wearing were his boxers.

Hyouma met Kunigami’s eyes, and read in them the desire and the silent demand of doing the same, of letting him undress Hyouma. But Hyouma wasn’t going to, not yet.

He pressed one hand on Kunigami’s chest, and the leader of the clan leaned down on the sheets, elbows pushing on the mattress keeping his torso up, Hyouma between his legs.

The cherry-haired man started by leaving a messy kiss on Kunigami’s lips, and then went down, leaving a trail of wet kisses on the other’s jaw, and neck, and chest, following the line of his abs, and finally reaching the waistband of the boxers.

He pulled it down, and didn’t wait a second to slowly kiss the base of Kunigami’s organ. The closer he got to the tip, the deeper Kunigami’s moans got, until Hyouma finally took the length in his mouth, always slowly, always softly. He couldn’t think of a different way to treat the man in front of him. Calmly and gently, because it felt like a dream that was coming true, tenderly, because even if it wasn’t the first time for both of them, it felt like it. It felt like a beginning, and Hyouma wanted Kunigami to have the best experience he had ever had. He hoped he was worthy of offering it.

Kunigami was already warm and wet, and when Hyouma got away, he saw the tip of the penis glimmering with precum mixed with Hyouma’s saliva.

That sight sent an aroused shiver through Hyouma’s spine. He was about to go back closer to Kunigami, to finish the foreplay, when Kunigami murmured something, cleared his throat, and repeated it. Hyouma realized he was saying his name.

“Chigiri,” he called, with a raspy and lustful voice. “Don’t make me cum so soon,” he finally said, almost pleading .

Hyouma’s lips curved in a smile. He indulged the boss, choosing to kiss him instead, their tongues twisting wistfully.

Then it was Kunigami’s time to act. He got up, and Hyouma sat on his legs.

Kunigami replicated Hyouma’s movements, unbuttoning the shirt, and then taking off the black jacket and the shirt on his own. Hyouma was left half-naked, his pearly skin glowing so close to Kunigami’s tanned body, his lean abdomen so slender when compared to Kunigami’s muscled torso.

But that didn’t matter. Not when Kunigami was looking at Hyouma with the softest and fondest expression, like he was a treasure Kunigami found after years and years of wandering.

Kunigami’s hands found the button of Hyouma’s slacks and undid it, and then he eagerly took down both the trousers and the boxers. Hyouma gulped as he felt Kunigami’s warm fingers directly on the skin of his hips and around his buttocks, not expecting such a move so soon.

Kunigami paused to send a questioning gaze to the man. Hyouma, his cheeks flushed, just nodded in response. The orange-haired man wasn’t doing anything that made him uncomfortable. At most, he was pleasantly surprised by his initiative.

Reassured, Kunigami went back to Hyouma’s underpants and took them completely off, throwing the piece of clothes somewhere in the room. Then, he leaned onto Hyouma’s bare body, but when the Second thought Kunigami was going to give him a blowjob, the boss amazed him once again. He took Hyouma’s hips with his hands, moving his body - so freaking easily, even if Hyouma was neither short nor light - until he had free access to Hyouma’s entrance.

“First drawer,” the cherry-haired man murmured, and looked at Kunigami extending one hand to the nightstand and taking out of it a bottle of lube and one condom.

Knowing that Kunigami had experience - Hyouma remembered when he brought a classmate to a party, and they were the talk of the entire school for at least two weeks, and that was just the beginning - was so much different than seeing said experience.

Kunigami looked so confident in his actions, so deep in the thought of making Hyouma feel good that a concentrated frown grew between his eyebrows.

And he really, really , knew what he was doing. He dosed the lube on his fingers and waited for Hyouma to place himself in the best position to not feel any excessive pain, and then he slowly, calmly pushed one finger into Hyouma’s entrance.

Hyouma was overwhelmed by an intense feeling. There was a little bit of ache, because it had been so long since Hyouma had had sex, and when he was alone it wasn’t the same, and there was comfort, because it was Kunigami, and because he was making every gesture with patience and love, going deep and then pulling out, taking a little bit more of lube, and then adding some of his saliva - this aroused Hyouma more than his pride wanted to admit - and going back. Hyouma felt lust, and pleasure, because when that slight ache was gone, everything that was left was the sensation of Kunigami’s fingers inside him, and the need to have more, to feel Kunigami himself inside his entrance. And on top of it all, there was love, so much love that Hyouma was trying his best not to drown in it, not to start crying like a baby in the middle of sex. But it was so difficult, because Kunigami’s hands moved with so much grace, caressing Hyouma’s body as if it was a beautiful statue, a wonder to be preserved.

Hyouma abandoned himself to the carnal pleasure of Kunigami’s fingers, arching his back, moaning slightly, and then muffling his mouth with a hand.

When it felt enough, he caressed Kunigami’s head with his free hand.

Kunigami suddenly stopped to look up at him. He had again that worried expression, the one that said how much he wanted to make Hyouma feel comfortable, and if he wasn’t, he would immediately step back.

“It’s okay,” Hyouma reassured, his voice barely higher than a whisper, and then repeated Kunigami’s words, to let him know the intention behind his gesture. “Just… don’t make me cum so soon.”

Pure libido crossed Kunigami’s eyes, as he understood what Hyouma was implicitly saying. He got away from the other man, but only enough to let him fix himself better on the sheets and unroll the condom on his own length.

Once they were ready, Kunigami reached out with his hands to take Hyouma’s hips.

Hyouma, who was deeply looking at him - he had been waiting for that moment for so fucking long - couldn’t miss the way Kunigami’s hands were trembling.

A wave of profound, plain love overwhelmed Hyouma, making him rise from the bed with his chest, cup Kunigami’s face with his hands and kiss him deeply.

“It’s okay,” he murmured against the other’s lips. “It’s you and me. It’s gonna be okay.”

Kunigami lingered there for a while, just tasting the kiss, and caressing Hyouma’s hair with his fingers.

Then, he went back to their previous positions. Hyouma was lying on the sheets, ready, and Kunigami took the other’s hips with his hands, preparing his organ.

The first thrust was slow but decisive. Hyouma’s entrance was lubed and relaxed enough to take Kunigami’s length, and even if it ached a little, the pleasure of the sex, and the fact that it was Kunigami , and it wasn’t a dream or a fantasy, but the tangible reality, Hyouma could only feel lustfulness.

Kunigami’s hands were still trembling against Hyouma’s skin, but with each thrust, as the movement became familiar, they got steadier. The rhythm of Kunigami got quicker, and then alternated, following Hyouma’s moans, his whispered instructions - more , and then a gasp that made him slow down, and then Hyouma moving his hips to get more again.

It didn’t last long, the both of them already aroused, on the verge of cumming since their foreplay. They came together, Hyouma gasping, on his own abdomen, and Kunigami, muffling a moan, in the condom, right after he pulled out from inside his Second.

Kunigami took off the condom and lay down beside Hyouma, his chest heavily panting, the orgasm slowly leaving his body tired and exhausted.

A sudden vibration caught their attention. Hyouma looked to the side, at Kunigami’s phone on the nightstand. He hadn’t even noticed the boss putting the device there.

“You should answer,” he said in a husky voice. He knew there was only a handful of people that would call that phone.

Kunigami turned around to meet the other’s eyes. He shook his head. “It can wait,” he replied, and leaned over to leave a kiss on Hyouma’s cheek.

Hyouma let him, and then stole a quick kiss on Kunigami’s lips. Or so he thought. In reality, Kunigami’s lips were so tasty, so welcoming and so addicting that Hyouma lingered against them.

Yeah, he agreed. Whoever was calling, even if it was Reo, could wait.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

A ray of sunshine fought its way to enter the room between the half-closed shutters, pausing when it reached Rensuke’s sleeping face.

That woke up the man. He squeezed his eyes shut, not used to the blinding light of late morning coming from his right side, and then slightly opened one of them. 

It took a while to start the gears in his brain, to realize that the night that had just passed, the night he had spent with Chigiri, wasn’t a wild dream. The legs entangled to him, the warm, naked body pressed on his side, the arm resting on Rensuke’s abdomen and the newly familiar mixture of their scents were much real, as was the heart that started thumping hard against Rensuke’s rib cage.

“You’re too loud,” Chigiri’s muffled voice was followed by his owner nesting his face even more in the crook of Rensuke’s neck.

Rensuke lifted his only free arm to dig his fingers in Chigiri’s hair, caressing it. “Mh?”

“Your heart,” the man said, subtly moving his head and leaning towards Rensuke’s touch. “It’s so loud.”

If it was another day, another occasion, another life, Rensuke would have felt embarrassed and uncomfortable, but when their lips had met for the first time the previous night, he had left all those uneasy emotions behind. The only thing left in him was love, so much love for the man that was by his side that Rensuke didn’t know where to start expressing it.

“Nothing I can do to make it quieter if you’re with me, I’m afraid,” he stated with a raspy, morning voice.

Chigiri moved to get away from the crook of Rensuke’s neck.

Their eyes met, Rensuke’s still half-open and Chigiri’s wide awake, before the cherry-haired man got their lips together in what started as a soft, little kiss.

Rensuke, his hand still buried in Chigiri’s hair, kept the other man’s head close, not interrupting the kiss, but deepening it.

It was surprising how easily their lips had matched, how after the timid and tentative first kiss, they had quickly found their own rhythm, a combination of positions, pressing and pace that was theirs alone.

Rensuke had had his fair amount of experience, but no encounter could ever match the effect Chigiri had on him with just a kiss, with just his presence there beside him.

Rensuke’s phone vibrated from the nightstand, making him groan.

Chigiri interrupted the kiss, smiling slightly. “You already ignored it all night, waka .”

Rensuke moved just enough to take it from the table. “Don’t call me that when you're in bed with me,” he grunted as he looked at the screen. 

Reo, was boldly written on the bright display.

He answered, putting the device close to his free ear. “Hey.”

“Don’t hey me, you f-” started the voice on the other end of the line, but then it stopped, and continued after a long moment of silence. “I’ve been calling you since last night.”

Chigiri didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but he didn’t back away. Instead, he placed his head on Rensuke’s chest, leaving soft kisses on the pec. When he heard Reo’s complaint, he grinned against Rensuke’s skin.

“I didn’t have my phone with me,” blatantly lied Rensuke. “What’s up?”

Some more moments passed, where Reo probably tried his best to not lash out on his boss. Rensuke kinda deserved it, but he would never admit it out loud. And after all, he was still the Head, and that title let him do whatever he wanted to. Disappearing for a night to have sex with the man he had been pining over for years included.

“Tonight at the King ,” finally said the Advisor. “Aiku has some big intel.”

If he was alone, Rensuke would have gotten up from the bed, his senses ringing at Reo’s words and his guts clenching from all the hate he felt for the obnoxious detective and for that weird companionship he had been building with Rensuke’s Advisor. But he wasn’t alone, and Chigiri was kind of pinning him down, pressing with his body Rensuke’s left side, so his only reaction ended up being stiffening his body, as the other man stopped his mission of leaving soft kisses on the entirety of Rensuke’s chest to listen carefully to Reo.

“How big?” Rensuke slowly asked.

“As in, we may be fucked up,” Reo answered truthfully. “At seven, boss. See you there,” he said goodbye and didn’t wait for a reply to put down the call.

Not that Rensuke had anything to say back. He didn’t like that mystery, and the situation overall was nearly desperate, but if that could wait, it meant at least that no one was in immediate danger.

“Seven, mh?” commented Chigiri, lifting his body enough to let Rensuke put away the phone. “What time is it now?”

Rensuke sent a glance at his lockscreen. “Twelve forty.”

“Then we have time,” Chigiri replied, resting on his elbow as he waited for Rensuke to go back by his side.

When the boss returned to lie on his back, the Second went back to what he was doing, restarting to leave kisses on Rensuke's toned chest, but this time they were wet and left behind traces of Chigiri’s lips.

Rensuke breathed in the arousal of having the man he loved - could he call him his lover yet? - by his side, starting some foreplay.

They didn’t know what they were going to face when they would meet Aiku, but even if it would be Hell - especially if it would be Hell - Rensuke wanted his last happy memory to be with Chigiri.

He placed one hand on Chigiri’s hip, silently telling him to move, and the man quickly understood his intentions. He put his knee on Rensuke’s other side, sitting on top of him, and leaned onto Rensuke, kissing him deeply.

The King was always busy during the evening. It was mostly frequented by people of the underworld, who weren’t used to getting out of their house before noon, but even the few honest people that searched for a serious place to do some work out usually attended the gym either in the early morning before clocking in, or after their working day.

Rensuke knew where to go. There was a small room in the back of the building that was easily covered by the sign Authorized Personnel Only . He hadn’t gone there for a while, but back when Isagi had drifted from Kira and Barou took over the gym, he used to go there more often than he hung out anywhere else. Isagi didn’t own a club like Kunigami, so the meetings that would be done in a private booth of a night club were done in that secluded room in the back of the King .

Chigiri grunted as he closed the main door of the gym behind himself. “Twice in the span of what, three days? I hate Reo.”

Rensuke grinned. “I went to a club, twice , in the span of one day. Don’t complain,” he retorted.

Chigiri lifted an eyebrow. “Going to the club led to sex. This,” he roughly gestured at the room with one hand, “will not. I will complain. I wished we were still in bed.”

Chigiri’s voice had gotten slower and softer, only for Rensuke to hear. The Head’s cheeks got hotter, and he clenched his fists to not take Chigiri’s hand and pin him against the wall.

When they had gotten up and gone back to the estate to take a shower and change into different clothes, Rensuke had feared that whatever had happened, no matter how deep their feelings and how serious he and Chigiri were, would stay behind. That all the kisses they had shared, and the sex that was all but meaningless, would end up being just a one-night thing, something that wasn’t bound to last once they would go back to their lives.

But he had never been more wrong. Before going into his room Chigiri had stolen a soft kiss, lingering against Rensuke’s lips for long moments, and during the car trip to the gym he took Rensuke’s hand and intertwined their fingers, keeping them on his lap.

Honestly, Rensuke had never been so grateful to own a Chevrolet with an automatic transmission.

When Rensuke opened the door that led to the secluded room, he wasn’t surprised to find Reo and Aiku already there.

The room was neither small nor big, but the walls covered by cabinets made it look smaller than it really was. There were several chairs around a metallic table, but neither of the two men was sitting on them.

Aiku was leaning on the table with his butt pressed on the metal, and Reo was standing near a cabinet, not too close to the detective, but not too far either, hands in the pockets of his slacks.

They had probably been talking, as they both turned their heads when Rensuke and Chigiri made their appearance.

Reo, always the attentive and smart man that he was, shifted his eyes from Rensuke, to Chigiri, to Rensuke again, to their probably too close proximity, and then to Rensuke’s face once more. That was the moment the puzzle pieces clicked, because the Advisor opened his mouth and his eyes wide without saying anything, just speechlessly figuring out the reason why the other two higher ranks of the clan had come together and why Rensuke had not answered his phone calls during the previous night.

Reo bit his tongue, probably not trusting his words when Aiku was present - Rensuke was extremely grateful for that - and just stuck a small bow in their direction. “Barou and Isagi are…” he started, but the door, opening again, preceded anything he had intended to say, and he easily concluded: “...here.”

“Oh,” Isagi said, bumping into Chigiri. “Hi, guys.”

“Hey, Isagi.” Rensuke was quick to take a step forward and take a chair to sit on, copied right away by Chigiri. Isagi did the same on the other side of the table, while Barou, sending a long look to his gym, finally closed the door and turned around.

“Make it quick, fucker, I don’t have all night,” he demanded, leaning onto the closed door and crossing his bulky arms before his chest.

“How Nagi can shag you is beyond my imagination,” Aiku grunted. Then, his lips quickly shifted into a sarcastic smirk. “Greetings. I’m happy you all came to my TED Talk.”

Reo snorted. “Be fucking serious for a moment, Aiku.”

The cop moaned out loud. “I’m just trying to relieve the mood. But alright, if you want the bad news so bad.” He turned his bust, taking a folder from the table and opening it. “As much as I know you’re dying to praise me, I’ll skip the lovely part where I’m a great detective and I’ll tell you about the file. This,” he shook the folder, “is from fifteen years ago.”

At that, both Rensuke and Chigiri stiffened, capturing Isagi’s, Barou’s and Aiku’s attention. Reo, on the other side, was looking straight at the now empty table, his features serious as ever.

“You’re right to be worried, Chigiri. You’re wondering what happened exactly fifteen years ago, aren’t you? Well, there was a drug import going on from overseas. Thailand, Macau, Hong Kong. A big thing, actually. The effects of that drug - you may have already figured it out - were extremely similar to our dear drug that’s being imported right now.”

Rensuke felt a shiver running down his spine. That was it. When they had seen Taka, a strange feeling made his guts twisted, but he couldn’t place it. Until now.

He was thirteen, fifteen years back. He was too young to do anything in the clan, be it going legally to a club, talking about weapons and girls with the members, or knowing what the clans were up to. But it was an age when he felt so strong and grown-up, and if he couldn’t be present when the adults had their big talks, he would eavesdrop on them. And what Aiku had just said made him remember about a conversation on that old drug he had heard, when during a sleepless night he had overheard two of his father’s men talking of the effects of a mysterious thing, of a man who had spent all of his money to get more and more doses and ended up dead.

“Now,” Aiku spoke again, starting tapping his fingers on the edge of the table, “an official investigation started, and it was soon found that two clans were behind the import, even though just one name was explicit in the file - Kitsunezaka.”

Isagi straightened his back, his facial features flat in a thoughtful expression.

“What about the other?” Barou asked from the door.

The cop diverted his eyes from the owner of the gym, pointing them on the floor. “The investigation file doesn't say anything else, because the detective who was investigating was brutally killed. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s Seidou.”

Rensuke clenched his jaw. He did think about it. When he had eavesdropped on the conversations his father’s men had, he didn’t hear anything about the drug trafficking being managed by other clans, but he didn’t hear of his own clan having clean hands in the trafficking itself, either. Still, wasn’t it too far-fetched for Aiku to draw that conclusion so easily?

“Because we’re being targeted?” he asked, sharply. Was the cop accusing them blindly?

Aiku stopped tapping the table with his fingers, lifting his eyes from the floor to meet Kunigami’s gaze. “Because your father took in the detective’s only surviving child.”

Rensuke lost the ground beneath him.

If he was in his mind, he would have thanked God he was sitting, because his legs felt like jelly, wavering as he tried to process what Aiku had just said.

But he wasn’t in his mind, and all he could think was just too close, too loud, too much . His body moved on its own, even if he couldn’t explain how his legs could support his weight when they felt so weak.

Barou moved away from the door as soon as he saw the look in Rensuke’s eyes - was there despair? Betrayal? Hurt? - and the Head of the Seidou clan was soon out of the King , breathing the chilly and wintery air of the city.

His heart was pounding so hard, ironically deeply different from the last time it did - not more than a handful of hours before, with and because of Chigiri.

Right now, though, the mere thought of Chigiri made Rensuke’s stomach hurt. 

A part of him was screaming and punching the air, pissed off at himself because how could he not realize it sooner ? And another part of him wanted to go back to Akita, to the cemetery where his father’s grave was, and scream at him, too, because he had betrayed him.

His father was the only person Rensuke blindly trusted. Chigiri, Reo, Raichi, Barou… they all had earned his trust, but his father had always had it. Because Kunigami Kousuke was his family, of course, but that wasn’t all. There was the way he treated Rensuke as his son and as the future heir of the clan. The affection and the care he showed as his only parent, the respect he had for Rensuke even when he was a little brat, the seriousness he used when he explained how the clan worked, the fondness in his eyes when Rensuke recounted his days at school and with his friends.

Since Rensuke was old enough to understand, his father had never omitted anything, not about their life, nor about their job.

Finding out that not only he didn’t share the drug case, but that he lied to Rensuke about Chigiri, it was like a punch in the pit of his stomach when he least expected it. Painful, and left him out of breath so much that he didn’t even notice the door of the gym opening and closing until he felt a newly familiar touch on his arm.

“Hey,” Chigiri called. “What’s up?”

Rensuke already knew who he was. He had recognized his touch, and then the unmistakable voice that the Head would discern in a sea of screaming people. But he still turned around to see with his eyes his right-hand man, as if he couldn’t process him being there.

But he was. Chigiri was looking at him with round, cherry eyes full of worry.

Rensuke wanted to laugh. How come he was the one who had to be comforted? When his own father was the fucking instigator of Chigiri’s father’s murder? 

“I didn’t know,” he opted to say, his voice low and raspy.

When Chigiri didn’t answer, and because that was a lame excuse for the fifteen years Chigiri had spent in his father’s murderer’s clan, Rensuke went on.

“He told me that his fella left his child behind, and that he took him in because it was his fella ’s last wish,” he almost spat that appellative out, so meaningless and sardonic now that the truth had been revealed. “And I fucking believed him, because he was my fucking father and my fucking boss and I had no fucking reason to think he was lying to me.”

It took Chigiri some time to answer, and when he did, Kunigami was left speechless.

“I did know.”

Kunigami Kousuke jumped down from the window sill he was sitting on. It was a two floor jump, but he was an expert at martial arts, even if he was already in his late forties. It was an easy landing.

“What the fuck ,” politely commented Torikata, startled by the sudden appearance of the clan leader.

Kousuke fought back the urge to roll his eyes and to punch that idiot in the face. Torikata was so confident and acted as the big guy only if he had those two brutes - Kousuke didn’t even try to remember their names - by his side, and only if he was in a favorable situation. As soon as he met someone more powerful, or something unexpected, he would shit himself and become a harmless little animal.

Not that Kousuke didn’t appreciate it. If Torikata, the barely useful Torikata, had the balls to look Kousuke in the eyes and to talk with him like his peer, Kousuke would kill him instantly. He wasn’t even part of Kousuke’s clan, for God’s sake.

“Nice aim,” Kousuke commented.

He took his time looking at the lifeless body of Chigiri Akito, the detective who had smartly and dumbly followed the drug import case. Smartly, because he had caught evidence where no one else had. And dumbly, because it had led him to that. To his death.

Kousuke wasn’t particularly eager to kill a cop. If he had been asked, he would have refused, or at least he would have put up some kind of resistance. Cops’ bodies were harder to hide, and if the death was the result of a dangerous investigation, the clans involved were always the first to be appointed as the culprit. Nothing good came from killing a cop.

Still, Kousuke had been careful, and his guys had been as well. He was totally sure he wasn’t going to be questioned, when the body of the detective would be found. He made sure he knew all that happened with the drug import, even if things didn’t directly involve the Seidou clan, but he had kept the lowest profile possible.

That was the reason the men who killed Chigiri were from the Kitsunezaka clan, and the reason he had only known about this plan the day before. And the reason he chose to go alone, and to quietly stand by in the shadow of a window sill, witnessing the coldblooded and cruel murder of Chigiri Akito without moving a finger.

“T-thanks, Sir,” answered Torikata, the politeness deeply rooted in his body and in his language now that he knew who he was talking to.

“Go away,” Kousuke said.

Torikata gasped, searching for the best thing to reply. “Ego-dono told us everything would be fine. He’s in contact with-”

Kousuke didn’t let him finish. He took his gun out of the holster, pointed it at Torikata’s chin. Because they were close, even if Kousuke didn’t mean to, the barrel was pressing on the skin of the other man, cold and dangerous metal against soft and helpless flesh. “Shut the fuck up,” Kousuke murmured, his voice low but perfectly audible by the man in front of him. “You know why your clan was in the file and mine isn’t? Because of bozos like you. Go the fuck away before the police gets here.”

Kousuke saw Torikata’s Adam apple gulping against the barrel of the gun, before the man made the smallest gesture of a nod. “Let’s go,” he ordered his men, even if he looked particularly laughable, doing it with a gun pointed at his chin.

As soon as Kousuke lowered the weapon, freeing the man’s face, the three members of the Kitsunezaka clan ran away, leaving Kousuke with his newest company.

“I won’t hurt you,” he stated, putting the gun back in the holster as evidence of his words.

A small figure stepped away from the corner of the alley, on the opposite side of the direction Torikawa and the two brutes had just taken. Kousuke turned around, not surprised to see a pair of cherry eyes so similar to those of the inanimate body that lay by Kousuke’s feet.

The Chigiri boy was trembling. The long forgotten ice cream cone in his hand had dripped, dirtying the child’s fingers and the asphalt. But his eyes were steady. They were fixed on Kousuke, not frightened by him. He must have been prepared for that outcome. Or maybe he was just fucking brave.

The boy didn’t look like he was going to talk, but he didn’t move, either, so Kousuke spoke.

“You have all the reasons to not trust what I’m about to say, but I’m going to say it anyway. I didn’t kill your father. I didn’t send those people to kill him.”

The look in the boy’s eyes didn’t waver a bit, so Kousuke kept going.

“I’m not a good man. I’ve been here the whole time,” he explained. If what he wanted to achieve with this, there was no point in feigning being someone he was not. A nice person. “But I didn’t agree with their choice. This doesn’t make me better than them, but I guess I still wanted you to know. I’m about to offer you an agreement. 

“Come with me. You’re not safe, right now. I highly advise you not to go to the police precinct. You’ll be as in danger as you are on the streets.”

The eyebrows of the young boy arched in surprise. Of course, he must have known there were bad people in the world, but he wouldn’t suspect there were bad people on the cops’ side. The naiveness of the young age, thought Kousuke with a sigh. No one was immune, not even his own child, who was born and was growing up in the underworld.

“You don’t have anywhere to go. If you come with me, you’ll be a son to me. I won’t ask you anything in return.”

Chigiri’s eyes were now sharpened, wary of and suspicious of Kousuke’s words. He was smart, the boss noticed. Not that he had believed either way, since he first saw him.

“What do you get from this?” finally asked the young boy. His voice was soft, but didn’t falter.

“You saw me. You could report me, if I let you go. But I don’t want to kill you, you know? I have a son that must be your age, and I don’t want to kill a boy who could be him.

“But it won’t be safe for me, or for my son, or for my clan, if I let you run away. I believe that’s the best outcome, you coming with me. You will be out of any danger, I will make sure of it, and it will be as if I was never here.”

“I just have to come with you?” asked Chigiri, and Kousuke knew he was going to accept. He was really a smart boy, knowing when to fight and when to surrender, when to hide and when surrendering didn’t mean being defeated, as in that moment.

“You have my word, as a man, that you will be my guest.”

Detective Chigiri Akito’s son knelt down beside his father’s corpse, extending a slightly trembling hand to close the lids of his lifeless eyes. Then he stood, and bowed his head at Kousuke, ready to follow him.

Rensuke’s eyes opened wide. “What?” he asked, incredulous. He was so angry and mad at his father for lying and keeping him from knowing what had really happened, and truth to be told, he thought Chigiri was on his same boat. He thought Kunigami Kousuke had lied to him as well, telling him that Chigiri’s father had asked him to take care of his child or some crap of the sort. He didn’t consider the option of Chigiri knowing at all.

“Your father was honest with me. He told me his side of the story, and his advantages of taking me in, as well as my own. Actually, I didn’t have that much of a choice fifteen years ago, but your father never tried to force me into the clan. He told me I could go away whenever I wanted to, on the only condition that I would never tell anything about the clan. I know you’re wondering about it, and you’re probably feeling somewhat responsible, but all the choices I’ve made since you became Head weren’t driven by anything else but my own will.”

Chigiri took a step closer to Rensuke, and was now so near that Rensuke could smell his cologne and could see the light coming from the main alley reflected in the other’s eyes. “I’m still here because I don’t have a reason to leave. I haven’t had it for a long time, and even more now.”

Chigiri lifted his arms and forced them through Rensuke’s, that were fixed along his sides, hugging him tightly.

Rensuke leaned his head towards Chigiri, placing his cheek against the other man’s forehead.

“Do you still trust me?” Chigiri asked, his voice muffled by Rensuke’s jacket.

Why was he asking Rensuke that? Did he feel Rensuke’s worries and doubts about his father, and all the lies that had been hiding in his past? But even with those fears, that one thing had never faltered.

The Head inhaled a long breath before replying. “I do,” he said, hugging Chigiri back.

When the door closed behind Chigiri, Aiku sighed.

“Oh, man. I wasn’t done,” he grumbled.

Reo rolled his eyes. “If you chose your words better, you idiot,” he commented, lifting his leg to slightly kick the cop in the shin.

Aiku giggled. “That was dramatic, wasn’t it.”

Isagi, from the other side of the room, cleared his throat. “Can’t say I’m surprised you’re a dick,” he stated, before going back to the main topic of the meeting. “What did the file say about Kitsunezaka?”

Aiku took a look at the door, and then looked at Reo.

The Advisor ignored the shiver along his spine when his eyes met Aiku’s piercing heterochromatic ones, and tried to focus on the matter at hand.

It wasn’t difficult to find what Aiku was silently asking him. He was the only member of the Seidou clan left in the room, and the entire point of the meeting was to let Kunigami know about what had happened fifteen years before.

Still, Reo wasn’t going to go after Kunigami and Chigiri, not when they finally spent time together without searching for him to relieve the tension of being in the same room, and even more after what he saw in Kunigami’s eyes when he had gotten to the King . Satisfaction, fulfillment, happiness . No, hell no , even if Kunigami had the face of someone who saw a ghost when he ran out of the gym, Reo wasn’t going to step in between those two when they had finally found their way to each other.

He nodded at Aiku.

“Just the name, and Chigiri’s father’s hypothesis of your father being directly involved. I’m afraid that whatever he had as evidence,” the detective fakely coughed, with all the awareness of the facts, “was canceled by someone on the inside.”

Barou, who was now sitting on a turned chair, with his arms on the backrest and his legs wide, grunted. “Look at that, another corrupted cop.”

Aiku, in response, just grinned.

Isagi leaned onto the table. “What about Kira?”

The detective pressed his lips together, upset. “He’s being pretty smart, if I say so myself. We have several speculations about his involvement, but there’s no clear evidence. Can’t do anything about him right now.”

Barou tsked. Isagi clenched his jaw, but any further comment was cut short by the door opening again, and Kunigami’s figure filling the space.

“Did we miss much?” he asked, sitting back on his chair. Reo wouldn’t say he was completely fine, but his face did look way better than he had when he got away.

The Advisor smiled slightly. He had always known that Kunigami and Chigiri were good for each other, in the good times and especially in the challenging ones, but the two of them had stubbornly drawn a line between them when Kunigami was appointed Head, and tried their all to never cross it. Thank God they had finally canceled it.

Aiku shook his head. “Not really. Chigiri, I’m sorry for the rude question, but I guess you didn’t know about the circumstances of your father’s death?” 

Chigiri nodded. “Correct assumption. He didn’t talk about his job at home. This is the first time I’m hearing about the drug case of fifteen years ago.”

“Of course,” the cop snorted. “Well, there’s actually little we can do, apart from searching for other clues.”

“I don’t think we can help that much, with the estate belonging to Kira,” Isagi replied. When the succession dispute broke out, Isagi, being the smarter and more pacifist of the contenders, chose to give up all that he and Kira were contending. He knew that he could rebuild his clan from scratch - and he did - but that left him with little to none records about Kitsunezaka. “But I’ll find out what I can.”

“I’ll check back at our estate,” Kunigami nodded.

“Wow, I’m having the chills. My useless subordinates at the precinct are a bunch of slackers,” commented Aiku with a sigh.

For the second time in the span of ten minutes, Reo rolled his eyes. The mere fact that he was attracted to that melodramatic piece of shit of a cop made him sick to the stomach.

“I’ll go to the club. It's the day off today, so it’s better if I do it tonight,” Chigiri added. “But I came here with Kunigami, so I need a ride. Can I take your bike, Reo?”

The Advisor blinked a couple of times, disoriented by the Second summoning him in the conversation, and then confused by the question. If he did give his bike to Chigiri, he would be the one left without a vehicle. Yeah, Chigiri had to do some important stuff, but the trip from the King to Reo’s apartment wasn’t exactly short.

“Sure,” replied a voice that wasn’t Reo’s, and when he blinked, he realized the detective was the one who had spoken. “I’ll check a thing at the precinct and then I’ll take him home.”

Reo goggled, completely speechless at Aiku’s answer. He didn’t want to be alone with Aiku in his car, not when he had so little trust in his self control. Not when Aiku wore those tight-fitting clothes that he liked wearing so much.

He cleared his voice. “I should go back to the estate as well.”

Aiku sent him a quick look. “I think Kunigami will manage. Besides, me excluded, you’re the closest thing to a cop in this room. You’ll be of use.”

Reo mentally sighed. There it was, another episode of Aiku making sense. Even though he feared there was nothing at the precinct that needed his presence.

“Here,” Reo finally said, picking up from the pocket of his jacket the bike keys and tossing them at Chigiri, who swiftly caught them.

As a weird warmth covered his cheeks once again, Reo avoided meeting Kunigami’s eyes, opting for looking at the extremely interesting empty table instead. 

Fortunately, he was quickly saved by Barou, who got up from the chair with a loud thud. “If that’s all, out of my gym. Unlike you, I have a real job to do.”

Hyouma was the first out of the King - his repulsion for working out had guided him - and as soon as he was hit by the breezy weather again, he took a deep, chilly breath.

“Are you good at the club alone?” Kunigami’s voice asked from right behind him.

Hyouma turned around, noticing that the others hadn’t come out yet. He nodded, extending one hand to take Kunigami’s sleeve. He guided him to the side of the building, right behind the corner. It was close to where the cars and the bikes were parked, but secluded enough to make them feel alone.

Kunigami offered no resistance, and when Hyouma pressed his own back to the brick wall, dragging him, he swiftly placed his hands by Hyouma’s head, leaning into him just enough to let their lips meet.

Hyouma savored the softness of Kunigami’s kiss, lingering onto his lips even after the kiss ended.

“What’s this about?” asked the Head in a half-voice.

Hyouma turned up his nose. “Been too long.”

Kunigami’s lips turned up in the softest hint of a smile. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?”

Hyouma nodded once again. “I don’t know how much will be at the club, maybe it'll be time wasted. Besides, if we’re both going, I can’t guarantee we won’t end up in bed again.”

The Head’s smile turned slowly into a grin. “You do have a point. I’ll see you at the estate?”

“Yeah,” the cherry-haired man said.

Kunigami reached out for another delicate, long kiss that lasted until they heard the others’ voices coming from the front of the gym.

Usually, it didn’t take long from Isagi’s district to the club, and Reo’s bike was extremely powerful, but the streets were particularly trafficked, and even if Hyouma was used to slalom through cars and buses, he could do nothing with the congestion of the night. That left him alone with his thoughts as he drove through the streets of Tokyo.

The discovery of his father’s involvement with the drug wasn’t exactly a surprise. That a similar, if not the same drug had been already imported once in the country was a big thing, but that his father was investigating was… just an obvious conclusion. Chigiri Akito was a great detective with an extreme sense of justice, and it didn’t shock Hyouma to know that he was the cop who started a file on that case.

But learning that everything was connected, that Hyouma might not have been taken in because of the drug - Kousuke had explicitly said that he wasn’t the instigator of the murder, and Hyouma had no reason to doubt his word, when he had been so honest with him since the moment they met - but the fact that, willingly or not, the past and the present were thoroughly intertwined, that was hard to process.

In the end, all of them - apart from Reo who made Aiku move - thought it to be a new drug, a new case, a new danger, with that damn Kira behind it. Now, though, the situation had become hugely complicated.

Was it really Kira, the mastermind behind it all? Did he find some record of the import of fifteen years before and used it to start a brand new import?

Or was there someone who helped him? Someone who had been part of the original import fifteen years prior?

Hyouma turned the last corner to get to the club, still lost in those dangerous thoughts and difficult-to-answer questions. He did not notice the black SUV that blocked the entry to the alley behind him.

But he did notice the strange amount of bikes and cars in the alley, as well as the two SUVs that blocked the alley in front of him. He decelerated, until he stopped in front of the club door. Or rather, in front of the BMW that stood in front of the club door.

His entire body straightened. He wasn’t dumb, nor naive. That was an ambush, and he was completely vulnerable. He just had his gun in the back of his jeans, and Reo probably had another gun and a knife on the bike, but those would be useless against - how many vehicles were there? - seven or more people, no seven or more trained men . Whoever had planned that thing must have known that Hyouma would take nearly anyone out on his own, and chose wisely to send a number of skilled people that was high enough to have the advantage.

Hyouma placed his feet on the ground, turned off the bike, took off his helmet - it was a blind guess, but he bet they wanted him alive, or they would have already shot when they cornered him - and waited.

It didn’t take long.

Ten people, all dressed in black, with balaclavas and sunglasses on, stood up from behind the cars and the bikes, pointing weapons at him. There were guns, a couple of rifles, even a shotgun, all with the barrels straight in his direction.

And then, the door of a car - the one that was following Hyouma, the one that blocked the entry of the alley - opened and an aged, yet toned and strong man got out.

His skin was pale, and it reflected the light of the only lamppost in the alley as if he was a lighthouse.

Hyouma sucked a breath, the astonishment as he recognized him so great he felt his lungs empty, as if someone had just strongly kicked them. “ You- ”

“I thought you wouldn’t be so surprised,” the man laughed, and Hyouma wanted to scream, because it was so fucking obvious, and they - all of them, but especially the Seidou men - were all fucking idiots for not figuring it out.

“I’m gonna kill you,” Hyouma spat forthwith, the usual calmness around him completely disappeared.

“Yeah, yeah. I wouldn’t try that, not when you’re surrounded by thirteen men with the order to shoot you if they can’t see both of your hands.”

Hyouma was breathing heavily. He knew he alone couldn’t stand a chance, and he wasn’t that suicidal to try it. But how pissed off he was, he couldn’t start to explain it.

“Come with us,” said the man, the words so polite, almost as if he was inviting Hyouma and not forcing him.

“Do I have any other choice?” Hyouma roared.

“No, not really,” the man replied.

That was the last thing Hyouma heard and saw, because the next thing he felt before passing out was a handkerchief pressed on his nose and mouth and a sweetish smell.

Rensuke went to his office as soon as he got to the estate. He had a strange, weird feeling that told him that he needed to make haste.

The walls in the room were covered in bookshelves, but less than half of their contents were actually books. The majority were files and folders, all of the clan’s movements, its businesses and transactions.

Rensuke felt extremely stupid for not thinking about his clan’s involvement. If he looked at the evidence, there was no blatant connection - the victims were that Taka guy and a couple of civilians - but he should have known, or at least suspected, that there might have been some kind of link, especially since he felt that the drug rang a bell.

Maybe he had ignored it all on purpose. He had always seen and thought about his father as a great man, even if he was an underworld leader. Rensuke himself was one, but he had a moral code that he believed in, and that - in his eyes - made him different from others. He had always looked at his father as if he was just like him. In the end, Kousuke brought him up, and everything that Rensuke learned about managing a clan, it all had been taught by Kousuke himself. 

Imagining his father as one of the masterminds behind the import of such a dangerous and harmful drug was driving him insane, especially if he put justice in the picture, if he thought about Chigiri Akito.

Rensuke was raging at the thought that Aiku was the one that gave him that information, and he flared up even more if he thought at the fucking figure he made in front of his friends, the naiveness of a man that should have known the cruelty of the world he lived in, the system he was a big part of.

He wished his father was still alive, just to release his entire anger on him. Because he lied to him, because he didn’t tell him about Chigiri, nor about the drug, not when he managed it and not when it stopped.

It was no use crying over spilled milk, though. He had to move quickly. He couldn’t change the past, but he could find a way to stop the trafficking now .

He searched for the folders of decades before, and once he found the shelf of exactly fifteen years prior, he looked for the first months of the year. Chigiri had been taken in at the end of spring, and it meant that the import had been going on for a while.

A folder caught his attention. It was named “ Eclipse ”. Rensuke had never heard about it, and the suspicion that it was what his father called the drug grew in him.

He took it from the shelf and placed it on the desk, skimming through it.

It was a thick folder, full of different files. There were papers dense with scientific terminologies, some bank statements, a couple of handmade check receipts, as well as the copies of two CVs signed by the local police - one was of course Chigiri Akito’s, and the other belonged to a Captain, Hirotoshi Buratsuta.

Rensuke took a deep breath to steady his accelerating heartbeat. A small part of him was still hoping that everything Aiku said was a lie, and that his father and his clan had nothing to do with the import of such a dangerous drug, but there it was, all the evidence that proved the cop’s words to be true.

Rensuke quickly went through all the files, starting from the end. He wanted to go all the way through the folder, but he stopped at the copy of a business contract.

It was the agreement that sealed the percentages of the import among all the parties. Rensuke knew he would find something like that - he signed his own good part of contracts himself - but he didn’t expect to find four signatures there. Belonging to his father, Isagi’s father, said Buratsuta.

And Houichi.

For the second time in mere hours, Rensuke lost the ground beneath him.

This time, though, it felt way worse.

Because if he could be discharged from the accusation of seeing through his father’s lies, he could not forgive himself for letting Houichi slip right under his eyes.

He had never fully trusted the man. That was one of the reasons he dismissed him as Advisor and nominated Reo in his place - the other being a simple yet necessary changing of the guard. Houichi wasn’t in the circle of people Rensuke trusted with his life, and he should have at least doubted him, thought about his involvement. The fact that Isagi’s father - and Rensuke’s father, as well - were directly involved didn’t mean no one else in the clan knew about the import.

Rensuke cursed himself, as he fetched his phone from the pocket of the jacket to call Isagi.

As he unblocked the device, it started vibrating, the name of Anri blinking on the screen.

“Hey,” he answered in a whisper, his breath still cut short by the sudden realization.

“Ren, bad news,” started the panicked voice of the woman. “Karasu just called me, saying that he saw a fuss at the club.”

Rensuke’s heart was still beating faster than usual because of the adrenaline, but somehow accelerated even more. Chigiri was headed to the club. Given the time, Chigiri already had to be at the club.

“What happened?” he managed to ask in a raspy and dry voice.

“He was jogging in the area, said he couldn’t see so well from where he passed by because it was dark, but… he thinks someone took boss .”

If Rensuke had received that phone call half an hour before, he would have spiraled into a panicking mode that would have consumed him. Now, though, he didn’t lose it. He felt pure, sheer rage .

“It’s not someone. It’s Houichi,” he managed to say between gritted teeth, trying his best to not destroy his phone with how much he was crushing it in his hand.

“Wha- Fuck . Where we going?” she asked right away, clearness taking over any other destructive emotion.

Rensuke blinked. He found his way back to a calmer state of mind, one where he could process what he and his men should do. “ You are not going anywhere.”

“You are not going on a suicidal mission alone, Ren,” she retorted.

“He wants me , Anri. I’m not putting you all in danger.”

Anri wasn’t going to take it. “You’re the Head, idiot . We fucking swore to keep you safe. Tell me where you’re going. Right now .”

Rensuke inhaled. Anri was right. The Head was the most important person in a clan, and all of his underlings, especially the higher ranks, had to swear to keep them safe, at any occasion, putting their own life on the line if it meant saving, or at least trying to save, the Head’s existence and wellbeing.

But if there was one thing in which Rensuke was different from his father, and anyone who stood before him, was that as the Head, he believed he was responsible for his subordinates, and he was not going to send them to their deaths when he could face Houichi himself.

“At the docks in Edogawa,” he said. “But I’m going in alone, Anri. Send Raichi just as backups.”

He straightened his back, resolution crossing through his entire body. He had to take some weapons - the twin knives on the inside of the coat weren’t enough - and then he would go to save Chigiri. And himself, if he could.

Anri stayed silent for a moment, and finally surrendered. “Alright. Stay safe, Ren, please .”

She had said the last word as a prayer, as she knew Rensuke would set everything on fire, himself included, to save Chigiri.

As he opened the armory hidden in the back of the office, he had to agree. He would rip Houichi’s heart out, if he dared to hurt Chigiri even slightly. He would make him suffer as he shot his entire body as if it was a colander, not targeting his vital points to make him feel the pain until the very end. He would rip his own knuckles open as he punched Houichi’s face, until the man’s nose would get completely smashed, until he could not talk because the blood would entirely fill his throat. But if it got to it, he would take his own life without blinking to save Chigiri.

He didn’t answer, closing the call and putting his phone away.

Hyouma woke up feeling groggy and dizzy. He wasn’t even sure he was awake until he felt the strong hold of cable ties around his wrists behind his back and the ropes that tied his legs to a chair.

He slowly opened his eyes. His mind was throbbing, begging him to close his eyelids and go back to being unconscious because it hurt , but he was starting to remember. Reo’s bike, the alley of the club full of vehicles, the chloroform.

Houichi .

When his sight got used to the dim light of the rough lamps that surrounded him, the first thing he noticed wasn’t a thing, but Houichi himself.

The man was standing, his back leaning on a table, his arms crossed on his chest and his eyes now on Hyouma. He must have noticed he woke up.

“I thought you’d be out for more, but I guess there’s a reason you’re feared in the entire city,” Houichi stated.

Hyouma tried moving his wrists, but the cable ties were tightly around them. If he forced his move, he might end up hurting himself.

His body was starting to feel numb, and his range of actions was next to null. The only thing that they didn’t block was his mouth, so he spat at Houichi’s feet.

“Aren’t you wild, little beast?” the former Advisor of the clan commented with a laugh.

“I’ll kill you,” Hyouma growled.

“I’d still like to see you try. So, how much do you think it’s going to be until your charming knight in armor comes to save you?”

It was obvious who Houichi was talking about.

A shiver ran down Hyouma’s spine. When they had left the King , no one was suspecting Houichi. Hell, if they were, Hyouma wouldn’t have gone right into an ambush and wouldn’t be here . Was Houichi sure Kunigami was going to find out? And where the fuck were they? 

Hyouma looked around, as much as he could, given his position on the chair, and as discreetly as he could.

It was a big space, with stacked boxes on the walls. The lamps that Hyouma had noticed before were a rough type, just bulbs surrounded by a metallic circle, loosely hanging down from the ceiling. Even if he couldn’t see what was behind him, he assumed there was a big door, because he caught the silhouettes of two armed men standing. The only furniture were the chair Hyouma was forced on and the table behind Houichi.

It was clear they were in a warehouse, and if Hyouma had to guess, he’d say they were either in the district of Edogawa or Koutou.

As if summoned by a demon - and Houichi wasn’t that far from one, - a loud metallic knock resounded in the door behind Chigiri.

Houichi nodded to one of the masked men, who turned to open the gate.

It took less than Rensuke had thought to find the warehouse. He had said to Anri that he would start from Edogawa, just because it was the farthest from the side of the bay Seidou’s clan owned. It was easier managing illegal and under-the-table imports where no one could see you. He was ready to search for hours, but when he saw a large group of armed men wandering around a specific zone, he realized that he was right, not only in his guess about Edogawa, but also in his assumption of Houichi wanting him there and luring him using Chigiri.

That thought was only made clearer and more concrete when the armed men didn’t attack his Chevrolet, nor him when he got out and started walking.

He knew better than to try to take all those men alone, so he followed whatever plan Houichi had for him, and knocked on the door.

When the door opened and he caught a glimpse of cherry hair, he fought the urge to kill the man who stood in front of him, instead he walked slowly into the warehouse. He wasn’t there to sacrifice himself blindly. Not before he could kill Houichi, at least.

When the same guard who opened the door closed it as soon as Rensuke was inside, the Head of the Seidou clan looked around, registering his surroundings. There were just two men, Houichi - yet another proof of who the mastermind behind the drug trafficking was - and Chigiri, who had his arms and legs tied to a chair.

“Here he is, our little leader,” commented Houichi, extending one hand on the table behind him and pulling out a gun that he lazily pointed to Rensuke. “Don’t go near your pretty princess, or I’ll shoot.”

Rensuke had had the time to calm his thoughts as he drove to Edogawa. If he was in the same state in which he left the estate, he would have killed half the men outside, but he would have gotten himself killed in the process. But being a clan leader meant being level headed when the situation needed him to be. That was one of those times, and Rensuke, as much as he wanted to jump on Houichi and bite his head off with his own teeth, took several steps to the right, putting some distance between himself and Chigiri.

When he turned to look at his right-hand man, a pang of guilt gripped at his stomach.

Chigiri hadn’t been harmed, but the very thought of him being in danger, mixed with the shame of not picking up the clues and drawing Houichi’s involvement until it was too late, was tearing Rensuke’s body apart. He had to get them out of danger. He had to get Chigiri out of there.

“Why?” was all that Rensuke asked. There was a part - the childish part, the one that didn’t have the guts to kill Houichi, the part that had grown up with his father and Houichi at the top of the clan - that wanted to know the reason Houichi had gotten himself and the clan involved in what at first looked just like a dispute of probably - no, definitely , even if they didn’t have concrete evidence - Kira against Isagi.

The other part of Rensuke - the one that didn’t trust Houichi, that didn’t care at all about his wellbeing - didn’t want to know, but wanted to get time. For Raichi and the backups to get there, for trying to create an escape plan, to wear off Houichi himself, if he could.

Houichi bit the bullet. “We were waiting for you, weren’t we, Chigiri? Let me tell you the story of how you two will die.

“The Seidou clan was founded by the generation that preceded your father’s and mine,” he started, pleased to finally have an audience to tell his story to. He looked like he was dying to recount it, to let Rensuke know about his life. “Our Head was a great man, a leader feared in the entire city of Tokyo. He had two pupils: Kunigami Kousuke and yours truly, Houichi Yasunori. When he passed the role of Head of the clan, he chose Kousuke, telling me that I had to be Kousuke’s reason, the brain behind his actions, appointing me his Advisor. He then told me I would be the Head if Kousuke would die.”

A small thought started in Rensuke’s head. He knew where this was going.

“I was happy as the Advisor. Me and Kousuke grew up together, we were like brothers, like a real family. Then Kousuke got married, and his wife gave life to you, Rensuke, a healthy and beautiful child. She died from complications of childbirth, the poor woman.

“Business was going great, the clan was expanding its territories, and had nice relationships with the other big names in town. It was a prosperous age for us, years and years of successes, and to crown them all, we gave birth to a new import with the Kitsunezaka clan and the Captain of the police district of the time.

It started well, but a fucking good cop had to step in. Buratsuta thought he could handle him, keeping him far from the real intel of the drug, but the cop was too clever, and we had no choice but to take him out.”

Rensuke saw Chigiri clenching his jaw and his fists. If he wasn’t completely blocked by the ropes and the cable ties, the man would have torn off Houichi’s face with his bare hands.

“Of course we didn’t take into account the child , but Kousuke said he would fix it, and he took the cop’s son in the clan. And then he stopped the import. I wasn’t fine with that decision, and we discussed, and in the end I backed off, because he said it was only temporary, until the mess of that cop’s death would fade away.

“He never went back to it, but it was still good, we were powerful, we were feared, and I was going to be the Head. Until one day, eight years ago, your father called me and said that he wanted you to be the successor.”

There it was. When Houichi first mentioned the succession, Rensuke started to realize where it would end. Rensuke was the Head , and now that he knew Houichi was supposed to be in his place after Kousuke’s death, some points were starting to connect.

“You killed him,” said Chigiri with a harsh voice.

Rensuke blinked, confused, but then he followed. His father was smart, the leader of one of the most famous and prominent clans in the city. He wasn’t foolish, nor gullible, and he wouldn’t go to a private meeting alone. Unless…

Unless he didn’t go alone, and his company was the one who set the ambush.

A shock of adrenaline shook Rensuke’s body. Once again, he was completely taken aback by the revelation, and even more by the fact that all the clues were already there , and he should have been more sharp in noticing them.

“Of course I did,” Houichi admitted, showing no remorse, sneering as he directly addressed Rensuke. “Buratsuta was being a pain in the ass, with all his demands. And your father didn’t deserve the title of Head when he went against our leader’s wishes. It was easier than I thought taking out both of them.”

“You- son of a bitch,” Rensuke spat, taking a step towards the older man. When he did, Houichi lifted the gun that he had lazily dropped in his lap, and by the sound of it, the two men moved as well.

“Stay where you are, little bitch, or you will both get killed,” Houichi warned.

Rensuke opened his clenched fists, a light attempt at cooling off. He wasn’t there to die in vain, and even less to let Chigiri die.

“Don’t worry, I’m almost done. After your father died, I couldn’t kill you, too, or the clan would have suspected my involvement. But that was fine, because I had my plan. As the Advisor, I would manipulate your soft ass to manage the clan how I wanted to.

“But you had to be a bastard, just like your father, and you had to fucking drop me and put that bitch in my place,” Houichi was getting more and more pissed off, swearing and gesturing as he spoke. “So I planned my revenge. It took eight long years, and an alliance I would have liked to avoid, but here we are. You’re facing your end, and I’m going to enjoy every sip of it.”

Rensuke sent a glance to the table behind Houichi. He was quite far from it, but he could identify the shape of a bottle full of a dark liquid. 

“Why the drug?” he asked, trying his best to keep his voice steady. He was fuming, the latest insult to his Advisor yet another thing that threatened to make him blow up, but it wasn’t the time to go berserk yet.

“Oh, c’mon, I thought you were smart. I’m getting richer, and I can kill you without dirtying my hands. It’s the perfect plan.”

An improvised idea flickered in Rensuke’s mind. It was an iffy bluff, but he had no other plan, and maybe there was a chance, a slight possibility, it would work. And maybe it would let them know what they needed.

“Kill us?” he said, channeling his best acting abilities in a laugh. “You can’t kill us, Houichi. We have the antidote.”

When Aiku sat on the driver’s seat, Reo was ready to go. He had already put on the safety belt, had his hands steadily on his thighs and was looking out of the window.

“Is it that bad to spend some time with me?” the cop asked, putting in gear.

Reo realized only when he opened his mouth to answer that he had his jaw clenched. 

He didn’t think he was that scared - no, nervous, nervous was the word - to be alone with Aiku. In the end, they had had sex once, but that was all. The last time they’d seen each other, nothing had happened. He shouldn’t have been that much on edge.

“You tell me. You’re not the best company in the world,” he replied, his voice strangely dry. He really hoped whatever Aiku had to do at the precinct would be over soon and he could return to his apartment before going nuts.

“Am I not?” Aiku rhetorically commented.

The cockpit fell into a weird silence. It wasn’t exactly awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable, either. Reo felt extremely conscious of himself, of any even little and involuntary movement he made, while Aiku looked not different from his usual self, confident and relaxed. Reo didn’t trust himself enough to talk - he didn’t have anything to say, and that meant that if he opened his mouth he would have probably said something stupid - but that silence wasn’t helping. It made Reo’s mind wander, and as much as he tried thinking about anything else that wasn’t the cop by his side - about the fucking case , for one, - he promptly went back to him. To his hand that changed gear swiftly in the traffic, the muscles of his arm contracting and relaxing. To his tie that was of course a little bit undone, the collar of the shirt open, the collarbones confidently coming out.

Reo ended up thinking about what was underneath the shirt, the toned abdomen, the impressive pecs, the right amount of manly hairs on them and under the navel. About how hot Aiku had looked when they had sex, when he had confidently guided him and made him feel good. And of course, about how he would do it all again, no matter how guilty it would make him feel in front of Kunigami and how foolish it would be if he developed a real and meaningful crush on the detective.

The Aston Martin stopped in a side street. When Reo looked out of the window, he noticed that Aiku had actually parked, and that the building in front of them was… not the precinct, but Aiku’s house.

Reo mentally cursed. He was fooled once again by the cop. Why did he still trust his words, when it was the second, maybe third time that the detective lied?

“This is not the precinct,” Reo stated.

“It is not,” Aiku replied.

Reo turned around, knowing he would find an amused grin planted on the cop’s face.

There it was.

“You’re insufferable,” Reo commented.

“Am I?” Aiku retorted, extending a hand to unfasten Reo’s seatbelt first, and then his own.

Reo touched the door handle, hearing the click sound that signaled it was open.

He didn’t know where he would go, once he got out, but the first step was to actually get out of the car. He would regret his actions if he didn’t. Or he would not regret them, and that was even worse.

He had put one foot out when Aiku circled his wrist with a hand.

“Get back,” said the cop, his tone soft, almost as if he was pleading.

“No,” Reo answered, without turning around and looking the other in the eyes.

“Is it a no I don’t want to or a no we shouldn’t ? If you don’t want to, you’re free to go,” easily answered Aiku. “But if it’s a no we shouldn’t …”

Reo didn’t move. As much as he ordered his body to get out, he couldn’t do it.

“Come here,” Aiku murmured as he tugged slightly at Reo’s wrist, and Reo finally gave up, turning around. The door closed behind him, but he didn’t notice it, as his lips were met with Aiku’s.

It was a chaste kiss, so different from their last, the ones they shared during sex and the one that started it all, in the elevator of the precinct.

Reo could feel Aiku’s stubble as their lips moved together, sloppily but slowly, as if Aiku wanted to deeply savor the kiss. That would unsettle Reo - was Aiku being gentle and lovely? - that is, if Reo’s mind wasn’t completely caught up in the kiss itself, in the way he was lamely getting addicted to how Aiku tasted, to how perfect his mouth was against his.

Without noticing, Reo had moved, and he realized he got on Aiku’s lap only when he felt the cop’s warm and pulsing length under his own.

A licentious moan escaped Reo’s lips, and Aiku interrupted the kiss right away to address it.

“You- fucker,” he said, each word blurted out as he tried to quickly catch his breath, “stop moaning when we kiss.”

A flustered warmth had colored Reo’s cheeks. “Shut up,” he answered, diverting his eyes from Aiku’s face. “You were already hard.”

“I’m sorry you’re hot?” Aiku sarcastically retorted, and then went back to kiss him, first on his lips and then along his jaw, softly, slowly, as he placed one hand on Reo’s hip - he seemed to like that particular point - and the other under his coat.

Reo helped him, moving a little bit to make the coat fall off his shoulders. Aiku made a light moan of appreciation.

The car, no, the driver seat was too small for the two of them to move freely, but Aiku didn’t seem to mind. He was taking his time, softly circling his thumb on Reo’s hip - the cop had magic hands, because he managed to take the shirt off the trousers without Reo noticing - and caressing Reo’s arm with his other hand.

He got to the wrist, stopping when he grazed the koi.

“Is it the clan’s tattoo?” he asked, his voice husky against Reo’s throat. Reo wouldn’t admit in a million years the rousing effect that voice had started to have on him.

“Mh-mh,” he answered, not trusting himself to speak.

Then Reo’s mind cleared a bit. Aiku must have known that the clans had those tattoos. It was a tradition of the oldest and biggest ones, and it was no secret. People had it in quite visible places, so that they couldn’t get mistaken. Why was the detective suddenly interested? Was he just trying to slow things down, to savor every moment, now that they didn’t have just a handful of hours but the entire night ahead of them?

Reo couldn’t say he didn’t like the idea.

“Are you forced to have it?” Aiku asked.

Reo shook his head slightly. “Not really. It’s like a symbol of belonging, and only the higher ranks can get it, so it’s not really a matter of being forced to have it… We are a part of the clan, and this is a tangible way to represent it.”

Aiku breathed a warm breath against Reo’s throat, provoking a chill shiver in the Advisor.

“Chigiri doesn’t have it, for one. Well, Kunigami wanted him to, but I think Chigiri doesn’t think he deserves it.”

“It’s that special, uh,” the cop commented.

“Yeah,” Reo replied. “It’s made with a special ink that- Fuck .”

Reo suddenly stopped talking, just to swear immediately after, and placed both of his hands on Aiku’s shoulders, pushing him away.

Aiku frowned, confused. “What is it?”

Reo had his eyes opened so wide he most likely looked crazed, but he didn’t care one bit, even if the one in front - well, under - him was Aiku. He was in truth quite amazed at the thought process he made even as Aiku was getting him aroused with his foreplay.

He shook Aiku’s shoulders hard. “The ink. It’s the ink.”

The detective, as horny and deep into his heavy petting as he was, was still the best detective in town, and was quick to follow Reo’s thoughts. “It’s the antidote.”

Reo fastly nodded. “Raichi is fine because he has the tattoo, but Taka did not. And of course the civilians don’t,” he explained. And then he looked at Aiku with resolution. “We have to tell Aryu.”

“Do we?” the cop protested. “We were in the middle of something.”

Reo was still feeling the warmth of Aiku’s manhood under him, but his rationality prevailed. “Please,” he said, loosening his grip on the cop’s shoulders.

Aiku, in response, plopped his head on Reo’s shoulder, going back to breath against the sensitive skin of Reo’s throat. “You owe me a screw, mob.”

Reo’s lips curved up in a smile, against what his mind was telling him about that strange situationship they were starting to have. “Yeah, I owe you,” he conceded, getting off from the cop’s lap and going back to the passenger’s seat. “Now drive.”

“Kill us?” Rensuke said, laughing. “You can’t kill us, Houichi. We have the antidote.”

Houichi’s strong facade, for just a moment, faltered. He murmured something, but there was so much silence in the warehouse that everyone heard it. “The tattoo?”

Now it was Rensuke who lurched, as the gears in his mind spinned and another piece of the puzzle fell in place. His father telling him about the tradition of the higher ranks of getting the clan tattoo. It made sense, they were the most important people who had to be safe in case the drug backfired. The special ink that Aryu used when he tattooed them. Raichi being immune to the drug, and Taka and the others dying.

Rensuke had kept it as the custom his father told him about, because of course he lied in that, as well. But he took an internal sigh of relief. Without explicitly wanting to, he had saved Raichi’s life.

But then an abrupt realization struck him.

Chigiri didn’t have the clan tattoo. He had refused - the couple of times Rensuke had asked - because he didn’t view himself as a worthy member of the clan, as someone on the same level as Rensuke, Reo or Raichi.

Rensuke had never insisted. The tattoo was just a sign, a physical memento of their affiliation. Not having it didn’t mean not belonging. And Chigiri - in Rensuke’s eyes - could do whatever he wanted to. Rensuke had never been one to force people to do anything they didn’t want to - they could just leave, if they didn’t agree, - and he had never, and would never, order or pressure Chigiri . 

Now, though, Rensuke had just learnt that the tattoo on his arm was going to save his life, if Houichi was to inject the drug in his system, and that his right-hand man, no, the man he loved , was defenseless.

Then, Rensuke made a mistake. Blinded by the fear of seeing Chigiri in danger, he enderaged him even more. His eyes flickered, just the littlest movement, to the cherry-haired man, but he must have had a panicked look on his face, because Houichi understood it all.

The old man started laughing, a demoniac roar that crashed against Rensuke’s ears.

He fucked up. He fucked up bad.

He reacted by doing the only thing he could. He quickly took the gun in the pocket of his coat. Turning around, he started shooting at one of the guards, dropping down to avoid the bullets the second shot once they realized what was going on, and shooting them too. They fell one after the other, and the Head of the Seidou clan was finally alone with Houichi and Chigiri.

Hyouma saw Kunigami move and heard the gunshots, but before he could check if his Head was still alive, Houichi was by his side, the gun in one hand and a syringe in the other, pointed at Hyouma’s throat.

The young man had to admit that he didn’t really get what was going on. He was still slightly dazed from the chloroform, but that wasn’t the reason. He hadn’t gotten the tattoo - he assumed Houichi and Kunigami were talking about the clan tattoo, the koi drawn in a circular pattern - and he didn’t know how it was made, or why it could be an antidote for the drug.

But the confusion he was feeling meant nothing to Houichi, who was so swift in his movement Hyouma wondered if he was really in his sixties. He had gotten on Hyouma’s side faster than Kunigami, who took out the men guarding the door in the blink of an eye.

Now the boss of the clan turned back to face them, and opened his eyes wide, definitely not expecting to see the situation change that much.

“Drop the gun,” warned Houichi, pressing the needle of the syringe against Hyouma's skin.

The cherry-haired man felt it sting, but didn’t move. He looked at Kunigami, and when his boss met his eyes, he subtly shook his head. He saw the look in Kunigami’s eyes, the fiery rage that was flaming in those auburn irises. He knew Kunigami was about to do a stupid move - try to save Chigiri even if it meant getting killed in the process - and he was not going to let him. He didn’t want to let him.

Kunigami, for once, listened to him, and he left the hold on the trigger.

“You’re not getting out of here alive, Houichi,” stated the Head.

Hyouma heard the man behind him sneering. “Neither is him,” he replied, and then Hyouma felt the needle going deep in his skin, and heard the sound of the plunger getting pressed.

Oh, fuck , he thought.

Rensuke saw the scene as if he was at the cinema and he was watching a movie in slow motion. His gun, without the finger pressed on the trigger, spinning around his index, and in the meantime Houichi speaking, and the plunger of the syringe going down, the dark liquid once in the tube now disappearing under Chigiri’s skin.

Now that there was nothing left to hold him down, Rensuke rampaged.

He roared, tightening his grip on his gun again, and tried to shoot to the fucker who cowardly hid himself behind Chigiri and then started running away, toward the back of the warehouse. Rensuke felt his blood pumping in his ears. He was completely berserk, and his aim was a disaster, the bullets reaching Houichi tenths of centimeters away from his body. The old man opened a small door and disappeared in the docks, as one of Rensuke’s knives embedded in the wall beside the exit.

Rensuke stood there, his chest heaving, and then he ran to Chigiri’s side and dropped on his knees. Outside the warehouse a commotion could be heard, even if dimly, but Rensuke didn’t register it, his entire focus now on Chigiri.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, even if those two words meant absolutely nothing.

“What are you doing here? Run after him,” said his Second, but Rensuke shook his head.

“I’m not leaving you,” he stated. It had been just one day since they had kissed, since they had sex, since they had confessed their feelings to each other, and he was already losing the man he loved. All because of his fault. All because of him.

A small part of him thought about the antidote, the fact that they now knew of a way to fight the drug. But was Aryu going to create it in time? Was Chigiri going to survive until it was ready?

“Hey,” Chigiri called, and Rensuke lifted his head. “It’s not your fault.”

Rensuke felt a lump in his throat. Of course it was his fault. He had to doubt Houichi, and search for the files of fifteen years before, and think about the meaning behind the tattoo. He shouldn’t have let Chigiri go alone to the club, he should have kept him closer, he should have confessed sooner.

“It is. And I’m sorry that being with me has led to this.”

Chigiri shook his head. “I wouldn’t have done it any other way,” he whispered. “I don’t regret staying. I don’t regret choosing the clan. I don’t regret choosing to love you.”

Rensuke, the man who had so much composure and never cried, especially in front of other people, at those words felt his eyes filling with tears. Time was so unjust.

Rensuke was dropping his head on Chigiri’s lap, all the guilt and the helplessness catching up and leaving him empty, when the gate of the warehouse opened.

His reflexes kicked in right away, making him stand and cover Chigiri with his body. If they wanted the right-hand man, they would have to step on his dead body first.

But the people at the gate were familiar. They were two tall men, one a breath of relief for Rensuke, and the other a cause of prickle in his skin, but familiar nonetheless.

“Fuck,” Reo swore, jumping back comically when he saw the dead bodies of the guards near the gate.

“Reo?” a surprised Chigiri asked from behind Rensuke.

Aiku extended one arm to steady Reo, as the Advisor processed what was going on in the room. He looked at Rensuke, and then at Chigiri behind him, and then his eyes fell on the empty syringe on the floor. Smart as he was, he got the situation in a flash.

“Oh, fuck it. Fuck Houichi. Fuck all,” the Advisor grunted, running toward his two fellow clan members.

Rensuke hadn’t processed the arrival of the two yet, and it took a shove by Reo to make him step aside.

“Where is Houichi?” Reo asked, crouching down and taking his knife out of the sheath on his thigh. He started sawing the rope on Chigiri’s legs.

“Why are you two here?” Rensuke finally managed to ask back.

“Anri told us everything,” answered Aiku. “We came to save the day.”

“He escaped on the back,” the Second answered Reo.

Reo sent a look to Rensuke, and then to Aiku, and then went back to cut the cable ties around Chigiri’s wrists. “You two go after him. I’ve got Chigiri.”

“It’s too late,” Rensuke gasped. “He’s been drugged.”

Reo finished cutting the cable ties, and Chigiri started massaging his wrists. The Advisor looked up at his boss. “I have the antidote. Go kill that bastard.”

The surge of relief that trampled Rensuke was so strong he almost fell on his knees once again, but then the resolution and the rage took over his body once again.

He bent down, moved by his adrenaline rush, left a quick kiss on Chigiri’s lips, and ran to the exit Houichi used, pulling out his knife from the wall before going into the chilly weather, Aiku right behind him.

“We’re not going to kill him,” the cop said. “I need him alive.”

The relief Rensuke was now feeling was so strong he wasn’t thinking about Chigiri anymore, and all he had on his mind was to make Houichi suffer until his last breath. He didn’t need to be the leader of his clan anymore, nor he had to save the man he loved. He just had to hunt down a prey, and he could let himself go as violent as he wanted to.

“If you reach him first, I won’t do anything,” he replied. “But if I get to him before you do,” a beastly, untamed growl escaped his lips, “I’ll fucking slaughter him.”

“What was that ?” Reo asked, his mouth opened, his eyes jumping between the door Kunigami had just disappeared behind and Hyouma.

Hyouma couldn’t stop the smile that was curving his lips. “As if you haven’t already noticed,” he replied, as his cheeks grew warmer. He was starting to feel dizzy - the drug, probably - but that was all his stupid heart in love.

Reo grinned. “I thought he would keep it private for some more. But I guess I can fit in the private category.”

“Speaking of private, why are you always with Aiku lately?” Hyouma questioned, arching one brow.

“Uhh-” Reo hesitated. “You’ve been drugged, Chigiri. You’re raving, and we have more important things to do,” he closed the conversation, putting his hands in the pockets of his coat and taking out a syringe and a little vial.

Hyouma had had a long night, and decided to drop the subject. Besides, Reo was actually right, he was getting light-headed and hazy. He couldn’t bring himself to stand, so he stayed on the chair.

“It’s been Houichi all along, since fifteen years ago,” he said. He wanted to stay awake, even if his mind was telling him to close his eyes. “He killed Kunigami’s father, and Dad.”

Reo clenched his jaw. “That fucking bastard,” he commented, as he placed the syringe on the table and started pouring the content of the vial in it. “Raichi is outside. He’s killed some of them, the ones who didn’t run off, all on his own. Used the surprise effect,” he giggled. “How do you feel?”

“Dazed,” Hyouma managed to say. His words were starting to be slurred, or maybe it was just Hyouma’s mind that was clouded. “I think he used a great dose.”

“Mh,” Reo answered, too focused on preparing the shot to talk more. When he was done, he straightened his back and turned around. “Let’s hope Aryu’s antidote is stronger.”

Hyouma extended his arm as soon as Reo was close enough, and the Advisor placed the syringe near the crook of his elbow. Hyouma’s sight was extremely confused now, his eyelids felt heavy, the syringe and Reo’s hands doubled when he squinted his eyes.

“I’m going,” Reo warned, and then Hyouma felt a light sting on his arm. “Might need a bit to run into your system, but let me know if you feel worse.”

Hyouma couldn’t speak, so he softly nodded. He hoped it was not too late.

The docks were a fucking maze. There were so many warehouses and containers around that he didn’t know where to go.

If they were in Setagaya, Rensuke would have known the layout of the place by heart, but in Edogawa he was flying blind.

He had probably passed through the same corner twice, and he had lost Aiku as soon as they got out of the little alley behind the warehouse where they left Chigiri and Reo.

Little harm in that, as Aiku wanted Houichi alive.

Rensuke knew the reason. First of all, a confession of his crimes, as the files at the precinct that contained his name had probably gone missing because of that Captain, Buratsuta. Aiku was corrupted to the bone, but he was a good cop when he wanted to, and it wasn’t hard to believe he wished to bring justice to that past case. Also, if Houichi was really allied with Kira - he did mention an ally, Rensuke remembered - an interrogation was the best way to draw that name out.

Knowing what Aiku's motives were didn’t make Rensuke want to pardon the man, though. He still wanted to kill him. He still wanted to hear him beg for his life as he sucked it out of his mangled body.

Rensuke was following the stepping sounds he heard at times. He knew, he felt , Houichi was still there somewhere. The boss had put the knife away in the harness under his coat, and had the loaded gun in his hands.

He wandered for what felt like both a single moment and endless minutes, but then he caught sight of Houichi’s jacket at the end of the pathway. He ran, his gun pointed at his eyes’ height, and when he turned the corner he saw Houichi standing still, his arms lifted, the gun aimed to a passage from where, to Rensuke’s shock, Aiku was getting out.

The cop was looking at the opposite side of Houichi. It looked like the old man had lured the detective in an ambush, and when Aiku turned around and noticed the gun, it was too late.

A shot fired.

A dead body collapsed on the asphalt, a red stain on the chest visibly expanding.

Rensuke had aimed at the heart, and it looked like he didn’t miss by much, because the old man wheezed for a while, and then Houichi’s body completely stopped moving, as the pool of blood under him widened.

Rensuke was heaving, his gun still high, the barrel still fuming.

Aiku, in front of him, was heaving as well, his face pale and faint after facing death so close.

They exchanged a deep and long stare, but Rensuke didn’t linger. He turned around and started running towards the warehouse. To Chigiri.

He killed Houichi. It hadn’t been the cruel and torturing death he had hoped for, but maybe that was for the best. Maybe Houichi didn’t deserve Rensuke’s time, not even if it meant his suffering. Rensuke just needed to be the one who pulled the trigger, and he had been.

Now, all that he wanted was to make sure that Chigiri was alive.

His body moved on its own through the maze of containers and buildings, but it felt like he had been running for ages. When he got to the backdoor of the warehouse, he was panting.

Chigiri was sitting on the chair. He was talking to Reo, slowly, without moving much, but he looked fine.

Rensuke got by his side before even realizing he moved from the doorstep.

“Hey,” Chigiri said, smiling. He didn’t look too well - “strong dose”, was saying Reo in Rensuke’s peripheral hearing - but he was alive . He was breathing.

Rensuke took Chigiri’s hand in his own, and squeezed, the final, permanent relief crashing through his body. “He’s dead,” he reported.

“Fucking finally,” Reo commented, before leaving the two higher ranks alone, stepping farther from them in the direction of the main gate, where Rensuke could discern Raichi’s figure.

“How are you feeling?” Rensuke asked in a whisper.

Chigiri nodded slowly. “Getting better. A little bit hazy, but the antidote is running.”

Rensuke couldn’t express his feelings in words, so he plopped his head down, over their intertwined hands.

Chigiri caressed his head with his free hand. “I’m not leaving you,” he said, taking Rensuke’s words from before.

Rensuke fought back the impulse to cry, and lifted his head to look at Chigiri, his Chigiri, his Chigiri that was alive, that was there with him.

“Did you mean it?” he faintly asked.

Chigiri turned up one corner of his mouth. He knew what Rensuke was referring to. “What, that I love you?” he asked back.

Rensuke’s cheeks warmed as he nodded. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry I’m saying this so soon,” Chigiri joked, “we’ve only been together for one day.”

Rensuke chuckled quietly. They had been through so much since that case started, and through even more just that one night. But Chigiri found the time to joke around, because Houichi was gone, and they were alive.

“You’re forgiven,” he replied, as he got up just enough to get on the same level as Chigiri’s face. “Because I love you too.”

Chigiri smiled gradually, from a little grin, to a great beam that lightened up his face, the most beautiful face Rensuke had ever seen.

The sound of several sirens was fastly getting closer to the area of the docks.

Aiku had gotten back not much later than Kunigami, fixing the cufflinks of his jacket as he crossed through the warehouse as if he was the main character in a spy movie that had to make the grand entrance after the bad guy was out of the picture. Needless to say that no one was waiting for him.

Reo excluded. But he had diverted his eyes so soon he was sure Aiku didn’t notice.

“I think it’s better if you go,” the cop stated now, turning around to look at the entire Seidou clan.

Raichi and Reo were on one side of the warehouse, and Kunigami was on the other, closer to the gate, with Chigiri by his side, still quite dazed and leaning - even if imperceptibly - onto his boss with the right side of his body.

There were several dead bodies around them, all finished by Raichi. Somewhere in the maze of the docks was the corpse of Houichi.

“Are you going to be okay?” wondered Raichi.

Aiku grinned. “Don’t underestimate me, mob. I’ll come up with something.”

Then the detective stared deeply at their boss. “I didn’t see anything, Kunigami,” he finally said.

Kunigami nodded, his facial features grave as he acknowledged Aiku back.

Reo wasn’t completely sure of the reason behind their exchange, but he was fairly certain it was something about Houichi and about what happened when the two men went out of the warehouse. He smiled inside. Was that a little step towards a better relationship between the two?

The Advisor thought Aiku was going to leave, but the cop shifted his gaze towards him. Reo felt a cool shiver down his spine. He feared what was going to happen, but the detective simply smiled, a strange, soft, genuine smile.

Reo’s heart made a flip, and he turned around quickly to not show his flustered cheeks to anyone.

His fellow clan members turned as well, walking towards Kunigami’s Chevrolet and Raichi’s Kawasaki.

“Are you coming with us, Reo?” asked the boss.

Reo was glad he had a chance to divert his attention from Aiku’s smile - from Aiku himself - and quickly grabbed it. He jokingly made a gagging noise. “And be the third-wheeler? No thank you, I’ll pick Raichi.”

When he turned to look at the Head, he found him smiling fondly at the man beside him. He waited until Kunigami looked back at him, and when he did, he smiled and nodded. Not that he needed his approval or anything, but he wanted him to know that it was about damn time .

The Chevrolet and the Kawasaki arrived at the same time in front of the estate, the bike slowing down and parking right behind the car.

Rensuke sent a look at the man slouched on the passenger seat. Chigiri was awake, and the antidote had completely kicked in. He was no longer dizzy, but he must have been feeling the adrenaline washing off. His eyes, though, were quickly and smartly scanning the road outside and turned to Rensuke once Chigiri realized he was being studied.

He sent a smile in his boss's direction, and got out of the car first.

When they opened the gate, the door opened right away. Iemon was the one who opened, and bowed deeply to every one of them, murmuring “it's very good to see you, waka”. But the scene was instantly stolen by Anri who ran out of the estate in a flash, crashing into Chigiri.

The cherry-haired man caught her slim body with a hand, taking a step back to steady them both and not fall down on the asphalt of the path.

“Don't make me worried sick anymore,” she said, squeezing his body in a hug and pressing her face against his chest.

Chigiri caressed her back softly. “Won't happen again, I promise.”

“You better,” she retorted, her mouth twisted in a pout.

Then she loosened the hug, just to do the same thing with Rensuke. “I'm glad you're back, Ren,” she whispered, only for him to hear.

He breathed the familiar zesty scent of her shampoo. “I am, too,” he replied, and he meant it. When he got out of the estate, he was so full of fury and anger he didn’t even care about how or where he would end up, as long as he could save Chigiri and kill Houichi, but now that the danger passed, and everything worked out for the best, he realized how much he would have missed if he didn’t come back. How he was glad he saved himself, along with his Second.

“You know, these guys wouldn't be home if it wasn't for me,” commented a hurt Raichi from behind Rensuke, his tone playful but slightly upset. “I took out half of the bad guys all on my own.”

“Don't act like you won't get the best treatment, you idiot,” she bit back, addressing her boyfriend even if she was still hugging Rensuke and wasn’t even looking at the blond man.

The boss of the Seidou clan let her go, and Anri, out of spite, hugged Reo ignoring Raichi once more.

The Advisor grinned as he squeezed Anri's hips with his arm, but he had a soft heart - when he wanted to - and quickly stepped back to let the woman finally meet with Raichi.

“You ruined the lovely return we were having,” she said.

“You didn't look at your boyfriend at all,” he retorted, glaring.

“That's because I knew you're the best shatei gashira ever, and that I didn’t need to worry because you would come back to me,” she replied, cooing.

Raichi smirked. “Damn right I am,” he agreed, and caught the woman in his arms when she jumped on him. They started a silent conversation, made of whispers and kisses, and the other three took it as the sign to leave them alone.

Iemon was as always beside the door, but he had an unusual guest by his side. There was Aryu, their long dark hair all over the place, so distant from the always well-kept appearance they showcased. It had been a long day and a long night for everyone.

“Did it work?” Aryu asked Reo, panic spilling in their voice, their eyes darting from a still slightly pale Chigiri, to Rensuke, and back to Reo, the one who realized the secret ingredient of the antidote and who moved them all. The man who saved Chigiri, truly.

Reo nodded. “It worked, champ,” he reassured.

Chigiri sent an acknowledgement nod in the direction of the doctor, but didn’t stop, walking further in the estate. Rensuke followed him, noticing that Reo had all the intentions to stay behind to talk with Aryu. The boss wasn’t sure if the Advisor was doing so to let Rensuke and Chigiri alone or because he actually had some business with the doctor, but he wouldn’t indulge in his reason any further.

Chigiri was walking in the direction of their rooms, Rensuke right behind him, and when they reached the door that led into the Second’s private space, the cherry-haired man eventually stopped.

Rensuke was about to surpass him to go to his own room - Chigiri must have been tired, didn’t he? He probably had to sleep the night off - but his Second reached out with a hand to circle Rensuke’s wrist, pulling him back in his personal space.

The boss turned around, and Chigiri soon met his soft lips in a deep, longing kiss.

Rensuke cupped his lover’s cheeks, fully tasting his lips for the first time since they reunited. 

When he retracted, Chigiri turned the handle with one hand. “Come inside,” he got closer again, and whispered against Rensuke’s mouth.

Rensuke hesitated. He wouldn’t have refused if it was a normal day - fuck, he waited years for that all to happen. They had sex once, but that wasn’t enough. Instead of feeling satisfied, his thoughts were just more , more . But that had been an eventful night. Chigiri had been so close to dying that Rensuke couldn’t fully believe he was still alive and in one piece. “Are you alright? Isn’t this too much strain?”

Chigiri grinned. If he was tired, or exhausted in any way, he didn’t show it. “Depends on which strain you’re talking about.”

At that, Rensuke left behind any worry he had been having until that moment. If Chigiri was going to feel uneasy, he would have told him. There was no reason for Rensuke to hold back. He wouldn’t let the other invite him in twice. He pushed a little, shoving the both of them in the room, and then closed the door with a back kick.

Chigiri pulled on his boss’s shirt until they fell on his bed in the dim light of the early morning that entered through the curtains, Chigiri with his legs open and Rensuke kneeling between them.

“I love you,” Rensuke gasped on Chigiri’s lips, the words falling out without him willingly wanting them to.

“Show me,” Chigiri boldly replied.

And oh, how Rensuke proved it to him.