DEVIL IN DISGUISE

"That guy again? Why is he always popping up in conversations?"

That small-time Yakuza boss and the chief of the Yamazaki family, is surely making a spotlight of his own name lately. And it finally starts to really annoy Kenji as he mentally takes note of him. That's the same bastard who has been meddling with his business and even daring to cross the borders to inflict gang fights in Shinjuku in the past few months. Now that it dawns on him, Kenji realizes what is actually happening here.

"He's getting prominent in the underground realm," Sakamoto further proves Kenji's suspicions with his own words, "Apparently he's really tight with a lot of dangerous people this time."

But that's a little bit ambitious for a stupid guy like Ito Yamazaki. However, if things get out of hand here, it would surely affect Kenji in a bad way. Though, not that he's threatened at all. It just feels like he should start getting ahead of that bastard's plans. And Kenji already knows what to do, of course.

"What a beautiful target he must be then," the Yakuza boss just remarks with an evil grin forming on his mouth.

"For a man with a disgusting face like that?" Sakamoto scrunches up his face and makes a gagging sound as he replies back to Kenji, "You sure have lowered your standards, Yanagi. But I'm serious about it, you really have to start getting more mindful of that man."

"Are you saying I should be scared of him?" Kenji laughs back, shaking his head at the absurd idea, "That dumb bastard who can't even hold his liquor and dick down?"

"I know he's not that too much of a threat..." Sakamoto even agrees but he then adds another friendly advice for Kenji, "But, I get this feeling he's been keeping tabs on you lately. Just don't be too mellow with this one."

Kenji could clearly hear the worry from Sakamoto as he says those words at him. It does not surprise him anymore, as Kenji thought about it. He already figured Yamazaki has been scheming against him since the rampant gang fights started to create conflicts within his territory. The only other boss who would even really dare to do those little pranks is no other than the stupid Ito Yamazaki.

Hell. He might even be the one who's trying to kill him, but Kenji still got no proof if that is the truth. Yamazaki isn't just the only one who could do it anyway. Kenji also has other two names pinned in his mind that he's more suspicious of.

"Interesting..." he just says as he muses, "Now, I'm quite flattered."

"I just don't want you to lose track of what's important. A lot of people are now choosing sides and Yamazaki obviously knows who's being favored here," Sakamoto heavily implies as he sits up on the couch, "He may be an idiot, but he sure is no fool when it comes to killing someone he really likes."

"The sadistic type, then? And I'm supposed to be the object of his affection now? That's funny, but I like my men tougher."

Kenji chuckles to himself, even a little surprised after cleverly referencing what Cherry had previously told him when she attempted to tease him during their car ride from the club. And Sakamoto just looks at the young boss with a shake of his head and smirks at his weird humor.

"Yeah, yeah..." he wryly replies with a roll of his eye as he sneers back to Kenji's handsome face, "'Cause you're one pretty spoiled bastard, right? And no one could really resist the charms of the 'Shinjuku's Dark Angel'."

Kenji immediately cringes at the use of that infamous nickname of his. Until now, it still sounds so stupid and immature. He really hates it.

"You're making it sound like I'm some kind of a stereotyped movie hero who always depends on capes."

"Well, you certainly could even play the part," Sakamoto just teases back, mocking him, "Maybe I even might be the president of your fans' club."

And with that, the last straw has been pulled when Kenji glowers towards Sakamoto's direction.

"Get out." Kenji spats quite sharply at the man while the latter just stands up from the couch, laughing as he turns to leave.

"Alright," Sakamoto says with a smug grin, "Well, I've done my job here, so I'll take my leave."

Yet before he could even reach the door, Kenji calls out to him again.

"Hold on."

"Hm?" Sakamoto quickly turns to give the boss a look as he waits for him to say his thoughts.

"I have another job... actually," Kenji tells him as they meet each other's eyes.

"Right now?" Sakamoto frowns back and he walks to the couch again, "Well... Not that I'm complaining but you sound a little weird just now."

"It's a bit different this time," Kenji just answers in a meek tone.

"Different?" Sakamoto repeats. Curiosity spikes in him as he settles back on the couch and stares at Kenji across the coffee table.

For a brief moment, Kenji just looks like he's still hesitating before he eventually moves and raises his hand to fish something out from the inside pocket of his suit. He soon reveals a small photo in his hand and reaches it towards Sakamoto while the man just instinctively takes the object as he looks down on it.

"Dig deeper about that one," Kenji simply instructs him, sounding morose and very serious as he averts his eyes and stares down on the table as if he's thinking something too deep.

"I want every information about her, be it meaningless or helpful. I don't care. Just gather everything you can come across as long as it's related to it."

"Her?" Sakamoto mutters back as he studies the woman's picture, "She's pretty."

"The name's on the back of it."

Sakamoto flips the photo right away as soon as Kenji says it and he sees the only one word scrawled across the white sheet.

"Cherry?" He reads out loud with a deeper frown, "Quite short for a name. Even commonly used for a woman."

"That's her screen name," Kenji explains, "As a hostess."

The very last word he uttered has Sakamoto doing a double-take as he gapes at Kenji then flits back his eyes to the woman's face on the photo.

"She's a hostess?" Sakamoto reaffirms, "Is she one of your..."

"I just met her today." Kenji immediately clarifies as he looks up and gazes at Sakamoto. He looks very stern that Sakamoto could even feel something darker and terribly much deeper than what he thinks this sudden job is really all about now.

"Wait," He attempts to clear out the intense atmosphere with Kenji as he tries not to read too seriously into this situation and lightly teases him, "Don't tell me you're making me do this just so you could get into this woman's-"

"She's not like that." The sharp glare that Kenji suddenly shoots at him has Sakamoto shifting uncomfortably from where he sits across him that he even looks away nervously.

"Well..." He meekly replies, deciding not to push that topic further, "I guess, she isn't if you say so."

"I don't care if it might take you too long," Kenji also tells him, "It's not on top of my priorities as of now."

"I understand," Sakamoto then briefly agrees with a business-toned voice as he thoroughly observes Kenji's face, "But you've got to give me at least some kind of reason here, Yanagi. I need to understand why I have to waste my time digging some unknown girl's past without that much of a lead."

And it's suspicious, to begin with. She's not that even significant.

"Because she tried to kill me."

Sakamoto instantly goes cold upon hearing what Kenji just told him. Is he serious?

"Kill you?"

"Yeah," Kenji just answers with a shrug, as if it hadn't been anything that crucial and alarming, "And she almost did it."

Well, that sort of thing could really happen and Sakamoto knows it. Someone would always try to kill Kenji Yanagi but then they'd always fail too. However, it has never been done with a woman involved before. And upon realizing this, Sakamoto smirks and lets out a whistle, finding that part quite outrageous and unexpected.

"Damn," he remarks, staring back to the photo of the pretty woman, who almost seemed too nice to even dare and do such thing.

"A witch disguised in the mask of an angel, huh? Interesting."

You can never really judge a person just by their mere appearances.

"Not that you need to be interested in her, Sakamoto," Kenji sternly retorts, or rather warns with a deep voice as he still glares at Sakamoto, "You just have to give me what I ask of you."

Hell. Kenji's even quite too sensitive about her. Just who is she?

"Fine, fine," Sakamoto settles as he raises his hands up and stands again, "I get it."

"I'll leave it to you. And call me right away if you find anything," Kenji reminds him as Sakamoto starts to leave. He is already at the door when Sakamoto stops and turns to look at Kenji again.

"But Yanagi," He says before he goes, his face turning serious as Kenji meets his stare, "I really mean it when I said be careful. We still don't know what that Yamazaki is planning in his head and until the promotion day, please refrain from doing something reckless."

"I'll keep that in mind." Kenji just replies to him with a nod.

"See ya," And right after saying those words, Sakamoto walks out, along with the two men he brought with him, and the door shuts behind them.

"Yamazaki..." Kenji finds himself muttering the name as he soon gets up from the couch and returns to his seat by his desk.

This time, he should take his mind off Cherry for a while, there are more other things he must look into for the upcoming announcements of the higher bosses. Only then, Kenji does finally open the envelope that Sakamoto has given him a while ago. And as soon as he reads the content that was written on the papers inside, his eyes widen with sudden interest.

"Sakamoto did his homework really good this time," he remarks, his face lightening up with delight, "This is bad. I seem to can't wait for the big day now."

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On the other hand, somewhere in the middle of Shibuya (a place near Shinjuku), a man wearing a dark gray suit stands near the glass windows, overlooking the view of city lights on the top floor of a big establishment in a crowded street. Ito Yamazaki stares into the unseen skyline with a glass of bourbon in his hand and a thick Tabacco in the other.

He hears a door clicking shut behind him, but he does not move nor even turn. He waits for the person to show himself against the moonlight illuminating the dark-lit room.

"Boss," the sudden visitor who is still hiding in the dim area behind Ito Yamazaki suddenly speaks in a calm voice, "We got intel about Cherry."

Upon the mention of the woman's name, Ito's face slightly flinches as he tries not to predict what happened.

"Really?" he just replies over the silence of the room.

"She's on the works," the man behind Ito informs him and as this finally sinks into him, Ito smoothly places a grin on his lips, "She somehow managed to enter the 'RED'. The plan is working well."

Well, look at that. She's making progress despite that weak-minded personality.

Ito Yamazaki didn't really expect that she'll even get passed through the first step. He already thought she'll just end up getting caught redhanded and would have been killed right on the spot. But for some reason, the demon's weakness had really worked this time since it's a woman that has been involved.

Ito Yamazaki must have really overestimated Yanagi's perfection. After all, he's still a man and Cherry is surely a big catch.

With that innocent-looking face, unexpected snotty attitude, and that supple luscious rack, who would ever resist?

"She's still alive, huh?"

"Yes, it appears so."

Will the next step work as well? Ito Yamazaki isn't really sure of it. He is still standing over a neutral spot to even be that confident enough with what will come next to the plan. He will just have to leave it all to that woman to do her job. However, with things taking a little bit slower than he wants it, there's not much time left until the promotion day and Ito Yamazaki's getting a little impatient.

"We got a pawn with her inside, right?"

Of course, he's not going to neglect her efforts. He needs to give her support since she's doing her best. He has to set things in motion too, even for a little bit, just so he could get everything set before that big day comes. After all, things are even getting quite exciting now. And apparently, having things work out under his control even got much easier after finding out that not all Yanagi's men are actually very loyal to him.

Money would always work its magic in these things. And lucky for Yamazaki, he got a snake inside the enemy's territory.

"Yes."

"Good. For now, let's just keep things under low-heat," he orders the man behind him.

"Yes, boss," the man just replies with affirmation and soon takes it as his cue to leave. The door shuts in a soft thud and Ito Yamazaki takes a long sip from his drink, briefly sighing in satisfaction as he squints his eyes towards the blinking lights of the Tokyo Tower from afar.

"He'd let her in, huh?" he muses to himself, as he takes a drag from the Tobacco and puffs a thick smoke into the air.

"Well, Yanagi, aren't you really fickle when it comes to beautiful women?" Ito clicks his tongue as he soon realizes the sudden turn of events in this game they're playing now.

"It's just about the time you finally take a real fall."

And it seems like, Yanagi isn't the only one who is getting excited about how things are happening right now.

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