Chapter 2

Ginoza

Two days have passed since I arrived on the island and the beach house is completely quiet, waiting patiently for Shimotsuki's call but it never comes.

The first day that I arrived I had at least something to do to kill the time. I unpacked my belongings and set them up in order but after that was done there was just so much I could do to memorize the layouts of this house in case I need to make a quick getaway or fight off an intruder. Now I have absolutely nothing to do and that alone is driving me crazy but I can't let this stillness affect me. My mind has to be clear and focused; I can't afford to slip up now, not at the start at least.

I have to give it to Shimotsuki; she did choose a great location for me to stay in for my waiting period. Like always I had expected as much from her, she always gets me the best possible locations no matter how short notice some of my job requests can be at times.

I may be good at killing people but she's also good at what she does, I couldn't ask for a better agent then her. Actually the last one that I had, I needed to silence them up permanently after I learned that they had more than one client like myself and that's not good. An agent who is willing to have more than one client in this field is without a doubt shady and clearly up to something and once they no longer have any use for you they are the ones who end up putting a price on your head.

When Shimotsuki isn't working on finding me jobs and managing my affairs she's a realtor and after a few years of being my agent, she was able to found her own realtor agency thanks to her share of profit that she received from my jobs. In turn this allows me to move around much more efficiently by passing as a simple realtor agent inspecting promising housings to sell for the agency.

In a way I guess that Shimotsuki did win her point a little by wanting me to take some time off, that's all I can do at the moment but at least I have a spot to meditate on the beach without having to go very far from the beach house. The least, I have that so things could always be worse.

I close my eyes and take deep and steady breaths, listening to the waves of the ocean and feeling the gentle breeze on my skin. I feel at peace in this very moment, listening to my surrounding calms my mind and calmness is the key to anything. As long as you're calm and focused on the task at hand, nothing can go wrong.

"Hey, hi!"

I open my eyes at the sudden voice of a man who was now standing not too far from me and I can't help but wonder where he even came from. Only a few minutes ago there was absolutely no one around, it was only me surrounded by nature so which bush did he emerged from out of nowhere?

But still… I was so focused on listening to the waves of the ocean that I failed to notice that someone came lurking right beside me and I didn't even notice until he spoke. A small mistake like that could have cost me my life if that would have been the wrong person, I'm being too careless.

Either way I can't tell if he's a native of this island or just a tourist. I know for a fact that I've never met him before when I used to live here. He might be a tourist or he moved here sometime after I left but there's no way I could forget a Japanese with piercing blue eyes like he has, it's not a common Japanese characteristic so I would indeed remember someone with something that unique and I don't recall ever meeting a blue eyes Japanese before.

Even his build isn't common for a Japanese; for one thing he's taller than average and he's quite muscular too. Actually he's larger than I am. I sure wouldn't want a physical confrontation with this one. I'm fairly certain that he could overpower me in terms of brute strength if it came down to a fight, my only chance of winning would depend on my agility and even then it's not exactly certain of victory on my part.

"Sorry to bother you but you haven't seen a dog lurking about around have you?" He asks, taking a few steps closer.

"No, I haven't." I answer with not much care in my tone but it's the truth. I haven't seen any dogs around since I got here and I haven't heard any barking either but somehow I feel as if there is no dog and this was just an excuse to come and talk to me.

So… I've already been noticed around here. It's not too surprising, this area of the island is small, and everyone simply knows another but I don't want to attract too much attention to myself so this isn't good. I don't want my face remembered when I leave, the less people that sees me the better.

"Sorry to have bothered you." He says and I resume my meditating for a minute before looking back up to see him still standing there. He hadn't budged a muscle and was still staring at me with a grin on his face. Obviously he still has something else to say. Getting to the point of why he approached me in the first place probably.

"Hey are you the new tenant that's living there?" He asks pointing at the beach house that I'm currently residing in.

"I am." I answer, placing my hand above my eyes to create shade from the blinding sun so I don't have to squint my eyes. If only he could move his giant ass to block the sun, oh well…

"Well everyone on this beach pretty much knows one another and we're having a bonfire tonight. You're more than welcome to join us." And there it is. He came all this way just to invite me to a social gathering. It's rather pointless and a complete waste of time, I'm not interested in the slightest and I'm starting to hate having been noticed already so early but they're just common folks, nothing more so I don't have anything to worry about but it's still annoying. It's disturbing my thoughts and quite frankly I don't have time nor can I afford to attend social gatherings at this time.

"I'll have to pass; I've got things to do." I quickly answer, hoping that will be the end of it and he'll leave me alone but of course he doesn't and I have to stop myself from sighing out of annoyance.

"What could you possibly have to do? We're on an island and holidays are coming up so there won't be anything to do for days." He tells me, never removing that grin off his face as if he thinks that I forgot about the events to come in the next few days.

To be honest I did kind of forget but it's coming back to me after he just mentioned it. Today is the twenty-two of December which means that tomorrow is the Emperor's birthday and then the preparations of new Year's Eve will commence and then New Year's… Just pointless holidays, those days are not of any difference than other regular days which only serves to mark the end of a year and the start of a new one…

With this waiting period it won't give me much time to get my target before New Year's Eve and not to mention that the streets will be busy and full of people. The ferry won't be in function much either and that's not even knowing if I'll be able to get close enough to do my kill in such a short period of time. I completely failed to look at the date before departing; this could come biting me in the ass later. I can't just leave the country as quickly as I had originally intended and that can be quite of a problem. I'll have to make this kill look like an accident; I can't raise any suspicions with the local authorities, I just can't afford that.

"We're all expecting you to show up-"

He cuts what he was saying short when he suddenly jolted his foot upwards and fell on his behind when he went to walk away. It didn't take long for the sand to start getting drops of crimson and I quickly jumped up to my feet to see his condition.

"Are you alright?" I ask him.

I know that I shouldn't have asked and simply just ignored him and his misfortune. I shouldn't get involved with the locals around here but I can't just ignore an innocent who's injured either. Even if he did annoy the crap out of me, I can't turn my back on him either. I would feel terrible for the rest of the day if I didn't make sure he was at least alright…

"Argh, broken glass. Shit!" He says, not exactly telling me if he's okay or not and quickly pulls out the glass shard out of his foot before I can even tell him not to which only made his bleeding worse as more stained the sand in spots of crimson.

I sigh at his sudden action. Now that was just plain stupid. The glass shard was actually stopping the blood from pouring out; some people can be so clueless at times. It's a wonder how many of these people are still alive and haven't killed themselves in their own stupidity.

"Come on before you bleed all over the beach." I tell him, pulling an arm over my shoulder and pulling him to his feet and using myself as a support only to regret it early. He's not just larger than average, he's heavy too and leading him to the house and into the kitchen required more effort than I had originally thought.

I pull out a chair for him to sit down before walking away to the bathroom to get my first aid kit and some damp washcloths to clean the wound with before returning and the first thing I spot is the drops of blood on the floor and I have to shake off the thought about having to clean that up later and just concentrate on the task at hand.

This is why you do not walk bare foot on the beach is what I want to tell him but I don't and instead I hold my tongue as I inspect the wound. It's a bit deep but not deep enough that it'll need stitches which he's lucky for but what he's even luckier for is that there doesn't seem to be any sand stuck in the wound or fragments of glass in it which is great.

I take a washcloth and start cleaning the wound, careful not to irritate the skin around it and when I finish cleaning the wound, I take my second washcloth and wrap it around the wound and start applying pressure onto it to stop the bleeding before I can actually administer antibiotic cream onto the wound and only then I'll be able to bandage it up and he'll be good to go.

"Are you a doctor or something?"

I look up to meet his gaze and even though he's bleeding and I'm sure it must be somewhat painful he still has that same grin on his face as before. Actually he seems to be more interested in me than the fact that he's currently injured and bleeding and that he dirtied my floor with his blood. If he is in any sort of pain, he hides it very well because I can't tell.

"No…" I answer, returning back my gaze onto his foot.

"Are you sure? You know exactly what you're doing, like you've done things like this before." I have to fight the urge to look back up at his sudden comment and I'm starting to wonder if he's actually on to me or not. If it's just plain coincidence or he's just being a friendly neighbour trying to get a conversation going but I'm starting to have odd feelings about this job. It's taking too long to get a name and this guy is starting to get on my nerves, well not really but there's a tension that's making me feel uncomfortable and I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

"Can't hurt to know first aid…" I blurt out, never taking my attention off his foot. Not wanting to look him in the eyes as if I'm afraid that he'll be able to figure me out in an instant if I do.

"Can't argue with that…" He says and adds, "I'm Shinya Kougami by the way and you are?"

More questions, and questions and questions… What's with this guy? Constantly inquiring information about someone who clearly isn't interested in the slightest? I'm not trying to get a conversation going, clearly he must see that I'm not interested in socializing with him or his group and yet he doesn't stop. Is it that he just doesn't care about what I want or he just doesn't notice that I just want to be left alone? I can't read this man but if I don't answer him, he might become suspicious and then I'll be in big trouble.

"Ginoza…" I blurt out in a low tone as I carefully remove the washcloth and I'm satisfied with what I see. The wound as stopped bleeding but it wouldn't take much for it to start again so I have to be careful.

I take out the antibiotic cream and apply a generous amount onto the wound, making sure it gets into the open cut for maximum efficiency and then carefully apply a compress, tape it in place and then wrap the injured foot to secure the compress in place so it doesn't move around and if the wound does start bleeding again, the compress should help to absorb most of the blood.

"Ginoza?" He repeats and I know why. He's waiting for my full name but we're in Japan, I'm not obliged to give him my full name unless I wish to. We are not friends or acquaintance after all and therefor I don't have to give him a reason for not disclosing my full name, it would be disrespectful on his part.

"Yeah…" I say as I finish applying the bandage and pick the first aid kit up and the blood stained washcloths and bring them back to the bathroom.

I grab a hand towel before returning back to the kitchen only to find this guy named Kougami is already cleaning up his blood on the floor with one of the kitchen towels and places it on the kitchen table when he's done and then turns his attention to me, careful not to put much weight on his injured foot.

"I didn't get your first name." He says.

"I didn't give it." I answer back, hoping that he'll finally get the message.

"Fair… Thanks for treating my injury; it would mean a lot to everyone if you showed up tonight. Have some fun; get to know your neighbours a little." He tells me as he backs away to the door in a limp, never removing his eyes off me.

"I'll think about it." I reply shortly but I already know what I've decided.

He gives me a smile and I force one back in return as he leaves the house and finally I can breathe a little. I don't know if he was just being friendly but I can't stay here too long, I need to do this job and be done with it. The sooner, the better.