Chp. 10: Temptations
300,000 Yen…a sum of money Ryu had only ever dreamed of getting from his musical career. But that was money he didn't have, and his life was not something he wanted to give up so early. He looked at the Yakuza type sitting across from him.
"I'd like a day or two to give this some thought, let it rot in my mind. It's a big job and the repercussions for failure are…steep." He replied. Shiki seemed either impressed or amused.
"Aren't tempted by money very easily, are you?" He asked.
"Oh no, I can be, especially with the crap apartment I have, but when the other choice is death…eh, I develop other priorities." The young man said.
"Very well. You know the procedure for contacting us. I look forward to hearing a reply." The yakuza officer said. He allowed Ryu to go on his way and they exchanged bows.
"I'm sure it won't be the last time we meet." Shiki foretold.
Ryu left and got a sense of where exactly he was. He'd never been to this part of Tokyo, and even though he could retrace his steps, he had been more or less just following Daisuke and listening to what his boss had to say. He called to a person walking by and asked them the way back to Southern Kita. The person suggested a taxi take them, to which Ryu insisted he wanted to walk. He wished he had his bike; that way he could just get on the freeway for a minute or two. The person then told him to go find a map and left. Ryu rolled his eyes at the random encounter and picked a direction, eventually going the way he'd approached the building.
He arrived at a rail station and finally coughed up the amount of yen to take the Saikyo line north into Kita. It was still the middle of the day, but the trains were still well packed, prompting Ryu to watch himself lest anyone might bump into him and discover the Glock. Daisuke had yet to say anything regarding new jobs from him, and rent was due soon…maybe the job was worth the risk. Ryu could definitely use the money to spruce up his place just a little and get plenty of food…but he had questions. Unlike the jobs he'd done for Daisuke, this package had things he wanted to know about. What made it worth 300,000 yen? Electronic components, unless they were some kind of rare type, were not that valuable. Even more so if his life was going to be used as collateral.
He tightened his grip on the rail above him as the cutesy, pleasant tone jingled away to tell the riders a station was near. The smuggler quickly got off the train to keep the handgun's existence unknown. Know he was in a far more familiar setting, and he picked up the pace as he went towards his apartment. As he turned onto the street, he spotted a familiar face. He rolled his eyes when he noted a stumble in Kouta's walk, suggesting he was drunk. But it changed, very unpleasantly, when the drummer grabbed him by the shirt collar.
"You. FUCKING. Asshole." Kohta snarled, a tinge of alcohol on his breath.
"Nakamura-san, I know why you're here." Ryu sighed.
"You know fucking well why I'm here!" The drummer roared. He tried to throw Ryu to the ground, but sobriety almost automatically trumped any advantages Kouta might've had. Ryu stood his ground and seized Kouta, throwing the other young man towards the space between two buildings. Kouta knocked into a small trash receptacle. The man adjusted his glasses and looked at Ryu, trying to get up. The guitarist was not looking to fool around.
"Okay, Nakumura-san, I get it. You're mad; mad I left and haven't talked to you. But don't make me repeat every word I said when I left. I'm done, I've quit. Now, you can get out of my damn face about my life, or I can make you eat the contents of that trashcan…Your choice…" Ryu said as Kouta seemed to be sizing him up.
Kouta stumbled forward and tried to get some kind of advantage back. Ryu simply pushed him back further into the inter-building corridor, growing more and more unimpressed with his friend's childish behavior.
"You betrayed us, you damned hypocrite! You wanted to be famous! You wanted to play your guitar for a living! But when we get turned down ONCE, you bail out!" He said, jabbing a finger with each repetition of "you".
Ryu continued forward, sneaking a glance behind his back. He'd expected, Kohta tried to take advantage of the check, but Ryu's expectation of that allowed him to quickly react and send Kouta backpedalling. With no witnesses, the smuggler decided to reinforce his want to be left alone. Ryu pulled out the Glock, though he had no intention to shoot. He knew Kouta would be unnerved enough already by the sight of the weapon.
"Okay Nakamura-san, maybe I wasn't clear enough when I said I was done…so should I repeat myself?" He said with a face that had marginally equivalent emotion to a cyborg.
Kouta began to scramble backwards in innate terror. He lifted one hand to protest.
"Where the hell did you get that thing?" He stammered.
"Doesn't matter. Now don't make a sound, got me?" His "friend" instructed. Kouta's head bobbed up and down very fast. Ryu could swear to himself he saw tears in the drummers eyes.
"Now, I'm not coming back. I made my choice, and I expect you to understand, Nakamura-san. You will not speak of this incident, or I will make sure you regret it. So walk away, leave me alone, and never cross my path like this again." He outlined, stopping his forward pace.
Kouta lowered his hand and scrambled to his feet before stumbling towards the far end of the alley. Ryu holstered the Glock and watched him go, quickly turning and exiting the alley. He ran across the street and back up to his apartment. The young man could feel excitement in his blood again. Any sense of regret or guilt for what he'd just done was not present in any form. The guy was being a prick, so he made sure he got off his back. The young man sat down on his couch and whipped out his phone to call Daisuke regarding the latest job.
"So Shiki didn't tie you up and have you mutilated with a chainsaw…Good, I was beginning to wonder…" the older man answered with.
"Worried about me, Sabunari-san?" Ryu scoffed.
"Hey, you earn me money, so you're no use dead." The man replied.
"Speaking of money, you said you had a job lined up for me?"
"Yeah, but the package isn't due to arrive 'til tomorrow or the day after. I'll call you when it's in place so you can get it to our client."
"What's the package?"
"More documents, specifically those for a debt collection agency. They've had some evasive clients, so they've had to use creative measures to find em."
"What's the pay?"
"8200 Yen."
Not nearly as much as Shiki was offering, but still a nice amount. Change in the pocket.
"Okay, hand me the details when it comes in. It'll give me some time to think about another job."
"So is that what Shiki-san wanted?"
"He offered me a job for 300,000 Yen, but the price for failure is…well, higher…"
"If you ask me, I'd say take it. I doubt he'd trust anything priceless with a guy who's new to the business world, and if you need backup, me and Thach-san will be happy to provide two more shooters."
"So long as I don't have to split the payment." Ryu chuckled.
"We'll see, pending things go down okay."
Ryu hung up and stood back up to remove his shoulder holster. He carefully placed the weapon and its carrying device on the side of his bed that was closest to the wall, to keep it out of sight. He flopped back on the piece of furniture, and his eyes met his guitar. He sighed at the object and maneuvered so he was upright and facing it. He hadn't played it in a while…
The young man stood up and walked to the instrument, resting a hand on its headstock. He gently plucked one of the strings and picked the Gibson and grabbed it by the neck, going back to his bed and resting the guitar on his lap. He strummed a few times before his phone rang.
"Hello?" He replied as he accepted the call.
"Heya Ryu-kun, it's been a few days. What's up?" She asked, sounding a tad bit distracted.
"Not much, just contemplating whether or not to play my guitar. It's been a boring day. What about you?" He said, leaving out any details regarding Shiki for a good reason.
"I have the day off, and I was wondering if you'd like to see little ol' me?" She asked flirtatiously. He smiled.
"That sounds fun." He admitted.
"Wanna get some takeout? I was…actually I was hoping you'd play your guitar a little for me." She confessed. He looked at the instrument on his lap.
"Well I haven't played it much lately, so I may be a little rusty…" He said. She laughed.
"It's okay; I can be there to witness you retuning your skills."
"As long as you aren't one of those DEMANDING audiences."
She laughed.
"Hey, I'm bringing you food, so no complaining."
"Only if part of that meal is lo-mein."
"Deal, be over in a bit."…
Ryu carefully strummed and the guitar as he set aside his box of food to make sure it was tuned. The small amp next to him was set for the appropriate feedback levels of the first riff he wanted to play.
"So, Ryu-kun, I never got to ask you much about you and playing guitar…" Haruka pointed out.
"Like what?" Ryu replied.
"Well, when did you start playing?" She asked as she captured a mound of rice between her chopsticks.
"Back when I was just entering the teenage years. My uncle had me listen to Pink Floyd's "The Wall", and after that all I wanted to do was play guitar. So my parents got me one for a birthday one year, and the rest is history, Haruka-chan." He explained.
"So what're you gonna play first?" She asked.
"The very first riff I ever learned." He announced as he stood up.
Haruka threw her arms up and let out a "whoo!" as he strummed one last time and dove into a demonstration of the famous "Eruption" guitar solo coined by Eddie Van Halen. It felt like he was seeing an old friend, and the motions came back to him naturally. This solo had other meaning to him besides being the first piece he'd ever really learned and mastered. As a prank one day, he'd played it at school after classes, and almost blew out a speaker.
"That was awesome, Ryu-kun! Play something else!" she cheered.
"Thank, thank you, you're a wonderful crowd." He replied, having as much fun as her.
"Can you sing?" Haruka asked. Ryu flushed a little.
"Not really…" he said.
"Please?" she begged.
He hesitated, tapping a finger against the fret board of the Gibson. She responded by light-heartedly approaching him and delivering a kiss.
"Will that change your mind, Ryu-kun?~" She said with a seductive look as she pulled away. Despite his blush, he smiled.
"Okay, but I claim NO responsibility for how bad I sound." He warned.
"Just sing." She said with a flip of her hand.
As she sat back down, he toyed with the amplifier until he got the sound he wanted. He stood back up and began to play, choosing the song "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row to play. His voice was only a rough match to Sebastian Bach, and with the obvious missing, the song didn't sound like he was used to it. But his single-person audience apparently didn't know too much about either to take note.
"Now one of Yuurei's songs." She said with a pleasant smile as he finished.
"You just want the full concert experience, don't you, Haruka-san?" He replied as he sat down to eat more, though he was all too willing to plug his band's (scratch that, former band's) tracks. She laughed.
"I'm having way too much fun. I don't get to do this kind of thing with most guys I meet." The woman admitted. Ryu nodded in agreement.
"Well, there is one I have a part in, heck I even wrote part of it."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, it's called Through the Kamikaze. It's about an old story where Japan got saved from the Mongols by typhoons that were apparently sent by the gods."
"Well then, play it!"
"It's pretty loud…"
"Oh come on Ryu-kun, you're a HEAVY-FRICKIN-METAL guitarist. You're supposed to be loud."
Ryu again succumbed and with a heavy feeling of embarrassment, began the song. He sang it horribly, but Haruka loved it. She began to sing along as well, which amounted to her basically copying Ryu and eventually they both burst into fits of laughter. The two finished up their meals and Haruka decided to return to her home.
"We should do this again, Ryu-kun." She said.
"I'm that good a player, huh?" he asked.
"Well, it was just fun to hang out…and maybe…" She corrected. He tilted his head.
"Maybe what?" He asked. She shook her head.
"Maybe I think you're a cool guy, Ryu-kun. Jeez, can't you take a clue?" She winked. The young woman gave him a quick peck and left, reminding him to call if he wanted to hang out again before the door closed.
Ryu was in a mild daze after she was gone. He liked the way she carried herself, but he still couldn't classify WHAT he and Haruka were. Lovers? No…they hadn't seen each other often and a one-night stand did not equal romantic desire. Maybe a more accurate term was friends with benefits? She was pretty, fun, and her playful nature was just teasing enough to keep his interest. He wasn't sure how interested she would be in a serious fling, but then again did they need that? They could be like him and Natsuyo, just no odd scars or money changing hands.
Ryu thought about the comparisons he drew between Natsuyo and Haruka. A wild-hearted working girl who wasn't afraid to flaunt what she had and turn heads being compared to a quiet prostitute whom treated you as nothing more than a client, and kept a close guard on what was known about her. Common sense seemed to favor Haruka from her sense of fun to her fiery-hot sense of passion…
…
But…
…
Ryu was still interested in Natsuyo, at least thanks to the fact that she had something she was hiding, something that dug at him enough he wanted to know. She was also pretty, more in the sense her beauty wasn't augmented like Haruka's. Plus, that moan. He wasn't the kind to normally get turned on by something like that, but Natsuyo's moan…it was sharp, and it reminded him that when she let it out, it was because he did something right. But he couldn't place exactly what about her kept his interest.
The young man kept his train of thought rolling as he stored any leftovers and put his guitar and amp back in their places. Maybe if he got really lucky they'd share him, he mused as he looked over his room. The young man then laughed. Oh yeah, that'd be the day…maybe when that day came he'd be a billionaire too…
Ryu decided to get some exercise and run his package today. Once again he was navigating the district of Ikebukuro. The place was developing its own sense of familiarity between the frequency of jobs in this area and the location of both the brothel and Daisuke's place. Though it's variety of clientele were still a new experience to him, one that was constant. First it'd been an Italian guy trying harder than was needed to act Japanese, then it was some shady-looking meds corporation that bore the same stink Weyland-Yutani did, and to top all that was a splinter of the yakuza who could, evidenced by their base of operations and the glimpse of their firepower, could easily wipe him from existence. NOW it was this character he was meeting near the highway.
The man with dreadlocks and a black suit had only introduced himself as Tom. At first Ryu thought he might be an American, but the guy's Japanese was too perfect for that. When asked casually by Ryu his business with Daisuke was (despite Daisuke's explanation) he got the same answer: debt collection, particularly evasive and stubborn people. It gave legitimacy to the man whom accompanied Tom. People in debt probably had to be desperate, and a little added muscle helped make sure payments were made.
Tom's partner had an equally odd appearance. He was dressed in a bartender's outfit, with his eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses. Perhaps the starkest feature of the man's physical looks was his head of blonde hair. It was almost gold in color. Even stranger was that Ryu knew of him, and his name. Shizuo Heiwajima; rumored to be one of the strongest men alive. Ryu guessed Tom was the brains, Shizuo was the brawn. Still, Ryu trusted that his Glock could give him some chance, given he drew fast enough.
"The hell are you staring at?"
Ryu flinched his eyes back to Tom at Shizuo's grumble. Tom held up a hand and looked back at the papers.
"Well as I trust, good ol' Sabunari-san delivers. This is exactly what we're looking for. Thank you, Itogara-san." He said with satisfaction, tucking the envelope under his left arm.
"The rest of his payment will be coming to him soon. I send my thanks." He added before they exchanged bows. Ryu offered Shizuo one, but he only shrugged and followed his apparent boss, producing a lighter and pack of cigarettes. Ryu got curious
"Heiwajima Shizuo, right?" He asked. The blonde stopped, unlit stick in his maw.
"What's it to you, Itogara-san?" He replied with a marginally curious tone.
"Is it true? Are you as strong as they say?" Ryu went on. Shizuo considered him for a moment, then flashed a rather unsettling smile.
"Would you like to see?" He asked.
The teen opened his hand to reach for his weapon, thinking he'd accidentally challenged the blonde to a fight. He was lifting his shirt as the man grabbed a trashcan, but an unseen being grabbed Ryu and pulled him down as the object arced overhead, impacting the ground behind them with the combination of a metallic thud and the contents in said receptacle being violent tossed around.
"Now, now Shizu-chan, there is no need to toss things around. I'm not even here to see you." A familiar, sing-songy tone scolded.
"Oh I've got a reason, Izaya-kun. Guess who just got out of prison a month ago and is looking for a little payback?" Shizuo announced. His expression seemed a tad demonic, though the accused seemed gleeful.
"Are we really required to be weighed down by petty grudges, Shizu-chan? Can we not forgive and forget?" He asked, almost as if he were an actor in a play.
"Stop calling me that, you fucking flea!" The man roared as he looked for another heavy object to throw.
Ryu felt himself turn a little pale as Shizuo freed a streetlamp from the ground and wielded it like a sword. Ryu felt Izaya grab his shirt collar again and yank the young man after him.
"I suggest you run if you wish to live." Izaya sang.
Ryu nearly stumbled as he turned 180 degrees and began to pick up the pace. From behind, he could tell Shizuo was more interested in the guy who'd apparently gotten him jailed than the young smuggler he'd just met and had no reason to fully hate. He kept running even when the chaos seemed to fade from his ears, only stopping when he realized he was on the verge of running into the path of a large truck. He drew in a deep breath and looked around. He was alone.
"I apologize for Shizu-chan's behavior. It appears he's as violent as ever."
Ryu jumped and turned to see Izaya once again.
"What in the hell do you want?!" He finally barked. Izaya didn't seem fazed by the outburst.
"I came to welcome you to a game I've conjured up, Yu-chan. You work for Dai-chan now, and even Shiki-san. Consider it an honor~"
As the mysterious man turned to leave, Ryu grabbed the fur on his sweatshirt's hood.
"Hold up there, Orihara-san. What do you mean I'm in "the game"? I didn't sign up for this shit." Ryu made clear. Izaya cast him a dark look, and he didn't even seem bothered by the fact he'd been caught by the hood. He almost seemed glad the young man had done it.
"Did I stutter at some point, Yu-chan? I believe what I said should be easy for you to understand." He said with an innocent tone.
"What's this game? Why am I in it? Why is Sabunari-san?" Ryu began demanding. When Izaya only gave a pragmatic smile, Ryu decided to change his negotiating tactics. He had his weapon drawn and barrel halfway up when he felt sharpened metal against his neck. He tried to lift the Glock a bit higher, but Izaya placed a hand atop it and brought his small blade just a little closer.
"Now, now, Yu-chan, no need to get upset." Izaya said in an equally dark tone. Ryu wasn't sure whether he should be frightened or pissed off.
"You're not gonna kill me. If I'm in this "game" of yours, then I'm probably important, aren't I? I don't take you as the stupid kind, either." He said, thinking he was calling a bluff. Izaya shook his head and "tsked" at him.
"Oh Yu-chan, don't think that just because you're in, you're important. You merely happened to be the one Dai-chan hired, that's all. I could easily kill you…"
The blade got just a little closer.
"…and Dai-chan would find a replacement. I would find a replacement."
Ryu contemplated how fast he would be, using his handgun, against Izaya's switchblade.
"Now be a good little pawn, Yu-chan, and accept your place. That gun and a little bravado don't give you any standing in a place you only came to because you wanted to chase some foolish dream of fame."
Ryu's eyes widened and narrowed at the statement.
"Oh, you don't know that I found out about your little band? I know more than I let you know, Yu-chan. I know plenty about the little rock n roller who couldn't make daddy proud, and ran away, and I'm learning more and more. Like that little strumpet, Haruka-chan; or is it Natsuyo-chan you want to sleep with more?" Izaya added.
"Don't make me get creative, Orihara-san." Ryu said, just barely keeping a tight grip on his anger.
"Don't make me do the same. Learn your place instead." Izaya advised. He freed Ryu with a shove, so the young man would be too off balance to fire and seemed to disappear before Ryu could get back on both feet again.
He stared at blank space that'd once had another man in it. Even the display of Shizuo's brute strength held nothing compared to Izaya's remarks How…? HOW? How did Izaya know that? His Dad? Haruka? Natsuyo? He shouldn't, he couldn't; there was no way. Ryu had only ever divulged his name and his association with Daisuke and nothing more. He carefully turned towards the way home and made sure his Glock was at his side, a strange sense of paranoia hanging above him every step to the apartment.
A/N: So yeah, Haruka's kinda grown on me :P She's a fun and fiery character to write, and makes an oddly good way for Ryu to forget crap that goes down. Expect to see some more of her.