"You cannot find peace avoiding life." - Virginia Woolf
"I can't let him kill Uncle Yang!" Masaru screamed, "You are my friend! You should help!"
"Help? You screwed yourself!" George shouted back at him, "Eriri told me about it. I knew it was you who stole the money and I bet you gave it to Leo! Now he has the money to buy the weapons!"
"He knew my plan of stealing from Blessing Software because of you! You chose to ask me at the hospital that night, and Leo heard it!"
"Oh, so it's my fault that I asked you about that?" George became furious, "You had that intention to steal from them! I didn't force you to do it!"
"But you made me talk about it! And Leo heard it!" Masaru raised his voice, "It's all your fault!"
"It's your fault for helping Leo, and even having the intention to steal money from Blessing Software!" George roared in anger, "How dare you put the blame on me!"
"If you had not asked me about my plan that time, Leo would not have known anything!" Masaru shouted back.
"Enough, Masaru Kobayashi!" Uncle Yang yelled. Masaru and George turned to him. Uncle Yang stood up.
"Did...did you just call me by my name?" Masaru asked.
"Yes, Masaru." Uncle Yang replied, "And just to clarify, I didn't lose my memory."
George and Masaru were both staggered as they stared at him.
The Dream Designers
Episode 19
"Why did you lie to me then?" Masaru asked, "All these years, I thought you really had forgotten everything. Including me."
"Really, Masaru?" Uncle Yang laughed, "I, Jack Yang, a well-known gang leader, can never forget his memories because someone hit my head with a glass bottle."
"Then why act dumb?" George asked, "For the 10 years, you made all of us suffer. Took care of you, thought you were mental and stuff."
"I had to. After all, I didn't know what my son was planning." Jack said.
"You mean me?" George asked.
"Of course not, you illegitimate child."
"It's all because of you. You dumped me and left my mother alone to take care of me!"
"Geez, stop being so grumpy." Jack sighed, "I told Madeline to abort the child, but she didn't listen. She wanted to raise you. Not my problem."
"You..." George pointed his finger at him.
"Wait, wait, you said you didn't know what your son was planning." Masaru interrupted George, "Is Leo Shinjisu your son?"
"Unfortunately, he's my biological son." Jack replied, "George, remember when I threw a small toy camera out of the window? That was Leo's. He placed it there to keep check on me. When he visited me that time, he had placed that in my room."
"This has officially become a fucked up thing to me." George said.
"Why did he hate you so much to the core?" Masaru asked.
"Well, let me tell you a story then. Back when I was still a gang leader, my son, Leo Yang, was in my gang, together with his friend Percy. One day, Percy went over to the other gang. At first, Leo did not seem to care at all, and their friendship status was still going strong. However, one month later, he decided to quit the gang. When I asked why he told me he didn't want to lose Percy as his friend. I had to let him go, can't I?
"Lady Luck didn't bless me with luck, because I'm forced to hunt down his gang. I wore gloves, and there's a reason for that. I had to kill its leader. Percy.
"Percy's gang had disturbed our turf for years, and none of my gang members can take it no more. I had to act, or not this gang would take us for granted because we didn't act.
"Once most of the gang has been killed, it was down to Leo and Percy. No matter how much Leo begged me not to kill Percy, I still did. I went against my son. I wanted to show him if anyone is against me, it's their loss. Leo did try to go against me, but I defeated him, to the point where I had almost killed. If it wasn't for the police, I would've done so."
"Wow, you evil person." George said, "Even if your son is going against, you shouldn't intend to kill him."
"I had no choice. Those who stand in my way, I have to defeat them...or kill them, if necessary."
"So, since you didn't even forget your memory," Masaru asked, "What are you going to do to Leo? He's on his way to buy weapons and to kill you."
"That guy is still thinking he can win." Jack said, "No worries, I got all the evidence I need to hand him in."
"Wouldn't he be able to arrest you too?"
"I told you. I wore gloves to kill Percy. There's no evidence. I dumped the weapons and clothes I've worn that day. Plus, I've evidence of Leo's old crimes, including hacking, murdering and drug trafficking. Well, this file's the reason your friend Michiru's in hospital."
He took out the file.
"Michiru?" Masaru asked, "Why is she involved?"
"I asked her to help me. She managed to gather evidence and it's in this file. A few seconds before she crashed, she threw it precisely and accurately into a trunk of a car. And Leo didn't notice. So now I have this evidence, I shall report it to the police."
"No, Uncle Yang." Masaru said, "He's aiming for you now, so let me do it. Even George can help us."
"Hey, I didn't agree." George talked back.
"I should do it." Jack replied, "Leo expects either one of you guys to go against him. He does not expect an old man who, he thought, had forgotten his memory."
"Fine, but be careful, you hear me?" Masaru asked. Jack nodded.
Back in the office, Utaha watched the footage of the robbery the previous night. She sincerely did not believe it was Charmaine who stole the money. She kept replaying it until she realized something different.
She pressed the rewind button and looked closely at Charmaine. She took a picture of that scene and zoomed in to take a closer look.
Hair.
Of course, everyone has hair.
"There's hair on the legs?" Utaha thought, "Strange. I don't remember Charmaine had such hairy legs."
As she was about to continue investigating who the robber was, Tomoya entered her office room. Utaha quickly switched to another window and pretended she was busy.
"Morals-kun, what brings you here?" She asked.
"I just want to know your progress on the story." Tomoya said, "Have you and Masaru finished the script?"
"Yeah." She took out a small pile of papers and passed it to him, "The script."
"Thanks, Utaha-senpai." He replied, "Oh yeah, I heard you have a date with Masaru later."
"How did you know?"
"You told Eriri and Megumi yesterday while I was bathing." Tomoya said, "Why didn't you tell me too? I feel left out now."
"It's okay because now you know." Utaha smiled.
"Good luck with your date anyways." Tomoya said.
"Thanks."
"Sorry, I'm late." Masaru rushed into the office.
"What time is it now, Masaru Kobayashi?" Eriri screamed at him. It's already three in the afternoon."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He huffed, "I tried to solve my family problem as soon as possible."
"It's okay, Eriri." Tomoya went to her, "He wasn't late on purpose. Let him go."
"Thank you, Tomoya." He rushed to his office room.
"Tomoya!" Eriri grumbled.
"Take it easy, Eriri."
Jack came out of the house and decided to take a taxi to the nearest police station. As the taxi driver stopped at a traffic junction, he was suddenly shot dead.
"What the hell just happened?" Jack looked at the taxi driver, then looked in front. He saw Leo aiming a sniper at his head. Jack quickly hid behind the driver's seat as Leo shot some bullets.
Jack slowly got out of the car and ran away, but a few cars blocked him. A few guys came out and pointed guns at him.
"Jack Yang." Leo laughed, "You tried your best, I must say."
"What...what are you talking about?" Jack pretended to be dumb.
"Stop playing stupid." Leo snatched the file from Jack, "Trying to report me? That purple-haired woman in the hospital got into a coma thanks to you. Because you wanted her to give you information on me and my crimes. You'll never succeed."
"You are evil, Leo."
"Says the one. You killed my friend, and I had not helped him take revenge on you yet!" Leo shouted at him, "You really want to drive me to my grave, don't you?"
"Having you as a son was a mistake." Jack growled.
"That's right. Because only Mum treated me like a son. You didn't. You don't deserve respect from your own son, you stupid father."
"One day, you'll have retribution for all that you did." Jack glared at him, "Karma will befall you."
"Blah blah blah. All that bullshit doesn't work on me." Leo laughed again, "Because there's nothing that can go against me. Not even the police because they don't have evidence."
He set a fire up on the road and threw the file into it.
"No!" Jack screamed, but it was too late. The file has been burned to ashes.
"Rest in peace, evidence." Leo turned to Jack, "Now, to deal with you."
In Blessing Software's office, Masaru is doing coding for the new game when Utaha entered his office.
"Masaru-san." She called out.
"Come in, Utaha." He replied. She went to him and kissed his cheeks.
"Remember, our date's tonight." Utaha reminded him, "Hope you haven't forgotten that."
"Of course not, my dear Utaha." Masaru looked at Utaha, "Why would I forget my date with my beautiful girlfriend?"
"You're so sweet." Utaha kissed his lips, "I'll see you at the restaurant later."
"See you later." Masaru smiled. When Utaha walked out of his office room, his phone rang.
"Hello, who is this?" Masaru answered the call.
"Leo."
"Leo Shinjisu, what do you want?"
"Oh my, your tone sounds very agitated and pissed off."
"Of course, you fuckin' punk. If you ever dare lay a finger on Uncle Yang, I'll..."
"You'll what? Kill me? Send me to the police station?"
"You'll be sent soon." Masaru said, "Uncle Yang's sending the evidence of your bad and evil deeds to the police."
"Oh, really? I'm so scared I'm shitting my pants." Leo said in a sarcastic tone, "Because I remembered burning the file a few minutes ago. And Jack. He's with me now, enjoying fine life."
"What have you done to him?" Masaru screamed in anger.
"Nothing. But it's about to be something soon. Listen carefully to what I'm about to say. Masaru Kobayashi, you'd better bring the company funds here right now. I heard there are a hundred million yen in that safe."
"I'm not stealing money again!" Masaru said.
"Really? Then prepare to see your dear uncle die."
"No, wait, wait!" Masaru said, "If I ever steal that money, I'll be in dead trouble."
"I can help you with that." Leo replied, "All you need to do is to bring the money to me, and I'll help you escape with this stupid old faggot."
"It better be true this time." Masaru growled, "Not like last time."
"I assure you." Leo snickered, "It will be."
Masaru then ended the call. He rubbed his head with his hands in frustration.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" He slammed the table in anger. He sighed.
During the evening, after work, Masaru is still in the office. Megumi was the last to leave.
"Masaru-san, remember to lock the door." Megumi said. Masaru nodded before Megumi waved goodbye and went off.
He walked to where the safe was. He started opening it but realized there was a lock.
"Great." He grumbled.
Utaha is in her house, donning a short off-the-shoulder dark purple dress, black stockings, and dark pink strappy buckle stilettos. She took her purple hairband and wore it on her head.
She messaged Eriri, "I'll be checking the office first because I think I left something there." She walked out of her house and flagged for a taxi.
She is indeed going to the office, but for a different reason.
Once she reached the office, she tapped her company card on the scanner and went in the office quietly. She heard someone trying to open the safe.
She slowly walked to the room and was shocked when she saw Masaru tempering with the lock of the safe.
"Masaru-san!" Utaha said, "So it's you!"
"Me?" Masaru stood up, "I was just trying the lock."
"Don't lie to me anymore!" Utaha screamed, "You were the one who was dressed as Charmaine to steal money! Charmaine's legs were not hairy, Tomoya wouldn't steal the money, which only leaves you!"
"Utaha, hear me out."
"Now I know why you're so quiet these days." Utaha said, "You've been planning a robbery, haven't you? I sincerely thought you had placed that plan of stealing away from yourself! I trusted you! If I did not check the footage and heard you screaming from your office, Charmaine would have been wrongly accused continuously!"
"Hear me out, Utaha. It's not what you think."
"And now you're stealing again?" Utaha whipped her phone out, "I'm sorry, Masaru-san. I stick to my morals."
"Please, Utaha. I'm begging you. Don't call the police." Masaru said.
"I'm sorry, Masaru-san. No matter how much I love you, I can't betray my morals." She then quickly ran into her office room and locked the door. She then dialed the police.
Masaru took chloroform from his drawers and poured a lot on a cloth. He then slowly unlocked the door using Tomoya's main office key, which was found on Tomoya's table.
"Hello, p..." As Utaha was about to continue, Masaru covered her nose and mouth with the chloroformed cloth. After a few seconds, Utaha was knocked out by the chloroform, dropping her phone onto the floor.
Masaru ended the call and looked at the unconscious Utaha, "I'm sorry, Utaha. I'm sorry I had to do this."
To be continued in Episode 20, The Finale.