*** It's nice to be back... Hurray! XD Spoiler: I just found out Namine Ritsu is a male O_o ***
Chapter LV: Yakuza
11: 15 AM
"Can you smell that?" Len stopped walking for a moment. Rin tried to breathe in as much air as she could, and there was a smell… was it… smoke? The trees were high so it's hard to see the sky, the only sense they could rely on was smell.
"Smoke…?" Rin guessed. Both of them walked in faster paces, could there be a fire? Even if there was, wouldn't they hear screaming or panicking?
Fewer trees were there and when Rin looked up at the sky, there was a pile of smoke. It's no small regular fire; it must be a big one.
They reached their 'destination'. A house was on fire, and the most confusing thing was, no one was putting it out. Rin could see a family of three in front of the burning house, but they did nothing. All they did was stare at their house, and tears fell down from their cheeks. They looked so helpless, can't anyone help them? Rin thought.
"Excuse me sir, but… what happened?" Len asked a random stranger who just passed by him, wondering how Japan could get even stranger than that. Could the villagers be... heartless? That man stayed silent for a moment, but he managed to answer Len's question.
"Their house burnt down… Those people caused it." The man pointed, but he didn't keep his finger up for more than 3 seconds. Two men stood not so far from where the house burnt. Len looked closer, and realized they carried a katana (Japanese sword). He already had a guess who those people were.
"Why did they burn it down?" The thing Len was worried the most was, if the fire would spread. That house stood alone, no other buildings were around. It's a small house, but still… the fire might spread through the trees and spread wider and wider.
"You don't know do you? They have a number of jobs, they're mainly involved in… blackmail, murder, prostitution, those people are horrible… Sometimes they lend money, and those who don't pay them back, this happen. None of us are brave enough to interfere their work." So there was nothing he could do that time, should he just ignore it? "I know how you feel. We can help them, but we're not allowed to do it." The right word wasn't 'allowed'. Even without the warning, Len knew no one would want to help them because they were too afraid of the yakuzas.
"Rin, let's just…" When Len turned around, Rin wasn't there. "Rin?" Rin had a talent, and that talent was to be invisible. She's usually behind him, standing still, in silence, so it's hard to tell whether she's there or not.
'If I were her… Where would I be?' Rin would probably be looking for water, since no one was saving that house. 'I can't let her be involved in this…' Len thought and searched for her.
'How could people just ignore the fire? That's… not right!' Rin tried to look for a pond, somewhere, could there be a bath house anywhere there? Two minutes later, her search ended and she saw a small pond. The problem was, how could she carry the water from there back to the house? And above all, the small pond didn't have enough water to calm down the fire in the burning house.
"There you are…" Before Rin could think even further, Len came up from behind her. "It's better to stay away from that problem Rin; you don't want to be involved with the yakuzas, right?" Rin expected it must be from the yakuzas, the Yamaguchi-gumi. Though, she couldn't just leave without doing anything.
"But…" 80% of her wanted to help the burning house, while 20% of her didn't want to benearthe yakuzas. "I can't just ignore them."
"Rin?" Somebody called out to her. Both Rin and Len turned around to look for that voice. With a shopping bag in her hands, the girl formerly known as the beast, Gumi greeted them.
"Gumi?" Everyone was equally surprised to see each other there. She added a bright smile before she could reply.
"I never would've guessed that we'd meet here! What are you two doing in Akane? We were getting ready to visit Enbizaka to visit you; I guess we should cancel our plan…" Len hoped that with their meeting with Gumi, Rin would forget about rescuing the house that was on fire. Would she forget? "Anyway, do you want to come over? My house isn't far from here, isn't it tiring to just… stand here?"
"Then, please lead the way to your house." Len replied almost immediately. Gumi just smiled and escort them to her house, while Rin looked back a few times at the sky behind her. The smoke was still there, piling up. Would it be better to just ignore it?
"So, what brings you two here?" Gumi started a conversation.
"A change of scenery. We'll be leaving Japan in 3 weeks after all; we'll go back to Enbizaka to attend the hanami festival." Rin had too much things in mind, so instead Len answered Gumi's question. Leaving that burning house made her feel terrible.
"You'll be here for a week? That's good to hear!" Gumi said happily.
"Gumi, did you see the burning house?" Rin changed the subject and the mood instantly. She couldn't keep quiet about it, no matter how hard she tried.
"I could see the smoke." Gumi answered shortly, uncomfortable with the topic Rin chose. "It's really horrible to see those people do that to the villagers… That's why I and Gakupo-niichan tried our best not to be involved with them in any way."
"The fire… It might spread won't it?" They were in the 'crowded' part of the village; no one could smell the smoke from there.
"No… The Yamaguchi-Gumi they won't go that far. Usually they do that because the people hadn't paid their debts. They'll put down the fire, maybe… in a few minutes?" Gumi said 'maybe' that was unconvincing.
'During those 'few minutes' the fire might spread from the weeds or leaves or...' Rin felt extremely guilty that she left the house, and she remembered the tears from that family.
"Doesn't the government… do anything about it?" They'd be locked up in jail if the yakuzas were in England, Len thought.
"Yamaguchi-Gumi is the largest yakuza group, they're powerful and wealthy. Sometimes the government…prevents the yakuza, but there are so many of them, it's hard to stop them. They have thousands of branches! That's what I heard from the other villagers." That sounded… unpleasant. "I heard that… some of the girls from the village were sold by the yakuzas. Fooling them with false jobs overseas, when the truth is, they become prostitutes." Gumi added.
"That's… awful." Rin thought the murder cases handled by Len was horrible; she never thought that she'd found something more horrible than cases.
"Try not to be so down; you're on vacation aren't you? Try to enjoy yourselves, pretend that those mean people aren't here." Gumi tried to cheer Rin up, but that didn't work.
'I don't think I can pretend that they're not here...' Rin thought.
11.20 AM
A fire started a few blocks away from the administration room, the question was, why didn't anyone react to the fire? Was it normal for fire to happen in Japan? Even if it's normal, someone should react to it.
"Excuse me, sir? Is... that house on fire over there?" Kaito knew it was a stupid question. Of course that house was on fire, where else did the smoke came from? Without looking outside the window, the man answered plainly.
"Yes, that house is in fire." He went back to his work, writing in cursive inside his notebook. From his fast reaction and how fast he ignored the fire, Kaito could tell that man didn't like talking about it.
"Shouldn't someone… do something?" Kaito asked, but his voice didn't reach that man. He avoided eye contacts with Kaito; he didn't want to be a part of it.
"I'm sorry sir, but you need to leave, now." Kaito sighed in his heart; he had no choice but to do as he said. He didn't want his face to be remembered by someone who works in the administration building.
Kaito went out from the building and looked at how peaceful the neighborhood was. It's strange; someone's house was on fire, how could people just… be normal?
'Let's see… The documents about the villagers are inside the administration building. I wonder if they lock those documents somewhere, or maybe they just store it in a folder…?' Kaito wondered.
'If it's stored in a folder, it'd be easier… But if it's locked that means I have to break in by force. The only trouble is, I don't have the right equipments to break in…' Some basic tools were needed to break in. Since Kaito'd break in at night, he obviously would need a torch. Not only a torch, other things were needed as well.
"An immigrant?" A person with a gorgeous crimson kimono asked.
"Just a traveler." Kaito replied. That person didn't look at him in the eye, but as far as he knew, Kaito was the only person who fits the description 'immigrant'.
"Really?" There was a tone of 'interest' in that person's voice, that made her want to speak more. "You were in the administration building, are you from the west?" Never trust strangers, Kaito thought to himself.
'Just give her false information… It's just a guess, but it looks like she's smarter than she looks.' To underestimate someone is a bad idea, Kaito told himself that couple of times.
Normal people would just ignore Kaito that just came out from an administrative building. Suspicious people would ask if Kaito is an immigrant and ask other questions.
"I'm from Enbizaka. A small village not far from here." Kaito didn't lie. He was, more or less, from Enbizaka. Before Akane Village, he visited Enbizaka. He just didn't tell the girl that he came from the west.
"You're not fooling anyone. I can tell you're from the west." That wasn't a lie, Kaito wanted to say, but the girl continued. "I heard a rumor, some people from the west solved a mystery, the Goddess Conchita mystery." That made sense.
"Smart. My question is, how can you tell that it's me?" The girl did say she 'heard a rumor'. She heard it; she didn't say she had saw Kaito's face.
"Instinct. Not many people visit this building here. It's suspicious that you come inside an administrative building, and came out empty handed." What she said was convincing, but Kaito had a feeling that her answer wasn't the main reason.
"Am I really that suspicious? So suspicious that you saw me come inside this building and come out empty handed?" Had she been stalking him? No, Kaito just arrived at Akane.
"You fit the description that's all. You boarded a ship, didn't you? That ship is mine, and from the reports, those 3 people fits the description of the rumor." That made more sense and was convincing, though Kaito didn't completely believe her.
'I knew it… She's no 'ordinary' person. From the way she talks… It's a bad idea to continue the conversation.' Kaito just thought… Something bad might happen if their talk continues.
"Well. If you ever need help, to… get information or data, just come talk to me. Or you could just ask me now." The words 'information' and 'data' intrigued Kaito.
"Honestly, I think you know more things than I do. Care to explain a bit more?" At first Kaito wanted their discussion to end quickly, but then he thought it's a good way to get more information.
"To put it simply, if you pay me money, my 'friends' and I will try our best to fulfill your 'order'. You went inside the administration building, you probably want something… related to 'data' don't you?" Kaito admitted, he wanted… no, he needed data.
"And since you come from the west… You must come from a wealthy family don't you? Not every man in the west could come to Japan, only the rich could." The girl continued. Kaito wondered for a moment, and finally gave his answer.
"I appreciate the offer, but I think I can do it alone." He had to be polite, that girl might be someone… 'Important' and Kaito already had a guess who she was the second his eyes saw the girls' palm. A mark, some sort of upside down diamond?
"If you need our help, I think you already know where to find us." The girl turned around and was ready to leave. "Don't worry. The security in the administration building isn't tight, just break in at midnight, you'll find what you want."
Note:
The Yamaguchi-Gumi symbol looks like an upside down diamond, from my perspective it looks like an upside down diamond. I tried in Google, I couldn't find the meaning of the symbol or what it's based (I mean, who'd want to ask the yakuzas what their symbol means? O_o). Well from my point of view it looks like a diamond or kite.
