CHAPTER XX

…

Here's a strange fact: murder a man, and you feel responsible for his life - possessive, even. You know more about him than his mother and father - they knew his fetus, but you know his corpse. Only you can complete the story of his life; only you know why his body has to be put to rest before its time, and why he bares his teeth as he fights for another moment before death.

The attempt on his life and the death of Robert Sieyes ultimately was the catalyst to Hachiman's shift in demeanor once again. Something inside of him snapped. He reacted with a certain calculating ruthlessness. When they made their way back to their secluded office in Ichihara along with his companions, it was already settled in his mind that it was necessary to execute Donato Ichijou on account of treason. He could not be spared. Hachiman would put the first hit on Donato's head for betrayal.

Hachiman had ordered the first available train to immediately take him and his companions down to Ichihara. The cars were all flushed of passengers under the pretext of maintenance. Goi station was desolate when they arrived, and the sun had already sunk. However the station office, which served as a front for their outpost in the city, was open. The boss expected to find his lieutenant here, if Donato had not yet fled. Hachiman walked down the platform and pushed through the glass door into the building.

Donato was behind his desk, initially ignorant of the newcomer. He looked up and was shook, jerking upright to attention. Donato approached to welcome the boss. Before he seemed to have been intent towards the red telephone on the table, expecting a call. Now he quickly took notice and asked, "your arm, what happened to it?"

Hachiman was emotionless. "To put it simply, due to unfortunate circumstances I am still alive," he said darkly.

Four other men poured into the room after Hachiman. One of them was Donato's friend, Narita Rengou. As three of the men stood to flank Donato, it became clear what was about to unfold. There was no skirting his inexorable, grim fate. Donato soon realized, and his face paled a bit. He felt sick, but immediately recovered. He turned to look at Hachiman straight with conviction.

"You're a good man, Hikigaya-san. I'm sorry, I did what I had to do."

"Of course." Hachiman nodded. "It's a shame, really. Inevitably, to protect your family you had to put mine in danger. But we're both just fulfilling our duties." Hachiman's eyes grew colder. He said cruelly, "the difference between you and I is that I wouldn't have failed at it."

Upon hearing this, Donato blinked. Suddenly he snapped and completely lost his composure. He lunged at Hachiman, only to be bound by the men behind him. "You stay away from my relatives! They know nothing! Leave them out of this!" Donato exploded.

Hachiman continued to look down on him. "Narita, do it."

Narita Rengou promptly flourished his pistol, took aim at his old friend and squeezed the trigger. It was not a ceremony - it was an execution. There were no sentiments nor last words exchanged between the two former friends. The shot rang through the room. Donato Ichijou slumped down and there he lay on the ground without quivering. The blood seeping from his temple was beginning to puddle up on the varnished brown floor.

…

A funeral would have to be prepared and the Sieyes family allowed time to grieve their dead son. The coroners in Sakaecho were swiftly summoned. The family did not want the death to be on the news, they wanted to keep it private. Nevertheless the incident spread like wildfire. Hachiman did not need any more people, much less the media, knowing the details. He had the newspapers and journalists on the mob payroll write off the incident as a case of hate crime. Nothing more, nothing less.

Michael Sieyes did not allow himself any respite. His rage and grief boiled together, and he was adamant on exacting revenge immediately. Michael was different from his older brother. He was not as refined or soft-spoken like his brother, but he had the ferocity that distinguished the blacks - he held his grudges to heart, almost like a Sicilian. Hachiman did not refuse the young man when he insisted on standing in Bobby's place. The Sieyes family would join the war. That same evening, the boss of the Chiba Outfit and his retinue began to gather at their storefront headquarters in Fujimi to take up arms.

Hachiman was solemn, as he observed Michael who was slumped in his seat. He said, "I am sorry for your loss."

"What're you sorry for, eh?" Michael said morosely. "We can't do anything. He's dead." His eyes suddenly flickered with anger. "I want those fuckers to pay. I want them dead, the lot of them. They wanted you dead, boss," Michael looked at Hachiman painfully, "I'd be lying if I said I'm glad you didn't fucking die. And all I can do now… I'm just hoping that you'll fight for us, boss."

"Is that what you want?"

"I want them to feel the same pain they caused me."

Hachiman shook his head. "You want vengeance."

"I want justice," Michael answered fiercely. He frowned, gritted his teeth and said, "but I'll take vengeance for my brother's death."

Hachiman did not smile, but he was understanding. "So be it."

Hachiman walked over to the table again. At this hour, it was highly inconvenient for him to issue for the underbosses and his lieutenants to meet him at the storefront. He expected them to arrive nevertheless. The swiftness at which he decided to execute a counterattack was blinding. It would be arduous, but it could be done. Their troops were in position. Hachiman knew his sole objectives. The Sieyes would need several days to recuperate, but afterwards they would push forward with all their power. Hachiman thought, it was frightening at how fast his assassination was subsequently followed by the murder of a Yakuza associate. That was two deadly hits in the same day. If he had successfully gotten to Makabe-san, he would not have to attack now. He could bide his time and force the family of Makabe-san to rescind supporting the Ishii family. Now that she was dead, no doubt the Inagawa-kai had the long-due casus belli - they will wage an all out war.

Then he thought of his friend. Hachiman inwardly winced, but he would settle it as soon as he finished what needed to be done. Mind over matter, he reminded himself. Hanzo Ieyori, Narita Rengou and Michael Sieyes all stood around the table, awaiting his orders. Winnie called and informed he was underway. When Kenji Isshiki marched into the room, Hachiman decided it was high time to divulge his designs.

Kenji was astonished afterwards. "A week? But that's..."

"Seven days. By the end of this week we would have landed a decisive victory." Hachiman shook his head and rectified himself. "No, we will. I say so."

"Nobody has ever done that before."

Hachiman was determined. "That's why we're going to be the first. Let us finish this war with a thunderclap." He then turned towards his remaining lieutenant and assigned a crew and respective orders to Narita Rengou. "Kenji will take over the division. Both of you are to push Narashino. You are aware of the importance of this command, yes?"

Narita nodded seriously. "It will be done, Hikigaya-sama."

"Mr. Michael," Hachiman addressed the young man, "go, rest yourself and be with the family the day when they bury Mr. Sieyes. Nothing is more important than paying respects to the dead. No later than that, you are to assemble your crew. Pick out the dockworkers and lock down the bay."

Hachiman finally turned to Hanzo Ieyori. The two gave an understanding and subtle nod to each other. Hanzo knew that this was his command. "The helm is yours now, brother." Hachiman stepped aside and Hanzo Ieyori picked up the telephone, prepared to give the order to his regime.

That night, Manuel Ieyori himself called on the phone after catching wind of the coming storm. He was bewildered and immensely concerned. He immediately questioned Hachiman on his intentions. "Hachiman, what are you doing?" Manuel demanded.

Hachiman said, "there is no better alternative to this. I think you know that by now already. I am doing what has to be done."

"Do you understand the burden of this serious thing?"

"How can I afford to be compassionate when the world is cruel to my family." Hachiman said, his voice monotone over the phone, but faintly sorrowful. "This is exactly why you entrusted me to become the patrón, no? I am just fulfilling my obligation, sir."

Manuel Ieyori trusted the young man. That was why he entrusted him to take over when he left in the first place. But this would be the first time that Hikigaya Hachiman would taste a very different kind of responsibility. Manuel was not worried whether Hachiman would fall. He was worried whether Hachiman could succeed and live with it. Manuel could do little but pray that the young patrón would emerge triumphant. He finally sent him off to become the true boss of the mob.

"Mijo, in all my years living life hanging by the edge, I do not think I will have as much blood on my hands as you will." Manuel Ieyori said. "God be with you, son."

Hachiman knew what he needed to do. Wage this war so terribly and viciously - ruthlessly, so that they will want nothing but peace by the end of it. And so he uttered a simple word that carried a weight of infinite proportions. It would become the way he commanded his empire. At dawn, on the hour that open warfare against the enemy was waged, he turned to his underbosses and lieutenants and said, "Do it."

What followed next was a conflict that would quickly culminate in a crushing, decisive victory for none other than the Chiba Outfit. Together Hikigaya Hachiman and Hanzo Ieyori would execute a grand maneuver that would undeniably establish them as one of the most brilliant and ruthless leaders that the underworld has ever seen. In what was to go down as the legendary "Seven-Day Brilliancy", one of the most vicious takeover in organized crime Hanzo and Hachiman commanded their factions, completely and soundly defeating the Inagawa-kai at every turn through a series of highly organized movements which succeeded in bringing the entirety of the Inagawa-kai mob to its knees. The speed and ferocity at which the Outfit attacked was unstoppable, their strategy and tactics superb. It would be a hecatomb that was to prove final.

Vengeance was swift to be carried out, as dozens of hits were carried out under a cover of a carefully devised shroud. Inagawa-kai underbosses and associates were tracked down and killed in their homes; underbosses were caught inside trapped restaurants, where a gunman would systematically murder them; some were thrown out of building windows, others were drowned to death. Even more Yakuza associates would be led to their deaths under the pretext of negotiating. They would be invited inside a car with other mobsters, and as they drove towards the bayside, a man in the backseat would throw a garrote over the victim's neck and strangle him. Murder skyrocketed to an all-time high during this one week, but just as quickly it died down. These were the least gruesome of the string of murders that occurred. The disposal of the bodies was another matter. Some of them were left to be given a proper funeral by their families. Others were burned, cemented over, quartered, frozen or thrown into the bay to feed the fishes.

They made these murders seem minor, if not nonexistent. A meticulously induced media blackout ensured that no damning incident made it to the headlines of every evening's news. The media bosses were bribed and struck deals with. The radio stations were closely monitored. What went on air first came through the approval of the mob. They made home-invasion homicides look like suicide cases, deaths look like accidents, and mob killings blamed on a made-up conflict between boryokudan street gangs. It was not.

Not to mention the police, which already fell in line thanks to the restless political maneuvering that Hachiman had been pursuing. Because in a country where the media is directly dependent on the police, to manipulate it is to control what the public knew - and thus, as the war raged on in the criminal underworld, peace was an illusion that continued.

Hachiman made the Ieyori family a force to be reckoned with, and channeled their newfound powers to consolidate the Outfit. They were able to put the money they had been saving to further their efforts. Just as expected, it was finance and logistics that was to determine the outcome of the war, and why the Outfit emerged triumphant. Hanzo was just as skilled in leading his lieutenants on the frontlines, if not even better than Hachiman. Hanzo was a brilliant tactician. His fortitude and relentlessness combined was a force to be reckoned with. His regime alone completely drove out the Inagawa-kai forces as far as Narita city and secured the east coast in the prefecture.

The final move which placed the Inagawa-kai in check and mate was the brutal assassination of the Ishii family patriarch. On the fifth of March, just as spring was beginning to come around, the Oyabun of the Inagawa-kai Takamasa Ishii was killed after a bomb which had been planted under his private limousine detonated just as it was turning onto the boulevard, having left a party celebrating the coming-of-age of the future heir of the Inagawa-kai. Unfortunately, among the casualties were the three sons of the Oyabun, who were also inside the car with their father at the time. This effectively ended the authority of the Ishii family over the Inagawa-kai and, as they would soon find nearly every capo and underboss in their clan gone or dead, the Inagawa-kai itself. The bombing would generate strong public backlash, but Hachiman already knew it could be dealt with.

Almost immediately after, it was the Chiba Outfit that sued for peace. The seven days of war was over.

Emissaries were dispatched towards different clans and families not just in the Chiba prefecture, but throughout the Kanto region. A good lot turned down the invitation, as expected of any proud and principled Japanese clan - a Yakuza family no less. It was just as reasonable to decline this invitation. However the few that attended were all one way or another involved in the conflict that had unfolded.

The heads of the Yakuza families were all wary of Hanzo Ieyori and suspected that he was plotting a wholesale massacre of his enemies to avenge his own. Hanzo Ieyori assured his sincerity by pledging a hostage in honor - a ritual that was more Sicilian rather than gokudo. The meeting was hosted in the executive suite of a private bank in Chiba. In its discreet security, it was apparent that the mob did intend to negotiate.

"First of all, I want to offer my apologies. Truly, this isn't the way to end your weekend," Hanzo Ieyori began. "But also, I want to express my gratitude towards you all for accepting our invitation. A lot of things have happened during the past few days. Some good, and some… not so good. It is easy for us to say this, of course. But I understand that there are those among us whose families were affected by this tragedy. Ah! How has it come to this? I am only here to talk and reason with you all, nothing else. We are all honourable people here, we don't have to prostrate ourselves at each other's feet as if there was no other way to show sincerity. Allow me to tell how this all happened.

"There has been a most unpleasant conflagration between our familia and the Inagawa-kai. But before that, before all this, our family ran a simple wholesaling business at the bayside. Of course there are people who are hell bent on seeing us fail. Perhaps because we were different. We were not of the clan, not subservient to the Yamaguchi-gumi. Perhaps it's because we were haafus. Indiós. Strangers to this country, who did not see us as hapónes like the rest of you. Anyhow, it all began with the son of the late Ichihara-kai Oyabun, Soai Ichigo-san. He confronted us during the crackdowns that occurred in October last year. His business was affected, but so was ours. Now, he tried to pin the blame on our familia for our alleged involvement with the police, and the coincidence that we were left alone by the police raids. Let me say this: Ichigo-san talked bullshit, blaming us.

"It escalated to the point that a war broke out between our familia and the Ichihara-kai after one of our lead dock workers was murdered. This unfortunate debacle ended with the hit on the Ichihara-kai Oyabun. Afterwards my uncle, Manuel Ieyori-san, had to live with the constant fear of being a marked man. Still, we made our peace. We took in some of the remnant members of the Ichihara-kai, and tried to send reparations to the affected families. For a while we thought it was all over. In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake of us and a lapse in courtesy not to appeal to the Inagawa-kai and the rest of the connection. That was our fault. No more than several months later, an assassination attempt on Ieyori-san san was made. Since then, he has left the country and made himself scarce. The mantle was passed unto me. I made no moves to find out the identities of the perpetrators. I sued for peace.

"Which brings us to now. We all know what we know, so it does not matter fighting once again this time over the moral ground. This is the primary reason for us calling for a truce. We've all had our share of losses from this conflict. The Sieyes family are mourning the death of their eldest son. Robert Sieyes, God rest his soul, has died. That is not all. Of course, the Ishii family and the Inagawa clan are also grieving. That is why I am offering a truce to end the further shedding of blood and retain peace."

One of the Yakuza chiefs spoke to answer first. He was the surviving representative of the Ichihara-kai. "Offer?" He muttered scornfully, glaring at Hanzo Ieyori. "You are 'offering' a truce to end the bloodshed and make peace? Are we going to simply ignore the fact that your clan, the Chiba Outfit as you call it, have massacred the last of the Soai, and now, the Ishii family? Or how you have gone too far and killed innocent associates of the Inagawa-kai? True, the connection may have been too unsympathetic towards haafus like your people, but we would never attack your community. It is not in our nature. In fact, we try to be as hospitable towards haafus and immigrants. To accuse us of inciting war, I find that scathing. And now you are telling us to bury our sons and forget. This is preposterous."

Another gentleman at the table spoke up. He was not an Oyabun, but the wakagashira of the Takezawa-kai, hailing from Tokyo. He was standing in for the Takezawa patriarch. They were the family of Makabe-san, and a close ally of the Ishii family. They had lost their territories in Narashino after the war. The head of the family refused the invitation, grieving the loss of one of his only daughters, but sent his second-in-command. "Nobody wants a conflict and all the suffering it brings," the wakagashira said. "We are all just human. The difference is that we are outcasts to society, which is why we formed our own circles. Why should we offend each other and then find an excuse to take lives? We are not Americans. We are not as savage as the Mafia. Let's not bring the same cross that brought down countless families into our own world. To take the lives of a Kaichou is business. Understandable. But to take the lives of his sons and daughters, who had yet to decide their own destiny? That is savage - monstrous. What does that make us in respect to animals? Ieyori-sama, you must know we cannot simply let this act of savagery slide."

Hanzo Ieyori had been carefully hearing what they all had to say. He paused for a minute before clasping his hands together and breaking out a small curt smile. "There's a difference between you and our people, and though I admit we may be less sophisticated or inclined to reason, can we help it? We indiós, it's in our nature. It's in all of us to rectify the injustices done to our family. We would kill the minister for our loved ones. Now, this is a war that we wish to put past. But it's been done, and we're all here. What do you want us to do? Hand over our people to their deaths and call that justice? You know that we will not do that."

The representative of the Ishii family, also hailing from Tokyo, finally spoke to answer. The Ishii family would soon have to give up the mantle of their clan, as there was no heir left of the line. Thus, Tsugumi Sadaji, was the upcoming Oyabun of what remained of the Inagawa-kai. "You must understand that this is no ordinary matter." He continued sternly, the resentment drawn on his darkened face. "Your people have directly threatened and harmed our families. We are adamant with this. There is no excuse for savagery. For peace, your people must also pay the price in blood. That is how it must be."

Hanzo Ieyori thought for a long while. When he turned his head up to look at the heads, his expression shifted. A chuckle escaped from his lips, and the other Yakuza delegates were both perturbed and irked at his reaction.

"I see how it is. And you are willing to fight tooth and nail against us this time, the whole connection combined, just to exact your so-called justice? You want another war?"

Hanzo sighed, relaxing into his armchair. "I see. You Japanese are stubborn people." Hanzo Ieyori was bemused. "You place a whole lot of weight over your principles of honor. It can't be helped. But you must understand that I care for my people," he said, smiling. "I don't want to just throw them into another war because I want to play 'my cojones is bigger than yours'," he chuckled. "Que obvio. But, I'm also comfortable enough with the fact if it isn't. I'm certainly not going let my people die over that shit. Like you're about to.

"Regardless, I am really not the one who you should be confronting about this. If you all want war or to reach a concession, you will all have to talk to the man himself. The one who is the boss behind the mob."

Hanzo Ieyori promptly got up from his seat at the end of the table and took a step back. The realization was cathartic to every one of the guests in the room, save for the side of the Chiba mob. The Oyabuns were all shocked to realize that the man, who was apparently the right-hand man to Hanzo Ieyori, who was one of the supposedly dead victims of the hits, was in fact the mastermind of the mob. He wore a white fedora and a blue overcoat, and had been standing aside behind Hanzo Ieyori since the meeting commenced. He did not look remarkable, nor was he recognizable as a man born into prestige. He wore the white collar of the laborer, without a tie. He was no businessman or politician.

He stepped forward. The fellow seemed young, reserved, but he exuded a mysterious aura; he carried himself intelligently. The glare in his dark eyes were neither cold nor cruel. It was not authoritative - it was imperious. At that moment when he slowly lowered himself into the highest seat at the table, his presence seemed to tower over them all. He took a moment to light himself a cigarette before speaking in a clear, cultured voice.

"Gentlemen, I'm going to tell you who I am. I am Hikigaya Hachiman. My eyes are everywhere. That means you guys can't move a finger in all of Chiba without me knowing about it. Do you understand? Not a single finger. If you want to do business in my city, you'll have to return the favor to me for the privilege. Let me all remind you that you are not in a position to impose demands. So look, I make deals for a living. Now, you can stay calm and accept my deal, or accept the consequences."