Kai Hiwatari - Demons are Running Wild

Part One: Year I and II

The cream-coloured coffee mug sat idly on the countertop, Mera's fingers wound loosely around it. The sound of paper being ripped open was loud in the quiet house as Kai sought to examine the contents of the envelope he'd been handed. Susumu stood ready in his formal attire, dress shirt and slacks, clothed as if he was on his way to work. Except he wasn't working anymore and his posture was riddled with anxiety just as much as it was with professionalism.

"Five hotels" said Mera, her voice soft but her tone sharp. "All residential. Two luxury, in the middle of Tokyo city. That's what Mother left you in her will."

Words deserted Kai as he read the document over once more. That was his name in bold letters listed as the recipient of the properties mentioned above.

"How do you know that, Mera?" asked Susumu, puzzled.

"Those were the only properties not mentioned at the will reading. I asked around at the dinner after. I know who got what. Only five hotels were missing at the reading and now we know who those went to," she said with a glance at Kai. She kept looking at the counter or staring straight ahead, as if she didn't want to meet his eyes or even look at him for too long. "They should have all gone to you," she said to Susumu, poison on her tongue.

Susumu's mother, Kai's grandmother died a day before Kai was born. She was suffering from poor health for many years before she finally succumbed to death. She had always been a frail woman, and the many births and miscarriages she had weakened her further. Her last wish was to meet Kai, her first grandchild, but she passed before it could come true yet she left her love behind for him. Left it safe in the hands of her family and made sure it reached him once he came of age.

"You knew?" Kai asked softly.

His mother looked at him. May be for the first time since he walked in to their new house. "I had a hunch but I wasn't sure," she said, her gaze fluttering away again. "There were criteria to be met I presume. Obviously mother wasn't going to hand down her properties to a high school dropout."

Susumu stared at Mera, with something akin to distaste in his eyes. Then he turned to Kai. "They want to meet you." By they he meant the mother's side of his family. "My aunt. She's waiting to hear from you. She called a couple days ago. It's already been too long."

Kai swallowed thickly, folding the envelop in his hands.

Mera scoffed quietly, shaking her head to herself.

Kai's eyes flashed up to settle upon her. "This doesn't change anything," he said.

"You had security. You always did. That right there in your hand is security."

"I'm not sorry for putting my fate in my own hands and not someone else's."

"You put ours in yours too. You forget your place, Kai."

"You did that yourself when you chose to not speak up against Voltaire."

"Kai, you will not use that tone with your mother. You've caused her enough pain already. Both of us. Enough. Leave."

Kai bit his tongue, his jaw clenching to keep venomous words from leaving his mouth. He dropped his arm to his side, head bowing as he took a moment to gather himself and then walked out of there.

"Is she mad she doesn't have to lick that old bastard's foot anymore?" Tala scoffed as he puffed on a cigarette, sitting on a ledge at the top of a skyscraper next to Kai.

"She wanted to keep living in an old mansion, have that pass to her son someday, and die with a diamond stuck in her throat I guess. I squandered her dreams."

"You saved her. And your father," he paused, looking at the little city lights before him. The ones twinkling like stars near the horizon. The earth seemed endlessly vast and small at the same time. His hand holding the cigarette hovered before his mouth as he took a shallow breath through his parted lips. "You were brave," he said quietly, then put the bud back in his mouth and pulled on it.

Kai fiddled with his hands, folding one over the other, over and over, about two or three times till he caught himself and recognized he was adopting his mother's habit. He took a breath, carefully threaded his fingers loosely, elbows on the railing and gazed out at the buildings in the distance.

Boris and Voltaire were under investigation. They were fighting the system tooth and nail but the boys' statements were hard to refute when they stood to gain nothing by bringing down Kai's grandfather. They had gone in to provide details and info so many times to the point they were regulars at the police office. The sessions were draining and lasted for hours, even took a toll on some of their mental health. Ian suffering multiple panic attacks in the presence of high profile detectives. But their part was over now.

Voltaire was doing everything to not get thrown in jail, he even threw an accusation of arson against Kai for the fire at the estate, but the damage to the building was minimal. The main hall suffered the brunt of it and the rest of the estate remained almost perfectly intact and since there was no evidence against Kai he couldn't press charges.

Tala snapped out of whatever he was thinking about and reached up to pat Kai's arm. "You have balls," he said, earning a smile from Kai.

They were hanging out at the roof of the building Kai was living in. He moved out of his grandfather's house shortly after the graduation party, grabbing the little valuables he had. A few photo frames (of the boys, of his parents), gifts he held close to heart and books and certificates. The boys dropped by often, stayed over sometimes. The apartment was in Tokyo and had a lovely view.

College wouldn't start for another few months and so the boys had planned a trip to Vegas that Saturday. Tonight was their last night in Tokyo.

"I wonder if Vegas is like how they show it in the movies. Just money, sex, and blinding lights everywhere."

"Crime too."

"We'd fit right in."

The sickening thump of the metal baseball bat impacting with a skull was deafeningly loud in Kai's ears. The sight of the man collapsing in front of him like something straight out of a nightmare. Bryan stood behind the man, the murder weapon in his hand, not Kai's. His chest heaved, eyes bugging like they were about to pop out.

Kai forced himself out of his stupor to call his friend's name. "Bryan," he said, voice hoarse.

Bryan didn't respond.

"Bryan" He tried again, louder this time and there was a movement, a blink. He lowered the bat slightly. He was still staring at the body. "We have to get the fuck out of here," said Kai.

Bryan finally looked at him, breathing raggedly, eyes wild. Still in shock, but he was moving now.

"Come on" Kai urged, turning towards the car parked right behind them in the alley.

They got in the vehicle, baseball bat secured in Bryan's hand. Seconds later, the obsidian Agera Koenigsegg roared to life, eagle eyes gleaming, lighting up the dark alley and the body slumped behind an overflowing trash can.

The car backed out of the narrow space quietly, but swiftly, rolling out of the neighbourhood with the ease of a cat. Once they hit the highway, Kai slammed down the throttle and the Agera shot ahead, crossing 100, 200, 250mph in under a minute, weaving between the other cars and gunning forward, eager to get far, far away from the crime scene.

"Are you alright?" Kai asked Bryan once they had stopped outside a nightclub. The other guys were inside, oblivious to what they had done.

"Yeah" said Bryan, shrugging, he was still clutching the handle of the bat. But the rest of him seemed okay.

"You're sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked. "He was trying to kill us, man. He deserved it. It was him or us." He glanced out the window. "I chose us."

Kai took in a breath through his mouth and let it go. They were racking up a body count.

He turned off the ignition. "Let's go inside." Kai was about to open the door to step out before he looked back at Bryan and noticed he was still holding onto something. "Leave the bat in the car."

Bryan looked down at the bat like he was just noticing it in his hands. He dropped it like a hot pan. It fell to the floor with an audible thump.

Tala was lost. Lost in the girl in his lap. Kai leaned over the couch to whisper in his ear. "Something's happened."

Tala opened his eyes to a crack to look at him. "What's happened?"

"Not around so many ears. Get the girls out." He urged him with a tap on his shoulder.

"Fuck" He dropped his head back on the couch. "Now?" His expression was annoyed till he saw Bryan behind Kai, looking like a wild animal after a chase.

The women in the private room they'd rented out left a few minutes later and the atmosphere in there changed drastically.

"So you didn't get the money?" asked Tala, hands steepled before his face. "What the fuck?"

"They were never planning to pay up," said Kai, pouring himself a glass of alcohol. "Just a couple of sore losers."

"Let me understand this," Sergei sat forward. "They picked a fight with us. They lost the bet. And now they tried to kill us instead of paying us?"

"Fucker deserved it," said Bryan. "Wish I could have gotten the other dude too."

Kai glanced at Bryan then took a wordless sip of his whiskey.

Tala's eyebrows jumped up. "You?" he asked Bryan, who sat with his untouched glass angrily, then he looked at Kai.

Kai shook his head.

Sergei caught the exchange and his mouth dropped open.

"We're all slowly turning into killers one by one," said Ian gleefully. "At this point, we should just get Boris ourselves."

"Bryan acted in self-defense," Sergei said immediately. "So did Kai. What we do gets us involved with bad people and we end up doing bad things. That doesn't mean-"

Kai snorted lightly, finding Sergei's attempts to justify their actions funny.

"Where's the bat?" Tala asked monotonously.

"In my car," said Kai.

"Soiling the Agera?"

"There's no blood." Kai put his drink down on a table and left the room.

"Or hair," added Bryan.

Tala nodded. "The cops won't trace it back to us and we'll be out of the country next week. We have nothing to worry about." He'd turned into a pro at cleaning up after murders.

"God" Sergei closed his eyes, trying not to gag. "Bring the girls back in. I want to forget this conversation."

"Vegas was supposed to be so much more," said Kai, hooking a finger around the jewels strung around the girl's waist.

"You're not having fun?" asked the brunette lying under him on the bed. Her voice soft, eyes genuinely upset as she looked at him.

Kai gave a light shake of his head. "This city's just not living up to my expectations."

He was talking about the money. The money they'd made from the illegal fights in Vegas so far. Fifty million USD was nothing. Not when he had so much more in his name now. The assets he'd inherited from his grandmother.

He didn't want to use them. The hotels already had caretakers installed by his grandmother's side of the family. He had to take care of nothing and they were all his. It made him mad.

He was supposed to build an empire of his own. But the pace at which he was going currently was simply not fast enough.

The wealth in his family's hands far outweighed anything he had made till now.

Fights could only make him so much money. He needed a business. He was on the right track. Things were going according to his plans. But he was getting impatient and his recent inheritance kept taunting him.

"How can I make it better?" asked a sweet voice, calling him out of his thoughts. "What do you like?" asked the girl, touching his jaw. "I can break the rules for you. You can do whatever you want to me and I won't tell anyone."

He looked at the girl properly for the first time that night. The glitter on her face, the beauty in her soft facial features, the jewels she was wearing on her body instead of a dress and how it accentuated the colour of her skin, hugged her curves and made her shine.

The light brown hair and brown eyes.

He felt little desire for her and what she was offering.

What did he want?

He wanted power. And that was all he could think of.

Kai felt restless as he entered his college dorm room and took a look around. The place was messier than he was used to. He felt hesitant to put the holdall in his grip on the floor.

"Damn, our school dorms were better than this," Ian lamented. "And I have to share mine with some noob? You two are so lucky," he said looking at Tala and Kai.

"We have the smallest room in this entire building. I don't think we're that lucky."

The grimace on Kai's face hadn't moved an inch since he walked into the facility. "We're moving soon. There's an old frat house on campus that's on sale. We'll buy it. It's in good condition too. I'll make changes as well of course."

"Pretty sure I just saw a roach crawl under your bed, Kai," said Bryan.

Kai felt sick. He went on a full cleaning spree that same evening, on a murderous hunt for insects and dirt. Tala kept his feet up and stayed out of his way, joining all the university's socials and getting scoops from sources online.

"There's gonna be a hazing ritual tonight," he informed Kai. "The seniors like to show the juniors who's in charge on campus."

Kai let out a real chuckle as he sprayed insecticide into a small hole in a corner of the room. He straightened his spine, remnant smile on his lips as he shook the bottle and considered how to deal with the seniors. They sounded like trouble. "There are locks on the doors, right?"

"They have duplicate keys I guess."

"Bad luck for them I guess."

Kai was woken with a bucket of water splashed onto his face. The bucket was in his hands and smashed on one of the assailants' heads before he or anyone else could register what had happened. The broken plastic hung off one of the seniors' necks when torches flashed around. The metal handle was in Kai's grip.

The students in the room were thrown off guard for a moment, not expecting that type of a reaction from their juniors. The guy who had the bucket smashed on his head was tall, and strong, he wrangled the object off his neck and took a step toward Kai with one of the broken pieces.

Kai bent the metal handle in his hands till it was almost straight and could be used as a weapon. He held it up in front of him as a warning, signaling them to not try him with a shake of his head.

"Jake, let it go. It's not worth it," said one of the boys in the still dark room.

"Nah, I think they need to be taught a lesson," said the guy in front with the makeshift weapon. It was only when he said the word 'they' that Kai noticed that Tala was also beside him. Just a few feet away. A broken beer bottle in his hand, the sharp end pointing towards the seniors.

"Get out of our room," said Kai.

"Jake, we don't want them filing any complaints."

"Yeah, like the dean's going to give a fuck if these crybabies whined to him."

"Just don't do it, man. This is not what we want." The level-headed guy came forward and got between the boys. "Listen, this is a misunderstanding. We don't want to hurt you. Okay?" He looked at Kai. Then back at Jake. "Jake?" He put a hand on Jake's and made him lower the broken piece of plastic. "We're leaving," he said to Kai and Tala. "Don't take this to heart. We were just messing around, trying to have some harmless fun. It's alright if you don't want to participate."

"What kind of fucked up shit is this?" snapped Tala.

"What's fucked up is breaking a bucket on someone's head for sprinkling some water on you," snapped Jake.

"Shouldn't have fucked around then," said Kai, lowering the metal handle slightly.

Jake's eyes grew cold. He didn't like them. At all. Kai could see it in his hateful gaze that he was going to bring more trouble for them in the future.

"Whatever. It's over, alright?" said the peacekeeper. "Come on, guys. Let's go. We'll talk more in the morning."

Kai didn't let the handle fall to his side till Jake and all his guys were out of the room. He knew this wasn't over.

News spread about the hazing and what happened in Kai's room before the sun was even up. These practices were carried out to test who among the newbies were troublemakers and who were not. Then the seniors took the spineless ones under their wing and picked on the less agreeable ones for the rest of the year.

Stories were being spread in the halls about the new foreign-looking boys when Kai and Tala stepped out of their room the following morning. The first years peeked at them curiously as they passed through the hallway, while the seniors who did not take part in the hazing sized them up silently.

Kai ignored them, having zero interest in silly university politics and rich kids' little games. What he was interested in was the university. The architecture, the courses and opportunities it offered, its secrets, and how to use those secrets to his benefit.

Tala was already on it. Digging hard and deep. Toho had a rich and lengthy history and Tala intended to familiarize himself with all aspects of it.

There were old buildings with basements and secret tunnels running from the campus to the city which opened up a huge opportunity for them to work from inside the university.

Kai was laying the foundations for his new business while also navigating university. College life was far different from high school life. College was a whole world of its own with its old rules and traditions.

He and the other boys kept to themselves mostly, same as they used to in high school, but the seniors whose egos were bruised on the first day just couldn't let them be.

And these seniors had a lot of influence on the rest of the student body as well which meant that their hostility towards the boys was shared by the others too.

No one in the years above them felt particularly kind to them. And most of the first years were too scared of the seniors and wary of the boys to approach them.

Not that the boys cared a lot. They were more than happy to spend time with each other, but problems started to rise when the seniors clued in on the fact that shutting them out and giving them hostile glares weren't working on them. They actively began causing problems for the boys. It started small. Tala's books suddenly getting wet, abrupt disappearance of hot water when one of the boys' showered, possessions going missing, tests and assignments getting stolen.

They weren't brave enough to get into a physical altercation with the boys because they had learned from that first night of attempted hazing that the boys could fight. They stuck to juvenile, middle school level of bullying.

The boys didn't retaliate because their energies were focused elsewhere - on more important things. But the stolen tests and assignments grated on their nerves. "We have to do something," Tala said one night. "This is getting out of hand. If we keep letting them get away with it, they're only going to get nastier."

"Yeah, they think they can walk all over us right now," said Sergei. "It hasn't even been three weeks and I've had enough of their shit."

Sergei was the last person Kai expected to lose his patience. Hearing him urge them to do something about the hazing was surprising.

"We'll talk to the dean," said Kai. "File a complaint."

"You really think that's going to work?"

"That's the standard procedure."

"Standard procedure" Tala repeated, staring at Kai.

Truth was, Kai was absorbed in his work. The hazing was annoying, but he didn't think it was anything that warranted a serious retaliation. The seniors were bound to get tired of them sooner or later. College kids were not their enemies. The real enemies were far beyond these walls, and they were much, much scarier.

Eventually though, the other boys started fighting back. Sneaking ants into underwear, stealing laundry, cutting up trousers. Kidnapping pets and holding them hostage till their stolen items were returned, throwing oil on the bathroom floor and watching people slip.

They went back and forth. The dean refused to give a fuck. Kai's patience slowly began to wear thin.

And one fine Monday morning, when Sergei got a failing grade in one of his important classes due to the stolen test and assignments, and Kai opened his locker and found rats in the space eating his books, he finally snapped.

Jake was at the end of the hallway, looking at him and giggling. When Kai spotted the asshole he went right after him. Crossed the hall in seconds and punched Jake so hard his jaw almost flew off.

The dude lost his balance and fell on his ass on the floor, but Kai dragged him up and all the way out of the block amidst shrieks and screams, not stopping till they reached the main quadrangle where everyone could see them.

Then he beat him till his fists were bleeding and the front of Jake's off-white shirt was soaked in bright red blood pouring from his broken nose and teeth. The whole campus stood and watched in shock as the fourth-year jock was nearly pummeled to death. When Kai was done, he pressed his boot down on the guy's neck and swore, "Next time, I'll kill you."

Jake gurgled and wheezed as Kai took his foot off his throat. He gave one last sweeping look at all the students gathered around the quadrangle, sending a clear message of what would happen to them if they tried fucking with the boys again, then walked back to the building, the crowd parting wordlessly as he made his way inside.

The dean got involved once he heard about the altercation in the quadrangle but by then Kai had already written to the university's board pointing out the many shortcomings of the present dean and he got signatures from half the student body supporting his claims.

When the question of who should replace the dean was posed Tala insisted his mother to apply for the post. Dr Valkova was not only experienced but also well known in the academic field with many accolades and achievements to her name. She was an easy pick. The present dean was fired, and Tala's mother was installed in his stead.

The student body learned to be wary of the boys.

If the beating Kai gave Jake wasn't warning enough, the other boys got their revenge too. Starting with Sergei who dunked one of Jake's asshole friends' head in the toilet while he was taking a piss. They wreaked havoc for the rest of freshman year, taking out their frustrations from the first few weeks on any senior that raised their voice against them.

Dean Valkova was still reeling from the news of her son and his friends being abused by a family member and close friend that she let them off easy whenever complaints rose against the boys. Giving them off hour cleaning duties and one-thousand-word essays for publicly harassing someone.

Multiple social media accounts were opened just to keep tabs on the boys and their activities. Where they were at a given moment, what they were up to. This helped students who didn't want to cross their paths stay away from them while also letting their fans keep up with them.

Also, people liked gossip and the boys were endlessly entertaining. They came up with many names for them but the one that stuck was the one the boys themselves came up with when they bought the old frat house and refurbished it into their new den. Finally, out of the wretched dorm and having a banging place for themselves, they decided to name it as the Blitzkrieg. Bryan and Ian were the ones who came up with it. Kai had no input because he didn't like naming inanimate things. Sergei and Tala supported the other two.

"Like blitz creek," said Bryan.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" asked Kai.

"It means this is where it goes down," explained Ian.

"As far as names go you picked the worst one."

"Now you're just being a hater."

"I love it," said Sergei just to spite Kai and Tala seconded it for shits and giggles.

And so, the boys named their house as Blitzkrieg and before long the campus was referring to the boys as the Blitzkriegs.

The inception of The Ring was in the underbelly of one of the oldest buildings in the university's large grounds. Kai saw the vision of what the dingy but tall and wide basement could be in the third month of his first year. Working on the basement without alerting any of the university officials or other students of what they were up to was difficult but not impossible. There were tunnels connecting almost every building on campus to the heart of Tokyo city. Built to provide shelter and a quick escape route for students during wars back in the days. The tunnels were unused and had been forgotten for decades now but Tala found out about them when he went through the university's old archives.

It took some time, but the basement was refashioned into a theatre of sorts before the end of the first semester. During the break the boys toured the rest of Tokyo, setting up locations for five more underground arenas similar to the one they built on campus.

By halfway into second semester, the locations for The Ring were almost ready for the fights. That was when they began spreading the word through the deep web and social forums centered in Tokyo. Invitations were sent out to known illegal fighters through encrypted self-deleting emails with a unique code on each of them. The grand prize was 10M USD and it made a bunch of veterans' dicks hard. To show that The Ring was trustworthy and ran by people with integrity, there was an exclusive pre-fight arranged for the start of the first semester whose winner will be able to take home 1M USD in cash.

Small name fighters showed up for this event and when the winner received the cash in full with no conditions attached to it, word spread around the fighters' circles about The Ring like wildfire. This also meant that Kai had to be on high alert for other organizations who could be irked by a new competitor in the market.

The guns were moved to the second floor of the Blitzkrieg house behind the first door next to the staircase.

Sergei and Ian were on the lookout for possible issues arising from the gangs in the city who arranged fights. Tala made sure the students and staff and university officials learned nothing about the storm they were stirring up in the bowels of Tokyo.

And Kai and Julia worked together on the overall execution of The Ring.

When word was established that they were a reliable organization, the big names in the field joined the game. And the first ever fight took place on campus, without anyone except the people they wanted to know knowing about it. Fighters and spectators came in through the tunnels, spent the next two hours (2:00 to 4:00 am) inside the soundproof basement of the old faculty building and went back through the tunnels, not a peep about their presence in the building leaking to the outside world.

By the fourth semester of college, Kai had a booming business. He invested a chunk of money in the beginning, but the returns were bigger than he initially expected by the time the first two tournaments wrapped up.

But wherever news of the success wafted it disturbed a lot of territorial people. Trouble started to rise.

Kai was reading a text message from Ozuma about there being tensions amidst the higher members of the Yakuza sitting on a bleacher when Julia urgently tapped his knee. "Kai"

Kai looked up to notice the worry on her face as she watched the track. He quickly glanced in the direction she was looking in and found what the cause of her concern was. Tala was in a race, but he was losing. There was another runner in front of him by almost a full ten feet.

"Where did he come from?" asked Kai, narrowing his eyes on the athlete in the front. He was nearing the finish line, and Tala was still way too far behind to win the race now. When the unfamiliar racer crossed the final mark first, Kai winced. Tala came in second a few moments later.

Oh, Tala was going to be pissed. He never lost races, and this was an in-house game.

"From our college?"

"Let me check socials. Who the fuck is he?" Julia pulled out her phone and began searching as she got to her feet. Kai followed her all the way down to the track where Tala had just reached.

"Fuck!" he cursed, wiping the sweat off his face and throwing the towel away. Julia handed him a water bottle, confusion and frustration on her features.

"I almost had it. He came out of nowhere."

"A freshman?" Julia asked Tala. They heard a loud cheer going up from the side and all turned to look as the athlete who just beat Tala joined his friends who were waiting near the side of the tracks.

"Oh, they're freshman alright," said Kai, scanning their innocent faces. They seemed like a group of jocks, beside the runner, there was another wearing a baseball cap and the jacket of their university and another with a basketball tucked in his arm with a familiar jersey on. A couple of short girls were also with them cheering as the athlete accepted water from them and took a drink.

The first three things Kai noticed about him were the baby face, the bright proud smile and that he was basically drenched in sweat. Brown hair dripping wet, tan arms and neck slick with perspiration. The wet jersey and shorts clung to his body, and he made it even worse by pouring more water over his head.

Elation was radiating off of his form. It was almost palpable how happy and proud he was.

"Tyson Granger" Tala spat like a curse. "Son of a bitch"

"Didn't take you for a sore loser," Kai commented, smirking as Tala threw glares in the freshmen's direction.

"I'll get him next time."

"Did he join this semester?" asked Julia.

"It's fishy. His whole presence on the track is all kinds of suspicious. The coach practically begged him to try out. He didn't try out for the team last semester. If he was a real athlete passionate about the sport he would have joined at the beginning of the year. Not waited for Coach Carr to pull his ass on the track."

"Beginner's luck," said Julia. "You'll start on the team for sure."

"Of course, I'm going to make the team. I just don't like getting my ass beat."

Kai was back on his phone, texting Ozuma. "Next time," he said to Tala. "You'll win next time."

The boys' approach to love didn't change since high school. Sergei broke up with his last serious sweetheart on graduation day and while he was never fully loyal to her, he only cheated once in a blue moon. Now he fucked through the city like his dick was about to fall off the next day.

The boys (except Kai) rarely turned down any offers and they threw around words like 'I love you' and 'I miss you' like they meant absolutely nothing, and naïve people often fell for it and got their hearts broken when they found out they were going around saying those things to everybody.

Kai was no different from the others. His heart had grown cold a long time ago, and he couldn't even remember the last time he'd gotten hard without someone having to suck him off first. His habit of being affectionate during sex messed with people's heads to no end. He didn't feel bad about it because he made it pretty clear that he wasn't looking for any relationships at the moment, but people held out hope it seemed. And when they found out his affection only went as far as his bedroom walls, they got upset.

The boys kept up their bullshit till Ileana lost her life because of Kai. Ileana was smart, funny and influential, and Kai took a special interest in her the same way he gravitated towards Julia back in high school. Tala however could not let them be. His paranoia of losing Kai went so far that he actively sought to sabotage a relationship that had nothing to do with him. He'd tried the same with Julia and Kai before, but where Julia was strong, Ileana was not. She ended up taking her own life and her innocent blood was on both his and Kai's hands.

Start of sophomore days, when the boys returned from their trip around Japan, they came back as different people from their freshman year. They were changed. Or they tried to change. No more bullying or harassing seniors. No more fucking through campus like these bodies were not living, breathing people with feelings. No more immaturity.

But Kai felt numb most of the time during his first two years of college, and after what happened with Ileana, he began actively seeking out dangerous things just to feel something. The Agera packed a ton of power and he took it to muddy grounds and free roads to test its limits often. It was during one of those times he happened upon the illegal racing crowd. He spent many nights there during sophomore year. Till one night he went beyond the Agera's limit and blew it up. He came out with just a few scratches and scrapes, but the car was totaled. At which point he bought his signature custom black Porsche 918 Spyder.

The plan to expand The Ring to other cities and make it a biannual event was well underway when the first threat from one of the smaller gangs in Tokyo arrived.

"We'll forgive you for breaking rules the first time," read the text. "But now that you've been warned we won't be so kind next time. Stay out of our territory."

Kai scanned through the message, blocked the number and went to his classes.

"As long as they're not linked to the Yakuza, they're not a threat to us," Kai explained to Julia one evening. Julia knew how red Kai's hands were by then. When Kai first told her, they hadn't started college and she had barely been surprised, instead she had the look of someone who'd finally found the missing piece of the puzzle on her face. Like she'd been wondering about a part of him that she did not understand but now did.

"Why are they not a threat?" asked Julia.

"Because we have big guns," said Tala, flashing a proud smile.

"And you guys can fight. Right. But what about your family members?"

"All of our family members have guards protecting them around the clock. That's not an issue either."

Julia sat up straight. "So, we're good?"

"We're good," reassured Tala.

"For now," reminded Kai. "Because we're about to piss in a lot of people's salads."

The second threat arrived two weeks later in the same fashion while Kai was at lunch on a Tuesday afternoon. Tala was bitching about some athlete beating him again and he wanted to conspire against him. In response to which the entire table laughed.

"What are we supposed to do? Break his legs because he's faster than you? Are you crazy?" asked Ian.

"He was born crazy," Kai slipped in, eyes on the phone as he blocked yet another number.

Tala glared at Kai till he lifted his head and met his eyes. Their relationship had soured a little since Ileana. Kai choosing to spend more time with Sergei instead of Tala which only made Tala more upset.

"You want to say that again?"

"So, he's faster than you. Thank fuck he's on our team then."

"As if you wouldn't throw a fit if someone suddenly took your spotlight."

Kai had nothing to say to that other than he thought it was plain dumb and immature but saying that wouldn't make things any better. So, he gave a slight shake of his head and sent a quick text to Ozuma asking for the list of gangs in Tokyo.

"That whole group is full of mega talented sport prodigies. Like a genius athlete's club," said Ian.

"Oh, just shut up already."

"Like the baseball guy has like the fastest arm ever."

"I don't think that's a thing."

"The basketball dude scored a fuck ton of points last game."

"You're stalking them?"

"On insta, yes."

"That explains why you're failing your classes."

"And the girl is really cute."

Kai excused himself from the table to call Julia. She was at the library, busy studying and when she picked up, Kai said, "Come stay with us for a few days."

"I'm quite comfortable at the penthouse, Kai," said Julia, a smile in her voice.

"It's not so safe to stay at the penthouse alone right now."

There was a slight pause from Julia's end. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"Noting to be worried about. I got another text-"

"Oh my god"

"-This is just a precautionary measure. I want to make sure everyone's safe. That's all."

Julia sighed. "Alright"

The second season of The Ring was arranged during the mid-semester break. Regional rounds were held in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Kyoto and Sapporo. The final fight took place in the heart of Tokyo.

With the expansion of The Ring came a need for more security and staff and Tala and Bryan along with the help of Ozuma found loyal and jacked men to arrange fights in the various arenas around Japan. The boys flew between cities and showed up to arenas unannounced to supervise the smooth running of the event. In around two weeks the full season was wrapped up and the profits were so large the boys along with Julia went on an extended vacation to Europe.

When they returned, Kai visited one of the hotels his grandmother had handed to him for the first time. The tall and lavish luxury Honda and Hiwatari hotel in the middle of Tokyo. Honda was his grandmother's maiden name. The staff welcomed him enthusiastically and treated him to their best services during his two-hour stay there.

He called Kristina to accompany him in the rooms. Kai met Kristina through a group project last semester. If Kai's heart was cold, hers was frozen lead. They got along amazingly. Hot in the bedroom and level-headed outside. There couldn't be a more perfect match. Kristina was Kai's go-to hookup call.

Upon the news of the success of the second fight season spreading in the underground world of Japan Kai and the boys went on high alert.

Ozuma informed Kai that the Yakuza had caught whiff of his name and influence. That phone call sent a chill up his spine and he became tense, but his days continued as normal for a while.

It was only when he was back in hot water that Kai felt in his element again. He had been feeling numb for so long but the moment he sensed real danger coming on the horizon he felt more alive than ever.

"Cash, cash, cash, I've never seen so much cash in my entire life and I was born filthy rich," said Bryan, picking up a stack, freeing it from its rubber band and throwing the paper in the air during one of their flights back from Osaka. They put the money they raked in in overseas banks and stored some on private islands to escape the law.

"Don't be disrespectful now," said Julia.

"To what?"

"To the money."

"Are you for real, woman?"

Tala cleared his throat loudly and when Bryan glanced at him, he raised a challenging eyebrow.

"Kai, when will you fight again?" asked Ian. "You'll lose your edge if you sit out for any longer."

"I'll take part in the next tournament," said Kai, leaning against the doorway to the back of the plane, a drink in his hand.

"Whoa whoa, Bryan," Ian said excitedly. "You gotta join too."

"Yes, I will. I can't stand on the side lines and watch other people kick asses anymore. I need to get in there myself."

"The Ring is awesome. It's so exciting. I love you guys so much." Ian was a happy and affectionate drunk.

Kai blew Ian a kiss in response to which the latter dramatically fell back on the private jet's floor and clutched his heart.

"There was a fire at one of our private arenas last night, Kai," informed Sergei. Kai was having his morning coffee when he got the news.

"Which one?" he asked, thoughts running in his head a mile a minute already.

"Number 13 in Sopporo."

Kai gave a slow nod. "I see. Any idea who might have done it?"

"None so far but Yuriy's looking into it."

"I'll get Ozuma on it too." He set down the mug and pulled out his phone. "Do the White Tigers have any connection to Sopporo?"

"I don't know. Aren't they strictly working in Tokyo?"

He raised the phone to his ear as he rang for Ozuma. "Sergei, bring all the guys in please," he said over his shoulder. "Get Julia too."

"Sure" He left immediately.

"It's got to be one of the gangs from Sopporo."

"Or one that stretches nationwide."

"You mean the Yakuza? They have no reason to get involved in our business."

"They have a hand in almost every illegal trade in Japan, Sergei. They have enough reason to mess with us."

"Okay, so we don't rule out Yakuza," said Julia. "We'll tell Ozuma to find out what he can about his superiors. What do we know about Sopporo gangs?"

As the others discussed about who might be responsible for the fire, Kai had a feeling there would be another fire soon at another one of his exclusive arenas which would clue them in on who was moving against them right now.

And just as he foresaw, a week later he received news of another accidental fire at one of his properties in Osaka. As far as Ozuma was aware, his higher ups had their attention elsewhere but what if Ozuma was being purposefully misled? What if the Yakuza knew they had a mole in their organization and was giving him false information to lead Kai into a trap?

It was during the start of finals week that everything the attackers finally showed their face. The Blitzkriegs threw a party the weekend prior to the exams at their house.

And during this party, Kai had a visitor.

He was in the lounge on the second floor with Kristina on his lap when a six-feet tall, Harley Davidson jacket sporting man with a dark complexion and shaved head with silver tattoos running along his nape quietly walked up to them and startled Kristina off Kai's lap.

He wore ice on his fingers and sunglasses covered his eyes and when he spoke, his voice rumbled. "May I have a few minutes alone with Mr. Hiwatari?" he posed to the girl while staring at Kai through the shades.

"It's okay," Kai put a hand on Kristina's waist as she pulled down her skirt and covered herself. "I'll see you downstairs." He gave her a kiss on the cheek as she got up and left.

Kai zipped up his jeans, legs spread carelessly on the couch. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"I'm here to offer you a deal," said the man. "You can call me Ezekiel."

Kai waited.

"We will let you run your operation as long as you stick to our rules."

"Who's we?"

"You know very well who we are, Mr. Hiwatari."

Kai held his tongue. "What rules?"

"The same ones we give to every new player in the game. You give us a cut of your profits, and let us into your businesses whenever we want, and you'll have no problem on your hands."

Kai nodded slowly. "And if we don't?"

"We will shut you down in whatever way we please."

The man represented the Yakuza. He was speaking for the big dogs. Kai rose to his feet and walked towards him. He stopped when they were less than a foot apart and spoke into his ear. "You tell your bosses they can try to take us down, but they will never get a penny out of us."

The man's poker face barely changed. "Is that your final answer?" he asked Kai.

"Yes" he hissed.

Ezekiel gave a brisk nod, turned on his heel and left just as quietly as he came.

Kai was surprisingly calm. Following the encounter with Ezekiel he broke up the party and sent everyone home. He informed the boys afterwards.

Almost an hour later he received a call from Ozuma. "They're targeting your arena in Tokyo next," he whispered frantically into the microphone, his tone feverish. "I overheard- I just happened to hear them-" He sounded winded. Like he had been running or was running. His voice kept cutting off. And then the line went dead all of a sudden.

Kai didn't have enough men. He did the first thing that came to mind and informed the police about a potential fire and gave them an address using his burner phone.

He was bombarded with no bad news for the rest of the night. The building was kept safe from the Yakuza. When morning came, he took a shower, drank a cup of coffee and got ready for the first of his final exams for the semester. Year two was coming to an end and he was looking forward to the last day of the week.

At seven fifteen sharp he opened the main door of the Blitzkrieg house and stepped out. The sun kissed his face hello, and he breathed in the fresh air with a light smile on his face. He was about to take another step when his foot bumped against something.

When he looked down there was a shoebox at his feet. Sitting sweetly on the welcome mat.

He knelt down to pick it up. When Kai removed the lid of the box he was immediately hit with a nasty stench.

Inside the container were five objects. Two severed fingers - one bearing a ring, another with a trademark S tattooed across a knuckle. He recognized the ring and the tattoo right away. And then he saw the tongue, the ear and the eye.

He dropped the box out of a knee jerk reaction and the body parts tumbled out upon impact and rolled across the front porch.

A/N: 😁 Chapter was getting hella big😁 had to cut into two 😁😁 enjoy this one for now 😁😁

how are you all? it's been a while eh?

we will catch up to present day in the next chapter so hang in there

now tell me how much you love me and missed me and what you think about the chapter and the story so far. talk to me. I love hearing from you.

seee you sooon. stay safe. love you. byeeee