Disclaimer: Yugi-Oh GX does not belong to me nor its characters or rights over the story.
Warn: This story may have heavy and uncomfortable themes/situations like use of drugs, violence, suicide, abuse, sexual harassment, intimate relations, rape, depression, trauma and bad language. If you do not like such, Do not read this.
presea221: Thanks for the reviews! Ryo indeed has become a lot more straightforward in both feelings and actions, specially in the way he won't hold back in talking rudely at people if necessary to achieve his goals and perhaps, more than just that. We've got a bit of underground and of other sorted issues that come with fame/being a public figure.
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Chapter 19: Spy
The weeks fly by, unexpectedly, Rie finds herself visiting him more often than she thought they'd allow themselves, almost every day when possible, when he is not traveling around for the world league or having a schedule full of duels. It seemed as if they were enjoying a bit too much their newfound intimacy, in many ways.
They spend many nights together in the following months, he barely talks about himself, something that reminds her of his school persona, always reserved and quiet, though recently it seems like he has lost all his shame in front of her and even she has been feeling gradually more comfortable with him.
Her stare is fixed onto his figure laying beside her, analyzing the lines of his chest and torso and the small bumps designing his silhouette and muscles. He blinks once before flashing his eyes to her direction. Noticing her stare, he rolls to the side, a subtly puzzled hint on his expression.
"Is there something wrong? Could you not enjoy it?" His seriousness in the matter causes a wince on her.
"That's not it..." she denies with her head, crawling closer. "We have been doing this more regularly, but… I am not taking any pills and we're not caring about protection, isn't that bad?" she partially hides her face with the device in front of it.
"You can take the birth control pills if you want to be safe. I am not interested in any of that."
Her blood rushes violently to her head, she almost bites her lips, her eyes running away from him, a sudden dread on her expression, she turns around. He sits straight in reflex, wondering what he had said wrong, looking at her face from above, her fingers quietly and ashamedly typing.
"I don't like pills... ever since… I don't want to take any sort of pills..."
She sits up too, her orbs oscillating in sorrow reminiscing the reason why she disliked it, letting the bed sheets slide down, not caring her torso was exposed, a low grumble comes out of lips.
"Worried." She moves both palms in swatting movements down, forward and up.
"You don't need to take the pills then. I didn't mean to sound inconsiderate."
"Topic. Serious."
"You don't need to worry, even if something happens, I would not let you alone. I'm grown up enough to take responsibility for my actions, Rie." His hand comes to her face, a faint smile on his lips as he brushes his fingers to caress it kindly. "I told you before, I will not turn my gaze away from you anymore, no matter what."
"Baby. Not. Joke." She puts emphasis on the words with nervous signs.
"I'm not saying it's a joke, I'm positive we'd have pretty kids." His standoff comment just makes her even more jumpy "Plus I've heard it's not as easy as some people make it look like in movies, not that I mind trying harder..." a delighted smirk overlaps his kind smile, she jerks at it.
"T-This is irresponsible!"
"Is it? As if we didn't do it many times before stopping to have this conversation, from all I know, you could already be…" she spells a silent complaint, he sighs apathetically "Well, I don't really care about any of it, we're not having other partners and I want to feel every part of you and enjoy it as much as possible."
Her face becomes beet red at the statement, he chuckles dryly at it, teasing her has become the number one hobby of his, it seems. His arms inadvertently circle around her figure, pulling her close in a firm embrace.
"Isn't it fine for people our age to be a bit irresponsible?" his smirk is somewhat mischievous, she replies with a strong denying head shake that just stirs a deeper tinge on her blush.
"You're concerning yourself over nothing. Like I said, even if something happens, I will be here. I would never leave you alone in a situation like that. Understand?" The last part he gestures in signs.
Her lips open slightly at the declaration, but close shut after looking into his eyes, a decisive and tender glint abiding those orbs of his, she couldn't take her eyes off for a long moment, until her concentration is disrupted with a kiss to which she promptly corresponds to. It doesn't take long until they're entertaining themselves with each other's body again.
It's been quite a few months since they started sharing those nights and more time together, like he said, there weren't many consequences to their intimacy besides all the pleasure and now that they've come this far, she can't see herself stopping it.
On another day at his apartment, Rie stands near the table. She slides her hand on the black coat hanging on the chair, he comes out of the bathroom, still finishing dressing his shirt. An inquisitive air on his gaze as he observes her daze off.
"I didn't know you were such a fan of mine. But if you want that coat, I can give it to you." His smirk is almost mocking.
She gasps at his conjectures, denying it with her head and turning towards him with a troubled expression. Her gaze is on the ground for long seconds, his footsteps, the only sound she hears until he stops right in front.
"Am I in trouble?"
She opens her mouth to speak, but denies softly and takes a seat on the same chair his coat is hanging from, playing with her fingers before resorting to her device.
"What are we doing?"
"Enjoying life. Aren't we together?"
"Are we?" her gaze is cast down again, bemused.
"You. Girlfriend."
He gestures in an attempt to soothe her conflicted mood, she almost pouts, noticing his attempts of appeasing her, lowering her eyes. His brows curl slightly upwards, he never knows how to deal with those types of matters, at least this part of him didn't change much. The conversation seems like it will be long, he sighs in advance, taking a seat too.
"What is the problem? It should be very clear by now we have a relationship, shouldn't it? You think I'm bringing you here to take advantage of you or what? I'm not taking you to bed to brag about it." The next part he gestures in signs "I Love You."
"We are together, but no one else knows that."
"Why should they? It's our life, not theirs."
"Family. Tell. When?" her eyebrows angle up subtly afflicted.
"So you want to put our families in this now? You can tell Shou, he is my brother. Would you be happy with that?" The suggestion comes off as a way to dismiss the topic more than a heartfelt answer.
"Parents. Tell. When?"
"Why do you want to involve our parents in this? I thought you hated your family and I can't say I want mine having a say in my life either." a fold forms in between his brows. "You think I'm doing this because I'm afraid of them? No. I'm doing this for you too."
"Me?"
"Yes. You should know very well what a public relationship implies: magazines, our parents, everyone will be on you. They'll dig all they can about your past and we both know none of us want that. I don't want anyone messing around with me or you, unlike before, I can't say I will be very tolerant. I won't take lightly anyone who attempts to harm you, I am serious about this."
His voice is graver on the last part and she fears he might do much more than just have a talk with whoever tries to hurt her considering his new personality and recent wicked enjoyment of both disrespecting and harming people mercilessly in duels.
"You are worried about this?"
"Not only this, my parents and yours are like sworn enemies, your father wanted to own my father's whole company, you know? You think my family will also just sit and accept it? Is that what you want? All those troubles at once? I thought you deserved a rest from all this. They don't need to know and I sincerely don't care if they do, but I don't want anyone causing you trouble."
She gapes for a moment. That Hell Kaiser was thinking all this? His words carry revolt and contempt, he probably had his share of family feuds too she can tell, but her heart felt a flutter when he said he was worried about her, even so. Is avoiding the confrontation the best solution?
"What do we do, then? Do we just hide it from everyone forever?"
"They will know when it's time, our time. But it doesn't need to be now."
His chair scratches the ground when he stands up, coming too close for her own comfort, his finger raising her chin to look up at him.
"I'm not ashamed of you or anything like that, Rie. Don't think that. I just want you to take a break from all the awful problems you had and enjoy your time a bit, slowly. Do you understand?"
His seriousness is imbued in those words, but his inexpressiveness makes it hard for her to read him. Her arms wrap around him, bringing him close, her face occulted by his torso. His hand finds rest on the top of her head, stroking her pink hair.
"Well, if you are not fine the way things are now, you can always come to live in my apartment. I will welcome you and we can have many more nights together. That should do it for you, right?"
With a startle, she raises her head, letting him go while fumbling in nervousness and shame at the same time, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"You don't want to? I thought so... You do want to take your time and… Don't you have things you still want to do separately?"
Without words to say, her lips close shut. That is true, there were many things she still wanted to do. Is this what he was talking about when telling her to take it slowly? Perhaps, it's for the best if they try to understand each other a bit better for now before taking a new step, their relationship was convoluted enough as it is now with the increased contact that came right after they had a humble and extremely slow start.
With that in mind, she resumes her daily routine with work, but her thoughts are kept on those words he told her about this so-called manager who brought him to the underground, her eyes narrowing in distrust.
She takes a peek around until she confirms everybody is busy with their own work and then starts searching about the man called Monkey Saruyama in the office's computer. As she predicted, the rumors are not good. But it is written all over that after Kaiser Ryo was demoted to the minor pro leagues and was almost dropped out completely from it, his change occurred right after meeting this man.
After he was announced as manager, Ryo came back to minor leagues utterly changed both in appearance and heart. This man looked like a puppeteer pulling the strings from the shadows, but did he really influence Ryo that much? There is more to it, maybe he had been keeping things to himself all along and that man was but the one to pull the final trigger.
"Is this the reason why Ryo became like this…? No, maybe not the only one… What… Just what was going through his head when he became like this? I can't even imagine myself dueling often under such pain… Yet..."
She sighs in dismay. From afar, Tonomiya casts a glance, his eyes squinting with hatred towards her. It is all her fault and the fault of that Hell Kaiser that he got beaten and indebted in that underground ring. But he still can't quite grasp their connection.
It's not possible they merely knew each other given how much attention she received, there has to be something more. His teeth grit unconsciously, his fists clenching as he sweats, entertaining many possibilities of how to make her pay.
"There is no point doing anything now… I will lay low for a while, but you just wait, Kinomoto... I will make sure to uncover every one of your dirty little secrets, including who you truly are! You too, Hell Kaiser! You'll pay for ruining my plans in the underground!"
At the Academy
Shou sits alone on the stone bridge, his back leaning on the lighthouse as he embraces his knees, his eyes flickering as much as the waves in some sort of consternation.
Why did his brother change so much and why did he have such cruel eyes? His beloved brother that used to be cool, yet caring had such a sinister aura now. They haven't been contacting each other frequently after his graduation, but he took it as an assumption that Ryo might have been busy this whole time.
What if the truth is that there was more to it than just not having time? What if he has been purposefully ignoring their mother for the same reason. Is he trying to cut ties with his family or for which reason does he have such a bad attitude?
His hand unconsciously reaches the student PDA in his pocket. There is another person he can maybe ask, but he isn't sure if anything fruitful will come from it. He heard from Asuka that she and Rie exchange messages often, although he hasn't talked to her much since the graduation besides a few words, assuming she also exchanged messages with his brother, he thought perhaps she could know something, he heard she became a reporter.
"Have you been in contact with my brother lately? If you did, please tell me."
He sends the message in a second, not thinking twice, but regrets right after and sighs deeply in deception. Even if she happens to know, how exactly would he go about it? "Hey, do you know why my brother became such a ruthless badass duelist and goes around disrespecting others for a job now?" No way, right?
Before he has time to unsend the message, someone else comes, it's Judai with all his alacrity spreading in the air, obfuscating Shou's gloomy mood.
"Hey, Shou! The match in the pro league is about to start!"
"I don't care." he goes back to his comfy and sulky position, turning his face away.
"It's your brother dueling, you know?"
"I know… But I don't want to see him like that."
Judai's brow twitches in worry upon hearing that, despite his aloofness he can guess why his friend would feel like that. He sits nearby, with a cheerful and half clumsy smile.
"Come on… How can I say… Your brother probably must have lots of thoughts in his head as pro, if you want to know how he feels, then you need to watch him now, exactly the way he is, right?"
It is simple advice, but not less truthful. That's right. If he wants to understand what his brother is going through and what made him change so much, he must witness who he is now and one day, ask those questions and see with his very own eyes who his brother truly became.
"Right!"
His mood lightens almost instantly and they both get up to rush to the dorms, to Manjoume's room in hopes of still catching the start of the duel. While on his way, he sees a light flash on his pocket, instinctively reaching for it. A reply from Rie to his message. His eyes tremble internally.
"Yes. Did he not contact you?"
The next message comes while he is still holding it, his feet giving up on the running to the dorms, halting right there.
"Shou-kun, don't worry. Although his reputation isn't the best, he is doing fine in his duels and won't lose. Even if he has changed and it's hard to see, he is still essentially Ryo, he is just having some personal issues now. He will be fine."
He didn't ask anything specific, but how did she know what he wanted to ask? He can't help but stare in perplexity at the message, a voice breaking his immersion:
"Shou! Let's hurry, we will really miss it if you stand there!"
"A-Ah! Right!"
He quickly shoves the device into his pocket again, following his friend, his mind still at the message. His brother will be fine, she says? He can't say for sure right now, but he has to face the situation and see just how much of change happened.
At the Kaiba dome
Hell Kaiser stands proudly on the field. He is back to the pro league and the stadium around is filled with guests, fans and alike. His days of glory returned even more impactful than ever.
His enemy trembles at the sight of the dark figure ahead and the pair of callous eyes looking down on him. The field of the opponent is filled with monsters, it contrasts with Kaiser's that has only one.
"Chimeratech Over Dragon, attack!" he draws a line with his hand, watching over the face of the man who slowly crumbles, his eyes squinting in some sort of derision "Attack again! Now attack him directly! Triple barrage!"
The shock of the loss is too much, an explosion occurs in the field, everyone is on the edge of their seats. Ryo doesn't spare a minute to check on his opponent, not even enough for the holographic smoke to dissipate as he walks towards the exit of the field, walking past his manager without a word.
"Whoa! Such strength! Is this yet another participant who needs to go urgently to the hospital?! Incredible and ruthless! That is Hell Kaiser Ryo for you all!"
The paramedics come to take the unconscious man away, but the Kaiser is far away from there, enough to only hear muffled sounds of the cheers coming from the crowd. His expression looks bored, not a hint of fun or any known emotion on it. His manager laughs.
Ever since his return he has been sending many duelists to the hospital, it seems his new character was too much for their minds to handle and his aggressive style of dueling that out an immeasurable amount of pressure, plus some slight rumors that they've been suffering with small electric currents the duel disks dealt during the impacts from battle damage and effect damage.
That gave him a bad reputation among all duelists, they believed he was using some sort of trick to send people to the hospital for fun, disregarding even the rules of the pro league, but since they couldn't prove it was his fault and those were mostly rumors, he couldn't be charged for any of the accusations. His popularity also increased among a different type of fan club that adored his mercilessness.
While still inside the long corridors of the facility, a message blinks on his phone, he checks it immediately, a habit he developed after meeting Rie, although he did stop doing this for a while, he got back to it after promising he'd not ignore her anymore.
"Ryo, can we meet today? It is urgent! I need to tell you something."
He stares blankly at the text for a while, typing a quick answer, putting the phone back in his pocket, his face turning a bit to the side when the mocking voice of the man calls out to him.
"The Hell Kaiser typing a reply to a message? That is a rare occurrence. But again, it was a sight to see you coming out of an underground duel with a woman that was supposed to be auctioned. You're really something else."
"Let's go."
He dismisses the topic, walking ahead and making the mocking smile on the man vanish, he tags along hurriedly, the duelist waits for no one. They've been working together, but Ryo was cold, reserved and sometimes, arrogantly defiant even. It is night outside the stadium, he enters the car accompanied by the very man who once tricked him.
"Haha, your career seems to be bustling with life. Isn't that great? It was all thanks to me! All that time you spent in the underground taught you an important lesson."
Ryo's eyes are occupied with a letter he reads, his ears not less bothered by the ranting of the man who brags about himself while reminiscing the awful experience of the underground.
"Talking about it, you have a match scheduled for today, in the underground I mean."
His bleak eyes finally part ways from the paper to look at the man, sending a chill through Saruyama's spine, he can't tell whether he is angry, anxious or simply does not care.
"Yes. It is true I have used your help." his voice is inexpressive "But I don't need it anymore. I am done with the underground duels, you can go find your next prey."
"Wait… What?" he blurts out in shock, his saliva choking his throat slightly to the point he gasps and coughs a few times before continuing "W-What do you mean?"
"You will be dropping off here."
Ryo grabs the coat of the man without a second thought and throws him outside with no qualms on his methods, Saruyama rolls outside the car and the door closes with a thud, the vehicle driving away with speed.
Leaning his back on the seat, he continues reading that letter. It is an invitation from his former master, Samejima, and the reason he not long ago told Rie he'd be visiting an acquaintance.
He stops in front of his apartment, much to his surprise there is someone already waiting for him on the sidewalk. The pink haired darts without a second delay, shortening the distance between them drastically, showing a message she typed in a second.
"Ryo, we need to talk!"
His mouth opens subtly with her unrest, he bends over to whisper in her ears, his hand coming around her back in a short embrace to greet her.
"We should talk inside."
Letting her go, he grabs her hand and leads the way inside the building, the two of them are unaware someone takes pictures and observes as they disappear: A tall man dressed in an inconspicuous brown coat, a cigarette lit on his mouth, inside a car parked nearby the apartment complex. After they leave, the man with the suspicious behavior sends a message to an unknown client.
Inside the apartment,
Rie's hand clutches his fingers impatiently even as he closes the door, his gaze stopping on her face.
"Why don't you sit and calm down a bit? You look unusually nervous."
Her mouth opens and closes, she shakes off her head walking from one side to another, he quietly follows her movements with his eyes, asking himself when she will ever stop. A deep sigh comes out of his lips, he catches her shoulders in the middle of her route, turning her body to face him front to front.
"Rie, walking around aimlessly won't do anything. What is the problem?"
She gasps, lowering her head and playing with her fingers, almost gesturing words, then takes a deep breath and uses her communicator again.
"I've done some research on your manager, and it is awful! The things he has done... I had to tell you, I know you don't like it, but I couldn't stop myself."
"You mean Saruyama?" he recoils, arms crossed, ready to listen.
"Yes! He had been almost sued many times, but all times the charges against him disappeared or were taken as fake. When I searched more, I found out most of the people he worked as a manager for disappeared from the dueling stage, they were either bankrupt and drowning in drugs and alcohol or simply runaways from the amount of debts due to illegal gambling on the underground…" her brows curl up afflicted, her hands grabbing his shoulder abruptly, shaking him.
"Ryo! Manager. Stop. Seeing."
"You want me to ditch him?" he raises a brow, a low sneer let out in the air.
"I don't want you to be doing this stuff too and having more troubles, please, stay away from that man." she types the next part, tugging his coat.
"You're a bit slow, Rie. I already cut my ties with that man, I don't need his help anymore." his cold, unwavering gaze sends a shiver down her spine, his tone sounded resolute, not rancorous. "I can take care of my dueling."
She takes a step back, her orbs opening wide in surprise with the revelation. He already ditched his manager? Her fingers move before she can finish thinking, risking a question, gaped:
"Is that why you're back earlier than usual? Does that mean no more underground duels?"
He simply nods. The glimmer on her eyes is not hidden as they waver, they look like marbles. In a second, her arms make their way around him, hugging him tightly, he is pushed a couple centimeters back by the enthusiasm of her strong grip, grumbling a complaint under his breath.
Ever since Rie appeared at the underground pit, it seems as if some change was engendered into him. He even stopped frequenting those places now, though it did take him a few months until he came to this decision.
Whether his change was due to her requests or something he decided by himself, she doesn't know, but she feels a tad more tranquil knowing he won't be in those obscure, torturing duels anymore. Before she has time to ponder deeper about it, his arms enclose her, keeping her too trapped for her own comfort.
His consecutives and passionate kisses give her a mixed feeling of wanting to resist, yet feeling herself enjoying it more than she wanted to allow herself to, until she completely drops the idea, her arms pulling his neck closer in even deeper kisses, consenting to those feelings.
There she is, on his bed again. His voice pulls her out of her daze, he turns around on the bed to look at her. She has been staring at his face with a distant, thoughtful semblance for some time until he spoke.
"Why are you looking at me like this?"
"I..." she hesitates "Thinking. Ryo."
"Am I that interesting to you?"
He sits straight on the bed, the sheets covering his lower half and exposing his bare chest, there are no visible marks of the electrodes on his skin anymore. The question is as nonchalant as his expression. She sits up too, she is just in her underwear, but a smile sprouts on her lips, she seems to be more comfortable around him by now. Her communicator at hand, she texts:
"I was just thinking how much I like you."
The unusual blunt declaration leaves him struck with awe slightly, she approaches bending over and landing a kiss on his cheek and backing off to sit again. There is a hint of amusement in his face, but he averts his gaze to the side, letting out a very low grunt in discomfort. It almost seemed as if he was embarrassed right now.
Before she fully goes back to her former spot, he grabs her arm rashly and pulls her closer in an embrace, she fidgets at the gesture, but replies to it caressing his back. He squeezes her tightly, planting a kiss on her head.
"I love you too, Rie."
Her cheeks blush with the sudden declaration, did he just use the word "love"? She feels bashful by hearing him say those words. Perhaps she didn't hear them enough times to not feel so intimately shaken by them. He sounds like his former self more and more, but at the same time, he is still so different.
The alarm clock on her phone breaks their embrace, she hurriedly sits on the edge of the bed, looking at the time. She needs to prepare for work! Without delay, she jumps out of the bed, rummages through her purse and takes a change of clothes, rushing to the bathroom beckoning to him.
He also sits on the edge of the bed, listening to the sounds of the shower, then dresses himself up, the number of times she has stayed overnight was piling up, she was even bringing clothes for a change and casually using his apartment, not that he found any of that bad.
When she comes out, he can feel the humid air that she brings along, her hair is still wet, but she just quickly exchanges a few words.
"Now. Work. I. Go"
His lips open to pronounce something, but she gives a warm peck sealing them, going away before he has the chance to form a sentence, the door closing softly behind her. As she walks off the building to the nearest train station, the same man from the past night observes her from inside a car.
He takes another picture of her leaving the building and a couple more of the building itself, he awaits until Hell Kaiser also comes out and takes secret pictures of him too while entering a black car.
After both his targets are gone, he makes a call that is immediately answered, a female voice on the other side of the line.
"About your request, I found information on the girl. She is visiting someone very often, mostly late at night." a pause, he listens to an angry ranting "Yes. I am not mistaken, I've seen them both enter his apartment building yesterday, and she only came out this morning in different clothes than she had before… No, no, I was awake the whole night and they never left before that… Yes, I made pictures of it all."
His eyes avert to the path she took not long ago, squint subtly while he listens to more of the voice of his client.
"Who is he? He is very famous. I have the photos to show his identity, I will reveal them all and deliver them in person to not have any risks, we don't want this leaking to the media, after all… I believe it's better to give you more details in person." a gasp "You want me to follow them for longer to confirm it? And more pictures? Wait… I can't do thi... Fine, fine…"
He ends the call, leaning his back on his seat, tapping his finger impatiently on the steering wheel, an angry snarl of complaint before he starts the engine of the car and drives away.
Who is this man working for and what are their intentions? What the future holds for that couple is unsure.
At the same time
Inside a tall office building whose outside was made of pure mirrored glass, a man in a suit rushed opening the door of the office at the top floor, he wheezes, wiping his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief and looking at the back of the man standing in front of the glass walls.
A desk stands in between them, a silver name plate with "CEO Ryuu Marufuji" carved onto it in black letters and a fancy cushioned black chair whirled towards the windows.
"Mr. Marufuji! We got more of those strange letters!" the secretary shouts, gulping right afterwards. "And your wife called again, something about your son not answering the phone, she asked me to politely urge you to try contacting him and 'give him a scolding'."
The man whom he speaks to is tall, using an expensive-looking tailored dark-grey suit, his short dark-blue hair converges on his nape, his face turns slightly to the side, his expression is still unseen, some strands of his bangs flopping over the side of his head, occulting his eyes in that profile view, only the holders of his glasses are seen coming behind his ear.
"Did you see who sent it?" His voice is solid and calm even when he is not directly looking at the subordinate.
"No! There is no sender written anywhere on the envelope and it was already at the office's mailbox this morning when I arrived…" he reluctantly approaches, his boss stretches a hand, he simply puts the paper there as is expected of him.
When the chief opens the letter, his lips unseal discreetly, there is a clear picture of Ryo, dressed in black, coming out of a dubious building at night, his uninterested eyes not focused on the camera, along with it there is some sort of paper sheet folded, a message printed in black letters in a bland text style.
"They're hiding their manual writing…" he concludes inwardly after taking a glance. "The content is similar to the latest ones too… What do they want by sending this? A threat? No, it's not just that, they seem bothered and it's not about me…" he seems to look a bit longer at the picture of his son in the last part.
The contents of the letter do not please him, his secretary watches silently and fidgety waiting for any reaction from the boss, taking a peek at the writing:
"Mr. Marufuji, have you been in contact with your son? If not, I suggest you try, because he has been a very, very mischievous boy, messing with things he shouldn't, and meeting people he'd better stay away from. He is very popular in the underground duels and really good at it too, his opponents are not as lucky to confront him, a ruthless Kaiser that tramples on lives disregarding every sense of empathy, you'd rather not let him have this lifestyle, you should have a talk with him about the people he lets into his life too. My sincerest regards, from an old acquaintance."
The boss sighs deeply, a pensive tone, folding the letter back with the photo, he puts it on his chest pocket, his tone graver as he orders the secretary:
"Find out who wrote this and who put it here."
"With all due respect, Sir… This is not the first time they write about…" he hesitates, biting slightly his lips before mustering the courage "Your oldest son, he is a famous duelist, a public figure. Are you sure everything is fine with your family? Don't you think you should ask for aid from the police or bodyguards?"
"We will take the necessary measures, it's obvious the sender knows who I am and who my son is and I want to find out who is playing around with our company by sending those letters and what they want by doing so. I wouldn't be surprised if they have enough power to just make the police sit down and disregard the case, like it has happened in other occasions. This is not the first time someone threatens my family and it won't be the last, do your job and everything else will be settled in time."
The speech was a half scolding, the secretary jolts, his posture stiffens, nodding at every word the superior says, dashing out of the office as soon as he is listed some tasks to accomplish.
Ryuu Marufuji stands still for a long moment, in silence, watching the outside buildings of the city in an unchanging stoic posture. His finger reaches the paper with the message again, a low grumble of complaint.
"Whatever it is you are doing, Ryo Marufuji, it seems you've got some nasty enemies… I wonder if you are happy with this freedom you wanted or if you'll regret it later…"
He shakes his head off, taking his cellphone and proceeding to do some business calls. Whoever is prying on Ryo's life and sending threatening letters to his company, he will make sure to find out who they are.