Hello loyal readers!
Thank all of you so much who have left reviews, faves, and follows! I forgot to mention but two chapters ago, we passed the 100-review mark! Thank you all so so much! I definitely couldn't have gotten this far without my lovely readers. Let's reach for the 200 mark now, I guess! Haha
As for today, Yamashita gets some… some more than he bargained for, that is! And a new villain is introduced. Hope you all enjoy!
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CH17
Cain Heel didn't raise an eyebrow when the working girl showed up. Certainly, he had not been expecting this turn of events; however, Cain Heel was not the type of person to sweat the small stuff. His primary goal still had not changed. Obtain the accountant.
Cain Heel was also not the type of person who sneered in contempt as his quite portly target wheezed his way up four flights of stairs after making a very public scene in the lobby about – 'Why are the elevators down? Who the hell put up these signs?' – and such.
Cain Heel also shouldn't have batted an eye when, once inside the room, Yamashita began his rendition of seduction on the young woman who had accompanied him. The accountant was still rasping like a leaky furnace bellows, causing his 'sweet nothings' to come in panted spurts over the listening bug Cain had earlier planted.
However, Tsuruga Ren, sitting in his hotel room's armchair with earbuds plugged into his ears and staring at the video feed from the cameras planted next door, couldn't help but slightly turn away his cell phone screen, so he wouldn't have to completely watch each sordid detail. It also helped, knowing that Yashiro and several of the analysts back at LME HQ were watching the feed as well. It helped because Ren knew he wasn't alone in his uncomfortable misery, and also because he didn't have to watch the feed quite so closely.
And then, there was the other ironic twist in the situation. He was being forced to watch something he had no desire to see, but couldn't watch the one person he desperately wanted to. Against his better judgment, Ren peeked up past the top of his cell phone screen.
But Setsu was observant. She caught his furtive gaze and coquettishly smiled and winked. Then she resumed filing her nails. Her long legs, elongated further with leather stiletto knee-high boots, uncrossed and then crossed again enticingly. Of course she was on the bed. Ren mentally groaned and wrenched his eyes back toward the revolting little melodrama on his screen.
One positive was that while as Setsu, Kyoko couldn't rabbit away from him – like she had been doing ever since their amusement park visit. Back at HQ, every time he stepped into the room, she seemed to make up a paper-thin excuse and scurry out the door. Was this how she felt when he had avoided her? He really ought to apologize to her for that. Her current treatment of him felt awful.
Also, Yashiro wouldn't stop asking Agent T what had happened, leveling exponentially escalating criminal accusations against Ren. On his end, Ren always dodged answering.
One upside was the fact that since Setsu didn't want to interfere with her brother's "work," she didn't have to witness the innocence-incinerating scene unfolding next door.
In his earpiece, Ren heard the hooker speaking, and something about her voice niggled at the back of his mind. He pushed the gut feeling down, trying to focus on her words instead.
"Try these. You might find that you enjoy the results…" On the video, the woman was offering Yamashita something as she draped herself over him.
"Both of them?" The accountant was trying to hide that he was still out of breath from their four-flight climb.
"Mmmhmmmm…" A sultry purr. The woman leaned in and dropped something into Yamashita's open palm.
Agent T's eyes narrowed at the screen, as if that would help him see what the woman had dropped into his target's hand. Drugs? Sexual stimulants?
His intuitive guess was proven correct as Yamashita walked to the bedside table and snapped open the cap of a hotel water bottle. The man on screen made a motion with his hand as if tossing back pills before taking a swig of water.
Wondering what the working girl gave Yamashita, Ren allowed his mind to wander. His gaze started to drift back toward Kyoko – no, Setsu.
Cain was not pleased that Setsu had stolen away from England, but she had been adamant about taking care of her Nii-san.
The elder Heel sibling eyed his sister's skimpy outfit. The silly girl hadn't packed much of anything, apparently. He would have to take her shopping in the morning. Even after acquiring the accountant today, Setsu had announced that she would continue to stay with her brother in Yokohama as long as necessary…
Realization slowly crept up on Ren like a rising tide. He started to hear something abnormal in his earbuds. Gone were the sounds of foreplay. It now sounded like an irregular, staccato gasping. Like a cartoon goldfish stranded out of water.
A quick glance at the time readout on his smartphone – three minutes had passed. As his eyes shifted back to the screen, a feeling of dread settled deep in the agent's gut.
It was obvious that something was very, very wrong.
Yamashita lay alone on the bed, clutching at his naked chest. Pale slabs of adipose and excess skin draped across his body like fleshly baggage. Even on the grainy video, Cain could see that sweat poured from the accountant's brow, and his teeth were clenched together in pain, eyes wide with fear. The man's breaths were coming hard and fast now, shallow and panicked.
Quickly tapping the screen of his phone to switch camera views, Agent T barely caught sight of the hooker as she hastily exited the room. Ren belatedly realized that she wasn't screaming in fear.
Instead, the woman paused at the door before spinning on her heel and blowing Yamashita a kiss.
Something else niggled in the back of Ren's mind, but he didn't have time to think about it, because –
"Ren!" Yashiro yelped over his comm link, breaking radio silence. The analysts had seen the footage too.
A loud THUD echoed through the wall. Ren knew it was Yamashita's body falling to the floor. A door slammed, and high heels swiftly clip-clopped down the hall.
"Nii-san…?" Setsu stood warily to her feet.
"Setsu, go after the girl." Cain growled, hiding the pounding, panicked feeling in his own chest. His black trench coat flapping behind him, Cain flung open the door to their hotel room and immediately turned to the door on the right. Behind him, he heard Setsu sprint from the room and down the hall, in hot pursuit.
His sweaty palm closed on the doorknob. The door resisted the firm tug.
Shit. Locked.
Backing up, Cain raised his foot and delivered a heavy, body-weight carrying frontal kick to the door. The wood of the hotel door creaked temptingly but didn't budge. Casting about himself, he noticed a fire extinguisher in a glass case farther down the hall.
Wrapping his elbow in his thick coat, Cain grunted and with one solid thrust, shattered the glass casing. Quickly, he grabbed the heavy extinguisher and lugged it back to the door.
With two swings, the red metal cylinder battering rammed the door, splintering near the lock. On the third strike, the door flew open on its hinges, lock compromised.
Cain quickly strode into the hotel room, identical to his own, except for the pale, flabby arm slumped over the far side of the duvet. Moving quickly, the mercenary reached Yamashita's body lying face down on the stained carpet. Some maneuvering was required, but Cain managed to shove his two fingers against the man's chubby, sweaty neck.
A moment of quiet dread settled over Ren. Nothing.
But then… a beat. Then… another. Slow, for sure, and weak, but undeniably a soft, thready pulse. But the man wasn't breathing…
Trying to move fast, but hampered by Yamashita's girth, Ren grabbed hold of the man's ankles and pulled the nearly-dead weight into the center of the room, away from the corner.
Immediately, Ren began chest compressions. Fingers interlaced, palms down and lined up mid-sternum, pushing hard and deep at a fast pace. Muffled cracks and pops sounded from Yamashita's chest as Ren's initial compressions strained and cracked the dying man's rib cartilage.
"You're not going to die," he growled to the lifeless body. "Not without my say-so."
-x-
Kyoko's heart hammered a rapid rhythm in her chest as she sprang from the Heel siblings' hotel room like a sprinter off her block. Running as fast as she could in her stiletto boots, Agent M jinked around the corners of the fourth floor hallway. She heard the echoing clip-clop of high heels right before she caught a glimpse of the eye-catching purple skirt disappear around the corner to the stair well.
Round and round, floor after floor, down, down, down, Kyoko chased the sharp echoes of the hooker's heels. Growling in frustration, Kyoko heard the heavy slam of a metal push bar opening a door. She hadn't caught up to the suspect before she reached the ground floor.
Five seconds later, Kyoko burst through the same metal door leading to the Chou's lobby. Five seconds too late.
Still trying to channel Setsu for the sake of appearances, Kyoko's eyes subtly darted around the foyer, searching for the purple skirt.
No one. No one at the bar. No one in the lobby.
Immediately, Kyoko briskly strode for the main entrance, ignoring the appreciative glances she was getting from the hotel's male patrons. She burst out into the street, her eyes rapidly scanning to and fro through the crowds.
But even if there had been a voluptuous, dark-haired woman in a purple skirt, she had dissolved into the crowds of pleasure-seekers that flooded the streets of Kabukicho. Disappeared without a trace.
She felt inclined to snap a string of obscenities, but she was more Kyoko than Setsu at the moment, and by habit, she refrained. Biting her lip in frustration sufficed.
"Kyoko-chan," her comm link squawked to life in her ear. Yashiro's voice sounded tight with worry, and Kyoko could hear his frantic typing. She thought she could also make out the President shouting indistinctly in the background. "We lost sight of the woman on camera after the stairs. But Ren needs help. Can you grab the lobby's AED before you head up?"
Not bothering to verbally reply, Setsu swiveled on her heel and walked quickly back into the hotel. Skewering passersby with a steely glare, she quickly made her way over to the lobby's bathrooms and swiped the boxed defibrillator from the wall. Setsu almost ran over a sunglasses-wearing brunette who had been exiting the bathroom while fiddling with her purse, but the Brit didn't bother to apologize.
Seeing that the signage declaring the elevators under construction had been removed, Setsu jabbed the button and rode the elevator up to the fourth floor.
-x-
Sweat slicked down Ren's forehead as he worked. The dizzying, panicky feeling from before was slowly being replaced by a heavy, joint-stiffening, gut-wrenching sense of dread.
Meanwhile, Yashiro was talking quickly in Ren's ear. "Ren, covert medic is enroute. Their ETA is 5 minutes. You need to get a defibrillator. That's the only way we're bringing him back."
"I know," Ren grunted. He had sent Mogami-san after the woman suspect. Was that a mistake? Maybe Ren should have sent her for an AED. Maybe the LME unit would lose their only lead on Delta because Ren had made the wrong judgment call… Maybe Ren had lost his only lead to finding the man responsible for Rick's murder… Maybe…
"Nii-san," an irked voice sounded from the doorway. Heels of stiletto boots clomped across the floor.
"Setsu, get the–"
A tinny, automated female voice politely interrupted him, "Attach the pads to the AED machine."
Working faster than the machine could spew out directions, Setsu hooked up the defibrillator. With an expression of distaste, she quickly used the bed sheet to wipe the sweat off Yamashita's chest, then slapped the pads on the man's pale, flabby torso.
"Analyzing rhythm," the machine cued. "Please remove your hands."
Cain stopped his compressions and leaned back, eyeing Setsu who handled the whole situation with her characteristic indifference. Albeit a minor tic of annoyance that crossed her brow.
"She got away," Cain read in his sister's expression.
Her scowl deepened minutely in response.
"Shock advised," the AED intoned politely. "Please stay clear."
"Clear," Cain grunted and pressed the button with the lightning bolt.
-x-
"It's done," she said evenly into the cellphone. The brunette woman in the black pantsuit and large sunglasses shifted the bucket purse higher on her shoulder and continued to walk through Shinjuku station. Her high heels clip-clopped briskly on the tile floor.
The voice on the other end of the line hummed in appreciation. "Good work."
"You owe me, you know?" She said with mild petulance. "That's got to be the worst assignment you've ever given me."
She could almost picture her boss's apologetic smile from across the line. "Sorry. I'll add on a bonus this time around."
This time, it was her turn to smile. Thoughts turned from that flabby greaseball gasping for air to the cute Louis Vuitton purse she had been eyeing at the mall the other day.
Delta continued talking, "Just remember. It's all for—"
"The greater good," she finished for him, trying not to sound too weary. "Hai, hai…"
Despite her distaste for tonight's assignment, Kappa was grateful to Delta for giving her a chance to utilize her specific set of skills. After all, the market was scarce. Covert seduction and assassination was such a niche field. His strange philosophy was none of her concern.
Suddenly remembering the strange blonde girl in black leather, Kappa said, "Also, don't know if you saw, but you've got some interesting characters on your tail, Delta."
"Mmm, I know," her boss mused. "Don't worry about them."
"Well, just so you know."
Reaching track 9, the brunette descended the stairs. Her train was on the tracks.
"You know how to get in contact with me if you need me," Kappa replied. "Ugh. I need to go home and take a scalding hot shower to disinfect."
"Mmm," Delta replied evenly.
"Oh, and Delta-san?"
"Yes."
"Next time, give me a nice, young, hot target. Ne?"
With that parting line, the brunette snapped the cheap flip-phone closed in one hand, smoothly removed the battery, and tossed both in the trashcan at the bottom of the stairs. She then entered the last train car, right before the doors slid shut. The train glided smoothly out of the station and into the humid Tokyo night.
-x-
Notes:
AED – Automated External Defibrillator; found in most public places (train stations, bathrooms in malls and hotels, etc), used to deliver an electric shock to reset the rhythm of someone having a heart attack. Fun medical tip of the day: Though many medical TV shows and movies show doctors "shocking" patients who are flat-lining, in real life, a "flat line" is one cardiac rhythm that is considered "unshockable".
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MAILBAG
JeremyVD – Hey! Long time no see! Sadly, we won't be seeing the full extent of Maria's voodoo shenanigans, as it was only a short "omake" chapter. I only added it last minute since I wanted to give a little bit of light-hearted background to a relevant plot point that will be coming up. As for Agent M & T, though they aren't going to be bothered by a certain hotel mogul's heir, they must suffer the fate of all main characters: they must live exciting lives. AKA: nothing ever goes quite as planned. Haha Thanks as always JeremyVD!
MWEH – Indeed, Kyoko has a knack for deflecting her feelings for Ren almost to the point of being brilliant. Though, upon second thought, a lot of the hints she gives to people about her true feelings for Ren can often be excused as, "This girl is just strange." She can act as erratically as she wants, and few people think it strange. xD I'm glad that I can help with your Skip Beat void! I'm pretty darn bummed though that there's not going to be a manga update this month. I know the mangaka lifestyle is no joke (very stressful), but still… I wish we could get more Skip Beat :( Thanks for the review! Hopefully as things get more intense, the impact will be bigger because of the build-up!
Shizuhoe - Sadly, we won't be seeing the full extent of Maria's voodoo shenanigans, since it was only an omake chapter. But to answer your question, Maria needed younger blood because it will make her jinx stick better. Hiou is closer in age to Sho than any of the other males she's close to. (Ren is closer in age, but Maria-chan would never spill a drop of Ren's precious blood, right?) As for Kyoko, she ordered the drink, but only pretended to drink it, since she expected Ren to be back sooner rather than later. As for the intensity of this chapter, I do admit that this is only the beginning of the next story arc. Over time, it should get more exciting (hopefully today was more intense!). As for Setsu, Lory created her for the same reason as in the manga, since… Is Ren more in control of Kuon…? Hehehe… We shall see~
Aikori Ichijouji – Thanks for the praise~! And yup! I've only finished a few stories on this site, and this one is definitely going to be my longest, so I envy you! Haha Congrats to your sisters-in-law! Med school is no joke, and residency is even worse (I'm a PA student, which is a little different and doesn't require residency). I run into my fair share of residents, and I'm pretty sure they all have a crazy amount of sleep debt and have coffee instead of blood flowing through their veins. Haha Thanks for the well wishes!
Knight Patisser – Woohoo! It's always nice hearing that I have such an eager reader! Also, if newer chapters are correct, it might be Yashiro that turns out to be Kyoko's manager… But I am also hoping for a sexy female manager for Kyoko who's more than a match for Yashiro as well! ;)
SingingAngel327 – Thanks for the review! Sadly, Maria's only appearance for now is in this short omake chapter. However, the effects of her curse will be soon revealed. Haha Hope to keep you excited about the next chapter!