Chapter 10: Bad Omen.
That night, Shun Akemi headed to the Ryoki Corporation Main Offices in Misaki as agreed earlier with the man in black, who was waiting for him at the door. While he was en route, the employee received a call from Goro.
"He's coming, sir." he said. On the other side of the phone, the businessman smirked.
"Very good!" he said "Probably he gave you a hard time when you came..."
"Yes sir, he did..." the employee answered.
"He's like that with us. Don't be offended." his employer continued on. "Take him to me, then I'll try to reason with him."
"Yes , Ryoki-sama!" the man in black hung up when Shun had arrived. He greeted with a slight bow, then he guided the black-haired man up to an office door. On it was written "CEO". Shun entered in the man's office, and the chair behind the desk in front of him turned, revealing the man who was waiting for him.
"Welcome to Ryoki Corporation, Akemi Shun."
Shun glared at the businessman and his hands closed in fists as the haunting memories of 6 months before came back. He was the man responsible for all of that, he and his son, and now he was in front of him.
"I need to talk to you. That's why I called you here." Goro explained sensibly.
"You and I don't have anything to tell each other." Shun coldly replied. The man had expected such a reaction.
"Yes, we do. And that glare of yours won't change it." He said, then, he politely invited the man to sit down in front of him. "Please, have a seat."
The black-haired young man reluctantly did as he was told, and Goro snapped a finger. His employee took a glass of wine and put it on the desk, near Shun. He glanced at the glass with a look of distrust in his eyes.
"Don't worry, it's not poison or anything, if you were wondering." Goro commented, noticing the distrust of the young man sitting in front of him. On his hand, Shun wanted to end it as soon as possible. He wanted to leave that man as soon as possible, hopefully not to meet him ever again.
"Just tell me what do you want, before I'm tempted to break your neck." he coldly demanded, making the businessman slightly chuckle. On the contrary, his employee was visibly frightened from the young man's declaration, and cold sweat was trickling down his face.
"If you'll just listen to me, I won't be long." he answered. He looked serene, despite the former policeman's threat "Tell me, boy, have you ever heard of the Holy Grail?"
A tense silence came to pass in the room. Then, Shun's words of disbelief broke it.
"Do you think I could possibly believe in such ridiculous stuff?" Goro's reply to such words was ready and quick.
"Ridiculous? Have you forgotten what happened 6 months ago?" The statement was meant to bring back memories into the one who was hearing it, and it did just that, much to Shun's pain and anger. The black-haired young man clenched his fists even harder. Goro continued on.
"You could see for yourself that there were people searching for it, ready to do anything in order to get it, I won't talk about their actions because you know damn well about those..." Shun felt the urge to beat the businessman down build up more and more inside him.
"What happened back then is more than enough proof of it Shun. The Holy Grail exists." Goro said "And whoever gets it can have anything he wishes for. Imagine what I could do with it!" As the employer talked, his employee tensed up, feeling the tension that was building up in the room.
"Don't worry, Shun." Goro said "If you accept to cooperate with me, I will be able to reward you most appropriately." He snapped a finger once again and his employee put on the table a case and opened it, revealing a million yen inside.
"This million yen is only one of the many opportunities open to you." he declared. After a few seconds, though, Shun got up and moved to the door. Resentment and an unpleasant stench of suspicion made him not even consider the CEO's offer.
"And what about your girlfriend's sister?" Goro's question made the young man stop in his tracks "I've heard that she's been ill for two months..."
At those words Shun snapped. He lunged towards the businessman, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him on the wall. That man had already ruined his life once, he couldn't let him do it a second time. The employee pulled out a gun from his jacket and pointed it to the former policeman
"What now, she wasn't enough, you son of a bitch?" he growled menacingly. "If you dare lay a finger on her sister, I will kill you!" His fists, holding Goro's collar, were trembling from rage. He felt that should have done it a long time before, and he himself didn't know why he didn't do it in the first place.
Despite that, the elderly businessman had a serene expression on his face and his mouth was curved in a slight smirk. The young man holding him saw nothing but malice in his red eyes, and his look made him boil even more.
"Stay away from me as well." With that last threat, Shun pushed Goro against the wall, before letting go of him and going away. The Ryoki worker was ready to follow the young man, but his employer stopped him.
"There's no problem. He will be back soon." he assured.
"How can you be so sure about that, sir?" his employee asked, voicing his doubts, as he put the gun back in his jacket.
"I don't have to tell you." Goro replied "Feel free to call it a business secret. You can go now." The worker obliged and left as well. Something shimmered in the businessman's eyes. They were glowing of an ominous light…
Meanwhile…
Kazuki opened his eyes and found himself lying on a grassy field, with a starry night sky above him. A shining full moon was before the boy's eyes in all of its splendor. His first instinct was to sit up, and he saw that a lake was right in front of him. The water reflected the moonlight, looking like it was glowing. It was a breathtaking sight.
Then, the boy noticed that the stars were becoming shinier and shinier. The glowing blue points slowly grew into lines, which then opened up. Soon, there were no more stars, but eyes, shining of a bright blue light, fixated on the boy.
Kazuki was confused and slightly unsettled by the sight that had just unfolded. It didn't help that the eyes were reflected by the lake, so Kazuki felt like there were even more eyes watching him…
All of a sudden, the eyes began to shift from blue to red…
Red light was everywhere…
Even the moonlight became red...
Everything became red…
The earth trembled beneath Kazuki as the pupil in the eyes became straight, making them look like menacing cat eyes. On the moon two symbols, looking like demonic fangs, were carved…
Crows began flying in the blood red sky, letting out unspeakable cries…
Theirs were not ordinary raven cries, but inhuman shrieks of rage, suffering and despair.
Kazuki gripped the sheets of his bed and opened his eyes quickly, in fear. He had just woken up from a nightmare. His eyes had the blue and golden light in them, which quickly vanished as the boy returned to reality.
He sat up and looked around in the room. There was nothing different. He looked at the window of his room. He saw through it a clear, calm, peaceful night sky.
"What the hell was that?" the boy wondered. "What should that have meant? Was that even supposed to mean something?"
That bad dream had left him with those questions and a bad feeling.
"If it had some meaning, it can't be anything good..." he thought as he lied back down on the bed.
Eventually, he slowly drifted back off to sleep, but still, he was shaken by the nightmare he had just experienced. He inwardly knew…
It was a bad omen from the depths of his mind…