Thankfully, the park wasn't particularly crowded as she crossed it to get to the ramen stall. Less people meant she didn't have to work more to fix her cloudy expression. Maybe she was acting a little dramatic, but what was she supposed to do? She hated being lied to and Nobume had done just that.
When she got past the duck pond leading to the outer part of the eastern side of the park, she spotted the ramen stall. A lone, male figure sat on the middle stool. He had removed his uniform jacket and folded it on the empty stool to his left. His right arm was bandaged, though she could still make out the faint redness of possible blood. Whatever event had him taking an early lunch, it must have been recent and painful.
Soyo walked over and plopped down in the empty seat directly to his right.
"No lunch for me today, Kojima," she told the old man running the stall when he'd walked over. "Not hungry."
Nodding but saying nothing, Kojima filled her a cup of tea and went about on his way grilling some food for his stall. That's what she loved about his ramen stall. He was a man of few words, never asked questions—no matter how odd the conversations—or inquired about his customer's lives, and on top of that, he had the best grilled food and ramen this side of Edo.
"If you're not eating because you spent all you had on rent, I'll buy," her companion said while slurping up his noodles. "But it'll cost you."
"Sougo," Soyo greeted as she set the papers she'd stolen on the counter between them. "I need a favour."
"With you it's always favours…" Okita eyed them, vexed. "I get one hour for lunch. Why do you insist on ruining it?"
"Because otherwise your life would go too easily for you. Someone has to make trouble for you, Super Sadist."
"The super sadist is clearly you," he responded as he drank some of his tea. "I'm guessing your face and arm are a result of your odd sexual kinks."
He'd spoken with his usual casual indifferent, though the mirthful twinkle in his eyes belied the fact he was joking. Maybe. Sometimes it was hard to tell with him too. His deadpan poker face could give Nobume's a run for her money.
She rolled her eyes. "Sougo, today is not the day. "
He glanced at her curiously, but dropped it nonetheless. He gestured to the file with his chopsticks. "Fine. What's this? A job?"
"Of sorts… I got it from Nobume."
Okita rose a brow incredulously.
"Fine, stole it. Same difference." She tapped on the top of the first paper impatiently. "But that's not important. Just read this."
He set down his bowl and observed the bounty at the top with a low whistle. "Five point three million each? You catch these two, you'll be rich. Who the hell are the targets to merit this high a bounty?"
Soyo stayed quiet, bracing herself as she watched him continue to read through the file. With each word though, his brows creased further and he looked more and more displeased. By the time he was done reading, he was full on scowling, and she mentally prepared herself for the lecture that was sure to follow.
Sougo looked up and stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "Soyo. These are Harusame assassins."
She nodded, her fists clenching. "I know."
"Unless another Harusame popped up in Edo," Okita said slowly, giving her an unreadable look, "you can't take this case. Shinsengumi and Mimawarigumi are already working on it."
"So you knew too, huh?" she muttered in displeasure with narrowed eyes. "How could you and Nobume hide this from me?"
He waved the papers around. "This is too personal—"
"Enough!" Soyo barked, so loud that patrons strolling in the park stopped briefly and turned to the ramen stall from her outburst. She sank back into her seat, quieting for a brief moment until the curious individuals were minding their own business and had gone back to their activities. "I'm tired of you guys saying this all the time. This is my one and only shot. Why don't you understand that I need to get my revenge?!"
"Because you'll never be satisfied with the kind of revenge you're seeking."
"Don't you dare tell me that!" she hissed, jabbing Okita harshly in the shoulder. "When your sister died, you went and—"
"It's because of what I did that I'm telling you it's not worth it. Spending each day and night fixated on only one thing to the point that you make yourself sick is no way to live. Succeeding doesn't feel like a triumph. It makes you feel empty inside because no matter what you do to avenge your loved one, you can never get them back. You spend so long defined by revenge that when it's over, there's nothing left to live for in your life. But you'll definitely make enemies along the way." Okita growled back, raising his bandaged arm in front of her face. Through the gauze, she could see a long gash spanning the entirety of his forearm. "Enemies that will have you constantly looking over your shoulder. If you get careless, this is what happens, Soyo. I know exactly what you're going through. You're not the only one who's lost someone important before. The difference is, you're not inescapably involved. Free yourself of this mess. Move on and live your life."
"No… The difference is, you got actual closure because you knew who was responsible. I spend every day haunted by my brother's ghost because I can't figure out a single damn thing," Soyo refuted staunchly.
He didn't respond for a while, silently sipping his tea, although he still didn't look like he was budging anytime soon.
"And all this time, what I've been looking for has been right here under my nose. My chance to avenge my brother… and Nobume never told me! Neither did you!"
"You know why." Okita repeated wanly, staring at the documents like they were a true bother. "You'd stop at nothing to avenge your brother. Taking this on will require you to blow past whatever limits you might have, Soyo. You'll have to do things that you'll never be able to forget. This is not something you can turn back from."
"I know, okay?!" she shouted, banging her fist on the countertop and clattering the silverware.
Kojima turned and looked at Okita in worry, but he waved the old man's concerns away with a lazy gesture of his hand.
"I know what taking this case will do…" Soyo repeated helplessly. "But I… It's not even about the money. I need to take this case. For my brother. For me. I need closure, Sougo. It's been three years. I can't sleep. I can't eat properly. Every day, a cold anger simmers under my skin, a breath away from taking over and turning me into someone I won't even recognise. I can't live like this anymore. This isn't a life."
Consumed by grief. But filled with so much anger she couldn't stand it.
Her brother's honour resided on her now. And to get it back, she needed to find those responsible. No matter what it took.
She didn't like being vulnerable and she definitely did not want anyone to see that she'd been struggling with what happened for so long, but she trusted Okita. And he was the only one who knew the pain she was going through. She had thought that of anyone, at least he might understand why she was doing what she was doing.
Okita contemplated her for a while, his expression blank and unreadable, but years of being close friends with him had taught her how to read when he was thinking deeply about something or if he was being dismissive. A few minutes of quiet passed with only the sound of the frying eel around them as Kojima began on a second batch of food for customers.
"You've gotta understand where I'm coming from." She stared down at her fist, the chipped fingernails, scabs on her knuckles and puffy, bruised, and discoloured skin from all the fights she'd been in. "There's no meaning to life when you're lost like this."
He finally sighed heavily in annoyance and rubbed the back of his neck. "Soyo, even if we let you take the case, this isn't a one man job. These two pictured here are high up on Harusame's ranks apparently, one of them is an actual captain, and on top of that, they were of the defunct Yato yakuza clan. The Yato were known primarily for their legions of quality assassins. When the family crumbled, most of them became private contractors."
"Means nothing to me. Your point?"
"My point is," he rose a brow sceptically, "one wrong move, and you'll have a gang of murderous criminals after your head. You don't even know who actually did it."
"If I capture them, I can get the information I need," Soyo responded stubbornly.
That brought out a loud snort from Okita, who couldn't help but chuckle at her zeal. "Capture them? Two elite assassins. How?"
A small smile appeared on her face. She was definitely going to love ruining his day. "That's where you come in."
"You're not serious." He gave her a deadpan look, but when she simply returned it, he scowled. "I'm not helping you on this wild goose chase. I have orders from Hijikata already. I'm not to touch this case either."
"Oh I'm dead serious. You owe me since I helped you catch that Joui leader once."
"He escaped." Okita countered. "You really weren't any help at all."
"I used resources and my precious time to lure him into your trap, and he only got away because your Shinsengumi officers are bumbling morons. I'm calling my favour in now, so quit acting like a little bitch and help me, Sougo."
He looked peeved by her statements, but she knew he wouldn't outright object. Okita had been one of her family's security details way back when, and though he was no longer her bodyguard, she knew there was some part of him that still couldn't help but follow her orders.
"I can't just take time off work without a good reason."
"Find a way. You always do."
"Soyo… think about who you're going after here. Harusame isn't a gang to take lightly. They have eyes and ears everywhere and if it comes out that you're going after them, you'll have a target right on your back. You need to be smart about this. You need to make a proper plan before you go all out, gun ablazin. You know damn well your usual approach isn't going to work. You won't be getting off with just a scrape or a dislocated joint if you screw up."
"I don't care. Harusame is responsible for the death of my brother. And I'm going to make them all pay if it's the last thing I do."
"It might actually be."
"Then so be it," she said decisively.
Okita rolled his eyes, picking up the file once again. "So that's it then? You're just going to go after these two unhinged looking siblings—who, might I add, we have no information about whatsoever—wanted in several prefectures for who knows what, capture them somehow, and then interrogate them to get the information you need? And this is assuming you even survive the first encounter with them in the first place."
It was true that in the pictures their eyes did have some crazy gleam in them that made Soyo hesitate a bit—not to mention the brother had a bloodthirsty smile that was chilling—but this was the first time in three years that she'd managed to find a proper lead on anything Harusame related. Nobume refused to divulge any information to her because of the sore topic of conversation, and it wasn't like Soyo could easily do some searching on her own when information on this was so well hidden. The Harusame wasn't one of the top secret crime organisations for nothing. They were so secretive and under the radar that some people honestly thought they were truly myths. There were times when Soyo had believed so as well.
Well, at least until they'd swiftly and brutally made their existence known to her and tore her life apart in one day.
"We just have to be careful not to incite their wrath." She patted Okita's cheek condescendingly. "You're a relatively good looking guy. Use your charms and seduce the sister. Give her a good dicking down to distract her, and I'll handle her psycho brother. Besides, you need to bone someone anyway. When was the last time you got laid?"
He ignored her quips. "This is a suicide mission. I always knew you were kind of nuts, Soyo, but honestly, not to this extent…"
"You can thank the Harusame for destroying the only life I knew for that." She snatched the papers out of his hand, folding them again and sticking them back into her jacket.
"Look." Okita suddenly looked exhausted. "I know you want your revenge, but do you really think this is the best way to go about this?"
"There are no other options, so what the hell am I supposed to do? It's been three years with no results. I'm not waiting anymore. So if you know anything at all—anything—I'd be nice to get an idea of where to start to find these two assassin siblings. You're first division captain. You have to be informed. Please? Please help me? I need help from someone with easy access to all city resources."
"So you're using me."
"Sougo, please." She was this close to getting on the ground and grovelling, and part of her wondered if he would make her do it too.
But he simply shook his head in defeat.
"Fine. I'm not supposed to tell you this—"
"Since when do you care about the rules? Frankly I'm disgusted by your sudden growth of a moral conscience," she joked.
"—But Mimawarigumi and Shinsengumi have an informant. Well, I say informant, but really, he's a drug dealer who makes some deliveries and carries out some work for Harusame from time to time. It's been hard gaining his trust, but we've cut a deal with him to let him continue his work, and he gives us some information, for a price."
"You think he might know who the two of them are? Or where they are?"
He shrugged, taking out an old receipt from his pocket and a pen and scribbling on it. "There's a possibility. This is his name. That's all he goes by. He refuses to disclose his appearance to us and we're still not sure just how connected to Harusame he may be. For all we know, he could be one of the leaders or something."
Soyo took the paper from Okita when he slid it over to her. Daraku. She'd never heard of the name before, but she was sure doing a little bit of digging could turn up some clues about this man.
"How do I get in contact with him?"
Okita's brows furrowed. "You won't. Don't do something stupid like try to talk to or find this guy alone. If you contact him and try to get information, he could get suspicious and end the deal to protect himself. You could make us lose months' worth of investigation and work to even get an informant in the first place."
Soyo glowered at him. "Well then what the hell was the point of giving me this name?"
"It's a starting point so you can do research on Harusame. I didn't tell you his name so you could go interrogate him." Okita pulled out his wallet and removed a handful of bills which he placed on the counter under his bowl. "Stay out of the way of anything huge we're currently investigating, Soyo. This is too important an operation and we have too many undercover officers who could be endangered if you do something rash. Thanks for lunch, Kojima."
Without so much else as a nonchalant wave, he grabbed his uniform jacket and stood up, ambling back down the road to head back to work. Soyo sat in place for a while though, staring at the name on the paper and trying to determine how to go about finding this man.
She knew enough about the drug game in the streets of Edo that asking a few of her contacts might get her some details on their main suppliers which could get her some info on a high profile seller like Daraku, but her increasing infamy and her known affiliation with the police might put her at a disadvantage. Honour among thieves and what not. What she needed to do first was figure out his location.
And once she did that, screw Okita's warnings. She would definitely be interrogating him.