Chapter 3: Communication May Or May Not Be Helpful
At an early age, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi showed a precociousness that both awed and scared his father.
Tokugawa Iemitsu wrote on his journals: 'The child seems to be so knowing, so lively, he outshines [his brother] Ietsuna, even at five years his junior. Tsunayoshi is both bright and charismatic, something sickly Ietsuna does not share. Even now, he shines brighter than the sun, eclipsing his brother and his other half-siblings. But the succession has already been decided, the wife and her clan will not fail to create chaos in the region if Ietsuna is not heir. The last thing I would wish for is for my children to fight over the succession of the Shogun, like I had to with my brother.'
His feelings regarding that matter were so strong that he sent Tokugawa Tsunayoshi to be moved with his mother to her own private apartments, where he would visit infrequently. His father decreed that his education would not be that of a samurai, as befitting his station, but that of a scholar. His mother was his lifeline, a remarkable woman, the adopted child of nobility, who was said to be both intelligent and compassionate, an unrivalled beauty of the time. There are, however, few records about or regarding her, except that of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi himself, and these are often vague. He describes her as 'a loving, compassionate woman, though, perhaps, more naïve of the dangers of reality than good for her'.
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi spent his childhood in his mother's care, and his circumstances were left largely unchanged when, at the age of nine, Tokugawa Iemitsu passed and his elder brother Ietsuna took his place. His material circumstances, for one, were unaffected. His inheritance was handled by his mother, who already had abundant finances at the time.
Having been largely ignored by his father, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi had, in turn, ignored him. It seemed that there were no feelings of affection of closeness between them and his loss of a father was rarely, if ever, touched on. His mother, from before Tokugawa Iemitsu passed on, often reflected her worry of his father's determined refusal to meet the child when he visited her (his visits to Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's mother were quite frequent) and the child's lack of emotional response regarding his father.
There is hardly any mention of Tokugawa Iemitsu in journals by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. The rare instances where he wrote about his father reflected a distant, detached relationship:
'Mother cried bitterly whenever [Tokugawa Iemitsu] was not around. When [Tokugawa Iemitsu] was around, she would cry tears of joy, only to change to sorrow once he left. But I rarely saw him; even when he visited, he oft left before meeting with me. I can count with my fingers the number of time where he purposely sought me.'
'I am grateful to Iemitsu for leaving me with a scholar's education. While my siblings look down upon me for it, I will lead Japan and the region into prosperity. Economics, laws, rights and why we ought to have them; those lessons that he believed would make me a less likely candidate for the Shogunate, I will use to the fullest. Already I have plans to redistribute the income to the poor; the disproportionate amount of money that Iemitsu and Iestuna allowed to be kept to the corrupt and those born powerful deprives the poor of that which ought to be basic. Prosperity and stability, cultural progress and social development are not things that can be bought with gold and will only come about when the common man is contented…'
Tokugawa Tsunayoshi seemed largely unbothered by his father's distance, which he compensated with by his closeness with his mother. The very intelligence, vivacity and charisma that made his father fear for the stability of his region made Tokugawa Tsunayoshi the leader of one of the most progressive and prosperous times of ancient Japan.
― Tokugawa Tsunayoshi: A Biography of the Dog Shogun, written by Kiyo Setsuna and tranlated by Emily Rotsugawa
Kyoko Sasagawa blinked in confusion. "H-hello, candidate twenty-seven? This is S.K. from the Information Bureau, can you hear me?"
The sound of breaking glass resounded from the other end, and the voice was muffled and hurried when it spoke. "Yeah, hi," he began, neither formal nor intimidating, either of which was generally the expected the behavior. His voice was kind of high for a guy, Kyoko wondered if his voice had broken yet. His next sentence was unintelligible, but she had roughly caught the words 'hang on'. A gunshot startled her, but she did not do more than straighten in her seat.
She waited patiently, wondering to herself how young people came into the mafia. Kyoko knew kids that were in it; she had met the Special Informant for Vongola, a child no more than twelve, at her welcome party. But those were usually born into it, and trained to work in the Mafia since they were born, so they shouldn't be taking the Recruitment Test. She mentally noted to check his file later. A couple of moments passed and she began to get a bit worried, even though she could still hear panting from the other end.
"Candidate twenty-seven? Are you still there?"
"Yes, but could you speak up a bit? It's a little bit noisy here." The screech of metal giving way emphasized his point. "Anyway, I need the utility records of Kokuyo Fun Land since the prisoners escaped. Could you send it to my phone? Also, GPS locations of the other candidates."
"Understood. They will be sent to you within five minutes." The person on the other end cut the line. Kyoko breathed out, a little worked up, as if she were the one undergoing all the excitement the other person on the line was. She was a little worried; she had never had someone call them up for information during a fight and she hoped he wouldn't die.
Utility records, she mused, wondering if they already had it in the database. They didn't, which meant she had to put in an urgent request for it to be sent to her. As she waited for it to be fulfilled, she sent a map with the current locations for the other candidates.
Come to think of it, the utility bill would be a good way of figuring how many people were there. Thefts in the local area, assumed to be committed by the group, was disproportionate in the number of snacks and sweets they bought. In addition… Within the location, Kyoko blinked. People liked convenience, so it was more likely than not that they would use the toilets or kitchen closest to where they tended to hide in. It was a large place, so the utility for each area was held separately, which made sense, since tenants of restaurants wouldn't want to pay for each other's utility bill either.
It was promising, she thought to herself. Most of the other requests she had gotten was for information already in the phone or for backup or more weaponry. Someone who thought it through enough to have considered all of that. As she received the utility bill and sent it off, she answered Haru's line.
Haru was a disguise specialist, a cheerful, upbeat girl with dark hair and her first friend from Italy. She wasn't far from the site of the test, having been tasked with disguise and thus was routinely called up to assist candidates in person. Like Kyoko herself, she kept from frontline positions and was slightly disgusted by the gore, but learnt to defend herself anyway. Having been in the line of work for longer than Kyoko herself, she had helped Kyoko and Hana acquire and learn to shoot a gun and get settled into Italy. In that order, because it was in descending order of importance.
"Kyoko? How are you holding up?"
Kyoko smiled. Haru was one of the few people she worked with who still bothered with pleasantries. "Nothing much has happened so far, but one of the people on recon just called and seemed to be in the middle of a gunfight."
She could almost hear Haru wrinkling her nose. "That isn't good for someone in recon. Anyway, the liaison with the solo investigative unit is worried that they may have gotten hold of him. I know his death is technically none of our concern, but…"
Fingers were already flying over the keyboard. "I'll contact one of the recon people immediately. We'll see what we can do." Haru hung up with a chirpy farewell that was out of place in the situation while Kyoko paused to lean back and look at her work. Hibari Kyouya's information was highly confidential and she wasn't supposed to disseminate it freely, so how should she go about this…
The man from before. The one from recon who was in a gunfight. She knew his voice and if she could give him vague but suitably guiding instructions about another task… Kyoko dialed Bianchi's number, drawing up the phone history from the computer that was connected to the headset on her head and the phone beside her. Candidate oh-two-seven…
Rolling out of the doorway, Tsuna pressed his phone between his shoulder and ear, clamping it against his cheek as he did his best to avoid the glass. He grimaced, ignoring the questioning female voice on the other end.
The man in front of him was pale, bespectacled, with black hair and a white beanie. He was wearing a black jacket and dark jeans, yo-yos in his hands spinning through the air. Tsuna briefly registered that they were made of solid metal before leveling his gun as he scrambled to his feet.
"Yeah, hi. I'm requesting for a little bit of information? Hang on," he added, training his gun onto the man. He shot one of the yo-yos off and it spiraled into the air, strange black needles staining the air as it exploded into the air. Both of them ducked out of range and Tsuna noted that they were probably poisoned, given the way his pursuer was temporarily forgoing the chase to check for signs of puncture.
"-You still there?" A hesitant voice came from the phone and Tsuna barely caught the end of it.
He sprinted off, swerving under a set of rickety metal stairs as he tried to put some distance between him and his pursuer, his head awkwardly pushed against his shoulder to hold up his phone to free up his hands. "Yes, but could you speak up a bit? It's a little bit noisy here. Anyway, I need the utility records of Kokuyo Fun Land since the prisoners escaped. Could you send it to my phone? Also, GPS locations of the other candidates." He put down the phone as soon as the woman on the other end voiced her assent.
As he hurried through the dark carven (oh god, he realized, I went into the Haunted House attraction itself), he closed one eye and took careful aim as he shot one of the overhead sprinklers. Tsuna ducked under one of the black curtains that left a huge gap from the wall itself, presumably to allow the 'ghosts' of the place to easily move around or come out undiscovered.
There were a few reasons for triggering the sprinklers and making them go off. The poison on the needles on his yo-yos were likely tipped with poison; if it was more complicated than that, it would be more troublesome, but Tsuna hoped that the water would possibly dilute it, enough so that it would give him a little more time if hit by it. Secondly, the water would alter the trajectory of the needles, which would take time to adjust. If his pursuer was half as experienced as Tsuna assumed he was, these would merely be an inconvenience to him.
Even through the shower, the bespectacled man's footsteps echoed loud and heavy, signaling to Tsuna exactly where he was. The room was dark, unsurprising, given that it was a haunted house, and whatever sunlight that came gave way to the darkness easily. The light switch would take too long to find in the middle of the chase. Tsuna who was trained in and excelled in stealth and escape had greater advantage here. From that way the man, Chisuka, Tsuna guessed from the picture given to him, moved, he wasn't trained to move quietly, at least, not quickly and quietly at the same time. The water would give away his position no matter how still or slow he was, and impede his accuracy if he moved too fast. For a poison user like him, a fault in accuracy could mean death for himself, so the alternative left was to reduce his speed.
The water was already soaking the ground and he was careful to make sure the sound of his footsteps were silent even against the water the squelched against anything that moved. It was so very dark, and not just a little creepy. He proceeded a little further into the maze, still within range of the sprinklers, wary of bumping into anything and giving away his position. The water was already soaking though his canvas sneakers, leaving an uncomfortable dampness in his socks and between his toes.
Hastily, Tsuna changed guns, tucking the one in hand in his left holster and yanking another, smaller one, from his right. Tsuna cocked his gun with one hand towards the curtain, relying on only his ears for the man's position. His other hand reached for his pocket with his thumb on a detonator and double checked it to see if got the right one; he wouldn't want to blow up himself. He closed his eyes.
One shot. He slowed his breath; he had never worked well under pressure. He would finish this in one shot. But even if he didn't, he would still have the advantage. It was okay.
The sound of the water helped. He couldn't feel the ripples of the water through his shoes, like he had been trained to do with his skin, but the sounds indicated the man's position almost just as well. The quiet squelch that he wasn't able to disguise, the strange feeling of gaps in the noise of the rain… There! Tsuna kept his eyes closed.
His finger pressed the detonator trigger. Molded into the bullet he had fired into the sprinkler was a explosive called C-4 that could not even be detonated by gunshot. Embedded into it was the detonator he had just fired remotely. While the roof was flimsy enough that the debris wouldn't cause anything other than minor injury unless it smacked you on the head, that was not Tsuna's aim. In fact, he had ensured the debris would be slightly in front of the man.
The eyes need time to adjust to light, just as they need to for darkness. The structure, Tsuna had noticed before hand, consisted of only one floor. It was high noon, and the C-4 had blown off a great chunk of the roof. Added to that fact that he had no idea where Tsuna was and the watery conditions he was unfamiliar with, Chisuka didn't stand a chance. The light that flooded the room would have even blinded Tsuna, were his eyes not already closed. As it were, pink-red replaced the darkness behind his eyelids.
Three shots, Tsuna had decided, eyes flying open, his lips curving as he heard the distinct sound of shock and a jump. Through the slight gap of the curtain, he saw him clear as daylight. He didn't want to kill the man, but wasn't sure enough of the position of the man's arms to target that area, so he fired one to each shoulder, praying hard he wouldn't accidentally get the him in the neck. The other was to the knee, to render him immobile.
He heard the body collapse and hesitantly peeked out of the curtains. Stony eyes blinked at him from where Chisuka lay immobile on the floor. He didn't get his neck, but one shot was on his collar bone, dangerously close to his neck. If it had got his windpipe then there would be a problem. Tsuna figured he couldn't speak as the localized numbing had already taken place. "S-sorry," he muttered, breaking out rope he had found from behind the curtains. "It's a numbing agent, but it takes a while to spread through the bloodstream, so I wanted to be on the safe side, especially if I couldn't get a blood vessel on the first shot. You should fall asleep in a little while."
Even as he spoke, his hands that bound the rope on his wrists and ankles felt the body slacken. Tightening the final knot, he sighed. The explosion was unlikely to have attracted attention of the criminals; judging by past records, they were more likely to dismiss it to their own being rowdy coupled with the frail architecture of the deteriorating structures. Even so, Tsuna tucked his captive away, into a cupboard. He retraced his steps and stowed himself back under the console he was first ambushed at.
He had five texts. One from the Smokin' Bomb, about how he and someone else had detained Joshima Ken, one from a random guy who had sent his position to everyone in the group for no reason whatsoever, one from S.K. about the information he had wanted. The utility records did more than just tell him their general location; it told him exactly where they were. The smell of ammonia, he had noticed before, was all over the grounds of the place, emitting from the footprints where dust was raised.
The place was dirty, so it was understandable they'd clean the toilet, hence the smell of ammonia, but for it to be this strong made Tsuna suspect that they spent a lot of time in there. It was also the perfect place to keep prisoners without having to clean up after them. Inspecting Chisuka's shoes only confirmed it. So now he had what was likely to be the holding place of the hostages.
The fourth was interesting. Call me ASAP. -S.K. In any other circumstance, Tsuna might wonder if he was being hit on, but that was ludicrous in this situation. Still he checked the next message before bothering with the informant's instructions.
The last message… Tsuna raised a brow. Well, things seem to have gotten interesting. His mouth twitched; it was progressing much faster than he had expected.
Wait for me. Stay put, sit tight and allow me to deliver retribution on your souls. -R.M.
Mochida glared at nothing in particular, straining against his bindings. The gag in his mouth was wet and didn't seem clean, add to the fact that he was sitting in a wet, moldy patch on the ground, arms chained behind his back, locking him against a water pipe.
Just a little while ago, that blonde man, the one that had fangs and growled like a dog when provoked, had left, leaving him alone with the rest of their prisoners. It was humiliating to have been caught, but this was his chance to turn the tables. In his defense, he was caught completely off guard. While he had been circling the area, he was ambushed by the aforementioned blonde man and a pale dark haired man with a white beanie.
At the very least, he had kept the blade in his shoe after they strip searched him. He had folded his legs and clumsily reached for the blade. Working it through the reinforced rope was slow work, but it eventually paid off. He cursed out loud as he finally worked free his bindings, yanking the cloth out of his mouth and stomping on it before spitting it for good measure.
The idiots, he scoffed, picking his gun, ammo and Swiss knife from the pile of confiscated items.
The first of the hostages he released was a man in his mid thirties, tanned, tattooed and shirtless, untended bruises all over his body and dark circles under his eyes from sleep deprivation. He was chained to the toilet, with multiple slashes on his body, grunting out his name, Lanchia, while Moichida painstakingly filed through the chains.
In the second stall was a teenage girl. Wispy, dark blue hair and a bright, wide, indigo eye blinked up at him, the other hidden by an eye patch. She was clad in a dirty white dress and a pink cardigan, her tiny frame malnourished and frail.
Lanchia went over to the pile of items that Moichida had retrieved his weapons from. He passed a handgun to Chrome, which Moichida vehemently protested against ("She's just a little girl! She can't use a damn gun and it is a waste of-!") only to be silenced by a hard look from both of them. Lanchia himself retrieved the chain that he previously bound him down and wrapped it around his hand.
Moichida was quite dissatisfied. Despite being the hero of the rescue, he hadn't received much more than sloppy gratitude. This was not how he had planned it to go. Of course, being locked up wasn't part of the plan either. But he was compelled to follow Lanchia's words.
Lanchia was famously known as one of the best bodyguards in the business, having already spent two decades of his life up to his ears in the mafia, he was a true veteran. Rumor had it that he had even once thwarted the Varia. Moichida wasn't sure if he was guarding the girl, but if rumors held any merit, he was sure that the man would use not only himself, but Moichida too, as a human shield for his client without hesitation.
In the few moments it took for them to get ready to move off, Moichida was mercilessly interrogated for information, never mind that he had not seen the grounds of Kokuyo Funland before. Lanchia was obviously frustrated at the complete lack of information and the girl hadn't spoken a word at all. Moichida's rage was heightening too. It wasn't as if it was his fault that they had taken his Vongola issued phone!
Both turned pale when this outburst finally came through. While Moichida had, at first, thought that it was due to the din he was creating, he quickly realized otherwise. "Any messages your comrades or Vongola has sent you would have been intercepted. Rokudo Mukuro knows all of their plans. You have effectively sent those men to their death."
Mochida paled. This wasn't what he had signed up for. It was supposed to be a simple thing, wasn't it? Having been an errand boy for the Japanese Yakuza back in his hometown, and rising the ranks to the become their second in command, he thought he had a good grasp of what he ought to do. He hadn't actually killed anyone before; they were primarily concerned with drug trade and gun laws in Japan restricted their ability to get a gun at all.
His head was spinning. Lanchia looked positively murderous and Moichida half suspected that he would slaughter him there and then for what he had allowed to happen. "Lanchia, this isn't the time," the girl's quiet voice interrupted. "Besides, we were caught off-guard as well."
Her words seemed to have calmed down the giant bodyguard for he turned back to Moichida, less bloodthirsty, but obviously more strained. "Both of us," Lanchia gestured towards himself and Chrome, "are bodyguards of a little boy they took away shortly after you were brought here. He is a child from within Vongola, but he gave his services to the Cavallone Family, who hired us. No one should know of this, but somehow, Rokudo Mukuro does."
Abruptly, the door flew open, kicked off its hinges in an instant. All of them froze, turning to face the new arrival.
Gokudera Hayato scowled at his phone. Everyone was going crazy, panicking over one of the candidate's capture. The combined group messaging system, which had been completely unused up till that point, was bursting with activity, causing his phone to vibrate constantly. It seemed they hadn't even realized that the criminal could also see what they were messaging.
The idiots, he scoffed. None of that changed what they had to do. But he had to admit that the message shook him. While he was confident enough of Vongola's security system that he was sure that his position and whatever he had given to Vongola was out of the criminal's reach, he knew exactly what they were after. He knew that they were after the hostages, knew that Joshima Ken had been detained, knew that they were coming. The element of surprise had been lost the moment he and Ryohei had cleared off several trees, but this was far worse. Rokudo Mukuro knew how many of them there were and what they each did.
But the chaos going on in his phone was not the answer. They needed to be calm and level-headed, which wasn't really Gokudera's forte, but Ryohei's reckless spontaneity had the effect of forcing him into that position for a while now. Ryohei himself was scrolling through the messages, brow furrowed in confusion as he tried to read through all the messages, only they popped up quicker than he could finish reading them.
It took Gokudera a few moments to realize that Ryohei stopped having trouble. He stooped over to his side and was startled at the message that had been texted to Ryohei.
Candidate #027: Please use the group messaging system to give R.M. the impression that we are in chaos and panicking.
Gokudera almost laughed and took out his own phone. He blinked at the message. It was different from Ryohei's.
Candidate #027: Please head over to the coordinates attached. Prepare to engage hostilities.
I'm not dead yet. The next update will take a while though. Send me a review, whether it is to point out a grammar mistake, tell me what you liked or hated, or what (or who) you would like to see more of! Questions are welcome too, although I won't reply them if they are anonymous; I dislike posting author notes after chapters as it is, much less putting review replies here.