Published at 3rd of September 2019 4:52 pm

Chapter 3

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

After breakfast, Kouta took Kyosuke around to several host and hostess bars to ‘collect money’ like he had said.

So this is ‘bodyguard money’? Kyosuke thought, feeling flustered and surprised to see with his own eyes this absurd yakuza system he had already read about on the Internet but obeyed Kouta anyway.

“Then let’s return to the office.” I’ll introduce you to the boss there, Kouta told Kyosuke making him panic immediately and think about what he should do once he was there. If the ‘boss’ was the wakagashira Kanou, meeting him now would be extremely bad since Kanou would recognize Kyosuke. They would find out that the name he had used was false, and there was the danger that even his mission would be discovered. But what reason could he give if he said right now, ‘It’s okay, you don’t need to introduce me’? Unable to come up with anything, Kyosuke faltered as he let himself get taken to the office of the Okawa, which stood in the hidden parts of Kabukicho.

“O-ho, Kouta! Looks like you scored yourself a babe, huh?”

The moment they entered the office, a bunch of bad looking guys surrounded Kouta and Kyosuke, teasing.

“What a pretty boy. I knew it, Kouta, so you are interested in that kind of stuff.”

“Noo.”

“I get it~ No girl wants to bang you, so you converted, huh?”

“Not want to bang him?! That can’t be!”

As they all took turns teasing him, Kouta proceeded deeper into the office and opened the door in the very back.

“Excuse me. I brought a guy who says he wants to join the group. Is the boss here?” Kouta asked a stone-faced man inside the room in a different tone of voice.

“Aniki Kanou ain’t in today,” the man replied roughly and stared hard at Kyosuke. “That him?”

“Yes. I thought I would let him work under me for a while.”

“It’s 10 years too early for you to be having subordinates, but whatever.”

It seemed that this middle-aged man also had a higher position within this group, and it looked like he let Kyosuke join the Okawa without him even meeting Kanou. Because Kyosuke hadn’t imagined that things would be moving this quickly, he was completely unprepared for taking his revenge. If he stayed by Kouta, there was definitely a chance he would come face to face with Kanou eventually.

Before then, I need some kind of weapon – a blade that I could kill Kanou with, Kyosuke muttered to himself as Kouta introduced the man to him and encouraged Kyosuke to also introduce himself.

“This is Mihara Kaoru. Kaoru, this is Iwatsuki, the boss’s assistant.”

“N- nice to meet you.”

Bowing down to his toes would be stared at with contempt, so hesitating slightly, Kyosuke gave a small bow, trying to look like a thug.

“Where you from?”

Kyosuke had found out on the Internet that the wakagashira of the Okawa had three assistants. Iwatsuki was the oldest among them and ranked next in terms of power after the wakagashira. Seeing the man who was the third in command within the group made Kyosuke feel more and more terrified.

When this interviewer began questioning this unexpected applicant, he had a severe look in his eyes, which was incomparable to the look a mere underling like Kouta had given him when he had questioned him before.

“T- Tokyo.”

Lying would definitely be obvious. That’s why Kyosuke decided that he would say some of the truth.

“Where, in Tokyo?”

“Mi- Mitaka……”

“Age?”

“Ei- eighteen……”

He lied about his age making himself one year younger and the gleam in Iwatsuki’s eyes grew sharper.

“……!”

Could he see right through him? Cold sweat ran down Kyosuke’s back.

“You…somewhere I……”

The moment he heard Iwatsuki mutter that, Kyosuke panicked instantly, thinking he should run. Although Kyosuke himself didn’t think so, people had often said that he had his brother’s face. He didn’t know what kind of connection the Okawa had with his older brother, but he assumed that because the wakagashira of the Okawa – Kanou – had killed his older brother, the group either hated his older brother or found him disagreeable. If they found out that they were brothers, they would probably kill him too. However, even if they didn’t find out that he was his brother, they would probably start by severely questioning him for the reason why he tried to get into the group using a false name.

What should I do? He was well aware that he was turning pale in the face. His heartbeat sounded like a fire alarm. He was starting to feel sick. But then, all of a sudden he was saved.

“Iwatsuki-san, please don’t scare him. If you stare at him this much, he’s gonna piss his pants,” Kouta, the one who had said he was going to make him his subordinate, told Iwatsuki.

“Then hurry up and teach him!” Iwatsuki gave a wry smile and turned his gaze towards Kouta. Inadvertently, a deep sigh escaped Kyosuke’s lips.

“Were there good-looking girls at the shop yesterday? Ah, never mind, work hard,” Iwatsuki, who seemed to have given up in trying to recall where he had this ‘recognition’ of Kyosuke, grinned and slapped Kyosuke’s shoulder.

“Th- thank you. I will try my best!”

It was a little too powerful, so Kyosuke almost toppled over but desperately stood his ground and bowed to Iwatsuki.

“That reminds me. Where do you live? Mitaka?” Kouta called out to Kyosuke.

“Ah, no……”

Where should be say? Because he was panicking he hesitated for a moment, so Kouta said, “What, you ran away?” Not only did his assumption give Kyosuke an excuse, he was also kind enough to try offering him a place to stay. “You can stay at my place for now then. It’s big, so one more person is nothing.”

“Th- thank you, aniki.” I’m saved, Kyosuke thought and smiled at Kouta. Seeing this, Kouta suddenly looked terribly shy and scratched his head.

“Of course. I’m your leader, after all.”

“Ha ha ha!!” Iwatsuki burst out laughing as he watched Kouta and Kyosuke. “More like a leader playing house.”

“Playing house? ……That’s mean, Iwatsuki-san.” Kouta pouted, looking exactly like a child, and Kyosuke almost smiled but controlled himself.

“I’ve got business to do, so hurry and get the hell out of here. I’m busy, too, you know,” Iwatsuki slapped Kouta on the back and led the two towards the door.

“Then excuse us.”

Imitating Kouta, who said thank you, Kyosuke also said, “Thank you,” bowed, and headed for the door. But at that moment, the door in front of him burst open, and a young thug flew into the room.

“S-sir! The boss is here……!”

“What? He didn’t plan on coming here today,” Iwatsuki frowned at the flustered thug. The thug glanced at Kouta, and Kouta frowned at him also and said ‘What?’ So the thug turned back to Iwatsuki and quickly began to explain.

“He’s looking for Kouta and he’s in a terrible mood.”

“Huh?” Kouta looked shocked when he heard this and immediately went pale.

“I- I didn’t do anything, you know?”

Although Iwatsuki shot a glance at the scared-looking Kouta, he then immediately looked away from him and asked the young thug, “Where’s the boss?”

“H- he will come here……” soon, the thug was just about to add, but then the door behind him violently opened again and another thug rushed in.

“It- it’s the boss,” at the same time he shouted that, he dodged to the side and held the door open.

“……!”

The moment Kyosuke saw a tall figure enter through the open door, he almost cried out, but bit his lip and held it back instead.

The man he despised – the person he swore to definitely get revenge on – was right in front of him now. As usual, he looked completely alert. He was wearing a dark-colored suit perfectly fit for his body and had on black leather shoes that were so shiny you could see your own reflection in them. His hairstyle was also perfect, and naturally, he didn’t have any stubble. At first glance, he looked like a high-ranking official or an elite businessman, but the air around him was clearly different from that. The sharp, penetrating glint in his eyes was powerful enough to terrify anyone who caught his gaze. Kyosuke also froze over with fear but immediately came back to his senses and thought he needed to hide himself from him right away. However, there was nowhere to hide. He thought about casually moving himself to hide behind Kouta, but that would probably just make him stand out, so he didn’t move. Left with nothing else to do, he tried to hide his face by looking down. He didn’t look all that much different now from when Kanou had visited him in the hospital room, but Kanou didn’t know that he could now walk, so perhaps he thought that he was still at the hospital. He had no choice but to hope for this. As Kyosuke thought this, Kanou shot a piercing look straight at the trembling Kouta, but instead of Kouta speaking, Iwatsuki asked in a nervous tone of voice: “Everything ok, boss? Didn’t you say you weren’t planning on coming here toda-”

“Yeah.”

The moment he heard Kanou answer in a low voice, a shiver ran through Kyosuke’s whole body. It was the voice he had heard at the hospital room. Even though just his presence was enough to shock Kyosuke, hearing the low, baritone voice he knew all too well instantly brought him back to the past.

He hated him. He despised him. How dare he kill his older brother!

Kyosuke inadvertently looked up and desperately suppressed his urge to want to be seen, because he knew he couldn’t stand out. He would quietly stand in this spot and make sure he was not recognized. If he were recognized, he would have no choice but to feign ignorance. But would that really work? That was a mystery.

Before he knew it, Kyosuke began to tremble. There was no guarantee that Kanou, who had killed his older brother, wouldn’t kill him too. If anything, he feared that it was more likely that he would kill him now. He didn’t want to die in vain without even taking revenge. Before, he had thought that the best luck had swooped down on him, but now, he thought that he had probably thrown himself into a terrible misfortune. Right now, he believed that he would be killed, so he wanted to fight back at the very least.

I have to get some kind of a weapon, Kyosuke thought, shaking and looking around and discovered a wooden sword on display. If his true identity were to be discovered, he would seize that wooden sword and strike at Kanou. He wasn’t sure if it would wound him, but he was not going to get killed without doing anything.

Now is not the time to tremble, Kyosuke thought, clenching his fist and letting out a secret sigh between his tightened lips as he tried to calm himself down.

“Aniki?” Iwatsuki called out to Kanou, looking uncertain, because he had not said anything else after ‘yeah’.

“Kouta,” Kanou directed his words to Kouta instead.

“Ye- yes!” Kouta’s pompous attitude had disappeared off somewhere, and he replied in a loud voice, standing straight and stock-still.

“I heard you got yourself a subordinate.”

The moment he heard Kanou say this, Kyosuke’s heart beat even more violently, and he was unable to keep himself from trembling. The reason Kanou was here was because of him, after all. With his face turned downwards, Kyosuke located the wooden sword with his eyes and prepared himself to break into a run at any moment.

“Ye- yes,” Kouta turned around to glance at Kyosuke.

“Him?”

He knew that Kanou was looking at him. Soon, he would surely say, “Do you have any idea who he is?” When that happens, he would break into a run. Kyosuke heard Kouta’s nervous voice in his ear as he tried to remain standing on his shaking legs.

“Ye- yes. His name is Mihara Kaoru. He says he admires the Okawa, so I made him my subordinate……,” with that, Kouta grabbed Kyosuke, who was standing around trying to hide behind him and dragged him forward.

“Hey, introduce yourself.”

“……N- nice to meet you……”

He is going to find out. As Kyosuke braced himself, he had no courage to look up, so he bowed still looking down and prepared to die as he felt Kanou’s sharp, knife-like gaze pierce through him.

Big brother, I’m sorry. Looks like I’m going to die before I take revenge. But I won’t die in vain. He braced himself, and the moment he looked up, he met Kanou’s eyes and froze on the spot.

His gaze was piercing. It was an utterly intense, penetrating sort of gaze. Kyosuke’s knees felt weak, and he couldn’t move. This is the end, he thought, closing his eyes and awaiting his fate. He will go to where his older brother was. This was the moment he had dreamt of many times. But he had regrets now, after all. Now, he wished the police investigation team could help him, but he had disappeared without saying anything to Sahashi, who had helped him out so much, so he had no other choice but to accept that he could not expect their help now.

It’s over, Kyosuke thought, hanging his head. But that very next moment, he heard Kanou say something unexpected.

“Mihara Kaoru, huh? I like you. I’ll take you.”

“A- aniki?”

“Boss?”

Both Kouta and Iwatsuki cried out in astonishment. Kyosuke also didn’t immediately understand what had been said to him and looked up again feeling very confused.

“……!”

He met Kanou’s eyes for the second time and held-in his gasp when he saw that sharp, penetrating look.

But Kanou smirked at Kyosuke and said, “I’ll make him my woman. You understand, Kouta?”

“Wo- woman?!” Kouta cried out in astonishment, and Iwatsuki frowned. Everyone inside the room froze. Only Kanou was smiling, looking calm and composed.

“Understand?” Kanou said to Kouta as if urging him for an answer and then suddenly reached out and grabbed Kyosuke’s arm.

“P- please stop!” Inadvertently, Kyosuke let that slip out of his mouth having been seized by fear. But Kanou didn’t listen.

“Come.”

That’s all he said and began to walk, dragging the pale-faced Kyosuke with him. Kyosuke had no idea what the hell was happening. Hadn’t his true identity been discovered? What did he mean by woman? He was a man! He had been told that he had a girly face, but he had never been mistaken for a girl before! Kanou left the room, pulling the bewildered Kyosuke by the arm and went out of the office. He headed towards a black German car, which stood in front of the building, pushed Kyosuke inside, and got in beside him.

“Drive,” Kanou gave a curt order to the thug-looking man siting in the driver’s seat.

“Yes, sir.” The driver replied in a monotone, and the car slowly began to accelerate.

“………………..”

Where were they going? Kyosuke wanted to ask, but didn’t have the courage to ask right now. He didn’t understand, was Kanou aware of who he was or was he not? What did he mean by ‘make him my woman’? ‘Lover’ was the word that Kyosuke associated with the word ‘woman’. Kyosuke didn’t know Kanou’s sexual orientation. There had never been any gays around Kyosuke before, but he knew that there were types of people who had sexual interest in same sex partners.

Actually, it had seemed that ‘Yukiko’ from the kissaten was gay. To Kyosuke, ‘gay’ was only restricted to people who were womanly like Yukiko. Yet Kanou was gay, had taken an interest in him, and wanted to make him his ‘woman’. That completely didn’t seem like Kanou’s true character. Thinking this, Kyosuke hesitated in directly asking him about that, but he still wanted to know his intentions, so he gave Kanou aside-long glance. The more he looked the more he saw how well-featured his face was. It hadn’t occurred to him that the man’s face was this well-defined. Kyosuke thought this, and inadvertently stared at Kanou’s face. Perhaps because his staring was annoying, Kanou shot a glance at Kyosuke.

“……!”

Kyosuke jumped from this sharp glare, which sent a chill up his spine, but that very next moment, Kanou quickly averted his eyes from Kyosuke.

“……U- um……” Inadvertently, Kyosuke called out to him, because he wanted to confirm whether or not Kanou really remembered him. There was no way he didn’t remember him. But if he did remember him, then why did he say that stuff about making him his ‘woman’? Kyosuke had no idea. The most desirable thing would be if he ‘didn’t remember him’ and tried to make him into his ‘woman’, but Kyosuke felt like the probability of that happening was low. It had been close to two years since they had met, so there was a chance he had forgotten him. But if he did remember him, wouldn’t he point it out by now? Kyosuke thought as he waited for Kanou’s reaction.

“……….”

However, there was no sign that Kanou was going to look at Kyosuke. Having no other choice, Kyosuke said again, “Um, excuse me.”

But Kanou continued to ignore him.

“Um……….”

Certain that he could hear him, Kyosuke spoke for the third time but then heard a threatening voice boom from the driver’s seat and froze.

“Shut up, kid!”

“……!”

Kyosuke jumped from the powerful, angry yell and didn’t speak anymore. When he looked at Kanou, out of the corner of his eye he saw that he was looking straight ahead and wasn’t even about to look his way.

What was happening? He didn’t know. As he puzzled over it, Kyosuke had no courage to speak up again and slouched down in the back passenger’s seat. This went on for about ten minutes. The car drove into an underground parking garage of a multistory apartment complex and stopped in front of the elevator hall. Without a moments delay, the driver got out of the car and opened the door on Kanou’s side. The driver gave a slight bow to Kanou, who got his feet out of the car, and as Kyosuke looked at him, Kanou stared back at him making Kyosuke jump. He was looking at him with a look that was telling him to get out, but Kyosuke felt weak at the knees and couldn’t move. So instead, Kanou went around to Kyosuke’s side of the car and grabbed the door handle of Kyosuke’s passenger seat, which caused the astonished driver to rush up to Kanou.

“I’m sorry, boss!”

“It’s fine,” Kanou answered curtly as he opened the door and reached in towards Kyosuke, who leaned away from him by reflex. When Kanou grabbed his arm, Kyosuke didn’t even have a moment to resist and got dragged out of the car.

“Thank you,” Kanou said to the flustered driver and went towards the auto-locked door, taking out the card key from his pocket and dragging Kyosuke by the arm. Immediately, the automatic door opened, and Kanou stepped inside the elevator hall, dragging Kyosuke inside with him.

“Boss, after this……”

The driver nervously called out to him.

“You can go,” Kanou said without even looking back. There was a ding, and the automatic door closed behind them. About the same time as that, Kanou pushed the elevator button, and the elevator door opened. Without saying a word, he shoved Kyosuke inside the elevator, got in after him and then pressed the button to the topmost floor. Immediately, the door closed, and the compartment began to quickly rise up. Feeling dizzy, Kyosuke closed his eyes and heard a low sigh.

“Huh?” Inadvertently, he opened his eyes and looked at the owner of the sigh – the only other man beside Kyosuke in this compartment, Kanou. Kanou instantly looked back at Kyosuke, but then quickly averted his gaze.

“U- um…”

What was the meaning of that sigh just now? Had Kanou realized who he was?

I have to hurry and find out, he thought, feeling impatient and began to speak but Kanou didn’t look at him anymore. They rode in the elevator until it arrived to the topmost floor.

When the door opened, Kanou powerfully pulled Kyosuke by the arm out of the elevator, and they began walking down the long corridor.

“Um, excuse me. Who are you? Do you want something from me?”

Of course Kyosuke didn’t have to ask who he was. He knew both his name and his identity. But if Kanou had no recollection of their meeting in the past, Kyosuke decided to risk and pretend to ask his name even though it might cause trouble. Kyosuke’s voice echoed down the hall, but Kanou still continued to not look at him, and when they arrived in front of the room at the far end of the hall, he reached out and pressed the doorbell.

“Welcome back.”

Immediately, a thug dashed out through the open door and held the door wide open for Kanou. Still not saying a word, Kanou proceeded inside with his shoes still on and dragged Kyosuke into the room.

“……??”

The thug was also wearing shoes, so it seemed that this room allowed for wearing one’s shoes inside like a hotel.

“Boss, who’s he?” The thug quickly followed behind them.

“My lover. He’s going to live here as of today,” Kanou replied without even turning around.

“L- lover??”

Leaving behind the stunned blonde thug, Kanou opened the door of the room in the back and stepped in. Kyosuke paused, hesitating to enter the room, but Kanou powerfully pulled him by the arm, and Kyosuke tumbled in.

“Hurts!”

Without having time to stretch his hands out in front of him, Kyosuke hit the floor hard and lay there face-first crying out in pain. Kyosuke heard the sound of the door close and lock behind him, so he quickly sat up and turned around towards the sound.

“Ah……”

Kanou had his back to the door and was staring right at him. Kanou was dealing with him more like a thing than a human, and in addition to that, he was looking at him with a cruel look as if he were looking at some worthless thing. At that, Kyosuke began to slightly tremble. He wanted to ask Kanou if he realized who he was, but the question was stuck deep in his throat. If the answer were yes, if Kanou discovered his identity through that question, he would definitely take his life without any hesitation. That firm belief grew within Kyosuke.

I don’t want to die……How can I die now!? Kyosuke thought, but not a single way of how to survive this situation came to his mind. Just like a frog being watched by a snake, he crouched on the floor and looked up at Kanou. At that moment, his dearly beloved older brother’s kind, beautiful, angelic-like face flashed into his mind.

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