The masked man remained silent. Only Takeo Arai smiled.
"Two years ago, I hired this man to take out my father on the road. He was never going to hand the organization over to me cleanly, so I decided to cut the problem at the root. But the plan failed—he stopped by a shrine and ran into you first. I should be thanking you. It made me realize that if I'd finished things too quickly, it would have traced back to me. So instead, I destroyed his head slowly with drugs."
"Hell really sent you here to be reborn," I spat.
"Your daddy would be so proud, huh?!" Seto roared.
"You did it for money?" Haruki asked the masked man, desperate for an answer.
"Money's part of it," the man replied curtly. "But the yakuza owe me a personal debt, kid."
"Yeah, yeah karma from a past life, well shit~" Takeo said lazily. "So what's the most sacred rule of the company? Loyalty, right?"
He turned to us. "So what'll it be? Loyalty to your boss—or loyalty to yourselves?"
I looked at Seto, who was barely holding his rage inside.
Haruki raised his hand. "Then take me. My life for theirs."
"Oh, what a shame, Bito Jr.," Takeo said. "If you take their punishment, I can accept only their lives—but the money won't be coming. Care to reconsider?"
"No," Seto shouted.
"My life… for theirs," Haruki said firmly.
Just then—
"Hi everyone! It's Yurei!"
The room fell silent. My gaze drifted to the holographic screen playing the singing program. Kurayami, in her avatar form—a green-haired girl—was smiling through tears at viewers everywhere.
"Even at my saddest moments, I still have everyone by my side."
At the same time, Oni looked down at the two of us."Sounds nice. I'd rather have Bito's head. Think about it—cut these two down and more mushrooms like them will keep popping up. But cut the fire at its source, and no one leads you by the nose again. His daughter? Heh. In the end, just a lost dog."
He offered the suggestion to Arai. "And what about these two?" Arai asked.
"I'll keep them. They're amusing," Oni chuckled.
Thud! He kicked my face—not too hard. "Lucky-looking guy." Then he pressed his foot onto Seto's head. "Especially this one. Those eyes—he reminds me of someone I know. A gangbanger like you? Hmph. Tie yourselves to a log and let the river carry you away. Didn't your father teach you that?"
He straightened up. "Alright. According to tradition—let's begin."
"Even if Yurei can do everything with her thoughts…" Kurayami's voice echoed, not just in my ears, but ours. Haruki knelt before the yakuza. Seto and I were forced down, made to watch as our boss lifted his face toward us.
"Haru! Let 'em take me instead!" Seto screamed.
"When Yurei is sad, everything collapses… and she has to rebuild it all again."
"Your boss knew what would happen when he meddled in our business," Takeo said. "He's lucky he took responsibility for you. Now, krrreek."
He stroked my head as his men stuffed cloth into our mouths.
"Don't—!" I thrashed wildly, trying to reach Haruki despite being restrained.
Oni crouched beside him and whispered, "Consider this atonement for your family."
"The new world Yurei promised!"
Haruki turned to us one last time. Behind him, Oni took a long blade from a guard and raised it.
"Return—" the executioner murmured.
Haruki looked at us, smiling faintly, entrusting everything to us. "Take me home."
Slash!
The blade fell, ending the rite. A sharp ringing filled my ears again. My vision blurred. All I could see was Seto's eyes, wide with horror, tears streaming as he crawled toward our boss's lifeless body.
"I'll do it—for everyone, so we can all experience it together!" As the broadcast ended, Kurayami removed her glasses in the real world and turned toward us, kneeling in the bedroom. Majima and several subordinates bowed their heads, unable to meet the eyes of the last heir of the Bito family.
Before her lay a coffin containing her brother's body. She looked down at us with burning rage—blood vessels ruptured in her left eye. At her brother's neck were fresh stitches.
Kurayami knelt and gently stroked his cold face."Don't worry, big brother. I'll take over from here."
Her eyes were filled with sorrow, yet her voice was chillingly cold. A child shouldn't have to go through something like this~Haruki's words echoed endlessly in my head.
"We're the reason your brother is gone. Please punish us," Seto and I bowed until our foreheads touched the floor.
"You didn't do anything that wrong. I know," Kurayami said.
She drew a tanto blade passed down through her family, revealing a finely sharpened edge.
"One night, I saw my father catch a subordinate stealing. He used this knife to cut off their finger and kept it in a glass jar. If this is the rule of yakuza like you, then I'll punish you the same way—by taking the ring fingers of you both."
Hearing that, we placed our ring fingers on the table to atone. Seto held my back, unable to forgive himself. I felt the same. What was done could never be undone. Kurayami raised the blade high and aimed at our fingers, placed side by side.
"Without my brother, the successor to Taiyoshin is me. From this moment on, Bito Kurayami holds your lives in her hands." Slash!
Blood sprayed across the poster of Yurei's latest concert, soaking her green hair in vivid red.
"Now, tell me...." she demanded. "THAT MOTHERFUCKER'S NAME!"