Swept Away

Deathsquad. (19)

"Well, this is unpleasant."

I don't if it was I or Frei who said that, as it clearly expressed both of our feelings of the moment.

We were at the entrance of the beauty of Kyoto, the tower of To-ji. Some tourist were trying to get closer, but none dared pass through the make-shift barrier blocking the real metallic one further down the road.

We did though, and inside the little house next to the main entrance, where a guard should have been posted, only a splatter of blood on the window welcomed us.

"Let's get moving." I said.

"Shouldn't we..." Frei began, even though she knew the answer perfectly well.

I just passed the metallic gate without answering.

She followed me closely, making herself as unthreathening as possible.

"This sucks."

Around the tower, there was only a big open space.

As we circled around, we found a podium, one you would sometimes see in the street for small bands or idol meets. Six men waited around it, two placed at it's base and four on top, clearly protecting the young man standing in the middle of the scene. He had his back to the tower, his sides were hidden by the concert structure, and nothing but thick trees were in front of him. That and a what seemed like a 40 cm glass wall. He wasn't underestimating us as much as I would have hoped.

That and I immediately recognised 5 of his goons from the documents my father sent me. Which wasn't good.

They were also armed with military grade equipment, 3 M4A1 and 3 SCAR-L.

What the hell Japan. Do your job.

No point in our bulletproof clothing now.

Frei tensed up behind me. She had come to the same conclusion. Whatever we expected, this Shikami guy was either more intelligent or more cowardly than I first thought.

And looking at the guy in the middle I would say a bit of both. I knew him, didn't remember his name, but I sure as hell wouldn't forget the guy who most likely slipped the fateful drug in my glass.

Immediately being spotted as we arrived in front of them, the five guards I recognised aimed towards us, their weapons security off.

No finger on the trigger though.

Yet.

The guy I couldn't remember the name got up of his... throne?... with what looked like a champagne glass in hand.

Well, scratch my previous thought, this guy was definitely stupid. What's with the throne. Did the guy think we were in Game of Thrones?

How much did he pay to get a fucking throne illegaly into a heavily guarded area?

What's more, now that I looked at him again, his face was similar to someone else.

"Welcome Sias-chan!" He began in Japanese. And after a dry snort. "I'm happy you came, tasuketa-yo!" I blocked off the rest of his evil speech to concentrate on what was bothering me. I couldn't understand most of what he was saying anyway.

Two individuals, same nationality, gigantic networks, both similar objectives, one who should have been caught by the cops ages ago and another who will probably never even get bothered by them, what's more even their facial features were similar.

"...finally proving him he's..."

"You're Takehiro's grandson." I cut him off.

That seemed to have a slight effect. He immediately shut up and stared at me, scared for a second.