KAGEMA

Chapter 6

The next day
10:29 AM

Ren and Sophie are sitting outside waiting to enter Riku's office. After some time, his assistant tells them that they can go in. Ren gets up to enter but Sophie stops him and says "I can get it from here, trust me. He'll freak out if he saw you. He knows that you and Akira hooked up."

"What? How?" Ren asked.
"She definitely told him everything; not only is he her son, but also her attorney and trust me when I say this, he'll stop at nothing to get her out. Even if throwing you in there will mean getting her out. Dude has no chill basically so just sit tight and let me take it from here."

"We both work together, if he's as all-knowing as you say, then why would he great you?" He asked.

"We have a past." She answered.

Ren felt useless and uneasy but he couldn't really argue with her now. "Fine." He said as she smirked and went in.

"Sophie, how are you? It's been too long." Riku said.

"Hey, I'm fine. It has, hasn't it. I just wanted to check up on you, I heard about your mom, I'm so sorry about that. I'm sure it was a misunderstanding." Sophie said.

"Doesn't matter, I'll get her out either way." He said as the room fell silent for a minute until he added; "Yamamoto was a piece of shit. He only ever cared about making money, never about his prestige. You know I can't respect that, Sof."

She was speechless as she couldn't form any words after hearing what he had just said.

"Now if that'll be all, as you know, I'm a busy busy man and time is of the essence," he said as Sophie realized her plan wasn't working as intended. She got up and went to exit the office.

"Oh and do send my regards to Ren, that motherfucker," he said as she stopped and looked back at him.

"...I haven't spoken to him recently." She said.

"Well that should be an easy issue to solve; he's sitting outside right now in my reception area, a hell of a coincidence if you ask me." He said as Sophie realized that she just made the conversation worse. She opened the door and headed outside as Riku yelled
"Goodbye, Sof".

Ren sat outside listening to Joji's Sanctuary on full volume as he saw Sophie leave the office. He removed his earbuds and stood up; "So how did it go?" He asked.

"It was shit. I was wrong. We gotta go." She said as she kept moving, followed by Ren.

"How bad did it get? Do you at least have anything that we can use?" He asked. She stops walking after they've left the building. "FUCK!" She cried before Ren tried to comfort her and took her to sit down on a bench in a corner of the main street.

"That son of a bitch, he won't hesitate to hurt you or anyone else. The only thing he cares about is his wellbeing. I know his kind well." she said.

"If he's covering up his mother killing Yamamoto then we have to expose him. We cant... I can't let them get away with this." Ren said.

"Well, unlike her son, shes not as smart as she thinks she is. I don't think she actually did it. But I bet he knows who did. Look, I told Ohta to meet us here; she's on her way You can come with us if you want." Sophie said.

Ren froze momentarily, he thought whether or not he should tell Sophie that he saw Ohta before and she was acting strange towards him in the supermarket but he was sure that this wasn't the right time and it was most likely just a coincidence. "I don't wanna hurt Sophie's feelings and she was probably fucking with me anyway, I bet she doesn't even remember me, Didn't look like she did when I first met her in Sophie's apartment; I think she would've said something." He thought to himself before realizing he hasn't replied to Sophie yet; "Nah, I'm still not done. You should rest though." he said.

A red 1991 Honda beat was driving by in front of the bench they were sitting on. Ohta popped her out of the window and yelled "Ohayo gozaimasu (Good morning)". She stopped the car and came out to greet Ren and take Sophie home. Ren was observing her car from a distance; "Damn, that car is vintage, it was sold in an auction 5 years ago. How can someone who works as a cashier be driving that?"He wondered.

"Nice car" He pointed out. "Ah yeah, that piece of rubbish? Fixed it up myself" She stated.

"Really? Is that what you do for a living?" Ren said in a semi-sarcastic manner before Sophie intervened "Yeah, Ohta is one hell of a mechanic." As soon as Sophie said that, Ren realized that Ohta doesn't know he recognized her. "I wonder if they're fucking with me or if Sophie doesn't know. Either way now is not the time. They have to feel that I'm not aggressive or they'd be onto me."

"Cool. I've been having some trouble with my car; my AC broke, I would like to bring it to you sometime to take a look." He said.

"Oh, sure thing, man. I'll give you the details later and you can swing by anytime." Ohta said.

"Great. I'll see you guys later then." He said.

"You sure you don't wanna come with? Today is Taco Tuesday. Ohta can cook some delicious Tacos." Sophie said with a smile.

"No. Thanks though" He said as they got in the car. "Suit yourself, bye," Sophie said as they drove away.

Ren enters his car and starts it. The AC flushes him with cold hair and he thinks "This is one of the best inventions of mankind." He sits back in the driver's seat and closes his eyes.

6 YEARS AGO

On a cold night in the suburbs of Nakano, a teenage boy is sitting on the stairs outside the house with the screaming man and woman inside. A middle-aged man wearing an expensive suit passes by while nomming on a Taiyaki and talking on the phone. While passing by, the man notices the teen tearing up with a red face.

"I'll call you back." the man said as he closed the phone and approached the teenager.

"Hey, Kid. Why are you so upset?" the man asked.

"None of your fucking business, pervert." the teenager replied.

"That's no way to talk to your elders, kid. Relax, I just wanna help. Are those your parents inside?" he asked.

"My mom and her boyfriend...he's abusive.. he hits my mom and me. She's trying to calm him down but she can't calm down that psychopath." He explained.

"I see. Well, there's a simple solution to that. We just call the cops and get the bastard arrested." said the man.

"I wish but my mom would lose custody." He said. "How old are you?" asked the man.

"I'm 18" He answered. "Great, so you don't need her much now, I'll tell you what, let me handle your mom's boyfriend. And I tell you what, come downtown to the GoodTimes office and do some interviews, I'll put in a good word for you." said the man.

"You're giving me a job as a prostitute?" asked the teen.

"It pays more than twice the salary of an office job. You'll be able to afford nice things. It's maybe not the best job prestige wise but if you only care about living a good life, then it's the job for you."

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