Page 5 of Secrets & Sake

I’m such a sucker, but I haven’t got it in me to demand anything of him. Namikawa is going to give me a hard time.

A relieved laugh escapes Suzuki, and he smiles. “Th-thank you so much!” He bows in gratitude. “I… I’d heard some people say the Wolf of Asakusa isn’t such a bad guy. Looks like they were right.”

Flicking open my wallet, I count out some bills and shove them at him. “For your kids. The less money you have to spend on the little gremlins, the faster you can pay Namikawa back.”

Tears well up in Suzuki’s eyes. “I couldn’t—”

Grabbing his collar, I yank him in close and growl, “Take it and shut up. If you aren’t paid up by next week, I’m smashing the shit out of your store. Got it?”

He nods frantically. “Yes! Thank you so much, Noboru. I—”

Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I turn away. “Make sure you’re paid up.”

Namikawa is going to be pissed at me for this. Hopefully, my next collection will go smoother.

Some ten minutes later, I’ve arrived at one of the many host clubs in our protection racket. Inside the club, the lighting is dim. A singer with a bald head croons some old-timey love song up on the stage. Good-looking hosts serve women glasses of expensive liquor and fuss over them.

“Is Aida in?” I ask the bartender. Aida is the manager of the bar, and the one who owes me money.

The bartender jerks a shoulder to the back door behind him. “Smoke break in the alley.”

“Thanks.” I walk around behind the bar and through the door. Steam from a vent clouds the alley. I follow the scent of cigarettes through the vapor, waving my hand in front of my face. “Aida! Where are you?”

Someone screams ahead of me.

“Aida?” I run through the steam cloud, and just as my vision clears, a body crashes into me. Aida falls on top of me, pinning me beneath his weight. He’s completely limp, neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Someone snapped his damn neck.

Panic spurs me to my feet. I throw Aida off me and scramble to stand, claws and fangs at the ready.

“Oh, dear. Namikawa won’t be pleased one of his top payers got killed on your watch, will he?”

That smug, mocking voice makes the hairs on my neck stand up. At the sight of Saito Takada, leader of the Takada-kai, a snarl rises from my throat. He’s shorter than me, with long greasy hair slicked back into a ponytail and eyes like a viper’s that x-ray me. Just the sight of him has me fighting bad memories as they pour into my mind, oily slick and black. His degrading remarks. The pain he was more than happy to inflict, even when I snarled at him to stop. I tolerated all of his shit, his insults, the bite of his claws, because I was convinced it was what I deserved, that what we had was as good as it would get.

Things would have carried on like that forever, the hate-fucks, the barbed remarks. I wouldn’t have stopped it. Why should I? That’s all relationships ever really amount to, isn’t it? Pain. Hurt. Anger. Regret. The only reason things ended was because Saito split the gang apart. After he left, I felt different. Saito had dragged me into a black pit, and I hadn’t realized how far I’d fallen until he left, and I… I could breathe again. I don’t want to go back there. If he tries to touch me again, I’ll rip his arm off and beat him to death with it.

“You’ve got some fucking nerve coming into Namikawa-kai turf and killing one of our debtors!” What’s gotten into him? Does he have a death wish? Gang wars have been started for less than this. His gang has always been at our throats, but never like this.

Takada smiles, making his goatee quirk as he bares sharp fangs at me. “And yet you’re the one who let me get away with it. The Namikawa-kai must be truly losing its edge if they allow rival gangs to infiltrate their territory. Why, you’re all as soft as puppies!”

Fur sprouts over my skin, pressing against my clothes. “Shut your fucking mouth!” Raising a claw, I charge at him.

Takada laughs. “You should have joined my organization when I offered, Noboru! I could have made a real wolf out of you. Instead, Namikawa’s turned you into a dog!”

I’m only a few feet away when Takada jumps, scaling the chain-link fence. His boots hit the ground just as I start climbing over. He runs, booking it toward a large black Cadillac, and leaping inside. The driver slams on the gas just as I hit the ground running, tires squealing as the car drives off into the sea of blinking neon lights.

“Fuck!” I snarl, helpless to do anything but watch our enemy escape.

Namikawa is going to have my hide for this.

I want to say tonight can’t get shittier, but I can’t. As shitty as my day has been, it can only get worse. There’s a stone in my gut as I arrive on the top floor of the Namikawa-kai headquarters. A guard answers when I knock on the office door. “Come in,” he says.

I nod my thanks and head in, dread mounting with every step. He will punish me as he’s always done when I fail him. I’ll just have to take it like a man and endure, like I always do.

Kensuke Namikawa sits behind his desk. Shadows fill the lines and wrinkles in his face. His hair is shaved short to his head and so silver that it’s almost white. There’s virtually no fat on his body, leaving him looking frail and too thin. I’ve never asked how old he is. His age is the subject of many rumors within the clan.

I lower myself into a bow. “Boss.” I place the envelope of cash on his desk and push it down toward him. “Here are the payments.”

Namikawa accepts the envelope, opens it, and counts, quivering fingers slipping over the notes.

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