Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2019 18:40:48 GMT -8
Angel stepped out of the Police Station with a huffing sigh. Well that went well,she told herself as she packed a single cigarette, tapping the filter against the back of her hand as she stepped back out into the street. She walked the few feet it took to get to the closest designated smoking spot and sat down at the, currently, empty area. Angel lit her cigarette and opened her phone to scroll through the daily bullshit on her Twitter feed. She’d taken a flight back to Osaka a couple days after the night she’d spent with Shelley. She got in touch with her family the night before now and, first thing that morning, went straight to the police to give her statement on the little incident with the street punks her brother liked to hang out with. Well...perhaps used to hang out with now. Yujiro assured her that he was done hanging out with those three brats after that day. Two hours of sitting in the station, giving her statement and waiting to see what went down was two hours Angel didn’t care to spend. The police made her wait as they tried to get ahold of the parents of the three teenagers. Two were unreachable at the time but the third attempt didn’t seem to care.
Well it’s about time someone gave that boy the foot to the ass he needed! Angel heard the boy’s father say on the other end of the line as the police captain spoke with him. She was allowed to go for now, but was told to stay in the area in case the other parents called back within a few days. Not like she had anywhere to be anytime soon. She wasn’t ready to go back and listen to her mother worry about the whole thing more so she decided to enjoy the afternoon for now. With a cigarette. Under a shady overhang where people gathered to burn their lungs away. Angel sat at the table, scrolling through her feed and dragging lightly on her cigarette when she was joined by a random stranger at the table. She heard him give a relaxed sigh as he sat down and lit up his cigarette. Angel caught a glimpse at his dark red suit and her mind automatically went on alert mode. Yakuza. On the outside, she ignored the man; acting like she was absorbed into social media like most people her age and younger seemed to be.
“Staying out of trouble, Kusanagi-san?” The man who sat with her asked in a cool, smooth tone. His voice calm but powerful with a low tone. Wait, what? The sound of her name prompted her to look up from her phone into a familiar face. A smug smirk aimed right at her from behind a thin layer of smoke. Ueda. Kenji Ueda. The same Yakuza whom had walked upon the scene of her and the teenagers.
Kenji Ueda was...well, he was somewhat of a big deal within the Japanese criminal underworld. A lieutenant to the Yamamoto Clan. One of Osaka’s more prominent Yakuza families. He ran his own clan that was a subsidiary to the Yamamoto. He had a reputation for being one of the more “reasonable” Yakuza if you could call any of them reasonable. Nobody had ever seen Kenji Ueda lose his temper or go off on anyone. At least, as far as Angel had heard. Then again, she’d never seen the man “at work” before. House calls to his family to see her father and check up on their debt was about the extent of Angel’s exposure to him. What he was doing here and how he knew where she was told Angel enough that she was followed. Whether by Ueda himself or some of his men didn’t matter. Here he was now. How long had she been followed since arriving back in Osaka? And why?
“As best as I can.” Angel said, trying not to sound wary of the man’s presence. Not to say she wasn’t, but if there was one thing she among others knew, it was to never show fear in the presence of two things. Predators and the Yakuza. Both of them fed off of it. Some could even sense it. She knew Ueda probably picked up that she was uneasy but he wasn’t preying upon it. Yet.
“You talk to the police?” Ueda brought his cigarette to his lips and pinched the filter in between them. His deep brown eyes held a sense of contained wickedness within them as he locked gazes with her.
Angel never took her eyes off of him as she mirrored his cigarette motion. “Yeah. You remember those kids from a couple weeks ago?”
The corners of Ueda’s mouth curled up into a smirk around his cigarette before he pulled it from his lips. “Little shitstains ratted you out, eh?” He chuckled with a sense of amusement as he finally looked away from her. Breaking eye contact. Angel could only guess he was reading her body language to try and gauge if she was lying or not. That was another thing she remembered about him. She had once heard him tell her father, during a house call that he could tell when he was being lied to. Angel was telling him the truth but she knew what he was looking for.
“That’s all I talked to them about.” Angel said firmly, leaning forward a little.
“Good.” Ueda said without missing a beat as he turned his head to meet her gaze again. “That’s good.” He said with a nod and a hard gaze. “Because you know what’ll happen, otherwise.” He brought his cigarette to his lips again and, once more, found that cold smile again.
“Yes. I know.” Angel began to feel an annoyance burn from within. Her patience growing thin. “Is that all you followed me for?”
Ueda chuckled again and turned around on the small bench seat to lean back against the table they were sitting at. “Actually, I came to let you know.” Ueda said, ashing his cigarette before popping it right back into his mouth. “Boss Yamamoto will see you.”
Angel stopped and looked at Ueda. Not sure if she’d even heard him clearly. She had the meeting she wanted? “You’re serious?” Ueda nodded. “When?”
“Give him a couple of days. He’s got some other affairs to take care of. We’ll be sending a car to pick you up.” Ueda paused to put his cigarette out and gave a dark smile to her. “Don’t worry. We’ll know where you are.” He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a thing of mints. Angel declined his offer of one with a shake of her head. Ueda popped one into his mouth and clenched it between his teeth. “See you around, Kusanagi.” He said, not bothering with honorifics this time as he stood up and pocketed the mints back into his jacket. Angel only tipped her chin up at him as he walked off at a slow, leisurely pace. Angel waited for him to be completely gone before she went back to her phone and looked at her background image of herself and her sister. Tsuki. Angel thought with a sigh. Just stay strong. For yourself. For everyone. For me…
