With our introductions out of the way, we returned to our food and ate in silence. Eventually, I sighed and voiced the question that had been sitting with me since our first contact.
"Why are you helping me? You do realize what'll happen when Mizuki Enra dies, right?"
A frown slowly formed on his face. He didn't answer immediately, instead finishing the last few bites of his ramen before finally speaking.
"I doubt you want to hear my sob story, Kazuya-kun."
I placed my chopsticks down, pushed away my empty bowl and stared at him.
"Sato-san."
He raised an eyebrow before shrugging. "Right, Sato-san..."
He sighed again, seeing I wasn't letting it go.
"A few years ago I used to be an informant for Mizuki. I never saw her and she never saw me—it was all done anonymously." He leaned back in his chair, fishing a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it with a practiced motion.
"Back then, I was engaged to a wonderful woman. She didn't know anything about the kind of work I was involved in. Thought all the money was coming from some legitimate source." He took a drag, then shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Eventually, I got invited to meet Mizuki in person. I was flattered. Curious, I went. She briefly put me under her control... and found out I had someone I loved."
He exhaled slowly. "So she sent people to kill her."
I tilted my head slightly. 'Why would—'
He answered before I could even finish the thought.
"That venomous woman believes love is the purest form of happiness... and that she alone is worthy of wielding it. Me loving someone that wasn't her? To her, that was a "plague" and a "poison" corrupting my mind."
I hummed as I processed his words and gestured for a cigarette. He blinked in surprise before shrugging and handing one over. As he lit it for me, I spoke again.
"So you want revenge. For your fiancée, for your ruined life."
He grunted in confirmation, eyes drifting to the wall beside us.
"In a way, we're alike. You want to avenge your family. I want to avenge mine."
For a moment, I almost forgot this body had a past—had its own story. I shook the thought away and focused on the task at hand.
"Perhaps. Now—where is she?"
He snorted softly before pulling out a folded map of Kumamoto. He marked our current location with the butt of his cigarette.
"This is us." He dragged his finger across a bridge and up a street before stopping on a spot. "And this is where she is right now—Classic Bar."
I stood up, ready to go, but he quickly raised a hand to stop me.
"Wait! You're not just planning to run in there and kill her, are you?"
I nodded, confirming exactly that.
He groaned and shook his head.
"If you hear me out, I could tell you a plan that'll not only let you kill Mizuki, but potentially take out two other Branch leaders and maybe if the stars align, even the Spokesperson for the Elder, Keiji Fujiwara."
My brain processed his words quickly and I nodded before lowering myself back into my chair. He let out a sigh of relief.
"This is a long term plan. Is that fine with you?"
I raised an eyebrow. "How long term are we talking?"
He slipped his hands into his jacket pockets before pulling something out—a small vial filled with a clear liquid.
"If things go perfectly? Six months—maybe a year at most."
'Honestly, that's not that bad...' I had been trying to find high-ranking members of the main or branch families for a while, but had no luck.
"What's that?" I gestured to the vial he slid across the table.
He gave a casual shrug. "It's the stuff Mizuki uses."
I raised an eyebrow, full of questions. He answered them before I could ask.
"Lots of money got me that much."
I looked back down at the vial, then back up at him with more questions still brewing in my mind.
"If my theory is right, then you're either immune to it—or have a high resistance."
I frowned as I processed this new information. "I've been getting exposed to it from the people sent after me?"
He nodded. "Yeah, and we can confirm that if you—"
Before he could finish, I raised my hand with the vial in hand and popped the top open. Without hesitation, I let the liquid drip into my mouth. As the last drop slid down my throat, I felt a slight warming sensation. 'Feels like an aphrodisiac.'
I ignored the warmth and glanced over at Tsukino, who was staring at me with wide eyes. He leaned back in his chair visibly surprised.
"How do you feel?"
I shrugged, stood up with him following suit.
"Same as I did before I had that."
He hummed thoughtfully, then shook his head, clearly still processing what had just happened.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked, bringing us back to our earlier conversation.
-
Infiltration.
In my first life I wasn't the greatest at that. My motto had always been simple—"Why talk when you can punch someone in the face and make them submit?" It was an easy motto, but one that wouldn't work here. I really wanted this to succeed. 'Yukiko would be proud.'
I frowned at the thought before sighing and focused on the task at hand, specifically the steps I needed to take to ensure this wouldn't fail.
"You sure this'll work?"
I turned to Tsukino who was busy at his computer. He had told me he rented a place nearby the bar Mizuki was at.
"No plan is guaranteed to work, Sato-san." he said without looking up. "But this has a high chance. It all depends on how desirable you are to her."
I grunted in response as I fixed the buttons on the white dress shirt Tsukino had bought for me.
(image)
"Run me through the plan again—short version."
He grunted in reply, still typing. "Enter the bar, draw her attention—she doesn't know what you look like since I never gave her your photo and altered your public info. Gain her trust so you can attend any meetings she goes to as her guard. Find out as much as you can and finally—kill her."
I grunted again in response, taking in the shortened version of the plan. With a sigh, I moved toward the door to leave.
"Sato-san!"
I paused with my hand on the door, turning my head slightly.
"If things go wrong, just know—I never met you, and you never met me."
I stared at his back for a moment, then left without a word. The fresh air greeted me as I stepped outside.