Contractual Obligations

The large warehouse nestled in the heart of the Kabukicho district was unassuming when viewed from the outside streets. It was a far cry from the extravagance from many of the other so-called leaders of various organizations and syndicates tended to reside, but General Ryo Tanaka learned long ago it was better to hide in plain sight than to advertise. Kyosuke Sakurai made his way into the building, allowing himself to be frisked by security personnel before walking into the main warehouse where several workers were unloading boxes from large trucks and a small office could be seen, and a group were conferring over a set of computers.

"Sakurai-san, welcome back my boy," Ryo greeted Kyosuke with a friendliness that everyone in the room knew to be practiced and rehearsed. "I knew you were the right man for this Oyama project."

"You could have mentioned who the target was," Kyosuke groused. "Exfiltration was quite a bit more challenging than it had to be."

Ryo put his arm around Kyosuke, "That's why I specifically requested for you, my boy, because I knew you could pull it off." He pulled out an envelope and stuffed it into Kyosuke's pocket. "Haven't I always taken care of you? You're one of our best; that's why we trust you with the most difficult assignments."

Kyosuke nodded, keeping his true feelings silent. He knew he was in the company of a crime syndicate where insults and machismo weren't things that were taken lightly. Even the General, while formerly a military man, was himself someone with a sketchy background, having left his service under questionable circumstances, setting up business here in the syndicates. "OK, so now what? Oyama's going to be looking for whoever took his son out."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Ryo assured. "I'm pretty sure you're wanting to keep your head down after that job; I'd do the same. But don't you worry, big things are coming. Just leave that to the others; you take a couple of days off. Maybe get out of town for a bit, if you know what I mean," he added meaningfully.

Kyosuke nodded with a sense of foreboding and bowed with respect before leaving. He made a mental note to check with Yoriyoshi then figure out his options.

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Yoriyoshi poured a cup of tea as Kyosuke recounted his meeting with General Tanaka as they met in Hana noodles. "Well, at least the good news is, you shouldn't be in immediate danger."

"How do you figure that?" Kyosuke groused dubiously.

"Without Katsumi's networks, their organization won't be in a position to seek pointless revenge; they'll be too busy trying to just survive. To do that, they'll need to find another sponsor, and the word out on the street is that Oyama's reached out to the Ikemoto corporation for access to their import/export ports and logistical support in exchange for financial kickbacks."

"Seriously?" Kyosuke asked incredulously. "I never figured Mr. High Class would ever go swimming with street operators like the Oyama's."

"They might not have given him much choice," Yoriyoshi allowed. "You of all people know, once you get into business with these guys, getting out is nearly impossible. The syndicates don't have a peaceful retirement plan."

"OK, but even if he did sign such a deal, the Ikemoto corporation isn't just some lowly street operation," Kyosuke pointed out. "The Oyama group has their goons, but they wouldn't be able to bully them into submission like they would some small block of neighborhood shops. At best, they might get some mutual cooperation deals, but the moment things got sour, they'd find themselves out. Isamu would just call the local city councilmen and claim he was being harassed by criminals, and who are they going to believe?"

"That does seem like a very tentative deal from the Oyama side, and way out of character for them," Yoriyoshi agreed. "They can't exactly set up any kind of long-term arrangements, unless they were very sure they had old man Ikemoto pretty secure in their arrangement. On the other hand, you have to figure General Tanaka's people wouldn't want this deal to go through either, because if he does sign on, then they face a rejuvenated enemy, and it's all out push for territory. The only good part in that is folks like you won't lack business."

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The group of six men were on the north side of Ikebukuro; unlike the family-friendly west and east sides, this area was known for its seedy love hotels and massage parlors along with being an unofficial Chinatown and a place the locals knew to avoid at night.

Just then, one of their smartphones went off. "Hey," he answered.

"He signed the contract," came the reply. "He'll need to be encouraged to change his mind," the coarse voice instructed.

The first man nodded, ended the call, then turned to the others. "It's on. We find her, bring her back here, and wait for further instructions."

"And maybe have some fun with her?" the second man suggested lecherously.

The third man slapped the second man hard across the back of the head, "Idiot! If she gets even a single scratch, you don't think they'll send the entire PSIA to hunt our asses down?!"

The first man stepped forward and nodded. "Our instructions are clear; we need the threat, but it has to be something that we can return. If she's seriously harmed, her father won't spare any expense to have us hunted to the ends of the Earth."

The third man snorted indignantly. "Fine... so how do we find her?"

"Heh, that's the easy part," the first man laughed and pulled out his smartphone. He opened his social media app and scrolled through a saved bookmark, which dumped out a whole list of news articles, twitter feeds, Instagram and Facebook posts, all showing Kyoko and her entourage over the past few days. "We know where she's been spending her time and with whom.  We just need to send the right invitation and she'll come right into our arms."