Capturing The Fox

“Haa…haa…haa…”

My breath was getting ragged, but I forced myself to keep running. I knew I should’ve kept training diligently instead of sitting in front of my computers all day long, but if I had done that, Sakuya-chan would've grown suspicious of me.

“Shinji-san, we’ve run far enough. We should rest for a bit.”

One of my comrades, a member of Kagura’s branch family, reminded me from behind. I slowed down and glanced behind my shoulder. Despite running at the same speed as me on top of having fought Kagura Family’s elite guards, they didn’t look as tired as I did. I bitterly smiled at our differences as I nodded.

“…you’re right. Let’s stop and review the plan again.” I agreed.

Currently, we were still inside the main house’s complex. Normally, it would be too dangerous to stop and rest within the enemy’s territory, but since we’ve trapped everyone inside the hall, it would buy us some precious time.

We took cover inside one of the guest’s villa and I started counting our number.

“…17 people. We lost eight, huh?” I muttered indifferently.

“Four were killed by that bastard Kazami, while the rest were captured by his dogs.” My second-in-command reported our losses. “But I’m sure they’ve killed themselves by now, just as we agreed on.”

I nodded. “Our anonymity is our greatest weapon. The Kagura Family will be destroyed by the faceless victims they’ve created from their atrocities.” I muttered vengefully. “Putting that aside, we’ll switch to the escape plan.”

My gaze swept our small group.

“Split up and take your designated escape route. We’ll regroup at the usual place after leaving this house. No matter what happens, focus on your own survival. I still have a lot of plans to destroy the Kagura Family, so don’t get distracted by short-sighted revenge and losing your life here.” I reminded them sternly.

“Yes, Shinji-san.” They all nodded determinedly.

Each and every one of them was a bitter victim of the Kagura Family, to the point that they were willing to throw away their lives for the sake of destroying that family. To me, they were precious pawns that shouldn’t be used haphazardly.

“Good. Now go.” I watched as each of them went to their own escape route.

Just to be safe, I assigned a different escape route for each of them. I was sure that no one knew the hidden paths inside the main house as much as I did, and even if some of them were discovered, the rest would be able to escape unnoticed.

“Now then, it’s time for me to leave as well.” I turned around and headed south, the only direction that no one else had taken.

*****

“Hey, what do you think that explosion was?” One of the yakuza who guarded the main house’s front entrance asked his colleague.

The sizeable front entrance, which was usually closed shut, was left open today in regards to the ceremony currently underway. It was to give easy access to the guests coming from all over the place, since the side entrance would be too small to accommodate everyone. Hence, more security was assigned here to guard the entrance, and yet, some of them had left to investigate the explosion just now.

“Do you think I’d know?” His older partner grumbled. “Isn’t that why Yagi-san and the others went to check it out? Just shut up and keep an eye out. If they really need our help, they’ll send a signal.”

“Y-Yeah, I know, but still…” The younger one whined. “What if there’s an intruder and everyone’s busy fighting inside? We’ll lose our chance to get promoted! I don’t want to get stuck guarding the front entrance forever!”

“Ha! An intruder? As if anyone could get inside without passing through this gate!” The older yakuza scoffed.

“But we’ve had multiple intruders these past few months.” The younger yakuza remarked, which made his colleague clam up. “I heard they used hidden escape routes to get inside. Maybe this time the intruders did the same, and our people need more help!”

“If you want to go and take a look that badly, then just go already. But don’t go crying to me if you lose your position instead.” Annoyed, the older yakuza waved his hand dismissively.

“W-Well, if you put it that way…” His partner finally fell silent.

Just as an awkward silence filled the air, it was shattered by a loud scream for help.

“Who is that?!” Both of them turned toward the direction of the main house.

They spotted a single man running at them as he shouted desperately. The suit he worn was torn and bloodied, evidence of the fierce fight he had gone through. His dark red eyes darted around nervously, wary of any pursuers.

“Halt! From which branch family are you?!” The older yakuza called out to the skinny-looking young man, assuming that he was one of the guests.

“P-Please help me…!” The young man ignored his question and clung to the yakuza instead. “M-My family…my family…are all dead! I-I can’t…! I can’t die as well! Please save me!” He screamed.

“I-I get it, so get off me!” The yakuza shook him off in a fluster. “Stay calm and tell me what happened!”

“T-The great hall…there are intruders in the great hall! There’s…there’s a lot of fighting, and then…and then there’s an explosion, and everything is in chaos…my family…they’re dead…!” The young man muttered as if in delirium.

“It’s not good—he’s completely in shock.” The older yakuza shook his head. “Hey, stay here and watch over him. See if you can figure out anything more from him. I’ll go there and check the situation.” He peeled the young man off and handed him over to his colleague.

“Y-Yes, Senpai!” The younger yakuza nodded in a fluster.

The older yakuza turned his back at them and rushed off toward the great hall. However, he had only taken a few steps when he heard the sound of a groan and someone collapsing.

“Huh…?” The yakuza was about to turn around when he heard the crackle of electricity behind him and everything turned dark.

*****

“…and, it’s done.” Shinji smiled faintly at his handiwork.

The two yakuzas who guarded the front entrance were now knocked out cold and bounded with their own ropes to a nearby tree.

“They believed in their own strength too much that they underestimated the power of technology, huh?” Shinji playfully threw and caught his stun gun.

It was thanks to the stun gun that he managed to catch them off-guard and knocked them out without any resistance. It seemed that they didn’t consider the possibility of Shinji having such a dangerous thing with him.

“Now, I just need to leave and regroup with everyone.”

Shinji walked through the unguarded front entrance.

“When we get back, we need to start working on a new plan to take advantage of today’s chaos.” He muttered to himself. “It will be better if Sakuya-chan survives and stays in the Kagura Family—that way, we’ll be able to use her hatred toward the family. But even if she was executed, we can still use the other branch families to divide the family. That way…”

All of a sudden, a hand plopped itself on Shinji’s shoulder.

He instinctively froze as an immense bloodlust surged behind him, warning him not to move a single muscle.

“Leaving already? Even though you haven’t congratulated me for officially becoming the heiress.”

A familiar bell-like voice rang behind Shinji, freeing him from his paralyzed state.

“A-Ah, Sakuya-chan.” Shinji slowly turned his head and saw the younger girl smiling at him while grabbing his shoulder with a steel-like grip. “Sorry, I was a bit too busy to give you a congratulations. Should I give you one now? Didn’t you refuse the position earlier, to the point of wanting to die instead?”

As he rambled, Shinji covertly scanned his surroundings. Sakuya was accompanied by Ryuu and a few delinquents whose name he didn’t remember. Ryuu stayed behind Sakuya, attentively monitoring the situation, while the other delinquents slowly surrounded him and cut off his escape routes.

“You can drop the big brother act now, Shinji.” Sakuya’s voice dropped to below zero temperature. If words could affect physical condition, he would’ve suffered frostbite from her words just now. “Your little attempt at terrorism ends now. It’s all over. Give it up.”

Shinji scoffed. “Sakuya-chan, you can’t possibly believe that everything will end just because you caught me—”

“Everyone.” Sakuya interrupted him.

“Huh?”

“We’ve caught everyone.”

*****

I stared blankly at Sakuya, my mind refusing to believe the words that came out of her mouth. The petite girl smirked, as if she was enjoying my dumbfounded expression.

“That’s right. We’ve captured every single one of your men.” Sakuya repeated proudly. “And you’re the last one. So it’s all over now.”

“L-Lies.” I stammered in disbelief.

I stared at her intensely, trying to discover any hint of a bluff or deception. But I found none.

“There’s no way you can catch them all unless you know every single hidden escape route…”

“I do.” She interrupted again. “Or at least, Hiiro does. Thanks to him, we managed to beat your men to the hidden escape routes and ambush them there. Sorry, but I have to ruin your plans for my own sake. Although, when I think about it, you did use me for your own purposes, so I’ll say we’re even now.” She casually shrugged off the miraculous feat as if it was nothing.

I gritted my teeth. It was a near impossible feat to pull off, but she didn’t seem to be lying. Even worse, I knew her subordinates were that talented. I’d have to assume that she was telling the truth and planned my next move with that in mind.

“Okay, so now you’ve caught me. What are you going to do?” I probed her while subtly lowering my posture so I’d be ready to take action at a moment’s notice. “Are you going to sever my head and present it to Papa, just like the good girl you are?”

Sakuya’s grip on my shoulder tensed the moment I mentioned Kazami. She scowled at me as she replied, “Don’t talk nonsense. The only reason why I bother to go along with your small talk is—”

I didn’t wait to hear for her reason. In one swift move, I twisted my body to escape Sakuya’s grip and tackled her. I intended to take her by surprise and incapacitate her with my stun gun, but Sakuya reacted faster than I thought. Instead of blocking me, she rode on my momentum and bent her body backward in a perfect arc.

I mentally cursed at her as I hit the ground hard, unable to kill my own momentum. The next second, she was already above me, using her knee to pin my back and twisted my dominant arm, forcing me to let go of the stun gun. Fortunately, she was too preoccupied with the stun gun to realize that my other hand was preparing something else.

“…!”

Sakuya reflexively leapt away from me when I wildly slashed the knife I pulled out behind my back. I knew it wouldn’t harm her, but at least it would keep Sakuya away for a moment. And that moment would decide everything.

I sprang to my feet and lunged toward the one direction that no one expected—back toward the main house. There was only a single person standing guard there, one with no combat ability whatsoever.

“Don’t move!” I roared as I pinned Ryuu from behind, with the knife pointed to his neck.

Upon seeing this scene, Sakuya instantly stopped moving. She was muttering something under her breath, something about ‘again?’ but I didn’t really care.

“That’s right, no one moves unless you want Ryuu to lose his neck.” I threatened the other delinquents. “I just need some company until I get away safely from here, so I’ll give him back once I’m far enough. Of course, no pursuers either.”

As I spoke, I noticed that the delinquents—aside from Sakuya—didn’t look particularly concerned about Ryuu’s wellbeing. Instead, they seemed like they were having trouble hiding their amused snickers.

I frowned. Amusement? Was it so amusing to see their friend being threatened in front of them? Did I misread their friendship with Ryuu? Could it be that he was simply a gopher, one that could be replaced so easily?

However, the answer was something else.

“As if…” Ryuu suddenly grabbed my knife-holding arm with both hands. “…I’ll let the third time happen!”

He wrenched my arm down and raised his shoulder at the same time, forcing my knife to distance itself from his neck. Before my mind could keep up with this surprising development, Ryuu tucked his chin down and somehow slipped away from my hold.

I tried to turn around and catch him again, but he moved faster than me. Ryuu proceeded to kick me in the back, hurtling me right toward the similarly dumbfounded Sakuya. But thanks to her amazing reaction speed, Sakuya managed to catch and securely pin me on the ground.

“What the…how in the world did you do that, Ryuu?!” I heard Sakuya ask in a shocked voice.

“I asked everyone to teach me some tricks.” Ryuu answered, a bit of pride mixed in his voice. “Since I’ve been at knife point twice already, and I’m just as helpless as the first time. I don’t want to stay useless the third time.”

I reflexively let out a bitter laugh. He’d had me completely. I was too focused on being wary of Sakuya that I never stopped to consider that Ryuu might turn the tables on me.

“Alright, fine. You’ve got me completely cornered this time. Just do as you like, Sakuya-chan.” I said in resignation.

Sakuya didn’t immediately answer. She carefully bounded me with ropes she got from somewhere and made sure it was absolutely secure before she had me sitting on the ground, facing her.

“There’s only one thing I want from you, Shinji.” Sakuya’s scarlet eyes, the most disgusting and hateful color to me, looked straight at me. “Give yourself to me, Shinji.”

For an instant, my head blanked out as I failed to comprehend Sakuya’s unexpected words.

“Wha—?!” Even the delinquents let out a surprised shriek.

“S-Sakuya-san, d-do you actually like older men?!” Ryuu stuttered as he questioned her.

“Wh—no, of course not! Don’t be stupid! That’s not what I meant!” Sakuya yelled back at them with a bright red face.

I stared at her, slightly amused that she could make such a face. Sakuya seemed more like her age when she was around her friends. It made me imagine how happy Kazuya would be if he could see his little sister right now. But then I remembered that he died because of the very same sister he doted on and my face darkened.

“I refuse.” I replied amidst the ruckus.

Sakuya turned toward me after arguing with the delinquents, her cheeks were still blushing. “Like I said, it’s not like that—!”

“I know, and I still refuse.” I interrupted her.

My flat tone snapped Sakuya out of her embarrassment. Her face also turned serious as she directed her full attention to me.

“Why?” She only uttered one word.

My face crunched up in disgust. “Do you still need to ask?” I replied sarcastically. “Kagura Family’s sins are too numerous to be forgiven—they’re beyond saving. The only way to quell this hatred inside of me—inside all of us—is to burn the whole family down.”

Sakuya stared at me silently for a moment. It felt like she was searching for something as she stared so intently.

“Do you really mean that?” She finally asked. “Even if it means cutting down innocent people who has nothing to do with the root of the evil?”

I winced when I realized that she was talking about the branch families. While most of the family members were greedy and ruthless, some of them were no different from normal people. People like Tachibana Marika, for example.

“…we’ll still do it nonetheless.” I replied after a pause. “No matter who we have to sacrifice. It might not make us any better than the Kagura Family, but it will be better for everyone else’s sake.”

“Lies.” Sakuya immediately, almost instantly, refuted my words. “You won’t be able to do that.”

I frowned. “What do you mean—?”

“Shinji, you’re far too kind to commit that kind of atrocity.”

I froze upon hearing her words.

“You won’t be able to take down the Kagura Family with that wavering resolution of yours. Instead of saving everyone, you’ll just doom your comrades to their deaths because of your indecisiveness.” Sakuya spoke with so much conviction that even I started to believe her.

But I regained my senses and shook my head violently. “You don’t know anything about me!” I growled at her. “I used you as a tool to destroy the Kagura Family from inside! You were nearly killed by my men just earlier! How could you say that—?!”

“Then, why did you not install the bombs on the hall’s ceilings?” Sakuya calmly countered my arguments. “If you could install bombs on the hall’s doors without anyone noticing, surely you’re capable of doing the same on the ceiling. If the whole ceiling went down, everyone inside would surely die. Your revolution would’ve worked without a hitch. Why did you not take that choice?”

I lowered my gaze, unable to answer her. In fact, my seccond-in-command proposed the exact same idea. If I’d wanted to kill them all, it would be the easiest way. But I’d shot it down, telling them that I wanted Kazami to die in the most painful and excruciating way. And they believed me.

“You couldn’t.” Sakuya continued on, as if she could read my mind. “It’s the same with your claim of using me. If you really want to destroy the Kagura Family using me, then why did you shelter and hide me for two years? It would be easier to reveal my location to Otou-sama, then killed me before he arrived. The family would definitely be split from the internal conflict, and you’d have many chances to completely destroy it.”

I looked up in surprise. Sakuya’s face was completely calm even though she was discussing the impact of her own death.

“And yet, you continued to protect and hide me from the Kagura Family. It’s only when they took me back that you started to move again. Tell me, Shinji…” Sakuya reached out and caressed my cheek. “…am I wrong?”

My lips trembled, but I couldn’t form any words. She’d seen through me, even to the parts that I myself didn’t know existed.

“That’s why, instead of devoting yourself to destroy the Kagura Family…” Sakuya lowered her hand and offered it to me. “…join me to transform it instead. It’ll be an uphill battle, with enemies on all four sides and only a handful of allies. But I will definitely change this twisted, mistaken family.” She declared so confidently. “If you join my side, it will greatly increase my chances, Shinji.”

I stared at her hand, sorely tempted to accept it and let go of the heavy burden of trying to be ruthless from my shoulders. Just as Sakuya said, I didn’t have enough resolve to completely taint my hands with blood to achieve my wish.

But then I shook my head.

“Even if I want to…I can’t possibly let go of my hatred against the Kagura Family.” I said slowly. “I can’t forgive them for what they did to my family.”

My mother’s face surfaced in my mind. She was a hopelessly foolish woman, but I still loved her very much. I closed my eyes as I recalled the distant past.