The Decision

‘What?’

‘I said, do you wanna work with us? We’ll give you an executive post – similar in standing to Tosh over there.’

Satou, still laying over, raised his hands above his head in disbelief:

‘So… after wiping the floor with me, you wanna hire me? Am I hearing this right?’

Asahi piped in once again:

‘That was always the plan here Sat. Tsu figured that “The Twilight Assassin” would be someone that x54 simply had to have, and here I am, making it work for him.’’

As Asahi finished his thought, I immediately remembered something:

‘Say Yoshihisa. You were fighting me at your all-out strength, correct? Or were you holding back?’

Depending on the response, my mind would be swayed significantly.

‘Let me tell you something… and I don’t care how bad this makes me look. I take my jobs seriously. All of them. A job of this magnitude? With a payout as ridiculous as what these guys were supposedly offering? You really think I’d fight at anything less than all-out? Sure, maybe with a hit of adrenaline I’d be a bit tougher, but realistically what you saw is what you’d get. Call me weak, call me what you want, but I ain’t gonna cap to tell you I had more to give.’

‘Bingo!’

That’s the exact response I was looking for.

‘I can gauge a person’s strength when I fight em – that seemed to be your all-out strength. So, I appreciate the honesty. But even that’s just my estimation – I could always be over or underestimating someone, and what I’d absolutely hate to hear would be “Oh yeah, I wasn’t going all out”. Then… why’d you even show up to such an important job? For affairs like this, with such a huge stake, you can’t afford to be messing around. That’s the kinda person I want on my team.’

To that, Satou retorted:

‘Now, why would you tell me this? Don’t you think I can use it as negotiating leverage?’

I scoffed and looked at Asahi, who shrugged his shoulders.

‘Bud. Not to burst your bubble, but look at the state you’re in. You don’t have shit for negotiating power. Besides, the offer we’ve made is the most lucrative we could have – you ain’t taking any of the elite three’s spots, and I’m even putting you on the same pedestal as a chief executive in Tosh.’

‘Besides… we would’ve given you this one’s number one spot if you’d actually beaten him up – no lie. Obviously, I’d have felt like a shithead if things went that way, but a deal’s a deal. That’s the risk I was willing to take, and shows the belief that we’ve got in Tsu. Guy’s the strongest in Tokyo for good reason.’

‘I don’t doubt that either. We may be friends, but it’s a business out here. If the best guy for the job is you, we’d coronate you as our leader. Still – at least for now – I still think the best guy for the job is me.’

Satou again raised a question:

‘But again, why go through this elaborate plan just for a single bastard – a single bastard who got his ass whooped nonetheless.’

To that, Tosh interjected:

‘Cause you’re the exact typa guy we need as a commanding officer. Me alone – I wouldn’t cut it. We need someone just as savvy as me, but with the swagger to beat the shit out of someone if and when needed. There’re some other routes we could’ve gone too, and probably lured some guys away from rival crews, but we think you’d mesh well with the rest of us.’

‘Besides, you go to the Academy, don’t ya? I’ve seen ya around.’

Everyone paused and looked at Asahi.

‘Wait, you’re our age?’

I chuckled to myself.

‘I always thought you were somewhere between mine and Tosh’s age, not the same as me, Asahi and Val. Crazy.’

Satou looked at Asahi, questioningly:

‘How do you even know? We haven’t had a single class together. I’ve forced guidance to change my schedule in order for it to be completely different than both of yours. How the hell do you even recognize me?

‘I’m good at that sorta thing. Reading people, I guess you could say? I didn’t know your name before, but the face? Yeah, I’d recognize it. Hell, look at how tall you are. You stick out like a sore thumb if you’re trying to blend in.’

Tosh chuckled, before I interjected:

‘Anyway, what do you say to the deal? You want in? If you don’t, we ain’t gonna force you either. But you should be able to see the benefits of aligning with us, in addition to the benefit of being on our good side. So again, I ask, whadya say?’

Satou looked up, taking a deep breath and shaking his head:

‘Are there really no conditions to this?’

Asahi smirked:

‘Only condition is that if you’re a traitorous bastard, we’ll cut bait with ya faster than Tsu cut ya down today. That’s about it. You pledge allegiance here and now.’

Tosh looked over at him:

‘You got serious all of a sudden… that’s normally my line.’

‘Hey, he asked for conditions – I laid em out. We don’t need some fuckin’ rats in the kitchen, now do we? Now, I’m not saying that you’re a rat Sat, not at all. But there’s some pieces of shit who’d take advantage of an offer like this. That’s the good part about you – you don’t have any allegiances. You’re just the “Twilight Assassin”. And, although we are looking for loyalty, I’d rather not grab a loyal Shining Cross dog who’s playing the image of a changed man to get deeper into a rival gang.’

‘You say that like you’ve got the final say in anything Asahi.’

‘But don’t I? You’re the boss, but when it comes to decision-making, ain’t that me?’

Asahi didn’t look like he was joking. And for good reason – decision-making was his expertise. Sure he was a prolific fighter, with decorated belts, but his savviness was by far his most redeeming quality, and part of the reason – along with Tosh, obviously – that x54 was as successful as it was. It was his idea to bring down the 200-man army in Yokohama – the Yokohama Black Aces – headed by the infamous Noriaki Kenta and crafty Inui Roppon, with just me, him, and Val. It was an absolutely ludicrous plan – but it worked without fault; that’s certainly a story for another time though. It was his idea to teardown Shining Cross. It was his idea to bring on Valentin, despite my opposition to the potential of such a unique personality joining the ranks. All this to say – when Asahi gets serious, he means business. Securing Satou was a priority here and now, and both of us knew the importance of wrapping this up in an orderly manner.

‘Yeah, yeah. Don’t get too ahead of yourself though.’

‘Of course, of course.’

He turned back to Satou:

‘So, there’s no strings attached man. Of course, if you decline – which you’re welcome to – you’ll forever be on our watchlist. We could end you here and now, but that isn’t how we operate. I just don’t see a reason for you to decline though – unless you really don’t believe in our potential, which – frankly – would be a ridiculous belief.’

‘Yeah. I don’t have a reason to decline either. My main reason for never teaming up with anyone – or working under anyone, for that matter – was because I didn’t believe there was anyone who’d rival my charisma, intelligence and fighting power. But it looks like I’ve found my matches with you three.

He pointed at Valentin, Asahi and then me.

‘You’re calling Val charismatic?’

‘I’d personally give that to Tosh…’

Val chimed in:

‘Hey, what the fuck? I’m plenty charismatic as is. Besides, I should’ve got fighting power considering the fact that I’d whoop your ass Tsuyo.’

‘Sure, sure. Make sure you can whoop Yoshihisa’s ass first. Then come to me.’

Satou interjected:

‘Please… just call me Satou. I’m totally fine with it.’

‘Alright then, Satou.’

Tosh and Asahi reached over to him and grabbed his hands, pulling him upwards. As he stood, he stumbled slightly, but was supported by both of them on either side.

‘So, we’ve got a deal then?’

‘One more question.’

‘Shoot.’

‘You’re really the strongest in the prefect, aren’t ya?’

‘I like to think I am, yeah.’

‘Good. Cause I don’t know what the hell I’d say to ya if there was some monster who was even stronger than ya.’

‘Well. I’ll cross that bridge when I need to. I used to think that bastard, Noriaki Kenta – leader of the Yokohama Black Aces – was the strongest shithead out here. And yet, Val took care of him without breaking a sweat. You always hear rumors and all that, but until you fight em, one-on-one, anything-goes, that’s the only time you know the other person’s true worth. That’s why it was best that we fought – cause I can see potential in ya, and you can see the difference in strength between us. Not to be rude of course.’

‘None taken brother. You were the stronger man. I have nothing but respect – and that’s the reason that I’d choose to follow you.

He stuck out his hand to shake mine.

In correspondence, I firmly grasped his hand, and we shook on the terms.

‘From this point onward, Satou Yoshihisa will be named a commanding officer and executive of x54. Does anyone have any comments or concerns?’

Tosh raised his head, before speaking:

‘I’ll take charge of him. Even though we’re equals in position – if you do anything out of line or suspicious, I’ll report it to one of these three. Well, maybe not Val. You okay with that Tsuyo?

‘Yeah. I’m not gonna just give you free reign Satou – and I think you understand that point.’

‘Yeah, definitely.’

Val piped up again:

‘Why’d I randomly catch a stray?’

‘You’re fine Val, don’t stress – Tosh’s only joking.’

Asahi looked up at Satou once again:

‘Remember something about us Sat – before being crewmates, we’re friends. Friends don’t lie to each other to save face. Friends don’t allow shit to slide. I’m not saying you’ve gotta be our best bud by tomorrow – that’s ridiculousness. But there’s an element of uniqueness to our crew, and why we wouldn’t backstab each other. We believe in each other – it’s the reason I brought you here, cause I knew full well that Tsu would beat you. I knew the consequences of my actions if it went in a way that wouldn’t be favorable, but my trust outweighed my skepticism. That’s why we’re standing here, right now.’

Tosh chimed in as well:

‘It’s a unique system for sure. But we care about each other – we’re not just positions in an order; we’ve all known each other for quite a while now. Obviously, if there’s a way to improve the crew, we’ll explore it – but we’re doing everything for the betterment of all of us. We’ve got open dialogue and communication about things – we want what’s best for the crew, not just the individual. That’s what I’ve found different between here and Patagonia, and it’s so much better. Obviously, you’ve gotta be cutthroat in this business – but what Tsuyo’s created is something special, and something different. I wouldn’t wanna be part of anything different.’

Satou looked over at both of them and smirked:

‘Yeah. I think this is the right decision for me. Y’all seem like the type of people I’ve wanted to work with, but I never thought existed. Always imagined x54 to be way more corporate or business-oriented, but you guys seem pretty down-to-earth.’

‘Oh don’t kid yourself man – when money’s involved, we’re directly down to business. But like Asahi mentioned – we’re friends first, crew members second. That’s the key to having such a good group as we have here.’

Satou nodded his head.

‘Yeah man. Extremely excited to be working with you guys for the foreseeable future.’

**Back to current day, December**