The Truth Behind the Curtain

I got a chance to personally meet with Miyazaki Shinji, the patriarch of the family.

He was looking like a normal person. If I were to see him on a random street on a random day, I wouldn't ever think of him as a mafia leader. He was in his early 40's and had glasses. He had short black hair and no beard nor mustache. He was more like an office worker, honestly. However, he seemed to be really stressed and tired. Even though he did know me from the bakery incident, he didn't care much about it, as if he was desperate to find people to get some dirty jobs done. Still, he expressed his displeasure on this matter.

"So you were that problematic kid at the bakery, huh?"

"I was just defending my friend, Mr. Miyazaki."

"From what I've heard, you used Kurokawa's name to scare our kids; are you connected to them? If so, why are you here?"

"No sir. Just like what you said, I used their name to scare the kids. Nothing more and nothing less."

Honestly, he wasn't really satisfied with my answers. But just like I said, he was kind of desperate.

"Well then, nevermind. Just get the job done, and you'll get the payment. There's a car waiting for you outside; get a ride with them. They'll deliver you to the place. You'll also learn about the job on the way. Now get lost."

Some of the guys in the room accompanied me to the car; it seems like they weren't giving any chance to people to refuse their offer. Their behavior was already weird and all, and now it was getting even worse for them.

On the road, they explained a few things about the job.

"It's not a big job, kid. Even you can do it," said the man beside the driver. "You'll set a business on fire."

"I thought it was a small job."

"It is, trust me. We mostly arranged everything. All you have to do is give it the finishing touches."

"If you have done that much already, why were you looking for new people to do the last part?"

"Are you going to keep asking questions? We're a big family, kid. We are always busy with something—big things! It's relatively a small job if you compare them."

"Uh-huh."

"Anyway, we're almost there."

They pulled up near a family restaurant. It didn't actually look like anything special. However, the area where the restaurant was located was the real problem. It was dangerously close to the Kurokawa's territory; maybe even was a part of it.

"Just enter the kitchen from the back door; it should be open right now. It's almost their rush hours, so all the stuff should be enjoying their sweet time before another stressful night of work."

"And what should I do?"

"Just cause a little, tiny gas leak from a stove or something and put a defect sign on it. They won't have any time to check it out, so they'll leave it to tomorrow. Well, until then they'll probably burn to death, but that's not our thing to concern."

"Whose thing it is, then?"

"Questions, questions, questions... Just go already, will you?"

In most restaurants, there are gas leak detectors to prevent any disasters from occurring. My assumption was that they recently broke all the systems, and now all the detectors were disabled. If they really arranged most of the things, it was possible to cause such a disaster. All they needed was someone to blame for it. In this situation, it was me.

A gas leak is not a joke. If the gas reaches a sufficient density, a huge explosion may suddenly occur. They certainly had a reason to target this restaurant, and whatever the reason might be, I didn't like it. I had to learn more about the situation I was in before something serious might have happened.

However, I was right in my assumptions. The moment I left the sight of those two men from the Miyazaki family, I immediately called Mr. Kurokawa. The restaurant they wanted to set on fire belonged to us. But what was their reason? Were they using a roundabout way to cause a war? But they could've done it more directly in many ways. And what about the marriage proposal they just made? Why did they target somewhere too far from Kurokawa's territory? There were a lot to ask, yet all the questions remained unanswered for the time being.

I pretended to cause a gas leak; well, I only took a photo as if it was true. It was easy to fix it back, and all I had to do was prove it. It wasn't like they could have known the truth, at least until a few hours. I returned to their car.

"You are late, is something happened?"

"There was someone mopping the floor in the kitchen, so I had to wait a little bit until he left. Job is done, don't worry."

"Well, we'll see it. You'll get the payment once the restaurant explodes."

"Fine by me."

Of course, there wasn't going to be an explosion. All I had to do was wait for Mr. Kurokawa's men to deal with those two bastards. However, there was still a lot to learn. The Miyazaki family was definitely up to something against us, and we had to learn it.

"May I ask a question?"

"No."

"What was the job you gave to Misaki?"

The man sighed.

"Why are you too curious about everything? Curiosity is something that might get you killed, kid."

"He's my friend, I have the right to know it."

"If he didn't tell you already, then you're not as close as you thought. Forget about it."

The driver remained silent. I actually never heard him talking so far. We just kept waiting and waiting, they were probably planning to do so until the explosion. Eventually, they got bored. They weren't as serious as I thought about their job.

"Hey kid, tell us about yourself. Why did you accept the job?"

"Well, I had no choice if I recall it right."

"Not that, why did you come in the first place?"

"It's the same reason as anyone, for money."

"For what?"

"Come on now, you are asking a lot even though you answered none of my questions."

"Hey! We're not on the same level. Know your place."

"But we're business partners now, right?"

"No. You're just temporary, and I am not."

The driver talked for the first time.

"We can answer a few of his questions. It's not like anything would go wrong because of it."

The first man was about to complain once more, but then he changed his mind.

"Fine! I'm not responsible if anything happens."

He turned back to me and started talking.

"He just provided us some information about someone and played the role of bait. That's all you have to know."

The driver was right, this little information they gave was really insignificant for most of the people. However, I was an exception. Everything was obvious. The reason Misaki didn't tell us about the job, the reason for the marriage proposal...

The Miyazaki family was responsible for that kidnapping incident, and I was the only one who could've understood it since I was directly involved in it. They were targeting only Tatsumi from right at the beginning. And this restaurant was nothing but another distraction to get to her.

I didn't ask another question to not draw any attention. I had to take my steps wisely, or else I'd be dead.