ODE TO THE MURDERED, bonten

45

PART FOURTY-FIVE !
sinner's ultraviolence iii.

—AN HOUR EARLIER,
MIKEY'S RESIDENCE.

"THERE'S A LETTER FROM QUOIA." Mikey presses his lips together at the words, eyes narrowed at the paper held between Benkei's hands. tension sparks within the room beneath the downpour outside, and despite the warming temperature of the room, everything else felt utterly cold and disdainful.

    "you should've just burned it." spites Wakasa through a mouthful of cigarette smoke. in return Benkei side eyes him sourly.

    "that's an option. however, this letter was found in one of our guys' dead bodies in our shipment bay in Yokohama." the bold and intricate envelope is settled on the mahogany table, slid towards Mikey's direction and he eyes it strongly.

his dark eyes then shift up towards Benkei as the older man mutters,

    "a bold threat towards Bonten."

    Takeomi clicks his tongue. "damn sons of a bitches. to think they still have the audacity to openly vex us even after we just killed two of their execs." he leans back on his chair, tone lowering into a respectful hush when he addresses Mikey.

    "are you gonna read it, boss?" Takeomi asks.

    "they went through all that effort to sneak into our shipment location, gun down our men and deliver this." Mikey holds the letter so haphazardly, lazily, in contrast to his words. "it would be disrespectful not to adhere to their desperate beggings."

    with a single slice of the letter opener, the paper's skin is cut raw, inside was a card of high quality, golden fonted and welcomed with their company's signature leaf symbol.

    Mikey frowns. "an invitation."

    "to what?"

    "an exhibition next friday."

    Wakasa had lowered his cigarette, mirroring a frown of his own. "what, so we are buddies now? think we would just hop along and feel honored for getting invited to their crappy circle—"

    "they want Kokonoi to attend, specifically." Mikey cuts him off, his eyes stony and blank. "we would like Mr. Kokonoi Hajime to attend the exhibition. afterall, we are deeply impressed by his ability as Bonten's financial aid, and his personal system seems well looked after and orderly—"

    Takeomi slams his fist on the table, it doesn't stir anyone. in fact, it only brought the same coiling rage to everyone in the room. "so they were the ones that manage to hack the fucking database."

"shit." Wakasa presses the butt of the cigar on the ashtray. "Benkei, do us all a favor and tell your men to hurry the fuck up in finding Quoia's second rat."

    "he's not stupid to be out and about in the fucking streets. from my guys' reports he is currently being protected and hidden somewhere we don't know. we cannot pinpoint his specific location lest we reach out to our other branches, and using those would make searching take particularly longer." Benkei counters.

    "well, let's just rush into one of their well known bases in the west and kill all of them. that'll serve as a punishment and it will bring them out of their hiding."