Chapter 32: My True Nature
"I-I don't want to fight you, please-" I said while trying to avoid a conflict, but I quickly came to realize that this was my chance to brush off this family's dark past.
"Actually, I have some business with you..." I mumbled as I took back my composure.
"I'm sorry, but I have no business with you." Answered Tosha as he walked closer to me.
I quickly took note of his approach, and took a few steps back as I was not sure what I was fighting against at the moment, and whatever my chances were I was worried of what the outcome of this might be. I don't want to kill Misaki's father, and even if it came down to it, am I capable of doing so?
"Why the hell do you-" I started, but Misaki's father had other plans in mind, "Golden Art: Fist of gold." Invoked Tosha as his arms slowly coated themselves with Gold.
"Talk about a businessman…" I mumbled with a sigh.
He cracked his knuckles and started throwing punches like a boxing match, but I tried to avoid conflict as much as possible by dodging all of his attacks.
"Tch, you're not leaving here alive." Mumbled Tosha as I backflipped away from one of his attacks landing on the wall behind me.
"We can avoid a conflict if we just talk this out!" I demanded while I remained on the wall, "What even is there to talk about? It's not like you know anything about this family." He implied with no facial expression, but his eyes- his eyes were frightened, they were full of remorse and fear.
"Yes! I do have things to talk to you about!" I yelled as a vein bulged on my forehead, "STARTING WITH MISAKI!" I added as I grit my teeth.
"Z-Zakou…" Gasped Ms. Hayami from afar.
"What do you have to do with Misaki?" Asked Tosha as he looked almost dumbfounded.
"Don't act dumb, why the hell are you doing this to your own family?" I asked with an angry frown, "Do what?" Tosha asked, "You think I don't know what kind of person you are?" I asked as I was visibly bothered, "What do you know-" Said Tosha as I yelled back, "I KNOW MORE THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!"
"I AM AN ASSASSIN THAT SPECIALIZES IN THE ARTS OF INSIGHT, AND IN MY PAST YEAR I HAVE NEVER FOUND SOMEONE SO SELF-CONTAINED AND SO TERRIFIED INSIDE IN MY WHOLE LIFE!" I yelled as I slammed my fist against the wall slightly cracking it, "W-What do you mean?" He answered, almost as if I struck a nerve.
I sighed and I regained my composure, "What I'm trying to say is, why are you hurting your family when these aren't your true intentions?" I mumbled with sympathy in my voice, "What?" Whispered Ms. Hayami at the far corner of the room.
"Y-You have no idea what you are talking about..." Answered Tosha as a drop of sweat ran down his forehead.
In Misaki's room…
"What is up with all the noise?" Misaki thought to herself as she put down the book she was reading, "Eh, might as well check what it's about…" She mumbled to herself as she made her way out of her bedroom.
"Listen, Tosha, I don't know what your past is, but this is wrong. Your family living in terror of yourself just isn't right, I don't know what your intentions are, but things like these don't end well. in the long run you're all getting hurt, but in the future you will be the one suffering the most." I sympathized as I slowly got down off the wall and walked towards him.
We hadn't noticed, but Misaki was now in front of the door and could hear our conversation. She certainly found my voice familiar, but she did not want to come in as she knew she wasn't welcome in this conflict.
"Y-You have no idea what you're talking about!" Implied Tosha as he was starting to get uneasy, "I do know, pain and suffering are my greatest friend, If anyone could understand- I would." I said as I put my hand on his shoulder.
He looked at me as mercy was painted all over his face, almost as if he didn't want to let out what he had inside of him, but… slowly and surely, his facade started to fade away.
"Come on, Let it all out." I sighed with a warm smile.
He started to slowly grasp the back of my shirt, and he slowly mumbled.
"It's the assassin's… those… god… damn… FUCKING ASSASSINS!" He yelled in anguish, "THEY HAVE RUINED MY LIFE, I CAN'T WITH THIS ANYMORE, I CAN'T SPEND TIME WITH MY OWN WIFE AND BOTH OF MY CHILDREN WITHOUT THEM TARGETING EITHER OF THEM!" Tosha cried out.
"D-Darling…" Gasped Ms. Hayami while her eyes slowly started to tear up.
"W-What do you mean by "Assassin's?"." I urged with no clue what he was talking about.
"A-As you know, I am a very powerful figure in this world, there are a lot of people that wish to have the exact same amount of wealth I have, which is pretty self explanatory to you that many people wish to kill me for it, It was never really severe over the years I worked as a businessman, but when Misaki was born it all changed." He explained as he came to a stop.
"It was around the time I contacted my manager, once Misaki was born I had endless warnings of assassinations. It's a daily thing, I haven't lived a normal life for so long, It feels like I will never be able to live one. You most likely already met Misaki's older brother 'Takashi', This was about a month after Misaki's birth…" He continued
Fourteen years, Eleven months and Twenty One days ago.
The phone rang for several minutes until I picked it up, "Hello, Who is this?" I asked with a curious tone as to who would be calling at the time of the night.
"Todomaru Tosha, from this day on, we will decide on what you will do, if you don't follow our orders down to the letter, we will assassinate your family including your newborn baby 'Todomaru Misaki', Whether you call the police, or any other person from the E.A.A it will be futile due to the fact that you can't track this number-" ranted the man on the phone, But I closed the phone in ignorance to what he had said.
As the days passed I started getting small notes, nothing big, just small- Yet conveniently threatening notes. But as the kind of man I used to be, I overlooked these notes, as the years passed by the notes got more gore and menacing, till one day, when Misaki started school, she came back home covered in bruises with patches of her hair pulled off.
It was a sight I couldn't bear to watch, I couldn't, so Takashi and I talked to this man to sort this out as quickly and discreetly as possible.
"My conditions are, to maintain your family alive, you must pay us One-Hundred and Eight Million yen every year, twenty-seven million being for every family member in your household." Said the ominous man through the phone, at first, I thought this was going to be a pretty easy task to do, until he gave us his second condition.
"My second condition is, you are not allowed to treat your family members like family." He demanded, "W-What do you mean, not treating them like family?" I trembled because I knew what he meant, but I didn't want to admit it, "Sorry, It looks like I wasn't clear enough, You are supposed to beat the shit out of them, punch them, kick them, any treatment resembling a dog." He implied as he cackled like a demon, and seconds after he closed the phone.
Sometime after, he sent me an account address to send the money, It was an anonymous account, so it couldn't be tracked, and even If I did he would be quickly notified.
"Hayami, I'm so sorry, t-there is nothing I can do to attone my sins…" He silently cried.
Ms. Hayami was in the corner of this room this whole time without saying anything, she was on the ground crying without a word to say, but after finding out her husbands whole nightmare and living terror, she felt alleviated, she had no other choice than to forgive him, as she knew that this was haunting him for years.
She got up and slowly walked to Tosha. I got out of the way to let them talk to each other, at this point this was in between them.
"I forgive you." She whispered into Tosha's ear as he stood in place like a statue, "B-But why, why do you forgive me…" He sobbed inside of Ms. Hayami's arms, "Because I love you." She replied
As I stood there I kept thinking about everything he had said, and for some reason I felt something was not right.
"Tosha… If I'm not mistaken, your manager notified you I was coming here, right?" I asked with a supposition that I did not want to believe, but I had to make sure, "Yes, he called me telling me that you were coming here to assassinate me, why do you ask?" He answered.
"Does he have a son?" I asked as I started to slowly realize what was going on, "He does." Answered Tosha without hesitation, "Does his son know Takashi?" I interrogated him, "Yes- Why do you keep asking these questions? Does it make any difference?" He implied as he was clearly annoyed, "This is my last question, I need you to remember carefully, what did your manager say to you when he warned you about me? I need you to tell me word for word." I demanded.
Tosha took a second, but he was able to recall what his manager had told him.
"He said 'We have just found an assassination request towards you, we need you to stay on high alert and maintain your house on lockdown, We must protect your Daughter at all costs, I know how much you value her." Said Tosha.
"This is accurate?" I asked, "Yeah, word for word." He assured me.
They had no idea, but I knew he was the man that had haunted Tosha for all these years. I now knew who was the son of a bitch, that kept Tosha from living a good life with family.
"Tosha, do you mind if I kill the person that has done all of this to you?" I said with cold eyes, "W-What do you mean?" Tosha asked in shock, "I know who it is." I said with confidence, "I-If you really, c-can do that… I would be indebted to you for the rest of my life." Tosha said with hope in his voice.
I was so pissed off my body started to tremble, but this time it was different. My eyes assumed the color of blood, a deep bloody red.
"Somethings wrong." Said Gale in the realm of spirits, "Zakou's energy is going haywire… It feels like- HESTIA!" She gasped.
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