Chapter 58: Dinner and a Show
The Kusakabe gang filed into the dining room of their recent benefactors one by one. For once, they made an effort to make themselves presentable and not try to speak out of turn , and it was quite the novel attempt. Their expressions varied from excited at the invitation, smug that they had been seen as worthy enough to eat at the table of the big kids to a little nervous at their sudden summons. Towards the head of the table sat Kusakabe himself, and he was living it up for all it was worth. Making various comments and barking various orders at the waiters to bring drinks before the actual dinner was served and getting slightly inebriated in the process.
Compared to their usual boisterous selves, the actual yakuza were rather formal and polite. After all, this was not only a dinner for their subordinates, but also an initiation of sorts and such things were to be treated with reverence.
A door at the back of the room slid open to reveal The Cyclops himself, and a noticeable shift in atmosphere was felt. The adult yakuza in the room were prompted to bow to their leader. The younger members of the hall were caught off guard by the sudden entrance, but nonetheless followed the lead of the others. Without even looking up, the Nakagaki men under his command, could practically taste the agitation their leader was feeling. The Kusakabe gang out of curiosity tried peering up in the middle of their bow to get a glimpse of the man that commanded so much respect.
He stood before the room, with his hands behind his back, carefully evaluating everyone with a calculated, yet neutral expression. Pulling a chair from the head position, Kenshiro slowly lowered himself.
"You may all sit."
The spoken words were that of invitation, but the tone was more or less an order.
"I'm pleased to see that you all could make it tonight. For we are joined by our newest additions, of the Kusakabe gang."
Hachirou himself took a moment to flash a grin to the rest of the peons in attendance.
'That's right', he congratulated himself, 'We're the guests of honor at this little shindig. I was just the slightest bit worried when we got called in earlier. He made it sound like we were in trouble, but clearly he recognizes how proactive we are and that we can come up with plans just as good as theirs. And that Haruoka girl will be in even more serious trouble when she learns just who she f**ked with.'
Part of Kenshiro's welcome speech was lost on Hachirou while he was busy mentally patting himself on the back for a job well done. The Cyclops himself nodded to the waiters in the room and poured a little more alcohol into the cups of Kusakabe's boys. Raising his own cup in the air with an emotionless face, "To a... fruitful working relationship going forward. Cheers, men"
The sentiment was echoed as glasses clinked and sounds of merriment started to become more prevalent. With a gesture to the waiters again, the food was brought out immediately and presented to their guests. It was a little difficult to tell what it was, but the Kusakabe boys could tell they were being served some kind of seafood. Most likely some kind of really upscale fish whose name they couldn't identify any more than they could likely afford to get one for themselves.
After no more than a minute of digging into their dinner, some more greedily than others, Kenshiro stood up to once again address the entire room. However he had what looked like an almost embarrassed smile. The younger members of the meal weren't familiar with the living legend's facial expressions, but they could tell the face they were seeing wasn't quite right.
"I'm afraid I've been a rather poor host", Kenshiro explained, "I show up late and I don't even explain what it is that we're having for dinner."
'Damn right you have', Hachirou grumbled, 'The service around here needs some serious revamping. Especially the chef, this fish is such a weird flavor.'
Hachirou was beginning to think he was more nervous than even he was letting on, since his stomach was feeling progressively more upset. It wasn't even a typical stomach ache, because this felt like serious waves of nausea were roiling within his stomach.
Now the young gang was even more perplexed. This afternoon just seemed to be going in an odd direction. Most of them were just gutter rats and street urchins, the most upscale thing most have been to was maybe the opening of a town park or maybe an exceptionally rich kid's birthday party. Ceremony and decorum were lost on them.
"The chef tonight has provided us a special kind of seafood. Your bounty comes from a little creature known as the Fugu fish."
That thought elicited a few small smiles among the Kusakabe gang, thinking of a fat little fish that blew itself up like a balloon.
"This particular dish is considered a delicacy around the world, partly because this little fish can be rather tricky to catch if you don't know what you're doing."
Kenshiro paused again, as if he were waiting for some dramatic reveal. Taking a quick glance over at Hachirou himself, who was already looking rather pale and for an unknown reason, his face looked slightly blue.
"Is there an issue Mr. Kusakabe", Kenshiro asked, "You appear to be unwell."
Despite being seriously sweaty and feeling breathless for some reason, the young gang leader cracked as much of a grin as he could muster and wheezed out, "No, I'm fine. Continue with your speech, it sound like it was just getting interesting."
Kenshiro raised a single eyebrow at that statement, "Certainly. And you're definitely going to want to pay attention to this next part."
'Just get this dumb speech over with so I can go to the bathroom', Hachiriou half begged to himself as he took deep breaths within his hammering chest.
The Cyclops addressed the room at large, "The reason this dish is such a delicacy is that it needs to be prepared with the utmost care. Because, the Fugu fish has an unfortunate defense mechanism. If even a single knife stroke is improperly placed", he paused to take a hard look at Kusakabe himself, "You risk leaking a deadly tetrodotoxin, which progressively chokes you to death."
It felt as though the room temperature had dropped several degrees. The Nakagaki group looked amused at the steadily increasing stink of fear. The Kusakabe gang all snapped their head to look at their leader whose face was definitely not only a cyanic shade of blue but also had a look of near panic that was beginning to transfer to the rest of them. Not waiting to hear anymore, Hachirou leapt out of his chair and started to ram his stomach against the table in an effort to force himself to vomit.
Despite the rather grave sight happening right beside him, Kenshiro casually kept on addressing the room, "Your meal is much like our work. It requires a certain amount of caution, careful planning, patience and more often than not, a little discretion. If done right, you can have any number of spoils. However, if you choose to shoot off your mouth and announce to your greatest rivals about your newfound status and try to reopen old wounds in a pathetic attempt to save face for no reason other than your own pride..."
Kenshiro let the statement hang in the air, as Hachirou continued to choke, his breaths growing steadily more and more desperate for air. One of the more brave or maybe stupid members of the Kusakabe gang darted out of his chair and tried to rush at Kenshiro while screaming various obscenities. Before he could even get more than ten steps from his chair, one of the more swift footed members of the Nakagaki men stuck out their foot. The boy didn't fall down, but taking advantage of his imbalance, the man who tripped him grabbed him. He then proceeded to deliver a devastating haymaker into the boy's head and smashed his head into the table, leaving a small red trail onto the floor. The rest of Kusakabe boys who were almost emboldened by their friend, quickly had any flames of courage snuffed out.
Reaching into his jacket pocket, Kenshiro produced a small syringe full of liquid and leaned down and spoke right in Hachirou's blue and vacant looking face, "Right here is a little needle. It contains a medicine that reverses the effects of Fugu poison. But, I warn you, this medicine is from the black market and highly rare. If I give it to you, you incur a heavy debt. One which you will spend years paying me back for. Do you accept?"
Close to passing out, Kusakabe desperately nodded his head. Kenshiro grabbed the boy's arm and quickly injected the whole syringe's content. Nodding at two of his men who grabbed Hachirou and dragged his near unconscious carcass out of the room, he once more looked at the table of terrified and despair ridden boys who thought they could play in the world of underworld crime.
"By proxy of your leader's decision, you all are completely under our command. Anything we say for you to do, you do it to the letter."
They all nodded.
"If any of you disobeys, or gets too big for their britches, or does anything to cause trouble for or compromise our organization... Well, you just saw one of the things that could happen. I trust this will be the only lesson."
One more nod and the Cyclops excused himself from the dining hall. He walked to his office for a few moments of silence.
'Don't worry, little bro', Ken silently vowed, 'You protected me once, so I'll keep protecting you.'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone