CHAPTER 4: Inferno

"Close the door and leave us."

The man who stood by the door nodded.

Isamu sat on the sofa with two other men across him. The two men were young; barely seventeen, they had been hanging out at the streets, involved with fights, and abandoned by their blood relatives. They were strong, for they were young, and easily manipulated.

"You said you wanted to join the Takagumi?" Isamu asked, voice low and nearly hushed.

The two of them nodded.

"I will not doubt your experience. However, before I let you join, you must pass a test." Isamu opened the envelope he placed on the table in between him and the two young men. He took out a photograph of a man he knew only too well. "I need you to kill this man. He is an enemy of the Takagumi, a traitor. If you will be able to kill him, then I will consider you as part of the Takagumi."

"How will we tell you that we have accomplished the task?" one of them asked.

"I will give you my number. If you succeed, tell me you have bought my chocolate pudding. Then I will enlist you under the 12th division and I'll give you instructions so that you shall be initiated into the Takagumi."

The other two nodded.

"Any questions?"

"No, sir! Everything is clear."

"Then you may go," he dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

After the two left, the man who guarded the door inquired, "What did they want?"

"They asked to be part of the Takagumi."

"And...?"

"They're young. They're easy to train. They're strong. They're raw and ready to be molded into something stronger. I sent them to buy me some chocolate pudding," he laughed, "and promised to enlist them under the 12th division."

The other man shook his head. "I take it the rascals are abandoned boys?"

Isamu nodded. "Boys who are desperate for family."

The phone suddenly rang, interrupting the men's conversation. Isamu stood up from the couch and walked towards the table. "Yes?"

The voice on the other line made Isamu freeze, both in shock and trepidation. "Isamu-sama. I sincerely hope you are enjoying your position as kumicho. I know the crime - the murder you committed. You believe in karma, don't you?"

Isamu's voice was hard yet nearly unstable as he answered, "No, I do not."

"Too bad then, sempai. I thought that since you are more experienced than I am, then perhaps you are wiser as well. I only called to greet you and to give you this chance: confess to the Takagumi. Tell them, head bowed down in shame, how you killed father. Then I will probably let you live longer."

Isamu tried to recompose himself. "I do not know what you are talking about," he said firmly.

"I hoped you would agree so that we can avoid a yakuza warfare. The satsu running around, chasing us for both our necks isn't exactly an appealing situation. But I will come for revenge. Not only for father, but for myself as well."

Isamu laughed, bitter and hard. "You? Against me? Against the Takagumi? And you expect yourself to win?"

"Age and men, sempai, doesn't matter in a battle."

Isamu stood, silent, unable to reply.

"It was you who taught me that. Goodbye then, for now." With that, the other line went dead.

"Are you alright, Isamu-sama?" The man asked, worried about their current leader. "Your face...it is pale."

"I am--I am alright."

"Who was on the other line?"

"Takehiko, gather all region leaders. Tell them to make sure everyone undergoes a war drill. Daily. I want it scheduled daily."

"Isamu-sama?" Takehiko asked, alarmed. "Who called?"

"I'm afraid that we might be challenged into an uncontrollable brawl, to put it lightly."

"But who would challenge the Takagumi?"

"Just go and do as I said, Takehiko."

"Y--yes." The man bowed and left.

"You can never beat me, Koji. You never will." Isamu could not help but feel dread creeping up his spine, crawling like the unloved spider, slowly prickling the hairs of his back.

"You can never beat me, Koji," he repeated. "You never will."

- - - - - - - - - -

"Now that all regional bosses have gathered," Takehiko started, "I'm here to announce the kumicho's recent orders."

Twelve men, all garbed in traditional kimonos, sat around a wide thirty-person table. In the left end of the table sat Takehiko, the only man who wore a black suit.

"Isamu-sama wanted all clans to have fighting and war drills daily."

"What? A war? This soon?" one of the bosses asked.

"Isamu-sama had not officially announced anything about a war yet. He only asked everyone to indulge in training," Takehiko tried to explain.

One of the bosses frowned. "I do not like this. If we really are going to war, then we will all be endangered. Laws will be broken and if that happens, the satsu will be too willing to wring all our necks."

"Perhaps this is merely a safety precaution?" one of them suggested. "It is true that without the confirmation of Koji-sama's location, the Takagumi is not particularly stable."

"And the man we have as our temporary kumicho is a legend. That much should discourage other groups from waging war."

"Nevertheless, it might be best to prepare. Doing things in a subtle manner would be best, in my opinion."

"I concur."

"Then this meeting is adjourned then," Takehiko said, "until Isamu-sama renews his orders or gives a new command regarding the issue."

The bosses nodded.

"I still do not think things are going well," one of the bosses whispered to another.

"Something's amiss."

"Indeed. We must be ready for any sudden change in the wind."

next chapter: chapter five