When Kanashi and Kenji had returned to the Karantino Casino and entered the hidden basement, the atmosphere they encountered was instantly awful.

  Silent, cold and brooding it felt as though with a single spark of a match stick the entire basement compound would ignite into an inferno of emotion.

  “...” Kanashi bit his tongue, the urge to speak and say something broke the mood was strong, his natural soothing method however he felt as if doing so would be more dangerous than anything else. Kenji seemed to also be feeling the off tone, his hand lowered relaxed yet able to reach his Katanas handle if need be.

  Kanashi creeped around the entry hallway looking towards the direction which held Akatoras office when he bumped into Nejimaru Gyokou, the feline faced man who was one of Akatoras Joshin elite four. Grabbing the man by his shoulder, Kanashi quickly slid into a closet with him, shutting the door before Kenji could enter as well.

  “Meow!?” The man cried, his brows furrowing and whiskers twitching.

  “I’m not gonna hurt you, don't worry, I just want to know what’s going on.” Kanashi said, his voice trembling somewhat as he unknowingly bared his teeth.

  “Meow…” Nejimaru whimpered, his head dropping down low and ears twitching.

  “Dammit come on can’t you speak a single word?” Kanashi asked with a growl, I feel like my nerves are on fire right now, I can’t control my anxiety. He thought, clenching his teeth tightly.

  “Unfortunately he doesn’t speak much.” A voice came from behind Kanashi who turned to see the closet door had opened, Taishi Beniise son of Akatora standing there with a smile and crossed arms, Kenji standing next to him hand on his Katanas handle ready to draw in case

  “It’s fine Kenji.” Kanashi sighed with a nod. “Ah sorry I didn’t mean to come off as threatening, I just thought it better to interfere before Nejimaru-San had your head spinning with anger. Beniise smiled wryly.

  “Meow?” Nejimaru asked, tilting his head to the side.

  “You can go, Nejimaru, I’ll handle it from here.” Beniise said and Nejimaru quickly slipped out from under Kanashi and Beniise like a cat scampering quickly yet gracefully to freedom.

  “What’s going on… what’s with this atmosphere?” Kanashi asked with wide eyes.

  “It’s… It’s my father, when he’s upset his aura grows too hot for the [Kami] which grows flustered and begins to panic.

  “Akatora upset?” Kanashi asked with a gulp. Is he upset at us? Or rather me? He can’t have already heard of this Soutou Situation right? Does he not know the fine details but just know we did something behind his back? Would explaining it make things better? He wondered.

  “I can see you’re flustered, but it has nothing to do with what you or any of us have done… I was told by an eavesdropper that Susanori Kobe had appeared and talked to my father.” Beniise said, his voice dropping at the mention of the Toumeikans leader.

  Kanashi felt his heart somehow drop further down into the pits of his stomach at the mention of Kobe, though he knew nothing of Kobe himself, his appearance or personality from what he could piece together the man was truly worth fearing, and if Akatora had been thrown into a rage over the meeting then there surly was something awful at play for their secret plans.

  “Do you know what happened? What did Kobe say?”

  “We don’t know… and none of us can get near him. Your eyes will dry out and make you blind if you even try to just knock on his door.” Beniise explained.

  “Hmph, try me.” Kenji huffed with a frown, turning and quickly walking towards the office of Akatora, though before he could get too far Kanashi caught him by the sleeve of his Kimono and pulled him back.

  “Kenji, wait a moment please.” Kanashi pleaded, staring into the sharp and even more bloodshot than usual eyes of Kenji.

  Kenji frowned, his lip having a small chip on the lower part which bled a single drop of blood down his chin. “Alright.” He sighed.

  If Kenji only made it a few feet ahead of us and made his lips chap to the point of bleeding and eyes dry out like that then I would probably melt like those goons at the airport who Akatora turned to ash. “It’s pretty bad huh.” He muttered clawing at his own cheeks with his finger tips.

  “It certainly is… but there’s nothing we can do about it, we just have to wait for him to approach us. Once that time comes we can try to work around whatever Kobe had said to make my father so upset.

  “Yeah, you’re right… I just hope that he doesn’t take too long to calm down.” Kanashi nodded, his throat dry having gone dry.

  # # #

  Kanashi laid in the bed of his hotel room, remote in hand he flicked through the television on the large somewhat flat screened tt mounted to the wall. Sitting to his side on the bedside dresser an empty bottle of Dr. Spicy and an almost empty bag of Crunchies, a chocolate covered peanut candy.

  Having the entire catalog on the television accessible he was assaulted by everything one could imagine, from black and white classics, childrens educational cartoons, new networks, financial advisors, infomercials, pornography, comedy shows, religious fanatics, talk shows and more. He tried to watch “World Funniest Home Videos” a show which he often would watch with his parents and grandparents but the nostalgia of it quickly turned into a pain in his heart so he turned the screen and threw the remote to the bottom of the bed.

  He didn’t need to add more stress to the already awful situation he had been put in, Akatoras breakdown had surely thrown a massive wrench in everything and his stomach painfully churned with a burning ache across his entire belly. Since he’d returned to his hotel room the [Kami] seemed to calm down, no longer agitated by the heat which Akatoras Aura radiated but the general atmosphere still seemed on fire and Kanashis anxiety in perhaps grown even worse from the anticipation of hearing what Akatora had to say.

  Running his hands through his overgrown hair he tried to think of somethis else, anything else. He had a whole apartment sized hotel room for himself that he could do whatever he wanted in. He could stomp around, shadow box, workout or play with magic he could even just sleep. But none of it seemed to interest him, for as much as he was fearing it the only thing he wanted to do was find out what exactly had made Akatora so upset. Yet as the clock clicked away he was reminded of what exactly the future held for him, he only had more stress and more issues to work out, in just another few hours it would be midnight and the 30th of July would come, the day before the Liberation eve. He had 2 ? days to figure out everything else and he was sure he needed at least twice as much time at that.

  Raizen would announce his descent from the Soutou clan head and give that title to Sosuke. The idea of Raizen betraying Kanashi was not even a thought since if he did he would have something worse than death fall upon him. Making Sosuke the clan head anyways. At least this way he could continue his life with his family and retire as a happy old man. Though technically he only needed to forfeit the clan head position not the Soutou clan's company itself so he might have outsmarted Kenji and Kanashi in some ways.

  But the thoughts of tomorrow were even more distant than he wanted to believe since he still had to call Hojo Mitou.He hoped to do so after figuring out Akatoras Situation. Afterall if he spoke to Mitou while on the brink of a panic attack she might just smell his weakness like a shark does blood in the water and rip into him with more schemes and treachery.

  If he didn’t call her soon she might just do the worst thing possible and assume he failed, allying the Hojo clan with the Toumeikan. Something which would be a devastating blow to the liberation effort.

  Not only was calling Mitou a problem but so was calling Nordon. Kanashi had told himself he’d do so first thing in the morning after doing his daily routine but now he wanted to push it off until noon. But knowing himself he’d only then push it off until night time and then to the next day until he had no more time left and he failed.

  He had to make these two phone calls to fix everything and yet the action of making the call seemed far scarier than failing somehow. He felt nauseous and so defeated that he wanted to just crawl into a ball and fall asleep and wake up only when everything was better and figured itself out naturally. But of course that wasn’t possible and even if it somehow were he knew that he would be plagued by the grimy black tendrils of that nightmare which had been plaguing him since he awoke in the Venator Society tower. While it didn’t happen every night anymore thankfully it still would occur and before it did he had a feeling in his stomach that he could come to recognize, like an oily foul smelling rag had been shoved down his throat into his stomach. And right now that feeling came into his mind whenever he closed his eyes and laid against the soft hotel room pillow trying to day dream.

  Grabbing the pillow from beside him he covered his face with it and screamed as loud and hard as he could until he was out of breathe

  God I’m pathetic. He sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.

  KNOCK

  KNOCK

  Just then someone rattled on Kanashis room door, making him both grow excited and nervous. If it was Akatora then that solved one of his issues but at the same time if it was Akatora then… It was Akatora. And the cause of his breakdown would be revealed to Kanashi surly making him only fall deeper into the pit he was trying to claw himself out of to no avail.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Walking to the door he opened it slightly, not yet unlatching the chain which held it closed.

  “Mr. Kanashi.” A voice came in broken Shinkai, the accent thick as mud.

  “Yes?” Kanashi asked, raising one brow.

  “The Boss wishes to speak to you.” The man said, peeking his squared eye through the door's crack.

  # # #

  On the way to Akatoras office Kanashi had tried to bring Kenji along but his escort told him that Akatora wanted only Kanashi to be present. Though his gut told him it might be a bad idea he put his hands up surrendering to whatever fate befell him.

  Though he had not expected what he saw upon entering Akators office, the door shut behind them leaving only himself and Aktatora who was squatting in the middle of the room facing the wall with Kanashi to his back.

  “Akatora…?” Kanashi called out. “You good? Not gonna kill me or anything right?” He asked with a tight laugh and creased eyes.

  “No… not yet anyways.” He sighed, turning around with a strained smile, his eyes bloodshot and lips chapped with blood.

  Must be from the [heat]... Kanashi thought, gulping down his worries.

  “Sorry if I scared you there… I sorta lost it for a bit.”

  “No kidding…” Kanashi muttered with his own strained smile as he looked around the once furnished office. Now it was nothing but a charred black concrete box, illuminated only by Akatoras own flames which were formed into pillars in the back corners.

  “So… what happened?”

  “Kobe came.”

  “I know that already… well I guess that’s all I know though so please disregard that comment and act like I gasped with a shocked expression.” Kanashi said, forcing another laugh out after words which sounded more like him gagging up a soggy chunk of bread.

  “I’m both angry at your ability to joke right now yet relieved and jealous of it.” Akatora said, looking at the floor as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair trying to force it back like it normally was. The gel melted leaving it wild and shooting into every direction.

  “Sorry…” Kanashi muttered, pulling at his pants pocket.

  “Don’t worry about it kid. Akatora said looking up to Kanashi with tired eyes, eyes so tired and bloodshot you’d think he’d went on a week long bender. “I’ve been putting it off for long enough..”

  “-okay then, let me hear it!” Kanashi nodded, sweat dripping from his chin.

  “Well the thing is…”

  “...” Kanashi waited for what Akatora would say next, the two second pause feeling like it lasted at least a few minutes.

  “I can’t tell you anything.” Sighed Akatora.

  “WHAT!?” Kanashis response was more like an angry bark than anything else though he was much more confused than upset.

  “I made a contract upon my soul that what we talked about would be kept between me and him.”

  “Wait a minute… I know the penalty wouldn’t be pretty and you’d probably be all kinds of messed up maybe even on par with Kenji if you broke the contract but can’t you… ya know break it?”

  “If it was a single contract yet. But it’s a new contract on top of an already existing one. Think of it like adding a new amendment to a constitution.”

  “Wait okay… can you explain the contract to me? Not the new part but the original please?”

  “The original was a blood pact, the highest of contracts us humans can use on one another. Basically It all comes down to not betraying the Toumeikan.”

  “But aren’t you already doing that? And you haven't suffered any consequences?” Kanashi asked, tilting his head.

  “No, the funny thing about contracts is that much like real life. They can be left to interpretation, I don't find myself betraying Toumeikan by working with you. I’m just trying to fix it after everyone else betrayed it.”

  “Got it, so contracts can be weaseled out if you don’t make them specific enough?” Kanashi asked , doubt over the Soutou situation coming to mind. Raizen already probably weaseled his way into keeping the Soutous company, not that I care but if he was able to do that what else did he manage to pull off?

  “And with that comes some good news, being careful I can" "tell”” you about what we spoke about.”

  “Oh-oh! Yeah like you’re gonna write it out or use sign language?”

  “That’s not a bad idea, but that’s still telling you. Even if it’s not verbally speaking.”

  “Because that’s how you define “”telling”” someone… Man culture is weird. In Saharis we call that a double secret.”

  “Interesting fact but that won’t do us any good right now. What’s important now is how I’m gonna tell you what you need to know.” Akatora said, crossing his arms and furroting his brow.

  “Yeah you’re right, I got it, I'm ready for anything. Well within reason that is. I’m not willing to do any Mana transferring innuendo stuff. This is a non-romantic story.”

  Akatora simply sighed and shook his head as if disappointed, “I really am envious of your ability to squeeze a joke into everything.” He frowned.

  “Sorry… I’m just trying to make you laugh or a smile…”

  “Well first of all you’ll need to use a joke that I can actually understand.” Grumbled Akatora. “But enough of that, come in. Beniise.” Akatora called out, clapping his hands.

  “Are you ready?” Beniise asked upon opening the door.

  “I wouldn't have called for you if I wasn't.” Akatora grumbled under his breath.

  “Wait what’s going on here?” Kanashi asked, looking between the two towering men.

  “I can’t explain it, but Beniise will be able to.” Akatorde tilted his head with a nod to Beniise as if politely commanding him while also posing it as a question.

  “Of course I can.” Bennise bowed slightly. “My magic is complicated and comes in many forms. I of course have spells made for direct combat but my most powerful and important of them comes in the form of “debt collection.”

  A knuckle rip off? Kanashi wondered.

  “If I do someone something they owe me something of equal value in return. For example Kanashi, if I lend you $5 you not only owe me $5 in return but interest on top of it. Of course depending on the time it takes for you to repay my [favor] you could only owe me an extra few pennies or over $100.”

  “So how will that be useful here?” Kanashi frowned.

  “Because I can exchange the payment in money for [Labor].”

  “...”

  “Of course these favors do have a limit and my fathers contract which he signed with Kobe is most definitely not one I can break.” Bennise explained with a light shake of his head.

  “So then how are you going to help me understand what’s going on with your dad?”

  “One of the payments for a [debt] I received in the past was a particularly powerful Clairvoyant type spell. One which lets you access anothers [Memories].”

  “Wow really? Who was this guy? That sounds pretty useful to have around.” Asked Kanashi.

  “To be honest he’s not someone I knew well so I can’t really answer who he was. I just did a small favor for him and he ended up giving me such a massive payment.”

  “Ohhh, so you had this already pre planned out then huh? But wait a minute, Akatora doesn’t this still count as violating the contract with Kobe? Since you knew this was a back up option which you could use to “tell” someone something wouldn’t that be the same as writing it down or using sign language?”

  “If I had known about this ability beforehand then you’d be correct. But I only found out about this [Labor] Beniise had collected shortly before you were sent for.” Akatora explained.

  “So after the contract with Kobe had already been made…” Kanashi muttered, rubbing his chin. I really need to be more careful with my blood pacts and contracts from now on… “So how does this work then?” He asked Beniise. “You have like a paper seal or magical implement it’s been imbued into?”

  “Correct.” Beniise nodded with a smile. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small wooden scroll the kind you’d think would have an ancient forbidden martial art technique embedded into it. UNrolling the scroll the nearly pitch black paper was revealed with a complex weave of white incoherent marking covering it. When Bennise finished unrolling the scroll all the way there was a bright flash of light and suddenly the scroll vanished in its place appearing two metal helmets extremely crude in appearance. As if they’d been made out of a tin strainer bowl and covered in whatever wires and hastily hot glued electronic bits someone would find in their junk drawer. The two helmets are connected through a large thick black cable with the appearance of a garden hose which came from the back of one end and the front of another.

  “The one who wears the helmet with the cable growing from the back will feed their [memories] into the one waiting for the other helmet with the cable in the front.” Explained Bennise. “Once you put these one and strap them around your chin the [Memories] of my father will be fed into your mind and you’ll experience his life. Of course this is dangerous as you could get lost and lose your sense of self and from what I’ve been warned that will end up with you being forced to live the rest of your life as a vegetable so please try to keep yourself composed as best as possible.”

  “... Alright well I don’t like the whole vegetable part but I guess that’s the kinda risk that goes along with everything in this rotten world huh? Can’t have anything nice and simple, it'll always have some nasty tumor attached to it’s ass. But I got it, seems pretty straight forward for the most part.” Kanashi said looking at Beniise and Akatora who both gave positive expressions. “But I have to ask Akatora, why me? I mean there’s plenty of people both smarter and more trustable than me who you could share this information with. I mean you have your own son right here! So before we do anything please just let me know why you’re picking me.”

  “Because you’re the one I trust the most…”

  At this Kanashi smiled but confused as to how exactly he was the most trusted. He’d only known Akatora for a few days and they’d only spoken a handful of times. But not one to reject a potential friendship he took it in stride.

  “Erm, or actually no, that's not quite right. You’re the one I trust the most among those who I think are expendable.” Akatora corrected scratching his stubbled chin.

  “...Alright let’s get this over with then.” Kanashi growled, grabbing the helmet from Beniise and putting it on his head.

  Bennise nodded and put the other helmet on his father Akatoras head. The moment it fell down upon his crown it was like a jolt of energy shot into Kanashis mind, blinding his vision and making him feel as though he’d just been shot. A sensation he rather unfortunately had experienced before.

  With that he was sent into the Akatoras inner world of Akatora, his [Archive] of [Memories].