HA3 13.4 - The Next Hit

  As usual, as the sun was gradually setting down in the west, Hide nervously standing in front of his house. Now and then, he would check his smartphone. It felt like a forever, but finally a white MPV popped up from a corner.

  Hide instantly took a deep breath full of relief and calmly waited until it arrived before him. Then, the MPV’s sliding door gently opened and exposed Aizawa’s bright smile.

  “Big Bro, you are back,” Aizawa cheerfully said while hopped down from the MPV.

  “Yeah.” Hide gently rubbed Aizawa’s head before adding, “Wait for a moment, okay?”

  “Mhm.”

  Hide immediately brought several boxes of rolled-puff pastry to the MPV’s driver. “Driver Ichikawa, can you help me bring these sweet souvenirs to Kitaro?”

  “I can,” Driver Ichikawa casually replied.

  “Thank you,” Hide said before explaining, “These two boxes are for Kaede Sensei, these two is for you, and these five is for Kitaro’s teacher and staff. If you put it in the room temperature, it will last for three weeks so you don’t need to put it in fridge.”

  While looking at the two stacked boxes Hide prepared for him, Driver Ichikawa asked, “You specifically prepare some for me?”

  “Yeah, and I hope you will accept it,” Hide genuinely said.

  “Why do I won’t accept it?” Driver Ichikawa happily said. “Thanks, Kiddo.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  After fastening the sweet souvenir in the passenger seat, Hide then closed the sliding door. After that, Driver Ichikawa started the return journey to Kitaro. At the same time, Hide kneeled in front of Aizawa.

  “Give Big Bro a big hug,” Hide said while opening his arm as wide as possible.

  “Mhm.”

  Wasting no time, Aizawa gave Hide a big and tight hug.

  “Big Bro super-duper misses you.”

  “Aizawa also super-duper misses Big Bro.”

  “I see.” After a smile Hide gently asked, “Are you good in the school?”

  “Mhm, Aizawa is super good in the school.”

  “Do you have a fight with Shinji?”

  “No, Shinji right now is still training his lung before he can start using trumpet, Aizawa and Kana help him a lot.”

  “Good, teammate should help each other out.”

  “Mhm.”

  Hide then gave Aizawa a kiss in the cheek and forehead, before lifting her up and carried her to the house. Then, while Aizawa took afternoon bath he went to prepare dinner, and he did it while lightly humming.

  His trip made him realized that making dinner for Aizawa was giving him so much happiness. It also made him realized that Aizawa was not a crybaby anymore. It was clearly visible she grew strong both mentally and physically.

  ‘I will maintain the best growing environment for Aizawa as long as I can,’ Hide happily strengthened his resolved while setting up the table. ‘Soon, father will also back to his old self and it will also boost Aizawa’s growth.’

  Then, Aizawa joined Hide to set up the table while having big smile in her face. A moment later, the two already enjoyed their dinner while having happy chat.

  ---

  After making small preparation for tomorrow school, Hide went to his bed, but he didn’t immediately sleep. By using a spare cellphone, he checked the detail of Shorimachi’s offer he just sent him. Shorimachi opened his offer by explaining two taboos that Toruma Mafia had committed.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  First, they tried to invite foreign power to settle in Nikko’s underworld and became their ally. The other big mafia groups had taken care of this effort. Second, they tried to produce illegal drug domestically. Shorimachi had taken care of it, and it cost him his snitch and his family.

  The question was, with two taboo violations, how Toruma Mafia could maintain its position as the third biggest mafia group in Nikko. The answer was simple. They received strong protection from the people in power, and paid at least 150 million Ren a month for it.

  Even now, when Toruma Mafia maintained low profile after losing their whole tactical squad, they were still one of the richest mafia group in Nikko and no one dare make a move on their business, both the legal and non-legal.

  And to pay the protection money, Toruma Mafia had to use cash and direct delivery. Shorimachi didn’t know the delivery method, but he knew the exact location where Toruma Mafia put their stash money, and they ensured this stash house had at least 500 million Ren all the time.

  ‘Robbing their stash house huh…’ Hide had guessed that Shorimachi wanted to rob Toruma Mafia, but he never thought it would be a big target.

  In his previous life, Hide knew that Toruma Mafia didn’t store their gold and cash in their HQ or in Toruma elder’s safe house. In their HQ and in Toruma elder safe house, Toruma Mafia only had 10-20 million Ren and several pieces of gold bar. They put most of their money in bank using third party name. As for the cash they used for bribery and protection fee, Hide didn’t manage to find its location.

  As for Shorimachi, he could find the stash house because he had another good snitch. She was the Leader Torumada’s mistress. Toruma Mafia used her mansion as their stash house. They even used her biometric as locking mechanism for the vault.

  If Hide agreed with the offer, Shorimachi wanted to meet with him to talk the detail about the mansion security and how they would hit it. The primary condition Shorimachi had put forward was, Hide’s team had to ensure his snitch could leave the mansion unscathed. Shorimachi also wanted to bait Leader Torumada to come to the stash house so he could kill him.

  As for the money, they would divide it eighth share and part their way for good once the job was done.

  ‘Well, he doesn’t know my team consists only of three people,’ Hide calmly muttered. ‘And I better let it that way.’

  Then, Hide heard a light step approaching his room. He immediately turned off his cellphone and a moment later Aizawa entered his room and went straight to his bed.

  “Big Bro, can Aizawa sleep here with Big Bro?”

  After a smile Hide replied, “Of course you can.”

  Wasting no time, Aizawa crawled up to the bed and used Hide’s shoulder as pillow.

  “Aizawa super-duper loves Big Bro.”

  “Big Bro also super-duper loves Aizawa,” Hide replied before giving Aizawa’s back a big rub.

  Before long, Aizawa already fast asleep. Hide immediately moved her to his side and then tightly hugged her from behind.

  ‘It’s feel so good to be at home with Aizawa,’ Hide muttered.

  ---

  Never did Shizuka imagine that when Hide and Takeo were away, it would be lonely. She was not being cast out, but she felt very disconnected with other kids in the school. As the result, the school became boring as hell.

  Therefore, when Hide called her to have meeting after his trip, she couldn’t help but went to the school main building’s rooftop with big smile in her face. As soon as she saw Hide and Takeo sat in top of air conditioner, she immediately went over to the two.

  “So,” Shizuka said with complicated tone. “You two fucker are finally back.”

  “Why do you so hostile?” Takeo said while giving Shizuka a deep look.

  “This fool!” Shizuka vexingly said. “I’m not hostile, but miss you two so much.”

  “Here,” Hide said as he handed over a box of rolled-puff pastry to Shizuka. “A sweet souvenir.”

  “Thanks.”

  Shizuka immediately opened the box and put a piece of rolled-puff pastry in her mouth. Then, she chewed it and her eyes widened.

  “This is so good,” Shizuka said before giving the pastry another happy chews. “My father love to bake soft bread and fill it with cream made of taro and butter. It’s really good but I thought it weird.

  But it seems it’s really not that weird. People this day even make heavy cream out of sweet potato and it’s really good.”

  “Glad you like it,” Hide calmly said.

  “So,” Shizuka said before putting another rolled-puff pastry in her mouth. “What we will talk about?”

  “I receive an offer from Shorimachi.”

  “What offer?” Shizuka curiously asked.

  Wasting no time, Hide explained Shorimachi’s offer, while Takeo and Shizuka listened to him attentively.

  “That’s nice offer,” Shizuka said after Hide finished his explanation.

  “Yeah,” Hide expressed his agreement. “500 million Ren is abnormally big for a stash house. Other than protection fee, Toruma Mafia must have to bribe lot of people.”

  “Will we take it?” Takeo curiously asked.

  “We will,” Hide firmly replied. “But I will tell Shorimachi we need a few weeks to think about it.”

  Shizuka nodded and said, “I see.”

  “So,” Takeo said. “We will have three jobs waiting for us. Kamui’s guest house, Toruma’s stash house, and Knosses job.”

  “Yeah, and for now we will focus our attention on Kamui’s guest house and ignore the other two.” Hide then gave Takeo a memory card while continued, “This is the procedure to plan a hit. What info you have to collect and how you should collect it, how to identify the entry and exit, and the other things.

  I want you and Shizuka to plan the hit on Kamui’s guest house. This is also a chance for you to get a kill or two, and test your resolve before the Knosses job.”

  “I already killed a few when we were in Italica,” Takeo firmly said.

  “Triggering Claymore under my instruction to ambush people, doesn’t not count. Not to mention, you don’t even see your victim.”

  “Okay,” Takeo replied before taking the memory card.

  After putting another piece of rolled-puff pastry in her mouth Shizuka asked Hide, “When we will resume our firearm training?”

  “In a week.”

  “Can we resume it starting tomorrow?” Takeo asked while giving Hide expectant gaze.

  “Just follow my schedule. I have solid reason for it.”

  “I see.”

  “If nothing else, let’s go back to our class.”

  ““Okay.””

  *****