“I’ll be taking over the group. It won’t be the Hosen Group anymore. It’ll be the Akagiri Group from now on.” (Akagiri)
“Y-You…” (Hosen)
“Also, this isn’t my will alone. This is an order from the main group.” (Akagiri)
“What… The main group…?” (Hosen)
By the main group, he must mean the Higuchi Group.
“The main group seems to have run out of patience.” (Akagiri)
“…Wh…at…?” (Hosen)
“Did you know, young master? Your father was aiming to become head of the main group. The Fifth Head of the Higuchi Group.” (Akagiri)
“…?! That geezer… was…? There’s… no way…” (Hosen)
“He didn’t look like the type, you mean to say? It’s true that on the surface, the boss’s way of doing things was too mild. You always clashed with the boss because you thought his stance wasn’t befitting the yakuza. But behind the scenes, he was doing all kinds of messed up things. And one of those things made the main group mad.” (Akagiri)
“The hell… did he do…?” (Hosen)
“He tried to kill the Fourth Head.” (Akagiri)
“…?! You’re lying, aren’t you…?” (Hosen)
“I’m afraid it’s the truth. Of course, the boss tried to play it innocent. But he drew the investigating eyes of the main group. The boss was afraid that the main group would kill him one day, so he was secretly approaching other groups to get ‘em on his side. To team up so they could crush the Higuchi Group.” (Akagiri)
I don’t know much about the yakuza world. Does something like that happen often?
“The boss was a fool. On the surface he put on a good-natured smile, but behind the scenes, he wanted absolute control. He was impatient.” (Akagiri)
“You know what this is?” (Akagiri)
“…A diagnosis…?” (Hosen)
“Yeah, your father’s. Apparently, the boss had a severe form of cancer.” (Akagiri)
“…?!” (Hosen)
“Judging by that face, you didn’t know, huh? …That’s why the boss was impatient. He wanted to achieve the highest honor while he was still alive.” (Akagiri)
“That’s why… he was aiming… to become head…?” (Hosen)
“From the beginning, the boss was always wicked through and through.” (Akagiri)
“W-Why did my father… never tell me…?” (Hosen)
“It’s simple. He just didn’t trust you.” (Akagiri)
“W-What…?” (Hosen)
“The boss’s way of doing things was different from yours. You’re emotional and quick to lash out. That’s why the boss only thought of you as a convenient bait.” (Akagiri)
“…Damn… iiiiit…!” (Hosen)
“Both of us were happy, so we’re in the same boat there. Well, it was me who sicced that religious order on him and got him killed.” (Akagiri)
…?! It was this guy who sent the cult after the boss?
I sat up in my seat when I suddenly learned the truth. Maybe he had passed information onto the religious order so they’d know when there wouldn’t be many people around their boss.
In other words, Sayuri and the followers were moving in the palm of his hand. Well, even if they were moving as he wished, it was still to the benefit of the women, who only wanted to kill men.
“For better or worse, your guys were a wicked bunch. You just wanted to stand at the top. You centered your life around that, and you would even easily discard your family if it was for your benefit. But I suppose this is a good opportunity for me to let you know.” (Akagiri)
Akagiri tightened his finger around the trigger.
“If you’re self-conceited, no one will follow you.” (Akagiri)
With that piece of advice, Akagiri shot Hosen in the head, sending him to the underworld.
He seriously killed him, huh? Even though as an aide, he was always by his side.
""
I suppose this means that Akagiri’s just as wicked.
With a cold gaze, Akagiri looked down at Hosen, who was now a mute corpse. Then, he let out a sigh.
“If you were a bit smarter, you could’ve lived a long time. Now then…” (Akagiri)
Akagiri glared at the jungle with a troubled expression.
“What now? Aah, with things like this, I wouldn’t wanna become the king of the hill for this entire area. There are also no benefits to duking it out with that religious order. I guess… I’ll go back to the main group for now.” (Akagiri)
But from what he just said, it seemed that Akagiri had no intention of having anything to do with the religious order. Well, it was originally a war to preserve the face of the yakuza group after their boss was killed. And in the first place, it was Hosen’s foolish idea that they could win as long as they gathered enough people.
With the death of such a foolish head, Akagiri now had a choice to make.
He could either put his life on the line for the sake of the yakuza’s reputation, or he could dismiss it as nonsense and have nothing to do with it.
And apparently, Akagiri seemed to have chosen the latter, but…
“Sol, I’m curious about Akagiri’s movements. For now, trail him and gather information.” (Torimoto)
“Leave it to me!” (Sol)
I turned off the monitor and exhaled deeply.
Too many things had happened all at once. I had to take a moment to sort it all out.
First, the area around the office of the Hosen Group had transformed into a field from the other world. Then, the head of the group, Hosen Touya, was killed by his subordinate, Akagiri.
With the loss of the boss and the young master, the Hosen Group was virtually destroyed.
And the current head, Akagiri, had no intention of fighting the religious order.
“In other words… huh? Does that mean it’s over just like that?”
The three groups had held strategy meetings for the last few days and mobilized for the sake of this war against the Hosen Group, but now all of it was pointless.
“…Ah! Damn it… I wish he could’ve waited a bit longer at least.”
I was supposed to hand over the weapons to Otaka tonight.
“No, wait. Sayuri-san and the others don’t know that Hosen is dead yet, right? ….Kaza!” (Torimoto)
I called out for Kaza and he responded right away.
“What can I do for you, milord?” (Kaza)
“I’m sorry for asking you this so suddenly, but can you go and secure Hosen’s corpse right now? I want to hide it somewhere.” (Torimoto)
“Yes. I don’t quite understand, but I will do as you command.” (Kaza)
Alright. Now I could cover up Hosen’s death before anyone found out.
In the meantime, I could go through with today’s deal, get the money, and then reveal Hosen’s death.
This way, no one got hurt and I would be able to make my profit. It would be an unexpected ending, but it would end up being a happy ending.
“Phew… I really didn’t expect the ending to turn out like this. You never really know what people are thinking, huh?”
I didn’t think the yakuza would split internally and die out before the all-out clash even happened.
“Anyway, tomorrow… I wonder how I’ll even bring up this matter to Sayuri and the others…”
I laid down on my bed, thinking that it would all depend on tomorrow whether this would end quietly or not.