Take This Love and Eat It! Chapter 2

The restaurant had opened its doors at this location thirty-odd years ago, during what Ei had heard described as a decently lively period in the neighborhood’s history. The simple cross-grain exterior was likely a hallmark of that era. The wooden two-story building was blackened and sagging with age, but the weather could be called part of its charm now. Duck past the navy blue curtain emblazoned with “Toshishun” and you would be met with a sliding door of frosted glass panels mounted on a wood lattice frame. Every time it slid open and shut it made a dry rattle, heralding a customer’s arrival.

“Welcome, come on in!” Ei hailed on reflex at the sound, plating some stewed fish as he glanced up at the door. The man who stepped inside was the very same one he had shooed out of his establishment mere hours ago. “Oh, it’s just you, Tsuda.”

“Just me? That’s a little mean, waka. You’re open now, aren’t you?” Tsuda stood in the entranceway, cutting a fine figure in his suit and looking entirely too old for the crestfallen frown on his face. Toshishun had opened for business at five o’clock, and it was currently six. Tsuda was his first customer of the day.

“Yes, yes, we are most certainly open, sir,” he said with mock deference. “Please, sit wherever you like.”

Not that there were all that many seats to choose from. The L-shaped counter encircling the kitchen fit one chair on the short side and five on the long, behind which was a raised tatami platform with an additional two small tables. At a tight squeeze the place could have accommodated maybe ten people.

Tsuda walked straight inside and down the long side of the counter, taking the farthest seat adjacent to the wall. This was where he always sat, with his back leaning against the wall and his right elbow propped on the counter. This put the kitchen on his right, the tatami platform on his left, and the entryway directly opposite—in other words, a position that protected his back and afforded him clear line of sight to any potential intruders. It was a toss-up whether the man was doing it consciously or not. There weren’t going to be any enemies storming the doors of this alleyway diner, but apparently old habits died hard.

“What can I get you?”

There was no particular menu at this restaurant. Well, there was one written out, but nobody ordered off of it.

“The usual.”

That was how all of Ei’s customers ordered; in short, he had nothing but regulars. Tsuda’s usual was the daily special, followed by some idle nibbling at the side dishes plated on the counter to accompany his glass of sake while he hung around as late as time permitted.

“Waka, that’s one of the boss’s kimonos, right?” Tsuda asked, his eyes on the indigo silk of Ei’s clothing. “The boss” meant the previous head of the Tokisaka family, Ei’s father.

“Nah, this one was grandpa’s. Dad was a lot bigger than me.”

Most of the traditional Japanese clothing that Ei had was such hand-me-downs. Some he had been given directly by his grandfather, some he had inherited from his father. All of them carried the whiff of a gambler, for while they were well-made and many were fairly plain on the outside, they would open to reveal scandalous motifs emblazed on the inner lining. One of these worn casually, with the billowing sleeves tied back and a long half-apron tied around the waist, was more or less Ei’s uniform behind the counter.

“Two generations ago... That belonged to the big boss? Now that’s a real treasure.”

“Yeah, guess it is.”

Only local gangsters who knew the area’s history would share the opinion. Up until Ei’s grandfather’s generation the Saibara district had been infamous as a dangerous part of town, rife with the scufflings of small-time gangs. The neighborhood had been full of men clinging to the old ways of solving problems with violence, and blood in the streets had been a daily occurrence. Ei’s grandfather had been the one to recognize that the changing times were leaving this way of life behind, and he had successfully advocated to unify the eight gangs of Saibara into a single, independent organization. This had been the founding of the Saibara Coalition, a coalition which continued to this day, and Ei’s grandfather had been its first president, giving him the nickname of “the Big Boss of Saibara.” With the disbandment of his line, the Tokisaka family, the coalition now numbered seven principal groups, each of which commanded their own assorted rabble of minor gangs for a total membership of over one thousand men. The syndicate still suffered its share of internal squabbling, but it banded together with exceptional unity when it came time to eliminate outsiders. This was what had allowed it to protect its territory and fend off incursions from larger organizations.

“You don’t wear any of the boss’s kimonos?”

“Mmm, Dad was a big guy. His are all too long for me, and pinning it inside is such a pain. Plus I thought maybe I could give them to Ryo. He always looked like he was going to be bigger than me, so I figured he might be able to wear them as-is.”

“To Ryo,” Tsuda repeated slowly, a brooding look coming over his face. Ryo was Ei’s paternal half-brother and only remaining blood relative, seven years Ei’s junior. Ei had last seen him four years ago at their father’s funeral. Ryo had only just started high school at the time but he had already matched Ei in height, and by now he must have grown even bigger.

“If he didn’t want them then I’d just get them altered and wear them myself, but I don’t even have any way to ask him. He moved and I don’t have his contact info anymore. You don’t know how to reach him, do you?”

“Oh, er, no, I don’t,” said Tsuda with a shake of his head, but there was something evasive in his manner. Ei had just taken a breath to press him on it when he was interrupted by the rattle of the door. The evening’s second customer stepped inside, and at once the atmosphere in the diner turned bright and lively with the arrival of Yukari, reigning number one hostess at the neighborhood’s poshest club. Her long hair fell in curled ringlets around her bold, dark eyes and plush-looking lips, and she was wearing an elegant white dress under an utterly mismatched varsity jacket. Ei had heard tell that she was the former leader of a ladies gang.

“Ei baby,” she called in her sensual voice, placing her order with a, “my usual, please.” Yukari was another regular at Toshishun, never going more than two days without popping in to grab a bite before work. Ei was of course grateful for the patronage of his regulars, but what he desperately wanted was new customers. No new customers meant no sales growth.

The sliding door rattled along its track a second time.

That’ll be Nobu or Tatsu, or maybe it’s... Ei speculated as he hollered a friendly, “Come on in!” But when he looked up at the entrance, he was met with the sight of two young men he had never seen before and a sudden jolt of excitement swept through him.

However—

“Look at this, place is a fuckin’ dump.”

“Bet the food’s rotten too.”

The two jokers were cackling crassly to each other as they remained in the entryway, simply surveying the room. They didn’t appear to have come to the diner to eat.

The rush of anticipation only made the ensuing disappointment all the greater, and Ei’s eyes narrowed in a baleful glare. “The only thing rotting here is the inside of your empty fucking skulls,” he muttered to himself, not deigning to waste his breath engaging them.

“What was that? You got something to say to one of your customers, old man?” sneered the tall, gangly blond one. It was an obvious ploy to provoke him, but being called “old man” at his age brought no offense at all.

It was hard to tell if the two were still teenagers, both of them looking somewhere on the cusp of adulthood, but they were kiddies on the inside, that much was certain. They were too sleazy to be clean, but too shallow to be proper gangsters. Nothing was nastier to deal with than a couple of kids fronting like they were bad boys.

“A customer is someone who comes in here to eat my food. You want to eat? Sit your ass down over there. Otherwise get the fuck out.”

“You sure you wanna be talking big like that? You’re talking to Xenos, the guys who are gonna be running this town real soon. Smart move would be to play nice with us now, if you ask me,” said the blond’s partner, a larger man with a beard and a buzz cut who was smirking around the cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

“Xenos?” Ei furrowed his brow at the unfamiliar name. When he flicked a glance over at Tsuda, he found the older man’s eyes were slightly narrowed.

“That’s right. We’re not like the old gangs. Tradition, honor, the code—doesn’t mean shit to us. And we don’t give a fuck about turf.”

“Place like this doesn’t look like it even needs our help to go under, but if you don’t want to see yourself run out of business, you’d better buy one of these stickers. We’ll even bring you some customers, how about that?”

There was nothing in the world Ei wanted more than customers, but their shady stickers looked like nothing but bad luck. He wanted no part of their protection racket.

“Is this a joke? I don’t have time to play your kid games, now get out.”

“Huh. That so. So that’s how you wanna play this? Alright then, maybe we cut right to shutting this place down,” said the bearded one, spitting his lit cigarette onto the floor, and immediately Ei was in fight mode. It was the gambler’s blood in his veins, simpleminded and ready to brawl.

“Get, out.” The instant he deemed the men to be foes, his eyes turned cold and the smile vanished from his lips. He prowled out of the kitchen towards them and stooped down to pluck the cigarette between his finger and thumb.

“Waka, remember they’re just kids,” came an admonition from behind him, followed by the sipping of tea. Apparently Tsuda had made up his mind to watch from the sidelines. It went without saying that he would protect Yukari if need be. Ei’s back was secure.

“The fuck’d you call us, grandpa?” The bearded man made to turn on Tsuda when Ei threw out an arm to block him.

“Well, if I’m an old man I guess that would make Tsuda a grandpa, but you’re being rude to my customers.”

“So are you,” Tsuda muttered behind him, which Ei chose to ignore for the moment.

“What. You trying to start something?” The bearded man stood before him as if to flaunt his physique. He had only a slight advantage in height, but he was more than a full size broader than Ei in girth.

Ei leaned in to the other man, unfazed by the attempts at intimidation, and cracked a smile at him up close. “Oh I’ll start whatever you want. But first, you dropped this.” The bearded man now looked rather puzzled as Ei took one of his meaty fists in hand and pried his fingers open. “You know what they say: every litter bit hurts.”

Ei dropped the cigarette into his palm and, before the man could react, jammed his fingers closed again to seal his fist around the still smoking butt.

“Ah, aaargh!” A second later the man was howling, jerking free of Ei’s hold to fling the cigarette away as he broke into a dramatic dance. His uninjured hand flew up to seize his other wrist and he hopped up and down, making a grand spectacle.

“Cigarette burns are no joke. You have to make sure you put them all the way out and use an ashtray, or else someone could get hurt. Didn’t they teach you that in school?” said Ei, but the flailing, teary-eyed man was certainly beyond hearing him. He lunged for the kitchen in search of water, but Ei snatched the back of his collar and hauled him bodily backwards again. “My kitchen is sacred ground, no shitheads allowed. If you want water, turn right outside and go for a little run, you’ll find a park. Lucky you, they let you use as much as you want there.”

Ei had barely finished speaking before the man bolted for the door, nearly breaking it in his frenzy to tumble outside. He fled down the street, leaving his partner to stare dazedly after him.

“And you?” Ei said, jolting the blond back to himself. “What’s it gonna be?”

“So this is why he warned us you’re not just some cook...!’”

“Hm? Do you know something about me?”

“Why would I know shit about you, asshole!” the man snapped, throwing an impressively quick punch at Ei’s face, but Ei managed to dart out of reach. He swung a second time with his other fist and again Ei bobbed away, kicking out to trip his assailant at the same time, and the man’s momentum carried him stumbling up onto the tatami where he pitched forward flat on his face. Ei reached down for him, intending to take him by the scruff and throw him out, when the sound of Tsuda shouting “waka!” sent him scrambling backwards, just in time to see the flash of a knife catching the light as it sliced harmlessly through the air.

“Fuck that was close.” Ei felt his blood run just a bit cold as he pinned the blond with a vicious glare. From the corner of his eye, he noted Tsuda moving to put himself between Yukari and the weapon. “Step outside. You’re messing with my business waving that shit around in here.”

“That’s what we came here for!” yelled the blond, scowling. It seemed Ei’s snubbing had wounded his pride. “I’m gonna smash all this shit up, you’re fucking done!”

“Here to mess with me, huh. What exactly are you Xenos people trying to do?”

He hitched the hem of his kimono looser around his legs, all while ducking and weaving away from the stabbing blade, and landed a nimble kick right in the man’s ribs. The man was launched backwards, crashing into the open sliding door with a fantastic clatter before crumpling to the ground.

“Ah shit, I’m gonna break it!” Ei groaned, sparing a second of concern for his door as the blond staggered to his feet.

“You’re dead!”

Ei lurched out of the path of the next knife thrust, but the motion left him off-balance. He tried to right himself back into a defensive stance, but he recognized instantly that he wouldn’t make it in time. In his current position it would be safer to sacrifice his arm and take the blow with it rather than risk an imperfect dodge, but... the idea of being stabbed left him frozen for a heartbeat, an image of what would come spilling out after racing through his mind—

“Waka!”

“Ei!”

The chorus of desperate cries and the flash of the blade mere inches away had him bracing for bloodshed, but just as abruptly, the knife vanished from before his eyes. Something had interposed itself from the side and cut upwards in an arc, knocking the hand holding the knife away. The knife flew out of the man’s grip and went spinning high into the air before falling back down to the floor with a clang, and the moment Ei registered the sound his entire body went weak, feeling at once relieved and immensely pathetic. His emotions were still grappling with each other as he turned to face the newcomer.

Standing there was a man in a beige suit. What had knocked the knife out of the intruder’s hand was this man’s leg. His dumb, stupidly long leg.

“Sojun...”

His eyes were icy slits behind his sepia lenses, his glare piercing the blond where he stood stiff and cowering, perhaps out of recognition of who Sojun was.

“Is this your idea of dinner and a show?” Sojun kicked the knife, sending it skittering to Tsuda, and then slowly turned his gaze on Ei. The man came off as testy at the best of times, but right now his air of menace had sharpened to bloodthirst. Maybe walking into the middle of a knife fight had triggered his attack mode. Ei didn’t fault the blond for cowering; Sojun’s scowl would have left anyone trembling in their boots.

“Sorry, he caught me off-guard. I owe you one.” He could certainly understand Sojun’s ill temper; he’d come expecting to eat dinner, and been met with this instead. However, just as Ei was trying to get things under control again the blond man suddenly shrieked like a madman and took a swing at Sojun. It was unclear whether fear had fried his nerves or he was just trying to get past Sojun to the door, but he had completely lost all rationality. Sojun, on the other hand, didn’t bat an eyelash as he caught the fist racing towards his face in one hand and wrenched it behind the man’s back with practiced ease.

“Wha—ahhh, ow, argh!” the blond yelped, bending backwards helplessly with his arm twisted up behind him.

“You were swinging a knife around, don’t squeal over a dislocated shoulder.” The level calm of Sojun’s tone sounded like a deliberate tactic to strike terror, and one look at the blond’s ashen face more than confirmed its effectiveness.

“Sounds like he’s here to fuck with your turf. You can have him,” said Ei, jerking a thumb at the blond.

“My turf? True, we are in my territory, but I don’t recall receiving any protection money from this diner. I stepped in given the situation, but I have no obligation to pick up your trash,” returned Sojun coolly, still restraining the blond with one hand.

“Oh don’t give me that bureaucratic bullshit.”

“City hall doesn’t work for free, and neither do gangsters. If you want garbage collection it’s going to cost you.”

“Hah! And this is why they say nobody pinches pennies like a Higa. It’s always business with you, you turn everything into a buck.”

“Well, they used to say nobody prays for help quicker than a Tokisaka and now there’s no Tokisaka left to talk about. Rather defeats the purpose if you ask me.” His jeering tone was directed both at Ei and at Tsuda behind him. Tsuda made to charge forward in response, but Ei checked him with a look.

“That’s right. We’re all out of the game now, so I don’t appreciate getting tangled up in gang turf wars. This guy said he’s with some group called Xenos, you heard of them?”

The moment he heard the name “Xenos,” Sojun’s eyes darted to Tsuda. He saw that Tsuda was maintaining a blank face, and shifted his gaze back to Ei. “They’re a bunch of kids that have been making a nuisance of themselves around here recently. And here I’d assumed they were going to leave this place alone....” Sojun paused, turning to the blond. “Did you do this on your own?”

The man’s face went tense, and he only shook his head. Ei spared him a sidelong glance as he reached for the sliding door and gave it a test pull. Fortunately it didn’t appear to be broken, and he breathed a sigh of relief—but the feeling was short-lived, for the instant Ei slid the door shut, before he could even retract his hand, an earsplitting crash erupted directly beside his face. He curled forward on instinct, hands flying up to shield his head as the sound of Yukari screaming his name and Tsuda bellowing “waka!” rang out from behind. He found himself staring at his feet as a shower of sparkles rained down from above. Those sparkles hit the hard flooring and rebounded into the air, but before they could fall again something yanked on his arm and hauled him away from the door. He jerked his head up in surprise to find Sojun, his face mere inches away. His eyes were trained outside the destroyed sliding door.

Apparently someone had taken the sign for the diner off the street and thrown it through the door. The wood frame was warped, and more than half of the glass lay shattered on the ground. Ei could make out nothing in the pitch black beyond the doorway.

“Bo-Boss! Are you okay?!” A young man, one of Higa’s underlings, wrenched the door open and stuck his head inside, and immediately the blond leapt towards him, shoving him aside and dashing out of the diner.

“After him!” Sojun barked, and the underling took off sprinting. Ei sprang forward to follow, but Sojun’s hand did not release its hold on his arm.

“Let go of me, Sojun!” In a rush he tried to shake himself free but Sojun only tightened his grip, and Ei glared at him angrily. “What the hell are you—”

Sojun cut him off with a tug on his arm, pulling him closer. “You’re cut,” he said in a low voice, gaze somewhere on his cheek, and then he lifted Ei’s chin with his long fingers and brought his lips to Ei’s face. Ei felt a puff of breath and something slick graze his skin, along with a sharp sting of pain.

The sudden, unexpected move wiped his brain momentarily blank.

“Wha... Wha, wha, wha—what?!” He knocked Sojun away in his haste to scramble backwards, clapping a hand over his licked cheek and staring at Sojun’s impassive expression with a look of reproach and confusion. “What the hell was—”

“I just wiped the blood away for you,” Sojun said, stalling the complaints that had been on the tip of Ei’s tongue. “You’re welcome.” He observed Ei’s sullen silence with a smug curl of his lip, and then strolled out into the night.

Ei felt as if he were reeling in the wake of a storm, both for the wreckage of his diner, and for the disarray of his emotions.

“Ei, baby, oh my god, what!” came a shrill cry from behind, and Ei whirled around with a start. “What was that!”

His gaze landed first on Tsuda’s disgruntled scowl before skipping to Yukari, standing beside Tsuda with a sparkle in her eye that made Ei’s face go stiff.

“Did I really just see Higa’s number two give you a kiss? Ugh, I was so stunned I couldn’t even snap a picture!” She appeared to be some mix of angry, amused, and regretful all at once.

“Give me a break. The bastard just likes to tease people for a reaction, it’s how he gets his kicks.”

“Ei, listen to me: if you tried that excuse anywhere else, nobody—absolutely, nobody—would believe you. I’ve never even seen him showing any emotion outside of this diner! Much less teasing people? For kicks? Nuh-uh, not in a million years!”

Ei wasn’t entirely following but she was certainly fired up about something. Her excitement carried her a step forward, and shards of glass crunched under her heel.

“Wait, Yukari, stay back. It’s dangerous,” he tried to warn her, but she wasn’t listening.

“You know, he’s got that pretty face, oozes sex appeal, but the man won’t let anyone get close. He’s like the only gangster without a steady girl. And there’s a lot of women who can’t stay away from a man like that. Maybe he’s doing it on purpose. It’s like watching a revolving door—new challengers go in, broken hearts come out. I think ‘wicked’ is the right word for him.... Hey, Ei, do you think you’re the one he’s after? Do I have a rival for your love?”

“Come on, Yukari,” Ei said with a strained smile as he took the broom and dustpan from the closet. “That’s not even funny.”

At the very least, the shattered glass on the floor needed to go. He made to start sweeping when a big hand darted in from the side and tugged the broom out of his grip.

“Waka, you’re in soft-soled shoes. Let me do it.”

“I’ve got it. You sit down, you’re a customer.”

“No, I don’t really think I’ve got ‘sitting quietly’ in me right now.... please, let me.”

There was a hard, grim look on Tsuda’s face. It was a rare thing for him to show his displeasure so outwardly, and Ei had learned from their long acquaintance that a look like that meant it was best not to argue. He relinquished the broom and stepped aside.

“Oh, Ei, you’ve got glass in your hair. Here, I’ll brush it out for you.” Yukari reached up towards his head, but Tsuda grasped her wrist to stop her.

“Please, you could get hurt. You should stay back, I’ll do it.”

Ei submitted to this without complaint as well, hanging his head for Tsuda to pick out the larger shards by hand. Yukari observed this with a pout, not at all deterred from clinging to Ei. She snaked her arm around his and glued herself to his side.

“You looked hot though, I gotta say. Bunch of nobody punks don’t stand a chance.”

“Yukari, er, your chest is touching me.”

“Oh no no, silly. Not touching, I’m pushing them into you. I’m yours tonight, baby, have your way with me!” She draped herself over him with a theatrical squeal, but Ei discreetly pushed her back.

“I’m afraid I’d wake up dead tomorrow if I tried to keep Miss Number One all to myself. Go work the club and bring home that bacon.”

“Oh come on!” she said, stamping her foot. “You’ve got me, practically throwing myself at you! I keep telling you, I’d let you play with my heart any day.”

“Believe me, it kills me to say this, but I keep my hands off the gorgeous ones. Especially when I want her to keep coming back to my diner,” he added with a grin.

“How can you be such a tight-ass and yet so smooth at the same time, it drives me crazy. Fine, fine, I’ll go to work. Let me just pay for dinner.” She pulled out her wallet, but Ei held out his hand.

“No, it’s on the house today, my apology for the unpleasant experience.”

“What! But that wasn’t your fault! Besides, it was more than pleasing to me. I got to see a little show, and it always feel good to watch clowns like that get their asses handed to them.”

Ei suspected that any normal woman would have found the scene off-putting, but Yukari seemed to have genuinely enjoyed it.

“Still, this is a diner. I sell good food and a relaxing place to eat it. If I’m not satisfied with what I’m selling, I can’t charge a customer for it.”

“Then I can cover the cost of the ingredients at least… but you wouldn’t accept that either, would you, Ei. Honestly, I don’t know if I should call you stubborn or rigid or what.... I’m trying to be your sugar mama here and you won’t even let me! Please just don’t let this place go out of business, okay? Coming here is the one highlight of my day.”

“Don’t worry,” he said, answering her worried frown with a smile as he saw her to the door. He appreciated the sentiment, but knowing that he inspired such little confidence squeezed a chagrined sigh out of him.

“Waka, would you duck your head for me for a second?”

Ei obliged, bending at the waist and lowering his head, and Tsuda brushed the finer fragments from his hair with a handkerchief.

“Thanks,” he offered, but Tsuda only swept the floor in silence, expression determinedly stony. Ei wasn’t sure what exactly had gotten the man’s hackles up, but he knew there was no point in trying to ask him. He left him to his business and turned back to the kitchen.

“Oh, hold on please,” Tsuda called, halting him midstep, and reached into his jacket’s breast pocket for his planner. He slid what looked like a small rectangular strip of paper out from inside it, and Ei watched his long, bony fingers tear the wrapping open with mounting incredulity.

“Tsuda... don’t tell me you always carry those around with you?”

Tsuda had pulled out a Band-Aid. He maintained his silence as he dabbed gently at Ei’s cheek with a wet towel from one of the place settings, and then peeled the film off the Band-Aid and pressed it over the scratch.

“Er, tha-thanks,” he said, feeling bewildered, and Tsuda returned to his sweeping.

Tsuda and Band-Aids didn’t make sense. The kinds of injuries that were treatable with a Band-Aid wouldn’t get any attention from Tsuda at all, whether they were his own, or Nobu’s, or Tatsu’s.

“Don’t tell me it’s...” Ei’s mind flashed back to days long past, when his aunt would instantly come flying with a Band-Aid at even the slightest trace of blood from a wound. He had been fifteen years old when she passed. After that, he had few recollections of injuries that had drawn blood. Tsuda had been his aunt’s husband, but the idea that he would be carrying on that tradition of hers was... frighteningly plausible, actually. The two of them had always doted on Ei hand and foot.

Still, he was twenty-seven years old now. That was just ridiculous at his age, surely.

“Waka, where should I throw this out?” Tsuda asked, holding out the dustpan now clinking with glass.

“Oh, I’ll toss it later. You can just leave it on the side somewhere. Thanks a lot.”

Tsuda set the dustpan down in a corner and returned to his usual seat. Despite his foul mood, he didn’t seem to be planning on leaving.

“Can I get you a drink?”

“No, if I get drunk now things might get ugly. I’ll stick to tea today.”

“Sure, okay,” Ei returned, letting the statement go without comment as he poured Tsuda a cup.

“Waka, does that asshole, er... know? About you and blood?”

“Blood? Oh, you mean about how I’m not good with it? Yeah, he knows.”

“Why?”

“Why? We went to elementary and middle school together! The first few years of elementary I used to start feeling sick just from catching a glimpse of it. Once my friend cut himself with a box cutter and it bled all over the place, and I was the one who passed out! I’m pretty sure Sojun was in the same class when it happened, too.”

“Right, classmates... I’d forgotten about that.”

“Although, he was probably my only classmate who knew the real reason why blood freaked me out,” Ei continued breezily, but Tsuda’s face darkened in grave silence.

For Ei, it was the day of his life he least wanted to remember, the day that weighed on his heart far heavier than even the deaths of his mother and father. His grandfather, the “big boss,” had died before his very eyes. More precisely, he had died with Ei in his arms, locking him tight against his chest even as a hail of gunfire had riddled his back with bullets. A mere five years old, Ei had only curled up, helpless to do anything but feel the body of someone he loved grow steadily heavier and colder above him. What he could recall most clearly was the weight pressing down, the figure of his grandfather dyed in crimson, and the stench of blood in the air. Apparently one of the bullets had gone straight through and hit Ei as well, but he had no memory of the pain.

The events of that night were lore any local gangster would know, although at this point it was history over two decades old.

“I was ashamed of it myself, a gangster’s son that can’t handle blood... but I can’t think it away, I tried. Even though a lot of people thought I should have, other gangsters especially.”

The smell of blood had frozen him on the spot, and the tremors and nausea had been overwhelming. But there were always men who believed anything was conquerable through sheer force of will, and Ei knew those men had been ridiculing him behind his back.

“Anyone who said that is a shallow bastard. But, has it gotten any better?”

“Fish or chicken blood is totally fine for me now. My own blood too. Even seeing other people bleeding a lot, I can power through... I think.” He was basing this theory on the time in high school when he’d come face to face with a large amount of someone else’s blood, although he had the feeling that he owed his fortitude in that case to other factors at play.

“I see. So then, you didn’t need that asshole’s help and I would’ve been fine to punch him.”

“‘That asshole’ being Sojun? He just wanted to put on a little show to say he’s got something on me. He was being a dick.” And the sexual harassment-esque flavor had been Sojun’s deliberate choice to maximize the damage.

“Waka,” Tsuda began, heaving a long sigh.

“Hm?”

“Why don’t you call it here and settle for Yukari. Maybe she’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer but she’s a fine lady, and she’s crazy about you.”

“Why the hell are you matchmaking me all of a sudden! And don’t say ‘settle,’ that’s rude.”

“I’m just worried! You’re a good-looking guy but you’ve got Nobu bringing you porn videos.... You’re too young to be dried up already.”

“What?! What are you worrying about! No one asked you anyway! As for Yukari... I just know if I sleep with her, I’m asking for a bunch of trouble down the line. Nothing’s dried up!”

“Well, she’s not your type either, is she.”

“I told you that me and my type is none of your goddamn business!” The man was a bigger pain in his ass than his actual parents had been, and that was not just his imagination.

“I gave my word to the boss and Asako, I promised them I’d protect you. So I swear to God, if it’s the last thing I do I am not letting that man get his hands on...”

“What man?” Ei repeated quizzically, and Tsuda’s eyes flew wide open before darting away.

“Actually, uh, let’s drop this topic.”

“You brought it up!”

“Right, yeah.... But uh, you really never change, waka. Doesn’t matter where you go or what you do.”

Tsuda changed the subject with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer but Ei decided to play along, giving up the old subject for lost. “What’s that mean?”

“You could be a gangster again anytime.”

“What ‘again,’ I’ve never been a gangster in my life.” Yes, he was his family’s man at heart, and he was aware that his language and behavior didn’t quite fit the honest, law-abiding mold. But being careless enough to almost get stabbed in a fight was plenty proof he’d gone rusty. Nothing praiseworthy here. “But forget about that, what the hell is ‘Xenos?’”

Even after cutting his ties with the underworld, Tsuda kept his ear to the ground on neighborhood goings-on.

“Oh, yeah... kids these days, nothing’s ever easy with them. Well, once he gives it a go I think he’ll learn where his limits are.... Not that I think he’s got a chance of beating you.”

“Huh? What the hell are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.” Ei studied Tsuda’s face intently. Tsuda only beat around the bush like this when there was something he was reluctant to say. Ei tried to peer past his poker face, but of course the older man was more than a match for him.

“I’ll give you a full report once I have more information,” Tsuda dodged him neatly with a smile.

“I’m not asking you to report anything, Tsuda. You don’t serve me or follow me.” He really needed to shake his bad habit of sliding into the “boss” role when he and Tsuda spoke.

“Just makes me sad to hear that, waka, but I don’t guess you’d see why,” Tsuda replied, his smile turning strained, just as a man in a beige suit walked into the diner. The instant Ei saw his face his cheeks bloomed with heat, but he schooled his expression into careful disinterest.

Sojun took his seat at the far end of the counter, on the side by the entrance opposite from Tsuda. It was the single seat on the short arm of the L where it bent in a ninety degree angle towards the kitchen. That had been Sojun’s designated seat in this diner since even before Ei had come onto the scene.

Sojun was yet another customer who never turned his back to the doorway. He propped his elbow on the counter and sat looking diagonally out across the room. The only things behind him were the aisleway to the kitchen and the pantry, and nobody came or went through there but Ei.

“Did you catch him?” Ei asked, inferring from Sojun’s reappearance at the diner.

“We got that blond one. The one who threw the sign got away. In fact our man outside says he didn’t even see him” Sojun did not sound happy about it.

“Huh. So, did you get anything out of the blond one?”

“Well, not yet, but we will.”

“What? What the hell are you waiting for?”

“We slapped him around a little and the son of a bitch passed out on us before we’d even gotten warmed up. But when he wakes up my men will get him talking. He’s going to tell us the whole story, every last detail.”

Those were no doubt the orders he’d impressed upon his men, and they would carry them out as if their lives depended on it. They’d have their captive spilling what he ate for breakfast that morning.

“They must take you for a chump, sending a wet rag like that in here,” Sojun continued.

“It wasn’t about me. I think they were just going around the neighborhood and happened to see this place by chance.”

“By chance... no, I doubt that very much.”

“What? Why?”

“I guess they think the Higa family’s full of chumps too,” cut in Tsuda before Sojun could answer. “You call yourself a gangster and you’re letting a bunch of kids come in and piss all over your territory, you don’t think that’s a little embarrassing?” The naked hostility in Tsuda’s eyes and the ridicule in his tone were the polar opposite of his demeanor towards Ei.

“Coming from someone who dropped out of the game? Howl away, loser, I’m sure someone is interested.” Tsuda and Sojun’s gazes collided like the clang of two finely honed blades, and tension crackled through the room.

How many people could sit back and enjoy a meal in this atmosphere? Ei privately suspected that this was the primary factor responsible for his failure to attract new customers. The two of them hardly spoke or looked at each other when other diners were present, perhaps in an attempt to be considerate, but their presence alone weighed down the room. Ei wasn’t sure if he was more grateful or annoyed by both of them insisting on stopping in near every day.

“You want your usual, Sojun?” he called out casually to defuse the charged mood.

“Yeah.”

And like that, the two of them returned to treating each other with their usual feigned indifference.

Tsuda had only started coming to the diner after Ei began working there, but Sojun’s tenure as a regular predated Ei. Their reunion had been pure accident, and their first time laying eyes on each other again had left them both stiff as statues. Ei felt as if he’d known about Sojun for as far back as he could remember, but he could have counted the number of proper conversations they’d had on two hands. At seventeen, Sojun had committed a crime that had landed him in prison, and Ei had dropped out of high school to pursue his culinary career. After that, they hadn’t seen each other for five years. He had never forgotten him completely though. Sojun’s existence in his life had been too potent for that.

Ei’s wandering reverie was derailed by the tinny sound of a cheerful ringtone. It was coming from Tsuda’s breast pocket, and the man reached into it for his cell phone.

“What’s up?” Judging by the tone of his voice, the call was from one of his men. “Excuse me? Are you guys fucking stupid? ... Alright, I got it. Just wait there.” Tsuda ended the call and rose from his chair. “Sorry about this waka,” he said with a bow of his head. “Sounds like Nobu screwed something up. Can you put this on my tab?”

“Screwed something up...? Oh, I already said, no charge toda—”

“I’ll pay,” he said even before Ei had finished speaking, and then he hurried out of the diner.

“The hell did Nobu do,” Ei muttered to himself. Nobu had always had a short fuse and a penchant for stirring up trouble, and Ei stared out the door after Tsuda with a furrow of worry in his brow.

“Why didn’t you take over the family? You’re a lot more ‘boss material’ than I am,” said Sojun, seeing Ei eyeing the door as if he might spring out at any moment.

“Hell no, I’m not ‘boss material.’ Sure I liked the gang, and all the guys too, but... I didn’t like the job. What kind of boss would that make me?” Ei paused for a moment. “Honestly I almost wavered though, when they told me Dad didn’t have much time left.” Even Ei himself had not expected to feel so staggered when he’d heard the family was being disbanded. The possibility had never even crossed his mind. “But a life in that world just didn’t call to me as much as running this place and having people eat my cooking. Maybe if I’d still been at my old ‘fine dining’ place I would’ve made a different choice.”

He turned off the burner before the miso soup could come to a boil and ladled some into a bowl. He’d put a viscous spin on it today by adding mekabu seaweed and taro, and the steaming rice with bamboo shoots was cooked to perfection. These were dishes handed down by old granny Mai, the previous owner of Toshishun. Ei would have gone so far as to say that discovering Mai’s cooking had changed his life. When his previous employer had fired him, frankly he had welcomed the load off his mind. The food at the posh, long-established traditional restaurant had tasted good, yes, but it had felt somehow haughty and aloof. Something about it had never sat right with Ei, and looking back now, maybe it hadn’t been the taste of the food that he had wanted to change so much as the place it was being served, and the people who were eating it. Ei’s vision was a homey, unpretentious space where anyone who wanted his food was welcome to eat, where he served meals that put smiles on their faces. Somewhere along the way this diner had become somewhere Ei could not afford to lose if he wanted to truly be himself.

“They didn’t need me to do it anyway. Tsuda was there, he should have taken over. It’s what everyone was planning on.”

“But, ‘I don’t have what it takes to lead, and I won’t follow anyone but the boss or waka,’ did I get that right?”

“Fucking hell, he’s such an idiot.”

While everyone else had agreed that Tsuda was better fit to head the family than young Ei, the man in question had obstinately denied it, and Ei’s father had declared that if neither of them were willing then he would close up shop. Everyone had been too stubborn to fold—and so, disbandment. Many of the gang’s members had transferred to other sibling gangs within the coalition’s umbrella, and the rest had quit the underworld altogether.

“The position was never hereditary, and besides he was married to Dad’s sister anyway so it was totally fine!” Short marriage though it was, the couple having only had three years together before his aunt’s death.

“My job is to protect,” he’d said. “I’m no leader.” But look at the man now, he was the president of a finance company, small though it may be, and doing an admirable job of it. There was no doubt in Ei’s mind about who between them was lacking in “boss caliber.”

“Well, he’s telling you he can’t do it so I’d take him at his word. Just goes to show you can’t expect much. Every little thing, he goes squawking, ‘waka! waka!’ I don’t know if he’s more annoying or creepy. Guy never learns when to get lost,” Sojun all but spat.

Ei found Tsuda rather annoying himself, but nobody else got to talk about him that way. “Quit mocking Tsuda. You’re the one who should get lost if you ask me,” he retorted without missing a beat, and Sojun fixed a vicious glare on him. His light-colored lenses did nothing to blunt the razor edge in his eyes, though they did conceal the subtle flicker of emotion that passed through them.

“You just had to fuckin’ open up your place right across from mine, didn’t you. Why don’t you quit bumming around here and get back to your own restaurant, eh mister entrepreneur?” Ei continued, voice dripping with sarcasm, but for some reason his words relaxed the hard tension from Sojun’s eyes as the corner of his mouth quirked up in a smirk.

“Maybe if you didn’t let gangsters show up here every day they wouldn’t be calling yours a gang hangout,” said the very gangster who’d given his diner that particular label. The balls on this man!

“Motherfucker,” Ei ground out in lieu of strangling him.

“Your whole ‘feed anyone who comes here hungry, no matter who they are’ thing, it’s very noble of you but I’m not sure it’s helping you run a business.”

Right now nothing cut Ei so squarely to the quick as having his aptitude for business questioned, and especially by Sojun. What really killed him was that he couldn’t even argue. He loaded Sojun’s meal onto a tray in silence and carried it out of the kitchen. Normally he would have just passed it to him across the counter, but he needed to go clean up the back seats anyway so he paused at Sojun’s side and set the tray down in front of him. When he tried to keep walking, however, Sojun surprised him by grabbing his arm.

“What?” Ei said, narrowing his eyes at him suspiciously, and Sojun’s smirk grew.

“Just say the word and I’ll buy the place,” he said, hand still wrapped around him. “Then all you’ll need to handle is the cooking. I’ll get you twice—no, ten times the traffic.”

It was a tempting offer. He was leasing the building, and his current revenue was just barely covering the rent. He had no spare cash to do renovations and of course no bank would lend to him. If he mentioned it to Tsuda the man would probably be happy to front him as much as he needed, but he didn’t want to ask him. At this rate, though, he would never find a way out of this dead end. But if he had Sojun’s help... He wasn’t blind to the possibilities. The restaurant across the street was only one of the various businesses the man had undertaken, and he’d made each and every one a success.

“Get the fuck outta here,” he rebuffed him, jerking his arm free. “Like hell I’m gonna let this place funnel cash to a crime family. Granny’s ghost will come back and haunt me.”

“Keep this up and it’ll be the bank taking it off your hands. Shame really. Here I was, all ready to fill this place up with people raving over how delicious your food is.”

The image almost put a grin on Ei’s face, but there wasn’t a chance in hell this man was being sincere. “What’s your game here?”

“Oh, I’m just looking to open a café and bar next, and I happen to be in the market for a good property.”

“You got a death wish, asshole?” he threatened with a snarl, but the enemy only smiled in amusement. Abruptly Sojun’s arm wound around his neck and on reflex Ei shifted to duck free, until the man’s other hand rose somewhere unexpected and he went still.

“Let me guess, Tsuda again,” Sojun sneered, fingers tracing over the Band-Aid on his cheek before ripping it clean off.

“Ow, fuck,” Ei hissed, grimacing, as Sojun dragged him even closer.

“Your collar’s loose. It’s a little sexy, looks good on you,” he whispered into his ear. Ei’s kimono had apparently lost some of its shape during his earlier brawling, and the front of it yawned much wider than usual. Sojun reached for the gap, sliding his fingers down along the hem of Ei’s collar. The touch loosened it even further, exposing Ei’s bare chest and his lack of undergarments.

“Wha—!” Ei snatched Sojun’s hand and twisted to get away. “Fuckin’ pervert!”

“Pervert? No, a pervert would do something more like this.” Sojun kept him restrained as he stood up from his chair and then pulled him in tight, pressing their groins together. He gripped the back of Ei’s head to hold him steady as his lips grazed a path from his cheek down towards the nape of his neck—and then latched onto a soft patch of skin, sucking it hard into his mouth.

“Ah!” Ei yelped. “W-What the fuck are you doing!” His face flamed beet red as he shoved Sojun away, clamping one hand over his neck and glaring at him.

“Well look at that,” Sojun drawled, grinning lazily back, “downright adorable reaction. The heir to the Tokisaka family was supposed to be all fight, lets his fists do the talking. But you make a better blushing virgin than any girl.”

“Sh-Shut up! You just surprised me!”

“Ei, how long’s it been since your last woman? The girls wouldn’t leave you alone in high school, but you started working here and it’s been one long dry spell. Why don’t you let me hook you up?”

“I’ve got it covered, thank you! Jesus Christ, like Tsuda wasn’t enough....” Ei took a big step back to put distance between them and then started tugging his kimono back into place. “I’m not taking anybody’s handouts, not for the diner, not for hook-ups! And especially not from you,” he jabbed a finger at him with a scowl, “not over my dead fucking body!”

“You don’t get what you’re doing. You act tough and put up a fight like that and it just makes me want to crush you, it’s in my nature. I’m reasonably kind to an obedient man. But I’ll hunt my opponents down to the ends of the earth. I don’t stop until they’re battered,” Sojun said, his gleeful delivery belying the sinister words. Coming from him, it was no mere bluff or figure of speech. Ei had heard plenty of stories of the hells Sojun had visited upon his enemies—though never any about his alleged kindness.

Sojun watched him with a smile, and the bone-chilling look in his eyes spoke volumes about that nature of his. “And no one else would be quite so satisfying to drive onto the ropes as you. I could really have some fun, no holds barred. Just imagining what you’ll look like when I’ve brought you to your knees, crying and begging me for help, for mercy... it puts a shiver down my spine.”

He stared up at Ei through his lashes, raking his gaze over him as if he could undress him with his eyes, and for all that the ice in those eyes chilled Ei there was a bewitching sensuality alongside it that riveted him despite himself. He forced himself to tear his attention away, swallowing hard to settle the butterflies that had for some reason taken up fluttering in his chest.

“It’ll be a cold day in hell when you see me kneeling. I’ll put a gun to my head before I ask for help from you.”

“Mm, or maybe you slip that kimono off your shoulders and beg me to fuck you, I like that too.”

“I’m gonna break your fucking neck!”

Sojun wasn’t listening to a word he said. The amused smirk on his face was utterly devilish. The man’s thought processes were beyond his comprehension. Ei’s jaw was tight with anger as he set about cleaning the back counter, scrubbing furiously at the tabletop as if it would scour Sojun’s persistent gaze off his back. They said people mellowed out with age, but in Sojun’s case he’d started out twisted and time only seemed to be cranking the dial. What he had gotten good at was camouflaging his warped nature. Ei didn’t have the slightest idea how Sojun genuinely felt.

However—

“That one good?” he asked, noticing Sojun had taken a bite from the smallest bowl. The dish was chicken and butterbur cooked in miso. Today was his first time preparing it, but he thought it might be one of his best yet.

“Hm? Oh, yeah, I could eat it,” Sojun replied, and Ei’s sharp eyes did not miss the subtle curve at the right corner of his lips.

“Yeah? Alright, into my new repertoire it goes.”

Every time he designed a new dish, he would serve it to Sojun and study his reaction. Sojun didn’t mince words when it was bad, but the sole difference between mediocre and good was whether or not he crooked the corner of his mouth. As a man who would never come out and say something was delicious, that was the secret to discerning his honest opinion. It was a tip passed down by granny Mai, and it appeared to be the one trick that still worked. Sojun had grown up on Mai’s cooking, and his palate, if nothing else, was sound and reliable.

After polishing off the last of his meal, Sojun paid his bill with his usual cash on the counter and stood up.

“Wait, I’m not charging—” Ei called after him, but Sojun only waved him off with one hand before disappearing out the door.

He hadn’t been planning on letting Sojun pay today either, but...

“I’ll call it a sexual harassment fee.” The memory had Ei bringing a hand up to his cheek, and then sliding it down to his nape. Heat flushed from his neck down his entire body, and his heart began to race.

Why the hell am I blushing over this.... Do I really need to get laid that bad?

He furrowed his brow. To avail himself of Nobu’s video, or not—of all the worries on his mind lately, that was both the most peaceful one and the stupidest.