Preview

U/C: Chapter 4 (preview)

by sammig82

“What’s your name again?” the officer asked as he led a Yakuza member into the newly established police academy through the front door.

“Domen Seiji,” the paunchy middle-aged man with various tattoos said as he kept looking around.

He was worried that someone might get suspicious or recognize him at such a conspicuous place for a Yakuza. As it turned out, no one seemed to be noticing him despite his hefty presence. On one hand, there was a sense of relief that things might be going according to plan. On the other, it was sort of disappointing that his presence lack the significance which some Yakuzas craved.

It had been the story of his life thus far, really – he was just a small time crook. A nobody. The 45-year-old from Ginza could never get himself in the spotlight no matter how hard he had tried. He had always felt like an extras even in his own narrative.

That brief moment back in Kawagoe when everyone cheered him on for being the first to replace a young police trainee, was the moment he had never felt before. Though, he came crashing back to reality shortly after when he heard mumblings behind his back:

“Who’s that dude? I’ve never seen him before.”

“What’s his name again?”

“Is he even a Yakuza? He looks more like an ordinary salaryman.”

“Can someone remind me why are we cheering again?”

“I only cheer because you guys were cheering.”

The corrupted officer should have taken him through the back door, but decided to use the main entrance probably because no one would be noticing him anyway. As a debt collector, he had been moderately successful because most of his ‘customers’ thought that he was working for the bank despite the clan’s signature inks extending from his plump body to his neck. When law enforcements raided his office, he was never caught because the officers would rather be chasing after his subordinates intead - despite him running right next to them! A policeman once advised him to stay clear, “…police’s at work. You civilians should stand back.”

The ordinary looking man once joked that this insignficance could be his superpowers. He could have been invisible for all he cared, but the fact that Takeshi-sama noticed him made him realized that at the very least, he was still useful to the boss.

After walking through a building which did not appear to be much different from a college, he was shown into the administration office. It was an equivalence to the principal room of a school, and only certain members of the academy with a special clearance could enter. The insignificant Yakuza suspected that he could have lumbered past the secretary and through the door, and still no one would have noticed him.

Somehow the bespectacled secretary, a lovely young lady which was probably in her late 20s, stood at his presence before bowing courteously at him. Or, was she just greeting the officer accompanying him.

“They’re inside,” the secretary said before returning to typing something on her laptop.

Once they were in the room, the portly Yakuza spotted a beautiful woman in her instructor attire seated cross-legged across from the academy’s administrator with a large office desk between them, jotting down information on a piece of questionaire. Then, there was Kitamaru Masa, in full academy uniform of tee and khakis, answering earnestly to whatever she was asked. It was crucial last minute details which was not available in the fodder given to her replacement.

“Hikaru-san, Ito-san!” the officer said with a salute before stepping aside to introduce the newcomer, “this is… sorry, what’s your name again?”

“Domen Seiji,” the Yakuza said. Frankly, he would have been surprised if the officer could remember his name at all.

“Seiji-san, you can start stripping now. The hollowing should be happening any minute now,” Hikaru-san, the younger and prettier lady in the room said as she stood half-leaning her derriere against the desk.

Meanwhile, the other lady-officer-cum-academy-instructor attempted to cram in the last few questions before the cursed chair moved on to the next part of its power. Masa-san did not get to give her answer on her mother’s favorite pastime before the Yakuza looked horridly as the lovely young woman collapsed onto herself. It looked to him as if she was melting as she was loosing her form before became completely deflated onto where she had been sitting.

“Seiji-san, why are you still dressed?” Hikaru-san’s voice woke him from his shellshocked state. “It’s time to be someone else,” she went on to say.

The pang of excitement from hearing that had quickly reminded him of his purpose he had been here today: he was to take the place of that beautiful young woman. The only regret he had was finally finding someone who could remember his name on the very last moment he would be using it.

**

While waiting in a rather fancy cafetaria for a police academy, Otani Shin thought he saw a familiar face walking among officers and students before being brought into the administration building. He was convinced that the middle-aged man had appeared in one of his cases but couldn’t immediately place it. After being told to wait in the cafetaria for a meeting with Hikaru-san, he decided it was probably time for him to look around the academy himself for her since she had decided to show up late.

Why not follow the familiar looking man, then? Shin thought to himself before taking the last sip of his expresso.

He then got up from his table to start tailing the young officer and the man. On first impression, the man appeared nothing out of the ordinary, looking like the everyday salaryman who could have been working for a financial institution. However the tattoos on his neck, though barely visible from where he stood, had Shin immediately suspected that he was part of a Yakuza clan.

What’s a Yakuza doing in a girl’s police academy? Could he be a family member of one of the sudents?

That further stoke his curiosity as he continued to follow the duo. The people around the suspicious man appeared to not be taking any notice of him at all. In fact, Shin found it odd that he was the only person in the hall to find the man not fitting in with his surroundings.

Shin had to pull back onto a corner of a corridor as the suspicious man and his guide stopped right outside the door of a private office. The detective managed to take a picture with his phone before the duo disappeared into the office.

“Excuse me, sir. May I know by what authority are you allow to be here?” the commanding voice of the academy’s security personnel jolted the 46-year-old veteran.

He turned around to find a buffed up lady guard in uniform looking questioningly at him. In the midst of tailing the suspicious man, Shin failed to realize that he himself would have appeared out of place as well without his uniform. He had long forgotten when was the last time he had put it on.

“Forgive me. Let me show you my ID, here… I’m Chief Inspector Otani Shin. I was just snooping, pardon me, I mean… I’m actually looking for Sergeant Hikaru Miki. I believe she has been temporary here assigned here as an instructor,” Shin explained.

“I see. Allow me to communicate with my colleague,” the guard said before swiftly talking into her radio. “I was told that you’re supposed to wait for Hikaru-san in the cafetaria. She will be with you shortly,” the lady guard told Shin.

“Well, the thing is… I thought I saw an old friend over there in that room. Do you mind if I go and say hello?”

“My apology sir. This parts of the academy are off-limits even to law enforcement officer such as yourself. I afraid I’ll have to show you the way to the cafetaria,” the guard said unyieldingly.

“That’s a shame. Alright then, let’s go,” Shin said, allowing the guard to lead him out of the building. He managed to take one last look at the office.