Chapter 36 - A Visit To The Hasegawa

"UGH…" Fumio now has his face and chest pressed against the floor.

Sayuri has put him on a submission hold by putting his arm on his back and has one of her knees on his shoulder, and her other knee on his lumbar area. .

Fumio knows that he might defeat his sister in a fight but because she is much stronger than Hideki, he does not know how hard it would be.

He also figures that it is better to keep his real abilities for now a secret because it is not his sole secret to keep. He can only hope that one day, he will reach Red's strength so he does not have to fear the Hasegawa anymore.

"This is illegal, you know." Fumio says through gritted teeth, feigning being in pain.

"I'm sorry. I'm only following orders." Sayuri's response makes Fumio roll his eyes as he knows how it is in the Hasegawa.

"What are you gonna do next? Knock me out? Drag me out of here? There will be witnesses and cameras everywhere." Fumio tries to reason.

"I have back-up. And we have an ambulance and paramedics." Sayuri says.

"Damn." Fumio curses.

He figures that Sayuri will attempt to knock him out and take him out of his apartment under the guise of being rushed to the hospital.

He then feels Sayuri slide a cushion under his face. He immediately knows that she will use it to cover his mouth in case he screams for help.

"Fine… Fine. I'm going with you! Is there a need for this? It's not like I can fight back." He decides to play powerless for now. He then feels Sayuri's hold on him loosen, to his relief.

"Thanks… But I have a life now. Before I go with you, I still have meetings and appointments to cancel." He requests further.

This makes Sayuri finally let him go.

"Make it quick. And if you trick me, you'll regret it." Sayuri warns him however.

A few moments later.

"Hello boss." Fumio is now on the phone with Red again.

/What is it this time?/ Fumio and Sayuri hear Red's question through the speaker phone.

"Boss. I have some sort of a family emergency and I don't know how long I'll be away for. In case I don't come back 'til Friday, you will have to meet the publisher yourself." Fumio says, hoping that Red will connect the dots.

/Uhuh… How do I know that you're not just skipping work to play?/ Red asks.

Fumio smirks inside as he knows Red will not ask him such question, meaning Red has at least an inkling that something else is happening.

"I have my sister here. She can vouch for me." Fumio says as he passes his phone to Sayuri.

Thankfully for Sayuri, Red interrupts. /Never mind that. Take a week off./

"Will that really be okay?" Fumio asks, becoming uncertain again if Red picked up on his distress call.

/Yes. Let's make it an unofficial paid vacation so you can still use your unused vacation days. You have to text or a call me every day to tell me your whereabouts, so I can log them as your attendance./ Red says.

"Okay boss." Fumio says, now sure that in case something goes wrong, Red will be to his rescue.

With that, the phone call ends.

"Thank goodness, he's generous." Fumio says, disguising his relief as being moved by Red's 'gesture'.

"That he is." Sayuri nods, feeling a bit jealous.

<>

Sagamihara City. 3PM.

"Nothing's changed." Fumio says as Sayuri's car enters the gate of the huge Hasegawa Clan compound.

Calling the Hasegawa's compound, a compound is an understatement as it looks more like a gated city block filled with all sorts of tall traditional looking buildings.

The traditional style only applies to the exterior of the buildings however as inside them have modern amenities like that of modern office buildings and apartments.

"Three years is a short time for changes in the structures of the clan." Sayuri scoffs as Fumio sounds like he has been gone for decades.

The two soon arrive at the center where the main family resides. As soon as Fumio and Sayuri park the car in front of the central building, Fumio immediately notices the eyes on him.

"The gazes are still the same." Fumio comments.

"It's like they're saying 'there's no way that weakling did that to Hideki'." He continues to comment as he opens the thermos/tumbler he filled with Red's tea with, and takes a sniff of the hot tea's vapor.

Sayuri on the other hand is enjoying Fumio's comments. While she at first found it odd that Fumio has become more talkative compared to his past self, she shortly found amusement in it.

"Let's get out." Sayuri then unlocks the door for her and Fumio after receiving a signal from one of the guards posted at the entrance of the main family's building.

"What's with the thermos?" Sayuri asks as they walk, noticing that Fumio brought his drinking apparatus with him.

"Unlike you superiori, I'm more sensitive to the cold. I want to hold something warm." Fumio comes up with an excuse immediately.

"Stop for a moment." The guard orders the two as soon as they are within a step away from the entrance.

Fumio becomes serious and prepares himself.

Soon, "Enter.", the guard opens the door for them after hearing from his in-ear walkie-talkie.

"Ah. Sayuri-san. Only he enters." The guard then blocks Sayuri's way.

Sayuri simply accepts the order and stands beside the guard and gives Fumio a supportive look.

"…" Fumio is taken aback by Sayuri's look.

It is the first time that he received such emotion from Sayuri, or any of his other blood family. Soon however, his worry about the upcoming talk with the clan head replaces his confusion.

"Gorou-sama." Fumio bows in greeting as soon as he enters the tea room of the house where one of the servants led him to.

Gorou meanwhile, is kneeling at the tatami floor by a tea table, pouring himself tea.

This is the first time that Fumio is in the same room as the clan head, by himself. If it was before he left the clan, he would have been afraid to face such man. After months however with Red, he is merely intimidated by Gorou's presence.

"So, you're Fumio." Gorou says with his usual even tone and simply stares at Fumio.

Fumio, deciding to act like he was before he left the clan, hurriedly looks away from Gorou's eyes, feigning fear.

"Take a seat." Gorou gestures Fumio to across the small tea table.

"I-I'd rather stand, Gorou-sama." Fumio will rather not share a table with his interrogator.

"You are no longer are a part of the clan. That means that your presence here can be compared to that of a guest's. Please, take a seat." Gorou, despite his accommodating words, spoke in a commanding tone.

Seeing as Gorou will not take no for an answer, Fumio can only comply.

"I remember signing off on your application to leave the clan. It seems that that was the right decision." Goro says as he gives Fumio a once over just like how Sayuri did.

"Life outside the clan has treated me well, Gorou-sama." Fumio can only say.

Gorou decides not to speak and simply stares at Fumio. Fumio meanwhile, stares at the empty tea table and waits for Gorou to lead as he knows that it is his only choice in the situation.

A minute passed in silence and Fumio, just in an effort to stay as calm as possible, opens his thermos, pours tea on its cap, and drinks.

This makes Gorou raise his brows.

"You could have just asked for tea, and I would have served you a cup." He says.

"Ah. I'm more comfortable drinking my cheap tea, Gorou-sama." Fumio refuses politely.

"Fine." Gorou did not take offense.

"Have you heard what happened to my son?" He asks instead.

'Finally', Fumio scoffs to himself.

"I heard from my sister, Gorou-sama. It was unfortunate, what happened to him." Fumio shows indifference to the question, something that he figures Gorou would expect of him.

"It was." Gorou nods. "Now. You're not here as a suspect. I am merely tracking Hideki's activities in the past year." He says in an attempt to lower Fumio's guard.

'Bullshit', Fumio almost rolls his eyes in skepticism.

"Hideki said he met you six months ago in Nerima." Gorou continues his questioning.

"I did, sir." Fumio, figuring that with the resources of Gorou, it is not hard that the man found out about his encounter with Hideki even if Hideki did not say so himself.

"How did that go?" Gorou asks.

"If I may be honest, sir?" Fumio decides to go with a bit of honesty and truth bending.

"That would be best." Gorou allows the request.

"It wasn't a pleasant experience." Fumio says, wincing.

Gorou captures Fumio's facial expression and he gets interested.

"How so?" He asks.

"Just seeing him pulled out the fear in me. Reminded me of one of the reasons why I left the clan." Fumio then looks away from Gorou.

"No offense, sir." He adds.

While Gorou is slightly attacked by Fumio's words, he realizes that Fumio is one of Hideki's many victims. While he feels sorry for the young man, he is not willing to apologize. After all, Hideki in his mind, even if he is not his son, was more valuable to the clan's future than the non-superiori Fumio.

Gorou easily brushes aside the small knock on his guilt and goes back to observing Fumio. Had it been anyone else, he would have dropped his suspicions of Fumio already. But something about the situation is nagging at him deep in his gut.

"Was there anything else unpleasant during that encounter?" Gorou asks.

"Aside from receiving a few insults and a punch to the gut that left me kneeling? Nothing else. Instead, I felt lucky to have been left relatively unharmed, sir." Fumio recounts.

"…" Gorou is stumped.

His eyes and brain are telling him that Fumio is telling the truth but he still feels as if there is something wrong. He puts his hand atop a wooden box on the corner of the table and slides it closer to him. He opens it and takes something out and lays it on the table.

"Do you know what this is?" He asks as he slides a white strip of paper towards Fumio.

Fumio looks at the paper and sees what looks like one of those magic sigils he saw in history books, painted on it with a paintbrush and black calligraphy ink.

"I don't, sir." Fumio readily admits.

"Would you accept a request from me?" Gorou asks as he also takes out a short tanto from the box and lays it again on the table.

Fumio seeing the sharp and unstained blade, gets goosebumps. Thankfully, his calm mind makes him think that Gorou is not the type of man like Hideki.

"A request, sir?" Fumio is further relieved seeing the expression on Gorou's face is still calm.

"Yes. Make a cut on your finger and drop a blood on this piece of paper." Gorou hands the tanto over.

"I heard there are blood magic in this world?" Fumio hesitates at the strange request.

"I know it's odd but the sooner you do it, the sooner you our talk will be over." Gorou says.

Fumio internally scoffs at the threat, but he has no choice. He also knows that blood magic is used by humans but not against fellow humans, so the chances that Gorou is trying to harm him with magic is very low.

So, with that, he takes the tanto and with false hesitation, makes a shallow cut on his index finger.