Reiji stirred his drink as he considered a few options, not taking any of them too seriously at the moment because there was a bigger problem to consider.
"Look, Sir... I really regret what I did, you can know that by the very fact that I came to you for a job even after what you did," Keito pleaded, lifting his hand up to show the thick bandages wrapped around his fingers.
Reiji stopped, shifting his focus back on the man in front of him, who had made an effort to tidy up and look presentable.
But there was contempt on his face rather than approval.
"After what I did? Are you serious?" Reiji snorted.
"Huh? U-Um..."
Keito looked flustered at the cold tone in his voice, his eyes widening in confusion.
"Let's get one thing straight, okay? I didn't do anything except fix the mess you created. You give me this sob story about being fired unjustly and being stabbed in the back, as if that would get me to sympathize with you. Leaving aside the issue of whether or not I even believe you, you're trying to make it seem like your decision to blackmail the one person who supported you, despite everything, can be overlooked just like that because you're repenting now?"
"Sir, that's not what I'm sa-"
"I'm not finished," Reiji interjected, making Keito shut his mouth awkwardly.
"S-Sorry..."
Reiji leaned back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other as he held his cup on the armrest.
"Let me ask you some questions."
"Questions? O-Okay..."
"What stopped you from getting another job after you were fired, even if it was something like a part-time store clerk? If even that wasn't possible for whatever reason, what stopped you from at least helping around the house? What stopped you from treating your support pillar like a human being instead of a babysitter for a grown-ass man? You say you agreed to quit your job because you were scared Chinatsu-san would think of you as a creep, and yet every decision you made thereafter made you look like nothing else but a creep. And if that wasn't enough, you blackmail your ex after she's had enough of your pathetic display, all for what? Revenge? Justice? Or maybe you wanted her to feel the pain you felt when you were fired?"
Reiji exhaled, taking a deep sip of his coffee to wet his mouth, which had gone dry from all the irritation in his spiel.
Keito couldn't respond properly, his mouth flapping open and shut like a fish as if he was trying to think of what to say.
"You know what I think?" Reiji continued, seeing that the man looked lost. "I think you accepted the deal for your own reputation, not for Chinatsu-san. I think you gave up on looking for a job because you knew it would mean dropping down the social ladder, and you would rather rely on your girlfriend than admit you couldn't continue in accounting. And I think you blackmailed her because you were too lazy to find a job once again after she kicked you out. Is that right?" Reiji asked calmly.
"I....No, th-that's not...."
Keito had gone completely pale, as if he was coming to the realization that maybe there was some truth to that.
"For argument's sake, let's disregard all of that and just focus on you wanting to come work for me. What do you think that is going to achieve?"
"I....I thought that if I helped you take down more guys like me, I could make up for what I did," he mumbled in response.
"So you want to make up for the fact that you broke the law..... By breaking the law? You do know that the police exist, right? If that was really the case, it isn't too late to change occupations and become an officer."
"Well....."
"You took a step back when you lost your job. You took 5 steps back when you became a deadbeat. You took 100 steps back when you blackmailed her. And now you want to continue going backwards by joining the Yakuza? Are you a fucking idiot?" Reiji sneered.
".....Then what am I supposed to do!?" Keito bellowed, losing his last shred of clarity as he smacked the table in despair.
But when he saw the young man glare at him without flinching, he slunk back in his seat and hung his head.
Reiji tilted his head and decided to switch tones after seeing the haunted expression on his face, his voice getting softer.
"It's good that you're trying to repent, even if the intentions may be slightly off, but coming to me is not the answer."
He finished his drink, plopped it on the table, and stood up after he slung his backpack over his shoulder.
"My advice hasn't changed from last time. Get help from your friends, reconnect with your family, and find a normal goddamn job for fuck's sake," he sighed.
As he walked out of the cafe, he thought of something and turned back to Keito, who was glued to his seat and stiff as a pole.
"Oh, and I don't care how much you regret what you did and how much you want to make up for it. Continue to stay away from Chinatsu-san, or the rest of your fingers will be dressed up in bandages as well."
With that, he didn't give him another glance and left.
While heading over to Haruna's place after finishing up this odd encounter, he took out his phone and sent a message to Beardy.
[Beardy]
Chefalicious: Where does Arata live?
***
(Haruna POV)
".....Holy shit, what did we just witness?" Airi whispered as she covered her mouth in disbelief.
"I can somewhat understand the situation after considering everything they said, but...." Ren added.
Beside them, both Greeny and Haruna stayed quiet, hunched over behind the row of bushes next to the cafe's patio.
The table where the two of them were sitting was right in front of this array of shrubbery, so they could somewhat hear their talk even when they were trying to be quiet at certain points.
They had all pretended to turn a corner and then followed Reiji and Keito to try and see what the big deal was, and the contents of their conversation were nothing short of shocking.
'....Is this what he's been doing with the Yakuza?' Haruna wondered uncomfortably.
She couldn't tell if what she was feeling was pride at the fact that he'd helped someone from being blackmailed, worried at the danger of the job, or horrified when she saw the clearly fractured fingers on the man called Keito.
There was a hint of regret at choosing to follow them, only now understanding some of the reasons why Reiji seemed to keep her out of this business.
All she wanted to do now was run after Reiji and ask him all sorts of questions, while being scared of the answers she might get at the same time.
After the other man also left the cafe, his face pale and downcast, the four of them straightened up and walked alongside each other, openly discussing what they'd seen and heard.
"Wait, so I don't understand, why did he blackmail his girlfriend? And how did he do it?" Airi asked with confusion, trying to make sense of the fragmented information they'd gotten.
"Hmmm... I think Reiji-san said she dumped him? And kicked him out? I don't know what material he used to blackmail her, but some ideas come to mind," Ren replied while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"W-What's important is that he stopped that from h-happening," Greeny piped up in support of Reiji.
The other three looked at him with a shake of their heads.
"I'm not denying that, because it's definitely amazing. But it seems like Reiji-kun broke his fingers in the process," the purple-haired girl sighed.
"A m-means to an end."
"Pfft, that's oversimplifying it," Ren chuckled wryly.
"What I'm worried about is the fact that Reiji-kun might get hurt one of these days if he's dealing with psychopathic assholes like that. If he has to resort to violence like this, that means it's more than likely they can do the same...."
Haruna came out of her daze at those words and looked at them grimly. After a moment of thought, she bit her lips and responded.
"Well..... Actually, he already got hurt..... badly."
"Huh?"
"What?"
Their eyes almost popped out of their heads as they surrounded Haruna like sharks in a sea of blood.
"Explain!"
"What happened to Reiji-san??"
"I-Is he okay, Haruna-san?"
Haruna held her hands up and motioned for them to quiet down, and once their worried chatter disappeared, she explained what she knew after gathering her thoughts.
About going over to his place for tutoring.
About him collapsing with a fever.
About the large cut on his shoulder.
And his evasiveness about the entire matter.
The three of them listened with rapt attention, their expressions morphing between shock, concern, and frustration as she continued.
And once they were all caught up, their reactions varied.
"I can't believe he kept that from us!!" Airi snapped, kicking a rock on the ground as hard as she could.
"This all sounds so much more dangerous than I was expecting, especially after seeing how easygoing Reiji-san usually is...." Ren muttered with furrowed brows.
As for Greeny....
"Sh-Should we take him to the hospital??" he exclaimed, panic engraved in his freckled face as he flailed his arms.
"He's fine for now, Greeny. But I don't know if you should tell him you all know about this. I don't think he wanted that," Haruna clarified.
Silence took over as they each wandered off in their own thoughts, neither agreeing nor disagreeing as they resumed their journey with a heavy atmosphere.
'This can't keep happening..... I need to do something at least.'
Haruna knew more about his feelings and problems with the syndicate than the others, and after seeing this today, she knew she couldn't hold back much longer.
If at first she was confused as to why Reiji had coldly told them to leave, now she understood why.
And after all the help he'd given her, the drive to do something about this outweighed every rational cell in her body as she started to formulate a so-called 'plan'.
This wasn't out of obligation.
She didn't fully know why it left such a bad taste in her mouth to see him do all this, so she stopped thinking about it and focused on what she could do to fix it.
'Hmmmm, maybe I can.....'