📌 Tags: Psychological Thriller, Urban Noir, Vigilante, Mature Themes, Serial Killer, Crime Drama
⚠️Authors Note - Mature Content
"This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, nations, corporations and events are products of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real events or persons is coincidental."
She stood there at the stone staircase leading towards the Kodoma Bank. Her eyes locked towards the skyline that looked down on her.
Standing in the cold wind. His cape rippled from the breeze. His hands by his sides clenched.
The Vigilante.
'Hello there.' Ayaka said to herself, her eyes narrowed. Her black lips were sharp.
Behind her, Kyoko entered the vehicle. The Kodoma security forces vacated the Bank's main entrance to the awaiting armoured vans.
Inside the SUV..
'So, what happened?' Reina asked calmly, tapping the arm rest beside her.
Tap Tap Tap
'Empress, I learned much..'
Reina's green eye twitched. But she maintained her signature composure.
She relaxed into her burgundy robe which became a sea of silk that engulfed her.
'... really? Like what?'
…
'How to get your nose broken?'
'E-Empress, I was caught off guard-'
'Hmm, so you start a war with another MegaCorp, and then you lose against the Vigilante?'
Kyoko panicked. She knew this tone. Everyone in the Kodoma Clan did. Reina did not shout. She didn't need to. It was below her. But if she did shout..
'Empress.. He knows of Mitsumune-Sama.. He knew how to fight the Oni Ninja.. He knew-'
'Everything, clearly.' Reina abruptly cut her off.
Reina peered out of the SUV's window at Ayaka-
'Hm. I am concerned, Kyoko.'
Her green eyes fell back on the bloodied ninja.
'I am starting to think this.. Vigilante is too much for you..'
Kyoko's eyes blew wide.
Reina was not wrong. The Vigilante is proving too much. But Kyoko was worried about something else. Her position in the Kodoma Clan.
'You began a war against a rival corporation. Which is a headache.
…
You were outsmarted by a Vigilante.
…
And eventually beaten by the Vigilante.'
Kyoko's throat felt tight. Sweat ran down her tanned forehead. Blood trickled from her nose, down her lips.
She tried to speak-
Her throat is sore-
She felt sick-
'Ma'am.. M-My Empress.. I-I..'
Reina's expression remained cold. Unnerved. Unmoving. Her arms folded.
'Speak. Clearly.'
'G-Give me one last chance.'
Reina exhaled. Usually she didn't give third chances. Usually the first is enough, and there's rarely a second. There was an aroma of faint mint and tea.
But Reina was biased. Kyoko was, after all, her niece.
'Get yourself back to the tower. Clean yourself up.'
She leaned back. Reached into a side compartment beside her, and placed a cigarette to her black lips.
'Then you will go, try again. One last time.'
'T-Thank you Empress!'
'Remember Kyoko. You are only having another chance because you are my sister's daughter. Fail again.'
You are going back to Japan.
She didn't say the last bit, but that was the understanding.
'Go. Now. Your face is a mess. Your kimono is covered in blood. And you're bleeding on my leather seats.'
Kyoko bowed her head.
'Yes, Empress.'
She carefully opened the SUV door, wincing as her injured face caught the cold air. Her movements were stiff. Every breath seemed to remind her of the encounter she had just endured. The humiliation she was given.
Outside, the Kodoma security personnel were already reorganising themselves. Several approached the vehicle, while others remained stationed around the bank entrance. None wished to step too close to the Matriarch. Or they'd risk catching her iron gaze.
Kyoko stepped onto the pavement.
Klick.
'Kyoko.'
She stopped immediately. Still in the crouched position, her head low.
'Yes, Empress?'
Reina hadn't looked at her.
'Your report. I want it on my desk tonight. Every detail. Every movement he made. Every technique he used.' Reina's eyes narrowed.
Kyoko swallowed.
'Of course.'
'And Kyoko?'
'Yes?'
Reina finally turned her green eyes towards her.
'Do not embellish your account to make yourself look better.'
A pause.
'If you were defeated, then you were defeated. I have no interest in excuses.'
Kyoko lowered her head. Her blonde hair falling in front of her head.
'Understood.'
The door closed.
Reina watched her niece through the tinted glass as she walked towards one of the waiting vehicles. Two security officers approached to assist her, but Kyoko waved them away with a quick flick of her tanned hand.
Pride.
Even now.
Sssscreeetttcchhh
The limo's window lowered slightly, a cold breeze wafted into the passenger window.
This winter reminds me of Hokkaido.. She thought to herself.
FLIP Bzzztz
Her cigarette was lit.
Reina exhaled, taking a slow drag from her cigarette.
'Honestly...'
She glanced towards the bank.
These past few weeks have been a disaster. BlueJet had cost them resources, money and considerable political goodwill. Now a masked vigilante had humiliated one of her own family members in front of her security personnel. The same vigilante who vanished from Moon City a few months prior.
And yet...
Something about Kyoko's report bothered her, despite her outer expression remaining stoic.
Not the defeat itself. Though that did annoy her.
The details. That intrigued her.
Mitsumune. The strongest samurai to ever live. A closely guarded secret by the Kodoma.
The Oni Ninja. Elite? She would re-evaluate them. Personally if needed.
Those weren't names an ordinary criminal would know. Nor were the techniques something one could simply learn by watching a few videos.
Someone had educated this man. Intimately.
Someone had given him knowledge of the Kodoma. Enough to threaten her Clan.
Or perhaps...
Reina's green eyes narrowed.
'Driver.'
'Yes, Empress?'
'Don't move yet.'
She leaned back, crossing one leg over the other. Exhaling another cloud of smoke.
'Bring me everything we have on this Vigilante.'
'All available intelligence?'
'Everything.'
A moment passed.
'And I want to know where he learned to fight.'
'Understood.'
Reina tapped the armrest.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Outside, the wind swept through the bank's entrance.
Her attention returned to the figure standing on the roof of the Bank.
The Vigilante.
She studied him from behind the tinted window. The cape danced in the wind, it was captivating for her. She was interested in the figures' weaknesses. She smiled faintly, it was a cruel smile, she would love nothing more than to pluck at his weaknesses like a web.
Humiliate him.
Crush him under her heel.
And yet..
He was standing there with his blue cape moving in the breeze, his hands clenched at his sides. He appeared entirely unbothered by the presence of the Kodoma security forces.
A rather peculiar individual.
And yet.. He stood there on HER building's roof. Across from her.
Most people understood what it meant to antagonise the Kodoma.
Some learned through business.
Others through politics.
And a great many learned through violence. And now reside under the Kodoma Tower's foundations.
But this man seemed to have made a habit of it. For the last four years he has been a nuisance.
'How troublesome.'
She took another drag.
'First BlueJet. Now you.'
Her eyes drifted towards the upper floors of the bank.
'What exactly are you looking for, I wonder?'
Across the staircase, Ayaka remained where she was.
Her eyes followed the departing vehicle.
Kyoko had been beaten.
Not merely inconvenienced. Not forced into a retreat by superior numbers.
Beaten.
By one man.
She glanced back towards the Vigilante.
There was something deeply irritating about him. She hated him.
The way he stood. The way he carried himself. That ridiculous cape.
The CONFIDENCE infuriates her.
And, perhaps most annoyingly, the fact that he had managed to walk away.
Her lips curled.
'You certainly have some nerve.' Kyoko growled.
The cold wind swept between them.
Reina maintained her stare.
Puffff
Smoke rose in rings from her black lipped mouth.
For a moment, she considered approaching him.
She had questions.
Quite a few, actually.
But she was not particularly fond of asking questions when she could simply obtain the answers herself.
Her eyes narrowed.
'We'll meet again.'
She flicked the remaining end of the cigarette with careless thoughtlessness.
She lowered the vehicle's window.
Behind her, the Kodoma security personnel continued clearing the bank entrance.
The operation was over.
But the matter was far from settled.
The Vigilante had gained Reina's attention. And unlucky for him, Ayaka Kodoma's too.
The Ice Thorn princess stood gazing up to the Bank's roof, her eyes focused and smile sharp. But she was patient, there was no rush. They were guaranteed to encounter each other again very soon.