Acting Like Yakuza (3)

Reiji took out his phone and pointed it at the cowering Vincent.

"Take off your clothes. All of it," he commanded, not an inch of playfulness in his voice.

"What? Wh-why?" Vincent yelled in fear. Every since the first slap, nothing made sense to him. Things had gone from 20 to 200 in less than a minute and he had no idea what to do.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I don't like to force people so we're actually kind of similar! I'll give you two choices, just like you gave this shop. Either take off everything, or I'll chop off Little Vincent with a knife from the very store you tried to bury," he hissed coldly.

Vincent's face went completely pale, all the blood draining away from it. Except for two bright red and swollen lumps on his cheeks, everything else was as white as a freshly laundered sheet.

"P-Please don't do this! I already promised you, we'll drop this project, I won't bother the store anymore!"

Reiji didn't respond. He just nodded and turned to look at Baldy who was standing there with a mouth so wide that he wouldn't be surprised if a fly flew in.

"Baldy, get me knife. Mr. Piggy has made his choice," he stated as if it was a fact.

"WHATTT NOOO! I'LL TAKE OFF MY CLOTHES! PLEASE WAIT I'LL TAKE IT OFF!"

Vincent scrambled to tear of his clothes at Reiji's words, his mind wasn't even working anymore. He was purely driven by the instinct to save his balls, quite literally.

In seconds everything was off and he stood there quivering in shame.

"Hmm, Little Dick acting tough with Big Dick Energy, why am I not surprised," Reiji sneered.

Vincent trembled even harder, the shame and insults cutting right into his heart. He wanted to chop this little brat in front of him to pieces, but the image of him effortlessly taking down three trained bodyguards was fresh in his mind, so he did nothing.

"What's your name?" Reiji asked lazily. This time he switched to fluent English, dumbfounding both Vincent and his two bear-like henchmen.

"What?"

"Are you deaf? Did all those calories clog up your ears as well as your arteries? What's your fucking name?"

"...V-Vincent Gareth."

Reiji smiled softly as he pocketed his phone and chuckled in derision, continuing in English.

"Mr. Piggy, you're a pretty smart businessman so I assume you know where this is going. Your businesses rely heavily on your image, especially your relationship with your country's Royal family. You've made real good use of those connections, and have done a great job of keeping your record clean. I give you my props."

Reiji paused as he walked slowly towards Vincent, his shoes making clopping sounds on the wooden floor.

"Now imagine what will happen if this scene gets released, goes viral, shared with every single contact in your phonebook? I'll make sure it gets posted in the front page of every newspaper, the top story on every channel, and trending on every form of social media. This isn't simply an execution of your network and business, it will be a social death you will never revive from. That is a promise," Reiji whispered, his voice getting lower and lower as he got closer and closer.

He tapped Vincent's swollen cheek playfully, letting his words slowly sink in.

And it definitely sank in.

Vincent's eyes spaced out, his lips trembling as tears still kept pouring down his face. His fists clenched and unclenched every second, as his mind raced through all the possibilities.

His power came from his network and social skills, he didn't have the financial stability or family backing that allowed most successful businessmen to maintain their position even through scandals and mistakes.

If that video, or even just the photo was released.... It would mean the end of Vincent Gareth. As the realization hit, he looked up with a dead look in his eyes.

"Now....What will you do?" Reiji teased.

"I'll back off from buying the restaurant and pay five times the damages we have caused so far. I'll make sure they aren't bothered again either. Will that be enough?" Vincent gave in listlessly.

There was no rage or frustration in his eyes, just a combination of fear and acceptance. Reiji's smile widened slightly and he whispered,

"Good little piggy. Now get lost."

***

Reiji cracked his neck as he watched the bodyguards limp away with Vincent.

'Shit, that was pretty tough. OG Reiji's ruthlessness combined with my laziness. Not a bad combo,' he giggled like a kid that just saw a cool toy at a store.

Reiji turned around and saw four men staring at him with flabbergasted expressions. The two greenheads at the back were shocked, scared, and happy at the same time, and those clashing emotions made them look like robots that had just been rebooted.

Baldy and Beardy on the other hand.... Reiji didn't even want to look at them, their overflowing emotions would certainly cause a lot of annoyance for him later but his focus was elsewhere for now.

He walked past them and reached in front of the Ichihara family and bowed.

"I'm sorry for acting recklessly and causing trouble for the both of you and this restaurant. We'll ensure that the Tassle Company will keep their promise, so you can relax now," Reiji remarked with a slightly apologetic tone.

When he looked up, he saw the bewildered faces of the greenheads looking at him with mixed feelings.

From their perspective, a young student who they hadn't really noticed at the start suddenly solved all their problems right in front of them with overwhelming aggressiveness and strength. They had no idea what emotion they should be feeling towards him, whether that was fear, gratitude, or respect.

There was a little bit of all three, but the rollercoaster they had been through today pushed them to one of them.

"I really don't know how to thank you young man, y-you solved everything for us. A problem that was causing us hair-loss with stress for two months was solved by you in two minutes, I have no words for this,' the grandpa replied in a choked voice.

"Haha, don't worry about it. Sometimes one has to make drastic choices, but you don't have to concern yourselves with that. If they start causing any trouble, you can reach out to us again, but I doubt it will be necessary."

"....Thank you. May we know your name?" The middle-aged man asked respectfully.

"Hm? My name doesn't matter, just take care of the restaurant. It seems like a nice place," Reiji just smiled, not wanting to get more involved with them.

However this just gave them the wrong impression, thinking that he was a benevolent and humble person, making them see Reiji in a new light.

"Whenever you want to eat ramen, please stop by. We'll offer you free ramen for the rest of your life," the grandpa declared softly. "We'd love to treat you right now, but like we said before, the food is contaminated and we need to clean up everything."

"I'll keep that in mind, and it's alright, they'll soon pay you back for these damages. We'll get going for now."

Reiji smiled one last time and walked away from the bowing father and son, grabbing hold of the two dunderheads who were still spacing out as they stared at him. He waved goodbye and pushed them out of the store and into the car, wanting to leave immediately.

He didn't know if Greeny would show up here, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

"Start the car, let's get going. Drop me off at my apartment."

But the car didn't start like he expected it to, instead he found both of them looking back at him as if they wanted an explanation.

"What're you looking at me like that for? That's bastard's face just pissed me off," He frowned.

"...Boss I am so unbelievably proud of you," Beardy mumbled with emotion.

"...Boss....I used to worship the Big Boss, but now.... I'll worship both of you," Baldy added on, his eyes red and trembling. "You can even speak perfect English, when did you learn that?"

"What the fuck is wrong with you guys? Aren't you overreacting a little? Plus, this isn't good at all! The Yagami Syndicate is not supposed to go this far, members have always gotten in trouble for excessive actions right? I'm sure my dad will be an asshat about it again," Reiji snapped, hiding away the hopeful gaze that threatened to leak out.

"...Boss, do you remember our motto?" Beardy asked.

"...Isn't it 'No blood for gold, no silence for justice?', what about it?"

"That motto means that we reject greed-driven violence and won't stay quiet when injustice happens. Your actions today were exactly what the Yagami Syndicate was built to do, why would you get into trouble for that?"

"Wha-? But people have been punished before!"

"Those fools were punished because they didn't follow the motto. They either went too far when it wasn't necessary, were influenced by greed, or fought for the wrong clients that breed injustice," Beardy smiled.

"You should be proud of yourself Boss, your plan was really clean and effective! I'm sure Big Boss will be crazy happy, I bet 1000 yen that we'll see a smile this time!" Baldy chimed in.

Reiji's eyes just quivered as he slumped back into his seat, closing his eyes in frustration.

"Let's just go home, please."

***

Ichihara Haruki was very happy today. He made two new friends and even chatted with them for a long time.

'Reiji-kun's food was tasty!! And Airi-san is so nice as well, hehe. I also have a nickname now, just like the cool guys from Junior High,' he thought as he hopped along.

Soon, he reached his destination, a quaint little ramen shop on a bustling street. He blocked his nose at the horrid stench around the store and sighed as he walked in.

'What has been going on lately? Neither Dad nor Grandpa will tell me anything.'

Haruki entered and saw his family sitting at a table, staring aimlessly at the roof.

"Hi Dad, Hi Grandpa, I'm back. When will the sewage problem be fixed, we haven't been getting any customers lately because of it," Haruki asked as he sat down next to them.

Neither of them replied, making him frown in confusion.

"...Dad? Did something happen?"

"Huh? Oh Haruki you're home, how was school?" His father just noticed his presence.

"What? What's going on Dad, why have both of you been so out of it lately?" he questioned worriedly.

"....Haruki can I ask you a question? It's about one of the students at your school."

"What?"