Blackmail (2)
Reiji sat in the back seat of the car, a little annoyed that such a wonderful day was cut short by this depressing event.
"....Boss, so what's the plan?" Baldy asked cautiously when he saw that he wasn't in a good mood.
Reiji looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"You tell me. You guys have more experience with shit like this, so how do you usually handle such cases?"
"Um...Well, we're usually asked to either directly protect people and locations, or beat others up, so something as nuanced as this is not our cup of tea. We can't just go and beat him up, because if he has any backup copies he might release it as soon as we leave," Beardy muttered as he drove to the man's house.
"That's not necessarily true," Reiji replied.
The two men looked at him through the rearview mirror with confused expressions.
"What do you mean Boss?"
"If violence isn't solving your problems then you're simply not using enough violence," Reiji said, recalling a quote from his other world.
Surprisingly, it didn't exist here though.
"Wh-What? That's..... THAT'S SO PROFOUND BOSS!" Baldy exclaimed with unconcealed admiration.
Even Beardy was looking at him proudly, a massive grin on his face.
'....Don't be proud just because I suggested using violence, what the fuck is wrong with you guys??'
Reiji sighed but he was also a little taken aback by his own indifference when it came to proposing such an aggressive method.
He knew that OG Reiji's traits had melded with his own, but he didn't expect to be this numb when it came to hurting someone.
The odd thing was that he could only feel it clearly when he became genuinely angry, where traits like arrogance, pride, and aggressiveness amongst others were more pronounced.
Otherwise the only other traits of OG Reiji that he could identify in his regular life was his confidence and lackadaisical outlook towards things he didn't care about, which paired perfectly with Alex's laziness and carefree nature.
But it wasn't so clear-cut, he did occasionally have trouble controlling his anger and frustration.
"So you're suggesting beating the shit out of him and making him delete the photos and videos?" Baldy asked, warming up his fists in anticipation.
"Not exactly. Just follow my lead at first. If it works out, great! But if not then I'll let you guys go ham," Reiji yawned, leaning back into the seat.
He watched as the buildings flashed past his windows, becoming smaller and more dilapidated as they entered the less developed part of the city. There were less shops, and more complexes being demolished to make way for renovations.
"How much farther?"
"Less than 5 minutes Boss."
They soon parked outside a a long building, a dormitory where studio rooms are rented out for quite cheap. There weren't any cars around, because people that lived in this area couldn't afford them, so their massive SUV looked completely out of place.
Reiji was about to walk in leisurely, but he was pulled back quickly by the two burly men.
"What's wrong?" he asked, looking around warily to see if there was a problem.
"Gotta check for cameras Boss, if the talk does end up going south, then we need to limit the amount of evidence they can use if he reports us, though that possibility is small," Beardy explained, scanning the building to see if there might be an issue.
Reiji's eyes narrowed in understanding, and he felt like kicking himself for forgetting such a simple thing.
He needed to be careful whenever he was given an assignment. He didn't know to what extent the syndicate had power over the law enforcement.
Though he was fairly confident he could handle himself, he needed to learn how to take the correct steps to mitigate any future problems from popping up.
Just as he was lecturing himself internally, Beardy nodded and signaled that it was safe to enter.
There were no cameras in the building, let alone security guards. This was one of the cheapest places to stay, so it would be a miracle if you could have reliable supervision in such a location.
As they climbed the stairs due to the absence of an elevator, Reiji noticed that each door had a lens that the tenants could look through to see who was there.
He looked back at the two intimidating men and shook his head.
"You guys, let me knock on the door when we get there. You two stand off to the side at an angle where he can't see you through the peephole," he advised.
If the man saw such terrifying towers, he'd probably be able to connect their appearance to Chinatsu-san, which wasn't ideal.
Apartment 3C was where he stayed, so Reiji motioned to the other two when they got close. They nodded and pressed themselves against the wall, while Reiji knocked on the door with a pleasant smile.
"*Knock Knock*, Hello? I am a student from Souhei High School and I'm here to conduct a survey for a project! I just need two minutes of your time!"
He heard shuffling sounds from behind the door. but no one answered. Reiji frowned and knocked again.
"Hello? I can hear sounds so I know you're there! Please, it won't take long!"
"....Go away, I'm not doing any survey," a lazy voice came from the apartment.
"I'm sorry, but I can't leave! I just need one more set of answers, so please spare some time!" he said loudly, refusing to back down.
He heard an irritated sigh and the lock twisted with a clicking noise. The door creaked open a little and a disheveled face came into view.
"I said I'm not answering anything, just get lost kid!" the man snapped, spittle flying past the gap and onto the floor.
Reiji smiled.
"Thank you for opening the door."
He kicked as hard as he could, sending the man crashing through his studio in a grumbled heap with Reiji storming in without hesitation.
Before Keito could react, Reiji punched his chin accurately, sending him off to a short but uninterrupted sleep.
The ex-boyfriend, who stank as if he hadn't showered in a week, lay on the floor out cold as Reiji called the other two into the apartment.
"Baldy, tie him up tightly. Beardy, look through the house for any physical copies of the photo. Check his cupboards, drawers, bed, camera, everything," Reiji ordered.
He himself moved to Keito's desk, which had a laptop and a phone on it with little to no decor otherwise.
He saw that opening the phone required a fingerprint scan, so he placed the unconscious man's limp finger against the screen and gained access.
He quickly navigated to the gallery app, looking for any incriminating pictures or videos that could be used against Chinatsu-san.
His anger, that had slightly calmed down, reignited with a much higher intensity as he saw a folder dedicated to the blackmail material that was titled 'Cash Money $$'.
He forced himself to breathe slowly and calm down and he deleted it after confirming its contents, ensuring he also removed it from the trash folder to prevent any chance of recovering them.
He then opened up his cloud account, checking if it was backed up online somewhere. He found the same folder there and proceeded to do the same.
While Reiji continued to check every app on the phone to make sure he hadn't missed anything, Baldy had tied up Keito to a chair with tape that he found in a drawer.
Beardy had found an envelope filled with the pictures inside the pillow cover, and burned them inside of the trash can. There was also a camera, probably the source of all the blackmail material, and the storage chip was consequently destroyed.
'This disgusting asshole was thorough....'
Reiji was taken aback by the sheer number and variety of backups that Keito had used, making him both frustrated and cautious.
He couldn't access his computer without a password, and he also couldn't ensure that this piece of shit only kept copies in his house and not anywhere else.
This was turning out to be far more complicated than he was expecting it to be.
While he waited for Beardy and Baldy to finish searching the house, Reiji opened up Keito's Chatly account and checked the group chat with his friends.
He saw his close friends encouraging him to get a job and were worried about him, but this dumbass ignored their help and was determined to make things work somehow.
His parents were in complete despair, begging him to get therapy, but all he did was block them completely.
Reiji shook his head in rage when he saw that Keito really did draft up posts to release the images on social media, just like he had threatened to do. He deleted them quickly, and then deleted his entire account to ensure he had no platform to recover the data.
By this time, Keito was stirring awake and he groaned in pain and disorientation.
"Urghhh.... What h-happened? Where am I?"
When he regained full clarity, his face morphed with horror and fear as he saw the two muscular men standing behind a handsome student who was sitting on his office chair calmly.
He was completely tied up without even being able to lift a finger, increasing his tension and nervousness.
"Wh-Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
Reiji stared at him emotionlessly, as if he was looking at a garbage bag rather than a person. Then he smiled slowly, one that didn't reach his eyes.
"Don't worry, I'm just here to flush the toilet."
