Losing Masks
Whirlwind
Book Two
By Nicholas Metelsky
Translated by Olga Cotey
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Losing Masks
To survive and to keep his identity in one piece and hidden while being dragged into an uncompromising war between criminal gangs Shingi finds new allies and is calling them to arms.
Wearing all his masks at the same time, day by day, he became an impossible challenge for Shingi. His social appearance starts to break into pieces, exposing a dangerous and dark inner-self. He is no longer just a poor student for the people around him. Yet one mask is broken, so he has to save all others and to hide his deadly secrets far away while the whole attention of criminal gangs has been brought to his personality.
For the glory of my own, in my name!
***
His soul was taken away from his home world. An experienced and skillful warlock turned out to be trapped in the body of a kid in the urban Tokyo of a parallel world. During daylight he pretends to be a student but at night his true-self comes to the front: a calculating, tricky and cruel fighter, a master-thief, an owner of the most popular nightclub and of a huge corporation, a Patriarch.
Losing Masks
Contents:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
From the Author
About Nicholas Metelsky
Book Recommendations:
Chapter 1
I woke up at noon from a text message notification.
“Damn it,” I muttered blearily, reaching for my phone that I always put on my bed next to the wall before falling asleep.
“How's it going?” the message read.
Here comes Nakata Akemi.
“I’m fine. I'll swing by tonight,” I replied and tried to go back to sleep, still holding my phone.
I struggled for ten minutes and then gave up, got up and went to the bathroom.
After finishing my morning routine, I made breakfast and went to wake Goro, who had stayed overnight in my living room. Seeing that he wasn’t there, I called out for him and, after making sure he wasn't anywhere inside, walked outside to find him tinkering with the car engine.
“What are you looking for there? We have to take it back today anyway.”
“Well, nothing,” I got a somewhat sheepish response. “Just curious. I just wanted...”
“Don't sweat it. Let's have breakfast. We can go car shopping today since we have nothing better to do. We also have to find someone to help us look for a house with a garage nearby. Get a hold of Rymov. We can all go together.”
“I'm on it, Sakurai-san. Should I tell him to meet us here or wait to be picked up?”
“We'll pick him up. When does his shift start?”
“It doesn't matter, boss. He can find someone to replace him if anything.”
“OK. Now on top of everything, I have to find a replacement for both of you at the club.”
“I know a few worthy people,” Goro said, following me into the house. “We work out together. I can vouch for them, so can Rymov. They won't turn their backs on you.”
How interesting. Both of them can vouch for these guys... I'm going to run background checks anyway, even knowing that Vas-Vas aren't idiots. I should at least meet these guys they're vouching for.
“You got my interest,” I said, stopping in the hallway. “Do you know anyone else besides those two?”
“I know a lot of good guys that won't fail you,” Goro started carefully. “There isn't much work in Tokyo for people seriously involved in martial arts, so if you don't wanna go work for criminals or the military, you have to find a way. It's not terrible, but it isn't easy. There are only so many gyms, polygons, and teachers for people like me. It's not like I know everyone there, but I have enough acquaintances. If I don't know someone, I've heard of them.”
“Are you saying that Bahir users can't find suitable work?”
“Boss, if you ever want to recruit a small army, you can be sure that when you are done, there will still be thousands left without employment. Tokyo doesn't have enough job opportunities. The best ones are taken very quickly. You will have to choose from Warriors and, perhaps, a few Veterans. There are some Masters, too. They choose who they should work for. That's just those who don't want to deal with criminals or armies.”
“Let's go have breakfast. Um, wait. On average, how old are those who are seeking employment?”
“Around my age.”
“That is twenty... three, twenty-seven. Is that right?”
“I guess so. I never thought of that.”
“That's good. They have potential and room for growth. That's good enough. Let's go eat,” I said and quickly walked to the kitchen.
Having finished my breakfast and cigarette by myself, I walked out and, once again, found Goro by the vehicle.
“You have to take it back today. Stop tinkering with this poor car. Two days weren't enough for you to play with it? Anyhow, I'm going to get online for half an hour, and you get hold of Rymov. Make arrangements for picking him up. Also, have a discussion with him about your candidates. Schedule a meeting for... Damn it. To hell with school. Talk to them whenever you can, but schedule the meeting for Friday night. Since there is still time before then, find a few more people. Just a few people who you're completely sure about. Run background checks on, like, sixty people, whose ranks are not below Warriors; above is even better. I need people who won't turn their backs on me and can keep quiet. I can teach them the rest. Remember, I'm looking to hire long-term, and the ones who apply should be aware of that.”
Well... What else?
“I'll make it worth their while. I'll provide the full package. Yes, Goro, full. Tell them that I'm recruiting a legion. Don't forget to mention my age. So I can avoid looking at surprised faces. Got it?”
“Yes, boss!”
“In that case, let's leave in half an hour.”
I had found out about Tosima's elite auto dealership six months prior from Akemi. To be more precise, the info came from her auto-maniac, Mouse. The dealership has existed for the last fifty years and, interestingly enough, was owned by a commoner. He was rich, but still a commoner.
Who cares though? What's important is that he has served his customer
s for the last fifty years. I can be sure that they aren't going to sell me a piece of junk. I can also be sure that I'll find a decent car. Today, I need to look for something good for everyday use, and I can even place an order there. Even if it's a Maybach that Goro likes so much.
“Shall we? You'll be my retinue,” I said with a little grin.
We picked up Vasya Rymov on our way, so now he was with us, looking at the two-story building that had a glass wall on the first floor. Inside the spacious well-lit facility, among the ornamental columns, there was a multitude of cars, surrounded by the stands with auto parts. We walked in and stopped, examining the interior of the salon. Not too shabby. The first things that caught our eye were a Mazda and a Toyota that were the closest to the exit.
“Oh, that's a Toyota Crown, the last series,” Goro said, walking up to the car. “Excellent car with a long story.”
“Hell with that story,” I noted. “We need something that's more...”
I snapped my fingers, trying to think of the word.
“Like a Maybach?” Goro cut in.
“Get out of here with your Maybach nonsense. I’m sick of it. Where are you going to find one here? It needs to be pre-ordered. We need a BMW 7 series or something like that. A Lexus will do too.”
“The 600h?” Rymov asked.
“Something of that sort.”
“Do you see that Mazda there—I think it's an RX-8. What's wrong with that?”
“I need a sedan or a hatchback, not a coupe. Just look at it. Who's gonna drive something like that?”
“I would.”
“Okay, to each his own.”
At that moment, the manager approached us. He was a medium-built man, with black hair, who appeared to be a little over forty.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. Let me introduce myself. I'm Koga Toshinori, the senior manager of this facility,” the man politely introduced himself and appraisingly glanced at my clothes. “Can I help you?”
“Absolutely, Koga-san,” I replied. “I need some help figuring out what would suit me best.”
“Well, I'm here to assist you,” Koga smiled slightly. “I think if you tell me your wishes, I can offer you a few suitable options.”
I contemplated. I knew what I wanted, but didn’t know how to phrase my wishes.
“Workhorse. Wait, not quite—a pedigreed horse for my everyday use. More pedigreed than a horse, so no sports cars.”
“That's an interesting analogy. I think I understand you. As long as we are standing here, I want you to take a look at this car. Toyota Crown, thirteenth generation, aka S200. Gasoline engine, size is 3.0, 250 HP, 6-speed automatic transmission. All wheel drive. It’s sixteen feet long, five and a half feet wide, and four and a half feet tall. Massive and elite... horse. Leather and wood interior with five seats.
I like it. It'd be good for a workhorse. God, just listen to me. A Toyota Crown for a workhorse! Since when did I get so snotty? Anyway, what's next?
Next, we walked from one car to another, listening to a brief description of each one and sometimes a little digression into a story. BMW 7 series, Lexus LS600h, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Jaguar XJ. In general, not too shabby for a car dealership. Some models, it seemed to me, are not easy to find in dealerships, but here, they had everything.
As a result, my choice was between a Porsche Panamera and the Toyota Crown. After checking the prices on both, I made my choice in favor of the Porsche.
Why stop now if I’ve decided to splurge? Besides, the Panamera looks less flashy, despite the fact that it’s fifty grand more than the Toyota. That's just my opinion.
“Excellent car,” I said, running my hand over the hood of the car. “This is the one. You accept cash, of course?”
That was more a clarification than a question.
“Of course. Who should I register as the owner of the car?”
“Him,” I gestured at Goro, who almost choked. “Now that we're all set, I'd like to discuss another thing.”
“I'm all ears, Sakurai-sun.”
“Besides the car for everyday use, I need something high-class. A car that I can take to social events and stuff. Can I order something like this through you?”
“Of course. What exactly are you interested in?”
“Rolls-Royce... Phantom, for example, Audi 8, something from Bentley,” I looked at Vasya-chan's pleading face and added, “Maybach 57 or 62.”
“Let me think... We can order any one of these cars. However, an English one will take longer to get. It’ll be about a month longer of a wait.”
“Lucky you, Goro,” I smirked. “Let's talk about the Maybach then.”
Taking care of the technical formalities took an hour of my time, but I had a Porsche Panamera S, and two months from now I could expect to get my Maybach 62. Goro was, as they say, “happy as a clam”. I'm not big on cars, not even the expensive ones, but these cost me 6,500,000 yen. I handed my debit card to Koga and sighed deep inside. I had a little less than 1.5 million left on the account, which was too little for comfort.
After purchasing my mobile armor, I felt a little impoverished. Violating the order established by me and taking money from Shidotamoru accounts without obvious needs would be wrong. That's ok, it wasn’t the first time. I would re-accumulate it sooner or later. I just had to hope there would be no more spontaneous splurging as had happened with the cars, or I'd have had a greed attack. I'd come up with a plan to get back on track with my finances, but ripping off my own firm wasn't in those plans.
“We're taking the other car back to the rental, I take it?” Rymov asked, watching Goro fussing around the Porsche.
“Yes. Then we'll go to the office. I have a few things to do there.”
“What about after that?”
“We need to make it to the club. It's been a while since I showed up there. I mean for longer than half an hour. Speaking of which,” I faced him, “Did Vasya-chan tell you about my plans for the strong collaborative relationship?”
“Yep.”
“Have you discussed it with him?”
“On the phone,” he answered melancholically. “Sakurai-san, if you want to hear my opinion, I'm in, and I won't betray you. I couldn't care less that you're only sixteen.”
“A boss is a boss, no matter how old he is,” he added in his usual tone, turning back to Goro.
“Alrighty... We'll register the Maybach under your name then.”
“Khm. Thanks, but no, thanks. What if it gets damaged? What if I scratch it?”
“Goro will be mad. Very mad. Come on, we can't make him responsible for both cars. He'll explode with excitement.”
“That's what you say.”
“Hey, I know a thing or two!”
I got to the club in the evening. To be honest, I expected that things would go faster with the rent, but they didn't. It turned out that any actions concerning the ancestral lands had to be done through the imperial chancery. When I found out about that, I figured I wasn't going to solve that issue today. However, it was much easier than I thought. A notary public could help with drawing up a contract and then it had to be certified at the Emperor's office. There is a special authorized person who deals with the issues regarding ancestral lands. Undoubtedly, he deals with other kinds of matters as well, but my case was resolved pretty quickly No lines, no fees.
All in all, I’ve outdone all these aristocrats who wanted to acquire my lands. They can go ahead and try to do something now.
The alley that led to the entrance of the club was too narrow for the car, and it was impossible to maneuver in it. So everyone got out before the alley started and walked to the club, which only took a minute.
“Nice wheels. These guys will surely give us a smoke,” a junkie that looked like a string bean approached us.
The other person, popularly known as a gym rat, gave out a silly chuckle.
“Am I the unlucky one or is something up here?” I asked Rymov who got out of the car.
“I find it diff
icult to answer,” he replied.
“Hey, ritzy boys, you shouldn't ignore us,” the string bean opened his mouth again. “If you want to hog your cigs, so be it. But you have to leave your wallets and the car here.”
These junkies. We'll have to scour the area because the superintendent is apparently busy with something else. I can't blame him—he doesn't get paid to do that. On the other hand, his boss likes to relax here. If Akemi got into a similar situation, he'd be in big trouble. The curious thing about drug addicts is that they don't try to figure out who they're dealing with.
“Go park the car,” I told Goro, checking inside the vehicle. “Whose shift is it today?”
“I think Donutboy is there today.”
“Then take his partner and walk around the neighborhood. I don't need jerks like these around here,” I nodded at the junkies.
“I got you, boss.”
“Hey, little one, you don't seem to show us any respect. Are you sick of your life or what?”
“Vasya. Get them out of here. I don't like these druggies,” he just chuckled in reply.
“Jerks. Look, Horseshoe-chan, they've completely lost all fear. I want them to... uh... spit blood. Come on. Go get them.”
“Whatever you say, Aniki.”
It turned out that the dude could use “the spirit of armor”. That wasn't a big deal because I knew Rymov was going to beat him, but long wrangles before entering the club weren't on my agenda. Short ones weren’t either.
“Whoa. Alrighty, Vasya, I'll take care of this one, and you go get the string bean.”
He threw the enemy that was in his way over his shoulder, turned around and looked at me, and then proceeded to the skinny one after briefly scrutinizing the situation. Meanwhile, I walked up to the bully who had just gotten up from the ground. A strictly measured Yaki and a blow to his kidneys knocked the wind right out of him. After the uppercut to the jaw, his “armor” no longer worked. Next, I broke his knee and sent him to the realm of Morpheus with a blow to the temple. It took just one blow for Rymov to knock the other guy out. After that, he was just kicking the fallen body.
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