Nogitsune by Amaris Laurent, Jonathan D. Alexanders IX

talk with Fukushima and see if he would listen to reason. Perhaps penance from Kento will appease the situation.”
     
    “Fuck that!” Kento whispered.
     
    “What was that?” Yoshio said to Kento.
     
    “Are we forgetting that they killed Daiki Fukai? Wasn’t he like a son to you, Mr. Oguna?”
     
    “He was like a son,” Oguna answered. “Until you two decided to do what you wanted and cause all this madness to happen. Daiki already shamed us when he raped that little girl. Worse when he angered Hideyoshi Ioka. That’s why we’re all meeting here.”
     
    “So you want me to apologize to those fools?” Kento asked.
     
    “You’re lucky you’re not dead right now,” Takayama said.
     
    Things were getting out of hand and Kento was losing the argument. No one dared speak to him that way when Daiki was alive. With him dead, everything the other underbosses wanted to say to him came out in full force.
     
    Although it was hidden, the meeting was never about Daiki. Kento sent shockwaves in the Inato organization when he was named an underboss, the youngest to ever be appointed to the position, and the older underbosses never let it down how they thought it was a bad decision on Inato’s part. Trying to be more towards the youth and received more members, Kento became the poster child for the new direction.
     
    However, his erratic behavior and his association with Daiki Fukai, who proved to be psychotic, Kento began to lose his standing, but he kept his position. 
     
    Before things got more out of control, Tomonubu Inato stood up, causing all the men in the room to stand as well.
     
    In a soft voice, Inato said, “Everyone leave with the exception of Mr. Karahawa!”
     
    All of the men took a bow and left the conference room. When everyone left, Kento walked to Mr. Inato and bowed while taking his hand.
     
    “Sit down!” Inato ordered. Kento sat down in a seat slowly. “I only have one question to ask you. Can you justify every action you had taken since Daiki was killed?”
     
    Kento took another breath. Instead of answering right away, he took his time. He knew any answer he gave could mean life, death, or worse, banishment from the organization.
     
    “I’m…I’m sure that my action was justified for the time,” Kento answered.
     
    Tomonubu stood up, took out a remote and from the walls behind his seat, a television screen appeared before Kento. Inato pushed another button to turn it on. Before Kento’s eyes was all the footage he saw when he went back to Night Nurses , including the most incriminating evidence of all: David Hamada pointing the gun at Daiki ready to blast his head off.
     
    Inato paused the screen before it got to the end.
     
    “Did you talk to Sanko?” Inato asked.
     
    “He said that he was going to handle things on his end,” Kento answered.
     
    Inato looked back at the screen. “Does that look like he’s handling anything?”
     
    Kento was about to speak, but Inato held out his hand. In a delicate but commanding voice, Inato said, “You started the fire burning. Now the fire has raged out of control. It’s time to put it out. Take care of this mess to redeem yourself. Or you could always go to Daiichi and plea your case.”
     
    Kento bowed his head. “I’ll take care of it, Mr. Inato. I swear!”
     
    “And keep it quiet this time. No need for the outside world to know what’s going on.”
     
    “Yes, Mr. Inato!”
     
    Inato staggered up and Kento helped him but putting his arm around his boss.
     
    “Meanwhile, we’ll set up a funeral for Daiki. He was a great soldier. We’ll send him off our way.”
     
    Kento made another bow and helped Inato out of the conference room. The Inato leaders bowed quickly, awaiting a word from Kento on his verdict.
     
    “I’ll discuss with Daiichi on a compromise. A peace offering of sorts. Until then, no one does anything else without my order. We remain quiet and in the shadows.”
     
    All made a bow to