Yakuza | DISCONTINUED | 2023 VERSION AVAILABLE NOW

Illumi: Survive and stay that way

I raise my head at Kalluto's call, "Hm?"

"Why are you arranging the corpses if you're just going to make one of them call grandpa?"

I embed the eight Don's head with pins, "Because it amuses me."

Imagining and seeing the reaction of the people who find corpses arranged like this is often entertaining. The former status of the victims also determines the magnitude of the responses, so being the Ten Dons would make it a show.

I continued positioning the corpses and placed a cellphone at the middle of the table. Afterwards, I stand to the side and triggered the man who hired my father and grandfather.

Only after terminating the bounty on the Troupe had I realized the motionlessness of Kalluto's Nen. My delayed reaction aside, it was tense and then suddenly apprehensive when he realized I was looking. Before I could ask, he turned his head to the direction of the balcony nearest to us.

A flash of lightning helped my eyes catch fresh bloodstains on the railing and the floor.

Is it meritorious or offensive, how easy it is for me to doubt myself? Credit could've been put where it's due and the money should already be with me without any further delay, but no. My brother becoming more perceptive than me, and her... her drenched, bleeding self trembling under the storm.

What an idiot.

I knife past Kalluto and out of the building, coming to Akira's side quickly. I lift her from the ground and leave, knowing that my brother will follow the plan and leave us be; I speed through the perimeter, eventually settling for an abandoned house while the girl exhibited no signs of recovery.

What piqued my unnecessary interest was the discoloration of the skin of Akira's neck. Instead of being purple as normal injuries would seem, the area around the wound had taken a strange tangerine hue. Luckily, it wasn't long enough that sewing it would be useless, regardless of how deep the cut had really been. What was that knife made out of? Where can I get one?

She placed a tremulous hand on my forearm and pulled me out of my thoughts, "Staring... I expected more manners from a Zoldyck."

I humorlessly scoffed, continuing to place her onto a couch, "My apologies for not procuring a velvet bed for you to die on."

"Hah!" she quickly laughed, a second before she flinched in pain, "A-As long as that bed is soaked in your blood... I wouldn't mind."

What a troublesome woman. "The least you could do is disclose something that could benefit me before you fall like a coward, Akira."

"Yeah... your eyes always glisten with questions. It's annoying." she shakes her head, presumably sensing my attempt to heal her, "More so when I realize... I want to keep them that way."

I couldn't keep myself from glaring at her, but she wasn't looking at me anymore. Her gaze was up at the ceiling and she seemed... sad. Something churned within me. My arms felt restrained, like a tight coil was being wrapped around them.

Very slowly, the expression on the redhead's face changed. I caught a sliver of crimson in her eyes before she raised her suddenly flaming hand, and before I could react, I felt the force of her palm on my stomach, sending me flying across the room until I crashed into a wall.

She was laughing while she said it, and I remembered feeling more irritated.

I strained to readjust my vision in the quickest time possible, but all I could make out was a black quadrupedal silhouette... with a wolf-like skull looming over Akira's face.

"How will you protect me if you can't protect yourself first?"

Gritting my teeth, I whip out needles and aim at the monster. I paid little mind to how it used its rattlesnake tail to block and visibly absorb my attack, because Akira moved far away enough for me to keep going. I grabbed its lower jaw and slammed it onto the couch which was overturned by its entry, promptly expelling my Ren and implanting more needles to restrain its form.

It writhed and struggled, akin to a ladybug after being brought to its back. I adjusted my free hand and severed its front legs, surprised to see black blood spew from those areas. On second thought, I've already begun, so for the sake of efficiency, I dug into its body and grasped at its innards until my fingers eventually touched a small, cold object. I was about to take it out when my throat suddenly felt too clogged, forcing my movements to pause.

"Illumi!" I vaguely heard her scream.

In the place of air, liquid that tasted metallic pooled in the back of my mouth as I looked at a shining thing at the corner of my eyes. A bloodstained blade formed from the rattlesnake tail of this beast twitched, and I felt the motion continue inside my body. With how blurry my vision has gotten, I needn't look far to see Akira watching... wide-eyed and visibly horrified. Odd. Fear doesn't suit her.

The weapon moved again, and left my body the way it came. Had I known this is how things would turn out, I would've found a way to document it as it happened, but alas, I have no such luxury.

A thoughtful hum escapes my bloodied lips as the needles I've implanted at the base of my opponent's tail began to take effect. It grew still for a moment before suddenly thrashing around, though not wild enough to compromise what I do to the rest of it. As my Ren develops another layer to keep it's body pinned down, I grab either one of its jaw and pry it apart, "You don't have a tongue... too bad, I was hoping for a nice chat."

Something sharp and surprisingly painful sunk into my sides, and from the way its lower body is aligned, I presumed it had been the hind legs. I dismiss the sensation as I place a foot at the side of its head, preparing myself to rip open its mouth when I heard the sound of its tail zipping to me again. It came into contact with my chest, causing my grip to slacken as I skid across the floor.

Flawed and clumsy as I might've been, I surrendered myself to unconsciousness, relieved to know that I somehow bought Akira time.