A/N: Hey guys! Thank you for reading this chapter! This one was especially fun (and slightly evil 😅) to write because it’s the first time we get to see Akito's POV. You can probably already feel the tension brewing.

Can’t wait to share the next chapter with you — the tension only gets sharper from here. Thank you again for all your comments, likes, and support, it really means the world 💕

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The Kanda Shrine was a thing of beauty. It shone a brilliant Vermilion in the gleaming morning light, radiating an aura of peace and calm. Akito had always loved this place. It was home to two of the Seven Gods of Fortune, Daikokuten and Ebisu, because of which it was a popular place to pray for good luck and prosperity. But Akito usually visited this place to pay homage to the third Kami enshrined there, he who wasn’t a Kami at all, but a man.

Taira no Masakado was a samurai of the Heian period. His time was one of the most chaotic in the early history of the samurai. Complete with earthquakes, rainbows and lunar eclipses in the capital and rife with uprisings in the north and a pirate nuisance in the west. He had risen up fearlessly against his oppressors, leading a rebellion against the central Kyoto government. Masakado had been elevated to godhood, though he’d been just a man, Akito admired that.

The Shrine usually had a long line of IT people seeking blessings, but it was fairly empty that day. Rein, Kimiko and he had collected the wooden Ema on which they were going to write their prayers. Akito had finished his ten minutes ago, but Kimiko and Rein were hell bent on making their Ema stand out from the rest.

Kimiko was making manga versions of the three of them, furiously adding as many details as possible. Rein was busy drawing a highly suggestive Ukiyo-e on his, even though the sign very clearly said anything resembling porn was strictly prohibited. Akito wondered if he knew Masakado’s story, he would have to tell it to him once.

“What does your one say, Aki?” Kimiko tried to sneak a look at his Ema, “You didn’t draw anything on it?” her shoulders sagged.

“I don’t want the Kami to get confused,” Akito said, “I just asked that we all get what we really wish for.” He couldn’t think of anything more complex or interesting to write, not that he believed in all this stuff anyway.

“Oh, that’s nice. I asked that we all come here at the same time next year, as friends,” she said, tying hers up with the others, “and you, Rein-Kun?”

“I asked for a fulfilling sex-life,” his eyes met Akito’s, “with illustrations.”

“Oh,” Kimiko laughed, but it seemed forced, just like everything she did after they left the Yukata shop. “That’s important too, I guess.”

“You know, they say you shouldn’t tell people your wishes,” Akito said to Rein, “they don’t come true.”

“Then we’re all screwed,” Rein shrugged, “and me, unfulfilling-ly.”

That managed to pull a laugh from Akito, even Kimiko relaxed a little. “You know what? I think we should take pictures!” she said, turning to Akito, “Give me the camera.”

So they took a picture. Kimiko was showing all teeth in what could be a smile if you squinted, the sun got in Akito’s eyes and he was pretty sure he blinked when the shutter closed, and Rein was looking off into the distance somewhere.

But after that, something changed between the three of them, the ice melted. They joked with each other like old friends all the way to the station. 

“That was fun, you guys,” Kimiko said when they arrived at the platform. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Akito leaned down to hug her, “we should do a real date next time,” she whispered in his ear, and he nodded.

“Definitly.” 

The smile on Kimiko’s face was genuine as she waved goodbye from the platform.

“She’s nice,” Rein said, as they sat down in the train, “does she know you’re a lying bastard?”

“I didn’t lie to her about anything,” Akito scoffed. It was technically true. “And since when are you the paragon of truth? What were you even thinking when you gave her your real name?”

“I wanted to see if she would recognize it,” Rein settled back into a more comfortable position, “but you’re in luck, she’s a pure little girl with a perfect sheltered life that never had any reason to learn the name of only the largest Yakuza faction in Japan.”

A woman sitting next to Akito whipped her head in their direction. Akito gave her his most beatific smile till she turned her attention back to her cell phone, “Are you crazy?”

Rein cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. That knot still refused to settle, despite Akito’s best attempts. “Crazy. Psychotic. Homicidal. Take your pick.”

Rein and his sister went by the family name Yoshida at school, and very few people knew his real identity. It was no easy feat that they managed that. Anyone who found out had met less than pleasant fates. And Rein had just casually dropped his real name as if it was the most inconspicuous thing in the world.

“At first, I thought there was a chance she figured out who I was and just had the best poker face in the world. But she had no idea, not until the Yukata shop…”

“The old woman?”

“Mmm…” Rein sighed, “Shame, my sister will now have to look for a new designer.”

“It’s still not certain that she told. What is going to happen to her?” All he got was a shrug in response, ‘what do you think will happen?’ it said. Akito could imagine.

“Don’t worry though,” Rein said, “your precious Kimiko is safe.”

“She’s just a friend.”

“And what? This whole meeting was for me to be friends with her too?”

No, it wasn’t. In truth, Akito hadn’t been thinking straight when he invited Rein to go with him. He had not been able to have a single moment’s peace after dinner that night, because he had extended the invitation on an impulse, and he never did things impulsively. Part of Akito wondered if it was because he wanted to see how he would react. The obvious jealousy radiating off Rein’s body was oddly satisfying.

“What if it was?” Akito asked, suddenly curious. He was bringing Kimiko to the direct attention of a Yakuza. He tapped a finger on the back of his phone. It should really be more distressing to play with a lamb’s life, why didn’t it unsettle him?

“Answering a question with a question…” Rein was looking at him in that way again, gaze probing and prying, almost as if he knew why Akito was asking him, like he knew him, “that’s just like you.”

What was it that Rein saw in him that everyone else missed? It made him want to strangle the guy and screw him senseless…preferably at the same time.

 “You’re only talking to her because of her uncle, aren’t you?” Rein said.

“Why? What about her uncle?” Akito frowned, and Rein turned away, shaking his head and effectively putting a stop to any more conversation.

Yes, Akito knew. Kimiko was the beloved niece of an extremely prominent politician. Not many knew this because her parents lived a very simple life, Akito had gone through the trouble of finding out. But it was all part of a grand plan, and Rein was at the very center of it.