(Keito's POV)
***
Keito was about to piss his pants.
He couldn't even process what was happening—it had all gone downhill so fast. All he did was open the door slightly for a high school student and—
*WHAM*
He woke up tied to a chair with three terrifying men staring at him.
"Wh-Who are you? Why are you doing this?" he asked, his hands struggling to break free from the tape.
The youngest of the three—the same high school student who punched him—gave him the creepiest smirk he had ever seen. Those bright blue eyes seemed to darken with indifference as he tilted his head lazily.
"Don't worry, I'm just here to flush the toilet."
"....What the fuck does that mean??" Keito yelled, continuing to move his arms against the binding.
"Baldy, don't you think he's moving too much?" the teenager asked with dissatisfaction.
"I was just thinking the same thing, Boss," the shiny-headed man grinned.
He took a step forward and slapped Keito so hard that he could hear a constant buzz in his ears. The pain from the punch that had knocked him out got even worse, but this time, the entire left side of his face felt like it was burning intensely.
He tasted something metallic in his mouth, making him spit reflexively. Splatters of blood fell on the dusty carpet, staining it with its red hues.
"Y-You... Why?" Keito sputtered with a groan.
His movements stopped immediately, not daring to try and free himself anymore.
"You're a waste of human resources, but you're not completely stupid. I think you know why we're here," the student scoffed, leaning back in the office chair and crossing one leg over the other.
"....Did that bitch send you!???" Keito roared, his hatred growing with every second.
"Baldy, he's too loud. My ears hurt."
The man stepped forward again, his grin even wider than before.
"WAIT NO, I'M SO—*SMACK*"
Keito wailed in pain, spitting out even more blood onto the floor. The bald-headed man went for the right side of his face this time, making things even.
He could feel his cheeks swelling up slowly, the cuts on his lips forcing him to taste the disgusting red liquid continuously, no matter how much he expelled from his mouth.
"What do you want f-from me?" Keito sobbed.
The tears started dripping from his eyes, merging with the other liquids on his face to create a sloppy mess.
"Tell me all the locations of where you stored the photos of our client, and we'll part ways amicably," the despicable young man said calmly, as if the sight before him was no big deal.
'Amicably? You do this to me and say you'll leave amicably?'
Keito's internal thoughts spewed the hatred he felt for these cursed individuals, cycling through an endless amount of obscenities.
But he knew better than to say them out loud.
"There's a file in my cupboard drawer, the storage chip in my c-camera, and the photos saved on my phone. That's all th-there is," he muttered despondently.
But the three men didn't move, not even cracking a triumphant smile like he was expecting.
"Oh right, I forgot to say something. I'll break a finger for every location that you failed to reveal. Otherwise, there's no incentive for you to work toward, don't you think?"
Keito's face went pale, coughing violently as the blood went down the wrong pipe due to his shock. But the despair got even worse at the student's next words.
"So far we've found the things you mentioned, alongside the envelope in your pillowcase and the USB stick in your desk drawer. That means you chose to have two fingers broken," he smiled, raising his own two fingers playfully.
The bald man stepped forward for the third time.
"NO, I'LL TELL YOU, GIVE ME A CHA—AAARGHHHHHHHH!"
He moved behind Keito and skillfully snapped his forefinger and his thumb in half, the sheer amount of pain making his mind go blank. Keito wept openly, his messy face twisting with anguish and desperation.
"Now! It seems like you might be more cooperative with us, so let's try again, shall we? Where else are you hiding the backups of your blackmail material?"
The teenager leaned forward, his emotionless eyes betraying the soft smile he had plastered on his disgustingly handsome face. He forced eye contact with the blubbering Keito, whose fear had elevated to a level he didn't even know was possible.
"C-Computer, there's a file on my desktop screen. And another envelope in my m-mailbox outside. That's all the backups I made, I swear!" he wailed.
The young man let Keito's head flop over and signaled the bearded man to check outside, while he moved his chair to the laptop on the table.
"Tch, I wanted to break more fingers."
Keito turned to the bald man in horror, who looked mad that he had revealed the locations this quickly.
'What monsters have you sent after me, Chinatsu???'
He regretted thinking he could make easy money by blackmailing his ex, who he always thought was a complete pushover.
"Hey, shit stain, what's the password?"
Keito snapped out of his thoughts and told the young man with a painful whimper.
"iamtheking2000, all s-small letters and numbers."
".....What did I expect from something like you? What type of egotistical password is that??"
Keito hung his head in shame and embarrassment, wincing as he accidentally moved his hand, which aggravated the pain.
The bearded man reentered with an envelope, which he proceeded to burn in the trash can that already smelled like ashes for some reason.
The student also turned around with a smile, successfully deleting the file on the laptop.
"Are you hiding anything else? Tell me now, or you won't be able to use your hand anymore. What's a life worth living without being able to jerk off? Isn't that your hobby—with the 2-terabyte folder of spicy videos on your computer?" he chuckled mockingly.
"N-No, that's all..." Keito muttered.
"Hmmmm... I'm not sure I believe you, so let's break one more finger just for good measure," he replied, gesturing to the bald man.
"NO, I PROMISE! THAT'S ALL I HAD, I SWEAR TO GOD!" Keito bellowed, frantically moving in his chair.
The man stopped when the teenager raised his hand, and Keito breathed a sigh of relief.
Imagine being happy that a third finger wasn't snapped in half...
"Alright, I'll trust you. Baldy, take off the tape."
Keito moved his arms to the front when the tightly bound tape was torn off, clutching his right hand in pain. He clenched his teeth with hatred, but when he looked up and locked eyes with the young man who was staring right at him indifferently, his anger dissipated into thin air.
"Listen here, you pathetic excuse for a man. If I find out you lied to me and there are extra copies lying around somewhere, I swear on my mother's grave that I'll make you beg for death," he whispered coldly.
Shivers ran up Keito's spine as he trembled in place, not daring to look up again.
"Also, if you go anywhere near our client again or do anything at all that will cause her distress, that promise still applies. So be veeeery careful with what your next step will be. The police won't be involved out of the request of our client, but I think you know that the law enforcement might even be your salvation from us."
The three of them walked toward the door after the boy took the phone and laptop with him, clearly not intending to give it back. Keito watched fearfully while crumpled on the carpet, but when the two bulky men stepped out, the student looked back at him.
"I'll give you a piece of sincere advice, completely unrelated to this task or our issues with each other: get a job, lean on your friends for support, and respect your family. There's still time to make something of yourself—something that isn't whatever it is you have become."
With those calm words, delivered in a serious tone, he turned around and walked off, making sure to close the door behind him.
Keito sat there, staring at the door with a complicated expression that was mixed with pain, relief, frustration, but most importantly, self-hatred.
He looked down at his right hand, the two fingers bent at an unnatural angle and turning blue. Tears streamed down his face, and he wasn't sure if it was because it hurt like a bitch or because he knew that he really had become a piece of shit.
When a teenage gangster thinks you're a lowlife, that's when you know for sure you've fallen off the deep end...
'What am I even doing?'
***
"Boss... I don't know why you want to quit the syndicate, but all I have to say is that there's nobody better than you to take the throne," Beardy said quietly.
Baldy, who still looked unsatisfied, nodded enthusiastically.
"I agree, Boss! Working with you makes me think that all of our assignments will end successfully!"
Reiji stopped in his tracks a few meters away from their SUV and turned to look at them with a sigh.
"Being praised for acting like a great criminal is not the compliment you think it is. Do you really think I want to spend the rest of my life going around threatening people and breaking fingers?"
They stood in silence, unsure of how to respond, but then Beardy smiled.
"But you saved someone, Boss... Maybe even saved both of them."
Reiji looked up at the setting sun and shook his head wistfully.
"What a joke. If I can't even save myself from this shit, how could I possibly save others?"