In the business sector, Yamato and Kiria have parked at a big fancy restaurant named “Casa de Reyes”. The exterior of the restaurant is a shiny black and gold with glass windows. Lights are beaming from inside giving the outside of the restaurant a golden glow. They get out of the car and walk to the building stopping at the front entrance.
“This is ‘Casa de Reyes’ , a fancy Mexican restaurant attended mostly by upper class business people. The restaurant is a front for Miguel Vazquez. It’s also his favorite place, he comes here every day.”
“Do the people here know this? I doubt they’d wanna eat with one of the underworld's rulers.”
“Heh heh. Yamato, don’t go thinking everyone has the same morals as you.”
Kiria opens the door and walks in with Yamato right behind him. When they walk in, they are greeted with an incredible shining bright atmosphere. The golden lights illuminated the restaurant. The restaurant resembled a palace, from the black and gold tiles to the golden chairs and sofas in front of either a jet black or golden table cloth. Everyone in the building was dressed in high quality dresses and tuxedos. Yamato and Kiria walk to the waitress at the front desk.
“Welcome to ‘Casa de Reyes’ . How may I help you?”
“We want to talk with Miguel Vazquez.”
“I’m sorry who?”
“Wow, that wasn’t believable at all.”
“Sir, I-”
“How about we try again. I’m detective Akuma and this is detective Fujimura. We want to talk with Miguel Vazquez.”
The waiter nervously points to a table in the back right corner. Kiria and Yamato walk towards the table as they analyze the crowd.
“Alright Yamato, let me do all the talking. You just listen.”
“Yes sir.”
When they get to the table, they see a muscular man with jet black hair and brownish red eyes with a short stubble beard wearing a short sleeve black and gold button up with black pants talking to two other people. The man has a tattoo of a king's crown with the word ‘KING’ under it on the right side of his neck and other tattoos on his arms. He signals the two people he was talking to to leave after seeing Kiria and Yamato.
“Well if it isn’t my favorite customer Kiria Akuma. Who’s the kid.?”
“This is rookie detective Yamato Fujimura. He’s my partner now. Also he’s twenty years old.”
“So this is the star rookie detective that’s all the rave. You look a bit younger than twenty. Although so does Shou Jiro, but he did turn twenty yesterday. Hilarious isn’t it? The same night he was released he turned twenty.”
“Are you done with the small talk or did you want us to get a cup of tea as well?”
Miguel pauses and lets out a tired huff.
“I was just holding a conversation. You haven't changed at all since the last time I saw you. Still have that creepy killer vibe. Speaking of which, how come you haven’t visited me in all this time?”
“You know why Vazquez.”
“Damn. Not even calling me by my first name now? That's harsh.”
“Do you know anything about a weapons warehouse in the business sector that was attacked?”
“Oh so that's what you're here for. Figures.”
“So do you know anything?”
“Oh I do, but I'm sure you remember how this works even after all this time. So, what do I get in return?”
“How’s a high five sound?”
“Don’t play with Kiria. You and I both know that you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t serious. Which means you know as well as I do that something is about to go down. Well… In this case I should say someone. Have a seat you two.”
Kiria and Yamato look around the restaurant and sit down on the sofa.
“See, here's the thing. There’s more going for me if I don’t help y’all then if I do. So you better have a damn good bargain.”
Kiria pauses and stares down Miguel. A tense silence surrounds the table with the restaurant noise in the background. Kiria and Miguel exchange stare downs until Kiria finally looks away.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Nevermind then. I’m not doing any favors for you. We’ll go figure it out ourselves.”
“Hold on, wait.”
Miguel takes a look at Yamato staring deep into his eyes.
“I wanna talk with the boy. After that, I'll consider a fair arrangement.”
“No deal. You can talk to me, but he’s off limits.”
“Wait, Kiria. If this is as serious as you think then i’ll talk with him. This might be our only chance at a lead.”
“Are you sure Yamato?”
Yamato looks deep into Kiria’s eyes with a determined expression. He gets up so that Kiria can leave the table. He then sits back down and looks at Miguel.
“So, Yamato Fujimura, tell me about yourself.”
“What do you want to know?”
“I want to know about you and who you are. See I like to know the people I interact with one a personal level. It makes for good business. So, tell the story however you want.”
“Since I was a kid I always wanted to protect people. It was my childhood dream. I don’t really have a sad story to tell. My parents were good people with stable jobs. My dad got sick and passed away five years ago. About a year after he passed my Mom and I went to live with the rest of our family. She couldn’t handle the death of my father. It took her some time to get used to it. About another year later I decided to move here after unlocking my powers. As we all know, a person's power is unlocked at a critical moment in their life called a defining moment. Most of these moments are tragic. To this day I have no idea how I unlocked my powers. It was years after my fathers death so I don't think that's the reason but I'm not so sure.”
“And what is your power?”
“Wind. I have the power to control the wind. Though control isn’t the best way to put it. I struggle to control my powers. I always overuse them causing massive damage to myself. About half a year into my rookie year as an officer, the DIPD gave me one of their newest test weapons.”
Yamato pulls out his two guns and puts them on the table. The guns are black with a gray outline. They each have the words “STORMCALLER” on the outside with a wind symbol.
“These are my main weapons. The guns I call stormcaller’s. As you can see, after some time I was even able to label them with that name. These guns help me control the input and output of my power by harnessing it with a transference device. The power I charge in my hand is immediately transferred into the gun charging it. I can then release either a short or long burst of that power. It wouldn’t be too crazy to say that these are one of the main reasons I had the skill to become a rookie detective. And that’s it, that’s all I have to say. So are you gonna help us?”
Miguel smirks at Yuto and takes a long look around the restaurant observing the luxurious atmosphere and everyone’s smile.
“I built this place from the ground up. Installed my culture into it. ‘Casa de Reyes’ means king's home. I’m not a king yet, but I will be. I’ll rule the underworld with an iron fist. But there’s the nasty problem of madam the queen of the underworld and that bastard Phoenix Luciano who people call the true ruler of the underworld. Our three factions rule over the underworld in a power struggle. But that will come to an end one day. Oh sorry, I started rambling. So, what do you think of the king's home?”
Yamato observes the restaurant's dazzling environment. He takes a close look at all the people eating their food and the staff.
“Well, since this is your place I'm guessing half of these people, most likely more, are criminals themselves. That makes this place nothing but a pig sty for low lives. A gathering place for criminals like yourselves. It looks peaceful but in reality it’s chaos.”
“It’s controlled chaos. Trust me there’s a big difference. This island is currently experiencing controlled chaos. Trust me Yamato, you and I should both go to sleep praying that we don’t experience uncontrolled chaos.”
Yet another tense silence fills the air as Miguel and Yamato exchange looks.
“I like you kid. You have a burning passion in your eyes that says you’ll take down anyone in your way. In time you’ll certainly be as much a threat as Kiria is. Well… If you don’t die first that is. OK KIRIA WE’RE DONE.”
Kiria walks back to the table and sits down.
“There’s a new drug hitting the market. This ones supposed to be real nasty. No one knows who the seller is or who he’s working for. Regardless, he's bad for business. Most drug dealers on this island work for me if they know what’s good for them. And for one to be giving a so called best drug without being recognized by me...It's a bad look. If I give you the information I have, y’all go and take care of this drug dealer whether it be by arrest or preferably death.”
“Fine, we can do that. Now what do you know?”
“Relax Kiria, the warehouse that was attacked was carrying out a weapons transaction. Of course you know that that’s Shoma Jiro’s warehouse and one of three major weapons suppliers. The weapons however, weren’t going to Luciano they were going to madam.”
“But Shoma mainly supplies Luciano. Is this a betrayal?”
“Who knows, similar small shipments from Shoma to madam have been occurring as well. It’s one of the main things the underworld’s been talking about. Anyways, madam is known for hiring and contracting people to work for her. That’s her main thing, bounty hunters. No one knows the name of this specific person she hired. All we know is he has lightning powers and goes by the nickname ‘the cowboy’”.
“That’s cool and all, but how does this help us?”
“Well Kiria if you’d just let me finish. Word is she hired the cowboy again for an assassination in the business sector. Some guy named Mark Tilman. That’s all I know. And before you ask how I know all this, I have ears and people everywhere.”
Kiria signals at Yamato to leave. After they get up Miguel looks at Kiria and gives a gesture for a handshake. Kiria goes and reluctantly shakes his hand.
“Pleasure doing business with you detectives.”
Kiria and Yamato walk away and head to the door. Yamato takes a quick look back at Miguel who’s still staring at them. They finally make it outside and into the parking lot.
“The underworld operates at night which means we have until tonight to find Mark. For now let's go back to the department and make a few calls, see if we can find where he lives or works. I want you to look into this drug dealer guy while I look into Mark.”
“Yes sir I’ll hit the streets as soon as we get back.”
Yamato and Kiria get in the car and drive off heading for the department.