Minties Fresh Food, a cultural icon and the largest fast food chain in the world. For 300 years Minties has dominated their niche with an iron fist to the point of other countries' own business being smashed into the ground. Erected upon their graves a large blue M and fast food joint.
In the Jinen ward of Tousen sitting in the back booth of Minties was a seemingly ordinary man. His black hair was slicked back firmly and because of his poor eyesight his black eyes were tinted blue by contacts. His normal attire which consisted of a black suit with a white undershirt was replaced by a wrinkled and dull colored band shirt from 30 years prior and baggy jogging pants.
Anyone who looked at this man would think of him as nothing more than someone completely average, maybe a bit alternative in his clothing choices. However this could be nothing further from the truth for this man is Asago Yamikawa, Hachibuto of the Toumeikan.
“Yo, Yamikawa sorry I’m late!”
Everyone turned to look at the man who yelled upon entering the Minties, he had oily blonde hair and stubble as if he’d not shaved in a few weeks. His white wife beater was covered in various odd colored stains and his ripped jeans were in need of a deep cleaning. This man, much like Yamikawa, was a Hachibuto of the Toumeikan. His name, Sumiyoshi Domushi.
“Ah there you are.” Domushi said seeing Yamikawa in the back and taking a seat across from him at the table.
“You should know not to use my name so lightly.” Yamikawa growled, his brow wrinkling with veins and muscle.
“Sorry, sorry I forgot.” Domushi sighed, shaking his head.
“Where is Kawagi?”
“Cutting straight to the point are you? But don’t worry he’s around here somewhere.” Grinned Domushi. “But first let me explain the situation to you.”
“Make it quick.” Said Yamikawa.
۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞
“So then I was like “Noooo Kawagi!” And tried to grab him but Senji said it was too late, that he’d already been captured. I knew she was telling the truth but that didn’t stop the tears from raining down my face. Then right before they managed to grab me Senju teleported me and Itadori out of there. If I’d only been a second earlier I could have saved him!” Domushi lamented grinding his nose into his palm as if trying to hide his tears.
“...”
Not hearing a response, Domushi looked up at Yamikawa with dry eyes looking for a response. And what he saw made Domushi grow goosebumps across his arms.
“Don’t play games with me, Sumiyoshi.” Yamikawa growled, his face warped in a rage. “I know who you are and I know what you’re like. You fled the scene the moment you had to put any effort into the job and abandoned one of my Joshin. Do you understand how much Kawagi was worth to me and the Toumeikan? A Joshin with over two decades worth of experience can’t be replaced without a great cost. Especially at times like this.” As Yamikawa spoke his eyes were narrowed to slits and pupils dilated to pin dots.
“Look man, I said I’m sorry! But there was nothing I could do. Did you want to kill the four of them right then and there? Kobe already rejected the vipers offers so what? Did you want me to disobey him?”
“You should have finished Nordon off yourself before anyone else appeared. But instead you played with your food and that led to Kawagi being captured. If I were allowed to, I'd kill you right here right now.” Yamikawa softly smashed his fist onto the back of Domushis right hand, the sounds like that of a water balloon being popped.
“I deserve that.” Domushi sighed, lifting up his now mangled hand, which looked as though it had been run over by a studded tire. Though his hand quickly began to heal, the flesh regrowing and his bones popping back into place. “Are you satisfied now? This is quite out of character for you who’s normally cold and calculating…”
“Don’t push me further, I could kill you in more ways than you can count and half of those are slow and agonizing.”
۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞
“I’m disappointed in you.” Those words and the face which Domushi made as he said them lived rent free in the mind of Itadori. It was the first time he was ever afraid of Domushi and easily the most frightening thing he’d experienced in his life.
“Yo, Itadori, let's get outta here!” Domushi yelled as he jumped through the minties front door with a bang. “He’s pissed!”
“O-of course.” Itadori smiled nervously, a sense of unease still present when he looked at Domushi and heard his voice.
۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞
“Am I to assume you’ve failed?” Aotori asked as he saw Domushi.
“Blegh, why are you blaming me?” Domushi frowned.
“Because you’re the manager of the project. Your employees' failure is a weight that falls onto your shoulders.”
“Hmph, blame Yamikawas people, not me. It’s supposed to be his speciality. Besides, only Itadori and Senju belong to me.”
“Excuses will only get you so far in life.” Sighed Aotori.
“Well they’ve gotten me this far, so I must be good at telling them.”
“That’s not quite something to be proud of…”
“Well enough about me.” Domushi said with a shrug. “I’m more interested in what exactly you’re doing.” He hummed watching Aotori move around his warehouse.
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The warehouse was stacked to the roof with various crates and gaylords. On one side they were filled with nothing but bags of cheap table salt while on the other side was a mysterious white powdery substance similar to salt in appearance but more akin to a drug in action.
“I’m cooking as the kids would say. Well not exactly since I’m only transmuting it but the term still applies I believe”
“Care to break it down exactly? I know you’re the drug guy but I never understood what you were making exactly or how you were doing it.”
“That’s a secret, a trade secret. A good chef never shares his recipes.” Aotori hummed.
“Come on now don’t be like that, we're partners in this after all aren’t we?” Domushi frowned.
“Well if you must know I’ll tell you. However I’ll only do it once so listen carefully.”
“Got it.”
“My spell is quite simple in its function, I take a material such as Salt and through transmutation warp it into an imaginary drug, one which has the curse of addiction imbued into it. The high itself isn’t great at all. It’s only about as much of a buzz as caffeine is, changing the salts composition beyond that is too taxing on my mana pool and lessens the quantity of my production. But that’s fine, the high isn’t what matters, it’s the curse. Those who ingest the drug become cursed with addiction, which tricks their mind into believing they’re dying. They’ll feel sick, vomit, have diarrhea, all of those things you wouldn’t want to not have. The only way to remove the curse is ingesting the drug in a higher quantity than you did previously.”
“Which has the curse imbued into it…” Domushi muttered.
“Exactly, so they’ll once again be infected with the curse of addiction and the cycle will continue.”
“Is it possible to subdue the curse without ingesting the drug?”
“Of course, the curse isn’t that complex; anyone with a hint of talent in exorcism could remove it rather easily, and the effects can also be subdued through sheer will power. But most people become too addicted to the curse, they begin to believe it gives them an insatiable high because they feel like they’re dying without it.”
“And that’s why you have such a big customer base.”
“Correct, around half the government is addicted to this drug, and only I have it.”
“That’s a pretty sick trick.” Domushi laughed.
“Of course it is, that’s it’s name afterall. [Sick Trick]. Now then tell me what happened with Nordon.”
“It was a complete bust, looks like two Joshin weren’t enough to deal with him, honestly he might just be on par with someone like Kuroyama.”
“So the weakest of us?”
“I wasn’t going to be the one to say it…”
“It's at least reassuring that he’s someone we can deal with. What about the others?”
“By the time I showed up both Itadori and Kawagi had been captured.”
“Did you manage to rescue them?”
“Only Itadori, three other members of the Venator Society came and I couldn’t get to Kawagi fast enough.”
“I assume Yamikawa wasn’t happy?”
“I thought he was gonna kill me. He was the most angry I’ve ever seen him.” Domushi shuddered.
“It makes sense, a Joshin isn't something you can replace overnight, and at a time like this they mean everything to us Hachibuto. To Yamikawa it’s the same as losing an arm or a leg. However, his willingness to extend a Joshin to us marks him as not a traitor.” Said Aotori.
“Leaving just the other three Hachibuto left. But we can cut Iwainu out of the picture. He's neither the type to betray us nor work with someone else. He’s always done things his own way by himself.” Domushi replied.
“Which means it's either Akatora or Kuroyama. However between the two of them it’s a split on who the traitor could be. Kuroyama sold out Rasetsu to get his hands on her business so betrayal isn’t out of the question.” Aotori Explained.
“But all Evidence points to Akatora, who also opposes the Orochi Kingdom the most out of us all.”
“Then there’s also the Yakuza stationed at Sougou airport who all vanished without a trace. The camera footage from that event is gone as well. Not only that but there were subtle clues left behind which would lead one to assume it was the Haguchi Yakuza organization from down south's doing.”
“I don’t think Kuroyama would be capable of that. Even if he did think of it he’d probably just spray paint their symbol on the wall and think that was enough to fool us.” Domushi sighed. “No, whoever did this was not only trusted enough to enter the airport but also high enough ranking to do what he wanted. If it was the Haguchi we’d have been warned immediately.”
“And our only evidence of this Rat from the Venator Societies mainland is a witness testimony based on a vague description. That coupled with circumstantial evidence isn’t enough to convince Kobe of a collaboration with Akatora to betray us.”
“So we’re basically stuck with our dick in our hands until they do something of note? Which they probably won't until it’s time to act?” Frowned Domushi.
“You can be rather sharp at times.” Aotori hummed.
“I try not to be. Doing things based on a gut feeling is more my thing.” Domushi grumbled, ruffling his hair. “And right now my gut is telling me one thing.”
“And what's that?”
“That I should capture this Rat myself and make it squeal.”
“Kukukuku.” Aotori chuckled. “That might be the most effective method, but do you think you can do it?” He asked, pushing his squared glasses up his face.
“Tch, who’re you kidding. I’m the strongest aren’t I?”
“That doesn’t exactly correlate to the smartest. Akatora wouldn’t let him be captured that easily.”
“That’s why I have you though, right? You’re the mastermind behind all of this Aotori.”
“That I am.” Aotori grinned, his glasses glazed over by the window's reflection of the sunlight. “Check where Akatora has stationed his men across the country, he’s not dumb enough to place them in great a quantity along the Rats path but he also knows not to risk him being encountered by other divisions underlings.”
“So the path with the most men will be his path?”
“Not exactly, that’s what he’d want us to think to throw us off. Instead of quantity it’s quality. He’ll put his men at the most pivotal points in the Rats journey. Where it matters the most for him to not be seen.”
“Oooh.” Domushi said with a snap of his finger. “That makes sense.”
“Of course it does, that’s why he’d do it. Check for key points to and from Tousen across all of Chushima, that’s where you’ll find his path. From there you just need to follow it until you find him.”
“But this all sounds too good to be true. What’s the catch?” Asked Domushi with a raised brow.
“The catch is that this is a race against time, can you find his path in the maze and catch him before he gets to the cheese?” Explained Aotori. Why am I going along with this rat theme?
“That won’t be a problem then, in two days time I’ll bring him here to this warehouse.” Domushi said, pointing to Aotori.
“I hope you succeed. Aotori said with a wide wicked smile.