The next day, I went to Jia's office. I saw everyone was sitting there, gathered and ready, waiting for whatever Jia had to say. That night, Jia sat on his desk, in front as he had his legs crossed a cup of tea in his hands as his slender fingers held a cigarette. He took a sip from the cup as he said,

"Well....guess what everyone."

Everyone looked at Jia waiting for his news.

"I'm about to get into the gambling game. I'm not too happy about it. But it seems I have to. Toshimasa and Daisuke started something that I can't get rid of because, one it makes a shit load of money by the week and two, closing it is a lot more trouble then it's worth. And also really stupid of me if I did. Again, money makes the world go round."

We nodded as he moved his hand and brought the cigarette to his mouth. He inhaled as he tossed his head back slightly to move his growing black hair from his face as he said,

"So, Tai, Akio, Aya, Gabriel, my business heads, I need you all to get started on this business part of the deal. Toshimasa has no other choice at this point but to break to my word. He owns no power anymore. So while you four are taking in books and such, Aoki, Toki, Mikkie, Joryu, Jun you five go in and clear any of that shit out. Any problems, take care of it. As for me, I will be sitting here, waiting for any word."

Smoke tumbled from his mouth until he finished. He then took a sip of his tea and said,

"Um...I believe Toshimasa is on his way here if not here already-"

Someone knocked on the door. Since I was close, I turned and answered as Hisoka smiled at me slightly and said,

"Guest for Jia. Someone named Toshimasa."

I turned to Jia as I said,

"He's here Jia."

"Let him in."

I opened the door completely as Toshimasa walked in. He still held his regal grace, an all black suit on, a red rose on his lapel, his elegant neck still shown since he didn't wear a tie, the small necklace floating between his collar bones. He bowed his head towards me and then went inside. He walked up to Jia as he said,

"Good evening."

"Evening...how are you?"

"Tired. You?"

"The same. Have a seat."

He gestured to the chair beside him as he sat down. Jia took another sip from his tea as he then tapped his cigarette against an ash tray as he said,

"Toshimasa, I would understand if you're upset with me. But you really gave me no choice."

"I'm not. I knew that Daisuke would eventually do something that would result in his demise. I'm not too upset."

He looked down at his hands as Jia then set his cup down and said,

"What do you plan to do with this ring of yours?"

"I'm not sure. I spent a lot of my life into it."

"You're not that old. How old are you?"

"Twenty-five."

"Again...not that old. How many years of your life have you been doing this?"

"Since I was about seventeen. My partner is gone and I can't protect myself."

"You're that helpless?"

"No. Just scared."

Jia nodded as he finished his cigarette and then said,

"I'm going to take this partnership with you. Actually, I'm lying. I'm just going to take this from you. I'm going to cut you a large chunk of money and you can do whatever you want with it."

"You're cutting me out of my ring?"

"I doubt you'd want to continue working in this ring with yakuza taking over."

"Just the 36 Moons would take over?"

"Probably. Maybe another syndicate when I'm not around. Every figure head would take over in each city. One in Yokohama, Sapporo....so on and so on."

"And me with this money...that would just be the end of me?"

"You would be well off."

"I don't want to stop working."

"You're not a yakuza and I'm not employing you."

"Jia, I know this ring better then anyone else ever would. I started it of course I know how to make it work and keep making work."

"So you do want to work for me?"

"Yes. I can't stop doing this. I would die."

Jia nodded, rubbing out his cigarette as he said,

"I know that feeling. Die if you don't die if you do."

Tai then stepped up and said,

"Jia, if we had Toshimasa going over the books with us, it could be faster and smoother."

"True."

He thought about it for a moment as he looked at Toshimasa and said,

"I won't make you one of mine, but you can work with us. It'll make shit go by faster. Once I'm organized, I'll figure out what to do with you later."

Toshimasa nodded as he stood up and all the business heads split up from us and we left.

We didn't have much to do since the business aspect of the deal didn't even start yet so went to the lobby and sat down on the couches. Toki, Aoki and myself started to smoke as we waited, sighing as Jun tucked part of his hair back from his face as he sighed for a moment, sitting beside Mikkie. I sat on the arm rest of the couch Mikkie and Jun sat on since there wasn't much space there and Toki and Aoki took up the biggest couch for themselves since they loved to spread out as much as possible. Toki slouched back, blowing smoke rings with Aoki as I just smoked, looking down at my watch every now and then. We waited for a while since there wasn't much we could do. Around one that evening, the front doors exploded as a crowd of lower heads rushed in with one of their own in their arms. The guy was moaning in pain, covering his chest with his hand as blood rushed from over the wound. Jun stood up, looking over his shoulder as we all did as one of he lower heads rushed to Jun and said,

"You're here. Thank God. Akira got into a fight with some fucking loser down town."

"And what's his damage?"

"He got cut pretty deep."

Jun made his way over to the lower head as he made him move his hand and said,

"Okay, bring him downstairs."

The lower heads rushed him down as I said,

"Jun..?"

"Hm?"

"You need help?"

"I guess. If you ain't got shit to do."

I got up and followed Jun downstairs to his make shift hospital. The lower heads set down Akira on the medical table as Jun flipped on the light switch that illuminated the room so damn brightly, it started to hurt my eyes. Jun took off his coat, setting down on a chair as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and reached over to a box that looked like it could be tissues and pulled out a pair of latex gloves. He pulled them on as he went over to Akira and started to undo his tie, his shirt and said,

"How'd you get cut?"

"He pulled a knife on me."

"No wonder you're a lower head."

Once he finished opening his shirt, Jun carefully flipped his own tie over his shoulder as he said,

"Joryu."

"Hm?"

"Come here for a sec will you."

"Sure."

"Get some gloves on."

I did as told, getting some of the same latex gloves on as I went over to the table and looked down as Jun had a piece of gauze pressed down over Akira's wound. He then said,

"Put pressure on that."

He walked away as I looked down at the wounded lower head as he gritted his teeth in pain. Jun came back eventually as he threaded a needle with great ease and quickness. He then moved my hand away as he cleaned up the wound as best as he could and began to sew up Akira. He did it quickly, the lower head flinching every now and then from the prick of the needle. Once Jun was done, he picked up a pair of scissors, cut the thread and then placed a fresh piece of gauze over the stitches as he placed medical tape to keep it in place. He then said,

"Try not to move a lot. Come back in like two weeks and depending on how it heals, I'll remove the stitches."

Akira sat up and then fixed himself up as he thanked Jun before excusing himself. I threw away the latex gloves as I said,

"You work quickly."

"In this line of work I have to."

He unrolled his sleeves again as he started to button the cuff as I said,

"You're not really a killer but not a business head....so what do you do all day?"

"I do a little of both actually. I'm smart enough to know the ropes around here, but stupid enough to breaking out my baby going out to shoot someone."

I noticed his gun, a gold plated color, black sides of the handle with the ending "Eagel .50" on the barrel of the gun. A Desert Eagel .50. Those things were beautiful as well as deadly. He put his coat on, hiding it from my view as he then said,

"Okay, let's go back upstairs."

I nodded, following him up as we saw some of the lower heads lingering around as Tai gave out some instructions. Jun and I went to the group as Tai said,

"Someone fill them in on what's going on please."

He then excused himself as he went to the elevator as Toki turned to us and said,

"Tai said we're not doing anything for now since Toshimasa has to give them the books or some shit like that tomorrow morning. We won't have to work for at least three days."

Jun sighed as he said,

"I'll see if I can do something for now."

He went towards the stairwell as Mikkie pulled his hair up and left without another word. Aoki and Toki discussed some plans to go get a drink and as for myself, I decided that I could at least go help Akio with whatever he was doing, but I really didn't want to. So I turned and left since I wasn't needed for the moment.

For the next three days, I relaxed and cleaned up my apartment, bought some stuff for it since it was so damn empty and then watched TV while standing, eating my dinner. I had not eaten by the second day so I had some take out delivered and much to my shock, I only ate half of it. My appetite had become so suppressed lately that I now had left overs in my fridge. I rarely touched it now though. Hunger didn't really creep into my thoughts anymore. I tied up my hair at one point like Mikkie does because it was getting on my nerves just hanging back there. Plus it kept falling over my shoulder anyway. I really need to cut my hair now. I look Aoki so much so that I'm starting to be confused for him. Anyway, after those three days, I went back to work and with Toki, Aoki, Mikkie and Jun, we went through the gambling rings in Tokyo. Toshimasa had to give up control though he still took a lead in the books and accounting situations. He made things go faster for the business heads who were busting their asses trying to organize everything. We went to work so no one would try to move in while Jia was organizing himself still. We got into a couple of fights, nothing too bad. They were mostly scared of Toki and Aoki's reputation and their evil, mean glares that people caught from them. We would split up and I would be paired with Mikkie and Jun while we worked. When we finished up Tokyo after a night or so, Toki and Jia got into a big argument about traveling. Toki hated to go anywhere that wasn't Tokyo or New York and he was throwing a big fit as usual. Jia, who just didn't seem to notice, kept calmly talking, waiting for Toki to settle down before he said,

'You're going."

Toki would mumble to himself before he would leave the office and Jia would smoke. We ended up going through Yokohama, Sapporo, Okinawa and Osaka to get a feel for the casinos and pushed out anyone that might try to get in. Jia had a meeting with the figure heads of each city to let them know what was going on. They contacted back with Tai back in Tokyo and worked out any other details needed before they gave the okay. The 36 Moons working in each city also got to work doing the same thing we were doing in Tokyo. We spent weeks doing this. Within a few short months, Jia had control over the illegal gambling circuit in Japan. He wasn't too fond of the hold, but it was his and like everything that is his, he would keep it in a tight strangle hold until something better came about.

Things settled for a while after the whole situation with the Teo Chiu. He left things with them alone for a while, though he too craved to have Sugihara burned, crucified and then tossed about in the closest ocean. He was not pleased with him being alive and I was disgusted with myself for screwing up in the first place. Every now and then Jia had conversations with the 24K in Bangkok, hearing about the quietness that has settled over the entire underworld. Soryo knew that Bangkok was going to be quiet as long as the Teo Chiu where quiet and the 36 Moons had settled for the moment, like a tiger hiding behind the tall grass, stalking it's next prey. Everyone kept their look out for everyone and everything else as Jia called New York every now and then to make sure things were running smoothly there. The last thing he needed was something coming and fucking up his plan. I learned what I could through these times, I kept my mind focused, determined to grow out of any bad habits I had before. I stopped carrying my MP3 player, thinking about my hunger when we walked and anytime anyone called me Aka-chan, I would ask them not to. I learned later on this was a hard task for Toki to do because anytime anyone tells him to stop, he never remembers. Which is why for the longest time, Mikkie was known as Little Ghost. One night, as we had dinner, Toki said,

"Aka-chan, pass me the ash tray."

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what?"

"Aka-chan."

"Man you are a fuckin baby. Jus pass me the ash tray."

I wouldn't pass the ash tray over to him. I then said,

"It's not my name."

"So what?"

"So don't call me that."

He rolled his eyes as he emptied out the cup he drank from as he started tapping his cigarette against that.

"You never cared I called you Aka-chan before."

"I'm not exactly a baby though."

"Yeah you are. Compared to the rest of us."

"I'm trying to grow up though."

It seemed that even Toki understood that. Like no one had ever given him a valid reason to not be called a certain name. Now that I have given him that reason, he nodded and from then on, tried not to call me Aka-chan. I had a more difficult problem with Akio who kept calling me Baby-chu no matter what. I asked him nicely, I explained my reason and he still called me Baby-chu. He said it was a hard habit to break but I just got annoyed with it. I eventually just learned to not respond to it until he called me by my name. One night, as we were preparing to escort Toshimasa home, Mikkie tied his hair up as he stood beside me. He then looked at the ends of his hair as if contemplating about them as I said,

"Thinking about cutting it?"

"Yes. You read my mind."

"It is kinda long."

"I know. It adds to my already feminine demur."

I shrugged as I said,

"So just cut it and be done with it. I doubt you have sentimental value attached to it."

He looked at his hand for a moment as if I was mistaken. Maybe he did. He then looked back at me as he said,

'You're right. It's gone tomorrow."

I nodded as I checked the clip on my gun as he said,

"You seem different recently."

"I do?"

"Yes."

"I don't know. So much has happened recently, I just think I should flow with it rather then against it."

He nodded as he said,

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When was the last time you cracked a smile?"

I paused to think for a moment before I said,

"It's been a while."

He nodded as I said,

"What about you?"

"He looked up at me as he said,

"Almost a year."

I nodded as Toshimasa then came downstairs, a briefcase in his hand as he adjusted the lapel of his coat with his free hand. He then greeted both Mikkie and myself before we took him home.

On our way back to headquarters, I realized maybe I had changed and I didn't notice. But I didn't care anymore. I didn't need to care. My damage had been done. Now, all I could do was continue in my work.