Summary: Your students begin the first day of their investigation and found out some harrowing things.
Words: 1848
Investigation Day 1
The students’ first day of investigating went about as well as you’d expect considering most of them didn’t know a thing about stalking someone for information if they didn’t have any form of social media. Which, on one hand, you are grateful for but on the other, you can’t stop the determination of children to do dumb shit.
In fact, Ichiban’s lack of social media presence only made them THAT more suspicious.
”Why does he have to hide?” Da asked with fury as he paced back and forth.
They had all agreed to group up at the park. In Ichiban’s defense, you also didn’t have a strong social media presence outside of some pictures of you hanging out with some local cats, hanging at the Survive Bar, and the occasional vacation photos.
”I guess she just met the guy, he’s not in any of these pictures.” Hajime commented.
Like clockwork, Takara chimed in. “What if it’s like when people don’t wanna show up on someone’s timeline because they’re cheating?” She had an excitable look in her eyes. “Maybe he asks her to crop him out because his girlfriend will catch on.”
”So not only is this asshole trying to kidnap our teacher but he also has a girlfriend?” Da kicked up some of the sand, causing his sister to reprimand him.
”Watch it, doofus!” She yelled.
”I’ll tell Dad you called me a doofus again.”
”And I’ll tell him you kicked sand in my face. Which is worse?”
”Can you two focus?” Hajime chided them. “If we don’t know the guy’s name we can’t do any research on him. What are we gonna do?”
Shuichi shrugged. “What if we try going to the Survive Bar? Maybe someone there will know something.”
”Uh, hey Einstein, not all of us look like grown men with baby faces.” Da replied. “They’ll never allow us in.”
“What if we said it was an emergency?” Ju-Hee chimed in.
Hajime shook his head in defeat. “I don’t think they’ll care that much.”
“Well, we have to try something. We’ve got no other leads!”
So they proceeded to attempt to enter the bar.
Almost immediately, the silent and stalwart bartender tried kicking them out.
"I can't have my customers seeing children running around. That's not the type of establishment I run." He told them firmly. "Now please leave."
"It's an emergency mister!" Chun shouted. "We need to protect our teacher, she could be in trouble!"
The mention of a teacher caught his interest. 'Are they talking about y/n?' He thought. So he decided to humor them.
"Your teacher...it wouldn't happen to be Ms. l/n, would it?"
All of them perked up with bright smiles.
"See? She's been here before." Chun exclaimed. "There's this guy that comes to visit her at school and he looks nothing but trouble. We think he's Yakuza and he's looking to kidnap her for human trafficking."
For the first time in a while, the bartender was caught off guard. Granted, he doesn't deal with children much but the few times he has, he's never had them say something that outlandish...well...he supposes it's not that out of the ordinary of a concern.
If he didn't know Ichiban, it might have perked his interest to investigate. Especially considering that plots like that are always unfolding between here and Kamurocho. Hell, that almost happened to Saeko's sister. Frankly, there are just some gangsters even in Ijincho that were bold enough to try trafficking under the noses of the Ijin Three.
But Ichiban was practically harmless when it came to you. Not to mention that he wasn't even Yakuza anymore. But with that suit, of course, these kids would come to that type of conclusion. He's almost happy that they still think Yakuza can afford to dress flashy under these harsher laws.
Just to have a little fun though, he decides to mess with them.
"Y/n is a loyal customer here. I'd hate for something bad to happen to her. Do you know anything else about this man?" He asked them calmly and, while he didn't mean it, it unnerved the students.
Hajime was the first to speak up. "Well...no."
"Have you tried asking y/n about him?"
Da scoffed. "Like she'd tell us. You know what'd she say? He's just a friend."
"Maybe he is just a friend."
"Just a friend?" Takara repeated. "In that suit?"
"He's come in here a few times with her."
The students crowded the bar. "HE HAS?!"
"Do you know his name? If we have his name we could probably look him up."
The barkeep pretended to be in deep thought before he responded. "I think...he mentioned his name being Ichiban...Kasuga."
"Ichiban Kasuga?" Ju-Hee repeated. "Why does that name sound familiar?" she muttered.
"Now, you kids should go. You might get in trouble for being in here with your parents."
Even though Hajime rounded up the others and urged them all out. They all shouted their own variation of "what our parents don't know won't kill them" before the door shut behind them. The barkeep smiled to himself. What an awkward conversation it would've turned into if they knew Ichiban was upstairs right now sleeping.
Rather than reconvening back at the park, they casually walked through the streets of the Bar District, stopping once they reached the bridge that lead towards the local homeless camp. Ju-Hee wasted no time in putting the name Ichiban Kasuga into her phone's internet search bar and while she expected the worst, she still wasn't ready for what popped up.
Part of her was still hoping that maybe this Ichiban guy was some normal dude with horrible fashion sense.
Man Arrested For New Years Murder
Man Found Shot Dead, Yakuza Rivalry?
New Years Murder Victim Revealed to Be Yakuza
New Years Murders In Japan
Tojo Clan Infighting? Yakuza Found Dead
Banished Tojo Clan Gangster Arrested for New Years Murder
New Years Murder Suspect Detained
New Years Murder Suspect Sentenced
Truth About The New Millennium Yakuza Murder
All of these articles dated back to the beginning of the year 2001. The far-out date makes Ju-Hee think about how neither of them were even born. She doesn't even know if her parents knew each other yet or if they even immigrated to Japan yet back then.
"Guys...I finally found that Ichiban guy."
"Great!" Da exclaimed. "Any social media?"
"No, he's been in jail since 2000. He was only released this year."
"WHAT?!" The others yelled.
Chun moved over to stand beside Ju-Hee. She mumbled out words as she read one of the articles.
"Well, what does it say?" Hajime asked.
"It says: Ichiban Kasuga was arrested for the murder of Tojo clan member, Chikao Suzumori. Kasuga, himself, is a former member of the Tojo Clan. However, both men were part of different families. It is suspected that Kasuga and Suzumori had prior altercations with each other that may have led to Kasuga's expulsion from the clan, however, Suzumori maintained his position. It is suspected that Kasuga might have still harbored a strong disdain for Suzumori and murdered him on New Year's Eve. Suzumori's body was found with a bullet hole to the head, however, a lack of witnesses has police determining that Suzumori may have been killed during a fireworks display. Kasuga turned himself in the next day."
The students were stunned.
"Holy shit." Shuichi let out. "It's worst than we thought. He's cold-blooded. To shoot someone in the head and then proudly turned yourself in? That's sick."
"And Ms. L/n doesn't even know." Chun was on the verge of a mild breakdown. "She's dating a monster."
Hajime stuttered. "W-well, we can't jump to conclusions so fast. Maybe that's not the whole story, right? I mean...how does a journalist get this much information about gangsters?"
"Gangsters back in the day didn't have to be so strict. You used to be able to tell just by looking at their outfit." Da explained, then he had a widened look of realization. "That's why he's still dressed like that!"
"But for him to be so out of touch to still be wearing suits like that and potentially trafficking people? That seems on the nose doesn't it?" Takara chimed in.
"He probably just doesn't care." Da argued. "He admitted to the cops he did it. And you know what? When you get involved in organized crime, you're in it for life. Maybe when he got kicked out, he was so pissed because he had nothing else so he off'd the guy that got him expelled."
Hajime shrugged. "Couldn't he have just joined another family?"
"No! He was Tojo Clan, they were the biggest Yakuza organization before the law got strict. You couldn't just go somewhere else."
"Do you think he joined up with the Seiryu Clan?" Chun asked.
"Nah, I never heard any of Dad's friends talk about the Seiryu Clan doing human trafficking."
"Maybe we have to think bigger." Takara chimed in again. "We're still focused on him trying to kidnap Ms. L/N but what if that's not the plan at all?"
"What? You think he's just trying to hook up with her?" Da scoffed.
"No....you guys remember when Ms. L/N said she used to live in Kamurocho? Said she lived there since she was a kid and only moved to go to college."
Everyone was silent. Listening but silent.
"She would've been...around 18 or 19 when that murdered happened?"
Da added onto her explanation. "The Tojo Clan's main seat of power was Kamurocho."
"Now wait a minute!" Hajime cut in. "You two aren't suggesting that this Kasuga guy and Ms. L/N knew each other back then, are you? That's a big stretch."
"A big fuckin' stretch" Da agreed. "But...not impossible."
Chun shrugged. "Well, Kamurocho is a red light district, why would Ms. L/N be there as a kid?"
Everyone looked at Chun with a look that said are you being for real right now.
"What?" She nervously got defensive.
"Chun...don't you live across the street from a Chinese hostess club?" Shuichi asked.
"Well, that's different...they don't have sex there....I think. It's all flirting, right?"
Takara promptly explained. "Red Light Districts don't necessarily have to involve businesses that provide sex. Stuff there can range from Host Clubs, Hostess Clubs, Strip Clubs, Phone Sex services, Adult Movie Theaters or just movie theaters with Adult show times, and a lot of bars."
"How do you know all that?" Hajime asked.
"A good writer googles stuff for research all the time. I needed to for this one fic I was....story I was writing."
"CAN WE FOCUS?!" Shuichi yelled. "Our teacher is going out with a murderer! Let's stay on that, okay?"
"Murderer? That sounds serious."
A gruff voice caught their attention as their turned to see a homeless man wearing a green hoodie and denim jacket that looked like its original coloring had long been lost to years of muck. His black hair was messy and the only thing on him that looked somewhat decent to the students were his black-rimmed glasses.
i love how you have black reader fics! i’ve been trying to find some but yours were the first i’ve found! pls keep it up :)
Thank you so much!!
I haven’t been feeling great lately but knowing that there are still people out there enjoying my stories makes me feel really good. I hope I can get back to writing for you guys soon. 💜💜
