itβs me again
international shitposter tsumerica and i am back once again with another (in progress) fic!
THE OFFER
feel free to read and share if youβd like and i hope you enjoy!
The coffee machine hissed, steam curling into the sterile office air. Tsurugi Takahashi leaned back in his leather chair, boots propped on the polished mahogany desk. "Double espresso. Black. Same as it ever was," he drawled, adjusting the brim of his worn Stetson.
Across the room, his assistant Ryoga flinched at the crunch of gravel outside. Tsurugi didn't turn. His fingers traced the scar beneath his cuff β a souvenir from Osaka, 2015.Β
The cowboy hat tilted just enough to watch the tinted SUV glide past the fourteenth-floor window. Too slow for a delivery. Too quiet for tourists.
He sipped the espresso. Bitter. Perfect. "Ryoga." The name cracked like dry timber. "Cancel the Brussels call. Reschedule the board meeting." His knuckles whitened around the porcelain cup.Β
They'd found Weesa's college graduation photo in the shredder yesterday. A careless mistake. His mistake.
Outside, the SUV's brake lights flared crimson against the rain-slicked street. Two figures emergedβblack suits, mirrored shades. Professionals. Tsurugi's thumb brushed the panic button beneath his desk.Β
Silent alarms pulsed through the building. Elevators froze. Security doors slammed. His office became a fortress.
Ryoga's voice trembled. "Sir, the Tokyo branch just reported a breach attempt on young master Weesa's encrypted files." Tsurugi didn't move. His son was safeβfor nowβhidden deep in Kyoto's mountains under layers of false identities.Β
But identities could be peeled like onions. He remembered teaching Weesa to throw a punch at six years old, the boy's small fists clumsy against the heavy bag. *Should've taught him to disappear better.*
The suited figures approached the lobby doors with unnatural smoothness, their strides synchronized like metronomes. Tsurugi's espresso cup cracked in his grip, bitter liquid seeping over his fingers.
The scar beneath his cuff burnedβa phantom echo from the knife that nearly ended him in that Osaka alley. Back then, blood had tasted like copper and failure. Today smelled like rain and gun oil.
Ryogaβs tablet chimedβa live feed from Kyoto. Weesaβs mountain retreat showed empty corridors, undisturbed tatami mats. But Tsurugiβs eyes locked on the timestamp glitch: a three-second loop in the security footage. *Too clean.* His voice dropped to gravel.Β
"Activate Protocol Tengu. Now." Outside, the lobby glass exploded inward. Shards rained like diamond hail as the intruders stepped through the carnage.
Tsurugi rose, shedding his suit jacket. Beneath it, a shoulder holster gleamed. He tossed his Stetson onto the desk, the hatβs crown dented from years of wear. "Seal the floor, Ryoga. No one leaves."Β
The assistant scrambled to a keypad, fingers shaking. Hydraulic locks thudded into place. Tsurugiβs thumb brushed a hidden switch. Desk panels slid openβthrowing stars, a garrote wire, a compact FN Five-seveN. He palmed the pistol.Β
The espressoβs bitterness still coated his tongue, mixing with the acrid tang of explosives drifting up from below.
Outside, glass crunched under polished Oxfords. The intruders moved in sync, flanking the office door. Tsurugi recognized the rhythmβex-military, likely JSDF black ops.Β
Ryoga whimpered as one kicked the reinforced steel. *Thud.* The door held. Tsurugiβs scar pulsed again. Osaka had taught him doors were temporary. He flicked off the safety. "Ryoga. The ventilation shaft."
The assistant froze. "Sirβ"
"Now." Tsurugi's voice cut through the rising panic like shrapnel. Ryoga scrambled toward the ceiling panel as another thunderous kick shook the doorframe. Paint chips rained down. Tsurugi didn't watch him.Β
His eyes tracked the door's hingesβcalculating stress points, fracture lines. Osaka flashed behind his eyelids: splintered wood, the coppery stench of blood, a knife grinding against bone.
Ryoga's trembling fingers found the hidden latch. The ventilation grate swung open silently. Dust motes danced in the emergency lights' crimson glow. "Go!" Tsurugi barked.Β
The assistant vanished upward just as the door's electronic lock sparked and died under a focused EMP burst. Tsurugi dropped behind the mahogany desk.Β
Glass from the shattered espresso cup bit into his palm. He welcomed the stingβgrounding, familiar.
The door exploded inward. Not kickedβblown. Shrapnel peppered the leather chairs. Tsurugi didn't flinch. He tracked the first intruder's silhouette through the smokeβbroad shoulders, tactical stance.Β
*JSDF. Third Division. Badges removed.* The man cleared the threshold, rifle sweeping left. Tsurugi fired twice through the desk. Wood splintered. The first shot took the knee; the second, the throat. The man crumpled without a sound.
Smoke stung Tsurugi's eyes. Acrid. Like burnt wiring. The second intruder paused outside, using his partner's body as a shield. Tsurugi heard the faint *click* of a grenade pin pulled. He rolled sideways as the canister arced through the doorway.Β
Tear gas. Amateur mistake. His office had industrial air filters. Vents hissed overhead, sucking the haze into the ceiling.
The intruder charged through the thinning fog, rifle raised. Tsurugi didn't aim. He threw the cracked espresso cup. Porcelain shattered against the man's mirrored shades. A microsecond of blindness. Enough.Β
Tsurugi lunged low, driving his shoulder into the man's diaphragm. Air exploded from the man's lungs. The rifle clattered away. Tsurugi's knee slammed into his temple. Once. Twice. Bone crunched. The body went limp.
Silence roared back. Tsurugi knelt amidst splintered mahogany and pooling blood, breathing hard. Rain lashed the broken window. He wiped gore from his knuckles with a silk handkerchief.Β
Ryoga's muffled voice echoed from the vent shaft. "Sir! Kyoto feed just stabilized! Movement in the eastern garden!"
Tsurugi froze. *Eastern garden.* Weesa's favorite spot for morning meditation. The timestamp glitch hadn't been random. It masked an insertion point.Β
His thumb flew across a wrist-console. Satellite imagery bloomedβthermal signatures converging near the koi pond. Two hostiles. Moving fast toward the tea house where Weesa studied finance reports at this hour.Β
His son's predictable routine was a weapon against him.
Ryoga's panicked whisper hissed from the vent. "They bypassed Tengu's motion sensors! How?" Tsurugi didn't answer. He scanned the fallen intruder's gearβa neural disruptor jammer disguised as a comms unit. *Cutting-edge.* Only three labs worldwide could produce these.Β
His mind raced through boardroom enemies. None had this reach. This was personal. Legacy personal.
Outside the shattered office, distant sirens wailed. Too late. Useless. Tsurugi ripped a data chip from the dead man's collar. He jammed it into his wrist-console.Β
Encryption shattered like glass. Files flooded his display: blueprints of Weesa's mountain retreat, security shift schedules, even his son's childhood allergy records. *Thorough.* Too thorough. Ice water flooded Tsurugi's veins. They'd been watching Weesa for years.
Ryoga scrambled down from the vent, dust streaking his suit. "Sir! Tengu's countermeasures engagedβthey've trapped the hostiles in the bamboo grove!" Tsurugi's eyes stayed locked on the feed.Β
Two thermal blips halted near the tea house. Infrared showed Weesa's silhouette frozen behind a shoji screen, tablet glowing in his hands. Oblivious. The intruders raised compact rifles. Not JSDF issue. *Custom.* Serbian manufacture. Tsurugi knew that dealer. Belgrade. 2019.
"Override Tengu's lockdown," Tsurugi ordered, voice colder than the rain lashing the Tokyo skyscraper. "Floodlights. Now." Onscreen, Kyoto's garden erupted in blinding white. The attackers recoiledβnight vision compromised. Weesa's silhouette jerked upright.Β
Tsurugi's knuckles whitened around the FN Five-seveN. *Move, son.* His son dove behind a stone lantern just as suppressed gunfire shredded the paper screen.
Ryoga choked. "Sir, the jammer's overriding our comms! I can't warnβ" Tsurugi silenced him with a glance. Belgrade-made rifles meant Balkan contractors. *Petrovic's dogs.*Β
He recalled the arms dealer's Belgrade warehouse: rusted iron, the stench of cordite, and a debt unpaid. Petrovic never forgot. Neither did Tsurugi.
Onscreen, Weesa scrambled behind the lantern, jagged stone shielding his torso. Bullets sparked off granite. One attacker pivoted, tossing a cylindrical device toward the tea house. *Thermite.*Β
Tsurugiβs finger stabbed his console. Kyotoβs hidden sprinklers eruptedβnot water, but liquid nitrogen. The thermite hissed impotently in a cloud of freezing vapor. Weesa seized the distraction.Β
Tsurugi watched, pulse hammering, as his son vaulted a low wall into the rock garden, moving with desperate grace. Not the clumsy young man whoβd crashed the sedan. Someone else. Someone *awake*.
Ryoga gasped. "SirβPetrovicβs signature on the jammer firmware! But Belgradeβs been quiet since..." Tsurugi cut him off. "Since I burned his warehouse." The memory was acidβPetrovicβs roar as flames consumed his illicit stockpile, a debt settled in fire.Β
Now the debt was called due. With interest. Thermal feeds showed Weesa crawling through bamboo thickets. The attackers fanned out, hunting.Β
Tsurugiβs thumb flew across the console, inputting override codes Kyotoβs security never knew existed. "Activate Kirin."
Kyotoβs rock garden trembled. Ancient stones shifted, grinding open to reveal recessed turrets. Stun rounds shredded bamboo stalks near the attackers.Β
One dropped clutching his thigh. The other scrambled backward, firing wildly. Weesa froze mid-crawl, eyes wide at the mechanical growl beneath him.Β
Tsurugi leaned forward. *Run.* His son scrambled toward the waterfallβs roarβthe one blind spot in Kirinβs sensors. Smart. Too smart for a finance student.
Ryogaβs tablet chimedβa priority alert from Zurich. "Sir, three shell companies just liquidated assets matching Petrovicβs laundering patterns." Tsurugi didnβt glance away from the feed.Β
Weesa plunged into the icy pool beneath the falls, vanishing behind the curtain of water. The surviving attacker limped toward the cascade, reloading. Tsurugiβs fingers danced. Kyotoβs ornamental koi pond drained silently. The man stepped onto slick tilesβand vanished into a hydraulic trapdoor.Β
A muffled crack echoed. Bones breaking. Tsurugi exhaled. Kirin retracted.
Onscreen, Weesa hauled himself onto rocks behind the falls, shivering violently. His soaked shirt clung to lean muscle Tsurugi hadnβt noticed before. Not a boy. Not anymore. A man.
Ryoga whispered, "Satellite intercepts confirm Petrovic boarded a private jet to Narita two hours ago." Tsurugiβs jaw tightened. Belgradeβs vengeance had landed.
The Kyoto feed flickeredβWeesaβs wrist-console blinking red. Tsurugiβs own device vibrated. A direct message, bypassing encryption: *Your heir dies slowly. Watch.* Attached: coordinates to a derelict auto yard near Tokyo Bay.Β
Petrovicβs calling cardβironic, given the car crash confession. Tsurugiβs scar burned. Osakaβs knife wound. A reminder: debts always collected.
Ryoga choked. "Sir, Narita Tower confirms Petrovicβs jet diverted mid-flight. Vanished!" Tsurugi didnβt waste words. He tossed Ryoga a spare FN Five-seveN. "Hold the fort." His Stetson settled low over his eyes. The elevator shaft awaitedβa direct drop to the garage. No time for stairs.
The garage smelled of oil and damp concrete. Tsurugiβs black Lexus LFA roared to life, its V10 screaming as he fishtailed onto rain-slicked streets. Neon smeared across the windshield like wet paint.Β
His wrist-console projected Petrovicβs message over the dash: *Watch.* The auto yardβs coordinates pulsed red. Tsurugi knew that stretch of reclaimed landβrusted hulls stacked like tombstones beside Tokyo Bayβs oily water. Perfect for murder.
He dialed Ryoga. Static hissed. Petrovicβs jammer still choked communications. Tsurugi slammed a fist against the steering wheel. *Think.* He recalled Weesaβs childhood fear of drowningβthe boy had nearly sunk in that Kyoto pond years ago.Β
Petrovic would exploit weaknesses. Tsurugi veered onto the Bay Bridge. Below, cargo ships glided like ghosts through fog. Heβd need leverage. The yardβs gaping entrance. Tsurugi killed the headlights half a mile out, coasting in darkness.
Rain drummed the roof as he slipped from the car, FN Five-seveN cold against his ribs. The yardβs chain-link fence rattled loose bolts.Β
He scaled it silently, landing in mud. Ahead, floodlights carved a harsh circle around a skeletal crane. Beneath it, Weesa knelt with shirt torn, wrists bound behind him with zip-ties. Bruises mottled his ribs.Β
Petrovic stood beside himβthick-necked, scarred knuckles gripping a Makarov pistol pressed to Weesaβs temple. Two Balkan thugs flanked him, Kalashnikovs scanning shadows.
"Takahashi!" Petrovicβs voice boomed, echoing off rusted chassis. "You owe me steel and blood!" Rain slicked Weesaβs hair flat. His eyes met Tsurugiβsβno fear, only cold fury.Β
Tsurugi stepped into the light, hands visible. His Stetson dripped rainwater onto his shoulders. "The debt was paid in Belgrade fire," Tsurugi called, voice cutting through the downpour. "Let my son go. Your quarrelβs with me."
Petrovic laughed, a harsh bark. "Quarrel? You incinerated twelve million euros!" He pressed the Makarov harder. Weesa flinched, but held his fatherβs gaze.Β
Tsurugi noted the zip-ties biting Weesaβs wrists, the raw abrasions on his ribs. One thug shifted, Kalashnikov muzzle trembling slightly. *Nervous.* Tsurugiβs fingers twitchedβa millimeter from the hidden garrote wire in his sleeve.
The rain intensified, drumming on corrugated metal roofs overhead. Tsurugi took another step forward. "Heβs not part of this." His voice remained level, but the cold fury in Weesaβs eyes mirrored his own.Β
Petrovic spat. "Heβs your blood. That makes him the interest." Behind him, the craneβs hook swayed, creaking in the wind. Tsurugiβs mind raced: *Distraction. Weak point.*
He flicked his wrist. The garrote wire snapped taut, slicing through the rain toward Petrovicβs gun hand. The Serb jerked backβtoo slow.Β
The wire wrapped around his wrist, biting deep. The Makarov clattered to the mud. "Kill them!" Petrovic roared, clutching his bleeding arm. The thugs raised their Kalashnikovs.Β
Tsurugi was already moving. He dove behind a gutted sedan as bullets punched through rusted metal. Shrapnel stung his cheek.
Weesa didnβt hesitate. He slammed his head backward into Petrovicβs nose. Bone crunched. The Serb staggered, howling. Weesa rolled sideways, bound hands scrambling for the fallen Makarov. One thug pivoted, training his rifleβbut Tsurugi was faster. His FN Five-seveN barked twice. The thug crumpled, clutching his knee.Β
The second gunman froze, eyes wide. Tsurugi rose from cover, pistol unwavering. "Drop it." The man hesitated, gaze darting to Petrovic, who spat blood and curses.Β
Weesa had the Makarov now, awkwardly aimed with bound hands. "Do it," he growled, voice raw but steady. The thugβs Kalashnikov thudded into the mud.
Tsurugi strode forward, kicking the rifle aside. Rain plastered his suit to his frame as he knelt beside Petrovic. The Serb glared up, defiance warring with pain.Β
"You think this ends?" he rasped. Tsurugiβs garrote wire flashed againβnot to kill, but to bind Petrovicβs wrists. "It ends when I say," Tsurugi murmured, pulling the wire tight. He glanced at Weesa, still trembling but holding the gun. "Cut him loose."
Weesa watched as he sliced his zip-ties with a pocketknife. "He knew things," he said, eyes locked on Petrovic. "Childhood fears. Motherβs grave." Tsurugiβs blood ran cold. Petrovic grinned through split lips. "Your pretty wife talked before Osaka."
The FN Five-seveN pressed against Petrovicβs temple. Tsurugiβs finger whitened on the trigger.Β
Rain drummed the silence. Weesaβs hand closed over his fatherβs wrist. "Not like this." His voice was steel. "Boardroom rules." Tsurugi hesitated.Β
The scent of wet rust and cordite filled his lungs. Osakaβs knife wound throbbedβa phantom ache where vengeance lived.
Petrovic laughed, a wet gurgle. "Rules? She begged at the end." Tsurugiβs pistol jerked upwardβa savage crack against the Serbβs jaw. Bone snapped. Petrovic slumped unconscious.Β
Weesa knelt, rifling through the manβs coat pockets. He pulled out a slim burner phone. "Zurich transfers," he muttered, scrolling. "Timed for dawn." Tsurugi watched his sonβthe cold precision, the fury banked behind hooded eyes. Not a boy. Never again.
Sirens wailed closer. Tsurugi hauled Petrovic up. "The car." Weesa nodded, pocketing the phone. They dragged the Serb toward the exit, past the moaning thug. Rain sheeted down, washing blood into the mud. At the chain-link fence, Tsurugi froze.Β
Headlights sliced the downpourβtwo black SUVs skidding to a halt. Doors flew open. Ryoga stumbled out, flanked by Tengu operatives in matte-black gear. "Sir! Zurich funds frozen!" Ryoga gasped. "But Petrovicβs men hit the Kyoto safehouseβ"
Weesa cut him off. "Irrelevant." He tossed Ryoga the burner phone. "Trace these transfers. Now." His tone brooked no argument. Ryoga blinked, startled, then snapped orders into his comms. Tengu agents hauled Petrovic away.
Tsurugi studied his sonβthe rain-slicked shoulders squared, the grim set of his jaw. No tremor in the hands clutching the Makarov. "The car crash," Tsurugi said quietly. Weesa met his gaze. "Mother told me everything. Before she died."Β
The admission hung between them, raw as the wind whipping off Tokyo Bay. Tsurugiβs throat tightened. Heβd buried that truth deeper than Petrovicβs warehouse ashes.
Ryoga hurried over, tablet glowing. "Sir, the transfers lead to a dummy corp registered to... *your* old Kyoto holding!" Tsurugiβs blood froze. That shell hadnβt been touched in a decade. Weesa snatched the tablet, fingers flying. "A backdoor," he muttered. "Keyed to biometrics."Β
He looked up, eyes hard. "Yours." The betrayal tasted like gun oil. Only one person knew that legacy code: Hiroshi, his former second-in-command. Osakaβs knife wound flaredβheβd been there that night.
Headlights swept the yard as Tengu agents secured Petrovicβs thugs clothes and threw them toward Cerebus cage.Β
Ryoga flinched as screams tore through the rainβa raw, animal sound swallowed by Cerebusβs guttural snarls. The genetically enhanced Doberman lunged, fangs sinking into Petrovicβs menβs thigh before the Serb could scramble away.Β
Tsurugi watched impassively, rain plastering his hair to his forehead. "Hiroshi," he stated flatly, the name a blade twisting in old wounds. Weesa didnβt look away from the carnage, fingers still dancing across Ryogaβs tablet.Β
"He reactivated the Kyoto shell three days ago. Diverted funds through Petrovicβs network." His voice held no surprise, only icy calculation. "He wants you destabilized."















