"You are now a pimp."

 

One short text, and some how sneaking out of the house at a god forsaken hour, resulted in Toshi sitting in the passenger seat of Naora's car. Parked on the side of a road in between two street lights in maximum darkness, Naora explained what happened after they hung up on Toshi. There was some fast talking on behalf of Gen's supporters and it turned out they made an excellent case for Naora NOT fulfilling the technical conditions for victory.

 

On the other hand, she had so overwhelmingly crushed Gen's totals that it wasn't possible to allow Gen to win either. The amount of money Naora laid claim to making was so much that even if Gen 'won' nobody would take her victory seriously. ESPECIALLY because it was Gen's supporters who pushed for the contest to end as soon as possible. They thought they had an easy win because it looked like Naora actually lost money.

 

The counter argument was that all Toshi would have to do is put in an order for one point two billion yen worth of drugs and technically it would have been related to drug sales. The only reason it didn't happen was because Gen's supporters pushed for the contest to be declared over. If they had given Naora a few more days, then over a billion yen would be sitting in Terauchi's coffers. Money that everyone would like to have access to, but thanks to the turn of events, and Shizuya's intervention, it would remain with Toshi, and at Naora's theoretical disposal.

 

Quite the war chest.

 

However, the counter argument was compelling on a technical level. The spirit of the contest was to see who was better at running the family business, after all. The contest was NOT to see who could raise the most money by any means necessary. Ironically, this argument worked because Naora's supporters were the 'traditionalist' faction. To claim Naora's victory was 'close enough' would undermine the traditionalist faction's entire position. The only solution that everyone one would agree to was a mulligan. The result was declared a 'tie' and a new contest was to be started.

 

Do not be fooled by the contest being declared a tie to be a loss for Naora. Naora had impressed many of the family elders and important partners. In the eyes of those who had remained neutral up until this point, Naora proved herself surprisingly well. The consensus was clear as to what everyone believed happened. Naora had faked being incompetent at handling the drug aspect of the family business while actually stockpiling massive amounts of cash in the accounts of a trusted underling. She clearly lured her opponent into making the fatal error of pushing for a conclusion to the contest. Naora's only mistake was waiting too long to use her stockpile of money to buy a massive shipment of pharmaceuticals.

 

On top of that, Naora had two other achievements that swayed the fence sitters. The first achievement was that she managed to survive the assassination attempt. Under the rules of the contest, you do have the option of attempting to kill your opponent... ONCE. You couldn't JUST do it, however. You had to make a case that the other had screwed up or made a major mistake. Gen had managed to spin Naora's interaction with the Kimoto family and get approval when Shizuya wasn't available. Naora's survival was not easily dismissed for a leader will be attacked and needs to know how to deal with such things.

 

The second achievement was banging Toshi.

 

Many of the Terauchi family still had bitter memories about the conflict with the Kimoto family. Shizuya, when she came out of retirement, made it clear they would NOT seek revenge upon the Kimoto family. It was just too dangerous and they were too weak. The traditionalist position was to accept the lost and move on. Gen used this simmering hatred to claim that, if she was in charge, the Kimoto family would pay and she would recover the family honor.

 

To find out that the most well known son of the Kimoto family was Naora's personal fuck toy was a form of revenge that was just too sweet. Normally it was considered dishonorable to go after non-combatants. To go after the men of a family was also seen as 'low' and an act of desperation. Yes, it's true, raping the male members of a family is considered a form of revenge. In fact, it is an exceedingly effective form of revenge for it usually causes great emotional weight.

 

However, it is an act that will destroy one's reputation.

 

The act of raping some other's family's male is vile by most standards. You just don't do it unless the enemy has done something so utterly evil that there is no question they had it coming, and even then it still is a taint upon your family name. The Terauchi family has always been seen as 'honorable' by all the other crime families. This reputation is actually what saved them in the end. When a Terauchi gives their word, you can count on them fulfilling their promise or die trying. They were able to make agreements that the other families allowed for no other reason than you can count on the Terauchi name. For this reason, Shizuya knew that any form of revenge strong enough to be considered 'good' enough would backfire and cause far more harm than 'good'. That all said, seducing the son of your enemy and getting him to willingly surrender his body to you...

 

That's a horse of a different color.

 

Naora managed to respect Shizuya's orders while at the same time managing to pull off the only revenge possible under said rules. Sweet talking the son of their enemy into being her fuck toy. Naora did make it clear the Kimoto family doesn't know they are dating, but hey. No Terauchi was going to spill the beans. Not even Gen would be willing to do that. Not because she particularly wanted to cover for Naora, but more because if she did let the secret get out, and it was discovered she leaked family secrets, it would hurt her standing and cost her support.

 

If she couldn't keep such a simple family secret, how could she be trusted with anything important?

 

Politically the traditionalists now held the edge. Shizuya was the one who got to decide the next contest. No longer would they be selling drugs. Which was good, because Shizuya knew it wasn't Naora's strong point. No, clearly she needed to frame this next competition in a way that would let Naora take advantage of her natural strengths; Her ability to make money and how good she was seducing men. Yes indeed, they would compete managing the other major enterprise that the Terauchi family was invested in.

 

Prostitution.

 

Naora scrunched her shoulders together and looked a combination of worried, guilty and embarrassed, "Well... technically... I'm just going to be the manager of a soapland. You see, we're each going to be given control of a brothel. I don't have to directly manage the... er... employees. I-"

 

"Whores."

 

Naora blanched and looked at Toshi apologetically. He crossed his arms and looked out the window, "They are called whores. And the manager of a bunch of whores is called a pimp." He turned back, his face more concerned than angry, "Don't sugar coat things for me. Just level with me and tell me the truth, okay? When you go about explaining things like this, I wonder what you aren't telling me." He tapped the side of his brow with two fingers, "I wonder what you are hiding."

 

Naora looked away and scratched the back of her neck, "Sorry. Really. For all of this. I... I am so... so... SO sorry." Toshi closed his eyes and hit himself lightly in the forehead with his fist a few times. Abruptly he reached over to pull her closer. She resisted at first, then relaxed into the hug. They were quiet for a long time. Finally Toshi said, "I bet you were scared." Naora abruptly sobbed and buried her face into his chest even deeper. She clearly was trying not to cry, but she still was, just very quietly. He rubbed her back and spoke softly, "Shh... it's okay. You don't have to be strong around me." She spoke in a squeaky voice, "I was so terrified! I thought I had another year but then I was going to be killed right there! I hate this! I'm worried all the time! I can never relax and-and-" She sniffled and rubbed her face then abruptly pulled away, "I hate it when you see me like this. You must hate me. I'm so pathetic and weak why can't-"

 

Toshi cut her off with a long kiss.

 

When she finally calmed down, he pulled back slightly, "It's okay to be afraid. Courage isn't the absence of fear, but the ability to act in spite of it." He leaned his forehead against hers, "I don't remember where I heard that, but I heard it somewhere and it stuck with me." She pressed her forehead back and managed to stifle her tears, getting herself under control. She spoke with her eyes shut, "I'm so sorry. I didn't know they'd call you. I didn't expect-" She touched his face with both hands, "You utterly humiliated yourself just to make me look good. I'd be dead right now if you hadn't."

 

Toshi took both her hands in his and pulled them down to put them together. She opened her eyes to look at him smiling at her, "Hey. My pride isn't nearly as important as your life. Okay? I don't really care what people think about me. When you have lived alone as much as I have, you have the advantage of being okay with the status of social outcast. They ain't got nothing on me." Naora pulled back a bit to look at Toshi with squinting eyes, "Lived alone?"

 

Toshi instantly realized he fucked up, ~Shit. I'm talking about my old life.~ He coughed and looked around as he tried to gather his thoughts, "I-I-I FEEL like I've been alone, most of my life. My-uh... father, was always busy when... we separated. Uh. He and mom, separated. You see... So..." Naora laughed and closed her eyes as she shook her head, "You are so screwed up, you know that, right?" She leaned her head back against her seat and stared out the windshield, "Nobody else would put up with how insane you are, you know that, right?"

 

Toshi leaned back, "I dunno. I don't have much of a sample size yet, ya know?" He grinned at his little tease, and instantly regretted it as he glanced at her and could see the light die in her eyes as he watched. He could tell his words wounded her deeply, which was not his intent. He started to panic, "I'm kidding! I'm just kidding!" She looked at him with a trembling lip, then abruptly grabbed his hand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Marry me."