Tasuki was caught off guard. So shocked was he that he almost dropped his glass of whiskey. He was being invited to this party just to have Chichiri? There must be some mistake.
“Su…Sunimase, Chiriko-san. Anno…anata wa jodan deja ne?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” Chiriko’s cute face looked very serious indeed. He wasn’t joking.
“Chichiri is mine, Chiriko-san. He’s not for sale. You know better than I do that you have more than enough cash to get yourself a man-cat of your own.”
“I don’t want any other man-cat! I want Chichiri!”
“But he has a flaw. He’s got a…”
“Blind left eye, I know,” Chiriko finished his sentence. He drained the whiskey and continued, “I know a lot about him. I’ve done my research. He got blind on the left eye because the vet handling the birth accidentally stabbed it while trying to cut the umbilical cord. You have no idea how tough man-kittens’ umbilical cords can be—you swear you need a chainsaw to hack them off. Must have been the side-effects of the DNA combination. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I don’t care about Chichiri’s flaws. I don’t even care if he’s deaf or mute or losing one leg. I want him, and only him.”
“Demo…doushite? Why him? Why not others?”
“Because I love him!”
Now Tasuki really dropped his glass of whiskey. He was lucky the floor was covered with an expensive blood-red carpet or he would’ve heard a crash following the fall. Chiriko, the world’s most famous boy genius barely even near his teens actually in love with his pet Chichiri whom he barely knew, and at a total different species at that? Now that is totally crazy! Why would he be nuts enough to fall for a cat? And he thought the booze was making him ga-ga to have erotic thoughts about Chichiri’s nudity.
“Anno…daijobu deska? Are you sure you’re not into drugs or something because…I thought you said…”
“Yes, you heard me right, and don’t make me repeat myself again. I am in love with Chichiri and I want him to be with me. Even though I know I cannot marry him or anything, but who would suspect a guy and his pet, eh? You took Chichiri away from me and I want him back.”
“I took Chichiri away from you? You gotta be nuts, man! I bought Chichiri with my own money! I never took him away from you or anyone else! What do you mean I took him away from you?”
“I mean, you took him away from me because I was the one who saw him first at Mitsukake’s Pet Shop. I spotted him at the display counter when I was on my way to my car after a long business meeting. He was right there, leaning against the glass, peering at me, asking me to take him home and love him forever. One look at him and I knew I have found the love of my life. He may be a different species from me and he may have a flaw or two, but love is blind, you see, and I wasn’t going to let anyone stop my destiny.
“Unfortunately, that Mitsukake guy does not accept credit cards, and I never carry cash around in my wallet, so I had to run all the way to the nearest ATM machine to get the cash I needed to buy him. But as soon as I went back to the shop to make my purchase, I saw you coming out of the store carrying the love of my life away from me. I scolded Mitsukake and demanded that he go after you to get Chichiri back, but he said it’s a first-come-first-serve basis and that I didn’t make a booking first. He said he was only doing business, and I don’t really blame him. I tried to follow after you but you were long gone and I was caught up with another meeting with another foreign client.
“I’ve been following up with your progress ever since you took Chichiri away. It hurts everyday to think that Chichiri’s living in a shabby place you call apartment and live the life of a commoner. He should be living with me in this life of fortune! So many wealth and riches around me and I can’t even share with the one I love. And what’s worse, you used him as some business tool to earn money for yourself! You treat him like some slave to be used for your own benefits and then soon forgotten when everything said and done!”
“Nandateyunda! Who said anything about treating Chichiri as a slave? He’s my pet! I would never treat him like a slave! He’s practically aneki to me! There’s no way…” Tasuki protested at first but was stopped by a stern raise of hand from the little tycoon.
“I don’t want to hear any of your explanations anymore. I just want to ask you one thing: Since Chichiri is nothing more than just a business tool for you, are you going to let me have what was rightfully mine?”
Tasuki glared at Chiriko long and hard. He thought the Chiriko he knew would be a nice, little boy genius who knows nothing but boring educational stuff and would have a mouthful of business issues only. Seemed like he thought wrong.
“Sunimase, Chiriko-san. Chichiri is not for sale. I bought him first, so he’s mine, and I will not give him to anyone else, not even for a billion yen.”
“Is that your final answer?” Chiriko looked up at Tasuki with venom in his eyes while his hand casually poured himself another glass of whiskey.
“Hai.”
“Then I guess,” Chiriko suddenly switched his face to that cute little 12-year-old angel he was and toasted him, “we’re gonna have a rocky relationship ahead of us. Enjoy the rest of the party, Tasuki-kun.”
Tasuki was taken aback at the sudden mood change at first, then realized that it was all for show. He nodded and quickly made his way out of the study. Chiriko didn’t attempt to stop nor had he sent any guards to stop him and pound him into a pulp or throw him into some dark underground dungeon. Tasuki didn’t stay for the party either. He left the place as quickly as possible without any incidents happening.
This definitely meant war.
--:--
After that complicated discussion with Chiriko, life for both Tasuki and Chichiri wasn’t easy. Being the boss and the genius behind his company, Chiriko didn’t need to hang around much in the office as everything was delegated accordingly to his workers—except for major meetings, that is—so he had plenty of time to just get out there and have a pretty good time.That was just exactly what he intended to do. Chiriko would suddenly pop out of nowhere and glomp on Chichiri in the middle of his assignment and sometimes would take him away on an unscheduled date of some sort without even considering that Chichiri was in the middle of a job and that the customer was still tied to a contract in rental rates. Tasuki knew about this and was kind enough to drop the excess rental rates Chiriko had wasted from his customers. Sometimes Chiriko would pay for the rental rates, saying that Chichiri was needed for another task, but in truth, he only wanted him all to himself. Tasuki was also constantly kept on his toes too, because sometimes when there’s no business and Tasuki and Chichiri went on their usual all-boys outing, Chiriko would also follow behind them and spy on them, watching their every move and going everywhere they went, and he had no attempt to hide his presence from them, which was rather annoying to Tasuki.
Despite Chiriko’s attempts to pry Chichiri away from his customers and Tasuki, Chichiri managed to be steered clear away from the little young tycoon, thanks to help from Tasuki and the customers themselves. Whenever Chiriko approached, the customers who were warned by Tasuki about him would pretend to go to another road to lead him off track or would hold on to Chichiri for dear life and worm their way from Chiriko’s insistence to take the man-cat. Tasuki would also try his best to lead Chiriko off his track and spend most of their all-boys outing indoors with the residents of Rekka-Shin Apartment instead of going out and seeing that little stalker all over the place. The last straw was when Chiriko actually managed to follow him to Rekka-Shin and asked straight out if he could borrow Chichiri for a day. That’s when Tasuki tried to get help from lawyers to get a restraining order so that Chiriko would just stay away from him and Chichiri. That put Chiriko in his place.
One night, while Chiriko sat in his study sulking and downing glass after glass of whiskey, his mind began to swirl and work its way into trying to get his way around acquiring Chichiri. He may be rich and can hire the best lawyer to take custody of Chichiri or use his connections to force Tasuki to give him up, but that would take the fun out of it. He wanted to do things firsthand, like the way he went through all those educational competitions personally fighting against his opponents and the thrill of the win when he finds a formidable foe, or building his computer games business and launched it big scale around the world with the thrill of profits and ratings rolling in. Right now, Tasuki is a formidable foe and he was going to have a personal touch to this contest against him. No help is needed to play this game if he could do it himself.
“Konbanwa, Chiri. Anymore of them whiskey left?”
Chiriko looked up distastefully at the twins who barged into his study unannounced. He would’ve given them a scolding about coming in uninvited and shoo them out, but the booze sort of sedated him.
“How many times have I told you to knock before you enter?”
“Awe, come on. Lighten up a little. Do you have to be a stuck-up all the time?”
Chiriko rolled his eyes and downed another mouthful of whiskey as the twins came up and helped themselves with the remaining whiskey in the bottle. The twins were distant cousins of Chiriko who were more of the offspring from the black sheep of the family. Their father didn’t pursue the business line like all males in Chiriko’s father’s side of the family did. Instead he went off to pursue music and married a simple Chinese commoner working as a martial arts teacher instead of a boss’s rich daughter, unlike the rest of the family does. He and his line of the family may have become a well-known family of musicians and martial arts fighter, and have riches equivalent to at least half of Chiriko’s family fortunes, but he never gained recognition from the family. He and his family may occasionally be invited to social gatherings and family parties, but they’re definitely not the centre of attraction. The twins who were now happily drowned themselves with the booze were Amiboshi, martial arts extraordinaire, and Suboshi, flute master.
“What are you guys doing here?” Chiriko asked with a disapproving look in his eyes, though he made no attempt to stop the twins finishing his expensive liquor. “There’re no parties or gatherings these days so you don’t have any reason to hang around in my house. You know my otosan feels about…”
“Yeah, yeah, we’re spawns from someone who’s the disgrace of the family, we know,” Suboshi waved Chiriko’s comment away in a bored tone. “You don’t have to remind us. We’ve got enough from your otosan ever since we’re born.”
“Yeah, you only need to hear so many times to actually be reminded by it for the rest of your life,” Amiboshi chided in. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going anywhere near that boring business life of yours.”
“I don’t expect you to,” Chiriko huffed in reply. “So what’s keeping you here?”
“Apparently your okasan has taking a liking for us,” Suboshi said. “We’ve done pretty well entertaining her guests in one of her sophisticated women’s tea party and she invited us to stay here anytime we want. Didn’t you know that? You should, you know. You’re a genius, remember?”
“You should’ve seen us in action,” Amiboshi said as he cracked his knuckles. “Suboshi’s flute music coupled with my rhythmic martial moves. They were so impressed that we were asked to do seconds. Your otosan is so busy with his outstation jobs and stuff, he didn’t even notice we’ve become regular guests in this house until one of his clients’ wife—a member of your okasan’s tea party nonetheless—mentioned about it. By then, it was too late to back out since we’ve already built a reputation over it. He had to accept our presence whether he liked it or not.”
Chiriko sighed and shook his head. Typical for his otosan to not noticed things until it was too late, just like the last few years he forgot his birthday because of his outstation job and remembering it only about a week or even a month later. He walked over to the liquor shelf to get himself another drink. It was vodka this time. He needed something stronger, what with all the goings-on these days. As expected, the twins shared drinks with him.
“Hey, these drinks don’t come cheap, you know?” Chiriko complained as he watched the twins helping themselves while he downed the strong liquor. “You may be welcomed by okasan, but you sure are not welcomed by me!”
“Come on, boy genius,” Suboshi said as he clapped Chiriko’s back. “Like it said, lighten up a little! What’s the use of having great wealth if you can’t enjoy it?”
Chiriko groaned and decided to ignore them. Amiboshi exchanged a couple of knowing mischievous looks with his twin brother before saying, “Ne, Chiri. You seemed to have something troubling you. Need any help?”
“I don’t need your help over nothing.”
“Come, come now, dear cousin,” Suboshi reached over and put his arm over his shoulder. “We know your dirty little secret, Chiri.”
“Na…Nani? What are you talking about?” Chiriko asked, his baby-cute face showing a little more than just nervousness.
“Don’t play dumb with us, Chiri,” Amiboshi joined in with his twin. “You’ve got more skeletons in your closets than any scary serial killer, my little tomodachi. You got the hicks for this little man-cat belonging to that ol’ matchmaker Tasuki, am I right?”
“Oh, you don’t have to lie to us, Chiri,” Suboshi stopped Chiriko from protesting. “It’s a well-known secret between us and we know more than you think we know. We may be musicians and martial arts practitioners, but we’ve still got the street-smart goods and the connections just like you and any of your otosan’s side of the family does. You’re in love with Chichiri, the rarest pet species in the entire planet, and you just issued a love war against this Tasuki guy who bought him away before you did. You know, I do think it’s not fair. I mean, you have all the cash in the world and you can simply pay that Mitsukake pet shop guy the full price despite a minor blind flaw, and yet Tasuki, a construction worker who earns less than you pay for your per night stay in that 7-star hotel in Scotland, was able to get away with almost a 40 percent discount because of that flaw. Does it even do any justice to our Chiri now, ottota?”
“I don’t believe it does, oni-chan,” Amiboshi shook his head in a mock expression of sympathy. Suddenly, Chiriko found himself in the middle of a conversation between twin brothers who were referring Chiriko like a third person. “You see, our cousin here has got all the money in the world, more than we do, and yet he couldn’t even buy the love of his life who he could share his wealth with. I mean, so what if that gorgeous bootilicious lil’ ol’ man-cat is a cat? He’s still half-human now, isn’t it? There’s no law saying that you cannot fall in love with a man-cat. Ignore the neko stuff and you’ll find yourself drooling over a hunk that could melt even the coldest of hearts. Hot and sizzling, don’t you agree, oni-chan?”
“I couldn’t agree more, ottota. Chiri is our most favourite cousin among our extended family. He deserves the best, and the best will be that Chichiri neko. Tasuki goes around showing off Chichiri to everyone and getting all the attention while Chiri stays here all alone in this silent home with nothing but money to accompany him, and that wasn’t even enough to cure his heartbreaking pain. Poor Chiri, standing aside there watching from afar as Tasuki gloats all over Chichiri. Did you know that Chichiri have been the one doing all the dirty work of matchmaking while Tasuki stays in his room with his feet on the table enjoying the profits and all the glory?”
“No! Really? I thought Tasuki and Chichiri are working together on this matchmaking business!”
“The only time they ever work together was when Chichiri needs help in writing letters. That’s all Tasuki does. Other than that, Chichiri is the brains behind the outfit. Now they live in a nice big house and business is booming like the jigoku world had just been put away under lock and key. By gosh, they even start dining in fancy restaurants and buying stuff he used to be unable to afford, passing off as rich people like us! Who does he think he is anyway? Some guy who thinks he can reach the top overnight without any effort whatsoever? I don’t think so! Chichiri belongs rightfully to our Chiri and we should make this right, don’t you think?”
“Matte, matte, chotto matte yo!” Chiriko immediately cut in to the conversation. So far, he had been hearing words that really described how he felt about the whole deal and he had to admit, though the truth hurts, it’s still the truth and he couldn’t deny it. Tasuki had things way too easy and it’s about time he set things right. But when he started hearing the twins indicating that they wanted in on this deal, that was the last straw. He never wanted the twins or anyone else to get involved in anything that was his affair.
“Oh! Okairinasai,” Amiboshi said in a mock surprise tone. “I thought we lost in our plan to retrieve Chichiri.”
“I don’t remember asking for your help! I don’t remember asking for favours! This is my problem, let me handle this stuff myself!”
“And look where it led you. Here! Right here drowning in your sorrow trying to come up with a plan that would not work anyway! Come, come now, dear cousin,” Suboshi said as he finished the last drop of vodka and chewed on a block of ice. “You know you need our help. You may be a boy genius but when it comes to dirty playing you know squat. You wouldn’t want to go through all those legality trying to remove that restraining order and issue a court order and everything now, do you? It’s just gonna waste your time and money, and by the time you got your order, he might have moved away or been long gone, migrated to some place even we can’t trace.”
“De…Demo…” Chiriko wanted to protest but suddenly found that he couldn’t say anything to retaliate them.
“You want something, you gotta do it the family style: go down right and dirty. After all, what are family members and money for?” Amiboshi said as he leaned so close, his lips almost touched Chiriko’s ear lobe. “Admit it, Chiri. You need us. So bad it aches in your heart. When the straight road doesn’t work, it’s time to make a detour. We’re building it right now for your taking, ne, oni-chan?”
“Hai, my dear ottota. Whaddaya say, dear cousin?” Suboshi imitated his brother leaning close to Chiriko’s ear.
Chiriko’s determined face and weakened state of mind mirrored his decision.
--:--
Tasuki was walking home after about an hour working out at a private gym. Chichiri was not into gym and exercising—he’s catty enough to stretch his body into shape, thank you very much—so he was left at home to fend for himself, doing what cats always do when they’re home alone. Tasuki was only a few blocks away from home when he was approached by two weird-looking young boys in their early pre-teens dressed in what looked like Chinese medieval warrior outfits, with bands across their heads to match. Both of them looked very much alike, except that one of them was just slightly a little bit taller than the other. They were no other than Amiboshi and Suboshi.“Konbanwa. You must be Tasuki-kun,” Suboshi said as he raised his flute close to his lips.
“Yeah? Who wants to know? The charity for the Chinese Performing Arts Association?” Tasuki asked, feeling rather weird at the twins wearing Chinese outfits when it was obvious that they looked Japanese.
“We’re here sending our regard to you from our beloved cousin,” Amiboshi replied as he revealed a weapon that looked like large lantern-like balls tied onto red rope. As soon as Suboshi started playing his flute, the ropes danced around his brother like a snake would when it hears the snake-charmer play his music. Tasuki was startled.
“Na…Nani! What the hell is that!”
“My ultimate weapon from the medieval times,” Amiboshi replied as he wound part of the ropes around his wrists. Suboshi came closer and stood behind his brother, playing the flute without missing a beat. “Charming, don’t you think? Very ancient and very authentic, like a snake. Once it hears music, it just can’t help itself, and combine with the right chi from a trained martial arts practitioner, it can be a totally deadly weapon. It could pierce through your heart without you even noticing it coming. Though I would love to satisfy its lust for blood, you’re not exactly the target we’re looking for.”
“What…What do you want?”
“Just a small reminder and a warning. The perfect greeting and thanks for looking after our cousin’s sweetheart,” Amiboshi gave him a seductive evil look as he continued playing with the ropes that levitated and danced around him.
“Ma…Masaka…?” Before Tasuki could comprehend what Amiboshi was trying to say, he felt a hard punch on his face. Blood immediately seeped through the scratches on his cheek. He turned to see the floating balls remained about its master, but the only thing different was that there was blood on one of the balls.
“Impressive, don’t you think? You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Another punch came. And another. And another. All of them moved so fast, Tasuki couldn’t see where it came from. Every time he turned he would see the bloodied balls beside Amiboshi, but when he braced himself to fight them off, he was caught off guard. More blows were aimed at his gut, his side, his forehead, his back, his legs, and everywhere else in between, yet he couldn’t detect their movements no matter how he tried. Suboshi increased the beat of the song he was playing and the weapon moved at an even faster speed, hitting Tasuki everywhere simultaneously. He could hear cracks and wondered if he had broken something. Before he knew it, he found himself on the ground, lying on his own pool of blood and twitching once in a while in pain. Suboshi stopped playing and Amiboshi’s weapon immediately slumped back into his arms, limp and lifeless. The twins walked towards Tasuki and Amiboshi gave Tasuki a nudge on his shoulder.
“Ottota,” Suboshi said warningly. “You know better than to taunt a defeated man.”
“Just testing to see if he’s still alive, oni-chan,” Amiboshi said nonchalantly. “After all, hurting him without killing was part of the deal. We don’t want our dear cousin to get into trouble now, do we?”
“You’re right. Of course not. Let’s leave and go get what we came for, brother. He’s waiting for the good news. We better deliver it. Tasuki-kun is a celebrity, and no one would leave a celebrity to die here. He’ll get help eventually.”
“Hai. I must say, oni-chan. It sure is a job well done. Your music always does the trick.”
“And so is your kung fu, ottota. Very admirable. Let’s not waste time. We’ll celebrate later back at home.”
The twins sharing a kiss were the last thing Tasuki saw before he passed out.
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