What happens when you miss a deadline....

The ground floor of Sky Pierce tower was surprisingly calm for a mafia’s base of operations. Perhaps it was the fact it was meant to be disguised as an official company’s headquarters, or that the weather was incredibly unwelcoming nowadays, but there was a dreary silence throughout most of the tower’s lower floors, particularly the entrance.

With what was going both inside and outside, it was understandable that the two guards who had been chatting in the entrance were surprised to see a woman walk into the building. They exchanged looks as she explained her arrival, and one of them, a young, brown-haired male with two small horns poking from his haid, scratched his bearded chin wonderingly.

“Yeah, the supervisor mentioned something about expecting a visitor... but there wasn’t anything about meeting with the boss. I’ll have to check-“

“There won’t be any need for that,” a sudden voice from inside the lobby cut off the guard, following a set of footsteps that echoed through the floor. The two guards turned around, stiffening up slightly at the sight of who it was.

Zora might’ve been able to recognize the man from his honey-filled voice already, but if not then his face was likely a dead giveaway as Kakeru approached the trio.

Today, he was dressed in a neat black suit, ditching both the hat and the coat given they were indoors. Like that, he could pass off as any normal businessman, perhaps save for the bandages that still poked out of the edges of his suit.

He gave everyone a soft smile, and patted the two guards on their shoulders.

“You’re both doing a splendid job, but I’ll take it from here,” he told them, and they both simply nodded before letting Zora pass through.

Aisuke turned his gaze towards her, his smile taking a slightly mischievous turn. “It’s a pleasure to see you, Miss Del Bosque,” he told her sincerely, giving a slight bow. “I do hope you’ve been well.”

Before she could say anything in response, he silenced her with a finger to her lips. “Oh, where are my manners? We shouldn’t be talking over here. Let me show you to my office.”

With that he turned around, making his way towards the elevator under the assumption she would follow suit.

Standing before the elevator, Kakeru inputted his desired floor - in this case, the top floor - into the control panel. A short beep came from the panel's speaker, followed by a robotic voice declaring that the floor was restricted, and would require further authorization to access. Aisuke simply placed his thumb upon a small black scanner in response, and with another beep, the elevator doors slid open - not before greeting Aisuke with a "Access granted. Welcome, Mr. Yuuto."

While the pair rode up the elevator, Kakeru was certain he would be the only one attempting to strike up a conversation after the impression he must've left on her following their first meeting. However, to his surprise, a few moments into the royalty free elevator music that played in the moving contraption, Zoraida had instigated some small talk.

"Is that so?" he asked in fake wonder. Of course he already knew as much - he did (or more accurately, his underlings did) his research on her before he approached her the first time. "It's a lovely area. Suited for a lovely lady," he added, giving her an extremely unsubtle wink.

The elevator didn't take too long to arrive at the peak of the tower. The doors slid open to reveal a set of tall doors, Japanese writing burnt across the wood. In the center, proudly emblazoned in gold, was the symbol of the Kaminari-kai.

Strangely, despite this clearly being the boss' office, no guards were in sight. The only thing that seemed to be protecting the room were the grandiose double doors.

Striding over to the doors, Kakeru pushed them open with surprising ease for their size.

The office was fairly extravagant in itself, albeit a bit empty due to its spaciousness. The walls were covered in intricate Japanese murals displaying various scenes, primarily those of mythological creatures, and a red and gold carpet sprawled all the way from the entrance to the glass wall on the other side. Throughout the room, there were a few decorations such as a small bonsai or a set of ornamental Japanese blades, but the other than those the only thing of note in the room was the desk at the end.

Aisuke made his way over to his desk, where a tea set awaited his arrival. "Come in! Have a seat," he prompted Zoraida, pulling a chair out for her and placing it in front of the desk. "As promised, I prepared tea. Hopefully green is alright?" he added as he began pouring two cups of warm tea from the kettle.

Once the pleasantries were over with, he went and sat down in his own chair. "Now, with all that behind us..." he began, his voice becoming chilled over as he laced his hands together and placed his chin onto them. "You said you have business to discuss. And as hopeful as I'd like to be, I can only presume you're not coming to pay your full debt."

Whilst Zora spoke, Kakeru brought his cup over to his lips and took a quiet but drawn-out sip of the tea, savoring the bittersweet taste of it as he only half-listened to what the woman was saying. He didn't put the cup down even once she was done speaking - simply continued to drink as though he were alone.

When he finally placed it down, he let out a pleasant sigh before looking at Zoraida once more. "Miss Del Bosque... Please don't insult my intelligence," he told her firmly, his eyes glaring daggers despite the smile that remained on his face. "You're telling me you came here just so you could tell me again that all you're willing to pay is about half the debt, even though I made it perfectly clear that isn't something I can accept?"

Aisuke paused, letting her say what she will in response to that, then continued to say, "You're a... well-endowed woman, and I can imagine you're fairly busy." From his tone, it seemed he meant "well-endowed" in more way than one. "Do you really have time to waste on stubbornly repeating the same thing like a broken record?"

Kakeru had been suspicious ever since she called him after the deadline - after the time he had clarified they would no longer be having a peaceful negotiation - and willingly offered to come to meet in a place of his choosing. If she just wanted to convince him to accept the original amount, she most certainly wouldn't meet him face to face.

He then leaned forward, shortening the distance between them to show that he wasn't playing around anymore. "I'm a busy man, and you a busy woman. So let's cut to the chase... what's the purpose of your visit?"

Something fishy was going down, that much Kakeru knew for certain. He wasn't dumb, and neither was Zora, so he figured she wouldn't come alone to a meeting at a place of his choosing after the "promise" he made to her regarding her safety.

What he hadn't been expecting, however, was for a person to materialize out of thin air in place of Zoraida. More than being afraid of the fact this man had managed to get past security, Aisuke was curious, lifting a questioning eyebrow.

Was this individual supposed to be intimidating? The way he spoke made it seem so, but... it was difficult to feel that way given the fact he could see his own wondering reflection in the guy's helmet.

After the brief mixture of confusion and intrigue passed, Kakeru through Broen his signature charming, slightly villainous smile. "Oh, I wasn't planning on getting up. But it'd be impolite if the host were the only one sitting down, don't you think? Seeing as my... previous negotiator has decided to vanish, I don't think she'd mind if you took her seat."

The bandaged man took another sip of his tea, seemingly unfazed by the intruder. "Ah, where are my manners?" he added as he put the cup down. "How about some tea? Your friend doesn't seem to have touched hers, and it's still warm." He watched Broen, continuing after a few moments regardless of whether or not he chose to take up either of his offers.

"Seeing as you seem fairly upset over Miss Del Bosque's current situation, I imagine you're fairly close to her. I assume you're her... boyfriend?" he questioned, making leisurely conversation despite the tension. "Well, either way, save your breath. I've already stated I won't take anything but the full debt, and on top of that, the time to negotiate is over."

"Unless you have a particularly tempting offer, this conversation is already done. Or... did you come here in hopes of threatening me?" Kakeru narrowed his eyes at Broen, gauging his reaction.

Hearing the clinking of the metallic coins against his desk, Kakeru tensed up momentarily. He had expected something else to come out of that clenched hand: perhaps some kind of microexplosives, or really anything supernatural that would be a threat. given the island they were on.

But pennies? What was Broen's game? Was it just for the sake of that oneliner-

Aisuke had a split second to react as the seemingly harmless chunks of metal suddenly became energy packed, high velocity projectiles. He just barely managed to open a small rift between himself and the table, swallowing the pennies that flew straight for his head and other vital points.

The rest of the pennies, though, were able to make contact with his body, or whiz past and shatter the window behind him. He was left with some nasty cuts along his arms, shoulders and even a few on his cheeks, as well as a couple coin slots that made him look like a vending machine.

Perhaps he should've been howling in pain, given that there were now a significant amount of coins embedded in his body, but as the rift disappeared, only a snicker left his mouth.

"That was dirty, that," he said with a tone that sounded entertained. "I like it."

Despite his injuries, Kakeru leapt from his seat with unnatural speed, grabbing the ceramic tea pot as he did and hurling it at Broen's head. Boiling tea came splashing out as it flew, and the object would shatter against his helmet if he didn't move out of the way or block it. At the same time, Kakeru stepped onto the desk, throwing his other hand in a fist towards Broen's chest.