An Unexpected Leasing

[Pancakes]

Daichi was waiting on the landing platform. He never had much caring when he was contacted to deal with a delicate matter by one syndicate or anther, but he knew better than to ask questions. The Hanáchi boss would have anther enforcer up after his behinds if he messed it up even just a bit. Not that he ever did, he was a very calculated man.

He was given clear instructions to make sure that this outside contractor is getting all that he needs to seal some database hacking that was done, and moreover to make sure that whatever information he sees stays where it should be.


He saw the transport descending through the terminal glass window and stepped outside to the landing pads.

"Konnichiwa. I am Daichi Matsumada, I will be here to assist you with whatever you need, even with your... health-care issues. Whatever arise you should tell it to me"

Yoshida nodded and followed Daichi into the terminal where a hover car awaited them. They both stepped inside and within the confines of the dark windows Daichi handed him a small cigar box Yoshida was puzzled " Thank you for the gesture, but I doubt I will smoke these..."
Daichi shook his head in disagreement "Open it up, it's not your... traditional tobacco"

Yoshida opened it up and saw that the cigars were filled with orange powder, he knew exactly what it is and not much more was needed to say.
"We are now flying to your apartment, you will find you have all you need including an uplink to the Hanáchi mainframe, needless to say whatever information you find there - you will keep your mouth shut, I have no issues killing you if something were to happen to that data, but there are worse than me and worse than death, trust me on the matter"

Yoshida wasn't moved by the notion, he didn't expect anything else from a cruel mafia syndicate, but yet there was something disturbing about the trivial way Daichi told it to him.

As they arrived in the apartment, he found it had all the basic things he needed, and even a private hailer that he could use to contact the building's staff if he needed anything ordinary, and contact Daichi for anything out of the ordinary.

It didn't take him long to find out the hacking method into the database and seal the breach, adding more defenses to the Hanáchi database, however finding the culprit behind the hacking proved rough. There were little to no traces left behind and that was his main job, the Hanáchi syndicate had data to recover and matters to settle down, after a year of work he managed to narrow the options down and it was evident that it was the doing of anther Hogosha syndicate, perhaps a rival, or even more likely in this business - an ally.

Anther 8 months has gone by, he was close to cracking it down when he heard a knock on his door. It was Daichi. Even after nearly 2 years in the apartment he was always wary when someone knocked on the door. "Konnichiwa, Daichi-san." He grue fund of the young man, though he'd wouldn't call him a friend exactly, but definitely fund of.
"Konbanwa Tyoshi-san, brought you a new box of cigars oh and some coffee"
Daichi often spent long times in his apartment, at first he was certain it was to keep an eye on him, but Yoshida hacked the local CCTV and followed Daichi around in his 2nd week at the place, he concluded it was done just because he was likely without anything better to do, maybe Daichi considered him a friend, he did not know and at the moment did not care.

A week passed and he managed to pin it down. It was a very small allied syndicate, probably they planned to take over the Hanáchi business once they fell. He reported it to Daichi who passed it on, and started packing as his job was complete. In the same evening he read about a terrible fire that consumed a local business and with it poor 100 civilians that were trapped inside, he knew better than to ask questions.

He heard loud knocking on his door a day later. It was Daichi and he was all sweaty and nervous "Pack it up, you are leaving, now." Yoshida looked very puzzled, but he did as he asked and followed Daichi into a small unfamiliar hovercar "They are going to kill you, you've seen too much, I volunteered to do it" he pointed at the back seat, Yoshida saw a corpse looking just like him. "We need to give you a face change, and, well you might not like it, but switch your blood"
He took Yoshida to a black market face surgeon, not too different from the one who Yoshida took the original surgery at "Any special request, or should I go wild with my imagination?" Yoshida handed him an old photograph of himself "I want to look like that"
A day later, Yoshida was on a transport back to Liberty, his money safe with him in a remote account away from Hanáchi clutches, he'll have to go and retrieve it though. This will take him a few more months of his life, surely.