Work Text:
The monotony of Kento Nanami's office job and his realization at the inherent unfairness of the system, drove him to murder.
Nanami planned it like a work project. He accounted for every detail, every possible outcome, and then executed the board of directors in the time it took a younger associate to retrieve tea and coffee.
The only thing he hadn't accounted for?
How easy it had been.
The police didn't give him a second glance when they started looking for suspects. After all, the assumption was that the murderer held a grudge and wanted to get out of work. Nanami was, by all accounts, a model employee, and often stayed late.
Nanami got laid off with a fine severance package, and the company folded shortly after, unable to shake its reputation as the site of an unsolved mass murder or fill the vacuum left by such a massive loss of leadership.
Of course, it eventually came back and reincorporated under a new name and location, ultimately undoing all of his hard work, but it just made Nanami want to refine his technique and try again.
---
At his next job, Nanami picked off upper management one by one over the course of a few months through a variety of means: A mugging gone wrong after a night out, an unfortunate tumble down multiple flights of stairs in a parking garage with malfunctioning CCTV.
However, he considered his personal masterpiece to be tossing the CEO off the balcony of his fancy highrise apartment. The guards hadn't seen Nanami coming or going.
It allowed Nanami to engage his creativity, refine and hone the abilities he'd been born with but never fully understood.
After all, there were so many capitalists to send to hell, and so little time to do so.
If only I didn't have to work to keep existing, Nanami thought.
---
One day as Nanami clocked out of work and started his long trek back to his apartment, he realized someone was tailing him. The man wore glasses and a nondescript black suit, but his face was pinched and hardened in a way that suggested a high level of stress.
An investigator? Have they finally caught onto me?
Nanami allowed the man to catch up to him.
No. Even though it's plain, that suit is custom tailored and high dollar.
Organized crime, then.
The man approached, checked to make sure no one else was around, and handed Nanami an envelope.
"My name is Kiyotaka Ijichi, and I'm here on behalf of my boss. He's taken an interest in your...hobby and wants to speak with you."
"Don't I get a say in-" Nanami stopped when he turned the envelope over and caught sight of the purple seal, and the symbol on it.
The Gojo Clan, he thought as he swallowed.
"He's made dinner reservations for Friday at 7:00 sharp. Also, you'll need to stop by the tailor shop in the letter and get a new suit. It's already paid for. I strongly suggest you do as he requests." The man gave him a wave and walked away.
Have I caught.../his/ attention? Nanami thought. Surely the man they call the Shogun of Curses wouldn't bother with someone like me…
Right?
---
Nanami arrived at the restaurant and held out the letter to the maitre'd, trying to contain his resentment at the opulence and sheer waste he saw before him.
He felt like a spy because at the moment, he looked like one of them, dressed in a dark blue suit, everything perfectly coordinated and expensive, though he didn't know the exact cost.
I bet the menu doesn't even have prices on it, he thought as the man led him back to a VIP area with a couple of guards outside the entrance.
Nanami ended up seated across from the most...arresting man he'd seen in his life; white hair like freshly fallen snow, eyes like a summer sky. Smile like an intricate knife, beautiful but deadly all the same.
"Kento Nanami. I'm so glad you made it! I'm a big fan of your work. You should already know who I am," he said with a wink.
"Satoru Gojo-san. A pleasure."
"Please, just Satoru," he said as he offered a wine menu to Nanami. "Order whatever you want. My treat."
As Nanami suspected, the menu contained descriptions of the dishes with no mention of price, as did the wine menu. He ordered red wine and Kobe beef steak, graded A5.
If he's paying for it, I might as well, Nanami thought. It's not like I'll ever get another opportunity to try such a delicacy.
Gojo sat up and pushed a hand through his hair. "Now that's out of the way, we can talk business for a minute."
"What use does someone of your power and stature have for someone like me?"
Gojo ran a long finger around the edge of his water glass.
"Power isn't a single show of force that scatters your enemies. Eventually, they forget the show, forget their fear, and scurry back to oppose you again. You're useful because you've learned this lesson already. It's about instilling fear and causing a constant atmosphere of unease, which you've done perfectly...Salaryman Slayer."
"Is that what they've taken to calling me?" Nanami asked as he took a sip of his wine. To his chagrin, it tasted extremely good. "If they're referring to my victims, that's such a misnomer. Upper management live in an entirely different world from the average salaryman. I make a point not to harm normal people."
"Oh I understand, and I feel the same way," Gojo said with a shrug. "I'm powerful enough to end life on this planet ten times over if I want and become God of my own little world, but it's the mundane things that make life worth living. Sweets, terrible movies, watching people at the train station just go about their lives...I would miss it too much."
"You sure enjoy the sound of your own voice," Nanami replied, before he remembered who he was talking to.
Those unsettling blue eyes locked on him. Nanami took a drink of wine, regretting just a tiny bit he wouldn't get to taste that expensive steak after all…
And then Gojo started laughing. It was a beautiful sound, in no small part due to the relief Nanami felt because of it.
"Oh, this is refreshing," Gojo said as he wiped a tear from his eye. "No one's talked back to me like that in ages. They're all too afraid! Think I'm not human or something I guess."
Nanami swallowed his mouthful of wine, grateful that it wasn't his last. "But underneath all the power, you are just a person like everyone else."
"We'll, I'm glad to have met someone who sees that," Gojo said, still smiling.
Their food arrived, and as Nanami popped the first bite of steak into his mouth, he let out a small noise of contentment.
"Can I try some?" Gojo asked.
"Of course." Nanami cut a small piece and went to put it on Gojo's plate, but Gojo ate it off the fork instead.
"Mmm, it is good! Here, try some of my salmon!" He held out his fork for Nanami, who took the offered bite.
"That is lovely," he muttered to himself, earning another laugh from Gojo.
When the meal concluded (after the most decadent chocolate cake Nanami had ever tasted) Gojo stood and held out his hand to Nanami.
"Want to go back to my place and discuss the good stuff?" he asked.
Nanami nodded and took Gojo's hand.
---
The "discussion" lasted until the next morning, when Nanami walked out of Gojo's surprisingly simple apartment in his now-rumpled new suit.
("I want you to help me destroy my wretched portion of the world," Gojo said, draped in nothing but the soft blue sheets of his bed. "Which will in turn help you with your goals."
"Then do we have to stop what we're doing?" Nanami asked.
"Of course not," Gojo said as he trailed a hand across Nanami's bare chest. "Nothing wrong with getting to know each other better, right?"
"How do I know you won't stray from the plan?"
"If there comes a time where I no longer abide by our goals, feel free to kill me too. I trust you to make that call.")
Nanami called his job and asked to be put through to his manager.
"This is Kento Nanami. Fuck you, I quit."
He hung up and watched the sunrise over the city.
A small grin widened into a large one, with teeth. Satoru Gojo had given him a means to fulfill his true purpose that let Nanami loose his power on those he hated most.
And the best part of all?
He no longer needed to work. Between Nanami's savings and Gojo's offer of financial backing, he could apply himself to the task at hand with all the attention and care such a task deserved.
It was time to start.
---