Chapter Text
“Life is dictated by the impact you leave on the world.” his mother whispered, and she was right.
“The only thing that matters is what you conquer for yourself.” his father screamed, and he too, was right.
So, as a child who aimed to please them both, what was he meant to do?
………
‘Then I’ll game the system.’
-- --- -- --- -- --- --
The stadium is filled with screaming, but what is being said pretty much boils down to:
“Shingetsu, can I get a word in?”
“Over here, over here!”
“Let me through, let me through!”
Over and over. While all trying to get their greedy hands, more akin to claws than anything resembling a human, on him.
Inwardly, Rei fights off the urge to scowl. Even in a small event like this, the media follows him like locusts. It was way past his dinner time too, and of course, some last minute hang ups had forced him to skip the meals on offer here. All he wanted to do was to tell everyone to get lost, then go home. He was just so done with everything.
But of course, that would be tremendously stupid, so Rei smiles widely and allows a random reporter to get their microphone into his face. “Sir, what did you think of tonight’s match?”
And that simple question, that cue, allows Rei to put aside part of himself in favour of the one that is most favourable to show the world. “Oh, you know I have personal bias in this, so of course this was always going to be a wonderful night.” he replies smoothly.
Obviously, that is not enough for such starved vultures, so he continues his speech, “But even putting that aside, we have to give it to our stars, for putting all they had into tonight’s fight.” he motions his arms and points to the stage, putting a lot of enthusiasm and emotion behind his voice. “A good cause truly fuels the soul!”
And because the fight really had been that good, the crowd breaks into cheers. No one calls out just how saccharine the whole thing sounds. “Mister Shingetsu, what made you decide to fund this charity boxing event, when you just made a big donation last week to Early Dementia Onset research?”
That almost makes Rei lose his composure. ‘That wasn’t meant to be public at all. Did they find out the last alias I was using? Opportunistic scoundrels.’ he grows to himself, wishing he could just shove the microphone up the other’s rear. But to the world, he merely smiles and gives the best answer possible: “I just love putting my money to good use, is all.”
An answer that would get some to roll their eyes and question his intentions. But none of these journalists can question it, given Rei’s good reputation. One that most people are willing to believe him on. At least, way more than they would do the average billionaire.
Before the reporter can get more questions in, the others struggle to get a piece of the pie themselves, and it breaks into such a chaotic mess that Rei is free to pick a few easy, average questions about the event to answer. Like that, he’s able to flawlessly wriggle out of their grasp with little more than a rumpled suit, and his patience levels sapped.
The media is so annoying. But also so easy to manipulate; their only use nowadays, really. His flawless performance, and the honesty of the stars of this match will serve their intended function of being yet another good PR move under his belt. Even if he really didn’t need one… but then again, that wasn’t the purpose of this event at all in the first place.
He can hear his father growling into his ear.
Speaking of, after he finally manages to be done with the reporters and flee to the backstage, he’s not entirely shocked by the fact that he finds himself being tackled not two seconds later, “Rei! There you are, man!” is a warning that is far too late to take heed to.
As always, Rei almost loses a lung to way too tight grasp and strong muscles, which only makes his mood sour even more. If it were anyone else, he’d be poking them in the eye for revenge.
His father nods in satisfaction.
But he just waits for things to play out as they usually do, and soon, the one tackling him is gasping himself, “Gah, my throat!” and lets go of Rei right away in favour of confronting the third party in the room. “Always with that, Gilag! Want to go for another round?” he half-teases, half-challenges.
And that’s all the revenge Rei needs to lift his mood. He’s now smiling genuinely as he watches the scene before him.
Father clenches his fists and turns away. Mother comes into the picture and smiles.
“Huh, you already beat me enough back there, thank you.” the giant man replies to his much shorter companion as he rubs the side of his face that is clearly going to be swollen tomorrow. Sometimes, Rei worries for this man’s teeth, but then again, what does he know about fighting? “But you shouldn’t handle Rei that way after he was so nice to us, and you know it.” Gilag scolds gently.
That gets Alit to blink and laugh awkwardly, “Oh, was I hurting you again?” he asks like the (loveable) idiot he is, before bowing his head in apology. “Sorry man, it’s always hard to hold back on one’s strength after going all out like that!” But the way he flexes his muscles betrays the fact he’s not really all that sorry.
It’s an amusing attitude, which makes Rei laugh in return, “I wouldn’t know, but sure.” He pats his suit back into place and straightens his back, before turning his attention to them fully. “Good work out there. I’m sure the profits from this event will bring envy to other charities.”
His words seem to light up the mood around them. “Yeah, that raccoon sanctuary is saved now! Your marketing was great!” Alit nods in agreement, then turns to the taller man and pats him one the back. “And you’re happy too, right buddy?”
For a moment, Gilag’s face falls. “I miss Ponta still.” he cries, and Rei can’t even find amusement in seeing such a burly man be so sensitive. It’s just how Gilag is, and he gets it… sorta. “But this is a great way to honour his memory. Thank you, Rei.” the other man bows deeply.
Alit chooses to return the sentiment by patting Rei on the back. “Yeah, it was just a dumb idea Gilag had while drunk, but you actually went through with it. Making it for charity and all, nice going.”
To that, Rei almost frowns. That’s right, it’s because of Gilag that he went through all of this mess. It would have been easy to just make a donation, but the real intent was to put Gilag’s mind away from the recent death of the beloved raccoon that Rei would never admit he had also been slightly fond of.
That thing always liked to watch its owner fight, be it boxing matches or dueling. He was always there when Gilag kept losing to Alit, getting little more for his training than more wounds to nurse, as if to encourage him not to give up. It felt fitting to honour him with a boxing match while his photo was plastered everywhere, as if he was still watching his owner from the beyond, even as Gilag lost yet again.
Granted, the losses never mattered to Gilag’s boxing career much, since the weight difference between himself and Alit made any ‘professional’ match involving the two of them illegal, despite Alit’s superior talent. But the competition was part of their friendship, and Ponta always reminded Gilag of that, so one last match under his eyes would remind Gilag that there was more to remember his pet by than the pain of his death. The charity angle was just so Gilag could feel something good came out of his own loss, and hopefully, the gentle giant would be able to smile genuinely once more soon.
His mother beamed with pride.
It was still a mess to put together, the media was a pain to deal with, and it took away resources from Rei’s staff. But besides making Gilag happy, it gave Rei a pretty good PR move too. And if Rei ever decided to expand the Vector Conglomerate to boxing matches as well, he had this past history with it to make the acquisition make sense. Never a bad move to leave future options open, even if it came to be due to a tragedy that one of his few friends suffered.
Mother shakes her head in disappointment.
It was an action that would please both his parents for sure, if in different ways. “If it made Gilag happy, that’s what matters.” he offers, because that is partly the truth. Mother smiles again.
The next part however… “And why not make as many people happy as you can? That is my motto, after all.” is something entirely manipulative, that is also the partial truth. Father shouts his approval from afar.
“It’s gotten me very far.” he finishes off, staring into the void as he does so.
His parents truly depart. For now, at least. Never for long.
Yes, there is nothing in that admission but pure, unadulterated truth. This motto is what made Rei be a step above everyone else: that he managed to make his parent’s conflicting teachings actually work in harmony.
The key to success that few could grasp. And one that allowed him to be truthful to himself too, no matter how impossible that seemed.
One that he would never let go off, no matter how tiring it was to follow most of the time.
Unaware of Rei’s train of thought, Alit keeps going. “Still, thanks man. Especially considering—”
Even though he stopped himself quickly, it was far too late. The mood around them shifts into an awkward one, as both Gilag and Alit are unsure of what to make of Rei’s null expression.
He’s back to being sour.
Alit eventually tries to fix things in the only way men like themselves are willing to entertain: completely ignore it and move on. “Hey, want to go somewhere after this wraps up? The night is still young. We could go pig out on crappy restaurants, or maybe pretend we’re still teenagers and play games until we faint!” he bumps his fist in the air, trying to make the idea as exciting as possible.
“Or lose it all on manly strip poker.” Gilag adds in a way only a man completely secure in his masculinity could. Unlike Alit, who’s smile turns just a bit teasing at the prospect. And Gilag is so unbothered, he just turns to Rei with excitement in his eyes as well. “I could cook too! What do you say, R—”
Rei sighs before the other can finish. “I’d love to, but sadly, I have to return home soon.” he informs with a shake of his head. “The renovations should be done and over with, but I still want to check on how they went as soon as possible. You know how I am. It’s for the best.”
And for all he rarely shows his real thoughts to the world, he does truly mean that. Nothing sounds better to cool off after such a stressful event than to mess around with two loveable idiots, who are always able to make him laugh… and don’t take offence if it’s directed at them.
Rei likes to keep few ‘actual’ friends around, but he’s still human like everyone else, and these two are it. Yet, it’s also true that he does need to get home as soon as possible… even if he left out part of the reason why.
It was close enough, so there’s no harm done.
They’ll eventually find out why anyway, and not even realize it. A notion that almost makes Rei grin on the spot. Yes, that’s enough fun to make up for the loss of rejecting their offer.
But perhaps the other two come to a different conclusion, as Alit nods rather solemnly at him. “Right.”
And it isn’t hard to guess what wrongful idea the other got… but because knowing the truth won’t be of benefit to anyone, not even in gaining future satisfaction, Rei makes no effort in correcting him. Which allows Alit to finish with a wide, but forced smile, “Okay, we’ll handle the after party in your place. But we have to meet up soon.” he laughs as he pats him on the back, minding his strength this time. “We owe you one. Tonight was fun.”
With that, he’s freed, and it seems Gilag is done as well. So Rei gives them one last time as he begins to walk away towards the back exit. “It was fun to watch you two duke it out like wild animals too. Always the best distraction.” he admits truthfully, then finishes off with a wave. “I’ll be going now. Enjoy the food for me!”
The reminder seems to be good enough for the other two to break into cheers, and that, is how Rei manages to avoid getting even more annoyed with the event. Once he’s inside his limo, he breathes a sigh of relief; one round of reporters and some hiccups with the commenters before the event began isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things, especially for the trade-off he got.
One that was selfless, and yet also brought him personal benefit, without anyone suspecting a thing… life truly is easy to rig.
His parents had been nothing but idiots to not realize something so simple.
-- --- -- --- -- --- --
Once home, Rei is pleased to find that everything is just fine. “The workers left early, but I made sure everything was up to your standard, sir.” his assistant, Takashi Todoroki, assures him as he accompanies him through the halls. “Fertile soil, reinforced glass ceiling, abundant green life arranged in a pleasing manner, with a corner to rest in order to make it an enjoyable place. To summarize, a complete conversion of what was there previously!” he lists off, clearly proud of the way everything went.
Rei nods all the way, pleased with what he hears. “Excellent. All that is left, is to replace the animals.” he mumbles, more to himself than to his assistant, though he gets an excited nod nonetheless. With that in mind, he then gives the other a judging look. “You didn’t need to wait up for me, Takashi, I would have trusted your report, and that you had kept a proper eye during construction.” he points out.
And that is true. Takashi is a rather strange person, and his degree did not give him enough credentials to perform all the tasks Rei assigned him. But, perhaps due to his time as a class representative in school, Takashi knew all about both being able to please, and to cover the shortcomings of others. Coupled with his honest nature, and there was a reason Rei trusted him to be alone in his mansion, and overlooking an important project no less.
He had a lot of downfalls, such as a lack of confidence, a weird speech quirk, and most of all, a lack of presence that hid his good points. Still, while not being friends, Rei was fond of him, and was glad he managed to scoop up such a person before the competition did. Especially since his conglomerate wasn’t in the best state when he took over… then again, debt ridden college grads were desperate, and there was a good reason for Takashi to go above and beyond besides liking his boss, at least when he first started.
So it’s no surprise that Takashi’s response is the same as it always is. “I know Sir! But it didn’t bother me to await your return, considering I couldn’t join you at the event!” he proclaimed. And that was true, but Rei also didn’t let him organize the event for this precise reason. Because he needed Takashi somewhere else.
Something he leaves out, because there’s no use for Takashi to know it.
What is more important, is the way Takashi’s face twists immediately after, and how he looks away as he cradles the folder he was holding into his chest.“Also…”
Rei almost lets out a sigh; of course his frustrations wouldn’t be done for the day. “Out with it, Takashi.” he orders, even if he already had a pretty good guess what this was about. “You know I don’t like suspense.”
The other nods, but still bites his lip with hesitation. “I know, but to ruin such a nice day…” he points out. However, when Rei gives him a look, Takashi realizes that it’s a pointless battle. “It’s her, sir.” he admits with a big sigh.
Which makes Rei feel just a bit better… at least someone else is getting sick of this too, and he can’t blame Takashi for it either. As his assistant, he deals with this almost as closely as Rei does.
“What did she do now?” he asks, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. Again, he has a pretty good guess, but you never know with crazy bitches…
Takashi rolls his eyes as he unwillingly recalls it. “To summarize, she has been using several numbers and emails to spam our company contacts.” he informs, then shrugs his shoulders. “Nothing serious, but…”
He doesn’t need to say more: the ‘for now’ is loud enough for even a deaf person to hear.
With a concerned sigh, Takashi finishes,“You should really take action against her, sir. This is getting to be too much. The media will be on your side. And woman or not, so will most of the public.”
Rei wants to grumble that Takashi is seriously underestimating her power here, and how stupid people can be in this day and age. But the rest is sound advice, coming from genuine concern, so he doesn’t have the heart to scold the other any more than he already has.
Instead, he chooses to share part of the truth with him. “That would just feed into her victim complex, Takashi. I don’t want to entertain that delusion of hers. Call me prideful, but I think you would agree that she has taken enough of that from me already.” And because, weak presence or not, Takashi is still a man, he reluctantly nods in understanding.
That’s part of what Rei likes about him too. That he’s easy to deal with. Rei only allows people like this to come close to him for a reason.
Because they’re his complete opposite.
With that conversation done, Rei finally takes the folder with the construction paperwork from Takashi, and masterfully puts the topic behind them. “Thank you for dealing with it in my stead. Make sure to compensate the poor workers assigned to those contacts. I’ll take a look at those emails later myself.”
Predictably, the other’s face falls at that last part. “Sir…”
To which Rei just smiles in return. “It is fine. I’d rather know than to be left wondering.” he assures.
Which is the truth, but so simplified, it almost makes it a lie. Almost.
Since he’s in the clear on that, he’s nothing but sincere when he pats his assistant on the back with a smile. “Take the rest of the night off, Takashi, and do not contact me tomorrow. We both deserve our days off, and I’m not the one you’re married to.”
As always, the mention of Takashi’s wife makes his eyes twinkle. Rei can’t even blame him for it, for Takashi, despite the lack of presence that surely makes most men consider him to be pathetic, was lucky enough on what really spoke to the quality of a man: a wife that would make anyone jealous, Aika. Even Rei’s parents would think so. Obviously for different reasons, but that just makes it more impressive.
So of course the man finally drops his workaholic tendencies when he’s reminded of who’s waiting for him at home. “Yes, thank you sir!” he exclaims with much enthusiasm. Yet, proving that he’s not completely whipped (and therefore much less pathetic than most men), he still remembers to finish today’s task properly. “Oh, I looked into all the places that have birds for acquisition purposes in one way or another around the area. It will be among the emails I sent you. To summarize, there aren’t many, especially not rescues. As expected.”
Since it’s nothing urgent, Rei just nods at him, “Thank you.” and waves him off. Then he turns around, waiting for Takashi’s footsteps to grow weak enough that it’s safe to mumble under his breath. “I already have someone else I trust more for that, though…”
There is no maliciousness intended there, only a statement of facts. While capable, Takashi was an assistant, instead of a CEO, for a reason.
Not bothering to follow Takashi out, he instead makes haste for what he should have focused on in the first place: the renovation he was forced to miss the final touches off.
Again, it was in its final stages, so there’s not much to scrutinize. But thinking on what once stood here, a huge pool surrounded by aquarium walls, it’s still a sight to behold: a terrarium with non native plants that will be just as costly to maintain as all the exotic fish were, but one that does its job in completely erasing what this place once stood for. In scope, they were similarly impressive as well, but it’s the stark contrast between them, water against earth, that matters here. And in this case, the soil tamed and stole space rightfully belonging to water, for once.
So it’s perfect, even if part of him will miss his pool eventually… but he can always build a smaller one in another room later. Since has even more of those available now that he’s the only actual occupant of this manor.
As it always should have been, his father would have told him if he had been alive. And for once, he would have been completely right too; even his kind mother would have to agree that the relationship Rei foolishly dove into head first, had been nothing but a mistake.
Well…
A mistake, sure, but not a meaningless one. So Rei will cut himself some slack on this one. He was still young after all, couldn’t always be 100% perfect. It’s for the best to get such silly mistakes out of the way now, rather than when he had a mid-life crisis.
With that in mind, when he finally reaches the little table and set of chairs where he hopes to spend a lot of time relaxing in the future, he fetches out his phone, searching for the emails Takashi sent him. He doesn’t even bother to open the one with the information on the last missing piece of this terrarium, living creatures to replace the last ones that he so ‘charitably’ gave to an actual aquarium, and instead goes for the gold.
Emails from his one and only ex, if he had the last say in it (and he would).
There’s at least twenty of them. Nothing to do all day it seems, despite how happy she claimed to be last time they saw each other face-to-face. And though reading them makes Rei’s heart soar in cruel satisfaction, they can all, to quote Takashi, be summarized as:
‘You monster! I know you’re the one behind this, and I won’t rest until everyone knows who you actually are! Don’t think you can just walk over me like you do with everyone else!’
He can almost even picture her face turning into a scowl, shrieking like a banshee, completely erasing any charm she once had as ‘The Siren’ to her fans. It makes him lean back and grin in satisfaction. ‘I think I can, my dear Rio Kamishiro.’ he chuckles as he stores every single email in a safe location, for both his amusement and just in case. ‘And every single action of yours proves it, my love.’
Now, if any regular person was privy to that thought, they might have pitied Rei, thinking he was just a pathetically spurned man who had no other way to cope but to find pleasure in the fact that he clearly never left the mind of his now ex.
But if anyone could, by either sheer wisdom, or perhaps even magic, peel back all his layers and see his soul… they would find nothing but hatred and contempt in that thought.
Like it had always been from the second he began to date her. Years before, even.
Which is why, though this matter can also be annoying, Rei makes no actual move to stop her blubbering. Especially not on the social media platform he owns, which is conveniently the biggest one currently (of course). It is to avoid feeding into her delusions, and to make her look like a fool to the world, sure.
But it’s also because, like this, he can continue to play with her. Which was part of his goal from the very start, and now that the other half of his goal is complete… it’s the only thing he has left.
He’s an orphan, is in no hurry to pretend to make a family in order to create an heir, no current worries now that his business is doing well, and no true passion to keep him busy. This is one of the few things he has to occupy his mind, and if he just allows it to influence his decision making a bit too much…
Rei is still young, and he’s already better than his parents. That’s better than most idiots on this planet will ever achieve. So let him have this.
With that in mind, he decides it’s time to come to a decision on the last part of this petty act of erasing the good memories Rio Kamishiro had of this mansion, and texts a certain someone he would never hire as an assistant, but whom he trusts just as much as Takashi.
‘Is the hearsay going around about that store true?’ he opens simply, for the other needs no pleasantries before getting to business… and having fun.
Of course he gets a reply right away, since the other works better at night. ‘For certain, ura! It’s where everyone of any worth are getting their exotic animals from!’
Rei almost laughs at the fact he knows two people with a speech quirk, ones that were likely to argue with each other should they ever met, but had enough similarities that they would be great friends anyway.
But that’s for another lifetime… in this lifetime, Tokunosuke Ometeura is his contact, and he just loves writing long replies that force Rei to wait around long enough for his thoughts to wander. ‘I can’t find much about it, except that the owner is a weirdo. Exorbitant prices are a given, but people are strangely hush-hush about the animals they purchase there. Which is doubly weird, for clientele who usually lives to show off… probably something sketchy about the whole thing, ura.’
Rei takes a moment to think on it… nothing he already didn’t know, but if Tokunosuke couldn’t manage to find anything concrete, then it confirmed that Rei wouldn’t either. This was the only intel he had to go on, and he had to admit… Tokunosuke was right that there had to be something off about this place.
But if a little danger scared Rei, his company would have gone bankrupt, so he makes a decision pretty quickly. ‘As befitting of our status then.’
He means that in many ways. But as always, he doesn’t need to spell it out for Tokunosuke, who replies right away. ‘You got it. Tell me if you find anything juicy, ura!’
Rei doesn’t reply. Tokunosuke will assume that meant a yes, and Rei is free to keep his findings to himself, should he want to. It’s for the best.
For his benefit, or Tokunosuke’s, who knows. The answer will change depending on which is more favourable to him, and that is dependent on the outcome of his visit to this place… another way that life is easy to manipulate.
With all that done, he should retire for the night. Like he told Takashi, tomorrow is his day off, and it was a very tiring day, in a very long week, in a completely exhausting decade.
But because Rei is still young, and those emails weren’t nearly enough excitement for the day, he instead texts his driver, and exits the mansion once more. He did, after all, reject the manly bros’ offer to hang out precisely because he knew this would happen.
He can justify himself with the fact that getting this done will mean that tomorrow will truly be a day with no responsibility anyway.
-- --- -- --- -- --- --
It is a spring night like any other, with as much activity as any other weekday at this hour, with the same sights as always, with a ride as blasé as expected.
As if to match just how ordinary this all feels, there is nothing too strange about the pet store either, other than the lack of any advertising that would identify it as a store in the first place. A singly sign by the door, bland, almost blending in with the buildings around it.
But as anyone truly rich knows, the best places are the ones that don’t need to advertise to attract an audience. Just like the best fancy restaurants actually focus on a casual atmosphere and trusting the chef, rather than on putting on a show and giving out menus, just like a car dealer knows a guy in a suit is actually completely broke, and the guy in khakis is the one who can afford the show cars, but will opt for something more reliable.
People who had something to prove, from the nouveau riche to the attention starved, were the ones who cared about such pathetic shows.
And no matter the state of the conglomerate when Rei took over, he was none of those things.
So, it’s with that in mind, that he takes one last look at ‘ Barian ’, so unassuming and quiet, but he knows is still open at this late hour… and leaves his limo, intent on seeing this t hrough, regardless of how shady this all was.
Because Rei was still human, no matter how outstanding he thought himself to be, he couldn’t possibly know how much that single decision would affect his life. Much more than choosing to date Rio Kamishiro ever could have.