Page 29 of Who Said Mobsters Were Scary?
I rub my temples as my brain processes what he just said. So, he doesn’t work for the mafia group. Nah, that would be too vanilla. He’s Boss Jr. Got it.
“Of course he’s gotta be the boss’ son, Leo. Why the fuck not? It’s not like you’veeverbeen lucky. Why half-ass it when you can go the full mile, right?” I mutter to myself, sighing.
“We can go check,” Chai says, grabbing a branch and pulling himself up to his feet.
“Huh?”
He offers me his hand. “The shrine. Whoever was after you can’t be that far. Let’s go.”
I hesitate for a moment before I accept his help. My left hip and shoulder complain as I stand up, but the bearable levels of pain tell me it’s nothing serious. Shaking off soil and leaves, I run a hand through my hair to get it out of my face.
“I think you need a shower,” Chai throws at me, flashing me a smile he barely stops from turning into a grin.
I can’t help but stare at his face and the way it sort of relaxes and opens up with the quirk of his mouth. He loses that hardass don’t-piss-me-off demeanor he seems to exude in public, and suddenly feels more approachable. Like someone I could go up to in the street and chat up about movies or video games.
Or someone you could rub against in the middle of a packed club.
My heart skips a beat, but I don’t let it get too excited, tearing my gaze away from him before my cheeks have caught fire.
“Let’s go,” I clip and brush past him.
He catches up and takes the lead. We are quiet on the way up. Alert. Listening for anything out of place, looking out for moving shadows. The shrine is still and eerie at the top, undisturbed. When we finish checking, we return to the stone wall and sit on it. I realize I left the envelope with the contract there as Chai takes out his phone.
“Hey. Did you see anyone come down the hill in the past fifteen minutes? Yeah… No, in the woods. No. No… I didn’t! Yes!” He looks up at the sky and rolls his eyes. “Yes. I promise. Iambehaving! I won’t be long.”
He continues in Japanese, making me wonder why he spoke in English in the first place. For my benefit? I’ve no idea what he’s saying now, but his quick and clipped tone makes it sound like he might be getting scolded.
A couple of minutes later, he hangs up and turns to me, looking sheepish as he catches me staring with a smile.
“We didn’t see anyone on the way up and Aran confirmed no one came down the stairs.”
“Aran? Didn’t he leave?” I accuse, drawing my eyebrows together.
Chai clears his throat, his eyes shimmering. “He’s with the car at the base of the hill. I told him to wait until you went back to your dorms. When you didn’t after your friend left, I decided to check on you.”
He’s weird. I’d get angry at him and his stalker tendencies, but I’m also glad. If he hadn’t been there, I’d be in the hospital for sure. Plus, I’m curious. If both us and Aran didn’t see anyone come off the shrine hill, then who or what did I see earlier?
“I’m positive there was someone.” I say more so to myself than Chai. But then again, they also didn’t answer when I called out. “Did I fucking imagine it?”
“There is a rumor…” Chai starts, swiveling around so he’s facing me. He’s taken off his suit vest and undone the top buttons of his dress shirt, giving me a rather good idea of his powerful and lean physique. He’s definitely as fit as I am, with shoulders a little narrower than mine.
“A rumor?” I prompt him to continue, trying and failing to prevent my eyes from straying to the expanse of skin his open collar offers. There is a smudge of soil or mud on his right clavicle.
“Yeah. That this place is haunted. There were a lot of battles in this area during the Sengoku Period. Lots of death, too. It’s why the locals rarely come here at night.”
I shiver involuntarily. I don’t really believe in ghosts or supernatural stuff, but if no other person was here but me, then maybe I should reconsider that.
“Chai. Let me get this straight. Are you suggesting I saw aghost?”Does he believe in them?
He considers my question for a few moments, fumbling with the envelope sitting between us. “I’m not. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard.”
“I think I’ll stick to having imagined it.”
He hums and goes silent. His eyes are trained on the letter though, so I know exactly what he’s about to ask me before he even voices it. I also remember that I never got to read through the rest of the contract, so I have no clue how much he actually knows about my circumstances before coming here. If there was a mention of my prior job though, it’s not nothing.
“I’m still not interested,” I say, folding my arms.
Chai blinks in confusion. “Did you read all of it?”
