(MC POV)
"Aniue… I knew you were cool before… But I never knew Aniue was this cool..." Tsuki muttered, cuddling even closer to me and burying her head in between my bosoms.
??
Ok, stop. I'm seriously worrying about you now, you know? I don't see how any part of that is cool at all.
Ok, maybe some of it was pretty cool especially the last quip before he shot that guy, but still...
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the next memory started off with me seated in a dimly lit room while facing a group of really shady people.
Seated across the table from the other me were two well dressed men and a woman, all of them giving off the aura of a yakuza if that makes any sense.
Or maybe that's just because of the location?
I mean, we are in a rather dark room after all, which is the standard for all bad guy meetings, right?
That's also kind of ignoring the fact that they were staring at a seventeen year old across from them quite intensely.
I'm still wondering how the police didn't get involved in that massacre?
"So… You're the brat that took out the Hatake Family huh?" A tall and lanky bespectacled man that looked more at home sitting in front of a fireplace reading a book than this dark room asked.
Another man with the physique of a bodybuilder scoffed, "Ha! Bunch of spineless fools getting screwed over by a bunch of kids! I knew they weren't worth anything from the start!"
A woman wearing what looks like a silk kimono with a smoking pipe in her hand leaned back on her chair, "So… There must be a reason why you begged to meet us, right boy?"
The younger me smiled, "I know the Hatake Family handled your goods transportations for the past twenty years, including acting as your runners for your business fronts. But they have been doing a subpar job up until around ten years ago, am I correct?"
The skinny man pushed up his glasses, "What are you trying to get at, brat?"
"You might like to know that I was recruited into the Hatake Family twelve years ago. I was first tasked with helping them manage their accounts and creating new avenues for them to earn revenue."
The woman took a whiff of her smoking pipe before leaning forward, "So it's you… The one who made all those small gambling dens pop up ten years ago. How old were you?"
The younger me smirked, "At that time? Seven. Took me two years for them to trust me enough and let me handle more parts of the business. Which eventually led me to handling the transport of goods for you three as well as the other clans in the area."
The big man crossed his arms, "You can't be expecting us to believe that a brat like you came up with all that, do you?"
"Oh, I do. I was the one who made the arrangement to have your batches be distributed in the northern part of Kabukicho instead of the south like you had wanted. Do I need to quote the exact percentage increase in your sales or reiterate what happened in the south?"
The big man turned to his other two companions who were watching him carefully.
Of course he had told them he was earning less than he actually was and the other two could smell the blood on the water.
He turned to look at me with gritted teeth, "No need, I believe you."
The spectacled man regarded me carefully, "So… I take it you're some kind of prodigy to be able to do all this at your age. I'm pretty sure you can find success in any other field you might choose to pursue, why are you here then? We wouldn't have known you existed before you showed up here telling us you got rid of them."
The other me raised his hand and Hiroto stepped out of the shadows to hand me three folders which I passed out to each of the three yakuza.
"I'm not stupid, Kashima-dono. Your Kashima Family would have tracked the perpetrators who inconvenienced you down just to send a message. I have no intention of inconveniencing any of you but I'm just here to tell you that Hatake Family is no more and the area is under new management. Those are the new terms that we will be operating on now."
Neither Tsuki nor I could see what was written on those documents but judging by the slight smiles on their faces, it should have been quite beneficial to them.
The woman waved her document in the air, "I don't understand. This is extremely good for all of us. Why did you not implement this from your time with the Hatake Family?"
"I think everyone here knows how selfish they are, yes? Did you really expect they wouldn't try to take advantage of others no matter how small it might be?"
The glasses man shook his head, "No, you could have just presented the same terms that the Hatake Family did to us and we might have accepted it too. Instead you're giving up quite a lot aren't you? Is this your attempt to buy sympathy from us?"
The other me shrugged, "I'm sure none of you are feeling especially happy about doing business with someone less than half your experience and age in this business, so take that as an indication of my honesty to continue doing business with all of you. I can assure you that if we cooperate, profits will fill your pockets quickly and we may even take over Kabukicho's underground trade in the future."
The muscled man barked out a laugh, "Ha! Confident aren't you, you brat? Fine! You're already better than that spineless patriarch of the Hatake Family anyway. If you can make things better than before, I see no reason not to continue business as usual. I'm in."
The woman puffed on her pipe before nodding her head, "I would also be foolish if I were to reject such an enticing offer as well. Looking forward to working with you, handsome~"
Somehow hearing her say that brought a shiver down my spine.
The spectacled man considered for a moment, "I take it you intend to continue your business with the other smaller clans in the area too?"
Younger me nodded an affirmative, "That is the plan, yes. I already expect a few of them to reject the offer or resist us but it's not a problem since they would eventually cave in. I predict in less than a month, everything will be back to normal."
"How frightening… In that case, you have the Kashima Family's support as well. Do not squander it."
We stood up and shook hands, sealing the deal.
Still kind of looks weird considering the other me looks significantly younger than the other three.
"Aniue… Too cool…" Tsuki whispered.
Seriously, Tsuki… At this point I'm sure even if I were to trip, fall on the ground and get myself splattered with mud while a dog takes a piss on me, you'd still say it's cool of me to do that.
Is there anything that I can do without her thinking I'm cool?