Chapter 18: The Ugly Truth.
Amanika Koji-fifth heir of the Amanika Electronics Group.
A man both feared and respected.
Unlike his siblings, Koji was born without the burdens of hesitation. He didn't blink before cutting off employees who underperformed. To some, he was merciless. To others, he was just.
They called him the "Expressionless King."
Cold. Calculated. Efficient.
But that was the public image. The world outside the Amanika household didn't see the man who abandoned his wealth for love. They didn't know what Rukia meant to him.
She was once Chabashira Rukia, the woman who stood by him when he was just a man with iron principles and empty pockets. She was the rain that softened the clay in his heart, the root that grew where everything else died. And when his family gave him a cruel choice-"Stay without her or leave with her" he chose her.
And with her, he built a life from scratch.
Koji worked. Rukia studied law. They lived in a one-room apartment and survived on one meal a day. But they endured.
Together, they rose again.
Their reward? Two daughters-Miko and Nino. Miko was elegance and maturity. Nino, childlike and untamed. But both were the light of Koji's hollow world.
And that's what made the phone call unbearable.
Koji was at his desk, adjusting data for an upcoming international deal, when his daughter's name flashed across the screen.
He smiled faintly.
But the voice that came through wasn't hers.
‹Come... get your daughter. Make sure to bring 10 million or else I will shot her in the head.› Came from a quiet voice.
"Wait, who-?"
*Click!*
Silence.
Then a message:
«Unknown»: Don't involve the police. I know it's cliché. But don't. Your daughter's already suffering. Don't make it worse.
Koji's fingers clenched. But he didn't panic.
He called the one person who always acted in the shadows for him.
Iruma.
His younger brother. An intelligence officer with decades of black-ops experience. Calm, strategic, and above all, loyal.
Koji didn't hesitate. Within fifteen minutes, they were both in motion.
•••••
Meanwhile, Rukia-Nino's mother- was at her law office.
She was one of the most formidable legal minds in the region-a woman who had learned to spot lies from how someone held a cup of tea.
She'd been betrayed before. She'd been laughed at, used, even publicly mocked in her youth for helping others. But she never stopped. She just learned to look harder.
When she noticed subtle changes in her daughter-Nino texting late, humming unfamiliar songs, daydreaming in the middle of dinner-she knew.
She's in love, Rukia had thought.
It was the innocent sort of change-the kind that made Rukia nostalgic.
That's why she smiled when her phone rang. Nino always had stories.
But what she heard shattered her rhythm.
‹Come to the east side of Mount Takao. Don't bring the cops. I know the line is overused. But really-don't.› Spoke a calm, sweet voice.
"Who the hell are yo-!?"
Click.
Her assistant, Maki, stepped into the room but froze when she saw her boss grab her keys in a blur of panic.
"Hold my schedule, Maki. I'm going."
"On it!"
••••••
Mount Takao. Late evening.
Koji and Iruma's car pulled up behind a roadside barrier.
There, collapsed but conscious, was Miyamoto, Koji's trusted retainer.
Water was splashed on his face. He came to, gasping and frantic.
"Where is she?! Where's Miss Amanika?!"
Iruma checked his weapon-disarmed. No point. Not when the enemy was a [Source] user.
They all arrived in silence, and then came a surprise neither Koji nor Iruma expected:
Rukia's car pulled up.
She slammed the door and glared at them both. "You two were going to leave me out of this?!"
Koji didn't answer. His eyes were steel, staring ahead.
They had no idea what they were walking into.
Then came 'Aqua'.
He stepped out casually, chewing gum, surrounded by a few grinning men.
"Looking for this?"
Nino was dragged out of the van. She stumbled. Her legs bruised, her wrists red. Her clothes-torn. Dignity-gone.
A cry tore from Rukia's throat. She ran and wrapped her daughter in her arms.
"Are you okay?! What happened?! Who did this to you?! TALK TO ME!!"
Nino didn't answer. Her lips trembled, but her eyes stared blankly.
".... Here's your goddamn money." Koji muttered and threw the suitcase at Aqua's feet.
Aqua laughed. "Thanks for the payday, old man."
Iruma stepped forward, voice ice-cold:
"What did you do to her?"
"Why don't you find out yourself?!" Aqua spat, his grin unhinged.
Koji clenched his fists. Rukia's hands trembled as she brushed Nino's hair out of her face.
She turned to Iruma. Her voice cracked. "You're not going to arrest him? YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET THIS SLIME GO?!"
Iruma lowered his gaze. "He's a [Source] user."
Rukia froze.
Koji added, low and emotionless: "The government doesn't touch them. Courts don't convict them. They call it 'power neutrality."
Rukia pulled Nino close and stormed toward the car.
"Then we'll protect her. Ourselves."
She left without another word.
As they drove off, Iruma stared at his brother. "Should we tell Miko?"
Koji didn't respond. His face was carved from stone.
Then he pulled out his phone, browsed to Miko's name.
His finger hovered over the call button.
He imagined her face. Her radiant smile. Her teasing voice. Her idol-like poise.
What would her face look like... when that smile broke?
His hand shook.
Huff..
Huff...
The breath caught in his throat.
But he pressed the call button.
*Ring...*
*Ring...*
And somewhere, the truth waited to destroy another heart.