To be continued…
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The door of the clinic opened like any other day. A patient entering in. Nothing out of the ordinary. Shiori, who was deeply engaged in her magazine, barely looked up from her, and the receptionist greeted the patient in a honey glazed tone.
But Yui felt it, a weird unsettling feeling.
Before she even heard his footsteps, before the receptionist's voice echoed down the hall, Yui already knew.
"He's back." Yui whispered under her breath.
Shiori peeked over the counter with mild curiosity. "Who's back?"
Yui didn't respond. Her hands were already trembling slightly, tightening their grip on her chair as she adjusted her mask. The morning had been oddly calm, but then the air shifted the moment he stepped into the space. As if someone changed the barometric pressure in the room.
Standing in his absolute charisma, there he was.
Manjiro Sano. Mikey.
Her heart skipped a beat on the sight of him.
Silver-white hair slightly dishevelled, black shirt rolled up at the sleeves. Those storm-gray eyes locked onto her with quiet intensity, as if he was trying to convey something. That same stillness—like a storm paused mid-breath.
Their eyes locked for a moment, and he gave a subtle, almost imperceptible smirk.
"Root canal," the person standing next to him said simply.
Yui came out of her trance and nodded, her voice caught in her throat before she managed a polite, "Please, come in."
She was already embarrassing herself.
She motioned to the chair, sanitized tools ready, light poised above. Her fingers were steady, but her mind wasn't.
She hadn't seen him in days and wanted to keep it that way for a while.
Alas! Here he was, but he had never really left her mind.
Yui adjusted her gloves, maintaining a professional tone. "You're here for the second part of the procedure?"
Mikey reclined without hesitation. "Yeah. Let's finish it."
Yui heard his voice for the very first time and it was as grim as the transpicuous aura surrounding him.
Before she could relish the moment, she caught the glint of something at the nape of his neck when he leaned back. A tattoo.
A piece of the truth she was beginning to suspect but couldn't quite believe. Her instincts screamed at her. The wine. The notes. The man with the scar. The photo.
And now he was back in her clinic, in her chair.
Yui took a breath, steeling herself. She flicked on the overhead lamp and lowered it. "You might feel pressure. Please try not to move."
"I won't," Mikey said softly.
For the next fifteen minutes, the only sound in the room was the whirr of the dental drill and the rhythmic suction of the machine. Mikey didn't flinch. Not once. Even when she knew the nerve endings were sensitive.
He just stared at the ceiling, his hands resting calmly on his abdomen.
Yui tried not to watch him too much, but it was impossible not to. The way his chiselled jaw tightened. The way his breathing stayed even.
She had seen hardened patients before. But Mikey? He wasn't just composed. He was calculated. This man piqued her curiosity even more.
When she paused to switch tools, he finally spoke.
"You've been researching."
Her hands stilled for a second. Barely.
"Excuse me?" she asked, her tone even.
His mouth curled slightly—not a smile. Not quite. "Don't worry. You're not subtle, but you're careful."
Yui set the instrument down with precision. "You sent someone to deliver a photograph of my apartment."
"I did," he admitted.
"So it was a threat?"
"No," he said. "It was a test."
She stared at him, confused and furious. "A test?"
Mikey met her gaze, eyes unreadable. "I wanted to see if you'd run."
Yui clenched her fists. "Why would I run?"
"Because you should have."
There was a long silence. Yui wished Shiori was here to support her but she was stuck with some minor routine checks.
Yui took a long breath, trying to compose herself, and continued the procedure.
Mikey sat up slowly, after the root canal was completed, cotton packed where it needed to be. He grabbed a tissue and wiped his mouth, calm as ever.
"You're not like the others," he said, standing.
Yui crossed her arms. "And you are? You send strange men to my clinic. You leave vague notes. Wine bottles. Are you trying to scare me or confuse me?"
He walked toward the door but paused before opening it. "Neither."
"Then what is it?" she demanded.
Mikey didn't even turn his head back and kept on walking out of the room.
Before she could ask anything else, he was gone.
The room felt too quiet after he left. Like he took the atmosphere with him.
Yui sat in her chair, heart pounding, and at that instant her heart almost stopped beating when a thought from yesterday stopped her train of thoughts.
"That Tattoo." Yui was horrified.
She wanted to scream. To throw something. To demand an explanation.
Instead, she reached for her laptop.
She pulled up the saved image of the gang tattoo. Bonten.
The name had appeared once in her research—a Tokyo-based organization, suspected in several underground dealings, but never formally charged.
She zoomed in on the photo.
The tattoo resembled the one on Mikey's nape.
She clicked through images again. One blurry photo from a forum showed a man with white hair, face turned away—but the outline was unmistakable.
Yui whispered aloud, "Manjiro Sano. Mikey."
She typed in his name.
Nothing useful. A few social media hits. A minor news article from years ago. But then, buried in a forum thread titled Urban Shadows was a post:
"Silver hair. Gang mark. Tokyo Bonten. Real name: Sano Manjiro. Don't get involved."
Her blood chilled.
She leaned back, staring at the screen.
Was he watching her now?
Was she supposed to feel honored?
Or hunted?
Shiori joined her and she instantly shut her laptop, trying not to drag her into this mess.
Yui left for her apartment, on stepping inside she instantly locked all the doors and windows. She barely got any sleep that night too as the thought of Bonten kept haunting her.
Her mind was empty except for one question which kept her up all night….
What was that test for?