#anyway Kaito and Yagami swap stories

[overdevelopedglasses]

Tojoctober Day 26 - Salt

(Comin' out here to chase off enemies)

Title is from “My Own Style”, a fight theme in Judgment

While out on a case for Yagami, Kaito gets himself in a bit of a jam. A mysterious figure helps him out.

(no spoilers, takes place post Judgment though)

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“Hey, you! Don’t ignore us!” one of the punks said, banging an iron pipe against his hand, in an attempt at intimidation.

Kaito looks up from his phone, thumb hitting the send button on his text of ~May be a bit tied up. Back me up?~ to Yagami.

“Huh? Talkin’ to me?” Kaito says, hoping to dissuade the situation entirely. 

“We know all about you, Kaito. You better watch yourself. The Green Tide is going to be the hot new thing, and you’re gonna want in early.”

“If you already know me… then you should know my answer is.” Kaito snarls, fists tightening at his sides. Who the hell are these assholes? Kaito asked himself.

The punk laughs. “HA! You really think you can take all of us on? C’mon boys, let’s get him!”

Kaito runs up to the punk at the front of the pack and wrestles the weapon out of their hands, tossing it aside.

“HA! Now you can really fight me.” Kaito taunts, adrenaline beginning to spike through him.

The thug punches Kaito in the stomach, barely hurting him. He laughs again.

“You might want to stop laughing…” The thug says, pushing Kaito into the wall. As Kaito pushes himself off, he realizes he is surrounded by them, and his back is forced against the wall. The thug barely put a dent in him yes, but he’s vastly outnumbered now. Even he knows when a situation is doomed.

Well, shit. This doesn’t look good…

He hears a punk way near the entrance of the alley scream.

“Now, this doesn’t look very fair, does it?”

Kaito hears someone speak, and a second punk falls to the ground. 

“Woah… wait a minute, that’s aaaaaaa!”

A third thug is cut off mid sentence, as they fall to the ground with a whimper, and Kaito can now fully see his savior as he breaches the front lines and faces Kaito fully. A behemoth of a man, right at Kaito’s height, he looks like he belongs in the military with his buzz cut and clothes. But Kaito gets a weird feeling… he’s seen him somewhere before. 

“Are ya gonna help out?”

Kaito blinks, and realizes he’s being addressed now. He pushes himself off of the wall.

“Uh, yeah? Ha! You guys really messed up now!”

Kaito turns his back to the man, holding his fists up, now properly ready for a fight.

The punks begin to fly in, and Kaito, along with his new helper, clean up easily. Kaito does find himself a bit envious, however, at the ease this man takes out the thugs, swinging them around like they are toys. The battle quickly draws to an end, with Kaito and his helper standing back to back. Kaito, breathing heavily, turns to face the other man at the same time he turns around, the two of them making eye contact.

“Yer not a bad fighter at all. If there were less of em, ya wouldn’t have needed me. What’s yer name?” the man asks, cocking an eyebrow.

Kaito puts on his trademark grin. “Kaito. I’m an investigator at the Yagami Detective Agency.” He puts his hand in his pocket, and internally curses, realizing he didn’t have any of the business cards Yagami made for him. He sees the man cock his head slightly before responding.

“Kaito-san. I’m Saejima. Ya have any idea what those guys wanted?” Saejima gestures to the men that laid groaning all around them.

“Well, whoever they were, they seemed to know me, and then got salty when I refused to join up with them.” Kaito surmises.

“Right.” Saejima nods, stepping over the bodies, and waving a hand to beckon Kaito out of the alley. “It’s probably best if we don’t hang around here too long.”

“Yeah.” Kaito and Saejima come out onto Nakamichi Street, the bustle of the city seemingly unaware of their altercation. They begin to walk towards the Millennium Tower, as Saejima speaks up.

“From the looks of it… yer ex-yakuza?”

Kaito nods, aware that lying to someone who could have a decent chance at pummeling him was a bad idea. “Ex-Tojo, Matsugane Family.”

“Matsugane, huh? Interesting. One of the lower families. Haven’t met too many of their members, but heard the patriarch is a good fellow.”

“How would you know?” Kaito asks, holding back on any snide remarks or accuracy comments. He blames the second instinct of correction on Yagami, who’s lawyer instincts seemed to be rubbing off on him.

Saejima laughs, “Let’s just say I’m pretty knowledgeable on the workings of the Tojo.”

“I’d say… hey, there’s the agency!” Kaito points up at the window of the Yagami Detective Agency. He sees the light isn’t on, meaning his partner was wandering around the streets. Probably getting into trouble himself, since Kaito had no idea where he was.

“Huh, now that ya mention it… wasn’t that Yagami guy in the news recently? Heard he was in the middle of bustin’ some sort of big scandal. Even had a few people in the upper reaches of the clan talkin’ ‘bout it.” Saejima scrunches his eyebrows at the office, then drifts his gaze back to Kaito.

“You could say something like that,” Kaito grinned, pride swelling within him at his partner’s accomplishments.

Saejima pulls out his phone and swears under his breath. “I forgot my brother wanted to meet me in the city. Seems like I better run. I’ll see ya around, Kaito-san.” Saejima gives a small salute, then turns to walk away.

“It won’t be hard to spot me. Don’t be afraid to say hi, Saejima-san!” Kaito waves at the disappearing form of the mysterious man.

Man, does Tak have it this easy when he makes friends? Maybe I should try to be more personable… Kaito thinks to himself for a little bit before a warm voice breaks him out of his thoughts.

“Kaito-san!!!”

Kaito turns, and sees the worn-out form of his partner, Yagami, sprinting towards him. Kaito saunters towards the detective, who slows and eventually stops, panting heavily. Kaito stops his advance as well, giving him a respectable distance.

“Woah, you ok?” Kaito asks, putting his hands in his pockets.

“I just saw your text. I got tied up in something. I thought… you…” Yagami pants, making Kaito smile. Nice to be worried about, he thinks.

“I’m alright, Tak. Some guy was able to help me out in the end. I can tell you about him… over drinks?”

“Let me catch my breath first, Kaito-san…” Yagami replies, standing up fully, throwing a lopsided smirk Kaito’s way. Kaito laughs, beginning to lead the way to Tender. He looks over his shoulder at his partner.

“And in return, I’ll tell you about the character I met today.” Yagami finishes, before following Kaito’s lead.