24: Soichiro (2)

"I'll get right to the point" - Soichiro said as he looked at the two in front of him - "I know what you've been doing behind my back."

Yuriko's face paled while Cloud frowned slightly because Soichiro's attitude was strange.

"You're not upset?" - Cloud asked with annoyance, something that seemed to calm Yuriko, who was also annoyed, mostly because this seemed as if her husband never had the confidence to stay faithful to him.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm upset, furious" - Soichiro replied as he let out a sigh - "It's just that I have my reasons to be calm..."

Cloud again frowned because this didn't make sense. Soichiro was one of those people who would take revenge no matter the consequences for the stupidest reasons, in other words, him fucking his wife was more than enough reason for the Yakuza leader to send him to sleep with the fishes.

"Why?" - Yuriko asked with annoyance.

"Because I don't have long to live" - Soichiro replied, surprising the two adults in front of him.

"Are you kidding?!" - Yuriko exclaimed in terror as she looked her husband straight in the eyes.

Cloud was also surprised by this news, after all, this man didn't seem to be showing symptoms of illness.

"I've been taking painkillers for the past few years, but my body is reaching its limit" - Soichiro replied as he let out a sigh.

"Why didn't you go to the doctor!" - Yuriko exclaimed as she stopped thinking about her infidelity, after all, no matter what she had done with Cloud, she still loved her husband.

Soichiro smiled slightly as he saw such a drastic change in his wife's expressions. It was obvious that she still loved him despite what she had done, and though angry with her, he didn't blame her, after all, he knew how passionate his wife was and her enormous needs. On the other hand, it was better to know the man who was going to do his wife the "favor" so he could at least make sure she was in good hands when he died.

"I still think this is a bad joke, Soichiro" - Cloud said as he frowned - "If it's for what I did, I apologize, and I promise I won't do it again, but please, don't play with your wife's feelings, or Saya's."

"As much as I'd like to accept that it's a joke, I'm sorry, but I'm not lying" - Soichiro replied with a frown - "I have end stage cancer"

"Why didn't you get treatment?!" - Yuriko exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

"Because that would be showing weakness, and I can't afford that when I have so many enemies under me" - Soichiro replied as he let out a sigh - "I also don't have a strong enough heir to take control of the clan while I recovered. Saya is not qualified to do so despite her intellect, and my enemies will try to take control of my subordinates if I give full command to you, Yuriko."

Yuriko gritted her teeth as she let out a heavy sigh - "Now I feel worse... Not only did I cheat the love of my life, but I did it when he was suffering years in silence, and without realizing it because I was more preoccupied in my lust... I'm a horrible woman."

"You don't have to feel guilty, maybe things would have been different if I wasn't so stubborn and told you the truth" - Soichiro said while shaking his head - "Anyway, I'm talking about this because I don't have much time left, the last doctor told me that my body could fail at any minute, that's why I just want to ask you one thing..."

Yuriko bit her lip before nodding weakly.

Cloud nodded as well, after all, this was the least he could do after cheating the guy who had taught him everything.

"First, I want you to keep the Takagi group standing, we can't fall" - Soichiro said seriously as he looked at the duo in front of him with his cold eyes - "At least I want to go to the other world knowing that all my efforts weren't in vain."

"Consider it done" - Cloud said as he let out a sigh because this was going to ruin a bit of his plans, or at least ruin his desire to "escape" from the mansion.

"It's good to hear that you agreed so quickly, I guess you still have some conscience, brat" - Soichiro said with disdain, though he quickly returned to normal - "Secondly, I want this to stay between us, no one can know, not even Saya..."

"But..." - Yuriko muttered with a frown - "What will happen if your body fails in the middle of the mansion?"

"Simple, tell them I succumbed to my injuries" - Soichiro replied with a frown - "Tell them a plausible excuse, I really don't care about dying as a hero or martyr, I just don't want my daughter burdened with the fact that I was suffering all this time without her knowing."

Duo nodded again, this was a reasonable request.

"Thank you, I guess that's all" - Soichiro said as he shook his head and clutched his chest, which made the two adults in front of him jump out of their seats - "Relax, I'm fine, it's just a little pain..."

Yuriko and Cloud looked at each other without saying a word.

"Ok, I think that's enough, you two go make preparations for defense" - Soichiro said with a frown - "You can consider it as an instinct for being about to die, but my body tells me that we are about to suffer a terrible fate if we are not prepared enough."

Yuriko gave a glance at the blond, who simply shrugged.

"Is something wrong?" - Soichiro asked with a frown.

"Cloud told me to prepare myself because things were about to get worse, in other words, it's the second time I hear something similar" - Yuriko answered as she looked at her husband with conflicted feelings, after all, she still didn't forgive herself for cheating on him, even if he didn't blame her for it.

"Interesting" - muttered Soichiro as he looked at the blond who simply shrugged his shoulders for the second time - "Go, I have some things to do."

"Understood" - Cloud replied as he left the room.

Yuriko tried to say something else, when she saw how Soichiro shook his head and indicated her to follow after him.

The Takagi matriarch let out a sigh before nodding and following the blond, who seemed to be waiting for her outside.

When he saw that the two adults who had been standing next to him had left the room, Soichiro fell flat against the desk as he began to let out groans of pain - "Ugh..."

It had taken an enormous effort to hold himself together since returning to the mansion, but his body couldn't take it anymore.

"Just... a little more..." - Soichiro muttered as he tried to calm himself down. Slowly, his hand reached towards his pocket and pulled out some pills.

He wolfed them down without a second thought as he resisted the growing pain, which slowly disappeared without a trace, as if it hadn't been there in the first place.

"I knew it, this crap is less and less effective" - Soichiro muttered while letting out a forced laugh - "I guess it's obvious that my body would develop a resistance to the drug after taking it so often... Well, at least I managed to fool those two..."

* * * * *

"Do you have a plan?" - Yuriko asked in her office as she looked at the blond boy, who was looking out the window towards the entrance with a frown.

"To boost our defenses?" - Cloud asked as he raised an eyebrow - "I'd say our best option is to improve the outer perimeter defenses and keep a clear escape route."

"You're saying the mansion is going to fall?" - Yuriko asked with a frown because this made no sense. The mansion was built at a strategic point, one where they could see all the possible attack points of those things - "Impossible, our barricades, and checkpoints are perfect"

"Nothing is perfect, Yuriko" - Cloud replied as he gave her a blank stare - "I'm just giving you an option, a method of escape in case this gets out of hand, and we can maintain the Takagi group's greater militarized power."

Yuriko remained silent because she had to admit that the blond's words made sense - "Sorry, I guess I'm still showing you this attitude..."

"Don't worry, this is not the time for this kind of discussions, we can talk about that when we make sure that everything will be fine" - Cloud said while shaking his head - "Back to the main point, what we have to do now is simple, strengthen the control points here and here"

Cloud started pointing at different places on the map while Yuriko nodded - "Are you going to call your subordinates?"

"Yes I have to tell them about the change of plans" - Cloud replied as he let out a sigh - "Though again I ask you to give us back our weapons, my group needs practice"

Yuriko was silent before nodding with a sigh - "I understand, I'll allow it, I'm even going to give you extra ammo, so my daughter can learn too, I guess I was too overprotective with her..."