35

Kenzo was beneath the house through this elevator, he couldn't believe that Miles could build something this outrageous right under everyone's noses.

He knew he needed to understand Miles' motive because he would be of more use as an ally as opposed to an enemy.

Kenzo didn't want to kill him unless he had no other choice.

The elevator soon stopped in its tracks before the doors opened to reveal a state-of-the-art fortress, there were multiple supercomputers, and Kenzo could only imagine what his bills would be like every month if these things were running 24/7.

He walked for a bit and saw Miles sitting in front of a computer, typing away like a maniac with a bag of chips beside him.

Kenzo noticed that there were multiple bags of chips on the floor with canned energy drinks.

"It is good to officially meet you," Miles said, not once looking away from his computer despite knowing that Kenzo might very well be there to kill him.

He knew that if Kenzo wanted him dead, there was nothing that he could do about it.

Miles spun around on his wheeled chair, giving Kenzo his full attention.

"Don't worry, you don't need to kill me. I'm a friend and I think I can help you out with your little problem," Miles said, Kenzo didn't know how to feel about this because the state he was in was despicable, it was clear he hadn't slept for quite some time but Kenzo noticed that nothing had gotten on his clothes.

If anything, this showed that he was a neat eater even when an enormous amount of stress had been placed on his shoulder.

"What problem do you think I have?" Kenzo asked but Miles scoffed.

"C'mon! If I found you, don't you think I know?" Miles said with a smile, Kenzo couldn't feel anything malicious coming from him.

"You know, you're a lot more handsome without that mask on," Miles said but this could be a ploy for Kenzo to lower his guard.

"I'm surprised you found me, why did you not do this long ago?" Kenzo questioned.

"I respected you enough not to intrude on your privacy but now, everyone wants your head and I have made sure that they wouldn't be able to track you, at least as far as technology is confirmed," Miles said before inching closer to Kenzo, taking his phone out of his pocket without permission.

Kenzo didn't resist and just watched him do his thing, Miles returned to his desk and plugged Kenzo's phone into his system.

Kenzo watched everything unfold and a bunch of codes appeared on his screen, Miles was encrypting his phone to offer him further protection.

"Why are you helping me?" Kenzo asked.

"You haven't figured it out, have you?" Miles responded but his full attention remained on the code he was typing.

"Figured out what?" Kenzo decided to play dumb in hopes of learning something new.

"The boss, he was the one that let you go. You noticed the signal, didn't you?" This was a rhetorical question.

Kenzo knew that there was something off with the meeting and he also entertained the possibility that the boss was the one that alerted him of this impending assassination.

"The dons might have ordered for your execution but you're only alive because the boss went against those orders," Miles brought it to his attention but Kenzo didn't look surprised by this revelation.

"I'm doing what the boss would have wanted, I'm helping you to stay under the radar of the killers after you but I have also given you the address of all the killers within the underground so you can hunt them, it will be good for business if you take them out either way," Miles said.

Kenzo was beginning to understand why the top killers in the organization hadn't moved against him.

He also found it strange that they didn't try to take his life the moment the order was given, did they reach the same conclusion as Miles?

"All done!" Miles exclaimed, tossing Kenzo his phone.

"The Yakuza, huh? You have gotten yourself some powerful friends," Miles continued talking.

"Friends?" Kenzo repeated, almost like he didn't know the definition of said word.

"Hahaha! You're so weird," Miles responded.

"Stay out of trouble and if you need my help, check your speed dial," Miles said with a wink but this couldn't be the reason he brought him all the way here.

However, Kenzo had established that Miles was an ally and there was something much bigger going on than he cared to admit and unfortunately, he was caught up right in the middle.

Kenzo knew it was time to leave, he had spent enough time here and Miles had shown him that his intentions for him weren't malicious.

"A word of advice, Oni…" Miles muttered to him, prompting Kenzo to stop in his tracks.

"Do not get carried away, the dons are like nothing you have faced before and the Yakuza aren't your friend. You are such a feared killer because I thought you understood that working with others was a weakness, was I wrong?" Miles asked.

This was ironic considering that he was the one offering to help Kenzo and in the same breath, criticizing him for working with others.

Kenzo didn't say a word and Miles knew this was the time to stop running his mouth otherwise he might lose his tongue.

He had helped Kenzo and Kenzo realized that the Death Squad might yet be on his side, which didn't matter in the grand scheme of things but it certainly made things easier.

Kenzo was about to leave the area but armed with not only information but a potential ally, he might not need to hunt down the Death Squad but he had the addresses of other killers that could potentially be after him.

"Wait a minute…" Miles blurted out, prompting Kenzo to stop once again.

"The hit on you… It has been rescinded!" Miles exclaimed in disbelief.

"Huh? That is impossible unless…" Kenzo thought to himself but realized that this must have been the work of Akujin.

No one knew how he looked so it would be easy for Akujin to say he claimed his head if he presented any decapitated head with the Oni mask but where would he see the Oni Mask?

Kenzo realized that he had fought those people at the train station and his mask had broken apart.

If Akujin gathered up the fragments, this would further support his claim that the Oni Masked Killer was dead.

With this information, it meant that Kenzo was not only a free man but that he couldn't wear his mask again.

But would this change his goal of disposing of the dons or did his goal change with this new information?

Either way, Akujin had only just made it a lot easier for him to move in the shadows but something told him that the dons weren't so easy to fool.