Chapter 2

Co-Authored by: remuwuchan

It was already nightfall when Dan and Tetsu arrived at Itokan. They found the lights still opened, which means that the squad is still inside, hanging out.

Dan opened the door, revealing the whole Sannoh Rengokai sitting and chilling inside.

Following suit, Tetsu entered, trailing behind Dan. He gently closed the door before turning back to look at his friends.

He almost died then and there when Ken and Chiharu both popped open a party popper right in front of his face.

"Welcome back Tetsu!" they all cheered.

In a blink of an eye, Tetsu was whisked inside of the huge group hug. Different hands ruffled his hair, some patted his back, some even touched his private area making him jolt in surprise.

"Hey!" he protested. "Who did that?!"

And of course, boys being boys, they just laughed off what happened in which Tetsu kept on protesting about until Cobra walked inside of the group hug, making everyone quiet.

He smiled at Tetsu and held him on both sides of his arm. "Welcome back, Tetsu."

Tetsu in return gave a toothy grin to Cobra. He really appreciates that Cobra is happy about his return. After the greeting, they all went back to their seats. It is now time for Naomi to give Tetsu the welcome gift of the squad.

"I baked it for you," she said, holding the cake out in front of her.

Tetsu's eyes went wide open as he reads the lettering. "Okaerinasai, Tetsu-Chan."

The whole squad clapped their hands after Tetsu read the greeting. He on the same hand just kept on smiling. Soon enough, he went to take the cake and placed it on the table.

"Let's eat!" he invited all of them.

Thinking that it was only the cake, which serves as a celebratory food, Tetsu was surprised when Hikaru, Kakuto, Kabuto, and Noboru came inside of the diner holding a lot of plastic bags. They were also surprised to see Tetsu.

"Oh, he's here already?" Kabuto asked in surprise.

The four men placed the plastic bags on the table and they all started preparing the foods. Naomi and Yamato served everyone plates, chopsticks, and cups.

"I knew we'll be late."

Because of this, Kabuto slightly smacked the back of Hikaru's head. The younger boy was surprised at the action.

"I'm sorry," he apologized.

"If you weren't so talkative with that old lady, we would have been here before sunset," Kabuto pointed out.

Hikaru on the other hand scratched the back of his neck before smiling. "She reminded me of my grandma."

Kabuto just stared at Hikaru before he pulled him by locking his neck in his arms. He then ruffled his hair with his free hand.

"This is why; I want to get back to my youth."

Cobra gave Kabuto a hand gesture to let go of Hikaru, which he immediately followed.

"Hikaru and Ken are really great youth," Cobra spoke. Both of the mentioned members smiled at Cobra as a simple way of saying thank you.

Placing the last plate in Yamato's place, Naomi announced to all of them. "Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu!" the men all replied.

They had a lot of food for tonight, Yakitori (chicken), Yakisoba (noodles), Okonomiyaki (savory pancake), Takoyaki (fried octopus), Ikayaki (grilled squid), some soda and of course, the homemade cake for dessert.

"This is really something else. Just imagine, Tetsu came back from a vacation and we're eating like champions," Yamato commented with a grin. "What happened to you, Cobra?"

Cobra was surprised by the sudden question. But instead of answering, he just looked at Yamato who, on the other hand, was disappointed at the reaction he got from the leader.

"You really don't like speeches, do you?" Yamato asked.

Cobra notices this and chuckles. "I just want to celebrate his return. He's healthy and safe. That's all."

He looked at the other squad members and saw that only a few of them were really paying attention. Most of them are focused on devouring the food in front of them. After all, with such mouth-watering foods in front of you, who would really pay attention to those outside conversations.

Seeing that the conversation is dead-end, Yamato just continued eating his share of the meal. The same goes for Cobra.

It took them an hour before the meal disappeared into their stomachs, leaving Tetsu, Ken, Hikaru, Chiharu, and Naomi cleaning the mess on the tables and putting the dishes in the sink. Afterward, the four helpful boys went back to the dining area, finding the other squad members minding their own businesses and conversations.

It was at this time when Tetsu decided to talk to Cobra about what happened to Dan earlier. He noticed that the two weren't talking much ever since Dan and he arrived.

If this is a misunderstanding, I must try and fix this, he told himself.

He looked around the room and sees Cobra with Noboru. He approached them slowly in a polite way. "Cobra."

The utterance of his name made the older guy turn up to look at Tetsu. "Yes?"

"There's something I want to talk to you about," Tetsu quietly said.

Cobra's reaction straightened up in a split second, making Tetsu a little uneasy. So before this leads into an awkward atmosphere, he immediately clears up his previous statement.

"I didn't mean to make it sound bad... I mean, it's not that bad." he mentally kicked himself upon realizing that his additional statements only made his previous one sound worse.

"Let's talk about this later," Cobra said as he turned back to Noboru. The latter man nodded before standing up and leaving his place.

Tetsu waited for a prompt from Cobra. When Cobra turned to him again, he took a seat next to him. Then he started off the conversation. "I just want to clear things up."

"About what?" the leader sat straight, now starting to sound concerned.

"Dan told me earlier that you were looking for him and Noboru told him that. He was trying to call you earlier as well but you weren't picking up so he thought that you're mad at him," Tetsu explained before he gave out a deep sigh. "I was just thinking that maybe I was the reason for that. Because I asked him to go and get me from the airport. And because of that, he wasn't able to be there when you were looking for him."

There was a mere silence. Cobra stared at Tetsu even after he was done speaking. Because of this, Tetsu felt awkward, but he doesn't really know what to say. So he decided to stand up and bowed in front of Cobra. "I'm very sorry Cobra."

Cobra chuckled at Tetsu's act, making the younger look at him.

"What's funny?"

"So it actually worked, huh?" Cobra said, a smile plastered on his lips.

Tetsu was left confused. What worked?

"Dan, you still haven't told Tetsu about your acting?" Cobra called Dan from the other side of the room.

Dan looked at Cobra. "Pardon me?"

Cobra gestured 'phone call' to give Dan a clue. After understanding what Cobra meant, Dan nodded at him and gave a simple reply. "Oh, nope. Not yet."

Cobra turned to Tetsu once again. He stood up and tapped on his shoulder.

"It's just an acting," Cobra said. "I told him to stall you for a while so you won't have to come here before we finished the decorations."

Finally, everything synced into Tetsu. He couldn't believe how stupid he looked after he believed everything that Dan told him earlier. He is mad. No, furious, even. He turned to where Dan is currently seating.

He raised his voice. "Dan!"

It made the guy look at him. Just by looking at his eyes, Dan can already see the slight anger of Tetsu. The latter wasted no time and went after Dan as if they were little children playing around. Dan being nearer to the door, went for it in hopes of escaping the angered Tetsu.

However, as he opens the door, a middle-aged lady was revealed standing behind it. He got a little startled, as well as Tetsu who abruptly stopped behind him upon eyeing the lady.

"This is Itokan, right?" she asked. A picture is grasped in her hands which she reached out towards Dan.

He on the same hand took a peek at the picture before confirming the question. "Yes ma'am, this is Itokan."

"Get inside, you two," Noboru called Dan and Tetsu.

Ken took a peak above Dan's shoulder since he has the sight of them. "I think they're talking to someone."

"I'm sorry ma'am but we're close for the day," Tetsu informed, joining the conversation between Dan and the lady and not minding the other members behind them.

The lady quickly shook her head. "I'm here to talk to someone. Is Naomi around?"

It was this time that Cobra decided to check on what's going on with the two at the door. From his place, he walked towards them. Step by step, he got the picture clearer and finally saw the lady. "Is there something wrong?"

"She said that she needs to talk to Naomi," Tetsu answered, turning back to look at Cobra.

Cobra took charge of the situation, making Dan and Tetsu get back inside of the diner. After them, Cobra escorted the lady inside of the diner. Chiharu offered his seat for the lady to sit on.

"Can you call Naomi?" Cobra ordered Yamato. Who immediately followed. He went to the kitchen area of the diner to search for Naomi.

While waiting, Cobra decided to start a conversation.

"May we know why you want to talk to Naomi?" he asked her.

The lady took a second before she answered the question. "Do you all know Tatsuya?"

Hearing the question, the whole squad turned their attention to the lady. Just then, Naomi and Yamato came back from the kitchen.

"Who needs me?" Naomi asked.

The lady looked at her and her tears came falling down her eyes. Seeing Naomi makes her feel like she's looking at Tatsuya again.

Naomi recognizes her. "Kaira Yagi?"

The lady wipes her tears using her sleeve before she mumbled. "Naomi."

Naomi quickly makes her way to sit beside the lady and then she tightly hugs her. "Where have you been?"

Kaira hugs her back. The two of them had their moment together. While Sannoh tried to be as quiet as they possibly can, just so they won't interfere with the two women.

Naomi lets go of Kaira. Yamato on the other hand went to reach for the tissue on the counter and placed it in front of them.

Kaira looks down, unable to look Naomi in the eyes. Then she started apologizing. "I'm so sorry Naomi, I'm so sorry."

Naomi showed confusion, so she held Kaira's hand to ask her what she's sorry for. "What happened? You just disappeared."

The lady continues to look down.

"Me and Tatsuya," she quietly says. Naomi's attention is fully focused on the lady as she uttered the name of Tatsuya. "We kept a secret from you."

They all look at each other then back at the Kaira. They saw her take a deep breath before she started telling them everything.

"I was a delinquent back in my teenage years, but Tatsuya changed that. I stopped hanging out with those people because I was always with him. But a lot of the time, he's away. Somehow, I felt like he wasn't there when I needed him the most." Sadness can be heard in her voice. "And because of that, I reconnected with my old friends. When he found out about that, it angered him so much. Next thing I know, we got into a lot of fights and eventually, I got tired and left him."

Everyone in the diner kept quiet, but their focus is completely on the conversation.

"But a week after that, I found out I was pregnant."

Naomi looks at her in shock. The squad had the same reaction while Cobra and Yamato were taken aback by the unexpected information.

"I didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to tell Tatsuya about our child or not," Kaira continued. "But after she was born, I told him."

Naomi was out of words to say, tears forming in her eyes. "I don't understand."

Kaira bows her head down as tears start to form in her eyes once more. "I'm sorry for keeping it a secret all this time."

She cautiously placed her hand on Naomi's shoulder. When she felt that she didn't pull away, she gave her a caress.

Naomi wiped her tears before looking up at Kaira again. "Where is my niece?"

The older lady didn't reply immediately. She pulled back her hand from Naomi's shoulder. She is lost for words and she couldn't say it so instead, she just cried. The pain that she's keeping inside finally burst out.

"Did something happen to her?" Naomi asks as she tries to make the older lady look at her. Kaira took a deep breath before nodding her head.

Up until now, she still can't speak, not because she doesn't know what to say but because she doesn't trust her voice. She knows that the more she talks about it, the more she'd breakdown into sadness.

"Please tell me what happened to her," Naomi insisted. She now held Kaira by her shoulders to make her face the younger girl. "What happened to my niece?"

"She's missing."

"What do you mean?"

Silence overcame them again, Kaira took deep breaths to calm herself down. Seeing this, Ken immediately offered some glass of water from the bar. She smiled as a thank you for the gesture. Then took a sip from the glass before narrating what happened.

"When Tatsuya died, our daughter was only 13 years old. I got scared for her safety so I sent her to the US," Kaira said. "Everything was okay at first but we had a huge fight. She kept insisting that I abandoned her. But I couldn't tell her what's really going on. I didn't have the courage to do so."

"Do you mean you can't contact your daughter anymore?" Dan asked, out of the blue.

Kaira nodded with a heavy heart. "Yes. It's been years already. One day, my sister just said that she was nowhere to be found when they returned home."

"Did you come here to ask help from us to find her?" The question is now from Cobra, who broke his silence.

"I went here to talk to Naomi or Kohaku."

"Kohaku-san is in the US with Tsukomo-san. Maybe if we tell them now, they can find her," Tetsu suggested.

Kaira shook her head sideward. "They won't find her there."

Nobody responded.

"I received news from a few acquaintances of mine that she's here in Japan right now," Kaira continued. "I may know a few of her facial descriptions but not everything, after all, she's aged. But maybe if I see her, I would know."

Yamato suddenly butted in, but he kept it in a polite way. "Can you tell us her name?"

"Her name is Raichi Yagi," Kaira answered.

She then took her pouch and opened it, taking some old photograph of her and her daughter.

After taking out the photos, Kaira let the boys of Sannoh look at the pictures. At one point, Ken, Tetsu, Hikaru, and Chiharu were caught in awe at the seemingly cute baby pictures of Raichi.

"Do you have any more recent photos?" Cobra asked, after putting one photo down on the table.

"No. The one in the blue shirt is the latest. It was her 10th birthday," Kaira answered.

Cobra took a deep sigh. He turned to Kabuto but instead saw the Amamiya brothers standing by the entrance door.

"Amamiya," he called out.

"Oh yes, we're here," Masaki replied.

All Sannoh Rengokai looked at the brothers. They awkwardly shared waves at each other.

"Are you here to report?" Cobra asked the two. Masaki nodded his head, before leading Hiroto to the table. As they approached, they both saw the pictures laid on the table. But only Masaki was intrigued by them.

"Who is that?" he asked Cobra.

Cobra turned to look at the picture and then at Kaira. "It's Tatsuya's daughter."

"Tatsuya had a daughter?"

Cobra nodded his head. Somehow he's still in shock from this truth too.

"Do you need to find her?" Masaki continues to interrogate.

Cobra nodded again. "Yes, we do."

This time Hiroto butted in the conversation. He doesn't want to be involved any further in whatever is going on inside the diner so he decided to take over his brother.

"We came across some Doubt yesterday. They were selling Red Rum to high school students in Hope Hill. We already told Oya about it, they said they'll look into it with Housen." Hiroto said, "The rumors about the release of Kuryu keeps on spreading. We've asked a few residents about it but no one wants to say where their source came from."

"Okay. Thank you, Amamiya." Cobra tapped Hiroto's shoulder in a friendly way.

Hiroto looked at his brother who's shooting death glares at him. Hiroto ignores him and walked towards the exit. "I'll wait outside."

Without a response from the elder one, Hiroto exits the diner.

Masaki continues his conversation with Cobra. "Why do you need to find her?"

Cobra realized that after all this time, he hasn't thought of asking that question. So he looked at Kaira. "Why do you want her to be found?"

"I know that you already know about the release of Kuryu," Kaira answered. "One of their new successors came to our house the other day. They were looking for Raichi, they said that they already know that she's the daughter of Tatsuya."

"They threatened you?" Noboru asked.

Kaira nodded her head. As a consoling gesture, Naomi held Kaira's hand, as if she wants to tell her that she's there for her. That gave Kaira strength.

"They said that if they find her, they will kill her. Not unless SWORD gives up their area," she continued.

"A perfect plan to execute their game." Noboru pinched the bridge of his nose. "I knew it."

"Please help me find my daughter, please. I don't want to lose her too." Kaira was brought to tears once more.

"But where will we start?" Chiharu pointed out, probably the most important question.

They all kept quiet while Naomi does her best to comfort the weeping mother. Not knowing what to do, the different deepness of sighs were heard from the squad members. This sounds and looks so hopeless for all of them. They know her name but they don't know what she currently looks like. They can't just go around the whole SWORD area asking girls if they are her.

When all hopes were lost, Masaki had the best plan for now. "We can start by tracking down all kidnappings of Doubt."

All attention was suddenly focused on him.

"You see, they might have the biggest lead right now. This is the reason why they are kidnapping girls. Because they are looking for her. Although they seem to not know what she looks like, yet they are ten steps ahead of us," Masaki explained with confidence.

"Can you help us find them then? You are the most flexible team right now. We are all stationaries to our post," Cobra asked.

"Okay," Masaki agreed. "I would need the latest information about her."

Kaira took a photograph from the table and gave it to Masaki, "That is the latest I have."

Masaki took it from her hand and stared at the picture.

"Her name is Raichi Yagi, she should be 21 years old this year," Kaira added.

"Raichi," Masaki whispered. Then he nodded at them. "We will do our best to find her."

"Thank you," Kaira smiled.

Masaki looked at Cobra for the last time and they gave each other nods before Masaki left the diner. When he walked out, he saw Hiroto putting on his helmet.

"Took you long," the younger guy commented.

"Just took a mission." Masaki smiled. He mounted his motorbike and wore his helmet.

Then the brothers left the area.