"That's if they don't find anything… suspicious." The abhorrent grin on his face only grew wider, clearly enjoying his position of power.
For the first time, Ken felt powerless. The man in front of him was just too diabolical, to do such things to an innocent family for seemingly no reason.
Ken lowered his head, feeling defeated.
"I don't understand… All we did was save Daichi. Why are you doing this to us?" Ken asked, his voice hoarse.
"Save Daichi?" Tetsuhiro asked, sounding rather surprised.
Ken flinched, raising his head slowly as if to gauge if the guy's reaction was real or not.
"Wait, you don't know?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Tetsuhiro snapped, his earlier grin replaced with anger.
However, Ken did not feel any sort of victory from this reaction. All he felt was despair.
"Hahaha! You idiot… Here I thought you killed Daichi's mother because you found out what she'd done to him for all those years. All of the abuse, physically, mentally…"
Ken spat on the ground, his anger taking over.
"All we ever did was give Daichi a loving family, where he could be a kid. Where he was free to do whatever he wanted without fear of being mocked and abused for no reason."
Tetsuhiro was silent, his thoughts unknown.
"AND NOW YOU PUNISH US!?"
"…"
Tetsuhiro's face morphed, from anger to sadness and back again. It was clear that he was conflicted.
Ken saw this and felt a beacon of hope flicker within him. This was the first time that he'd seen some human emotion on Tetsuhiro's face.
'Maybe I can get out of this…' He thought in his heart.
"J—Just let me go, I can pretend this never happened and we can go our separate ways… Daichi can continue to live a carefree and happy life from now on." Ken stated, trying to coax the man in front of him.
However, in the next moment his face paled.
"Happy life? With you guys? Preposterous. Just what kind of life could you provide for my nephew… My brother's child!" He yelled, fury and anger in his words.
He stared at Ken with loathing, as if he was merely a cockroach underfoot.
"Your whole family are nothing but pests, contaminating Daichi with your filth. Baseball? Just what kind of career is that? How dare you say he's living a happy life when you don't even know what that is."
Tetsuhiro was animated, grabbing a handful of his hair like he was about to pull it out. His face was turned up into a horrible scowl and it felt like his mental faculties were beginning to fray apart.
The light from Ken's eyes faded as he heard the ramblings of the crazy man in front of him. At first he thought that he might be able to talk some sense into the guy, but it was clear now that it was impossible.
"That bitch is dead. I just need to kill them and Daichi will have nowhere left to go…" He muttered to himself, turning around and trying to put his hair back into place.
"Tatsuhiro… I'm doing this for you." The last words came out like a whisper.
Ken overheard the part about his intent to kill his family and instantly seized up. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, but he thought Tetsuhiro had a plan and was just using him to blackmail Daichi or something.
But it seemed that the guy had completely lost his sanity.
Gritting his teeth, Ken spoke, a last attempt to save himself and his family, "Do you think Daichi will willingly come to you after you kill us all?"
Hearing Ken's words, Tetsuhiro stiffened before slowly turning back around and facing him. His expression looked unhinged, as if he had truly gone mad.
"He won't know that it was me." He stated, however his voice wavered.
Ken locked onto his gaze, a hint of defiance held within. "Daichi knows that you were behind the murder of his mother."
A look of shock crept onto the guy's face, not expecting those words.
"Impossible! They set it up like it was a robbery… You're lying!" Tetsuhiro lashed out, grabbing hold of Ken's chin once more and moving closer.
Seeing his agitated expression, Ken felt somewhat vindicated. However, in truth, he and his family's life were at stake right now so he needed to stay level-headed.
"I'm not lying. If we were to be killed, the first person he'd suspect is you." Ken said, his expression calm.
Striking while the iron was hot, he continued, "Daichi is my best friend, there's no way he'll forgive you if anything happens to me or our family."
THWACK
Ken felt his head jerk back from the impact of the fist, causing his consciousness to falter and his eyes to sting. However, he grit his teeth, trying to fight back the pain.
Tetsuhiro massaged his knuckles, once again wiping away the skin that had touched Ken as if it was the worst filth in the world.
Hitting Ken seemed to calm his mood a little, and he began to take some deep breaths.
Ken silently watched him, doing his best to hold his anger. Now was not the time to antagonize the psycho, otherwise he could forfeit his own life.
He was not dealing with someone sane.
Tetsuhiro walked over to Ken's phone which seemed to have dropped on the ground after the altercation. He opened it and seemed to be searching for something.
RING RING
RING RING
Ken watched this with confusion, wondering who he would be calling from his phone. But it wasn't long until he had his answer.
"Hey bro, what's up?"
Daichi's voice could be heard from the phone, although it wasn't on speaker.
For a split moment, Ken considered calling out for him, but Tetsuhiro had already given him a look, his eyes crazed.
"Daichi… It's your Uncle." He said, his breathing quickening.
"What!? W—Where's Ken? What have you done to him!?" Daichi's panicked voice echoed in the warehouse.
"None of that is important. Come to the Suzuki Corporation office tomorrow at dawn, alone… Otherwise your brother will die a tragic death."