“The same with me and Shiro,” Hiro said. “He was the favourite, I was the disappointment, and your father laid low in the middle. Ken didn’t really grab attention until he married a white girl so young. Everyone was expecting an explosion, only to be startled at how well your mother and mine got along. No one expected that.”
“They both wanted diligent little Japanese children,” Jason said. “They got Kaito, so they were willing to put up with me.”
“Mother cares about you more than you think, Jason.”
“She’d care more if I’d learned Japanese.”
“I’m serious, Jason. The family had many regrets after you were gone. They even softened their stance on me. Not a lot, but they’ll at least take my calls now. They still won’t be happy to know you and I are spending time together. I never would have expected you to become entangled in this kind of life.”
“I only touched on criminal affairs peripherally in the course of my work.”
“Well, don’t go underestimating the man we’re about to meet. His name is Ari, and while he might live in a poor suburb, he is anything but. I didn’t want to involve you directly, but he insisted on meeting you first. Since he did, he must have tested the gold and found it to be what you said it was.”
“You left it with him? That’s more than eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of gold.”
“Australian market price,” Hiro qualified. “You aren’t going to a gold seller in the shopping centre, Jason.”
“I’m aware,” Jason said with a chuckle.
“Honestly, the fact that it is so much money is what stops him from just taking it. I suspect he wants to meet you to feel out what kind of backing you have. If he thinks you’re weak, he’ll try and rip you off and push to see if you’ve got more. Don’t show any weakness and don’t let him shake you.”
“You don’t need to worry about that, Uncle Hiro.”
“Jason, don’t underestimate this guy. He’s an old-school Armenian gangster; don’t think you can treat him like Growl. He knows the places out bush where they will not find your body.”
The expensive car looked increasingly out of place as it drove through the western suburbs, pulling up in front of a house obscured by large bushes rising over a high wooden fence with flaking white paint. The street was dark, the streetlights somewhat dimmer than normal.
“Ari likes to let his dogs intimidate people as they come in,” Hiro warned.
Jason concentrated his aura senses, feeling nine people in the house and four dogs in the yard. He sent small, directed aura pulses at the dogs, letting them feel the strength and inherently domineering nature of it.
Taika opened the gate in the fence, allowing Hiro and Jason to go through. A concrete path ran up the front yard to the door, with an overgrown lawn on one side and a chain-link enclosure on the other. Inside the enclosure was a concrete floor and long, aluminium kennel, padded heavily with old blankets. In contrast to the clear disregard for lawn maintenance, the enclosure and the kennel within were clean and cared for. Taika and Hiro looked warily at the four German Shepherds hunched submissively on the floor of the enclosure in a line.
“What’s up with the dogs?” Taika asked.
“I don’t know,” Hiro said with worry in his voice. “Every other time I was here, they tried to claw their way through the fence to get at me.”
“Maybe they’ve gone through obedience training,” Jason said.
“Dogs have sharp instincts,” Taika said, glancing at Jason. “Something’s got them spooked.”
“I guess we go knock?” Hiro suggested. “Normally, dogs barking is the doorbell.”
They approached the door, Taika stepping forward to knock. A man opened it, looking past them with a confused expression at the dog enclosure. Jason noticed the man wore socks but no shoes. Taika gave him a greeting nod.
“G’day, Petros.”
“Hello, Taika,” Petros responded. He was a big man, although didn’t seem so in front of the mountainous Taika. He spoke softly, with a slight Armenian accent. He turned to Hiro.
“Mr Asano,” he greeted. “This is your nephew?”
“This is Jason, yes.”
“The boss said to bring you in as soon as you arrived,” Petros said, moving deeper into the house. Hiro motioned to Jason and followed, with Taika bringing up the rear.
The exterior of the house was in desperate need of paint, which fit right in with the neighbourhood. The interior was like a different world, having clearly been gutted and rebuilt from the frame out. Past the door was a tiled entryway, where shoes were lined up on racks.
“Shoes off, please.”
Jason took his shoes off along with Taika and Hiro. He slipped them into his inventory instead of onto the racks, using Taika’s bulk to hide the action. Petros then led them deeper into the house, at which point the purpose of removing their shoes became clear. The tiled foyer gave way to a hallway with rich carpeting that would be easy to dirty and hard to clean. The walls were wood panelled, with soft sconce lighting to provide a warm environment.
Petros led them into a large, open-plan room. Jason could see into the kitchen and dining areas, while most of the room was a lounge space with a giant television, bar, and luxurious couches and chairs. In the centre of the room was a large table with a sunken area with a felt surface set into it. An elaborate board game was laid out on it, with five people sitting around playing.
Jason even recognised the game, due to an old friend from school named Greg. He had regularly roped Jason and Amy into board games that would last upwards of three, six, and even eight hours. He absently wondered where Greg was now, having fallen out of touch when Greg moved to Sydney to study law. Jason had gone to Melbourne, studying political science.
Four more men were playing a video game on the large television. Everyone in the room was a burly man, except for one of the people at the table. He was slightly older, with less of an obvious-henchman air about him. Jason picked him out as Ari.
“Hey, boss,” Petros said. “Mr Asano is here.”
Jason had guessed right. The older man turned to give the entrants an assessing gaze before getting up. He was lean, around forty-five, with thinning hair. He wore neat, comfortable pants and a simple shirt.
“Ari,” Hiro greeted neutrally.
“Hiro,” Ari said in turn, then glanced back at Petros.
“The dogs?” he asked.
“They looked scared, boss,” Petros said. “Like when Vermillion comes.”
Jason felt every aura in the room except for Ari’s and his own tremble upon hearing the name Vermillion. Even the stalwart Taika radiated trepidation.
“Is that so?” Ari mused. Unlike Petros, there was no trace of an accent. Ari turned back to his visitors.
“My dogs aren’t scared of a lot,” he said. “They’re definitely not scared of you, Hiro. They probably should be scared of you, Taika, but they’re not.”
His gaze settled on Jason.
“There’s only one person that scares my dogs. He’s a man who does business with my boss. When he comes here, you don’t hear a peep out of them. They’re trained guard dogs, and trained well, but they will have no part of this man.”