Work Text:
Aoyagi spent the whole flight out here trying to figure out what the hell he was going to say, and the first thing out of his mouth when Kuroshi meets him at the helipad is: "I'm so goddamn sorry about this."
"Sorry?" Kuroshi raises an eyebrow. "Whatever for?"
"For--" Aoyagi gestures helplessly. "Buggin' you with my problems. I just--Majima-san fell off the face of the earth after all that, and my bro's--he's got a wife and kid to think about, if anyone sees him with me it'll--I know you and Sugihara got more than your fair share of problems with all this goin' on, last thing ya need's for me to show up lookin' for a handout."
"Nonsense." Kuroshi gestures at a man standing next to some kind of control panel. "You're welcome to stay as long as you need to. Ah--I should warn you... my successor made a few small changes on board."
"Huh," Aoyagi says as the guy pushes some buttons and a massive bulkhead door starts to slide open. "Hey, you're not gonna put me in that creepy cabin down below again, are ya? I know you were tryin' to keep me safe and this ain't exactly a Carnival cruise liner but--" The doors open wide enough for Aoyagi to see what lies beyond them and the visual overload of neon and fireworks and gold and glitter stun him into silence.
"Personally, I find the whole thing rather... gauche," Kuroshi goes on, as if he doesn't even notice Aoyagi standing there with his eyes and mouth wide open. "But, I do have to admit... it does come in handy, in a way. Are you coming? Or would you prefer to stand there and admire it from a safe distance?"
"I--" Aoyagi shakes his head as if to clear the cobwebs out. "Holy shit." Yeah. Okay. Sure. Turning Kuroshi's creepy old container ship-turned-black site into Debauchery Disneyland? Aoyagi only met the guy who would later appoint himself Nishitani III and then immediately murder like half the Kijin Clan about it once, but this absolutely--"The, uh... giant bondage maneki-neko is a, uh. Very... interesting touch."
"As I said," Kuroshi says mildly, flicking the bondage cat a casual glance of distaste. "Be that as it may, I believe you'll find your cabin comfortable enough and, you'll be pleased to know, bereft of bondage cats. If there's anything you need that we can't source on board, do let Kei-chan and I know, we have our ways. Feel free to take a few days to decompress. I know this can't have been easy for you."
That's an understatement. Part of Aoyagi would very much like to know how the fuck Tatara got hold of his deadname, much less the rest of the ugly details she dug up about his past life. The rest of him just wants to disappear again. He could, he thinks. Hell, this ship is the perfect place for a guy to just... stop officially existing, isn't it? Kuroshi and Sugihara did it. They could probably help him do it. What's one more new name on the pile, at this point? "You're gonna have to let me pay you back for this somehow."
"Mm. As a matter of fact..." Kuroshi pauses to watch a waitress serve drinks to a table full of well-dressed gentlemen. "It just so happens that I have an opening for an executive pastry chef."
Aoyagi takes this opportunity to look around. There are... a lot of really well-dressed people here, come to think of it. "Consider it filled."
"Excellent. Again, there's no rush. You can start when you're feeling up to it." He starts walking again, towards the coliseum entrance. Holy shit, those sure are some big-ass gold statues. "I'd like you to develop a few new desserts," he says, so casually Aoyagi isn't sure what to think. "Ones with some sort of tableside preparation involved. The showier, the better. Perhaps... oh, that business where you douse something in rum and set it on fire, whatever you call that? I may ask you to organize some private chef's table events for the most important of the Very Important Persons, as well."
"O...kay?" Aoyagi breathes out a little laugh. "Sure. I can do that, but--"
Kuroshi holds up a hand to shush him. "Look around you," he says. "Look carefully. But don't linger on any one face for too long. Perhaps... start at two o'clock, near the wall. The fellow in the gray suit and blue tie."
Huh.
Aoyagi looks. It takes him a minute. And then...
The receptionist is one of my informants, Kuroshi had told him all those years ago, the first time he took Aoyagi to the Sotenbori Civic Association's headquarters. It's incredible, the sorts of things people will say out loud right in front of a woman sitting at a reception counter. It's as if they think she's just... part of the decor. The same is true of a number of professions, in fact. Janitors... repairmen...
Really, he'd gone on, practically any sort of food service worker...
There aren't many of them, but there are definitely a few faces here that he's seen on the news. He is absolutely certain the guy at the table Kuroshi tipped him off to is an honest to God Diet member. There's a prominent CEO near the giant bondage cat, snogging a gal who is definitely not his wife. He notices something else, too. The waiter who brings the Diet member his surf n' turf and the pretty gal getting snogged both catch Kuroshi's eye. Just for a fraction of a second.
Aoyagi nods, once. "Heard and understood, boss."
Kuroshi chuckles and pats him on the shoulder. "You always were a quick study."