Sagaki: A Tokyo Nights Novella: Tokyo Nights Novellas, #1

By Naomi Aoki

Jun Sagaki had it easy, well as easy as things could be for a Yakuza. He oversaw a profitable area of Tokyo for the Imaida and looked on track to become the Boss. Eventually. One day in the distant future.

 

And then he met Hisato Shibata and his whole world got turned upside down. The position he held, the respect he garnered taken from him along with his finger. But now he's paid his penance and the Shinjuku/Kabukicho area has been handed back to him, and everything should be heading back in the right direction.

 

Except it isn't.

And the one man he needs to rely on to stay alive just might be another undercover cop.

 

The Tokyo Nights Novellas is a companion series to Tokyo Nights and can be read as standalones but they will contain references to events that occur in the main series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: NaomiAoki
• Release date: Nov 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386753780

Naomi Aoki

Naomi is a Kiwi born girl who spends a lot of time laughing at the antics of her kids who are all growing up way too fast, and trying to convince the cat that her lap isn't always a suitable bed. She alos loves to spend time listening to music, watching anime, C-Dramas, and disappearing into worlds created by other author. To keep up to date the latest news, sneak peeks at upcoming WIPs, and exclusive excerpts make sure to follow her on all the socials... https://linktr.ee/naomiaoki_mandygreenwood

Book preview

Content Warnings

CONTAINS SCENES/REFERENCES to: Violence/Sex Trade/Crime Scenes/Voyeurism/Light Dom/sub

Author Note

THE TOKYO NIGHTS NOVELLAS are a companion series to the Tokyo Nights series. They can be read independently of the main series, but if you’re curious as to where they fit into the timeline then... Sagaki’s book takes place after Deadly Game, Kirushima’s takes place after Deadly Gamble... and Hiroshi’s takes place after Deadly Gifts.

Chapter One

SAGAKI DROPPED ONTO the chair with a thud, splayed his hands across the polished surface of his desk and sighed. He’d wondered if he’d ever return to this office out the back of the Imaida run loans company in Kabukicho. A company that advertised itself as being government approved when in truth, it didn’t give a damn about the interest restrictions placed on loans and the customers walking through their doors had no choice but to accept the high costs they charged.

Well, they could always try one of the other companies offering the same services nearby like Shindo’s. Sagaki cackled at the thought, Shindo’s was even shadier than they were and the penalties for not paying even steeper. Barely legal in the front and nowhere near in the backrooms where only a trusted few could step and owned by the lover of a man Sagaki wished was his.

Once wished.

His gaze caught on the still healing flesh of his left pinkie, or what remained of it. A scarred stump now because of that same man—Hisato Shibata. He’d been intrigued by Shibata from the moment he spied him across the bar and hadn’t hesitated to approach. Sagaki didn’t know Shibata had already caught the eye Tatsuo Ogawa, his rival from the Yamashita Organisation. His short flirtation had cost him this plum position and all the respect that it carried. For six months he’d worked in the lowly position of manager at one of the many Imaida entertainment venues and the fact it was situated in Roppongi didn’t make it any better.

That should have been the end of it. He should have done his penance and returned here unscathed. But someone hadn’t told Shibata. The man walked back into his orbit and convinced him to play along with his fake boyfriend scheme, so he could snatch the head of the Yamashita, Goushi Asano’s lover. Sagaki should have turned him down. He should have said ‘No’ knowing the assurances his own boss had made to Asano over his lover’s safety. Except he hadn’t. Sagaki lost his finger for the part he played, and when Shibata was revealed to be a cop, it should have cost Sagaki his life.

He shouldn’t have been rewarded with a return to his previous high-ranked position.

Realising he didn’t want his men to walk in and find him caressing his desk like some perv, Sagaki snatched his hands off it. He unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and rolled the sleeves till they sat just beneath his elbows revealing the ink stretching bright across his skin. Cherry blossoms and koi danced together, ducking, and weaving up from his wrists and continued beneath his clothing as he reached for the ledger sitting on the desk.

Old fashioned, handwritten, and easy to destroy even if others rolled their eyes at his continued refusal to bring the business into the digital, but fire destroyed much better than a reset button. Flicking it open he traced his finger down the columns taking note of the number of loans paid out, off or defaulted on while he’d been forced to work elsewhere. Read over the details of the all the drug deliveries they’d received and the protection money coming in from local businesses. Sagaki breathed a sigh of relief that his replacement Shuhei Izumiya, despite all the complaints he’d heard about him, had at least continued to follow the practices Sagaki had set in place. However, he’d done a piss poor job of increasing their profits, if anything the numbers appeared to be a little lighter than what Sagaki expected.

No wonder Shirokawa reinstated him.

Sagaki glanced at the time as he closed the ledger, running his hand over it. His back popped as he leaned back and stretched. Several new appointments to management positions had been made during his absence and he planned to meet with each one over the next week. Sagaki needed to make sure they understood what was expected of them regardless of how they might have run their businesses under Izumiya. This was his turf and it would run according to his rules.

The first on his agenda: meet with the new manager of the Blue Butterfly host club; an appointment that puzzled him with no reason given for the previous manager quitting. Sagaki couldn’t think why a man who’d spent the last thirty years working for the Imaida would quit so suddenly. But it wasn’t just the new appointment that puzzled him. The Blue Butterfly was the only host club in the entire Shinjuku area capable of competing with Crooked Hearts—a Yamashita run club—for customers and with the murder of two Crooked Hearts hosts, they should have capitalised on it. Greater profits should have been recorded as they lured the once loyal clientele away from the beleaguered Yamashita club. Profits should have increased further still once Ogawa’s lover had been revealed to be a cop.

But they hadn’t. Instead, Blue Butterfly’s profits had dropped, considerably. The new manager, Ikue Kirushima better have some decent answers as to why they weren’t performing or face consequences. Sagaki hadn’t decided what those consequences might be, but it had been a few months since he’d spilt blood...

He stared at the door, brow furrowing at the three gentle taps Sagaki wasn’t quite he sure hadn’t imagined.

Enter, he snapped.

Excuse the intrusion.

A very formal voice emanated from the man entering the room and it surprised him. Surely this man wasn’t Kirushima, manager of the Blue Butterfly? But it wasn’t just his manner of speech that set Sagaki on edge, not liking the way he bowed low in deference, much lower than the respect Sagaki received from any of his men before and yet, there wasn’t an ounce of respect in it. He watched the man straighten and close the door with very precise movements noticing his appearance matched his manner of speech. He wore a black slim-line suit that hugged his body close; not