The Sakura Spa

Section 1: Top Massage Parlors

It was almost noon at Sakura Spa.

Two female employees sat near the front desk, watching TV and munching on sunflower seeds.

On the screen, a host announced, “And now, the annual Top Ten Massage Parlors in Flushing City are…” He counted down from number ten until—

“Number two: Sakura Spa!”

The two women immediately jumped up and high-fived. “We made the top ten again!”

“Hell yeah, bitch!”

They cheered for a moment before the host continued.

“And number one, for the tenth year in a row—The Forbidden Garden!”

Their smiles disappeared.

“Oh, damn. Forbidden Garden again. That place is impossible to beat.”

One of the women dropped back into her chair and cracked another sunflower seed between her teeth. “Well, they have Linda. She’s been the number-one prostitute in Flushing City for years.”

A man stepped out of the manager’s office.

He stood about 172 centimeters tall, wearing a fitted dress shirt, dress pants, polished leather shoes, and golden-rimmed glasses, with a briefcase in one hand. Beneath his shirt, the outline of his solid muscles and eight-pack abs was clearly visible.

This was Michael—Captain Lam, the manager of Sakura Spa.

Michael turned to the two employees, his expression calm and serious. “Don’t let it bother you. We already did our best this year. There’s always next year.”

A Corgi followed closely behind him, its little tail wagging happily from side to side.

Michael’s expression softened. He crouched down, unwrapped a sausage, and gently pushed the whole thing straight down the Corgi’s throat.

GULP!

The entire sausage instantly vanished, and the Corgi licked its lips and immediately opened its mouth again for more.

Michael lovingly rubbed its head. “Good boy, Luke. Such a good boy. Eat up and grow as strong as me.”

Section 2: A Walk-In Customer

Just then, Canelo swaggered into Sakura Spa, taking a drag from his cigarette.

He went straight to the front desk.

“Yo. Amy or Coco. I need one of ’em right now. I ain’t never woke up this hard before.”

The employee shook her head. “Sorry, Lord Canelo. Amy and Coco are both fully booked right now.”

Canelo’s smile disappeared. “What you mean, fully booked? Just squeeze me in.”

The receptionist continued, “With all due respect, Lord Canelo, we don’t have any openings until—”

Canelo’s voice rose. “Yo, listen—”

Behind him, Michael stood up from beside Luke.

“Mr. Canelo, please,” he said in a calm, professional voice. “I’m sure we can resolve this in a civilized manner. That’s what our appointment system is for.”

Canelo was about to say something, his anger building up fast. Then he noticed Michael’s chest muscles twitch beneath his fitted shirt.

Once.

Twice.

Canelo stared at them.

He took a deep breath and stood there in silence for a few seconds.

Then he sighed.

“…Fine.”

Section 3: No Massages

“What the hell?!”

A furious shout came from upstairs.

A tall, heavily built man stormed down the stairs. He was lean but packed with muscle, with thick arms and a broad chest stretching against his shirt. Anger seemed to radiate from his entire body.

He marched straight to the front desk as everyone turned to look at him.

“What kind of massage parlor doesn’t offer massages? What kind of fucking joke is this?”

The receptionist swallowed. “W-We… we actually—”

Michael stepped forward and raised a hand toward her. “It’s all right. Let me take care of this.”

He turned to the man, calm and professional.

“Excuse me, sir. Our massage parlor doesn’t provide massage services.”

The man stared at him.

“What?”

“What the hell do you provide, then?”

Michael adjusted his golden-rimmed glasses. “Well, since you asked, we provide a variety of services. Tongue Dragon Drill, Ice-Fire Double Heaven, Sixty-Nine, and many more. However, I’m afraid massage is one thing we don’t provide—at least for the time being.”

The man stared at him.

“What the fuck?”

Michael remained perfectly professional. “If you’d like, I highly recommend our premium sex service. It’s only one hundred and fifty dollars.”

“NOOOOO!”

The man threw up his hands, his voice cracking. “You people are fucking insane! This whole world has gone crazy! I’m not into that kind of shit!”

Michael’s expression turned serious.

“Sir, with all due respect, that is extremely disrespectful to our dedicated, hardworking employees. They spend countless hours training and perfecting their professional skills. They take great pride in their work.”

The man stared at Michael for a few seconds, completely speechless.

Then he shook his head.

“Fuck this. I’m outta here.”

He yanked the front door wide open and walked out.

As the door slowly began to swing shut behind him, one of the employees watched him leave.

“What a weirdo.”

Section 4: The Unpaid Bill

The front door was already swinging shut.

In a flash, Michael slipped through the narrowing gap—

WHOOSH!

By the time the man reached the sidewalk, Michael was already standing in front of him, one hand raised to block his path.

“Excuse me, sir. I believe you’ve forgotten to pay.”

The man stopped. “Pay? Pay for what? I didn’t get any services.”

Michael remained calm and patiently explained, “The moment you stepped into the room, your service had already begun. Our minimum service charge is one hundred and fifty dollars.”

The man stared at him.

Michael continued, “And now you’re wasting my time. That will be an additional one hundred and fifty dollars. To sum up, your total is… three hundred dollars.”

The man’s eyes widened. “What the hell kind of world am I living in? Everywhere I go, I’m surrounded by fucking lunatics!”

Until now, Michael had given him the benefit of the doubt. But at this point, he was certain the man was trying to leave without paying.

Michael raised one hand and brought it down like a blade toward the man’s neck.

The man’s arm shot up—

BAM!

He blocked it.

In the next instant, both men exploded into motion.

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

Fists and kicks flew between them at blinding speed. The man attacked with both hands and both legs, while Michael fought him one-handed, his briefcase still hanging calmly from the other hand.

One of the man’s punches missed Michael and slammed into a nearby utility pole.

CRACK!

The pole nearly snapped in half and crashed toward the side of the street. Neither man even looked at it. They kept fighting.

Minutes passed.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

Finally, they broke apart and put some distance between them.

The man breathed heavily and stared at Michael. “Looks like we’re dead even. We could keep this up for days. Damn, just give it up already. Even if you kill me, I’m not paying you a cent.”

Michael looked at him calmly. “Oh? You really think so?”

He stepped forward and threw another punch. The man immediately raised both arms—

BAM!

He blocked it.

At that exact moment, Michael’s other hand opened.

Gravity took over.

The briefcase dropped toward the pavement.

THUD.

Michael’s now-free hand flashed across the man’s neck.

SLASH!

His head flew into the air, spinning wildly. A fountain of blood erupted from his neck, spraying nearly two meters into the air.

His headless body dropped to its knees. For a moment, it remained there before slowly tipping sideways and collapsing onto the pavement.

Michael calmly watched as the man’s head hit the ground and rolled several times.

It finally came to a stop at his feet, faceup.

The man’s eyes slowly moved toward him.

“I… never noticed… you were holding that briefcase… the whole time…”

His breathing grew weaker.

“So… you were stronger… than me… after all…”

His eyes slowly closed.

And this time, he was dead for good.

Section 5: Appointment Made

Michael picked up his briefcase and slowly walked back toward Sakura Spa.

He had already been exceptionally merciful today. Throughout the entire fight, he had kept his left hand occupied—not because he wanted to toy with the man, but because he wanted to give him one last chance to realize his mistake and pay what he owed.

Unfortunately, the man had failed to take that chance.

Michael opened the door and walked back inside as if nothing had happened.

But Canelo clearly didn’t feel the same way.

He stood stiffly at the front desk, staring straight ahead. What he had just witnessed had shaken him so badly that even his speech had become severely stuttered.

“I… I would… I would like… like to… to make… make an appointment.”

The receptionist picked up a tablet and checked the schedule. “Let me see… The earliest opening we have is five o’clock.”

Canelo immediately nodded. “F-Five… five o’clock. I… I’ll take… take five.”

The receptionist tapped the screen a few times, then handed him a receipt. “All right. You’re all set. Five o’clock.”

Canelo took the receipt with both hands.

“Th-Thank you.”

He turned toward the door and walked out of Sakura Spa.

Once he was outside, he took a long, deep breath and stood there for a moment, slowly steadying himself. His breathing gradually returned to normal.

“Damn…”

Section 6: Business as Usual

Back inside Sakura Spa, the two female employees were chatting with Michael, completely unimpressed by what had just happened.

One of them smiled. “Captain Lam, another clean head chop. Beautiful.”

The other shrugged. “Yeah. I think I saw the head still talking after you chopped it off.”

Michael adjusted his golden-rimmed glasses but said nothing. He turned around and walked back into the manager’s office.

Just then, a female reporter rushed into Sakura Spa with three crew members behind her.

She hurried straight to the front desk and planted both hands on the counter.

“Where’s Canelo?”

The receptionist pointed north. “He just went that way. He’s probably in Local Alley right now.”

The reporter spun around and rushed back out as quickly as she had arrived, with the three crew members hurrying after her.

The receptionist watched them disappear through the door.

“Huh…”

She cracked another sunflower seed between her teeth.

“What a weirdo.”