Night, somewhere in the city
As Celty Sturluson worked diligently on her courier work, the name of the man she thought of was walking down an alleyway in the outskirts of Ikebukuro, accompanied by a boy whose eyes began to grow more excited the moment the sun went down.
“Shijima-san, what are you doing right now?”
Shijima replied with cold eyes when Jami looked over towards him expectantly.
“Nothing in particular.”
“You’re pulling my leg.”
“I’m not. Besides, I don’t plan for anything big. The only thing I'll do is pour oil on a flame that's beginning to burn somewhere in the city or blow wind on it.”
Shijima stated as a dark flame lit in his eyes. Jami tilted his head in confusion.
“How is pouring oil or blowing wind on it any different?”
“The difference is between increasing the force of disturbance and increasing the range of disturbance. You can even say it’s the difference between turning things to ash in one select area without a trace or causing a small fire in the city.”
“How about turning the city to ash without leaving a trace?”
“I don’t imagine it’s impossible, but there’s no meaning in doing so. The revenge I desire is of a different sort.”
Shijima then added one thing while etching a rare, soft smile on his face.
“If the city turned to ash in the end, whether it was due to the oil or wind, I wouldn’t mind either way.”
After they had walked for a couple more minutes, Shijima pointed to a place in Ikebukuro with his chin.
“We’re here. That’s the place.”
Where he was gazing towards was an abandoned building that gave an old vibe. Just by examining it on the spot, no one could tell whether it was abandoned in the middle of construction or if work ceased during deconstruction. But pieces of the exterior had caved in and it was conceivable that it had remained here for a long period of time, a truly abandoned building.
“What’s here?”
“I messed up here back when I lead the organization Heavens Slave. I tried to finish off the guy we saw earlier, Akabayashi, but I completely fell for his trap. The fighters I sent in got into a dispute with another group and got crushed.”
“What a bitter history. So are you saying you’re seeing the place of your failure to collect your wits?”
“No. I don’t put that much value into such ideas.”
Shijima shifted his focus to the faint light emitting from the mid-level windows on the abandoned building.
“I got business with the group who meets up here. Since I’m not good in a fight, cover me so I don’t get killed if anything goes down, Jami.”
“I can’t guarantee it. I’m not a bodyguard. ...By the way, what type of guys are they? Are they strong? Do they have guns?”
“...No, they naturally wouldn’t own guns. The group has high school kids in it.”
Jami’s shoulders slumped as though he got slightly disappointed.
“You’re kidding. Then they won’t be much fun to fight with..”
“But we’re not here to fight, remember?”
“So who are they anyway?”
Jami tried to continue the conversation despite losing his interest in them.
Shijima lightly smiled as he walked towards the entrance of the abandoned building, as though reminiscing the past.
“...They’re the Blue Squares. Scum just like us.”
♂♀
Inside the abandoned building
“Ahh, dammit. It won’t open after all.”
“Hey, what have you been doing all this time?”
The members of the Blue Squares gathered around Kuon one at a time as he kept fiddling with the Hakone marquetry he had brought back from Anri’s place.
“Ah, hello senpai. You see here, I got this Hakone mosaic work from someone I know, but I can’t get it open…”
“A Hakone what?”’
The blond man, Yoshikiri, frowned. The young boy wearing cat ear accessories next to him, Neko, spoke up.
“You don’t know what that is? It’s as you’d expect. The box is made into a puzzle similar to a puzzle ring, and it won’t open unless you solve it.”
“Uh-huh. Why would they go through all the hassle to make it like that?”
The young boy who was their leader, Aoba Kuronuma, chimed into the conversation he overheard.
“More precisely, it’s called a yosegi-zaiku, but since it’s a Hakone product it’s called that way. Not all yosegi-zaiku are puzzles. The ones that are designed as one are called ‘secret boxes,’ ‘puzzle boxes’ or ‘karakuri boxes’ in the genre. People put items that are important enough that they can’t let it stay out in the open but not enough to put in a safe...I believe many use it that way.”
When Kuon heard that he gave a large sigh.
“I guess you’re right. I heard something banging around inside, so I was curious what it could be. I thought maybe I could take before and after shots of opening the box and then take a picture of what was inside and put it up on a blog.”
“It’s wood, right? Then you can you just smash it open.”
Yoshikiri suggested, making a face that indicated he only became more confused about it. Kuon shook his head, smiling wryly.
“Yoshikiri-senpai, you’re the type of person to break down the door to get into your house if you lost the key, aren’t you?”
“? Isn’t that the normal thing to do?”
“...” “...”
Noticing the pitiful gazes every person around him were giving him, Yoshikiri reached for the Hakone marquetry as the veins in his temple twitched.
“Ahh, this is stupid! Making us look like idiots! I’ll open it!”
“Wai-, please don’t, Yoshikiri-senpai! It’ll be irreversible if you break it!”
Kuon ran back with the box pressed to his chest.
Aoba ordered to help him out.
“Quit it, Yoshikiri. That box is probably more than 10,000 yen.”
“...What?”
Yoshikiri immediately halted and turned towards Aoba.
“Yeah, boxes that have a craftsmanship like that and have a number of paths for it to unlock...In other words, the price will vary based on the complexity of the puzzle and the pattern...From what I’ve seen ever since Kuon had tried to open it, it doesn’t look like there are ten or twenty paths. The design is very elaborate, and it looks very antique. It’s at least ten thousand yen, but it could even be more than 50,000.”
“50,000!?”
“From what I’ve seen on the net, there are boxes requiring more than three hundred steps to open that are worth more than 60,000 or 70,000...And those are just the ones made in the modern era, so if it was an antique made in the Edo period then we’re talking about 100,000 or 200,000 yen.”
The moment the Blue Squares members heard that, they turned towards Kuon. Specifically, they gazed at the puzzle box in Kuon’s hands.
“Hold it...I was given this box! I’m not handing it over!”
“Don’t worry, we’ll just borrow it. There’s an antique shop nearby that was foreclosed a year ago, and it remodeled and opened up for business again. We’ll just bring it there to ask about its resale value.”
Neko stared at him intently. Kuon yelled.
“That’s Sonohara Hall, right!? My credibility will considerably decline, which will lead to the definite course of Yahiro and Himeka-chan giving me the cold shoulder, so I firmly refuse!”
“What nonsense are you going on about? Come on and just hand it over.”
Just when the boys surrounded Kuon to try and snatch the yosegi-zaikufrom him, there was the sound of footsteps ascending the staircase and two silhouettes showed up.
“Hm? Who are you?”
When Neko looked over, he saw a bespectacled man who had bandages around his face and a dark-skinned, innocent-looking boy standing there. The one wearing glasses examined each one of them before settling his focus on Aoba and quietly lowering his head.
“It has been a while. I am Shijima.”
“...Ah, it has been quite some time.”
After a moment of confusion, Aoba clapped his hands together once he matched the name and face from his memories. The young man had approached them, claiming he wanted to help purge the Dollars back during an event correlated with the Dollars. Aoba remembered the man had fairly helped out. But he also recalled he had vanished on the day darkness covered the sky of Ikebukuro.
“...What have you been doing up until now? And who is this?”
“I had made a lot of enemies and went into hiding...And he is my friend.”
“I’m Jami. Nice to meet you!”
The dark-skinned boy lent out a hand to Aoba with an innocent smile.
“Ah, hello.”
After he had shook his hand, Aoba questioned Shijima, shrugging.
“So? What are you here for today? I’ll tell you ahead of time, but the Dollars had disbanded and the person you were introduced to last time, Ryuugamine-senpai, has washed his hands from this life and is living an honest one now. So if you want to meet with him, give it up.”
“...Ah, that’s right. I heard rumors that Mikado-san had been stabbed by someone. Is he alright?”
“He’s completely recovered. So there’s no need for you to visit him.”
“That’s unfortunate. I wanted to ask what he had been stabbed by.”
Aoba and Shijima pressed on with the conversation while refraining themselves, the two of them seemingly aware what the other was hiding.
After Shijima sighed with their exchange, he made an extended proclamation on the subject.
“So you’re telling me that while the Dollars had disbanded the Blue Squares got off scott free and even expanded their territory? Aoba Kuronuma-kun. That makes me wonder, is that brother of yours in the Awakusu Group backing you?”
Not only had he called him by his full name that he did not recall providing, he even knew about his brother.
Aoba fired back in retaliation to indicate he had information on Shijima, eyes narrowing.
“Then aren’t you in danger? What would happen if I contacted the Awakusu Group through my brother and informed them the leader of Heavens Slave was here?”
Aoba brought up the information he had gathered on him during these past two years indifferently. Shijima, however, shook his head slightly and corrected him.
Shijima and Jami took off as they talked between each other casually amidst the ruckus. The majority of the Blue Squares took no notice of them, except one person as his eyes narrowed upon overhearing their conversation.
The green-haired boy muttered to himself as he fiddled with the now open karakuri box.
“Just now...I believe those guys mentioned Sonohara Hall, right…?”
♂♀
On the street
Shijima and Jami arrived back to the streets, heading to return home. As they walked back down the same road, Jami exclaimed, smiling innocently.
“Those guys were a lot of fun!”
Jami reminisced in contentment, folding his hands behind his head. Shijima spoke in his usual cold demeanor.
“Hmph. I didn’t expect the Blue Squares to be so buddy-buddy with each other.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Why would I be…?”
“I mean, you don’t seem to have any friends!”
“...”
Shijima came to a halt and turned around slowly to face Jami.
“? Shijima-san?”
“You guys...How can you look at those...indecent photos while keeping a straight face…”
Shijima’s face was illuminated by the streetlamp along the road. A blush was visible beneath his white bandages, and seeing Shijima’s unfocused gaze Jami questioned with wide eyes.
“Wha-...? Shijima-san, are you serious? But Earthworm-san wears a half-revealing dress all the time and puts an arm around you from behind and rests her head against your shoulder!”
“That woman knows I hate it, so she keeps doing that! It takes everything from me to keep it together!”
Shijima shouted, outwardly expressing his emotions unlike himself, before he cleared his throat to regain his composure.
“Anyway, things like that should be after marriage.”
“Whooaa, I didn’t expect you to say something totally out of character. That reminds me of a story I heard a while back about a guy who married his girlfriend after dating for fifty years, and the gang went on their honeymoon for their seventieth year together. But those two have got to be old by now.”
“There was a girl that stuck around with someone for that long? I’m a tad bit jealous.”
Shijima commented before beginning to walk off, having decided they were done with the conversation, when Jami exclaimed as though recalling something.
“You know, despite claiming you don’t plan anything, you sure keep yourself busy. So who was it? That foreign organization. What kind of people are they? Are they strong?”
Jami asked excitingly. Shijima answered plainly.
“I don’t quite know.”
“What?”
“Aoba Kuronuma did mention them, but I don’t know what organization they are, and besides I haven’t been using the Heavens Slave name for either the drug or the organization. You know that too, right? …They can claim otherwise, but I actually have no affiliation with them.”
Shijima let out a small sigh and looked up at the sky with a cold gaze as he clicked his tongue.
“...Damn, looks like this will be a pain.”
♂♀
The next morning, in front of Sonohara Hall
Damn, this is a pain...I didn’t expect Shijima to be involved in the burglary.
Celty’s shoulders heaved in the form of a sigh as she mounted Shooter left out in front of the shop.
Anri got out of the shop and spoke to her.
“I’m really sorry to have made you worry.”
Anri bowed, but Celty made a wave of her hand casually.
‘You don’t have to worry about me. But you should be careful about that Shijima guy. There’s a chance he could come back here for Saika.’
“Okay. Thank you.”
Celty came to visit Anri first thing in the morning to ask about Shijima. Having heard the night before that the eldest son of the Natsugawara household was involved in Heavens Slave and taking heed of what Akabayashi had told her, Celty decided to search for Shijima. However, around that time she had received a message from Kuon.
Afterwards Celty gave her farewells and drove off, leaving half of the driving to Shooter as she thought what to do next.
Hmmm...The fact that the cursed mallet wasn’t in the storehouse...does that mean the robber took it?
And if we consider Shijima to be the culprit, then there’s the chance he has something similar to Saika...But then according to Kujiragi, it’s not actually a demon hammer… But maybe he was like me and believed it was a real cursed mallet…
At any rate, Celty decided to go out into the city in search of Heavens Slave members, believing she could not proceed further on the issue unless she caught Shijima.
Maybe the eldest son of the Natsugawara household had become a drug addict while under Shijima. Not wanting to see Awayuki’s saddened expression when she sees her brother dependent on drugs, Celty had Shooter speed up slightly - unaware of being watched from afar.
♂♀
On the rooftop of a building
‘...I have view on it. It is the Headless Rider.’
A man reported in English over the phone as he looked down on Celty weaving her way through the city.
‘Yes, it looks exactly the same as the one in the footage. It’s the same thing as the one that took down our helicopter. It appears it was true that it has been coming to and from the Natsugawara estate.’
After the foreign man elaborated on the report, he offered his own conjecture to the recipient on the other line.
‘Yes, that has to be the Natsugawara Konzern’s protege. We can believe it had intentionally opposed us two years ago now as well.’
‘...Yes, at the very least, we have to have that ridiculous magician pay for the helicopter and men we lost.’
♂♀
Noon, on the rooftop of Raira Academy
“So what does that mean? Is that Shijima the robber then?”
Yahiro cocked his head questioningly as he took bites of his sandwich. Kuon had washed down his lunch with cola before he tilted his head to the side.
“Dunno. I got no idea what his goal is, but he did say they had plenty of chances… I can’t think of anything else that could apply to.”
Himeka, eating a curry bread she had bought, questioned him further.
“But I don’t imagine he would mention something like that in the presence of others if he was the robber.”
“Yeah, but us Blue Squares are all kinda like delinquents. I don’t think it was a big deal to him if we heard him. And besides, everyone was in an uproar at the time… If I hadn’t recognized the name Shijima, I wouldn’t even have noticed him.”
The name Shijima had a special meaning to them. It was Shijima who was behind the Headless Rider Cult incident that took place around the time they had entered high school, having distributed dangerous drugs to the group members.
And his name was major for Himeka in particular, whose family was caught up in the incident. She did not show her emotions outwardly, but she asked a single question to Kuon.
“You couldn’t capture him then and there?”
“Kuronuma-senpai was in the mood to abstene, but I was seriously on the point to go at ‘im and yell, ‘damn you! This is for Himeka-chan’s sisters!’ I could’ve done it if he was alone, but he had this weirdo with him…”
“My sisters are both alive though…”
Himeka made a small sigh before carrying on.
“Anyway, leaving that aside, I think there’s the possibility he let his guard down as you look like you’re on the same side as robbers.”
“Geez, I admitted the possibility myself, but I at least wanted you to deny it…”
Seeing Kuon turn crestfallen, Yahiro told him.
“Then you should go back to having black hair.”
“...Hold on. You seem to indicate you knew of when I had black hair.”
“I do. The Orihara twins showed me the photo of you in middle school.”
“What a shock! First it was just Kuronuma-senpai, and now the twins are spreading it around!? Damn, how much!? How much did Kuronuma-senpai sell of my past…!?”
Himeka resumed the conversation with Yahiro as Kuon grieved beside them.
“Still, what do you think Shijima person’s aim is?”
“...On that note, what do you want to do about him, Himeka-chan? He’s the guy who gave those dangerous drugs to your sisters, you know? If you want to catch him, I’ll help you out, okay? I’ll tail him next time he drops by to visit Kuronuma-senpai, and once I found out where his hideout is I’ll have Yahiro break in and go nuts. That’s how we gotta do it.”
“Ah, I’m in your plan too?”
Yahiro did not seem particularly displeased, willing to assist Himeka. However, Himeka made a small shake of her head in response.
“Honestly, I do recognize that my sisters brought that onto themselves...And besides, the effects of the drug Heavens Slave were minor, and my older sister was able to return back to work shortly after...I imagine I'd slap Shijima if he was right in front of me, but I don’t have any reason to go out of my way to look for him.”
“You believe nothing comes out of revenge then? Damn, that’s cool. Hey, Yahiro, looks like we won’t get our turn in the spotlight.”
Kuon expressed cynically. Yahiro replied back.
“But I’m scared.”
“Scared? Of what?”
“Not knowing what Shijima is planning frightens me. Whenever I contemplate what his plans are, like plunging Tokyo into a sea of fire or destroying the world, I feel like a bomb is going to fall over my head one day and it makes me nervous.”
Yahiro brooded with a serious expression. Kuon laughed, shoulders shaking.
“You’re so stupid strong in a fight, and yet you’ve seriously got that much of a negative outlook? From what I heard of the situation, you can relax more. It’s not like you’re going to be hit by a dumpster, right?”
“I guess so...But I don’t want the same events to repeat. So if there’s someone dangerous around, then I want to figure out who they are. I could then know how to avoid them or how to not anger them…”
After he voiced his thoughts, Yahiro listed another idea, face serious.
“Ahh, that’s right. Maybe it’d be a good idea to figure out their hideaway if possible. So that way I don’t accidentally wander in there.”
“Wander in there? It’s not a bear’s den… Seriously, man, you’re quite the chicken…”
Himeka however, unlike the exasperated Kuon, encouraged Yahiro in a plain tone.
“It’s alright, Yahiro-kun. If you wish, I’ll share that uneasiness with you to the best of my ability.”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
Seeing the two converse stone faced, Kuon threw his hands in the air, face contorted in frustration.
“Argh! What is it between you two!? What’s really up with you!? I have no idea if this is lovey-dovey talk or what! You two had something going on there, so you should get more pumped up about it! You’re just making me nervous watching! You two should just date already!”
Yahiro tilted his head once more when Kuon shouted his internal thoughts.
“Eh? We can date?”
Yahiro asked Himeka earnestly. After Himeka thought over it for ten seconds, she responded.
“I’m sorry, I think a boy and a girl should date after getting to know each other more.”
“That’s what I thought. Kuon is just hasty.”
Kuon put the lid back on the bottle of cola and shouted while shaking furiously for no reason.
“Aaarrgh! Why are you making it as though I can’t read the situation!?”
“Calm down, Kuon. By the way, did you manage to open that box?”
“Huh? Ah, yeah, the box I got from Sonohara Hall. I got it open.”
“You said you were going to make a blog post on what was inside, but I didn’t see any update.”
Kuon averted his gaze out of embarrassment from the quick succession of questions Yahiro and Himeka threw at him.
“...Well, a lot happened and...what was inside couldn’t be put on a blog...But more importantly, Shijima!”
Kuon conspicuously diverged from the topic and with a shrug he told them to relieve their concerns.
“Kuronuma-senpai told everyone to leave him alone...But apparently Celty-san is looking for Shijima for a separate matter, and I updated her with the latest info, so I think we could catch him.”
♂♀
The Awakusu Group office
“So? Who are those guests from abroad?”
Akabayashi asked. A fellow Awakusu executive, Kazamoto, answered his question with a reptile-like glare.
And as a result, he managed to beat down the leader of Heavens Slave with the hammer and succeeded in sitting in the throne.
“Listen up. The goods should all be inside the storehouse. If you go get them, I’ll open them up later.”
Yukihiko gave orders to attack the storehouse of Sonohara Hall, looking around at his new subordinates. He muttered to himself in a tone full of self-confidence as he recalled the shop he targeted.
“I’ve only seen the owner of that shop once during the day, but she’s a fine woman…”
He was a special existence, and as such convinced he would be forgiven for any act he did, he made a statement that would lead him to his own downfall.
“If you come across her and want her, you can go ahead and abduct her; I don’t care.”
♂♀
Evening, at Togusa’s apartment
“Whoa...This is the large shark tooth at Sonohara Hall!?”
“Yes. I got it because I like shark movies…”
“Ahh, that’s neat. There’s a ton of manga and anime that include elements from shark movies as parodies, and that’s vital in the fundamental basics of it. Still, if I’d known something like this was there, I would’ve liked to help out too…”
Inside Togusa’s van, Yumasaki was gazing at the fossilized shark tooth Yahiro had with bright eyes. The tooth was as large as his palm, and its tip was serrated like the point of a spear - an article which could be called a type of weapon.
Yumasaki and Karisawa, who drop by Togusa’s place in the van on occasion, spotted Yahiro and conversed with him for a bit, but after they catching up on yesterday’s events and hearing thatYahiro had received a fossil from Sonohara Hall they were invested on the topic.
“Jeez, boys sure love shark and dinosaur teeth.”
“Karisawa-san, you’re not interested in them?”
“No, but I like shark boys though.”
“Shark boys… I guess whenever I hear of shark girls, that instantly grabs my full attention.”
After they went on with their usual conversation, Yumasaki turned back to the shark tooth fossil and remarked.
“Still, Anri-chan is so generous. This is quite expensive, you know?”
“What?”
“Based off the size, I think this is probably a Megalodon tooth fossil, which would be a few thousand yen at cheapest. But it could be 100,000 or 200,000 yen, or even more than 500,000 if it’s a high quality one.”
“Whaa-!?”
Saburo, stunned with Yahiro next to him, raised his voice in alarm.
“What!? I-is it really this much!? Damn...I shouldn’t have told you to just take it so offhandedly… We did a disservice to Anri-chan…”
“So I should return it…”
Karisawa examined the fossil and told the flustered Yahiro.
“Nah, I think this is only in the 100,000 yen range. It’s synthetic.”
“Synthetic?”
“Yeah. There aren’t that many Megalodon teeth out there fully in tact. So usually they cut out ones on the left and right side and stick them together to make a whole tooth.”
“Really?”
“As expected of a someone who sells her own crafts. You’re very knowledgeable on this topic…”
Karisawa continued with a smile on her face in front of the group of men admiring her knowledge.
“Yeah, so I think this is around 30,000 yen off its size.”
“That’s still a lot…”
Yahiro examined the fossil, unsure what to do, but a sudden realization came to him and he asked Karisawa.
“But how can you differentiate a synthesized one and a normal one…?”
“See this here? When you look closer, you can see that the color is a little different in the center, right?”
“Ah, you’re right... That’s amazing. But it’s relatively tight...Ah.”
The shark tooth in Yahiro’s hands snapped completely in two when he twisted it. The others had turned more pale than Yahiro did when they saw it happen.
“Aaaaahh! This is a disaster! Bond! It’s a bond! Or grains of rice! There are the Seven Gods present in the grains of rice! With the power of the Gods, you can become a fusion of a shark and magical shark beast - the sharktopas-nade!”
“Hold on. I got a soldering iron and solder in the van…”
“I’m going to call sir Kadota! He’s a plasterer, so he may be able to fix this!”
Although Yahiro was shocked as much as the rest of the flustered group, his attention was focused on a different matter.
“Um, what’s this…?”
Yahiro’s gaze was focused on a small gap in the cross-section of the large shark tooth fossil, and within in a thin, micro SD card was poking out.
♂♀
Somewhere in Saitama prefecture, in a rental office
“Your reputation has gotten worse over these past few days.”
Shijima grimaced, eyes half-lidded, at Earthworm’s comment.
“Yeah, I’ve heard. Guys calling themselves Heavens Slave are teamed up with some foreign group.”
“Oh? I thought you had comrades you hid from me put to work, but that’s not it?”
Earthworm made a seductive sigh and cocked her head to the side. Shijima smiled wryly.
“...If I was drunk on myself, I would’ve broken down from the sickness long ago.”
♂♀
Night, in an assembly hall for masterworks at a general commerce building, 4F
In the center of Ikebukuro city, there was a floor used as the storage area for a building containing Taiwanese gift shops and restaurants. Celty visited this location, which was used as the hideout for Dragon Zombie, to meet with their leader Li-pei Ei for information on Heavens Slave.
“Ah, yeah...I feel like I’ve been hearing that name lately. I heard they were taken down while I was hospitalized in Taiwan though. But hold on, how did you know of this hideout, Headless Rider-san?”
Celty saw fifteen members of Dragon Zombie surrounding her from afar, observing them. But they must have known of Celty’s strength after staying in Ikebukuro for so long, as the strong glares centered on her were more apprehensive than hostile, as though wishing the meeting ended without any incidents.
‘I heard about it from an acquaintance.’
“I assume it was probably the green haired kid, and if it was I hope you could relay a message: not to tell others of the team’s hideouts.”
‘But even if I was on the same team as you, it would be impossible to prevent others from speaking, right? Besides, you have no right to ask that after you broke into my apartment.’
Li-pei smiled when Celty made a good point and slumped his shoulders.
“I guess you’re right when you put it that way...But that green haired kid knows an uncomfortable amount of information. Makes me think of Izaya Orihara.”
‘Lumping him together with that guy is pretty sad.’
Celty commented, whether she was aware that Kuon aimed to surpass Izaya or not, before she cut back to the main topic at hand.
‘It doesn’t seem even Kuon knows where Shijima’s hideout is. So I thought maybe you guys would know something on him as your motorcycles go around the city.’
“You have a point, but I got nothing.”
‘I’m not saying I’m expecting you to give it for free. I’ll pay you for the information.’
“No, I really don’t have a lead on those Heavens Slave guys. We have found some of their lackeys selling drugs before, and we captured them and beat the guys above them… But there were no other leads to go off of from them, so we don’t know where their main base of operations are or where they cultivate the materials for the drugs.”
Celty examined Li-pei’s face and saw no indication that he was lying.
I see. So even if they catch the dealers on the bottom, they don’t reach all the way up to Shijima. It’s as Akabayashi said. They’re pretty troublesome. From what I saw of them before, it just looked like the underlings were all simply following Nasujima…
‘I see...Then it can’t be helped. Let me know if you find out anything.’
Li-pei waved a hand with a smile as Celty turned to leave.
“You better be careful, Headless Rider-san. The traffic cop, mister Kuzuhara, has been taken off of house arrest.”
‘...House arrest? Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him around lately.’
As Celty realized that was the reason she was able to drive around the city with ease she asked Li-pei in turn.
‘What did that monster do? Did he skin someone and used it to make a sheet or something…?’
“Umm, I question your train of thought there.”
Although shocked by her question, Li-pei answered it nonchalantly as though it was pleasant small talk.
“Anyway, it was simple. The vehicle of some big politician did a hit-and-run, and he went after him.”
‘...Hold on, the traffic cop did no wrong then, right? If he got a house arrest for it, I worry how corrupt our current society is…’
“Well, that’s why I’d like you to hear the full story. Apparently that politician roared, ‘who do you think I am!?’ And then sir Kuzuhara pulled the geezer out of the window and dragged him down the road, nearly grazing the ground. He shouted, ‘I don’t give a damn who you are, you smeared the asphalt in that accident.’ He went overboard, so he got house arrest.”
When she heard that the politician was properly arrested and received punishment for the hit-and-run as well, Celty put a hand on her chest in relief.
‘Thank goodness. Society is sound…’
Li-pei smiled self-ridiculously.
“But it’s the beginning of hellish days for us bikers.”
‘That’s only natural. You can’t break the speed limit.’
“Should I lend you a mirror?”
‘Oh, um...I guess I’m also in the wrong there…’
Seriously. I really feel like I’ve gotten so distant from society… But hold on, more importantly, I need to focus on Shijima.
Immediately after Celty left the building and thought over the information she had up until this point. The Heavens Slave was immense yet shallow, having a hand in numerous forms of criminal activities similar to a united front of multiple groups.
“An elusive group...they’re similar to the Dollars.”
Actually, that reminds me, Akabayashi-san had said that they formed with the Dollars layout as reference. I may have underestimated Shijima…
She mounted Shooter and smacked her hands against her helmet to motivate herself.
From this point on, I’ll have to act as though I’m going up against the Dollars.
♂♀
Somewhere in Saitama prefecture
Men in dark colored suits were conversing in English within the dim room. More than half of their roaster were made up of foreigners, but there were some Japanese mixed in who all spoke English with each other.
Each person held a tablet which displayed the footage of the Headless Rider running through Ikebukuro.
“I don’t know what this is about, but the Natsugawara’s pet magician rider is wandering around Ikebukuro for something.”
“There was a lot of eye-witness reports of it a few years back… It’s been identified to have connections with the Awakusu Group, you know? And there were rumors it was the pet of the fixer in Shinjuku, Izaya Orihara… But that man is apparently dangerous, with connections to sample cult groups.”
“And there’s the chance the Awakusu Group and Izaya Orihara are in with Natsugawara behind the scenes. Natsugawara is a stubborn man. He made contact with small and big mafias like the Runarata family and the Ruso family and possesses a lot of dummies. Only a select few within the Natsugawra Group would know which organization was truly backing them.”
The other men spoke up as they heard the man express his firm weariness towards the Natsugawara Group.
“But that’s why we’re deeply interested in the information the eldest Natsugawara has on him.”
“You don’t think it’s a trap to lure us out?”
“No, from what I looked into, Yukihiko Natsugawara is the typical brat, unlike his father. And there’s rumors that the family has recently adopted another child as a talented candidate to inherit the family business. We’ve been observing Yukihiko’s activities ever since he joined Heavens Slave, and I could say the possibility of him being wise enough to play the fool is low.”
The man then went on to discuss his opinion on the Headless Rider.
“This magician rider appears to be looking for Yukihiko…But perhaps...maybe this is Natsugawra’s chance to get rid of his eldest son.”
“Ah, I see. He doesn’t have it as his pet bodyguard but his personal hitman?”
“Either way, this magician rider is the top thing to keep a watch on. Get all our weapons and men we have at this time.”
“Hold on, all of them? ...Do you intend to initiate a war in this country?”
The man most likely to be their leader in the room shook his head.
“Don’t forget this thing took out our helicopter. The people who went up against it directly are still in jail...Even if we were to talk to them, we know it’s not any ordinary opponent. And it’d be dangerous to assume the all the footage on the internet is just fake.”
“Come on, are you saying you believe crap like research on aliens is taking place in Area 51 or that research on vampires and immortals is going on in the basement of Nebula? It’s probably just using some hallucinogenic gas or something.”
“I believe utilizing a chemical weapon that could induce the same hallucination against factions is more dangerous than aliens or vampires.”
“Uh...yeah…”
The others were dumbfounded and chose to remain silent, unable to counter their leader’s cynical remark.
And then the leader mentioned another possibility as he watched the creepy shadow move within the footage on the tablet screen.
“The Natsugawara Group is an enterprise that is at the forefront of nanotechnology, AI, and video technology. This magician rider could also be related to their research.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve got information that this shadow is the latest technology from the Natsugawara Group.”
The leader stated to the men with a weary gaze.
“Don’t let your guard down just because it’s one person. The Natsugawara’s true connections...or more accurately, we’re going to thoroughly pulverize all the organizations associated with them in Ikebukuro and Saitama.”
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