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.
“You’re a little off. I was the sub-leader at the end of the day. The leader was Kumoi-san.”
“Does that person really exist? I looked for him, but I couldn’t find any trace of him.”
“Really? Then maybe you should go see an ophthalmologist then.”
“Uh-huh...Then the rambunctious group that recently came over here from a foreign country and is doing business with them was also under Kumoi-san’s orders? I heard the group had caused a shootout and even brought in a helicopter in Kanto awhile back. So are you planning on initiating a war?”
After Shijima heard that, he fell silent for a few moments before a small smirk formed on his face.
“If you’re scared, you can confine yourself in a shelter. What I’m interested in are neither guns or helicopters. It is the harmonious coordination among fellow organizations in Ikebukuro.”
“In other words, you want pawns?”
“As if. If I wanted pawns, I could just hire thugs loitering around the area, right? If I’m in trouble, people will help me. Or I’ll get money or something else for collateral damages. I want to establish a relation like that.”
“Wonder how well that will go...Anyway, as long as you don’t interfere with us, I don’t particularly intend to go up against you. I heard drugs are being distributed around the city and even towards Saitama. It was not limited to the Headless Rider cult incident. I’ll be upfront with you. We won’t go out of our way to stop your activities, but we have no reason to cover you if the Awakusu Group catches wind of it.”
When Aoba replied with a wry smile, Shijima held out a note while returning a smirk in kind.
“This is because the Awakusu Group and the police can trace calls. When you need to talk to me, go to the HP address and enter in the password listed below. There’s an entry form to make contact.”
“Why thank you. I like weary people. I don’t trust them though.”
Aoba fearlessly smiled while Shijima dismissed his smile with a cold gaze.
Just as an unsettling air grew between them, cheering erupted next to them.
“?”
The two looked over simultaneously and saw the yosegi-zaiku puzzle box Kuon had earlier opened in Jami’s hands.
“Whooaa, incredible! You opened that almost instantly!”
“That was so fast. I couldn’t see what you did…”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
When Aoba asked, Kuon turned around, mouth gaping.
“Ah...you see...He claimed he could open it...and he seriously did it insanely fast…”
“This is the 804th I’ve opened. Alright, here you go!”
Jami tossed the box over to Kuon, but in Kuon’s haste to catch it something fell out from inside the box.
“Oops...what’s this?”
When Kuon picked it up there was a small plastic case with a few SD cards in it.
“Wha-!? I was expecting a koban coin to be in it, but I got something cheap instead…”
Despite the slight disappointment Kuon felt, he bowed to Jami while inserting the SD card into his laptop.
“Anyway, thanks for opening it. But I guess there’s geniuses in every field, given you could open it that fast…”
Kuon commented, and after checking the content of the SD card for any viruses he opened the files.
“Holy crap, there are a thousand files on this...wha-?”
There were countless thumbnails that appeared on the screen listed in a coherent manner. What was unique though was that the image files were all skin-colored.
“What’s wrong? What is…”
Aoba peaked over from behind and froze for a moment before muttering.
“Whoaa...they’re uncensored…?”
Seeing the thousand files of erotic skin colors and pink across the photos, each member of the Blue Squares, starting with Yoshikiri, began to speak with unusually straight faces.
“Alright, I’ll take this.”
“No, I will.” “I will!” “No, me!”
“Hold it, aren’t these images extreme enough to be a crime if you walk around with those?”
“I believe it’s fine if you keep them by yourself…” “I’m not sure.”
“Hey, Aoba, what do you think?”
Dragged into the conversation, Aoba replied with a composed expression.
“Isn’t it fine? It’s not that big of a deal…”
“Th-this guy’s so calm about it!”
“Of course a guy who is friends with those erotically cute twins is different!”
“...I’ll kill you!”
“Why!?”
Aoba attempted to escape, but the others pursued after him.
Shijima shook his head, exasperated by watching their behavior and headed towards the staircase.
“We’re going back, Jami.”
Jami questioned him with a slightly displeased expression.
“Eh? We’re going back? We’re not going to go to Sonohara Hall?”
“We’ll go next time. Sonohara Hall isn’t going anywhere. We’ll have plenty of chances.”
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.
‘Just now there was that executive Shijima from those Heavens Slave guys with the extremely bad rep who dropped by the Blue Squares hideout, and he mentioned about going to Sonohara Hall and having plenty of chances to do so.’ That was the casual message floating around SNS like a rumor.
However, Celty felt like that vital piece of information was affixed to an arrow that struck her right in the chest. And when she asked Anri about him, she was informed that a man similar to his description had approached her in want of Saika prior to the night the burglar broke in.
So he’s really after Saika…?
Celty had confirmed what Kuon had said via e-mail, and according to him the man wore glasses and had bandages wrapped around his face, so it was highly likely they were the same person.
But why break into the storehouse? Did he assume another Saika would be kept inside the storehouse similar to how Shinra stores it…?
Celty asked the possibility to Anri, but she gave a troubled look in response, “um, but we don’t know whether he’s really the culprit or not…”
Celty also believed it could be premature of them to assume he was the culprit, but it would be unnatural to believe he was unrelated given the situation.
That said, I don’t imagine Shijima could do anything to Anri-chan…
But wait...If he couldn’t fight her, I can believe he’d try to light the house on fire…Or maybe he’ll burden her with incredible debt and pressure her financially…
Celty grew more weary as she thought of methods villains used in drama shows she had watched.
Anri-chan just obtained a peaceful life...I want to protect it…
‘Regardless if he’s the robber or not, I’m looking for him on another matter anyway, so if I catch him and learn of anything I’ll contact you then.’
“I’m terribly sorry...And um, please be careful.”
Celty smiled internally when she saw Anri look at her in concern and stated.
‘Thank you. I’ll be careful.’
She then recalled one matter and asked Anri.
‘Umm, by the way, about that wooden hammer I mentioned in the message I sent you yesterday…’
“Ah, that...I didn’t find anything of the sort when I was sorting through the storehouse yesterday...maybe it was sold back when my father ran the shop. I’m sorry.”
Anri bowed her head apologetically. Celty quickly waved her hand in response.
‘Ah, it’s alright. I didn’t need it or anything.’
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.
“Their group has never directly gone up against us. They’re punks that made a stink in Saitama not too long ago. ...It even made the news. A helicopter made an emergency landing in some harbor town in Kanagawa, and they discovered a large amount of guns on it. And later there was a shootout.”
“Ah yeah, that did happen. But why is it they caused a fight in Saitama, and yet ended up in Kanagawa?”
“That’s the strange part of the story. There’s the Natsugawara Group, right? The wealthy family in Saitama. Apparently the group pillaged an important belonging of theirs, and when they tried to transport it overseas guns something fired at them and took down their helicopter. Anyway, the group must have split in half or something...Since the incident was not directly related to us though, I don’t have more detailed information on it at the moment…”
“Hmm...From a shoot out to a helicopter, huh. So they are a fairly large-scale group.”
Akabayashi’s eyes narrowed. Kazamoto smirked, his front teeth exposed.
“The Natsugawara Group is infamous in Japan as a toy making company, but overseas they are known to make various electric programs and innovative technology within their group. I know there are guys who want to steal their technology and would try to obtain anything to make a weakness on the Natsugawara leader.”
♂♀
Somewhere in Saitama prefecture, in a rental office
“There’s an antique shop called Sonohara Hall in Ikebukuro. I hid the goods in the storehouse there.”
The members of Heavens Slave all looked at each other at Yukihiko Natsugawara’s statement.
“Hid? ...Not that you know the owner and they let you keep them there?”
“There was a lot of circumstances against me at the time.”
Yukihiko provided as answer and recalled the event of the night before yesterday with a tutt.
Goddammit. Why was I so scared of these guys back then?
Yukihiko had left home with a few items from the household. The reason why he did so was simple: to have money on-hand and extra to last him a long period of time as well as to irritate his father. He thought it was the logical approach to accomplish all those objectives at once.
First he would directly sell the products to earn enough finances to live off of for a couple months. And as he was family, he knew what was concealed in the goods and use them to gain long term profits. As a result the profits he would receive would cause damage to the Natsugawara household in a roundabout way, setting up an insinuation towards his father. He had left home with those expenses and some special products for his scheme.
Yukihiko despised his father. But it was completely unjustified resentment.
Yukihiko’s parents never thought of who the next heir of the Natsugawara Group would be and had kept telling him to live as he wanted. However, he had always been different from the other children around him, so Yukihiko had become fully immersed in his superior complex, believing he was special, and hardly understood the meaning behind his parents words. If he could live as he wanted, he thought of no other path for him to take other than becoming a billionaire as the Natsugawara heir without effort. Yukihiko was the type of person who would think that at the very least, so when his younger sister Awayuki proclaimed she wanted to be a picture book artist he snorted in response, “you’re an idiot. Why would you make your own when you could just pay for them?”
They were born to spend money, not to make it. That was who he was. He was a modern noble, a being that went through money to smoothly keep the economy circulating in society. Just as he took that belief onto himself, his parents suddenly brought in an adopted child.
At first, he considered him to be a plausible servant. When he heard his adoptive brother’s grades far exceeded his own, he realized he had been naive, but he was unperturbed by it as he believed his brother to be in a lower position than him.
However, he became aware of it then. Everyone’s attention gradually cut through him to focus on his younger brother. Yukihiko quickly degraded from there.
Feeling his parents were not even looking at him anymore, he unreasonably began to question himself. When they had told him ‘to live as he wanted,’ they must have meant ‘you’re useless.’
The thought passed through his mind once, but in the end Yukihiko could not pull himself out of the bog of his thoughts. And when his parents scolded him when he started to act out, he realized they probably only cared about their appearance in society and began to hang out with the urban outlaws.
He lavished money around, and the people around him ceaselessly exalted him. Yukihiko, believing all was as it should be as according to his childish ideal, was satisfied for a time. But after he ran away from home, the seams began to tear apart.
His comrades questioned him, “so how much money did you take with you?” It dawned on Yukihiko they began to eagerly pay attention to the amount of money he had left. Realizing his situation and that he had to do something, Yukihiko came to Ikebukuro to ask a favor from a certain man: Izaya Orihara.
The informant was known by that name among outlaws, and Yukihiko intended to use him to make enough money for long term. However, Yukihiko did not know. The informant had completely vanished from the city of Ikebukuro after a certain event took place two years prior. And as he wandered around Ikebukuro aimlessly, people from Heavens Slave approached him.
“Hey, you mentioned something earlier. Something about you got data in the goods you took that could destroy your pop’s company.”
“You were ranting on about it in a bar earlier, right?”
“Some foreigners dropped by, saying they are willing to pay well for it. We interposed.”
He was not a noble; he was nothing more than an exploited worker for corrupt aristocrats. Taking money from his family was simple, but in the end he was someone who took everything, doing an otherwise risky task. It was far too late by the time he realized this, and he ended up being a chased sheep, running around Ikebukuro city for an escape.
When he had arrived in Ikebukuro, he searched for an antique shop to quickly sell the items he had on hand, recalling that a shop called Sonohara Hall was nearby, and decided to hide inside the storehouse.
Once he handed over the items they wanted, he would be of no value to them. The value he had on him was all for Heavens Slave’s taking. Aware of his situation, he needed to temporarily hide the items they were after, to change his status as the exploited to a negotiator.
If he just left the items inside, the shop owner would notice there was an increase in stock. And by breaking the simplistic lock and intruding, there was the possibility the police would confiscate the items if they found them. And so he ransacked the storehouse to make it look like a burglar broke into the building, and he hid the items he took from home into appropriate areas.
That’s right...maybe I should at least take one item...Is there anything that could be used as a weapon? It won’t be good if I run into those guys outside. There’s got to be a Japanese sword around, this being an antique shop and all.
After digging around for a few minutes, he found a hammer. It was old, but it was a sturdy wooden mallet which had bizarre patterns carved into it.
Seriously? A wooden hammer? ...Well, it’s better than nothing. But I don’t imagine they would be scared seeing me fling this around…
He was uneasy internally, but the moment he gripped the hammer he was instantly captivated by its comfortable texture. It was as though it was made for Yukihiko Natsugawara to solely use - the fit gave him that impression, and he felt as though the wooden hammer and his hand fused into one.
And as he gazed at the small hammer he had second thoughts. Why was he running away and hiding? He was a descendant of the Natsugawara household, nothing like those hoodlums - someone of higher disposition.
He stepped out of the storehouse slowly, the hammer held tightly in his grip. To retrieve the position that was rightfully his. And first and foremost, to impose sanctions on those who betrayed him and tried to sell him out to a different organization.
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.
“...Heavens Slave is an organization I have discarded. What worth does Heavens Slave have without Kumoi-san or myself there? There’s nothing left, aside from the drug.”
“But that drug is being sold around recently. We had addicts wander in even our underground casino looking for dealers; they were a bit troublesome to deal with.”
“...What?”
Jami, having overheard their conversation from the corner of the room, spun around to face them.
“Shijima-san. I don’t think drugs are good. And in a manga I read a while back, it said guys who sell drugs are evil. You can still get out of it now, you know? Being a dealer! Is no good! Absolutely not!”
“It’s not an exaggeration to say I’m evil. I’m the worst.”
“Whoa, going from being submissive to defiant makes you less cool, Shijima-san!”
Shijima was frustrated by the other’s pure voice and added, slightly averting his gaze.
“...Besides, I haven’t been selling the drugs.”
“What?”
“...The Heavens Slave drug expands one’s fantasies. It delivers on point, so it’s fine. I gave a little bit to those followers of the Headless Rider, but regardless who is selling it, trafficking the drugs will just lead them to the same end as Heavens Slave.”
Earthworm made a surprised expression.
“Oh really? You proclaimed you were going to extract revenge onto Ikebukuro, so I thought you would try to mix the drugs in elementary school lunches or something.”
“I believe you’re mistaking me as part of a secret society from films.”
Shijima’s eyes narrowed, displeased, and he began to walk over to the window leisurely. He then stated as he looked at the night scenery of the city with the sun beneath the horizon.
“There’s no point in having me cause anything directly. I’m fine with just helping the city’s self-ruin. No, rather, that in itself is satisfying enough. If I cause trouble and shout ‘look at me’ to the city that has never took notice of me, that would look like I’m begging on my hands and knees, right?”
Shijima worded the idea ambiguously. Jami and Earthworm whispered between themselves as they gazed at Shijima’s back.
“I have no idea if sometimes Shijima is just sick or drunk on himself.”
“It’s probably both.”
Even as Shijima overheard their whispers, he did not become upset and muttered in response.
“Well...I suppose you’re not off there.”
“...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.”
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.
“You’re a little off. I was the sub-leader at the end of the day. The leader was Kumoi-san.”
“Does that person really exist? I looked for him, but I couldn’t find any trace of him.”
“Really? Then maybe you should go see an ophthalmologist then.”
“Uh-huh...Then the rambunctious group that recently came over here from a foreign country and is doing business with them was also under Kumoi-san’s orders? I heard the group had caused a shootout and even brought in a helicopter in Kanto awhile back. So are you planning on initiating a war?”
After Shijima heard that, he fell silent for a few moments before a small smirk formed on his face.
“If you’re scared, you can confine yourself in a shelter. What I’m interested in are neither guns or helicopters. It is the harmonious coordination among fellow organizations in Ikebukuro.”
“In other words, you want pawns?”
“As if. If I wanted pawns, I could just hire thugs loitering around the area, right? If I’m in trouble, people will help me. Or I’ll get money or something else for collateral damages. I want to establish a relation like that.”
“Wonder how well that will go...Anyway, as long as you don’t interfere with us, I don’t particularly intend to go up against you. I heard drugs are being distributed around the city and even towards Saitama. It was not limited to the Headless Rider cult incident. I’ll be upfront with you. We won’t go out of our way to stop your activities, but we have no reason to cover you if the Awakusu Group catches wind of it.”
When Aoba replied with a wry smile, Shijima held out a note while returning a smirk in kind.
“This is because the Awakusu Group and the police can trace calls. When you need to talk to me, go to the HP address and enter in the password listed below. There’s an entry form to make contact.”
“Why thank you. I like weary people. I don’t trust them though.”
Aoba fearlessly smiled while Shijima dismissed his smile with a cold gaze.
Just as an unsettling air grew between them, cheering erupted next to them.
“?”
The two looked over simultaneously and saw the yosegi-zaiku puzzle box Kuon had earlier opened in Jami’s hands.
“Whooaa, incredible! You opened that almost instantly!”
“That was so fast. I couldn’t see what you did…”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
When Aoba asked, Kuon turned around, mouth gaping.
“Ah...you see...He claimed he could open it...and he seriously did it insanely fast…”
“This is the 804th I’ve opened. Alright, here you go!”
Jami tossed the box over to Kuon, but in Kuon’s haste to catch it something fell out from inside the box.
“Oops...what’s this?”
When Kuon picked it up there was a small plastic case with a few SD cards in it.
“Wha-!? I was expecting a koban coin to be in it, but I got something cheap instead…”
Despite the slight disappointment Kuon felt, he bowed to Jami while inserting the SD card into his laptop.
“Anyway, thanks for opening it. But I guess there’s geniuses in every field, given you could open it that fast…”
Kuon commented, and after checking the content of the SD card for any viruses he opened the files.
“Holy crap, there are a thousand files on this...wha-?”
There were countless thumbnails that appeared on the screen listed in a coherent manner. What was unique though was that the image files were all skin-colored.
“What’s wrong? What is…”
Aoba peaked over from behind and froze for a moment before muttering.
“Whoaa...they’re uncensored…?”
Seeing the thousand files of erotic skin colors and pink across the photos, each member of the Blue Squares, starting with Yoshikiri, began to speak with unusually straight faces.
“Alright, I’ll take this.”
“No, I will.” “I will!” “No, me!”
“Hold it, aren’t these images extreme enough to be a crime if you walk around with those?”
“I believe it’s fine if you keep them by yourself…” “I’m not sure.”
“Hey, Aoba, what do you think?”
Dragged into the conversation, Aoba replied with a composed expression.
“Isn’t it fine? It’s not that big of a deal…”
“Th-this guy’s so calm about it!”
“Of course a guy who is friends with those erotically cute twins is different!”
“...I’ll kill you!”
“Why!?”
Aoba attempted to escape, but the others pursued after him.
Shijima shook his head, exasperated by watching their behavior and headed towards the staircase.
“We’re going back, Jami.”
Jami questioned him with a slightly displeased expression.
“Eh? We’re going back? We’re not going to go to Sonohara Hall?”
“We’ll go next time. Sonohara Hall isn’t going anywhere. We’ll have plenty of chances.”
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.
‘Just now there was that executive Shijima from those Heavens Slave guys with the extremely bad rep who dropped by the Blue Squares hideout, and he mentioned about going to Sonohara Hall and having plenty of chances to do so.’ That was the casual message floating around SNS like a rumor.
However, Celty felt like that vital piece of information was affixed to an arrow that struck her right in the chest. And when she asked Anri about him, she was informed that a man similar to his description had approached her in want of Saika prior to the night the burglar broke in.
So he’s really after Saika…?
Celty had confirmed what Kuon had said via e-mail, and according to him the man wore glasses and had bandages wrapped around his face, so it was highly likely they were the same person.
But why break into the storehouse? Did he assume another Saika would be kept inside the storehouse similar to how Shinra stores it…?
Celty asked the possibility to Anri, but she gave a troubled look in response, “um, but we don’t know whether he’s really the culprit or not…”
Celty also believed it could be premature of them to assume he was the culprit, but it would be unnatural to believe he was unrelated given the situation.
That said, I don’t imagine Shijima could do anything to Anri-chan…
But wait...If he couldn’t fight her, I can believe he’d try to light the house on fire…Or maybe he’ll burden her with incredible debt and pressure her financially…
Celty grew more weary as she thought of methods villains used in drama shows she had watched.
Anri-chan just obtained a peaceful life...I want to protect it…
‘Regardless if he’s the robber or not, I’m looking for him on another matter anyway, so if I catch him and learn of anything I’ll contact you then.’
“I’m terribly sorry...And um, please be careful.”
Celty smiled internally when she saw Anri look at her in concern and stated.
‘Thank you. I’ll be careful.’
She then recalled one matter and asked Anri.
‘Umm, by the way, about that wooden hammer I mentioned in the message I sent you yesterday…’
“Ah, that...I didn’t find anything of the sort when I was sorting through the storehouse yesterday...maybe it was sold back when my father ran the shop. I’m sorry.”
Anri bowed her head apologetically. Celty quickly waved her hand in response.
‘Ah, it’s alright. I didn’t need it or anything.’
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.
“Their group has never directly gone up against us. They’re punks that made a stink in Saitama not too long ago. ...It even made the news. A helicopter made an emergency landing in some harbor town in Kanagawa, and they discovered a large amount of guns on it. And later there was a shootout.”
“Ah yeah, that did happen. But why is it they caused a fight in Saitama, and yet ended up in Kanagawa?”
“That’s the strange part of the story. There’s the Natsugawara Group, right? The wealthy family in Saitama. Apparently the group pillaged an important belonging of theirs, and when they tried to transport it overseas guns something fired at them and took down their helicopter. Anyway, the group must have split in half or something...Since the incident was not directly related to us though, I don’t have more detailed information on it at the moment…”
“Hmm...From a shoot out to a helicopter, huh. So they are a fairly large-scale group.”
Akabayashi’s eyes narrowed. Kazamoto smirked, his front teeth exposed.
“The Natsugawara Group is infamous in Japan as a toy making company, but overseas they are known to make various electric programs and innovative technology within their group. I know there are guys who want to steal their technology and would try to obtain anything to make a weakness on the Natsugawara leader.”
♂♀
Somewhere in Saitama prefecture, in a rental office
“There’s an antique shop called Sonohara Hall in Ikebukuro. I hid the goods in the storehouse there.”
The members of Heavens Slave all looked at each other at Yukihiko Natsugawara’s statement.
“Hid? ...Not that you know the owner and they let you keep them there?”
“There was a lot of circumstances against me at the time.”
Yukihiko provided as answer and recalled the event of the night before yesterday with a tutt.
Goddammit. Why was I so scared of these guys back then?
Yukihiko had left home with a few items from the household. The reason why he did so was simple: to have money on-hand and extra to last him a long period of time as well as to irritate his father. He thought it was the logical approach to accomplish all those objectives at once.
First he would directly sell the products to earn enough finances to live off of for a couple months. And as he was family, he knew what was concealed in the goods and use them to gain long term profits. As a result the profits he would receive would cause damage to the Natsugawara household in a roundabout way, setting up an insinuation towards his father. He had left home with those expenses and some special products for his scheme.
Yukihiko despised his father. But it was completely unjustified resentment.
Yukihiko’s parents never thought of who the next heir of the Natsugawara Group would be and had kept telling him to live as he wanted. However, he had always been different from the other children around him, so Yukihiko had become fully immersed in his superior complex, believing he was special, and hardly understood the meaning behind his parents words. If he could live as he wanted, he thought of no other path for him to take other than becoming a billionaire as the Natsugawara heir without effort. Yukihiko was the type of person who would think that at the very least, so when his younger sister Awayuki proclaimed she wanted to be a picture book artist he snorted in response, “you’re an idiot. Why would you make your own when you could just pay for them?”
They were born to spend money, not to make it. That was who he was. He was a modern noble, a being that went through money to smoothly keep the economy circulating in society. Just as he took that belief onto himself, his parents suddenly brought in an adopted child.
At first, he considered him to be a plausible servant. When he heard his adoptive brother’s grades far exceeded his own, he realized he had been naive, but he was unperturbed by it as he believed his brother to be in a lower position than him.
However, he became aware of it then. Everyone’s attention gradually cut through him to focus on his younger brother. Yukihiko quickly degraded from there.
Feeling his parents were not even looking at him anymore, he unreasonably began to question himself. When they had told him ‘to live as he wanted,’ they must have meant ‘you’re useless.’
The thought passed through his mind once, but in the end Yukihiko could not pull himself out of the bog of his thoughts. And when his parents scolded him when he started to act out, he realized they probably only cared about their appearance in society and began to hang out with the urban outlaws.
He lavished money around, and the people around him ceaselessly exalted him. Yukihiko, believing all was as it should be as according to his childish ideal, was satisfied for a time. But after he ran away from home, the seams began to tear apart.
His comrades questioned him, “so how much money did you take with you?” It dawned on Yukihiko they began to eagerly pay attention to the amount of money he had left. Realizing his situation and that he had to do something, Yukihiko came to Ikebukuro to ask a favor from a certain man: Izaya Orihara.
The informant was known by that name among outlaws, and Yukihiko intended to use him to make enough money for long term. However, Yukihiko did not know. The informant had completely vanished from the city of Ikebukuro after a certain event took place two years prior. And as he wandered around Ikebukuro aimlessly, people from Heavens Slave approached him.
“Hey, you mentioned something earlier. Something about you got data in the goods you took that could destroy your pop’s company.”
“You were ranting on about it in a bar earlier, right?”
“Some foreigners dropped by, saying they are willing to pay well for it. We interposed.”
He was not a noble; he was nothing more than an exploited worker for corrupt aristocrats. Taking money from his family was simple, but in the end he was someone who took everything, doing an otherwise risky task. It was far too late by the time he realized this, and he ended up being a chased sheep, running around Ikebukuro city for an escape.
When he had arrived in Ikebukuro, he searched for an antique shop to quickly sell the items he had on hand, recalling that a shop called Sonohara Hall was nearby, and decided to hide inside the storehouse.
Once he handed over the items they wanted, he would be of no value to them. The value he had on him was all for Heavens Slave’s taking. Aware of his situation, he needed to temporarily hide the items they were after, to change his status as the exploited to a negotiator.
If he just left the items inside, the shop owner would notice there was an increase in stock. And by breaking the simplistic lock and intruding, there was the possibility the police would confiscate the items if they found them. And so he ransacked the storehouse to make it look like a burglar broke into the building, and he hid the items he took from home into appropriate areas.
That’s right...maybe I should at least take one item...Is there anything that could be used as a weapon? It won’t be good if I run into those guys outside. There’s got to be a Japanese sword around, this being an antique shop and all.
After digging around for a few minutes, he found a hammer. It was old, but it was a sturdy wooden mallet which had bizarre patterns carved into it.
Seriously? A wooden hammer? ...Well, it’s better than nothing. But I don’t imagine they would be scared seeing me fling this around…
He was uneasy internally, but the moment he gripped the hammer he was instantly captivated by its comfortable texture. It was as though it was made for Yukihiko Natsugawara to solely use - the fit gave him that impression, and he felt as though the wooden hammer and his hand fused into one.
And as he gazed at the small hammer he had second thoughts. Why was he running away and hiding? He was a descendant of the Natsugawara household, nothing like those hoodlums - someone of higher disposition.
He stepped out of the storehouse slowly, the hammer held tightly in his grip. To retrieve the position that was rightfully his. And first and foremost, to impose sanctions on those who betrayed him and tried to sell him out to a different organization.
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.
“...Heavens Slave is an organization I have discarded. What worth does Heavens Slave have without Kumoi-san or myself there? There’s nothing left, aside from the drug.”
“But that drug is being sold around recently. We had addicts wander in even our underground casino looking for dealers; they were a bit troublesome to deal with.”
“...What?”
Jami, having overheard their conversation from the corner of the room, spun around to face them.
“Shijima-san. I don’t think drugs are good. And in a manga I read a while back, it said guys who sell drugs are evil. You can still get out of it now, you know? Being a dealer! Is no good! Absolutely not!”
“It’s not an exaggeration to say I’m evil. I’m the worst.”
“Whoa, going from being submissive to defiant makes you less cool, Shijima-san!”
Shijima was frustrated by the other’s pure voice and added, slightly averting his gaze.
“...Besides, I haven’t been selling the drugs.”
“What?”
“...The Heavens Slave drug expands one’s fantasies. It delivers on point, so it’s fine. I gave a little bit to those followers of the Headless Rider, but regardless who is selling it, trafficking the drugs will just lead them to the same end as Heavens Slave.”
Earthworm made a surprised expression.
“Oh really? You proclaimed you were going to extract revenge onto Ikebukuro, so I thought you would try to mix the drugs in elementary school lunches or something.”
“I believe you’re mistaking me as part of a secret society from films.”
Shijima’s eyes narrowed, displeased, and he began to walk over to the window leisurely. He then stated as he looked at the night scenery of the city with the sun beneath the horizon.
“There’s no point in having me cause anything directly. I’m fine with just helping the city’s self-ruin. No, rather, that in itself is satisfying enough. If I cause trouble and shout ‘look at me’ to the city that has never took notice of me, that would look like I’m begging on my hands and knees, right?”
Shijima worded the idea ambiguously. Jami and Earthworm whispered between themselves as they gazed at Shijima’s back.
“I have no idea if sometimes Shijima is just sick or drunk on himself.”
“It’s probably both.”
Even as Shijima overheard their whispers, he did not become upset and muttered in response.
“Well...I suppose you’re not off there.”
“...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.”
