A few days later at Sonohara Hall.
“Oh. I’m surprised to see that you’re friends with Celty-san.”
Anri turned bashful at Himeka’s remark.
A couple days passed since the incident, and commotion in the city had begun to settle down. Around this time, Yahiro and his friends visited Sonohara Hall where they saw Celty conversing with Anri, causing them to discuss numerous things related Celty.
“So in the end the officials figured Saburo-san got into a panic because of the shooting, and thus he managed to get avoid getting his license suspended.”
“I really wonder how that all worked. Even if he somehow avoided serving time in prison, I would’ve at least thought he’d get his license suspended…”
‘Togusa tends to act more recklessly when it comes to Ruri Hijiribe-san.’
Celty reflected on the latest incident as they had their friendly chat. Naturally she was not able to mention Saika in front of Yahiro and the others, but since she had been talking with Anri about how Saika was related to everything that happened only a moment before they arrived Celty had to make sure not to accidentally let it slip.
Just then, Kuon glanced over to the women working in the store.
“Huh? Is she a new employee?”
“Yes. She started working here yesterday.”
After Anri answered Kuon’s question, the blonde haired white woman turned over to them and introduced herself.
“I’m Orca. I’m a foreign exchange student. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Wow, your Japanese is good.”
“Thank you very much. I didn’t have any place to stay when the shop owner took me in. I’m working for her to repay the debt.”
“You’re an exchange student, but you don’t have a place to stay…?”
The boys felt something was slightly off, but they let the comment slide, assuming she had just not fully mastered Japanese.
However, Celty knew the truth. The woman had also been one of the members of the group behind the last incident and was forced to confess her part in the scheme under Saika’s influence. And it was because of her that Celty was able to hear all the details from Anri.
The individuals who were after the numerous factions of Heavens Slave when Shijima had left were the mysterious group Celty had taken down when she had to retrieve the Natsugawara family’s pet snake. Celty thought the group were smugglers at the time, but apparently they were personnel working for a corporation that were after the Natsugawara Group’s research. They had their eye on the Heavens Slave in contact with the Natsugawara family’s eldest son, and so they dispatched several pawns from multiple organizations after them. And one of the factions of Heavens Slave Yukihiko had seized control of had ordered Anri to be captured.
Jeez. It wasn’t even a robbery. He just brought in to hide the items he took from the Natsugawara home...But I would never have expected two of those items would fall into Yahiro-kun and Kuon-kun’s hands.
...It seems Yukihiko also had Bannanjin, so all of this is Kujiragi’s fault. That said, it seems Shijima actually had nothing to do with this incident…
Celty thought he had played a part in this incident, but since he had committed crimes beforehand and used her as a decoy Celty decided there was no need to apologize to him. Even as she felt how silly fate caused them all to get caught in a web of coincidences, she felt relief flood through her now that the peaceful days returned to Sonohara Hall.
Aside from the girl Orca, everyone else had gotten arrested, so that’s one concern taken care of. But I hear the other guys Shizuo had beaten up are still in hospital.
Just as Celty wondered if Mikado Ryuugamine knew of what had transpired, she happened to make eye contact with Yahiro and Kuon when the two held out a laptop towards her.
‘? What is this?’
“Umm...so the thing is...There was, uh, some sort of a data card in the items we got from here...and mine had thousands of erotic images in them.”
Yeah, I know. Those were from the head of the Natsugawara Group.
As Celty pondered if she should tell them the truth, Yahiro suddenly mentioned something odd.
“But for mine, it was different.”
‘What?’
“There was some strange software in my SD card, and we weren’t sure what it was. But when Kuon’s sister analyzed it, she found that it was a unique, coupled software....”
A coupled software - it was a software used to reconstruct old data by combining multiple files that had been split up.
Why would that be on there?
Celty had cocked her helmet in wonder when Kuon added.
“And um...you know those thousands of pornographic images? They were just camouflage.”
‘What?’
“When we input those images through the coupled software, we were able to extract a code from the images and reconstruct all the files...and this was the file made.”
Celty looked over the data file, and shortly after shivers ran down her spine.
“It was really unsettling...We thought maybe you’d know more about this and decided to show you it.”
After a few moments of thought, Celty typed an reassuring message as though nothing had happened.
‘Alright. Can you give me a copy? I know someone who would know more about this, so I’ll go ask him about it.’
♂♀
Night, at the Natsugawara Household.
‘Would you kindly explain to me what this is?’
Byakuyamaru Natsugawara gave Celty a fearless smile as she stormed into his office.
“Oh, what’s this now? ...I believe I have already paid you for a job well done the other day. And now shouldn't you have encountered the butlers, maids and bodyguards on your way here? What happened to them?”
‘...Everyone let me pass when I told them I found the erotic photographs you were searching for and had come to deliver them to you.’
“You’re kidding me…”
Byakuyamaru’s undaunted smile instantly vanished. Celty showed him the tablet screen and the paragraph of characters on her smartphone.
‘I’m not. I found 20,000 erotic images hidden within that Hakone-zaiku.’
“Ah, I see. I’m relatively grateful. Please return them to me.”
‘And I also found the coupled software hidden in the megalodon shark tooth fossil.’
“...”
Byakuyamaru ceased flustering, and the intrepid smile returned.
“Oh? ...So you know our research, I take it?”
‘Yeah, I do. And if this gets let out, you’ll get a trip to jail. I doubt possession of obscene photos itself wouldn’t get you prison time...But I’m sure the various human experiments you performed on children for non-medical reasons definitely will.’
The data Yahiro and Kuon had found depicted that a certain child had their genes altered and had been administered particular drugs to enhance their human abilities. Put simply, the company was conducting experiments of altering young children’s bodies to create superhumans.
There were experiments of this nature conducted throughout the world, but the numerous experiments written in the data indicated they had far surpassed what the law could allow.
Yahiro and Kuon did not know the data was leaked from the Natsugawara household. But Celty knew. And driven by a sense of righteousness, she came over to the Natsugawara estate to call Byakuyamaru to out.
“Hahaha...If that’s the case, what will you do? There’s no evidence within the data that has our company’s name on it. Everyone would just think the file was made for an April Fool’s joke.”
‘Oh just this.’
The following second, there was the sharp smacking sound in the office.
“Ow!? That super ordinarily hurt!”
Byakuyamaru objected with teary eyes, losing his mastermind facade when was struck by Celty's large shadow fists.
“That’s cruel of you to do…! I at least haven’t made killing machines with our technology or had an entire village slaughtered for the sake of an experiment…”
‘Mass exterminations isn't the issue! You used a child as a mere toy...What do you take human life for!? Didn’t you say your company was to fulfill the dreams of children!?’
“...Why yes, I did. I did not lie about what I said.”
‘What…?’
Celty paused, intimidated by Byakuyamaru’s stern tone. She was worried how she should respond when Byakuyamaru spoke.
“...Obtaining special powers through genetic modification is any boy’s dream, correct?”
‘You are definitely Shingen’s friend!’
Celty grabbed the man by the neck, nearly suffocating him, and Byakuyamaru gasped out while tapping her arm.
“P-please wait. The child listed on those files is alive. I haven’t used them as a toy. Please, you got to believe me. Trust me. Love me. Killing me softly.”
Byakuyamaru whispered. Celty was unsure whether he was saying the random English purposefully or due to the pain, but she released him before asking.
‘Then is the child alright? Where are they now…?’
“Where? ...Look, they just got back.”
And in that moment, Celty heard someone running up the stairs.
It couldn’t be...Awayuki-chan!?
The very instant Celty turned around, the door to the office opened-
♂♀
A few hours earlier, at a rental office somewhere in Saitama Prefecture.
“I’m glad those troublesome guys are out of the picture now. I resolved that strange misunderstanding, and the remnants of Heavens Slave got bought out by the Awakusu Group.”
Shijima had stated to himself. Jami turned to him and expressed apologetically.
“Sorry that I suspected you of kidnapping girls.”
“Oh I don’t mind. I’ll kidnap someone if there’s the need to anyway.”
“Whoa, you’re the worst!”
Jami exclaimed as he kept fiddling with a puzzle ring.
“Urgh. This won’t open.”
“Huh? I thought you were good solving those puzzles.”
“I’m awful at it. I’m good at school, memorization, and math though…”
Shijima asked as he cocked his head questioningly.
“But didn’t you easily open up that puzzle box the Blue Squares had the other day?”
“Huh? Oh, I’ve opened that numerous times.”
“?”
“It’s the exact same one I have at home. I’ve opened it enough times that I knew what to do. But I was surprised to see it had the same data card too. Do you think all Hakone-zaiku have those items inside?”
♂♀
Present, in the office at the Natsugawara estate.
“Father, I’m home! ...Ah! Headless-Rider-san!?”
Celty titled her helmet to the side, confused, when she saw the tall, dark-skinned boy.
‘Ah, umm...nice to meet you?’
“I spotted you in the city before! And I saw you in the garden when you brought back my sister’s snake! I’m so happy to meet you in person!”
Celty looked at the boy before turning over to Byakuyamaru questioningly.
Byakuyamaru answered her unasked question.
“He’s Jami - my adopted son.”
“I’m Jami Natsugawara! Nice to meet you!”
‘Ah, thank you…’
Jami held out his hand to Celty to take. As Celty shook his hand Byakuyamaru stated nonchalantly.
“And he’s the human experiment I mentioned earlier.”
‘Hold on!? You’re going to say this in front of-...’
“Oh? You talked to the Headless Rider about it, father? Wasn’t it a company secret?”
‘He just casually knows about it!?’
As Celty grew flustered after the succession of shocking reveals, Byakuyamaru explained plainly.
“Of course he would. When he found the child who fit our criteria overseas, his poor parents gave their approval and told us to use him however we wished…And he had him go through numerous tests which he all passed! He came out to be a truly healthy young boy. He has fantastic grades and his reflexes are Olympic tier. And those attributes caused jealousy with Yukihiko-.........”
He went on to explain in depth how Jami got adopted into his family and what happened after he came to Japan, but Celty grew fed up with him and ignored most of his spiel. At one point, Byakuyamaru noticed Celty’s haggard state and remarked triumphantly.
“Well then. I believe we could say that you have merely jumped to conclusions, now can’t we-....Ow, ow, ow!”
‘And did you forget what you did is a violation against the law?’
♂♀
A few hours earlier, at a rental office somewhere in Saitama Prefecture.
“Still, sorry for all the weird stuff my brother caused and complicating things.”
“No kidding. Also, about that puzzle you mentioned earlier...I don’t know much about it, but I believe the Blue Squares bought it from Sonohara Hall.”
They actually were given the puzzle, but unaware of this fact Shijima moved onto another topic.
“So what happened to your brother?”
“Hmm. Guess something happened to him as he’s keeping himself locked in his room. I sometimes hear him say, ‘I’m an puny existence. I’m worthless trash. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ But my mom and my little sister are just overjoyed he’s back home alive.”
“...There’s definitely something wrong with your family. ...But then again, I’ve used you as bait. If you family learns about me, they’ll probably get mad and come after me.”
Shijima had Jami head over to the shopping mall he told Celty to go to and purposefully let the spectators see his face in order for the organization’s men to appear. This was done to make it look like the second son of the Natsugawara family was going to meet up with the Headless Rider.
“But Shijima-san, you caused a shootout to happen at the facility your family is making. That’s messed up.”
“I’m not messed up. I’m just scum.”
“You’re completely out there. ...But anyway, I don’t think my dad would be particularly mad.”
“Why do you think that?”
Shijima asked out of curiosity, to which Jami replied with a pure smile.
“My dad had apparently planned to crush those guys from the start. All you did was make the plan go into effect sooner!”
♂♀
Present time, at the Natsugawara Estate.
‘I have one last thing to say to you.’
After Celty made sure Jami had returned to his room, Celty pointed a sharp finger at Byakuyamaru.
‘You...you leaked false information to those men that my shadows were the latest technology produced from the Natsugawara Group, right?’
Celty had obtained the information from Orca under Saika’s influence, so it was unlikely that she lied.
Byakuyamaru leaned back in his office chair, a conceited smile situated on his face once more.
“Oh? I must have taken you too lightly if you figured that out.”
‘Having me search for your son was just an expedient. Your real aim was to use me to eliminate those men.’
“And thanks to your efforts, we were able to clean up the remaining members of our enemies that had been creeping around our estate. You served as the perfect bait for them as you have fought them once before. That said, I didn’t want there to be a shootout in a shopping mall. I hope the Shijima Group won’t suspect our involvement in that incident.”
Byakuyamaru had expressed brazenly, though he grew more timid near the end.
“Hahaha...Tell me. How does it feel to be lead by the nose like Shingen would to you?”
‘Ah...And why would you admit this to me now? I would have expected you to claim a third party was responsible for the spread of false information and say you were completely unaware of the matter.’
“Well, I didn’t want you to see me as a mere simpleton, and the very thought unnerved me. Still, it was so easy to trick you, miss legendary Headless Rider.”
Celty took a step towards Byakuyamaru silently.
‘I see. I will ask to make sure, but what else has Shingen said about me?’
“Let me think...He said you’re very scary if anyone makes you mad...Oh? This is odd. It almost looks like a black silhouette of Acala is forming behind your back. Hahaha.”
‘That’s because I’m making it with my shadows.’
Celty then turned the shadow Acala into several black tendrils, which crept over towards him.
‘I should’ve tested your worth.’
Just as Byakuyamaru gave a shriek out of genuine fear the office doors burst open. Celty immediately dispelled her shadows, and when she turned around she saw Awayuki out-of-breath standing there.
“Courier-san! My dear brother Jami had informed me you were here…! Thank you for saving my brother Yukihiko!”
‘Ah- yeah. No problem. Though in all honesty, I wasn’t the one to save him.’
Celty grew flustered as Awayuki bowed her head repeatedly.
Seeing this, Byakuyamaru took the chance and told his daughter.
“Hey, Awayuki! Perfect timing. How about we have a pajama party in celebration for Yukihiko’s safe return! It’ll go on until the courier here is tired and has to head home.”
“A pajama party? What will we be doing, father?”
Celty then turned her smartphone to Awayuki so only she could see the message.
‘We’re going to be watching a ton of videos about scary monsters and ghosts. Only adults can watch them.’
“Heee…! I-I’m tired, so I’m going to go to bed! Goodnight, courier-san! Father!”
Awayuki must have recalled what her father told her the other day as she rushed out of the room to retreat to her bedroom after bowing to Celty once last time.
“Whaa!? What did you tell my daughter!? How dare you! Only adults are responsible for scaring young children- wargh!”
‘You’re one to talk!’
Celty strung Byakuyamaru up to the ceiling with her shadows, and then she made a shadow spear she pointed at him with and threatened.
‘Do you have any last words?’
“Please wait! I could, yes, with money...I will pay you well for the trouble!”
‘...How much are we talking?’
Once Celty withdrew her shadow spear, Byakuyamaru held up his index finger with his free right hand.
“Let me see...Including the amount needed to keep you quiet about the research data on Jami, then I presume this much would suffice?”
100,000 yen, huh?
It was not a bad sum to receive for compensation, but Celty considered the possibility of someone finding their residence through a transmitter and end up causing problems for Shinra, and so she grew irritated.
‘No, how about this much?’
Byakuyamaru sulked when Celty held up three fingers to him, but he eventually gave in.
“Understood...You’re rather good at doing business, courier-san.”
♂♀
The next day at Shinra’s apartment.
‘And that’s what happened last evening.’
After hearing Celty’s explanation, Shinra hummed in awe as he accessed the home page of their online banking account.
“I see. I don’t know what is being covered up, and I won’t ask about it, but it must have been thrilling to talk down to one of the most wealthy and influential people in Japan.”
‘Not really...I just threatened him a bit. I wouldn’t really say I found that enjoyable…’
Celty sighed internally, thinking how Shinra and her were mentally black after all.
Shinra and I must look like true villains from the world’s perspective.
However, Celty began to think she was at peace with taking the path of evil as long as she would be walking it with Shinra. She figured she would be fine with it as long as she got to walk alongside him, regardless how distant they became from society.
But if possible she wanted to live in the world without causing anyone trouble.
As she pondered to herself, her thoughts shifted to the three high schoolers.
If they start to step over onto this path, I’ll have to act as the person to push them back onto the right path. Just like Akabayashi did for Mikado-kun.
It was in that moment that Celty recalled the items they received for helping clean the storehouse. And out of curiosity, she sent a message to Anri.
‘There didn’t happen to be anything hidden in Himeka-chan’s fountain pen, was there?’
Anri’s response was straightforward.
‘No, what was already in there was something I had put in.’
Oh, alright then. So no weird coincidence.
Celty relaxed momentarily before she noticed there was more to the message.
‘Kujiragi-san had sold the fountain pen to me, and she had hid a map for hidden treasure located on an island somewhere for me as a service.’
Wait, what!? Why would she give that as a present!?
The adults around Celty truly seemed to all be estranged. Celty backtracked, realizing Anri was already an adult as well, when she noticed Shinra had stiffened up in front of the computer.
‘What’s wrong, Shinra?’
“Hey, Celty. We got a deposit from Natsugawara-san’s dummy company, but the amount seems to be off.”
‘What?’
Please don’t tell me he took three fingers for 300 yen!
Celty looked at the online banking account on the computer, considering to go back to Saitama to beat Byakuyamaru up if that was the case. However, the deposit in the account showed: ￥30,000,000.
‘What, that’s more than 300,000 yeeeeeen ljkkpk.’
Celty’s hands shook as she typed when she noticed how many digits there were.
“There’s...There’s 30,000,000 yen in there...Celty...what did you threaten him with?”
Immediately after that, Celty’s smartphone went off. She received a text from Kuon, which read: ‘This is nuts! There was a treasure map in Himeka-chan’s fountain pen! It looks like it’s in the sea of Enoshima, but we totally have to get there somehow!’ When Celty read the message, she felt that no matter how much she struggled she could not escape from her slightly deviated, abnormal days.
Afterwards, she would purchase a boat with the large amount of money she obtained to search for treasure in the Enoshima Sea with Yahiro and Shizuo for summer vacation, but that was a story for another time as plenty of other ‘slightly deviated adventures’ awaited Celty in the city of Ikebukuro even if she did not set out to sea - stories she took part in with her greatest partner, Shinra, who had upturned her very world to begin with.
A few days later at Sonohara Hall.
“Oh. I’m surprised to see that you’re friends with Celty-san.”
Anri turned bashful at Himeka’s remark.
A couple days passed since the incident, and commotion in the city had begun to settle down. Around this time, Yahiro and his friends visited Sonohara Hall where they saw Celty conversing with Anri, causing them to discuss numerous things related Celty.
“So in the end the officials figured Saburo-san got into a panic because of the shooting, and thus he managed to get avoid getting his license suspended.”
“I really wonder how that all worked. Even if he somehow avoided serving time in prison, I would’ve at least thought he’d get his license suspended…”
‘Togusa tends to act more recklessly when it comes to Ruri Hijiribe-san.’
Celty reflected on the latest incident as they had their friendly chat. Naturally she was not able to mention Saika in front of Yahiro and the others, but since she had been talking with Anri about how Saika was related to everything that happened only a moment before they arrived Celty had to make sure not to accidentally let it slip.
Just then, Kuon glanced over to the women working in the store.
“Huh? Is she a new employee?”
“Yes. She started working here yesterday.”
After Anri answered Kuon’s question, the blonde haired white woman turned over to them and introduced herself.
“I’m Orca. I’m a foreign exchange student. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Wow, your Japanese is good.”
“Thank you very much. I didn’t have any place to stay when the shop owner took me in. I’m working for her to repay the debt.”
“You’re an exchange student, but you don’t have a place to stay…?”
The boys felt something was slightly off, but they let the comment slide, assuming she had just not fully mastered Japanese.
However, Celty knew the truth. The woman had also been one of the members of the group behind the last incident and was forced to confess her part in the scheme under Saika’s influence. And it was because of her that Celty was able to hear all the details from Anri.
The individuals who were after the numerous factions of Heavens Slave when Shijima had left were the mysterious group Celty had taken down when she had to retrieve the Natsugawara family’s pet snake. Celty thought the group were smugglers at the time, but apparently they were personnel working for a corporation that were after the Natsugawara Group’s research. They had their eye on the Heavens Slave in contact with the Natsugawara family’s eldest son, and so they dispatched several pawns from multiple organizations after them. And one of the factions of Heavens Slave Yukihiko had seized control of had ordered Anri to be captured.
Jeez. It wasn’t even a robbery. He just brought in to hide the items he took from the Natsugawara home...But I would never have expected two of those items would fall into Yahiro-kun and Kuon-kun’s hands.
...It seems Yukihiko also had Bannanjin, so all of this is Kujiragi’s fault. That said, it seems Shijima actually had nothing to do with this incident…
Celty thought he had played a part in this incident, but since he had committed crimes beforehand and used her as a decoy Celty decided there was no need to apologize to him. Even as she felt how silly fate caused them all to get caught in a web of coincidences, she felt relief flood through her now that the peaceful days returned to Sonohara Hall.
Aside from the girl Orca, everyone else had gotten arrested, so that’s one concern taken care of. But I hear the other guys Shizuo had beaten up are still in hospital.
Just as Celty wondered if Mikado Ryuugamine knew of what had transpired, she happened to make eye contact with Yahiro and Kuon when the two held out a laptop towards her.
‘? What is this?’
“Umm...so the thing is...There was, uh, some sort of a data card in the items we got from here...and mine had thousands of erotic images in them.”
Yeah, I know. Those were from the head of the Natsugawara Group.
As Celty pondered if she should tell them the truth, Yahiro suddenly mentioned something odd.
“But for mine, it was different.”
‘What?’
“There was some strange software in my SD card, and we weren’t sure what it was. But when Kuon’s sister analyzed it, she found that it was a unique, coupled software....”
A coupled software - it was a software used to reconstruct old data by combining multiple files that had been split up.
Why would that be on there?
Celty had cocked her helmet in wonder when Kuon added.
“And um...you know those thousands of pornographic images? They were just camouflage.”
‘What?’
“When we input those images through the coupled software, we were able to extract a code from the images and reconstruct all the files...and this was the file made.”
Celty looked over the data file, and shortly after shivers ran down her spine.
“It was really unsettling...We thought maybe you’d know more about this and decided to show you it.”
After a few moments of thought, Celty typed an reassuring message as though nothing had happened.
‘Alright. Can you give me a copy? I know someone who would know more about this, so I’ll go ask him about it.’
♂♀
Night, at the Natsugawara Household.
‘Would you kindly explain to me what this is?’
Byakuyamaru Natsugawara gave Celty a fearless smile as she stormed into his office.
“Oh, what’s this now? ...I believe I have already paid you for a job well done the other day. And now shouldn't you have encountered the butlers, maids and bodyguards on your way here? What happened to them?”
‘...Everyone let me pass when I told them I found the erotic photographs you were searching for and had come to deliver them to you.’
“You’re kidding me…”
Byakuyamaru’s undaunted smile instantly vanished. Celty showed him the tablet screen and the paragraph of characters on her smartphone.
‘I’m not. I found 20,000 erotic images hidden within that Hakone-zaiku.’
“Ah, I see. I’m relatively grateful. Please return them to me.”
‘And I also found the coupled software hidden in the megalodon shark tooth fossil.’
“...”
Byakuyamaru ceased flustering, and the intrepid smile returned.
“Oh? ...So you know our research, I take it?”
‘Yeah, I do. And if this gets let out, you’ll get a trip to jail. I doubt possession of obscene photos itself wouldn’t get you prison time...But I’m sure the various human experiments you performed on children for non-medical reasons definitely will.’
The data Yahiro and Kuon had found depicted that a certain child had their genes altered and had been administered particular drugs to enhance their human abilities. Put simply, the company was conducting experiments of altering young children’s bodies to create superhumans.
There were experiments of this nature conducted throughout the world, but the numerous experiments written in the data indicated they had far surpassed what the law could allow.
Yahiro and Kuon did not know the data was leaked from the Natsugawara household. But Celty knew. And driven by a sense of righteousness, she came over to the Natsugawara estate to call Byakuyamaru to out.
“Hahaha...If that’s the case, what will you do? There’s no evidence within the data that has our company’s name on it. Everyone would just think the file was made for an April Fool’s joke.”
‘Oh just this.’
The following second, there was the sharp smacking sound in the office.
“Ow!? That super ordinarily hurt!”
Byakuyamaru objected with teary eyes, losing his mastermind facade when was struck by Celty's large shadow fists.
“That’s cruel of you to do…! I at least haven’t made killing machines with our technology or had an entire village slaughtered for the sake of an experiment…”
‘Mass exterminations isn't the issue! You used a child as a mere toy...What do you take human life for!? Didn’t you say your company was to fulfill the dreams of children!?’
“...Why yes, I did. I did not lie about what I said.”
‘What…?’
Celty paused, intimidated by Byakuyamaru’s stern tone. She was worried how she should respond when Byakuyamaru spoke.
“...Obtaining special powers through genetic modification is any boy’s dream, correct?”
‘You are definitely Shingen’s friend!’
Celty grabbed the man by the neck, nearly suffocating him, and Byakuyamaru gasped out while tapping her arm.
“P-please wait. The child listed on those files is alive. I haven’t used them as a toy. Please, you got to believe me. Trust me. Love me. Killing me softly.”
Byakuyamaru whispered. Celty was unsure whether he was saying the random English purposefully or due to the pain, but she released him before asking.
‘Then is the child alright? Where are they now…?’
“Where? ...Look, they just got back.”
And in that moment, Celty heard someone running up the stairs.
It couldn’t be...Awayuki-chan!?
The very instant Celty turned around, the door to the office opened-
♂♀
A few hours earlier, at a rental office somewhere in Saitama Prefecture.
“I’m glad those troublesome guys are out of the picture now. I resolved that strange misunderstanding, and the remnants of Heavens Slave got bought out by the Awakusu Group.”
Shijima had stated to himself. Jami turned to him and expressed apologetically.
“Sorry that I suspected you of kidnapping girls.”
“Oh I don’t mind. I’ll kidnap someone if there’s the need to anyway.”
“Whoa, you’re the worst!”
Jami exclaimed as he kept fiddling with a puzzle ring.
“Urgh. This won’t open.”
“Huh? I thought you were good solving those puzzles.”
“I’m awful at it. I’m good at school, memorization, and math though…”
Shijima asked as he cocked his head questioningly.
“But didn’t you easily open up that puzzle box the Blue Squares had the other day?”
“Huh? Oh, I’ve opened that numerous times.”
“?”
“It’s the exact same one I have at home. I’ve opened it enough times that I knew what to do. But I was surprised to see it had the same data card too. Do you think all Hakone-zaiku have those items inside?”
♂♀
Present, in the office at the Natsugawara estate.
“Father, I’m home! ...Ah! Headless-Rider-san!?”
Celty titled her helmet to the side, confused, when she saw the tall, dark-skinned boy.
‘Ah, umm...nice to meet you?’
“I spotted you in the city before! And I saw you in the garden when you brought back my sister’s snake! I’m so happy to meet you in person!”
Celty looked at the boy before turning over to Byakuyamaru questioningly.
Byakuyamaru answered her unasked question.
“He’s Jami - my adopted son.”
“I’m Jami Natsugawara! Nice to meet you!”
‘Ah, thank you…’
Jami held out his hand to Celty to take. As Celty shook his hand Byakuyamaru stated nonchalantly.
“And he’s the human experiment I mentioned earlier.”
‘Hold on!? You’re going to say this in front of-...’
“Oh? You talked to the Headless Rider about it, father? Wasn’t it a company secret?”
‘He just casually knows about it!?’
As Celty grew flustered after the succession of shocking reveals, Byakuyamaru explained plainly.
“Of course he would. When he found the child who fit our criteria overseas, his poor parents gave their approval and told us to use him however we wished…And he had him go through numerous tests which he all passed! He came out to be a truly healthy young boy. He has fantastic grades and his reflexes are Olympic tier. And those attributes caused jealousy with Yukihiko-.........”
He went on to explain in depth how Jami got adopted into his family and what happened after he came to Japan, but Celty grew fed up with him and ignored most of his spiel. At one point, Byakuyamaru noticed Celty’s haggard state and remarked triumphantly.
“Well then. I believe we could say that you have merely jumped to conclusions, now can’t we-....Ow, ow, ow!”
‘And did you forget what you did is a violation against the law?’
♂♀
A few hours earlier, at a rental office somewhere in Saitama Prefecture.
“Still, sorry for all the weird stuff my brother caused and complicating things.”
“No kidding. Also, about that puzzle you mentioned earlier...I don’t know much about it, but I believe the Blue Squares bought it from Sonohara Hall.”
They actually were given the puzzle, but unaware of this fact Shijima moved onto another topic.
“So what happened to your brother?”
“Hmm. Guess something happened to him as he’s keeping himself locked in his room. I sometimes hear him say, ‘I’m an puny existence. I’m worthless trash. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’ But my mom and my little sister are just overjoyed he’s back home alive.”
“...There’s definitely something wrong with your family. ...But then again, I’ve used you as bait. If you family learns about me, they’ll probably get mad and come after me.”
Shijima had Jami head over to the shopping mall he told Celty to go to and purposefully let the spectators see his face in order for the organization’s men to appear. This was done to make it look like the second son of the Natsugawara family was going to meet up with the Headless Rider.
“But Shijima-san, you caused a shootout to happen at the facility your family is making. That’s messed up.”
“I’m not messed up. I’m just scum.”
“You’re completely out there. ...But anyway, I don’t think my dad would be particularly mad.”
“Why do you think that?”
Shijima asked out of curiosity, to which Jami replied with a pure smile.
“My dad had apparently planned to crush those guys from the start. All you did was make the plan go into effect sooner!”
♂♀
Present time, at the Natsugawara Estate.
‘I have one last thing to say to you.’
After Celty made sure Jami had returned to his room, Celty pointed a sharp finger at Byakuyamaru.
‘You...you leaked false information to those men that my shadows were the latest technology produced from the Natsugawara Group, right?’
Celty had obtained the information from Orca under Saika’s influence, so it was unlikely that she lied.
Byakuyamaru leaned back in his office chair, a conceited smile situated on his face once more.
“Oh? I must have taken you too lightly if you figured that out.”
‘Having me search for your son was just an expedient. Your real aim was to use me to eliminate those men.’
“And thanks to your efforts, we were able to clean up the remaining members of our enemies that had been creeping around our estate. You served as the perfect bait for them as you have fought them once before. That said, I didn’t want there to be a shootout in a shopping mall. I hope the Shijima Group won’t suspect our involvement in that incident.”
Byakuyamaru had expressed brazenly, though he grew more timid near the end.
“Hahaha...Tell me. How does it feel to be lead by the nose like Shingen would to you?”
‘Ah...And why would you admit this to me now? I would have expected you to claim a third party was responsible for the spread of false information and say you were completely unaware of the matter.’
“Well, I didn’t want you to see me as a mere simpleton, and the very thought unnerved me. Still, it was so easy to trick you, miss legendary Headless Rider.”
Celty took a step towards Byakuyamaru silently.
‘I see. I will ask to make sure, but what else has Shingen said about me?’
“Let me think...He said you’re very scary if anyone makes you mad...Oh? This is odd. It almost looks like a black silhouette of Acala is forming behind your back. Hahaha.”
‘That’s because I’m making it with my shadows.’
Celty then turned the shadow Acala into several black tendrils, which crept over towards him.
‘I should’ve tested your worth.’
Just as Byakuyamaru gave a shriek out of genuine fear the office doors burst open. Celty immediately dispelled her shadows, and when she turned around she saw Awayuki out-of-breath standing there.
“Courier-san! My dear brother Jami had informed me you were here…! Thank you for saving my brother Yukihiko!”
‘Ah- yeah. No problem. Though in all honesty, I wasn’t the one to save him.’
Celty grew flustered as Awayuki bowed her head repeatedly.
Seeing this, Byakuyamaru took the chance and told his daughter.
“Hey, Awayuki! Perfect timing. How about we have a pajama party in celebration for Yukihiko’s safe return! It’ll go on until the courier here is tired and has to head home.”
“A pajama party? What will we be doing, father?”
Celty then turned her smartphone to Awayuki so only she could see the message.
‘We’re going to be watching a ton of videos about scary monsters and ghosts. Only adults can watch them.’
“Heee…! I-I’m tired, so I’m going to go to bed! Goodnight, courier-san! Father!”
Awayuki must have recalled what her father told her the other day as she rushed out of the room to retreat to her bedroom after bowing to Celty once last time.
“Whaa!? What did you tell my daughter!? How dare you! Only adults are responsible for scaring young children- wargh!”
‘You’re one to talk!’
Celty strung Byakuyamaru up to the ceiling with her shadows, and then she made a shadow spear she pointed at him with and threatened.
‘Do you have any last words?’
“Please wait! I could, yes, with money...I will pay you well for the trouble!”
‘...How much are we talking?’
Once Celty withdrew her shadow spear, Byakuyamaru held up his index finger with his free right hand.
“Let me see...Including the amount needed to keep you quiet about the research data on Jami, then I presume this much would suffice?”
100,000 yen, huh?
It was not a bad sum to receive for compensation, but Celty considered the possibility of someone finding their residence through a transmitter and end up causing problems for Shinra, and so she grew irritated.
‘No, how about this much?’
Byakuyamaru sulked when Celty held up three fingers to him, but he eventually gave in.
“Understood...You’re rather good at doing business, courier-san.”
♂♀
The next day at Shinra’s apartment.
‘And that’s what happened last evening.’
After hearing Celty’s explanation, Shinra hummed in awe as he accessed the home page of their online banking account.
“I see. I don’t know what is being covered up, and I won’t ask about it, but it must have been thrilling to talk down to one of the most wealthy and influential people in Japan.”
‘Not really...I just threatened him a bit. I wouldn’t really say I found that enjoyable…’
Celty sighed internally, thinking how Shinra and her were mentally black after all.
Shinra and I must look like true villains from the world’s perspective.
However, Celty began to think she was at peace with taking the path of evil as long as she would be walking it with Shinra. She figured she would be fine with it as long as she got to walk alongside him, regardless how distant they became from society.
But if possible she wanted to live in the world without causing anyone trouble.
As she pondered to herself, her thoughts shifted to the three high schoolers.
If they start to step over onto this path, I’ll have to act as the person to push them back onto the right path. Just like Akabayashi did for Mikado-kun.
It was in that moment that Celty recalled the items they received for helping clean the storehouse. And out of curiosity, she sent a message to Anri.
‘There didn’t happen to be anything hidden in Himeka-chan’s fountain pen, was there?’
Anri’s response was straightforward.
‘No, what was already in there was something I had put in.’
Oh, alright then. So no weird coincidence.
Celty relaxed momentarily before she noticed there was more to the message.
‘Kujiragi-san had sold the fountain pen to me, and she had hid a map for hidden treasure located on an island somewhere for me as a service.’
Wait, what!? Why would she give that as a present!?
The adults around Celty truly seemed to all be estranged. Celty backtracked, realizing Anri was already an adult as well, when she noticed Shinra had stiffened up in front of the computer.
‘What’s wrong, Shinra?’
“Hey, Celty. We got a deposit from Natsugawara-san’s dummy company, but the amount seems to be off.”
‘What?’
Please don’t tell me he took three fingers for 300 yen!
Celty looked at the online banking account on the computer, considering to go back to Saitama to beat Byakuyamaru up if that was the case. However, the deposit in the account showed: ￥30,000,000.
‘What, that’s more than 300,000 yeeeeeen ljkkpk.’
Celty’s hands shook as she typed when she noticed how many digits there were.
“There’s...There’s 30,000,000 yen in there...Celty...what did you threaten him with?”
Immediately after that, Celty’s smartphone went off. She received a text from Kuon, which read: ‘This is nuts! There was a treasure map in Himeka-chan’s fountain pen! It looks like it’s in the sea of Enoshima, but we totally have to get there somehow!’ When Celty read the message, she felt that no matter how much she struggled she could not escape from her slightly deviated, abnormal days.
Afterwards, she would purchase a boat with the large amount of money she obtained to search for treasure in the Enoshima Sea with Yahiro and Shizuo for summer vacation, but that was a story for another time as plenty of other ‘slightly deviated adventures’ awaited Celty in the city of Ikebukuro even if she did not set out to sea - stories she took part in with her greatest partner, Shinra, who had upturned her very world to begin with.
