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Chapter 7
February 11th, 2015—Second Day: Night—Kyoto—M&D Headquarters in Shibuya
The location was a meeting room in the M&D headquarters located in Shibuya, Kyoto. Tough, bulky-looking men sat on their chairs, watching the presentation and footage on the projector. The looks in their eyes and their physiques alone told you that they were not the friendly and honorable type of person. Sitting at the end of the long table was a woman wearing a navy blue suit, her face buried in her crossed fingers. The woman named Kaji had a personality befitting her position as one of the leaders of M&D. The glimmer in her eyes was much sharper than anything the men in the room could ever hope to show, and the aura she emitted was heavy and oppressive. The footage she and the other men were watching on the projector showed scenes from the recordings of the security cameras at the flat Hinago Asami lived in. Kaji sent a signal with her gaze, as a young man wearing black clothes operated the laptop near the projector to stop the footage, and she then reported.
“The security cameras were set up in the main lobby and the inside of the elevator. Any other entrances were locked, showing no signs of ever having been broken open. It’s fair to assume that invading the flat without being seen on camera is impossible. And after we analyzed the footage of the lobby, we found three suspicious individuals.”
Kaji snapped her fingers, to which the subordinate pressed another key. It showed still images of three individuals. The footage itself was rather rough, probably because that footage was forcefully enhanced. Furthest to the left was a youth wearing a hoodie with rabbit ears attached to it. In the center was a man with a bag attached to his waist. To the right was a girl wearing pumps. The angle of the camera made it impossible to see their faces, as only the woman’s mouth could be seen. But judging by her white skin and faintly-colored hair, she probably was not from Japan.
“The times they entered the building were all over the place, but they all got off on the same floor—where Hinago Asami’s apartment was located. Four hours later, Shinohara and the other two supporters arrived, only to be attacked by that man and woman.”
The man once again operated the laptop, now showing footage of the lobby when Shinohara, House Mouse, and Black Bear entered.
“If I had to guess, these six people must have met in Hinago Asami’s room,” Kaji leaned against the chair and signaled once again. “At the same time, the unfamiliar man the two people from the Action Squad have, at least according to the footage, never left the flat. Meanwhile, Shinohara, the youth, and the white girl each carried suit cases or shoulder bags, stepping out of the flat.”
“And what do you think about that?”
“Our two soldiers from the Action Squad must have fought the other group, losing the fight while taking the man with the side bag with him. The other three took out the dead bodies…most likely.”
“From our perspective alone, it may very well look that way. However, Shinohara reported to Kawanami that the man was already killed when he entered the room.”
“…We cannot trust his reports.”
Kaji listened to that remark and nodded. He was right since Shinohara was probably trying to hide something.
“But even so, I don’t think that man was killed by our people,” said Kaji as she tapped her fingers on the desk, giving another signal.
In response, the footage changed, returning to the cut image from the video feed that showed the unfamiliar man. Kaji crossed her legs, resting her head on her palm. She looked at the young man on the screen, sighing.
“Could our two underlings really be able to handle…that Karasu of all people?”
She muttered these words with a quiet voice, yet they cut through the tense air, reaching everybody’s ears. Kaji closed her eyes and sank into the abyss of her thoughts.
—Kurosaki Masaya and Amano Juri… The assassin Fukuro and his disciples… I thought they were just wasting away their lives being petty thieves, so why are they picking a fight with us now?
—Either way, if we have to deal with them, then Kawanami or I will have our hands full.
Kaji snapped her fingers and another subordinate brought her a mobile phone. She called out another number, who instantly responded.
“Been a while, huh? I got another assassination gig for you.”
‘I figured the great chairman of M&D had his way of handing in gigs? Or are you that desperate to get help?’
“On the surface, we help provide services and connections, remember? Just this once, I figured it’d be better to contact you directly.”
‘What do you mean?’
“It’s about someone you know quite well. I want you to kill Kurosaki Masaya.”
‘…You saw him?’
“Of course. And didn’t you people come to Japan for another case? You have six hours. With Botan, Yodaka, Tobi, and Tsubame… Bring all of them here to Kyoto.”
A brief silence followed. Kaji didn’t hesitate for a second to say all that.
“There shouldn’t be any reason for you to hesitate, right? I know what happened in Shanghai one year ago when all that chaos went down. Despite being Fukuro’s disciple, he left your reign and made Suzuran his own. You don’t like being played by him…isn’t that right, Tsubaki?”
2
February 12th, 2015—Third Day: Evening—Kyoto—M&D’s Shibuya branch office building
Kawanami stood in front of the office’s window, gazing into the distance. All he could think about were the three employees that had gone missing three days ago. The investigator Shinohara and the two members of the Action Squad.
—Did Shinohara kill the two of them and run? No, they weren’t so weak that he could finish them off. It must have been the youth and the two youngsters that were already present in Hinago Asami’s apartment… I can’t tell what‘s going on between them.
“Kawanami-san!”
A man clad in black clothing stormed into the office.
“The young girl we put up for auction today was bid for with an insanely large sum.”
“And where is the problem in that?”
“The sum is astrological! The previous bid price was eight million, and yet it ran up to 400 million!”
“…400 million? Who in their right mind would… And before that, how did they even manage that?”
For their auctions and deals, M&D would use the secret auction site Pikaro—this website uses a limit on how much money can be bid. A single customer can’t bet more than ten million. It was set up this way to make the auctions more convenient and fluid, limiting the minor users based on their purchase history. Only the regulars who bet at least 2 billion every year would be able to bet this much on a single one.
“The account seems to have barely ever participated in auctions and bets before.”
“…That’s ridiculous.”
Kawanami opened the results of the auction in question, checking the information on the profile of the account who won the bet for the 10-year-old girl.
Account Name = Bug Buzz
Class / Limit = SS / No Limit
Purchase History = —
The whole list of previous purchases made by the account…left blank. The very last purchase was an exchange for weapons and ammunition. And yet, the account was a VIP with no limits on purchases and bets.
—What is with this account? And even more than that…
“Bug Buzz…The caretaker of the website?”
—Why would the caretaker of the service interfere with the system and delete their limiter? Impossible. It’s unthinkable that they would misuse their position as the caretaker.
Kawanami then went to check on the actual money. This turned out to be real, too. Excluding playing with the system itself, the transfer all worked out flawlessly.
—That can’t be…The 400 million is real. For a brat that would barely get ten million… And even playing with the system… Just what is he thinking?
Then, a beeping sound came from the tablet Kawanami held in his hands. As he also had an account on Pikaro, being one of the contributors to the goods, he was also open to messages. And he had just received a message from none other than Bug Buzz.
Bug Buzz:
“Heeey, Kawanami-san, are you watching? There’s something I’d like to negotiate with you.”
Kawanami@M&D:
“And is that a genuine request or are you just fooling around?”
Bug Buzz:
“(°w°) Nod”
“Dead serious! I used up all those 400 million just to show you how serious I am, actually!”
Kawanami@M&D:
“I see. Then why don’t you tell us exactly what you are thinking…Karasu-san.”
Bug Buzz:
“(¯―¯ ) Hmmm…”
“I don’t think it’s very nice of you to just gloss past my HN and use my real name. Well, whatever. Karasu is just another nickname of mine, too. First, let me explain the large hole within the system I encountered.”
Kawanami@M&D:
“Are you saying that there is a flaw within Pikaro’s security? If so, that would be rather problematic. Pikaro is a valuable market to us, and we’d like to keep our work closely connected to it from now on, so…what is this hole about?”
Bug Buzz:
“The thing is, within the program I wrote, there are some mechanical codes, basically waste, and byproducts, or other memos not used for anything else…and if you put them together, you get something like a magic password!”
“(*＾∀゜) Tehe“
Kawanami@M&D:
“A magic password?”
Bug Buzz:
“(°—°) (._.) Nod nod”
“This password works for every single account. You can enter it for every single account’s page. Of course, you need to crack open a part of the security system to even use that password… But the security system itself was also set up by Karasu. Seems like he prepared something while building the website.”
Kawanami furrowed his brow.
—That does not sound right.
The owner of the Bug Buzz account should be the assassin called Karasu. Yet, he said that Karasu set it up…and not “himself”?
—Is someone else using the account?
But who? And why?
Bug Buzz:
“But if you break down the security system and spread the magic password, anybody’s account is open for grabs. Be it buyers and sellers, any personal information is visible to the whole world.”
Kawanami@M&D:
“Why would such a thing even be made possible? That has to be some bad joke, right? Pikaro is no longer your personal playground. If you do that, you will enrage the most powerful individuals in the whole world.”
Bug Buzz:
“All the scary people in the world, including your group, will come after me, yes. But, this is not a joke. And I paid a full 400 million to make that clear from the start, remember?”
Kawanami@M&D:
“It seems we’ll have to silence you before any of this gets leaked.”
Bug Buzz:
“That’s the spirit!”
“(･ω･ﾉﾉﾞ ClapClap”
The blood vessel in Kawanami’s temple popped and he kicked up the desk he sat at. The man clad in black jumped in shock and slowly backed off.
Bug Buzz:
“Tonight, 8 pm. Come to the 4th platform at Kyoto station. Then I’ll tell you what I want.”
Kawanami@M&D:
“So you intend to strike up a deal by using the password as bait? You sound insane, Karasu-san. If we just make you spit out the password, we don’t have to deal with your demands. We can just bury it for all eternity, blocking off any access to the security system.”
Bug Buzz:
“Then go ahead and try?”
“Also, the person using this account isn’t Bug Buzz or Karasu anymore. The administrator rights were passed on, too. And don’t even try to guess who I am based on my way of writing.”
Bug Buzz:
“What is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything? I was just recently told the answer to the question, see.”
“Catch you later!”
Kawanami then placed down the tablet. The man clad in black seemed to be overwhelmed by this quiet pressure and looked around, flustered.
“Gather people. We’re heading for Kyoto station.”
“What about guns?” the man asked with a tense expression.
“We’re going to a crowded place. It’ll get too much attention,” Kawanami responded with a quiet voice. “So don’t forget your silencers.”
3
February 12th, 2015—Third Day: NIght—Kyoto—Kyoto Station’s 4-5th Platform
Kawanami sat on a bench at Kyoto Station, indulging in a peaceful smoke. He kept five subordinates close by at a distance they could rush over at any moment, as well as one person lurking near the stairs. After some time passed, a shadow appeared, wearing black mourning clothes. Seeing that individual, Kawanami doubted his eyes.
“…Shinohara,” Kawanami let out a faint giggle. “Just get out of here. I don’t have time to deal with a small fry like you.”
Shinohara didn’t say a word and just looked down at Kawanami. In response, the man’s smile disappeared.
“I’m telling you I’d let you live. You weren’t that kind of moron, right?”
Shinohara remained still without taking a step back. Kawanami stood up without a single emotion showing his face, ramming the back of his hand into Shinohara’s face. He fell backward on his butt but didn’t try to wipe the blood off his mouth and just stood up again. Kawanami clicked his tongue and approached Shinohara. He pressed the burning cigarette against his cheek. Obviously, this made Shinohara’s face twist in pain, but he just continued to look at Kawanami. In response to this stern look, Kawanami threw away his cigarette, but right when he wanted to say something, Shinohara opened his mouth.
“42.”
Kawanami looked at him in utter confusion but then blinked a few times.
“Oh, so you also read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” Kawanami-san?” Shinohara spoke with the tone of an old friend who had at one point recommended the book to him.
“Aren’t you curious about Bug Buzz… And the magic password set up by the assassin Karasu?” Shinohara said while spraying tear gas into Kawanami’s face, then ramming the can up into his jaw when he tried to evade it.
Immediately, all the people standing on guard rushed out of their spots.
“After him!”
Shinohara turned around on his heel and started running. He went up the stairs leading to the ticket gate, running past it and down to another platform. Bullets flew all around him. Shinohara then took a sharp turn and ran toward the tracks. A train was just about to pass through, as well. In his face, faint glimmers of fear began to show.
“Over here.”
Right before crossing the dotted line, a voice passed right through Shinohara, removing all hesitation in his heart. He kicked off the platform, jumping past the train. By the time he had reached the 4th line’s sleeper, the tip of the train was only a few meters away.
“Shinoharaaa!” Kawanami roared and readied his gun.
However, the shots were blocked by the passing train, as the metallic sound of bullets bouncing off the surface resounded. In frustration, Kawanami smacked the grip of his gun against a nearby vending machine. Shinohara then crossed the track of the 3rd line. On the tracks of the 2nd line stood a train about to depart. Shinohara crawled up the platform, slipping into the open door. He just barely managed to keep himself from falling over, pressing his hand on the floor. With his other hand, he pressed his hand on his chest, his shoulders moving up and down as he gasped for air.
“You’ve got guts, Bro Shinohara. I can tell why the rabbit likes you so much.”
“Wait, haven’t you heard? Shinohara-san’s the same age as you.”
“Like I said before, me calling folks “Bro” and whatever ain’t related to age.”
“Oh yeah…Juri also called him the Rabbit Bro for some weird reason.”
“And so do I, actually.”
“So you’re the mastermind behind it all?”
A silver-haired man wearing headphones around his neck and another man with a hood and mask covering his face—Ichinose and Kurosaski—began bantering back and forth as they approached Shinohara.
“I feel like he’s gonna make our operation a success, you know. When he first told Bro Masaya about this plan, I thought he was crazy, but now I’m feeling confident we might actually be able to take down M&D.”
“Really? I never thought it was that ridiculous of a mission.”
“Hey now, the jobs you’ve been giving me were insane, I’ll have you know! Even with the admin rights to the account, removing the limiter was not easy work! And what is even wrong with Pikaro’s security system? Why are there so many ridiculous codes? That’s just bad taste at some point!” Ichinose howled.
“Can you not comment on other people’s codes? As long as it works in the end, who cares?”
“It’s not just some small habits, okay? It’s honestly half a miracle that damn code works in general.”
“…Keep it down inside a train. If not, I’m gonna change your HN to HemHem.”
“I’m gonna die if you do that!”
Ichinose once again rambled on using language that Shinohara didn’t understand, and so he convinced himself that his job was the easy one. Kurosaki showed he had no interest in it at all, pushing his pinky fingers into his ears. He even looked away.
“With this, Kawanami is forced to get more employees to look after Shinohara. That way, Juri and Rabbit should score big during their own job.” Kurosaki gazed at Kawanami and his subordinates outside the train window and laughed. “Good thing we got someone as courageous as you, Shinohara-san.”
Confronted with that, Shinohara slowly moved up to the window, sitting on the ground with a faint smile.
“It’s not my own courage, really,” he said and closed his eyes. “It’s more like a gift from someone.”
He thought back to the voice of the dead he had heard right before jumping past the train, answering subconsciously. Ichinose stopped his long lecture and showed a gleeful grin.
“Must be nice having people give that to you.”
4
February 3rd, 2015—Third Day: Night—Kyoto—M&D’s Shibuya branch office
Kaji received the report about Kawanami and his subordinates being unable to detain Shinohara, which made her furrow her brow. However, she quickly regained her emotionless expression and rested her elbow on her chair. She then placed her head on her rolled-up fist, like she was listening to a recording, closing her eyes.
—I swear, the moment I rush to Kyoto, this happens. Unbelievable.
A few minutes later, a man clad in black entered the room to give a report.
“Regarding the auction during which the administrator bought the young girl for 400 million… We’ve confirmed that this was done using Shinohara’s smartphone. The logs upon logging in confirm this… Or rather, it was set up so that we could confirm this. He seems to have lowered the security settings for this very account.”
“…I see,” Kaji’s eyes faintly opened.
—Now this is more than troublesome. Bug Buzz can tamper with the system. He can spread the Magic Password and basically hand a smoking gun to everyone’s hand. I doubt he was just bluffing, either.
“It appears we can no longer ignore Shinohara.”
—Now that we don’t know what that brat Kurosaki might be plotting, I fear I’ll have to rely on those assassin brats earlier than I preferred… But I can’t afford to save my pieces.
Kaji dialed up a phone call, giving a detailed report of the situation, and then tasked the assassins to hunt Shinohara, keeping him alive at all costs. The phone call ended, to which she placed both hands on her mouth, closing her eyes once more.
—Right now, Shinohara should be acting independently. Nobody should be willing to waste 400 million just to mess with the Pikaro system and pick a fight with us. The administrator rights to the auction site and the money itself must be coming from Kurosaki. He’s giving Shinohara the money and tools to mess with us, to get our attention…but for what reason?
At first glance, Kaji might look tired with her closed eyes, but every guard and employee watching was still utterly terrified of her. They just stood still, trying to bear the heavy atmosphere in the air. Then, Kaji’s eyes opened, giving one of the men a signal, who brought over a few documents. She followed that up by taking out a cigar, as another man snuck closer to light it for her. With that done, she read through the documents regarding Hinago Asami. Her history, her personality, and even where she was being kept.
—To save this Hinago Asami girl, both Kurosaki and Amano are supporting Shinohara to crush the Kyoto branch. That should probably be the gist of the situation. But I don’t understand their motive…Hinago is an average person. She doesn’t have any connections to the underworld like Kurosaki or Amano. Maybe she might have something I don’t know about…but even so, could it be worth going this far?
For a brief moment, the sight of the youth wearing a hoodie with rabbit ears flashed up in Kaji’s head.
—I can’t tell what they’re thinking.
“Getting older is such horror, really. I’m starting to lose faith in the youngsters these days,” Kaji sighed.
Witnessing that, the guards swallowed their breaths, their bodies quivering. Then, Kaji’s eyes spotted one certain line within the documents—the report about a French designer being locked in the same room as Hinago. Hey, this foreigner locked away with Hinago Asami… Can you get in contact with the person who investigated her?”
One of the men in black shook their heads.
“Apparently, the investigator for her misused company data for personal gain, so…”
—Oh yeah, Kawanami did tell me about that. Some moron who misused data and got what he deserved.
“…Which means we won’t be able to confirm with 100% accuracy.”
Kaji snapped her fingers. She was quickly handed a phone from one of the men.
“Tsubaki, change of plans. Have someone… Have Tobi leave the team following Shinohara and instead head over to our confinement facility. There’s someone I want dead.”
5
February 12th, 2015—Third Day: Night—Kyoto—One of M&D’s confinement facilities
“You sure don’t look Japanese to me,” Hinago Asami voiced her doubts as she closely inspected Juri.
Juri meanwhile sat on a bed and just smiled back at Hinago.
“Is Amano Juri a fake name? Or a code name? You did mention you’re a spy.”
“I said all that in the heat of the moment! And that’s my actual name!”
“Oh dear me…” Hinago scratched the back of her head and answered with a meek tone. “You really don’t look Japanese to me.”
Oddly enough, Amano Juri gave a detailed explanation regarding her origins. Her great-grandfather had been the CEO of a business and trade company called Brook & Maison that was dealing with British goods in Shanghai. He also brought opium from India to the Shandong Province. Back then, it brought great profits but also detriment and rot to China. Even so, he was forced to pay for his actions one day. His contract and trade with a war group that held control over the Yangtze River failed, and so he was unable to use his ship-related business until he was eventually crushed by his competition. Juri’s grandfather was barely two years old then, and he was taken in by a diplomat named Amano who lived in the settlement with a considerable fortune. Taken in by the Amano Family, her grandfather was stationed in America for the reparations and fell in love with the daughter of an American soldier. He moved over to America to live with her family, but after his wife gave birth to a single boy—Juri’s father—he transferred to the movie industry. After starting his own branch company overseas, he returned to Japan.
As Juri kept on rambling about this complicated past like this was some sort of TV drama, Hinago listened with a genuine expression. However, around mid-way through, she struggled to stop herself from yawning and eventually began complaining with “too long” and “get to the end” and “you’re adding too much useless information.” And although she did try to at least keep the information stored in her mind, it quickly left from one ear to the other, never to be remembered again.
—And some of it sounds pretty fishy, too.
“All right, I got the gist of it. You’ve mostly got white ancestry, but you’re born in Japan because of a complicated family history, right?”
“Actually, I was born and raised in Shanghai.”
“All right, you completely lost me now…”
“I only recently learned Japanese, too! It’s pretty hard, right?”
“You’re making it even more complicated!”
After that, Juri tried to keep her TV drama-esque story going, but she glanced down at her wristwatch and jumped up from the bed.
“Should be around time now.”
“What time?”
“That Shinohara-san sets up M&D. If I had to guess, most guards were probably taken from this facility, so security should be thin.”
“Thin…cBut just the two of us couldn’t possibly get out of here. And the door of this room is still locked tight, remember?”
“That’s no issue with the right tools.”
“Tools? I don’t have any on me.”
Hinago was assaulted during her late-evening jogging exercise, so she even left her wallet and phone in her room.
“It’s fine, just leave it to me!”
Juri stuffed her hand in one of her pockets and took out a dark grey pen. For a moment, Hinago thought it was a four-colored pen, but that was not the case. At first glance, it looked like any regular pen. Met with this, she put her thumb on her chin and started thinking.
—A regular pen? What would she do with that? There’s no way she could pick the lock with that. Maybe she’s gonna try and attack the guard when he brings us food?
“Hmmm…”
—That’s gonna be hard.
Hinago did try that strategy at one point, and although she took him by surprise, she was easily overwhelmed. Instead, she had a knife directed at her throat.
“…He was clearly trained,” Hinago muttered with a quiet voice so that Juri couldn’t hear her.
As she herself was pondering about his whole case, Juri already started walking toward the door of the cell. She stood in front of it, closed her eyes, wrapped her hands around the pen, and then breathed in deeply. She then put her left leg up ahead, opening both of them wide. She turned her upper body around, stretching out her right arm that carried the pen. It was a posture similar to one you’d see from the pitcher in baseball. To Hinago, it resembled an arrow about to snap. Juri then stomped on her left leg, twisting her hip, and swung down the pen in an arch. The tip made contact with the cylinder-shaped keyhole. Then, a shrill and sharp sound, invasive enough to rupture your eardrums, ran through the air that made Hinago’s body jump as she covered her ears. A few seconds later, she looked at the lock behind Juri. The inside of her pen had been rammed into the keyhole.
“Seems like my secret weapon wins yet again!”
“…I think you’re the secret weapon here.”
“Well, it’s a tactical pen with a steelhead! Those M&D guys must be pretty lousy to let me keep this during a body check!”
“Honestly, I would be even more distraught if they were cautious of a dang pen.”
“It’s stainless, too! It’s just like any regular tableware spoon! Of course I can break any lock easily with that!”
“I’ve never seen that in my 23 years of living on this green earth…until today.”
“It’s aluminum steel, so it could easily break a lock, right?”
“You’re acting like it’s sooo easy, but I still don’t buy it. It’s like a dang sword at this point…”
“The pen is mightier than the sword, remember? Look at this form, it’s so sharp! It’s perfect for murdering!”
“I bet you could kill Chuck Norris with your pinky.”
“No, I don’t stand a chance against that guy,” answered Juri.
Hinago scratched her hair and sighed. Juri pulled out the pen, giving the door a roundhouse kick, and swung it wide open.
“And there’s our escape route!”
“…There were still guards patrolling the hallways outside, remember? And they had guns.”
“Oh, don’t be like that, Sis Hinago! Be it guards or assassins, we can handle them all!” Juri grasped the pen and pressed her hand against her chest.
She tilted her head with slightly flushed cheeks to create a childish image.
“Anybody who gets in our way will get turned to dust! Absolute annihilation!”
CClaw Translations 