"Beast."
As soon as he woke up, his sister hit him with that word, leaving Akiyoshi Yuu utterly bewildered.
"You're a terrible sleeper. Your arm was on me all night."
"Oh, I see. Sorry."
Facing the fuming Akiyoshi Kaoru, Akiyoshi Yuu started getting dressed as he got out of bed, which earned him:
"Worse than a beast!"
The girl slammed the door and left, leaving Akiyoshi Yuu with a face full of question marks.
What the hell?
Yesterday was the first time he'd killed, the first time he'd used ninjutsu, the first time he'd pretended to be a ghost... Although he hadn't used much chakra, Akiyoshi Yuu had been on edge the whole time. He'd fallen asleep as soon as he got back. Naturally, nothing extra had happened, which made Akiyoshi Kaoru, who had been anxious for half the night, very angry!
But this anger came as quickly as it went.
"Let's go abroad."
While eating breakfast, Akiyoshi Kaoru suggested.
"On the grounds of family changes, I can apply for a refund of half a semester's tuition;"
"Plus our parents' compensation money, it's enough for us to go to America through smuggling channels. My English is good enough for daily life."
"Four people have gone missing, the police will definitely open an investigation."
Taking a bite of bread, Akiyoshi Kaoru analyzed calmly.
"Although I don't know how you dealt with those guys, brother, if the police find any clues..."
Ten years in prison would be unavoidable, and that was with the advantage of 'age'.
"Don't worry,"
Akiyoshi Yuu raised his hand to interrupt his sister.
"How can the police have so much time to deal with a few pieces of social scum?"
"Let's go, we're going to school."
Akiyoshi Yuu certainly had the confidence to say this.
Yesterday, he had put on quite a show at the Zanshi-gumi's lair. If that wasn't enough to attract the attention of the Tokyo police force, then he'd have to accept it.
Takenotsuka Town, 2-chome.
Wee-woo, wee-woo, wee-woo~~
Police cars with blaring sirens were parked around the building with the 'Zanshi Finance' sign. Police officers in crisp uniforms stood guard around it, and even the road in front of the building was temporarily under traffic control, with yellow police tape already pulled up.
Pedestrians who originally needed to pass through here were told they had to take a detour.
Reporters who had rushed to the scene were also stopped outside the police tape.
They could only watch from afar as police cars arrived one after another, and people in police uniforms and plain clothes jumped out of the cars, giving a vague feeling that a major, terrifying case had occurred here. Under the police's dispersal, most people chose to leave; no matter what happened here, ordinary people's lives had to go on.
Only those reporters were still lingering, trying to get first-hand news.
And in the building, police officers kept coming out with grim faces, or their faces were so contorted they looked like they were about to vomit.
The entire building was littered with corpses.
Over 50 members of the Zanshi-gumi had all died in their own lair!
Every member had their eyes wide open, their mouths agape, their expressions terrified, and they had soiled themselves... as if they had seen the most terrifying scene of their lives. At the same time, there were no external injuries on their bodies, no obvious signs of poisoning, and their limbs were as stiff as frozen pork, proving that their muscles had undergone intense exercise before death.
In fact, most of these Zanshi-gumi members had their weapons tightly gripped: daggers, baseball bats, handguns!
From their postures, it seemed that they were indeed fighting something.
However, no matter who it was, they were all corpses now.
"Ugh,"
Retreating to the entrance of the building,
a newly recruited police officer dry-heaved, his face so pale it looked like he was about to throw up.
"Are you okay?"
An old police officer walked over and patted him on the shoulder.
"I'm fine, senpai."
"I think... could it be mass food poisoning, or did they get high?"
"It's possible, but there are many suspicious points."
The old police officer turned to look inside the building. From the distribution of the yakuza corpses, it looked like they had encountered a large number of enemies, fought and retreated, and were finally wiped out. But the problem was, there were no traces of anyone else at the scene, as if they were just fighting the air. What on earth had killed these Zanshi-gumi members?
"Hmm?"
"The 'Boutai' people are here too. Let's hand it over to them."
As the old police officer spoke, a car with no police markings sped over, drifting to a stop sideways.
Before the car had even stopped, the doors were kicked open, and a group of... men and women in studded leather jackets, black suits, and patterned shirts jumped out.
These people all looked fierce and malicious, their outerwear draped open, looking very much like 'yakuza members'.
"I heard the scum here are all dead?"
The leader was a delinquent-looking woman, wearing a biker's leather jacket, a belt buckled at her waist, a pair of heavy military boots... paired with that punchable expression, it made the police officers who didn't know her frown.
"Good riddance!"
"If I hadn't been demoted, I would have killed these scum sooner or later!"
...
"Senpai, are they the ones?"
The young police officer had a guess, but still quietly asked the old police officer beside him.
"Yes, the people from the 'Organized Crime Countermeasures Division'."
The content of this department's work was obvious from its name. How could they be polite when dealing with various yakuza members every day?
These men and women, who looked more yakuza than the yakuza, were the elite police officers of the 'Organized Crime Countermeasures Division', or 'Boutai' for short.
They were the most dangerous department in the police system, and at the same time, their investigation methods were the most aggressive in the entire police system.
Many times, it could even be said that they walked on the edge of the law.
"Move it, if you're going to puke, puke outside!"
"A few dead bodies scare you like this? What kind of corpses haven't I seen?"
A group of 'Boutai' in plain clothes poured into the building. A few minutes later:
"...I really haven't seen this before,"
Wearing gloves and examining the corpse on the floor, the delinquent-looking female officer frowned.
"These guys have no fatal external injuries, no common signs of poisoning... could it be that they did too many bad things and were scared to death?"
Scared to death?
The other 'Boutai' members looked at each other in dismay.
They dealt with yakuza organizations every day and had seen the most gruesome corpses, but they had never seen anyone scared to death.
"Is that your conclusion, Ichika?"
Just as everyone was examining the bodies, a middle-aged man in a high-end suit, tie, and plain glasses, with a serious expression, walked in surrounded by several police officers.
"Superintendent General Takeya?!"
The others all dropped their work and stood up, chests out and heads held high.
This was the head of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Superintendent General was not just a job title, but also the highest rank in the island nation's police force.
"...Ahaha,"
"What brings the Superintendent General to the front lines?"
The delinquent-looking female officer laughed dryly. To say something like being scared to death,
it was fine to say it in private, but for her superior to hear it, her already negative impression—
"You, come with me."
The other party didn't mind her words, but instead waved for her to follow.
"They were really scared to death?!"
The delinquent-looking female officer... no, it should be the Deputy Chief of the 4th Division of the 'Organized Crime Countermeasures Division': Iori Ichika.
After watching the surveillance footage, her face was filled with a 'you've got to be kidding me' expression.
This was the Zanshi building's surveillance room. Several technicians were busy dismantling the computers. All the computers in the surveillance room would be packed up and taken back because the images captured by these machines were too horrifying, to the point of being beyond common sense.
"What do the others think?"
The Superintendent General ignored the shocked Ichika and instead turned to ask the other division chiefs.
What do we think?
We're standing here watching!
The several division chiefs all looked at each other in dismay.
If they hadn't personally witnessed those terrified corpses, if they weren't sure that this surveillance equipment hadn't been tampered with or damaged, if it wasn't...
In short, someone had already started rubbing their temples vigorously, suspecting that they were hallucinating.
"Superintendent General, why think so much?"
The delinquent-looking 'Ichika' came back to her senses, her punchable expression returning to her face.
"Isn't there a 'survivor' in this incident?"
"Tanimura Wataru!"
Ichika pointed at the surveillance screen.
"As long as we catch him, what happened last night can be easily solved."
"Do you have a lead?"
Facing the Superintendent General's question, Ichika, with her hands in her pockets, nodded.
"Of course."
"Contact the medical examiner, Superintendent General."
"If I'm not mistaken, we'll have a breakthrough soon."
Looking at the 'werewolf' on the surveillance screen who had stood up again after rolling on the ground, Ichika showed a 'villainous' smile. Tanimura Wataru... she was all too familiar with this person. After all, the reason he was still alive was because she had been secretly protecting him.
Unfortunately, Ichika had recently annoyed her superior and was almost demoted to the bottom.
She hadn't expected this young man...
to have such a miraculous encounter. It was truly enviable.
She couldn't help but lick her lips. Amidst the disgusted expressions of the other division chiefs, Ichika pointed her thumb back.
"Superintendent General, I'll take my men to find 'Tanimura Wataru' first."