That Was My Last One

Shinnosuke had been terribly bored these past few days. All he did was lie on the rooftop sofa, spacing out and sleeping.

Inoue Ryushi and the two little guys, on the other hand, were freaking out. There was still no word on the yakuza Shinnosuke had asked Shinomiya Kai to investigate, so they kept pestering him about it.

Shinnosuke was so fed up with them that, in the end, he had no choice but to go ask Shinomiya Kai how things stood.

He sauntered over to the student council office and pulled the door open without even knocking, startling Shinomiya, who was busy working.

"Yo! Shinomiya, what are you up to? Have you eaten?"

"Bastard, don't you know how to knock?! Have you got any manners?!"

Shinnosuke picked his nose, thoroughly grossing Shinomiya Kai out.

"Don't worry about that stuff. How's the investigation I asked you about last time going?"

Shinomiya Kai backed away, looking disgusted.

"Don't come any closer. Just stand there... I've gotten to the bottom of it. It's a group in Chiba called the Silver Dragon Society. Its current leader is the young master, Tsukikawa. He was also the one pulling the strings behind those drugs last time."

"But the Silver Dragon Society's been pretty unlucky lately. They had two shipments of drugs. You took out one, and a local delinquent crew wiped out the other."

Shinomiya Kai looked speechless. The Silver Dragon Society really had fallen on hard times lately. Those two shipments had cost them at least several hundred million yen!

"So what's your plan? It's a fairly large group, after all..."

Shinnosuke scratched his head, looking bewildered.

"Plan? What plan..."

The corner of Shinomiya Kai's eye twitched. Was this guy planning to just charge straight in? Damn it, one look at his face and you could tell he definitely didn't have a plan...

Shinomiya Kai held his forehead and fell silent for a long while before asking,

"Then when are you planning to leave?"

"Tonight, of course. No time like the present."

"Are you sure you're not going to prepare anything? They're bound to have plenty of knives and guns. How is this any different from throwing your life away..."

"You can't just go shooting guns in a neighborhood, can you? Why would I prepare that stuff? We're just going for a fight, not to kill anyone. We're still high school students... We just have to destroy everything they have, and there won't be a problem. We're only solving a problem, that's all."

Shinomiya Kai stared blankly at Shinnosuke. Damn it, he's gotten me all turned around. Right, it's not like we can kill anyone. If I really went there foolishly carrying a handgun, it wouldn't be as useful as a baseball bat...

By evening, Shinnosuke had brought Inoue Ryushi and the two little guys to Shibukawa Bridge.

Horii looked at Shinnosuke in confusion and said,

"Aren't we going to Chiba? What are we doing here? Don't tell me we're going to swim there down the river???"

While Inoue Ryushi wasn't looking, Shinnosuke quickly slipped the cigarette pack out of his pocket, took out the only cigarette inside and put it between his lips, then swiftly returned the pack to its place.

Inoue Ryushi didn't notice a thing throughout the whole process and kept chatting on and off with Go.

Just then, a Toyota sedan stopped in front of them. The window slowly rolled down, revealing Shinomiya Kai's face.

"Finally, you're here. You're so slow!"

"Shut up. This was the only car in our garage that wasn't covered in dust. It took me ages to find it..."

The other three rubbed their eyes and looked several more times. Pointing at Shinomiya Kai, they turned to ask Shinnosuke,

"Why is he here..."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Shinomiya's coming with us."

"Hey, you, use honorifics when you address me. I'm older than you, you know!"

The three stood there dumbstruck.

"Whaaaat!!!!!"

It was a forty-minute drive to Chiba from there. Shinnosuke lit his cigarette, opened the window, and leaned back in his seat, smoking contentedly. The two little guys, by contrast, were incredibly nervous. A fierce battle awaited them, after all, and not everyone was as carefree as Shinnosuke.

Inoue Ryushi was just as nervous. This time, their enemies weren't just a bunch of thugs, but an entire yakuza group!

When he saw Shinnosuke's calm face, he suddenly felt as though he'd found someone to rely on, and his nerves settled. He reached into his pocket for a cigarette of his own.

But when he opened the pack, he found it empty. He distinctly remembered having one left. Suddenly, his gaze shifted to the cigarette butt between Shinnosuke's lips. He looked at his own pack again, remembering that this guy never bought cigarettes...

A vein throbbed on Inoue Ryushi's forehead. He crushed the cigarette pack in his hand, grabbed Shinnosuke by the neck, and shook him hard.

"Bastard!! That was my last one!! Can't you buy your own!!!!"

"Cough... cough, cough... let... let go... I'm sorry... cough, cough."

Shinomiya Kai looked into the rearview mirror, speechless. How are we supposed to fight this battle with this bunch of idiots...