Miser

After dinner that evening, Shinnosuke rode his motorcycle to the address Shinomiya Kai had given him. He parked and walked into an imposing courtyard, where two rows of fierce-looking men in suits stood at the entrance.

A tall man wearing sunglasses stepped forward. He bowed slightly to Shinnosuke and spoke with utmost respect.

"Hello, Mr. Nohara. The young master is waiting for you inside. Please follow me!"

Shinnosuke nodded and followed the man, who led him into a tatami room decorated in a traditional Japanese style. Shinomiya Kai was kneeling in one spot, apparently attending to some business.

"Young master, Mr. Nohara has arrived."

Shinomiya Kai stopped working, smoothed the wrinkles from his sleeves, and turned around.

"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Five."

The tall man nodded and withdrew, leaving Shinnosuke and Shinomiya Kai alone in the room.

Shinomiya Kai straightened the documents in his hands and walked over to Shinnosuke.

"I had someone bribe the Chiba police department and get the surveillance footage from that day. After we left, someone else went into the Silver Dragon Society's place. You know him too."

He handed Shinnosuke the documents. Shinnosuke picked them up and looked, his expression shifting. The person in the documents was none other than their opponent at the last interschool exchange, Takeshi Sagara! Shinomiya Kai watched Shinnosuke's expression and spoke.

"After that, I had someone investigate further and found that Kaikyu is a talent pool for the Silver Dragon Society! The most promising delinquents are sent straight into the Silver Dragon Society after graduation! And the two pairs at Kaikyu are candidates for the Silver Dragon Society's next underboss!"

He paused and gathered his thoughts before continuing.

"But one of those two, Satoshi Katagiri, has already left Kaikyu, just before the incident last time! And the main reason they split up was Takashi Mitsuhashi and Shinji Ito, whom we encountered last time."

"Mitsuhashi is a despicable person who has defeated Takeshi Sagara many times. Sagara and Tsukikawa also have a relationship that isn't publicly known. I think Sagara wanted to use Tsukikawa to deal with Mitsuhashi. You can tell from his file that he's a ruthless man."

Shinnosuke remained calm and returned the documents to him.

"So you suspect he's the one behind this incident?"

"Most likely."

"Then let's leave now. As long as we find him and make him admit he did it, there won't be a problem, right?"

Shinomiya Kai pushed up his glasses with his index finger, then nodded.

As the crowd of burly men in suits bowed them off, the two got on the motorcycle and rode out of sight amid the roar of the engine.

Shinnosuke sped along with Shinomiya Kai. There weren't many cars on the road at night, and they reached their destination in just twenty minutes.

Shinomiya Kai got off, removed his glasses, and rubbed his face, which had gone numb in the north wind. He looked a little pale. Shinnosuke had barely touched the brakes the entire way. The guy was full of confidence in his riding skills.

The two arrived at the burned-out former site of the Silver Dragon Society. It was a field of wreckage, surrounded by layer upon layer of police tape.

Both wore masks as they circled the place twice, but they found nothing of value.

Just then, a guy in a Kaikyu uniform came out of the convenience store across the street, carrying a large bag of food.

Shinnosuke gave Shinomiya Kai a look, signaling him to follow the guy.

The two followed close behind. After five or six minutes, the guy in the Kaikyu uniform reached a rundown little apartment building. He sauntered up to the second floor and knocked on one of the doors. He muttered something, and the door opened, letting him inside.

The two hurried after him. The apartment building was very old and poorly soundproofed. They pressed their ears against the door and could just make out what the people inside were saying.

"Those guys at Nanko really are loaded... That protection money is enough to let us have a good time for quite a while! That's Brother Sagara for you. Following him really was the right choice!"

"Doesn't that mean we're going to start an all-out war with Nanko? We can only reach Brother Sagara by phone right now. If he isn't there on the day, it'll be hard for us to win!"

"Relax. Nobody wants to take down Mitsuhashi more than Brother Sagara! Besides, we already took down one of Nanko's guys yesterday. The war has already started!!"

The two outside the door tensed. They hadn't expected to actually stumble across them! They quickly left to find a place to stay for the night and begin their operation in earnest tomorrow!

Before long, the two arrived at an upscale hotel. Shinnosuke gave Shinomiya Kai a strange look.

"Why did we have to come somewhere so expensive? That guesthouse back there had hot springs and was cheap, but you just had to come to a ridiculously expensive place like this..."

Shinomiya Kai looked at him with disgust.

"Do you know how many people have soaked in those hot springs...? Besides, how could a little place like that possibly be clean? That's why we had to come here, understand?"

Shinnosuke felt his empty pockets and shrugged. Shinomiya Kai's mouth twitched at the sight.

"Damn it... All right, I get it. I'll pay..."

In the end, the two booked a single room under the receptionist's somewhat puzzled gaze, and Shinomiya Kai paid twelve thousand yen with tears in his eyes.

"Hey... Do you have to be so stingy? Didn't you just get a share of seven hundred thousand last time...?"

"What do you know?! If you don't watch your spending, your money will be gone in no time! Besides, I didn't even mind sharing a room with you, and you're actually unhappy about it?!"

"Tch... Miser..."