Chapter 13

In other words, they were going to be insanely busy.

But for certain people who operated in the shadows, the Armed Detective Agency being too busy to pay them any attention was an opportunity.

Holding on to the wall as he went downstairs, Kamiki Yūhaku felt a little dizzy from losing too much blood earlier. Crow flew up from his shoulder and led the way. Yūhaku smiled at Crow ahead of him, then followed.

Crow deliberately sought out wide, uncrowded streets to keep Yūhaku from being jostled in his current condition.

Even so, after walking down a few streets, his steps faltered slightly. Just as Yūhaku braced himself to fall to the ground, he fell into someone's arms.

"Oh? Ango." Once Ango Sakaguchi had steadied him, Yūhaku looked at him, his voice carrying its usual childlike, smiling innocence. "Long time no see."

"We saw each other just last night," Ango had to remind him.

"Oh, right, though it was through a screen." Yūhaku snapped his fingers, and Crow landed on his shoulder. He smiled and let go of Ango's hand. "Well then, goodbye, Ango."

Ango stood where he was, unsure whether to follow Yūhaku or stay put, and so he awkwardly did neither.

In the end, he couldn't hold back and finally called out, "Yūhaku."

Yūhaku turned to look at him. "What is it, Ango?"

"I don't know what you're trying to do, but could you take your life seriously?" Ango struggled to get the words out. "You're still young, only twenty-four this year. You have a long life ahead of you. You shouldn't stay trapped in the past, unable to move on, and you shouldn't give up your life for it."

"Of course I treasure my life. I treasure it a whole lot." Yūhaku had his back to Ango, and his voice seemed infused with sunshine, without a trace of menace. "If that's all you have to say, then never mind."

Ango looked at him, his eyes red from staying up too long. "I can't save you, can I?"

"You should say I don't need anyone to save me," Yūhaku said calmly. A moment later, his lips curved upward, and he turned to give Ango a radiant smile. "So, if you're feeling charitable, Ango, you can go help the people who need it."

"Goodbye."

Watching Yūhaku disappear from sight, Ango lowered his head. "But I want to save you."

Four years ago, he had brought Mimic into Yokohama on orders. He hadn't been able to save Sakunosuke Oda, and could only watch Oda walk toward death, step by step. Four years later, he no longer wanted to watch Yūhaku go to his death.

So, stay calm.

There had to be a way.

Elsewhere, Yūhaku tapped Crow with his index finger.

He demanded an explanation. "Little Crow, did you lead me to Ango on purpose?"

Crow wasn't afraid at all. He even pecked Yūhaku's finger, as if annoyed that Yūhaku had wasted his thoughtful efforts.

"I know you mean well, but you can't do that again, understand?" Yūhaku held out his hand, and Crow landed on his finger. "Ango works for the government. We're going to be enemies someday. What if we get too close and I can't bring myself to strike?"

"I can't let that make me fail."

Ango led the Military Police in the cleanup work in Yokohama, handling the bodies of ability users.

After Tatsuhiko Shibusawa's White Mist swept through the city, a great many ability users had died. In a single night, Yokohama's losses among its ability users had been greater than expected.

As Ango checked the list of the dead, he also looked into whether their families needed to be notified.

Just then, a subordinate hurried over and handed Ango a document. "Officer Sakaguchi, we have a problem!"

"A problem?" Ango looked up at him. "What is it?"

"Two of the ability users' bodies are missing."

"What?!" Ango shot to his feet. "Why would the bodies of ability users disappear? It's only been a day since the White Mist incident!"

"We're investigating! Please give us a little more time!"

Ango waved him out to continue the investigation. He paced around his office, wondering what on earth was going on. Why had the bodies of ability users disappeared? What use would an ordinary person have for a corpse, even one that had belonged to an ability user?

Unless...

Ango hurriedly closed the file in his hands and left his workroom, heading straight for

Taneda

's office.

If Shibusawa was protected by the government because his ability made him useful to the country, then would the researchers who had conducted human experiments in the French Concession and succeeded in creating artificial ability users also be protected by the government for the same reason?

If so, were those missing bodies also...

Elsewhere, Yūhaku yawned as he strolled into a nearby alley, humming an indistinct song that kept breaking off whenever he yawned. Even so, he looked quite happy.

He continued forward like that, and even when he came across several people who were clearly suspicious, he greeted them cheerfully.

"Good afternoon." Yūhaku yawned again. "I didn't sleep last night. I'm so tired."

The people facing him looked at one another, utterly bewildered by the overly familiar stranger.

"Who are you?" The man at the front, dressed in a black suit, pulled a gun from his pocket. He worked the safety and pointed it at Yūhaku. "If you know what's good for you, get lost. Don't block our way."

Yūhaku blinked. "Huh? Do you have to talk so violently?"

"Then you can't be a good person at all."

"What the hell are you talking about?" The man frowned at Yūhaku. "Get the hell out of here!"

Yūhaku scratched his hair regretfully. "Anyway, it doesn't look like I can use a good person's methods, but if I do this, I won't be able to be a good person. Little Crow, being a good person is such a hassle."

"Are you listening to me, you little brat?!"

Bang! A bullet tore through the air. Yūhaku stepped out of its path and drove his elbow into the bridge of the man's nose. Pain instantly left the man dizzy and seeing stars. Trembling, he raised his gun to fire again, only for Yūhaku to twist his wrist and make him shoot to the side.

His companion, hit in the leg, screamed and fell to the ground, clutching the leg the bullet had pierced.

"What a shame." Yūhaku sighed. "Before you let your blood rush to your head, think carefully about the gap between you and your enemy."

The remaining men stared at Yūhaku in terror, the suitcase in their hands falling to the ground. The thugs, who had little loyalty to begin with, fled in an instant. Amid the two men's screams, Yūhaku drove a dagger straight into the suitcase, then used its sharp blade to slash a wide opening in it. The corpse that had been crammed inside was curled up stiffly.

Because Yūhaku had been less than careful in opening the suitcase, a pale hand sprang out.

"Oh my, it's a corpse." Yūhaku stood up, walked over, and planted his foot on the man screaming and clutching his wrist. His red eyes held a tenderness completely at odds with the scene.

Yūhaku looked down at the man, his tone excessively polite and gentle. "Could you tell me where you were taking the corpse?"

"I, I..." The man stared at Yūhaku in terror, not daring to wipe away the blood streaming from his nose. "I can't. I can't tell you."

Yūhaku looked at him. "I remember you. Your name is Hikawa Kokurin. You work at an office in Yokohama's port, and you just got married a few days ago. Your wife is such a pretty girl, but it seems you never told her you were in the mafia, or that you were involved in such a terrible line of work."

"I don't think there should be secrets in a marriage." Yūhaku smiled. "Would you like me to tell her for you?"

"No!" The man screamed and scrambled up. "Don't tell Keiko! Keiko and I finally managed to be together. If she finds out I'm in the mafia, she'll definitely divorce me. I can't let that happen!"

Yūhaku looked at him while Crow preened his feathers on his shoulder. At that moment, Yūhaku seemed like a demon who had walked out of hell.

"Since you don't want me to tell her, you'll tell me what I want to know, won't you?"

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything!" Ignoring his red, swollen wrist, the man grabbed the hem of Yūhaku's clothes. "Please don't do that."

"Keiko... she's everything to me."

Yūhaku's lips curved slightly as he stroked the man's hair soothingly. "Of course."

Chapter 13

Yūhaku had not stopped Shibusawa from coming to Yokohama because he knew some people would never change their ways.

The explosion in the French Concession had not wiped out all the researchers. Some of the survivors had gone to France, while others had been secretly placed under government protection. To the government, they were a stain, but also its dirtiest trump card when the country was weak.

Chūya Nakahara was so strong. If a card that powerful could be mass-produced and controlled, any war could be won.

This was the government's most closely guarded secret. If it were ever exposed, public opposition would topple the entire government. That was why Yūhaku had spent so long looking into it without getting any information about these people from the government. After all, it was something not even Ango, an assistant counselor, knew about.

Yokohama was a well-connected city where all sorts of people mingled. It was full of ability users, mafia members, and young people who had come looking for work. More than ten thousand people went missing in Yokohama every year, and nobody knew where they were.

Whether they had been trafficked into the black market and sold for their organs, had their bodies destroyed to erase the evidence, or even become test subjects on an operating table.

Yūhaku's so-called "Blue King Remake" in Yokohama was nothing more than an attempt to find the whereabouts of those missing people and use that to probe for those people's hiding place.