Chapter 5

But Kamiki Yūhaku had come back.

"It's a surprise." Kamiki Yūhaku sat on the rooftop, looking down at the ground below with a gentle smile. A crow perched on his outstretched arm, as docile as an ornament.

This was a passage reserved for the Port Mafia. The weapons department and laboratory were not far away, and a little farther beyond them was the Port Mafia's weapons warehouse. The weapons they traded with the outside world for money all came from here.

That was also why the Port Mafia was so determined to protect Kajii Motojiro.

The weapons Kajii Motojiro developed could bring them long-term, lucrative returns.

A bang rang out from the laboratory as an explosion startled the Mafiosi nearby.

"What was that?"

"It came from the lab. I saw Mr. Kajii go in."

The other man understood as soon as he heard Kajii's name. Everyone in the Port Mafia was used to it by now. Kajii Motojiro was a bomb maniac who loved bombs and science; once he entered a laboratory, he wouldn't be himself if he didn't set off a few small explosions.

Reassured, the two men left. Sitting high above, Kamiki Yūhaku listened to their conversation, the corners of his lips curling slightly.

"Just as I imagined."

The plan began.

Kajii Motojiro felt that something was off.

After several experiments, he kept feeling that something was wrong with the materials in his hands. Whether it was the aluminum powder, the specialized explosives, or even the shape of the lemons, everything felt wrong. His interest in scientific experiments immediately waned, so he sent his only subordinate in the laboratory to ask where the materials had been purchased.

After his subordinate left with the list, Kajii Motojiro yawned and walked out of the laboratory.

It was dark outside, no different from usual.

Just then, Kajii Motojiro suddenly heard a bird call. Calling it a bird call wasn't quite right, though, because the creature's voice was far too distinctive. Kajii turned to look at a nearby tree, and the next moment he spotted a crow that was almost invisible in the darkness.

"A crow?" Kajii Motojiro looked at it with distaste. "What's a thing like a crow doing here?"

"Get lost!"

The crow took flight when he shouted at it to leave, as if it understood him. But instead of flying away, it swooped straight at Kajii Motojiro's face.

"What are you doing?!"

He reached out to grab it, but That Crow was far too agile. It flew back and forth in front of him, looking as though it were playing with him. Watching it, Kajii Motojiro understood something at once: a normal crow wouldn't behave like this, so this was a crow that had been raised by a human.

Which meant...

Its job was to draw his attention!

Kajii Motojiro tried to turn around, but he was still too late. Cold metal pressed against his waist, and the sharp tip of a blade had already pierced his skin. His eyes widened.

"Excuse me." The other person's voice was gentle, almost excessively so.

"Are you Kajii Motojiro?"

Kajii Motojiro felt liquid dampening his lower back. It felt a little wet. Was it blood?

"No, I'm not."

"You're not?"

"Of course not!" Kajii Motojiro stood perfectly still. "I'm just a minor member of the Mafia. How could I possibly be the great scientist Kajii Motojiro?"

As he spoke, Kajii Motojiro discreetly reached for his waist. Whether as a scientist or a bomb maniac, he was in the habit of carrying bombs with him. Whoever was behind him would die swiftly and cleanly in an explosion at such close range.

With that thought, Kajii Motojiro grinned.

Click. The bomb's pin came straight out, and Kajii Motojiro burst into laughter amid the smoke.

"Die!"

The dagger withdrew from his back, and Kajii Motojiro immediately turned around. He wanted to see who this idiot was at the very last moment—someone who had infiltrated the Port Mafia alone and even tried to attack him.

But the moment he turned, Kajii Motojiro's eyes widened.

"Kajii Motojiro. Ability: he cannot be harmed by lemon-shaped bombs." Behind Kajii Motojiro stood a young man in an all-black coat, his black hood hiding his eyes and brows, making him seem to blend into the darkness. He smiled. "It looks like you really are Kajii Motojiro after all."

"Why?!" Kajii Motojiro's eyes were wide. "Why are you all right? That explosion just now...!"

"Does that bother you?" Kamiki Yūhaku raised his hand. Blood ran down his fingers to his wrist, a streak of vivid red, and his red eyes were full of amusement. "What a coincidence. Your bombs can't hurt me either."

The last thing Kajii Motojiro saw before losing consciousness was a crow landing on Kamiki Yūhaku's shoulder.

Kamiki Yūhaku stroked the crow's head with his index finger. "Good job, Little Crow."

"With that, the commission for Kajii Motojiro is complete. There's one more left."

Murmuring to himself, Kamiki Yūhaku looked at the warehouse in the distance. It held the Port Mafia's finished weapons. Weapons exports were the Port Mafia's largest source of income, which meant that if the weapons in this warehouse were destroyed, the Port Mafia would suffer a devastating loss.

Kamiki Yūhaku's lips curled slightly before he turned to the crow beside him. Little Crow pecked at his own feathers, the distant guards reflected in his black eyes.

"What goes unnoticed by people?" Kamiki Yūhaku closed his eyes. "Nature. Air."

"Flowers and grass. Insects."

Kamiki Yūhaku waved a hand, and the crow took flight, heading toward the warehouse ahead under cover of darkness.

"And birds."

The Port Mafia's weapons warehouse was always guarded, day and night, but there were only three guards. The Port Mafia was an organization that lived in the night, and most of its dealings with the outside world took place after dark. As it happened, there was a deal tonight, so two of the guards had counted the weapons and taken them to the meeting place.

The man left behind yawned. Just then, he heard a bang.

"What?!" The Mafioso was jolted out of his drowsiness. He raised his gun at once and headed toward the warehouse. Just then, a black crow flew past him. He heard its call, but paid it little mind and turned his head to continue forward. The Mafioso carefully opened the warehouse door, which stood slightly ajar. The next moment, his eyes widened.

Inside the warehouse was a bomb with a fuse that had almost burned all the way down.

With a roar, the entire Port Mafia was thrown into an uproar. Even all of Yokohama heard the commotion.

Mori Ougai was startled. He opened the blackout screen covering the window, and the next moment, his eyes were filled with fiery red. Lower-ranking members were trying to put out the fire, but the explosions continued, and no one could get close.

The one thing that could be called a blessing was that the weapons warehouse stood alone, far enough from the other buildings that the explosions couldn't spread to them.

Mori Ougai frowned slightly. He pressed a hand to his temple, suddenly overcome by an indescribable sense of unease.

It was as if something had happened.

Chapter 5

"Alice-chan, sweetheart, you can see I really don't have time. Could you go to sleep by yourself?"

The little blonde girl in a red nightgown hugged a doll and glared at Mori Ougai. "Rintarō promised he'd sleep with me!"

"Something unexpected came up. I'm sorry, Alice. Tomorrow I'll take you to eat lots of delicious treats, I promise!" Mori Ougai said. "This time, you can eat as many as you want!"

"Hmph!" The little blonde girl stuck her tongue out at Mori Ougai, then stormed into the inner room with her doll in her arms.

Watching Alice leave, Mori Ougai finally breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, walked alone around the central desk, and sat down in the chair. Only then did he look at Hirotsu Ryūrō, who had been waiting nearby for some time.

"Well?"

"The three warehouse guards have been taken into custody. One of them was seriously injured in the explosion and is undergoing surgery in the medical department," Hirotsu Ryūrō said. "The other two guards were counting and moving weapons out for a deal at the time. Our investigation confirmed that this was true."

Mori Ougai frowned slightly and pressed his fingers to his brow, thinking for a moment before speaking again. "Have you found the cause of the explosion?"

"That warehouse stored explosives, which were ignited in the blast. We can no longer determine the exact cause of the explosion. However, the seriously injured guard said himself before losing consciousness that he saw a bomb with a lit fuse in the warehouse, so it probably wasn't an accident."

Mori Ougai looked slightly surprised.

Because that would have been extremely difficult.

Unlike the weapons warehouses outside, this bomb warehouse, which belonged exclusively to Kajii Motojiro, was located inside the Port Mafia headquarters. The Port Mafia had strict internal rules and guards everywhere. Under those circumstances, breaking through the defenses and throwing a bomb into the warehouse without anyone noticing would have been extremely difficult.

"Are you sure he didn't deliberately claim he saw an explosive to avoid taking responsibility?"

"I considered that possibility too." Hirotsu Ryūrō faced Mori Ougai with one hand behind his back. "But while investigating the nearby surveillance footage, I discovered something wrong. Every camera along the route from the warehouse to the laboratory malfunctioned. Ten minutes of footage was distorted beyond recognition."

"One more thing," Hirotsu Ryūrō said. "Kajii Motojiro is missing."

"Then it can't be a coincidence." Mori Ougai sighed. "It seems someone is deliberately targeting the Port Mafia."

Hirotsu Ryūrō looked at Mori Ougai, then frowned after a moment. "But there's something I don't understand, boss."

"Oh? What don't you understand, Hirotsu?"