Demons Roam the Alleys (Continued)

Akiyama Kaede had seen that look before—Shiraki Uke's look.

Strange as it seemed, "fighters" and "corporate bosses" belonged to two different worlds, even when they worked together. They should have been entirely different kinds of people.

Yet Akiyama Kaede had found that the best of both groups occasionally shared the same look in their eyes.

Was it fighting spirit? Or something about their bearing?

"..."

In any case, Akiyama Kaede's task was complete. Having given Shiraki Uke a business card and the information on the real estate tycoon, Akiyama Kaede rose to leave.

After seeing the visitor out, Shiraki Uke put away the information and the business card.

Come to think of it, he hadn't earned much money lately, but he had accumulated quite a few business cards, from both individuals and companies.

Katahara Metsudo, Yukio Tonegawa, the Teiai Group, Kure Fusui, Akiyama Kaede, the Nogi Group...

The first two in particular carried enormous weight. They could even cause a sensation in the business world!

Should I buy a business card holder?

The information Akiyama Kaede had provided included the real estate tycoon's recent movements.

Delay invited complications. The longer they waited, the more could go wrong.

So the following evening, Shiraki Uke set out.

Arisa wanted to go with him, but Shiraki Uke stopped her. He was serious this time. After all, everything was unknown, and the danger was several times greater than before, if not more!

"Big bro..."

Arisa looked at Shiraki Uke as he was about to leave. She wanted to offer him some words of advice, but felt that would be a little nagging.

After thinking for a while, she tried to sound as casual as possible and asked, "What do you want for breakfast tomorrow?"

She was asking because she wanted Shiraki Uke to come home safe.

Shiraki Uke smiled and waved. "Rice and tamagoyaki, with miso soup."

"Got it!"

Arisa waved hard at her brother until he turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

Shiraki Uke's destination was an underground casino in Tokyo's Shinjuku district.

Unlike the makeshift operation the Sanjigumi had put together, this underground casino was run by "professionals." Rumor had it there were even cops backing it.

Strictly speaking, the Sanjigumi's unfinished building had been nothing more than a crude imitation by a bunch of amateur yakuza. The place Shiraki Uke was visiting tonight was a genuine illegal establishment!

The decor went without saying. The red-and-white floor tiles were polished to a shine, and there was even a bar off to one side.

Poker, roulette, mahjong, pachinko... every kind of gambling facility was available, along with dealers and bunny-girl waitresses, of course.

Few of the gamblers coming and going were yakuza or biker gang members. Most were drifters or successful people dressed in suits and leather shoes.

"..."

Empty-handed among them, Shiraki Uke looked a little out of place.

According to the lead provided by the Nogi Group, the real estate tycoon was a regular at this underground casino.

But exactly how to investigate was a real problem.

"..."

As Shiraki Uke pondered, he suddenly had a feeling.

It was like the sense of smell: the scent of flowers could lift one's spirits. Shiraki Uke suddenly had that kind of "feeling," so he set off in search of it.

Beside a table hosting a simple game of betting on whether the dice would come up odd or even, Shiraki Uke found the source of that "feeling."

A middle-aged man in a striped suit, with a full head of silver hair and clear eyes—

Akagi Shigeru.

The "man of the divine realm" whom he had met by chance a few days ago at the Sanjigumi's little casino was here in this underground casino!

Was he here for amusement? Or had someone invited him?

The answer didn't matter.

As the saying went, "Demons roam the alleys, demons gather around bones."

A gambler with extraordinary talent like Akagi Shigeru wouldn't be surprising to see anywhere.

"...Oh?"

Akagi Shigeru spotted Shiraki Uke in the crowd and greeted him with a faint smile. "Uke-kun? What a coincidence, running into you here."

"Akagi."

Shiraki Uke squeezed through the crowd and went up to Akagi Shigeru's side.

He suddenly noticed that everyone packed around them was watching Akagi Shigeru's table, as if the "man of the divine realm" possessed an innate power to draw people in.

Looking at the table, Shiraki Uke immediately understood why.

It was just an ordinary game of betting on odd or even, but when something "extraordinary" appeared amid the ordinary, it was especially eye-catching.

Chips covered the table in front of Akagi Shigeru. There was no telling how many rounds he had won!

There were three dealers assigned to the table—in other words, two groups had already been replaced, yet they still hadn't been able to stop Akagi Shigeru's winning streak!

Then another dealer came running over and whispered to the others, "We checked the surveillance. He isn't cheating."

"Tch..."

The lead dealer's face darkened. He whispered a few words to another dealer, who hurried away.

Having made preparations for a backup plan, the lead dealer turned to Akagi Shigeru and quietly tried to negotiate. "Brother, we've got no quarrel with you. Is there any need to bankrupt the house at our table?"

"Hm?"

Akagi Shigeru looked surprised. "I've never heard that this casino was such a kind place that it wouldn't let people gamble themselves into bankruptcy."

"Haha..." The lead dealer could only force a laugh.

It was an underground casino, after all. People often gambled themselves into bankruptcy here, but someone wiping out the house's entire stake at a table was unheard of!

The lead dealer had no desire to bear responsibility for such a colossal mistake. Not only would he lose his job, he might even be saddled with an astronomical gambling debt!

"Brother, let's work something out."

The dealer no longer cared about saving face. He suggested in a low voice, "Next round, bet half your chips—just half. We'll play a 'reasonable' round, and the other half is yours. How about it?"

He could hardly have made it clearer.

The dealer wanted Akagi Shigeru to throw the next round, allowing them to recover half the chips and minimize their losses.

Without waiting for Akagi Shigeru's reply, the lead dealer began shaking the dice for the next round.

Akagi Shigeru didn't back down either. He went all in again, betting every chip on even.

Cold sweat ran down the lead dealer's face as he secretly lifted one edge of the dice cup. The two dice showed a three and a five—an even total!

Akagi Shigeru was right again.

"Brother..."

The lead dealer's expression turned ugly. He ventured, "The cup hasn't been lifted yet. You can still change your bet. Why not think it over?"

Akagi Shigeru remained calm. "Even."

As the two spoke, another disturbance arose in the crowd. Several yakuza members closed in, led by the junior dealer who had left earlier.

It seemed the lead dealer had worried he wouldn't be able to persuade Akagi Shigeru and had planned to threaten him with force.

Akagi Shigeru, however, paid them no attention. Focused entirely on the table, he tapped it lightly with a finger.

"Even."

That answer made the lead dealer's face darken completely. He waved to the yakuza around them, signaling them to act and deal with the trouble in front of him first.

But just as one of them reached out, another hand grabbed his wrist first.

"Huh?!"

Before the yakuza could react, a sharp pain shot through his wrist and his strength gave out. He raised his arm to look and saw that his wrist had been completely twisted out of joint, the back of his hand pressed against his forearm.

The one who had acted wasn't Akagi Shigeru, but the young man standing behind him!

"Bastard!"

The other three yakuza rushed him together, but they were unarmed, and Shiraki Uke had no intention of even dodging.

A knife-hand strike smashed into one man's throat. He spun and drove an elbow into the second man's nose, then hooked his other arm around the third man's neck and held him in a rear naked choke until he passed out.

The entire sequence was smooth and spectacular, no less compelling to watch than Akagi Shigeru's earlier winning streak. It even drew gasps from the onlookers.

Seeing things go badly, the lead dealer was about to throw caution to the wind and step in when another fist suddenly slammed into his face.

Bang!

He fell to the floor, knocked unconscious.

The one who had struck him was a casino security guard, sent to maintain order.

This was a long-established underground casino. If it refused to pay when it lost, it couldn't have survived until now.

"We're sorry for the trouble."

The guard bowed deeply to Akagi Shigeru and Shiraki Uke, then brought up various forms of compensation, but neither man cared and both merely gave him perfunctory answers.

Shiraki Uke was still looking for someone, while Akagi Shigeru didn't care about winning or losing.

"Whew..."

With a cigarette between his lips, Akagi Shigeru complained helplessly, "I was just wandering around and happened to feel like playing, but it turned out to be another boring game. Still, it's good to see a new friend."

Shiraki Uke answered with a smile. With someone he knew beside him, he felt much more relaxed and planned to order two drinks.