Strongman

Clearly, to keep the number of variables from multiplying, Baku Madarame still didn't want Shiraki Uke and Akagi Shigeru to take part in the gamble.

But Baku Madarame wasn't the one hosting the gamble.

As long as Q Dalang didn't object, whether they participated was up to Shiraki Uke and Akagi Shigeru.

"Heh heh..."

Akagi Shigeru glanced at Shiraki Uke, his eyes seeming to see straight through the other man's thoughts.

Shiraki Uke wasn't going to quit—partly because of the "commission," but also partly out of "personal desire."

Akagi Shigeru understood that kind of "desire." After all, he was much the same.

People like them were often strange. Faced with a troublesome situation, they might have an easy solution—avoiding it or backing out, for example—but they insisted on taking another path.

It wasn't for profit or any particular goal, but simply because they "wanted to do it."

"Sure, I don't mind playing."

Akagi Shigeru readily accepted the challenge, and Shiraki Uke shrugged, as expected.

Baku Madarame had no choice but to turn to Yagyou. "And you are... the referee? Having so many people is a hassle. How exactly are we going to play this game?"

"..."

Yagyou could tell that Baku Madarame was deliberately pretending not to know him.

Naturally, Yagyou wasn't going to spoil the fun for such rare guests. So he didn't reveal the truth, and instead patiently explained the rules.

"With so many people, things would get chaotic. In that case, tonight's gamble will be divided into three sides."

"Lord Kokonoe will be one side, and the other four will form two teams of two."

Yagyou said gravely, "The outcome of this gamble depends on which of your two teams escapes this tower first, or whether Lord Kokonoe succeeds in preventing both teams from escaping!"

"One minute after the four of you leave this room, the gamble will officially begin. Other than that, there is no time limit!"

"The stakes are Lord Kokonoe's Kakerou membership, thirty million in cash, and ownership of Ninefold Tower."

"Now then—"

Yagyou smiled and gestured with considerable courtesy.

"Let the game begin!"

Ninefold Tower had eight floors and had clearly been abandoned for a long time, but each floor had been furnished to some extent. At least the exterior windows were intact, and the building even had an elevator.

They had just taken that elevator to the fifth floor in the middle of the building—Q Dalang's office.

But after Yagyou announced the start of the game, they left Q Dalang and returned to the fifth-floor elevator, only to find it out of service. None of the buttons lit up.

"Huh? Things are getting more and more bizarre."

Takaomi Kaji kept trying the buttons, unable to keep from frowning. "That old man is betting his money, but all we have to do is leave the tower? Then what are we supposed to bet?"

After trying several times without success, Takaomi Kaji reluctantly gave up.

"The elevator was still working when we came up, though. It looks like the power's been cut. I guess we'll have to take the stairs..."

Fortunately, the stairs weren't hard to find. They were not far from the elevator.

By then, Shiraki Uke, Akagi Shigeru, and Baku Madarame had already reached the fifth-floor stairwell, as if they had anticipated the elevator would stop working.

Takaomi Kaji craned his neck to look. The stairs leading up were pitch-black and had clearly been abandoned for a long time. A faint light came from below, probably from lights still on on the fourth floor.

Seeing that no one else was moving, Baku Madarame called out, "All right, let's hurry downstairs."

"..."

Neither Shiraki Uke nor Akagi Shigeru moved.

Takaomi Kaji was somewhat puzzled. The two teams were competitors in the gamble, so they should have been racing each other, but none of the three seemed particularly anxious.

"Mr. Baku, I'm coming! But it's really dark upstairs..."

Takaomi Kaji jogged forward, but in the uneven light, he tripped over some loose stones underfoot and fell toward the stairs leading down.

"Whoa!"

Takaomi Kaji cried out.

Inside the office.

The one-minute limit was almost up, but Q Dalang remained completely unhurried, still resting with his eyes closed.

Yagyou couldn't help reminding him, "Are you sure this is all right, Lord Kokonoe? Don't you intend to send someone after those four?"

"...Mr. Yagyou, this is your first time attending one of my gambles, so it's no wonder you don't know." Q Dalang smiled. "This game is all about the order of things. It's always played this way."

As he spoke, Q Dalang's smile gradually twisted, his excitement plain to see.

The Masked Man behind him wasn't his only helper. To stop the game's participants, he had long since set traps throughout the tower.

If the escapees rushed blindly downstairs toward the light, a "bloody" lesson awaited them!

Drip, drip, drip...

Bright red drops of blood welled from a wound, ran down a cheek and over the tip of a nose, and fell one by one onto the stairs.

It was Takaomi Kaji's blood.

At that moment, only half of one foot remained on the floor, and his whole body was pitching forward.

If Shiraki Uke hadn't reacted quickly and grabbed Takaomi Kaji by the back of the neck, he would probably have tumbled down the stairs by now.

...No, it would have been far worse.

Several strands of extremely thin, sharp steel wire were stretched taut across the stairs below, hidden in the patchy light and hard to make out from a distance.

The wire had already cut Takaomi Kaji's face.

If he had fallen, his own weight would have driven him into the wire trap and sliced him into scattered pieces of flesh!

"Ah..."

In a state of utter shock, a person couldn't even scream.

Shiraki Uke pulled Takaomi Kaji back to safety.

Takaomi Kaji landed on his backside, and as a sharp pain came from the cut on his face, his whole body went limp.

"Wh... what is this...?"

Takaomi Kaji wasn't an idiot. He wasn't so naive that he couldn't see anything was wrong.

The huge sum of cash before them, the clearly violent Masked Man, the missing Nogi Group salesman, and Q Dalang's sudden change in attitude...

Takaomi Kaji knew this gamble was no joke.

He had acted so clueless because, deep down, he had still clung to a sliver of "fantasy," hoping this was a dreamlike urban legend and that a lonely old man was simply looking for someone to play with.

But the sting of the cut on his face brought Takaomi Kaji back to reality.

People could die in this gamble!

And in this gamble, the four of them were staking their lives!

"..."

In his daze, Takaomi Kaji heard Mr. Baku's voice and felt a little reassured.

"It stinks down there. The smell of blood and corpses..."

"Ah, thanks. You saved Kaji's life. I wouldn't have been strong enough to pull him back."

Baku Madarame thanked Shiraki Uke, then asked in puzzlement, "Come to think of it, Uke, and you too, Brother Shigeru, how did you know there was 'danger' downstairs?"

"Nothing special."

Akagi Shigeru took a drag on his cigarette and said casually, "If we could just walk downstairs, it wouldn't be much of a gamble, would it?"

That unconventional way of thinking made Baku Madarame give him a few extra looks.

Shiraki Uke, meanwhile, gave an even more mystifying answer. "Killing intent."

Baku Madarame: "..."

Baku Madarame: "Ha ha..."

Mr. Baku gave a hollow laugh. Takaomi Kaji, on the other hand, couldn't even manage a normal expression.

The minute was almost up, and that terrifying Masked Man would soon come after them to kill them. People's lives were at stake, yet these three still had the leisure to discuss it?

Just what kind of worldview did these three have?! What kind of world did they even live in!?

"Anyway, let's get moving. Upstairs."

Shiraki Uke pulled Takaomi Kaji to his feet, pointing upward while looking around. "There are stairs going up, aren't there? Let's head up for now and get some air on the open rooftop."

Chapter 20: Strongman

"Huh? Oh..."

Takaomi Kaji was still somewhat dazed as he watched the other three head up to the sixth floor.

Baku Madarame looked back. "Come on, Kaji, or I'll leave you behind!"

Only then did Takaomi Kaji come to his senses and hurry after them.

Although they were competing against the other two—Shiraki Uke and Akagi Shigeru—there was only one path available, and they had no tools on hand to dismantle the wire trap downstairs, so they could only travel together.