[After concluding the upheaval of power and armed suppression in the Zenin Clan, you did not bask in the pleasure of controlling one of the Three Great Families.]
[On your way back to Tokyo, taking advantage of the night and a rare moment of leisure, you also casually and efficiently dealt with another lingering triviality: contacting Shiu Kong over an encrypted line and explicitly telling him to demand the enormous outstanding payment for this mission from the leader of the Time Vessel Association.]
[For Shiu Kong, who remained on the fringes of the intelligence network and had no real understanding of the reversal that had taken place beneath the Tombs of the Star Corridor during this Star Plasma Vessel protection incident, your request was clearly awkward and difficult.]
[Through his intelligence network, Shiu Kong knew only that Riko Amanai had not died in Okinawa, and that the deadline for the Star Plasma Vessel's assimilation had passed without incident.]
[Since the target was still alive, this assassination deal counted as a failure by ordinary logic.]
[Demanding full payment from the employer was simply out of the question under the black market's rules.]
[Faced with Shiu Kong's hesitation and probing over the phone, you had no desire to explain what had happened in the Tombs of the Star Corridor.]
[You directly employed your absolute control over your body and vocal cords to reproduce Toji Fushiguro's slightly languid, hoarse voice, laden with the air of an outlaw, with extraordinary precision.]
[Speaking as Toji, you told him forcefully not to be afraid, and to go straight to the Time Vessel Association's headquarters and demand the money from that so-called leader.]
[If that leader dared question him about the mission's details, he was to ask in return, "Hasn't the Star Plasma Vessel's assimilation already failed?"]