Part 1 of chapter 4, and the mess is getting worse, but also more hilarious, especially with Doumyouji and Enomoto and a little scary with Fuse. Oh, and Kusanagi is guest starring a little.

Chapter 4 (part ½) (volume 1, pages 169-206)
The Proud Public Servants

Akiyama was waiting for his lawyer in the interview room. It was only half a day since he had been detained, but Akiyama’s countenance bore visible traces of haggardness. His eyes sunk in somewhat and there were signs of 5-o"clock shadow on his face.

In his high school days, Akiyama was a member of a kendo club known nation-wide for its rigorous training, and after he had graduated from high school, he tempered his mind and body thoroughly in the national defense force.

Beneath the serious and handsome exterior, the iron heart dwelt that wouldn’t be perturbed by the unexpected. Even if Akiyama were to face a wild beast baring its fangs at him or a criminal with a knife, he wouldn’t freeze in fear. He had no problem bearing physical pain and suffering for as long as it took for it to subdue.

But all of his training proved completely meaningless when it came to his current situation.

‘I, a member of Scepter 4 that’s supposed to uphold order and justice, got arrested… and on molestation charges, at that!’

Guilt was what wasted Akiyama so much.

Of course, he knew that he was innocent. Everything was 100% false accusations, and he had a vague feeling that he had been set up.

The question was how exactly…

"d.a.m.n…’

There was something that had him restless with worry. To what extend would his comrades believe in his innocence? Munakata and Awashima aside, he had this feeling that the members of the Special Ops might be making some pretty absurd statements right about now.

“Haa,” he let out yet another sigh.

There was one thing he knew for sure, though. His partner, Benzai Yuujirou, would believe in him no matter what.

They’d known each other for a long time now. They had survived through life-threatening situations together.

Even after spending one’s whole life on the search, not everyone could find a person they could trust with their lives and be trusted in return. But Akiyama had such person - Benzai.

To Akiyama, Benzai really was everything you could ask of a partner. They had spent a very long time together, from the national defense force to Scepter 4. They were thoroughly familiar with each other’s habits and ways of thinking. They could trust each other.

"He…’ Akiyama mulled. "He will believe in me and will do what needs to be done.’

Benzai knew Akiyama’s desires and wishes.

Miraculously, thinking about his partner solidified Akiyama’s resolve. For now, there was only one thing he needed to do. And that was to clear his name of false charges no matter what.

In order to do that, he would need…

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. His lawyer seemed to have arrived.

Akiyama rose to greet him, “Please come in.”

For now, he would start with discussing his situation with the law expert, he thought.

†

Meanwhile, Akiyama’s partner, Benzai, was packing his things in their room in Scepter 4’s dorm.

After a knock for the sake of politeness on the door that Benzai left wide open, Hidaka’s voice came, “Excuse me, Benzai-san?”
“Hm? What is it, Hidaka?” Benzai responded, putting a towel and toiletries into his travel bag with a brisk motion.
“Um,” Hidaka started shyly, “I thought if you need help with anything, I could help.”

Benzai was scheduled to go to Hokkaido. Although such occurrences were rare, a strain escapee from Tokyo was sighted in Kushiro, Hokkaido, and Benzai was going there to confirm it.

In this kind of cases, usually, Akiyama and Benzai were dispatched to deal with it as the Special Ops representatives. But right now, Benzai’s partner couldn’t very well go anywhere, having his freedom restrained. For that reason, for a while, Benzai would have to deal with those cases on his own.

“Oh?” Benzai turned to Hidaka and gave him a smile. “Are you being considerate because Akiyama’s not here at the moment?”
“Well, yes, maybe.”

The reason that was to blame for Akiyama’s absence made even Hidaka strangely hesitant in his wordings.

Benzai, possibly seeing through Hidaka’s doubts, a.s.serted, “Don’t worry. Akiyama is 100% not guilty.”

At first, Hidaka was visibly surprised, but only a moment later he was already hopefully asking, “R-Really, Benzai-san?”

If it was none other than Benzai, who was saying that, Benzai, who knew Akiyama the longest, then Hidaka felt he could trust his words above everything.

But then Benzai continued with a deadly serious face, “Of course he’s innocent. After all, he’s a hardcore MILF lover.”
“Huh?”
“If he wanted to molest someone, there is no way it would be a high school girl, right? Don’t you agree?”

Only after seeing Benzai chuckle Hidakafigured that he was being teased. “B-Benzai-san!”

Benzai let out an abrupt sigh, gazing at Hidaka. “Hidaka. Akiyama is not someone to ever do something like that. Isn’t knowing that enough? Or do the relationship between all of us as the members of the Special Ops not enough for you and you want some other proof?”

It was said in a low and calm voice, but it did convey surging anger nonetheless.

Hidaka immediately strengthened himself. “O-Of course not! It’s more than enough. You’re absolutely right. I agree with you thoroughly!”

He had a feeling that he had rudely insulted Benzai somehow. But strangely enough, when Akiyama’s innocence was a.s.serted to his face like that, he felt like his own doubts got cleared away.

Benzai smiled with a cool smile again. “I’m glad you understand, Hidaka. And now that you do, I have a favor I need to ask of you.”
“Yes, what is it, Benzai-san? As long as it’s something I can do, I’ll do anything!” Hidaka exclaimed readily.
“If, by any chance, Akiyama’s detention drags out, could you give that to him?” Benzai pointed to Akiyama’s bed. On it, a small backpack sat. “I packed up a few necessities for him like some clothes and toiletries. With that, he shouldn’t be too inconvenienced for another month.”
“!” Hidaka was clearly surprised. So Benzai prepared some necessities for Akiyama even as he was packing for his own official trip?

Seeing Hidaka’s reaction, Benzai only shrugged his shoulders. “It’s no big deal. We were on the national defense force previously, as you know, and there, you had to pack your things in 10 minutes flat, no matter what remote place you were getting sent to, or you’d get shouted at by the instructor.”
“—I see.”

That made Hidaka realize something all over again: they may have been equally members of the Special Ops squad now, all serving under Munakata Reishi, but Akiyama and Benzai were clearly different from him, Enomoto, Fuse and the others as far as skills and preparedness was concerned.

"We’re really no match for them; we gotta do our best and catch up to them, then,’ Hidaka thought to himself, as he asked out loud, “Should I go deliver that bag right now?”
“—No,” Benzai answered after a brief consideration. “Let it sit here for a while and deliver it after the situation with Akiyama gets clear.”
“Understood.”
“Also, if possible, could you put chocolate or little something like that in there, too? He tends to crave sweet things when he’s tired.”
“I will!” Hidaka immediately a.s.sured him. “I happened to keep a few in reserve in my room! I’ll go get it right away!”

With this, Hidaka scurried out the room.

Benzai smiled, watching him rush, then resumed packing. He knew beyond doubt what he needed to do right now. That was also what Akiyama wanted him to do the most at the moment. Meaning…

…to smoothly fulfill his professional duties as a member of Scepter 4.

What Akiyama, being a somewhat awkward man with a strong sense of responsibility, was concerned about the most was not his reputation or his fate. He was worried that his absence might impede Scepter 4’s work. Only that.

Akiyama was the essential core of the Special Ops squad, both when it came to abilities and to spirit.

"For being such a capable guy, he sure has weak defense.’ Benzai smiled bitterly.

Until now it was Benzai, even more composed than Akiyama himself and able to see the whole picture, who covered for that weakness of his partner.

Even if no one else could understand Akiyama, as his partner, Benzai had to know his intentions. And when Akiyama’s innocence was proven and he was back to the squad, Benzai would have to be the one to say to him lightly, “Oh well, we had no trouble at all during your absence.” For that, he needed to come back from the trip as fast as possible and fill the hole left by Akiyama.

Resolved, Benzai finished packing and left the room, having no way of knowing that his plans were not meant to be.

†

“…What? Alright. I see. It can’t be helped then. I ask you to deal with that next. Uh-huh. You don’t have to worry about things on our end. We’ll deal with them.”

Awashima hung up and, turning to Munakata seated in the driver’s seat, reported, “Two more strain suspects were sighted in Miyagi and Okinawa, and Benzai will go there after finishing his current mission.”

At that moment, her PDA rang again. Awashima answered the call. “Awashima listening. Mn-hm. Mn-hm… And then? Okay. What? Again? I see. No, we still have to send someone. Good job, but this will be your next task. Mn-hm. Don’t worry about Akiyama, we’re taking measures. Okay, got it. I’m counting on you.”

She hung up, immediately turning to Munakata once more, “More cases reported in Kouchi and f.u.kuoka.” Making a sour face, she added, “He will deal with them once he’s finished with the previous ones.”

Munakata’s lips curved in a wry smile. “So they keep causing incidents here and there, huh. What is it now? Benzai-kun will have to go from Miyagi to Okinawa to Kouchi to f.u.kuoka? By now, tt looks more like a suguroku using the whole of j.a.pan as the board than anything.”

“Well, I sent the ordinary troops to different regions, but it looks like they are not able to contain the situation unless someone of the Benzai cla.s.s gives directions on the scene personally.”
“Well, yes, I would expect that much.”
“Captain. All this…” Awashima stared at Munakata.

Turning the steering wheel to make a left turn, he responded, “Yes, all this is being caused by the Kounomura group, there hardly can be any doubt about it anymore. I do know know the full particulars of how they managed to set up something so grand-scale, but their intention seems to be to lure our troops away from the capital by causing strain-related accidents all over the country.” He c.o.c.ked his head to the side slightly, “It could be that the string of those cases is a plan targeting Benzai-kun specifically, the same way as the false molestation accusations targeted Akiyama-kun.”

Taken aback, Awashima stared at Munakata.

Seeing her reaction, Munakata nodded gravely. “It goes to show just how well they know our people’s peculiar traits and personality. Akiyama-kun is an excellent person in every aspect, be it his personal history, his personality or his ability, and he is the core of the Special Operations squad. And Benzai-kun, despite being content to play the role of his a.s.sistant sometimes, depending on the situation, can also be a capable leader in his own right. Kounomura-shi proclaimed that he will take everything from me, and surprisingly, this may be what he meant by that.”

Awashima wore a conflicted look on her face. “…”

Her position was different from that of the Special Ops squad. First and foremost, she was Munakata’s aide. Despite fully realizing the fact, she couldn’t help feeling hurt. "Could it be that Kounomura has a higher regard for Akiyama and Benzai than for me? Does he think that they are more useful to the Captain than I am?’

She wanted to think that wasn’t the case. She was still a higher ranking member even in the hierarchy of the Blue clan— but as she gazed at Munakata in the driver’s seat, her confidence began to dwindle.

Usually, whenever Munakata needed to go somewhere, Akiyama or Benzai, or, depending on circ.u.mstances, Hidaka or Enomoto served as his drivers. But today Munakawa was operating the car himself. The reason was simple: driving wasn’t Awashima’s forte.

It wasn’t that she was downright awful at it. But her sense of direction wasn’t all that good and she had some problems with parking. Hence, Munakata took the steering wheel all too smoothly.

“…”

Munakata must have seen through Awashima’s inner turmoil, because he smiled and said, “For that reason, Awashima-kun, I’m afraid you will have to shoulder Akiyama-kun and Benzai-kun’s burden for the moment. I will be relying on you for that.”
“…” Awashima’s cheeks got dusted pink, but she gave her clear answer almost immediately, “Yes, sir. You can count on me, Captain.”

She wasn’t a child, so she understood that Munakata had guessed what she was thinking and thrown some soothing words her way. That left her feeling a bit embarra.s.sed but also pleased at the same time.

Her face clearing, she thought, "That’s right. There is only one thing I need to do, and that is, to do my job thoroughly. If I start worrying about irrelevant things now, I will only end up playing into Kounomura’s hands.’

Watching with rea.s.sured approval Awashima overcoming her mental disturbance, Munakata said, “a.s.suming that Kounomura-shi is behind this, the problem that arises is that such incidents will continue.”

Awashima nodded, agreeing with her superior. Both of them foresaw that this was not an end but only a beginning.

†

Although Munakata was forced on the defensive, it wasn’t like he sat idly. He did attempt to seach for Kounomura, who was now in the country and hiding somewhere. But that endeavor, unusually for sharp and talented Munakata, had run into some tough waters.

The reason was simple: Munakata had no means at his disposal that he could put to effective use.

First of all, Scepter 4 that he commanded was an organization for controlling and policing strains and strain-related crimes.

Know-hows and techniques on how to search, manage, and, depending on the situation, battle and suppress strains had been acc.u.mulated starting with the rule of the previous Blue King, Habari Jin, but Scepter 4 hardly had any equipment, experience and simply personnel for effectively tracking down unremarkable ordinary people.

It wouldn’t be much of a problem in, for example, America that, in addition to the police, also had information gathering agencies like the FBI and CIA, but in this country the police was the main and biggest organ capable of search and investigation.

And Munakata, as the head of Scepter 4, had yet to acquire justifiable legal basis or gray zone connections that would allow him to make that police machine work for him for anything other than countering strain-related crimes.

If only Munakata had become the Blue King two years prior, the story would likely have been different. But as things stood now, although Munakata did have outstanding attributes going for him, his career as a king was way too short, and he simply had no time to gain social and personal clout to allow him to have an influence on anything except for Scepter 4.

He only could grant or gain favors that were beyond his organization’s duties from the very few politicians and businessmen whom he got acquainted with in the course of his work.

That was why when there arose the need to find Kounomura, Munakata chose to turn to private detective agencies. He selected a few reputed detective agencies and search services that had their own networks all across the country, and placed a search request for Kounomura Zenichi with them, spending quite a sizable portion of the budget on their fees.

Objectively speaking, the manhunt pros from the detective agencies did quite a fine job but in the end, failed to find any information on Kounomura Zenichi’s whereabouts.

†

“Awashima-kun. Awashima-kun.”

Feeling someone shake her by the shoulder gently, Awashima awoke with a start. Still half-asleep, she surveyed her surroundings dazedly, and, realizing that it was her king who had woken her up, jumped to her feet, face beat-red.

So it appeared that she fell asleep in the data processing office while dealing with a few remaining things, demanding her attention. She wasn’t aware of it, but there was a very visible imprint of her sleeve’s furnish left on her cheek.

“M-My apologies, Captain!” She quickly apologized, bowing.
“Oh, no need to worry about it.” Munakata waved a careless hand. “It is already two in the morning. It is only natural for the human body to crave sleep at this time. There is nothing wrong with it. So please put your work on hold and return to the dormitory. Everybody else already did.”

Just like Munakata said, the s.p.a.cious data processing office was empty save for Awashima. The room’s lighting was controlled via human presence sensors, so at the moment only the lights around her and Munakata, standing before her, were dimly illuminating the area.

“But…” Awashima objected weakly.

She hadn’t finished what she planned to finish today. There were still two doc.u.ments she needed to check and one she had to draw up. With Fushimi, Akiyama and Benzai all absent, almost all the matters that required a certain degree of advanced judgement ended up on Awashima’s plate.

Munakata let out a little sigh. “Awashima-kun. I often repeat that I do not approve of working outside of working hours unless at the time of emergency. Do you remember why?”
“—Yes, I do, sir.” Awashima didn’t make him wait for her answer. “Because we would not be in our best condition if emergency did occur.”
“Yes, that is correct.” Munakata nodded. “Taking breaks and resting the body, as well as enjoying spare time and giving food to the mind is essential for people in our line of work. Even a machine will break if it tries to carry a load exceeding its maximum permitted weight limit, nothing to say of human beings. So I recommend - or rather, I shall make it a demand - to think in the long-term perspective and find ways to finish your work within the appropriate hours. Besides…” Munakata showed a tiny smile. “…at the time of real emergency, I will work you quite hard, I’m afraid.”
“…Of course, sir.” Awashima was thinking Munakata’s words over for a while, and then, “I understand, sir. I will comply with your demand. But I would like to make a request, too.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“While I’m resting, I would like to ask you, sir—” Awashima finally found her courage to express what she had wanted to for a while now, but as luck had it, her PDA rang at that moment, interrupting her.

Awashima had no choice but to take it out. But seeing the caller’s name had her freeze momentarily. “…”
“Oya? Is something wrong?” Munakata addressed her. “I do not mind you answering it. It may be important. I will wait here, so please do not mind me and answer.”

Awashima still hesitated. But now that she had Munakata’s explicit permission, ignoring the call would look very strange. That person called her at 2 a.m. in the morning. It had to be about something important. So Awashima cautiously pressed the connect b.u.t.ton.

The caller was Kusanagi Izumo, the second-in-command of the Red clan, Homura.

“Ahh, h.e.l.lo, Seri-chan? Sorry for the late night call, but there is something I want to ask of you,” came Kusanagi’s voice speaking in Kansai dialect with his usual intonations that could be very well described as frivolous.

Awashima frowned.

His voice sounded strange. Although it seemed to be more of a technical issue than something being wrong with Kusanagi.

“—Where are you now?” Awashima asked, and Kusanagi cheerfully elaborated, “Oh, so you noticed? I’m currently in Las Vegas.”
“Huh? Las…Vegas…?”

Hearing Awashima’s fl.u.s.tered tone made Munakata suspicious.

Trying to gain control of her voice, Awashima asked, “Why are you in Las Vegas?”
“Ah well, things happened. The Homura guys are here with me, too.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll give you a detailed explanation when I’m back in j.a.pan. That aside, I really do need that favor, you know.”

At that moment Awashima heard a voice saying Kusanagi’s name, “Izumo,” somewhere on the background. The voice definitely belonged to a young woman.

Kusanagi panicked. “Oh d.a.m.n! What do you think you’re wearing?! —Seri-chan, don’t hang up.”

For a while, Awashima didn’t hear anything as he probably pressed a hand to the microphone, and then, at last, “Sorry, sorry. Things settled down just now finally.”
“—Well, you’re apparently in the middle of something and very busy from the sound of it. If you don’t have any business with me, I’m hanging up?” Awashima informed him icily.
Kusanagi was clearly fl.u.s.tered, “It’s not what you think! It’s absolutely not, I’m telling you! Oh well, okay, I’ll just state my request then.”

It was a strange request. Kusanagi told her a name and asked her to check if that person was a strain or not.

Awashima hesitated—

However, she was indebted to Kusanagi in relation to a certain incident that happened in Shizume town. Besides, Kusanagi’s request wasn’t much trouble to fulfill. If nothing, a simple search of Scepter 4’s database would reveal in no time if the person Kusanagi named was registered as a strain or not.

Awashima, all too aware of Munakata’s gaze on herself, answered, “Alright, let me think about it.” Inside, she had already made up her mind to help him, but deliberately chose to word her response the way she did. “I’ll mail you the result when and if possible.”

She was pretty sure that Kusanagi caught on to the implications of her wording.

His voice sounded brighter. “Ohh, I see. You’re a big help, Seri-chan. You can expect a souvenir or two!”
“I don’t need them,” Awashima snorted a little in reply. “With this, we call it square.”

Once before, Awashima received information from Kusanagi on a strain hiding on the territory of Shizume town. This time, she would give him the information he requested. All their mutual debts would be settled after this. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. It was just that being in contact with the well informed and smart second-in-command of the Red clan could make performing her professional duties smoother, nothing more than that.

In the first place, it was hard to figure out when Kusanagi was serious and when not, with him making sultry suggestions to her whenever he saw the chance.

“Oh come on, don’t be so cold. It’s late night where you are now, right? Were you sleeping? How about socializing with me a bit and having a chat that only two adults can have?”

Awashima always ignored all such propositions, figuring that they were his way of making pleasantries.

“Didn’t I tell you? If you have no other business with me, I’m hanging up. I’m making the Captain wait as it is.”
“Huh? The Captain?” There was a pause. “The Captain as in… the Blue King, Munakata Reishi?”
“That’s right. Our King. Don’t speak of him without honorifics.”
“—Hmmph.” For some reason, Kusanagi gave a m.u.f.fled chuckle. “Is that so. See ya then.” He ended the conversation surprisingly fast, hanging up on her before she could.

Awashima, head inclined slightly to the side in puzzlement over his change of att.i.tude, pocketed her PDA.

“Awashima-kun,” Munakata started unhurriedly. “My apologies, but from what I heard of the conversation, the person on the other end was Kusanagi Izumo, of the Red clan, Homura, was it not?”
“That is correct, sir.” Awashima wasn’t apologetic. “Since you recommended it before, sir, I decided to follow your suit and get acquainted with an information provider. That man is rather shrewd but quite useful. Ah, needless to say, I will carefully investigate the information he requested before sending it to him as my end of the deal. There is nothing that would cross the boundaries of the give-and-take relationship, I a.s.sure you.”
“No, no, I trust you to handle that at your discretion. Having a pipeline to the Red clan is extremely useful, after all… but I do not recall hearing the circ.u.mstances of you forging an amicable connection with him yet?”
“Huh? Well, it was mostly by change. Trouble I was dealing with provided the opportunity to have a talk.”
“As I recall, when we had a run-in with the Red clan, he was your opponent, correct?”
“Yes, sir. And I certainly didn’t expect to form this sort of connection with him at the time. Only, when I tried talking to him, it turned out that among the impulsive Red clan, he was someone quite smart and capable of objectivity, so after thinking over our mutual benefits, we each concluded that there was no real need for us to antagonize.”
“Hm, mph,” Munakata intoned with a m.u.f.fled chuckle.

And why did that chuckle reminded her of Kusanagi’s earlier one? The similarity gave Awashima a jittery feeling. The two of them were supposed to be very different types of people.

As a matter of fact, she didn’t know Munakata, let alone Kusanagi all that long. But she had a feeling that she had seen each of them smirk in a very similar way before.

Kusanagi smirked like that when he learned that Scepter 4’s second-in-command was a woman who, nevertheless, was strong enough to go toe to toe with him in a fight.

And Munakata showed such smirk when he first laid his eyes on the most complex puzzle he had seen to date.

At those times the two of them chuckled in the same way as now, she was sure.

"I don’t know why, but I feel I better not advertise the fact that Kusanagi Izumo is my informant so openly from now on,’ Awashima thought to herself, not being able to grasp the exact reason why.

“In any case, I shall leave that matter to your judgement. And now, please make haste and go rest,” Munakata said to her and left the data processing room.
“—Yes, sir.”

But what Awashima actually wanted to say was something else. “Please get some rest yourself, sir.” As far as Awashima was aware, Munakata denied himself rest even more than she did. But his back emanated something so unshakeable and resolute that Awashima couldn’t find her voice to say those words aloud to the last.

And that made her feel lonely hopelessness.

†

In the gray of morning that day, Fuse Daiki was moving across the water surface in a fishing boat. It was a small boat capable of accommodating up to 6 persons, with a 70 horse-power engine. Before joining Scepter 4, in the period when Fuse had no goal and didn’t know what to do with his life, he took up fishing and even obtained a second grade permit for small ship operation. For something that he got after a 3 day training camp where he mostly just hung out with his pals, it was a convenient acquisition allowing for a high degree of freedom on the water.

Needless to say, the boat he was currently steering wasn’t his; he borrowed it at a boat rental shop for 15,000 yen a day.

Fuse hoped it would be cla.s.sified as work-related expenses.

After having started working at Scepter 4, he didn’t have a lot of chances to put his permit to use, but now that he was riding a boat across the water surface that was starting to take on a scarlet hue, holding the steering wheel in his hands after a long while and feeling the salty breeze and splashes of slightly salty sea water hit his entire body, his mood was getting better by the minute.

His head, heavy with lack of sleep, was clearing.

He would need to do some preparations and go fishing some time, he thought. Inviting Enomoto, Hidaka and Gotou along sounded like fun, too.

Hidaka and Gotou aside, Enomoto, being the indoor species he was, would probably complain about seasickness and feeding and whatnot, but it would also be quite amuzing.

Although, if he did invite them, they would have to have their fishing outing somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo Bay, not in a remote place like this. The sea in Touhoku region Fuse was currently sailing across was just too far away.

It went without saying that Fuse didn’t come here to fish.

Determined to locate Kounomura’s whereabouts, after much effort he found himself in this place, driving a boat, alone.

In front of him, at a distance barely within visible range, there was another boat. And on that boat was the person whom Fuse came chasing after all the way from Tokyo, Kondou Kouhei.

Until 3 years ago, he had worked as Kounomura’s private secretary, and at the moment was suspected in maintaining some sort of contact with his former employer.

Kounomura’s inhuman energy allowed him to engage in various social activities, and as a result he acquired an extensive network of personal connections, but it was Kondou who knew Kounomura’s most private part and served him personally. There were exceptionally talented people by Kounomura’s side, like a prodigy who graduated from Harward Law School at the top of his cla.s.s or a genius who had a triple doctor’s degree in math, law and history; unlike them, the only talents that Kondou had going for him was his honest work att.i.tude and ability to keep secrets.

Despite that, Kounomura trusted him with things like picking up the members of his family, organizing important private family events and even managing all of his living expenses.

Those around Kounomura found it highly strange, but Kounomura himself only told them, while laughing, “It’s hard to grasp it from just his appearance, but that person’s honesty and loyalty are such that no talent or degree can ever hope to compare. If need be, I don’t mind entrusting my very life to him.”

Presently, Kondou was the curator of a museum, specializing in old ukiyoe and folk art articles that he had a pa.s.sion for. Although it was called a museum, it was a small establishment, with only 2 curators - Kondou and one other person - that was built by Kounomura when he retired from his activities as a sort of severance payment to his most trusted confidant. Kondou worked as that place’s curator the same way he worked for Kounomura - with honesty and faithfulness.

Building a museum just for Kondou went to show just how much Kounomura trusted him.

Awshima suspected Kondou in presently a.s.sisting Kounomura and had Akiyama spy on him. And when Akiyama was tailing said Kondou as the man left his home to go to his workplace in the museum, he was dragged into the false molestation accusation scandal during the commute.

Needless to say, Fuse believed that Akiyama got caught into the enemy’s trap and was framed, and it looked like Awashima, who gave Akiyama the order, and Munakata, after receiving the report on Akiyama’s situation, were both of the same opinion. However, there was no conclusive proof.

So Fuse volunteered to take over Akiyama’s task. Munakata called Fuse to his office to specifically warn him.

“Kounomura-shi possesses an extraordinarily elaborate intelligence. Even if he really is getting help from Kondou, catching him in the act would be exceedingly difficult. It is also probable that you may get caught in dire straits in the process yourself, like Akiyama-kun. If that happens, I will go there in person, so first of all, make sure to keep in frequent touch with Awashima-kun.”

Bearing the warning in mind, Fuse had been carefully tailing Kondou around the clock until now. If Kondou really was maintaing contact with Kounomura and he was able to prove it, the situation would be well on its way to getting resolved, even if he ended up set up like Akiyama in the process.

But the more Fuse followed Kondou, the more unsure of this way of thinking he became.

The reason for his doubts was simple: Kondou didn’t look like a person who would play part in setting up such elaborate traps.

Although he just barely hit his fifties, his head was completely bald, his built feeble and expression fearful and not what you would call reliable. Fuse, of course, was well aware that appearances didn’t always reflect one’s soul and personality, but in Kondou’s case, his exterior and interior seemed to be aligned rather perfectly.

In that respect, he was in a marked contrast with Kounomura, in whose unattractive appearance boundless overflowing energy and intelligence could be clearly felt regardless.

The other day, during his commute to work when Kondou stepped on a foot of a middle schooler and got yelled at, he visibly cowered with fright.

"If all of that was an act, then he has all the chances to become an Academy Awards winner. It just might be that he really has nothing to do with Kounomura anymore…’

Kondou’s scope of activity was restricted to commutes between his house and the museum, and there were no signs whatsoever that he had noticed Fuse tailing him. This was the conclusion Fuse came after a few days of such investigation.

However, yesterday, Kondou made his first big move. Fuse braced himself, but in the end it turned out that Kondou’s whole family was just going to visit their family house by car. Fuse got Awashima’s authorization and rented out a car to follow them. And so, the Kondous arrived to their family house in a certain prefecture of Touhoku region, with nothing much happening on the way, and the next morning, Kondou went out to the nearest seaside, carrying a complete set of fishing gear with him.

Fuse knew that fishing was among Kondou’s few hobbies. This morning, too, Kondou went out wearing an unusually lively face, had a fisherman acquaintance give him a ride in his boat, and they set off somewhere by sea.

At that stage, most of Fuse’s suspicions had already been dispelled, but, just to be on the safe side in case Kondou was going to contact Kounomura somewhere on the water, Fuse did follow him. To his credit, Fuse figured that Kondou was going to his home town to fish, so he had arranged for a boat for himself just in case yesterday. Till now, Fuse’s surveillance mission was going smoothly, and the only thing that bothered him was the remoteness of the location that made it impossible to get in regular contact with Awashima.

Fuse did send her mail just before arriving to Kondou’s home town, so she probably was aware of his whereabouts.

The other boat, with Kondou in it, ran at full speed across the sea for about 20 minutes and arrived to a tiny uninhabited island. Kondou, with armfuls of a cooler-box, finishing rod and other fishing supplies, was dropped off at the island, and the boat turned to head back.

Fuse steered his boat to hit the opposite sh.o.r.e of the island so that Kondou wouldn’t notice him and, going round along the coastline, decided to observe Kondou from a rock providing an overlooking view of him. Fuse had already surmised that Kondou must have been a frequent visitor on this island. The man kept fishing, obviously well familiar with the process, until noon.

As was expected, nothing was changing during that whole time, save for him pulling up his catch occasionally, and soon, overcoming boredom became a hard challenge for Fuse.

It would have been a different story if he was fishing himself, but watching for hours on end someone else fish was anguish like no other. It was no wonder that by the time the boat from earlier came back to pick up Kondou, Fuse hardly paid any attention. Kondou got on, bringing 54 fish he caught with him, and the boat pulled out.

It was at this time that Fuse concluded with certainty: there was nothing suspicious about Kondou’s behavior. The fish he caught would likely be served at today’s supper when he and his family all gathered at the table.

Intending to go back to the mainland as well now, Fuse traced back the route he used to come here, to the place where he moored his boat. And when he reached it, he suddenly realized.

There was no sign of the boat anywhere.

†

About two days later, Awashima stood in Munakata’s office with a grave expression on her face. With a heavy heart, she was preparing to deliver a distressing report: all contact with Akiyama’s successor, Fuse, had been lost.

It was safe to a.s.sume that he had run into some kind of trouble, likely falling for some kind of Kounomura’s ploy.

At this point in time, however, Awashima had no idea for what ploy exactly. In other words, all she could report to Munakata was that all contact with Fuse had been lost, and that was it.

She was sure that Munakata would just respond with an amused “Hoo”, not blaming Awashima in any way.

But for Awashima, that was the precise thing that was enough to send her into a depression.

"Somehow, lately, nothing goes as it’s supposed to. If all of it is part of Kounomura’s plan, then he really is a scary man.’

“Captain,” she opened her mouth, finding her resolve, “I have an important report to make.”

But at this precise moment, Doumyouji and Enomoto burst into the office, trying to outshout each other.

“Trouble, Captain!”
“No, trouble on my end is worse!”

Doumyouji held a tablet in one hand, while Enomoto had his cheeks smeared with something like soot.

Awashima lifted her brows. “This is the Captain’s office! Knock before entering, insolents!”

But Awashima’s reprimand fell on completely deaf ears, as the two kept pushing and shoving at each other in the doorway, trying to become the one to push ahead first. It appeared that they both came to deliver important reports to the Captain, running into each other before the door to his office where they started fighting over who would go in first.

“Captain! Please listen to my report first!”
“No, Doumyouji-san! My report is more urgent, so please allow me!”

Doumyouji aside, for Enomoto it was highly unusual to be so impatient. Moreover, Doumyouji was once his superior, so he must have had a very good reason for trying to push forward so aggressively at Doumyouji’s expense.

Watching them, Munakata said with something akin to approval, “Another galore of reports today, eh,” and leaned his chin on his joined hands. “Let me ask this first. Do any of the reports the three of you are here to deliver involve matters of someone’s life and death or imminent physical harm, where every second counts?”

Doumyouji shook his head immediately, Awashima and Enomoto also did after some moments of hesitation.

“I see,” Munakata seemed satisfied. “In that case,” he started, “Awashima-kun has the priority, both in order of arrival and in rank; so Doumyouji-kun, Enomoto-kun, please wait for your turn,” he made the decision.
“Sir!”
“Yes, sir!”

Scepter 4 was a quasi-police organization, no matter how lax the atmosphere within it seemed. So the same instance, both Doumyouji and Enomoto clasped their hands behind their backs and stood at attention. Awashima also knew the situation. Understanding from the two’s behavior the urgency of their reports, she decided to get done with her own as quickly as possible.

Except when the two heard what she had to say, both of them muttered under their breaths:
“And that’s it?”
“…That’s what it was about?”

They seemed to voice those opinions without thinking. Awashima sent a glare their way.

“Ah, no, that’s not what I meant! I swear, Lieutenant!”
“I apologize. It’s not like I’m not worried about Fuse, it’s just that my matter requires taking more immediate measures,” Enomoto gave her a long-winded explanation, and at the same time Doumyouji turned to him, “I’m saying I’m going next, Enomoto!”
“Captain!” This time Enomoto sent a beseeching look to the Captain, requesting his decision.

“Doumyouji-kun shall go first—” Munakata raised his hand and pointed to Doumyouji, much like a sumo match referee.
“Yay!” Doumyouji struck a little triumphant pose.
“But why, Captain?!” Enomoto was almost screeching now.

In a serious tone, Munakata answered, “Because Doumyouji-kun was half a step ahead of you when entering my office. I can see from your state that your matter really is urgent, but let us follow the rules and speak in turn. That is what an organization is. As such, Doumyouji-kun, deliver your report in the fastest way you can think of.”
“Sure, sir! My report is simple. Here!”

With this, Doumyouji shoved the tablet he was holding before Munakata’s eyes.

“Ugh…” Munakata, highly unusually for himself, let a groan slip. “I am surprised, I admit.”

“If I may.” Seeing Munakata like this, Awashima and after her Enomoto, chanced a look at the tablet’s screen, and both promptly became speechless.

Doumyouji, feeling slight satisfaction from the shock his report gave to the other three, explained, “We’re being flooded with questions about this case from all kinds of ma.s.s media, and our phones are getting pretty much white-hot from all the non-stop calling. See? Trouble, like I said, no?”

“This case” that Doumyouji mentioned was an article in a weekly magazine that was currently displayed on the screen of his tablet. The headline, in humunguous letters, read, “Extremely embarra.s.sing escapades of public servants,” and under it, the target to be pilloried was the recent case where Doumyouji destroyed the appartment building.

“The so called "Blues” are the modern untouchable, with their budget that needs no deliberations or approvals, and state of art facilities and equipment.“ Simply put, the article denounced the non-transparency of Scepter 4 as an organization, its radical investigation activity and extralegal organizational management.

"In addition, it looks like we’re getting sued on several cases.”

At his words, Munakata, Awashima and Enomoto, who were peering at the screen, all simultaneously raised their heads with an expression on their faces that clearly read as “What did you just say…?”

But Doumyouji didn’t notice those dangerous signs and went on, “I happened to overhear that presently, contents-certified mail is being delivered to the general affairs department one after another and they’re rushing the confirmation check. Mostly we’re being sued for things like damages during search and breaking and entering. I’m thinking you should be getting a report from general affairs any minute now, Captain.”
“Captain,” Awashima called out to Munakata in a razor-sharp tone.
Munakata gave a heavy nod. “No mistake. Kounomura-shi and his machinations must behind all of that.”

“So it’s him, after all!” Doumyouji exclaimed and his voice sounded just a touch delightful. “So, Captain, what do we do?” He gazed at Munakata with sparkling eyes. In them was absolute trust, or rather unguarded innocence.

In all honesty, Scepter 4 being exposed in a weekly magazine as well as getting sued was, in big part, Doumyouji’s fault, but all of that conveniently slipped that natural airhead’s notice. He firmly believed with innocence of a chick waiting for his parent bird that Munakata would pull off something magnificent and get them out of the mess.

“…” Munakata was deep in thought for a while. Then, he raised his head slowly. “…Doumyouji-kun. We need to talk.” Munakata smiled.

And that smile evoked a reaction from Doumyouji he had never shown before: as if being stabbed at with a sharp j.a.panese sword, he bended backward and tried to make a run for it. As a swordsman, he had a highly developed ultra refined danger avoidance ability. And that instinct rang the alarm at him, "The way he’s smiling spells tons of danger!’

However, before Munakata could give Doumyouji an order, Enomoto came to his senses and called attention to himself, “Um, excuse me, Captain!”

As if just remembering about his existence, Munakata remarked, “Ah, right. Your matter was also urgent. Well, report, then.”
“Yes, sir. A little while ago, Scepter 4’s system fell under a cyber attack. We managed to counter it somehow, but an abnormality was detected in the electical equipment throughout all the facilites.”
“What?”
“What did you say?”

Awashima and Munakata’s expressions turned grim.

“It is like I said. For the time being, I went under the floor to take a look, but it’s outside my area of expertise, so I’d like to request a qualified engineer to handle this. I’m afraid that at this rate, the whole electrical system might—”

It happened in that exact moment. All the lights in Munakata’s office went out.

“—suffer a blackout, is what I wanted to say, but it appears it is too late now,” Enomoto finished in a sad sounding voice.

Doumyouji and Awashima had already sprung into action.

“Doumyouji! Prepare emergency lights!”
“Yes, ma"am!”

Noises of energetic running-about followed.

“Good grief,” Munakata murmured in the pitch black dark so quietly that no one heard it. “Kounomura-san is really going all out on many levels, no holds barred.”