“Fucking shit!”

Hisashi winced as the mayor slammed the morning newspapers on the table. The cover screamed, “The minister of finances had gone missing!”

“The disappearance had been reported to the police by his wife, she said he never came back home after work. Considering the events these past few days, I’m certain the Akai Ryu got their dirty hands on him. So I want all of you to work on this together. We’ve been outsmarted many times by those brats, I think it’s time you make a comeback. You better not fail this one.”

Hisashi took a deep, silent breath, glancing over at Arika, who met his eyes.

“But, we have other missions to do.”, Daisuke complained.

“That’s right, you remember you gave us that case of a thief to work on?” Harumi argued.

The rest of the Shuryo Inu soon joined the argument, Daisuke and Yamato being the loudest.

Hisashi simply knew how it was going to end, so he stepped up.

“Fine, Arika and I will go find the man. We’ll pick up clues about the Akai Ryu on the way. Now if you’ll excuse us.”

He dragged Arika out of the office before either the mayor or the Inu composed enough to make a retort.

Talking to the police, Hisashi wrote something down on his notepad, taking a flashlight and entering a dark room, where he suspected the man could be.

But yet again, they found nothing.

“Maybe he could be where the Akiyama couple had been found. We could split up and one team could search there, and the rest can cover this area.” Hisashi suggested to the chief of police.

“Do you think the Akai Ryu might be behind this?” she asked.

“Yes, possibly. They have a strategy to weaken the mayor as much as possible before they attack him head-on. The minister is an important link to the mayor, so if I were to take the mayor down, I’d attack him where it hurts the most.” 

She nodded. “You have been after him this whole time, I’ll trust you. You know how he thinks, so you can predict how he might act. You had some success in stopping them so far, no?”

Taking his electric car key out of his pocket, Hisashi sighed. Already three days had passed, and they still had nothing. He’d started losing hope they would ever even find the man, much less find him alive.

“Hisashi, we will find him. Don’t worry.”, Arika attempted to comfort him.  

Nodding, Hisashi headed towards his car, angrily kicking a rock out of his way. His head hurt, it’s been three nights since he hadn’t slept already. Initially thinking it was because of the case, he soon became aware that wasn’t the reason. No, the reason is the beating and threats he endured from the mayor, adding to his paranoia. He’d seen the policewoman talk to the reporters, asking for any clue about the missing man, or his whereabouts.

Deep in the night, around 4 AM, he was sitting at his desk, the papers scattered on the table, more papers hanging on the wall of his room. Emptying another mug of coffee, Hisashi pinned one more post-it note to the billboard above his desk. Tracking the locations he gathered from people who’d seen the minister of finances before his disappearance, Hisashi noticed they all landed near the park located by the Acrux River. After that, most people scattered home because it was getting late, but there were a few individuals who stayed until almost midnight, noticing the minister fidgeting around the park. Gasping, Hisashi realized.

“That’s the same park I’ve fallen asleep the last night at. Shit! I didn’t hear anything going on. I’ve got to tell Arika.”

But glancing at the clock in his room stopped him. “I should go and sleep a little. I’ll need the nerves to deal with the mayor tomorrow.”

Shutting the lights off, Hisashi forced himself to fall asleep.

As soon as they woke up, Hisashi and Arika had breakfast together and headed towards the park, Hisashi advising her to be cautious about the Akai Ryu.

“Do you really think they have time to take walks around the park, Hisashi? Yoru is always plotting, but I highly doubt we’ll find anything.”

“Maybe we won’t find a clue about Akai Ryu, but maybe, just maybe, we’ll find something about the minister. Some people saw him here in the park, but nobody reported anything unusual before or after midnight. Of course, that doesn’t exclude that something didn’t happen; whomever took the minister waited for the opportunity to grab him when there were no witnesses.”

“Maybe the Akai Ryu grabbed him?” Arika suggested.

Hisashi narrowed his eyes. “Possibly. But those are just speculations for now. Let’s keep looking.”

Reaching a bench after a while, Arika noticed something under it, hidden by a tree shadow. Putting gloves on, she crouched to get it; it was a wallet.

Opening the wallet, there were two 1000 wyrettes bills, alongside with credit cards and an ID card. Taking the ID, Arika gasped. “Hisashi, come over now! This is Tokusa’s wallet. He might’ve been taken here.”

Hisashi looked at the wallet and bench, then the surrounding area. It was only then when it hit him!

“Fuck! That’s the same park I’ve been at three days ago!”

“What?! You’re only telling me that now?!”

“I’m sorry, Arika, I forgot! I don’t remember much what happened that night when Daisuke woke me up. I came here, I think this bench exactly, and I fell asleep on it. I was out, I don’t know what the hell that man was doing here.”

Sighing, Arika rubbed her forehead. “Hisashi, you know that makes you a suspect, right? Gods, how will you explain it to the police if they find your DNA on the bench?”

“Well, the chief of police knows about my PTSD and insomnia, so I guess it makes sense that I couldn’t sleep at night. Yes, it doesn’t explain how the man disappeared. But gods, I have no idea how that man found himself in this place, while I was asleep. I don’t know how–”

“Alright, Hisashi, I know you don’t want to hinder the investigation, especially since the mayor would cut your throat open if he knew about your DNA all over the crime scene.”

A policewoman ran up to them. “Arika, Hisashi, we’ve found some footprints over there. It seems the ground had softened from the dew, and there is a strange trail, as if somebody had been dragged on the ground.”

Arika threw a look at Hisashi. “I swear I don’t know about this, Arika.”

“I know, I know, let’s go look it up. Maybe somebody is trying to set you up.”

Hisashi quickly thanked the policewoman as she looked at them, completely confused.

The trail was deep, it didn’t show any footprints, and to Arika, it seemed like it was their clue. Maybe they’ll find the minister this way. Exiting the park, the duo ran following the muddy trail, running down the street. Hisashi knew Arika thought the same; if they didn’t find the minister alive, the mayor would punish them heavily. So he hoped, hoped to find him alive; not well but alive.

They hurried, the street curving and going slightly uphill made them gasp for air once they’d finally reached the top. Taking a look across the city, Hisashi told Arika, “Look at this; this is a perfect observation point. You can see everything going on in the city, especially the mayor’s house.”

Arika breathed out, and looked around. Saying nothing, she continued climbing up the street, taking notice of her surroundings. The street had a sharp turn to the right, and Arika crouched, taking out a plastic bag from her small waist bag. Swabbing the blood-covered-stone, she secured the bag and put it into her waist bag. “It might be the minister’s blood, but who knows; maybe he fought his attacker and left the DNA.”

“If his opponent was Yoru, I highly doubt that the minister managed to deal any damage.”

Arika mused. “Well, there’s a possibility, although I’m sure he couldn’t fight Yoru off on his own. Even if he managed to scratch Yoru, the guy would pour acid on his face. I’m pretty sure the mayor said something about Yoru being a chemist.”

“Makes sense, that’s how he knew how to build bombs. But chemistry of all science branches… “

Arika chuckled but was stopped on her way by Hisashi putting his hand on her shoulder. “Look here.”, was all he said.

Looking to her right, to a narrow alleyway which had ladders upon one of the buildings that made it a dead-end street. Right there, he sighted something he had to confirm, something he wished he’d never seen.

Taking his gun out, Hisashi saw how Arika took her phone out, opening the file on Chinna’s picture and data. Slowly approaching, Hisashi cursed. “We are too late. Call the police, Arika. The minister of finances is dead.”

His look was fixed upon the body sprawled on the garbage bags, rats and mice already feasting upon the almost grey flesh. The guts were pulled out, the crimson blood soaking the grey stone of the street.

Hisashi’s eyes darted to Arika. “We’re dead meat once this reaches the mayor.”

Finishing her conversation with the police, Arika sighed. “Is it possible Yoru did this? I think this isn’t the way he usually operates.”

“Who knows.” Said Hisashi as he put a pair of gloves on. “It seems the man underwent torture before he died. Well, knowing how the Akiyamas ended up, it’s not surprising. But this is a rougher way of torture. As if it was done in a hurry, without time to properly dispose of it. That’s not how Yoru usually does it.”

“Either way, the mayor won’t be happy about it.” said Arika as the flashes of red and blue lights fell upon them, the policemen and a coroner running towards them.

Standing in the familiar office, Hisashi and Arika had just finished giving the report to the mayor. The mayor, who was more and more livid with each passing second.

“AND YOU COULDN’T HAVE FOUND THE MAN BEFORE THAT HAPPENED?! YOU FUCKING INCOMPETENT FOOLS! HOW COULD YOU LET IT HAPPEN?! WHAT ARE THE PEOPLE GOING TO THINK, THAT I’M…!!”

He continued his monologue, profanities echoing the office. Most were directed towards Hisashi and Arika, the rest was self-pity. Hisashi knew better than to make a retort now, meaning the mayor would continue to rant until he passed out, and they could continue looking for clues.

Just this time, he didn’t.

“Masaki, take them away from my eyes. It seems they’ve forgotten what discipline means. You will put all your fucking effort into capturing that Akai Ryu, and I don’t care if you lose an eye or an arm to catch them! You’ll bring them to me!”

Grabbing him by his arms back, Hisashi fought the rough yanking as the bodyguard tried to restrain him. Through gritted teeth, he spat out, “Then fucking let us do our job! What will you accomplish with whipping us until we pass out; to “teach us a lesson”? We’ve had more than enough of your lessons, the Akai Ryu are on the move, because who knows what the minister could’ve told them.”

“ENOUGH!” The noise was followed by a loud punch to Hisashi’s face, then a knee to the stomach.

“Take them away! I’ll teach them a fucking lesson!”

As the duo was dragged out of the office, the mayor knocked his calendar off the table.

“How could this happen? How could I not know about this? I guess I’ll have to pay that Yellow Rose boy more.” He thought, letting his jacket drape on a chair, and exiting his office.

Sauntering through the house, Yoru had a crazed smile upon his face. Opening a map and slamming it upon his table, he circled the location of the Kuroyuki bank.

“Our little songbird finally sang us something relevant. Look here.”

Making sure all members focused, he resumed. “The mayor has a safe in the bank, which is supposedly filled with proof of all the dirty work he’s done ever since he became the mayor. Things ranging from petty thievery to set-ups, and straight up murder. If we get our hands on this, it would mean a huge advantage over the mayor. We’ll uncover every crime he had committed.”

“Do you think some personal information regarding us is also there?” Anata asked.

Yoru met his lapis eyes. “I believe so.” Anata shuddered. “This is something that is near-impossible to perform, but if we succeed, the mayor will have fewer choices left. He won’t be mindlessly sending police or Shuryo Inu after us. I’m planning to bring him out of his thick shell. He’s been protected by the law for far too long.”

Luna and Ryo nodded. “We’ll have to be careful about this one. The security is surely tight on that safe.   

The bank has one way in, and one way out. There are windows as well, but we’ll need wires if we’re to break through them.” Taking another map out, his team realized the crazy scientist somehow got the layout of the bank as well.

“Over here is the entrance to the bank. It is usually guarded by two security guards. Taking care of them should be no problem. Next, up front are the counters for the paperwork, we’ll have to turn left to head towards the safe. Then take the stairs to the second floor, and turn right. At the end of the corridor are large red doors, and behind them is the mayor’s safe. It only opens with a randomly generated code, so Ryo, I’ll need your help there. It’ll be the best if you bring your sniper shotgun with you. Or there is another option: to save time, we’ll grab the grappling hooks and attack from above, directly onto the second floor. Whichever you think will be more efficient.”

“Once we break into the safe, we’ll take what we find there, be it papers, registers, or a key to the mayor’s secret underground business, it doesn’t matter. Because it’s important enough that the mayor kept it a secret from everyone.”

“Then how did that man know about it?” Anata asked.

“Because the mayor probably has a number of certain people he trusts with such information, and oh well, we can always get our hands on them.”, Ryo replied.

Luna nodded. “And once we have the proof in our hands, we get the hell out. Because I don’t want to be dealing with the Shuryo Inu.”

“Precisely, Luna. We go in and out without many casualties. Now, does anybody have any questions?”

Anata raised his hand. “When exactly do we strike?”

“Tomorrow morning. Everyone, get rest.”

“Oh, you especially, Yoru.”, teased Shion.

With a small chuckle, Yoru followed behind his team.