A rare client came to the Banba Detective Office on an atypical day, when Fukuoka City was covered in snow in the middle of January. The client was a woman dressed in loud clothing and wore heavy makeup. She was around thirty years old and wore an expensive-looking fur coat. Along with the brand handbag swung around her shoulder, she gave the impression of being some rich girl, but she lacked the scent of someone from the underground world.
The head of this office, Zenji Banba, lead the woman inside and encouraged her to take a seat. Even though he was the one running the place as the head, there were no other employees besides him so he had to do all the routine tasks himself, including taking the client's coat and pouring her tea.
Banba sat down on the reception sofa across from his client and started the session. The business the woman had with him was to discuss an incident with a stalker.
"Recently there has been a suspicious man wandering around my house."
She told him, deeply troubled.
Stalkers and bullies were a common topic brought up in the detective field.
"Do you have any guesses on who the man is?"
The woman shook her head to Banba's question. "No, not particularly……"
"Where there any men you dated in the past?"
The woman recalled something and told him. "Actually, I had just broken up with someone I was dating last month……"
"And it wasn't a peaceful breakup?"
"Well, I suppose not……He didn't seem to understand why."
"I apologize for asking you for private information, but could you write down the name of the man you had a relationship with in the past?"
"That's fine," the woman replied and picked up the pen.
"And then if you could also provide the names of any friends of the person you were dating that are the opposite sex, that would help. This is because there's a high possibility of stalkers being acquaintances."
"Is that so? Alright then." After the woman replied back, she changed the topic. "……By the way, is it okay for me to ask you something?"
"Of course."
"That woman over there," her gaze glanced over to the person beside Banba. "Who is she?"
Next to him there was a young person sitting cross-legged on the sofa, stuffing their face full of Tonkotsu flavored cup ramen. They had long, dyed hair that reached all the way to their waist. Although the person wore a white knitted dress with argyle patterned tights, he was actually a man.
His name was Xianming Lin. He was nineteen years old, and his hobby was crossdressing. Due to certain circumstances, he had been freeloading here at this office for a few months now.
"Ah……Pay no mind to this kid here."
Banba told her apologetically, eyebrows slanted. He then turned to Lin and said, "come on now, Lin-chan. I got a client here, so go over there."
When he tried to chase him away, Lin bore his teeth and rejected back in a high-pitched voice. "Haa? How come I gotta go somewhere else?"
"You're disruptin' my work."
"I've been just sitting here eating my damn food from the beginning, you know."
Lin scowled and pointed at the client with his chopsticks.
"This woman came afterwards."
"This woman, ya say? ……Dontcha talk like that to a client."
Banba frowned and ran a hand through his unkempt hair. What a bothersome freeloader. He's foulmouthed and has a bad attitude.
"A stalker, huh……"
Lin glanced over at the client and snorted in ridicule.
"Aren't you just being excessively self-conscious? As if anyone could take you seriously when you say you have a stalker with a face like that."
"Hold it, Lin-chan!"
Banba became flustered. He turned to the woman scowling at him and immediately bowed his head.
"I'm terribly sorry for this foulmouthed kid."
But Lin did not stop there. "As if you'd have a stalker. It's just in your head. I bet it's just some pathetic joke like a cat burglar looking around trying to find the next place to steal from."
"Zip your lips!"
Banba covered Lin's mouth with his palm. He then etched a smile on his face and asked the woman.
"Could you provide me with your address? I will tail that man if I see him and find out who he is."
She was understandably upset due to Lin's bad manners, but she seemed to feel a little bit better when Banba offered her a discount, "I'll make the investigation fees cheaper in apology."
The woman's house was in Momochi in the Sawara ward of Fukuoka City. According to her, the stalking began four days ago. The man would appear frequently near her house nearly everyday, but what time of the day that would be was sporadic.
"……Now then."
Banba muttered once he saw his client leave the office. He then addressed the freeloader.
"Lin-chan, we're headin' out."
"Ah?" His roommate cocked his head while slurping his noodles. "Where to?"
"The client's house."
Banba need someone to watch the client's house and wait for the man in question to appear.
"Yeah, no. Why should I help you out?" Lin objected.
Banba pouted. "And why not? You could help me out every now and then, right?"
Despite freeloading off of him, he had a huge attitude. Does this man not know of the expression, those that don't work don't get to eat?
"I don't have time to accompany you."
"You sure look like ya do."
"I told you; I don't." Lin huffed. "I have a job to do after this. I'm going to meet with my own client."
Perhaps it was because the area had many antisocial organizations as this city was overrun with underground businesses. There were a large number of hitmen here, enough for it to be jokingly said that the city has 3% of its population made up of them.
Xianming Lin was also one of them. He was raised to be a hitman since a young age and lived his life while making coin by killing people. Although he was still young, he had a steady career already.
His client this time was a loan shark. Lin was told the details of the job would be discussed in person rather than through a mediator, so Lin headed over to the client's workplace on foot.
The area surrounding Hakata Station was pure white from the snow. He regretted not wearing warmer clothes.
The transportation facilities were ill-equipped to deal with snow since it was uncommon. Lin decided to use the municipal managed subway to get to his destination as the Nishitetsu bus schedules were either suspended or delayed.
Lin got on the subway all the way to Tenjin Station and walked for a while in the direction of Daimyou before seeing an old multi-tenant building. The door on the third floor read 'Genkai Financing' – the office where his client was at. When Lin opened the door, rough-looking men greeted him inside. Lin took a step inside while grimacing from the smell of smoke that permeated the room.
His client was a middle-aged man. He was reclined back at his desk furthest in the room. At first glance, he reminded Lin of his previous employer. He had the exact same arrogant attitude and lax form as him. The person Lin thought of was a Chinese man who belonged to the multinational mafia group known as the Kakyuu Group, and until a few months ago Lin worked under him. Those were depressing days where he had to work as the organization's dog with no freedom and an exit far out of his reach.
Thinking back on it, Lin realized his way of life has gotten a lot easier now.
"I want you to kill these two. Their names are Yoshiki Nagase and Masao Shibaya."
The client immediately cut straight to the job he had for him after introductions and put a photo on the desk. Lin looked at it, which showed two frail-looking men exiting an apartment.
"Kill them in the most excruciating way possible. Maybe dice them up with a knife or something."
He made a harsh request for Lin to do. However, that worked for him. Lin's weapon of choice was primarily a knife.
"Who are these guys?"
"Clients of ours."
The client replied while exhaling the smoke, annoyed. Apparently Nagase and Shibayama had borrowed money from them a while ago, and their time to pay their loan back was overdue.
"Is it alright to kill them for it?"
Lin thought to ask.
"Is it okay if you don't get that money back?"
It would be a better idea to coarse them into giving it up rather than kill them. That was what he thought, but the concern was unnecessary. The client chuckled at Lin's question.
"It's no problem."
"But hiring me is also costing you."
"Those two only borrowed 300,000 from us. It would harm us more to be taken lightly by other clients than to lose some loose change."
Lin understood. The man wanted to make those two an example so others would know if they do not pay back they would meet the same fate. He would accomplish that by bringing their deaths.
"This world is overflowing with resentment and hatred, isn't it?"
A man spoke keenly as he looked out at the snow outside. Although he spoke femininely, his voice was deep.
Jiro continued on while stroking his beard.
"I've started truly believing that ever since I began this job. Gosh, it's so terrible."
What Jiro referred to was his main occupation as an avenger. He ran a bar in Nakasu on the side, but he worked to dispel people's grudges with the help of the elementary school girl Misaki.
The avenger's creed was 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.' If a person crushed someone's eye, they would crush their eye in return. If a person punched someone, then they would give them a punch back. It was their job to put their target through the same pain they did onto others and remind them of their actions.
Snow was still blowing around outside. Jiro was in the middle of an appointment for work which was held in a cafe in Tenjin. They were at a table to seat four people with Misaki sitting next to him. She was drinking her orange juice like a child, swinging her legs to and fro.
Across from them, their friend José Martinez sat. He stood out considerably due to his dark skin peculiar to his Dominican heritage and stark features in the crowded place.
"You guys profit off of people's resentment and hatred," Martinez had stated almost in envy.
It was as he said. Because those feelings existed in the world, they were able to make a living as avengers. And sometimes Martinez would lend a hand when Jiro and Misaki could not handle all their work. His real occupation was as a torturer, but unfortunately business had been slow for today as well.
"I suppose so……"
Jiro replied halfheartedly.
Money being in it was not the issue. Yet Jiro was not doing avenging work for profits.
Jiro himself was originally a victim. He had a lover in the past who was murdered. Avenging their death was the moment he had stepped into the underground world. He thought to himself that he wanted to help other victims who went through the same pain as he did and relieve them of their anger and resentment. He wanted to be of use to them in some way. And so he had been continuing this work, bearing those feelings.
"So what's the job? What can I help you with?"
Martinez changed the subject to work.
Jiro decided to explain the job. He lowered his voice and told his foreign helper, "we're going to do a burglary."
"A burglary?"
"The client apparently had someone break into their house and something valuable to them got stolen. And they want us to avenge them."
It was a rare job request.
"And what's the valuable object in question?"
"It's this," Misaki told him. She had the photo displayed on a smartphone and showed it to Martinez.
It was a human shaped stone statue.
"What the hell is this? The sculpture is in a weird pose too."
The statue had its left hand dangling down on its side and its right hand grabbing its ear lobe. It looked like it was a baseball coach giving a sign to the batter.
"Apparently a famous carver made this. It's worth 6,000,000 yen right now."
"This piece of junk is worth 6,000,000?" Martinez's eyes widened. "I thought Misaki made this in arts and crafts. I really can't wrap my head around the arts," he shrugged.
Jiro spread out a map on the table and pointed to a place marked on it. "The culprit lives in this apartment."
"You already found them?"
"The client had an anti-theft GPS device attached to the stone statue. We were able to find where it was taken because of it."
"So we just have to sneak in the room and steal the piece of crap back right?"
"Exactly that."
Jiro nodded.
With that said, fortunately for them the target was frequently away from home. However, they could not wait forever for the person to leave. They were pressed for time with this job. The client had asked them to return the item by today. They could not leisurely take their time; there was no time to waste.
That was when Jiro had a thought to go about this.
"Let's go with this plan. First, we'll pick the door open. If someone is inside, then Mar-chan will knock them unconscious."
"I will?"
Martinez grimaced.
"While they are knocked out, we'll steal the statue in question, stuff it into the car and quickly get out of there. Got it?"
"Yeah."
"We'll do it tonight. We're going to do a burglary back."
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
"……I feel like we're doing more of a robbery than a burglary." Martinez had muttered, but the other two ignored him.
His platinum blond mushroom hair wavered in the wind as Enokida strode through Tenjin. Several people were slipping or falling over in front of him, unused to the snow, so he decided to get to his destination by taking a slightly longer route through the underground shopping center. He was scheduled to meet with a client in the Mikkoshi Lion plaza today at four in the afternoon. The two lion statues in that area were frequently used as a mark for people to meet at.
A man wearing a suit with a small bag in hand appeared in front of the lion statue on the left side when the appointed time came around. The man was glancing around restlessly, looking for someone. Enokida could easily tell it was his client, but his behavior was odd. His eyes kept wandering and there was visible sweat on his forehead and hands despite it being mid-winter. He was completely pale; his expression had no ambition or life to it as though he was witnessing the end of the world. Enokida had heard his client was connected to a gang, but the man he was seeing gave him the impression of a stand-up guy or a salaryman who had downsized.
After exchanging greetings, Enokida stand down on a nearby bench. The man spoke before he could ask what he wanted from him.
"……What do I do? I'm going to be killed!"
He exclaimed in a feeble voice. Even his white breath was thin.
"You're going to be killed by who now?"
"By father."
He was not talking about his own old man. He was referring to the head of the organization he belonged to.
"I'm in so much trouble……Because of me, that man's most precious thing is gone. So I'm going to be killed."
The man shook in fear. He hung his head, gripping it tightly.
"What disappeared?"
"……A lion."
"What lion thing?"
"No, I really mean a lion."
"Wh?"
Enokida did not understand.
He cocked his head, but the man continued with tearing eyes.
"The lion disappeared somewhere!"
"By lion you mean the animal? The king of beasts? The carnivorous cat in the panthera family?"
Enokida inquired to have the man reaffirm what he meant.
"Yes."
But the man did confirm it.
"Father has a male lion as a pet. He is doting over it. He would be with it when he slept or entered the bathtub. He would always feed it with high quality Japanese beef. He gave it a diamond collar for its third birthday. Father loves him like it was his own child. His name is Migel."
The man would not stop talking. Enokida stayed silent and listened to him.
"I'm in charge of taking care of Migel. I give him food and let him play outside in the garden at a certain time every day. I did that routine job today as well. But something happened. I went out for a smoke while he played in the garden as usual, but when I got back to the garden Migel was gone. He disappeared somewhere while I looked away for a moment……"
He then added.
"I want you to find where Migel is. Please. Help me."
The man bowed his head.
"Father will be back from his trip to Guam tomorrow night. If he finds out Migel is gone, I'm going to be killed. I'll be thrown into the Hakata Bay. If I don't find him soon……Please, I'm begging you. You're the most famous informant in this city, right? You should be able to find where a lion is right away, right?"
Enokida had been working as an informant for a long time now, but this was the first time anyone asked him for information on a lion. But it would be strange to not be able to find a runaway lion.
"Couldn't you wait and be able to locate it? I think watching the news would be more beneficial to you than asking me for that information."
Enokida told him slovenly.
The man would not even have to look for him. This was not the Savanna. Someone would spot a lion wandering around the city and report it. The lion could have already been caught by the police at this point.
But more than that, Enokida supposed the precious pet would have to be put down if it went out and killed people.
Enokida was worried about that, but the man objected.
"It's alright. Migel is docile. He wouldn't attack people."
"Then that's fine, I guess."
"Please……I have the money for it."
The man pushed the bag with the money inside it towards Enokida.
Enokida exhaled, white puffs of air slipping out.
"I got it. I'll try. I'll first hack into the surveillance cameras around the area to find it."
"I think my plan is perfect."
Nagase always made elaborate plans when it came to carrying out criminal acts. He would walk inside the targeted place a few times, carefully observe the target as well as figure out when the place was most active to develop the most efficient plan for them to follow. He would allow for nothing less. Everything depended on their skill and efficiency to commit a burglary.
It was Nagase's role to observe the home they intended to steal from and devise a plan once they had decided on what they wanted to take. The one who would actually carry out the act of burglary was Shibayama. Their target this time was a diamond collar. A bigshot in the yakuza had his pet lion wear it.
After spending time observing the household, they knew when the lion would be released into the garden. There was only one man in charge of watching it. But the man was a heavy smoker and would always go off to have a smoke. Those few minutes when the man looked away from the lion was all they needed. Shibayama would lure the lion over with bait and would take off its collar and make a run for it. That was the plan; nothing difficult about the task.
Indeed, his plan was perfect.
But despite that-
"……Why did you take the lion too?"
Nagase returned to the apartment and was taken aback when he saw his partner. To his shock, Shibayama had not just stolen the diamond collar but also the lion itself.
"I had no other choice. The collar wouldn't come off……"
According to Shibayama, there was an accident while he was carrying out the plan. He was unable to remove the lion's collar and was running out of time. If he did not hurry up, the caretaker would have come back. So in haste, Shibayama had took the lion, got it in the car and brought it all the way home.
That was his excuse, at any rate.
"And why on earth did you bring it back here?"
Nagase was exasperated. He gave a large sigh.
Their cheap apartment room was their residence as well as their trouve to store all their stolen goods. They had a stone statue shaped like a human being, a large Chinese vase, portraits of unknown pictures to them, and hanging scrolls with unfamiliar characters on them. And now among the pile of goods they planned to sell, they had a lion to add to their collection, making the room clustered.
"It's alright. This lion behaves well. He doesn't bite people."
Shibayama told him and reached towards the beast. He finally took off the diamond collar and placed it and the chain on the table.
"That's not the issue."
It did not matter how well behaved the beast was; it was an animal. They could never know when it would turn its fangs on them. And besides that, Nagase did not want to share space with a beast. He gripped his head, annoyed.
"Give me a damn break already."
"I'm sorry. I'll return it tomorrow."
"What are you going to do with it in the meantime?"
He inquired, pointing to the loose lion.
"What should we do……should we leave it on the balcony?"
"It'll run if we leave it on the balcony. It's a feline."
Their room was on the first floor. The fence around the balcony was only a meter high. The lion could easily jump over it and escape.
"Then I guess we should lock it in the bathroom for now."
Shibayama suggested.
When he brought out grilled pork, the Lion slowly rose from the living room. He tossed the meat into the bathroom and shut the door once the lion was inside. He decided to seal the door from the outside just in case. They both moved the stone statue they stole from the art collector's mansion the other day. Even a lion with its strength should not be able to knock it over.
A thought passed through Nagase's mind. Maybe they should get a fake diamond and switch it with the real one by placing the fake diamond collar on the lion before sending him back to his owner. Would the owner realize it was stolen? Would they really believe the lion would suddenly disappear and return again?
Now thinking about it, Nagase recalled a man who sold fake jewelry in the past. He should be living near the house they would rob from next. He could drop by to buy the fake diamond while he went out to commit their burglary.
"I'm going to go out for a bit."
Nagase said as he left the apartment and got on his motorbike. He headed over to the target's house. It was a wealthy home located in Momochi with one woman living in it. She was going through her parent's inheritance money, using it to buy clothes and bags. Her home was a trove of brand products. It was a good place to steal from. Nagase grinned.
Shortly after, Banba took his mini cooper to get to the client's home. It was a wondrous home located in Momochi, Sawara Ward. It had been three hours since he began his watch, having parked on the side of the narrow road facing the home. He had to stay in the car until a suspicious man appeared. If Lin had helped him, they could have taken turns for breaks. He felt bitter towards his unsympathetic roommate.
There was activity thirty minutes later. A young man wearing a hat appeared to be wandering aimlessly around the area. He parked his white motorbike nearby and proceeded to wander around the woman's home for a couple of minutes. He paced along the fence, seemingly inspecting the inside of the house. Banba could now see; it was very suspicious behavior. He understood his client's fear.
Banba made sure he would not be noticed and observed the stalker's actions. The man was thoroughly inspecting the client's home but did not particularly make any form of harassment. He did not throw anything over into the yard or put strange letters or dead animals into the mailbox.
What was he trying to do then?
Banba drew close to the vehicle when he had the chance and took several photos of it and the plate number.
After a few minutes of watching the home, the man seemed satisfied and got back on his vehicle before taking off. Banba began to pursue after him immediately after.
The man stopped by an apartment building nearby. Banba made sure to remain at a distance and followed him. He parked at a visitor's parking space and waited for him to come out.
It began to turn dark. It had stopped snowing, but the wind had picked up, making it colder.
Lin went back to the office once. Banba had still not returned. Once he finished his preparations, he put on a coat and headed to his targets' home.
He was given a deadline to kill them by the end of the day. He got their address from his client. They lived in an old two-story apartment building in the central ward. They were on the first floor. Their door lacked a door scope and an intercom. Carelessly enough, the room was unlocked. Lin slowly turned the doorknob and silently stepped inside. The apartment had a 1DK layout. There was a narrow hallway leading from the entrance with a bathroom, toilet, and small kitchen. For some reason there was a strange stone statue placed in front of the bathroom door.
Was it for an interior design project? It's in the way.
Lin slowly proceeded down the hallway, one step at a time. Behind the door ahead of him was the living room. It was an even smaller room, and a man was there in its center, sitting on the sofa and reading a book.
Lin took out his weapon and brandished it.
"Hey."
The man swung around when Lin called out to him. He was greatly startled once he finally noticed Lin's presence. Lin observed the man's face. It was the same as the one he saw in the photo. He was one of his targets. Lin sliced the man's throat with his knife before the other could recover from his stupor. There was no resistance. Blood gushed out, and the man withered in pain, mouth gaping like a goldfish until he took his final breath.
That's right; the client wanted me to cut them up, Lin recalled. The request was bothersome, but he did as asked and sliced up the man's body in several places.
The client had asked for the assassination of two men. One was taken care of.
Now where is the other one?
Lin looked around the room, when the door to the apartment opened.
"I'm back."
He heard another man's voice from the entrance; the other man's friend had come back.
"Didn't I tell you to lock the door? God, you're so careless-"
The young man was ranting as he walked into the living room. He was the other man in the photo.
"Shi-Shibayama……?"
The sofa and floors were dyed with red blood. His roommate was dead and next to his corpse was a stranger holding a knife. It finally dawned on the man of what abnormality was happening in the room when he saw the scene.
"What the hell?"
The man turned to Lin and questioned, petrified.
"Did you do this……?"
"Yeah."
"Wh-who are you?" The man shouted, face pale.
Lin answered honestly. "A hitman."
"Wh," the man turned even more pale. "Why is a killer-"
"You should've paid back your debt sooner."
The man instantly realized what Lin was referring to. He understood the reason why their lives were being targeted.
"P-please wait! If it's the money you want, I can pay it back right away! I can do it tomorrow!"
The man yelled. He lost his footing and dropped to the floor. He explained with a trembling voice, palms open towards Lin.
"I-I have a diamond……I'm going to sell it tomorrow, so I'll have the money then. So if you could just wait a little longer-"
"Like I care."
Lin rejected his offer.
He did not care if he would give the money back or not. That was unrelated to his job. He just had to carry out the task given to him. He would not show sympathy.
The man attempted to say something, but Lin sliced open his throat before he could. And just like what he did with the last man, he cut the man's body up multiple times with his knife.
With this, his job was done for today. He was able to breath again, letting his guard down.
And then he heard a banging sound. It was from the bathroom.
"……Ah? Is someone here?"
Lin once again took his knife in hand. With the stone statue placed in front of the bathroom, he was unable to open the door. The statue was human shaped and around 165 centimeters tall like Lin.
"……It's heavy."
Lin attempted to pick it up, but he was unable to with just his arm strength. Lin slammed against the stone statue to move it. The statue fell over, and its head banged against the corner of the kitchen in front of it. Lin chose to not hear the sound of it breaking.
With the obstacle out of the way, there was nothing obstructing the door anymore. Just as Lin reached for the door knob to check what was in the bathroom, he instantly stopped and stiffened.
He could hear footsteps approaching.
He felt a presence outside the front door.
The footsteps abruptly stopped in front of the room Lin was in. Immediately after that, there was the sound of knocking.
Someone's here. I stayed too long. Lin tutted.
He quickly headed back to the living room. He opened the window to the balcony and rushed outside. The knocking had stopped, but he did not know when that person would return. Lin leapt over the fence and ran away from the apartment.
"……How strange."
Banba cocked his head in front of the door. The man he had been following had certainly entered this room after parking his bike at the apartment complex's parking space. And yet no one came to answer the door no matter how many times he knocked.
"Is he pretendin' to be absent?"
He made his right hand that was holding a bag into a fist and knocked on the door once more. As expected, there was no answer.
Banba planned on pretending to be a religious solicitor so he could secretly take a picture of the man's face with a miniature camera, but he could not if the man did not answer.
However, Banba had no intention of going back home empty-handed. Just as he thought to go around and asking the neighbors about the man, a woman came out of a room two doors down. She was a plump woman in her fifties and seemed to be about to head out somewhere.
"Um, excuse me."
Banba called out to the woman as he walked up to her.
"Are you a tenant here?"
"I'm the landlady for this apartment building……" The woman replied.
"Oh, you're the landlady. That's perfect."
Banba exclaimed before continuing.
"I needed to talk with the person who lives here."
He pointed to the room in question.
"Ohh," the landlady told him after glancing towards the room. "You mean Shibayamsan and Nagase-san?"
Banba did not expect there to be two residents. Now he was unsure which of the two was the stalker.
Although questions formed in his mind, he nodded to her reply. "Yes, Shibayama and Nagase."
Banba decided to deceive her.
"I'm a colleague of theirs from work."
"You're their co-worker?" The landlady was stunned. "Those two have jobs? They haven't paid their rent, so I thought maybe they did not have a consistent job."
"Ahh, I'm sorry about that. They had handled their expenses poorly. I was going to lay it out with them."
Banba gave her a wry smile before getting to the main point.
"They had forgot important documents for today's presentation. Shibayama and Nagase are tied up at the moment and can't leave the office, so they have me drop by their place to get them while I'm on my break……"
Banba fished through his coat pocket and shrugged.
"But I seemed to have lost the key they had given me to their room……"
He then glanced at his wrist watch.
"The presentation is going to start soon. If I can't get into their room, we'll be in big trouble." Banba lowered his eyebrows anxiously and pleaded. "I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but could you lend me the spare key to this room?"
Naturally anyone would not easily believe in what a stranger would tell them. The landlady stared at Banba dubiously.
"It's an important presentation for us. Without those documents, we may miss out on a big contract."
Banba took out a ten thousand yen bill and put it in her plump hands.
"Please."
At that the landlady's complexion had changed.
"……Alright. I'll make this a special occasion." She gave her consent as she put the money in her pocket.
"Thank you so much. You're a lifesaver."
Banba grinned and deeply bowed his head.
The landlady returned to the room and handed Banba the spare key before she took off. "Once you're done with it, put it back in the mailbox."
After watching her leave, Banba used the spare key to get into the room. The lights were on, but the heating was not. The room was chilling. It was dead quiet with no people around that Banba could sense. In the hallway, a stone statue had fallen over, so Banba had to step over it to proceed further inside.
Once Banba stepped inside the living room, his eyes widened in shock at the scene he saw.
There were two corpses. He could see blood pooling out around the bodies. One of them was the man Banba was following.
"……Whoa, they're dead."
Who had done it?
At least with this turn of events, the stalker would not be bothering his client anymore. However a problem remained. Not even twenty minutes had passed since the man got into his home and Banba entered his apartment with the spare key. What could have happened to the man between that time frame?
Just as Banba tilted his head in confusion, he heard the door knob being fidgeted with.
Someone was here.
This was not good. Banba was the only one in the room, and there were two bodies at his feet. If someone saw him right now, they would naturally suspect him.
Banba spotted a window further into the room. It was wide open. Banba immediately rushed through it and onto the balcony.
He had to hurry before the door opened.
Banba quickly leapt over the fence.
"……What the heck? It's unlocked."
Martinez turned the door knob and muttered that disappointedly.
They found the culprit's residence by using the information provided by the GPS, but they did not need to pick the lock. Perhaps they forgot to lock the door.
Martinez entered the apartment with Jiro and Misaki following behind him.
"Hey, isn't this the stone statue we're looking for?"
Martinez pointed to the object on the ground.
The statue they recognized had fallen over in the hallway. Not only that, it was in terrible shape, lacking a head. "Hey, its head broke off." Martinez smiled bitterly.
The head of the stone statue had rolled further down the hallway. It apparently snapped off in the moment it fell.
"They should have been more careful with other people's things……"
Jiro held his head, imagining the owner's grief when he found this out.
Jiro walked further inside when he exclaimed, "……oh my goodness."
There were two corpses in the living room. One was on the floor and one was on the sofa. They were heavily bleeding out, creating a pool of blood around their bodies.
"They're dead."
The stolen good was broken, and the men behind the burglary were murdered. It was a serious turn of events.
"Misaki, wait outside. This isn't educational for you."
Jiro instructed the girl.
"It's alright."
However she calmly stepped over the bodies and walked further inside. She glanced around the room, examining it before pointing with her tiny fingers to outside. "The window to the balcony is open. So someone killed these two and ran from there."
There was a diamond collar left on the table. It looked like it could be sold somewhere. This item was also probably stolen by these two men.
"It doesn't look like the murderer wasn't after the money since they ignored the diamond that's right here."
"So whoever did this had a grudge against these two then?" Misaki whispered.
"That would have to be a pretty big grudge." Martinez interjected. "The bodies are all cut up."
"Anyway, let's bring this diamond to the client as well. I feel bad that his stone statue broke, and we'll need compensation money for it. Misaki, hold this."
Jiro handed Misaki the collar. Immediately after that, they heard someone knocking on the door.
"Shit. Someone's here." Martinez quietly cursed.
"We're getting out of here."
"Alright."
They had finished what they came here to do. They could not stay longer than needed.
Jiro took the statue's head while Martinez carried its body. They walked out onto the balcony and put down the statue and Misaki first.
"Come on, hurry up."
Misaki was pressuring them to go faster.
"Here we go."
"Heave-ho."
Martinez and Jiro quickly stepped over the balcony fence.
The door was just about to open when they turned around.
They narrowly got out of there. That was too close.
They sighed in relief and turned their backs to the apartment before picking up the stolen goods and quickly making their escape.
"……Sorry to intrude."
No matter how many times Enokida knocked, there was no reply. However, the door was unlocked. Enokida stepped inside the threshold on his own volition.
He was able to figure out who stole the lion by checking the security cameras around the area it was taken from. He found the car's number plate and arrived here at this location.
However-
"……Whooa, they're dead."
The men who had likely snatched the lion had been murdered by someone. Enokida groaned as he looked at their slashed up corpses.
Who did this?
He looked over the bodies and noticed several cuts were made in several areas. They were slashed to death. It was an excessive way to kill someone. This could have been done by a novice or a professional disguising it as something lesser. There were plenty of reasons for these men to have been targeted though.
More than that, where is the lion?
With the men dead, Enokida could not ask where Migel was. Enokida slumped his shoulders in defeat when he heard a sound. It was the sound of something scraping against the walls, coming from the bathroom.
Perhaps in there.
Enokida went over and cautiously opened the bathroom door. When he did, a lion immediately rushed out of the room.
"Whoa, that startled me."
Enokida jumped back.
The male lion had a magnificent mane and lengthened more than two meters. It made a large yawn in front of him. This lion was more than likely the pet his client was searching for.
"Wait. Where are you going, Migel?"
Migel calmly strode over to the living room. Enokida followed after it.
"Ah."
Migel stepped over the corpses and immediately went out onto the balcony through the open window. He then leapt over the fence and ran off somewhere.
"……It got away."
Enokida whispered to himself alone in the room.
"Well, whatever."
With this turn of events, it would only get more interesting. Enokida smirked, imagining the lion running around the city.
The snow that had fallen the evening before had cleared up the following morning.
'A man's body was discovered in Hakata Bay this morning.'
Lin turned on the TV and had his breakfast while watching the local news program. It was a simple meal for breakfast, consisting of mentaiko over white rice. He did not even have miso soup or fish with it.
Lin glanced over to Banba stuffing his cheeks with the same food next to him, startled. "……Don't you have too much mentaiko on that?"
"Eh?" Banba cocked his head, feigning ignorance. "Is it?"
"You have more mentaiko than rice."
Lin was exasperated and sighed. He knew this man loved mentaiko, but this amount was excessive.
'Moving onto our next news. Two men were found dead by the landlady in an apartment in the central ward. The victims were cut up with a knife-'
"Ah," Lin muttered.
That story was familiar to him: apartment in the central ward, two men, knife, cut up.
Those two were the guys I killed.
"Ah," Banba also voiced next to him.
"What is it?"
"……Nah, it's nothin'."
'The police have found a multitude of stolen goods in their room and are investigating what crimes the victims were involved in to find a correlation between their activities and their murder.'
Banba made a wry smile as he watched the news. 'Seems you was right.'
"Wh? What do you mean?" Lin tilted his head in confusion.
"Nah, it's nothin'."
Banba had slipped up.
The announcer read more from the script. 'According to the landlady, immediately before the incident the spare key was stolen from her room-'
"……Hm?"
Banba reacted to the news.
'The police have footage of a suspicious man wandering around the building and are currently investigating into him as a suspect. The man is around 180 centimeters tall. He has black hair and wears a grey coat-'
The real culprit is 165 centimeters tall with brown hair. They have the wrong guy, Lin laughed internally.
"Geh," Banba made a sound next to him.
"What is it?"
"Ah, it's nothin'."
"What's up with you? ……Weirdo." Lin frowned.
The announcer then read the next story.
'Last night around ten o'clock, a lion was on the loose in Tenjin.'
Lin and Banba both stopped what they were doing and looked at the TV.
"Ha?"
"A lion?"
Their eyes widened when they heard this rare event that happened nearby.
'There were reports from civilians of a lion being spotted, and when the police were dispatched they found a male lion around two meters tall in front of the Tenjin Mitsukoshi-'
The screen changed to the footage of the place in question. It was a video taken by one of the spectators. The lion was surrounded by police personnel. In the corner of the screen on the right hand side, there was a caption that read: 'A lion appeared in the lion plaza!'
'The lion was caught with no resistance and no passerby were injured. Because of this event, the Tenjin area will be closed-'
"Whoa, there was a lion in Tenjin!"
Banba was shocked.
"Do ya think he escaped from a zoo?"
'The lion seems accustomed to people, and there is a high possibility it is a pet, so the police are trying to find its owner-'
"Looks like its a pet of some rich guy."
That reminded Lin that the boss of the organization he belonged to had a tiger once.
Nonetheless, it was quite the story. Lin shrugged.
"Who was the dumbass that let the lion loose?"