Chapter 18: A War With No Men
Saturday, April 22 [9:40 AM]
I headed to Shibuya Station Square with Kishimoto whom I met on the subway in the morning.
It was the place where Hachiko statue, which Tōjō had arranged with Sakamoto, was located.
“Wow! It’s Hachiko! I was sad that I couldn’t see this yesterday!”
Kishimoto, who clearly said she was here to follow her, spoke loudly in a cheerful voice.
At first glance, the eyes of the passers-by were on her, who looked like a foreigner who came to tour.
Her current outfit looked quite hot considering that it was spring.
A stylishly dressed with a beige trench coat, bright blond hair flowing through the white floppy sun, leopard-patterned sunglasses, and a mask.
It was definitely a cliché in tailoring clothes, but why did it look good on her?
In fact, except for the mask here, it was so sophisticated that it would not be strange to see it in any fashion magazine.Is this why you call the face the completion of fashion?
When I looked at her outfit as a former model, Kishimoto tilted her head and said,
“But will Ryu-chan be okay with just that? If I were her, I would recognize Ryu-chan from afar.”
“It’s not like you, who is small, so this is enough for me.”
I answered like that, pressing the hoodie on my head a little deeper.
In any case, I couldn’t avoid a suspicious look by wearing something different from my usual size.
So, I was going to minimize the disguise and make it physically.
We came out a little earlier than we heard from Tōjō and sat under the shade of a tree, we found a familiar face walking from afar while we were chatting while sharing a box of doughnuts and coffee as a breakfast substitute.
‘Hide!’
Kishimoto, bowed her head in a hurry, and I hide behind a tree because of my large size.
Fortunately, Tōjō did not recognize our existence, so she crossed the crowd and headed toward Hachiko.
“Mom, what is he doing?”
“Oh, my! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! My child didn’t mean to!”
When the child pointed at me hiding behind the tree, the lady apologized with a frightened expression and ran away with the child.
I wonder if they saw it, but the passers-by’s pace had accelerated.
“…….”
I didn’t do anything in particular, but I felt hurt.
***
Following Tōjō, who left slightly earlier than the original appointment, Sakamoto also ran in a hurry from the subway station.
When I checked the time on my smartphone, it was 9:55 a.m.
Fortunately, the main character was not such a tactless person that he came out on time.
“I’m sorry! Tōjō! Have you been waiting long?!”
“No, I’ve just arrived, too. Don’t worry.”
Finally, the first meeting.
Yesterday, Tōjō already came with makeup as a try, but maybe because it was the first time to see her in plain clothes, Sakamoto, who was out of breath and barely raising his head, was mesmerized by Tōjō’s unrecognizable beauty.
“…pretty.”
He muttered casually, but perhaps because she was right in front of him, Tōjō heard it.
“…th, thank you.”
Her face turned red like a ripe apple, perhaps because it was her first-time hearing that she was pretty to someone who she wanted to look good to.
First of all, the atmosphere seemed incredibly good.
At first glance, it looked like a couple of high school students with a fresh atmosphere.
“Well, would you like a cup of tea? We need to talk to decide where to go.”
“Okay, let’s do that.”
Whether it was effective that Kishimoto actively gave advice while eating a hamburger yesterday, Tōjō led skillfully and headed to a cafe near the station with Sakamoto.
“Ryu-chan! Let’s follow them!”
“All right.”
After throwing the finished donut box and coffee cup into the trash can, I went into the cafe with Kishimoto.
***
Saturday, April 22 [9:55 AM]
“How dare you make my daughter wait five minutes?”
“Calm down! Mr. Chairman!”
Naoto was likely to pick sashimi bōchō right away when they stopped him.
Naoto Tōjō, the sixth chairman of the Dongsung Society, and eight major executives followed him to Shibuya Station Square, after he left the mansion early in the morning.
They were now disguised in various clothes to avoid being caught by her, and in the case of Naoto Tōjō, they were even wearing long wigs to cover their unique short hair.
However, there was something they didn’t realize, no matter how much they disguised themselves, they attracted attention whether they liked it or not when nine distracted men flocked around.
Even worse, if you’re an old man with a bad impression, and a visible bitterness.
After Tōjō Karen and Sakamoto Ryuji met, once they entered the cafe for a cup of tea, Naoto and eight executives folded the newspaper in their hands and jumped up from the bench.
The people around them quickly dispersed because it was obvious that Yakuza were going to fight with other organizations.
Police patrolling near the station were also exchanging radios, keeping a close eye on them.
Sento Osamu, the organization’s brain and elite yakuza, noticed it before anyone else and reported it to Tōjō Naoto.
“Mr. Chairman, the cops are here.”
“What? Already?”
“I think it’s more noticeable because all nine of us are gathered together…”
“What should we do then?”
“Except for the chairman, there are eight people, so I think we can pair up and follow each other.”
“As expected from Sento! The brain of our organization!”
“Whoa, I’m flattered. This is nothing.”
As Sento Osamu pushed up his glasses with his middle finger, Naoto nodded and told the other executives.
“Let’s pair up and move according to Sento’s plan!”
“Yes!”
As soon as Naoto’s orders were issued, the executives dispersed in pairs.
When all the executives were scattered and only the organization brain, Sento Osamu, and Naoto’s right-hand man, Takeyama, were left behind, he nodded and held out his fist to Takeyama.
“Are you ready?”
“Of course. Blood sea.”
The first and second-in-command of the organization, which formed a relationship between brothers by sharing drinks together, hurriedly moved along with Tōjō Karen, who entered the cafe.
***
Saturday, April 22 [10:15 AM]
We followed Tōjō and Sakamoto, who went into the cafe to decide today’s date schedule with a cup of tea, and we sat in a corner that was as inconspicuous as possible.
When I peeped at Sakamoto, who was quite normally talking to Tōjō, who seemed shy today unlike her easy-going self, the waitress of the cafe asked me in a very careful voice.
“Excuse me, sir? What would you like to order?”
Then Kishimoto, who was staring at the menu, raised her hand and said,
“I’ll have a special jumbo strawberry parfait!”
“Wait, can you eat it all by yourself?”
We didn’t know when the two of them would leave the cafe, but she ordered too much.
Then Kishimoto tilted her head and asked, wondering.
“Ryu-chan, can’t you finish a parfait at a cafe?”
As she asked so proudly, I had nothing to say.
“…I’d like a tapioca milk tea, please.”
“Yes, one special jumbo strawberry parfait, and one tapioca milk tea.”
The waitress returned after receiving our order.
I thought I could take a breather then, so I was sneaking a peek at the two people sitting by the window, and suddenly two middle-aged men came into the cafe.
They looked around and beckoned when they saw the waitress heading toward the counter after she had just received our order.
“Miss, give me the best shot here.”
“I want an iced Americano.”
What is it? Did they play soccer around here?
The two, who obviously gave a foreign feeling, went into a corner and sat down.
At first, I thought it was over, but one after another, ugly-looking men came into the store in pairs.
…What is it? What is happening?
As I looked at the counter with a startled look on my face, Kishimoto, who was searching for something on her smartphone, said as if she was amazed by the ringing of the bell.
“There are a lot of customers here, right?
“Huh? Oh, yes.”
My guts were talking.
Those guys were related to Tōjō Karen.
It was because one of the three people who came in last had red hair like blood.
“Wow! There are dolphins in the Sunshine City Aquarium! I’ll make sure to watch it if we go today!”
I thought it was going to be tough and felt sorry for Tōjō’s date.
I’m going on a small hiatus, I’m going to be attending a funereal and I don’t want to work on translating while I’m there (it’s in another state), I’ll be back in a few weeks if things don’t come up.
Thank you readers so far for enjoying the story as much as I am, and I’ll come back to working on this novel once I’m back from the funereal.
-Grimrustic