CH 108

Chapter 108: Punishment By The Ungodly

TL: Akabane

***

The glint at the top of the observatory was probably a scope or something. So if you stay still here, you could be sniped immediately.

"Kyaa! What's wrong, Tokiwa?"

I hold Igarashi in my arms and jump into the shadows of a nearby building. I pressed Igarashi's body against the wall and tried to protect her by covering her up.

"...Eh? Umm? Huh? Hey! What's that?! Eh? Huh?"

Igarashi looks terribly surprised at the suddenness of the situation. But it's an emergency, so forgive me. Now snipers should no longer be able to snipe from the top. But I don't want her to be bothered.

"Be quiet. Keep your mouth shut."

"Um."

Igarashi seems to have listened to my instruction maturely and closes her mouth. Then she meditates, stands up tall, and sticks her lips out toward me a little. What was that? Could it be that I'm being misunderstood? Huh? This is a kabedon! In front of me is Igarashi's beautiful face, waiting to be kissed. I can't stop my heart from pounding when I look at her face again. Is it okay if I kiss her like this? I'm supposed to be in a situation where I'm being targeted by a sniper right now, so why am I doing such a tight romantic comedy? But is it okay if I do a little bit? It's okay, right? So I meditated too and touched Igarashi's lips gently.

[Hagiri's POV]

After receiving an urgent call from Tomoe that Mio had been attacked by Suo, I kick the women out of the hotel room and face my laptop alone. On the monitor, there is an image from a drone camera, in which I can see the fearless smile of Edileza Reichi. She is laughing while pointing a gun at the unconscious Mio.

"I need you to put the gun down immediately. If you have any requests, I'll listen to you."

||  "You want to talk? Kukuku. Hagiri. Don't expect everything to always go your way. This is what I call being a schemer and falling to the prey. Your biggest mistake was telling me about Takinose."

Reichi's voice sounded somewhat agitated over the phone. It's not good to be put through her paces like this. I immediately cut the negotiation card.

"If you want money, I'll give it to you. I'll offer you more than double my usual compensation. I'll even let you get permanent residency if it improves your family's standard of living. I'll even give you insurance and a pension."

||  "You don't want to admit your mistake, do you? That's why you've been so eloquent in your offer to fight for the release of the hostages. That's not good. It reveals the bottom of your vessel. It's a pathetic gesture. Kukuku."

"Once again, tell me the terms quickly. Let's make it easy. I want you to let Mio go."

||  "You ended the discussion early, didn't you? I knew it. Hagiri. You are so inadequate that you can't help yourself. You're desperate to act like a gentleman because your plot has been foiled. Ahahaha!"

The exchange has been terribly unpleasant since a few minutes ago. Reichi was supposed to be a woman who only thought about the safety of her family and her debts. Now she is displaying a terribly ferocious nature. It seems I have no choice but to admit that I underestimated her.

||  "You told me that Takinose was going to attack Kanata, didn't you? To make me hang around Kanata. That's right. It was a stepping stone to send me by Kanata's side. And it was."

"I want you to stop with the silly speculation. That was just a slip of the tongue."

||  "Still trying to mend your ways? You're a fool. You wanted to keep me close to Kanata. The reason is simple. It's a check to prevent Kanata and Riri from getting closer. You wanted me to be Igarashi's guess."

"I don't know what kind of foolishness you are talking about."

I felt sweat running down my back. I told myself that what Reichi said was just a bluff.

||  "If you leave a relationship between a man and a woman alone, it will either stick or break up. If you want to put it off, just make it messy. You can even introduce a rival heroine and turn it into a romantic comedy. Right, Hagiri?"

"Nonsense! I don't intend to do that!"

||  "Yes, it is. It's a very silly scheme. But it's true that I interrupted Igarashi and Kanata's date, and Kanata was distracted by my problems, so he spent less time on Igarashi. Your plan certainly had an effect. Kuhahaha! That was really stupid! Hihihi."

Reichi is sneering at me. I am so insulted right now that I want to strangle her if she were right in front of me. I take a deep breath to calm myself. If I let my anger out here, it would be just what Reichi would want me to do.

||  "Well, it's time to make a deal."

"What is the deal?"

Negotiations finally began. I'm confident that if I can get them to fight over the terms, I won't lose.

||  "Sell my debt to Kanata."

"That's not going to happen."

She threw out the most disgusting terms I could think of. Giving up Reichi, one of the most powerful violent devices, is not an option. Reichi, who has recently even shown the potential to participate in the festival, is extremely valuable as a human resource.

||  "Well then, let's do this."

A dry gunshot echoed from the monitor.

||  "Kyaaaah! Guuuaaaaa!"

Mio, who had fainted, wakes up and groans. Reichi shot her in the shoulder.

||  "I'm going to miss the vital point, but if I continue like this, Takinose will die."

No mercy. I've never seen such a crazy woman before. I thought she was an assassin by profession, but even her roots seem to have gone astray as a person. If that's the case, then that move will work.

||  "What is your reply?"

"Begging for your life won't get through to Mirisha's princess. I hear she's famous in the Brazilian underworld."

||  "That's right. So I'm going to ask you to fulfill my request right away."

"I see. So you've decided to stand by Kanahisa Tokiwa and wait for your punishment."

||  "Haa. I've used many people to pay off my debts as it is. So I can't escape punishment. So at least I want to live comfortably in a place where I can enjoy my life until I receive my punishment."

What a naive idea. For every sin there is a punishment. Causality and retribution are the basis of this world. Punishment can be postponed, but it will come, and this woman thinks she can live comfortably until that day. How foolish. So I am going to show Edileza Reichi the true form of punishment here and now.

"Edileza Hakeu Fonseca Reichi. I know your real punishment."

||  "What is it? Proof of murder in Japan? I left nothing like that behind. Even if there were, you'd be on the hook for conspiracy. That's a meaningless threat. Or are you talking about the killings in Brazil? If so, the corrupt military police officer Mirisha has erased all the evidence. I don't mess up and leave evidence, so it's meaningless."

"Reichi. The real punishment doesn't always fall on the person herself. Punishment is sometimes it's inflicted on others. Especially when it is a crime committed for a noble cause, someone else is punished."

||  "What are you saying?"

"You are a cunning woman. I'm sorry, but I do know you. I know. I know the story of your most noble and most terrible beginning. I've heard it. Directly from the King of Mirisha in Brazil."

||  "The King of Mirisha...? Huh? You're liar! That's not true! That's a lie! How could that man know about my sins? Because I hid it from him! I hid that sin from him! And I owed him a debt! I had no choice but to become a hitman!"

"He has told me where to find the evidence that incriminates you. Think about it. You are not the one being punished for your crimes. Am I right? Am I right? And it's not you who will be punished for..."

||  "Stop! Don't talk beyond that!"

Reichi on the monitor had lost her earlier bravado and was trembling fearfully.

"it's okay. Even if I erase the evidence of your guilt instead. Even if you erase your sins and escape punishment."

||  "Stop! Don't do that! Please! I'll do anything! So don't do it! Not that one! That's it!"

Reichi gave in to my threats. But cutting off the biggest trump card against Reichi was a big loss in the end. That evidence was difficult to handle. If I made a mistake, Reichi would continue to run amok. This might be the right time to cut the loss. I wanted Reichi to increase the success rate of the sacrifice, but perhaps it would be better to have her leave the stage at this point. With the other actors involved....

"Then, I have one last order for you. Kill Kanahisa Tokiwa before the summer is over."

It seems that Mio has sent various skilled assassins to him all day today, but he is still on the edge of his seat. To kill Kanahisa Tokiwa, we need to use extra large amounts of violence.

||  "Eh...? Kanata? That's not true."

"Don't tell me you don't want to. Edilela Reichi. You have to choose. Your punishment will not come from you. It will always be someone else, someone you care about. If you want the punishment to come to you, kill Kanahisa Tokiwa. If you don't want to see your loved one punished, kill him! You don't have a choice. Is that clear?"

Reichi slumps to the ground. Then she stares vacantly at the gun she is holding. Then she nods.

My lips touch Igarashi's lips. It's just a gentle kiss. There is no intensity. I don't want others to see Igarashi's glamorous face as she kisses me hard, so this is enough for me. Our lips part and we look at each other. The faint smile on her face is very endearing. I wish this time could last longer. But it was over soon. The ringtone of my phone rang from Igarashi's back.

"Ah...ahaha...we've been cut off..."

"Yeah, that's right. It can't be helped. You can pick up the phone."

I urged, and Igarashi picked up the phone. Igarashi's face quickly clouded over, despite her goofy smile at first.

"Tokiwa. W-What should I do ... it's Tomoe calling."

"Yeah? What's wrong?"

"Mio was seriously injured just now and was hospitalized! Tomoe is crying a lot ... what should I do ... poor Tomoe..."

I couldn't hide my surprise at the news. I had been attacked by various people on Takinose's orders just a while ago, but what in the world had happened?

"Let me talk to Mashiba for a minute."

I borrowed the phone from Igarashi.

"Mashiba. Are you okay?"

||  "Gusu! Snot! Ueeeee! Mio... Mio...! I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I should have stopped you. I could have stopped you from being attacked... and I'm sure that's why it ended up like this. Aaaaaaahhhhh!"

I understand that Mashiba is a powerful member of the Hagiri clique. But I felt pity for Mashiba. I wanted to think that I wasn't wrong.

"Calm down. I'm going to your place with Igarashi. Where are you?"

||  "Ugh....gusu....Hongo campus....we are....we are....ueeeee..."

"Okay, okay. Put the phone on the line. I'll put Igarashi on the phone."

I hand Igarashi the phone and tug on her hand.

"Igarashi, I'm sorry."

"Yeah. It can't be helped. But thank you. Tokiwa. Please. Please take me to Tomoe."

We quickly ran and got out of the Fujiko Ultraland, got in the car and headed for Tokyo. As soon as we got to the Hongo campus, we met up with Mashiba at one of the engineering labs. We had nothing to say to each other. Igarashi hugged Mashiba tightly and kept patting her head. I could only watch from the side. Some hours passed, and Mashiba received a text message from Hagiri on her phone, informing her that Takinose had survived.

"Just a text message...! That guy! Damn it!"

Mashiba seemed relieved that he had texted her, but I couldn't hide my anger at the fact that he didn't even call her at a time like this. I clearly recognized the ruthlessness of this Hagiri guy. So I thought. I wondered if I could leave Mashiba by Hagiri's side like this. But Mashiba certainly loves Hagiri. I decided that I would destroy this indescribable unpleasantness someday.

***Author's musings***

The boss for Season 4 has been confirmed.

Season 4 is about to reach it's climax.

And then, when the serious stuff is over, we'll do the comedic stuff.

We are still looking for stories for summer events, so please feel free to throw any events you would like to see in the comments.

We'd love to hear from you.

And stay tuned for Season 4.x "Cidade do REY".

It will be what you might call a theatrical episode, so please look forward to it.