Published at 3rd of September 2019 4:58 pm

Chapter 6

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The car stopped at the entranceway of a high class, foreign hotel – which Kyosuke never could have set a foot into before – next to Tokyo station. When they got out of the car, Kanou told the chauffer that he could go back and grabbed Kyosuke’s arm, dragging him inside the hotel.

“Welcome!” The bellboys politely greeted Kanou at the entranceway. Kanou completely ignored them and headed towards the elevator that lead to the floor where the front desk was; not even asking to be guided there.

“Welcome!” When they got off the elevator, the person working at the front desk greeted them and after deeply bowing to Kanou, he respectfully handed him the card key.

“……….” Kanou silently took the key and dragged Kyosuke by the arm towards the elevator that was used to get to the guest rooms. The person working at the front desk said, “Excuse me” and ran past them. He arrived in front of the elevator before them and pressed the call button. Soon, the elevator door opened and Kanou and Kyosuke went inside.

Kanou pressed the button that lead to the top-most floor and the elevator ascended. They were alone in the compartment, so Kyosuke gathered up the courage and began to speak: “Umm… do you know my brother?”

“……….”

Although Kanou cast a quick glance at Kyosuke, he looked away just as quickly without a word. The elevator door opened when it arrived at the highest floor. Kanou silently pulled Kyosuke by the arm as he began to walk down the hall. As Kanou proceeded down the hall with familiarity, he suddenly stopped, held out the card key in front of a guest room door and unlocked the door. The room was a suite. Kanou lead Kyosuke straight into the bedroom and threw him on the bed.

“……Ungh!” Kyosuke suddenly remembered when Kanou had played with him on a bed, so he inadvertently braced himself. However, Kanou left the room without even so much as a glance at Kyosuke.

“Umm…!”

He quickly got up off the bed and tried to chase after Kanou, but the door shut right in front of him. He opened the door and called out to Kanou, who had his back to him, but in the end, Kyosuke couldn’t muster the courage to go on after him. He slowly returned to the bed and collapsed down on it. As Kyosuke closed his eyes, the Okawa leader’s crude words rang in his ears.

“His little brother wanted to be a doctor, so he needed the money……I feel like I heard that story before.”

“He liked being tied up, too. And he was fond of being beaten with a belt.”

“……That’s a lie……”

If he didn’t say that out loud, he feared that what the Okawa kumichou had said about his brother would become true. Kyosuke was afraid of that, so he negated the Okawa leader’s words out loud. However, the more he denied these words, the more he began to think deeply about what he had discovered. His brother had quit the university, keeping it a secret from him. He also found out that the place his brother said he worked at had been a complete lie according to the police investigation. He recalled the memories of that day when his older brother told him that he had found work.

“You don’t have to worry anymore.”

His brother’s tired but smiling face flashed before him.

“Kyosuke, you want to be a doctor. It takes a lot of money to become a doctor, so that’s why you gave up, didn’t you? But it’s okay now. You don’t need to worry about the school expenses or even the living expenses. From now on, we can live comfortably.”

His brother had seemed so happy. Kyosuke had praised him, saying he was glad that his brother had found a good job.

“Thank you.”

His brother’s smile didn’t look like it was hiding anything as far as he could recall, but as he now discovered, that wasn’t the case! Tears began to spill out of Kyosuke’s tightly shut eyes. As if that was a good job! Becoming a yakuza’s lover! Having his body spread wide open and doing whatever the Okawa kumichou had told him to. No matter how absurd it had been his brother had put up with it all by himself in order to make Kyosuke a doctor, in order for them to have a decent life, and in order to have money. The Okawa kumichou had made fun of his brother for putting up with this pain by calling him a ‘masochist’, but it didn’t seem like his brother had that kind of a fetish. His brother had just simply put up with it. Kyosuke guessed that his brother had done it all for him.

“I’m sorry……! ……I’m sorry, big brother……!” Kyosuke sobbed loudly. He was miserable that he hadn’t known anything. He couldn’t forgive himself for having lived each day so care-freely.

“Big brother, you’ve been coming home drunk a lot lately.”

He had pouted at one time, because he had been lonely.

“Sorry about that. I can’t turn them down when they invite me to go out.”

His brother had forced a smile, but most likely the one who had been responsible for him coming home late and drunk had been the Okawa kumichou forcing him to do these things.

“What kind of job is this, going out to drink. Salarymen sure have it easy.”

Even though Kyosuke had scorned him, his brother had just laughed and said ‘Sorry’. At one time, when he had stepped into the bathroom where his older brother had been taking off his clothes in preparation for a bath, his brother had quickly dodged him by jumping into the bath. His brother had always tried to avoid having Kyosuke look at his body, because surely there were scars that the Okawa kumichou had left there for fun. He was sorry for everything. He wasn’t able to do anything at that time.

“Big brother……! ……I’m so, so sorry……!”

His tears did not stop, and breathing became difficult with each sob. Coughing violently and tortured by guilt, Kyosuke continued to cry loudly.

* * * *

Over half an hour had passed until his tears finally stopped. His head hurt from crying so much. Thinking he should wash his tear-stained face, Kyosuke got up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom.

“……Urgh……”

The moment he saw himself in the mirror, tears welled up in his eyes again, because he thought about how his brother had sacrificed himself so that he, Kyosuke, could live like this. He turned on the tap and washed away the tears welling up in his eyes with the strong flow of water. The cold water calmed Kyosuke’s emotions. He dried his face with a towel and looked at himself in the mirror again when suddenly, doubt crossed his mind, which signaled that he was coming to his senses. Kanou knew that Kyosuke was Syoichi’s little brother, and yet, why had he insisted that the Okawa kumichou was ‘wrong’.

“……….”

He frowned at himself in the mirror. As he looked at his pale face, Kyosuke began to think again about Kanou’s intentions. If his true identity had been revealed at that time, what kind of wait would have been waiting for him? The moment it became known that he had lied and sneaked into the organization, he would probably be punished in some way. So then, could he have escaped from such a fate for now–? Kyosuke tilted his head in the mirror. What was the reason that Kanou was hiding Kyosuke’s identity from the Okawa kumichou? As Kyosuke thought and thought, one possibility came to mind. Kanou had said that he was the one who had killed Syoichi, but perhaps the Okawa kumichou didn’t know that? Then Kanou probably thought that it would be unwise to have the Okawa leader learn about this, so he had insisted that Kyosuke was someone else, right?

“……….It’s possible……but……”

The wakagashira killing the kumichouu’s lover – that is a form of treason against the kumichouu but perhaps there had been another reason for it. This was a mystery, but it was clear that Kanou did not want the Okawa leader to know Kyosuke’s identity.

However, when he recalled the atmosphere at that mansion, a feeling that something was definitely out of place welled up inside Kyosuke’s heart. He had felt obvious malice from the Okawa kumichou when he had met him at the mansion where the Okawa kumichou had probably just wanted to confirm Kyosuke’s true identity. Since he had abused Kyosuke’s older brother, whom he claimed to be his ‘lover’, it didn’t seem like he had any feelings towards his brother judging by his attitude, tone of voice, and by what he had said. One could’ve said that perhaps he made him his 'lover' out of love, but by the way the Okawa kumichou had talked about his brother, it seemed that he had only used his brother for sexual release. Now the younger brother of his dead lover had used an alias and had snuck into the organization, so perhaps the Okawa kumichou thought that Kyosuke was out to seek revenge and that’s why it was understandable that he had suddenly summoned him today to meet him face-to-face. So then, if the Okawa kumichou thought that Kyosuke was out to get him, it meant that it was because the Okawa kumichou himself had ordered to kill his older brother, didn’t it?

“……Ah……”

If that was it, then it meant that Kanou was protecting him, didn’t it? But why was Kanou protecting him? Kanou despised him. Kyosuke had received injuries – sexual injuries from him just recently.

“……I don’t understand……”

Right now Kyosuke was completed confused. As he stood troubled in front of the sink mirror, he heard the Okawa leader’s and Kanou’s words revive in his head.

“Aside from the dirty things he did only for money, he was a perfect lover.”

“How does it feel being forced to come by the hand of a man you hate?”

He didn’t get it. It seemed that from what they had said, they were both trying to hurt him. Right at that moment, when Kyosuke was evermore confused, the door of the bathroom suddenly opened, and he looked up, startled.

“Ah!”

“Kyosuke-kun! I found you!”

The reason Kyosuke cried out in astonishment was because he was surprised to see a familiar face reflected in the sink mirror.

“Sahashi-san……”

He quickly spun around and looked at the physical form of the person in front of him. Sahashi was not an illusion. He rushed over to Kyosuke and instantly grabbed his arm.

“Why did you leave the hospital?”

“Ah, um……” Kyosuke could only think that this must be a dream. He was so surprised by Sahashi’s sudden appearance that he couldn’t give a sufficient answer.

“Well, I’ll hear about that later, right now, let’s get out of here,” Sahashi tried to drag the dazed Kyosuke by the arm out of the bathroom, but almost by reflex, Kyosuke kept his footing and tried to shake off Sahashi’s hand.

“What are you doing? It’s dangerous here. We need to get out of this place at once,” Sahashi pulled Kyosuke by the arm with more force.

“Sa- Sahashi-san, why are you here?”

He didn’t get it. This current situation alarmed Kyosuke.

“I’ll explain the details in the car. Come now,” Sahashi was beginning to sound impatient and tried to start walking while dragging Kyosuke by the arm.

“But……”

Of course Kyosuke knew that Sahashi belonged to the police and of course he also acknowledged that Sahashi had taken care of him beyond words, bevertheless, he couldn’t help but hesitate. Just when he was about to again ask Sahashi the reason why he had shown up here, he heard a shrill voice of a young man.

“Who the hell are you, and how the hell did you get in here!?”

“Ah……!”

It was Kouta that appeared before them. It seemed that he had come to check up on how Kyosuke was doing, perhaps because Kanou had told him to. Sahashi quickly reacted. While Kouta stood there yelling, he quickly and silently ran up to him.

“Bastard!”

Upon dodging Kouta’s fist, Sahashi hit Kouta right in the stomach.

“Urgh!”

Kouta toppled over, and Sahashi violently hit him on the back of the neck. Kouta fell to the floor and it seemed lost consciousness.

“Come on! Quickly!”

Sahashi turned around to look at Kyosuke, but Kyosuke was already running out the door.

“Kyosuke-kun!”

Kyosuke felt Sahashi chase after him as he desperately continued to run. He passed through the next room and then went out of the hotel room. As he tried to run towards the elevator, he heard Sahashi’s voice: “Kyosuke-kun, wait!”

He caught me – the moment he thought that, the door of the employee entrance, which was a few feet up ahead along the wall of the hall, opened and a maid came out.

“……!”

Beyond this door Kyosuke saw that the employee elevator door opened as well. Feeling bad about it, Kyosuke pushed the maid out of the way and headed towards the elevator door. He put his hand in-between the closing elevator doors, forced them open, and rushed inside.

“Kyosuke-kun!” Sahashi, who had already caught up to him by now, also tried to get on the elevator, but Kyosuke repeatedly hit the button marked ‘close’ and got the better of him. Before Sahashi could stick his hand in, the doors quickly closed and the elevator began to go down.

“Haa……”

Alone in the elevator, Kyosuke let out a deep sigh as he leaned against the wall. It seemed that the employee elevator was one that could go from the topmost floor all the way down to the third floor of the parking garage without having to change elevators. The button leading to the first floor was already pushed, perhaps someone had already done so. He had ran for it without thinking because he had been so surprised at Sahashi’s sudden appearance, but now that he had calmed down and thought about it, he completely didn’t know the reason or the circumstances for why Sahashi had shown up here. However, it seemed that Sahashi did not intend to harm him. Surely, the hotel room that the yakuza Kanou had reserved was a ‘dangerous place’ like Sahashi had said. Perhaps he should have obeyed Sahashi? However, if he had done that, he would have lost his chance to take revenge. But with the current circumstances, he had lost his chance to take revenge as well. Kyosuke thought this, sighing again just as the elevator arrived at the first floor. What should he do? Kyosuke thought, hesitated, then pushed the button to the topmost floor once more. He wanted to know why Sahashi was here, so he thought he should ask Sahashi directly. Kyosuke didn’t know for sure, but he thought that maybe Sahashi had realized that the Okawa’s wakagashira Kanou had killed his older brother. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe that’s why Sahashi had shown up here in this place! He pushed the button ‘close’ to close the elevator door since it wasn’t closing on it’s own, but right when the doors were finally beginning to shut, a hand reached in and grabbed the door.

“Wha-!?”

The arm clad in a suit jacket pried open the doors, and the person wearing the suit stepped inside. No matter how you looked at it, the tall man wearing black sunglasses did not look like a person working a decent job. Behind this man, who had forced the doors open, other men also dressed in suits and black sunglasses got on. Sensing danger, Kyosuke tried to weave his way past these men and get out of the elevator.

“Wait.”

The man grabbed Kyosuke’s arm.

“Let go……!”

As he struggled to shake off the hand, another man pressed a white handkerchief against Kyosuke’s mouth.

“……Mmph!”

The moment he breathed in, he quickly began to lose consciousness. Before Kyosuke realized that he had inhaled chloroform, he crumbled down on the spot, losing consciousness.

* * * *

“Urgh……”

He had a splitting headache.

Groaning, Kyosuke opened his eyes and tried to stand up but to his shock discovered that he was seated in a chair with his hands tied behind his back. Flustered, he looked around him, yet he didn’t recognize the place at all. It was a dimly lit space that seemed like a warehouse and the floor was made of unfinished concrete. This place was a large, wooden container. Not only were his arms tied to the chair behind his back, both his left and right legs were also tied to the shabby wooden chair. He thought about what had happened to him as his dull headache persisted. He thought about how terribly surprised he had been to see Sahashi suddenly appear at the hotel room that Kanou had brought him to. He thought about how he had shaken off Sahashi’s hand, got on the employee elevator, and then decided he should go back to Sahashi when a few men, who looked like yakuza, got on the elevator with him. He thought about how they had made him inhale chloroform and made him lose consciousness. As Kyosuke recalled the events in the order of how they happened, he heard a dull, metallic sound, and the warehouse door opened to allow several men inside.

“……….”

Iwatsuki was standing in the front with Kouta waiting behind him. When Kouta looked at Kyosuke, he seemed angry. Somehow, he looked like it hurt him to see this. He quickly averted his eyes.

“All awake, now?” Iwatsuki called out to Kyosuke, who continued to look at Kouta.

“……Umm……” Why am I being held captive? When Kyosuke was about to ask Iwatsuki this – who was looking at him, grinning – he understood the reason when Iwatsuki said next:

“Miyama Kyosuke……Where did you get the name Mihara Kaoru? You are Kyosuke, Miyama Syoichi’s little brother, aren’t you?”

“……….”

His true identity had been revealed. Realizing that perhaps this was why he was being held captive, Kyosuke kept silent, hesitating whether he should admit it or feign ignorance.

“You look just like him. You sneaked into this organization to avenge your brother, didn’t you?”

“……….”

The Okawa had indeed killed his brother, as he had thought. Maybe Kanou had been the one who had ordered it to happen, but the one who had ordered Kanou had probably been the Okawa leader. Perhaps Iwatsuki also had known about his brother’s murder. I hate him, Kyosuke thought, glaring at him despite himself.

“What a beautiful brotherly love, but oh, so stupid. There’s no way you can get to the kumichouu just by sneaking into the organization,” Ha ha ha – Iwatsuki laughed loudly. As Kyosuke bit his lip, his hatred grew stronger towards Iwatsuki, and then he heard Kouta’s timid voice.

“So it’s true, huh? You’re not Kaoru. You’re Miyama Kyosuke?”

“……….Ah……….”

Although Kyosuke was angry, seeing Kouta’s frantic expression filled Kyouske’s chest with guilt. He felt sorry for using and deceiving him, but Kouta’s franticness didn’t seem to be about that.

“It’s a lie, isn’t it? If it were true, aniki Kanou wouldn’t have said the Okawa leader was ‘wrong’ about you. Well? The Okawa leader was wrong, right?”

“That’s enough, Kouta,” Iwatsuki spit out, violently hitting Kouta on the head.

“……….”

That seemed make Kouta lower his head and shut his mouth for a moment, but almost immediately after, he raised his head, ran up to Kyosuke – who was watching him – and shook his shoulders.

“Say you’re Kaoru! Come on! Please!” Tears welled up in Kouta’s eyes. Dumbfounded, Kyosuke wondered why he was being so frantic. As Iwatsuki gave out a fed-up sigh, he approached them, grabbed Kouta by the back of his neck and violently pushed him down to the floor.

“Ow!” Kouta groaned, falling down on the hard, concrete floor.

“That’s enough, Kouta. Face it. Whether you admit it or not, Kanou is still a traitor.”

“……!”

Kanou is a traitor –? Kyosuke widened his eyes, wondering what that meant, as Kouta got on his hands and knees on the floor and loudly said: “That’s a lie! I don’t believe that aniki Kanou is the policemen’s dog!”

“We have proof. You even saw it, didn’t you? He’s a dog. The policemen’s dog,” Iwatsuki spit out and lightly kicked Kouta’s head with the tip of his shoe.

“Waah–!” Kouta fell face flat on the floor and began to cry loudly.

“Shut uuup. Hey!” Iwatsuki called out to a young thug who stood nearby.

“Take him away. He’s too damn annoying!”

“Waah – ! Waah – !”

Two thugs raised the crying Kouta up on his feet and led him out of the warehouse. Iwatsuki, Kyosuke, and three more thugs remained in the warehouse.

The policemen’s dog – Kyosuke did not understand the exact meaning of those words that Iwatsuki and Kouta had said over and over again, but he kind of had an idea of what it could mean.

“……He’s…the policemen’s spy……?”

Those words inadvertently spilled out of Kyosuke’s mouth.

“What? You didn’t know either, huh?” You’re lying, Iwatsuki said, looking surprised by this, and Kyosuke came to his senses. “About three years ago, information frequently flowed to the police in exchange for profit. The kumichouu and even myself thought for sure that this was your brother’s doing, but who would’ve thought that the second in command of this organization was actually the spy for the police. I still can’t believe it.” Iwatsuki shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

I don’t even believe it, Kyosuke thought, dumbfounded, as he listened to Iwatsuki.

“It’s been five years. Five years since the wakagashira…. no, I mean, Kanou, joined the organization. Not even once did he give himself away during that time. I honestly still can’t believe this! He was quickly promoted to the wakagashira position, and we got ourselves a villain within the organization, but out of all things, who would’ve thought that the bastard was a police detective?”

Iwatsuki was just as surprised as Kyosuke was, no, perhaps he was even more surprised, because as he explained this, he looked deeply worried. Judging from that, it was probably true that Kanou was a police detective, but even if Kyosuke acknowledged that, there was a part that Kyosuke completely did not understand.

“I ordered to have your brother killed.”

After the explosion, Kanou had suddenly appeared at the hospital, threatened him by saying those words, and left. What could all of that had possibly meant? He completely didn’t understand the reason for Kanou deliberately making contact with him. Another thing he didn’t understand was that he just recently attacked him with hurtful words and raped him in order to humiliate him. All of that had been intentional. Why would a person who belonged to the police do such horrible things to him? He couldn’t think of a single possible reason for that. Additionally, he couldn’t help but be worried about what Iwatsuki had said not too long ago.

“He was quickly promoted to the wakagashira position, and we got ourselves a villain within the organization, but out of all things, who would’ve thought that the bastard was a police detective?”

He wondered what on earth had he done to be called a ‘villain’. Surely something that was impossible for a policeman to do. Did those ‘corrupt’ things he had done include killing Kyosuke’s older brother? Maybe that’s why Kanou was trying to keep distance from him? He felt like that was possible, but if that was the case, then why had he declared to the kumichou that Kyosuke was ‘not Syoichi’s younger brother’? That part he did not understand.

“Hey, you listening?” Kyosuke heard Iwatsuki’s irritated voice and came back to his senses. At the same time as he realized that he had subconsciously entered the world of his own thoughts, he was slapped on the cheek.

“You’re the bait to get Kanou to come here. We’re gonna keep you alive until then, but when that bastard shows up, we’re gonna send the both of you to the afterlife. Relax as much as you want while you still can.” Perhaps satisfied after hitting him, Iwatsuki said that and this time nudged Kyosuke on the head before leaving him.

“Hey, stand on guard,” he called out to a thug, then walked over to a secluded area where a chair stood, sat down, and lit a cigarette. Just then, the two thugs who had taken Kouta outside not too long ago returned.

“Hey, where’re your guns?” When Iwatsuki called out to them, the two thugs ran up to him, took out their guns from their breast pockets and showed them to him.

“Where’s your backup?”

“They’ll arrive soon. Aniki Sakamoto and twenty more people,” the thug answered stiffly, but Iwatsuki kept asking him questions.

“Where’s Kanou?”

“He vanished from the hotel. He was being followed, but we lost him. However, he’s probably heading over here.”

“Find where he is immediately and make sure to supervise the area around this warehouse completely.”

“Yes, sir,” the thug replied loudly, and then dashed outside, perhaps to inform the others of the orders.

“I wish he’d hurry up and get here,” smoking his cigarette, Iwatsuki called out to Kyosuke who could only watch all of this happen around him.

“……….”

Kyosuke really didn’t think that Kanou was going to show up here. If he came, he will surely be killed. He didn’t think it was likely that there were people in this world who would choose their own death in such a way, out of their own accord. Besides, he definitely thought that Kanou wouldn’t come if it were Kyosuke who was being used as bait.

When he remembered Kanou, only the severe look and contempt in his eyes came to mind, so Kyosuke thought he had somewhat of an idea what Kanou thought of him. Surely, even if you wanted to kill people whom you thought didn’t matter much, taking care of your own life would come first. However, even if he told Iwatsuki this, he probably wouldn’t hear of it, and even if he did listen to him, it would just speed up Kyosuke’s own death. Kyosuke thought about all of this and sighed. No matter what he did, he was going to die. If Kanou didn’t come, Kyosuke would be killed as a hostage that failed his purpose, and if Kanou came then they would both be killed. The probability of Kanou coming was one out of a thousand, Kyosuke laughed bitterly to himself, because he already gave up on the chances of him staying alive. Kyosuke regretted the fact that he was unable to get revenge on his brother, but he no longer knew who his real ‘enemy’ was. All this time he had thought his enemy was Kanou, so his goal had been to kill him. He had endured the painful rehabilitation center, clenching his teeth and trying to return his body back to how it was.

However, if it was the Okawa organization that killed his brother, then who should he kill? Kyosuke wondered. Perhaps the Okawa leader or someone who was instructed by the Okawa leader to do this? Even if that ‘someone’ was Kanou, he didn’t feel as much hatred to him now as he had before. Even if he decided that his revenge should be aimed at the Okawa, there would be far too many enemies, not to mention it was impossible to stab the Okawa members being tied up the way he currently was. If he died, he’d be able to see his older brother. When he thought that, he was no longer afraid of death. Accepting defeat, Kyousuke no longer cared whether Kanou was going to show up or not.

“He’s late,” Iwatsuki called out after some time had passed, sounding irritated. He got up off the chair and began walking over to Kyosuke again. “He’s kinda late, isn’t he!? That Kanou!” He violently kicked the chair that Kyosuke was siting in. The chair fell and Kyosuke fell to the floor along with it. “Hey, you! Where’s Kanou!? Answer me!”

Perhaps trying to rid of his pent up anger, Iwatsuki kicked Kyosuke with all his might.

“……!”

Kyosuke was seized by pain that felt like every bone in his body was breaking. Although he was already prepared for death, he suddenly thought about what it would be like to die like this. His brother had died from the explosion. It must have been hot and painful. Pain from being kicked by a person was nothing compared to that.

“Urgh……!”

Just as he thought that, Iwatsuki kicked him hard in the stomach with the tip of his shoe, and unable to stand the pain Kyosuke cried out in anguish, however right at that moment the warehouse door rattled open and a young thug dashed inside.

“Aniki! Kanou is here!”

“……!”

Because of the pain, Kyosuke was already starting to lose consciousness, but the moment he heard those words he came back to his senses, thinking that was impossible!

“So he finally shows up, huh?” Iwatsuki said, giving Kyosuke a final kick in the stomach, and started to turn towards the thug…

“You bastard!”

Surprised that Iwatsuki’s face had changed color and that he angrily raised his voice, Kyosuke turned his head to look towards the warehouse entrance even though he was in pain.

“……Ah……”

Kanou was slowly walking towards Iwatsuki as he pressed a gun to a thug’s temple and used him as a shield. Kyosuke recalled that this thug’s name was Akira – the man who had been at Kanou’s place.

“A- Aniki……” Akira looked like he was going to cry at any moment, but Kyosuke understood that this was because Iwatsuki was unhesitatingly pointing his gun at him as well. Does he intend to shoot the both of them? Kyosuke thought, inadvertently looking up at Iwatsuki.

“Quit it, Akira. Killing Kanou is more important than your life.”

“Anikiiii,” Akira wailed in despair.

As Kanou pinioned him, he finally said: “That’s harsh.”

“Shut the hell up, you policemen’s dog. How dare you deceive me all this time!” Iwatsuki yelled angrily and pushed off the gun safety.

“Anikiii……!” Akira gave out another pathetic cry. Kanou clicked his tongue and shoved him to the side.

“Huh?!” The moment Kyosuke exclaimed his surprise that Kanou let him go, Iwatsuki fired his gun.

“…….!”

Without missing its target, the bullet pierced Kanou’s chest.

Or so it seemed.

For a moment, Kanou reeled, but then immediately regained his footing and pointed his gun at Iwatsuki.

“Bastard, you got a bulletproof jacket on, huh!?” Iwatsuki roared, and then looking like he realized something, looked down at Kyosuke who lay by his feet.

“Don’t,” he heard Kanou stop him the moment Iwatsuki looked down and pointed his ready to fire gun at Kyosuke.

“Then drop your gun or I’ll stick a hole in his head this time,” Iwatsuki laughed, and for a moment Kanou was about to say something, but unhesitatingly put his gun down on the floor.

“Why……!?” Kyosuke cried out despite himself. Hearing that, Kanou was about to say something again, but immediately closed his mouth and shook his head no.

“I’ll kill you!” Iwatsuki yelled, pointing his gun at Kanou’s head.

“Stop it – !” Before he knew it, Kyouske yelled out again. His voice was so loud it was almost like a scream. As it echoed within the warehouse, a large amount of people suddenly bustled in through the open door, and their commanding voices echoed as they ran inside.

“Drop your guns! This is the police! We got you completely surrounded!”

A large crowd of the riot police carrying shields ran inside the warehouse, yelling. Kyosuke, as well as Iwatsuki and all the thugs in the warehouse, seemed to not fully grasp what was going on immediately, but being surrounded by the riot police, they knew there was nothing they could do.

“Are you alright?” The first man who spoke to him was Sahashi. He had a worried look on his face as he rushed up to Kyosuke.

“Why……?”

Even now, Kyosuke still didn’t fully grasp the situation, but as he lay there, clutching his beat up stomach and being completely confused at this bizarre chain of events, he saw Kanou approach him.

“You’re late.”

“Don’t complain! It takes time to gather and send out the riot police.”

No matter how you looked at it, Sahashi and Kanou were talking right in front of him as if they were friends. Driven to extreme confusion, Kyosuke’s train of thought stopped working.

“Kyosuke-kun?”

“Are you alright?”

Kyosuke heard Sahashi’s and Kanou’s voices frantic with worry as he stopped thinking and feeling; losing consciousness right there on the spot.

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