Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Volume 4 Chapter 3

Top of the Third Inning

Since the target he was tasked to kill was already dead, there was nothing more a killer like him could do. He should report this to his client and mediator and look for another job to do, but this case tugged at Banba's mind. 'I didn't do it.' 'I don't know anything.' His mind kept thinking back to that bitter note that the person who committed suicide pleaded in. If his testimony was correct, then the true culprit was someone else. The person Banba should kill was a different person.

Unable to get a break in on the situation under normal circ.u.mstances, Banba decided to ask a detective he knew for information. He called out to s.h.i.+gematsu at a restaurant near Haruyos.h.i.+ Bridge and drank together. After their meals were brought out to them, s.h.i.+gematsu began to discuss the main topic at hand. "About the case you asked about, it's without a doubt that Yusuke Aoyagi had killed himself."

"……Really?"

"Yeah. There were traces that he did it himself. And his suicide note was indeed written by him."

Banba had wondered if there was something behind this case; that perhaps it was not suicide and Aoyagi was cut in some kind of situation. Banba had those suspicions, but both were shot down.

"And what about the business obstruction posts?"

"What we understand from his colleagues is that Aoyagi became a problem to the company he worked for. The log of his posts he wrote up during work was on the company computer and that his superior called him up about it numerous times."

"But the person himself said he didn't do it?"

"Yeah. That was the one point they brought up: that he didn't remember doing it. He went on saying he didn't recall anything related to those posts and that there must have been some sort of mistake."

In the end, Aoyagi had quit the company before he could get fired.

"Apparently rumors started spreading around inside the company, and he started to become ashamed. His colleagues were singling him out for using the company computer as a distraction during work hours. So of course he ended up wanting to quit." s.h.i.+gematsu then added. "But according to the anti-cyber crime division, it was true that the posts were made on Aoyagi's home computer as well as the computer at work."

s.h.i.+gematsu gulped down the remainder of his beer in one go and told him. "This case doesn't seem right somehow."

Banba had reached for his beer mug but abruptly stopped. Posts on the internet made that the person was innocent for – he had heard something like that recently.

That's right. Saitou, he recalled. A similar thing had happened to Saitou just this past day.

"What if this person was truly innocent."

"……What was that?"

"Someone had framed Aoyagi." Banba said in a low voice. "Someone who used a remote operating virus."

"Ah, h.e.l.lo? Mushroom?"

The day after Lin had met up with Saeki, he called Enokida. He sent him the data of the fingerprints taken from the bodies of the homeless, thinking he could ask Enokida to compare them. If there were any matches among them, then they could determine their ident.i.ties; Lin could get a lead on this case.

"I have something I need you to look into. Can I tell you about it now?"

'Yeah, that's fine.' Enokida replied cheerfully as ever. 'Where are you right now?'

"At the office."

'I'll head over there. I'm at Hakata Station at the moment anyway.'

"Sorry."

He then dropped the call.

A few minutes later the door to the office opened. It should have taken more than five minutes to get here from Hakata Station even if he had hurried over. It was too soon for it to be Enokida. When Lin looked towards the entrance, he saw the exhausted looking Banba standing there.

"I'm home."

Banba was in a suit. He had just gotten back from work. He must have been drinking as his clothes smelled like alcohol.

"Ah, welcome back." Lin then asked. "How did your job go?"

"It's an odd case." Banba loosened his tie, shrugging. "When I went to kill him, the fella had already killed himself."

"Isn't that great for you? You didn't have to waste time killing someone."

"There was a note. It said, 'I didn't do it.' There's gotta be somethin' behind this case." After Banba had changed into normal clothes, he then asked Lin. "How about your end?"

"I got a series of murders of the homeless." Lin explained in full. "And the bodies that got beaten to a pulp were sent to Saeki's place. All of them had their teeth pulled too."

"If they was sent to the doc's place, then the culprit has got to be a killer, right?"

"There is that possibility." Since the person knew the underground route of discarding the bodies, it would make sense that it would be someone from the same business as them. "Maybe it could be someone who wants to have a world with no homeless people and hired a professional to kill them all."

But there was one thing left unsolved: the front teeth.

"……Yet why would they pull out their teeth?"

"Ain't that just spoils?"

Lin frowned at Banba's words. "……Spoils?"

"They want proof of killing their victims. So they dispose of the bodies but keep somethin' off of their person, like pullin' out their teeth."

Spoils, huh, Lin groaned. He had heard about cases of serial killers stealing a possession of the person they kill or cut off a piece of hair for them to keep numerous times. So they were of that kind of people.

"If that is true, then they've got to be pretty dangerous."

Hitmen were dangerous to begin with, but a killer who want to sell off the bodies and want a part of them beside them had a ma.s.sive difference in impression. The former would have the rational and professional qualities of a hitman, but the later indicated a hedonic and almost crazed outlook.

It was then. They heard quiet knocking on the door. Someone had come.

"Come in," Banba addressed the person outside the door.

Lin had thought it would be Enokida this time, but it was not.

"Pardon the intrusion."

The doors opened to reveal a man wearing black clothes. He was tall and slim; seemingly around sixty years old and had a moustache. He was gentle-mannered and wore a refined outfit.

"Are you a client?"

"Yes."

The butler-like man with white hair faced Banba and Lin and bowed.

"Please, take a seat over here," Banba offered him a s.p.a.ce on the reception's chair. He then turned to Lin and asked. "Lin-chan, get the tea, please."

Lin gave a side glance to their male client as he got up. "Alright."

There was no way Martinez could let an insolent who would kill animals half for entertainment and show off a video of it do as he pleased. Avengers had the creed to deliver the same pain the other had inflicted onto someone, but it would not matter too much if Martinez made the man hurt a bit more. Martinez, a helper to the avenger, headed over to the apartment the culprit lived at determinedly.

The person responsible – s.h.i.+nji Taniyama – was in his room. When Martinez rang the intercom the man greeted him at the door honestly, without pretending to be out. The moment the door opened, Martinez forced his way in and locked the door from the inside.

"Whwhat's your deal?" The man in front of him had yelled. "I'll call the cops for breaking in!"

"Call them if you want. But you are the one who'll be in a pinch if the cops come."

Taniyama was bewildered at Martinez's threat. "……What?"

"Don't play dumb. I have proof." Martinez took out his cell phone and played the video on it, holding the device in front of the person's face. "This torture video is your doing, right?"

The man recognized it and quickly shook his head.

"I-it's a misunderstanding!"

"How is this a misunderstanding? Don't kid with me. I already know it was you who uploaded this video onto the net."

"It's true that I uploaded that video." Taniyama admitted but then gave an explanation for it. "But I didn't kill them!"

"What?"

Martinez had infiltrated this man's home with the intention to punish him for his crime, but now he just got a wake up call.

"……What do you mean?"

Taniyama quickly made his confession when Martinez pressed him for answers. According to what this man had to say, the entire video was fake. The procedure went like this: after receiving a puppy from a shelter, he would first film himself putting it in the black bag. After that, he would let the dog out and switch it to an electronic toy dog instead. He would then film himself slas.h.i.+ng the toy in the bag with a knife – or more accurately a fake retractable knife – as it moved around inside it. Additionally Taniyama would add specks of blood to make it look like the dog had died.

Afterwards, he would use a high efficient video editing software, which was also used by professional editors, to make the rest of the video. He would put the two videos he filmed separately together and mix in dog yelping sounds to finish the fake torture video.

Taniyama kneeled on the floor and had explained everything to Martinez. "I just wanted to earn a high number of clicks. ……To do that, I needed to make a grotesque video."

"……" Martinez was so stunned he was at a loss for words. He told him, exasperated, while running a hand over his head. "What the h.e.l.l's that? …….That's pathetic."

He completely fell for this farce. It irritated him.

"And what did you do with the orphan dogs from the shelter?"

"I let them go."

Martinez gave him one punch. "Bu-hegh," Taniyama flew back from the force behind the punch – which Martinez apparently put more strength than he thought behind – as he gave a pathetic cry. He smashed into the wall and collapsed onto the floor.

"Whwhat was that for?" Taniyama yelled at him with a hand to his cheek.

"You let them go?!"

"I just put them back into the shelter!"

"You're kidding me. Go get them again. Take responsibility and look after them."

"Eh? But my apartment doesn't allow pets-"

"Like I care."

Martinez grabbed the man by the head with his large hand and squeezed.

"If you don't do as I say, I'll cut you up with your retractable knife."

Taniyama seemed to get the message. "I got it," he nodded frivolously with a teary voice while shaking.

The elderly butler-like man who visited the detective office was named Yagi. Over the past few days he had been dropping by various detective companies around f.u.kuoka, requesting them to look into finding someone's whereabouts. It had to be someone he desperately wanted to find to go to such lengths.

"I would like for you to find this young man." Yagi told them, taking out an old photo and placing it on the reception table. Lin and Banba examined the photo. It was a picture of a child around middle school age.

"A young man……" Banba muttered. "He looks more like a young boy here."

"Indeed. This was taken eight years ago." Yagi made a wry smile. "He is now twenty-three, so his facial features may have changed somewhat."

Lin also made a comment. "Actually, who is this guy?"

"He is the son of the household I work for. Due to a certain incident, he had vanished eight years ago."

Since he worked as a servant for a household, then this family must be wealthy. There would be a lot of money involved. Lin took another close look at the boy in the photo. And then he suddenly realized; he felt like he had seen that face somewhere before.

The boy had silky, black mushroom cut bob hair and long bangs that covered half of his face. From what he could see under his hair, the boy had impudent, sanpaku eyes as though he made light of people.

It dawned on Lin. Could this guy be – "Hey, Banba."

"Hm?"

"Doesn't this kid look like him?"

"Who do ya mean by him?"

"You know, that mushroom-"

Just as he was saying that, the office door opened.

"Hey,"

The one who appeared this time was the young man with mushroom hair – Enokida.

"I was a bit late. I got caught by the light."

"Ah, Enokidkun." Banba raised his hand. "What are you doin' here?"

"Lin called me, so I came here." Enokida moved his gaze to the reception area. "If you're busy at the moment, then I can-"

Enokida's voice abruptly trailed off. He had stiffened with his mouth still open and his eyes wide.

The next moment –

"Young master!"

Yagi yelled.

"Young master!?" Lin and Banba exclaimed simultaneously.

What's the meaning of this? Young master? Do they know each other? Lin's eyes popped out of his head as he looked between Enokida and Yagi.

"Geh."

Enokida grimaced. And before they knew it, he immediately turned around and dashed off. They heard him stomp down the stairs swiftly.

"Please wait!"

By the time Yagi called out to him, Enokida had already ran out of their sights.

"Pardon me."

And then Yagi moved. He opened the office window and started to climb out of it.

"Eh?" Lin and Banba were shocked as they watched him. "You're kidding."

Yagi stepped onto the window pane.

"Hey, whatcha think you're doin'?!" Banba yelled.

"This is the third floor!" Lin also pitched in, but Yagi paid no heed to them and jumped out of the window.

Enokida rushed down the stairs at full speed and dashed out of the building complex the detective office was in.

"Young master!"

He heard someone call him. He turned around and looked up at the building.

"Geh."

The elderly man was falling down. The man who was adorned in black clothes had jumped off from the third floor of the building and landed right in front of Enokida safely.

"It has been quite some time, young master."

Enokida made another immediate attempt of running away, but he did not succeed. He was grabbed by the back of his neck, making him unable to move. That man had ridiculous strength, compared to how he looked. Actually, now thinking about it, he caught me like this often in the past, Enokida recalled. He despised studying, and whenever he tried to sneak out of the house Yagi would always jump from the second floor and catch him. Even though he had gotten quite older, he was no difference from back then. Is this guy really human?

"……Yagi," Enokida made a sarcastic comment to the man grasping his arm to prevent him from escaping. "You got more white hair since I've last seen you."

"It is great to see you are as cheeky as ever. If you have nothing nice to say, do not say anything at all."

"Likewise, be a bit more modest."

They then heard footsteps rus.h.i.+ng down the stairs. They were from Lin and Banba. Both of them appeared to be shocked. That was to be expected, since the elderly man had leapt out of a window.

Yagi turned to face them and smiled. "Good gracious, I did not expect you two to be the young master's friends."

"Y-young master……?"

Lin and Banba still had not caught up with the situation.

"Thank you for being friends with the young master." Yagi added without concern. "This is a measure of my grat.i.tude. Please accept it."

What he took out from his pocket were bills.

"Stop it already." Enokida demanded. Yagi had the habit of handing out bribes to his friends ever since he was in kindergarten.

"I don't really get it," Banba made a wry smile. "But I guess this worked out for you. You found the person you was lookin' for."

Lin's eyes were still wide. "Mushroom……You were a person's kid?"

"What did you think I was?"

"Um, well…… a fungus."

"I see."

"'I don't have parents. I don't know who gave birth to me.'" Lin squared his shoulders unnaturally while imitating Enokida's voice. "Shouldn't you say something like that?"

"That mimicry was spot on. Do it again."

"'Well, they are my parents, so they are naturally smart individuals.'"

"That's so like him!"

"'There is nothing I don't know. Aside from my parent's names.'"

"Yes! Exactly that!"

"How about not doing that with the actual person here?"

When Enokida glared at them, the two shut their mouths and looked away.

"So? What do you want with someone who was disowned?" Enokida looked back to Yagi. "If that man finds out, won't it put you in trouble?"

"Rest a.s.sured, the master had given me an extended time off and had told me to take my time and enjoy my trip."

Yagi then brought up why he was looking for him.

"The truth of the matter is I have something I wish to discuss with you."

Enokida decided they should part ways with Banba and Lin and change locations to talk. Yagi and him headed to the subway at Hakata Station and entered a cafe at the ticket gate. They ordered two iced coffees and sat down at a table, facing each other.

Enokida asked with a sullen look. "So, what did you have to discuss with me about?"

"Please take a look at this."

What Yagi took out from his bag was a photo and a laptop.

"This belongs to the master, but it has taken some damage due to hacking."

The photo was a screenshot taken off the computer. In the center text was displayed.

'Kazuo Matsuda.'

'I know your true face.'

'If you do not wish for it to be known to the world, then send 10,000,000 yen as fast as possible.'

"For a threat, this message is pretty nice." Enokida read the text once and said. "I wonder if that means this person has that much confidence."

Apparently several minutes after this message was displayed started operating normally. Just as they considered it to be just a prank, the following day they received an e-mail from a free address which contained the contents of the threat.

"They demanded bitcoin as payment."

"I expect they would."

Using high cryptocurrency anonymously was a conventional method for cyber criminals.

"……By chance, do you suspect me?"

"Not at all," Yagi shook his head with a smile. "With as much skills as you have, I presume you would not use it to send threats for extortion, am I correct?"

That's true, Enokida replied straightforwardly.

"My job is to protect that household. I must find whoever sent that threat and dispose of them."

Yagi was a servant as well as a hitman for that family. That occupation did not seem to change for him over the past eight years.

However, their problems had nothing to do with Enokida now. Enokida waved his right hand dismissively. "Ah, is that so? Good luck with that."

"I thought with your abilities you could find the culprit in question."

"And why should I have to work for that man?"

"Perchance, you still resent him?" Yagi laughed teasingly. "You are surprisingly the type to hold a grudge."

"……Isn't that natural?" Enokida pouted, resting his chin in his hand. "I was killed by my own father after all."

"As expected of the elderly. All the grandpas and grandmas are all really lively in this country." Lin said as he closed the window Yagi had jumped out of when they got back to the office. "I mean, he jumped off from the third floor."

"That person's just one of a kind." Banba replied as he sat down on the sofa.

"But even that old man Genzo is like that."

"He's also one of a kind."

Then aren't they just one of a kind? Lin shrugged. He then recalled Enokida's and Yagi's exchange earlier and spoke with a frown. "Do you think those two are alright?"

"What for?"

"There was a strange air between them."

They did not seem the least bit happy to reunite after eight years. Enokida made a clear look of disgust, and although Yagi had a kind smile etched on his face, his eyes were not smiling. Even an outsider like Lin could feel the perilous mood between them.

"There's got to be a lot of intricate circ.u.mstances around them, right?"

"Well, I would a.s.sume so." It was obvious that there were unique circ.u.mstances. After all, Enokida was from a household that had a servant employed there. "I never expected that mushroom to be a young master of some upstanding family."

Lin was stunned earlier, but Banba was rather calm about it.

"Shouldn't you be surprised hearing that? Aren't you underreacting a bit?"

"It's 'cause I've seen some refined traits to him before," Banba replied. "So I thought he had to have had a good upbringin'. He uses chopsticks really well."

"Then by chance," Lin suddenly had a thought. "Could that servant Yagi or whatever have come here to bring him back home?"

The heir ran away from home, so naturally Yagi should be searching for him to bring him back. He even went so far as to go to several detective agencies to do so.

Banba was doubtful though. "Hmm, after all this time? Eight years have pa.s.sed."

"Maybe it became a necessity now," Lin suggested strongly going off only by speculation. "Like, maybe his father died or something."

"Hmmm……It'd be tough if Enokidkun was no longer 'round." Banba frowned deeply. "He's our important centerfielder."

"……Do you only ever think of baseball in that head of yours?" Lin sighed.

"I do," Banba said defiantly. He then got up from the sofa and picked up his baseball bat case, hefting it over his shoulder.

"I'm headin' to the battin' cage. Then I'm gonna visit the old man's place, so I may be late."

After Lin saw him off, he also put his focus back on work: on the serial murders. Although he was provided with the fingerprints from the homeless victims, since Enokida was busy at the moment that job would have to wait.

Is there any other way I can get a lead on this? Just as he was pondering what to do, he got a phone call from Saeki. Apparently there were new developments to the case.

Enokida still remembered the events from eight years ago perfectly.

'He's an illness. Nothing could cure him.' It was a few days after he overheard that man utter those words.

Enokida was frozen stiff when Yagi came into his room abruptly without knocking. Something must have happened, he thought to himself just as he was grabbed by the arm and forced into a car. Yagi sat in the seat their professional driver usually was in, while Enokida was put into the pa.s.senger's seat. Yagi kept a firm hold on the wheel with an intimidating demeanor, not allowing any room for reb.u.t.tal or questioning.

After a few minutes, the car arrived to an abandoned warehouse, deserted of people. Yagi got out of the car and ordered in a low voice, "please get out of the car."

Once Enokida stepped out of the vehicle as instructed, there was a metallic clink sound. Enokida instantly swallowed and slowly turned around to face him. Yagi was holding a revolver towards him. What Enokida had heard was the sound of the gun being c.o.c.ked.

"……Are you going to kill me?"

Enokida inquired. Oddly enough, he was calm. Perhaps it was because he knew that this would happen somewhere in his mind.

"All of this is the master's orders." Yagi answered him with a cold, emotionless voice. "Let us end this."

'I'm well aware of it.' That man had said. 'He's an illness. Nothing could cure him.' If Enokida was incurable, then there was no choice but to erase him.

Yagi's job was to eliminate anyone who served as an interference to that man. Enokida was no exception to that.

"Is it because I'm an eyesore? Because I'm in his way?"

Yagi provided no answer when he asked. Nonetheless, his eyes told him, 'yes.' Immediately following that, there was a dry sound. It was the first gunshot he had heard. Startled by the sound, Enokida spontaneously shut his eyes tight.

However, the bullet did not hit Enokida.

Yagi had missed on purpose.

"……Yagi?"

Why? He opened his eyes and peered at Yagi's face. Why didn't you kill me? He gazed at him with a look somewhere between condemnation and dependency.

The man then said quietly.

"Please run away."

Enokida thought he had misheard. Upon hearing the word 'run,' he was thrown into confusion.

Yagi handed him a piece of paper.

"This is a plane ticket heading for f.u.kuoka. An acquaintance of mine is in Hakata. Please go to him whenever you have any issues. He will surely be of help to you."

"But if you don't kill me, then you'll-"

That man's orders were final. If Yagi did not obey them, then his position was at risk too.

"Please leave the rest to me." Yagi told him firmly. "I will convincingly deceive him."

Everyone in his household well knew this man's ability. As long as it was him, he would be able to deceive that man.

Enokida nodded. He did not voice any grat.i.tude. "……I got it."

"Young master, please do take care of yourself."

Those were the last words they exchanged with each other.

"……I've recalled unpleasant memories because of you." Enokida stated, a sigh mixed in, before bringing his coffee to his lips. The bitter flavor spread over the palate on his tongue.

There had been no one else but Yagi who had looked over Enokida since he was young in place of his busy parents. Perhaps he could not kill Enokida, regardless of his master's orders. It was similar with the story of Snow White in the Grimm Fairy Tales. The queen had ordered the huntsman to a.s.sa.s.sinate the princess, but out of compa.s.sion the huntsman spared her. He left her in the forest and lied to the queen that he had killed her. Yagi had also covered up Enokida's death instead of killing him.

"Don't tell me you forgot. You pointed a gun at me eight years ago."

"Was that not your own undoing though?" Yagi said opposingly. "You had gotten yourself involved in crime and had troubled the master."

"Isn't it the parent's responsibility behind their child's behavior?" Enokida objected defiantly. "I think anyone would have strayed from the right path had they gone through that overbearing education during p.u.b.erty."

"Straying from the path that way is hardly endearing." Yagi was never at a loss of words, even though he was a mere servant. "You hacked into the police headquarter's database at a crucial period of time for the master after all."

Enokida's father was a politician. No, Enokida could not call him his father. He was a heartless man who would cut down anyone close to him to protect his status and well being. The father in Enokida's memories was expressionless and had a cold gaze. Enokida only had that impression to him. He despised him. As such, he attempted to cause him trouble.

Enokida's crime was discovered during the middle of elections. He had no idea how much money that man had to spend in order to cover up the incident.

"At any rate," Enokida spoke up and declined Yagi's request. "It doesn't matter to me whatever happens to that man."

At that response, the tone in Yagi's voice had changed.

"Do you truly believe that?" His gentle demeanor suddenly turned cold. "If the master's secrets are exposed, then your current life is at risk as well."

"When that happens, then I'll just flee somewhere overseas."

"Enokidsan."

That was a first; the first time Yagi had called him by his current name. Not 'young master' but Enokida. He felt a strange and yet familiar wickedness to the unfamiliar sound in the other's voice.

The smile had disappeared from Yagi's face.

"It would be problematic if you misunderstand. I am not giving you this request as an old friend; I am offering you a job on professional grounds."

Yagi told him and took out a check from his pocket. There were seven zeros following the character one written on it.

"This would be your payment for the a.s.signment. If you are dissatisfied with that, then I do not mind doubling it."

Enokida was at a loss for words. He could only glare at the man in front of him silently.

Yagi then gave him a final blow.

"You call yourself a professional in this field, am I right? Then personal feelings are irrelevant in the matter."

Enokida tutted in his mind. There was no way he could refuse after saying that to him. After all, he had his pride as an informant.

"……I'll find who it is right away." Enokida smirked forcibly, putting up a front. "Go and enjoy sightseeing in f.u.kuoka until then."

Bottom of the Third Inning

The cell phone Chegar used was developed in .mmm and was designed to counter advanced hacking. After the pa.s.sword was put in wrong three times, the cellular device would explode and break into small fragments so a round robin attack could not be possible. And by the chance he handed it over to the enemy, the device contained data that he could set to change into an explosive device as a weapon.

To make a call on this device, he had to use the organization's mail server. It was protected by a multiple layered firewall surveillanced by an elite unit twenty-four-seven. The system was set up so that only people from the organization and select few could only send and receive calls. Irasawa and Siva were both provided these cellular devices which completely shut down outside attacks and viruses.

A half a day after they captured macro-hard, Chegar received a call from Siva who had been tasked with dealing with macro-hard's computer. Siva had told him, "I found something that would interest you. Come by my shop."

Chegar immediately headed over to his repair and maintenance shop. He entered the store and took a step into Siva's room. Siva was presently working on a computer.

Chegar received a message from Irasawa shortly after he got inside.

"……He's finally done with him, huh."

When he opened up the message, there was a video file attached. Irasawa had filmed himself killing the other man. He had fixed the camera onto the wall of the ring first before proceeding to beat up his opponent. After he had weakened macro-hard, he then took the camera in hand and began hacking away at the man while filming close to his victim's face as he slowly died. The video clearly showed macro-hard's anguished face and captured Irasawa's laughter.

Chegar had not wanted to see that.

"I told him not to send it to me……" Chegar said, brus.h.i.+ng a hand over his head.

Although Irasawa could have just sent him a message with just "I finished," he always sent him videos instead.

"He can't help it. He wants to boast to someone." Siva shook his head and smiled. "He was in the spotlight when he was a boxer, but now he has to avoid standing out. He wants to be seen by someone and be praised. He's the same as a child."

You're more of the child, he bit down those words.

"So," Chegar started the main discussion. "What did you find out?"

"Take a look at this," Siva pointed to one of his computer screens – specifically macro-hard's computer. There were folders everywhere on it; roughly around thirty. When Chegar examined it closer, each folder had a person's name on it.

"What are these?"

"Put simply, they are folders containing his spoils from extortion."

"Spoils from extortion?"

"Macro-hard got a hold of people's secrets with his hacking abilities and used it to demand money from them."

"All of these guys?"

There were names among them that Chegar had seen before. All of them were famous people from politicians and comedians to sports players. There were even some names of executive police personnel. Macro-hard had used a virus to send threats to people and show them some dark secrets he had obtained.

"The issue is this man."

Siva then pointed to a folder with the name Kazuo Matsuda.

It was a name anyone would recognize. "Matsuda……As in that congress member?"

Siva nodded. "This man apparently has used some unclean methods behind the scenes."

"Well, any politician would do that, right?" What's so special about him? Chegar scoffed. "He has nothing to do with us."

"He especially does."

"……What do you mean?"

"According to macro-hard's information, Kazuo Matsuda has a son, and that son was apparently arrested for hacking a long time ago. Naturally, his father had covered up the incident." Siva was surprisingly entertained, adding on. "And the hacking that son did was similar to him."

"Similar to whom?"

"Blackleg."

"……Did you say Blackleg?" Chegar's eyes had widened at the mention of that name. "Are you sure?"

He was an infamous hacker under the codename balckleg_nameko. An a.s.sociate of Chegar's in the organization was attacked by him just the previous day and had information extracted from him. Blackleg was listed on .mmm's blacklist.

"There's no mistaking it. His skills were more sloppy back then compared to now, but he has the same habit when hacking."

The hacker was similar to an appropriationist. Just like someone would sign a picture they drew as an indication it was their work, this hacker would leave evidence as proof of his own achievements. He did this especially so he could show off more than just getting money by being recognizable.

"Blackleg made an automatic information disclosure virus called Flammulina. It was a virus he would attach to downloadable files that would infect the computer as soon as the videos and images were downloaded."

Flammulina – Chegar had heard rumors about it.

"The virus Matsuda's son had used at the time was the first version of Flammulina." Siva explained as he kept his focus on the screen. "This son had always been at odds with his father. He didn't want to become a politician and started playing around with hacking. And around that time was when his father had to cover up the incident."

"So where is that son of his now?" That was the important question.

"On record, it is stated he died in a car accident eight years ago."

"Blackleg is dead?"

"Seemingly dead." Siva pointed to the screen again. "Look at this here. According to the information macro-hard found, a doctor he was acquainted with wrote up his death certificate and used that to fake the boy's death. Naturally, they were made to do it by someone else."

"Does that mean the son became an interference?"

"A few days before the car accident, Matsuda had purchased a plane ticket for f.u.kuoka with his credit card. But the man himself was attending a party in the city on the day of departure, so he didn't go to f.u.kuoka."

After Matsuda had bought the ticket for f.u.kuoka, his son had disappeared. "Then the one who used that plane ticket-"

"There's a high possibility it was blackleg."

This was an unprecedented development. Chegar was impressed that they caught the big fish blackleg from the second-rate hacker, macro-hard.

"So he faked his death and fled to f.u.kuoka?" Chegar muttered with a hand placed to his chin. "Then look up any traces of blackleg out there."

"I already did that." Siva smiled. "Looks like he broke into the cyber division's database, cracking into a hacker investigator's records. And the method of hacking done to a credit card company a some time ago is exactly the same method as blackleg's. He was looking into the payment history of a man named Noriaki Hayas.h.i.+. A person from there received the Flammulina virus to take away a manager's authority."

"Is it really blackleg's doing?"

"He used a proxy to avoid suspicion, but it wasn't so much so that I couldn't follow the lead. There's hardly any difference between the two. And it doesn't look like the person who did this was trying to hide his method or anything. I a.s.sume an investigator in the cyber division and blackleg were collaborating behind the scenes. Otherwise blackleg's whereabouts would have been found out, and he would've been arrested by now."

That was not uncommon. Chegar often heard of the government or police hiring criminals that had high quality skills or knowledge.

"When I looked around, I found the signal coming from an internet cafe in Nakasu."

Siva had already figured out the man's location. He was skilled. It made Chegar feel envious. If he had roughly the same amount of talent as this man, he could be active at the forefront of his division by now. Chegar shook his head to disperse those meaningless thoughts.

"He used a computer in booth 506." Siva hacked into the internet cafe's system and looked up the guest records. "The guest who was in booth 506 on that date is this guy."

The man's form was clearly captured by the footage of the facility's surveillance cameras.

"Found him." Siva exclaimed. "Here's your countenance."

Siva adjusted the footage to enlarge it closer to the man's face. He looked gaudy and had mushroom-like hair. Half of his face was hidden by his long bangs, but he had characteristic features.

"He's blackleg, huh……"

Chegar carefully examined the young man's smiling face, enthralled by him.