Track 11

[Welcome! Thank you, for coming!]

Please enjoy yourself today.

I’m really looking forward to the anniversary event. I’m glad I was able to make a reservation!

With that said, since when was there such a cute guy working here…?

Please come this way, I will show you to your seat.

Wait, is that Yukikaze, the figure skater!? Why is he in attendance… Wow, he has such lovely countenance…

I-Is that Renga Nishizono serving a table over there? Did they invite a celebrity because it’s their anniversary? Amazing…

There’s a lot of customers… I’m getting nervous.

(I hope nothing happens today like it did yesterday…)

(...The chief gave me bear repellant for some reason. Probably in case those thugs come again.)

(I don’t need it, so I’ll leave it with the dog later.)

Welcome, please come in and enjoy our anniversary event.

Yes, thank you for showing me the way.

(Now then… Kakizaki’s lackeys all have the same watch on, so they’re at table 9, 13, 24… Looks like the man himself won’t be coming.)

Wow, I just took a super rich looking person to the VIP seats…

He brought a big box of gifts too.

Yachiyo-san, someone’s cologne rubbed off on you. Was it that rich person’s?

(It’s a luxury brand… My preliminary research shows that this is Kuzu’s favorite cologne. Is that Kuzu sitting in the VIP seat…?)

(We already know Kakizaki’s face, so that’s why his backer, Kuzu, has to be one to show up.)

Hehehe. I know rich people. That’s probably Kuzu-san from that major company!

Ahh, that one retired politician. You seem to know a lot about this sort of thing.

Well I’m a job hunter too. They always put pictures of the heads of the major companies on their websites, so I memorized them!

If you don’t put at least that much effort into getting to know them, you’ll never find a job~.

Ahaha. That’s true.

Oh, that reminds me! After we guided him to his seat, everyone at the venue was given a box full of expensive champagne!

……

Can I take a look at the label? …Red Scorpion. This is some good champagne.

(Poisoned champagne, huh? The scorpion on the label is a little less saturated than the real one.)

I-I-It’s super high end, isn’t it!? I’m going to go kiss up…I mean, take the VIP guest’s order…!

I feel bad for you, but I might be the one with a new job soon…!

…Please, be my guest. I’ll go and pass the champagne off to the kitchen.

(Kuzu’s plan must be to use this wine to cause mass food poisoning.)

(...If he succeeds, there’s a chance Mikawa will come back from overseas. Especially if this theater is important to him.)

(The theater will probably close down, and they’ve invited a bunch of famous performers from overseas today. They’ll also have a chance to drink the champagne.)

(If that happens, the amount of damages Mikawa will have to pay will skyrocket, and he’ll have no choice but to sell the land…)

(I can get rid of any evidence of the poisoned champagne before they start investigating. It wouldn’t be an issue.)

(And if it all works out, this city’s underground will become a seedbed for toxic underworld activities…)

......

Ten? What’s the matter? Do you feel unwell? You have a grave look on your face.

Huh? No. I was just a bit nervous about how I would perform.

That was another wonderful performance…!

I can’t wait for the next act!

The food is coming out during the intermission. I’m looking forward to that too.

(If Murakumo is going to do something, he’ll wait until there’s a lot of customers. There are already a few of them acting suspiciously.)

…Sojun, a customer at table 13 has gotten out of their seat. Enter through the back door. They might try something.

[Understood.]

……, ……

(The idiot looks confused. What’s wrong with him?)

…... ~ ~ ~.

…*Sigh*

Hey, idiot. What are you doing?

L-Liguang!

Ah, it’s just, there’s a customer that’s been away from their seat for a while. So I wasn’t sure if it was okay to bring out their food or not.

…Which table?

Um, 24, I think?

(...! Murakumo was just standing by table 10, but now he’s gone!?)

Liguang? What’s wrong, are you sick?

Tch, you stay here. Got it? Don’t move.

Huh, why…

W-What’s going on!? The food’s gonna get cold…!

Alright. We’ve cut the guide robot’s power.

Now we just need to cause a short circuit and start a fire. The timing will be when the alcohol starts making the rounds.

What an easy job.

I’ll go report in with the boss.

Okay, —....

…Huh!? What’s wrong, why did you suddenly keel over…

Ugh…

Gah…

W-What’s happening…!? Hey, wake up!

It’s useless~. I put him in a chokehold so he’ll probably be out for a while.

…!? You’re the crow… Why…

Well, why do you think?

D-Damn it, I gotta get out of here…!

Ah, you’re going that way. But there’s someone else over there y’know.

……

A scaaary guy.

……

Wha…!

You can have this back~.

*Ten throws a bottle of champagne at Henchman D’s head*

Ugh…

…Champagne. Is it poisoned?

Woah, you caught the bottle after it bounced back! You’d make a pretty good juggler, Liguang-san.

…Have you betrayed Ninokuruwa?

……

I was thinking, y’know. About what I felt like doing.

……?

And then I suddenly remembered, I have a crapton of evidence of Kuzu’s unspeakable illegal activities.

…You collected them through the course of your work?

Well, yeah. I thought it might come in handy someday. I just poked around a little and found a treasure trove.

Some of it’s pretty bad news for national interest.

……

Oh, and about the candy.

The eerie thing designed to lure naive people who have nowhere else to go…

On paper, it’s supposed to promote beauty and health, but it was strange how it was ever approved in the first place.

So I tracked down the big shot who let it through, and made a small “complaint.”

That big shot seems to have been covering for Kuzu up until now, but if they were to be accused of wrongdoing by an organization outside of their power, then they would have no choice but to throw both Kuzu and Kakizaki under the bus.

…Yorozu.

Bingo.

With a crime of this scale, I’m sure they’ll have their work cut out for them~.

(If they have the time to mess around with the Ninokuruwa, then they should focus more on what they need to be doing.)

I didn’t know you had connections with Yorozu.

You won’t be able to trace it. Just call it insurance.

Anyway, I sent them the evidence of Kuzu’s crimes. He won’t have time to be playing with real estate anymore.

However, this won’t satisfy Ninokuruwa.

And that’s where you come in.

Could you please pretend you hired me to do this and transfer some money?

Ah, the price will be a little higher than Kakizaki’s, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?

……

It would mean I successfully made an extra sale, and I’m pretty sure I protected what you wanted to protect, right?

Since the Lurong family’s been using our services for generations, they would favor you over a small fry like Kakizaki.

It would help even more if I became the eldest son’s favorite.

……

I did it exactly like how you preached, didn’t I?

……Ha.

Fine. Let’s go with that.

I think I did a pretty good job this time, right? You can praise me more, y’know.

I’d be in trouble if you didn’t.

You’re expensive.

…I’ll be waiting for your payment.

Sojun. Submit an additional request to Ninokuruwa. You can pay whatever they ask for.

Understood. I’ve also finished moving the unconscious men.

Now then… Kuzu will probably be turning pale and leaving the theater in about 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, it’s almost time for us to go on stage. Shall we go?

Yeah. Don’t mess up.

Make sure you don’t throw them at the wrong angle. I’ll feel it in my ribs.