Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

Warning: Molestation

Top of Third Inning

Club.Eve was completely different than the cheap cabaret clubs overflowing with loud music. The whole club was engulfed in a calm atmosphere. It had the remodeled interior decorating of a Ginza high cla.s.s club from a drama series. The reasoning Yamato insisted to him repeatedly that "the guests won"t do anything inappropriate" now made sense to him.

Why do I have to disguise myself as a hostess and infiltrate this club k.u.miko"s husband goes to? Lin had pouted. He could not understand it, but now he could not even complain.

"Rinko-chan." The owner of the club called out to him. Rinko was a hostess name Lin thought of on the spot. "Go to the ninth table right away. There"s a guest."

"Haa……"

When Lin gave an unenthusiastic reply, "smile, smile now," the manager made a wide cheeky smile. "Be civil."

Lin had already had his hair and makeup taken care of by the former beauty artist, Jiro, and he was wearing a light pink, one-shoulder dress. He was wearing a silicon padded, nude bra to deceivingly appear to have a bust. The illumination in the club was dim due to the luxurious chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Like this Lin could hide the fact that he was a man.

While tripping over the hem of his dress a few times he headed to the designated seat. He was wearing higher heels than usual, so it was fairly difficult for him to walk in them. Arriving at the table Lin gave a sigh. He was unusually apprehensive.

"E-excuse me~."

Smile, smile now. Be civil. He makes an unrefined smile while reciting that in his mind. After coming all this way he cannot despair and give up now. "Nice to meet you, I"m Rinko~."

As the manager instructed he goes on his knees in front of the seat and bows his head while giving his greeting.

The guest was a young man in his mid twenties. He is wearing a cowboy outfit like a person out of a western film.

"You"re called Rinko-chan? How cute."

Lin kept his smile even as his face was stiffening. "Haha, I get told that a lot."

"I"m Riku Makishimo. Call me Ricky."

Yamato had said Club.Eve was a club for people of the mafia and killers. Many came here as a place for entertainment and business discussions, and all the hostesses appeared to be used to these kinds of guests.

This man being Lin"s first client also called himself a killer.

"I"m rather famous in the underground, you know? Hey, have you heard of my name? "The two-hand gun Ricky"."

He had never heard of him before.

"…..Hmm, I don"t know."

Ricky"s expression clouded over at Lin"s reply. He quickly corrected himself. "A-actually I feel like I heard that name before, maybe."

"Right?"

He immediately got back his triumphant look. What an annoying guy.

"I"m a wandering gunman. I"ve been taking up jobs from all around the world, you see. From America to the Dominican Republic, Israel and even Nagoya."

"Whaa, that"s amazing."

"These are my pals." Ricky took out his two revolvers and showed them off.

After that he talked pa.s.sionately about his guns as Lin just made the appropriate responses. Without prolonging the time, he left with just, "I"ll ask for you next time." Just handling one person is so exhausting. Being a hostess is a tiresome occupation. Lin sighed while seeing Ricky off.

Having finished one job he was heading back to the break room when,

"Ah, Rinko-chan."

He was called out by his manager.

What the h.e.l.l is it? He wanted to answer like that but refrained himself from doing so. "What is it?"

"Go help Yuri-san."

"……Help?"

"Yes. Table 5, okay?"

Lin headed to the fifth table as told. It was a box room for a small crowd of people behind a large pillar. There was a guest already waiting there. Lin made a civil and friendly greeting once again. "I"m Rinko~, nice to meet you~."

He lifted up his face and looked at the guest.

"Geh."

It was someone he knew, so he incidentally slipped up.

"Wha-" Lin"s expression froze. "Why the h.e.l.l are you here -"

The guest at the fifth table was Banba.

He got seen by someone in a state he did not want to be seen in, especially by him. Immediately embarra.s.sment washed over him, and his face turned red.

"Dontcha fret now." Banba padded down the seat next to him. "It"s fine; come sit with me."

Why the h.e.l.l do I have to sit next to this guy and pour drinks for him? He wanted to curse and complain, but he could see the eyes of the manager from a crack in the floor, so Lin reluctantly took a seat next to him.

This sucks.

After ordering an oolong tea and giving it a taste, he glared at Banba on the side. "……What are you doing here? Did you come here to have a laugh at me?"

"I came droppin" by to check up on you. I was worried you got into a fight with a client, but you was really workin" hard. How remarkable of you."

"What do you mean by checking up on me? Idiot." There were two empty bottles of champagne left on the table. "You"re sure enjoying yourself."

A bottle from this place was roughly more than a few hundred thousand yen. He must have plenty of expenses to spend for this.

"I asked for the number one girl here. She was a cutie, so I opened the wine bottles to share with her, but she went up and left to another table."

"……Don"t bend over backwards for her."

For opening two champagne bottles I guess that"s this place"s number one girl. Or this man is just a simpleton.

"By the way." Banba"s tone had turned serious. He suddenly brought up the topic of their work. "How about the husband?"

k.u.miko"s husband, Tadafumi Izuku, had still not shown up in this club as of yet. "Doesn"t seem he has come yet."

"I bet so."

He said it in a manner as though he was expecting him not to come.

"……Then I guess I better get up and goin"." Banba stands up from the chair. "Well, keep up the good work."

"Shut up. Just go already."

"See you later, Rinko-chan. I"ll come by again."

"I"ll kill you."

After teasing him, Banba made his leave. Then another man came in, replacing him. He was a stern looking man wearing a white shirt.

Lin was taken aback upon seeing his face. He remembered that face. It was Long Fang w.a.n.g – the top of the Kakyuu Group.

He knew the slim man wearing a gray suit following in behind him too. He was the president"s a.s.sistant, Li. When Lin was still working for the Kakyuu Group as their killer, there was one time he had brought to the main headquarters by former boss Zhang. He happened to pa.s.s them in the hallway at that time. They were faces he would have never forgotten after seeing them once. They had that sort of intimidating presence and air around them.

Even so who knew the head of the Kakyuu Group would appear here. Furthermore while he was working here upon certain circ.u.mstances. The timing was the worst.

Lin was deeply involved with the murder of the Kakyuu Group"s subordinate, Zhang. If his true ident.i.ty was discovered, he would certainly be killed. Imagining the worst scenario his pulse sped up. He took in measured breaths in attempt to calm himself.

w.a.n.g brought in brawny bodyguards with him.

The manager bowed his head. "w.a.n.g-sama, welcome."

"And Yuri is?" w.a.n.g inquired. It was with a low-pitched, growling voice.

"Right now she is with another client, but I can call her over right away."

"No, it"s fine." After stopping them w.a.n.g moved his gaze in his direction. Their eyes met. His heart thudded hard in his chest.

w.a.n.g pointed to Lin with his chin. "She"s an unfamiliar face. Is she new?"

"Y-yes. Her name is Rinko, and she just started today……"

"I"ll have her until Yuri arrives."

Eh? Lin voiced. Hey, you"re kidding right? Me? He feels cold sweat on his back.

This just got turned into something worse. The manager was also turning pale. He was being a.s.saulted by pressure. Don"t do anything rude. Don"t make him mad. From the looks of it, he understood full well that w.a.n.g was a fairly big customer for them. Naturally the manager felt uneasy if the brand new employee made a mistake with the important client. But Lin did not feel that way. He was only concerned with his true ident.i.ty being discovered.

Lin lead w.a.n.g, Li, and their bodyguards to the VIP room. The guards were stationed outside of the room, and w.a.n.g took a seat on the sofa. Lin sat next to him, and with shaking hands he made a cup of whiskey and water. w.a.n.g"s fat arm wrapped around Lin"s waist.

"…..By the way, it seems you"ve been struggling quite a bit. Just for one small killer." Not paying mind of Lin being present w.a.n.g began to converse with the other. His low graveling voice boomed within the room.

"My apologies." Li bowed his head.

"Even though our subordinates were killed, do you just plan to leave him be?"

"We plan in gathering more killers right away."

"Hm." w.a.n.g smiled. However, the tone in his voice was harsh. "The Niwaka Samurai is the most skilled killer in the city of Hakata, right?"

– The Niwaka Samurai?

His heart jumped in his chest. He dropped the ice he was holding with the tongs onto the table carelessly. There was a small noise, and their conversation came to a stop. Lin apologized with a hoa.r.s.e voice, feeling the gazes of multiple people on him. "I-I am sorry……"

w.a.n.g had smiled.

"Are you nervous?" He whispered into his ear, and for various reasons he felt a chill go up his spine. The large, thick palms of w.a.n.g"s hands sneaked up under a slip in his dress and crawled along the back of his thighs. He desperately hoped those hands did not move up to his nether regions or his chest.

He swallowed the saliva quietly down his throat. While pouring a gla.s.s of whiskey Lin continued listening in on the conversation.

"Even as you"re hiring other killers, aren"t they inferior to him in the end?"

"Yes, and so." Li answered in a composed voice. Only this man seemed capable of being fearless in front of the head of the Kakyuu Group. "We"re hiring a killer from another city."

"Another place?"

"There are plenty of good killers outside of Hakata as well. ……Furthermore, it seems that man has returned."

"That man?"

"It is the kona-otoshi level one; the legendary killer."

He had heard about this before. In the past there apparently was a custom of giving ranks to a killer"s strength based off of the terms for the thickness of ramen. In order from the top it is kona-otoshi, barigane, barikata, kata, yawa, bariyawa. Konaotoshi was the highest.

" – G.G, huh." His eyes widened, and he grinned. "Even the Niwaka Samurai has no chance against him."

Gee gee? What abbreviation is that? Just who is that? The Niwaka Samurai has no chance against him? As if there is someone stronger than him. An even stronger killer than him; I can"t believe that.

It was when he was trying to fill w.a.n.g"s empty gla.s.s with alcohol and ice. Another woman appeared in the VIP room. She was a hostess with black hair, and she was wearing a white mermaid dress. w.a.n.g called her Yuri. Apparently the designated hostess had come. Now Lin could be dismissed from here. He was relieved. He stood up from his seat, bowed and took his leave.

He scurried to the breaking room with a slightly quick pace to get out of there. Once he sat on the sofa and exhaled a deep breath,

"How was it? Are you used to the work?"

A friendly hostess named Kaori, now with her makeup off, addressed him.

"Not at all." After he answered with that he asked her. "Say, does that guest w.a.n.g often come here?"

"w.a.n.g-san? He"s been coming since the place opened; he"s an old, regular customer." After she said that, Kaori lowered her voice. "They say he"s an absolute pervy old man and has had multiple lovers. Seems he also has been pigging it out with some our girls here too."

"……You serious?"

"Right now his favorite seems to be Yuri-san."

So it seems, he nodded in agreement.

"Yuri-san has only been here for three months. She has been able to become number one here in just three months mainly because w.a.n.g took a liking to her. He spends more money on her."

"Uh-huh."

"You should be careful too, Rinko-chan. w.a.n.g-san loves girls with long hair."

The short-bobbed Kaori laughed as though to herself. Lin shook his head, recalling the sensation of w.a.n.g"s crawling hands.

Bottom of Third Inning

With the wound on his right hand healed, he was ready to return to work. Abe headed over with Yamamoto to see their mediator to undertake a new job. As they were walking down the street lined up with food stands along the Nakasu riverside the red "ramen" sign curtain could be seen. The head of this food stall called Genchan was their mediator for a.s.sa.s.sination work.

When they came up to the front of the shop, they heard the faint voice of the owner.

"Sorry but that ain"t gonna do." He did not appear to be talking to himself. He was talking with someone else. "The Niwaka Samurai is busy hustlin" another job."

Abe"s hand stopped before he reached for the curtain hearing those words.

– The Niwaka Samurai? It can"t be, the killer of killers?

While hesitant Abe pulled back the curtain and took a seat without a word. Yamamoto followed him in the same way.

The boss, Genzo, was in the middle of a phone call. He had an old style flip phone pressed to his right ear. The person on the other line appeared to be in a foul mood as he could hear him yelling from where they are sitting. Genzo distances the receiver away from his ear and grimaces.

"That can"t be helped now," he presses on with a quiet voice. "I"ll send ya another man in his place. It"s alright; he"ll be a skilled one."

After he told them that he dropped the call. He turned around to face them and smiled, "Sorry for making ya wait."

"Give us work." Abe stated as always.

"Your injury is fine now?"

"Yeah." Recalling Yamamoto"s blunder the other day, he began to feel a little annoyance rose up.

"I just got a job for ya in perfect timin". It was a request from me." Genzo began discussing the job right away. "I want you to kill the man coming here."

It was rare to receive a request from their mediator.

"Is he a killer?"

Since Genzo had nodded Abe had braced himself for the worst. When he asked if he was strong, Genzo burst out a laugh.

"You don"t need to fret now. He"s called a killer, but he"s just some amateur."

According to Genzo their target was immersed in gambling and knees deep in debt. And to pay off that debt he got the idea to become a killer. He was introduced to Genzo by an acquaintance in the underground business and he had given him easy jobs, but the situation had taken a poor turn.

"He went up and killed the wrong guy."

"……The wrong one?"

"I told him to kill Ichiro Matsuei and he gone and killed a man named Ichiro Matsunaga."

"Haha." Yamamoto laughed. "What an idiot that guy is."

Like you"re one to talk, he wants to say back.

"So I told him I ain"t givin" him no jobs no more."

Mistaking a target was completely prohibited in this business industry. Especially for someone old-fashioned like Genzo. It was a bothersome rule. "I a.s.sume so."

"And that fella sure snapped back I tell ya. He went and threatened me. That he"ll sell me out to the police if I don"t pay up."

"So it"s better to kill him."

"Right?" Genzo nodded. "That man is coming here now to negotiate consolation money. Go and finish him off quickly after."

After a few minutes the target came by. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with English characters on it and jeans. He was still a young man. Abe burned the image of the man"s face and outfit into his mind.

After the man disputed with Genzo harshly he got up from his seat and started walking along the riverside. They get up as well and begin tailing him. They follow him from behind while leaving a distance between themselves and the target.

The target headed towards Haruyoshi Bridge. He crossed the pedestrian walkway without going over the bridge. The light just changed to red, hindering their path. On the other side of the streets with several cars pa.s.sing by the back of their target grew smaller.

The man disappeared from sight by the time the light changed to green.

"This sucks. We lost him."

This is a problem. The path split ahead of the pedestrian walkway.

"It can"t be helped. Let"s split up. Let me know right away when you find him."

"Got it."

Abe takes a right towards Nakasu 2 Choume, and Yamamoto heads straight towards 4 Choume in search for him.

He looked around the area while brushing off barkers from cabaret clubs. Their target was nowhere to be found. Did he go into one of the stores? I don"t think a man without money like him would mess around in a facility with women there. As he was wandering around pondering to himself he received a call from Yamamoto.

[I found him. That guy.]

"Really?"

[He just came out of the convenience store.]

"Alright, keep following him. Don"t lose sight of him whatever you do. Where are you right now?"

[I see a hotel.]

He opened a map in his mind. Around there, he pinpointed it mentally. Returning back to the previous street he searched for Yamamoto.

[Abe-senpai.] Yamamoto suddenly changed the subject. [It"s about that Niwaka Samurai guy.]

"What about it?"

[Well, didn"t the boss say it earlier on the phone? Something about a Niwaka Samurai.]

"Do you," his eyes widened. "Do you not know of the Niwaka Samurai? He"s a famous killer. He"s the killer of killers."

He did not know that the Niwaka Samurai truly existed let alone he went to the same mediator as them though.

[M-hm.] Yamamoto whispered to himself and laughed. [Now that you mention it, we"re also killing a killer now, aren"t we?]

"How about you stop chattering on meaninglessly and focus on tailing the guy. He hasn"t noticed you right?"

[Senpai, you sure are a worrier.] He heard Yamamoto laugh. And whose fault do you think that is? He grinds his teeth.

[ – Ah.] Yamamoto raised his voice. [He entered a parking garage.]

"Where is the parking garage?"

[It"s a coin-operated parking s.p.a.ce next to the hotel. Seems like he"s going to get in the car. If I don"t hurry he"ll head off somewhere. I"m going to go kill him now.] Yamamoto said impatiently.

Abe quickened his pace. Once he pa.s.sed through a narrow street and turned a corner the hotel came into view. "I"ll be there shortly. So just wait."

There was no response.

"Yamamoto?" He raised his voice once more. "Yamamoto. What"s going on?"

Yamamoto gave no answer.

Ahead of him he saw the yellow P sign for parking. It was a hundred yen for half an hour. Yamamoto stood still in the small s.p.a.ce where only five vehicles could park.

"Ah, senpai." He turned to face him and proudly stated. "I put a stop to him."

A man wearing a blue T-shirt was fallen at Yamamoto"s feet. There was a knife pierced into the vicinity of the man"s heart. He appeared to already be dead.

On the right side of his T-shirt that had turned nearly black from the blood there was an embroidery mark. It was probably the mark of a brand somewhere. Huh, he realized. No matter how he looked at it, something was off. When Abe saw him earlier he did not have this brand mark. He should be wearing a T-shirt with English characters on it. It can"t be, did he change in lieu? That can"t be it. Having a bad feeling about this he went to confirm the corpse"s face.

The color drained from his face.

" – Who the h.e.l.l is this?"

The face was different from the man who stopped by at Genzo"s place. Abe hastily fished through the man"s belongings. There was a wallet in his jean"s pocket. The name on his license was Tadafumi Izuku. It did not appear to be fake. It was a different person after all.

"Isn"t this the wrong guy?!" He yelled.

"B-but." Yamamoto replied back hesitantly. "He was wearing a blue T-shirt."

"But the design of the T-shirt is different!"

This was the worst. He braced his head in his hands.

Yamamoto only focused on the "blue T-shirt" and had followed a guy like that all the way here. Without considering how many men wear blue T-shirts in Nakasu and without confirming who it was, he ended up killing a completely different man.

"……You are truly a hopeless idiot."

He felt killing intent well up inside him. He wanted to bash his brainless partner"s head in.