Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

Warning: graphic torture, moments of child abuse and domestic violence/neglect.

Top of the Third Inning

That afternoon, Lin and Banba put on their baseball gloves and practiced at a park near the office. The case Enokida was involved in had been resolved, and without receiving any clients for a.s.sa.s.sination work or detective work they spent these past couple of days in peace. They would have gotten stiff lazing about all day in a room, so they would sometimes spend time playing catch as an activity to do.

After they finished their warm up exercises, Lin distanced himself from the other and threw the ball to Banba. He was gradually warming up. The ball got caught in Banba"s glove, making a crisp popping sound against the leather material.

There were some elementary schoolers playing on the swings near the park. They heard their clamorous voices from where they were. They seemed to be around the same age as Misaki.

That reminds me, Lin recalled. "What do you think he"ll do?"

Banba questioned him as he took a step forward. "Who do ya mean by he?"

Lin caught the ball Banba threw at him and switched it to his right hand. He then pitched it back at Banba"s mitt and answered. "I"m referring to Jiro. Jiro."

He thought back to their discussion with Jiro at the food stall from the night before. Jiro looked like he was very troubled over whether to let Misaki go or to leave the underground world behind. Or maybe he should go with neither of those and raise Misaki to be the successor as an avenger. Lin wondered if Jiro found an answer.

"If it was you, what would you do?" Lin asked Banba. "What would you do with Misaki?"

"Hmmm……" Banba threw back the ball while groaning to himself in thought. "I reckon" I"d go find foster parents. It"d be awful if somethin" was to happen to her."

"Right." Lin was of the same opinion. "So that is what should be done."

If Jiro was not willing to quit his job, then he would have to let Misaki go.

"Well, they have to decide between themselves. It"s a family issue, so outsiders can"t have a say in it."

Lin instantly froze. He looked over the man with the ball still in his grip.

"But they"re both unrelated to each other." Although Banba said it was a family issue, Jiro and Misaki were unrelated to begin with. "They"re not related by blood."

"They can be family without being related by blood."

"You can become family with someone just by living together?" Lin c.o.c.ked his head. "Then are you and I a family?"

"Ain"t we?"

"……I really question that." Lin shrugged. He was unsure if that factor alone could make people a family.

To Lin, his family was only his mother and his sister. There was only one other person he had considered to be like family: Feilang. Lin supposed he could have became part of his family as they spent time together in that isolated facility. But that did not happen. Feilang and him took different paths in the end. Lin figured he would never be able to have a family again the day he killed him.

Being related by blood meant they had to bear the responsibility for them. Because Lin was blood related to his mother and sister, he had sacrificed himself for them. He had the resolve to get himself involved in crime for them.

He was uncertain whether he would do the same thing if they were his step-family instead. They would have been strangers then. So perhaps he would not have tried to protect them with his life.

That was how much power there was to being blood related.

"There"s no need for Misaki to become a criminal for her step-parent, and likewise there"s no need for Jiro to change his lifestyle for his step-daughter. That"s what I think anyway."

It would be both to their benefit for Misaki to be let go and to begin a different life.

"It ain"t that easy to split up." Banba smiled as though troubled. "They"re family."

Like I said, they"re not. Lin frowned. He could not comprehend what Banba talked about at times.

They finished playing catch and headed back to the office. When they got to the third floor on the stairway they saw a silhouette. A woman was standing in front of the door.

"Do you have business at our office?"

When Banba called out to the woman, she nodded awkwardly.

She was apparently a client.

The woman was named Mari Aikawa. She was in her early to mid thirties and looked ill-starred.

Mari Aikawa stated in a quiet voice, "My daughter went missing. She"s a third year in elementary school. Her name is Rena. She is the eldest among my two children."

She had told them that Rena Aikawa went to hang out at a cla.s.smate"s house the day before and vanished. She gave her request, "I want you to find my daughter"s whereabouts."

"So why didn"t you go to the police?"

When Banba asked that, the client hung her head. "I still have not told them……"

"Why wouldn"t you report to them?" Lin, sitting on the side, questioned in an irritated tone. "The first people to turn to would be the police, right? Your child disappeared."

"There"s a chance that what happened is related to the recent case," Banba held Lin back and gently told the woman. "There was just that incident of children being abducted in f.u.kuoka, so perhaps your Renchan was also-"

"……The truth is," Mari Aikawa spoke fearfully. "I got a call from the culprit. They said, "I"ve kidnapped your daughter. If you report to the police, I"ll kill her.""

Banba and Lin looked at each other at that.

After they finished talking with her and set up the necessary follow-up, the client left the office. Peeking out the window, Lin muttered as she watched her walk away. "……Wasn"t that weird?"

"It was weird."

"There"s something really off, right?"

"Definitely off."

It was a peculiar job request.

"Is it for a ransom? There"s no way. Wouldn"t someone target a kid from a more wealthy family then?"

It was exactly as Lin said. There was something off about Mari Aikawa.

"It was probably made up. There was no call from the culprit to begin with."

"So that woman was lying after all?"

What the mother said and did made no sense at all. Despite claiming to have received contact from the kidnapper, she seemed not overly concerned for her daughter or the culprit and they did not sense any determination from her for negotiations. That meant that no one had called her. Banba figured that out from the beginning.

"Although she first started off sayin" her daughter disappeared, she then claimed that she was actually kidnapped."

The woman was worried where her daughter went, but she did not want the police to know. So she turned to a private detective. There was one valid reason he could think of.

"There"s gotta be a reason for her not wanting the police to get involved."

The police would have to do thorough research into the victim and their family when a child got reported missing. Any acquaintances and friends the family had on a day-to-day basis would be questioned by the police as well. So if there was a reason going to the police would be a problem, then that issue was with Mari Aikawa herself.

"By chance," Lin said in a low whisper. "Do you think that woman is someone on our side?"

That possibility could be considered. If she was someone related to the underground trade, then naturally she would want to avoid contacting the police. It was also concerning that she would let her young daughter venture outside by herself even though abduction cases were occurring across f.u.kuoka.

There was something more to her.

"First things first, we gotta look into Rena"s whereabouts."

Banba stated their objective, and the two got up from their seats and left the office. They headed over to their usual informant.

There was an article on a news website which mentioned some Chinese human traffickers had been arrested. More than 200,000 children go missing a year in China. There were many that were sold to farming communities that lacked workers, but that was not the sole objective.

"……Human trafficking, huh." Enokida whispered to himself while drinking his coffee at the cafe he frequented.

The arrests of these people were probably just the tip of the iceberg. The human trafficking syndicate within Asia was complex. Numerous criminal organizations worked together, creating a ma.s.sive network. They offered a wide range of ages from children to adults and would send them off within the same country or even across the globe.

Humans could be utilized in various applications. They could be put to work as a slave in labor, be objected to prost.i.tution, or be cut to pieces to be sold, in the worst cases. They could even be sold to underground organization establishments like Xianming Lin was and be raised as a murder weapon. Children were especially defenceless creatures, making them easily targeted by criminals, although there were exceptions to some of the ones captured like Lin.

Enokida closed the news website and opened his e-mail. He got another job request. It was from a drug dealer who was one of his more frequent clients. "I want information on any parents who are abusive. I need their names and addresses. As many as you can get."

Enokida read through the message once and tilted his head in confusion. Why would a drug dealer be looking into abused children? It was baffling, yet because it was, Enokida found it intriguing.

It was easy to hack into an employee"s computer at the child consultation center and steal their reports. Just as Enokida was about to hack into it, he felt a presence behind him. When he looked up from his computer, he saw two familiar faces looking down at him, Banba and Lin. "……So it"s you guys, huh."

""Sup, mushroom." Lin lifted one hand in greeting.

"Why are you two here together?"

Banba took a seat next to Enokida while Lin sat down facing him.

Banba went straight to the topic they wanted to discuss. "Enokidkun, we got somethin" we want you to look into."

Enokida decided to put off the abusive case for now and turned his full attention to them. "What is it?"

"We got a client that came to the office."

"She said she wanted us to find her kid."

"Another child went missing?" A boy going missing had just happened in f.u.kuoka the other day. Enokida shrugged. "This is almost like China."

So the parent was desperate to find where their child was right now. People were reminded of the dangers lurking in the world when something happened to their children. The parents would feel regret when they first experience a case like this, lamenting why they left their children all alone.

However, they were too late to regret their actions.

"When did they disappear?"

"Yesterday around three in the afternoon."

Right now it was past three in the afternoon.

"Unfortunately, they"re probably not alright." It was well known that after twenty-four hours have pa.s.sed that the chance of them still being alive was ma.s.sively low. "What is the child"s name?"

"Rena Aikawchan."

Enokida began working on his computer and found her personal information. "Rena Aikawa. Her mother is Mari Aikawa. Her mother got remarried three years ago. She seems to have two daughters. The eldest is Rena and the youngest is Arisu. Rena was the child of Mari Aikawa"s new husband and is not blood related to her."

"She disappeared when she went to hang out at a friend"s house. She didn"t even get there. Here are the addresses to Renchan"s house and the apartment building her friend lives at." Banba said and handed over a sheet of paper. "Could ya track Renchan"s trail?"

"I"ll try."

Enokida looked at the two addresses listed on the piece of paper and checked the surveillance cameras along the route between the two houses. When he looked at the footage during the time she had gone missing, he found a little girl on it. He pointed at the screen. "Look here. She"s on the traffic lights" security camera. She entered the park, but after that she"s gone."

Rena Aikawa was nowhere to be seen after she entered the park. She was not shown on any other of the cameras. "It"s a residential area here and the public safety is pretty good, so there aren"t many cameras around here."

The friend"s apartment was past the park, so Rena had to have been taken somewhere around the premises of the park and away from the cameras.

"Are there any security cameras in the apartment buildings?"

"Doesn"t look like it. It"s an old building and security is light."

"Do you reckon" this is done by the same fella who kidnapped the boy from the day before?"

The scene of the crime from the previous day and this one were not far away from each other. Both of the victims were elementary school students. There was enough connections to consider the possibility of them both being done by the same person. "I can"t think of a reason it couldn"t."

If she was taken within that area, then maybe there were residents living nearby witnessed someone suspicious wandering around.

"At any rate, how "bout we go and ask people living "round the park?"

Lin nodded at Banba"s suggestion. He then spoke to Enokida. "And can you look into the mother?"

"The mother? Mari Aikawa?"

"Yeah. It seems like there"s another side to her."

Enokida grinned hearing that. "Okay~."

Hearing there was something hidden to her character made him want to begin searching.

There was a park not far from the apartment complex Rena Aikawa"s friend lived at where Rena meant to go to. Lin took a look around the area when they got out of the car. Around the park were normal residential areas, which seemed unrelated to criminal activities. He could also see young elementary schoolers around. As Enokida said, the public safety was well. "I can hardly believe an abduction would occur in a peaceful place like this."

"Crime can happen anywhere," Banba shrugged.

That"s not very hitman-like to say, Lin laughed internally.

"So what now? Should we split up and go around?"

"No, let"s make the rounds together today. There"s a lot of housewives at home right now."

If some unknown man knocked on their door, they would be suspicious. It would be easier to talk with them with Lin there since he was dressed like a woman.

They decided to first ask the residents in the apartment building. They checked the community mailbox and saw rooms were labeled from 101 to 708. Among them, there were 56 families. Lin started to feel overwhelmed.

When they hit the intercom for the first room, a middle-aged housewife greeted them, just as Banba expected.

"We"re sorry to bother you while you were busy. We"re from a detective agency." Banba made an innocent greeting as to not be suspicious before asking. "Do you recognize this child?"

Banba held up the photo of the elementary school girl, and the housewife examined it.

"The truth is this child has lost contact with our client, and they are  looking for her. We heard that she was in the nearby park yesterday."

The housewife c.o.c.ked her head, placing a hand on her cheek. "I don"t know. I"ve never seen her before……"

"I see. Thank you for your time."

The first attempt at bat was a miss. Banba gave his thanks, and they headed to the next room.

They kept asking the other residents for an extended period of time, but they came up with no leads. Even when some of the residents said they saw a child playing at the park, they were uncertain whether that child was the same one as in the photo.

Without any leads, they could not get any results. It had become tedious. They had not even gone through half of them, but they started to feel like giving it up. Getting information was a job that required a fair amount of perseverance.

Lin hung his head as they walked up the staircase. "Shigematsu does this everyday?"

"That"s part of bein" a police detective."

"He has my respect."

It started to get dark outside. Banba suggested. "Let"s be done for today after this one."

He pressed the intercom for room 408.

Bottom of the Third Inning

The intercom was ringing repeatedly. After a while, the sound changed to knocking. Was it that caseworker again? He thought they would have just decided he was not home, but apparently that was not the case.

"Excuse me."

He heard an unknown man"s voice along with the knocking sound. When he opened the door reluctantly, he saw a man with unkempt hair giving him a forced smile and an unattractive young woman standing beside him.

"You are Ishiharsan, I take it?" The man asked, glancing at the nameplate on the door.

"Yeah, it is." Ishihara glared at his sudden visitors. "Who are you guys?"

"Sorry to be slow at the introductions. We are from a detective agency."

"……Detectives?"

Ishihara became weary of these unexpected guests.

The man called himself Banba. He then held up a piece of paper. It was a photo of a girl.

"We"re looking for the whereabouts of this elementary school student. ……Do you recognize this girl?"

Ishihara took the photo and looked at it intently.

"……No, I don"t."

He said in a shrill voice.

"The truth is this child has been lost in contact with our client. We were tasked into finding her whereabouts."

"Ah, I see."

He forced himself to be expressionless when the detective said that.

"We got information that she was seen in this area yesterday."

"I haven"t seen her. I was at work all day yesterday."

"……Is that so? Then sorry for taking your time."

The man smiled at Ishihara"s reply.

The two then left. After making sure they had left the room, Ishihara turned on his heel and headed to the closet in a traditional j.a.panese room. When he opened it, inside was a small child. She was bound with tape covered over her mouth. In front of Ishihara was the child with the exact same face as the girl in the photo that was shown to him earlier.

"s.h.i.t," Ishihara tutted. "He screwed it up."

"I"m home," just then, he heard a timid voice say. His son had arrived back home.

Ishihara stomped over to the entrance. His son was just taking off his shoes. He was short, making him look like an elementary schooler even though he was a first year in middle school, and he was slim. He was underdeveloped, perhaps due to not eating enough. He was pale and looked like he could collapse at anytime from anemia. His bangs were overgrown, and his complexion was always dark.

"A detective came by."

When Ishihara said that, his son merely stared at him blankly. Ishihara got irritated for how slow his son was. He had the bad habit of instantly losing his temper.

"A detective came here looking for that kid!"

His son jumped back when he yelled at him.

"You useless b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Ishihara had moved unconsciously, shoving his son by the shoulders. The boy wavered before collapsing in the entrance way.

"I told you to be careful so we wouldn"t be found out!"

Ishihara grabbed his son by his hair and punched him in the cheek.

They had a room in the corner, and the room next door was vacant. No one would pay attention to them even if he raised his voice or the child sobbed. These factors had encouraged Ishira"s violence.

"I-I"m sorry. I"m sorry." The boy stammered as he wiped the blood from his nose. "I"m sorry, father."

"Shut the h.e.l.l up!"

When Ishihara raised his right arm for another strike, his cell phone in his breast pocket went off. He instantly stilled his fist.

His right hand, still shaking in anger, shifted to his pocket and picked up the phone. "h.e.l.lo? This is Ishihara."

"It"s me."

He heard his superior"s voice.

"Sanjou-san, nice to hear from you."

"Come to the office right away. We have something to discuss."

"Understood. I"ll head over right away."

Ishihara hung up and made a long sigh. His head cooled down just by a fraction.

"……Hey," He glanced at the blood that had spilled on the floor from his son"s b.l.o.o.d.y nose and demanded. "Clean up the blood."

"I"m sorry," Ishihara left their home while hearing his son"s pitiful voice.

On the back of the photo Sanjou received from Kunio Yamazaki a URL was written. When he connected to the internet with his office computer and put in the URL, he was brought to a shady looking page. It was a simple design, with only a video posted in the center of a pitch black background.

Sanjou played the video once all his subordinates a.s.sembled. The video displayed a torture scene. Someone who looked like a high schooler from his stand-up collar school uniform was sitting in a chair. Tape covered his mouth and his limbs were tied to the seat. It was the same image as the one in the photo.

"Don"t do unto others what you don"t want. Didn"t you learn that from your school teacher?"

Someone was speaking. However, their voice was distorted. The machine-like voice continued. "After hitting them with several punches and weakening them, you cut their tail and crush both eyes. That"s what you did to that cat. The poor cat. It suffered dearly."

They had mentioned a cat. What on earth was this about?

What would happen next? Sanjou and his underlyings surrounded the computer and watched the screen intently.

"We"ll have you get a taste of the exact same pain from here on out."

The footage switched between clips for a while. The high school student was being tortured.

"……What the h.e.l.l is this?" One of Sanjou"s subordinates exclaimed unintentionally. "Are we turning to using videos from a Snuff film?"

"No," Sanjou replied. "This is president Yamazaki"s grandson."

"Eh?" The subordinate became speechless.

They heard screams that made them wanted to cover their ears coming from the computer. The high school boy in the center of the scream – Shota Yamazaki – was having his eyes crushed at this point.

"Won"t you turn towards the camera and say sorry?"

"I-I"m so-rry." Shota desperately pleaded for forgiveness as the blade of the knife cut his eyes, blood and tears splattered on his face. "I won"t do it, I won"t do it anymore. Please forgive me. Please save me."

"Do you understand the feelings of the cat you killed that time?"

Even as he apologized, the torturer did not stop. Shota Yamazaki was then decapitated, dying on screen.

The next moment, the footage turned pitch black. Once the characters, "you"re next" appeared in a blood red font, the video ended.

I see, Sanjou groaned. There was a lot of things that he understood now from the video. "President Yamazaki"s grandson killed numerous cats. He had filmed their torture and uploaded them onto a website."

Kunio Yamazaki"s words appeared to his mind.

"Shota was not as good as we thought he was."

It was exactly so. Shota Yamazaki was a cruel high schooler who took pleasure in tormenting animals.

"After he disappeared, the website was altered. Someone uploaded the video I just showed you on this page."

"Then what does it mean by, "you"re next?""

"There are other guys who have the hobby of tormenting animals on this site as well. It was probably a warning for them. "Anyone who does tortures animals this way will meet the same fate.""

Someone had tortured Shota and uploaded the video onto the site after tampering with the website. They also probably threatened Shota to write the note which stated he was running away from home.

There must have been someone else besides the ones who kidnapped Shota and tortured him who had the ability to tamper the website. There could be even more people involved in this case, but for now they needed to find the ringleader.

"President Yamazaki tasked us to find out who could have done that to his grandson. Any one of you got any ideas?"

After Sanjou looked at his lackey"s faces, there was one among them who spoke up. "……Ah, perhaps-"

"What is it, Kase?" Sanjou prompted. "Tell me."

"Perhaps it was the work of an avenger."

"An avenger?"

"It said it in the video right? That they"ll have him get a taste of the exact same pain. That clicked with me. I had heard rumors of a group called the avengers which would put others through the same pain as they did to others before."

"……Avengers, then." Sanjou groaned. If it was the work of an avenger, what happened in that video would make sense.

Shota Yamazaki had killed cats. And someone who had their beloved cat killed by Shota went to the avengers.

Sanjou replayed the video uploaded on Shota"s website one more time. He paid close attention to what the person said.

"After hitting them with several punches and weakening them, you cut their tail and crush both eyes."

"We"ll have you get a taste of the exact same pain from here on out."

"Won"t you turn towards the camera and say sorry?"

"Do you understand the feelings of the cat you killed that time?"

The footage was definitely an avenger"s work. At first Sanjou suspected it was an act done by an extreme animal welfare group, imitating what a terrorist would do. If it was, the mention of one single cat was out of place. When he considered it to be the revenge for a pet cat, then it made more sense.

"Avengers, huh." Sanjou nodded in understanding. "What else? Where could you meet an avenger?"

"It seems you have to be referred to them," Kase answered. "They don"t tell someone where to meet them unless you were a client."

"Could we try to find their location through an info broker?" Another lackey spoke up.

"No, there"s a faster way to do it." Kase reached for the computer. "Please allow me to use this."

"What do you plan on doing?"

"There"s an underground website which gathers information on the underground industry. I"m going to ask about the avengers there."

Kase connected to the internet and pulled up the website Undergroundjobs, f.u.kuoka version. He began typing a post into the forum. The subject was "Requesting Information on the Avengers." Sanjou said to his subordinate when he got that far. "Hold on."

"Yes?"

"There"s the chance this would be found suspicious. Let"s pretend to be a client. Change it to, "Please introduce us to an avenger.""

"Understood," Kase nodded and began typing on the keyboard.

"I"ll have the text be: "We"re looking for the avengers. We have someone we despise that we want to make even with. We will pay a reward for anyone that can refer us to them." How does this sound?"

"That"s fine."

If they had to be referred, it would be tough it it was just spread by word of mouth. They should easily be able to make contact with them if there was anyone in it for the money. They wrote a disposable e-mail address as a form of contact.

They finished their preparations.

"Sorry I called all you guys here on sudden notice. You can go back now."

After he dismissed his subordinates, Sanjou called out to one to stay, "that"s right; Ishihara."

A man with an unshaved bear turned around, giving him a sour look. "Yes?"

He had Ishihara in charge of the new project. "It"s about that case, but you do have enough, right?"

"There is no issue." Ishihara answered. "I should have the designated number we need by the fixed date."

"I see. Glad to hear that."

Their due date was in three days. They did not have much time left.

"……By the way," Sanjou suddenly recalled. "Did you know that guys from the Noma Group were killed the other day?"

"Yes," Ishihara nodded. "I saw it on the news."

Their group and the Mutagawa Group had nothing but quarrels between them in the past. If others were too quick to a.s.sume it was them who had killed the men, someone may attempt to take revenge on them. Furthermore, it was also possible that the culprit who attacked the Noma Group would make an attack on the Mutagawa Group, as they also were involved in the drug dealing business.

"You better be careful. There could be someone trying to interfere on the trade."

"I suppose," Ishihara nodded. His biggest defect was that he was quick to lose his temper, but he was a useful subordinate.

"I don"t know who was behind that, but they caused us unnecessary trouble." And at such a busy time for them, Sanjou tutted.

There was a room surrounded by diamond-patterned wall paper in a bright red RV with plush toys and dolls situated on a sofa, staring intently in the direction of the boy. The visitor finally awoke, sprawled out on the sofa. He glanced around his surroundings fearfully, his anxiety showing on his face. "Where am I……?"

"This is our home."

A clown replied to him, peeking at his guest"s face.

"Where"s mama?"

"No mama. Méqué"s mama died. She"s no longer here."

"No, my mama. Where"s my mama?"

"I don"t know. Ahaha."

The clown chuckled.

"But come on, play with us." He drew closer to his guest. "Be that one"s friend."

His guest frowned at his request. "I want to go home."

"No, you can"t." The clown had no intention on letting him go home. "Here, watch Méqué."

The clown took out his tools from the trunk. They were clubs – a type of street performing prop. They were heavier than standard ones, being made of metal. The clown improved his arm strength by practicing with these since a young age.

He maneuvered the three clubs skillfully, showing off his juggling abilities. "Look, look. Isn"t this neat?"

However, his guest would not even look. He just repeated, "I want to see mama."

In the end he covered his face with both hands and starting crying. "Mamaaa……"

The small child repeatedly called for his mother and sobbed.

"……You"re annoying."

The clown muttered.

He dropped the clubs to the ground, making a loud sound. He then leapt at the child in front of him with a speed like an animal would make when hunting its prey. "Annoying, annoying, annoying!"

When he got on the him, the child wailed even louder.

"I said you"re annoying." The clown covered the child"s small mouth with his palm. "Shut up."

Unable to breath, the child began struggling. But the clown paid no heed to his pain and kept his mouth closed forcefully.

At that moment, there was a sudden, high-pitched electronic ring. It was an alert for an incoming message. The clown released his hand off the child"s mouth and went to check his cell phone. It seemed the data he asked for had arrived.

The child was motionless. He thought the boy had died, but he was still breathing. He seemed to have just lost consciousness. But the clown had enough. He did not need a child that did not want to be friends with that one.

Once the clown opened the RV"s door, he tossed the child out onto an open area of land. He looked at the small body fallen onto the gra.s.s before returning to his room. He then turned on his favorite music he always listened to. It was Vesti la Giubba – an opera Pagliacci. It was a piece of music he had to listen to before heading out.

Vesti la giubba, (Put on the costume)

E la faccia infarina. (and the face in white powder)

A male"s singing voice resounded throughout the small room. The clown read through the data that was sent to him while listening to the tune. The name he saw on the first page was Mari Aikawa.

Mari Aikawa. Her address was in the Hakata ward in f.u.kuoka City.

He read over the report and packed the information on his target in his head.

Ridi, Pagliaccio… (Laugh, Pagliaccio)

E ognuno applaudirà! (and everyone will applaud!)

That"s right; everyone will applaud.

His heartbeat raced. His blood boiled.

Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto; (Change into laughs the spasms of pain;)

In una smorfia il singhiozzo e"l dolor… (into the grimace of tears of pain…)

It was time to head out.

The clown moved to the driver"s seat and gripped the wheel.

Ridi, Pagliaccio, (Laugh, Pagliaccio)

Sul tuo amore infranto! (for your love is broken!)

Ridi del duol che t"avvelena il cor! (Laugh of the pain that poisons your heart!)

He was going to save this world now – this poisoned world.

The clown stepped on the acceleration pedal while humming the melody of the tune.

She did not hear back from the detective. They still had not found her daughter. But Mari Aikawa was calm. She even thought to herself that she would not mind if they never find her. That girl was originally not hers to begin with. She was not her daughter. She was the daughter of that woman – that annoying ex-wife of her husband.

Rena was just a hindrance. Every time she looked at the money that disappeared for her as part of her child-rearing expenses, she thought it would be better if that child was gone. If it were not for her, she could use that money for her real child, Arisu. Mari could have had her adorable child take lessons or go to cramming school, whatever she would like to her heart"s content.

Mari looked at the clock. It was about time for her daughter to get back from school. Since they had to come back in a group, it was taking her daughter a little longer than usual to return.

Just then, there was a noise coming from the entrance.

Her daughter must have come home. After a few moments, the door to the living room opened.

"Welcome back, Arisu-"

When Mari Aikawa looked up towards that direction, she froze.

That was not her daughter.

It was a man.

He was abnormal, dressed in an outlandish clown outfit.

Mari"s eyes widened seeing the sudden intruder. Fear rushed through her body, and she yelped.

She was unable to raise her voice well enough to cry for help.

The clown approached her while humming a tune. Mari quickly dashed for the kitchen in haste.

"Wh-who are you-" She immediately picked up a kitchen knife nearby. She held the object with shaking hands and pointed the tip at the man. "D-don"t come any closer!"

But the man did not stop.

The man held something in his hands. He was twirling it around, broadly grinning at her as he drew closer. The man dodged Mari"s attack when she swung the kitchen knife and laughed cheerfully, "ahaha." As though he was playing around.

The next moment, a blunt object he threw struck Mari beside the head. Her vision wavered from the impact and the sharp pain. Mari fell on the spot.

The clown did not relent. He swung the object own multiple times. Mari heard dull sounds. Each time it was swung, her body jerked.

A lukewarm liquid poured down her face, accompanied by the sensation of her head splitting – it was blood.