CHAPTER 2 B

The Instigator

Ikebukuro—Rakuei Gym, night

Of all the martial arts gyms to be found in Ikebukuro, Rakuei Gym was one of the biggest.

On paper, the German MMA world champion, Traugott Geissendorfer, was a member, and for that reason, the gym’s name was known worldwide.

It was a mixed martial arts gym for the most part, but it had different floors for specific disciplines like karate and boxing. You could even take weapon lessons with swords, spears, and staffs.

Their members varied from serious disciples to housewives looking for an effective weight loss method. If you took out the particular kind of tension that all fighting gyms have, it was an eccentric place where people of all kinds could be found. In that sense, it was much like the city itself.

“Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed that you go here, too, Kuon! I’m a bit shocked, actually,” said Mairu, who was dressed in her fighting dogi.

Kuon, still in his school uniform by contrast, scratched his head awkwardly. “Well…I went to the Takadanobaba location up through middle school…but now this location is easier to stop by on the way home from school.”

“Got it, got it. Well, it’s wild to think that Aocchi introduced you to me during spring vacation, and we’re already running into each other here.”

“I’m just as shocked as you.”

At the start of every school year, it wasn’t particularly rare to find fellow students having conversations like these—if perhaps not this precise circumstance.

But no sooner had the mood settled than Mairu broke it down by glancing behind Kuon. “So who’s this boy?”

“Oh…sorry. Um, hello,” said another boy wearing the same school uniform, bowing and looking around nervously. It was Yahiro. “I’m Kuon’s classmate. My name is Yahiro Mizuchi.”

“Ohhh. So you’re another one of my underclassmen, then! Hi there.”

“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you.”

Mairu gave the nervous new boy a close examination. She was wearing special athletic glasses at the moment, although she took them off when performing fiercer activity like sparring and competition.

“Hmm—hmm—hmm. No dyed hair, no piercings. I don’t smell cigarette smoke or paint thinner. That’s great! Unlike Kuon, you seem like a model student.”

“Uh…th-thank you?” Yahiro replied, unsure why he was being assessed like this.

But Kuon, cheek twitching, rounded on the older girl in protest. “Hey, uh, I don’t smoke or huff thinner, either…”

“That’s true. Although if you’re hanging out with Aocchi, you’re probably up to much worse.”

“H-hey, that’s not fair!” complained Kuon, as Mairu cackled.

Yahiro stared at the two opposites in wonder. She turned to him and asked, “So are you looking to join?”

“Um, I’m just observing for today…”

Then Kuon interjected, “That’s right, he’s a stick-in-the-mud, Mairu!” and jabbed Yahiro with his elbow. “We were supposed to be going to look for the Headless Rider together, but Yahiro’s no fun!”

Outside school

One hour earlier…

“Let’s go and find that Headless Rider ourselves!” Kuon said, all momentum and excitement.

But Yahiro quickly replied, “No, I’ll pass for today.”

“Wha—? Why?! You’re not doing anything!”

“Yes. I’m fine doing something else…but I’m not thinking of looking for the Headless Rider until at least tomorrow. That’s the one thing I’m not ready for today,” Yahiro said. His voice was gentle but firm.

Kuon was flustered. “Why is today not the right day for the Headless Rider?! What does that mean?!”

“…”

Yahiro considered his answer. What should I tell him? I was going to follow Tatsugami’s advice and at least wait until tomorrow…

But mentioning that felt like it would be revealing a secret, and he wasn’t sure if it would be proper. She didn’t swear him to secrecy or anything like that, but he had the sense that it wasn’t the kind of conversation meant to be repeated to others.

So he told Kuon, “Sorry, the reason’s a secret. I couldn’t even tell a friend.”

“What? Is it that important?!”

“I don’t know if important is the right word…”

The sight of Yahiro seriously uncertain of how to explain it gave Kuon a strange sensation of culture shock. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. “You really are weird…”

“Huh?! I…I am?”

Uh-oh. Where did I go wrong?

Yahiro was not the most adept at judging the proper emotional distance of a friend, so he adopted what he thought was a polite smile—but not being used to smiling, it just looked like an awkward grimace.

Kuon wasn’t quite sure how to respond to this, either. He sighed. “Well, I guess we don’t have to do it today. Maybe I’ll go visit the dojo instead.”

“Dojo?”

“Yeah, it’s called Rakuei Gym. I’ve been going to the dojo in Takadanobaba, but now my high school’s over here, right? So I’m going to visit the main location in Ikebukuro.”

“Dojo… Like, for martial arts? What do you do there?” asked Yahiro, suddenly eager and interested.

Kuon wasn’t sure what to make of that, but he kept up a friendly smile nevertheless. “Oh, all kinds of stuff. I’m learning self-defense. But you can do anything—mixed martial arts, karate, boxing, kendo, you name it.”

Yahiro’s eyes widened a bit. He considered this for a moment.

“Can I ask you some more questions about that?”

And that was how Yahiro came to be at Rakuei Gym to observe the offerings there.

“I can’t believe it. He moved here to Ikebukuro, and he’s going to be all passive and hesitant about checking out the Headless Rider? It’s unthinkable. You’re just wasting your time.” Kuon grumbled, clearly not over their change of plans.

“Huh? You guys are interested in the Headless Rider?” asked Mairu.

“Well, yeah. I was definitely curious to check this whole thing out. But Yahiro is, like, obsessed. He says he came to Tokyo from Akita—just to see the Headless Rider. That’s crazy, right?”

“Wow, all the way from Akita?! That’s some dedication! Very cool,” exclaimed Mairu, her eyes sparkling.

Yahiro’s wandered aimlessly. “Er, well…I guess the Headless Rider…isn’t my only reason…”

“What? What’s that? What are you after? Is it my body?! But you can’t! Every inch of my body belongs to Kuru and Yuuhei! It’s been preordered! Already sold out!”

“I’m sorry. I…don’t know what you mean…,” stammered Yahiro.

Kuon muttered into his ear, “I’ve only known her for a little while, but I know you can ignore when she’s being annoying like this. Plus, I don’t think it’s worth coming all the way from Akita for her body. Her sister, on the other hand—”

“I can hear you!” Mairu grunted, swiftly spinning behind Kuon’s back and grinding his temples with her fists.

“Aaaaah! H-hey, isn’t this the kind of thing little kids do?! It’s like slapping hands or flicking foreheads! I’ve never actually seen someone do this in real liii— Aaaaaow!”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to be telling any naughty underclassmen like you any tidbits I know about the Headless Rider!”

Tidbits about the Headless Rider. Yahiro and Kuon pounced upon the offhand mention.

“Huh?”

“Hey, Mairu, could you please tell me how much you know?”

She grinned and hissed laughter through her teeth. “Oh, lots. I’ve met the rider several times. Kuru even got the Headless Rider as a bodyguard once.”

“Bodyguard?” Yahiro said. That word didn’t seem to have any relation to the urban legend he was familiar with.

“Yep. I mean, our brother was friends with the Headless Rider.”

“Friends…?” Yahiro was even more confused than before.

Kuon gave her a piercing look. “Now there you go again, making up stuff to tease younger people who don’t know better.”

“What’s that look for? You don’t believe me? I’m not joking, and I’m not some habitual liar. You can ask Kuru or Aocchi for the truth.”

“Ask Kuronuma?” Kuon repeated, frowning.

Yahiro looked from Mairu to Kuon with confusion. “Who’s that?”

“Hmm…? Oh, he’s an older kid who helped me out when I was in middle school,” Kuon explained vaguely.

Mairu added, “He’s the boss of a big scary group of bad boys, so be careful of him, okay?”

“Hey, read the room! I was trying to avoid details!”

“I did read the room. And then I ignored it, so don’t worry!”

“Ugh, you’re the worst!” Kuon lamented. But he realized the cat was out of the bag, so he followed up with, “First of all, Mairu is completely wrong that he’s the leader of some army of thugs. There are a few intimidating people in the group—that’s all. You know, guys who are quick to jump into a fight…”

Then he realized that he was not exactly reassuring his audience and tried to change the subject. “A-anyway! If your brother is supposed to be friends with the Headless Rider, then that makes things super-easy! Go ahead—call him up right now! Call, call, call, on that celly-cell-cell!” he chanted, slapping the gym’s pillar with his palm.

Mairu just laughed. “Ha-ha-ha-ha, I can’t.”

“Why not? It’s not fair! You can’t bring that up and then say you won’t!” Kuon protested.

But her expression didn’t ease the tiniest bit as she admitted, “I can’t because my brother’s been missing for over a year.”

It was a bombshell.

“…”

“…”

The two boys in uniform shared a look but no words.

Mairu seemed unfazed by their shock, however. She went on, “Oh, it’s fine; don’t worry about it. He’s vanished a bunch of times before—this one just happens to be longer than usual.”

That was a bit of a relief to Yahiro. “Oh…I see.”

But that feeling did not last long. She said, “Plus, if at worst he happens to be at the bottom of Tokyo Bay, then that’s a fitting end for my brother. Especially if you assume he probably wanted it that way, y’know?”

“…”

Yahiro was once again intimidated into silence. This time it was Kuon who spoke up.

“Uh…that sounds really worrying, though… If one of the Headless Rider’s acquaintances vanished, that’s just like what’s been…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a different voice joined the conversation.

“You’re wrong.”

“?”

“The Headless Rider wouldn’t do that.”

The trio turned toward the voice and saw a girl a whole head shorter than Yahiro, wearing a white cotton vest and white hakama, a kind of traditional pleated trousers tied high around the stomach. In her hand was an octagonal pole carved from evergreen oak, indicating that she was attending the gym to learn polearm combat.

Mairu recognized the girl at once. “Oh, it’s Akane. Heya!”

“It’s nice to see you, Miss Orihara,” said Akane, bowing politely.

Kuon asked, “Uh, who are you?”

“…I am Akane Awakusu, a pupil of Rakuei-Style Jodo,” she said, referring to a form of combat using short staffs. Like with Mairu, she bowed very politely to the boys.

“Oh, uh, I’m only here to observe. I’m Yahiro Mizuchi.”

“Kuon Kotonami. Nice to meet you, young lady.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Akane said, taking their first introductions very seriously. Then she insisted, “The Headless Rider is not going to kidnap you.”

They had no idea when she started listening in. But at the very least, it seemed that she had something to say about Kuon’s suggestion that Mairu’s brother's disappearance was related to the Headless Rider.

Yahiro, of course, had no way of knowing why she felt that way, so he could add nothing to the discussion. He just listened closely.

“Everyone has the wrong idea. The Headless Rider isn’t some scary monster like everyone online says…,” Akane noted mournfully.

Yahiro felt something in his heart twinge. Huh? What…is this feeling…?

It didn’t take long for him to recognize the strange sensation rising within his chest.

The people back home who called him a monster.

The people who looked at the Headless Rider the same way.

Did that mean he was hoping to look at the Headless Rider just like that, too?

Was he here to see the Headless Rider so that he could prove to himself that he was normal? Was that not the height of arrogance?

This sudden epiphany threw Yahiro into a deep and sudden malaise.

…Have I been acting incredibly rude toward the Headless Rider…? Then I guess that makes me no better than an inhuman monster…

Completely oblivious to his classmate’s sudden funk, Kuon asked, “Akane, right? Are you saying you know the Headless Rider, Akane?”

“…”

She did not answer his question. If anything, she seemed wary of him.

That was a natural reaction to his shocking green hair and piercings, but there seemed to be more to her reaction, too, swirling beneath the surface.

“Hey, don’t get all freaked out! This is all just, uh— You know how frogs in the jungle have some crazy colors sometimes? Like poison dart frogs. It’s just as harmless as that.”

“Those are lethally poisonous,” Mairu noted.

“It literally says poison in the name…,” Yahiro added.

Kuon ignored their comments and tried to win over Akane with friendliness. “Plus, none of us said we think the Headless Rider is a bad guy. We only wanna know what their deal is.”

Mairu cut in. “You can stop there, Kuon.”

“Huh?”

He turned back, cowed, as she continued, “Akane’s on the broadcasting committee at school, see? And one of the older kids on the committee vanished not that long ago.”

“…”

“So that was two consecutive things you said that were very inconsiderate. Not that I mind, personally,” she said.

Kuon broke into a cold sweat.

“…Yes, my upperclassman was a huge fan of the Headless Rider,” Akane said. “But I didn’t want to make things awkward, so I chose not to say anything about how I actually know the rider.”

Her face drifted downward, and her expression was grave. “But…then that girl just disappeared…and everyone imagines all kinds of crazy things and says them like they’re true…”

She was thinking back on the memory of her schoolmate about a week ago, when she met her during spring vacation.

“Hey, Akane. I think I might finally get to meet the Headless Rider!”

The girl had been the student president in elementary school. She was famous around school for her obsession with the Headless Rider.

Akane would have been happy to introduce her, but to do so would mean getting her family involved, and that was something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

“And if I get to be friends with the Headless Rider, Akane, I’ll introduce you sometime!”

Only a few days after that, the upperclassman who had been kind and considerate to Akane when she was feeling down—and was to be her fellow student at the new middle school after spring vacation—went missing.

From what Akane understood, she’d been classified as a runaway with the police, but there hadn’t been any news of the girl showing up.

The news trickled around the school in a similar fashion, and it was soon the talk of the entire student body.

“The Headless Rider abducted her into its shadow,” the absurd rumors went.

But everyone living in Ikebukuro knew that the Headless Rider was indeed real.

It hadn’t been seen in around half a year, but anyone who had witnessed it even once would come to the same conclusion: That is not something of this world.

A motorcycle that made no sound. Shadow that writhed and exuded something like smoke. There was no room to classify the urban legend of the Headless Rider as a simple folklore tale once you had seen these things for yourself.

Which is why a rumor like that could grow legs and spread throughout the school so quickly and effectively.

To Akane, whose life had been saved by the Headless Rider before, it was very difficult to watch the urban legend be cast in such dark and ominous terms. But no one was going to believe her if she claimed, “I was saved by the Headless Rider once!” And in order to explain it in enough detail to be believable, she would have to talk about her family background.

Akane was smart enough to know that would not make anyone happy.

So she held her tongue at school, pretending not to hear any of the gossip, and swore to herself deep down that she would investigate and get to the bottom of the disappearance herself.

This was the mindset she was in when she overheard Kuon, Yahiro, and Mairu talking at the gym—and she couldn’t help but jump in to defend the honor of the Headless Rider—and now she was paying the price of Kuon’s unnecessary attention.

“So what are you going to do?”

“…I’m going to go look for her.”

“Look for her…by yourself? Seriously?”

“I can’t leave it to the police,” she said gloomily but firmly.

“If you’re going to such lengths, you must really like this girl, huh? Or are you just that confident that the Headless Rider didn’t do it?” asked Kuon, not shy in the least about getting into her business.

“Well…,” she murmured, looking away.

“Look, we’re not gonna do you wrong. Just tell us more about the Headless Rider! If there’s some mistake going on, you should help clear it up. And if we know it’s all mistaken, we can help spread the word that the rider’s one of the good guys. Cool?”

“…”

Akane stared at the green-haired boy with suspicion, despite his gaping grin.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be picking on poor little girls.”

“Agagagagah!”

Mairu ground her fists against the sides of his head again, causing him to shriek. “Everyone has things they’d rather not talk about. Take a hint and be cool!”

“Owwww… But…but I’m curious,” he protested.

Meanwhile, Yahiro had recovered from his funk. He approached Akane and said, “All right, if you don’t want to talk, we won’t ask about the Headless Rider anymore.”

“…I’m sorry, thanks,” she said, more in gratitude than apology, and bowed her head. But she seemed to view Yahiro as being slightly more trustworthy than Kuon, because she added, “You would know if you ever shared a conversation…that the Headless Rider isn’t a bad person at all.”

“I believe you.”

“Huh?”

“Not being human doesn’t mean you’re bad,” said Yahiro, with a strangely self-effacing grin.

Akane found that mystifying, but his response cheered her up. “Thank you!” She beamed. “I agree! It seems like everyone’s getting the wrong idea…about the Headless Rider…” Then she paused, and this time she was the one wearing a self-effacing smile. “And about Shizuo…”

“Huh?”

“Oh, er, I’m sorry. That was just me talking to myself!” Akane said.

Mairu broke her silence with a smack of her fist against her palm. “Ah, that’s right! The Headless Rider is friends with Shizuo, too!”

Yahiro’s heart began to beat faster.

Shizuo? Is that…?

But Kuon reacted before Yahiro could speak his question out loud. “Whoa! Are you serious?! You mean, like, the Shizuo?! Shizuo Heiwajima!”

“Yeah, him. Oh, you know him?”

“Of course! Kuronuma tells me stories about him all the time. And I did see him throw a vending machine one time! Wait, so you’re saying the Headless Rider knows Shizuo Heiwajima, too?! For real?”

“Aocchi doesn’t tell you anything about stuff like that, then?” Mairu reacted with surprise.

Meanwhile, Yahiro’s previous downcast mood had done a one-eighty into fierce excitement.

Shizuo Heiwajima.

Threw a vending machine.

That must be it!

It’s him!

When searching for urban legends of Ikebukuro online, that was a name that appeared again and again. They called him the “Fighting Automaton,” and he was often listed next to the Headless Rider as one of the “living urban legends of Ikebukuro.”

And his name pops up here, right in this conversation! But why? Is it because they’re both urban legends? he wondered, then shook his head. No. This isn’t the time to think about this stuff.

Yahiro steadied his breath and said to Akane, “I’ll help you find your friend.”

“…Huh?” Her eyes were wide at this unexpected offer.

She wasn’t the only one surprised at this. Kuon looked just as stunned, and Mairu was grinning at this development as though she found it quite entertaining.

“I want to know what the Headless Rider is like. If they’re not a bad person, like you say, I would like to help prove that. And to do that, I’d like to hear what this schoolmate of yours who’s obsessed with the rider has to say.”

Well, I said it, no taking that back. I’m okay—I didn’t lie. I didn’t…right?

This was the perfect chance for Yahiro to find out more about not just the Headless Rider but this mysterious Shizuo Heiwajima person as well. Yes, he was worried for the sake of the missing girl, and he wanted to help this Akane girl, too, making it more of a “two birds, one stone” situation. Would it be duplicitous of him not to mention what the second bird was?

No. It doesn’t matter. Besides, I really do want to know: Is it possible to be a monster and not be hated by others?

…In any case, the missing girl is clearly the biggest worry here. It’s obvious what’s most important of all.

Despite the oddly guilty feeling in the back of his head, Yahiro kept it hidden. He really did want to help find the missing girl. He was sure it was the right thing to do for someone else; he just couldn’t be perfectly confident about it.

“…”

Akane said nothing but glanced at Mairu. It was the look of someone unsure of a new and unfamiliar person who is seeking reassurance.

Mairu gave her a big thumbs-up and said, “Good idea, right? Kuru and I will help, too!” Then she turned that thumbs-up toward Kuon and added, “And you can go and ask Aocchi’s gang for help!”

Kuon was the one most surprised by this.

“Wha—? Hey—I have to help, too? And get Kuronuma involved and everything?”

“Nobody’s forcing you. But you know what? You’re not really the kind of person who says, ‘Hey, amateurs like us should stay out of trouble and leave this to the police,’ or, ‘Why should I bother?’ are you?”

The implicit message in her tone and look was clear: I know you love sticking your head into trouble like this.

That was, at the very least, part of Kuon’s personality. He smiled back at the girl who was his senior at both school and dojo, cheek twitching, and simply shook his head.

“I’m amazed you can be so confident about that, given we’ve only met a few times,” he said.

“My brother’s really good at that sort of thing. Must be in our blood,” Mairu said, cackling. She tried to reassure Akane by saying, “Look, it’ll be fine. I’m sure she’s just acting out and running away, and we’ll find her safe and sound.”

“But…” Akane was still worried.

“Now, now, you can worry that you’re placing a burden on us later!” Mairu said. “Me and these boys are doing what we want because we want to, and we know there’s a possibility it might lead to danger. You have to recognize that sometimes older folks are simply going to do something nice for you, Akane!”

Kuon interjected, “Well, I’m not doing it of my own free will…”

Mairu leered back at him. “So you’re not getting involved? I’ll just ask Aocchi myself, then.”

“…No, I’ll do it. Might as well see this thing through,” he grumbled reluctantly.

Akane considered these statements some more and seemed to arrive at a resolution. A newfound look of commitment entered her eyes, and she bowed.

“Thank you very much… I appreciate your help!” she said, clenching the rod she was holding. “But…if it starts looking dangerous, please stop right away. The last thing I want is for any of you to be in danger…”

Kuon shrugged his shoulders and teased, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, if anyone here is likely to be in danger, it’s the youngest of us all, isn’t that right?”

“Kuon, I wouldn’t underestimate Akane if I were you. She might only be starting middle school, but she’s a rising star in the Rakuei Jodo Dojo!”

“For real?! Wow…okay, then the person here who needs to be the most careful is Yahiro,” he decided, slapping Yahiro on the back.

“Uh, y-yeah, I’ll be careful.” The other boy smiled, feeling conflicted. He tried to change the subject by asking Akane, “So, uh…anyway, what’s the name of this girl who went missing?”

She took a deep breath, let it out, and stated, “Tatsugami. Her name is Ai Tatsugami.”

“Huh?”

Tatsugami.

That had a familiar sound to it.

Yahiro started wondering if it was just a common name around the Ikebukuro area, but he quickly came to a more logical conclusion.

She was related to the Tatsugami girl that he knew.

And Yahiro wasn’t the only one arriving at that thought. Kuon inclined his head slightly and said, “Isn’t there…a Tatsugami in our class, too? Are they related?”

Yahiro couldn’t say for certain. “Well…they might be, but we can’t be sure yet.”

The missing girl named Tatsugami was a huge fan of the Headless Rider.

It would be ridiculous to assume they had no connection.

Yahiro felt his classmate’s warning rise to the surface of his mind.

“Don’t dig too deeply into the Headless Rider.”

He was getting dragged into something.

That much, Yahiro the coward was certain of.

But there was no way to stop at this point.

Struggling against the cloud of anxiety storming in his chest, the timid boy decided that he would continue onward.

After that, Yahiro observed Kuon performing his gym training, took a pamphlet, and went home.

Kuon and Akane left when they were done, too, which left just Mairu behind, waiting for her sister to arrive in the waiting room.

“I gotta tell Kuru about this. Starting tomorrow, we’re going on a manhunt with the Secret Society of Hot-Blooded Cold-Blooded Ikebukuro Detectives’ Secret Society. Whoops, I said ‘secret society’ twice. Oh, well, it doesn’t matter.”

She was sitting in a chair in the waiting room, kicking her legs and passing the time by coming up with names for the impromptu group, feeling excited about the whole thing, when a voice from the hallway called out, “Hey, Mairu.”

“Oh! Instructor Mikage! Good evening!”

It was Mikage Sharaku.

She was the daughter of Rakuei Gym’s president, an instructor with a distinctly athletic appearance. Mairu had known her since joining the gym, and they often spoke to each other not as teacher and student but like friends of very different ages.

She asked Mairu, “Those boys you were talking to earlier—are they friends of yours?”

“Who, Kuon and Mizuchi? They’re students at Raira. They said they just started school today.”

“Hmm…were they practicing?”

“Huh? Well, Kuon’s been a member of Rakuei Dojo for years. He was going to the Takadanobaba location, he said. What’s up, Mikage?! Do you think he’s oozing with potential or something?! Is he like Mr. Kisa, where he could potentially be the second coming of Traugott?!” Mairu asked excitedly. She hadn’t seen Kuon practicing for herself.

But Mikage shook her head. “Kuon is the one with the green hair, right? Well, he’s practicing our style. So it was clear from a glance that he’d been one of our pupils for a while…”

Then she paused, thought for a moment, and asked, “The boy who was just watching. His name was Mizuchi, you said?”

“Yep… What about him? Oh, is he your type, Mikage?”

“Don’t be stupid. That’s not it… I mean, has he been practicing something?”

“Hmm? Has he? I didn’t ask. I would assume that Kuon would’ve brought it up if he was aware,” said Mairu, taken aback that it was Yahiro the older instructor was curious about. “What is it about him? He seemed pretty reserved to me.”

“Did you look at his hands?”

“His hands? Um, I guess I didn’t. What was it about Mizuchi’s hands?”

Mikage considered her answer carefully, then laid down an ultimatum.

“What I’m going to say to you now cannot get passed to his ears or anyone else’s. Except for Kururi, I suppose, since I’m sure you’ll tell her no matter what. That’s fine but nobody else. Can you keep it to yourself?”

Mairu stopped kicking her legs and stared at her instructor’s solemn face with a smile. “Yeah. I promise.”

“Thank you. I wouldn’t want him to suffer any strange rumors.”

Mikage put a coin in the waiting room’s vending machine and hit the button for a sports drink with a blend of amino acids. She continued, “He was sitting all prim and proper, watching very keenly, but I just happened to catch a glimpse of his hands resting on his knees…”

She picked up the canned beverage that emerged from the machine.

“They were all scarred to hell.”

“Scarred?”

True, if you practiced karate by striking those posts wrapped with rough straw rope, it was easy to scar up your fingers. But Mairu couldn’t see why that would be such cause for concern.

“You could get scars like that from having a cat and getting bitten, though,” she said.

“…Yes, that’s true,” Mikage admitted. “Those were definitely teeth marks. But not cat teeth.”

“Hwa?”

“I only know this from personal experience…,” Mikage said.

Mairu looked at the hands holding the sports drink and realized there were a number of old scars there—not the kind you picked up from regular martial arts training.

“Those are human teeth marks,” she finished.

“…Like someone bit him?” Mairu wondered.

Mikage shook her head. “When you punch someone in the mouth and break their teeth, the jagged parts will stick into your skin sometimes.”

“…”

“And when you keep punching and punching and punching after they’re broken, it guarantees more wounds. It’s not a smart move because of the risk of infection. There are much easier ways to take out an opponent if you’re that much stronger than them.”

Mikage envisioned the hands she had seen, the details that it had etched upon her mind. Her expressionless face hid the stew of complex emotions behind it. The conclusion was clear.

“Those scars on Mizuchi’s hands… Those were put there by broken teeth.”

“…You’re sure?”

“And with so many…I can’t even imagine how many people’s teeth he’s broken.”

Mikage took a sip of the drink. She smiled weakly and muttered to herself.

“It gave me the shivers.”

Takadanobaba—Kuon’s apartment

“I’m home.”

Kuon Kotonami’s first destination back at home was his elder sister’s room in the back.

Moving boxes were stacked almost to the ceiling near the doorway. They were split into separate towers of opened and unopened things.

Between the towers were glimpses of the floor, upon which were piled emptied teacups and plates, along with neatly arranged chopsticks.

“Oh! You ate all your food today, Sis,” he said, picking up the dishes, but he was not actually addressing someone present in the room. “For being so regular about taking showers, you sure do hate eating food in the kitchen. I don’t understand the difference.”

He took the dishes back to the sink, grumbling to himself all the while. Aside from his sister’s room, the apartment was neat and tidy, without so much as a spot of mold around the sink.

Kuon fastidiously washed the dishes, then sat on the sofa in the living room and opened the laptop resting on the table there. Then he turned on the TV and used his spare hand to thumb down the screen of his smartphone.

“And now…”

The evening news program was on the TV. He put the phone to his ear.

“Hi there.”

“”

“I know, I know. I called because I have some intel for you,” Kuon said to the person on the other end, grinning to himself. He announced his findings. “Nope, nothing crazy about the entrance ceremony. In fact, I had the craziest appearance. Lotta Goody Two-shoes at Raira Academy, it seems like.”

“”

“A lot of other stuff happened today, though. I found an interesting pawn.”

Unlike the simpering, polite smile he wore before the class earlier today, the grin on Kuon’s face now was somehow cold.

“Would you believe this? A guy who moved all the way here from Akita, just to see the Headless Rider!”

“”

“No, it’s true! See? That’s the kind of person we’ve been looking for, right? And he seemed pretty naive and trusting, so I’m sure we can get him to do what we want. Like, I was seriously ready to be his friend.”

“”

“I’m just kidding. Do I look like a guy who has friends?” said Kuon, shrugging. “His name’s Yahiro Mizuchi…and he’s got all kinds of gifts.”

Kuon envisioned the face of the peon he’d found that day and narrowed his eyes until they were like a snake’s.

“And because I was walking around with him, I found a number of other things I could potentially harvest.”

Rakuei Gym

Now that Mikage had brought up Yahiro, she turned to the topic of the other student.

“By the way, what’s up with that Kuon boy? He seemed to be taking his practice pretty seriously. I bet if my brother or dad see him, they’ll yell, ‘Dye your hair black!’ Everybody’s so old-fashioned around here.”

“Hmm. Well, I think it’s fun, so I’m fine with him staying green,” Mairu replied. She thought it over a bit. “I guess he’s a bad guy. The kind who uses others rather than doing stuff himself. I’m betting he’s here at this dojo so he can learn the minimum of self-defense. Just in case it’s a necessity. Oh, and I said, ‘it’s a,’ not ‘Iza.’ Although…speaking of Iza, I think this guy’s the same type of person.”

“…If he’s like your brother, then he’s more of a pure scumbag than a bad guy,” murmured Mikage with a wistful look. “And what’s his connection to that Mizuchi boy, then?”

“He said they were friends, but I think he’s using him. Mizuchi definitely seemed very naive. I just don’t know what he’s using him for.”

“…I’m amazed that you can be so friendly with a guy you describe this way, Mairu.”

After that, Mairu told Mikage about what she’d discussed with the boys. When it came to the conversation with Akane, Mikage laughed.

“Ohhh, so they’ve decided to go searching for Akane’s upperclassman.”

“Yeah. I hope they find her…”

“Well, let’s hope those boys don’t get any funny ideas about messing with Akane. I assume they have no idea about her background,” Mikage said, placing her can into the trash.

But Mairu said, “I’m sure Mizuchi doesn’t know. I’m not so sure about Kuon.”

“?”

“If he’s hanging around with Aocchi, I’m certain he has to know about the Awakusu-kai.”

Kuon’s apartment

“Yep, Akane Awakusu. The granddaughter of Dougen Awakusu, leader of the Awakusu-kai!”

“”

“Hilarious, right? The pampered little daughter of the Awakusu, claiming she has connections to the Headless Rider,” Kuon said to his phone partner with delight, wearing an expression he was careful never to show in Akane’s presence. “Well, when Yahiro said he’d help her find this person, I wondered what was up, but the end result should be pretty entertaining. Anyway, the girl that Akane Awakusu wants to find is named—let’s see…Ai Tatsugami…”

“, ?”

“Yeah, I assume they have to be related. The journalist who disappeared not long ago was an Aya Tatsugami, right?”

“”

Kuon nodded. “Yeah, if you could look into that, I’d appreciate it. I don’t have connections to any publishers, of course. Oh, and this might be just a coincidence…but there’s a Tatsugami in my class, too. Seems standoffish, but she’s pretty cute.”

“”

“No, no, nothing like that. But if she’s related, too, that’d be the jackpot. Anyway, I want to be careful about this. It could end up involving millions of yen, maybe tens of millions. If there’s any bidding competition…it’d be Kuronuma, I guess. He knows everything I’m up to, after all.”

Then Kuon asked the person on the other end, “What’s up with you, then? Anything interesting happening?”

“”

“Uh…hang on! Who got out of prison? A big name? Dollars? Or Yellow Scarves? Huh? Blue Squares?!”

Like a snake that had just spotted prey, Kuon’s eyes sparkled with excitement. But that gleam clouded over within moments.

“”

“Former Blue Square, now a Yellow Scarf… Horada…?”

“”

“Okay…So he’s finally out, huh…? Horada… The Horada…Horada, Horada…”

His face went blank, and then his head inclined a bit with indecision.

“…Sorry, who’s that?”