CH_4.12 (112)

CH_4.12 (112)

Takuma clicked his tongue as he stomped into Ring's medical room with a nasty cut on his dangling and dripping right arm held into place by his left. A gambit not paying up and instead resulting in failure was one of the worst feelings during a battle, especially when the result was losing the dominant arm and dangerous blood loss.

He deposited himself onto a backless stool; wordlessly, curtains created a boundary, hiding him from the rest of the room. Frustrated about his loss, Takuma removed his mask and chucked it at the curtain.

"Grumpy today, aren't we," Sango said as she attached the Velcro tabs to seal the curtains.

Takuma removed his sweaty ski mask and dropped it unceremoniously on the table. He had lost his winning streak, his winnings per fight were going to reset to the base state without the streak bonus, and his dominant arm was going to feel weak for a couple of days— he felt like smashing things to ease the frustration bubbling inside him.

Instead, he just closed his eyes as Sango patched up his arm in silence.

Eventually, he asked, "What did he say?"

"He says he's busy," Sango replied.

This either meant that Enomoto didn't want to meet or didn't want anything to do with the conflict between Ryuu and Takuma.

Takuma held back a sigh as the answer stroked the flames of his frustration. The relationship between Takuma and Enomoto was one 'controlled' by Enomoto— most of their interactions were initiated with Enomoto, leaving Takuma without a way to contact Enomoto. So, the last time Takuma had wanted to contact Enomoto, he had done it through Sango— so this time as well, he had done the same.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

In case Enomoto was actually busy, Takuma couldn't wait for a time to open up in Enomoto's schedule, as Ryuu had already given him the date when the delivery needed to go down.

It seemed he had no choice but to go through the delivery.

"Take this." Sango gave him a little sachet of a rusty brown powder. "Mix it with a glass of water and down it in a gulp because it tastes horrible."

Takuma took the sachet, stared at the contents inside, and felt the gears turn in his mind. He looked up at Sango, who was cleaning up the table.

"Hey," he said, "I might have a job for you...."

———

.

"This is it."

Takuma looked at the two large black duffle bags on the floor.

"Don't screw this up. If this doesn't reach the Maiko Triad, you're going to be the one to blame. Then both us and them will come hunt you down, and it won't be good for you, you bastard. You better not screw up!"

Takuma ignored the chatter, knelt beside the duffle bags, and began checking the straps and zip of the bags to check their durability and find the weak points. He then stepped away and pointed at the bags,

"Open them," he said.

"What?"

Takuma glanced at one of Ryuu's underlings and pointed at the bags,

"Open them. I want to see what's inside."

He had to verify Ryuu's words about the contents being soldier pills and medicinal mixtures before he sent them across the village— and to ensure the bags were bobby trapped in any way.

"Show it to him," said one of the underlings further back.

The underling near Takuma clicked his tongue and unzipped both bags to reveal packs over packs of soldier pills, medicinal mixtures, and even some vials with liquids.

'There's no seal,' Takuma noted.

The underling scoffed, "Happy?"

"Possibly, if there isn't anything special about them, but I'd need to test them to know the specifics," said Sango. "Why do you want to know?"

Takuma shrugged, not giving an answer.

"It'd cost you," she said.

"I'm ready to pay—"

"Mission points," Sango interjected.

Takuma's eyes sharpened. He wanted to call it off, but at the same time, he didn't have a choice. Sango was the only person he could go to. He knew two other iryo-nin, but both of them were non-options. He didn't want to involve Enomoto, and he couldn't explain to Taro's dad why he wanted to know where the unknown samples came from. Applying for an identification request in the Police Force would be too risky if he was asked to explain the origin of the samples.

Thus, Sango.

"Half in mission points; half in ryo," he said.

"Mission points," she repeated.

Takuma wanted to groan but kept his expression straight.

"Okay... but only if you find a match. If you fail, I won't pay jack shit," he said.

Sango glared at him as if she felt insulted.

Takuma didn't mind. If he was going to pay in precious mission points, then he wanted guaranteed results.

"...Okay," she said.

Takuma narrowed his eyes but shrugged.

Sango pulled the menu that she had pushed away earlier and called,

"Waiter!"

... This bitch.

———

.

Takuma walked into the Police Force's archives, not the one with all the informational books, but the one with the case files and information dossiers. He patiently filled out a form and joined the short line at the counter with other Police Force members, who were there with their objectives.

When his time came, he passed the form to the person behind the counter.

"What do you want?" asked the man as he browsed the form.

Takuma answered,

"Whatever you can give me about the Maiko Triad."

Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón []. Link here and in signature.

Note: All the chapters will eventually be posted on public forums.