Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Volume 1 Chapter 11

Warnings: Mentions of & Elements of Rape. Not explicit.

Top of the Extra Eleventh Inning

"…..This is strange."

Reiko whispered as she was pacing around like an unrest dog in Yusuke Harada's living room.

"What's strange now?"

Ignoring Yusuke's unapprehensive lisping, Reiko inclined her head in doubt. "It should be alright to contact them by now, yet just what are they doing……"

Having become worried, she decided to give them a call. On the third call, the other picked up. "h.e.l.lo. Munakata?"

[You're Reiko Asakura, right?] It was not Munakata.

Reiko's voice lowered in pitch. "Who are you?"

[The Niwaka Samurai – would you know if I told you that?]

The Niwaka Samurai. It was the killer of killers. That sort of man made the phone call. Or perhaps he was using her comrade's cell phone. In that case-

"It can't be-"

[Your friend was killed.]

Her ill premonition becoming realized, Reiko's expression froze up. "Wh-what did you say?"

[My target is the mayor's son. I'm coming to kill him now.]

And then the call dropped there.

Yusuke called out to her. "Reiko-san, something fell."

"Eh?"

"Over there," Yusuke pointed to the floor.

A small, black ma.s.s was fallen at her feet. It probably fell the moment she took out her phone. But she did not recall having put anything else in her pocket.

"What is this?"

"Ah, it's a spider." Yusuke picked it up. "It's a dead spider."

"Give that to me." Reiko picks it up from the side. "……This isn't a spider."

It was hard for a spider. When she crushed it, machine pieces flew out from the inside. Is it a listening device? Or could it be a transmitter? There was the possibility of it being both.

Still, when was this placed? Who was responsible for it? Reiko searched through her mind for it. And then she suddenly recalled. That informant Enokida at that time unnaturally wrapped his arms around her shoulder. It could be that he stealthily planted that in her jacket's pocket at that moment. She had been had.

Then that meant from that point on all of her movements were being tracked. This was bad. The Niwaka Samurai said he was going to go kill the mayor's son. If he was a cohort of that informant, then their location had been found out thanks to the transmitter and bug.

I got to get out of here quickly before the killer comes. As she was just trying to leave the living room, her arm was grabbed from behind. Yusuke asked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm running away."

"Why?"

Her irritation surged up within her. Reiko yelled, "A tremendous killer is coming to kill you! If I don't get away quickly, then I'll be killed too!"

When she shook off his arm, Yusuke made a face like a thrown away puppy. "Hey, Reiko-san. You won't abandon me, right? Right?"

She felt sick. "Why should I give up my life for a low sc.u.m of a man like you?!"

She left Yusuke behind and got out of the living room. As she was just putting her shoes on in the genkan and opened the door, Reiko's eyes widened in shock.

"Hii~, it's the avengers~" A man was standing there. "You're not getting away."
Bottom of the Extra Eleventh Inning

Just what is going to happen from here on out? Saitou watched over the development with apprehensive emotions.

The masked man dropped the call and after awhile the door to the room suddenly opened. A woman rushed out from inside.

"Hii~, it's the avengers~" Jiro grabbed onto her without a moment's delay. "You're not getting away."

The woman in the suit became rigid. "W-wait, who are you?"

"Saitou-chan, there's no mistake it's this woman?" Jiro asked him. "The one who called out to you."

He recognized the woman's face. It's this woman, he thought. That night, this woman called out to me and we rode in a taxi together. Saitou nodded repeatedly. "Y-yes! There's no mistake, it's this person!"

"You're Reiko Asakura, right?"

"What if I am? Your target is that perverted son, right? He's inside, so do what you want." Reiko said impudently. It was the manner speaking as though she was not relevant.

"We have some business with you. I heard you framed someone of a crime?" Jiro inquired as he still grasped her arm. "We'll have you play the role of the culprit for all the incidents."

Jiro gave her a punch into her solar plexus, and Reiko lost consciousness. After binding her so she could not escape, he lifted her up onto his shoulders. "Here we go…….She's rather heavy."

The masked man gave them instructions. "Would you mind stayin' here and watch so Yusuke Harada don't scurry away? We'll go in and check."

"Got it."

The masked man and the cross-dressing man enter the room. They investigated the room one part at a time in turn from the genkan and proceed down the long hallway.

"He ain't in the toilet."

"The bathroom is empty too."

"Don't look like this room is used."

"He isn't here either. Where is he hiding?"

"Probably right here."

It was when the masked man tried to open the doors at the end leading to the living room. Suddenly the bathroom door opened and a man dashed out into the hallway. He was likely Yusuke. Maybe he was hiding in the bath tub in the bathroom, but they had missed him. Yusuke held a gun. He had it pointing to the men.

"Look out!" Jiro yelled. "Behind you!"

The masked man and the cross-dresser turned around together. Yusuke yelled, "die!" Both of them were slow to react at the unforeseen event. In the narrow hallway, they could not dodge a bullet. Jiro could not move about because he was carrying the woman. And so Saitou was the only one who can make a move.

I have to do something, he thought.

And in that moment, a baseball was at the edge of Saitou's sight. A professional baseball player's signed ball was placed on top of the shoe cupboard. Saitou instantly reached out towards it. He grabbed the ball, took his stance and threw. The distance to Yusuke was up to six meters. It was enough. It was a straight throw with all his might put into it. The balln without losing the pitch's forcen sunk into Yusuke's back. Yusuke dropped down to his knees and writhed in agony. He writhed on top of the hallway floor. In that opening the masked man pinned him down from above and restrained Yusuke.

"Nice ball." The corners of the masked man's mouth curved up. "We was saved thanks to you. You throw a good there pitch."

Saitou gave a shy smile. "I was a pitcher since high school."

"He apparently went to Koshien as well." Jiro said excitingly. "Say, Saitou-chan. We play gra.s.s-lot baseball, but would you play with us? We don't have a pitcher or shortstop so we're in a pinch."

They don't have a pitcher or shortstop? Then they're, he thought. "Um, what is your team's name?"

"Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens."

So that was it. He recalled the poster he spotted at the supermarket previously. That posted that said 'In the middle of recruiting members! Welcoming beginners! In need of a pitcher and shortstop.' Who knew that ridiculous name of a gra.s.s-lot baseball team was theirs. He felt it was as though it was fate. Though he had already decided not to play baseball anymore, he ended up replying with "I'll think about it."
After stuffing the bound Yusuke and Reiko into the car, Jiro brought Saitou to the nearest business hotel. With this Saitou's role has finished. After this he could leave the rest to them. Surely they could clean everything up well.

"Really, thank you so much, Jiro-san. I'm really in debt to you for many things." Saitou bowed his head deeply.

"It's fine. It's work. ……Ah, that's right." As they were departing, Jiro stuck his head out of the car window and handed him a business card. "Here, take this."

It was the business card of a director of a clinic called the Saeki cosmetic surgery clinic.

"Cosmetic surgery?"

"He's a very skilled doctor, so you can use him. The incident was reported on nation-wide news, so you probably can't walk outside with that face now, right?"

So that means to have plastic surgery and change his face then? In truth, it might be better to do so. He felt bad about it as his parents gave him this face, but it did bother him to keep exposing his face that had been reported as a murderer nationally in front of people. If he changed his face he could run away from that company as well, and he felt he could move forward with a new life. This may be a good chance, he thought.

Lin was in the pa.s.senger's seat. The one driving was Banba. After awhile the sea came into view. It was a pier. They stepped into one of the warehouses lined up on it. Inside the okama Jiro was waiting. There was a chair in the center, and the mayor's son, Yusuke Harada, was sitting in it bound.

"If you don't want to be killed, speak honestly." Banba threatened. Jiro was filming Yusuke trembling in fear and cold.

"Face the camera and say your name."

"…..Yusuke Harada."

"And your father's name and occupation?"

"Shotaro Harada. He's the mayor."

"How many women have you killed up to now?"

"Don't know. I forgot. I think about five."

"Yet despite that why have you not been caught?"

"My father would solve it with money."

"You were the one who raped and killed the Chinese person Qiaomei Lin, right?"

"…..That's right."

"Say it."

"Of-of what?"

"Clearly say in front of the camera 'I raped and killed Qiaomei Lin.' Face the relatives of the people you killed and the people you caused problems with and apologize."

"I-I raped and killed Qiaomei Lin! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Unconscious of his actions, Lin moved. Before he realized it his left hand had grasped the man's collar and his right hand struck the man's cheek.

"Oo-bah" Suddenly being hit, the man yelled pitifully.

After punching him with his right hand, he then punched him with his left. Yusuke's body and the chair itself fell over. He then hung over him from above and continued to pound his face in switching between his right and left hands.

"How 'bout leavin' it there. He'll die." Banba got a hold of Lin's shoulders and stopped him. "Well, he's gonna get killed regardless."

"Ahh, h.e.l.lo, Enokida-chan?" Jiro was making a call. "I sent you the video right now. I'll leave the editing to you. Change Banba-chan's voice and cut the last kid shown in the end."

Lin asked Jiro. "What do you plan to do?"

"An electromagnetic wave hijack." The one who answered was Banba. "We're gonna play this footage on all of f.u.kuoka's City's TVs. Not just the household TVs. Various places like the Solaria big screen or the large vision screen around Hakata Station. The mayor will be overthrown with this."

Yusuke yelled. "Let me go already! I apologized didn't I?!"

"Do you think you'll be forgiven by just apologizing?" Jiro glared. "There are plenty of people who resent you. Everyone is thinking they want you to get the same treatment. The same fate as the victims you raped and killed. If you think women are the only ones who could get raped that is a huge misunderstanding. I called my gay friend in today. He's an unmatched stone butch. Prepare yourself."

"An eye for an eye, a rape for a rape, right?" Another man voiced from inside the warehouse. A black man appeared from the darkness. It was the torturer Martinez who punched Lin. He looked at Yusuke and grinned. "How nice. It is a naive kid who doesn't know anything of the world. They're my favorite."

Yusuke turned pale. Tears are pouring out, and he is shaking. Just what sort of torture he is going to go through now is terrifying to even imagine. To this man it will be the worst punishment.

Jiro asked Banba and Lin. "We're going to start the torture now, but what will you two do?"

"Will you watch and learn?" Martinez smiled indecently. "I'll greatly welcome you to partake in it as well."

Banba looked over at him. He still wore a mask, but he knew he was asking 'what do you want to do?'

"No, I'm fine. I don't want to look at his face any longer." Lin shook his head. "But I'll say my thanks. Just by seeing his pathetic, crying face made me feel better a little."

Jiro smiled. "You're welcome."

"Then, let's get goin'. Thank you for the a.s.sistance, Jiro, Mar-san."

While walking down a path piled up with containers, he faced Banba's back and addressed him. "Hey, you requested them right? The avengers."

"Well, yeah." Banba came to a halt. He turned around and answered as he was taking off his mask. "I also made a request. To release the mayor's wrong doings, and that I wanted social justice. If he had that much authority, the people wouldn't have no power to judge against him. And so with this your sister got paid off a bit as well, right?"

"…..It was unnecessary."

Although he gave curses, Banba was playing ignorance.

"You hungry?"

Now that he mentioned it, he had not eaten anything today. As though to reply back to Banba's words, his stomach growled.

"When we get back home, I'll go and make some ramen."

Banba grinned, flashing his teeth.

"……Tonkotsu ramen again?"

Though he says he'll make it, he just puts it in hot water. How dare he say something so condescending. While muttering complaints in his mind, he recalled the flavor of the cup ramen he ate from that time and saliva began to moisten his dried up mouth. The scent of that savory tonkotsu soup.

His nostrils twitched just recalling it. "……Well I'll have it. It's principle to not waste food after all."

Banba started to walk. He followed behind him. Suddenly his side stung sharply. It seemed his wound had opened, and blood was pouring out onto his clothes. That's right, I was injured. He frowned recalling it. Ahh, it hurts. I don't have any strength in my body. Lin finally crouched over at that spot.

"d.a.m.n, it hurts."

Banba stopped and turned around. "What's wrong there?"

"Seems my wound opened up." He spat out pitifully.

"Oh yikes." Banba approached him and peered at Lin's face. "You alright?"

He stood up with his hand on the wall. However, his feet were unsteady. "I'm not alright at all. I'm dizzy."

"Can you walk?"

"……I can't." He could walk if he tried, but he did not feel like trying.

As though he perceived Lin's feelings, Banba broke into a smile. "Should I give you a piggy back?"

"……Do it."

"Alrighty."

Banba stooped down in front of him. Looking at the lean figure, Banba's back was larger than he expected.