Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Volume 2 Chapter 9

Top of the Ninth Inning

"Ugh, gwaagh."

Lin could not help the cry that came from his throat with fingers pressing roughly on his bandages. After confirming the other two men have left, he said in a low voice. "……That hurts, you d.a.m.n s.a.d.i.s.t."

Martinez, pliers in hand, only shrugged. "Hey now. You're calling your savior a s.e.xual s.a.d.i.s.t?"

"You're enjoying the h.e.l.l out of this, aren't you?"

"Unbelievable. I've never once considered enjoying my work."

"You're grinning like an idiot."

Martinez grasped Lin's arms with a bitter smile. "Can you stand?"

"More or less."

In truth it was difficult for him to do so. Even though they were not fatal wounds, all of his limbs were injured. But he was not in a situation to whine about it. Lin took Martinez's hand and stood up from the chair. He ground his teeth and bore with the pain.

"Even so, I was surprised. Who knew I would receive a picture of you from my client." Martinez pointed at Lin's wounds. "You have injuries all over your body. Who did that to you?"

"A ninja."

"A ninja?"

"He threw shuriken at me."

Martinez bursted into laughter. He did not seem to believe him. "Shuriken, you say? Hey, you're kidding me, right?"

Since it was more bothersome to try and explain the events, Lin changed the topic. "What are we going to do from here?"

"Leave that to me."

Martinez opened the case as he told him this. Inside there was a dead body of a young man. He had a small build and long brown hair. The same as Lin. He did not have any clothes on him.

"Make sure to thank Saeki-sensei. He prepared this for you in a hurry. And I had to order the wig from Jiro. We don't have time, so I'll attach it with glue."

He took out a knife from his tool box. He made the same cuts on the body as where Lin's was.

"Lin, take off your pants. We'll have him wear it."

As instructed Lin removed his slacks and was left in just his underwear.

Martinez worked on the body to make it look like it was tortured. He gouged out its eyes, chipped off its ears and nose, cut the corners of its mouth, and damaged the whole face so it would be hard to tell its features.

Lin squinted in disgust as he watched. He was amazed such a nice face could be turned to something so revolting.

Martinez turned around and gave him a bitter smile. "Don't just stand there and watch. Yell a bit. Isn't it suspicious?"

"…Gwagh, it huuurts. Save meee."

"That's enough." Martinez stopped what he was doing. "You have terrible acting skills."

He finished the torture on the body and had Lin put on his change of clothes. Clots of blood clung to him on certain parts of his body. The switch was complete once he put the body into the chair Lin was sitting in earlier.

"Hurry, get in." Martinez pointed with his chin to the empty case the corpse was brought in with.

"Again?" Actually, I had to do this before too. He recalls. He reluctantly gets into the case and curls into a ball.

"……It's tight." He felt uncomfortable. "And it reeks of a corpse."

"No complaining."

Martinez closed the lid. Everything turned pitch black. "Stay quiet."

After a few moments he heard the footsteps of three people. He seemed to have called his clients over.

"Did you kill him?"

The man asked Martinez. It was the older one's voice.

"He was bleeding badly, so it was too late. Before he died, I got him to say some things though." Martinez continued. "Seems this guy was a friend of the Niwaka Samurai."

"You serious?"

"The Niwaka Samurai was busy with another job, so he went in his place. That is all I got from him though."

"No, that's enough."

The men seemed to be content with Martinez's work.

"Well then, until the next time you need me."

Lin's body was suddenly suspended. Martinez must have picked him up. Around the point they had gone down the stairs and were leaving the building Lin hit the suitcase from inside. It was a sign to let him know to let him out.

"Alright, alright."

Martinez replied and opened the case.

After he leapt out from inside and took in breaths of fresh air into his lungs, Lin asked him.

"……Hey, is that alright? Telling them that."

Martinez had told them the truth. Lin was a friend of the Niwaka Samurai. They may not know who he was, but they would still target the Niwaka Samurai once more.

"Are you worried for Banba?" Martinez replied back in question.

"It's not that, it's just……" Lin hesitantly said. "I'm just tired of causing others trouble because of my mistakes."

"You have nothing to feel responsibility for." Martinez shrugged his shoulders. "Furthermore people of the underground like us have to live while our lives are being targeted regularly. That is our fate."

Besides, he continued with a smile.

"He isn't the kind of man to sit quietly and wait. He makes it seem like he isn't thinking of anything, but he has taken precautions."

What do you mean by that? Before he could ask him, Martinez turned around on his heel. His back was towards Lin and he began to walk away. "More than that, you should hurry up and get out of here. Can you walk?"

"Yeah." He proceeded forward while dragging his feet. It was then.

Suddenly Martinez came to a halt.  " – Ah."

"……What is it?"

"Hey, is that vehicle theirs?" He pointed to the white van parked in front of the building.

"Probably." Lin nodded. "I was put in that and brought here in it."

Martinez approached the van. And then he started to set up something on the vehicle's body.

"What is that?"

"It is the redback spider listening and tracking device, version two."

"Version two?" That mushroom went and made something weird again. "What's different about it this time?"

"It's now able to stick to walls. And there's a cell phone strap of it too."

He attached the spider shaped object with a red pattern on its back onto the vehicle.

Bottom of Ninth Inning

When they headed to the place the transmitter sent a signal from, they found the van in question in front of an old building. The two seemed to be placing something inside the vehicle at that moment.

Saruwatari walked over with large steps and called out to them.

"Hey, you two."

The two turned around. Seeing Saruwatari's face they were startled.

"Uwaah!"

They pathetically screamed and attempted to run away.

Saruwatari grabbed them by the back of their necks. "I ain't letting you get away."

You really did something unforgivable back there, he said and punched them both directly in their face. Behind Saruwatari Nitta was holding a gun and was closely watching them as to not let the men escape. The two men took notice of him and raised their hands up in surrender.

Now then, I can take back the Niwaka Samurai and the 90,000,000.

Saruwatari began to search through their car. The backseat was pulled down, leaving a wide and empty s.p.a.ce inside. On the side was the silver case. It was his money that was stolen from him. After he took out the case from inside the vehicle he saw a blue vinyl sheet further inside. It was wrapped around something large.

Wait, could it be? He questioned and then took the object out of the car and pulled off the sheet. Inside was the body of a small figure man. He was wearing a suit and was covered in blood. From his appearance he must have been the Niwaka Samurai.

"……You f.u.c.kers." Veins popped on his head. He grabbed the man by the collar. "What the h.e.l.l did you do?!"

I should have been the one to kill him. Saruwatari yelled in fury. The man, however, quickly explained.

"He was a fake! He was a friend of the Niwaka Samurai!"

"Aahh?"

"……This man is definitely a fake." Nitta mentioned. He was gazing closely at the corpse's face. "There's information from eyewitnesses. His height is between 170 and 180 centimeters, and he has black hair. This body does not fit those traits."

"The Niwaka Samurai was busy with another case, so he had a subst.i.tute. That's what this guy said." The other man made excuses. "We didn't even know he was a fake. We were tricked by the Niwaka Samurai's mediator."

Nitta pressed the tip of the gun to the man's forehead and asked him with a smile. "Could you tell me this mediator's contact information?"

The two nodded at the same time. After Nitta handed them a pen and paper, they wrote down the man's number and e-mail address with shaky hands.

"This contact information is real, correct?"

"O-of course."

After they released them, the men hurriedly got into the car and sped off. He considered killing them but decided against it. Right now they were an important pipe connected to the Niwaka Samurai. They would do him no favors dead if something were to happen. Furthermore they were still unaware of the transmitting device. He could track them down no matter where they went and could kill them at any time. So he let them go.

Saruwatari and Nitta were the ones to remain behind. As well as the corpse.

"……Alright, and now what?"

"We'll use this to bring out the real one." Nitta glanced over to the body. "Something fairly more enticing will have him take the bait."

"……How did they know where we were?"

Abe pondered as he drove the car. How did that hit-man find us? Were we followed? No, that shouldn't be possible.

Actually – Abe recalled when they had first encountered the man. He told them, 'Prepare yourselves for me comin' to kill you two when the Niwaka Samurai doesn't come.' It was as though the man had said he could find them at any given time. He had believed it was a mere bluff though.

Then perhaps. Abe suddenly considered and parked the car to the side of the road. He moved to the backseat and started to search all over the seating.

"……There it is."

It was just as he thought. There was a black shape that looked like a transmitter stuck between the seats. He must have put it there when he had Yamamoto hostage in the back of the car. He threw it outside from the window.

"It hurtss……My nose feels likes it's going to come off……" Yamamoto was pressing tissues to his nose in the pa.s.senger's seat. His b.l.o.o.d.y nose had not stopped running since he got punched in the face by that man.

"It's because we cowardly did fraud that we suffered the consequences."

They had to learn from this experience and work honestly. Perhaps they could undertake jobs seriously again as killers. He was thinking ahead on what they should do. Then a call came on Abe's cell phone. "h.e.l.lo?"

[I have something to talk to you about.] It was from the mediator Genzo. [Come to my shop.]

Abe dropped by Genzo's shop. Because of what happened here previously he left Yamamoto in the car.

[I'll give you guys one more chance.]

What Genzo had to say was beyond what he could have wished for.

"A chance……Then you'll give us another job again?"

When he asked Genzo nodded with a stern expression. "Yeah."

"You will?"

"It's been busy 'round here. Enough that I need your help."

He said disapprovingly and handed him over a note.

"Go to this place in an hour. The client will be waitin' there. Ask for the details for the job directly from them."

"Yeah, alright."

Genzo warned him with a strict voice. "Dontcha slip up again."

As if they would slip up again. This was a great chance that happened to pa.s.s by for them. They would accomplish this even if it costed them their lives. Abe was worked up.

He pa.s.sed underneath the curtains and leaves.

His footsteps were light. As he was walking along the Naga River to get back to the car,

"Oops."

"Ow."

He b.u.mped into a man upfront.

It was a man with brown hair who wore gaudy clothes. For someone like him to be walking around this place meant he was likely a host working in Nakasu. He was probably heading back to work.

"Sorry." The male host apologized civilly and walked away.