Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Volume 4 Chapter 4

Top of the Fourth Inning

There seemed to be a new development in the serial murders of the homeless case. Lin was called up by Saeki to meet him, so he headed to his clinic after examination hours. Saeki let Lin in and brought him to a secret room further in the clinic. It was fairly dark with a table placed in its center, giving the impression of an autopsy room.

"Take a look at this body," Saeki prompted Lin.

It was not a photo of a body but a real one this time. When Lin pulled back the vinyl sheet what he saw was the bare body of a man.

"The same culprit had sent another again."

Lin examined the body laid on the table closely. From his build and skin complexion, Lin guessed the man was in his late twenties or early thirties. Just like the others, he had been brutally punched in the face as it was terribly swollen. And his mouth was agape. "His front teeth were pulled out too."

"Yes," Saeki nodded. "What do you suppose his intention is by doing that?"

Spoils – What Banba had told Lin pa.s.sed through his mind. Perhaps whoever did this pulled out their victim's teeth to satisfy his desire for dominance or ownership.

"The victim had blond hair on his clothes and nails. He must have got those on him when he fought against his a.s.sailant."

"I see." The culprit had blond hair then.

"Here are the man's possessions."

Saeki handed him over a standard smartphone and a wallet. There were a few ten thousand yen bills inside the wallet; the man's personal belongings he had on hand were left untouched.

"This means the guy wasn't aiming for this man's money."

"So it appears to be the case."

There was even a driver's license. His name was Manabu Kuroiwa. He lived at Yakuin in the central ward of f.u.kuoka City; it was not far from here.

"Good, this guy has a home."

All the other victims were homeless, but Kuroiwa was not one of them. If he could examine the victim's room, then Lin could possibly find some kind of lead on the culprit. Lin immediately headed over to Kuroiwa's place.

The restaurant Gen-Chan was currently in the middle of preparing to open. Banba took a seat and gave his report on the job as Genzo worked briskly in front of him.

"……He killed himself you say?" Genzo stopped what he was doing and glanced over to him wide-eyed.

"Yeah. I found him dead when I got there." Banba explained that Aoyagi had hung himself.

"It ain't someone who killed him and made it look like a suicide, right?"

"Shigematsu-san said it was a suicide through and through."

The bruises from the rope on his neck were natural. Although someone could have threatened him to hang himself, Aoyagi had a motive to commit suicide.

"He had a lot of pressure. After he quit the company, he was a shut-in."

"Well, he deserved it, right?" Genzo shrugged. "He caused people a lot of trouble."

"But he denied it." Banba did not imagine Aoyagi had been lying. "He left a note. He wrote that he didn't do it."

"Really?" Genzo leaned forward, intrigued.

"Dontcha reckon' this is awfully similar to Saitou-kun's case earlier?"

Saitou was dangerously close to being arrested for sending threats, obstruction of business, and having child p.o.r.nography. His computer had operated on its own due to a remote functioning virus, writing up posts on murder and exploding places on the internet and saving photos of naked girls. And even his SNS account was hacked.

"Someone might have used hacking to set Aoyagi up."

"Hackers are a dangerous bunch."

Banba nodded with Genzo. "Enokidkun looks cute in comparison to these guys."

Enokida had the ability to push people to death, but he had no interest in doing so.

"That's right; speaking of hackers," Genzo suddenly recalled. "There's this guy." He placed a photo in front of Banba. It was the photo of a man.

"Who's this now?"

"Manabu Kuroiwa. He's a hacker. His life is wanted by a few here and there." Genzo then added. "Got this job from someone connected with the police. This guy apparently caught wind of them hiring a hitman to secretly kill a criminal. He threatened them to pay up or he would let it slip."

"Oh wow." So he had to be erased.

"So, how 'bout it, Banba? Will ya take the job?"

"A hacker, huh……"

Banba muttered as he gazed at the man's photo. The man seemed to be a villain who extorted several people with threats. Banba did not have any particular reason to decline.

Enokida was upset that he was working for that man's sake, but he could not back down after Yagi provoked him that much. That servant had always been good at riling him up. That irritated him a bit.

He found out who the person behind the threat was. Or more accurately, he heard rumors of him. He was a hacker going under the name of macro-hard, and his real name was Manabu Kuroiwa. He had been very openly active as of late, which resulted in him bringing attention to himself from various people.

Macro-hard's hideout was a five minute walk from Yakuin Main Street Station. Enokida decided to sneak into Kuroiwa's room while he was away and copy the data on his computer. He had to confirm if this man was indeed macro-hard and if he was the one who sent the threat for certain first. If he could find proof, then he could leave the rest to Yagi to clean up.

Kuroiwa's place was room 202. Enokida pressed the intercom, but there was no reply. Just as he went to turn the door k.n.o.b, he noticed something odd: it was unlocked. Enokida quietly opened the door and peered inside. He did not feel any person's presence. He stepped inside stealthily. The windows were covered by black curtains, shrouding the room in darkness. It was hard to see, so he looked again carefully; there was indeed no one inside.

Maybe Kuroiwa forgot to lock the door. The single room was terribly cluttered. It looked like someone had went berserk in here and was in a rush to leave. And what was even more baffling was that there was not even a single computer in the room, despite it being the home of a hacker.

Did he get involved with something? Or did he take his stock-in-trade and ran out into the night?

Enokida c.o.c.ked his head in confusion in the center of the small room. Enokida went to flip the light switch to examine the room closer when he heard the door opening abruptly.

Someone came.

Enokida's breath caught in his throat. He could see a silhouette at the entrance. He did not have the time to hide; the figure walked right over to where he was in a moment. By the time Enokida realized it, his body was pushed down onto the ground by the other. Something glinted in front of his eyes – it was a knife. The figure had taken it out.

Dammit, a hitman? Enokida twisted in an attempt to get out of the other's grasp, but he was unable to. His a.s.sailant was putting their weight on him, preventing him from moving.

"Ah?"

The moment the hitman went to swing the knife down, they suddenly raised their voice.

The person's long hair grazed against Enokida's cheek.

"……What the h.e.l.l. It's just you, mushroom?"

When Enokida looked closer, he saw it was a familiar face. It was Xianming Lin.

When Lin went to Manabu Kuroiwa's home, the door was unlocked. He entered to see someone inside. It could have been the one who killed Kuroiwa. Wary, Lin made his attack. He swiftly pushed the other over, pressing him with his weight from above to seal his mobility. Just as he raised his knife, he realized it was Enokida. His raised arm instantly came to a stop.

"……What a shock."

Enokida gave a deep sigh as he stood up.

"Don't startle me."

"That's my line." Lin folded his knife back and put it away, also giving a sigh. "I almost killed you."

"What are you doing here?"

"Likewise," Lin questioned back.

"I had a bit of business with the person who lives here."

"He's dead."

"……Eh?"

"The guy who lives here. Manabu Kuroiwa, right? He was killed. His body was brought to Saeki's place."

"Who was he killed by?"

"Don't know," Lin shook his head. "As if I would know something you don't."

Lin was looking into who had killed Kuroiwa. He thought he would learn something by coming here. He hoped there would be a clue left here, anyway.

"……Looks like someone got here first," Lin muttered as he took a look around the room after he turned the light on. The room was trashed; probably done by whoever killed Kuroiwa.

"There are no computers."

"Then perhaps the culprit took them?" The person's objective may have been the computers.

"He should have a data backup somewhere. Like another spare computer or a smartphone." Enokida raised both of his hands. "But with the state this room is in, the guy may have also taken the backup."

"Ah," Lin exclaimed. That reminded him that he received Kuroiwa's personal belongings from Saeki. "If you need his smartphone, I got it."

He took the device out and handed it to Enokida.

"But it is locked, and you can't see inside it."

"That's not an issue. A mere four-digit pa.s.scode is easy enough to crack."

It was best to leave this matter to him. "Alright then, you can give it a shot. Do whatever you like with it."

Enokida gave a nod back in reply.

Abruptly, Lin felt something off. What is this feeling? Lin glanced around the area, searching for it.

"What is it?" Enokida asked him.

"I feel like someone is watching us……"

Lin felt someone's gaze on them, but he did not sense any person's presence.

"……There it is." Lin turned around and pointed. "It's a hidden camera."

There was a large bookshelf against one of the walls. A dog plushie sat on the top shelf. Examining it closer, Lin could see the eyes of its eyes were of a different color.

"It looks like the dog's left eye is a camera lens."

"So he left a surveillance camera? He may have been cautious since his life was targeted." Enokida suggested. "Still, you noticed that quickly. As expected of a hitman."

The camera was situated in a high place. Lin would have to use some sort of stool in order to reach it.

"I can get it for you. I'm taller."

Enokida boasted.

"Ha?" Lin could not let that statement go. "I'm definitely taller."

"How? I'm the taller one."

"Alright, then how about we compare?"

"I was just thinking about doing that."

The two stood back-to-back against each other, comparing their heights.

"See? I'm taller, right?"

"No, I am. You're wearing heels. That's cheating."

"But you're wearing those thick soles." Lin pointed to Enokida's shoes.

Enokida snorted. "I would still win even if I took them off."

"Yeah, no." Lin countered. "Hey, don't stand on your tiptoes."

"I'm not. You are."

It was then. They heard the sound of the door opening. They returned to themselves. Someone had arrived. Lin and Enokida looked at each other and panicked. They were not in the situation to be comparing their height. Lin immediately took out his weapon from his pocket and turned his attention towards the entrance.

"Ah."

A man wearing a black suit and a Niwaka mask stood there – it was Banba.

They relaxed. "……It's just you?"

"Banbsan." Enokida also sighed in relief. "Don't startle us."

There were such occurrences as coincidences. But the chances of three acquaintances to arrive at the same place were low.

"What was you guys doin'?" Banba removed his Niwaka mask, wide-eyed.

"Comparing heights."

"Which of us do you think is taller?"

When Lin asked Banba, he looked between the two and said. "Hmmm……you both look 'bout the same to me."

"……"

"……"

Lin got mad at Banba's impa.s.sive answer and scowled. Enokida also frowned in dissatisfaction.

Banba looked around the room, paying no mind to them.

"Do ya feel somethin' watchin' us?"

He also seemed to have noticed the hidden camera. "That must be it," he walked over to the bookshelf and reached for the dog plushie from the top shelf.

"Here we go," Banba had grabbed the item with ease. "There's a camera here."

"……"

"……"

Lin and Enokida glared at Banba wordlessly.

"……What is up with your expressions?" Banba tilted his head with a baffled look. "What's up with you two?"

Lin cut open the dog plushie with his knife to look inside it. They found a small camera inside the cotton. The footage on here would have recorded what had happened to Kuroiwa in this room.

They connect the device to the TV and watched the footage displayed on the screen intently. First there were three men that barged into the room. They were all wearing movers' uniforms. Because they were wearing hats and masks, it was difficult to see their faces.

"Who are these guys?" Banba whispered as he watched the screen.

"Who knows."

"The only thing we know for certain is that they're not movers."

Among the three, the tall man had grabbed Kuroiwa and covered his mouth. He seemed to have had Kuroiwa inhale a drug and put him to sleep. The man then stuffed him into a bag and carried him out. They had kidnapped him.

The other men then went to take all the computers in the room and took off shortly after.

"So they were after the computers," Enokida said.

They must have dressed as movers so they would not stand out when they carried out objects from the room.

"This guy may be the one I'm looking for." Lin pointed to the large blond man carrying Kuroiwa. "I was looking into the serial murders of the homeless, and Kuroiwa was killed in the exact same way as them."

According to Lin, the culprit had a high possibility of having blond hair.

Lin looked back to the footage again and whispered, "this guy could be him."

"He was brought somewhere else alive and then killed."

"Maybe he was tortured for information?"

"No, he didn't have any signs of being bound."

They focused on the footage again. Afterwards, nothing had particularly happened until Enokida had arrived. Finishing the footage, Enokida took out the data chip. "I'll do some digging and find where these guys went. And I'll check the data on his smartphone too. I'll contact you once I figure it out."

"Yes, please." Lin nodded.

After they left the apartment building and said their farewells to Enokida, Banba returned to his car parked at the coin parking. Lin got in the pa.s.senger's seat.

"So that Kuroiwa is dead, you said?"

"Yeah. His body was sent to Saeki's place. There's no doubt that the blond guy in that video was the culprit." Lin answered as he put his seat belt on.

"I did a fool's errand again."

Banba gave a small sigh. His target had committed suicide the other day, and now this one was murdered. Circ.u.mstances seemed to have moved ahead of him.

"You're off right now, right? Help me with my job." Lin said. He meant his job with the serial homeless murder cases. "I'm going to swing by the mediator's place, so how about you ask the homeless people about what's going on?"

"Ehhh, I'm not available," Banba rejected the offer. He wanted to go home as soon as possible. "I can't see the baseball game then."

"They're going to lose regardless."

"Wh"

His complexion changed when Lin stated that.

"What do ya mean by that?"

Lin chuckled with Banba pouting next to him.

After Lin got out of the car at Nakasu, he told him "get to work," before heading off, leaving Banba behind. He then headed to the usual food stall.

"Hey, Lin." The owner Genzo greeted him when he pulled back the shop curtains. "How're ya doin'?"

"I can't say it's going well."

Progress on the job was poor. Although he found the group that was likely the culprits, he had no other lead than that.

"You alone today?"

"Yeah. I have something I want to ask you," Lin took a seat and brought up the main issue on his mind. "Do you know any hitmen that pulls out the front teeth of a dead person?"

"A hitman who pulls out a dead person's front teeth?" Genzo tilted his head in confusion. "What on earth is that question?"

"This guy would beat up and cut up his victims and then pull out their front teeth. Have you heard any rumors of a hitman doing something like that?"

Lin took out the photo of the bodies he received from Saeki and showed Genzo, "here, like this."

"Hmmm," Genzo crossed his arms and groaned. It did not look like anyone came to mind for him.

"I wouldn't hire an inefficient killer like that."

It was indeed inefficient. A professional killer should take the life of their target swiftly. They strike for the person's vitals to kill them right away. To beat up and then stab them multiple times was something a s.a.d.i.s.tic amateur would do.

"I thought if anyone would know, it'd be you," Lin slumped in disappointment. He was hoping that Genzo – someone involved in the industry as a mediator even after retiring and had been a hitman in this city for many years – would have at least heard rumors of someone like that, but apparently that was not the case.

But then –

"Give me a second."

Genzo took out a sc.r.a.p of paper and wrote something down.

"Alright, here. These are the mediators I know. There may be one person among them that would know."

He told him and handed over a list of mediator names. Thirty people and their numbers were on there. Lin a.s.sumed he could find at least one lead with this.

Lin gave him his thanks and left the restaurant.

In the end, Banba was pressed to help with Lin's job. He was ordered to gather information by word-of-mouth from the homeless, so he first headed to any public facility that was a likely spot for homeless people to go to. Once he found a homeless person and asked, "have you seen a suspicious man around recently," he only received these kinds of replies:

"I don't know."

"Hey, mister. Can you give me some money?"

"A suspicious man? If you're lookin' for a exhibitionist, there are quite a few down that street."

He changed locations from Hakata to Tenjin and called out to people one sidedly. After the fifteenth person – a man he found sleeping in the park – Banba finally got a lead. "Actually, the old timer was talking about some stranger."

"Old timer?"

"He lived around here. He was my senior."

"Do you know where that old man is now?"

"Don't know," the man c.o.c.ked his head. "I haven't seen the old timer recently."

"Did he move somewhere else?"

"Don't imagine he would. He left his home here."

The place the man pointed to was a stack of cardboard and a vinyl sheet.

"Did something happen to him?" The other man inquired. He seemed interested in the matter. "Truth is, from what I could tell, he was a police detective in the past. Though he doesn't look like it now," the man smiled self-ridiculously.

"He was framed and got fired."

Those words clicked with Banba. "Framed and got fired." It resonated with him from somewhere before – it was like that note earlier.  The person who hung himself: Yusuke Aoyagi's suicide note. He also proclaimed that he was innocent. He was set up by someone and had no choice but to quit the company.

"Can you tell me more about it in detail?"

Even though it was now September, the night was humid and hot. Banba gave the homeless man a chilled juice drink for payment, and the man grinned, showing his yellowed teeth.

After they took a seat on the park bench, the former police detective vagrant spoke. "Mister, do you know of the Cracker?"

"The Cracker?" Banba recited the term and tilted his head. "Like those things that pop?"

"No, not those. I mean the freelance hitman in this city." The man continued. "He kills people with hacking."

"With hacking? How?" Banba was surprised. Did that mean they killed their target without directly touching them?

"He kills them off socially by putting a crime on them." The man explained his tactics. "For example, if there was a politician, he would want his rival to be taken care of, right? Even if they requested a hitman to a.s.sa.s.sinate them and showcase it as an accident or suicide, it would still look suspicious, right? However, he is different. He wouldn't eliminate his target; he would set them up so they could lose their credibility and renown publically."

"……I see."

"He would expose their dark secrets or frame them for a crime to destroy their life. It doesn’t even matter if they're true or not. Once they become rumors, it would be over for them. There is no other kind of hitman more frightening to people in occupations dependent on public favor than him."

There were free risks for the client. And if the Cracker did well enough, he could push someone to commit suicide – just like Aoyagi.

"I was chasing that hitman down for years. But just when I thought I got a trail on him, he countered me. He made an attack on me. He framed me, a detective, as a criminal."

"What did he do?"

"He made my computer purchase drugs. And then at some point, the actual products were put into my house. That guy is meticulous. He even used my credit card for it. Someone used my money, pretending to be me."

The man was then fired and lost all of his money. Then his life ended with him becoming homeless. This police detective, who had a strong sense of justice, was framed for being a drug addict. He was killed off socially. It was terrifying.

"……A hitman, huh."

Banba groaned to himself.

'Doesn't look like a hitman I would hire.' The middle-aged woman working at the lottery told him. She was one of the mediators Genzo knew. 'Besides, I haven't gotten any jobs for the a.s.sa.s.sination of homeless people recently.'

Lin dropped the call and sighed. He called the list of mediators he received from Genzo and asked about the man he was looking into. This woman was the last on the list, but in the end he got nothing out of it.

Guess I should go home. Lin unwilling gave up and got onto the bus.

Is there no other way to get information? He thought over his options as he was shaken in the vehicle. He suddenly recalled. Actually, there's an underground website that collects information from the underworld.

Then maybe Lin could find rumors on the man who pulls out people's teeth on that site.

Lin took out his smartphone and opened the top page for Undergroundjobs.com f.u.kuoka version.

He put in the search engine the keyword: front teeth. He hit the enter key.

Search results – 0 cases.

"……Guess I can't find anything on it."

Should I try another term? He recalled the blond man from the hidden camera footage. This time he searched 'blond hair.'

Search results – 5 cases.

He seemed to have found some. Lin's attention was caught by one post among them.

We will pay 5,000,000 yen for the person who captures this man.

Characteristics: 165 to 170 centimeters tall, slim, blond hair.

After those sentences, a photo of a man was posted.

Lin's eyes widened seeing the person's face. "……What the h.e.l.l?"

Lin had to let him know of this immediately. He got off the bus and immediately made a call. However, the other did not answer. Lin just kept getting the dialing tone. The man must be talking with someone right now. This isn't good, Lin frowned.

Enokida remained in the internet cafe, indulging himself in his work. When he looked into the backup files on the smartphone, he found hidden secrets of various famous people in macro-hard's data files. There was no mistake that macro-hard was the person behind the threat to Kazuo Matsuda. Macro-hard even had a grasp on the crime his son did that he covered up.

But although macro-hard was killed, the problem still remained. There were people who took his data: the three people shown in the hidden camera footage. It was only a matter of time before they to go through macro-hard's data and find Matsuda's secret. Even though the person who sent him the threat was no longer in their world, it was still valid since the data was taken by the three. They needed to be shut down.

First, Enokida had to figure out who they were.

He attempted to figure out their ident.i.ties from the footage, but it was not possible. They made sure to hide their faces well enough, so it was impossible without clear illumination on them. Enokida was unable to match them with any photo in the database, and he had to give up.

But a question came to mind. Why did those three kill macro-hard? Enokida could not imagine why they would, but according to Lin there was a high possibility they killed him.

But why?

Enokida had a sudden thought. What if those three's objective was the same as his? Someone whom this man had information on could have hired a professional killer to dispose of him. So they took all of Kuroiwa's computers to erase him. That would make sense to Enokida.

It was at that point that his smartphone had rung. It was an incoming call from the cyber crime investigator, Karimura, he was acquainted with.

'About that list you gave me the other day,' Karimura suddenly mentioned that case when Enokida picked up the phone. The tone of his voice was dark.

"Did you decipher it?"

'Yes. I'm sending it to you now. Take a look at it.'

Enokida looked at the computer in front of him. He just got an e-mail in. "Oh, here it is."

Enokida opened the e-mail and downloaded the attached file.

'The top secret list had names of hackers around the world. It's one of those blacklists.'

"A blacklist?"

'.mmm is a free-for-all cyber terrorist organization outwardly, but their activities are completely different on the inside.' Karimura continued. 'The executives would station their workers all over the world and have them a.s.sa.s.sinate hackers.'

a.s.sa.s.sination of hackers – that was not a pleasant idea. "So that means their true face is a hacker a.s.sa.s.sination organization?"

'That's exactly what they are.' Karimura consented. 'The names on here are likely a list for those that have to be killed off. Last month, three hackers in America have died. Their names were on this list.'

Proficient hackers would be their enemies in a cyber war. It was not a battle where anyone could easily pull the trigger of a gun. For a cyber war, there was a limit on people who could use weapons. In short, without them, they could rise up and take predominance in the cyber war front within their country.

'.mmm's base is said to be in China or North Korea. There are also rumors of various cyber advanced countries are also teamed up with them. Some governments are overlooking what they do, and there are even some politicians that support them.'

Enokida opened the file he had just received. Just as Karimura told him, there was a list of hacker names. Among them, there was that man's name too. "Macro-hard's name is on here."

Macro-hard was Manabu Kuroiwa. He was the hacker who had just been killed.

'That's not the only one. Please look at the third page.'

When Enokida did as instructed and scrowled to the third page, a familiar name caught his eye: blackleg_nameko.

'Blackleg. Your name is listed on there as well.'

"……It is."

blackleg_nameko – nickname blackleg – was the codename Enokida had used in the past.

'Someone got in and took the data on the hackers. Including your file.' Karimura told him seriously. 'Please be careful, Enokidsan. You're targeted by .mmm as well.'

Bottom of the Fourth Inning

Chegar headed to Hakata Station to give his report. He sat down on the plaza bench as usual around the designated time and waited for his superior patiently. The executive had mixed into the crowd and appeared out of nowhere without any warning. Chegar stated, still facing forward, to the man who sat down next to him on the bench, "macro-hard has been eliminated."

"Is that so?"

"There's just one issue."

"And that is?" The man's tone turned harsh.

Chegar said quietly, "it seems blackleg is in this city."

"Blackleg is?" The man raised his voice. "Are you certain of it?"

"Yes. Siva has a lead on him."

Chegar then explained to him all the details.

"We found information on blackleg on the data macro-hard had. Siva looked into it, and he confirmed that he's indeed in this city."

When the other man gave him a doubtful look, Chegar prompted him, "what would you have us do?"

"Eliminate him." The man's reply was immediate. "He's a dangerous person to us. Kill him as fast as possible."

Chegar nodded wordlessly. Naturally, that was what he had planned to do.

"But watch out for a counter from him. If you fall into that man's hands, then there's the possibility of us receiving the consequences. Take action once you develop a sufficient enough plan."

Chegar did not need to be told that to do so.

Irasawa also came to Siva's shop. He was enjoying himself, watching those videos as usual.

"It was easy. Well, he was definitely better than some old homeless guy." Irasawa turned to face Chegar and snorted. "Hackers are little weaklings without their computers."

Today Irasawa seemed to be watching his match with macro-hard.

"You disposed of his body, right?"

"I had a professional take care of him and his possessions."

"Good."

Chegar then looked over to Siva. "I got your next job. We are to eliminate blackleg."

"Sweet!" Siva smiled lightly, pleased. "I'm itching to do it."

"However, we have to be careful for a counter from him."

"There's almost a zero possibility of us falling into blackleg's trap without me noticing."

If they were noticed, then that was the end for them. Chegar was afraid of blackleg getting the upper hand on them and taking the information they had.

"Is there a way we can prevent him from countering us?" Chegar muttered almost to himself. He stood in silence and thought it over.

Blackleg was a dangerous being to the organization. For him to receive a warning of the damages from the organization meant he was someone they had to kill at all costs. However, if they went up against him with an unfinished plan, then there was a chance they could receive the casualties. They had to strategize a counter hacking method.

"Could you cause a transmission shutdown across all of f.u.kuoka to prevent him from hacking?"

"But if we do that, then we won't be able to attack either."

Siva replied when Chegar had a realization.

Chegar recalled what Irasawa had just proclaimed: "Hackers are weaklings without their computers." He had an idea.

"……You're absolutely right, Irasawa." A smile appeared on Chegar's face. "We can just prevent him from using a computer."

Translation Notes:

I really do feel there is a detail missing in the scene where Banba is talking to the homeless person and him talking to the ex detective. It feels like the homeless man was possibly the ex detective and talked in third person until Banba gave him a reward. Or Banba went to his “home” and found him. I don’t know; this is an a.s.sumption, but I read this part a few times to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and the scene is exactly as it is. I think the editor missed something, but as I translator, I can’t improve upon it. So yes, it was confusing, but there’s nothing I can do to clarify it as there’s just no information on the scene change.