Knock, knock, knock.
A sudden knock on the door of the Akiyoshi home made Akiyoshi Kaoru, who was mopping the floor, pause.
"It's me."
The familiar voice made Akiyoshi Kaoru breathe a sigh of relief. She put down the mop, ran to the entryway, and pulled open the door.
Standing outside was her brother, Akiyoshi Yuu.
"Welcome back!"
"You're... doing housework?"
Akiyoshi Yuu, who had just 'visited' the Zanshi-gumi headquarters, stepped inside. While changing his shoes, he glanced at Akiyoshi Kaoru's attire.
Apron, gloves, hat... on the living room table, there were also several bottles of alcohol and disinfectant.
"Cleaning up the scene,"
His sister replied as if it were a matter of course.
"Bloodstains, hair, fingerprints... any possible traces must be carefully cleaned up."
Hey, hey, hey, is it really okay for you to say such terrifying things with a straight face?
A certain someone who had just gone on a 'killing spree' complained internally.
"Good job."
In the end, Akiyoshi Yuu just patted his sister's head.
This, however, drew her dissatisfaction.
"Don't treat me like a child. What about your side? How did you handle it?"
If the 'bodies' were exposed, the police would definitely mobilize in force. Moreover, a body itself could provide countless pieces of information: time of death, cause of death, the weapon that caused the death, and even hair and tissue samples of the perpetrator...
"Did you burn them clean?"
"Or did you sink them directly into the Arakawa River?"
...
Burning was always the simplest and most effective way to destroy a body. One fire could turn countless pieces of evidence to ash. Adachi Ward bordered Arakawa Ward to the south, and the Arakawa River, which separated the two wards, was also a good place for cement burials.
"Leave this matter to me to handle. Don't worry about it."
Akiyoshi Yuu rubbed his temples with a headache at Akiyoshi Kaoru's questions. He couldn't possibly say: your brother used a ninjutsu, and even the God of Death elementary school student would be at a loss.
"It's getting late, go to sleep."
Half an hour later,
Akiyoshi Yuu, sitting up in bed, looked at the door of his room and rubbed his temples with a headache again.
"Kaoru, what are you doing coming to my room with a pillow?"
"I can't sleep alone. Move over."
The girl, wearing a white one-piece nightgown, moved Akiyoshi Yuu's pillow aside on her own, placed her own pillow there, and then slipped into the bed.
???
"You... this... alright."
Remembering the previous experience, Akiyoshi Yuu, as a 'transmigrator', was naturally without taboos; killed was killed! But Akiyoshi Kaoru was just an ordinary high school girl, and a sickly, rather introverted one at that. The fact that she wasn't scared out of her wits already showed her mental fortitude.
If she could still fall asleep soundly, then Akiyoshi Yuu would have to suspect if she was also a transmigrator.
"Sleep."
He patted the girl beside him.
Akiyoshi Yuu, having consumed a lot of chakra, closed his eyes.
Akiyoshi Yuu could sleep.
But someone else could not.
"What is this?"
Returning to his rented apartment, Tanimura Wataru washed his face and touched the stone on his forehead.
The stone seemed to be directly embedded in his skull, grown together with his flesh and blood, which was unscientific to the extreme!
"Sigh... what part of what happened earlier was scientific anyway?"
Recalling the escape, the Zanshi building littered with corpses, and the changes that had happened to himself, Tanimura Wataru looked up at the mirror above the sink.
The reflection in the mirror showed a familiar yet strange young man. But different from usual, he had less of a scholarly air and more of a wildness... especially under the removed clothes, the clearly defined muscle contours were full of explosive power.
No, it should be said that it was filled with 'demonic power'!
"Demonic Art: Four-legged Jutsu."
As Tanimura Wataru chanted silently in his heart, his entire body immediately swelled up. His spine arched, the shape of his limbs changed into beast-like claws; his upper and lower jaws protruded forward, his mouth split into a crescent shape reaching his ears, revealing rows of sharp teeth, and at the same time, his whole body was covered in black bristles.
In the blink of an eye,
an upright walking 'wolf demon' appeared in the mirror.
"This feeling of being filled with power..."
From the wolf's mouth, human words came out.
Feeling the power surging within his body, Tanimura Wataru's gaze fell on the mop hanging in the bathroom.
Crack.
With a light twist, the thin metal mop handle was twisted like a pretzel.
"I didn't feel anything."
Putting down the pretzel-like mop, Tanimura Wataru turned his gaze to the shower head next to it.
Creak.
With the tooth-grating sound of twisting metal, the metal pipe was effortlessly turned into a pretzel, yet it still couldn't stop Tanimura Wataru's actions.
Then—
As if he had gotten a new toy, Tanimura Wataru began to experiment with great interest, finally stopping after twisting a fitness pressure bar into a pretzel as well.
The rented room was filled with various twisted furniture, much like the saying 'since I bought a hydraulic press', the only thing left in the house was the hydraulic press.
"This power is so strong!"
Even a kitchen knife was easily crushed by him. Under such power, even steel could only submit.
If he had had this power before, cutting through the Zanshi-gumi would not have been a problem at all. Why would he have needed to rely on the police?
"Useless police!"
Thinking of the police, the joy on Tanimura Wataru's face gradually faded.
He had clearly investigated for so long and reported them so many times, yet they could never catch the crimes of the Zanshi-gumi.
If you said there was no one in the police station colluding with the yakuza, Tanimura Wataru would be the first to disbelieve it!
In the end, it was because of 'ghosts and gods' that he had finally gotten his revenge.
When Tanimura Wataru was a child, it was the era when various 'ghost and god' manga were most popular. Scenarios where supernatural beings collected souls to resurrect great demons or otherworldly demon lords were as common as a cow's hair. Plus, the term 'Killing Stone' that the other party had mentioned had basically locked in that legendary figure.
"This power, the price must be very high, right?"
After repeated experiments,
Tanimura Wataru prepared to face reality.
That mysterious person had said that he must kill one person with heavy sins every day and absorb their soul, otherwise he would be the one to die.
And... based on the 'experience' Tanimura Wataru had gained from the manga he had read, he would most likely fall into darkness through the killing, and eventually become a part of the harvest himself.
But, what did it matter?
"Akemi, wait a little longer."
Your brother will be with you soon. Before that—
"I'm going out."
Leaving all his money on the shoe cabinet in the entryway, along with the key to the rented room, Tanimura Wataru, wearing a baseball cap, stepped into the brightly lit night.
Ayase Town.
This was the infamous place where the 'Furuta Junko' cement murder case occurred.
More than thirty years had passed. Because it was slightly closer to the core of Tokyo, Ayase Town had already developed into a bustling area with nightlife, but the lurking darkness was the same as back then, even becoming more hidden and chaotic.
The streets were crowded with pedestrians, with students and office workers sitting at roadside stalls eating skewers everywhere. Two chicken skewers for one hundred yen, a glass of beer for one hundred and twenty yen.
Don't talk about hygiene; as long as it doesn't kill you, it's fine. Health preservation is a luxury for the rich. It's not a loss for them to live to the national average age, and besides, if they focus on health every day, who knows if tomorrow or an accident will come first.
In a shop on 3-chome with a sign for cuisine but which never opened for business.
"Fukutani-oyabun."
A middle-aged man in a black suit and sunglasses pushed open the door, holding up a luxuriously packaged bag.
"Top-quality sirloin, let's eat together!"
"It's Shibukawa."
The scar-faced man sitting in the shop eating grilled chicken skewers and drinking bottled beer looked up.
"Sit."
With a call, an underling next to him took the bag from the man's hand, took out the marbled beef, and carefully placed it on the grill to cook. Such a large piece of beef was enough for him to eat for several months.
"Why do you have time to come to my place? Something up?"
The scar-faced man 'Fukutani' in the restaurant was in charge of drug transportation, and the visitor 'Shibukawa' was in charge of managing the adult entertainment establishments. Both were powerful executives of the Zanshi-gumi.
"What are you saying, Fukutani-oyabun? Can't we two brothers get close if there's nothing going on?"
Taking off his sunglasses, the man in the suit pulled out a stool and sat down opposite him familiarly.
"Hasn't the price of the 'goods' been too high recently?"
"My girls work hard every day to earn money, but the bulk of it is taken by you guys. Isn't that too impersonal?"
"Bullshit, do you care about them?"
The scar-faced Fukutani acted as if he had heard the world's biggest joke.
The man opposite him named 'Shibukawa' was not only responsible for the operation of the adult entertainment establishments, but also scouted for prey throughout Adachi Ward. Through traps or temptations, he would guide them into the fire pit, and then dispatch them to hotels or madams' shops, where he would only get a relatively small commission.
From the moment they voluntarily or were forced to jump into the fire pit, those girls were destined to become living money-making machines.
Let alone low-level people like fuuzoku girls, even legitimate film and television entertainers in the island nation had nine out of every ten yen of their income taken by their agencies. Therefore, there was no shortage of news on TV about once-famous entertainers living in poverty and hardship after their popularity waned.
And the Zanshi-gumi was even more ruthless!
They would get their 'fuuzoku girls' hooked on drugs, and earn back the little money they had from them.
Through the industrial chain of adult entertainment shops—drugs—reception business—drugs, a young girl could easily bring in over a hundred million in profit for the organization, which was much more profitable than raising wagyu beef.
"We lost a shipment at sea recently, a full 15 kilograms!"
Speaking of this, Fukutani-oyabun got angry.
Those bastards couldn't even handle such a small matter. Sinking them in Tokyo Bay was letting them off easy.
"The supply is insufficient, isn't it normal for the price to rise? When new goods arrive from the south, the price will naturally come back down."
"Sigh, then I can only let the girls endure it for a while."
The black-suited Shibukawa sighed pretentiously. As an executive managing the adult entertainment industry, how would he dare to oppose the 'vicious man' Fukutani in the organization who managed drugs?
The so-called questioning was just a casual mention; in the end, he didn't use drugs anyway.
"The wagyu beef is grilled, come on~~"
"Fukutani, Shibukawa?"
Just as the two Zanshi-gumi executives were about to enjoy the grilled beef, a voice came from the second floor.
The two Zanshi-gumi executives turned their heads at the sound.
What they saw was a young man walking down the stairs.
"You are..."
Fukutani, nicknamed 'Vicious Man', stood up, his hand already on his waist.
"Tanimura Wataru?"
The faces of the few Zanshi-gumi members present changed.
How could they not recognize this guy, who still had a bit of a scholarly air about him, who had been causing trouble for the organization like crazy recently?
"It seems you all know me."
Under the surprised and uncertain gazes of the several Zanshi-gumi members, Tanimura Wataru twisted his neck. His mouth stretched, his fangs sharpened, and body hair began to spread.
"You should also know what I'm here for."
?!
Swish.
A figure flashed.
An arm covered in bristles swung forward.
Squelch.
Four trails of blood splattered. Fukutani, whose handgun was only halfway out of his waistband, was sent flying without any resistance.
Now his nickname was no longer 'Vicious Man', but 'Dead Man'.
"Ahhh~~~"
With the sound of a stool overturning, the black-suited Shibukawa turned to flee, but a hand reached out from behind, its sharp claws digging deep into his shoulder, pulling him back like a toy.
"I remember,"
A cold voice came from behind.
"It was you who sent someone to lure Akemi."