Listening to the mascot's words, Keli turned around, trying to keep this guy from remembering his face, and pondered for a moment.
Then he asked the question he cared about.
"Do you know about the yakuza arresting homeless people around here?"
Keli didn't care where he lived; anyway, he wasn't tired at all even after staying up all night.
Instead, he was more concerned about the previous events.
On the other hand, this guy's identity was unusual, and he might know some information that ordinary people couldn't access.
Kazuma, who was next to him and already somewhat tempted by the generous conditions offered by this guy, looked at Keli strangely.
What was this guy saying? How could such a lucky thing happen? This guy clearly looked like a weirdo; how could he just happen to know the information?
Speaking of which, doesn't this guy care about his own situation at all?
As a result, the Village Head, upon hearing this, was also stunned, not because of the question itself.
His point of confusion was why this young man would ask him this question; he actually knew about this matter.
Although he didn't know about the arrest of homeless people, it should have been done by those guys.
His old friend had come to him earlier to discuss the situation here.
He said that the Inukane Group, a yakuza group that had been quite rampant in Ōta Ward recently, had been making big moves.
However, just as he was about to take action, he was questioned by some ruling party members in the assembly, and there were some urgent issues with funding.
They hoped he could find a solution.
After some thought, the Village Head gave a place name.
"Matsubushi in Saitama; it's said that the local yakuza have been in close contact with them recently."
After thinking for a moment, the Village Head decided to tell these two guys, as there was nothing to lose and it wasn't a secret.
Because there's also a place called Matsubushi in Kumamoto, the Village Head specifically emphasized that the location was Saitama.
"Alright, we'll come to your place when we get back."
Keli said, with his back turned.
Keli originally wanted to try to get transportation from this guy, but after thinking about it, he decided to figure it out himself.
Seeing how wary the other party was, and his attempt to recruit them failing, the Village Head shook his head with some regret.
He had originally hoped to solve both the haunting problem and the issue of San needing a partner at once, but it seemed that wouldn't be possible now.
"Then you must come! This is a promise between humans and a Kappa."
Knowing that continuing the conversation wouldn't yield any results, the Kappa man Chic turned around, waved his hand, and walked towards the nearby river, disappearing step by step into the water.
"Dis... disappeared?"
Looking at the Kappa disappearing into the water, Sato Kazuma exclaimed in surprise, as if seeing someone accelerating their synchronization.
"No, look, there's a snorkel there."
Keli stepped forward, picked up the ten 10,000-yen bills, and put them in his pocket, leaving the wallet on the ground.
Keli then pointed to the riverside, and only then did Kazuma see a bamboo-colored tube among the water plants not far from the shore. Sato Kazuma was speechless for a moment.
"That guy wouldn't just squat in the water to create a sense of mystery, would he?"
"Let's not move from here and see if that guy can't stand the cold water."
Keli raised a finger and made a suggestion.
The Village Head, who had actually been so cold from the beginning that he couldn't stand it and was already peeking out, heard Keli's deliberately amplified words and immediately couldn't take it anymore, standing up at once.
"I know! You guys hurry up and leave!"
...
Spring is the season for school to start in Japan, and today also happened to be the first day of school for most schools.
Students in their new school uniforms were on their way home after school, either laughing with new classmates or planning their future social directions alone.
Japan is a country with very distinct social hierarchies; seniors and juniors, whether one is outgoing and has friends—these are all standards by which a person is measured.
Although everyone understands that students are simply people who study together at school, and so-called seniors are just people who started school earlier than oneself, the workplace is similar.
I'm just here to put in labor and work; why should you, as a boss or someone who started working here earlier than me, order me around about things outside of my job responsibilities?
This so-called social hierarchy, in essence, is like Bushido; juniors must respect seniors, and must treat company presidents and emperors as rulers.
It is a propaganda method used by rulers and vested interests to oppress the lower classes, and it is a part of the process of alienating people into components that meet their requirements.
But when one is truly in it, sometimes it's impossible to resist.
Even people who don't like drinking will gradually become numb to social drinking and start to become the seniors they initially disliked.
Of course, most people, even if they see through all of this internally, will gradually succumb to it due to the various pros and cons and the praise and compliments from outsiders, and begin to think about how to improve their social status.
For example, today there was a girl who, because she was often criticized behind her back for being unfashionable during middle school, let down her long-braided hair and changed it to long hair, and also took off her glasses that she had worn for a long time.
Yoshida Saki walked into a Don Quijote after school, picked up a Mon Mon magazine, hoping to see what the models looked like, and refer to how she should do her makeup.
Today's change was very successful; after changing her image, her new classmates all welcomed her, and she should work even harder.
While lost in thought, a male voice suddenly came.
"Ah, that's the last copy; I've been looking for it for a long time."
The girl was startled by the voice and turned her head, only to see a tall adult man standing beside her.
"Tha... that, I was just flipping through it.
If you need it, take it."
"Oh! How can I do that? It would be bad karma to take a book from such a lovely lady.
How about this: you finish reading it, and then I'll buy this book.
By the way, lovely lady, are you free tonight?"
The man began to speak very familiarly, and the girl, who was always described as a country bumpkin, felt her heart race at her first time being approached by an adult man.
Although this man was average-looking, he seemed well-groomed and was somewhat presentable.
The other party seemed to be asking her out for a meal tonight.
Ah! So shy.
Should I agree or not? But... but I can't refuse, so maybe I'll just say yes...
Just as the girl was hesitating, she suddenly noticed two young men approaching from behind the man.
One was noticeably taller than the average Japanese adult male, and the other was shorter, with brown hair and a pair of emerald eyes.
Moreover, these two men were dressed very strangely; one wore a slightly ill-fitting suit, and the other wore a white outfit resembling a yukata.
To be honest, such attire would not be allowed in a normal convenience store, unless it was a discount store like Don Quijote.
The two men, one on each side, put their hands on the shoulders of the man who had approached her.
"Huh? What do you want?" The man was clearly startled, and then somewhat annoyed because he was in his hunting ground.
"We just don't like you; come outside with us!"
Sato Kazuma pointed outside with an annoyed expression.
"You think I'm scared of you? Which group are you from? Do you know who I am? Miss, wait for me here; I'll go out and deal with these punks."
Then the three of them left the store under the calm gaze of the store clerk.
Because the store was often frequented by delinquents, the clerk was already used to such situations; as long as they didn't cause trouble inside the store, it was fine.
After all, many delinquents are like that: full of thoughts about face, loyalty, and glory, thinking they are part of the underworld just by knowing one or two yakuza underlings.
Yet they don't realize that the true legends and major organizations in the underworld are desperately trying to transform, hoping to live in the light, and striving to get off the list of violent groups.
As a result, they still break their heads trying to get into the yakuza, and many young girls even like this kind of thing.
However, these delinquents are also not to be trifled with, because for mature yakuza members, getting involved in murder is a matter that requires extreme caution; after all, they are just doing this business to make money.
These teenagers, who casually carry weapons onto the street, are exceptionally unconcerned about such things.
Many so-called violent group murders and assault incidents are caused by these teenagers.
The clerk shook his head, thinking this was not something he should be pondering.
And Yoshida Saki, watching the man who had approached her being led away, quietly walked out of the convenience store.
She wasn't worried about the stranger who had approached her; she just felt somewhat conflicted and wanted to see what would happen next.
Moreover, it sounded like the man named Hayato was a member of some incredible social group.
She walked out of the store and turned a corner into a nearby alley, but the scene before her was somewhat different from what she had imagined.
"No transforming! No transforming!" The taller man was pressing the man who had approached her earlier onto the ground and stomping on his head frantically.
"Speaking of which, you're really lucky.
I thought the idea of just finding a delinquent to inquire about local yakuza news was unrealistic, but it actually happened." Sato Kazuma said, while picking up the items that had fallen to the ground from the beating.
"Oh, oh! I saw this on the news.
Isn't this the kind of drug used to put into alcohol to drug other people?"
Kazuma held a pill in a plastic bag and sighed with emotion.
Then Kazuma looked at the remaining few bags of items, showing an expression of disgust.
"Then this, without a doubt, must be drugs."
Kazuma, holding the bag, noticed Yoshida Saki standing at the alley entrance with a shocked expression.
"Hey! Girl! Get lost; this is none of your business!
By the way, did you see these things? In the future, pay less attention to these popular guys who hit on you!"
Kazuma skillfully put on the tone of a street tough, waving his hand to shoo away the girl at the alley entrance.