"Eh?"
The girl at the alley entrance retreated two steps.
She was a little distraught.
D...drugs? D...drugs?
Yoshida Saki kept shaking her head. She had just been thinking that it was just a meal and had even planned to accept the invitation, but then she turned around and saw these things.
So, society is that dangerous?
She felt like she should thank these two people who suddenly appeared.
She turned and ran, and as she ran, she thought, maybe it's better not to be so flashy just to be popular.
She wasn't a runaway guitarist; no one paid attention to the runaway Yoshida Saki.
Keli looked down at the man on the ground and kicked him in the face again.
"Are you going to talk or not?"
"Ugh..." Keli was too heavy-handed. Hayato, who had spent years fighting on the streets, felt that this guy's strength was not like a normal person's at all. He could only gasp for air from the beating.
"You...you tell me, what do you want to ask?"
Seeing Keli raise his foot again, Hayato frantically waved his hands.
Hearing Hayato's words, Keli's eyes narrowed.
"What! You dare to talk back! Kazuma, hit him for me!"
"Crack! Bang!"
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
Seeing that another hit might kill him, Keli waved Kazuma to stop.
He crouched down, looked at the bruised and swollen man, who was twitching all over, and pointed at the pills Kazuma had found and placed on the ground.
"Where did you buy these?"
"I..." Hayato saw those things and immediately opened his mouth to refuse.
However, seeing Keli's expression turn displeased, he quickly gave the address and contact information.
Keli then took out his phone and directly ordered him to unlock it, then went through his call history. He hadn't expected this kid to be so stupid as to not even delete records when doing such things, even saving the contact person.
After confirming that what he said was likely true, Keli put Hayato's phone in his pocket.
"Have you used this drug before?" Keli pointed at the secret drug on the ground.
"Y-yes... I have..."
"How many girls?"
"Three..." Hayato answered honestly.
"Why didn't anyone report it?"
"I...I took photos to threaten them, and it's...it's not a big deal anyway, as long as no one knows that when they get married, they can say they're virgins but didn't bleed."
"Very good, delete the photos for me, and the cloud backup. Don't contaminate my phone and my phone's spirit." Keli took out the phone.
Hayato quickly tapped delete, then handed the phone back to Keli.
"I...I've done everything you said... You can let me go now, right!"
Seeing Keli take the phone and then put all the money from his pocket into his own, Hayato's face twitched as he pleaded for mercy.
"What? You've said everything, so you're completely worthless now? And you still want to leave?" Keli replied seriously.
Hayato: ?!
He felt for the knife in his embrace, considering whether to give him a quick death or make him suffer more before dying.
Such a life only makes rice more expensive in the world.
However, although he had been deliberately avoiding it and hadn't faced the cameras during the Don Quixote incident, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department might still identify him based on the hospital's list of escapees. If it were truly about self-interest, it would actually be better not to kill him to avoid trouble.
After all, this wouldn't be a minor incident. If it were just a mental patient escaping, it would at most be reported on the news, but killing someone on the street could be problematic.
Yet, Chinese philosophy of life was telling him that people are connected, and if he didn't eliminate him here, he might tell more people about his hatred, causing more trouble.
At that time, he would have to kill even more people!
Just as Keli was thinking.
Someone made the choice for him. Because it was after school hours and this was near a residential area, a few Japanese girls walked by and saw the scene in the alley, letting out ear-piercing screams comparable to banshees.
To avoid turning into a three-star good citizen playing GTA5 in real life in Tokyo, Kazuma immediately told Keli to run.
Hearing the footsteps run away, the fear in Hayato's eyes slowly faded, replaced by a malicious resentment and hatred.
"Damn it, I must kill those two bastards! Yes, they asked for contact information, they must contact the boss. I'll go to a convenience store now, find a phone, and tell the boss what those two look like!
And they made me delete photos. Those two might have been sent by those bitches. Damn it, do they think I can't find them? Anyway, I have new stuff to use, and they're even prettier, so I don't need those old ones. I'm going to find someone to sell them to..."
Just as he was muttering to himself and trying to support his body, footsteps returned.
He looked up in terror and saw Keli, who had taken off his jacket, leaving only his patient gown.
"That...I! I'm not..." He was about to explain his previous remarks when he heard Keli's murmur.
"I've been thinking, since lobotomies have been abolished, and I've caused such a big commotion that if I'm caught, I'll be locked up forever, so making it even bigger doesn't matter.
When I think about how I saw Kaitou Kid getting away with it on the news before, it feels like the blind people at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, who don't recognize anyone once they take off their monocles, don't need to be bothered with at all.
By the way, because of the homeless incident, after the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested those people, they should actually have started looking for me. It's perfect to lure everyone to Matsubushi. Anyway, as long as I always act near water, once I'm about to be caught, I'll just let Kazuma wait for resurrection, and I'll jump into the river and sink to the bottom, pretending to be dead. It's unlikely I'll be caught."
Listening to Keli talking to himself in words he didn't understand, Hayato began to tremble in fear.
"You! What exactly do you want to say?"
"My point is, it has nothing to do with any of that. It's just that I don't allow people like you to live, Hayato-kun. Do you understand?"
"Wait! I was wrong! Don't..."
...
The two of them fled the crime scene.
Keli recalled the uniform of Yoshida Saki he had seen earlier and identified which high school it was. He remembered that this country bumpkin girl would encounter more than just one difficult situation in life, so he decided to visit her school when he returned.
As for why they both had information about potential contacts but still needed to randomly interrogate someone there, it was because Kazuma suggested that although Tokyo to Saitama wasn't far and they could walk, they wouldn't find any clues once they arrived.
Keli thought it made a lot of sense. It was better to first check the local situation; the other party's grand efforts to capture people might indicate a major move.
And the reason Kazuma was not only acting with Keli but also willing to offer advice was simple.
That was, for an entire day, as they wandered around the outskirts of Tokyo, neither of them felt that peculiar scent from before.
Kazuma felt a bit uneasy thinking about that previous hunger, and Keli's investigation seemed truly complicated, though Kazuma completely couldn't understand why Keli was so fixated on this matter.
But perhaps there was something supernatural behind it, and if there was, then he wouldn't have to search for food everywhere.
And then there was Kazuma's youthful restlessness. Although his situation was bad, he had immortality, constant resurrection, strange monsters, and the darkness of the world.
If you asked ten men if they'd rather stand on a tall building under the dark night sky, feeling the night wind, investigating the dark side of this world, or sit in a high school classroom studying for exams, eleven would eagerly answer that they must immediately transform into a demon hunter of the night!
It was just that Kazuma was already high school age, so he would think it would be good if he could get some material benefits along the way.
If this were for an elementary school boy, being able to go through fire and water to protect the city's peace, and having to act in secret without anyone knowing, would truly be worth dying for!
They showered at a small hotel described by the homeless, and paid the owner to buy two slightly more normal outfits, costing a total of 8000 yen. Honestly, Keli felt the place was more like a few old, dilapidated buildings than a hotel.
This place was also one Keli had heard about from the homeless.
According to the homeless, they wouldn't stay in such places because the environment was so bad, with mites everywhere in the blankets. They would only occasionally go there to rent a room for an hour to shower when the weather was too cold, or when Tokyo was cracking down heavily on open fires and they couldn't boil water.
Generally, only some foreigners who snuck in thinking they could make a fortune in Japan, or drug addicts gathering for a party, or gamblers hiding from debt with no money, would stay in such places.
After coming out, Keli felt uncomfortable all over and touched his empty waist.
"What's wrong?" Kazuma tilted his head.
"I just saw a ghost in that room, so I feel very uncomfortable because I don't have a gun on me."
"A ghost?" Kazuma was very wary. "What kind of ghost, and is a handgun useful against a ghost?"
The Japanese word for 'oni' (ghost) does not refer to a soul, but rather a fierce-looking monster, traditionally resembling a yaksha or imp. Modern interpretations are generally like those in Demon Slayer, or like the 'CCTV Sister' in FGO.
So Kazuma was a little scared, thinking Keli had encountered one of those steel-boned monsters.
Facing Kazuma's question, Keli replied seriously: "Illegal immigrant."
"Pfft!" Kazuma took several deep breaths before changing the subject.
"So, do you plan to contact them directly next? Can you be sure that the people selling these things are the same ones who tried to catch you? And are you sure the Kappa's words are credible?"
Kazuma asked Keli about his plans.
"No, contacting them is impossible. We caused such a big incident that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department will probably investigate the vicinity and anyone connected to him.
From what I've learned from those guys, Kondō should have been there for several months without making a move, but he suddenly acted the day I went, which means they're in a hurry, and Kondō was probably scouting the place.
Since they're in such a hurry, it might be because their recent activities have drawn too much attention, so they want to retreat. At this time, any slight disturbance from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department will be perceived by them as a test or some kind of signal. In fact, if the signal isn't obvious, we can pretend to be exposed plainclothes police and go there to deliberately monitor their location.
That way, once they become alert, they might retreat. When they retreat, we can pinpoint their license plates, and that will be our true opportunity to pinpoint them."
Listening to Keli's clear analysis, Kazuma stared at him blankly.
"No, how did you get into a mental hospital like this?"