April 22nd (Sat) [AM 9:40]
I met Kishimoto on the subway and, from early in the morning, we headed to Shibuya Station Plaza.
It was the spot with the Hachiko statue, where Tojo had arranged to meet Sakamoto.
"Wow! It's the Hachiko statue! I was so sad I didn't get to see this yesterday!"
Kishimoto chattered away in a cheerful voice, despite the fact that we were supposedly here for surveillance.
Passersby glanced at her, as she looked for all the world like a foreign tourist.
Her current outfit seemed rather warm, considering it was spring.
A stylish, light beige trench coat, bright blonde hair flowing from under a white floppy hat, leopard-print sunglasses, and even a mask.
It was the very cliché of a surveillance outfit, but for some reason, it suited her perfectly.
In fact, if you took away the mask, her attire was so chic it wouldn't have looked out of place in a fashion magazine.
Is this what they mean when they say a pretty face completes the look?
As I mentally appraised her outfit, worthy of a former reader model, Kishimoto tilted her head and spoke.
"But Ryu-chan, are you sure you'll be okay with just that? I think I'd recognize you from a mile away."
"Unlike you, who's small, this is enough for me."
I replied, pulling the hood of my hoodie down a little further.
With my build, just wearing different clothes wasn't enough to avoid suspicious glances.
So I kept the disguise to a minimum, planning to just brazen it out with my sheer size.
We had arrived a little earlier than the time Tojo told us, so we sat in the shade of a tree, sharing a box of donuts and coffee for breakfast. While chatting, we spotted a familiar face walking over from a distance.
'Hide!'
Kishimoto ducked her head in a hurry, while I hid my large frame behind the tree.
Fortunately, Tojo didn't seem to notice us as she made her way through the crowd toward the Hachiko statue.
"Mom, what's that man doing?"
"Oh, my! I'm so sorry! So sorry! My child doesn't know any better!"
A young boy pointed a finger at me hiding behind the tree, and his mother, with a horrified expression, apologized profusely before whisking him away.
Perhaps seeing this, the pace of the other passersby seemed to quicken.
"..."
I hadn't even done anything, but I felt kind of hurt.
***
Following Tojo, who had arrived a bit early, Sakamoto came running from the direction of the subway station, out of breath.
I checked my smartphone. 9:55 AM.
Thankfully, the protagonist wasn't clueless enough to show up exactly on time.
"Sorry! Tojo! Have you been waiting long?!"
"No, I just got here myself. Don't worry about it."
Their first official meeting.
Although Tojo had already given him a preview of her made-up face when she challenged him yesterday, this was the first time he was seeing her in casual clothes. Catching his breath, Sakamoto finally looked up and was momentarily captivated by Tojo's stunning new look.
"...You're beautiful."
He seemed to have mumbled it unconsciously, but Tojo, standing right in front of him, heard it.
"...Th-Thank you."
Perhaps because it was the first time she'd been called beautiful by someone she wanted to impress, her face turned as red as a ripe apple.
At least, the initial atmosphere seemed incredibly good.
At a glance, they looked just like a fresh, young high school couple.
"W-Well, then, shall we grab a drink or something? We should probably talk a bit to decide on a place for our date."
"Sure. Let's do that."
Perhaps Kishimoto's enthusiastic advice over burgers yesterday had paid off. Tojo skillfully took the lead, and she and Sakamoto headed toward a café near the station.
"Ryu-chan! Let's follow them!"
"Right."
After throwing the empty donut box and coffee cups in the trash, I followed Kishimoto into the café.
***
April 22nd (Sat) [AM 9:55]
"That bastard! How dare he make my daughter wait for five whole minutes?!"
"Calm down, Chairman!"
Naoto looked ready to draw his sashimi knife and charge out at any second, while the Toseikai executives tried to restrain him.
The Toseikai's sixth chairman, Tojo Naoto, and eight of his top executives had tailed Tojo Karen from the moment she left the mansion that morning, all the way to Shibuya Station Plaza.
They were currently in various disguises to avoid being spotted by her; Tojo Naoto had even gone so far as to wear a long wig to hide his signature short hair.
But there was one thing they failed to realize: no matter the disguise, nine hulking middle-aged men moving in a group would draw attention whether they liked it or not.
Even more so when they were grim-faced men who looked like they were about to teach someone the harsh realities of the underworld.
After Tojo Karen and Sakamoto Ryuji met and decided to head into a café for a drink, Naoto and his eight executives simultaneously folded the newspapers they were holding and shot up from their benches.
They looked for all the world like yakuza heading into a turf war with a rival clan, causing the people around them to scatter quickly.
Even the police officers patrolling near the station were watching them warily, speaking into their radios.
Sento Osamu, the organization's brain and elite yakuza, was the first to notice the change in atmosphere and reported to Tojo Naoto.
"Chairman, the cops are here."
"What! Already?!"
"Perhaps the nine of us moving in a large group is making us stand out..."
"Then what should we do?"
"Excluding yourself, Chairman, there are eight of us. I believe it would be best if we split into pairs of two to conduct the surveillance."
"As expected of Sento! The brains of our organization!"
"Heh heh, you flatter me. This is nothing."
As Sento Osamu pushed up his glasses with his middle finger, Naoto nodded and addressed the other executives.
"Alright, from now on, we move in pairs of two, just as Sento planned!"
"Yes, sir!"
The moment Naoto's order was given, the executives split into pairs and dispersed.
Once the executives had scattered, leaving only the organization's brain, Sento Osamu, and Naoto's right-hand man, Takeyama, 'The Mountain of Corpses,' he nodded and held out a fist to Takeyama.
"You ready, Mountain of Corpses?"
"Of course, Sea of Blood."
The number one and number two men of the organization, sworn brothers who had shared cups of sake, hurried after Tojo Karen as she entered the café.
***
April 22nd (Sat) [AM 10:15]
Tojo and Sakamoto went into the café to plan their date over a drink, and we followed them inside, sitting down at a corner table where we wouldn't be noticed.
I was watching them from afar—Tojo, who seemed unusually shy today, a far cry from her usual easygoing self, and Sakamoto, who was chatting with her quite normally—when a waitress approached me and asked in a very cautious voice.
"Um... sir? What would you like to order?"
Kishimoto, who had been having a staring contest with the menu, shot her hand up.
"I'll have this Special Jumbo Strawberry Parfait!"
"Wait, can you finish all that by yourself?"
We didn't know when the other two would leave the café, and she had ordered something enormous.
Kishimoto tilted her head and asked, looking genuinely puzzled.
"Ryu-chan, you can't finish a whole parfait at a cafe?"
She asked so confidently that I was left speechless.
"...I'll have a bubble tea."
"Okay. One Special Jumbo Strawberry Parfait and one bubble tea."
The waitress took our order and walked away.
Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief and resume spying on the pair at the window seat, two middle-aged men walked into the café.
They glanced around before spotting our waitress heading toward the counter and beckoned her over.
"Miss, get me one of your most popular drinks."
"I'll have an iced americano."
What's this? Did they just come from a morning soccer game or something?
The two men, who clearly didn't fit in, took a seat in a corner.
At first, I thought that was the end of it, but then, grim-faced men started entering the shop one after another, in pairs.
...What? What in the world is happening?
As I stared at the counter with a horrified expression, Kishimoto, who was searching for something on her phone, commented cheerfully at the continuous ringing of the door's bell.
"This place is really popular, huh? Right?"
"Uh? Oh, yeah."
My intuition was screaming at me. Those men were connected to Tojo Karen.
After all, one of the last three men to enter had hair as red as blood.
"Wow! The Sunshine City Aquarium has dolphins! I have to see them if we go today!"
I offered my deepest condolences for Tojo's date, which I could already tell was going to be a rough one.