Kikanshita Yuusha no Gojitsudan : Chapter 30

Chapter 30 The Hero’s Detective Story 3

　I followed Shishido’s navigation and arrived at a multi-tenant building on the outskirts of the shopping district.

　It took roughly fifteen minutes to reach the destination after receiving the first call from Akane. I was able to get here in about half the normal time. It’s pretty reckless driving, although fortunately I didn’t get spotted by the police or cause the surrounding cars to crash, but as a motorcyclist I’d have to give it a fail. Honestly, I’m extremely reluctant to do it.

　I stopped the bike, then we took off our helmets and entered the building in a hurry.

　As soon as we entered through the entrance, we saw the stairs to the basement and some bars’ signs.

“This way!”

　Shishido runs down the stairs as he says that and puts his hand on the door of the bar at the end of the hall. But the door doesn’t open.

“’Shit! The key! Is this not the place?!”

“Shishido, out of the way!”

　As soon as I catch up to him, I use ‘Probe’ to check the other side of the door.

　There are reactions from six people’s inside. This is definitely the place.

　I kick the door open as Shishido moves himself to the side.

　Dogan!

　Although the door is twisted wide open, it’s not opened.

　Was I holding back too much?

　I kick it again, this time with more force than before. Of course, considering the fact that there’s Mizukami in there, I have to be careful about the direction.

　Zuddan!

　Finally, the door can’t hold up anymore and is blown open to the inside of the store.

　Oh, this was the kind of door that opens on the outside. No wonder I couldn’t open it in one hit.

　We immediately rushed into the shop.

　The size of the bar is about 20 tatami mats, and inside there is a bar counter, tables, chairs, and sofas, also three men are holding Mizukami down on the sofa near the center. Right next to her, another man was standing beside a tripod and something that looked like a video camera.

　Mizukami’s blouse has been torn off to expose her underwear, and her culottes are pulled halfway down, leaving her in a hapless state.

　However, it doesn’t seem to be the worst-case scenario; it looks like we’ve managed to get there in time.

　I’m patting my chest while feeling relieved inside.

　It’s not funny if we came all the way here, but we didn’t make it in time.

　Everyone froze and looked at me in surprise.

“Yoko!”

　Shishido, who came into the store right after me, shouted as soon as he spotted Mizukami.

　Mizukami, who saw that, shook off the hands of the men who were holding her down and jumped straight into Shishido’s chest.

　…… Well, it’s only natural, isn’t it? After all, Mizukami is Shishido’s girlfriend, right? Though I don’t have any special feelings towards Mizukami. But what is this? This subtle sense of incongruity, the feeling that somewhat saying ‘is it okay for a story to progress like this?’. (TL: Not sure about the last part of the sentence)

“Shi, Shishido? YOU!!!!”

　The men are finally rebooted and started making noise for the first time since we appeared here.

“Senpai! You said you wouldn’t ever mess with Yoko!”

“Don’t fuck with me! You’re the one who started the rumor, asshole! You betrayed us.”

“…………”

　Shishido only shielded Mizukami behind his back and glared at the men without arguing with them.

　So it’s like that. He was also trying to fight against them in his own way.

　His current figure is exactly like a protagonist.

　A serious and righteous man. And if you look closely, he’s also reasonably good-looking.

　I’m a little mortified.

　For the time being, I put aside my inner inferiority complex and handed Shishido a pair of sweatshirts I bought at Uniqlo from the item box.

　It’s a little big for Mizukami because it’s mine, but I think it won’t be a problem because it’s brand new and unopened.

“You should let her wear this for the time being. She can’t go out dressed as she is.”

　I guess my words made her remember her own state, Mizukami hurriedly holds the front of her blouse and culottes while her face turns red.

　It’s quite a nice sight, but I can’t turn a strange gaze towards other people’ girlfriends, so I immediately look away.

　It’s a secret that I’ve thought ‘what was a waste’ for a bit.

“Eh? just now, that, from where?”

“It’s a magic trick.”

“Eh? The helmet from before, too.”

“It’s a magic trick.”

“……”

“It’s a magic trick.”

“Is it like that?”

“It’s like that.”

　I briefly repeated Shishido’s confused question.

　For heaven’s sake, please just accept that. Okay?

“You fuckers stop ignoring me!”

　One of the men, probably pissed off after being ignored, suddenly tried to hit me from behind. He was quite short-tempered.

　Naturally, I knew what he was doing, so I turned around and very lightly slammed the back of my fist into his face.

　Thud!

“Gah!”

　The man that I hit is blasted away, knocking over the table.

“Who said that you can move?  Just wait while you sit quietly and tremble in the corner!”

　It’s like a line from a villain.

　It’s okay. I’m not thinking that Shishido is going to take the lead role or anything, you know? Yup.

　I once again face Shishido and throw the keys for my bike at him.

　Mizukami is also properly dressed, or perhaps she’s just layered the sweatshirt on top of her previous clothes.

“Shishido, If I’m not mistaken, you have a motorcycle license, right? Take Mizukami home. I’ll contact you later and you can return the bike tomorrow.”

“O, okay. But what are you going to do, Kashiwagi?”

“I still have some business with these guys, you see”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. You don’t need to worry.”

　Shishido went out while holding Mizukami gently in his arms as I replied.

　His every action is too manly.

　I feel a sense of defeat.

　Now, the real work is about to begin for me.

　When I looked around, I saw four people around the guy I just blew up earlier, and a girl in the corner of the room.

　That girl is probably the one who calls Mizukami here. She cowered with a frightened look on her face.

　Most likely she’s just following their orders because she was threatened.

　As for the guys, they’re glaring at me.

　They’re showing a rather rebellious attitude, but well, they aren’t particularly intimidating, and since I’m alone, I guess they think It’s going to be easy.

　I covered the store with a ‘Barrier’ to prevent them from escaping and at the same time used wind magic ‘Sound Insulation’. I have no intention of ending it now just because I’ve saved Mizukami.

　I’m going to make these guys realize what they’ve done.

　The men move in to surround me as I slowly approach.

“You’re Shishido’s friend, huh? You think you can get away scot-free after doing this to us?”

　I can’t help but laugh after hearing a line that usually comes from a small fry.

“! YOU! Do you think you can do anything with this many people!”

　While saying this, each of them took out a knife and expandable baton.

　Their side has a larger number of people and weapons, and on this side there’s only me, alone and unarmed. They probably think that there’s no way they can lose under such circumstances, and they even have a thin smile on their lips with eyes filled with amusement.

　However, from my perspective, such a toy is not even slightly threatening.

　I’ve been fighting on the battlefield where swords, arrows and magic are flying around. To tell you the truth, they’re not any different from a toddler wielding an Umaibo.

　I guess they don’t like the fact that I don’t seem to be scared of them. Immediately one of them starts trying to kick me.

　I mean, are you an idiot for kicking me when you have a weapon?

　Maybe they don’t have the guts to stab me to death with a knife, but I don’t have time to entertain that kind of thing either.

　I dodge the kick and scoop up his pivotal foot, easily stepping on the man’s hand that’s holding the knife as he’s lying on his back.

”UGYAAA!”

　I could feel a few finger bones shatter from the dull sensation.

　Perhaps he was not used to fighting, I stepped hard on the foot of the other knife-wielding man who had been watching in a daze, and simultaneously slammed the back of my fist into his face. The bones in his leg are fractured, his nose is crushed, and he collapses on the spot before he can make any sound.

“U, Uwaaa!”

　The remaining one, the one that wasn’t hit by me, yet, comes swinging his baton at me recklessly.

　I easily caught the baton and took it away from him.

　Then I bent the batons right in front of the man.

　It must be a cheap product, it already bent easily even though I didn’t put much strength into it.

　I give a low kick to the man’s knee, who is stunned and standing like a stick.

　Both of his legs are bent in strange directions, but I don’t care.

　Then I turn to face the last one.

　The last one, the guy I punched away first, slumped down with a blue face.

　He looked pretty dumb with his nose bleeding.

　The other three are already cowering around and writhing in pain, so they probably don’t have the will to fight anymore.

“Hieee!”

　The man lets out a small shriek and retreats backwards as I take a step forward, but is unable to back up any further when his back hits the sofa. 

“Fo, forgive me! I’ll do anything you say! I’ll even turn myself in!”

“Huh?  You guys didn’t listen when the girl you caught said ‘forgive me’? Even though you don’t listen to people pleas, you think such a convenience is possible?”

“Ugh.

　To put it bluntly, I didn’t need to hurt him, I could have just intimidated him and the matter would have been over, but I didn’t feel like doing so.

　What these guys did is unforgivable. I would have killed them after getting the information out of them if it was in another world.

　That kind of thing is allowed in other worlds. However, that is not possible in Japan. I at least need to follow the minimum rules if I want to live in this country. I can’t be with my family and friends if I ever forget that.

　My mind may already be out of whack from the norm. That’s why I need to keep myself together.

　I take a deep breath to calm myself down.

　Like before, I need to be even more careful than usual or else I’ll put too much force into my attack and end up killing them.

　After somewhat calming myself down, I call out to the slumped man.

“Now, I’ll make you tell me everything you know. Just so you know. I do not give you permission to remain silent or to lie. After all, I have no problem with killing you in this place. Don’t assume I wouldn’t. You all have done all that, and there’s no one there to defend any of you.”

　The men nod their heads frantically as I say that with killing intent.

“Where is the data you took of the girls you assaulted?”

“I, i, It’s on the computer in the back office.”

“What else do you have? How about your online storage?”

“W, w, we don’t have one! We were very careful, too, and we locked them up with passwords, because we thought we’d be in trouble if they got out.”

“I hope you haven’t broadcast it anywhere.”

　The men shook their heads desperately, with a grim look on their faces.

“I, i, it’s true!  This place has been closed for a year now and no one else has come in besides us. We didn’t take it out from here either!”

　I went into the office to check on the computer after I heard up to that point. There was only one computer, and there didn’t seem to be any external hard drives or anything like that.

　I tear off the cables that are connected to the computer and return to the previous place with the main unit.

　The men didn’t seem to have moved from their spot even after I returned. It seems that they know they can’t escape.

　I put the computer on the table where the men could see it and forcibly pull the cover off. Of course, I didn’t use any tools, just brute force.

　Then I picked out the hard drive from the inside of the computer.

“Are you sure that everything is in here?”

　When I asked them with even more killing intent, the men just nod their heads super-fast, so it’s probably true. These guys don’t seem to have the guts to tell a lie anymore at this point.

　I squeezed the hard drive with all my might.

　Mekya!

　The hard disk deformed to the size of a child’s fist with a sound of crushed metal. With this the storage disk inside it will be impossible to restore any more.

“Hiee!”

　The men opened their eyes wide and let out a short scream when they saw what was happening in front of them.

　Bachibachibachi!

　In addition, I sent out a “Lightning Strike” to short-circuit it just in case. Of course, I also carefully short-circuited the computer and the video camera.

　The smell of burning and the scorched remains of these devices were scattered all over the room. The men are staring at it in a stupor with their faces passing through blue and close to the color of earth. It seems that they even forgot about their pain.

　Once those things were done, I turned my attention to the girl still standing in the corner of the room.

　The girl stiffened as her eyes met mine.

　I calmed myself down as much as possible so as not to frighten her, and called out to her.

“Um, you’re the girl from the event circle who was threatened by these guys, is that right?”

“Y, yes”

　She replies even though she still looked afraid, perhaps understanding that I didn’t mean her any harm.

“As you can see, I got rid of all the data. If there are any other girls who have been harmed, please let them know. I won’t let these guys do anything to you all anymore. Although, it wouldn’t be much consolation.”

　She was stunned for a while, as if it was taking her a while to understand the content of what I said, then she covered her face and crouched down. I could hear a faint sob.

　There was nothing more I could say, and I could only watch. I wish I could offer some kind of clever words of comfort at a time like this, but I don’t think I can.

　I feel the anger building up once again, but there’s nothing else I can do. Even if these guys were all dead, I don’t think it would make the victims feel any better.

　The girl finally stood up and looked at me with red, swollen eyes after a few or maybe a few dozen minutes.

“T, Thank you very much”

　She bows her head to me firmly, even though she still chokes up a bit.

“Are you okay, can you make it home alone?”

“I’ll be fine. My apartment’s not that far away. And it’s still bright outside.”

“I see.”

“I’ll be sure to inform the others. Again, thank you very much.”

　She must be a very strong girl. I walked the girl out of the building with an indescribable feeling.

　The girl walks away after bowing to me one last time.

　I go back into the store again after seeing her off.

　The men who had started to move around, perhaps not expecting me to come back, are frightened to see me again.

“Well, I still have a few more questions for you guys.”

　I said that and asked for the source of the drugs.

　But I could only learn the name and cell phone number of one of the dealers.

　I guess it just means that they were being used as they’re at the further end of the chain.

　Not that I was expecting anything, but I don’t know how far I could go without the know-how to do that kind of thing. (TL : Not sure about this part)

“Also, make sure you return the money you guys got from selling drugs to your juniors to Shishido. Immediately. And also collect whatever drugs you have sold.”

　They nodded frantically as I reminded them while glaring.

“Finally. The next time you all do something stupid, don’t think you’ll be able to make it out alive again. Wherever you run, I will make sure you disappear without a trace.”

　When I said that, I slammed them with a killing intent filled with anger.

「「「「!」」」」

　All of them fainted with the white of their eyes visible after receiving it.

　I leave it at that and finally manage to leave the building.

　I struggled to calm my breathing and mind as I walked towards the station.

　Honestly, I can’t decide if this was the right thing to do, but it’s probably a good thing for the time being.

　After thinking that far, I was about to take out my phone to contact Akane, who I’m sure is worried about me, when I realized that I hadn’t gotten it back from Shishido.

　…… What to do ……

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