It was already midnight, and almost all of the lights in the Goemon Investigations Agency Headquarters building were off, save a few.
Todo Takahashi sat in his office room, surrounded by stacks of paperwork. As a Special Elite Agent and soon-to-be Vice Director, he couldn’t believe he was stuck with such tedious tasks. “This is bad!” he muttered to himself in frustration. “I’m a trained agent, not a paper-pusher.”
But his thoughts were quickly distracted by a disturbance in the city that brought dire troubles to Goemon Investigations Agency. A Hannya-masked ninja had abducted the suspects with special powers that Yorinaga’s team had just defeated. They were Daigo Katoh and Reika Diose.
“What a cowardly, yet effective action!” Todo thought as he tried to piece together the motive behind the ninja’s actions.
The situation had caused tension between the GI, Yakuza, and JinCorp, and Todo knew that far worse things were likely to happen if the imbalance of power wasn’t resolved soon. “An imbalance means chaos,” he thought, realizing the gravity of the situation.
As his thoughts were interrupted by his ringing cell phone, Todo picked up the call. “Takahashi’s here. What’s the matter?” he asked. “Yeah, it’s encrypted.”
“You and the GI better release Reika Diose at once, or suffer the consequences!” Hayato threatened. “I and the Skull Mask Squad will free Diose, thrashing the GI Headquarters if I have to!”
Todo calmly explained to Hayato that he had the case report on Reika Diose and that a Hannya-masked man had abducted her after denying her involvement in the bombing of the Hikari Hotel. The Hannya-masked man had planted the bomb just to get to Reika, and a mysterious ninja had disarmed it, saving the day.
But Hayato was insistent on freeing Reika his way, and Todo knew that he had to diffuse the situation before things escalated further. “Let’s talk about this in our usual meeting place and time in Evernaland Theme Park,” he suggested. “I’m sure we can work out a solution with cool heads.”
“Humph, very well,” said Hayato’s voice. “See you tomorrow night, then.”
After hanging up the phone, Todo retired for the night. He was unaware that someone had eavesdropped on his encrypted phone call with Hayato. But that mysterious figure had a different plan in mind.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
==oOo==
Early in the morning…
The atmosphere in Fuwa’s office was tense, with Keiji, Shiori, and Nishi sitting in front of the Director’s table. It was a secret meeting, and the seriousness of the situation was palpable.
Fuwa wasted no time and went straight to the point. “Elite Agent Todo works with the Yakuza,” she said, her tone grave and her eyes piercing.
Keiji was taken aback. “What!? I thought he’s the most honor-abiding agent here… besides you, of course.”
Fuwa didn’t take the compliment and cut Keiji off. “Stop it right there, Special Agent. Anyway, by chance, I eavesdropped on Todo talking by phone with Hayato Mori, the Silver Skull Yakuza boss. They went into an argument and finally agreed to meet up at Evernaland Theme Park today at midnight.”
Shiori recognized the importance of this information. “That’s a critical piece of information you got, Ma’am. This is our chance to capture Mori and Todo together, red-handed.”
Nishi, on the other hand, had a different take on the situation. “Humph, maybe that’s the way Todo rose to be the Top Elite Agent. By turning informant for many sides, the GI, Yakuza, or who knows what else.”
Shiori added, “JinCorp too?”
“Maybe,” Fuwa said. “But to be sure of it, we better squeeze that information from Todo after we arrest him. For now, just focus on your mission and don’t let any word of this come out in public.”
Keiji assured her, “We’ll move and act with discretion, Ma’am.”
But then Fuwa changed her mind. “On second thought, I’ll come with you. It’s not that I don’t trust you or anything like that. But I need to cut to the chase and get in the action again, not just being a coordinator in the HQ.”
Shiori responded, “Your help is very welcome, Ma’am. If Todo is as extremely powerful as the top elite agent he is, we can use the best help we can get.”
Keiji’s reaction was different, though. He looked down at his shaky hands, his face turning pale. Shiori noticed this and became concerned.
She thought, “I wonder what happened between Keiji and Todo. I assume the two are rivals, and Todo overpowered Keiji in a traumatic way. I’ll ask him about that when I have the chance.”