HA3 10.4 - Another One from the Past
Shorimachi’s lodging house had moderate size. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a small kitchen that was connected to living room. In one of the bedrooms, Hide found the files for the case he was working on and it made him furrowed his brow.
Other than the raid in Villa Tigera, Shorimachi also investigated the raid in Kamui Finance, the ambush to Aizen’s courier, the ambush to Toruma’s courier, and the ambush to Maeda the Fox. The file for each case, including the forensic record was so detail and thorough. Some files also required high-profile security clearance to access it.
‘Only NFP has the budget, skill, and security clearance to compile such files,’ Hide muttered.
It meant Shorimachi was working with people from NFP. His investigation was also not official, or he wouldn’t put those files in his house, and from his business card Hide learned that Shorimachi was from 2nd Division. It was metro police division that its job was handling white collar crime.
Other than that, Shorimachi and his partner were trying to put surveillance on Hanna. They tried to figure out her connection with the raid in Kamui Finance. Then, Hide suddenly received a radio call from Shizuka.
[Pear to Apple, be advised, you have incoming.]
Hide immediately checked his watch and found it was 21:50. It was about time Shorimachi arrived at his home as usual. Wasting no time, he pressed PTT button.
“Roger,’ Hide gave Shizuka a reply in whisper, and then hid his presence.
A moment later, Shorimachi entered his lodging house. He turned almost all the light on, took a can of beer from refrigerator, and then went to the bedroom where he displayed the files from NFP. He took only a glance on each file before went to his room. Then, from one of the drawers, he took a binder files, brought it to living room, and studied it while here and there he gave his beer a sip.
Usually, Shorimachi would study the binder file for 2-3 hours, but today for some reason he was so sleepy. A moment later, he already fell asleep in the sofa and lightly snoring. Then, Hide came out from his hiding, wearing a gasmask while in his hand he held a small canister of sleeping gas.
‘Sleep well and don’t wake up until morning,’ Hide muttered before starting intel mining.
In swift manner, he downloaded all files in Shorimachi’s computer and smartphone. After that, he took picture of every case file he could found. It took about two hours before Hide finishing the work.
After that, he ensured the level of sleeping gas in the room dropped to the lowest level possible before pressing PTT button.
“Apple to Pear, I’m about to leave, gives me actual.”
[Pear to Apple, coast is clear, you can leave.]
“Roger, Apple over and out.”
A moment later, Hide already regrouped with Takeo and Shizuka in the rooftop of nursing home. Wasting no time, the three gave the intel they had just got their hand on a quick study.
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The more Hide learned about Shorimachi’s personal info, the more his expression became darker. The situation was more complicated than what he thought. He couldn’t help but kept letting out a sigh.
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“This is very tricky,” Hide said before gulping down a mouthful of mineral water. “Scare tactic won’t work on him.”
“Why does it won’t work on him?” Shizuka curiously asked.
“He has the gut to make an attempt on Toruma’s elder’s life in the open,” Hide firmly said. “With such as nasty gut, scare tactic will only deliver opposite effect.”
“I see.”
“We also can’t temporary decommission him until we finish our job by putting him unconscious in hospital,” Hide added.
Another question mark instantly popped up in Shizuka’s forehead, “Why?”
“Shorimachi younger brother is Naoto Mashima, a high-expert shooter in SDF. He was the one who helped Paolo tailing me and Takeo,” Hide said. “Other than gunsmith work and precision shooting he is useless in anything else, but with Paolo’s help he without fail will find us if we harm his older brother.
After that, he will snipe us one by one.”
“So,” Takeo said in low voice. “What is our option?”
“Blackmailing Shorimachi to make him to come into our cause.” Hide took a short pause before continuing, “But it will need through preparation. As for now, we will give him information he want and gain his trust.”
After checking a few pictures from the binder file Takeo turned his gaze to Hide. “Do you mean the location of S14 we used to ambush Aizen’s courier, and the Black Van from Villa Tigera?”
Hide gave Takeo a light nod and added, “Until this very moment, Shorimachi is also still trying so hard to locate remains of little girl that Toruma’s elder had killed when he was toying with her. I think I have a clue about it.”
“Who was this little girl?” Shizuka curiously asked.
“She was daughter of Shorimachi’s snitch. He failed to save his snitch, along with his wife and his daughter, and it seems it still leave a deep bitterness in his heart.”
Shizuka nodded and said, “I see.”
“And one more thing.” Hide showed the picture when Shizuka and Yukino scaled the slope near Villa Tigera. “This picture is not clear enough to identify you. For now you are not under Shorimachi’s radar.”
“I see.” Shizuka couldn’t help but took a deep breath full of relief.
“What about Shorimachi’s partner?” Takeo asked while fixing her gaze on Takayuki Hayami’s picture.
“She is incredible investigator, but Shorimachi doesn’t share the information about me with her,” Hide casually said. “She is not dangerous factor for now.”
“It seems he also doesn’t share that info with NFP’s agent he works with.” Takeo concluded. “Can you guess the reason?”
“I can’t tell for sure,” Hide said, “but I believe it’s because he has his own agenda. Sooner or later he will reveal it to me to ask my assistance.”
“What about his surveillance on Hanna?” Takeo asked another question.
“It’s not a problem for now.”
“I see,” Takeo calmly said.
“Well, that’s for tonight. Let’s go home.”
““Okay,”” Takeo and Shizuka replied at the same time.
Wasting no time, the three left the rooftop. Takeo and Shizuka left first, while Hide left about 20 minutes later. He walked to nearby bus stop before calling a taxi, and as soon as he sat inside the taxi he fell into deep ponders right away.
Actually, there was info about Takayuki that Hide didn’t share with Takeo and Shizuka. In his previous life, Takayuki was the metro police detective who handled his father murder case. When she knew that Hide ran away from his home because of panic after knowing his father already passed away, Takayuki also went out of her way to find him.
She then gave him consolation, encouragement, and rent a small lodging house for him. At the same time, she was also regularly visiting Aizawa in the orphanage. When Hide started to be able to stand up on his own feet, she gave him suggestion to take volunteer work or enter SDF.
The idea was, Hide needed sometime and something to help him figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He definitely couldn’t stay doing nothing and stopped caring for his own life. In the end, Hide chose to enter SDF.
In the registration form, he chose to apply to logistic or administration unit. However, because he carried out each PE as if he tried to punish himself, he unintentionally got a very high score in PE assessment. Without his consent, the chain of command then put him in infantry unit.
After finishing the six months of basic training, his unit was then being deployed to reinforce first line defender in southern island. Before the departure, he wanted to visit Aizawa in orphanage, but Takayuki said that it was not the time yet.
Unfortunately, five months later Hide received news that Takayuki died in traffic accident. Later, he found out that it was intentional murder. He managed to kill people who made the plot and the man who executed the job, but he lost the bridge to reconnecting to Aizawa for good. In the end, it took him more than a decade before he had the gut to try reconnecting with Aizawa, but it was already far too late.
‘People from my past show up one by one,’ Hide muttered while gazing out of the window. ‘And it seems I have to kill people who go after Takayuki’s life a bit earlier than the schedule.’
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