「Hey, there isn’t a Ninth Town 」
As far as I could see from the map there was a Tenth Town, so there must be a Ninth Town. Yet, for some reason I could not spot a Ninth Town on the map labeled as one of the stops.
I compared the map Dokin Chan gave me and the tram map. I realized that there was an empty location on the tram map which the tram did not pass by. It seemed that this was the destination, the Ninth Town.
「……Hmm, 」
A middle-aged man that wore a trench coat and stood out amongst the young students. A locked case that I should not peek inside. The destination is an empty spot on the map.
I really felt like something bad was going to happen.
Now, I was curious about what was inside the attaché case.
I lifted it up to examine it more closely.
「Hm, a dial with only three digits huh. 」
I hummed a little, while I turned each dial slowly. Since my family business was what it was, I actually knew how to open these kinds of locks. Before one minute had passed, I heard the attaché case unlock.
I pressed the button next to the handle, and opened the attaché case without thinking anything of it.
Freestar
「……Oof. 」
I closed it immediately and looked around. The mother was playing with the baby. The young housewife was dozing off. The university student girl seemed engrossed in her novel.
Good. No one saw it.
I opened it once more to double-check.
Yet, the contents of the attaché case did not change magically.
For starters, I closed the attaché case and locked it properly. Then I took a deep breath.
I could not help but say, 「Oh no, I did it. 」
Inside the attaché case was white powder packed into a plastic bag.
I decided I will punish the great detective once I went home.
Section 4
『Hello, this is Sanada. 』
I came off the tram and moved to a shade nearby. It was a time when there wouldn’t be lessons during break, and called Sanada immediately. His number was written on the contract.
「Hi yeah, I am Jūgo Yama. 」
「Hey Jūgo. What happened? 」
「I want to ask… 」
「Yes. 」
「If! And this is just an if but. If the contents of the luggage that one is supposed to deliver is some white powder, what should one do? 」
There was a weird silence.
『….. Oh, sorry. I could not hear anything, because the connection was bad. 』
「Liar! You had clearly heard it! 」
『Alright then, just do your best in the job. Also, please don’t abandon the job halfway. There would be some consequences if you do so, so please do not feel offended. 』
He did not even give me advice. Instead he gave me a weird warning and hung up without my permission.
Although I called him back, he did not pick up the phone.
This was really bad. I did not think that this job would be to deliver some dangerous stuff……what should I do? Should I bring it to the police? But…. But……
「Hey you, has something happened? 」
While I was facing the dilemma, I was suddenly called from behind. I jolted a little.
When I turned around, there was a young policeman standing behind me.
Argh, although I didn’t even ask for it, he was already there.
「No, nothing. 」
I casually replied and tried to walk away.
「Hey. Aren’t you a high schooler? What happened to school? 」
Freestar
「Erm, you know……. 」
「And……what are you holding? 」
The policeman looked at me with clearly suspicious eyes.
I replied, 「Oh this? 」, and naturally checked my surroundings. Then I ran away with all my might.
「W.. wait! 」
Of course, the policeman started chasing after me. I am not going to wait. I am going to run away with all my might.
「This is officer Dōma. I have just spotted a student that looks suspicious. I am requesting backup immediately. He could be the Street King around this area. 」
The policeman passed by while I was hiding in a bush. I exhaled a sigh of relief.
However, I still had the attaché case.
After pondering for one minute, I decided.
「I should just deliver it. 」
Yeah, think about it carefully. My job is just to deliver, and actually I shouldn’t even know what is inside. Actually, I should not be able to see what is inside. Besides, where is this place? This is the peaceful southern paradise, Nanae Island. Of course, this attaché case would not hold some dangerous white powder. Surely, I had seen…. that thing. It is some flour to bake a cake. Surely that Dokin Chan must be (looks like a gangster) …… oh yeah, some random middle-aged man from the bakery that had come outside during the lunch break. He looked a little wild, but I should not judge a book by its cover. Surely that must be it. Actually, I should believe this. If not, I cannot remain calm.
So I followed the map again and started walking. I was walking along the coast away from the town in order to avoid the police. It seems that I will reach the town as long as I walk along the coast.
After 30 minutes of walking, I finally saw the Ninth Town.
At first glance from afar, it clearly looked different from other towns.
Once I entered the town, I reaffirmed how different it is.
All of the other towns on this island were squeaky clean and maintained properly.
However, this Ninth Town did not seem like that at all. Actually, there was graffiti of various colors all over the place. On top of that, many window panes of buildings were broken. There was no order to this town at all. It was as if this town was post-apocalyptic, after being rampaged by crime.
Although the town was like this, there were still people. Some young men that looked quite scary sat on the road. They seemed very curious about the attaché case in my hand. It was as if they were hyenas looking at their prey.
Although I was walking in this town with a composed face, I was quite nervous.
Naturally, I started walking at a faster pace.
「Oh, young master? 」
That moment, I heard a familiar voice.
By reflex, I froze on the stop.
「As I thought. Young master. What are you doing here? 」
「Sh, shū! 」
It was a tall thin playboy with blond dyed hair. It was the real Shū Todomatsu without any disguise.
「There you go, young master. 」
「Thank you. 」
Shū bought me a drink for me at a nearby convenience store. By the way, the convenience store had the cash register just next to the entrance, and for some reason, the person there was wearing an American football gear and was armed.
「What are you doing here, Shū. 」
「Oh, I am shopping. I wanted something that I can’t find normally, so I came to this town to buy it. 」
Saying this, Shū started listing names of chemicals that no one could buy from a normal pharmacy. He used some of the chemicals for his disguise, and some for his weapons.
「Can you obtain those things in this town. 」
「Yes, it seems that the organization that governs this town has its own secret trade route, because you can find anything in this town. 」
Organization? Secret trade route? What, is that?
「Erm…… Shū. In the first place, what is this town? 」
While I looked around, I could not help but ask him.
「This is the Ninth Town of the Nanae Island, also known as the ((Tsukuyomi Town)). It is a lawless area where the island’s outliers gather. 」
A lawless area. I thought the description really suited this place.
「I had thought the Nanae Island was completely controlled, since it is called the ((Special Student Zone)). I did not think there would be such a place. 」
I thought the Nanae Island was just a cheerful, fun, and beautiful southern island. In fact, all the other towns fit that description.
「According to one theory, the authorities intentionally keep it like this. 」
「Intentionally? 」
「For example, let’s say there is a fish that can only live in dirty water. If you place the fish in a tank with clean water, it would die. But if this is a human, what happens? Most probably, the human would try to change its own surroundings to suit itself, and would destroy the beautiful surroundings just to make itself comfortable. However, let’s say there is a dirty environment just next to this beautiful place. The person would not need to cause havoc and be hated by others by destroying the beautiful place. I do think the person would instead just go to the dirty place. 」
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login