episode_0128

– Thump thump – Thump thump

Exactly thirty minutes later, an announcement signaling departure was heard, and the Black Market Line 3 vehicle, rattling and clanking, disappeared into the dark tunnel.

Watching its rear, I felt a heavy sensation at my fingertips, which inexplicably warmed my heart, and I sniffled.

“The Black Market truly has excellent salespeople. I ended up buying everything without even realizing it!”

Yuki’s half-lidded eyes seemed to ask if I was really going to use all of it.

Ignoring her sharp, incredulous gaze, I avoided her eyes.

“How much did you spend on strange experimental drugs? Ten thousand credits…?”

“Ahem… This is merely a small investment to satisfy my personal curiosity, so it’s perfectly fine~”

“Pervert.”

Yuki hugged her chest with her arms, covering herself. I felt a slight sense of injustice, but since I was actually imagining extracting milk from Yuki’s chest, I heartily shook off that minor grievance.

“I dislike it~ but I also know that Jun is a pervert who likes breasts…”

Yuki wrapped her arms around mine, sealing one of my arms, and spoke slanderously, a seductive charm lingering in her crimson eyes.

Her eyes curved softly, with a mischievous aura.

My mind was momentarily distracted by the tickle of her tail, which swished and gently patted my hip and lower back. Yuki then hooked her thumb under the choker around her neck and pulled it taut.

This caused the fox’s head to tilt slightly back, revealing a long, white neckline.

“If my master commands, then a pet fox like me~ would have no choice but to obey~?”

I knew this lewd fox was not at all disgusted, but rather full of anticipation, with a temptation that seemed to urge me to put a leash on her and pull at any moment.

At her appeal, ready to fawn and act cute no matter what was done to her, I reached for her choker…

*BOOM───*

My gaze, along with Yuki’s and everyone else’s at the station, turned towards the source of a tremendous boom, like a giant bell tolling.

It wasn’t the tunnel where the Line 3 train had just disappeared, but the tunnel from which Line 1, which the broadcast had announced would arrive soon, was coming.

“What happened all of a sudden?”

“Indeed…”

Perhaps annoyed that our skinship was interrupted, Yuki’s mood soured, and she scrutinised the tunnel with a chilling glare full of displeasure.

However, since it was still some distance away, no light from a vehicle was visible, and there was no specific Black Market broadcast, everyone assumed it was just a mishap.

Still, the atmosphere had been interrupted, making it awkward to resume. And Yuki, perhaps not intending to do anything more there, linked her fingers and walked towards the station where Line 1 would arrive.

“By the way, Yuki, what did you come here to buy? That Furida guy said you went with the Shinsengumi.”

There was no sign of Hijikata around Yuki, nor any Shinsengumi members visible even at the turnstiles or throughout the station.

“Hmm~ I didn’t specifically come to the Black Market to buy anything. I intended to contact a senior member of the Black Market and propose an alliance, but…”

“But?”

“From what I’ve learned, the Black Market seems to operate in a semi-decentralized, cell-like structure. I suppressed Hijikata and the stationmaster of Japan Town Station and questioned them, but they just said they only receive orders from above!”

“So you already had a skirmish, huh?”

“Yes. Hijikata went to another station on Line 4 with the stationmaster to find a way to contact higher-ups, and I stayed behind to contact the conductors.”

That Hijikata fellow. If he brought a woman of mine to a place like this, he should protect her till the end, but he went off alone.

Next time I see him, I’ll have to kick him in the shins.

And I’ll also get revenge for when he threw me into a jjimjilbang and attacked my eyes simultaneously while wearing a fundoshi during our first encounter.

“Japan Town Station is the only point where four lines intersect. So you don’t have to travel all over the place, right?”

“That’s true. But it’s strange. For such a large station, wouldn’t the organization’s top administrator usually manage it?”

Even if the boss is someone who doesn’t want their identity known, it would be normal for at least one person to be stationed here who could make direct contact.

“Well… the Black Market is so shrouded in mystery that I don’t know much about it. People who know this place even consider the Black Market’s head to be one of the urban legends.”

“That’s more like an urban legend than something like Anal Man.”

“Ugh…”

I put an arm around Yuki’s waist, who recoiled, and pulled her close, noticing the slightly chaotic atmosphere of the station.

‘The guards are armed.’

The guards, who had only been wearing pistols and bulletproof vests, were now changing their weapons to shotguns and rifles, suggesting some security issue had arisen.

Was that noise from earlier the cause?

Over there, the blue-haired and green-haired guards, who had briefly argued before entering the turnstile, were counting shotgun shells. When they met my gaze, they swiftly lowered their heads and passed by.

‘They’ll handle it.’

They must have enough power to maintain such a useful community, wouldn’t they?

“But are there any special items? Usually, in a black market, strange things openly circulate. You know, like in movies.”

“Hmm… Not none. But most of the items are either stolen goods, things people don’t need, or things sold because they need quick cash.”

‘Not none’ implies that if I search properly, there might be something.

In an era where it’s common knowledge that if something isn’t explicitly said to be absent, then it exists.

Of course, the fresh excitement I had just bought wasn’t bad, but the purpose of visiting the Black Market was to find interesting things, so I couldn’t help but be excited.

“Speaking of which, I heard there’s an item commissioned by a wizard on the Line 1 train. It was equipment they used personally, but they put it up for sale to pay off a debt to the Black Market.”

“A wizard?”

At that name, the name Wizard, who was on Luna’s priority recruitment list, came to mind.

An unknown individual using techniques of unknown origin.

Although I hadn’t been able to meet them because I couldn’t pinpoint the Wizard’s location while I was in contact with Wild Hunt, any equipment used by a mercenary renowned as a legend would undoubtedly be extraordinary.

Like the Shape Shifter’s Cloaking Robe, or the Cannon Lance used by Wild Hunt’s vanguard rider, or the full-body metal muscle fibers of the mouth retractor pervert—items beyond common sense.

“Interested?”

“Hmm… I do want it. Is it a staff?”

When thinking of a wizard’s equipment, a staff is the most prominent, isn’t it?

Though they might not be a real magic user, if they earned such a nickname, they would at least match their appearance to the concept.

“Well~ I don’t think it would be a staff?”

As Yuki and I spent time speculating about what the wizard’s equipment might be, listing various possibilities, the armed Black Market guards descended onto the Line 1 tracks, blocking the tunnel entrance.

Come to think of it, considering Line 1 was supposed to arrive in three minutes but no sound of it approaching could be heard, it seemed like something had gone wrong.

A Black Market manager in a station employee uniform picked up a megaphone to calm the customers who had started murmuring.

[“Ah, ah. We extend our apologies to the customers who visited the Black Market today. Mechanical issues have occurred with the vehicle scheduled to stop at this station at 2:52 PM, and it is currently halted…”]

To summarize briefly: the train broke down, it will be delayed. We apologize. It might take a long time to resolve, so please return. Unexpectedly normal procedure, in a way.

However, the aggrieved customers, who had taken the time to come and get their items, protested angrily.

No, they weren’t truly angry; it was more akin to feigning anger, hoping the Black Market might offer some compensation.

[“Please step back… Do not approach the tracks!”]

“It seems the train with the wizard’s equipment has a problem, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah… I wonder if there are still idiots left who’d challenge the Black Market, but looking at how they’re armed~”

Considering the items for sale, a single successful heist could let someone live lavishly for years, but only someone with extraordinary guts would even attempt it.

And to succeed…

[“You son of a bitch! Shoot! Shoot him!”]

*Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat───!!!*

The Black Market guards, who had their gun barrels aimed into the dark tunnel, panicked and pulled their triggers. The subway station reverberated with a booming sound, and muzzle flashes flared, spraying lead bullets down the straight passage.

The volley of fire from seven guards was enough to tear apart even special agents wearing bulletproof vests in an instant.

*Thud-thud-thud─!!*

They quickly reloaded, as if they had used up a whole magazine in an instant.

But at that very moment, as if waiting for it, a counterattack flew from inside the tunnel, where firepower capable of tearing several people apart had just been unleashed.

The bullet, sounding heavier, as if from a larger caliber than the Black Market guards’ rifles, pierced the head of the guard standing at the very front.

*Splat-*

Brains, blood, and brain fragments exploded from the impact, splattering onto the tracks.

Profanities erupted from various places at the guard who died instantly, and the reloaded guards braced themselves again, but the flash of counterattack didn’t end with just one shot.

A guard above the tracks lost three fingers as his rifle exploded, another guard had his leg torn off by a bullet to the knee, a gang member took a bullet to the abdomen because he couldn’t react in time, and a mercenary had his shoulder blown open as a bullet easily penetrated his bulletproof coat.

Screams of pain and shouts of rage erupted from all directions, and that vicious attack, surpassing the speed of sound, came towards Yuki and me.

*Click-*

My vision accelerated with a dazzling shock, as if my entire nervous system had been electrocuted by lightning.

I accurately extended my hands towards the three lead bullets flying from the darkness.

And in that accelerated time, I saw Yuki’s eyes sparkle, though her movements were slow—

*Hiss…*

Two hot bullet casings, caught between my ring and middle finger, and my middle and index finger, had lost all their kinetic energy and were held firm.

By the size of the bullet casings, they were gunpowder rounds just short of large caliber.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes~ This isn’t even dangerous.”

The remaining bullet casing was completely shattered and rolled on the ground.

Yuki, fiddling with her fingernails and smiling, shivered momentarily as if she felt a tingling static electricity, then narrowed her eyes and looked into the tunnel.

“There’s something much more dangerous in there.”

Following her gaze, I looked at the tracks where four guards had been neutralized, now in a stalemate, and saw figures emerging from the tunnel, which shimmered with gun smoke.

They wore navy blue military boots, made of what seemed to be a sturdy material, clunking with metal soles, and blue-toned military uniforms.

On the chest of their uniforms, proudly printed in large letters, were fifty yellow stars, asserting their presence.

The surviving, uninjured Black Market guard let out a cry of horror.

“Fi-Fifty Star!!!”

“Noisy.”

“Uh… uh! Why is my body… floating…”

*Float-* The guard, suspended in the air as if he were Peter Pan flying, flailed his limbs, trying to get his feet back on the ground, but it happened in a somewhat gruesome manner.

*Whirring─*

The floating Black Market guard, accompanied by an unintelligible mechanical hum, then…

*Crush.*

Was smashed onto the ground, becoming a mass of flesh.

And spitting out streams of blood with occasional squelching, gruesome sounds.

“…”

“…”

No one present could open their mouths at that horrifying sight.

And as if greatly pleased by such silence, a figure stepped forward from among the Fifty Star members, who were aiming their large-caliber rifles.

Hair an ominous red, a face that looked down on everything with a weary arrogance, and a sleek, dark cyberware arm replacing his left arm.

“Wait, I definitely killed that bastard…”

Scarlet D. Phoenix.

Spotting me with a contorted face, the guy grinned, his lips stretching wide, and displayed the open palm of his cyberware arm to me.