Chapter 9
Pathetic, Yukari thought with disgust, looking down at the two beaten and bloody members of the Red clan. He has spent two hours searching Shizume City, looking for a worthy opponent who could bump his score in the game and provide some challenge. He hasn't even realized how much he missed a good challenge until after he defeated the two far too easily. But Misaki Yata has been out with the Red King and Yukari knew he wouldn't stand a chance against her. A King's power was on another level completely.
How boring. It wasn't much of a surprise that the two were only worth 500 points each, he thought, scrolling through the Jungle's list of Red clan members, where Masaomi Dewa and Yo Chitose were now crossed out. All the same, they would get the job done just as well as higher ranking gangsters would.
Nagare said to cause a stir, hasn't he? It was too bad that ruffling HOMRA's feathers was so easy.
Yukari smirked and took out his phone to snap an artful picture of the two. Quickly, he created a low-level mission: twenty points for the first five people who post this photo somewhere on social media, with a tagline of "HOMRA beaten on their own turf". Not even ten seconds passed before the first person accomplished the mission.
Truly, HOMRA should be grateful: without the photo and the info that some of their members have been beaten up, it would be hours and hours before they would stumble upon them in the small alley where Yukari has ambushed them. Fortunately, HOMRA wouldn't understand it, Yukari knew, too busy getting upset.
He straightened his jacket, fixed his hair and walked out of the alley as though there was nothing weird or worrying that happened. Well, nothing worried him in any case, as he brazenly strolled down the street, aiming for the busy centre of Shizume, where chances were he would be spotted. And if they attacked him, well, that wasn't his fault now, was it?
His PDA beeped and he checked it to see that another Jungle player posted the photo of HOMRA members, beaten black and blue. The first post has already been seen by thirty people and commented by some. With a smile, Yukari read the social media outrage over gang activity in Shizume City.
Very amusing, Yukari thought. It almost made up for the boring fight.
A third Jungle player posted the photo. Yukari checked where it was and, just as he was about to put the PDA away when somebody wrote a comment under that third post: "you will pay".
How precious! HOMRA was online after all!
In a much better mood, now that he was sure HOMRA has found out about his deed, Yukari looked around, wondering if he should try to do some shopping or not. Perhaps he could bring some mitarashi dango back? Sukuna and Nagare loved it, he knew very well. Even Mr Iwa couldn't find anything bad to say about it, unless they managed to drip some sauce on the tatami. Finally, Kuroh used to like it as well, when he was a kid, so everybody would be happy, wouldn't they? Yukari liked to see them happy almost as much as he liked crushing Kuroh's happiness, testing how far he could go, before the cute kid broke.
He wondered what Sukuna would do if he found out that Kuroh liked the same food as he did and decided that it was definitely worth it to spend his own money on bringing some sweets back to the base. Annoying Sukuna was always worth the money and effort spent: the kid was simply adorable when he was pouting. And it made Nagare smile, which was nice: it made him prettier.
The fourth and fifth post of the photo followed, soon after Yukari has heard a distant sound of an ambulance, coming more or less from the direction Yukari has come from. It could have been unrelated, but he imagined this was the ambulance somebody from the Red clan has called and he imagined their panic and worry. He wished he could have seen it, but remaining at the scene of crime was thoroughly unattractive.
Still, his handiwork has gone unsigned, he realized. The Red clan would surely guess that it was the Green clan's doing and eventually the two would wake up and tell them it was none other than Yukari Mishakuji who has put them in the hospital single-handedly. But he wanted to cause a stir right now. He should have done something to make it clear he was prowling Shizume City.
Immediately after, an idea occurred to him.
He found a shop doing sweets and bought ten sticks of mitarashi dango, leaving a handsome tip for the owner in return for a selfie with Yukari and the sweets. It turned out perfect. He cropped the edges a bit, applied a slight colour filter to bring out the brown of his eyes and sent it to a particular Jungle player who hasn't completed a single mission.
Surely, HOMRA's second-in-command hasn't expected to remain truly anonymous when he signed into the game under a fake name, has he? Yukari wanted to laugh at the idea.
After a moment of consideration, he added: "Thank you for the entertainment and the sweets: Shizume City is truly awesome. I'll be sure to recommend it to my friends."
It wasn't really surprising that he didn't get an answer, but the messages have been delivered, so Yukari didn't worry too much. In a great mood, he went back to the hideout, loudly announcing the bounty he carried. And the situation unfolded better than his best expectations.
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From his small studio, which he has rented under a fake name right after quitting Sceptre 4, Saruhiko Fushimi plotted his fast rise in the Jungle ranks. The game wouldn't be fun and entirely not worth quitting the Blue clan, until he was J-ranked and met the big boss. Ideally before the Green clan made their big move. Having Douhan Hirasaka give him her points in exchange for money sure helped, but when he saw a special mission of gathering information on Dollars, he knew it was made for him.
In a way it was too good to be true, promising as many as 1000 points if he managed to prove or disprove the Colourless King's connection to the gang and varying amounts of points for information on key players of the Dollars. But he wasn't going to question it. There was a possibility that the Green King, who must have been one hell of a hacker himself, was busy with other projects and did not want to wait to have them finished to find out about the new enemy.
There was also another mission, which he strongly advised Hirasaka to take: go to Ikebukuro and spread the word about the Jungle, but not in a way that would endanger anybody of the Dollars. The aim was to appear tempting rather than threatening. There was an award of points for everybody who would go with an original idea, plus a prize for whomever the Green King would judge to have had the best idea. Hirasaka has been one of the first players to go and tag a wall with "green is the new colourless" and "welcome to the jungle".
She already got her points and forwarded them to Fushimi, but they had to wait for the Green King's verdict about the best idea.
Until then, Fushimi, freshly U-rank in the Jungle, took his time to hack the server where Dollars stored their chat archives and user list. Reading through the chat to pinpoint the key players and list the most active members took time, but Fushimi, as opposed to what people thought about him, was a patient man. Anybody who wanted to be a reasonably good hacker needed to be patient.
His patience paid off: he discovered that the Colourless King herself was a member of Dollars, hiding behind a weird nick of マイ・フェア・レディ, "My Fair Lady". He briefly wondered if "マイ" was a word game on her name, but it didn't really matter. Fushimi had a conclusive proof that Mai Ueno was connected to Dollars and 1000 points more on his account. Information on the people she associated with on the chat got him more points and a proof of identity of Taro Tanaka, the leader and founder of Dollars, 500 points all by itself.
In few days, Hirasaka finished three more missions, even going as far as trying her abilities against Sceptre 4. She won, landing two officers in a hospital for a short time. And Fushimi was one mission away from J-rank and few yen away from bankruptcy.
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Mai and Erika were sitting on a bench in the West Gate Park: Erika was going to try out her superpower, which should, unless Mai messed something up, make guys kiss. Walker, Kadota and Togusa were hanging out a bit further, ready to jump in in case of trouble, but far away lest Erika try to play a trick on any of them. People passed, some hurried, others not, some alone, some in groups. Erika waited until a likely pair of friends appeared. Mai speculated that Erika's power would not be absolute, so if the two guys looked like they wouldn't completely mind kissing another guy, it would be far easier than with two completely opposed to the idea.
Some days have passed since Mai became the Colourless King, but that day marked the turning of a new page. It wasn't her choice really, but she has done two things that day: she has finished reading through all the information about the auras, the Kings, their clans and history that captain Munakata has given her and, going home, she has discovered that she was being followed by a Sceptre 4 officer. Thus, she has decided that the uncovering the mystery of the Dresden Slate wasn't important enough anymore and she wasn't going to return to the Mihashira Tower the following day.
She wondered what captain Munakata would understand from her absence. By then he didn't suspect her to disappear anymore, like he has had right after that coffee table alliance meeting. Not that she was going to disappear. She would just stop visiting him as was well within her rights.
'Say, Erika,' she started hesitantly. Turning of a new page was one thing, but once she started that conversation she could end up jumping into another book. Still, she has thought about it almost every day since she became the King. Perhaps it was the time to stop wandering and act. 'Taro Tanaka is a hacker, no?' she asked. Her friend looked at her, curious and surprised.
'He might be,' she answered after a moment of silence. Mai could see that she wasn't stalling but honestly didn't know. Reading people's emotions came with all sorts of advantages for situations like that.
'And you know him, don't you? In real life I mean,' she added. She has chatted with Taro many, many times online. He seemed like a really nice guy. And he looked out for his friends and the members of Dollars, or at least that was the impression she had.
'I have met him a few times,' Erika admitted. Now there was honest hesitation clouding her feelings, which also darkened with worry. 'Why?' she asked when Mai didn't speak again immediately.
'I need somebody to try and hack into the Jungle servers,' Mai admitted, quietly. She hoped nobody was spying on her right then. Erika physically recoiled.
'Didn't you say to stay away from them?' she asked. 'You even went as far as warning people on the chatroom that members of Jungle have been linked to multiple crimes occurring recently a bit everywhere in Tokyo. We have been telling everybody we know to stay away because Jungle might be worse news than the Yellow Scarves and Blue Squares combined,' she pointed out in a rush. It was all true.
Mai bit her lip. She knew that she could trust Erika. Could she hope that they were not spied upon? She took a quick glance around, but nowhere could she see any feelings she would associate with hiding, stealth or spying.
'We should stay away from them,' she said firmly. 'I will repeat it as many times as you need me to. However, there is something I would like to pick up from the hiding place of the Green King. Well, I assume it is there,' she hesitated, purposefully vague even in front of her friend. She glanced around again, aware that she was behaving suspiciously and drawing attention of the random passers-by. She lowered her voice instinctively: 'Jungle being what it is, I am sure they have ways to follow our chatroom, if they happen to connect me to Dollars. More, I kind of expect them to have gained a new player who appeared to be very proficient with computers. So I cannot ask Taro on the chatroom.'
'I could arrange for you to meet with him,' Erika suggested, but Mai shook her head.
'He's the leader of Dollars, isn't he? I'm sure Jungle knows that, or will if they get interested in Dollars. If Jungle can figure out he has a direct connection with me, they will double guess all his actions. However, if they think he "only" is a leader of an internet-based gang checking out the competition, they might let it slide.'
'But they might not,' Erika guessed.
'I have no idea,' Mai admitted and they both turned to look at the people passing in front of the bench. 'So far they have done nothing to any of the Dollars. I know they have attacked the Red and Blue clans repeatedly. Some of the Red guys even wound up in a hospital three days ago. Jungle made sure to post news about it on social media.'
'I'll ask Taro, but I cannot promise he'll agree. He usually let the Yellow Scarves and Blue Squares be in the past, saying that the idea behind Dollars is not to fight for supremacy but rather to gather people.'
'Thanks,' Mai said. It was the best she has hoped for after all.
Erika laughed, making Mai look at her, bewildered by the sudden cheerfulness.
'How could I call myself a Colourless clanswoman if I couldn't even do that?' Erika asked with a gleeful smile and sparkling eyes and they both laughed. And they barely calmed down when Erika exclaimed with excitement. Few seconds later, two guys who were just crossing the square stopped, looked at each other and dove into a passionate kiss in the middle of the West Gate Park.
'Oh my god,' Mai whispered, pressing both hands against her mouth in shock. It worked. It truly worked. Next to her, Erika squealed in delight.
Let's just pretend this kind of "power" makes sense, ok? :P
