Chapter 42
"Remind me again why I have to do this?" asked Tomo, as she walked through one of the main streets, Kimura beside her. The man's black hair was brushed back, and he was free of his mask, wearing only his glasses. He was dressed in a dark black suit borrowed from Muyo.
"Sakaki is too shy for the part, and Osaka is too out of it" replied Kimura.
"But why do I have to have this?" asked Tomo pointing to her clothing. She wore a suit similar to Kimura's, only slightly more worn. "I don't like dressing up overly girly, but this is too far the other way" she said in a desperate manner.
"Well you can't change now. We're almost at the building. Besides, it's not as though you know anyone in this town."
"That isn't the point" grumbled Tomo to herself.
"Now remember what we are supposed to be Tomo" said Kimura. "We are business partners interested in finding some company to invest a sizeable sum of money in. If they ask, I'll show them the small amount of gold Muyo gave us."
"Ok. And what is our business name?" asked Tomo. Kimura was silent, a blank look on his face.
"Hopefully it won't come up. If they ask, don't say anything, and just repeat the name I say" stated Kimura. "What? What is it?" he asked.
"If they get suspicious I'm running" said Tomo in a grumpy manner.
"Why would they suspect anything about our airtight story?" asked Kimura.
"You're just doing this to wear the suit aren't you?" asked Tomo.
"I have no idea what you are talking about" said Kimura, winking at a woman who looked at him suggestively as she passed by. "Women dig the scar" he said, momentarily forgetting he was talking to Tomo.
"Oh really?" asked Tomo.
"Oh look, there's the building Muyo said to go to" stated Kimura. "Lets try over there."
With no more words spoken the duo approached the doors of the large building. Tomo looked up apprehensively at the large building. Make of stone, with small, secretive window it just seemed to give off an illegal vibe to her. She wondered if there was some kind of illegal activity going on in there…
Then again maybe it would be good if that was the case. She could bust the criminals and then be treated as a hero. Of course it would only be in this town, but she'd be known as the girl who freed Taki from a crime syndicate. She'd just have to neglect mentioning Kimura. And she knew she had to make sure she got nice photos of her taken. Some serious looking, and some seductive ones to get the males attention…
Yeah…a hero- that would be nice.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Tomo was jolted from her daydreams as Kimura knocked on the door. She was silent for a moment, still slightly shocked. Just how hard did Kimura want to knock on the door?
"Guess I don't know my own strength" joked Kimura.
"Please don't do that again" said Tomo.
Kimura didn't answer as the door was pulled open. Tomo found herself face to face with a man who she guessed must be at least two thousand years old. His wrinkly face studied the two.
"Yes?"
"Hi, we're investors and we're-"
"Investors?" said the man suddenly, his ancient face breaking into a grin. "I thought you would be another person begging for a handout from Mr Iroto."
He pulled open the door, and invited them into a large hall. Tomo glanced around in surprise. The inside seemed so much warmer then the outside had suggested. A man was sat at a desk, busy reading a paperback novel. She looked around and a random worker waved at her and smiled. They even had large colourful plants in pot!
"Wow, I really think we should invest in this" she said to herself. "Wait…oh" she continued in a sad tone.
"What do we have here?" called out a voice. Tomo looked up to see a blond man descending marble stairs. He was dressed in black suit trousers and wore a white short sleeved shirt. Her attention was drawn to the two top buttons that were undone- she had noticed he seemed to be in shape. Very good shape.
"Oooooh" she said aloud.
"Master Munro, we have two potential investors here" said the old man. "I was about to arrange someone to give a tour of the facility."
"Oh there's no need to do that" said Munro as he stepped off of the stairs. He looked at the two people. The girl seemed cute…the man seemed in good shape. He bet it would be fun to fight him. "They are the first investors to arrive in a while. I might as well give them a tour" he said, giving a warm smile. It's so fun to pretend.
"Master Munro here is Mr Iroto's close associate, and has recently taken to overlooking work at this building for Mr Iroto" explained the elderly man.
"Then it would truly be an honour to be given a tour by such an important person" said Kimura. He really hoped this Munro person didn't like the sound of his own voice- and that this trip wouldn't take too long. He had other things to do, and he hoped they could find what they were looking for without going through the entire building.
"Well then, come this way" said Munro. God he hated this boring work. Stuck in an office in a building, walking around and just talking to people. Being looked up to, seen as a leader. He hoped Iroto acted soon. Pretending to be a different person could be fun, but this person was stuck in a dull job for now.
Tomo's feet were hurting again, and this all seemed boring. She had noticed Munro seemed bored too; he almost didn't seem to care what he talked about. They had passed a few offices, seen a few different activities. She looked down- she knew she should have insisted on wearing her own shoes. These were too tight.
"And next we come to something very interesting" said Munro. Tomo noticed his voice seemed to change, a faint element of excitement. Kimura noticed too.
"Oh, what's that?" asked Kimura.
"A product we have started manufacturing at mass levels of output" said Munro. "I'm afraid you can only see from behind this glass" he said.
Tomo peered through, looking down as a group of people walked around, checking some sort of material. She thought they seemed to be moving very carefully.
"What's down there?" she asked.
"We call it black powder" stated Munro. "It's a form of explosive."
Tomo quickly looked up at Kimura. Sakaki and others had mentioned how Kuraigu's forces used an explosive powder…
"What can it be used for?" asked Kimura.
"Oh, many things" said Munro. "An aid to mining, a means to create new tunnels for transport routes." He paused for a moment. "I guess one could even use it as a weapon if they so wished."
"So it's pretty dangerous?" asked Tomo, looking down at the people again.
"Yep" replied Munro. "Only experienced and trusted employees are allowed in the powder hall."
The trio turned away and passed along the walkway overlooking the large hall. Munro pushed open a door, holding it for Tomo. Kimura then passed through, and then they were in another large room.
Tomo looked upwards. She was impressed- a number of large windows were built into the ceiling above. She looked up at the passing clouds. If she ever got a house she'd want something like- what was that?! She looked up again, certain she'd seen a strange flash. No quite a flash- movement.
Her head turned as glass smashed. She found herself staring at a figure dressed entirely in black. The man leapt down to the floor, one of the workers running away in terror. However he fell to the floor as shuriken tore into the back of his legs. Tomo watched Munro calmly stepping forwards as other ran the other way.
The fallen man was dragging himself forwards, blood trickling onto the floor. The figure reached out a large hand and picked up the man. He held him up, tremendous strength being shown.
"I know what you are" said the figure.
"P-please" said the man.
"And you are a pathetic example" said the figure. "The others have shown much greater strength when facing me."
With a casual swipe of the sword the figure tore through part of the man's torso, dropping him to the floor. Tomo looked down at the body, shocked at the amount of blood that had spilled out onto the floor.
"Hey!" called out Munro.
"Get back!" called out Kimura. "It's dangerous!"
"Just what do you think you are doing with our property?" asked Munro, ignoring Kimura. "Hey, get back here!" he yelled out as the figure ran and smashed through one of the large windows built into the wall. Within seconds he had vanished. Tomo watched as Munro muttered something and then turned around.
"How odd" said Munro.
"We'll have to consider our investment" said Kimura, Tomo having forgotten about the cover.
"Well then" said Munro. "I guess that ends the tour."