Chapter 23 - Anti-Social Papa
"What business do you have with me, exactly? Bringing such a beauty along with you, too. Did you come here just to show off?"
The office of Gondo, which I visited once again, had most of the blood cleaned up.
Perhaps they have a cleanup crew specifically for that kind of filth.
I didn't want to know, and I didn't need to know.
"Your tone is different from yesterday. So you can use polite speech, can't you?"
Gondo didn't answer my question.
He just sat there on the sofa with a smirk, acting all high and mighty.
After that, I had held Angelica, cast Concealment Magic, and flown to this office.
The two of us had walked in together, and now we stood before Gondo.
A place like this cesspool was no place for Angelica to be.
However, I needed to make Gondo aware of this girl's appearance.
And—if she saw me intimidating Gondo, Angelica might come to hate me.
To be disappointed, to give up on me. To turn her interest toward a man who wasn't me.
By completing that, I could become a good father. That was why I had gone through the trouble of bringing her in person instead of just a photo.
"You are my dog. You remember that, right? No matter what weapons you arm yourself with, you cannot defeat me."
"...You've got me there. Well, just as you said, I've got my young guys running to that ramen shop in front of the station. They're set to eat in the shop all day and heckle the manager every time the sound of a plate breaking is heard. Hey, what's the point of this? Does your mistress work at that shop or something? Are you trying to punish a manager who's picking on your mistress, is that it?"
"You don't need to know."
Angelica, perhaps sensing the ominous atmosphere, gripped my sleeve tightly.
I had told her to say nothing and just watch what I did in silence.
Watch, despise me, and be disillusioned.
"Gondo, I want identification for this girl. She's an illegal immigrant."
"I knew you weren't a civilian. You've got the eyes of a killer, after all."
Gondo said while stroking his left pinky finger. The finger that had been missing until yesterday.
Yesterday, when I applied Recovery Magic to his right arm, the damage to his other parts had been healed as well.
The moment the finger he was supposed to have cut off years ago grew back, Gondo had a look on his face that was hard to describe.
"Arrange a passport for a Western girl with an appearance similar to hers. However, do not kill anyone."
"You're being unreasonable. If she looks like that girl, she's a real beauty, right? Do you think someone like that would be so desperate for money that they'd just sell their passport? They could sell their body for money first. That's why they don't fall far enough to sell their identity. It's impossible. Impossible. There are things even the yakuza can't do."
I suppose it's impossible unless I compromise a little more.
"Any identification for a white girl of the same age will do. Do something about it. At worst, a forgery is fine."
"...It's not like I don't have connections to impersonate some Russian kid. That country is still poor in the countryside. There are people who sell things they shouldn't. Like their own identity on paper."
"That's fine. Her features look somewhat Slavic anyway."
"But Master Nakamoto. Don't you think you're being a bit selfish? This is a damn troublesome job, you know? On top of that, I'm working for the guy who tormented us yesterday. Working for free is a bit much."
Saying that, Gondo showed a menacing smile. It was different in nature from his cunning smile yesterday.
With this, I could accept him being a leader of a criminal organization.
"What is it? How many pieces do you want to be cut into?"
"Whoa, easy there. You're quicker to violence than a professional."
Gondo raised both hands and twisted his lips in amusement.
"How about it, boss? Don't you feel like becoming a specialist for the rough stuff in our group? It's you I want. That's the condition for listening to your request."
"Are you trying to scout me?"
"If you're here, our group will be invincible, and once we've exchanged cups, I'll be happy to listen to your requests. You pushed me around plenty, but let's call it even with this."
From a part-time job at a ramen shop to a combatant member of the yakuza.
My income might go up.
But.
"I can't do that."
"Hooh."
Having my combat power used by someone else. I experienced plenty of that during my time as a Hero.
Nothing good comes of it. In the first place, I have no desire to be colleagues with people like this.
"Obey in silence. Do it unconditionally. I will not submit to your command."
"So the negotiations have broken down?"
Gondo crossed his hands behind his head and puffed out his chest.
"Kill me if you want to kill me, okay? Then you won't get the ID, and that's the end of it. Impatience is a loss, boss."
"I'll revive you just before you die, and then kill you again. Can you endure that cycle?"
"I won't know until I try, will I?"
Now that his vulgar snickering had vanished, Gondo had a strange intensity.
The way he was now, he might actually endure torture.
"...It can't be helped. I didn't want to use this method, but..."
"Oh, is it coming? Fine, do whatever you want. I've cut off fingers and gotten tattoos on my back without a single complaint. I'd rather drop dead than work for free. Don't underestimate the pride of a yakuza."
I took my smartphone out of my pocket and closed my eyes.
Forgive me. I am becoming a demon.
At this moment, I am no longer a Hero, and I am not even human.
For Angelica's sake, I will fall into the path of a monster.
"Look at this, Gondo."
"Huh?"
"You can look at it for a while."
I launched the SNS app and handed the smartphone to Gondo.
"Th-This is...!"
Forgive me, Rio. I am using your affection in the worst possible way.
I am trying to use those borderline selfies you've been sending me since this morning as bargaining chips...!
"Don't screw with me! You were sleeping with Rio after all! It's nothing but selfies of her showing off her bra and thighs while hiding her eyes with her hand, stuff that's seconds away from an arrest!"
"She's the one sending them. There's nothing I can do about it."
"...No matter how much I love high school girls to the point it interferes with my daily life, seeing the black-haired, straight-haired beautiful JK I had my eyes on until recently being so attached to another man and doing such slutty things... it only makes me feel like I've been cuckolded. Did you think a yakuza would move for something like these super-lewd images of sixteen-year-old Rio Saito-chan, who's around 165cm with an estimated B to C cup, taken because she couldn't suppress her love for an older man in a public restroom!? Thank you very much!"
Gondo returned the smartphone to me and nodded strongly, saying, "Leave the passport matter to me."
"I have a heart too. It's not bad to move for the sake of a poor illegal immigrant girl. By the way, how old is this foreign girl?"
"Sixteen."
"She's a JK, isn't she? You're keeping two JKs? And you kidnapped one from abroad, that's incredible. You're a real bad seed."
At that moment.
—Please don't speak ill of my father.
Angelica whispered softly.
I had told her not to speak, but it seemed the words slipped out instinctively.
She had a look on her face that said, "Oops."
"She's quite attached to you. Do you like Master Nakamoto, little lady?"
Gondo asked Angelica in a voice that sounded like he was having the time of his life.
Angelica looked at my face and asked with her eyes, "Is it okay to reply?"
I gave a small nod. This much should be fine.
"...I like him."
"I see, I see. That's amazing. By the way, little lady, what are you to the boss? Are you his mistress? Are you the one working part-time at the ramen shop?"
"I am Father's wife."
At Angelica's answer, Gondo slid off the sofa with a clatter.
"You made a foreign JK your stepdaughter and then your common-law wife? I can't believe it. You're the god of sex crimes."
As Gondo looked at me with eyes of respect, I asked him something that had been bothering me.
"Your atmosphere is different from yesterday. Is this your true self?"
"...Are you saying that too? Was I really that strange?"
I don't really remember much, Gondo said, tilting his head.
"My memories of the last few days aren't clear. I wonder what that was. Maybe someone drugged me. I'm hated in a lot of places, after all."
"According to Rio, you changed in the middle of it. After you saw a ghost. Is that right?"
"...You heard about that too? Well, that's right. After I saw a white mist at Rio's house, my head went dizzy. From there, I honestly don't remember well. Nearly five days of memory are gone. Then, when I came to, you were here in this office. That was yesterday's story."
I asked him if he remembered being attacked by me.
"Of course I do. Though it felt like I was half in a dream."
"...I see. Your ego was starting to return toward the end, then."
"I don't really have a sense of it, though. Is that why? It doesn't really feel like I fought with you, boss. I have the knowledge of it, though. It felt like I was watching my own body go on a rampage from a distance. No, not from a distance. From the inside. Could this be that double personality thing? A yakuza with multiple personalities. That's a pain. I wonder if this setting is popular with high school girls."
Detached. That was the impression I got.
That was likely why he could talk to me normally like this.
If he had fought me of his own will and been beaten down, it wouldn't be like this. He would be more hostile.
He, too, was a victim of the evil spirits.
He was an anti-social person, but that didn't change the fact that he was manipulated.
"Can I ask one last thing?"
"What, you still have questions?"
"If you like high school girls that much, why did you date Rio's mother? Can you handle women of your own age normally?"
Oh, that, Gondo said as if it were nothing.
"That was to eat Rio after securing the perimeter. I was planning to take a bite after becoming the kind and reliable stepfather position. It seems the version of me while my head was messed up approached her violently, so I messed up."
"...It was a mistake to feel sympathy for you for even a second."
"Don't worry. I'm not interested in Rio anymore. She's become your woman, hasn't she? I'm only interested in virgin high school girls. I guess I'll go look for the next cutie."
This man should probably die.
Angelica and I left the office in exasperation.