Chapter 251 - Daily Conduct
The situation began to move about ten minutes after that.
"Hmm, is that it?"
Near the reception desk, some men with bad looks were starting to gather.
After a while, a parent and child were dragged out by them.
A father who was obsequiously fawning, and a daughter with a pale face, looking down.
No doubt about it, that's the girl I saw in the photo. For some reason, her hair today was in twin-tails, as if to emphasize her youth.
...I see, so they styled her hair like that to sell her high to a lolicon.
Really, there's no taste worse than this.
"What will you do? Should we secure her as she is?"
Kato-san, who had circled around behind me without me noticing, said in a suppressed voice.
Casually, this person is also good at moving stealthily.
"If only we could come up with a reason to get close without being suspected..."
"I think Gondo will manage something."
I glanced at the JK-loving yakuza.
Whether this mission succeeds or not depends on him. I silently willed him to do his job as an inside man... and Gondo gave me a thumbs up, as if to say "Leave it to me."
"Ah, so he does have a plan after all."
Gondo walked with big strides towards the parent and child and started talking with the men in black around them. He kept looking back at me, pointing at my face, and passionately arguing while bringing up my name.
...What? Is he using me as a bargaining chip?
The other men also looked at me and wore unpleasant smiles.
"Don't tell me that bastard Gondo sold me out."
"He's just a yakuza after all. As I thought, that man should be shot dead."
Me and Kato-san ended up wasting effort on the futile task of calming Hayasaka-san down.
According to Kato-san, "Megumi has too strong a sense of justice, and I think she can't stand being in a space full of criminals like this, so she's a bit weird today!"
Hoh, and?
I continued to soothe Hayasaka-san with a perfectly calm attitude.
A female police officer who wants to open fire immediately is still on the normal side when you look at all the women around me.
Like Angelica, who bought adult diapers in bulk to spoil me,
Rio, who mistook them for her own training tools and got aroused on her own,
Ayako-chan, who sensed everything and emitted an aura of jealousy,
Philia, who silently put on the diaper,
Erin, who was crying at Philia's change but also seemed a bit envious,
And Chloe, who crept closer while arming herself with the sophistry, "I'm his real daughter, so making Lord Father wear diapers or giving him a bath counts as care, right? It's legal, right?"
For me, who got through last night where there was no one decent at all, a mere trigger-happy female police officer is cute by comparison.
"Amazing... Nakamoto-san, you've been through quite the hellish situations. To not be fazed at all by Megumi's frenzy...!"
"I didn't go through hell for nothing. Look, it seems the talk is over."
Gondo came over, cracking his neck.
He hadn't betrayed me. My instincts told me so.
"Boss, take that girl and get out of here quick."
"...I trusted you. By the way, how did you convince those guys?"
Silencing a human trafficking market couldn't be easy.
Gondo lit a cigarette and answered.
"Simple. I told them you wanted to buy that JC."
"Hey."
"It was a piece of cake, y'know? After all, the boss is engaged to an active JK, and he was all smiles surrounded by teenage girls while hosting. Everyone was convinced, like, 'Ah, if it's Nakamoto, he'd probably do some underage buying.' It's your daily conduct, you know."
"Hey!"
"So, from now on, the boss is going to a love hotel with that little lady. Take a break for two or three hours so you don't look suspicious, then you can let her go wherever she wants."
"...What about the money?"
"Won't the Public Safety Commission pay generously for that?"
Is that so? I turned to look at Kato-san.
"...It's true that during undercover stings... we sometimes purchase illegal goods to gain the target's trust. But..."
"See, even the cop says so. It's got the police's seal of approval. You're hesitating because the 'goods' is a middle school girl, but this is essentially part of the investigation. It's the same as an undercover agent buying a small amount of drugs to trick a dealer, right? What'll you do, boss? If you stand around dazed, they'll get suspicious."
Gondo was right. There was no time to hesitate.
"...Understood."
I lifted my head and headed towards the pitiful middle school girl.
So as not to arouse any suspicion.
I imagine the worst version of myself.
A perverted old man, deeply immersed in the underworld, with a taste for buying young girls—that's who I am now.
Deceive yourself.
Seal away your conscience.
With my acting, I'll save that girl. Throw your pride into the gutter!
"Hey there."
I called out to the frightened girl.
Then, I lifted the corners of my mouth into a grin and said.
"Let's go play at the hotel with uncle!"